Picture Policy Like what you see?Want to use a picture? The Roanoke Valley Bird Club will me Monday, Sept. 12, at 7 p.m. in the chapel of Grandin Court Baptist Church, 2660 Brambleton Ave. S.W. in Roanoke. The program will be a presentation about the American Kestrel Nesting Box Project by Project Directors Patti Reum of Highland County and Mary Ames of Albemarle County. The American Kestrel has shown population decreases because of loss of grassland habitat, loss of nesting cavities and use of insecticides and pesticides on agricultural fields. The projects goal is to provide nesting boxes in suitable habitat where kestrels are found throughout Virginia. The presentation shows photos of the project and presents information on the habitat and biology of this fascinating and valuable species. The speakers will also describe a monitoring program in Highland County that was started this year to keep track of the nesting success of kestrels using our boxes. Reum has been a wildlife biologist and also taught math and science for 18 years. Now retired, she spends much of her time working on the kestrel project and helping out with bird projects whenever she can. She is vice president of the Bath-Highland Bird Club. Also a recently retired educator, Ames is a member of the MWBC. She loves spending time outside, enjoying birds and nature in general, and has vowed to make her retirement an outside adventure as much as possible. Before the meeting, club members and visitors are welcome to meet at 5:30 p.m. for dinner at the Brambleton Deli, 3655 Brambleton Ave. For more information, visit www.roanokevalleybirdclub.com for more information. Submitted by Kent Davis BNSF Railway BNSF has completed double tracking a three-mile segment that crosses the Pecos River near Fort Sumner, N.M. With the completion of this section of double track, only four miles of single track remain on the 2,200-mile Southern Transcontinental corridor that runs from Los Angeles to Chicago. This new three miles of second track moves this important Southern Transcon corridor ever closer to being completely double-trackedconnecting the West Coast to major intermodal markets such as Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth and Kansas City, the BNSF wrote on its website. The Pecos River segment required a new bridge to be built. The bridge was completed earlier this year and the track was finished this summer. The remaining four miles that have yet to be double tracked will require two bridges to be constructed at the Salt Fork River on Oklahomas Panhandle sub and at the Missouri River on the Marceline Sub in Missouri. Adding the second main track over the Pecos River on this high train density section of the Southern Transcon allows us to continue to provide transportation services that consistently meet our customers expectations while allowing us to continue to grow our franchise, said John Wiederholt, general director line maintenance, Engineering-South. The work to complete the double track over the Pecos River was part of BNSFs $100-million New Mexico capital plan in 2016. Editors Pick Oil major Exxon Mobil Corp. reported Friday a profit for the third quarter that soared from last year, reflecting sharply higher upstream and energy product earnings. Adjusted earnings per share for the quarter topped analysts' expectations, while quarterly revenues missed them. Seattle, Washington-based Amazon.com Services LLC is recalling Amazon Basics Executive Desk Chairs, citing fall and injury risks, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said. The recall involves about 11,400 units of the Amazon Basics Executive Desk Chair. Shares of Swiss Re AG were losing around 3 percent in the morning trading in Switzerland after the reinsurer reported Friday a net loss in its third quarter and the first nine months of fiscal 2022. The results were hurt mainly by weakness in Property & Casualty Reinsurance or P&C Re segment. Going ahead, the company still expects it is unlikely to reach its Group ROE target of 10 percent in 2022. Factory orders from Germany and final quarterly national accounts from euro area are due on Tuesday, headlining a light day for the European economic news. At 1.45 am ET, Swiss GDP data is due for the second quarter. The is forecast to grow 0.4 percent sequentially after rising 0.1 percent in the first quarter. At 2.00 am ET, Destatis is scheduled to issue Germany's factory orders for July. Economists forecast orders to rise 0.5 percent on month in July, reversing a 0.4 percent fall in June. In the meantime, Finland's GDP data for the second quarter is due. At 3.00 am ET, industrial production and foreign trade from the Czech Republic and final GDP from Hungary are due. At 3.15 am ET, Switzerland's Federal Statistical Office is set to publish consumer prices for August. Prices are forecast to drop 0.1 percent on year versus a 0.2 percent drop in July. At 5.00 am ET, Eurostat releases Eurozone's final GDP data. According to preliminary estimate, the economy expanded 0.3 percent sequentially in the second quarter. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Economic News What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more. Switzerland's consumer prices continued to decline in August, the Federal Statistical Office said Tuesday. Consumer prices slid 0.1 percent year-on-year in August, slightly slower than the 0.2 percent decrease seen in July. The annual pace of decline matched economists' expectations. A similar pace of slower decrease was last seen in November 2014. Prices have been falling since late 2014. Consumer prices dropped 0.1 percent as expected in August from the prior month, when it declined 0.4 percent. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Economic News What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more. Germany's factory orders recovered in July as the weakness in domestic demand was offset by strong foreign orders. Factory orders grew 0.2 percent in July from June, when they fell by a revised 0.3 percent, Destatis reported Tuesday. Nonetheless, the pace of growth was weaker than the expected 0.5 percent. The statistical office had initially reported a 0.4 percent decline for June. Domestic orders fell 3 percent from the previous month, while foreign orders grew 2.5 percent as demand from the euro area advanced 5.9 percent. At the same time, new orders from other countries increased marginally by 0.6 percent. Orders for intermediate goods remained unchanged from the prior month, while manufacturers of capital goods showed a 0.8 percent growth. For consumer goods, a decrease in new orders of 4.3 percent was registered. On a yearly basis, factory orders dropped at a slower pace of 0.7 percent after decreasing 3 percent in June. Nonetheless, economists had expected a much slower decline of 0.2 percent. Although an improvement appears to be on the cards in August, the manufacturing sector is likely to make barely any contribution to German economic growth in the third quarter either, Ralph Solveen, an analyst at Commerzbank, said. Germany's industrial output data is due on September 7. Production is forecast to grow 0.1 percent on a monthly basis in July, weaker than the 0.8 percent expansion posted a month ago. The Purchasing Managers' survey results, released by Markit on Tuesday, showed a moderate increase in German construction activity in August. The construction PMI held steady at 51.6 in August. The current period of continuous growth now stretches beyond one-and-a-half years. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Apricus Biosciences, Inc. (APRI) Tuesday announced the launch of Vitaros, an on-demand topical cream for the treatment of erectile dysfunction or ED in Portugal, Ireland and Poland by its partner Recordati. Vitaros is now commercially available in seven European countries, including Spain. The company expects to obtain for Vitaros in the United States in 2017. Under the terms of the agreement, Apricus is eligible to receive up to approximately $39.7 million from Recordati in additional milestones in addition to $2.4 million received in 2014 at the time of exclusive license agreement. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Turkey's central bank reduced its reserve requirement ratios on Tuesday to boost the liquidity in the financial system. The Turkish lira reserve requirement ratios were cut by 50 basis points for all maturity brackets, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey said in a statement. Under the Reserve Options Mechanism, coefficients for the second, third and fourth tranches of the FX facility and for the first three tranches of the gold facility have been increased by 0.1, the bank said. The central bank expects the latest measures to release approximately 1.2 billion Turkish liras and $670 million of liquidity to the financial system. Late August, the bank cut its key lending rate by a quarter basis point, which was the sixth reduction in a row. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Economic News What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more. Cochlear Limited, a provider of implantable hearing solutions, announced Tuesday that it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration or for its newest innovative hearing loss solution, Kanso. Commercial availability for Kanso is expected this fall in the United States and Canada for those who are looking to receive a cochlear implant. In March 2017, the Kanso Sound Processor will be available as an upgrade for current recipients. The Kanso Sound Processor provides a distinct new way for cochlear implant users to hear. Kanso is a small, off-the-ear hearing device that provides a more discreet hearing solution and delivers the same hearing experience as a behind-the-ear sound processor. The Processor features a single on/off button with no cables so it is easy to use. It is worn on the user's head with nothing behind the ear, adding greater comfort for those with glasses, and it can be easily hidden under or blended within a user's hair. The Kanso Sound Processor will be available in eight colors, allowing the device to blend in with a wide range of hair colors. As the smallest, lightest off-the-ear sound processor on the market and the only one featuring dual microphones, Kanso provides the user discretion, enhanced comfort as well as the most advanced hearing , the company said. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Vietnam's Vietjet has placed a firm order with Airbus for 20 A321 single aisle aircraft to meet growth on its domestic and regional network. The purchase agreement, covering 10 A321ceo and 10 A321neo, was signed in Hanoi today by Vietjet President and CEO, Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao and Fabrice Bregier, Airbus President & CEO. The signing took place during the state visit to Vietnam of Francois Hollande, President of France, and was witnessed by Mr Hollande and Tran Dai Quang, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. In addition to the new order, Vietjet and Airbus also finalised an agreement for the manufacturer to provide training services for flight crew and maintenance personnel at the airline's new facility in Ho Chi Minh City. This will see Airbus oversee courses at the facility identical to those offered at the manufacturer's own training centres. Separately, Vietnam Airlines has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Airbus for 10 more A350-900 aircraft. The aircraft will be used by the airline on non-stop flights to the US, beginning with services between Ho Chi Minh City and Los Angeles. Additionally, Vietnam's Jetstar Pacific Airlines has finalised a purchase agreement with Airbus for 10 A320ceo aircraft. The contract follows an MOU announced earlier this year and was signed today in Hanoi by Le Hong Ha, Chief Executive Officer of Jetstar Pacific and Fabrice Bregier, Airbus President and CEO. Based in Ho Chi Minh City, Jetstar Pacific is a joint venture between Vietnam Airlines (70%) and the Qantas Group (30%). The order from Jetstar Pacific marks the first direct purchase by the airline from Airbus. The aircraft will join an existing fleet of 12 leased A320 Family aircraft flying with the airline on domestic and regional routes. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News The European struggled to find direction for the bulk of Tuesday's session. Investors were in a cautious mood ahead of the European Central Bank September policy meeting, which is scheduled to take place on Thursday. The majority of the European markets ended the day in the red following a late day sell-off. The early struggles on Wall Street had a negative impact on Europe, after the U.S. markets returned to action following Monday's Labor Day holiday. The losses accelerated in Europe after the release of the weaker than expected ISM non-manufacturing report. The reversal in crude oil prices was another factor that contributed to the negative performance in Europe. Investors initially reacted positively to the news that an unofficial agreement by Saudi Arabia and Russia had been reached to help stabilize oil prices. Crude oil prices rose to around $45 a barrel in early trade, before slipping back to around $44 a barrel. The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index weakened by 0.29 percent. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone blue chip stocks decreased 0.24 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, lost 0.46 percent. The DAX of Germany climbed 0.14 percent, but the CAC 40 of France fell 0.24 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. declined 0.78 percent and the SMI of Switzerland finished lower by 0.07 percent. In Frankfurt, Fresenius increased 6.11 percent after the -care provider agreed to acquire IDC Salud Holding S.L.U., Spain's largest private hospital operator, for 5.76 billion euros on a cash and debt-free basis. Bayer gained 1.78 percent. The pharmaceutical and crops manufacturer has raised its offer for Monsanto to $65bn or $127.50 a share. U.S. company General Electric announced Tuesday its plans to acquire Sweden's Arcam AB and Germany's SLM Solutions Group AG, suppliers of equipment for additive manufacturing, also called 3D printing, for $1.4 billion. SLM shares surged 40.85 percent in Frankfurt and Arcam shares soared 53.23 percent in Stockholm. In Paris, Airbus Group rose 1.00 percent after signing deals worth $6.5 billion with Vietnam carriers. Payments firm Ingenico Group tumbled 13.61 percent after slashing its full-year targets amid temporary market decline in the U.S. In London, International Consolidated Airlines Group advanced 1.68 percent and easyJet climbed 1.68 percent after reporting increases in August passenger traffic. Redrow soared 9.29 percent. The homebuilder has proposed a 67 percent increase in its full year dividend after reporting a 23 percent increase in pre-tax profits for 12 months ended June. Berkeley Group rose 3.46 percent after reiterating its profit guidance through to 2018. Lender Standard Chartered dropped 2.96 percent after Barclays cut its rating on the stock. Likewise, Provident Financial lost 1.35 percent after a price target downgrade from RBC Capital Markets. Aegon declined 2.04 percent in Amsterdam after it announced that Chief Financial Officer Darryl Button will leave the company on December 1, 2016. Eurozone expanded as estimated in the second quarter on foreign demand, but the pace of growth weakened from the first quarter, a report from Eurostat showed Tuesday. The economy grew 0.3 percent sequentially in the second quarter, slower than the revised 0.5 percent expansion seen in the first three months of the year. Germany's factory orders recovered in July as the weakness in domestic demand was offset by strong foreign orders. Factory orders grew 0.2 percent in July from June, when they fell by a revised 0.3 percent, Destatis reported Tuesday. Nonetheless, the pace of growth was weaker than the expected 0.5 percent. Germany's construction activity expanded at a steady pace in August, survey figures from Markit Economics showed Tuesday. The construction Purchasing Managers' Index, or PMI, came in at 51.6 in August, the same reading as in the previous month. Like-for-like sales in the United Kingdom were down 0.9 percent on year in August, the British Retail Consortium said on Tuesday. That missed expectations for an increase of 1.4 percent following the 1.1 percent decline in July. Service sector growth in the U.S. slowed to its slowest rate in over six years, according to a report released by the Institute for Supply Management on Tuesday. The ISM said its non-manufacturing index tumbled to 51.4 in August from 55.5 in July, falling to its lowest level since February of 2010. Economists had expected the index to show a much more modest drop to 55.0. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Market Analysis Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Tuesday dismissed Republican rival Donald Trump's argument that people are not interested in his tax returns and suggested the real estate tycoon has something to hide. "He said that the American people don't care about his tax returns. And in fact, he's also said that it's none of our ," Clinton told reporters en route to a campaign rally in Florida. "I just think he's dead wrong." In an interview with ABC News on Monday, Trump claimed that only the media is interested in seeing his tax returns. Trump has steadfastly refused to release his returns, repeatedly citing an ongoing audit by the Internal Revenue Service. However, Clinton noted that Trump's claim that the audit prevents him from releasing past returns has been repeatedly disproved. "I'm going to continue to raise this, because I think it is a fundamental issue about him in this campaign that we're going to talk about in one way or another for the next 62 days, because he clearly has something to hide," Clinton said. "We don't know exactly what it is, but we're getting better guesses about what it probably is," she added. "If he's going to pursue this campaign, he owes it to the American people to come clean." Clinton cited Trump's history of bankruptcies, accusations of fraudulent behavior, and the ongoing controversy over Trump University as reasons the billionaire-turned-politician should release his returns. Last month, Clinton released her latest federal income tax return as part of an effort to put additional pressure on Trump. Clinton previously released her returns from 2007 through 2014 and her campaign noted that the Clintons have now made their tax returns public for every year dating back to 1977. (Photo: Lorie Shaull) For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Political News Millennial Moms Review: 2022 Acura MDX is pretty close to the perfect family car I dont know if perfect is attainable, especially considering weve got the world of options when it comes to modern vehicles. Were spoiled and, as such, we have very specific needs and wants. Driving-wise, the 2022 Acura MDX is one of my favourite ... By SA Commercial Prop News - I-Net Bridge A tie-up between Delta Property Fund CEO Sandile Nomvete, Ascension Properties co-founder Shaun Rai and Rebosis Property Fund CEO Sisa Ngebulana would produce SA's first sizable black-managed property portfolio. Market speculation is building that a three-way proposed merger between Delta Property Fund, Ascension Properties and Rebosis Property Fund spells great things for the new entity as consolidation has been this years theme for listed property in South Africa. A tie-up between Delta, Ascension and Rebosis would produce SA's first sizable black-managed property portfolio to rank among the R280 billion listed property sectors top 10 companies in terms of size. And the new company would own property assets valued at about R18 billion with a market capitalisation close to R10 billion. The value of the Rebosis portfolio is R6.6 billion. Delta owns assets valued at R7 billion while Ascensions portfolio of mostly government-tenanted offices is valued at about R4 billion. Rebosis became the first substantially black-held property fund to list on the JSE in May 2011 while Delta and Ascension both with substantial exposure to government-tenanted office space listed in 2012. The funds are among the largest broad-based black economic empowerment (BEE) funds on the JSE but separately their respective market capitalisation and portfolios were not big enough to compete as aggressively for capital and deals as some of the sectors heavyweights such as Redefine Properties and Growthpoint Properties which both have a market capitalisation north of R30bn. But a merger between Rebosis Delta and Ascension would offer the size and liquidity that is normally required to pique the interest of the large fund managers. In the past some institutions have steered clear of black-owned funds which had government clients. "Having BEE credentials does help these funds to clinch state leases but the problem is the state has been an unreliable and/or slow payer for years. "Investors do not want exposure to that risk. However these are better-run BEE funds and they will be a sizeable portion of the market with liquidity supporting them Old Mutual Investment Group portfolio manager Evan Robins says. The three funds entered merger talks earlier this year after both Rebosis and Delta announced their intention to acquire the asset management company of Ascension. Rebosis CEO Sisa Ngebulana and Delta CEO Sandile Nomvete both believed that they were entering into an exclusive agreement with Ascensions co-founder and executive director Shaun Rai to acquire Ascensions management company. Both thought the acquisition of the management company would pave the way for a full takeover of Ascensions assets. Rebosis was eventually the winning suitor paying R150m for Ascensions management company. It also acquired a 29% stake in Ascensions B units for R289m. Delta had meanwhile acquired a 17.75% stake in Ascension. From the date of listing to the day before the announcement by Rebosis Property Fund to acquire the management company the A and B units delivered a total return of 25.63% and 45.63% respectively compared to the J253T or South African listed property indexs total return over the same period of 20.62% data from Catalyst Fund Managers shows. A three-way merger between Rebosis Delta and Ascension would offer investors exposure to a sizable portfolio of government-tenanted offices but also to dominant shopping centres such as Hemingways Mall in East London and Bloed Street Mall and Sunnypark Shopping Centre in Pretoria. Rebosis has access to the development pipeline of Billion Group which includes two regional malls under construction: the Bay West Mall in Port Elizabeth and Forest Hill near Centurion. Both centres exceed 70000m and could be bought by Rebosis on completion. Mr Ngebulana told analysts at the companys recent results presentation that the due diligence process was under way. We hope to conclude the merger by September or October. He said consolidation had now become a reality for smaller players. We think a merger of the three stocks makes strategic sense especially seeing that we have similar objectives for our respective funds said Mr Ngebulana. Mr Nomvete said earlier this month it had not yet been decided whether the merged entity would retain the Delta or Rebosis name. We are still looking at all our options and we could even come up with a new name. Some analysts have voiced concern that the merger could dilute Rebosiss quality retail offering given that both Delta and Ascensions portfolios are focused on the government-tenanted office space. However not everyone agrees. Stanlib head of listed property Keillen Ndlovu says that it supports the merger as it should lead to strong economies of scale which will eliminate superfluous costs and enable Rebosis to negotiate better access to capital markets and better lease terms with government tenants. Analysts expect consolidation to continue in the listed property sector. There are a number of deals which are still to be finalised this year. These include Growthpoints takeover of Acucap and Sycom and Redefines takeover of Fountainhead Property Trust Mr Robins says. A first-of-its-kind journey along India and Pakistan border What binds the two most talked about nations - India and Pakistan together? What makes the I am the grandmother of the family and my husband passed away in 2013, 60-year-old Malo Tauapaa from the village of Poutasi, Falealili told Village Voice. I am currently living here with my daughter and her family but I will return to my family in Savaii. I may be old, but I still try to take care of my family. This house has eight children with five of them currently schooling. I try my best to work the plantation to get a bit of money to put the kids through school and to look after the family. So how is life out here in the Rural Village? Its not that easy, Malo explains. When we dont have any money then my daughter keeps the children at home putting their schooling on hold. But that will change. I keep telling my children not to keep my grandchildren at home. Whatever we have even if its just sugar cane then give that to them for their lunch; as long as they have something to keep their education going. Ill get money every now and then from my other children and I will use that to help out the family. I recently just got back from the town area and this house had no money at all. What do you advise your children to do to make their life a bit easier? I keep telling my children to take it easy with making kids and to first look for a nice house, Malo says. I feel really sorry for the way the children have to live; this house is not sufficient for them especially with all the leaks and holes in the tarpaulin walls. I try and help out the best I can by making mats and tending the plantation. I sell my mats for about $25 because I feel sorry for my childrens family who are living here. No one in this house works. What is the main source of income for your house? Other than my mats, we make our money from our plantation, Malo says. We once had a very good plantation which grew cucumbers, cabbages and other crops but that was ruined by the cyclone. We are trying to grow those vegetables again. How much does your house make in a week? Sometimes I would have $20 a week and I would spend it wisely to take care of my family, Malo says. Other times I would have $100 and I would do the same. Money management is very important in these villages. With all the hardship your family has to endure, do you think there is any poverty in Samoa? There is no one in Samoa who suffers from poverty, Malo says. People dont have enough simply because they do not work. As my children were growing up my husband worked hard to provide for them. He went back and forth between the land and the sea to get food and to make money. You can even do what I am doing, I make handicrafts to sell and make a bit of money. Lazy people are poor. WASHINGTON (AP) Brace for a stream of digital leaks and shenanigans by Election Day. Whether it's newly disclosed Democratic Party emails or someone tampering with voting machines, this year's presidential election could come with hacking intrigue like none before it. Consider messages stolen from the Democrats by suspected Russian-linked hackers and posted online in the summer by the self-described persona Guccifer 2.0. That trove led to so much outrage from fellow Democrats that the party's chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, was forced to resign. Beyond partisan embarrassment from those leaks, security risks to electronic voting machines have the potential to do even more damage. Compromised machines, producing faulty vote tallies, would raise questions about the very integrity of the political process. "Election administrators are trained to run elections, not defend computer systems," said Joe Hall, chief technologist for the Washington-based Center for Democracy and Technology. "The voting systems we use in many cases don't keep the kind of evidence one would need to detect an attack, let alone recover from it, without disruption or loss of votes." Donald Trump has already suggested trouble is ahead, saying in early August he's "afraid the election is going to be rigged." He didn't provide specific evidence. He asked volunteers on his website to sign up to be poll monitors in November. Foreign state-sponsored hacking of the machines or even voter-registration records would also have practical implications, like delayed results or hiccups in allowing citizens to cast a ballot. "The biggest potential surprise in 2016 comes from the internet, and the potential for state-sponsored or hacker-instigated data dumps and turbulence that are disconnected from the campaigns," said Princeton historian Julian Zelizer. Federal officials are becoming increasingly concerned about the possibility that hackers, particularly those working for Russia or another country, will make mischief. Two U.S. cybersecurity firms have said their analysis of computer breaches at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee showed detailed evidence that the intrusions were probably linked to Russian hackers. The internet domains and registrants used in the breach of computers used by the committee tied back to a Russian hacking group linked to that nation's intelligence services. That same hacking group, known as "Fancy Bear," was previously connected to the cyber breach at the Democratic National Committee. Matthew Green, a Johns Hopkins cryptography expert, offered a simple solution to stave off ballot hacks: "There is only one way to protect the voting system from a nation-state-funded cyberattack," he wrote on Twitter. "Use paper." PARIS (AP) A former French budget minister went on trial Monday accused of hiding his wealth in tax havens around the world while at the same time leading the government's fight against tax evasion. Jerome Cahuzac appeared in a Paris court on charges of tax fraud and money laundering that saw him resign in 2013 in one of the biggest political scandals under President Francois Hollande. The 64-year-old former cosmetic surgeon is accused of concealing at least 687,000 euros ($766,000) in income from tax authorities in 2009-2012. He's also accused of laundering money in 2003-2013 through foreign bank accounts in Switzerland and Singapore and dummy companies in Panama and the Seychelles. Cahuzac, who acknowledged evading taxes for two decades, faces up to seven years in prison and a 1 million-euro ($1.1 million) fine if convicted. The fraud helped him finance a lavish lifestyle, such as expensive vacations, court documents show. Investigators discovered that Cahuzac paid bills to one luxury hotel for a total of 127,000 euros ($142,000) for several stays with his ex-wife and their three children. With the French presidential election eight months away, the trial is sure to revive voters' memories of the scandal that tarnished Hollande's mandate just a few months after the socialist president was elected in 2012, promising higher taxes on the rich. Hollande is widely expected to seek a second term next spring. On trial Monday alongside Cahuzac are his former wife Patricia Menard; a banker; a legal adviser; and bank Reyl, a respectable but little-known Swiss establishment, all accused of money laundering. Cahuzac and Menard entered the court Monday without speaking to reporters and sat separately as the judge summarized the case. The trial is expected to last two weeks. Menard is accused of hiding 2.5 million euros ($2.8 million) from French tax authorities and laundering money in the British tax haven of the Isle of Man and in Switzerland, allowing her to buy two London apartments estimated at around 3 million euros overall. The two have already paid 2.3 million euros ($2.6 million) in back taxes to French authorities. The scandal was magnified by the fact that it involved France's top tax-enforcement official and that as a minister Cahuzac publicly lied to Parliament and to the French people. French law does not sanction perjury. When press reports first revealed the scandal in 2012, Cahuzac was sponsoring a bill to reinforce the fight against tax evasion and fraud. For months, Cahuzac strongly denied any wrongdoing, even to Hollande and government colleagues. He eventually admitted to the fraud in April 2013, saying he had been "trapped in a lying spiral." Cahuzac said Monday in court that he knew that if his Swiss account were revealed, it would ruin 10 years of work, so he chose to lie. For the first time, Cahuzac said Monday his Swiss account had initially been opened in 1992 to collect funds from drug companies that were to be used for illegal financing of a branch of the Socialist Party led by Michel Rocard, France's former prime minister who died in July. The Cahuzac scandal damaged Hollande's approval rating, which took a 13-point dive in the first quarter of 2013. It also had the effect of increasing public mistrust of politicians and fueled demands for more transparency. The issues are often mentioned by the far-right National Front party. On Monday, the Paris prosecutor's office said it requested a criminal trial for former President Nicolas Sarkozy over suspected illegal overspending on his failed 2012 re-election campaign. It's now up to the judges to decide whether Sarkozy must stand trial. VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) President Barack Obama called off a planned meeting Tuesday with new Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, seeking distance from a U.S. ally's leader during a diplomatic tour that's put Obama in close quarters with a cast of contentious world figures. It's unusual for one president to tell another what to say or not say, and much rarer to call the other a "son of a bitch." Duterte managed to do both just before flying to Laos for a regional summit, warning Obama not to challenge him over extrajudicial killings in the Philippines. "Clearly, he's a colorful guy," Obama said. "What I've instructed my team to do is talk to their Philippine counterparts to find out is this in fact a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations." Early Tuesday, National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said the meeting with Duterte was off. Duterte has been under intense global scrutiny over the more than 2,000 suspected drug dealers and users killed since he took office. Obama had said he planned to raise the issue in his first meeting with Duterte, but the Philippine leader insisted he was only listening to his own country's people. "You must be respectful," Duterte said of Obama. "Do not just throw questions." Using the Tagalog phrase for "son of a bitch," he said, "Putang ina I will swear at you in that forum." He made the comment to reporters in Manilla. Eager to show he wouldn't yield, Obama said he would "undoubtedly" still bring up human rights and due process concerns "if and when" the two do meet. The bizarre rift with the leader of a U.S. treaty ally was the most glaring example of how Obama has frequently found himself bound to foreign countries and leaders whose ties to the U.S. are critical even if their values sharply diverge. In Hangzhou this week, Obama's first stop in Asia, he heaped praise on Chinese President Xi Jinping for hosting the Group of 20 economic summit in his country, an authoritarian state long accused of human rights violations. His next stop was another one-party communist country with a dismal rights record: Laos, where mysterious disappearances have fueled concerns about a government crackdown. And sitting down with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Obama made no mention in public of the roughly 35,000 people Erdogan's government detained following the summer's failed coup in Turkey. Instead, he worked to reassure the NATO ally the U.S. would help bring to justice whoever was responsible for plotting the coup. Obama also spent about 90 minutes Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, another leader whose fate seems intertwined with Obama's in all the wrong ways. On opposing sides of many global issues, the U.S. and Russia are nonetheless trying to broker a deal to address the Syrian civil war and perhaps even partner militarily there. "President Putin's less colorful," Obama said, comparing him with Duterte. "But typically the tone of our meetings is candid, blunt, businesslike." Managing Duterte has become a worsening headache for Obama since the Filipino took office on June 30, pledging his foreign policy wouldn't be constricted by reliance on the U.S. Washington has tried largely to look the other way as Duterte has pursued closer relations with China, a marked shift for the Philippines considering recent tensions over Beijing's aspirations in the South China Sea. A public break from the Philippines would put Obama in a tough position, given the Southeast Asian nation's status as a longtime U.S. ally. The Obama administration has sought to compartmentalize by arguing that military and other cooperation won't be jeopardized even if it detests the current Philippine leader's tone. Last month, Duterte said he didn't mind Secretary of State John Kerry but "had a feud with his gay ambassador son of a bitch, I'm annoyed with that guy." He applied the same moniker to an Australian missionary who was gang-raped and killed, and even to Pope Francis, even though the Philippines is a heavily Catholic nation. He later apologized. With a reputation as a tough-on-crime former mayor, Duterte has alarmed human rights groups with his deadly campaign against drugs, which Duterte has described as a harsh war. He has said the battle doesn't amount to genocide but has vowed to go to jail if needed to defend police and military members carrying out his orders. SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Mormon church officials are decreasing the number of missionaries being sent to Russia as part of a series of adjustments because of a new Russian anti-terrorism law. Church spokesman Eric Hawkins said Monday that 30 missionaries in training in Utah will instead go to other Russian-speaking missions in Eastern Europe. Forty-seven will still go to Russia as planned. The move marks the latest change made by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the law earlier this summer that puts restrictions on religious practices. Previously, the faith announced its missionaries there would be known as "volunteers" and would refrain from proselytizing publicly to comply with the law. In early August, six missionaries were detained for several hours by local Russian police over visa issues. Three were sent to other countries. Vaiaso Tafa is a single male of 41-years-old who lived with his family at Solosolo. Mr Tafa is unemployed but works alone in his plantation which is the only source of income for his family. When Samoa Observer approached Mr Tafa yesterday, he had just return from his plantation carrying coconuts. This is what I do every day, visiting my plantation every day, said Tafa. According to Tafa he said he depends on himself for the welfare of his family. Even though they have families overseas but he believes with the strength that he has he can provide for his family working as a farmer. The only problems that I have with my plantation are the pigs. There are many families who dont have pig sty but they are out in the woods and its destroying many plantations, added Mr Tafa. Tafa said there are others villages that are encouraging families to ensure that the pigs are locked up in a pig sty so that they wont cause any problems to the farmers. Unfortunately, the rule in his village is not being strengthened but the matais as well as the families. We have a rule in our village that any family can put down a pig if caught in their land however not every family has a gun, said Tafa. Tafa said sometimes they set up traps in the plantation to catch the pigs but they hardly catch any. Its about time that we did something about this thing because this is another reason why farmers get lazy sometimes because of the pigs. Tafa disagrees that there is poverty in the country. I think we are poor because we choose to be poor. He said people need to develop the lands that they have. We also have families overseas that we can also ask for help if we need to set up a big development to make money. I believe money is required in any development in this country. Tafa said with his plantation sometimes he thought about putting up a fence to stop the pigs from destroying it; however his budget will not be enough to build a fence. What do you think about the development of Samoa? Asked about the hardship he is now facing living in the village. Tafa said there is nothing wrong with the life he chose to live in his village. The only hardship situation Im in at the moment is not having someone to support me, a companion, Tafa smiled. The relocation of Sogi residents will allow the government to develop the area as part of its long term plans. The Minister of Public Enterprises, who is also responsible for the Samoa Land Corporation, Lautafi Selafi Purcell, said the long term plan looks at 100 years ahead to develop the area. Lautafi told the Samoa Observer yesterday the area is also vulnerable to natural disasters and its only fitting to relocate the people of Sogi. He said; It does not look conducive to have people living in the area when there are long term plans by government. If you also look at the (Sogi) strip, the residents are vulnerable to natural disasters and we have witnessed the power of tsunami. If government does not make a decision now it will take the blame after for not relocating the people to a safe place. Lautafi made it clear the government will not backtrack on its plan to develop the area. Told that other residents from Sogi are refusing to leave the area, the Minister said the governments decision is final. Samoa Land Corporation is carrying out the decision from government, he said. A lot of them have relocated but a few are still there and S.L.C. is trying to (remove) do that in a peaceful manner. In things like this, there are times that government makes decisions for the betterment of everyone that people will not agree to. Its like youre damned if you do and youre damned if you dont. The government will do what it has to do for its long term plans. As for people who continue to defy governments decision, Lautafi pointed out that the law will deal with them. While the Minister would not give a specific answer as to what kind of development the government is planning for the area, Lautafi said it connects to the proposed Vaiusu international wharf. Its all part of the development of our town, he said. There is the government plan for the wharf in Vaiusu and there is a connection to those developments. If would be very hard to get underway if there are people living in this area. The Minister used an example of the Bastion Point in Auckland ,New Zealand where the Maori people were removed from the area. Lautafi said a lot of Maoris protested against their removal but the N.Z. government did not want them to live in the area as it was part of their urban planning. Fast forward to today, the Minister said the sight is one of the most visited historical places in New Zealand since it was developed by the government of N.Z. The history of Bastion Point goes back to the 1970s when police and army personnel removed more than 200 people from the area. Bastion Point was occupied by protesters in 1977 after the N.Z. government announced a housing development on former Ngati Whatua (tribe) reserve land. The tribe protested against the loss of land in the Orakei block which had once been declared absolutely inalienable. In response to concerns raised regarding the engagement of independent prosecutors in relation to the matter before the Court that refers to the (suspended) Police Commissioner, and Director National Prosecutions Office, the Office of the Attorney General wishes to make the following statement. Public interest dictates that where the heads of government departments that are to undertake law enforcement in Samoa, are involved in cases particularly where charges were brought by the two departments against each other at the same time, all steps must be taken in transparency and good governance to ensure that justice is not just done, but is also seen to be done. An arrangement was previously reached between the Minister of NPO, with the heads of the relevant departments, that the file related to charges against the suspended Police Commissioner, was to be subject to an independent prosecutor being engaged on the advice of Attorney Generals Office. The Acting Director of NPO has subsequently stated that this arrangement will not be followed. The Attorney Generals office now has updated instructions in response to that position: the Hon Minister of NPO, and further confirmed today by the Acting Hon Prime Minister, take the view, that it is not appropriate for NPO to prosecute this matter. The investigation that led to the charges against the Commissioner was said to have been undertaken by the NPO without proper notice or authorization of the Police. This was confirmed today by the Acting Commissioner of Police. Therefore, given the surrounding matters related to these charges, a party other than the NPO should take carriage of that particular file. Further, as there is an independent prosecutor undertaking the matter against the suspended Director of NPO, fairness dictates that the same apply to the other matter. As to the civil matter, the Attorney Generals Office to safeguard government is seeking an appropriate adjournment of the related civil matter, until all criminal proceedings are fully completed, so that it has no bearing and conflict on the proper process that should be followed in these cases. The National Prosecution Act states that any prosecution of a matter must be done in a fair, independent and objective manner. The right hand of law enforcement cannot be seen to be prosecuting its left, without those requirements being followed. The position of the Attorney Generals office and government therefore, is that both these matters, should be given carriage, to persons, outside of the government agencies directly involved. There is otherwise no wish to be involved in any of the criminal proceedings themselves, only to ensure that they are conducted on the basis of fairness and objectivity. The Office of the Attorney General. His Excellency, Mr. Zhang Baowen, the Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress of China, is visiting Samoa this week. Yesterday afternoon, he visited Parliament as the guest of honour of the Speaker of Parliament, Toleafoa Faafisi. It was during his visit that he donated a batch of office equipment to the Parliament of Samoa valued around 200 thousand tala. His Excellency, Mr. Zhang Baowen was accompanied during his visit by the Deputy Head of the Chinese Embassy in Samoa, Mr Gu Xinqiang. His Excellency's visit to Samoa is ending this afternoon. He and his entourage are leaving for home in the evening. Think a minuteThere was a young, intelligent university student named Bill. Bill was what some people call a free spirit or hippie. He had wild long hair, always wore the same old and torn T-shirt, jeans and no shoes. Across the street from the university campus was a conservative church. The people there were rich, older and well-dressed. They wanted to help the university students nearby, but they did not know exactly how to do it. Well, one day Bill decided to go visit this church by his university. As usual, he went wearing his only jeans, old, torn T-shirt and his dirty long hair. The church service had already started and was full, so Bill walked down the center aisle looking for a seat. People were getting more and more uncomfortable as they watched this unclean, wild-looking young man. Finally, Bill got to the front and saw there were no more empty seats, so he just sat down on the floor right in front of the preacher. No one had ever done that in this church before! By now, everyone was upset and distracted. Then, a respected old church deacon got up and started toward the front. Everyone was thinking: You cant blame the deacon, he really should correct this disrespectful young man. Everyone was watching. Even the preacher stopped his sermon when the old man finally got to the front. Then, they were all completely surprised to see the old deacon drop his walking stick and very slowly sit down on the floor next to this young hippie. He did not want this young man to sit alone and feel unaccepted. The people in the church were moved to tears. Finally, the preacher said: What I am preaching about today you will probably never remember. But what you have just seen you will never forget! Friend, it does not matter how you look or how much money or education you have. It does not matter what wrongs you have done in your past. Jesus Christ forgives and loves you just the way you are. So wont you ask Him to forgive you and finally take full charge of your life? He will fill your life with His real love, peace, and power you need to start changing and living His way every day. Just Think a Minute Barrick Gold Corporation ABX has appointed George Bee as the Senior Vice President for the Lama and Frontera District Development project, effective Sep 12. Barrick Gold recently evaluated the mines at Lama and a scalable starter project utilizing underground mining techniques was dubbed as the best option to start a phased development plan for the Pascua-Lama project. Bee has been selected to advance this project at Lama on the Argentinean side of the Pascua-Lama development project. If the project in Lama is successful, the cash flow generated can be used for both sides of the border. Bee will be reporting to the companys Chief Operating Officer, Richard Williams. The conceptual work has already been carried out by the team appointed for the project and will now be taken forward by Bee. He will work along with the Argentinean executive director, Juan Ordonez, as well as the Pascua-Lama team in Chile. This team is led by Sergio Fuentes, the executive project director, Pascua-Lama, along with Rene Muga, the executive director for Chile. Bee has over 30 years of experience in developing and operating mines. He has also worked with Barrick Gold for 16 years, where he conducted an 8-year tour in Latin America. He was part of the development team of the Goldstrike mine between 1988 and 1995, and later of the Pierina mine, between 1998 and 2007. In 2005, he also formed and led the team that successfully completed the development of the Veladero mine. Post Barrick, he served as President and CEO of Andina Minerals, before becoming the CEO at Jaguar Mining. The Pascua-Lama mine is scheduled to be developed in phases similar to the development of the Goldstrike mine. Bee will also progress on an integrated development plan for the Frontera District, a 140-kilometer piece of land on the El Indio belt controlled by Barrick Gold, once the starter option development advances. BARRICK GOLD CP Price BARRICK GOLD CP Price | BARRICK GOLD CP Quote Story continues Barrick Golds shares closed roughly 2% higher at $18.16 on Sep 2. Barrick Golds second-quarter 2016 adjusted earnings per share surged 180% year over year to 14 cents, in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Revenues fell around 9.8% year over year to $2,012 million in the reported quarter and missed expectations. The company has reduced its total debt by $968 million so far this year, representing nearly half of its debt reduction target for 2016. For 2016, Barrick Gold reiterated its gold production outlook and expects to produce 55.5 million ounces of gold at lower all-in sustaining costs (AISC) of $750$790 per ounce. The company has raised its copper production outlook to the range of 380430 million pounds. The increased production guidance is due to commercial production having started at Jabal Sayid. On completion of its underground development in the second half of 2017, the mine is expected to produce 100 million pounds of copper annually. Barrick Gold currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Other well-ranked companies in the gold mining space include AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. AU, New Gold Inc. NGD and Sibanye Gold Limited SBGL, all sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report BARRICK GOLD CP (ABX): Free Stock Analysis Report ANGLOGOLD LTD (AU): Free Stock Analysis Report NEW GOLD INC (NGD): Free Stock Analysis Report SIBANYE GLD-ADR (SBGL): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Country United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso 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of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Sep 6, 2016) - Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc. (the "Company" or "BVT") (TSX VENTURE:BEE) today announced its appointment of former Syngenta Senior Manager, Christoph Lehnen, Master of Science ETH, Switzerland, in Agronomy, on a contractual basis. Mr. Lehnen will take the position of European Technical Manager with responsibility over the management of launch activities, system trials and demonstrations across European territories. During his 29-year career as a Senior Manager with Syngenta, which ran from 1987 to 2016, Mr. Lehnen held positions within technical research and development, business management, marketing, sales, and product launch strategy development and execution. He has run highly successful global operations in European, Middle Eastern and African markets, within Agriculture, Agribusiness, Biologicals, Flowers, Seed Care and Crop Protection. "Europeans are actively looking for ways to reduce pesticides within their food supply," Mr. Lehnen stated. "In my view, BVT has developed a highly-unique and comprehensive solution which will be extremely attractive to European growers. I am very excited and enthusiastic to join what is an impressive and growing team of industry professionals at BVT and play my part in successfully launching their systems across Europe and associated countries." "The European market opportunity for revenue is three times that of North America and therefore, the successful development of this market requires a broad range of skills to properly execute," stated Ashish Malik, BVT CEO. "In our business, initial launch processes in a country go a long way in determining future success. The addition of a seasoned executive such as Christoph with his rich industry experience and targeted skill set puts us in a very strong position to capitalize on the vast European market potential We expect that his 22 years with Syngenta, strong industry connections and rich experience in crop protection and country management will enable to BVT to gain strong traction within the European market quickly. Christoph's decision to join BVT is another great endorsement of how our system is viewed by notable industry figures and represents another significant step in our objective to build a world class team within our growing company." "We have an immensely strong team of seasoned industry experts and continue to assemble a powerful management team. Together we are mapping what we see as a strong and strategic course towards success for the company and ensuring internal execution is driven towards those goals," said Ashish Malik, CEO "I am extremely pleased with our progress to date." The Company also announces that Mr. Todd Mason has stepped down from his position as VP of Research and Protocol. The Company is pleased that Mr. Mason will continue to contribute to BVT on a consulting basis. About Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc. BVT has developed and owns patent-pending bee vectoring technology (consisting of a proprietary tray dispenser containing a unique carrier agent) that is designed to harmlessly utilize commercially reared bumblebees as natural delivery mechanisms for a variety of powdered mixtures comprised of organic compounds that inhibit or eliminate common crop diseases, while at the same time stimulating and enhancing the same crops. This unique and proprietary process facilitates a targeted delivery of crop controls using the simple process of bee pollination to replace traditional crop spraying, resulting in better yield, organic product and less impact on the environment without the use of water or disruptions to labour. Additional information can be viewed at the Company's website www.beevt.com. On Behalf of the Board of Directors of Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc. Michael Collinson, President & CEO Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" that involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. All statements in this press release, other than statements of historical fact, that address events or developments that BVT expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to BVT'S future plans and technologies, including the timing of such plans and technologies. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential", "indicate" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although BVT believes that the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include continued availability of capital, financing and required resources (such as human resources, equipment and/or other capital resources), and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of BVT'S management on the date the statements are made. BVT undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change, except as required by law. Deerfield Beach, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/06/2016 -- Zion Research has published a new report titled "Cement Market for Residential, Commercial, Infrastructure and Other Applications: Saudi Arabia Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis and Forecast, 2014 2020" According to the report, Saudi arabia region demand for cement was valued at USD 3.90 billion in 2014 and is expected to reach USD 5.27 billion in 2020, growing at a CAGR of slightly above 5.1% between 2014 and 2020. In terms of volume, the cement market in the Saudi Arabia stood at 61,000 kilo tons in 2014. Cement is a one of the key binding material used in construction industry. Cements acts as a binding agent for mortar, concrete, non-specialty grouts and stucco, etc. Cement is manufactured from raw materials such as limestone, sand and clay. These kinds of raw materials are widely available in Saudi Arabia. Additionally, cheap and widely available petroleum fuel has been resulted into cost effective manufacturing of cement in the region. Various physical and chemical properties of cement such as high durability, high dependability, cost-effectiveness and versatility are favorable for construction applications. Browse the full "Cement Market for Residential, Commercial, Infrastructure and Other Applications: Saudi Arabia Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis and Forecast 2014 2020" report at http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/cement-market-for-residential-commercial-infrastructure-and-other-35998 Key factors driving the demand for cement market in Saudi Arabia is increasing the construction activity in different segments such as commercial, residential, industrial and infrastructure. Rapidly growing population has been resulted into growing demand for residential & commercial buildings as well as infrastructure. Residential application market for cement in Saudi Arabia is expected to witness strong growth during the forecast period. Infrastructure is one of the largest segment, which accounted for around 50% share of the total market in 2014. Infrastructure refers to the construction that includes roads, bridges, canals and dams. The increasing number of airports and road construction projects are anticipated to boost the cement market in Saudi Arabia. Commercial application is the second largest application segment of the market in 2014, which include construction of walls, floors, exterior walkways and pavements of commercial buildings. Get Free Sample Report: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/cement-market-for-residential-commercial-infrastructure-and-other-35998#RequestSample The cement market was dominated by Central region of Saudi Arabia, which accounted for slightly above 32% share of the Saudi Arabia market in 2014. Saudi Arabia was followed by the Western, Eastern, Southern and northern regions respectively. Cement market in central region is also expected to witness rapid growth as compared to other regions. Over the past few years, there has been an increase in construction activities in the Saudi Arabia, especially in the eastern and central provinces. Various cities in the Kingdom have initiated infrastructure projects, thereby fuelling demand for cement. Strong economic growth in the Saudi Arabia is expected to fuel growth of the cement market in various cities of the Saudi Arabia. The manufacturing companies of cement have a significant impact on the value chain through a higher degree of vertical integration. These companies manufacture raw materials as well as the final product. Some of the key players operating in the Saudi Arabia cement market include Saudi Cement Company, Riyadh Cement Company, Yamama Cement Company, and Najran Cement Company. This report segments the global market as follows: Read Detail TOC: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/cement-market-for-residential-commercial-infrastructure-and-other-35998#tableOfContent Saudi Arabia Cement Market: Application Segment Analysis Residential Commercial Infrastructure Others (including cement bricks and farm construction) Saudi Arabia Cement Market: Regional Segment Analysis Central Eastern Northern Southern Western Inquiry Before Buying: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/cement-market-for-residential-commercial-infrastructure-and-other-35998#InquiryForBuying About Zion Market Research Zion Market Research is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations. Zion Market Research is the comprehensive collection of market intelligence products and services available on air. We have market research reports from number of leading industry and update our collection daily to provide our clients with the instant online access to our database. With access to this database, our clients will be able to benefit from expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends. Contact US: Joel John 3422 SW 15 Street,Suite #8138 Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442 United States Toll Free: 855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA) Tel: 386-310-3803 Email: sales@marketresearchstore.com Website: http://www.marketresearchstore.com Lewes, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/06/2016 -- Global LDPE capacity will experience considerable growth in the next five years with increase from 26.2 MTPA in 2015 to 34.2 MTPA by 2020. Large capacity additions with more than 25 planned projects are expected to come online primarily in the US and India in the next five years. Badlands NGLs, LLC, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and Bakhtar Petrochemical Company are the top three companies by capacity additions expected to come onstream over the next five years. Global LDPE industry is expected to spend around US$6.6 billion by 2020 for the upcoming projects. The US, Iran and India are the top three countries by capital expenditure for projects by 2020. Key Highlights: Global LDPE Industry - Global Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) capacity is poised to see considerable growth over the next five years, increasing capacity from 26.2 mtpa in 2015 to 34.2 mtpa in 2020. Around 27 planned projects are slated to come online in the next five years, driven primarily by the US and India. - North America has 7 planned LDPE projects, out of which 6 are in the US adding capacity of 2.3 mtpa by 2020. The US capital expenditure will be US$4.34 billion over the next five years. The top two companies accounting for major capacity additions are Badlands NGLs, LLC and Sasol Limited. - In Asia, major LDPE capacity additions are in India, adding capacity of about 1.2 mtpa with capex of around US$0.55 billion over the next five years. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and Reliance Industries Limited are the top two companies accounting for major capacity additions in India. - In Middle East, Iran has 3 planned LDPE projects adding capacity of about 0.9 mtpa by 2018. Iran's capital expenditure will be US$0.65 billion over the next five years. - In Europe, major LDPE capacity additions are in Russia, where capacity of about 0.4 mtpa is planned by 2017, with US$0.14 billion in capital expenditure over the next five years. - In South America, major capacity additions are in Venezuela, adding capacity of about 0.6 mtpa by 2017. Venezuela's capital expenditure will be US$0.14 billion over the next five years. For more information Visit at: http://www.marketresearchreports.com/globaldata/global-ldpe-capacity-and-capital-expenditure-outlook-us-and-india-drive-ldpe-industry Find all Petrochemicals Reports at: http://www.marketresearchreports.com/petrochemicals About Market Research Reports, Inc. Market Research Reports, Inc. is the world's leading source for market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest market research reports on global markets, key industries, leading companies, new products and latest industry analysis & trends. Yearly/Quarterly Report Subscription: http://www.marketresearchreports.com/subscriptions Hollywood, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/06/2016 -- Some of the new domestic operations are in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, U.K, and Canada. Company Founder and CEO Butch Chelliah explains what TargetRemarket is and what it can do for businesses. "The fundamental goal of advertising and marketing since the beginning of time has been to increase a given company's visibility to the demographics interested in its products and services. As Online Resources have evolved, TargetRemarket has stayed ahead of Technology and have designed and created techniques and systems that now we have made available within the grasp of almost any company in the world. "We have cracked the code and are able to provide profitable sales leads to virtually any company in over 200 different countries and in more than 40 different languages. We do so by two primary mechanisms. The first is called retargeting. In a nutshell, retargeting is when a prospective customer visits a company's website, but doesn't become a customer. Before, he would have been lost to the company. They would have been powerless. But, now we can "follow" that prospect around with a banner ad almost everywhere he or she goes - other websites, Facebook, Youtube- and whisper in this warm lead's ear. Mr. Chelliah goes on to detail the other main feature of TargetRemarket System and Process. "TargetRemarket can also drive top tier relevant clients better than any other marketing method. Let's say that a cosmetic surgeon in Carlsbad, CA knows that his target audience is women in the 40s and 50s, who drive a BMW, Mercedes, or Lexus, have a gym membership, love wine, live in a particular zip code, and are on a fitness website right now, in real-time. In the past, it would have been nearly impossible for the surgeon to focus his marketing dollars only on his core demographic. He would have also been forced to spend a substantial amount of resources on people who would never have an interest in his services. With the process and systems developed by TargetRemarket, when that targeted group goes to that fashion site or shopping sites, the doctor's ad leaps out directly at them. It is astonishing how TargetRemarket has changed the marketing landscape, allowing companies to be so efficiently visible to their customers. TargetRemarket.com, is one of only a handful of companies that have made this technology available to small and medium-sized companies. For the last few years, only the huge agencies on Madison Ave had access to this type of technology, and they almost exclusively dealt with Fortune 1000 companies. Not so anymore. Now any company can profit from using TargetRemarket. Our motto is bring Large Company Technology to Small Company Budgets. "Another oustanding benefit of instituting a TargetRemarket campaign with us is the transparency. This is manifested in two ways. First, you know up front what we charge to manage your campaigns. And you can see what is spent on Ad Spend. That is incredibly rare because most companies don't want you to see their markup, which oftentimes is ridiculously high. Second, our clients can go in the back-end of our software and see exactly how their campaigns are progressing. Impressions, clicks, CTR, conversions, eveything needed for successful management by statistics. No other marketing allows you to see your ROI (Return on Investment) in such a simple, accurate manner." "Most companies in the Digital Advertising arena extends to their customer a "do-it-yourself" platform. Every campaign managed at TargetRemarket is Fully Managed by Account Managers as well as a Design and Production Team." adds Mr. Chelliah. That in itself is staggeringly powerful as the client essentially gets a full consulting team. Mr. Butch Chelliah sums it up, "The choice is there for any company to make. Any industry's core customers are finite and if a company is not visible to them, that company is in dire straits. Either company's embrace and utilize TargetRemarket's strategies or they will be competing against rivals who ARE using TargetRemarket's strategies. The company not using the techniques we offer may very well be a great company, but if they are trying to battle a TargetRemarket serviced company, they simply won't have the marketing firepower to compete. For a free consultation, Go to the website, http://www.TargetRemarket.com for more free information. Contact: Allison Lee Tel: 714-410-0370 Address: 20409 Yorba Linda Blvd, Suite 360, Yorba Linda, CA 92886 Email: info@TargetRemarket.com SOURCE BizConnect360.com Website: http://TargetRemarket.com Fairfax, VA -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/06/2016 -- MSS Software, a division of Manufacturing System Services, is a manufacturer and vendor of barcode equipment and software based in Fairfax, Virginia. MSS Software sells and rents barcode equipment to a huge variety of clients, including government organizations, large corporations, and SMEs. One of the company's clients, Benjamin Moore, a reputable manufacturer and retailer of paint, wants to use rental barcode readers for it's annual inventory audit in its more than 20 manufacturing locations in the USA plus Canada. MSS Software was founded in 1984 in Pennsylvania before moving to Fairfax in 2003. Having been in the barcode industry for more than three decades, the company has earned extensive experience in customer service, especially in "matching" clients with the right products. According to the company's website, its products are aimed at optimizing data collection in order to save the user's time and money. The company maintains a team of expert customer care assistants and customer support technicians, who offer free consultation services and advice to its clients regarding the right barcode products for their businesses. In the process, the team discovers the pertinent issues facing customers in the barcode industry and works to find viable solutions. That is how they decided to start the rental barcodes division. In addition to selling its barcode equipment and software, MSS Software rents a variety of barcode equipment including barcode readers, scanners, and printers. They also offer standard, prepackaged barcode software and custom barcode programs to go with the equipment. Since launching its rentals division, MSS Software has noticed a positive change in its client list. The surge in rented barcode equipment and software is due to the inherent benefits accrued by clients through this arrangement. To start with, rental barcode equipment is very economical as compared to purchased barcode equipment. Many clients, like Benjamin Moore, prefer to rent instead of investing huge sums of money in the purchase of barcode equipment as capital equipment. Benjamin Moore needs barcode readers only once a year; outlaying company funds for such an investment is not feasible. Detailed information can be found by visiting http://www.mss-software.com/rentals.php Secondly, by opting for rental barcode readers, Benjamin Moore does not have to worry about maintenance costs or upgrades. The company will get the latest, top-of-the-range barcode readers, use them for a few days, and then return them to MSS Software a simple, economical, and convenient business arrangement. Also, Benjamin Moore does not have to worry about availability issues or delivery failures. The company just needs to place an order early enough to enable MSS Software enough lead-time to prepare, pack, and ship the order. Rental barcode equipment has gained popularity among all types of clients. About MSS Software MSS Software has earned a good name in the barcode industry due to its continued production of affordable, easy-to-use, and highly functional products. Founded by three software developers specializing in barcode applications, the company has upheld its founders'' vision by continuing to produce specialized equipment and software. As evidenced by its huge client base, which includes HP, FBI, ACCO Brands and World Bank, and its impressive partnerships with industry heavy weights like Honeywell, Intermec and Zebra, MSS Software has truly earned its place in the barcode industry. Contact: MSS Software Address: 10394 Democracy Lane, Fairfax, VA 22030 Phone: 800-428-8643 Email: sales@mss-software.com Website: http://www.mss-software.com The worlds largest ocean research and protection area, the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, was launched in Hawaii on 31 August amid criticisms of its impact on trade and fishing innovation. The reserve comprises 1.5 million square miles of marine territory northwest of the Hawaii island chain, expanding an existing park area. It is co-managed by the state of Hawaii, the secretary of commerce and the secretary of the interior. The area will be open for scientific projects to study climate change impacts on oceanic biodiversity, but will be strictly closed off to fishers. The health of our natural resources is crucial to the quality of our lives. David Ige, governor of Hawaii David Ige, the governor of Hawaii, celebrated the launch on 1 September in Honolulu, at the opening ceremony of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) World Conservation Congress. He said the science undertaken in the reserve, in collaboration with island nations from around the world, will be crucial in protecting the livelihoods of small island states. The health of our natural resources is crucial to the quality of our lives, he told a packed audience of 8,000 scientists, industry representatives and politicians. Islanders know the limit of the natural environment, so they make the best stewards of such an important reserve. Papahanaumokuakea, which is twice the size of the US state of Texas, complements Hawaiis plan to manage 30 per cent of its sea area sustainably by 2030. However, the effort was criticised by some island nation representatives for not being ambitious enough to permanently protect the wildlife of the sea. Palau, for example, has placed 80 per cent of its economic zone under marine protection as part of this initiative, strictly forbidding any fish catch from this area. Tommy Remengesau, the president of Palau, said the reserve was a good effort, but that the US could have done more considering its size and wealth. Good start, Obama, he said, referring to the opening of the reserve by US president Barack Obama, in a speech following the announcement. But when you have protected 80 per cent of your trade zone, then you can formally join the big league. The fencing off of marine areas for protection and research purposes emerged as a controversial issue on the conferences first day. Palau is spearheading a more ambitious motion to the IUCN, the intergovernmental body that organised the summit asking governments to protect 40 per cent of marine territory worldwide. But fishers are opposed to these conservation efforts saying that marine-protected areas make the environmental impact of fishing worse by stifling local innovations in sustainable fishing. In the lead-up to Papahanaumokuakeas launch, representatives from Hawaiis fishing industry said that local fishers were making huge strides in developing sustainable fishing technologies, using hooks and lines instead of nets, which produce wasteful bycatch. Their exclusion from the reserve will slow down such innovations whilst forcing Hawaii to import more fish from abroad, they argued. A 17-year-old boy from Mexico City died after having convulsions while eating dinner with his family. He was immediately treated by emergency medical services but unfortunately died. It is reported that a hickey or a love bite he received from his girlfriend caused a blood clot that led to a deadly stroke. The local media reports indicate that the doctors think that the suction effect of the love bite caused a sudden blood clot. This moved around to his brain and led to a fatal stroke. Currently, there is no certain evidence that the hickey in question triggered the stroke. Charles Abrams, president of the American Society of hematology and a hematologist at the University of Pennsylvania explained that it is not impossible that a hickey could cause a blood clot that leads to stroke, but it's incredibly unlikely. He further explained that it could happen if a person's blood vessels are torn during the chomp. "But I think that would be pretty hard to do." Meanwhile, Robert Glatter, an emergency room physician at Lenox hill Hospital in New York City stated that in order to damage an artery that badly so as to cause a blood clot, it would have to be the "mother of all hickeys." "It's possible this could happen, but it's very rare, and parents should be reassured it's not something that happens in a routine way." Glatter further said that any sudden motion of the neck involving a vigorous cough or sneezing, or even aggressive manipulation by a chiropractor could lead to a carotid artery dissection. He added that this is basically how a hickey could lead to a stroke. The IFL Science reported the same incident when a 44-year-old woman from New Zealand suffered a loss of movement in her left arm after getting the hickey. She was brought to a hospital and found that she had a bruise on her neck caused by hickey. This led to a blood clot and caused the minor stroke. The woman was treated with blood thinners and recovered. Online product reviewer and digital news provider Digital Trends pulled all the stops for this year's IFA 2016. Indeed, Digital Trends deployed its biggest news crew to cover this year's, IFA 2016 with nine of its best editors, video producers, and writers assembled in Berlin to review and test the latest gadgets and technologies from major tech companies, including Samsung, Lenovo, Huawei, LG, Sharp, Philips, ZTE, and others. After days of head pounding and grueling hours of debate, the company has released its top favorites from IFA. Here are Digital Trends' Top Tech picks of IFA 2016 in major tech category. For the Best of Show Category, Matt Smith picked Lenovo Yoga Book. Costing just $500, the Android-power Yoga Book is a steal, as it its light, thin, well built and sporting a 1,920 x 1,200 pixel monitor. More importantly, its touch surface is also functioning as its keyboard. Really nice. Caleb Denison has picked Audeze iSine 10 for the best audio gadget available. She describes the iSine 10 as a "luscious sounding headphone" and modestly priced at $400. The iSine 10 comes with a conventional 3.5 mm headphone cable and Apple Lightning cable with built-in DAC and amplifier. But PC Magazine has decided that Motorola's Moto Z Play is the best smartphone in that category. Unlike its rival, LG, which uses a modular G5 phone but was not able to capitalize on it, the Z Play is proceeding with the modular feature up and down, especially with its Hasselblad camera. The magazine expects the Moto Z play to bring the modular phones to global masses when it breaks out beyond its exclusive deal with Verizon in October. For the best desktop device, it's the HP Pavilion Wave for PC Magazine. HP's Pavilion Wave is being described as a family or kid's room PC that comes with a build-in speaker and capable of eliminating an extra component, yet look stylish enough. The desktop is also priced reasonably making at affordable for its target market. Philae, a robotic comet lander, that was deployed with Rosetta spacecraft landed on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, a Jupiter-family comet, on November 12, 2014. On the other hand, it had lost contact after its batteries ran down due to reduced sunlight. On September 2, 2016, the comet lander was finally found. Philae was identified lying on its side in a deep crack in the shadow of a cliff. It appeared visible in the photographs taken by Rosetta as it was sent on orbits closer to the comet. Its exact location remains to be identified yet. Space probe Rosetta has found comet lander Philae, once thought to be forever lost https://t.co/Xi4Y0AB1iK pic.twitter.com/63Wod0hZTp CNN (@CNN) September 5, 2016 The European Space Agency (ESA), which operates Philae, told the BBC that there is no doubt about the detection---"it's as clear as day." It was seen in the photographs stuck against a large over-hang. On the other hand, its 1m-wide box shape and legs were evident. Philae's scientific goal was to land successfully on the surface of the comet and send out data about the comet's composition. These include the isotopic, elemental, molecular and mineralogical composition of the cometary material. The mission of Rosetta was scheduled to end later in September 2016. Prof Mark McCaughrean, ESA's senior science advisor said that it was very significant to find Philae before the mission ended, to comprehend the context of its in-situ scientific measurements. He further said that it was just as significant to stipulate some emotional closure for the millions who have been following both Rosetta and Philae through the trials and tribulations of their exploration of this notable remnant of the birth of the Solar System. "And there's one big final adventure to come on 30 September as Rosetta itself descends to the comet, doing unique science close-up before the mission ends for good," concluded Prof. McCaughrean. British archaeologists recently published detailed 3D models of the skulls and artefacts that were found on board the infamous Henry VIII's warship as an experiment designed to share knowledge and major historical finds. One of the said artefacts include a reproduced skull in an interactive model that was said to have belonged to a carpenter on board Mary Rose, the flagship navy from England when it sank in 1545 with a heartbroken king watching from shore. They spent 437 years under the sea - now 10 skulls from the Mary Rose are on the internet in 3D. Video by @Vic_Gill pic.twitter.com/a1uOvdbOkM BBC Science News (@BBCScienceNews) September 5, 2016 The details on the website said that the abscess in the upper jaw of the man meant that he could only chew on the right side, adding that "he also had arthritis in his spine, ribs and left clavicle and a lesion across his right eyebrow which may be the result of an old wound." Among the relics found included carpenters' tools that, according to Yahoo! are also available for other fellow archeologists and scientists to study on the website. Known as photogrammetry, the technique uses high-res 2D photographs to produce the detailed 3D models, enabling researchers around the world to join in the project and study virtual 3D reconstructions of history. Professor Catherine Fletcher said that once the technology is fully developed, it can be applied to other historic objects which could bring a wider community to study the artefacts, at the same time preventing damage to the original remains. The unveiled scans coincided with the British Science Festival, where some of the virtual objects were made public. The idea, according to BBC, is to see how much there is to learn about the lives of the crew, not just their bones. Richard Johnston, a Swansea Univeristy material engineer said that they project could test the scientific value of digital archaeology in a world of burgeoning cyber artefacts. "Lots of museums are digitizing collections, and a lot of the drive behind that is creating a digital copy of something," Dr Johnston said in a press briefing. "We're going to challenge the research community to see if they can actually do osteological analysis." He also added that the results taken by others from around the world could be compared to a study where people looked at the actual remains, as well. Check out the public website at virtualtudors.org to learn more about what happened to the Mary Rose and the rest King Henry VIII's crew. Uber is looking forward to automate their car service by 2021. The company has invested on the research and development of autonomous cars for a while now. According to Bloomberg, the co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick himself went to Carnegie Melon University's renowned National Robotics Engineering Center to consult and outsource experts on self-driving technology. John Bares, founder of Pittsburgh based robotics company and former robotics expert from CMU, joined Uber's team. So far, the plan seems to turn out well, they are currently testing the prototypes in the streets of Florida, with a modified Volvo XC90 SUV as the test model. This move by Uber was a response to the increasing assaults by drivers to their clients. When Uber was first launched in the US, it was a phenomenal success because commuters prefer Uber because of the integrated GPS system that made the service safer as compared to conventional taxis. However, despite Uber's close monitoring and location sensitive app intervention, driver violations were still rampant ranging from minor cases like over charging to severe ones like theft and sexual assaults. The Daily Beast emphasized in their report that drivers are the greatest "liability" in the business equation of Uber. If Uber could materialize its full implementation of autonomous cars, despite investing a tremendous capital, Uber will be rest assured that their business will stay put in the market effortlessly since they can provide the comfortability and peace of mind that the clients desire. "The minute it was clear to us that our friends in Mountain View were going to be getting in the ride-sharing space, we needed to make sure there is an alternative (self-driving car). Because if there is not, we're not going to have any business. Developing an autonomous vehicle is basically existential for us." Kalanick said in the Bloomberg report. The first set of images captured by NASA's Juno spacecraft has revealed unique details about Jupiter's North Pole. The photographs show weather activities and storm systems that have never been observed by scientists in any of the other giant gaseous planets in the Solar System. The images were taken by Juno as it flew 2,500 miles above Jupiter's cloud tops during close flyby series on August 27. A whole new world. My 1st glimpse of #Jupiters north pole looks unlike anything seen before https://t.co/OODrfqlCag pic.twitter.com/ghTlibdxaV NASA's Juno Mission (@NASAJuno) September 2, 2016 "It's bluer in color up there than other parts of the planet, and there are a lot of storms. There is no sign of the latitudinal bands or zone and belts that we are used to. This image is hardly recognizable as Jupiter," said Scott Bolton, chief investigator from San Antonio's Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). The researching team of scientists noticed that the photographs did not show any hint of the marbling effect that Jupiter is associated with. The infrared views of the largest known planet in the Solar System also showed hot and warm spots, the likes of which have never been seen before. The researching team of astronomers also feels that the intricately detailed images will help in obtaining more information about Jupiter's southern aurora as well as its dynamics and morphology. Hot stuff. During #Jupiter approach, I captured the planets glow in infrared light https://t.co/mVWrzSlV9o pic.twitter.com/9kaRIl2k9n NASA's Juno Mission (@NASAJuno) September 2, 2016 Incidentally, the Juno spacecraft was launched on August 5 from Florida's Cape Canaveral, and reached Jupiter on July 4 this year after a journey of nearly five years. The spacecraft is fitted with the JunoCam as well as eight other science instruments that include the Italian Space Agency's Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JI-RAM). JI-RAM takes high definition photos of the planet in infrared which allow scientists to get a deeper insight about the planet. The information relayed back to Earth by Juno will enable the researchers to know more not only about the structure and composition of Jupiter but also help in throwing more light on the evolution of planetary systems. Soarin' over #Jupiter. My 1st up-close look of the gas-giant world was a success! https://t.co/5DghesSgvY pic.twitter.com/BTbhOD8rJy NASA's Juno Mission (@NASAJuno) August 27, 2016 Scientists have observed that Southeast and East Asia have been experiencing stronger typhoons over the last four decades due to climate change. A new study shows that typhoons will likely gather more strength and this is because of continuous warming of oceans near the coasts. In this new study, they found that there is only one main and undeniable culprit - climate change. They also warned people from China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan because they will surely experience stronger and deadlier typhoons in the future. The reason for this is that ocean surfaces are expected to become warmer in the coming years. According to Professor Kerry Emanuel of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, "If you have warming coastal water, it means that typhoons can get a little extra jolt just before they make landfall... and that's obviously not good news." Typhoons typically form in tropical areas with winds at least 74 miles per hour. The thing about typhoons is it becomes deadly and destructive once it makes landfall. And just last week, typhoon Lionrock hit Japan and killed more than nine people. Warming oceans has been a huge problem for tropical areas since it intensifies typhoons by providing more heat thus, more energy easily turning it into a storm. "The fuel that powers the [storm] is an enormous transfer of heat from the ocean to the atmosphere when you have strong winds blowing across the surface," as Emanuel describes it. In their study, they calculated the intensity of tropical storms since 1977 until today using the data from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) and the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). The result showed that East and Southeast Asia have been suffering from intensified typhoons of about 12 to 14 percent stronger. Furthermore, they found that typhoons belonging to the category 4 and 5 have increased from less than five to about seven per year. The link the intensifying typhoons when they also studied the ocean waters off the coasts of Southeast and East Asia where they found that the water got a lot warmer over the years. Emanuel, who was not part of the study, believes that the team did a great job in cross checking data from the two institutions and said, "I think it's pretty strong." "Typhoons can cause very severe damage to human society," said lead author Wei Mei of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "An important factor in determining the damage is intensity and also the size of the storm," as reported by The Verge. The study was published in the journal Nature Geoscience. It's not new to everyone that breast milk is best for babies and even for mothers. Breast feeding for infants are even highly recommended by health institutions across the word. To even persuade more mothers to join the breast feeding movement, a group of Switzerland based scientists were able to confirm breast milk's role in prevent the development of respiratory diseases like asthma to genetically susceptible infants. The study is presented at the international congress of European Respiratory Society. The said research studied 368 infants with genetic risk of acquiring asthma and their breast feeding status. The findings showed that infants who were breastfed for weeks had 27 percent decrease in the risk of developing asthma and other related respiratory complications based on their genotypes. While infants that were not breastfed were more prone to develop respiratory complications. "As research in this field progresses, we are understanding more and more about the gene-environment interaction for the development of asthma (and) our study sheds light on how this interaction can be modified by breastfeeding, Dr. Olga Gorlanova, lead researcher from the University Children's Hospital Basel, and University of Basel in Switzerland explained in an UNI India news post. According to the National Health Interview Survey of 2011 as published by CDC, Asthma is one of the leading disease acquired by children. About 7.1 million or roughly 9.5 percent of the entire US population in 2011, are children diagnosed with asthma. Because of the innate weak immune system of children especially 2 years old and below, asthma became one of the leading cause of child deaths in the US. The US Health Department is launched Asthma Self-Management Education in schools targetting the young demographic to reduce the adverse asthma related health effects. Health authorities also advised asthmatic patients especially kid to routinely visit the doctor for close monitoring of the disease. Environmental destruction is a sin, Pope Francis said in a press conference on Thursday in Rome for the Catholic Church's World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. He also called it "ecological debt" that humanity has caused and should act against. Despite the awkward relationship between the church and science, they are apparently heading to the same track when it comes to environmental concerns. IFL Science reported that the pope has joined the debate on climate change and showed great concern for the future of the environment. Currently, it is clear that NASA scientists are not the only ones worried about the issue. According to Pope Francis, humans are "participants in a system that 'has imposed the mentality of profit at any price, with no concern for social exclusion or the destruction of nature'." He added that the poor and refugee crisis victims are the ones suffering the adverse effects of climate change even though they are the least responsible for it. Moreover, Pope Francis suggested that planet care should be added to the seven "works of mercy" that Christians should perform. This is in line with his support to the Paris Climate Agreement. He likewise gives daily tips on helping the environment. According to The Guardian, people are likewise called to reflect about the society's apparent lack of concern for the destruction of nature. Consumers are asked to change their lifestyle through tree planting, waste reduction, rubbish separation, and also carpooling. The pope said that "we should not think that our efforts - even our small gestures - don't matter," and that virtue; for instance, ecological virtue, can be infectious. Meanwhile, according to Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Vatican's council for peace and justice, "The first step is to humbly acknowledge the harm we are doing to the Earth through pollution, the scandalous destruction of ecosystems and loss of biodiversity, and the spectre of climate change." He also added that we hurt the poor when we hurt the Earth. The church and science are currently calling for the same efforts for the environment. Great actions are asked, showing that's it's about time for humans to take environmental issues seriously. A teenager's proposal is likely going to be NASA's next choice for the landing site of the Mars rover, which will happen sometime in 2020. Sophomore Alex Longo of Raleigh, North Carolina is thrilled to be part of The Planetary Society since he has been a huge fan of space exploration for as long as he could remember. He had his first space exploration experience in 2005 when he was just about 5 years old. His parents had him watch the launch of the Discovery space shuttle. He remembered that watching that launch became the start of his passion for space exploration. He dreamed of not only visiting space someday, but he wants to be part of the team who will first step foot on Mars. He became a follower of NASA and continuously monitors the website for updates. One day, he came across an announcement back in 2014. "I saw that they were looking for abstracts from scientists to suggest landing sites," he said. "I decided, well, I'll write something up." He regularly writes letter to NASA before. "Each time, they sent me cool space shuttle mission posters or patches," he said. "I'll have my very small say in this," he figured, "and maybe they'll send me some cool stuff." Alex suggested that the rover should land in the exact spot where Spirit rover landed in 2004. The site was named Gusev Crater and Spirit recorded promising signs of life in the area so Alex believes it is definitely worth the second look. Instead of posters and updates, they invited Alex to go to their first landing site planning meeting making him thrilled and happy. He said he couldn't believe he was actually invited. "I thought it was a dream or something. So I just got up, walked away, and a while later I came back and that email was still there. And I was like, 'Wow, I actually just got invited to go to a NASA conference!' How cool is that?" The meeting was held in a hotel near NASA's headquarters in Washington, D.C. Alex was asked to make a short talk in the last session of the meeting. He recalled being scared and totally lost. Why? "Because there are 125 Ph.D.s and grad students in that room, and I probably am by far the least experienced or knowledgeable person there. And I'm giving a presentation to all these people," he said. "When he finished, the entire room burst into applause. Everybody recognized how special this was for this young person," his mom recalls the spectacular moment for her son. Now, he is already an official member of Mars team and set to have another meeting next year to shorten the list of proposals to four from the eight finalists. In addition, Alex was invited by NASA to go to their next conference to pick the landing site for the first humans to set foot on Mars. "Because if I really am going to be the first guy to go there, I want to have a say in where I am landing," he ended. Apparently stung by continuing criticism over its treatment of Barack Obama , Beijing has blamed the "highly unprofessional" U.S. media for hyping the fact the U.S. President found himself without a red carpet, or even stairs , when he touched down in Hangzhou. Arriving for the G-20 leaders summit in China on Saturday, Obama was forced to leave his Air Force One jet though a back exit, while Chinese officials refused to allow reporters and photographers beyond a cordon, preventing them from witnessing his arrival. Heated remarks were exchanged between the two sides and the episode exploded in the media, with some commentators reading it as a deliberate snub that reflected current tensions in bilateral relations. Jorge Guajardo, Mexico 's former ambassador to China went on record about how he thinks China's treatment of Obama was a deliberate snub. Obama himself played down the incident, saying on Sunday that he wouldn't "overcrank the significance" of tensions at the airport because the size of the U.S. presidential entourage placed considerable security demands on foreign hosts. And on Sunday, an anonymous Chinese official told the South China Morning Post that it was in fact Washington's decision to have Obama disembark Air Force One via his own stairway. But the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency then helped prolong the furore by posting a short-lived "Classy as always China" tweet on its Twitter account on Monday about the episode. Questioned on the issue at the Chinese foreign affairs ministry's regular press conference on Monday, ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying hit back, calling the incident a "small episode" and blaming the "highly unprofessional" U.S. media for "making an issue out of it." "They fabricated news and added wild guesses to it without getting to the bottom of this issue," she said. "This would only consolidate the impression that some western media are arrogant and big-headed." Story continues China had tried its best to meet the requirements of all G-20 delegations, including those of the U.S., she added. "However, all the large-scale international conferences and multilateral activities have routine practices and corresponding procedures to follow," Hua noted. "As the host country, we will provide as much convenience and service as possible to the media while ensuring the safety and order of all the activities. "Meanwhile, visiting countries should respect and conform to such practices and arrangements," she said. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. More From CNBC FLORENCE, S.C. In 1911, the RMS Titanic was launched in Belfast, Ireland, the first Indianapolis 500 race was held and it only cost nine cents to buy a pint of milk. It also was the year Florence resident Kathleen Moore was born. On Thursday, Moore celebrated her 105th birthday among friends and loved ones at her daughters house, where she has been living for approximately 20 years. Moore said she enjoys being able to share moments like this with her children and their families. I like to celebrate with them, Moore said. I have a wonderful family. Moores family has a knack for living long and full lives. Moores grandmother lived to be 98, Moores father lived until age 83, her mother lived to be older than 90 and her sister lived to be 97. Though genetics might have something to do with Moores longevity, her two daughters, Carole Thompson and Lois Wilson, credit their moms stubbornness and determination for her long life. Thompson, 77, said her mother taught her to face adversity head on and stay positive even under bleak circumstances. Keep going, Thompson said, quoting her mothers words. Dont let anything get you down. Wilson, who is living in Florida, made the trip to celebrate Moores latest birthday with her and the rest of her family. Though Wilson said she never doubted her mothers grit and tenacity, Thompson plays a major role in providing for their mother. Wilson said she is forever grateful for her sister and all she does for their mother. She (Thompson) is amazing. Absolutely amazing, Wilson said. Shes the person that keeps mom alive. I have no doubt that I owe that to Carole. Moore uses a walker to move around and has an oxygen tank to help her breathe, though she is not required to use it all the time. Moore also has a pacemaker and hearing aids. She has macular degeneration of the eyes. Overall, however, Moore will tell you she is doing just fine. I have been feeling really good, Moore said. Doing as well as anybody else does when theyre 105. You ought to see me when I was in my prime. Thompson and Wilson both laughed and agreed. She does well for her age, Thompson said. She takes very little medicine, about two prescriptions. Moores secret to such a long, vibrant life? She's not sure there is one. I dont know, Moore said. Ive seen the world change, and I think Ive changed with it. You just have to live, and live right. LAKE ROBINSON, S.C. The body of a 22-year-old man who went missing in Lake Robinson as the result of a boating accident was recovered Tuesday afternoon, according to South Carolina Department of Natural Resource officials. Darlington County Coroner Todd Hardee identified the man as Dane Christian Watford who was pronounced dead at the scene. Hardee said an autopsy has been scheduled for Wednesday in Newberry, SC. Watford was reported to have been ejected from a boat carrying four adults shortly before 4 p.m. Monday at Lake Robinson north of Hartsville, according to Capt. Robert McCullough of SCDNR. The boat was pulling a recreational device and early reports were that a rider on that device fell off and was struck by the boat. McCullough said they are investigating all possibilities. This is still an active investigation and information could change as we get into this, he said. Early indications are that no alcohol was involved, according to McCullough. The incident remains under investigation by the Darlington County Sheriffs Office, Darlington County Coroner's Office and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Those among us who took a breather from following the presidential race over the holiday weekend snapped back into reality Tuesday with a barrage of new polling data that was, to say the least, confusing. A CNN poll shows Donald Trump suddenly surging ahead of Hillary Clinton by two percentage points, while the latest from the Morning Consult has Clinton ahead by the same margin. Over at the Washington Post, an unconventional 50-state survey done in conjunction with the online polling platform SurveyMonkey shows Clinton with a large electoral college advantage. However, it includes some genuinely eyebrow-raising findings, including a one-point Clinton lead in, of all places, Texas, and a tight race in reliably Republican Mississippi. Related: The Weasel in Hillary Clinton: Why That May Not Be a Bad Thing So, what is one to make of the data that seems all over the map? Experts advise trying to gain some perspective. I think the best thing to do is not to obsess over any one poll but instead to use the Real Clear Politics and Huff Post Pollster polling averages, said Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabatos Crystal Ball at the University of Virginias Center for Politics. The averages show a narrowing race in national polls, though Clinton is still up, and the state-level polls show Clinton up in enough places to win, Kondik said. Well see if that changes. Sean Trende, the senior elections analyst at RealClear Politics, said that all polls assume a margin of error, which means that each candidates real-world percentage of the vote could differ from the result in an individual poll by several percentage points. Related: Clintons Email Mess Hands a Lifeline to the Floundering Trump Campaign Moreover, even the most meticulous polls typically have a 95 percent confidence interval. What that means, Trende said, is that We know that one out of 20 polls is going to fall, statistically, outside the error margin. In other words, he said, 5 percent of polls are just plain wrong. Story continues Even if you run a perfect poll, the margins of error are real, Trende said. There is nothing you can do about them. Thats why, if youre curious about the real state of the presidential race, the polling averages are a more reliable indicator of whats going on. In statistical analysis, survey averages benefit from the Central Limit Theorem, which holds that the average of a large number of samples will tend to reflect reality better than any individual sample. In laymans terms, Trende said, We correct for outliers. If you have four polls and one of them is an outlier, the average is going to pull that outlier toward the center -- towards the true value. Related: Most Forecasters Predict a Win for Clinton, Except for Two Right now, the polling averages still show Clinton with a comfortable, though shrinking, lead. RealClear Politics gives her a 3.3 percentage point advantage, while Huffington Post Pollster has her 5.6 percentage points ahead. (The difference is attributable to the different polls that the two sites choose to include in their averages.) However, Trende noted that averages are not the final word in a volatile election. Every major shift in a race is first identified by a poll that looks like an outlier, he said. As an example, he offered the 2014 New Hampshire Senate race between Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown. Last cycle, Jean Shaheen had consistent double digit leads over Scott Brown, he said. Then all of a sudden, a poll came out showing a three-point race. Though it was widely regarded as an outlier at the time, it proved to have marked a real change in a race that Shaheen, originally a heavy favorite, ultimately won by those three points. Related: The Real Threat to the Election Could Be a Sore Loser Thats why, Trende said, its smart to not completely dismiss unexpected results -- like the Washington Post poll showing Clinton ahead of Trump in deep red Texas. There are two groups that Donald Trump does poorly with -- historically poorly for a Republican -- Evangelicals and Hispanics, he said. And Texas has a lot of both. So, I dont think Clinton will win that in a close election, but I do think Texas has a good chance of being closer than usual. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA and LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwired - September 06, 2016) - HyperGrid, the pioneer in creating and developing the world's first and only HyperConverged Infrastructure-as-a-Service (HCIaaS) solution, is attending this year's IP EXPO Nordic in Stockholm for the first time, on 27-28 September 2016. HyperGrid (Stand 320), formerly known as Gridstore, is showcasing the industry's first HyperConverged Infrastructure-as-a-Service (HCIaaS), an application-aware offering that brings the simplicity of HCI together with a pay-as-you-consume pricing model, to demonstrate to visitors how businesses can take steps towards improving their IT estate. A recent study has revealed the rapid growth of companies adopting HyperConverged Infrastructure, as organisations strive for more operational efficiency as well as reduced data centre costs. HyperGrid plans to remain ahead of the competition as the market continues to grow, with its industry-first HCIaaS bringing a unique new option to the market. An innovative response to customer demand, HyperGrid has delivered a new service model with no upfront costs, no contracts and no commitments to be locked in to a specific vendor. HyperGrid has delivered a flexible pay-as-you-grow model, allowing for enterprise scalability. Doug Rich, VP of EMEA, HyperGrid, said: "Our first IP Expo Nordic is an excellent opportunity for HyperGrid to unveil the industry's first HyperConverged Infrastructure-as-a-Service. Our new offering is set to deliver a competitive edge to businesses of all sizes, by powering business enablement, efficiency and revenue generation. HCIaaS provides all the benefits of the cloud, with the security and compliance of on-premise systems that can be metered and consumed on a per-unit basis, scaling up or down as businesses demand." HCIaaS is the first solution that bridges the needs of traditional and cloud-native developers with IT Operations, delivering an AWS-like environment that enables complete DevOps. By combining compute, storage and network capabilities within a single server, users are provided with a drastic space reduction as well as an all-in-one system. By merging the three services together, cost reductions and high performances are assured. Story continues Follow HyperGrid Twitter EMEA: www.twitter.com/hypergrid_EMEA About HyperGrid HyperGrid delivers IT at the flip of a switch: A revolutionary new concept in HyperConverged Infrastructure, HCI-as-a-Service ("HCIaaS") is the industry's first application aware offering that brings the simplicity and ease-of-use of HCI together with a pay-as-you-consume pricing model that scales elastically. HCIaaS delivers "one-click" automated application deployment and management seamlessly across any cloud or container infrastructure. Enterprises can now enjoy all the benefits of the public cloud at better rates without fear of vendor lock-in. HCIaaS solves the key challenges of DevOps for Enterprises -- allowing for both traditional and cloud-native applications to be containerized, managed and deployed with a single tool, dramatically simplifying IT and bridging the needs of both developers and IT operators. HyperGrid solutions unleash innovation for the Digital Enterprise. HyperGrid is headquartered in Mountain View, CA. and its products and services are available through a global network of value-added resellers and partners. 2016 HyperGrid. All rights reserved. With 61 containerships stranded around the world, many floating outside the 12nm territorial limits of countries or slow steaming, plans have been announced to dock vessels in the ports of Singapore, Hamburg and Busan. While in Busan Hanjin would be covered by the recognition of court receivership in its homebase of Korea the same does not yet apply to Singapore or Hamburg. There is no automatic moratorium on legal proceedings against Hanjin in Singapore notwithstanding the South Korean courts grant of the receivership order, Felicia Tan, a director at Incisive Law, told Seatrade Maritime News. That said, if and when Hanjin obtains from the Singapore court a moratorium on legal action against Hanjin in Singapore, after persuading the court in favour of recognition of the South Korean court order, then from the date of the court order of a moratorium Hanjin should then be able to berth and offload its ships. If the moratorium is granted by the Singapore courts it would also put a stay on proceedings against the Hanjin Rome, which was arrested in Singapore on 30 August, the day before Hanjin Shipping filed for receivership in the Seoul courts. Hanjin is seeking stay orders in 43 countries to protect its vessels from arrest. Last week the Hanjin Montevideo was also arrested in California. Incisive Law is the Singapore law alliance of international shipping lawyers Ince & Co. Classification society DNV GL and Japans NGO Peace Boat on Tuesday at SMM 2016 signed the MoU to collaborate on the design, construction and operation phases of the Ecoship and the promotion of the Ecoship as a flagship for climate action and sustainability in shipping. The concept of the Ecoship was first heard in 2014 in Hamburg, Germany where shipping and non-maritime experts worked together to develop a whole system integrated design approach, based on the belief that elements of a system work best when they are specifically designed to complement rather than compensate for each other. The cruise industry is growing so fast, particularly in East Asia, and the need to mitigate the environmental impact of such expansion is very important, said Yoshioka Tatsuya, founder and director of Peace Boat. Through its technical characteristics and in the programmes that it carries out we hope it will encourage a model for green cruising and further innovations in the cruise industry, Tatsuya said. Architectural naval design firm Oliver Design has based the Ecoship design on biophilic principles using the solutions nature has evolved. The Ecoship design incorporates cutting edge technology to improve efficiency, reduce waste and minimise environmental impacts. Some of the most notable features include 10 masts to harness wind energy for propulsion, solar panel-covered sails and a 6,000-square metre top-deck solar farm, a closed-loop water system to reuse, purify and re-purpose water, waste heat recovery systems where it is hoped that 80% of the energy normally lost in the air and in the water can be reclaimed for use. We believe DNV GL has an important capacity to evaluate novel designs and is very agile in providing the proper answer to each new safety and technical challenge, said Andres Molina, Ecoship project director. The worlds greenest cruise ship, for now, will set sail on its maiden voyage in 2020. Standing under a gigantic oil painting of Hamburg Port (pictured) the Senator welcome participants from almost 70 countries to a city steeped in shipping for 800 years and to this years event which looks very much forward where digitalisation, green propulsion and eco-fuel efficient shipping are the key watch words. "Digitalisation is the key to improved competitiveness," noted Horch. "We are just at the beginning of developments ranging from smart navigation sensors to the use of drones for ship inspections." Herbert Aly, head of Nordic Yards Holding and SMM steering committee chair, warned: "The maritime sector has been innovating for years and continues today with big data, smart shipping and digitalisation but we cannot provide solutions on everything we are facing." He sees that the value and timely impact will unfold in this order: first to benefit will be the manufacturers and service providers of digitalisation; next the ship operators, followed by the original equipment manufacturers (OEM) with the shipyards the last to benefit. "All layers will have to deal with smart technologies and it may be a precursor for staying in the shipping sector." He said there are some bright spots in ship construction in the niche markets picking out defense, cruise, offshore wind and mega yachts... For other sectors I don't believe they are dead just lying dormant." A further 37 vessels are teetering on the edge of disqualification, named in a Poor pumper list of tankers which require supporting documents to be granted entry into the strategically vital port on the eastern seaboard of the UAE, 130km east of Dubai. Of the blacklisted vessels, 17 are in the handysize to aframax range. All must produce a cache of paperwork, including a valid Ship Inspection Report Programme (SIRE) report from regulator Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) before they can re-enter FOTT. Port of Fujairah sets specific times limit norms for vessels discharging and loading at its two oil terminals that range from 15 to 43 hours depending on the parcel size and the grade of the oil products (either 380 Cst/50C viscosity or 5 Cst/50C). The SIRE report was instigated by the OCIMF in 1993 to specifically address concerns about sub-standard shipping and is focused on minimum vessel quality and ship safety standards. The disqualified vessels CSO or ships agent must also provide the pumping log of last three discharge operations, any applicable class survey report after repairs, separate proof from the yard of all repairs undertaken on faults in the ship's cargo system, plus a declaration from the Master stating that the vessel complies with all FOTT criteria. The 28 disqualified vessels with a combined capacity of 932,000 dwt are owned by companies registered in Dubai, neighbouring UAE emirate Sharjah, Iraq, Turkey, India, Russia, Greece, China, Singapore and Hong Kong. The aframax vessels are owned by companies in Singapore (97,220 dwt) and Turkey (96,733 dwt). Wilhelmsen Ships Service confirms it is working with several vessels/owners to overcome the disqualification but is unaware of any affected ships idling off FOTT. The Port of Fujairah, located 70nm south of the Straits of Hormuz, is the backbone of the emirates economy, its 6km of quay serving the worlds third largest oil storage and petroleum trading centre and the second largest bunkering port behind Singapore. A just operational VLCC berth, to be officially inaugurated on 21 September by Fujairahs ruler, Sheikh Hamad bin Mohammed Al Sharqi, has enhanced the ports reputation as a global hub for crude and oil products. It complements the two existing oil terminals and the Fujairah Offshore Anchorage Area which is to be expanded after clocking up 13,734 vessel calls last year. A disturbing drone video shot last week shows a group of people pushing over the Duckbill Rock, an sandstone formation in Cape Kiwanda along the Oregon Coast. In an interview with Oregon TV station KATU, David Kalas, who shot the video, said the vandals told him that they destroyed the formation because a friend of theirs had broken his leg on it. Oregon State Police and state parks officials told the Portland Oregonian that they were reviewing the video, and that the perpetrators might face criminal charges in addition to citations and fines. But the destruction of the iconic rock highlights an even bigger problem. Many comparable natural formations in parks across the nation are similarly fragile and vulnerable to human visitors who, for whatever reasons, decide to destroy them. RELATED: National Parks Turn 100: Photos Back in 2013, for example, two men knocked over the Goblins, a 20-million-year-old formation at Goblin Valley State Park in Utah, because they thought it was dangerous to hikers. They eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanor criminal charges and received probation and fines. Other formations have been marred by graffiti artists. In June, a woman who pled guilty to defiling rock formations at seven national parks was banned from all 524 million acres of U.S. public lands and sentenced to 200 hours of community service, according to the Los Angeles Times. Not all people who destroy rock formations are doing it intentionally. Mushroom Rock in California's Death Valley, seen below, is an example of a rock formation that's deteriorated badly over the years due to visitors climbing on it to take pictures. Image: A US Air Force strategic air command (SAC) B-52 stratofortress drops a string of 750-pound bombs over a coastal target in the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam War (Getty). President Barack Obama pledged Tuesday to dramatically increase US efforts to clear millions of bombs secretly dropped on tiny Laos by American planes a generation ago, saying the clean-up was a "moral obligation". Laos became the world's most-bombed country per capita from 1964 to 1973 as Washington launched a secret CIA-led war to cut supplies flowing to communist fighters during the Vietnam War. Much of the country is still littered with ordnance, including millions of cluster munition "bomblets" that maim and kill to this day. RELATED: Drone Detects and Destroys Landmines The issue has long dogged relations between the United States and Laos, a cloistered and impoverished communist nation. But both sides have moved closer in recent years and Obama's visit -- the first by a US president to Laos -- is being hailed as a landmark opportunity to reset ties. On the first day of his two-day trip, Obama announced $90 million for Laos over the next three years to address the impact caused by unexploded ordnance. "Given our history here I believe the United States has a moral obligation to help Laos heal," Obama told a crowd of delegates, including communist party leaders, students and monks, during a speech in the capital Vientiane. The figure dwarfs Washington's previous commitments to Laos -- in the last 20 years it had given a total of $100 million. Statement of Senator Nancy Binay on the President's Declaration of State of Lawless Violence We cannot afford to be complacent. The President, as commander-in-chief, is doing everything that is within the law to fight terrorism so that our people will be out of harm's way. A state of lawless violence is recognized under Section 18, Article VII of the Constitution that allows the President to respond to such lawlessness with the appropriate measures and proportional response to ensure that our communities are safe and secure. Ang bawat isa sa atin ay dapat maging mapagmatyag at huwag maging kampante. Huwag nating hahayaang magtagumpay ang mga elemento ng karahasan. Let us all hope that the President's declaration of lawless violence and the calling out of the armed forces will have affirmative results. Hangad ko rin na magkaroon ng agarang resulta upang di na lumawig pa ang sitwasyon ng lawless violence. Public safety is paramount and our collective vigilance is our shield and security. We need to be united more than ever. Statement of Senate President Pro-Tempore Franklin M. Drilon on the cancellation of the meeting between President Rodrigo Duterte and US President Barack Obama "Talk about starting off on the wrong foot." This was the initial reaction of Senate President Pro-Tempore Franklin M. Drilon on the cancellation of the meeting between President Rodrigo Duterte and US President Barack Obama. The scheduled meeting between President Rodrigo Duterte and US President Barack Obama would have been an opportunity for the two heads of states to know each other on a personal level. It is unfortunate that such meeting did not push through because of unnecessary rhetoric over human rights issues. We must remember that our foreign policy is shaped in accordance with our national interest. Unfriendly rhetoric and undiplomatic statements will not bring us anywhere. We should maintain our relations with the US as a strong treaty ally that have been built over decades. I am hopeful that the long-standing relationship between the two nations will remain to endure and that both leaders will have other opportunities of meeting again under a more confortable and friendly circumstances. There is no doubt that the relations between the Philippines and the United States remain strong, and continue to be anchored on mutual respect and cooperation. Press Release September 6, 2016 Senator Gatchalian Commends Valenzuela City's Free Higher Education Ordinance On Tuesday, Senator Win Gatchalian commended the Valenzuela City Government for its push to establish a free education policy at its local universities and colleges, touting the city's landmark education reform as an example to be followed by public universities across the Philippines. The proposed City Ordinance No. 2016-011, which carries the strong support of Mayor Rex Gatchalian and his administration's supermajority in the Valenzuela City Council, seeks to allocate an estimated P200 million per year to completely subsidize the cost of education for all students enrolled at Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Valenzuela and Valenzuela Polytechnic College. "Valenzuela City's Free Higher Education Ordinance shows the city's unwavering commitment to providing access to quality education at all levels to its citizens. I am so proud of my city and my fellow Valenzuelanos," said Gatchalian, a former three-term mayor and two-term congressman of Valenzuela City. Gatchalian, whose tenure as mayor of Valenzuela City was marked by significant reforms focused on improving the state of education, encouraged other cities and municipalities to follow suit and work toward establishing free education at their respective local universities and colleges. Gatchalian also renewed his call to establish a free tuition policy in State Universities and Colleges, urging Senate Education Committee Chairman Bam Aquino to take action on Gatchalian's priority bill, Senate Bill No. 198, also known as the "Free Higher Education Act". Aquino has also filed a similar bill calling for free education in SUCs. "This promising news from my hometown has inspired me to work double-time to make sure that bright but underprivileged students in cities and towns across the entire country will be given the opportunity to follow their dreams and secure the quality college education they deserve. I hope to work closely with my colleagues in the Senate to turn our vision of tuition-free SUCs into a reality," said Gatchalian, the Vice-Chairman of the Senate Education Committee. Press Release September 6, 2016 GORDON SEES SUNRISE INSTEAD OF SUNSET IF THE GOV'T SPENDS MORE ON RAILROADS With the construction of railroads costing P1-billion per kilometer, Senator Richard J. Gordon called on the government to allot more funds to the construction of new railroad systems across the country and to the restoration of existing railways to usher in further growth and development. During the preliminary budget hearing conducted by the Senate Committee on Finance, Gordon said he wants more support to get the railroads going because it would ratchet up the country's industrial development. "If you build that railway in Mindanao, and that is one of our bills here, and you restore the existing railroads, you can pump-prime the economy and correlate it with the jobs it will create. I don't see that kind of budget support that we need to really ratchet up our industrial development. But if you put in more money and so long as you can start these programs right away, I think there will be a sunrise for all sectors, like construction, engineering, transportation, new investments in new areas, employment and livelihood growth, property development, and more revenue for local government units," he stressed. The senator pointed out that railroads will facilitate the movement of goods and thus contribute to the country's economic development because all the areas that trains will pass through would be able to ship their goods faster and more efficiently. Earlier, Gordon said having a railway in Mindanao would bring in much-needed development in the island that is tagged as "Land of Promise." "Aside from providing cost-efficient and speedy means of travel for people, trains also facilitate trade and commerce through the transport of cargo and agricultural products, promoting tourism, providing jobs, and relieving traffic, among others. Trains contributed largely to the economic development of countries like the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Korea and others. In America, the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869 made possible a six-day trip from New York to San Francisco, helped shape the landscape and geography, brought thousands of westward-bound immigrants to the American West and opened new townships," he said. Gordon made the statement during a hearing that the Senate Committee on Government Corporations and Public Enterprises earlier conducted jointly with the Committees on Public Services; Ways and Means; and Finance on measures calling for the creation of an agency that would oversee the construction and operation of the Mindanao railway; and for the restoration and rehabilitation of the existing lines of the Philippine National Railways. "If we have a train in Mindanao, the construction, alone, would provide jobs. Once it is operational, the farmers there will be able to move their products easier. It would create opportunities for Mindanaoans. I have always believed that the rebellion in Mindanao is spurred by the lack of opportunities produced by the absence of proper governance there. It is difficult for farmers to bring their produce to the market and there is insufficient means of livelihood that's why people there turn to guns," the senator said. "We already had trains as early as the 1880s. We had trains going from the Tutuban Central Terminal to as far as Damortis in La Union and Legazpi City in Bicol. We even had trains in Cebu, Panay and Negros. But we let them go. If we improve our railways system and create new ones, we will not only spur development, but also decongest Metro Manila and the other congested urbanized cities across the country. It will also promote tourism," he added. Gordon's Senate Bill No. 103 or the Mindanao Railway Act aims to create the Mindanao Railway Corporation, an agency that would be authorized to establish and maintain an efficient railway system, will be among the proposed measures to be taken up. In the bill, the senator explained that to invest money and time in the Mindanao Railway System would be risky beyond anything ever before attempted, but once completed, it would link the entire island of Mindanao, forever changing the nature of Mindanao's politics and economy. Press Release September 6, 2016 Hontiveros calls for intensified drive vs Zika virus Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros today called for an intensified government prevention and detection drive against the Zika virus after a sixth case was confirmed by the Department of Health (DOH) yesterday. Hontiveros, Chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, said the DOH should equip the barangay health centers, as they are the frontline service providers that can aid the government in the monitoring and providing of immediate care to those infected with Zika virus especially the pregnant women. "I support the on-going preparations and ground work of the Department of Health to strengthen its information, detection and monitoring drive to prevent the further spread of the disease, and to provide immediate care to those infected with the virus. Kailangan nating suportahan ang ginagawang hakbang ng ating DOH at mga lokal na pamahalaan upang mapanatiling ligtas ang ating pamayanan mula sa komplikasyon na dulot ng Zika virus," Hontiveros said. "Anti-Zika Virus packets" Hontiveros urged the DOH to provide anti-Zika virus packets to barangay health units to protect their constituencies from the virus. The packets should contain mosquito nets, mosquito repellents, condoms and reading materials on the virus. She said the Zika virus is spread by mosquito bites during the day and night, and through unprotected sex from a person who has Zika. 2017 budget The Senator said that she will also consult with the DOH to ensure that funding for these kind of health-related issues are included in the proposed 2017 health budget in order for the government to immediately and properly respond to the needs of the public," she added. Meanwhile, Hontiveros lauded the DOH action in including Zika virus in its Philippine Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response System, which reports within 24 hours all suspected cases of Zika virus to the Epidemiology Bureau of the health department. Hontiveros also advised overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to immediately contact the Philippine embassy or consulates once the epidemic of Zika spreads in their country of work of if they showed symptoms of the virus. She said that Filipinos should seek medical intervention once they experience fever equal to or higher than 38 degrees centigrade for more than two days, conjunctivitis, skin rash, headache, muscle pain, joint pain, body weakness and pain behind the eyes. The Senator said that per DOH advisory, patients who experienced those symptoms within two weeks after traveling from countries with confirmed reported cases of Zika virus and patients who have a history of Guillain-Barre syndrome should seek immediate medical intervention. She, however, said that Filipinos should get accurate information from the DOH and other reputed medical institutions regarding Zika virus and refrain from sharing information from unauthorized sources. Press Release September 6, 2016 On PH-US ties in the wake of President Duterte's recent statements Any statement spoken by a country's leader is always construed as a policy statement. Having said that, I don't see any drastic change in the long-standing friendly relations between the Philippines and the United States. We are one of the United States' strongest allies in the Asia-Pacific region, and it will stay that way. Presidents come after elections and go after their terms end, while alliances between countries remain strong, especially between the United States and the Philippines. I hope our president will soon realize that diplomacy is always part and parcel of a country's foreign policy and being the country's leader, he shapes that policy. Press Release September 6, 2016 Pimentel seeks amendment of Marcos era edict to support fiscal stability Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III wants to amend a Marcos era edict to direct payment of all revenues generated from energy development and exploitation program to the Bureau of Treasury instead of a Special Fund for the government's general use. He filed Senate Bill No. 1110, proposing amendments to Section 8 of Presidential Decree No. 910, S. 1976, "Creating an Energy Development Board, defining its powers and functions, providing funds, therefore, and for other purposes," to support the country's fiscal stability. Pimentel said P. D. 910 provides the President with plenary powers to use the proceeds of the Special Fund for the purpose of financing government energy resource development and exploitation projects and for other similar purposes as may be determined by the Chief Executive. The funds are collected by the Department of Energy from royalties and rentals and other fees on service contracts and other payments on the exploration, development, and exploitation of energy resources that are credited and booked under a special account of the Bureau of Treasury. He said a big part of the Special Fund is the multi billion-peso Malampaya Fund, which is remitted from Shell Philippines Exploration, the private firm that operates the Malampaya natural gas platform in Palawan province. The Fund, however, was dragged in controversies in the past, such as the P900 million allocation of the Department of Agrarian Reform that was allegedly siphoned off to finance bogus non-government organizations by pork barrel scam queen Janet Lim-Napoles. Pimentel also pointed out that the Fund merely sits in the coffers of the Bureau of Treasury, where it is waiting to be used by the government for a limited purpose, which is energy development. He said the President's unqualified power to allocate funds for other purposes as the Chief Executive may deem proper, however, was effectively clipped by the Supreme Court in the case of Belgica vs. Executive Secretary. The SC ruled as unconstitutional the phrase, "and for such other purposes as may be hereafter directed by the President" under Section 8 of P.D. 910, saying it violated the principle of non-delegability of legislative power. Pimentel said the proposed measure intends to abolish the fund and direct instead the payment to the national treasury of such fees and revenues from existing energy development and exploitation programs, subject to the share of local government units, for the government's general use. Press Release September 6, 2016 POE TO PNP: PROBE CHILD DEATHS IN DRUG WAR Sen. Grace Poe asked Philippine National Police Chief Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa to conduct an investigation into the circumstances that led to the killing of a four-year-old girl during a police drug bust in Guihulngan, Negros Oriental last August 30. The senator cited Section 39 of Republic Act 8551 or the PNP Reform and Reorganization Act of 1998 which provides that the Internal Affairs Service of the Philippine National Police (PNP-IAS) shall conduct, motu proprio, automatic investigation of incidents where death, serious physical injury or any violation of human rights occurred in the conduct of a police operation. "The PNP-IAS must ensure that scalawags in the police service are held accountable, more so in cases where children and minors are senselessly caught in the crossfire. Their vulnerability must not be trampled upon," said Poe, who has pressed for the appointment of a civilian IAS head. Althea Fhem Barbon and her father, 31-year old Aldrick died after they were shot by policemen on Larena Street in Barangay Poblacion, a few meters away from their house. Aldrick, who was suspected of selling shabu, died instantly while Althea was taken to a hospital in the capital city of Dumaguete where she died two days later. "The situation where innocent children become victims of the drug war is deplorable and must be addressed without delay," Poe stressed. Poe also followed up on the investigation into the death of five-year-old Danica Mae Garcia, a resident of Dagupan City, Pangasinan, who was earlier killed by a bullet intended for her grandfather. While Poe has expressed full support to the government's anti-drug campaign, she said, "The prime duty of the police force is to serve and protect the people. The protection of life is one of the essentials for the enjoyment of the blessings of democracy." Press Release September 6, 2016 Villar sponsors resolution honoring outstanding police officers Sen. Cynthia Villar sponsored today the Senate resolution commending the country's outstanding police officers. Proposed Senate Resolution No. 101 authored by Villar, congratulates the ten police officers who are awarded the 2016 Metrobank Foundation--Rotary Club of New Manila East (RCNME) Search for the Country's Outstanding Police Officers in Service (COPS). "The presence of these outstanding police officers in service continually reminds us that there are still those who remain true to their vows and duties to faithfully serve and protect the people. They renew our faith in our police force, even when occasionally we hear news about rogue, wayward, corrupt and even criminal policemen," Villar said in her sponsorship speech. The four commissioned officers given the awards are Police Chief Inspector Ryan Lopez Manongdo (Pozorrubio Municipal Police Station); Police Superintendent Jemuel Felongco Siason (Sultan Kudarat Police Provincial Office); Police Senior Superintendent Susan Rabano Jalla (PNP Crime Laboratory, Camp Crame); and Police Superintendent Mario Navarro Rariza, Jr. (Police Community Relations Group, Camp Crame). The six non-commissioned officers awarded are PO2 Fatima Penones Ibias-Lanuza (Minalabac Municipal Police Station); PO3 Nida Lachica Gregas (Aklan Provincial Police Office); SPO1 Mhay Mayuyo Rubio (Bataan Police Provincial Office); SPO 2 Jeffrey Bayotlang Ojao (Cabadbaran Police Station 5); SPO3 Hamidhan Bibio Tebbeng (PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group Mindanao Field Unit, Camp Gen Eduardo Batalla, Zamboanga City); and SPO3 Ezrael Domingo Lantingan (Alabel Municipal Station, Saranggani Province). "Ngayong mga panahon na ito sa ating pinaigting na kampanya kontra droga at kriminalidad, alam natin na nasasabak ang ating mga kapulisan, sa pamununo ni PNP Chief Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa, sa iba't ibang mapanganib na operasyon. Hangad natin ang kanilang kaligtasan at tagumpay laban sa mga kriminal at iba pang mga banta sa kapayapaan at kaayusan sa ating bayan," Villar said. Villar, who was chair of the final board of judges of this year's search for COPS, met with the awardees at the Senate's Padilla Room to personally present the Senate resolution. The ten awardees now join the rank of 128 other outstanding police officers previously awarded. It is the 14th year that COPS awards are given. "It was truly an enriching and inspiring experience for me to hear about the COPS' life stories. It gave me a glimpse of where they draw their drive for integrity and their passion for public service," she said. Villar also thanked the Metrobank Foundation Inc., Philippine Savings Bank and RCNME for recognizing "the gallant men and women in the country's police force, who have excelled in protecting and serving all of us by exemplifying professionalism, competence, dedication and integrity, worthy to be emulated by the rest of their colleagues in the Philippine National Police." "The search for COPS is an expression of our appreciation and gratitude to the efforts of our Philippine police officers in maintaining the peace and order situation in the country, even when they are oftentimes exposed to great adversity," she added. Zubiri supports increased budget for PDEA in Duterte's drug war Senator Zubiri is in favour of increasing the 2017 budget of the PDEA specifically for capital outlay such as purchase of firearms - long and short, protective gear like vests, helmets, night-vision goggles, and vehicles. Zubiri will support to increase PDEA's budget from P1,014,236,000.00 to P1,217,521,000.00, or at 2.04% increase. He also recommends increasing the budget for intelligence gathering and operations. He called on the PDEA "to hire more agents as stated in PDEA's mandate wherein an anti-drugs team should be formed on a per province and city basis nationwide, not like the current practice of assigning a team per region only." Zubiri noted that "a third of the reasons for the low prosecution rate of PDEA cases are procedural like ineffective prosecution due to inefficient handling of evidence, failure of PDEA agents to appear in hearings and weak prosecution service". Zubiri said, however, we see that the agents also deserve more support by way of more lawyers rendering legal services for them. "At the same time, that we support your additional requests in the budget, we hope the PDEA will also support us by cleansing their ranks." An Uber car tricked out with self-driving technology was spotted in San Francisco over the weekend by news site SFist, fueling speculation that the ride-hailing company is testing autonomous taxis right here in its hometown. Uber confirmed that the vehicle in question is a self-driving car from Uber Advanced Technologies Center, the department it set up in Pittsburgh with researchers hired from Carnegie Mellon University. Brock Turner's parents are continuing to support their son. As the former Stanford swimmer whose six-month sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman sparked national outrage signed the sex registry in his home state of Ohio on Tuesday morning, his mother stood behind him, raising her arms and blocking photographers and media with her white knit sweater. A photo of Carleen Turner shielding her son from NBC News makes a powerful statement about a parent's will to stand by a child who is morally culpable and has committed a crime. Both Turner's parents wrote letters to the court before their son's sentencing. Carleen wrote that prison or jail would be a "death sentence," and his father, Dan Turner, said his son was "paying a steep price for 20 minutes of action." When Turner, an all-American swimmer who was an Olympic hopeful, was convicted in Santa Clara County Superior Court of three counts of sexual assault in late March, he faced up to 10 years in prison. The judge, Aaron Persky, opted for a lighter penalty of only six months, saying a stiffer sentence would have a "severe impact" on the 20-year-old. Last Friday, he was released from jail in San Jose after serving only three months due to good behavior. He then traveled to Ohio where he registered as a sex offender under his family's address in Sugarcreek Township. British Airways flights were gradually returning to normal Tuesday after a still-unexplained computer problem disabled the airlines self-service check-in kiosks for several hours at a number of international airports, causing significant delays. The extent of the computer problem, which emerged late Monday in North America, was not immediately clear. The airline said the issue had been resolved by technicians early Tuesday in London. The check-in system is now working, and customers are being checked in as normal in London and overseas, although it may take longer than usual, the airline said. David Zalubowski/Associated Press We apologize to our customers for the delay and we appreciate their patience. Our colleagues are doing everything possible to check in customers for their journeys. San Francisco International Airport was among those affected, as was Chicago OHare International Airport and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Travelers said that bottled water and snacks had been distributed at some airports as frustrated customers faced long lines to check in. That did not stop customers at U.S. airports from expressing their frustration on Twitter. The airline responded to each Twitter post with some version of its statement to the media. The troubles at British Airways were not the only ones to cause travel headaches Tuesday. Dozens of flights to and from London City Airport, near the heart of the British capitals financial district, were canceled or diverted after a small number of portesters from the group Black Lives Matter staged a sit-in, blocking the airports only runway for several hours. The protest, which began before dawn, is the latest in a series of demonstrations across Britain by the group against social injustices like police brutality and reported increases in discrimination against migrants since the countrys vote to withdraw from the European Union. The Metropolitan Police said that officers had arrested nine protesters who had erected a tripod-shaped structure on the runway and locked themselves to it. It was not immediately clear how the group had managed to breach the perimeter of the airport, part of which borders the Thames. The police said that those arrested would be charged with aggravated trespassing, being unlawfully in a restricted zone and breaching the airports bylaws. London City Airport, which serves close to 12,000 passengers a day, announced shortly after midday that the runway had reopened and that flights had resumed. This has been a difficult summer for airlines, many of which have had to contend with technical problems that lead to delays, cancellations and thousands of angry customers. Last month, Delta Air Lines canceled more than 1,500 flights after the failure of equipment in Atlanta led to the worldwide shutdown of its computer systems. A similar malfunction affected Southwest Airlines in July, forcing it to cancel about 2,300 flights over four days. For eight years, Peter Coles had an economists dream job at Harvard Business School. His research focused on the design of efficient markets, an important and growing field that has influenced such things as Treasury bill auctions and decisions on who receives organ transplants. He even got to work with Alvin Roth, who won a Nobel in economic science in 2012. But prestige was not enough to keep Coles at Harvard. In 2013, he moved to the Bay Area. He now works at Airbnb, the online lodging marketplace, one of a number of tech companies luring economists with the promise of big sets of data and big salaries. Silicon Valley is turning to the dismal science in its never-ending quest to squeeze more money out of old markets and build new ones. In turn, the economists say they are eager to explore the digital world for fresh insights into timeless economic questions of pricing, incentives and behavior. Its an absolute candy store for economists, Coles said. The pay, of course, is a lot better than you would find in academia, where economists typically earn $125,000 to $150,000 a year. In tech companies, pay for an economist with a doctorate will usually come in at more than $200,000 a year, the companies say. With bonuses and stock grants, compensation can easily double in a few years. Senior economists who manage teams can make even more. Businesses have been hiring economists for years. Usually, they are asked to study macroeconomic trends topics like recessions and currency exchange rates and help their employers deal with them. But what the tech economists are doing is different: Instead of thinking about national or global trends, they study the data trails of consumer behavior to help digital companies make smart decisions that strengthen their online marketplaces in areas like advertising, movies, music, travel and lodging. Tech firms including Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft, and up-and-comers like Airbnb and Uber, hope that the improved efficiency will translate into more profit. At Netflix, Randall Lewis, an economic research scientist, is finely measuring the effectiveness of advertising. His work also gets at the correlation-or-causation conundrum in economic behavior: What actions occur coincidentally after people see ads, and what actions are most likely caused by the ads? At Airbnb, Coles is researching the marketplace of hosts and guests for insights, both to help build the business and to understand behavior. One study focuses on procrastination a subject of great interest to behavioral economists by looking at bookings. Are they last-minute? Made weeks or months in advance? Do booking habits change by age, gender or country of origin? They are microeconomic experts, heavy on data and computing tools like machine learning and writing algorithms, said Tom Beers, executive director of the National Association for Business Economics. Understanding how digital markets work is getting a lot of attention now, said Hal Varian , Googles chief economist. But, he said, I thought it was fascinating years ago. Varian, 69, is the godfather of the tech industrys in-house economists. Once a well-known professor at UC Berkeley, Varian showed up at Google in 2002, part time at first, but soon became an employee. He helped refine the AdWords marketplace, where advertisers bid to have their ads shown on search pages, based on the words users type into Googles search engine. Googles insight was to avoid giving the best ad placement to the highest bidder. Varian worked to develop a different model for ad placement, calculating the probability that a user will click on an ad and find the ad relevant. It was a classic example of smart market design. Since then, Varian and his team have applied their economic perspective to Googles ad markets, the companys unusual auction for its initial public offering, bidding strategies for wireless spectrum, patent auctions and purchases, and models for new businesses like driverless cars. For the moment, Amazon seems to be the most aggressive recruiter of economists. It even has an Amazon Economists website for soliciting resumes. In a video on the site, Patrick Bajari, the companys chief economist, says the economics team has contributed to decisions that have had multibillion-dollar impacts for the company. Another Amazon jobs site lists openings for economists. As of Friday, there were 34. Seeing this emerging job market, the National Association for Business Economics held its first meeting for technology company economists in April in San Francisco. Another is set for October in Silicon Valley. Academia is also starting to take notice and adapt. Its all happening so fast, its hard to keep up, said Susan Athey , an expert in the economics of technology at the Stanford Graduate School of Business who is also a consultant to Microsoft. Many economics students also take computer science courses, and some major in both. But a new course this fall at Yale, called Designing the Digital Economy, seeks to blend economics and computer science in the way digital economists do at tech companies. The instructor is Glen Weyl, an economist at Microsoft Research, and the course will have guest lecturers from Amazon, Pandora and Uber. The course is a pilot project for curriculum change and perhaps a joint degree program focused on digital markets and their design. Dirk Bergemann, chairman of the Yale economics department, explained that economics is concerned with efficiency, prices and incentives, while computer science focused on algorithms and complexity. In digital marketplaces, you are trying to address both sets of problems, he said. Weyl predicts that the rise of digital marketplaces in the economy is just getting underway. Uber in ride-hailing and Airbnb in room-renting, he said, may well be just the start of a redefinition of private property, made possible by digital technology. Things, according to Weyl, will increasingly be rented as services instead of owned. That is the long-term vision of driverless cars: When a vehicle just shows up on command, far fewer cars will sit in driveways. Transportation efficiency, resource consumption and industries will all be transformed, he said. The same could be true for household goods, Weyl said. One possible situation: After you use your espresso machine for breakfast, a drone comes to pick it up, and you rent it out for the day. A current market-design challenge for Amazon and Microsoft is their big cloud computing services. These digital services, for example, face a peak-load problem, much as electric utilities do. How do you sell service at times when there is a risk some customers may be bumped off? Run an auction for what customers are willing to pay for interruptible service? Or offer set discounts for different levels of risk? Both Amazon and Microsoft are working on that now. Economics influences rather than determines decisions, said Preston McAfee, Microsofts chief economist, who previously worked at Google and Yahoo. High school bullies in Omaha, Neb., chose a deaf student as their victim in a sickening incident that has gained national attention, KMTV reported. The mean-spirited students dumped the contents of Alex Hernandez's backpack into a toilet. Alex, a senior, had left his backpack on a chair while getting some food Wednesday in the cafeteria of Burke High School. When he returned, it was gone. Alex told school administrators, but a search proved fruitless. However, when school security video was examined, two male students were seen walking off with his bag. "Those students think it's okay to bully a deaf student, but it's not. It's not okay to bully someone who is disabled, deaf or hard of hearing," Hernandez told KMTV. "Or anyone for that matter." The backpack contained his tablet, a debit card, school supplies, a battery for his cochlear implant and his homework. It was the homework that really bothered him. The toilet dousing ruined his English project. "I was very upset because I know I work really hard on my project and homework because I just want to make my mom to be happy and know that I did a good job on the homework," he told KMTV. According to the station, school administrators told Alex's mother that the students who took the backpack were eventually identified and that one has been suspended. The pair claim they didn't know Alex was deaf. The incident remains under investigation. Meanwhile Alex's mother has pulled the boy out of Burke High so he can transfer to another high school. Alex's sister and some of his friends set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to replace the ruined items. The goal was reached, and the account has since been closed. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 1 of 5 Show More Show Less 2 of 5 Jason Miller Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle Show More Show Less 5 of 5 Bay Area punk stars Green Day have announced a broad new international tour, beginning later this month in St. Louis, Missouri and eventually heading abroad to Italy, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The rockers, who last year were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, are celebrating the release of their 12th studio album, "Revolution Radio" with a slew of (relatively) "intimate" club shows in North America. Green Day will play Berkeley's 1,400-capacity UC Theatre on October 20. NEW YORK Former Fox News Channel anchor Gretchen Carlson settled her sexual harassment lawsuit against Roger Ailes for a reported $20 million and a public apology Tuesday, ending the case that triggered the downfall of Foxs chief executive. Filed two months ago, Carlsons lawsuit alleged that she was demoted and let go at Fox because she rejected Ailes sexual advances and complained about workplace harassment. In a statement, Fox parent company 21st Century Fox said, We regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect and dignity that she and all of our colleagues deserve. Carlson was paid $20 million, according to a person familiar with the settlement who spoke on condition of anonymity because the terms of the agreement were confidential. Ailes did not pay any of the settlement, said his lawyer, Susan Estrich. The former Miss America spent several years on the Fox & Friends morning show before being shifted to the afternoon and told in June that her contract wasnt being renewed. Carlson said she is ready to move on to the next chapter in her life and promised to work to help women in the workplace. She thanked all the brave women who came forward to tell their own stories and others who supported her. All women deserve a dignified and respectful workplace, she said. Ailes, who denied Carlsons allegations when the lawsuit was filed, had no statement Tuesday, his lawyer said. Carlsons case led 21st Century Fox to launch its own investigation, and other women came forward with stories of being harassed by Ailes, including Fox News star Megyn Kelly. Two weeks later, Ailes was gone, reportedly with a $40 million payout, and he is said to be informally advising Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Ailes was hired by Rupert Murdoch to build Fox News from scratch in 1996. He built it into a dominant news network and a force in Republican politics. Also Tuesday, Greta Van Susteren abruptly quit after 14 years as a prime-time anchor at Fox News, saying that Fox has not felt like home to me for a few years. MINNEAPOLIS A Minnesota man confessed Tuesday to abducting and killing 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling nearly 27 years ago, recounting a crime that long haunted the state with details that included Jacob asking right after he was taken: What did I do wrong? Danny Heinrich, 53, of Annandale made the admission as he pleaded guilty to a federal child pornography charge that could keep him locked up for at least 20 years, with civil commitment possible after that. Asked whether he abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered Jacob, Heinrich said: Yes, I did. In the years after Jacobs disappearance, his mother, Patty, became a nationally known advocate for missing children. A 1994 federal law named for Jacob requires states to establish sex offender registries. With Patty and Jacobs father, Jerry Wetterling, in a packed courtroom, Heinrich described donning a mask and confronting Jacob and two friends with a revolver near Jacobs central Minnesota home of St. Joseph on Oct. 22, 1989. Heinrich said he told the two friends to run, handcuffed Jacob and drove him to a gravel pit near Paynesville, where he assaulted him. Afterward, Jacob asked whether he was taking him home. I said I cant take you all the way home, Heinrich said. He started to cry. I said, Dont cry. Heinrich said at some point a patrol car with siren and lights passing nearby caused him to panic. He said he pulled out his revolver, which had not been loaded, and put two rounds in the gun. He said he told Jacob to turn around. He held the gun to the boys head and pulled the trigger. The gun didnt fire. Heinrich said he pulled the trigger a second time, the gun fired and Jacob fell to the ground. He said he buried Jacob about 100 yards away. He said he returned to the site about a year later and saw that Jacobs jacket and some bones had become exposed. I gathered up as much as I could and put it in the bag and transported it across the highway to a field, and reburied the remains, he said. Sobbing could be heard in the courtroom as Heinrich described the crime. Heinrich led authorities to Jacobs buried remains in a central Minnesota field last week. His remains were identified Saturday. Its incredibly painful to know his last days, last hours, last minutes, Patty Wetterling said. To us Jacob was alive, until they found him. Prosecutors said the Wetterling family was consulted on and approved the plea agreement, which required Heinrich to give a detailed confession and tell them where to find Jacob. Authorities named Heinrich as a person of interest in Jacobs disappearance in October when they announced the child pornography charges. Jacobs abduction shattered childhood innocence for many rural Minnesotans, changing the way parents let their kids roam. His smiling face was burned into Minnesotas psyche, appearing on countless posters and billboards over the years. PHILADELPHIA Prosecutors hoping to paint actor Bill Cosby as a serial predator at his upcoming sexual assault trial sought Tuesday to put on testimony from 13 other women who say Cosby gave them quaaludes, other drugs or alcohol before molesting them. The criminal case against the 79-year-old entertainer involves a single 2004 encounter at his home near Philadelphia with former Temple University employee Andrea Constand. The presiding judge at a hearing Tuesday vowed to start the trial by June5. However, Montgomery County Judge Steven ONeill did not immediately rule on any of the pretrial disputes over evidence, including the prosecution effort to call other women as witnesses. Under Pennsylvania law, they could be allowed to testify to show an alleged pattern of behavior, even if no charges were ever filed. Prosecutors said they reviewed accusations made by 50 Cosby accusers and concluded that 13 said they were also drugged or intoxicated and then molested by Cosby. One woman said she declined his offer of quaaludes but accepted Champagne that she believed was spiked. She later woke up naked in a hotel room and said she had been sexually assaulted. Another said she took quaaludes from him, while a third said she believed her drink was spiked with the powerful, now-banned sedative. The defense is expected to oppose any testimony from other accusers. The defense will also ask to have the trial moved to another county, given that the decision over whether Cosby should be arrested became a flash point in last falls election for district attorney. Cosby was arrested on Dec. 30, as incoming prosecutor Kevin Steele eyed the approaching 12-year deadline to file felony charges. Constand told police that Cosby gave her three unmarked pills and then molested her as she drifted in and out of consciousness. Cosbys lawyers meanwhile asked the judge Tuesday to suppress a 2005 telephone conversation recorded by Constands mother in Toronto. Cosby had called her from California. The defense said the call violated Pennsylvanias two-party consent law on wiretaps. But prosecutors who played the tape in court argued that Cosby said he heard beeps on the call and asked if he was being taped. Gianna Constand denied it. Cosby in the conversation described the sex act as digital penetration but refused to say what pills he had given her daughter. In his deposition, he later said he feared sounding like a dirty old man on the call. Cosby was arrested in December after the investigation into the allegation Constand first brought in 2005 was reopened, following disclosure of the entertainers deposition and a stream of new allegations by women going back decades. Islam Karimov Uzbekistan Vladimir Putin Uzbekistan has long been the most stable country in a region that has struggled to establish itself on solid ground in the decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But that stability could be fragile in the coming months as the country wrangles with its first transfer of power since it gained independence in 1991. Uzbekistan announced on Friday that its longtime president, Islam Karimov, is dead; he was 78. His health had been declining in recent years, and his daughter announced earlier this week that he had suffered a brain hemorrhage. Karimov was an authoritarian ruler who kept tight control over Uzbekistan's population, crushing any dissent and preventing extreme Islamists from gaining too much power in the country. Uzbekistan's location near Afghanistan and other less-stable countries in central Asia makes it a potential target for radical jihadists in the region. It's not immediately clear who will take over for him, but if the transition isn't smooth, the country could see a vacuum open up. "It's certainly something to be concerned about, and if there's no easy and quick consensus on who's going to be leading Uzbekistan, that means the transition might not go as smoothly as hoped," Paul Stronski, a senior associate in the Russia and Eurasia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Business Insider. "This has all been happening behind the scenes." Stronski wrote earlier this year that Uzbekistan's "political system, security apparatus, and economy will be put to the test in the coming years." "The country's ability to weather that test will have implications for the rest of the region," he wrote. Stronski added: "Its success will make it possible for Uzbekistan's neighbors to continue along their current trajectories. However, if it stumbles and creates any sort of instability in the heart of Central Asia, the consequences for the entire region and, perhaps, even for key outside players like Russia and China could be dire." Story continues Uzbekistan But so far, all signs point to as smooth a transition as could be expected. "The less we know about what's going on behind the scenes the smoother it is," Stronski said. And so far, the political transition "seems to be going on behind the scenes." "My sense is this is more of a long-term problem more of a short-term problem," he added. Geopolitical expert and Eurasia Group President Ian Bremmer agreed. "It's probably a smooth transition near-term because all the likely would-be successors want to protect their power," Bremmer told Business Insider in an email. The most likely successors are Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev or the head of the country's national security service, which Bremmer compared to Russia's Federal Security Service. "If either come to power, the key elites will get behind them, at least for the near term," Bremmer said. "If it's somebody else, they'll need the security services behind them. There's little likelihood of popular dissent in that scenario, and any demonstrations would be suppressed quickly (and brutally)." Still, because it's unclear who will take over and how they will rule, there's uncertainty. "We're in unknown territory," Stronski said. "This is a very repressive state This is a state that knows how to use its power." But, Stronski added, "anybody stepping in is not going to be the same father and grandfather of the country" that Karimov was. "So it needs maneuvering to figure out who is acceptable and can pass the legitimacy test with the population," he said. Uzbekistan Bremmer also said he's concerned for the long-term situation in Uzbekistan. "Longer term is a different story; Karimov's rule has been unquestioned for decades," he said. "Managing intra-regime conflicts as they emerge will be an open question for whoever his successor is." And with the new ruler, Russia is likely to attempt to bring Uzbekistan "closer to its orbit," Stronski said. "I think the Russians are watching carefully," he said. "Their first interest is stability, and their second interest is to make sure it doesn't move too far from them, particularly toward the West." Uzbekistan hasn't been oriented as closely to Russia as some other post-Soviet republics, but that could start to change. "Russia will see upside from a transition," Bremmer said. "Uzbekistan [was] kept arm's length from most Russia-led regional institutions under Karimov; the post-Karimov Uzbekistan will be warmer (particularly if the pro-Moscow prime minister takes over)." In any case, Uzbekistan is a notoriously opaque country so it might be a while before we see how the transition of power plays out. NOW WATCH: Clinton just released a brutal ad linking Trump to white supremacists More From Business Insider A man named Mack Yearwood just made police work a little bit easier for the authorities in Stuart, Florida. Yearwood, who was wanted in connection to a recent battery case, was found very soon after Stuart police began looking, thanks in part to the fact that the accused used a "Wanted" photo (for a previous infraction) as his Facebook profile picture. "Facebook is a great way to communicate and connect with old friends and family," Cpl. Brian Bossio wrote on the Stuart Police Department's Facebook. "If you are wanted by the police, it's probably not a good idea to use the 'Wanted of the Week' poster of yourself as your profile pic." Bossio and the rest of the Stuart Police had been searching for Yearwood since late August, when an unidentified victim called the authorities about an alleged battery incident. When officers arrived to investigate, the victim identified Yearwood and offered an address as to where they might be able to find him. As investigators began to look into the man, they discovered two key pieces of information: Yearwood already had two other outstanding warrants in Florida, and Yearwood was using the poster as his Facebook profile photo. The story gets even better. When police went to arrest Yearwood at his brother's house, they discovered him sleeping. If that wasn't helping along what was already an easy enough collar, there's this, per Bossio: "When he was putting his jeans on, a bag of weed fell out." Yearwood was also charged with possession of marijuana. Alyssa Pereira is a staff writer for SFGATE. Follow her here on Twitter. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The annual mass exodus starts Monday afternoon from Yosemite, Tahoe and other marquee sites for getaways in Northern California. Vacationers will head home, with many considering summer done. Park planners and rangers at Yosemite will use the break to implement a new strategy in Yosemite Valley as an experiment to see whether they can reduce congestion on roads and at parking lots. Northside Drive and Southside Drive will become two-way roads, the biggest change. In addition, Sentinel Drive will close at the Sentinel Park Area, and signs will direct RVs and buses to park west of Yosemite Valley Lodge. A parking area known as Village Day-Use (also called Camp 6), where cars often get jammed, will be temporarily closed. In addition, lower speed limits will be posted in several areas, rangers said. That is significant because many visitors bring their city driving styles with them to the park; 18 bears have been hit by cars this year; 37 were hit last year. Most drivers have ignored the new signs to slow down and watch out for wildlife; maybe new speed limits with large fines will help clarify the message. Everything else will stay the same, and all facilities will remain open. Yosemite had 4.15 million visitors last year and is expected to roughly match that this year after a great spring and early summer for waterfalls. Most of the visitors arrive from Memorial Day to Labor Day, plus weekends on the shoulder seasons. On virtually any summer day, 22,000 people are jammed into about 2 square miles on the valley floor. Earlier this year, one short-term experiment concerning the lack of parking made 150 parking spaces available through a reservation service, such as is used for campsites. Weekend numbers stay high in Yosemite Valley well into October. On weekdays, however, the park finally starts to breathe a little. This is when many people from Europe, Japan and elsewhere around the world will plan their once-in-a-lifetime trip to Yosemite Valley. In November, park use finally lightens, even on many weekends, when cold nights, shorter days and chances of rain cut into visits by Bay Area, Sacramento-area and San Joaquin Valley residents. Capt. Chris McCool 90th Flying Training Squadron instructor pilot and native of Anderson, Indiana, has been in the Air Force for five years and is the Instructor of the Week at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, for the week of Sept. 6-12, 2016. Most significant accomplishments: USAF Cadet of the Year, 2010. Distinguished Graduate U.S. Air Force Academy, 2011. Harvard Kennedy School Presidential Fellowship, 2011-2013. Married Monica Sheikholeslami, Sept. 28, 2014. 90th FTS Company Grade Officer of the 4th Quarter, 2015 and 2nd Quarter 2016. T38 Observer of the 4th Quarter, 2015. Distinguished Graduate Squadron Officer School, 2016. Class 16-07 Most Value Instructor Pilot, Aug. 2016. Airmans story: I graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 2011 and was selected to attend Harvard Kennedy School for a Masters in Public Policy, McCool said. There I wrote my thesis on Agricultural Value Chains in Southern Afghanistan. After completing my Masters Degree in 2013, I came to ENJJPT (Euro NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program) and eventually earned my pilot wings in September of 2014. I have been an instructor pilot since March of 2015 teaching NATOs next generation of fighter pilots the basics of aerial flight. Supervisor comments: As a T-38 Flight commander, Captain McCool supervises the training of 11 future NATO fighter pilots, said Lt. Col. Jeremy Putman, 90th FTS, director of operations. The flight is the primary unit used to execute the pilot training mission so the flight commander role is absolutely key to the success of the enterprise. Captain McCool brings energy and an innovative spirit to this vital position. As a result of his leadership, his students demonstrate commendable military bearing and technical knowledge. In addition to leading his flight in an outstanding manner, Captain McCool contributes to the success of the squadron as well. In order to prepare for an upcoming increase in student load, he engineered a centralized scheduling process that maximizes the use of the squadrons instructor pilot force. BENGALURU: The road seems to have come to an abrupt end for Nexus, which was started by Google six years to offer affordable stock OS devices. It slowly and gradually turned into a high-end brand. This isnt the only time that we have heard about re-branding. Remember Android Silver? However, if Android Central reports are to be believed then it may be finally happening. Also, it is believed that Google is coming out with a phone that isnt Nexus. Quoting people familiar with the matter, the news site reports that a different name for the brand is in the pipeline this year. The new model is set to feature additional software along with a fine-tuned UI on Vanilla Android. There will be a distinct difference compared to the Android experience brought by the Nexus program. However, there is no word on whether we have heard the last about Nexus, or Google will continue to churn out these devices under the brand name too. Google, which is largely seen as a software company is now taking keen interest in design and hardware development as well. As it is with Nexus, companies like HTC and Samsung provide the hardware and services while Google is in charge of the software part. If reports are to be believed, upcoming Google-branded phones could be manufactured in-house by Google. The company is also planning to hit the market with Google-branded smart watches and a Google-branded tablet, along with smartphones. Hired from Motorola in April, Rick Osterloh leads a newly formed hardware division, which will be in charge of Google-branded hardware. Google is already in the hardware market in the form of the Chromecast, Chromebook Pixel and more. But a smartphone from the Google stable would be their first venture in the smartphone arena. Nexus, as a brand, had started to falter from its path since 2014 and the gradual move towards comparatively expensive devices had the company reportedly ponder over the Android Silver brand. So, dose it signal the end of the Nexus saga? Read Also: Alcatel Unveils Stand-Alone VR Headset Lenovo Unveils Stunning Devices At IFA 2016 In Germany NEW YORK: In a bid to repair the damage done by the global recall of its flagship premium device Galaxy Note 7 over batteryfaults, Samsung said they would start exchanging the smartphones as early as next week and customers could swap it with either the Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge. Samsung late Friday issued an official statement on exchange of the Galaxy Note 7 devices for customers in the US. "The US carriers have already halted sales and offered ways for customers who have already purchased the device to get refunds. Now Samsung has announced its own exchange programme, which will provide customers with a new device as soon as next week," The Verge reported on Saturday. According to Samsung's exchange programme, customers can either exchange current Galaxy Note 7device with a new Galaxy Note 7 as early as next week or they can exchange current Galaxy Note 7 for a Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge and replacement of any Note 7 specific accessories with a refund of the price difference between devices. "In addition, affected customers will receive a $25 credit on their phone bill or a $25 gift card for their troubles. Samsung did not say when the Note 7 will be available for general purchase," the report added. The global recall was a setback for Samsung and somewhat happy news for Apple as it prepared to launch iPhone 7 (on September 7), experts said. After just two weeks on sale and 35 faulty phone batteries reported so far, Samsung on Friday issued a global recall of Note 7 and promised to replace every unit already sold. "To date (as of September 1) there have been 35 cases that have been reported globally and we are currently conducting a thorough inspection with our suppliers to identify possible affected batteries in the market," the company had said in a statement. According to experts, this is bad news especially at a time when Samsung had the momentum going in its favour. "Market sentiments are not with Apple at the moment and Samsung had to have a good run in months to come, buoyed by its super-successful S7 and S7 Edge devices and now Note 7. The global recall news is a godsend for Apple which is prepared to unveil another flagship device iPhone 7 on September 7," Tarun Pathak, Senior Analyst, Mobile Devices and Ecosystems, Counterpoint Research in New Delhi, told IANS. Giving a refreshing look to its Note series, the South Korean giant last month launched itsGalaxy Note 7 in India for Rs 59,900 with iris biometric scanner for enhanced security, upgraded S Pen and a dual-curved screen. Read Also: Apple All Set to Unveil its 7th variant of iPhone on September 7 HTC to Release iphone-Inspired Smartphones Soon NEW DELHI: Smartphone maker Xolo will ramp up its 4G portfolio with handsets priced between Rs 4,500-10,000 over the next few months to cash in on the burgeoning demand for LTE-supporting devices following the commercial rollout of RelianceJio's service. Xolo, a sub-brand of home-grown handset maker Lava, is also looking at entering the wearables category this fiscal. "Come September, we will launch one model a month. Going ahead, all our products will be 4G-enabled. The new phones will be priced between Rs 4,500 and Rs 10,000," Xolo Business Head Sunil Raina told PTI. He added the company will not compete just on the basis of pricing but also the experience. Raina said 4G handsets already comprise about 70 per cent of the smartphone shipment in the country. In India, operators like Bharti Airteland Vodafone already offer 4G services, which allows faster access and download speeds to users. Indiais one of the fastest growing smartphone markets globally. According to research firm IDC, 27.5 million smartphones were shipped in April-June 2016 quarter. In the said quarter, RelianceJio - which will roll out its commercial services tomorrow - has already cornered 6.8 per cent share of the market in its test phase. While RelianceJio has its own LYF brand of smartphones, it has also partnered 20 brands (including Lava and Xolo) to offer unlimited data and voice calling for 90 days to customers of these companies. However, from tomorrow, RelianceJio's offer of free voice calling and cheap data tariff can be available across all 4G-enabled handsets. Talking about competition, Raina said, "software will be our way of differentiation. "We have a team of 30 people in Bengaluru who are working on this to ensure our customers have a wonderful experience on our devices," he said. Raina said the company will also foray into the wearables category but avoid TVs as of now. "We have watches in the planning stage. You don't have to be first in the segment, we were waiting for the segment to mature and we think it has grown. We should be able to launch wearables within this fiscal but not categories like TVs," he added. Read Also: Apple All Set to Unveil its 7th variant of iPhone on September 7 HTC to Release iphone-Inspired Smartphones Soon NEW DELHI; Chinese tech major Lenovo has become the second-biggest smartphone brand in terms of value ahead of Apple, Micromax and Oppo with a market share of 9.1 pct, according to the research firm IDC. Besides, the market share in terms of units sold of the company surged in the second quarter, making it the third largest smartphone brand in India, with share of 7.7 pct, the report by IDC said. According to IDC's recent report released this month, both Motorola (now owned by Lenovo) and Lenovocombine emerged as the number two player in the second quarter of the financial year 2015-16. Lenovo had acquired Motorola in October 2014 from Google. With a growth of 24.5 pct over the last year, Lenovo group captured 7.7 pct of market share by units sold while the market grew by only 3.7 per cent, according to the research firm's quarterly mobile phone tracker. "This is a huge milestone achieved by us, which has motivated and encouraged us further to go against all odds by creating meaningful and innovative, technologically-advanced products that enhance the consumer mobile experience," said Sudhin Mathur, Director-Smartphones, LenovoIndia. The company recently launched a series of smartphones like, K5 PLUS, ZUK Z1, Moto G4 Plus, and Moto X Play, among others in India. Read Also: Madhya Pardesh An Ideal Destination For Investment: USIBC Prez Cloud Spending In India To Cross $10 Bn By 2020: Zinnov HANGZHOU: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday raised the issue of India's membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) during a bilateral meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan here two months after Ankara joined a group of countries to block India's bid to the 48-member bloc. The meeting between the two on the sidelines of the G20 Summit here was their second after Modi visited Turkey in November last year and held a bilateral meeting with Erdogan. On June 22-23, Turkey had teamed up with countries, including Brazil, Austria and Ireland, that had opposed India's bid for membership of NSG at a plenary in Seoul. "The issue was discussed," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup told reporters here after the meeting. Modi is also understood to have discussed the NSGissue with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday. Beijing had led the bloc of 10 countries that opposed New Delhi's entry to the elite nuclear trade grouping. China opposes India's entry to the NSG because of its non-signatory status to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Read Also: India To Use More Satellites For Public Services, E-Governance: ISRO chief 'India Ranks 75th Among 133 Developing Countries With Regard' HANGZHOU: Prime Minister Narendra Modion MondayMethis British counterpart Theresa May here, saying India viewed the Ukan important partner despite its decision to quit the EU. This was Modi's first bilateral with May, who succeeded David Cameron after he stepped down following the Brexit vote in June. "PM underlined that even after BREXIT, the Uk remained as important a partner for Indiaas before," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup told reporters here. The issue of terrorism also figured in the Modi-May meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit. "PM said terrorism is the biggest threat and danger to the world and knows no boundaries. Alluding to theUkPM's previous stint as Home Secretary, he said she was well aware of the dangers of terrorism," Swarup quoted Modi saying. The leaders also discussed enhancing counter terrorism cooperation. Modi told May that the meeting of the India-UkJoint Working Group on Counter Terrorism had been very useful. He called for greater collaboration in the area of cyber security and intelligence sharing. May said she was keen to support Modi's vision for Indiaand take forward the broader strategic partnership, including the decisions taken during Modi's visit to the Ukin November. She also underlined the great importance the Ukattached to the Indian diaspora in UK. He sought Modi's suggestions on further strengthening the partnership, particularly trade and investment ties with the UK. He referred to the recent launch of the HSBC Corporate Rupee Bond on the London Stock Exchange. India, he said, also needed more Uk investment and participation in Make in India. The Prime Minister also referred to the recent passage of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, which, he said, could further boost trade and investment ties with the UK. Modi said he was working on making it easy to do business with India. May said she supported Modi's reform agenda and the Uk was keen to participate in Make in India, Smart Cities and the Skill India Programme among others. The two leaders discussed further enhancement of the defence partnership, with Modi inviting British defence firms to take part in Make in India. Modi also touched on UK's visa policy. "In particular he said that the new Uk regulations could have negative impact on Indian working professionals wishing to visit the Ukfor short term business visits" Swarup said. Modi invited May to visit India. Read Also: India To Use More Satellites For Public Services, E-Governance: ISRO chief 'India Ranks 75th Among 133 Developing Countries With Regard' HANGZHOU: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today Met Deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman here and held discussions on UNSC reform and on enhancing bilateral ties in various areas including energy and maritime security. In the meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit, Modi said the Saudi Deputy Crown Prince has been a "strong friend of India", sources said. "They held a detailed discussion on UN Security Council reform, with both leaders emphasising the need for expansion of the UNSC to include more permanent members," they said. The prime minister called for strengthened partnership with Saudi Arabiain various areas such as maritime security, infrastructure, low-cost housing and energy sector. He invited greater Saudi investment, mainly through the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), and sought greater cooperation in infrastructure, particularly modernization of railway stations, according to the sources. Modi told the Saudi Deputy Crown Prince India could also become a source of food supply to the oil-rich Gulf Kingdom. The deputy crown prince, who is the son of Saudi King Salman, holds the key defence and economic policy portfolios. Read Also: G-20 Leaders Pledge To Roll Back Protectionist Measures By 2018-End Tanusha Of MIT Bags GE Global Innovation 2nd Prize BENGALURU: Tanusha Goswami, a third year Electronics and Communication student of Manipal Institute of Technology made Manipal University proud by bagging the second prize at the GE contest for global universities called, 'The Unimpossible Missions: University Edition' held in April 2016. The competition received over 575 entries from over 375 institutions and 35 countries. And, as expected, the competition was fierce. Three winners were selected for their brilliant and possibly feasible approaches to solving their Unimpossible Mission. Tanusha won the second prize and an internship with GE in Bengaluru. The students were asked to select an idiom and think of an experiment to debunk that idiom using GE technology, and, Tanusha focused on the Spanish saying "Cuando llueva pa' arriba" (When rain falls upwards). Her experiment used magnetic fields to make water drops go in the opposite direction. Ms Sukla Chandra, General Manager, Global Research Director, PACE, John F Welch Technology Center, Whitefield Bangalore handed over the prize to Tanusha at a felicitation function held at the AC Seminar Hall of MIT on Saturday. Giving a brief about how GE conceptualized the idea of conducting a competition for university students, Ms Sukla said, "We thought of doing experiments to prove that the impossible can be done." "A snowball was put into molten metal in a container, invented by GE Researchers. It was found that the snow did not melt." That led to the idea, "Why don't we impress upon the students of universities to come and participate in experiments to prove that impossible can be done. The thought gave rise to this competition," Sukla added. Dr G.K. Prabhu, Director of Manipal Institute of Technology while congratulating Tanusha for her achievement assured the students that the institute would go all out to ensure that the dream of every child was fulfilled. "Students have come here with a dream, we'll ensure that it is nurtured and fulfilled," he said and thanked GE for the support and recognition." "I am excited. I got butterflies in my stomach," was how Tanusha exclaimed when asked if she was excited. "The competition had a deadline of June 15 and the class was told about it in May. I started researching, considering different options with different ideas. After a lot of thinking, I finally selected a Spanish idiom. I chose the Spanish idiom because I know the language. Once that was final I started working on the experiment." She thanked Dr Somashekara Bhat, Professor & Head, Department of E&C for his support. "In July I got information that I could be a potential winner and I had to fill few forms." The rest is history. Ms Sukla also made a mention of the prestigious 'GE Edison Innovation Competition' organized at the John F. Welch Technology Centre (JFWTC) Bangalore in 2008 which was won by MIT. The 5-member student team named 'Fastrack Developers' comprising Vasuki Prasad, Rupan Sarkar, Pranab Purkayastha, Rahul Sharma and Gaurav Kumar Barman with Prof. Dr. Radhakrishna S. Aithal as the mentor, presented 'TRAIN BLAZER', a reliable, rugged working (approved & certified by the Indian Railway Authorities) on communication system to record and display maximum information of the train passing through a station without stopping and to determine the characteristics of the rolling stock (hot axle detection, derailment possibility etc.) in a cost-effective way. Read Also: All that You Need to Know About the Benefits and Services of Reliance Jio 4G G20 Summit Ends With Consensus On World Growth HANGZHO: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday exchanged views with Barack Obama on the sidelines of the G20summit here with the US president praising the "bold policy" move on GST reform in a "difficult" global economic scenario. Modi first met Obama briefly when they were onstage to pose for a family photograph at the G20 Summit venue in this eastern Chinese city. The two leaders had another opportunity to exchange views during an informal evening programme. Obama in his intervention during the G20 summit praised Modi for the recent tax reform as an example of "bold policy" in an otherwise "difficult global economic scenario". On August 8, Parliament cleared the landmark Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014, on the Goods and Services Tax. The government has set April 1, 2017 as the target for rolling out the GST, considered the biggest tax reform in a long time. Earlier on Sunday, Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping and Australian Prime MinisterMalcolm Turnbull on the sidelines of the summit. Modi, who arrived here yesterday from Vietnam for the summit, also met Deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman and discussed ways to enhance bilateral ties. The prime minister called for strengthened partnership with Saudi Arabia in sectors such as maritime, infrastructure, low-cost housing and discussed further cooperation in energy sector, they said. On Monday, Modi will meet British counterpart Theresa May and Argentinian President Mauricio Macri before returning to Delhi. Read Also: Two Indian-Americans Selected For Prestigious Poet Program Hillary Clinton Raised Record $143 Million In August Clinton Manages Six-Point Lead Over Trump, Gap Narrowing: Poll Source: PTI Vietnam airlines bought 40 jets worth $6.5 billion from France's Airbus Tuesday, as President Francois Hollande visited the communist nation to drum up business with one of Southeast Asia's fastest-growing economies. The deal is the latest move by Vietnamese aviation firms to boost fleets and feed demand from a mushrooming middle class with money to burn on air travel both at home and abroad. Hollande, the third French president to visit Vietnam since independence, said the "very important deals" deepened ties with its former colony where France's legacy is ubiquitous -- from the country's colonial-era buildings to French-influenced cuisine. The countries agreed "to establish economic partnerships on the basis of technology transfer," Hollande said after Airbus signed three separate deals. Low-cost private airline VietJet, famous for its bikini-clad hostesses, bought 20 planes. National carrier Vietnam Airlines and budget airline Jetstar Pacific bought 10 each, for total "deals worth $6.5 billion", Airbus Asia spokesman Sean Lee told AFP. He did not provide a breakdown of each deal's value, but VietJet said later in a statement it was spending $2.39 billion on its new planes. The three carriers are making a major move into the lucrative Southeast Asian aviation sector. With a GDP growth rate of 6.7 percent last year, an ever-increasing chunk of Vietnam's 90 million people have spending power that airline and other industries are keen to tap. - Maritime disputes - The aviation deal was the centrepiece of Hollande's whirlwind 48-hour tour of Vietnam. After meeting communist top brass at the French-built presidential palace, Hollande took to the rain-slicked streets in Hanoi's historic Old Quarter, amid a crush of cheering tourists and locals. Earlier in the day he spoke with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang about maritime freedom, a key issue for Hanoi which is locked in an increasingly testy spat with Beijing over competing claims in the South China Sea. Story continues "The president and I committed to respect the rule of law in the seas and oceans, reaffirming the commitment to maintain freedom of maritime and aviation," Quang said. "The two sides stressed the importance of solving disputes by peaceful means, not to use or threaten to use violence on the basis of international laws." Tensions between Hanoi and Beijing soared in 2014 when China moved an oil rig into disputed waters, sparking riots in Vietnam. A UN-backed tribunal ruled in July that China's claims to almost all of the South China Sea had no legal basis and that its construction of artificial islands in disputed waters was illegal. Ahead of his visit, Hollande was urged by activists to raise the issue of human rights with authorities in tightly-controlled Vietnam, where bloggers and dissidents are routinely jailed for criticising the regime. "Human rights must not be sacrificed to trade and security deals. President Hollande must use his visit to call on the Vietnamese authorities to meet their human rights obligations under international law," said Camille Blanc, chair of Amnesty International France. But rights are not on the official agenda for what is slated as a trade visit. Hollande will travel to Vietnam's commercial hub Ho Chi Minh City to meet with French entrepreners, including some from Vietnam's burgeoning tech sector. Prior to his arrival Hollande said France had a "tumultuous past" with Vietnam, which it occupied for nearly a century until its crushing defeat at the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954. France is one of Vietnam's leading European trading partners, with French exports to Vietnam increasing by 85 percent last year, and the second largest aid donor behind Japan. By clicking Agree, you consent to Slates Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and the use of technologies such as cookies by Slate and our partners to deliver relevant advertising on our iOS app to personalize content and perform site analytics. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about our use of data, your rights, and how to withdraw consent. Agree This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted. On the other hand, Trump has maintained friendly, and mutually beneficial, relations with other parts of FoxWorld. Ailes - now deposed as Fox's chairman due to allegations of rampant sexual harrassment - is reportedly an informal adviser to his campaign. And the candidate has appeared dozens of times on "Fox and Friends" as well as the programs of O'Reilly and Hannity, who has lately lashed out at Beck and the "Never Trump" crowd for supposedly enabling a Hillary Clinton victory. ("She wins, I'm blaming all of you," Hannity thundered on his radio show last week. Beck, in return, doubled down with an indirect slam on Fox when he praised CNN's campaign coverage during an appearance on its "Reliable Sources" show Sunday: "I know a lot of conservatives that said you guys were the only ones we could watch because you didn't have a horse in the race. So you just presented the facts the way they were.") 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Ms Howson, who joined the directorate in June, met the boy and his family and gave them the directorate's continuing full support. The cage at the centre of the ACT's withdrawal space crisis. The family said it was now happy with the early transfer of the boy to high school, despite initial concerns. The boy was moved into high school in May, six months ahead of schedule, but the dedication of extra resources and commitment from staff has proved beneficial. ACT Education Minister Shane Rattenbury said he understood there was significant, regular contact with the family at the time the story broke in March 2015. Joy Burch was education minister at the time. She resigned in January 2016. Several ACT charities will no longer be able to receive tax deductible donations after the national regulator revoked their charity status. The 12 ACT charities to be de-registered were among 503 charities nationally that lost their charity status after failing to provide annual returns for two years. The charity behind Kaleen High School's Library trust fund has had its tax-deductible donation status revoked. Credit:Elesa Kurtz But it is unclear how many of those to lose their status were actually operating as functioning charities, as some charities remain on the regulator's books that may not be current, after it was created in 2012. Some 30 ACT charities were warned they were "at risk" of losing their status to receive tax-deductible donations, but 18 heeded the warning and provided their annual statements to the regulator. Concerns are running high in Australia about the links between talcum powder and ovarian cancer after Fairfax Media revealed mining giant Rio Tinto was being sued alongside Johnson & Johnson by women in the US. Lawyers for the women have launched the cases armed with no fewer than 15 scientific studies, including World Health Organisation and US Health Department research, to support their claim in a trial that will be held before a jury in Louisiana. In Australia, the "jury" on the science is still out. In a statement released on Tuesday, Ovarian Cancer Australia, which counts Minister for Revenue and Financial Services Kelly O'Dwyer as an ambassador, recommended women stop using talcum powder on their genital area. "Studies have shown a link between using talcum powder on the genital area and ovarian cancer. However, questions remain as to whether the use of talcum powder causes ovarian cancer," the organisation said. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop signed a memorandum of understanding on education, research and vocational training with Brazil's previous administration while on a visit to the country in July 2015. With a nod to the strife that saw investors spooked as the economy contracted 3.85 per cent in 2015, Mr dos Santos said "we have been facing some problems recently but now things tend to be getting in order and we are now able to face the economic problems we've been having. "This is the moment to invest, this is the moment to start doing really serious business. If you compare what we've done so far with the potential we have, we have a lot of work on our hands." Australian investment in Brazil has largely centred on mining interests in the past, but Mr dos Santos and the Brazilian Austrade equivalent agency, Apex, are hoping Australian business may see the potential of the country's 200 million people market. Mr Temer held bilateral talks with Japan, Saudi Arabia, Italy and Spain while at the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China, on the weekend. Tax evasion and minimisation by multinational corporations and high-net worth individuals were also on his agenda. As of 2018, Brazil will begin sharing tax information with OECD countries after ratifying an OECD accord in June. N. Bailey, Nicholls Boy's final farewell In February 2016, nine-year-old Bradyn Dillon died in an ACT hospital from injuries and a person has been charged with his murder. Press reports indicated this child was known to ACT Child Protection. As this incident resulted in the involvement of a significant number of ACT government employees and others in emergency services I pose a question to all of them. Why has this dear little boy, who died through no fault of his own, been left in a funeral home due to the financial circumstances of his family? It appears that not one of those who would have been involved in this case including many professionals from a number of agencies who would be required to maintain ongoing files on this case, thought to follow up with his family and to make arrangements or referrals to assist the family in regard to a final farewell for this little boy. Maree Oddy, Florey Teach staff tolerance It is time for businesses and stores in Canberra to introduce a culture in their organisations of total respect for cultural and religious diversity, and to ensure their staff are fully immersed in this culture. I write this after a Muslim friend has again been discriminated against by a shop assistant. It is just not good enough for businesses to ignore the distress that their staff can cause to their customers nor is it acceptable for the mindless response that the person has a choice of not shopping at that store in the future. A challenge for business managers: as part of your social responsibility, teach your staff tolerance, respect and acceptance. Bill Handke, Kambah Light route suggestion The ACT Labor government is proposing to run a light rail service at unknown (probably prohibitive) costs from Canberra City to Woden City along a route virtually devoid of residents and employment centres. This is no doubt nothing more than an empty promise trying to capture votes from South Canberra residents. Even so, if a light rail south were to proceed, would it not be better to route it over Kings Avenue Bridge from a three-way branch at Russell to the city, to the airport and to Woden. Thus the route south could be through Barton, around Parliament House, up Melbourne Avenue through Deakin via Stonehaven or MacGregor Streets to Strickland Crescent, then along Kent Street past many Hospital and Medical Service facilities, then through Hughes along Wisdom Street to a terminal in Eddison Park opposite the Action Bus Terminals at Woden Town Centre. (Kitchener Street might also be considered to pass by Canberra Hospital). Trams don't have to run down the centre of a road. They could be positioned either side along the nature strips. Such a route might just attract a few more passengers than we see on buses! Tom Cooke, Pearce Of the thousands of Letters to the Editor opposing the Gungahlin tram, Ian Morison's (September 3) really hits the nail on the head that the real reason the government wants the tram is not to improve public transport between Gungahlin and Civic (obviously, as Morison says, a tramway is "an inferior form of public transport"), but to increase the revenue the government gets from high-density development in North Canberra. That is a shocking indictment, particularly as the government gets considerable additional revenue as a result of its in-fill policy (which is happening anyway, without a tram); and to foist an inferior means of public transport on the public just to increase that revenue even further is simply not good government. R.S. Gilbert, Braddon Transport v health Labor has offered a light rail link between Gungahlin and Civic part financed by the sale of public housing. The Liberals have raised them a better health system using money from the same source. Labor has put on the table a light rail link between Woden and Civic with no detail on how it will be funded. Howard Carew, Isaacs Whistleblowers in public service come up against multiple obstacles Dishonesty, fraud and nepotism in the federal public service is even worse than depicted in your article "Corruption in the APS" (September 5, p1). The Public Service Commission itself and the related Merit Protection Commissioner are part of the problem as both have a track record of supporting City Hall when handling whistleblower cases. This has forced concerned officers to leak to the press to avoid being persecuted by "the system". Even the CPSU has been known to fail its members in this regard and has withheld support from/briefed against a whistleblower when pressed to do so by senior "Labor mates" in the APS. The Parliament likewise has failed properly to exercise its privilege powers in protection of officers providing it with information on APS corruption. Chris Smith, Kingston No one there to listen Using a new definition, an employee census taken as part of the annual State of the Service report has found bureaucrats witnessed more corruption than last year (3.6 per cent in 2015-6, up from 2.6 per cent in 2014-5). But many say they didn't themselves report corruption, perhaps relying on others to do so. You can't report corruption if there's no one to report to. In the modern APS, corruption ordered from the minister's or the secretary's office is unreportable: doing so will be actioned as a breach of the code, and the only reporting, theoretically, is to the secretary. Look to the staffer who repeatedly corrected false statements about then current practice in dealing with student support claims. Sure, he was found by the tribunal not to have breached the code. But the propagandist whose errors he corrected? No action against them, or anyone who ordered them to convey falsehoods to the public, though that was obviously a breach of the code. Look to the Ethics Advisory Service. Many fewer inquiries on tricky issues got made in 2015-6. Look at the Climate Change Authority. After Abbott couldn't abolish it, the Coalition stacked its board and so only a dissenting report has now tried to report as the law requires it to do. Anyone defying the wishes of secretaries and ministers is likely to be hammered. I wish corruption against the obligations of disinterested public service were as likely to be stopped. Christopher Hood, Queanbeyan, NSW I have to wonder how many public servants were left frustrated by having their corruption complaints bounced against a wall of complacency and the "ostrich strategy". Luca Biason, Latham Hypocrisy abounds It is disappointing that Senator Dastyari made such a stupid mistake in allowing anybody, let alone a Chinese business man, to pay his bill. But listening to the strident cries emanating from the government frontbench is laughable and embarrassing. We can all remember the stampede of front-benchers as they scrambled to repay their multi-thousands of dollars inappropriately claimed as valid entitlements. And we recall too that Barnaby Joyce was one who refused to repay the full sum. Senator Sam at least reported the transaction for which he is being pilloried and that in itself is something the government ministers never did. W. Book, Hackett The apparent disbelief and outrage at Sam Dastyari's current political funding pickle displays either disingenuity or cluelessness, and certainly shameless hypocrisy by his critics. Why worry about the picking up of small tabs by Chinese interests via one more of our shonky "training colleges", when Chinese billionaire developers well connected to the Chinese government as all big money there has to be routinely grease the wheels of both our main political parties to the tune of millions? Alex Mattea, Kingston Making a stand Certain federal Coalition MPs have indicated that they will vote "no" to same sex marriage even if a plebiscite returns a "yes" answer on the basis that they represent conservative electorates that oppose this reform. Polling released this week indicates that the PM's electorate strongly opposes current government policy on asylum seekers. In particular, 78 per cent believed we should accept New Zealand's offer to resettle refugees. Should this oblige our Prime Minister to exercise the same freedom of conscience that he extends to his backbenchers? Robyn Fetter, Downer Doing the right thing The same-sex marriage debate had got me confused. We have been repeatedly told that the plebiscite is a waste of taxpayers' money because politicians can't be trusted to follow through on the results. Instead we are told that these politicians can be trusted to do the right thing when it comes to same-sex marriage legislation. The funny thing is that only a tiny percentage of Australians think that politicians can be trusted to do the right thing. Is someone playing politics with the truth? Michael Crowe, Hawker John Popplewell (Letters, September 2) misses the point when he attempts to blame Bill Shorten for trashing "traditional marriage". The real culprits are those 50 per cent of people who front up to the divorce courts every year and turn their back on what Popplewell calls "traditional marriage". This disregard for marriage by participants is aided and abetted by arranged marriages, domestic violence and churches who are happy to annul marriages (for a fee) on spurious grounds on a regular basis. Marriage has been trashed for hundreds of years. I know why, but sometimes wonder why on earth the LGBTI community want to join the ranks. This will only be achieved with the help of people like Bill Shorten who are striving, on behalf of the majority of Australians, to rid this country of the dreadful discrimination against this community. The sooner this happens the better, not only will equality be achieved the status and respect for marriage will also be enhanced. John Whitty, Hawker TO THE POINT ERECTION A NO-NO I see that the Sex Party has found an erection of which it disapproves ("Sex Party says tear down the tower", September 6, p10). Martin O'Connor, Latham SUFFER THE CHILDREN An innocent little child left all alone in a funeral home since February. What has happened to the human race that it has stooped so low. June Kirk, Bonner LIBERAL STUNT In last Thursday's parliamentary chaos, Christopher Pyne blamed his failure to act as organiser of government business on a Labor "stunt". The stunt was the government members practising their version of the old public service "poets day": Piss off early, tomorrow's Saturday" ! Richard Keys, Ainslie SUCH HYPOCRISY How can we complain about China stealing territory for commercial gain in the South China Sea when we have done precisely the same thing to Timor Leste. Our abuse of international law on may fronts is making us the pariah of the southern hemisphere. Gerry Gillespie, Queanbeyan, NSW CONGRATULATIONS DUE I wish to congratulate the government's ACT Historic Places on the wonderful job they do in caring for Lanyon Homestead. An interstate friend and I went there recently and were delighted with the high standard of authenticity and maintenance as well as the friendly enthusiastic guides. Gay von Ess, Aranda WAITING, WAITING Why is it when one has to ring Qantas, the recorded message alway says there is a wait time of more than one hour? What has happened to service? Disgraceful! Rod Holesgrove, O'Connor LOPSIDED APPROACH Your article "Graham, Burgess make up for lost time in fiery encounter" (Sport, September 3, p101) was annoyingly lopsided, with more than half of it focusing on the Sam Burgess and James Graham tiff, which was a very small part of a great South Sydney Rabbitohs win. It also inferred Sam was to blame. In fact, Graham was a typically poor sport! Ed Harris, Bonython SUBTLE MESSAGE? On two occasions in roughly 12 months, a US rocket launch associated with Facebook has exploded. Could it be that the Spirit in the Sky advocates greater earthly censorship? Peter Baskett, Murrumbateman, NSW Australia has been visited recently by two of America's most esteemed political analysts, the writer David Ignatius and the political scientist Norman Ornstein. They agree on a great deal - that the stakes in this election are terrifyingly high not only for the United States, but for Australia, and that Hillary Clinton is likely to win. But they disagree on how the campaign might leave the American political landscape in its wake, and in turn, what the long term effects on America's allies might be. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has slipped behind her Republican challenger, Donald Trump, in the latest national poll of likely voters. Credit:Carolyn Kaster Ignatius is a Washington Post associate editor, columnist and author who was a guest of the Lowy Institute as the think-tank's 2016 distinguished international fellow. Speaking with Fairfax Media before an event in Melbourne, Ignatius said he believes Trump has little hope of turning polls that seem locked against him short of a late surprise - say a document drop by Vladimir Putin via WikiLeaks or a terrorist attack. Given that so many Republicans have already defected from the Trump cause, Ignatius suggests that those left standing after a Clinton victory might finally abandon years of endless obstruction and something like governance-as-normal might reassert itself in DC. On Monday, Tom Switzer wrote in praise of John Howard's handling of One Nation 1.0, arguing that by refusing to either demonise or court Pauline Hanson, he defused the party's political potential. Switzer is right to claim that Howard never really denounced One Nation's anti-immigration message, or the racist overtones with which it was delivered. But his account involves some historical revisionism or at least some serious omission. If we forget the full details of Howard's response and One Nation's downfall, we may learn entirely the wrong lessons from our political past. Firstly, Switzer argues that Howard made the right call by taking a middle road neither making overtures to Hanson, as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott have since this year's election, nor joining with the "pompous editorials" which depicted One Nation's message as unfit for civilised political debate. Pauline Hanson's One Nation voting base was decimated by John Howard in the 2001 federal election. Credit:Tertius Pickard While Howard may not have explicitly endorsed Hanson's message or made an alliance with her, he was increasingly concerned with making in-roads into her voting base, especially as the 2001 federal election approached. With Labor looking set for victory, the combination of the 9/11 terrorist attacks (just two months before election day) and the Tampa scandal provided the opportunity Howard needed to co-opt elements of Hanson's message. Howard was able to channel voters' fears about immigration and national security into an appeal built on "border protection" the famous promise that "we will decide who comes to this country, and the circumstances under which they come". Hard as it is to believe given Hanson's anti-Muslim rhetoric today, her message about the "Asian invasion" was a little out of step in late 2001, and Howard's strongman routine worked well enough to swing the election. Hanson said later that "John Howard sailed home on One Nation policies ... in short, if we were not around, John Howard would not have made the decisions he did". Well, she would argue that, of course. But it's not a minority opinion. As Tim Flannery writes: "Up until the Tampa, One Nation had been a focal point for disaffected Labor and conservative voters. John Howard swallowed up that latter lot in one gulp voting Liberal was the natural result after the destruction of One Nation." The journalist Peter Mares concurs: "There was no longer any need for Coalition parties to debate unseemly preference swaps in the wake of the Tampa, the second preferences of One Nation supporters, if not their primary votes, were in the bag." To depict Howard as the principled yet savvy strategist who led the country safely through the choppy waters of Hansonism is to misread history. He got lucky, and his political opportunism transformed asylum seekers into the wedge issue we know today. Switzer also seems to give Howard substantial credit for One Nation's subsequent electoral demise. Borrowing from sections of the One Nation hymn book did peel off some of its voters. But we also shouldn't forget the impact of internal party factors in the decline. After hitting its electoral peak around 1996-97, One Nation had near-continuous problems with infighting, including a lawsuit over the centralisation of control within the party. These culminated in the 2000 expulsion of NSW Legislative Council member David Oldfield, and his formation of the breakaway party One Nation NSW in 2001. There was also lingering allegations of dodgy use of public electoral funding; Hanson's 2003 conviction and jailing for electoral fraud was later overturned, but the political damage was done. Reassessing Howard's role matters because it changes the present-day prescription for Turnbull's government. If they can wait long enough for Hanson to trip herself up, they should (with four times as many Senators, it's looking good). And if they can't ignore One Nation, they face an immediate choice about whether to co-opt or go on the offensive. They should take the high road not just because it would be disappointing to see a major party aping One Nation's racist, insular rhetoric. It also happens to make political sense. One argument is that failing to criticise One Nation carries a higher cost now than it did 20 years ago, with the growth of support for left-leaning minor parties like the Greens in the Senate and the wider electorate. But Turnbull's cross-over appeal to those groups has faded, if it was ever that solid to begin with. There are other similarities. Cameron embarked on the Brexit exercise to appease the anti-Europe members of his own party, even though he wanted Britain to remain. Apparently, he never seriously contemplated losing. Turnbull, too, is hostage to a powerful conservative wing in his own party that he will need to appease to retain the leadership, and it remains to be seen just how much of Malcolm Turnbull will be allowed to emerge in the Turnbull government. It was, after all, an authoritative sounding speech at a Conservative Party conference in 2005 that won him the leadership; he sounded like a leader more for his confident fluency, speaking without notes, rather than for what he actually said. Similarly, Malcolm Turnbull, former journalist, lawyer and banker, was sounding very prime ministerial in his time as a minister under John Howard, his ease and fluency being contrasted with the often wooden demeanour of his boss. Although he has never to my knowledge made a statement such as Cameron's, one can quite easily imagine him saying (or thinking) it. Urbane, articulate, polished and unflappable, Cameron shares a number of characteristics with Turnbull, but it was a quote of some years back that really drove home the compelling similarity. When asked why he wanted to be prime minister, Cameron reportedly replied: "Because I think I'd be rather good at it". Revealingly, for the former public relations man, it was something he thought he could do rather than something he wanted to achieve. Already, it appears that he has buckled to the pressure in pursuing the idea of a plebiscite on same-sex marriage, about which he himself is less than enthusiastic. But the issue of Cameron's legacy is a vexed one, as historian Dominic Sandbrook wrote in the British weekly, the New Statesman, last month, noting how on his exit, after the spectacular misjudgment of the Brexit referendum, he was already being compared with Neville Chamberlain, whose prime ministerial reputation never recovered after being humiliated by Adolf Hitler at Munich in 1938. His legislative achievements, such as paid holiday leave, are forgotten. Would the Brexit issue eclipse everything else when it came to assessing Cameron's place in history, he asked. Would his modest job-creation program, or his legislating for same-sex marriage, rate at all? Sandbrook's verdict was neither: the occupant of 10 Downing Street for just over six years, although personally popular to the end, was unlikely to be remembered at all. His most striking characteristic was a certain "fatal insouciance" that brought him down. Prime ministers, whatever their public disavowals, remain intensely interested in how they will be regarded by posterity and many write very big books to try to shape that legacy. I well remember the late Sir William McMahon, prime minister 1971-72, asking me years after he had left office, when I worked at The Sydney Morning Herald, how he might be able to obtain a copy of the obituary the paper had prepared in advance. To my knowledge, Sir William, who died in 1988, never did get to see that obituary and perhaps just as well, for it was less than flattering about one of the most ineffectual and unworthy of the 29 occupants of the office to date. History has generally been kind to most of the prime ministers who held the office long enough to be remembered at all, their flaws and failings not usually dwelt upon. Edmund Barton, the first, liked a drink, but we choose to remember him as the man who got the machinery of the Commonwealth up and running, and his successor, Alfred Deakin, a betrayer of both friend and principle, as the great social reformer of the early years of federation. The website doesn't exactly broadcast to us that the HRLA is being funded (according to a news report) by the Australian Christian Lobby where Martin Iles, its managing director, was once chief of staff. The HRLA proudly declares on its website that it intends to protect, "the most fundamental freedom of all: the freedom of thought, conscience and religion or belief". "Human rights lawyers dedicate their lives to helping people like the clients of my firm, the National Justice Project: young women who have escaped persecution in their homelands only to find worse persecution courtesy of the Australian government on Nauru." Credit:Angela Wylie But after digging a little deeper I quickly resumed my seat and the applause got rather muted. Because in my view we now have a bunch of human rights activists who are actually engaged in a full-on assault against human rights. As a human rights lawyer, my initial reaction to the establishment of a new human rights law centre the Human Rights Law Alliance this week was to get to my feet and applaud. As far as I can tell the HRLA has been set up as a counter to the real Australian Human Rights Commission and its work fighting discrimination, especially its work under Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act (the "Bolt law" which makes it unlawful, but not criminal, for someone to commit an act outside of artistic expression, fair reporting or fair comment that's reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate someone on the grounds of race). And as the Australian Christian Lobby (a splinter group representing a tiny fringe of the nation's believers) opposes marriage equality and the Safe Schools program, I can see future High Court challenges about how they would both infringe upon religious freedom. In my view, what the new law centre will be arguing against is not the erosion of human rights but the erosion of rich white privilege. They will be bravely fighting for today's new breed of victim powerful men who are white-hot with rage at the perceived threat they feel from laws that simply reflect the universal values of decency and equality. This belief that somehow the most powerful and privileged people in Australia are now its most wretched victims deserving of our pity and legal protection is farcical. And as for a focus on freedom of thought, conscience and religion, does anyone seriously argue that they are under attack in modern Australia? Do people picket churches the way they sometimes do abortion clinics? Are church leaders who wear flowing ornate robes routinely vilified the way people in the gay and transgender community (wearing similar clothes) often are? More than 2800 people die by suicide in Australia each year. That is about eight on R U OK?Day and a further eight on every single day this and every year. We need to do more to save lives and we can. R U OK? is only the start of the conversation that can save many of those people and their families by giving them help and reasons to live. "A frustration I hear when talking to people is they don't know what to do if the person answers, 'No, I'm not OK'," says R U OK? general manager Brendan Maher. This year the R U OK? organisation is laudably focusing more on the skills you need to connect and stay connected with someone you suspect is struggling. The website http://www.ruok.org.au has hints about how to talk to someone who says "No, I am not OK". But it takes real skill to identify and talk to someone who is struggling so much that he or she is at significant risk of suicide. Enter Lifeline. A disclosure here: I volunteer as a Lifeline telephone crisis supporter. Like thousands of colleagues across the nation, I answer calls from people who ring Lifeline on 13 11 14 when they are in crisis. Sometimes it's about mental health but most critically it's when suicide is possible. Lifeline crisis supporters undertake many hours of training. They take hundreds of calls. They constantly upgrade their skills. When someone is in crisis, calling Lifeline or similar crisis lines manned by trained supporters provides a strong opportunity to keep the person safe until the immediate crisis is relieved and longer term support found. But when you ask a friend or workmate R U OK? and get the answer "No", the person may be in dire need then and there. What skills do you have to save that person? Maher says everyone has to acknowledge that many conversations "are going to be too difficult to navigate in a big way. R U OK? does not solve people's problems. We are encouraging action and many people who ask refer their friends to Lifeline or another service provider." That's fine, laudable and very worthwhile as far as it goes. But every Australian is capable of learning simply, quickly and cheaply the key skills that will equip them to prevent suicide, beyond asking R U OK? You need to know how and when to ask one of life's most difficult yet important questions: "Are you thinking about suicide now?" And if the answer is yes to suicide, you need to know how to ask whether the person has an idea about where and how they might do it. And you need to know how to help disable their plan so further help can be found. Research shows that talking and asking about suicide will not put the thought into someone's head. It will, in the vast majority of cases, make the person in crisis recognise that you care, there is hope and there is help. Some Lifeline centres run short courses to teach those skills to you, no matter your background or life experience. The courses are titled "Accidental Counsellor". Here's one: lifelinenb.org.au/news/accidental-counsellor-training How did an otherwise ordinary Australian family find themselves at the centre of such an extraordinary mystery? In the past week, it's a question many of us have asked ourselves. This much we did know. Last Tuesday morning, Victorian farmers Mark and Jacoba Tromp left everything behind to embark on a road trip to the Jenolan Caves in NSW with their three adult children, Riana, 29, Mitchell, 25 and Ella, 22. Ella and Mitchell Tromp after their father was found alive and safe. Credit:Daniel Pockett So far, so, wellregular, except there was clearly nothing regular about the trip from the onset. As Mitchell Tromp told reporters "everyday pressures" had got to his parents and they wanted to flee. What these "everyday pressures" were no-one could really say. What we were told was that there was no history of mental illness or drug issues, outstanding debt, or church or sect affiliation. Curiously, those at the centre of it all also seemed lost for words. The Islamic State has issued a vicious and detailed call to "lone wolf" followers to stab, shoot, poison and run over Australians at iconic attractions including Bondi Beach and the MCG. The latest exhortation from the terrorist group follows the death in Syria of convicted Australian terrorist Ezzit Raad, who was jailed in connection with the 2005 plot to blow up the MCG and features as the latest jihadist poster boy in a new magazine. In its first edition of Rumiyah published overnight, the terrorist group calls for lone wolf attacks in Australia in a manner of detail not seen before in the group's publications. "Light the ground beneath them aflame and scorch them with terror," it states, painting the attacks as the way to avenge the death of Raad. Embattled Labor senator Sam Dastyari has gone to ground, cancelling an event in Sydney and maintaining an unusually low media profile as the government continues to pressure Bill Shorten to sack him from the shadow cabinet. Attorney-General George Brandis has refused to rule out the possibility Senator Dastyari broke the law although it is unclear what rule would have been breached. He issued a challenge to Mr Shorten, asking whether he is willing to accept a senior colleague being "in the pay of a foreign-controlled entity". Calls for reform of the political donations system have also strengthened as Greens leader Richard Di Natale, joined by conservative senator Cory Bernardi, propose allowing only people on the Australian electoral roll to donate to parties, halting contributions from companies, unions and foreign entities. But Senator Brandis has rejected any immediate moves for reform, insisting there is no link between the broader system and the Dastyari imbroglio, which involved a private debt being paid by a Chinese-Australian donor and the senator's rogue support for China's position in the South China Sea dispute. Embattled Labor Senator Sam Dastyari will front up to an "ask me anything" press conference on Tuesday in an attempt to put to bed the furore enveloping him over his links to Chinese donors to the ALP. He will not resign from his position on the ALP frontbench or as manager of opposition business in the Senate, and Labor leader Bill Shorten is locked in firmly behind the NSW senator. A Labor source told Fairfax Media that Senator Dastyari is "not going anywhere" and "Bill will not knock someone off at the first whiff of grapeshot". Some in Labor have begun discussing whether the Senator may have to step aside for the good of the party, rather than attempting to tough out the storm of criticism, and the idea has been discussed with him. They're getting the band back together in Canberra. A group of experienced - and normally anonymous - political operatives who deal with government, opposition and lobbyists for their elected bosses have been hired by crossbenchers from new recruit Derryn Hinch to Senate veteran Nick Xenophon and two One Nation senators, including Pauline Hanson. Glenn Druery (left) and John Clements (centre) watch their new boss, Senator Derryn Hinch. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen At least four staffers who worked for former senator Ricky Muir are back in Parliament working for crossbench senators as well as two who worked for the Palmer United Party's Dio Wang. The Turnbull Government's relationship with crossbenchers will be a key measure of success or failure in the 45th Parliament. 1. Whittington reportedly paid by Seven for story News Corp is reporting that the Seven Network has paid "child-recovery" operative Adam Whittington a six-figure sum to tell his story to 60 Minutes' rival - Sunday Night. Whittington left Lebanon in July on bail, accused of kidnapping. [Holly Byrnes/Gold Coast Bulletin] If accurate, this would mean two separate Australian media networks have paid this man firstly for his role in the alleged attempted kidnap of the children from Lebanon where they were living with their father, and then to "tell-all" about the operation which landed him, his associates, the mother, and the 60 Minutes crew in jail in Beirut for two weeks in April this year. Father Ali Elamine and "child recovery" operative Adam Whittington have both reportedly received huge pay-days from the network. Whittington's company reportedly received up to $115, 000 from Nine for the operation. Elamine got $US500,000 (around $650, 000) when it all went sour. And now Whittington looks to receive a second pay-day, this time from Nine's rival Seven. Playboy Playmate Dani Mathers could find herself not unseeing the walls of a prison cell after police tracked down the septuagenarian victim of a cruel SnapChat body-shaming episode. The woman, whose nude body in an LA Fitness locker room was beamed to the world by the 29-year-old model with the words "If I can't unsee this then you can't either", is reportedly willing to testify after police recommended criminal prosecution, reports TMZ. Dani Mathers is facing criminal charges. Credit:ET If charged with the crime of Dissemination of Private Images, the 2015 Playboy Playmate of the Year faces up to six months in jail. According to the news site, LA police are keen to make an example of the model's public body shaming and contravention of the gym's strict rules around the prohibition of photography and mobile phone use in its locker rooms. The longer the politics over the reforms to the superannuation tax breaks continues, the worse it will be for the growing proportion of the workforce working part-time and casually. The low-income super contribution was brought in by Labor in 2012 to compensate low-paid workers who pay less than 15 per cent on their overall income, yet have the 15 per cent super contributions tax come out of their compulsory super. Lower earners need all the help they can get to build their super. Illustration: Karl Hilzinger Credit: Karl Hilzinger It's a payment of up to $500 through the Tax Office on the basis of tax returns that goes directly into the individual's super account. The scheme was due to be axed by the Abbott government after June 30, 2017. An Australian kitesurfer who died after being bitten by a shark in New Caledonia was on a 10-day organised catamaran expedition, seeking out remote surfing locations in the region, when the tragedy occurred. Staff at Cabrinha Quest expedition were "in total shock" after the 50-year-old man from Fremantle, south of Perth, died on Tuesday after he was bitten on the thigh by an unknown species of shark while kitesurfing in the large reef at Koumac, in the north of New Caledonia. The man was a guest on the Cabrinha Quest catamaran Discovery, which had embarked on the 10-day Northern Reef Adventures expedition on Monday, the day before his death. The New Caledonian Marine Rescue Coordination Centre said in a statement that the man was kitesurfing when he fell and a shark bit him on the right thigh just before 3.50pm on Tuesday. After chatting with police staff about this pressing issue, it became apparent that some forces are well aware that people struggle to understand cops' elliptical syntax. Indeed, in some jurisdictions, plain English campaigns inside law-enforcement agencies are wiping out jargon that has clung on stubbornly for deacdes. The matter popped up during Operation Roam last month, the annual fugitive hunt that's become quite successful at nabbing hard-to-trace offenders. The campaign aims to "apprehend" (or arrest) "key persons of interest", and asks the public to help find the "wanted persons". (Several media outlets even repeated this language crime. Their sin is greater than the police's, of course, but as journalists are beyond salvation we'll ignore them.) The Informant has never shied away from important issues, no matter how difficult or sensitive, so we readily took up this challenge from two readers: explain why police say "persons" when they mean "people". If only we hadn't: the question baffles police themselves. So we created the "persons index" to highlight where the scourge is worst. The map above shows how often cops across Australia use the word "persons" instead of "people". It's based on published texts and, as you can see, the problem is most severe in South Australia which is particularly odd, as its police force is the only one with a formal policy of using "people". Cops also prefer the uptight phrasing in laid-back Queensland, where a spokesman told us "there is no set protocol on this terminology". And the issue causes some frustration in Victoria Police, whose spokeswoman said (with some resigation) that the "persons" jargon had been used "for as long as anyone can remember". "There are a number of words that are so widely used among police that they form part of their vocabulary such as 'decamped' rather than fled, 'male person' rather than man or 'black-coloured' rather than black. As more senior police train new recruits, these terms become ingrained in police and continue through the organisation in each graduating squad," she said. Unsurprisingly, here in Australia's jargon capital, the police tried to explain why "persons" was correct. An ACT Policing spokeswoman told us: "The terminology of 'persons' is consistent with criminal law legislation. For example, section 131.9 of the Criminal Code Act 1994 references property belonging to two or more persons." Sigh. A warrant has been issued for the arrest of corporate rogue Stephen Larkin after the 76-year-old failed to turn up to court to face 170 traffic charges. The convicted fraudster and former BRW rich-lister was meant to be in court on Monday to face dozens of speeding charges, driving in a bus lane, failing to pay tolls and driving an unregistered and uninsured car. Convicted in absentia: Stephen Larkin outside Downing Centre Local Court in 2006. Credit:Peter Rae The former veterinary surgeon was also being prosecuted for 62 criminal charges of knowingly giving false information by nominating a former Kings Cross bouncer as the driver of the car when the traffic offences were committed. But instead of turning up to the Downing Centre Local Court for a three-day hearing, Larkin presented himself at St Vincent's Hospital in Darlinghurst where he claimed to be suffering from an unspecified neurological ailment. Emergency departments 'bursting at the seams' Emergency departments had a huge increase in presentations, having over 7,000 more visits than the same period last year. Almost one in four patients (23.7 per cent) who presented to EDs weren't treated within the clinically appropriate timeframe and there were marked increases in the most serious triage cases. The number of patients who needed treatment within 10 minutes (triage 2) rose by 3000, a 4.2 per cent increase on the same period last year. People needing treatment within 30 minutes (triage 3) rose by 7800 (3.8 per cent), while the number of less serious presentations dropped by more than two per cent. "Frankly, it worries me that we are seeing this marked increase in very sick people," Dr Frankum said. "The pressure to deal with sicker, more complex cases is a recipe for mistakes and problems," he said. Nepean Hospital, one of the busiest EDs in the state, fared considerably worse over the last quarter than any other hospital and had more than half of patients (51.8 per cent) waiting longer than four hours. "We are on track to improve our performance with 55 per cent of patients spending less than four hours in the ED during July 2016," a spokesperson for the Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District said. Labor health spokesman Walt Secord said it was more evidence that Nepean Hospital was "bursting at the seams". "Nepean Hospital is at breaking point and, with the expected increase in population, this means waits will get longer and longer in Sydney's west," Mr Secord said. Biggest ever rise in admissions The rise in the number of admissions from EDs was another telling sign that hospitals were treating sicker, more resource-intensive patients. About 8500 more patients were admitted compared with the same quarter in 2015, a 4.8 per cent jump. "It's the biggest increase the BHI has ever seen," said the chief executive of the Bureau of Health Information, Dr Jean-Frederic Levesque, whose organisation has been compiling the data for the past six years. "The reasons could be the ageing population, an increase in the prevalence of people with chronic diseases, but also potentially factors related to their access to primary care," Dr Levesque said. The federal government's continued attack on primary care, including the GP rebate freeze and failure to appropriately fund the sector could be driving people to EDs in worse health, Dr Frankum said. "We know that better primary care will take more pressure off the hospital system," he said. Non-urgent surgeries take a back seat About 4000 more elective surgeries were performed over the 90-day period compared with the same 2015 quarter, as the sector tried to whittle down the state's waiting lists, the longest in the country. The number of people waiting longer than 365 days for surgery dropped from 596 in last year's equivalent quarter to just 158. But as surgeons worked to treat the more serious cases on time, fewer non-urgent cases made it to the operating table. An additional 400 non-urgent patients waited more than a year for surgery compared with the same quarter last year. Nepean Hospital also recorded the worst elective surgery treatment times. Despite increasing the number of surgeries at the hospital by 14 per cent, fewer than 81 per cent were performed on time, leaving one in five patients waiting longer than clinically recommended for their operations. Just 71 per cent of non-urgent surgeries were performed on time. The spokesperson for NBMLHD said it had taken action to help meet the growing demand for services in the area. "These strategies have helped us to provide elective surgery for 6154 patients in 2015/2016. At the end of June 2016, Nepean Hospital had only one overdue patient." Three-digit bus route numbers' days are numbered, after Brisbane City Council announced a 10-point plan it says will improve the city's public transport system. Deputy mayor Adrian Schrinner, the council's public transport chairman, announced the plan for a "public transport alliance" in the council chamber on Tuesday. One of the major changes would be a new route numbering system, which would do away with Brisbane's three-digit bus routes. Credit:Tony Moore One of the major changes would be a new route numbering system, which would do away with Brisbane's three-digit bus routes. "For many years, there's been a system of 100s, 200s, 300s and 400s series route numbers," Cr Schrinner said, The owners of Brisbane's Customs House have launched an appeal against a Planning and Environment Court decision to allow a controversial tower to be built on the adjacent land. The University of Queensland, which lost its appeal in July, formally submitted its application to the Court of Appeal last week. The fight to prevent a 47-storey tower being built next to Customs House is continuing. Credit:Bradley Kanaris Brisbane City Council approved a Cbus Property's 47-storey residential tower for the riverside site next door to heritage-listed Customs House, without public consultation, just before Christmas in 2015. The council's controversial transferable site area provisions are at the centre of the appeal, specifically how it allowed a development that would normally not adhere to the local planning regulations to be considered code assessable and therefore able to be approved at a council officer level without public consultation. Want to study how to live on Mars? This course will take just 12 hours of your time. And it's free. That's right, gratis. Among your teachers will be astronomer Jasmina Lazendic-Galloway and chemist Tina Overton. Your classroom will be of the virtual variety, with the four three-hour-sessions run by Monash University taking place online. The course will cover the basics of how to survive on the inhospitable red planet, which offers visitors no air, water or food. Morrow then took the time to explain the NBN pricing model, which would allow service providers to develop niche business models offering varying degrees of speed and service quality to subscribers. For the benefit of Nokia's European and US guests, Morrow explained the provenance of NBN and its shift in its strategy from Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) to the Multi-Technology Mix (MTM), following the change in Australia's government after the 2013 election. He then went on to explain the mix of technologies involved in the build and the expected role of each. NBN Co chief Bill Morrow says the company will do more to help consumers understand broadband speeds and performance on the NBN as division between the competition watchdog and carriers over the issue widens. Morrow explained that service quality would vary based on the capacity that providers acquired from NBN. He said he was confident that subscribers would not intentionally behave unscrupulously when marketing services supplied by the NBN. However, he conceded that some avoided the topic of speed when marketing NBN services to consumers and that the network builder intended to release more information to help consumers understand their choices. Morrow even shared anecdotes from NBN Co's own employees which indicated that providers were more concerned about growing their subscriber bases with "hero products" that look competitively priced in the lower speed tiers than letting consumers know about their choices. "We're not going to tell the retailers how to do their jobs that would be out of line for us but we are going to start to put more information out there saying that people have a choice. You have a choice, if you live here in Australia, of speeds much higher than 25Mbps. So, you decide and we're going to give (consumers) some examples like 'well, if you're family is this size and you have this kind of consumption behaviour then you're probably going to want maybe a 25 or maybe a 50 or even a 100Mbps service'. So that awareness will start to happen," Morrow said. However, consumer advocates remain concerned that retailers are not providing consumers with clear information about broadband performance and that the current lack of regulatory guidelines around broadband advertising could lead to deceptive practices. Teresa Corbin, chief executive of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) said that was why she was supporting the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) bid to independently monitor broadband performance that telcos are currently resisting. Inmates at Victoria's highest security prison have gone on strike over changes to their rates of pay. Corrections Victoria confirmed that some prisoners had refused to work but declined to reveal how many prisoners had taken part. Tony Mokbel is in Barwon Prison. It's not known whether he is on strike. Credit:Angela Wylie A Corrections Victoria spokesman said Barwon Prison had moved to a new prisoner employment arrangements that now matched other prisons. "This is the culmination of a lengthy process across the prison system," he said. Did you guess where today's photo was taken? Can you guess where this photo was taken? Credit:Leigh Henningham This shows the shadow the Luna Park rollercoaster casts on the side of the Palais Theatre. @Tartlett1 was first to guess the location (and was disappointed to find there was no prize), while Kieren N was first to email me the answer. If you have taken any photos of Melbourne locations that would be a good "where was this photo taken?" test for Express readers, send them to me. Here is my email. I'll have another photo puzzle in tomorrow's blog. 2000 - 2022 24 .- . focus-news.net, () . 24 . 24 . . 24 . Police are appealing to the public to help find a teenage boy who has been missing for more than a week. Matthew McAuliffe, 15, was last seen on Cornwall Road in Sunshine on August 29. Police have released this image of missing boy Matthew McAuliffe. Police said he is known to frequent the Sunshine area and Melbourne CBD. Matthew is described as 175cm tall with a medium build and short blond hair. For those of us who use them regularly, Perth's roads can be many things - infuriating, frustrating and tedious, especially when there's merging. But for someone who's never driven on the city's tarmac, the roads can be confusing, even intimidating. Chloe Richardson, 17, found herself in the eye of a social media storm over her driving. So when 17-year-old Bunbury high school student Chloe Richardson was driving on the freeway in Perth for the very first time on Father's Day she was pretty nervous - so nervous that she forgot to check her blind spot properly before she changed lanes. "I went to change lanes and I will admit I didn't check it right - and when I moved over I saw there was a car right behind me so I pulled back in my lane, no harm done," she said. An Australian expert who testified that Indonesian woman Wayan Mirna Salihin was unlikely to have died from cyanide poisoning after drinking a Vietnamese iced coffee will be deported and banned from entering Indonesia for six months. Professor Beng Beng Ong, a forensic pathologist and senior lecturer at Queensland University's School of Medicine, had cast doubt over the central plank of the prosecution's premeditated murder case on Monday, when he questioned whether Ms Salihin had been fatally poisoned. Jessica Wongso, who prosecutors allege poisoned her friend with a Vietnamese iced coffee. Credit:Tatan Syuflana Ms Salihin died on January 6. Prosecutors allege her friend Jessica Kumala Wongso, an Australian permanent resident, spiked her Vietnamese iced coffee with cyanide at the upmarket Olivier restaurant in Grand Indonesia shopping mall. Ms Wongso has maintained her innocence. However hours after Professor Ong questioned in the Central Jakarta District Court whether Ms Salihin was fatally poisoned, he was intercepted at Jakarta's international airport by immigration officers who confiscated his passport at about 4am on September 6. London: Senior officials from Australia and Britain will meet soon to begin planning an "ambitious and comprehensive" free trade agreement between the UK and Australia. The agreement to establish a 'bilateral trade working group' was announced on Tuesday after a meeting in London between Australian trade minister Steve Ciobo and Britain's secretary of state for international trade Liam Fox. The working group will set out an agenda to "ensure the expeditious transition to FTA negotiations when the UK has formally completed its negotiations to exit the EU", the two ministers said in a joint statement. "Both of us want a future FTA to generate new trade and investment opportunities," they said. Hangzhou: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has condemned North Korea for its fresh round of "dangerous, destabilising and provocative" ballistic missile tests, as he jetted into Laos on Tuesday for an East Asia Summit likely to be dominated by regional security tensions. Diplomatic ructions erupted before the summit even began, after US President Barack Obama cancelled a meeting with his Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte, after the firebrand politician called the US leader a "son of a whore" and demanded he show restraint in questioning the extrajudicial killing of drug dealers in the Philippines. Mr Duterte, who took office in June, later "expressed regret" over his statements. Jack Ma welcomes Malcolm Turnbull to Alibaba's headquarters in Hangzhou, China on Tuesday. Credit:Sangee Liu The unusual rift between the two usually cordial military allies clouds the picture in the disputed South China Sea, an issue on which Washington has so far consistently failed to unify support across ASEAN members against Chinese assertiveness. The previous administration in Manila lodged a case with the international tribunal in The Hague which went in its favour but Mr Duterte has signalled greater willingness to negotiate directly with China. Speaking to reporters after the conclusion of the G20 summit in Hangzhou on Tuesday, Mr Turnbull described Mr Duterte's remarks as "intemperate" but stressed the Philippines was "a very important part of the whole East Asian security dialogue". Calais: Thousands of angry residents, truck drivers and farmers blockaded the Channel Tunnel and ferry port on Monday to demand the demolition of the sprawling Calais "Jungle" migrants' camp, blaming it for rising insecurity. Tractors and lorries blocked the main route to the tunnel entrance, the A16 motorway, and the road to the ferry terminal, causing severe delays for holi-daymakers and goods vehicles. French business owners and locals blockade the main road into the Port of Calais as they await the arrival of a convoy of trucks protesting against "The Jungle" migrant camp. Credit:Jack Taylor The protesters say the motorway has become a no-go area at night because of a surge in attacks on vehicles and motorists by increasingly aggressive migrants and people-smugglers, often armed with clubs, knives or chainsaws. Some migrants hurl rocks or bottles at cars to cause crashes in an attempt to divert attention from people stowing away in vehicles bound for Britain. A majority of the migrants and refugees in the Jungle are desperate to reach Britain, just 5 kilometres from Calais across the English Channel. Truckers complain that in recent weeks, migrants and people smugglers have staged dangerous barricades and other diversions on major thoroughfares, in order to climb aboard British-bound vehicles before they enter the Channel Tunnel. The Hague: The United Nations' human rights chief has accused US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump of spreading "humiliating racial and religious prejudice" and warning of a rise of populist politics that could turn violent. In comments at a security and justice conference, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad al-Hussein said he was addressing Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders and other "populists, demagogues and political fantasists". 'Populists, demagogues and political fantasists': Donald Trump and Nigel Farage. Naming Trump, Nigel Farage in Britain and Marine Le Pen in France, among others, Prince Zeid accused them of using "fear" tactics similar to those of Islamic State, also known as Daesh. "Make no mistake, I certainly do not equate the actions of nationalist demagogues with those of Daesh," he said. "But in its mode of communication, its use of half-truths and oversimplification, the propaganda of Daesh uses tactics similar to those of the populists." Electronic voting machines in Missouri. Credit:AP It "seems to be a global campaign," the aide said. As a result, the issue has "moved up as a priority" for the intelligence agencies, which include the FBI and Department of Homeland Security as well as the CIA and the National Security Agency. Some congressional leaders briefed recently by the intelligence agencies on Russian influence operations in Europe, and how they may serve as a template for activities here, have been disturbed by what they heard. Voters wait in line to cast their ballots in the New Hampshire presidential primary. Credit:Bloomberg After Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid, ended a secure, 30-minute phone briefing by a top intelligence official recently, he was "deeply shaken," according to an aide who was with Reid when he left the secure room at the FBI's Las Vegas headquarters. The Russian government hack of the Democratic National Committee, disclosed by the DNC in June but not yet officially ascribed by the US government to Russia, and the subsequent release of 20,000 hacked DNC emails by WikiLeaks, shocked officials. Cyber-analysts traced its digital markings to known Russian government hacking groups. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton pins blame for the DNC Hacks squarely on Russia. Credit:AP "We've seen an unprecedented intrusion and an attempt to influence or disrupt our political process," said Representative Adam B. Schiff, the ranking Democrat of the House Intelligence Committee, speaking about the DNC hack and the WikiLeaks release on the eve of the Democratic convention. The disclosures, which included a number of embarrassing internal emails, forced the resignation of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Members of both parties are urging the president to take the Russians to task publicly. A student election official helps woman sign in for voting, in St Louis, Missouri. Credit:AP Republican Senator Ben Sasse, in a statement urged President Barack Obama to publicly name Russia as responsible for the DNC hack and apparent meddling in the electoral process. "Free and legitimate elections are non-negotiable. It's clear that Russia thinks the reward outweighs any consequences," he wrote. "That calculation must be changed. . . . This is going to take a cross-domain response - diplomatic, political and economic - that turns the screws on [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and his cronies." Administration officials said they are still weighing their response. Deeply shaken: Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid Credit:Bloomberg Russia has denied that it carried out any cyber-intrusions in the United States. Putin called the accusations against Russia by US officials and politicians an attempt to "distract the public's attention." "It doesn't really matter who hacked this data from Mrs. Clinton's campaign headquarters," Putin said, referring to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. "The important thing is the content was given to the public." Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, jokingly called for Russia to hack the US. Credit:AP The Department of Homeland Security has offered local and state election officials help to prevent or deal with Election Day cyber-disruptions, including vulnerability scans, regular actionable information and alerts, and access to other tools for improving cybersecurity at the local level. It will also have a cyber-team ready at the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Centre to alert jurisdictions if attacks are detected. Last month, the FBI issued an unprecedented warning to state election officials urging them to be on the lookout for intrusions into their election systems and to take steps to upgrade security measures across the voting process, including voter registration, voter roles and election-related websites. The confidential "flash" alert said investigators had detected attempts to penetrate election systems in several states. Arizona, Illinois and both the Democratic and Republican parties, as well as the DNC, have been the victims of either attempted or successful cyberattacks that FBI agents with expertise in Russian government hacking are investigating. Federal law enforcement and local election officials say the decentralised nature of the voting process, which is run by states and counties, makes it impossible to ensure a high level of security in each district. "I have a lot of concern" about this year's election, said Ion Sancho, the longtime supervisor of elections in Leon County, Florida. "America doesn't have its act together," said Sancho, who has authorised red team attacks on his voting system to identify its vulnerabilities. "We need a plan." Sancho and others are particularly concerned about electronic balloting from overseas that travels on vulnerable networks before landing in the United States and efforts to use cyberattacks to disrupt vote tabulations being transmitted to state-level offices. Encryption, secured paper backups and secured backup computers are critical, he said. Tom Hicks, chairman of the US Election Assistance Commission, an agency set up by Congress after the 2000 Florida recount to maintain election integrity, said he is confident that states have sufficient safeguards in place to ward off intrusions. He noted that electronic balloting from overseas is conducted by email, not through online voting machines. The overseas voter "waives their right of privacy" by emailing the ballot, which is tabulated by election officials. The email may still be hacked, but it is not a systemic risk, he said. Recently, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said he favours designating the various voting systems used in the country's 9000 polling places as "critical infrastructure" - in other words as vital to the nation's safe functioning as nuclear power plants and electrical power grids. Such a designation could mean increased DHS funding to localities to help ensure that voter registration, ballots and ballot tabulation remains free from interference. But it won't happen before the November elections, federal and local officials said. Russia has been in the vanguard of a growing global movement to use propaganda on the internet to influence people and political events, especially since the political revolt in Ukraine, the subsequent annexation of Crimea by Russia, and the imposition of sanctions on Russia by the United States and the European Union. The Baltic states, Georgia and Ukraine have been subject to Russian cyberattacks and other hidden influence operations meant to disrupt those countries, officials said. "Our studies show that it is very likely that [the influence] operations are centrally run," said Janis Sarts, director of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, a Riga, Latvia-based research organisation. He also said there is "a coordinated effort involving [groups using] Twitter and Facebook and networks of bots to amplify their message. The main themes seem to be orchestrated rather high up in the hierarchy of the Russian state, and then there are individual endeavours by people to exploit specific themes." Sarts said the Russian propaganda effort has been "successful in exploiting the vulnerabilities within societies." In Western Europe, for instance, such Russian information operations have focused on the politically divisive refugee crisis. Beijing: A new wave of pro-independence and "localist" activists have won seats in elections in Hong Kong in a result which observers said sends a "strong signal" to Beijing and proves that the spirit of the 2014 Umbrella Revolution protests lives on. Several young radicals were yesterday confirmed to have been elected after more than 2.2 million people voted in Legislative Council (LegCo) elections, the highest turnout since Hong Kong was handed back to China by Britain in 1997. Nathan Law, centre, of the political party Demosisto, celebrates with teen protest leader Joshua Wong, second from left, and his supporters after winning a seat at the legislative council elections. Credit:AP Among the new generation of activists to have won seats was Nathan Law, one of the leaders of mass protests which broke out two years ago in anger at Beijing's tightening grip. "I'm quite shocked," said Mr Law, 23. "We inherit some spirit from the movement and I hope that can continue in the future." PHILIPSBURG:---The Minister of Justice Edson Kirindongo offers his sincerest condolences to the family members of those who lost a relative to violence during the past week. Minister Kirindongo is deeply concerned about these recent criminal events and assures the entire community and the islands visitors that the Ministry of Justice, in particular, the Police Department and the Prosecutors Office have been working together tirelessly and in close cooperation with the French Authorities in investigating these cases. Criminal offenses, including those carried out in the house of detention, will not be tolerated under any circumstances. The perpetrators of these atrocious crimes will be pursued and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. No further details regarding these cases will be released at this time as doing so could prove to be detrimental to the ongoing investigations. The minister is asking the community of Sint Maarten to extend their complete cooperation to the authorities in their efforts to investigate the aforementioned acts of violence and apprehend those responsible. The Minister cautions all to be attentive in their manner of addressing the events of the past week in order not to cause any further undesirable consequences for the island. Additional information will be issued as and when deemed appropriate by the investigating authorities. POINTE BLANCHE:--- The Port St. Maarten Group of Companies (Port) hereby responds to the press release of the St. Maarten Marine Trades Association (SMMTA). The SMMTA presents itself as the voice of St. Maartens marine industry that works together with other industry groups and all levels of government to provide a strong and consistent say for the marine industry. Contrary to this mission statement, the SMMTA fails to cooperate, let alone directly communicate, with one of the islands key promoters of the marine industry: the Port and its subsidiary the Simpson Bay Lagoon Authority Corporation (SLAC) N.V. Earlier this year, SLAC placed a two-page advertisement in the print media in which it responded to a press release by the SMMTA. In this advertisement, SLAC explained in detail the role that it plays in relation to the Simpson Bay Lagoon, as well as the difficult circumstances and restrictions under which it has to operate. Although the SMMTA announced that it would respond to multiple press releases on the misrepresentations presented by SLAC, nothing was ever heard from the SMMTA again. The Port is fully owned by the Government of St. Maarten and as such it ultimately belongs to the people of St. Maarten it represents the interests of St. Maarten and not those of foreign investors. Anything that the Port does is done in the best interest of our island, whether that concerns the port at Great Bay or the Simpson Bay Lagoon. Its a commonly known fact that the Simpson Bay Lagoon and Simpson Bays environmental and infrastructural state are in much need of an improvement. The Port is and remains committed to achieving this, one clear example being the construction of the Simpson Bay Causeway, a US$ 50 million-plus investment to improve the traffic situation in the Simpson Bay area. The Port sees little-added value in publicly responding to every press release issued by the SMMTA. Instead, it calls upon the SMMTA to start communicating and cooperating with the Port to jointly further promote St. Maarten as one of the premier marine destinations in the Caribbean. Isnt that the SMMTAs ultimate goal after all? The Ports door is always open. Minton could've easily gone to another hospital, but insisted on a hysterectomy at Catholic Mercy San Juan. Why? Isn't it obvious To the left, Evan Minton is the latest face in the ongoing struggle for civil rights, against those who would deny a person gender transition rights anywhere, anytime. When Catholic Mt. St. Charles Academy said early this year, that it would not accept nor enroll Transgender Students, the left declared war. The Rhode Island School placed itself in the center of a national debate over an LGBT nondiscrimination ordinance that would protect transgender people's access to public accommodations. On March 9, 2016, having received a petition with 1700 signatures from Change.org, and more importantly, having pissed off at least one major alum who donated money, MSC Academy folded. They apologized for hurting anyone's feelings, and admitted Transgender students despite their previous statements that they did not have the physical facilities to accommodate them. The Daily Beast's article on the subject was even titled "hateful rhetoric." http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/04/catholic-prep-school-no-transgender-students.html Needless to say, the Daily Beast never addressed the obvious question of why a transgender person would want to attend a religious conservative catholic school. Today's headline is "Transgender Man Denied Hysterectomy at Mercy San Juan Hospital." The hospital, which is Catholic, refuses to allow a surgeon with operating privileges at Mercy, to carry out a scheduled hysterectomy on this determined, though confused, person. From the Sacramento Bee: Tuesday was supposed to be a big day for Evan Michael Minton. The Fair Oaks resident packed his bags for the hospital, said a prayer and counted down the hours until he would undergo the hysterectomy that would take him one step further in his transition from female to male. Instead he spent the day on the phone with doctors and lawyers after Mercy San Juan hospital in Carmichael abruptly canceled the procedure on religious grounds. The surgery, part of Minton's transition to a fully male body, had been scheduled for three weeks but was called off Monday as hospital officials were preparing his admissions paperwork. Both Minton and his surgeon, Dr. Lindsey Dawson, said they were caught unawares by the hospital's decision. http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/health-and-medicine/article98943597.html#storylink=cpy In a statement, Dignity Health, which until 2012 was affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, declined to discuss Minton's case, citing patient privacy laws. "In general, it is our practice not to provide sterilization services at Dignity Health's Catholic facilities," said spokeswoman Melissa Jue, in an emailed statement. Sterilization procedures, such as hysterectomies or tubal ligations, she said, are permitted by Catholic hospitals only to cure or alleviate a "serious pathology and (if) a simpler treatment is not available." In Minton's case, there is a clear, medical need for a hysterectomy, according to his surgeon."Gender dysphoria is very clearly a pathology," said Dawson. "It's a recognized state of health," noting that national obstetrics groups recommend that transitioning transgender patients be put on hormones and provided with appropriate surgeries. She said Minton is her first patient seeking a hysterectomy as a part of gender transition care. So in other words, she wants to open up Mercy San Juan to future transgender surgeries. In her religion, the right to transition between genders, anywhere any time, should be a right, not a privelege. http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/health-and-medicine/article98943597.html#storylink=cpy Dignity Health Mercy San Juan Hospital was set up for national bad publicity by Even Minton and Dr. Dawson, as the culture wars continue Personally, I doubt that they were "caught unawares" by the hospitals decision. Minton and Dr. Dawson knew full well that once the Catholic hospital figured out what was going down in their surgical theater, they would call a halt to it. Dr. Dawson in particular knew Mercy's ban on voluntary sterilizations. To make sure they knew, Minton checked into the hospital insisting he be referred to as "he. Pronouns are very important to me. I told them to call me he or him, not she or her, which they started to call me after referring to my chart." Yessir, Mr. Minton. When they saw you wanted a hysterectomy, the cat was out of the bag, and they knew you were born a girl. Well, congrats on your 15 minutes of fame. And for standing up to say that anyone should be able to get a hysterectomy any time on demand, in any place. Because, you know, that's an important right. Despite the religious convictions of the folks who funded the hospital. Despite the fact that you could just go down the street to any other hospital in Sacramento. His film, "The Settlers," is reportedly negative view of Israelis living in the West Bank Indirect pressure on a faculty member at Syracuse University forced her to disinvite an Israeli filmmaker from a planned 2017 conference on religion in film, as reported by Legal Insurrection. The Israeli filmmaker, Shimon Dotan, is a professor at New York University. His film, "The Settlers," is reportedly negative view of Israelis living in the West Bank. The Boycott-Divest-Sanction movement against Israel claims that it is Israeli occupation of the West Bank that is their concern and the reason for the actions they demand against Israel. It is therefore the mere fact that Dotan is from Israel that apparently prompted one of the conference's organizers to rescind his invitation to the film festival. The subject of the film, critical of Israeli settlement in this territory, should have been welcome by anti-Israel faculty. However, Syracuse professor Gail Hamner wrote in her email to Dotan declining his invitation, "I now am embarrassed to share that my SU colleagues, on hearing about my attempt to secure your presentation, have warned me that the BDS faction on campus will make matters very unpleasant for you and for me if you come. In particular my film colleague in English who granted me affiliated faculty in the film and screen studies program and who supported my proposal to the Humanities Council for this conference told me point blank that if I have not myself seen your film and cannot myself vouch for it to the Council, I will lose credibility with a number of film and Women/Gender studies colleagues. Sadly, I have not had the chance to see your film and can only vouch for it through my friend and through published reviews." The colleagues referenced by Hamner in the email who are BDS and who intended to make matters very unpleasant have not been identified. Nor is it clear why Women/Gender studies faculty should oppose Israel or Israelis, particularly when Israel is only country in the Middle East with equality and full legal rights for women. BDS Mistakenly Disinvites Anti-Israel Filmmaker Once Dotan went public with the reason for his film getting pulled from SU's conference, the university responded that this was an error in judgment and promised to show his film on campus through some mechanism other than the "Place of Religion in Film" conference. Perhaps they got the memo that his film is actually anti-Israel. As Legal Insurrection notes in their article (at http://legalinsurrection.com/2016/09/demand-a-full-and-transparent-investigation-of-syracuse-u-disinvite-of-israeli-filmmaker/), while few formal academic groups have voted for an academic boycott of Israel, the informal, underlying pressure to discriminate against Israelis - meaning Israeli Jews- can be intimidating and distort the academic atmosphere. The relationship between anti-Zionist BDS and simple anti-Semitism is so close as to be indistinguishable. Couldn't even reverse the high fees involved in a car being impounded for unpaid parking tickets because its owner was a soldier who'd been deployed overseas Nishi remembers on one occasion in particular, he had wanted to reverse the high fees involved in a car being impounded for unpaid parking tickets because its owner was a soldier who'd been deployed overseas The odds against drivers when it comes to parking tickets are even worse than most people think. David Goldstein, reporter for CBS2/KCAL9 is investigating a culture of pressure in traffic court to rule against the driver and in favor of the city. Two traffic hearing officers have now come forward, claiming their supervisors would overrule the decisions they had made in favor of drivers. Former Los Angeles traffic hearing officer Ernie Nishi decided parking ticket cases for ten years. "I believe there was a lot of pressure to rule in favor of the city," he is quoted as claiming. Nishi remembers on one occasion in particular, he had wanted to reverse the high fees involved in a car being impounded for unpaid parking tickets because its owner was a soldier who'd been deployed overseas. Nishi was overruled by his supervisor. Traffic hearing officer Joe Kunkaew, also had his supervisor overrule him when he decided to rule in favor of a citizen with a $388 parking ticket. Kunkaew felt the decision by his boss was unfair. Ultimately, after Goldstein's investigation, the $388 was returned to the driver. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation simultaneously denies there is any wrongdoing by supervisors and has promised to look into such allegations. It is unclear how the LADOT can deny wrongdoing before they have investigated, but perhaps they are using the same reasoning that is applied to arbitrarily overruling parking ticket relief. Agreeing that the system is rigged against the driver is Jay Beeber of Safer Streets LA, a parking advocay group. "There is an inherent conflict of interest between these two entities [employees deciding parking ticket relief and the city who employs them and wants the parking ticket money] because they work for the city even though they're supposed to be independent. Their jobs to some extent are based on whether or not they find people guilty," Beeber says. No Law Enforcement Present; Private Guards Attack Protestors Tear gas and dogs were used by private guards to attack Native Americans trying to protect burial grounds from Labor Day weekend destruction by Dakota Access Pipeline bulldozers. Six people were bitten, and about 30 sprayed. One guard and two dogs were taken in for medical treatment. The crowd dispersed quietly once law enforcement arrived. Energy Transfer Partners is under fire from all sides as it tries to force its way across the prairie to construct the quasi-legal pipeline. Demonstrators have been camped out since April in protest of the damaging and possibly illegal construction. The line is planned to go under the Missouri River, threatening the only water source for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal land. An original pipeline route proposal was rejected for posing exactly the same kind of water source threat to the city of Bismarck, ND. On Saturday, Dakota Access came in and bulldozed both a sacred site and a grave site before the ND Preservation Office could get there to evaluate, after learning that the paper work and survey had been properly submitted to the court on Friday. "This demolition is devastating" said Tribal Chairman David Archambault in a press release. "These grounds are the resting places of our ancestors. The ancient cairns and stone prayer rings there cannot be replaced. In one day, our sacred land has been turned into hollow ground." Farmers in Iowa are also protesting the pipeline, which maneuvered to gain eminent domain rights and force the sale of private farmland, some of which has been in families for generations. 20 Iowa protesters were arrested and jailed at a march in Boone County last week. The Army Corps of Engineers approved the pipeline without holding public hearings, as required by the Federal Historic Preservation Act. The route also comes close to protected eagle nesting grounds. Without proper environmental clearance and ignoring treaties that require consultation with affected Native American tribes, Energy Transfer Partners has managed to sidestep many of the legal safeguards that are meant to protect U.S. citizens from the harm of corporate land projects. Representatives from Native American groups across the nation have now gathered in support. It is the first time since the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn that all seven council fires of the Great Sioux Nation have camped together. The encampment, Sacred Stone Camp, now has several thousand people in residence, and they have taken careful steps to provide food, sanitation, and even a school for the growing group. This protest is completely legal, and organizations as diverse as the National Lawyers Guild, Amnesty International, and Black Lives Matter have spoken out in support. Regional Law Enforcement has mostly been respectful of the protesters, greeting them politely and providing peaceful road access for marches. Officers have even removed their hats during religious services. The Standing Rock Sioux have followed all appropriate legal steps to object to the violations that led to inappropriate construction approval, but Energy Transfer Partners is determined to undermine lawful efforts by pushing through with whole scale destruction before the courts can make any rulings. "We're days away from getting a resolution on the legal issues, and they came in on a holiday weekend and destroyed the site," said Jan Hasselman, attorney for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. "What they have done is absolutely outrageous." Latest Up[date: http://www.smobserved.com/story/2016/09/09/news/dakota-access-us-government-moves-to-temporarily-block-construction/1918.html For more information go to http://sacredstonecamp.org/ Failures of the Affordable Care Act outweigh benefits, Says Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC) WASHINGTON, DC, Sep 2 - There won't be an October surprise prior to the 2016 Presidential Elections, at least not as far as Obamacare is concerned, says Dan Weber, president of the Association of Mature American Citizens. "The cat's already out of the bag. In fact, Lamar Alexander, often described as one of the most responsible Senators sitting in Congress, says that when the 2017 enrollment period begins on November 1 - seven days before voters are to pick the next president of the United States - it won't come as a shock that consumers will have little choice in picking a health insurance plan. They'll have fewer plans to choose from and the ones that will be available will be grossly expensive," reports Weber. Alexander told reporters that the Obamacare exchanges in his state, Tennessee, are close to collapsing. In fact, he said, those seeking health insurance in Tennessee will have to pay what he called an "intolerable increase" in premiums - somewhere between 44% and 62% more than they paid in 2016. He said the same is true in many other states across the nation. And, he added, it could have a domino effect throughout the country. Meanwhile, USA Today reported that "Up to 2.1 million people will likely have to change plans for 2017 due to insurers leaving states' Affordable Care Act marketplaces, up from more than 1.2 million who had to find new insurers last year." Weber described the situation as dire and warned that President Obama's "so-called signature achievement is falling apart faster than a house of cards in a wind storm. Is it because those who crafted the law in the first place simply did not know what they were doing and those in charge of implementing the law are dysfunctional? Some observers believe that the Affordable Care Act is deliberately flawed, that it is a strategy for achieving the socialist ideal of a single-payer system of health care coverage." Howard J. Peterson, MHA, is the founder and managing partner of TRG Healthcare, and an expert in the field of healthcare strategies. As he put it in a public debate earlier this year: "So, if one were a conspiracy theorist it would go something like this: the Democrats knew there would be growth in Medicare driven by the aging population. Obamacare focused on the expansion of Medicaid with a plan to increase dependency on federal funding. The exchanges only purpose was the destruction of the commercial insurance market. Given these factors and the growing national debt due to Obamacare and the fact that 32M U.S. citizens still remain uninsured a compelling case could be made to move to a single payer system as the only and obvious solution." So what is wrong with a single-payer system similar to those in other parts of the world? After all, it would make healthcare free for the citizenry, as proponents tout. When you take a closer look, the overwhelming demand for medical services result in governments putting limitations on availability. For example, "you don't have to travel far to see the disadvantages of socialized medicine. Canada has had a single-payer system in place for decades. That's why you see Canadians who can afford it coming to the U.S. for their healthcare needs. It also inhibits medical research and the development of new and better procedures and medications. And, if that's not enough, consider the fact that a single-payer healthcare system is the backbone of socialist and communist politics, putting the government in charge of the lives of its citizens." The Association of Mature American Citizens [http://www.amac.us] is a vibrant, vital senior advocacy organization that takes its marching orders from its members. We act and speak on their behalf, protecting their interests and offering a practical insight on how to best solve the problems they face today. Live long and make a difference by joining us today at http://amac.us/join-amac. Consumers should not pay the price for the complicated relationships between doctors, facilities and health plans A bill to protect patients from surprise bills after a hospital visit is currently under consideration in the California Assembly. The measure, AB 72, sponsored by 5 Democrats and 2 Republicans, has garnered the support of Consumers Union (the policy branch of Consumer Reports), retiree and youth advocacy groups, and health insurance companies. However some physician organizations, including the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons are opposed, claiming the cost-control law will create a shortage of medical care when doctors bow out of providing care at hospitals where they will not be fully reimbursed. The California Medical Association has removed their formal opposition but would like to see further tweaking before the bill goes to a vote. The proposed legislation is designed to protect patients who are at in-network facilities from high bills arising from treatment they receive from doctors and laboratories at those facilities who are out-of-network. Insurance plans commonly give their customers a list of in-network doctors and facilities. These providers have a contract with the insurance company and have agreed to accept payment that is usually lower than that demanded by out-of-network health care providers. Many hospital patients do not realize that even though they have chosen to have their care at an in-network hospital, they may receive treatment by doctors who are not part of their health insurance network. The health insurance company is then not responsible for the bill and the entire burden of paying it - with no help from the insurance - falls on the unsuspecting patient. AB 72, in its official summary, states that it establishes a payment rate, which is the greater of the average of a health plan or health insurer's contracted rate, as specified, or 125% of the amount Medicare reimburses for the same or similar services, and a binding independent dispute resolution process for claims and claim disputes related to covered services provided at a contracted health facility by a non-contracting health care professional. Limits enrollee and insured cost sharing for these covered services to no more than the cost sharing required had the services been provided by a contracting health professional. Requires health plans and insurers to collect the enrollee/insured cost sharing and requires the plan/insurer to permit the enrollee/insured to assign payment of benefits to the health care professional. On its face, the proposed law would allow patients to get the care they need without having to worry about whether or not their doctor is in or out of their insurance company's network. The AAPS argues that it is inherently unfair for the insurance company to be the entity that decides what is a reasonable fee for a doctor's services. This enriches the insurance companies at the expense of doctors. They further argue that "as every economist knows" price controls lead to shortages. AAPS general Counsel Andrew Schlafly states, "Private companies cannot be lawfully authorized by the legislature to impose price controls on workers who have no contract with them. When price controls have been used, they are set by publicly accountable entities. Private insurance companies have no such accountability, political or otherwise. In fact, states the physician's advocacy group, if insurance companies are allowed to impose their less-than-market rates on doctors with whom they have no contract, then those doctors will cut back on the care they are willing to provide. According to AAPS, insurance companies and their highly paid executives profit more if they can impose low prices on the entire market and not just providers who choose to contract with them. And they do still better if they dont have to pay at all when patients receive no care because no one can afford to provide it to them, says Dr. Jane Orient, executive director of AAPS. The California Medical Association, in a letter to the bill's authors, cautions that "we believe this problem is primarily driven by increasingly narrow provider networks available to enrollees of certain health plans which forces patients to in-network facilities that do not have nearly enough in-network providers available to provide covered services. In these instances, health insurers are sending patients to in-network facilities where they are all but guaranteed to receive care from an out of network physician because of the narrowness of the plans network. Given that out-of-network payments are set at a statutory rate, we do not see a current enforcement mechanism that will penalize health plans for carrying inadequate networks after the passage of AB 72." In other words, if health insurance companies are allowed to pay any doctor, in or out of network, the fee decided by statute as opposed to the free market rate, they will have no incentive to work out fair contracts with doctors to be a part of their network. Networks will shrink and patients will have fewer choices of in-network doctors to take care of their health care needs. Anyone who has health insurance is probably aware of the difficulty of finding certain specialists who are in-network. Many individuals with specialized health needs find themselves paying very high rates that insurance companies do not have to reimburse, except by a very small amount. AB 72: A bill to protect patients from surprise bills after a hospital visit is currently under consideration in the California Assembly. On the other side of the argument, Consumers Union writes that "health insurance coverage should provide protection against overwhelming medical bills and debt. Consumers should not pay the price for the complicated relationships between doctors, facilities and health plans." Doctors are not usually employees of the hospital and therefore not necessarily in the same health insurance network. Hospitals do not even know if a doctor is in or out of a patient's network and so cannot even inform the patient he is about to be treated by an expensive, out-of-network anesthesiologist or pathologist. "This bill is a balanced solution that protects patients from unfair surprises, while also requiring insurers to reimburse out-of-network doctors at in-network facilities fairly, at a minimum, the greater of the average contracted rate or 125% of Medicare. It also allows doctors to appeal for a higher payment through a streamlined IDRP (dispute resolution plan). For more information on the bill and an analysis of its place among current legislation, see http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/15-16/bill/asm/ab_0051-0100/ab_72_cfa_20160628_142049_sen_comm.html Sen. Elizabeth Warren sends out a fundraising e mail crowing about the story. The New York Times analysis of national and regional polls believes the Democrats are now "slight favorites" to take the US Senate back from the Republicans on November 8th. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/upshot/senate-election-forecast.html?_r=0 This is the first time in 2016, that the Democrats have been favored to take control of the Senate. One third of Senators are up for election each 2 year election cycle, and this year the Republicans have 22 seats potentially up for grabs. This makes them vulnerable to the Democrats. The current Congress includes 54 Democrats, 44 Republicans, and 2 independents. Sen. Bernie Sanders is an independent who caucuses with the Democrats. Angus King of Maine is an independent who caucuses with the Democrats. The Republicans won the Senate majority in the 2014 midterm elections when they gained nine seats and lost none. There are 24Republican seats and 10 Democratic seats up for re-election. Senator Elizabeth Warren has sent out a fundraising e mail asking Movon.org Supporters to chip in $2.70 a month. She cites an article entitled "2016 Senate Election Forecast," The New York Times, accessed September 4, 2016 http://act.moveon.org/go/5411?t=57&akid=169102.19659920.Tm_3BC No fan of Donald Trump, Assange really hates Hillary Clinton. Release may come on eve of 3d debate Julian Assange Claims to have the goods on Hillary, and is planning an election surprise. He lives in exile in an embassy in London and considers himself a journalist, while the Obama administration and many Americans consider him to be a traitor. Appearing on Megyn Kelly's Fox News program, WikiLeaks founder and editor-in-chief Julian Assange said on Wednesday that he planned to release "significant" information linked to the campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Asked if the data could be a game-changer in the election, he said "I think it's significant. You know, it depends on how it catches fire in the public and in the media." WikiLeaks released files in July of audio recordings taken from the emails of the Democratic National Committee. These were obtained by hacking its servers. That release, during the Democratic National Convention where Clinton was officially named the party's presidential nominee, was the second batch in a series that deeply rattled the Democratic party, and ultimately forced DNC chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, to step down--which Assange seemed to brag about tonight. Kelly speculated that the timing of the dump would be just before Clinton's third debate with Donald Trump. Everyone would be tuned in then and it would do the most damage to Clinton, she said, referring to the Obama administration's hunt for Assange. It was led by then Secretary of State Clinton. On 4 July 2016, WikiLeaks tweeted a link to a trove of emails sent or received by then-US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton published on their website. The leak contained 1258 emails sent from Clinton's personal mail server which were selected in terms of their relevance to the Iraq War and were apparently timed to precede the release of the UK government's Iraq Inquiry report. On 22 July 2016, WikiLeaks released approximately 20,000 emails and 8,000 files sent from or received by Democratic National Committee (DNC) personnel. Some of the emails contained personal information of donors, including home addresses and Social Security numbers. Other emails appeared to present ways to undercut Bernie Sanders and showed apparent favoritism towards Clinton. WikiLeaks is an international non-profit group of journalists that publishes secret information, news leaks, and steals or appropriates classified media from anonymous sources. Julian Assange Claims to have the goods on Hillary, and is planning an election surprise. Its website, initiated in 2006 in Iceland by the organization Sunshine Press, claimed a database of more than 1.2 million documents within a year of its launch. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder, editor-in-chief, and director. Kristinn Hrafnsson, Joseph Farrell, and Sarah Harrison are the only other publicly known and acknowledged associates of Julian Assange. Hrafnsson is also a member of Sunshine Press Productions along with Assange, Ingi Ragnar Ingason, and Gavin MacFadyen. The group has released a number of significant documents that have become front-page news items. Early releases included documentation of equipment expenditures and holdings in the Afghanistan war and a report informing a corruption investigation Claim: President Obama ordered five first-line U.S. aircraft carriers into port together in a shocking breach of military protocol. Rating: About this rating Mostly False What's True Five aircraft carriers were once all docked at Norfolk at the same time. What's False The five carriers were not "first-line" ships, they were not ordered into port by President Obama, they were not diverted from operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan, and the situation was not an "unprecedented breach of military protocol." The above-displayed photograph of ships lined up at the piers of the Norfolk Naval Base was widely circulated online beginning in March 2013 with accompanying claims that it showed five U.S. aircraft carriers simultaneously docked in the same place for the first time since World War II. Although the photograph is genuine, and five carriers were indeed docked at Norfolk at the same time, most of the claims in the accompanying text are exaggerated or untrue: the ships were not all "first line" carriers, nor were they "pulled out from the Middle East" and "ordered into harbor for routine inspections," and the situation was not the first occurrence of its type since World War II, nor was it a "breach of long-standing military protocol." Although the Norfolk photograph was circulated in March 2013 as something snapped "the other day," it was actually taken in mid-December 2012, when many U.S. Navy ships of all types were briefly docked at a number of fleet concentration areas to facilitate the traditional practice of giving ships' crews a chance to spend part of the holiday season with their families: Five aircraft carriers, four big-deck amphibious assault ships, a full cast of "small boy" surface warships, along with nuclear submarines and support ships, are crowding the [Norfolk] base, giving a comfortably snug feeling to the waterfront. Similar scenes although not with the gathering of flattops seen here are taking place at other fleet concentration areas like San Diego and Pearl Harbor. The Navy makes a point of trying to gives its shipboard crews a chance to spend Christmas with their families, and for a few days the percentage of ships underway drops to the lowest point it will be all year. But many of these ships will be gone in two weeks as the pace of operations picks up again. That grouping of ships at Norfolk did include five aircraft carriers (the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, USS George H.W. Bush, USS Enterprise, USS Harry S. Truman, and USS Abraham Lincoln, but they were not all "first line" carriers, they were not diverted from the Middle East or ordered into port for "routine inspections," nor was this the first time such a collection of carriers had taken place since World War II: The USS Enterprise (CVN 65) was no longer a "first line" ship at the time this photograph was taken, as it had already begun the process of deactivation at the beginning of December 2012 (a step towards its planned decommissioning) and "will never again go to sea under her own power." As noted by the U.S. Navy, the other four aircraft carriers all had planned, routine reasons for being in port at Norfolk in December 2012; none of these ships was abruptly or unexpectedly "ordered into harbor for routine inspections": DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER's deployment to the Persian Gulf region was extended recently when her replacement, the Pacific carrier NIMITZ, needed to undergo emergency repairs. IKE is home for about two months to have her flight deck resurfaced, then will return to Central Command's Fifth Fleet. Sheds cover the ABRAHAM LINCOLN's flight deck as she prepares to cross to Newport News early next year to begin a three-and-a-half-year refueling overhaul, the most comprehensive refit a carrier will undergo in its 50-year service life. HARRY S. TRUMAN has completed most of her training and is expected to deploy to the Fifth Fleet region later this winter. GEORGE H. W. BUSH completed a major overhaul in early December and is in the early stages of deployment work ups. The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower had returned to Norfolk three months earlier than previously scheduled in order to resurface its flight deck prior to a planned redeployment; the USS Harry S. Truman had returned to Norfolk from its previous deployment in December 2010 and as of December 2012 was still awaiting redeployment orders; the USS George H.W. Bush had completed an overhaul and remained at Norfolk while conducting sea trials in preparation for an upcoming training cycle and deployment; and USS Abraham Lincoln remained at Norfolk while awaiting departure for a refueling complex overhaul at Newport News shipyard (which was delayed due to a lack of funding). Jumix Design Offers Ground-Breaking Ecommerce Solutions to Its Clients Posted by Publisher Internet FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Penang, Malaysia, (September 06, 2016) The ecommerce landscape in Malaysia has been changing dramatically over the past decade with newer and more promising solution developers making their debut in the market. However, there have been only a handful of entities that have managed to create an impactful difference in the field, with Jumix Design topping the charts for all the right reasons. With barely three years of experience as an ecommerce solution company, Jumix Design has already set exemplary standards in ecommerce online store development, Facebook and email marketing, strictly effective SEO consultations, Google Adwords Service, web designing, payment gateway integration and many more. The structure and sophistication of ecommerce solutions in Malaysia has never been the same after the launch of Jumix Design in 2013. Teoh, the Managing Director and founder of this new and thoroughly innovative company, reminisces his days as a freelance ecommerce website designer and digital marketer from 2008 to 2013. He expresses that this phenomenally important phase has helped him understand the requirements and urgencies of clients up close, which had eventually driven him to create the perfect and most suitable strategies aimed at addressing the requirements accordingly. Besides, the array of services and assured success, Jumix Design believes firmly in simplifying the process of payments in the part of their clients. Offering complete freedom from monthly charges, yearly contract fees and other such step-by-step payment structures and introducing a one-time-only payment for just about any service availed has worked wonders with the client base. The ever expanding number of entities approaching Jumix Designs by the passing days is evidence enough that the company has struck the notes impeccably. The goal of Jumix Design though, does not stop with the aim to design ecommerce websites perfectly. The existing team of exceptionally experienced trained and rather, gifted professionals have taken it upon their shoulders to make things even better for clients in terms of evolved features and unchallenged services by the end of the decade. About Jumix Design Jumix Design is one of the rising innovative ecommerce solution developers located in Malaysia. This company offers sophisticated services focused on web design, ecommerce online store development, Facebook marketing, SEO consultation and many more. For more information, please visit https://jumixdesign.com/e-commerce-solution/ Contact: Jumix Design Sales Contact: +6013-598-0563 Email: admin@jumixdesign.com ### NGINX Recognized by Gartner in 2016 Magic Quadrant Report for Application Delivery Controllers SAN FRANCISCO, CA (Marketwired) 09/06/16 , the engine delivering sites and applications for the modern web, today announced it has been recognized by Gartner in both its Magic Quadrant(1) and Critical Capabilities(2) Reports for the Application Delivery Controller (ADC) market for 2016. NGINX received the highest scores in use cases for Mode 2 Application Development and Mode 1/Mode 2 Hybrid ADC in the Critical Capabilities report, which the company believes puts it at the forefront of a larger industry shift happening across the ADC landscape away from hardware and traditional approaches toward flexible and scalable solutions for modern applications built in the cloud or hybrid environments. As the first and only open source vendor to be evaluated in the ADC Magic Quadrant, NGINX believes it is in a unique position of providing a sophisticated and rapid to deploy software offering which is developed based on usage by a community of millions of users and through direct feedback from its customers. Its commercial offering, , extends open source NGINX with advanced features and award-winning support for an enterprise ready solution. Open source vendors are playing a critical role in driving the performance, reliability, security, and scale of modern day applications, said Gus Robertson, CEO of NGINX, Inc. The ADC market is another great example of open source gaining tremendous clout and market-share by offering a more focused and lean solution to load balancing tooling. The ability to innovate faster and offer a more agile product is disrupting the ADC market, and helping it to grow alongside todays digital businesses. According to the Magic Quadrant Report, a divergence of ADC buying requirements is driving change and innovation in the market. This change and bifurcation is a microcosm of what Gartner refers to as bimodal work style, which combines the conventional capabilities of IT alongside a capability to respond to the level of uncertainty and the need for agility required for a digital transformation. The growing shift towards modern Mode 2 application development is going mainstream in the enterprise, as organizations are seizing the opportunity to transition to the modern web. This evolution in the development process inevitably favors companies that offer software-based and application native load balancing tools like NGINX, remarked Owen Garrett, Head of Products at NGINX, Inc. Were proud to be recognized with the highest scores for our Critical Capabilities in Mode 2 Application Development and Mode 1/Mode 2 Hybrid ADC use cases, which we believe puts us at the forefront of this growing application delivery trend. NGINX Plus customers have recognized that a new approach is necessary to achieve the speed and agility to bring new services to market. They have also seen significant cost savings with of up to 50-75% over legacy hardware-based competitors. Because we are dealing with a firehose of data from sources like Microsoft, Facebook, and Google, we needed to come up with a different solution in order to process that amount of traffic. Traditional hardware load balancers are expensive, and they lacked the flexibility and scale we needed, said AJ Wilson, Vice President of Operations at IgnitionOne. We selected NGINX Plus because it can scale enough to handle the load that were talking about, giving us confidence that we can deliver with the solution. With NGINX Plus, were able to process four to five times the volume that we were processing in the past with our hardware load balancers. Current and prospective NGINX users can also learn more about NGINXs ADC offerings and other capabilities at this years annual user conference, nginx.conf 2016, September 7-9 in Austin, Texas. For more information, visit or follow along on Twitter . To learn more about open source NGINX and the added benefits of NGINX Plus, visit: To view the full text of the 2016 Magic Quadrant for Application Delivery Controllers and Critical Capabilities reports, visit: Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartners research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. [1] Gartner [Magic Quadrant for Application Delivery Controllers] by [Andrew Lerner, Joe Skorupa, Danilo Ciscato], [August 29, 2016]. [2] Gartner [Critical Capabilities for Application Delivery Controllers] by [Mark Fabbi, Danilo Ciscato, Andrew Lerner], [August 29, 2016]. NGINX is the heart of the modern web helping the worlds most innovative companies deliver their sites and applications with performance, reliability, security, and scale. The company offers an award-winning, comprehensive application delivery platform in use on more than 180 million sites worldwide. Companies around the world rely on NGINX to ensure flawless digital experiences through features such as advanced load balancing, web and mobile acceleration, security controls, application monitoring, and management. More than half of the Internets busiest websites rely on NGINX, including Airbnb, Box, Instagram, Netflix, Pinterest, SoundCloud, and Zappos. The company is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Moscow and London. Learn more at Press Contact: Chad Torbin 415.548.6536 IPM Partners With Avecto to Bolster Data Security NEW YORK, NY (Marketwired) 09/06/16 , the IT force behind some of New York Metros most prestigious brands, today announced that it is a Premier Partner of , a security software firm that provides comprehensive and flexible endpoint security solutions. The partnership signals IPMs resolve to provide greater protection for its customers sensitive company information and mitigate the effects of malicious cyberattacks. Data security should rank among a companys highest priorities in todays digital economy, said Adam Bari, Managing Director, IPM. The partnership with Avecto enables us to step up the security safeguards we can offer our clients so that the integrity and safety of their information is not compromised. With the addition of Avectos software, companies will be able to implement a more complete, more flexible endpoint security solution, making their data less vulnerable to both internal and external attacks. As an Avecto Premier Partner, IPM is now able to leverage Avectos endpoint security solution, Defendpoint, so that customers can proactively stop malware in its tracks. Defendpoints least privilege, application control and content isolation capabilities are uniquely managed through a single lightweight agent, providing a simple, yet effective, security solution. According to Paul Kenyon, co-CEO and co-founder, Avecto, Partnering with IPM means that we can bring proactive endpoint security to an even broader selection of organizations. IPMs expertise in security compliance and innovative approach to security and threat protection make it an ideal fit for our growing list of channel partners. Avecto is a global security software company. Its innovative endpoint security solution, Defendpoint, is a multi-layered prevention engine that stops cyber attacks. It takes a proactive approach to preventing malware, uniquely combining three core capabilities of privilege management, application whitelisting and content isolation. Defendpoint protects over 6 million endpoints at many of the worlds biggest brands, ensuring that strong security never comes at the expense of usability. For more information visit: . For more than 30 years, IPM has been the IT force behind some of New York Metros most prestigious brands. Backed through partnerships with technology leaders including Microsoft, Citrix, EMC, VMware and more, IPM offers professional services, product sourcing and IT staffing with an unmatched engagement experience from concept to execution. Learn more at . Erin Jones Avista Public Relations for IPM 704-664-2170 Oveedia Ranks With Movistar and Citibank CR LAS VEGAS, NV (Marketwired) 09/06/16 (OTC PINK: PNOW), parent Company of the Central American-Caribbean Online Travel Agency (OTA) , announced today, that the domain has reached new, record levels, as its Alexa ranking now shares footing with Movistar and Citibank Costa Rica; increasing the value of both the domain and the Company overall. One item we have stressed for several months now, is the positioning of the Oveedia website, stated Melvin Pereira, President and CEO of Pure Hospitality Solutions. On , we reported that, following 90 days of continuous, diligent work, we had increased (lowered) our Alexa ranking from one of the billions of websites in existence, to a ranking of 430,580. Anyone familiar with the Alexa system, knows just how much work it takes to bypass billions of sites currently on the web; equally, they understand the positive impact this makes to the sites overall valuation. On Friday, September 2nd, 2016, we hit a brand new milestone; months earlier than anyone anticipated. We now have an Alexa ranking of This means, Oveedias visibility has improved substantially, surpassing another 237,434 websites worldwide. Thats a 55% improvement. We are very happy with these metrics! For a better perspective, here is how Oveedia ranks amongst a few major regional companies: Banco Popular de Costa Rica (Government bank) 242,872 Claro Costa Rica (Mexican phone company) 231,235 Movistar Telefonica Costa Rica (Major Spanish phone company) 210,136 Citibank Costa Rica 164,320 Generally speaking, the lower (better) the ranking of a website, the greater the daily traffic received. The more traffic, the more valuable the site, its content and advertisements become. Clearly, Oveedia is receiving as much, and in many cases, more traffic than some of the largest companies from within the region and throughout the world. If the trend continues at this rate, management is confident that Oveedias domain alone will soon be worth a million dollars. Pereira concluded, One thing I have made very clear since I became the CEO of this Company, is that first and foremost, I am a webmaster. It is my hope that once people acknowledge the true feat in bringing this much attention and interested visitors to a fairly young website, confidence will continue to improve and translate directly to our market value. While there has been little correlation to date, the fact that we are now one of the top 200k websites in the world soon approaching 100k should indicate that the conversion of traffic into travel bookings, shareholder growth and stock price appreciation, is evident and quickly approaching. We expect that with this new ranking, additional travel bookings and advertisement traffic, revenue will begin flowing in quite steadily and our overall valuation will grow in-kind. To view part II of the shareholder update, please visit: To View part I of the shareholder update, please visit: To view the second iteration of Oveedia, please visit: To interact and discuss PNOW with other shareholders, please visit: PURE provides proprietary technology, marketing solutions and branding services to hotel operators and condominium owners. The Companys vision is to build competitive operations in the areas of (i) online marketing and hotel internet booking engine services, (ii) hotel branding and, (iii) own, operate and in some instances develop, boutique hotels under the new, by PURE brand. PURE is the creator of , the online travel hub. Safe Harbor Statements in this news release that are not historical facts, including statements about plans and expectations regarding products and opportunities, demand and acceptance of new or existing products, capital resources and future financial results are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties which may cause the Companys actual results in future periods to differ materially from those expressed. These uncertainties and risks include changing consumer preferences, lack of success of new products, loss of the Companys customers, competition and other factors discussed from time to time in the Companys filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. BPC Lawyers Alert Clients to Proposed Changes to Green Slips in NSW The Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation, the Honourable, Victor Dominello MP announced in a media release on 2 March 2016 that the Government is establishing a task force to counteract Compulsory Third Party (CTP) fraud in New South Wales and will also conduct a review of the present CTP scheme. The first review completed by this task force was released on 19th August 2016 by the Standing Committee on Law and Justice. The review was wide reaching to encompass fraudulent and exaggerated claims, claims harvesting, future design of the scheme, New South Wales Government reform plans, journey claims and worker protections, claims pertaining to non-motorised vehicles and dirt bikes, motorcycle classes and premium setting for ride-sharing operators. The review made the following eight recommendations: Recommendation 1 That the State Insurance Regulatory Authority include the data solely for CTP scheme efficiency and the data for combined CTP and Lifetime Care and Support scheme efficiency in its annual reports. Recommendation 2 That the State Insurance Regulatory Authority finalise the new forms for requesting allied health services and case manager or rehabilitation provider services, as soon as practicable. Recommendation 3 That the NSW Government amend Division 1A of the Motor Accidents Compensation Act 1999, including through the removal of section 89A, to address concerns with the settlement conference process. Recommendation 4 That the NSW Government amend the late claims process under section 73 of the Motor Accidents Compensation Act 1999 by extending the period in which a claim can be made without explanation from six to 12 months. Recommendation 5 That the NSW Government urgently reform the costs regulation to deter exaggerated and fraudulent claims, especially in regards to low severity injuries to both minors and adults. Recommendation 6 That the NSW Government consider how journey claims are treated under any CTP scheme. Recommendation 7 That the State Insurance Regulatory Authority consult with the Motorcycle Council of NSW to consider consolidating the current five classifications of motorcycles in New South Wales into the following two classes: Learner Approved Motorcycle Scheme (LAMS) and non-LAMS. Recommendation 8 That the NSW Government establish a fair and equitable CTP premium for all vehicles used in commercial ride share operations Mr Mark Nelson, Partner of Beilby Poulden Costello Lawyers said, The Government has a clear agenda to reduce the cost of a green slip in New South Wales and is keen to see that a high proportion of the green slip premium goes towards helping the injured person. The establishment of a fraud task force should lead to both deterrence and discovery of fraudulent behaviour to the schemes benefit. It would be a tragedy for innocent accident victims to see the current scheme abolished without giving the effect of the establishment of the fraud task force time to be properly measured. The present scheme delivers fair compensation to innocent accident victims and according to the review by the governments own State Insurance Regulatory Authority, is more affordable in real terms now than in past years (referable to Average Weekly Earnings). He went on to say, We are following the review process very closely and its impact on our clients. It is important that potential changes to laws relating to the CTP insurance scheme are highlighted and communicated throughout the process. We are hopeful that the rights of individuals are considered to be at least as important as Insurer profit margins. Beilby Poulden Costello Lawyers offers the services of accredited personal injury law specialists who are ready to assist members of the community. To learn more about the business and the comprehensive range of legal services offered, visit the website here:http://www.bpclaw.com.au/ About Beilby Poulden Costello Lawyers [Beilby Poulden Costello Lawyers](http://www.bpclaw.com.au)is a leading Sydney legal practice with accreditedmotor accident compensation lawyers, specialistworkers compensation lawyers.The practice has its origins as a legal practice started by Barry Beilby in 1975. The business expanded significantly in 1993 when the practice merged with that of Flannery Mura & Costello, a firm specialising in Compensation law. Columbia Gas new business manager Tyler Lonchar and construction coordinator Anthony Lance work on a home in Mt. Oliver as part of a Rebuilding Together home-safety project. The company donated $5,000 toward the project and 15 employees volunteered to help. Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania employee volunteers partnered with Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh, a non-profit organization, to rehabilitate a home in Mount Oliver recently. "We specifically selected the Mt. Oliver area to give back to, because we are replacing a significant amount of aging pipelines in the community. We saw this as a nice way to give back to a community," said Sarah Perry, a senior communications and community relations specialist with Columbia Gas. Fifteen volunteers from Columbia Gas employees joined with Rebuilding Together to complete necessary home improvements including interior patching, interior painting, flooring installation, carpet removal, exterior painting and retaining wall repair. Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania also donated $5,000 to Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh, providing not only sweat-equity, but also the funds required to repair the Mt. Oliver home. "Even simple modifications to a home can greatly improve safety. We admire the work of Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh and their aim to improve the lives and living conditions of low-income homeowners," said Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania Vice President and General Manager Mike Davidson. The Mt. Oliver homeowner also qualified for the WarmWise Audits & Rebates program from Columbia Gas. Through WarmWise Audits & Rebates the customer will receive a free home energy audit, an energy-efficiency plan with estimated cost savings, when appropriate a programmable thermostat and up to $1,800 worth of rebates for the installation of audit-recommended measures. For more information about WarmWise Audits & Rebates visit http://www.ColumbiaGasPA.com/customersave. Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania employee volunteers partnered with Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh, a non-profit organization, to rehabilitate a home in Mount Oliver recently. "We specifically selected the Mt. Oliver area to give back to, because we are replacing a significant amount of aging pipelines in the community. We saw this as a nice way to give back to a community," said Sarah Perry, a senior communications and community relations specialist with Columbia Gas. Fifteen volunteers from Columbia Gas employees joined with Rebuilding Together to complete necessary home improvements including interior patching, interior painting, flooring installation, carpet removal, exterior painting and retaining wall repair. Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania also donated $5,000 to Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh, providing not only sweat-equity, but also the funds required to repair the Mt. Oliver home. "Even simple modifications to a home can greatly improve safety. We admire the work of Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh and their aim to improve the lives and living conditions of low-income homeowners," said Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania Vice President and General Manager Mike Davidson. The Mt. Oliver homeowner also qualified for the WarmWise Audits & Rebates program from Columbia Gas. Through WarmWise Audits & Rebates the customer will receive a free home energy audit, an energy-efficiency plan with estimated cost savings, when appropriate a programmable thermostat and up to $1,800 worth of rebates for the installation of audit-recommended measures. For more information about WarmWise Audits & Rebates visit http://www.ColumbiaGasPA.com/customersave. Noie: Of course Notre Dame was going to go away from home and do this Notre Dame has played its best football far from South Bend this season. The Irish did it again Saturday in Central New York. Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. Welcome to SwanseaOnline - your home for the best news, sports and what's on coverage of the city. Never miss a Swansea story with our daily newsletter Sign up to comment on our stories here Follow us on Facebook and Twitter | Swansea City news | Ospreys news | InYourArea An artist's rendition of the Milky Way Galaxy. "Galactic Tick Day" is a holiday invented to celebrate the sun's orbit around the galaxy. Every time the Earth makes one complete loop around the sun, humans celebrate the journey with some kind of New Year's holiday. So why won't we celebrate every time our solar system completes one loop around the center of the galaxy? Such a holiday may have just arrived: A group of science enthusiasts have established "Galactic Tick Day," which celebrates the journey that the sun takes around the nearly circular disk of the Milky Way galaxy. Unfortunately, the sun completes one galactic circuit about 220 million to 250 million years. To make the holiday more compatible with human lifetimes, the creators of Galactic Tick Day divided the sun's journey up into smaller chunks, so that the holiday arrives every 1.77 Earth years. The next Galactic Tick Day, according to their calendar, falls on Sept. 29. [Stunning Photos of Our Milky Way Galaxy (Gallery)] The Milky Way Galaxy is our home in space. The galaxy contains about 400 billion stars, with a 4-billion-solar-mass black hole at its core. See how our Milky Way Galaxy works in this Space.com infographic (Image credit: Karl Tate, Space.com Contributor) David Sneider, one of the creators of Galactic Tick Day, said the motivation for inventing this new holiday is "kind of loosely defined," but mainly the group hopes it will simply bring some awe and excitement to people's lives. "Hopefully, some people will realize that the sun is in motion, when they may have thought it was stationary before," Sneider told Space.com. "And perhaps for people who already know about this motion and know something about astronomy, if they're educating their peers and their friends that's also something really nice." Invigorating ideas Sneider is 26, lives in northern California, and is a self-described entrepreneur and "startup guy," who works on the "commercial, strategy and messaging side of things." He isn't a scientist (there are no professional scientists behind Galactic Tick Day), but he likes discussing big ideas from science such as when a person on Earth stands very still, he or she is still moving around the sun at about 67,000 miles per hour (110,000 kilometers per hour), and around the galaxy at something close to 514,000 mph (828,000 km/h). This is a fascinating fact, and in Sneider's experience it can lead people to meditate more deeply about their place in the universe. In his spare time, Sneider volunteers with Black Rock Observatory, a group that "brings meteorites and telescopes to art and science festivals in California," which is one of the places where he can discuss these cosmic ideas with people. "All of these scientific facts, when you put them together and start synthesizing [them] it becomes very invigorating," Sneider told Space.com. "Given this expanse and this spaciousness in which we find ourselves and you can picture in your mind's eye the Earth as the pale blue dot when you start going down that line you really get these nice feelings and understanding that we are a human family. This is a planetary society. Whether we like it or not we're all in it together. And to be able to have that level of conversation and kind of see people arrive at insights similar to that through science education is really amazing." Calculating a galactic tick Even at such a mind-boggling speed, it takes the sun somewhere between 225 million and 250 million years to make a full orbit around the center of the galaxy. (Estimates vary because of various unknowns, including the exact distance from the sun to the galactic center of mass, and whether or not the sun has always been at the same distance from the galactic center.) The folks behind Galactic Tick Day went with an estimate of 225 million. Earth is approximately 4.5 billion years old, which means it has lived through about 20 complete loops around the galaxy. To celebrate the age of human beings, we have to know the exact day on which they were born. Since the exact birth date of the sun is a bit vague, the creators of Galactic Tick Day had to pick some other specific starting date to start counting the passage of galactic years. (New Years Day, for example, is used to mark the passage of the Earth's journey around the sun, but it is essentially an arbitrary date). Sneider and his friends chose Oct. 2, 1608, the day that Hans Lippershey filed the patent for the first telescope. That day was selected in honor of the "telescope's power" in bringing about "awareness of the nature of the universe," according to the Galactic Tick website. If the sun travels in an approximate circle around the center of the galaxy, then that circle can be divided up into degrees every circle is 360 degrees. Every degree can be divided up into 60 pieces, each called an arc minute. Every arc minute can be divided into 60 arc seconds. (These units can also be used to measure the distance between objects on the sky). The creators of Galactic Tick Day then divided each arc second by 100 (a "centi-arc second"). Sneider said they call each of these centi-arc seconds a "tick," sort of like the tick of a second hand on a clock. Every time the sun completes one centi-arc second in its orbit around the galactic center, they will celebrate Galactic Tick Day. With that in mind, the sun moves through one centi-arc second of its orbit around the galaxy every 633.7 days, or 1.73 years, and Sept. 29, 2016, will be the 235th Galactic Tick Day. Because it happens every 633.7 days, Galactic Tick Day won't fall on the same calendar day every time it comes around. Fans of the holiday will have to calculate when the next celebration should be. Citizen science outreach Galactic Tick Day is a great celebration of science, and it is also an example of how social media is making it possible for just about anyone to kick off their own science outreach projects. Sneider and his friends aren't affiliated with any science organizations; currently, they don't have any celebrities (scientists or otherwise) pushing their message out. (Sneider did reach out to multiple science news outlets, including this one, and there's been some coverage). A YouTube video describing the holiday has a few thousand views, and a Facebook event page (location: Earth) has been shared by a few hundred people. "It's just an idea It's successful if people are talking about it," Sneider said. "I'm actually pretty surprised to see how excited people are getting about it. The fact that we're having this conversation, to me, is amazing. 'Cause initially in starting it, the thought was this can be a long-term project. It took the founders of Mother's Day about two to three decades to get that going. And you know, if this has some iota of traction in the next 10-15 years, I'll consider that a success." Sneider said he and the other founders are planning their own event for Galactic Tick Day in San Francisco that will include talks by space scientists and interactive events that relate to the cosmos. The event is not listed on the Facebook page, but Sneider said anyone interested in attending should message the creators on Facebook. Editor's Note: This article was corrected to show that Sneider's first name is David, not Daniel. Follow Calla Cofield @callacofield.Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. The Atlas 5 payload fairing containing NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is installed on top of the rocket Aug. 29 at Space Launch Complex 41. You can learn all about the asteroid-sampling mission of NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft before the probe blasts off Thursday evening (Sept. 8). NASA will webcast a number of news conferences this week leading up to the launch of OSIRIS-REx, which is expected to arrive at the 1,650-foot-wide (500 meters) asteroid Bennu in 2018 and return a sample of the space rock to Earth by 2023. All events, including the probe's liftoff, will air live on NASA TV; you can also watch the OSIRIS-REx webcasts here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV. Social media followers can participate in briefings using the hashtag #askNASA. [Osiris-Rex: NASA's Asteroid Sample-Return Mission in Pictures] Here are the schedule highlights: Tuesday, Sept. 6: 1 p.m. EDT (5 p.m. GMT) Prelaunch mission briefing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. The briefing participants are: Geoffrey Yoder, acting associate administrator of NASAs science mission directorate in Washington, D.C. Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona, Tucson Tim Dunn, NASA launch manager at the Kennedy Space Center Scott Messer, program manager for NASA missions at United Launch Alliance in Centennial, Colorado Michael Donnelly, OSIRIS-REx project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland Rich Kuhns, OSIRIS-REx program manager for Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver Clay Flinn, launch weather officer for the 45th Weather Squadron at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida Tuesday, Sept. 6: 2 p.m. EDT (6 p.m. GMT) OSIRIS-REx mission science briefing at KSC. Briefing participants are: Christina Richey, OSIRIS-REx deputy program scientist at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland Daniella DellaGiustina, OSIRIS-REx lead image processing scientist at the University of Arizona, Tucson Wednesday, Sept. 7: 12 p.m. EDT (4 p.m. GMT) OSIRIS-REx Talk from KSC's Operations Support Building II. The spacecraft's science and engineering teams will participate in the talk, discussing the mission's science goals. Wednesday, Sept. 7: 1 p.m. EDT (5 p.m. GMT) Uncovering the secrets of asteroids: A discussion about what asteroids are and why they are important to understand the solar system's history and the search for life beyond Earth. Participants at KSC's Operations Support Building II are: Ellen Stofan, NASA chief scientist Michelle Thaller, deputy director of science communications for NASA's Science Mission Directorate Lindley Johnson, director of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office in NASA's Science Mission Directorate Alex Young, associate director for science in the Heliophysics Science Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland Sometime on this same day, NASA plans to put a prelaunch webcast up on the agency's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/NASAtelevision Thursday, Sept. 8: 4:30 p.m. EDT (8:30 p.m. GMT) Launch coverage begins, starting with the loading of cryogenic fuel into the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket that will carry OSIRIS-REx skyward. Coverage will continue until about 1 hour after launch. The launch window extends from 7:05 p.m. to 9:05 p.m. EDT (11:05 p.m. Sept. 8 to 1:05 a.m. Sept. 9 GMT). Two hours after launch, there will be a post-launch news conference that will include representatives from NASA and United Launch Alliance. OSIRIS-REx is short for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer. The $800 million mission's main goal is to learn more about the role asteroids like Bennu may have played in bringing life's building blocks to Earth. The probe's observations should also help researchers accomplish three other goals: nail down the orbit of Bennu, which has a slight chance of hitting Earth in the late 22nd century; learn more about the forces that affect asteroids' paths through space; and shed light on the resources space rocks may harbor, NASA officials have said. Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, or Space.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebookand Google+. Original article on Space.com. Duane Graveline, a medical doctor who was among NASA's first scientist-astronauts, but who resigned after just six months for "personal reasons," died on Monday (Sept. 5). He was 85. Graveline, who went by the nickname "Doc," died following a short illness at a hospital near his home in Merritt Island, Florida, according to a source close to his family. Named in June 1965 as a member of NASA's fourth group of astronauts, Graveline joined five other scientists Owen Garriott, Ed Gibson, Joe Kerwin, Curt Michel and Harrison Schmitt as the space agency's first trainees recruited for their academic backgrounds, rather than flight experience. But Graveline had only reported for supersonic jet training before he was out of the astronaut corps. [NASA's Mighty Saturn V Moon Rocket Explained (Infographic)] "Duane Graveline, one of the nation's scientist-astronauts, is the first to resign before making a space flight," reported the Associated Press in an article published on August 18, 1965. "[NASA] announced that Dr. Graveline had resigned for personal reasons. It said [Graveline] would remain with the Manned Spacecraft Center [Johnson Space Center] as a medical doctor." 'Didn't need a scandal' Just the month earlier, Graveline's first wife, Carole Jane, filed for divorce, accusing him of "ungovernable outbursts of temper." The charge was at odds with NASA's carefully-crafted image of its astronauts being all-American men. "The program didn't need a scandal," stated Deke Slayton, who as the director of flight crew operations oversaw all of the activities of NASA's astronaut office. "A messy divorce meant a quick ticket back to wherever you came from." "Not because we were trying to enforce morality which was impossible, anyway, but because it would detract from the job," said Slayton in his autobiography, "Deke!" written with Michael Cassutt. Graveline, who remained silent on the motivations behind his former wife's actions, understood NASA's decision. "I had no problem with NASA's reaction," stated Graveline, as quoted by authors David Shayler and Colin Burgess in "NASA's Scientists-Astronauts." "My divorce publicity was anything but appropriate for a newly-appointed astronaut." Still, it meant that he would never have even the possibility of flying to the moon, a prospect that Graveline spoke of with desire when interviewed soon after his selection as an astronaut. "My resignation was the hardest decision of my life," stated Graveline decades later. "For every time an Apollo mission occurred, I was pulled more deeply into self-doubt." Three months after leaving the astronaut corps, Graveline resigned from NASA and opened a family medical practice in Burlington, Vermont. Portrait of Dr. Duane Edgar "Doc" Graveline. (Image credit: spacedoc.com) 'Sputnik started it for me' Born on March 2, 1931, Duane Edgar Graveline earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Vermont in June 1951 and his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Vermont College of Medicine in June 1955. Graveline then entered the U.S. Air Force Medical Service and interned at Walter Reed Army Hospital from July 1955 through June 1956. In February 1957, he was granted the aeronautical rating of flight surgeon. Eight months later, as he worked toward a Master's degree in public health at Johns Hopkins, Graveline was inspired by the launch of the world's first artificial satellite. "All things are supposed to have a beginning, and I guess Sputnik started it for me," recalled Graveline, as quoted by Shayler and Burgess. "From that moment on, I did my best to guide my path towards space." In July 1960, after completing his residency, Graveline was assigned to the Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, as a research scientist with special interest in prolonged weightlessness deconditioning and countermeasures. "Using both bed rest and water immersion, I explored the use of various countermeasures to prevent zero-g [gravity] deconditioning including ... extremity tourniquets and lower body negative pressure device, the prototype of which was conceived by me," Graveline wrote on spacedoc.com, his website. "The LBNP device was flown on Skylab, Mir and shuttle flights and remains in current use." Graveline continued his research and directed an analysis team on Soviet bioastronautics at Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, beginning in July 1962. "I broke out the unique Soviet telemetry link for continuous monitoring of cosmonaut heart and respiratory rates used during their entire Vostok and Voskhod series," described Graveline. "On one memorable afternoon while on the Pacific Ocean-located tracking ship Rose Knot Victor, the NASA tracking system [was] able to follow the biomedical progress of the Soviet's Voskhod 2 mission," he recalled, referencing the March 1965 flight that included the world's first spacewalk by cosmonaut Alexei Leonov. Graveline also worked as an early NASA flight controller. "I was appointed as one of the medical monitors for NASA spaceflights with deployment for every mission from the flight of Enos, through Mercury and most of Gemini before my own selection as one of NASA's scientist astronauts." [How To Become An Astronaut] 'Surly Bonds' In the years that followed his November 1965 resignation, Graveline briefly returned to NASA to support the first four space shuttle missions as director of medical operations at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After a six-month leave, he returned to his practice in Vermont, where he continued to work until his retirement from clinical medicine in 1994 at the age of 63. A prolific author, Graveline wrote 15 books, including two memoirs about his time with the space program, a number of science fiction novels and three books about his medical research into statin drugs. He was also the author of 15 professional publications and reports on weightlessness countermeasures and biological deconditioning. Graveline had four daughters with his first wife, Carole. He is survived by his second wife, Suzanne Gamache. Follow collectSPACE.com on Facebook and on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Copyright 2016 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved. 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Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service. Optimization Are you frustrated with a slow pc or a hard disk not performing as it should? Try SLOW-PCfighter to speed up boot time on a slow PC, or try a free scan of FULL-DISKfighter to recover space on a full disk. The latest offering is DRIVERfighter to update your driver updater. Get complete PC optimization and extend the life of your PC with these must-have software tools. Donald Trumps ties to Saudi Arabia are coming into light via a piece published on Labor Day. The New York Daily News is reporting that Trump has made millions of dollars from Saudi Arabia nationals including members of the Bin Laden family. The Republican Party nominee for president of the United States, who has called out Hillary and Bill Clinton on many occasions for taking donations from Saudi Arabians at the Clinton Foundation, sold an entire floor of Trump World Tower to the Arab state. According to the news organization, in 2001, the GOP nominee sold the 45th floor of Trump World Tower to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the hefty sum of $4.5 million. In 2008, the luxury apartments were transferred to the Saudi Mission to the United Nations. Records showed that Mr. Trump is receiving $85,585 every year from the foreign nation for building amenities. A city Finance Department spokeswoman said: The five apartments included 10 bedrooms and 13 bathrooms at the time of the sale, and had yearly common charges of $85,585 for building amenities, documents obtained by The News show. If those common charges remain the same, Trump was paid at least $5.7 million by the Saudi government since 2001. The portion of the investigation that some viewed as controversial is the fact that Mr. Trump sold an apartment to Shafiq Bin Laden, the half-brother of Osama Bin Laden, the founder of al-Qaeda, the organization responsible for the September 11 attacks. Shafiq Bin Laden purchased the apartment located in the Trump Tower in 1986. Legal documents showed that Bin Laden paid an $8,500 security deposit for the apartment. Bin Laden lived in the apartment for only four months in 1986. In a recent interview with FOX News Sean Hannity, Trump was asked if he ever received money from Saudi Arabia, he replied by saying no. However, in 2015, at a rally in Mobile, Alabama, Trump said the opposite: Saudi Arabia and I get along great with all of them. They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million. Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much. The mogul has often criticized Clinton for taking over $25 million from Saudi Arabia for the Clinton Foundation. Trump stated in a June Facebook post: Crooked Hillary says we must call on Saudi Arabia and other countries to stop funding hate. I am calling on her to immediately return the $25 million plus she got from them for the Clinton Foundation! It will be interesting to see if this story will become a political problem for the media sensation. Brussels, September 06, 2016 (SPS) - The Conference for Support and Solidarity with Sahrawi People (EUCOCO) denounced Monday "the new aggressions" against the Sahrawi people, dubbing Moroccan military incursions in the area of Alguergarat, located northwest of Western Sahara, "serious violations" of the ceasefire agreement inked on 6 September 1991 under the auspices of the United Nations. "These new aggressions against the Sahrawi people are serious violations of the agreements inked on 6 September 1991 under the auspices of the UN, which provided for the cessation of hostilities to enable the deployment of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO)," President of the EUCOCO Pierre Galand said in a communique. After recalling that the agreement has been ratified by the two parties to the conflict, the Polisario Front and Morocco, president of the EUCOCO stressed that in August 2016 the Moroccan occupation forces overcame many times the wall of separation they built in the south of Alguergarat.SPS 125/090/700 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate STAMFORD Standing outside on an August afternoon, Sylvester Wilson pointed to neatly trimmed lawns, white clapboard siding, and other outdoor features of the environs of the co-op on Sylvan Knolls Road. The outward appearance of the complex located in the Cove section is just part of his responsibility as president of the Sylvan Knolls Section II co-op where he has lived for 45 years, he said. There are many things that have been done that I am proud of and have made the neighborhood much better, Wilson said. It certainly wasnt this nice when I got here in the 1970s. This week at his home at Sylvan Knolls, the 86-year-old native of Trinidad spoke at length about his decision to step down as co-op president, a post he has held for the last 22 years and 33 years overall. Wilson moved to the United States in 1959 to be with his mother and became a machinist at Pitney Bowes, where he worked from 1968 to 1990. Wilson said the key and challenge has been keeping the co-op board in the black while budgeting major improvements without skyrocketing common charges the monthly fee paid by tenants to cover maintenance and other costs. Q: What improvements were made at Sylvan Knoll while you were president? What is the job about? I would say the challenge was to improve and maintain an economical degree of cash without needing to raise common charges. When I moved here I was on the board within three months of being here. I went off the board at some point and I dont exactly recall when but the co-op board ran into financial difficulty and asked me back. There has been no one who has been president for more than 1 or 2 years. The managing agent and the board make decisions but I was able to keep our charges to a low level at all times. I had a way of moving money mentally and balancing things. The money has to pay for the grounds fee, managing agent fee, insurance, taxes, etc. The work is to estimate every month how much goes here, and how much goes there. Taxes and insurance are the two greatest things you face, but all other contracts you try to keep for three years so you can budget what the increases will be and budget to provide a cushion. So you dont get lashed with an increase. That way I was able to build up over time about $300,000 on the side after all the bills were paid to do concrete work on the sidewalks and steps which were in dilapidated condition. Q: What other decisions did you make that helped keep fees in check? Now the common charge is $425 a month. At one point for maybe ten years I managed to carry it at the same rate without raising it, even with increasing bills. Instead of building excessive monuments and making unnecessary spending decisions you try to save. After we spent the $300,000 on the concrete work I arranged a $650,000 loan from the bank to finish it. It limited the annual cost of the concrete project to $77,000 a year compared to $150,000 a year if it was paid for straight from the common charges. You would have had to constantly raise the common charge during the project, and choke the people who are here. I convinced the board to postpone a roofing project and the tenants got eight more years out of the roofs which helped save money. Q: What brought you to the United States? My mother left Trinidad and came here and then sent for me; and having no brother and no sister it forced me to adhere to her wishes by coming here. If I had a brother or sister they would have come. Your mother says come you come. I went to Newport, R.I. and lived up there for a year and a half. I passed through Stamford one day with a friend and I saw Atlantic Street, and I said, Im going to come and live in this place. I like it. Ill come back here to live. I left Newport the next year and lived on East Main Street first, where the fire station is now; right on that spot. Then I lived on Atlantic Street, then a street behind Bloomingdales, then St. Johns Towers, and then I came here. I worked with a plumber at first in Newport and then in a house as a butler/helper. That was for only one year, and by the next summer Id left there. Q: What did you see on Atlantic Street that drew you in? I saw a bunch of people standing waiting for the bus on Atlantic Street near the (former) Stamford Advocate building. A bunch of people; and it was a lovely sight. I decided I wanted to come here to live. Q: Does the decision to step down give you more time to do other things you enjoy? (Being the president) It takes time you dont see. What will I do? I used to go to Trinidad every year to the Mardi Gras to visit Carnival (a huge celebration held in Trinidad the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday) which I might do again. I am going to take it easier. I have a daughter in Oregon, my son in Louisiana, and I have grandchildren in Georgia. I want to take some trips off and on and spend some time with them. mcassidy@scni.com, twitter.com/martincassidyst. NORWALK Though replacement of the Walk Bridge is still two years away, the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk through which the ill-fated bridge runs is already preparing for the project. Earlier this spring, the aquarium partnered with researchers from Pennsylvania State University to begin establishing a baseline for how the animals at the aquarium behave under normal circumstances. Brian Davis, aquarium president, said the data collected includes testing how the animals respond to sound, vibration and other environmental changes. Our animal safety and guest experience are most important to us, Davis said. Were planners here and were going to get as much information as we can to keep the animals safe. You want to understand these behaviors over time, how they normally behave, so that if something changes you know. While the data being collected will be useful during the Walk Bridge replacement project scheduled for 2018, Davis said a secondary benefit is that data like this has never been collected before and will be used by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, of which the Maritime Aquarium is a member. Davis said no other institution has collected similar data or gone through a similar construction project that he knows of. Thats the part thats really exciting right now, Davis said. Even though this helps us, it is serving more than one role ... at the end of the day these institutions are about animal well-being. Davis said the research is largely observational and will be ongoing throughout the next several years as the project is completed. Visitors to the aquarium may see someone watching an exhibit for an extended period of time, but Davis said its likely aquarium-goers wont even notice the research being done. Though Davis said the aquarium does not anticipate having to move any animals off site, it is likely exhibits may need to be moved within the aquarium. However, Davis said Connecticut Department of Transportation officials have said they will work with the aquarium to make sure the animals and guest experience are affected as little as possible. Some of the things we would like to see are possibly utilizing different methods of construction that will have less of an impact, Davis said. Every indication weve got is they are willing to work with us to help the animals remain healthy and the guests happy. Weve already started having those initial conversations. The Walk Bridge runs through the middle of the aquarium, separating the exhibits from the IMAX Theater. The exhibits closest to the bridge are the Jiggle-A-Jelly touch tank and the meerkat and dragon exhibit. Davis said the seal exhibit, which is partially outside, is of particular concern and the aquarium will monitor the seals closely. A small construction project to replace the fenders on the bridge is already under way, which Davis said has provided an idea of what the larger project could be like. Even so, he maintained the process is still in the earliest phases and collecting baseline data on the animals is just part of the overall project. Communication has been really important throughout this process, Davis said. Were doing everything we can to make sure the animals are cared for and the experience is great, and were going to make sure this institution continues to serve the community. KKrasselt@scni.com; 203-354-1021; @kaitlynkrasselt Pet cafes (like a Starbucks full of animals) have long been popular in Asia but have run afoul of U.S. health codes. A new breed of entrepreneurs found a loophole: Partner with animal shelters to promote adoption. Related: Finding Your Marketing Competitive Advantage Dogs Case study: Sarah Wolfgang, owner of The Dog Cafe in Los Angeles How it's funded: "Everybody loved the idea, but few people would invest in our crowdfunding campaign. After months, we locked in a private investor who wanted to make a difference in the number of animals being euthanized." Red-tape triumph: "The health department said it would never be approved. I spent months negotiating. I even hired an architect to draw blueprints for our submission. It was a proud moment, right before our opening, when we earned our A grade!" The business model: "It's built on a combination of American cat cafes, which often charge an entrance fee, and Korean dog cafes, which generate revenue like a regular cafe. We sell reservations online, and drinks and merchandise in our cafe." What's next: "It bothers me when people with little to no animal-rescue experience come in asking how they can open up a dog cafe in their city. Our focus is to transform how America views shelter animals and how people meet their future pets, not to start a trend." Related: Become a Pet-Sitter or Dog-Walker Cats Case study: Kristin Eissler, owner of Kawaii Kitty Cafe in Philadelphia How it's funded: "My Indiegogo campaign raised $20,000, but this project was immensely more expensive than I could have imagined. The crowdfunding money covered only the city fees, architect's fees and plan review fees. Construction and design came from personal savings." Red-tape triumph: "Cat cafes fall in a gray area of zoning law, so most of our delays were in acquiring permits. Two were rejected after our first submission, which starts the application time over, plus adds additional fees." The business model: "We allow 10 people at a time in the cafe for one-hour intervals. We don't want the cats to become stressed due to high volumes of people. We'll also be doing bimonthly events -- like cat-and-wine nights and movie nights." What's next: "Animal cafes have changed the way we think about the food service industry. If your business can have animals and food under one roof, anything is possible!" Related: How to Start a Pet Business Birds Case study: Michele and Erik Wolf, owners of The Perch in Colorado Springs How it's funded: "Primarily through savings. We already owned the building, but new signage and awnings, floor, equipment, retail fixtures, inventory, marketing materials, etc., were a considerable cost." Red-tape triumph: "A board of health inspector said we'd have close to zero chance of getting a food service license. The laws allow us to serve hot brewed drinks like tea and coffee, canned and bottled drinks and prepackaged food without a license, so we went that route." The business model: "We sell the cages, play stands, perches, food, toys and treats that bird adopters want. Customers seem happy to give us that business because they know the money helps rescue birds." What's next: "Our long-term sustainability is in building a community and regular customer base. Even though our items can be purchased online, we've found that people love the experience of coming to the store." Related: Want to Run a Pet Cafe? These Founders' Tips Can Help. Powering Genomics and Genetic Testing Starting a Medical Claims Billing Service? Here's What You Need to Know. Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Jill Waterman / Getty Images STAMFORD A motorcyclist who police said sped past three officers Sunday night was taken to the hospital after a serious downtown crash. Zachary Maller, 23, of Stamford, was heading north on Washington Boulevard about 10 p.m. when officers near the corner of Broad Street saw him speed by them, according to the report. We value your privacy. Focus Taiwan (CNA) uses tracking technologies to provide better reading experiences, but it also respects readers' privacy. Click here to find out more about Focus Taiwan's privacy policy. When you close this window, it means you agree with this policy. I f someone had said six months ago that one of the larger committee rooms of the House of Commons would be packed to overflowing to hear a back-bench MP present his proposals for the reform of corporate governance, you might have wondered what your informant had been smoking. Yet that is what happened yesterday. On the floor of the House of Commons, David Davis spun dreams to the credulous about the pot of gold waiting at the end of the Brexit rainbow. A few yards away in Committee Room 15, Tory MP for Croydon South Chris Philp was confronting the challenges of the real world by unveiling proposals to improve the quality of quoted company boards, bring executive pay back under control and increasing the levels of shareholder engagement. His way in is through the nominations committee. Large listed companies currently have such a committee to identify candidates for board positions. The idea is to stop the chairman appointing people in his or her own image whose main talent will be dog-like devotion to the person who appointed them and instead find people who would really put the executives through their paces. Unfortunately, nominations committees are the weakest part of the corporate governance structure. The chairmans poodle, they rarely block his or her choice of candidates and even more rarely put forward someone the chair does not like. Shareholders seldom overrule these nominations, which is why the jibe that British boards are male, stale and pale has so much resonance. This weakness at the nominations stage infects the whole governance structure, and you end up with boards that owe undue allegiance to the chair, and lack the essentials of diversity and a willingness to challenge. Because they are poorly informed, they seldom see anything other than what is under their noses and have lost sight of what they are there for. Hence the great paradox of our time: the more governance process we have, the worse British public companies are governed. Philps big idea is to wrest power from the chairman and give it back to the shareholders by replacing the nominations committee with a shareholder committee. This would be made up of representatives of the five largest long-term shareholders, or the nearest to the five who would agree to do the job. This committee would nominate directors, interrogate the board on matters of strategy and performance, and crucially decide how much the senior executives should be paid. Remuneration committees could continue to play their elaborate charades with pay consultants whereby everybody gets a bigger prize than last year. But their proposals would have to be examined, tested and approved by the shareholder committee. Shareholders would be in control. The core of Philps strategy is to force shareholders to take their ownership responsibilities seriously and to give them a structure that would allow them to do so. It is brave because it is not what listed companies or institutional shareholders want because they are quite comfortable cosying up to each other and doing not very much of anything, still less giving each other a hard time. But it is what the public wants and if business is ever going to get trust back, it had better pay heed. The public dimension is the crucial point. Philps proposals build on a model that has existed in Scandinavia for some years and the core ideas have been floated here off and on for the past 15 years. What is different this time is that the public has had enough, the politicians have realised the public has had enough and there is mileage in being seen to do something. They have realised in a way business seems not yet to grasp that the head of steam to take back control applies as much to the way things are run in this country as anything coming out of Brussels. What happens now? Legislation is a possibility, given the Prime Minister has already indicated her desire to see change in the way big businesses are run. But finding a slot in the Parliamentary timetable for anything other than Brexit might prove a challenge. The Investment Association can be expected to do nothing. It has put its weight behind the Shareholder Forum, which is good but limited in what it does. In terms of pay, it has backed a report by Legal & Generals Nigel Wilson, which was good but limited in what it proposed. The association does what its members want, not what they ought to do. So it probably comes down to whether the Financial Reporting Council will step up to the plate. Its job is to administer and oversee the use of the current Governance Code. But it is frustrated by the way in which its efforts to improve stewardship and shareholder engagement have been turned into another box-ticking exercise by most asset managers. It may just sense an opportunity in Philps proposals. The FRC also has a history of appointing City grandees Higgs, Walker et al to investigate the burning issues of the day and make recommendations. There must be a tame grandee with time on his hands who could be wheeled out to do a number on this. It would have the added advantage, if it were done quickly, of keeping the legislation at bay. But there is not much time witness the overflowing committee room. P harmaceuticals giant Bayer showed how hungry it is for Monsanto, upping its blockbuster bid to value the American genetically modified Frankenfood specialist at $65 billion (49 billion). Germanys Bayer is now in advanced talks about buying Monsanto which it first approached in May and is willing to pay up to $127.50 a share. Monsanto rejected a $125-a-share offer in July, describing it as financially inadequate and insufficient to ensure deal certainty. However, it said that discussions about Bayers new, higher approach were constructive but claimed it was considering proposals from other parties and other strategic alternatives. Its a controversial deal for Bayer, which spent decades slowly building up its own crop chemicals business, mostly focusing on pesticides and fertilisers to capitalise on climate change and population growth. But new chief executive Werner Baumann is embarking on Germanys biggest international takeover since Daimlers disastrous $36 billion acquisition of Chrysler in 1998, despite concerns from several quarters. German paper Die Welt reacted to the deal by describing Monsanto as one of the worlds most hated companies. Moodys said the acquisition would give rise to significant execution, reputational and integration risks given its size both in monetary value and the scale of the operations acquired by Bayer". A tie-up would create the worlds biggest agrochemicals company: Monsanto whose 115-year history includes involvement in the creation of the atomic bomb and the manufacture of the environmentally-destructive pesticide DDT has annual revenues of $15 billion. The industry is racing towards consolidation, with rivals Dow Chemical and DuPont finalising their merger and ChemChina in the process of buying Switzerlands Syngenta. O ptimism abounds as the City gets back to work today. As traders shake the sand from their brogues, the gloom of Brexit is but a distant memory. Just take a look at the data. Manufacturers are upbeat thanks to the weak pound boosting overseas orders, and the services sector is proving as reliable as ever. The FTSE 100 index trades at a level 15% higher than its immediate post-EU referendum trough in late June and the FTSE 250, a far better indicator of the health of UK Plc, has risen by a fifth over the same period. The slump that so many experts predicted has yet to put in an appearance. Rather than a post-apocalyptic wasteland, are these the green shoots of autumn? Some perspective is necessary. For the economy narrowly to avoid the recession that had looked likely later this year can be cause for only limited celebration. Much credit is due to the Bank of Englands swift action. When markets may have been spooked by politicians infighting, the interest-rate cut got consumers spending again. Those pro-European Union business leaders, for whom the period of grief after the referendum could be measured in days, must emulate the shoppers and the staycationers by investing in new markets, new services and new staff if the only way is to be up from here. Bosses can look positively on the stock-market flotations that were paused over summer and are now coming back on the agenda. Bankers gleeful at the fees in prospect are joined by the lawyers in hot demand as clients ask them to untangle what the future holds. Accountants are having a good time of it, too. The note of caution from Deloitte senior partner David Sproul last week could not mask the boom his firm has been enjoying with annual revenues growing at their fastest pace in a decade, double the rate of the previous year. Winton Capitals David Harding a big contributor to the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign admitted to me nervousness but overarching optimism at what the future holds for London. Solving the toughest problem faced by the capital lies many months ahead. As illustrated by the challenge laid down by Japan to Theresa May at the G20 summit in China yesterday, it is unclear how the UK can preserve the same unfettered access to the single market the reason so many global firms base their regional headquarters here after having voted to leave. At least we are off to a good start. Lets harvest Apples billions To salivate over the latest iPhone handset, to be unveiled on Wednesday, would be to miss the point. For all the bells and whistles that Tim Cook and his colleagues have grafted on to its newest gadget, the real long-term growth opportunity for Apple now is in software, not hardware. Such a strategy is born of necessity. The Apple Watch underwhelmed, the launch of a car driverless or otherwise is years away and the iPhone product line is almost a decade old. Surely everyone who wants one has got one? The companys last earnings statement is a reminder of just how reliant on the iPhone it remains. The device accounts for more than half of group sales. Meanwhile, its services division including the App Store, Apple Music and Apple Pay makes up only 14% of the pie but is growing at 19% year on year. Of course, digital revenues are even harder to track than physical income. Pity the taxman and European Commission as they try to follow the money. The real prize is not to clamp down on Apple but to persuade it to invest its offshore billions here before President Obama cuts the tax rate so they can be repatriated Stateside. In post-Brexit Britain, channelling that cash from mouldering in a low-interest savings account into some useful piece of hardware could be as valuable as striking any bilateral trade deal. A peerage to whoever piques Apples interest in building a nuclear power station or two. Think how beautifully designed they would be. Green knighthood pressure to rise It is now 133 days since BHS fell into administration and 82 days since former boss Sir Philip Green told politicians at his Select Committee appearance he would sort the retailers pension-fund deficit. Those MPs reported back 42 days ago, coming to the conclusion that Sir Philip rushed through the sale to a buyer, Dominic Chappell, who was manifestly unsuitable. Only eight days ago, BHS closed its doors for the last time with pension matters up in the air. As the House of Commons returns, expect calls to strip Sir Philip of his knighthood to crank up a gear any day now. A few days after the European Union referendum I went to an impromptu gathering of barristers in Grays Inn to debate the uncertain aftermath of Brexit. Over several hours of discussion about our role a consensus emerged. We are not politicians. Our job is to explain the legal consequences of Brexit clearly and honestly. I doubt that air pollution was at the forefront of decision-making when the UK voted for Brexit. It was hardly discussed in the campaign. But Brexit seriously threatens the health of children in London and elsewhere. Air pollution is a silent killer that is responsible for nearly 10,000 early deaths in the capital each year. Children are more vulnerable than adults. This paper and the new Mayor of London have taken a tough stand on the issue. But it is EU law that is forcing the Government to improve air quality. EU law has set limits for air pollutants, including nitrogen dioxide, to bring them down to levels that are safer for our health. EU law is tougher than our own law, which only sets objectives, not legally binding limits. Our Government, as well as others in the EU, failed to meet the 2010 deadline for compliance. As a result the Government has come under heavy pressure to take urgent action from the European Court, the European Commission and our Supreme Court. A David and Goliath court battle is under way between a campaign group called ClientEarth and the Government. The Mayor of London has sided with ClientEarth. The Government has buckled under the squeeze, although it still says it can only get nitrogen dioxide levels in London down to legal levels by 2025. On October 18 the court battle will resume. But any victory for ClientEarth and the Mayor may be pyrrhic. Without membership of the EU the court will have no law to back up its ruling in the years ahead. The Government could simply run out the clock on whatever the court rules while waiting for Brexit to actually happen. So what is to be done? Air pollution cannot be allowed to be irrelevant to the debate on Brexit. If we join the European Economic Area, which Norway has done, there could be life after Brexit as far as air pollution law is concerned. Norway still complies with the vast majority of environmental obligations of EU law. Indeed, the Norwegians were recently held to be in breach of EU law themselves. From an environmental perspective this makes sense. Common standards across Europe suit business. For the public they can hold ministers feet to the fire when it comes to tough political choices such as a third runway at Heathrow. But if Britain goes for hard Brexit, to a pure trading relationship, we will have no environmental safety net giving us a soft landing. Environmental protection in the UK risks being set back decades. The uncertainty of the outlook and the urgency of the cause point to the need for new domestic law to enshrine the tough EU standards, come what may. Sixty years ago a smog in London killed thousands. It led to the 1956 Clean Air Act. A new Clean Air Act to tackle todays silent killer would give London the insurance policy it needs. We owe it to Londons children. Justine Thornton QC specialises in environmental law at 39 Essex Chambers. T omorrow evening the Evening Standard will publish its annual list of the 1,000 most influential Londoners. Many of the names will be gathered at the Science Museum for the occasion: they include front-rank politicians, City power brokers, entrepreneurs, inventors, artists, actors, teachers, doctors, philanthropists, foodies, media and the fashion crowd. They make up a city. I love this Progress party for its juxtapositions and its serendipitous encounters. It is networking in the best sense the mixing of the successful with the rising, a fusion of talent and experiences, a fund of goodwill. It is remarkable that a densely populated, highly competitive city should be broadly good-natured. Of course there is crime, spite and division but it is not institutional. The Mayor has limited powers but he can set the tone. Boris Johnson was sunshine in the capital. He was approachable and defied political logic. I once had lunch with him in Westminster as public-sector protesters against the Tories filed past the window. Spotting Johnson, the subject of their grievance, they cheered and waved and made thumbs-up signs. During the last mayoral election campaign we all sighed that the age of selfies was over. We had to choose between a Conservative candidate, Zac Goldsmith, who refused to let photographers near his greatest election asset, his newborn baby, and a Labour career politician, Sadiq Khan, who did everything by the book. The party was over. In fact, it was just beginning. Khan has overtaken Boris on the selfie count. He is the face of the 24-hour economy, the guy you most want to meet on the Night Tube and the first one into the office. Like Boris he has many supporters outside his own party. Khan may have beaten Tessa Jowell as the Labour candidate through galvanising the Corbyn vote but that was strategic. He runs as a centrist, as a CEO and makes friends everywhere. A bank chief confided only the other day that he had voted for Khan despite the concern of his wife but now felt vindicated. Khan is a man of faith and a political realist, which is an interesting combination. He understands, as religious people do, the power of symbols. His ecumenical gestures have been moving and photogenic. His first day at City Hall, surrounded by a cheerful, diverse crowd, illustrated a new era. His appointments have been sure-footed, rating ability and experience as well as political allegiance. The arts love Khan although he has no money to give them. Goldsmith told an election hustings, with tragic honesty, that the last performance he had been to see was his childs nativity play. Next week Khan embarks on his tour of the US and Canada, and has been smart enough to book tickets for Hamilton, the critically acclaimed rap musical about American independence. You realise how good Khan is when you see how the Labour Party has disintegrated without scarring him. Goldsmith had the advantages of the Conservative Party machine behind him and a far-sighted green vision for London. It was the vision that got him the Evening Standard endorsement. But in the end he was outclassed by Khan. We dont need a Mayor for the future, we need the right one now and we have him. Brits prove they can still be leaders of the pack The Calais blockade inconvenienced holidaymakers but they will soon be back in front of the telly. Now the evenings are a little darker, the instinct to hibernate returns. Labour politics can best be served by watching Strictly Come Dancing. Former shadow chancellor Ed Balls willingly sacrificed his dignity, though I noticed he drew the line at a diaphanous shirt. It has done him good so far, especially with his clever wife Yvette Cooper in the audience. He does not have the fame-crazed look that afflicts people on TV but has a comic innocence. He could be rebuilding himself as Labours version of Boris. Then I get a text from a TV connoisseur asking if I am watching The Night Of on Sky Atlantic. The thriller about a foolish boy in New York, played by Riz Ahmed, who takes his fathers taxi for a night out and ends up being tried for murder, is superb. I take patriotic pride in the fact that Ahmed is British and that the series is based on a BBC Criminal Justice series, starring Ben Whishaw. The following night I am snuggled down again watching Victoria. I am keeping tabs on what the British can make and export without being laughed out of the G20. I dont know why but it was hurtful to see Theresa May in the second row of the world leaders photograph, which we all know from fashion shows is second league. Well, we are pretty good at making television, for a start. The Norths unique appeal My husband, who is from South Yorkshire, has a secretive, euphoric smile which means the North of England, and in particular Sheffield Wednesday, have got a mention in the media. He smiled over Melvyns Braggs The Matter of the North, on Radio 4, which bangs on about how spectacular and superior the region is. He loves comedians such as Tom Wrigglesworth who mine northern roots and families. He is a sucker for all the BBCs cultural cringing to northern accents. And yet, like so many other patriotic northerners, he chooses to live in London. Charm, not a Vaz forte In many of our jobs we rely on persuasion so we coax, flatter and construct a deal to suit all parties. Brexiteers need to make a better case to persuade Europe to want to deal with the UK, for instance. In a different way I worry that Keith Vaz MP displays an absence of negotiating skills. His reported dialogue with his house guests lacks his usual polish. I am horny is not parliamentary language. Pretending to be a washing-machine salesmen is a lousy cover. At least he did discuss house prices, which is an acceptable London conversation. But it aint Mr Darcy. A n evolving artistic tribute to pioneering scientist Alan Turing is to be unveiled just a few miles from his west London birthplace. The work, called Message from the Unseen World, uses artificial intelligence to light up a wall with words and phrases from a poem written in honour of the scientist, who was played by Benedict Cumberbatch in the 2014 Oscar-winning The Imitation Game. Turing was a pioneering mathematician who is now hailed for his work as part of the war-time team tasked with cracking Nazi codes. He is widely credited as the father of modern computing, but died a broken man in 1954, aged 41, after chemical castration following a conviction for homosexual activity. The installation on Bishops Bridge Road, near the entrance to Paddington Tube station, is based on a poem by Nick Drake which imagines the scientist looking back on his life. It will be officially unveiled in November. Matt Clark, from United Visual Artists who devised the work, said: The artwork itself is a continuously evolving machine; an engine that uses basic principles of artificial intelligence to endlessly interpret Drakes work. The result is a literal in memoriam for Turing, a dynamic artwork that reminds us of the complementary relationship between people and technology, how it has changed from the 20th to early 21st century, and how this relationship will continue to develop. Turing was granted a posthumous royal pardon three years ago and his influence on computer science has led to tributes including an exhibition about his life at the Science Museum. Rachael McNabb, who curated the work in Paddington, said watching the words lighting up and change was like watching a brain process its thoughts. She added: When it was being installed it was really wonderful to see how many people pause and take a minute out of their commute to see this. The wonderful thing is it is about 19-and-a-half metres in length so you walk along and youre still experiencing the words, the texts and the thoughts as they are being processed. It is great that people will experience this on a daily basis because they will never see the same thing twice and I think there is something quite wonderful about that. @RobDexES Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout Review at a glance I n the 1960s, concert halls turned their back on music by American minimalism, so composers like Steve Reich sought out more congenial possibilities: art galleries, cinemas, vacant lofts. Today, concert halls around the world are queuing up to celebrate Reichs imminent 80th birthday, but unorthodox locations can still provide different perspectives on his music, as this Prom demonstrated. Peckhams multi-storey car park is now an arts venue, its brutalist glamour making an appropriately urban setting for Reichs music. The hiss of passing trains added atmosphere, although the opening work found Reich at his most bucolic. Vermont Counterpoint places a live flautist (Hannah Grayson) among multiple pre-recorded versions of herself. At first the virtual flutes sounded like an echo, only gradually taking on their own identity. Working both with and against Grayson, they created a musical weave of dazzling richness. The venues resident ensemble, the Multi-Story Orchestra, came into its own for Eight Lines, the strings setting up an almost folkish atmosphere while two pianos hinted at all kinds of other possibilities. Proms 2016: Highlights to watch out for 1 /14 Proms 2016: Highlights to watch out for Proms 2016: Highlights to watch out for Browse the gallery to find out what not to miss. BBC Prom 2, July 16 Bryn Terfel will take the title role in Modest Mussorgskys Boris Gudunov, leading an illustrious cast. Brian Tarr Prom 6: Gospel Prom, July 19 This is only the second Gospel Prom, after it arrived on the programme for the first time in 2013. Michelle Williams will feature in a lineup that includes handpicked singers from gospel groups, brought together to make an elite superchoir. Proms 8: Strictly Prom, July 21 Strictly finalist Katie Derham will guide the audience through the sounds of the ballroom, with the BBC Concert Orchestra playing tangos, waltzes, and Charlestons. BBC Prom 19: David Bowie Prom, July 29 A celebration of David Bowies life will see musicians re-imagine the music legends back catalogue, including Berlin-based collective s t a r g a z e. BBC Proms at The Chapel, Greenwich, August 6 The first of the Proms relocations will see the BBC singers perform Rossinis Petite Messe Solenelle in the stunning setting of the Old Chapel of the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich. thedpc Proms at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, August 13 The Proms will celebrate Restoration Theatre Music in the Globes intimate Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. It will allow the audience to be close up during performances of Purcell, Blow, Locke and Draghi. Pete Le May Prom 38, August 13 John Wilsons orchestra will pay tribute to one of Americas most celebrated songwriting duos, George and Ira Gershwin, including a performance of the ballet music from An American in Paris. Sim Canetty-Clarke Prom 44, August 18 This Prom will explore Shakespeares range of characters, with an all-British first half of classical music, and a second half devoted to American musicals such as West Side Story and Kiss Me Kate. Michael Lutch Prom 49: Quincy Jones Prom, August 22 The man himself will make an appearance during a celebration of the jazz giant Quincy Jones, with special guests collaborating on new arrangements of his hits. Gerg Gorman Prom 51, 24 August The Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra pay a visit in the year that the Olympics go to Rio de Janeiro. A celebration of Latin American music will include a performance of the work of South American composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. Adriane White Proms at Bold Tendencies Multi-Storey Car Park, September 3 The Proms will go on the road to Peckham, with Christopher Starks Multi-Storey Orchestra making their Proms debut in a car park. They will perform a number of the works of Steve Reich. Ambra Vernuccio Proms in the Park Hyde Park, September 10 The Proms in the Park ends the two-month series of concerts and is Britains largest outdoor classical music event. It brings together pop and classical, and this year Tim Minchin, Frankie Valli and Rick Astley join the Royal Choral Society and the BBC Concert Orchestra. As well as a tribute to the late Sir Terry Wogan, the concert will celebrate Roald Dahls centenary year with a performance from Matilda the Musical. BBC Prom 75: Last Night of the Proms, September 10 Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez will be the star soloist of the evening in a concert that includes works by Vaughan Williams, Britten and Elgar. In the silence following the musics end, the hum of the city reasserted itself, a delightful effect. Then, expanding still further, the orchestra weighed into Reichs Music for a Large Ensemble, the Reichian equivalent of big band jazz, all pumping rhythms and breathy vocals. Throughout, Christopher Stark conducted with relaxed authority. The BBC Proms (bbc.co.uk/proms) continue until Saturday Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout B elarus Free Theatre exist, but their country will try to tell you that they dont. When Nikolai Khalezin and Natalia Kaliada set up the company in 2005 to create boundary-pushing art that challenged President Alexander Lukashenkas oppressive regime, the state responded by declaring them illegal. The UK became their base, and they became a campaigning force for human rights a beautiful, urgent, unique presence in theatre. They continue to make art, and the fight still continues; in their latest show, Burning Doors, the art is the fight. Pushing the bodies of their performers to the limit, the show offers the stories of three artists who were criminalised for their beliefs: Petr Pavlensky, whose burning of the doors of the KGB gave the show its name, Oleg Sentsov, a director given 20 years in prison for fabricated charges of terrorism, and Masha Alyokhina, jailed for her activities in Pussy Riot, who adds a raw poignancy to the show by performing in it herself. Their show is challenging, brutal to the bodies of its performers, and a workout for the mind too, featuring readings from Dostoevsky as well as testimonies from Sentsov about torture he has experienced in prison. On the day I met Belarus Free Theatre, Sentsovs sister came to Soho Theatre to launch a campaign to free her brother. She urged the audience to think: the earth is small and Russia isnt so far. If people dont start thinking this isnt allowed in any country, it could start happening anywhere in the world. Khalezin and Kaliada may have been brought together with Pussy Riots Alyokhina because of their shared experiences of brutality and oppression, but the moment that they found they could work together was one of beauty. They initially met through a visit organised by Amnesty International on Pussy Riots release from jail, and later at Belarus Free Theatres Staging A Revolution: Im With the Banned concert, where Dave Gilmour performed alongside Pussy Riot to celebrate the companys tenth anniversary. But you need to understand and feel people, says Kaliada which was what happened when they travelled to the Calais Jungle together to work with the Good Chance theatre company. Natalia Kaliada and Masha Alyokhina in the Calais Jungle / Georgie Weedon Kaliada tells me that they asked children to draw their dreams on silhouettes on paper. One child wanted a guitar. He went to Kaliada asking for a guitar, but of course she didnt have one. He went to Khalezin and Alyokhina and asked for one of course, they didnt have one. And it was drilling a hole in my head: we need to get a guitar! And then, while we were entertaining the children, both of them spent three hours going around the suburbs of Calais because it was not possible to find a shop with a guitar. Finally, we had to get our train back to London, Masha had to get an airplane. They got a cab; they had a guitar for the child, she says. Kaliada said to him, at least one dream can come true, you have your guitar. And then he looks at all of us adults, and says, you know, I dont want a guitar any longer, I want a violin. Do you have a violin? She laughs at the memory, but even if the gifts recipient wasnt satisfied, Kaliada and Khalezin were. It was that particular moment when you understand that if this particular person is able to spend hours looking for a guitar for a boy then we are ready to work together. Sometimes words dont mean anything with no actions. They dont have power. When there are actions, there is a power. Working together is a different experience for all of them. The company of actors have been together for a long time, and Kaliada and Khalezin know them very well. And suddenly we have Masha, who is not too used to these very restrictive methods. This is theatre: we have props, a set, schedules. And for her its: yes crazy, yes difficult, yes I dont like it, but I will do it, because this is the principle of my life. The seed of the show goes further back, from when Russia invaded Ukraine. One of the first people to be killed in the Freedom Square Maidan protests was Belarusian somebody the company knew from protests and for people like him, they had that absolutely unbelievable desire to defend freedom. Alyokhina tells me that the show offers a personal challenge to each of the performers its a question of the limits, both psychological and physical, that you can take to yourself. Artist Petr Pavlensky inspired the show's title For Khalezin, this isnt something that they can compromise on. In contemporary theatre, if you dont run in front of the train, then youre nowhere. For him, the company must search for innovation constantly, and they use their bodies to do this. We are searching for the limit of an actors ability, he says, to where actors can no longer exist. He or she loses their strength to the point where they can no longer perform. When we understood where this boundary is, actors have tried to overcome this limit, and then the limit went further again. This daunting gauntlet was something that Alyokhina was ready to run with when she started working with the company. One of the goals for me personally was to take the moments of my life and story which I am most afraid to look at, and to remember and to live them again and again, ten times, twenty, sixty, and say, how far can I go? she says. Its a fearless performance where Alyokhina offers so much at one point having her head repeatedly held under water as she recites lines of poetry. Its hard to see someone go through this trying physical violation, but for her, it is one of the most significant moments in the performance. Masha Alyokhina stars in Burning Doors / Alex Brenner Were offered scenes of prison life, and a life afterwards in which she is in constant demand, always being asked the same questions. But it is this scene in the bath that is actually my reflection on the hardest moment for me in this story. Because you can show prison and people will understand. You can show publicity and media pressure and people will understand. But how to show the moment when you are looking into the mirror and dont know what to do with it? Because its how I understood that Im free. So that scene is about feeling freedom. Something that emerges from the show is a sense of gendered prejudice in how female activists are treated. At one moment in the show, Alyokhinas body is lifted high into the air amid shouts for her to admit her Pussy Riot protests were done for self-promotion. And yet when artist Petr Pavlensky nailed his scrotum to the floor of the Kremlin, no one heckled him to say he was doing it because he wanted attention. Alyokhina agrees that being a woman and being political is often seen as unacceptable. Especially here, were talking about Russia. We dont even have a First Lady. We totally, completely, 100% dont have female figures in politics. So we dont have women as role models, in politics, as activists nobody. Because Putin wants to show that you can only be macho. I think they are afraid of sexuality, she continues. They dont know what to do with it. Most will remember that Pussy Riot were arrested and eventually jailed for singing a song about Putin in a Moscow church for only 40 seconds in fact. Alyokhina says that, I really think that the story would be different if in the church it was boys. She recalls a famous interview Putin gave during Pussy Riots trial. He said, do you know how the name of their group translates into Russian? Its immoral to say this. But I mean, its probably not moral to put their troops into another country. To make an annexation of territories of other countries; this is probably immoral. The barbarity inflicted on Alyokhina, Pavlensky and Sentsov by their countrys regimes is presented to us in Burning Doors in a way that allows us to bear witness to their experiences but this is not the most important aspect of the show, Khalezin tells me. The fact that information is true doesnt mean theres any point in it being spoken on stage, he says. The discussion first of all has to be artistic. Thats why bearing witness makes no sense if its not supported by vivid artistic imagery. The world is overloaded by boring documentary performances anyway. Co-founder and director of Belarus Free Theatre, Nikolai Khalezin In fact, Khalezin does not believe in the term political theatre. It was started by Brecht and ended with Brecht, he says. Theatre does not declare any ideas, it can only outline some questions and zones of interest, he says. The question is, what does the audience leave the performance with? A man comes and watches the show, he goes home, and reaches out to get a Dostoevsky book, or goes to Google to search Oleg Sentsov then there was a point in the show. If he comes out of the theatre and forgets about it then theres no meaning for the theatre, or its existence at all. Kaliada tells me about a lesson they learned from playwright Tom Stoppard, who is one of Belarus Free Theatres patrons. He gave a very specific lesson, not even realising he was giving one, she says. He said that an artist needs to create high quality art, and when you do it, then politicians will listen to you. Because its not propaganda. Its nothing about that its about you. Do your art, and when youve finished, you talk to them. It gives you that particular right, she says. Theres an eerie sense of a fear of the future in Belaruss unwillingness to acknowledge the company. Go to the countrys website and youll find a page celebrating their culture: today the country boasts a diverse range of theatre and drama, it reads. But a journalist asked the Ministry of Culture why they threatened to take the license of a cafe that hosted a performance by BFT, and the answer was very simple: they dont exist. Co-founder and director of Belarus Free Theatre, Natalia Kaliada It is only Ukrainians who are unafraid to look forward, Khalezin says Russians and Belarusians both fear it. And why shouldnt they? A man in Russia was recently given five years in prison for playing Pokemon Go in a church. And this doesnt surprise anyone, he adds. It sounds naive to ask, but I wonder if Kaliada and Khalezin could have believed that the political situation would remain so barbaric when they set BFT up in 2005. No, is Kaliadas quick answer. My grandfather was in a Stalinist jail. When Nikolai was arrested, we came to my grandma after he was released, and she said I cant believe that it would happen to my grandchildren. Its a part of the world where you have dictators all the time. Of course we couldnt predict that our friends would be killed six years ago, their friend and journalist Aleh Biabenin died under suspicious circumstances, and when they began rehearsals they found another friend had been killed by a car bomb but you know it will happen, just not when or how. It kind of becomes a normality of your life a scary one. London's local theatres 1 /15 London's local theatres Bush Theatre The Bush Theatre in Shepherds Bush began life in 1972; it first lived above a pub that held only 80 people, but in 2010 moved to an old public library building. Under the artistic directorship of Madani Younis, the theatre was transformed into one of the city's most influential artistic spaces. Now that Lynette Linton has taken over the reins, the stages continue to host groundbreaking works by new talent and the legends of years gone by. Philip Vile Camden People's Theatre Camden Peoples Theatre is a small theatre a few minutes away from Warren Street that has shown huge dedication to developing and supporting new artists. Since 2013, their Calm Down Dear Festival has presented a packed programme of feminist performance. It's just one of the many festivals CPT holds, including Handle With Care, which sees the so-called "generation snowflake" strike out beyond their safe spaces. Finborough Theatre The Finborough, a 50-seater above a pub in Earls Court, is a great champion for new writing, but it also puts on a number of rarely seen plays, like RC Sherriffs The White Carnation and JB Priestleys Cornelius. A number of playwrights associated with the building have won the Pearson Award including Laura Wade, Anders Lustgarten and James Graham, so its a great place for spotting upcoming new talent. The Finborough, a 50-seater above a pub in Earls Court, is a great champion for new writing, but it also puts on a number of rarely seen plays, winning numerous fringe awards. A number of playwrights associated with the building have won the Pearson Award including Laura Wade, Anders Lustgarten and James Graham, so its a great place for spotting upcoming new talent. Matt Freestone Orange Tree Theatre Under Artistic Director Paul Miller, who was appointed in 2014, Richmonds Orange Tree has had something of a shake-up. They had a huge hit with Alistair MacDowells Pomona, which brought in new audiences and transferred to the National Theatre and the Royal Exchange. Alongside new writing they have presented revivals from writers as DH Lawrence, Doris Lessing, and Terence Rattigan. Under Artistic Director Paul Miller, who was appointed in 2014, Richmonds Orange Tree has had something of a shake-up. They had a huge hit with Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' An Octoroon, which ran at the National Theatre, and stage evenings with some of the most influential voices in theatre from Dame Judi Dench to Sharon D Clarke. Alongside new writing they have presented revivals from writers as DH Lawrence, Doris Lessing, and Terence Rattigan. The Yard Artistic Director Jay Miller converted a disused warehouse in Queens Yard, Hackney Wick, into a 110-seater fully raked amphitheatre, and filled it with vibrant new writing. The small venue, created with recycled materials, has punched above its weight ever since; Alexander Zeldins extraordinary play on zero-hour workers, Beyond Caring, began life there before going to the National Theatre. It also regularly holds readings of drafts in developments and scratch nights for artists to test out new work. Arcola Theatre The Arcola in Dalston has two theatre spaces and plays host to a number of emerging theatre companies. On top of this, it is heavily invested in the local community and contains a number of theatre groups within it, including the Queer Collection, Women's Company and Ala-Turka for the Turkish and Kurdish groups of east London. As well as hosting new writing, they hold an opera festival every year; Grimeborn runs for several weeks over the summer. Lyric Hammersmith Theatre The Lyric Hammersmith Theatre is over 125 years old but it definitely isnt showing its age. Theyve had a number of hits transfer to the West End, including Ghost Stories, which returned to the UK this year after a successful trip around the word. There is now a new boss behind the wheel, as Rachel O'Riordan has taken over and kicked things off with artistic associate Tinuke Craig's urgent adaptation of A Doll's House. Gate Theatre The Gate Theatre lives above the Prince Albert pub in Notting Hill, where it has been presenting theatre in its 75-seat venue since 1979. It counts Stephen Daldry, Erica Whyman and Carrie Cracknell amongst its previous artistic directors, with Ellen McDougall in charge now, and pretty much anyone who is anyone has worked there at some stage of their career. Southwark Playhouse Southwark Playhouse began life in 1993, with a disused workshop being turned into a flexible theatre space. With two performance spaces, they put on a vast spread of work, from musicals to new plays, always focusing on breathing new life into the classics. Ambitious as ever, the Playhouse is moving into two new venues, a flagship site at Elephant and Castle and another in the arches of London Bridge Station. Ovalhouse Ovalhouse provides a space for new artists to develop work and offers an eclectic programme of experimental performance, as well as having a commitment to participation work and getting young people involved with the theatre. Its roots go back to the 1930s and numerous important cultural figures have started their careers there, from David Hare to Stella Duffy. They are about to move from their home in Kennington to a new site in Brixton, a mile and a half down the road, and asked performers in the final season to help them demolish the building. Shoreditch Town Hall This Grade II building became an independent arts venue in 2004, and has a number of different spaces including the huge Assembly Hall and basement space The Ditch. As well as hosting productions they curate their own artistic programme and present ground-breaking works from the likes of Jamie Lloyd and Alice Birch. Fun fact: it was involved in the filming of Florence Foster Jenkins and The Lady in the Van. Kiln Theatre Kiln Theatre in Kilburn (formerly known as the Tricycle) is the starting place for a number of plays that have gone on to have a massive life in recent years: Red Velvet starring Adrian Lester, Moira Buffinis Handbagged and Florian Zeller's The Son. Indhu Rubasingham joined as artistic director in 2012 and spearheaded a renovation before the rebrand. Theres a cinema too if your prefer your entertainment beneath a veil of celluloid. Philip Vile Theatre503 The Theatre503 is above The Latchmere pub in Battersea, and offers more new writing opportunities than anywhere else in the country. They have a year-round open submission policy and believe its a crucial way to keep the industry open to new writers. Their writing prize offers an unproduced writer a chance to be a part of their main season, and ensure they programme productions from writers from previous decades who have been overlooked. Their track record is excellent, with a lot of their shows transferring to bigger venues. Rose Theatre Kingston Its worth making the journey to the Rose. It opened in 2008 and was modelled on the original Elizabethan theatre that lived on Londons bankside. It hosts work from theatre companies such as the RSC as well as producing its own, and can attract the best. The world premiere of Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend took place here in 2017, and runs this year at the National Theatre, reuniting the original cast. Park Theatre The Park Theatre in Finsbury Park only opened in 2013, converted from a vacant office block next to the station. Artistic director Jez Bond wanted to create a neighbourhood theatre that presented world class theatre, and its first season featured Maureen Lipman and Charity Wakefield. It continues to present new writing and revivals, featuring Ian McKellen and Celia Imrie among its cheerleaders. parktheatre.co.uk Over ten years later, there is no sign that they will be able to operate in their own country, but having made the UK their base, the Brexit vote has left them concerned. My friend said about Britain at that moment: its weird to become a person who shot himself in the leg, and then decided to cure himself, and then shot himself in the other leg, Khalezin says. For me, Brexit is a personal assault. Kaliada agrees, talking about being at the Young Vic theatre (where they are an associate company) when they received the news. Their restaurant, The Cut, has a number of European staff, she says, and people were just in tears. All the team members who were British were apologising for their country. Burning Doors pushes its performers to their limits / Alex Brenner She laments that emotional short term decisions are made without an understanding of the long term consequences, citing Oxford Professor Theodore Zeldins suggestion that mankind makes its greatest mistakes because we dont learn about global history. How deep can a country bury itself? asks Khalezin. I feel great pity, as I came from a country that did bury itself. Its buried there for 22 years. And here I saw the same moods as at some points in Belarus. There is a fear that people in the UK are no longer thinking about political prisoners in Eastern Europe, and Belarus Free Theatre hope to remind people with Burning Doors. If there is a possibility that they can help to release even one prisoner, they will fight. We understand we are simple artists we are not politicians or journalists. But what we want to do is talk to British people and say: guys, we love you. Its our second home land. We are refugees here. But you have a luxury as a democracy; we dont have it back there. Use that tool. Write to your MPs. Parliament has to put pressure on the Russian government to release those people. If you have that strong tool, use it. People there, they dont, and they are dying and being tortured for that. Belarus Free Theatre are campaigning for director Oleg Sentsov's release from prison In the face of such brutality, many would have given up, but Alyokhina is adamant that she will continue being an activist. I have no right to say this, because people believe in me. And its just not possible to say that I cant. What are you afraid of? What can they do? she asks. They can put you in prison. Thats it. Its just whats around you. Okay, they can kill you, but that will be the end of your story. In the show, you hear Petr Pavlenskys text, its a reflection on fear. He said, artists are afraid like everybody. I was afraid yesterday. And I realised, its just an instant. It came to nothing. The fearlessness of the heart matches the fearlessness of their art, and the company will be holding an event on October 10 in the House of Commons to urge politicians both to listen and to open their eyes. Its something theyve done before, accompanied by Jude Law, Tom Stoppard and Kevin Spacey. The guards asked us, who are you? We said, we are theatremakers. They said, why are there so many of you? We said, we plan to perform now. They said, theatremakers? In Parliament? Never before. And we said, we will be the first, Kaliada smiles. And that is the whole point. We will be the first. We will talk to you here. We will not keep silent here. And hopefully that voice will be heard. Burning Doors is at Soho Theatre until September 24. Visit the Belarus Free Theatre website to support their campaign. Follow Jessie Thompson on Twitter @jessiecath Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout F rom the brutalist beauty of the Milford Towers in Catford to revellers lining the streets of Notting Hill Carnival, photographer Emmanuel Coles photographs are a love letter to street life in some of the capitals most vibrant neighbourhoods. Cole, who is a self-taught photographer, began sharing his pictures on Instagram under the alias @ecolephoto, after buying his first iPhone in 2012 and downloading the app on a whim. Since then he has amassed more than 145K followers, thanks to his documentary-style portraits which take an intimate and anthropological look at aspects of modern life in Londons inner-city areas. Here, he tells the Evening Standard about his work, his inspirations and his tips for budding photographers. How did you get into photography? I first got interested in photography in 2011. A short conversation I had with a videographer led me to begin Googling anything I could about photography and watching YouTube tutorials on how to become a photographer. Towards the end of 2011 I asked my uncle to help me buy a DSLR and I've never looked back. (Emmanuel Cole ) / Emmanuel Cole Why did you set up your Instagram account? I started to take iPhone pictures around 2012 as I decided the DSLR was too big to carry around, and I'd forget to take it out with me. My iPhone, on the other hand, was always around which made that process much more convenient. I browsed through the app store one day and found this app called Instagram. I literally had no idea what it was about at the time. Slowly but surely I started posting pictures to my Instagram and watched my followers gradually increase. That spurred me on to take and post more photos. What are your favourite parts of London to shoot? I go through phases with locations in London, although being from east London I've always enjoyed photographing areas such as Hackney, Walthamstow, Upton Park and the Isle of Dogs. (Emmanuel Cole ) / Emmanuel Cole What inspires your photography the most? The inspiration for my photography has always come from life experiences - whether that be conversations I've had with people or the music I listen to, or even the childhood I experienced. The pressures that accompany coming from a big city such as London has always worked well as a huge drive for me. (Emmanuel Cole ) / Emmanuel Cole What type of camera do you use and how do you edit your photographs? I currently use a Canon 6D and edit all my photos on Adobe Lightroom. (Emmanuel Cole ) / Emmanuel Cole Any tips for budding London photographers? The only thing I can think of is to get out of your comfort zone and try new things, often. Follow Emmanuel Cole: @ecolephoto Follow Liz Connor on Twitter: @lizconnor_ H alfway through my meeting with Yana Peel, the new co-director of The Serpentine Galleries, she starts to cry. We are in her office on the first floor of the former tea house in the middle of Hyde Park, overlooking sculptures, tourists and trees, a few strides from the Serpentines lake with its pedalos and ice cream huts, and I am taken by surprise. She has just taken over from Julia Peyton-Jones after her 25-year reign. But while elated with what she describes as hashtag dream job she says she is still devastated by the death in March of her friend and colleague, the architect Zaha Hadid, who designed the tent-like extension of the Sackler (the smaller gallery housed in a former gunpowder store, also known as The Magazine). Lets move off this topic, Peel says in her rich, gritty Canadian drawl. The tears are here. Ill end up blubbing. She laughs embarrassed flapping her hands at her face. I expect this will happen many times over the next few months and years. Move on, Peel insists. Talk about the job. And it is the dream job. Along with curator Hans-Ulrich Obrist, she will be overseeing eight exhibitions a year, viewed by one million-plus visitors in their two boutique venues in Hyde Park the Serpentine and the Sackler Serpentine both of which have reputations vastly larger than their square footage. Then theres the Summer Pavilion programme, the annual construction of a cafe, which in its early years gave architects such as Frank Gehry, and indeed Hadid, their first opportunities to build in the UK. Not to mention the Serpentine summer party this year attended by Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Georgia May Jagger, last year by Benedict Cumberbatch and Kate Hudson. Its perhaps the hottest ticket in London in July. But all this aside, is it intimidating to follow a name as big as Peyton-Jones? Peel, 42, shakes her head. For me its an incredibly exciting moment to honour the past and look forward, she says. Does she worry about comparisons? She replies with a quote: Lucio Fontana said in his White Manifesto that Change is an essential property of existence. What will she change? She talks about diversifying revenue streams (other ways of making money) and says they are constantly thinking of how we can extend the experience of the gallery in many democratic ways (making money out of everyone). I ask how someone on a budget could start a collection and she pounces. Serpentine limited editions! 75p a postcard and moves up to 10,000 for tapestries that we sell in TheMagazine. Yana Peel, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Tommy Hilfiger, Naomi Campbell and Julia Peyton-Jones attend The Serpentine Summer Party / Dave Bennett But actually, this is not a bad investment. A limited edition of Gerard Richter prints, sold out and are now impossible to get hold of. In her office, even the wallpaper is art, a repetitive print of a Marc Camille Chaimowicz sketch of The Gallery itself. Peel has collaborated with designer Michael Maharam (the designer). Isnt it gorgeous? She describes her relationship with the Serpentine as having been 15 years of engagement and 50 days in the hot seat. Shes known Obrist for 15 years too and describes their relationship as an amazing meeting of minds. Hes shuffling around the building somewhere with his trademark see-through glasses frames and carry-on bag. But I dont see him. Peyton-Jones and Obrist were considered an odd-couple. She was the friend of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, well-connected, well-bred and charm personified; he was the slightly awkward son of a Swiss-German businessman and teacher, who once tried to emulate Balzacs working routine of 52 coffees a day by binging on 10 to 20 espressos before lunch, something he found to be not sustainable . While Peel matches Peyton-Jones in poise and glamour, she seems closer to Obrist in vision. They both have a penchant for convoluted art jargon. Neither is from London (Peel was born in St Petersburg and brought up in Canada before being educated at the LSE and Goldman Sachs). She describes Obrist as a polymath. Weve always collaborated. If I was at Davos and I was interviewing an artist like Shirin Neshat or Oliver Weiss, hed be my first call. They are both, she says, pathologically curious. We love the musician and the fashion designer and the artist and the scientist and the public intellectual and everything here is of course anchored and artist-led but how exciting to also give the artist the opportunity to work within this community. For the untrained ear, the art speak can be hard going. For example she describes the act of the hordes of kids on iPhones looking for Pokemon outside as, overlaying the physical and the virtual. Sometimes she speaks fast like tangled tape. I have to slow the recording of our interview right down to give her words space to breathe. At her side is a notepad on which she jots things down like when she asks me what I think of the Serpentine party and I say that Ive heard its fun, although one year someone described it as being a bit hookers and bankers. Peel shrieks. Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness, and makes a note. I dont know even how to spell one category of those two, she adds. And I spent a lot of time with bankers. As well as being pathologically curious, I suspect she is pathologically organised. A mutual friend told me she was one of the most energetic and able people theyd ever met. Zaha Hadid Architecture & Design - In pictures 1 /10 Zaha Hadid Architecture & Design - In pictures London Aquatics Centre, London Rex Zaha Hadid's Evelyn Grace Academy In Brixton, London Rex Serpentine Sackler Gallery and The Magazine cafeteria by architect Zaha Hadid Rex Jockey Club Innovation Tower, Hong Kong. View Of East Facade From Hong Kong Polytechnic University Campus Rex A long time exposure shows the ski jumping hill designed by Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid in Innsbruck, Austria Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters Galaxy Soho, Beijing, China. Zaha Hadid, 2012. Elevated View Of Complex With Landscaped Green And Cityscape Rex Lingkong SOHO in Shanghai was designed by Zaha Hadid and is famous for its strange look Rex Interior view of the Maxxi, the new Museum of the 21st Century Arts during an architectural preview in Rome. The museum was designed by British Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid Alessandro Di Meo/EPA Today she has pre-prepared numbers. She refers to them when I ask about the drop in students taking arts subjects. Forty-four per cent of teachers say that creative subjects have been downgraded at school since the introduction of the EBacc, she reels. And the number of creative GCSEs entered for has fallen by 46,000. Actually Peel supports maths and science subjects as much as the creative ones as she sees them as interwoven. She says shed be happy for her six-year-old daughter to be either an artist or an astronaut but she wishes theyd roll them all together a bit more. It was Albert Einstein who said that logic can take you from A to B but imagination can take you everywhere. I think thats the idea: that we dont just concentrate on STEM learning which is so vital, but we need to put the a back in to make steam. We need to make sure that the arts are core to the conversation. Although she mentions her children (her son has just finished his 11+ and doesnt mind picking her up from work as this is a Pokemon hot spot), she is coy about her husband Stephen. They married 16 years ago and live in Bayswater. He was until recently a senior partner in the private equity firm TPG Capital, but decided to quit last year and go back to Yale to study. Now he runs the Centre for Policy Innovation, she says. So hes very British and hes very excited about working on policy initiatives that make Britain productive and forward-thinking and innovative. Africa, too, she adds. Hes a fellow at Oxford and has just come back from Burundi and he is thinking a lot about policy, industrial policy and how to make countries work really well for themselves. She describes them as very aligned as a couple. We are all looking for the inner esotericism, the examined life in a holistic way. And we get a tremendous amount of energy from really creative people with disruptive ideas. For him its in the sphere of politics, so we were in Yale for a year and he was really energised by the ideas that he was hearing from the policy side: people who were re-examining the world in different ways. For me its from a creative place. Im thinking about the proximity to artists and the kind of issues they are raising. Shes keen to impress on me that they are a private family. When I ask if they collect she gives me a boring answer about how her most important collecting was for Outset. I sort of meant in your house, I say. I sort of didnt want to answer, she says with a smile. Serpentine Pavilion 2016 1 /8 Serpentine Pavilion 2016 The Serpentine Gallery unveils its new pavilion designed by Bjarke Ingels Alex Lentati A side view Alex Lentati Designer Bjarke Ingels stands in front of his work Alex Lentati Summer House The Serpentine also unveils one of its new Summer House, designed by Kunle Adeyemi Alex Lentati A summer house designed by Yona Friedman Alex Lentati A summer house designed by Barklow Leibinger Alex Lentati Perhaps in these early days, she is keen not to distract from her Serpentine. Two paths brought her to the role. The first was her background in art philanthropy. She co-founded Outset, a contemporary art fund, in 2003, which aimed to help emerging artists get their work bought by public collections. (One innovation was to crowd-fund the acquisition of work from the Freize art fair on behalf of the Tate Gallery). She also sits on a number of arts advisory and board positions not least The Tate Executive Council, the V&A and V-A-C Foundation Moscow. The second was her skills in production. Since her teens, she says, shes been throwing events. I was producing fashion shows in high school and producing raves at university for charitable causes. It was the era of Guy Laliberte it was the Nineties in Montreal, Cirque de Soleil was just starting and so it was an amazing moment for transgender, and for music. I never wanted to be on the stage but I always wanted to enable the creative. Thats why, for me, this job is just pinch me. Her CV is rather dizzying in other respects too. Shes written childrens books, is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum and is co-chair of the Intelligence Squared Group, the public debate forum. Time off is a lot of yoga and running and reading fiction. Fiction? I read so much non-fiction and newspapers across the political spectrum to make sure I am not confirmation biaised, so I think its nice to read fiction to relax. My kids and I are big readers. Were all nerds no dont write that. She adds that she listens to a lot of hip hop. We return to Hadid an intimate friend and incredible pioneer. Peel and Obrist are planning an amazing homage in the building she designed, to bring her most intimate work to life: thats the paintings and the drawings and the portfolios. And its Hadids spirit, Peel says, that is the driving force behind her plans. Hadid believed there should be no end to experimentation, she says. That will be our mantra. Follow Charlotte Edwardes on Twitter: @chedwardes The Progress 1000, in partnership with Citi, and supported by Berkeley Group, is the Evening Standards celebration of Londons most influential people. #progress1000 B ritain's most notorious hate preacher Anjem Choudary has been jailed for five-and-a-half years for inviting his followers to support Islamic State terrorists. The 49-year-old lawyer turned radical cleric swore allegiance to the caliphate leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and used social media and rabble-rousing speeches to urge his disciples to follow him. Mr Justice Holroyde labelled the Islamist "calculating" and said his speeches would have influenced followers to commit acts of terrorism. "You indirectly encouraged violent terrorist activity", he said. "You were perfectly content with that consequence of your words. "It is very likely a significant proportion of those who listened would be impressionable, people looking to you for guidance on how to act and ready to do what you said was necessary." Choudary's lieutenant, Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, 33, was convicted alongside him and also received a five-and-a-half-year prison term. "In differing ways I regard both of you as dangerous, you have showed no remorse at all for anything you have said and done, and I have no doubt you will continue to communicate or message whenever you can", said the judge. "You knowingly crossed the line between legitimate expression of your own views and criminal acts of inviting support for an organisation which was at the time engaged in appalling acts of terrorism." He said the evidence proved both men are "strongly supportive of ISIS", telling them: "You are free to hold and express personal views but the right of freedom of expression is not absolute." A custody photo of extremist preacher Anjem Choudary / Metropolitan Police The judge said both men gave speeches to "impressionable" audiences, pointing out: "None of your many speeches contains any criticism by either or you of any of the violent acts of ISIS and its supporters. "On the contrary, each of you were invariably able to find a way to justify their appalling acts. You expressed contempt for the values of the democracy in which you live." He said Rahman was a "hot-head", and both men are "mature and intelligent", adding: "Anjem Choudary you are more calculated." Choudary looked repeatedly to the public gallery during sentencing, and cry of "Allahu Akhbar" rang out from his supporters as he was led away. Choudary, a thorn in the side of authorities for the last two decades, can count extremists including Lee Rigby killer Michael Adebolajo, ISIS executioner Siddhartha Dhar, and hate preacher Abu Hamza among his supporters. Police say he may have influenced hundreds of Muslims to support ISIS and travel to Syria to join the terrorist group. Through his organisations, Muslim4UK and Al-Muhajiroun (ALM), he acted as a spiritual guide for extremists, promoting an ideology of hate which defended terrorist atrocities. The father-of-five, of Hampton Road, Ilford, Essex, and Rahman, of Newbold Cottages, Sidney Street, Whitechapel, east London, both denied inviting support for a proscribed terrorist organisation but were convicted by an Old Bailey jury after a trial. They signed an oath of allegiance to al-Baghdadi which was published online as the terror group declared the occupation of parts of Iraq and Syria as a "caliphate". It was this moment, in July 2014, that allowed the Met, who had spent 20 years monitoring the activities of Choudary and his supporters, arrest the preacher and push for prosecution. Commander Dean Haydon said Choudary was "very clever" in his public pronouncements, Tweets, and YouTube speeches, making sure to stay just within the law. "The oath was the key piece of evidence that took him over a line to a criminal offence", he said. Choudary's followers is a who's who of Britain's religious fanatics, including the likes of would-be killers Brustholm Ziamani and Junead Khan, British suicide bomber Omar Sharif, Adebolajo, and extremist mouthpieces Jordan Horner, Omar Brooks, and Royal Barnes. One, Siddartha Dhar, was in close contact with the preacher in June and July 2014, urging him to swear the oath because it would be "gold on Twitter". Choudary said in a 2013 lecture he dreamed of turning Buckingham Palace into a mosque and imposing Sharia Law in the UK, saying: "Next time when your child is at school and the teacher says, what do you want when you grow up, what is your ambition, they should say to dominate the whole world of Islam, including Britain. "That's my ambition." Born to a Pakistani market trader in Welling in 1967 and schooled in Woolwich, Choudary was a party-loving medical student at Southampton University before turning to extreme Islam. He moved to London and was radicalised with the help of Omar Bakri Mohammed - known as the Tottenham Ayatollah - together they set up Al-Muhajiroun. Fond of pronouncing that the flag of Islam would one day fly over Downing Street, Choudary was a regular behind the megaphones at street protests, outside embassies and mosques, and had a shopping list of journalists on speed dial to promote his media appearances. When Bakri Mohammed fled to Lebanon in the wake of the 7/7 attacks, having praised the bombers, Choudary became the leading light of extremist Islam and the top billing on marches and in TV interviews. When quizzed by the Standard six years ago about his reviled status, Choudary replied: "That's a badge I would wear with pride. It's inevitable that when you offer an alternative morality and way of life, many people will hate you for it." Choudary consulted with Bakri Mohammed and another spiritual guide, Indonesia-based extremist Mohammed Fachry before signing the oath, which was published on the ninth anniversary of the 7/7 bombings. Mark Summers QC, for Choudary, told the court today that the hate preacher had an "unwelcome and unpleasant world view", but urged the judge to only sentence him for the crime he had been convicted of. He was fined 500 for failing to give notice of a 2006 protest against the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, but has otherwise "done his best to stay within the law". "Acting on the boundaries of it, maybe, but determined to stay within the law", added Mr Summers. At the time of the commission of the offence, he believed he was still within the law. "He has had time to reflect, and on reflection he would have done things differently, had he known the boundaries of the law. "He is determined not to cross those boundaries in the future." The court heard Choudary is likely to spent most of his time behind bars in solitary confinement. A mob of youths stabbed a 17-year-old boy through the heart when they were summoned to sort out gatecrashers at a girls 16th birthday party, the Old Bailey heard today. Che Labastide-Wellington was knifed in the chest as he tried to flee from the posse of young men who had descended on the house party in Kenton last November, the court heard. The mother of the birthday girl had banned alcohol, drugs, and cigarettes from the party and insisted everyone on the tightly-controlled guest list was searched before they entered the home. But despite her efforts to maintain control, a group of teenagers from the estates in nearby Kingsbury turned up uninvited and were refused entry to the house, in Belvedere Way, Kenton, jurors were told. Prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC said the group outside made partygoers feel uncomfortable, and while Che who had been invited went outside to talk to them, another partygoer, 15, is accused of calling his cousin to organise for reinforcements to come to the party. Within 40 minutes or so, a group of thirteen young men had set off on foot from Wembley Park heading for Kenton, said the prosecutor. In the course of the journey they were joined by four others. In all then, by the time they got to Belvedere Way, their numbers had swelled to 17. For what reason did this small army descend on Belvedere Way? The prosecution suggest that they were there to sort out the youths who had been making life difficult for (the 15-year-old boy). Calvin Tudor, 22, his brother Marlon, 23, Walker Sesay, 18, Rimmel Williams, 18, Omar Afrah, 22, Ibrahim Mansaray, 18, and Olamilekan Kennedy Onafowokan, 23, are all standing trial for the murder on November 8 last year. The 15-year-old boy, who cannot be named, is also in the dock accused of initiating the attack. It is said the group also stabbed a 16-year-old boy who was with Che six times in the arms and legs, but he survived the attack. Mr Aylett told the jury: As the defendants group approached the house where the party was taking place, there were about half a dozen youths outside in the street, including the two boys who got stabbed. The prosecution allege that the defendants group appeared split in order to surround those who were outside the party. The court heard Che pulled out a knife and charged at the group surrounding them, but he himself was knifed in the chest - piercing his heart - as he tried to get away. Although he was able to break through the group and run into an alleyway, Che soon collapsed, said Mr Aylett. He fell, face down onto the ground. Paramedics performed open heart surgery on Che, a business student, on the pavement in an attempt to save his life, but he died at the scene. Calvin Tudor, of Kelly Close, Willesden, Sesay, of Rawlings Crescent, Wembley, Williams, of Churchill Road, Willesden, Marlon Tudor, of no fixed address, Afrah, of Walton Avenue, Wembley, Mansaray, from Cotton Avenue, Acton, Onafowokan, of Page Avenue, Wembley, all deny murder and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. The 15-year-old denies conspiracy to cause grievous harm with intent. The trial continues. A father-of-three was left to die in the street after thieves stole his wallet and phone and then used it for premium rate calls, his family said today. Cab driver Robert Collins, 54, suffered a heart attack and could not be saved despite the desperate efforts of passers-by to resuscitate him. As he lay dying, the thieves who had taken his mobile racked up a huge bill on a series of calls to Poland and the Ukraine. Mr Collins was found slumped at the roadside in Newham by three passers-by who alerted paramedics. He was taken to Whipps Cross hospital but was pronounced dead from a cardiac arrest soon afterwards. His wallet and car keys were missing as well as his phone, and the calls on it were said to have been made at the same time he was being treated. His devastated family today said the thieves were worse than animals as they described their heartache at his loss. Mr Collinss sister-in-law Jacqui Feehan, 54, from Plaistow, said: He was either robbed, which brought on the heart attack, or he was robbed as he lay dying. Either way, while he lay dying and was being given CPR his phone was being used, and then again 24 hours after he was dead. It was to a premium phone number that costs 1 a second. Its horrendous. Detectives piecing together Mr Collinss last movements believe he left the Golden Fleece pub in Capel Road at around 8pm on Friday, August 19. His body was found an hour later on a grass verge in Rabbits Road, a mile away, and in the opposite direction from his home in Manor Park. There were no signs that he had been physically attacked. Ms Feehan said: He wasnt just my brother-in-law, he was my friend. He was a beautiful person. He was a hard-working lovely family man. We are all in bits. His family have launched their own leaflet campaign, delivering them in surrounding streets and appealing for CCTV footage for clues to his final hours. Ms Feehan said: Its been two weeks now and the police have got no further. We just cant get our heads around it and we need answers. His widow Kim, 51, described him as a gentle and kind husband and father who had two grandchildren with a third on the way. Mrs Collins said: This was just so cruel. Everybody Ive spoken to says what a gentle, kind man he was. He would have done anything for anybody. They robbed him of everything he owned and left him for dead. Det Con Raf Patel of Newham CID said: I need to establish the circumstances which led to this man being found collapsed in Rabbits Road. At some point that day the mans possessions have gone missing. He appealed to anyone who was in the Golden Fleece pub or saw Mr Collins going from Capel Road to Rabbits Road to contact police on 020 8217 5881. A nti-extremist campaigners today blasted the "lenient" sentence handed to firebrand hate preacher Anjem Choudary for drumming up support for Islamic State. The notorious Islamist was jailed for five-and-a-half years at the Old Bailey today after his conviction last month. But the sentence handed to the 49-year-old was criticised as a "sad indictment" of British terror legislation by campaigners who wanted to see him locked up for longer. Haras Rafiq, from counter-extremism thinktank the Quilliam Foundation, told the Standard: Im disappointed at the length of the sentence. There are people who it is alleged that he has radicalised that have longer sentences than him. Jailed: Anjem Choudary / PA He has got five-and-a-half years for 15 years of radicalising youngsters in Britain and beyond towards jihadist terrorism. Security services have said he is directly linked to up to 500 people who have travelled to Iraq and Syria. This is a sad indictment of the current state of our legislation. He could be out in two-and-a-half years. Mr Rafiq said it was important for authorities to separate Choudary from other prisoners to avoid them from being radicalised and added a clampdown was needed to remove his online presence. Hate preacher: Radical preacher Anjem Choudary (Picture: EPA) / EPA/ANDY RAIN Choudary spent two decades radicalising a generation of would-be extremists including Lee Rigby killer Michael Adebolajo, Isis executioner Siddhartha Dhar, and hate preacher Abu Hamza. He was finally snared after he alongside his trusted lieutenant Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, 33, swore allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi when he declared the IS occupation of Iraq and Syria a "caliphate". Choudary and Rahman posted YouTube videos of extremist lectures and used social media to try and recruit followers. Scotland Yard said detectives had trawled through 20 years of material amassed of Choudary and Rehman but it was only after they swore an oath to IS that they could be brought to justice. At the Old Bailey, Mr Justice Holroyde described Choudary as "calculating" and said his speeches would have influenced followers to commit acts of terrorism. He said: You indirectly encouraged violent terrorist activity. You were perfectly content with that consequence of your words. "It is very likely a significant proportion of those who listened would be impressionable, people looking to you for guidance on how to act and ready to do what you said was necessary." Choudary's lieutenant, Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, 33, was convicted alongside him and also received a five-and-a-half-year prison term. "In differing ways I regard both of you as dangerous, you have showed no remorse at all for anything you have said and done, and I have no doubt you will continue to communicate or message whenever you can", said the judge. The court heard Choudary is likely to spent most of his time behind bars in solitary confinement. P olice investigating the murder of a Polish man in Harlow in a suspected hate crime have today released CCTV images of people they want to speak to. Arkadiusz Jozwik, 40, was killed following an attack outside a takeaway in The Stow on Saturday, August 27 at around 11.35pm. He died in hospital two days later after he suffered head injuries. Two other men, believed to be friends of the victim, were also assaulted. Six teenage boys were arrested following the attack, which is being treated as a suspected hate crime. Investigation: A murder inquiry was launched after Arkadiusz Jozwik died from his injuries / Essex Police On Tuesday, Essex Police issued a series of CCTV images of people they want to speak to in connection with the murder inquiry. Detective Chief Inspector Martin Pasmore, of Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said: "Arek Jozwik was a hard working family man who lost his life in a most tragic and brutal way, and my thoughts are very much with his family and friends as they grieve his loss. My team and I are doing everything we can to establish exactly what happened and bring those responsible to justice We are investigating his murder as a hate crime but there are other lines of enquiry that we need to look at and the information you can give us could be vital. Murder: Police said they are investigating the attack as a hate crime / Essex Police "From viewing CCTV we know that Arek and two friends went to TGF Pizza takeaway in The Stow, Harlow, at about 11.10pm on Saturday August 27 and ordered a pizza. "They then went outside and spoke with a group of youths as well as other passers-by for up to about twenty minutes. "However it can be seen that the atmosphere then changed and there was a verbal argument. "It is during this altercation that Arek receives a single punch to the face, causing him to fall backwards and bang his head on the ground. Vigil: Members of the Polish and local community pay tribute to Mr Jozwik / EPA "There followed a short scuffle between Areks friends and a few other people, before the suspects leave the scene. "I know there were numerous people in The Stow, many of whom will have witnessed the incident and would have been shocked by what they saw. "I am appealing for anyone who was in the area between 10pm and midnight that Saturday to please come forward. In particular, I would like to speak to a man wearing shorts who was talking to the victims beside a large flower bed before the incident." In a separate incident, detectives are also investigating another potential hate crime after two Polish men were attacked outside a pub on Sunday, just hours after a candlelit vigil for Mr Jozwik. Chief Superintendent Sean OCallaghan said: "We fully understand that residents in Harlow have been left deeply shocked by the murder of Arek Jozwik, and the assault of two Polish men in Kitson Way on Sunday September 4. "We are investigating both incidents as separate hate crimes. I want to reassure the Polish community in Harlow, across Essex and other minority communities that we are treating these very seriously." T he alleged killer of banking executive Oliver Dearlove will stand trial next year for his murder, the Old Bailey heard today. Trevor Timon, 31, is accused of knocking out the 30-year-old with a single punch following a night out in Blackheath, south east London. Mr Dearlove died the following day in hospital from head injuries. Timon, of Plumstead, appeared in court via videolink this morning, speaking only to confirm his name. Mr Dearlove, a relationship manager at private bank Duncan Lawrie in Belgravia who previously worked for Royal bank Coutts, had spent the evening with university friends before the fatal attack, on Saturday, August 27. He had reportedly texted his girlfriend Claire Wheatley to tell her he loved her just two hours before he was struck, as the group left ONeills bar in Tranquil Vale. Mr Dearlove, from Eltham, and his partner had been together for four years and were planning to buy a house together and start a family. At an earlier hearing at Westminster magistrates court, Timon indicated he plans to fight the murder charge, but he has not yet formally entered a plea. Judge Richard Marks QC, the Common Serjeant of London, remanded him in custody until a plea hearing on November 22. A provisional trial date has been set for February 13 next year. A murder investigation has been launched after a man was stabbed to death at a house in north London. The 44-year-old was found with knife wounds at the address in Wood Green after officers were called. The London Ambulance Service attended but the victim was pronounced dead at the scene. A 23-year-old man was arrested at the same address in Pellatt Grove following the attack just before 11pm last night. Police presence: Officers at the scene in Wood Green / Tom Powell He was taken to an east London hospital where he was being treated for minor injuries. The Met police said the investigation is being led by Detective Chief Inspector Mark Lawson of the Homicide and Major Crime Command. A spokesman added the men are known to one another and detectives are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident. A cyclist is fighting for his life after being hit by a car outside Buckingham Palace. London's Air Ambulance landed outside the Queens residence shortly before noon today, sparking panic among tourists. A Metropolitan Police spokesman confirmed officers had been called to Constitution Hill following the collision. The male cyclist was rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries. An American tourist, known only as Dave, told the Standard: "The helicopter landed and all the medics came running out down the road. "There was a bit of a panic, nobody knew what was going on." The air ambulance at the scene of the crash / Fiona Simpson Tourists gathered to take photographs of the air ambulance which stayed on the scene, behind a police cordon, for over two hours after the crash. Others snapped selfies with helicopter crew. British tourist Tony Gibbins said: "It's all taped off down there (Constitution Hill), you have to walk through the park to get past. Air Ambulance: the aftermath of the crash by Buckingham Palace / Fiona Simpson "It looked as if a taxi had hit a push bike." Onlookers shared dramatic images of emergency services outside the Palace on Twitter. One user said: A trauma helicopter just landed at Buckingham Palace. What's the news?! #GODSAVETHEQUEEN Another added: Something happening at Buckingham Palace. Emergency services on scene. A Met Police spokesman said: We were called shortly before 12 noon today to reports of an RTC between a car and a cyclist on Constitution Hill. The cyclist, believed to be a male, was taken to hospital with what are thought to be life-threatening injuries. A London Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: We were called at 11.58am today to reports of a road traffic collision at Constitution Hill, SW1. We sent an ambulance crew, a paramedic on a bike, a paramedic on a motorbike and an incident response officer to the scene. We also dispatched Londons Air Ambulance to the scene. We treated a man at the scene for head injuries and took him as a priority to a hospital in west London. A car flipped onto its roof in a dramatic crash in south-east London. The vehicle was left upside down on the pavement after flipping in a smash which did not involve any other cars. Two lanes of the A205 Brownhill Road in Catford were closed eastbound following the incident, although traffic is said to still be flowing well. The female driver received only minor injuries. Timelapse of car being recovered after dramatic smash in south-east London Met police were called to the scene at 10:40, while London Fire Brigade and the London Ambulance Service also attended. A Met police spokesman said: Officers were called to Brownhill Road/Rushey Green at 10:39 on 6 September to reports of a road traffic collision. There was one car involved, reported overturned. It was a female driver with minor injuries. A Transport for London spokeswoman said: The incident is not having any impact on travel in the area. D ozens of firefighters tackled a blaze at a kebab shop in Islington this afternoon. A basement beneath Angel Kebab takeaway and flats in Essex Road, Islington, caught fire in the early afternoon. More than 30 firefighters were sent from Holloway, Shoreditch, Euston, Stoke Newington, Kentish Town and Soho to tackle the blaze. London Fire Brigade said they were called to the scene at just before 12.50pm and by 2.23pm the blaze was under control. The cause of the fire is not yet known. Blaze: The basement below Angel Kebab on Essex Road is alight. / Wing Poon The fire brigade urged people to avoid the area as the road is blocked off and traffic disrupted. Transport for London said Essex Road is closed between New North Road and Upper Street and buses are being diverted. A protest at City Airport today sparked a furious row among people who claimed that demonstrators appropriating someone elses struggle had held up thousands of passengers. Flights at the airport were grounded after nine Black Lives Matters protesters got onto the runway and chained themselves to a tripod early this morning. Police negotiated for more than five hours with the group, who said the action was taken "in order to highlight the UK's environmental impact on the lives of black people locally and globally. But the action sparked a row about the relevance of the protest. Some people labelled the activists hipster-looking flower-crowners while others staunchly backed their actions. Campaign: Protesters from Black Lives Matter UK on the runway at London City Airport / Black Lives Matter UK Felix Holloway tweeted: Notice how all the Black Lives Matter protesters at London City Airport are white hipster-looking flower-crowners. Not a single black person in sight. One Twitter user wrote: All the protesters who had chained themselves together on the runway were white. London City Airport - London Live Another said: Why are all the Black Lives Matter protesters blocking the London City Airport runway white? Did they fail to send out the memo? Richard Yeboah wrote: I support the Black Lives Matter movement. But there must be a coherent strategy in terms of protest. Don't instigate agitation. But many others praised the protesters, pointing out they were of different racial backgrounds. Charlez Simmons tweeted: And yes all the protesters that were at London City Airport where both black and white people supporting the Black Lives Matter Movement. Stand-off: A man sitting on the tripod on the runway is surrounded by police / Danielo Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images Jay Sumana tweeted: The only people affected at London City Airport are bankers/bourgeois. They affect me by making me pay tax so good on #BlackLivesMatter. Emily Collins wrote: "Full support and solidarity to @ukblm for their #shutdown of London City Aiport. #shutitdown #blacklivesmatter." Another person, tweeting under the name Finn Balor, said: Solidarity with all of our Black Lives Matter comrades. We are with you! One activist posted this image online / @JrdnRees Airport campaign group HACAN East tweeted: "Emails have been pouring in from local people in support of today's occupation of City Airport runway by, we understand, Black Lives Matter." The campaigners are said to have gained access to the Royal Docks site by using an inflatable boat to cross the River Thames. In a statement, the protest group's UK division also cited expansion plans at the airport as the cause of their action. They said: "Recently London City Airport was given approval to expand its capacity, a move that consigns the local community in Newham to further deterioration of their environment. The average salary of a London City Airport user is 114,000 and 63 per cent of them work in business, finance or other business services. Confrontation: Police with protesters, including a man on a tripod, at London City Airport / Danielo Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images "It is an airport designed for the wealthy. At the same time 40 per cent of Newham's population struggle to survive on 20,000 or less. When black people in Britain are 28 per cent more likely to be exposed to air pollution than their white counterparts, we know that environmental inequality is a racist crisis." An airport spokesman said: "We're currently experiencing disruption to all flights due to protesters at the airport. Police are currently on the scene." A Scotland Yard spokesman said nine people had been arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass, being unlawfully airside and breaching London City Airport bylaws. "All have now been removed from the runway and taken into police custody," said a spokesman. T he Black Lives Matter protest group today issued a defiant rebuttal of critics who slammed a stunt carried out by predominantly white activists at London City Airport. The group faced a barrage of anger after staging a sit-in protest on the runway of the transport hub. Some critics accused the group, who said they were protesting because climate change disproportionately affects black people, of "appropriating someone else's struggle" as they held up thousands of air passengers. But in a series of tweets after the airport's runway reopened, the group defended todays protest and described it as an example of white allyship under black leadership. Campaign: Protesters from Black Lives Matter UK on the runway at London City Airport / Black Lives Matter UK There's a need for white people to take responsibility in a society that privileges them through racism and anti-black racism in particular, the group said. Today's #Shutdown isn't about nine white allies on the runway; it's about 200 million climate refugees by 2050. The group added: How many white people does it take to change the subject from black deaths? Nine. London City Airport - London Live Black Lives Matter UK spokesman Jacob Oti, 22, said campaigners were "pleased" with the attention the protest achieved. He said: "I think this has highlighted important issues which people need to think about. "People need to understand that the effects of climate change are most felt by the people least responsible for them. "London City Airport has been given approval to expand its capacity, consigning the local community in Newham to further deterioration of their environment and health problems. He added: "As a commuter, I have sympathy for people today. But I think they need to have sympathy for the people affected by climate change." Flights at the airport were grounded after nine protesters got onto the runway and chained themselves to a tripod early this morning. Police negotiated for more than five hours with the group, who are said to have gained access to the Royal Docks site by using an inflatable boat to cross the River Thames. The action sparked a row about the relevance of the protest. Some people labelled the activists hipster-looking flower-crowners while others staunchly backed their actions. Felix Holloway tweeted: Notice how all the Black Lives Matter protesters at London City Airport are white hipster-looking flower-crowners. Not a single black person in sight. Protest: Demonstrators occupy the runway One Twitter user wrote: All the protesters who had chained themselves together on the runway were white. But many others praised the protesters, pointing out they were of different racial backgrounds. Charlez Simmons tweeted: And yes all the protesters that were at London City Airport where both black and white people supporting the Black Lives Matter Movement. Emily Collins wrote: "Full support and solidarity to @ukblm for their #shutdown of London City Aiport. #shutitdown #blacklivesmatter." Airport campaign group HACAN East tweeted: "Emails have been pouring in from local people in support of today's occupation of City Airport runway by, we understand, Black Lives Matter." The airport runway reopened at 12pm after the protesters were detained by police. The first commercial flight after the runway reopened was a Flybe service to Edinburgh, which left shortly after 12.30pm. A Scotland Yard spokesman said nine people had been arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass, being unlawfully airside and breaching London City Airport bylaws. "All have now been removed from the runway and taken into police custody," said a spokesman. B ritain has a tremendous opportunity for trade across Asia after Brexit, the Australian trade minister declared in London today. Steven Ciobo said Australia is keen to strike a free trade deal with the UK as soon as the Governnment is ready to sit down for formal talks. These are exciting times, he said in an interview with the Evening Standard ahead of meetings with International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and other UK ministers. Theres tremendous opportunity around the world as the world gets smaller as a result of the digital economy and free flowing capital and labour. Each of these elements presents challenges and also opportunities. Australia embraces these opportunities and clearly the UK wants to as well. Mr Ciobo will say in his speech to business leaders at Asia House tonight that Australia is a perfect launching pad for British firms seeking to expand to new markets in Asia His trip to London comes after Prime Minister Theresa May and Australian Premier Malcolm Turnbull discussed a future trade deal in private talks in the margins of the G20 summit in China - provoking an angry outburst from the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, who said the UK must not negotiate for itself while still an EU member state. Mr Ciobo declined to give advice on whether the Australian points-based system for immigration control would work in a country that wants to curb numbers. Our system serves us well, but whether or not it has application in the UK is entirely a decision for the UK, he said. The Australian experience in terms of our immigration is a positive one. As a nation we rely on immigration to keep our population growing. We are enjoying population growth. Mrs May has rejected the idea of a points-based system for the UK, arguing that it would not be stringent enough to properly control immigration levels. Her stance prompted reports that in future EU migrants would need a job before being able to enter the UK after it quits the European Union. But City chiefs warned against a too draconian crackdown on immigration. Sean McKee, policy director at the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: Politics must recognise that businesses continue to need access to workers so ministers need to be careful how they tread. Any rush to turn off the tap of skilled workers will undoubtedly hurt the London economy. Baroness Jo Valentine, Chief Executive of London First, added: Whatever the policy the Government settles on, we need the easy movement of appropriately qualified people in response to business needs. Mark Field, Conservative MP for the Cities of London and Westminster, said: If we required EU migrants to have a job, that is a restriction that the UK public would be happy with. Im sure there will be concerns but we have had a referendum and the people have spoken. Meanwhile, Eric Schweitzer, head of the German commerce and industry group DIHK, warned against delays in Brexiting. The deadlock is creating a situation in which many investments are now held up and will not be carried out because people dont know...what the conditions will be over three or four years, he said. International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said: "Many leading economies are recognising that Britain is open for business and were wasting no time in talking to those who have made clear they want to strike a deal once we have left the EU. Todays meeting was the first of many that I and my department will have with Australian counterparts as we work together to develop a strong trading relationship and promote the importance of global free trade." K en Livingstone today repeated controversial claims about Hitler in a TV appearance in which he defended Keith Vaz over claims the Labour MP paid prostitutes for sex. After claiming father-of-two Mr Vaz - who has been exposed apparently paying male escorts for sex at his London flat - Mr Livingstone said: "Everybody makes mistakes". The former London Mayor was then asked about his suspension from the Labour Party over comments in which he claimed Adolf Hitler was "supporting Zionism" before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews. The remarks had plunged Labour into an anti-Semitism row which led to Labour officials suspending Mr Livingstone in April. But in an interview with the BBC today, he said: Its now four months since Ive been suspended and Im still waiting for the committee to sit down and decide whether what I said was true or not and I think that the reason they keep putting me off is because Ive got so much evidence that what I was saying is true. Hitler comments: Ken Livingstone / BBC I mean, particularly striking if you go to the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, one of the pamphlets they sell to tourists is about the deal that Hitler did with the Zionists in the 1930s. He went on: If I had said Hitler was a Zionist, I wouldnt just have apologised but I would have gone straight to my doctor to check that I wasnt in the first stages of dementia. To suggest that Hitler was a Zionist is mad. He loathed and feared Jews all his life but he did do a deal with the Zionist movement in the 1930s. Exasperated journalists took to twitter to crack jokes about Mr Livingstone after repeating his claims on the airwaves. Asked if he was alarmed that Mr Vaz could potentially have been exploiting vulnerable young men for sex, he said: Do you judge someones political career on the basis of one incident like this? Everybody makes mistakes. He went on: Dont judge somebody on one mistake that they make in their life or even a couple of mistakes. Mr Livingstone also remarked that he had known the MP for up to 40 years and that he had been a good campaigner on a whole range of issues about social justice. He said: In all that time, I never recalled him talking anything sex or anything like that or drugs. He was always focused on what he could do to make life better for constituents and the wider community. Mr Livingstone also repeated his claims about Hitler and Zionism during an interview about Mr Vaz with Vanessa Feltz on BBC Radio London yesterday. He said: I got suspended I couldnt walk down the street for people stopping me and saying we know what you said is true dont give in to them. Its going to be very difficult for them to expel me from the Labour party when Ive got this whole sheaf of documents and papers which shows that what I said was true. Critics on social media branded Mr Livingstone anti-semitic for reiterating his claims about Hitler. British Jewish organisation the Board of Deputies called for Mr Livingstone to be expelled from the Labour Party after he reiterated the claims. Marie van der Zyl, Vice President of the Board of Deputies, told the Jewish Chronicle: "Every day that Labour does not expel him is a stain on the party. T heresa May is considering blocking all EU migrants from coming to Britain unless they have a job. It comes as the Prime Minister was accused of going soft on immigration after ditching Boris Johnsons plans for an Australian-style points-based immigration system. Speaking at the G20 Summit in China, Mrs May said such a system is not a silver bullet and would not bring the control that British people voted for in the Brexit referendum. Instead, she is understood to be planning a rigorous work permit system which would stop EU citizens coming to Britain and then looking for work. She said: "What the British people voted for on the 23rd of June was to bring some control into the movement of people from the European Union to the UK. A points-based system does not give you that control." I want a system where the government is able to decide who comes into the country. I think that's what the British people want. A points-based system means people come in automatically if they just meet the criteria. The system, which was backed by various top Tory Cabinet Ministers as well as Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, calculates points based on criteria such as background, skills and salary. Only those who exceed a certain number are allowed a visa to live in the UK. UK PM speaks at G20 summit in Hangzhou Nigel Farage, the former UKIP leader and key Vote Leave campaigner, said: The people were clear in wanting a points-based immigration system, which is why so many went out and voted to leave the European Union. Any watering down from that will lead to real anger. I an Blatchford spent five years trying to persuade the Russians that the Science Museum should put on an exhibition about cosmonauts. Now, after a record run in London (with more than 140,000 visitors), Cosmonauts: The Birth of the Space Age has opened in Moscow. I nearly fell off my chair in amazement when they asked! he tells me, laughing. It was like taking coals to Newcastle. The museum director, 51, has held his post for six years. When he joined it was only a move next door he was previously director of finance and resources and then deputy director at the V&A. In most organisations people dont like the person in charge of money but Ian was universally liked, says Sir Mark Jones, former director of the V&A. He gets things done and hes skilful and graceful. Blatchford describes himself as an extrovert and a typical Leo stubborn, proud, vain and charming. Hes also your atypical museum man. He read law at Oxford and originally became a merchant banker. While at the V&A he studied part-time for a masters in Renaissance studies at Birkbeck. He showed great dedication in getting to know the collection and did a thesis on some blindly obscure work, recalls Jones. Theres nothing like having a qualification to get curators on side, says Blatchford. Especially at the V&A, where theyre famously demanding! It was tough doing both, though: I have no idea how I did it. Big museum jobs are so social all fund-raising and travel. Blatchford estimates 40 per cent of his time now is spent raising funds: If you want great exhibitions you need to find the money first. He is canny with the cash. In 2011 the Science Museum was set for a 150 million facelift but Blatchford slashed the cost to 60 million. What I learned from the V&A is that when you see philanthropists you need lots of projects in your mind, not some grand vision. Unless youre building some giant extension its all a bit Fantasy Island. The Science Museum is thriving under his watch. Cosmonauts was so successful that Blatchford was awarded the Pushkin medal, Russias highest cultural honour. That meant a trip to the Kremlin, where Blatchford proclaimed Slava Gagarinu! (glory to Gagarin). I speak two types of Russian courtesy for meetings in Russia and fake Russian for when I want to sound furious at colleagues. Does that happen often? I can be very determined if people are displaying the opposite of a can-do attitude. The next big draw will be next years Robots, a 500-year history of automata. Despite Martin Roth quitting the V&A amid reports that he was disillusioned over Brexit, Blatchford is optimistic. He has recently done a deal in Rio and is off to Shanghai soon. Europe talks about itself as though its the world, he says. Brexit will mean turbulence, not a disaster. To thrive post-Brexit weve got to get on a plane. We need to be ruthlessly out in the world. @RosamundUrwin Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout H illary Clinton laughed off a stubborn cough at a presidential election rally, telling her supporters: Every time I think about Trump I get allergic. The Democrat took to the stage in Cleveland, Ohio coughing uncontrollably, with people in the crowd shouting get her some water. She fought through and delivered her speech with some difficulty. It follows claims by some opponents that she has serious health problems that could affect her ability to serve as president. No claims have been substantiated and she said: Im not concerned about the conspiracy theories. There are so many Ive lost track. One thing you know from my doctors letter is I have seasonal allergies. The ex-secretary of state spoke to reporters on her new campaign plane, a Boeing 737 with a H on its tail and Stronger Together on its side. It is big enough to carry the reporters covering her election bid and follows criticism that she has been isolating herself from the press by flying with only her aides damaging her image and campaign and handing the initiative to Donald Trump, who has been she was isolated from the The rivals were today in key battlegrounds in the South, with Mr Trump set to campaign in Virginia and North Carolina - two critical states in his path to the presidency. Mrs Clinton will be campaigning in Florida in search of an advantage in the nations largest swing state. A Clinton victory in Florida would make it virtually impossible for Trump to overcome her advantage in the race for 270 electoral votes. V eteran comedian Chevy Chase has checked into rehab for a tune-up after battling alcohol-related problems. The 72-year-old American actor, known for his performances in films like National Lampoons Vacation, Caddyshack and Fletch, last sought treatment in rehab 30 years ago for a painkiller pill addiction. Today Mr Chases representative confirmed the comedian is an inpatient at the Hazelden Addiction Treatment Centre in Minnesota - the same place the late Robin Williams booked into in 2014. Mr Chase wants to be the best that he can be, he told US celebrity website TMZ, referring to his rehab stint as a tune-up. He is in the middle of shooting one film, Dog Years, while a second, The Christmas Apprentice, has already wrapped. In 1986, the star, who made his name on the long-running US series Saturday Night Live, checked into the Betty Ford drug clinic in California. His publicist at the time remarked that the comedian had developed a dependency on prescription drugs relating to chronic and long-term back problems. In 2010, Mr Chase told Esquire magazine that when it came to drugs, he had always been pretty low-level. I never shot things up or freebased, he said. I checked myself into the Betty Ford Clinic after my nose started to hurt. Loading.... Mr Chase was born into a prominent New York family and has hosted the Oscars ceremony twice, in 1987 and 1988. His most recent TV role was in the comedy Community between 2009 and 2012. T aylor Swift is reportedly feeling uncomfortable with Tom Hiddlestons desire to make their relationship public. According to reports, the British actor, 35, wants the couple to make their red carpet debut at the forthcoming Emmy Awards, but the pop star, 26, is less keen. Having never walked a red carpet with a boyfriend, this would be a first for Swift, who usually likes to attend high profile events alone. Tom wants their relationship to be public, even asking Taylor to go to the Emmys with him, but Taylor wants to keep her private life private, a source told The Sun. Toms need for their relationship to be so public so quickly makes her uncomfortable. She tried to be OK with it in the beginning but fears he is in love with the idea of her and not falling in love with her for the right reasons, the insider added. Both Hiddleston and Swift have stayed tight-lipped about their relationship, but havent shied away from stepping out together in public. The British actor famously wore an I [heart] T.S vest during Swifts Fourth of July party with her friends. Watch Tom Hiddleston talk about that dance with Taylor Swift at the Met Gala With Swift back in LA and Hiddleton currently filming Thor in Australia, reports have surfaced that the honeymoon period is over. Tom cant deal with being a laughing stock and has told Taylor hes done unless theres a 360-degree change on her part, a source told RadarOnline. Its become a total charade and Tom is sick of being treated like a glorified escort. The couple started dating back in June after meeting in New York at the Met Gala. Taylor Swift's Fourth of July celebrations 2016 1 /9 Taylor Swift's Fourth of July celebrations 2016 Loved up Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston make their Instagram debut Brittany Maack/Instagram Girls just want to have fun Gigi Hadid, Cara Delevingne and Taylor Swift take to the water slide Cara Delevingne/Instagram Say cheese Karlie Kloss and Taylor Swift are snapped at the end of the water slide Taylor Swift/Instagram Ready, set...GO Karlie Kloss and Taylor Swift dive down the giant inflatable slide Taylor Swift/Instagram Patriotic Gigi Hadid, Cara Delevingne and Taylor Swift show off their patriotism Taylor Swift/ Instagram Hold on tight Taylor Swift holds on to Tom Hiddleston as they speed down a water slide Cara Delevingne/Instagram Celebrations Taylor Swift and Ruby Rose try to hold on to the American flag Taylor Swift/ Instagram Follow @StandardEnts for more entertainment news. Z ayn Malik has cancelled a concert in Dubai as he battles anxiety issues. The former One Direction star, who pulled out of the Capital Summertime Ball minutes before his appearance in June, has told fans that he does not feel confident enough to perform. In an open letter to his Dubai fans, the 23-year-old apologised for not being able to attend the One Night Only show, planned to take place on October 7. I have been working over the last three months to overcome my extreme anxiety around major live solo performances, he said in a press release. I feel I am making progress but I have today acknowledged that I do not feel sufficiently confident to move forward with the planned show in Dubai in October. Thomas Ovesen, CEO of event organisers 117Live, told fans: Whilst disappointed not to be hosting the planned Oct 7 Dubai concert, we appreciate Zayns honest apologies and wish him all the best for the future. We will be looking forward to sharing more of Zayns plans with his Middle East fans when we have such information and will now get the ticket refund process started. See you all at our other events at the Autism Rocks Arena. Selena Gomez also pulled out of a planned concert in Dubai last week, over anxiety issues associated with Lupus. Zayn Malik is rude for cancelling Good Morning Britain interview As many of you know, around a year ago I revealed that I have lupus, an illness that can affect people in different ways, she told fans. Ive discovered that anxiety, panic attacks and depression can be side effects of lupus, which can present their own challenges." Speaking about his battle with anxiety back in July, Malik told Elle magazine: I just dont have it in me to feel fully secure in anything I do. I always strive towards something better. Its why I sometimes come across the wrong way a bit distant. Im stressed out trying to control how Im perceived. I think about things a lot." W hen a TV series returns after over a decade of being off the air, theres a strong risk of disappointment just look at the recent Porridge and Are You Being Served revivals. But it seems ITV have hit the nail on the head with their latest blast from the past. The return of Nineties comedy-drama Cold Feet was very well received by fans of the series, coming back for a sixth series 13 years after it originally ended. The series stars the likes of James Nesbitt and Fay Ripley, and follows a friendship group consisting of three couples. The new episode found Nesbitts character Adam Williams return to Manchester after spending years travelling the world for business, working in IT. Bringing the original cast and creator Mike Bullen back together minus Helen Baxendale, whose character Rachel was killed in Series 5 fans were delighted to have the show back. Cold Feet returns to TV screens after 13 years One viewer wrote on Twitter that it was like catching up with old friends. Cold Feet 2016 1 /8 Cold Feet 2016 The gang's all here Cold Feet is back with the original cast for Series 6 ITV James Nesbitt as Adam Williams ITV John Thomson and Fay Ripley as Pete and Jenny Gifford ITV Hermione Norris as Karen Marsden ITV Robert Bathurst as David Marsden ITV Ceallach Spellman as Matthew Williams ITV While Adam spoiler alert got married to new beau Angela in the episode, plenty of viewers reckon hell end up with his lovely landlady instead. With seven more episodes yet to come, there's plenty of time for Adam to realise the error of his ways with his new marriage (he seemed to feel an instant regret at saying 'I do') and strike up a new relationship. ITV, Monday, 9pm N etflix have confirmed that their hit historical crime series Narcos is due to return for Series 3 and 4. The original drama show has just launched its second series in full, continuing the story of infamous Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. Viewers would be forgiven for thinking that the central plot of Season 2, charting (spoiler alert) Escobars downfall, would mean the end of the entire show but the streaming service has plans to move the drug saga on. The forthcoming two series are due to change the focus of the story . Season 3 looks set to focus on Escobars former partner, Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, formerly introduced in an episode of Season 2. A video from Netflix confirming the two seasons suggests him as the new big baddie, fading from a shot of Wagner Moura as Escobar to one of Damian Alcazar in his role as Orejuela. Netflix have confirmed that Jose Padilha and Eric Newman will continue in their roles as executive producers of the series. Netflix: Eight exclusive shows you need to watch 1 /10 Netflix: Eight exclusive shows you need to watch Bloodline Ben Mendelsohn and Kyle Chandler star in this family-based thriller House of Cards Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright excel in this dark political drama NETFLIX Lilyhammer The Sopranos star (and E Street Band member) Steven Van Zandt breaks out in his own gangster drama Grace and Frankie Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin star in this sitcom from the creators of Friends Daredevil Marvel are bringing their gritter superheroes to Netflix, starting with Daredevil Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Ellie Kemper is impossibly upbeat in the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, from Tina Fey Narcos Wagner Moura stars as Pablo Escobar in this addictive drug thriller Better Call Saul The prequel / spin-off to Breaking Bad is exclusive to Netflix in the UK The Cali Cartel, which followed on from the Medellin Cartel, became one of the most powerful drug rings in the world, moving beyond the domain of Latin America. A release date for Series 3 has not been confirmed but it is likely to arrive in 2017. I f the wait between Series 1 and 2 of Poldark felt like forever, worry not. Filming has already begun on Series 3 of the BBCs hit period drama, meaning there shouldnt be a near 18-month gap in your Aidan Turner calendar like last time. With work on the new episodes already underway, new cast members have already been announced for the next adaptation. Joining the show for Series 3 will be Demelzas brothers Drake and Sam, played by Harry Richardson and Tom York (no, not the Radiohead frontman) respectively. The former is described in a BBC press release as a good-natured free spirit who has many of the qualities of his sister Demelza. He seeks his own place in the world and finds himself unwilling to settle for the limits life seeks to impose, especially concerning his romantic destiny. Poldark - Series 2 1 /10 Poldark - Series 2 He's back Aidan Turner straps up for Series 2 of BBC period drama hit Poldark BBC/Mammoth Screen Aidan Turner as Ross Poldark BBC/Ellis Parrinder Eleanor Tomlinson as Demelza BBC/Ellis Parrinder Heidi Reed as Elizabeth BBC/Ellis Parrinder Kyle Soller as Francis Poldark BBC/Ellis Parrinder Jack Farthing as George Warleggan BBC/Ellis Parrinder Ruby Bentall as Verity BBC/Ellis Parrinder Luke Norris as Dwight Enys BBC/Ellis Parrinder Meanwhile, Sam arrives in his sisters world determined to follow in his fathers footsteps, by spreading the Methodist word. But how can Sam profess to save strangers when his own brother courts temptation? Poldark - Series 2 - Trailer - BBC One Theyre not the only new faces lined up, with Ellise Chappell set to arrive as Morwenna, Elizabeths cousin. The character finds herself in George Warleggans employment as a governess in order to support her sisters and widowed mother. Speaking of the new arrivals, Mammoth Screen executive producer Karen Thrussell teases: All are major players in the next volume of Winston Graham and Debbie Horsfield's saga." Filming on the new series is taking place in Cornwall and Bristol, with Series 3 due to arrive in 2017. Series 2 is currently airing on Sunday nights on BBC One at 9pm. 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To help you find what you are looking for: Enter Search Term(s): Still cant find what youre looking for? Send us a message using our contact us form. To report a broken link or other problems with the website, please include the URL. Thank you for visiting state.gov. Jury selection is expected to begin Monday in Iredell County Superior Court in the murder trial of James Leon Rucker, whos charged in the death of a 44-year-old Mooresville man. Rucker, 36, of Mooresville, is charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and second-degree burglary in connection with the August, 2011 murder of Anthony Tony Wade Bradley. On August 10, Bradley went missing, according to reports. Five days later he was found in a roll-out trash can near Ruckers apartment in the Dyson Square retail center on North Broad Street. Last week, a hearing was held for Rucker to continue the trial and request a new attorney, but the request was denied by Superior Court Judge Mark Klass. Lori Hamilton is Ruckers defense attorney, while Assistant District Attorney Mikko Red Arrow will prosecute the case before Superior Court Judge Joe Crosswhite. Rucker has numerous past felony convictions dating back to 1998, according to North Carolina Department of Public Safety records. He was convicted in June, 2013, of kidnapping, burglary, robbery with a dangerous weapon and impersonating a police officer in Cabarrus County. Tuesday, 06 September 2016 00:50:42 (GMT+3) | Mexican integrated steelmaker Altos Hornos de Mexico (AHMSA) plans to invest $1 billion in the next two years, the companys top executive said this week. Its been two years since stopped [not investing] and well now invest almost $1 billion in the next years, said CEO Alonso Ancira. According to the steelmaker, the money should help implement new processes and increase tinplate production. Mexico currently imports 500,000 mt of tinplate ; AHMSA produces 150,000 mt. We should increase tinplate output to 400,000 mt, the executive added. The investment is also expected help AHMSA adopt a more aggressive strategy for supplying the local automotive industry, whose demand isnt fully met by the local industry. Ancira said the investments are subject to the help of the Mexican government. We need to see if the government will keep its support, so we can then destiny [invest] those resources, he said. Tuesday, 06 September 2016 12:31:37 (GMT+3) | Sao Paulo CBSteels mill in the Brazilian city of Bacabeira, in the state of Maranhao, said in a statement this week that it will initially produce wire rod and later rebar Brazilian officials announced last week China plans to invest $3 billion through China Brazil Xinnenghuan International Investment Co Ltd in a mill in Bacabeira, Maranhao. According to media reports, CBSteel will initially invest $3.5 billion in the first phase of the project, and then an additional $4.5 billion, as the mill reaches a 10 million mt/year capacity. In its first phase, the mill is expected have a 3 million mt/year capacity and will only produce wire rod . At a second phase, it will start producing rebar . Total investment is expected to reach $8 billion. A media report said CBSteel should make the initial $3.5 billion investment alone, but Brazil miner and iron ore producer Vale was said to also be looking at the project and could potentially become a partner. Vale said it signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with CBSteel to provide iron ore. The $3.5 billion investment should include a private port and a smart city to host workers building the mill. The state of Maranhao is cautiously looking at the project, as another multi-billion USD project from state-run oil producer Petrobras failed to be built in Bacabeira. Tuesday, 06 September 2016 12:27:11 (GMT+3) | Istanbul Coal exports from Port Waratah Coal Services (PWCS) terminals based at Port of Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia , totaled 8.59 million mt in August this year, decreasing by 7.7 percent compared to July, according to the company's announcement. 14 percent of the total coal handled at the terminals in August was coking coal According to the released information, Japan was the largest export destination for coal shipments from PWCS in August, with shipments to Japan accounting for 46.2 percent of total shipments, while coal exports to Taiwan made up 16.2 percent of the total. Tuesday, 06 September 2016 23:07:18 (GMT+3) | Sao Paulo Ecuadorian long steelmaker Andec has opened a new office in the north area of Quito. The steelmaker said it expects to open more offices in other Ecuadorian cities as part of a commercial strategy that is expected to help the company strengthen relationships with clients. Andec said the new offices should also involve engineering processes, and should help it expand its product portfolio. The Quito office should benefit potential local distributors, facilitating the contact between clients, the companys offices and its headquarters in Guayaquil. Tuesday, 06 September 2016 18:01:09 (GMT+3) | Istanbul Speaking at the G20 2016 summit in Hangzhou, China , the European Commission (EC) president Jean-Claude Juncker stated that China must address its problem of industrial overcapacity, adding that it is unacceptable the European steel industry has lost so many jobs in recent years, as reported by the BBC. "Overcapacity is a global problem but there is a particular Chinese element," the European Commission president added. Meanwhile, in a joint statement G20 leaders said that they recognize that excess capacity in steel and other industries is a global issue which requires collective responses and they also recognize that subsidies and other types of support from government or government-sponsored institutions can cause market distortions and contribute to global excess capacity and therefore require attention. Accordingly, the leaders called for increased information sharing and cooperation through the formation of a Global Forum on steel excess capacity, to be facilitated by the OECD with the active participation of G20 members and interested OECD members. Tuesday, 06 September 2016 15:57:42 (GMT+3) | Istanbul According to the statement released by the National Party of Western Australia, its newly appointed leader Brendon Grylls has announced a tax proposal to raise the 25 cent production rental in the State Agreements with the miners Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton to A$5/mt. This proposed increase would add A$7.2 billion to the state's budget over a four-year period. The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) said this hike "would mean that Australia's effective tax rate on iron ore would be three times larger than that of Brazil", the country's largest competitor. The MCA statement indicated that the Nationals leader's claim that major iron producers only pay a rental of 25 cents per metric ton for iron ore production is wrong. The truth is that major Western Australian producers' total royalty and income tax contribution to the state and federal governments is A$17.50/mt. In 2014-15, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton contributed A$3.2 billion in royalties to the government and a further A$259 million in other state government taxes. Mike Henry, BHP's president of minerals in Australia, warned that the mining tax proposal has put jobs at risk and threatens to undermine future investment in the Western Australian iron ore business. The above prices, which are on actual weight basis, exclude VAT and are on ex-works basis. The offers may differ depending on buyers and order sizes. As buyers in the local Turkish wire rod market are still postponing their bookings ahead of the Feast of Sacrifice holiday, demand in the market is at low levels. Turkish steel producers wire rod offers for the domestic market have generally moved sideways over the past two weeks, excluding the Iskenderun region where a steel producer has increased its prices due to its planned maintenance work on its wire rod production line. Accordingly, wire rod producers in the Iskenderun region have increased their prices by $15/mt over the past two weeks to $400-420/mt ex-works. However, the uptrend of prices amid the tightness of supplies is regional and steel producers in other regions of Turkey have not been impacted by this situation. Tuesday, 06 September 2016 23:35:31 (GMT+3) | San Diego Import offers for mesh-quality wire rod to the US from Turkey are still trending neutral this week, with prices ranging from $425-$435/mt CFR FO in US Gulf Coast ports. 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"For every poll, a criminal case," he said on his arrival at the court, refusing to further comment. Liviu Dragnea, in fata magistratilor ICCJ: Scrutinul si dosarul. Amanare pana la ora 17 / UPDATE Dragnea has been sent to court by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA) with incitement to abuse of office and incitement to false certification as president of the Teleorman County Council. According to DNA, Dragnea stepped in to allow two female employees of DGASPC in Teleorman to keep their positions with the institution and receive a salary, although they actually worked for the Teleorman PSD branch. AGERPRES The for-profit college chain ITT Technical Institute is shutting down all 130 of its U.S. campuses, including two in the St. Louis area, saying Tuesday it cant survive recent sanctions by the U.S. Department of Education. In a letter to more than 35,000 students, its Indiana-based parent company ITT Educational Services announced that campuses wont open for the fall term that was scheduled to begin Sept. 12 leaving students scrambling for last-minute options because many U.S. colleges already have started fall classes. ITT also cut more than 8,000 jobs immediately. The doors were locked Tuesday afternoon at the ITT Tech location in Earth City, where a distraught employee, who asked not to be identified because of a possible nondisclosure policy, said workers were informed by email in the morning of the sudden closing. A spokesperson for ITT Educational Services, the chains parent company, declined to say how many St. Louis area employees are affected. ITT Tech had about 700 students at its four Missouri campuses Earth City, Arnold, Kansas City and Springfield according to an official at the Missouri Department of Higher Education. The chain was barred Aug. 25 from enrolling new students who used federal financial aid, because, Education Department officials said, the company had become a risk to students and taxpayers. The department also ordered the company to pay $152 million within 30 days to help cover student refunds and other liabilities if the chain closed. Days before those sanctions were announced, ITTs accreditor reported the chain had failed to meet several basic standards and was unlikely to comply in the future. It had also been investigated by state and federal authorities who accused ITT of pushing students into risky loans and of misleading students about the quality of programs. ITT Educational Services CEO Kevin Modany told reporters on a conference call Tuesday that ITT was the victim of a regulatory assault and never had the chance to defend itself. For what appears to be political reasons, there seemed to be an outcome in mind that was going to be forced here, Modany said. Other education companies had made overtures to buy the chains schools over the past year, Modany added, and ITT had offered to wind down its operations gradually if federal officials eased some of the sanctions against it, but he said federal officials rejected those options. Department Undersecretary Ted Mitchell, however, said ITT never made a formal proposal, and that the departments informal conversations with potential buyers had failed. We just didnt see that there was a path forward providing a quality education to the students of ITT Tech, Mitchell said. One of the biggest for-profit chains in the nation, ITT had been closely monitored by federal officials since 2014, when the chain was late to submit an annual report of its finances to the government. About 200 ITT employees will help students obtain grade transcripts and apply to other schools, and the chain said it is seeking agreements with other schools that would help students transfer class credits. Education Department leaders are also urging community colleges to contact ITT students and welcome qualified students. Ashley Jost of the Post-Dispatch and The Associated Press contributed to this report. ALBANY, N.Y. The New York attorney generals office is investigating whether Mylan Pharmaceuticals unfairly limited competition for its emergency allergy treatment EpiPen. Mylan has been criticized for steep price increases. A preliminary review showed the company may have inserted potentially anticompetitive terms into sales contracts with many school systems, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Tuesday. Subpoenas for company information were issued last week. If Mylan engaged in anti-competitive business practices, or violated antitrust laws with the intent and effect of limiting lower cost competition, we will hold them accountable, Schneiderman said. Allergy sufferers have enough concerns to worry about. The availability of life-saving medical treatment should not be one of them. EpiPens are used in emergencies to treat severe allergic reactions to insect bites and foods such as nuts that can lead to anaphylactic shock. They are auto-injectors, or spring-loaded syringes that provide a single dose of the drug epinephrine, and can be administered by patients themselves or untrained people. The price has grown to $608 for a two-pack, up more than 500 percent since 2007. The drugmaker has announced it will launch a generic version in the next several weeks that will cost $300. Canonsburg, Pa.-based Mylan N.V. said Tuesday that more than 700,000 free EpiPens have been distributed to over 65,000 schools, and it has dropped a previous purchase restriction for schools that wanted more at discounts. The program continues to adhere to all applicable laws and regulations, Mylan spokeswoman Nina Devlin said. There are no purchase requirements for participation in the program, nor have there ever been to receive free EpiPen auto-injectors. Separately Tuesday, an Ohio woman filed a proposed class action lawsuit against Mylan in an Ohio county court, claiming sharp price hikes for the companys EpiPen device violated the states consumer protection law. Tuesdays lawsuit was filed in the Court of Common Pleas for Hamilton County, Ohio, by Cincinnati resident Linda Bates, whose son requires an EpiPen. A Mylan spokeswoman had no immediate comment on the lawsuit. The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. Updated at 11:20 a.m. Volkswagen will buy a stake in Navistar International Corp. to gain a foothold in the U.S. heavy-truck market, taking a gamble on a struggling U.S. manufacturer as the German company still grapples with the fallout from the emissions-cheating scandal. Shares of Lisle, Ill.-based Navistar soared as much as 67 percent. VW will pay $256 million for a 16.6 percent holding and assume two board seats as part of a deal that includes technology sharing and joint purchasing, the companies said Tuesday. The Wolfsburg-based automaker will pay $15.76 a share, 12 percent more than Navistar's most recent close. The holding, which VW said it may increase later, puts it on par with the largest shareholders, activist investors Carl Icahn and Mark Rachesky. "Navistar has always made sense as an expansion target for Volkswagen, which has no presence in the North American commercial-vehicle market," said Brian Sponheimer, a Gabelli & Co. analyst in Rye, N.Y. "And Navistar has been burning through cash. This allows dealers to tell their customers that Navistar will be here, in the North American market, well into the future." Gaining traction in the U.S. heavy-truck market, dominated by Daimler, Volvo and Paccar, is key to VW's plan to forge a global commercial-vehicle operation with higher profit margins than rivals. The marriage isn't without risk given Navistar's shrinking market share in the U.S., a country that has also confounded VW. Even before the diesel-cheating scandal, Volkswagen's car sales were slipping behind competitors in the region. "Closer collaboration among our existing brands was a top priority for our commercial vehicles business and we are well on track in this context," Andreas Renschler, head of the Volkswagen Truck & Bus division, said in a statement. "We are now taking the next step on our way to becoming a global champion in the commercial-vehicles industry." "Navistar has a volatile history and struggles with eroding market share," said Roman Mathyssek, a consultant with Arthur D. Little in Munich. "Via know-how from their truck brands Scania and MAN, VW could unlock value at Navistar." Working with Navistar will provide VW with access to technology and designs targeting customers in the U.S., where model lines are very different from offerings in the rest of the world. Many U.S. truck drivers prefer vehicles with an elongated nose, while European operators buy trucks with a flat face due to length restrictions. Volkswagen, Europe's biggest carmaker, hired Renschler away from Daimler's truck unit to push a stalled plan to deepen cooperation between its MAN and Scania brands. Munich-based MAN and Swedish counterpart Scania don't sell vehicles in the U.S., and the group's only other large truckmaking operation is a VW-brand division in Brazil focused on Latin America. MAN has a Chinese joint venture with local affiliate Sinotruk Hong Kong that sells models in Asia. Entering the U.S. will give VW access to a market a bit smaller than its current home region. Around 240,000 trucks will be sold this year in the U.S., while 290,000 will be bought in Europe, according to estimates from Volvo. Volkswagen Truck & Bus was created in 2015 after the carmaker accumulated majority control of MAN and Scania over the previous decade. The unit has been largely unaffected by the diesel-emissions scandal that erupted at the group's car operations a year ago. It's targeting 1 billion euros ($1.12 billion) in long-term cost savings through closer collaboration among its brands. Renschler reiterated in a conference call with analysts Tuesday that VW is keeping all options open as part of his expansion strategy, including increasing its stake in Navistar and a possible share sale of VW's trucks division. But Renschler indicated an initial public offering might not be imminent as "VW has no actual plan" to spin off the unit. VW and Navistar said they expect to reap combined synergies of $500 million over the next five years. Navistar posted its first profit in 14 quarters in the three months through April, helped by spending cuts under Chief Executive Officer Troy Clarke. Navistar is no stranger to dramatic consequences from emissions-related troubles. The truckmaker had to kill most versions of its so-called premium vocational models in 2010 because they lacked diesel engines that complied with U.S. federal air-pollution rules. Navistar's market share has tanked since its pollution-control technology failed to meet industry standards and brought the company to the brink of collapse. "We're making great trucks," Clarke said on the call with analysts. "But this is another great reason to consider our products -- that you want to do business with somebody who is going to be participating in leading global technologies, and will have that kind of scale going forward." The two companies are starting joint work now on new global engine programs, and some VW engine components will start appearing in Navistar's U.S. products in 2019. Clarke said that it's logical to think that Navistar could build Volkswagen engines in the U.S., but that no decisions have been made. Clarke also said he had no change to announce on Navistar's contracts with Cummins for engines. Icahn said in a regulatory filing Tuesday that Navistar agreed that the company won't support any person who seeks to increase the size of the board to more than 12 directors, as long as an Icahn nominee is a member of the board. Navistar currently has nine directors. The U.S. company said in a separate statement Tuesday that two directors, James Keyes and Michael Hammes, will retire when shares are issued to Volkswagen or at Navistar's 2017 shareholders meeting, whichever comes first. The flashing red and blue lights were coming toward us on Missouri Highway 63 as we approached Edgar Springs from the south. Unlike those moments of panic when a police car lights up your rear-view mirror, seeing them through the windshield on the other side of the divided highway was almost comforting. As the police car pulled over a southbound speeder, my wife, behind the wheel, commented, Speed trap ahead. It was Monday and, like nearly everybody else, it seemed, we were driving back to St. Louis from a Labor Day weekend in the Ozarks. Like many rural towns in Missouri, Edgar Springs operates a fairly well-known speed trap. The speed limit drops from 65 mph to 55 mph to 45 mph in a blink of an eye. On this day, the police officer pulling over his latest prey barely had enough distance to stop the car before the city limits ended. As my wife tapped the brakes, I tapped away on Google. Sure enough, my suspicions were correct. Last year, when state Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Glendale, was pushing through Senate Bill 5, which limits the amount of revenue a city can raise from traffic fines, Edgar Springs was one of the towns that fought it. For those of us in the St. Louis region, Senate Bill 5 was a very big deal, seeking to set in motion a series of events that could limit the ability of the 58 police departments and 81 municipal courts to use policing and judicial power as a fundraising tool to prop up cash-strapped cities. In north St. Louis County in particular, the problem had become acute, with many area residents caught in the trap of constantly getting nickeled and dimed to death by multiple police departments writing tickets for not just speed traps but offenses such as manner of walking. When Schmitt pushed his bill, some of the biggest pushback came from rural towns such as Edgar Springs. Here, for instance, is what the city administrator of that Phelps County town south of Rolla, said about the bill: It would really hurt our town, Paula James said at the time, according to a Feb. 11, 2015, story in the Rolla Daily News. Added nearby Doolittle mayor Paul Smith about traffic fine revenue: That pays our salaries. And there you have it. Ultimately, the debate over Senate Bill 5, and much of the national debate over policing strategy, comes down to this: Why do we police? In St. Lo uis and too many other places, the government has put incentives in place to police for money. The statement from the Doolittle mayor isnt much different from the threat from the mayor of Edmundson in north St. Louis County, who famously threatened his police officers with their jobs if they didnt write more speeding tickets. Speeding is against the law, and it is an infraction that should be punished. But there is often a fine line between policing for public safety and policing for money. I dont know whether Edgar Springs is crossing that line, but its an interesting place by which to have the debate. In 2000, this eye-blink of a town was the mean population center in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That means that at that time, if you put the countrys entire population on a flat map that balances on a fulcrum or pivot point, the place directly over that point would have been Edgar Springs. Thats about as middle America as you can get. A couple of months ago I drove through a different small city with its own speed trap, this one in North Carolina. On U.S. Highway 70 headed east to the coast, the city of New Bern drops its speed limit from 70 mph to 55 mph. I got caught. What bugged me wasnt the fine (which I paid), or even my wife taking a selfie with the cop car behind us while my children laughed. It was the pile of mail on my kitchen counter when I returned. No fewer than seven law firms had accessed the public records of speeding tickets in New Bern and sent letters seeking to represent me. The first one I opened was from the former mayor of the city, who likely had at least some role in writing the laws that he now profits from. In most cases we can take care of everything in a single phone call, my new benevolent mayor-turned-lawyer friend wrote me. The episode brought me back to the municipal court complex in St. Louis County, where private law firms and multiple municipalities feed off each other, using traffic court as a virtual ATM. The U.S. Department of Justice came down hard on the concept of policing for profit, mostly because in the case of St. Louis County the victims are poor and black. But the scam is hardly unique to our region, and its just as often about the color green instead of black and white. Earlier this year, a judge overturned Senate Bill 5 in part because it set different rules for St. Louis County than the rest of the state. The ruling has been appealed. Driving through Edgar Springs on a lovely holiday weekend, I thought about the driver across the highway. He deserves protection from policing by profit as much as the next guy. ST. LOUIS Relatives of a Tennessee woman who apparently hanged herself with a bed sheet at a St. Louis city jail Saturday are questioning why she was left unsupervised long enough to harm herself. Amy Pollock, 34, of Sneedville, Tenn., was found hanging in her cell about 4 p.m. Saturday at the St. Louis Medium Security Institution at 7600 Hall Street. The jail is also known as the City Workhouse. Pollock died at the scene. Pollock was in jail on a misdemeanor charge of third-degree assault. On July 19 at Ballpark Village, Pollock allegedly swung a railroad spike at a waitress, according to Pollocks sister. She was held on $1,000, cash-only bail. Her sister, Kristy Pollock of Lancaster, Pa., said jail officials had been aware of Amy Pollocks mental health issues. She should have been on a special watch, 100 percent. They were aware she wasnt well, Kristy Pollock told the Post-Dispatch. They should have been keeping an eye on her. But the jails top administrator said Amy Pollock had showed no signs she was suicidal. Were reviewing some of things and seeing if we can make sense of it ourselves, said Jeffrey Carson, detention center superintendent. We had no reason to do a special security check for her. There was no reason to think she was suicidal. Amy Pollock had been arrested July 19, and was transferred to the workhouse six days later. She had been there since. Kristy Pollock said her sister was delusional and taking medication for mental health issues. Amy Pollock had come to Pennsylvania to live with Kristy Pollock in June because Pennsylvania had better mental health care than Tennessee, Kristy said. However, Amy took off for California, apparently to visit her teenage son, by train and bus. The family figures that is how she ended up in St. Louis. Carson said Amy Pollock was in general population, which means she was seen by corrections staff several times a day, including when she went out for recreation, when she ate outside of her cell and when she was counted three times a day. She was alone in her own cell, as are all female inmates. Currently, the workhouse has 824 inmates, 97 of whom are women. Fewer than five inmates are on some kind of watch status, which includes those who are deemed dangerous to themselves or others. The staff is trained in what to look for in inmates who might be suicidal, Carson said, and they saw no warning signs in Amy Pollock. In her cell, they found a letter she was writing to a relative, but Carson said it was not a suicide note and didnt mention of her plans to kill herself. Half of the inmates are taking medicine for mental health issues, Carson said. Medication is not an indication at all of suicide, he added. Dale Glass, head of the St. Louis Division of Corrections, wouldnt say how many inmates in the city jail system have committed suicide. He said that information could only be released through a Sunshine Law request. The woman who handles such requests for the jail was out of the office Tuesday. Carson, meanwhile, said this was the first suicide in at least two years at the citys two jails. Kristy Pollock said her sister had talked from jail to her father on Saturday. My dad talked to her on the phone; he said he would bail her out, Kristy Pollock said. Things arent adding up. She was getting out in two days. One of the conditions of her release was that she stay away from Ballpark Village, court records show. In the incident there, police say a waitress saw Pollock pouring salt onto her bag, according to court papers. The waitress confronted Pollock, who became combative, pulled a railroad spike from her bag and swung it at the waitress, authorities say. The waitress jumped back to avoid being struck, police say. Kristy Pollock said the family is planning a funeral but no date has been set because St. Louis still has her sisters body. Kristy Pollock remembered her sister as someone who loved to sing and be around children. She is survived by her two sons, ages 14 and 8. UPDATED to include response from Bill Monroe. When it came time for board members to speak, Melanie Adams leaned toward the microphone and announced she was resigning from the Special Administrative Board to move out of state. Then she thanked Richard Gaines and Rick Sullivan, the two other members appointed to the panel with her nine years ago to improve the St. Louis School District. We have really worked wonderfully together, Adams told the parents and district staff inside the central office meeting room late last month. That doesnt mean we always agree, but were always respectful and we always do whats best for St. Louis Public Schools. The three came to power as the first appointed board in Missouri to be given the task of running a school system. It was an attempt to see whether appointed individuals with a divergence of experiences and backgrounds could improve a school districts health better than the seven-member board elected by voters. And now, as Mayor Francis Slay considers whom to appoint as Adams successor, some wonder how long the experiment with an appointed board will continue. In July, the Missouri Board of Education began meeting behind closed doors with three members of the elected board and Sullivan of the SAB with the intent to eventually discuss how and when a transition might take place. Those meetings are on hold after an elected board member, Bill Monroe, entered the meeting room in August to be part of the discussion. "My duty is to the people who elected me," he said later. His participation would have created a quorum and opened the meeting to the public. The meeting was disbanded. I am hopeful we can get back to the situation, said Katie Wessling, an elected board member at both meetings. Having everyone at the same table really was important. We really dont know each other. A congenial relationship Members of the SAB say their differences in philosophy and approach to overseeing city schools have been stark at times. However, they have taken deliberate steps to avoid the distractions that dominated the final years of the elected boards power which are still remembered for infighting and dysfunction. In 2003, board member Rochelle Moore put a biblical curse on the mayor, and the following year she was arrested at a meeting for dumping a pitcher of ice water on a high-ranking school administrator. Meetings would erupt into yelling matches. Superintendents complained of micromanagement. In contrast, members of the SAB stick to the meeting agenda. They rarely discuss their differences publicly. Contracts and policy changes are almost always approved unanimously with little, if any, public discourse. Board members rarely, if ever, chastise district staff or put them on the spot. We did not want to be what we were chosen to replace, Gaines said. It was not always a congenial relationship between the three of us. But we constructively found a way to work in what was the best interest of the school system, the children in particular. Under the SABs control, enrollment in the city schools has dropped by another 10,000 students, to about 24,000. But the district is now on the brink of regaining full accreditation. The $45 million deficit is now a surplus. Voters approved a $155 million bond issue and a property tax increase. The school system is no longer a revolving door for superintendents. State education officials have for years expressed the intent of returning the district to elected control as soon as or shortly after it regains accreditation. Some say the transition isnt imminent. Im not ready to turn nine years and 25,000 kids over to a group not ready for the job, said Victor Lenz, vice president of the Missouri Board of Education. It might take some time to be there. A temporary situation No one intended the SAB to become the permanent governing body of the school district. In 2007, the State Board of Education revoked the districts accreditation because of academic failure and unstable leadership, triggering the establishment of the Special Administrative Board. Then-Gov. Matt Blunt appointed Sullivan, a west St. Louis County resident who had served on two university boards and was chairman of McBride & Son. Slay appointed Melanie Adams, a New Jersey native and the first coordinator of Teach for America in St. Louis who was overseeing community education programs at the Missouri History Museum. Lewis Reed, president of the Board of Aldermen, appointed Gaines, an insurance broker and lifelong St. Louisan whod sent his children to city schools and served on the School Board in the 1980s. I have thought that this three-member body is one of the greatest examples of diversity that I have seen and ever been a part of, Sullivan said. If the board changed at all, it was when Kelvin Adams (no relation to Melanie Adams) became superintendent in 2008. He had been chief of staff for the state-run Recovery School District in New Orleans, a high school principal and science teacher. Now there were four of us, Sullivan said. We had that really experienced educator who also had a different background and perspective. Seeking stability In 2010, a commission panel formed by the state education department and led by former Washington University Chancellor William Danforth and civil rights advocate Frankie Freeman applauded the progress city schools had shown under the appointed board. But ultimately, members of the commission said the district needed to transition back to an elected board. In April, the Missouri Board of Education began talking with state education officials about the conditions that should be in place for the city system to successfully withstand a shift in governance. The transition meeting in July involved three members of the elected board, Wessling, Susan Jones and Kathy Styer, two members of the Missouri Board of Education Mike Jones and Lenz; Sullivan of the SAB and Superintendent Adams. A representative from the Missouri education department also was there. With her appointment officially ending this week, Melanie Adams said she believed the transition discussions should have begun years ago. Whether the board is elected or appointed, Adams said, shouldnt make a difference as long as theres consistent leadership. The key with governance is stability, she said. Its the people who are there for the right reasons who understand the role of a board and to not micromanage. Susan Jones, president of the elected board, said she hoped Slay would appoint one of the seven elected members, producing a hybrid board. It would help the transition back, she said. Preparing for a transition will be a months-long process, Lenz said. Though the elected board has continued to meet almost monthly since it was stripped of power nine years ago. Lenz and other state education officials want to be sure they understand the role of a school board before returning city schools to elected control. The community, the schools and the students shouldnt see a ripple, Lenz said. We should be able to move one group out, one group in and it would operate as smoothly as the SAB is operating. ST. LOUIS Just outside the Renaissance Hotel, near Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, the 16-person search committee for the University of Missouris next president sits in a closed session. Because the meeting is closed, officials are mum about the purpose. But leaders have previously said the plan is to name a new president before the end of this year. And its September. And theyre meeting by the airport. Perhaps theyre interviewing candidates? The committee is tasked with naming a replacement for Timothy M. Wolfe, who resigned in November amid protests on the Columbia, flagship campus. Former Mizzou Deputy Chancellor Mike Middleton is serving as interim president of the UM System. The committee held a public meeting for all of five minutes before going into closed session. It is expected to continue meeting most of Wednesday. We would like to personally commend the efforts made by all thus far in this critical process, a joint statement between Board of Curators chairwoman Pam Henrickson and Cheryl Walker and Jim Whitaker, co-chairs of the search committee, said. Through the collective efforts of our committee, our search firm partners at Isaacson Miller, and the many stakeholders engaged in this process to date, we are encouraged to have build a pool of talented, experienced and diverse candidates from a national audience. The job description for the University of Missouri System president was approved by the committee in May. Since then, committee members and meetings have been kept quiet. Phyllis Schlafly, a political force who fought against the feminist causes and helped pave the way for todays thriving conservatism movement, died Monday (Sept. 5, 2016) at her home in Ladue. For decades she was a political icon, often a polarizing one, using her Eagle Forum a Clayton-based national organization of volunteers she called her army to rally against the Equal Rights Amendment and abortion. Ed Martin, current president of the Eagle Forum and spokesman for Mrs. Schlafly, said she had some health issues over the last month or two, A lot of it having to do with being 92. Martin said he visited with Mrs. Schlafly on Friday and Saturday. By late Saturday, the family had gathered, he said, and was with her at the time of her death. Were very sad. But shes had a wonderful life, a full life, he said. Martin was on his way to New York when reached by phone Monday evening. He said he had an appearance scheduled Tuesday morning to discuss the book Mrs. Schalfly, he and Brett M. Decker authored, The Conservative Case for Trump. America has lost a great stateswoman, and we at Eagle Forum and among the conservative movement have lost a beloved friend and mentor, said Eunie Smith, first vice president of the Eagle Forum, which was founded in 1972, in a statement released Monday evening. I have personally lost a dear friend of over 40 years. Phyllis Schlafly liked to say that she never held a paying job after she married. That fit with her image as an anti-feminist. But it didnt tell the whole story of the woman from St. Louis who never held public office but is regarded as a key player in modern feminism. Before Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, there was Phyllis Schlafly. Mrs. Schlafly fought feminists and three presidents to bring the Equal Rights Movement to a screeching halt. During the 1950s and 60s she helped build the anti-Communist movement in the United States. She was a pioneer in the anti-abortion movement and helped send Ronald Reagan to the White House. If Mrs. Schlaflys glory days seemed decades behind her, conservative audiences didnt seem to care. She drew standing ovations in recent years with her star power, and introduced Donald Trump at a rally in St. Louis in March. She also attended the Republican National Convention in July. She spread her philosophy through her five-day-a-week radio commentaries, her weekly syndicated newspaper column, and 27 books, the Eagle Forum said. Since 1967, she wrote a monthly newsletter, The Phyllis Schlafly Report. The Eagle Forum she founded soon opened an office on Capitol Hill in Washington. All of that may sound like more than a full-time job. But Mrs. Schlafly told the Post-Dispatch in 2011 that, I am a volunteer I dont take a cent for heading her nonprofit organization and a related think tank, the Eagle Forum Education & Legal Defense Fund. She said she hadnt earned a living or held a job since I got married more than six decades ago. She explained that her husband was a successful lawyer and he left me some money to live on. From child rearing to politics Phyllis McAlpin Stewart was born in St. Louis. Her mother, the daughter of a prominent attorney, was the librarian at the St. Louis Art Museum for 25 years. She was the major support of the family after her husband, a machinist and salesman, lost his job in the Depression. Young Phyllis attended Hamilton Elementary School where she learned to write in fourth grade by composing a one-paragraph essay every day. She graduated first in her class at the Sacred Heart Academy middle and high school known as City House. Mrs. Schlafly paid her way through Washington University working at what was described as the worlds largest ammunition plant, the old Small Arms Plant at Goodfellow and Natural Bridge. She tested .30 and .50 caliber ammunition and worked nights photographing tracer bullets in flight and inspecting misfires. She was the fifth generation of her family to attend Washington University and earned her political science degree in 1944 with honors, in just three years. She saved enough money from her wartime job to attend Harvard Graduate School, where she earned a masters degree. She later returned to Washington University where she earned a law degree in 1978. Those feminists who think they opened up college for all the women thats ridiculous, she told the newspaper. I didnt have any trouble competing against all the boys. She met Fred Schlafly in March 1949, and they married in October at the Cathedral Basilica. They moved to Alton, where he practiced law. For 25 years, she was a homemaker, raising six children. Using a phonetics book, she taught them all to read before they entered school. Three became lawyers, one a physician, another a Ph.D. mathematician and one a businesswoman. By the time she had grandchildren, the phonetics book was out of print, so she wrote her own. Her political career dates to 1946 as campaign manager for a successful Republican Congressional candidate in St. Louis. She ran for Congress twice in Illinois, in 1952 and 1972, but lost. Starting in 1956, she became an elected delegate to eight Republican National Conventions and an alternate to three more. In the 1950s, she wrote about the dangers of Communism and served as national defense chairman of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She estimated she started 5,000 study groups on Communism. She helped found the anti-Communist Cardinal Mindszenty Foundation in 1956. It still operates out of an office in Mrs. Schlaflys wood-lined Clayton headquarters. In 1964, her first book, A Choice Not an Echo sold three million copies. It attacked the small group of secret kingmakers of the eastern elite of the Republican Party for its influence on presidential nominations. Her book helped Barry Goldwater win the nomination, but he then lost in a landslide by incumbent President Lyndon Johnson. Opposing the ERA Mrs. Schlafly was best known for her outspoken opposition to the ERA, which she claimed would lead to women being drafted into the armed forces and to unisex bathrooms. She led her pro-family movement in a 10-year battle to kill the ERA. In 1972, when she got involved, 28 of the necessary 38 states had already ratified the amendment. All the politicians were for it, she recalled. But we were smarter than the feminists. Thirty-five states adopted the amendment, three states short of ratification. During the 1980s, Mrs. Schlafly helped defeat a push for a Constitutional Convention. She defeated the ERA again in 1983 after 53 senators voted to reintroduce it. Mrs. Schlafly called them wimps. She sent each one a quiche custard in pastry that she said real men dont eat. She claimed credit for inventing the pro-family movement, first to stop the ERA, then to lead the battle to make the Republican Party anti-abortion by inserting a pro-life plank into each presidential platform since 1976. Mrs. Schlafly credited the improvement in womens lives during recent decades to the invention of the clothes dryer, paper diapers and other labor-saving devices. In a college speech in 2007, she said, By getting married, the woman has consented to sex, and I dont think you can call it rape. Critics complained that while she was advocating being a mother and a wife, she herself was a lawyer, editor, author, speaker and political activist. She replied that women can have it all but not all at once. She said she got into politics after raising her children. Broad influence Reagan credited Mrs. Schlafly with helping create the political climate that sent him to Washington as president. Shes darn effective, he wrote in his diary. In 2008, hundreds of students at Washington University protested by silently turning their backs on Mrs. Schlafly when she received an honorary degree. Mrs. Schlafly called them a bunch of losers. She opposed same-sex marriage and civil unions. In 1992, a magazine outed her oldest son, John, as gay. Mrs. Schlafly acknowledged he was gay but insisted that he shared her views. Another son, Andrew, founded Conservapedia as a conservative alternative to Wikipedia, which he said was too liberal. He compiled news items from conservative Internet sites and sent them to his mother daily. Mrs. Schlafly said that was how she kept up on the news and got column ideas for her columns. She said she didnt read newspapers or magazines and watched TV always Fox News only while using an exercise machine at her office. In recent months, Schlaflys support of Trump reportedly caused some problems within the Eagle Forum, although that was disputed by a board member. And power struggles within the organization prompted lawsuits in state and federal court this year. Mrs. Schlaflys husband died in 1993. She is survived by six children, 16 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. She is also the aunt by marriage of Thomas Schlafly, co-founder of the Saint Louis Brewery. In August, she lost her bid to block the trademark for the Schlafly beer name. She had argued that the brewery, co-founded by Tom Schlafly, shouldnt be able to trademark a name that she made famous, and worried that the average consumer would think the name was associated with her. She also raised the opposition of some religious adherents to alcohol. But the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office sided with the brewery, which applied for the trademark in 2012. Martin told the Post-Dispatch Monday that the Schlafly family was still working on funeral arrangements. Martin said that Schlafly was adamant to me and a few other key people weve got keep the work that she was doing going. Why would you take any time off? she asked recently, he recalled. For now, he said, Weve got November. Then going forward, weve got a full plate. Reporting by Michael Sorkin, formerly of the Post-Dispatch, and Robert Patrick, of the Post-Dispatch. After a primary election season that featured the Republican candidate for governor shooting guns and blowing things up, the National Rifle Association endorsed on Tuesday his opponent, Attorney General Chris Koster, a Democrat. The NRA Political Victory Fund said Kosters commitment to the Second Amendment earned him an A rating. For over 17 years, he has fought to preserve the constitutional rights of law-abiding Missourians, said Chris W. Cox, chairman, NRA-PVF. The NRA is proud to endorse Chris Koster, and we urge Missouris gun owners and sportsmen to get out this November and vote to elect a governor with a proven record of fighting to preserve the Second Amendment. The announcement came as Republican newcomer Eric Greitens, a former Navy SEAL, was campaigning in Springfield and Chesterfield with Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence. Greitens won a four-candidate primary in August to win the GOP nomination. His military career was central to his campaign, which included ads featuring him firing an assault rifle and a Gatling-style military machine gun. Koster, a former Republican, is conservative on some issues, including gun rights. Koster, who also has been endorsed by the Missouri Farm Bureau and other agricultural groups, said he was pleased to win another key endorsement heading into the Nov. 8 general election. As a rural prosecutor, state senator and now as attorney general, I have long defended Missouris hunting heritage and Second Amendment rights. As governor, I pledge to continue to protect the traditions and values of people across Missouri, Koster said in a prepared statement. Greitens campaign downplayed the endorsement. Were not gonna win the career politician insider endorsement contest, campaign manager Austin Chambers said in a statement. But no one is stronger than Eric on 2nd Amendment issues and no one will fight harder to grow jobs and clean up the same old politics as usual holding Missouri back. In its announcement, the NRA said Koster had sealed the endorsement by supporting Proposition B, a 1999 right-to-carry referendum. As a senator, Koster voted to streamline the right-to-carry permit process. And, as attorney general, he has backed gun rights. Koster also broke with many members of his party to publicly support Senate Bill 656, which would loosen state gun laws. The measure was vetoed by Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, and is expected to be debated during the Sept. 14 veto session. Jennifer Baker, spokeswoman for the NRA in suburban Washington, said Greitens had made clear in his campaign statements and correspondence to the NRA that he supports the Second Amendment. But she said the organization endorsed Koster because he has a record on the issues as a public official. This endorsement is about Koster and his 17-year record, Baker said. Eric Greitens has an AQ rating , but it is based upon how he filled out our questionnaire. He hasnt held public office and has no public record. She said the Q modifier referred to his A-rated answers on the questionnaire. Alongside Koster, NRA-PVF also endorsed Mike Parson for lieutenant governor, Josh Hawley for attorney general, Jay Ashcroft for secretary of state and Eric Schmitt for state treasurer. All of those candidates are Republicans. On behalf of our 5 million members and Missouris law-abiding gun owners, we are proud to endorse strong Second Amendment supporters for statewide offices, Cox said. To activate the text-to-speech service, please first agree to the privacy policy below. Taipei, Sept. 6 (CNA) Google Inc. announced Tuesday that an extended section of its FASTER submarine cable to Taiwan has been put into service, boosting the speed of data transmission in and out of the country and the computing power of its largest data center in Asia. UPDATED at 8:35 a.m. with boil order lifted Missouri American Water has lifted the boil order that affected tens of thousands of its customers in the St. Louis area. The boil order was lifted at about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. The water company announced on its Facebook page that "the water quality tests have confirmed the water is safe for consumption." Drinking fountains were sealed and sales of bottled water soared Tuesday after Missouri American Water customers in a large swath of St. Louis County to boil their water. One school district even canceled classes for Wednesday because of the advisory. The utility said the safety warning was a precaution being taken after a brief power outage disrupted water pressure in the area. We dont have any evidence that the water system has any contaminants at all, said Christie Barnhart, an external affairs manager for the company, said tuesday. Barnhart acknowledged that the advisory was unusually widespread. This ones pretty large, said Barnhart. Typically the areas affected are much smaller. The utility indicated that 85,000 customers were affected. Barnhart attributed the advisorys magnitude to the fact that the power outage disrupted the utilitys largest water treatment plant in the area. That plant, located on Hog Hollow Road in Chesterfield, is also centrally located among regional customers, Barnhart said. Customers were advised to boil water for drinking and cooking three minutes to ensure safety, but tap water in areas under the advisory was said to be suitable for washing and bathing without being boiled. Schools affected The boil advisory affected numerous schools throughout the county. The Parkway School District roped off water fountains and also provided bottled water to students. Paul Tandy, a spokesman for the district, said that the complications are manageable for a day or so, but could become problematic if the notice lasts for a protracted period of time. Weve dealt with this before. Its unusual that its this widespread, said Tandy. Were good for today. Its more of a question of how long it might last. The Normandy Schools Cooperative announced Tuesday night that classes would not be held Wednesday, citing the water problem. Bottled water was provided to students throughout the Ritenour School District Tuesday, according to an announcement on the district website. Cafeteria staff also boiled any water used for food preparation. In Pattonville, The boil order will not impact our ability to hold school, said a statement on the districts website. Only Drummond and Willow Brook elementary schools fell under the boil advisory in Pattonville. Bottled water was being provided at both schools Tuesday, and cafeteria staff were taking precautions. In Ferguson-Florissant, bottled water was being distributed at Bermuda Elementary, the only building in that district that fell under the order. The University of Missouri-St. Louis notified those on campus Tuesday to avoid drinking from drinking fountains or water faucets. Westminster Christian Academy in Chesterfield canceled a couple non-varsity sporting events due to the alert, but still hosted other athletic contests as planned. Businesses advised to clean The St. Louis County Department of Public Health on Tuesday issued an advisory to businesses in the affected areas to avoid the use of ice machines and water-dispensing devices such as soda fountains until the boil advisory was lifted. Heath Department Director Faisal Khan said all nozzles and equipment that are in contact with water should be cleaned and sanitized before returning to operation. Tuesdays health department email blast went primarily to restaurants and convenience stores. The agency will undertake follow-up procedures after the boil advisory to ensure businesses have complied with the sanitation guidelines. Faisal said his department and Missouri American were in contact throughout the day Tuesday. His agency, the director added, will become involved in testing only in the event of the threat of a disease outbreak. Faisal credited the water company for exercising an abundance of caution in issuing a boil advisory, which he characterized as benign because the order doesnt exclude showering, bathing, hand and clothes washing. Bags of ice, bottles of soda As a precautionary measure, the director nonetheless recommended that residents of cities inside the boil advisory perimeter drink bottled water until further notice. Several area restaurants strictly restricted their beverage sales to bottled drinks. Cody Sturm, manager of the Buffalo Wild Wings in Creve Coeur, went out to Schnucks and Dierbergs to buy 22-pound bags of ice, two-liter bottles of soda and four packs of bottled water when he heard about the boil advisory. He didnt hear about the order until 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, and when he did, he dumped out the batches of iced tea his employees had made that morning. Some restaurants continued serving fountain drinks. An employee at the T.G.I. Fridays in Creve Coeur said the staff believed the restaurants fountain drink filtration system would take care of any possible contaminants. Some managers simply said its not a big concern because they dont use much water in their cooking. Many restaurants saw slower business Tuesday because the day after Labor Day is always less busy, managers said, so the impact of the boil advisory wasnt as severe as if it had happened on a weekend. Health care providers in affected areas indicated that they remained fully operational while putting precautionary procedures in place. A statement from BJC HealthCare said the organization is prepared to follow contingency plans until the water supply is cleared for normal use. Bethany Pope, a spokesperson for Chesterfield-based Mercy health system, said affected medical facilities, including Mercy Hospital St. Louis, were following appropriate guidelines and making bottled water available and flushing all systems to be prepared when the advisory is lifted. The advisory reportedly did not disrupt business at the Chesterfield Mall. To my knowledge it has been very minimal in affecting the mall, said Brian Voyles, the malls general manager. He declined to comment further without consulting with specific tenants. The alert may have been a boon to some local retailers. An employee of the Chesterfield Sams Club, though not authorized to comment publicly on the matter, confirmed that the store had sold a lot of water on Tuesday. Barnhart said that an investigation into the cause of the power outage is ongoing. She said the drop in pressure caused by outages can create a situation where untreated groundwater is able to infiltrate water mains. Even after testing confirms that water is safe for consumption, Barnhart said there is a mandatory waiting period of at least 18 hours to determine whether the boil advisory can be lifted. Elisa Crouch, Steve Giegerich, Samantha Liss and Kristen Taketa of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report. This column was written on Sept. 11, 2001. As part of the 20th anniversary, we're republishing content that highlights how we covered the day. Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will make Labor Day pitches in Ohio on Monday,setting the stage for a critical month in their testy campaign. Trump, the Republican nominee, will be at morning round-table discussion with union members in Cleveland. The Democrtic nominee, Clinton, will attend a Labor Day festival with union leaders and workers. While Labor Day has traditionally been the kickoff to the fall campaign, both Clinton and Trump have been locked in an intense back-and-forth throughout the summer. Clinton has questioned Trump's temperament and preparation to serve as commander in chief while seeking to connect the reality television star to the extreme "alt-right" movement within the Republican Party. Trump visited a predominantly black church in Detroit on Saturday in a rare appearance with minority voters, aiming to counter Clinton's argument to moderate and suburban voters that he has allowed a racist fringe to influence his candidacy. The start of full-fledged campaigning opens a pivotal month, culminating in the first presidential debate on Sept. 26 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. Polls show Trump trailing Clinton in a series of must-win battleground states, meaning the debates could be his best chance at reorienting the race. Phyllis Schlafly was an anti-womens rights activist with a law degree, two-time candidate for Congress and a successful businesswoman. Whether heralded as a giant of the American conservative movement or vilified as a hypocrite who set the womens rights movement back decades, Ms. Schlafly was always controversial and often successful. Her death on Monday at age 92 is symbolic of a dying era in which American conservatives have tried desperately to preserve traditional male-female roles at a time of rapid change and demand for workplace gender equality. She killed off the Equal Rights Amendment long before her passing. Schlafly, the daughter of an attorney and a librarian, was born and raised in St. Louis. Ambitious, determined and shrewd, Ms. Schlafly did not let a husband and six children slow her conservative Eagle Forum crusade. While admonishing women for not staying home with their children, she was out on the hustings as the architect of a flag-waving campaign style that inspired Republican strategies of today. When Ms. Schlafly set her sights on defeating the proposed constitutional amendment to guarantee equal rights for women, it already had lopsided approval in both houses of Congress. Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter supported it, while First Ladies Betty Ford and Rosalynn Carter actively lobbied for its passage. The amendment was first introduced in 1923. By the time Congress passed it in 1972, it had widespread popular support and was expected to easily acquire the required ratification by three-fourths of state legislatures. Ms. Schlafly launched her effort as the ratification effort neared completion. She had no organized network at the time, only a monthly newsletter that she mailed to a few thousand supporters. She used that as a springboard to demonize the ERA, mixing fact with sensational charges to create fear about what it could do to women, families and the American economy. She taunted feminists, getting her followers to bring home-baked cookies to Illinois legislators they were lobbying to vote against the ERA and by appearing unfailingly well-groomed and cheerful in the face of anger and hostility. She offered dire warnings that ERAs passage would lead to unisex bathrooms and women being drafted into the armed forces. Though ERA failed, Congress has recently debated including women in the draft, and unisex bathrooms are commonplace. She argued that women didnt need equal pay because the men they married would serve as breadwinners. Her work unquestionably helped stall the equal-pay movement. Women still only make an average of 79 cents for every dollar men earn. Fiercely combatant to the end, Ms. Schlafly fought in court this year to block a trademark for Schlafly beer, claiming she had made the name famous. She lost the case in August, but her point is well-taken. There was only one Phyllis Schlafly. Free-standing chain-link fencing can be put up in a very short amount of time at very little cost, and we all should commit to this solution until the killings in our schools stop. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Obituaries Newsletter Sign up to get the most recent local obituaries delivered to your inbox. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy I recently traveled to Cairo for meetings with Egypts president and other prominent government and religious leaders. As my plane approached the country, I watched as the Mediterranean Sea touched the shore of the ancient land. I reflected on this extraordinary part of the world where the West meets the Orient, where the mythical Nile River fans into a delta, bringing life to the vast expanse of barren desert. I thought of historic Egypt as well as the Christian tradition of how Jesus, Mary, and Joseph fled there after King Herod threatened their lives. I first made this trip decades ago while in college, and with some apprehension awaited to see what I would find today. Egypt has gone through a major transition in the last five years. The demonstrations that began in Tahrir Square led to a chaotic situation in the streets, followed by the ascendency of the Morsi government and the Muslim Brotherhood. The subsequent destabilization of the country precipitated a military intervention later followed by the election of current President Sisi. As horrific as things are in the Middle East, it is hard to imagine the consequences if Egypt had lapsed into a spiral of chaos and power struggle. The traditional seat of culture and learning in the Arab world, Egypt has the largest population in the Middle East. It is home to Al-Azhar Universitya center of Sunni Islamic learningand a sizable Christian minority of around ten million. There is significant need of renewal of this important relationship. My visit with President Sisi lasted two hours. We had an extensive dialogue about security, economic stability, and the value of pluralism in a region where minority rights are under siege. The President emphasized the importance of our military to military relationship and the vulnerability of his country. We talked about Egyptian operations in the Sinai to combat the local brand of ISIS. Egypt also faces severe security issues along its border with Libya. Another unique dynamic in the Middle East is Egypts security cooperation with Israel. The peace treaty between the countries has lasted nearly 40 years. President Sisi attended the United States Army War College as have many other Egyptian military personnel. He has a strong attachment to that experience. When he inquired as to my thoughts regarding a developing problem with another country, I said: We dont like spit in our face. He respected that response. In light of Egypts economic situation, I asked President Sisi about a somber speech he recently gave to his people on the subject. He is clearly laying the groundwork for the absorption of coming difficult economic reforms, a necessary antidote for regaining better economic opportunity. One point of important progress is a major recent expansion of the Suez Canal, funded by the Egyptians, that has largely escaped international recognition. One of the principles of the United States is to uphold the value of human dignity as the necessary preconditions of an orderly, just and, secure society. When President Sisi was first elected, one of his early public actions was to appear on Egyptian television with the leader of the Coptic Orthodox Christian Church, and the Grand Imam, a prominent Muslim leader, where he stated: We are Egyptians. This simple declaration shatters the default mode of so much of the Middle East where sectarian and tribal allegiance overcomes a healthy national identity. None of this should gloss over the internal troubles within Egypt. There are plenty of criticismsthe stagnation of the system, the progress on rights, the mayhem of the media, and a host of other difficulties. As in any relationship with a foreign power, there are differing perspectives and points of tension. We will not get everything we expect. But we should also recognize the necessity of this new stability as we progress toward better conditions. At home we are justifiably anxious about security dynamics here and around the world, especially in the Middle East, where chaos and violence continue to metastasize. The key to resolving this threat, a threat to civilization itself, lies both in tactical military efforts with other nations but also the ongoing development of authentic strategic friendships when possible. Egypt is critical in this regardand in some ways is a forgotten friend. (I invite you to watch a one on one interview on Egyptian television in which we covered a variety of these topics regarding the US/ Egyptian relationship. Part one can be viewed here, and part two can be viewed here.) EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE: EOG) and Yates Petroleum Corporation announced definitive agreements under which EOG has agreed to combine with Yates Petroleum Corporation, Abo Petroleum Corporation, MYCO Industries, Inc. and certain other entities (collectively, Yates). Under the terms of this private, negotiated transaction, EOG will issue 26.06 million shares of common stock valued at $2.3 billion and pay $37 million in cash, subject to certain closing adjustments and lock-up provisions. EOG will assume and repay at closing $245 million of Yates debt offset by $131 million of anticipated cash from Yates, subject also to certain closing adjustments. "This transaction combines the companies' existing large, premier, stacked-pay acreage positions in the heart of the Delaware and Powder River basins, paving the way for years of high-return drilling and production growth," said William R. "Bill" Thomas, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of EOG. "We are excited by this unique opportunity to advance EOG's strategy of generating high-return growth by developing premium wells at low costs that enhance long-term shareholder value. "Additionally we are thrilled to welcome Yates' 300 employees to the EOG family and look forward to continuing the important presence Yates has established in the community of Artesia, N.M." Yates is a privately held, independent crude oil and natural gas company with 1.6 million net acres across the western United States. Since 1924, when it drilled the first commercial oil well on New Mexico state trust lands, Yates has amassed a rich acreage position across the western United States. Highlights of Yates' assets are summarized below: Production of 29,600 barrels of crude oil equivalent per day, net, with 48 percent crude oil Proved developed reserves of 44 million barrels of oil equivalent, net Delaware Basin position of 186,000 net acres Northwest Shelf position of 138,000 net acres Powder River Basin position of 200,000 net acres Additional 1.1 million net acres in New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota and Utah. EOG is the largest oil producer in the Lower 48, with average net daily production of 551 thousand barrels of crude oil equivalent and a reputation for technological leadership in the development of unconventional resource plays. "EOG is our partner of choice as we look to extend Yates' 93-year legacy," said John A. Yates Sr., Chairman Emeritus of Yates Petroleum Corporation and son of founder Martin Yates Jr. "As we enter a new era of unconventional resource development, we are excited to join forces with another pioneering company like EOG." Douglas E. Brooks, Chief Executive Officer of Yates Petroleum Corporation, added, "This is a tremendous opportunity to combine EOG's strong technical competencies with the enormous resource potential of the Yates acreage to create significant value for Yates and EOG shareholders alike." Yates immediately adds an estimated 1,740 net premium drilling locations in the Delaware Basin and Powder River Basin to EOG's growing inventory of premium drilling locations, a 40 percent increase. A premium drilling location is defined by EOG as a direct after-tax rate of return of at least 30 percent assuming a $40 flat crude oil price. EOG plans to commence drilling on the Yates acreage in late 2016 with additional rigs added in 2017. "Through this transaction, our premium drilling strategy is gaining added momentum. With improving well productivity and this newly enhanced resource base, our organization can generate further increases in returns and capital efficiency," Thomas said. "The combination enhances the size and quality of EOG's existing portfolio of oil resource plays." Doubles Position in Delaware Basin and Adjacent PlaysYates has 186,000 net acres of stacked pay in the Delaware Basin in New Mexico that is highly prospective for the Wolfcamp, Bone Spring and Leonard Shale formations. This brings the combined company's total Delaware Basin acreage position to approximately 424,000 net acres, a 78 percent increase to EOG's existing holdings. Additionally, Yates has 138,000 net acres on the Northwest Shelf in New Mexico that is prospective for the Yeso, Abo, Wolfcamp and Cisco formations. These shallow plays have the potential to contribute additional amounts of premium inventory with the application of EOG's advanced completion and precision targeting technologies and low cost structure. Along with EOG's existing acreage, the newly combined company will have 574,000 net acres in the Delaware Basin and Northwest Shelf. A summary of the acreage is listed below. Delaware Basin and Northwest Shelf Acreage Summary By Play Yates EOG Combined Wolfcamp 186,000 168,000 354,000 Bone Spring 186,000 111,000 297,000 Leonard 67,000 93,000 160,000 By Area Delaware Basin 186,000 238,000 424,000 Northwest Shelf 138,000 12,000 150,000 Total 324,000 250,000 574,000 Expands Powder River Basin Acreage The combination also adds 81,000 net acres from Yates in the core development area of the Powder River Basin that is prospective for the Turner Oil play. In total, Yates contributes 200,000 net acres in the Powder River Basin. This doubles EOG's total Powder River Basin acreage to 400,000 net acres. The enhanced acreage position has significant exploration potential for multiple stacked-pay formations. Transaction Terms Under the terms of the agreements, which were approved by the boards of directors of EOG and Yates, and the Yates stockholders, EOG will issue 26.06 million shares of common stock valued at $2.3 billion and pay $37 million in cash, subject to certain closing adjustments and lock-up provisions. EOG will assume and repay at closing $245 million of Yates debt offset by $131 million of anticipated cash from Yates, subject also to certain closing adjustments. Closing is anticipated in early October 2016, subject to customary closing conditions. Following the transaction closing, EOG intends to maintain Yates' office in Artesia, N.M., to support the newly combined operation. Wells Fargo Securities, LLC acted as exclusive financial and technical advisor to Yates Petroleum Corporation, Abo Petroleum Corporation and MYCO Industries, Inc. for this transaction. Thompson & Knight LLP, Modrall Sperling Law Firm and Kemp Smith LLP acted as legal advisors to Yates Petroleum Corporation, Abo Petroleum Corporation and MYCO Industries, Inc., respectively. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP acted as legal advisor to EOG. Conference Call Tuesday, September 6, 2016 EOG will host a conference call to discuss the transaction that will be available via live audio webcast at 10 a.m. Central time (11 a.m. Eastern time) on Tuesday, September 6, 2016. To listen, log on to the Investors Overview page on the EOG website at http://investors.eogresources.com/overview. The webcast will be archived on EOG's website through September 20, 2016. Bayer said it advanced negotiations with Monsanto (NYSE: MON) regarding a proposed transaction and is prepared to raise its offer to U.S $127.50/share, up from its prior offer of $125/share and the original $122/share offer. The German pharmaceutical and crops manufacturer said key terms and conditions of a deal have not yet been agreed upon. Monsanto has not yet addressed the latest offer and recent reports suggested it is holding out for at least $130 per share. In an interview on FOX Business Networks (FBN) Cavuto: Coast-to-Coast (weekdays, 12p-2p/ET), host Neil Cavuto spoke with Billionaire business mogul Mark Cuban. When asked whether he is advising Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton on business proposals Cuban said, they ask me for my advice on small business and that They ask me to go back and talk to my Shark Tank companies and get feedback on the elements that were important to them in terms of top to bottom. When asked what would happen if Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump wins the election, Cuban said, In the event Donald wins, I have no doubt in my mind the market tanks. Excerpts from the interview are below: On what would happen to the markets in the event GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump wins the election: In the event Donald wins, I have no doubt in my mind the market tanks and so I literally have put on a more than 100 percent hedge. On his relationship with Donald Trump: I mean we don't have one. It's as simple as that. I mean you ran that clip and I think I was 100 percent accurate. You know, people were excited about himand it wasn't about issues. But as I said in that clip, there are a lot of things I disagreed with him on. And at some point, issues matter. At some point, policy matters. And we just had a big falling out on that specific issue. On Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clintons track record: Oh, yes. Look, I'm happy to -- yes, I mean, look, all candidates flip-flop to a certain extent over the years. And I don't even hold that so much against Donald. But in terms of details, look, I'm happy to discuss the emails. You know, the thing about Hillary Clinton, she's not good at communicating with the media. Donald is a master of it. The thing about the emails, people don't trust her judgment when it comes to classified information, because she's never discussed what she actually did with classified information. The reality is for 99.99 percent of the classified information she dealt with, she did it in hard copy, paper, secured transfer. Everything was done by the book. She didn't even use a PC. For her email, she sent and received emails from a total of 13 people. That's it. Thirteen people. And across those 13 people, there were 68 classified threads. On whether he thought it was weird that Hillary Clinton had her own private email server: No, I mean I don't think so because I'm a tech guy, right? I've set up email servers. I made it. I had a business that I built and sold. On Hillary Clintons communication issues: But to your point, look, she has done a horrible job communicating. She's tried to address the emails as a standalone issue when really the question is how does she deal with classified information on a day to day basis? And she has a great answer. She did it via hard copy, but she's never used that answer. And as I said, she doesn't do a good job explaining herself. On whether he is involved in Hillary Clintons debate prep: I haven't been asked, but would I do it? Yes They haven't brought it up at all. And it's not like I talk to them every day. I mean I get an email once every few weeks ask -- you know, they ask me for my advice on small business. They ask me to go back and talk to my Shark Tank companies and get feedback on the elements that were important to them in terms of top to bottom, you know, ranking them and prioritizing them. And in reality, she included a bunch of those things that I got back from the companies in her small business proposal. So I mean she is responsive in that respect. On somewhat defending San Francisco 49ers player Colin Kaepernick for sitting during the national anthem: Well, in terms of why now, I mean because he -- it just happened now. And I also Tweeted after that that in terms of my family, my kids, my team, you know, I'm going to suggest -- in my family I'm going to require that they put their hands over their heart and they stand for the national anthem, "The Pledge of Allegiance," "God Bless America," etc. On whether one of his Maverick players sits during the pledge of alliance: I'd discuss it with him and say, look, if this is the message you want to send, then that's up to you. But the point I was making in the first Tweet, you know, in the -- in this day and age, we don't have a lot of civil discourse. When somebody disagrees, we set -- we tend to march, we tend to punch, we tend to yell, we tend to scream, we tend to shoot. All -- you know, nothing that's positive. Colin Kaepernick, he didn't put out a press release, he just didn't stand up. And my point was, I respect somebody who, if you're going to take issue with something, particularly as important as standing for the national anthem, you -- he did it in a non-violent manner. When so many other people are, you know, creating conflict and, you know, causing situations that can lead to harm or -- if not death, he did it in a non-violent manner and I think that's a positive. VANCOUVER, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - American Lithium Corp. (TSXV: LI) (OTCQB: LIACF) (Frankfurt: 5LA; WKN: A2AHEL) ("American Lithium" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce that it has started Phase 2 sonic drilling on three discrete lithium brine targets at its Fish Lake Valley South Playa and Clayton-Valley-1 Projects, all located in Esmeralda County, Nevada. The drill program is designed to collect information on aquifer characteristics and lithium values in aquifer brines in order to support development of the Company's lithium resources. Highlights: American Lithium has received 3 drill permits for drilling at the Fish Lake Valley South Playa and the Clayton-Valley-1 projects; Drilling will target lithium-bearing brines in the Upper Fish Lake Formation rocks which also host the lithium brine production at Albemarle's Clayton Valley Lithium Brine production facility; Results from this program will be used to update the Fish Lake Valley Basin Aquifer Model and for resource modeling in the three projects in the fall of 2016. Two permits have been received for drilling at the Fish Lake Valley South Playa Project, and one permit for drilling at the Clayton-Valley-1 Project. The full drill program provides for 13 holes in total. The Company will utilize a sonic drill which is unique in that it can both take continuous samples of drill core while also being able to sample subsurface water in intersected aquifers and pump test these same aquifers. This unique ability will allow the Company to derive more information from the program than either an RD or diamond drill program. The sonic drill can effectively sample sediments and test aquifers to a depth of 150m (500'). The Company is also currently completing a grid sampling project at the Fish Lake Valley North Playa project area. One-metre deep brine samples are being collected over a 300 metre grid area at the North Playa. An extensive drill program is expected to begin at the North Playa within two weeks. "From a standing start in January, American Lithium is pleased to be drill testing three world-class potential lithium brine targets so quickly," commented Michael Kobler, Executive Director and COO of American Lithium. "The planned drilling on the South Bowl Playa lithium brine project is the first program to explore the Company's expanded target package in Fish Lake Valley, Nevada, where the Company controls over 18,550 contiguous acres." Phase 1 Exploration Program Results Near-surface brine sampling outlined a broad lithium /boron/potassium anomaly on the northern portions of the northern playa, roughly 1.3 x 2 miles long, which has a smaller higher grade core which ranges from 100 to 150 mg/L lithium (average 122.5 mg/L) , 1,500 to 2,670 mg/L boron (average 2,219 mg/L), and 5,400 to 8,400 mg/L potassium (average 7,030 mg/L). , 1,500 to 2,670 mg/L boron (average 2,219 mg/L), and 5,400 to 8,400 mg/L potassium (average 7,030 mg/L). A direct push drill program was conducted on the northern end of the playa, with 1,240.58 feet (378.09 meters) of drilling in 20 holes at 17 discrete sites, over an area of 3,356 feet (1,023 meters) by 2,776 feet (846 meters). Drilling ranged from 34 feet (10.36 meters) to 81 feet (24.69 meters), and averaged 62 feet (18.90 meters). Average grades of all samples are 47.05 mg/L lithium, 992.7 mg/L boron, and 0.535% potassium respectively, with lithium values ranging from 7.6 mg/L to 151.3 mg/L, boron ranging from 146 to 2,160.7 mg/L, and potassium ranging from 0.1 to 1.3%. The anomaly outlined by the program is 1,476 by 2,461 feet (450 meters by 750 meters), and is open to expansion to the east and to the south. A 50 mg/L lithium cutoff is used to define this anomaly with average grades of 90.97 mg/L lithium, 1,532.92 mg/L boron, and 0.88% potassium respectively. Source: NI 43-101Technical Report, Fish Lake Valley Lithium-Brine Property, Esmeralda County, Nevada, USA, Nov 2015 Michael Collins, P.Geo. is the Company's designated Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101, and has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release. About American Lithium Corp. American Lithium Corp. is actively engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of lithium deposits within mining-friendly jurisdictions throughout the Americas. American Lithium holds options to acquire Nevada lithium brine claims totaling 22,332 acres (9,038 ha), including 18,552 contiguous acres (7,508 ha) in Fish Lake Valley, Esmeralda County; 2,240 acre (907 ha) San Emidio Project in Washoe County; and the 1,540 acre (623 ha) Clayton-Valley-1 Project. The Company's Fish Lake Valley lithium brine properties are located approximately 38 kilometers from Albemarle's Silver Peak, the largest lithium operation in the U.S., approximately 3.5 hours from the Tesla Gigafactory. American Lithium is listed on the TSXV under the trading symbol "Li". On behalf of the Board, American Lithium Corp. Karl KottmeierPresident and Chief Executive Officer Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-looking statements Statements in this release that are forward-looking information are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors disclosed here. Information provided in this document is necessarily summarized and may not contain all available material information. All such forward-looking information and statements are based on certain assumptions and analyses made by American Lithium management in light of their experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors management believes are appropriate in the circumstances. These statements, however, are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information or statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements include those described under the heading "Risks Factors" in American Lithium's most recently filed MD&A. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or revise the forward-looking information contained in this news release, except as required by law. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information or statements. SOURCE American Lithium Corp Jeffrey M. Ettinger to Retire as Chief Executive Officer and James P. Snee Appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer AUSTIN, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE: HRL) today announced that Jeffrey M. Ettinger will retire as chief executive officer on October 30, 2016. Ettinger will continue to serve as Hormel Foods chairman of the board. The Board of Directors elected James P. Snee to be the company's next chief executive officer, effective October 31, 2016. Snee currently serves as president and chief operating officer. Ettinger served as chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer from November 2006 to October 2015, when Snee was appointed president and Ettinger became chairman of the board and CEO. Ettinger joined Hormel Foods in 1989 and has served in a variety of roles, including senior attorney, product manager for Hormel chili products and treasurer. In 1999, he was named president of Jennie-O Turkey Store the largest subsidiary of Hormel Foods, based in Willmar, Minn. Ettinger was appointed president of Hormel Foods in 2004 and CEO effective January 1, 2006. He has served on the Hormel Foods Board of Directors since 2004, and currently serves on the boards of The Toro Company, Ecolab, Inc., North American Meat Institute, Grocery Manufacturers Association, The Hormel Foundation, The Hormel Institute and the Minnesota Business Partnership. Under Ettingers leadership, Hormel Foods has grown through strategic acquisitions, organic growth and a continued focus on new product innovation. In 2016, Ettinger was named as one of the 30 Worlds Best CEOs by Barrons. In 2012, he was named Responsible CEO of the Year by Corporate Responsibility magazine. In addition, Ettinger is the founding chair of the companys diversity and inclusion council, which aims to meet the growing needs of its diverse workforce and consumer base. "Jeff has expertly piloted the company to significant growth and success during his tenure, leading a talented management team in the delivery of strong and consistent returns to Hormel Foods shareholders, said John L. Morrison, the boards Lead Director. Under his leadership, the company added to an outstanding portfolio of brands through numerous strategic acquisitions, most notably Wholly Guacamole, Skippy, Muscle Milk and most recently, the Applegate and Justins brands. While Jeff will certainly be missed, I am equally as confident in the leadership of Jim Snee as he assumes the role of CEO. Jim is a 27-year veteran of the company and served as president and chief operating officer for the last year. His excellent performance in this role, along with his successful experience in running the companys International division and prior significant leadership roles in the affiliated foods and foodservice units within Refrigerated Foods, positions the company to continue to deliver outstanding results to its shareholders. The company is in excellent hands. Ettinger noted, It has been an honor to lead this great company alongside our dedicated employees around the world. Hormel Foods has a 125-year legacy of delivering quality and innovation, as well as meaningful value to all of our stakeholders. As Jim takes the helm, I am confident that Hormel Foods will continue its growth trajectory as he and the team build on our strong foundation of success. It is truly an honor to be elected as the next CEO for Hormel Foods, said Snee. This is a remarkable company made up of thousands of inspired employees dedicated to providing inspired foods to our customers around the world. Jeff has guided us with his strategic leadership, brave innovation, unquestionable integrity, and unwavering commitment to our communities and corporate citizenship. It has been a pleasure to work directly with Jeff over the past year, and I look forward to leading the company with this legacy of excellence. I am certain we are well positioned for future success in the years to come. Snee becomes president and chief executive officer of Hormel Foods after serving as president and chief operating officer since October 2015. In that role, he led all of the companys business segments and global operations including Grocery Products, Refrigerated Foods, Specialty Foods, Jennie-O Turkey Store and International & Other. Snee joined Hormel Foods in 1989 in the foodservice division and served in various positions within the group before being named manager of inventory and distribution for the Refrigerated Foods segment in 1995. He was promoted to foodservice area manager and foodservice regional sales manager in 1996 and 1998, respectively. Snee was named director of purchasing in 2006 and vice president of affiliated business units in 2008. He was named vice president of Hormel Foods and senior vice president of Hormel Foods International Corporation at the end of fiscal year 2011. Snee advanced to group vice president of Hormel Foods and president of Hormel Foods International Corporation in October 2012. About Hormel FoodsHormel Foods Corporation, based in Austin, Minn., is a multinational manufacturer and marketer of consumer-branded food and meat products, many of which are among the best known and trusted in the food industry. Hormel Foods, which leverages its extensive expertise, innovation and high competencies in pork and turkey processing and marketing to bring branded, value-added products to the global marketplace, is celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2016. The company is a member of the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 Index, S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats, and was named one of The 100 Best Corporate Citizens by Corporate Responsibility Magazine for the eighth year in a row. Hormel Foods also received a perfect score on the 2016 Human Rights Campaign Foundations Corporate Equality Index, was recognized on the 2016 Best for Vets Employers List by Military Times, and was named one of the 2016 Best Companies for Leaders by Chief Executive magazine. The company enjoys a strong reputation among consumers, retail grocers, foodservice and industrial customers for products highly regarded for quality, taste, nutrition, convenience and value. For more information, visit http://www.hormelfoods.com and http://2015csr.hormelfoods.com/. Forward Looking StatementsThis news release contains forward-looking information based on managements current views and assumptions. Actual events may differ materially. Please refer to the cautionary statement regarding Forward-Looking Statements and Risk Factors that appear on pages 33-40 in the companys Form 10-Q for the quarter ended July 24, 2016, which can be accessed at www.hormelfoods.com under Investors-SEC Filings. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160906006528/en/ Hormel Foods Corporation Media Contact: Wendy A. Watkins, 507-437-5345 [email protected] or Investor Contact: Nathan P. Annis, 507-437-5248 [email protected] Source: Hormel Foods Corporation BERLIN (Reuters) - The leader of the state of Bavaria warned German conservatives on Tuesday that they faced an "extremely threatening" situation after a "disastrous" state election on Sunday which he blamed squarely on Angela Merkel's open-door migrant policy. Exposing deep rifts within Chancellor Merkel's conservative bloc, Horst Seehofer, the combative premier of Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU), said the chancellor had failed to respond to voters' worries about the migrant crisis. "The situation for the conservatives is extremely threatening," Seehofer told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily, adding voters were fed up with "Berlin politics". Merkel's conservatives suffered heavy losses in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on Sunday, coming third behind the center-left Social Democrats and, more surprisingly, the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD). Thorbjorn Jagland, general secretary of the Council of Europe rights body, told a conference hosted by the foreign ministry that he was shocked about the anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric used by AfD during the German election. He said statements like "Islam has no place in Europe" were "the beginning of a very, very dangerous development" that contained echoes of the anti-Semitic sentiment of the last century and suggested some effort to push out millions of Muslims who had been living in Europe for years. "What was (considered) extreme five years ago has become more mainstream," he said. "We have had it in the past. We should not allow it to develop again." With a federal election just a year away, Merkel's ratings have fallen to a five-year low since opening German borders to about a million migrants last year and then championing a disputed EU-Turkey deal to solve the crisis. Amid the post-election row, Seehofer has also canceled a trip to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said the state election disaster was a result of failing to draw the right conclusions after losses in other regional votes this year. Some CSU members have renewed calls for Merkel to put a limit on the number of migrants entering Germany. The Social Democrats (SPD), junior partner in Merkel's right-left coalition, have seized on speculation about whether she may decide not to run in next year's election, although there are no obvious rival conservative candidates. Deputy SPD chairman, Ralf Stegner, told Spiegel Online: "Mrs Merkel has clearly passed her zenith. The question is whether she still has her party behind her." Merkel, chancellor for nearly 11 years, on Monday took responsibility for the state election result but stood by her migrant policy.. She wants the blessing of Seehofer's CSU before declaring she will stand for the chancellorship again. With her party facing losses in a state election in the city of Berlin in two weeks, an INSA poll in Bild on Tuesday showed the conservative bloc unchanged on 30.5 percent at a national level, with the AfD up half a percentage point at 15 percent. "Merkel can only hope that sanity - her sanity - works with voters. It's not certain," wrote top-selling Bild in an editorial. (Reporting by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Catherine Evans and Hugh Lawson) Another summer has come and gone. In August alone, I logged more than 2,000 miles driving our vast and beautiful state. Along the way, I spoke with Nebraska families in communities from Lincoln to Chadron, Omaha to Scottsbluff, and many, many places in between. Whether visiting the state fair in Grand Island, attending the investiture of our new federal judge in Omaha, or simply enjoying a cup of coffee with citizens in Thedford, Sidney, Bridgeport, or Kimball, it was great to be back in Nebraska. During my travels, I experienced some truly beautiful and inspiring moments. Each provided different insights on our state, people, and country. As summer ends, I wanted to reflect on three memories that stood out. Their circumstances were different; their message was the same. The first came at an agriculture roundtable in Alliance, where I met a farmer named Kendall Busch. His crops were destroyed by hail seven years in a row. Despite this immense hardship, Kendall never quit. He kept coming back. Now, as president of the Nebraska Sugarbeet Growers Association, he helps other farmers weather similar challenges. A second inspiring moment came during the Olympic Games. Like many Nebraskans, I enjoyed cheering for Team USA and was immensely proud that our state had four athletes competing in Rio de Janeiro. Surprisingly, one of our nations proudest moments came in defeat. During the women's 5,000 meter race, New Zealand runner Nikki Hamblin tripped, falling to the ground, and colliding with American Abbey D'Agostino. Before she could comprehend the sudden disaster, Hamblin felt the American runners hand on her shoulder and heard her say, Get up, get up! We have to finish! This is the Olympic Games. We have to finish this.'" Abbey herself was severely injured, but the two strangers finished the race together. For their sportsmanship, the International Olympic Committee honored both women with the prestigious Fair Play award. The runner in Rio and the farmer in Nebraska show us something special, something great: the nobility of the human spirit. They chose their own destiny, despite events beyond their control. Instead of succumbing to disappointment, bitterness, or anger, they chose to answer tragedy with tenacity. In doing so, they embody endurance, sacrifice, and inner strength. I found that same example in the young sailors I accompanied during drills aboard a ballistic missile submarine at the end of August. I was invited as a guest of the U.S. Navy to attend a submarine missile launch and observe the heroic work in which our uniformed men and women take part every day around the globe. From below the surface, I observed the exceptional members of the Navys silent service as they conducted their drills. It was a proud moment to see them carry out their indispensable mission of nuclear deterrence with precision and dedication. As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, it is my privilege and responsibility to ensure these sailors, and every member of our military, have the resources needed to carry out their missions. These sailors serve in far-flung corners of the world, for months on end, in close quarters. They do so willingly, denying themselves many comforts, even daylight, all to keep our country safe. Like the farmer and the athlete, they embody that indomitable human spirit. Each of these stories reveals a greater message: we only become truly great when we serve others, as Kendall shared his knowledge to help other farmers, as Abbey sacrificed Olympic gold for her fellow runner, and as those young sailors do every day for all of us. Everyone has the capacity for greatness. Whether raising families or crops, running in Rio or running a local nonprofit, serving others at home, overseas, or under the seas, we can all inspire others to make our world a more beautiful place. As I return to the Senate, I will carry with me the inspiration I gained from these people and the many others I was fortunate to meet this August in Nebraska. By serving you in Congress, I hope to ensure our country remains a place where that human spirit can flourish. Thank you for taking part in our democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week. By Ludwig Burger, Arno Schuetze and Greg Roumeliotis FRANKFURT/NEW YORK (Reuters) - German pharmaceutical and crop chemicals manufacturer Bayer AG says talks with Monsanto Co have advanced and it is now willing to offer more than $65 billion, a 2 percent increase on its previous offer for the world's largest seeds company. "Both sides are gradually nearing consensus," one person familiar with the matter said. Monsanto has also agreed to open its books for Bayer to conduct due diligence checks on the company's business, two sources close to the matter said. Bayer's previous offer was already the largest all-cash takeover bid on record with a deal with Monsanto aimed at giving the German company a shot at grabbing the top spot in the fast-consolidating farm supplies industry, combining its crop science business with Monsanto's strength in seeds. Bayer now says it is prepared to offer $127.50 per share in a negotiated deal, up from its previous offer of $125 per share. But German daily newspaper Rheinische Post also reported late on Monday that an offer of $130 per share may be necessary to get a deal with Monsanto "in a swift and friendly way." Bayer was still considering all options regarding Monsanto, including striking a friendly deal, making a hostile bid or pulling its offer, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. Bayer's shares were down 0.25 percent at 94 euros by 0934 GMT on Tuesday. Monsanto's shares last traded at $107.44 and analysts at brokerage Equinet said Bayer has now effectively capped its Monsanto bid. "We infer from Bayer's statement that failure to agree a deal at $127.50/share could imply a risk to Monsanto shareholders of either a hostile bid at a lesser consideration, or no deal at all," they said in a note. Analysts from Baader Helvea disagreed. "We still expect a bid per share in the $130-135 range before Monsanto comes to the table. As such, we continue see the Bayer shares remaining under pressure as the negotiations continue," they said in a note. In a brief statement, Monsanto said on Monday it had been engaged in "constructive" negotiations with Bayer, during which it received the updated non-binding proposal of $127.50 per share in cash. The Saint Louis-based company added that it was continuing these conversations as it evaluated Bayer's offer, as well as proposals from other parties it did not name. It cautioned that there was no certainty that any deal would occur. Some Bayer shareholders, however, continue to criticize the proposed merger, saying it would increase Bayer's exposure to agriculture at the expense of its pharmaceutical business. "We knew that Bayer would have to bid higher and this offer is probably getting closer to succeeding, but it doesn't change our view that it presents significant risks to shareholders," said Greg Herbert, co-manager of the Jupiter Global Equity Income Fund. "The company will be left with a highly geared balance sheet and the management effort to integrate the two businesses could easily lead to the larger pharmaceutical business being neglected." John Bennett of fund manager Henderson said that he opposed the revised offer. "Bayer have backed themselves into a corner," he said in emailed comments. "The money would have been better spent buying their own stock. Alas, for shareholders, it was not to be." In July, Bayer raised its earlier offer of $122 per share to $125 to put Monsanto under pressure to engage further. Monsanto subsequently turned down the $125 offer, but said it was open to further talks with the German company, as well as other parties. Reuters reported last month that Monsanto's talks with Bayer were making progress, with the latter receiving some limited access to Bayer's books. Since then, negotiations have advanced further, with more information exchanged between the two sides and the chief executives of the two companies engaging in direct discussions, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because of the confidentiality of the talks. However, while the two companies are close to reaching an agreement on price, they have yet to agree on a strategy on how to jointly tackle potential antitrust challenges, the people said. (Additional reporting by Patricia Weiss in Frankfurt, Simon Jessop in London and Gayathree Ganesan in Bengaluru) By Helen Murphy and Luis Jaime Acosta BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombians are sure to approve a peace deal with Marxist FARC rebels in a referendum next month because they see the enormous economic opportunity and know renewed war would be a "catastrophe," President Juan Manuel Santos told Reuters. Santos has spent about six years trying to make the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) hand in weapons and end a half-century conflict that has killed more than 220,000 people and limited economic growth. The final obstacle is a single-question vote on Oct. 2 dividing Colombians between those who believe in forgiving the FARC for the national good and those who prefer to see the rebels defeated on the battlefield and jailed. "I'm sure 'Yes' will win," Santos, 65, said in an interview on Monday, days after reaching a final the peace deal. "If 'No' wins, we will return to what we had at the beginning of this government, six years ago. We return to armed conflict. That would be a catastrophe for the country." While most polls see voters approving the peace deal, the 297-page accord allows FARC leaders to serve alternative punishments - like clearing land mines - and gives some of them congressional seats without election. Neither is popular. "I hope the nation understands the great opportunity we have...if we harness that potential positively no one can stop us," Santos said at the presidential palace. Apart from the loss of life he hopes to end, he heralded an era of investment that could come from peace. The economy will benefit most in tourism, infrastructure and agriculture if the rebels leave their battle stations and allow progress in neglected rural Colombia. "We don't have more than five million visitors a year. Any respected country in terms of tourism could have 10, 15 or 20 million, it's enormous potential," said Santos, wearing a white shirt emblazoned with a 'Yes' logo. While the government says peace could bring up to two percentage points of growth annually, economists are more skeptical. Some see about 0.3 percentage point a year added to GDP as many of the benefits have already been absorbed during more than a decade of security gains. Santos, a former journalist and economist, declined to provide an estimate of the cost of implementing the peace pact, but said there would not be excessive spending. "One thing I have protected and will continue to protect is market confidence in the Colombian economy and I am not going to destroy that by being irresponsible," said Santos, who once served as finance minister. (Reporting by Helen Murphy; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Alistair Bell) By Gerauds Wilfried Obangome LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - Gabon's opposition leader appealed on Monday for a general strike in response to what he said was a fraudulent re-election of President Ali Bongo, while the justice minister resigned over the government's failure to organize a recount. Their protests undermined Bongo's attempts to project stability following the election's violent aftermath, though few citizens in the capital Libreville appeared to heed his defeated rival Jean Ping's strike call as economic activity picked back up. Ping, a former African Union Commission chairman who declared himself Gabon's leader, said his fight was not over. "I ask you from today onward not to use violence but to resist by blocking the country's economy," he said in a statement to all Gabonese. "I propose to cease all activity and begin a general strike." At least six people were killed and more than 1,000 arrested in violence after Wednesday's announcement of a slim victory for Bongo. His family has run the oil-producing central African country - where the only refinery resumed operations on Monday - for half a century. An adviser to the interior minister told Reuters on Sunday that several dozen people had been released, but several Libreville residents said that they had not seen or heard from family members since the riots. Former colonial power France also expressed concern about the safety of several of its nationals whom, Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said in a statement, French authorities have not had news of in recent days. Home to around 14,000 French citizens and a military base with 450 French troops, Gabon is statistically one of Africa's richest countries with a GDP per capita of $10,000 a year. But oil wealth has flowed mostly to the elite, breeding widespread discontent. The Bongos have long relied on patronage to buy off dissent. But falling oil prices and production, dominated by Total and Shell, have led to budget cuts. WARY ATMOSPHERE The United States, European Union and France last week urged the government to release polling station results for greater transparency, and its refusal to do so on Monday led Justice Minister Seraphin Moundounga to resign. "In the absence of (a recount), the country has swung into violence," Moundounga, who also served as second vice-prime minister, told Radio France Internationale. "Peace is gravely threatened in our country." In the main cities, life showed signs of returning to normal. Traffic in Libreville resumed along the main boulevards as many people returned to work, though some stayed home for fear of renewed violence. "Jean Ping doesn't have to tell me (not to go to work). While the situation is sensitive I'll stay home," said Hortense Toulangoye, a state worker. Another employee said he had not heard about the strike. The internet was operational again, five days after it was shut down in an apparent bid by the government to quell unrest, but access to social media was still limited. The oil refinery in the economic capital Port Gentil resumed operations after a five-day outage because of the post-electoral violence, Sylvain Mayabi, secretary-general of the National Organization of Petrol Employees, told Reuters. Total owns a 43.8 percent stake in the refinery, which processes 21,000 barrels of oil per day. Gabon produces 200,000 barrels per day, according to the International Energy Agency, and its output is in decline. It rejoined OPEC in July after two decades. During more than four decades in power, late president Omar Bongo cultivated close relations with a succession of French presidents, but his son's ties to Paris have been more tenuous. Gabon recalled its ambassador to Paris in January after France's Prime Minister Manuel Valls appeared to question the legitimacy of Ali Bongo's 2009 election. (writing by Nellie Peyton and Aaron Ross; editing by John Stonestreet) ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Tuesday troubled bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena is likely to launch a capital increase before the end of the year, and fellow lender Unicredit will also probably seek fresh capital. Monte dei Paschi needs to complete a cash call for up to 5 billion euros ($5.6 billion) by the end of 2016, but several banking sources have said recently this may take place at the beginning of 2017. "The conditions are in place for the Monte Paschi capital increase to take place this year," Renzi said in a television interview with state broadcaster RAI. ($1 = 0.8889 euros) (Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte, writing by Gavin Jones) By Neha Wadekar NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When Fatia, 25, leaves her home to sell sex in the grungy hotels and hastily parked cars of the Ugandan capital, Kampala, she keeps her hand clenched around her phone. After three years, her biggest fear is not violent clients or exposure to HIV, but harassment by Kampala's police. "The police start charging you. They say it (prostitution) is not allowed in the country," Fatia, who declined to give her full name, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a phone interview. "Some policemen even use you (for sex). They don't pay you and then still they take you to the station." If arrested for prostitution, Fatia knows what to do. Call the emergency number for Lady Mermaid's Bureau (LMB) - a sex workers' advocacy organization - and beep once. A representative from the bureau soon arrives at the station to gently remind the police that harassment or bribery of any citizen, even a sex worker, is illegal. If that fails, she may invoke the name of one of Fatia's influential clients to scare the police into releasing her. Gentle persuasion generally works. Ugandan police spokesman Andrew Felix Kaweesi denied systemic police harassment. However, he said instances of misconduct by individual officers was possible. "The police have no policy of harassing the prostitutes on the streets," Kaweesi said. "Those who are victims should report to our professional standards unit ... Absolutely nobody will punish them. We will listen to their complaints and follow it up." VULNERABLE In Uganda, sex work is illegal and highly stigmatized, making women like Fatia vulnerable to unlawful arrest, rape, bribery, beating and murder, rights groups say. The Indigo Trust, a UK-based foundation under The Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts, gave Lady Mermaid's Bureau a grant in 2014 to help Ugandan sex workers fight abuse using technology. It has provided around 1,000 sex workers across Uganda with information-loaded digital memory cards so they can use their phones to learn how to protect themselves against violence, HIV/AIDS and unwanted pregnancies. The material is available in multiple languages, and in written and video format, to maximize the number of women who can access it. "They read them, follow them and do their work safely," said Oliver Musoke, executive director of Lady Mermaid's Bureau and a former sex worker. The cards make it easier to reach larger numbers of women than through face-to-face counseling. "Some women are not open (to meeting us)," said Musoke, who founded the organization in 2002 to improve sex workers' access to medical, psychological and legal services and to educate them about sexual health and the law. "They can read and take the information for themselves." HARASSMENT The criminalization of sex work in the conservative East African nation makes it difficult for those living on its margins to learn about their rights. Fatia began selling sex hoping to save her earnings for a year and go into business, selling baby clothes. But she continues to work the streets because she cannot earn enough to escape. Most days she gets one or two clients; some days, none. "When you use protection, they give you very little money," she said. "It's not a good job at all." Anyone who engages in prostitution is liable to seven years in jail, according to Uganda's 1950 Penal Code. The Minister of State for Ethics and Integrity, Simon Lokodo, a former Catholic priest, has vowed to crack down on both sex workers and their clients. But it is largely poor women who are targeted. "Harassment occurs any time because sex work is illegal," said Daisy Nakato Namakula, a former sex worker who heads the Women's Organisation Network for Human Rights Advocacy (WONETHA), which promotes sex workers' rights. WONETHA has received 85 reports of sex workers being arrested and harassed by the police since January, but says many more cases go undocumented. Officers sometimes threaten to publish sex workers' faces in the media and refuse to allow those with HIV/AIDS who are arrested to be brought their medication, Namakula said. Ugandan police spokesman Kaweesi denied these allegations. "(All) suspects have full rights of access to their relatives, access to medical attention, access to meals," he said. Musoke of Lady Mermaid's Bureau, which has worked with more than 12,000 sex workers across Uganda, believes she is slowly changing Ugandans' attitudes. One policeman recently asked for a memory card to learn more about the situation of sex workers in the community, LMB reported. "I have passed through that life," Musoke said. "I know their problems... That's why I decided to create (Lady Mermaid's Bureau), to let them know that they are also human." (Reporting by Neha Wadekar; Editing by Katy Migiro and Ros Russell; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, womens rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org to see more stories.) STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden is working with a group of other EU states to keep trade talks with the United States alive, though shifts in the political climate mean the negotiations may have to be paused, the EU minister in Stockholm said. French Trade Minister Matthias Fekl said last week he favored calling a halt to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) talks, while German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel called them "de facto dead". "These statements are very unfortunate," Sweden's EU Minister Ann Linde said on Monday, adding that, while the negotiations were tough, progress was being made. Both Washington and Brussels, which have been negotiating for three years, are still officially committed to signing TTIP before year-end, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel backs the talks. Linde said Sweden was working with Finland, Spain and Italy to keep the negotiations alive. But looming elections in the United States, France and Germany, along with Britain's decision in June to leave the European Union could put negotiations on ice for the foreseeable future. That is a worry for Sweden, many of whose biggest firms, including Volvo and Ericsson , derive the bulk of their earnings from exports. "We'll have to see if the political conditions have changed so much that we need to take a break," she said. "If we don't get a deal now, it will take a while before the negotiations could get anywhere again." (This version of the story has been corrected to remove Netherlands from group of countries in fifth para after government spokesperson clarification.) (Reporting by Johan Sennero; Editing by Simon Johnson and John Stonestreet) UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 FORM 8-K CURRENT REPORT Pursuant to Section 13 OR 15(d) of The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): September 6, 2016 Natus Medical Incorporated (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter) Delaware 000-33001 77-0154833 (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation) (Commission File Number) (IRS Employer Identification No.) 6701 Koll Center Parkway Suite 120 Pleasanton, CA 94566 (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code) Registrants telephone number, including area code: (925) 223-6700 Not applicable (Former name or former address, if changed since last report) Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions (see General Instruction A.2. below): Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425) Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12) Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b)) Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c)) ITEM 1.01. Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement On September 6, 2016, Natus Medical Incorporated (the "Company") through Medix I.C.S.A. (Medix), a subsidiary of the Company based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, received an initial payment of $20,000,000 under a previously-disclosed supply agreement (the Supply Agreement) with the Ministry of Health of Venezuela (Ministry of Health). Under this Supply Agreement, the Company will provide medical equipment, supplies and services over a three-year period, including certain third-party products. Concurrent with this initial payment, an amendment (the "Amendment") to the Supply Agreement becomes effective, whereby the overall value of the Supply Agreement is now $120.7 million, payable in six month installments over the life of the Supply Agreement of approximately $20,000,000. The Ministry of Health retains the right to cancel this Supply Agreement and Amendment at any time, and this initial payment is no guarantee that future payments will be made. Medix continues to partner with a local distributor to provide distribution and technical service support to hospitals in Venezuela. The Company expects the operating profitability over the life of the Supply Agreement and the related Amendment to be similar to the company's corporate average operating margin. SIGNATURES Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized. NATUS MEDICAL INCORPORATED Date: September 6, 2016 By: /s/ Jonathan A. Kennedy Jonathan A. Kennedy Senior Vice President Finance & Chief Financial Officer US President Barack Obama has cancelled a planned meeting with Philippines leader Rodrigo Duterte, the White House said Monday, after his Asian ally launched a foul-mouthed tirade against him. Duterte called Obama a son of a wh**e hours earlier, vowing he would not allow the American leader to lecture him on human rights. President Obama will not be holding a bilateral meeting with President Duterte of the Philippines this afternoon, National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said. Instead, he will meet with President Park (Geun-hye) of the Republic of Korea. Obama had been set for a showdown with firebrand Duterte on Tuesday as a regional summit gets underway in Asia, and amid tensions over Chinas growing territorial ambitions. The pair were scheduled to meet in Laos at a gathering organised by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, an annual event meant to foster harmony that often instead highlights regional rows. However, shortly before flying to the capital Vientiane, Duterte launched a tirade at Obama. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum, Duterte told reporters when asked about Obamas plans to raise concerns over a war on crime in the Philippines that has seen more than 2,400 people killed. The focus was meant to be on the surprising spat between the two longtime allies that have seen relations plunge under a barrage of foul-mouthed insults from Duterte since he came to office on June 30. Duterte has previously also branded the US ambassador to Manila a son of a whore a term the acid-tongued former prosecutor commonly uses and criticised the US over its own track record of police killings. The setback in relations between the United States and the Philippines comes at a crucial time in the region, with China seeking to cement control over the contested South China Sea. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have competing claims to the strategically vital waters, but have watched China expand its presence by building artificial islands in key locations. An international tribunal ruled in July that Beijings claims to the waters through which $5 trillion in global shipping trade passes had no legal basis. The ruling was widely seen as a sweeping victory for the Philippines, which filed the suit under the previous administration of Benigno Aquino. But China has vowed to ignore the tribunals decision. Obamas aides had previously said he wanted to discuss the South China Sea issue with Duterte. Under Aquino, the Philippines had forged closer military ties with the United States to deal with the China threat. But Duterte has cast doubt on that strategy. He has also sought to heal relations with China rather than inflame them by pressing the tribunals ruling. Nevertheless, the South China Sea issue is expected to once again be discussed at the three days of meetings hosted by ASEAN. The gathering will see the 10 members of ASEAN meet among themselves, then with leaders from China, Japan, South Korea and the US. Other leaders to come for an East Asia summit on Thursday include from Australia, India and New Zealand. Obamas time in Laos will be the final trip to Asia of his eight-year presidency, during which he has sought to refocus American military, political and economic resources on the region. In one of the last acts of his so-called pivot to Asia, Obama is expected to announce greater help in clearing bombs dropped by US forces on Laos during the Vietnam War. Obama will then travel to the ancient capital of Luang Prabang on Wednesday, visiting a historic temple and meeting with students at a university growing up in a tightly controlled communist nation. Robert Hilgenkamp Robert L. Hilgenkamp, 92, of Fremont died Sept. 3, 2016, at Nebraska Medicine in Omaha. Robert was born on Oct. 12, 1923, in Stover, Mo., and came to Nebraska as a child with his parents, William and Alma Hilgenkamp. Robert attended Immanuel Lutheran School at Hooper. He worked on his fathers farm until 1945 when he entered the service. He served in the Army and the Army Engineers until his discharge in 1947. Robert returned to the farm and continued farming until his father and mothers deaths. He remained on the farm until 1974 when he retired and moved to Fremont. Robert was a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Hooper, where he was the head usher. The funeral will be 1:30 p.m. Thursday at Immanuel Lutheran Church, east of Winslow. The Rev. Jonathan Ripke will officiate. Visitation will be from 12:30-1:30 p.m. Thursday at the church. Burial will be at 3:15 p.m. Thursday at St. Pauls Lutheran Cemetery, north of Arlington. Military honors will be conducted by the Fremont Honor Guard of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 854 and American Legion Post 20. Memorials may be given to Immanuel Lutheran Church or to the Lutheran Hour. Moser Memorial Chapel in Fremont is in charge of arrangements. Online condolences may be left at www.mosermemorialchapels.com. Tertiary Education Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce has today congratulated all eight of New Zealands universities who are ranked in the top 450 universities worldwide, according the annual Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings. The QS Rankings were released today and show six New Zealand universities have improved in the rankings, while all eight are ranked in worlds top 450. New Zealand has a world class tertiary education system and its great to see our universities continuing to excel in a highly competitive international environment, Mr Joyce says. The QS Rankings considers 3,800 institutions worldwide and ranks the top 916. Auckland University was ranked New Zealands highest at 81st, Otago University 169th, Canterbury University 214th equal, Victoria University of Wellington 228th equal, Waikato University 324th, Massey University 340th equal, Lincoln University 343rd equal and Auckland University of Technology 447th. Government has shown our commitment to universities by increasing funding for the sector by 24 per cent since 2008. We also announced $761M in new funding for the Innovative New Zealand package of science, tertiary and regional development initiatives in Budget 2016, a lot of which will flow into the university sector. Innovative New Zealand includes two major initiatives specific to universities as part of Budget 2016. Those initiatives will help our universities remain competitive on the world stage, Mr Joyce says. Entrepreneurial Universities, is a $35 million initiative which will attract more of the worlds leading researchers and their teams to locate their labs here and base themselves in New Zealand. We also announced $34.5 million for Centres of Asia Pacific Excellence (CAPEs) which will be cross-institutional centres of excellence in the language, culture, politics and economics of countries or groups of countries within the Asia-Pacific region. The QS Rankings consider academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty to student ratio, citations per faculty, international faculty and international students. More information about the rankings can be found HERE Source: Office of Steven Joyce. Porirua Police are looking for Manuel Tawhai who has links to the wider Wellington area. The 25-year-old, who is of medium build, has a warrant to arrest for failing to appear in court on a number of charges, including dishonesty and drug-related offending. His current whereabouts are unknown. The public is advised not to approach Tawhai, but to call 111 immediately if they see him. Non-urgent information can be given to the Kapiti-Mana Police by contacting Senior Sergeant James McKay on 04 439 0895. Information can also be given anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Source: New Zealand Police. A new eight-part documentary web series is aiming to bridge the divide between mainstream society and people living with intellectual disabilities. Produced by Bella Pacific Media, Amy Street centres on the lives of nine residents of The Supported Life Style Hauraki Trust which is based in Thames and supports people with differing abilities. New data from the Treasury shows that income redistribution across New Zealands income tax and support system continues to increase, with the top 10 per cent of households forecast to pay 37.2 per cent of income tax in 2016/17, compared with 35.5 per cent in 2007/08. This latest data confirms that New Zealands income tax and support system significantly redistributes incomes to households in need, Acting Finance Minister Steven Joyce says. Higher income households are paying a larger share of income tax than they were in 2008, and lower income households are paying less the 30 per cent of households with the lowest incomes are forecast to pay just 5.4 per cent of income tax, compared with 6.3 per cent in 2007/08. This is before the effect of redistribution from Working For Families and benefits. The Government has increased support for low income families to help New Zealanders through times of need. So at any particular time, a large number of households effectively dont pay income tax, Mr Joyce says. Treasury estimate that in 2016/17 42 per cent of households will pay less in tax than they receive from welfare benefits, Working for Families, New Zealand Superannuation and accommodation subsidies. This compares with 39 per cent in 2007/08. For the 30 per cent of households with the lowest incomes, the $1.7 billion of income tax they are expected to pay will be more than offset by the $10.6 billion they will receive in income support, Mr Joyce says. Its appropriate to maintain a tax and income support system that helps low and middle income households when they most need it. The Treasury data shows exactly how much re-distribution is occurring, and how much it is growing. Source: Office of Steven Joyce. Celebrity psychologist Nigel Lattas latest pro-National documentary is not surprising when he and his production company have received millions of dollars of government money, says New Zealand First Leader and Northland Member of Parliament Rt Hon Winston Peters. Since 2008 production companies have received more than $7 million from the taxpayer to produce Mr Lattas shows. But judging by Mr Lattas comments in a column about tonights show on TV One on immigration there is a lack of professional standards as far as the information goes. Its also clear from this show he is firmly in the National Partys camp. Mr Latta claims the level of immigrants coming to New Zealand has been stable for the last 10 years and people are not flooding in. Thats odd considering last month Statistics New Zealand said New Zealands population grew by 97,000 in the year ended June 2016 the largest increase ever and that it was driven by record levels of international migration. Net migration was 69,100 over the year to June 2016. In other words, were creating a city the size of New Plymouth every year. But, according to Mr Latta, its stable because fewer Kiwis are leaving and more are returning even though statistics show three of every four making up the population increase are non-New Zealanders. Mr Latta says the country relies on immigration for skilled people to drive our economy. However, most immigrants are working in low-skilled and low paid occupations, keeping Kiwis out of jobs and making it easier for employers to keep pay rates at rock bottom. Mr Latta states also we need migrants to come and help build all of the houses we need. New Zealand First questions why isnt the National government training some of the 131,000 people who are unemployed, or the 70,000 young people aged 15 24 who are not in education, employment or training? Mr Latta has given up on ordinary New Zealanders and is so biased he sounds like a mouthpiece from Nationals communications unit. He should stick to focusing on peoples minds, not immigration. New Zealand First has never been opposed to immigration but we want controlled immigration that the country can sustain of between 10,000 and 15,000 each year, And we need more unbiased opinions than those being dished up by Mr Latta courtesy of the taxpayer, Mr Peters says. SOURCE: Office of Winston Peters Police Minister Judith Collins continues to make life cruisy for criminals and burglars in rural areas and harder for police, New Zealand First police Spokesperson Ron Mark says. In 2008, Ms Collins announced the roll-out of a secure digital radio network in the three main centres with rural areas to follow; but it hasnt happened. In small towns and rural areas police still have the old analogue radio network. Criminals can use cheap scanners to find out what the police are up to and where they are. In 2013, under Police Minister Anne Tolley, the government broke their promise to roll the digital radio network out to provincial areas. Today, Minister Collins said in Parliament she could not be responsible for this since she was not police minister at the time, but it was a decision made by the same National government of which she is a member. She said police had smartphones and iPads. But, these are not robust enough in rural areas, especially where there is poor cellphone coverage. The fact is all over provincial New Zealand police are seriously under-staffed and forced to rely on 1950s technology to combat increasing volumes of crime. Its little wonder that the latest Police Workplace Survey showed rural police are the most stressed and unhappy. Unlike the National government, New Zealand First would ensure 1800 new officers are trained and deployed and that they have modern technology to do their job, Mr Mark says. SOURCE: Office of Ron Marks Police Minister Judith Collins has committed Police to a 30% workload increase without providing extra resources, says Labours Police spokesman Stuart Nash. The Minister admitted in Question Time today that police currently investigate only 70% of all dwelling burglaries. Police are now required to investigate 100% of all burglaries so where is the extra support coming from? Ideally, Police should already be investigating all burglaries and the policy requiring this meets the expectation of all New Zealanders, but the problem is that there are no extra police officers to actually undertake this work. The interesting thing is that the Minister signed off on this policy when the latest Police culture survey revealed that almost 60% of Police officers have concerns about not meeting the promises they make to the public, and over 55% believe there is too much stress in their jobs. The top two recommendations to come out of the Police culture survey is the Police must rebuild confidence in New Zealand Polices ability to deliver and they must build a culture of inclusion. This policy will just exasperate the problem by forcing more work on an already stretched front line; especially when the Police Four Year Plan 2016 2020, signed off by the Minister in May of this year, shows no more Police officers until at least 2020. The Minister cant keep forcing more work on Police without significantly increasing police officer numbers, Stuart Nash says. SOURCE: Office of Stuart Nash More than 20 community leaders will abseil off the six-storey Regional House building in Tauranga today, as part of Drop Your Boss BOP 2016. The event is a fundraiser for the Graeme Dingle Foundation BOP, to support kids in Kiwi Can, Stars and Project K to reach their potential. With over two dozen trips to Walt Disney World under our belts finding new things to do is getting a little tough. Our trip in August allowed us to add something to our list of things done in WDW and it was really special and made us feel like VIPs! We booked the VIP Ultimate Thrills Tour which covered three parks including The Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Disneys Hollywood Studios. This tour would get us on all the biggest thrill rides that Disney World has to offer (as long as theyre open) without much wait. The cost of the tour is $299.00 per person, runs on Tuesday , Friday , and Sundays , and can take up to 7 hours to complete. Lunch and a private shuttle are included in the price. The only thing is that you have to get yourself to the Magic Kingdom for the beginning of the tour. We cabbed it to the Contemporary and walked over to the Magic Kingdom to make sure we were there in plenty of time, we met with the other VIPs at the Tomorrowland Terrace where water and coffee were available prior to the tours beginning. Tours can accommodate up to 40 people, our tour had about 28. We received our VIP lanyards and we were off on our day of thrills! With the tour youre not skipping to the front of the line, youre getting on the rides via the Fastspass lines, so the waiting to get on rides isnt all that long. With that said, we started our tour with Pirates of the Caribbean, this is a family favorite and my daughter was excited to ride Pirates. She spent years with her eyes shut on this ride, now that shes older and braver she realized she had nothing to be afraid of! Pirates was added to the itinerary because Big Thunder Mountain is down for rehab. From Pirates we made our way to Frontierland and headed straight for Splash Mountain.a ride I ride because its fun but Im still not a big fan of drops. My daughter is a lot like me with being apprehensive about drops but husband is fine with anything. We boarded Splash and my husband had the pleasure of riding in the front of the log and would be the buffer for us getting soaked. We got wet as well, but even tough husband was dripping, he had a great time. After a trip to the bathroom to shower we were off to our next ride the Haunted Mansion. Yet another ride my daughter refused to open her eyes on that has turned into her FAVORITE ride. Shes watched countless documentaries on the attraction and keeps telling us things about it that we didnt know. Shes setting herself up to be a VIP tour guide after school. It was very neat to be able to follow the guides and be toted from park to park via the cast-member entrances and exists, with super helpful VIP guides. After Mansion, we made our way over to the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, we had a break in the action to use the restrooms and grab a quick snack. After the break we rode Mine Train, a great ride I just wish it was a bit longer. The animatronics are worth the price of admission alone to see though. We then made our way to Space Mountain. This is where my daughter and I tapped out. Were not coaster fans, well ride Mine Train because the drops arent that big, but there is no way Im getting on Space Mountain! My. husband, who loves this ride, always tries to get me to go on it but I wont. From Space Mountain we hit Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger Spin as a nice little add on, its fun and a blast to ride. After Buzz we made our way to the parking lot located behind Tomorrowland, there we boarded into our vans and made our way over to EPCOT. EPCOT is where we stopped for lunch at Sunshine Seasons, this was a bit of a bummer, while the food here is good, and we enjoyed the selection. From lunch we rode Soarin. Soarin had just recently re-opened with a new video that has your soaring around the world and not just California. Soarin had been a ride we skipped in the past, once youve done it a few times the thrill is gone. We were excited to see the new video and it did not disappoint! It was stunningly brilliant. Clear and crisp and a vast improvement over the old video, a job well done here. After a quick bathroom break where the tour moved onto Test Track almost without me, a guide stayed behind when my husband alerted him, but my husband being the man he is, waited as well.and never saw us leave via the escalator on the opposite side of the Land Pavilion! We thought he had left with the others, he finally left hoping I was with the group, and in a mad dash across EPCOT he, my daughter and my purse finally caught up to us. Our guide was super helpful and did all he could to get our family back together, and yay we were reunited and it was time to ride Test Track. Off to Test Track, a ride we rode when it first opened in 1999, a ride we loved, a ride we were crushed when the changed the testing part for what is there now. The ride is still fun, but my husband really misses Bill McKim (the guy from the pre-show video), we miss the German and Belgium blocks, those little things made Test Track really fun, its still fun but.I know its an ever evolving theme park and not a museum. After EPCOT we made our way over to the Studios, here we were ride Rock n Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, Toy Story Midway Mania and Star Tours. My daughter and I sat out Rock n Roller Coaster and Tower because you couldnt pay us enough to get on them. But it was ok, there were also others on the tour who sat out certain rides. I did Tower once and swore Id never get back on! My husband was happy he rode Rock n Roller Coaster in the front and was treated to listening to Sweet Emotion while looping his way through the ride. He enjoyed Tower, it was only the second time he has been on it. Our first trip in 1999 was the first and last time he had been on it, thats when it changed from a straight 13 story drop to multiple drop sequences that are randomly generated. He wanted a nice HUGE drop all at once and got off the ride disappointed. He enjoyed the ride and will probably add it to the rotation of Studios rides (for himself). We made our way to Pixar Place and Toy Story Midway Mania, a great ride that weve been on countless times and it still doesnt get old. And to conclude our day of ultimate thrills we finished it with Star Tours. Being that Im the wife of a Star Wars fan we are quite familiar with this ride. My daughter likes to poke fun at my husband that she has been named the rebel spy multiple times and on both coasts. He threatened her with a swift kick to the rear if she was named the spy again..she wasnt.and he still jokingly kicked her. Its honestly like having 2 children. All in all this was a great day full of fun, and laughs, and thrills and if you have the means to do this tour do it. You wont be disappointed. 100808maxwellcourt1sdc.JPG Oswego County Judge Walter Hafner in 2008. (Stephen D. Cannerelli | scannerelli@syracuse.com) OSWEGO, N.Y. - The state has reprimanded an Oswego County judge for discourteously criticizing a prosecutor's handling of criminal cases, and for condescending remarks about a teenage rape victim. The state Commission on Judicial Conduct publicly admonished Oswego County Judge Walter Hafner over his remarks from the bench in three cases over the past six years. Hafner has not presided over Oswego County criminal cases over the past three years because the judicial conduct complaints were filed by Oswego County District Attorney Greg Oakes. That presented a conflict that required Hafner to recuse himself from any cases involving the DA's office. It appears Hafner still won't be able to handle Oswego County cases for another two years, said his lawyer, Gerald Stern. The clock started with last week's determination by the commission. Hafner, an Oswego County Court judge since 1999, has been hearing criminal cases in Onondaga County Court. An admonition is the mildest public punishment the commission can issue. It can also suspend a judge or remove him or her from the bench. Oswego County District Attorney Greg Oakes in 2014. It was the second time in 16 years the commission admonished Hafner over his public words. In the recent case, two of the commission's findings of misconduct involved Hafner's criticisms of how the DA's office handled cases. In September 2013, Hafner "failed to be patient, dignified and courteous when he made loud and derogatory statements" in response to Oakes' request to switch the date of one defendant's trial for another, Lee Johnson Jr. Hafner questioned why it had taken so long for Oakes' office to indict Johnson, who'd been in jail for nine months awaiting trial on a rape charge. Hafner questioned why the DA's office often took so long to indict defendants. He said defense lawyers should stop their practice of signing waivers of their clients' rights to a speedy trial. "They don't indict people," Hafner said in court of the DA's office. "They leave them sit in the jail forever. For whatever reason, I don't have any clue." The judge said he'd seen the same long delays in other cases. "No, that's just absolutely not true, your honor," Oakes said in court. "You want to have an argument today about it?" the judge asked. "I'll go get my figures... It is absolutely true, Mr. Oakes. And I can give you the numbers... There are many cases that are old." Hafner said he'd dismissed some of the old cases recently. "You got, I betcha at least 25, 50 cases, OK, that are way old," Hafner said. "You got hundreds more out there that nothing's happening. So you go back with your office and figure out what's going on." The commission found that Hafner violated his ethical obligation to be patient, dignified and courteous. "While a judge can properly question a prosecutor about perceived inordinate delays, this duty, like all of a judge's responsibilities, must be exercised in a courteous, dignified manner," the commission said. Stern, a former administrator of the commission, said judges have an obligation to question why cases are languishing while defendants wait in jail for their trials. Hafner was upset with Oakes for delaying cases that resulted in an overcrowded county jail, Stern said. "Courtesy in court is important, but so is justice," Stern said. "It seems to me that a concerned judge is likely to get upset when there is undue delay and when the prosecutor is not recognizing the importance of moving cases more expeditiously." Hafner told the commission he would be more courteous. Oakes said Monday he couldn't comment because he hadn't seen the commission's decision. Hafner also would not comment. In the second case, Hafner questioned whether a cousin of Oakes' who was charged in a burglary had gotten away with a crime. In that case, Hafner appointed a special prosecutor because of Oakes' conflict of interests. Hafner realized in October 2013 that he had to dismiss the felony case against another man charged in the burglary because the special prosecutor had moved too slowly. The misdemeanor case against Oakes' cousin, which was in another court, was also dismissed because of the delay. Hafner said in court that he'd appointed a special prosecutor to avoid the appearance of impropriety. "Well, there certainly appears to be plenty of impropriety in how both of these cases were handled," Hafner said. "I mean, they got away with a burglary, basically. Nobody prosecuted it. Obviously, the improprieties continue." Hafner admitted to the commission that he shouldn't have mentioned Oakes' relation to the defendant and that his comments created the appearance that he was biased. The special prosecutor may have had legitimate reasons for not pursuing the cases, the commission said. Hafner's criticism appears to have been based merely on suspicion, the commission said. "Such statements are detrimental to public confidence in the fair and proper administration of justice," the commission wrote. Instead of saying the two defendants got away with a burglary, Hafner should've said they didn't have to face the charges because of the way they were prosecuted, Stern said. "The judge expressed frustration that the two cases were not handled properly," Stern said. "He realizes that he should have maintained his silence on any suspicions he had." The commission found Hafner used inappropriate and condescending language about a rape victim during the trial of Steven Swank in 2010. Swank was accused of raping a 14-year-old girl when he was 30. Sometime after the crime, the girl became pregnant by another man. She was 16 at the time of the trial. Hafner was talking to the defense lawyer and Oakes about working out a plea-bargain because the jury appeared to be deadlocked. Neither the victim nor the jury were in the courtroom for the discussion. The defense lawyer wanted a plea to a charge that didn't require Swank to register as a sex offender. Oakes, who was then an assistant district attorney, opposed it. Hafner noted that the victim didn't seem upset when she testified. Oakes told him the point of the statutory rape law is that 14-year-olds cannot give consent to have sex with adults. "I understand, but you weren't successful," Hafner told Oakes. "She's got a baby. She's only sixteen now. So the statute didn't save her, did it? I don't think it's going to save her." The commission said the justice system must treat teenage victims of sexual abuse with sensitivity and respect. Judges sometimes make blunt statements in plea negotiations to give a frank assessment of the case, the commission wrote. But in this case, Hafner's choice of words "could be perceived as a harsh, judgmental statement about a young woman who was the alleged victim of a serious crime," the commission said. Hafner admitted to the commission that his comments "inappropriately focused on the victim and created the appearance that he was being critical of her," the commission's 23-page decision said. Stern said judges are allowed to be active in plea negotiations and often raise questions about the prosecution's case. He noted that Hafner did not make his comments in front of the jury or the victim. "If judges did not participate in plea discussions, the system would be even more delayed since only a small percentage of cases can go to trial," he said. The commission found that Hafner did not show favoritism in the Swank case. After the jury convicted Swank of all charges, Hafner denied a defense request to set aside the verdict and sentenced Swank to prison. Contact John O'Brien anytime | email | Twitter | 315-470-2187 Hometown financial expert Saratoga Springs native and Oswego resident, Lauren Greutman turned personal experience into a professional passion. In 2010 Greutman was focused on teaching coupon seminars after proving her success at keep her monthly grocery bill for 4 people at $200. Requests for her classes grew, leading to appearances on local news channels. As a former spending addict with a growing family, (Greutman now has four children) she found that tips and tools that she implemented in her life resonated with the women who were facing similar challenges. "I was so excited to share with everyone what I had learned through the process. I knew the exact changes I had made that really made a difference, and I was having a lot of success using my life experiences to teach others how to do the same thing. I had come full circle and now found pleasure in helping others get through the rough terrain that I been through a few years before," Greutman says. In 2014 Greutman shifted away from writing strictly about couponing on her website and instead broadened her expert topics to debt reduction, budgeting tips, and easy money saving ideas. This transition coupled with her popularity led to her becoming the go-to Personal Finance Expert for shows like The Dr. Oz Show, Good Morning America, Fox & Friends, and the TD Jakes show, as well as appearing on a monthly feature on The Today Show. Greutman says that her newest book, "The Recovering Spender: How to Live a Happy, Fulfilled, Debt-Free Life," is a helpful tool for those who are still struggling, adding "This book is the financial book for the person who doesn't enjoy talking about money. It is for the person who wants to learn how to get out of debt and stay out of debt once and for all." Shortly after the book debuts on September 13, Greutman will be attending a book event hosted by the Clay Barnes and Noble on Saturday, September 17 at 2pm. For readers who are unable to attend, Greutman offers this as what she believes to be the most important piece of advice in regard to frugal living: "Your spending is a reflection of your values, and until you know what those values are, you will continue to spend money opposite to what you hold dear. So often people get into debt and don't know how to get out of it. It starts with taking a good hard look at your values in life and changing your spending to reflect those values." You can learn more about Greutman and her books by visiting her websites, The Recovering Spender and laurengreutman.com. You can find her book wherever books are sold. Call for volunteers Literacy Volunteers is holding an Orientation Session to give a broad overview of the agency, what a literacy tutor does, where we need tutors, and what to expect from upcoming Training classes. Based on the individual needs of the student, the program seeks to provide everything from Basic Literacy for primary English speakers, to improving conversational skills, reading abilities, and more for those for whom English is a second language. Those interested in learning more about becoming a volunteer can attend an orientation at BOCES Center for Learning, 12 Allen St., Auburn on Monday, September 12 at 6 p.m. To register for the session call Literacy Volunteers at (315 ) 253-5241. Have a book to share? Are you a local author or have you come across a book set in Central New York? Tell us about it. Send a brief description of the book and the author and we'll add it as a candidate for coverage. Write us at features@syracuse.com. 2013-09-12-mg-hospital2.JPG A worker at Crouse Hospital gets a flu shot in a file photo. (Michelle Gabel | The Post-Standard) It's back to the needle for kids this flu season as the American Academy of Pediatrics no longer recommends the nasal FluMist in place of a shot. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ruled over the summer that the FluMist, a more child-friendly option than an injection, isn't as effective, according to CNN. Pediatricians still recommend vaccinating kids against the flu. Everyone 6 months and up should get the shot by October, CNN said. Children and the elderly are especially vulnerable to the flu. Doctors don't expect parents who planned to vaccinate their kids to back down just because the nasal spray is no longer an option, according to CNN. "Patients who would like to prevent the flu will use whatever option is available," said Dr. Jennifer Shu, a pediatrician in Atlanta, according to CNN. "I let patients know that vaccines are constantly being evaluated for safety and effectiveness and that FluMist is no longer recommended because it was not working as expected." A committee determined the spray's effectiveness among children last year was 3 percent, compared with 63 percent for the injected vaccine, according to the Omaha World-Herald. In past seasons, the mist compared well with the injected vaccine, the paper said. It's not known why that changed. The Food and Drug Administration originally approved the mist in 2003, CNN said. AstraZeneca, the spray's manufacturer, said over the summer that its own studies and some preliminary independent research from overseas found higher levels of effectiveness, according to the Herald. The company said it plans to continue working with the CDC on the matter. FluMist accounted for about one-third of vaccines given to kids in recent years, according to CNN. Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Google + | 315-454-2112 081406mannionDN.JPG Patrick Mannion, pictured in a 2006 file photo (Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com) SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Patrick Mannion will take over the Syracuse Regional Airport Authority's board at the end of this week. Mayor Stephanie Miner will appoint Mannion director at the authority's annual meeting on Friday, Sept. 9. Bill Fisher, who has served as board director since the authority's inception in 2011, is resigning his position. He will remain on the board. "To me, in my gut, I felt like five years was good," Fisher said. Miner chose Fisher, who is the deputy county executive, to lead the board in 2011 and selected him again in 2015. He said he began talking to the board about resigning earlier this year. "Institutionally I don't think a board should have the same chair forever and ever," he said. "Even though I'd been appointed I thought I should let someone else have the chair." Fisher said one of the biggest challenges facing the authority will be what to do with the parking garage, which is in need of improvements. Mannion is currently the vice chair of the SRAA board and a member of the audit committee. He is employed as vice chair of Columbian Financial Group. The board's development committee recommended Mannion to replace Fisher. Fisher is the sole board appointee of County Executive Joanie Mahoney. The mayor has seven appointees on the board. Other members are appointed by the Towns of Dewitt, Salina, Clay and Cicero, the North Syracuse Central School District Board of Education, and the East Syracuse-Minoa Central School District Superintendent. Board members are volunteers and are not paid. Mannion is the son of Miner's husband, Jack Mannion. 2015-09-08-dl-mott3.JPG First day of school at Mott Road Elementary School in Fayetteville, Tues. Sept. 8, 2015. (David Lassman / The Post-Standard) Amy Zogby is director of the Syracuse University Parent Advocacy Center. SUPAC promotes meaningful parent involvement in the education of children with disabilities in the Mid-State Region of New York state, and offers resources to help parents understand and advocate for their children with disabilities. By Amy Zogby For Central New York the start of the school year is here and most families are thinking about what they need to do to get ready. Amy Zogby is director of SUPAC. Making the transition from laid-back summer days to strict schedules can seem overwhelming. But here are some easy-to-follow tips on getting everyone back to school and starting the year on a positive note. 1. Start with the morning routine. Getting everyone out the door with everything they need for the day can be tricky, but come up with a routine that everyone can follow. * It is nearly impossible to get yourself ready and your kids ready at the same time and not feel frazzled. If you can try to wake up before everyone else to get ready and have some alone time, you will find that your mornings go much smoother. * Making a visual or picture schedule can be very helpful to remind kids what they need to do in the morning to get ready and encourage independence. If your child completes everything on the schedule you can work in a reward (for example, time with you, watching a show, reading a book) and the best part is parents will not have to remind their child five times to brush their teeth. There are many templates for picture schedules online that are very easy to set up. * In addition to eating breakfast, getting dressed, combing your hair, and brushing your teeth, backpacks also need to be packed. Although it is best to pack at night we all know that does not always happen. Understood.org has a very helpful Backpack Checklist Luggage Tags and tutorial that will help frazzled kids and parents to remember everything they need to pack before they rush out the door. 2. Stay up-to-date with the information about your kid's school. Start off with the basics, such as the teacher's name, the bus number and the pick-up and drop-off schedule, needed supplies and lunch menu. Once you have the basics mastered, everything else falls into place. Just be sure to "synchronize your swatches" with the school's calendar and make note of open houses, parent/teacher conferences, curriculum nights and any other school event that encourage parent involvement. On your lunch break you can even peruse EngageNY.org to get a preview of what your child will be learning that year. 3. Get your kids excited about school. Whether you are a first time parent sending your baby off to school and stocking up on tissues for the bus stop or you are doing your happy dance for the start of the school year, you have probably already started talking about the first day of school. The main thing for parents to remember is that not all kids love school. For some kids it may be hard for them to make friends or get good grades. Instead of a pep talk where you try to tell your child how great school is, try asking your child what they like about school, what they would change about school, and what their hopes are. * To help guide your conversation with your child you can complete SUPAC's "What Works portfolio" and then you can give it to your child's teacher so they have a full picture of your child. * Explain why school is important and problem solve any concerns your child might have (f,or example, who to go to for help or who to sit with at lunch). * Explore after school activities that your child might be interested in * Once school starts the Huffington Post has two great articles, here and here, with ideas of how to casually talk with your child/teen about school. 4. Plan out your after-school and bedtime routine. Things may have gotten a little loose over the summer with bed times that were less a rule and more an afterthought. Now is the time to start enforcing a bed time. Speaking of routines, think about an after-school schedule for when your child gets home. Tailor it to best fit your child's personality and temperament. Maybe your kids needs a half hour of unstructured play to help burn off excess energy, or maybe they need some quiet time to decompress from the day's events. The same as the morning, if you develop an after-school routine and bed-time routine the better your children will sleep. * Do what you can to prepare for the next day (especially emptying out and reading papers that come home in the backpack). * Set up a specific place in your house for homework that is stocked with all the supplies a child might need (e.g., pencils, pencil sharpener, pens, paper, etc.) and consider what your child might need to help them concentrate (e.g., music or complete silence). * Be sure to stop any screen time (e.g., TV, smartphone, tablets) at least two hours before your child's bedtime and set up a calm and cool environment with dim lights and soft blankets. 5. If this is your child's second year in the school, this is a great time to think about what you would like to do differently. This could be the year to find activities to get involved in your school such as volunteering at an event or chaperoning field trips. Your school also might have a Parent/Teacher Group that you can be a part of. Be sure to get to know your child's teacher well and learn what the teacher's preferred mode of communication is. If your child's teacher has a website or if the school has a parent portal be sure to become familiar with it early on in the school year. If your child has any sort of individual plan (e.g., medical, educational, behavioral) be sure to review it with your child's teacher in the beginning of the year. Also, be sure that your child knows about any accommodations they should be getting and role play with them the appropriate way to remind their teacher or to ask for the accommodation. Imdetermined.org is a great website with many resources to help students learn to self-advocate. The website also has resources like the "Good day plan" to help children explore how they can have a good day at school. ITT tech photo.JPG ITT Technical Institute has a campus in Liverpool outside of Syracuse. (Provided Photo) SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The embattled for-profit college chain ITT Technical Institute has shuttered its schools just as students around the country are hitting the books. ITT said it has cancelled this academic semester and will lay off almost 8,000 employees, The Los Angeles Times reported. The announcement comes in the weeks after the U.S. Department of Education banned ITT from enrolling new students who rely on federal financial aid. About 70 percent of ITT's $850 million in revenues last year was federal aid. Shortly after the education department intervened, ITT officials announced they would not be taking any new students this semester. ITT has campuses in Liverpool, Albany and Erie County. The web pages for those campuses are no longer available online. Federal sanctions against ITT came after months of scrutiny by investigators, who found the for-profit chain was not in compliance with its accrediting agency, which ensures that institutions meet certain education and operation standards. As part of the investigation, ITT has had to increase its cash reserves in order to protect students and taxpayers, should the turmoil at ITT result in lawsuits or permanent closure of the schools. ITT operates more than 130 campuses in 28 states, the LA Times reported. Officials told the Times in a statement that its priority now is, "helping tens of thousands of unexpectedly displaced students with their records and future educational options." Reporter Julie McMahon covers Syracuse University and Syracuse city schools. She can be reached anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-412-1992 A former state worker was charged today with putting more than $16,500 on a New York-issued credit card to pay for limousine trips to Walmart, family visits to Darien Lake and the cost of renewing his own wedding vows in Niagara Falls. Donald L. Chrisman, 46, formerly of Niagara Falls and now living on Almay Road in Rochester, was charged with third-degree grand larceny, a felony, and official misconduct, a misdemeanor, according to the office of state Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott. Scott's office found that Chrisman made at least 249 unapproved personal transactions during the summer of 2015. The limo charges alone added up to more than $4,000, according to her office. Chrisman had worked for the New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities as a peer advocate. He worked there from Aug. 7, 2003, to February 2016. As a peer advocate, his responsibilities included providing guidance to and advocating for people with developmental disabilities. He was assigned a state credit card for travel expenses as part of his work-related duties, according to Scott's office. Chrisman was arraigned in the town of Brighton Court and released. His next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 19. STAMFORD, N.Y. (AP) -- A woman who had been accused of killing her twin sister after their vehicle plunged off a Hawaii cliff has been released from a New York jail where she was being held on drunken driving charges. Delaware County authorities say 38-year-old Alexandria Duval was released Friday after posting bail. Duval was arrested Aug. 15 in Stamford. State police said her blood-alcohol content was more than three times the legal limit. Duval pleaded not guilty Aug. 23 to charges including aggravated driving while intoxicated. Messages left with her attorney weren't returned. Duval's sister, Anastasia, died in May when their SUV crashed in Maui and plunged 200 feet. Alexandria was jailed on a second-degree murder charge but later released when a judge determined there was no probable cause to support the charge. Karen Janson, Stuart Letter: Student write-in candidate for Martin County Commission disenfranchises half the voters In a democratic society the right to vote should be easy as 1, 2, 3 right? Historically, we know this not to be true. Today new tactics are being deployed to prevent certain segments of voters from voicing their opinions. Voter disenfranchisement can be seen in the surplus of write-in candidates popping up in Florida's restrictive closed primary format, a tool political strategists exploit to circumvent a truly democratic process. Florida is one of 11 states supporting closed primaries. Our county has 108,000 registered voters of which 54,000 are Republican, with the remaining 53,500 (or 49 percent of voters) registered as Democrats, independents or other. All voters, as of June, could cast their ballot in the District 1 race for County Commissioner for qualified contenders: Doug Smith and Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch. However, high school student Chase Austen Lurgio registered as a 'write-in' candidate, silencing the voices of 50 percent of Martin County voters. The 18-year-old candidate stated he was running for 'fun' knowing he has little chance to win. Voters need to ask themselves who benefits from Mr. Lurgio's write-in tactic and why was it allowed? Our state allows its members to change party affiliations to be able to vote in primaries. However, this does not help voters like me who want to choose a candidate in one primary who is Republican and one from another primary who is a Democrat. Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, 'Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.' Today citizens who want to vote are being excluded from taking part in one of the essential tenets of our democracy. Something smells fishy in Martin County, and for once, it is not the river. Final scores: Week 10's high school football games on the Treasure Coast Football teams hit field Thursday and Friday for Week 10 with SSAC playoffs beginning and District 12-4S title game between Treasure Coast and Vero. Trumps passionate revival last week of his hard-line stance on immigration looks more like a political disaster for the Republican nominee and his party. Trumps angry speech in Arizona, in which he promised to deport not only criminal aliens but millions of other immigrants living in the country illegally, prompted at least three members of his Hispanic Advisory Council to resign. It instantly became fodder for Democratic efforts to mobilize millions of Latino voters in swing states such as Florida and Nevada. And it probably didnt convince many undecided voters that Trump can be a unifying force in a deeply divided country. But winning undecided moderates may not have been Trumps goal. Instead, his former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, said on CNN that the speech was aimed principally at white males, to ensure he has locked them in. To non-Trump Republicans, thats precisely the problem: Their nominee is focused on voters hes already got. Preaching to the converted is fine if youre leading, GOP pollster Whit Ayres told me. If youre behind, its not what you need to be doing. Ayres, who worked for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in the primaries, has never been a Trump fan, but he has spent years studying the demographics of the electorate and hes convinced that the nominee is leading his party to calamity. After alienating so many nonwhite voters, Trump needs to win 65 percent of the white vote, Ayres estimates. Only one candidate has done that in the last 40 years, and that was Ronald Reagan in a 49-state landslide in 1984. Its not going to happen. And the stakes are even bigger than the outcome of this years election. Trumps campaign could shape Latino voters behavior for a generation to come. Already, Latinos have been trending Democratic. In 2004, then-President George W. Bush won roughly 40 percent of the Latino vote; in 2012, Mitt Romney won about 27 percent. This year, according to a poll released last week, Trump is on track to win no more than 20 percent of their votes, a modern low. Over the long run, Ayres and other GOP strategists worry, Latinos Democratic allegiance could become a habit thats hard to break. Were in a hole, Ayres said. We can dig our way out of it if we make the Republican brand distinct from the Trump brand. But at this point, Trump is making the hole even deeper. But in his speech last week, Trump said he would subject immigrants who are in the country illegally but havent been accused of crimes to deportation, too. He called for new restrictions on legal immigration, which he said is too high. And he argued that the quality of recent legal immigrants, often admitted thanks to family ties, has been too low. We take anybody, he complained. Trump supporters who say he makes a clear distinction between immigrants here legally and those in the U.S. illegally havent been paying close enough attention. And guess what? The sponsors of those family reunification immigrants often their parents or siblings are citizens who have the right to vote. Theyre not only Latinos; theyre Asian, African and European. Trumps complaint that their relatives arent classy enough isnt likely to make him many friends. Theres a legitimate debate, of course, about whether legal immigration has leaned too far in the direction of family reunification at the expense of places for highly skilled professionals. And theres a legitimate debate about how best to handle the more than 10 million immigrants who are here illegally and havent committed serious crimes. Wait a minute, some may object: Trump hasnt been demonizing Latinos in general; hes praised Mexican Americans as great people. And Trump hasnt attacked immigrants in general; hes focused on criminal aliens, who he says have been allowed to freely roam our streets (and) do whatever they want to do. But Trumps problem and the Republicans isnt policy, its that he frames immigration as a crisis that has unleashed millions of nonwhite foreigners to roam our streets, commit grisly crimes and steal Americans jobs. That portrayal is inaccurate, and it exacerbates racism. Several times in recent months, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) has worried out loud about the growth of identity politics in his own party meaning political allegiances defined by race or ethnicity. If we try to play our own version of identity politics and try to fuel ourselves based on darker emotions, thats not productive, he told the New York Times. I dont think it will be successful, and I dont think it is the right thing to do. Unfortunately, these days, its bubbling up on the right, he told reporters at the Republican National Convention. Whether Trump wins or loses, Ryan and the rest of his party have their work cut out for them. Walk around most Apple stores and you'll notice that the vast majority of those working there are under 30. You would hope that age has nothing to do with why they got the job and that they're employed based solely on an ability to do the job, but a New York Times op-ed seems to prove otherwise. The Ashton Applewhite piece on age discrimination cites the case of former Apple engineer JK Scheinberg, a 21-year Cupertino veteran and the man who persuaded Steve Jobs to migrate the Mac from PowerPC to Intel processors in 2005. He's a person who really deserves the title of "Apple genius." However, not long after retiring in 2008, Scheinberg became restless and decided to apply to work at the Genius Bar as a customer support representative. At 54, he was twice as old as anyone else in the group interview, but considering his past experience, he should have had no problem getting the job. "'On the way out, all three of the interviewers singled me out and said, 'We'll be in touch,' " he said. 'I never heard back.'" Wonder if Apple will finally give me callback on that genius bar interview https://t.co/9fXt5fBFTU #ageism --- JK Scheinberg (@tiltdad) September 5, 2016 The case isn't a unique one. 60-year-old Michael Katz, a former Mac specialist, sued Apple for age discrimination in 2010. He alleged that the company promoted less senior and less qualified employees over him and that he missed out on promotions several times due to his age. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had already found "reasonable cause" that he had been passed over for promotion due to his age. Apple has yet to comment on the Times article. For those unwilling or unable to purchase Microsoft Office, the open source project OpenOffice has long been an excellent alternative. But it now looks as if the free productivity suite could be shut down unless more volunteer developers come on board. Ars Technica reports that Dennis Hamilton, volunteer vice president of Apache OpenOffice, sent out an email thread stating: "It is my considered opinion that there is no ready supply of developers who have the capacity, capability, and will to supplement the roughly half-dozen volunteers holding the project together." He added that no decisions had yet been made, but "retirement of the project is a serious possibility." Many of OpenOffice's volunteers have left to work on LibreOffice - a fork of OpenOffice that launched in 2011. Its updates arrive more frequently than OpenOffice: 14 in 2015 alone, which is a lot more than the single update OpenOffice received across the whole of last year. The dearth of volunteers has meant that dealing with security vulnerabilities has posed a problem. Apache informed users of a vulnerability in June that could let attackers craft denial-of-service attacks and execute arbitrary code. The company suggested users switch to Microsoft Office or LibreOffice as a solution. A patch that needed to be manually installed was released a month later, but security problems remain. Another issued face by OpenOffice is that the few developers still working there are "aging," and that working there isn't "much of a resume builder." Despite the lack of updates, OpenOffice was downloaded more than 29 million times on Windows and Mac last year, making a cumulative total of 160 million downloads since May 2012, according to project statistics. While there are plenty of people who want OpenOffice to continue by finding other ways of attracting new contributors, the signs aren't looking good for the open source software. While massive tech rivals spend a lot of their time at each other's throats, there are occasions when they work together for a mutually beneficial cause. Samsung's patent dispute last year is one example, as is the FBI iPhone saga, and now another case is uniting companies from within and outside of the tech industry: Microsoft's battle with US government over the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). Amazon, Apple, Google, and Mozilla have all filed an amicus brief supporting Microsoft's lawsuit, which aims stop the ECPA from allowing officials to determine when or if companies can notify customers of government information requests. Gagging orders, essentially. Other firms lending their support include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, Delta Air Lines Inc, Eli Lilly and Co, BP America, the Washington Post, Fox News, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Newspaper Association, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, five former FBI and justice department officials, and many others. The unlikely alliance prompted Microsoft's chief legal officer, Brad Smith, to joke: "It's not every day that Fox News and the ACLU are on the same side of an issue." He previously said in a blog post that consumers and businesses have a right to know when the government accesses their e-mails or records The companies believe that not notifying customers of the requests is a violation of the fourth amendment, which establishes the right for people and businesses to know if the government searches or seizes their property. Microsoft claims it also violates its First Amendment right to free speech. Despite all the support, there's no guarantee that Microsoft's lawsuit will be successful. The justice department has said there's "compelling" interest in keeping criminal investigations secretive, and that there are steps to protect constitutional rights. It hasn't commented on the recent friends-of-the-court filings. Bitcoin, the volatile cryptocurrency created by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto (likely a pseudonym), has taken investors on one hell of a roller coaster ride since its inception in 2009. From its humble beginnings and non-existent value to its late-2013 surge of more than $1,200 per unit and subsequent drop, it's been an interesting experiment to say the least. Investors with funds tied up in the virtual currency, however, have had to deal with far more than a volatile value. Tyler Moore, assistant professor of cyber security at the University of Tulsa's Tandy School of Computer Science, tells Reuters that since its debut in 2009 through March 2015, a full third of all Bitcoin exchanges operational during that time were hacked. And because they all operate differently (and are unregulated), they all have different policies on what happens to customers' funds in the event of a breach. To put the figure into perspective, the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse notes that of the 6,000 banks operational in the US during the same period, only 67 experienced a publicly-disclosed data breach, or around one percent. Moore's report also found that, during the same period, a whopping 48 percent of Bitcoin exchanges shut down. Richard Johnson, vice president of market structure and technology at Greenwich Associates, told the publication that a 48 percent closure rate is not acceptable although not surprising given that Bitcoin is such a new technology. As always, one shouldn't invest in anything unless they fully understand the nature of the investment and the risks associated with it. And as the old saying goes, it's never wise to put all of your eggs in one basket (translation - diversification is your friend). A big reward is waiting for people who can give useful information about who shot dead three sea otters off the Central Coast. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife's reward of $10,000 for the whistleblowers has been raised to $20,000 after the Center for Biological Diversity announced a similar amount on top of it. Those with information on the sea otter shootings can call the CalTIP line at (888) 334-2258 or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at (650) 876-9078. There is apparent shock over the killing of cute and furry creatures. One report describes how they bring a smile to the face of onlookers, and animal rights advocates are enraged by the wanton killings. In the recent episode, two juvenile otter males and an adult male were killed between late July and early August. The dead bodies were washed up between Santa Cruz Harbor and Seacliff State Beach in Aptos, according to reports. The anguish was palpable in the words of officials. "We are all just aghast that something like that would happen. [The shooters] are breaking the law, and they are killing this animal that is just loved by people," said Dave Feliz, manager of the Elkhorn Slough Reserve, said. Sea otters, also known as California otters, are mostly found in the waters between San Mateo and Santa Barbara counties. Faced with the threat of extinction from predators, they have been declared a threatened species in 1977 and are awarded legal protection. The Endangered Species Act mandates punishment of up to $100,000 in fines and prison term for killing a sea otter. According to California Diver, a survey held in 2007 showed that the population of sea otters in California was a little more than 3,000. California also holds the distinction of being the only place where the southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) are clustered in big numbers. There are some 1,200 otters at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary but their population is stagnant. These ocean animals do face the anger of fishermen who struggle to catch seafood like sea urchin and abalone, which are the favorites of sea otters. According to Steve Shimek, executive director of the Otter Project, some fishermen might run over otters with boats to scare them away from their fishing areas. Taking a cruel step like shooting animals is unacceptable, Shimek said, even if the person is in a state of anger. The California sea lions are also facing a similar plight, he added. In 2013, there was an escalation in the killings of sea otters and many were found dead at Asilomar State Beach, according to Mike Harris, senior environmental scientist at the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Photo: Mike Baird | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A snake species has been discovered in Madagascar. Aptly called "ghost snake" thanks to its pale color, the reptile's name comes from the local Malagasy term "lolo," meaning ghost. In a new study, researchers claimed that the ghost snake belongs to a larger group of snakes known as Madagascarophis, which are cat-eyed, nocturnal and distinguished by their vertical pupils. Researchers at the American Museum of Natural History, the Universite de Mahajanga in Madagascar and LSU Museum of Natural Science published their research work on the ghost snake in the scientific journal Copeia. "None of the other snakes in Madagascarophis are as pale and none of them have this distinct pattern," said the lead author of the paper, Sara Ruane, who is a post-doctoral fellow at the LSU Museum of Natural Science. Ruane asserted that the discovery of the new snake species, now known as Madagascarophis lolo, has been an exciting endeavor because there are many cat-eyed snakes in the island but this one stood out as an entirely new species and hitherto remained unknown because of poor exploration of the region. The researchers came across the ghost snake on pale gray limestone Tsingy rocks in the Ankarana National Park in northern Madagascar. Tsingy rock formations are the high point of Ankarana. The rocks are sharp and hard to walk on, yet the researchers traced the ghost snake's closest kin to be Madagascarophis fuchsi, discovered 100 kilometers north of Ankarana, a few years ago. They said the common factor binding the duo is that they both found them in rocky and isolated areas. More Research On Ghost Snake In The U.S. The researchers are now back in the U.S. after discovering the new ghost snake species and are planning in-depth genetic and morphological analyses of the reptile. In the preliminary studies, the focus is on physical characteristics of the snake with attention on scales spread on the belly, back, and those near the eyes and lips. Ruane has taken the ghost snake's DNA from the tissue samples and will compare it with the Madagascarophis fuchsi. She used three genetic markers found in existing Madagascarophis species to compare with the new one. With the help of her colleauges, she also mapped out the genetic family tree of the Madagascarophis and found that there are five species all in all. "All of the analyses we did support that this is a distinct species despite the fact that we only have this one individual," Ruane said. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. OnePlus handset owners are in agreement that the company's phones are beyond expectations, but when it comes to OS update speed, things could be better. On the bright side, the company has put its back into offering faster updates for its Oxygen and Hydrogen operating systems. In a recent announcement, OnePlus said that both its separate Android software builds will become one. Oxygen OS and Hydrogen OS are about to merge, making way for faster updates and a slew of chemistry jokes to take place. Those who are not familiar with the OnePlus products should know that Oxygen originated as an Android Open Source Project (AOSP), and the first contributors to it were ex-members of the Paranoid Android team. Meanwhile, Hydrogen is the Chinese variant of the ROM, crafted so that it appeals to the taste of the general public. Some might see this as an attempt to actually listen to users when designing a new UI, while others will be quick to point out that Hydrogen is an iOS clone, at least with respect to its graphic appearance. To get a better grasp at the two operating systems' visuals, check out the manufacturer skins Android delivered for manufacturers such as Lenovo, Meizu and Xiaomi. The XDA blog talked to OnePlus about the intention to merge the two development teams, which should mean that more resources will be allocated to them, leading to updates landing faster on both ROMs. Having only one official software package presents another advantage, as it should yield enhanced support to users worldwide. XDA reports that Oxygen OS 3.5, which was built taking quite a few leafs out of Android Marshmallow's book, already shows the benefits of the union, especially when it comes down to the feel and look of the OS. OnePlus promises that all user feedback it receives will be heard, which could lead to some Oxygen UI modifications. If you are part of the AOSP purist team, the company's increased focus on skinned UI will be far from pleasing. However, XDA points out that such users can easily appeal to community alternatives such as "stock" ROMs and CyanogenMod. Both the CyanogenMod and stock ROMs are easy to install and customize with an unlocked bootloader. OnePlus's move toward a more streamlined update experience will force some users to ask themselves if they prefer faster updates in order to ensure a safer mobile environment. Some might be willing to stick with a pure Google-like experience, despite the fact that this means more vulnerabilities and lukewarm performance. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Microsoft rolled out some of the best operating systems in the world, but even those came with inherent bugs that caused systems to run slower than expected or even to freeze altogether. The recently released Windows 10 Anniversay Update that came out at the beginning of August hit users' systems hard, leaving their webcams disabled and causing them more than a few login freeze issues. Microsoft assured its customers that it was preparing an update to take care of the bugs, and it kept to its word on the last day of August. Keep in mind that the upgrade to Windows 10 Anniversary Update came out on Aug. 2, with a slew of novel features and enhancements targeting both everyday users and enterprise clients. Features such as a less power-hungry Edge browser, Windows Ink, Cortana improvements, polished gaming experiences, security upgrades and more were delivered in the update. Microsoft's digital assistant Cortana and the digital stylus that was packed with the Surface Pro tablet were supposed to get new features and improved functionality in the Anniversary Update. However, the update did bring two unexpected gifts. One was a strange capacity to randomly disable webcams, while the other was a strange propensity to freeze systems where users had their app data on one logical drive and their OS on another. CBC News asked Microsoft about the issue and the company explained that it is aware of the problem and is taking steps toward fixing it. The Windows developer noted that a number of apps that made use of compressed MJPG and H.264 streams for webcams were incompatible with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update. "We are currently rolling out a fix that should go public shortly," Microsoft said. Reports are indicating that despite the fact that the update does not target every bug that users reported in the Windows 10 update, it takes care of the critical problem of freezing during login. Windows 10 users can head to Microsoft's site to update to the latest version. Additional insights from Engadget are showing that Microsoft fixed the login freeze issue, but a consistent number of users are still left with their webcams disabled. Microsoft offers a detailed walkthrough on its tech support forum to those who still stumble upon login problems. Prior to the fix, the best strategy for users was to revert to a previous installment of Windows 10. The Anniversary Update generated other hardware issues as well: Amazon Kindle users complained that their PCs crashed as soon as they plugged in their e-readers via USB. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A group of scientists studying the impact of global warming on the Earth's lizard populations warns that current climate models might not be enough to accurately predict the fate of the scaly critters in the coming years. Previous studies have suggested that at the rate of warming the planet is experiencing, lizard populations won't be able to adapt fast enough to keep up with the drastic changes in their environment, resulting in the loss of as much as 40 percent of their numbers around the world by 2080. However, researchers at Clemson University and Arizona State University (ASU) said that many of the models used for such predictions failed to include enough data on how shade is distributed in lizard habitats. Michael Sears, a biology professor at Clemson and lead author of the study, pointed out that these earlier studies assumed that lizards can easily shade anywhere in their environment whenever they needed it, but in actuality it is much more complicated than that. He said many of these lizards spend significant time and energy in order to find shade to hide in. This means that the models used to predict the animals' extinction might not be as accurate as previously thought. The Importance Of Shade Distribution Through the use of computer modeling and data from real-world experiments, Sears and his colleagues examined how the kind of shade available to lizard populations in the New Mexico desert impacts their ability to maintain the temperature of their bodies in an optimal range. The researchers surgically placed small sensors into the bodies of spiny lizards to monitor changes in their temperatures. They then subjected the animals to experiments in special enclosures in the desert. Sears said they used pieces of shade cloth in order to cool down the lizards' body temperatures in certain areas to find out how they will react to it. The researchers discovered that the spiny lizards fared much better when they were able to access a number of small shade patches than when they were able to stay in only a few large patches. Sears explained that this can be compared to when a person goes out jogging on a hot day and only finds one tree with shade along the way. This could be considered a bad environment to be in. However, if there were more trees along the way that could provide even a small amount of shade, it would be more convenient for the jogger. The results of the study show that determining the future of lizard populations in relation to the ongoing global warming might be more complicated than researcher initially thought. The distribution of shade provided by various plants and rocky structures could significantly affect the chances for survival for these animals. Sears said lizards that already live in hot regions will likely suffer the most from severe temperature increases, while those that live in cool regions will likely experience some form of benefit to a certain extent. The findings of the Clemson University and Arizona State University study are featured in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. Photo: Renee Grayson | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Intel showcased its RealSense platform last month at the Intel Developer's Forum conference and the company is keen on improving the scale and capabilities of its computer vision tech. In order to expand its vision capabilities, Intel purchased computer vision startup Movidius, which some techies might recognize as the firm that worked with Google for the Tango 3D-sensor. Movidius CEO Remi El-Ouazzane notes in a blog post that his company will keep working to offer machines "the power of sight," mentioning that it will also integrate the RealSense developments from Intel. Keep in mind that Intel is far from being the only company that inked a deal with Movidius. Big players from the tech world such as Google, DJI and Lenovo already signed partnerships with the company to tap into its low-powered computer vision chipset. Movidius has eight years of experience in the field and counts about 180 employees spread out in three countries: United States, Ireland and Romania. The company's activity earned the support of investors, as it managed to raise $86.5 million in funding from names such as DFJ, Capital-E, Emertec Gestion, Summit Bridge Capital and more. Neither Intel nor Movidius commented on the terms of the deal. El-Ouazzane is confident that when it comes to artificial intelligence, big achievements are knocking at the door. He goes on to say that the most challenging aspect of AI is to craft devices that "not just ... see, but also think." "When computers can see, they can become autonomous and that's just the beginning," El-Ouazzane says. Movidius' Vision Processor Units from the Myriad 2 family are embedded by Lenovo in the OEM's upcoming line of VR products. Meanwhile, Google will tap into neural computation engines provided by Movidius in order to enhance its mobile devices' machine learning power. During the IDF conference, Intel unveiled that its depth-sensing RealSense platform will soon see an addition in the form of reality platform Project Alloy. Thanks to the latter, RealSense will even be more apt to assist autonomous drone piloting and various other deployments of computer vision in enterprise and consumer gadgets. With the help of Movidius, Intel should be able to pack its RealSense sensor tech in a large array of devices. As the system-on-chip of Movidius runs with 1 Watt power budget (or less), this gives it an incredible edge over rivals. Senior VP and GM of Intel's New Technology Group, Josh Walden, explains that RealSense gives gadgets the capability to "to track, navigate, map and recognize both scenes and objects." Doing this while benefitting from Movidius' low power, cutting edge SoC opens new doors to manufacturing areas "where heat, battery life and form factors are key." Intel is determined to lead the "new wave of computing," and teaming up with Movidius might be the best way to do so. The company announced that it aims to expand its investment into merged, augmented and virtual reality (MR/AR/VR), as well as in drones, digital security cameras, robotics and beyond. What do you think Intel's probing into the future of computing will yield great results? Let us know in the comments section below. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Lego reports a slowdown in revenue growth and profits for the first half of this year, as the company invests in expanding its manufacturing capabilities. The enterprise recently stated that it is ready to step up its game in the United States, and part of its plan is to employ more people and deploy new production facilities. The group is the most profitable global toy maker, leaving behind rivals such as Mattel, the company that crafts the famous Barbie Doll. Lego recorded a growth in revenue of 11 percent for the first six months of the year, reaching 15.69 billion Danish crowns ($2.35 billion). During the same time frame, operating profit spiked up by 1 percent at 4.66 billion Danish crowns ($700 million). However, the net profit plummeted almost 2 percent to 3.49 billion Danish crowns ($524 million). During the last 12 years, sales of Lego kept increasing by 15 percent per year, or even more. 2015 was a particularly good year for the enterprise, with a whopping 25 percent growth rate. While Europe and Asia, the most rounded markets for the company, kept pumping money into the vividly colored brick toys, the Americas lagged behind, particularly in 2016. Lego was unable to keep up with demand in North America, which meant a reduction of its marketing activities in the area, leading to a deceleration during the first half of 2016. John Goodwin, the company's chief financial officer, told Reuters that Lego is cooperating closely with its retail partners to have everything in place for the winter holiday season. According to Goodwin, Lego is preparing to go back "on the growth trajectory" in the region. To make sure that is the case, the company has a new factory under construction in Jiaxing, China. Lego has also raised its production capacity in Mexico and is looking to double the capacity of its plant in Hungary. In line with its expansion plans, Lego also increased its workforce by 24 percent, employing more than 3,500 new workers from January to June this year. After its latest and biggest recruiting campaign, Lego is counting a workforce of around 18,500 people worldwide. "We feel we need to invest, to build some breathing space," Goodwin says. The CFO acknowledges that investing in both infrastructure and new recruits will take its toll on short-term profits. However, he also recognizes that in order to sustain and fuel long-term growth, such investments are mandatory. When asked about its continuous growth pattern, the company pointed out that its success comes as a reflection of its workforce's hard work combined with the inspired marketing for installments such as Lego City, Lego Star Wars and Lego Ninjago. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Elecciones presidenciales El pais mas grande de la region elige este domingo a su proximo mandatario. Tras no lograr hacerse con la mayoria de los votos en los comicios del 2 de octubre, Luis Inacio "Lula" Da Silva y Jair Bolsonaro se disputan la Presidencia en una balotaje que enfrenta tendencias y valores contrapuestas. Con equipos en el terreno, Telam presenta una cobertura exclusiva con noticias, analisis, opinion, fotos y mas. Let's be clear on policy for Brexit and climate change By Nigel Lawson, Former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Conservative member of the House of Lords and Chairman of the Global Warming Policy Foundation No crystal ball is needed to predict the dominant political stories of 2017. For the UK it will be about Brexit: the triggering of Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty at the end of March to enable the UK to leave the European Union, the response of the EU and the subsequent discussions. For the wider world it will be all about the first year of the Trump presidency in the US. So far as Brexit is concerned, I would expect the British position to be clear. We will offer a free trade agreement with the EU with no strings attached. By no strings I mean, pre-eminently, the restoration of unfettered UK control of our own borders (although EU citizens already resident in the UK would have the equally unfettered right to remain), the cessation of UK contributions to the EU Budget, and the end of the supremacy of European law and the European Court of Justice over UK law and the UK courts. Although this would be overwhelmingly in the interests of EU businesses, and thus the faltering EU economy, which sell far more to us than we do to them, I expect this proposal to be rejected. The European Union is a political, not an economic, project. Europes leaders and above all the Eurocracy - are scared stiff that, were they to accept this proposal, other member states would demand the same, and the entire European project would start to unravel. New players: US President-elect Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Theresa May Credit : Kenneth Kawamoto What will increasingly be clear during the course of 2017 is that we will have to fall back to the second best option: trading with the EU on WTO terms. That is no disaster. Our trade with vast majority of the rest of the world is on WTO terms, and we do far more trade with the rest of the world than we do with the rest of the EU. And our trade with the rest of the world has for some time been growing faster than our trade with the EU. The question is not whether we will have access to the so-called single market: everybody does. The question is what the terms of access will be. WTO terms are perfectly acceptable. As all this becomes apparent, I expect the debate over the course of 2017 to shift increasingly to the much more important Brexit issue of how we will conduct ourselves once we have regained our freedom of action. In particular, of the vast corpus of EU legislation and regulation which at present we are obliged to have as part of UK law, which do we wish to repeal or amend? Once we regain control of our borders, precisely what should our immigration policy be? And, free from the EU Common Agriculture Policy, what should our farming policy be? As to this last, there is a read-across to trade policy. It is little short of a scandal that, in order to protect European farmers, EU tariffs on food imports from the developing world are three times as high as on manufactures. We should take the opportunity to slash these, which would mean both cheaper food and greater help to the developing world - unlike official development aid which, as Nobel-prize-winning economist Professor Angus Deaton has found, does more harm than good. As to President-elect Trump, prediction is harder, since he revels in being unpredictable. But while there is much cause for concern, one positive change stands out. On climate policy, whether or not he goes ahead with his promise to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement, it is clear not least from the choice of Scott Pruitt to head the US Environmental Protection Agency that he intends to ignore it, as indeed both China and India, while pretending to abide by it, are doing. This is no disaster. Over the past century and a half of industrialisation, it is officially estimated that average global temperature has risen by a mere 1C, to which the use of fossil fuels has made a contribution, although how much of a contribution is uncertain. But this is trivial: there are plenty of countries thriving with a temperature well above the global average. But what is far from trivial is the cost of current climate policy (and the UK accounts for less than 2% of global CO2 emissions) to the British economy. A new report by Peter Lilley for the Global Warming Policy Foundation, based entirely on official figures (which probably understate the cost), finds this to be in excess of 300 billion, a burden that falls particularly severely on the poorest and the just about managing. With Mr Trump (on this issue, at least) leading the world in a more rational direction, the UK might at last come to its senses on climate policy in 2017. Will Theresa May invoke article 50 and call a general election in 2017? By James Kirkup, Telegraph executive editor, politics After a year like 2016 (and there have been very few years like 2016), any sort of political prediction is probably brave and possibly foolhardy. But with the warning that everything that follows could well be entirely wrong, here goes. Next year will be about something Theresa May does, and something she doesnt do. The thing shell do is formally invoke Article 50 of the European Unions basic treaty, notifying the other members of Britains intention to leave. Leading lady: Theresa May will push ahead with Brexit strategies in 2017 Credit : Getty Getting to that point wont be easy. Shell have a couple of nervous days in parliament as a few Labour MPs and the House of Lords demand more details of her plans, but they wont dare outright obstruction of a prime minister who can claim to be acting for the 17.4 million who voted leave. Once this is done, what happens? Not much in the short term is the answer. For all the excitement Article 50 will generate in the UK, elsewhere in Europe leaders will have other fish to fry. Most immediately, EU attention will focus on the French presidential election in May. Assuming that Marine Le Pen doesnt win the odds are against her but if she does, Brexit may be academic because the EU may just collapse the next major EU preoccupation is Angela Merkels bid for a fourth term as German chancellor in September. Mrs Merkel is favourite to win again, but forging a coalition could take a month or two. So it will take until almost the end of 2017 for the EUs leading powers to have permanent leadership in place, which will leave Mrs May waiting for the EU to agree its position for the start of Brexit negotiations. And the thing Mrs May will not do? Hold a general election. Tories will urge her to cash in on a huge poll lead over Jeremy Corbyn (who will be Labour leader at the end of 2017) to get a clear mandate for Brexit talks. She may even hint she is willing to go to the country. But it wont happen. Triggering an election under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act is too complicated and unpredictable. More to the point, any election in these turbulent times is a gamble, and Mrs May is not a gambler. What does Donald Trump's presidency mean for global security? By Con Coughlin, Telegraph defence editor The key issue in 2017 regarding the global security landscape will be to see how the new Trump administration responds to the various threats facing the US and its allies. During the presidential election campaign, Donald Trump declared that he would be pursuing an America First policy, prompting concerns on both sides of the Atlantic that America would become more isolationist. These concerns were compounded when Mr Trump also suggested he might end Americas relationship with the Nato alliance, as well as forging a closer relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom many European leaders regard as posing a serious threat to long-term security. Russian roulette: Trump's relationship with the Kremlin could be cause for concern Credit : Getty Since winning the election, though, Mr Trump has been more emollient, and made reassuring noises about continuing to work with the Nato alliance. Moreover, the appointment of leading hawks, such as retired general Michael Flynn as the new national security adviser, suggests the US will provide the type of effective leadership in the western alliance that was lacking during Barack Obamas eight-year term as president. Undoubtedly Mr Trumps first major foreign policy task will be to review the US-led military coalitions campaign to destroy the terrorist infrastructure that Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil) has established in Syria and Iraq. The big question, though, is how closely he will be prepared to work with the Russians; particularly in Syria, where the military support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has received from both Russia and Iran has been crucial to ensuring his regimes survival. Although Mr Trump expressed his admiration for Mr Putin during the election, John Brennan, the outgoing head of the CIA, has warned the new president about trying to work with the Kremlin, telling him to be wary of Russian promises that had proved to be empty in the past. Another issue where Mr Trumps intervention could prove controversial is his promise to rip up Mr Obamas deal with Iran over its nuclear programme. Under the terms of the deal Mr Obama signed in the summer of 2015, Iran agreed to freeze work on its nuclear weapons programme. But if Mr Trump does fulfil his pledge to ditch the deal, this could prompt a new nuclear arms race in the Middle East one that not only has disastrous implications for the region, but for the security of the entire world. Wondering what the New Year holds? Read more predictions for 2017 from Telegraph writers sharing what they think will happen in the worlds of science, money, style, sport, travel and culture. On the debate, two pollsters who conducted studies, agreed on Saturday that former president Lula defeated Bolsonaro. | Read More Il Comitato per la programmazione e il coordinamento delle attivita di educazione finanziaria promuove dal 1 al 31 ottobre 2022 la quinta edizione del Mese dellEducazione Finanziaria (#OttobreEdufin2022), che portera in tutta Italia e anche online eventi e iniziative dedicate alle conoscenze e competenze finanziarie, assicurative e previdenziali. Leggi tutto Vietnams renowned architect Vo Trong Nghia has won the prestigious 2016 Prince Claus Award, which honors visionary artists and organizations worldwide. Nghia and five others will be presented with the awards at the Royal Palace Amsterdam by Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands on December 15, the Prince Claus Fund said Tuesday. According to the Prince Claus Fund, Nghia, 40, is an architect who is putting sustainable architecture on the map by combining local materials and traditional skills with 21st century design. With a focus on green spaces, his designs range from major urban structures to durable but inexpensive housing for remote communities. His approach to urban design is shaping the future of architecture and transforming Vietnams urban landscape. Vietnamese architect Vo Trong Nghia. Photo: Thanh Nien However, at the core of his practice, he uses the physical environment to reconnect humans back to Mother Nature, it said in a statement. Thai filmmaker and artist Apichatpong Weerasethakul has won the Principal Prince Claus Award. Four other Prince Claus Awards will be presented to chef and food activist Kamal Mouzawak of Lebanon; interdisciplinary cultural center PeaceNiche in Pakistan; graphic designer, artist, educator and historian Bahia Shehab of Egypt/Lebanon; and the digital portal La Silla Vacia in Colombia. For the past 20 years, the Prince Claus Fund has honored visionary artists and organizations for their excellent, pioneering work in culture and development. A flight test engineer holds an Airbus Group flag after the first flight of the Airbus A320neo (New Engine Option) in Colomiers near Toulouse, France, September 25, 2014. Vietnamese airlines plan to order 40 Airbus jets in deals worth an estimated $6.5 billion, the European planemaker said on Tuesday, as they expand their fleets for a small but fast-growing market. Strong economic growth and a burgeoning middle class has increased demand for travel both domestically and abroad, spurring carriers to increase routes. In deals announced at the start of a two-day visit to the Southeast Asian nation by French President Francois Hollande, Vietnam Airlines, the country's flagship carrier, reached a preliminary agreement for 10 A350 planes worth $3.1 billion. The widebody aircraft will allow the airline to expand its long-haul network, beginning with services between Ho Chi Minh City and Los Angeles. Budget airline Jetstar Pacific - controlled by Vietnam Airlines and 30 percent owned by Australia's Qantas Airways - finalised its order for 10 A320 single-aisle planes valued at about $1 billion. VietJet, the country's only private airline, placed a firm order for 20 A321s - worth $2.4 billion. VietJet has been rapidly expanding both at home and in Southeast Asia and the deal comes on top of an order for 100 Boeing 737 MAX 200 jets in May worth $11.3 billion at list prices - the biggest aircraft order in the country's history. The CAPA Centre for Aviation said in January that VietJet commands 40 percent of Vietnam's domestic market and it will likely surpass Vietnam Airlines this year as the country's biggest domestic carrier. The canal in Ha Tinh Province where two cousins drowned on September 5. Photo credit: Tuoi Tre At least five children drowned on the way back from school soon after they participated in ceremonies to ring in the new academic year on Monday. Local authorities in Ha Tinh Provinces Thach My Commune confirmed that two cousins, aged 6 and 7, drowned in a roadside canal. The children were reportedly playing paper boats on the canal together with their friends. When they slipped into the waterway, the friends shouted for help. A nearby resident, Le Van Vi, said he heard them and rushed to the canal but it was too late. On the same day, three high school students drowned in Binh Dinh, also after they attended the new school years opening ceremony. The trio went for a swim. The page may have moved, you may have mistyped the address, or followed a bad link. Visit our homepage, or search for whatever you were looking for Da Nang police are investigating a theft at a hotel after a tourist claimed that his valuable belongings were taken from his room when he was going to the beach. Police said Phan Manh Ha, 43, and his family stayed at the hotel Golden Sea 3 for the National Day weekend. On Saturday, the Hanoi family went to the beach and as common practice they left the key to their room with the reception. After returning an hour later, they found that their valuable items had been stolen, including a Vertu phone, a Rolex watch and more than VND10 million (US$450) worth of cash. The hotel checked the security footage and identified a suspect, who came to claim the key around half an hour after the family left. The suspect pretended to be Ha and left the hotel in Ha's clothes, allegedly also taken from the room. Le Hoang Long, director of Le Hoang Anh Company, which owns the three-star hotel, admitted that the hotels receptionist was responsible for handing the key to the wrong person. Police are now investigating the case, he was quoted by Tuoi Tre as saying. Similar theft cases have been reported at Da Nang hotels in recent years. A Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone is held next to a logo of Apple in this September 23, 2014 illustration photo in Sarajevo. In its rush to beat rival products to market, notably Apple's (AAPL.O) new iPhone, Samsung Electronics has accelerated new phone launch cycles, but its haste is raising concerns that it fell short on quality testing. Since last year, the South Korean firm, the world's largest maker of smartphones, has brought forward the launch of its Galaxy S and Galaxy Note series models by roughly a month. For the June quarter, the strategy helped Samsung to its best profit in more than two years, but it is also putting strain on its supply chain and its manufacturing reputation. On Friday, two weeks after launch, Samsung recalled Galaxy Note 7 smartphones in 10 markets including South Korea and the United States after finding its batteries were prone to ignite, and halted sales of the 988,900 won ($891) device in those markets indefinitely. The recall looks set to hamstring a revival in Samsung's mobile business just as Apple gears up to launch its new iPhones this month. "Samsung might have over-exerted itself trying to pre-empt Apple, since everybody knows the iPhones launch in September," said Chang Sea-Jin, business professor at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and author of "Sony vs. Samsung", a history of the electronics giants. "It's an unfortunate event; it feels like Samsung rushed a bit, and it's possible that this led to suppliers also being hurried." Samsung said in a statement to Reuters it conducts "extensive preparation" for its products and will release them to the market "only after proper completion of the development process". The firm said on Friday it had identified a problem in the manufacturing process of a battery supplier it didn't name. "I am working to straighten out our quality control process," Samsung's mobile business chief Koh Dong-jin said then. The scale of the unprecedented recall, which some analysts forecast will cost Samsung nearly $5 billion in revenue this year, follows a separate supply-chain management issue that led to disappointing sales of the Galaxy S6 series last year. Samsung executives said production problems for the curved screens and metal casings used in the Galaxy S6 edge led to a supply shortage for the device, leaving the firm unable to capitalize on the critical acclaim the phone received, sapping earnings momentum. Getting ahead Counterpoint analyst Jeff Fieldhack said Samsung stole the thunder from local rival LG Electronics' launch of the G5 smartphone this year by starting the sales of the Galaxy S7 smartphones a month earlier and backing them with an aggressive marketing campaign. "I believe they were trying to create a similar effect by beating Apple to market by (about) a month, too," he said. "Very often, lab times and testing periods are shrunk to expedite approval and time-to-market of key devices. It is possible all charging scenarios were not thoroughly tested." Samsung SDI, one of two makers of batteries for the Note 7 - the other has not been identified - said it had not received notice from Samsung Electronics regarding its batteries and declined to comment further, including whether its batteries were found to be faulty. The company declined to comment on a local media report that it had production difficulties and struggled to meet orders in time. While there are occasional reports of phones catching fire or burning users, recalls for such problems are rare. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that batteries in the Galaxy Note 7 can not be removed by the user - a design decision to make the phones slimmer and waterproof. A Samsung executive who declined to be named told Reuters before the recall announcement: "Our production engineers and managers are extremely experienced, and if you ask them to find a solution to adopt a design change, they'd promptly bring things under control. "But even that capability is under growing strain, as we try out new materials and everything is on a very tight schedule." Local brokerage Korea Investment cut its third-quarter operating profit forecast for Samsung by 1.1 trillion won to 7.1 trillion won due to the recall, though it said the event would not derail the broader rebound of its smartphone business. If haste contributed to the problem, it could now help Samsung limit the impact of the recall. Shares in Samsung were up 0.8 percent in mid-day trade on Tuesday, 4.4 percent below record highs reached two weeks ago, as some investors welcomed the swift decision to launch a global recall. U.S. President Barack Obama reviews honour guard during a welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Vientiane, Laos September 6, 2016. The Philippines scrambled to defuse a row with the United States on Tuesday and its new president, Rodrigo Duterte, voiced regret for calling President Barack Obama a "son of a bitch", comments that prompted Washington to call off a bilateral meeting. The tiff between the two allies overshadowed the opening of a summit of East and Southeast Asian nations in Laos. Duterte has bristled repeatedly at criticism over his "war on drugs", which has killed about 2,400 people since he took office two months ago, and on Monday said it would be "rude" for Obama to raise the human rights issue when they met. Such a conversation, Duterte told reporters, would prompt him to curse at Obama, using a Filipino phrase "putang ina" which can mean "son of a bitch" or "son of a whore". After Washington called off Tuesday's bilateral meeting between Obama and Duterte in response, the Philippines issued two statements expressing regret. "President Duterte explained that the press reports that President Obama would 'lecture' him on extrajudicial killings led to his strong comments, which in turn elicited concern," the Philippines government said in one statement. "He regrets that his remarks to the press have caused much controversy," it added. "He expressed his deep regard and affinity for President Obama and for the enduring partnership between our nations." The White House had earlier said Obama would not pull any punches on his concerns about human rights abuses in the Philippines, its treaty ally, when meeting Duterte. It was not immediately known if the bilateral meeting between the two president would be rescheduled. Instead of the Duterte meeting, Obama plans to hold talks with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, said Ned Price, spokesman for the White House National Security Council - a meeting where the response to North Korea's latest missile tests is expected to be on the agenda. Moves to soothe tensions Obama arrived in Vientiane just before midnight on Monday for the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to Laos, where he wants to begin to address the legacy of U.S. bombing during the Vietnam War. He announced on Tuesday that the United States would provide an additional $90 million over the next three years to help Laos, heavily bombed during the Vietnam War, clear unexploded ordnance, which has killed or wounded more than 20,000 people. The unusually open tensions between the United States and the Philippines, its former colony and long-term ally, threaten to overshadow the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Asia Summits in Laos from Tuesday to Thursday. The 10-member ASEAN will meet leaders of other regional powers: China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Russia and the United States. U.S. President Barack Obama and the U.S. delegation sit down to a bilateral meeting with Laos President Bounnhang Vorachith and the Laos delegation (R), ahead of the ASEAN Summit, at the Presidential Palace in Vientiane, Laos September 6, 2016. Duterte won the presidency in May as he promised to suppress crime and wipe out drugs and drug dealers. At least 2,400 people have been killed since he took office on July 1, including 900 in police operations against drug pushers. The rest are "deaths under investigation", a term human rights activists in the Philippines say is a euphemism for vigilante and extrajudicial killings. Duterte has poured scorn previously on critics, usually larding it with curses. He lambasted the United Nations after it criticized the surge in killings and he turned down a meeting with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the Laos summit. In May, he called Pope Francis a "son of a whore", although he later apologized, and called U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg a "gay son of a whore." On Tuesday, Duterte met Singapore's prime minister and was later to hold talks with the leaders of Japan and Vietnam. The Philippines has been aligned with the United States in its dispute with China over the South China Sea, in which Washington blames Beijing for militarizing a vital global trade route and jeopardizing freedom of movement at sea and in the air. China rejects those accusations and in turn blames the United States for ratcheting up tensions unnecessarily. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims. An arbitration court in The Hague in July invalidated China's vast territorial claims to the waterway after a case was brought by the Philippines, a ruling that Beijing refuses to recognize. Duterte said last month he expected all ASEAN members to support the arbitration court's ruling, but that the Philippines would not raise the issue in Laos. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commission As schools in the Baton Rouge area struggle to return to normal in the wake of historic flooding, some of the educators who run them are facing their own challenges. Bruno Paquot returned to work Thursday. Hed been gone three weeks but it might as well have been a lifetime ago. The native of Belgium had his life turned upside down when his two family cars and house flooded, forcing his family to live elsewhere. Twelve of his coworkers at the school where he teaches, Baton Rouge Foreign Language Academic Immersion Magnet, also known as BR FLAIM, have similar stories. Thats nearly a third of the staff at this public foreign language immersion school located near downtown Baton Rouge. Teachers throughout the Capital region are suffering. The East Baton Rouge Parish school system reports that 817 teachers have been displaced by flooding about 27 percent of its teaching staff which is the second largest district in the state. As he prepared for school to reopen Tuesday, Paquot was conflicted. I wish I was at the house detailing, getting the walls ready to be re-Sheetrocked, he said. But he was also glad to be back at the school hes worked at for seven years and where he serves as a fifth-grade French language immersion teacher. It feels normal to be here, he said, but in the back of my mind I keep that running checklist of everything that still has to be done. April Fisher, a school counselor at BR FLAIM, is often mentally in two places at once these days. The house she was renting on Flannery Road was flooded, destroying most of her possessions, though she managed to save her car. She evacuated with her boyfriend and five-year-old daughter to her moms Prairieville house, which escaped the flooding. The stress and confusion was especially bad during the two days, Aug. 22 and 23, she returned to work when the East Baton Rouge Parish school system planned to reopen Aug. 24. At the last minute, though, officials postponed the restart of school 13 more days. I was here in body, but I wasnt here, Fisher said of those two days in August. I was still on the phone trying to get things done, thinking what do I need to do, when can I get to the house, when is the process going to get started? OK, you need to apply for FEMA. What else do I need to do? Paquot took off work those two days; however, the school system has since said employees who took those days off do not to have to count them as vacation days. Paquot said his daughter did get back to school that week, so he understands as a parent the value of school as a source of stability. But as a homeowner, he still had too much going on. I was washing the walls, washing the doors, washing the floors, getting everything prepped for my wifes boss to come and spray the disinfectant and mold killer, he said. I could not have come (back to work). If I wanted to save my house, there was still work to be done. Principal Cheryl Miller is the longtime principal of BR FLAIM. She said she has other staff members who have been through a lot but not all are ready to talk about it. One of her fifth grade teachers was evacuated with her family from their flooded home and was devastated when she had to leave behind her three beloved dogs. A few days later the dogs were happily discovered alive and still at the flooded house. One of Millers paraprofessionals was flooded and is sleeping on an air mattress on her mothers floor. Miller said the stress is visible on their faces. You see this weight, this pressure thats sitting on their shoulders, she said. One big stress reliever has been the support from BR FLAIMs parents, led by its parent-teacher organization. The PTO organized help for several teachers like Paquot as well as another 10 BR FLAIM families who suffered flooding. The parents spent two weeks gutting houses and plan to return when its time to rebuild. Paquot said the BR FLAIM members were at his house Aug. 16, the first day he was able to get back home. The PTO members and a range of other volunteers showed up that day and two days later, they had gutted the whole house. They were awesome, Paquot said. I have been teaching 20 years and Ive never been in a school where the PTO was this active. Claire Pittman, PTO president, said shes not handy, but has a background in communications. She ended up helping to keep people informed about who needed what and directed traffic. Volunteers were working at two or three houses a day for two weeks, but parents also supplied meals and provided a wide range of help, she said. The response was very quick and it was very surprising, Pittman said. I cant tell you how many times I cried because of peoples selflessness. BR FLAIM, which earned an A from the state, has a small but avid following in Baton Rouge. Schools that will allow children to become bilingual in Spanish, French or Mandarin Chinese are rare. Pittman said the awareness of the value of what they have drove some of the schools quick response. We felt that it was a critical need to help people because most of our teachers are not from here so they dont have family here, Pittman said. And we dont have many choices if they cant come back. The Paquots are still trying to decide what they are going to do with their flooded house. We didnt have flood insurance, he said. There are a few options ranking from terrible to not-so-bad. The family has received some money already from FEMA as well as a range of other unsolicited help. A friend started a GoFundMe page for the Paquots that has raised nearly $18,000 so far. Another friend provided them with a house to stay in until they get back on their feet. A coworker loaned him a car she wasnt using. Weve been lucky, he said. The support of the community has just been fantastic. Life, however, is still far from normal. As a counselor, Fisher is trying to prepare herself for the trauma she will see in the children who show up Tuesday. She recalled being a mental health counselor in Baton Rouge after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and treating displaced children who had experienced the storm. Til this day they are afraid when it rains, when its lightning, when a heavy wind comes, Fisher said. Paquot can relate: A few days ago it rained and the sound of the rain is making my stomach turn. High school students should be required to get workplace experience as part of Louisiana's plan to comply with a new federal law, the Baton Rouge Area Chamber said Tuesday. "The expectation that students will be prepared with workplace skills learned soley within an academic environment is unrealistic," BRAC said in a four-page report. "To truly embrace and portray the soft skills necessary for success in the workplace, students must have exposure to those skills in the environment and context in which they are used," according to the report, which was written by BRAC staff member Liz Smith. The state is in the process of revamping some of its public school policies to comply with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA. One key concern among parents, officials, supt. of education finds in statewide meetings After 12 hours of public hearings in six cities this week, the top issue is student behavior That measure is the successor to the No Child Left Behind law, which required states to meet certain test and other standards aimed at improving academic achievement. Officials of the state Department of Education recently held statewide hearings on what parents, teachers and others think needs to change. Louisiana kicks off review of public school policies LAFAYETTE -- The state should take a new look at its public school testing policies, the val More meetings are planned with a wide range of education groups. The state is required to submit its plan to federal officials next year, and new policies will take effect for the 2017-18 school year. In her report, Smith said the lack of soft skills among workers is the top concern of business owners in the Baton Rouge area. However, the state has no accountability measure linked to workplace experience for students. The BRAC study said that could be accomplished by offering students parttime work, an internship, virtual experience or a school-based enterprise. How students fared would then be assessed by an educator. Schools would be rewarded based on the quality of the workplace training, with a part-time job or internship considered the "gold standard" for schools and school districts, according to the BRAC study. Aside from the review by the state Department of Education a second ESSA study is about to be launched by a panel named by Gov. John Bel Edwards. Rival school review panel named by Gov. John Bel Edwards Gov. John Bel Edwards named nine members to a panel Wednesday to recommend changes in public The committee's recommendations may conflict with the department's plans, in part because Edwards and state Superintendent of Education John White differ on key public school issues. The BRAC report said teacher unions hope to use the ESSA review "as an excuse to advocate for reducing state testing and eliminating school letter grades." Smith is director of policy and research for BRAC. Until a nameless storm that many are simply calling "the flood of 2016" came along, Hurricane Katrina held the distinction as the extreme weather event that closed the 19th Judicial District Court in downtown Baton Rouge for the longest amount of time -- five days in 2005. The previous record-holders were Hurricane Gustav in 2008 (four days), and the January 2014 winter storm (three days). Last month's historic flooding in the Baton Rouge area shuttered the 19th Judicial District Court for six straight workdays -- Aug. 12 and Aug. 15-19 -- even though the 11-story building at the corner of North Boulevard and St. Louis Street didn't take on water. So why was one of the busiest court buildings in the state shut down for so long? Simple. There was a lack of warm bodies to keep the court functioning, as well as a lack of staff at the East Baton Rouge Parish Clerk of Court's Office, which has its civil processing and criminal records divisions in the courthouse. Some 35 of the 19th Judicial District Court's 130 employees flooded, said Ann McCrory, the court's judicial administrator, and Clerk of Court Doug Welborn said 38 of the his 157 employees were directly affected. "The Clerk's Office couldn't function, so we couldn't function," state District Judge Tim Kelley said. East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore III said 20 of his roughly 160 employees were affected by the flooding. Although the half-dozen days the Baton Rouge state courthouse was closed have backed up both civil and criminal dockets in the 19th Judicial District, that's nothing compared with the number of lawyers and litigants displaced by the flooding, said William Morvant, the court's chief judge. Morvant said he had 26 cases on his Aug. 22 docket, the day the courthouse reopened, but only eight or nine lawyers or litigants came to court that day. "Right now, their focus is on rebuilding their houses. That trumps litigation," he said. "The long term (impact of the flood event) is going to be witnesses, litigants, parties who are going to be relocated, out of touch." Loyola University New Orleans law professor Dane Ciolino said it's difficult to compare Katrina's impact on the New Orleans judicial system with the recent flooding on the Baton Rouge court system. Katrina inundated 80 percent of the Crescent City, forced a mandatory evacuation of the city and reduced its courts to shambles. "Obviously, it's not near the magnitude of what we experienced in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina," he said. Katrina, however, left state and local officials with a roadmap for dealing with future catastrophic events, Ciolino said. "The Louisiana State Bar Association and the Louisiana Supreme Court already had a playbook to work from," he said. An executive order that Gov. John Bel Edwards issued in mid-August suspended deadlines in legal, administrative and regulatory proceedings. Deadlines in legal proceedings in courts, administrative agencies and boards remain suspended until Friday in 26 flood-impacted parishes, including East and West Baton Rouge, East and West Feliciana, Livingston, St. Helena, Ascension and Lafayette. Under the governor's order, prescription and pre-emptive periods are suspended throughout the state until Friday. An order signed by Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Bernette Johnson states that all filings due between Aug. 12 through Friday will be considered timely if received at the high court by Monday. Motions for extensions of time can be filed with the appropriate documentation and argument, the order says. "Nobody's case was irrevocably prejudiced because of the (recent court) closures," Ciolino said. Louisiana State Bar Association President Darrel Papillion, a Baton Rouge lawyer, said the governor's order, which the association pressed for, is critical because many Baton Rouge-area lawyers perform legal work in several parishes, and some work all over the state. "It was important for the governor to issue the executive order and for the federal courts to issue similar orders because critical legal deadlines, especially statutes of limitations, continue to run in parishes where the courts were open," he said. Several days after the magnitude of the historic flooding sunk in, the chief judges in the Middle, Eastern and Western districts of Louisiana, based in Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Lafayette, respectively, issued orders stating that counsel or parties "who believe the deadlines for filing of any motion in a pending case have been, or will be, immediately affected by the recent flooding ... may be offered relief by the filing of a motion for extension, even if past the filing deadline." Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson, of Baton Rouge, who issued his initial order Aug. 17, issued another order Aug. 24 terminating the suspension of all deadlines. However, he said, exceptions may be granted on a limited basis to counsel or parties "who demonstrate that the emergency conditions that prompted his earlier order "persist in their individual circumstances." Kelley said he will have to perform a "juggling act" to prevent his civil docket from backing up too far. "We can't schedule anything very soon," he said. "There's going to be a logjam in most of our civil cases from October through February or March." Chip Moore, one of the 19th Judicial District Court's criminal judges, said he's adopting a "go with the flow" attitude in the wake of the flooding and court closure. "It happened to all of us. I know it's going to mess my docket up, but it is what it is. It's going to be a tough rest of the year," he said. "You have to be flexible and compassionate to those people who lost everything." "We're not kicking somebody when they're down," Richard Anderson, the court's chief criminal judge and deputy chief judge, said of people who miss court dates. "People have real problems." Anderson said he's issuing bench warrants for those who miss court but he's holding the warrants for several weeks. He said he's trying to be lenient and accommodating, but there are some defendants who need to get in touch with the court as quickly as possible. "If you missed an armed robbery trial, you need to get down here," Anderson cautioned. Relatively few lawyers in Baton Rouge suffered damage to their offices, Papillion said, but a number of lawyers' homes were damaged. "Practically every law office in Baton Rouge was affected by the flooding because a large percentage of the legal support staff in Baton Rouge law firms live in Livingston and Ascension parishes, and many of these people suffered severe flood damage to their homes, leaving many law offices short-handed in the first few days following the flood," he said. "Many people in the legal support community are working all day and then going home to work on their damaged houses." Papillion, who noted that the overwhelming majority of lawyers in Livingston suffered damage to their homes and offices, with some sustaining damage to both, said the Louisiana State Bar Association is working to help affected lawyers get their practices up and running so they can serve their clients. McCrory said court employees are being given the opportunity to voluntarily donate unused vacation time into a pool for co-workers whose homes flooded. The temporary policy will expire at the end of the year. "We don't want them to go on leave without pay," she said. The response, Morvant said, has been overwhelming and "really incredible." "It's really heartening. I'm very, very proud of those employees who did that," Kelley added. Welborn said his employees are responding in kind. Experts have warned that describing the Liberals' planned satellite hospitals in Tuggeranong and Gungahlin as "emergency departments" could send the wrong message to patients. But the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine has welcomed the policy more broadly, and signalled it would work with the Liberals on its concerns about the terminology. An artists impression of the local public hospital in Tuggeranon, as proposed by the Canberra Liberals. Health is looming as central to the Liberals' election platform ahead of the October's poll, and the party announced last week it would build two local public hospitals in Gungahlin and Tuggeranong if elected. The hospitals would be small, with 10 emergency beds and a 12-bed short stay ward each. The Liberals say each would have an "emergency department", designed only to deal with the least serious emergencies, something they hope would relieve demand on the Canberra Hospital. The Australian War Memorial's Nick Fletcher reckons he has Australia's best shed. It's hard to argue with a man who, as the memorial's head of military heraldry and technology, has enough planes, tanks, rockets, helicopters, trucks, half-tracks, armoured personnel carriers, cannons, howitzers, machine guns and guided missiles to fight a medium-sized war back behind his barbecue pit. AWM Head of Military, Heraldry and Technology, Nick Fletcher in a Bell H3 Sioux, that will be on show at the Big Things in Store on Saturday. Credit:Elesa Kurtz He said that on a good day, when he's out amongst the collection rather than looking at a computer screen or pieces of paper, it's the best job in Canberra. Mr Fletcher and the AWM's staff are gearing up to show off some of the memorial's rarely seen treasures at the annual "Big Things In Store" day to be held at the Treloar Technology Centre in Mitchell on Saturday, September 10, from 9am to 3pm. Chief Minister Andrew Barr told the Prime Minister a Fluffy royal commission was "not a priority" in correspondence in April, despite having repeatedly blamed lack of Commonwealth co-operation for not holding a full inquiry into the asbestos disaster. "The proposal for a royal commission into the Commonwealth, NSW and ACT governments' response to the toxic legacy of loose-fill asbestos in over 1000 Canberra region homes (Mr Fluffy), whilst important, is not a priority," Mr Barr wrote to Malcolm Turnbull in December. "The current priority is to focus our efforts on supporting residents." Workers demolish a Mr Fluffy home in Woden Valley, ACT, in 2014. Credit:Rohan Thomson Mr Turnbull responded, "I agree with you that an inquiry into the government's response whilst important is not a priority, and that the focus should continue to be supporting residents in contaminated homes." Mr Barr finally released the correspondence between himself, Mr Turnbull and NSW Premier Mike Baird this week after months of requests from this newspaper and from the Liberal opposition. ACT residents will be spared the immediate effects of a $500 increase to annual water supply charges, as the independent market regulator looks to hand its price-setting role to Icon Water. A draft decision from the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission's 2016 tariff review shows the commission prefers one of two options to incrementally raise water supply charges as the per kilolitre price falls to the "marginal cost" over the decade from 2018. Cotter Dam might be close to full, but ACT residents may yet face rising water bills. But in a separate issue explored in the report, the commission has voiced its support for handing much of its price-setting role over the water market to the ACT's monopoly provider, Icon Water. On the tariff review, the commission's draft report shows it backs "option A", increasing the annual water supply charge from the current $101 to $610; instead of "option B", which would only raise it to $390 over the same period. Geekologie has shut down. Thank you to everybody. Now go be happy. The construction union has warned the absence of a licensing regime for ACT traffic controllers could prove fatal during the government's light rail project. NSW and Queensland have a structured licensing system for traffic controllers working on construction sites, which requires them to undergo training and assessment programs before being allowed to work. ACT CFMEU secretary Dean Hall has urged the government to set up a licensing regime for traffic controllers working on ACT construction sites. The ACT does not have such a system, but instead relies on its work health and safety laws to deter businesses from unsafe traffic controlling procedures. But the territory's regime has faced criticisms from unions, who have warned it effectively allows companies to self-regulate on traffic controlling. NSW Fair Trading has warned consumers not to deal with three online electronics stores, responsible for an estimated $150,000 in consumer losses. The public warning from Fair Trading concerns Digital Skies Group Pty Ltd, which trades online as Android Enjoyed, Camera Sky and Klukkur. The three stores sell a variety of smartphones, tablets, cameras and watches. Fair Trading Commissioner Rod Stowe said the warning followed multiple complaints concerned with a range of Australian Consumer Law offences, including problems with the quality of goods sold, acceptance of payment without goods being supplied and the supply of goods unsuitable for the Australian market. A government senator has warned media companies not to let self-interest scuttle industry reform by lobbying against the bill before Parliament. "I think generally there is agreement in the industry that reform is necessary," Senator James Paterson said during a discussion at the Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association conference in Sydney on Tuesday. Behind the media scrum is Minister for Communications and Minister for the Arts Mitch Fifield Credit:Alex Ellinghausen "But if people fight specific reforms like this, it won't be that we just revisit it in a different way in the future. Parliamentarians will take a view from that, that this is not going to succeed at all." Senator Paterson told BusinessDay he believed certain media companies lobbied privately against the bill when it was before Parliament earlier this year because it did not suit their current business plans, but would not name the companies. A group of aggrieved shareholders in Merlin Diamonds planning a board spill say they will report the company to the corporate watchdog after their fellow investors voted to increase the shareholdings of the family of recent bankrupt "Diamond" Joe Gutnick. On Tuesday, the majority of Merlin shareholders voted to approve parts of a $2.3 million recapitalisation proposal from companies associated with the Gutnick family for exploration purposes. Shareholders voted against a third part of the recapitalisation. Joseph Gutnick declared himself bankrupt in July. Credit:Jesse Marlow Sources close to the shareholders said they were concerned about whether the notice of meeting issued on August 5 was in line with rules regarding the disclosure of financial benefits under the Corporations Act. The shareholders are also concerned about the company's issue of a further 94 million shares last week to an undisclosed party. It is unclear what the Gutnick family's stake in the business is after the vote but it was estimated to increase to 40 per cent, from the 14 per cent previously held by the company ahead of the meeting. Keysborough Freight forwarding company Tuco has leased an office next to Springvale Road at Unit 5, 2 Fiveways Boulevard. Fitzroys' Dean Alexander negotiated the 3+3-year deal at $50,000 per annum. The site has a 292sq m office and 202sq m warehouse, as well as eight car parks. Noble Park Sydney-based rug importer Cadrys has paid $2.5 million for an industrial facility at 130 Browns Road. Savills Australia's Keith Kooloos said the 2561sq m building provided ample office space and room for Cadrys' stock. Fitzroy North A shop fronting St Georges Road sold at auction for $2.55 million. The L-shaped block included a three-bedroom home at 202 Barkly Street, Alex Ham and Jonathon McCormack from Gross Waddell said. Footscray Family support organisation Berry Street has sold its community support centre, a two-level, 470sq m building at 121 Nicholson Street. Berry Street negotiated a six-month settlement to allow it to find new premises, Gray Johnson's Matt Hoath said. The site was sold in conjunction with Charter Keck for $1.64 million, with a ground floor lease in place to Ethiopian restaurant Ros Pashem returning rent of $36,895. Heidelberg West Small industrial buildings are in demand. Gray Johnson's Matt Hoath said inner suburban rezonings were diminishing the stock and demand was being driven by successful online businesses growing to a scale where they need real facilities such as warehousing. 25 Crissane Street sold by private sale for $755,000 to a Collingwood business needing to expand. Another warehouse at 14 Culverlands Street sold at auction for $360,000, while on the other side of town in Huntingdale, 12 Stafford Street went for $478,000 in a hotly contested auction. Huntingdale Carman's Fine Foods is expanding, purchasing a 5353sq m, multi-level, factory/warehouse on industrial estate for its headquarters. The property at 11-17 Hume Street was previously the home to Pink Lady Chocolates, said Gavin Dumas of Crabtrees Real Estate. Crabtrees refused to disclose the price but it is believed to have fetched more than $3 million. St Kilda Road A ground floor retail arcade shop at 517 St Kilda Road has sold under the hammer for $1.84 million 27 per cent above the reserve price on a sub 6 per cent yield. A 100-strong crowd watched 10 bidders vie for the 150sq m shop, which boasted Pharmacy 517 as a tenant. The vendor's $1.45 million reserve was quickly met after a handful of bids, said CBRE's Rorey James, who handled the deal with colleagues Tom Tuxworth and Benson Zhou. Northcote A rash of new apartments in Northcote's trendy High Street is throwing up opportunities for retail investors. Benjamin Klein and Alex Ham from Gross Waddell sold a 60sq m shop at No. 122 for $650,000 on a 5 per cent yield. The property has a 2+2 year lease, returning $33,000 per annum net to laser clinic Fresh Skin Canvas. Cheltenham An industrial facility at 134-136 Argus Street has changed hands for $1.688 million in a deal negotiated by John Nockles and Ian Angelico from CVA Property Consultants. The 1822sq m freehold site included a 1470sq m building and nine car parks. Coburg Sydney Road fish and chips are served hot but so is the property they're fried in. Walshe & Whitelock's Jane Sowersby said the 55sq m shop at 373 Sydney Road was up for private sale for $679,500 but strong interest sparked a boardroom auction that delivered the owner $800,000 instead. Hawthorn A 452sq m workshop/retail space at 96 Riversdale Road has sold for $2.65 million after interest from 70 groups. The buyer, a local investor, will make improvements to the existing space to secure a tenant with larger scale plans in the future, Gorman Kelly's Chris Alcock said. Collingwood A two-storey office at Suite 37, 23-25 Gipps Street leased to Textile House on a three-year basis has sold for $877,000, said Knight Frank's Matthew Romanin. The price reflected a competitive yield of 6.8 per cent. Springvale Pascuzzi developments has sold eight new warehouses in its Centre Road Business Park at 1640 Centre Road for an average price of $2720 per sq m. The warehouses ranged in size from 112sq m to 170sq m, Knight Frank's Stuart Gill and Dean Kimitsis said. LEASES Mulgrave Melbourne investor Brendan Sullivan has secured a leasing coup, signing US billionaire Hamdi Ulukaya's Greek yoghurt brand, Chobani, as a tenant at 333 Police Road for its new Australian head office. Chobani's signed a five-year lease with options at $161,000 per annum in a deal brokered by JLL's Joshua Tebb and Knight Frank's Tom Ryan. Melbourne Boutique corporate advisory firm Dragon Tree Capital has taken a five-year lease on 273.6sq m of space at 114 Flinders Street for $440 per sq m net. The building was recently refurbished with extra carparks, new retail and end of trip facilities, said JLL's Alexandra Harper. Mulgrave John Nockles and Ian Angelico of CVA Property Consultants have leased a modern single level office/showroom/warehouse at 5 Hartnett Close to ISGM for $120,000 pa net, at a building rate of $133 per sq m. South Yarra Bar Carolina, the latest offering from the owners of Il Bacaro and Sarti restaurants, will move into Peregrine Projects' development at 44 Toorak Road in a $90,000 per annum deal negotiated by Beller Commercial. Port Melbourne National facilities management company Assetlink Services has signed a three-year lease term at 198 Turner Street in a 403sq m building. It will pay $75,000 per annum net, CBRE's Daniel Eramo and Guy Naselli said. MOVERS CBRE has recruited Will Connolly to its national hotels team. Mr Connolly previously worked at Colliers International and before that managed his own agency specialising in hospitality sales. Submissions to sjohanson@fairfaxmedia.com.au Despite kicking off the so-called $1 per litre milk wars, Coles is launching a new, more expensive home brand to help struggling dairy farmers. Farmers Fund milk will hit Coles supermarket shelves within days and will sell in two litre bottles for an expected price of $2.50 per bottle. Victorian Farmers Federation president David Jochinke on a dairy farm at Quantong, north west Victoria. Credit:Jane Murray Both full cream and skim milk will be available, but it will only be sold in Victoria. The brand - which was jointly developed by the Victorian Farmers Federation and Coles - will be owned by the federation. The milk will be produced by Coles and Australia's largest dairy processor Murray Goulburn. Six years ago next month, Cory Bernardi made some comments about the United Nations, widely reported at the time and since. It was September 2010 and the Liberal National Party was peak crazy, what with the combination of a Labor government and a female prime minister. To entertain myself, I've read pages and pages of Hansard where Senator Bernardi, of South Australia has interrupted other speakers on a regular basis and made what I consider to be personal remarks (apparently, "the absence of belief in a greater being is generally replaced by something less than beneficent"). But it was his comments about the United Nations which are important now. He said of the UN: "The government's record and future agenda also threatens to concentrate power in Canberra, while outsourcing aspects of our national sovereignty to unaccountable foreign organisations like the United Nations. This was highlighted by the government's commitment to a climate change treaty prior to the Copenhagen conference in December last year, which would have seen billions of dollars of Australian taxpayer funds disappear into that fiscal black hole of bureaucracy known as the United Nations." Conflicts of interest are a fact of life. The issue is how they are managed. In politics and policy, where public trust is so crucial, the key to managing conflicts of interest and thus minimising the potential for corruption is the application of two fundamental principles: transparency and accountability. This is so self-evident it beggars belief Australia has such inadequate rules around political donations. In short, there are many loopholes, copious opportunities to disguise payments and a ridiculously long lag often more than a year between making a donation and it being publicly declared, if at all. Recent events are once again demonstrating just how shockingly inadequate those rules are. Senior Labor senator Sam Dastyari's gormless and repeated acceptance of money from interests linked to the Chinese government is but the latest example. Another is a recent payment of as much as half a million dollars to the Western Australian branch of the Liberal Party by a Chinese-linked interest. We have seen Labor and Liberal members accepting dubious largesse from businessmen with connections to Beijing. Lamentably, examples of inappropriate behaviour are legion on all sides of politics. In the Dastyari case, key members of the Coalition are making the absurd argument there is no link between the senator's folly there is a strong argument he should stand aside or be removed and the lack of proper laws. Of course there is. That is the very point. While Senator Dastyari's behaviour is clearly unacceptable at an ethical level, it is likely he has not transgressed the law. The law must be changed, and the only thing preventing that is a lack of will and integrity on the part of our elected representatives. 'Believer' Greg Hunt stands condemned The international Climate Transparency Group's report Brown to Green rates G20 nations on their response to the climate change threat. The report rates Australia's performance as the worst of all 20 nations. Greg Hunt must take a big share of the blame for this disgraceful situation. As the environment minister from September 2013 to July this year, he put his name and lent his authority to a series of decisions by the Coalition that systematically weakened Australia's response to the impending crisis. Furthermore, he did so not as a climate sceptic, but as someone who understood well the nature of the threat and the consequences of his actions and inactions. Peter Lynch, Kew The PM is no innovator Malcolm Turnbull wants to be known as an innovator but is turning his back on the most important innovation needed this century clean energy for a world threatened by the disastrous consequences of old "fossil" energy. By cutting $1 billion in funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, he is telling the world that Australia is not interested in leading the way to a future powered by safe renewable energy. How shortsighted, given that Australia probably has the world's best chance of capturing the vast energy available from the sun and wind. We have some of the world's leading scientists and the infrastructure and wealth needed to develop the required technology. But the signals from this government threaten to undermine this advantage. The world of the future is going to be powered by clean energy. We must not waste this chance by bowing to the ideological ratbags who can't see beyond the immediate dollar signs. Keith Burrows, Fairfield THE FORUM No notion of ethics Bill Shorten has declared he will not remove Sam Dastyari from the shadow ministry for having had a personal debt paid by a Chinese business. In 1982, Michael MacKellar and John Moore resigned over an imported TV set. What would it take for Mr Shorten to take that step? Senator Dastyari must know "there is no such thing as a free lunch" or a free debt repayment. The group making the payment must have expected something. Dastyari should lose his shadow ministry not because of the perception of impropriety, but because of the sheer stupidity of accepting the payment. And by not sacking Dastyari, Shorten is displaying the same degree of stupidity. The public is sick of politicians doing questionable things, but even more sick of them being excused by their leaders. How about showing some ethical standards? Oh, sorry, we are talking about politicians. How would they know what ethical conduct is? Danny Cole, Sunbury But look over there Which is more morally reprehensible? Dastyari's acceptance of payments from a Chinese business or the government's refusal to discuss the issue of political donations by insisting this single incident is the real issue? John Taylor, Cobram Brighten up our day I am sure for their office upgrades, politicians deserve to have a sum of money equal to that which the average worker spends to put a house on a block of land (The Age, 6/9). I, on the other hand, sit in an office that has not had so much as a coat of paint or change of carpet since 1990. But then, I only work in the public hospital system and minister to patients with chronic medical conditions whose lives never need brightening up. Evelyn Wilkins, Watsonia Show some patriotism Aha, the word "patriotism" has finally made it into print, but unfortunately it was not uttered by an Australian (The Age, 6/9). While Xi Jinping and others push Chinese sovereignty, we Aussies seem in a hurry to give away our nation. Over the years, so many Australians have died for their country. Now patriotism is a dirty word in the realm of free trade, along with protectionism and racism. Patriotic Australians want our elected leaders to represent us, mindful of trade deals and opportunities, but always with the larger picture of Australian interests in mind. John Marks, Werribee PM still doesn't get it Mr Turnbull's statement at the G20 Summit that the rise of populist politics and protectionism was due to the unprecedented changes in the scale of the global economy brought on by digital disruption and globalisation reveals a lack of understanding. What is driving populism and protectionist sentiment is the fact that the benefits of globalisation are overwhelmingly going to the top 1 per cent of the population. This is exacerbated by Liberal Party policies, which entrench advantage accorded to high income earners and the top end of town while whittling away benefits going to middle and low-income earners. To continue with such policies will further embolden populist sentiments in the electorate. Garry Meller, Bentleigh Careers of psychopaths Astonishingly absent from David Tuffley's list of the psychopath's preferred career paths is politics (Comment, 5/9). Where are ruthless callousness, mendacity and nerveless hypocrisy more richly rewarded? One can only assume that pollies are listed under the top-ranked "CEO" category for such qualities. A Twitter competition during parliamentary question time might at least engage the public's appetite for primitive blood sports. John Hayward, Weegena, Tas Power without the will Two young primary school children in Bali, concerned about plastic refuse spoiling their island and polluting the ocean, successfully campaigned to have Bali declared a plastic bag-free zone (Good Weekend, 3/9). Meanwhile, in Australia, every government has a minister for the environment; an MP with political power. We also have waterways that are polluted with non bio-degradable plastic refuse that is eventually flushed into the ocean. It is pointless having political power if there is no political will. Isabel and Melati Wijsen could teach us a thing or two about passion and motivation. Jane Oldfield, Caulfield Thrown on scrapheap After a number of years in the red Qantas has made a substantial profit. As a consequence CEO Alan Joyce is being paid $13 million what many would think an obscene amount of money, even by the standards of Australian executives' salaries. Perhaps he could do something to help all those many hundreds of Qantas workers in heavy engineering, call centres and other areas whose jobs were outsourced overseas. After all, this profit was built on their backs. Tony Healy, Balwyn North A Catch-22 lesson Perhaps Dick Smith management was inspired by the character Milo Minderbinder in Catch-22 who was able to buy eggs for 7c, sell them for 5c, and make 2c profit ("Dick Smith's bizarre retail practices", 6/9)? Kim Smith, Hughesdale Hoping we forget Henrie Ellis (Letters, 6/9), the Liberal Party powerbrokers are clearly banking on us not remembering Matthew Guy's dubious performance as planning minister. Otherwise, how could he be installed as party leader and potentially our next premier? Tony Ralston, Balwyn North Skills go to waste I have read voraciously the articles and letters about teaching over the past month or so. While I agree with much of what has been put forward, one side is rarely discussed. That is many trained teachers, experienced and newbies, who simply cannot get the jobs for which they are qualified and passionate about. Even getting put on what used to be called the relief list (I'm showing my age!) is a subjective exercise on the part of schools. I have two committed and principled grandsons, one primary trained who could not get a position after taking a year off to further his qualifications; the other a secondary teacher trained in a range of areas including drama. The older one now works outside the profession, ensuring his strong rapport with young children has been lost to schools. The younger one has not been able to get a foot in the door. If the industry better used existing resources we would not be needing yet more graduates, and maybe they would not burn out so quickly. Wendy Gibson, Barwon Heads Equal to the best Now some good news. At the 42nd Chess Olympiad in Baku, David Smerdon, Australia's highest-ranked player drew with Magnus Carlsen, the world chess champion.Go Australia. Jane Washington, Frankston Abolish care fee limits Recent carnage in the share price of aged care companies seems to suggest that restrictions on maximum charges for approved care recipients are biting. For more than 40 years the Commonwealth has limited the fees that aged care operators can charge. Subsidies for payroll tax have been eliminated, and funding for nursing care has been reduced with no capacity for operators to make up the shortfall. This is a serious case of "unconscionable conduct". The Commonwealth sets high standards and yet limits the fees paid without regard for viability, market forces that would underpin an increased bed supply, or consumer choice and quality. The aged care industry needs serious reform embracing increased competition and the abolition of fee control to encourage the building of new modern facilities. Child care fees are not controlled; why should aged care be any different? Graeme Croft, director, Innovative Care Scary rise in cruelty The rate of animal cruelty in Victoria has escalated again, with complaints rising from 10,780 in 2014-15 to 12,022 in 2015-16. Some 1345 cases involved beating or wounding of animals. Animal abusers are cowards. Those who tend towards violence often use animals as "practice" victims. Research shows that people who commit acts of cruelty to animals often go on to commit violent acts against fellow humans. A study by Dr John Clarke, psychology lecturer and consultant to NSW police, used police data to show that 61 per cent of convicted animal abuse offenders had also committed an assault, with 17 per cent were guilty of sexual abuse. Most disturbingly, animal abuse was a better predictor of sexual assault than convictions for homicide, arson or firearms offences. Only 1 per cent of animal cruelty offenders had no other convictions. The world's most notorious serial killers have long, documented histories of harming animals. Cruelty to animals in Victoria carries a penalty of up to $74,620 or two years' jail. These penalties need to be increased and applied rigorously. Furthermore, if you suspect someone of abusing an animal, report it to authorities right away, for the safety of the entire community. Claire Fryer, campaigns coordinator, PETA Australia AND ANOTHER THING... Politics As the main function of Parliament is to legislate, it seems logical that lawyers become MPs. They have the necessary expertise (Letters, 6/9). Michael Jongen, Pascoe Vale Malcolm and Scott, cut the poverty Newstart allowance when you cut your parliamentary perks and lurks. Stephen Bickell, Mt Evelyn Never thought Alan Jones and Sam Dastyari would have so much in common. Les Anderson, Woodend With our politicians proving to be so inept, I'm wondering if we still need them. Think of the money we'd save. Diane Jenkins, Caulfield They say travel broadens the mind. Let's hope this is the case for Senator Bernardi. Dinah Beale, Tyabb Good heavens. Cory Bernardi and Donald Trump in the same hemisphere at the same time. Marie Nash, Balwyn Since when has increasing the money given to private schools equalled improved outcomes for state schools? Susan Mahar, Fitzroy North Trickle-down doesn't work in education either. Geoff Witten, Lower Plenty Elsewhere Just when did we get so greedy as a nation that we need to have an argument with East Timor over the Timor Sea? Wake up, Australia. Duncan Reid, Flemington The Comm Bank should be renamed The Con Bank. Trevor Meyer, Hastings The free traders have conned us all. Malcolm McDonald, Burwood Poker machines can't be deceptive (The Age, 5/9). They are designed to take your money. The donation scandal engulfing Labor senator Sam Dastyari is unfairly branding the Chinese community as a "bad bunch", Australia's first Chinese MP has argued. Helen Sham-Ho, who was first a Liberal then an independent member of the NSW upper house for 15 years and remains well-connected in the Chinese-Australian community, said the furore was exaggerating the influence of Chinese interests in Australian affairs. "The Chinese sometimes [make] donations just because they just want to be friendly, they want to show some appreciation, and want to give them a gift, want to be acknowledged," she told ABC radio on Tuesday evening. Ms Sham-Ho said there may be a small number of Chinese donors seeking to influence Australian politicians for a "personal agenda", but there was "no proof" this was systemic. Former Liberal Party treasurer Michael Yabsley is calling for a "radical" overhaul of Australia's political donations and election funding regime, including a cap of $500 a person per election cycle to each level of government. Mr Yabsley who established Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's former fundraising body the Wentworth Forum also wants the abolition of public funding of political parties and a ban on companies, unions and associations making donations, restricting them to individuals on the electoral roll. Breaches of the rules should be subject to penalties including jail terms, and the system would need to be adopted by all states and territories via the Council of Australian Governments, he argues. "By doing something quite major and quite radical you can have a very, very profound effect on the way political parties operate," Mr Yabsley told Fairfax Media. Australia's major political parties would see the vast majority of high-value donations vanish if only individuals on the electoral roll are allowed to donate, according to analysis of Australian Electoral Commission disclosures. An expanding group of Coalition figures, including current ministers and former NSW premier Nick Greiner, have backed excluding businesses, unions and foreigners from donating to Australian political parties. This would have wiped out roughly 90 per cent of disclosed donations for the Liberals, Labor and the Greens in 2014-15 and 100 per cent for the Nationals. Labor senator Sam Dastyari's expenses scandal has reignited debate on the political donations regime, with the Greens pushing for a ban on all corporate donations and Labor urging a ban on foreign donations. Now his party leader, Bill Shorten, trying to minimise him as a political target, was dismissing Dastyari as "a bright young fellow", but, really, nothing more than a "junior senator". He has spent much of his 33 years promoting his own brilliance and being told he was a Labor star. Senator Sam Dastyari says he made a mistake - 22 times. Credit:Wolter Peeters Young Sam may have been stung, but he was apparently so relieved that Shorten had also announced he had decided to give him a second chance and not axe him from his frontbench that he submitted himself to a press conference. Dastyari would have been better off sitting in a darkened room, the drapes drawn, reflecting silently on the grand days when he was a somebody who wasn't in peril. Like when, having endured countless Chinese meals with the hard men of the NSW Right, he had gained, at age 27, one of the most powerful positions in the ALP: NSW secretary-general of the party. It was a position previously held by operators like Graham "Richo" Richardson, Stephen Loosley, John Della Bosca, Eric Roozendal, Mark Arbib and Karl Bitar. Or the shining moment when 100 members of the NSW Right, a sort of a political gangster cult, gathered at Sydney's Sussex Street headquarters and endorsed Dastyari unanimously for the Senate - a seat he took in 2013, followed by happy promotions up Shorten's shadow ministry. Bill Shorten has stumbled in his defence of Sam Dastyari, Dastyari has crashed in defence of himself and the Coalition has mightily over-reached in its attack. The upshot is that the case for reform of laws covering political donations to political parties and gifts to politicians is even more compelling, but the path ahead is even more uncertain. Shorten mounts a strong case for donations reform, including a ban on foreign donations, more transparency and "real time" disclosure, but is more circumspect when it comes to outlawing direct cash gifts to individuals. "Whether or not it's in the rules, it just shouldn't happen and, trust me, Senator Dastyari has learnt that lesson very clearly," Shorten said on Tuesday. An Australian man has died after he was bitten by a shark while kitesurfing in New Caledonia on Tuesday afternoon. The 50-year-old from Western Australia was on a reef at Koumac with a group of others about 3.40pm local time (2.40pm AEST) kitesurfing close to shore as part of a ten day kitesurfing holiday aboard a catamaran. In a statement, the tour operator Offshore Odysseys Inc said the victim was an experienced waterman, and was attacked by a large shark of unknown type. Odyssey's statement said "the vessel's crew immediately realized the guest was in distress, dispatched a rescue vessel and radioed local authorities. The victim was given medical assistance by the crew while being rushed towards the harbor." Ella Shannon led a double life. On weekdays she was in the city in a business suit or travelling around the country as a consultant to big investment funds in agriculture. On weekends she'd be called home to the family sheep and cattle property near Yass, NSW to get into jeans and help out in the paddocks because "there is no access to quality workers". She saw first-hand a disconnect between the demand for good farm labour and the willing supply of backpackers, uni students and "grey nomads". So she set up AgDraft last October, choosing the name to reflect the farmer's practice of drafting good stock out from the not-so-good. Ella Shannon with her father Peter on the family farm at Bookham near Yass, NSW. Credit:Rachael Lenehan Photography It's an online job site for agriculture workers with an AirBNB-style referencing system for employers and workers to rate each other. A pilot launched in April for northern NSW has averaged 37 per cent month by month user growth. Ms Shannon is now looking for the next stage of funding. Startup support in the Australian agriculture technology sector is scant compared with our competitors such as Israel, the US and Canada, says a new report StartupAUS, co-authored by by KPMG. It says agriculture will be Australia's next $100 billion industry by 2030 but growth is being held back by a lack of venture capital and a mismatch between research and industry needs. NSW doctors have racked up the biggest bills on the drug industry dime than any other state or territory in consultant fees, overseas educational events and advisory meetings. But how much did your doctor receive from pharmaceutical companies? Fairfax Media has scraped the data from Medicines Australia's new report that for the first time names thousands of medical practitioners who shared in more than $8.5 million in the six months up to April this year. Drug companies paid close to 1600 NSW practitioners more than $2.5 million over the six-month period, averaging $1633 per doctor or nurse. Police have charged a truck driver after a jet engine for an A330 passenger aircraft slid off the back of his heavy vehicle near Sydney Airport. The 7-tonne engine suffered moderate damage in the incident on Forest Road in Arncliffe about 9.30am on Tuesday, and police were forced to close one side of the road. The A330 engine that fell from the truck near Sydney Airport on Tuesday. Credit:NSW Police Traffic was disrupted for nearly two hours while a crane was used to salvage the engine, which was wrapped in a grey covering emblazoned with General Electric logo. The American manufacturer's aviation subsidiary is one of the world's largest makers of jet engines. A woman was sleeping in her Potts Point home with one leg on top of the doona, and one leg underneath it when she woke to disturbing sensation. For a split second she thought it was her boyfriend but then she realised he would never do anything like that. It was 3.30am and a stranger was holding her bottom and licking her anus. She turned around the see a man kneeling beside her bed and when she slid her hand across the bed she realised her partner was sound asleep next to her. The woman dug her fingernails into her partner's arm and said, "Someone is there". The Premier and her deputy have presented a united front against Brisbane City Council's proposed Metro rapid transit system, insisting it could not go forward in its current form. In a joint statement issued on Tuesday afternoon, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Deputy Premier Jackie Trad sought to clarify the government's position in its ongoing dispute with Lord Mayor Graham Quirk over his proposed Brisbane Metro. It came after divisions appeared to emerge on Tuesday morning when Ms Trad told 612 ABC Brisbane the government would assist the council in delivering the project. Ms Trad's comments were less that 24 hours after Ms Palaszczuk said Cr Quirk should "ditch" the $1.5 billion project altogether, since the state government had ruled out providing the old Go Print site at Woolloongabba. Queensland's fight for more money to upgrade the state's busiest highway ramps up on Wednesday with a mayor, a minister and interest groups flying south to meet with the federal government. The Palaszczuk government claims it's been shortchanged by a federal refusal to fund more than half of a $430 million planned upgrade to widen a key section of the M1 from Mudgeeraba to Varsity Lakes and the Gateway merge. In the wake of the federal election campaign, Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey called for the Turnbull government to stick to the 80:20 funding agreement usually agreed on for federal roads. The Queensland government has committed $86 million to the two M1 projects. The Australian government is seeking at least $120 million from the owners of a Chinese coal carrier that destroyed part of the Great Barrier Reef. Shenzhen Energy Transport is fighting not to pay for the clean-up of the Douglas Shoal, which was severely damaged when the Shen Neng 1 went off course and grounded in April 2010. Fuel oil leaks from the Shen Neng 1 when it ran aground on a shoal in 2010. Credit:Handout The Federal Court heard on Tuesday that the crash site is contaminated with hundreds of kilograms of paint particles tainted with the highly toxic anti-fouling agent tributyltin, also known as TBT. TBT slows the growth of aquatic organisms on ship hulls and marine biologists say the particles need to be removed from the 40ha crash site to allow the area to recover. The state government's position on Brisbane City Council's planned Metro appears to be in flux, with the Premier's comments on Monday contradicted by her deputy on Tuesday. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was emphatic on Monday when she said Lord Mayor Graham Quirk should "ditch" the Metro plan, after the state government ruled out its Go Print site at Woolloongabba as a rolling stock holding yard. But Deputy Premier Jackie Trad appeared to contradict Ms Palaszczuk on Monday morning, when she took to the airwaves and said she wanted to offer government support to help the council deliver the $1.5 billion project. Ms Trad told 612 ABC Brisbane on Tuesday morning that the state government would "work with council to assist them in the Metro". The fallout from a controversial ruling threatening to derail cases against several greyhound trainers accused of live baiting has taken a new turn, with the Attorney-General now asked to act. Confronting footage of greyhounds chasing possums, piglets and rabbits strapped to a lure forms a key part of several cases against some of Queensland's highest profile trainers. A legal ruling has called in to question video evidence being used in prosecutions over live baiting. Credit:Sydney Morning Herald But late last month, Ipswich District Court Judge Gregory Koppenol ruled the video, taken on hidden cameras snuck onto disgraced trainer Tom Noble's Churchable property by Animal Liberation Queensland activists was inadmissible. He threw out the case against trainer Ian Hoggan, ruling the footage was illegally captured in, a split from fellow District Court Judge Alexander Horneman-Wren who in July allowed it in the public interest. One in five people visit emergency rooms for chronic illness in regional Queensland, which was likely because of a lack of community healthcare services, a study has found. University of South Australia researchers who had been looking into the prevalence of chronic illness in regional Queensland checked data from a public hospital in far north Queensland to better understand what brought people into the emergency department. Those with chronic illnesses in regional areas are using emergency department due to lack of community access. Credit:Jay Cronan The data was gathered over two years and included more than 95,000 presentations and more than 50,000 cases. Researchers found chronic conditions accounted for 20.2 per cent of all emergency presentations, which lead author and University of South Australia senior research fellow Dr Linton Harriss said could have been addressed within community healthcare services. An alleged senior member of the Comanchero bikie gang has been arrested following a brutal attack on a Gold Coast bus driver. Police allege the man, 30, along with another man, 29, who was arrested last week, were parked illegally in a bus zone that had prevented 20 international bus passengers from disembarking on Cavill Avenue, Surfers Paradise, on August 21. The two men are alleged to have attacked the driver at Surfers Paradise. Credit:Nine News/Courtesy of Gold Coast The two men, both believed to be associates of the Comanchero outlaw motorcycle gang, went over to the tourist bus and became aggressive to the driver before they allegedly punched him in the face. The driver was then allegedly dragged onto the street and repeatedly kicked and punched. Police are investigating a house fire in Millmerran on Tuesday. Emergency services were called to the Turner Road address just after 9am to reports the two-storey home was on fire. A house near Toowoomba has been destroyed in a suspicious fire. Credit:Seven News/Twitter Firefighters arrived to find the home fully alight, but all occupants were accounted for. The blaze was extinguished just before noon, with police now involved in the investigation. Many people with day jobs in regular businesses harbour secret loves. Perhaps it's designing surfboards, training puppies or blending coffee. Increasingly, people are finding ways to change their working lives to incorporate these passions without taking the full plunge into running a small business full time. Damian Dajmanovski runs his own firm but also teaches at General Assembly. Take Melbourne woman Vivian Nguyen who had been working as a lawyer for seven years and recently went part time to pursue her passion for baking. "I felt like I was really burning out and the commute for me was far, it's over an hour and a half each way," she told Fairfax Media. A "restrictive" workplace deal sought by the firefighters' union would be a "recipe for disaster" for Melbourne's fire brigade, a parliamentary hearing has been told. While the CFA dispute has dogged the Andrews government, there have been similar negotiations over an overdue workplace deal in the Metropolitan Fire Brigade. Lucinda Nolan says she left the CFA 'because my integrity was called into question'. Credit:Justin McManus MFB chief executive Jim Higgins and acting Chief Officer Paul Stacchino are fighting against the United Firefighters Union's claims for nearly double the number of consultation or agreement provisions in the negotiations, which are before the Fair Work Commission. Earlier on Tuesday, former CFA chief executive Lucinda Nolan said the workplace deal for paid CFA firefighters, backed by Premier Daniel Andrews, was "destructive and divisive". DES MOINES State government paid more than $4.65 million from the general fund in fiscal 2016 to settle claims and resolve disputes caused by employee mistakes, workplace misconduct or other damages a total that was down significantly from the previous year, according to state records. State settlements and judgments paid during the 12-month period that ended June 30 were down four-fold from fiscal 2015, when efforts to resolve construction issues at the newly built Iowa State Penitentiary caused yearly payments authorized by the State Appeal Board to spike to nearly $19.6 million. It seems to go in cycles, said Joseph Barry, the states risk manager within the Iowa Department of Management who tracks settlements and judgments. Last year was a pretty normal scenario, Barry added. Obviously, if it isnt zero, its always higher than you want it to be, but I dont know if thats reality. As long as its not those spikes, the more we can stay away from those issues the better. State Department of Corrections payouts some still related to design flaws, delays, mistakes and cost overruns at the 800-bed prison in Fort Madison topped $1 million last fiscal year. Another carry-over cost in fiscal 2016 was one of the last of the remaining settlements from the now-defunct state film tax credit program that drove claims to $13.2 million in fiscal 2012. State Appeal Board members approved a $700,000 payment to the makers of Janie Jones to settle contract disputes with three companies that invested money in the movie based upon an expectation of state tax credits that werent paid. The final settlement was based on an audit of the movies expenses. The largest category of state payouts in fiscal 2016 involved malpractice or medical-related claims brought against doctors at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City that resulted in more than $1.6 million in settlements. On a normal year, thats usually our biggest issue, Barry noted. The state agreed to pay $1.125 million of a $3.75 million award to settle a lawsuit brought by a couple that accused UI Hospitals and Clinics physicians of delaying a Caesarean section, resulting in a brain injury to the baby caused by oxygen deprivation. Other payouts included $800,000 to settle a medical negligence lawsuit claiming the hospital failed to diagnose spinal fractures resulting in a permanent back injury, and a $300,000 award to settle a lawsuit alleging medical negligence at the UI Hospitals & Clinics relating to aspects of a hernia surgery that resulted in chronic pain and disability for a university professor. The medical settlements were divided between the state and the UI Physicians group. In all, judgments and settlements paid via the states regent institutions totaled $1.659 million. The appeal board also accepted a $235,000 settlement to resolve a lawsuit challenging conditions of confinement involving a former resident at the now-closed Iowa Juvenile Home. Lawyers for the girl alleged she was confined in seclusion at the states Toledo facility in violation of her constitutional rights and that the homes use of isolation cells constituted negligence. The allegations were resolved with no admission of wrongdoing, according to board documents. Board members also approved: A judgment ordered by a federal judge for $298,919 in attorney fees stemming from a challenge the Iowa Right to Life Committee brought against the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Finance Board over state forms and the reporting requirements for political action committees. An $80,000 payment to an estate in the 2013 death of a patient at the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown. A $10,000 payment to settle allegations related to sexual orientation and disability discrimination brought by a former Iowa Workforce Development employee. The high year for state payments to resolve settlements and judgments remains fiscal 2008, when a record $23.5 million was paid to settle claims tied to the Iowa Lotterys TouchPlay program. The knock on the door took Cheltenham residents Ray and Sue Spriggs by surprise. They thought it would be another pesky survey by the Level Crossing Removal Authority but instead, they heard some terrible news on Monday night. Sue Spriggs, left, with her grandaughter, her husband Ray and his mother, 91-year-old Joy. Their homes in Cheltenham will be acquired by the Andrews government. Credit:Penny Stephens "They came to tell us they're taking the house," said Ms Spriggs. Their family home and the home of Mr Spriggs' 91-year-old mother Joy, are among those that will be compulsorily acquired by the government to remove two level crossings in Cheltenham, on Charman and Park roads. Sydney Road in Brunswick. Credit:Paul Jeffers Mr Ashton said it was the first publication in English from IS and said the threats suggested the terrorist group was losing influence and their propaganda arm was hitting out. "Normally these are in Arabic. But this is the first occasion we've had one in English," Mr Ashton said. "For us it's probably a reflection on the ground that IS are continuing to lose." Ezzit Raad as depicted by an artist during his court appearance. But according to a senior officer, the feeling among counter-terrorism police was that it was "just a matter of time" before another attack was carried out in Australia. They said such an attack could be plotted by a lone wolf, as in the case of the Lindt cafe siege, or a group of people. "The one thing they will have in common is they wont be directed from abroad. They'll have inspiration from online or one of these publications." The officer, who spoke to Fairfax Media on the condition of anonymity, said while the type of calls made by Islamic State's propaganda machine were "nothing new" there was little authorities could do unless they were already monitoring a specific threat. "The problem we have these days is that it has all changed," they said. "We've gone from highly organised September 11-type attacks to those that we saw in France that require minimal organisation." "They're actually very hard to detect until they've happened." The officer said there would likely be increased security at some high-profile Australian sites following the call to arms, but stressed it was difficult to prevent an attack at venues such as the MCG or SCG. "There would be almost no chance of detecting it until it starts," the officer said of an attack at one of the stadiums. "It's not very secure. "They search your bag [but] there's no body searching, there's no bomb detection. If you don't have a bag you can walk straight in." AFL chiefs, assembled at Melbourne's Crown Casino on Tuesday for the league's rising star award - one of many major events on the finals calendar - became aware of the threat reports at the luncheon. AFL media boss Patrick Keane later told Fairfax Media: "The AFL is guided at all times by the best advice from state and federal police on security arrangements for AFL matches and our supporters. "The AFL has full confidence in the advice we receive and it is not appropriate for us to comment in detail on individual security matters." The latest exhortation from the terrorist group follows the death in Syria of convicted Australian terrorist Ezzit Raad, who was jailed in connection with the 2005 plot to blow up the MCG and features as the latest jihadist poster boy in a new magazine. Many experts and government officials have warned that as IS loses territory in Iraq and Syria, it will lash out globally through attacks on western countries. Residents at Brunswick's popular shopping strip, Barkly Square, were still absorbing the news late on Tuesday afternoon. Rose Sandrin, who heard about the threat on the radio said she felt shaken up. "I'm just absolutely shocked. I can't think of any other word to describe it ... it's very alarming." Ms Sandrin, who has lived in Brunswick for 30 years, said she felt very vulnerable after her suburb had been named. "It's different to watching TV and seeing things blow up in a foreign country, but when they're targeting where you actually live, it is quite scary." Ali Khodabandelou, a Muslim refugee from Iran, said the threat to Australia was horrible and he worried that IS activities were influencing the way Australians perceived all Muslims. "It's horrible, when you see what they are doing to innocent people ... and it's bad for our situation here as well. They are putting people from all around the world against Muslims." Federal member for Wills Peter Khalil, who also worked as a security adviser to former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, said he believed Brunswick and Broadmeadows were targeted because they were bastions of multiculturalism. "That's the reason they are afraid of ... they're afraid that it [multiculturalism] actually works in these places and because it cuts right through the hateful ideology which wants to separate people of different faiths and ethnicities," said Mr Khalil, who is also a multicultural commissioner for Victoria. "I'm sure that people of Brunswick and Broadmeadows won't be intimidated by these types of threats because multiculturalism works really well in these communities." Moreland councillor, Rob Thompson told Fairfax Media said he was not concerned about the threat, pointing out that all the targeted areas started with the same letter. "We just happen to start with a 'b' they're just listing places that start with a 'b'. "I'm sure that the local law enforcement will take it as seriously as they normally do. I don't wish to draw any attention to it or give it any more air time that it needs. I'm not concerned and wouldn't want to raise alarm bells." Police are appealing for public assistance to help find a missing 15-year-old girl. Irene Ring was last seen at a house on Matthews Street in Glen Waverley on August 26. Police are appealing for help to find Irene Ring. Police hold concerns for Irene's welfare due to her age and have released an image of her in the hope that someone may have information on her whereabouts. Irene is described as approximately 150cm tall, with a medium build and long brown hair. Revelations that high levels of lead have been found in the water at Perth's new children's hospital have further embarrassed building giant John Holland and the WA government seven weeks after asbestos was found on the site. John Holland is yet to find out the cause of the toxic material, but in a statement said metallurgical testing had ruled out taps and valves it is responsible for. Perth Children's Hospital developer John Holland in need to explain latest toxin scandal. However Master Plumbers Association of WA chief executive Murray Thomas said it was highly unlikely that mains water that the Water Corporation quality tested and put out would have lead in it before it got to the hospital site. "I am not pointing fingers at the moment ... but I would suggest it's possibly not the water supply, I'm just thinking about the products in the water supply system," he said. If you've ever lived or worked in the Pilbara, you'll know all too well the pain of getting stuck at a railway crossing waiting for an iron ore train to pass. Residents in the regional town of Port Hedland - until the recent construction of a bridge had the unfortunate luck of having a double train crossing on their main road. "Sorry, I got double-trained" became a common excuse when running late for an appointment. One truck driver, Geoff Jenkinson, working north of Tom Price on Nanutarra Road this week, decided to turn his waiting game into a counting game by filming a Rio Tinto train. Two days before a shark tipped a surfer off his board in the state's south west, a father and his young son had a close encounter in the shallow waters just on the other side of the peninsula. After a shark, potentially a great white, butted the surfer off his board off Yallingup's Injidup beach on Monday, a Dunsborough dad told WAtoday a "baby" great white shadowed his boat off Quindalup on Saturday. Baby or not, a seven-footer so close to their 12-foot dinghy caused plenty of excitement. The father normally prefers to stay in the bay's shallows while fishing with his son, but on Saturday they made a brief foray further out and landed a dhufish. Jakarta: A forensic pathologist from Australia has raised doubts over whether an Indonesian woman was poisoned with cyanide in the latest twist to an alleged murder that has gripped Indonesia and piqued a morbid fascination with Vietnamese iced coffee. Australian permanent resident Jessica Kumala Wongso has been accused of the premeditated murder of Wayan Mirna Salihin, with whom she studied at the Billy Blue College of Design in Sydney. Jessica Wongso appears in court in Jakarta accused of poisoning her friend with a Vietnamese iced coffee. Credit:Tatan Syuflana However the central plank of the prosecution case - that Ms Salihin died after Ms Wongso laced her Vietnamese-iced coffee with cyanide at Olivier restaurant in the ritzy Grand Indonesia shopping mall - has been questioned by a forensic pathologist and senior lecturer at Queensland University's School of Medicine. "I would say the death is very likely not caused by cyanide," Professor Beng Beng Ong told the Central Jakarta District Court. Paris: A French prosecutor has requested a criminal trial for former President Nicolas Sarkozy over suspected illegal overspending on his failed 2012 re-election campaign. The Paris prosecutor's office said on Monday it has asked investigating judges to send Sarkozy and 13 others to court in the case. It's now up to the judges to decide whether Sarkozy must stand trial. Sarkozy announced his bid for next year's presidential election last month and faces a primary in November against a dozen other conservative candidates. If the investigating judges eventually decide to send him to court, it's unlikely any trial could be held before the April-May presidential election. If Sarkozy was elected next year, he would be granted immunity as president and would not be able to stand trial in the case before the end of the five-year term. Motorcyclist to attempt speeds of 400mph to shatter Land Speed World Record TRIUMPH CONFIRMS SEPTEMBER DATE FOR LAND SPEED RECORD ATTEMPT AT BONNEVILLE Following a successful practice session at the Bonneville Salt Flats, achieving a speed of 274.2 mph to become the worldas fastest ever Triumph, Triumph Motorcycles has confirmed the attempt to set a new outright motorcycle Land Speed World Record will take place mid-September, 2016, weather permitting. Piloted by TT star Guy Martin the Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner will return to the famous Bonneville salt flats and attempt to beat the current 376.8mph record speed on an 11 mile-long course. Despite having a good course surface for testing the team felt that the salt wasnat yet fully capable of supporting a top-speed streamliner run. In consultation with FIM course manager Mike Cook the team are targeting the September dates as the best possible opportunity for the optimal course conditions required for the record attempt. The practice week, which ended with the 274.2mph run on Tuesday 9th August, demonstrated that both the Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner and rider Guy Martin are ready for the task ahead. Martinas first week in the streamliner saw him master the controls of the 1,000bhp streamliner very quickly - achieving all of the goals set by Crew Chief and Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner designer Matt Markstaller and his team. When asked about returning in September Markstaller commented: aWe achieved a great deal during our test week at Bonneville and feel we are in a great position to move ahead with our record attempt. Guy settled into the streamliner very quickly and impressed us with the speed in which he mastered both the motorcycle and riding on the salt. aWhile conditions were some of the best I have seen over the last few years, we feel there is still some room for improvement. When chasing a record such as this on two wheels the conditions have to be the very best they can be, to give us the greatest chance of achieving the speeds we require to set a new record. We feel that waiting a few further weeks will provide us with even better conditions and put us in the ideal position to make our record attempt.a??? The Triumph 2016 record attempt is supported by title partner global cloud applications provider Infor with further support from iconic clothing brand Belstaff. The Triumph Infor Rocket features a carbon Kevlar monocoque construction with two turbocharged Triumph Rocket III engines producing a combined 1,000 bhp at 9,000 rpm. The motorcycle is 25.5 feet long, 2 feet wide and 3 feet tall. Powered by methanol fuel, the bike is competing in the Division C (streamlined motorcycle) category. Triumph has a history of breaking the land speed record, holding the title of aWorld's Fastest Motorcyclea between 1955 to 1970*. The record-breaking Triumph Streamliners included: Devil's Arrow, Texas Cee-gar, Dudek Streamliner and Gyronaut X1, the former achieving a top speed of 245.667 mph (395.28 km/h). Today's record, held by Rocky Robinson since 2010 riding the Top Oil-Ack Attack streamliner, sits at 376.363 mph (605.697 km/h). The iconic Bonneville name was conceived following Johnny Allenas land-speed record runs at the Salt Flats in September 1956, when he reached the record breaking speed of 193.72 mph. The first T120 Bonneville model was unveiled at the Earls Court Bike Show and went on sale in 1959. To follow the progress of the world land speed record attempt, please visit www.Triumph.co.uk About Triumph First established in 1902, Triumph Motorcycles celebrated 110 years of motorcycle manufacture in 2012. For more than two decades, Triumph Motorcycles has been based in Hinckley, Leicestershire, and has produced iconic bikes that perfectly blend authentic design, character, charisma and performance. The Triumph Bonneville, famously named to celebrate Triumphs 1956 land speed record on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, USA. The original British superbike and a race winner straight out of the crate. Chosen by famous motorcyclists of the past for its legendary handling, style, and character. Itas that handling, character and style, married to modern rider technology that makes the new Bonneville family THE authentic modern classic choice today. Building around 54,500 bikes per year, Triumph is the largest British motorcycle manufacturer and has over 750 dealers across the world. Triumph holds a unique place in the history of the International Six Day Trials as the motorcycle of choice for both the multiple winning British teams and famously Steve McQueenas US ride entry in 1964. At the heart of Triumphas philosophy is a commitment and passion to develop truly unique motorcycles that offer a blend of distinctive design, intuitive handling and performance to enjoy the perfect ride. This focus, innovation and engineering passion has today created a broad range of bikes suited to all motorcycle riders, including the striking 2.3 litre Rocket III, the unmistakable Speed Triple, the Daytona 200 and TT winning SuperSports Daytona 675R, the class defining Tiger 800, the transcontinental Tiger Explorer and the iconic Triumph Bonneville family. Triumph currently employs around 2000 personnel worldwide and has subsidiary operations in the UK, America, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan, Sweden, Benelux, Brazil, India, Indonesia and Thailand as well as a network of independent distributors. Triumph has manufacturing facilities in Hinckley, Leicestershire, and Thailand plus CKD facilities in Brazil and India. Partner Information About Infor Infor builds beautiful business applications with last mile functionality and scientific insights for select industries delivered as a cloud service. With 15,000 employees and customers in more than 200 countries and territories, Infor automates critical processes for industries including healthcare, manufacturing, fashion, wholesale distribution, hospitality, retail, and public sector. Infor software helps eliminate the need for costly customization through embedded deep industry domain expertise. Headquartered in New York City, Infor is also home to one of the largest creative agencies in Manhattan, Hook & Loop, focused on delivering a user experience that is fun and engaging. Infor deploys its cloud applications primarily on the Amazon Web Services cloud and open source platforms. To learn more about Infor, please visit www.infor.com. About BELSTAFF Belstaff is a global British luxury lifestyle brand steeped in its heritage and spirit of adventure. In Belstaff, the fearless explorer and the fashion enthusiast alike will discover an approachable luxury for a modern lifestyle all influenced by Belstaffas rich history and archives. Belstaff is headquartered in London and showrooms reside there and in New York, Milan and Munich. Belstaff is currently sold through its flagship on New Bond Street, and twelve stores in Europe, the United States and Asia, through select wholesale distribution worldwide and on www.belstaff.com < BRITT A Britt man accused of leading police on a high-speed chase with marijuana in his vehicle has pleaded not guilty. Antoine Lamont Smith, 41, last week pleaded not guilty to felony eluding, felony delivery of marijuana, a felony drug tax stamp violation and one misdemeanor count each of assault on a peace officer, assault with a dangerous weapon and operating while intoxicated-first offense. His trial is set for Oct. 19. Smith fled a traffic stop on U.S. Highway 18 east of Garner on July 27 and drove more than 100 mph in an attempt to evade police, according to court documents. Police say the chase went through Garner and Britt and ended when Smiths pickup ran over a spike strip and was hit by police in a controlled collision a mile west of Britt. Hancock County chase leads to arrest BRITT A man was taken into custody Wednesday, July 27, after a high-speed chase in Hancock Hes accused of throwing two baggies out the window during the pursuit, trying to hit one of the law enforcement vehicles with his truck and kicking a sheriffs deputy during the arrest. Police say 448 grams, or just under a pound, of marijuana was found in Smiths vehicle and that more marijuana and a loaded assault rifle were found in a work area of his home, according to court documents. The documents do not say how much marijuana was found in the work area. MASON CITY Two Mason City women, including one facing felony drug charges, were arrested during a traffic stop around 11 p.m. Friday near the intersection of Highways 18 and 65. The Cerro Gordo County Sheriffs Office said in a statement a deputy found a large quantity of suspected methamphetamine in a vehicle driven by Brendy B. Reuter, 52. She was arrested on felony charges of possession of meth with intent to distribute and failure to affix a drug tax stamp. The Sheriffs Office did not disclose the exact amount of how much suspected meth was found. Reuter also is facing misdemeanor charges of possession of drug paraphernalia, operating while under the influence, open container and improper brake light. During the traffic stop, a passenger, Tasha L. Coty, 39, attempted to hide in the rear of the vehicle, according to the Sheriffs Office. She was arrested on a warrant for allegedly violating her probation on a felony conviction of manufacturing, delivering or possessing with intent to manufacture or deliver meth. Coty received a 10-year suspended prison sentence and probation in April after pleading guilty to the meth charge. Both women were booked into the Cerro Gordo County Jail, where Reuter is being held on $100,000 bond and Coty is being held on $10,100 bond. We recently learned that some companies have been contacted by the SECs Division of Enforcement concerning their non-GAAP disclosure practices. Enforcements interest appears to focus on Item 10(e) of Regulation S-Ks requirement that companies disclosing a non-GAAP measure in SEC filings and earnings releases must also present the most directly comparable GAAP measure with equal or greater prominence. The disclosures being called into question were made in earnings releases and predate the issuance of Corp Fins updated CDIs in May. Enforcements interest does not appear to have been prompted by the comment letter process, but instead seems to be the result of its own initiative. Could we be looking at a new sweep? Although the disclosures that have been questioned were made within the last year, the companies under scrutiny are being asked to provide relevant documents covering multiple years. They are also being asked to identify any other instances of Reg G violations beyond those cited by Enforcement. Public Benefit Corps: Pros & Cons This Gibson Dunn memo discusses the pros & cons of the public benefit corporation, an alternative entity that is now an option in 30 states, including Delaware: Although state corporate law statutes and the tax code treat PBCs as for-profit enterprises, the legal focus of this new corporate model contrasts with that of traditional corporation, which focuses solely on maximizing shareholder wealth. The PBC laws are designed to empower the board of directors to consider additional stakeholders alongside shareholders, and leave it to the board to determine the relative weight to place on shareholders and other stakeholders interests. The advantages of the PBC form include more leeway to consider non-shareholder constituencies, possible increased interest from socially conscious investors, and additional takeover protection due to statutory limits on mergers with non-PBC entities. Disadvantages include possible hesitancy among traditional investors, legal uncertainties, additional reporting obligations, and complexities involving governance of PBC subsidiaries owned by traditional entities. A number of large companies are experimenting with PBCs -and although there are no publicly-traded PBCs, that will likely change soon. Heres a snapshot of the current PBC landscape: As of August 2016, over 4,000 companies have formed as or converted to PBCs, including well-known consumer companies like Patagonia, Kickstarter, and Method Products. In August 2013, just after Delawares PBC statute became effective, Campbell Soup Company caused its newly acquired subsidiary, Plum Organics, to reincorporate as a PBC. Other public companies are similarly considering acquiring PBCs or converting subsidiaries to PBCs. There are no publicly traded PBCs, but Etsy, which is certified as a B Corp by the non-profit entity B Lab, has gone public. According to B Lab rules, Etsy must convert to a Delaware PBC by August 2017 to maintain its certification. You Have to Blow a Whistle to be a Whistleblower This recent blog from Jim Hamiltons World of Securities Regulation flags an interesting new federal court decision addressing what is & isnt whistleblowing. The case Verfuerth v. Orion Energy Systems involves a pretty odd situation. As the court explained: This case presents the unusual scenario in which a CEO claims to have been a whistleblower about his companys failure to disclose material facts to shareholders during the same period he himself was certifying that his companys disclosures were complete. This case addressed the former CEOs claim that the board terminated him for blowing the whistle on alleged securities fraud involving the company. The court was skeptical of his fraud claims but it also believed that the whistle was never blown. It determined that the CEOs allegations were premised solely on advice that he gave the board during internal discussions. Absent evidence that he communicated these concerns to the SEC, that wasnt enough: In sum, Verfuerth seems to have voiced disagreements with various board members about the companys disclosure obligations, but simply telling someone he thinks they should disclose information is not blowing the whistle on anything. Essential to the concept of whistleblowing is the reporting of another persons conduct to an appropriate entity, and there is no evidence that such activity occurred here. John Jenkins My journalism career started in 2013, when I was 20 years old, with the press secretary for a New York City mayoral campaign calling me a cunton the recordto a national news outlet in response to one of my stories. If I were easily offended, I wouldve stopped right after reading the resulting headlines. But as it turned out, I have a very high tolerance for the sort of colorful, mangled language critics often apply to reportersin particular female reportersthey dont like. Still, I couldnt have anticipated how much that episode would set the tone for the ensuing three years and the 2016 election. On Labor Day morning just before 10 a.m., I posted a story on Facebook written by my colleague, Brandy Zadrozny, about Donald Trumps second wife, Marla Maples. Zadrozny, I said, was the only person I knew more obsessed with Maples than me. I called it a great story. A few minutes later I received a familiar notification: Mike Krawitz, a Republican candidate for the West Deptford, New Jersey, township committee, had left three comments on the post. Bill. Clinton. Cheated. On. Hillary. :). With. Multiple. Women, he said. Fuck. You. Olivia, I. Hope. Somebody. Rapes. You. Today. :) Hope. You. Get. Raped. By. A. Syrian. Refugee. :) I should stop here to explain that my Facebook page is a cesspool of trolls and similar lifeforms who respond to everything I say with vitriol. I use Facebook as a means to share my stories, and so I keep it public, rarely posting things of a personal nature there. The total shitshow this has produced has become something of a running joke among my friends, who will often jump into the comments to mock or bicker with the angry old men (its always men) sharing their crazy memes in response to my stories or announcements that Ill be appearing on cable news. In my two-plus years at The Daily Beast, Ive mostly been assigned to cover Republican candidates, so the majority of feedback (read: hate mail) I get is from readers who sympathize with those candidates. Supporters of Rand Paul called me a bimbo troll, while defenders of a white supremacist running for office labeled me a plastic surgery addict and probable jewess. Trump fans like Krawitz have their own vocabulary altogether, as a quick glance at my Twitter mentions will show you. Its difficult for me to say what kind of reaction I wouldve received if Id been writing about Democrats. For all the talk about Bernie Bros, I can only remember receiving one message from an aggrieved Sanders fan. But a lack of decorum and blatant misogyny do appear to be pervasive on the far right. And the nomination of Trump, a candidate who mocked his female primary opponents face and suggested Megyn Kelly asked him hard questions because she had her period, suggests an institutionalization of the sentiment. At Trump rallies, after all, its not uncommon to see people hawking or wearing T-shirts that read Trump That Bitch! Still, Krawitz was different. In Democratic West Deptford, hes a perennial candidate of little consequence. The local Republican Party describes him as a longtime resident and member of the community who offer[s] a different perspective in [the] campaign. What he does for a living, if anything, is unclear. In 2008, he made news when he impersonated Democratic Party boss George Norcross on the phone in order to get put through to then-governor Jon Corzine. Now in his early forties, hes pictured on Facebook appearing chubby in an ill-fitting suit, with a receding hairline that emphasizes his sweaty forehead. On his personal page (although I never accepted his friend request) he mostly posted photos of his hero, Donald J. Trump. But on my page, since December 2014, he diligently commented on the majority of posts with a curiously distinct grammar to convey increasingly angry sentiments. Olivia. You. Call. Yourself. A. Journalist. ? he asked on Dec. 9, 2014, in response to my story about the impending collapse of the Trump Taj Mahal. I. Invite. Olivia. To. Contact. Me. So. I. Can. Show. You. Around. The. Taj. Mahal. Ill. Pay. For. Everything. Mike. He left his phone number. A year later, he was still at it. Stupid Olivia. go back up Obamas. Ass. :) he said on Dec. 11, 2015. And on Aug. 10, 2016, he said, Hows. The. Gun. Crime. In. Democrat. Chicago. Olivia. You. Ugly. Stupid. Cunt. :) Krawitzs long history of posting grammatically unsound comments of this nature on my Facebook page makes it difficult to believe his claim, and the claim of the West Deptford Republican Party, that he was hacked on Monday. Gloucester County Republican Executive Committee chair Jim Philbin distanced himself from Krawitz, whom he claimed he doesnt know personally and called for his resignation in a press release on Tuesday. West Deptfords voters, of course, were already unlikely to elect him before he added supporting the rape of female journalists to his campaign platform. In an additional statement to The Daily Beast, the West Deptford Executive Board said, We have been informed he is resigning. But the fate of political discourse in America is less certain. News publications (including this one) have made a big show of eliminating comments sections in recent years, arguing, correctly, that they are little more than safe spaces for bullies. But increasingly, every other public forum is becoming like that, too. And in the age of Trump, bullying has been rebranded as telling it like it is. Using obscene or threatening language is a point of pride, proof that youre beholden to nothing but the truth. And anyone who cant handle that? Well, theyre just a politically correct loser. When a former reality TV star can become the Republican nominee while offending and belittling entire genders, races, and religions, why wouldnt a man seeking local office think that encouraging the rape of a woman he hates is OK? Among people who exist publicly, like reporters do, Dont read the comments! is a common refrain. Its a suggestion that by ignoring the segment of the population who hide behind their computer screens and spout off, you can render them powerless. At one point, that mightve been true. But its no longer a question of what the journalistwho chose a career that invites public criticismcan handle. We are now existing in the post-shame era of American politics, where the comments have come aliveand theyre running for office. In an unprecedented show of inter-tribal cooperation not seen, according to one elder, since the Battle of Big Horn, thousands of activists from at least 200 Native American tribes have gathered in a remote part of North Dakota to protest the construction of a new oil pipeline. Thousands more have joined them in support: dramatic moments of protesters tying themselves to bulldozers are streaming live on Facebook. A huge campgrounddubbed Sacred Stone Campcomes complete with sweat lodges and schools. Local law enforcement, overwhelmed by the magnitude of the protest, have asked neighboring counties for reinforcements. But what is this protest really about? In fact, the motives are mixed, and often in tension with one another. On the surface, the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is a clash between Big Oil and Native Americans. Industry says the pipelinea $3.8 billion project of Energy Transfer Products (ETP) that would carry 570,000 barrels of crude oil per day from the Dakotas to Illinois, where it would be sent to East Coast markets by trainis essential for energy independence. DAPLs backers also say it poses no serious environmental risk, and so far, multiple agencies and courts have agreed. DAPLs opponents disagree. They note that the pipeline crosses the Missouri half a mile upstream from a reservation belonging to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. A leak could threaten the reservations water supply. Moreover, activists say, while the route of the pipeline avoids the reservation proper, it crosses tribal lands that contain relics that have already been uncovered during the construction process. Thats why, on July 27, the triberepresented by the Earthjustice law firm, which regularly litigates environmental cases in the Westfiled suit against the Army Corps of Engineers, which is responsible for federal lands the pipeline will cross, and which granted permits to ETP. The suit alleges violations of the Clean Water Act, Rivers and Harbors Act, and National Historic Preservation Act. They say the Corps failed to consult adequately with the tribe regarding historic impacts and should perform a full environmental impact statement rather than issue a summary approval (known in the lingo as a Finding Of No Significant Impact, or FONSI). Simple, right? Big Oil versus Native Americans, energy versus the environment. As Leonardo DiCaprio tweeted this spring, he is (metaphorically) standing with the Great Sioux Nation to protect their water and lands. Not so fast. On the industry side, DAPL is actually part of a $4.8 billion project, and a dizzying chart developed by enterprising researchers at Food & Water Watch showed 26 banks and nine partners involved in the deals. This is much larger than one pipeline. On the environmental side, the motives are actually mixed. On the surface, the objections to the pipelines have to do with safety and pollution. Really, though, much of the campaign is about climate change. One leading campaign supporting the anti-DAPL protests, for example, is called #keepitintheground (the it being fossil fuels in general) and one of its leading voices is climate activist Bill McKibben. (DiCaprio, too, has been outspoken on fighting climate change.) Anti-DAPL activists say they dont want the DAPL built here. But in reality, they dont want it built anywhere. Their real goals are combating fossil fuel development, moving America toward renewables, and mitigating global climate change. (At present, oil, gas, and coal comprise 81 percent of American energy consumption. Renewables comprise 5 percent.) And thats why they love to hate pipelines. The much-debated and for-now-denied Keystone XL, which would transport crude oil from Canadian tar sands to American ports, is perhaps the most infamous. But there are many others, including the Spectra Algonquin AIM pipeline being built across the Northeast, attracting protests in Boston and New York, where the route now runs 105 feet from an aging nuclear power plant. And now the 1,134-mile-long Dakota Access Pipeline, which some have called the New Keystone. This is not to say spills dont happen. They do, and they can be devastating. In 2010, for example, a rupture in an Embridge Energy pipeline in Michigan dumped over a million gallons of heavy crude into the Kalamazoo River. It took four years and $765 million to clean it up. And during that time, 35 miles of the river was closed to all public uses. In 2014, 119 pipeline accidents were documented. Now imagine one happening at Standing Rock. But these protests and lawsuits have a deeper agenda. Whether they succeed or fail, what these actions are really about is raising the cost of doing business in fossil fuels (which, after all, remains heavily subsidized by the government). If youre going to do this, environmentalists are effectively saying, youd better factor in the costs of lawsuits and law enforcement. By effectively making fossil fuel development more expensive, environmentalists shift the calculations in favor of the fuels they prefer, while at the same time making political waves that might turn against the pipeline. At a certain point, renewables begin to look like a bargain. Unfortunately, there are some serious drawbacks to this strategy. First are false consciousness and the specter of exploitation. Are environmentalists in coalition with Native Americans, or are they using them for their own purposes? What about when those purposes are crossed? For example, the short-term alternative to pipelines like DAPL is to put oil on trains and trucks. Thats worse for the climate, but better for the Native American lands. Would environmentalists support it? And if not, is their current solidarity with the Sioux real? Second, protests arent pretty. People (cops, protesters, others) get angry. Tensions flare. And then the story becomes about the protest itself, rather than the underlying issue. This has already happened at Standing Rock, with more stories in circulation about attack dogs, crowd dispersal, and states of emergency than about Native American relics and land claims. In terms of tactics, theres not much difference between Standing Rock and the Bundy clans silly protests at an Oregon wildlife refuge. Except this isnt a game. Real peoplein this case, Native Americans who have endured centuries of oppressionare put in harms way and are, in a sense, pawns in a larger conflict. Thats already happened here, with 29 arrests and counting. Third, what are the cops supposed to do? Allow the occupation to take place? Of course not; they have to do their jobs. And the costs of doing so arent picked up by Embridge Energy but by localities like the Morton County Sheriffs Department in North Dakota. The police have thus far worked with protest leaders to minimize tensions. But ultimately, they have to do their jobs, which includes keeping roads open and allowing construction equipment to enter construction sites. Its unreasonable to expect police simply to disobey court orders. Finally, while Shut It Down has an appealing, Occupy-style flare to it, its an adolescent form of political action, achieving emotionally gratifying temporary victories that are quickly erased once attentions move on. (Once again, consider the parallels to the Bundys.) The point should be to shut down a system of petro-dependency and environmental insanity, not shut down construction sites for a few days. What happens now? Construction began in May 2016; the Army Corps of Engineers granted its permits in July; and judges have denied both the tribes request to halt construction and ETPs request to keep the protesters away. The tribes lawsuit is ongoing, with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which reviews federal agency decisions, expected to issue an initial ruling on Sept. 9. A review of the complaint (all 212 paragraphs of it) by The Daily Beast suggests the tribe may well prevail, in part because of the unique impacts of DAPL on Native American lands and artifacts, which distinguish it from other pipelines. And if the Corps is required to conduct more extensive reviews and issue more extensive permits, the process could take years, during which time environmentalists could apply the same kind of political pressure that derailed the Keystone XL. That would both preserve the Native American lands and incrementally add to the costs of climate-changing fossil fuels. Whichever of the two is more important. For the first time in seven weeks, Congress has a chance to do something about the steady spread of the Zika virus in the United States and its territories. If they dont let abortion politics get in the way. Again. The chancein the form of a $1.1 billion funding billcomes after ignoring calls from fellow lawmakers, doctors, scientists, and at least one presidential ticket to come back and approve money to fund prevention and research of the virus. Republicans blamed Democrats, Democrats blamed Republicans. And the mosquitos, not having a party affiliation (that we know of), continued to infect more people with the Zika virus. All the while, things in Florida and the territories have gotten increasingly worse. As of Aug. 31, there are nearly 2,722 reported cases of Zika in the United States and D.C.that number balloons to nearly 17,000 when the territories are included. Of the 2,722 cases, 624 are pregnant women, according to the most recent numbers from the Centers for Disease Control. Last week, researchers in Miami found virus-carrying mosquitoesbad news for anyone hoping this was a problem that would fade away. A new August Kaiser Health Tracking tracking poll found that half of those surveyed said they wouldnt feel comfortable traveling to places like parts of Florida that have the virus, and a whooping 77 percent said those places werent safe for pregnant women. Not to mention the CDC is broke. The cupboard is bare, Tom Frieden, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters on Aug. 30. Basically, were out of money, and we need Congress to act to allow us to respond effectively. Suffice it to say, the pressure on hometown lawmakers has grown. As Congress reconvenes Tuesday, I have a simple message for both parties: Zika is not a political game, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who is up for re-election, said in a press release on Friday. It is about peoples lives, and we have a duty to do everything we can to solve this problem immediately. He pledgedas he has in the pastto vote for any bill that funds the fight against Zika. I will continue to support legislation that will fund the fight against Zika, just as I have voted for every single bill thats come up in the Senate so far, he said. I will do so again on Tuesday, but Congress should be prepared to pass a Zika funding measure as part of whatever spending bill ultimately passes to fund the government beyond Sept. 30. Even Tea Party lawmakers, who rarely find a spending fight they wont complicate, said they would be willing to throw out the Planned Parenthood language included in the House version of the bill and pass a clean funding bill. Take everything out of it except Zika funding, and dont put any riders in it, Florida Rep. Ted Yoho, one of the most conservative members of the House, told The Hill. Florida Gov. Rick Scott had planned to fly to D.C. this week to lobby Republican leaders for funding but had to postpone the trip due to the damage caused by Hurricane Hermine, according to the Palm Beach Post. (In August, a White House official told The Daily Beasts Eleanor Clift, Scott has been basically screaming at Washington, as the outbreak worsened in Florida.) As Rubio indicated in his release, Capitol Hill leadership aides hinted last week that the funding would likely be attached to a massive spending bill to keep the government opencalled the continuing resolution in Capitol Hill-speakthat needs to pass before Congress heads home to finish out the 2016 campaign season. And while Minority Leader Harry Reid warned of an impending government shutdown that could stall all of the funding last week, Republicans have little political incentive to hold up any spending bill with the upcoming elections in which the control of the Senate hangs in the balance. As with most of the panics at the end of a congressional session, this last-minute scramble could have been prevented. President Obama requested $1.9 billion in emergency funds back in February to begin development of a Zika vaccine. In May, a bipartisan coalition of Senators approved $1.1 billion for it. But instead of passing the Senate measure, House Republicans delivered a $1.1 billion bill that also included language that would make it harder for Planned Parenthood to receive funding through the bill. (While it does not include the words Planned Parenthood, Republican lawmakers said thats whom the provision targeted, more specifically the groups chapter in Puerto Rico called Profamiliasthe bill says only health services provided by public health departments, hospitals, or reimbursed through public health plans can have access to the funds.) As a result, Democrats blocked the measure. Last week, those same Senate Democrats were already girding for a fight over what they called political tactics surrounding such important legislation. The speed of the clock ticking in Congress is not the same speed as a clock ticking with an epidemic, Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow said on a conference call with reporters. There is no excuse for not having done something much earlier. She accused Republicans of playing politics with an epidemic with the funding and then leaving town. Shockingly, though, its our understanding, when we get back into session [Tuesday] the Republicans, once again, are going to bring up the bill that plays politics with womens health care, she said. There is no reason that we cant move forward with the bipartisan agreement the Senate passed four months ago, and frankly its irresponsible not to do that. The debate over funding has yet to become a contentious issue in the presidential race, though both campaigns have addressed the crisis in varying ways. Both Hillary Clinton and Sen. Tim Kaine called for Congress to return to pass funding. Kaine said he would go back to Washington to vote on the funding at a moments notice. Clinton has also called for the creation of a Public Health Rapid Response Fund that will be fully funded to address major public health crises and pandemics before they become an expensive, unmanageable problems. When asked by a local Florida reporter in August about the congressional response, Trump said it was Gov. Scotts call. I would say that its up to Rick Scott. It depends on what hes looking to do because he really seems to have it under control in Florida, Trump told WPEC. Logan Casey gave blood because he felt it was the right thing to do. A 29-year-old student at the University of Michigan, Casey has been a regular blood donor his entire adult life, donating once every 60 days. We all have friends and family members who could benefit from our ability to donate blood, Casey said. That changed last October, when a Red Cross staffer asked if he had ever donated under another name. Casey, who is transgender, explained that he had donated under his birth name prior to his transition. After learning Casey was trans, staffers told him that he would be listed as female in his file from that point forward. It was policy, they said. The center subsequently forced Casey to redo his screening paperwork, asking him to fill in a new form with distressing questions about his presumed female anatomy. One question inquired whether he was pregnant. The staff member was trying her best but clearly didn't have the language to talk about it, Casey told The Daily Beast. That was really frustrating. Casey filed a complaint with the Red Crosss customer service team in November, and the organization quickly replied. He said it was clear, however, that the Red Cross has no idea whats going on with trans people. Theres no specific reference to transgender people in our materials, read the nonprofits reply to Casey. There is with respect to male/male sexual contact. If such has taken place, the individual will be deferred for a 12-month period from the date of last contact. In addition, anyone identifying as a transgender must have undergone the sex change operation. However, during the registration process, all individuals must document as their original birth gender. Casey later spoke over the phone with a Red Cross staffer. [Its an] FDA-directed policy, and the Red Cross has to follow that, said the representative, as Casey recalls. The email thus stood. *** Those policies are reportedly about to change. In December, the FDA updated its official recommendation to stipulate that transgender donors should self-identify their gender on all documentation. Later this year, the Red Cross will release a guidance document that will reportedly state that transgender donors may answer gender-related questions based on the gender with which they identify. The FDA revisions will be released at a crucial moment for the organization, which is not known for LGBT inclusion. Until last December, the FDA banned men who have sex with men (MSMs) from donating blood altogether. The FDA announced it would be shortening the deferral period to 12 months after the last instance of same-sex sexual contact. This update was based on improved testing methods for HIV, which have shortened the window for being able to detect the virus. The policy was widely criticized by LGBT activists, who argued that the blood ban should be lifted entirely, since all donated blood is screened for HIV and other blood-borne pathogens as a matter of policy. According to recent reports, the FDA is considering doing just that. In July, Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDAs Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, told CNN that the organization plans to review [its] donor deferral policies to ensure they reflect the most up-to-date scientific knowledge. Specifically, the FDA invites comments on the feasibility of moving from the existing time-based deferrals related to risk behaviors to alternate deferral options, such as the use of individual risk assessment, Marks said. The agency also invites comments regarding the design of potential studies to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of such alternative deferral options. This could mean finally lifting the 33-year-old ban on MSM donation during a pivotal year for the LGBT community. Following the attack on Orlandos Pulse nightclub in June, gay and bisexual men who wanted to give blood were often turned away from donation centers. But as trans activists, writers, and community organizers told The Daily Beast, those changes are long overdue. Throughout the history of the FDA, transgender people report being misgendered, shamed, and stigmatized by blood donation officials because of their gender identity. Its time, as they argue, to bring the FDA into the 21st century. When LaSia Wade, founder of the Tennessee Transgender Justice Project, attempted to donate to a local blood donation center in March, she was turned away. The issue was that the gender on her identification didnt match her physical appearance, which outed her as trans. I was distraught, she told The Daily Beast. It was disgusting to me that a person could not give blood to help another human. I felt like an alien. Andre Perez, the director of America in Transition, a documentary web series about social change from trans perspectives, said his experience was similar. Perez, 28, attempted to donate in 2010, describing the process of giving blood as ridden by misinformation and miscommunication. There was this very circular conversation, Perez said. Toward the end of it, three people had been brought in. When Red Cross staffers discovered he was transgender, Perez says he was repeatedly asked if he had ever had intercourse with another man. He had not. Perez was then asked if he had ever had sex with a man who had sex with a man. He had not. Nonetheless, Perez was still barred from donation. Staffers claimed that they couldnt verify [his] HIV risk factors. Perez said that the ignorance of this line of questioning was obvious. It doesnt really get to a lot of questions about HIVhow many sexual partners youve had, when the last time youve been tested was, or all kinds of relevant behavior, he explained. I had known there was a ban in place that negatively impacted gay men, but I hadnt really thought about the expansive ways in which it could be used to exclude other groups of people. Those groups include any population the FDA deems a high risk for HIV transmissionintravenous drug users, sex workers, and trans women. Until recently, the latter were classified as MSMs. Brynn Tannehill, a 41-year-old writer and activist, explained that policies classifying transgender women as men were established in 1980, three years before the MSM blood ban was enacted. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders III was released the same year, which was based off research from 1974. This was an era when trans people were thought of as perverts, deviants, and mentally ill, she explained. Its demoralizing to have your own government tell you that youre a disease-ridden, deluded gay man, Tannehill said. If you said that to somebodys face, youre lucky if you get a drink thrown at you. While Tannehill argued that these policies assumed that all trans people are all promiscuous, Perez explained that the AIDS panic of the Reagan era compounded that stigma. As HIV initially spread throughout the United States, medical professionals knew little about how the disease was transmitted. A lot has improved since. We can now identify HIV-positive blood with a fourth-generation HIV test within a window of a week [of infection], Perez said. [Current FDA] policies are not based on actual information about how HIV is transmitted. In a climate where we have scientific clarity around disease transmission, I dont understand why were still relying on stereotypes. Why doesnt science inform policy? Perez asked. Why is policy informed by this fear that we have? Perez believes that instead of relying on outdated stigma, the FDA needs to look at individual risk factors in transmission. These factors include the donors number of sexual partners and when the individual was last tested for HIV. *** Although the updated FDA guidelines on trans donors were announced this year, the news received surprisingly little coverage in the mainstream press. Tannehill, who has worked on the blood ban issue for years, was unaware of the modificationand claimed that many other trans people arent aware of it either. The fact that no one knows about this is not a good thing, she said. When the new policies are rolled out in late 2016, Tannehill predicts that blood donation centers will be slow to implement them. Because trans women have been treated as MSMs for so long, local centers are still going to be under that impression, Tannehill argued. Even if they do find out about [these guidelines], an overabundance of caution is going to allow them to continue to ban transgender people from donating blood. Elizabeth Marie Rivera told The Daily Beast that the FDA must consult the trans community to ensure these guidelines are implemented properly. They need to be working directly with the trans community and bringing trans-identified individuals into consultation meetings, said Rivera, a 38-year-old Latina trans activist. In order to do it correctly, you need to be speaking to us. Implementation has already proved to be a problem for the FDA. Following the Orlando shooting, many blood donation centers reported that their systems had not yet been updated to reflect the 12-month window for MSM donors, though the decision had come down six months earlier. We have an extremely long way to go, Rivera said. In bringing government policy up to date with current medical understanding about queer and transgender lives, Casey said the potential benefit is huge. In 2014, UCLAs Williams Institute estimated that allowing MSMs to donate would save 1.8 million people. Making it easy, safe, and comfortable for trans people to also give blood would only increase that number. During the meantime, many blood donation centers across the U.S. are ailingunable to get the donations they need. Ive been getting an email from the local Red Cross two to three times a week saying that theres a shortage of blood in our area and they need donors now, Casey said. In the big picture, lives are being lost. OSAGE A new masseuse and business owner has partnered with Heaven On Earth Therapeutic Massage in Osage to provide neuromuscular therapy and deep tissue relief. Taylor Grimm, 21, Osage, is the owner of the new Serenity Massage. A Little Cedar resident for most of her life, Grimm said she is excited to be able to work within the community she grew up in, doing something she loves. An Osage High School 2013 graduate, Grimm went on to complete three semesters at North Iowa Area Community College, after completing one semester while a senior in high school. On a whim and at the recommendation of her grandmother, Grimm went to see Holly Marr, masseuse and owner of Heaven on Earth. By the end of Grimms session, she had made up her mind to travel to Anamosa to study for her license to practice massage on her own. For six months, Grimm lived in the town to study at Carlson College of Massage Therapy. Upon graduation in August 2015, she moved to Clear Lake to be a neuromuscular therapist in a chiropractic setting, working with people age 8 through 90. In June 2016, when a space at Heaven on Earth opened, Grimm seized the opportunity to start her own business. Therapeutic massage wasnt always the way of the future for Grimm, who has and still receives accolades from former teachers and family members regarding her artwork. Since she was 5 years old, Grimm has worked with acrylic and watercolor paints and charcoal. While good at art, Grimm said she felt pressured to continue it and pursue graphic design in college. Its more of a hobby for me, Grimm said. I didnt want to take something I liked doing and then work at it constantly until I hated it. Grimm specializes in Swedish deep tissue massage for relaxation, and neuromuscular therapy, which alleviates tension beneath superficial muscles. I dont think people realize how detrimental stress can be to your health, Grimm said. While she has done plenty of moving over the last two years, Grimm said Osage is the best place for her. Its a smaller town, Grimm said. You can get to know people. In Clear Lake, I felt like I was seeing a lot of different people. In 2009, President Bill Clinton thanked Ben Sangari for the work he did developing public school science curricula. The following year Sangari was on stage at a Clinton Foundation event again receiving applause for his achievements in education. Four years later, that all came to an end. Thats because in 2014, Sangari was locked up in an upstate New York detention center, about to be deported. Sangari, a citizen of the United Kingdom, is one of thousands of people who get deported every year for staying in the United States for longer than permittedin some cases, like his, only for a few days. And as Sangari watched Donald Trumps immigration speech last week, from his new home in Canada, he found the moguls comments about the lack of visa enforcement utterly perplexing. If you overstay your visa, youre deported, Sangari said. This is what they do already. Its done. Theyre doing it by the millions. As Sangari found out firsthand, U.S. immigration law makes life really difficult for people who visit the country on visas and then stay longer than allowed. Overstaying a visa is a civil offense. But in Trumps America, it would be criminal. Criminalizing visa overstayers, which his plan proposes, would mean the millions of tourists, entrepreneurs, and businesspeople who visit the U.S. every year would all be seen as potential criminals. And every visa would be a countdown to a prison sentence. Trump has promised, both in his immigration town hall with Sean Hannity and at his major immigration speech last week, to prioritize deportations of people here who have overstayed their visas. But the GOP nominee hasnt been clear about how exactly he would do so. Immigration attorneys say he would likely take one of two routes: First, Trump could direct immigration officials to actively hunt down, lock up, and deport the millions of people in the U.S. who have stayed here longer than their visas allowed. Immigration agents would camp out in front of their houses or try to ambush them as they go to work. That would result in a massive number of deportations, and it would be a big step toward turning the U.S. into a police state. Its a very intensive manhunt, said immigration attorney Bryan Johnson. Its a needle in a haystack. Four million needles, in fact, in 4 million haystacks. Alternatively, Trump could opt out of conducting millions of nationwide manhunts. Instead, he could just require that those who overstay their visas and then get flagged by policefor instance, if they drive over the speed limit, get pulled over, and then give their passports to police officerswill get deported. And guess what? That already happens. Just ask Sangari. Sangari had a distinguished career in education before his immigration trouble in the U.S. He is a British citizen of Iranian heritage, and he founded and then sold a company that helped develop science, technology, engineering, and medicine curricula for Brazilian schools. The program drew attention from American educators, so he came to the U.S. to look into developing it for schools in New York. And he didnt just get attention from teachers. In 2009, Bill Clinton wrote him a letter praising his work, as the Buffalo News reported. In 2010, Arianna Huffington highlighted Sangaris work onstage at the Clinton Global Initiatives annual meeting. There, the foundation praised his plan to bring his curriculum to six underserved American schools. Huffington called Sangari onstage. Then Bill Clinton shook his hand, and the audience applauded. Sangari sold his company in 2012 and then traveled through Africa and Europe for about two years with his long-term partner, Arlita McNamee. In early 2014, he came to the U.S. with her. Shes a U.S. citizen, and he entered legally through the visa waiver program, which allows foreign nationals from participating countriesincluding the U.K.to visit the U.S. for up to 90 days. Millions of foreign nationals use the program to visit the U.S. every year; Department of Homeland Security statistics show that in 2014, for instance, about 22 million people used it to come to the U.S. (PDF). Sangari was one of them. His papers expired in August 2014, but he said he decided to overstay because he and McNamee, who were then engaged, were gathering the paperwork necessary to apply for a fiance visa and eventually get permanent residence. That September, he was pulled over for driving 50 miles per hour in a 40-mph zone. He gave the officer his paperwork, the officer realized he had overstayed his visa, and that was that. The side of the road was my last memory of Buffalo, he said. Authorities took him to an immigrant detention center in upstate New York, where he spent the next five weeks trying to stay in the U.S. He and his fiancee even got married while he was detained, hoping immigration enforcement officials would be lenient. They werent. In late October, officers woke him up at 3 a.m. and told him to grab his things. They flew to Newark Airport and then put him on a flight to London. Sangari stayed in the U.K. for about a week and then moved to Canada. He now lives in Niagara on the Lake with his wife, who commutes across the border to Buffalo every day for work. Thats how the system works. Its a dragnet. You can be a model would-be citizen, philanthropic and entrepreneurial. But if you stay in the U.S. a few days more than youre supposed to and then you drive a few miles over the speed limit, youre done. Trumps emphasis on deporting people like Sangari is new, especially given that he spent the last two weeks vacillating all over the place on deportations. But its been his official position ever since he released his immigration platform last August. The candidates platform, which he highlighted last Wednesday night, calls for criminal penalties for anyone who stays longer than a visa permits. This would be a massive shift in immigration law; now, as the ACLU has detailed, simply being in the U.S. without the proper authorization doesnt necessarily make you a criminal. Trump would change that. Many immigration experts find Trumps hard-edged rhetoric on deportation of visa overstayers to be bizarre. It underscores his complete lack of understanding, or his staffs lack of understandingIll put it on himof how the immigration system works, said David Leopold, an immigration attorney who formerly headed the American Immigration Lawyers Association. He just doesnt understand it. Hes talking about criminalizing civil immigration law, Leopold added. It makes no sense. A Wisconsin woman let a man shed just met drink her blood and chop off her finger, according to a criminal complaint filed against her companion last week. Shelby Neuens told the staff of St. Marys Hospital her left pinky finger was missing because a man cut it off with a machete, according to court documents. But Neuens added the amputation was consensual and pleaded that they not call the police. The hospital staff thought she had just been initiated into a cult, but it was even crazier, she said. It was Insane Clown Posse fans. ICP is a Detroit-based hip hop duo with a massive, fanatical following known for their distinctive face paint. The FBI designated them a hybrid gang n 2011 because some of the duos acolytesknown as juggalos and juggaletteschanneled their fandom into violent crime. When police officers arrived, Neuens told them a twisted story of a memorial for a dead juggalo that involved drinking human blood, a finger amputation, and attempts to cauterize the wound with a blowtorch. Police later charged Jonathan C. Schrap, a Green Bay-area juggalo who allegedly took a shot of Neuens blood and wielded the machete, with reckless injury and mayhem. There is no attorney listed for Schrap, and there are no numbers listed for Neuens or Hyde. The woman who drove Neuens to the hospital declined to comment and asked not to be named. For Neuen and her pals, none of whom she knew well, day started with a simple bloodletting in honor of their brother, whod died a year ago. Neuens, Schrap, friend Nick Laabs, and local rapper Preston Hyde a.k.a. Bloody Ruckus had gathered at Schraps house, and Neuens volunteered to let Schrap drink her blood. He opened up a one-inch gash in her right forearm, filled up a shot glass, and drank the blood. But this wasnt enough. At one point, someone suggested cutting a finger off. Shelby stated that no one had the courage to cut off their finger so she once again volunteered to have Jon cut off her left pinky finger, the criminal complaint states. The first strike mangled the finger, but the second blow took it clean off. Schrap allegedly placed the severed finger in the freezer and told Neuens that they are going to have to get together again later and they can cook and eat it, the complaint said. But her empty socket was bleeding profusely. The juggalos playing doctor first attempted to cauterize the wound with a car cigarette lighter, and resorted to a blow torch when that didnt do the trick. An ex-military man tried to bandage it, to stop the bleeding. Shelby informed officers that the process of attempting to cauterize had caused her far more pain than the actual finger being severed, she said. But that didnt stop the celebrations. Neuens stayed with the three men for the rest of the day, until two of them decided she might be having seizures from her injuries, according to the complaint. They allegedly drove her to her boyfriends house and dropped her off. Hyde had the whole incident on video, Neuens told police. At that point, Neuens didnt even know Schraps last name, according to the criminal complaint. The police asked her to try to find him on Facebook so that they could talk to him. She did. Neuens Facebook page shows she became friends with Schrap on August 27. Police asked Neuens to set up a meeting with Schrap, but it didnt work out. Instead, they showed up at Schraps home the next day. He briefly allowed them to search it before revoking his consent, according to the complaint, after which they got a warrant. They found a chair drenched in blood, a blowtorch, and a machete. Laabs, the man who tried to stop Neuens bleeding with his military training, said the wound appeared to be self-inflicted, according to the complaint. I saw that Shelby was putting lit cigarettes out on her arm. Laabs was not charged. Neuens told police that Hyde and Schrap were the main perpetrators of the amputation. Hyde has not yet been charged, and appears to be at large. His public Facebook page as Bloody Ruckus, which has more than 4500 followers, has not been updated since August 14. Both Hyde and Schrap have prior criminal records. Hyde pleaded guilty to child abuse in 2013 and disorderly conduct in 2011. He was charged with arson in 2012, but the charges were dismissed. Schrap, meanwhile, pleaded guilty to drug charges in 2014 and to charges of operating a vehicle with a suspended license and without insurance in 2013. The Brown County Sheriffs Office did not return a request for comment. Fairytale castles and cathedrals. Baroque architecture and Art Nouveau details. Rose, gold, and purple buildings lining every street. Theres no denying Prague is one of Europes gems. Thanks to being one of the few cities that was spared destruction during World War II, the Czech Republic capital has architecture dating from Medieval times. Gothic spires and Bohemian statues are just some of the many architectural details that make Prague a draw for tourists. Its fair to note that the city is also well-maintained. Compared to other major European cities, there isnt a ton of graffiti (aside from the popular tourist spot, The Lennon Wall). Here, if youre going to add some art to a building, it better live up to the rest of citys beauty and enriching color palette. Which is why Free Mozaik, Pragues mosaic street artists, are so popular here. The three artists that make up Free MozaikJan Pancir, Tereza Podova, and Jan Lukescollaborate to add mosaic street art installations all over the city. We started doing this three years ago. We contacted someone from the city to get permission to do our first one in a park, said Podova. That first installation was Strom Zivota, a massive mosaic, curly branched tree. Theyve continued to work with the city to add more installations, as well as take private commissionsand the occasional, smaller, illegal installation. A big wall needs a lot of free time, which is what street artists dont have, said Pancir. When it comes to modern mosaic (and illegal) street art, all eyes are on Frances Invader. The mosaic graffiti artists work is all over Europe and the world in 33 countries. Invader gets his name because his pieces are inspired by video game characters, primarily ones from the late 1970s/early 1980s, like Space Invader. He started his mosaic graffiti invasionsinstalling 20-40 pieces throughout the cityin 1998 in his hometown and has gone on to install mosaics in 31 other French towns, 60 towns globally. Invader is often credited for making mosaic street art popular again. He was featured as the only mosaic street artist in Banksys 2010 street art documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop. Free Mozaik started because the longtime friends took a trip to Barcelona and were inspired by the many mosaics they saw and fell in love with the artform. Barcelona is known for its architecture and street mosaics by Antoni Gaudi. In addition to buildings throughout the city, Park Guell contains a critical mass of the artists works, like the famous Dragon Fountain at the entrance that greets visitors. The Barcelona street mosaic tradition continues with other artists works popping up all over the city, like The Kiss of Freedom mural in Placa dIsidre Nonell by Joan Fontcuberta. Free Mozaik was so blown away and inspired by Barcelona that they knew they had to bring mosaic street art to Prague. Free Mozaik are self-taught and they all have day jobs. Pancir and Podova both work as office managers and Lukes is a heating engineer. Their story is familiar with many other mosaic street artists inspired by works in Europe and bringing the style back to their own countries. Jorge Campos, or better known as Pixel, is a famous Chilean mosaic street artist who admits to getting into mosaics when he discovered Invaders work in Paris. On the floor of Free Mozaiks Prague 10 studio is a work-in-progress private installation piece. Its the face of a woman with shades of red and brown hair blowing behind her, all made out of small broken tiles. Podova sits on the floor and is showing me how she carefully cuts the tiles into the shape she wants. Lukes shows me some of their sketches from their past pieces. Free Mozaik sketches their ideas first and then selects the right tiles for color and texture; then, the real work begins. Each tile must be specifically and carefully cut to fit into the desired design, whether they are making the curve on a pedal of the flower or the scale on a snake. Each piece is glued down on metal mesh before transferring and grouting to the desired surface. The result looks like a happy accident and that a bunch of broken pieces of tile just happened to fit together in a whimsical work of art. Inspiration comes from everywhere, says Pancir. He gestures to the woman on the floor, This was inspired by Art Nouveau because the target wall surrounds an Art Nouveau house. Prague is known for its Art Nouveau thanks to its birth by Czech artist Alfons Mucha. Free Mozaik carefully considers each idea to fit in with the Prague landscape. The Heads were inspired by the many people who walk around the neighborhood. Pancir is referring to Hlavy, their largest, most ambitious installation piece. Various cartoon-like faces overlap and fill up a wall lining an entire block. Installed in 2014, it was their third piece and amped up their notoriety in Prague. Free Mozaik is truly collaborative. No one is responsible for a single step and they work together on each phase: discussing what to do, drawing out their designs, hand picking each of their locally sourced tile, cutting and assembling the tiles, and installing the work. We love tiles in different combinationscolors, surface, texture, matt or glossy. Once pasted together it can be very impressive. And people like it, remarks Pancir. We want there to be more and more mosaic in the world, not just in Prague. CHICAGO The citys shooters did not quit working this Labor Day weekend, killing at least 13 and wounding 65, according to the Chicago Tribune. Chicago had already surpassed 2015s total number of homicides before the holiday weekend, according to police department data, and with four months left to go, questions are mounting about what exactly happened this summer that has resulted in so much bloodshed. For Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, it is repeat offenders who are responsible for much of the citys violence. Theyre also often the victims: in one August weekend, 40 shooting victims had 672 previous arrests among them, Johnson said. Nykeah Aldridges killers are just two more repeat offenders who shouldnt have been on the streets, according to Johnson. Derren and Darwin Sorrells, charged with murder for shooting and killing Aldridge, both have lengthy rap sheets that include gun charges, something Johnson said should have kept them behind bars. But a closer look at their case files reveals the complexities of their charges. And Johnsons stance, made apparent through department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, that the pair were let out early from prison for their previous crimes is somewhat of a misunderstanding of how sentencing guidelines, time already served and good behavior time while being locked up all work thanks to the laws on the books. Darwins attempted murder charge stems from a September 2007 incident in which a 17-year-old named Diondre Harris was shot in the buttocks. It is unclear who fired the shot (Darwin or another man, Kevin Burnett) but what is clear is that Darwin was never convicted for attempted murder, just two counts of aggravated batteryand not even with a firearm. No gun charge. No attempted murder. Documents in the case file state that Harris never knew who shot him because he was running away. Still, as Johnson might say, the fact that Darwin was involved in a shooting makes him one of the people police would prefer not to have on the streets. Darwin continued his violent ways while waiting in Cook County Jail for his trial to be completed. As a result of a running feud over commissary money, Darwin knocked unconscious a man who had been handing over cash to him. The inmate Darwin knocked out had asked to use a bar of soap. No charges were filed. Eventually Darwin was sentenced to 7 years for the Harris shooting. With time already served at county, his sentence was reduced significantly. And with good time servedbetween four and seven days taken off each monththat six years became roughly 5 years. So, not let out early. Let out legally. Newly released in 2011, Darwin got his first gun charge. Police found him in the area of East 59th Street and South King Drive after responding to a shots-fired call there. Darwin was pocketing a .38 revolver with three live and three spent rounds in the chamber when police arrived. He was sentenced to five years in prison, which becomes three years because of the two years of probation he received. With credit for 69 days served in the county jail, Darwin likely had good time credit of 4 days each month, according to Illinois law, meaning he was sentencedofficiallyto a little more than a year in jail. Thats why Darwin was back on the streets in November 2013, fleeing from police in a stolen car with three live .380 rounds in his pocket, a firearms charge. This is where Johnson and Guglielmi may have a point. With only 462 days of credit for his time in the county jail, it appears that at the very least Darwin should still be locked up for the 2013 gun case. However, their beef might lie not with judges or prosecutors but with the parole board, which hears arguments by inmates to be released on parole after serving a certain percentage of their sentence, according to Reuters. Representatives from the Cook County States Attorneys Office and the public defenders office, which handled Darwins case, could not be reached for an explanation of Darwins early release. Guglielmi, the Chicago police spokesperson, said the Sorrells brothers apparent early release was a question for judges and the criminal justice system, adding, but we would like to know as well why they were out on the streets. Derren, who is likely the alleged shooter based on Guglielmis description of Darwin as a co-conspirator, was out on parole for stealing a car and carrying a handgun in 2012 when he shot Aldridge two weeks ago. He did a little more than two years in prison, which roughly works out considering his credit for 48 days served at county and credit for good time served. Again, here is where the blame is perhaps best placed on the parole board and, to a larger extent, Illinois law. Which is why Democratic Illinois state Sen. Kwame Raoul has proposed a new law that would up sentencing guidelines for those with two or more firearms convictionsmeaning only Derren would apply under the proposed law. The specifics of the law have yet to be written, Raoul told The Daily Beast last week, but one proposal would have judges sentencing repeat felons with new gun charges every seven to 14 years. The range right now is three to 14, Raoul said. Some people have called it truth in sentencing, which it is not, or establishing mandatory minimums, which it is not either, Raoul said. One of the things were doing with this is allowing for a window of opportunity for judges to deviate from this in extenuating circumstances. What Raouls law does not address are things like good time credit, parole boards, and the massive quantities of time inmates are serving at the Cook County Jail while waiting for their trial to be completeda product of an overworked criminal justice system in the countrys most murderous city. Theres just not a criminal justice system in the world thats perfect, the senator said. While the Aldrige killing has brought renewed focus to Chicagos violence in general and this years record-setting body count in particular, activists in the city have been relatively quiet on Johnsons calls for tougher handling of repeat offenders. Jessica Disu, speaking on behalf of the Chicago International Youth Peace Movement, was the only activist of many who The Daily Beast reached out to who addressed repeat offenders. We dont think that harsher sentences are the answer, she said. We completely disagree with that. If the Sorrells brothers had still be in prison for their crimes, Aldridge may have been killed by someone else, according to Disu. Locking these young men up will not repair the harm, it will not bring her back to life, she said. Disu is among a burgeoning movement in Chicago that proposes the complete abolition of the police. While the alt-weekly Chicago Reader recently gave front-page treatment to the movement in a lengthy story examining the idea of a utopian Second City without a 12,000 man police force, most news outlets have chosen to focus on this years uptick in shootings and gun homicides. Why is it that the media wants to make a story of that right now? Disu said. Its because violence sells. Raoul, using a favorite idiom of his predecessor in Illinois 13th District, Barack Obama, quickly dismissed the abolition movement as ignorant of the violence on Chicagos streets. Let me be clear, I dont think calls for the abolition of police are practical at all, he said. Certainly I share the sentiment of a lot of these activists that we have been too tolerant of abuses from law enforcementthats unquestionable. But clearly the murders we face on a day to day basis as well as other infractions mandate that we have law enforcement. Any sort of utopia that believes that we would just have a citizens self enforcement is unrealistic. Harsher sentences for gun crimes, more restrictive gun laws, tougher parole boards, more jobs, better schools, more police, less policeall have been proposed in one form or another to triage Chicagos blood-soaked streets. But the most effective tool may not be any of those. Instead, winter may finally be the thing that stanches the bleeding. Its been 20 years since the last time a Democrat came close to winning Texas, but if a new 50-state survey released Monday by The Washington Post can be believed, Hillary Clinton has a narrow lead over Donald Trump. Conducted by Survey Monkey, the data included 74,000 respondents and used internet rather that live phone calls to contact potential voters just before the Labor Day weekend. While many were quick to dismiss the survey findings, based on collection methodologies, there may well be a bona fide political opening for Democratsif not now, in cycles to comeand Trump may have unwittingly handed them the keys. Should Republicans lose (or even loosen) their grip on Texas, it would prove disastrous for them nationally with impacts likely to extend over generations. At issue: Supreme Court and federal judicial nominations, a U.S. Senate majority and, by extension, immigration policy and voting rights. Protected by intra-state gerrymandering, House and state legislative seats are far less susceptible to the trend that could be triggered by the Trump candidacy. Although, any resulting rising tide of wins by Democrats at the federal or state level, legislative or judicial, could be enough to accelerate the roll-back and drown voter suppression laws. Then too, it could also open a window for citizenshipand thus access to the ballot box for undocumented immigrants, something GOP-controlled legislatures around the country and in Washington have fought to stave off. For the Republican nominee, winning the Lone Star State should be as sweet and effortless as a Dirk Nowitzki three-point jump shot. However, the survey shows an unprecedented deficit for Trump among college-educated white voters and that he is struggling in places Republicans have won consistently. Specifically, the real estate developer may have to fight battles thought to be already won in deep red states, in the South and Southwest like Arizona, Georgia and, yes, Texas. As other polls have demonstrated, Arizona and Georgia may well be in question. Several notable GOP leaders from both states, including Sens. John McCain and Johnny Isakson, have proffered lukewarm endorsements to the party nominee. But, Texas may prove a harderand some say impossiblenut to crack. In 2012, Mitt Romney won Texas by 16 points, besting Barack Obama by more than 1.2 million votes. Today, a combination of seismic demographic shifts among non-white voters and his own lackluster campaign infrastructure may be the reasons for Trumps weak showing there. Furthermore, his tense relationships with Texas state party leadersincluding primary opponent Sen. Ted Cruzlikely created wounds that wont soon heal. One simply cannot question the sanity of a candidates wife or accuse his father of being in league with a presidential assassin and then later expect his full-throated endorsement. As a consequence, a win for Trump in Texas will look more like a tough buzzer-beating, hook shot over an aggressive man-to-man defense than a slam dunk through a clear lane. Perhaps more tellingly, even before state-by-state polling started in earnest, when asked about which states might be in in play, Clinton pointed south to Texas. If black and Latino voters come out and vote, we could win Texas, the former Secretary of State explained in an interview with New York Magazine. It was a curious assertion, to be sure, one roundly dismissed by political strategists from the redwood forest to the gulf stream waters. The real problem is this: For Democrats, even with Trumps inherent weaknesses, a real venture into Texas is far too costly at this juncture. Anything spent in Texas cannot be spent anywhere else including the 13 more conventional battleground states. Betting the house on Texas now would be a big gamble and one campaign advisers have at least publicly resisted. With a landmass of over 268,000 square miles and an estimated population that nears 30 million, building a workable campaign infrastructure of paid staff and volunteers would cost several million. Add to that a budget for media air time in four of the top 50 media markets in the country and the price tag easily tops $20 million. Despite publicly touting a 50-state strategy, Clinton supportersincluding Texas attorney Garry Maurohave also downplayed any growing expectations. Were not a battleground state, the former four-term Land Commissioner said at the state party press conference last June. Youre not going to see the Democratic Party or Hillary Clinton spending $100 million in Texas to make us a battleground state. And he should know. Mauro, whose career in Texas politics spans four decades and who lost his own bid for Texas governor in 1998, first met the Clintons in 1972. Sen. George McGovern was the Democratic nominee for president when Bill and Hillary Clinton showed up to help register young black and Hispanic voters. Mauro would go on to run Bill Clintons 1992 and 1996 presidential races in Texas. He later signed up to do that same for Hillary in the 2008 primary. But, back in 1996, Bill Clintonwho nearly beat Sen. Bob Dole in the Lone Star Statehad three things working for him: former Gov. Ann Richards, a wily billionaire from Bowie CountyH. Ross Perotwho snagged almost 7 percent and, well, Bob Dole. In Trump, Hillary may have found a more cantankerous version of Dole. That is, if Dole knew nothing at all about public policy, governing or the legislative process. However, there is no one like Ann Richards on the scene, andfor better or worseno self-funded independent candidate has yet matched the likes of Perot. And, most importantly, there was a statewide Democratic organization back then. Today, Clinton is helping to build it anew. She may not, however, be building it for herself. Investments this year will be limited to keeping voters engaged and mobilized for elections to come. Quite frankly, Trumps foibles have opened doors for Democrats to talk to center-right suburbanites and still others who are new to the process. Being present is half the battle and thats the real goal of Clintons 50-state strategy: Seed the landscape and build organization for down ballot and future races. Clinton doesnt need to win Texas to set that ball in motion. Hannah sat down on a park bench and shared a cigarette with the man who had molested her as a little girl. Can I have one? she asked Erlis Chaisson. It was 5 p.m. on a warm September 2014 day in Granbury, Texas, and the 25-year-old woman had asked Chaisson to meet to talk about the years of sexual abuse he inflicted upon her beginning at age 8. Are you sorry that you did it? she asked him. I mean, I understand youreyoure putting, trying to put all the blame on me, Chaisson said, over the sound of water splashing from a nearby fountain. Lines got crossed. Our emotions got mixed and misread. Didnt mean for none of it toto go as far as it did. The dick has no conscience, and theres no explanation for it, he said, as the two sat under an oak tree. If you had a penis, you would know. What Hannah did know is that a taped confession could put Chaisson behind bars. The little girl he abused grew up to be a cop, armed with an audio-recorder shoved inside her bra. For protection, she brought a gun and another cop who was parked nearby in a pickup truck. Ive always, always wanted to be a detective, Hannah told The Daily Beast, on the condition she be identified using a pseudonym. I was fresh out of the academy. It was kind of, If hes going to talk, hes going to talkhow do I prove it? I thought to myself: Im the difference between him and prison. A week earlier, Hannah had gone to McLennan County Sheriffs Detective Brad Bond to pursue her case against Chaisson. She spoke in painstaking detail of how, over four years, Chaisson, a family member, rubbed his penis in between her legs, performed oral sex on her, and guided her hand up and down his penis. Those descriptions would make it into a police report, then an arrest warrant, and finally a courtroom. After talking to Bond, she hatched the plan to meet with Chaisson. Hannah said she was nervous about whether the sting would go according to plan. What if the wind obscured the confession? What if the recorder came loose or made a noise? My heart was racing, Hannah said, but she was also prepared. We had hand signals and everything, she said of the other officer, whose truck was within eyesight. It worked. He was talking like he was talking to his best friend, she said. Six times, he confessedin the first hour and a half of that recording. Chaisson repeatedly implicated himself, telling Hannah, I always stopped myself before I went too far, and It takes two. He also repeatedly blamed Hannah for what he did. You need to control your curiosity. I wasnt supposed to be the friend you played nasty with, Chaisson said. Id be laying on the couch and then you got that look in your eyes, Chaisson said. Id pull the covers up and youd come run in and jump under there and back up all the way to me. In the mornings, cuddle up to you, scratch your back I shouldnt have put myself in those positions. Chaisson, who was in his thirties and working as a contractor at the time of the abuse, added, I mean, anybody would have got confused. Hannah rarely interjected during the conversation, adding at one point: I was so little. I dont think its fair to blame an 8-, 9-, 10-, 11-, 12-year-old for that because it wasnt my fault, she said. Youd come in my bedroom, though, when I was asleep. That didnt have to happen. I kept you a virgin, didnt I? Chaisson said. Sweetheart, you was young and curious, and I was old enough to know better but too young to care. Thats the only way I can say it. According to prosecutor Gabrielle Massey, when Chaisson entered Hannahs life in the mid-1990s, he was already a registered sex offender whod served time in Louisiana on two counts of molestation of a juvenile. That victim was also 8 years old. Most people understood what hed done, Massey told The Daily Beast, about Chaissons life after his first jail term. Nobody protected children from him. Chaisson left jail in 1994 and began molesting Hannah about a year later, Massey said. When Hannah was 12, the abuse stopped. By that time, she was living in a community near Waco. By all accounts, once a girl reaches puberty, he had no desire to molest them again, Massey said. At Chaissons trial last month, Hannah told the jury that her abuse had become a deep, dark secret she held in a closet for 17 years and had affected her relationships as an adult. Once she sought therapy and became a law-enforcement officer, Hannah said she realized she had to catch him. My job is in law enforcement. Im held to a higher standard. I just want to protect people, and how can I do that if I cant even protect myself? she said on the stand in 19th State District Court in Waco. I felt like a weight lifted over my shoulders after I testified the first time, Hannah told The Daily Beast. I no longer have to hide the secret or bear the responsibility of it. Powerful as her testimony was, the recordings were decisive. I dont think you can hear that recordingno matter who you areand have it not have an impact on you, Massey said. It is unusual, she notedeven for a sex offenderto show no remorse and to speak as blatantly as he did in the recorded conversation. Its just a callous acceptance of This is who I am and no apology for it. We dont ever get stuff like that, Det. Bond told The Daily Beast in an interview. Its better than a confession. Even when they confess, they dont give us all of the details. It was even better. Still, Bond said he wouldnt encourage ordinary citizens to take the same approach. With her training and status, and with a fellow officer with her, I felt like we were doing everything we could to ensure her safety, he added. Obviously, this is not a situation we would put most victims in, Massey noted. But she felt very compelled to go have that conversation with himthis is very extraordinary. According to the Waco Tribune-Herald, after listening to the recording, jurors last month convicted Chaisson of aggravated sexual assault of a child and two counts of indecency by contact. He was sentenced to life in prison, in addition to two seven-year sentences that Judge Ralph Strother ordered to be served consecutively. (He wont be eligible for parole for at least 42 years, the Tribune-Herald reports.) One other victim testified during Hannahs trial, but others came forward to Hannah and to the prosecutors during the McLennan County investigation. I could spend the rest of my career trying these cases, if I had the jurisdiction, Massey said. Though Hannah was empowered by her police training to take an active role in catching Chaisson, it was also an emotional decision. She did struggle with it a whole lot, Massey said. This is someone that she loved and cared for and has been part of her family for many, many years. Although she feels relieved, shes still very sad that it ever had to come to this. In our conversation that day in the park, you were right, Hannah wrote in her victim-impact statement to Chaisson. You did come into our lives for a reason, and that reason was to fulfill your need for a family and love But love should not hurt. After the trial, Hannah said, I feel like I helped people that hadnt reported, and I helped the others get closure. I feel like I helped protect anyone who may have been a victim in the future. Paul Clarke is a drinks geek from way back. In 2005, he launched a blog, The Cocktail Chronicles, to document the new mixological renaissance, his own beverage experiments and his efforts to rediscover lost classic cocktails and ingredients. The site built an audience of like-minded enthusiasts and launched a new career for Clarke as a booze writer. In the subsequent decade, Clarke became a leading voice in the cocktail community, publishing a Cocktail Chronicles book in 2015, and picking up drinks-writing awards from both Tales of the Cocktail and the International Association of Culinary Professionals. Today, Clarke is the executive editor at Imbibe and continues to chronicle the latest happenings in the liquor world from his home in Seattle. Here are his favorite drinks to enjoy in that Pacific Northwest metropolis. The Tramp at Canon One big advantage of living in Seattle is being near Canon, which boasts the best spirits selection in the Western Hemisphere. Clarke says he tries to stop in at least once a week for a quality check at this spot that carries well in excess of 3,000 different bottles, which are stacked floor-to-ceiling everywhere, including in the bathroom. Proprietor Jamie Boudreaus cocktails generally lean toward mad science, utilizing centrifuges and liquid nitrogen and other high-tech techniques, but Clarkes choice here is fairly simple: Its a mix of sloe gin, apricot liqueur and lime juice, topped with sparkling wine. Appropriately to Clarkes tastes, its actually a twist on an obscure Prohibition-era classic called the Charlie Chaplin. Agricole Swizzle at Rumba As you might infer from the name, Rumba, is a rum bar. And quite a rum bar it is, with more than 400 varieties of the liquor. It scratches Seattles itch for sugar-cane spirits, says Clarke. While the Daiquiri and its descendants are the stock-in-trade here, he instead goes for the refreshing Agricole Swizzle that calls for the funky rhum agricole, vermouth, pineapple syrup, lime and lots of ice. The bar has more of a relaxed island vibe than a kitschy tiki one, and you shouldnt miss the Caribbean-inflected food like pepperpot chicken and a Cuban sandwich. West Coast IPA at Standard Brewing There must be something about being close to the Pacific Ocean that breeds a love for super-hoppy beers. The West Coast from San Diego to Seattle produces lots of great IPAs, but this one is Clarkes favorite, coming from a brewery with a tiny taproom that just happens to be in his own neighborhood. You cant go wrong picking at random from Standards constantly changing beer menu, he says. but when in doubt, opt for Standards best-seller, which delivers a satisfying hops-driven punch and has a mild, bittersweet balance. Check out our complete Three Drinks travel guide to cocktails. It was classic Trump: despite a friendly moderator, softball questions and an adoring crowd the Republican nominee bungled a national security Q&A Tuesday, just one day before a primetime special on some of the same topics. After supporter and retired general Mike Flynn asked carefully crafted questions, Trump delivered incoherent answers, non-sequiturs and straight-up untruths as he tried to explain what he would do as commander-in-chief if elected. Trumps biggest advantage has been rhetoric: big promiseseven unrealistic oneswithout any specifics or any reasonable ways to accomplish them. On Tuesday, it didnt seem to matter at all to the pro-Trump crowd in Virginia Beach. For example, he said that he would stem refugee flows from the civil war in Syria by creating safe zones in the Middle East. And while the United States, under a Trump administration, would lead the charge in creating these zones, it would neither help build the zones nor pay for itleaving the question open as to how America would get the zones done at all. Trump also fired up the crowd with pure fiction and lies. He furthered the misconception that illegal immigrantswho are not eligible for welfare, food stamps and most other forms of public assistanceare being treated better than veterans are; and he also made the dizzying claim that ISIS is better equipped than American troops. At other times, Trump answered questions with total nonsense. The Republican nominee, near the beginning of his remarks, was asked by Flynn about the health treatment that female veterans receive. Puzzlingly, Trump responded, We are going to do procedures that theyve never done. These are words, but they dont have meaning. And then came a rambling, explanation of the Iran-Iraq war, which has to be read to be believed: Theyd fight fight fight. And then Saddam Hussein would do the gas, he said at one point. One Clinton aide compared it to Drunk History, a Comedy Central show where celebrities get drunk and try to explain historical events. Trump wasnt completely devoid of rational points. At one point he called the current state of Libya Hillary Clintons faulta reasonable criticism, given that Clinton was Secretary of State when Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi was deposed. Unfortunately his policy prescription didnt make much sense. We could have done a minor attack on Libya instead, Trump insisted. The time-honored Trump use of the non-sequitur was another tool that the agile nominee frequently employed. When Flynn asked him about whether he supports regime change in Syria, he avoided the question with a long rant about the Iran deal that ended with a diss toward Secretary of State John Kerry for breaking his leg. The Republican nominee also displayed a comical attachment to the quality of oil in the Middle Easttalking about its purity as if it were a case of Trump bottled water. Iraq has some of the greatest oil reserves anywhere int he world, and so Iran is going to get whatever ISIS doesnt already have, Trump said, adding at another point, Its a total disaster, Libya, right now. You know they have among the finest quality oils anywhere in the world? Their oil is so valuable, so good. Tuesdays discussion proved what Trump has amply demonstrated in previous national security speechesthat hes in way over his head. And its a point that could be hammered home even more severely in a primetime national security forum on Wednesdayhosted by NBC and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of Americawhen he doesnt have his favored, hand-picked questioner asking foreign policy questions. A Florida woman was caught by surveillance video setting fire to a car. When police asked her why she lit the vehicle ablaze, she said it was because it belonged to her ex. Only, it didn't. The now-incinerated Honda Accord actually belonged to Thomas Jennings, a man who says he has no personal history with the teen, 19-year-old Carmen Chamblee. I have no idea who she is, Jennings told WFTS. "I've never seen her in my life." Jennings roommate, he says, was the one who informed him his car was on fire. We ran out there, Jennings said. He had a pot of water trying to get it to go out. It was too much. The Clearwater Police Department posted a video on Facebook of Chamblee feeding the flames in the white Honda on August 27th, and tips poured in. On September 3rd, they announced that Chamblee had been arrested. Remember this arsonist caught on tape last weekend torching a car? the post said. She's in custody now. Two months after defending Roger Ailes from allegations of sexual harassment, Greta Van Susteren is out at Fox News. The leading cable-news network abruptly announced Tuesday morning that the 14-year veteran of the channel was gone. Fox Newss official statement gave no explanation for her exit, while heaping praise from executives and noting that Brit Hume would return to the anchor chair to take over On the Record, her nightly primetime show. Sources close to the situation told Politico that the 62-year-old ex-lawyer left over a financial disagreement while attempting to renegotiate her contract following Ailess ouster from the network. Van Susteren was reportedly one of Foxs hosts with a clause allowing her to walk should the networks mastermind leave. Van Susterens colleague Howard Kurtz reported that she opted to invoke that departure clause when the renegotiations went south. New York magazines Gabriel Shermanwhose reporting played a key role in exposing Ailess alleged serial sexual harassmentdisputed that narrative, however, reporting that sources close to Van Susteren said she left because she is troubled by the culture Ailes left behind. Such alleged revulsion at Ailess penchant for preying upon ambitious women, and the reported means by which his executives and flacks shielded him from consequences, might come as a surprise. Van Susteren was one of the first Fox Newsers to publicly defend Ailes. In an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast, shortly after Gretchen Carlson filed her bombshell lawsuit alleging repeated harassment from Ailes, the On the Record anchor said, Ive never seen it or heard it or suspected it. She suggested Carlson falsely accused Ailes of harassment because of money. I imagine shes quite unhappy that her contract wasnt renewed, she said. This doesn't have any ring of truth to me, she told People. I would have heard it. People don't keep things silent. But perhaps after a steady stream of new allegations came to light, including accusations that Ailes psychologically tortured longtime Fox booker Laurie Luhn with multiple decades of harassment, Van Susteren had a change of heart and saw the culture for what it is. Without commenting on the supposed financial disputes or the sexual-harassment culture, Van Susteren wrote on her public Facebook page that her departure was completely voluntary: On Thursday night, I made my decision and informed Fox News of my decision that I was leaving Fox News Channel per my contract. She added: I took advantage of the clause in my contract which allows me to leave now. Why? Fox has not felt like home to me for a few years. Three years ago, it was reported that Van Susteren had initiated meetings with CNN chief Jeff Zucker about returning to her first cable-news home. Those talks obviously fell through, and sources at the network tell The Daily Beast that interest in bringing her back now would be near-zero. CLEAR LAKE | No injuries were reported after the Clear Lake Fire Department responded to a house fire Monday. Firefighters were called to a fire at 1208 N. Sixth St. in Clear Lake just before 10 a.m. All residents were out safely before firefighters arrived, according to a statement from the department. Firefighters discovered light smoke and put out a fire in a basement utility room. They determined the cause to be a malfunctioning dehumidifier. There were no functioning fire alarms in the house, according to the department. Firefighters spent about an hour at the scene. Damage was estimated around $10,000. The home is owned by Elwood Zipse of Nora Springs, according to assessor's records. The Ventura Fire Department and Clear Lake Police Department assisted at the scene. -- Meredith Colias Julia Roberts Says MLK Jr. Paid Hospital Bill For Her Birth YES, YOU READ THAT RIGHT The actress said her parents were friends with King and his wife, and the couple helped out when they couldn't afford the bill. MASON CITY Having a loved one with Alzheimers or dementia can be a difficult journey. You hate it because they arent that person you used to know, said Julie Wiebenga of Clear Lake, whose 92-year-old mother, Lena Peyton, has dementia. However, You just go with the flow, Wiebenga said. Peyton, who has been at Homestead Assisted Living in Mason City since March, is as talkative as she ever was, but confuses details during conversations. Her daughter said she tries to keep her spirits up because those with dementia can get depressed. Wiebenga said its important to plan special things for them that they will be excited for. Its also good for them to have responsibilities, no matter how small, according to Wiebenga. Most older people are used to being busy, she said. Her mother is no exception. Ive been a long ways and done a lot, Peyton said. Peyton, who is proud of her Italian heritage, grew up on Lehigh Row, which was built in 1910 to house immigrant workers for the Lehigh Portland Cement plant in Mason City. Wiebenga said her mom was a city girl who had to make a big adjustment when she married a farmer, but she ended up helping out with the animals and most other aspects of the farm. Peyton now has a job at Homestead. She folds the place mats and napkins after they are taken out of the dryer. She takes it very seriously, her daughter said. Although it was a struggle for Wiebenga to find the right facility for her mother once her dementia got to the point where she could no longer live independently, she is now happily settled in at Homestead. Its a good place, Peyton said. Jenna Crooks, a LPN at the IOOF Home in Mason City, said placing a loved one with dementia in a care facility is difficult for families because it is hard for them to let go. This is true both in cases where it was a recent dementia diagnosis and they are not used to things such as having the loved one not recognize them, and cases where family members have been caring for the patient for a long time, according to Crooks. However, placing their parent or spouse in a care facility can allow family members to have a normal relationship with him or her again because some of their worries such as deciding when the patient needs to see the doctor are being taken off their hands, she said. Family members can help ease the transition for their loved one because they can tell staff the activities he or she enjoys and the details of their daily routine, such as liking to eat popcorn every night, she said. Brenda Schmitt of Rudd was the caregiver for her father, Harold Wohlford, for a year before he was placed in a memory care unit in Evansdale, Indiana, in January. Wohlford was an engineer who worked with computers back when they took up an entire room, according to Schmitt. It was difficult for him when he was the one who needed help rather than the one people came to for answers, she said. Wohlford would question his daughter about his finances. How come I dont know how much money I have? he would ask. Schmitt said at first it hurt her feelings when he didnt trust her and thought she was hiding things from him. She found the best way to deal with it was suggesting, Why dont we look through the (financial) statements tomorrow? Schmitt said that would satisfy him and when the next day came, he wouldnt remember. After her father moved in with her, he would be coherent some days so she felt she could go to work and not worry about him. However, on other days, I didnt feel like I could leave him, she said. Schmitt said moving him into the memory care unit was difficult. She wondered if she was doing the best thing for her father or if it was just for her own convenience. However, she said once he settled in she realized he truly needed to be there. That was a conscience-reliever for me, she said. Schmitt has driven to Indiana several times to see her father. She also calls him on the phone and writes short letters to him with pictures enclosed of things that have strong memories for him, such as his grandchildren. Schmitt said he can no longer read, but enjoys having the letters read to him. Getting mail also makes him feel important. That makes his day, she said. MASON CITY A Mason City woman was hospitalized Monday evening after the vehicle she was driving struck Prime N' Wine restaurant when she hit the gas pedal by mistake, according to police. Law enforcement was called to the scene at 3000 Fourth St. S.W. around 6 p.m. Monday after the white SUV struck a wall near the rear of the restaurant. Police say Audrey Haag, 83, was backing out of a spot near Applebee's facing east when she hit a parked vehicle. She then hit the gas by mistake and sideswiped a second parked vehicle and the building, according to police. Haag was transported to Mercy Medical Center North-Iowa. She was listed in fair condition Tuesday, according to a hospital spokeswoman. The accident is under investigation by the Mason City Police Department. Meredith Colias No claimant brings such a challenge lightly, because they must also meet their own legal team's costs and court fees of over 700. Even if the claim is successful, the claimant will often still be out of pocket because the maximum costs that can be recovered from the public authority is 35,000. A complex environmental judicial review would incur costs far in excess of this sum. Now the government wants to lift the costs cap In its consultation, the MOJ proposes a number of changes to the environmental costs rules. This includes removal of the certainty of standard cost caps. First, much higher cost caps are proposed, exposing those bringing legal actions to far more financial risk: 10,000 for an individual and 20,000 for a group of citizens bringing a case. It also reduces the maximum costs recovery to 25,000 for public authorities. Second, even these cost caps, set at double the current level, would not be fixed. Instead a 'hybrid' model is proposed: "in every case where the regime applied, the costs caps would - at least initially - be set at a default level, but any party could make an application for the court to vary their own - or another party's - costs cap. "The court would also be able to vary the caps of its own motion. In varying the caps, the court would be able to increase or decrease them and, in appropriate cases, remove a cap altogether." This means that the present certainty which a claimant has in relation to potential costs liability, when deciding whether or not to bring or pursue a claim, may be removed altogether at any point in the proceedings at the judge's discretion. In addition, the MOJ has recently confirmed its decision to require claimants to provide the name and address of any third party funder who provides financial support of 3,000 or more towards the costs of the litigation. Given the potential costs of a court case, and the fact that just providing financial support for a claim does not make you liable for any costs the claimant may incur, such a provision seems disproportionate and designed to deter potential funders from supporting litigation brought against the Government. Theresa May, reject these disgraceful proposals! If the proposed changes are introduced, the UK will be choosing to exacerbate its longstanding non-compliance of the Aarhus Convention, in the knowledge that they will make it more difficult for most of its citizens and non-governmental organisations to challenge its unlawful decisions. That could mean ClientEarth would be unable to bring a legal challenge like our clean air case, currently due to return to court in October. As a result, wrongful decisions are likely to go unchallenged because citizens will be prevented from having access to the courts and the protection they offer from the unlawful actions of the Government. Without the means to bring such conduct before an impartial judge, the rule of law will be undermined, and with it, most citizens' ability to use the law to protect the environment from irreparable harm. Access to the courts will be restricted to those who can personally afford to pay for the privilege. The government's proposals to amend the costs capping rules for Aarhus claims, not only run contrary to the UK's Convention obligations, they also appear to be designed, intentionally, to make it more difficult for claimants to protect the environment and to create a 'chilling' effect in order to deter claims. The new administration still has time to consider the implications of these damaging proposals, and their impact on the UK's reputation as a state that respects its international obligations and the rule of law. If it chooses to proceed with the proposals not only will the rule of law be diminished, but so will we, and the environment we all need and share. Gillian Lobo is public law and climate litigation lawyer at ClientEarth. Before joining ClientEarth she worked for the Treasury Solicitor's Department, where she undertook a mix of work, including claims in negligence, human rights and inquests into the deaths of British soldiers whilst on operations. Their case is a clear example of the failure of the current laws and guidance on contaminated land. People buying houses near the site were not told of the risks because the local authorities had no information about the risks. In fact, immediately after the events of February 2014, the local authorities denied that it had been a landfill site ... because they had no information about it. It was a Kafkaesque abdication of their duty of care to the public. The bigger issue here is that this case, though extreme, is not unexpected due to the treatment of contaminated land by successive governments since the 1970s, when the problem first became apparent. There are sites like Lavenders Pit across Britain. Not just in the gritty industrial heartlands where you might expect, but also the leafy country areas around the conurbations of London, Manchester, Yorkshire, the Midland Valley in Scotland, and across South Wales. In 1993, under the new Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the government was about to commence a system of contaminated land investigation, clean-up, and public registers of information - so that the public would know the risks. It never happened. Michael Howard: 'Don't ask, don't tell' Michael Howard, then Secretary of State for Environment, succumbed to pressure from the development industry and scrapped the plans. In the development boom of the early 1990s, the large landowners were worried that the value of their land, and their profits, would be hit if they had to address the legacy of historic land contamination. Instead Michael Howard introduced a watered-down system where if no one told, and no one 'officially' asked, then the risk simply didn't exist. Without a duty on local authorities to investigate sites and flag-up contaminated land, the onus is on the landowner to disclose the risk - even though it's not in their interest to do so. That's how Lavenders Pit, and many other sites like it across Britain, fell through the current system. Unless they are about to be built on, and planning permission is applied for, the hazards will not be assessed. Compared to the 1990s, however, we now face an additional challenge - climate change. The reason Lavenders Pit suddenly became a toxic problem was that the exceptional floods changed the hydrological regime around the site. This is likely to have pushed the toxic gases trapped in the soil into the Gbangbola's home. Right now, around low-lying coasts and tidal estuaries there are more than a thousands landfilled areas which could break up, releasing their toxic contents into the environment as flooding and sea-level rise take effect. This risk isn't even considered under the current regulatory regime. A recent national survey by the Environment Agency, to which less than two-thirds of local authorities responded, found that 11,000 sites had been investigated since 2000. It also found at least 10,000 sites required investigation as a priority, and that there may be 200,000 contaminated sites nationally which require some form of assessment. The conspiracy of silence must end! The reason the contaminated land issue refuses to go away, and why the environment and public health are still at risk, is because successive governments have ducked the issue. The land lobby has significant sway in Whitehall. Far more, it would appear, than the lobby to protect public health. Traditionally it has been new development, particularly the need to use more brownfield sites, which has driven the contaminated land issue. The risks of climate change, affecting sites not subject to redevelopment, has yet to be considered. Without serious action to identify contaminated land sites across Britain then, as in the case of Zane Gbangbola, at any time the lives and health of the public might be put at risk. As climate change modifies historic patterns of rainfall, river flooding and coastal inundation, it is likely that further instances of contamination, and possibly death from contaminated sites will take place. The conspiracy of silence between landowners, developers and local authorities, each trying to limit the financial risks of making sites safe, has to end. That must begin with a change in national guidance to require - as was the case in 1993 before it was scrapped by Michael Howard - the transparent investigation of all land which is likely to be contaminated, whether it is being developed or not. Paul Mobbs is an environmental and peace campaigner and long-standing contributor to The Ecologist. He runs the Free Range Activism Website (FRAW) and is the author of Energy Beyond Oil and A Practical Guide to Sustainable ICT (which is available free on-line). An overwhelming majority of the public would support local renewable energy projects, including wind turbines, if they were owned and controlled by the community. More than two-thirds - 67% - of the 2,000 UK adults polled by ICM last month said they would support local community-owned renewable energy projects such as solar panels and wind turbines, with just 8% in opposition. This includes not just Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green Party supporters, but also those who identify as Conservatives. Support among Conservative voters increased from 62% in 2015 to 65% in 2016. A staggering 78% of the public thought that the Government should do more 'to help local communities generate their own energy, with profits staying in the area'. Just 6% opposed this. Again, support among Conservative voters increased, from 73% in 2015 to 76% in 2016. Two-thirds (68%) of respondents say that they are prepared to pay a small surcharge each year on their energy bill to fund an expansion of community energy, with just 15% opposing this. Goivernment should reinstate support for community renewables The findings directly challenge the Government's recent decisions to slash subsidies for small, local renewable energy schemes and to bar investors from access to social investment tax relief. While 58% believe that the Government should change its mind and once again offer tax relief to those individuals who take the risk of investing in community energy, with just 12% against. Backing for these measures was higher still among Conservative supporters. More generally, more than half (52%) of those surveyed said they would support a wind turbine within two miles of their home - nearly three times as many as the 18% who would oppose it. Support among Conservative supports increased from 43% in 2015 to 47% in 2016. Support for solar farms was even more overwhelming: with 61 percent of the public supporting a project within two miles of their home, and just 11% against. Ramsay Dunning, Managing Director at Co-operative Energy, which commissioned the research, said: "This poll shows that the Government's recent hostility to further growth in onshore wind turbines and solar farms is out of kilter with the vast majority of the UK public, including Conservative Party supporters. "Moreover, people want to see growth in local, community-owned projects and are willing to pay a small surcharge on their bills to help this happen." Just 25p per year could finance huge expansion in energy coops Co-operative Energy and the Energy Savings Trust have previously calculated that for just 25p per customer per annum, the UK could grow its community energy capacity from 200MW to 3,000MW in a few short years. That enormous potential gives the newly formed Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and its ministers "a fantastic opportunity to tap the public's goodwill and provide a significant boost to the UK's social enterprise economy", Dunning added. Sellafield, and a similar plant at La Hague, France, continue to be, by some margin, the largest sources of radioactive pollution in the world. For example, the Irish Sea is the most radioactively polluted sea in the world with about half a tonne of plutonium sitting on its seabed from reprocessing. The collective doses to the world's population from the long-lived gaseous nuclides C-14, and I-129, and from medium-lived Kr-85 and H-3 (tritium) emitted at Sellafield are huge and are estimated by radiation biologists to cause tens of thousands of early deaths throughout the world. Another result is the 140 tonnes of unneeded, highly radiotoxic plutonium (Pu) stored on site at a cost of 50 million a year. Pu is fissile and, in the wrong hands, the quantity stored at Sellafield could be made into some 20,000 nuclear warheads: it is a serious proliferation danger. The sorry history of reprocessing The history of Sellafield (previously named Windscale) is littered with accidents (some very serious), and hundreds of leaks, spillages, scandals, cover-ups, secret reports, redactions, plant failures, botched management contracts, and examples of gross financial mismanagement. These have been discussed in scores of critical reports by various Commons Committees, by the NAO, by commissioned consultancies, and by many environmental groups. Also by reports from several European Governments, by the HSE, by RWMAC, and not least by several TV programmes in the 1990s alleging political dirty tricks and manipulation of Government Ministers. Especially serious are the ~20 large holding tanks at Sellafield containing thousands of litres of extremely radiotoxic fission products. Discussing these tanks, the previous management consortium Nuclear Management Partners stated in 2012: "there is a mass of very hazardous [nuclear] waste onsite in storage conditions that are extraordinarily vulnerable, and in facilities that are well past their designated life." The National Audit Office (NAO) stated these tanks pose "significant risks to people and the environment". One official review published in The Lancet concluded that, at worst, an explosive release from the tanks could kill two million Britons and require the evacuation of an area reaching from Glasgow to Liverpool. These dangerous tanks have also been the subject of repeated complaints from Ireland and Norway who fear their countries could be contaminated if explosions or fires were to occur. In short, the practice of reprocessing at Sellafield has been and remains a monumental national disgrace. The final irony is that, if different spent fuel policies had been chosen nuclear reprocessing would have been quite unnecessary. The policy horror of the Windscale Inquiry The Windscale Inquiry, published in 1978, offered an important opportunity to put an end to the UK's absurd reprocessing policy. So how did it come to conclude that nuclear reprocessing was actually a good way to deal with spent fuel? Largely by using unproved assertions, unsupported assumptions and unwise predictions. For example, it asserted impending uranium ore shortages and high uranium prices, despite evidence to the contrary even then. It asserted that the mooted glassification of HLW liquid wastes was the best way to proceed despite zero evidence that it would actually work, and despite testimony from Canadian scientists that untreated ceramic spent fuel was a much better waste form than glassified wastes. Perhaps the most egregious assumption concerned the wisdom of storing spent fuel under water for relatively long periods. Such storage meant that spent fuel, especially Magnox fuel, had to be reprocessed, as the degradation of its cladding rendered it unfit for long term dry storage. Indeed, all or almost all, of the Report's recommendations on the rationale for reprocessing were later shown to be incorrect. A major procedural flaw which probably explained much of the nonsense of the report was that Justice Parker, who knew next to nothing about nuclear technology, was advised by two senior advisors from UKAEA and MOD who sat on either side of him throughout the inquiry. This inquiry is perhaps an extreme example of policy-led 'science'. It is much preferable of course to have science-led policies. But when it comes to nuclear power, this rarely, if ever, occurs, even today. After the Windscale Inquiry's report, the policy of wet storage was maintained - in major part to ensure the continuation of reprocessing, as fissile material for weapons has not existed as a rationale at least since the early 1990s. MOX Fuel - a solution looking for a problem The next purported justification for reprocessing was the need to use plutonium as a reactor fuel in mixed oxide (MOX) fuels. However again this was and is a mirage as nuclear companies have repeatedly been unable to manufacture MOX fuel to the exacting standards required for Pu fuels. In addition, nuclear utilities in Europe and the US have generally refused to use it, unless forced to do so by Government agencies. One reason is economics: MOX fuel costs about four to five times more than ordinary fuel per tonne - and delivers 20% less energy output per tonne. Another is that spent MOX fuel presents serious problems for utilities. It cannot be reprocessed as it is far too radioactive, and it has to be stored for 15 years rather than five in cooling ponds as it is very hot when it exits reactors. This triples the cost of storing spent fuel. It also causes high radiation exposures to workers - even to managers in distant offices. All in all, MOX fuel is a bad idea, but even in 2016, such is the dominance of nuclear thinking in Britain, that much evidence to the Parliament's recent POST report was still suggesting MOX fuel as a solution to deal with the UK's large unwanted plutonium stocks. Clearly, there better ways of dealing with spent nuclear fuel. About 90% of nuclear fuel annual arisings around the world are not reprocessed but stored either in ponds or, increasingly, in dry storage facilities. Only the UK and France still carry out commercial reprocessing. This not to say that storage is problem-free or is a final solution but it does not suffer from the massive immediate dangers of reprocessing. Where are we now with reprocessing? The incoherence of reprocessing is gradually catching up with nuclear utilities and agencies, as the annual tonnages of reprocessed fuels are slowly declining. Most European utilities (apart from those in France and the UK) stopped ordering their fuels to be reprocessed about a decade ago. The UK and France still carry out reprocessing, but its days are numbered - at least in Britain. Although all Magnox power stations are now closed, their spent fuels have not yet all been reprocessed. The latest NDA draft Business Plan shows its Post Operational Clean Out (POCO) plan lasting until 2023 with Magnox reprocessing ending in 2020. With about 3,000 tonnes of Magnox fuel still to be reprocessed it could achieve the 2020 date, if the plant managed to continue operating at the current rate. But the Magnox plant is 50 years old, and could break down at any time (as amply shown in the Panorama programme) so there is no guarantee of meeting the final closure date. As for AGR fuel, the NDA stated in its draft Business Plan that the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP) would close in November 2018, mainly because of the significant costs required to keep it going longer (including new HLW tanks costing 500 million) - costs that NDA said could not be justified. The NDA stated its Post Operational Clean-Out plans (POCO) and timetable for THORP closure were now mapped out and firm, but whether these will be adhered to is a moot point. The problem is that the UK's 14 AGR reactors are expected to continue for another ~10 years on average (even although most are past their sell-by dates). This means at least another ~5,000 tonnes of AGR fuel will need to be catered for. The NDA has stated that this fuel will be stored at Pond 5 at Sellafield by chemically treating its pond water with strong alkalis. Will this work? Again it's hard to say as no safety case for the long-term storage of AGR fuel in treated ponds has been published. Of course, the NDA should really be building dry storage facilities like those at Sizewell. (Sizewell, a PWR reactor, stores all its spent PWR fuel initially in ponds then in its dry stores.) However its latest management plan omits any mention of dry storage. This is despite the fact that, back in the 1990s the former company, Scottish Nuclear, had advanced plans for such dry stores for their AGR fuels. BNFL, with Government connivance, ensured these plans were abandoned. It is instructive that no plans for the mooted new UK nuclear power stations include reprocessing their spent fuel. Perhaps the most eye-watering revelations in the BBC programme were that, although reprocessing was going to cease, the waste containment functions of Sellafield would continue for another 110 years at an estimated cost of up to 162 billion. In other words, the mess of Sellafield will mainly be paid for by future generations. This is utterly unethical and an affront to any notion of sustainability. Why did Britain reprocess for so long? Mostly because of institutional mindsets, as the need to reprocess was deeply buried within the core beliefs of officials with nuclear responsibilities. Such institutional biases are powerful and long-lived as the NDA (formerly BNFL) is even now resistant to planning dry stores. Another reason is that no one agency by itself seemed powerful enough to point out the folly of the matter and get the Government to stop reprocessing. When, in the past, environmental groups, Commons' Committees and Audit agencies etc opposed reprocessing, the Government fobbed them off with platitudes. For example, in 1993, during a public consultation over airborne radioactive releases from THORP when over 70,000 individuals called for a wider public inquiry, the Government simply ignored them. So what lessons can we gain from this shameful debacle? As a nation, we must properly account for the environmental and other external costs of our policies. We must be wary of creating large permanent institutions over which we have little control - or they will come to control us! We must learn to listen to people who have different views from the Government - and that includes putting critics on government committees. And we must try to use science-led policies rather than fitting up false evidence around pre-conceived policies. But most of all, we should recognize that nuclear policies, in both weapons and energy, have poorly served the nation. Dr Ian Fairlie is an independent consultant on environmental radioactivity. He formerly was a senior scientist in the Civil Service and worked for the TUC as a researcher between 1975 and 1990. News Story not available This story has been published on: 2022-10-29. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. This story is no longer available on our site. FOREST CITY The Winnebago County Board of Supervisors has agreed to give $5,000 toward the proposed $9.3 million Hanson Fine Arts facility in Forest City. Supervisor Mike Stensrud said the board voted at its regular meeting on Aug. 30 to contribute the $5,000, which could help the project get a Community Attraction and Tourism grant from Vision Iowa. Stensrud said hes had issues in the past with appropriating county money for Forest City projects. However, the fine arts center will benefit the entire county, not just Forest City, he said. This is going to bring in a lot of people from outside the area, he said. The $5,000 contribution from the county will be recovered in two to five years through increased dollars from tourism, including hotel stays and shopping, according to Stensrud. This is good for the whole county, he said. I think its just a great deal. The fine arts center is a joint venture of the city of Forest City, Forest City Schools and Waldorf University. The Hanson Foundation is contributing $4.4 million toward the project. Forest City schools will contribute $2 million, the city $2 million and Waldorf $500,000. The project also is receiving $150,000 from the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs through the Great Places program. Waldorf will commit $1.5 million in operating costs over 15 years. The facility is to be located on city and Waldorf property near the Hanson Fieldhouse. The 32,000-square-foot building will include an auditorium, an art gallery and a large meeting room. Find when and where to trick-or-treat on Monday in SE Iowa, WC Illinois BRIDGEPORTThe Connecticut Department of Transportation will close Metro Norths three New Haven Line Ticket offices, according to a statement by and the MTA. Ticket offices are scheduled to shut down in Greenwich, South Norwalk and Bridgeport a week after the announcement, on Saturday, September 10. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Clattering carts, overly bright lights and frequent disruptions make hospitals a tough place to get a good nights sleep. But now, hospitals across Connecticut are launching efforts to help patients sleep longer and better. At Yale New Haven Hospital, researchers are expanding a pilot program that successfully reduced noise in the medical ICU and kept staff out of patient rooms overnight. Stamford Healths new hospital building, slated to open in September, is designed with sleep in mind. Floors are sound resistant, windows are covered with blackout shades, and nurses stations have been decentralized to keep down conversations. Weve really looked at how to best maximize the quietness of their environment, said Ellen Komar, Stamfords chief nursing officer and senior vice president for patient services. Theres no question that sleep matters for recovery and health. Patients who dont get enough sleep heal more slowly, have decreased immunity and pain tolerance, higher rates of anxiety, and are more likely to suffer from confusion and delirium. Hospitals nationally are also waking up to the need to prioritize patient sleep as part of the broader shift toward patient-centered care, and also because of a federal program that penalizes hospitals for substandard performance scores in patient surveys. Traditional nighttime and early morning interruptions to suit the schedules of busy labs and doctors are now seen as counter to the medical needs of patients. Is it really necessary to wake someone up at 5 oclock to draw blood? Komar asked rhetorically. All Stamford, patients now get a Tuck Me In toolkit, including a lavender-scented washcloth, earplugs, and the option of an evening hand massage. Lights are dimmed around 8 p.m., and patients are encouraged to tell their visitors to go home by 9, which can be a relief to exhausted patients and family members alike, Komar said. Since implementing the changes a few years ago, patients are reporting more restful nights of sleep and using fewer pain medications, she said. But change comes slowly. Prioritizing sleep requires a sea change in the way nurses, doctors and support staff work, said Dr. Margaret Pisani, a critical care specialist who has been leading the sleep effort at Yale New Haven. Staff members are now being encouraged to consolidate their visits, moderate their hallway conversations and avoid flipping on all the lights when they walk into a patients room after dark. The changes also required coordination with every hospital department from labswhich cant process everyones specimens simultaneouslyto respiratory therapy. You have to rethink the workflow and staffing and those kinds of things, she said. Shes run focus groups with night nurses and held conference calls with affiliated hospitals in Bridgeport and Greenwich so they dont have to reinvent the wheel. Although the science is clear that disrupted sleep is bad for hospital patients, it isnt obvious precisely what affects peoples sleep, Pisani said. She and colleagues are still analyzing data they collected recently from noise and light level monitors that tracked every second in a number of rooms. Theyre trying to answer questions like: Whats meaningful change in sound and light? Is this at a level thats really going to disrupt someone or not? And are continuous loud noises the problem, or peaks in sound? One down side to all this effort, Pisani noted, is that it can backfire with patients. Instead of seeing a staff that is respectful of sleep, some patients might feel neglected. So, Pisani has instructed nurses to tell patients: Well be there if you need anything, but were not going to come in and out, reassuring them that its OK to sleep. Keva Velazquez, a physical therapist at Stamford Hospital, said it took becoming a patient herself for her to really understand noise and light issues. A few months ago, her heartbeat went out of whack and she needed to be admitted to her own hospital. After being a patient, I was much more aware of my noise level, said Velazquez, who has worked at the hospital for 14 years. I have a deep voice and I tend to talk pretty loudly, often so her older, hard-of-hearing patients can hear her. Now, shes more cognizant of her volume in the corridors. She also appreciated the fact that when she was a patient, a nurse offered to turn down her lights and lower the shades. So now she does the same for her own patients. Velazquez has no doubt that her patients fare better when theyve slept well. It makes a world of difference in what theyre able to do, she said. Theyre more alert. They can focus better. They have more energy. I definitely think its a win-win. This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team (www.c-hit.org). Congressman Jim Himes will stop by Norwalk High School on Saturday afternoon to take questions from area students interested in learning more about U.S. service academies and college ROTC programs. Alongside several service academy representatives and his congressional staff, Himes, the Democratic representative for Connecticut's 4th Congressional District, will host a Service Academy Day from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Its really designed to be an orientation for young people who are interested in the academies to what is an extensive application process far more extensive than applying to a typical college, said Himes. Admittance into U.S. service academies requires the completion of additional tasks such as the passing of a physical fitness test and a congressional nomination, Himes said. It can be ... a complicated thing, Himes said. So it's a part of my service to make sure young people who do want to serve their country fully understand the process of getting admittance to an academy. At least a couple dozen high school students from throughout the area are expected at the event being held at Norwalk High School due to its centralized location in the district, Himes said. Historically, students have come from cities ranging across the district, including Westport, Stamford and Greenwich, Himes said. Besides fulfilling his more formal nomination duty, the Service Academy Day also stands as a one-stop shop where prospective students, family members or educators can get real-world advice from people who have gone through the process. We typically get rising seniors for whom the process needs to begin right away, Himes said. Its always the kickoff to a fairly extensive process. Anyone interested in learning more about service academies or ROTC programs can show up at any point in the 1.5-hour window, Himes said. Its always fun for me, Himes said. One of the funnest parts of my job is seeing these young kids, who are only 17, already knowing they want to serve our country. KSchultz@thehour.com; (203) 354-1049; @kevinedschultz It was utterly ludicrous, stepping out of a chauffeured White House limousine to go hear Mother Teresa. Even then I recognized that, as a twenty-something working at the locus of political power. Her simple sari and sandals were incongruous among the tailored suits and silk ties of the people who styled themselves as Masters of the Universe. The crowd was large, and the photographers and reporters jostled each other aggressively to get near the woman popularly believed to be a living saint. She seemed uncomfortable, not as much from the noise and shoving as from the praise she received. She fixed her glance to the floor as Senator James Buckley introduced her. Mother Teresa spoke quietly to several hundred perfectly still listeners. Every small gesture she made provoked a swarm of photographic clicks like a cloud of gnats around her. But the sound of the milling photographers soon dissipated in a consciousness riveted on her joyous face. Now we know that we were gazing on the face of a saint who would be canonized in September 2016. She told us of newborn babies that were left in dustbins in Calcutta near the home of the Missionaries of Charity, with the mothers unspoken hope that they would be found and saved. She and her Sisters found eight aborted fetuses outside an abortion clinic that were still alive. They brought them home, nurtured them; one survived to grow up into a healthy child for whom they found an adoptive home. Mother Teresa and her sisters collected thousands of people from the streets: abandoned children, lepers, the sick, and the dying. Every day in Calcutta, the Missionaries of Charity fed 8,000 people and somehow they never had to turn one away because there was nothing to give. She told us of a man who lay dying in a gutter, half-eaten by worms, rotting. Mother Teresa herself carried him to her home for the sick and dying. She laid him in a bed, washed his entire body using a basin and cloth, picked the maggots out of his open wounds and dressed them with ointment, laid him in fresh sheets and gave him a drink of cold water. He was given what he had not known until then: a clean place to lie, unconditional love, and dignity. I have lived like an animal all my life, the man told her, but I will die like an angel. With flashbulbs popping, Members of Congress came to stand by her side, one by one. I waited in line to shake Mother Teresas hand, to ask her to sign my copy of Malcolm Muggeridges biography of her, Something Beautiful for God. The tiny nun, who barely came up to my shoulder, took my hand and pressed it into her rough and calloused one, saying Love God, Barbara, which came out sounding more like Luff Gott, Bahbada. As I stood there among the purveyors of political power in the most powerful nation in the world, self-satisfied, puffed up with what we thought was our own importance (and I include myself among them), her presence inserted a slender needle of doubt, deflating my own exalted notions of political prowess. It occurred to me, as I looked around that room in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, that one day in Mother Teresas life brought more good to the face of the earth than all our efforts combined for a lifetime. The thought shook me to my core. And I can see now retrospectively that she lit a long fuse in me that would ignite the fire of faith in my soul six years later. The next day, Mother Teresa came to the White House for lunch with President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy. A crowd of reporters and many of my colleagues from the White House staff joined them for her farewell. What did you talk about, Mr. President? shouted one of the reporters. We listened, he replied. Mother Teresa came to Washington again to speak at the National Prayer Breakfast in 1994. More than 3,000 people assembled from virtually all the nations of the world: Prime Ministers, Presidents, Ambassadors, Members of Congress, Supreme Court Justices, and dignitaries from 150 countries. I had traveled there with leaders from nations newly liberated from Soviet domination. President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary were seated on the stage. As I looked around the huge ballroom in the Washington Hilton at the staggering assembly of the worlds political power, the tiny nun entered. The electrifying response made it clear who had the real power. She spoke with a moral and spiritual authority that eclipsed that of the governing officials. Despite the fact that Mother Teresa had to step up on a footstool to be seen over the podium, her presence filled the ballroom to the rafters. She said boldly, St. John says that you are a liar if you say you love God and you dont love your neighbor. How can you love God whom you do not see, if you do not love your neighbor whom you see, whom you touch, with whom you live? Jesus makes himself the hungry one, the naked one, the homeless one, the unwanted one.[1] Mother Teresa then threw down the gauntlet on behalf of the unwanted ones, with Bill and Hillary Clinton seated a few feet away. Mother Teresa said in a firm voice, The greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion. And if we can accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? We are fighting abortion by adoptionby care of the mother and adoption for her baby. We have saved thousands of lives. Please dont kill the child. I want the child. Please give me the child. I am willing to accept any child who would be aborted, and to give that child to a married couple who will love the child.[2] Give me the child. Her plaintive plea seared the hearts of everyone who heard her. As all of us in the entire crowd rose to our feet in thunderous applause that billowed through the hall. Only two people remained seated: Bill and Hillary Clinton. The Call Within the Call On my first trip to Europe right after graduating from college, armed with a passport and a Eurail pass but no particular itinerary, I boarded a train in Luxembourg to travel to Greece, hoping it would be warmer than the northern clime where I had landed. As it turned out, this train went through Yugoslavia, stopping at Skopje, where hospitable locals offered me the opportunity to stay overnight and then continue on. I didnt know that I was making a pilgrimage to the birthplace of a saint who would change the direction of my life. As it turns out, that was the town where Mother Teresa was born of Albanian parents in 1910 as Agnes Bojaxhiu. She entered the Irish order of the Sisters of Loreto at the age of eighteen and bid her family a tearful farewell as she left for Ireland to learn English. She feared that she would never see them again, and that proved to be the case. She had chosen her new name after Theresa of Lisieux, the Little Flower. She was sent to Calcutta in 1929, where she taught geography and catechism at St. Marys High School, and later became the principal. There she learned Hindi and Bengali, as she taught in the school that served orphans and poor children as well as more affluent boarding students. On her daily trips to the Loreto school she observed the bone-crushing poverty and squalor of the city. Dead bodies were collected from the streets where the weakest had fallen victim to disease or starvation. It seared the heart of the nun who lived cloistered away in the safety and relative comfort of the convent. Mother Teresa was on a train Sept. 10, 1946, when she received what she called the call within the call. It became quite clear that she was to follow Jesus into the poorest slums of the city, live among the poor, and do his work there. We know that she did that heroically. But what has come to light only recently in the investigation for her canonization is that she had a much more difficult time acting on this call than was known. She struggled first with her own uncertainty, and then with the Church, from which she had to receive permission for this unconventional ministry. The Postulator of the cause, Father Brian Kolodiejchuk of the Missionaries of Charity, has documented her story, based on interviews and correspondence with her spiritual advisor Father Van Exem and Archbishop Perier. Mother Teresa had made a secret vow in 1942 that she wanted to give as a gift to Jesus, something very beautiful something without reserve. She promised to give God anything that He may asknot to refuse Him anything.[3] She carried this private vow within her four years, not knowing in what way she could give this gift. When she received the call within a call to go and live among the poorest of the poor in Calcutta, this was what God was asking her to give. He spoke to her in an interior voice she sensed rather than heard. The words that resonated through her were these: You have become my spouse for My love. Will you refuse to do this for me? Refuse me not.[4] She kept a journal of these inner locutions, and wrote, One day at Holy Communion I heard the same voice very distinctly: I want Indian nuns, victims of my love, who would be Mary and Martha, who would be so very united to me as to radiate my love on souls. I want free nuns covered with my poverty of the Cross. I want obedient nuns covered with my obedience of the cross. I want full of love nuns covered with the charity of the Cross. Wilt thou refuse to do this for me?[5] In the hope that she could obtain permission to embark on this work among the poor, she wrote to Archbishop Perier in 1947, citing these things God had put in her heart. These words, or rather, this voice frightened me. The thought of eating, sleeping, living like the Indians filled me with fear. I prayed longI prayed so much The more I prayed, the clearer grew the voice in my heart and so I prayed that He would do with me whatever He wanted. He asked again and again. Mother Teresa continued to pray, and she kept a journal of what God was impressing on her agitated soul. On another day she recorded: You have become my spouse for my Love. You have come to India for Me. The thirst you had for souls brought you so far. Are you afraid to take one more step for your Spouse, for me, for souls? Is your generosity grown cold? You have been always saying, Do with me whatever you wish. Now I want to act. Do not fear. I shall be with you always. You will suffer and you suffer now, but if you are my own little Spouse of the Crucified Jesus, you will have to bear these torments on your heart. Let me act. Refuse me not. Trust me lovingly, trust me blindly.[6] The Lord punctured any potential pride by telling her You are, I know, the most incapable person, weak and sinful, but just because you are that, I want to use you for My glory.[7] When Mother Teresa initially asked to be released from the convent to go onto the streets, she was denied permission and was told to say nothing and go back and pray, which she did obediently. As she waited to act on this fire that was increasingly consuming her, the outlines of what she was to do became more clear. She was to go with other Indian nuns to reach the unwashed children on the streets, bathe them, teach them to read, and feed them. She was to go to the sick and dying, wash and bind their wounds, and give them a place to die with dignity. She was to go to the forgotten ones, the lepers, and be a presence of love and light. She knew that she would need nuns equipped to move about in the city, and even began to make plans for them to learn to drive vehicles, which was outrageously unusual for any women, let alone nuns, in Calcutta in the 1940s. The contours of the ministry became clearer as she prayed, and thought, and planned. When she implored again, her superiors in the church doubted the authenticity of her call. Once again, she went back in obedience to pray further. But still, the permission was not granted from the Church. In a vision, she saw a crowd with their hands lifted to her in the midst, as they cried out Come, come, save us. Bring us to Jesus. She wrote in her prayer journal, I could see great sorrow and suffering in their faces. I was kneeling near Our Lady who was facing them. I did not see her face but I heard her say, Take care of them. They are mine. Bring them to Jesus. Carry Jesus to them. Fear not.' Then she could see the crowd in darkness with Christ on the cross before them, as she stood as a little child with Our Lady, facing the cross. Our Lord said, I have asked you. They have asked you and she, my mother, has asked you. Will you refuse to do this for me, to take care of them, to bring them to me? She answered, You know Jesus, I am ready to go at a moments notice.[8] Mother Teresas perseverance and prayer finally sufficed to persuade Fr. Van Exem of the authenticity of her call. And when Archbishop Perier received Mother Teresas letter with the excerpts from her prayer journal cited above, he no longer doubted that it was the will of God, either. She then asked permission to move out of the convent to live among the poor. It was highly unusual to have a nun remain under vows but live in the outside world. But when the permission finally came from Rome to live on the streets among the poor, she was permitted to remain in her order. But her struggles for acceptance were not over. She encountered serious resistance from her fellow believers in Calcutta. One convent where she stopped by to eat her lunch ordered her to eat under the back stairs like a common beggar. A Yugoslav Jesuit, of the very nationality and order that had first inspired her love for India, commented brusquely, We thought she was cracked.[9] Mother Teresa embarked on the ministry that the world now knows: the outreach to the unloved, the lost, the unwanted, the lepers, the untouchables. She picked up the dying and brought them to the home she founded to give them love and dignity in death. She picked up babies and infants that had been abandoned in the garbage heaps, like human refuse, and nursed them back to life. David Aikman wrote, Many, perhaps the majority of the babies, had been abandoned almost as soon as they were born, and almost all were suffering from acute malnutrition or tuberculosis. Their eyes were weary and sunken into their skeletal little faces, their limbs often mere sticks, incapable of independent movement. Several were beyond saving even when immediately provided with the proper medicines and nutrition. And, of course, all of them were starving for love.[10] The Fruit of a Contemplative Life of Prayer Mother Teresa always insisted that the work she and the sisters did was not social work, but the fruit of their contemplative life of prayer. There were many people eager to push a label of social activism on her, or engage her in political issues centered on the poor. But she would have none of it. She said, We are contemplatives in the world. The work she did was rooted in prayer, and was an outpouring of the love she received in the mystical union with Christ. She saw Him in the destitute people she touched. As she explained it, she served Christ in the distressing disguise of the poorest of the poor. In touching their filthy and diseased bodies, she was touching his body. By serving them, she was participating in his love. There are two words written on a sign that hangs on the walls of the Missionaries of Charity homes all over the world: I thirst. These words Christ uttered on the cross are a reminder to the sisters that he thirsts for souls. This thirst motivated Mother Teresa, and became a motivating force for the order she founded. The constitution of the Missionaries of Charities says: Our aim is to quench the infinite thirst of Jesus Christ on the Cross for love of souls. We serve Jesus in the poor, we nurse Him, feed Him, clothe Him, visit Him. It was this profound love, deepened in contemplative prayer, and nourished daily by the Eucharist, that sustained Mother Teresa through what would have been a crushing burden of misery for lesser souls. The ultimate source of this power is Christ Himself. She warned that it is not possible to do this kind of work without being a soul of prayer. Time for silence and contemplative prayer was crucial for her work. We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of the silence, she said. We need silence to be able to touch souls. We must be aware of oneness with Christ, as He was aware of oneness with his Father. We must permit Him to work in us and through us, with his power, with His desire, with his love. We must become holy, not because we want to feel holy, but because Christ must be able to live His life fully in us. We are to be all love, all faith, all purity, for the sake of the poor we serve.[11] Mother Teresa set ripples of goodness into motion by her presence. Our work is to encourage Christians and non-Christians to do works of love, she sad. And every work of love, done with a full heart, always brings people closer to God.[12] When she brought rice to a destitute woman in Calcutta, she found that a Hindu woman gave half of what she received to a Muslim woman who lived nearby, because she too was in need. Rather than giving the first woman more, Mother Teresa let her make the sacrifice, because it had a value to the heart that had been moved to generosity. Even the very poorest beggars gave Mother Teresa donations for others. She cherished the gift of a beggar who scraped together a few coins by not smoking for several days, and gave her what he had saved. The amount was miniscule, but the sacrifice was great. She loved a young couple that decided not to have a lavish wedding, but instead by wearing simple clothes and having a modest dinner with a few friends, they were able to give a gift to the poor of the money they had saved. These gestures of sacrificial giving touched her heart, because they were evidence of the participation of others in what God was doing. Give until it hurts, she often said. She knew the joy that would result. We must grow in love and to do this we must go on loving and loving and giving and giving until it hurtsthe way Jesus did. Do ordinary things with extraordinary love: little things like caring for the sick and the homeless, the lonely and the unwanted, washing and cleaning for them. You must give what will cost you something.[13] She also often said, There are no great deeds. Only small deeds done with great love. She points us toward the way of what she calls A Simple Path. The fruit of silence is prayer. The fruit of prayer is faith. The fruit of faith is love. The fruit of love is service. The fruit of service is Peace.[14] Mother Teresa called herself a pencil in Gods hand. In her faithful yielding to God, she wrote with her life what He intended to demonstrate to a world grown cold. She was able to live and give His transforming love. She also had a winsome but arresting way of enlisting the aid of people to assist her efforts. She would simply ask them: Would you like to do something beautiful for God? Although she had labored in relative obscurity for much of her life, she made the cover of Time magazine in December 1975 with an essay that declared her a living saint. She won the Nobel Peace Prize and the Templeton Prize for Religion. Her story penetrated the conscience of a jaded generation. The respect for her saintliness spread throughout the world, and her order now spans the globe in 139 countries. What began with twelve sisters has grown to 5,600 people, including two orders of brothers and one of priests, who run hospices, homeless shelters, and homes for the mentally ill. It has become one of the largest womens orders in the Catholic Church worldwide. Although the Missionaries of Charity live in the acute poverty of those they serve, there is no shortage of young women, and now also men, who have joined this order. Their ministry has spread to other countries, including some in the West that did not think of themselves as home to the poorest of the poor. But the spread of AIDS, drugs, and the squalor of urban slums in first world countries has spawned pockets of Third-World conditions. The conditions of poverty in the First World are expressed in two very different ways. Beyond the pockets of material poverty in otherwise affluent cities, there is a quiet, crippling poverty of the soul that is not as visible but every bit as devastating. Spiritual and relational impoverishment are often found in countries that are materially wealthy. Mother Teresa found in First-World countries people who hungered for sustenance at two levels: the hungry and lonely, not only for food but for the word of God; the thirsty and the ignorant, not only for water but also for knowledge, peace, truth, justice, and love; the naked and unloved, not only for clothes but also for human dignity; the homeless and abandoned, [who yearn] not only for a shelter made of bricks, but for a heart that understands, that covers, that loves. She expanded the definition of the least of our brethren to include the unwanted, the unborn child, the racially discriminated against. She reached out to alcoholics and drug addicts, captives not only in body but also in mind and spirit. Her heart went out to all those who have lost all hope and faith in life.[15] The Mystery of Spiritual Darkness One of the greatest mysteries in Mother Teresas life is a phenomenon that was almost entirely unknown to others during her lifetime. Only her spiritual directors knew. She suffered from a spiritual darkness that lasted more than forty years, until, as far as we know, her death. This woman whose radiant smile lit up the world around her was in fact walking by faith, and not by sight. Her communication with her spiritual directors in the 1960s, 70s and 80s describe a darkness and nothingness that eclipsed her spirit. In her dark night of the soul that lasted for nearly four decades, she had an overwhelming thirst for God that caused her great anguish. She likened her suffering to that of souls in Hell, parched for God. She questioned whether He had rejected her. And yet she remained surrendered to Him, and persevered despite all.[16] It was only later that this intense longing for Him became a part of her union with Him. The postulator for her canonization, Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, says, She understood that the darkness she experienced was a mystical participation in Jesus sufferings. She described in her prayer journal the sense of aloneness that Jesus experienced, the pain and darkness that he endured. In being allowed to share in his pain, it gave her a paradoxical joy. She wrote, Today really I felt a deep joy that Jesus cant go anymore through the agony, but that He wants to go through it in me. More than ever I surrender myself to Him. Yes, more than ever I will be at His disposal. The interior pain she experienced was acute, and in a moment of unfiltered candor she voiced her cry to God: When You asked to imprint Your Passion on my heart, is this the answer? If this brings You glory, if You get a drop of joy from this, if souls are brought to You, if my suffering satiates Your Thirsthere I am, Lord. With joy I accept all to the end of life and I will smile at Your Hidden Facealways.[17] In the very deepest sense, she offered up the profound pain of separation from Christ to him as a gift. Fr. Kolodiejchuk concluded, Seen in this light, the long and painful interior darkness takes on not only new meaning, but also gives the reason for total, even joyful surrender to it.[18] Mother Teresa told Malcolm Muggeridge, Without our suffering, our work would just be social work, very good and helpful, but it would not be the work of Jesus Christ, not part of the Redemption. Jesus wanted to help by sharing our life, our loneliness, our agony, our death. Only by being one with us has he redeemed us. We are allowed to do the same; all the desolation of the poor people, not only their material poverty, but their spiritual destitution, must be redeemed, and we must share it, for only by being one with them can we redeem them, that is, by bringing God into their lives and bringing them to God.[19] Mother Teresa made it a goal of the Missionaries to Charity to quench the infinite thirst of Jesus on the cross for love and for souls by doing joy-filled work among the poorest of the poor. One personal hallmark was the undiluted joy that she radiated with a dazzling smile from her whole being. Joy was the one characteristic she insisted on for all those who joined her order. She only wanted women to join her who would radiate joy in their faces and their demeanor, regardless of how trying their circumstances. We know now that the joy she consistently showed was not an easy effervescence. It required an extraordinary resolution of will and a commitment of her whole person to withstand the hardest of trials in extreme poverty, and even a darkness of the spirit, and not to let it show. It is one of the hardest aspects of her life to fathom. And yet she radiated pure joy and the fragrance of Christ wherever she went. She encourages us to go and do likewise. The Missionaries of Charity often sent a prayer to people by way of thanking them for contributions, however modest. Those that I received in the 1980s came with a hand-typed letter from one of the sisters, obviously written on a manual typewriter. The prayer was this: Dear Jesus, help us to spread Your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being, so utterly, That our lives may only be a radiance of Yours. Shine through us, and be so in us, That every soul we come in contact with may feel Your presence in our soul. Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus! Stay with us, and then we shall begin to shine as You shine; So to shine as to be a light to others. The light O Jesus will be all from You, none of it will be ours; It will be you, shining on others through us. Let us thus praise You in the way You love best by shining on those around us. Let us preach You without preaching, not by words but by our example. By the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what we do. The evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you. Mother Teresa (now St. Teresa of Calcutta) was canonized by Pope Francis on September 4, 2016. Portions of this essay appeared first in Street Saints: Renewing Americas Cities by Barbara J. Elliott and is republished here with the gracious permission of the author. Notes: [1] Address of Mother Teresa to National Prayer Breakfast, Washington, D.C. February 4, 1994. [2] Mother Teresa, Ibid. [3] Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C., The Soul of Mother Teresa: Hidden Aspects of Her Interior Life, Rome, Nov. 28, 2002, part 1A. ZE02112820 [4] Ibid. [5] Ibid. [6] Ibid. [7] Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C., the Soul of Mother Teresa: Hidden Aspects of Her Interior Life, Rome, Nov. 29, 2002, part 1, ZE02112920 [8] Ibid. [9] Eileen Egan, Such a Vision of the Street: Mother TeresaThe Spirit and the Work (Garden City, NY: Doubleday& Co. 1985), 38. [10] David Aikman, Great Souls: Six Who Changed a Century (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson 1998), 226. [11] Malcolm Muggeridge, Something Beautiful for God, (New York: Harper and Row, 1977), 47. [12] Eileen Egan, Such a Vision of the Street, 357. [13] Mother Teresa, A Simple Path, (New York: Ballantine Books, 1995) 99. [14] Ibid 1. [15] Ibid xxx-xxxi. [16] Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C., The Soul of Mother Teresa: Hidden Aspects of Her Interior Life, Rome, Dec. 19, 2002, part 2. ZE02121922. [17] Ibid. [18] Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C., The Soul of Mother Teresa: Hidden Aspects of Her Interior Life, Rome, Dec. 20, 2002, part 2 concluded ZE02122020. [19] Muggeridge, Something Beautiful for God, 49. The featured image is a still shot from a YouTube video, by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, of President Reagan Presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Mother Teresa on June 20, 1985. Hall County residents who live outside Grand Island city limits may soon be able to use the Grand Island Public Library free of charge again. Hall County supervisors will consider approving a new agreement with the Grand Island Public Library that would restore free library access to out-of-city residents. The cost of the agreement to Hall County is $15,000 for the first year and $20,000 for the second. Hall County Supervisor Jane Richardson, who helped negotiate the contract for the county, said the library would issue a household card to the head of a Hall County household and every member of that household could use the same card. County residents who live outside Grand Island city limits used to have free access to the city library up until 2010, when county supervisors pulled their $105,000 of financial support that was used to provide the Hall County Bookmobile. The library then implemented a $40 non-resident card for patrons living outside Grand Island city limits. That $40 card was good for one year. The library also offered a $10 three-month card, primarily used by youth during the summer reading program. A library card is required to check out material or log onto the librarys on-site computers. Hall County Supervisor Gary Quandt asked the county board to revisit the issue after a Grand Island business owner was also denied library access. That owner lives outside city limits and rents his in-city business location, so he doesnt pay property taxes to the city of Grand Island, which Library Director Steve Fosselman said is key to obtaining a free library card. The basics for us, according to city code and state law, is were a municipal library and anyone who resides in Grand Island is given free service, Fosselman said previously. The interlocal (bookmobile) agreement took care of that for the people outside of Grand Island and within Hall County. However, the new agreement could open the reading door again for those out-of-city residents. The issue is up for discussion and a possible vote during a 9 a.m. Tuesday Hall County board meeting. On the agenda Approving the $68.1 million 2016-17 county budget that requires $21.4 million in property tax support. Discussing and possible action on appointing Public Works Director Casey Sherlock as Hall County Highway superintendent and setting a new salary range for that position. Discussing and possible action on hiring Omaha architect Jerry Berggren for $32,500 to conduct a master plan and space use study on the Federal Building and other county buildings. The study and recommendation is to be completed in two months. Setting one-way traffic restrictions on Husker Highway westbound in the mornings and eastbound in the afternoons during Husker Harvest Days from the show site driveway west of 90th Road to Alda Road; restricting access to Husker Highway from Schauppsville Road to Highway 30 to existing landowners during Husker Harvest Days; and installing a stop sign for Stolley Park Road traffic approaching 90th Road during Husker Harvest Days. Discussing and possible action on a request from New Hope Christian School to use One-R Road from 130th to Schauppsville Road for a 5K and 10K fun run from 8 to 11 a.m. Sept. 17. Receiving a claim from Centurylink for damage Aug. 17 to a buried cable caused by a county backhoe at Bluff Center and Abbott Road near Cairo. Hiring Brad Fenster of Bluegrass Lawns for $135 a week to mow lawns at the Hall County Courthouse, Hall County Administration Building, Hall County Attorney Building and the Federal Building. Meeting in closed session for litigation strategy. If you go What: Hall County Board of Supervisors meeting. When: 9 a.m. Tuesday. Where: Hall County Administration Building, 121 S. Pine Topics: Library card agreement with the Grand Island Public Library; passing the 2016-17 Hall County budget; signing a $32,500 contract for a county building use and space study; setting a new salary range for the Hall County highway superintendent. In spite of recent spree, car thefts not increasing in Grand Island Keys are almost always in cars that are stolen Seven or eight vehicles were stolen over a recent eight-day period in Grand Island. The mini-crime spree peaked on Aug. 23, when three cars were reported stolen. Two cars were taken on Aug. 19. Overall, car thefts are not increasing in Grand Island. But we did have a lot of car thefts over a very short period of time, said Capt. Jim Duering of the Grand Island Police Department. Russell Dibbern, a 26-year-old Grand Island man, was arrested Aug. 23 and has been charged with stealing two of the cars. His name has been mentioned in a theft in another jurisdiction, Duering said. Interesting enough, since Mr. Dibbern has been jailed, we havent reported any auto thefts, Duering said. Im not saying hes responsible for them all, but it does seem oddly coincidental. Last year, Grand Island had 83 motor vehicle thefts, which was down about 18 percent from the year before. This year, the number is 61. Duering expects the year-end number to be very similar to last years. But were really not in bad shape as far as motor vehicle thefts go, he said. In more than 90 percent of Grand Island car thefts, the keys are in the vehicle. We dont have a lot of technical or trained vehicle thieves in mid-Nebraska. Its mostly crimes of opportunity, he said. In many cases, someone walking by will see the keys in the ignition. Other times, the keys are in the glove compartment, the center console or in a purse. The time of year is approaching when temperatures will be chilly in the morning. When people start their cars and leave them running, sometimes that does result in a rise in motor vehicle thefts, because of crimes of opportunity, Duering said. If youre running your car, make sure you have a spare set of keys, he said. Lock the door or just dont start the car unless youre in it or youre able to watch it. That alone usually results in less motor vehicle thefts. As an immigration lawyer, I approached Donald Trumps recent speech with anticipation, hope and trepidation. I was willing to keep an open mind about a topic that, next to abortion rights and religious freedom, is the most important issue for me in this campaign. I was prepared to praise the man if he came out with an honest, workable, non-tweetable attempt to address the extremely complicated factors that go into the whole concept of illegal immigration. To say I was disappointed is an understatement along the level of Houston, we have a problem. I listened politely as the Republican presidential nominee spoke about building his wall, and understood that this was an appealing concept to many including myself who are troubled by the fluidity of our borders. As he discussed the modalities that would be used to build that wall, evoking technologies apparently not yet in existence, I realized that his use of this concept was much more symbolic than anything else. Build a wall has been an effective slogan over the years for many conservative opponents of immigration, and it doesnt require much cerebral heavy lifting. Trump sounded more poetic than Maya Angelou: On Day 1, we will begin working on an impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful Southern border wall. He talked about above- and below-ground sensors which other people call tunnels. He talked about aerial surveillance, towers and additional manpower. He also said Mexico would pay for the wall, even though the Mexican president whom hed met only hours before made it clear that Mexico no paga. So the estimated $8 billion to $12 billion needed to build this beautiful Southern border wall will have to come from somewhere. Beyond the wall, and the absolute lack of detail on the methodologies by which it would both be built and financed, Trump talked about how he would increase the border patrol force by about 25 percent. I think that is a fantastic idea, but Id like to know where that money is coming from, too, especially after we build those walls. Then Trump announced the revolutionary concept that he would change enforcement priorities by removing criminals, gang members, security threats, visa overstays, (and) public charges. I stood up and gave him a standing ovation when I heard that. But I gave President Obama that same standing ovation when he announced those same priorities in November 2014. Yawn. Trump then talked about screening refugees, and no one who has seen the brutality wreaked by ISIS and other Islamic terror groups should object to that. But, as experts have noted, refugees generally undergo the most rigorous and time-consuming process of any category of immigrants who enter the U.S. Sometimes the process can take up to 18 months, or more. So again, nothing new. And he talked about jobs, which is a big part of his appeal, the great job creator. Good for him. I agree something must be done to bring workers out of the shadows, provide them with work authorization, give them identification cards and continue to allow them to work legally in our restaurant kitchens, mowing our backyards and cleaning our bathrooms. Oh, yeah, and winning Olympic medals for us when they become naturalized U.S. citizens. But the thing that finally made me realize this was not a serious speech was the last part, when Trump brought the mothers of slain citizens on stage to say Vote for me. In this powerful, hardly subliminal attack on so-called sanctuary cities, Trump did what the Democratic National Convention was justifiably criticized for doing when it trotted the mothers of Michael Brown and other so-called victims of police brutality on stage. I was appalled then that we would use mothers grief to advance an agenda, and I was appalled when Trump did the same thing. The suggestion that illegal aliens must be kept out of the country because they have an innate tendency to be more violent and homicidal than the average native-born American is wrong. Debatable, but still wrong. Statistics consistently show that immigrants commit violent crimes at a significantly lower rate that the native-born. Its an argument we can have; Im fine with that. My problem is using death to make your partisan point. My boy was shot by a cop. Theyre bigoted monsters. My boy was killed by an illegal. Theyre homicidal maniacs. Same tune, different verses. And if you dont think its the same tune, thats because your ears are registered with a different party, and you think some mothers are less entitled to grieve than others. Loyalty oaths have been tried in the past, but eventually were struck down by the courts as either too vague, or an unconstitutional violation of free speech. These applied, as far as I can tell from reading their history, only to American citizens. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has suggested something different. He wants to screen people coming into America to see if they share American values. Trump says he would exclude not only people who sympathize with terrorists and believe in Sharia law, but those who do not believe in our Constitution, or who support bigotry and hatred. Think of it this way, would the NAACP admit a member of the KKK? Who would deny them their right to turn racists away? From the reaction of the media and Democrats (but I repeat myself), one might think Trumps name is a synonym for bigot and that he is attempting to create a master race in America. Not so fast. As World Magazine editor Marvin Olasky points out in the publications Sept. 3 issue, Millions of Americans are here because their ancestors signed declarations of intention similar to what Trump is suggesting. Olasky found the declaration of intention Albert Einstein signed in 1936. He became a U.S. citizen four years later. Here is what it said: I will, before being admitted to citizenship, renounce forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty. ... I am not an anarchist; I am not a polygamist nor a believer in the practice of polygamy. Olasky writes that his immigrant grandfather signed a similar declaration in 1914. A century ago, he says, anarchist was the equivalent of todays terrorist. Some anarchists planted bombs, one assassinated President William McKinley. Olasky continues: Since Sharia law allows and even proposes polygamy as an act of justice, U.S. law excluded Muslims who embraced it. There were to be no divided loyalties. In order for Utah to enter the Union, the state had to renounce polygamy, a doctrine believed and practiced at that time by some Mormons. President Obama is admitting people into America who believe in Sharia law, and the polygamy it allows. No divided loyalties was the key phrase in Olaskys last sentence. How long ago and far away that seems today when our loyalties are more divided than at any time since the Civil War. Diversity has replaced unity and hyphenated identifiers now divide races and ethnic groups. Out of many, one is fading as our national motto. Out of one, many, is rapidly becoming our new one. Much of mainstream media fuel the division because conflict sells. They promote our flaws instead of the phrase from America the Beautiful, one of our great patriotic hymns, God mend thine every flaw. Instead, too many seem intent on exposing, even promoting, new flaws and dividing us further. Who will love America if we dont? Who will sacrifice their lives for freedom if not us? We had better realize America is something special, or risk losing it. Another verse from America the Beautiful is worth recalling as the presidential election approaches: O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife. Who more than self their country loved And mercy more than life. Who among our leaders demonstrate their love of America more than their love of self? Go to YouTube.com and listen to the late Ray Charles version of this hymn to America. If it doesnt make you tear up, perhaps youd better check your patriotic meter. There is nothing wrong and much right about what Trump proposes for people who want to become citizens of this country. He is no more a bigot than those who wrote the oath taken by Albert Einstein and many others. Farming and ranching today arent simple endeavors. New technology has helped increase efficiency and raise production to new heights. And changes in technology, science and production methods come almost every day. New this year at Husker Harvest Days, driverless tractors will be demonstrated. Progress in technology has been made that would have been unimaginable just a few decades ago. To keep up to date and to be competitive, farmers and ranchers need access to the latest information. That is why it is crucial that broadband internet service be available in rural areas. U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer held a roundtable discussion at the State Fair last week on expanding broadband service to rural areas of Nebraska. Attending the discussion was Michael ORielly, a Federal Communications Commission commissioner. Farm and ranch representatives said there are many ways that high-speed broadband internet service can help them. Farmers use it to monitor weather conditions, examine insect damage and plant health. They also can collect data on soil moisture levels and crop yields. For ranchers and livestock producers, broadband allows them to monitor feed availability, animal health and financial markets. In addition, reliable, high-speed internet can help rural communities thrive. People can work from home and businesses can locate there if broadband is available. So the need for high-speed broadband service is great. Unfortunately, so are the costs of providing it. Service providers at the roundtable said it is hard to justify the costs of extending service to rural areas when there are few customers because of low population density. This is where the federal and state government comes in. The federal government and states need to reduce regulations that can hinder providers. They also need to put more funding into helping companies provide service. Grants can help pay for extending service to rural areas and making sure that networks, service and lines are updated so that the service doesnt lag behind and put ag producers at a disadvantage. Rural broadband service has been talked about for years. Strides have been made in improving service, but more can be done. Having FCC Commissioner ORielly in Nebraska helps to spread that message to the highest levels in Washington. Federal and state officials need to keep this as a high priority. Expanding and improving broadband service in areas such as rural Nebraska will help the economy and improve life and work for the states ag producers. Bizarre World Series opener ends with Phillies stunning Verlander's Astros Justin Verlander's World Series struggles continued as the Astros blew a 5-0 lead, losing Game 1 in extra innings to the Phillies. As fall approaches, millions of moms and dads scrambled for the first day of school, excited to support their childrens success. But are schools ready to foster that success? Increasingly, the answer is no. In at least 18 states, local government funding levels are declining, according to an analysis by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. And as a result, many schools opened with fewer teachers than last year, among other detrimental losses. As lawmakers throw up their hands and say, Sorry, theres just not enough money, we must ask: Where has all the money gone? State and local governments give away at least $70 billion a year to business subsidies, most of it in foregone tax revenue. Local property taxes are the most significant tax most corporations pay. In most communities, theyre also the backbone of local school finance. So when subsidies slash corporate property taxes, our schools often get hurt the most. In Chicago, for example, one subsidy program alone cost public services $461 million. Meanwhile, the citys schools are facing a budget that is $140 million less than they had last year. When cities line the pockets of powerful interests with subsidies while short-changing children, they harm everyone including businesses that depend on a well-educated work force. Unlike Chicago, in most cities its difficult to calculate exactly how much state and local tax subsidies drain from a given school district. But thats about to change. Starting next year, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board will require more than 50,000 government bodies to report how much tax revenue theyve lost to economic development tax breaks given to developers and corporations. Though school districts, library districts and other special purpose districts seldom have a role in awarding these subsidies, they too will be required to report how much revenue theyve losteven as a result of tax breaks handed out by other governmental bodies. This new data will also shine a light on inequities in education, allowing new critical examination of whether tax breaks that fill corporate coffers come disproportionately at the expense of the most disadvantaged school districts. This way, we can say no to deals that pad the profits of the already wealthy at the cost of denying opportunity to those looking to get a foot on the first rung of the economic ladder. Some states are already following the logic of this new common sense standard. In a 2011 budget deal, California decided to phase out an expensive subsidy granted by redevelopment agencies, and as a result, paved the way for local property tax revenues to rise by 10-15 percent in coming years. These added revenues will allow cities and towns throughout California to increase funding for local priorities including schools. Soon, well all have a much better idea about where the funding for schools throughout the nation has gone. Parents and teachers clamoring for smaller class sizes and more support services will have the data to back their demands. And taxpayers will be able to debate whether costly, long-term tax breaks that often go to the most prosperous businesses in town have been worth the cost of struggling schools. As we hold our governments and schools accountable to meet student needs, the data is coming soon that will help us get there. Cutting taxes in order to spur economic development is an idea still making its way around the political landscape. It doesnt seem to matter how many times trickle down economics has been debunked not only by economists, but also by history, it seems to linger. Yet, this is part of an ideology that is considered as gospel by many politicians. Of course the idea has one superficial appeal and one superficial appeal only. It promises to cut taxes, even if the ones who benefit the most from such policies are the ones who need them the least. But beyond this populist appeal, people tend to forget many things. Less tax revenue means fewer dollars for basic infrastructure, such as transportation (highways and bridges, for example) and basic services including everything from health to education. As most economists believe, an educated population is essential for economic development. In this day and age when skills and knowledge gained in colleges and universities are essential, states need more college graduates to grow the states economies. Recent figures released by the U.S. Department of Education show a serious level of migration out of those states that have cut financial support for higher education. As any economist will tell you, that translates into decreased productivity and increased impoverishment. Because of significant cuts in financial support for higher education in some states, public colleges and universities have been forced to increase tuition and fees to historically high levels. Because of this, students from these states are going to study elsewhere. Although there have always been students who go out of their home states to attend private colleges, it has been far more rare for students to attend out-of-state public institutions because of the lack of government funding in their home states. For the most part, public colleges and universities serve a less privileged population. That is why since 1986 the number of out-of-state freshmen has nearly doubled according to data from the Department of Education. Even states such as Texas and California have seen many of their students leave for states like Arizona and Oregon. Illinois is one of the most compelling examples of how cuts to higher education are leading to massive migration to other states. The Land of Lincoln state exports far more students than it imports from other states. In 2015, for example, 2,319 Illinois residents ended up going to Missouri institutions. During the same year only 428 Missouri students decided to study at Illinois institutions. Another neighboring state that has benefitted from the Illinois exodus is Indiana, which received 2,264 Illinois students. While Illinois received 2,117 students from other states, it sent 16,461 to other states for an overall deficit of 14,350 students. That is, 14,350 fewer students attending and paying tuition and fees in Illinois public colleges and universities, further reducing the income for those institutions whose budgets have already been slashed. But why should we care? At play here is not only the budget of public colleges and universities, but also the economic development of states. A combination of decreasing numbers of local students and budget cuts means less economic activity not only because there are fewer people paying, but because the people who stay have less to spend. The economic impact of a university is huge. The University of Illinois, for example, contributes nearly $14 billion to the state economy. The fewer students they have and the less money that is allocated to them means less economic activity and the continued impoverishment of the communities where they are located. The University of Illinois at Chicago has a $4 billion impact on the city and the state, yet that institution has come close to shutting down in the last few months because of lack of financial support from the state. But that is not all. Many of the students who move to other states never come back. They oftentimes find jobs in the state where they went to college. They may also never come back to their native states because the budget cuts in those states may have created fewer opportunities for them. Further, less financial support means that those universities have a greater problem recruiting and retaining good faculty, resulting in weaker public colleges and universities. If you want to look for an example of how trickle-down economics can ruin a state, just take a look of Kansas. Four years after the massive tax cuts of 2010 went into effect Kansas had only 800 more private-sector jobs than the prior year. But worse than that, the loss of tax revenue decimated the state budget, creating a fiscal crisis necessitating drastic cuts including in higher education. By 2016, Kansas was $420 million short of the revenue it had the year tax cuts first went into effect. Now the sunflower state ranks 47th in economic development in the U.S. In case you were wondering, the U.S. is the least taxed country among developed nations, while ranking 19th in education investment and performance among the worlds wealthier democracies. In 1995, the United States was first with a 33 percent graduation rate. Then budget cuts for higher education became rampant and now we are paying the price. As the American theologian James Freeman Clarke said, A politician thinks of the next election. A statesman, of the next generation. Dr. Aldemaro Romero Jr. is a writer and college professor with leadership experience in higher education. He can be contacted through his website at: http://www.aromerojr.net Madison County Board members will be voting this month on whether to end their participation in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund. The proposal follows passage of a new state law that prohibits newly-elected county board members from receiving pensions through the IMRF. To reduce the cost of pensions and save taxpayers money, it is time for the Madison County Board to end its participation in IMRF, County Board Chairman Alan Dunstan said in a news release. He called on the 29 board members to address the issue this month rather than leave it to a new County Board after the Nov. 8 election. State lawmakers passed SB 2701 in the spring and Gov. Bruce Rauner signed it into law in late August. The law also requires current board members to document that they have been working the required 600 hours a year, the equivalent of 12 hours each week for 50 weeks a year. That qualifies as part-time employment, which board members qualify under and the proposal is aimed at. County Board members receive $14,498 per year as compensation, a figure that is frozen for the next five years. For its part, Madison County kicks in just under 9 percent toward each board members pension. That, said County Administrator Joe Parente, is a design rate; if the county is slightly underfunded, IMRF will bump the figure up, and if its slightly overfunded, they will bump it down. Madison County Treasurer Kurt Prenzler praised the passage of SB 2701 which he said brings transparency to part-time elected officials getting pensions." This was a bi-partisan effort of state legislators. I would encourage all county board members to vote themselves out of this plan, Prenzler stated. The new law requires each County Board member to submit a monthly time sheet to the county which documents how much time they have spent working on County Board business. In a news release, Prenzler said the time sheets will become public record, obtainable through a Freedom of Information request. Dunstan said his recommendation to end board members participation in IMRF is not an action against the members of the Madison County Board but a move that will benefit county taxpayers and bring the county into compliance with the new law. The Democratic and Republican members of the Madison County Board work very hard to put in a significant number of hours on behalf of their constituents, Dunstan said in the news release. As part of their nominal compensation, county board members were, by law, entitled to enroll in IMRF. Dunstan said he doesnt think any County Board members will oppose ending participation in IMRF. IMRF is celebrating its 75th birthday this year. It provides benefits for death, disability and retirement. IMRF is distinct from pension programs that cover universities, state employees, teachers, the general assembly and judges. Those are funded by the state. While IMRF does not cover teachers, it does cover support personnel such as custodians, food service workers and teacher aids, IMRF Executive Director Louis Kosiba said in an interview earlier this year with the Intelligencer. In 2009, Dunstan was a proponent of an effort to pass legislation at the state level creating the two-tier IMRF pension system. Dunstan, in the news release, said that that change has significantly reduced pension costs for Madison County and other local governments. Kosiba said that average employer contribution rate has dropped slightly as a result of the two-tiered system. The decrease - made possible largely due to the 40 percent lower costs associated with the Tier 2 benefit structure for new hires - comes as good news for employers, Kosiba said in the news release. Tier 2 pensions will continue to reduce pension related costs for units of government and taxpayers. The board meets on Sept. 21 to vote on the resolution to end board members participation in IMRF. With campus classes in full swing, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is currently battling high levels of lead that have been found in the water on campus. Drinking fountains and sinks have since been shut down in both the Lovejoy Library and the Science West Building until further notice. Interim Vice Chancellor of Administration Rich Walker said the university has tested all of the buildings and the library had mixed results. So the library, however, had mixed results. We did four tests in that building and they had some of those four tests come back above the action limit and below the action limit. So we have to take the next action step and the next action step is to test all of the drinking water sources in the building, whether thats a drinking fountain or a sink that someone might use to make their morning coffee. So thats the next step is weve taken samples of water from all of those sources in the library and weve sent them off to the lab and should have results back by the end of next week. Meanwhile, we put temporary water in that building for people to use, Walker said. The Science West Building had all tests show high levels of lead, and Walker said the university is planning to consult an engineer to steer them in the right direction. There is no definite timeline for the pending investigation. Now the Science Building is a little different because the results that came back from the science building test were consistent but they were consistently over the action level, and that means we skip the step that says test all of the other individual sources because they were all high and instead, we take that next step and that is to take all of the drinking sources offline, post that theres an issue, and then provide a temporary drinking water for people in the science building, and then call in a consultant who is a plumbing engineer that specializes in water quality issues, Walker said. SIUE has been conducting these lead level tests every three years. This is the second time the university has tested for lead in the past month. Walker said financially, the testing hasnt made a significant impact on the schools budget. Were required to do these tests every three years, so the cost so far has been something that we plan on every three years. The only additional cost would be for additional testing, but its not substantial, Walker said. The next step in the lead investigation is for the university to negotiate a contract with an engineer. Walker said the process for the testing began on Aug. 7, and has since been in effect. The university won't know anything more until sometime next week. The results came back Aug. 17, I believe. But we notified the campus on the 18th, the very next day, and then started the retesting the following Monday. We had to get the sample kits in so we could send it off to the lab. Theres a special protocol that needs to be followed when were doing that, Walker said. As announced at Mondays Public Safety Committee meeting, Anna Roseman was hired by the Edwardsville Fire Department as their new office assistant. Following the retirement of Kathy Leitner, who has been with the EFD for a little over 22 years, Roseman officially started the job on Monday, Aug. 29. Roseman, of Granite City, said she came across the position after her sister-in-law found the ad in the newspaper prior to being hired. She said the job is going well so far. I went online and looked for it, started reading it through and I said, I can do this job. So I went ahead and applied for it, got interviewed and got hired on, Roseman said. (Its been going) very good; very busy. I got started on pay day doing the payroll and been very busy. Still trying to learn things but luckily Kathy (Leitner) is still here to work with me, to train me how to do things. In terms of her job duties, Roseman said there is a lot for her to do, but its nothing that she cant handle. As far as I know, (Ill be doing) a lot of payroll; looking at any type of incident reports and looking at corrections that need to be corrected, answering calls and filing. Theres time cards that you have to look through and get those ready, working with calendars, getting the firemen and paramedics to get all of their certifications done, trying to get them scheduled for them, she said. Roseman said this job seemed very suitable for her and now that she works behind-the-scenes at the fire department, her perspective of the EFD has changed. It just seemed like a very good fit for me. Everything on the job description that was out there for the job and everything, it fit me perfectly. I didnt know half of the things they did, and Ive only been here a couple of days. But, if you really think about it, you see all of the things they do. Its pretty amazing, Roseman said. Roseman is no stranger to administrative office positions, and she said her favorite aspect of this job in particular is the people that come in every day. Meeting the people, meeting the firemen and everything. People are saying, Oh you got to do payroll and everything. Now to me; thats kind of exciting kind of fun to do actually. So far I havent come across any complications, so well see, she said. Roseman said the main qualities that she is bringing to the EFD are what is needed, especially with the department preparing to transition to the new public safety facility next year. (They need some) organization. They need a little help, but luckily I know that were going to be moving to a new building in about a year or so, so hopefully we can get things organized. Once we go over there, get things the way we want them and make them more efficient. Mainly organization and efficiency. Going forward, Roseman said she hopes she can utilize her skillset and help the department as needed for the future. I would like to be able to keep this job, work through it and try to help the department as much as I can. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ganewati Wuryandari Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 President Joko Jokowi Widodo recently attended the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China, joining leaders of the worlds advanced and emerging economies in discussing pressing issues related to the global economy. Jokowis presence underlined Indonesias active role in the multilateral forum since its inception in 1999, despite questions over its benefits and importance for the people. After 17 years, Indonesias participation in the G20 seems to remain unfamiliar to many. Only a small proportion of the Indonesian population is aware of what happened at the recent meeting. Worse still, national media gives only limited accounts of G20 meetings and agendas, including the last summit in Hangzhou, which concluded on Monday. It is the governments responsibility to explain more to the public at large about Indonesias involvement and policies in the G20, so that the relevance of its G20 membership can be understood. The strategic value of the G20 is commonly recognized. As a multilateral forum, it helped the world economy recover from the Asian crisis of 19971998. Its members, which account for more than 85 percent of the worlds economy, play a strategic role. If the economies of its 20 member states are healthy, we can assume that the worlds economy will also be sound. Thus, the G20 is too important to be neglected. Indonesian membership in an international forum with so much prestige certainly provides a golden opportunity to advance national interests. However, Indonesia also fully understands that its membership in the G20 entails a unique position and responsibility. As one of the representatives of developing countries, hopes abound for Indonesia to push the issues of global inequality and poverty at the G20 forum. So far, however, Indonesia has been unable to fulfill the dual purposes. As an emerging and middle-power country, Indonesia has limitations in maximizing its presence at the multilateral forum. Despite enjoying relatively good economic growth lately, Indonesias position is very different compared to big economies such as the US and China. Among the member countries of the G20, Indonesia is still trapped by huge debt with a small foreign exchange reserve. As of the end of July 2016, Indonesias national Forex reserve stood at US$111.4 billion, against Chinas $3.2 trillion. Despite the limitations, Indonesia can play a major role at the G20. At previous summits, Indonesia proposed various initiatives such as the General Expenditure Support Fund and cochaired working groups to reform international financial institutions (2008-2009) and to combat corruption (2009). In the absence of financial power, Indonesia as a middle-power country can exercise its soft power as diplomacy modalities in the G20. It includes its relatively high economic growth, huge human resources, having the worlds largest Muslim population and a being new democracy, as well as its strategic geographical position within the region and a high sense of respect from ASEAN countries. Therefore, with such potential, Indonesia has to display its foreign policy activism in the G20 with the hallmarks of middle powers being mediation oriented, seeking modest reforms and strengthening rules (Gilley and ONeil, 2014) in the multilateral forum through developing alliances with other countries. These new roles are coincidentally timed with the theme of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou: Toward an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy. The theme underlined sincere recognition for the role of developing countries in world development, as there is a belief that prosperity must be shared and that the benefits of development must be perceived by both developed and developing countries. Through this theme, Indonesia can voice causes of developing countries, such as poverty and inequality, economic growth and economic stability, protection of labor rights, protection of natural resources from exploitation by developed countries and justice in global financial and economic governance. To that end, Indonesia has to employ foreign activism to influence a norm-setting agenda in the coming G20 summits to implement policies for solving these problems. Above all, it is important to note that Indonesian involvement in the G20 is not presented as an end in itself but must clearly answer a question about whether it benefits its people and the developing world in general. ___________________________________ The writer is a senior researcher and head of the Research Center for Regional Resources, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (P2SDR-LIPI), Jakarta. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Chen Chen Lee and Pek Shibao (The Jakarta Post) Singapore Tue, September 6, 2016 The recent return of the haze to the region underlines the fact that agribusinesses should take more responsibility in fighting peatland and forest fires in Indonesia. While some industry leaders have stepped up to implement promising methods to tackle fires, many other agribusinesses are not doing enough to address the root causes of the problem. Following the 2015 haze crisis the worst in the regions history the Indonesian government has significantly ramped up its efforts against fire. It has suspended the further issuing of oil palm plantation licenses and pursued legal cases against companies linked to forest fires, handing down a record S$110 million (US$80.86 million) fine to one such company in August. It has also established a Peatland Restoration Agency (BRG) to restore the countrys vast areas of degraded peatlands, which are much more flammable than mineral soil, although how effective the agencys efforts will be remains to be seen. Partly as a result of these efforts, the number of hotspots has decreased this year, as compared to the same period last year. But it is also essential for agribusinesses to take serious measures to stamp out fires at their source. The Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) was in Indonesias Riau province last week, near where the fires occurred, to study how agribusinesses tackle fires on the ground. Riau is especially prone to fire as it contains many plantations on drained peatland. We visited the plantations of major agribusinesses and spoke to villagers, farmers and conservationists. The trip highlighted to us some promising approaches against fire that more companies would do well to implement. First, evidence shows that fires are set not just by companies, but also by small-scale farmers. Many of these small-scale farmers have migrated from overpopulated provinces to hinterland areas such as Sumatra and Kalimantan in search of land and income opportunities. These migrants often illegally encroach upon unmanaged lands, burning existing vegetation to plant crops such as oil palm. Many such cases of encroachment occur near access points, such as roads and rivers. The distribution of hotspots supports this theory. According to the public forest monitoring platform, Global Forest Watch, the vast majority of hotspots this year has occurred outside plantation boundaries. This implies that these fires were likely started by small-scale farmers, rather than by companies. To combat encroachment, some agribusinesses employ a ring approach, encircling designated conservation forests with plantations. This makes it difficult for small-scale farmers to access the conservation areas and set fires there. Notably, this ring approach is being used to protect the Riau Ecosystem Restoration project, a 150,000-hectare conservation forest on Riaus Kampar peninsula. Second, rather than putting out fires, it is much more effective to prevent fires from occurring in the first place. This is because once fires start, they can intensify and spread rapidly, to the point where they can only be extinguished by rainfall. This was exactly what occurred during last years haze episode, when an inadequate early fire response combined with a lack of rain to allow fires to rage on for months. Now, leading agribusinesses are increasingly realizing the need to invest more heavily in fire prevention. This includes identifying areas with high fire risk, educating local communities about the negative effects of starting fires, and employing ground patrols to locate and quickly put out fires while they are still small. A promising approach is the introduction of fire-free village programs, which offer villagers monetary rewards for keeping their areas fire-free. The aim is to create a mindset change over time away from traditional slash-and-burn agricultural methods. Critically, these programs appear to have obtained buy-in from villagers: We observed that one of the villages chose to re-invest its reward into buying additional fire-fighting equipment. There is potential for companies and NGOs to scale up these programs and customize them so that they can be implemented in other provinces with high fire risk. Lastly, plantations on drained peatland will always be more prone to fire than plantations on mineral soil. The Indonesian government is taking steps to enforce a ban on further peatland plantation development, a move that we applaud. As for existing plantations on peatland, it is critical that agribusinesses tightly manage water levels in the peat soil to keep it moist. Though water management is expensive, it is the only reliable method to reduce fire outbreaks until such time when the peatland plantations can be repurposed or restored to their natural state. The stakes have gone up for agribusinesses that fail to adequately address the problem of fire. Increased pressure from governments, ASEAN, NGOs, and regulatory bodies will result in greater legal, reputational, and credit risks for those who continue to engage in unsustainable practices. With their large plantation areas and high exposure to fire risk, larger agribusinesses are likely to feel the heat the most. At the same time, we see limits in what companies can do on their own. Companies lack the resources to prevent fires from occurring on unmanaged lands, yet these fires may also grow and spread into companies plantations. Some local villagers resist fire-fighting efforts, as fires clear land that they can then use for cultivation. At the minimum, companies and local governments will need to work together to solve these problems. At the crux of the problem lie consumer purchasing patterns. Ultimately, demanding only sustainably produced palm oil and paper products is the only long-term method to convince farmers not to burn. If consumers shift their purchasing patterns, we can reinforce efforts from agribusinesses and the Indonesian government to eradicate transboundary haze pollution for good. *** Chen Chen Lee and Pek Shibao are, respectively, director (policy programs) and policy research analyst (sustainability) at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA). --------------- We are looking for information, opinions, and in-depth analysis from experts or scholars in a variety of fields. We choose articles based on facts or opinions about general news, as well as quality analysis and commentary about Indonesia or international events. Send your piece to community@jakpost.com. For more information click here. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Kishore Mahbubani (The Jakarta Post) Singapore Tue, September 6, 2016 The G20 process is stalling. It needs a big kick in the butt. Host countries should deliver it at future G20 meetings. What's the proof that the G20 is stalling? Simple: the global economy is stalling. Since the first G20 summit, held in 2008 with the explicit mission to "work together to restore global growth," it has failed in its core mission. Indeed, the prospects for global economic growth have never looked so gloomy - Larry Summers recently suggested that we are stuck in "secular stagnation." Why is the G20 failing? The conventional answer is that the G20 is divided the fiscal deficit countries (like the US) want the fiscal surplus countries (like China and Germany) to do more to stimulate domestic demand. In short, differences of opinions on the correct economic responses are causing the G20 process to stall. But such conventional answers are dead wrong. The G20 is not stalling for economic reasons. It is stalling because geopolitical considerations are interfering with rational economic responses. The zero-sum calculations that plague geopolitical thinking are preventing rational economic cooperation among G20 nations. A good example is provided by China's proposal to set up the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The G20 countries agree that stimulating greater investment in infrastructure would boost global economic growth. As the leaders' communique that followed the Brisbane G20 summit in November 2014 explicitly said, "Tackling global investment and infrastructure shortfalls is crucial to lifting growth, job creation and productivity." Yet, when China launched the AIIB, the US campaigned fiercely against it, and an anonymous US Treasury official expressed US feelings well when he said in response to the British decision to join the AIIB, "We are wary about a trend toward constant accommodation of China, which is not the best way to engage a rising power." The honesty of this official is commendable. His statement brings out well the zero-sum attitudes of geopolitical "strategic thinkers." The real tragedy here (and it's a tragedy that cripples the G20) is that these so-called "strategic" thinkers can't think strategically and can't see the big strategic picture of how our world has evolved. Most of the people advising the G20 on "strategic" issues are guns-and-bombs people whose mental concepts are stuck in the 19th century. They wrongly assume, as the US official revealed, that China's rise can only be negative for the US. This may or may not have been true in the 19th century, but it's certainly not true in the 21st century. We now live in a small, interdependent world. If our priority is to restore global economic growth, it is now in China's national interest to see a strong thriving US economy and vice versa. It is vital to emphasize that global interdependence is not just growing in the economic sphere. It is equally true in our battle to combat global warming, pandemics like Ebola and Zika and the so-called Islamic State. In short, as I explain in "The Great Convergence," all 7 billion occupants on Earth are sailing on the same boat. It is the fundamental responsibility of the G20 to take care of our fragile global vessel. The Hangzhou G20 meeting can demonstrate that the G20 leaders now understand better their global responsibilities by taking a few small but significant steps. President Obama can take the lead. He has nothing to lose, since he is stepping down soon. He can demonstrate that the US has liberated itself from zero-sum thinking by announcing that the country will join the AIIB instead of opposing it. Congressional approval can come later, but the symbolic gesture would create a new positive chemistry for the G20. China can reciprocate by announcing that it is prepared to share its high-speed rail technology with the US on preferential terms to help jumpstart the US economy. Eventually, if China is allowed to build a high-speed railway from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast of the US, it will have an enormous positive effect on US-China relations. China can make a start by proposing to build high-speed railways in California (from San Francisco to Los Angeles) and in the Northeast (from Boston to New York and Washington). Such symbolic projects will show that G20 leaders now understand that concrete cooperation is preferable to issuing meaningless communiques. One point is worth emphasizing here. A China-US partnership on infrastructure will be a match made in heaven. America needs new infrastructure; the American Society of Civil Engineers has projected a $1.44 trillion investment funding gap in the US between 2016 and 2025 and warned of a mounting drag on business activity, exports and incomes. China has the financial and institutional capacity to build such infrastructure. An unusual US-China partnership on infrastructure development could be complemented by another equally unusual partnership between Europe, Japan and India to build infrastructure in Africa. The long-term strategic nightmare for Europe is clear. Over time, with the population explosion in Africa, the influx of illegal migrants from Africa will only grow. The recent surge of boats crossing the Mediterranean provides a clear warning of what is coming for Europe. I have warned about this coming human flood in an essay for the National Interest in 1992. Europe needs to build dikes. The only truly effective dike would be the promotion of economic growth and development in Africa. Europe can try to do this on its own, but its colonial history in Africa still creates psychological obstacles. Working with India and Japan, more realistic projects will be conceived and launched in Africa. In short, if the G20 is to demonstrate that it is serious about its mission of promoting global growth, it has to snap out of its current mold of issuing long communiques and launch concrete projects that demonstrate that real economic cooperation is taking place. This is why it would be good to start with infrastructure. It is clearly visible. People will see the benefits. Faith in the G20 will be restored. Faith in the G20 also needs to be restored for another reason. Many people in advanced developed countries now see globalization as a threat and not as an opportunity. This is why the British voted against their own economic interests in opting for Brexit. Similarly, the emergence of Donald Trump reflects a strong desire among the American body politic to build new walls and cut the US off from the world. Abstract economic arguments cannot change such attitudes. Another bestselling book by Tom Friedman arguing that the world is flat will not do the trick. Instead, what the public needs to see are concrete projects of cooperation that yield both jobs and benefits. The initial projects have to be high profile and be seen to make a difference to the lives of people. Symbolic steps can also help: the G20 should endorse both the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the "One Belt, One Road" initiative. In short, if G20 leaders could demonstrate that they have liberated themselves from 19th century geopolitical zero-sum thinking, they would revitalize the G20 process. Even small things like photo opportunities could help to send the world a signal that their thinking is changing. At their traditional photo shoot, the G20 leaders in future should take two pictures instead of one. In the first picture, they should all wear their national hats, demonstrating that they are national leaders. In the second photo, they should wear a common hat, perhaps a blue hat with the United Nations logo, to demonstrate that they also share a common responsibility of managing our small, fragile planet. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. *** Kishore Mahbubani is a Singaporean diplomat who currently teaches public policy at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. Previously, he served as President of the United Nations Security Council. He is a member of the Berggruen Institute's 21st Century Council. The article was previously published at the Berggruen Insights. --------------- We are looking for information, opinions, and in-depth analysis from experts or scholars in a variety of fields. We choose articles based on facts or opinions about general news, as well as quality analysis and commentary about Indonesia or international events. Send your piece to community@jakpost.com. For more information click here. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Hasjim Djalal Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 The Indo-Pacific notion refers to the Asian countries bordering on the Indian Ocean and on the Pacific Ocean. The 10 ASEAN countries, located either on the mainland or the maritime areas of Asia, are in the center between the Indian and the Pacific Ocean. It is therefore not surprising that the ASEAN countries are the center and the backbone as well as the driving force of political, scientific, economic and security-related developments of the region. Since its inception in 2005, the East Asia Summit (EAS) has emerged as an annual forum for leaders of 18 countries, namely the 10 ASEAN countries together with China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, India, the US and Russia. The 10th EAS in Kuala Lumpur in November 2015 stressed the importance of enhancing regional maritime cooperation and tasked their officials with making this a priority area of EAS cooperation. Indonesia has emphasized on a number of occasions the need to promote maritime cooperation, particularly among the countries bordering on the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. President Joko Jokowi Widodo has proclaimed a new maritime axis doctrine in his policies, which rests on five pillars, namely: 1. developing a maritime culture in Indonesia, 2. protecting and managing national maritime resources, 3. building and developing maritime infrastructure and connectivity, 4. developing maritime cooperation through diplomacy and 5. beefing up maritime defense and security. I personally noted that the Indonesian vision of maritime cooperation in the Indo-Pacific area should foster cooperative relations in the region, including with China, which also pursues its maritime silk road vision. At the same time, India has also been looking more intensively toward the East and has upgraded its look East policy to a more active act East policy. Thus, to my mind, it should be possible to work out cooperative relations between the Indonesian maritime axis policy, the Chinese maritime silk road vision and the Indian act East policy outlook. It should be noted and remembered that Indonesia has a very long history of relationship and connectivity with both India and China. We should all strive to make the maritime fields areas of cooperation rather than confrontation between states in the Indo-Pacific region. In that context, the EAS could do a lot to promote a spirit of cooperation, and the more advanced or developed countries in the region should be able and willing to help the less developed countries develop their maritime vision and take advantage of their maritime resources in a sustainable and cooperative manner. It is true that there have been numerous cooperative mechanisms in the area, either governmental Track 1 activities, such as through APEC and Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), and various special organizations that operate in the area with regard to fisheries, and various special academic and second-track initiatives in many countries around the Indian and Pacific Oceans. These various fora, including 1.5-track initiatives like the Informal Workshop Process on Managing Potential Conflicts in the South China Sea, need to continue their efforts and activities on cooperation that could contribute to EAS policies to develop maritime activities and policies in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Certain EAS countries have achieved very significant progress in science and technology with regard to the exploration and exploitation of maritime resources, such as minerals in the deep Indian and Pacific Oceans as well as on ocean energy. These achievements should be able to help the less developed EAS countries increase their understanding on science and technology as well as their capacity to explore and exploit the maritime resources within their jurisdictions and beyond, for the benefit of their own people in a peaceful, constructive and cooperative manner. There are many problems in the Indo-Pacific region, including territorial and jurisdictional disputes, or potential disputes, that may hamper cooperative endeavors due to the deficit of trust that may have developed in the region. I hope, however, that the parties concerned in the disputes or potential disputes will work hard to seek solutions to their problems and, wherever and whenever considered necessary, the EAS could help in this endeavor, either formally or informally. I personally feel that the Atlantic Ocean was the ocean of the past, the Pacific Ocean is the ocean of the present and the Indian Ocean is the ocean of the future. I believe the Pacific and the Indian Ocean are now already becoming the oceans of the present as well as the oceans of the future for mankind. I also think cooperation on efforts to implement Indonesias maritime axis, Chinas maritime silk road and Indias act East policy could work for the benefit of peace, stability and development in the Indo-Pacific countries and region. In this context, it is interesting to note that ASEAN countries, either separately or collectively, have done a lot to promote cooperative relations in the Pacific and the Indian Ocean regions, particularly Indonesia. India is the biggest and one of the most influential Indian Ocean countries and the only country from south Asia participating in the EAS. In addition, India has been pursuing a policy to engage more actively with Southeast Asia and the East Asian countries through its look East policy, which now has been elevated to the act East policy. India and Indonesia have also worked together on developing cooperation among the non-aligned countries and developing countries, and on the UN Conference on the Law of the Sea to formulate and implement UNCLOS 1982. Finally, it should be emphasized that the trilateral initiatives among India, Indonesia and China should be regarded as promoting cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region within the EAS context, without implying any confrontational attitude toward other countries and EAS participants. In fact, it should be regarded as efforts by the three countries to promote some specific ideas enunciated by the EAS, particularly on developing ASEAN connectivity and enhancing food security through sustainable fisheries and marine environmental protection. This includes fighting against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU fishing) in the Seas around them. If in the 1950s the three countries were instrumental in forging the Asian-African Conference from Bandung and supporting in independence and the liberation of the Asian-African region, I believe they can and should forge similar cooperation in maritime affairs in the Indo-Pacific region. ____________________________ The writer is a professor of law of the sea. The essence of this article was presented at a workshop at the China Institute for International Studies (CIIS) in Beijing in April and at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study in Shimla in July. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Khristian Ibarrola (Inquirer.net/Asia News Network) Tue, September 6, 2016 Admission to the prestigious Hogwarts School of Wizardry is still a far-fetched fantasy for most Potterheads, but a small college in Philadelphia, USA, is offering fans a chance to ride one of its most iconic attractions. From Oct. 21-22, Phillys Chestnut Hill College will open its gates to the public for its annual Harry Potter Festival. #quidditch #harrypotterfestival #harrypotter #gryffindor A photo posted by Amy Marie (@muggleamy) on Oct 17, 2015 at 7:22pm PDT Those who wish to take part in the two-day festivities will hop aboard Hogwarts Express-inspired trains near the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, where Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and Dumbledore look-alikes will be on board to greet and escort passengers to the festival. Aside from getting the chance to ride the iconic locomotive, festival-goers will be sorted by the Sorting Hat, practice their spells in Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, and cheer on their house at the Brotherly Love Cup Quidditch tournament, Huffington Post reported. The entire Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, USA, which holds resemblance to a modern-day Hogwarts, will also be hosting a Harry Potter conference for die-hard fanatics.(youtube.com/user/ChestnutHillPA/File) (Read also: New Harry Potter e-books to be released in September) The entire campus, which holds resemblance to a modern-day Hogwarts, will also be hosting a Harry Potter conference for die-hard fanatics. Between 2011 and 2015, the issue of bullying moved from the shadows to the spotlight in Iowa. The documentary film Bully, in which a former Sioux City student victim of bullying was profiled, drew national interest, including consideration for an Academy Award nomination. Two statewide bullying summits were convened in Des Moines. Gov. Terry Branstad hosted a series of bullying forums, including one in Sioux City. Bullying was a priority issue for debate in three consecutive legislative sessions. In a February 2015 Des Moines Register poll, 73 percent of Iowans answered favor to the following question: Do you favor or oppose authorizing school personnel to react to bullying by notifying parents and disciplining students even when the incident takes place away from school, including through social media? One year ago this month, Branstad issued an executive order through which he established the Governors Office for Bullying Prevention at the University of Northern Iowa. In other words, momentum was building for substantive changes in how we as a state approach this scourge. Today, unfortunately, we feel the momentum slipping away. After three sessions of discussion and near-passage in 2015 of a bill to strengthen state anti-bullying law, the Legislature this year virtually ignored the issue. Branstad didnt direct funds to the Governors Office for Bullying Prevention in his budget recommendation for this fiscal year and the Legislature budgeted no money for the office. No debate, no bill, no appropriation. An important issue was, it appears, forgotten. In response, we urge Branstad and state lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle and in both chambers to commit to an invigoration of the anti-bullying discussion by moving this issue back to the prominent place on our states agenda it belongs. Anti-bullying champions in and outside government should redouble efforts in support of holding state leaders accountable. The result should be a stronger anti-bullying law, similar to the 2015 proposal passed in overwhelming fashion by the Senate but denied a floor vote in the House, and state money for the Governors Office for Bullying Prevention. Iowas children deserve nothing less. By the Sioux City Journal, another Lee Enterprises newspaper. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Frances D'Emilio (Associated Press) Florence, Italy Tue, September 6, 2016 Italian taxi drivers and concierges are being enlisted to encourage tourists to visit some museums. In Florence, supermarket customers raised 250,000 euros ($275,000) by opting to help the city's art instead of receiving store loyalty rewards. And in Venice, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection is partnering with big-name businesses including ones that make watches, grappa and cologne. Whatever the formula, museums are increasingly looking to private-sector donations, collaborations or sponsorships to survive and develop. In Italy, where government coffers have long been too meager to adequately safeguard and maintain its vast array of artworks, historic palazzi and ancient ruins, state-run museums and monuments are scrambling to follow the example of private institutions after decades of general distrust between culture and business. Museum officials and other high-profile patrons of the arts, ranging from an espresso coffee mogul to a contemporary arts space funded by a tire-maker, flocked to Florence, where centuries ago the Medicis and other princely patrons nurtured Renaissance masters, for an all-day brain-storming session this week. Lending lofty inspiration to the lively debate held in the Uffizi Galleries was a fresco of Botticelli, who was just one of the many artists who enjoyed the Medicis' favor. Participants had tasked themselves with eventually drafting practical proposals for Italy's culture minister, including the potential for public-private relationships. Also participating were potentially deep-pocketed benefactors, like an investment group from the United Arab Emirates. "The prejudice between money, business and culture is still very deep in Italy," said Michela Bondardo, a culture policy expert who serves on the Contemporary Arts Council of New York's MoMA. She urged Italy's state museums to change mentalities and forge long-term alliances with corporate partners. Under the leadership of Premier Matteo Renzi, who used to be mayor of this Tuscan city steeped in art, Italy's state diffidence toward associating public-sector culture with the private sphere is easing. "Private resources, crowdfunding, private donations, donations by companies, sponsorship, patronages, will integrate public funding," Culture Minister Dario Franceschini told the brainstorming session. (Read also: Five museums in Indonesia for your next family vacation) The Uffizi Galleries' new director is Eike Schmidt, a German who is part of Franceschini's new breed of museum directors, following decades of Italians-only at the helm of state museums. In an interview with The Associated Press, Schmidt noted that the national culture budget cuts of the past 15 years have finally been reversed, with this year's budget up some 27 percent over last year's, although still skimpy at some 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion). And a 2014 law allowing 65-percent tax breaks for donations to help Italy's public museums, monuments and arts venues has triggered a total of nearly 120 million ($135 million) in donations, Franceschini said. "The state is investing itself in culture again," said Schmidt, who directs Italy's biggest drawing art museum. "But this is not enough for such countries as Italy and Greece," so rich in art and archaeology. "So private donors' patronage, especially for restoration, continues to be needed," Schmidt said. Italy has been relying heavily on businesses including fashion companies, a mattress manufacturer and a textile tycoon to pay for restoration of prestigious monuments. Shoe-and-luxury-goods-maker Tod's is footing the bill to clean the Colosseum; Fendi sponsored restoration of Rome's Trevi Fountain, then held a summer fashion show on transparent walkways crossing over the water. Eisa Bin Nasser, president of Dubai-based Alserkal Group of companies, said he came to Florence to listen to the museums' proposals and for the business to consider sponsoring some restoration. But some participants at Monday's strategy session highlighted what they called the sponsorship approach's limits. Among them was the director of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, whose home is an 18th-century palazzo on the Grand Canal. Since 1992, the institution has forged partnerships of at least two years' duration with a host of companies eager to associate their brand with the prestigious art collection. "The era of single-sponsored events is passe," Philip Rylands, who is also the collection's Foundation director for Italy, told the strategy sesson. Later, he explained in an AP interview that these long-running business partnerships allow him the tranquility of "knowing that I have a platform of fundings" to plan exhibits two or three years down the line. But, Rylands acknowledged, the majority of Italian musuems, being public, "just don't have the kind of liberty to dedicate themselves seven days a week to the friendship, to the needs, to the requirements of this relationship with the companies." Only relatively recently have museums even been allowed to keep their own revenues. Before that, all money went to the state's overall coffers. Flourishing state museums like the Uffizi contribute 20 percent of their revenues to a "solidarity fund" for smaller, lesser known museums, often in the provinces, like the town museums hard hit by the Aug. 24 earthquake. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Xing Yi (China Daily/Asia News Network) Tue, September 6, 2016 Sitting on a small hill southwest of West Lake is Wansong Shuyuan, or Academy of Ten Thousand Conifers. It's just one of many tourist sites in Hangzhou, but for local residents,especially parents who are eager to see their marriageable children find their "other half", it is the place to go. "Bride wanted. Single male, born in 1980, height 172cm, good-looking, master from top university, civil servant in provincial government, fine-decorated apartment mortgage paid, parents alive, affluent family." So reads an advertisement in Chinese, posted on a light pole next to the main entrance of the academy. On both sides of the road, similar ads are hung, clipped, posted almost everywhere. Sidewalks are jammed with people reading the ads, taking notes and chatting with each other. A curious visitor like me who tries to read these ads should be prepared for a question from complete strangers: "So, are you looking for a mate?" Welcome to the city's Saturday marriage market, where hundreds of parents look for their ideal sonor daughter-in-law in front of the former higher-education institute between 9 a.m. and noon. It's all thanks to the legend of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. Liang and Zhu are household names in China because of their tragic love story. Also known as the butterfly lovers, they are widely compared with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The legend traces back to the Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD 317-420). Women then were not encouraged to attend school, but Zhu, a beautiful and smart young woman of a wealthy family, persuaded her parents to let her study disguised as a man. On Zhu's journey to school, she encountered Liang, who was going to the same school in Hangzhou. In the next three years, they lived and studied together, during which Zhu fell in love with Liang, but Liang failed to discover that she was a woman. (Read also: Let's talk about the pressure of getting married in your 20s) Although Wansong Shuyuan was built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)around a thousand years later than the legend's time framepeople still believe that this is the school Liang and Zhu attended together. "Many tourists ask me: Where is the classroom Liang and Zhu studied in?" says He Jie, guide at Wansong Shuyuan. "We now downplay the legend part and focus on the culture and history of Chinese academies instead." However, parents assembled here don't seem to care too much about whether the legend is historically solid, as long as they have a place to find potential partners for their children and asocial outlet for their worries. Du Xiguan, 67, started the whole thing in 2005 when he became worried about his daughter's marriage prospects. "Young people are all busy working, and have little time to find a date," says Du. "I put an adon the local newspaper to organize a meeting of parents who have a similar situation." Du chose Wansong Shuyuan as the meeting place, "because everyone knows this is theplace where Liang and Zhu's love story started," he says. At first, Du expected a few dozen people to come, but some 300 people turned out that day. They shared information about their children, and when they deemed someone to be suitable,they noted down the contacts. Around lunch time, people agreed that they would come again on the next Saturday morning. As time passed, more and more people got to know about this meeting place through word-of-mouth, and parents have gathered here almost every week in the past 11 years, rain or shine. "It's difficult to find an ideal partner nowadays," says a retired local resident, who would only give his surname, Yu. "People are setting too high a standard, but the reality is there is no perfect one." The most wanted husband is "a local Hangzhou resident, with an apartment for marriage and a stable job," says Yu, while for the most wanted wife is "largely depending on her appearance." "People should learn to be more reasonable," says Yu. "What I suggest is that people shouldpay more attention to personalities and characters." "My daughter eventually found a husband among people I introduced to her, and mygrandson is already 9 years old," says Du, who still comes to the weekly event. He runs anon-profit organization that provides services from matchmaking to marriage counseling. "Now the divorce rate of Hangzhou rises every year, and that's also a serious problem," says Du. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 Seven couples from diverse backgrounds were wed at Tugu Station in Yogyakarta on Tuesday. Initiated by the Indonesia Taaruf Forum (Fortais), the couples were provided with free dowries, wedding rings, attire, documentation, hotel bridal stays and wedding gifts. "Once we opened registration, there was quite a high demand. However, only seven couples met the requirements," said Fortais chairman Ryan Budi Nuryanto in Yogyakarta on Tuesday as quoted by Antara news agency. Six of the seven couples exchanged their wedding vows at the east entrance of Tugu Station, while the youngest couple, namely Crysna Marsono, 23, and Kania Restu Fauzi, 20, were wed aboard the Prambanan express train. (Read also: Star-studded Russian tycoon's son's billion-dollar wedding including J. Lo, Sting) One of the couples, Slamet Purwanto, 42, and Budi Murwanti, 46, met during a matchmaking event organized by Fortais. Budi said she had met her husband only twice prior to deciding to marry him. "Hopefully, we will have sakinah [happiness], mawadah [prosperity] and rahmah [peace] as a family," she added. State-owned railway company PT KAI operational region VI Yogyakarta executive vice president Hendy Helmi said the event was part of efforts to acknowledge Yogyakarta as a cultural city. "This is the first time joint marriages have been conducted in Tugu Station," said Hendy, adding that a train station could serve not only as a transportation hub but also as a center of public activity. (kha/kes) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 A mobile application dedicated to mudik (exodus) was launched by the National Police Traffic Corps (Korlantas) in Jakarta on Monday. Korlantas chief Insp. Gen. Agung Budi Maryoto said the app was created to help people traveling during the Idul Adha holiday. "The app will provide information related to mudik routes so people can choose the best one for their trip," Agung said as quoted by kompas.com. (Read also: What to prepare before going on a 'mudik' road trip) The app, dubbed Mudik Online Aman dan Nyaman (Safe and Convenient Online Mudik), is available for iOS and Android devices and allows users to report real-time traffic conditions. "It is based on public participation; users can start by simply registering their name, address, destination, mudik route as well as the date and hour of departure," said Agung. "The more people enter data, the more information can be obtained, allowing us to anticipate traffic congestion." Korlantas plans to develop the capabilities of the app, also known as MOAN, so that it can predict traffic flows for as far as 10 kilometers and can be utilized during other long holidays. "In the future, we will create an app similar to Waze and develop MOAN further to accommodate holiday seasons," Agung added. (kha/kes) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Fedina S. Sundaryani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 5 2016 The government intends to allocate all gas produced from the East Natuna block to domestic industries in order to further develop the downstream sector. Although gas production is currently able to meet industry demand, consumption is expected to rise exponentially, leading to a national gas deficit by 2030. The government hopes that the East Natuna block, previously known as D-Alpha, can plug the gap as it has proven reserves of 46 trillion cubic feet (tcf), making it one of the largest gas deposits in Asia. Interim Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said on Thursday that the government was hoping the East Natuna block would play a large role in its vision to turn gas to a prime economic mover, instead of just fodder for state revenue. We want ExxonMobil, Pertamina and PTT EP to start operations as soon as possible because we want all of its gas to be allocated for our domestic needs, he said during a hearing at the House of Representatives Commission VII overseeing energy. State-owned oil and gas company Pertamina has vowed to sign a production sharing contract (PSC) for both oil and gas reserves in East Natuna Islands, Riau Islands province, with US-based ExxonMobil and Thailands PTT Exploration and Production (PTT EP) this month. The PSC would ensure that oil production could start in 2019 while the consortium of companies continued its two-year study in the field as the gas reservoir has a notoriously high concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2), at 72 percent. The level of CO2 is the highest among exploration fields worldwide and will require significant investment in advanced technology to optimize extraction at the block. Although the government has not published its investment estimate, previous reports cited figures between US$20 billion and $40 billion. Luhut acknowledged that the current profit-sharing scheme, which enables the government to receive 80 to 85 percent of revenue from oil and gas fields, could not be applied to East Natuna due to the high investment that operators needed to put into extraction technology. That is one of the issues we are discussing with the Finance Ministry; it cannot be uniformly applied to every block, he said. Pertamina executive director Dwi Soetjipto confirmed that a profit-sharing scheme of 85:15 would not be economically viable, and the consortium of companies is currently still discussing an alternative scheme with the government. One of the options we have discussed is a 60:40 scheme, he said, affirming that the larger portion would be for the companies. During a recent visit to Malaysia, Luhut offered Malaysia-based Petronas the opportunity to join the East Natuna consortium and to explore as the company already possesses the technology needed to separate CO2 from gas. He also offered Petronas the chance to conduct oil and gas exploration in other fields within Natuna Islands. Petronas previously joined the consortium in 2011, alongside France-based Total. However, the Malaysian company quit in 2012 and was replaced by PTT EP. Dwi said there had not been any discussion about such cooperation, but Pertamina was open to the possibility. It is possible to join in during the process but we have to see how large a portion it wants to take, he said. --------------- To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Apriadi Gunawan (The Jakarta Post) Medan Mon, September 5 2016 House of Representatives members have said that Air Force personnel committed acts of violence in Sari Rejo, Medan, North Sumatra, and should be punished. The Houses Commission I, which oversees military and defense affairs, reached that conclusion after visiting Sari Rejo and receiving first-hand information from residents, including those purportedly assaulted by the airmen. Commission I deputy chairperson Meutya Hafid said her side had received various reports of violence allegedly committed by Air Force personnel against residents and journalists and had crosschecked the allegations in Sari Rejo. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Fedina S. Sundaryani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, September 5 2016 The government hopes the revised 2009 Mining Law permits companies that have made significant progress in smelter development to continue exporting semifinished mineral products, although miners say such a move will instead create another policy flip-flop. Prevailing law prohibited the export of unprocessed mineral ore in 2015 in hopes that it would push development of the downstream sector. However, the ban was pushed back until Jan. 11, 2017, due to complaints from the mining industry that the ban was a hasty move. However, smelter development remains sluggish even with the clock ticking until full implementation four months later and the government seems to be under pressure once more. Although the revised draft will be proposed by the House of Representatives, as stated in the national priority legislation program (Prolegnas), interim energy and mineral resources minister Luhut Pandjaitan has appealed to Commission VII to consider allowing some companies to continue exporting semifinished products past the deadline in the new bill. Luhut, who is also the coordinating maritime affairs minister, explained that several companies had stopped construction of its smelters because it was no longer economically viable with the export ban in place. Lets look at the companies that might have already completed 25 or 35 percent of construction but stopped because of their cash flow. If we look at it fairly, we can relax the ban for a limited amount of time, he said during a recent hearing. This is not just their fault, but it is also ours. The 2009 law was only implemented in 2014 and it was impossible for [mining companies] to invest so much in building smelters during a time when commodity prices were dropping. The law revision is highly anticipated, especially since the ban on raw mineral exports will be implemented at the beginning of 2017. The bans purpose is to encourage smelter development to strengthen the industrys downstream sector. The development is expected to reduce the countrys reliance on imports and give added value to the industry. Prevailing regulation stipulates that mining firms working on smelter projects must deposit 5 percent of their total investment in local banks as collateral to ensure the development continues. The surety bonds are a prerequisite for the firms to obtain permits to export semifinished mineral products, a permit that can be extended every six months. Commission VII legislator Fadel Muhammad was optimistic the revision could be completed by the end of the year. Right now we are compiling what are the main issues [in the prevailing law]. So far, we have found 12 main problems and are discussing the solutions, the Golkar Party lawmaker said, adding that almost 60 percent of the revision had been completed. Fadel explained among changes Commission VII wanted to see was a revision to the rule stipulating that companies could only propose a contract extension two years before the deadline. We are trying to figure out a way to make it so that [they can apply for an extension] five years beforehand, he said. Meanwhile, Processing and Smelting Companies Association (AP3I) deputy chairman Jonatan Handjojo said any attempt at relaxing the export ban could result in a bad reputation in the eyes of investors. The government would be well-advised to reconsider this discourse. This is because [smelter development] requires large investment and investors that have already put their money here may become upset, he said. Twenty seven smelter facilities have been constructed between 2012 and 2016, with total investment of around US$12 billion, according to data from AP3I. January 12, 2009 President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signs Law No. 4/2009 on minerals and coal mining. Articles 103 and 170 oblige holders of mining licenses/special mining licenses and contracts of work to process and refine or smelt their production in the country by the latest five years after the law is put into effect (Jan. 12, 2014). 2014 The government gives an additional three years, until 2017, for companies to continue to export semi-finished products, such as concentrates, if they pledge to build smelters. October 2, 2014 The discourse on revising Law No. 4/2009 emerges after the passage of Law No. 23/2014 on regional government stipulating regional governments no longer have the authority to issue and revoke mining licenses January 25, 2016 Draft on the revised Mining Law is handed over by the government to the House of Representatives February 11, 2016 Revised Mining Law is included in the 2016 National Legislation Program to be passed during the year From various sources compiled by The Jakarta Post to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Mon, September 5 2016 It is already well-known that President Joko Jokowi Widodo, with his businesslike and no-nonsense approach to issues, is not fond of attending summits or meetings in regional or international settings. Last year, Jokowi passed up the opportunity to introduce himself further to the world by skipping the UN General Assembly in New York and assigned Vice President Jusuf Kalla to deliver a speech in front of other world leaders. His predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, on the other hand, attended every single UN General Assembly during his 10 years as president. Also last year, Jokowi missed the APEC Leaders Forum in Manila, the Philippines. In late 2014, there were talks about Jokowi planning to skip the G20 leaders summit in Brisbane, as he wanted to focus on domestic matters in his first weeks in office. Jokowi, however, changed his mind and flew to Brisbane to join other world leaders. He was right in his decision to join the Brisbane meeting. Jokowi may not have the patience for inconclusive meetings, long speeches, and the drafting and redrafting of documents involved in the G20 summits but he knows the importance of the forum. In fact, Jokowi again showed up for the Antalaya G20 summit in Turkey last year. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Suherdjoko (The Jakarta Post) Batang, Central Java Tue, September 6, 2016 At least 16 people died and more than a dozen others injured after a pickup truck rolled in a steep road in Kebaron Village of Batang regency in Central Java on Monday afternoon. The Mitsubishi L300 pickup driven by Samaan, 53, was taking Bentul villagers to attend a funeral in the neighboring village of Amongrogo, Batang Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Joko Setiono said on Tuesday. Batang Police and Central Java Police conducted an investigation at the scene on Tuesday morning and made a preliminary conclusion that the cause of the accident was a flat tire. "When the vehicle was speeding on the steep road in Kebaron, the right back tire burst. The truck veered to the left and hit the cliff on that side of the road. Then the truck leaned to the right and rolled into the plantation on the right side of the road," Joko said. The passengers were thrown out of the vehicle when it crashed into the cliff, Joko reported. The accident got worse when the truck rolled, he added. Up until Tuesday, 13 people were being taken care of in local hospitals and health clinics. The deceased had been buried in their respective villages. Batang regent Yoyok Riyo Sudibyo expressed his condolences over the tragic accident. The Batang administration gave Rp 1 million (US$76) in assistance to the victims' families and paid for the treatment of the survivors. (rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 The government has reiterated that its flagship program, tax amnesty, is not merely to bring undeclared assets back to Indonesia, but also to increase the country's tax base. Out of a total 1,929 new tax payers, 1,591 tax payers have tax identification numbers (NPWP) after the implementation of the tax amnesty law since July 1. The Finance Ministry's Directorate General of Taxation, Ken Dwijugiasteadi, said there were 1,929 new tax payers registered since Jan. 1 participating in the amnesty program, contributing Rp 6.86 trillion (US$522 million) of declared assets and Rp 123.24 billion in redemption. "Tax amnesty does not only focus on redemption, but on repatriation and declaration, and tax amnesty also aims to obtain a new tax base with about 1,900 new taxpayers registered after tax amnesty," Ken said in Jakarta on Tuesday. He said as of Sept. 5, a total of Rp 223.89 trillion in assets have been declared with redemption at Rp 4.78 trillion. Of total declared assets, Rp 175.21 trillion came from domestic declaration while Rp 35.60 trillion came from overseas. Meanwhile, repatriated assets were recorded at Rp 13.08 trillion. (evi) I will base my vote for president, in part, on my opinion of each candidates character. I can tell a lot about a persons character by their early goals and career when we werent looking at them yet. For example, when Mitt Romney graduated from Yale Law School, he went straight to Wall Street to start a Hedge Fund. When Barack Obama graduated from Harvard Law School, he moved to the south side of Chicago and started organizing poor people for community betterment. When Donald Trump graduated from Wharton School of Business, his daddy gave him $1 million to start his own real life Monopoly board and Playboy magazine exalted his lifestyle on its cover. In contrast, when Hillary Clinton graduated from Yale Law School, she went to work for the Childrens Defense Fund, then spent the rest of her life in public service. For 18 of the last 20 years, she has been named in Gallup polls as the Most Admired Woman in America. When people show me what they value, I can see what is in their heart, and that is the best demonstration of character for a values voter like me. David Mansheim, Parkersburg Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 A human rights watchdog urged the government to establish an independent team to solve the murder of rights activist Munir Said Thalib in the wake of the 12th anniversary of his death, activists said on Tuesday. Despite the perpetrator having been sentenced, the mastermind behind it still remains a mystery, executive director of human rights group Imparsial Al Araf said. "The revelation of Munir's murder case must be a pivotal agenda in President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla's administration that had once declared to solve past human rights violations," he said. Moreover, Imparsial also pushed for the government to reveal along with a follow-up the summarized report of the fact-finding team established by then President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2004. Gufron Mabruri of Imparsial said the settlement and final revelation in Munir's case would deliver a strong message of protection for human rights defenders across the country. Munir, a prominent human rights activist and the founder of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) died after being poisoned aboard an airplane from Indonesia to Amsterdam on Sept. 7, 2004. Former Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment in 2008 for the murder but was released on parole in 2014 after only serving six years of his sentence. Meanwhile, former deputy chief of National Intelligence Agency (BIN) Muchdi Purwoprandjono, who was accused of being involved in the case, was acquitted of all charges in late 2011. (wnd/rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Safrin La Batu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama has admitted some irregularities in the deliberation of a draft bylaw that regulates coastal areas and reclamation projects in the capital. Testifying against Jakarta councilor Mohamad Sanusi at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Monday, Ahok revealed one such irregularity was that members of the City Council had not finalized the bylaw even though they had finished discussing it in their previous meetings. The developers were affected by [the delay] in the finalization of the bylaw, Ahok told the panel of judges in a strong voice. In March, Sanusi was allegedly caught red-handed by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) receiving Rp 2 billion (US$152,000) from PT Agung Podomoro Land (APL) president Ariesman Widjaja, reportedly a bribe to speed up the draft bylaws finalization and to remove a clause that stipulated a 15 percent contribution figure from developers. Last week, the same court sentenced Ariesman to three years in prison for bribing Sanusi. APL is a developer in the reclamation projects The governor said he did not know the exact reason why the City Council had delayed finalizing the bylaw. However, he noted that Muhammad Taufik, the City Council deputy chairman, who also leads the team that discussed the bylaw, disagreed with the amount of contribution developers should pay in the bylaw. The administration wants developers to contribute 15 percent of their taxable property value (NJOP) but Taufik, Ahok said, wanted the contribution be reduced to only 5 percent. In Mondays hearing, Ahok also revealed that Taufik, while working on the draft with his subordinate Jakarta Development Planning Board (Bappeda) head Tuty Kusumawati, had told her that he had agreed to reduce the 15 percent figure to only 5 percent. I was very angry at the time because in every meeting I disagreed [with lowering the figure]. I told bu Tuty to return the draft to Taufik [and] this was crazy, Ahok said. Taufik is not implicated in the case. During the trial, defendant Sanusi objected to Ahoks statement that councilors had all reached agreement on the bylaws drafting, saying that out of three meetings they had disagreed once. The reclamation projects in the Jakarta Bay, which are being handled by nine companies both private and city-owned are part of a giant sea wall planned by the administration to prevent tidal flooding hitting the capital. The 17 man-made islets are not meant to prevent floods but the administration said they were included in the plan so it could use developers contributions to fund the citys infrastructure projects. Ahok said in the hearing that the 15 percent contribution was deemed a beneficial percentage for the citys infrastructure development. Controversy, however, has surrounded the projects, ranging from the alleged bribery that implicated Sanusi, to protests from local fishermen who claim the islets construction destroys the environment and disrupts their work. Ahok said the reclamation projects were parallel with the Presidential Decree No. 52/1995 and Bylaw No. 8/1995, which he said required developers to provide contributions to the city. He said the 15 percent figure, however, was his discretion as governor. Ahok further recommended that prosecutors probe into the fact that former Jakarta governor Fauzi Bowo previously did not impose additional contribution requirements on developers when he issued reclamation permits. He said that move was not in line with the presidential decree. Meanwhile, Ahok special staffer Sunny Tanuwidjaja, who was also present to testify, said developers objected to the 15 percent figure but they hesitated to tell Ahok. The governor said in the same court that the companies had agreed with the latter figure. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 The Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Ministry is striving to develop border areas where investors can put their investments, making them the prime drivers of Indonesias economy. The ministrys special region development director general Suprayoga Hadi said the government was committed to developing big border posts, where people could settle and create economic potential. He further explained that in Entikong, a border post in West Kalimantan, which borders on Sarawak, Malaysia, Indonesian workers of various ethnicities, including Bugis and Banjar people from South Sulawesi and South Kalimantan respectively, usually brought their all family members there. "Many of those people work in Malaysia, but they bring their families to stay in Entikong and send their children to school there. They visit their families in Entikong once a week, bringing them money they earn in Malaysia, Suprayoga told The Jakarta Post at his office in Jakarta on Monday. If such a situation could be continuously maintained, there would be more skilled human resources in Indonesian border areas and this would be a good investment for the future, he said. "Although we cannot develop prime infrastructure such as roads, since their development is the responsibility of the Public Works [and Public Housing] Ministry, we will build supporting infrastructure such as sanitation and solar cell electricity so the [border] areas can be developed further," Suprayoga said. The government through the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry is currently carrying forward developments in several border areas. Nine border posts are to be finished by the end of 2016. They comprise Motaain, Motamasin, Oepoli and Wini in East Nusa Tenggara, Aruk, Nanga Badau and Entikong in West Kalimantan and Skow and Waris in Papua. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 Jakarta police have found the body of the Sepakat taxi driver who crashed into a pool at Pier 004 at Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakarta, marking the fifth casualty from the accident at dawn on Monday. The driver, M.T. Mujianto, was found later on Monday after port authorities found the bodies of the four passengers at 5 a.m. not long after the incident took place. We have found all of the victims. We assumed the driver didnt understand the directions there, especially when there was huge rainfall when the accident happened, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Cmr. Awi Setiono said at the Jakarta Police headquarters on Tuesday. Footage from Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) at the port showed the taxi circling the area, which indicated the driver's confusion over directions. In the video recording, the taxi moved together with another car behind it, explained Awi. After the taxi plunged into the pool, passengers in the aforementioned car tried to help the victims but the attempt came to no avail, he added. Jakarta Police will still proceed with the investigation as they do not want to rule out other possibilities which may have led to the accident. Jakarta Police investigators cooperated with the port's security personnel to further examine the matter, Awi said. The four other victims were Heriyansyah, Medi, Yusarmanto and M. Amin Hudori, all crewmen of the Totot II Jambi and Yang Viti I Jakarta vessels that were currently docked at the seaport. (rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 Witnesses from the government told the Constitutional Court on Monday that campaign leave for regional election candidates was a must in order to ensure fairness between incumbents and non-incumbents running in the elections. Officials from Home Ministry and Law and Human Rights Ministry said the law applied nationally and all related parties should respect the regulations. A candidate should campaign to deliver their vision and mission. We dont want the public to elect a cat in a sack, Widodo Sigit Pudjianto, the Home Ministrys legal department chief, said during the hearing. Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama has challenged an article in Law No. 10/2016 on regional elections because he does not want to campaign and he has asked the court to make campaign leave optional. However, Sigit argued that incumbents running for office could mobilize civil servants, therefore campaign leave was necessary to ensure that incumbents and non-incumbent candidates were able to compete on an equal basis. Despite the opposition from the government, Ahok said he was still optimistic about winning his legal challenge. We will bring our expert witnesses later. And I am optimistic because the decision is in the hands of the justices, Ahok said. (wnd) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 China-based textile company Jiangsu Dongqun Investment Holding Group Co. Ltd. (Jiangsu Dongqun) has expressed interest in investing US$100 million to build a textile factory in Indonesia, Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto says. The interest was officially registered during a meeting between the minister and the group's management. Regarding the location, Airlangga offered several options such as the Kendal Industrial Park in Central Java. "The industrial park provides plenty of land and skilled labor," he said after the meeting with Jiangsu Dongquns management in Shanghai, China, on Monday. The minister was in China accompanying President Joko Widodo at the G20 Summit. During a visit to the headquarters of Jiangsu Dongqun, Airlangga introduced members of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) to the management. "We also encouraged them to collaborate with local partners," he added. The government plans to incentivize industry commitment with tax holidays, tax allowances and competitive gas prices to boost the textile industry, Airlangga said. (ags) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Sagara Kusuma (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6 2016 With prevailing international legal measures producing stalemate and tension in the South China Sea (SCS), ASEAN and Indonesian experts are looking for innovative solutions to reach stable peace in the disputed waters. Many regional and global options were discussed during the 2nd High Level International Workshop on Thursday, but particular attention was given to a proposal by Donald Rothwell, head of the Law School at the Australian National University and an expert on international maritime law, who suggested the formation of a new SCS commission. This was seen as the most promising solution because all claimant states, particularly China, are more likely to respect the authority of an intergovernmental body that is not based at The Hague. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6 2016 The police are investigating the alleged use of expired ingredients at two popular restaurant chains, insisting that they will rely on expert testimony to verify potential violations. National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Martinus Sitompul said on Monday the experts were still inspecting the ingredients used by the restaurants to make their meals. The experts will look to find solid proof of violations to the 2012 Food Law and the 1999 Consumer Protection Law. They [the restaurants] can reject the allegations, but it is the expert testimony and the pieces of evidence collected that will strengthen the accusation, he told The Jakarta Post on Monday. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6 2016 The Jakarta Parks and Cemeteries Agency continues to remove fake graves in the capital. The agency head, Djafar Muchlisin, said on Monday that the agency had removed 307 of 439 allegedly fake graves in the city, mostly in West Jakarta. The bulk of them, up to 176 graves, were found in Tegal Alur Christian cemetery [in West Jakarta], he said as quoted by beritajakarta.com. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Hans Nicholas Jong (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 Quitting smoking is hard as cigarettes contain nicotine, an addictive substance in tobacco that fuels cravings. After smoking, the brain becomes dependent on the nicotine and has thus rewired itself. Because of this physical dependency, if a person stops smoking for a period of time, they will start experiencing symptoms of withdrawal. This is the brain and body adjusting to no longer having nicotine in the system. But quitting smoking in a country like Indonesia, where 67 percent of men smoke, poses a different kind of challenge altogether. After smokers overcome their withdrawal symptoms, such as anger and anxiety, they still have to face the last stage of overcoming nicotine addiction, which is reinforcement. The reinforcement challenges in Indonesia are very strong. People who have quit smoking will start smoking again once they see their neighbors smoking and smell the smoke. They might also see cigarette ads and start smoking again, Widyastuti Soerojo of the Public Health Scholars Association (IAKMI) told The Jakarta Post. This has led to an extremely low quit ratio for smokers in Indonesia. According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), the quitting ratio for men in Indonesia is only 9 percent, while it is 23.2 percent in women. Lioni Hendrawaty, a 30-year-old NGO worker, is an example of someone who finds that the temptation to smoke again after quitting is too much to resist. She has been a smoker for 14 years. Throughout that time, she had tried repeatedly to quit smoking. She said that she noticed her breathes getting shorter and so she was afraid that her habit would eventually kill her. Lioni was diagnosed in 2014 with hypothyroid, a common disorder in which the thyroid gland does not produce enough thyroid hormone. Since I was diagnosed, every time I smoke, my heart beats faster. Its uncomfortable, she told the Post. Consequently, she was told by her doctor to stop smoking as her smoking habit would only exacerbate her illness. But it turns out that being ill is not enough for someone like Lioni to stop smoking. Actually I had succeeded in reducing my cigarette consumption to once a day. At the most, I smoke three cigarettes in one day, she said. Therefore, it is important to make smoking not normal and not cool as the stakes are too high for Indonesia. Though the government often argues that the tobacco industry brings much-needed revenue to the country, with it targeting to collect Rp 148.86 trillion from tobacco excise this year, the economic loss from tobacco consumption is actually much greater. In 2013, the total loss due to tobacco consumption hit Rp 378.75 trillion, according to the Health Ministry, resulting from lost productivity due to illness, disability and premature death in youth and medical expenses. Indonesias economy is also expected to lose Rp 59,580 trillion (US$4.5 trillion) by 2030 from tobacco-related diseases. The University of Indonesias demographic institute associate director, Abdillah Ahsan, said Indonesians are having the hardest time to quit smoking because smoking is already considered normal in the country. Smokers who want to quit will be constantly seduced by everyone who smokes around them as well as by pervasive cigarette advertisements. Access to cigarettes is very easy. If I live in a housing complex, I will find a small stall selling cigarettes just a few houses from me. Its also easy for children to buy cigarettes. If they step out of their schools, they will find a warung. Above the warung will be a banner advertising cigarettes, Abdillah said. Furthermore, public officials are often shown to be smoking in public spaces, such as lawmakers around the parliament building. My wife and I recently decided to move from my hometown of Mason City to Ashburn, Virginia. Age and wanting to be near our son played a big part in this decision despite the fact we enjoyed northern Iowa except for the winters. When we arrived, our mover, from Mason City, hired three men to help him. They were Hispanic and one spoke English. Boy, did they work hard. Then I got a doctor's appointment with Dr. Ro. I followed that up with an ophthalmology appointment for us. I will see Dr. Char and my wife will see Dr. Bavceja. When I had my car inspected for emissions, the technician was Middle Eastern. This morning I got a driver's license. The clerk had trouble and called in his supervisor. She wore a hijab, being a Muslim woman, just like the two ladies I sat next to while waiting to be called. We stopped on the way home at the grocery store and our checkout clerk was Mohamed who was extremely friendly and efficient. The point I am making is that Northern Virginia has a very large foreign-born population. They are not taking jobs from Americans since they either have the skills needed or hard work ethic that a lot of Americans lack. Of course, with such a large foreign-born population, the crime rate in Ashburn must be sky-high. No, it is extremely low. The area must also be stagnating. No, new buildings and roads are being constructed everywhere. Mason City recently turned down a large business opportunity due in part to the fear of having a larger foreign-born population. From my perspective from being here in Northern Virginia, that decision may have been questionable at best. Jack Hood, Ashburn, Va., formerly of Mason City Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 One of the two men, who took four people hostage during a robbery in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta on Saturday, has demanded the police guarantee the safety of his wife, but the police yet do not know the reason behind his worries. Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Awi Setiyono said police investigators were still trying to extract information from AJS, one of the two hostage-takers, who gave up to police as hundreds of police officers surrounded the house of Asep Sulaiman, where four people were being held hostage. AJS is hiding something. He doesnt want to tell the truth about what had happened. He also requested police to guarantee the safety of his wife. There must be something else behind this case, Awi said at the Jakarta Police station on Tuesday, adding police will question AJSs wife to reveal more about the case. The police had detained AJS and another suspect AS, following the incident that ended after an eight-hour standoff in the upscale housing complex, south of the city. This drama ended in anticlimax because it began as a robbery, but during the crime, one of the robbers asked the maid to cook instant noodles. This is a mystery. We deem AJS as the mastermind of the crime, Awi said. The police will summon the Exxon Mobil Indonesia security chief on Thursday to confirm AJSs claim that he had worked as security there and use to escort Asep. Awi said Asep denied that he knew AJS. However, AJS claimed that he had escorted Asep for five months. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 Indonesia has called for stronger regional cooperation to tackle drug trafficking through the ASEAN Seaport Interdiction Task Force (ASIFT) amid growing threats of international drug trafficking, a top minister said on Tuesday. ASEAN member states must step up collaboration to take the initiative in intercepting drugs smuggled through international seaports in Southeast Asia, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto said during the ASEAN Summits in Vientiane, Laos. "Indonesia, like any other country in the region, has experienced an increase in illicit drug trafficking through sea routes. We have to strengthen our joint efforts to tackle the issue," Wiranto said in his address at the ASEAN Political-Security Community Council meeting, according to a media release sent out by his office in Jakarta. ASIFT, which was introduced by the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) in Batam, Riau Islands, in July, aims at strengthening efforts to curb drug trafficking in the region. ASIFT also aims to strengthen regional cooperation to stop drug trafficking in the region and manifest ASEAN's strong commitment to fighting drugs. He reiterated that drug smuggling in the region, especially in Indonesia, had become a "drug state of emergency", adding that transnational collaboration between relevant officials was necessary to fight drug networks. (rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Prima Wirayani and Ina Parlina (The Jakarta Post) Hangzhou, China/Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 Ten million Chinese tourists are expected to visit Indonesia and Chinese billionaire Jack Ma has been invited to give advice to Indonesias e-commerce committee both signs that Indonesia is looking to cash in on its relationship with the worlds second-largest economy. The Indonesian government has asked Jack Ma, the chairman of Chinese online marketplace Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., to become an advisor to its steering e-commerce committee. The committee is designed to develop the booming e-commerce sector and will consist of 10 ministers. This [proposal] is to make Indonesias position in the international marketplace more prominent, Communications and Information Minister Rudiantara said after President Joko Jokowi Widodos visit to Alibabas office in Hangzhou last weekend. Jokowi was in China to attend the two-day G20 Summit that ended on Monday. Before the summit, he took the time to conduct a bilateral meeting with Chinas President Xi Jinping their fifth meeting in the past two years and promote Indonesias tourism, e-commerce and electricity sectors in a business forum attended by 1,000 Chinese business players. A stronger Chinese presence and influence in Indonesia is emerging after the recent realization of a string of business deals. Some notable projects include Indonesias first ever high-speed railway, secured in a US$5.1 billion deal between a China-Indonesia consortium and a multi-billion financing agreement between the China Development Bank and Indonesian state banks. To keep up the strong investment momentum, Indonesias Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) earlier this year launched the China Desk, which is essentially a help desk to answer all investment-related questions from Chinese investors, after noting that just 7 percent of Chinas investment commitments were realized from 2005 to 2014. In the electricity sector, Chinese firms are expected to participate in the governments ambitious 35,000 megawatt (MW) program until 2019, while in the tourism sector, it is hoped that Chinese investors will visit the nations emerging tourist destinations such as Raja Ampat, Mandalika and Labuan Bajo. Especially in the tourist sector, our efforts are related to the development of 10 tourist destinations, in line with President Joko Widodos invitation for Chinese tourists to visit not only Bali, but also other destinations, BKPM chairman Thomas Lembong said in a statement. Jokowi signed an agreement with Xi Jinping last year to attract 10 million tourists from China, half of his 20 million target for 2019. To achieve the target, the government has liberalized visa requirements for visitors from most countries in the world. I told Alibaba to strengthen its promotion of Indonesia so that I can really get 10 million tourists from China, Jokowi said after the visit to Alibabas headquarters. The Chinese are among Indonesias top foreign visitors. Chinese visitors to Indonesia are expected to climb to 1.7 million this year out of a target of 12 million foreign tourists. Alibaba has a presence in Indonesia through the Southeast Asia e-commerce platform Lazada, into which Alibaba invested $1 billion recently. Its subsidiary, Tmall Global, also hosts the Indonesian platform Inamall, enabling local products to be accessed in the Chinese marketplace. China, which is Indonesias top trading partner, is seen as a friendly counterpart with strong innovation in its digital economy, especially in the e-commerce and financial technology (fintech) sectors, said Indonesia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) vice chairwoman for international relations Shinta Widjaja Kamdani. Indonesian businesspeople hope for financing and cooperation in technology with China to develop Indonesias e-commerce sector, said Shinta, who joined the G20 Summit. Indonesias e-commerce industry is booming alongside its emerging middle class. It is predicted that 141 million people will enter into middle class status by 2020, from 88 million in 2014, according to the Boston Consulting Group. E-commerce transactions might possibly reach $24.6 billion in value this year, three times higher than in 2013, local e-commerce association (idEA) data showed. ______________________________ To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News. For print subscription, please contact our call center at (+6221) 5360014 or subscription@thejakartapost.com Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 The Australian pathologist Beng Beng Ong who appeared on Monday as a witness for murder suspect Jessica Kumala Wongso in her trial was interrogated in the immigration office on Tuesday because of an alleged immigration violation, according to the head of Central Jakarta immigration office, Tato Juliadin Hidayawan. The immigration office confiscated Ongs passport at Terminal 2 of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport at 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday when Ong was about to leave the country on a Singapore Airlines plane. After immigration took Ongs passport, Ong returned to his hotel before undergoing an interrogation at the immigration office. "Currently, we still can't make comments on whether Ong has violated the law or not. We are still investigating Ong now," Tato told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, adding the interrogation started at 1 p.m. after Ongs translator joined him. Tato said Ong was cooperative during the interrogation. Therefore, he hoped that the investigation would finish soon. After interrogating Ong, immigration officials would also question Jessicas lawyers Otto Hasibuan, who was Ongs sponsor. Tato said Ong was interrogated after the immigration office monitored Jessica's trial, during which prosecutors alleged that Ong came to Indonesia on a tourist visa, not a short stay visa as required by immigration law. The prosecutors said Ong had violated the immigration law so he deserved to be charged with a crime. Tato also explained that a person who holds a tourist visa cannot do the formal work in Indonesia, or receives. However, he was still unable to confirm whether Ong had violated Indonesian law. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Severianus Endi (The Jakarta Post) Pontianak Tue, September 6 2016 The practice of breast-feeding exclusively is hindered by myths among lower and middle income people in West Kalimantan. Data from the Pontianak municipality shows that the exclusive breast-feeding rate amounts to just 70 percent. Dian Rakhmawati, head of the West Kalimantan chapter of the Indonesia Breast-feeding Mothers Associations (AIMI) education division, told The Jakarta Post that residents, especially those living along the Kapuas River, were still influenced by exposure to informal, or unscientific, information and believed false notions on the benefits of breast milk. The myths include the idea that women who have just completed outdoor activities should not breastfeed their baby because the breast milk will have gone stale. They prefer to give canned milk for reasons of practicality, said Dian, who participated, along with about 1,000 residents, in the 2016 World Breast-feeding Week at the Sultan Syarif Abdurrahman Stadium in Pontianak. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Andi Hajramurni (The Jakarta Post) Makassar Tue, September 6, 2016 A case in which a teacher was reportedly beaten by a student and the students father at a state vocational high school in Makassar has was settled out of court through a resolution hearing at the Makassar District Court on Tuesday. The resolution solution was offered to the conflicting parties because the student is underage. The resolution meeting, presided over by judge Teguh Sri Rahardjo, was attended by the 52-year-old teacher, his wife and his lawyer, the student and his lawyer and mother and a community figure. Prosecutor Rustiani Muin said the meeting lasted for 45 minutes, during which the teacher forgave the student. They agreed to settle so the case is closed, Rustiani said. However, the student could not immediately be released from jail because he had yet to receive an official out-of-court settlement statement signed by himself and the teacher. The statement is scheduled to be signed on Thursday. The teacher, who suffer a broken nose in the assault, said he wanted to make sure the student was educated properly by his parents. He did not ask for compensation, the prosecutor said. The student and his 43-year-old father reportedly assaulted the teacher on Aug. 10 after the teacher slapped the 15-year-old for allegedly insulting him in class. The father and son were both charged under articles 170 and 351 of the Criminal Code on assault, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison. The charge against the father still stands and the trial is scheduled to be held soon. (evi) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 The Finance Ministry will provide a credit guarantee to state-owned electricity company PT PLN to help President Joko Jokowi Widodo's ambitious goal of developing 35,000 megawatt (MW) power plants. PLN was assigned to develop electricity in the country using two schemes: self-management through its own capital or loans and purchasing electricity produced by private companies, the Finance Ministry's financing and risk management director general Robert Pakpahan said in Jakarta on Tuesday. In the first scheme, the Finance Ministry would provide credit guaranteed to the lender to ensure that the project is supported by the government. "The credit guarantee is a full guarantee. The government will take over if PLN experiences a late payment," said Robert, adding that the facility was stipulated in the Finance Minister Regulation (PMK) No: 130/2016. Meanwhile, in the second scheme, the government would provide PLN with a guarantee to ensure its financial feasibility toward power providers. "This will ensure PLN capabilities to fulfill its financial obligation," he went on. With this regulation, Robert continued, each time PLN builds electricity infrastructure, whether self-managed or in cooperation with power developers, the ministry will process credit guarantees and feasibility guarantees to support electricity infrastructure projects. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Indra Budiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6 2016 The courtroom drama over the premeditated murder of Wayan Mirna Salihin implicating Jessica Kumala Wongso has taken an unexpected turn as an expert witness with the defense team delivered a contrasting testimony saying that Mirna had not shown any indications of cyanide poisoning. Beng Beng Ong, an expert in pathology from the University of Queensland, told the court on Monday that the clinical symptoms of cyanide poisoning, including nausea, respiratory difficulties and seizures, would arise roughly 30 minutes after the consumption of cyanide, suggesting that this did not fit with the prosecutions claim that Mirna fell unconscious just few minutes after she took a sip of supposedly cyanide-laced iced coffee. In a courtroom packed with reporters and spectators and aired by private television stations, the Australian expert implied that there was no solid proof that Mirnas was killed by sodium cyanide found in her stomach, a claim that is a fundamental part of the prosecutions case. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Batam Tue, September 6 2016 The Indonesian Embassy in Singapore has launched an identity card for Indonesian citizens working as domestic staff in the neighboring country. The Indonesia-Singapore Worker Card (KPIS) will function not only as an identity card for Indonesian domestic helpers working in Singapore but also as an information medium for them about various training programs in which they might be interested in participating. The training programs publicized through the card are aimed at improving their skills, Indonesian Ambassador to Singapore I Gede Ngurah Swajaya told The Jakarta Post after the KPIS launch, which coincided with celebrations of the 71st anniversary of Indonesias independence at the embassy complex on Chatsworth Road, Singapore, on Sunday. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian has said the results of an investigation into a video featuring executed drug convict Freddy Budiman found that no police personnel were involved in Freddys narcotics network, as was claimed in the recording. "In the video, Freddy never mentioned anything related to drug-related cash flow or any National Police personnel who received it [...] We haven't found any evidence [to support the allegations] so far, either in the video or in his defense notes, as well as in his lawyers testimony," Tito said during a hearing with the House of Representatives on Monday. In a statement to rights activist Haris Azhar in 2014, Freddy claimed he had given Rp 90 billion (US$6,848,019) to police personnel as compensation for protecting his drug business. The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) chairman later released the recorded statement on Facebook, one day before Freddy was executed on Nusakambangan prison island on July 29. Tito admitted that Freddy had mentioned the names of three police personnel in the video. However, after an examination commissioned by a joint fact-finding team, the three were not found to have any links to cash-flow matters, he said. The police chief added that two personnel mentioned by Freddy in the video had previously apprehended him in an operation. Meanwhile, the third officer had earlier conveyed the governments plan to create a prison island surrounded by crocodiles. Tito did not cite the names of the three police personnel. (ebf) Bayer Aktiengesellschaft / Key word(s): Statement 06.09.2016 00:38 Disclosure of an inside information according to Article 17 MAR, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leverkusen, September 06, 2016 Bayer confirms advanced negotiations with Monsanto concerning a proposed transaction. While key terms and conditions have not yet been agreed, Bayer would be prepared to provide a transaction consideration of USD 127.50 per Monsanto share only in connection with a negotiated transaction. There can be no assurance that the parties will enter into an agreement. The proposed transaction would be subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions. The key conditions of a definitive transaction agreement must be approved by the Supervisory Board of Bayer AG. Contact: Mr. Peter Dahlhoff, Bayer AG, Investor Relations, Phone: +49-214-30-33022, e-mail: peter.dahlhoff@bayer.com, Fax: 0214-30-96-33022 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Information and Explanation of the Issuer to this News: Forward-Looking Statements This release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer's public reports which are available on the Bayer website at www.bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments. Additional Information This communication relates to a proposed offer by Bayer Aktiengesellschaft or its subsidiaries ('Bayer'), to purchase all of the outstanding shares of common stock, par value $0.01 per share, of Monsanto Company, a Delaware corporation ('Monsanto'). This communication is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell shares of Monsanto. No tender offer for the shares of Monsanto has commenced at this time. At the time a tender offer for the shares of Monsanto is commenced, Bayer will file tender offer materials (including an Offer to Purchase, a related Letter of Transmittal and certain other offer documents) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the 'SEC') with respect to the tender offer. Any definitive tender offer documents will be mailed to the stockholders of Monsanto. STOCKHOLDERS OF MONSANTO ARE URGED TO READ THE RELEVANT TENDER OFFER MATERIALS WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE TENDER OFFER THAT STOCKHOLDERS SHOULD CONSIDER BEFORE MAKING ANY DECISION REGARDING THE TENDER OF THEIR SHARES. Stockholders of Monsanto will be able to obtain free copies of these documents (if and when available) and other documents filed by Bayer with the SEC through the website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov. 06.09.2016 The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Archive at www.dgap.de --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Company: Bayer Aktiengesellschaft Kaiser-Wilhelm-Allee 1 51373 Leverkusen Germany Phone: +49 (0)214 30-65742 Fax: +49 (0)21430-9665742 E-mail: ir@bayer.com Internet: www.bayer.com ISIN: DE000BAY0017 WKN: BAY001 Indices: DAX, EURO STOXX 50, Stoxx 50 Listed: Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated Unofficial Market in Dusseldorf, Stuttgart, Tradegate Exchange; Madrid End of Announcement DGAP News-Service --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dylan Amirio (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 The future of Indonesias oil and gas sector continues to look bleak with latest estimates showing oil lifting rates plunging by almost half from current levels by 2020, with no new discoveries amidst low oil prices. Due to the continued depletion of oil reserves, ready-to-sell oil production will decline to 480,000-550,000 bopd by 2020 if no new discoveries are made, according to estimates from the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas). Indonesias oil reserves dropped to 3.6 billion stock tank barrels at the end of 2015 from 3.62 billion the previous year. The projected oil lifting figure is almost half of the current 820,000 bopd, which is already insufficient to meet domestic demands of around 1.6 million bopd. This has raised concerns of how the local oil and gas sector can fulfill increasing demands in the future, especially as oil fields enter a natural decline while low oil prices discourage non-conventional production methods. Nationwide oil lifting plans and update((SKKMigas)/-) Furthermore, there are no large projects or plans of development [POD] that will be on stream until 2020, SKKMigas chief Amien Sunaryadi said during a hearing at the House of Representatives Commission VII overseeing energy affairs on Monday. The lack of large oil projects is worrisome, especially since there will be 35 fields whose production-sharing contracts (PSC) will be terminated by 2026. The termination of Total E&P Indonesies Mahakam block PSC and Vicos Sanga-sanga block PSC at the end of 2017 is estimated to contribute to a loss of 26,600 bopd next year. Only two small oil fields expect to start operating next year: the Madura BD block, operated by Husky Oil, and the Jangkrik block, operated by Eni Muara Bakau. Arief also said global oil prices have yet to fully recover from its initial plunge at the end of 2014, which would continue to affect production activities for the medium term. Global crude oil prices are expected to hover around US$40 to $50 per barrel next year, from the peak of $115 per barrel in 2014. For next year, SKKMigas has targeted oil lifting rates at a measly 780,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) in 2017, from this years 820,000 bopd target. The largest drop will come from Chevron Pacific Indonesias Rokan block due to its maturing characteristics and the postponement of the North Duri Development (NDD) Area 14 project as caused by low oil prices. As a result, the Rokan blocks oil lifting rates will drop by 22,000 bopd to 228,900 bopd next year. Eight other oil blocks are also experiencing a natural decline, including PT Medco E&P Rimau in South Sumatra, with a drop of 3,500 bopd to an estimated production rate of 5,500 bopd in 2017. Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is one method operators could implement to increase the amount of crude oil extracted from an oil field. However, Chevron Pacific Indonesia and Medco E&P Rimau, both of which have been running EOR pilot projects, have said it is still economically unfeasible to implement the method on a larger scale, even though it had been proven effective. Medco E&P Rimau executive director Ronald Gunawan said they had stopped conducting their pilot project, which used the surfactant polymer flooding method, in 2014 when global oil prices dropped. We will be able to do it again if global oil prices reach $80 per barrel, he said. Despite the low oil prices, however, companies have not completely stopped production activities. SKKMigas have estimated that there will be 343 oil well drillings, 1,005 work overs and 32,094 well service activities next year. Despite the low oil prices, however, companies have not completely stopped its production activities. SKKMigas has estimated that there will be 343 oil well drillings, 1,005 work overs and 32,094 well service activities next year. Chevron Pacific Indonesia will conduct the most activities with 132 drillings, 187 work overs and 16,695 well service activities in 2017. We will reach [our lifting target] through the development of 120 wells in 2016 and around 14,000 well service activities. Our 2016 activity is the basis of our work plan in 2017, Chevron Pacific Indonesia president director Albert Simanjuntak said during the hearing. In the meantime, ExxonMobil Cepu Limited, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil Indonesia, has announced that it will submit a proposal to increase the production rate of its Cepu block in East Java to 200,000 bopd next year. Although the increase could help the countrys lifting rate, SKKMigas had previously rejected a similar proposal due to environmental and subsurface considerations. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Corry Elyda (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 President Joko Jokowi Widodo and the House of Representatives have rejected a proposal from the Jakarta governor to scrap the obligation of an incumbent regional head to take a leave of absence during an election campaign. Jokowis representative Widodo Sigit, the legal bureau head at the Home Ministry, told the Constitutional Court on Monday that Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnamas request to revise the absence rule of the Regional Elections Law was unethical. Sigit said regional heads during their inauguration had promised to comply with the constitution. It is unethical if the petitioner [Ahok] attempts to change the law to maintain his power without coordinating the matter with the central government, he said. Sigit reminded the court that Ahok at one time demanded the regulations implementation during the 2012 gubernatorial election. We see the consistency of our leaders from their words and then judge whether he or she is fit to become our role model, he said. He said Ahok once urged then incumbent governor Fauzi Bowo to take leave in order to create an honest and fair election. I am wondering why the incumbent now changes his mind. I hope he will rethink his decision, he said. He also said that Ahok did not need to worry about the city administration being leaderless without him as the law allows for an acting governor. Ahok previously stated to the court that Article 70, paragraph 3 of the law deprived him of his constitutional rights by forcing him to take leave, claiming that many people could take advantage of his absence from the governorship. The article stipulates that incumbents must take unpaid leave and are prohibited from using facilities provided by their position in their campaign for reelection. Ahok wanted taking leave to become an optional choice for incumbents. He said he did not want to take leave as he did not want to take part in his campaign. Sigit pointed out that there was a difference in taking leave by a civil servant as opposed to a public official. Taking leave [as a requirement] is a mechanism to level the playing field between incumbents and other candidates as the incumbent might abuse their position for their own advantage in an election, he said. He gave the example that an incumbent could use administrations programs to hold a covert campaign. A similar argument was also made by two House members. Arteria Dahlan, a member of House commission II overseeing home affairs, said the leave requirement for an incumbent was an obligation, not a right. As campaigning is an obligation, taking leave is also obligatory in order to prevent [incumbents] abusing their power, he said. He said the president, vice president, and house of representative members or any other elected positions were obliged to conduct an election campaign, if seeking reelection. While campaigning, they are not allowed to use any [of their positions] facilities unless for security reasons and are also obliged to take leave, he said. Arteria of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said campaigning was a norm of any election in the world. Even [US President Barrack] Obama who may be as famous as Pak Ahok also campaigns, he teased. Speaking after the trial, Ahok said he still was optimistic with his proposal. We will wait for the court to decide, he said. Ahok also corrected his statement, saying that he only objected the length of the unpaid leave period, which is four months. Separately, constitutional law expert Yusril Ihza Mahendra, who also has interest in running in next years gubernatorial election, said taking leave was important for election fairness for Ahok and other candidate hopefuls. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 World Health Organization (WHO) South-East Asia member countries have adopted the Colombo Declaration to curb a growing epidemic of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which kill 8.5 million people annually in the region. The declaration calls for the strengthened delivery of services for NCDs at the primary health care level. This is a critical moment for health systems and the people they serve across the South-East Asia region. NCDs are already taking an unacceptable toll on populations, with the burden projected to rise in coming years. To avert this possibility, services for these diseases must be made available at the primary health care level, and high-risk populations must be provided all opportunities to access screening and treatment, WHO South-East Asia regional director Poonam Khetrapal Singh said on Monday. The declaration was adopted on the opening day of the 69th WHO Regional Committee Meeting. Representatives of WHO South-East Asia member countries expressed serious concern at the burden of NCDs, including cardiovascular disease, cancers, diabetes and chronic respiratory disease. As part of the declaration, health ministers pledged to undertake targeted screening for early diagnosis, as well as increase health guidance and counseling to promote healthy choices and self-care. Ensuring appropriate treatment, robust follow-up, management of referrals and focusing on and expanding NCD services to high-risk populations are key parts of the declaration. This is an important opportunity to reaffirm commitment to the global goal of reducing NCD-related premature mortality by one-third by 2030, and to actually map out how we will get there. Implementing effective policy solutions is vital to addressing the personal and social tragedy caused by NCDs, as well as their impact on economic development, said Khetrapal Singh. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Hyung Jin-kim (Associated Press) Seoul, South Korea Tue, September 6, 2016 North Korea on Monday fired three medium-range missiles that traveled about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) and landed near Japan in an apparent show of force timed to coincide with the Group of 20 economic summit in China, South Korean officials said. North Korea has staged a series of recent missile tests with increasing range, part of a program that aims to eventually build long-range nuclear missiles capable of striking the US mainland. Such tests are fairly common when international attention is turned to Northeast Asia, and this one came as world leaders gathered in eastern China for the G-20 summit of advanced and emerging economies. China is North Korea's only major ally, but ties between the neighbors have frayed amid a string of North Korean nuclear and missile tests and what many outsiders see as other provocations in recent years. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the three ballistic missiles, all believed to be Rodongs, were launched from the western North Korean town of Hwangju and flew across the country before splashing into the sea. A Joint Chiefs of Staff statement described the launches as an "armed protest" meant to demonstrate North Korea's military capability on the occasion of the G-20 summit and days before the North Korean government's 68th anniversary. The US State Department said Monday's launch and other previous launches violate multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions prohibiting North Korea from launches using ballistic missile technology. "We will raise our concerns at the UN about the threat posed to international security by these programs," said spokesperson John Kirby in a statement. The Security Council, meanwhile, scheduled a closed emergency meeting on the latest launches for Tuesday morning. In early August, another Rodong missile fired by North Korea also traveled about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles), the longest-ever flight by that missile. All three missiles Monday fell in Japan's exclusive economic zone, the 200-nautical mile offshore area where a nation has sovereign rights for exploring and exploiting resources, according to Tokyo's Defense Ministry. Defense Minister Tomomi Inada said they fell off the northwestern coast of Hokkaido. "All three were launched almost simultaneously and fell around the same spot, which shows North Korea's missile capability has been steadily improving," Inada said, expressing serious concern. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga called the launches a "serious threat" to Japanese security and said that Tokyo protested to North Korea via the Japanese Embassy in Beijing. The United States also condemned the launches, saying it was discussing with allies the proper response and plans to raise concerns at the UN. The US also plans to bring up the issue during the East Asia summit in Laos this week. President Barack Obama was to head to Laos on Monday evening. Before Monday's launch, South Korean President Park Geun-hye met her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G-20 summit and criticized the North for what she called repeated missile provocations that are threatening to hurt Seoul-Beijing ties. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe approached Park during a coffee break at the G-20 and agreed to cooperate closely, according to Japan's Foreign Ministry. The latest firing won't help the push by Xi to get Park to scrap the planned deployment of a powerful U.S. anti-missile system in the South. During their meeting, Xi warned Park that "mishandling the issue is not conducive to strategic stability in the region, and could intensify disputes." China says the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system is meant to spy on China, while Seoul and Washington say the system is intended solely to defend against North Korea's missile threat. Last month, worries about the North's weapons programs deepened after a missile from a North Korean submarine flew about 500 kilometers (310 miles), the longest distance achieved by the North for such a weapon. Submarine-based missiles are harder to detect before launch than land-based ones like Rodongs. In June, after a string of failures, North Korea sent an intermediate Musudan missile more than 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) high in a test launch that outside analysts said showed progress in efforts to acquire the ability to strike U.S. forces in the region. The UN Security Council in late August strongly condemned four North Korean ballistic missile launches in July and August. It called them "grave violations" of a ban on all ballistic missile activity. ___ Associated Press writers Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Josh Lederman in Hangzhou, China, contributed to this report. (**) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Fadli (The Jakarta Post) Batam, Riau Islands Tue, September 6, 2016 A Singaporean national, Mohamed Isa bin Omar, 67, was found dead in his hotel room in Batam, Riau Islands, on Tuesday. His body was found by the employees of the Lai Lai Hotel in Batam where he was staying. A room service worker had reported to his supervisor and then police Omar's disappearance after he had not been seen for a few days having stayed at the hotel for the last two weeks. Since Tuesday morning a rotting odor started to emanate from his room on the fourth floor of the small hotel, receptionist Lindawati said on Tuesday. "We decided to break open his room with police in the afternoon. He was dead when we found him and part of his body had been rotting," she said adding that Omar had booked for a long stay. Police investigators then conducted a crime scene investigation and brought the body to Bhayangkara Police Hospital for an autopsy. Batu Ampar Police's crime investigations unit chief Adj. Comr. Kahardani said the police are still investigating the cause of death. From his personal data, Omar lived in an apartment on Yishun Avenue in Singapore. (rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6 2016 Laos, currently the chair of ASEAN, is hosting major world leaders this week in ASEAN gatherings, which in total are expected to result in some 50 documents. The implementation of all those agreements will add to the pile of work faced by Indonesias ASEAN National Secretariat, which comprises officials across government offices apart from a team of five people at the Foreign Ministrys training center, across from the Senayan City mall. In Indonesia, the institution is led by the Foreign Ministrys director general for ASEAN cooperation, Jose Tavares, previously the Indonesian ambassador to New Zealand. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Fadli (The Jakarta Post) Batam Tue, September 6, 2016 A woman initially suspected of being infected by Zika in Batam, Riau Islands, has tested negative for the virus. The woman has been treated at the Embung Fatimal Hospital in Batam since Sunday after a thermal scanner at the Batam port showed that she had a high temperature. We have carried out two laboratory tests on samples of her blood. She just has a common fever. She is not infected by the Zika virus, the head of hospitals medical service division, Sri Widjayanto, announced at a media conference at the hospital on Tuesday. Widjayanto said the first test was conducted in Batam and the second at the Health Ministrys research and development center in Jakarta. He said the thermal scanner at the Batam port registered the womans temperature at 37 Celsius degrees upon her arrival from Singapore, where 275 people have been diagnosed with Zika. Because the thermal scanner bell went off, we transferred her to the hospital for treatment. She is still being treated at the hospital, Widjayanto added. Meanwhile, the head of Riau Islands Sanitation and Disease Control Agency, Slamet Mulsiswanto, said a third test was being conducted in Jakarta to make sure that she was free of the virus. The result will be available on Thursday. Slamet said his office would continuously hold preventive measures by cutting the reproduction cycle of mosquitos. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Mike Corder and Jamey Keaten (Associated Press) The Hague, Netherlands Tue, September 6, 2016 The UN human rights chief says US presidential candidate Donald Trump and Dutch nationalist Geert Wilders are among "populists and demagogues" whose tactics of communication smack of Islamic State group-style propaganda. In exceptionally strong terms, and with far-right groups on the rise in the wake of extremist attacks, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein warned Monday about the "banalization of bigotry" in Europe and the US by populists who allude back to "a fictional halcyon past" and oversimplify messages with sound bites and Tweets. Zeid, the son of a Jordanian prince and Swedish-born mother who often goes by his first name, focused mainly on Wilders in the speech at a gala dinner organized by the Hague-based Peace, Justice and Security Foundation. But Zeid also lumped in others, including Trump, Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, and Nigel Farage, a former leader of Britain's main anti-immigration party. "Make no mistake, I certainly do not equate the actions of nationalist demagogues with those of Daesh, which are monstrous, sickening; Daesh must be brought to justice," Zeid said, using the Arabic-language acronym for the radical Islamic State group. "But in its mode of communication, its use of half-truths and oversimplification, the propaganda of Daesh uses tactics similar to those of the populists." "And both sides of this equation benefit from each other indeed would not expand in influence without each others' actions," he added. Wilders recently presented a one-page manifesto ahead of Dutch elections scheduled for March calling for a halt to all asylum seekers entering the country, a ban on immigrants from Muslim nations, closing all mosques and Islamic schools, and outlawing the Quran. Zeid called the manifesto "grotesque" and urged the audience "to speak out and up" against demagogues. "We will not be bullied by you the bully, nor fooled by you the deceiver, not again," he said. In a text message responding to AP requests for a reaction to the speech, Wilders wrote: "Another good reason to get rid of the UN. I lost my freedom in my fight for freedom, and I don't want my country to lose its freedom as well. That's why we have to de-Islamize. Islam and freedom are incompatible whatever this Jordanian bureaucrat says." Wilders has lived for years with round-the-clock protection because of threats against him. Zeid decried a "formula" used by the demagogues: "make people, already nervous, feel terrible, and then emphasize it's all because of a group, lying within, foreign and menacing." "Then make your target audience feel good by offering up what is a fantasy to them, but a horrendous injustice to others. Inflame and quench, repeat many times over, until anxiety has been hardened into hatred," he said. With high-minded language, Zeid used words to fight words that he considers harmful and discriminatory. "We hear of accelerating discrimination in workplaces. Children are being shamed and shunned for their ethnic and religious origins" and being told "they are not 'really' European," Zeid said. "Entire communities are being smeared with suspicion of collusion with terrorists." The speech drew a standing ovation from the crowd, which included Hollywood star Sharon Stone. ___ Keaten reported from Geneva. (**) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Nani Afrida (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 Yogyakarta is hosting the 2016 ASEAN Air Chiefs Conference (AACC), which is attended by the air force chiefs of all 10 ASEAN countries. At this years meeting, we will talk about the challenges for ASEAN air forces to combat terrorism and discuss disaster preparedness in Southeast Asian countries, Indonesian Air Force spokesman Air Commodore Jemi Trisonanjaya said on Tuesday at the opening ceremony of the four-day event. The AACC is an annual meeting that started in 2004. Previous conferences had produced many agreements that had become the bases for cooperation among the air forces of ASEAN member countries, Jemi said. Issues discussed at previous conferences include counterterrorism, maintaining peace and security in the region, and non-traditional security threats. Air force chiefs of individual ASEAN countries are also expected to use the conference for bilateral talks. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Liza Yosephine (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has called for stronger unity and economic ties among ASEAN member countries to ensure peace and stability in the region during his address at the ASEAN Summit in Vientiane, Laos. "We cannot allow instability to occur in the region around us. We cannot allow big countries to control and determine the fate of the security and stability of the region around us," Jokowi said on Tuesday in his remarks at the plenary meeting of the 28th ASEAN Summit, according to a press statement from the Presidential Press Bureau. Jokowi pointed to the region's large population, which consists of over 600 million people, as one of the reasons behind the need to strengthen unity. "Without the unity and centrality of ASEAN, I am sure that the role of ASEAN as an important contributor to the security and stability of the region will disappear. And if that happens, then the future of ASEAN will be bleak," Jokowi further said. Jokowi urged the leaders of ASEAN countries to strengthen economic ties among fellow member states in ways that would benefit all parties evenly and minimize the development gap among member states. The involvement of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through the development of technology and innovation must be included, as well as the expansion of access to finance and markets, Jokowi added. He also asked for ASEAN to be an organization that looks after its people, including the protection of migrant workers. (rin) Press Release Services will enable operators to capitalize on opportunities and realize business goals on the path to 5G Services range from strategy envisioning to design and implementation, optimizing the journey to 5G with timely business, technology and operational transformation New services leverage Nokia and Nokia Bell Labs' breadth of technology, transformation and services expertise and tools for telco cloud, radio design and optimization 6 September, 2016 Espoo, Finland - Nokia is to launch a set of services that will enable operators to leverage the benefits of 5G technology in order to realize their individual business goals in the most effective way. Nokia 5G Acceleration Services will help operators develop a plan for their business, network and operational transformation to prepare them for the 5G programmable world. The advent of 5G will provide operators with opportunities to serve a diverse range of vertical industries and enterprises as they enable applications such as smart cities, automated driving, remote healthcare and full automation of homes and businesses. Leveraging technologies available today such as mobile edge computing, cloud and Software-Defined Networking, 5G will deliver the ultra-reliable, low-latency networks needed to address a myriad of business possibilities. Nokia 5G Acceleration Services will assist operators in translating their 5G vision into a tailored transformation plan. Nokia will collaborate with operators to prepare and design the unique evolution of multi-vendor networks, providing a comprehensive technology and business analysis of an operator's current situation as well as guidance on the steps they should take to transform their operations. By defining the pace of investment and introduction of new technologies operators will be able to capitalize on the opportunities and deliver at the optimal time. Leveraging the breadth of global telco-cloud consulting experience and technology and services expertise within Nokia and Bell Labs Consulting, 5G Acceleration Services will now deliver a modular set of transformation support including: Building a solid business case using: Collaborative customer workshops to help operators define a phased strategy for transformation and the implications on their business, technology, and operations. A techno-economic analysis using scenarios that meet the operators' goals for 5G to optimize network evolution investment A 5G spectrum assessment, allowing operators to optimize spectrum resources to deliver the capacity needed to realize their 5G goals Planning a staged architecture and operational evolution using: Technology workshops to provide an in-depth view of the impact of 5G technology on network architecture, end-to-end network planning and deployment and how it can be applied to meet business objectives Goal-driven 5G radio access network design to meet the performance and traffic demands of chosen scenarios Building a solid foundation to 5G by allowing operators to leverage Nokia's extensive services expertise to help them ramp-up their network, organization and business capabilities and become 5G-ready. Andy Hicks, research director, IDC's EMEA Telecommunications group said: "5G isn't just '4G 2.0.' For one thing, this time the use cases are developing ahead of the technical standard. That's healthy for the industry, but will also require networks to support myriad performance profiles fairly rapidly. Operators thus have to make sure that their 5G evolution plans incorporate both upgrades to their networks and advancements in their operational capabilities. If they can start to monetize new use cases while still migrating toward 5G, so much the better." Igor Leprince, head of Global Services at Nokia, said: "Operators can already begin to plan their path to 5G, building the foundation of the programmable world with cloud-based technologies. Working in a consultative mode Nokia 5G Acceleration Services can minimize the complexity of this transformation, creating a plan that will allow operators to migrate optimally to 5G to capitalize on new business opportunities. We are already working with our customers on 5G co-development agreements, and by leveraging our transformation services and Bell Labs Consulting expertise we can help operators build a solid business case for their 5G transformation." Did you know Nokia is involved in several 5G-related industry projects in Europe, including the 5G Public Private Partnership project 5G NORMA (5G Novel Radio Multiservice adaptive network Architecture) and collaborations with leading universities across the world, to make 5G technology viable and future-proof. Nokia is running 5G innovation projects with major operators including China Mobile, NTT DOCOMO, Korea Telecom, SK Telecom, Deutsche Telekom and Verizon Wireless. Nokia is optimizing the operator path to 5G with its 4.5G, 4.5G Pro and 4.9G technologies , allowing operators to implement major increases in capacity, coverage and speed, when and where they are needed to leverage new business opportunities as they prepare their networks. Nokia demonstrated the world's first 5G-ready network using AirScale working together with its Cloud Packet Core, running on a Nokia AirFrame data center platform at 5G World. Resources Connect with Nokia: Subscribe to receive our product news alerts About Nokia is a global leader in the technologies that connect people and things. Powered by the innovation of Nokia Bell Labs and Nokia Technologies, the company is at the forefront of creating and licensing the technologies that are increasingly at the heart of our connected lives. With state-of-the-art software, hardware and services for any type of network, Nokia is uniquely positioned to help communication service providers, governments, and large enterprises deliver on the promise of 5G, the Cloud and the Internet of Things. http://nokia.com Media Enquiries Nokia Communications Phone: +358 10 448 4900 Email: press.services@nokia.com Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 Indonesia has called for Southeast Asian leaders to strengthen their roles in the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission for Human Rights (AICHR) to improve the protection of human rights for people living in the region, a top minister said. Speaking at an ASEAN Political-Security Community Council meeting in the ASEAN Summits in Vientiane, Laos, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto said AICHR must be more progressive to stay relevant for the Southeast Asian people by promoting human rights principles amid rising transnational threats. Groups requiring specific attention include women, children and migrant workers. "ASEAN member states should be able to implement a stronger approach to overcome transnational issues such as irregular migrants and their root causes, while at the same time upholding the protection for human rights," Wiranto said in a press statement sent by his office on Tuesday. Human rights is the cornerstone of the ASEAN Community, he said, adding that AICHR should also give more concern in protecting the rights of migrant workers in the region. Furthermore, he stressed the importance of support by the AICHR to related agencies within ASEAN to conclude the regional instrument on Protection and Promotion of Migrant Workers' Rights. In the event, Indonesia also called for ASEAN leaders to effectively implement the ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (ACTIP), even though there were only three countries in the region that had ratified it. Indonesia is currently in the process of ratifying ACTIP, Wiranto added. (rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Rashvinjeet S. Bedi and Farik Zolkepli (The Star/ANN) Kuala Lumpur Tue, September 6, 2016 Malaysia's counter-terrorism body says that militant Bahrum Shah was found to have been ordering attacks on certain Western interests, the government and security forces. Malaysian police are concerned that an Indonesian militant in Syria has been instigating Malaysian sympathizers of Islamic State (IS) to attack selective targets in the country. The Counter-Terrorism Division of the Special Branch in Bukit Aman said that militant Bahrum Shah was found to have been ordering attacks on certain Western interests, the government and security forces. Its division head DCP Ayob Khan said this in his keynote address at the IACSP Asean Security Symposium on Tuesday. DCP Ayub later told reporters that the police were concerned over the matter as Bahrum has a lot of funds. "When you have funds you can launch attacks on a big scale. If you look at al-Qaeda previously, the money that came into Malaysia from Afghanistan was used to finance the Bali bombings. "If money comes in from Syria, in the short-term, they will launch a big attack. That is what we are worried about. We have to cut their channels," he said. According to a report by The Jakarta Post, Bahrum Shah is believed to be the commander of Katibah Nusantara, the joint group of Indonesian and Malaysian IS fighters formed in late 2014. DCP Ayob also named Bahrun Naim and Abu Jandal as two more Indonesian militants who were ordering attacks in the region. Malaysia has not been spared by IS, with police saying that a bombing at the Movida night club in June was the first ever successful IS attack here. DCP Ayob added that 13 plots of terror attacks by IS in Kuala Lumpur had failed, with seven of them being ordered from Syria. Since February 2013, Malaysian police have arrested 239 people for terrorism related activities. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Evan A. Laksmana Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 During an international seminar organized by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) to commemorate its 45th anniversary last week, the Indonesian ambassador to the UK and former CSIS executive director, Rizal Sukma, posed one of the pertinent strategic questions of the day: Can ASEAN maintain its centrality without unity? He raised the question in light of criticisms that ASEAN has been unable to act as one in dealing with China in the South China Sea. We witnessed this disunity play out in Cambodia in 2012 and almost saw its repetition in Vientiane two months ago if it hadnt been for the hard work of Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi and her team. The question of centrality without unity nevertheless remains pertinent, not just for Jakarta, but for the wider Indo-Pacific region as well. After all, for better or worse, ASEAN along with its offspring institutions like the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM Plus) and the East Asia Summit (EAS) remains the only all-inclusive cornerstone of a burgeoning regional order. Of course, like all important strategic questions, there are no easy, clear-cut answers; at least none that would please everyone. But to move the conversation productively forward, lets be clear on what ASEAN centrality is and is not. Despite claims to the contrary, centrality is not interchangeable with or equivalent to consensus. In fact, consensus is only one of the preconditions for, or pathways toward, centrality. As defined by the ASEAN Charter, centrality is the notion that ASEAN should be the primary driving force in shaping the groups external relations in a regional architecture that is open, transparent and inclusive (Article 1). Centrality is therefore not an outcome, or some end-state to run toward. It is the run itself an ongoing process of continuous engagements with external partners. In other words, it is not a question of whether ASEAN is central, but to what extent and how. It should also be noted that consensus does not always imply unanimity of position (as reflected in joint statements). Sometimes consensus can be an agreement to disagree not necessarily a stark choice between agree on all words or no statement at all. After all, not only did we put in the ASEAN-X principle in the ASEAN charter as a formula for flexible participation (Article 21), but some of the groups strategic successes have happened via informal mechanisms without unanimous public statements. So lets not make unanimity of position in joint statements the be all and end all of centrality. That said, while centrality is an ongoing process, it was originally granted by default during the post-Cold War strategic uncertainty in which distrust, disengagement and rivalry permeated regional powers (mainly the US, Japan and China). As Lee Jones described some of ARFs strategic history in the Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs (2010), ASEANs centrality in managing great-power relations then correlated with the incapacity of great powers to successfully mediate their relations on their own. In other words, centrality was initially given to ASEAN because it was the best neutral alternative in town that had done relatively well in regional affairs by the 1990s. This often led to a sense of self-congratulatory complacency among ASEAN member states, but as polarizing issues like the South China Sea suggest, increasing the degree of centrality can only happen through strong and sustained leadership from within ASEAN. Put differently, we now need to earn centrality, not just inherit it. We can consider several policies to this effect. First, if consensus is a precondition for centrality, then autonomy is a precondition for consensus. Only when Southeast Asian states are free from external meddling and deliberate wedge-driving by their strategic partners can any steps forward be discussed. Otherwise, some ASEAN members could become vanguard states in seeking out external great powers like the US to balance China, as recently argued by Laura Southgate and Nicholas Khoo in the Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs (2016) effectively reverting Southeast Asia back into being another playground for the great powers. Aside from reminding ASEANs regional partners about strategic autonomy, the group also needs to fulfill and deepen its integration commitments, whether through the ASEAN Community projects, or special engagement strategies for Cambodia and Laos. Second, on the South China Sea, we can break down the problem into three policy areas: dispute resolution (long-term through bilateral negotiations), tension management (medium-term through an ASEAN-China framework like the Code of Conduct) and pragmatic de-escalation steps (short-term through creative diplomatic engagements). This disaggregation allows us to recalibrate expectations about what ASEAN can or cannot achieve, rather than rehashing futile glass half-full, half-empty debates. For example, ASEAN is more useful for tension management, but less so for the others. Regional resources diplomatic, financial and political could therefore be aligned accordingly. Finally, if we insist on making ASEAN a rules-based organization based on the charter even though centrality isnt tied to it then as the group turns 50 next year, Indonesia could lead the charge to review the charter as stated in Article 50, or even perhaps consider amending it (as granted by Article 48). Before ASEANs organizational challenges are settled and the charter is only one of many the quest for a stronger regional architecture, including the institutionalization of the EAS, would be grasping at straws. Whatever road ASEAN takes, Indonesia should lead the way, but leadership often means accepting that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, including our own. ______________________________ The writer is a researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Jakarta. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Josh Lederman and Kathleen Hennessey (Associated Press) Vientiane, Laos Tue, September 6, 2016 President Barack Obama called off a planned meeting Tuesday with new Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, seeking distance from a US ally's leader during a diplomatic tour that's put Obama in close quarters with a cast of contentious world figures. It's unusual for one president to tell another what to say or not say, and much rarer to call the other a "son of a bitch." Duterte managed to do both just before flying to Laos for a regional summit, warning Obama not to challenge him over extrajudicial killings in the Philippines. "Clearly, he's a colorful guy," Obama said. "What I've instructed my team to do is talk to their Philippine counterparts to find out is this in fact a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations." Early Tuesday, National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said the meeting with Duterte was off. Duterte has been under intense global scrutiny over the more than 2,000 suspected drug dealers and users killed since he took office. Obama had said he planned to raise the issue in his first meeting with Duterte, but the Philippine leader insisted he was only listening to his own country's people. "You must be respectful," Duterte said of Obama. "Do not just throw questions." Using the Tagalog phrase for "son of a bitch," he said, "Putang ina I will swear at you in that forum." He made the comment to reporters in Manilla. Eager to show he wouldn't yield, Obama said he would "undoubtedly" still bring up human rights and due process concerns "if and when" the two do meet. The bizarre rift with the leader of a US treaty ally was the most glaring example of how Obama has frequently found himself bound to foreign countries and leaders whose ties to the US are critical even if their values sharply diverge. In Hangzhou this week, Obama's first stop in Asia, he heaped praise on Chinese President Xi Jinping for hosting the Group of 20 economic summit in his country, an authoritarian state long accused of human rights violations. His next stop was another one-party communist country with a dismal rights record: Laos, where mysterious disappearances have fueled concerns about a government crackdown. And sitting down with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Obama made no mention in public of the roughly 35,000 people Erdogan's government detained following the summer's failed coup in Turkey. Instead, he worked to reassure the NATO ally the US would help bring to justice whoever was responsible for plotting the coup. Obama also spent about 90 minutes Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, another leader whose fate seems intertwined with Obama's in all the wrong ways. On opposing sides of many global issues, the US and Russia are nonetheless trying to broker a deal to address the Syrian civil war and perhaps even partner militarily there. "President Putin's less colorful," Obama said, comparing him with Duterte. "But typically the tone of our meetings is candid, blunt, businesslike." Managing Duterte has become a worsening headache for Obama since the Filipino took office on June 30, pledging his foreign policy wouldn't be constricted by reliance on the US. Washington has tried largely to look the other way as Duterte has pursued closer relations with China, a marked shift for the Philippines considering recent tensions over Beijing's aspirations in the South China Sea. A public break from the Philippines would put Obama in a tough position, given the Southeast Asian nation's status as a longtime US ally. The Obama administration has sought to compartmentalize by arguing that military and other cooperation won't be jeopardized even if it detests the current Philippine leader's tone. Last month, Duterte said he didn't mind Secretary of State John Kerry but "had a feud with his gay ambassador son of a bitch, I'm annoyed with that guy." He applied the same moniker to an Australian missionary who was gang-raped and killed, and even to Pope Francis, even though the Philippines is a heavily Catholic nation. He later apologized. With a reputation as a tough-on-crime former mayor, Duterte has alarmed human rights groups with his deadly campaign against drugs, which Duterte has described as a harsh war. He has said the battle doesn't amount to genocide but has vowed to go to jail if needed to defend police and military members carrying out his orders. ___ Hennessey reported from Hangzhou, China. Associated Press writer Teresa Cerojano in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this report. ___ Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP and Kathleen Hennessey at http://twitter.com/khennessey (**) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, September 6, 2016 Dozens of cardiologists from Malaysia are slated to participate in the Tour de Timor on Nov. 5, which will start at Dili in East Timor and end in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). "There are as many as 45 Malaysian cardiologists who registered to join the race," said the head of the promotion division of NTT's Tourism and Creative Economy Agency, Eden Klakik, on Tuesday as quoted by tempo.co. (Read also: East Nusa Tenggara eyes cycling event to attract more tourists) The doctors reportedly were on a mission to spread awareness of heart problems at each stage of the competition, which will pass through four stages, namely Atambua, Kefa, So'e and Kupang. This event is being held following the success of the Tour de Flores a few months ago. Eden said that he was hopeful the participants of the previous race would also be involved in the Tour de Timor, which crosses two countries. (kha/kes) Well-known attorney Barry Slotnick says he doesnt think Sheldon Silver will be going to prison. [Daily News] The Times editorial board endorses Yuh-Line Niou in the upcoming Democratic Primary in the 65th Assembly District. [New York Times] Local activists are planning a protest at City Hall today after a screening panel found that State Supreme Court Judge Doris Ling-Cohan is not qualified for re-election. [New York Post] Progressive activist Bertha Lewis is turning on Mayor de Blasio, calling him dismissive and arrogant. She was especially dismayed by his handling of the Rivington House matter: Either youre incompetent or you dont want to know what happened. Its incompetence or corruption. Both of them are bad. [New York Post] Editorial: In the Rivington House scandal, the taint is entirely on (Mayor) de Blasio, no matter how many lobbyists he decides to give the silent treatment He paints a distorted picture of lobbyists as snakes that invaded the sanctum of City Hall and now need to be exorcised. In truth, the poison oozes from the mayor who invited the lobbyists and donors in to feed at his political profit. [Daily News] NASHUA, N.H., Sept. 06, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The UniFirst Corporation (NYSE:UNF) industrial laundry facility in Nashua, NH, recently hosted U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) on her first-ever visit to an industrial laundry. UniFirst is a leading provider of workplace uniforms, protective clothing, and ancillary facility services to businesses, large and small, within a wide range of industries throughout the U.S. and Canada. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/42d8aae0-e495-4314-bf2a-fb896558a68b The UniFirst Nashua facility on Industrial Park Drive has 108 employees, servicing thousands of area business customers and processing roughly 241,000 lbs. of garments and textiles each week. These UniFirst facilities, of which there are currently nearly 100 in North America, pickup and deliver, hygienically launder, and professionally finish all work clothing on a weekly basis, as well as perform garment inspections and perform any needed repairs or replacements. Sen. Ayotte toured the UniFirst plant on August 30 and took time to meet all the employees at the plant. I appreciated the opportunity to visit UniFirst's Nashua facility and learn more about their work to design, produce, and maintain workforce apparel, said Sen Ayotte. I enjoyed meeting their enthusiastic workforce and discussing important issues facing New Hampshire families. UniFirsts senior vice president of operations Michael Croatti and Nashua location general manager Greg Mazares led the senators tour, which included an overview of the company and the industry, as well as the many detailed processing steps of a high-tech industrial laundry operation. While there, Sen. Ayotte also toured UniClean, the UniFirst subsidiary that processes and manages specialized garment programs for cleanroom and other ultra-clean industries. This niche business is housed within the same Industrial Park Drive facility as the UniFirst industrial laundry. One of seven operations across the U.S., UniClean in Nashua comprises 79 additional employees and services hundreds of business customers. The tour concluded with an employee town-hall style question-and-answer session and a photo session with the senator and the UniFirst staff. More information on UniFirst can be found at UniFirst.com. About UniFirst Headquartered in Wilmington, Mass., UniFirst Corporation (NYSE:UNF) is a North American leader in the supply and servicing of uniform and workwear programs, as well as the delivery of facility service programs. Together with its subsidiaries, the company also provides first aid and safety products, and manages specialized garment programs for the cleanroom and nuclear industries. UniFirst manufactures its own branded workwear, protective clothing, and floorcare products, and with over 225 service locations, 275,000 customer locations, and 12,000 employee Team Partners, the company outfits more than 1.5 million workers each business day. For more information, contact UniFirst at 800.455.7654 or visit www.unifirst.com. New alliance expands Western Growers worldwide insurance offerings to food and agribusiness industry LOS ANGELES, Sept. 06, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Western Growers Insurance Services is expanding its global reach through a new strategic alliance with JLT Specialty USA (LSE:JLT), one of the worlds leading insurance brokerages. The alliance provides Western Growers the ability to now offer agribusiness and food clients direct access to global insurance carriers. Additionally, this relationship provides the opportunity to tap into offices around the world and the ability to meet specific company needs with the help of subject matter experts. By developing a strategic global alliance with JLT, weve advanced Western Growers insurance brokerage by 10 years, said Jeff Gullickson, Senior Vice President of Western Growers Insurance Services. Now with access to 140 offices around the world, the food and agribusiness industry can utilize JLTs broad spectrum of international insurance resources and receive tailored insurance, risk management and financial solutions across the globe. The alliance affords all of Western Growers 2,400 member direct access to virtually any global insurance company, providing a massive advantage to businesses who are already operating or looking to open operations in other countries. All members can now leverage the expertise of local professionals in foreign countries to ensure full compliance with other countries insurance laws and regulations. Additionally, Western Growers and JLT collaborated to create an industry-leading cargo insurance coverage solution and administration platform exclusively available to Western Growers members. This combined coverage solution and administration platform enables members to effectively manage their cargo programs at the lowest possible premium costs. The partnership will also offer a combined coverage solution called THE SHIELD. With THE SHIELD, members will receive an insurance program, as well as continuous and unbroken transit coverage for all product shipments to and from all points on the globe. This solution includes Cargo, Contamination, Recall and Non-Physical Damage loss of income. The Cargo solution and THE SHIELD solutions can include iCargo, a world class, leading cargo software application that helps members administer, monitor and provides analytical support for future cargo shipments and strategies. We are thrilled to partner with Western Growers as their members will now be able to take advantage of our global insurance solutions and for the first time have access to a world class cargo software package, said Mike Rastigue, Executive Vice President and West Coast Sales Leader at JLT Specialty USA. At JLT, we value the importance of robust data and our insurance solution will now provide members data, analytics and modeling to aid in strategic risk management solutions. Members will have access to claims experts in specific sensitive coverage areas, including product liability and Cargo, among others. JLT ENQUIRIES: Name: Ashely Deal, VP of Marketing Phone: (310) 266-9464 Email: ashely.deal@jltus.com WESTERN GROWERS ENQUIRIES: Name: Cory Lunde, Director of Strategic Initiatives & Communications Phone: (949) 885-2264 Email: clunde@wga.com Name: Stephanie Thara, Communications Manager Phone: (949) 885-2256 Email: sthara@wga.com NOTES TO EDITORS: About Jardine Lloyd Thompson Jardine Lloyd Thompson is one of the worlds leading providers of insurance, reinsurance and employee benefits related advice, brokerage and associated services. JLTs client proposition is built upon its deep specialist knowledge, client advocacy, tailored advice and service excellence. JLT is quoted on the London Stock Exchange and owns offices in 40 territories with more than 10,600 employees. Supported by the JLT International Network, it offers risk management and employee benefit solutions in 135 countries. For further information about JLT, please visit our website www.jlt.com and follow us on LinkedIn at JLT Group and Twitter @JLTGroup. About JLT Specialty USA JLT Specialty USA: JLT Specialty USA is the U.S. platform of the leading specialty business advisory firm, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group. Our experts have deep industry and product experience serving leading U.S. and global firms. Our key to client success is our freedom to be creative, collaborative, and analytical while challenging conventions, redefining problems, creating new analytical insights, and exploring new boundaries to deliver solutions for each clients unique business and risks. For further information about JLT, please visit our website www.jltus.com and follow us on LinkedIn at JLT Specialty USA and Twitter @JLTSpecialtyUSA. About Western Growers: Founded in 1926, Western Growers represents local and regional family farmers growing fresh produce in Arizona, California and Colorado. Our members and their workers provide half the nations fresh fruits, vegetables and tree nuts, including half of Americas fresh organic produce. For generations we have provided variety and healthy choices to consumers. Connect with and learn more about Western Growers on our Twitter and Facebook. It may be time to throw out the old tent with the missing poles, the beer covered bum bags and any leftover boxes of cheap wine. The sad news is, festival season is drawing to a close for the summer. Fear not, Manchesters city centre is hosting a pick me up to shake those festival blues. Bringing together over 100 artists (one more special guest is set to be announced) from the city and beyond, Neighbourhood Festival is taking over the best and most iconic venues in the south side of the city. With only 24 hours to squeeze it all in, weve rounded up the ten must see acts. The Pigeon Detectives After a break that was much too long, the Pigeons return to the stage where they rightfully belong. The soundtrack to the parties of our teenage years, these rockers constantly deliver massive choruses, and opportunity for ecstatic air guitar. With the forthcoming release aptly titled Lose Control, expect to do just that. Clean Cut Kid Buzzing from the release of their debut EP, We Used To Be In Love, the fuzzy poppers storm the stage. A relentless summer on the fields saw them deliver sugar-sweet harmonies and infectious hooks. Twisting aching lyricism into joyous, sun drenched tracks, these kids are the coolest in town. Mahalia Full of soul and roughened by acoustics, Mahalia enchants with small insights into her life. Charismatic storytelling flows into the core of the songs; all innocence and RnB heart. Releasing one track every fortnight for the next four months, youll get to hear them live and feel the radiance. Anteros Named after the Greek God of requited love, the four piece spread it through 70s grooves and sharp vocals. Based in London, via Barcelona, theyre savvy and know how to own sass in a way that demands movement. Vant Short and sharp bullets of no-fucks-given teenage punk. All come of age lyricism with melodic copycat la la las and ha ha has, their latest Karma Seeker EP is drenched in garage grunge delivered with a certain charm. Theyre the misunderstood bad boys who manage to impress the parents. False Advertising Making their way back to their home city, the DIY three piece will be loud and proud after releasing their self-titled/recorded/produced album last year. Front-woman Jen Hingleys vocal is lashed with a pop punk attitude, backed by unforgiving riffs and battered drums, with a looming sense of darkness. Jazz Purple When hes not using his Nandos black card to feed hundreds of homeless people, the Mancunian artist is part of the GREY collective. Alongside Bipolar Sunshine, Gaika, August&Us, he crafts alt-pop gems injected with electronic soul and glitchy RnB. Finished with a dash of jazz, its polished to perfection. Leif Erikson Alternating between dreamlike and soft, and ironed and sharp, the bass always grooves and harmonies always soar. Hailing from London, with just a couple of tracks up their sleeve, the five piece should be watched with a keen eye. Cabbage Noisy, brash and bonkers, the Manchester lads revive post-punk with satire and an entrance into their own little world. Raring to discuss (and vent) current affairs, the five piece provide a healthy outlet for all that caged anger. Blossoms You didnt think wed forget the headliners? Officially titled as Stockports finest, their debut album shot to number one, setting them up for a mental summer. Perfecting their hearty blend of classic rock with lovely melody and slightly awkward lyricism, Blossoms captured the heart of many. Protesters have stormed the runway at London City Airport, grounding flights indefinitely. Activists in support of Black Lives Matter made their way airside around 5.40am at the central London airport. We're currently experiencing disruption to all flights due to protestors at the airport. Police are currently on the scene. London City Airport (@LondonCityAir) September 6, 2016 It is the latest demonstration involving anti-racism activists, who brought traffic to a standstill outside Heathrow Airport and carried out similar protests in cities around the country in a co-ordinated day of action last month. (Black Lives Matter/PA) The campaigners, whose international movement was set up following the murder of black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida four years ago, said Tuesdays action was taken in order to highlight the UKs environmental impact on the lives of black people locally and globally. Activists in support of BLMUK #Shutdown London City Airport to protest the UK's environmental impact on black people pic.twitter.com/7LvFnB9Pv3 #BlackLivesMatterUK (@ukblm) September 6, 2016 The group called environmental inequality a racist crisis which disproportionately affects black people both in sub-Saharan Africa and the UK. In a statement the protest groups UK division cited expansion plans at the airport as the cause of their action. They said: Recently London City Airport was given approval to expand its capacity, a move that consigns the local community in Newham to further deterioration of their environment. The average salary of a London City Airport user is 136,000 euros (114,000) and 63% of them work in business, finance or other business services. Passengers wait for news at City Airport (Melanie Hirst/PA) It is an airport designed for the wealthy. At the same time 40% of Newhams population struggle to survive on 20,000 or less. When black people in Britain are 28% more likely to be exposed to air pollution than their white counterparts, we know that environmental inequality is a racist crisis. Passengers are taking to Twitter to complain over the lack of information at the airport. @LondonCityAir thanks to black life matters protestors, my flight has been cancelled. Patrice (@Lepage1) September 6, 2016 @LondonCityAir How did your security not stop people getting into the runway! Neil C (@NRJC101) September 6, 2016 Others voiced concerns about security at the airport, among unconfirmed reports that the activists arrived by dinghy across the Thames. @LondonCityAir If protesters can get airside, what about terrorists? #londoncityairport. Total lack of security. Jeroon1 (@Jeroon2000) September 6, 2016 @LondonCityAir If some 'sophisticated' dinghy protestors can cause this, hate to think what terrorists would be able to..#security shambles Hong Kong Harry (@Harry1Kong) September 6, 2016 The activists also plan to protest outside the Jamaican High commission this evening against the deportation of black people from the UK to the Jamaica due to their immigration status. 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Cicis recently announced the signing of 32 development agreements with franchise partners representing more than 70 new restaurant commitments in 53 markets. In addition, eight new franchise partners have joined Cicis since November 2015. Cicis senior management team, led by CEO Darin Harris, who has presided over the brands revitalization since joining the company in 2013, will continue to guide the business. Arlon is a strong financial partner that will help us maintain the momentum weve achieved, accelerate our growth and fortify our revitalization strategy, said Harris. Arlon brings to Cicis significant expertise and experience from its extensive investments in the food and agriculture industry, and we share a commitment to growing our brand and bringing additional value to the company, team members, our franchisees and the guests who enjoy our restaurants. "Cicis is a growing brand with an excellent legacy as an affordable, fun, family-friendly restaurant that provides a wide variety of quality pizzas and more, said Arlon Managing Principal Ben Fishman. The companys dedicated, high-caliber management team has set the company on a path that is generating consistent, positive results. We look forward to partnering with the Cicis team and their franchisees to leverage our combined expertise to further fuel momentum and drive incremental value for the company." About Cicis Cicis invented the Unlimited Pizza Buffet concept, driven by a belief in making life more flavorful by empowering guests to find the flavors they love. At nearly 450 restaurants strong in 33 states, Cicis earned recognition on Entrepreneur magazines Franchise 500 list in 2015. Cicis also won the Technomic 2014 Consumers Choice award for best kid-friendly quick service restaurant. For more information about Cicis, visit www.cicis.com or Facebook.com/cicis. For franchising information, contact Michael Iglesias at miglesias@cicispizza.com or 972-745-9313 or visit franchise.cicis.com. About Arlon Group Arlon Group is a food and agriculture investment firm with a global network that invests in middle-market businesses across the entire food supply chain in the Americas. Arlon's team brings extensive investment expertise and deep, local industry contacts as they seek to partner with growth-oriented businesses in the food and agriculture sectors. Arlon's investment professionals work collaboratively across geographies, and Arlon's portfolio companies benefit from the team's shared knowledge of regional and global trends. Arlon's investment focus comes from its founding investor, Continental Grain Company, a 200-year-old leader in the food and agriculture space. Rabobank, a leading bank to the global food, beverage and agribusiness industry, is another key Arlon investor. In Latin America, Arlon also works in partnership with VR Investments, a family-owned Brazilian investment company with broad experience in Brazilian businesses. Arlon Group has approximately $1 billion in assets under management and is headquartered in New York with an office in Sao Paulo, Brazil. For more information, visit www.arlongroup.com. Hey,Apologies, again, for not keeping my promise of posting over the weekend. B-School can get unbelievably hectic, unfathomably fast, and it has taken me a while to find my rhythm. But, without further ado, here's the post on Orientation.Orientation for the Daytime MBA program at Fuqua is a three day long, AM-to-AM event that will sweep you off your feet, in some cases literally (more on that later), and leave you with a true sense of what "Team Fuqua" culture is. It involves a lot of information sessions, addresses by the various deans of the school, sessions with second years (O-Team!) who generously take time out of their summer internships to help plan and execute the wonderful programming, and a myriad of opportunities to connect with the 450 odd classmates you are going to spend the next two years getting to know, and hopefully make friends with.The structure of the program at Fuqua divides the batch of (approximately) 450 students into six sections of 75 each. And these sections are a big deal, believe me. One of the highlights of the entire orientation program are Section Olympics, a competition between sections for bragging rights. There are a lot of events that contribute to the section Olympics, and without divulging too much information and ruining the surprise for incoming students next year, the section cheering competition is the absolute HIGHLIGHT! I typed that in caps because the energy in the room is unbelievable when the sections are cheering! It can get really REALLY loud and rambunctious! My section won the cheering competition this year, and believe me, I have never shouted myself hoarse over the course of three days as much as I did here. The other "fun" aspect of the orientation are the theme parties that are organized by the O-team. We had a "nerd" and a "dress your decade" party this year, and they were the perfect place to unwind after a day of, well, fun.The second day also featured a "carnival" complete with activities and games for Fuqua Partners and families, a bouncy castle (hence the sweeping of the feet) and other fun events with classmates and their families.Aside from the fun part, orientation is also an amazing opportunity to connect with your section mates. These 75 people will spend a lot of their time together throughout the Fall terms in core classes, and it is amazing just how diverse the backgrounds are. There are walk-throughs of the different administrative processes around Fuqua, and while all the information can seem overwhelming, it is important to relax and take everything in. The more critical aspect of orientation is to break out and start talking to a lot of people, and while I was a little reluctant on this the first day, I was comfortable starting Day 2. I also met my C-LEAD team (more on this in a later post) on Day 3, an incredible group of 7 people I will spend time with on assignments and studying.For me, the biggest learning out of orientation, and this was a vindication of my decision to choose Fuqua, was the incredible happiness I could sense in the air. I know, that was cliched, and I might sound like I am on a high right now. But trust me, Fuqua is a happy B-School. The community will welcome you without a moment's hesitation, and the incredible support you get here is exactly what you need to get through B-school.While these are early days, and cynics might encourage me to "give it time", I firmly believe Fuqua is the place to be for anyone who finds the support of a community to be vital to their growth. Since I have always valued collaboration and team work over everything else, I could not be happier here!I hope this incredibly long post about orientation helps to give you all a sense of what life at Fuqua is like. I will try and post something next week (If I can't, please blame the upcoming mid-terms, an India party, and then pending assignments and finals :D) As always, please ask any questions you want to and if I can't answer them, I will get help to answer them. First day of Chinese tour company seized assets auction rakes in B71m PHUKET: The first day of the mass auction of assets seized by the Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo) in raids on the now-defunct Tranlee Tour company in Phuket raised more than B70 million more than double than the starting bids suggested. By Tanyaluk Sakoot Tuesday 6 September 2016, 06:29PM The auction of assets seized from the shut-down Chinese tour company Translee Tour Co Ltd today raised more than B70 million. Photo: Phuket City Municipality The auction of assets seized from the shut-down Chinese tour company Translee Tour Co Ltd today raised more than B70 million. Photo: Phuket City Municipality The auction of assets seized from the shut-down Chinese tour company Translee Tour Co Ltd today raised more than B70 million. Photo: Phuket City Municipality The auction of assets seized from the shut-down Chinese tour company Translee Tour Co Ltd today raised more than B70 million. Photo: Phuket City Municipality The assets were seized when more than 100 officers including police, military and Amlo officials raided companies operating under the Tranlee Travel Co Ltd network of businesses at Rassada and Koh Siray, on the east side of Phuket Town, on July 6. (See story here.) The auction began today (Sept 6) at the Phuket City Municipality meeting room, from 10am to 4pm. We had a good response from people today, and it is just the first day of the auction, Theppasu BavornChotidara, Director of Amlos Financial Intelligence Division, told The Phuket News. The starting bids for the 34 assets sold today totalled B31,389,000, but actually sold for B71,534,000 more than double the starting bids, he said. The cruise boat Sampaothong boat had a starting bid of just B4 million, but was sold for B12.9 million, he added. A further 116 items have yet to be sold in the coming days, Mr Theppasu said. Tomorrow, all the buses and transportation vehicles will be up for auction, he noted. The auction will continue tomorrow and Thursday (Sept 7-8), from 10am to 4pm, at the meeting room at the Phuket City municipality building in Phuket Town. All proceeds from the auction will be transferred to the Ministry of Finance, in accordance with the Anti-Money Laundering Act, Mr Theppasu said. Phuket Governor confirms route for B5bn, 12-lane airport expressway PHUKET: Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada today confirmed that the Highways Department has decided on the route the planned 12-lane expressway from Koh Kaew to Phuket International Airport costing B5.5 billion will take. By Darawan Naknakhon Tuesday 6 September 2016, 05:40PM Phuket Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada today confirmed that the Highways Department has decided on the route the planned B5.5 billion airport expressway will take. Photo: PR Dept Governor Chamroen announced the route at a public meeting held at Phuket Rajabhat University today (Sept 6). Present at the meeting were Phuket Provincial Office Chief Administrative Officer (Palad) Pakphom Intarasuwan and Phuket Chamber of Commerce President Surachai Chaiwat. Highways Department Engineer Paisan Suwanrak explained at the meeting that the initial proposal to make the road four lanes wide each way had been expanded to now make the road six lanes each way. The extra two new lanes each way will comprise one lane reserved for motorcycles, and one lane one each side of the expressway being reserved for bicycles. The road aims to ease traffic congestion to Phuket Town, he said. It will have will five overpasses, and will be 80 metres wide and 22.7km long. The road will start near Thalang Technical College, pass Bang Khanoon protected forest and the Heroines Monument and conclude at Koh Kaew about 700 metres north of the Bang Ku Underpass. The project team aims to have the plans finalised by April 2017, then we will proceed with construction. The new road is expected to be complete in 2022, Mr Paisan said. Gov Chamroen explained that the meeting held today was to follow up on the projects progress and to let the public know that the Highways Department had made finalised its decision on the location for the new road, and had selected the best plan for the area. Local government authorities involved in the project and residents living in the areas that will be affected have been informed of the current update on the project, Gov Chamroen said. We also wanted to give the opportunity for everyone to express their opinions or give advice on the project so officials could gather the information from the meeting today to help with the survey and design for this project, he said. PM Prayut to launch Startup 2016 in Phuket PHUKET: Prime Minister Gen Praut Chan-o-cha will arrive in Phuket to launch the Startup Thailand and Digital Thailand 2016 and Phuket as Smart City and Startup Paradise event at Royal Phuket Marina on Friday (Sept 16). technologyeconomicspolitics By Tanyaluk Sakoot Tuesday 6 September 2016, 01:45PM Thai Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-ocha will be in Phuket on Friday next week (Sept 16) to launch the Startup 2016 event at Royal Phuket Marina. Photo: AFP The Phuket Provincial Office of the Public Relations Department announced the news today (Sept 6). The Startup Thailand and Digital Thailand 2016 will be held at Royal Phuket Marina on September 16-18. The event will feature many special keynote presentations by expert speakers from within the startup world and major business community. The event will also include exhibitions on startups, one-on-one mentoring sessions, startup networking, pitching workshops, among many more activities for participants. In addition to launching the Startup Thailand and Digital Thailand 2016 Phuket event, PM Prayut will deliver a speech at the Phuket as Smart City and Startup Paradise event the same day. In the afternoon, PM Prayut will meet and greet residents. in the evening, PM Prayut will join a meeting at Phuket Rajabhat University to discuss economic affairs with local officials and members from the business community. Phuket Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada this week will hold a meeting to prepare for the Prime Ministers visit, Busaya Jiapiam, Chief of the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department, told The Phuket News today (Sept 6). Phuket Smart City and Phuket as Smart City and Startup Paradise are different, but related, projects. More details will be revealed at the Phuket Governor Meets Press public meeting on September 14, she added. eybrj2 wrote: In mid-February 1917 a womens movement independent of political affiliation erupted in Line New York City, the stronghold of (5) the Socialist party in the United states. Protesting against the high cost of living, thousands of women refused to buy chickens, fish, and vegetables. The boycott shut. (10) down much of the Citys foodstuffs marketing for two weeks, riveting public attention on the issue of food prices, which had increased partly as a result of increased (15) exports of food to Europe that had been occurring since the outbreak of the First World War. By early 1917 the Socialist party had established itself as a (20) major political presence in New York City. New York Socialists, whose customary spheres of struggle were electoral work and trade union organizing, seized the (25) opportunity and quickly organized an extensive series of cost-ofliving protests designed to direct the womens movement toward Socialist goals. Underneath the (30) Socialists brief commitment to cost-of-living organizing lay a basic indifference to the issue itself. While some Socialists did view price protests as a direct (35) step toward socialism, most Socialists ultimately sought to divert the cost-of-living movement into alternative channels of protest. Union organizing, they argued, (40) was the best method through which to combat the high cost of living. For others, cost-of-living or oganizing was valuable insofar as it led women into the struggle for suf- (45) frage, and similarly, the suffrage struggle was valuable insofar as it moved United States society one step closer to socialism. Although New Yorks Social- (50) ists saw the cost-of-living issue as, at best ,secondary or tertiary to the real task at hand, the boycotters, by sharp contrast, joined the price protest movement out of (55) an urgent and deeply felt commitment to the cost-of-living issue. A shared experience of swiftly declining living standards caused by rising food prices drove these (60) women to protest. Consumer organizing spoke directly to their daily lives and concerns; they saw cheaper food as a valuable end in itself. Food price protests (65) were these womens way of organizing at their own workplace, as workers whose occupation was shopping and preparing food for their families. (Q1) The author suggests which of the following about the New York Socialists commitment to the costof- living movement? A. It lasted for a relatively short period of time. B. It was stronger than their commitment to the Suffrage struggle. C. It predated the cost-of-living protests that Erupted in 1917. D. It coincided with their attempts to bring more Women into union organizing. E. It explained the popularity of the Socialist party in New York City. (Q2) It can be inferred from the passage that the goal of the boycotting women was the A. achievement of an immediate economic outcome B. development of a more socialistic society C. concentration of widespread consumer protests on the more narrow issue of food prices D. development of one among a number of different approaches that the women wished to employ in combating the high cost of living. E. attraction of more public interest to issues that the women and the New York Socialists considered important. (Q3) Which of the following best states the function of the passage as a whole? A. To contrast the views held by the Socialist party and by the boycotting women of New York City on the cost-of-living issue B. To analyze the assumptions underlying opposing viewpoints within the New York Socialist party of 1917 C. To provide a historical perspective on different approaches to the resolution of the cost-ofliving issue. D. To chronicle the sequence of events that led to the New York Socialist partys emergence as a political power E. To analyze the motivations behind the Socialist partys involvement in the womens suffrage movement (Q4) According to the passage ,most New York Socialists believed which of the following about the cost-of-living movement? A. It was primarily a way to interest women in joining the Socialist party. B. It was an expedient that was useful only insofar as it furthered other goals. C. It would indirectly result in an increase in the number of women who belonged to labor unions. D. It required a long-term commitment but Inevitably represented a direct step Toward socialism. E. It served as an effective complement to union organizing Really awesome passage.I read twice. My take 6 mins, Got two correct. I agree to the two answer choices that I got wrong.M opinion Q3 and Q4 are correct. 11AAA semis will be awesome and more from HS football quarterfinals Turkey plays a significant role in controlling the flow of migrants to Europe, and Ankara signed an agreement with the European Union in March regarding this flow. Under the terms of the deal, the EU and Turkey agreed to the following key points: All new irregular migrants crossing from Turkey into Greek islands will be returned to Turkey. For every Syrian returned to Turkey from Greek islands, another Syrian will be resettled from Turkey. The EU will expedite the disbursement of the 3 billion euros initially allocated and will also mobilize an additional 3 billion euros through the end of 2018. Fulfillment of the visa liberalization roadmap will be accelerated with a view to lifting the visa requirements for Turkish citizens by the end of June 2016 at the latest, provided that all benchmarks have been met. Preparations for Turkeys EU membership would also be accelerated. This agreement made Germany highly dependent on Turkey and contributed to a significant reduction in the flow of refugees from Turkey to Europe. Before the deal, about 1,000 refugees arrived in Greece each day. By July, the rate had dropped to about 60 per day. Meanwhile, Greece has begun returning refugees to Turkey, albeit at a very slow pace. For the German government, the reduction in the flow of refugees from Turkey is a political necessity. While Merkel initially showed great openness toward refugees arriving in Germany, the German governments approval rating has suffered greatly over the past months. This is largely due to dissatisfaction over the governments handling of the refugee crisis and security challenges. There has also been a surge in support for the nationalist Alternative for Germany party . The German government is willing to help integrate those refugees already in Germany and has accepted some new arrivals under various redistribution schemes. However, with elections coming up in 2017, Berlin cannot afford to see another large-scale migration wave through Turkey and Greece. Furthermore, Germany is desperately working to avoid further fragmentation of the EU. The blocs members already diverge greatly in their approach to refugees, and an intensification of the crisis could pull EU members further apart . Nevertheless, the status of the EUs deal with Turkey is currently in flux. Turkey has yet to meet the EUs requirements to qualify for visa liberalization. Both sides knew when they signed the agreement that some of its provisions are far from realistic, especially in the near term. The sides likely agreed to the terms regardless of this reality for political reasons. Erdogan wanted to show ordinary Turks that they would benefit from the deal and that he is advocating on their behalf to the Europeans. The EUs negotiators, in turn, were fully aware that the 72 preconditions laid out for Turkey to qualify for visa-free travel would require much bureaucratic haggling, allowing Brussels to stall on a concession many EU policymakers deem both politically risky in their home countries and a security challenge. One particularly difficult EU-mandated requirement that Turkey amend its counterterrorism legislation was further complicated by the failed coup attempt and ensuing crackdown. Germany and many other EU states have a strong incentive to adhere to the terms of the deal and provide Turkey with some concessions. Turkey, with its struggling economy and large refugee population, is in dire need of the billions of euros that come with the agreement. But Ankara is also aware that Europe relies on Turkey to stem the tide of the migration crisis and is thus aware of its strong position. Ankara is therefore using the agreement and threats of breaking it off in an attempt to achieve its goals when it comes to issues like Gulenists in Europe and influence over Turkish communities, as well as in deflecting European criticism of Erdogans post-coup crackdown. Turkish and German Strategic Considerations Beyond immediate deals and concessions, both Ankara and Berlin are working to broaden strategic goals. One of Turkeys chief aims is to be able to pursue goals unilaterally . Turkey may be a NATO member, and it may be seeking a stronger relationship with Russia, but it does not ultimately want to rely on either side. Ankara is pushing for progress on EU membership, but it is not actually planning on becoming a member in the near future. Turkey is working to become more independent and would not join blocs (like the EU) that would undermine Ankaras ability to make its own decisions. Turkish leaders are also aware that EU expansion is informally on hold. Instead, the accession process is mostly an attempt by Ankara to receive economic concessions from Europe. We rely on your support to make local news available to all Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2022. Donate today Photo by via Facebook We rely on your support to make local news available to all Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2022. Donate today In this June 25, 2008 photo provided by Shui Meng Ng, Sombath Somphone poses for a photograph in an unknown location in Japan. The disappearance of Sombath Somphone nearly four years ago is a reminder of the dismal human rights record of the authoritarian government of Laos, which prepares to host President Barack Obama and Asian leaders at a regional summit starting Tuesday. (Shui Meng Ng via AP) You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close Job Title: Assistant Security Investigator Organisation: United States US Embassy, US Mission in Uganda Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda Salary Grade: FSN-7 (Starting at Ugshs 46,440,981 p.a. inclusive of allowances) Vacancy Announcement Number: 76-16 About US Embassy: The United States Embassy in Kampala, Uganda has enjoyed diplomatic relations with Uganda for over 30 years. Ambassador Deborah R. Malac currently heads the U.S Mission to Uganda. The Mission is composed of several offices and organizations all working under the auspices of the Embassy and at the direction of the Ambassador. Among the offices operating under the U.S Mission to Uganda are: United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Peace Corps Job Summary: The Assistant Security Investigator performs specific tasks and Regional Security Office responsibilities delegated to Posts Foreign Service National Investigators (FSNI) Program. The incumbent carries out liaison functions with working level GOU Officials, and using all available information provides security advice to C/FSNI or RSO. Conducts LES and Contractor background investigations, investigations related to terrorism, criminal activity, suitability and other issues in support of both DS and other USG law enforcement and security agencies. Responsibilities: Key Duties andResponsibilities: Background Investigations (70%) The Assistant Security Investigator initiates background investigation cases, which include new cases and revalidation cases of FSNs, PSCs, and Ugandan security contractors assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. The incumbent follows up these cases with the contracted USDH background investigators to ensure that all requirements are full filled and cases are then closed. Other cases are also reviewed for completion, such as accidents, suspected persons, suspected vehicles, fraud, and other cases assigned to the office. Investigator for the Regional Security Office (25%) The Assistant Security Investigator conducts simple and complex investigations, which could involve theft, pilferage, malfeasance, and threats or security incidents and robberies involving official US personnel. Incumbent will conduct suitability for employment background investigations and maintain investigative files on the backgrounds of all national employees employed by the US Mission. Through the above mentioned liaison capacity, incumbent will utilize resources of the host government security services to aid in the investigative process. The investigative success will many times be dependent upon incumbents access to host country information. Incumbent will utilize a number of techniques to include interviewing, researching, and compiling and accurate interpretation of facts to achieve investigative closure. Some of these investigations will be extremely sensitive and necessitate the utmost discretion and confidentiality. Police and security liaison for the regional security office (5%) The Assistant Security Investigator must be capable of maintaining contact with personnel at all levels of the Ugandan security services, up to and including the Inspector General of the National Police and Commissioner of Immigration. Due to the severe nature of the threats against the US Mission, the level, diversity, relative importance and extent to which the incumbent is required to develop and maintain outside contacts is critical to the continued security of the US Mission. The incumbent will assist liaise with Ugandan security services at large, public events taking place on US Mission property (e.g. GSO warehouse) or taking place at a private location (e.g. USMC Ball at a hotel). The incumbent is the primary link between that RSO and the host country provided Bodyguard Detail for the Chief of Mission. Experience: Qualifications, Skills andExperience: NOTE: All applicants must address each selection criterion detailed below with specific and comprehensive information supporting each item. The applicants for the United US Embassy Assistant Security Investigator career opportunity should have completed secondary school (both O and A levels) is required. At least three years of progressively responsible experience in law enforcement, investigation or surveillance with a military or police organization with a leaning towards management principles is required. Working knowledge of documentary sources of information and familiarity with local laws pertaining to criminal law, fraud management, marriage and military service is required. Good understanding of the local traffic laws and area traffic patterns. Computer literacy i.e. proficiency in use of personal computer (Microsoft programs) Ability to exercise initiative, be resourceful in obtaining information or evidence, draft concise reports in English; and develop and maintain contacts with various security and law enforcement agencies is required. Must have valid local drivers license for combined types of vehicles. Language Proficiency: Level III English ability and level II spoken ability of at least two local languages is required How to Apply: All those interested in working with the US mission in Kampala should send their applications and strictly adhere to the following: Download a completed and signed Universal Application for Employment as a Locally Employed Staff, Download a completed and signed UniversalApplication for Employment as a Locally Employed Staff, Download it Here Any additional documentation that supports or addresses the requirements listed above (e.g. transcripts, degrees, etc.) Submit Application To: Human Resources Office By email at KampalaHR@state.gov NB: Your application will be reviewed if you have fulfilled all the requirements including submission of standard file types such as Microsoft Word (.doc) and Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) in a single attachment (No Zipped files, Links or Multiple Attachments) and should not exceed 10MB. Please clearly indicate the position number and title you are applying for on the DS-174 form. th September 2016 Deadline: 13September 2016 The US Mission in Kampala provides equal opportunity and fair and equitable treatment in employment to all people without regard to race, color religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, political affiliation, marital status, or sexual orientation. The Department of State also strives to achieve equal employment opportunity in all personnel operations through continuing diversity enhancement programs. find us on our Facebook page For more of the latest jobs, please visit https://www.theugandanjobline.com orfind us on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline Organisation: PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda Reference Number: 129-UGA00019 About PwC: PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) supports organisations and individuals create the value theyre looking for. Were a network of firms in 157 countries with more than 208,000 people who are committed to delivering quality in assurance, tax and advisory services. Our purpose is to build trust in society and solve important problems. Our in-depth knowledge and understanding of operating environments in Uganda and the region enables us to put ourselves in our clients shoes and offer truly tailored Tax, Assurance and Advisory solutions to unique business challenges. About Voucher Plus Project: Abt Associates has sub-contracted PwC as the Voucher Management Agent (VMA) that will manage the entire cycle of the voucher program from printing and distribution of vouchers to partners, contracting of Voucher Service Providers (VSPs), redemption of vouchers and payment of authenticated claims to VSPs. Uganda Voucher Plus Activity is a 5 year maternal health voucher program. The program will distribute approximately 385,000 vouchers to poor pregnant mothers in Eastern and Northern Uganda. Job Summary: The Claims and Settlements Manager (Medical Doctor) will be tasked with assessing the validity of claims from a broader technical (including medical) perspective. This will be achieved by providing a supervisory role to the claim vetting officers and data entrants. Responsibilities: Key Duties andResponsibilities: Management of voucher activity stock: On receipt of printed vouchers from printer, verify that vouchers have been printed as per specifications Scan all verified printed vouchers and enter them in the Voucher Management Information System (VMIS) and store them in voucher storage/warehouse Issue vouchers to Community Engagement Agent (CEA) and maintain accurate record of issues Regularly track vouchers sold in the VMIS Maintain up to date and accurate records in regards to voucher stocks Reconcile vouchers sold to income declared Management of Voucher Service Provider (VSP) claims: Review and print off vetted claims from the VMIS for VSP payment processing Ensure VSP claims are regularly reconciled Ensure that VMIS is continually updated to facilitate efficient processing and reporting on VSP payments. Regular review of investigation reports of all quarantined claims and gather sufficient evidence to subsequently approve or reject the claim Work in liaison with the entire Voucher Management Agent team and VSPs to facilitate an effective and efficient payment process Supervising data entrants and claims vetting officers including reviewing their work Generate processed claims report with clear guidance on which claims to process for payments and which ones to reject Keenly monitor for patterns and reoccurrences of claim anomalies and identify capacity gaps in VSPs knowledge and claims reporting Recommend areas for follow-up during field spot checks/ verification and actively participate in spot reviews as will be guided from time to time by the Project Coordinator Carry out periodic analysis of claims data and generate reports as needed Perform any other duties as will be assigned by the Project Coordinator from time to time. Experience: Qualifications, Skills andExperience: The ideal candidate for the Claims and Settlements Manager (Medical Doctor) job must hold a Bachelors degree in medicine Possession of a Masters degree in Obstetrics & Gynaecology or public health will be an added advantage Broad knowledge and extensive clinical experience of at least 3 years in comprehensive obstetric care and reproductive health issues Excellent track record of delivering results as a team in a project of a comparable size, scope and complexity Previous experience in use of computer applications Good teamwork and leadership skills How to Apply: If you are confident that you fit the person and job profile and you are keen on growing your career with one of the leading Consultancy firms in the Country, please visit our Careers website. th September 2016 Deadline: 8September 2016 find us on our facebook page For more of the latest jobs, please visit https://www.theugandanjobline.com orfind us on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline After a three-year investigation, the European Union Commission (EUC) has ordered Ireland to collect 13 billion ($14.5 billion) in back tax plus interest from Apple. Defending the companys tax practices, Apple CEO Timothy Cook denied any wrongdoing. Having been in a sweetheart fiscal courtship with Apple for a quarter century, Ireland, too, does not want to take this money. Both Ireland and Apple are appealing for a review by the EU Commission. Unless the EUC reverses its order, it is going to be a battle royal, pitting the EU against Apple, Ireland, and the US. Romancing multinationals American multinationals have stashed huge profits offshore to evade high corporate tax35 per cent tax on company profitsimposed by the US federal tax system. Ireland has been offering tax holidays to attract investments from the USA, particularly Silicon Valley. In Europe, Ireland levies the lowest rate of 12.5 per cent on company profit. By drastically cutting on business tax, the Celtic tiger aggressively competes with advanced nations in enticing foreign investors. The rapid growth of Ireland from 1990 to 2000 was fuelled by foreign investments. Here the Irish finance minister Michael Noonan sees a jealousy problem among the other 27 EU nations. He quipped, There's envy across the EU about how we've established so many HQs in Dublin. Have the apple and eat it too Apple Inc relocated its headquarters to Ireland after it was offered almost a tax haven, an accusal denied by both. Two Irish-registered companiesApple Sales International and Apple Operations Europedeal with brands and intellectual properties of Apple products, excluding regions of North and South America. Apple CEO Tim Cook introduces the new Apple iPad Air 2 during an event at Apple headquarters. File Photo: AP Apple is sitting on an accrued profit of $181 billion, offshored elsewhere to keep it out of reach by the US taxman. The California-based Apple has been accused of paying tax nowhere. But Apple claims it has transparent tax policies and it complies with all the tax laws wherever it operates. Calling the EU Commissions decision maddening and political, Apple CEO Tim Cook sent an open letter to Apple customers, justifying Irish tax dealings. Denying tax dodging charges in the USA, Cook said Apple would pay the taxes it owes to the US next year, when it repatriates a part of its fortune home. The tax amount demanded by EUC comes to about 27 per cent of Apples 2015 profits. Detractors say that the multinational can easily pay off its dues out of the $53 billion in profit this fiscal year on its global sale of more than $233 billion. Modus operandi: Sales from Europe are accounted at Apple Sales International based in Cork, Ireland. The profits are then shown as settled to head office that exists only in documents. A part of the profit is earmarked for funding R&D and is transferred to Apple Inc, USA. Thus the multinational escapes paying negligible tax on its profits, alleges the EUC. Ireland in a soup On the tax row with the EUC, both Ireland and Apple are on the same pageIreland 'disagrees profoundly' with the EUC. The Irish parties say that the EUC has overstepped its authority by dictating tax terms to a sovereign government. Dublin wants to retain its low corporate tax structure to attract investment and to create jobs. Though 13 billionequivalent to its healthcare budgetis a huge attraction for Irish politicians, Ireland does not want to alienate the big corporates that have set up their HQs in the country. Nor does it want the image as a tax haven that can anger Europeans. America outraged The USA assumes it has the first claim over the profits its multinationals generate anywhere in the world. It wants the offshore profits to be repatriated for taxation at home based on the principle that corporate profits must be taxed where it creates value. So, the US is angry with Brussels for ordering to collect tax from a US multinational. Washington has accused the EU of trying to snatch its tax revenue that Apple owes to the US government. The US says that the EUC has no authority to dictate tax to a free nation. US Treasury poked at the EUC, calling it supra-natural tax authority. The US treasury said the EUC order was vitiating the business atmosphere in Europe and warned that it could keep foreign investors away. In the event of a fight, the US government would support its multinational. Europe unforgiving The EUC says this is a case of corporate tax avoidance, established on the basis of evidence. It said it had no issue with the USA. The EU maintains that a member country cannot offer itself as a tax haven for a corporate, and then let it take advantage of the worlds biggest single market. For the sake of investment or for creating a few jobs, the EU cannot allow an independent area where taxes are levied at a low rateApple employs 5,500 people in Ireland. Ireland cannot have a tax regime that is not in line with the EU regulations. And all other EU nations are agreeing. Tax trouble is looming Governments are worried that companies move their corporate office aroundat least on paperto countries with low corporate tax structure. The issue of US multinationals parking money offshore has been a major concern for US Treasury and there are cries for changes in federal tax policy. Multinationals accumulate wealth abroad and get away with tax cut after lobbying for repatriating it. Finally, it is cleared on ground of investments for job creation. The final showdown Who will win this tax tussle? Will Apple pay the dues to Ireland? Will Ireland change its tax laws agreeable to the EU? Will the EU relent? Will the US let go its corporate tax? The world is watching the outcome at Brussels. It seems other nations, too, are joining the fray. Agitated farmers and activists belonging to pro-Kannada outfits blocked Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway on Tuesday as protests intensified in the wake of the Supreme Court directive to the state to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. Mandya district, the nucleus of Cauvery politics, saw a bandh with protesters holding road blockades and dharnas at several places, as hundreds of security personnel, including Central forces, were deployed in the Cauvery belt to maintain law and order. Prohibitory orders have been clamped around Krishnarajasagar Dam and entry of visitors to it prohibited till September 9, as the Cauvery row hotted up after the Supreme Court direction to Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for the next 10 days to address the plight of the farmers there. Protesters also mobbed and ransacked several government offices in Mandya forcing their shut down, while attendance at government offices remained thin, police said. The Supreme Court's direction on Monday triggered an immediate backlash with a farmers' body, spearheading the stir, calling for a bandh on Tuesday in Mandya district. Shops, hotels, theatres and other commercial establishments remained shut while schools and colleges declared a holiday in the district where state-run and private buses were also not plying. Protests are also being held in Mysuru and Hassan districts, fed by the Cauvery, demanding Karnataka not release water. Venting their anger, protesters burnt effigy of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa at several places. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is holding a meeting of senior ministers, legal experts and officials, has invited legislature floor leaders and MPs later on Tuesday to discuss the further course of action. The government appealed to people not to resort to agitation and urged them to maintain calm. "My appeal to the public is that don't resort to agitation...and keep calm and we will make all efforts to protect the interest of the farmers," Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T.B. Jayachandra told reporters in Bengaluru. Jayachandra said people should maintain calm as it is an order by the Supreme Court and the government needed to go before the Cauvery supervisory committee and convince it. "My appeal is be calm, and don't spoil any government property or anything because it is a Supreme Court order. We have to go before the Supervisory Committee and we want to try to convince (it) also," the minister said. Former chief minister and state BJP President B.S. Yeddiyurappa asked the government to file a petition countering the Supreme Court order. In Mandya city, Kannada Rakshna Vedike outfit activists held a bike rally and burnt the effigy of Jayalalithaa. G. Madegowda, president of Cauvery Hita Rakshana Samithi, the body spearheading the agitation, criticised the chief minister and irrigation minister for their "irresponsible" behaviour over the Cauvery issue. He also called on the district MLAs to resign enmasse to protest against the "injustice". Congress legislative party leader in Tripura Assembly, Gopal Chandra Roy, feels that Mamata Banerjee should have got married to understand the plight of families in her state. In fact, he feels that only a married politician is fit enough to understand the woes of their states or regions. "How can a politician understand the trouble of the sons and daughters of a person who is fighting hard to earn money? If he or she could not become father or mother, how could one understand the pathetic situation the fathers and mothers are in? For this a politician would have to get married," Roy told THE WEEK. "Look at Mamata Banerjee. She is not married and which is why she could not understand the condition of Bengali families who are living in dire straits because of lack of development and unemployment," Roy went on to say. Roy made these comments as a response to Mamata Banerjee's big entry into Tripura politics where she vowed that she would uproot the mountainous Left front government which has been governing the state for more than 24 years. "We all want the Left front to go. But we dont want that to be replaced with a government led by Mamata Banerjee," the former state Congress president said. When asked about the bachelorhood of Rahul Gandhi, he said with a smile, "How can you compare Rahul with Mamata? He is much younger than Mamata and still has time to get married". Trinamool Congress legislature and leader of the opposition in Tripura Assembly Sudip Roy Barman said about Roy's comment, "Its just out of bad taste." Mamata was the minister of state for youths affairs, women and child development in P.V. Narsimha Raos government for a brief period as she resigned protesting an understanding with the Left parties in Parliament. Mamata is not the only unmarried politician, who is chief minister of a state. Odishas Chief Minister Navin Patnaik and Assams Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal are also unmarried. As with Mamata, both Navin and Sonowal also received huge mandate in their respective state elections. Anjem Choudary, Britain's best-known Islamist preacher, was jailed on Tuesday for five years and six months for encouraging support for Islamic State, ending years of frustration for police who had struggled to pin charges on him. Choudary, 49, and close associate Mizanur Rahman, 33, who received the same sentence, had been convicted by a jury in July of using the Internet to urge followers to back the banned group, which controls large areas of Syria and Iraq. "These men have stayed just within the law for many years and there has been frustration for both law enforcement agencies and communities as they spread hate," said Dean Haydon, head of counter-terrorism at London's Metropolitan Police. "We have watched Choudary developing a media career as spokesman for the extremists, saying the most distasteful of comments, but without crossing the criminal threshold," Haydon said in a statement. Long denounced by the press in Britain as a hate preacher, Choudary is also well-known abroad, making regular TV appearances in the wake of attacks by Islamist militants to blame Western foreign policy for targeting Muslims. His trial heard that in postings on social media, Choudary and Rahman had pledged allegiance to the "caliphate" declared by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and said Muslims had a duty to obey or provide support to him. "Their recent speeches and the oath of allegiance were a turning point for the police - at last we had the evidence that they had stepped over the line and we could prove they were actively encouraging support of ISIS," said Haydon. Both men had denied the terrorism charges and said the case against them was politically motivated. They were convicted after a four-week trial at London's Old Bailey criminal court, where they were sentenced by a judge on Tuesday. Choudary, the former head of the now banned organisation al-Muhajiroun, first drew widespread attention for praising the men behind the 9/11 attacks on the United States and for saying he wanted to convert Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth's official London residence, into a mosque. OATH OF ALLEGIANCE Despite such comments and his refusal to condemn attacks by Islamists, including bombings of the London transport system in 2005, Choudary has always denied any involvement in militant activity and had never been previously charged with any terrorism offence. Rahman had previously served two years in jail for encouraging followers during a protest in 2006 to kill British and U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.Evidence presented during the trial included speeches posted online in which Choudary spelt out his arguments for recognising Al-Baghdadi as the leader of Islamic State. The court had also heard that Choudary and Rahman had pledged allegiance to the group and used Mohammed Fachry, a convicted terrorist, to publish the oath on an Indonesian website. "The jury were sure that you knowingly crossed the line between the legitimate expression of your own views and the criminal act of inviting support for an organisation which was at the time engaged in appalling acts of terrorism," said the judge, Timothy Holroyde. "You are both mature men and intelligent men who knew throughout exactly what you were doing. "Al-Muhajiroun, a banned group whose name in Arabic means 'The Emigrants', has been viewed as a breeding ground for militants since it was founded in the late 1990s by Syrian-born Islamist cleric Omar Bakri. He was banished from Britain in 2005. Police said the group was suspected of being the driving force behind the 2005 London bombings, while Michael Adebolajo, one of the men who hacked to death British soldier Lee Rigby on a London street in 2013, had attended protests organised by Choudary. The group's influence is believed to extend far beyond Britain. Those connected to it include Abu Hamza al-Masri, who was jailed for life in the United States last year for terrorism-related offences. President Barack Obama canceled what would have been his first meeting with Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte, after Duterte described Obama in vulgar terms, a White House spokesman said on Tuesday. Duterte, a plain-spoken populist known for his colorful remarks and his campaign against illegal drugs in which thousands of people have died, described Obama as a son of a b###h to reporters on Monday, a day ahead of the planned meeting in Laos, where South Asian leaders are meeting for annual summits. Obama learned about the insult as he emerged from the Group of 20 summit in Hangzhou, China. At a news conference, he said he had told his aides to speak with Philippine officials to find out is this, in fact, a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations, leaving little doubt that the meeting would not proceed as planned. I always want to make sure that if I'm having a meeting, that it's actually productive and we're getting something done, Obama told reporters. Instead, Obama now plans to meet later on Tuesday with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, said Ned Price, spokesman for the White House National Security Councila meeting where the response to North Korea's latest missile tests is expected to be on the agenda. Obama arrived in Vientiane just before midnight on Monday, for the first visit by a sitting US president to Laos, where he wants to begin to address the legacy of US bombing during the Vietnam War. He was set to give an address on the importance he has placed on Southeast Asia in his foreign and economic policy during his two terms in office, which will end on January 20, setting the stage for three days of meetings with regional leaders. The White House had said Obama did not plan to pull any punches on his concerns about human rights abuses in the Philippines, its treaty ally, when meeting Duterte. Duterte said it would be rude for Obama to raise the human rights issue, and told reporters such a conversation would prompt him to curse at Obama, using a Filipino phrase for "son of a b###h." "Plenty will be killed until the last pusher is out of the streets. Until the (last) drug manufacturer is killed we will continue," he said. Its not the first time Duterte has cursed at a world leader. He called Pope Francis a son of a w###e in May, and called US Ambassador Philip Goldberg a gay son of a w###e. On Monday, Obama said he recognized the importance of fighting the drug trade, but insisted it must be done under the rule of law. ASEAN Summit The unusually open tensions threaten to overshadow the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Asia Summits in Laos from Tuesday to Thursday. The 10-member ASEAN will meet leaders of other regional powersChina, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Russia and the United States. The Philippines has been a key US ally in its dispute with China over the South China Sea, in which Washington blames Beijing for militarising a vital global trade route and jeopardising freedom of movement at sea and in the air. China rejects those accusations, and in turn blames the United States for ratcheting up tensions unnecessarily. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims. An arbitration court in The Hague in July invalidated China's vast territorial claims to the waterway after a case was brought by the Philippines, a ruling that Beijing refuses to recognise. Duterte said last month he expected all ASEAN members to support the arbitration court's ruling, but that the Philippines would not raise the issue in Laos. The dictionary defines diplomacy as the skill or tact in dealing with peoplewith special emphasis on managing international relations, if we may add. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte seems to have stumbled upon the definition a bit late, it seems. Having called his American counterpart Barack Obama a son of a b---h at a press gathering, he later expressed regret that "it came across as a personal attack on the US President". The Philippines President had come down heavily on drug dealers in the country, which has, reportedly, led to the killing of more than 2,000 suspected peddlers, including extrajudicial killings. The US had raised concerns over human rights violation. When asked about chances of Obama raising the issue again during their meeting, Duterte remarked that the US President should look at his own country's record of extrajudicial killings, and dropped the abusive bombshell. It led to the cancellation of the meeting between them. Duterte had, last month, abused the US ambassador to his country, Philip Goldberg, calling him gay son of a b---h. For those not familiar with Duterte's 'foul-mouthed exploits' in the past, here's a look at five such instances: The United Nations came under fire from Duterte after the world body repeatedly criticised the extrajudicial killing of drug dealers in the country. He termed UN human rights experts stupid and even threatened to quit the UN. He slammed the world body for failing to stop killings in the Middle East and Africa. He also refused to meet United Nations Secretary General Ban-ki Moon. Duterte called Pope Francis son of a b---h and told him not to visit his country anymore. Reason? He was caught in a traffic jam caused by the Pope's visit. Though he said later that he did not intend to attack the Pope personally and was only criticising the government's failure to handle the situation, he refused to apologise. In April this year, he mocked a rape victim, Jacqueline Hamill, who was working in a prison in Davao when she was raped and killed during a riot by inmates in 1989. Duterte was the citys mayor then. He said: ...What came to mind was, they raped her, they lined up. I was angry because she was raped, thats one thing. But she was so beautiful, the mayor should have been first. What a waste." His comments were criticised worldwide but it didn't dent his popularity much in the country. Commenting on an international court verdict that ruled in favour of the Philippines in the South China sea territorial row with China, Duterte remarked that he will go there on a jet ski, plant the flag of the Philippines and challenge the Chinese authorities to kill him. When asked about allegations of being a womaniser, he responded as only he can: I was separated from my wife. I am not impotent. What am I supposed to do? Let this hang forever? When I take Viagra, it stands up. This year, TheChesedFund.com revolutionized Jewish fundraising. Created as a resource for Jews all over the world to raise money for important causes without being robbed by heavy fees, the site has quickly gained popularity and taken the crowdfunding world by storm. However some may doubt the pure intentions behind this venture, under the old adage that some things are too good to be true. YWN sat down with Chesed Fund founder Avi Kehat, to ask hard questions. The Chesed Fund site will always be free, he said, definitively. We created this site so there could be free fundraising for Jewish causes. He continued, We have received so much emotional support and encouragement from users and we are continuing our mission at full speed. The Chesed Fund has continued to grow in popularity, as people all over the world have experienced tremendous success in their fundraising ventures. It certainly seems that this resource will continue to be absolutely free. The real question seems to be who will choose to benefit from it, and who will continue to take their business to the sites growing rich on their 5%. Turns out, not everything is too good to be true. CLICK HERE TO VISIT THECHESEDFUND.COM (YWN NYC World Headquarters) YWN-ISRAEL recently reported on the continued attacks by Arabs against Jews visiting Har HaZeisim. Following the report, Menachem Lubinsky, who serves as Co-Chairman of the International Committee (ICPHH) for the Preservation of Har HaZeisim issued the following clarification for the benefit of readers and those wishing to visit kevarim on Har HaZeisim. The facts are that since October 2015, there have been few attacks against visitors and no desecrated graves. The network of 172 surveillance cameras as well as a platoon of Border Police and 24 officers of the Israeli Police have kept the cemetery and its environs relatively safe. People are once again coming to Har HaZeisim as was evidenced during the yahrzeits of Gur (20,000), Zvill (20,000) and the Ohr Hachaim (40,000). While many people do opt to visit with private security [the ICPHH also provides this service] hundreds visit daily without security in complete safety. Your readers will be interested to know that the Israeli Government has invested nearly NIS 100 million into the cemetery and has drawn up plans to further improve security, including the hiring of 1260 police officers for Eastern Jerusalem. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) [PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE] Johannes Kahrs, one of the leaders of the parliamentary group of Social Democratic Party (SPD), the second-largest political party in Germany, visited a Jewish Community Center in Berlin last week to address community issues and answer questions from the public. When asked regarding what the German government can do to resolve the Jewish communitys fears of the growing wave of extremism in the country due to the surge of foreign immigrants and war in ISIS, Kahrs replied, The real problem is that, until now, there is still no Law of Integration. Instead of requiring potential immigrants to approach German Embassies in their native countries to fill out forms and undergo a preliminary interviewthey simply havent done it. Presently, everyone just comes straight to Germany, and we cant know whos coming. Practically, this will take time, but we need to instill democratic foundations in these people until we succeed. Kahrs attacked the extreme right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD), party that will contend in two weeks time in municipal elections in Berlin and, according to recent surveys taken, is slated to enter the government in Berlin. According to Kahrs, Integration can only succeed if there are people working actively to promote it, and there is sufficient funding. The fundamental problem here is that there are between 8% to 10% of people who arent interested in integration. Most people want to live together in harmony, but there are others who fear change and are busy negating others. But, slowly, we can make a change. Practically, there is no immediate response or magic solution, but each and every person can work on this. AfD exploits peoples fears to advance their political agendas. Kahrs added that According to surveys, 20%-25% of the public in certain areas will vote AfD because the latter appeals to them and convinces them that all our countrys problems are rooted in the immigrants. It doesnt reflect the truth at all, but its easy and convenient to believe. The conference, hosted by Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal, Rabbi of the Jewish community in Berlin, was arranged by Mr. Stefan Hensel, Chairman of the German-Israeli Association in Hamburg, in cooperation with Rabbi Shlomo Bistritzky, Rabbi of the Jewish community in Hamburg, which Kahrs represents in the Budenstag. The conference took place in the main reception hall of the Jewish Community Center Synagogue and was attended by some fifty guests, among them members of the Jewish community and a delegation of youth leaders and activists from Hamburg. Johannes Kahrs previously served as one of the leading spokesmen for the German-Turkish Parliamentary Friendship Group advocating the admission of Turkey into the European Union. At the conference, he was asked about his current stance following motions to cease negotiations in response to Erdogans harsh retaliation against the revolution attempt. Kahrs reply was, I know that Im in the minority, but I believe that we must communicate openly with Turkey, because thats the only way we can influence them to honor various religions, minorities, and to act against capital punishment () Only if we talk to them, and continue doing so for a long time, will we perhaps succeed in fifteen years to change them and influence society there. Rabbi Teichtal thanked Kahrs for the visit, noting that The Jewish community in Berlin opposes extremism both religious and right-wing political. In this tense period, the paramount goal for us as community leaders is to promote tolerance, patience, and to give a personal example of this in all our activities. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo Credit: Jewish Community Centre, Berlin) [PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE] With Elul upon us, preparations for Rosh Hashanah continue in Uman, where tens of thousands of mispallalim are expected to arrive. The arrival of visitors will begin before Rosh Hashanah and continue through Tishrei. While visitors arrive year-round at the tziyun of Rav Nachman ZTL ZYA, most will do so during Tishrei with Rosh Hashanah being the largest annual event. Streets near the tziyun are undergoing renovations and a large hachnasas orchim tents have been established. Uman Express CEO Refael Tubul announces his company will be ready to shuttle people from Ukraine Airport to Uman, announcing new air-conditioned vans and buses will be servicing travelers. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo Credit: News 24) The District Court in Lod rejected the appeal filed by Honenu and in an unprecedented decision ruled that despite the fact that entry to Kever Yehoshua is permitted to Israeli citizens, because Arabs from the nearby village endanger the lives of Israelis entering the site, entry to the hostile area without prior coordination with the IDF constitutes a criminal violation. On Thursday, 28 Menachem Av, Judge Zahava Bustan of the Central District Court in Lod rejected the appeal filed by Honenu Attorney Chai Haber on the distancing of 13 Jews who attempted to daven at the kever, near Ariel in the Shomron on 25 Menachem Av and were assaulted by Arabs from the village of Kifl Hares (Timnat Hares), in which the tomb is located. Haber claimed that the group of mispallalim who have been distanced by the Petah Tikva Magistrate Court from Yehuda and Shomron for 60 days, did not carry out any violation because entry to the village by Israeli citizens is permitted by law. In his opinion there is absolutely no basis to accusing them of being a public nuisance because the law stipulates that a forbidden act be carried out, and there is no disagreement that entry to Kifl Hares is permitted to Jews. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) On Monday, 2 Elul, the Defense Exports Control Agency (DECA) at Israels Ministry of Defense marks its 10th anniversary with a celebratory conference attended by Minister of Defense Avigdor Lieberman, Defense Ministry Director-General Major-General (res) Udi Adam, top members of the defense establishment and hundreds of defense industries. DECA was established on July 2, 2006, in order to implement Israeli policy and security interests, and to prevent the leaking of technologies, information and defense equipment. Over the past two years, on the heels of a decades worth of experience, DECA formulated a comprehensive reform of its capabilities, centered on organizational changes, electronic accessibility, and a benefits package to exporters. In his speech at the conference, DECA Director Mr. Dubi Lavi revealed the following: Expanded exemption for marketing permits for unclassified products to the United States Exemptions for temporary export licenses for participation in exhibitions Reforms in the field of counter-terrorism marketing licenses- at the center of which is an exemption from a marketing license for a list of products to exempted countries. Expanded exemptions for marketing licenses through an intermediary- an exporter with a valid license will not need to request an additional license for international intermediaries from exempted countries. General marketing license to 98 exempt countries- exporters requesting marketing licenses for unclassified products for an exempt country will receive a general license for all 98 countries (or some of them) Online submission of export license applications through the Ministry of Defenses ECOM exporters website Extended validity of marketing licenses from three, to four years Updated Israeli munitions list Minister of Defense Avigdor Lieberman told defense exporters: Defense exports play an important part in the IDFs strength as well as the economic strength of the State of Israel. Nationally, the defense industries provide thousands of jobs. Internationally, defense exports add value to strengthen the bilateral relationships of Israel with countries around the world. The establishment of DECA and its success are closely tied to the deep friendship between Israel and the United States since the establishment of the state until today. Despite the natural differences of opinions between friends, the friendship between the two countries is strong and stable, based on mutual trust and a strong strategic partnership. I saw and felt throughout my years in politics but especially during my years as Minister of Foreign Affairs and today, as Minister of Defense. Ministry of Defense Director-General Udi Adam welcomed the conferences hundreds of participants and DECA staff, saying: We are in a trend of relief in favor of the industry and exporter, together with increased enforcement and not compromise. The parameters that stand before our eyes at each point in time are the security of the state of Israel and protecting our relationships with our partners, the defense industries as an economic lever- as a center of excellence for research and development and a source of livelihood for tens and hundreds of thousands of Israeli households, and how the public can meet them. We will continue to facilitate the proper responsibility alongside increased enforcement. I expect from the manufacturers to find a collective responsibility and avoid destructive competition. DECA Director, Mr. Dubi Lavi: In its first ten years, DECA has issued hundreds of thousands of licenses to Israeli defense exporters, helped to promote defense exports from Israel, and, perhaps primarily, prevented the leaking of technology, retained the strategic advantages of the Israeli defense establishment and the interests of our major partners. Thanks to our extensive experience over the past ten years, today, we know better where to invest monitoring efforts. The rest are significantly easy to simultaneously tighten the enforcement and penalties on violators. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) MK Uri Maklev accuses Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat of ignoring the needs of children in capital, which has resulted in their deprivation of basic human rights. Maklev took part in a visit to the Yovel School on Sunday, 2 Rosh Chodesh Elul, which is located in the Bayit Vegan neighborhood of the capital. The school was opened to serve the growing number of children living in nearby Kiryat Yovel. Maklev expressed satisfaction with the opening of the new school, which is says is a major step in responding the needs of Kiryat Yovel residents. He explains the chareidi families were a small minority in the community a number of years ago, and they suffered greatly as Mayor Barkat and his advisors ignored their most basic needs, often at the expense of the young children who simply requested to be permitted to study in an orderly and appropriate classroom, nothing more. He called the citys response to the needs of Kiryat Yovels growing chareidi community an injustice, citing they have been compelled to travel distances daily in order to place their children in an appropriate school. Accompanying Maklev were Deputy Mayor Yitzchak Pindrus, Councilman Eliezer Ruchberger, and Councilman Yisrael Kellerman. Maklev explained the opening of the new school was the result of persistence and mesirus nefesh by those involved as City Hall was not exhibiting a willingness to assist. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met on Monday morning 2 Elul in Jerusalem, with Mr. Mikhail Bogdanov, President Vladimir Putins Special Envoy for the Middle East. The two discussed the possibility of coordinating a meeting between the Prime Minister and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). They also discussed President Putins proposal to host a face-to-face meeting between the Prime Minister and President Abbas in Moscow. The Prime Minister presented Israels position that he is always ready to meet with President Abbas directly and without preconditions. He is therefore reviewing the Russian Presidents proposal and the timing of a possible meeting. Interestingly, just this week, Abu Mazen announced his willingness to return to diplomatic negotiations with Israel, but only if Israel agrees to PA preconditions, which Jerusalem has rejected. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Support for the Black Lives Matter movement has increased among young white adults, according to a poll that suggests a majority of white, black, Asian and Hispanic young adults now support the movement calling for accountability for police in the deaths of African-Americans. Fifty-one percent of white adults between the ages of 18 and 30 say in a GenForward poll they now strongly or somewhat support Black Lives Matter, a 10-point increase since June, while 42 percent said they do not support the movement. But most young whites also think the movements rhetoric encourages violence against the police, while the vast majority of young blacks say it does not. And young whites are more likely to consider violence against police a serious problem than say the same about the killings of African-Americans by police. Black, Hispanic and Asian youth already had expressed strong majority support for the Black Lives Matter movement in the June poll. Eighty-five percent of African-American young adults now say they support the protesters. Sixty-seven percent of Asian and 62 percent of Hispanic young adults agreed with that sentiment. The GenForward survey of adults age 18 to 30 is conducted by the Black Youth Project at the University of Chicago with the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The first-of-its-kind poll pays special attention to the voices of young adults of color, highlighting how race and ethnicity shape the opinions of a new generation. Sean Bradley, 26, of Clearwater, Florida, said watching several encounters between police and black suspects online helped cement his support for Black Lives Matter. As a white male, he said, he also has had run-ins with the police and witnessed officers trying to cover for what he considered illegal conduct by other officers. The fact is that the police target blacks and they discriminate against blacks, Bradley said. Because of how theyve treated blacks over the years, of course they (blacks) dont trust them (police) and I know for a fact that some of the things the police do are illegal. I would be upset as well. The Black Lives Matter movement emerged in 2012 after Florida neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman was acquitted in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager, Trayvon Martin. It gathered strength in ensuing years following the deaths of other black men at the hands of police in New York, South Carolina, Baltimore and elsewhere. The August GenForward poll came after police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, fatally shot Alton Sterling after pinning him to the ground, and after Philando Castile was shot and killed by a white police officer during a traffic stop in a suburb of Minneapolis. Asked specifically about recent killings of black people by the police, 72 percent of African-American young people, 61 percent of Asian-Americans, 51 percent of Latinos and 40 percent of whites said they consider those killings part of a larger pattern, rather than isolated. But young blacks are much more likely than young whites to call killings of black people by the police a very or extremely serious problem, 91 percent to 43 percent. Sixty-three percent of young whites think that violence against police is a serious problem, similar to the 60 percent of young African-Americans who say so. Young whites also are more likely to say they trust Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump than Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton to handle attacks against the police, 45 percent to 28 percent, though they prefer Clinton for handling police violence against African-Americans, 44 percent to 20 percent. Majorities of young African-Americans trust Clinton more to handle violence by and against police. Young Asian-Americans and Hispanics are also more likely to trust Clinton than Trump both. And 66 percent of whites also said that they believe that Black Lives Matters rhetoric encourages violence against police, compared with 43 percent of Asian-Americans, 42 percent of Hispanics, and 19 percent of African-Americans who said so. Samuel Martin, 27, of Conway, South Carolina, is one of those white supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement, and said hes supported its goals from the beginning. He also vehemently disagreed with the idea that Black Lives Matters rhetoric encourages violence against police. The only thing that would encourage violence against police would be thinking that black lives do not matter, Martin said. (AP) A terminal at Los Angeles International Airport was temporarily evacuated and some flights were delayed after an arrest led to a security breach Sunday morning. Some travelers moved past a security area without being screened when officers asked them to move inside Terminal 3 as they pulled over a driver in a stolen vehicle outside the terminal, airport police Officer Rob Pedregon said. He said about 15 people went through an emergency exit and onto the tarmac. Police quickly moved those people back into the airport, and the terminal was evacuated as a precaution, Pedregon said. Police searched the terminal with bomb-sniffing dogs and, once the area was cleared, as many as 2,000 travelers had to be rescreened, authorities said. An unknown number of flights were delayed. A Texas man was arrested on suspicion of possessing a stolen car and narcotics. He was identified as 35-year-old Larry McKenney. Four others who were in or near the car were questioned and released, police said. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a statement that recent events around the world have caused travelers everywhere to have a heightened level of concern for their safety. The millions of people whose journeys begin, end, or pass through LAX should know that it has the finest, most prepared airport police force and federal security personnel in the nation and that their safety and protection will always be our number-one priority, he said. The evacuation came a week after 911 calls falsely reporting gunshots at LAX sent panicked travelers running onto streets and the tarmac. A search uncovered no evidence of a gunman or shots fired. Officials said loud noises spurred the 911 calls, and police were still investigating their source. (AP) The chief of Britains new Brexit department says the government will not be rushed as it develops detailed plans for leaving the European Union, as Prime Minister Theresa May backed away from proposals to use a point-based system to manage immigration. David Davis told Parliament Monday his new ministry already has 180 staffers backed by 120 more working in Brussels. In China for the G-20 summit, May said she is not in favor of a point-based immigration system that had been backed by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage, key leaders of the pro-Brexit campaign. She said the Australian-style system would not give Britain sufficient control of who enters the country, as sought by Brexit backers. (AP) Ezra Friedlander takes special effort to promote Tim Kaine, a transparent attempt to deflect our view on the Democrat candidate herself. This would be at least amusing if Kaine was the prime candidate instead of the heartbeat-away candidate. Unfortunately, he and his chevra require that we check our brain at the door: Kaine is moving more toward a Hillary hashkafa rather than the reverse. Let us look at who Tim Kaine supports, and for who Tim Kaine now lies. The FBI Director Comey testified that Hillary Clinton was not truthful in any of her statements regarding her personal server: That it was permitted by State Department policy (it wasnt), over use of multiple devices (untrue), that she returned all work related emails after her tenure (she didnt), that she properly handled classified material (untrue), that the information wasnt classified at the time she handled it (untrue), that others may have but she didnt (untrue), that it wasnt properly marked (it was), that it wasnt very sensitive in any case (it was), and that she didnt delete any work-related emails (she did). She also, as we learned from these emails, lied to the families of the Benghazi victims. The incriminating information about her emails and contained within her emails continues to flow forth, with even more shocking information arriving at our doorsteps on Friday (her inability to recall national security briefings about which shes affixed her signature because of something in her medical past, and thousands of more emails she failed to turn over, and her overt attempts to delete emails subject to formal discovery or investigative processes). But enough about emails. Lets take a step back; the publics impatient eyes glaze over with disinterest over any more email discussion. Besides, why should Jews care? Hillary not only supported the outbreak of the so-called Arab Spring, she was a willing participant. She caused the ouster and murder of Qaddafi (who had been cooperating with us over Libyas WMD) and brazenly admitted We came. We saw. He died. Hee hee hee. Her policies directly caused the rise in ISIS in Libya, and famously led to the attack by ISIS terrorists on U.S. interests in Benghazi and the assassination of Ambassador Stevens. Hillary lied and people died. Now Israel has to contend strategically with ISIS north, east, and south Syria, Iraq, and in the Sinai along their backdoor. The CIA director testified in an open congressional session that ISIS has infiltrated refugee flows to Europe and the USA a tactical nightmare but also a ticking bomb in that first and second generation immigrant planting their seeds in the melting pot of our Civil Society. During her term as SECSTATE, her specialty was yelling and cursing; she self-described her role in the Obama White House in dealing with Israeli officials: I was often the designated yeller. Hillarys policies, and the ramifications thereof, certainly seem to have some relevance to the Jewish world. It was only during the congressional inquiry into this tragedy that we discovered her private secret server. We subsequently learned from additional emails that the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI, Hillarys foundation) was being used as the personal plaything of her staff. Her server was secret so that she could avoid scrutiny into CGIs activities, a violation of the Federal Records Act. As I write, there are multiple investigations into how contributors to Hillarys CGI were granted favors at the top of the State Department queue; racketeering in the purest form! Our society of law-and-order we ditch while the Clintons enrich. Were way beyond the sale of the Lincoln Bedroom. Is the sale of U.S. Foreign policy, or pieces thereof, or key employment placement within the policy establishment, or the best financial deals and opportunities all up for the highest bidders to Hillarys CGI really to the benefit of the U.S.A? It defies logic to contend that it does. Who are Hillarys friends? Who has the biggest checkbook? Which countries and interests have the biggest checkbook? Are they friends of the Jews? Hillary Clinton supports #BlackLivesMatter, an organization that philosophically aligns itself with the Palestinians Arabs, and comes to Israel to take up the common-cause of the Occupation. Stoking the flames of anti-police anarchy only in the U.S.A is apparently not sufficient. It is difficult to twist these events into being beneficial for Jews, orthodox Jews, or the rule of law for that matter. Mr. Kaine seems to be in lock-step with her on this and other issues. Only in a society sufficiently dumbed-down by a Leftist-run education system can trophies for showing up be considered experience. Only in such a place can the actual results of a Secretary of States missteps a middle east on fire be spun positively in ways that defy logic. Hillary has no documented accomplishments that resulted in anything beneficial to the U.S. If she is the best prepared, one must wonder best prepared to do what? Hillary hasnt given a traditional press conference to answer for her successes in over 270 days. Mr. Kaine continues to defend his candidates history, behavior, and continued obfuscation. Nothing in his current behavior, history, nor support of the indefensible should be worthy of support of the frum community. Yossi Wetstein Baltimore, Maryland Mr. Wetstein is not affiliated with any candidate, campaign, nor PAC. As an amateur opinion writer, he is concerned for the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution, and is most appreciative of the United States as a malchus shel chessed. DO YOU HAVE AN OPINION YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE POSTED ON YWN? SEND IT TO US FOR REVIEW (YWN World Headquarters NYC) [VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE] The bitter news of the petira of their beloved Chief Rabbi spread rapidly in Haifa on Monday, evening, 2 Elul. HaGaon HaRav Eliyahu Yosef Shar Yashuv HaKohen ZTL, served as the citys Chief Rabbi and Av Beis Din of the city for decades. With the ravs petira the image of this talmid chacham is removed from the city, a the rav was also known as extremely keen in his role as a dayan. Due to his unique approach, he was accepted by all walks of life in the city and this enabled him to reach many residents who would otherwise distance themselves from a person such as he. The rav was born in Jerusalem on 9 Cheshvan 5688 to Rabbi Dovid HaKohen ZTL, who was known as the HaRav HaNazir. According to family tradition he was the 18th generation of rabbonim. The source of the name Shar Yashuv is from Yeshayahu, the name of the son of Yeshayahu HaNavi. When the niftar was two, he became very ill and the name Eliyahu was added. The niftar studied in Yeshivas Geula, then Eitz Chaim and Merkaz HaRav but he reportedly received most of his Torah from his father. In his youth his acted in line with nezeirus, not cutting his hair, drinking wine and wore non-leather shoes. This continued until the age of 16. He fought in the 1948 War of Independence and was involved I defending Gush Etzion. He was injured seriously while fighting in the Old City of Jerusalem and fell into the custody of the Jordanian Arab Legion. From there he was transferred to a prison camp and while held prisoner, surgery was performed on his leg injury and this resulting in the rav remaining partially disabled as a result. He remained in the IDF for seven years, rising to the rank of lt.-colonel. He became the Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Haifa in 1975, and served in the post until 2011. He also served as Av Beis Din in the city and was known to work tirelessly to help his residents in whatever way he could. The niftar authored a number of seforim including and . His physical condition weakened over recent years and he collapsed in his home on Monday evening. EMS was summoned but the rav was niftar at the age of 88. The levaya is set to take place in Haifa today, Tuesday, 3 Elul. LEVAYA INFORMATION: The levaya is expected to leave Haifa at about 10:00AM, heading to Yerushalayim. It will begin at Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav Kook at about 14:00. Police are prepared and road closures in the area of Merkaz HaRav will begin at 13:30 and continue following hespedim towards Har HaZeisim. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday 2 Rosh Chodesh Elul met with Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and told her at the start of their meeting, I just want to greet you and say that your friendship is terrific Australia, the governments and yours personally. And we appreciate our friends. Australian Foreign Minister Bishop invited Prime Minister Netanyahu to visit Australia: I want to take this opportunity to reaffirm our absolute enduring commitment to the State of Israel and our friendship, and invite you to come to Australia. And were thinking theres a little window of opportunity early next year maybe? And the Australian public would warmly embrace you, welcome you and we would look forward to the first visit of an Israeli prime minister ever to Australia. Prime Minister Netanyahu accepted the invitation and this will mark the first time that a sitting Israeli Prime Minister will visit Australia on an official visit. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo Credit: Amos Ben-Gershom, GPO) [PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE] On Tuesday morning, Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams hosted his annual 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony in the Rotunda of Brooklyn Borough Hall, bringing together the families of victims and fallen heroes with citywide leaders and local residents. The event, commemorating the 15th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center, featured interfaith prayers, readings and tributes by surviving family members, and selections from the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. There were moments of silence coinciding with the time of the towers collapse; the silence observed at 9:58 AM in memory of the fall of the South Tower was followed by the lowering of the American flag atop Brooklyn Borough Hall as well as the placement of a remembrance wreath outside the building by Borough President Adams and victims families. One of the victims honored at the event was Orthodox Jew from Brooklyn, Abraham Zalmanowitz HYD, who was killed in the 9/11 attack at the WTC. Rabbi Abe Friedman, who serves as the Intergovernmental Director for the Boro President opened up the event by thanking the First Responders, as well as all members of Law Enforcement and Emergency Personnel. Rabbi Friedman then continued as the MC, and introduced the speakers at the memorial. Borough President Adams, who served in the New York City Police Department (NYPD) during 9/11, spoke about terrorisms enduring impact on Brooklyn and New York City. Other citywide leaders to address the ceremony included NYPD Commissioner William J. Bratton, FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro, NYPD Chief of Department James ONeill, FDNY Chief of Department James E. Leonard, and United States Army Garrison (USAG) Fort Hamilton Commander Colonel Peter Sicoli. (Chaim Shapiro YWN) For All U of U Health Patients & Visitors British housebuilder Berkeley Group has slammed the Government's stamp duty hike for second homes and buy-to-let investments. Berkeley said the tax hike had the effect of 'restricting both mobility in the second-hand market and the pace of supply and delivery of new homes in London and the South East.' It said Government policy was also holding back property developments in the capital, which it said would see London 'fall well short of its targets for new homes.' Scathing: UK-based housebuilder Berkeley Group has slammed the Government's stamp duty hike for second homes and buy-to-let investments The group added: 'This is not just a problem for business and ordinary people in the capital but for the country as a whole. London is the engine of our national economy and the principal driver of fiscal revenues.' The housebuilder said there is a 'tension' between the Starter Homes policy and London mayor Sadiq Khan's goal to create more affordable housing in the capital. Berkeley, which is gathering for its annual general meeting in London today, said the property market in August, traditionally a quiet month, had stabilised after a jump in cancellations in the wake of June's vote to leave the European Union. The group said reservations were around 20 per cent lower in the first five calendar months of the year, compared to the same period in 2015. Berkeley is this morning's top FTSE 100 riser, with shares up 2.49 per cent or 67.00p to 2,757.00p. 'Tension': Berkeley Group said there is a 'tension' between the Starter Homes policy and London mayor Sadiq Khan's goal to create more affordable housing in the capital Laith Khalaf, a Senior Analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: 'Brexit prompted a blip in trading for Berkeley Group, and ultimately led to the companys relegation from the FTSE 100. However the house builder also faces other headwinds, in particular recent changes to stamp duty which have put a dent in the London property market. 'Despite the challenging environment Berkeley believes it can still make its profit targets, thanks to a strong book of forward sales which are due to deliver 3.25 billion of cash for the company. This will continue to be paid out to shareholders with Berkeley expecting to distribute 10 per share over the course of the next 5 years.' Optimistic: Redrow is the FTSE 250's top riser this morning, with shares up 6.45 per cent or 24.80p to 409.10p Meanwhile, FTSE 250 housebuilder Redrow continues to shrug off fears of a post-Brexit slowdown, looking forward to 'another excellent year' in 2017 after clocking up its third straight year of record results in the 12 months to June 30. Redrow is the FTSE 250's top riser this morning, with shares up 6.45 per cent or 24.80p to 409.10p. The Flintshire-based firm reported a 23 per cent surge in pre-tax profits to 250million for the year to June 30 after revenues rose 20 per cent to 1.38billion, with average selling prices of homes up 7 per cent to 288,600. Redrow said it had 807million worth of private orders at the start of the financial year, up 54 per year-on-year. Steve Morgan, Redrow's chief executive, told the BBC today he had 'not seen any blip whatsoever' from Britain's Brexit vote. Chris Millington, an analyst at Numis, said: 'Redrow's full year results are marginally ahead of Numis' estimates and we are leaving our forecasts for 2017 unchanged. 'The company has seen strong trading post the EU Referendum and the private forward order book stands 54% up yoy, which gives a good underpinning to 2017. Whilst Redrow's shares have recovered much of the reduction seen post Brexit and now only trade c.10% below 23/06, they still look good value.' In January Scottish Power told me my electricity supply had been switched to another provider by mistake. I was told not to pay any bills until the problem had been rectified which happened in June. I also decided it was time to switch suppliers so at the end of June I arranged to move to Npower. In July I called Scottish Power with my final meter readings and told them I wanted to switch, and my final bill for 686.13 was sent on July 7th. Payment problems: I've tried paying my bill over the phone, app and website with no luck I tried to pay this over the phone but my payment was declined and the adviser told me there was something wrong with the payments system. I called my bank and they confirmed the payment wasn't being blocked and I then tried fruitlessly to pay via the Scottish Power app, on the phone again, online and with an automated telephone service but nothing would work. This happened six weeks ago and I'm now unable to switch providers because of the outstanding bill. Scottish Power has also sent me threatening letters saying it will contact a bailiff company about the outstanding debt and my emails to it have been constantly ignored. I've been trying to switch providers for six months but an error means I can't pay my final bill Finally today someone called me and said there was never a problem with the payment system and even told me to 'stop interrupting' when I tried to explain. This is extremely frustrating and time consuming, and Scottish Power has sent me a goodwill gesture of 100 to apologise. However, I don't think I should have to pay for the energy used for the past six weeks. I'm more than happy to pay the bill I owe of 686.13 but I don't think I should have to pay for the past six weeks when I've been unable to switch, Alexandra Simpson, via email Rebecca Rutt, of This is Money, replies: Switching energy companies should be quick, straight forward and hassle-free as after all it's a great way to save money, especially if you've not switched in a while. But in your case you are being held hostage by a payment error which means you can't switch away from Scottish Power to Npower. We got in touch with Scottish Power to try and get to the bottom of what has happened. A spokesperson said: 'We sincerely apologise for the level of service Miss Simpson received when trying to resolve her complaint. ARE YOU HAVING PROBLEMS SWITCHING PROVIDERS? Are you having problems with your energy provider? We would like to hear your story. E-mail: rebecca.rutt@thisismoney.co.uk 'Miss Simpson's electricity supply was taken from us by another supplier in January 2016 in error, due to the length of time it took to return the supply we have agreed to withdraw the charges from 5/7/16 in addition to the 100 goodwill payment. 'The electricity supply was transferred to the new supplier on the 22/7/16 and we have lifted the objection so the gas supply can now be transferred. 'The objection had been put in place due to the outstanding balance showing on the account. Unfortunately we have been unable to clarify why the payments made by Miss Simpson were declined.' How can I switch energy suppliers when Scottish Power won't let me pay my final bill? While it's good news things are now sorted and you're free to switch to another supplier, there's no excuse for the time it took to happen or how you were treated by the company. Your other option was to make an official complaint to Scottish Power which it would have had eight weeks to reply to. If after that time you had not had a response, you could escalate the problem to the independent Energy Ombudsman. It can look into complaints such as yours and if it rules in your favour, tell the supplier to right what it's done wrong and pay you for the time spent trying to fix the problem. Nothing can make up for the memory of a rotten holiday. But while you can't control the fact that it may have rained every day, or found yourself consigned to bed after a dodgy meal, you can get your money back if your airline, train firm or ferry company let you down. So if your summer break was ruined by delays, strikes or cancellations or if the holiday you booked wasn't as advertised now is the time to fight back. Long wait: This week, as many as 75,000 British Airways passengers were hit by delays after a computer glitch made check-in desks grind to a halt at airports across the world Hours waiting at the airport Sadly, because of Britain's congested airports, delays are common. Just this week, as many as 75,000 British Airways passengers were hit by delays after a computer glitch made check-in desks grind to a halt at airports across the world. And yesterday a protest on the Tarmac at London's City Airport caused around 100 planes to arrive or leave late. Airline watchdog the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) recently reported that 7 per cent of all easyJet flights at Gatwick around 1,680 out of 24,598 arrived more than 60 minutes late between January and March this year. In addition, 5 per cent left more than an hour late. So the chances are you may have been hit by some kind of delay on your travels this summer. However, you are protected from airline delays or cancellations. The problem is that some companies routinely try to wriggle out of paying customers compensation by using a loophole that says they don't have to pay out if the reason for the delay was an 'extraordinary' or 'unforeseen' circumstance that was out of their control. In reality, this often just means there was a technical problem with the plane or the flight you are taking, or even the one before yours which caused it to arrive late. So where do you stand? Under European Commission Regulation 261/2004, you are entitled to up to 600 (502) in compensation if your flight arrives at its destination more than three hours late. The only exception to this rule is if the delay is caused by so-called extraordinary circumstances such as bad weather, strike action or the kind of protest seen at City Airport yesterday. A technical fault does not count as extraordinary that's been the case ever since a Supreme Court ruling in 2014. Most airlines will allow you to file a claim on their website. Or you can call the firm's customer service number and ask how to make a claim. You will need all your flight details, booking confirmation details and boarding passes. The key is to mention the EC Regulation and the Supreme Court case that involved Jet2. Use this phrase: 'In light of the Supreme Court's decision in Jet2 v Huzar, I am seeking compensation under EC Regulation 261/2004 for my disrupted flight.' If the airline rejects your claim, you can take your complaint to an independent dispute service there are three for airlines. The Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution will look at complaints if you travelled with firms including British Airways, easyJet, Thomson and Thomas Cook. Call 020 7536 6099. There is no fee if you win, but if you lose you'll have to pay a 25 administration charge. The Retail Ombudsman covers firms including Ryanair and Turkish Airlines. There is no fee. Call 020 3540 8063. If you flew with Swiss, Lufthansa or Germanwings, go to German website Soep. You can complain at soep-online.de/request-form-flight.html If your airline has not signed up to an ombudsman service, you can ask the CAA to investigate your case for free. Call 01293 567171 or email infoservices@caa.co.uk Know your rights: If the last train of the night is cancelled, or you miss it because your connecting train was delayed, the train company has an obligation to get you home Your train was held up If the last train of the night is cancelled, or you miss it because your connecting train was delayed, the train company has an obligation to get you home. Under section 43 of the National Rail's Conditions of Carriage, the train company must 'either arrange to get you to that destination, or provide overnight accommodation for you'. That's good for future reference, but don't despair if it has happened to you already. It may be that you didn't know the rules, or that when you arrived at the station there were no staff around to help you. You can still claim a refund, though. To get one, you'll need to file an expenses claim on a form usually found on the rail company's website. Or you can pick one up at a ticket office. Attach copies of any receipts and include a brief description of why you are claiming. On the form, remind the company it is obliged to assist you in the event of a cancellation as outlined in National Rail's Conditions of Carriage section 43. There is no law setting out when you are entitled to compensation if your train is delayed. Train companies are private firms and each decides how long you must be delayed before it will pay out. National Rail which oversees all train lines says customers must be able to claim compensation if they arrive more than an hour late. But it also says that Grand Central, Great Western Railway and South West Trains are the only companies that stick to this 60-minute rule. If you are travelling with any other train company, such as Virgin or Great Northern, you can claim compensation if you are delayed over 30 minutes. To claim, you need to submit a form online or in the post. Most firms do this through a Delay Repay compensation scheme. Keep hold of all your receipts and make a note of the time you arrived at your destination. If you don't have it any more as most likely it was gobbled by a machine at a ticket barrier you should be able to use your receipt or credit card statement. Ferry firm hit by union walkout Ferries can be hit by strike action and bad weather, too. There is no rule that says ferry companies must give you a refund if you can't catch a ship due to a strike, but firms are starting to wise up to what customers want. A spokesman for Brittany Ferries, one of the biggest carriers between England and France, says it will first make every effort to re-route you to your destination by sending your ferry to a different port. But if you are not happy with its suggested route, it will offer you a full refund of your ticket price. Call 01752 648 000 or email customer. feedback@brittanyferries.com It says most big ferry companies now have the same policy, but there is no guarantee. The likelihood is that if you didn't want to wait for the next ferry to run, you could lose the money you've paid for your ticket. If the delay is not down to strike action, you may be entitled to compensation under Article 19 of EC Regulation 1177/2010. The reason for the delay must have been within the firm's control, so includes staff shortages or a routine technical fault. The minimum payout is 25 per cent of your ticket price. To be eligible, your delay must be at least one hour if your journey is up to four hours long, two hours if it's between four hours and eight hours, three hours between eight and 24 hours and six hours if it's over 24 hours. If the delay is double these times, you will get 50 per cent of your ticket price. The firm must pay you in cash, not vouchers, if you request it. You didn't get your booked seat Some airlines are refusing to refund the cost of a reserved seat because their terms and conditions state they can never guarantee you'll get the seat you choose Money Mail receives a steady stream of complaints from readers who have paid extra to reserve a specific seat on a plane and then been made to sit somewhere different. This is usually because they've tried to reserve the seats with extra leg-room. In some instances, airlines are refusing to refund the cost because their terms and conditions state they can never guarantee you'll get the seat you choose. One company claims this is because you may be travelling in a different plane to the one shown in the seating map you use to choose your seat from when booking online. However, James Daley, managing director of consumer rights group Fairer Finance, says: 'Under consumer law, companies cannot get away with charging you for something they then don't deliver.' Make a formal complaint to the airline and demand a full refund of your seat reservation fee. Say the fee you paid for that particular seat was a separate charge on top of the ticket price. Add that you were not just requesting a seat in the same way anyone travelling on a plane can do when they check in. This principal also applies to train journeys. If you've booked a particular seat and cannot sit there, complain to the company. Say that under section 41 of National Rail's Rights of Carriage you are owed a partial refund as your seat reservation wasn't honoured. There's no rule setting out how much you will get back as private rail firms can decide this for themselves. You'll need proof of your ticket reservation. If you can, take a picture of the seat number you ended up sitting in on your phone. Thousands of British holidaymakers travel to France on Eurostar every summer and sadly delays, when they happen, can be long Your Eurostar trip was spoilt Thousands of British holidaymakers travel to France on Eurostar every summer and sadly delays, when they happen, can be long. However, Eurostar has a very good reputation for paying compensation. You'll need to have been delayed by at least an hour to get anything. For delays between 60 minutes and 119 minutes, you can claim a refund for 25 per cent of the price of your single ticket. For a delay of more than two hours, you can get a 50 per cent refund. However, if you're willing to accept a voucher for a future trip, Eurostar will give you more if your delay was over three hours up to 75 per cent of the ticket price. These payouts are protected under Article 17 of EC Regulation 1371/2007. If you ask, you'll often be directed to a section of the Eurostar website called 'Disruption Compensation' to claim a voucher. Don't be put off, you are allowed to claim cash. You'll find the page to claim in cash at prr.eurostar.com There are no restrictions on when you can claim. You are entitled to compensation even if the reason for the delay such as bad weather, strike action or disruption due to the recent migrant crisis is out of Eurostar's control. For further information, call 03432 186 186 or email traveller.care@eurostar.com A missed ferry as a result of a traffic jam could be a valid reason for a travel insurance claim . . . And if you got stuck in a jam If you're stuck in traffic and miss your flight or ferry, you may be able to claim on travel insurance. Insurers typically expect you to factor in extra time for delays when planning your route to the airport or ferry terminal. However, if something extraordinary happens that causes severe delays such as the collapsed pedestrian bridge on the M20 last month the Association of British Insurers says the firm should honour your claim. Check the small print of your travel policy to ensure it covers you for missed departures. Two mini-bonds launched by a firm called Providence Financial have hit the skids leaving nearly 1,000 UK investors facing a nervous wait on whether they will receive any of their money back. We warned that the bonds, one launched at the end of 2014 with quarterly interest of 8.25 per cent and another last year promising 7.5 per cent, were a potentially risky investment. It is thought 825 investors have money tied up in the bond with a collective total of 8.15million or nearly 10,000 each. Anxious wait: Investors will have to wait on administrators Deloitte as to whether or not they will receive any of their money back Many may have been tempted into the bonds and others similar thanks to falling savings rates on the high street. We updated on the bonds at the start of the summer after an interest payment was late coming in the first signs it was in trouble. Providence Bonds PLC, Providence Bonds II PLC and the Guernsey based holding company Providence Global Ltd have now all gone into administration. It is being handled by Deloitte who wrote to bond holders last week explaining the status but it is unclear whether any cash can be clawed back for investors. These types of bonds are not covered under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme meaning it will be hard for investors to get their cash back. The administration is linked to its US parent company which is being investigated for fraud. The UK mini-bond documents were approved by Financial Conduct Authority related company Independent Portfolio Managers. This is Money has dealt with IPM in the past after it emerged it had signed off the documents for another bond which went bust, Secured Energy Bonds. That left investors 7million out of pocket. Those with the Secured Energy Bonds were told by UK financial regulators that there cases could not be looked at, but to instead write to firms who plugged the bond and take cases to the Financial Ombudsman. Providence Group specialised in factoring for small and medium-sized businesses across the globe. According to an U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Providence Financial told US investors their money would be spent factoring accounts in Brazil. Providence previously said its UK arm was separate from the US, but it is unclear whether UK money has also been used in Brazil. One reader with 6,000 in the bond described his investment as a 'hard lesson'. Others with tens of thousands tied up in the bonds have contacted This is Money worried that they have lost their cash. Deloitte has told investors it is looking into what assets the firm has, what recoveries, if any, can be made for investors and the manner in which it conducted its business. It has also set up a website for Providence investors: www.deloitte.com/uk/providencebonds James Vinall, Providence Bonds director said he was unable to comment on the administration. Meanwhile IPM have been contacted for comment. We also asked if the FCA was looking into IPM seeing as it regulates the firm. It said it was unable to comment. A US media giant is closing in on a deal to take over Formula One after months of speculation about the sport's future. Liberty Media is in advanced talks with CVC partners, which owns a 35 per cent stake in the business. The 6.5billion deal would see Liberty acquire the whole company. Chase Carey, executive vice-chairman of Rupert Murdoch's media empire 21st Century Fox, is thought to be lined up as chief executive. F1 will hold 21 Grand Prix worldwide this year, from Monaco to China, and attracts a global audience and support from the super-rich. But its success over the past 66 years masks concerns about the future of the sport. CVC bought into the business a decade ago and has been criticised for extracting multi-billion-pound profits since, starving it of cash. F1's chief executive Bernie Ecclestone has faced criticism for courting oppressive regimes in a bid to open new tracks. Earlier this year, drivers issued a joint letter calling the decision-making 'obsolete and ill-structured'. Sources said the deal with Liberty had not concluded and other groups were also in talks. A single drop of water doused Richard OConnors theory that he had photographed an alien spaceship. The south-facing camera on the outside of his home in the hilly country in Jefferson County in November captured an image of what looked like an unidentified flying object. The oval shaped object appeared to be rocketing across the sky. Its a falling water drop, is what it is, OConnor said. Its a huge disappointment to me. Part of the photo with its dark blue sky and white, high cirrus clouds is now the backdrop on his laptop computer screen. I put it there as a reminder to me not to jump to conclusions, he said, but noted that he's still continuing to try to get a good photograph. OConnor is a retired doctor who left St. Peters Hospital in Helena a year ago in July after 28 years as an anesthesiologist. When his other medical experience is added in, hes been working in operating rooms for better than 30 years. At one time he had set up a radio dish in his yard pointing toward the sky directly overhead. A computer with an open email program was attached to the dish in hopes of enticing a message. But it just did not happen, he said. A computer program helps him scan the roughly 270,000 photographs he had acquired by November from those cameras. Late last year he was startled by what he thought he saw among those photographs. On November the 4th, I thought I had found it, he said. It certainly fit a lot of descriptions people have given about their own sightings, he said. Parallel theories Seated in the living room of his home with its view of timbered mountains, he offered two of what he said could be many explanations for the sightings that continue to be reported. My conviction that the UFO phenomenon is quite real remains steadfast, and I encounter more evidence to support this conclusion almost daily. One theory is the popular one advanced by those who assert extraterrestrial life-forms are responsible for piloting unidentified flying objects. For me theres no single piece of evidence that leads me to that conclusion. Instead, it is the preponderous amount of evidence on the subject, he said, that supports his conclusion. The testimony of government officials, those in the military as well as the sightings by pilots and ordinary people, he explained, all point to a first contact already being underway something thats been happening for decades and even centuries before more recent encounters. Who has the motive to lie about this? he asked. For him, the answer to who is withholding the truth appears obvious: those in the deepest reaches of the military-industrial complex and perhaps those who hold political reins. In November, he advanced that theory but more recently offered another explanation. The speed of light argument, they can't get here from there due to multiple light-year distances of separation, has remained a major hurdle and one preventing most mainstream scientists from fully embracing the idea that the UFO phenomenon is real, and that they are not ours, OConnor wrote in an email. Their understandable position for decades has been it can't be, so it isn't. If the UFOs seen in our skies are actually the products of a very sophisticated, technologically advanced, yet entirely human or a closely related species that has evolved in parallel with our own comparatively primitive surface civilization, then several major obstacles to embracing the UFO phenomenon as real, and to our understanding of what is behind it -- obstacles like the speed of light argument -- then vanish. This is all speculation, of course, he said. Say that an event from space, such as a solar storm, struck Earth and killed nearly everyone, he said. However, some of the inhabitants at that time were living in caves and spared the destructive force of that event. Those survivors, who perhaps emerged from those caves, would have had a head start on the rest of humanity, OConnor said, and today would be a far more technologically advanced life form. Space ships could be an example of the technology they possess, he added. While he offered this as something to be considered, he asked how a person in the 1920s would react to seeing a cellphone of today -- a device that responds to voice commands. Technological advances as evidenced by the last 100 years could be far greater for a civilization that had a much longer head start on the rest of humanity, OConnor said. In my view, at this point in our very limited understanding of what is behind the UFO phenomenon, every possible hypothesis purporting to explain the presence of UFOs in our skies needs to be out on the table, he said. Visitors from other worlds are a possibility for him, as is a secret civilization existing among us. Theyre both possibilities, he said. But while he doesnt ascribe to either one at this point, the existence of UFOs for him is undeniable. These reports, he said, they are close-up and personal, profound events in peoples lives. Lacking in explanation Livestock mutilations reported in the 1970s in Montana farm and ranch fields lead OConnor to conclude that perhaps otherworldly life-forms or those of a more advanced earthly civilization are slowly revealing their presence as they watch and interact with Earths inhabitants. OConnor posted a video online of his interview with two former Montana sheriffs. It can be viewed here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR_hKWv45OY. This interview with Montana sheriffs Keith Wolverton and Pete Howard took place on August 3, 2016, states the text beneath the video. We hope the information conveyed in this video will inspire others to realize that the UFOs being seen in our skies are real, and they merit our curiosity and our attention. Wolverton was the sheriff of Cascade County, and Howard was the sheriff of Teton County, OConnor said. Both men talked about the cattle mutilation cases they investigated during the 1970s -- events that OConnor said cant be easily explained. Intricate designs carved overnight into crop fields are other evidence of this advanced intelligence that pilots UFOs, according to OConnor. These designs come in all shapes and contain messages such as mathematical formulas, he said and then explained, theyre trying to tell us something. Several websites are devoted to pondering crop circles and one such circle thats been decoded reportedly says, Beware the bearers of false gifts and their broken promises. Much pain, but still time. Believe. There is good out there. We oppose deception. A link to an incident OConnor, 60, is tall with blue eyes behind gold-rimmed glasses. His brown hair is pulled into a ponytail. Although hes soft-spoken, an emotional intensity surfaces when he discusses the threat nuclear weapons pose to the planet and the attention theyve drawn from UFOs. I think what keeps me involved in this is the now apparent link between UFOs and our nuclear weapons, he said. That link has been documented by UFO researcher Robert Hastings, OConnor said, who created an online documentary: UFOs and Nukes: The Secret Link Revealed. Our state of Montana is loaded with nuclear weapons. In a nuclear war, this beautiful state will be turned into radioactive ash. I would really like to see Gov. Bullock and our state legislators declare Montana to be a nuclear-weapons-free state and begin the process of ridding our state, and eventually our world, of these unconscionable weapons of mass destruction," OConnor said. I think when nuclear weapons entered the picture, UFO activity on this planet really picked up, he noted and explained that Earths civilization cant be the first to discover the power within an atom, nor will it be the first to vanish because of it. OConnors interest in UFOs spans decades. Yet a single event, meeting Dr. Jesse A. Marcel Jr., who practiced medicine with him at St. Peters Hospital, helped cement his belief. Marcel told OConnor he had seen some of the debris from the Roswell, New Mexico, UFO incident in July 1947. OConnor and Marcel worked together as colleagues. They were friends and his story was always the same, OConnor said. I came to the conclusion 30 years ago that this man was not a liar. He was a very responsible person. Marcel's story Marcels father, who was also named Jesse A. Marcel, was the chief intelligence officer with the 509th Bombardment Group. He was among the military personnel who responded to the Roswell crash site, OConnor said. Marcels father brought home some of the crash debris to show his family. His son, who was 11 years old at the time, never forgot what he saw and described the thin metal I-beam parts with their peculiar purple markings, OConnor said. According to the Roswell UFO Museum website (www.roswellufomuseum.com/incident.html) the crash was reported by rancher W.W. Mack Brazel, who with the son of another family rode to check on sheep after a fierce thunderstorm the previous night. Brazel noticed metal debris and saw a shallow trench several hundred feet long carved into the land. The rancher recovered several large pieces of the debris and took them home with him. He then showed them to the family of the man that had ridden with him. Brazel reported his discovery to the county sheriff, who reported it to Maj. Marcel at the Roswell Army Air Field. The debris site was closed while the wreckage was recovered. I didnt know what we were picking up, the museum website noted of Marcels comments regarding the debris. I still dont know what it was. It could not have been part of an aircraft, not part of any kind of weather balloon or experimental balloon. Ive seen rockets sent up at the White Sands Testing Grounds. It definitely was not part of an aircraft or missile or rocket. Bodies were also reported to have been recovered from the wreckage, according to the website. A news release from the Roswell Army Air Base was printed by the local newspaper and broadcast by radio stations that the wreckage of a crashed disk had been recovered. A weather balloon was substituted for the wreckage during a subsequent evaluation at what was then Fort Worth Army Air Field, the website explained, and the wreckage became that of the balloon. (It) was a cover story. The whole balloon part of it. That was the part of the story we were told to give to the public and news and that was it, the website quoted Brig. Gen. Thomas DuBose, chief of staff of the 8th Air Force, as having said. As far as Im concerned, the Roswell event was a UFO that crashed in the desert, OConnor said. And our military recovered it and then they covered it up. I think thats been a huge disservice to humanity, in my opinion. Jesse A. Marcel Library Theres been a concerted effort to cover all this up, OConnor said. At some point in the near future, thats got to stop. A public-records request by the Independent Record was made to the Department of the Air Force, headquarters 341st missile wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls, regarding sightings of unidentified flying objects over Montana since 1999. Manual and computer searches were conducted and we have no records responsive to your request and we are not aware of any other records systems which are likely to produce any responsive records, the Feb. 19 response stated. Thats unfortunate, OConnor said. I guarantee you thats not true. OConnor sees withholding of information as hindering scientific and social evolution of the world and said funding is needed for study and evaluation. For more than 60 years, people have been convinced that contact by aliens is not real, OConnor said, explaining that daily life with jobs and families leaves little time for people to consider the issue in depth. Trying to sort out whats fact and whats fiction is not a simple process. To help people learn about these first contacts, OConnor opened the Jesse A. Marcel Library in March 2012. Its named for the elder Marcel and located in a building near his home. On most Tuesday nights between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m., when its open, presentations and discussions are held for the typical 10 to 20 people who come. Some are there to learn. Others arrive to share stories. I think this is so important I want to take every opportunity I can to educate people about it, he said. The librarys website is found at www.jaml.org, and OConnor can be reached at richard@cropcirclesresearchfoundation.org. "Those interested in visiting the library can check the library's calendar (www.meetup.com/Jesse-A-Marcel-Library-near-Helena-MT-Got-UFOs-We-Do)," he noted. OConnor said he asked Marcel, who died about a year and a half after the librarys opening, how the elder Marcel would have reacted at having the library named after him. Marcel said his father would have been honored. For me, this has evolved beyond the realm of belief, OConnor said. People who look will find enough good and credible information, he explained, that will transition into something they will know to be pretty much true. Alien beliefs Ridicule has helped to keep people from talking about what they have seen and experienced, OConnor said. We dont want to be labeled as the kook down the block that believes in little green men. Yet this is the risk he takes, and he explained hes had the time to look at the evidence that supports his beliefs. And had he not known and worked with Marcel at St. Peters Hospital, he might be among those who express disbelief, he said. If people from Earth were to find a planet where life existed, it would make sense to hold off from barging in and instead first watch and study life on that world, OConnor said of what aliens might be doing if they are indeed who are piloting UFOs. Earth, he said, may be the most profound reality show that an intelligent being can observe. Aliens watching this planet may be studying us to learn from our actions, he said, but hes quick to add that this is all speculation. Theres no way anyone can know. But these all seem to be plausible explanations, of course, given that theyre here, he said of UFOs. OConnor, who created an Internal Revenue Service-recognized nonprofit organization for his research, said hes spent several tens of thousands of dollars on what hes doing to foster awareness of alien contacts. I want to help people get up to speed on this and understand, he said. And, still, the quest continues to document an encounter even if its a fleeting image captured on a camera at his home. It would be remarkable if it did happen, he said, but so far it hasnt happened yet. Im just interested in finding out the truth about this. Koovs' website includes clothes matching those worn by stars like Taylor Swift Young middle-class Indians desperate to dress like celebrities have sent sales soaring 115 per cent at online fashion brand Koovs. The retailer, which is listed in London and designs its clothes in the city too, targets a new class of affluent South Asian fashionistas with its range of celebrity inspired Western styles. Koovs' website includes outfits matching those worn by stars such as Taylor Swift, KimKardashian and Beyonce. Sales rose to 5m for the four months to July, with weekly website visits reaching 1.4million per week, up 142 per cent on last year. Chairman, the Labour peer Waheed Alli, said: 'Koovs continues to win in the fashion-forward ecommerce market for young, style-conscious fashion-lovers in India.' Alli was a founder investor in Koovs in 2012 and led it on to the AIM market in 2014. The firm targets the growing ecommerce market driven by the rise of tech-savvy middle classes in urban areas. The company said India offered a 'huge opportunity' for ecommerce in an industry expected to increase five-fold to 2.5billion by 2020. Mary Turner, its chief executive, said investment in brand marketing was 'delivering excellent results', and building customer loyalty. The group's Step Into Koovs campaign raised its profile and it has 1.2million registered users. Koovs offers 10,000 different lines, up 43 per cent on last year, following the expansion of its flagship own-brand, Private Label. Launches this autumn will include collaborations with London illustrator Hattie Stewart. Real estate deal: Goldman Sachs is snapping up 27 British properties worth 338m Goldman Sachs is snapping up 27 British properties worth 338million in a deal to give it a larger foothold in UK real estate. The bank is buying the portfolio from Swedish pension company Alecta. It had also been on course to acquire Alecta's 22 US properties but the deal is said to have fallen apart due to disagreements over price as the American market begins to show signs of a slowdown. Goldman was a major real estate investor before the financial crisis, through its property funds branded as Whitehall. But these were disbanded during the Great Recession after a collapse in prices and multi-billion-pound losses. By 2010, Whitehall had lost around 98 per cent of its value. But in the past six years the bank has been seeking to acquire low-risk property which would not see its value wiped out in another downturn. The UK portfolio includes retail parks in Evesham and Clacton-on-Sea, and office buildings across the country. Joules, the retail darling of the middle-classes, surged by just under 10 per cent ahead of results tomorrow. The company, which listed on the Alternative Investment Market in May, has pencilled in revenue expectations of 131million for the year and forecast a 12 per cent jump in UK sales. Established in 1989 by Tom Joule, the brand started out by selling typically British all-weather clothes with a contemporary twist at horse shows and country fairs. Joules has some 2million customers across its 97 stores in the UK and Ireland, and a growing presence in the US, Germany and online. Sales jump: Joules, a favourite clothing firm of Britain's middle classes, surged by just under 10% ahead of results tomorrow 'It's a fairly steady story it's a good story,' said Roger Tejwani of FinnCap. 'It is not a fast fashion player. They deliberately missed out on teenagers, and that's where all the pain on the High Street is right now.' Tejwani has a 200p price target on the shares, which ended the session up 9.9 per cent or 17p at 189.5p. Rated a 'buy' by all three retail analysts who cover the stock, founder Joule remains the majority shareholder with a 32 per cent stake. Zoopla led the list of mid-cap risers ahead of its investor day on September 15, providing a glimmer of excitement in a day otherwise subdued by Wall Street's closure for the Labour Day holiday that marks the end of summer. Bolstered by an upgrade to 'overweight' from 'equal weight' by Barclays Capital, Zoopla (which is 31 per cent owned by DMGT, parent company of the Daily Mail) gained nearly 8 per cent after the broker highlighted several sources of upside for the company, not least strong current trading at comparison site uSwitch, which it owns. STOCK WATCH - DECHRA PHARMACEUTICALS Shares in Dechra Pharmaceuticals gained nearly 8 per cent (or 100p to 1400p) after the animal health group reported strong results. The firm was boosted by a number of acquisitions during the year as it expanded into chicken vaccines, generic medicines in the US and a manufacturing business in Croatia. Reporting a near 22 per cent jump in revenues to 247.6million, the group said it is confident about the future and doesnt expect Brexit to impact its business. Investec lifted the price target to 1400p from 1300p after the results. The broker estimates the energy-switching market may grow by 60 per cent in the next four years, and by 2.5 per cent in the next couple of years gains that it hopes will more than offset the weaker outlook for the property portal the company is best-known for. Zoopla closed 7.8 per cent or 24p higher at 330p. On the broader market, the FTSE 100 reversed Friday's gains to slip into the red (down 0.2 per cent or 15.18 points at 6879.42) after a brace of brokers downgraded undermined banking stocks. Royal Bank of Scotland fell 3.5 per cent or 7.2p to 197.1p after Deutsche Bank slashed its rating to 'sell', while Lloyds dropped more than 2 per cent or 1.3p to 59.65p after the same broker downgraded it to 'hold'. The price of crude pared early gains sparked by a tenuous pledge that key oil-producing states Saudi Arabia and Russia will work together on output but still buoyed shares in natural resources and mining companies. Randgold Resources was in demand among the blue chips, with gains of 1.7 per cent or 125p to 7590p while BHP Billiton gained 0.85 per cent or 8.5p to 1004p, Royal Dutch Shell was 1 per cent or 20p higher at 1890.5p and BP up 0.9 per cent or 3.8p at 434.8p. Cluff Natural Resources was in focus, advancing more than 21 per cent or 0.4p to 2.42p ahead of the release of independent data which is expected to confirm larger gas resources than anticipated in the southern North Sea. Chairman Algy Cluff told the Mail that independent consultants are set to publish findings by the end of the month. 'There is no doubt the North Sea has a fair amount of gas yet to be discovered,' he said. 'But conventional exploration teams are reluctant to wildcat [drill in an unproven area].' The North Sea is being developed by independent exploration and production companies as the larger ones shy away from the higher risk of extraction because the oil is trapped in unconventional places. 'There's no lack of interest, but it's a funding issue,' Cluff added. While the supermajors can offset the cost of exploration against their profits, independent oil exploration companies find it difficult to secure funding at any level and there are currently no subsidies to support them, Cluff said. SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son has been appointed chairman of ARM ARM BOSSES Three SoftBank executives have been appointed to the board of ARM following its 24.3billion takeover. The Japanese telecom group's founder and chief executive Masayoshi Son has been appointed chairman and executive director of the UK tech firm. Ronald Fisher has been appointed an executive director, adding to the executive positions he holds at SoftBank and Sprint. SoftBank's chief financial officer Alok Sama has also been appointed an executive director. GAS SALE British Gas owner Centrica has extended its multi-billion-pound contract to buy gas from Qatar until 2023. The deal will see the energy giant buy up to 2million tons of liquefied natural gas from Qatar each year following a decline in North Sea production. The contract will start in January 2019, following the end of Centrica's existing contract with Qatargas in December 2018. FLIGHTS GROUNDED Business-class-only flights between Luton Airport and New York by French airline La Compagnie are to end after September 24. La Compagnie said it will instead introduce a second daily flight from Paris to New York. The airline said its decision to end fights between Luton and New York came 'in view of a new economic climate in Europe, fuelled by Brexit'. DEFENCE DEAL QinetiQ has won a deal to provide unmanned vehicles for a demonstration of mine counter-measures held by the Government's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in Scotland in October. The demonstration dubbed Unmanned Warrior and involving 50 vehicles is part of the Royal Navy's event showing the potential of unmanned and autonomous systems. JOBS LOST Marks & Spencer has confirmed it will be axing 525 jobs at its head office in a bid to cut costs. It comes less than two months after chief executive Steve Rowe branded the performance of its clothing and home arm 'unacceptable' after sales plummeted 8.9 per cent. HIGH FLYING Chinese property firm Greenland Group is pressing ahead with the construction of Spire London, Europe's tallest residential skyscraper. Expected to cost in excess of 800million, the Docklands tower will boast 67 storeys and be 771ft high, and marks a sign of confidence in the London property market following the UK's vote to quit the European Union. Nationwide, Virgin Money, Yorkshire Building Society and Clydesdale are the latest in a flood of lenders slashing mortgage rates - but how low can rates realistically go? Despite economists predicting that the Bank of England is likely to announce a further cut to the base rate in November, bringing it down from 0.25 per cent to just 0.1 per cent, experts are suggesting it's unlikely that mortgage rates will fall much further. Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: 'The anticipated cut in the base rate is already factored in to most mortgage lenders' pricing as the rates that banks can borrow at in the wholesale market have been at record lows for a while now. Bank of England governor Mark Carney has put pressure on lenders to pass on rate cuts 'Instead of seeing lenders cut rates, we are actually seeing them widen their spreads and I think it's likely we'll see that process continue, meaning mortgage rates aren't going to be materially different at the end of the year from now.' Mortgage rates are currently at record lows with lenders across the board continuing to shave percentage points off their best deals - mainly in a bid to entice those on variable rates to remortgage. Nationwide is the latest lender to cut rates, slicing up to 0.20 per cent off some of its fixed rates. It is now offering five-year fixed rates from just 1.99 per cent with a 999 fee or 2.19 per cent with no fee for those with a 60 per cent deposit. The average standard variable rate is currently 4.71 per cent, meaning for a 150,000 mortgage over 25 years, the monthly repayment is 851.73. Switching to the Nationwide's 1.99 per cent deal would see monthly payments drop to 635.05. The fee-free deal meanwhile would have monthly repayments of 649.75. Virgin Money also threw its hat in the five-year fixed ring last week with the launch of a residential five-year deal fixed at 1.99 per cent up to 65 per cent LTV with a 995 fee. Monthly repayments on this deal on the terms above would be 635.05 - but with the advantage of being able to take a slightly larger loan to value. Just under half of mortgage lenders failed to pass on the cut in base rate made in August Both deals beat the HSBC 1.99 per cent five-year fixed rate which has a 1,196 fee attached and is available up to 60 per cent LTV. At 60 per cent LTV, the cheapest five-year fixed rate is 1.89 per cent from Platform, part of the Co-operative Bank, which comes with a 1,339 fee. Monthly repayments on the Platform deal come in at 627.78. Cheapest of all in the five-year bracket remains Coventry Building Society with a 1.89 per cent rate fixed for five years plus a 999 fee for those with 50 per cent equity to put into the deal - monthly repayments are 627.78. David Hollingworth, of mortgage broker London & Country Mortgages, said: 'Borrowers should be grabbing the chance to review their mortgage rate with both hands at the moment. However, there will still be talk of whether base rate may yet have further to fall. 'That could raise the question as to whether borrowers should hold off and wait for a further reduction in rates but the fixed rates on offer at the moment are already extremely low and whilst another rate cut could see some sharpen up a little more to keep pace with the front runners, its difficult to see significant falls from where the benchmark rates sit currently.' Criteria is just as important as rate Alistair Hargreaves, from mortgage broker John Charcol, said he doesn't believe rates have much further to fall but lenders might start to pinch on criteria as a result of the uncertainty created by a potential Brexit, making it harder for borrowers to get an approval. He said: 'I really think that this time rates won't drop any further - however the great unknown will be when Article 50 is finally triggered. It may well be at that point that lenders begin to restrict criteria and affordability. 'So remortgaging now is not just about getting a great rate, it's also about protecting yourself and making sure that you are not struggling to refinance if you are on a short-term deal. Therefore for many of my clients I am looking at longer-term fixed, say five, seven or 10 years, or a lifetime variable.' Yorkshire Building Society has also cut rates in the past week, looking to tempt borrowers to remortgage with a 0.15 per cent cut across all products for those with between 15 per cent and 35 per cent equity in their property. Clydesdale Bank meanwhile, finally passed on the Bank of England rate cut to its standard variable rate customers who have seen their payments fall as a result of a cut from 4.95 per cent to 4.70 per cent. Hollingworth said: ' Those hanging onto a much higher SVR in the hope of a saving a fraction more on current best buy deals may find they are paying far more each month than they might save, if rates fall at all.' Not everyone agrees however. Mark Harris, chief executive of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients, said he wouldn't rule out mortgage rates becoming even cheaper. 'The Bank of England's Term Funding Scheme has given lenders new access to cheap funds to lend. It could be argued that without this we wouldn't have seen cheaper loans as lenders are already feeling the squeeze on profitability.' DIDDLING THE FIGURES Research from personal finance site Moneyfacts has shown that nearly half of mortgage lenders failed to pass on the cut in base rate made in August. Worse, some lenders actually raised their variable rates in July to allow them to look as though they were passing the Bank of England's cut onto borrowers. Charlotte Nelson,of Moneyfacts, said: 'Shockingly some providers, pre-empting the announcement, chose to increase their variable rate products, meaning the reductions have been offset. 'At the start of July the average two-year variable tracker rate stood at 2.01 per cent. This had increased by 0.12 per cent on 1 August, therefore reducing the effect of the reduction on the 5th of that month to just 0.07 per cent in real terms.' Andrew Montlake, of mortgage broker Coreco, said: 'With some lenders still not having passed on the first rate cut, it seems likely that many lenders will struggle to pass on any further cuts despite the pressure put on them by Bank of England governor Mark Carney. 'With this in mind, it looks unlikely that the current crop of low rates will be cut too much more apart from some slight jockeying for position amongst lenders looking to hit lending targets for the end of the year. 'It is more likely we will see improvements in lenders' criteria and the development of some more innovative products which will help more borrowers in the mortgage market.' A British whistleblower who exposed one of the biggest frauds in Japanese corporate history is being sued for 15million by his former employer over claims he manipulated the pension scheme. Michael Woodford uncovered a multi-billion-pound scandal with links to organised crime at camera firm Olympus Group when he became the company's first foreign chief executive. It led to an outcry in Japan, wiped 80 per cent off the firm's value and saw three board members handed suspended prison sentences. Sued: Michael Woodford uncovered a multi-billion-pound scandal with links to organised crime at camera firm Olympus Group when he became the company's chief executive Now, five years after going public, Woodford and a former colleague are being sued for more than 15million over claims they conspired to maximise the pension scheme by unlawful means for their own benefit. The pair both deny the allegation, which Woodford said was an attempt to 'besmirch' his reputation while investigations into Olympus continued. He is counter-suing for a multi-million-pound sum. Woodford, 56, joined Olympus in 1981 and progressed rapidly. He won a seat on the board in 2008 and was awarded the top job three years later. But he came into conflict with his colleagues after querying some of Olympus's acquisitions particularly the 1.5billion takeover of British medical equipment maker Gyrus Group. He asked accountant PwC to look into the issue, which uncovered a 517million fee for sealing the deal, paid to two small firms in the US and Cayman Islands. Woodford was then fired by chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, who described the Briton as someone who became 'nervous when he doesn't know where each and every yen goes'. Woodford fled Japan fearing for his safety and handed a dossier to the Serious Fraud Office and Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission. Apology: Olympus president Shuichi Takayama bows in 2011 Then, under police protection, Woodford alleged there were 'forces behind' the Olympus board a reference some took to mean connections to Japan's Yakuza crime clans. Investigators probed the claims but nothing was ever proven. Olympus was fined 5.3million. Kikukawa and Hideo Yamada, the auditor who had been party to the fraud, were sentenced to three years in prison, suspended for five years. Executive vice-president Hisashi Mori was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison, suspended for four years. Woodford reportedly received 10million in damages from the company in 2012 and won a string of awards for his bravery. But in a twist, the scandal has once again burst into public view following a High Court claim against Woodford now a consultant and speaker on human rights and whistleblowing and fellow Olympus employee Paul Hillman, 64. Olympus's KeyMed unit, a surgical products maker in England, claims the pair breached their duties as directors and trustees of the defined benefit pension plan. It is alleged the pair obtained board approval to set up an executive pension scheme in 2005 by concealing the fact the true purpose was 'to increase the security of their pension'. This went against a board agreement that no executive benefits would be enhanced by the scheme, according to High Court documents. Olympus said the scheme provided overly generous 5 per cent increases in payments each year once a pension was activated. Abusing taxpayers resources is a matter that Montanans take very seriously. Unfortunately, Gov. Steve Bullock is ignoring this fact as he continues to abuse his privilege of using the states executive aircraft. While the question of improper state plane use has been raised before during the terms of other governors, the current governor has taken it to a new level. Bullock has continued to use the plane to fly to campaign events around the state. In April, the plane was used to fly to several birthday fundraisers for the governor in places such as Kalispell, Bozeman and Billings. It has also been revealed that, in August of 2014, the governor flew in the state plane to Missoula to attend a Paul McCartney concert. First of all, Missoula is less than 120 miles from Helena. Second, flying the governor to rock concerts is an egregious misuse of the state aircraft. After he was caught using the plane for campaigning, Bullock announced that he would pay back the state for the use of the plane for campaign events. However, hes only paid the state $3,827 for campaign use. The plane costs $1,650 an hour to operate. The trip to the Paul McCartney concert cost the state more than $15,000. While we recognize that Montana is a large state, the governor very often uses the plane for very short flights. Some of his most common destinations aboard the plane are Great Falls, Butte and Bozeman, all less than 100 miles from Helena. Even if the trip is for official business, for those short distances, its a far better use of taxpayer resources if the governor drives, as his security detail must do. In the spring, we proposed new legislation restricting the use of the state plane to distances of greater than 120 miles from Helena and only for official business. However, because Bullock has continued to disrespect his privilege of using the state plane, we now agree with gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte that it is time to sell the state plane. In an emergency, the governor can always charter a plane or use another state aircraft. In most cases, though, we think that the governor needs to be on the ground, really seeing Montana when he travels. Plane travel should be restricted to emergency cases or significant distances. Rock concerts and birthday parties? Hardly an emergency. As Gov. Bullock flies around on the states airplane (funded by taxpayer dollars), to raise questionable campaign money, the budget surplus touted by the governor is vanishing before our collective eyes. The state plane is worth about $2 million. That $2 million needs to be put back to work for the people of Montana. Just a fraction of that money could pay the yearly operating cost at Ackley Lake State Park near Hobson, which Bullock appointees are currently trying to unpark. Ackley Lake is a vital part of Hobsons economy. The main question underlying the candidates for governor in 2016 can be boiled down to this: Do Montanans want to keep a reckless spending, self-serving, tax-raising, lifelong politician, with little regard (lets call it disdain) for the Montanans he claims to represent, or do we act intelligently and elect Greg Gianforte, a man with an unquestioned track record of job creation and innovation, as our next governor? Lets end the insane spending and unending tax increases promoted by Mr. Bullock and put a person with true leadership and fiscal experience at the helm elect Greg Gianforte governor in 2016. Rep. Brad Tschida, R-Missoula, represents and is a candidate for HD97. Rep. Ryan Osmundson, R-Buffalo, represents HD30 and is a candidate for SD-15. MISSOULA -- A documentary movie chronicling the struggle to end energy exploration in the Badger-Two Medicine area is starting a tour of Montana. The 24-minute film Our Last Refuge had its premiere on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation on Thursday. It has additional showings in Missoula and Whitefish, Great Falls, Bozeman, Helena and Billings, during a road show in October. Final dates have yet to be determined. The Badger-Two Medicine area lies bounded by the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, Glacier National Park, the Bob Marshall Wilderness and the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest. While it's not part of the reservation, the Blackfeet people consider it a sacred part of their heritage and source of many traditional creation stories. It also supports habitat for grizzly bears, wolverine, wolves, elk, and cutthroat trout, linking the Great Plains to the Rocky Mountain Front. The film traces the Blackfeet tribal influence on the land from when they encountered Lewis and Clark 200 years ago, through the reservation creation and the oil-lease years of the Reagan Administration in the 1980s. In March, the Department of the Interior canceled one of the last remaining exploration leases where a Louisiana company sought to drill for oil and natural gas. It features commentary from traditional Chief Earl Old Person, who recalled how the Blackfeet Tribes claims to traditional territory were progressively reduced from Fort Benton to Choteau to the boundaries of the present reservation. If it wasnt for these mountains, theyd push us into the Pacific Ocean, Old Person says in the film. This is where we said it stopped. And this is what were going to keep. Were going to fight for this area that we call our home. Tribal authorities and several conservation groups maintained the energy leases were granted illegally in the 1980s without proper tribal consultation or review, and a large number of other leases were voluntarily released or retired. There are 17 energy leases remaining in the Badger-Two Medicine. The film is testament to the power of faith and determination and perseverance, said Bozeman filmmaker Daniel Glick. The title Our Last Refuge speaks volumes. This is the last bastion of Blackfeet traditional culture. This is where they make their stand. MISSOULA -- While other special education funding proposals got the go-ahead from a legislative commission last week, the issue of whether to provide funding for special needs students older than 18 has hit another roadblock. The School Funding Interim Commission, which wrapped up its work Aug. 29, couldn't decide whether Montana should continue to cut off state funding for special education students 19 years old or older. Montana is one of two states that doesn't provide funding for students in school after they turn 19. Maine is the other, though its limit is higher at 20 years old. Despite extensive public testimony supporting lifting the age limit, the commission "ultimately did not reach consensus," according to its draft final report, which received 15-1 approval. According to state law, a school district can't include a student in its enrollment count any student who is 19 years old or older as of Sept. 10 of that school year. But individual school districts sometimes make exceptions with school board approval -- they just don't get state funding for that student. "It's dead in the water," said state Sen. Mary Sheehy Moe, D-Great Falls. It's the effort's second death in recent years. House Bill 451, sponsored by state Rep. Christopher Pope, D-Bozeman, in 2015, also died. "Personally, I have seen my son Andre reach levels not remotely possible without early intervention received on the beginning end of early education," said Alyson Ball, president of the Bozeman Special Education Parent Teacher Association. If that extra time is given to special needs students at the beginning, she said, why wouldn't we do the same at the end? Pros and cons Proponents argue that students in special education need more time to develop the skills needed to be independent after high school -- and less dependent on other public assistance. The argument against centers on cost. Commissioners received an updated financial analysis in May. It showed the potential impact on state funding based on two scenarios: the number of 19-, 20- and 21-year-old special needs students being served this year -- 36 -- and the number served in 2009, which was 112. The 2016 figure would increase state costs by $283,000 and local mill levies by $63,000. Using the 2009 numbers, state costs would increase by $879,000 and local mill levies by $223,000. But in the commission's report, it said it's impossible to predict how many more school districts would enroll older students if this proposal went through. Moe said that's a ridiculous notion -- one of the issues she raised in her report, "Overall Adequacy and Equity" that she wanted to include with the commission's final report. "It's not like there would be a rush to cash in on the state share, because the districts would still see a net loss," Moe said. "This was penny wise but pound foolish." Moe's amendment to include her report failed 7-9 and led to her being the sole commissioner voting against the final report. "We are, I think, trying to take a step back and look at where we are in terms of meeting our constitutional obligation," Moe said. "The commission declined to do that. They didnt dispute any of the facts that were in that, so without making that statement, I dont think we're doing our duty by the public." Minority Report While other commissioners may not have disputed specific points Moe made, they did take issue with her "Adequacy and Equity" report as well as her more detailed "Minority Report," which also failed 6-10. In the Minority Report, Moe discusses the commission's work -- and editorializes on it. "It is a critique of the commission's work," said state Rep. Jeff Essmann, R-Billings. State Sen. Kristin Hansen, R-Havre, went further, saying it was inappropriate. "I personally could've written a minority report that cataloged the things we could have done differently, but I don't think it's appropriate," she said. "To add this to the report is, to me, undermining of the commission's report." An amendment by state Rep. Kathy Kelker, D-Billings, did make it into the final report, however, approved 10-6. In part, it reads: "Because the costs of providing services for this student population usually exceed the state funding and the proposed program is voluntary, it is unlikely that the number of districts providing this opportunity will increase dramatically." The commission's draft final report also backed off the proposal because it said even an increase of $4,000 to $6,000 from the state for an additional student wouldn't be enough and the district would still have to provide funding locally. "Because this cohort would likely include the most severely disabled students, these costs could be substantial and a significant financial disincentive for districts providing services to these students may remain," according to the report. One family's story Shelly Dowdle, of Belgrade, has two sons with autism and other special needs. One is 24 years old and "had to graduate at 19." "There were no transition services offered and nothing waiting for him when he graduated," Dowdle said. He was placed on a job list at 17, she said, but waited five years. During that time, his social skills deteriorated. "The gap in between school and getting these services created problems I'm not sure can be repaired," she said. "If he stayed in school until he was 21, maybe there would not have been such a long wait. He could have learned more of the skills he needed in life." Her younger son is only 10, and she wants to see changes in the funding structure now that could help him avoid what his older brother went through. "I hope my small, often hopeless voice can help make a difference for our kids," she said. The key word always used when talking about older special needs students is "transitions," said Shanell Marshall, who works with the Montana Independent Living Project and is a mother of a 19-year-old with autism. "How that transition occurs for a typical student, and how it occurs for someone with an IEP (individualized education program), there's a little bit of a delay in those benchmarks," Marshall said. Andree LaRose, a Helena attorney who represents families of children with disabilities, argued that Montana is not complying with federal law regarding special education. States must show they're making an effort to provide adequate education to children with disabilities "aged birth through 21" and a timeline for meeting that goal. In Montana's Office of Public Instruction's annual report to the feds, OPI states: "It is the goal of the OPI to achieve full educational opportunity for children with disabilities birth through 21 by the year 2025." "That's a 50-year time period to get into compliance, we're in the last decade of that 50 years and we're still the last state in the country in terms of the age we cut off special education services," LaRose said. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Bill Parry Four different community-based organizations in Queens will partner with the city in a new program that will provide classes to assist immigrants meet educational requirements needed for DACA eligibility, a federal program that offers temporary protection from deportation as well as access to work authorization. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals increases opportunities for social and economic mobility for immigrants across the city. New York City is home to nearly half a million undocumented immigrants, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. They are our neighbors, colleagues, friends and family. We launched a major effort to help these New Yorkers come out of the shadows with ActionNYC, and now were going a step further. Our new education initiative will provide immigrants with an invaluable opportunity to obtain the sense of security needed to transform their lives. Grants will be provided to Queens Library, the Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement, Make the Road New York and LaGuardia Community College to provide educational services such as English literacy and high school equivalency classes. Once enrolled in classes, participants will have the opportunity to work with a case manager who will conduct a needs assessment and set goals with each participant. This grant will enable us to expand our educational pathways for youth who qualify for deferred action and want to make better lives for themselves in the U.S., and were delighted to partner with the Mayors Office of Immigrant Affairs on this important program, LaGuardia Community College President Gail Mellow said. Despite the success of DACA, thousands of potentially eligible New Yorkers have not applied because they do not yet meet the education requirements for the program. To meet that requirement, immigrants must demonstrate graduation from high school, or current enrollment in a qualifying educational program, like those supported by the DACA Education Initiative. Those who were honorably discharged from the U.S. military may also be eligible. Today the de Blasio administration is taking an important step to help immigrants enroll in high-quality, community-based education classes that will help them qualify for the life-changing benefits of DACA, Mayors Office of Immigrant Affairs Commissioner Nisha Agarwal said. We look forward to connecting New Yorkers to the literacy, vocational and educational classes they need to establish their eligibility for DACA. Immigrant New Yorkers who think they might be eligible for the ActionNYC DACA Education Initiative and would like to enroll can call 311 and say ActionNYC. For further information on DACA, immigrant New Yorkers should call 311 and say DACA. As a city that values the contributions of its immigrant communities, the ActionNYC DACA Education Initiative goes further to support individuals who are potentially eligible for DACA so they may remain here with their families, City Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras-Copeland (D-East Elmhurst) said. Working with community-based organizations that well know the communities they serve is a keen approach to reaching individuals who are missing out on the opportunity to remain here with protected status. Although the implementation of President Obamas 2014 executive actions on immigration has been halted by litigation, immigrants can continue to apply for the original DACA program, which celebrated its fourth anniversary Aug. 15. DACA assistance is one of the most common issues my office faces from new immigrants, City Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing) said. While there is never a simple solution to the many pitfalls plaguing our countrys immigration process, the DACA Education Initiative will greatly help to provide applicants with essential tools to navigate the system. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Patrick Donachie A suspect was arrested and charged this weekend with the Aug. 31 stabbing murder of a 60-year-old Jamaica Hills Bangladeshi Muslim woman, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. Yonatan Galvez Marin, 22, was charged with two counts of second-degree murder, one count of first-degree attempted robbery and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, Brown said. According to the DA, Marin approached Nazma Khanam, at 9:15 p.m. on Aug. 31, while she was walking steps ahead of her husband, MD Shamul Alam Khan, 67. Brown said Marin approached Khanam and demanded money. She refused and Marin stabbed her in the torso, according to the DA. She was later pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital. Sadly, the Bangladeshi community once again finds itself having to deal with the senseless murder of one of its own, Brown said in a statement. The individual who is alleged to have attacked this defenseless wife and mother as she walked down the street has now been apprehended and will be vigorously prosecuted for this unprovoked and heinous attack. Members of the Bangladeshi Muslim community called for the authorities to consider the possibility that the murder was a hate crime. The attack came a month after a man fatally shot the Bangladeshi imam of an Ozone Park mosque, along with his associate. Khanams life was celebrated at a funeral and press conference at Jamaica Muslim Center on Friday, as well as at a Sunday gathering at the site of the murder. If convicted, Marin faces up to 25 years to life in prison. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Gina Martinez Despite fliers from police telling carnival attendees Do not shoot anyone. Do not stab anyone, two people were shot and killed, including a St. Johns University graduate, in Brooklyn at the JOuvert Festival. East New York resident, Tiarah Poyau, 22, was shot in the head in the early hours of Sept. 5 during the prelude to the West Indian Labor Day Parade, according to police. The New York Post reported she was killed for rejecting a man who made a pass at her. When police arrived at 44 Empire Blvd. at 4:14 a.m., they found Poyau with a gunshot to the face, police said. She was taken to nearby Kings County Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to police. The Post quoted unnamed sources as saying prior to the shooting, Poyau was accosted and told the man, Get off me. The paper said Poyau had been shot in the eye at close range. Poyao was an aspiring CPA and a St. Johns University graduate. According to her Linked in profile, her ultimate goal was to become an accountant at a prestigious firm. She also studied abroad in 2014 in Paris, Rome and Seville. On her profile she talked about her future: I am always interested in meeting new people, hearing success stories and acquiring helpful bits of knowledge at every chance I get. OnTuesday police arrested Brooklyn resident Reginald Moise, 20. At a news conference Tuesday Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce talked to reporters at One Police Plaza while reviewing monthly crime stats. Right now, he is being charged with murder two, depraved indifference, for shooting Tiarah Poyau, he said. Thats where we are right now. We still have a long way to go. We have more ballistics and blood evidence to check, but we believe this is the individual going forward. Immediately after allegedly shooting Poyao, Moise fled to his girlfriends house, police said. He makes a phone call directly after the shooting and tells a friend of his, Would you mind if I put my gun into your apartment? Boyce said. Police said he asked his girlfriend to hide his gun. A drunken Moise shot his gun at a mirror while at his girlfriends house, injuring his hand, before fleeing the scene, police said. Moise was later arrested Tuesday morning for driving under the influence and crashing into parked vehicles, police said. At the same time officers responded to a call from a neighbor about the shots fired at his girlfriends house. When they arrived, they found the 9mm murder weapon, police said. Ballistic tests were able to match it to the one used to kill Poyao, police said. We then begin to speak to him in the 71 detective squad where he goes on to state that he thinks he shot somebody, Boyce said. The gun went off. I thought it wasnt loaded. Im not sure, Moise said. Just a few blocks away on Empire Boulevard and Flatbush Avenue another shooting took place. According to police at 3:50 a.m. a 72-year- old woman was shot in the arm and a 17-year-old man was shot in the chest. Both were taken to Kings County hospital and 17-year-old Brooklyn resident Tyreke Borel was pronounced dead, police said. Police were still investigating if the two shooting incidents were connected. The annual Labor Day Parade, or JOuvert festival, is a celebration of Caribbean culture that stretches down Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights. The parade is often met with violence. Last year an aide to Gov. Cuomo was shot and killed by a stray bullet. Hopewell Community Park remains a 'labor of love' for local community The lush green park is a product of the combined efforts of the Hopewell Township community and a symbol of decades of conservation efforts in Beaver County. Police Lights SHARE By Times Record News A Wichita Falls resident reported shots fired into his home early Tuesday morning. Police were called to the 3000 block of Pennsylvania Road around 12:24 a.m. on a report of gunfire. The resident told officers he and others were in the house watching the television when they heard several gunshots. The man said he went to get his handgun when someone tried to open the door. He tried to fire his weapon, but it malfunctioned. More shots were then fired from outside, breaking a front window. After the second round of gunfire, the man opened his front door, saw the suspect standing outside with a gun in his hand and tried to fire at him again. However, his gun malfunctioned a second time. The man told officers he went to get his shotgun instead, but the suspect was gone before he got back to the door. When he saw his neighbors outside, he put the shotgun down and waited for police to arrive. The suspect was last seen turning east on Revere Avenue from Pennsylvania Road. VERNON Seven firefighters from the Vernon Fire Department will participate Saturday in the annual 9/11 Dallas Memorial Stair Climb, climbing 110 floors in full firefighting gear, including 30 pounds air pac. A total of 343 firefighters and 70 police officers will make the climb up 55 floors of the Dallas Renaissance Tower twice, in memory of those killed on Sept. 11, 2001, at ground zero when the twin towers collapsed. Local firefighters making the climb include Lt. James Cook, Lt. Josh Billings and firefighters Robin Ragan, Wayne Stewart, Kyle Reser, Towner Bailey and Kevin Steele. The climb is neither a race nor a fundraiser, but rather a tribute honoring the sacrifices of fallen heroes. Participants have the choice to raise funds for a beneficiary of their choice that supports the families of fallen public safety officers. The Vernon Fire Department team selected the National Fallen Firefighter Foundation as the recipient of donations made to the team. The foundation supports families and departments of firefighters involved in line-of-duty deaths. Donations may be made at the following link: https://www.crowdrise.com/vernon-fire-department/fundraiser/jamescook. Reser and Cook will also participate in a similar event, Climb For The Fallen, in Fort Worth on Sunday, Sept. 11. For more information on the Dallas stair climb, go to www.dallasstairclimb.com. The first of two public hearings about the proposed Wichita Falls property tax rate for the 2016-2017 year will be Tuesday. In previous budgetary work sessions, council has expressed a need to adopt a tax rate above the effective tax rate of $0.694732. The highest rate the council will consider is up to $0.762211, a 5.6 cent increase over the previous property tax rate, $0.70598. The highest rate being considered, $0.76 per $100 of property value, would bring in an extra $2.7 million for the city. The council and city staff said they would like to consider a rate somewhere in that range. The city has wrestled with flat revenue in both sales and property tax revenue the two largest areas of income for the area. Staff has recommended delaying projects and trimming more than 20 full-time job equivalents. At this first public hearing, or at the latest at the second hearing, the council will decide on a final proposed tax rate. Texas law requires the council to have two public hearings before a property tax increase. The second public hearing will be at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 13, and council will vote on the final tax rate at their regular meeting Sept. 20. State law requires that two public hearings be conducted when a municipality is considering adopting a property tax rate that will generate any additional revenue when compared to the prior year. Therefore, a public hearing is scheduled for this regular Council meeting and a second hearing is scheduled for a special Council meeting on September 13, 2016 at 8:30 a.m. in the City Council Chambers. These hearings will provide the public opportunities to make comments to the City Council prior to adopting the budget and tax rate for the ensuing fiscal year. It should also be noted that the City Council is scheduled to vote on the tax rate and the budget at the regularly scheduled Council meeting of September 20, 2016. At this public hearing, and no later than the 2nd public hearing, the City Council needs to develop a consensus on what eventual tax rate will be adopted and how any additional revenue it generates will be applied to the budget. Once that consensus is reached, the staff will present an agenda item on September 20 that is ready for adoption. The council will have a full meeting Tuesday with an additional public hearing, seven ordinances, five resolutions, and two executive sessions. The other public hearing with be the second of two public hearings about a 2016 grant for capital, planning and operating costs for the city transit system, also known as Falls Ride. The public hearing will be followed by the council considering an ordinance to accept these $1.5 million in federal funds and $334,000 in state funds for the transit system. Local revenue from the transit system is expected to be about $500,000 from fares, advertising, MSU Mustang Route and proceeds from the travel center. The next ordinance will allow for food establishments to apply for a dog patio permit to allow dogs in an outside patio area. This ordinance consideration came up because a new coffee shop, Frank and Joe's Coffee, wanted to allow dogs in their patio area. The state rules do not allow animals in a food establishment premise where food is being served or consumed, however, they do allow municipalities to grant a variance to areas for dogs to come in where food preparation is not occurring. Several Texas cities have already granted these variances including Houston, Austin and Dallas. The health department recommends a $125 fee for the dog patio permit. Requirements to safe-guard patrons' health and safety will be enforced including outside entrance for dogs and their owners so the animals do not go inside the establishment. Frank Egnoto, Burkburnett The letter writer of the column 'Duel of the deficits' who compared President Bush Sr, Clinton, Bush Jr. and Obama to a Team USA in a 4x Relay was pretty interesting. However, if the writer had documented her references it would have been more helpful in understanding her figures. For instance, according to factchecker.org, Clinton left $192.1 billion surplus to Obama instead of $125 billion as the writer had reported. Whether the government used the 'accrual method' used in most corporations or the 'cash basis' method the government used to come up with the figure $192.1 billion, this is the true figure. Factchecker.org Is the writer referring to the 'federal deficit' or the 'federal debt?' The federal debt has more than doubled (116 percent) since Obama took office. Factchecker.org Hillary Clinton has said Obama has created 15 million jobs since Obama took office. Factchecker.org says 'the number of 14.9 million jobs Obama created is not an accurate number.' When you consider the 460,000 loss of public jobs during his presidency, the number of jobs created changes closer to 10.1 million. Under Obama the long term unemployment number has dropped by 614,000 (true), but is still 761,000 higher than the start of the Great Recession. Factchecker.org Democrats often state, under the Obama tenure, the economy has created 7.2 million jobs. Alone, this statement appears true. However, when compared to Clinton's presidency that created 23 million private-sector jobs, and in spite of being plagued by two recessions, Bush (43) created 1.3 million jobs. One see's a different picture. Both sides love to nitpick numbers to make their man look good. And when we look at these numbers, we need to compare apples to apples, present the whole picture, and be very careful where we get our information from. Whether we are referring to the 'federal deficit' or the 'federal debt,' I know the national debt today is $19.445 trillion, and will be more than double before Obama's tenure is up. When Bush (43) left office, the national debt was $10.626 trillion. www.cbsnews.com/news/national-debt ITT Technical Institute has ceased academic operations at all campuses, including one in Albany, the for-profit college chain announced Tuesday. "Effective today, the company has eliminated the positions of the overwhelming majority of our more than 8,000 employees," the company wrote in a press release on its website. "Our focus and priority with our remaining staff is on helping the tens of thousands of unexpectedly displaced students with their records and future educational options." The announcement means roughly 40,000 students on more than 100 campuses nationwide will need to find new plans for the spring semester. The Department of Education, meanwhile, has said ITT Tech students could be eligible for loan relief. The move comes after a tumultuous August for the company. Last month, ITT Tech stopped enrolling new students following a DOE ruling that barred the use of federal financial aid at the school. The chain was also required to increase its funding reserves from $94 million to $247 million. "Our responsibility is first and foremost to protect students and taxpayers," U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. said at the time. "Looking at all of the risk factors, it's clear that we need increased financial protection and that it simply would not be responsible or in the best interest of students to allow ITT to continue enrolling new students who rely on federal student aid funds." ITT Tech has criticized the ruling on numerous occasions. In its Tuesday announcement, it lambasted the DOE. "We believe the government's action was inappropriate and unconstitutional," the company wrote. "However, with the ITT Technical Institutes ceasing operations, it will now likely rest on other parties to understand these reprehensible actions and to take action to attempt to prevent this from happening again." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Queen guitarist Brian May says an asteroid in Jupiter's orbit has been named after the band's late frontman Freddie Mercury on what would have been his 70th birthday. May says the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Centre has designated an asteroid discovered in 1991, the year of Mercury's death, as "Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury." May, who has a doctorate in astrophysics from Imperial College, London, says the newly named asteroid is "just a dot of light, but it's a very special dot of light" and recognizes Mercury's musical and performing talents. Mercury, born Sept. 5, 1946, wrote and performed hits, including "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "We Are The Champions," with Queen, releasing over a dozen studio albums between 1973 and 1991. Associated Press Kidnapping retraced in documentary In 2012, freelance journalist Theo Padnos slipped into Syria to cover its unfolding civil war and was promptly kidnapped by members of an al-Qaida branch. Convinced he was a CIA agent because he spoke Arabic, the group held the Massachusetts native for nearly two years before releasing him in August 2014. Now, Padnos is retracing his journey in "Theo Who Lived," a documentary being screened Sept. 30 in Cambridge, Mass. Its theatrical premiere is in New York City on Oct. 7, followed by a wider release. Padnos, 47, who has been living in Paris and Vermont, says he's grateful to have survived. The ordeal not only changed his outlook on life but also gave him perspective on the Syrian conflict that he feels is important to share. Padnos is working on a nonfiction book, a play and a novel drawing on his experience. He wrote about his captivity for The New York Times Magazine shortly after his release and is trying to continue writing about the region as a journalist. "I had a real spiritual voyage, which was terrifying for me and my family at the time," Padnos said from his family's vacation home in Vermont. "But looking back, this is what life gave me and I'd like to take what I learned and turn it into some positive benefit." The film follows Padnos as he returns to places in Turkey and Israel that figured prominently in his 22-month capture. The film crew never set foot in Syria. Padnos reflects on his captivity on sets emulating his tiny prison cell and the room where he was subjected to torture and beatings. Associated Press Cosby could get trial date at hearing The shape of Bill Cosby's felony sexual assault trial could become clearer at a hearing Tuesday when his lawyers fight to keep out key evidence, including nearly 1,000 pages of damaging testimony he gave in the accuser's lawsuit. Cosby, 79, is charged with drugging and molesting a woman he mentored at Temple University in 2004. His lawyers will ask a suburban Philadelphia judge to suppress testimony from the 2005 lawsuit, when accuser Andrea Constand said she was left semi-conscious and Cosby said he was "not stopped." And they want to bar jurors from hearing a taped phone call between Cosby and Constand's mother, when the long-beloved celebrity and morals champion fears he will sound like "a dirty old man with a young girl." The criminal charges were filed in December, months after Cosby's testimony in the woman's lawsuit was unsealed and a new prosecutor reopened the case. Cosby, in the deposition, admitted to a series of extramarital affairs and described giving numerous women drugs and alcohol. Associated Press Ex-Miss America still a winner A former Miss America pageant winner has scored another honor. The Miss America Foundation announced Monday that Katie Harman Ebner has been named the inaugural recipient of its new Former Miss America Discretionary Scholarship. The scholarship was established to help former pageant winners who still need financial assistance in completing their education after their 10-year scholarship window expires. Ebner was Miss America 2002. She will receive up to $10,000 in scholarship assistance to continue her studies at Southern Oregon University's renowned Oregon Center for the Arts. The next Miss America will be crowned Sunday in Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall. Associated Press MISSOULA -- As they have for more than 20 years, members of the Missoula Area Central Labor Council and union supporters from around the city celebrated Labor Day with a gathering in Bonner Park. Labor council president Mark Anderlik said his organization is backing the Missoula Community Benefits Coalition as part of a push to support local unions. The coalition is a partnership between labor unions and area organizations such as the state chapter of the Sierra Club, to secure requirements for the Riverside Triangle development project. The coalition is proposing an agreement with the project's developers to prioritize local products and labor, as well as to reduce the impact of the construction on the environment and guarantee more affordable housing as part of the project, among other goals. Weve already had three meetings with the developers and we have three more planned, Anderlik said. This is something that could really change the way our developments are done. Apart from strictly local issues, the labor council also takes stances on matters with national and global impact, such as rejecting the proposed international trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership. How anything changes in this world is through active solidarity. Its the accumulation of all of those effects and we are going to do our part, Anderlik said. Mondays labor picnic, which drew around 50 people to the park, was smaller than previous years, something Anderlik chalked up to the rainy day. Denise Juneau, the state superintendent of public instruction who is running against Republican incumbent Ryan Zinke for Montanas sole seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, was the first speaker during the Labor Day picnic. She touted the impact that union workers have had on the history of the state and country. "We helped build the strongest economy, we fought for stronger rights and we helped make America great," she said. The Democrat said she was running for a seat in Congress in part to help assure workers' rights, adding that Zinke and other millionaires like himself were working to take them away "at the expense of working-class families." I will always stand side by side with Montana workers, Juneau said. She wasnt the only politician to take the stage Monday. A series of Montana legislators and hopefuls such as House District 99 candidate Marilyn Ryan spoke about the importance of unions to the state. More needs to be done in the next session of the Legislature to create infrastructure jobs, Ryan said. Its easy to just say jobs. We all want jobs, she said. Representatives for U.S. Sen. Jon Tester and Montana Supreme Court candidate Dirk Sandefur delivered statements on their behalf. Anderlik encouraged everyone to take home a campaign yard sign, nearly all for Democratic candidates, that were staked in the ground at the edge of the park. What has always brought us success is that we organize, he said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Honeymooners seeking over-the-top accommodations and exotic locales have a new list to peruse. The U.S. News & World Report's Best Honeymoon Destinations of 2016-2017 ranking was just released, and it offers 20 destinations that range from secluded beaches to romantic cities. That publication considered user votes and expert opinions when determining the best places for couples to see together now. RELATED: How much the average wedding cost in 2015, item-by-item Not surprisingly, there were several tropical getaways and European landmarks in the mix. It contrasts with a recent Westin Hotels & Resorts study, which revealed that U.S. residents aren't venturing far from home for their honeymoon as often. That same report also showed that honeymooners now care more about health and wellness, even when on their romantic trip. "One of the most surprising things about the study was how many people went running on their honeymoon," Bob Jacobs, vice president of brand management for Westin Hotels & Resorts, told Skift. "Forty percent [of honeymooners] in the last five years went on at least one run during their honeymoon and they are using it as a way to decompress, disconnect, and be a tourist at the same time." SEE ALSO: Wedding faux pas; what not to do if you're a guest Wherever honemooners end up traveling, or what they do when they're there, the more pressing issue is that they go somewhere. A study reported that couples who have a honeymoon are 41 percent less likely to get a divorce. So go ahead and take that trip to Madrid, or to one of the other 19 places the U.S. News & World report suggests. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Adirondack Operations, a business consulting firm near Watertown, was a staunch supporter of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's highly touted START-UP NY program. At the state fair last summer, employees from the small company staffed a START-UP NY booth and helped tout the state's plan to create jobs through tax breaks and utilizing businesses resources in the state university system. But Adirondack, one of only two North Country businesses listed with START-UP, recently quit the program. In a withdrawal letter to the state, owner Mary Anne Kaputa said she supports the START-UP initiative and liked working with staff at SUNY Canton, an hour north of Watertown. But she said her company needs to hire interns and part-time employees, and couldn't meet the program's full-time hiring requirements to qualify for tax incentives. More Information START-UP NY Job creation* Capital Region 32 Central New York 9 Finger Lakes 95 Long Island 37 Mid-Hudson 5 Mohawk Valley 1 New York City52 North Country 0 Southern Tier 15 Western New York 162 *Numbers are by region between Jan. 2014 and Dec. 2015. Source: Empire State Development, Times Union research START-UPs promoted in 2015* Not located yet30 Located in 20167 Withdrew 3 Decertified 1 Total41 *The governor's office announced 41 businesses joined the START-UP NY business tax incentive program in 2015. The numbers represent their current statuses. Source: Empire State Development, Times Union research See More Collapse The company's exit from the program comes as the heavily funded initiative is facing fierce criticism from skeptics questioning it's effectiveness. In recent months, START-UP NY, a central part of Cuomo's massive economic development arsenal, has been vilified by some state legislators and conservative think tanks after it was reported the program created just 408 jobs across the state since 2014, leading the critics to question whether the $53 million spent on advertising and marketing was worth it. A Times Union analysis also found that some of the most economically struggling areas of the state are getting little from START-UP a program originally intended to benefit upstate. State records indicate 15 jobs were created in total across the North Country, Mohawk Valley, Central New York and Mid-Hudson regions between 2014 and 2015. The Capital Region, which includes eight counties, gained 32 jobs. Buffalo has reported the most job creation in connection with the START-UP program. But critics say the 162 jobs were assisted by other incentives including six START-UP companies that received cash awards through 43North, a part of the governor's "Buffalo Billion" development program that is under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department. The Justice Department is examining the program's lobbying ties and potential undisclosed conflicts of interest. The START-UP program also came under fire during a legislative hearing last month in Albany. State Assemblyman Robin Schimminger, a Democrat from the Buffalo suburbs, questioned Empire State Development Corp. CEO and fellow western New Yorker Howard Zemsky about what the legislator has claimed is misleading reporting in the job-creation numbers. ESD administers START-UP, as well as many of the state's economic incentive programs. The legislative showdown was the latest in a series of attacks on the state's economic development policies, which included a scathing report last month from the state comptroller's office that said ESD couldn't document whether companies met goals tied to tax credits provided through the Excelsior Jobs Program. Zemsky has defended the START-UP funding, which Cuomo said earlier this year would lead to the creation of at least 4,175 jobs. Zemsky explained it's just one of the state's economic development tools and that it takes time for innovative business programs to take root. But the lack of jobs in some regions, Schimminger said, may demonstrate that START-UP only works if the state is handpicking businesses and enriching them in other ways, including grants or other tax incentives. "If you go back to the creation of the program in 2013, you would read every imaginative superlative being used 'game-changer,' 'transformative.' It was a program wrapped in great expectations," Schimminger said in an interview last month. "But the reality is something different." Zemsky counters that Buffalo's higher participation is likely the result of the State University at Buffalo's designation as one of the highest federally funded research institutions in the SUNY system and a fuel for research-inspired businesses. "The whole economic development portfolio we have is so dramatically larger than START-UP NY," Zemsky told the Times Union. "But in the silly season of politics this is what people want to focus on. I think if we can put the politics aside and just be patient and recognize the compelling virtues of creating a more fertile environment for industry and academia, and be patient with it, I think we'd all be better served." The state Legislature approved START-UP NY in 2013, allowing new or expanding businesses to be free of sales and income taxes for 10 years provided companies are not on the long list of unauthorized uses like hotels, restaurants, retail and wholesale distribution centers. Businesses can apply for the program through 2020. START-UP, which stands for SUNY Tax-Free Areas to Revitalize and Transform Upstate New York, was originally designed to target upstate regions. But that changed when downstate legislators threatened to vote against it if their communities weren't included. The program also requires companies to locate on college campuses, or an approved building nearby, so they can benefit from tax-free leases, faculty knowledge, student interns and equipment. But the extent to which that's happening is mixed. ESD says 78 public and private schools have qualified to locate businesses through the program. But only a handful of campuses are housing multiple businesses most notably University at Buffalo, Stony Brook in Long Island and SUNY Downstate Medical Center in New York City, according to an analysis of START-UP records. Also, some regions remain START-UP NY deserts, despite the willingness of SUNY schools and local officials to participate. There were four companies connected to SUNY Cobleskill that the governor's office announced were joining START-UP in 2015, but three haven't started and one withdrew from the program. The Mohawk Valley, where SUNY Cobleskill sits, reported one job created between 2014 and 2015 from a Canadian aviation company that, according to Mohawk Valley Community College, set up in a trailer near one of their school buildings that is under construction in Rome, Oneida County. The Times Union found the governor's office touted 27 other companies in 2015 press releases as joining START-UP NY statewide. But all of those also have yet to locate, according to ESD officials. Guilderland resident Gregory Wilhelm has the only active START-UP NY business that's tied to SUNY Cobleskill. Wilhelm, a SUNY Cobleskill graduate who runs a wine business called Royal Meadery, renovated a building in Richmondville, Schoharie County, to make his product and offer tastings. Still an engineer full-time, Wilhelm said his business has been slow to start because of the time it takes to make wine, so he has yet to hire an employee. While he supports START-UP NY, Wilhelm said he signed on not for the tax breaks but because of the opportunity to work with SUNY Cobleskill faculty who are part of a new fermentation science program. "People say it's a waste of taxpayer dollars. But we get nothing," Wilhelm said, noting that incentives aren't provided if jobs aren't created. "It's a new program. We need to stay the course and play it out." However, state Assemblyman Peter Lopez, a Republican who represents Schoharie County and voted for the START-UP legislation, said colleges have been provided little support or guidance from the state about how to integrate economic development into their educational mission. "You created expectations without an organized structure," Lopez said. "I look at these numbers and they're anemic for a reason." Zemsky said ESD spent a lot of time with colleges and universities. But, "the more experience we get under our belt, the better advice we can give," he said. The Mid-Hudson region's only business that claimed job creation by the end of 2015, Sustainable Waste Power Systems, has an office at the sprawling former IBM campus near Kingston and qualified for START-UP in part because Ulster Community College declared the IBM campus an off-shoot of its institution. But Sustainable, which is working on a system that turns animal or plant waste into fuel to power equipment, is doing all its construction and testing at space its leasing from a power tool company in Saugerties. Sustainable President Chris Gillespie said he's done presentations at Ulster Community College. But he isn't sure he'd be able to locate at the former IBM plant because Sustainable needs an area that is wide enough to hold 40-foot shipping containers. Gillespie said he's hoping his company, which has hired five people, can begin to sell the system soon to places like poultry farms and distilleries around the country. Tax breaks, however, do not provide all the elements needed to boost a business like his, which moved from Connecticut to New York to participate in START-UP. Sustainable has also applied for a grant from the state's Regional Economic Development Council, another part of Cuomo's economic development platform. "Anything the state can do would help." Gillespie said. "They aren't very tolerant of failure. A venture capital firm has that type of appetite for risk, but I don't think the state does." At the State University of New York at Binghamton, nine businesses have enrolled in START-UP NY. But only two reported creating jobs by the end of 2015. Per Stromhaug, assistant vice president for innovation and economic development at SUNY Binghamton, said while growth has been slow, three more companies have since hired new employees in 2016. Eight of the enrolled businesses said they'll locate at a SUNY Binghamton research facility. "Last year did not look as good as we were hoping for," Stromhaug said. "But all these companies are still going, none of them have dropped out. I think we feel pretty optimistic about the numbers coming out of this year." lstanforth@timesunion.com 518-454-5697 WATERFORD The Viking ship Draken Harald Harfagre on Tuesday sailed to Waterford, where it will remain overnight. The ship will depart toward Albany at 8 a.m. Wednesday. Cleveland Converging on Ohio within miles of each other, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton made competing Labor Day pitches in Cleveland on Monday, setting the stage for a critical month in their testy presidential campaign. Meeting with reporters, Trump appeared to pivot away from his hard-line position on immigration, saying, "I'm all about jobs now." The Republican real estate mogul said immigrants in the country illegally may not need to return to their countries of origin to obtain legal status, appearing to contradict his past positions. Any immigrants who want full citizenship must return to their countries of origin and get in line, he told reporters. But of the millions more living in the country illegally, he would not rule out a pathway to legal status. "We're going to make that decision into the future," Trump said in his most extensive comments on immigration since delivering a long-awaited policy speech last week that definitively ruled out a pathway to legal status for people living in the country illegally. Clinton powered through a coughing fit at a Labor Day festival in Cleveland, criticizing Trump's trip to Mexico as "an embarrassing international incident." Unwilling to allow Trump to modify his immigration stances, she said his address later that night in Arizona amounted to a "doubling down on his absurd plan to send a deportation force to round up 16 million people." "He can try to fool voters into thinking somehow he's not as harsh and inhumane as he seems but it's too late," Clinton said. The two campaigns arrived in Cleveland within hours of each other, underscoring Ohio's role in presidential campaigns. No Republican has won the White House without carrying the state. The airplanes of Trump and his running mate, Mike Pence, were parked on the tarmac as Clinton and her vice presidential pick, Tim Kaine, arrived in separate planes at the city's airport. It was a near-encounter that forced the Trump press corps to the side of the road as Clinton's motorcade whizzed by. "It's kind of interesting to have all the planes here on the same tarmac," Kaine said after he and Clinton greeted supporters. "Just shows you how important Ohio is. We're going to be here a lot." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate New York A once-prominent New York civil rights lawyer convicted of helping a terrorist client communicate with his followers is still battling the cancer that earned her compassionate release from prison over two years ago and she is still as radical as ever, even expressing support for the killers of police officers. Lynne Stewart, a 76-year-old great-grandmother, said at her Brooklyn home that she is increasingly drained of energy by a disease that was projected to kill her at least six months ago. "I still have serious, serious cancer," a slow-moving Stewart said, accompanied by her equally outspoken husband, Ralph Poynter. "I have good days and bad days. I know I'm sick. I'm not what I was once." At the height of her legal career, the former schoolteacher represented clients who included Weather Underground radicals, cop killers and small-time criminals. Now, she knows people are curious to find her alive, still supporting extremists whenever she can after being relieved of a sentence that once called for her incarceration until 2018. She was disbarred after a Manhattan jury convicted her of breaking strict rules meant to ensure a blind Egyptian sheik serving a life prison sentence in a plot to blow up New York City landmarks and kill Egypt's president never communicated with the outside world. Sentenced to a decade in prison, she was freed on New Year's Eve in 2013, after doctors concluded she had less than 18 months to live. But the cancer has neither killed nor muzzled Stewart, a longtime believer in armed struggle as a way of fostering political revolution. Asked about the recent ambush slayings of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Stewart said of the gunmen, "They spoke for some of us when they did that." "They are avengers," she said. "They are not brazen, crazed, you know, insane killers. They are avenging deaths that are never and have never been avenged since the '60s and '70s." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate New York Despite a huge police presence, hundreds of floodlights and pleas to refrain from the violence that has marred the celebration of West Indian American Day in Brooklyn, this year's festivities, which began overnight, again turned deadly. Two people were shot and killed and at least two others were wounded early Monday in separate shootings near the eastern edge of Prospect Park, which was crammed with revelers at the predawn festival known as J'ouvert, according to police officials. The violence began about 3:50 a.m. when a young man, thought to be in his late teens or early 20s, was shot in the chest near the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Empire Boulevard. He was taken to Kings County Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead. During the same shooting, a 72-year-old woman was shot in the arm; she was expected to survive. About 30 minutes later, and not far away on Empire Boulevard, a 22-year-old woman was shot in the face during a dispute, police officials said. She was taken to Kings County Hospital Center, where she was pronounced dead. And around 6:50 a.m., an unidentified man was shot and wounded. Police officials did not immediately have any details about his condition. Violence at the overnight festival has been a recurring problem. Last year, Carey W. Gabay, a lawyer who worked for the administration of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, was killed after he was caught in the crossfire of a shootout between rival gangs. Another man was fatally stabbed in a separate episode last year. In response, the Police Department planned to double the number of uniformed officers assigned to this year's festivities. The department also installed 200 floodlights and granted the predawn parade an official permit for the first time in its 22-year history. The police estimate the event draws about 250,000 people. Yvette Rennie, president of J'ouvert City International, the group that was given the permit and organizes many of the events, walked along Empire Boulevard shortly before dawn Monday and, when asked about the violence, said that she did not have time for an interview. She did not immediately return a call later Monday morning. The violence was a setback for an event that has been the lesser-known cousin of the far larger West Indian American Day Parade, which is organized by a different group. People drawn to J'ouvert, whose name means daybreak, say it is a tradition they used to celebrate in their native Caribbean countries. Under the cover of darkness, people transform themselves into royalty, wearing crowns and rhinestones, or into oil-slicked dancers and painted pranksters. Some people create mini-clouds out of baby powder that also scents the air. The wee hours of Monday started peacefully if not chaotically. The police kept shifting barricades, confusing people who were trying to find the beginning of the J'ouvert parade. But the peace did not last long. Around 3:30 a.m., police vehicles were winding through the streets as if they were floats with sirens blaring and lights flashing. The noise mixed with the soca played by steel bands and the reggae that blared from car stereos. The din was so loud inside Prospect Park, where bands and crowds had gathered, that few heard the gunshots not far away on Empire Boulevard. Ambulances departed and the parade route looked the same as it had before the shootings. Hangzhou, China The Obama administration's latest effort to broker a cease-fire in Syria fell short Monday, after a 90-minute meeting between President Barack Obama and President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Group of 20 meeting failed to resolve snags between the United States and Russia. "Given the gaps of trust that exist, that's a tough negotiation, and we haven't yet closed the gaps in a way where we think it would actually work," Obama said. Obama said he had instructed Secretary of State John Kerry to continue negotiating with the Russians over the coming days to see if a deal was possible. The goal, he said, is to forge a durable cease-fire that would end the rain of bombs on Aleppo and other Syrian cities. "The faster we can offer some relief to folks on the ground," he said, "the better off we're going to be." At his own news conference at the end of the summit, Putin declined to discuss the details of a Syria deal, but said the talks were on the "right track" and expressed hope that an agreement could be reached shortly despite earlier disagreements. "I have grounds to believe that it can happen in the next few days," Putin said. Washington Support for the Black Lives Matter movement has increased among young white adults, according to a poll that suggests a majority of white, black, Asian and Hispanic young adults now support the movement calling for accountability for police in the deaths of African-Americans. Fifty-one percent of white adults between the ages of 18 and 30 say in a GenForward poll they now strongly or somewhat support Black Lives Matter, a 10-point increase since June, while 42 percent said they do not support the movement. But most young whites also think the movement's rhetoric encourages violence against the police, while the vast majority of young blacks say it does not. And young whites are more likely to consider violence against police a serious problem than say the same about the killings of blacks by police. Black, Hispanic and Asian youth already had expressed strong majority support for the Black Lives Matter movement in the June poll. Eighty-five percent of black young adults now say they support the protesters. Sixty-seven percent of Asian and 62 percent of Hispanic young adults agreed with that sentiment. The GenForward survey of adults age 18 to 30 is conducted by the Black Youth Project at the University of Chicago with the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The first-of-its-kind poll pays special attention to the voices of young adults of color, highlighting how race and ethnicity shape the opinions of a new generation. Sean Bradley, 26, of Clearwater, Fla., said watching several encounters between police and black suspects online helped cement his support for Black Lives Matter. As a white male, he said, he also has had run-ins with the police and witnessed officers trying to cover for what he considered illegal conduct by other officers. "The fact is that the police target blacks and they discriminate against blacks," Bradley said. "Because of how they've treated blacks over the years, of course they (blacks) don't trust them (police) and I know for a fact that some of the things the police do are illegal. I would be upset as well." Cashel's Cllr Tom Wood has entered the fray over the controversial way in which the patient hotel at South Tipperary General Hospital which was announced by Deputy Michael Lowry and subsequenty dismissed by other Tipp TDS and the HSE saying nothing is decided. Cllr Wood described the spat between Tipp TDS as a premature Christmas pantomime in a statement to the Tipperary Star. Cllr Wood said he had tabled a question as a member of the Regional Health Forum for its meeting in Cork on September 22. In fact I tabled it on August 4 when the first article appeared in the media about this modular patient hotel and after Minister Harris saying that the final decision rested with the HSE, he said. Cllr Wood's motion asks, will the 40-bed unit, at an estimated weekly cost of 60,000, regarded as an interim solution to relieve the trolley situation at South Tipperary General Hospital, be in place before the onset of winter, as expected by the consultants who met Minister Harris earlier this summer? He has also tabled a motion that the forum call on the HSE personnel to finally get to grips with the situation at Our Lady's Hospital, Cashel, the Le Cairde Unit on the hospital complex as St Patricks' Hospital, as all pronouncements to date have failed to materialise. He is also calling on the area manager for community, primary and continuing care to come to Cashel at the earliest opportunity to address the concerns of staff, patients and families. DECATUR With funding available for a new bioprocessing research lab at the University of Illinois, officials in Decatur see an opportunity to provide an economic boost across Central Illinois. State Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, said Tuesday the state is investing $26 million in the Integrated Bioprocessing Research Lab, which will complement the production and transportation capacity of Decatur and the surrounding area's corn and soybean production. Rose said the lab, which is being built on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus, aims to produce new technologies in renewable fuel and energy on a large scale. Opportunities like this don't come around very often, Rose said. This is a great opportunity for us as a whole region. Construction on the project started in November 2014 but was delayed during the state's budget impasse. The appropriation to jump-start the construction of the lab was secured in the budget plan signed into law June 30, Rose said. Rose was joined by local officials and representatives of Farm Bureaus in Macon, Piatt, DeWitt and Shelby counties at the Archer Daniels Midland Co. intermodal rail facility to discuss the potential impact that could include the creation of 20,000 jobs over the next decade in the new industry sector. It will help the agricultural sector in particular, Rose said. Anytime we can create more jobs and provide a larger economic footprint for the area, only positive things will happen, said Troy Uphoff, a farmer in Shelby County. Rose said the growth of the bioprocessing industry would shift chemicals currently made with petroleum to manufacturing more bio-based products. We want to be the destination address for bioprocessing chemicals, Rose said. Decatur has the foundation to support the industry already in place, said Ryan McCrady, Economic Development Corporation of Decatur and Macon County president. This is an amazing opportunity to partner with the University of Illinois, McCrady said. This is a significant advancement in our community. Rose planned to meet with local officials to discuss what plans might include going forward to attract new businesses to the area, bringing at least a significant portion of the jobs to this part of Central Illinois. This is almost too big to wrap our arms around, Decatur Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe said. It's so exciting to see what can happen here when we're all working together. Rose said Decatur is in a position to support growth in the industry with its production capacity at ADM and Tate & Lyle, crop production with vast corn and soybean fields and the transportation network highlighted through the Midwest Inland Port. I agree with the program I don't agree with the program I like the idea, but feel the current proposal is too broad Let me park where I want! Vote View Results [September 06, 2016] City of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Selects Suite of Solutions from Tyler Technologies Tyler Technologies (News - Alert), Inc. (NYSE: TYL) has signed a software-as-a-service (SaaS) agreement with the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, for Tyler's Munis enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution and EnerGov permitting, licensing and regulatory suites. The agreement, valued at $13 million, includes financial management, payroll and human resources (HR), revenue tracking and reporting, permitting, licensing, and regulatory suites. The city of Tulsa implemented a financial management system in 1993, including modules to manage payroll and HR, in addition to other subsystems. A separate utility billing system was implemented in 1999, and some separate manual systems still exist. With many separate, aging and non-integrated systems, the organization was burdened with manually integrating them. This frequently required exporting data to spreadsheets or other databases to respond to the city's reporting and processing requirements. These separate systems led to redundant processes and created data and information silos. The city of Tulsa sought a single, integrated system offering web-based applications, self-service functionality and an electronic flow of information. Its goal was to significantly improve consistency and accuracy. Tyler's Munis ERP solution will streamline business processes, eliminate rdundancy, and provide timely and relevant data to assist management in making better decisions. At the same time, Tyler's EnerGov will provide staff with real-time data while its online self-service component will expand access for the constituents of the city of Tulsa. Tulsa chose EnerGov because of its robust GIS integration, its ability to streamline and automate the workflow of the city's processes, as well as providing electronic plans review. EnerGov also integrates well with Tyler's Munis solution. The city of Tulsa chose to contract for a SaaS (News - Alert) solution, rather than the in-house solution, to support these services to ensure the organization is always up to date with its systems. The SaaS solution will also provide the city with built-in disaster recovery. Tulsa is the second-largest city in Oklahoma and has a population of more than 400,000. The city serves as the county seat of Tulsa County, the most populated county in Oklahoma. Tulsa County currently uses Tyler's Eagle Recorder solution. About Tyler Technologies, Inc. Tyler Technologies (NYSE: TYL) is a leading provider of end-to-end information management solutions and services for local governments. Tyler partners with clients to empower the public sector - cities, counties, schools and other government entities - to become more efficient, more accessible and more responsive to the needs of their constituents. Tyler's client base includes more than 14,000 local government offices in all 50 states, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom and other international locations. In 2016, Forbes ranked Tyler on their "Most Innovative Growth Companies" list, and it has also named Tyler one of "America's Best Small Companies" eight times. The company has been included six times on the Barron's 400 Index, a measure of the most promising companies in America. More information about Tyler Technologies, headquartered in Plano, Texas, can be found at www.tylertech.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160906005136/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 06, 2016] Dataminr for News Enters Continental Europe, signing deal with France Info NEW YORK, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Dataminr, the leading company that turns real time social media into actionable alerts, has announced this month that France Info, a part of the Radio France company has become the first commercial client in continental Europe. This agreement is the first of its kind on the continent and signals a growing shift by digital media executives turning to software solutions to strengthen the newsgathering process. The expansion into continental Europe is a natural development following the high adoption rate in newsrooms across the U.S. and other parts of the world. Journalists find having Dataminr in their workflow to be indispensable in helping them be fast, accurate and differentiated in the increasingly competitive news landscape. France Info acquired the Dataminr for News product as it continues to carry out an aggressive digital growth strategy that focuses on delivering the most relevant stories to its four million daily listeners across a number of platforms. The 24-hour news broadcaster continues to focus on adding tools that enhance coverage and ensure they are reporting on the stories that matter the most to its audience. "Dataminr fr News has alerted us to a number of major news events ahead of other sources, including the bombing of the Brussels airport and the 14 July Nice attack," said Laurent Frisch, Head of Digital at Radio France. "Enabling us to start our newsgathering process earlier allows us to focus on the best ways to tell the story." Developed in partnership with Twitter, Dataminr for News applies proprietary algorithms and processes to the firehose of 500 million publicly available tweets to deliver journalists real-time leads for them to investigate further. "Aligning with France Info as our flagship News partner in the French market enables Dataminr to be a key part of their innovative news gathering process," said Steven Schwartz, President of News at Dataminr. "We will continue to seek partnerships with similarly-focused organizations throughout Europe as our global footprint expands." Dataminr alerts are customized based on a user's topics of interest and regions of focus and delivered seamlessly into their existing workflow via the application, email, mobile, Slack or TweetDeck. Dataminr for News is currently used in more than 200 newsrooms across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., the Middle East and Asia. For more information on Dataminr, visit http://www.dataminr.com or http://dataminr.com/products/. Contacts: Ryan Gorman [email protected]/646-747-7142 Frances Cooperman [email protected]/646.883.0728 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dataminr-for-news-enters-continental-europe-signing-deal-with-france-info-300322388.html SOURCE Dataminr [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 06, 2016] MAXIMUS Awarded Contract to Operate the Idaho Employment and Training Services Program MAXIMUS (NYSE:MMS), a leading provider of government services worldwide, announced today that it has been awarded the contract to operate the Idaho Employment and Training Services Program. The contract has a two-year base period and six one-year options. If all options are awarded, the total contract value over the eight-year period will be approximately $30 million. The Idaho Employment and Training Services Program provides services to individuals statewide who are participants in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program in Idaho. Under the contract, MAXIMUS will help program participants get the skills and experience they need to obtain long-term employment in order to achieve economic independence. The Company will partner with participants, families, local community stakeholders and employers to deliver a holistic approach that is person-centric, industry-sector focused and dedicated to making a positive difference for communities across Idaho. "As a trusted partner to workforce agencies since 1996, MAXIMUS is excited to partner with the State of Idaho to help build stronger communities through employent," commented Bruce Caswell, MAXIMUS President. "We will put our decades of experience and passion for service to work to connect participants with employers in sustainable, mutually beneficial relationships that ultimately result in economic development." "Idaho's Employment and Training Services Program is a critical cornerstone in helping Idaho families move to self-sufficiency by developing the skills and education necessary to find stability in the workforce," said Lori Wolff, Administrator for the Division of Welfare in the Department of Health and Welfare. "Any individual receiving SNAP or TANF services will be assessed individually to determine their best path toward employment. The focus on determining this critical path toward employment and the partnerships developed in our communities to leverage resources that drive a job industry focus are all factors that lead to successful outcomes. This is an important investment for Idaho." About MAXIMUS Since 1975, MAXIMUS has operated under its founding mission of Helping Government Serve the People, enabling citizens around the globe to successfully engage with their governments at all levels and across a variety of health and human services programs. MAXIMUS delivers innovative business process management and technology solutions that contribute to improved outcomes for citizens and higher levels of productivity, accuracy, accountability and efficiency of government-sponsored programs. With more than 16,000 employees worldwide, MAXIMUS is a proud partner to government agencies in the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit maximus.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160906005202/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 06, 2016] Progrexion Appoints James Potter to Executive Team as Chief Legal Officer Progrexion - a leading provider of credit report repair services for consumers in the Unites States - announced the recent appointment of James Potter as Chief Legal Officer (CLO). In this new role, he will oversee the efforts of the Progrexion legal and compliance teams. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160906005220/en/ James Potter joins Progrexion's executive team as Chief Legal Officer (Photo: Business Wire) The company's growth has garnered it national accolades, employing nearly 2,500 people at nine locations in Utah, Idaho, Arizona, California, New York and Oklahoma - an impressive growth since its early beginnings in 2000 with approximately 50 employees. "We are thrilled to have James Potter join the Progrexion executive team," said Progrexion CEO Jeff Johnson. "James is a strong leader with an extensive bckground as a legal executive in tightly regulated industries. He is a great addition to our leadership team and his skills will be key to our continued success." Potter brings more than 30 years of experience to Progrexion, with an impressive background in navigating complex national and international regulatory environments, as well as managing legal and compliance departments in various industries. Prior to joining Progrexion, Potter served as Senior Vice President, Transformation Initiatives at Lineage Logistics, LLC; Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary at Del Monte Corporation; Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary at Provident Mutual Life Insurance Company; and Chief Legal Officer of The Prudential Insurance Company/Prudential Banks. "It is such a pleasure to join Progrexion during this time of phenomenal growth for the company," said Potter. "Progrexion is an exceptional opportunity for me to engage the full range of my skills. It is a leading force in a very dynamic market space and I look forward to working with the strong leadership team." Potter, an Indiana native, holds a B. A. in Behavioral Science from the University of Chicago, and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1982. About Progrexion Progrexion is a leading provider of credit report repair services in the United States. Progrexion's technology and services help consumers access and understand information contained in their credit reports, verify whether that information is fair, accurate and substantiated, and correct inaccuracies with individual creditors, other data furnishers and the national credit bureaus. Progrexion technology and services are used by CreditRepair.com, its wholly owned subsidiary, and Lexington Law, an independently operated law firm. Progrexion has been named by Utah Business Magazine as one of Utah's fastest growing companies, a Top Places to Work in Idaho and a Best Company to Watch in Arizona. For more information about Progrexion, visit www.progrexion.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160906005220/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 06, 2016] Young Bride Blessed with 2nd Chance at Life, Thanks to the SynCardia Artificial Heart The SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart (TAH-t) saved Danielle Weston's life, a life that would have been cut short by heart failure. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160906005398/en/ Danielle and Chris Weston, seen here as happy newlyweds, celebrate their first wedding anniversary on Sept. 12, 2016. They got engaged after Danielle received a donor heart transplant which occurred three weeks after the SynCardia Total Artificial Heart saved her life. (Photo: Business Wire) Three weeks of support from the SynCardia Artificial Heart helped Weston accomplish her dreams-earn a college degree, establish a career and have a family. In short, she got a second chance at the full life she came very close to losing. Watch Videos and Learn More About Danielle's Journey and How to Become an Organ Donor The 26-year-old resident of Brookfield, Wisconsin, near Milwaukee was born with Marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects connective tissue. Because one of its effects on patients is enlargement of the aorta, which is the main heart artery that channels blood to the entire body, Weston has been regularly checked for heart issues. In 2009, when her aorta became enlarged, Weston had surgery for an aortic graft, as well as a pacemaker. While she felt fine after the surgery, "I never really fully got my energy level back," says Weston, a former high school team dancer. She took several long naps every day. In the winter of 2011, Weston thought she was having a hard time shaking off the flu-a typical ailment for child care workers such as herself. Her symptoms worsened and she decided to see her long-time primary care doctor. When she arrived at the medical practice, she didn't have enough breathing capacity to walk from the car to the doctor's office. "He told me I had to go over to Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center right away," she recalls. While testing her for pneumonia, doctors discovered a massive infection of her heart that had led to endocarditis, an inflammation of the inside lining of the heart chambers and valves. "I was told the infection was like ping pong balls ll over my heart, the pacemaker wires and the valves," says Weston. The infection was also found on her kidneys, spleen and lung. After a heavy regimen of antibiotics, during which time Weston suffered high fever and blood clots, surgeons hoped to repair the damage to her heart in the operating room (OR). But while lying sedated in the OR waiting for the surgery to begin, Weston's heart stopped. Because she was already in the OR, surgeons were able to quickly put her on bypass machinery. This helped save her vital organs from additional damage since crucial oxygenated blood flow was rapidly provided through this equipment. Doctors told her parents that there were three options: Do nothing, repair what they could to give her a few days of life before her organs began to fail, or implant the SynCardia Artificial Heart so she could regain her strength until a matching donor heart became available. "My mom knew I didn't want to die at 22, so they decided the SynCardia Total Artificial Heart was the only option," Weston says. Like a heart transplant, the SynCardia Artificial Heart replaces the two failing heart ventricles and the four heart valves. It is the only FDA-approved device in use that eliminates the source of end-stage biventricular heart failure in which the native heart's two ventricles can no longer pump enough blood for a person to survive. "What do you mean I don't have my heart in my body," Weston remembers asking her mother after hearing what happened during her January 19, 2012, implant surgery. "I'm still alive." It was a lot to process. "Physically, I could tell that my body was working better," she adds. "I was awake most of the day, which was a new thing for me." Every day for three weeks Weston walked a little farther until she was able to walk the entire hospital floor. Then news came on February 11 that a donor heart had been found. She received the transplant that day and was discharged from the hospital two weeks later. "My doctor said the artificial heart allowed my body to rest and recover from the infection, as well as get my body ready for the transplant," Weston says. She went on to complete her studies and earn her associate degree in early childhood development, graduating with honors. Today she continues her career as an infant teacher. She and her mother volunteer for Donate Life to encourage organ donation. On September 12, 2016, she will celebrate her first wedding anniversary with her husband Chris and stepson Aiden. They had been together for a year when Danielle received her SynCardia Total Artificial Heart. Chris proposed after she was discharged from the hospital with her donor heart. They celebrated their marriage with more than 300 friends and family members. "I would have missed all of that," she reflects. "Now look at what I get to look forward to because the SynCardia Artificial Heart was available to me. I'm so blessed with everything that's coming. I try not to take one moment for granted." For additional information, please visit: http://www.syncardia.com/ Like SynCardia on Facebook Follow SynCardia on Twitter (News - Alert) - @SynCardia Connect with SynCardia on LinkedIn Share and Discover on Google+ About the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart SynCardia Systems, Inc. in Tucson, Arizona, is a medical technology company focused on developing and manufacturing the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart (TAH-t). The SynCardia TAH-t is an implantable system designed to assume the full function of a failed human heart in patients suffering from end-stage biventricular (both sides) heart failure. The SynCardia TAH-t is the only total artificial heart that is commercially available in the United States, European Union and Canada for use as a bridge to donor heart transplantation. More than 1,625 implants of the SynCardia Total Artificial Heart account for over 550 patient years of life on the device. Since January 2012 more than 600 SynCardia Hearts have been implanted. The youngest patient to receive a SynCardia Heart was 9 years old; the oldest was 80 years old. The longest a patient has lived with a SynCardia Heart and received a successful donor heart transplant was nearly four years (1,373 days). SynCardia Systems also manufactures the Freedom portable driver, which powers the SynCardia Heart while allowing clinically stable patients to be discharged from the hospital and live at home and in their communities. The Freedom portable driver has been used by more than 290 patients, accounting for 200 patient years of support. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160906005398/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 05, 2016] Safety Apparel Market Growing at 8.12% CAGR to 2020 PUNE, India, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The global safety apparel market 2016-2020 report says use of nanotechnology to improve safety of the worker will be a key trend for market growth. The advances in nanotechnology have led to the experimental use of nanofibers and composites in PPE. These nanofibers improve mechanical properties of a PPE at a lower weight, making them superior to their conventional counterparts. They also help protect the wearer from thermal, mechanical, chemical, and biochemical hazards. With the application of microelectronics in PPE, sensors and actuators can be calibrated to monitor environmental conditions and detect any hazardous particles or gasses. These can also be used to raise an alarm when the wearer is exposed to harmful particles. Complete report on safety apparel market spread across 74 pages, analyzing 4 major companies and providing 41 data exhibits now available at http://www.sandlerresearch.org/global-safety-apparel-market-2016-2020.html. The analysts forecast global safety apparel market to grow at a CAGR of 8.12% during the period 2016-2020. According to the safety apparel market report, increasing focus on quality and customization will be a key driver for market growth. Vendors are investing in state-of-the-art manufacturing units as well as R&D to increase the comfort and ease of use of the products while ensuring optimal protection for the wearer. Branded manufacturers are placing great emphasis on product customization and flexibility to meet customer demands and expectations. North America was estimated to be the highest revenue contributing region in the global safety apparel market and accounted for nearly 42% of the revenue market shares during 2015. The improvement in the economy in the region boosted the construction industry in North America, which will increase the demand for safety apparel like safety footwear and head protection gear. Moreover, the availability of cheap natural gas due to the widespread use of hydraulic fracturing has positioned the US as the destination for new chemical manufacturing facilities. The chemical-defending apparel segment dominated te safety apparel market and held more than 32% of the market shares in terms of revenue. A worker can be exposed to harmful chemicals through penetration of chemicals through the skin, ingestion by accident, or inhalation of harmful chemical particles. Therefore, chemical industries provide safety apparel to protect the employees against the adverse effects of chemicals. Chemical safety apparel includes boots, suits, gloves, and other related components. It can also prevent physical injury to the unprotected skin from thermal hazards, such as rapidly evaporating liquefied gasses freezing the skin. The factors will lead to the increasing adoption of chemical-defending apparel over the next four years. The following companies are the key players in the global safety apparel market: 3M, Ansell, Honeywell, and Lakeland Industries. Other prominent vendors in the market are: ASATEX, Australian Defense Apparel, Ballyclare, Bennett Safetywear, Bulwark Protective Apparel, DuPont, International Enviroguard, Kappler, Kermel, Kimberly-Clark, MSA Safety, NASCO, Sioen Industries, Siyasebenza Manufacturing, True North Gear, and Workrite Uniform. Order a copy of Global Safety Apparel Market 2016-2020 report @ http://www.sandlerresearch.org/purchase?rname=59393. Global Safety Apparel Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market. To calculate the market size, the safety apparel market report considers the revenue generated from the worldwide retail sales of safety apparel based on their application in the market. Another related report is Global Women Apparel Market 2016-2020, increase in number of working women will be a key driver for market growth. The working population segment is one of the major revenue contributors to the global apparel market. A significant share of the total revenue generated in the global women's apparel market is contributed by working women. Women aged 15-64 years are considered to be in the female labor force category. Browse complete report @ http://www.sandlerresearch.org/global-women-apparel-market-2016-2020.html. Explore other new reports on Apparel Market @ http://www.sandlerresearch.org/market-research/consumer-goods/apparel. About Us: SandlerResearch.org is your go-to source for all market research needs. Our database includes thousands of market research reports from over multiple leading global publishers & in-depth market research studies of over several micro markets. With comprehensive information about the publishers and the industries for which they publish market research reports, we help you in your purchase decision by mapping your information needs with our huge collection of reports. Contact: Ritesh Tiwari UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune - 411013 Maharashtra, India. +1 888 391 5441 [email protected] Connect with Us: G+ / Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/106598308303011242341/posts Twitter: https://twitter.com/SandlerResearch Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sandler-Research/524957830948790 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCQLoqvZE2Py7AxNeNlBXoA Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/SandlerResearch/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 06, 2016] Tanusha of MIT Bags GE Global Innovation 2nd Prize BANGALORE, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Tanusha Goswami, a third year Electronics and Communication student of Manipal Institute of Technology made Manipal University proud by bagging the second prize at the GE contest for global universities called, 'The Unimpossible Missions: University Edition' held in April 2016. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160906/404172 ) The competition received over 575 entries from over 375 institutions and 35 countries. And, as expected, the competition was fierce. Three winners were selected for their brilliant and possibly feasible approaches to solving their Unimpossible Mission. Tanusha won the second prize and an internship with GE in Bengaluru. The students were asked to select an idiom and think of an experiment to debunk that idiom using GE technology, and, Tanusha focused on the Spanish saying "Cuando llueva pa' arriba" (When rain falls upwards). Her experiment used magnetic fields to make water drops go in the opposite direction. Ms Sukla Chandra, General Manager, Global Research Director, PACE, John F Welch Technology Center, Whitefield Bangalore handed over the prize to Tanusha at a felicitation function held at the AC Seminar Hall of MIT on Saturday. Giving a brief about how GE conceptualized the idea of conducting a competition for university students, Ms Sukla said, "We thought of doing experiments to prove that the impossible can be done." "A snowball was put into molten metal in a container, invented by GE Researchers. It was found that the snow did not melt." That led to the idea, "Why don't we impress upon the studnts of universities to come and participate in experiments to prove that impossible can be done. The thought gave rise to this competition," Sukla added. Dr G.K. Prabhu, Director of Manipal Institute of Technology while congratulating Tanusha for her achievement assured the students that the institute would go all out to ensure that the dream of every child was fulfilled. "Students have come here with a dream, we'll ensure that it is nurtured and fulfilled," he said and thanked GE for the support and recognition." "I am excited. I got butterflies in my stomach," was how Tanusha exclaimed when asked if she was excited. "The competition had a deadline of June 15 and the class was told about it in May. I started researching, considering different options with different ideas. After a lot of thinking, I finally selected a Spanish idiom. I chose the Spanish idiom because I know the language. Once that was final I started working on the experiment." She thanked Dr Somashekara Bhat, Professor & Head, Department of E&C for his support. "In July I got information that I could be a potential winner and I had to fill few forms." The rest is history. Ms Sukla also made a mention of the prestigious 'GE Edison Innovation Competition' organized at the John F. Welch Technology Centre (JFWTC) Bangalore in 2008 which was won by MIT. The 5-member student team named 'Fastrack Developers' comprising Vasuki Prasad, Rupan Sarkar, Pranab Purkayastha, Rahul Sharma and Gaurav Kumar Barman with Prof. Dr. Radhakrishna S. Aithal as the mentor, presented 'TRAIN BLAZER', a reliable, rugged working model (approved & certified by the Indian Railway Authorities) on communication system to record and display maximum information of the train passing through a station without stopping and to determine the characteristics of the rolling stock (hot axle detection, derailment possibility etc.) in a cost-effective way. About Manipal University: Manipal University is synonymous with excellence in higher education. Over 28,000 students from 57 different nations live, learn and play in the sprawling university town, nestled on a plateau in Karnataka's Udupi district. It also has nearly 2500 faculty and almost 10000 other support and service staff, who cater to the various professional institutions in health sciences, engineering, management, communication and humanities which dot the Wi-Fi-enabled campus. The University has off-campuses in Mangalore and Bangalore, and off-shore campuses in Dubai(UAE) and Melaka (Malaysia). The Mangalore campus offers medical, dental, and nursing programs. The Bangalore campus offers programs in Regenerative Medicine. The Dubai campus offers programs in engineering, management and architecture, and the Melaka campus offers programs in medicine and dentistry. For more information, visit: http://manipal.edu/mu.html . Media Contact: Priyanka Bali [email protected] +91-9620562361 PR Consultant Integrated Brand-comm pvt ltd [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 06, 2016] 900-Person European Sleep Data Reveals Italians Sleep Best, While French Have Lowest Quality Sleep RAMAT GAN, Israel, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In Addition, European Women Found to Have Higher Sleep Scores than Men EarlySense, the market leader in contact-free continuous monitoring solutions, released today sleep scores gathered from a sample of 900 Europeans using an EarlySense-powered sleep sensor for six months. Data recordings from more than 20,000 nights were analyzed. Originally designed for hospitals, EarlySense's contact-free health monitoring sensor detects more than 50,000 data points every night to provide users with a precise picture of overall health. "Nighttime is the best time to monitor our health because it builds a clear baseline in which fluctuations can be quickly detected," said Avner Halperin, CEO of EarlySense. "Any changes or abnormal readings indicate if we are getting healthier and in better shape, or provide advanced warnings of health disorders, including breathing disorders, fever or cardiac events." The data indicates that Italians have the highest sleep quality scores, with an average of 71.9. The British follow, at 65.4; Germans are next, at 65.1; and the French sleep most poorly, with an average score of 60.4. The data also shows that, as expected, breathing interruptions are identified more in overweight people and more in men than in women. Women sleep better in each of the four countries analyzed, with average sleep scores as follows: Italy : 83.4 : 83.4 Germany : 69.0 : 69.0 Great Britain : 67.6 : 67.6 France : 61.9 Sleep score is determined by a combination of seven contributors, which typically reflect the subjective feeling of one's sleep, including total sleep time (TST), sleep efficiency (SE), amount of deep sleep, time to fall asleep (Sleep Latency) and number of awakenings during the night. "Sleep is crucial to our healt, and identifying sleep disorders and breathing disorders in sleep is of paramount importance," said Prof. Asher Tal, Founder and previous Head of the Pediatric Pulmonary Unit and Sleep Center at Soroka Medical Center. "In a recent letter to the prestigious 'Sleep' scientific journal, the authors noted the huge opportunity to improve care by tracking sleep at home with wearable devices. Now, we may be able to take that a step further with medically-proven sensors that face no compliance challenges." Placed under a mattress, the contact-free EarlySense sensor communicates with a dedicated smartphone app to track users' heart rate, respiratory rate and body motion. Employing advanced algorithms, data is used to measure and analyze sleep patterns and overall health stability. Additional data findings include: Overweight users (BMI>30) had an 8% lower sleep score than those who were not overweight. Average Time to Fall Asleep: Men: 19 minutes; Women: 17 minutes Age: over 70: 20 minutes; 50-70: 18 minutes; Under 50: 19 minutes British: 20 minutes; German: 18 minutes; French: 19 minutes; Italian: 18 minutes Average Total Time Slept (hours: minutes): Men: 6:30; Women: 6:49 Age: over 70: 6:27; 50-70: 6:39; under 50: 6:34 British: 6:51; German: 6:36; French: 6:21; Italian: 6:48 "Good sleep is a pillar of good health, and awareness is the first step toward improvement. Our solution is quickly gaining traction, helping people sleep better while improving their wellbeing," added Halperin. EarlySense is showcasing its technology at IFA 2016 in Berlin - Hall 7.2c/111. NOTE TO EDITORS: If you would like a complete copy of the European sleep data findings, please contact those listed at the end of this news release. About EarlySense EarlySense provides contact-free, continuous monitoring solutions for the medical and consumer digital health markets. EarlySense's patented sensor and advanced algorithms monitor and analyze cardiac, respiratory, sleep and motion parameters. Used in hospitals and healthcare facilities worldwide, EarlySense assists clinicians in early detection of patient deterioration, helping to prevent adverse events, including code blues, preventable ICU transfers, patient falls and pressure ulcers. The myEarlySense smart home-compatible consumer solution brings hospital-proven technology to the home, providing valuable data regarding wellness and sleep. myEarlySense OEM technology is at the core of wellness and sleep products marketed by international partners including Samsung, Beurer and iFit. For more information, please visit http://www.EarlySense.com and http://www.myEarlySense.com. Follow EarlySense on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Media Contact: Ellie Hanson Finn Partners +1-929-222-8006 [email protected] Company Contact: Hila Peleg +972-54-527-3117 [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 06, 2016] Huawei Snatches the Second Ranking in the Service Provider Core Router Market, According to Dell'Oro Group REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A recently published report from Dell'Oro Group, the trusted source for market information about the telecommunications, networks, and data center IT industries, shows Huawei Technologies snatched the second place vendor ranking in the Service Provider (SP) Core Router market in 2Q16. Overall, the worldwide SP Core Router market continued its growth spree with a sixth consecutive quarter of increasing revenue. "Demand for Huawei core routers grew over 70 percent year-over-year in the quarter. Customers in China and parts of Europe, particularly Russia, contributed to the massive increase. We think the pop up in Europe is short-term. However, higher sales levels in China are longer-term. For example, China Telecom is performing a significant data center interconnect project that is driving much of the cre router revenue growth for Huawei," said Alam Tamboli, Senior Analyst at Dell'Oro Group. "Though Juniper was displaced from the second-placed ranking, it also had a strong quarter with core router revenue growing almost 10 percent year-over-year, with their PTX series driving this growth. The recent availability of full layer 3 line cards at 3 Tbps per slot for the PTX have helped the product to achieve functional parity with the T Series core router and solidifies the PTX as the T4000's successor," Tamboli added. About the Report The Dell'Oro Group Router & Carrier Ethernet Switch Quarterly Report offers complete, in-depth coverage of the Service Provider Core, Edge, Access (predominantly Carrier Ethernet Switch), and Enterprise Router markets for current and historical time periods. The report includes qualitative analysis and detailed statistics for vendor market shares, revenue, average selling prices, and unit and port shipments. To purchase this report, please call Matt Dear at +1.650.622.9400 x223 or email [email protected] About Dell'Oro Group Dell'Oro Group is a market research firm that specializes in strategic competitive analysis in the telecommunications, networks, and data center IT markets. Our firm provides in-depth quantitative data and qualitative analysis to facilitate critical, fact-based business decisions. For more information, contact Dell'Oro Group at +1.650.622.9400 or visit www.delloro.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101012/SF80035LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/huawei-snatches-the-second-ranking-in-the-service-provider-core-router-market-according-to-delloro-group-300322241.html SOURCE Dell'Oro Group [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 06, 2016] Skorpios Technologies Announces Brian R. Griffiths as Chief Financial Officer ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Skorpios Technologies, Inc., a fabless integrated silicon photonics system on a chip company, today announced the addition of Brian R. Griffiths as chief financial officer, effective immediately. In his new role at Skorpios, Griffiths will oversee the finance, accounting, M&A and investor relations' functions, reporting to CEO Stephen Krasulick. Griffiths is a veteran investment banker and advisor to the technology sector. During his 25-year investment banking career, he has worked on capital-raising and strategic transactions with many of the leading technology companies globally. Most recently, Griffiths was a senior managing director at Guggenheim Partners, working with companies across the technology industry. Prior to that, he was a managing director at Credit Suisse in New York and London. Griffiths earned an M.S. in Accounting from New York University and an M.B.A. from the Amos TuckSchool at Dartmouth College. "We are very pleased to welcome Brian to the team," said Krasulick. "Brian's strong financial and strategic experience, combined with deep technology sector expertise and global perspective, will be a tremendous asset to Skorpios as we embark on the next phase of our company's evolution." "I am very excited to join Steve and the Skorpios team," Griffiths added. "The market opportunity enabled by the technology platform that Skorpios has developed is very large and Skorpios has demonstrated clear technology leadership. I look forward to playing a key role in supporting Steve as we lead the business forward to its goal of being an independent, publicly-traded company." About Skorpios Technologies Skorpios is a fabless semiconductor company delivering highly integrated communications products based upon its proprietary, wafer-scale, silicon photonics process. This novel process leverages the existing silicon manufacturing ecosystem to enable high bandwidth interconnectivity at mature CMOS manufacturing costs. Skorpios' unique platform can be used to address a wide range of applications: high-speed video, data and voice communications for networking and cloud computing, storage, wireless and cable TV. For more information, visit www.skorpiosinc.com. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/skorpios-technologies-announces-brian-r-griffiths-as-chief-financial-officer-300322281.html SOURCE Skorpios Technologies [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 06, 2016] Salesforce Executive to Participate in Upcoming Investor Event SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the Customer Success Platform and world's #1 CRM company, today announced that Keith Block, vice chairman, president and COO, will participate in a Morgan Stanley hosted conference call on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016 at 9:00 a.m. (PT) / 12:00 p.m. (ET) in San Francisco, CA. An audiocast will be avalable on Salesforce's website at www.salesforce.com/investor. About Salesforce Salesforce, the Customer Success Platform and world's #1 CRM company, empowers companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way. Salesforce has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CRM." For more information about Salesforce, visit: www.salesforce.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130612/SF30598LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/salesforce-executive-to-participate-in-upcoming-investor-event-300322327.html SOURCE Salesforce [September 06, 2016] Celeno Announced as a CSI Awards Finalist RA'ANANA, Israel, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Celeno Communications, the leading provider of smart managed Wi-Fi technology and advanced networking solutions, today announced it has been shortlisted for the Best Customer Premise Technology in this year's CSI Awards for its Wireless Home Networking Solution. The nomination reflects Celeno's efforts in providing the customer with the best possible Wi-Fi, a strategic touch-point of service providers with customers expecting a constantly improving user experience in an environment of increasingly complex use cases. Data and 4K video stretch the limits of the home network, an issue Celeno's technology addresses via its advanced 11ac Wave 2 chipsets, smart Wi-Fi management and multi-AP small cell architecture to provide the seamless, convenient Wi-Fi service that increases customer satisfaction, while reducing churn and operational expenditure for operators. Celeno's solution also allows service providers to add a host of new services, giving them further monetization opportunities and setting them apart from the competition. Celeno have addressed this new reality by focusing on the real issue, which is to deliver the best end user Wi-Fi experience based on smart, managed Wi-Fi connectivity that ensures superlative QoS. "Being nominated for this award is a testament to the impact of Celeno's technology and our growing global footprint in an ever-expanding international customer base," said Celeno CEO Gilad Rozen. "For the end-user, Celeno's technology makes the home Wi-Fi experience seamless and interruption free by providing reliable whole home Gbps Wi-Fi coverage and eliminating common causes of client interference." Ceeno's Wireless Home Network Technology uses a three-pronged approach to deliver smart, managed Wi-Fi connectivity that ensure superlative Quality of Service and delivers the best end-user experience: Celeno's Quicksilver 802.11ac wave 2 chips deliver the best-of-breed Wi-Fi connectivity and are optimized for dense environments with multiple devices and high interference from adjacent Wi-Fi networks; OptimizAIR QoS management technology allows the creation of multiple virtual networks per service (home data network, video network, hotspot network) and even per device (TVs, smart phones, tablets, etc.) all served by the same Wi-Fi Access Point (home gateway or router) and dynamically allocate Wi-Fi resources (airtime) to these networks and devices; and ControlAIR, a smart multi-AP Wi-Fi controller software residing in the home-router that enables multiple smart Wi-Fi access points, repeaters, extenders, IoT hubs and gateways to be deployed in the home in harmonious and synchronized co-existence to achieve top speeds at every corner of the house. The CSI Awards, which are celebrating their 14th year, recognise excellence in the broadcast, video, OTT and IoT sectors and are organised by CSI Magazine (Cable and Satellite International Magazine). The winners will be determined by an independent judging panel and will be announced on Friday 9 September 2016 at IBC in Amsterdam. The full list of finalists and further details about attending the awards ceremony are available at http://www.csimagazine.com/awards About Celeno Communications Celeno is the leading provider of smart, managed Wi-Fi solutions. Celeno's extensive 802.11ac chip portfolio and ground-breaking software technologies are designed to excel in real life, highly-interfered dense network scenarios, delivering the level of management, performance, speed, coverage, reliability and superlative user experience demanded by Wi-Fi users. Celeno's field-proven chips and software technology have been successfully integrated into numerous OEM Wi-Fi devices and have been deployed in tens of millions of homes around the world by almost 100 leading service providers worldwide. Founded in 2005 and backed by blue chip investors, Celeno is a well-established company headquartered in Ra'anana, Israel, with a global presence and offices in the US, EMEA and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit http://www.celeno.com About the CSI Awards Established in 2003 the CSI Awards are among the most prestigious and competitive technology awards in the industry, designed to recognise and reward innovation and excellence in the cable, satellite, broadcast, IPTV, telco, broadband/OTT video, mobile TV and associated sectors. http://www.csimagazine.com/awards @CSI_Magazine #CSIAwards Media Contact: Aaron Kliner Headline Media [email protected] +1 516-595-1843 SOURCE Celeno Communications [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 06, 2016] Engineer and Former FCC OET Division Chief Mark Settle Joins Wilkinson Barker Knauer Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP is pleased to announce that, Mark A. Settle, P.E. has joined the firm as Senior Engineering Advisor. Mr. Settle joins after nine years at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC (News - Alert)), where he most recently served as Chief of the Policy and Rules Division of the Office of Engineering and Technology. Prior to his FCC service, Mark led the Spectrum (News - Alert) Analysis Branch at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for two years, after five years as a Senior Engineer. Mr. Settle also spent nine years as an Electronics Engineer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, where he performed research, development and engineering for various Navy systems, including radio links for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). With over 20 years of diverse experience in electrical engineering, Mr. Settle has worked on federal and non-federal spectrum issues, interference analyses, propagation modelling, coordination with federal users, experimental licensing and spectrum allocation. While at the FCC, Mr. Settle focused on the technical aspects of spectrum policy, overseeing rulemakings and other administrative proceedings regarding spectrum allocations, use of unlicensed spectrum, interference mitigation techniques, and the adoption of technical rules. He played a key role in interference studies between Ultrawideband devices and GPS receivers, and developed US positions for WRC-03, attending preparatory meetings in Geneva supporting thos studies for Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) systems operating at 5 GHz. He also implemented frequency coordination procedures between the FCC and other federal agencies, and often represented the Commission in intergovernmental meetings, including with Congressional staff. Bryan Tramont, Managing Partner of Wilkinson Barker Knauer, said, "Mark is a technical and policy powerhouse - with deep and broad experience at the FCC and NTIA with commercial and government spectrum issues. He is well respected by the spectrum community across the country and brings the skill and integrity we always seek for our team." Mr. Settle commented, "I am excited by the opportunity to apply the knowledge I have gained through my career in government as I enter the private sector for the first time, and I look forward to being a valuable member of the team at WBK." Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP, one of the largest law firms in the nation dedicated primarily to the practice of communications and energy law, is ranked as a "first tier" firm by Chambers USA (Telecom, Broadcast, and Satellite: Regulatory), and Legal 500 (Telecoms and broadcast: regulatory), and was twice named "Law Firm of the Year" in communications law by U.S. News - Best Lawyers (2012 & 2014). The firm, with offices in Washington, D.C. and Denver, Colorado, advises clients ranging from global Fortune 100 companies to small start-ups in regulatory, transactional, privacy, consumer protection, trademark, corporate and litigation matters involving all aspects of communications and energy law, at both the state and federal levels. More on Mr. Settle can be found at http://www.wbklaw.com/Our_Team/Mark_Settle and additional information about Wilkinson Barker Knauer can be found at http://www.wbklaw.com. Mr. Settle can be reached at [email protected] and at (202) 383-3424. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160906005244/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 06, 2016] AXA Helps College Students Prepare for Financial Careers AXA in the United States, a leader in providing life insurance and annuity products, announced today that they have made a grant to Howard University to bring a financial services career training program into curriculum. The course, created by Securities Training Corporation (STC), allows students to earn credits toward their college degrees while also preparing to take the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Series 7 exam, a test needed in order to become a registered financial representative. Local professionals from AXA Advisors branches in Baltimore and Washington D.C. will take an active role in the course curriculum and work with professors to offer students access to real financial professionals and real-world examples of the profession. "We believe this program will help the local branch and professionals develop a relationship with the University and help excite the students who see potential in a career as a financial professional," said Jim Mellin, Chief Sales Officer, AXA Advisors. "This career is all about taking care of people and positive impact. This is a growth industry, extremely rewarding for those driven to build relationships and help people. Our goal is to reach those students and provide them with the information and tools they need to be successful." STC launched this University Program in 2015 in order to combat the impending talent crisis in the industry as financial professionals retire without sufficient numbers of college students entering the profession to replace them. About 35 schools have instated the program thus far. The course is made possible by a grant by AXA to Howard University. The program will launch at Howard University this month as a part of the fall 2016 curriculum. "This new course offering will provide students with more information about a career path and open many opportunities for them," said Dr. Phil Fanara, Head of the Finance Department at Howard University. "We are grateful to AXA for making this possible and look forward to continuing the relationship." "Establishing this program is another proof point demonstrating AXA's commitmet to building a diverse field force and positively impacting the communities in which we work and live," said Mellin. "We are extremely excited about launching this program to enable students to see the tremendous opportunity that exits for them in building a practice in the financial services business with AXA Advisors." AXA Advisors will also be hosting its annual African American summit at Howard University this year in October. About AXA "AXA" is a brand name of AXA Equitable Financial Services, LLC and its family of companies, including AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company (NY, NY), MONY Life Insurance Company of America (AZ stock company, administrative office: Jersey City, NJ), AXA Advisors, LLC, and AXA Distributors, LLC. In business since 1859, AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company is a leading financial protection company and one of the nation's premier providers of life insurance and annuity products distributed to individuals and business owners through its retail distribution channel, AXA Advisors, LLC (member FINRA, SIPC) and to the financial services market through its wholesale distribution channel, AXA Distributors, LLC (member FINRA, SIPC). AXA S.A. (also referred to as "AXA Group") is a Paris-headquartered holding company for a group of international insurance and financial services companies, including AXA Equitable Financial Services, LLC companies. AXA S.A. is a worldwide leader in financial protection strategies and wealth management with 103 million clients in 64 countries as of Dec. 31, 2015. AXA S.A. has been ranked the No. 1 insurance brand in the world by Interbrand for seven consecutive years as of Oct. 5, 2015. The obligations of AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company and MONY Life Insurance Company of America are backed solely by their claims-paying ability. Find AXA on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. For more information, visit www.axa.com. GE 118103 (8/16)(Exp 8/18) View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160906006018/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 06, 2016] System Basis Chip Market Worth 28.39 Billion USD by 2022 PUNE, India, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The report "System Basis Chip Market by Vehicle Type (Passenger Car, Light and Heavy Commercial Vehicle, Automated Guided Vehicle), Application (Powertrain, Safety, Chassis, Body Electronics, Telematics & Infotainment), and Geography - Global Forecast to 2022", published by MarketsandMarkets, the SBC market is expected to grow from USD 15.12 Billion in 2015 to USD 28.39 Billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 9.1% between 2016 and 2022. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 ) Browse 68 market data Tables and 77 Figures spread through 178 Pages and in-depth TOC on "System Basis Chip Market" http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/system-basis-chip-market-243704532.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. The system basis chip market size, in terms of volume, is expected to reach 31.19 billion units by 2022, at a CAGR of 11.8% between 2016 and 2022. The increasing vehicle production and increase in the use of electronics in vehicles are some of the significant growth drivers for the system basis chip market. Passenger cars to lead the system basis chip market The System Basis Chip Market for passenger car is expected to hold the largest share between 2016 and 2022. The increasing demand for passenger cars promotes vehicle production that accelerates the global market for automotive semiconductor, especially in countries such as China, the U.S., Germany, South Korea, India, Mexico, and Brazil. The increase in vehicle production is expected to drive the market for cost and energy efficient solutions such as system basis chip. Body electronics application market for system basis chip to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period Automotive body electronic applications are becoming increasingly complex as the demand for these systems extend to higher interaction between systems and the vehicle. The common body electronics applications include power windows, door controls, power seat controls, keyless entry, HVAC system controls, lighting systems, and steering angle measurement among others. SBCs turn out to be an effective and cst-efficient solution to be used on the printed circuit board (PCB) of these systems. The growing demand for LED lighting in automobiles is also expected to be a major driver for the system basis chip market. APAC held the largest share of the system basis chip market in 2015 The APAC held the largest share of the system basis chip market in 2015 because the region has emerged as a major automotive hub with a maximum market share in terms of vehicle production as well as sales. The primary reason behind this trend is the growing Chinese automotive market. This market has evolved into the largest producer and consumer of automobiles across the globe. Apart from China, the other major country-level markets in the region include Japan, South Korea, and India. Inquiry Before Buying: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=243704532 Some of the major players in the system basis chip market are NXP Semiconductor NV (Netherlands), Infineon Technologies AG (Germany), Texas Instruments, Inc. (U.S.), Robert Bosch GmbH (Germany), STMicroelectronics NV (Switzerland), ON Semiconductor Corp. (U.S.), Atmel Corporation (U.S.), Microchip Technology Inc. (U.S.), Elmos Semiconductor AG (Germany), and Melexis Semiconductors (Belgium) among others. Browse Related Reports Power Management IC (PMIC) Market by Product (Linear Regulator, Switching Regulator, Voltage References, Battery Management IC, Energy Management IC, LED Driver IC, POE Controller, Wireless Charging IC), Application, and Geography - Global Forecast to 2022 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/power-management-ic-market-441.html Flip Chip Technology Market by Wafer Bumping Process (CU Pillar, Lead-Free), Packaging Technology (2D IC, 2.5D IC, 3D IC), Packaging Type (BGA, PGA, LGA, SIP, CSP), Product (Memory, LED, CPU, GPU, SOC), Application and Geography - Global Forecast to 2022 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/flip-chip-technology-market-264572064.html Know More About our Knowledge Store @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Knowledgestore.asp About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets is the largest market research firm worldwide in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical info graphics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers. We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository. Contact: Mr. Rohan Markets and Markets UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta City, Hadapsar Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India Tel: + 1-888-600-6441 Email: [email protected] Visit MarketsandMarkets [email protected] http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/electronics-and-semiconductors Connect us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 06, 2016] Telecom API Market Outlook and Forecasts 2016 - 2021 LONDON, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Overview: Telecom APIs enable a variety of new and unique business models, including carrier branded application stores, web mash-ups, two sided business models, and developer communities. Network operators leverage APIs to derive wholesale transaction revenue as well as communication-enabled application revenue. Over-the-Top service providers and other third-parties continue to enjoy the most benefits from Telecom APIs. However, enterprise is gaining fast on OTT providers as they begin to understand how to leverage their own communications data for improved products, services, and customer experience. Telecom APIs continue to present new attractive opportunities for network operators and service bureau providers such as Do Not Call Registry compliance and Unwanted Call blocking services. Certain technology development and adoption trends will continue to drive the long-term future of Telecom APIs including Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), Virtualization, Software Defined Networks (SDN), and the Internet of Things (IoT). Telecom API Market Outlook and Forecasts 2016 2021 provides an in-depth assessment of the global Telco APs market, including business models, value chain analysis, operator strategies and a quantitative assessment of the industry from 2016 to 2021. All purchases of Mind Commerce reports includes time with an expert analyst who will help you link key findings in the report to the business issues you're addressing. This needs to be used within three months of purchasing the report. Key Findings: - Telecom API revenue is forecast to reach $183.6 billion globally by 2021 - Carriers continue to miss opportunities for Telecom APIs in Internet of Things - Unwanted Call blocking a developing area for carriers to leverage Telecom APIs - OTT providers continue to lead the way in terms of wholesale revenue for carriers - Enterprise to represent an important customer base as they leverage their own data Target Audience: - Telecom API providers - Application developers - Data services companies - Mobile network operators - Integrated ICT service providers - Enterprise companies of all types Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4010935/ About Reportbuyer Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers http://www.reportbuyer.com For more information: Sarah Smith Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 208 816 85 48 Website: www.reportbuyer.com To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/telecom-api-market-outlook-and-forecasts-2016---2021-300323339.html SOURCE ReportBuyer [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 06, 2016] Securus Files Additional Request for Invalidation of Global Tel*Link (GTL) Patent DALLAS, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Securus Technologies, a leading provider of civil and criminal justice technology solutions for public safety, investigation, corrections and monitoring, announced today that it has filed an additional patent invalidation request (a.k.a. Inter Partes Review or IPR) with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). A brief description of the patent that Securus has filed to invalidate is as follows: Patent No. 7,333,798- "Telecommunications Call Management and Monitoring System" This patent relates to call management systems for authenticating users of a telephone system, such as an institutional facility. "After a significant amount of legal and patent expert review, we believe the GTL patent highlighted above is worthy of the formal process of patent invalidation," said Richard A. ("Rick") Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Securus Technologies. The United States Patent and Trademark Office has put a new "invalidation process" in place that allows litigants in patent infringement cases to attempt to invalidate patents. GTL has used this process to their advantage in having some pieces(claims) of Securus patents invalidated and we have done the same to GTL. Based on recent IPR rulings, we expect the invalidation process to eliminate approximately 50% of Securus and GTL previously approved patents. If that occurs, GTL will likely spend approximately $120 million and Securus will likely spend approximately $40 million in outside legal fees, both over a number of years. BUT , GTL will also have the added burden of trying to invalidate an additional 20 to 30 new patents Securus is getting approved each year or likely approximately $30 million to $45 million per year in additional legal costs to them. This is an interesting/high-cost strategy that will not allow GTL to reinvest in their business, and should advantage Securus in the long term. "Invalidating GTL existing patents is part of a process that they initiated two (2) years ago instead of negotiating a reasonable license agreement with Securus a route that every other significant carrier in our sector has taken. We have negotiated 19 license agreements with carriers 2 of those with GTL," said Smith. "The carriers that have negotiated license agreements all have received significant value and I believe they have recognized that. Overall, our patent related metrics are superior to those of GTL so we should eventually prevail," concluded Smith. ABOUT SECURUS TECHNOLOGIES Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and serving more than 3,450 public safety, law enforcement and corrections agencies and over 1,200,000 inmates across North America, Securus Technologies is committed to serve and connect by providing emergency response, incident management, public information, investigation, biometric analysis, communication, information management, inmate self-service, and monitoring products and services in order to make our world a safer place to live. Securus Technologies focuses on connecting what matters. To learn more about our full suite of civil and criminal justice technology solutions, please visit SecurusTechnologies.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100831/DA57799LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/securus-files-additional-request-for-invalidation-of-global-tellink-gtl-patent-300323357.html SOURCE Securus Technologies, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] What you need to know about Powerball and the $825 million jackpot Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. On September 7, in accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the OSCE Mission will conduct a planned monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan, in the Omar pass. From the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring will be conducted by Field Assistant of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Gennadie Petrica (Moldova) and Personal Assistant to the Personal Representative of the CiO Simon Tiller (Great Britain). The NKR authorities have expressed their readiness to assist in conducting the monitoring and to ensure the security of the OSCE Mission members. I actually got an email yesterday from a guy who I met at a festival in Singapore in 2006. A kid came up to and said, Youre my idol. That was 10 years ago and he emailed me just the other day, Jaddan Commerford recounts with a genuine tone of surprise and excitement. Barely out of high school, Commerford, now CEO of one of Australias leading music companies (Technically, Im the CEO, but I dont use that very often, theres not much need to, he says), started his own record label, inspired by legendary punk label Epitaph. I literally started Boomtown as a kid finishing high school going in to starting university, Commerford says. And usually when people ask how do you start a record label, I say the only difference between someone who has a record label and someone who doesnt is someone just saying they have one. I just started putting out friends bands and records. We had success in 2005 with a band called Behind Crimson Eyes, who sold quite a lot of records. But it was still just me and from that I hired my first staff member, Luke Logemann, who still works for me 10 years later. But it all started with Epitaph, more specifically the logo. Epitaph changed my life when I was 10 years old, says Commerford. My brother bought me Smash by The Offspring and Ill never forget seeing that Epitaph logo on the back. Whilst some might hear Smash, still one of the biggest selling independent records of all time, and get inspired to pick up a guitar, Commerford had already set his sights on the business side of music, an ambition his parents encouraged. I just love building things and working with people and building a vision, but whats even more exciting than that is building a brand, he says. When I was a kid I could go to a record store and pick up a record and see an Epitaph logo or Fueled By Ramen or locally Trial and Error or Resist and just buy it because I could and thats exciting. Obviously now people consume music differently, but thats something we strive to achieve with our labels. Commerford has certainly built a brand, with UNIFIED boasting a record label, a management company, a merchandising arm, a music festival, and a newly minted touring company. Of course, it wasnt just Commerford. The man many call Australias new Michael Gudinski had some help. We have a great staff. One of the best things thats happened from me being overseas is its allowed other people in the company to really grow and allowed other leaders to emerge from the company, says the New York-based Commerford. Commerford with Illy and Nick Yates So like we have Luke Logemann, who runs the label and he established the UNIFY Festival and the touring company. We have Nick Yates, who runs the management company, working with Violent Soho and Illy. We have Matthew Rogers, who runs the company from a business management point of view. And we have a bunch of other great staff. And what brings them all together? Well, much like Steve Jobs, Commerford believes in rallying his workers around a single common vision. The mission statement of UNIFIED is the soundtrack of good people working together to achieve extraordinary results, he states confidently. The original vision for UNIFIED was to be a full-service music company, to provide an artist with the ability to come to us and we provide everything, we totally streamline their business through one company, he elaborates. The aim was to be multi-genre. Its evolved since then, in a really good way. People often say Apple didnt launch with the iPod, they launched with some of the least cool computers of all time and now theyre the coolest company in the world. Weve found our place and in a lot of ways gone back to what Boomtown actually was, whilst having one of the most diverse management companies in Australia, with Amity Affliction, Vance Joy, Illy, Nina Las Vegas, it couldnt be more diverse. Indeed, business schools and music industry courses will likely one day include a unit on the UNIFIED Model, in which an organisation isnt a record label or a stable of managers with various clients, but simply a music company. We dont work with every artist across every facet of their careers, Commerford explains. For example, we just manage Violent Soho, whereas theyre signed to a different label and have different relationships. So we dont have any kind of gun to the head philosophy with artists, to the point where Amity Affliction were signed to Boomtown Records and we signed them on to Roadrunner before their contract was up because it was the best thing to do for the band, and we still operate in that way. The one-stop-shop, put the artist first approach has worked well for Commerford and his company. But as hell tell you, there was a lot of trial error involved in getting UNIFIED to the point where it now stands as one of Australias most iconic music companies. One experience dealing with a successful band who broke up at the peak of their popularity and later returned to a less enthusiastic reception from listeners taught Commerford that you cant just assume that a fan base that was there two to three years ago will stick around. Things change. Commerford extracts the lesson from everything, but his focus is laser-beaming on the future, and he has a very clear idea of what that future looks like. The future is global, in all senses of the word expanding our footprint around the world. Commerford may also have a helping hand in expanding the worlds footprint to Australia. Asked about rumours the UNFD-Live Nation partnership may be involved in bringing Download Festival Down Under, he simply says that Aussie heavy music fans should be hopeful. Thats all I can say, he says. As for the Gudinski comparisons: Michaels someone that Ive always admired. In the last few years Ive been lucky enough to get to know him and call him a friend. I have nothing but massive respect for what hes done he built the Australian music industry, so to be compared to him is overwhelming. Jaddan Commerford will be giving a keynote address at BIGSOUND on Wednesday, 7th September at The Judith Wright Centre as part of the annual BIGSOUND Conference. For more information or to get your BIGSOUND tickets, head to the official website here. Sandwich joint opening in Emory Village Champaign, Illinois-based Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches is coming to Emory Village. The sub shop will occupy the former Chevron gas station on North Decatur Road. The approximately 2,000 square foot building is being completely renovated to suit the needs of the restaurant. (Local wine merchant Sherlock's had last year announced plans to open in the space but later abandoned them .) According to Emory Village Alliance , the gas station renovation will include the installation of new windows and other exterior and interior improvements including a kitchen and seating for about 20 inside, and patio seating for others outside. When work is complete the site will reportedly have 13 parking spaces plus bike racks on the east and west side of the building. Cars will enter at the North Decatur Road entrance and exit on Oxford Road. Work underway at the upcoming Jimmy John's in Emory Village Jimmy Johns, known for their freaky fast delivery, often delivers via bicycles. Pineda expects delivery by bicycle to account for 35% to 40% of their business, based on the experience of other Jimmy Johns in Atlanta. This reliance on bicycles reduces the need for parking at the restaurant. In Emory Village, Jimmy John's faces competition from Dave's Cosmic Subs and Panera Bread. Jimmy John's, often a college kid's favorite, does have price on its side, with sandwiches ranging from about four to six bucks. Plans call for the new Jimmy John's to be open by Thanksgiving, but given the limited progress thus far, that estimate may be very optimistic. Business partners and Jimmy John's franchisees Jimmy Pineda, Chris Coulter and Grant Lawson are former bankers who moved to Atlanta eight years ago during the Great Recession. The trio officially known as "Jimmy Johns of Atlanta, LLC" opened their first Atlanta area location in 2008. Today, the group is reportedly the majority Jimmy Johns franchisee in Georgia with the Emory Village marking their 14th in the Atlanta area. As a company, Jimmy John's has over 2,500 locations nationwide including about 70 in Georgia. Founder Jimmy John Liautaud opened the first Jimmy John's in 1983. Last year, the privately held company was in talks to go public but Liautaud unexpectedly shelved those plans in October. I made the whole Thanksgiving dinner and right before I was going to serve it, I threw it out, Liautaud said of the shelved IPO plan. There are at least some in the restaurant industry who credit the shelved IPO with flak the restaurant and its founder received following the release of photos last summer that showed Liautaud posing with dead elephants, a rhinoceros, and a leopard. Liautaud, who never denied the photos were of him, was subsequently ridiculed in the media with many reportedly boycotting the chain. Are you excited for a new Jimmy John's near Emory University? What is your favorite sandwich shop in Atlanta? Did the Liautaud hunting photos affect your willingness to patronize Jimmy John's? By Maral Firkatian Wozniak Kima is 9 and she wants to be a doctor. Why? Because on her adamhadik, an Armenian tradition which takes place when a child gets their first teeth, she pulled a slip of paper out of a bag and that determined her future profession. To this day, some 9 years later, she is still determined to be a doctor. Her conviction, if not her motivation, is impressive. This may be a harmless tradition, something to amuse adults and excite children, but is it perhaps indicative of a much more complex and, in some ways, twisted world view which we present to our youth? The question What do you want to be when you grow up? is something we have become so used to asking children that we seem to overlook the fact that it is in many ways confusing, limiting and unintuitive way to look at the world. It has been suggested that a better question to ask is What types of problems would you like to solve? With this approach, you introduce the idea that a child should be aware of themselves and how they fit into their community on a local and global scale. Education, thus, becomes a means of not only sharing information, but of creating thoughtful, innovative and active members of society. This is exactly the goal which Vahagn Poghosyan of Instigate had in mind when he spearheaded the development of Armath engineering labs in conjunction with the Union of Information Technology Enterprises. He wanted to introduce students as young as 12 to computer sciences and specifically robotics so that they would have their eyes opened to the opportunities available to them in the world of IT, but also so that they would understand their role in their own communities. The Armath labs are being installed in public schools all over Armenia and are equipped with technology that can revolutionize the way we approach education. The students learn to write code by creating basic video games which they can then play and share amongst themselves and an entirely new community, online. They experiment with robotics kits which allow them to create robots which then need to be coded to move; the students can then print 3D replicas of the pieces that have already been used to create new robots. We added 3D printers to the laboratories so that students can not only build robots from the constructed parts which are pre-made for them, but also use the 3D printer to invent a new type of robot which immediately added a dimension to the lab...[it] is a tool to show them what this profession is in a tangible way, in a clearly understandable way, says Mr. Poghosyan. If you think that teaching students to build robots is not practical or else inviting them to live in some alternate reality, think again. Robots are all around us, and as such, understanding how they function and how to build and program them is becoming an increasingly valuable skill. Not only is it useful on a professional level, working with robots has a surprisingly human element to it. Nora Ayanian was recently named one of MIT Technology Reviews 35 Innovators Under 35. She models her robots after human behavior because, after all, humans are naturally good at problem solving. Distributed and diverse teams are always better at problem-solving, once they learn to work together. she told MIT. This applies to both ends of the process, the teams that create the robots must be diverse, as do the teams of robots themselves. What does this mean for students studying in Armath labs? For one thing, building robots together requires teamwork and creative problem solving which often isnt a part of their regularly scheduled classes. Currently, many of the systems in place in our education system in Armenia (and indeed, around the world) are reliant on memorization of information which does not call for, or encourage, critical thinking. In a sense, this approach makes children more like the traditional model of robots than humans- programmed to store information and regurgitate when instructed to do so. Through studying in Armath labs, students develop skills which are not only crucial to their education but their personal and professional development as well. They learn to code and program and build robots, all of which will help them get jobs in IT in the future, if they so choose, but, more than that, they learn how to approach a challenge from multiple angles. They understand that there isnt necessarily one answer to a problem. Being able to have critical thinking, thats what innovation is. A business starts from a problem, not from a means, or a solution, says Mr. Poghosyan. This principle is what inspired the creation of Real School, a secondary school model which opened its doors this year on September 1st. Real School allows students who have decided that they want to pursue a future in IT (many of whom discovered their passion thanks to exposure to Armath labs in their schools) to undergo what is effectively vocational training for computer sciences. The curriculum is structured in such a way that students are able to get practical experiences applying their knowledge and developing the skills they need to solve real life problems. Students travel to villages in rural Armenia and get to know the region, the community and the challenges they face. Once a problem is identified, they work as a team to find a solution which will fit the needs of the community. There are many layers to this approach, including everything from designing a product to marketing it to finding funding to execute it. This approach is called integrative learning. Integrative learning makes you more like a human, a problem solver instead of a machine, Mr Poghosyan says. Perhaps its ironic that we are now using the study of technology to reclaim our humanity, but its working. The Union of Information Technology Enterprises is working to install one of these labs in every public school in Armenia so that all students can have the opportunity to study computer sciences and potentially go on to work in Armenias booming IT sector. ONEArmenia has partnered with UITE to facilitate the construction of five more labs in the towns and villages of Paravakar, Tavush, Noyemberyan,Tashir and Alaverdi. You can contribute to this development by donating to Hye Tech Kids here. (The author lives in Yerevan and works as the Content and Communications Manager at ONEArmenia) Just a bit of news for those who thought they were having a good day . . .This is gathering is kinda controversial considering a recent lawsuit that setback local Christians because of atheist group complaints . . . Still, pollsters say Missouri could swing Hillary's way and this talk is a key gambit in the push to turn Missouri back into a bellwether.Developing . . . "The sheriff just said to tell everyone that we have to shut it down today. The traffic is beyond controllable and they are having too many accidents. Sorry all! I'll let you know if anything changes. Just to be clear, we support this decision in the interest of everyone's safety." Thanks to TKC Blog community earlier this morning . . . And because it's a longstanding and boring excuse for a cheap day trip . . . This happened just now and inspires social media rage over 1st World Problems . . .From their FB . . .More in a bit . . . KANSAS CITY LOCALS WATCHING THE NEWS AND TIRED OF INSIDER TAX DEALS RAGE AGAINST THE PREPOSTEROUS BIG MONEY ASK FROM A LUXURY HOTEL!!! City Council... Please say "NO" to the InterContinental Hotel... On Friday nightthat was buried by the local newspaper but deserves more attention.but now local taxfighters have taken up the cause.And so . . .Here's the message from Kansas City Citizens For Responsible Government . . .Last Friday, the local media outlets reported the InterContinental Hotel was going to ask the City to set up a CID so they could raise sales tax dollars and use the money for updating their facility. The money would be used for furnishings, cosmetic and structural repairs. The City needs to stay out of this. Our City is not a bank and the InterContinental is out of line asking the City to spend taxpayers resources to collect and monitor their funds.What properly managed hospitality company would not have a mechanism to set aside funds for updates and remodels? What are they not telling us here? Whats coming next? TIF financing? Property tax abatements? If they dont have funds set aside, shame on their lack of foresight. Go to the bank and get a loan.Why cant they just raise the price of everything on the property 1% and use those collections to fund their upgrade. Whats the difference? This approach would leave the City out of it and their customers would foot the bill. This is a private business and our City has no excuse to get involved.Those on the Council who think setting up another CID wont cost the City anything are just wrong. Our city will have administrative costs involved in collecting and managing funds for something they have no equity interest in. Let the free enterprise system work, stay out of it! Our City needs to stay out of private businesses affairs and tend to the Citys affairs. There is enough for them to be concentrating on with crime, lack of proper police numbers, roads full of holes, sewers backing up into basements, utility rates going thru the roof, council members using their positions to usurp the law and so on.Once you establish a CID, they never seen to go away. There is already at least one CID on the Plaza, now they want to stack another CID on top of the one (s) that are already there. Also if the InterContinental raises their sales tax 1% for refurbishments and the streetcar expansion comes along, they will get hit with another 1% on their sales taxes for that TDD plus assessments and increased property taxes. WOW! Their prices will have to go up, up,up!The InterContinental Hotel should manage their own business and leave our CIty out of it. We need to keep an eye on whats going on here..If you agree with our assessment, call and email your councilperson, the at large council members and the mayor . Tell them to let the InterContinental run their own affairs and concentrate of what our City needs################Developing . . . Ancient Egypt has long been a fascinating subject not only to historians, but to average people all over the world. They had many mystical practices that have long kept us intrigued. From their unique burial practices to their awe inspiring pyramids, they have left us with a feeling of mystery and wonder. Architects, Egyptologists, and experts on many different subjects consider the Ancient Egyptians a fascinating subject of study and have long hoped to one day discover all of their secrets. However, while there are many mysteries yet about the Ancient Egyptians, there are also many fascinating things we have already discovered in regards to them that most people are not aware of. 10. Ancient Egyptians Kept Baboons and Other Monkeys as Pets and for Ritual Significance Most people are well aware that Ancient Egyptians did put some historical significance in certain animals namely cats. Cats are known to be the number one go-to pet for Egyptians. Some are said to have been buried with their owners to accompany them in the afterlife. And while cats were very valued and had a certain religious and ritual significance, they were not the only animal in that category. While it may not sound quite as dignified, monkeys, especially baboons, were kept around for their ritual significance in magic and religion which were basically one and the same and just to enjoy as fun pets. They had to go to great trouble to get their hands on these baboons because they were not native to the area. Historians believe they would have had to be imported by ship. Nevertheless, they became so important that they show up in a lot of religious imagery associated with the gods and found themselves a permanently revered place in Ancient Egyptian history. 9. They Went to Great Lengths to Remove Body Hair, and Both Genders Often Wore Wigs In many depictions of Ancient Egyptians they are shown with very little hair on their heads, but many people may not realize the full extent of the work they went to in removing body hair. Children of both genders would wear a small lock on the side of their head that would be cut off when they reached adulthood. Apart from this, both men and women were bald. Not only that, but both men and women went to great trouble to remove all body hair constantly from all parts of their body. This was a normal part of hygiene in Ancient Egyptian society, but would have been quite extreme to people today. Of course for women and men fashion was still very important, so wigs were quite common, especially among the upper class. There are many theories as to why they did this. Most historians figure it was either something to do with the heat of the area, and that the Ancient Egyptians hypothesized that removing all hair would keep them cooler. Some people think that it was simply because they were incredibly obsessed with cleanliness. Most of these theories are quite reasonable, but ancient alien theorists believe they were trying to look like their former reptilian overlords the Anunnaki. 8. The Book of the Dead Was Not Originally a Unified Text The Book of the Dead has been featured in countless movies, books and other media at this point, which hasnt really done much to help people understand what it actually was. Most people think of it as something like the Egyptian version of the Bible or the Koran, but that isnt really accurate at least not originally. The Book of the Dead was in the beginning much more like the Wiccan idea of a Book of Shadows a journal you filled with your combined knowledge of all spells you had learned from others, read from other books and found important, your own created spells and wisdom you yourself came up with over time. For a long time in Ancient Egypt, Books of the Dead were still very personal, they were rarely organized in any particular order, and there was no unifying structure on what should and shouldnt be included. It wasnt until the 26th dynasty that any kind of real organization or order was put in place, and even then historians have still not been able to make proper sense of it. Egyptologists have managed to collate together 192 different spells from books of the dead, but not a single one contains every spell, meaning that there is, as far as they know, not one single unified text anywhere to accept as the official, correct one. 7. The Racial Identity of Ancient Egyptians is Extremely Controversial No matter where you live in the world, there are likely controversial race issues around you. These issues have existed as far back as humans have recorded history, and have often led to bloody wars and massacres. While racial tensions still cause violence around the world, we are at a low point historically, and now many people are taking the battle for race to academia, where heated arguments are had over whether revered historical groups or people belong to a certain race. Everyone respects and admires the Ancient Egyptians, so it likely comes as no surprise to many that groups with an agenda will go to great lengths to attempt to define Ancient Egyptians as whatever race helps them make a convenient political point. After a recent DNA test of King Tuts mummy, some people claimed it was evidence that he was of Western European origin, and others said the results were entirely flawed and rushed. In the past people have also claimed the Ancient Egyptians were of Nordic stock, and many have speculated and tried to claim with great passion that they were black africans similar to many today. Historians, on the other hand, believe that they were a fairly racially diverse society that looked similar to many artistic depictions of them. Obviously they would have had somewhat darkened skin from the sun, but were not none for being an entirely homogenous group. 6. There Were Way More Pyramids Than People Realize Whenever we hear about the pyramids, we hear about the great Pyramids at Giza Egypt. These pyramids have been visited by countless tourists, have been excavated and explored and suffered damage over the years they have quite a story to tell. People have speculated endlessly on how they were built, and if it may have even been alien visitors from another planet. These theorists will go to great lengths to make these particular pyramids and the exact positioning of them on the sand to be incredibly significant. Many of these theorists are convinced that the pyramids are also not burial chambers at all. However, the pyramids were almost certainly burial chambers, and if the theorists realized how many pyramids were built, they may realize how little sense the theories make. The Ancient Egyptians built, at least as far as Egyptologists are currently aware of, somewhere getting close to the neighborhood of 100 pyramids, none of them as large as the ones at Giza but they are all quite sizeable. Huge pyramidal chambers could only be afforded by the richest Egyptian citizens in the ancient days, but they were built for many Egyptians, and were hardly a strange occurrence at all. The truth is that there are many theories on how the various pyramids could have been built, and many of them are possible solutions. We just dont know exactly how they did it. They also could have used somewhat primitive, but effective, building techniques that we simply have not thought of ourselves. 5. Some of the Richer Citizens in Ancient Egypt Were Incredibly Fat In the United States and much of the developed world today, obesity has become a very serious health issue. Many people are simply not getting enough exercise and not eating the right foods or simply overeating in general, and it is causing them serious issues. Apart from the simple strain on the body of excess weight, the massive amounts of sugar intake can cause people to develop a type of diabetes as well. While most people would think that the Ancient Egyptians were quite thin and muscular, like all societies, the way we look at what is preserved of history can skew our perceptions. Most of what we knew was based on builders and a few rich pharaohs, so it was hard to accurately gauge the true fitness of a person from an ancient society. However, recently remains were found of the pharaoh Hatshepsut, showing that she had been incredibly obese and likely also had diabetes due to her extreme overeating. While its hard to say because surviving mummies are rare these days, if one rich citizen such as a pharaoh could be fat both socially and in terms of resources, it is quite likely that plenty of other richer, more privileged Ancient Egyptian citizens were also fat as well. 4. So-Called Mummy Parties Have Caused Much of History to be Lost Forever Many people today bemoan how children or young people will be out distracted running around with a phone trying to catch a virtual animal that they can use to virtually battle people, but the hobbies of the young people of yesteryear would have had them much more horrified. As we have mentioned, many people have long been fascinated with Ancient Egypt, but this got really strange in the early 1900s when Egypt fever was at a pitch in Europe. It started slowly, and like many fads quickly grew out of control. People would bring back mummies as souvenirs from travels to Egypt, all to happy to take advantage of the lax laws of the time, and then have parties where they unwrapped the mummy in their home with all their friends around. This obviously permanently damaged precious pieces of history that could have yielded scientists with incredible information in the future with proper DNA analysis. Some people may just say it was a different time, but it is hard to imagine any time period where it would be normal and acceptable to invite your pals over for a fun afternoon of unrolling a several thousand year old dead body. Regardless, it is almost impossible to estimate just how much damage this wanton and careless destruction of Egyptian culture in the name of enthusiasm has cost us in terms of our knowledge of them. 3. Ancient Pharaohs Were Sometimes as Crazy as Roman Emperors Whenever someone wants to think of an example of tyrants who ruled with a combination of insanity and delusional grandiosity, they tend to immediately name someone like Emperor Nero or Caligula. If they cant think of a specific name, they just generically compare them to the Roman Emperors. They were known for eating absolutely ludicrous feasts, making all kinds of bizarre personal demands and generally abusing their power and position to an insane degree. However, while the Roman Emperors may have been crazy, the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt came before them, and they were often just as strange or even stranger. The Pharaoh Hatshepsut, despite being female, was also known for usually wearing mens clothes as well as a mock up of a males beard, in order to look like a male pharaoh. Some historians also believe she may have wore black and red nail polish, kind of like some teenagers today. While she presented herself as a man to receive proper respect as a ruler, and seemed to enjoy mens clothes, there is also no evidence she was anything but straight. However, even Hatshepsut pales in comparison to Pepi II when it comes to crazy. Pharaoh Pepi II became Pharaoh at a very young age, and as such it may not be surprising that the power quickly went to his head, and he began abusing it greatly. He personally hated flies, and so to ensure that they would never land on him, he came up with an ingenious and cruel idea to keep them off his body. He kept several slaves nearby at all times, covered in honey, so the flies would bother them instead of him. It seems to have never occurred to him that he could have just as easily spread the honey on inanimate objects instead of people. 2. Not Everyone in Ancient Egypt was Elaborately Mummified When many people think of Ancient Egypt they mostly just assume that the society mummified everyone and that this was just their idea of a burial. However, while the elite certainly wanted the most elaborate process available, with the most pomp and circumstance, many people did not have the means for very much. In todays world, loved ones of the deceased who arent particularly rich often have to go with more budget options instead of the elaborate ones they prefer, even going so far as to use cremation in some causes simply because it is much less expensive. In Ancient Egypt, they had a similar situation, where while everyone would have loved to have an elaborate ceremony, many of the poorer or less well to do citizens would have to make do with less complete, or more hasty forms of mummification that wouldnt preserve the body as long or as effectively. These ceremonies would probably involve some prayers and other spells, and would sometimes be a simple burial in the sand. Only those with some means could afford to bury their dead in what was essentially a mausoleum something very few can afford today. In many cases, the reason we mostly think of Ancient Egyptians being preserved are because the ones we have to study are the ones that managed to stick around to be studied. We know from inference that apart from the many mummies destroyed by unwrapping parties, that there had to be many that were simply never mummified fully, or buried in any marked grave or structure, and decayed thousands of years ago, lost forever to the sands of time. 1. Punishments for Breaking the Law Could be Extremely Harsh In the Ancient world, punishment could often be harsh, but in Ancient Egypt, it was probably still far harsher in many cases than most people would imagine. Today, punishments mostly consist of being sent to a prison where the state sometimes has you do labor, but rarely if ever makes any real money from it. In the ancient world, labor was considered much more important and resources were very valuable. Those who needed to be punished were either killed outright or were given their due and sent right back to work to continue producing for the collective. In Ancient Egypt, the crime for stealing in one text is described as 100 blows and five wounds and some studies carried out on skeletons found in Amarna, an Ancient Egyptian city, have given researchers reason to believe this may have been a real punishment. They have found skeletons with gashes on the shoulder blade area, and believe the men were not attacked, but were likely being punished and were then sent right back to work. However, while punishments for stealing could be quite harsh, those for crimes of a sexual nature could be much harsher. Women were often treated more strictly, and if a woman was caught cheating she literally had her nose cut off to spite her face, while a man simply had to take a severe beating of 100 blows. Of course, while this may seem like a double standard, the penalty for a man raping a woman was also very strict if a man were judged to have raped a freeborn woman, he would be castrated. Like some ancient cultures, many punishments also included the removal of limbs, and execution for serious offenses like grave robbing. Other Articles you Might Like Police to deploy 3,000 to 4,000 officers in the city - 20 riot police squads and 50 motorcycle police from Athens The General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE), Greeces highest trade union body, has arranged to carry out a demonstration on Saturday in Thessaloniki, ahead of the Prime Ministers appearance at the Thessaloniki International Fair. Prior to Saturdays demonstration, GSEE has planned a series of protest actions and meetings on Tuesday and Thursday, with a press conference scheduled for midday on Friday. The Civil Servants Confederation (ADEDY) has also called its members to participate in the GSEE demonstration on Saturday. The KKE-affiliated All Workers Militant Front (PAME) has arranged a demonstration of its own for Saturday. In anticipation of tension, the Police have decided to dispatch at least 20 riot police squads and about 50 motorcycle police officers (DIAS) from Athens. Two helicopters and vehicles equipped with water cannons will also travel to the Thessaloniki. In total about 3,000 to 4,000 police officers will be deployed in Thessaloniki for the International Fair that will be carried out over the weekend. Read more here. RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban may be one of Brussels toughest critics, but reporting by Organized Crime and Corruption Project (OCCRP) partner Direkt36 has revealed that one of his closest relatives is benefiting from European Union subsidies. Gamma Analcont Kft., a company co-owned by Orbansyounger brother Gyozo Orban Jr., has been the beneficiary of EU grants awarded through a process under the control of the prime ministers office, according to the governments owndatabase of EU grants. Gamma Analcont was granted 291 million forints (US$ 1.05 million) by the EU in late August to cover the majority of the cost of designing and building an off-grid mobile biomass heating system with another firm, Borsodtech. The grant was among 67 billion forints awarded in August to 250 firms for research and development activities. The grant was the second won by Gamma Analcont this year. In January, the firm was awarded 57 million forints by the EU to expand its production capacities in Hungary. Gyozo Orban Jr. has owned a 26 percent stake in Gamma Analcont since 2005, according to company filings. Before Orban was associated with the firm, the company had won EU grants in 2009 and 2013 totaling 62 million forints. While the subsidies awarded to Gamma Analcont come from EU funds, Hungarian officials and experts decide how such money is spent. In 2013, Orbans government abolished the independent agency that oversaw the granting of funds, bringing the process under the prime ministers office. Gamma Analcont is not the only, nor the largest, beneficiary of EU funds made available via thescheme, known as the Economic Development and Innovation Operation Program. Direkt36 has not suggested any impropriety in the awarding of the funds to Gamma Analcont. The grants are notable, however, given the prime ministers consistent criticism of the EU since his election in 2010. Prime Minister Orban has compared an overbearing Brussels to Soviet-era Moscow, and his hardline stance on immigration has put him on a collision course with EU leadership. Both the prime ministers press office and Gyozo Orban Jr. didnot respond to written questions from Direkt36. Gamma Analcont did not respond questions on the project and the role of Gyozo Orban Jr. in the company. Gabor Nagy, the manager of consortium partner Borsodtech, declined to provide detailedcomment, saying the agreement between the two companies had not been finalized. He said he was unaware that the prime ministers brother was a part owner of Gamma Analcont. Gyozo Orban Jr. has never held public office and his public appearances have mostly been linked to his chosen sport of wrestling. He has worked in the family mining business since the 1990s. Gyozo Orban Jr. is not the only close associate of the prime minister whose businesses have received substantial EU funds. Direkt36 reported in 2015 that Istvan Tiborcz, the prime ministers son-in-law, Lorinc Meszaros, a friend of the prime minister, and Lajos Simicska, Orbans long-time ally, have also benefitied from EU funds. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (Photo: miniszterelnok.hu) occrp.org Ahmed Sharif Furniture, one of the leading classic and contemporary furniture companies in Bahrain, is set to enter the kitchen furniture segment by introducing the world-renowned German kitchen brand Rotpunkt-Kuchen at its main showroom. With a variety of furniture from a number of different segments readily available at Ahmed Sharif Furniture, the addition of kitchens consolidates the companys position as the ultimate destination for all of ones furniture requirements, the company said. Younis Sharif, the managing director of Ahmed Sharif Furniture, said: It gives me immense pleasure to introduce for the first time in Bahrain, the new kitchens range by the respected German brand, Rotpunkt-Kuchen. Being a family-run business, we at Ahmed Sharif Furniture profoundly understand, and therefore value, the needs of our customers; hence we continually strive to provide the best in complete home solutions. Now with the addition of the renowned kitchen brand designs, a customer can step into our showroom with the total confidence of finding every aspect of home or office furniture under one roof. The kitchens section at our showroom is uniquely designed to allow our customers to get a hands-on feel of what they wish to purchase. Customers looking for readymade designs can purchase the entire kitchen layout with all the furniture and utilities included, however if any of our customers have their own unique theme in mind, they can customise the entire layout and design accordingly, he added. With the new and innovative customising concept introduced by Ahmed Sharif Furniture, customers will be able to handpick every aspect of their kitchen, right down to the styles of the drawer handles they wish to purchase. Those looking to create their dream kitchen with a specific theme in mind will be spoilt for choice through an infinite amount of cabinet hardware specifications that are on display at the showroom such as sliding, space saving types. The kitchen designs on display at the showroom provide customers with a walk-in experience, where they can select from all the different variety of elements inside a kitchen, like the interior fittings, which provide complete functionality and make use of all the areas of a kitchen, thereby negating dead corners. Established in 1979, Ahmed Sharif Company started off from a single furniture shop in Manama, to become one of the largest, longstanding and well-known retail organisations in Bahrain. Operating with three branches, the companys network includes its 8,000-sq-m main showroom located in Sehla that boasts an impressive range of home and office furnishings. - TradeArabia News Service Bahrains Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning has invited pre-qualification bids from Saudi/Bahraini contractors or Saudi-led consortiums for the development of the second phase of its ambitious North Manama Causeway and Busaiteen Link project in the kingdom. The scope of work includes reclamation and dredging, general filling works and marine works for the North Manama Causeway Phase Two and Busaiteen Link project being financed by Saudi Fund for Development. Bids are also being sought from Saudi/Bahraini construction firms or Saudi-led joint ventures or consortiums for development of roads and structures for the Busaiteen project, said the ministry in its statement. The ministry said the prequalification application documents can be downloaded from Bahrain Tender Board site www.tenderboard.gov.bh. The last date for submission of the documents is October 5.-TradeArabia News Service CIMC Vehicle Group, a core member of China International Marine Containers Group (CIMC), has announced plans to launch a reefer trailer manufacturing facility in Bahrain. CIMC is a world leading supplier of logistics and energy equipment. The new facility, which will create 20 new job opportunities, will serve as an export hub in the Middle East. Reefer trailers are vehicles used to transport temperature sensitive goods. CIMC is dedicated to supplying high-quality and reliable equipment and services, including containers, vehicles, energy, chemical and food equipment, offshore equipment, logistics service, and airport facilities, said a statement. As a diversified $8 billion multinational operation group, CIMC has over 300 member enterprises, 60,000 staff, and an extensive sales network that covers more than 100 countries and regions. The company was supported by the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB), which attracts international companies to the kingdom, and fully supports their establishment, the statement said. The EDB identified and targeted CIMCs business activity portfolio as a requirement for the region as part of its efforts during the China Road Show, undertaken by the EDB in 2014. The EDB assisted CIMC in investigating Bahrains investment climate where they fully supported CIMC throughout their registration and setting-up process, as well as their other business requirements in order to ensure the companys successful inception. Khalid Al Rumaihi, chief executive of the EDB, said: We are delighted to welcome CIMC to Bahrain and believe their investment is a reflection of Bahrains excellent regional transport connections, mature regulatory system, and the strength of its highly-skilled local workforce. As part of the EDBs ongoing logistics initiative, Bahrain offers global manufacturing companies like CIMC a number of competitive advantages that will serve to benefit their operations in the region. Teresa Tan, CFO of CIMC Vehicle Group, said: "Bahrain was an easy choice for CIMC to launch its new manufacturing facility. The kingdom has excellent infrastructure, cost competitiveness, a strong connectivity to Saudi Arabia as well as the GCC and the Middle East region. These are essentials for our operations. We believe Bahrains highly skilled workforce and open business environment provide us the perfect platform for our next growth phase. As part of the Shenzhen - Bahrain Business forum, held yesterday, the EDB signed two MoUs with Galaxy Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and Huawei Technologies Bahrain. The MoU with Galaxy Institute aims to explore opportunities around establishing incubators in Bahrain, joint business forums and promotional activities. It will also include establishing a Galaxy Institute for financial funds in partnership with Bahraini companies to support investments and entrepreneurship in Bahrain and China. Under the MoU, the EDB and the institute will also exchange ideas on innovation, as well as the legislation and planning around entrepreneurship-related laws and regulations. The MoU signed with Huawei Technologies Bahrain looks at opportunities to enhance and expand the ICT sector in the kingdom. - TradeArabia News Service German industrial orders data on Tuesday underlined growing concerns that Europe's biggest economy is heading towards an economic slowdown, eking out a smaller-than-expected rise and showing a decline in domestic demand. Contracts for goods "Made in Germany" were up by 0.2 per cent in July, the Economy Ministry said. That was weaker than a Reuters consensus forecast for a rise of 0.5 per cent. Domestic demand fell by 3.0 per cent while foreign orders rose by 2.5 per cent, with demand from euro zone countries jumping by 5.9 per cent. It was the first full month of industrial orders data since Britain's economically unsettling vote to leave the euro zone. "Economic and political uncertainty are dampening order activity around the globe," VP Bank economist Thomas Gitzel said, adding that Britain's 23 June vote to leave the EU was only one negative factor among several others. "With US presidential candidate Donald Trump, the next uncertainty is around the corner," Gitzel said, pointing to Trump's sharp rhetoric against free trade. The US is Germany's most important export market. The data for June was revised up to a drop of 0.3 per cent from a previously reported fall of 0.4 per cent. In the less volatile two-month-comparison, orders were down by 0.2 per cent in June and July. Reuters Acwa Power has confirmed its commitment to the Moroccan solar power plan by supporting the second edition of Photovoltaica, the largest international exhibition in Africa dedicated to the development of solar energy. To be convened at Casablanca from September 7 to 9 under the patronage of the Moroccan Ministry of Energy and Mines, Water and the Environment, Photovoltaica provides a platform for policy makers, technology providers, developers, contractors and operators to share knowledge, keep up to date with the extraordinarily rapid advances in this sector and network with leaders in the solar energy sector. Acwa Power is the developer, investor, owner and operator of solar power plants Noor I, Noor II and Noor III in Morocco. Paddy Padmanathan, president and CEO of Acwa Power, said: While solar energy has a significant role in not only decarbonising energy generation but also in catering for the rapidly increasing demand for new capacity to fuel industrialisation and economic development. "It also provides energy access to large parts of the underserved continent of Africa. Policy makers, technology providers, investors, owners and operators need to work together to create the appropriate legal, infrastructural and regulatory environment to reduce risk and encourage investment with a long term mindset. Our $2.8 billion solar facility at Ouarzazate, Morocco, is a testament to what a partnership between an active and visionary government and an investor with a time horizon spanning decades can achieve. Following on from Photovoltaica, the worlds focus on renewable energy will once again be directed towards Morocco in November when Marrakesh hosts the 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). "Given its prominent role in Moroccos renewable energy focus, Acwa Power is also proud and privileged to play a leading role to support Morocco at COP22 which will serve the critical role of catalysing the momentum built with the consensus achieved at COP 21 in Paris last year when the historic agreement was reached amongst 200 nations," the statement said. -TradeArabia News Service Qatar's energy minister Mohammed al-Sada said on Monday he welcomed an agreement between Saudi Arabia and Russia, adding that oil markets were on their way to re-balancing, state news agency QNA reported. Sada made his comments after meeting OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo. Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed on Monday to cooperate in oil markets, saying they will not act immediately but could limit output in future, sending oil prices higher on hopes the two top producers would work together to tackle a global glut. The oil price later pared gains. Reuters Oil slipped towards $47 a barrel on Tuesday, falling further from the previous session's one-week high on receding hopes for imminent action to tackle a supply glut. Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed on Monday to cooperate in world oil markets, prompting Brent to jump almost 5 percent only to pare gains after Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said there was no need to freeze output for now. Brent crude for November was down 28 cents at $47.35 a barrel by 0946 GMT. U.S. crude for October, which did not settle on Monday due to the Labor Day holiday, was at $44.96, up 52 cents from Friday's close. While the Saudi minister played down the prospect of imminent action, his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak said he was open to ideas on what cut-off period to use if countries chose to freeze output and even said production cuts may be discussed. "Differences still remain and will reinforce already heightened levels of scepticism that supply will soon be restrained," said Stephen Brennock of oil broker PVM. Oil prices are half their level of mid-2014, hurting producing nations' income. Opec and Russia tried earlier this year to curb the glut by seeking an output freeze, but the deal collapsed in April due to tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-Opec producers such as Russia will hold informal talks in Algeria on Sept. 26-28. Others in the market are sceptical a deal will happen. "The two nations' cooperation is understandable," said Kaname Gokon, a strategist with Okato Shoji Co Ltd. "But when oil output is reduced, other producers would receive the benefit. There is still a question whether they can cut production for a sustainable period." Iran, which is raising exports after the lifting of Western sanctions in January, refused to participate in the earlier effort to freeze output. Saudi Arabia insisted all producers take part, prompting the collapse of the talks. By some measures, Iran is pumping at its pre-sanctions rate. Opec and industry sources have said Tehran now appears to be more willing to reach an understanding with other producers. Opec Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo met Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh in Tehran on Tuesday. Zanganeh, after the meeting, voiced support for steps to boost prices, without specifying whether Iran would join such an effort. Reuters The Head of the European Union Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Switalski, in an interview to MediaMax, explains why Armenia is so important to the EU, and highlights the significant impact of cooperation on the ground. What are the important values shared by the EU and Armenia? Armenia is part of the European family in a wider sense. Armenia shares the values that we consider to be European values. European values, in the cultural sense, are sometimes associated with rationalism, striving for truth, but also respect for diversity, tolerance, and I think in this sense Armenians are as European as many other members of the European Union and the bigger European family. In the political sense, the common European identity is linked to the three fundamental values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. By becoming a member of the Council of Europe, Armenia has subscribed to these values. In this sense, the EU and Armenia build their relationship on the strong basis of common values. Sometimes here in Armenia, some people believe that because Armenian society is so conservative, European values, so-called European values, are too liberal for them. They overlook the fact that one of the elements of the European identity is plurality and diversity, even within the European family. Inside the European Union there are definitely more conservative societies than Armenian society. The beauty of Europe is the richness of its cultures, and this makes enough space for Armenians to feel at home in terms of values. Why is the partnership between the EU and Armenia important for Europe? For centuries, Armenia has considered itself to be a European state. Armenia is the first state in history that adopted Christianity as its official religion, and therefore the bridge between Armenia and Europe here, perceived from this local perspective, is very strong. For Europe, Armenia is not only part of the neighbourhood and neighbourhood is important because of the risks originating from the neighbourhood, that proximity is what makes us feel particularly concerned about what is happening here but Armenia is part of the European space, Europe in its larger sense. Therefore, for the European Union Armenia is important. Still, being a small country, in some ways an isolated country, because one long frontier is closed, another one is still on fire, due to the conflict in and around Nagorno Karabakh, but still Armenia is important for Europe, Armenia is one of the gates connecting Europe with Asia. Armenia through its border to Iran has a strategic importance, the whole region of the South Caucasus is a crossroad, is a gate, it is a meeting place of different cultures, different interests, but also a place important for trade and for communication. Therefore, the European Union is interested in having a strong relationship with a country like Armenia. You talked about the neighbourhood: what does it mean to be a good neighbour? From the legal point of view, the idea of good neighbourly relations is well recorded in fundamental international and European documents, starting from the United Nations charter, going through the OSCE Helsinki final Act, the Charter of Paris for a new Europe, so good neighbourly relations are one of the fundamental principles of international law, and international relations as such. Good neighbours are friendly neighbours. Good neighbours are open neighbours. Good neighbours are reliable neighbours. Good neighbours are neighbours whose mutual attitude is based on respect, on solidarity, and on mutual tolerance. But the main essential elements of good neighbourly relations are a peaceful attitude, cooperation, solidarity, the readiness to help in times of need. What impact does the EU really have in Armenia? I think the European Union in Armenia is an important factor. We are the number one international donor in Armenia. We are the number one foreign investor in Armenia. And we are the number one foreign trade partner of Armenia. But our relationship goes beyond this element of trade, of investment, of development cooperation. Our contribution to the development of this country is very versatile, visible everywhere in the country, we contribute to the improvement of infrastructure: the EU is the main supporter of the north-south corridor going through the whole of Armenia from the southern border to the northern border, we have provided more than 10 million in the upgrading of the metro system in Yerevan, we spent millions in helping Armenia to organise a modern waste collection system, a water purification system. The EU is helping to close the development gap between Yerevan and other regions, and in particular our efforts in the field of agriculture have this important economic and social aspect. We improve border management, we contribute a lot to improve governance The European Union is the main promoter of e-governance in Armenia few people know for instance that, thanks to the EU, all Armenians are being equipped with new ID cards, more than half a million Armenians have new biometric ID cards. We support improvement of the justice system. With the help of the European Union, 12 court buildings were built in Armenia, but more importantly, several important pieces of legislation strengthening the independence of the judiciary, streamlining the functioning of the justice system were enacted in Armenia. Education is an important field where we are very present, not only through the possibilities offered by the Erasmus programme, but also the European Union is very visible contributing to the improvement of the vocational education system. We have built, renovated or upgraded several colleges in Armenia, and we also contributed to reforming the education system. We are also helping Armenia to modernise their human rights protection system, we are helping Armenia to boost their economic environment, in particular through the support to small and medium-sized enterprises, so as you can see, the spectrum of activities of the European Union is very wide, we have our priorities, and I think that the European Union is a visible factor of modernization of this country. This interview has been produced by the EU Neighbours East project. http://www.euneighbours.eu The Tourism Authourity of Thailand, in cooperation with the Royal Thai Embassy of Manama, launched its 'Amazing Tastes of Thailand' Festival yesterday (September 5) at The Sofitel Bahrain, marking its return to the kingdom for a sixth year. Attended by partners from Bahrain travel industry including airline representatives, travel agents and media, the festival featured 12 participating restaurants. Speaking to Chalermsak Suranant, Tourism Authority of Thailand Director for the Middle East, he said: "To most Middle East visitors, Thailand is like a second home. More so because our cultures are very similar. Each year we are seeing more and more travellers from the Gulf region visiting Thailand, with 2015 numbers soaring 12 per cent over the figures in 2014." "From Bahrain particularly, we have witnessed visitor numbers jump 20 per cent year-on-year in 2015 compared to 2014. For the first six months of this year, visitors from Bahrain to Thailand have increased by 16 per cent so far," he said. The launch ceremony treated its guests to a burst of 'Thai'ness with a venue illuminated with floating buoyant decorations to celebrate the world renowned Loy Krathong festival, tradionally clad servers and stalls showcasing unique Thai food and food art. Speaking about the festival, Chayapan Bamrungphong, Ambassador, Royal Thai Embassy Manama, Bahrain, said: We are thrilled to bring the Amazing Taste of Thailand Food Festival 2016 to Bahrain. Bahrain and Thailand both share a vision on preserving and promoting authentic culture and values. Through our cuisine, we are able to showcase our rich cultural traditions to both residents and visitors of Bahrain The gala evening lined up a number of live musical performances from Sbun-Nga as well as a segment called Celebrity Cooking Showdown where two Bahrain-based celebrities battled for a live cooking face-off. Guests got a chance to savour the true taste of Thailand at each participating stall, which included Honey Restaurant, Shada, Pong Thai, Thailand Gate restaurant, Tha Beach, Wang Thai, Aroi Dee, Erawan, Asia Classic, Banana Leaf, Chompoonuch and Thai Express. Chalermsak Suranant, Tourism Authority of Thailand Director for the Middle East, said,: While Thailand is amazing for so many reasons, such as pristine beaches and mountain landscapes, elephants, great shopping and nightlife, rejuvenating spas, ancient culture and delicious cuisine, at the root of all our offerings is the unique Thainess that comes from the people. With this event, we would like to show the world the natural hospitality, genuine warmness and friendly faces of Thais that are ready to welcome guests from around the world. The Thai food festival at Sofitel Bahrain Zallaq Thallasa Sea & Spa will run from September 6 to 13, offering guests authentic Thai delicacies prepared by a renowned Thai chef flown directly from Sofitel Krabi. As part of efforts to further promote the love for Thai food and culture, TAT has partnered with 12 Thai restaurants in the kingdom to offer a special 20 per cent discount from September 5 to October 5. To avail the discount, visitors must present a snap or capture a photo of Amazing Tastes of Thailand Fest 2016 banner which can be found from TAT website and TAT social media. - TradeArabia News Service Traditional Harvest Day in Creta Maris Beach Resort! (TRAVPR.COM) GREECE - September 6th, 2016 - On Friday August 26th, a Traditional Harvest day was held in Creta Maris Beach Resort. This year, the action was part of the events organized by the resort, in the context of its participation in the project FUTOURIS e.V.: Connecting sustainable Winegrowing with the Hospitality services on Crete | 2016-17. The aim of the action was to introduce the traditional Cretan rural work to the guests, while also highlighting in the best possible way the islands long tradition in grape growing and winemaking. The ritual began by collecting the grapes from the vineyard (harvest), and transfer them in a traditional way, with the donkey, on the winepress for the production of grape must, and then distillation of the grapes in order to produce raki as well as grape must jelly. All actions were followed by music, dancing, and delicacies, features of the Cretan hospitality. The participation of the guests in the harvest and pressing of the grapes was noteworthy, giving them a valuable experience of the Cretan lifestyle, culture and traditions. About Creta Maris Beach Resort: Creta Maris Beach Resort belongs to Metaxas Group of Companies and has been operating since 1975. It has a capacity of 680 rooms, suites and bungalows, 6 restaurants, 7 bars, 7 swimming pools, gym, Hammam spa, Asterias Childrens Club, and a great space for outdoor and indoor activities. Futouris: the Project FUTOURIS e.V.: Connecting sustainable Winegrowing with the Hospitality services on Crete | 2016-17, was submitted to the FUTOURIS e.V. organization (www. futouris. org) by the social cooperative enterprise of LOCAL FOOD EXPERTS sce. The German non-profit organization FUTOURIS e.V. supports the implementation of sustainable development projects in destinations of interest to its members. FUTOURIS e.V. members include some of the most well-known travel agencies and tour operators. TUI Austria co-funds the Project, which is further supported by the wider TUI tourism agency. The project development started in January 2016 and will be completed in December 2017. Please find pictures of the action on high resolution on the below link: https://we.tl/s7zKiu9vk1 Please find pictures of Creta Maris Beach Resort on high resolution on our site: http://www.maris.gr/media/image-library.aspx ### Parents claim that a cell phone keeps their kid safe, but I'd argue it rather disconnects and distracts. Here's why kids should leave their phones at home. With a new school year beginning, many children are heading off to school with cell phones in their pockets. I hear about these phones from my young, technology-deprived children, who come home wondering why they cant also have an iPhone with cool games on it. My reasons dont change; in fact, I become more certain and committed to my anti-phones-for-young-kids beliefs the more I read and hear. I tell my kids, who are seven and four, that they can have a cell phone when theyre old enough to buy it and pay for a monthly plan themselves. That will be a while yet. Why do my husband and I insist on such an old-fashioned, unpopular approach to cell phones? Cell Phone Self-Control First of all, I dont think that young kids (I'm talking about those in elementary school) possess the self-control not to engage with their cell phones while attending school. School is the all-important purpose of their lives right now, so why would I give them any device that would make it harder than it already is to learn? No matter how mature a child may be, the temptation of technology is hard to resist; we Millennial adults should know that better than anyone else. Its easier not to place that burden on my kid at all, rather than expect him to know how to handle it. Says Canadian non-profit research group, Media Smarts, Even if a student does not own a phone themselves their presence in the classroom may cause distraction. Distracted Learning Second, teachers dont need more distractions in the classroom. Their job is hard enough. A 2015 research paper by the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics found that student test scores improve by 6.4 percent when cell phones are banned at schools and that there are no significant academic gains when the ban is ignored. Is It Fair? Third, some people argue that allowing cell phones in schools equalizes the playing field, but I disagree. The Mayor of New York is one such person, having lifted a ten-year ban on cell phones in schools in March 2015, with the noble intent of reducing inequality. The Centre for Economic Performance has found this reasoning to be flawed: Low-achieving students are more likely to be distracted by the presence of mobile phones, while high achievers can focus in the classroom regardless of the mobile phone policy. This also implies that any negative externalities from phone use do not impact on the high achieving students. Schools could significantly reduce the education achievement gap by prohibiting mobile phone use in schools, and so by allowing phones in schools, New York may unintentionally increase the inequalities of outcome. Encourage Social Interaction Finally, why would I give them something that makes it more difficult to connect with other students? Go to any public place and youll see the majority of people huddled over their miniature screens, lost in a private online world. I want something different for my kids. I want them to be forced to interact with fellow students, to make new friends, to engage in conversation, to play physically, to learn how to read facial expressions. I also want my kids to be able to approach adults, even strangers, and ask for assistance if they need it without relying on a cell phone and me to get them out of a bind. Media Smarts found that 20 percent of grade 4 students and half of grade 11 students sleep with their phones in case they receive a message in the night. Even 35 percent of students worry that they spend too much time online, which should be setting off parents alarm bells right now. A big part of teaching digital literacy should be teaching our children when and how to turn off their phones, put them away, and leave them at home -- or not even giving them to our young kids, which is my preferred approach. Fatehgarh Sahib, Sept 6 Two women from Chandigarh were among three persons killed when their scooter collided head-on with a motorcycle at Kheri Naud Singh village in Fatehgarh Sahib this morning. The victims have been identified as Jagdeep Singh (30), a resident of Khalaspur, and Anita (55) and Shivani (30), both residents of Sector 29-D, Chandigarh. ASI Harbans Singh said Anita and Shivani were going to Khedi from Bharri on their Activa scooter when it collided with a motorcycle being ridden by Jagdeep Singh, resulting in the death of all three. TNS Ishrat S Banwait Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 5 Student elections are here, and so are ways to lure voters. Along with trips to the hills and parties at nightclubs, student parties have been providing students with free booze in exchange for a promise of not only their vote but also that of their friends. A salesman at a liquor vend in Sector 15 said, There has been a substantial rise (around 20 per cent) in the sale of whisky in the past few days. Blenders Pride is the most popular brand followed by Royal Stag, Antiquity and Smirnoff vodka. Sources said while whisky was common for boys, vodka and breezers were supplied to girls. A member of one of the parties said on condition of anonymity, Big parties, which have a political backing, have campaign budgets of over Rs 35 lakh for the university and around Rs 5 lakh for colleges. The authorities support them by not checking their cars, laden with alcohol, at the gates. DAV College, Sector 10, GGDSD, Sector 32, and SGGS College, Sector 26, are hot spots where Blenders Pride is the most popular brand followed by Royal Challenge and Smirnoff vodka. This was confirmed by liquor vends near these colleges. The most popular method adopted by student parties is to provide handwritten slips to students which can be exchanged for booze at nearby liquor vends. Another method is that party workers talk to students in various departments, estimate the number of bottles required and deliver the booze on the doorstep in hostels, said a student on condition of anonymity. A student residing at Boys Hostel No. 5 said with a grin, Yes, booze is flowing freely but that doesnt mean that we will vote for them or even vote at all. According to the Lyngdoh panel norms, a student party cannot spend more than Rs 5,000 on campaigning. Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 6 High drama was witnessed at Sector 22 when two persons, including a Major, allegedly teased two girls and manhandled the PCR staff outside Hotel Aroma last night. Both of them, who were allegedly in an inebriated condition, have been arrested by the police. Police sources said two girls, aged 23 and 25 and residing in Sector 23, had gone to have coffee when the accused Major Rahul, a native of Patna, and Gurpreet, a businessman and resident of Delhi, allegedly teased the victims. The sources said the accused also blocked the way of the victims. The victims came out of the food court and raised the alarm following which the PCR staff deployed in Sector 22 rushed to the spot. The police said the duo allegedly manhandled Constable Rajneesh and tore his uniform. A case under Sections 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from his duty), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from the discharge of his duty), 354 (assault or criminal force on a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty), 354-D (stalking) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of a common intention) of the IPC has been registered against the accused. The duo was produced in court and sent to judicial custody. Ruchika M Khanna and Aarti Kapur Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 5 The coming Punjab Assembly elections have upped the stakes for the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Punjab Congress in the Panjab University Campus Student Council elections, scheduled for September 7. Both parties, headed for a fight to the finish in the Assembly poll, seem to be taking the student poll as a litmus test. Senior leaders of the two main political parties the Akali Dal and the Congress are not just minutely observing the political developments, they have also strategised and planned the entire campaign, which ends on Tuesday afternoon. Though neither Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal, nor the Punjab Congress president, Capt Amarinder Singh, are actively involved, sources said the two leaders were regularly taking stock of the situation. After all, these 15,202 votes all youth - will help the two parties understand which way the youth power could sway in four months from now. It could well be that the emergence of the Aam Aadmi Party riding high on the aspirations of the youth in Punjab has forced the two mainstream parties to test their mettle in wooing the youth voters, even though this is on a much smaller scale. Incidentally, AAP has refrained from throwing its hat in the ring for this student poll, though it, too, has a student wing in the PU. If the Congress is relying on the support of Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, the Youth Congress president, and NSUI president Amrita Dhawan, with a little help from former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, MLA Kuljit Singh Nagra and former MP Vijay Inder Singla, to prop up the campaign of NSUI presidential candidate Siya Minocha, the Akali Dal has entrusted the campaign of Students Organisation of India (SOI) candidate Piyush Anand Bawa to its Youth Akali Dal leader Parambans Singh Romana. These leaders have virtually been camping at the university for the past few days and taking the fight to the finish. No wonder that money and freebies are flowing freely. From free facials, parties, lunches/dinners to trips to Kasuali or Thunderzone the voters in the university are the king at least till the day of polling on Wednesday. The similarities between the student poll here and the Assembly elections are not just restricted to the freebies. SOI and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the BJP, along with Digvijay Singh Chautala of the Indian National Student Organisation a youth offshoot of the Indian National Lok Dal under the guidance of the Youth Akali Dal leaders, have managed to break down the voters into categories, based on the regions they come from. There is a team of SOI supporters from Bihar to woo the voters from there, a separate team from South India to woo the voters from their region and a Punjabi team of workers to look after and woo the Punjabi voters. On the other hand, the Congress has apparently worked out its poll statistics on a gender basis. Realising that over 65 per cent of the voters are from the fair sex, it has fielded a woman candidate for the post of president. The student poll, just like the Assembly poll, also has its share of intrigues and rebellions. The rift in the NSUI, with Barinder Dhillon spearheading a breakaway group of the NSUI, erupted a few days ago, and has managed to dent the party prospects, even though he was suspended today for anti-party activities. SOI, too, is witnessing a chasm because of the rivalry between Vicky Middukhera and Robin Brar borh of whom are important faces of SOI on the campus. Hasan Suroor THE grand strategy, clearly, was to give a flailing Congress another kick in the shin by slapping a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi for his remarks over the alleged RSS role in Mahatma Gandhis assassination. But, as often happens with too-clever-by-half strategies, it appears to have backfired. After the initial misstep when he appeared to back down, Rahul has finally got it right by sticking to his original statement, and the spotlight now is firmly on the RSS and its links with Gandhis killers. To be confronted with questions about his assassination will be deeply embarrassing to the RSS and Narendra Modi at a time when he is desperately trying to appropriate Mahatmas legacy. Some commentators have sought to dismiss it as a farce. It might end up as one; but while it lasts it will only cause discomfiture to the RSS as old accounts of how its supporters distributed sweets on hearing the news of Gandhis assassination are being recalled. To many young Indians not quite well-up on their history, what Sardar Patel, an RSS sympathiser, said about it at the time has come as a revelation. Absolving the RSS of direct involvement in Gandhis assassination, he pointedly noted how communal poison spread by it had vitiated the atmosphere in the days leading up to the assassination. It was a withering verdict; and that remains the nature of the beast even today. Is it a mere coincidence that community relations have been poisoned to such a degree under the RSS-driven Modi government? Of all the bogus claims that populate Indian politics, the most egregious is the description of BJP as a modern everyday right-wing party like, say, the British Conservative Party. The truth is that the BJP is so far removed from mainstream right-wing thinking in the rest of the world that if there was a Comintern of the right, it might struggle even to find a place in it. The modern libertarian right is not only unapologetically secular, but actively engaged with ideas ranging from individual freedoms, free speech, and the nature and role of the state to reining in market forces, reforming public services, and promoting social mobility, etc. It has moved on from the hang-em-flog-em era of social, economic and religious fundamentalism. The BJP, by contrast, is still stuck in a time warp with its narrow interpretation of nationalism, and a perverse belief in Hindu supremacy with echoes of the 1930s German notion of racial purity. In most Western democracies, the BJP would be classified as the far right with the likes of intellectually feeble United Kingdom Independence Party; Marie Le Pens National Front; and the Republican Tea Party all xenophobic, hostile towards minority groups, and obsessed with cultural nativism. The RSS-BJP brand has become so toxic that it has started to cause embarrassment even in domestic independent right-wing circles. Admittedly, the independent right in India is so scarce that it is almost like looking for Eskimos in Rajasthan. But the few stray voices that do exist resent being lumped with the Sangh Parivar, and its increasingly mainstreamed lumpen fringe. A case in point is Swarajya, C Rajagopalacharis defunct 1950s journal revived last year as a platform for the liberal right, an authoritative voice of reason representing the liberal centre-right point of view. Despite its protestations, many see it as just another in-house BJP venture with a veneer of sophistication. Which riles some on Swarajya. Seetha, a senior journalist associated with it, was so upset at the sweeping generalisation that anyone who is right of centre is a supporter of the RSS and the rabid Hindutva brigade that she lodged an angry protest with The Hoot after it published an article last year linking it to the Sangh Parivar. There is a deliberate attempt to gloss over nuanced positions and paint everyone not in agreement with the Left as rabid right-wing extremists, which needs to be countered..., she wrote. Distancing herself from the BJP/Hindutva right, she added she had been dubbed a sickularist and Congressi by Hindutva trolls for being even slightly critical of the BJP or conceding that the Congress may have been right on something. She has a point; never mind Swarajyas broad ideological fraternity with Modi and his project (note the timing of its launch and some of its leading figures direct or indirect links with the BJP). Im sure many in the BJP would have proprietary claims on Swarajya seeing it as our own journal, and react with shock (Et tu, Swarajya) in the event it decides to play naughty. But the relevant question to ask is: why is this happening? Why everyone on the right tends to get lumped with the RSS and the rabid Hindutva brigade? Well, its not a Left conspiracy. The roots of the trouble lie elsewhere: a history of intellectual vacuum on the right which allowed obscurantist Hindu nationalists a free run to entrench themselves as the mascot of the Indian right; and as its sole authentic voice. India has had no tradition of enlightened right-wing public intellectuals, which means that the only platform available to ambitious right-leaning academics, journalists, wannabe politicians and disillusioned leftists has been the BJP. What is more troubling is that these new entrants have shown no interest in infusing fresh ideas, but have instead happily lent their services to providing intellectual respectability to a vision of an illiberal and intolerant India. Even the so-called independents are not averse to rushing to the partys rescue when it calls them. It will be interesting to see how far a venture like Swarajya will be willing to go to challenge the RSS orthodoxy as it seeks to become a platform for the liberal centre-right point of view. Meanwhile, whatever the outcome of the Rahul-RSS row, it will not shut down the debate on RSSs past. It is too dark and murky to be forgotten in a hurry. I leave readers with this passage from American Nobel Laureate Sinclair Lewiss book It Cant Happen Here. Does it remind them of any top right-wing Indian political leader? ...He was an actor of genius. There was no more overwhelming actor on the stage, in the motion pictures, nor even in the pulpit. He would whirl arms, bang tables, glare...; but he would also coo like a nursing mother, beseech like an aching lover, and in between tricks would coldly and almost contemptuously jab his crowds with figures and facts figures and facts that were inescapable even when, as often happened, they were entirely incorrect. The writer is a London-based commentator PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi was allocated the least coveted spot in the group photograph at the end of the G20 summit. As a result he stood cropped out of the group photo of leaders whose countries account for 85 per cent of the worlds GDP. But the Prime Minister was a constant presence through his vigorous interventions though his broadside against one country in South Asia that exports terrorism was out of sync as G20 is focused on bringing the world economy back on the rails. Apart from this overdone intrusion of a bilateral agenda, Mr Modis economic wish list was extensive. He was different from his peers by attacking the safe havens of slush money and excessive secrecy in banking laws of several countries. Other leaders thought this too tall an order and instead sought improved mechanisms to get back economic offenders and assets made from ill-gotten wealth. Modis call for reforms in the IMF by next year will get more traction at the forthcoming BRICS summit in Goa, as will his reference to climate justice. Decoded it means the developing countries expect $100 billion from the West in technology and other assistance to meet the impact of climate change. An additional motivation for leaders to turn up for summits is the possibility of several bilateral meetings under one roof. The Prime Minister met the Turkish President, ostensibly to seek his support for the Nuclear Suppliers Group. But Turkey is also a major player in an alliance shaping up in West Asia and beyond. Having been overlooked so far, India cannot afford to be a bystander in the region. Mr Modi also touched base with Britains new Prime Minister. He sought a greater understanding of Indias concerns at a meeting with Xi Jinping. India has displayed a great deal of comfort in sailing with the West on security issues. But economic matters tend to pull it in the opposite corner. Indias stance at the G20 summit on various issues showed how rule-making at global bodies has been an unfair Western enterprise. QUITE unexpectedly the Modi government has been given a chance to refurbish its credentials as a national ruling party, responsibly mindful of constitutional conventions and protocol. The opportunity has been offered on a silver plate by none other than the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa, who has rather haughtily defied the Centres advice to step down. Such advice had become almost mandatory after Mr Rajkhowa got rapped on his gubernatorial knuckles on July 13 this year by the Supreme Court of India. The apex court had held that Rajkhowa was guilty of overstepping his constitutional powers in dismissing the Congress government in Itanagar. For good measure, the court also reinstated the Congress government. This rebuff could not be taken as just another stricture from a court of law. The President of India was entitled to feel that he had been ill-advised, just as the Home Minister must have felt led astray by the Governors exuberance. After the apex courts July 13 verdict it was incumbent upon one and all to do penance for the sins committed by various constitutional functionaries. The Governors own position had become utterly untenable. Fortunately, the Union Home Ministry had the good sense to informally advise the Governor to put in his papers, citing ill-health as the reason, thereby sparing everyone further complications. To all round embarrassment, the Governor has demurred. A man who is a former Chief Secretary of Assam and therefore should be fairly familiar with the terms of occupation that are saddled on a Raj Bhavan nominee, Rajkhowa refuses to play ball and has instead publicly dared the Home Minister to have the Presidents pleasure withdrawn. This is a rather piquant and needlessly messy situation. The Governor is entitled to feel that it is perhaps unfair to make him the fall-guy for the politicians miscalculations, but then he did agree to go along with the politicos manoeuvres. A Governor needs to be made to pay a price for not having the guts to resist politicians. And, now that the Governor had petulantly gone public, he has left the Centre no choice but to dismiss him. Mumbai, September 6 A court in Mumbai on Tuesday held a man guilty of an acid attack on Haryana girl Preeti Rathi in 2013. Ankur Lal Panwar, a hotel management graduate, was found guilty of offences under Sections 302 (Punishment for murder) and 326 B (Punishment for attempted acid throwing) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Rathi, whose family originally came from Haryanas Rewari and lived in Bhakra Beas Management Board Colony in Delhis Narela, died of multiple organ failure in June 2013, a month after Panwar threw acid at her. Rathi had gone to Mumbai to take up a nursing position in a naval hospital, INHS Asvini, in Mumbais Colaba. The incident occurred as soon as she alighted a train at Mumbai's Bandra Terminus on May 2, 2013. Police claimed Panwar, Rathi's neighbour, was jealous of Rathis professional growth. Outside the court, Panwar's mother Kailash demanded a CBI inquiry claiming her son had been falsely implicated. "We have been implicated just because we were poor. I want a CBI inquiry into the case," she said. Rathi's father Amar Singh Rathi hoped Panwar was awarded capital punishment. "It took three years for us to get justice but I am happy that it has been finally delivered. I hope he gets death sentence," he said. Arguments for Panwars sentence will begin on Wednesday. Agencies Ravinder Saini Tribune News Service Rewari, September 6 After nine months, the state Transport Department has decided to issue fitness certificates to more than 10-year-old diesel vehicles registered in 10 districts under the NCR. Fitness certificates to such vehicles was banned by the transport authority in all 13 NCR districts of the state in December 2015 in view of a National Green Tribunals order directing the state government to not issue fitness certificate to such vehicles in the region to reduce the level of pollution. The 13 districts included in National Capital Region (NCR) are Gurgaon, Faridabad, Palwal, Mewat, Jhajjar, Rewari, Mahendragarh, Bhiwani, Jind, Rohtak, Sonepat, Panipat and Karnal. Except Bahadurgarh (Jhajjar), Faridabad and Gurgaon, fitness certificate to more than 10-year-old diesel vehicles would now be issued in other districts. The development came as a major relief to a large number of people having more than 10-year-old diesel vehicles, as they were unable to ply their vehicles due to the ban. Virender Lather, Additional Transport Commissioner, said the fitness certificate to diesel vehicles older than 10 years was stopped in 13 districts of the state nine months ago following unclear orders of the NGT in this regard. Since the NGT had issued the order for the NCR, fitness certificate to such vehicles were stopped in 13 districts under the NCR, but the Assistant Advocate General, Haryana, recently cleared that the NGT meant the NCR as Gurgaon, Faridabad, Bahadurgarh (Jhajjar), Ghaziabad and Noida (UP) in terms of registration of vehicles, said Lather. He said, Following the clarification, we have decided to issue fitness certificate to more than 10-year-old diesel vehicles in districts other than Bahaudrgarh, Gurgaon and Faridabad. The concerned district authorities have also been informed about the decision. Anil Kaushik, chief of the Progressive Private School Owners Association, said schools having diesel buses older than 10 years were worst suffered by the ban on fitness certificate. Dipender Manta Tribune News Service Mandi, September 6 The state government has set a target to eradicate tuberculosis (TB) by the year 2025 and was working to achieve the goal, said Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur here today. He was speaking at a workshop at Padhar to apprise the representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) of the issue and urged them to cooperate with the authorities to make the mission a success. He said medicine for TB treatment would be given to the patients on a daily basis. A pilot project across the state will be initiated from October 1. To detect the disease in time high quality machines have been installed in nine districts of the state, while the remaining three districts Kullu, Lahaul Spiti and Kinnaur would be equipped with the facility soon, he added. The state government was committed to rid the state of this disease. It was recruiting staff to provide better medical facility at nearby health centres. This year 24 senior treatment supervisors and 40 lab technicians were recruited under TB programme across the state he added. The minister today launched a multi-nutritional supplement distribution system for the MDR (Multi Drug Resistance) patients and said all expenditure would be borne by the state government. The nutritional supplement will be provided through HIMFED shops. The minister stated that in villages TB was still considered a stigma and patients did not take proper medication in time, which aggravated the situation. Representatives of PRIs can play a vital role and spread awareness among the public at the grassroot level. He said the Central Government had set 2030 as the target year when India would be made tuberculosis free. As the state government has set a target to eliminate it earlier, support of elected representatives of PRIs was a must. The workshop was organized with the collaboration of Tanda Medical College, state TB control cell and district health authority. Deepanker Gupta Udhampur, September 6 Its been two years when Saddal-Panjar village of Moungri tehsil in Udhampur district was destroyed due to landslides. The survivors are still looking to the government to fulfill its promise of permanent and smarter rehabilitation. Last year, Union Minister of State Dr Jitendra Singh, on his visit here, had announced that Sadal village would become the first village in the state to be converted into a smart model village by June this year, under the Sansad Aadarsh Gram Yojna. He had announced that 135 hutment and 135 toiletswould be constructed with participation of the district administration for resettlement of villagers. However, no action has been taken on ground to date. On September 6 in 2014, at least 40 villagers were buried alive after the entire Saddal village in the Panchari Hills of Udhampur came under landslides following incessant rains. Bodies of four persons are yet to be traced from the debris. People now have been forced to live in small compartments separated by plywood, in a large cemented hall near a nullah. As many as 132 village families are leading a miserable life and grudges against the state government are quite visible on their faces. In the last two years, this is the fourth place where we have been dumped to live an inhuman life, a villager decried. Nearly two months back, Udhampur Deputy Commissioner Niraj Kumar visited the landslide-hit Saddal village and discussed the rehabilitation plan with affected families. He said the rehabilitation plan includes construction of 132 houses, hospitals, schools, community halls, toilets, Anganwadi centres, restoration of land, construction of village roads and development of infrastructure for power supply and potable water. He added that during his visit detailed consultations were held with the families for locations of their resettlement, availability of land, development of clusters and assistance for livelihood. A team of officers from various departments evaluated locations for projects, he added. Ehsan Fazili, Samaan Lateef and Suhail A Shah Tribune News Service Srinagar, September 6 A 20-year-old youth was killed on Tuesday during clashes with security forces in south Kashmirs Anantnag district, taking the death toll to 75. Naseer Ahmad, son of Ghulam Hassan Mir of Seer-Hamdan village of Anantnag district, 70 km south from here, was hit by pellets in his heart when security forces resorted to pellet-firing on protesters. Hundreds of people from Seer-Hamdan had come out in the morning to protest against the night raids by police to arrest the youth involved in protests and stone-pelting incidents. They pelted the police and security forces personnel with stones. The security forces retaliated with pellet-firing, resulting in on-spot death of a youth and injuries to over five dozen people. Ahmad was brought dead to the local sub-district hospital, doctors said. Jameela Begum of Seer-Hamdan was also critically injured in the clashes. She has been hit by pellets in the head. Protests were going on till the reports last came in. Earlier, Musaib Ahmad, 17, from Sonawani in Kupwara district, who had received head injuries in clashes at Wadoora, Sopore, in Baramulla district on Sunday, succumbed to his injuries at the SMHS hospital here on Monday night. Meanwhile, a day after the return of the all-party delegation that visited the Valley, curfew-like restrictions continued in Srinagar and other areas as the current unrest entered day 60 on Tuesday. There were reports of clashes between the protesters and police in Rangreth and Chhanapora areas on the outskirts of Srinagar city since Monday. Restrictions on pedestrian movement were imposed with heavy deployment of police and CRPF personnel in Rangreth area since Tuesday morning following the Monday clashes. Protests and clashes took place in Chhanapora area throughout Monday night after the youths blocked roads to prevent vehicular movement. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Officials here said restrictions would continue under five police stations of downtown, even as they continued in other areas of the capital city. Curfew-like restrictions are continuing in several other areas with concertina wires and barricades preventing the vehicular movement. Restrictions are also in force in other areas--all four districts of Anantnag, Pulwama, Kulgam and Shopian in south Kashmir. Restrictions, coupled with a complete shutdown across the valley for the past two months, have paralysed normal life with shops and business establishments closed and traffic off the roads. Educational institutes continue to remain closed while the attendance in government offices is thin. Amir Karim Tantray Tribune News Service Jammu, September 6 Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi indirectly accused Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism in the region, the Pakistani army violated the ceasefire agreement on the Line of Control (LoC) in the Poonch sector. The firing started around late on Monday night and stopped at 9:45 am on Tuesday. This was the second ceasefire violation by the Pakistani army within a week. The Pakistani army initiated unprovoked and indiscriminate firing at midnight on Indian Army posts along the LoC. The Indian Army retaliated appropriately with similar weapons, said Lt Colonel Manish Mehta, Public Relations Officer (PRO), Defence, Jammu. He told The Tribune that first the Pakistani army resorted to firing with small arms and later used 120 mm mortar shells. Our soldiers also responded with similar arms and in an appropriate manner, he said, adding that there had been no reports of any loss on the Indian side. Col Mehta said the Pakistani army had violated the ceasefire agreement in the same sector on August 14 also. On September 2 too, the Pakistani army had fired on posts on the LoC in the Akhnoor sector. On September 21, last year, a brigade commander-level meeting was held between Indian and Pakistani armies where it was decided to respect the ceasefire agreement. The meeting was held after as firing and shelling from both sides had led to deaths and loss to property. Now, almost a year after this meeting, tension is again escalating on the LoC. Amir Karim Tantray Tribune News Service Jammu, September 6 Haj and Auqaf Minister Farooq Ahmed Andrabi is in Saudi Arabia to perform Haj on taxpayers money. Asked whether Andrabis name was on the list of pilgrims or he had gone to Saudi Arabia as Haj Minister, his Public Relations Officer Syed Sajjad replied, He is there as Haj Minister. Every year, the Jammu and Kashmir Government sends officials to help pilgrims in mitigating their problems during their stay in the holy cities. It is not routine to send the Haj Minister for this purpose. This time, Mehbooba Mufti government had sent the Haj and Auqaf Minister to enjoy VVIP treatment and perform Haj on government expenditure. During his stay in Saudi Arabia, Andrabi conducted only one meeting of officials and helpers. An official handout of the Information Department stated that the minister took stock of arrangements at Madina Munawara on August 24. Since then, not a single official statement had been issued about the ministers work in that country. Nobody could say whether Andrabi had been sent there to perform Haj on government money with VVIP facilities or had been doing anything to mitigate the problems of pilgrims. Despite repeated calls on the telephone number of the Haj committee office in Srinagar, nobody was available. Andrabi will be back on September 18. Many people have to wait for their name to get in the lucky draw being conducted by the Haj committee. Most Muslims save money for life so that they can pay the amount required to perform Haj. Vibha Sharma Tribune News Service New Delhi, September 6 Rahul Gandhis Kisan Yatra may be giving new reasons to the BJP for targeting the Congress but the saffron party is also contemplating its strategy for the poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. While one is whether to turn it into a BJP versus the Samajwadi Party or BJP versus Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, the other issue before the saffron leadership is interpreting the minds of BSP chief Mayawatis silent voters As per party sources, an error in judgement could make the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls trace the lines of the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. Like the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Akhilesh Yadav also has a good image among people, they say. While the Samajwadi voters (Muslims and Yadavs) are at least vocal, the BJP leadership is wary of Maywatis dedicated vote bank (Dalits), who, they say, are silent so far. In the meantime, the saffron party is taking great pleasure in running down the Congress vice presidents khatiya yatraas it is calling the grand old partys latest political endeavour to woo the rural voters. The party also wondered whether the kind of claims that Gandhi made today was a result of his spending the night on a kharkhari khatiyaa prickly cot. In Uttar Pradesh, whenever someone makes anargal aarop (absurd allegations), he or she is askeddid you sleep on a kharkhari khatiya (prickly cot). The kind of absurd statements he made today, it seems Rahul Gandhi spent the last night on a kharkhari khatiya, mocked BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi, wondering what the Congress did for the welfare of farmers during 55 years in power. The BJP attack followed Gandhi targeting the Narendra Modi government for ignoring the plight of farmers. When they (Congress) were in power, they could not understand the pain of farmers for half a century. Now suddenly they have woken up to the plight of farmers when they are out of power, Trivedi said. Notably, unlike BSP and the Samajwadi Party, the BJP does not have a dedicated vote bank. The BJP, political observers say, which depends largely on Upper Caste voters is a wave party so far as UP is concerned. In other words, its chances go up whenever there is a wave, either generated by an individual or through polarisation. Sarbjit Dhaliwal & Jupinderjit Singh Tribune News Service Chandigarh,September 6 Akali leadership and their lackeys are trying to make it a Delhi versus Punjab, topiwalas versus Punjabis, insiders versus outsiders issue. But this propaganda is not cutting ice with the electorate, claims AAPs national organisational head Durgesh Pathak, accused by party rebels and rivals of sidelining local Punjabi leaders and conspiring to remove Sucha Singh Chhotepur as state convener. I meet about 300 APP volunteers daily. They have never treated me as a Delhiwala or topiwala. The day a volunteer tells meI am an outsider, I will leave Punjab within minutes, he says, adding that they had been assigned the task to win Punjab and when this was accomplished, Sanjay and I will move to another state to build the party structure there. Pathak, whose hero is Argentine Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara, says: Following in the footsteps of martyr Bhagat Singh, we are trying to change the countrys political system. We have no doubt that the Punjabis have the courage to lead this battle. Pathak, a post-graduate in English from Allahabad University, is seen as the partys main strategist. If voted to power, leaders who have looted Punjab will not be spared. They will be jailed. He is sure the Akalis will do likewise, if they win the poll. He says AAP will announce the CM-candidate two months ahead of the elections. Asked about Gurpreet Ghuggis appointment as state convener, he says: His calm and quiet approach to work will be beneficial for the party. New Delhi, September 6 The Pathankot terror attack was a strategic attempt by Pakistani military establishment to derail the India-Pakistan diplomatic dialogue and it has succeeded in doing so. According to a recent report published by the South Asia Democratic Forum (SADF), a think-tank dedicated to the study of South Asian integration and the challenges faced by the region, the immediate objective of the Pathankot attack was to inflict considerable damage to the air logistics of the Indian armed forces. However, its strategic objective was to derail the India-Pakistan diplomatic dialogue, while avoiding any sanctions for their blatant disregard of international law and openly supporting terrorism. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The report also concluded that the evidence of the involvement of the Pakistani military establishment in the Pathankot attack and its collusion with Jihadist terror outfits is overwhelming. At SADFs latest summit in June 2016, the European and Indian authorities identified terrorism as one of the major areas of common concern while also condemning the recent terror attacks in Brussels and Paris. Recalling the November 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, they also called for the perpetrators of these attacks to be brought to justice. Leaders called for decisive and united actions to be taken against ISIL (Daesh), Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Hizbul-Mujahideen, the Haqqani Network and other internationally active terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda and its affiliates. The report also said that Indian authorities should not abandon talks with Pakistan and should avoid a diplomatic gridlock. SADF further reported that Pakistan considered cross-border terrorism the most cost-effective option to increase its leverage in India and Afghanistan. The use of non-state actors by Pakistan as proxies to keep the conflict with India alive dates back to the formation of the independent Pakistani state and continues to this day. The report pointed out that avoiding a dialogue with Pakistan would not make India more secure, to the contrary, it would deny New Delhi, the opportunity of establishing contacts and exercising leverage with the liberal sections of the Pakistani establishment. ANI Guwahati, September 6 Arunachal Pradesh Governor Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa, who claimed the Centre has asked him to step down citing health grounds, has refused to resign, saying he wants the President to dismiss him. I want the President to dismiss me. I will not resign. Let the President express his displeasure. Let the government use provisions of Article 156 of the Constitution, the Governor told a Guwahati-based TV news channel yesterday. Rajkhowa said that he had been asked to resign on health grounds weeks after the Supreme Court had restored the Congress government in Arunachal Pradesh censuring him. He said, I have fully recovered from my illness and I have been discharging my duties after complete recovery. If they want me to quit, the prime minister and his cabinet will have to recommend the same to the President, who will then issue an order under specific provisions of the Constitution. Even a fourth grade employee of the government has to be given in writing if the government wants him or her to resign or even go on leave. I am a Governor and this is a Constitutional post, he said. Stating on August 27 night a well-known person from Guwahati had informed him over telephone that the government wanted him to resign on health grounds, Rajkhowa said, I was shocked, surprised and felt humiliated. I asked the person to inform whoever in the government wants me to quit to call me directly. When there was no such call, I called up the Union Home Minister (Rajnath Singh) and asked if it was true or false. But the Home Minister clearly told me over telephone that he knew nothing about it. Instead, he started telling me that I was doing good work in Arunachal Pradesh. But when I called up another central minister, he called me back on August 30 and said that a decision had been taken at a high level for me to resign on health grounds and vacate my post by August 31, he said. Rajkhowa said he informed the particular minister that he had returned to Arunachal Pradesh 47 days ago after medical treatment and has been working since August 13 last. I also told him that I am totally fit now. What is my fault that I have been asked to go on medical or health grounds? the Governor said. The former bureaucrat who was appointed as Governor in June last year said, I do not have a single blot in my long career. The government must have appointed me as Governor on the basis of my spotless track record. I feel very humiliated. It was a bolt from the blue. For the Governors post, I never met or approached any BJP leader whether at the local level or that of the PM, the former Assam Chief Secretary said. Stating that he was prepared to vacate the Raj Bhavan instantly on receiving the Presidents order, Rajkhowa said, I have kept all my belongings packed since August 30. I have also told my office that if the order (regarding the dismissal) arrives in Raj Bhavan, they should immediately inform me and I will not stay even one minute after that. On July 13, the Supreme Court had ordered restoration of the Congress government in Arunachal Pradesh by quashing all decisions of the Governor precipitating its fall in January, holding them violative of the Constitution. PTI Bengaluru, September 6 Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said his government will abide by the Supreme Court order and will release water to Tamil Nadu despite severe hardship even as protesting farmers and activists of pro-Kannada organisations blocked the Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway. After nearly a three-hour long all-party meeting convened by him here Siddaramaiah told reporters that the state would approach the Supreme Court with a modification petition explaining the its difficulties in implementing its order and seeking change in it and also move the Cauvery Supervisory Committee. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The Chief Minister said it would be "difficult" for a Constitution-bound state to defy the Supreme Court order or to refuse release of water. "With a heavy heart", it has been decided to provide water to Tamil Nadu even though the state itself was facing a "very severe distress" year, he said. Seeking to assuage the feelings of protesting farmers in the Cauvery heartland of Mandya and other districts in the basin, he said all efforts would be made to provide drinking water to Bengaluru and other places as also for crops. He appealed to farmers to maintain peace and tranquillity and not to cause any damage to public property. Earlier, protests against sharing waters of the Cauvery river with Tamil Nadu intensified a day after the Supreme Court directed Karnataka to release water for the next 10 days. At the centre of "water politics", Mandya district witnessed massive protests, road blocks and dharnas even though central law enforcement forces were deployed in the belt. State authorities have imposed prohibitory around Krishnarajasagar Dam and banned entry into the district until September 9. Protesters also vandalised government offices in Mandya to enforce their shut down, police said. Attendance in the offices remained sparse. Most commercial establishments in the district remained shuttered. Educational establishments also declared a holiday in anticipation of a backlash and state transport buses remained off roads. Mysuru and Hassan districts that the Cauvery feeds water to also witnessed protests. Protesters burnt effigies of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah held meetings with his ministers, legal experts and government officials. The Supreme Court directed Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery water a day to Tamil Nadu on Monday. Cauvery is the centre of a water dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. PTI Our Correspondent Jaipur, September 6 Jharkhand Police on Tuesday arrested NIMS University, Jaipur, Chairman Balvir S Tomar for an alleged attempt to rape and molest a woman at his residence here. A team of the Ranchi police took Tomar to a local court for a production warrant. The team is led by senior police officer BK Bharti. A case against Tomar was lodged by the woman at a police station in Ranchi under Section 376/511 of the IPC in 2015. A second-year girl student of Bachelor of Radiology and Imaging Technology had accused Tomar of trying to rape her at a hotel in Ranchi in November 2015. Earlier in Jaipur, another 20-year-old woman of Madhya Pradesh, said to be an employee of NIMS, had also levelled similar charges on Tomar. New Delhi, September 6 Terrorists and insurgents are getting "public support" in parts of the country and India will continue to face threats of terrorism unless the support is stopped, a report by the elite counter-terror force NSG says. The analytical report on recent bombing incidents in the country, compiled with data from all states for the period between April and June this year, has also raised concern over the possible leakage and use of ordnance factory-made explosives by terror outfits. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) "Analysis of the data by the NBDC shows public was the prime target of the terrorists/militants/insurgents. Public support to terrorists/insurgents continues in some parts of the nation. "Until public support to anti-national elements stops, the acts of terrorism will continue. Sincere efforts are required to mitigate the IED menace. A 'Whole of Nation' effort is the way ahead to keep the citizens of the country safe," the report, accessed by PTI, said. Although the report does not elaborate what it meant by public support, it is understood that police forces and other agencies that report these incidents to the National Bomb Data Centre (NBDC) also share inputs with regard to links detected between the locals and perpetrators of such blasts. The NBDC of the National Security Guard (NSG) is based at its garrison in Manesar near here and acts as the national repository for collection and analyses of all types of bombing incidents and attacks in the country. Analyses of the incidents of IED recovery/blasts for the second quarter of this year, it adds, reveal: "In most of the incidents, explosive ordnance like grenades and other forms of explosives which are made in ordnance factories were used by terrorists, militants and insurgents of Jammu and Kashmir and North East". "In some incidents, Chinese made grenades were also used by militants of Jammu and Kashmir," the report says. A total of 93 blast incidents were reported in the second quarter of this year as compared to 92 last year, while 39 people were killed as compared to 60 people last year and 185 injured in comparison to 206 last year, the report says. "There was 1 per cent increase in number of blast incidents during the second quarter of 2016 vis-a-vis second quarter of 2015. There was 16 per cent decrease in the number of casualties which took place in blast incidents in the second quarter of 2016 vis-a-vis same period last year," it says. PTI Karachi, September 6 Indian envoy to Pakistan has warned Pakistan against interfering in the ongoing Kashmir crisis in India. People living in glass houses should not throw stones at others, Pakistans media quoted Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale as saying, as he told Pakistan to resolve its own crisis in Balochistan. "There are problems in both India and Pakistan and you (Pakistan) should focus on resolving your problems before looking into the problems of other countries," Banbawale said, as he answered questions on the Kashmir and the recent statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Balochistan at an interactive session organised by the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) On Modis statement, the envoy said: "The Prime Minister, in his August 15 independence day speech, only referred to the letters he had received". He claimed the Indian government had asking the neighbour to work together to eliminate terrorism, which he said plagued both India and Pakistan. The two countries should not be talking on just one issue, but on all issues, he said When asked whether Modi would visit Pakistan to attend the SAARC regional summit in November, Bambawale said: "Prime Minister Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the SAARC summit". The down also quoted him as saying that although the relationship between the two countries had been tense lately, there had been "cordial" interactions between Pakistani and Indian border forces in the past month-and-a-half. Bambawale also called for greater trade ties between Pakistan and India. However, he said political deadlock between the neighbours would take time to resolve. "There is no option but to do it step by step," he said. He claimed greater trade relations would help in easing tension between the two countries and called for Pakistan to grant India the status of Most-Favoured Nation. The roadmap in this regard was prepared by the two governments in 2012 could be unveiled soon. The total trade between the two countries is worth just $2.5 billion a year, whereas its potential is $20 billion, he said. PTI Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service Rudrapur, September 6 Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday launched his Uttar Pradesh poll campaign with a door-to-door farmers outreach in agriculture-dominated Rudrapur belt of eastern UP. Trailed by the SPG which played a spoiler, Rahul landed at Panchlari village by a chopper and began moving into rural households, most of them debt-ridden. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The Centre has no care for the poor and farmers. It has waived loans of big industrialists. But it does not think about you. The Congress will put pressure on the central government to waive your loans, Rahul said to a string of farmers families which complained of debts ranging from Rs 35,000 to Rs 70,000. Accompanied by Congress general secretary in charge of UP Ghulam Nabi Azad, Rahul spoke to farmers and gave them assurance on the promises he was making. Rahul met four families and promised them, Karza maaf, bijli bill half. He said the Congress will espouse farmers causes and deliver on its promises if voted to power. The door-to-door campaign was the first leg of Rahuls kisan mahayatra launch which will see him address two major khaat sabhas where thousands of farmers from the area are expected to congregate. The mahayatra will cover 2,500 km from Deoria to Delhi starting Tuesday. Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service Rudrapur (UP), September 6 Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi today got up close and personal with the farmers of poll-bound Uttar Pradesh as he launched his month-long kisan mahayatra in the state from the sugarcane belt of Rudrapur, covering 125 km out of 2,500 km in all. Shedding his image of a dynast, the Congress second-in-command visited several farmers homes, pledging solidarity with them and promising to pressurise the BJP-led Central government to waive off farm debts like the UPA had done in 2008. The Government at the Centre has no feelings for you. It waived off 1.14 lakh crore worth of debt of industrialists, but doesnt think about you. We may not be in the Government at the Centre or in UP, but we will fight with you for your rights and see to it that Prime Minister Narendra Modi waives off your debts, halves your power bills and improves your MSP, Rahul said at his first ever khaat sabha where farmers and locals had gathered around cots to hear the Congress leader speak. But before he spoke, eight farmers shared their concerns at the sabha. Earlier in the day, the Gandhi scions chopper landed in the backyard of Pachlari village where he went door to door to hear farmers woes. Rahul spoke to five heads of families including 70 year old Pradyuman Singh and 75-something widow Vimla, both struggling with debts and for dignity. The two have had to send their sons out of UP for a living and owe loans ranging from Rs 35,000 to Rs 70,000 to the government. We will help you, was Rahuls reply to farmers as he gave them signed assurance certificates bearing Congress farm centric election slogan, Karza maaf, bijli bill half, MSP ka karo insaaf. Trailed throughout by the SPG, which played a spoiler by preventing his connect with commoners, Rahul tried to make up for gaps by playing the aam aadmi card. During his 6-km roadshow (which was duller than his mother and Congress chiefs at Varanasi recently) through the Deoria division here, he ate at a local household and stopped by for a steaming hot bhutta. Not everything about Rahul was common though as was clear to those who got a peek into his custom made rath, a luxury bus fitted with top facilities of Bollywood superstars vanity vans. Rahul will cover 2,500 km kisan mahayatra through UPs 39 districts, 55 Lok Sabha segments and 233 assembly segments in this luxury vehicle. On top of his poll calculations in UP are the states 2.5 crore farming families, 78 per cent of them marginal. Accompanying Rahul was Congress general secretary for UP Ghulam Nabi Azad. New Delhi, September 6 Home Minister Rajnath Singh today briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the situation in Kashmir after returning from his two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir. The Home Minister, in an hour-long meeting, apprised Modi about the ground situation of the state assessed by the all-party delegation, which visited Srinagar and Jammu on September 4 and 5. "Briefed the Prime Minister on all-party delegation's visit to J&K and also apprised him of the situation in the state," Singh said in a tweet after the meeting at the Prime Minster's residence. While the Prime Minister returned to the capital last night after his visit to Vietnam and China, the Home Minister too had come back from Jammu and Kashmir last evening. Sources said the members of the all-party delegation are likely to meet here tomorrow to discuss their findings during their visit and chalk out future plans for Jammu and Kashmir. The all-party delegation seeking to end the turbulence in Kashmir concluded its visit yesterday with no breakthrough. Unhappy at the stubborn refusal of Hurriyat leaders to meet some MPs who had literally knocked at their doors in Srinagar, the Home Minister had said that their conduct was against "democracy, humanity or even 'Kashmiriyat' (Kashmiri ethos)". PTI Tribune News Service Mumbai, September 6 Social activist Anna Hazare whose anti-corruption movement nearly five years ago propelled Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party on to the national stage hit out at the controversies swirling around the outfit. (Read: AAP Punjab women wing file defamation complaint against Sehrawat) I am hurt. Kejriwal had written a book on gram swaraj. Is this gram swaraj? We looked at him with hope. It is now lost, Hazare told a television channel. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Hazares criticism comes after former AAP minister Sandeep Kumar was accused of raping a woman. Kumar was sent to police custody after the woman formally filed a complaint of rape against him. The social activist, who had earlier split from Kejriwal over the latters decision to enter politics said he felt vindicated. Kejriwal did not have any answer when I asked him whether he could verify the characters of people joining the party, Hazare said. I said then and I say today it is necessary to verify whether people joining a party are clean or not, he added. The social activist said he was hurt that several of Kejriwals colleagues were going to jail for fraud and criminal activities. Ravi Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Gurdaspur, September 6 Sucha Singh Chhotepur put his political rivals on notice by holding an impressive Parivartan Yatra at his home town here today. Amid humid weather, hundreds of workers packed the venue, while an equal number stood outside. Parallels were drawn with the rally presided over by AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal on July 4 when a decent crowd had gathered at the same venue. Around 90 per cent of the workers gathered today were present when the Delhi CM addressed the gathering. Todays proceedings are indeed a setback for AAP in this district, a known stronghold of Chhotepur. Even before he joined AAP, just ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Chhotepur remained busy working with the masses, said Amandeep Gill, former AAP Gurdaspur zonal in-charge. Though Chhotepur did not make any public announcement to float a political outfit, his loyalist claimed a decision had been taken. The new party may be announced on the last day of the yatra. In all likelihood, it will be named AAP Punjab. Symbolically and otherwise too the name in itself points towards a confrontation between AAP Delhi leaders and Punjab leaders. Discussions have already been held among top leaders who have joined hands with Chhotepur or are likely to support him, said a senior leader. Workers had come from as far as Batala and Pathankot. Chhotepur said: I am not the one to take things lying down. I am a born fighter and everybody, including Kejriwal, knows this. I have done nothing wrong. All I ask is to make the clip showing me taking money public. Let the people then decide. Ravi Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Gurdaspur, September 6 Sucha Singh Chhotepur on Tuesday put his political rivals on notice by holding an impressive Parivartan Yatra rally in his home district of Gurdaspur. Braving the searing heat, hundreds of workers, including scores of women, packed the venue, a hall, while an equal number stood outside in what was seen as a tribute to Chhotepurs crowd-pulling abilities. I am not the one to take things lying down. I am a born fighter and everybody, including Kejriwal, knows this. I have done nothing wrong. All I ask is to make public the clip purportedly showing me taking money. Let the people decide then, said Chhotepur. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) In the last Parliamentary elections, Chhotepur a two-time MLA from this district contested on the AAP ticket and bagged 1.78 lakh votes from the Gurdaspur Parliamentary constituency. The party had polled a significant number of votes from each of the nine Vidhan Sabha segments of the Parliamentary constituency. Today, parallels were drawn with the rally presided over by AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal on July 4 when a decent crowd had gathered at the same venue. Insiders claim that a majority of the crowd at Kejriwals rally was brought by Chhotepur. Nearly 90 per cent of the workers who had gathered today were present when the Delhi CM addressed a gathering in July. Todays proceedings are indeed a big setback for AAP in this district which is a known Chhotepurs stronghold. Even before he joined AAP, just ahead of the 2014 Parliamentary polls, Chhotepur remained busy working with the masses. This paid off today and will pay off in the next few days too, said Amandeep Gill, former AAP Gurdaspur zonal in-charge. Although Chhotepur did not make any public announcement to float a new political outfit, his loyalist claimed a decision to this effect had already been taken. The new party may be announced on the last day of the Parivartan Yatra rally. In all likelihood it will be named AAP-Punjab. Symbolically and otherwise, too, the name in itself points towards a direct confrontation between AAPs Delhi leaders and Punjab leaders some of who have branched off from the main party. Discussions have already been held among top leaders who have joined hands with Chhotepur or are likely to support him in the future. Only the formal rituals need to be completed, said a senior leader. The sympathy factor working in favour of Chhotepur was much in evidence at todays gathering as workers had come from as far as Batala and Pathankot. During the proceedings, speakers repeatedly asked the audience to spell out the next course of action Chhotepur should take. Whenever this question was put to them, the workers would raise their hands in unison and say Chhotepur hum tumhare sath hain (Chhotepur, we all are with you). Ruchika M Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 6 The fourth front, floated by Navjot Singh Sidhu, Pargat Singh and MLA brothers Simarjit Singh Bains and Balwinder Singh Bains, will exhort Punjabis to rise against corrupt traditional politicians and outsiders. During a meeting of the four leaders in Delhi tonight, the strategy to be adopted by the front before its formal launch on Thursday in Chandigarh was discussed. Their front, Awaz-e-Punjab, is in advanced stages of talks with the Democratic Swaraj Party headed by former AAP member Prof Manjit Singh. The fourth front leaders are also holding parleys with the breakaway group led by former state AAP convener Sucha Singh Chhotepur. Chhotepur has already expressed his desire to float a new party, but sources say a majority of his supporters have exhorted him to join the fourth front. Suspended AAP MP Dharamvira Gandhi, who recently returned from Italy, too is learnt to have held talks with Prof Manjit Singh, late this evening. The fourth front leaders have also been approached by HS Kingra and the Jai Jawan Jai Kisan Party. Sources say the leaders will also be declaring their willingness to join hands with all right thinking people. They will be leveraging as much on the individual credibility of each of the four members in the front as on consolidation of AAP fence sitters who have become indecisive. Jupinderjit Singh Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 7 Former Member of Parliament Jagmeet Brar announced on Tuesday that his front, Lok Hit Abhiyaan, would support the Aam Aadmi Party in the 2017 assembly elections. Brar made the announcement at a press conference in Chandigarh. Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann, AAPs party affairs in-charge Sanjay Singh and Jarnail Singh were present at the briefing. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) I appeal to all Punjabis to ensure their votes are not divided. That is why I am supporting AAP, Brar, once a Congress leader, said. My support is unconditional. It is up to the party to decide whether I should contest the Assembly elections of 2017. Brars announcement came days after he said he was in talks with AAP. Brar recently put speculations that he would join a newly announced political front Awaaz-e-Punjab to rest by saying that he was not keen. Bhagwant Mann apologises Parliamentarian Mann also apologised to the press for having misbehaved with some journalists at a recent event. Manns apology comes two days after AAP issued one. Mann was accused of having manhandled and abused at some journalists at a rally in Fatehgarh Sahib on Thursday. Speaking on this occasion, AAP's in-charge of Punjab affairs Sanjay Singh said traditionally, political parties enter into alliance and take decision on seat sharing, position, etc. "But in this case, this alliance is based on issues and it is not a political alliance. It is an issue-based alliance," he said, adding that their main motive is to "save Punjab". "In past few days, there was talk about fourth front. People also tried to contact him (Brar) in connection with fourth front but he wanted to fight against Badals, corruption, drug issue and for farmers' interest," the AAP leader said. Praising Brar, Singh said he was one of the tallest leaders in Punjab and had been a member of Congress Working Committee and had even once defeated Sukhbir Badal in Lok Sabha elections. "He has always worked for poor and raised voice in support of youth," Singh said. Brar was expelled from Congress on April 11 for his statements against the interests of the organisation. After the party's defeat in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, he had suggested that Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi go on a sabbatical to introspect on the reasons for the party's worst performance in the elections. Brar, after his expulsion from Congress, attacked the ruling Badals and Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh terming them "traitors of Punjab". The former Lok Sabha MP from Faridkot in Punjab had defeated Sukhbir Badal in 1999. Badal had won the same constituency defeating Brar in 2004. With agency inputs Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 6 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal will start a four-day tour of the state on Thursday. He will meet party volunteers and members of committees to resolve various issues, said party sources. As per the schedule finalised this evening, Kejriwal will stay in the house of a party volunteer, Ludhiana Management Association president Dr KPS Kang, at Jhande village in the district from September 8 to 10. On September 11, he will visit Patiala for an interaction with doctors. Later that day, he will release the farmers manifesto at Baghapurana in Moga district. Charanjit Singh Teja Tribune News Service Ludhiana, September 5 Installation of a separate biometric machine for SC/BC students outside the Lajpat Rai DAV College, Jagraon, office has triggered a controversy in the institution. The college authorities have issued orders to SC/BC students to mark their attendance on the biometric machine to avail the post-matric scholarship. While the attendance of general students is marked by teachers on registers, all SC students, who have applied for scholarship, have to mark their attendance on the biometric machine. Decrying the practice as unjust and unjustified, the SC students alleged that it smacks of discrimination against them. Meanwhile, students associated with the Punjab Students Union (PSU) today distributed pamphlets in the college against the alleged caste discrimination. This reminds us about the practice of untouchability, said an SC student. Later, the college authorities called SC/BC students in the seminar hall today and told them that the Directorate of Public Instructions (DPI), Colleges, had issued a letter to the college to install biometric machine to ensure the attendance of the SC students desirous of availing the scholarship. The faculty members also asked the SC students to beware of the people who are trying to involve them in politics for their vested interests. When Principal Dr Karan Sharma was asked to show the letter of the DPI office, he provided a letter issued by the Assistant Director (Scholarship) dated February 10, 2016, in which SC/BC words were not mentioned. The subject of the letter was to assure the attendance of students in higher education institutes. Referring to an earlier letter issued on December 24, 2015, Sarita Chopra, Assistant Director (scholarship), instructed the colleges to introduce biometric system in educational institutions to ensure the attendance and give benefit of scholarship to eligible students. She further directed the college to install biometric system for all students who have taken admission in separate courses. The Principal said: The DPI (Colleges) had issued a letter and given verbal directions to the college staff to install biometric system to avoid dummy admissions. On being asked whether the DPIs instructions were specific to the SC/BC category of students, Dr Sharma said, We are confused about the directions they issued. They told us verbally to install a machine for the attendance of SC/BC students, but the letter does not mention the category. Karamjit Kotakpura from the PSU alleged that the college authorities had been implementing the anti-Dalit agenda of the RSS and trying to revive caste-based discrimination among students. The biometric system should either be implemented for all or its selective implementation should stop. The students who opposed the practice were threatened with rustication from the college. We will stage a protest against this practice, he said. There are 182 beneficiaries of the post-matric scholarship in the college. Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Jalandhar, September 6 The police today arrested Paramjit Kaur, mother of key accused Varinder Singh, in connection with the Manappuram gold dacoity. On August 29, six armed miscreants had looted 10 kg gold from Manappuram, Jalandhar branch. Police sources said the woman became a customer of Manappuram for recci purpose. The Jalandhar Commissionerate has recovered 2.25 kg gold from her possession. Her husband, Surjit Singh of Gaggowal village in Gurdaspur, and her other son Sukhwinder Singh alias Babbu, a resident of Sainik Vihar near Dakoha in Jalandhar, were arrested on September 3 and 8.3 kg gold was recovered from them. The key accused in the case are Varinder and Rahul alias Raja of Ameen village in Kurukshetra. Paramjit had also taken a small loan from the Manappuram branch by mortgaging her gold ring in order to do a recci and take stock of the security measures, Jalandhar Police Commissioner Arpit Shukla said. Sources said Paramjit was also a witness to the 14-kg gold loot case reported in Ludhiana branch of Manappuram on July 30, 2015. She was there on the premises when the robbers had taken away 14 kg gold in broad daylight. The police have been suspecting the gangs involvement in past robberies reported in Ludhiana and Faridabad. They have been examining CCTV footage of both the robberies to identify the gang members involved in the Jalandhar robbery. So far, the police have recovered around 3 kg gold out of the 10 kg looted. Replying to a question put by the Honble Sardar Gujjan Singh the Honble Mr. Godley gave some interesting information on this subject. The detailed information relating to enlistment was not available, but some figures had been given by the Inspectors of Schools which, although incomplete, should be of interest. In the Ambala Division two teachers and 222 ex-students of Secondary Schools are said to have enlisted during the year. In Jullundur 10 teachers and 289 ex-students of Secondary Schools enlisted. One hundred and eleven of the latter came from Hoshiarpur, and 79 from Ludhiana. In Lahore at least 286 ex-students of Secondary Schools enlisted. Tribune News Service Dehradun, September 6 Eight passengers, including four women, were killed when a private bus they were travelling in fell into a deep gorge at Daragarh, near Tyuni, today. Besides, 38 passengers sustained injuries. They have been admitted to government health centres. According to information, the bus was going to Dehradun from Tyuni when the mishap took place near Daragarh. Villagers informed the police, following which a team of policemen turned up for rescue operation. The deceased have been identified as Devendra, Khushiram, Bhotto Devi, Chetram, Chandra, Kishan Chandra, Kisau Devi, Sewak Singh and Rajna Devi. The identity of one of the deceased couldnt be ascertained, the police said. Meanwhile, relatives of the injured created a ruckus at the community health centre in Vikasnagar, accusing poor facilities, shortage of doctors and paramedical staff. Dehradun DMO Dr YS Thapliyal said a team of three doctors, including an orthopaedic surgeon, had been airlifted to the Tyuni health centre to cater to the medical needs of the injured persons. The district administration has given instructions to the health and medical department officials to provide adequate medical care to the injured. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Harish Rawat expressed grief over the mishap. Cabinet Minister Preetam Singh reached the spot. He said every possible help would be provided. The bodies have been sent for autopsy. Another mishap claims two lives Mussoorie: Two persons were reportedly killed and one was injured when the car fell into a deep gorge between Masrana and Kaplani village on the Mussoorie-Dhanaulti road on Monday. The deceased have been identified as Nimesh Kumar (25) and Karan Walia (21). Both hail from Devpuri in Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh. The injured, identified as Mayank Makkad, was rushed to hospital by a police team. The deceased were students of Graphic Era University in Dehradun and had come to Dhanaulti for picnicking, said the police. The police have sent the bodies for a postmortem and informed the parents who have reached Mussoorie. TNS Tribune News Service Mussoorie, September 6 The three-day festival of sheep, popularly known as Bhedu Ku Tamashu that is celebrated once in every three years, concluded at Thaandi village in Uttarkashi today. Villagers from around five villages of Ganja Patti in Uttarkashi district reached the temple lawns along with the palanquins of the local deities, namely Harimaharaj, Bolia Raja, Kaalinaag, Oneshwar, Jawalpa Mata, Dudhyadi Devi, Nanda Devi, Bhadrakali and Guru Chauranginath, whose palanquins were brought to the temple at Thaandi village. It was followed by a palanquin dance and devotees seeking blessings for themselves and their sheep from the local deities amid the beating of traditional drums. The major highlight was the assembly of more than 1,000 sheep that were brought specially from the cattle sheds in the meadows situated at high altitudes where they are left to graze. The sheep take rounds of the temple on their own before embarking on their journey back to the meadows. Some of the village elders said sheep rearing was the main occupation of the people and the festival was a way to thank the local deities for keeping their sheep safe from various diseases and wild animals. Gangotri MLA Vijay Pal Sajwan reached the temple and sought blessings from the deities and appreciated the efforts of the temple committee for organising the festival to preserve the traditional and cultural heritage of the region. He announced the grant of Rs 1 lakh from his MLA LAD fund to the temple committee for the conservation of the temple and the festival. The villagers demanded the construction of the incomplete Kamad-Ayarka-Buda Kedar road and developing a religious tourism circuit, including various important temple sites around the region. The Gangotri MLA directed the SDM, Dunda, to ensure that the road was completed within two months and if the contractor failed to comply, a complaint would be lodged against him for the delay. According to the elders of the village, the tradition of sheep sacrifice that was prevalent till a few years ago was stopped on the direction of Bolia Raja, a local deity, who consented through his priests to come to the festival and bless devotees only on the condition of stopping animal sacrifice. Since then a coconut is offered to the deities at the temple. He felicitated local drummers and craftsmen for the successful conclusion of the festival. Dunda block Pramukh Kanak Pal Parmar, state Congress spokesperson Pradeep Bhatt, state Congress organisation secretary Girvir Parmar, Dunda SDM Saurabh Aswal, advocate Anand Prakash and district women Congress president Meena Nautiyal were present on the occasion. BD Kasniyal Pithoragarh, September 6 The three-day Mostamanu festival that began on Monday is courting controversy as organisers have invited politicians for different events, including honouring of martyrs kin and freedom fighters. Culturists say scholars should have been invited, not politicians who use every occasion for their political interests. The festival is celebrated to worship the rain god. PD Pant, a cultural activist in Pithoragarh, said such festivals were becoming a platform for politicians, who used the opportunity for self promotion, instead of working towards the promotion of culture. Scholars, well known to the culture and historical importance, should be invited, he said. The organisers had invited BJP leader Prakash Pant for the inaugural session on Monday. Congress leader Mayukh Mahar was the guest for the second day, and BJPs Union Minister and local MP Ajay Tamta will be present on the third day to distribute prizes. Temple priest Rajendra Kandpal, however, said, We have to honor leaders and political parties as they help us in fund generation, whenever needed, to improve temples infrastructure. It is worth mentioning here that a day before in Salt and Moulekhal region of Almora district, political parties erected their tents to give respect to the martyrs of 1942 freedom movement episode, in which six villagers became victims of British bullets when they were shouting pro-freedom slogans. Navin Bisht, a scribe based in Almora, said people, who had come to pay tributes to martyrs, had to wait for long for Union Minister of State Ajay Tamta and other BJP leaders, and Chief Minister Harish Rawat along with his followers. In the recently concluded festivals of Hiljatra and Gaura-Maheswar festival of Sor Valley, organisers had invited politicians, claiming that people took less interest in cultural activities but were keen on listening to leaders. We take care of every political personality who comes to witness the festival irrespective of his political party, said Jagdish Punera, a member of the organising committee of Gaura-Maheswar festival (Aanthon) in Sor Valley that concluded recently. London, September 6 All flights in and out of London City Airport were disrupted today after demonstrators blocked a runway to protest expansion plans. The protest, which lasted about six hours, ended after police arrested nine people on suspicion of aggravated trespass. Protesters reportedly swam the River Thames to reach the runway, which is surrounded by water. The group had erected a tripod and locked themselves together. The group Black Lives Matter claimed responsibility for the protest on social media. It says expansion consigns the local community of Newham to environmental degradation. The group says the airport caters to people working in financial services, not the local population affected by its presence. Hundreds of passengers were affected. More than 120 flights were cancelled, delayed or diverted at city. At first, he thought the long lines were related to the IT problems being experienced by British Airways today. The demonstration was the second in as many months by the anti-racism activists, who blocked traffic leading to Heathrow and held other protests in several British cities. Activists say black men in Britain are unfairly targeted by law enforcement. Last month's protest marked the fifth anniversary of the death of Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old black man shot by London police under disputed circumstances on August 4, 2011. AP Hangzhou (China), Sept 5 A large number of Chinese vessels have reportedly been positioned close to a disputed reef in the South China Sea near the coast of the Philippines, despite warnings by the US that Beijing should refrain from such provocations. The New York Times quoted Defence Minister Delfin Lorenzana as saying that the Philippine Defence Department has photographs of four Chinese Coast Guard ships and six other vessels positioned less than a mile from the disputed Scarborough Shoal. This comes despite President Barack Obama holding discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the South China Sea issue, ahead of the G20 Summit meeting in Hangzhou, China. Obama reportedly insisted that Beijing needed to abide by its obligations to an international maritime treaty in the dispute and the Hague international arbitrary court ruling, while Xi maintained that China would continue to protect its sovereignty and maritime rights in the disputed waters. In the foreign ministry statement issued following the meeting between the two delegates, Beijing urged Washington to drop its double standards on the South China Sea and play a constructive role in maintaining peace and stability in the region. In March, Obama had warned Xi at a meeting in Washington to not start building an island at Scarborough Shoal. ANI Washington, September 6 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton today expressed serious concern about Russia's apparent tampering with the US election, implying that an adversarial foreign power is actively trying to elect her Republican rival Donald Trump. "We are facing a very serious concern. We've never had a foreign adversarial power be already involved in our electoral process with the DNC hacks. We've never had a nominee of one of our major parties urging the Russians to hack more," Clinton told reporters travelling with her on her new campaign plane. When pressed about whether she believed the Russians were actively trying to elect Trump to the Oval Office, Clinton took a long pause before responding. "I think it's quite intriguing that this activity has happened around the time Trump became the nominee," she conceded. "I think it's quite intriguing that this activity has happened around the time [Donald] Trump became the nominee. And look, he very early on allied himself with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's policies," she alleged. Some US media outlets have reported the American intelligence agencies are investigating potential Russian interference in US elections. This was first reported by The Washington Post. She described this as a credible report. The investigation is being coordinated by the US director of national intelligence, the daily said. This shows that the US need to be "on guard to protect our electoral system at all levels and we have to make it clear that we're not gonna let anyone interfere with decisions of the American people," Clinton said. "The fact that our intelligence professionals are now studying this, and taking it seriously raises some grave questions about potential Russian interference with our electoral process," she said. PTI Loon-Plage (France), Sept 5 French farmers and truckers launched a joint operation today to block off main routes in and out of Calais to call for the closure of the vast Jungle migrant camp there. Under a light rain, around 70 trucks began a go-slow on the main A16 motorway the main artery for freight and passengers heading for Britain either via the Channel Tunnel or the Calais port. Farmers were expected to join the demonstration later on their tractors and organisers hoped for up to 500 people to join a human chain protest in the main stadium later today. Weve had no answers, so were blocking things up, said Frederic Van Gansbeke, who represents businesses and shop-owners in Calais. Nicolas Lotin, who runs a logistics company in nearby Boulogne-sur-Mer, said: Every day, we have to wonder whether our working day will be ruined, whether a migrant will sneak under the trucks canvas. If the goods are damaged, they have to be immediately transported back to the home depot, he said. Migrants from the Jungle often create their own road blocks to slow trucks heading for Britain, seen as an El Dorado. By slowing the vehicles, they hope to stow away aboard. Interior Minister Bernard Cazneneuve vowed last week to close the Jungle camp as rapidly as possible. France has made repeated efforts to shut down the camp of tents and temporary shelters, which authorities say is currently home to nearly 7,000 migrants following a surge of new arrivals in recent months. AFP Kabul, September 6 Explosions and gunfire rang out on Tuesday during an hours-long attack on a Kabul charity, the latest assault in a wave of violence in the Afghan capital that killed at least 25 people and wounded dozens. The assault on a charity called Pamlarena began yesterday with a massive explosion, just hours after a brazen Taliban double bombing near the defence ministry an attack apparently aimed at inflicting mass casualties. A plume of smoke rose over the upscale neighbourhood of Shar-e Naw after the raid on the charity, which means "care" in Pashto. Sporadic blasts and gunfire followed during the government's clearance operation on Tuesday. A spokeswoman for CARE International said the charity could not immediately confirm if it had been the target of the attack. "Forty-two people including 10 foreigners were rescued" after the attack, interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on Twitter, confirming at least one fatality. "All three assailants were gunned down by security forces." Authorities had earlier put the number of attackers at two. No militant group has so far claimed responsibility for the raid on the charity, but it comes as the Taliban ramp up their nationwide offensive against the US-backed government. The attack on the charity had been preceded by twin Taliban blasts that killed at least 24 people during the city's rush hour Monday, including high-level officials, and left 91 others wounded. The second of the two explosions struck just as soldiers, policemen and civilians hurried to help the victims of the first blast, which occurred on a bridge near the ministry. Ambulances rushed to the scene, littered with disfigured bodies and charred debris. But there were so many bodies that some had to be taken to hospitals in car boots and the back of police pickup trucks. Firemen raced to retrieve some bodies thrown into the Kabul River by the intensity of the first blast on the bridge. Health ministry spokesman Waheed Majroh said the casualties from the double bombing could rise still further as some of the wounded battled for their lives in hospital. "The enemies of Afghanistan have lost their ability to fight the security and defence forces of the country," President Ashraf Ghani said on Monday, condemning the twin blasts. "That is why they are attacking highways, cities, mosques, schools and common people." Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter the defence ministry was the object of the first attack, while police were targeted in the second. AFP Schwerin (Germany), Sept 5 German Chancellor Angela Merkel came under renewed pressure over her liberal refugee policy today after an upstart anti-migrant populist party handed her party a humiliating defeat in her home state. The xenophobic Alternative for Germany (AfD) clinched around 22 per cent in its first bid for seats in the regional parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Vorpommern, results showed after most ballots had been counted from yesterday polls. Merkels conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) garnered just 19 per cent in its worst ever score in the northeastern state, while the Social Democrats maintained top place with around 30 per cent. AfDs lead candidate Leif-Erik Holm called it a proud result for a young party as the populists secured seats on the opposition benches of the ninth out of 16 regional parliaments. The icing on the cake is that we have left Merkels CDU behind us... maybe that is the beginning of the end of Merkels time as chancellor, he said. Although the former Communist state is Germanys poorest and least populous, it carries a symbolic meaning as it is home to Merkels constituency Stralsund. Together with Berlins elections in two weeks, yesterdays polls are a key test ahead of general elections next year, when Merkels decision exactly one year ago to let in tens of thousands of Syrian and other migrants is expected to be a key point of contention. AFP Washington, September 6 The White House on Tuesday cancelled the meeting between US President Barack Obama and his Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte even though the latter expressed regret over his son of a bitch remark while referring to Obama. President Obama will not be holding a bilateral meeting with President Duterte of the Philippines this afternoon, said Ned Price, spokesman of the National Security Council, White House. Instead, he will meet with President Park of the Republic of Korea this afternoon, Price said in a brief statement. In a rare display of contrition by Duterte whose wide arc of profanities has unabashedly targeted world figures, in a statement read out by his spokesman, said that while his strong comments in response to certain questions by a reporter elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the US president. Today, Duterte said both sides mutually agreed to postpone the meeting. Even though Dutertes latest comment does not amount to an apology, the expression of regret is unusual for the tough-talking former mayor, who is unapologetic about his manner of speech and liberally peppers his casual statements with profanities such as son of a bitch and son of a whore. But perhaps Dutertes aides realised it would be unwise to take on the most powerful official in the world, and there would be a price to pay for insulting the president of the United States. The US is one of the Philippines largest trading partners and a key security ally in its fight against terrorism in the countrys south. Manila also needs Washingtons help in dealing with a more assertive China in the disputed South China Sea. Agencies Kuala Lumpur, September 5 Once bitter foes, former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad and the one-time protege he jailed, Anwar Ibrahim, exchanged a previously-unthinkable handshake today that illustrated the countrys topsy-turvy politics. Mahathir sparked a social media frenzy with a show of support at a court appearance by Anwar, who was jailed again last year by Malaysias current government following a controversial sodomy conviction, the same charge Mahathir used against him in 1998. The brief and smiling encounter underlined the current political flux in Malaysia, where opposition to scandal-tainted current Prime Minister Najib Razak has upended alliances. Najib is accused of massive graft in the alleged looting of billions of dollars in state money. He denies the charge and has cracked down in response. Mahathir, who imposed his will on Malaysia for 22 years as prime minister before retiring in 2003, has led calls for Najib to be toppled and to face justice. Todays meeting capped months in which Anwar and Mahathir have flirted from a distance, reviving memories of their stormy past. Anwar was deputy premier and heir apparent to the autocratic Mahathir until he was sacked in 1998 by his boss over political differences, an episode that continues to reverberate. AFP Johannesburg, September 6 Special peace prayers have been organised at the Tolstoy Farm, the once-thriving commune set up south of here by Mahatma Gandhi during his tenure, as part of a project to highlight the historic heritage of the South African-Indians. The prayers were hosted by 150 youths from the Swaminarayan Santha of South Africa. The event was part of a mission by youth of the organisation to visit 25 historic sites across South Africa for peace prayers ahead of a gala weekend celebration to mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the first Swaminarayan Mandir in South Africa later this month. "This sometimes forgotten historic heritage of the South African-Indians, was earmarked by the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha of South Africa as one of the 25 historic landmark sites for their 25 Peace Prayers project," the organisation said in a statement. The youth, all dressed in white, chanted prayers invoking peace, prosperity and progress in South Africa. Tolstoy Farm was one of the 25 sites chosen because of the deep links that they hold with the South African-Indian community and its history. Over the past few months, the peace prayers have been held at several important sites, such as the Constitutional Court of South Africa,(where Gandhi and later Nelson Mandela were once imprisoned as he opposed discriminatory laws); the sugarcane plantations in Natal, (where the first Indians arrived to work as indentured labourers) and the Pietermaritzburg Train Station, (where Gandhi was thrown off a train compartment). PTI Kabul, September 5 A Taliban suicide attack in a busy area near the defence ministry in Kabul on Monday killed at least 24 people and wounded 91, the deadliest toll in the Afghan capital in weeks. There were two blasts in quick succession in a crowded area of the city near government buildings as well as a market and a main intersection, defence ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanesh said. Troops, police and civilians rushing to help victims of the first explosion were caught in the second, triggered when a suicide bomber blew himself up, officials said. The casualty total may increase as more information becomes available, Mohammad Ismail Kawousi, a spokesman for the public health ministry, said. The Taliban, who have stepped up their campaign against the Western-backed government in recent weeks following a brief lull after the death of their former leader, Mullah Akhtar Mansour, claimed responsibility for the attack, which it said killed 58 officers and commanders. The double bombing came less than two weeks after gunmen attacked the American University in Kabul, killing 13 people. It was the deadliest attack in Kabul since at least 80 people were killed by a suicide bomber who targeted a demonstration on July 23. That assault was claimed by Islamic State. Government officials have been preparing for a conference in Brussels next month at which foreign donors are expected to pledge continuing support over coming years. Reuters Ankara, September 6 Turkish warplanes destroyed 12 targets in northern Iraq late on Monday, the military said, striking a region where Ankara says the leadership of Turkey's outlawed Kurdish militant group PKK is based. The military statement said the sites hit were in the Metina and Hakurk regions of northern Iraq, but did not give further details. In the past, such strikes have been aimed at targets Turkey says are linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The PKK has been fighting a three-decades-old insurgency against Ankara to demand autonomy in Turkey's southeast region. Reuters London, September 6 Anjem Choudary, a "dangerous" Pakistani-origin radical Islamic preacher in the UK, was today jailed for five-and-a-half years by a British court for encouraging support for the dreaded ISIS terror group. Choudary, 49, was convicted at the Old Bailey court in London in July and a judge today ruled that the "calculating and dangerous" man should be locked up behind bars. The preacher, who had backed the ISIS in an oath of allegiance published online, was imprisoned alongside his 33-year-old aide Mohammed Rahman, also sentenced to five years and six months in prison. Choudary's barrister Mark Summers had argued that his client regretted breaking the law and urged Justice Holroyde not to sentence him on the basis of his 20 years of notoriety, nor on claims he had indoctrinated "a generation of people to commit direct acts of terrorism". However, the judge concluded a custodial sentence was a given even as his supporters shouted "Allahu Akbar" from the public gallery at Old Bailey court. "You are free to hold your views but Parliament has made it an offence to invite support for a proscribed organisation. The reason is obvious. A terrorist organisation with the support of many will be stronger than that with the support of a few. You referred happily to the prospect of the ISIS flag flying over 10 Downing Street and the White House," the judge told Choudary. The trial heard that the preacher, viewed by British security services as a key force in radicalising young Muslims, had been the "mouthpiece" of Omar Bakri Mohammed, currently in jail in Lebanon, and Mohammed Fachry, the head of the banned group in Indonesia. Commander Dean Haydon, head of Scotland Yard's counter- terrorism command, said after his conviction had become public last month: "These men have stayed just within the law for many years, but there is no-one within the counter-terrorism world that has any doubts of the influence that they have had, the hate they have spread and the people that they have encouraged to join terrorist organisations. "Over and over again we have seen people on trial for the most serious offences who have attended lectures or speeches given by these men. The oath of allegiance was a turning point for the police - at last we had the evidence that they had stepped over the line and we could prove they supported ISIS." Among Choudary's followers was one of the five attackers who stormed a cafe in Bangladesh capital Dhaka in July and killed 22 people, including an Indian girl. All the attackers were killed by security forces. Also, among his many UK followers is Indian-origin ISIS fighter Siddhartha Dhar, dubbed as 'Jihadi Sid' by the UK media, believed to be among the senior commanders of the ISIS. The British Hindu, who converted to Islam and now goes by the name Abu Rumaysah, had skipped police bail in the UK to travel to Syria with his wife and young children in 2014. PTI London, September 6 Anjem Choudary, Britain's best-known Islamist preacher, was jailed on Tuesday for five years and six months for encouraging support for Islamic State, ending years of frustration for police who had struggled to pin charges on him. Choudary, 49, and close associate Mizanur Rahman, 33, who received the same sentence, had been convicted by a jury in July of using the Internet to urge followers to back the banned group, which controls large areas of Syria and Iraq. These men have stayed just within the law for many years and there has been frustration for both law enforcement agencies and communities as they spread hate, said Dean Haydon, head of counter-terrorism at London's Metropolitan Police. Long denounced by the press in Britain as a hate preacher, Choudary is also well-known abroad, making regular TV appearances in the wake of attacks by Islamist militants to blame Western foreign policy for targeting Muslims. His trial heard that in postings on social media, Choudary and Rahman had pledged allegiance to the "caliphate" declared by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and said Muslims had a duty to obey or provide support to him. Choudary, the former head of the now banned organisation al-Muhajiroun, first drew widespread attention for praising the men behind the 9/11 attacks on the United States and for saying he wanted to convert Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth's official London residence, into a mosque. Reuters This time of year, some go for beer with the feeling of winter: dark, dreary, warm and fuzzy. Others drink tropical IPA and pretend theyre on the beach. Freightliner's new Cascadia model represents fours years of work. It has tested to be 8% more efficient than the current Cascadia Evolution model. Photo by Jim Park COLORADO SPRINGS -- The name is the same, but that's where the similarities end. Freightliner's newest on-highway Class 8 tractor is a brand new truck, from the frame to the rooftop, and practically everything in between. The company says it takes fuel efficiency, safety, driver comfort, connectivity and serviceability to a whole new level. The truck was shown publicly for the first time on Wednesday, Aug. 31, in a reveal ceremony at the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs. On view were 12 trucks in fleet colors representing a dozen of Freightliner's biggest customers, each of whom had already purchased a truck sight unseen. They include, alphabetically, Bison Transport, C.R. England, Crete Carriers, Hartland Express, J.B. Hunt, Knight Transportation, Old Dominion, Prime, Schneider, Swift Transportation, U.S. Express and Werner Enterprises. "The 12 customers in this room represent one out of every four Cascadia trucks sold in North America over the past six years when you exclude leasing companies and trucks sold to dealer stock," said Martin Daum, president and CEO Daimler Trucks North America. "Between them they have invested $9 billion into new Freightliner trucks since 2011." That dozen fleets and hundreds more with similar business goals will soon be lining up to spend billions more on this new Cascadia. It goes into limited production as a 2018 model-year truck in January 2017. It's expected to be in full production by March. The current version of the Cascadia will remain in production for another two years. Mind-Bogglingly Fuel Efficient In his opening remarks, Daum called the fuel-efficiency gains "mind-boggling." He said the design target was 5% over the current Cascadia Evolution model, but the design team's efforts produced a truck that bests the Evolution by a full 8%. Daum said the new Cascadia in full AeroX trim is 19% more fuel efficient than the current base-model Cascadia. The results were monitored and verified by a third party during a fuel efficiency comparison between a 2016 Cascadia Evolution and the 2018 Cascadia on a 2,400-mile route from Detroit to Portland, Ore., with a 78,000-lb gross combination weight. The trucks were configured as follows: 2016 Cascadia Evolution: DD15 (GHG14), direct-drive DT12 transmission with IPM 3, Detroit drive axles with 2.41:1 ratio, full Evolution aero package. 2018 Cascadia: DD15 (GHG17), new direct-drive DT12 with IPM 4, Detroit drive with Axle Lubrication Management and 2.16:1 ratio, AeroX aero package. Detroit's Integrated Powertrain is in version 4 and includes predictive cruise control and several mechanical upgrades to the transmission and drive axles. Photo courtesy of Freightliner "The 8% gain in efficiency is real and repeatable," said Kary Schaefer, general manager, product marketing & strategy, Daimler Trucks North America. "The results were verified by third-party analysts throughout the course of the six-day test. The test showed the new 2018 Cascadia consumed 8% less fuel than our best-spec 2016 Cascadia Evolution." The premium spec includes the integrated Detroit Powertrain, which combines a 400 hp/1,750 lb.-ft. Detroit DD15 or DD13 engine with the new DT12 direct-drive automated manual transmission, Intelligent Powertrain Management V.4 and Detroit tandem drive axles (a 6X2 will be available later next year). A new manufacturing process provides super-fine polishing of the gear faces in the DT12. That helps reduce friction between the gear teeth and allows for the use of low-viscosity lube oil. The new Detroit drive axles were redesigned to reduce weight and vibration. They also feature a lower sump volume and friction-reducing gear cutting. An optional Axle Lubrication Management system can further reduce parasitic losses by managing oil levels in the sump to reduce churning losses. The latest generation of IPM, version 4, uses GPS-based predictive cruise control to anticipate upcoming terrain. AeroX Advances Efficiency The entire front profile of the truck has changed, with major modifications to the grille and bumper as well as the shape of the hood. The frame rails are splayed outward several inches so the engine can sit lower in the frame, allowing the hood and grille to wrap a little tighter around the engine for lower wind resistance and better visibility, Schaefer says. The new Cascadia offers two aero packages, a baseline setup and the premium AeroX package. The baseline is essentially the same as the Evolution model, but with further refinements. The aero-styled mirror shells now have an elliptical shape and the mirror arms have been redesigned. There's a new door seal to close the gap around the door. The bumper has been updated and a new air dam has been added. The side-fairing skirts have lower ground clearance and cab-side extenders reach back 20 inches. The air dam included with the full AeroX package has just 4 inches of ground clearance, but promises significant fuel efficiency gains. Photo by Jim Park In AeroX trim, the truck comes with aero door seals, 24-inch flexible cab extender fairings, a lower-ground-clearance front air dam, and advanced FlowBelow drive wheel fairings. With a mere 4 inches of clearance under the front air dam and the side skirts, these aero features have the potential to become a maintenance headache. On the other hand, the additional fuel savings may be appealing enough to many customers to risk those headaches. "When you take a look at the new Cascadia, youll first note its modern lines and refined styling," said Richard Howard, senior vice president, sales and marketing, Daimler Trucks North America. "But take a closer look, and youll see the attention that was given to every detail of the truck to create an aerodynamic vehicle that will reap bottom line benefits for our customers." Daum says customers who want the full efficiency powertrain and AeroX package can expect to pay about $15,000 over the current base model. Trucks equipped with the premium spec will see a blue-colored letter "I" in the Cascadia name plate. Corrected 9/7/2016 to clarify price premium. Photo: VW Published reports on Monday indicate that Volkswagens truck division will acquire a stake in Navistar International Corp. and sell engines to the American truck builder, according to Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and the Economic Times. The deal, which could be announced by VW and Navistar on Tuesday, would give the German-based company a foothold in North America and could threaten Cummins strong supplier relationship with Navistar, noted Stifel, a stock and industry analyst firm, in reacting to the reports on Monday. Just how big a stake the company is buying was unclear. Reuters reported 19.9% while the Wal Street Journal said 17%. Reuters said Volkswagen has agreed to supply engines to Navistar as part of the deal, quoting an unnamed source. Reuters also noted that Volkswagen declined to comment and Navistar couldnt be reached over the Labor Day holiday. Volkswagen will pay around $16 per Navistar share or about $223 million in total, the source told Reuters. The WSJ says the two companies have been in on-again, off-again talks since early 2015. Sources told the Journal that they have agreed to cooperate on purchasing and developing new products. Volkswagen reportedly would get two seats on the board of directors as part of the deal and would be joining a board that already includes representatives of activist investors Carl Icahn and Mark Rachesky, who each control about 20% of the company. VW has long been rumored to be interested in Navistar, WSJ wrote. The German company is a powerhouse in the global truck market, particularly in Europe and Brazil, but doesnt sell many [make that any] large commercial trucks in the U.S." Navistar draws most of its sales from the U.S., Canada and Mexico and has a limited overseas business, making it a potentially good fit for VW. Navistar also has a strong dealer network that provides service and replacement parts, reported the Economic Times. Said Stifel, We find those reports to be credible because it has been reported by multiple media outlets including Reuters and the Wall Street Journal, each citing multiple sources, and because the transaction is consistent with Volkswagens stated strategy of expanding into commercial vehicle markets where it is punching below its weight class, which is most notably the North American market. The Economic Times observed that Volkswagen's commercial vehicles division is trying to build itself into a global truck manufacturer, having absorbed Germany's MAN and Sweden's Scania, while Navistar is looking for a technology partner to build engines that can meet ever more stringent emissions rules. That European view disregards Navistars partnership with Cummins, which stepped in after Navistars previous management failed to meet emissions limits with its EGR-only strategy. Cummins now supplies exhaust aftertreatment equipment for Navistar diesels and complete engines which have proven popular with Navistar customers. But Stifel said the deal, if it comes to pass, could further threaten Cummins truck engine business, which is already being reduced by truck builders moves toward further vertical integration, including with their own diesels. Navistar, only slowly recovering from a steep loss in heavy and medium-duty trucks sales and a drop in its stock prices, could be helped by a better capitalized firm like Volkswagen, the reports said. Dance has always been Tirita Montross life, and now she celebrates 25 years of being involved with Sand Springs top dance studio Miss Tiritas Dance Studio. After taking dance as a child and teen at Sandras School of Dance in Sapulpa, Tirita needed a job while she was attending college and she started teaching dance at Sand Springs Miss Catheys Dance Studio in 1990. Eight years later, she bought the studio and changed the name. I taught a dance class at the self-improvement center for something to do in college and then started teaching at Miss Catheys. It started then and it hasnt stopped, Tirita said, laughing. However, dance wasnt the only thing Tirita wanted to do as a profession. She attended Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, receiving her early childhood development degree. She was teaching elementary students during the day and teaching dance at night. She was also dancing at the now-defunct Discoveryland during the summer productions of Oklahoma! I taught dance and taught school for four years. I was teaching during the day and teaching dance at night. When I had my first son, Cooper, I quit teaching and focused only on the dance studio, she said. In 2000, she started teaching dance full time. Her first studio was a small room next to Minuteman Pizza in the Prattville Shopping Center, but, now, she has a studio located in the same shopping center that encompasses two buildings with two large dance rooms. All of Tiritas dance instructors are former students so they know her teaching style and how she expects them to train the current students. Some of her former students have also gone on to start successful careers in dance. McKenzie Belcher just signed a five-month contract at Disney World and is a part of their college program. She attended Berryhill and got a degree in dance from the University of Central Oklahoma. Tyleigh Baughman is now performing with the Tulsa Ballet II Company and is a paid professional. Both women are proving that a career in dance is possible with hard work and dedication. I want to do this as long as I am capable. I have great teachers that allow me to run the business side. Im still involved in every class. I dont do hip hop, Tirita said. The dance instructor would have been on the Charles Page High School Dance Team if they had one when she was in school. They didnt have a dance team, but I was on the cheer team, she said. Now, each year, Tirita has several students on the dance team, including her daughter who is now on the 8th grade squad. The first wave of rafters plunged into the Arkansas River on a cool Labor Day morning, starting Tulsa's second Great Raft Race since its re-emergence from a 24-year hiatus. Around 10 crafts launched from River City Park, located at 2500 S. River City Park Road in Sand Springs, at 8 a.m., where the crews began an 8-mile course along the Arkansas River. The first teams arrived early before sunrise to finish the last touches to their homemade crafts and attempt to ensure their buoyancy. The Yale Cleaners team returned this year with a modified version of its cruise ship, which was used in last year's race. The new and improved raft features a giant water cannon capable of shooting up to 130 feet. "Last year we took this raft down the river and we were defenseless," Yale Cleaners President John Rothrock said. "We ran into several pirates along the way, and they would shoot water balloons at us and spray us down with cannons. Our only defense was to outmaneuver them. "So this year we decided to clean up the river." Any aggressors that approach his team will be met with a powerful blast from the water cannon. "Our goal is to chase the pirates clear off the river so all the good guys can get down the river," Rothrock said. After 8 a.m., rafts are being launched every 30 minutes until the last group makes its way onto the river. .@tulsaworld MuckRafters are getting more delirious the closer they get to the finish line #GreatRaftRace pic.twitter.com/7cV2DjWhiV Kyle Hinchey (@KyleHinchey) September 5, 2016 Dear world: meet the #MuckRafters. Beautiful day for a leisurely float down the Arkansas. #GreatRaftRace pic.twitter.com/575IJi1WhM Jerry Wofford (@jerrywofford) September 5, 2016 Bring on the water! #GreatRaftRace Nice way to spend a Labor Day morning. #GreatRaftRace @tulsaworld pic.twitter.com/XKkraiqvSx Ginnie Graham (@GinnieGraham) September 5, 2016 Who is going down to the #GreatRaftRace this morning?? 10:30 at the 20th street West Bank Park. pic.twitter.com/kKnzU23cEc Brett Swearingen (@brettswearingen) September 5, 2016 This morning I'm at River City Park in Sand Springs, where the first rafts for #GreatRaftRace are an hour away from hitting the water Kyle Hinchey (@KyleHinchey) September 5, 2016 Rafters for the first launch, which is around 8 a.m., are now preparing for launch #GreatRaftRace pic.twitter.com/orWxqJeA7j Kyle Hinchey (@KyleHinchey) September 5, 2016 Yale Cleaners is back with a modified version of its cruise ship, which now has giant water cannon #GreatRaftRace pic.twitter.com/mEgdqH8VAp Kyle Hinchey (@KyleHinchey) September 5, 2016 Shane Bevel (@shanebevel) September 2, 2016 The sunrise view in Sand Springs We're by the floats where #GreatRaftRace will take place! #Tulsa #LaborDay pic.twitter.com/jq5AHlRIPP Gitzel Puente (@gitzelpuenteTV) September 5, 2016 Below is a previous version of this story that appeared in Monday's edition of the Tulsa World. Viewing options abound for those trying to catch a glimpse of this years racing teams and their rafts as they float an eight-mile course down the Arkansas River for Tulsas Great Raft Race. More than 10,000 people are expected to attend the event, the second raft race since it returned last September from a 24-year hiatus, according to a city of Tulsa news release. There are a few main places where spectators gather to watch the rafts: Sand Springs River City Park Many show up early to Sand Springs River City Park, located at 2500 S. River City Park Road, to watch the rafts launch into the river. No alcohol consumption or beverages in glass containers are allowed at the park. The first wave of rafts should launch about 8 a.m. and end around 11:30 a.m. Bridges along the Arkansas River Some spectators stake out a spot along the Oklahoma 97 bridge in Sand Springs. Event organizers suggest the 11th Street pedestrian bridge in Tulsa. River West Festival Park The park, located just off South Jackson Avenue and West 21st Street, is the races endpoint and its official after-party destination. Attendees can hang out at the Bud Light Boatyard Bash beginning at 10 a.m. to watch rafts finish the race. The afterparty will include food trucks and alcoholic beverage sales. The party lasts until 5 p.m., with an award ceremony for racers at 3 p.m. Children are allowed and encouraged to attend. Pets are not. If none of those locales fit your viewing preference, one is sure to see the rafts throughout the River Parks system. At the end of the day, trophies will be given out for the fastest raft in each of the three race categories: purchased raft, small home-built raft and large home-built raft. Awards will also be given to home-built rafts based on most creative theme and costumes. Participants and spectators can also post their photos from the race using #TulsaRaftRace to enter a contest to win a $50 gift card to Dicks Sporting Goods. RATING: 2 STARS (on a scale of zero to four stars) Im not sure how many people would like to see a remake of Gone With the Wind or Casablanca or The Wizard of Oz. I have a pretty good idea of how most mature filmgoers would view such propositions with understandable skepticism. These films are timeless. Well always have Paris, the burning of Atlanta is burned on our brains, and we know when were not in Kansas, Toto. Call it a reimagining or call it whatever you want, but Ill settle for saying that the new film version of Ben-Hur is completely unnecessary. For one thing, the argument that this is a way to reintroduce this story of faith and forgiveness to a new generation doesnt hold water any better than Charlton Hestons sandals. The showing of classic movies, whether in theaters or on a multitude of other platforms, has never been more popular, and fans, as well as young viewers, have been watching Heston in one bit of 1950s Hollywood spectacle The Ten Commandments for decades. For another thing, the new Ben-Hur avoids spectacle so convincingly that I couldnt help but wonder: Why not make this a TV movie in two parts to stretch out the storytelling, or even a miniseries, which would be a different kind of event without the direct comparison? The comparison is to 1959s Ben-Hur, itself a reimagining of a silent film from the 1920s, but made as a feast for the eyes, with scenes like a chariot race that we still talk about almost 60 years later, and as a story that enriched the soul. Put that together and you win a record 11 Academy Awards. Husband-and-wife producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, who so successfully made The Bible a TV hit, would have done well to follow that route again. The 2016 film Ben-Hur will be remembered as a mistake, and thats with it having a story that can touch our emotions despite being choppy, and featuring a lead performance that is meaningful despite a lack of direction. But its idea of spectacle is computer-generated images, rather than massive sets and stunts that make your eyes open wide. Its idea of a musical score is subtlety, as opposed to one of the grandest in film history. Were not talking about exactly the same film even in its narrative, which when compared to Lew Wallaces 1880 book is spiritual for a secular audience. For example, dont blink or youll miss Jesus, portrayed here by Rodrigo Santoro in a role so brief it has no time to be inspiring. The fictional story of Judah Ben-Hur and Messala is now one of brothers, with the former a Jewish prince from a wealthy family in Jerusalem, and the latter a Roman orphan adopted by that same family, which he will later imprison as a rising centurion of Rome, while making Judah a galley slave. A descendant of old Hollywood royalty, Jack Huston (the Boardwalk Empire actor is the grandson of John Huston), is our Judah, and he is the one actor who will come out of the film with people saying, Well, it wasnt his fault. More than anything Huston has the emotions right for this man of leisure, but with a good heart, who is forced into years of rowing among many a giant wooden ship meant for ramming into other ships. Try to not think about the 1959 films naval battles, or youll only complain that this new film settles for no exterior views of ships and only showing us the rowers inside the galley to depict the damage done in war on the sea. Not building ships saves money. There are many such decisions made (and yet this movie cost $100 million to make? I dont see it up on the screen), and then there are the chariot scenes, when Judahs revenge is tested in a final race with a dozen competitors but only one of import: Romes champion, Messala. This films chariot race is competent in its employment of stampeding horses, flying dust, cheering crowds and bones crunching beneath chariot wheels. Which is to say it is tame and CGI-filled compared to one of Hollywoods greatest scenes, and Morgan Freemans presence as a worried bettor/owner of Judahs chariot is a liability, rather than an asset. Going all the way to the end, those familiar with the Oscar-winner will notice many changes, with the themes of revenge and forgiveness about the only things still in place but in a Cliffs Notes kind of way. Ben-Hur is been there, done that. OPENING THIS WEEK Sully, Tom Hanks, PG-13 When the Bough Breaks, Morris Chestnut, PG-13 The Disappointments Room, Kate Beckinsale, R Wild Life, animated, PG AT CIRCLE CINEMA Complete Unknown, Rachel Weisz, R 2016 Sundance Film Festival Shorts, NR NOW SHOWING Movie Rating (on 4 scale) Finding Dory 3.5 Stars Cafe Society 3.5 Stars Equity 3.5 Stars Ghostbusters 3 Stars Suicide Squad 3 Stars Star Trek Beyond 3 Stars The Legend of Tarzan 3 Stars Captain America: Civil War 3 Stars Central Intelligence 3 Stars Florence Foster Jenkins 2.5 Stars Sausage Party 2.5 Stars War Dogs 2.5 Stars Jason Bourne 2.5 Stars The Secret Life of Pets 2.5 Stars The Jungle Book 2.5 Stars Ben-Hur 2 Stars Petes Dragon 2 Stars Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has slammed the Wests obsession with security and its approach to resolving the refugee issue. Speaking at a press conference following the G20 Hangzhou Summit in China Monday, Erdogan said: Wests obsession with security and even its racist approach to the refugee problem is disgraceful on behalf of humanity. He called for an end to differentiating between terrorist groups and urged the international community to fight all of them. We should reject the perception of differentiating between terrorist organizations such as Daesh, the PKK, the PYD/YPG and the FETO [Fetullah Terrorist Organization], and launch a principled battle against all of them at once. "We, at all costs, either me as a president or our government are determined on this issue. Turkeys Jarabulus operation [in northern Syria] is an expression of that determination. Turkeys campaign in northern Syria began on Aug. 24 in accordance with international law and the right of self-defense enshrined in Article 51 of the UN Charter. Less than two weeks after Operation Euphrates Shield was launched, the Turkish Army-supported Free Syrian Army fighters have liberated an area of nearly 600 square kilometers from PYD/PKK and Daesh terrorists. About the ongoing operation, he said: We entered Jarabulus with Syrian moderate opposition and threw Daesh away. There is no Daesh in Jarabulus right now, all areas have been cleared. Now Jarabulus residents, nearly 100,000 of them, have settled down in the city. The operation in northern Syria is not an intervention in Syrian territorial integrity; Jarabulus is our border. From Jarabulus, unfortunately, rockets were being fired into our territory for months. In the last incident, a wedding [inside Turkeys Gazientep] was targeted by a 14-year-old boy wrapped in bombs, which killed 56 people and wounded nearly 100. This incident was our point of departure for sure," he said. Erdogan met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barrack Obama on the sidelines of the summit. He said he offered both leaders the option to establish a no-fly zone in Syria. He revealed that Turkey was working on a cease-fire in Aleppo, which it hopes would be materialized before Eid al-Adha. About the fate of Bashar al-Assad, Erdogan said: It seems to me that to advocate the position of killer Assad as president is disgraceful for us on behalf of humanity; as of today, as many as 600,000 people have been killed so far. Also on Monday, Erdogan held a closed-door meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on the sidelines of the G20 summit. After the meeting, Erdogan and Hollande also held a bilateral meeting. The 11th G20 summit, attended by leaders of the worlds 20 most industrialized countries, is being held in the coastal city of Hangzhou in Zhejiang province between Sunday and Monday. Anadolu Agency President Rodrigo Duterte has again laid into the United States, saying that if anyone from the country dared lecture him during this week's Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit it would be disrespectful to him and his people. "The Philippines is not a vassal state. We have long ceased to be a colony of the United States, Duterte said during a pre-departure briefing before he traveled to Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on Monday. "You must be respectful. You just dont throw question and statements... Ill curse you in that forum, Duterte said, on being asked by journalists how he would deal with questions from the U.S. about human rights and extra-judicial killings issues. Last month, the U.S. state department and two United Nations human rights experts urged Duterte and Filipino authorities to stop extrajudicial killings taking place in the country in the fight against illegal drugs, while ensuring law enforcement compliance with international human rights obligations. On Monday, a report from GMA News -- which cited Philippine National Police figures obtained Sunday -- showed that a total of 1,011 people allegedly involved in the drug trade had been killed in a Duterte-led crackdown from July 1- Sept. 4, while almost 15,000 have been arrested. Nearly 600,000 people have also surrendered to authorities, further overwhelming the Philippines' already overcrowded jails. "Do not respond to anybody but to the people of the Republic of the Philippines. I dont care about him. Who is he? Duterte said Monday, referring to U.S. President Barack Obama. "America has one too many to answer for the misdeeds of this country, citing the 600,000 alleged Moro he said were killed during the American colonizers pacification campaign at the turn of the century. We have not heard any apology until now, Duterte underlined. I do not, I said, I do not kneel down before anybody else, except for the Filipinos in Quiapo walking in misery and in extreme hunger and poverty." He then stressed that the campaign against drugs would continue until the last pusher is out of the streets, until the last manufacturer is killed. We will continue, and I will continue and I dont give a shit about anybody observing my behavior, the president said. You people are too impressed by America, I wont hesitate to kick him [Obama] in front of everybody. In an interview Aug. 30, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest is reported to have said: "Obama is certainly not going to pull any punches on human rights during his meeting with Duterte." "I think the President is going to speak quite directly about our shared interests with the Philippines,'' he added, according to an ABS CBN television report "Both countries benefit from effective cooperation on a variety of issues, including maritime security. But the president is certainly not going to pull any punches in raising well-documented and relevant concerns when it comes to human rights." The Philippines is the oldest ally of the U.S. in Asia, but Duterte has not been shy to express his misgivings about the superpower. Duterte has repeatedly said the Philippines will determine its own destiny without depending on the US. ''I am a president of a sovereign state and we have long ceased to be a colony. I dont have any master except the Filipino. Nobody,'' he said. Duterte is set to arrive in Laos' capital Vientiane for the ASEAN meeting late Monday. He has said resident he will seek support from ASEAN member countries in addressing terrorism, is pushing for a drug-free ASEAN, respect for the rule of law and a legally-binding code of conduct in the South China Sea, where the Philippines is involved in an ongoing territorial quarrel with China. At the end of the summit Thursday, Laos will hand over chair of ASEAN to the Philippines. Anadolu Agency Tomorrow night SBS premieres the 6 part murder drama The Secret which it has already been screening via SBS on Demand. The 2016 Irish drama is based on a true story and also features Aussie Genevieve OReilly. Celebrated actor James Nesbitt (Babylon, Cold Feet) plays Colin Howell, a respectable dentist and pillar of the community, who becomes a killer in partnership with a Sunday school teacher, Hazel Buchanan, played by Genevieve OReilly (Episodes, The Honourable Woman). After meeting at their local Baptist Church in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, Hazel and Colin embark upon a passionate and destructive affair, climaxing in an elaborate murder plot to which their partners fall victim. Based on a true story, The Secret tells the story of a real life murder entirely from the perspective of the killers. Yet despite getting away with it, Colin and Hazel do not escape the consequences of their actions. 9:30pm Wednesday on SBS. Seven childrens show Saturday Disney is ending after a 26 year run -one of the longest-running kids shows in Australia. Two weeks ago hosts Teigan Nash, Candice Dixon and Nathan Morgan filmed their last ever episode. The places we have been, the people we have met and the memories well never forget! What an epic team! Thank you to each and everyone of you and anyone we have ever worked with! Nash posted on Instagram. Unfortunately the show is coming to an end. Sept 24th is the last episode. Saturday Disney consists of Disney-produced content and hosted segments with activities such as craft, science, animals, letter of the week, jokes, camping and trips including to the USA, Singapore and more. The show began in Brisbane in 1990 but moved to Sydney in 1999. Since 2012 it has enjoyed two airings, early mornings on Seven and repeated thereafter on 7TWO Over two and a half decades Saturday Disney has been a springboard for the careers of Shelley Craft, James Sherry, Sofie Formica, Jack Yabsley, Mel Symons and Sara Groen. Shae Brewster was the longest-serving host, just short of eleven years. Updated: A Seven spokesperson: said, Saturday Disney has been a part of the childrens schedule for a couple of generations of viewers. We thank each and every contributor, on both sides of the camera, who were a part of the journey over the 26 year period. Suspended Catalyst presenter Maryanne Demasi has failed in a bid to claim workers compensation after being injured while taking a break from work. Demasi was working from home on January 15, 2014, when she was injured while taking a break. The West Australian reports she lodged a workers compensation claim arguing that it was accepted practice for ABC journalists and presenters to work from home. During a 30 minute jog she tripped and broke her hip which required surgery. But government insurer Comcare rejected the claim, arguing that Demasis definition of workplace was too broad and disputed her notion that going for a run was an ordinary recess. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal also backed Comcares decision. Demasi is due to return to air this month after being suspended in July for breaching editorial standards. Nine has settled its dispute with former 60 Minutes producer Stephen Rice, who was dismissed from the show following the infamous Beirut saga. Rice appointed lawyer John Laxon after he was the sole employee to lose his job, despite a review recommending against such. Stephen Rice and Nine Network Australia have resolved their dispute over Mr Rices departure from Nine on mutually agreed terms, Laxon has told The Australian. No further comment will be made. Laxon previously acted for former Nine News chief Mark Llewellyn over the infamous Jessica Rowe bone affair and former reporter Christine Spiteri. He is also understood to be representing journalist Amy Taeuber who was recently sacked by Seven Adelaide. Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less. Season Two Spoiler Alert: make sure you have seen S2! Acclaimed drug cartel drama Narcos has been renewed for two more seasons by Netflix. The series, which only just returned with its second season on Friday. An episode count has not yet been revealed. And it seems it will continue beyond its key character, Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura). Theres a reason why we call this show Narcos and not Pablo Escobar, exec producer Eric Newman told the Hollywood Reporter. Its very much about the trade. There are other drug dealers and there are alliances formed against Pablo [in season two], so there are a multitude of stories we could tackle. Well this was just inevitable Sunday Night has reportedly struck a deal with Child Abduction Recovery agent Adam Whittington to tell his side of the story of the 60 Minutes saga. The Courier-Mail has published pictures of Whittington and a Seven crew on a Gold Coast beach. It speculates the deal could be worth up to $1m (always just a guess-timate). Whittington had always vowed to tell his side of the story, previously writing on Facebook, The world, like I was, will be shocked when you hear the truth! Ironically Sunday Nights executive producer Hamish Thomson, who was appointed in July, is a former 60 Minutes executive producer. He departed Nine in May after Nine opted not to continue with Inside Story. While he was running Inside Story, Thomson turned down Sally Faulkner story -before it later landed at 60 Minutes. Adam Whittington left Lebanon in July after months behind bars and protests by family members outside Nines Willoughby base. Whittington and Sally Faulkner still face kidnapping charges. Yesterday former 60 Minutes story producer Stephen Rice settled his dispute with Nine after being dismissed. UPDATED: Seven press release: Sevens Sunday Night will this week air an exclusive interview with Adam Whittington, the head of Child Abduction Recovery International (CARI), who has returned to Australia. Mr Whittington was released from prison in Beirut at the end of July after nearly four months behind bars over his involvement in the plotting and failed abduction of Brisbane mother Sally Faulkners two children from Lebanon, with an Australian television crew. The interview with Sunday Nights Mike Willesee, Mr Whittingtons first on the failed child snatch, airs on Sunday at 8pm on Seven. Sunday Night made no payment to Mr Whittington, his family or any other party for the interview. The fact that he wasnt paid will be disclosed in the program. Former Newcastle TV presenter Ian Beat Hill best known for wildlife show Beating Around the Bush has died, aged 65. He died on Monday at Lake Macquarie Private Hospital after a long battle with cancer. He was 65. Together with long-time collaborator Art Poppa Ryan he presented NBN series Beating Around the Bush from 1979 to 1982. The series began as a weekly nature segment on NBNs childrens program, The Breakfast Club. Each episode followed Hill as he escorted Ryan into the scrub to uncover native animals and plants around the Hunter Valley. In later years, he worked as a freelance television producer and director on campaigns for Woolworths, Cadbury and Schweppes. He was one of the best naturalists Ive come across, especially with Australian fauna and Australian snakes, Ryan told the Newcastle Herald. He understood snakes, their venom and their way of working and he was the same with spiders. He was a highly intelligent man and there werent many things you come bring up that he couldnt discuss. A Ukrainian citizen was killed as a result of the parking garage collapse in Tel Aviv, Israel. Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Hennady Nadolenko said this on air of 112 TV Channel, Ukrinform reports. "One Ukrainian citizen was killed as a result of the parking garage collapse in Tel Aviv," the ambassador said. The Israel Defense Forces said 500 soldiers and officers were involved in the efforts alongside a number of civilian organizations. The midday accident occurred at an underground parking garage that was under construction. ish Russian-backed militants violated ceasefire 21 times in eastern Ukraine over the past day. This is reported by the ATO Headquarters press center. The enemy used machineguns, small arms, and grenade launchers against the Ukrainian positions near Luhanske and Avdiivka. In Mariupol direction, militants fired 120 mm and 82 mm mortars on the Ukrainian positions near Shyrokyne Talakivka. An enemys sniper targeted the Ukrainian positions near Shyrokyne. In Luhansk direction, militants shelled Stanytsia Luhanska, Novozvanivka using grenade launchers, machineguns, and small arms. Moreover, a sniper targeted the Ukrainian govt positions near StanytsiaLuhanska. The Ukrainian military observe the Minsk agreements despite the provocations. ish Verkhovna Rada Chairman Andriy Parubiy says that ensuring a strong defense capacity should be a priority of the national budget for 2017. The speaker said this after the solemn opening of the fifth parliaments session of the eighth convocation on September 6, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. We should use all the opportunities for social protection of Ukrainians in the 2017 budget, but also we should remember that the issue on ensuring the defense [capacity] of the country, which is at war, must be a priority for the budget," said Parubiy. He added that Ukrainian weapons are a guarantee of security, and "we need to strengthen the defense capability." "This should be priority bills and directions of drawing up our budget. I am sure that here, in the session hall, we share the same opinion on this issue," Parubiy said. iy Over 49,000 servicemen have signed contracts to carry out military service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2016. Spokesperson of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Colonel Oleksandr Chornobay said this at a press conference on Tuesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. Since the beginning of the year, over 49,000 servicemen, of whom 5,500 are officers, have signed contracts with the Ukrainian Army, Chornobay said. He also noted that every month about 6,000 soldiers conclude contracts with the Ukrainian Army. Thus, every month about 6,000 contact soldiers enter the Armed Forces, which exceed the rate of the previous year, Chornobay said. iy Over 40 import contracts on the deliveries of defensive equipment for the Ukrainian army, with their total value of $1.5 billion, are currently carried out. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said this during his annual address in the Verkhovna Rada on September 6, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. We praise the support from the side of our western partners. Over 40 import contracts on the deliveries of defensive equipment for the Ukrainian army are currently implemented, with their total value amounting to $1.5 billion. Our friends gave us armored vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles, surveillance and communication means. Several weeks ago we received a large shipment of night vision equipment and another one is about to arrive, Poroshenko said. The President also noted that Ukraine, first of all, should rely on its own forces, own army, and own military and industrial complex. iy One Ukrainian serviceman was killed; two soldiers and one police officer were wounded in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) zone in eastern Ukraine over the past 24 hours. Presidential Administration Spokesman on ATO issues Oleksandr Motuzniak said this at a briefing on Tuesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. One Ukrainian serviceman was killed; two soldiers and one police officer were wounded over the last 24 hours as a result of combat actions. We express our condolences to the relatives and friends of the killed warrior, Motuzniak said. iy On September 5, Ukraines Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko, being on a business trip to the Republic of Cyprus, met with Attorney General of Cyprus Costas Clerides in the city of Nicosia. The sides discussed the state of cooperation between law enforcement agencies of the two countries, the press service of the Ukrainian Prosecutor Generals Office reports. The Prosecutor General of Ukraine noted that the existing Memorandum of cooperation between the departments is a powerful basis for fruitful cooperation of the Prosecutor Generals Office of Ukraine with the Law Office of Cyprus, reads a report. The participants in the meeting also agreed on further directions of joint efforts in countering corruption and money laundering, in particular, during the investigation into crimes committed by former senior officials of Ukraine and their environment In addition, the issue of mutual support in combating cross-border organized crime was also discussed. iy The final decision on the introduction of a visa-free regime with the European Union for Ukrainians will be taken in October, First Deputy Verkhovna Rada Chairman Iryna Herashchenko has written on her Facebook page. "Concerning a visa regime: everything takes place in line with the procedure established in the EU. According to the procedure, deputies have the right to submit their proposals and amendments to a decision, the European Parliaments committee [will hold] the next hearings in two weeks. And only then, in October, in the session hall of the European Parliament there will be hearings and the final decision on a visa-free regime, Herashchenko wrote. As Ukrinform earlier reported, the European Parliaments Committee on Foreign Affairs voted in favor of recommending that visa requirements for Ukrainian citizens traveling to the EU be lifted. iy Vice Prime Minister-Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities of Ukraine Hennadiy Zubko expects that the Parliament will support the laws on decentralization this autumn. He announced this at a briefing on September 5, the Government's portal reported. According to the Vice Prime Minister, this is a key reform carried out within the country. The approval of these laws is much expected by our European partners, experts, and most importantly by ordinary Ukrainian citizens that demonstrate support for this reform by creating communities. "Now we have over 10 bills that are awaiting to be adopted in the first or second reading. They were elaborated to address such issues as the voluntary association of territorial communities; transferring payment for providing administrative services to the budgets of the united territorial communities (UTC); the empowerment of communities to dispose of the lands beyond the settlements; the elections of prefects and others. People need the parliamentary support of decentralization. We are looking forward to the productive session of the Verkhovna Rada," Zubko said. ish Efi Latsoudi doesnt keep fresh milk at home. With so much time spent helping refugees, there's never chance to use it. Its dried, I hope thats okay, she says, apologetically, stirring powder into coffee. Today is a rare morning off from her work at "PIKPA village", on the Greek island of Lesvos, where Latsoudi has been helping vulnerable new arrivals including children, pregnant women and people with disabilities find sanctuary since 2012. At the height of the influx in 2015, when more than 10,000 people per day were reaching the shores of Lesvos, her volunteer-run initiative became a lifeline for thousands. Now, having been named one of two winners of the 2016 Nansen Refugee Award, her extraordinary efforts are finally receiving the recognition they deserve. 2015 was overwhelming, recalls Latsoudi. It was one incident after another. We did a lot of work and we covered a lot of gaps. After that, the authorities understood that they needed to do something. PIKPA is a former residential holiday center that now offers temporary shelter to vulnerable refugees. Its legions of volunteers offer access to medical care, education, legal assistance, food, clothes and, crucially, a sense of dignity and respect. 'Safe haven' for refugees in Lesvos - joint winner Nansen Refugee Award 2016 Latsoudi, 48, is the softly spoken but quietly powerful human rights activist behind PIKPA. Originally from Athens, she studied psychology, working with people with disabilities, young offenders and other vulnerable people before moving to Lesvos in 2001. There, she quickly became a leading voice in the community, campaigning to protect local wetlands and hosting a weekly radio show. By 2006, the number of refugees and migrants crossing to Lesvos had increased and with it the number of deaths at sea. Latsoudi watched, horrified, as the death certificates piled up. I thought, it is not possible that this is happening next to us and we dont know anything, she recalls. "2015 was overwhelming. It was one incident after another. Determined to highlight the mounting tragedy, Latsoudi formed a small activist group, regularly visiting the existing hosting facilities on Lesvos and helping refugees with their daily needs. But, by 2012, the crisis had worsened. The island's facilities were overwhelmed, and thousands of refugees and migrants began sleeping in the parks, streets and main port of Mytilene. Latsoudi knew that a place urgently needed to be found for the most vulnerable among them those with disabilities and those who were sick, pregnant, young or old whose needs were rapidly rising. PIKPA site, a maze of wooden buildings and tents shaded from the sun by pine trees, opened to refugees later that year and immediately became a focal point for volunteer efforts on Lesvos. By 2015, it was hosting around 600 refugees a day, well above its capacity of 150. It offered language lessons, childrens activities, livelihoods opportunities and more, fostering a strong sense of community and distributing over 2,000 meals each day. Latousdi estimates that up to 30,000 refugees have been supported at PIKPA since 2012. Latsoudi also helped to arrange dignified burials for those who had lost their lives at sea. Efi Latsoudi at PIKPA camp on the Greek island of Lesvos. UNHCR/Gordon Welters Efi Latsoudi, along with friend and interpreter Mohammadi, takes a moment to reflect at a cemetery where many refugees who drowned in the Aegean Sea now lie. UNHCR/Gordon Welters Efi Latsoudi practices yoga with three young refugees and instructor Konstantin, a volunteer from the United States. UNHCR/Gordon Welters Efi Latsoudi speaks with 14-year-old Sahad from Afghanistan at PIKPA camp. UNHCR/Gordon Welters Efi Latsoudi rides her scooter from her home in Mytilene to a yoga session, run by volunteer Konstantin. UNHCR/Gordon Welters Efi Latsoudi (right) speaks with Dimitra, a nurse at PIKPA camp, on the Greek island of Lesvos. UNHCR/Gordon Welters I didnt stop, she remembers. I was talking to the coroner, I was talking to the person at the cemetery, I was going to the coastguard, going to the hospital, meeting with donors. I was at PIKPA from morning until evening. I remember from June to August in 2015 we had funerals every day. It was something inhuman I dont know how I did it. "There is a face of Europe that is very human and its amazing." There is a face of Europe that is very human and its amazing, says Latsoudi, who juggles the relentless demands of PIKPA with her 15-year-old son, Mihalis. It can do miracles. And this is a miracle. For thousands of men, women and children who have risked everything seeking safety, the shelter and support on offer at PIKPA shows that Europe is capable of providing refuge. Latsoudis unshakable compassion changes lives and restores hope to those who have already lost so much. Solidarity is key, she insists. But it is not the answer. I think its a very simple human thing we have to do, and if we do it things can be very different, she says. "Solidarity saved lives here. But solidarity is not enough. There should be political decisions so that we wont experience this again." Greek volunteer sea rescue team - joint winners Nansen Refugee Award 2016 The Nansen Refugee Award is UNHCR's top honour recognising the unsung heroes who go beyond the call of duty for refugees. The 2,000 strong volunteer Hellenic Rescue Team is credited with saving thousands of lives in Greece during the 2015 refugee crisis. They were named joint winners for their round-the-clock efforts for refugees and migrants in distress at sea. The award recognizes the work of volunteers and people in Europe and around the world in 2015, and those who continue to welcome refugees in their communities. Lebanese mother Diana, 25, checks up on her baby at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Tripoli governmental hospital in northern Lebanon. The mother and baby are among beneficiaries of improved primary healthcare in Lebanon through funding from UNHCR. TRIPOLI, Lebanon Since the day she was married at 13 years of age, Ola,* a Lebanese woman, has never known safety. An abusive husband, a miscarriage and a series of psychological misdiagnoses left her on the edge of despair. But following an unexpected turn of events, Ola, now 50, is finally receiving the expert mental healthcare treatment that she urgently needs. I used to feel overwhelmed with fear, she told UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. Fear of everything and anything. She is among thousands of vulnerable Lebanese who have gained access to a full range of public primary healthcare services from psychiatric help to neonatal and pediatric care - since the crisis in Syria next door led to a massive influx of vulnerable refugees. After war broke out in Syria in early 2011, over one million refugees have sought safety in Lebanon. They are registered in country with UNHCR, which is working closely with the Ministry of Public Health to meet their needs. With generous funding from donors, Lebanon has been able to integrate a range of much-needed services within primary healthcare centres (PHCs), benefiting both Syrians and poor Lebanese. Prior to the crisis, the Hopital Psychiatrique De La Croix a charitable organization on the outskirts of the capital, Beirut was the only accessible provider of mental healthcare services in the whole country, making support for those outside the capital, like Ola, especially hard. " A closer look at the impact of the refugee crisis reveals a lesser-known reality." Tonina Frangieh, a senior mental health and psycho-social support officer with the International Medical Corps in northern Lebanon, said mental healthcare was previously unheard of in the north of the country. In the past, mental health patients were dismissed as crazy or thought to be possessed; she added, they used to be beaten, locked up and sometimes even chained. Now, psychological help is among the many services that are more widely available with the gradual improvement of healthcare provision since the Syria crisis began. With the arrival of refugees, healthcare needs skyrocketed, said Randa Hamadeh, head of the primary healthcare department at Lebanons Public Health Ministry. With generous support from the European Union, we worked with UNHCR and integrated mental health, malnutrition treatment, and reinforced reproductive healthcare services within the primary healthcare system nationwide. As a result, Lebanese and Syrian patients now have access to completely free-of-charge vaccinations with support from UNICEF and WHO. Even the vaccine-related consultation fee that used to apply prior to the crisis has been waived. From the outset, primary healthcare centre staff have received training in effective vaccine management, and other key services such as the diagnosis and treatment of malnutrition and the clinical management of rape, having a positive impact on Syrians and Lebanese alike. Lebanese mother Sally did not understand why her daughter was underweight. But after nutritional care was integrated within primary healthcare in Lebanon with funding from UNHCR, the three-year-old was successfully treated. UNHCR/Dalia Atallah In addition, a total of 84 new specialized staff have been deployed by UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration to primary healthcare centers nationwide to accommodate increased demand for services. Two years into the crisis, centres across Lebanon received post-exposure prophylaxis - special kits to help prevent HIV infection after a possible recent exposure. The counseling and treatment of survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) has been institutionalized, and now includes psychological support and thorough case follow-ups. Expanding care has also allowed medical teams to refer women and girls who survived SGBV to safe houses operated by specialized organizations such as UNHCRs partner, the ABAAD-Resource Centre for Gender Equality. Rola Hajj, director of nursing at the Tripoli Governmental Hospital, remembers a 17-year-old Lebanese girl rushing to the emergency room bruised from head to toe. Her parents had beaten her badly. They had forbidden her from leaving the house, even to attend school. That night she was received in one of the women and girls safe spaces and has remained there since, Rola said. Before its cooperation with non-profits like ABAAD, the Tripoli Governmental Hospital used to contact the police station when confronted with similar cases, having no recourse to specialized services. In spite of these notable developments, Lebanons already fragile medical infrastructure has suffered with the arrival of a refugee population a quarter of its populations size. Its highly privatized and expensive healthcare system continues to struggle with limited capacity that has been further eroded by the spike in needs. Hospitals and PHCs have been reeling under the weight of an additional million individuals who require urgent quality care. But a closer look at the impact of the refugee crisis reveals a lesser-known reality, said Mireille Girard, UNHCRs representative in Lebanon. People have more faith in public healthcare now. We hope to keep building on that. Not only do Lebanese families have improved access to primary healthcare in a number of specialties, but many tell us they can now seek quality hospital care within their areas thanks to the introduction of much-needed equipment such as scanners, resuscitation equipment and incubators in hospitals across the country. The lack of modern equipment previously meant that Lebanese had to commute from remote areas to Beirut to access emergency hospital care. People have more faith in public healthcare now, said Hamadeh. We hope to keep building on that, she added, noting that, with UNHCR, the Ministry has upgraded its information management system. The new, computerized database allows for the storage of each and every medical file and the tracking of individual cases in nearly half of the PHC network, she said. Another concrete example of progress: there are now 230 PHCs across Lebanon, an increase from 180 prior to the Syrian war. Still, Hamadeh stresses the need for much more support. And she also worries about the sustainability of the new services. We desperately need more funding, she said. We have come a long way, but gaps remain and we cant be left alone at this point. * Names have been changed for protection reasons. Rep. Dean Knudson, R-Hudson, center, flanked by Assistant Majority Leader Dan Knodl, R-Germantown, left, and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, right, unveil their plan to split the Government Accountability Board and overhaul campaign finance law during a press conference in October 2015. The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign filed an ethics complaint against Knudson Sept. 1 for forming his own express advocacy PAC. At the UN Summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants on 19th September 2016, the General Assembly is expected to adopt a set of commitments to enhance the protection of migrants and refugees. Once adopted, these commitments - which were agreed to on 2 August - will be known as the New York Declaration. The Declaration also contains two annexes intended to pave the way the adoption of Global Compacts in 2018: one on refugees, and the other on migrants. (Annex 1: Comprehensive Refugee Response (CRR) Framework; and Annex 2: Towards a Global compact for Safe Orderly and Regular Migration.) Why does this matter? At a time of multiple global crises, and when large-scale movements of refugees and migrants are challenging many countries even stoking xenophobia in some quarters it is very significant that 194 Member States of the United Nations are coming together to agree on a way forward to manage the challenges better, together. Once adopted, the New York Declaration will be a significant milestone. In it, States declare profound solidarity for people who are forced to flee their homes; reaffirm their obligations to full respect of the human rights of refugees and migrants; and States pledge robust support to those countries affected by large movements of refugees and migrants. The Declaration includes commitments common to refugees and migrants, including: combating exploitation, racism and xenophobia, savings lives en route, ensuring border procedures follow due process and are in line with international law. It also includes paying attention to the needs of women, children and those with health care needs, recognising and facilitating the positive contributions of migrants and refugees, ensuring they are part of development priorities, and ensuring adequate, flexible and predictable funding. In addition, the Declaration sets out specific commitments in relation to refugees and to migrants. On the refugee side, some of the specific commitments include increasing support to the countries and communities hosting the largest number of refugees. There are related commitments to boosting early childhood and primary and secondary education for refugees, and creating jobs and income generation schemes for refugees and host communities. There is also an emphasis on expanding opportunities for resettlement or other forms of admission to third countries. The Declaration also provides for a Comprehensive Refugee Response (CRR) Framework to be applied in response to large scale refugee influxes or protracted situations. This will be broader than a typical refugee response, bringing in a range of stakeholders from the outset including local and national authorities, humanitarian and development actors, the private sector and civil society. The Framework also emphasises the importance of refugees becoming self-reliant and addressing the needs of local host communities. What does this mean for refugee protection? The New York Declaration is a reaffirmation of the importance and application of the international protection regime -- the 1951 Refugee Convention, human rights and humanitarian law at a time when there are record levels of forced displacement. Governments specifically acknowledge that the protection of refugees and assistance to host states is a shared international responsibility, and not to be borne by host countries alone. This is a critical development. The New York Declaration also signals a shift beyond a mainly humanitarian response to refugee movements usually in itself, severely underfunded to a broader, systematic and more sustainable response to help refugees and the communities hosting them. This will mean working on several fronts at once: addressing humanitarian needs, bringing in development actors sooner to help refugees and their hosts, and starting the longer term planning for solutions beyond the emergency phase. UNHCR also very much welcomes the Leaders Summit on the Global Refugee Crisis on 20 September convened by President Obama, which provides an opportunity for governments to make concrete commitments in funding to humanitarian appeals and international organisations, to admitting more refugees through resettlement and other pathways, and increasing refugees self-reliance and inclusion through work and education opportunities. Format of the Summit The Summit will begin on 19 September with an opening plenary chaired by the Secretary General and statements from high-level UN officials, including the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. There will be two parallel plenary sessions for statements by Member States. There will be six roundtables dedicated to various refugee and migrant themes and a closing plenary. A concurrent civil society meeting will be held from 10 12.30pm. In addition to the formal one day formal session, a series of side events are being organized between 13 and 23 September. Entire text of the New York Declaration Further information on the Summit Media contacts: In Geneva, Ariane Rummery [email protected] +41 79 200 7617 +41 79 200 7617 In Geneva, Melissa Fleming [email protected] +41 22 739 7965 +41 22 739 7965 In New York, Jenifer Fenton [email protected] +1 646 255 3054 A column of refugees and migrants is walked across fields by police in Slovenia in this October 2015 file photo. UNHCR/Mark Henley GENEVA - A high-level UN summit later this month to address large movements of refugees and migrants could potentially be a game changer that will enhance protection for those forcibly displaced and otherwise on the move, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency said today. The UN Summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants will be held at the General Assembly in New York on September 19, and is to be attended by heads of state and government, Ministers and leaders from the UN System and representatives of civil society, among others. Right now there seems to be huge momentum towards trying to make the 19th of September a really meaningful summit that will be a game changer for refugee protection and for migrants who are on the move, UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming told a news briefing in Geneva on Tuesday (September 6). Fleming said the commitments were agreed on August 2. Once adopted at the Summit, they will be known as the New York Declaration, and contain annexes on refugees and migrants that will serve as the basis for future compacts. Coming at a time of multiple global crises, and when large-scale movements of refugees and migrants are challenging many countries even stoking xenophobia in some quarters it is very significant that 193 Member States of the United Nations are coming together to agree on a way forward to manage the challenges better, together, she added. UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming speaks at the Palais des Nations briefing. Once adopted, the Declaration will be a significant milestone, Fleming said. In it, States declare profound solidarity for people who are forced to flee their homes; reaffirm their obligations to full respect of the human rights of refugees and migrants and pledge robust support to those countries affected by large movements of refugees and migrants. The Declaration includes commitments common to refugees and migrants, including: combating exploitation, racism and xenophobia, savings lives en route, as well as ensuring border procedures follow due process and are in line with international law. It also includes paying attention to the needs of women, children and those with health care needs, recognising and facilitating the positive contributions of migrants and refugees, ensuring they are part of development priorities, and ensuring adequate, flexible and predictable funding, Fleming said. In addition, the Declaration sets out specific commitments in relation to refugees and to migrants. Migration is the worlds oldest adaptation strategy, International Organization for Migration spokesperson Leonard Doyle said. He noted that migration used to be a no-go area, but it was high time that every country tackled it in a grown-up, managed way, as 244 million migrants needed to see their issues addressed on the table rather than in the ante-room. On the refugee side, some of the specific commitments include increasing support to the countries and communities hosting the largest number of refugees. There are related commitments to boosting early childhood and primary and secondary education for refugees, and creating jobs and income generation schemes for refugees and host communities. "It is very significant that 193 Member States of the UN are coming together to agree on a way forward. There is also an emphasis on expanding opportunities for resettlement or other forms of admission to third countries. Furthermore, the Declaration provides for a Comprehensive Refugee Response (CRR) Framework to be applied in response to large scale refugee influxes or protracted situations. This will be broader than a typical refugee response, bringing in a range of stakeholders from the outset including local and national authorities, humanitarian and development actors, the private sector and civil society. Fleming noted that the Framework also emphasises the importance of refugees becoming self-reliant and addressing the needs of local host communities. The New York Declaration is a reaffirmation of the importance and application of the international protection regime the 1951 Refugee Convention, human rights and humanitarian law at a time when there are record levels of forced displacement. Governments specifically acknowledge that the protection of refugees and assistance to host states is a shared international responsibility, and not to be borne by host countries alone. The Declaration is a reaffirmation of the importance and application of the international protection regime. This is a critical development. The New York Declaration also signals a shift beyond a mainly humanitarian response to refugee movements usually in itself, severely underfunded to a broader, systematic and more sustainable response to help refugees and the communities hosting them. This will mean working on several fronts at once: addressing humanitarian needs, bringing in development actors sooner to help refugees and their hosts, and starting the longer term planning for solutions beyond the emergency phase. The Summit will begin on September 19 with an opening plenary chaired by the President of the General Assembly and statements from high-level UN officials, including the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. There will be two parallel plenary sessions for statements by Member States. There will be six roundtables dedicated to various refugee and migrant themes and a closing plenary. A concurrent civil society meeting will be also be held. In addition to the formal one day formal session, a series of side events are being organized between September 13 and 23. UNHCR also very much welcomes the Leaders Summit on the Global Refugee Crisis on September 20 convened by President Obama, which provides an opportunity for governments to make concrete commitments in funding to humanitarian appeals and international organisations, to admitting more refugees through resettlement and other pathways, and increasing refugees self-reliance and inclusion through work and education opportunities. WINONA, Minn. Five years ago Monday, an angel was plucked from the river. About 2 p.m. Sept. 5, 2011, Winona County Law Enforcement Center dispatch received a call from a family boating about six miles south of Winona near the Pla-Mor Campground. They said they had driven their boat past what appeared to be a canvas bag floating in the water. They turned back and retrieved the bag, opened it and inside found the 7-pound dead body of a newborn baby girl. According to the medical examiner, the little girl was two or three days old at the time of her death, and her body had been in the river for less than a day. From evidence gleaned from the babys body, it is probable the mother did not give birth in a hospital or under medical supervision, most likely without any assistance. No cause of death was determined. Several days later, then-Winona County Sheriff Dave Brand called a news conference to make public additional information relating to the childs death in the hope it would lead to identifying the baby and the person or people responsible for her death. Brand told reporters that the baby was found wrapped in green T-shirt printed with a faced graphic of a slice of bread. The baby was inside two plastic garbage bags inside a cream-colored canvas bag, embroidered in gold with the word Manzanillo a resort town on Mexicos Pacific coast. Also inside the canvas bag were two 9-inch angel figurines, two porcelain bells decorated with angels, and a bracelet with an eye pendant. The figurines inspired investigators to informally christen the child Angel. In the ensuing weeks, Brand and law enforcement investigators followed up on innumerable tips, leads and hunches each one bringing them no closer to identifying the baby and her mother, or explaining how she came to be in the river as Angels body remained in the custody of the medical examiner. In March, 2012, haunted by the case, Brand began making arrangements to give the child a proper burial. On April 7, with the Rev. Lawrence Green officiating, the Sheriffs Honor Guard serving as pallbearers, and more than 150 community members in attendance, Baby Angel was laid to rest in Woodlawn Cemetery. Five years later, Baby Angels death is still an open case, Sheriff Ron Ganrude said. Periodically the department receives a new tip or a fresh lead for investigators to follow up, but so far without success. Still, Ganrude holds out hope that one day, someone will provide the bit of information needed to put closure to the infants death. Somebody out there knows, he said. We want them to tell us. BANGKOK, 6 September 2016 "UNICEF is deeply concerned about the continuing violence in Thailands restive southernmost provinces and its impact on children, including an explosion that killed a five-year-old girl and her father in Narathiwat Province this morning. "According to media reports, a motorcycle bomb went off in front of an elementary school killing the five-year -old girl and her father while he was dropping her off at school this morning. The bomb also injured at least 10 people including teachers, other childrens parents, and police officers. "UNICEF is shocked and saddened by this incident. Schools must be places of learning, discovery and recreation for children. "No children, nor any caretakers or education professionals should live or learn under fear of such attacks. All schools must become safe havens. "UNICEF calls upon all parties involved to do everything in their power to ensure that children are protected and no more children fall victim of violence." ### Stanford University has been on the headlines these past few months due to a controversial sexual assault case faced by one of its former students. Recently, Brock Turner was released from prison after serving just half of his six-month sentence. Last Friday, Brock Turner left he jail and rode a white SUV which was waiting for him outside the building. He offered no comment to reporters. Angry protesters, some of whom were armed, surrounded the Turners' home, according to several reports. In Stanford University's official statement, the school maintained that it "did everything within its power to assure that justice was served in this case." The institution also shared how proud it was of its students for stopping the incident and cooperating with the investigation. Lauren Schoenthaler, Stanford University's senior associate vice provost for institutional equity and access, was recently commissioned to be responsible for the campus-wide coordination of equity and access programs. This includes Title IX as well as sexual violence prevention programs. According to Schoenthaler, the school is "continuing to expand its programs and is redoubling its commitment to address campus sexual assault." Her focus is to work on bringing an end to sexual violence in the campus as well. There is a $2.7 million budget for new and expanded programs this year to tackle sexual violence. The funding aims to support an expansion of educational programs, new support services for victims of sexual assault and a state-of-the-art process for investigating sexual violence allegations. Regarding the new alcohol policy, Schoenthaler admitted that it was not due to Brock Turner's sexual assault case. The policy is said to be "an effort to address binge drinking, which has many negative impacts on the lives of students." "Stanford has never punished a victim or witness for an alcohol or drug violation in connection with a sexual assault investigation," she added. "Both California law and university policy specifically address this issue and provide amnesty for voluntary drug and alcohol ingestion in the course of sexual assault and relationship abuse investigations." William Bill Sullivan was honored for his military service during wartime operations at a ceremony held at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, Aug. 5, 2016. Bill, 93, originally from New York, New York, was a prisoner of war during World War II, fighting for his life across the European countryside. August 5, 2016 - William Bill Sullivan, World War II prisoner of war 1944 - 1945, has a conversation at a ceremony held at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont. Bill received a certificate of recognition and was coined by Brig. Gen. Ferdinand Stoss, Air Force Global Strike Command director of operations, for his service and dedication to the United States military. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Daniel Brosam) While visiting Malmstrom AFB, Bill received a certificate of recognition and was coined by Brig. Gen. Ferdinand Stoss, Air Force Global Strike Command director of operations, for his service and dedication to the U.S. military during what could be argued as one of the nation's most difficult times. Bill was very pleased, said Elizabeth. The certificate is pinned on his wall in his room. He is very proud of what he did (for his country). It's what he signed up for. Bill was assigned to the Army's 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, which deployed behind enemy lines in Normandy, France, as part of Operation Overlord on June 6, 1944. Those deployed would take part of the historical events of D-Day, the day the Allies invaded western Europe. Bill and several of his comrades were captured by a German military unit soon after the events of D-Day. Bill and his company would be transferred in and out of German captivity multiple times. Bill escaped five times (during his time as a POW), said wife, Elizabeth. He is still good at that, even to this day. According to Bill, he spent several months bouncing from location to location throughout parts of France. During a time on the run, he survived a transport train bombing where casualties were heavy. The train did not get far when it was attacked by our Air Corps, Bill had said in a letter he wrote to the son of a fellow POW, recounting experiences of their travels through the war-torn country. We were in locked boxcars and casualties were heavy. Several weeks later, Bill recounted that a desperate escape was made. The field we entered was posted, achtung minen,' but there was no turning back, Bill had said. Achtung minen, is roughly the German translation for attention minefield. Bill and his fellow escapees had to navigate a live minefield in order to escape their German captors. The experience would lead them through with no lives lost and deliver them into the hands of kindness. Six locals got involved in hiding us at the risk of their lives, Bill had said. We were taken to a storage barn in the woods where we were fed for eight days. When we started to see German patrols, it was time to leave. His freedom would not last long before he would be captive once again. According to Bill, he had to endure physical and mental abuse including death threats and mind games as a prisoner of war. (A German interrogator) gave us shovels and told us to dig, which we did, very slowly, Bill had said. When he returned, he said he had changed his mind. I think he realized he might be a POW himself shortly. To this day, I wonder which of us got the reprieve. On Sept. 13, Bill arrived in Germany as a captive, where he remained for several months in POW camps. POWs were mentally and physically abused in the camps. Extensive physical labor tasks would be forced upon the prisoners, only to repeat the task over and over again. In the a.m. we dug holes, and in the p.m. filled them in, Bill had said. Bill recounted that he spent weeks in a six-by-six foot shed with other prisoners during one of his detainments in a camp. The number of POWs held in German camps during this time period is estimated to be 257,000. In February 1945, Bill made what he called the March of Death, which was a series of forcible marches of Allied POWs across Eastern Europe between January and April. An estimated 80,000 POWs were forced to march in extreme winter conditions. Bill himself marched from Frankfurt-Oder to a location south of Berlin. He said a lot of lives were lost on the journey. Bill escaped from captivity in late April 1945 and was a refugee until after the surrender of Germany was announced, officially ending the European phase of WWII, commonly known as V-E Day, May 8, 1945. Bill accounted that he was airlifted to France almost a week later and then traveled to England. He returned to the U.S. in June by way of the British royal mail ship Queen Elizabeth. The Queen Elizabeth ocean liners was utilized to transport troops and POWs back to America. After returning to America, Bill received a Purple Heart for his actions during wartime operations. With the war over and a nation returning to peace, Bill put the soldier's life behind him. He went to work for ABC as a photographer and videographer for 40 years. It was during the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada, that Bill met his wife, Elizabeth, a native of Dublin, Ireland. Currently, Elizabeth helps and supports him. To this day, Bill doesn't talk about his time as a POW, except in the form of written correspondence to strangers. He would write letters to others, and tell his story that way, said Elizabeth. Through years of correspondence between Bill and the relatives of fellow POWs Bill was with in Europe, bits and pieces of his experiences have been put together to tell his story. It takes a lot of years for survivors to talk about it, said Elizabeth. By the time I met him in 1988 and married him in 1992, Bill had moved on. He does have a Purple Heart, but even I don't know what for. Elizabeth said Bill made his first returning trip to Normandy after 1945 in the 80s. Up until 2015, Bill went to Normandy every year to attend a reunion celebration for those who would always have a piece of themselves in Normandy. Bill wrote a letter to the son of a fellow POW about his experiences, which has been transcribed and viewable. By U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Magen M. Reeves Provided through DVIDS Copyright 2016 Comment on this article Law enforcement training videos featuring Attorney General Brad Schimel arent subject to release under the open records law and doing so could tell pedophiles how to evade capture, Wisconsins solicitor general told the state Supreme Court on Tuesday. The court is considering whether the states open records law requires the 2009 and 2013 recordings to be made public. The tapes were requested by the state Democratic Party in 2014, just weeks before Schimel was elected attorney general, and have been the subject of a few court rulings. The high court will release an opinion in the coming months. Justices peppered attorneys Tuesday with questions about whether the open records law requires the tapes to be released and whether doing so would harm victims or reveal too much information about law enforcement techniques. Theres really no good that would come from releasing these two tapes, Solicitor General Misha Tseytlin said. But there would be a lot of bad. The DOJ also has argued that the videos would undermine the states ability to train prosecutors and police officers in the future. Schimel, who has sought to position himself as a strong advocate of transparency and regularly holds training sessions for government officials on the open meetings and records laws, did not attend Tuesdays arguments. The tapes were made when Schimel was Waukesha County district attorney. Democrats say the videos show Schimel making questionable remarks at State Prosecutors Education and Training seminars, which were sponsored by DOJ. The lawsuit offered no evidence supporting the allegation, which Schimel has denied, and a lower court judge who reviewed the videos said he did not appear to say anything inappropriate. Attorney Michael Bauer, representing the Democratic Party, argued Tuesday that theres no information on the tapes that isnt already readily available on the internet or that is outdated. You come away with Whats so novel to be protected here? Bauer said. It really is basic, well-known techniques to law enforcement. The 2009 video was made during a presentation about internet sexual predator cases, and the 2013 presentation centered on interacting with victims of sensitive crimes. In the 2013 video, Schimel details a well-known sexual assault case in which a high school student in Waukesha County posed as a female online, obtained graphic pictures from his male classmates and used them to extort sexual acts. But Chief Justice Pat Roggensack questioned whether releasing it could re-victimize the men, who arent named in the video, because of how many details are discussed. Bauer said he would not object to redacting the one detail that hasnt been made public, and DOJ attorneys also have said they would be open to releasing the tapes with portions edited out. A state appeals court ruled last year that the videos must be made public under the state open records law, saying there was no compelling reason to keep them secret. The ruling affirmed one made in 2014 by a Dane County circuit judge. Both lower courts said the content of the tapes was routine and there was no danger that law enforcement tactics or victims privacy would be compromised in releasing them. September is Suicide Prevention Month. The campaign for this year is Be There. Be There to help a Veteran or Service member in crisis feel less alone. Be There to help those who are having thoughts of suicide to find critical and appropriate resources. G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center The National Veterans Creative Arts Festival was there for Army Veteran Connie. An over-the-road truck driver, he had made his plans to end it all. But decided to make one last stop at the Festival and it saved his life. I walked through those doors and was embraced and treated like a human being. We talked for hours and they saved my life. Salt Lake City VA Medical Center Stu Shipley The Salt Lake City VA Medical Center was there for Veteran Stu Shipley. Today, he shares his story and is there for other Veterans. Birmingham VA Medical Center The Birmingham, Al, VAMC was there for a 63-year-old Vietnam era Veteran who called and told the Suicide Prevention Social Worker that he had pills laid out in front of him and was intending to overdose and just wanted to let someone know. He was undergoing tremendous financial and family stress and felt hopeless, helpless, and truly felt suicide was the best way to end his suffering. The social worker talked with him for an hour and was able to successfully provide support and validation and instill hope in his circumstances. He agreed to resume receiving mental health services and said the social worker had saved his life and expressed appreciation. Intensive Outpatient Mental Health Services VA social worker Amy Burks was there for a 28-year-old OIF Veteran who shot himself in the head in a suicide attempt while under the influence of alcohol. VHA wrapped mental health services around this Veteran. He was involved in intensive outpatient mental health services through both the VA and the Vet Center. Over the past four years he has been able to obtain a college degree in electrical engineering and secure employment. It has been a long four years for this Veteran, but through the caring support of many VA disciplines this Veteran was able to complete what would be a very lofty goal for anyone, let alone someone who had a head injury and significant PTSD. He continues to enjoy and raise his 5-year-old son and serve as a positive example for other Veterans. VA Eastern Kansas Health Care System A Veteran called the Suicide Hotline and the staff got him to go to the inpatient psychiatric unit at the Kansas City VA. A week later, he entered the domiciliary and was treated there. He was then referred to HUD-VASH and has been in the same apartment through that program since 2009. Thanks for Being There A Veteran who once wanted to take his life came to the Kansas City VA Medical Center, saying that he is so grateful for the care he has received, that he feels a commitment to get involved with the VA in a way to help others, and he wishes he could speak, and get his story out there in order to reach out to others. We talked for hours and they saved my life. VA Measures to Prevent Suicide VA has implemented comprehensive, broad-ranging suicide prevention initiatives, including a toll-free Veterans Crisis Line, placement of Suicide Prevention Coordinators at all VA Medical Centers and large outpatient facilities and improvements in case management and tracking. VA recently announced the creation of a satellite Veterans Crisis Line site in Atlanta, Georgia, for increased staffing capability and geographic redundancy; the satellite site is expected to be operational in October 2016 with 200 additional responders. Ensuring same-day access for Veterans with urgent mental health needs at over 1,000 points of care by the end of calendar year 2016. In fiscal year 2015, more than 1.6 million Veterans received mental health treatment from VA, including at over 150 medical centers, 820 community-based outpatient clinics and 300 Vet Centers that provide readjustment counseling. Expanding telemental health care by establishing four new regional telemental health hubs across the VA healthcare system. Hiring over 60 new crisis intervention responders for the Veterans Crisis Line. Each responder receives intensive training on a wide variety of topics in crisis intervention, substance use disorders, screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment. VA mental health information can be found on the VA Mental Health page at: http://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/ Information about the Crisis Line is available at http://www.veteranscrisisline.net/. Veterans in crisis can call Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255 (press 1) or texting 838255. The past few months have been a whirlwind for Jessica Cavazos. She gave birth to her third child a little more than two months ago, and last week she took over as executive director of the 226-member Latino Chamber of Commerce of Dane County. Cavazos admits life has been hectic but is up for the challenge. When I was initially approached about the job, I was eight months pregnant at the time and was thinking my career more was on hold with a baby on the way, Cavazos said. But she was encouraged to pursue the opportunity by several of her professional contacts from Madison. Now just a few days into the job, Cavazos is ready to make an impact. A focus of the chamber is to help Latino entrepreneurs launch businesses, create jobs and help the regional economy prosper. Cavazos said she plans to meet with chamber staff and board members to learn more about their organizations vision. A goal of mine is to create partnerships and build our membership, she said. Cavazos said she wants to meet with as many chamber members as possible, not only to get to know them but to find ways to help them grow. It will help me to get to know their (businesses) ailments and what we can do as a chamber to make them stronger and more vibrant, she said. One opportunity for the Latino chamber could be in redeveloping abandoned or blighted commercial sites, Cavazos said. Just driving around Madison, it seems there are many opportunities where there once were thriving store fronts that have just fallen into disarray, she said. I feel chambers should be more involved in economic development for blighted areas, which can be made into a place to develop small businesses. Mayra Medrano, president of the Latino chamber board, said the organization was drawn to Cavazos experience, adding her enthusiasm and vision will add a whole new dimension to the continued success of our chamber. Cavazos most recently served as president of the Eleva Group, a Milwaukee-based organization she helped launch that created social programs and helped nonprofits. She brings experience in government relations, policy, community engagement and business development, having spent eight years as a congressional liaison for U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore of Milwaukee. Cavazos has advocated for the Latino community throughout her career. She served as secretary and board member of the National Association of Hispanic Federal Executives Midwest Region and coordinator for the Central Regions Federal Diversity Committee. She also is the former state director of womans activities for the League of United Latin American Citizens in Wisconsin. With her 4-month-old baby in the vehicle, a Fitchburg woman crashed into a ditch Sunday, leading authorities to find heroin in her possession, the Dane County Sheriff's Office said. Sarah Bowles, 28, was arrested on tentative charges of OWI with a passenger under 16, possession of heroin, possession of drug paraphernalia and a probation hold, the sheriff's office said. She and her infant son, who was properly restrained in the vehicle, were uninjured from the crash that happened in the town of Cottage Grove, the sheriff's office said. Authorities received a call a little after 11 a.m. about a woman passed out in a vehicle and a baby crying in a parking lot at Old Towne Coffee House in the village of Cottage Grove, according to the sheriff's office. Deputies and Cottage Grove Police responded the area, but did not see the vehicle when they arrived, the sheriff's office said. A sheriff's deputy spotted the vehicle near Highway N and Natvig Road in the town, and it was stopped in a creek bed, the sheriff's office said. A family member took the baby after the crash while Bowles was taken to the Dane County Jail, the sheriff's office said. Following the departures of Serge Ibaka and more prominently Kevin Durant, the Oklahoma City Thunder are set for a season of rebuilding. It doesn't come as a surprise that they're reportedly already planning moves for players in 2017, whilst they also may not be done in the trade market this offseason as well. The Thunder have been busy since their Western Conference Finals defeat, making a total of eight new roster additions, most notably Victor Oladipo from the Orlando Magic. However, OKC are still in need of a real game changer, with several of their new signings expected to play backseat roles or even play in the D-League in the upcoming campaign. Okla-home-a? One of the most prominent trade rumours surrounding the Thunder would be a homecoming for the Los Angeles Clippers' Blake Griffin. An OKC native, the 27-year-old also went to college in his home state before being drafted by the Clippers as the first pick in 2009. Griffin's current contract with the Los Angeles franchise expires next summer, giving him plenty to think about and the option of free agency. His current side would be odds-on favorites to re-sign the power forward, but should he chose to ply his trade elsewhere, Oklahoma would be the most likely destination. The Thunder have been linked with a possible trade this summer for Griffin too, who spent the majority of last season out after punching a member of the Clippers' equipment staff. The deal would see Steven Adams and Oladipo go the other way, and with Doc Rivers' side needing some fresh young blood in their roster, the deal isn't completely unbelievable. Jimmy Butler to move after all? Jimmy Butler during this year's Rio Olympic Games. | Ethan Miller/Getty Images Prior to draft night Jimmy Butler's future was very much up in the air, with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics among the teams reportedly looking to sign the rapidly-improving forward. Following the Chicago Bulls' additions of Rajon Rondo and Dwyane Wade speculation cooled off, as Butler looked to instead lead the franchise into the future. However rumours have once again gathered pace, with suggestions that the Thunder could make a 2017 move for the 2015 Most Improved Player of the Year, as they search for a superstar partner for Russell Westbrook. Butler averaged 20.9 points per game last season as the Bulls narrowly missed the playoffs, and another disappointing season could persuade the 26-year-old to switch east for west. A big man heading for the exit door? Mitch McGary (right) has failed to make an impact since being drafted by the Thunder two years ago. | Kevin Jairaj/USA TODAY Sports OKC's most recent addition this offseason has been the arrival of Joffrey Lauvergne from the Denver Nuggets, with the Frenchman reportedly signing a two-year contract. With the Thunder already stacked when it comes to big men, it's widely anticipated that Sam Presti will move one of them along before the start of the new season, with Mitch McGary the likely victim. The 24-year-old averaged just over a point per game last season, with his playing time dropping from 15 minutes a game to just three. McGary could be spared however, as Lauvergne's arrival could be due to reports that the Thunder could use Enes Kanter as possible leverage in future trades. Billy Donovan has preferred to use Steven Adams in the five spot, leaving Kanter to be consistently linked with moves to other franchises. Rumors have been flying lately, as they usually do anywhere. Lately, WWEs Paige has had the spotlight as numerous rumors spread about her and her future in the WWE. Going back to the beginning of the past summer Paige was said to have been arrested while in Las Vegas after the Money in the Bank pay-per-view. It was later revealed that Paige was just detained by police but not arrested. Then recently rumors passed through social media that Paiges absence from television is due to her being on bad terms with WWE. Paiges mother, Saraya Knight took to her own Twitter to set the record straight that Paiges absence was due to her recovering from an injury. The latest of Paige rumors is that she is treading in hot water and could be on her way out of the company. Rocky road Last Spring, it was revealed that Paige and WWE Superstar Alberto Del Rio were dating and not only are there fans who are in disbelief, but word has it that WWE disapproves of the couple. Currently, both wrestlers are on suspension for violation of WWEs health and wellness policy. There has been speculated that after his suspension is up, Alberto Del Rio will most likely leave the company. Speculations havent been made about Paige as she is under contract with the company for a few more years. However, recent reports have led some to believe that Paige will also be leaving WWE. Del Rio's gone and Paige might be next Former Ring of Honor and EVOLVE commentator, Mister Saint Laurent discussed the relationship between Alberto Del Rio and Paige during his latest podcast with Kevin Sullivan. He stated that WWEs Mark Carrano, whom fans are familiar with from Total Divas, approached both Paige and Del Rio individually and expressed his opinion of their relationship. Carrano is said to have harassed Del Rio and Paige and indicated that they should end their romantic relationship. Paige and Alberto Del Rio. Photo credit: forbes.com WWE unapproved It is quite possible that this is why photos of the couple mysteriously were deleted from Paiges Instagram account. Laurent also stated that WWEs dislike of the couple is also why they were split up in the draft. WWE doesnt want the two together and they designed a way to separate them where the relationship is strained and WWE could deny any accusations made towards them on their motive. Laurent is quoted to saying, They split them up in the draft by design and they threatened to fire Paige if she didnt break up with Del Rio. It is highly understandable if the couple doesnt want to work for WWE. It isnt uncommon for wrestlers to date each other and there currently are numerous couples in WWE. Theres John Cena and Nikki Bella, Big Cass and Carmella, and thats just a few on the list. So why is it so wrong for Del Rio and Paige to be dating? Yes, Del Rio is legally still married but has been separated from his wife for about two years now, if that. This shouldnt be a reason for WWE to want the two to break up since Del Rio use to date Charlotte last year. If WWEs reasoning is that it doesnt want to be associated with infidelity then its rolling in hypocrisy considering ten years ago the company banked on the Lita/Edge/Matt Hardy love triangle. Not the end of them Del Rio is well established in another promotion and Paige is still so young. If it is true that Paige will be leaving, then it is very unfortunate to see her go. She has so much potential to cement herself in the future of the company and so many accolades to accomplish. Fans now sit in wait to see what happens next for the Anti-Diva. A 15-year-old Minnesota boy who had driven an apparently stolen car from his home state was arrested in Madison on Saturday after he and others were caught stealing items from parked cars on Madison's East Side. Police said that a resident near the 2600 block of East Dayton Street called police after seeing young men walking around the block checking doors of parked vehicles at about 4:50 p.m. Saturday. The six were also seen driving around in a red Toyota with Minnesota plates, which police found and stopped. Police discovered that the car had been stolen in Chaska, Minnesota, and was full of electronics and other items, all stolen from Minnesota and Madison. Police said that two of the the six were from Minnesota while the others are from Madison. The 15-year-old boy, from Apple Valley, Minnesota, was taken to the Juvenile Reception Center on a tentative charge of driving a stolen vehicle. Afghan policemen stand guard at the site of a blast in Kabul, Afghanistan September 5, 2016. Photo source: REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail "The attack killed 24 people and left 91 others wounded, some of them seriously," ministry spokesman Waheed Majroh told AFP, warning that the toll could rise further. The two bombers blew themselves up in rapid succession, in an attack apparently aimed at inflicting mass casualties as government workers left the ministry after work. "The first explosion occurred on a bridge near the defence ministry. When soldiers, policemen and civilians rushed to the scene, there was the second explosion," defence ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish told AFP. President Ashraf Ghani strongly condemned the attack. "The enemies of Afghanistan are losing the fight in the ground battle with security forces," Ghani said in a statement. "That is why they are attacking, highways, cities, mosques, schools and ordinary people." Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter that the defence ministry was the object of the first attack, while police were targeted in the second. Photo : nasa.gov The US space agency had already pushed back the launch by a day to Tuesday. If technicians are able to finish their repairs as planned, Discovery and its six American astronauts will now launch from Florida's Kennedy Space Center at 3:52 pm (1952 GMT) Wednesday, NASA test director Jeff Spaulding said. The flight to the orbiting International Space Station is the fourth and final shuttle flight of the year, and the last scheduled for Discovery, the oldest in the three-shuttle fleet that is being retired in 2011. Foreign Minister Dion made the pledge during a meeting with Minister Tran Hong Ha of the Vietnam Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in Hanoi, saying SLCPs are potent global warmers. They have a relatively short lifespan in the atmosphere compared to longer-lived greenhouse gases (GHGs), and they play a vitally important role in combatting climate change. Since atmospheric levels of short-lived substances respond relatively quickly to changes in emissions, actions to reduce SLCPs can reduce the rate of near-term global warming. The Government of Canada has been a global leader in recognizing the importance of reducing SLCPs as part of its comprehensive strategy to address climate change and as a practical approach to making improvements in the environment and human health. Reducing SLCPs can slow warming, and can also help address indoor and outdoor air pollution, which have been over recent decades a key cause of premature death in communities around the globe. The Quang Binh Peoples Committee proposed the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Planning and Investment to license EVN to take over the project. The ministries agreed with the proposal and the province now plans to submit a document for the prime ministers approval, said Hoang Dang Quang, Secretary of the Quang Binh Party Committee. The projects construction was kicked off in July 2011, with the total investment capital of $1.7 billion. The plant has a designed capacity of 1,200 megawatts to be produced by two turbines, which were expected to come into operation in June and December 2015, and contribute to the national grid an annual capacity of 8.5 billion kWh. However, over five years after the ground-breaking ceremony, the construction has been immobile save for a finished office building. Regarding EVN, the group basically agreed to the provinces proposal. According to EVN chairman Duong Quang Thanh, the project is an important part of the national power master plan, thus the group will carefully consider before making an investment. If the PM authorises EVN to implement the project, the group will carry out the procedures as well as recalculate the investment plan by the end of this year. EVN plans to build a 500kV transmission line to connect Vung Ang and Quang Trach to southern Vietnam. The group expects that the plant will start operation in 2021. Quang Trach 1 is one of two projects in Quang Trach Power Centre, next to Quang Trach 2 invested by Russian Inter RAO Group. In February 2015, the Russian energy company signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Quang Binhs authorities to build a $2.4 billion coal-fired power plant in the power centre. According to the MoU, the Quang Trach 2 plant will be built on 150 hectares in Quang Trach district under a build-operate-transfer (BOT) investment model. The plant will have a combined capacity of 2,400MW and is scheduled to become operational by 2024. The Russian investor has carried out the pre-feasibility study so far. GGGWeek2016, running during September 5-9, demonstrates current and emerging green growth trends from leading experts from both the public and private sectors. The event, which will showcase leadership and expertise on green finance, project development, and technology solutions, connects green technology providers with project developers and financers to negotiate deals. GGGWeek2016 will also survey and source new green products and services related to energy, water, transportation, and construction. The event will include more than 60 discussion sessions. For example, the Global Green Growth Summit will convene over 300 heads of private and public financial institutions, heads of governments, and project developers from more than 30 countries. The events Asia Regional Policy Dialogue on the coal-renewables dilemma will bring together more than 100 ministers, CEOs, and think-tanks from Asias leading economies. Meanwhile, GGGWeek2016s Green Growth Knowledge Platform Annual Conference will bring together over 300 experts from more than 40 leading policy research institutions. Besides, World Bank Partnership for Market Readiness is focused on innovative approaches to greenhouse gas mitigation using market regulation mechanisms and carbon pricing. The Meeting of the Inclusive Green Growth Partnership will bring together multilateral development banks and United Nations regional commissions. There will also be Country Sessions that will focus on showcasing Global Green Growth Institutes (GGGI) projects on the ground to highlight green investment opportunities. In addition, the New Climate Economy Africa Initiative Launch will support African policymakers as they navigate the nexus between economic development and climate change. International Emissions Trading Association Carbon Forum: Asia Carbon Market Trade Fair and Conference will bring together more than 500 participants from more than 40 countries. Notably, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) partnered with GGGI for the Asian Pacific Carbon Forum. Topics on the agenda include carbon markets for climate change mitigation, with special attention to how co-benefits from climate action can build resilience; finance and climate friendly policies that can be deployed at the national level to deliver sustainable development, as part of countries Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) under the Paris Agreement; and new carbon markets and mechanisms in the Asia-Pacific. The forum also deals with aligning current efforts with the Paris Agreement, and supporting INDC implementation through market and non-market based approaches, such as carbon pricing, capacity-building, technology transfer, innovations, and new ideas. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), in terms of financing green energy, global energy demand is set to increase by 37 per cent by 2040. Growth in demand will precipitate both the expansion of existing grid networks and the development of micro-grids and even smaller-scale solutions, such as mobile battery charging stations. In addition to servicing the needs to expand energy production and access, if countries are to meet the ambitious targets set at the 21th Conference of Parties in Paris, existing fossil fuel-based energy capacity will have to be replaced with more sustainable alternatives. Whether or not green finance will flow at a sufficient scale and speed to ensure that these changes happen on a sustainable pathway will depend on the demonstration of transferable finance models. Meanwhile, financing green cities, providing affordable housing, transport, and basic services to existing urban populations is an on-going challenge for both developed and developing countries. The urbanisation of the worlds population in 2014 stood at 3.9 billion. According to the UNDP, by 2050 a further 2.5 billion people will have moved to urban areas. Asia and Africa will see 90 per cent of this increase. Meeting the need of this growing urban population presents a key set of challenges and opportunities for proponents of green growth. The higher population density in cities will allow for economies of scale and greater efficiency in the provision of services. It will also bring opportunities to provide clean and efficient mass transit systems, as well as district heating and cooling that cannot be extended to dispersed rural populations. The provision of finances for these services also presents a unique set of challenges, encompassing not just state-level and private sector action, but increasingly local city government in the form of city councils and mayors. The Global Green Growth Summit is GGGIs flagship biennial event aimed to stimulate action-oriented discussion on economic growth, social inclusion, and poverty reduction through green growth policy, actions and investment. Garment and textile products for exports at Norfolk Joint Stock Company in ong Van 1 Industrial Zone in the northern Ha Nam Province. Bankruptcy of the Hanjin shipping line would possibly affect local businesses export and import shipping activities, said the Ministry of Industry and Trade. -- VNA/VNS Photo Vu Sinh According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, bankruptcy of the Hanjin shipping line would possibly affect local businesses export and import shipping and receiving activities. The ministry recommended businesses to quickly complete procedures to receive imported goods at the ports and take them out of the Hanjin containers. With regard to export goods which were already inside the firms containers, the ministry asked businesses to get back the goods as soon as possible and contact their foreign partners to find ways to change to other shipping firms and to organise the goods booking schedule. Those batches of goods that had already been shipped, the businesses were told to keep in touch with the Hanjin representative office in Viet Nam to keep track of the itinerary and co-ordinate with their foreign partners to ensure the goods were received at the ports on time. The ministry, in co-ordination with the Ministry of Transport, said it would direct the ports to support businesses to ship and receive goods to avoid affecting the businesses schedule and traffic congestion at the sea ports. According to the Associated Press (AP), Hanjin, the worlds seventh-largest container shipping company, filed for bankruptcy protection on August 31 and stopped accepting new cargo. With its assets being frozen, ships from China to Canada were refused to offload or take aboard containers because there were no guarantees that tugboat pilots or stevedores would be paid. This also led to a rise in shipping rates and could also hurt some trucking firms with contracts to pick up goods from Hanjin ships. The South Korean giant represents nearly 8 per cent of the Trans-Pacific trade volume for the US market. While some retailers may already be hit with their merchandise for the holiday season getting delayed, experts say it is important for the issue to be resolved before the critical shipping month of October. Regarding the bankruptcy of Hanjin Tran Thanh Hai deputy head of Import-Export Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIC) said the ministry has worked with authorised agencies to assist Vietnamese exporters after Hanjin Shipping Global stops operations in Viet Nam. Hai said Hanjin accounted for 5 per cent of logistics market in Viet Nam. Therefore, industries with large volume of export such as garment, footwear, timber or fisheries would be affected by the bankruptcy. To solve this problem, the Ministry of Industry and Trade announced on its website for those who have to change their shippers. The ministry will work with Ministry of Transport and port authorities to offer inventive for containers influenced by the bankruptcy. Nguyen Viet Hoa, CEO of Vietnam Container Corporation (Viconship) said the impact to Viconship was negligible. Hanjin just entered the Viconships Green Port for the last 3 to 4 months. Hoa said in the last four months, Hanjin maintained only one ship every week and made a contribution of around 3 per cent and 5 per cent of revenue. Currently, Hanjin owes a debt of about US$100,000 to Viconship. However, Viconship was holding 500 to 700 containers worth more than $1 million. o Van Minh, General Director of Gemadept JSC said his company did not suffer from the "incident" of Hanjin. At the moment, Gemadept did not work with this container shipping company. In Viet Nam, Hanjin is the first container shipping company invested in domestic port market. Hanjin contributed its capital to Tan Cang Cai Mep International Terminal Joint Venture. Tan Cang Cai Mep International Terminal is a joint venture by Saigon Newport Company and 3 foreign partners including Hanjin Shipping Line (Korea), MOL (Japan) and Wanhai Line (Taiwan). Cruising the seas: Malaysia-based cruiseliner Dream Cruises is set to operate a new vessel capable of carrying 3,500 passengers to Viet Nam from November. - Photo starcruisepackagesmalaysia.com The cruise liner is offering two-, five-, and seven-day tours of Viet Nam. It will make more than 10 trips to ports in the southern province of Ba Ria - Vung Tau, the central cities of Da Nang and Nha Trang, and the northern city of Ha Long between November and March next year. Besides Viet Nam, it will also bring passengers from Malaysia and Singapore to China. Phan Xuan Anh, chairman of Viet Excursions, said Dream Cruises is a new cruise liner whose passengers are mainly Chinese-speaking high income earners. The new ship is almost finished and will be launched in October. Viet Excursions regularly serves tourists coming aboard American and European cruise lines. Anh said the number of tourists has risen by 10 per cent this year. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was elected by a landslide in May 2016 after vowing to end crime in six months by killing tens of thousands of criminals. (Photo: AFP/Noel Celis) The acid-tongued Duterte bristled at warnings he would face questioning by the US president over a crime war in the Philippines that has claimed more than 2,400 lives in just over two months. "You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum," Duterte told a news conference shortly before flying to Laos to attend the summit. "We will be wallowing in the mud like pigs if you do that to me." Duterte was due to hold a bilateral meeting with Obama on Tuesday afternoon on the sidelines of a summit of global leaders hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Vientiane, the Lao capital. Duterte was elected in May after a promise to wage an unprecedented war on illegal drugs that would see tens of thousands of suspects killed. Official figures released Sunday show that, since Duterte took office on June 30, over 2,400 people have been killed in police anti-drug operations and by suspected vigilantes. Duterte has angrily rejected criticism from the Catholic Church, human rights groups, legislators and the United Nations. Duterte vowed Monday the bloodbath would continue as he pursued his goal of eradicating illegal drugs in the Philippines. "More people will be killed, plenty will be killed until the last pusher is out of the streets. Until the (last) drug manufacturer is killed, we will continue and I will continue," he said. Duterte insisted he would not take orders from the United States, a former colonial ruler of the Philippines, and did not care about how he was perceived. "I don't give a s*** about anybody observing my behaviour," he said. Duterte also used vulgar language to accuse his domestic critics of wanting to please the United States. "There are others who have the mental capacity of dogs who lap at the ass of the Americans," he said in reference to his critics. Duterte is notorious for using offensive language. During the election campaign Duterte described the US ambassador to Manila as a "son of a whore" and being homosexual. This was in response to the ambassador's criticism of Duterte for making a joke about wanting to rape a "beautiful" Australian missionary who was killed in a Filipino jail. Photo: VGP The PM made the statement during his September 6 meeting in Ha Noi with French President Francois Hollande, who is on a state visit to Viet Nam. Hailing the comprehensive outcomes of the Viet Nam-France strategic partnership over the past years, he suggested both sides accelerate cooperation in areas of Frances strength including infrastructure, high technology, aerospace, health care, pharmaceuticals and energy. Particularly, more focus should be put on strengthening affiliation in technology transfer and training, and creating conditions for Viet Nams participation in satellite manufacturing procedures, an area that the two countries are working finely together, he said. Viet Nam and France should further ties in sustainable development such as technologies in environmental protection and green agriculture, PM Phuc proposed, calling on French businesses participation in green projects in Viet Nam. He asked for Frances support during Viet Nams implementation of the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP 21) commitments, while calling on the European country to continue its official development assistance for Viet Nam, particularly in the field of infrastructure, climate change and poverty reduction. The government leader also suggested both sides enhance cooperation in the fields of economics, trade and investment, striving to double their two-way trade turnover from the modest US$4.2 billion in 2015. The two countries need to accelerate negotiations for amendments to the bilateral air transport agreement aiming to increase flight frequency and meet the demands for traveling and trade between their people, he said, adding that cooperation in culture and education, people-to-people exchange, and ties among localities should also be strengthened. PM Phuc shared Frances concern over terrorism and expressed his deep sympathy to France over its huge losses caused by terrorists. He called for Frances support of ASEANs stance concerning the maintenance of peace, stability, security, safety and aviation and navigation freedom in the East Sea, as well as peaceful settlement of East Sea issues in line with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Conventions on the Law of the Sea. For his part, President Francois Hollande affirmed that France always treasures and wishes to boost ties with Viet Nam in various fields, including those mentioned by PM Phuc above, particularly cooperation in politics, economics, trade, investment and response to climate change and rising sea waters. He noted that during the visit, apart from ministers and representatives of Frances ministries and sectors, he is also accompanied by a number of Frances leading companies and economic corporations seeking for investment opportunities in Viet Nam, which demonstrates French enterprises interest in developing ties with the Southeast Asian country. France always gives priority to strengthening economic relations with Viet Nam, President Hollande affirmed, calling on Viet Nam to continue creating favorable conditions for French investors to do long-term and effective business in Viet Nam. France is also keen on enhancing bilateral ties in science-technology, technology transfer, education and training, agriculture and pharmaceuticals, together with boosting cultural and people-to-people exchange, thus increasing mutual understanding between the two nations, he stated. The French president also pledged continuous assistance for Viet Nam in the fields of the countrys demand, including adaptation to climate change and rising sea waters and environmental protection. Airbus President and CEO Fabrice Bregier, French President Francois Hollande, Vietnamese State President Tran Dai Quang and Vietjet President and CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao are pictured at the signing ceremony in Hanoi on September 6, 2016 Low-cost private airline VietJet bought 20 planes while national carrier Vietnam Airlines and budget airline Jetstar Pacific bought 10 each in "deals worth 6.5 billion", Airbus Asia spokesman Sean Lee told AFP. It did not provide a breakdown of each deal's value. It is the first deal between French aviation giant Airbus and Jetstar Pacific, which said in July it was planning to buy the 10 single-aisle A320 aircraft. Vietnam Airlines, which owns a 70 percent stake of Jetstar Pacific, will purchase 10 Airbus A350 planes, according to officials at a signing ceremony attended by Hollande and Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang in Hanoi. Vietnam's VietJet said it would buy 20 A321 planes to boost its current fleet of 34 planes, all of which are Airbus. The VietJet deal comes after it purchased 100 passenger jets from US aircraft maker Boeing for US$11.3 billion in May, during a visit by US President Barack Obama. It called the deal the largest single commercial air plane purchase in Vietnam aviation history. VietJet, founded in 2007 is making a major move into the lucrative Southeast Asian aviation sector. Southeast Asia is seen as key growth market for budget air travel, driven by the region's growing middle class, many of whom are travelling for the first time. State President Tran Dai Quang (R) and French President Francois Hollande at the press briefing after their talks in Ha Noi on September 6, 2016. Photo: VGP The two leaders highlighted the importance of maintaining peace and stability, accelerating regional and international cooperation; reaffirmed their commitments to maintain freedom of navigation and aviation. They stressed the need to settle disputes in the East Sea through peaceful means, including diplomatic and legal processes on the basis of international law and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The two Presidents also underlined the importance of full implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), voicing support for efforts to reach a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC). Regarding the bilateral ties, the two sides affirmed their resolve to beef up the trategic partnership through a long-term cooperation vision that benefits both nations. Both sides agreed to foster exchanges and contacts, particularly at high level, promote the role of coordination and cooperation mechanisms in politic, economic, defense, scientific-technological, cultural, education domains. Economic cooperation still remains as a pillar of the bilateral relationship, the two Presidents agreed. French President Hollande pledged to continue offering official development assistance for Viet Nam. State President Quang took the occasion to invite France to attend the Viet Nam Foodexpo next year as the honorary guest. The two leaders agreed to boost defense cooperation and coordination at multilateral forums like the United Nations, ASEAN-EU, ASEM. Viet Nam spoke highly of Frances role in the fight against climate change following the success of the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference. The two countries will strengthen cooperation in coping with global challenges, especially climate change. After the talks, the two Presidents witnessed the signing of cooperative agreements on mutual legal assistance, extradition, training, agriculture, French teaching, climate change adaptation, plane sales, telecommunication, infrastructure development among others. Residents in Phu My Hung recently claimed to the Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Committee that bad smell in the area has seriously affected their living condition and the stink could be coming from the Da Phuoc area where the Da Phuoc Integrated Waste Management Facility (DPIWMF) is located. What can you say about this? During the past two weeks we have received some phone calls from the local Department for Natural Resources and Environment on the issue that residents in Phu My Hung Township are affected by foul odour in the air. Right after that, leaders of Vietnam Waste Solutions (VWS) conducted careful inspections of all operation activities of the DPIWMF. I think the result will be officially announced by authorised bodies soon. However, we can confirm that all operation activities of the complex have been implemented strictly under modern technologies and thoroughly inspected and traced by professional equipment and experts. All data, information, and figures have been tracked regularly. Our system is operated by professional Vietnamese engineers and inspected online by technical experts of California Waste Solutions in the US, 24 hours a day. VWS has hired the Yuki Sepre 24 Company to place booths in specific areas which the residents claim is the source of the bad smell, especially in districts 7 and Nha Be. Environmental data from those areas has been sent to a management centre for analysis. So far, what is the result of these booths? After talking with local residents in District 7, where some of VWSs expat employees are also living, we were told that this bad smell could come from pigs excrement and dead fish. Residents usually smell the stink at midnight or from 5 to 6am, for only about 10 or 15 minutes. We are also doing scientific tests in order to determine if the smell comes from our garbage trucks, and whether or not its over the acceptable limit. But again, I can confirm that since operation in 2007, the DPIWMF has followed regulations to ensure sustainability and quality. In 2014, we were even deemed capable to receive an additional 2,000 tonnes (over the then-standard 5,000 tonnes) of rubbish per day. We made sure to supply more equipment and workers to meet this increasing demand. The DPIWMF has not yet built a green corridor, what is the reason behind this? In our design, we have a 300 hectare green corridor between the DPIWMF and the local areas. This corridor is to prepare for environmental disaster if it happens and ensure the safety of the neighbouring areas. However, the local authorities have not yet granted the land to us even though we have put in many requests. Some experts claimed that the DPIWMF is applying the technology of open landfill. Could this be the reason for the bad smell? The technology applied in the DPIWMF now is the most optimal technology of waste treatment and it is now applied in the US. Ho Chi Minh City chose this technology because it can reduce environmental disasters in landfills, it is economical and suitable for waste treatment, and it can be implemented immediately at the start of the projects operation. I want to make it clear that this is not only an issue in Vietnam. Waste treatment centres in other countries, even in the US, have also released bad smells. The important thing is how to control it within limits. At VWS, I confirm that all treatment solutions meet standards and are strictly inspected by modern technologies. We are transparent so we usually invite visitors from authorised bodies, local residents, and organisations to visit us to see what we are doing. What do you think is the source of this bad smell in the area? Da Phuoc commune is a large-scale complex of 1,000ha including a cemetery, crematorium, waste treatment area, excrement and mud treatment complex, and a fertiliser plant. Therefore, I wonder if all of the above facilities are equipped with current technologies and strictly obey regulations on treatment like VWS does. The risk of releasing bad smells from the above facilities is very high, and it is unfair that only VWS is being questioned. We have sent documents to the citys authorities to request authorised bodies to investigate this case carefully. The management board, staff, and workers of VWS are ready to co-ordinate and share information and data to find out exactly where the smell comes from. We do believe that actions from the city authorities will help to uncover the reasons and solutions to solve this issue. It is important to ensure a clean environment for local residents and reclaim the prestige and reputation of VWS. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. You have permission to edit this collection. Edit Close Police said that a 22-year-old woman reported being attacked about 2:25 a.m. as she walked in the 200 block of North Pinckney Street. She told police that a stranger began following her as she walked on Wisconsin Avenue, and as she approached her home, he grabbed her, threw her down and got on top of her. Its time for a change: Cara Castronuova on Her Race for District 22 in the NYS Assembly On Oct. 25, Cara Castronuova, who is vying to unseat longtime Democrat incumbent Michaelle Solages as representative for District 22 in the New York State Assembly, sat down with Vision Times to discuss why voters should vote for her, and not her opponent, in the upcoming election on Nov. 8. The Court of Appeals on Friday morning rejected requests for release from four jailed rights workers who have been charged with bribery in connection with a sex scandal that has plagued the deputy leader of the opposition. The staffers from local rights group Adhoc Ny Sokha, Yi Soksan, Nay Vanda and Lim Mony were detained in late April and questioned over allegations that they attempted to pay the woman at the heart of the sex scandal, Khom Chandaraty, to withhold evidence. Lawyers for the defendants argued that the Anti-Corruption Unit had held them illegally during questioning. Huon Chundy, one of the lawyers, said police had neglected to time the questioning session and it had run longer than the legal 48 hours. Their detention did not comply with the law therefore it should be annulled due to non-compliance, he said, adding that his clients were detained for more than a week. Touch Thaovarith, a court spokesman, said the arguments of the lawyers were unacceptable and the court had referred the case back to the Municipal Court. He did not explain the reasoning behind the decision. Am Sam Ath, technical supervisor at local rights group Licadho, said the behavior of the judges had violated the rights of the defendants. On May 2, the four rights workers were sent to Prey Sar prison to await trial, while an election official who was also charged with being an accomplice to the alleged bribery has been detained in the capitals P.J. prison. Barricades were set up and hundreds of security forces deployed in Phnom Penh on Tuesday in an attempt to block opposition supporters from delivering petitions to foreign embassies calling for action on the deteriorating human rights situation in the country. City Hall had banned the march from taking place. The barriers were set up along a key thoroughfare in the capital near the headquarters of the Cambodia National Rescue Party. Demonstrators intended to deliver the petition to the embassies of the signatories of the 1991 Paris Peace Accord, which formally ended the Cambodian-Vietnamese war and ushered in the beginning of United Nations administration. Son Chhay, the CNRPs chief whip, said the continued detention of opposition lawmakers and the apparent failure of the authorities to properly investigate the murder of popular political commentator Kem Ley in July showed that Cambodian democracy was in peril. Eight opposition lawmakers taking part in the march were also blocked from reaching the foreign embassies, he added. The government has always maintained that the country is at peace, he said. This mornings actions showed there is no peace and the government should not have allowed this to happen. The delays caused by traffic congestion due to the blocking of the road led to serious disruptions for commuters. City Hall spokesman Mean Chanyada said the municipality had deployed police to maintain security, adding that in every country there are rules that say protesters must have permission from the local authorities. Political analyst Ou Virak said the response from the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party to the planned demonstration was a sign that it was afraid of mass gatherings. This was a failure of the government and City Hall and it has made people angry with them. It was a wasted political strategy from the government. Facing such a heavy security presence, the CNRP canceled the march, instead allowing five lawmakers to deliver the petitions to the embassies. Having suffered decades of conflict, Cambodians understand better than most the devastating effect guns have brought on their society: killings, destroyed infrastructure, and leaving a country impoverished. What Cambodians find difficult to understand is why America the most powerful and wealthiest country in the world is unable to solve its own gun problems, and the mass shootings that occur with devastating regularity. Cambodian analysts and students believe that the United States gun management laws need to be tightened in order to cut down on the number of lives lost due to gun violence. I'm not surprised by the mass shooting because I expect it to occur, said Neak Chandarith, head of the international studies department at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. It's just a matter of time, he said, adding that allowing people to carrying weapons means gun management cannot be 100 percent tight. The people have the right to bear arms. And, as we know, what are guns for? Guns are for shooting. In Orlando, Florida, 49 people were shot dead at a nightclub on June 12. It was only the most recent mass killing in America. In San Bernardino, California, on December 2, 14 people were gunned down and 22 wounded in a mass shooting. The Washington Post in July catalogued 874 people killed in 50 years of mass shooting in the US. Yet, that number is only a tiny fraction of the number of people killed with guns each year in America: last year more than 12,000 people were killed with firearms. Comparing gun laws in the US and Australia, where major reforms were introduced in 1996 following a massacre in Port Arthur, Neak Chandarith said the strict Australian laws introduced that year had prevented a repeat. Australia has not experienced mass gun killings since 1996. The Australian government reformed gun law and banned people from carrying guns, he said, adding that the U.S. should do the same. On average, seven children and teens under the age of 20 are killed by guns every day in the United States, according to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, whose mission is to create a safer America by cutting gun deaths in half by 2025. Banning guns alone is unlikely to stop mass shootings, said Chheang Vannarith, chairman of the advisory board of the Cambodia Institute for Strategic Studies (CISS). Poor gun management laws are a problem, but so is extremism and discrimination in society, Chheang Vannarith said. A solution would require tackling all three areas: gun laws, extremism, and the discrimination that has angered so many. First is gun management. Second is pushing back on extremist trends, and discrimination in American society," Chheang Vannarith said. The solution to gun management is the most straightforward, he said. If federal governments or state governments in the US cannot manage gun ownership effectively, then people should not be allowed to carry guns. The new US government should endorse a high standard of gun law and should not allow the people to buy or stock guns at home or carry with themselves, he said. Lesson from Cambodia Cambodia has experienced implementing gun control in a society awash with weapons. Following years of civil war, gun ownership, particularly of the ubiquitous AK-47 assault rifle, was commonplace in villages, towns and cities in the country. It wasnt until the late 1990s that the government finally acted to remove guns from civilians, making it illegal to possess weapons. Members of the public were asked to hand-in their rifles, pistols, rocket launchers and grenades, and the government organized events where huge stockpiles of handed-in weapons were destroyed in public, crushed by heavy construction road rollers or incinerated in large bonfires. It is still relatively easy to obtain weapons in Cambodia, but it is no longer a society where many had guns, as it once was. Ministry of Interior spokesman General Khieu Sopheak, whose officers were instrumental in disarming Cambodian society in the late 1990s, declined to comment on the mass shooting issues, saying, diplomatically, that it was an internal affair of the US government. However, Cambodia always has words for victims of such crimes, General Sopheak said. If America is in grief, we convey our condolences, he said. Su Panha, a third-year law student at the Royal University of Law and Economics in Phnom Penh, said he found it surprising that mass shootings were common in the US, given it is an advanced and developed nation with strong law enforcement. He said the phenomena reflected poorly on government leaders. There are advantages and disadvantages to gun use. However, in my opinion, civilians should not be allowed to use guns, the Cambodian law student said. Chea Hao, a freshman studying international studies at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, agreed. There is a high chance that mass shooting can take place since most people have the rights to bear arms. I think that the rights to bear arms for all the people should either be restricted or banned. Some in the US government seem to agree that restricting ownership of some types of weapons would be positive for society. In the wake of the Orlando massacre, US Vice President Joe Biden posted a video message on the White Houses website in support of those who signed a We the People petition to ban AR15-type assault weapons from civilian ownership. We have used phrases like Now it's time. Stop gun violence. Enough is enough, the vice president said. Well, folks, enough is enough, he added. You know that. Union leaders have announced the latest demand for increased wages in the garment sector as just under $180 per month. The current minimum wage workers receive is $140. In a letter from union leaders to the Ministry of Labor, they said the figure of $179.60 was arrived at because rising prices meant that the current rate was not enough to support a decent living standard. Employers issued a warning to workers to abide by the law if they planned to hold demonstrations in support of higher wages. In 2014, at least five people were killed when the security forces opened fire on striking garment workers. Ath Thorn, head of the Cambodian Labor Confederation, said the union demands were fair and affordable. The employers always complain like that. They never say they want to give more to workers, although workers are struggling to work without motivation to produce for this industry, he said. Ken Loo, secretary general o the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, said the demands were excessive. Actually, the salary of workers is more than that. Its not with just only the amount of the minimum wage. Thus, if the union asked to increase by 30 percent at one time, no countries in the world can afford that, he said. Heng Sour, a labor ministry spokesman, could not be reached for comment. About 700,000 Cambodians, mostly women, are employed in the textile industry. Almost half of Cambodias garment exports go to the European Union, while just under a third go to the United States. Last year, the sector brought in more than $6 billion, according to the Workers Information Center. Negotiations over the minimum wage are due to be held on Friday. European Union lawmakers want help to preserve 72 mass graves in Syria and Iraq documented by The Associated Press so the evidence can be used to bring Islamic State group members to trial. Romanian Socialist lawmaker Victor Bostinaru said Tuesday that the preservation of this evidence is today of utmost importance. His Austrian colleague Josef Weidenholzer said time is pressing because the grave sites are only roughly covered and exposed to dogs and the weather. He said the longer we wait, the less that will remain of the graves and of the evidence. It is important to make European support available. In the most comprehensive survey so far, AP has documented and mapped 72 mass graves. Thousands may be buried but some sites are in territory too dangerous to excavate. This week leaders from Southeast Asia, the United States and China are meeting in Laos for the first time since July landmark ruling by a U.N.-backed tribunal rejected China's vast claims to most of the South China Sea. Addressing the maritime dispute is among ASEAN's most important issues, however this year there is little expectation that the Summit's concluding joint statement will even mention the tribunal's ruling. Ben Rhodes, deputy National Security Council adviser to President Barack Obama, tells VOA that although he hasn't seen the draft statement yet the U.S. doesn't expect the ruling to be part of it. "What we have been focused on is not the ruling, given the diversity of views on that topic. We have been focused on the principles that were in Sunnylands," he said, referring to the U.S.-ASEAN Summit at the Sunnylands estate in Rancho Mirage, California, which took place in February. "We think those are important issues that need to be a part of the agenda both in ASEAN meetings and on East Asia summit." At the February meeting, Obama called for "tangible steps" to lower tensions over ongoing territorial disputes in the South China Sea and said regional leaders had affirmed that disagreements should be resolved peacefully, through legal means. China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia all lay claim to parts of the disputed region. Many have hoped that ASEAN can provide a framework for resolving the disputes, however the group has been unable to bring the parties together, in part because China insists on negotiating one-on-one instead of through multilateral settings. In July, the U.N. arbitration court dismissed China's territorial claims in the South China Sea, saying it has "no historic title" to the vast maritime region. The ruling by the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration answers a complaint brought by the Philippines in 2013 that accused Beijing of violating the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) with its aggressive actions on the Scarborough Shoal, a reef located about 225 kilometers off the Philippine coast. Rhodes said that the ruling is not what the U.S. has been focusing on, and that there are other important issues that need to be a part of the agenda of the ASEAN and East Asia Summit meetings. The White House official also said the U.S. will make its own statement, and that it has encouraged other countries to do the same. Reactions to ruling "On the arbitration ruling, we have been encouraging individual countries to make statements in support of the ruling. But again, given the diverse views in the EAS, we didn't have an expectation. But we will make our own statements and we've encouraged other countries to make statements in support of the ruling," he said. The United States has repeatedly emphasized the legally binding nature of the ruling on the disputed maritime region and has urged urged China, which is a signatory to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, to abide by it. Beijing has rejected the ruling. "China's territorial sovereignty and maritime interests in the South China Sea" will not be affected, Chinese President XI Jinping said shortly after the decision was handed down. This report was produced in collaboration with VOA's Mandarin Service. The midwestern U.S. city of Chicago, Illinois is reeling from a deadly Labor Day holiday weekend in which 13 people were shot to death, pushing the homicide rate this year to levels not seen in two decades. The Chicago Police Department told VOA 488 people have been killed this year, mostly by gunfire, a homicide count the nation's third largest city has not experienced since the 1990's, when homicides peaked at more than 900 a year. The Chicago Tribune reports there were 512 homicides this year, higher than police department numbers, which do not include killings on area expressways and homicides that were determined to be justifiable. The city's homicide total last year was 481. The Labor Day weekend killings follow 90 homicides in August, the most in Chicago since June 1993. If the killings go unabated, homicides there could top 600 for the first time since 2003. Homicides in Chicago this year exceed combined totals in New York and Los Angeles, the two largest cities in the United States. Chicago police blame the surge in killings on repeat offenders and the widespread availability of illegal guns. "The historical cycle of violence we have seen in some communities must come to an end," Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said in a statement last month. "Repeat gun offenders who drive the violence on our streets should not be there in the first place, and it is time to change the laws to ensure these violent offenders are held accountable for their crimes." Police say most of the killings have occurred in Chicago's southern and western neighborhoods, where 75 community organizations hosted block parties, concerts and other pop-up events over the holiday weekend in an attempt to reduce the violence. Although crime rates in Chicago and the rest of the U.S. remain well below those between 1990 and 1995, homicides began to surge in numerous large cities last year. A person of interest in the shooting at a Sun Prairie fast food restaurant has been detained, police said. Ebher E. Ruiz, 24, is being held at Dane County Jail on Probation Hold after being detained by Sun Prairie Police with assistance from the Fitchburg Police Department. The shooting happened early Tuesday morning at a Taco Bell at 2005 McCoy Road, Sgt. Brian Luckus said. Police and an ambulance were sent about midnight to the Taco Bell for a reported shooting. One victim was found there with a gunshot wound that was not believed to be life threatening. Luckus said a black BMW sedan fled the scene when police arrived. The victim and the alleged shooter know one another, said Luckus, who described the shooting as "not a random act." The White House says President Barack Obama has canceled a planned meeting with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, after the blustery Philippine leader, in comments to reporters, used a vulgarity in referring to the U.S. commander-in-chief. Obama said earlier that he planned to use an expected meeting with Duterte at a summit in Laos to raise the issue of more than 2,000 extra-judicial killings of suspected Philippine drug dealers and users since Duterte took office in June. For his part, Duterte has defended his support for the killings, saying he is following the will of those who elected him. Then, before departing Manila on Monday for the Lao capital, Vientiane, he warned Obama: "You must be respectful. Do not just throw questions." Using the Tagalog phrase for "son of a bitch," he then said: "Putang ina, I will swear at you in the forum." Obama initially shrugged off Duterte's comments, noting that "clearly [Duterte] is a colorful guy." But he also said the planned meeting hinged on whether Duterte was prepared for "constructive, productive conversations." Hours later, National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said the Tuesday meeting with Duterte had been canceled and that Obama would instead meet with South Korean President Park Geun-hye. Duterte, who campaigned for the Philippine presidency on promises to end illegal drug activity in his homeland, has alarmed an array of human rights organizations with his deadly crackdown. He also has vowed to defend police and the Philippine military carrying out his orders, even at the cost of his own possible imprisonment. Come January, there could be two presidents in the White House. That is, if Democrat Hillary Clinton prevails over Republican Donald Trump at the polls November 8. The second president would be Clintons husband, former President Bill Clinton, who would take on the role as ... first lady? First spouse? First man? At this point, we don't know. The protocol for the first-ever scenario is really guesswork. There are no precedents, said Allan Litchman, professor of history at American University in Washington, D.C. But certainly he should not be called the first lady. He should be called the first gentleman, of course. In the United States, a first lady traditionally maintains a low profile and a quietly supportive role. Historically, first ladies adopt a non-controversial policy initiative; just think of first lady Michelle Obamas campaign to reduce childhood obesity. Its an issue that the vast majority of Americans can support. Hillary Clinton tried a different approach, taking on the overhaul of the U.S. health care system, a very complex, controversial policy issue with many stakeholders. Ultimately, that effort failed. The Clintons have already indicated that Bill Clinton will relinquish his role at the Clinton Foundation to avoid any appearance of conflicts of interests. So, what role might he take on should he become Americas first-ever first gentleman? Will he host teas or choose the White House decor? Hes going to have to learn," Lichtman said. "And I think he can at the age of 70. Hes certainly smart enough to figure all of that out. But Clinton is a known loose cannon, Litchman points out. And if he overshadows his wife, the president (if she is elected president), Litchman says that could cause problems. Whether he can keep himself under control is the bigger and much more interesting question, he said. Lara Salamatou wants to resume her education, but as Cameroon schools reopened Monday, the 16-year-old could only get lessons in frustration. Shed tried to enroll in the government high school in Maroua, the Far North provincial capital, after fleeing three months ago from extremist violence near her home in Kerawa on the border with Nigeria. She was turned away because of overcrowded classes and few teachers, she said. Now, Salamatou is among at least 100,000 displaced youths whose education has been jeopardized this academic year, according to Cameroons government. Authorities recently shut her school in Kerawa, along with 160 others, because of cross-border raids by the Nigerian-based Boko Haram Islamic insurgents. Schools in host communities are overcrowded and insecurity has delayed construction of more classrooms. Adding to the countrys academic challenges, the government last week moved to shutter more than 300 unlicensed or unauthorized schools, though those weren't in the Far North. Would-be students wait At a French-speaking government elementary school here, roughly 500 prospective pupils still waited outside as classes began Monday. Teacher Njah Clementine said the school wouldn't admit youths whose parents had not paid the $10-per-student fee required by parent teacher associations for expenses such as textbooks and exams. PTAs manage public schools in collaboration with the government, which provides otherwise free elementary education. Its compulsory for youngsters ages 6 through 14. Though many of the deterred youngsters have been displaced from conflict zones, Clementine said, the government hasnt provided instructions on whether to admit them. "There are so many parents that rush at the last minute to come and pay. Some are begging" that their children be allowed to come to class, Clementine said, insisting the school has "effective" teachers. "They prepared their lessons since last week." Since 2014, some government-funded teachers have refused transfers to schools in areas vulnerable to Boko Haram attacks, further straining those schools' resources. Battling Boko Haram Across the border in northern Nigeria, Boko Haram attacks government schools and schoolchildren. The Islamist militants oppose education; the group's name translates to "Western education is forbidden." Cameroon's minister of basic education, Youssouf Hadidja Alim, said the government is striving to build more classrooms in safer locales. She said it has constructed more than 200 classrooms, noting that 87 buildings have toilets. The government also has installed 56 wells to serve the education sites. More facilities are planned, she said. The government also is providing special allowances for teachers to encourage them to teach in vulnerable areas and has implemented an emergency plan for border areas, Alim said. But Boko Haram fighters target the companies building the schools, said the Far North regions top-ranking basic education official, Aminou Sanda Zoua. He said that contractors have abandoned construction sites because of mounting insecurity. He added that all classrooms built by the militarys engineering corps are ready for use. The Chinese government is objecting to an international conservation group's decision to remove giant pandas from its endangered-species list. The International Union for Conservation of Nature said this week that it had reclassified the giant panda in its Red List of Threatened Species. The animal is no longer "endangered," but is still "vulnerable," the organization said. The Swiss-based IUCN credited China's enforcement of anti-poaching regulations and expansion of forest reserves for the giant pandas' population growth, but Chinese officials are not entirely happy about the attention. They said the black-and-white pandas were still endangered. If we downgrade their conservation status, or neglect or relax our conservation work, the population and habitats of giant pandas could still suffer irreversible loss, and our achievements could be quickly lost, Chinas State Forestry Administration said in a statement. The Chinese government and the World Wildlife Fund established the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Chinas Sichuan province in 1980, when the world's giant panda population had declined to fewer than 1,000 because of poaching and deforestation. The latest report from the IUCN indicated there were now at least 1,864 giant pandas in the wild, up from fewer than 1,600 12 years ago. Panda reserves China has 67 panda reserves, a network similar to the U.S. national park system, and those reserves have been credited with a large part of the pandas' population boom. Marc Brody, senior adviser for conservation and sustainable development at the Wolong reserve, said he was skeptical about the IUCN's review of the panda population. "It is too early to conclude that pandas are actually increasing in the wild," Brody said at the World Conservation Congress this week in Hawaii, a meeting organized once every four years by the IUCN. "Perhaps we are simply getting better at counting wild pandas." "While the Chinese government deserves credit and support for recent progress in management of both captive and wild giant pandas ... there is no justifiable reason to downgrade the listing from endangered to threatened," he added. "Panda habitat is in fact decreasing from ongoing fragmentation from highway construction, active tourism development in Sichuan province, and other human economic activities." Taking a separate tack, the IUCN warned that environmental risks might well reduce the giant pandas' population markedly in the future. The international group estimated that climate change could eliminate more than 35 percent of the bears' habitat in China by the end of this century. The conservation organization's Red List includes 82,954 species of plants and animals; of those, 23,928 are threatened with extinction. Just as Islamic State is pushed on its back-foot in Syria and Iraq, the jihadist terror threat is set to become a key factor in a series of national and regional elections across Europe. Some fear that in a feverish pre-election atmosphere in Austria, France, Germany and the Netherlands politicians chasing populist votes risk assisting, if inadvertently, jihadist propagandists and recruiters by depicting Islam as a menace to national identity. Across Europe there is a resurgence of identity politics as fears mount over Islam and terrorism and debates sharpen about what balance should be struck between security and liberty. On Sunday, the right-wing nationalist Alternative for Germany, an anti-immigrant party founded just three years ago, made huge gains in a regional election, a year after German Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to open the country's borders to refugees. AfD pushed Merkels conservative Christian Democrats into third place in the chancellor's home state. Some question whether the AfD can repeat its performance in subsequent regional elections during the next 12 months culminating in a national poll. We must see if in the coming months the debate on refugees is still the number one issue, or socio-economic issues, according to Jean-Michel De Waele, a political scientist at the Free University of Brussels. Future of European politics? The AfDs surge Sunday has jolted Europe, serving notice that populist, anti-immigrant advances are likely to be seen in upcoming elections, forcing more centrist parties and politicians to adopt tougher security policies and harsher anti-immigrant rhetoric to fend off the challenge. That in turn will reshape European politics and likely the negotiations between the European Union and Britain, which voted in July to leave the economic bloc. It could also impact relations between the West and Russia, which has been courting, and possibly funding, some far-right European parties. But the far-right rise in Europe could have the most immediate impact on relations between Muslims and non-Muslims. The tone for Frances election season appears to have been set by the summer-long political controversy over the attempt by dozens of mayors of seaside towns to ban the burkini, a cross between a burqa and a swimsuit. Nicolas Sarkozy, a former president vying to secure the nomination of the conservative Republican party, backed the burkini ban. So too has Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front. She claims that the very soul of France is at stake. As identity politics frames the upcoming European elections, some analysts and officials fear contests will become perceived by the continents Muslims as competitions about who can bait them the most, alienating Islamic communities and adding to the disaffection of their young. War of religions sought Counterterror analysts have warned the jihadist strategy aimed at provoking an overreaction by Western governments and enraging citizens will be furthered by the electoral depiction of Islam as the enemy and the mixing of immigration and terror policies. Among them, American anthropologist Scott Atran, who has long warned jihadists are, ... seeking to provoke deeper divisions between Muslims and non-Muslims in Europe, forcing the latter to overreact as the terror becomes ever wilder and more extreme, thereby leaving the former with no choice but to join the jihadist camp. In August, ISs online magazine Dabiq focused on the theme of Break the Cross. In a series of interviews, foreign fighters who had converted from Christianity were used as mouthpieces to urge supporters in the West to destroy arrogant Christian disbelievers. They exhorted Muslims to pray for Allah's curse to be upon the liars. The IS aim, observers believe, is to exacerbate antagonism toward Muslims in Europe and provoke a "war of religions," the logic being - the more outrageous the targets, the more likely the terror will provoke overreaction and fuel the rise of populist nationalist sentiments and parties. That appears to be working. A Pew research survey released in July uncovered suspicions among non-Muslim Europeans that a large portion of their Muslim neighbors harbor sympathy for the jihadists. Even in countries considered more tolerant - Germany, the Netherlands, Britain and Sweden - fewer than half of respondents believed very few Muslims supported IS. Looming large Attitudes toward Muslims and refugees loom large in the European political debate, and this is reflected in current public opinion. Majorities in Greece, Hungary, Italy and Poland express negative attitudes toward both Muslims and refugees, the Pew survey authors wrote. Italian career diplomat and European Union envoy Sem Fabrizi noted recently it is hardly surprising there is a considerable debate over the link between terrorism and migration given the refugee crisis is connected with the conflict in Syria and the threat posed by Islamic State. But he urges caution in conflating migration and counter-terror policies. We must take care to avoid jumping to simplistic conclusions about how terrorists are motivated and enabled or to criminalize migrants or refugees, he argues. That isnt a prescription being followed in Austria by the right-wing Freedom Partys Norbert Hofer, who has been mixing security concerns with anti-immigrant messages. Pollsters are predicting a win for Hofer in the October 2 presidential election, a re-run of a poll in May that was annulled by the courts. An arm of the European Union says there's enough scientific evidence to move forward with a review of Sweden's request to declare the American lobster an invasive species. The opinion of the European Union's Scientific Forum on Invasive Alien Species announced Tuesday sets in motion a broader review of the proposal to ban American lobsters. Lobstermen in the U.S and Canada stand to lose $200 million in business with EU countries if the ban becomes a reality. They contend a ban is not supported by science. Sweden set the wheels in motion when it announced it had found 32 American lobsters in the country's waters earlier this year and that they pose a threat to native crustaceans. The expanded review won't be completed until the spring, at the earliest. Global warming is shaking up life in the world's oceans, spreading disease, destroying coral reefs and threatening to wipe out global food security, according to a new report. Eighty scientists from 12 countries released their findings Monday at the International Union for Conservation of Nature meeting in Honolulu. "We all know that the oceans sustain this planet. We all know the oceans provide every second breath we take. And yet we are making the oceans sick," IUCN director Inger Anderssen said. The experts say oceans have absorbed more than 90 percent of all the extra heat caused by global warming over the last 40 years, causing a drastic change in the rhythm of the seas. Some ocean mammals and birds are being forced to feed far from their traditional food sources and nesting sites, while other sea life is being driven away from warmer waters toward the cooler seas around the poles. Warmer oceans also cause more disease in sea plants and animals, posing a clear threat to human health. The experts say there is no way out except to cut man-made greenhouse gas emissions that are causing the Earth to get unnaturally warmer. Phyllis Schlafly, the conservative activist who almost single-handedly helped defeat the proposed Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and pushed the Republican Party to the right in ensuing decades, has died. She was 92. Schlafly died Monday of cancer at her home in St. Louis, her son John Schlafly said. Known as "the first lady of anti-feminism," Schlafly rose to national attention in 1964 with her self-published book, A Choice Not an Echo, that became a manifesto for the far right. The book, which sold 3 million copies, chronicled the history of the Republican National Convention and is credited with helping conservative Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona win the 1964 GOP nomination. She later helped lead opposition to the ERA, a proposed constitutional amendment that would guarantee equal rights under the law regardless of gender. Schlafly argued that the measure would mean the end of the traditional family. Supporters of the measure argued it would require that laws determining child support and job opportunities be designed without regard to gender. Schlafly told the Associated Press in 2007 that perhaps her greatest legacy was the Eagle Forum, which she founded in 1972. The ultraconservative group has chapters in several states and claims 80,000 members. "I've taught literally millions of people how to participate in self-government,'' Schlafly said. The Eagle Forum pushes for low taxes, a strong military and English-only education. The group is against efforts it says are pushed by radical feminists or encroach on U.S. sovereignty, such as guest worker visas. The group's website describes the Equal Rights Amendment as having had a "hidden agenda of tax-funded abortions and same-sex marriages.'' Saint Louis University history professor Donald Critchlow, who profiled Schlafly in his 2005 book, Phyllis Schlafly and Grassroots Conservatism: A Woman's Crusade, said the defeat of the amendment helped revive conservatism and pave the way for Ronald Reagans election in 1980. Schlafly remained active in conservative politics well into her 80s, when she was still writing a column that appeared in 100 newspapers, doing radio commentaries on more than 460 stations, and publishing a monthly newsletter. Gabonese President Ali Bongo, who has been accused by opposition politicians of voter fraud, resisted calls Wednesday for a recount of votes cast in the countrys presidential election, saying he has no power to order one. European Union observers in Gabon have said there was an "obvious anomaly" in election results that showed Bongo narrowly defeating challenger Jean Ping. The EU observer mission to Gabon is questioning results from Upper Ogooue province, a Bongo stronghold where the incumbent president officially won 95 percent of the votes amid 99 percent voter turnout. The opposition has said the vote tallies in the province were vastly inflated. In a statement Tuesday, the EU mission noted that turnout was significantly lower in Gabon's eight other provinces, averaging just 48 percent nationwide. "An analysis of the number of non-voters and blank and spoiled ballots reveals an obvious anomaly in the final results of Upper Ogooue," it said. "...the integrity of the provisional results in this province is consequently compromised." The mission chief reiterated a call for Gabonese authorities to publish the results from all polling stations around the country. Earlier Tuesday, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Gabon should hold a recount of the vote after the opposition alleged that voter fraud took place. "There are arguments and some doubts. European observers in the country have already made criticisms on the basis of objectives. It would be wise to do a recount," Valls told French radio station RTL. Bongo, however told RTL radio the Constitutional Court must order a vote recount and he has no authority to initiate one. "What people should be asking me to do is apply the law," he said. "I cannot violate the law. As far as a recount is concerned ... that's done at the level of the Constitutional Court." Bongo went on to accuse the EU poll observers of bias and said the team should look into "some anomalies in the fiefdom of Mr. Ping." "If we're raising anomalies, we have to be clear, balanced and raise all the anomalies that have been noted," Bongo said. Gabon's election commission announced last week that President Ali Bongo won the election over opposition leader Jean Ping by about 5,000 votes, leading to protests and street violence that has left at least six people dead. Gabon's Justice Minister Seraphin Moundounga resigned over the disputed re-election of Bongo, becoming the first high-level government official to step down since the vote. Moundounga told Radio France International Monday that the government is not responding to concerns about the need for peace, leading him to decide to step down. Also Monday, Ping, who also has declared himself the leader of Gabon, called for a general strike, saying an economic blockage would pressure the government. However, few people seemed to stay home Monday, as many banks and shops in the capital, Libreville, re-opened following the violence. Some city residents said they did not hear about the call for a strike. Ping said his campaign has evidence of election rigging, which he says he will present to Gabon's constitutional court. In another development Monday, France expressed concern about the safety of several of its nationals, noting that "some arrests have been made in recent days." Interior Minister Pacome Moubelet Boubeya said more than 1,000 people have been arrested nationwide, including as many as 800 in the capital. He confirmed three deaths in the post-election violence. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke over the phone Sunday with Bongo and Ping and urged an end to the violence. "The secretary-general deplored the loss of life that occurred during the demonstrations in the aftermath of the presidential election. He expressed concern about the continuing inflammatory messages being disseminated and called for an immediate end to all acts of violence in the country," according to a statement from Bans office. The U.N. chief also requested that his Special Representative for Central Africa Abdoulaye Bathily continue to work with the parties in order to defuse tensions. "Ban Ki-moon reiterated his call to President Bongo to impress upon the government the need to show restraint. He also urged Ping to issue a clear message to his followers, calling on them to refrain from any acts of violence in the interest of the country and of national unity," the statement read. According to reports, 27 people who were detained from Pings campaign headquarters have been released. Ban Ki-moon, however, stressed the importance of peaceful and legal means to seek a resolution in the outcome of the presidential election. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has once again questioned Saudi Arabia's ability to manage Islam's holiest sites, accusing the kingdom of murder in last year's deadly hajj pilgrimage stampede. "The heartless and murderous Saudis locked up the injured with the dead in containers instead of providing medical treatment and helping them or at least quenching their thirst. They murdered them,'' Khamenei said in a statement on his website, marking the anniversary of the disaster. He offered no evidence to support the allegations. Saudi Arabia immediately lashed back. Crown Prince and Interior Minister Mohammed bin Nayef said Iran is attempting to "politicize'' the pilgrimage, which is required at least once for all able-bodied Muslims. The stampede at last year's hajj left 769 people dead, according to the Saudi government. The Associated Press said the death toll was at least 2,426, after examining state media reports and officials' comments from countries whose citizens participated in the pilgrimage. Tehran has said 464 of the dead were Iranian, and blamed the catastrophe on Saudi mismanagement. The language employed in the latest flap was harsh even for the two regional rivals involved in opposite sides of the civil wars in Syria and Yemen. "They must not let those rulers escape responsibility for the crimes they have caused throughout the world of Islam," Khamenei said. "What Iranian media and some Iranian officials are raising is not objective and they know before anyone else that the kingdom has given the Iranian pilgrims what it gave others," Prince Nayef said. Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is calling on the UW System to invite more conservative guest speakers to its campuses. Vos' remarks come as another contentious state budget debate looms in 2017, which again could put UW System funding on the chopping block. In an op-ed for the website Right Wisconsin titled "A Free Speech Challenge to the UW System," Vos praises the UW Board of Regents for passing a resolution affirming "its commitment to the principle of freedom of expression." The resolution, approved by regents in December, followed intense public debates on other campuses about how to handle discussion of sensitive topics. But a look at who is invited speak on UW campuses contradicts the system's call for protecting diverse viewpoints, Vos said. He said data obtained by his office from the UW System shows conservatives are "noticeably absent" from a list of top-paid recent guest speakers at UW campuses. "Perhaps what could be most worrisome about going to college these days is the plague of political correctness that creates an environment that ends up stifling free speech," Vos wrote. "I challenge the UW System this school year to find more ways, beyond a two-page policy statement, to ensure that all perspectives, including conservative ones, are present in the classroom." Vos spokesman Kit Beyer told the Wisconsin State Journal that Vos directly expressed his concerns to UW System President Ray Cross in a meeting Tuesday. Vos said his office obtained records on speakers at four-year UW System schools in 2015 who were paid with taxpayer dollars. The largest amount paid for a single speaker was at UW-Platteville, Vos said. The speaker was Kathy Ober, a former professor at University of Massachusetts-Amherst and co-founder of the Social Justice Training Institute -- who reportedly spoke three times for a total of $45,000. Michael Sam, the first openly gay player in the NFL, spoke at UW-La Crosse in December and also was one of the highest paid speakers, according to Vos. The process of crafting the next state budget ramps up next week when state agencies submit their budget requests to Gov. Scott Walker. The UW system, which sustained a $250 million funding cut in the 2015-17 state budget, this time is asking Walker and lawmakers for a $42.5 million funding increase in the next budget. The ongoing proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia appears to be worsening after Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, scolded Saudi leaders over their alleged responsibility in last years hajj stampede. Pro-Iranian media have also been playing up recent pro-Iranian Iraqi Shiite militias sending volunteers to fight Saudi coalition forces in Yemen. Iranian state TV broadcast video Tuesday of victims from last years hajj stampede. Tehran says hundreds of its citizens were killed and Saudi Arabia has lied about the real number of casualties. The television report played up blistering comments by Khamenei calling Saudi leaders little Satans and apprentice political sorcerers who ignore God and maintain their unholy grip on power" by allying themselves with what he called the worlds arrogant nations, generally a reference to the U.S. and Israel. Saudi Arabias head of security for the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, General Ahmed Ahmedi, refuted the Iranian claims of Saudi negligence and insisted the kingdom does its utmost to protect visitors to the Islamic holy sites. He said Saudi security forces take the greatest pains to serve the visitors to the holy sites and offer them the best security from their arrival to their departure. Former Iranian president Abolhassan Bani Sadr, who lives in exile in France, told VOA the hajj pilgrimage is just one facet of the ongoing conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia since Irans 1979 Islamic Revolution. Propaganda, economic war Bani Sadr said Khamenei is accusing Saudi Arabia of committing crimes against Muslims during the hajj, but added that Iran is guilty of crimes in the region. He said Iran and Saudi Arabia have tried to dominate the region, creating rival alliances from Iraq to Syria and Lebanon, and sowing death and destruction. Bani Sadr stresses that there is a propaganda war taking place, alongside actual fighting in the battlefield, and an economic war that Saudi Arabia is waging against Iran by pumping excess quantities of crude to drive down prices and suffocate Iran. University of Paris political science professor Khattar Abou Diab told VOA Saudi Arabia thinks Iran is trying to harm it as well. He said Saudi leaders have the impression Iran is trying to encircle it by way of its maneuvering in Yemen, Iraq and the Gulf. He argues there is a danger of the ongoing proxy war developing into a direct conflict if world powers do not act to avert it. Pro-Iranian media emphasized Monday that Yemens Houthi rebels have developed new ballistic missile technology and are capable of striking deep into Saudi territory. Forces loyal to former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh have fired modified SCUD rockets into Saudi territory, but it remains unclear how many they still possess. The World Food Program reports it has distributed food to more than 30,000 people in a northern Iraqi town that has been under occupation by Islamic State militants for more than two years. WFP aid workers described scenes of extreme suffering. The northern Iraqi town of Qayyarah, 60 kilometers south of Mosul, has been inaccessible to aid workers for more than two years. Battle lines have shifted and the Islamic State has lost its grip over this town, making it possible for the World Food Program and other agencies to deliver aid to thousands of hungry, deprived people in and around the area. WFP spokeswoman Bettina Luescher said that last week WFP and its partners were able to assess the humanitarian situation and found all of the people remaining in the town were in desperate need of food and other essential aid. All of [Qayyarahs] shops are either destroyed or closed. Food stocks have been running really low. People surviving only on wheat. Black smoke rises from the oil fields surrounding this town, Luescher said. WFP, through its local partners Muslim Aid and Women Empowerment Organization, has delivered enough food rations for 30,000 people for one month. The agencies also have provided food to almost 2,000 displaced people living in camps and with host families in areas surrounding the town. Luescher said it is crucially important to have access to places like this that have seen so much fighting. She told VOA that WFP also has been providing food to many other people in this Mosul corridor. Last month, 130,000 people fleeing the conflict in Mosul as they arrived in areas nearby. Many people outside of Mosul have been settling in unfinished buildings. We provide ready-to-eat rations as soon as they reach those settlements and transit centers and within 72 hours when people flee, for example, from places like Mosul, we are there with ready-to-eat food, Luescher said. WFP and other aid agencies report they are scaling up their operations in preparation for the long-anticipated military offensive by Iraqi government forces to try to retake the city of Mosul from IS. The United Nations warns two million people are likely to flee the ensuing conflict. Luescher said a contribution of nearly $28 million from Germany has made it possible to provide food aid to families being displaced from the greater Mosul area. But, she added an additional $106 million is needed to help increasing numbers of displaced people until the end of the year. Myanmar's new civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, will visit the U.S. next week as Washington considers lifting or easing more of the sanctions against the Southeast Asian nation. President Barack Obama announced the visit during a speech in Laos Tuesday, saying the Nobel Laureate will be in Washington on September 14 and 15. Aung San Suu Kyi's visit to Washington is intended to reinforce her status on the global stage as the de-facto leader of the government. Although she won decisively in last November's elections, Aung San Suu Kyi is banned from the presidency by the constitution drafted by the former junta. She instead serves as foreign minister and has created a new position of state counselor. Obama is expected to determine the extent of sanctions relief after consulting with Aung San Suu Kyi about how far she wants Washington to ease pressure on Myanmar's powerful military. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate and symbol of democracy helped convince the U.S. to impose sanctions on the military-led government during her years as a jailed opposition leader. She is now attempting to show her country the economic rewards of a democratic transition while maintaining pressure on the country's military leaders for additional reforms. Some rights groups like Human Rights Watch are opposed to easing sanctions against Myanmar until there is evidence the democratic transition is irreversible. The U.S. wants to strengthen relations with Myanmar to help counteract China's increasing influence in Asia. Washington also wants to help U.S. businesses position themselves in one of the world's last "frontier markets," which are rapidly growing but less developed emerging economies. Former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan was met by hundreds of jeering protesters when he arrived in Myanmar's western Rakhine state Tuesday to begin a fact-finding mission into the bitter ethnic and religious strife that has triggered a humanitarian crisis. The protesters gathered at the airport in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine, and expressed anger over what they perceive as foreign meddling into their internal affairs - a dig at the Ghanaian-born veteran diplomat, who was appointed by Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi to head a special advisory commission charged with finding solutions on ending the crisis that began in 2012, when fighting broke out between majority Buddhist nationalists and minority Rohingya Muslims. More than 100 people were killed, while as many as 120,000 Rohingyas are currently languishing in squalid displaced persons camps, where their movements are severely restricted. The former U.N. chief will meet with Muslim leaders during his two-day trip to the region, and visit one of the displacement camps. The region's largest political group, the Arakan National Party, opposes the commission and has refused to hold talks with Annan. The nine-member panel, made up of six Myanmar citizens and three foreigners, is expected to publish a report within a year of its formation. It does not include a Muslim minority representative. The plight of Myanmar's one million strong Rohingya Muslims - who are considered illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and are therefore denied citizenship and basic rights - has led some activists to express doubts about Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's commitment to human rights as she leads the country's first democratically-elected government after more than five decades of military rule. The new government has requested that U.S. diplomats refrain from using the term Rohingya, and instead refer to the group as Bengalis. In celebration of the National Park Services 100th anniversary this year, adventurer Mikah Meyer is traveling across America with the goal of visiting every one of the more than 400 sites within its jurisdiction. The young traveler set out from Washington, D.C., in June and has already experienced dozens of sites. And VOA has been following him every step of the way. Thanks to the stunning photographs and videos Mikah and his travel companion Andy Waldron have been sending us, we have a virtual front row seat to some of the most amazing land and seascapes within the park system. As one observer recently noted, its almost as good as being there. But as Mikah discovered on his latest adventure, not all park service sites are natural wonders. Simple beginnings Mikah left the natural splendor of lush forests and wild rivers for a quick visit to the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in rural West Branch, Iowa, the birthplace of Americas 31st president, who served from 1929 to 1933. The main attraction in this small rustic town is the little two-room cottage that was President Hoovers home for the first few years of his life. One room of the small but sturdy house served as a bedroom for the young Herbert, his parents and two siblings, the other as a combination living room, dining room and kitchen. It took Mikah just a few minutes to view the whole house. Compared to all the other places I had recently visited that were so much bigger and had so much more to offer, I got there and I thought, really, this is it? I drove all this way for this? he said to VOA in a recent conversation. For somebody like myself who grew up in a prairie state, it basically looked like my grandma's house, he said, suggesting that it was not as fascinating for him as it might be for visitors unused to country life. But then he thought about a comment president Obama had made in 2015 praising the diversity of the National Park Service and how the sites it oversees encompass so much more than just natural areas. He mentioned that many sites within the park service are being preserved for history and this was a good example of that, Mikah said. And it's an especially great site "for people who are interested in presidential history, he added. Near Hoover's boyhood home is an old school house, a blacksmith shop and a Quaker meeting house, as well as the gravesites of the president and his wife, Lou Henry Hoover. A great humanitarian What also helped make up for Mikahs disappointment in the cottage was Hoovers presidential library that was also on the site. While it isnt part of the National Park Service, Mikah made a point to visit it. It was nice to get more of the complete story about the president and learn how hed done so much humanitarian aid, he said. Mikah learned that when World War I began in August 1914, Hoover -- a hugely successful mining engineer at the time -- helped organize the return of around 120,000 desperate Americans from Europe. Responding to a personal request from the U.S. Ambassador to Britain, Hoover led 500 volunteers in distributing food, clothing, steamship tickets and cash from the Savoy hotel in London. "I did not realize it at the moment, but on August 3, 1914 my engineering career was over forever," he is quoted as saying at the time, "I was on the slippery road of public life." Hoover's humanitarian relief efforts in England -- and other countries in Europe such as Belgium where he helped feed the entire country for the duration of the war -- got the attention of U.S. president Woodrow Wilson, and later presidents ... transforming the career of a successful private citizen into a lifetime of devoted public service. Small town values History buffs may indeed be interested to learn that Herbert Hoover often attributed his strong morals and work ethic to the values he learned as a child, which guided him throughout his life. This cottage where I was born is physical proof of the unbounded opportunity of American life, he once wrote. Hoovers parents and grandparents arrived in West Branch in horse-drawn wagons, hoping to find a new life for their families. His parents and other members of the close-knit Quaker community helped shape his values during his early childhood, with an emphasis on simplicity, integrity, equality, peace and service to others. He relied on those values to overcome the tragedy of becoming an orphan at the age of nine and when he had to leave Iowa to live with relatives in Oregon a short time later. They became a source of strength once again when he took office in 1929, as the nation was plunging into what became known as the Great Depression; a severe worldwide economic depression that took place during the 1930s. And they are symbolized in the mission the planners of the park had, as reflected in a sign on the grounds which reads, "the commemorative landscape would reflect that in America, anyone, including an orphaned boy from a small town, can achieve great things." Coming attractions In the coming days Mikah will be visiting a few national parks in Chicago before heading to Indiana. Follow Mikah To follow Mikah and learn more about the places hes traveling to, he invites you to visit him on his website. Nicaragua said Tuesday it has given political asylum to former El Salvador President Mauricio Funes, who has come under scrutiny back home for a truce with gangs during his administration and is also facing multiple legal cases. The Nicaraguan government's official Daily Gazette published a notice announcing that Funes, his partner and three children have all been granted asylum. It said their lives and physical integrity are in danger as a result of "fighting in favor of democracy, peace, justice and human rights." Funes said via Twitter that he decided to seek asylum Aug. 31 "after confirming the political persecution that is being initiated against me." According to the Gazette, the petition was dated Sept. 1, the same day El Salvador's Supreme Court ordered the release of a list of Funes' government-funded trips abroad while in office. Asylum was granted the following day. Funes, a former journalist who was elected as a member of the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front party, is facing a civil prosecution back home for alleged illicit enrichment. Investigators argue that he and his family need to justify the origin of more than $700,000 in income. Salvador prosecutors have also opened an investigation into possible corruption dating to his 2009-2014 government. In August, Salvadoran authorities raided several homes and businesses searching for evidence related to alleged "crimes of embezzlement, illicit negotiations, misuse of funds, illicit enrichment and influence-trafficking." Funes denies any wrongdoing. "Asylum only seeks to guarantee protection from persecution," he tweeted. "I have not given up on confronting the judicial process nor proving my innocence." Funes' government repeatedly denied approving negotiations with the gangs, which are blamed for violence that has pushed El Salvador's homicide rates to among the highest in the world. However several officials from his administration say otherwise, and a group of mediators were allowed to meet with gang leaders both inside and outside prisons. His FMLN, which continues to be the governing party of El Salvador under current President Salvador Sanchez Ceren, was formed from a former guerrilla movement similar to the origins of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's Sandinista National Liberation Front. Funes arrived in Nicaragua three months ago saying he was working as a consultant. North Korea has spent close to $100 million on more than 30 missile tests since Kim Jong Un assumed power in 2011, nearly double the number of missiles launched in the previous 18 years when his father Kim Jong Il ruled the country. The South Korean newspaper the Chosun Ilbo estimated the cost of North Koreas missiles based in part on what it said were the prices Middle Eastern countries had paid for these weapons. Over the past two decades North Korea has reportedly sold hundreds of missiles, materials, and technology to Egypt, Iran, Libya, Pakistan, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Sanctions failure That North Korea is able to carry out numerous missile tests raises questions about the effectiveness of harsh United Nations sanctions imposed in March that include a total arms embargo and restrictions on the sale of aviation fuel, which is also used to power rockets. Boo Hyeong-wook, the chief of the Defense Strategy Research Division at the Korea Institute for Defense Analysis, said Pyongyang is acquiring missile replacement parts through lax sanctions enforcement and the help of willing international partners. As Indian media reported in June, Pakistan had been providing various parts necessary for WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) to North Korea through China. So in this situation I suspect that China has not strengthened its sanctions on parts that North Korea are trying to obtain, he said. Rodong or Scud missiles generally use kerosene-based fuel and not restricted aviation fuel. North Korea is using stored fuel reserves for the recent missile tests, Boo said, which may be part of the reason why fuel costs in the country have not increased since the sanctions were imposed. G-20 message The estimated cost of the three Rodong missiles that North Korea launched on Monday is between $3 million and $6 million. The Norths medium range ballistic missiles traveled 1,000 kilometers before landing into Japans air defense identification zone. The launches were subsequently denounced by Tokyo, Seoul and Washington as yet another violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions. The Security Council will meet Tuesday to discuss the latest missile launches by North Korea at the request of the United States and Japan. There was no indication that Mondays launches were conducted to assess new technical improvements or capabilities, as was the purpose of some recent tests. Instead, analysts say, the Kim Jong Un government wanted to undermine any discussions on regional security that may have taken place at the G-20 summit of the worlds largest economies, that took place in China and included leaders from the U.S., South Korea, Japan and Russia. I think North Korea tried to send a message that you may not expect peace on the Korean peninsula while ignoring us, and we will initiate any peace on the Korean peninsula," said North Korean defector and analyst Ahn Chan-il, with the World Institute for North Korean studies. THAAD After the North Korean missile launch on Monday, Chinas Foreign Ministry urged all relevant parties avoid taking any actions that may escalate tensions. Chinese President Xi Jinping also voiced his opposition to the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system to be deployed in South Korea, during sideline meetings at the summit with U.S. President Barack Obama and South Korean President Park Geun-hye. According to Chinas state-run Xinhua News Agency, Xi said mishandling the THAAD issue is not conducive to strategic stability in the region and could intensify disputes. Beijing has in the past raised concerns that the powerful radar used by the U.S. missile defense system would be used to penetrate Chinese territory. During their meeting, Park tried to reassure Xi that THAAD will only focus on the North Korean nuclear and missile threats, and added that if those threats were eliminated, the need to deploy the THAAD system would disappear. President Barack Obama said Wednesday the United States has a "profound moral and humanitarian obligation" to support efforts to clear bombs its forces dropped on Laos during the Vietnam War. Eighty million cluster munitions did not explode, instead settling on farmland and around villages, only to later kill or injure 20,000 people. Obama spoke of that legacy as he visited a center in Vientiane called the Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise that offers treatment for survivors. "Here in Laos, here at COPE, we see the victims of bombs that were dropped because of decisions made half a century ago and we are reminded that wars always carry tremendous costs, many of them unintended," he said. Obama stressed that wars impact countless people beyond the famous who appear in history books. "Above all, acknowledging the history of war and how it's experienced concretely by ordinary people is a way that we make future wars less likely." His comments came a day after announcing a doubling of U.S. funding over the next three years to help the survivors and bomb-clearing efforts. Obama was also due to hold a town hall meeting later Wednesday with young people involved in a U.S.-sponsored leadership program. Tuesday he reassured nations in the Asia Pacific region that the U.S. strategic rebalance will endure for the long-term because it reflects fundamental national interests. In a speech in Vientiane, Laos, Obama said there is widespread recognition in the U.S. that the Asia Pacific region will become even more important in the century ahead, both to America and to the world. The president addressed an estimated 1,000 people in Lao National Cultural Hall, one day after making history as the first sitting U.S. president to visit the country. Against a backdrop of flags representing the U.S., Laos and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Obama spoke to a group that included government officials, Lao and U.S. business leaders, students, civil society leaders and womens groups. Obamas has said engaging in the Asia-Pacific is critical to Americas future prosperity and security. The White House strategy has also aimed to serve as a counterweight to Chinas rising influence and power in the region. With fewer than five months left in office, Obama said the U.S. is more deeply engaged in the Asia-Pacific than it has been in decades. Our position is stronger and sends a clear message that as a Pacific nation were here to stay, he said. In good times and bad, you can count on the United States of America. TPP However, the president also acknowledged the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)the economic pillar of his re-balance strategyis in trouble at home. The massive trade deal, signed by 12 Pacific rim nations, must be ratified by the U.S. Congress. In this presidential election year, many Americans blame such trade pacts for lost jobs and both major party candidates, Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, have spoken out against it. As difficult as the politics are back home, I will continue to push hard on the U.S. Congress to approve TPP before I leave office, vowed Obama. Failure to move ahead with TPP will not just have economic consequences, but will call into question Americas leadership in this vital region. Assistance for Laos Earlier Tuesday, Obama held talks with Laotian President Bounnhang Vorachit in the presidential palace. Following the meeting, the White House announced a three-year, $90 million contribution to Laos for a national survey of unexploded ordnance and efforts to clear the bombs dropped by U.S. forces in the 1960s and 1970s. About one-third of the 2.2 million bombs dropped on Laos remain undetonated and the lingering threat has slowed development in the country. "Given our history here, I believe the United States has a moral obligation to help Laos heal," said Obama. The White House said the two countries launched a new era in relations based on "a shared desire to heal the wounds of the past" and build a foundation for the future. It included partnership on issues including the economy, technology, education, security, the environment and human rights. Laos, which currently chairs the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), has been criticized for its human rights record. Obama and Vorachit noted in their meeting Tuesday "the benefits of a candid and open dialogue" to narrow differences on rights. The White House said the new ties continue the presidents policy of reaching out to countries with whom the U.S. has had major differences and complicated histories. It also reflects Obamas efforts to more deeply engage nations in a region close to China, although the Obama administration has repeatedly said it welcomes a rising China that is peaceful, prosperous and responsible in global affairs. Thitinan Pongsudhirak, political scientist at Thailands Chualongkorn University, said while the U.S. seeks to boost its influence, Laos is firmly in Chinas orbit. The U.S. and China rivalry, competition for influence and interests in Southeast Asia, comprising maritime and mainland. The mainland is Chinas backyard so its really Chinas orbit within the mainland. But the mainland countriesCambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailandthey are firmly in Chinas orbit because China is the giant next door, especially for Laos, he said. Thitinan said Laos was still seeking to maintain a degree of autonomy despite Chinas influence, even though it is susceptible to neighborhood influence and interference. North Korea missile tests Also Tuesday, Obama met with South Korean President Park Geun-hye. The leaders discussed North Koreas missile tests on Monday. Pyongyang fired three ballistic missiles from the western part of North Korea into the Sea of Japan. Park called the tests fundamentally threatening and said the leaders agreed to "respond resolutely" to any provocation and close loop holes in sanctions. Obama called the launches provocative. He also said the THAAD, the U.S. anti-missile system soon to be deployed to South Korea, is purely a defensive system. Later this week, Southeast Asian nations will meet in Vientiane for the ASEAN and East Asia summits to discuss a range of issues, including the North Korea nuclear threat, Chinas aggressive actions in the South China Sea, counter-terrorism, trade and other issues. The visit marks President Obamas eleventh and final trip to Asia as U.S. president. Pakistans military chief, General Raheel Sharif, reiterated Tuesday that peace in Afghanistan was vital to his countrys own interest, and he called for better management of their shared border. We are sincerely playing our active role for peace in Afghanistan, he told a ceremony arranged at the militarys headquarters in Rawalpindi to mark the country's annual Defense Day. Top Pakistani security officials, politicians and foreign diplomats were in attendance. Sharif noted that some self-seeking quarters were obstructing Pakistans efforts to promote Afghan peace. I bear upon such elements that Afghanistan is our neighbor and brother Islamic country. Peace and stability there are vital to Pakistans own interest, he said, without elaborating. Trading accusations Pakistani officials accuse rival India and pro-Indian elements, particularly within the Afghan security establishment, of hampering efforts Islamabad has been making to end the Afghan conflict and improve ties with Kabul. Afghan leaders, however, dismiss those assertions as unfounded, and in turn accuse the Pakistan military and its spy agency of covertly supporting and providing sanctuary to Taliban insurgents who are fighting to overthrow the internationally backed Afghan government. Pakistani authorities reject the charges and blame the nearly 2,600-kilometer largely porous border, called the Durand Line, for encouraging militant infiltrations on both sides. Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have lately deteriorated over mutual allegations of supporting terrorist acts on each other's soil. Afghan officials again pointed fingers at Pakistan for Mondays deadly bombings in Kabul that left more than 35 people dead and about 150 wounded. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the violence. In a veiled reference to the neighboring country, Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, while condemning the bloodshed, asserted Tuesday that Afghans were fighting a war against terrorists who are trained, advised, supported and instructed in our neighborhood. New immigration gates In his Tuesday speech, Sharif asserted that recent Pakistan army-led security operations near the Afghan border had uprooted terrorist infrastructures, and he emphasized the need for better management of what he referred to as the international border with Afghanistan to sustain those gains. We want to establish an effective border management mechanism in concert with the Afghan government. I am certain that a better peace environment will lead to our shared economic progress, the general said. But the Afghan government has objected and even condemned new Pakistani constructions at the border, because Kabul traditionally disputes and does not recognize the Durand Line as an international boundary. Pakistani officials dismiss those objections and have lately stepped up the process of building new immigration gates, security outposts and small forts along the border, saying these measures will effectively address mutual concerns of militant infiltrations on either side. A White House spokesman says President Barack Obama will likely have some interaction with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte at a pair of regional summits after canceling a planned direct meeting. Duterte on Monday said Obama should not lecture him about a crackdown on drug traffickers that has resulted in more than 2,000 killings since June. He used the Tagalog phrase for "son of a bitch," and on Tuesday expressed regret that his comments came across as a personal attack against the U.S. leader. WATCH: Obama on Duterte's outburst White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters late Tuesday that attention to Duterte's statements took focus away from the "very substantive agenda" between the United States and the Philippines and did not make for a constructive environment for a meeting. But he said the overall relationship between the two nations is still solid. "Frankly, where we've had differences with President Duterte has related more to our concerns that there needs to be a clear commitment to due process and the rule of law as it relates to some of the internal security efforts that had been undertaken there," Earnest said. "On the alliance issues, we'll continue to work closely with them." Duterte, who campaigned for the Philippine presidency on promises to end illegal drug activity in his homeland, has alarmed an array of human rights organizations with his deadly crackdown. He has defended the killings, saying he is following the will of those who elected him. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Tuesday that the American people have "big hearts" but cannot "take the risk of refugees." Trump answered questions before a primarily pro-military crowd in Virginia Beach, Virginia with retired General Michael Flynn, a strong Trump supporter, doing the asking. Trump said the U.S. could not allow thousands of refugees from the Mideast and South Asia into the country until it knew "what's going on." He said migrants had been a disaster for Germany and France, because of an increase in crime. But German police have said the numbers of crimes committed by Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis are much lower than acts committed by other groups seeking asylum. 'Unacceptable' increase in entrants Trump accused Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton of wanting a 500 percent increase in the number of migrants allowed to enter the country, calling it "unacceptable," and said Clinton and President Barack Obama wanted to treat illegal immigrants better than U.S. military veterans. He said the nuclear deal Iran signed with the United States and five other world powers turned Iran itself into a "world power" overnight. He assailed Secretary of State John Kerry for negotiating what he called a "dumb" deal, and said that thanks to what he called incompetence by Obama and Clinton, Iran and Islamic State militants would share Iraq's oil. Appearing in Tampa, Florida, Clinton said it was Trump who had turned his back on U.S. service members, calling his campaign "one long insult" to those who have worn the uniform to protect American values. She said Trump-owned companies had fired veterans who took time off to fulfill their military obligations. And she reminded voters of his public feud with the parents of a Muslim-American soldier killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq. Clinton called it "mind-boggling" that Trump has hinted at using nuclear weapons against terrorists, saying he had "no clue" what he was talking about. She accused Trump of calling global warming a Chinese-created hoax, while asking for sea walls to protect his golf courses from rising tides. A CNN/ORC poll Tuesday showed Trump, a real estate mogul and former reality television show host running for elected office for the first time, edging ahead of Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state, by a 45 percent to 43 percent margin, while a collection of polls compiled by realclearpolitics.com gives her about a 3 percentage-point advantage. Trump won the endorsement Tuesday of 88 retired generals and admirals who said they believed he would rebuild the country's military and secure its borders But he got a major blow when the traditionally conservative Dallas Morning News refused to endorse him for president. The newspaper published an editorial saying "Trump doesn't reflect Republican ideals of the past. We are certain he shouldn't reflect the GOP of the future. Donald Trump is not qualified to serve as president and does not deserve your vote." This was the first time since 1964 that the Dallas Morning News had declined to endorse a Republican for the White House. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday urged the successors to Uzbekistan's Islam Karimov to continue his policies apparent encouragement for them to follow his authoritarian line and keep the lid on opposition at home. Karimov, who died September 2 at age 78 after more than quarter of a century at the helm, presented himself as a bulwark against a possible surge of Islamist militancy in his Central Asian state which borders Afghanistan. His tough anti-Islamist line enabled Karimov to maneuver successfully between Russia and the United States, despite strong criticism by rights groups and misgivings among Western governments over his strong-arm tactics against dissenters at home. "Of course, we hope that everything Islam Abduganiyevich [Karimov] had started will be continued," Russia's Rossiya-24 channel showed Putin telling Uzbek Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev during a visit to Uzbekistan. "On our part, we will do everything to support this path of mutual development and the people and leadership of Uzbekistan. "You can fully count on us as your most reliable friends," said Putin, who flew to Uzbekistan from China, where he attended the G-20 summit. The Kremlin said in a brief statement that Putin visited Karimov's hometown of Samarkand, where the Uzbek leader was buried, and laid flowers on his grave together with Mirziyoyev. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev represented Russia at the funeral of Karimov, who died of a stroke. The follow-up visit by Putin, which took place shortly after a senior U.S. diplomat visited Uzbekistan, highlighted the competition among world powers, including China, for influence in resource-rich and strategically located Central Asia. Hours before Putin's arrival, Daniel Rosenblum, the U.S. State Department's deputy assistant secretary for Central Asia, told reporters in Tashkent he had met with Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Komilov the previous evening. Putin's meeting was seen as a further strong hint that Mirziyoyev, 59, is likely to succeed Karimov as head of state. Last week, he was appointed head of the commission that organized Karimov's funeral, a duty that in the region's Soviet culture normally falls to the successor. Mirziyoyev, in turn, told Putin his visit "says a lot." "Our external political relations with the Russian Federation are those of strategic partnership, and we will continue to develop that bridge which you had been building together with Islam Abduganiyevich for so many years in order not to break it, but to further solidify it," he said. Karimov distanced Uzbekistan from Moscow in 2012 when Tashkent suspended its membership in the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization, which groups several ex-Soviet nations and is seen by some analysts as a regional counterbalance to NATO. But Uzbekistan, the region's most populous nation, remains heavily dependent on Russia economically. At least 2 million Uzbeks are estimated to work abroad, mostly in Russia, to provide for their families. British radical cleric Anjem Choudary was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison for supporting Islamic State. The 49-year-old has been an outspoken leader of radical Islam for two decades, regularly posting videos on YouTube and protesting outside the U.S. embassy on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, but staying within the bounds of the law. Only when Choudary's name appeared on an oath declaring the legitimacy of the "proclaimed Islamic Caliphate State" in 2014 was Britain able to pursue legal action against him. Choudary was found guilty of inviting support for Islamic State in July. According to the Independent, details of the case could not be reported for three weeks after the July 28th verdict for legal reasons. Choudary maintains the oath was made without his knowledge. Russia's justice ministry has branded Russia's only major private pollster a "foreign agent," a stigma that could lead to its closure. The ministry issued a statement Monday evening saying that the Levada polling agency has been listed as a foreign agency after a snap inspection found some irregularities. Following major protests against his rule in 2011 and 2012, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law that requires all NGOs receiving foreign funding and found to engage in vaguely defined "political activity" to register as "foreign agents." Those who fail to comply face fines and potential closure. Many organizations have said the stigma of "foreign agent," which rings like "spy" in Russian, would make it impossible for them to work in the country. The decision comes less than a week after the respected pollster founded by and named after the late sociologist Yuri Levada published its latest election survey, indicating a drop in the ruling party's ratings. Russia holds a parliamentary election on Sept. 18. Levada on Tuesday vowed to contest the ruling and expressed its dismay, saying that the ministry had not given it a chance to present its own case before issuing the decision. "Placing an organization on a foreign agent list does not put an end to its activities. That's why we will continue our work," the Interfax news agency on Tuesday quoted Levada's deputy director Alexei Grazhdankin as saying. "That said, the foreign agent label can have a bad impact on our activities, on the perceptions of those polled." The other two major Russian pollsters are state-owned and their surveys on political parties and politicians often differ significantly from what Levada research shows. Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud says he wants more young Somalis from abroad to return and help rebuild the country, even as al-Shabab militants continue to mount deadly attacks. Mohamud spoke one-on-one with VOA Somali chief Abdirahman Yabarow in Mogadishu, after taking questions from Somalis in a VOA-sponsored town-hall meeting Saturday. The program was the first of its kind to connect Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, with St. Paul, Minnesota home to the largest Somali community in the United States. The president said the Somali diaspora is responsible for many of the new businesses that have taken root in the Somali capital since al-Shabab lost its hold on the city in 2011. WATCH: Somali President Talks of Contributions of Diaspora "Today in Mogadishu, the best hotels, the best supermarkets, the best other services that are run here are all, or most of them, run by young people from the diaspora," he said. "And to encourage them to come back, we have outsourced some government services to those professionals and their small companies to do. And they're doing a very good job in providing these government services to the public." Mohamud said he was encouraged during the meeting to see young Somalis expressing interest in rebuilding the country, which had been ravaged by a quarter-century of violence, recurring drought and widespread lawlessness. "I was very much astonished to see the level of willingness the level of hope that those young people in Minneapolis have and how they love this country and how they're committed to come back, he said. We used to say only the old people are the ones who are willing to come back, but now we're seeing the young generation, as well, is willing." Regarding security and the attacks within the country by al-Shabab, including the August 30 truck bomb in Mogadishu that killed more than 20 people, Mohamud said Somali security forces need to adjust to the militants' changing techniques. "Before, they came into the state house, they got into the parliament, into the courthouse, into different hotels, Mohamud said. Now this has been reduced, and we're experienced. They can't go in anymore. Now what they do is they make a truckload of explosives. It's a new phenomenon to demolish the city. It's not now killing people, going into hotels and government offices and killing people inside them. Now, it's another technique. I'm sure the security forces will address this as they addressed the attacks that used to happen in the past." Mohamud, who has been president of Somalia since 2012, faces re-election later this year in a vote by parliament. Muhammed Wisam Sankari, a Syrian gay refugee, was found raped and beheaded in Istanbul last month. In Mersin, some people attacked a transgender woman known as "Melisa," chanting "God is great" and beat her up. No one was arrested. Hande Kader, a transgender woman and LGBT rights activist, was kidnapped, raped and burned to death in Istanbul in August. These attacks and similar incidents in recent years have led to calls for the Turkish government to do more to protect members of the LGBT community. Ty Cobb, Human Rights Campaign's global director, told VOA that a strongly worded letter by 57 members of the U.S. Congress was sent to the Turkish government after Kader's murder and the other attacks. "We worked with [the U.S.] Congress, Cobb said. There was no response from the Turkish government. The Turkish government has a duty to protect all of its citizens regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity." Cobb said that the overall instability in Turkey and the region have contributed to attacks on the LGBT community. Activists push for legislation Homosexuality is not illegal or criminalized in Turkey, but Cobb said nondiscrimination protection and hate crime legislation are needed there. "The government should consult with LGBT organization; it should invest in police training with the specific knowledge to address the challenges faced by this community, particularly transgender sex worker community," he said. After Kader was burned to death in Istanbul, Sean Patrick Maloney, a U.S. congressman who is LGBT Equality Caucus co-chair, said the Turkish government should take strong action to ensure that LGBT Turks are protected, safe and able to live their lives openly and freely. Sezgin Tanrikulu, a Turkish human rights lawyer and a member of parliament from the main opposition party CHP, told VOA that Turkey's official policy for the LGBT community has always been discriminatory. Islamic State propaganda, he added, is making the anti-LGBT elements more brazen. "When IS videos show barbaric acts against LGBT individuals, then there is certainly an effect on some people in Turkey," he said. Attempts by VOA to contact the Turkish family ministry went unanswered. The ministry's website defines its mission as "to increase the welfare of the individuals, families and the society with priority given to disadvantaged sections." Equal before the law One Turkish official who did not want to be named told VOA that Turkey was a democratic country ruled by laws. "I don't know about the specific murder cases, but all citizens of Turkey are equal before the law. I am sure all will be done to solve those murder cases and bring perpetrators to justice," the official said. The U.S. State Department's latest human rights report said, "Senior Turkish government officials used anti-LGBT, anti-Armenian, anti-Alevite and anti-Semitic rhetoric, particularly during polarizing election campaign periods." According to the State Department report, the Turkish government took limited steps to investigate, prosecute and punish members of the security forces and other officials accused of human rights abuses. "Impunity was a problem," the report said. In June, Istanbul police banned LGBT parades after Islamist and nationalist groups threatened that they would not allow "degenerates" to hold events on Turkish soil. Turkish police fired tear gas to disperse a gay rally in defiance of the ban. In International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association report on LGBT rights in 49 European countries says Turkey was number 46 on the list. Rankings are based on how the laws and policies of each country impact the lives of LGBT people. U.N. investigators warned Tuesday that a resurgence of violence in the war in Syria during the past six months were crushing hopes for peace in that country. The four-member Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, which submitted its 12th periodic report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, said that a marked surge in fighting, with casualties mounting at an alarming rate and civilians unable to flee from daily airstrikes, had left Syrians in a state of despair. It said the cessation-of-hostilities agreement in February had resulted in a short period of calm, which gave rise to hopes that a political settlement to the five-year conflict could be attained. The report, however, said the lull in the fighting had given way to relentless attacks and sieges against civilians by all warring parties since the end of March, which show no signs of abating. That is a great shame and injustice vis-a-vis the civilian population, innocent people," commission member Vitit Muntarbhorn told VOA. "And that is why we are very much emphasizing the need to get back to the negotiation table. The report documented indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on civilian-inhabited areas, particularly by aerial bombardments, mainly carried out by pro-government forces, including Syrias ally, Russia. It accused anti-government armed groups of indiscriminately shelling civilian areas and taking hostages for ransom. The document described the brutality of all the warring factions, including the terrorist Islamic State group. It enumerated crimes such as summary executions, enforced disappearances, suicide attacks, the random killing and maiming of civilians, and deliberate targeting of medical facilities. Interference from outside Commission Chair Paulo Pinheiro said the increasing interference by influential countries and other external actors in the Syrian conflict were complicating peace efforts. "The violations, the war crimes, the crimes against humanity, they are committed by all the forces involved in the conflict," Pinheiro said. "And we have reiterated many times that those actors that support the actors on the ground, they have shared responsibility. Among its many recommendations, the report called for the cessation-of-hostilities agreement to be restored and revitalized, saying civilian casualties must be minimized and random attacks ended. The independent commissioners urged the warring parties to allow the safe, sustained and unhindered access of humanitarian aid to hundreds of thousands of people trapped in besieged and hard-to-reach areas. As Turkey claimed to have succeeded in eradicating IS from the last strip the group controlled along its border with Syria, critics question Turkey's real intent behind the operation. Turkish tanks entered northern Syria on August 24 to start the Jarabulus offensive, code-named "Operation Euphrates Shield" by Turkey. "Turkey's incursion into Syrian territory is part of a larger effort to fight not only the Islamic State, but also Kurdish forces in northern Syria," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. "The operation started in the north of Syria against terror groups which constantly threaten our country, like [IS] and the PYD," Erdogan stated, referring to the acronym of the Democratic Union Party in northern Syria. But some analysts say the only purpose of this operation is to attack the PYD for its links with the PKK, or Kurdistan Workers' Party. Turkey, the EU and the U.S. consider the PKK a terrorist organization that has waged a three-decade insurgency. Faysal Dagli, an Istanbul-based political analyst and author, told VOA that instead of attacking IS, the Turkish government is actually extending its support to the group to fight Kurds. "IS uses Turkey as a logistic center where its militants gather, get medical treatment and transfer to Syria, Dagli said. So, Turkey must have some expectations from that. The IS has been attacking Kurds on the Syrian border, and Turkey tolerates these attacks." He said Ankara must give up its policy of supporting IS against the Kurds. Threats within Turkey Attacks inside Turkey in recent months, including the one on its major airport in Istanbul in June of this year that killed 41 people, have been blamed on IS and prove the group's strong presence inside the country. Eren Erdem, an MP of Istanbul from the Republican People's Party (CHP), the main opposition party in Turkey's parliament, in an interview with VOA echoed what Dagli said. "When there are so many IS militants in Turkey, what is the point of supposedly targeting IS in Syria? Erdem said. Of course, IS must be destroyed everywhere across the world including in Syria, but the Turkish government should first deal with the IS members in Turkey. Those in an IS cell house in Ankara have recently been released after getting detained. So I should say that I find the Jarabulus operation of the government insincere." But the government says it also faces an IS danger from across the border. The Turkish operation inside Syria started after a suicide bombing on August 20 in the southeastern city of Gaziantep, near the Syrian border, that killed 54 people at a Kurdish wedding celebration. Turkey blamed the attack on IS. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, "Our border must be completely cleansed of Daesh." Daesh is the Arabic acronym for Islamic State. The opposition parties, as well as community leaders and activists of religious minorities, tell VOA that IS militants inside Turkey pose an enormous threat to public security, and that Turkey should urgently focus on their activities within the country. Milliyet, a Turkish newspaper, recently reported that a 5-story building in Ankara was rented by IS members. Thirty children whose ages range from 9 to 17 were given training by the militants in the building, which was turned into a boarding school of IS. Another paper, Hurriyet, reported on August 23 that IS had selected at least 26 targets in 18 Turkish cities for future attacks. The Turkish military says two of its soldiers have been killed and five wounded in clashes with Islamic State in northern Syria. The fight took place near the town of al-Rai, on the 14th day of an operation in northern Syria, according to Turkey's Hurriyet Daily News. The soldiers were reported killed when Islamic State missiles hit two Turkish tanks in the village of Wuquf, Hurriyet says. It said two members of the Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army were also killed, and two others wounded during the operation. Turkish tanks entered northern Syria on August 24 to start an offensive, codenamed by Turkey Operation Euphrates Shield, to target not only Islamic State but also Kurdish forces in northern Syria. The operation inside Syria started after a suicide bombing on August 20 in the southeastern city of Gaziantep, near the Syrian border, that killed 54 people at a Kurdish wedding celebration. Turkey blamed the attack on IS. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said NATO membership remains a strategic goal and an unwavering course for his country. Speaking to lawmakers at the opening of Ukraines new parliament session Tuesday, Poroshenko said Kyiv had reached an unprecedented and very close level of cooperation with alliance members. The cooperation with NATO will continue to increase, expand and deepen until Ukraine fully meets the membership criteria, he said. Ukraine conducts regular joint military exercises with NATO, but alliance members have said Ukraine's recently-upgraded army remains far off the standards required for membership. Some NATO members have expressed concern the Ukrainian leader's assertion would further infuriate Moscow, which last month accused Kyiv of using subversive tactics aiming to retake the Crimean peninsula. Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014, following a local referendum the U.N. General Assembly nearly unanimously called illegal. Russian President Vladimir Putin has admitted his soldiers moved into the strategic Black Sea peninsula before the referendum took place, but has repeatedly denied backing the pro-Moscow insurgency in eastern Ukraine that has claimed nearly 10,000 lives since it began in April 2014. Poroshenko has not set a target date for submitting Ukraines application to join NATO. He has promised to hold a national referendum on the subject before his first term runs out in 2019. Poroshenko is confident the vote would garner enough votes in favor of membership. Poroshenko has also aimed at applying for European Union membership by 2020. U.N. firefighters in the Democratic Republic of Congo have repeatedly come under attack this year while trying to respond to house fires in the eastern city of Goma. The U.N. mission MONUSCO is not responsible for extinguishing fires except at its own installations, but in the absence of other emergency services it is often the first number that victims call. But MONUSCO firemen say police are not providing the security they need to respond rapidly. "In 2015, my unit and myself, we were threatened at five fires," said Ivan Miltchev, who heads MONUSCO's fire security unit in Goma. "In 2016, we were threatened at six fires. I was threatened with a machete. Stones were thrown at my people; and one of my people was injured by a thrown stone." Miltchev has repeatedly called for the local authorities to provide security at fire scenes. "The chief of police in Goma called us to respond to a local fire. When I asked him 'Is it secure and safe if we respond?' his answer was 'No, I cannot provide you with security,'" Miltchev said, adding that local police sometimes "loot and steal from the fire scene." Another chief, Modeste Bahati, said the MONUSCO fire team's arrival at a blaze is often delayed, which sparks anger on the scene. As for the police, Bahati said they liable to be stoned along with the MONUSCO firefighters. The police squads, he said, are not big enough to control the angry crowds. When asked about the slow response time, Miltchev responded that he and his team are "not Goma fire department. We are supposed to provide help to the local fire department, but I do not see them on the fire scene." Of the two water trucks and one fireman's truck belonging to the municipal fire service that are outside Goma's town hall, two of the vehicles have shattered windscreens. Miltchev says the situation is somewhat better in the capital, Kinshasa, but in other major towns such as Bukavu, Kisangani or Bunia, there is either no municipal fire engine, or only one. "And, by the way, I managed to find some pictures from 1956," he said. "A local fire department was existing in Kisangani, well equipped. Why is it not existing now?" VOA requested comment from the town hall, but was told the person authorized to speak was not immediately available. The U.N. Security Council has swiftly and strongly condemned North Koreas latest ballistic missile launches and threatened to take further significant measures if necessary. The 15-nation council agreed on the statement Tuesday, just hours after it met in emergency session. It unanimously said Pyongyangs launches on Monday of three Rodong missiles that traveled 1,000 kilometers before landing in Japans air defense identification zone were a grave violation of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Koreas international obligations under a series of Security Council resolutions. The members of the Security Council deplore all the Democratic Peoples Republic of Koreas ballistic missile activities, including these launches, said New Zealands Ambassador Gerard van Bohemen, who is president of the council this month. Such activities "contribute to the DPRKs development of nuclear weapons delivery systems, and they raise tension. Beijing's position The councils swift agreement on the statement could be a sign of Beijings growing frustration with its rogue ally. This weeks launches notably occurred while China was hosting world leaders at the G-20 summit. Council members warned North Korea to refrain from further actions, including nuclear tests, in violation of the relevant Security Council resolutions," and to comply fully with Pyongyang's obligations under those resolutions. The council ordered the committee that oversees sanctions to intensify its work to enforce those measures and urged states to redouble their efforts to implement measures laid out in council resolutions. Earlier, U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told reporters that there were very strong and numerous voices in the room for doing more, and added that we are also interested in increasing the consequences after this pattern of using these launches to advance the capabilities of the program. The council met Tuesday behind closed doors at the urgent request of the U.S., Japan and South Korea. Earlier Tuesday, President Barack Obama and South Korean President Park Geun-hye met on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Laos. Park called the missile tests "fundamentally threatening." Obama said they were "provocative." Consequences for launches? I felt very encouraged that in the council meeting itself, there was a much stronger show of unity, Japans Ambassador Koro Bessho said. All members recognized these launches as blatant violations of Security Council resolutions and other commitments by North Korea, and they all opposed or condemned the launch in very strong terms. Power noted that North Korea has conducted 22 launches so far this year that have demonstrated advancement of its ballistic missile program. Once the DPRK has the capability to do so, we know what they intend to do with these missile systems, because they have told us they are explicit they intend to arm the systems with nuclear weapons, she said. South Koreas Deputy Ambassador Hahn Choong-hee said the international community must send a clear and unequivocal message that if the North Koreans continue to violate international commitments and sanctions, they will face much stronger and significant countermeasures from the international community. The Palestinian economy would be twice as large as it is now if there were no Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, according to a report released Tuesday by the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development. The UNCTAD report argues the Palestinian territories have all the makings of a viable independent state but cannot reach their potential as long as they remain occupied territories. Mahmoud Elkhafif, UNCTAD's coordinator for assistance to the Palestinian people, said the cost of occupation was substantial, but he acknowledged there was no systematic way of measuring it. All of these studies actually are on the conservative side, because everybody is scared to be realistic, to assess the impact of the Israeli occupation," Elkhafif said. "But if we add up all of these figures, it will not be less than the size of the Palestinian economy. In a sense, without occupation, the Palestinian economy would have been able to produce twice as much as it is producing today. We are talking about $13 billion in todays money. The UNCTAD study noted that more than 66 percent of grazing land in the West Bank was not accessible to Palestinian producers; the cost of that fact to the Palestinian economy was $4.4 billion last year, it said. On Gaza, the report said producers were being denied access to half of arable land and 85 percent of fishery resources. Elkhafif said this was taking a toll on the lives of the Palestinian people: Poverty has increased, and unemployment in all of the occupied territories stands at 25 percent. Unemployment in Gaza actually is about 38 percent," he said. "Food insecurity affects two-thirds of the Palestinian population. The Palestinian economy continues to be a captive market for the Israeli economy. As a matter of fact, the trade deficit in 2015 represents around 41 percent of the Palestinian GDP. UNCTAD economists consider trade to be the cornerstone upon which economic development can be built. They argue for the establishment of a systematic, rigorous and comprehensive way of assessing the ongoing economic cost of occupation. Last month, the United States rebuked Israel for the Jewish state's plans to accelerate the building of settlements in the West Bank in the face of mounting international concern. The U.S. has urged Israel and the Palestinians to "take meaningful steps" to build trust. The World Health Organization says it is changing its Zika virus advice, telling travelers that anyone who has visited a place experiencing an outbreak should practice safe sex or abstinence for six months. The United Nations health agency released the new guideline Tuesday, revising guidance from June that advised men to practice safe sex or abstain for eight weeks after a trip to a Zika-infected location. The revision comes as more emerging evidence shows how Zika, a mosquito-borne virus, can be transmitted from person to person. A strain found in Latin American countries has been linked to birth defects in babies born to Zika-infected pregnant women. Also a paper written by scholars at Washington University St. Louis says they have found genetic fragments of Zika in the tears of infected mice, increasing concerns that there are still undiscovered ways for humans to contract the virus. The researchers say their findings raise the possibility that human tears could carry the virus, but caution that they have not yet undertaken research to figure out whether their findings on mice are also applicable to humans. The paper is published in the journal Cell Reports. Zambias opposition says a judges earlier ruling led it to miss the deadline to challenge the results of the August 11 presidential poll. The constitutional court threw out the oppositions petition Monday. Three of the five judges ruled that the 14-day window for hearing the petition had expired at midnight September 2. The United Party for Development (UPND) says the court contradicted an earlier ruling by Judge Anne Mwewa-Sitali that the court would hear the petition from September 2 - 8. Now, the same judge comes back and said no, I misdirected myself in making that ruling a few days ago, Cornelius Mweetwa, parliament member and deputy spokesman of the UPND, told VOA Daybreak Africa. We now need to begin to understand that we live in a different Zambia, one which is lawless. Zambia is now enlisting itself as one of the top contenders to lead that group of failed states, that group of rogue states, that group of disorganized countries where the rule of law becomes alien, he said. Judge Mwewa-Sitali reversed her decision after hearing an oral argument on the computation of time. She said UPND lawyers were to blame for the delay for repeatedly raising other issues that pushed back the start of the hearing. The Zambian electoral commission said President Edgar Lungu won re-election with 50.35% to UPNDs Hakainde Hichilemas 47.35% of votes. The UPND maintains that Hichilema won the vote and said in a statement Monday that it is consulting its legal team about next steps. With nine weeks to go to Election Day, the U.S. presidential contest between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump appears to have narrowed to a virtual dead heat. A CNN/ORC poll Tuesday showed Trump, a real estate mogul and former reality television show host running for elected office for the first time, edging ahead of Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state, by a 45 percent to 43 percent margin, while a collection of polls compiled by realclearpolitics.com gives her about a 3 percentage-point advantage. Clinton, looking to become the country's first female president, had surged to an 8 percentage-point lead over Trump in the immediate aftermath of the national Democratic and Republican presidential nominating conventions in July. But the bounce in support each gained from their respective conventions seems now to have evaporated, with polling throughout the country showing that the results in state-by-state matchups between the two contenders is often close, particularly in about 10 battleground election states where the outcome of the November 8 election is likely to be decided. The winner will replace President Barack Obama when he leaves office in January. U.S. presidential elections are not determined by the national popular vote but rather in each of the 50 states, with each state's influence on the outcome weighted by its population. A Washington Post/Survey Monkey poll said Tuesday that its massive poll of 74,000 registered voters over the last three weeks of August showed Clinton with an advantage in the Electoral College because she is winning states with bigger populations. The newspaper said Clinton, the wife of former President Bill Clinton, was ahead of Trump by 4 percentage points or more in 20 states, adding up to 244 of the 270 Electoral College votes she needs to become the country's 45th president. Trump also is ahead by that margin in 20 states, but because they mostly are smaller states, his edge adds up to only 126 electoral votes. The Post said that in the 10 remaining states, with 168 electoral votes, neither candidate had a lead of 4 percentage points or more. With two other candidates, Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein, included in the polling, Clinton's margin narrows somewhat, with even fewer states showing Trump or Clinton with a lead of 4 percentage points or more. George Washington University political scientist John Sides told VOA that "the usual lesson here is to ignore any one poll," such as the CNN survey showing Trump pulling ahead. "The national polls have narrowed a little bit, but Clinton still has a clear lead," Sides said. "This in turn translates into a significant Electoral College advantage." John Hudak, deputy director of the Center for Effective Public Management, said, "I think what the CNN poll tells us is that like most presidential races, this one is close at the national level." "Polls have certainly tightened statistically over the past couple of weeks," Hudak said, "but I think by any metric and whether it is a poll of national polls or whether it's a look at the state level, I think it's still fairly clear that Clinton has a notable advantage." Clinton, heading to a campaign event Tuesday, disparaged Trump, as she has in recent weeks, for his refusal to release his U.S. tax returns, something American presidential candidates have done for four decades. "He clearly has something to hide," Clinton told reporters aboard her campaign aircraft. She alleged that his business career had been marked by "scams, frauds and questionable relationships." Trump has said he will release his 2015 tax returns only after federal auditors are done reviewing them. He campaigned Tuesday in the mid-Atlantic state of Virginia, attacking Clinton's support for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that the United States and five other world powers negotiated with Tehran to restrain its ability to develop nuclear weaponry. Trump said the pact endangers Israel's existence. "This was a deal at the highest level of incompetence. Look at how bad her decisions have been," he said. Rocky road for both candidates The CNN poll showing Trump edging ahead seemed to indicate that he had weathered a difficult August, when he for a second time shuffled his top campaign aides; feuded with a Muslim couple whose son, a U.S. military officer, was killed in fighting in Iraq more than a decade ago; and offered voters conflicting versions of how he would change U.S. immigration policies. But at the same time, Clinton has faced new questions about her use of an unsecured, private email server during her tenure as the top U.S. diplomat from 2009 to 2013. U.S. investigators determined that she was "extremely careless" in her handling of classified national security material in her emails but that no criminal charges were warranted. Trump and Clinton will meet face to face September 26, the date of the first of three planned debates between them, with the other two scheduled in October. Trump won the endorsement Tuesday of 88 retired generals and admirals, who said they believed he would rebuild the country's military and secure its borders. In recent weeks, Clinton has also been endorsed by a large contingent of former national security officials, including some who have served under Republican presidents. Several Zimbabweans on Tuesday stormed the embassy of South Sudan in Harares Belgravia suburb following some hoax social media messages indicating that there are jobs being offered in that nation. The job seekers told Studio 7 that they were disappointed and angry after incurring travelling costs for non-existent jobs as some of them travelled from as far as Zimbabwes second largest city, Bulawayo, about 400 kilometers away. In May, Zimbabwean nurses besieged the same embassy after false messages were circulated that the embassy was recruiting some medical practitioners. The Minister of Health and Child Care, David Parirenyatwa, had indicated that Zimbabwe would engage other countries to absorb the more than 3,000 trained nurses that have been bonded but failing to secure employment due to a government job freeze. Samson Chitema, who travelled from Kwekwe, Midlands province, said despite the war ravaging in South Sudan, he had travelled for the job interview out of desperation. Another job seeker, Miriam Mugodhi, whose face mirrored disappointment and pain, concurred adding that she had been elated after reading the job adverts as they required the qualifications she held. Mugodhi said poverty and hardships facing her family had driven her to seek the jobs in South Sudan. The unemployed woman said she borrowed the money she used to travel from Bulawayo. Peter Museve, who alleged that he is a holder of a masters degree, told Studio 7 that the war in South Sudan had not deterred him as he is desperate to secure a job anywhere. Another Zimbabwean, James Mukomva, who also visited the South Sudan Embassy in search of a job, said he no longer has any hope that the Robert Mugabe-led government would create any jobs. Zanu PF promised to create 2.2 million jobs during the 2013 elections. However, no jobs have been created and companies continue to shut down in the country. The high unemployment rate, which some economic analysts have pegged between 85 and 91 percent, has also contributed to the protests bedeviling the country as social movements such as #Tajamuka-Sesijikile, #This Flag, unemployed graduates and many others are demanding jobs. Funeral Announcements A daily list of current funeral annoucements as heard on KXRA 1490 AM/100.3 FM News Updates The daily news, sports, and events delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria. Sports Update This current sports headlines delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria. Upcoming Events This email is the events of the area delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria. Breaking News The big news. Sent only as it happens. Martin Freeman in StartUp. Photo: Crackle Crackles reputation as a provider of original content has largely been built on Jerry Seinfeld, whose Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee has provided the streaming service with the media attention and this year, the Emmy nomination for Outstanding Variety Talk Series that its other shows have not been able to match. Its latest dramatic offering, StartUp, which starts streaming on Crackle today, initially sounded like the scripted series that, perhaps, could finally push the network closer to Netflix territory. Its ensemble cast which includes Adam Brody (also a producer), Edi Gathegi (The Blacklist), and newcomer Otmara Marrero is headlined by Martin Freeman, star of prestige TV productions such as Sherlock and Fargo, while its premise, which focuses on the genesis of a Miami digital-currency company funded with dirty money, contains whiffs of Bloodline, Mr. Robot, and a much rougher, less funny Silicon Valley. As a basic pitch, this sounds potentially promising. But while watching the first handful of its ten episodes, it doesnt take long to realize that, despite strong work by its actors, StartUp is just another exploration of underground crime and shady dealings that weve seen a thousand times before on film and television. I was determined to review this series without using the word gritty, but then I was forced to surrender to the fact that its simply not possible. As created by Ben Ketai, also behind the 2013 Crackle series Chosen, StartUp is gritty, and revels in its grittiness, and just might put a gun to your head if you dont utter that word while describing it. Grit, as a shows defining characteristic, certainly doesnt have to be a negative. But when its gratuitous or seems to exist for its own sake, its a problem, and that, unfortunately, is the case with StartUp. This show goes dark, frequently, but it never gets deep. It also moves at a sometimes maddeningly slow pace, and not in the evocative South Florida slow burn way found in the aforementioned Bloodline. The first episode introduces Nick Talman (Brody), a finance guy whose father prefers his money well-laundered and leaves a pile of it in Nicks care so he can get an aggressive FBI agent (Freeman) off his back; Izzy (Marrero), the computer whiz who invented GenCoin, the non-regulated, bitcoin-esque cryptocurrency that could change the way people exchange goods and services; and Ronald (Gathegi), a Haitian father and gangster with unsavory connections to Nicks dad. But it takes two full episodes for Nick, Izzy, and Ronald to form the alliance that makes them corrupted co-investors in the start-up that gives this show its name. Before the narrative gets to that point, it wallows in shoot-outs, shouting matches and, within the first 15 minutes alone, three unnecessary sex scenes. The whole things turns wearisome pretty quickly. Character development is not StartUps strong suit, but the actors mostly manage to rise above that. Gathegi and Brody bring nuance and authenticity to a pair of roles that, as written, dont have much of either. And then theres Freeman, whose performance is committed here in ways both admirable and distracting. Like everyone in this show, FBI agent Phil Rask operates without regard for ethics. Hes also all sharp edges and absolutely zero soft corners, a personality type that Freeman digs into with a fury that demonstrates just how wide his range is. There are certainly no traces of Tim from the original Office, or even Lester Nygaard from Fargo, here; as for Bilbo Baggins, the role Freeman played in Peter Jacksons The Hobbit, he was, in all likelihood, murdered as a result of this performance. As disciplined as Freeman is, hes so intense at times that he doesnt seem recognizably human. Technically, maybe, someone could spend five minutes with this guy and not reach the conclusion that he has the potential to become a serial killer. But its hard to imagine. Whats missing from StartUp as a whole is subtlety and broader insight into these characters and their respective milieus. The show makes a point of noting that crime is a virus that infects all elements of Miami society, from those in disadvantaged, gang-controlled Little Haiti to the white privileged businessmen residing in homes with sweeping views of Biscayne Bay. But its too preoccupied with pushing its action into stereotypically dangerous directions to truly immerse itself, or us, in the citys comingled economies and ethnic groups. Cryptocurrency is supposed to take the notion of exchanging money into a never-bef0re-seen direction. But even with all its references to game-changing technology, the color of money and crime drama in StartUp look the same as they have for decades. Photo-Illustration: Kelly Chiello and Photo by Getty Images Whatever your opinion of Donald Glover, one thing is hell never be is predictable. The comedian/writer/actor/musician/almost-was-maybe-Spider-Man has made a career out of redefining expectations, and trying to guess his next move has never been easy. As Glover prepares to premiere his semi-autobiographical series and most ambitious project yet tonight on FX, we took a look back at his unique journey to Atlanta. ** Glover was born in California, but raised in Stone Mountain, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta best known for its massive stone carving of Confederate president Jefferson Davis and generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. Theres also this very strange laser show there, which Glover remembers attending as a kid. In 2015 he told Vice: Its a Confederate thing, and we were the only black family. So at the end when the South gives up, the people who were sitting around us started throwing beer cans at us. And I remember one of my first thoughts being, How do I make them like me? Over the years, his parents welcomed multiple foster kids into the Glover home, which further fueled Glovers desire to stand out. 19982002 In high school, Glover acted in plays and musicals. He also maintained an obsession with The Simpsons. Since he was raised in a strict Jehovahs Witness household, he wasnt allowed to watch the show growing up, so hed record episodes and listen to the audio in bed before going to sleep. Clearly, the tracks were influential; his high-school yearbook voted him Most Likely to Write for The Simpsons. Glover in high school. 20022006 Glover attends NYU with a dramatic-writing major. In his stand-up, he mentions how shocked he was to find he was once again in a sea of white people. NYU is like a Jurassic 5 concert there are supposed to be black people there, but there arent. Initially studying to be a playwright, he soon falls in with NYUs sketch-comedy group, the Hammerkatz, where he meets DC Pierson and Dominic Dierkes, with whom hed form Derrick Comedy. Derrick would become one of the foremost sketch video groups on YouTube, finding tremendous success with videos like Bro Rape: And Jerry, a true star turn for Glover, about a guy who poops his pants in class and is very torn up about it: Derrick performs at UCB and around New York City, and continues to make viral videos. 20062008 While still working as an R.A at an NYU dorm, Glover gets a call from a producer at 30 Rock, who had heard his name through the UCB grapevine, and asked Glover to send over a few samples. He secured a job as a writer for the show. I literally had my NYU pager go off my first day of work, he recalled to New York Magazine in 2009. He would go on to make a few cameos on the show as a young P.A. 2008-2009 A busy few years for Glover. He releases an early rap mixtape, Sick Boi, auditions for SNL during their infamous search for a Barack Obama (they ended up using Fred Armisen, for the time being), and starts doing a lot more stand-up comedy: With Glovers career beginning to take off, he makes the risky move of telling Tina Fey he wants to slip out of his job at 30 Rock. She obliges, telling the New York Times in 2010 that usually, when writers tell you they want to pursue performing, you want to tell them to keep their day jobs. But with Donald, I had to agree that his talent, youth, and handsomeness were not to be wasted sitting on my living room floor. Glover and his Derrick Comedy cohorts move to L.A and set the table for their feature-film debut, Mystery Team, which premiered at Sundance in 2009: 2009 His first month on the West Coast, Glover books the role of Troy on Community, which was originally written for a white actor. Though the part was certainly a major milestone in his career, he often worried about the part defining it, and says he would sometimes wake up screaming. He would continue to play Troy through five more years of the shows celebrated and bumpy run, before eventually leaving after its 2014 season to pursue other projects. 2010 Someone suggests that Glover might make a fine choice for Peter Parker in the newest Spider-Man reboot and the internet blows up. The hashtag #donald4spiderman becomes a thing, and Stan Lee even joins the fray, calling Glover a great actor and suggesting he get a shot to audition. But he never got that shot. Sony never even called him in, because Hollywood. The part goes to white guy, Andrew Garfield. 2011 After years of releasing mixtapes and online tracks, Glover signs to Glassnote Records as Childish Gambino and releases Camp, his first studio album, which receives largely favorable reviews, aside from its infamous 1.6 rating from Pitchfork. NME calls it the hip-hop album of the year. 2013 Childish Gambino releases his second studio album, Because the Internet. The album earns Glover two Grammy nominations and was certified Gold. This same year, Glover releases a super-artsy short film, starring himself, Flying Lotus, and, natch, Danielle Fishel, a.k.a. Topanga from Boy/Girl Meets World. 20142015 After a few years spent focusing primarily on music, Glover appears in a few choice supporting roles in major films, including Alexander and the No Good, Very Bad Day, Magic Mike XXL, and The Martian, where he played a young genius who wears a scarf. Glover told Conan that he took a bit of a fall while Martian-ing, but Ridley Scott was cool with it, even including Glovers slip in the final cut. 2016 It is announced that Glover will finally appear in a live-action Spider-Man film, Spider-Man: Homecoming. Who hell be playing has so far been kept a secret. His new FX show, Atlanta, which was originally announced back in 2013, will at last premiere on September 6. Early reviews are hugely positive, calling it shockingly self-assured and a deeply specific portrait of a certain way of life. Photo: Mark Davis/WireImage Even in the truly bizarre lineup of guests at the Roast of Rob Lowe, one non-comedian, non-actor, magnet-of-hate, Ann Coulter, really had trouble selling her sense of humor to the crowd. Coulter has since claimed credit for writing most of her own jokes, which is a bold move considering Lowe put it mildly when he quipped, After seeing your set tonight, weve seen the first bombing you cant blame on a Muslim. The shows writer, Mike Lawrence, confirmed that his team didnt contribute much to Coulters speech (which he described as The perfect trio of comedy: racism, homophobia and Mike Pence) during a Facebook Live event, but that didnt mean he didnt offer her a few lines. Since the conservative pundit didnt perform any of his material, Lawrence, who was also the first place winner of the 2016 Roast Battle, used a hand puppet named Coultergeist to recite the very on-brand zingers the In Trump We Trust author turned down: 1. Peyton Manning is a model citizen and his forehead is a model for the wall that Trumps going to put between the U.S. and Mexico. 2. Ralph Macchios first-ever credit was in the movie Up the Academy, playing a character called Chooch Bambalazi. Are you serious? Even Donald Trump thinks its too racist to call a wop Chooch Bambalazi. 3. That would be like if Jeff Rosss first credit was a character called Mosha Gefilte Fish Streisand Ziegmilliaberg. And before you ask Jeff, I wouldnt fuck you with Hillary Clintons dick. 4. Rob Lowe is like America: He hasnt been great since Reagan was president, and unemployment is becoming more and more of a problem for him. 5. Giving you a roast is the worst decision Comedy Centrals made since they replaced Jon Stewart with a South African child. Thats a Trevor Noah joke, the one immigrant Im most excited to see deported. Am I white, people? Am I white? Were the ascots worth it? Thats the question Fernando Duque faces in Deutschland 93, as the flashy drug lawyer ends his long, lucrative association with Pablo Escobar. Before abandoning Pablo by cutting a deal with Pena, Duque confronts his son for calling him a thief while enjoying all those toys bought with cartel money. Who did Duque Jr. think paid for all that? Of course, Duques son never had the choice his father had and he doesnt have a say when theyre stuffed inside the trunk of a car, either. As Deutschland 93 reveals, Duque and his unlucky son arent the only people whose Pablo-sponsored good times have ended. The Escobar family tries entering Germany with a bag filled of cash, but it cant help them get into the country. If it werent for Pablos money, in fact, they could have entered without any problems. Meanwhile, Pena has his own allegiances to consider. The murder of Blackies girlfriend soured him on Los Pepes, and their new antics certainly havent swayed him back. Can you blame him? The Castano brothers relish beheading cadavers and posing them in gruesome tableaus. Alas, Pena cant put the Los Pepes genie back in its macabre bottle. As Murphys voice-over narration intones, the gates of hell are already open. Penas attempt to eliminate Duque through witness protection, rather than a vigilante execution, prompt his former allies to consider killing him instead. (The Castanos, always the nuttiest guys in the room, want to feed Pena to a crocodile!) Angering Los Pepes doesnt pay off for Pena, who finds Duque dead after Flores betrays him to the death squad. Of course, his deputy never would have known Los Pepes if Pena hadnt introduced him to the vigilantes in the first place. He may regret what hes helped create, but hes not exactly an innocent party. Without Pena, the always-uneasy Los Pepes alliance grows even shakier. Don Berna, who only wants to sell drugs and chill out, has no choice but to deal with the deranged Castanos. Then, Judy Moncada has her own doubts after becoming the last to realize that she isnt an equal partner in the alliance. When the Castanos refuse to give her the drugs from one of her seized labs, Judy suddenly understands that Cali isnt interested in helping her rebuild their cartel rival. Its not much better on Pablos side, where even his most loyal associates seem eager to get away from him. Blackie groans as his stint in Bogota stretches on how many Cali-owned pharmacies can one guy bomb? and Quica looks ready to split. The attorney general, who once saw Pablo as a wedge to use against Gaviria, wont take his calls anymore. Even Pablos own body fails him, causing him to collapse after his family leaves for Germany. Rather than reconsider his war, Pablo doubles it down by ordering Blackie to place a bomb close to Gavirias palace. The sky, Pablo says, should burn with gunpowder. And so Colombia suffers the consequences of Pablos anger. The bombing sequence leads to a neat pair of juxtapositions: A stricken Colombian father picks up his lost daughters shoe, just as Pablo considered his exiles daughters shoe, and when the car bomb goes off, Gaviria runs to the window, just like the average Colombian family introduced at the start of the episode. Like his endless promises to bomb German planes, the Bogota attack may satisfy Pablo for a brief time, but it only ensures that his position will get much worse. After all, theres no way the Colombian government will negotiate with a man who blows up kids. Cartel Club: The Lorena High School Theater Department will present a musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Saturday and Sept. 14 and 17 at the Lorena Performing Arts Center, 1 Leopard Lane. Tickets cost $10 for adults and $5 for students. The show is rated PG. Tickets can be purchased at the door. For more information, visit www.lorenatheatre.com. MCRW luncheon Yost Zakhary, Woodway city manager and public safety director, will be the guest speaker at a meeting of the McLennan County Republican Women at 11:30 a.m. Sept. 13 in Brazos Room C of the Waco Hilton, 113 S. University Parks Drive. Zakhary will present Terrorism From a Global, National and Local Perspective and How It Affects You. As a former president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Zachary has traveled to many countries to discuss terrorism and other matters. Cost is $15, which includes a buffet lunch. Reservation deadline is Thursday. For reservations, email Anita Allen at anitagallen@aol.com or call 772-8763. BU Jazz Ensemble Baylor University Jazz Ensemble will present its 10th annual A Moonlight Serenade concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Jones Concert Hall in Baylors Glennis McCrary Music Building. The 22-member jazz ensemble will perform the big-band music of Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, Count Basie, Harry James and others. Tickets cost $5, and admission is free to ages 65 or older, though a ticket is required. Tickets can be purchased at www.baylor.edu/tickets or at the ticket office at Baylors Bill Daniel Student Center. For more information, call 710-3210 or visit www.baylor.edu/music. Kiwanis Seniors Waco Kiwanis Seniors will meet at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at Golden Corral, 618 N. Valley Mills Drive. The meeting will feature a presentation by Three Guys Stepping Out, three student members of Baylors Helping Hands Organization. Visitors and those interested in membership are welcome to attend. For more information, call Dick Rood at 399-0072. Diabetes workshop The Heart of Texas Area Agency on Aging is conducting registration for a Diabetes Symptom Management workshop. The self-management workshop will meet for six weeks, beginning at 1 p.m. Monday at the Providence Hospice office, 6700 Sanger Ave. The workshop is free, but advance registration is required and space is limited. To register, call Sonya Rawlings-Aleman at 399-9099. Free legal advice Mission Waco Legal Services will have a free legal advice clinic for low-income residents from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at the Meyer Center, 1226 Washington Ave. Participants receive a free 20- to 30-minute consultation with a lawyer. Appointments are not required but are strongly recommended. To schedule an appointment, call 296-9866, ext. 212. Fair warning to the squawking, trash-scavenging, car-splattering hordes along Austin Avenue: Tiberius is watching. Tiberius is a Harriss hawk with a fearsome hooked beak and talons, and if he cant eat all the grackles in downtown Waco, his handlers say he can strike terror in their little avian hearts. Mark Smith of Blackjack Bird Abatement has been taking Tiberius on his night patrols downtown last week as part of a contract with the city of Waco to move the nuisance birds away. What normally happens is that he will fly straight up into a tree, then Ill take off walking down the street, and hell fly from tree to tree, Smith said last week near City Hall as Tiberius perched on his leather glove. All the grackles know, Ive got a hawk after me. If one gets caught, the whole roost know about it, and it sends them all into a panic. Luckily, we dont have to take out too many of them. Just his presence is enough. Since 2013, the Fort Worth firm has had a seasonal contract with the city parks and recreation department to control bird populations from October to May. The cost is $1,750 per month. Parks superintendent John Rose said the firm has been successful in reducing bird populations around River Square Center. But now Austin Avenue and the City Hall area are seeing more grackles, and the problem has started earlier in the year than usual. The city is paying Blackjack to bring out its hawks every weeknight this September and is bidding to contract for a longer season next year as part of a downtown cleanup effort. Rose said he saw several thousand grackles along Austin Avenue when he went out with the Blackjack falconer last week. There was one tree he flushed out that probably had at least 500, he said. Wherever we can get them away is a place where we dont have to spend so much time getting rid of the smell and power-washing the sidewalks. Blackjack Bird Abatement also uses other methods, including green laser pointers, to disrupt the roosting birds and pressure them to move somewhere else. Jeff Cattoor, owner of Blackjack Bird Abatement, said hitting the roosts regularly will eventually cause them to relocate long-term. The secret sauce is going out consecutive nights, Cattoor said. If you just do it a couple of nights, these grackles and starlings will put up with that, but when youre consistently reintroducing a predator . . . they decide this is no longer a safe place to roost. Cattoor said he has had long-term success with moving nuisance birds in downtown Fort Worth and on the San Antonio Riverwalk area. Centro San Antonio, which maintains that citys downtown, contracted with the company from 2009 to 2013 but now uses another firm that uses alternative methods, said Jimmy Richards, the groups public improvement district director. But he said the raptor program was a success in keeping grackles away from downtown visitors and keeping bird feces out of the river. Jeff did a great job for us, Richards said. Year after year, it does reduce the numbers. . . . Its one of those small things that people dont notice, but its an improvement for downtown visitors experience. Tiberius, a 1-year-old Harriss hawk raised in captivity, lives with Smith, a falconer with a decade of experience. Harriss hawks, a common raptor in the Southwest and Mexico, tend to hunt in groups, unlike red-tailed hawks, which means they are more social birds. Theyve got such a good nature, Smith said. Theyre very adaptable. Like most hawks, Harriss hawks are daytime birds, but their training and their exposure to the artificial lighting of cities has allowed them to adjust to hunting grackles at night. Still, they face on-the-job hazards, including electrical transformers and larger owls, which can feed on hawks. With proper care, a Harriss hawk can remain in service more than 20 years. In the wild, they live a considerably shorter amount of time, he said. They have a 70 percent mortality rate in their first year. Smith has three raptors at his home southwest of Fort Worth but only uses Tiberius for grackle hunting. He said working together gives them a bond, though he still has to be careful with a partner with half-inch-long talons. Asked about the scratches around his left wrist, he laughed. He got me while ago, Smith said. I keep him on a perch in my truck. I was turning the air conditioner and he nailed me. I joked that he was already cold and didnt want me to turn the air conditioner on. They get moody, just like anyone else. Mart police released a sketch of a man Tuesday suspected in the attempted abduction of a young girl in late August. Mart Police Chief Paul Cardenas said local authorities worked throughout the weekend with the Texas Rangers in an attempt to identify a person of interest in an attempted kidnapping on Aug. 31. Police initially reported that the victim was walking home after leaving a school event when she was approached by an older white male near the intersection of East Limestone and South Booth streets. Cardenas said the suspect allegedly grabbed the girls arm and asked if she wanted a ride. The girl was able to break free and run away from the area and was not injured. Our officers worked all weekend with the Texas Rangers to try to identify a suspect, Cardenas said. A lot of thanks goes to the officers and the Rangers, who were able to come up with a detailed sketch. The suspect was described as a older male, about 5-foot-9 with white and black hair, scruffy facial hair with a skinny build. At the time of the incident, the suspect was wearing a black sweatshirt and black shorts with a green stripe running along the shorts. Cardenas also thanked the Moody Police Department, which offered its assistance with analytical knowledge about child-abduction cases in small communities after Moody officers experienced a similar situation last October. Mart police received several tips after the incident was reported last week, Cardenas said. Officers are continuing to work with the victim and following up on leads throughout the area. Anyone with information regarding this incident should contact the Mart Police Department at 876-3018. Election Day is more than two months away, but the continued inability of Donald Trump to run a minimally competent campaign or demonstrate a threshold level of relevant knowledge has left Hillary Clinton in a remarkably strong position. Florida is the latest swing state to produce a spectacularly bad poll for Trump. Clinton could conceivably coast to a convincing victory in November, riding unprecedented levels of support from Hispanic voters and even from black voters who could give the Democratic nominee a higher percentage of their vote than even the nations first black president received. President Clintons chief goals would be to make progress, through legislation or executive action, on Democratic priorities, such as immigration and middle-class security; to retain or expand the Democrats national coalition; and to activate that coalition in the midterm election of 2018, when Democrats will be defending 25 of 33 Senate seats. If she is especially ambitious, Clinton may also try to sink the divided GOP, which is listing with no obvious safe port on the horizon. The components of the Obama coalition are growing even as the Republicans older, whiter base shrinks. If Clinton can keep that expanding Democratic base reasonably content and motivated, she should do well enough. If she can also expand into moderate Republican terrain, shell threaten the GOPs future. Clintons jungle war could be a Republican Congress. Given Republicans success in the midterm elections of 2010 and 2014, which followed their relentless obstruction of Obamas legislative efforts, it seems unlikely that Republicans will adopt a more conciliatory approach to Clinton. If they hold a majority in either chamber of Congress, and even if they dont, they will pursue the only goal on which Republicans wholeheartedly agree: making a Democratic president fail. Thus, Clintons mandate will depend on not the size of her victory nor the policies on her website, but whether a Democratic Congress is swept to victory with her. The elected officials in both parties, particularly in Congress, are so ideologically polarized that it has become almost impossible to get them to agree on anything, said Middlebury College political scientist Matthew Dickinson, via e-mail. As a result, if presidents are going to govern, they invariably rely on only their own party in Congress. A Republican majority has the capacity to eat at Clintons coalition from both ends, frustrating Democratic partisans into apathy while repelling moderates who desperately want Washington to work. Even if Clinton does expand the Democratic coalition and based on demographics thats certainly possible its not going to mean much in terms of enacting policy if she cant get a party majority in Congress, Dickinson said. Of course, he added, if the country is truly moving left, then Clinton and a Democratic congressional majority may be able to pass a progressive agenda say, health care with a public option, higher marginal tax rates, $15 minimum wage, free tuition at public college, greater regulation on fracking, etc., without engendering a backlash. Neither Obama nor George W. Bush managed that though Obama had a productive first two years before the backlash ensued. When their own parties held Congress, they couldnt keep it. Clinton has the capacity to put together a truly dominant coalition, which could produce a decisive victory in November. But if she wants a victory, and policies, that endure, shell have to achieve what Obama never did: turn out Democratic voters for a midterm. Francis Wilkinson writes on politics and domestic policy for Bloomberg View. Make no mistake about it: Donald Trumps trip to Mexico was a resounding success. After weeks of scrutiny over his credentials for higher office, including his moral standing and even his sanity, Trump needed to restore some sense of legitimacy and strength to his flailing campaign. What better way to do so than to stand, statesman-like, next to the president of Mexico? Trump played the role to perfection. Subdued and even solemn, he owned the proceedings. Trump chose when and how he wanted to visit Mexico, a country he has insulted and maligned for more than a year. He established the meetings agenda, laying out a five-point plan for the bilateral relationship in a potential Trump presidency. Trump even chose who got to ask questions during the brief news conference that followed the usual statements, deftly placing himself on equal footing with Pena Nieto. A master of optics, Trump used the setting to his advantage, calling Pena Nieto a friend and conveniently shaking his hand for front-page-ready photos. He avoided anything resembling an apology and, albeit in more careful terms than before, stood by the construction of a border barrier. Some slammed Trump for not demanding Pena Nieto pay for the infamous wall, but such criticism misses the point. Trumps goal in Mexico was not confrontation. In fact, it was the exact opposite: the international debut of diplomatic Trump, a man who dutifully praises his host, stresses common ground over conflict. Trumps take on a real presidential candidate came in the unlikeliest stage imaginable: Los Pinos, the Mexican presidents official residence. Just a few hours later, in Phoenix, Trump would put his new perceived legitimacy to immediate use, giving a ferocious speech on immigration policy that repeated all of his insults and boasts, and then taunted wonderful Mexican leaders by saying theyd pay for the wall, even if they dont know it yet. As for Pena Nieto, Trumps visit should be seen as a new low for an already embattled president. Whoever had the idea to offer an open invitation to Mexico to both Hillary Clinton and Trump placed Pena Nieto in an impossible bind once Trump accepted. After news broke of Trumps surprising plans to visit Mexico on Wednesday just before his Phoenix immigration speech, no less Mexican social media quickly condemned the historically unpopular president, questioning his judgment, political acumen and even his dignity. Under such pressure, the options for Pena Nieto to emerge unscathed or even victorious from his meeting with Trump grew scarce. The beleaguered Mexican presidents controversial generosity, an ill-timed and unnecessary act of diplomatic hospitality, could only be reciprocated with a public apology from Trump, an unlikely outcome if there ever was one. Instead, Pena Nieto was left with something his administration has puzzlingly resisted from the beginning of Trumps political ascendance: He fact-checked Donald Trump, lecturing the Republican candidate on the benefits of the bilateral relationship and the contributions of Mexican Americans in the United States. But Pena Nieto stopped well short of demanding an apology or setting the record straight over who would pay for Trumps wall. His promises to defend Mexicans rang empty when he stood silently as Trump quickly noted construction bills would be discussed in future meetings. Pena Nieto intervened once during the question-and-answer session but only to offer a bizarre rationale for Trumps previous outbursts against Mexicans, what Pena Nieto called misunderstandings. Mexican people have been hurt by the comments that have been made, said Pena Nieto, who then, bewilderingly, immediately excused Trump: I am sure that his genuine interest has been to build a relationship that will improve both of our societies. Trump smiled, his bullying having received a presidential seal of approval. A few hours later, Pena Nieto took to Twitter to clarify his position on the border wall. In the beginning of my conversation with Donald Trump, I explained that Mexico would not pay for the wall, Pena Nieto wrote. On his way to Arizona by then, Trump didnt reply. He had already had the last word back in Mexico. Leon Krauze is an award-winning Mexican journalist, author and news anchor. He is the lead anchor at KMEX, Univisions station in Los Angeles. Some of us are old enough to remember when Labor Day weekend traditionally marked the real start of the presidential campaign season, when everyday voters finally took a closer look at the nominees and their platforms. Now the end-of-summer holiday serves only to remind us that were entering the final stretch of what has been a bewildering, frustrating and exhausting presidential campaign unlike any in U.S. history. So how are some of us feeling after more than a year of campaigning, lots of it veering into demagogy, deceit and hypocrisy? Answer: underwhelmed given that some promising presidential candidates got weeded out by far lesser prospects. Just last week, the conservative Wall Street Journal a paper that has had very little good to say about President Obama acknowledged a new Monmouth poll showing that, in a survey on whether people liked Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, an unprecedented plurality of 35 percent responded neither. The paper then wittily contemplated endorsing neither for president in 2016. We sensed some of this gloomy discontent during Republican Congressman Bill Flores town-hall meeting at Texas State Technical College just last week. Sometime after dutifully voicing his support for bombastic Republican presidential nominee, casino mogul and reality TV star Donald Trump if only because Trump suggested some reliably conservative jurists for the U.S. Supreme Court, Flores sighed and wearily acknowledged that Trump and Clinton were two of the worst candidates nominated for president ever. Which raises an interesting question: Are two or three more conservative justices on the Supreme Court worth putting Trump in charge of nuclear weapons? Are you feeling lucky? Well, are you? Its pretty hard not to get discouraged. After Hillary Clintons successful Democratic National Convention, she seemed to go out of her way to confirm notions many of us have about her honesty. For instance, she suggested that FBI director James Comey had cleared her of any wrongdoing in the email scandal when he actually made it clear she and her staff at the State Department were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information but not enough to justify prosecution. Humility would have been a better tact for Clinton. And unless youve got blinders on, its hard to argue Clinton is deceitful and Trump isnt. The man whose supporters say hes a straight shooter has actually been all over the map on his immigration plan, often depending on his venue and how the polls are reading. For months he vowed to deport an estimated 11.5 million illegal immigrants, thrilling many; lately hes shifted to and fro with the greatest of ease, confusing many. Ones not even sure of the option of voting third party. Earlier this summer, folksy and engaging Gary Johnson, the former Republican governor of New Mexico now running as the top half of the Libertarian presidential ticket, reportedly remarked he was giving up his use of marijuana while he runs for the White House. Regardless of how you feel about legalizing marijuana, thats a bizarre comment for any presidential nominee to make. Some of us might feel lots better if sober William Weld, former Republican governor of Massachusetts, was heading this ticket instead of serving as Johnsons running mate. All told, its enough that even some of us who have been disappointed by President Obamas two-term administration are having second thoughts about his leaving. Alongside the field of nominees seeking to succeed him, he at least looks and sounds presidential. One things sure. Judging from the dire predictions of national calamity if either Clinton or Trump wins, the Nov. 8 election wont be the end of our national torment. Several World War II veterans will highlight activities at the third annual Atlanta Warbird Weekend at Dekalb-Peachtree Airport (KPDK) Sept.24-25, 2016. The event at the Chamblee, Ga., airport is a community effort led by the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) Dixie Wing, the Georgia Chapter of the worlds largest WWII flying collection. This years program will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the American Volunteer Group (AVG), nicknamed the Flying Tigers. AWW will host the largest gathering of P-40 Warhawks in 50 years, with at least 10 of the historic planes expected at the airport. The Curtiss P-40 was highly associated with the Flying Tigers and was the third- most- produced fighter plane of WWII. Very few are still flying and the AWW event will be a rare opportunity to see these aircraft together and hear from actual veterans who served with the Flying Tigers, as well as hear from other WWII veterans who will be present to discuss their experiences. Frank Losonsky, Chairman of the AVG Flying Tigers Association, will be participating for the weekend. Frank was recruited into the AVG from his duties in the US Army Air Corps at Selfridge Field, Michigan. He was assigned as a Crew Chief in the Hells Angels 3rd squadron, where he generally was responsible for three to four aircraft at a time. In addition to these duties, he also carried out memorable tasks such as delivering bombs via truck from Kunming to Paoshan, and salvaging parts from ill-fated P-40s. On one occasion, Losonsky was part of a salvage crew sent to recover four wrecked Tomahawks. The flight of four planes, led by Gregory Pappy Boyington, had made forced landings near the Indochina border when they ran out of fuel. Honorably discharged from the AVG, Frank returned home, married, and then returned to the Far East as a mechanic with Chinese National Aviation Corporation (CNAC). Later, he returned stateside and assisted in building B-24 Liberators. Leaving the Air Corps, Losonsky took a civil service job at Clark Field in the Philippines. Following WWII Frank remained in the Far East and attained one of his earliest goals to become a commercial pilot. He flew for TAA (TransAsiatic Airlines). In 1950 he left TAA and returned to the States. He joined GM and traveled the world for 30 years as a service rep for the GM Allison aircraft engine division. Franks finale was to serve as an Exec. Officer in his sons PART IV restaurant business in Columbus, Ga. In 1996 Frank was awarded a Bronze Star Medal by Chief of Staff USAF, Gen. Ronald Fogleman. The AVG Flying Tigers were granted veterans status in 1991 and awarded a Presidential Unit Citation in 1992. Charles Chuck Baisden, vice president of the AVG Flying Tigers Association, also will be present for the special AVG weekend. He signed a one-year contract with Central Aircraft Mfg. Co., covert cover for the AVG, and worked as an armorer on 3rd Squadron P-40Bs and P-40Es. He was with the first forces to reach Burma, and first of the AVG to reach Toungoo in August 1941. Baisden was stationed at Mingaladon and Magwe, Burma; Loiwing, Mengshi, and Kunming, China, and did the Burma Road by truck. He once was sent to Maymyo, Burma, via Mandalay to pick up 55,000 rounds of aircraft ammunition. Baisden also served in WWII and Korea, for which he earned the following decorations: Distinguished Flying Cross; Bronze Star; Air Medal; four Presidential Unit Citations; Air Force Outstanding Unit Award; SAC Crew of the Month; Two Korean Unit Citations; China National Service Medal; Combat Ready. The Flying Tigers were recruited under secret presidential authority and commanded by Claire Lee Chennault. The shark-mouth nose art of the Flying Tigers remains among the most recognizable images of any individual combat aircraft or combat unit of World War II. The AVG Flying Tigers Association will celebrate its reunion in conjunction with the AWW. Presentations at AWW, and leading up to the event, will be organized to educate and connect the public with the historical significance of the American Volunteer Group. Also expected for AWW Lt Col Dick Cole, the last surviving member of the Doolittle Tokio Raiders. Dick Cole, who will turn 101 years old on September 7, 2016, was the co-pilot for Doolittle and led 16 B-25 bombers and 80 crew members on a mission to hit main lain Japan. The mission had no military strategic value, but changed the morale of Americans everywhere. On April 18, 1942, he was co-pilot of the first American airplane to attack the Japanese home islands since war had been declared. The Raid was just the beginning of a year overseas for Cole. After the Doolittle Raid, Cole remained in the China-Burma-India Theater (CBI) to Fly the Hump, one of the riskiest of all World War II aviation missions. In the spring of 1942, Japanese units overran Burma on Indias northern border, cutting off the last significant land routes that supplied the struggling armies of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek in China. The United States and its Allies needed to keep China in the war. Since she had been attacked by the Japanese in 1937, her forces had preoccupied nearly 2 million Japanese troops. However, that strategy could only work if China and Allied troops could be supplied. So in April 1942, Cole, now assigned to the Air Transport Command, started flying the Hump in C-47s loaded to the gills with everything from gasoline to food to bandages whatever was needed to keep China and her Allies in the fight. Other veterans expected for AWW are WWII veteran pilots Bob Jones, who flew C-47 and the C-46 Commando over the Hump in the Himalayan Mountains; Paul Crawford , who Flew 29 missions in P-51s and flew P-40s for Chennault in the 14th Air Force; plus Albert McMahan, a B-17 ball and tail gunner who flew 25 missions in the dark early days of the 8th Air Force when there were no friendly escorts, and Henry Hughey, who flew as a ball turret gunner with the 487th Bomber Group (Gentlemen from Hell) later in the war and completed 32 missions. Community support has been amazing and it is really bringing history alive in honor of our veterans, said Moreno Aguiari, AWW co-chairman. Aviation and veterans groups, museums, local municipalities and individuals are volunteering to help us share the story of World War II aviation history. AWW will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day Sept. 24-25 at the Dekalb-Peachtree Airport. For a complete schedule of activities and CAF aircraft flight prices and reservations, visit www.atlantawarbirdweekend.com. The mission of the Texas-based CAF is to honor veterans and American military aviation through flight, education and remembrance. BEFORE my mother died, I remember telling her that I was considering having IVF and raising a child on my own. I was at that stage where I knew my fertility was rapidly dwindling and I had a very small slit of a window to become a mother. As much as her dying wish was my "every happiness", she was not so thrilled to hear what my future may entail. "Darling, I would love you to have a child but you are almost 40. Perhaps this is the age where you should start to understand it is not your lot in this life and there may be another path for you. Not all women are destined to be mothers. Children are a gift and not a given in this life." IVF can be a cruel, debilitating and intrusive process physically and mentally. Now, before anyone starts beating up on the memory of my late mother yes, she was of a different era and yes, I don't agree with her sentiments completely. Women over 40 can and do make great mothers and I know and love many of them. However, I also know many who are still trying to be mothers, some in their late 40s, and it is heartbreaking. Because they are hell-bent on achieving something akin to winning the lottery. And they don't seem able to move on with their lives until it happens and, as such, are stuck on a rollercoaster of anticipation and despair. Mark Tromp has apologised for the "hurt and concern" caused after he and his family fled their home and thanked police after their harrowing five-day "ordeal". In the statement, Mr Tromp said his family has been through a difficult period. "We will soon be reunited and together, I hope that we will begin to make sense of our ordeal and return to normal life," he said. "I am conscious of the burden these events have placed upon our extended family, friends and the community resources devoted to our aid. Another Perth developer is attempting to opt out of public open space requirements on a major Perth subdivision. Developers of big housing subdivisions in Perth are obliged to retain 10 per cent as public open space. But there is a provision for them to pay cash instead if the WA Planning Commission says there is already enough open space in the suburb, or if the space in question would be too small to be of practical use. The commission gave that reason for a controversial recent decision to let a developer resist Bayswater council's efforts to insist on POS around a local wetland, saying the buffer would be too small to protect it. A Perth man who has been missing for four days has been found "in good health". Steven Allison, 43, left his Clarkson home on August 30, with police finding his car in Ajana, more than 500km north of Perth and east of Kalbarri, on Friday. Missing man Steven Allison was found alive and in good health. Mr Allison was found in the Ajana area on Monday evening, and has been taken to hospital, police say. "Mr Allison is in good health and has been conveyed to Geraldton for medical assessment," a police statement said. The Syrian regime is fond of blaming the war on its soil on meddling foreign powers. Yet the truth is that each of the many foreign powers involved in the Syrian conflict has been reluctant to intervene directly, doing so only when they felt that their worst-case scenario was in danger of being realised. For Washington, the worst-case scenario was that Islamic State should manage to establish a de facto state in Syria and Iraq, and it carried out air strikes to prevent that happening, even as it backed off pursuing the Assad regime for its massive violations of human rights. For Moscow, the worst-case scenario was the fall of the Assad regime in Damascus. Only when that possibility loomed - and with it the loss of Russia's platform for influencing events in the Middle East - did the Kremlin intervene directly. With sponsorship of the German Customs Cooperation Fund, a WCO National Workshop on the modernization of the Customs Laboratories of Ukraine was held in the Specialized Laboratory on Expertise and Researches of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, in Kyiv, from 30 August to 2 September 2016. The Workshop was attended by more than 100 Customs officers, from different sections of the Country, involved in Customs Laboratories and HS classification matters. At the opening of the Workshop, the Director of the Specialized Laboratory, Ms. Yuliia Shadevska, highlighted the importance of a Customs Laboratory for the correct classification of certain commodities in the Harmonized System (HS) and thanked the representatives from the German Customs Administration and from the WCO Secretariat's Tariff and Trade Affairs Directorate for facilitating the high level discussions on the modernization of the Ukrainian Customs Laboratories. Also present at the opening ceremony, Dr. Burkhard Grebbe, from the Customs Laboratory of Cologne, emphasized the importance of a Customs Laboratory for the correct and uniform classification of commodities in the HS and in the national Customs tariff and encouraged the cooperation and networking between Customs Laboratories. During the Workshop participants discussed relevant areas of analytic methodology, methods validation, quality assurance and considered the possibilities for the modernization of the Specialized Customs Laboratory in Kiev in order to be accredited under ISO 17025. The Specialized Laboratory is a modern well-equipped standard laboratory that is the Central Customs Laboratory of Ukraine. A wide range of topics related to the HS and Customs Laboratories were addressed and the participants were also thoroughly informed about the amendments to the chemical area of the HS 2017 and about several databases and documentation specifically designed for the day to day routine in a Customs Laboratory. Participants were also informed about the efforts of the WCO Secretariat in promoting cooperation and networking between Customs Laboratories and, in particular, about the WCO Regional Customs Laboratories initiative. Moreover, some analytical determinations of special interest for Ukrainian Customs were discussed in the Laboratory under the supervision of the external experts. If you have an event you'd like to list on the site, submit it now! Submit LEESVILLE -- God made a way. That's the long and short of it out of Hornbeck, said Hornbeck United Pentecostal Church members Friday as they surveyed the beehive around them. Scores of volunteers with materials and tools galore came from all over to build members a new church -- and in just 24 hours. The old 1950s-era church just up the highway has flooded four times in 10 years. "Church In A Day" (CIAD), a ministry of the United Pentecostal Church and North American Missions, showed up just in time, said Marcia Lora, wife of Pastor Steve Lora. "The air conditioner in the back section went out two weeks ago and there is a hole coming in the floor in our sanctuary, so this is an answered prayer," she said. Church members -- young and old -- were helping out, and watching from afar. "I am so excited I want to cry," said longtime church member Billie Brooks. "This is like Christmas to a child." Church members said U.S. 171 enhancements years ago changed the topography of the land and the old church began to take in water during heavy rainfalls. Pastor Lora said without the help of "Church In A Day," a new church, at a new location, would not have been possible. "They've built 155 of these around the United States, all the same design, floor plan, everything. It's just a wonderful, wonderful thing," he said. "I don't know how I would every repay them." The Hornbeck United Pentecostal Church was the first home missions church in the state. The last service and baptism at the old church were held Wednesday night. The new church was completed Saturday, and the congregation's first service was at 2 p.m. Sunday. The new church is 3,000-sq. ft. and is complete with classrooms, restrooms -- all you need to hold services. The Hornbeck church is the fourth CIAD project in Louisiana. Others have been in Sterlington, Grand Lake and in the New Orleans area, said Kevin Cox, of Tioga, is the District Superintendent for United Pentecostal Church. "We supply a lot of the money, they supply some of the money but when we get through with this building, there will be no debt at all and they'll be ready to go and have church on Sunday," he said. Volunteers, many of whom are professionals in the construction field, arrived earlier last week to do site work. Volunteers worked closely with state and parish offices on building specifications and required permitting. Cox said volunteers receive a blessing from the experience, too. "It's because we want to help people. That's Louisiana and if you've been in Louisiana very long, you know we help people," he said. The Vernon Parish community helped, too. Businesses donated things like drinks, ice, the use of dumpsters and dirt work. Leesville Dr. Tim Donovan was also slated to be at the site on Friday, if needed, as well as Dr. William P. Wilkerson III, a Leesville chiropractor, for workers' aches and pains. Check out a slideshow of the work HERE. Listen to this story here: Fort Polk, LA (71446) Today Mostly cloudy. Low near 55F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Mostly cloudy. Low near 55F. Winds light and variable. Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required. Your Full Name: (optional) Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required. By West Kentucky Star Staff Sep. 05, 2016 | 08:29 AM | PADUCAH, KY A Paducah man is now behind bars on multiple charges after allegedly refusing to stop his vehicle for police.According to the McCracken County Sheriff's Department, deputies tried to pull over 29-year-old Chad Taylor of Paducah just before 7 pm Sunday on US Highway 68 near Watson Road. Deputies say Taylor refused to stop his vehicle, and that started a chase that eventually went into Marshall County.Taylor finally pulled his vehicle behind a home in the 7000 block of US Highway 68 and ran into the woods. Deputies say the people at the home knew Taylor, and they told them that he was very familiar with the wooded area.Deputies say Taylor turned himself in Monday to McCracken County deputies on Husbands Road without incident. He was arrested and booked in to the McCracken County Regional Jail on multiple charges.Deputies said other charges are likely. Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Sep. 06, 2016 | JOPPA, IL By West Kentucky Star Staff Sep. 06, 2016 | 10:03 AM | JOPPA, IL The Joppa-Maple Grove School District in Massac County has dismissed classes abruptly for Tuesday. Phone calls and text messages went out to parents at around 8:15 Tuesday morning, according to several parents that called the West Kentucky Star newsroom. Concerned parents also indicated that the reason for the dismissal is due to an apparent manhunt or search for a suspect underway near the Joppa High School. A message on the school's Facebook page thanked parents for their patience and understanding. The statement indicated that if all of the students had already arrived, they could have been kept safely inside, but that was not the case. Instead, officials decided to cancel classes. West Kentucky Star is working to gather additional information. Calls to the Massac County Sheriff for an update have not yet been returned. Even with 5-0 lead, Verlander can't get 1st World Series win By West Kentucky Star Staff Sep. 05, 2016 | 06:32 PM | FANCY FARM, KY A Graves County man is behind bars after police say he assaulted a woman and killed two of her cats. According to Graves County Sheriff Dewayne Redmon, 36-year-old Justin T. Jones of Fancy Farm is accused of assaulting a woman Sunday night and killing two kittens. Redmon said the woman suffered bruising to the face. The kittens were found in a wooded area behind her home. Deputies went to Jones' home on Tyler Road in Fancy Farm and arrested him without incident. He's charged with 4th degree assault and two counts of 2nd degree cruelty to animals. Jones was lodged in the Graves County Jail. By West Kentucky Star Staff Sep. 05, 2016 | 10:08 PM | GRAVES COUNTY, KY A contractor for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet plans to close the US 45 Mayfield Bypass connection between the Purchase Parkway Exit 21 Interchange and US 45 South at the southwest edge of Mayfield in Graves County starting today. Keith Todd with KYTC said the closure will require traffic to detour along US 45-Business through Mayfield. Southbound and northbound motorists on the Purchase Parkway will still be able to travel through the Exit 21 Interchange at Mayfield. However, the connection to and from US 45 South of Mayfield will be closed to facilitate dirt work for construction of new flyover ramps and overpasses. The closure of this connection between US 45 and the Purchase Parkway will remain in place into next year. By The Associated Press By The Associated Press Sep. 05, 2016 | 06:22 PM | LOUISVILLE, KY Democrat Jim Gray used Labor Day to unveil his jobs plan as he tries to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul. Media outlets report Gray released his economic agenda Monday at the United Auto Workers union hall in Louisville. Gray says he wants to invest in infrastructure, broadband internet and education to bring more jobs and attract businesses to Kentucky. That includes repairing and rebuilding roads and bridges. He says state residents are "living today on the infrastructure of our parents and our grandparents." He also stressed the importance of small business and increasing access to small business loans. Gray co-owns a construction company and has been Lexington's mayor since 2011. Paul was elected to the Senate in 2010. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 06/09/2016 (2244 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Transit riders are trying to keep up with the changes Winnipeg Transit is making to its fare system. Over the last month Transit put Peggo, its reloadable smart card, into service. Jonathan Borland, information supervisor at Winnipeg Transit, said theres still a lot of work to be done to get the word out about Peggo, but riders are catching on slowly. BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS University of Winnipeg student Melissa Thomas shows off her new Peggo card. We have sold 88,000 Peggo cards as of the end of last week; we have a fair number of cards out there, Borland said. One of the challenges that you always have whenever youre introducing something that affects all of your riders is that you have a very diverse group of riders. We have riders from the age of six all the way up to people in their 80s or 90s and you have various income levels, educational levels and language abilities. So while thousands already have Peggo cards in their wallets, others havent taken the plunge yet. Or arent able to. Cassandra Stevens is a nursing student at Red River College and spends an hour commuting to the Notre Dame campus from her home in Transcona. She said Red River students arent able to get the plastic Peggo post-secondary pass yet the previous monthly paper version has to do for now but she hopes to get one soon for her own peace of mind. I dont even know how the Peggo card really works, Stevens said. I just hear people talking about this new Peggo card. The one good thing, I guess, about it, is that its a plastic card and youre going to have it forever. Its not a bus pass. If you lose it, apparently you can call and get it replaced and you can cancel it and what-not. So thats kind of a good thing, because if you have a bus pass (and) lose it, its gone. According to Winnipeg Transits website, Peggo cards can be replaced for $5, and unused balances transferred to the new card. Borland told the Free Press students at Red River will soon be able to buy Peggo post-secondary cards, maybe as early as October. University of Winnipeg and University of Manitoba students now have a university pass (U-Pass) included in their tuition. Students, such as Melissa Thomas, just pick up their Peggo card on campus. You dont need to think about it, its already added on, said Thomas, who has just started her first year at the U of W. You just get the card and youre set. Borland said Transit is hoping to phase out paper tickets before long. For the average rider, we would go to a Peggo card and you could load cash onto your card. Say, you load $20. When you tap your card, that e-cash will work the same way a ticket used to work, he said. But that plan affected some social services and schools that provide tickets to patrons in need of a ride to appointments or students from low-income families needing rides to and from school. In a lot of cases what was happening is (organizations) were going out, purchasing large amounts of tickets and distributing them to clients on an as-needed basis, Borland said. It could be something like emergency bus fare, or any type of appointment that would come up. That led to Transit designing bus tokens, which the Royal Canadian Mint in Winnipeg has produced. The tokens will go exclusively to social service agencies and school divisions. SUBMITTED Transit designed bus tokens, which the Royal Canadian Mint in Winnipeg produced. The tokens will go exclusively to social service agencies and school divisions. Thats good news for Stevy Golden, a Winnipeg mom who rides the bus everywhere with Landen, her 21/2-year-old son. Golden said she typically uses paper tickets, and the tokens would just weigh her down. We have enough coins. We just got rid of the penny. That was nice, she said. I prefer the paper tickets. Its easier to carry, its not so heavy. Especially because I have a diaper bag and a stroller. I just lose coins. She didnt know the Peggo card was an option for her, and she hopes to learn more about it in the future. I see its on the billboards, on the bus and advertisements on the benches and I thought it was for seniors, she said with a laugh. (Peggo) is definitely something I would invest in. For information on where to buy and reload a Peggo card and how to use it, visit winnipegtransit.ca. bailey.hildebrand@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 06/09/2016 (2244 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. QUIETLY, with no grand opening fanfare, Gonzaga Middle School in Point Douglas will welcome its first students this week. Ten girls and five boys will form the Catholic schools inaugural Grade 6 class, principal Tom Lussier said. He declined media requests to interview the students because, he said, theyre trying to build a relationship of trust with them and their families. The private Catholic school is proceeding with caution after its announcement last fall prompted a backlash from some members of the indigenous community. When plans to open the Jesuit school in the inner city were announced by a group led by Winnipeg businessmen Mark and Steve Chipman, they didnt sit well with everyone. The group wants to see as many as 60 children from surrounding neighbourhoods attend Grades 6 to 8 there, then move on to St. Pauls High School and St. Marys Academy and attend those private secondary schools tuition-free. Aboriginal activists argued it was an insult to the survivors of the residential school system for a church-based private school to try to inject itself into inner-city and North End communities. After meeting with members of the indigenous community and assuring them the school will make no attempt to suppress indigenous culture and may, in fact, become a positive force that will teach aboriginal youth more about their language, culture and spiritual traditions, the school is up and running this week. Its in buildings that were formerly part of the St. Andrews Ukrainian Catholic Church. They were built in the late 1960s to house a school that never came to be. Since then, theyve been used as a community hall and youth drop-in centre. Gonzaga has invested $1 million to bring up to code the 10,000-square -foot property at 174 Maple St. North, which includes classrooms, a library, gymnasium and staff rooms. Its modelled after some 60 nativity schools started by Jesuits across the U.S., beginning in the early 1970s all of them located in inner-city, urban neighbourhoods most affected by poverty. Another nativity program, the Mother Teresa Middle School, was opened in Regina in 2011. Gonzaga Middle Schools first day of classes will start with breakfast at 8 a.m., singing O Canada, saying a respectful, inclusive prayer, followed by an orientation outlining plans for the day ahead, Lussier said. The daily prayer will vary, he said, to introduce them to different prayers of people from different backgrounds. Classes begin at 8:45 a.m. and run until 3:15 p.m. After-school programs run until 5:15 p.m. The students get breakfast and lunch and at least two snacks a day. The first three years of operation will cost about $3 million, or about $25,000 per student. The cost after all 60 students are enrolled in 2018 would be at least $1.5 million annually, although the school can apply for provincial grants after a three-year waiting period. carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 06/09/2016 (2244 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Christine Woods parents made a desperate plea for public help Tuesday to find their missing 21-year-old daughter. Call me, phone me. I beg you please come home, Melinda Wood tearfully said at a news conference, hoping her daughter was listening. Im pleading with anyone in the city who may have seen her please help us, said George Wood, Christines father. WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS George Wood (left) and Melinda Wood (centre), parents of Christine Wood made a tearful plea Tuesday for information about their missing 21-year-old daughter. They were supported at the news conference by Shelia North Wilson, grand chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Inc. (second from left), Tommy Weenusk, Christine's uncle (second from right) and Christy Dzikowicz, director of missing children services at the Canadian Centre for Child Protection. The former University of Winnipeg student was last seen the evening of Aug. 19 in St. James. Her parents said it is extremely unusual for her to be out of contact with them for so long. If you have any kind of information, any lead, we need her home, her father said at the media event hosted by Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Inc. and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection. The news conference aimed to jog peoples memories and to ask the public to keep their eyes peeled for the missing young woman. These are very lovely people who care about their family and raised their family with love, said MKO Grand Chief Sheila North Wilson. She called on Winnipeggers to be on the lookout for Christine with the same vigilance they showed when Thelma Krull, a middle-aged grandmother, went missing more than a year ago. Thats how it should be for every family, North Wilson said. The family is from Oxford House First Nation. Christine was staying at a hotel near Sargent Avenue and Berry Street with her parents while accompanying a family member to a medical appointment in Winnipeg on the night she went missing. She told her parents she was going out for the evening and never returned. She hasnt been in touch with family or friends since. Wood is described as 5-6 tall with an average build and shoulder-length dark-brown hair. Christy Dzikowicz of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection said there have been unconfirmed reports Christine has been seen in the city. The police need more information to come in, said Dzikowicz. Were feeling very hopeful. BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Melinda Wood holds a poster made up for her daughter, 21-year-old Christine Wood, who has been missing since Aug. 19. One of the concerns North Wilson has is Christine may have become entangled with those who would exploit her. Thats my biggest fear, she said. We wish we knew what happened. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Winnipeg police missing-persons unit at 204-986-6250. I know shes 21 and an adult, but shes our child, George Wood said at the news conference while choking back sobs. We need your help to find her. carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 06/09/2016 (2244 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. In a new statement of defence, former Manitoba premier Greg Selinger and one of his top ministers deny any interference with Omnitrax Canadas negotiations to sell the Port of Churchill. In court filings in the lawsuit filed by the Denver-based railway company against the government of Manitoba, Selinger and Steve Ashton, the statement of defence asks for the lawsuit to be thrown out and all court costs be covered by Omnitrax. The lawsuit filed in April just days before the provincial election alleges the NDP government, Selinger and Ashton broke a non-disclosure agreement by giving confidential information to a competing First Nation. During that period last December, Omnitrax was negotiating a deal to sell the Hudson Bay Railway and Port of Churchill to a consortium of 10 northern Manitoba First Nations. Churchill Gateway Development Corp. The closure of Churchill's port affects more than 70 people of the northern towns workforce, almost 10 per cent of the town of 800. The unlawful and wrongful conduct of the defendants amounts to a deliberate, high-handed, wanton and outrageous interference with the plaintiffs right, states the claim, filed in Manitoba Court of Queens Bench. The lawsuit alleges the defendants disclosed confidential information to accounting firm MNP LP and Opaskwayak Cree Nation, a First Nation about 630 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg. It seeks an unspecified amount in damages for the alleged breach. The statement of defence denies all the allegations, including that Selinger or Ashton, who was the infrastructure and transportation minister at the time, directed MNP LP or OCN to conduct a financial analysis for the Omnitrax deal. The defendant denies having given any confidential information to anyone beyond the scope of the confidentiality agreement, says the statement of defence, filed Aug. 16. It asks that both names be removed from the suit, stating that they were not parties to the confidentiality agreement. Lawyers representing the government, Selinger and Ashton were to appear in court last Thursday. The case was adjourned to a future date that has not been set. The NDP declined to comment on a case before the courts, as did the province. The current status of the deal between Omnitrax and the First Nations consortium led by Mathias Colomb First Nation remains a mystery. It was first announced in January, with both sides speaking confidently that the purchase of the port and railway would soon be complete. However, there were no further announcements and the deal appears to have been derailed by Omnitraxs announcement in July it was closing the port and reducing freight service by half, to one train a week. Government officials and Omnitrax have been silent on what the future holds for Canadas only Arctic deep-water port. Omnitrax Canada president Merv Tweed, federal Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains and Chief Arlen Dumas of Mathias Colomb First Nation did not respond to requests for comment. Tweed told the Free Press last month the company has a pretty solid circumstantial case that the former NDP government leaked confidential financial information to OCN. Tweed said the company was caught off guard when OCN sent a competing proposal to Ottawa for the purchase of the port and railway. Tweed said the First Nation had never signed a non-disclosure agreement to get access to detailed financial information that would be essential for any purchase proposal. Although Omnitrax has not seen the OCN proposal, the company strongly suspects the former NDP government shared the information it had, contrary to a confidentiality agreement, Tweed said. How do you make a business proposal without business information? Tweed said. How can you do that without talking to us? with files from Dan Lett kristin.annable@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @kristinannable Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 06/09/2016 (2244 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. STE. MADELEINE George Fleurys family had been travelling by horse-drawn wagon for weeks with two other Metis families much like the buffalo hunts of yore searching for work. It was the Great Depression, and they were picking up menial jobs digging seneca roots, cleaning houses, clearing brush, doing farm work to support their families. PHOTOS BY BILL REDEKOP / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS (EXCEPT WHERE NOTED) A cross ringed by the wheel of a Red River Cart symbolizes a Metis cemetery. In 1938, people were forced from Ste. Madeleine, a Metis village, and their homes set ablaze to make way for pasture. The cemetery is all that remains. When they returned to their Metis village of Ste. Madeleine in 1939, their house was smouldering from a government-ordered fire. The village had been razed. All that was left was our kitchen range sticking out of the ashes, and the bed rails, said Fleury, 81, who was four years old at the time. I remember my mother crying. My father was shaking, his shoulders going up and down, crying. Ste. Madeleine is a lesser-known case of a forced relocation of aboriginal people in Manitobas history. About 250 people were removed. However, this example wasnt in the far north where it might go unnoticed, but along the Yellowhead Highway, between Binscarth and St. Lazare. All that stands today of the village is the Ste. Madeleine Cemetery. The cemetery is haunting and beautiful at once. It teems with the white crosses of several hundred graves. The open prairie near the Assiniboine River undulates beneath the cemetery so the crosses look frozen in rolling waves. PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS George Melvin Fleury, 81, and daughter, Georgina (Liberty) Fleury. The cemetery is also a monument to a time when some governments viewed aboriginals as lesser Canadians. The cattle lowing nearby are testament to that: people were evicted so cows would have pasture. The Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration was established in 1935 to help cattle producers. Its mandate was to take marginal land out of crop production, which loosened the soils that blew off into the famous Dirty 30s dust storms, and return it to native grasses. In consultation with provincial and municipal governments, certain land across the Prairies was designated to become community pastures for cattle. One of those parcels included Ste. Madeleine. Ste. Madeleine was to be expropriated. Villagers were to receive land in kind but only if families were paid up on their property taxes. Only one or two families were. This was the Great Depression, after all, and many people couldnt pay their property taxes. One family received good farm land that is still in the family today. The rest were denied land. They received some monetary compensation, but amounts ranged widely from $250 to nothing, according to verbal accounts recorded in articles and books. The sums suggest tax arrears may have been deducted from the amounts people received. It left many people with no home or money to start again. BILL REDEKOP / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS In 1938, people were forced from the Metis village of Ste. Madeleine and their homes burned to the ground to make way for a community pasture. The cemetery is all that remains. Its really something to be chased out of your village just for cows, said Kate Venne, who lives in Binscarth, and who gave a tour of the cemetery. Her grandfather, uncle and cousin are buried in Ste. Madeleine. Its just like saying a cow is better than I am. However, the Metis people didnt realize the full enmity some of their neighbours had for them until those neighbours, hired by government to remove them, started setting fire to their homes. They shot their dogs, too. They may have burned down their homes to prevent the Metis from moving back. Our dogs were all shot. They were taken from us, Fleury said. They said the dogs had a virus and were sick, but what they were actually doing was taking away our livelihood because the dogs were trained to hunt and haul stuff. BILL REDEKOP / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS In 1938, people were forced from the Metis village of Ste. Madeleine and their homes burned to the ground to make way for a community pasture. The cemetery is all that remains. Another account is found in the book, Ste. Madeleine: Community Without a Town by Ken and Victoria Zeilig. Lena Fleury witnessed them shooting the dogs. Why did they do that? she was asked. Just to make people mad, I suppose, she told the authors. People from Ste. Madeleine trace their ancestry back to the Red River Settlement, and the town may have been established as early as the 1880s. It was kind of a double whammy. We were kicked out of Red River, and then we were kicked out of here, said Mary Orr, Vennes sister. The community of about 250 people were forced to disperse. Some moved to nearby communities such as Camperville in Manitoba or Spy Hill in Saskatchewan. Others settled on road allowances (government land designated for future public roads) where they became squatters. Their shanties made small villages they ruefully named after individuals they blamed for their conditions. One they named Selby Town, and another Fouillard Town, after municipal officials John Selby and Benoit Fouillard, who spearheaded the Metis ouster. BILL REDEKOP / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Sisters Kate Venne and Mary Orr look at grave of their grandfather, uncle and cousin. George Fleurys family wound up in Fouillard Town. We pitched camp on a road allowance, in a tent, while my father was building a log house. It was not a very nice house, but it provided shelter. Sometimes, while the house was being built, some kids slept under the wagon for shelter. Few former Ste. Madeleine residents prospered, other than those who received land. People had to start their lives over again and without the support and comfort of their community. It destroyed the bond that was strong when we were all together, Fleury said. People were close. As we dispersed to different areas, people became strangers. The Ste. Madeleines Roman Catholic Church, which was once in the middle of the cemetery, was dismantled and turned into a pig barn. Today, a three-metre white cross is where the church once was. The cross is inside a ring representing a Red River Cart wheel a Metis version of a Celtic Cross. The people of Ste. Madeleine were poor. Wooden crosses were the main grave markers. They had a unique style. The crosses are white with black patches on three ends. Some have wooden balls attached to the ends. Some crosses were made out of rebar. The paint and names on the crosses have weathered away in many instances. The local chapter of the Manitoba Metis Federation, of which Venne is secretary and Orr vice-chairwoman, has been lovingly restoring the cemetery. Many of the crosses have been repainted, for example. The RM of Ellice-Archie cuts the grass and trims around the graves. BILL REDEKOP / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Metis-style graves with wooden balls or painted black patches at end of wooden cross. Families will hold cookouts adjacent to the cemetery on Sundays, and Metis Days have been held at the site annually for the last 27 years. People camp or take trailers to the two-day festival of music and dancing, which includes craft tables, food booths and games. There are new burials. Local Metis people associate strongly with the site, and the new generation is embracing it in honour of their parents and grandparents. To be buried there, Metis people must still get written permission from the PFRA office even though ownership of PFRA land is in flux. The Harper government ordered the PFRA to divest the land, which is being transferred to provinces and municipalities. Local Metis also have to get approval every year for Metis Days. The Metis federation hopes to make a case former residents were treated shamefully and should have their land returned. bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca Politicians often have tried to re-invent themselves, and some actually have succeeded. Southerner Lyndon Johnson became the champion of civil rights. So did former Ku Klux Klan member Robert Byrd. Anti-communism crusader Richard Nixon opened the door to Communist China. And hardliner Ronald Reagan signed a nuclear arms deal with the Soviet Union. But last week, Donald Trump tried to re-invent himself on the issue of immigration, and failed. He failed because what he proposed in the first place wasnt real and neither was his much-heralded reinvention. Illegal immigration, of course, is Trumps signature issue. He not only made it the centerpiece of the Republican primary, he forced the Republican Party to reverse course on immigration: from reaching out to Latino voters as Jeb Bush, Lindsey Graham and other GOP leaders proposed to, in effect, declaring war on them. He began his campaign at Trump Tower on June 16, 2015, by promising: I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will have Mexico pay for that wall. He also promised to round up and deport some 11 million immigrants now in the United States who came here illegally, because Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists. And he has repeated those two promises at every campaign event since. Then, suddenly, 10 days ago, we were told that Trump was having second thoughts. He met with a group of Latino activists. He reportedly told them he was open to changes in his plans. He was looking for a more humane way to deal with immigrants who had committed no crimes. He asked for ideas from a Fox News audience. He postponed a planned speech on immigration in order to revisit and revise his original hardliner position. Cable news anchors became absolutely giddy with speculation about Trumps new look on immigration. And when he finally dropped the other shoe and unveiled his revised immigration policy, in a primetime speech Aug. 31 in Phoenix, what was new? Absolutely nothing. He may have repackaged it in a 10-point program, but his position on immigration today is just as racist, and just as impractical, as it was 15 months ago. Trump didnt lighten up, he doubled down. He didnt get any softer on immigration. If anything, he got even darker. While the world listened breathlessly for signs of anything new, Trump just rolled out the same old nonsense. He would build a wall a beautiful, impenetrable wall, tunnel-proof, with towers and aerial surveillance. And yes, Mexico would pay for it. They may not know it yet, but theyre going to pay for it. And, starting on day one, he would begin mass deportation. First, the 2 million he claims among the immigrant population to be criminals, then those who are stopped for any violation of the law, even a traffic ticket. Finally, the remainder of the 11 million all those long-term, law-abiding residents of the U.S. who have families and jobs and pay taxes, who have sons and daughters in the military, but who came here illegally all of whom Trump will either throw out of the country or force to leave the country and get in line to come back in legally. The big question is: Why did Trump even go through this awkward, faux reboot on immigration only to end up back in the same place? It can only be because he doesnt know what hes talking about in the first place. There is, in fact, nothing real about his entire immigration scheme. This is no longer the 80s. The issue of illegal immigration is not the biggest problem facing this country, not even close. In fact, from 2009 to 2014, more people crossed the border to go south than come north. There are more guards at the border than ever before. There is no way Mexicos going to pay for Trumps wall. Neither will Congress. Nor are there enough buses, trains, planes or immigration officials to deport 11 million people. Trumps whole immigration plans a joke. Just like his fly-by visit to Mexico City, where he wimped out and failed even to talk about who would pay for the wall, let alone make a deal. In the end, his visit to Mexico and his Phoenix speech this week were emblematic of the entire Trump campaign: loud, flashy, trashy and totally pointless. In the recent history of our great nation, it has been an American privilege to stop by the local brewer and pick up a six-pack of your favorite beer without any government hassle. Heading home to pop open a cold one after a long day of work is an American tradition. But state alcohol regulators in Alabama want to come between you and your beer. The states Alcoholic Beverage Control Board has proposed that individuals who purchase beers at their local breweries for off-site consumption must register with the government. They want to have sellers collect a list of the names, addresses, age and phone numbers from any consumers who buy alcohol directly from makers so the rule applies to breweries, vineyards and distilleries alike. It would not apply to grocery and government-owned liquor stores and other distributors who arent involved in the actual making of alcoholic beverages. The executive director of the Alabama Brewers Guild told the Associated Press, Im not sure they thought it out very well. there are purchasers who just wouldnt do it. Theyd go to Publix instead of buying at a brewery. Alabama just legalized small craft alcohol sales direct to consumers in March, and the law took effect in June. As Watchdog.org has reported, large industrial brewers and the mid-level distributor lobbyists have been successful across the country in suppressing laws that allow beer makers to sell directly to consumers. Free the Hops, a grassroots nonprofit in Alabama devoted to fostering the states craft alcohol industry, has issued a warning to activists about the scary new regulations being proposed. The implications of this should be highly concerning, not only to craft beer consumers, but to all people throughout the state, Free the Hops statement said. This rule would essentially empower the ABC Board to come to an individuals house to confirm his or her purchase of a six pack of beer. The members of Free the Hops fully oppose this proposed rule, the Free the Hops statement said, and encouraged its members to make comments to the ABC Board voicing their opposition. Public comment on the rule is open until Wednesday, and the ABC Board will formally consider the rule Sept. 28. A New Lisbon man faces strangulation and suffocation charges and a count of child abuse, among other charges, after an incident on Aug. 25. According to a criminal complaint, Chad S. Brest, 35, turned physical after getting into an argument with a child. Brest had been fishing and returned home. A female acquaintance said she could smell alcohol on Brests breath. He began arguing with a boy at the residence, squeezing his arms until the boy began crying and begged him to stop. The female stepped in to stop Brest and the two began shoving and pushing each other. According to the report, Brest pushed her onto a couch and placed his arm across her throat for about 30 seconds, making it hard for her to breathe. She became dizzy and her voice grew hoarse. Fearing for her life, the alleged victim tried to push Brest off, but it wasnt working. According to the complaint, Brest yelled at her, calling her derogatory names. The boy came out of his room and screamed at Brest to stop. Brest allegedly left the female and ran after the boy. He grabbed him and threw him to the floor. The woman again tried to stop Brest and he attempted to choke her with his forearm, but she avoided him and Brest stopped fighting. Brest packed a few items in a bag and left the residence. A deputy from the Juneau County Sheriffs Office spoke to the woman after the incident. She said Brest began arguing with the boy over the length of time he wears his clothes without changing them. As a result of the alleged incident, the boy suffered an eye injury and the woman had injuries to her neck and chest. Brest also made a mess in the home before leaving. The woman invoked the 72-hour no contact provision, but Brest attempted to return to the home shortly after the incident. Brest was arrested and transported to the Juneau County Jail. Brest will be at the Juneau County Justice Center for an initial appearance on Sept. 14. Brest is also facing a count of misdemeanor batter and disorderly conduct, domestic abuse. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy A Reedsburg Area High School graduate has seen the effect of her first community service project. Jordyn Schara, who launched the campaign to create 24/7 drug drop boxes in the area, returned to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for her senior year this fall. The 21-year-old North Freedom resident said shes double majoring in gender-womens studies and religious studies. When Schara started campaigning for the boxes at age 14, few people were talking about the dangers of certain unused medicines, notably prescription painkillers. Scientists had already determined that flushing medicines threatened the water supply, but there wasnt as much attention devoted to the social aspects of such drugs. Since that time, opiates have been blamed for the rise in heroin, which is now a national problem. Schara said these medications are also tempting to teens who may steal them from relatives or neighbors in order to get a buzz. Today numerous law enforcement departments offer some kind of drug collection. Boxes are accessible anytime in the lobbies of the Reedsburg Police Department and Sauk County Sheriffs Office, to name a few. Residents may bring their old or unused medicines for disposal. Sharps may also be dropped off in the designated box at the Reedsburg Police Department. Deadly trends Its difficult to gauge the exact impact of the boxes but they are no less important, said Sgt. Eric Miller of the Sauk County Sheriffs Office. Miller also oversees the Sauk County Drug Task Force and has witnessed the alarming rise in prescription drug-related offenses such as theft. Miller said prescription painkillers can be addictive but doctors and pharmacists who now know the risks have cracked down on prescribing too many opiates. Still, when addicts need a fix they turn to the streets where even the most affordable pain medicines can cost hundreds for only a few pills. Some users switch to heroin because its cheaper, yet imitates the effects of prescription pain treatments. Its frightening because an opiate addiction can start in the most innocent of users, he said. Patients may take too much and end up hooked, leading to a long, difficult road to recovery. Theres another concerning trend tied to heroin and prescription medicines: Methamphetamines. Miller said heroin is still around but users have discovered they can make meth in a single pot, resulting in quicker, easier access to the noxious substance. Some heroin users have turned to meth because they fear the likelihood of overdose and death associated with heroin. Miller said they dont realize that meth is just as dangerous. Its that addicted way of thinking, he said. Support Schara continues to work toward making drug disposal boxes available to everyone. She just received a $5,500 grant from the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Wisconsin to expand the drug-collection program. She added that shes glad to see so much current awareness for prescription drugs. People seem to be more diligent about carefully storing and throwing away their medicines. Perhaps she will be able to do more work as a career. Schara said she hasnt ruled out non-profit causes once she graduates from college. As for law enforcement, theyll continue to offer the drug drop boxes along with hosting drug take-back days. Any medications collected are destroyed in a powerful incinerator, Miller said. He said if even one life is saved by the boxes then they have proven their worth. Just keeping the pills out of the hands of addicts and children can make all the difference. Drug drop locations Drug collection boxes are accessible anytime at the following locations. Reedsburg Police Department, 200 S. Park St. Sauk County Sheriffs Office, 1300 Lange Court, Baraboo. Wisconsin Dells Police Department, 712 Oak St. Portage Police Department, 117 W. Pleasant St. Columbia County Law Enforcement Center, 711 E. Cook St., Portage Lake Delton Police Department, 50 Wisconsin Dells Parkway S, Lake Delton. Sauk Prairie Police Department, 726 Water St., Suite A, Sauk City. Mauston Police Department, 303 Mansion St. Only available during office hours: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Juneau County Sheriffs Office, 200 Oak St., Mauston. Only available during office hours: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. FRIDAY, SEPT. 9 Fiesta Friday: Portage VFW Hall, 215 W. Collins St., Portage. Bar opens at 4:30 p.m., build your own tacos, margaritas and other beverages, music at 6:30 p.m. with DJ Karaoke featuring Tony, a great country singer. Lots of singing, dancing and great fun. We are always open to the public and our rental hall is available, too. Screening: noon to 3 p.m. Free blood pressure screenings, Divine Savior Healthcare Crossroads Clinic, N4390 Crossroads Clinic Road, Oxford. No appointment necessary. Call 745-6405 for more information. Do not eat, smoke, drink caffeine or exercise for 30 minutes prior. Museum: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Portage World War II Museum, 119 E. Cook St., Portage. Free tours for veterans every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The tours take 2 1/2 hours. For information, call 608-697-3690. Leona Ginther Leona Ginther, 95, of Big Spring, passed away surrounded by her loving family on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016, at St. Clare Hospital in Baraboo. Leona was born Sept. 8, 1920, the daughter of Alfred and Odessa (Paulson) Ebert of Big Spring. She spent many happy days during her childhood visiting her grandparents, Peter and Lena (Dahl) Paulson, at their farm in the town of Lewiston. Leona attended Ward School through grade 8 and graduated from Wisconsin Dells High School. Through the encouragement of her childhood friend, Theo Armson, and with the companionship of her dear friend, Marguerite Gay, she embarked on an adventure to attend nurses training at Ravenswood School of Nursing in Chicago. After graduating and receiving her RN degree she continued on at Ravenswood working in the OB Department Nursery Unit. And oh boy did she love and care for those babies well! Later in life she continued her nursing career at the Dells Clinic working with beloved staff members, Ann Nate, Corky Shumway, Carol Anchor, and doctors Gissal, Faylona, Conley, and Broderick. In May 1948 she married the boy next door, Gordon Ginther. Working together their entire life, Gordon and Leona ran a dairy farm and raised their family on Golden Avenue in Big Spring. Leona was a respected and dedicated member of her church and community, and a giving and caring wife and mother. Through her kind and gentle spirit she was loved and adored by her family and friends. Her kitchen was the heart of Leonas pride and joy, filled with so many wonderful smells and goodies, all homemade with love. Sometimes her kitchen table was covered with baked goods, like her sugar cookies and coffee cake, and sometimes it was a resting spot for friends or neighbors to catch up on the news and have a piece of pie. But be sure to wipe your feet and dont let the cat in. Her genuine and hospitable nature toward others shined through. Leona was proud of her Norwegian heritage. She enjoyed attending lutefisk dinners, eating lefse, and laughing at Norwegian humor. She delighted in playing cards, was an avid reader, and prayed her rosary regularly. Leona was a model farm wife, good neighbor and a loving mother, aunt, grand-grandmother, and great-grandmother. Leona is survived by her daughters, Marcia Roelke of Wisconsin Dells and Linda (Steven) Uphoff of Chesterfield, Virginia; her son, Francis Ginther of River Falls; her sisters, Elaine McFarlin and Rosemarie Hauser; her brother, Paul Ebert; eight grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. Leona was preceded in death by her mother and father; her husband, Gordon; her sister, Annamae Kassner; and her brother, Robert Ebert. The Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at St. Marys Catholic Church in Briggsville, with the Rev. Gary Krahenbuhl celebrating and burial to follow at the church cemetery. Visitation will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Picha Funeral Home, 321 Washington Ave., Wisconsin Dells, and from 10 a.m. until time of service Friday at the church. The Picha Funeral Home and Crematory of Wisconsin Dells assisted the family with arrangements. For online condolences and information, go to www.pichafuneralhome.com. Reedsburg residents and tourists will have the chance to savor a slice of early frontier life. The Reedsburg Area Historical Society will host its annual Heritage Day from 10 a.m.3 p.m. Sept. 10 at the Pioneer Log Village, E7882 Highway 23/33. The event includes tours of the historic site, period costumes, music, demonstrations and birdhouse building for children. Admission is free but donations are appreciated. Event chair Becky Hovde said Heritage Day has existed for decades and shows visitors how early settlers survived with only the barest necessities. They didnt have running water and electricity, had to grind their own flour and feed, depended on a local blacksmith for metal items and made their clothing and other textiles by hand. Several volunteers will be on site to demonstrate some these skills, including blacksmithing and grinding. You find out how hard it was just to make enough flour to make some bread, she said. Wagon rides will also be offered. A new addition this year will be a visit by a broom maker. Hovde said brooms, like so many other tools, were made out of whatever the settlers could find so most were composed of straw. Guests will also have the chance to see the sites new prairie. Hovde said the Historical Society and volunteers have tended a prairie filled with native plants. The goal is to not only depict a natural prairie but to also attract pollinators, or bees and butterflies. The prairie is located behind the village. Hovde said this is the sites last major event for the year but tours are still available as long as the weather is nice. She said the village may be open on Saturdays; an announcement will be posted on its Facebook page if that is the case. Tours can also be scheduled by emailing through the historical societys website, www.rahspv.com. Reedsburg Area Historical Society President Craig Braunschweig added that the event is a fun final hurrah for the summer season. Heritage Day has been a great event that the Historical Society has put on for many years. It is a great way to finish up our year, he said. Wisconsin Dells-area credit and debit card users, beware: Identity thieves are among us. That fact was brought home to Lake Delton police late last month, when an illegal credit card information skimmer was discovered at a Lake Delton gas stations fueling pump. The electronic device, designed to intercept information from credit and debit cards being used at the pump, was discovered Aug. 25 at the Dino Stop at 1280 South Wisconsin Dells Parkway, by an investigator for Wisconsins Bureau of Weights and Measures. The investigator found the skimmer as part of a spot-check review of pumps throughout the region, and he turned the confiscated device over to the Lake Delton Police Department. The department is working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to determine whether credit card information is contained on the device, according to Lake Delton Police Chief Daniel Hardman. The question is, do we have any victims? We dont know, Hardman said late last week. Whether anyones skimmed information actually made it to the would-be thieves will depend on whether the device is equipped with Bluetooth and was transmitted to the waiting perpetrators, or if the investigator found the device before the thieves could return to the pump and retrieve it. If it wasnt a Bluetooth device, then there are no victims, Hardman said. Whatever the case, anyone who uses a credit or debit card should keep a close eye on their card statements and credit reports, said both Hardman and a representative from the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. Potential victims should keep an eye on their credit and debit card statements. They should also watch their credit reports, said Jared Albracht, spokesman for the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATC). A state Bureau of Consumer Protection fact sheet (at https://datcp.wi.gov/Documents/IDTheftStepsForDataBreach640.pdf) provides a variety of information-protection tips, and a DATC web page (www.datcp.wi.gov/Documents/CreditCardSkimmerInfoForRetailers.pdf) offers similar recommendations for business owners. Identity theft from credit and debit cards is a universal problem, Hardman said especially in commercial areas near interstate highways. The same investigation that uncovered the skimmer in Lake Delton turned up eight others in the Madison area. The devices are even more common around metropolitan areas like Milwaukee and Chicago. Be very attentive, watch your statements, and if you see any improprieties call your credit card company and your local police, Hardman said. The skimmer found in Lake Delton was inside the pump and thus undetectable by anyone using it, but sometimes such devices are affixed to gas pump exteriors, as well as ATM machines, Hardman said. When in doubt, contact the gas station, bank and local police, and dont use the machine in question. If you go to the ATM at a bank and it looks like something is attached or it doesnt look normal to you, dont use it and notify the bank, he said. Keeping a close eye on your wallet, cell phone and any other personal electronic devices when in public also are strongly recommended, especially in an area with thousands of visitors a day in the busier summer months. A couple of fresh faces and a freshly dug foundation for a new outdoor patio will greet visitors to the Kilbourn Public Library this week. Newly hired library assistants Luke Frommelt and Kendra Kimball officially joined the library staff Tuesday morning, and by 9:30 a.m. they were already being trained by Kilbourn Librarian Cathy Borck in checking in books and other library items. I am very happy theyre here, Borck said. Im very excited to have fresh people, fresh ideas. They both bring unique talents and you will see them in different capacities in the library, yet to be determined. Frommelt comes to the Dells from Dubuque, Iowa, by way of Milwaukee where he attended Marquette, while Kimball is a lifelong member of the community, according to Borck, with a strong background in teaching. While the two new recruits began to learn their jobs inside the library, a freshly dug foundation outside and just off the library kitchen was a sign that change is imminent there as well. A crew from Olson Toon Landscaping this week is expected to continue construction of the librarys new patio, with the possibility that the area will be ready for occupation if not quite completed by the Wo-Zha-Wa Fall Festival that begins Sept. 16 and includes the librarys massive Book Sale. We kind of put the bug in (Olson Toons) ear that it would be really nice for Wo-Zha-Wa so people could see it, Borck said last week during the monthly Library Board meeting. The sale will take place both in the librarys existing outdoor courtyard and entry areas, meaning that if the patio is ready for visitors it will be used for its intended purpose a place of quiet gathering, reading and contemplation, Borck said. The patio, made possible with funds raised by the Friends of the Kilbourn Public Library, will feature tables, chairs, umbrellas and three pergolas built by a handy volunteer, Borck said. Its sunny over here so well have to have some shade for sure, she said during a brief tour of the construction site Thursday. In other Kilbourn Public Library news, the library board approved the proposed 2017 budget during its monthly meeting Thursday. Borck presented the budget, which includes a requested 1.5-percent increase from the city but, at $722,596, is less than the 2016 budget of $737,850. (The library also receives operating funds from the Village of Lake Delton and Columbia and Sauk counties.) The 2017 budget includes operating costs of $539,465 and debt retirement of $183,131. The budget includes a 2 percent raise for existing employees except for the two new employees and part-time people, Borck told the library board I feel like our employees are so much the heart of this library, she said. The proposed budget will be considered by the City of Wisconsin Dells, starting with the Finance Committee most likely next month. Leona Ginther Leona Ginther, 95, of Big Spring, passed away surrounded by her loving family Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016, at St. Clare Hospital in Baraboo. Leona was born Sept. 8, 1920, the daughter of Alfred and Odessa (Paulson) Ebert of Big Spring. She spent many happy days during her childhood visiting her grandparents Peter and Lena (Dahl) Paulson at their farm in the town of Lewiston. Leona attended Ward School through grade 8 and graduated from Wisconsin Dells High School. Through the encouragement of her childhood friend Theo Armson and with the companionship of her dear friend Marguerite Gay she embarked on an adventure to attend nurses training at Ravenswood School of Nursing in Chicago. After graduating and receiving her RN degree she continued on at Ravenswood working in the OB Department Nursery Unit. And oh boy did she love and care for those babies well! Later in life she continued her nursing career at the Dells Clinic working with beloved staff members Ann Nate, Corky Shumway, Carol Anchor, and doctors Gissal, Faylona, Conley and Broderick. In May 1948, she married the boy next door, Gordon Ginther. Working together their entire life, Gordon and Leona ran a dairy farm and raised their family on Golden Avenue in Big Spring. Leona was a respected and dedicated member of her church and community, and a giving and caring wife and mother. Through her kind and gentle spirit she was loved and adored by her family and friends. Her kitchen was the heart of Leonas pride and joy, filled with so many wonderful smells and goodies all homemade with love. Sometimes her kitchen table was covered with baked goods, like her sugar cookies and coffee cake, and sometimes it was a resting spot for friends or neighbors to catch up on the news and have a piece of pie. But be sure to wipe your feet and dont let the cat in. Her genuine and hospitable nature toward others shined through. Leona was proud of her Norwegian heritage. She enjoyed attending lutefisk dinners, eating lefse, and laughing at Norwegian humor. She delighted in playing cards, was an avid reader, and prayed her rosary regularly. Leona was a model farm-wife, good neighbor and a loving mother, aunt, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Leona is survived by her daughters, Marcia Roelke of Wisconsin Dells and Linda (Steven) Uphoff of Chesterfield, Virginia; her son, Francis Ginther of River Falls; her sisters, Elaine McFarlin and Rosemarie Hauser; her brother, Paul Ebert; eight grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. Leona was preceded in death by her mother and father; her husband, Gordon; her sister, Annamae Kassner and her brother, Robert Ebert. The Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at St. Marys Catholic Church in Briggsville, with the Rev. Gary Krahenbuhl celebrating, and burial to follow at the church cemetery. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Picha Funeral Home, 321 Washington Ave., Wisconsin Dells, and from 10 a.m. until the time of service Friday at the church. Picha Funeral Home and Crematory of Wisconsin Dells assisted the family with arrangements. For online condolences and information, visit www.pichafuneralhome.com. Browsing antelope turned ancient African forests into grassy savanna ecosystems The arrival of medium and large antelope on African soil coincides dramatically with the evolution of thorn trees in the African savanna. Millions of years ago, Africas savannas were covered with thick, ancient forests, which disappeared and turned into the grassy ecosystems that they are today. Almost a fifth of the worlds land surface is covered by savannas. Yet, for years it has been a mystery how these grassy ecosystems came to replace the ancient forests. One answer, it was thought, might be climate change, yet most savannas occur in climates that also support forests. The other possibility was fire. Savanna trees and shrubs are often adapted to frequent fires, while forest trees are not. But a study that includes a group of South African scientists has found that the arrival of browsing medium sized antelopes was probably what turned Africas ancient forests into the open savannas. By comparing the timing of the evolution of thorns on about 2000 woody tree species in southern Africa and the time that antelopes arrived in Africa, a group of scientists, including Dr Gareth Hempson from the School of Animal Plants and Environmental Studies at the University of Witwatersrand, found that trees like African acacias evolved thorns as a defence mechanism at exactly the same time that antelope arrived in Africa. It all makes perfect sense, says Hempson. Spines (thorns) really appear to be most effective against medium- and large-sized browsers like impala and kudu, and spiny trees are most common in the places where these animals are most abundant, says Hempson. Hempson developed a herbivore biomass map of Africa while he was a post-doctoral fellow at Wits and the University of Cape Town. After presenting my herbivore biomass data at a conference, Dr Tristan Charles-Dominique [the lead author on the paper, from the University of Cape Town] said he had to show me something we placed our laptops next to each other and compared his spiny tree abundance maps with my animal density maps the match with medium and large browsing species was remarkable! The study that was published in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on Monday (5 September 2016) analysed the distribution of nearly 2000 woody species from southern Africa and found that spiny plants are most common in arid savannas with high densities of mammal browsers. They are rare in humid savannas on infertile soils and absent in forests. The study used DNA data for African trees collected by Professor Michelle van der Bank and her team at the University of Johannesburg, to reconstruct the history of spiny plant evolution. In collaboration with Prof Jonathan Davies, an expert in phylogenetic analysis from McGill University, the team was then able to date the evolutionary origins of spines. We were shocked, said Professor van der Bank to discover that spiny plants only appeared about 15 million years ago, 40 million years after mammals replaced dinosaurs. For most of this time, Africa was an island continent dominated by now-extinct ancestors of browsing elephants and hyrax. Apparently, spines just didnt work as a plant defense against these ancient mammal groups commented Prof van der Bank. But in a remarkable example of apparent coevolution, the diversification of spiny plants (thorn trees) coincides with the appearance of antelope. Antelope were latecomers to Africa appearing only after the continent collided with Eurasia. They browsed in novel ways and were highly efficient herbivores. This injection of new types of browsers, argue the authors, demolished young forest trees, opening up forests to the grass invaders. We know something of the history of fire from fossil charcoal, but we do not have good fossil evidence for browser/plant interactions said Professor William Bond, (SAEON and UCT) an author on the study, Could we use the evolutionary history of spiny plants to examine whether mammal browsing opened up the ancient forests to savannas? The evidence is striking: It was astonishing to see that there was this wide radiation of thorns across tree species just after the arrival of antelope on the continent, says Hempson. The parallel radiation of spiny plants and the antelope that feed on them initiated the rise of savannas in the drier more fertile regions of Africa. Fire only began to roll back the forests to create wetter savannas several million years later. One implication of the study is that the loss of Africas native browsing antelope may threaten the future of drier savannas, and lead to their replacement by dense, woody scrub of little ecological or economic value. China News on Women Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home page Contract for prototype CAREM balance of plant 06 September 2016 Share Argentina's National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA) has awarded a contract to a joint venture between Tecna and Siemens to supply the balance of plant (BOP) for the prototype CAREM-25, a domestically-designed and developed small integral reactor. The signing of the contract (Image: CNEA) The contract was signed on 3 August in the presence of Argentina's minister of energy and mining Juan Jose Aranguren; secretary of electric power Alejandro Sruoga; assistant secretary for nuclear energy Julian Gadano; CNEA president Norma Boero; and representatives from Siemens and Tecna. The contract was awarded following a three-stage tender, launched in 2014. It covers the entire conventional island and the tertiary circuit, as well as the demineralization plant and the auxiliary boiler. Work under the contract is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2018, followed by a trial operation period ending in July 2019. Commercial operation of the prototype reactor will then follow. In a statement, CNEA said: "This is a new milestone in the development of this strategic project." It said Argentina hopes to use CAREM to compete in the market for the supply of small modular reactors "in the near future". It said the contract represents an investment of ARS 1200 million ($80 million) and will directly create 400 jobs. CNEA noted the contract marks the return of Germany's Siemens as a nuclear supplier to the region, following its participation in the construction of the Atucha I nuclear power plant. CAREM - the name is taken from Central ARgentina de Elementos Modulares - is a domestically-designed and developed 25 MWe small pressurized water reactor. The prototype of the design is being built at a site adjacent to the Atucha nuclear power plant in Lima, 110 km northwest of Buenos Aires. First concrete was poured for the prototype CAREM-25 in February 2014, marking the official start of its construction. At least 70% of the components and related services for CAREM-25 are to be sourced from Argentine companies. Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics EPA approval for Wiluna expansion 06 September 2016 Share The Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has today recommended for approval Toro Energy's proposal to extend the Wiluna uranium project, the second uranium approval by the regulator within a month. The proposal to mine two additional deposits, Millipede and Lake Maitland - 30km south and 105km south-east of Wiluna, respectively - follows approvals already in place for the construction and operation of a mine at Wiluna based on the Centipede and Lake Way uranium deposits. A processing facility is to be built near the Centipede deposit. The expansion also includes construction of a haul road between Lake Maitland and the processing facility, and will enable the four orebodies to be developed in a coherent way. Western Australia EPA chairman Tom Hatton said the proposal was assessed at the "most rigorous level of environmental impact assessment". The EPA's recommendation - subject to conditions - was reached following a public environmental review which attracted responses from government and non-government agencies, as well as individuals, during a 12-week consultation period. The EPA also conducted a site visit and reviewed the proposal's potential impact on environmental factors, including flora and vegetation, subterranean fauna, human health and radiological processes. It concluded that radiation exposure to mine-site workers and the public would be within acceptable limits for human health. The conditions recommended by the EPA will ensure monitoring and management plans for conservation-significant impacts are implemented. In its assessment of subterranean fauna, the EPA noted there was potential for one species to be restricted to the edge of the impact areas, but found that it was possible to protect that species through an exclusion zone. Toro managing director Vanessa Guthrie welcomed the EPA's recommendation as a "further significant advance" in project planning, following the completion of a mining agreement with traditional owners in July. "The assessment represents a further two-and-a-half years of substantive scientific studies, including those key environmental factors identified by both government and through public submissions as being of importance to the community and environment," she said. The EPA's decision will now be open to public appeals for a two-week period ending 20 September. The proposal is also being assessed by the Australian federal government under existing bilateral arrangements for environmental assessment. Approval would be required at both the state and federal levels before the project can proceed. Significant decisions The EPA announcement follows its 15 August recommendation to approve Vimy Resources' Mulga Rock uranium project. Earlier in August, it recommended against approval of Cameco Australia's proposed Yeelirrie project after deciding it would not adequately protect underground fauna, although it met the objectives required for all the other environmental factors assessed. Minerals Council of Australia executive director Daniel Zavattiero welcomed the progress made by the three companies in moving their projects through the WA EPA environmental review process. "It is pleasing to see independent, science-based analysis of uranium projects and their environmental impact," he said, describing the EPA's recommendations for approval of Mulga Rocks and the Wiluna expansion as "significant". The EPA's decision on Yeelirrie was not connected with uranium or radiation, he noted. "Cameco Australia believes that with further sampling and research, subterranean fauna can be appropriately managed at Yeelirrie and they will work with government agencies and stakeholders to find a way forward," Zavattiero said. Lift the ban Zavattiero said the EPA's findings showed state-level bans on uranium mining in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria to be "out-dated and simply not justified". He called for all state governments to support and implement the recommendation by South Australia's recent Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission that state and federal mining approval requirements should be simplified to deliver a single assessment and approvals process. "The environmental reviews of these three uranium projects in Western Australia are evidence that not only is this urgently required, but that it is long past time for the remaining states to normalise their uranium policies," he said. Restrictions on transportation to and through ports outside of South Australia and the Northern Territory should be removed to give uranium exports the most competitive access to markets "under the appropriate best practice transportation safety governance", he added. Zavattiero said Australia's uranium sector "can do more" in light of International Energy Agency projections of an 86% expansion in nuclear energy by 2040 in its base case scenario, and over 150% in its carbon constrained scenario. "The South Australia Royal Commission validated the call to support an increased role in nuclear fuel cycle industries as part of global efforts to generate more electricity with fewer emissions," he said. "With a focus on streamlining the approval process for no environmental cost and the removal of uranium mining prohibitions in states where they are still in place, Australia can ready the next wave of uranium projects in preparation for the market." Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics At the beginning of the World War I, the 1.1 million conscripted soldiers of the French army suffered great setbacks in defending their country. The defense of Marne, Verdun, and offensive at Chemin des Dames all cost France huge losses. However, the French army continued to drive out the enemy. France served as one of the Triple Entente powers, allied against the Central Powers during the First World War. The aftermath of World War I brought great demands on the government and the population. France needed a change of attitude that would normalize the nation after the war, reflected in rebuilding infrastructure and economy. Raymond Poincare Raymond Poincare was the president of France from 1913 to 1920. He led his country through the horrible war years. As a statesman, he strengthened ties with Russia and Britain years before the war. During the war years, Poincare was the courageous presence that pulled France into the Post-war era. He campaigned heavily in making Germany pay reparations after the war. However, Poincare was the target of attacks from the Communist Party of France. In spite of this, Poincare stabilized the postwar economy of his country. Rene Viviani Rene Viviani was Prime Minister of France from 1914-1915 and during the first year of the war, he was asked by President Poincare to form a wartime coalition government. However, Viviani did not seem to work well with Joffre, Commander-in-Chief of the French armed forces. He was later blamed for the lack of ammo for the French army as a result of his determination to provide assistance to Serbia. Many historians think that Vivianis tenure was unmemorable despite his many government posts before, during, and after World War I. Joseph Joffre As Commander-in-Chief of the French Army and Marshal of France during World War I, Joseph Joffres first major accomplishment was his victory over the invading German army in Marne. Joffre was known for his calm disposition in the middle of battles. His use of military offense rather than defenses was sometimes criticized by his critics, although at times, it worked in his favor that made him a national hero. His experience in many war theaters has proven useful during the first world war. This led him to be appointed as head of the French Military Mission to revamp the Romanian army. Later, Joffre went to the United States where he also assisted in the same official capacity. Ferdinand Foch Ferdinand Foch was the assistant to the Commander-in-Chief of the French Army and later became Marshal of France following in the footsteps of Joffre. His accomplishments rivaled those of Joffre. In his early days at the Staff College, Foch was known for his critique of the Franco-Prussian and Napoleonic military strategies. Years later, as commander, Foch was involved in several battles that gained him fame. Critics, however, were quick to blame him for losses in several battles and the 1914 failed offensive. Still, Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau was impressed by Foch's initiatives. As a gesture for his military prowess, Foch was appointed as an honorary Knight Grand Cross by King George V of Britain. Robert Nivelle Robert Nivelle was Commander-in-Chief of the French Army whose early military career brought him to China during the Boxer Rebellion. He also succeeded Petain as commander in Verdun. He was also one of the commanders responsible for the failed offensive at the Chemin des Dames. Rising to the highest rank, Nivelle replaced Joffre as commander in chief. Later, Nivelle was replaced as commander in chief by Petain. Critics have been harsh in calling Nivelle careless of casualties. He was also blamed for the French army mutinies. All through these deserved and undeserved critiques, Nivelle has shown himself as a capable planner as well as an innovative commander. Philippe Petain Philippe Petain, known as Lion of Verdun was Commander-in-Chief of the French Army and later Marshal of France during the first world war. As a commander in the Battle of Verdun, Petain employed ingenious tactics to supply fresh troops and artillery ammo to the battlefield. He was later appointed as Army Chief of Staff. One criticism of him came from Prime Minister Clemenceau who though he overheard him talk about the English and French defeat by the Germans. To many who were informed, this proved to be a discouraging remark although later, after winning many battles for France, he was honored as a great military tactician and one of Frances military heroes. Police say boys ages 12 and 13 are accused of using an airsoft pistol to rob a man of his cellphone over the weekend. Christopher Monley told police he was walking home around 2:05 a.m. Sunday when the two boys approached and demanded he give them his phone. Monley initially refused, then changed his mind when one pointed what he thought was a real gun at him. The young suspects fled on their bicycles, but were found and arrested a few blocks away. One had the airsoft pistol and the other was carrying the man's cellphone. They were charged with robbery and referred to juvenile authorities. Increasing Concern For Missing 20-Year-Old Man This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Sep 6th, 2016 A missing person appeal has been launched amid increasing concern for a man who has not been seen since last week. Police are becoming increasingly concerned for Aaron Hughes who has been missing from the Holywell area since Friday 2nd September. 20-year-old Aaron was last seen leaving his address on Old Chester Road, Holywell at approximately 2pm on Friday. Aaron is described as being approximately 58 to 510 tall, of stocky build, with fair skin, short dark brown hair and a dark brown beard. He speaks with a local accent and was last seen wearing a grey T-Shirt and carrying a dark coloured backpack. PC Rhys Rushby said: Aaron has only recently moved to the Holywell area from Denbigh however he has friends in Ruthin, Rhyl and Wrexham. He hasnt been seen or spoken to since Friday and his family and friends are obviously concerned for him as his disappearance is described as being out of character. If anyone has seen Aaron or knows of his whereabouts please call North Wales Police on 101 quoting reference 16380. Alternatively contact them via the new web live chat http://www.north-wales.police.uk/contact/chat-support.aspx . Moneypenny Completes Move to Pioneering New Headquarters in Wrexham This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Sep 6th, 2016 A 15m headquarters which boasts its own village pub, treehouse and rivals the likes of Apple and Google has officially opened in Wrexham! Moneypenny, the UKs leading telephone answering specialist has completed its move the its new headquarters on the Western Gateway site in Wrexham. Designed to be the happiest workplace in the UK, the headquarters reflects the companys growth. The building is able to accommodate up to 1,000 staff, supporting the companys plans to create an additional 500 jobs over the next few years and double its client base by 2018. Ed Reeves, co-founder and director of Moneypenny, masterminded the project. He said: What we believe is simple: the happier our staff, the happier our clients. So when we outgrew our previous offices and made the decision to build a new headquarters, we asked ourselves how we can make sure our receptionists are the happiest in the UK? The answer was easy ask them, so thats what we did. Through a series of focus groups we collated their ideas, suggestions and thoughts and used these to form the basis of the blueprint for the design. Building work on the project was finished on time and on budget, with the move from its offices on Wrexham Technology Park taking place over the summer. Inside, the striking 91,000sq ft building which rivals the likes of Google and Apples headquarters boasts a treehouse meeting room, its own village pub, a sun terrace and a triple height atrium with stadium seating and a restaurant offering free breakfast and fruit. Outside the development is equally impressive and surrounded by seven acres of landscaped grounds with nature trails, a duck pond and orchards with picturesque countryside views. Remarkably, the entire development designed by award-winning AEW Architects cost the same price as a standard brick box office too. Ed continued: We provided our architects with the same budget wed been quoted to build a standard office and said right, show us how we can create something amazing. It was a challenge, but we ripped up the rulebook and thats exactly what they did. Our new headquarters will deliver serious benefits for both ourselves and our clients, and weve already heard from a number of companies who want to use it as a model for their own developments. Offices in Britain are often ranked the coldest and most miserable places to work. However the extraordinary Moneypenny workplace is the latest in business-leading moves that the company has made to guarantee the well-being of its staff. Four years ago the company set up an office in New Zealand where staff fly out to on six month secondments to answer overnight UK calls so they dont have to work night shifts. Ed continued: Offices in Britain are constantly ranked the coldest, ugliest or most miserable places to work, but business owners are missing a trick. There are countless studies which have proven that staff are more productive when they enjoy coming to work but what are companies doing to make this a reality? For us, the building is more than just bricks and mortar. Its a manifestation of our ethos, of our achievements so far, of our culture and of our aspirations. Its about blurring the lines between work and home so employees feel happy, comfortable and empowered. We understand what our clients need and thats the very best receptionists in the world. Our new office has once again raised the bar in achieving this, ensuring we attract and retain the most talented staff in order to support our clients in the future. The Welsh Government is helping to facilitate and support the companys investment and expansion by acquiring two properties that Moneypenny is vacating. Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure, Ken Skates, said: Moneypenny is a great made-in-Wales success story and I am delighted the Welsh Government is supporting this significant investment which is great news for the economy and for Wales. Moneypenny is a valuable member of the financial and professional services sector in Wales. Its investment in a bespoke new headquarters secures its long term sustainable future in North Wales and offers the real potential for future growth and the creation of many more jobs as it continues to expand. In tandem with this, our plans to invest in two of the properties they are vacating will provide an additional opportunity to attract new business and new jobs to the area. The company worked with a number of Welsh companies on the build, including Hatrick Property Services, Bostock Air Conditioning, Wright Landscapes and Simon ORourke. Cllr Neil Rogers, Lead Member for Economic Development and Regeneration, added: Moneypenny is an excellent example of how companies can work with the Council when they wish to expand which will result in new jobs. Their continued investment in Wrexham proves that we are an area that companies want to invest in and that means jobs for local people. I am delighted with their success and their new premises and wish them every success for the future. Moneypenny answers in excess of 10 million calls a year either on an overflow or fully outsourced basis for both small and large businesses. Founded in 2000, the company currently employs over 500 people and has offices in the UK, US and New Zealand. The whipping up of a scandal last week against Labor Senator Sam Dastyari for accepting $1,670 from a Chinese company is escalating into a general witchhunt against any politician, business figure or organisation that questions a militarist policy toward Beijing. Dastyari has been branded a Manchurian candidate. Across the media, allegations are being made that Australia is under threat from a fifth column who have either been bought off by Chinese soft power or who, because of their Chinese background, have allegiance to a foreign power. The campaign was launched by the state-owned Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), which on August 29 accused China of being responsible for the hacking of a defence research institution and the trade and investment corporation, Austrade. The offensive was joined by the leading business journal, the Australian Financial Review. After exposing Dastyaris acceptance of Chinese payments, it published 11 separate articles on September 2 that in varying ways attacked China as a danger to Australian interests. The most remarkable article alleged that the Australian intelligence agencies, which work in daily collaboration with their US partners, do not trust Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull due to his past business relations in, and statements on, China. The Murdoch-owned Australian followed with an editorial yesterday on the need to root out the Chinese soft power push in Australia. It editorialised today that Labor Party leader Bill Shorten must demand answers from Dastyari on the relationship between Chinese payments and questions Dastyari asked in the Senate last year, which concerned whether Australia would join a war in the South China Sea. The obvious implication by the Australian is that Dastyari was attempting to gain information for the Chinese state. A column in todays Australian by Paul Dibb, a leading strategic analyst and author of the 1986 Defence White Paper, sinisterly notes that there are now one million Australian residents of Chinese background, one third of whom were born in China, along with some 140,000 Chinese students in Australia. Dibb asserts: The fact is, there are a considerable number of Chinese residents and students here who feel nostalgic about the Peoples Republic and its ruling party. If that is so, we have a dangerous case on our hands with a group of people who are not integrating and who owe allegiance to a foreign power. The most vicious contribution to the anti-China campaign was published today by the international editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Hartcher. Hartcher declared that Australian sovereignty is at risk because of pro-Beijing layers in politics, business and within the Chinese Australian community. Australia, he asserts, has been pretty naive in the way it sees China. Hartchers column, and the language with which it was written, warrants extensive review. It provides an ominous warning of what is set to engulf Australian politics. Hartcher writes: Chairman Mao famously launched a hygiene campaign in 1958 called the Four Pests Campaign. Citizens were urged to eradicate rats, flies, mosquitoes and sparrows. Australia needs to wage a campaign of vigilance against foreign manipulation of its democracy. In terms that Mao would have understood, perhaps a Four Pests Campaign of our own is required to defend against agents of foreign influence. Hartcher labels as the rats in Australia, politicians compromised by Chinas embrace. Dastyari, he asserts, is just one. There will be many more. The flies are unwitting paid-mouthpieces for the interests of the Chinese regime. Hartcher names Bob Carr, former New South Wales premier and Labor government foreign minister, as one such fly, because Carr established the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology in Sydney with a $1.8 million donation from a Chinese corporation. The mosquitoes are Australian business people so captivated by their financial interests that they demand Australia assume a kowtow position. Hartcher names media and mining billionaire Kerry Stokeschairman of television station Channel 7as a mosquito because in 2011 he opposed the basing of US marines in the northern city of Darwin. Casino billionaire James Packer is also named as a mosquito. Most ominously, Chinese Australian organisations and Chinese student associations on the universities are identified by Hartcher as the sparrows that allegedly exist specifically to spread Beijings influence. He names the Australian Council for the Promotion of the Peaceful Reunification of China as the central sparrow. Hartcher concludes: Pests. Who needs them? This is the language of political purges, police raids, mass arrests and internment camps for traitors and enemy aliens in the event of a war with China. Such actions accompanied Australias involvement in World War I, with the round-up of thousands of German Australians and the suppression of the most militant anti-war organisations, such as the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). World War II saw the internment of as many as 12,000 people of German, Italian and Japanese background and the illegalisation of the Australian section of the Fourth International. Trotskyists were imprisoned for opposing the war. The context of the media campaign is the steady escalation of tensions between the United States and China, particularly over US challenges to Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea. The Obama administration and the Pentagon have left no doubt that they expect Australian warships and aircraft to conduct freedom of navigation incursions within territorial limits around Chinese-held islets in order to demonstrate the US is not acting alone. Through Chinese state-owned media, the Beijing regime has warned that any Australian warship that does so could be attacked by the Chinese military. The prevailing sentiment within the overwhelming majority of the Australian working class is anti-war. The dominant factions of the ruling class, however, intend to follow Washington in defiance of the population. The foul sewer of anti-Chinese chauvinism and hysteria pouring out from the media is a desperate attempt to justify ruthless attacks on democratic rights and involvement in a US-led confrontation with nuclear-armed China. Dozens of students and workers watched a live broadcast of the Socialist Equality Partys US presidential candidates at Humboldt University on Friday. Jerry White and Niles Niemuth spoke via videoconference from Detroit. They delivered speeches and answered questions of those present. Jerry White and Niles Niemuth address meeting of the IYSSE The International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) advertised the meeting under the title Neither Trump nor Clinton: Socialists in the US presidential elections. The IYSSEs spokesman at HU, Sven Wurm, explained the importance of the US presidential election for workers and youth around the world. American imperialism represents an enormous threat, Wurm said. The military encirclement of Russia and China could quickly develop into a general war that would threaten the future of humanity. At the same time, the only social force which can stop such a catastrophe is the American and international working class. In his speech, White first dealt with the deep crisis of American democracy. While the political establishment is moving to the right, the population as a whole is moving to the left, he said. The US elections are an expression of the deep decay of American democracy, which has been fuelled by decades of economic decline and the rise to the pinnacle of social and political life of a criminal financial aristocracy. Both candidates are among the most unpopular figures in establishment politics. The Republican candidate Donald Trump displays fascistic characteristics and is exploiting social anger for an extremely right-wing agenda. It is not necessary to explain to a German audience the significance of the rise of such a political figure, one who bases his program on extreme nationalism and xenophobia, who increasingly appeals to violence and the most backward sentiments, White stated. But Clinton and the Democrats do not represent an alternative, White explained. Their right-wing politics had made Trumps rise possible. Hillary Clinton is the personification of the corrupt nexus between the political establishment, the military-intelligence apparatus and Wall Street, White added. The Democrats are seeking to use the election and hostility to Trump to proclaim a mandate for war. This is why the Democrats criticize Trump from the right and demand an aggressive militarist policy against Russia and China. With reference to the advocates of identity politics backing Clinton, White added, For the worlds people, it does not make the slightest difference if the person launching a nuclear war is a woman or man. The only force capable of stopping this madness is the American and German working class. The task of our election campaign is to politically educate the working class and explain what genuine socialism is, and to prepare for the immense strugglesagainst war, inequality and dictatorshipthat are coming, said White. Growing interest in socialism among workers and youth was expressed in the support for the campaign of Bernie Sanders, who described himself as a democratic socialist. But Sanders program had nothing to do with socialism. Niemuth dealt in particular with Sanders nationalism and his support for American imperialism and its numerous wars. Various petty bourgeois and pseudo-left groups assisted Sanders in selling this right-wing program as socialist, he said. In contrast, the SEP is participating in the election to fight for genuine socialism. Having identified this initial anticapitalist sentiment that lay behind the Sanders campaign, said Niemuth, we in the SEP have an obligation to provide a genuine socialist political orientation and fight to develop a revolutionary leadership. We must provide workers and young people with the ability to discern genuine socialism from all those who seek to trap them. Without the conscious intervention of our movement, the Trotskyist movement, all of the oppositional sentiment will certainly be redirected back into the dead end of the Democratic Party and back behind the capitalist system. The contributions were followed by a lively discussion, which was continued at the bookstall and in the hallways after the meeting ended. One student explained that neoliberalism aimed at destroying the class consciousness of the working class. Many no longer see themselves as workers. He asked what the SEPs strategy was to reproduce class consciousness. White explained that the SEP does not proceed on the basis of the consciousness that workers have today, but from their objective situation. Workers are being driven into struggles throughout the world because their living conditions are being destroyed and a policy of war is being pursued. As Marx and Engels explained, the history of mankind is the history of class struggle, which had assumed very sharp forms in the United States and contained important lessons. The ruling class had always tried to suppress these struggles and divide workers along ethnic, cultural or linguistic lines. In opposition to this, socialists fight for the unity of all workers against the capitalists. Stalinism inflicted a series of terrible defeats on the working class, White continued, and numerous petty-bourgeois groups had written it off as a revolutionary force. In addition, there was the role of the trade unions, which have become transformed into agents of the corporations and policemen over the working class. The central issue, he said, is the building of a revolutionary leadership to transform the working class into an independent political force. The working class is the only social force that has an objective interest in overcoming capitalism and the irrational nation-state system, but for this, the lessons of history had to be drawn. Niemuth dealt in more detail with the experiences of American workers with the trade unions. They stand on the side of corporate management and have imposed attacks on the working class. Workers have to organize independently of these organizations, he said. White explained once again the role played by identity politics in dividing the working class and representing the interests of a privileged middle class. The demand for more women or blacks in top jobs has nothing to do with the struggle against inequality or war. America is not divided into black and white, but between the classes, explained White. We fight for the unification of the international working class. A student from Egypt asked how the working class in the Middle East could be supported and where the SEP stood on the war on terror and the collaboration of the US government with dictators. White explained that the SEP emphatically opposed the US governments alleged war on terror, which is based on lies and has been used to justify one horrific war after the next. The enormous power of the working class, he said, was shown in the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, which overthrew a US-backed regime. But the revolution raised fundamental problems of revolutionary leadership. Pseudo-left groups like the Revolutionary Socialists did everything to subordinate the workers to one or another faction of the bourgeoisie, said White. They first supported the Muslim Brotherhood and then a military coup. The same forces now criticize Obama for not intervening decisively enough in Syria. In his concluding comments, White warned: The German and the American working class is facing the same struggle against the same transnational corporations and above all against the danger of the repeat of the horrific catastrophes of the 20th century, however this time fought with nuclear weapons. But the drive towards war is an expression of the deep crisis of American capitalism and the capitalist system around the world. The crisis of the nation-state system, the global economic crisis also gives rise to its opposite: that is, the emergence of the working class throughout the world. The audience responded with excitement to the contributions and the discussion. Sven Wurm declared in conclusion that the questions discussed at the meeting would also play a central role in the Berlin state elections. In the election to the Berlin state House of Representatives, the sister organization of the SEP, the Partei fur Soziale Gleichheit (PSG), is running to build an international antiwar movement on the basis of the fight for socialism. Riot-equipped military police staged a violent attack on demonstrators Sunday night in Sao Paulo at the end of a mass protest against the Brazilian government of Michel Temer, installed four days earlier through the impeachment of Workers Party (PT) President Dilma Rousseff. A crowd estimated at between 50,000 and 100,000 people filled Avenida Paulista for the demonstration, which was called despite an attempt by the state government of Governor Geraldo Alckmin of the right-wing Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) to ban all gatherings there on Sunday. There had been anticipation of bloody confrontations after the ban and the announcement that the Brazilian Army would be placed in charge of securing the Paralympic torch relay that passed through Sao Paulo en route to Rio de Janeiro, where the Paralympic games are set to open this week. Subsequently, however, Sao Paulos Workers Party Mayor Fernando Haddad negotiated with Alckmin to secure a permit for the protest. Nonetheless, even before the demonstration had started, Military Police units took into custody at least 26 people, including eight adolescents, who were suspected of going to join in the protest. They were held without charges until early Monday morning The protest itself was entirely peaceful, with large numbers of families with children and even parents pushing baby carriages in attendance. As it began to disperse Sunday night, however, police turned violently against the crowd, firing tear gas and stun grenades as well as rubber bullets and water cannon. The police shock troops chased demonstrators into a commercial district, even firing tear gas canisters into bars where they had sought refuge. Effectively a police riot, Sunday nights violence followed a pattern that has been evident since protests broke out last week against the ouster of Rousseff. In a previous protest Wednesday night, a 19-year-old university student was blinded in one eye after she was hit by shrapnel from a police grenade. It was also reported that after a protest police provoked violence in the citys theater district, going so far as to fire tear gas canisters into apartment windows. The repressive crackdown was in line with statements made by the newly installed president, Temer, who declared before his cabinet last week following the Senates vote to permanently oust Rousseff from the presidency that the government would no longer tolerate being called golpista (putschist) and would respond with firmness to any opposition. In advance of the Sao Paulo demonstration, Temer, attending the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China, dismissed protests against his installation as president. They are small groups, it seems that they are minimal groups, doesnt it? he said Saturday. I dont know the numbers but there are 40, 50, a hundred people, nothing more than this. Now, out of 204 million Brazilians, I think that this is meaningless. Following Sundays demonstration in Sao Paulo, Temers finance minister, Henrique Meirelles, issued something of a correction of the presidents statement, acknowledging that it included a fairly substantial number of people, but adding that we already had much bigger demonstrations, presumably referring to the right-wing rallies demanding Rousseffs ouster. He went on to insist that the violently repressed protest was part of democracy, part of the free debate in the country that helped to legitimize the impeachment of Rousseff before the world. Meirelles, a former international banker and IMF official, is the point man in the drive to impose sweeping attacks on working-class living standards and social services. He was appointed as a signal to Wall Street of the governments commitment to the profit interests of the banks and transnationals. He played essentially the same role when he was appointed to head the countrys central bank under the first PT government of former metalworkers union leader, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Speaking on Monday, Meirelles dismissed the importance of the protests, declaring, what the voters are worried about today, correctly, is their own jobs. He claimed that the economic policies being pursued by Temer, including a 20-year social spending freeze, massive cuts to social security benefits and a counter-reform of labor laws, were necessary to reverse the countrys deep economic crisis, which has driven the official unemployment rate to nearly 12 percent. The important thing is to show that the rhythm of carrying out the economic adjustment is on course and that it is not suffering any change in direction, he said. While the working class is the main target of these policies, which aim to place the full burden of the crisis on its shoulders, the demonstration in Sao Paulo was largely composed of sections of students and the middle class. The Workers Party-affiliated trade union federation, the CUT, sent only its functionaries, mobilizing no section of workers from the industrial districts surrounding the city. Various pseudo-left groups along with the social movements aligned with the PT and sections of the union bureaucracy attempted to politically steer the mass protest toward the demand of diretas ja. This was the slogan, for immediate direct presidential elections, that was raised 30 years ago in the waning days of the US-backed military dictatorship. It was used to subordinate the working class to the campaign of various bourgeois parties to organize an orderly transfer of power from military to civilian capitalist rule. The demand, raised once again by both Rousseff and her predecessor, Lula, along with the PTs pseudo-left satellites, has the same essential content today, and would serve to politically legitimize the change in regime brought about through the impeachment as well as the agenda of sweeping attacks on the working class that is now being implemented. On August 25, 2016 the California state Assembly passed the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Trust Act (Senate Bill 1234), a measure that will further erode pensions and living standards of the working class in the state. Californias Democratic governor Jerry Brown is expected to sign Secure Choice into law within 30 days of the bills passage. Originally conceived by Democrat Senator Kevin de Leon in 2012, this program will require workers of businesses with five or more employees to deduct 3 percent of their paycheck into a state-run Individual Retirement Account (IRA). Employers are not required to commit any additional funding to the plan. This program is projected to impact nearly 7 million private-sector employees and will likely begin to start taking effect in 2017. Democrats and trade unions are labeling the passage of this program a victory for millions of working people who are denied the assurance of a secure retirement throughout the state. State Treasurer John Chiang, who is already running for California Governor in 2018, has praised the passage of the bill. Chiang was among the first to support the passage of the program. Todays historic vote by the Assembly marks the biggest improvement in retirement security since the passage of Social Security in 1935. We are one step closer to providing a more comfortable retirement for generations of elderly in the decades to come, Chiang said. Even more triumphant was the tone of Yvonne R. Walker, president of the California Service Employees International Local 1000: [E]very Californian who works hard over a lifetime deserves the opportunity to retire with a basic level of dignity. With Gov. Browns signature on SB 1234, California will strike a significant blow against an epidemic of senior poverty and lift up those people most at risk: our states women, people in low-wage jobs and people of color. Workers will gain nothing from Secure Choice; on the contrary, they are the ones being compelled to pay for the entire plan. The measure is essentially a 3 percent pay cut for these workers, many of whom are already living paycheck to paycheck. Even from a numerical standpoint, such provision will result in a pittance of a fund at the end of employment. This is only the latest scheme nationally to further the dismantling of past standards and shift the burden directly onto workers, who will have to pay for a precarious retirement themselves, while employers will not be required to drop one penny into the program. Most notably, in 2014 an emergency manager, who collaborated with the Obama administration and enjoyed the full support of both Democrats and Republicans, dragged the city of Detroit into a bankruptcy court that effectively imposed a restructuring plan to satisfy banks and large bondholders, resulting in the dismantlement of public workers pension and medical benefits. Unions including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the United Auto Workers, supported this historic attack. In addition to similar bankruptcy cases in Stockton and San Bernardino, in 2012 Brown signed into law his own version of pension reform for state, county and municipal workers. The measure increased the retirement age, created a two-tier system and required new hires to pay at least 50 percent of the normal, ongoing cost of benefits or the current contribution rate, whichever is greater. SEIU President Walkers statements in 2011 provide evidence of how consistently unions have supported these attacks. At the time, she commented enthusiastically on Browns planned attack on pensions: Gov. Browns pension reform proposals provide a good starting point for a new conversation about retirement security for all Californians, especially as California and the nation struggle to untangle the mess caused by Wall Streets financial malpractice. Pensions in the private sector are nearly unheard of today. Where once employer-sponsored pension plans and social security benefits allowed workers to rely on the possibility of a decent retirement, recent decades have seen a massive shift away from such plans. Starting in the 1980s, defined benefit pensions, through which retired workers are assured a monthly amount regardless of stock market conditions, were replaced by defined contribution plans, where the retirees future benefit, whether a lump-sum or an annuity in the hands of a financial institution, is subordinated to the fluctuations of financial markets. From 1979 to 2012, the proportion of private wage and salary workers participating in defined benefit pension plans fell from 28 percent to 3 percent (Employee Benefit Research Institute, 2012). This was the result of a trend established by a series of bipartisan initiatives, including the 1978 Revenue Act, the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982, the Tax Reform Act of 1986 and the Pension Protection Act of 2006, all aimed at transferring retirement costs onto the working class and away from employers. The Obama administration has carried out 8 years of relentless attacks on workers, including the restructuring of the auto industry which saw the pay of new hires cut in half. Its role in the Detroit bankruptcy was crucial in carrying out of the assault on city workers pensions. Moreover, in 2014 the Obama administration passed the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act, which opened the door to the slashing of the pensions of up to a million retirees, in collaboration with Congress, corporations and trade unions. In each of these instances, the ruling class has been able to rely on the unions to pass these reactionary initiatives off as the way forward for working people. It is telling that business associations have no objection to Secure Choice. When the program was first introduced in 2012, employers complained they could potentially be held liable for administrative fees or if workers accounts dwindle during a bear market. In response to this, the Secure Choice initiative was designed to be the least burdening retirement proposal on businesses by having all the risk fall on the workers. The current law includes language that exempts liability of employers for a downturn in employee retirement investment. Rather than giving private sector workers a means to a secure retirement, this measure is a field test as an alternative to existing pensions that would increase profits for corporations at the expense of wages. Most mainstream news sources, such as the New York Times, have praised the California legislation as a model for other states, noting the cost effectiveness this plan offers to employers. Other states are already looking at California as an example before finalizing their own version of Secure Choice. New Jersey and Washington already have a limited version of the bill that was passed in the California Assembly while Connecticut, Oregon, Maryland, and Illinois have similar measures pending. The day the bill was passed, the United States Department of Labor passed rules that exempted states from certain requirements of the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). This will remove certain legal obstacles from the federal government for states looking to implement similar programs. The McCarthyite purge of the Labour Partys membership by its Blairite wing is reaching a crescendo, just three weeks ahead of the vote for the partys leader. But in response, incumbent Jeremy Corbyn has again signalled his desire for an accommodation with the right wing. Elected a year ago by a massive majority, Corbyn is being challenged by Owen Smith after more than 60 MPs walked out of the Shadow Cabinet and 172 MPs out of 230 supported a vote of no confidence in the Labour leader. However, the Blairites have little support within the party. A YouGov poll last week showed Corbyn is expected to win the leadership of all three of Labours membership categories: full members, registered supporters and trade union affiliates. This comes after Labours National Executive Committee (NEC) barred 130,000 members from voting, using an arbitrary membership duration cut-off point that was upheld by the Court of Appeal in an anti-democratic ruling. The escalating purge of the membership is aimed at ensuring that as many as possible of the more than 300,000 people who have largely joined Labour to support Corbyn are denied a vote. Last year Labours Compliance Unit, which has its origins in the expulsion of left-wingers carried out in the 1980s by then leader, and supporter of the current coup, Neil Kinnock, suspended and expelled thousands of Corbyns supporters ahead of his leadership victory in a witch-hunt they informally dubbed Operation Ice Picka sinister reference to the assassination of Leon Trotsky. This time around, according to the Financial Times, Labour officials have suspended about 50,000 registered supporters during the leadership contest for a variety of reasons, listing multiple applications, failure to pay the fee and previous support for a rival party. The social media accounts of hundreds of thousands of people are being trawled in order to concoct often spurious grounds on which to deny them membership. The Daily Mirror reported, Its been suggested that supporters social media accounts are being examined for words including traitor, scab and even Blairite, though Labour would not confirm this. One Corbyn supporter received a letter signed by General Secretary Iain McNicol informing her that she was being refused full membership as she had shared inappropriate content on Facebook. On checking her postings for that day in question, Catherine Starr found she shared a clip of the Foo Fighters rock band with the comment, I f****** love the Foo Fighters. A woman aged 82, who had voted Labour for 50 years, received a letter from the Compliance Unit stating they had supporting evidence that you have declared support for the Green party on social media on 5 November 2015. She was expelled from the party for five years. On checking, the woman had simply retweeted a Green Party post calling for the BBC to allow its leaders to take part in TV debates. Chris Devismes said he was accused of posting inappropriate content on Twitter on 27 July, but he said that the only material posted on that date was a statement that he wasnt a supporter of Owen Smith. Last week the media reported that ballot papers had still not been sent out to 100,000 members, out of a total of 647,000 people who are eligible to vote online or by post. Many enquiring about their missing ballot papers are reportedly being told by Labours HQ that it is due to an administrative error. One member was told their ballot paper must have been lost in the Internet. By September 24, through such methods, it is highly likely that well over 200,000 people will have been barred from voting for Corbyn. In contrast, the right wing remains free to unleash whatever attacks and use whatever inflammatory language it wants against Corbyns supporters. Last month for example, Michael Foster, a businessman and Labour member who has donated 400,000 to the party penned an article in the right-wing Daily Mail, Why I despise Jeremy Corbyn and his Nazi Stormtroopers. Naturally, no action was taken against him by the Compliance Unit. Indeed there is not a single incident yet reported of the suspension of anyone for denouncing Corbyn or using inappropriate language against his supporters by a politically stacked eight-strong committee. A pro-Corbyn source told the Guardian that only two committee members were consistent supporters of the leader. As the name Operation Ice Pick indicates, the aim of the Labour Party apparatus is to suppress the left-wing and oppositional sentiment that Corbyns election represented due to his stated opposition to austerity and war. However, there is barely a trace of opposition to this grotesque witch-hunt of his supporters by Corbyn and his leadership teamwho are determined to prevent a thoroughgoing struggle against the right wing at all costs. Last week, John McDonnell, Corbyns Shadow Chancellor and closest ally, went on record declaring that Labour party members will not accept what appears to be a rigged purge of Jeremy Corbyn supporters, before adding he would do no more than write a complaint to McNicol. In his own letter to McNicol, Corbyn said the purge was raising concerns about whether members are being treated in a consistent and proportionate manner, before making the pathetic statement, This in turn is damaging the reputation of the Labour Party. Yesterday the Guardian, which is spearheading the anti-Corbyn propaganda campaign, cited a wide ranging interview with the Labour leader reporting that he is investigating allegations that Labours leadership contest is being rigged against him. Corbyn reportedly said that he hoped party officials were not working against him but could not rule out the possibility and that he was surprised at the numbers of people whove been denied a vote and the lack of reason thats been given to people in what the Guardian described without irony as his strongest intervention on the subject so far. He also declared himself to be unhappy about the situation, but not obsessed. While making such mealy-mouthed statements, Corbyn is busy making efforts aimed at restoring party unity with the Blairites once the leadership contest is concluded. The Financial Times reported last Friday, Jeremy Corbyns team is in talks with some dissident Labour MPs about their potential return to the front bench if, as expected, he wins the leadership contest at the end of the month. The FT added, Len McCluskey, general secretary of the union Unite, said that private conversations had taken place between the leadership and MPs, with Corbyn optimistic that some would reverse their resignations if Mr Corbyn emerged as the winner on September 24. That Corbyn offers an olive branch to such forces is an object lesson regarding his own pro-capitalist perspective. He has repeatedly insisted that he will not engage in personalised politics, while presenting the frenzied denunciations of the right wing and its witch-hunt as an unfortunate diversion from the real issues. In reality, the witch-hunt and its intensity is the major lesson that must be drawn from the events of the past weeks. It demonstrates just how far the bureaucracy and its supporters will go in order to preserve the Labour Party as a trusted instrument of imperialist ruleand gives the lie to Corbyns claim that an influx of members and the advocacy of a few reforms can transform it into a means of defending the interests of the working class. On September 1, the Michigan School Reform Office (SRO) released a list of 124 schools ranked in the bottom five percent based on standardized testing, creating fears of state takeover and potential school closures in districts across Michigan. Federal law requires that five percent of all schools in each state be designated as priority schools. The concept was developed by the Obama administration in conjunction with No Child Left Behind waivers. It mandated aggressive state intervention including staff firings, denial of Title I federal funding or closures of low-achieving schools. The policy was continued under Obamas Race To The Top and the Every Student Succeeds Act. Last year Republican Michigan Governor Rick Snyder placed the supervision of low performing schools under his direct control through the School Reform Office. In August, administrators and school board members across the state were told that if their schools were on the list for three straight years, they would be closed in the 2017-18 academic year. Such actions would be the first under the 2009 state law, which first authorized them. Were talking about chronic failures, Natasha Baker, the head of the SRO said in mid-August, according to the Detroit Free Press. You cannot have a highly skilled work force if folks are not educated and trained. Thats what the public education system is supposed to do for kids regardless of their demographics. Baker said Michigan will move aggressively to close schools and that the list is due by the end of the calendar year, but it is nowhere near 100 schools. This caveat was hardly reassuring to teachers, administrators and students in the named schools. Meetings are being held between Baker and the targeted districts throughout the state. Dr. Shelly Walker of Benton Harbor Area Schools told fellow administrators, The striking message was that Natasha indicated that unless there is a (undefined) hardship. .. (and a school) did not come off the list in 2016 it would be recommended for closure by June 2017, according to a news account on the Great Lakes Education Project. John Austin, president of the State Board of Education, echoed Bakers hard line, saying Michigan has to be serious about shutting down under-performing schools, according to MLive. Predictably, the charter school industry smelled substantial business opportunities in the works. Gary Naeyaert, executive director of the DeVos family-funded charter lobby Great Lakes Education Project, described the states decision to close chronically failing schools as long overdue. Baker was named as head of Michigans State Reform Office with politically suitable pro-charter credentials. She supervised four charter schools in post-Katrina New Orleans, then attempted to start a Detroit public boarding school, receiving $110,000 in tax dollars. She never opened the schoolit was one of many such ghost schools that cashed in on state and federal charter school subsidies. Eighteen Detroit Public School Community District (DPSCD) schools were on the priority list in 2014 and 2015 (as part of the now dissolved Detroit Public Schools) and face potential closure. Following a legal opinion issued last week by Miller Canfield, however, Governor Rick Snyder has pulled back from threatening the new district, saying the state will not mandate immediate closings in the DPSCD. He nonetheless expressed the hope that a newly-elected school board would study closures after November. The routine use of standardized tests to label traditional public schools as failing and shut them down has become government policy under the Obama administration. Endless testing has become a bludgeon in the destruction of public education, clearing a path for the lucrative business models associated with charters and other forms of privatization. While there has been an incessant attempt to portray the assault on public schoolsat least in urban areasas the product of racism and Republican legislators, it has been the policies of the Obama administration which have spearheaded the unprecedented assault on public education. Public education is systematically being destroyed for working-class youth. So-called white, black and Hispanic majority schools all face desperate underfunding throughout the US. With test scores almost entirely correlated to income levels, the most impoverished schools have been relentlessly targeted by Wall Streets pro-privatization drive. This was the fundamental issue in the decision to utilize the debt of the Detroit Public Schools as a pretext to dissolve the 174-year-old district and pave the way for its privatization. The highly-placed financial interests driving the process was underscored by a recent release of a memo by the executive director of Detroits Financial Commission (FRC), bankruptcy lawyer Ron Rose. The DPSCD, created July 1 with the dissolution of the DPS, was placed under the control of the FRC, the big business board created during the citys municipal bankruptcy of 2013-14. The powers and purpose of the FRC were deliberately understated, if not concealed, by the advocates for Governor Snyders reorganization of the schools, including state Democrats, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, and the Detroit Federation of Teachers. This cabal instead cynically claimed that the Snyder plan would return the schools to democratic local control once the emergency manager was removed. In his memo, FRC executive director Rose flatly contradicted this assertion, saying the FRBs statutes gave it control over [not only] a broad combination of accounting and financial practices, but also policies, procedures, operating decisions, administrative and academic matters that impact financial outcomes. Reacting to Roses statements, DPSCD emergency manager Judge Stephen Rhodes admitted, Arguably, every single decision we make has a financial impact. If thats going to be the view of the FRC, that doesnt leave very much for me, or very much for the elected school board beginning January 1. These statements demonstrate the correctness of the warnings issued by the WSWS Teacher Newsletter on the fraudulent and self-serving character of the Detroit Federation of Teachers/American Federation of Teachers public campaign of support to the state legislation. The DFT claimed the new set-up would be the answer to the notorious state policy of emergency management. The union joined with the local black Democratic Party establishment to subvert the courageous struggle of teachers against the attacks on public education, portraying the crisis as a racial attack on black Detroit that would be overcome with school board elections. This lie was designed to deflect attention away from the unions long record of collaboration in the destruction of education. Moreover it sought to cut teachers off from their powerful allies in the working class as whole, including teachers throughout Michigan, and solidify the deal with Lansing. A recent news media report now provides additional details as to the dirty deal negotiated at the state level. It also gives a whiff of the anticipated results. According to the Detroit Free Press, the charter industry bought the legislation they wanted. The article describes the reorganization as a filthy, moneyed kiss to the charter school industry. It states that the DeVos family spent $1.45 million in June and July on Michigan legislators who were considering possible oversight of charters within the City of Detroit. Joining their efforts to pave the way for the unfettered growth of charters was billionaire J.C. Huizenga, owner of the states largest charter school chain, National Heritage Academies. These transactional politics acknowledged services rendered and gutted any provisions to regulate charters. The legislation has established the precedent that debt-ridden schools can be dissolved, reorganized and/or replaced with private entities. Seeking to avoid the hated term emergency manager, the Michigan SRO is expanding the use of similar financial/political instruments to destroy public schools through the state, affecting workers and young people of all races. In June, four priority schools in the Eastpointe school district were put under the control of a state CEO. This new position was empowered to impose budget cuts, convert schools into charters, or close schools and sell the buildings in line with the demands of state bondholders and other financial profit interests. East Detroit Schools (Eastpointe) have filed suit to block the state action. Last week other Detroit suburban districts, Roseville, Warren Consolidated, Van Dyke and Mount Clemens joined the suit. The School Reform Office is exceeding is authority regarding school closures ... It is a seizure of community assets, stated the Mount Clemens Community Schools Superintendent. A year after the unveiling of the so-called welcoming culture, refugees are not only being rejected and deported en masse in Germany; German states are also offloading refugees on each other. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is frequently falsely portrayed as the initiator of the welcoming culture, has placed herself at the head of the offensive against refugees. At a meeting of the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union parliamentary group executive in Berlin last Thursday, she declared that the priority now was to deport asylum seekers whose applications are rejected. In the coming months, the most important thing is repatriation, repatriation and again repatriation, Merkel declared. In North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), cities including Essen, Bochum, Dortmund and Gelsenkirchen have demanded that thousands of recognised refugees who have been living there for months return to Bavaria or states in eastern Germany, where their asylum applications were initially filed. Municipal officials, most of whom are social democrats, are implementing the reactionary integration law passed in August, with dire consequences for refugees, their friends and families. Previously, residence requirements only applied to refugees whose asylum applications had not yet been fully processed. In a violation of fundamental democratic rights, the state could order them to live in a certain area. As soon as their asylum application was approved, however, they could freely choose their place of residence. According to the new law, authorities can retroactively impose a residence condition on refugees for three years. Generally, this will be in the city or region where the refugee lived while applying for asylum. Anyone who does not voluntarily accept the forced move will no longer receive welfare support from NRW job centres. Gelsenkirchen, in the Ruhr region, has written to all the nearly 2,000 recognised refugees who have moved to the city since the beginning of the year, calling upon them to leave NRW. Since several states where they are being sent refused to accept them, authorities sent many back to NRW. Most of those affected came from Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Bavaria. The Gelsenkirchen job centre permitted a temporary reprieve for those affected until October, to avoid homelessness. After that, however, all those newly residing in the city must return to their original place of residence in Germany. States and municipalities are also trying to agree on regulations by the end of the year on the deportation of refugees. In Essen, 1,662 asylum seekers accepted in other states have registered, according to the citys statistics. They moved into their own homes and registered their children with kindergartens and schools. Many have begun taking language courses, to be able to reestablish an independent and self-sufficient life after months of flight and accommodation in inhumane refugee camps. The city of Essen intends to send anyone who arrived after 6 August back to their original place of residence. The city administration estimates that this will affect around 2,500 people, including those who have not registered yet. They were briefly informed that they must return to their original place of residence. The city of Bochum intends to send back some of the 1,000 asylum claimants who have moved to the city since the beginning of the year. The city of Dortmund plans first to send back all refugees who arrived after 6 August, because they do not yet have data on those refugees who arrived prior to this date. State and municipal politicians defend these ruthless measures, claiming that only in this way can costs be fairly distributed. The human costs of such inhumane policies are irrelevant to them. Many refugees came to NRW because they had friends or relatives there and hoped to secure better opportunities for work than in rural areas or eastern Germany. In addition, they must fear for their lives in some regions: in 2015 alone, there were over 1,000 attacks on refugee centres in Germany, according to Federal Criminal Agency statistics. In Bochum, many refugees and migrants impacted have begun protests against forced resettlements. In Essen, some are trying to legally challenge their removal. The refugee organisation ProAsyl condemned the practice of moving refugees between states as absolutely crazy, and a disaster for integration. The Refugee Council of NRW declared, These people waited for a long time for recognition and were delighted to be able to move close to friends or relatives. If they are now sent away, the period of recovery they have long fought for will be taken from them. The World Socialist Web Site described the new integration law of 20 April as an attack on basic democratic rights. Imposing stringent residency conditions for recognised asylum seekers, based on an initiative of Baden-Wurttemberg state premier Winfried Kretschmann (Greens), was simply a violation of the law, it stated. It is a breach of the UN Convention on Refugees and the European asylum law, which guarantees recognised asylum claimants the right to freedom of movement. The forced resettlement of refugees into structurally weak regions, which will tear apart families and social networks that provide assistance in job searches, vocational training and continuing education and visits to the authorities, will drive recognized asylum seekers into isolation and exclusion and increase their dependence on social services, the article continued. The removal of recognised refugees from NRW underscores the reactionary and brutal character of German asylum policy. It is bound up with attacks being waged on the democratic and social rights of the working class as a whole and the growth of militarism. It exposes the right-wing policies of the SPD/Green state government in NRW. Interior minister Ralf Jager (SPD) boasts that his state has deported the most rejected asylum seekers. NRW immigration authorities had deported 2,652 refugees by the end of June, 32 percent more than last year. The numbers of those voluntarily leaving the state also rose significantly. According to the interior ministry, 13,633 people have left NRW since the beginning of the year. Jager has also complained of extreme problems with repatriating refugees to North Africa. He was supported by state premier Hannelore Kraft (SPD), who criticised the federal government from the right on this issue. She recently told Der Spiegel, It cannot go on like this, and demanded more support from Berlin to deport refugees more quickly and in greater numbers. The NRW government is also crowding refugees into mass accommodation centres. Although about 14,000 places are available in normal accommodation facilities, approximately 9,000 people are forced to live in halls or tents. According to Jager, this period in forced emergency accommodation is intended to ensure that refugees without a realistic chance of asylum never reach a municipality. This is based on an agreement with the federal agency for migrants and refugees (BAMF). The 4,800 nurses at five Allina hospitals in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro region walked off their jobs September 5 on an open-ended strike determined to preserve healthcare and fight for safe staffing ratios. Workers from other unions such as teachers, government workers and communications workers joined nurses on the picket line. After nearly eight months of negotiations and a week-long strike in June, Allina remains determined as ever to terminate the unions four healthcare plans and force all nurses onto its own corporate plan, placing the burden of rising healthcare costs on the backs of nurses. The company has also refused to entertain any compromise on safe staffing to ensure quality care for patients, or to provide a safe working environment for nurses who find themselves on the front lines of dealing with mental health cases. One nurse with 10 years at Allinas United Health Hospital in St. Paul told the World Socialist Web Site, In the beginning of our contract negotiations with Allina, I think some of us felt that it was logical to try to compromise. We recognized the changing face of health insurance and healthcare across the country. But as the negotiationsor the lack thereofwent on, I began to see things differently, especially Allinas unwillingness to take some of our concessions and compromise with us. Now it feels a lot more like Allina is engaged in union busting, attempting to dismantle or divide the union. These sentiments are developing widely among nurses and have resulted in the overwhelming rejection of three Allina contract proposals. Nurses are convinced that their only recourse is an indefinite strike. But there is the sharpest contrast between the determination of the nurses and the retreat by their union, the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA). At a noon press conference on the strikes first day, MNA Executive Director Rose Roach told the assembled reporters, We did compromise... as difficult as it wasand I cant even stress how difficult it wasto say we were willing to do a transition into their health plans and that wasnt enough for them. Weve already walked away from staffing ratios, said Roach, and we even made a compromise on their language about the charge nurses. When a reporter asked what would be different about the current strike compared to the week-long strike in June, Roach replied, We hope it will be different. More than once during the course of the press conference officials intoned that nurses did not want to be on strike. In reality, the labor bureaucracy is bemoaning the fact that they were not able to prevent the strike. Traditionally, MNA nurses in the Twin Cities used to negotiate jointly with all six hospital chains. But this year, Allina, by far the largest, broke away to negotiate independently. The MNA leadership played into Allinas hands by rapidly signing contracts covering 6,000 nurses at the other five hospital chains. There is a growing recognition by some striking nurses that this weakened the position of Allina nurses. One nurse told the WSWS, I was here during the 2010 negotiations when all the nurses in the Twin Cities were united. Today, instead of 15,000 nurses out, we only have 5,000. When asked how she thought the strike could be won, she replied, What is critical is for the nurses to stand strong, and long enough, so that the public recognizes we are serious and we want to help our patients. And we have to be united to the point where Allina wont be able to withstand our strength. Then other workers will wake up and realize that we count and they can benefit from supporting our struggle. What people need to understand in our case is that US Bank and other companies that are tied to the Allina board of directors are getting rich off of healthcare. Millions of dollars. And at the same time, Allina is telling us they dont have enough money to meet our needs. But I think this is common throughout corporate America today. I want other workers to know we are not nitpicking over contract issues. The issues are the same for workers everywhere. Whats going on today is truly a struggle between all workers and corporate America. The opening day strike coincided with Labor Day, an event that used to draw hundreds of thousands of workers together in cities across the country. But the bureaucrats of the Minnesota AFL-CIO and other unions only turned out token delegations, mostly comprised of the bureaucrats themselves. The labor officials and the MNA, unable to break down the insistence of nurses to defend past gains, are worried that their strike over healthcare and working conditions could potentially draw widespread support and ignite a movement against the corporate and banking elite in the midst of the national election campaign. It is for this reason that the bureaucracy is seeking to isolate the nurses from broad sections of workers who face a similar struggle over healthcare issues. MNA President Mary Turner alluded to this in answer to a question during the press conference, saying, Our labor friends are going to be helping us. Turner was not referring to the millions of workers but to the labor bureaucracy. Turner in the same breath also mentioned our political friends, referring to the Democratic Party politicians. Nurses will find that these labor and political friends will in no way aid their struggle. In fact, these so-called friends will only function to hinder it. In order to avoid the suffocation of their strike by the labor bureaucracy, Allina nurses must elect rank-and-file strike committees to direct the struggle. Above all, they must appeal directly to the working class in the Twin Cities and throughout Minnesota, tapping into the great discontent of the American working class and mobilize it in defense of the right to healthcare for all workers. Barack Obama arrived Monday night in the Laotian capital of Vientiane, becoming the first US president to return to the scene of one of US imperialisms bloodiest crimes, even as his administration is preparing new wars on a far greater scale. Obama will attend the East Asian Summit where rising tensions with China over the South China Sea are set to dominate following a ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in favour of a US-backed Philippine challenge to Chinas territorial claims. In a pre-recorded CNN interview aired on Sunday, Obama signalled his intent to deliver a blunt message to Chinese President Xi Jinping to abide by the courts decision. When we see them violating international rules and norms, as we have seen in some cases in the South China Sea, or in some of their behaviour when it comes to economic policy, weve been very firm, he said, warning: Weve indicated to them that there will be consequences. What utter hypocrisy! As with every other international rule and norm, the US insists that others abide by rulings under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which it has not even ratified. Over the course of his two terms in office, Obama has transformed the long-running regional disputes in the South China Sea into a dangerous international flashpoint that threatens to trigger war. Obama routinely declares that China must abide by the international rules-based orderthat is, the post-World War II order that enshrined American global hegemony and empowered Washington to write the rules for others. He also boasts that it was US military might in the Asia Pacific that ensured peace and underwrote the regions massive economic expansion over the past 40 years. American dominance in Asia, however, was only established through a series of criminal neo-colonial warsin particular in Korea and Indochinathat cost the lives of millions, as well as countless diplomatic intrigues and CIA-backed coups. The bloodiest coup, in Indonesia in 1965-66, involved the slaughter of at least a half million workers, peasants and members of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI). The CIAs secret war in Laos ranks among American imperialisms worst war crimes. Between 1964 and 1973, the US conducted 580,000 missions and dropped more than two million bombs on a country less than the size of New Zealand. That is equivalent to one planeload of bombs every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, or roughly one tonne of explosives for every man, woman and child in Laos at the time. Laos remains the most heavily bombed country per capita in history. The US took over from the French in attempting to suppress the anti-colonial movement throughout IndochinaVietnam and Cambodia as well as Laosthat was dominated by Stalinist parties and backed by the Soviet Union and China. The CIA used every dirty trick in the book to prop up the Royal Lao Government and disrupt North Vietnamese soldiers and supplies from passing down the so-called Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos and Cambodia into South Vietnam. The CIA was centrally involved, as the war did not have congressional approval and was kept under a cloak of secrecy by the American political and media establishment. As the Royal Laotian army crumbled, CIA operatives recruited, armed and trained an anti-communist guerrilla force estimated at 30,000 from among hill tribes, largely the Hmong. These were bolstered by a secret army of mercenaries from Thailand and US-trained soldiers from South Vietnam, Taiwan, South Korea and the Philippines. Some 350,000 men, women and children were killed in the carnage, and a tenth of the countrys population was displaced by the fighting. The CIAs Hmong allies lost so many fighters that they turned to the forcible recruitment of child soldiers as young as eight. To fund the war, the Hmong, assisted by the CIA, grew and sold opium, helping to fuel a global heroin epidemic. The CIA company, Air America, flew the drugs out of land-locked Laos. The secret war devastated the country. According to one account, Village after village was levelled, countless people burned alive by high explosives, or by napalm and white phosphorus, or riddled by anti-personnel bomb pellets. Vast quantities of unexploded ordnance cover nearly a third of the country and have killed or maimed at least 20,000 people since the end of the war. More than 12,000 survivors are in need of ongoing medical care and rehabilitation. A pittance in US aidjust $118 millionhas been provided to deal with unexploded bombs. An estimated 1 percent of contaminated land has been cleared. The Obama administration has increased the amount from $5 million in 2010 to $19.5 million this year, not out of any concern for the Laotian people, but rather as part of its efforts to bully and bribe the Vientiane regime to loosen its ties with Beijing and reorient towards Washington. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War has not led to peace but to an escalating succession of wars over the past 25 years, as American capitalism has sought to offset its decline through military might. As was the case in Laos and more broadly Indochina and Korea, whole countriesAfghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libyahave been devastated in an effort to shore up American global hegemony. As the global economic breakdown worsens, the United States is actively and aggressively preparing for war against major powersabove all, China and Russia. Washingtons diplomatic efforts in Vientiane are part of Obamas far broader pivot to Asia over the past five years aimed at undermining, weakening and militarily encircling China. As a result, the South China Sea is just one of the flashpoints in Asia that Obama has deliberately inflamed and that could set off a conflict between the two nuclear-armed powers. Only the working class can halt the slide into another catastrophic world war. This underscores the necessity of the political fight being waged by the International Committee of the Fourth International to build an international anti-war movement uniting workers in the US, China, throughout Asia and the world to put an end to capitalism and to reconstruct society on socialist foundations. The White House announced on Monday that President Obama was calling off his scheduled meeting with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte following an angry press conference tirade by Duterte against the US president. The two leaders were slated to meet on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in the Laotian capital of Vientiane. While Obama ostensibly canceled the meeting due to a dispute over Dutertes anti-drug crusade, the real source of the tensions is Washingtons increasing displeasure over Dutertes failure to play his assigned role in the US pivot to Asia. Since he assumed office on July 1, Duterte has pursued a vicious war on the poorest layers of the Philippine population in the name of the war on drugs, racking up a body count of nearly 2,500 people murdered by police and vigilantes. He is erecting the architecture of a police state, announcing a nation-wide state of emergency due to criminal lawlessness over the past weekend, and calling on the military and police to run the country. This campaign of mass murder received initial support from Washington. Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to Manila andas the number murdered grew by an average of 30 a daycommitted $32 million to fund Dutertes anti-drug crusade. Washingtons backing for Dutertes dictatorial aspirations, however, is contingent upon his support for the US war drive against China. Washington expects Duterte to use the July 12 Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruling, which declared Chinas territorial claims in the South China Sea to be illegal, to ratchet up pressure on Beijing. Duterte has instead sought to quietly pursue trade ties with China and has downplayed the territorial disputes to secure better relations with Beijing. In response, Washington has begun raising concerns over human rights and due process in the Philippines. Asked by a reporter on Monday night in Davao, just before his departure to Laos, how he would respond to Obama during their meeting to possible criticisms of extra-judicial killings in the Philippines, Duterte replied with an angry, profanity-laced rant. Duterte told the media: The Philippines is not a vassal state. We have long ceased to be a colony of the United States. He cited the Philippine-American war at the beginning of the 20th century and stated that if Obama, whom he called a son of a bitch, would give an apology for the 600,000 Filipinos killed during that war he would answer him about the ongoing extra-judicial killings. He stated: We inherited our problems from the United States because they invaded us and made us their subjugated people. Dutertes nationalist posturing does not contain a shred of genuine anti-imperialism. Duterte has pledged his full support to the presence of US military bases in the country and has committed to revising the Philippine constitution to allow increased foreign ownership. Rather, Duterte invokes the crimes of US imperialism to justify his own crusade of mass murder. He made this perfectly clear as he continued his rant, stating: The campaign against drugs will continue. Plenty will be killed. Until the last pusher is killed we will continue and I dont give a shit about anybody observing my behavior. Obama responded in a press conference staged in Hangzhou at the end of the G20 summit prior to his departure for Laos. Clearly hes a colorful guy, Obama told the press, What Ive instructed my team to do is talk to their Philippine counterparts to find out is this in fact a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations. Obama stated: We will always assert the need to have due process if and when we have a meeting this is something that is going to be brought up. The Obama administration has overseen the systematic dismantling of due process in the United States. Former Attorney General Eric Holder drafted the legal memo that justified Obamas drone assassinations of US citizens on the grounds that secret deliberations carried out by the executive constituted due process. Obama invokes due process, not out of any concern for democratic rights, but to pressure Manila to assist in the drive to war against China. His mild language to date on human rights is a clear indication that he still feels that this colorful guy can be persuaded to fall into line. Duterte toned down his comments in a press conference on Tuesday morning in Laos, stating: I do not want to quarrel with him. Hes the most powerful president of any country on the planet. Shortly afterward, US National Security Council spokesman Ned Price announced: President Obama will not be holding a bilateral meeting with President Duterte of the Philippines this afternoon. Instead, he will meet with President Park (Geun-hye) of the Republic of Korea. Duterte traveled to Laos with an entourage of 30 officials, including Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay and Senator Alan Peter Cayetano. While Obama and Duterte may not meet during the summit, doubtless many meetings discussing Philippine policy and the US pivot will be staged on the sidelines between US officials and their Filipino counterparts. The Philippines will assume the role of chair of ASEAN for the coming year at the end of the summit. This will increase the significance of Manilas role in US plans within the region, as well as Washingtons pressure on Duterte. In the immediate lead up to the ASEAN summit, Manila adopted a more assertive stance toward China over the South China Sea. Yasay summoned the Chinese ambassador in Manila to explain the presence of Chinese coastguard vessels in the disputed waters of the Scarborough Shoal. Duterte told the press that he might confront China over construction on islands that the PCA had ruled did not belong to China. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying addressed the press on Monday, counseling the Philippines not to hype up the situation in Scarborough, which she stated involved routine fishing operations. The Chinese ambassador to the Philippines, Zhao Jianhua, met with the Philippine secretary of finance on Monday to extend an offer of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to fund infrastructure development as well as fast-tracked membership in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). These offers are clearly contingent upon Duterte not raising public objections to Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea. It is in this context that Washington is seeking to use due process and human rights as a weapon to pressure Manila to promote its war drive against China. Last month, wildfires ravaged Portugal, killing six people and injuring hundreds more. TV reports showed houses burning down, the evacuation of villages and roads, and railway lines closed. On the tourist island of Madeira, more than 200 buildings in the regional capital and resort town of Funchal were destroyed or damaged. Four people died and 1,000 people were evacuated. On the mainland, much of northern Portugal was affected, and two people died in fires in the central Santarem region. Over 4,200 Portuguese firefighters backed up by 30 aircraft, including those sent by Italy, Spain, Morocco and Russia, were mobilized to control nearly 200 forest fires set off in a heat wave, fanned by strong winds in difficult terrain. Portugal is also in the grip of one of its worst droughts in recent history. According to the European Unions (EU) Forest Fire Information System, over 116,000 hectares (286,600 acres) in Portugal were destroyed this year, over half the total of 217,000 hectares destroyed (536,200 acres) in the EU as a whole. Between 2000 and 2013, Portugal, which comprises less than 10 percent of the landmass in Europes Mediterranean region, recorded a third of the fires. The number of fires has increased from around 3,000 in 1980 to around 20,000 a year today. They are always followed by an official enquiry and report, which blames the lack of firefighting resources, abandoned or mismanaged farmland due to the drift of the rural population to the towns, the planting of unsuitable tree species, and so on. This is followed by government pledges to act on the reports recommendations. As usual, the Socialist Party (PS) government is ignoring its failure to act on recommendations, and is instead blaming arsonists and climate change for the fires, which it presents as an unavoidable natural disaster. Prime Minister Antonio Costa declared, This abnormal situation surpasses the normal response capacity of our forces, referring to high temperatures of up to 42 degrees Celsius. Interior Minister Miguel Constanca Urbano de Sousa told reporters, we are under extraordinary meteorological conditions that cannot be forecast, and are impossible to control by human beings. Police have so far arrested 34 people on suspicion of starting fires. Most have been released on bail. Meanwhile, a petition to demand maximum sentences for arsonists be raised to 25 years in prison has been signed by more than 25,000 people. The whipping up of a law and order frenzy as a response to the fires is nothing new. In 2003, when Portugal was hit by its deadliest recorded blazes, in which 10 percent of the forests were destroyed and 19 people died, the press and Prime Minister Durao Barroso, later to become EU Commission President, launched a campaign attacking arsonists and calling for harsher penalties. Central responsibility lies, however, with the Portuguese and EU authorities that have failed to implement plans drawn up to deal with the forest fires. Since the 2007-8 global economic crises, successive Portuguese governments have imposed billions of euros in social cuts. Last November, the PS came to power promising to rollback years of austerity, but then announced it would implement a 2.2 percent structural deficit target this year. In 2014, Portugal spent just 70 million on its firefighting budget and 20 million on fire prevention. This pales in comparison to the countrys 2.1 billion military spending. Plans set by the National Forest Protection Plan, established in 2005, specified that 500 forestry teams would be working on fire prevention today. Now, however, there are only 283. Cuts to fire and rescue services and prevention mean fewer firefighters and older equipment, leading to longer response times, weakened resilience and greater risk to the public and firefighters. The chairman of the National Association of Firefighters (ANBP), Fernando Curto, blamed the government, telling Portuguese daily Diario de Noticias that the main problem is the failure to focus on prevention. He also denounced the miserable wages and conditions facing Portuguese firefighters, working 24 consecutive hours while earning 1.87 an hour. Jaime Marta Soares, from the League of Portuguese Firefighters, told Euronews the main problem is that Theres no structural fire-prevention in the forests, which are mostly uninhabited. But the cities and the areas around the industrial parks are not even protected. If we add high temperatures influenced by the Mediterranean, very low humidity rates and atypical winds, and the forest that is itself the fuel, when left untreated, this leads to fires, and it makes our country resemble a continuous torch. Another factor has been the eucalyptus agro-business industry. Its plantations, covering 7 percent of Portugals landmass, are a valuable source of pulp for paper and oils and resin for world markets. Not only do they consume large quantities of water, contributing to the drought, but their oil and fallen leaves produce a tinderbox for wildfires. In order to cut costs, eucalyptus businesses have also cut spending on fire prevention. Rui Barreira, forestry technician and member of the World Wide Fund told reporters, the problem with the plantations is forest care mismanagement. The headlines in the media in the lead-up to the G20 leaders summit meeting in Hangzhou China, which concluded on Monday, were that it would have to find a way to boost global growth and deal with the rise of protectionism. The communique which emerged at its conclusion revealed that neither of those objectives came even close to being met. Like statements from previous meetings, it contained a series of warnings about downside risks emanating from potential volatility in financial markets, continuing sluggish trade and investment and low productivity and employment growth and then offered a commitment to usher in a new era of global growth. With the evident failure of monetary policies based on the pumping of trillions of dollars into the global financial system to stimulate expansion of the real economy, the communique noted that fiscal strategiesincreased government spendingare equally important to supporting our common growth strategies. But it was an empty phrase because it went on to state that such policy options would be tailored to country circumstances. In other words, there is no binding global commitment to boost the economy and each national government, while calling on others to take action, will continue with its own austerity agenda. It is significant that under conditions where it is recognised that the central economic problem is lack of investment and demand, the only measure which contained real teeth was aimed at cutting back production in the global steel industrya measure directed against China. While not directly naming China, the G20 decided to establish a Global Forum on excess steel capacity to report back in 2017. The measure was pushed through with the threat from the European Union that if China did not agree it could face an adverse decision on its push to be accorded market economy status under the World Trade Organisation, which comes up later this year. Such were the tensions surrounding the issue that, according to one official cited by the Wall Street Journal: If you are looking for blood, steel overcapacity was the issue. While the G20 communique repeated many of the standard phrases of past meetings, including the need for structural reforms, the code for deepening attacks on the employment and social conditions of the working class, there was a new political dimension to this years meeting. Overshadowing the summit were concerns there is a deepening hostility among broad sections of the worlds population to the policies of the past eight years that have resulted in ever-worsening living standards and the growth of social inequality to historically unprecedented levels. This was the first meeting of world leaders since the referendum vote in the UK to quit the European Union, a distorted reflection of growing opposition to the drive to austerity and cuts in living standards. The growing hatred of the political establishment has been reflected in the US, both in the rise of the far-right Republican Trump presidential candidacy, the widespread support for the self-styled democratic socialist Bernie Sanders in the race for the Democratic Party nomination and the broad hatred for the partys nominee Hillary Clinton. The communique pointed to the growing concerns in ruling circles over this social opposition with a series of empty phrases about meeting the needs of present and future generations, ensuring public support for expanded growth in a globalised economy and the need for an integrated narrative for strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth. Fears of what it could bring were voiced in closed-door sessions. According to a report in the Financial Times, US president Barack Obama, British prime minister Theresa May and her Australian and Canadian counterparts emphasised the need to placate public discontent. The Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, reportedly told the meeting there was a need to civilise capitalism. At the conclusion of the summit, International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde also addressed these issues warning that economic growth had been too low for too long for too few. There was also a determination around the room to better identify the benefits of trade in order to respond to the populist backlash against globalisation, she said. The so-called backlash against globalisation is the expression of a deeper phenomenongrowing hostility to the operation of the capitalist profit system itself. The leaders of the countries named in the Financial Times report have reasons for concern, along with their counterparts in other countries, as statistics on the rise of social inequality make clear. In the UK, real wages between 2007 and 2015 fell by 10.4 percent, a figure only matched in Greece, where workers were savaged by the austerity drive of the IMF and the EU. In the US economic inequality leap ahead in 2015 with the average incomes of the top 1 percent rising twice as fast as the rest of the population. The top 10 percent of the population collected more than half of total US household income. Last year the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which covers 35 of the wealthiest countries, reported that income inequality had reached an all-time high, a situation which is certain to have worsened since then. The Australian prime minister Turnbull attended the summit after being returned to office on July 2 by a bare one-seat majority in an election marked by deepening hostility to the entire political establishment and in which the governments slogan of jobs and growth stood in marked contrast to an economic and social reality characterised by four years of stagnant real wages and the replacement of full-time jobs with part-time and casual employment. Turnbulls call to civilise capitalism, along with all the other references to inclusive growth, is a completely empty phrase because the depredations afflicting billions of people do not arise from a series of misguided policies but are rooted in the irresolvable contradiction of the capitalist economy, based on the drive for profit. The underlying fear of the ruling class, which saw partial expression at the G20 summit, is that the present inchoate opposition to the capitalist order will take the form, not of a backlash against globalisation but the development of a socialist movement based on the understanding that civilisation can only be advanced by the overthrow of the socially-destructive and historically-outmoded profit system. Dr. Barb Beebe, president of Western Texas College, came to talk to the Colorado City Lions Club last Friday. She brought photos and talked about the renovations ongoing at the college in Snyder, among other things. Dr. Beebe was appointed the sixth president and first woman president of WTC in January 2013. In the 20-plus years leading up to her appointment as president, she taught Economics and Management at Southern Vermont College in Bennington, was the Director of Academic Programming at a Community College in Worcester, Massachusetts, and was the Vice President of Continuing Education and Workforce Development at Allegany College of Maryland. Dr. Beebe said that renovations are being made at WTC for the first time in 42 years, and most of the $15 million will go into repairing and updating infrastructure, like the heating and air conditioning systems, paving, plumbing, etc. Approximately 300 students live on the campus, and it has been a struggle, as the cafeteria was set to hold a maximum of 200 students. Part of the renovations has included doubling the size of the cafeteria to the north. Work is also progressing on the theater department and gymnasium. Due to a major leak, WTC had to make the decision to fill in the swimming pool, Beebe said. The huge space will now be used as a cardio, workout room. An indoor track has been added, and exercise equipment will be installed in the room as well. New stage lighting and ceiling has been installed for the theater department, and new flooring can be found in various spots around the campus. Though enrollment at the college is higher than ever, fewer students want to work. The work study program at WTC has suffered, because few students show up to participate in the program. Dr. Beebe said that the institution lost half of their financial aid for the work study program as a result. One group of students differs from their U.S. counterparts. Beebe said that international students participate at a high ratio in the work study program. A Community Impact Study performed by Texas A&M University showed some interesting facts about WTC. There are 134 full-time, 82 part-time, and 52 student part-time employees who have jobs at the college. The study showed that 37 services were performed by outside sources on a contractual basis. Dr. Beebe was proud of the fact that 95.8% of all WTC graduates are either currently employed or are seeking further education. That number is above the state average, she said. Not surprisingly, the study showed that the college contributes to the community in a variety of ways. About 87% of WTC employees are homeowners, and therefore, taxpayers, and 96% contribute regularly to civic, social or religious organizations. Dr. Beebe said the study showed that 72% of employees net incomes are spent in Scurry County, and 78% use primary physicians in Snyder. Also, 84% reported that they bank locally. The university study found that WTC contributes over $28 million to Scurry Countys economy, by supporting over 300 jobs which amounts to $13 million to labor income. The study estimates that, over the next 40 years, each incoming WTC class will contribute $38.6 million to the economy of this region. With an enrollment higher than ever, Dr. Beebe said shes really excited about the upcoming school year. Its a great place for staff, and a great place for kids, she said. The classes are small, so we get to know students. Dr. Beebe said she even keeps in touch with some of the students who have graduated and moved on. Western Texas also works with Colorado ISD to provide dual-credit classes for high school students. Bob Reily asked what percentage of WTC grads actually go on to further their education, and Beebe estimated that number to be between 60 and 70%. Mark Waldrip said that Dr. Beebe does a lot for the students at WTC. He said shes very involved in every aspect of the campus life. She replied that the students are wonderful kids and are very appreciative. Mayor Jim Baum asked Beebe how she ended up in Texas, as shes from the northeastern part of the U.S. She said her sister lived in Dallas, and when she came for an interview, she thought there was no way she would stay. But the people are so nice. I love it! I think its just a marvelous place! the college president said. This article was reprinted with special permission with the Colorado City Record, Colorado City, Texas. Click here to access the Colorado City Record Online Edition. ( http://www.ccitynews.net/ ) TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida Gov. Rick Scott has canceled a trip to Washington, where he was to meet with congressional leaders about funding for the Zika virus. Spokeswoman Jackie Schutz says that Scott will remain in Florida to monitor response efforts to Hurricane Hermine. The state has seen a rise in the number of cases of the mosquito-borne disease over the past month. Congress returns from its seven-week summer break on Tuesday. President Barack Obama requested $1.9 billion in emergency funds in February to develop a vaccine and control the mosquitoes that carry the virus. But lawmakers left Washington in mid-July without approving any of the money. (Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) - The Salvation Army partnered with the Second Harvest of the Big Bend to go the extra mile to serve thousands without power after the severe winds of Hurricane Hermine gushed through the Tallahassee area. According to The City of Tallahassee, "approximately 70,000 city customers were without power." The Salvation Army said that they were grateful for community partners such as Second Harvest of The Big Bend. As of September 5, The Salvation Army has provided a total of 9,898 meals, 9,806 drinks, 7,808 snacks, 1,049 Bibles, 371 clean-up kits, 252 cases of water and spiritual care to 603 residents. "It is important to be able to offer families a warm meal that's been cooked with love. When you are without power, you are cut off from basic services. I love being there to meet needs, and we can do that when our partners and friends like Second Harvest of the Big Bend work with us," said Lt. Ryan Meo of The Salvation Army of Tallahassee. The Salvation Army's mobile feeding site allowed the Mills Family, who have been without electricity for five days, receive a hot meal. Members of the community are encouraged to help those impacted by Hurricane Hermine. For more information to make a financial contribution please call 1-800-SAL-ARMY (1-800-725-2769) or text STORM to 51555. To donate online click here. To Donate by mail: The Salvation Army, PO Box 1959, Atlanta, GA 30301 (designate Hurricane Hermine on all checks.) TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) - Was your business hurt by Hurricane Hermine? Governor Rick Scott has introduced a new program to help local small businesses that were impacted by the storm. On Tuesday, Governor Scott announced the activation of Florida's Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan Program that will provide short term, interest-free loans to small businesses that experienced physical or economic damage. The application period is from Tuesday to Oct. 31. "Restoring Florida's small businesses is crucial to helping our communities recover from Hurricane Hermine and the Bridge Loan Program will help provide much-needed emergency assistance. We will continue to use every available state resource to help Floridians impacted by this storm throughout the entire recovery process," said the governor. Owners of small businesses with two to 100 employees located in 51 counties affected by the hurricane can apply for short-term loans for up to $25,000.Loans are granted in terms of 90 or 180 days and are interest-free for that time period. To be eligible, a business must have been established prior to August 31, 2016, and demonstrate economic or physical damage as a result of Hurricane Hermine. To complete an application or for more information on the program, click here. For questions regarding the Emergency Bridge Loan Program, contact the Florida Small Business Development Center Network state office at (850) 898-3489. TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) - Department of Management Services (DMS) announced Monday that some state office buildings in Tallahassee will be open. The department said that state employees that work in a building without power should follow their agency Secretarys direction. The following office buildings are closed due to power outage: Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission BERKLEY BUILDING: If you work in this office, you will be contacted by your supervisor to advise if you need to report for work tomorrow. Essential staff as determined by supervisors will work from the Bryant Building. Koger Center management staff will be at the Berkley Building at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow morning to provide access if anyone needs to retrieve items needed for work. Department of Management Services DIVISION OF RETIREMENT, WINEWOOD COMPLEX: This division remains without power. All Division staff will receive notification tonight from their supervisor regarding their essential/non-essential status. All Division of Retirement Contact Center and Research and Education Section employees should report to work, as this separate work location is fully operational. Department of Children and Families (DCF) WINEWOOD OFFICE COMPLEX: This complex remains without power at this time and the decision has been made to keep the office closed for tomorrow, Tuesday September 6th. Staff who have the ability to work from home should do so provided the home location has power and data connectivity. The DCF Headquarters Emergency Information Line will remain up to date with the latest information, please check back often at 850-717-4458. Power is expected to be fully restored by Tuesday for work on Wednesday. Additional information will be communicated via email and the emergency information line. Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) - SPRINGHILL BUILDING: The Springhill facility does not have power. Employees will be directed to report to the Rhyne and Burns buildings where temporary office space will be made available. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) BOB MARTINEZ CENTER: The Bob Martinez Center will remained closed to ensure employee safety due to downed lines and no power. Unless these conditions change, only essential employees housed in that building are expected to report for work tomorrow. Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) ALEXANDER BUILDING: The Alexander building that houses a smaller headquarters does not have power. Staff can work remotely on the 6th floor unless power is restored. A message is on DJJ's emergency operations line for Alexander building staff to check on updated status. Rescuers and relatives carried a 12-year-old Seattle boy who suffered serious injuries in a fall more than two miles down a rugged trail on a makeshift cot to an ambulance waiting at the Rachel Lake trail head on Sunday. Photo courtesy of the Kittitas County Sheriff's Office. You are the owner of this article. A 73-year-old Yakima man was found dead Monday morning after his semi-truck left the roadway and came to stop in a cornfield. A medical emergency is suspected as the cause of the crash, said Yakima County Coroner Jack Hawkins. If you are sending a Letter To the Editor, please be sure to follow these rules: Letters have a firm 200-word limit and will be edited for grammar, clarity and accuracy. The person who signs the letter must be the author. Anonymous letters will not be considered. Letters must address the editor, not a third party. We will not print form letters, libelous letters, business promotions or personal disputes, poetry, open letters, letters espousing religious views without reference to a current issue, or letters considered in poor taste. Letters reflect the opinion of the writer. The Yakima Herald-Republic cannot verify the accuracy of all statements made in letters. Writers are limited to one published letter per calendar month. After a bunch of obscene, harsh condemnations from United Nations representatives in recent weeks, the UN representative for the Middle East, Nickolay Mladenov, went as far as issuing a particularly insolent statement against the Israeli governments' policy against terror in particular and against the settlement in Judea, Samaria and east Jerusalem in general. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter According to Mladenov, it turns out that any Israeli activity, settlement and outpost in those areas, including any house built in neighborhoods such as Ramot, Gilo or Armon Hanatziv (East Talpiot) "all (these) outposts remain illegal under international law." So the time has probably come to listen to these logical comments and successfully dismantle at least one large, illegal outpost: the UN headquarters' settlement in the East Talpiot neighborhood in Jerusalem. East Talpiot neighborhood (Photo: Sebastian Scheiner) After the Brits left Israel, one of the most difficult battles of the War of Independence in the Jerusalem area took place nearby, leaving 11 IDF soldiers dead. At the end of the war, Israel and Jordan agreed to leave the compound as a demilitarized area and allow the UN to locate the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) there. When the Six-Day War broke out, the area was occupied for a short while by the Jordanian army, but was eventually liberated by IDF soldiers and declared by Israel part of its sovereign territory. The UN, which refused to recognize Israel's rule in Jerusalem, demanded an official recognition of its ownership of the area and ordered Israel to "return" it. Israel's governments throughout the years rejected this ridiculous demand, and even made sure to register the compound and the buildings in the Land Registry as an area owned by the State of Israel. An agreement was eventually reached, stating that the UN and its institutions are only inhabitants of the area. Now, when we hear the UN representatives' screams that every Israeli home in east Jerusalem is an illegal outpost under international law, we must demand that the organization recognize the fact that the first and most illegal outpost is none other than the UN headquarters in the "Armon Hanatziv" compound, which the organization is holding onto with false claims and demanding ownership of without any legal foundation, neither national nor international. The fact that temporary agreements were signed after the War of Independence, leaving a number of demilitarized areas in Jerusalem including this compound, does not give the UN any legal basis in it, and it is time for the Israeli government to withhold its agreement to allow the compound's noisy tenants to make insolent demands, and demand that they pack their belongings and move elsewhere. The large, impressive building in East Talpiot can be used for the benefit of the Israeli public, just like the rest of the former demilitarized areas in Jerusalem which have already been turned into roads, museums and residential areas. It can be turned into a museum, a college or perhaps house the IDF's General Staff, which should have moved from the Kirya Base in Tel Aviv to the capital a long time ago. And what about the UN headquarters in the Middle East which will be evacuated from East Talpiot? Where will it reside? It only seems appropriate for the UN to place its regional headquarters as far as possible from the annoying presence of the Jewish outposts in the Land of Israel, and it has many options for finding a proper seat where everything is in order according to the UN's interpretation of international law: Damascus, Baghdad, Sana'a, Tripoli and Beirut are surely yearning for Mladenov and his friends to come and influence them with their great wisdom. Dr. Ofir Haivry is vice president of the Herzl Institute in Jerusalem. BAGHDAD- Officials say a car bombing in a bustling commercial area in central Baghdad has killed at least 12 civilians. A police officer said Tuesday that the explosives-laden car, which was left in a parking lot in the Shiite-dominated district of Karradah, exploded late Monday. He says up to 28 people were wounded and at least 15 cars were damaged. A medical official confirmed the casualty figures. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release the information. More than 80 stairs separate the upper and lower floors of the construction site that collapsed on Monday . We're going deep into the ground, with hundreds of soldiers and rescue personnel all around us and the noise of drilling coming from every corner. Small bulldozers are clearing away the wreckage, while massive cranes move overhead, clearing the bags of debris from the site. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "It'll take us 24 hours of work to clear everything from here," an officer from the IDF's Home Front Command estimates. "There might be air pockets, we've found a few of those already, but since this is a four-story building that collapsed, the chances are not very good. Despite that, we remain optimistic and we're hoping to find someone alive. As far as we're concerned, as long as we don't have any other way of knowingthey're still alive. We're doing everything to get to them and we don't give up on anyone." Rescue workers searching through the wreckage (: , ) X The sights below are horrifying. Dogs from the IDF's Oketz unit are wandering around the wreckage, trying to catch the smell of people who might be trapped below the debris. Every now and again, the teams stop the work of the noisy bulldozers and drills, trying to listen for any sounds or signs of lifeso far unsuccessfully. Rescue worker with one of the dogs searching through the rubble (Photo: IDF Spokesman) As people enter and leave the collapse site, they check in with a man carrying a clipboard. He makes a list of everyone below the wreckage to ensure everyone comes back out. "Mind the step," says the guy making the list of the comings and goings. "We don't want you to get hurt here of all places." The collapsed construction site (Photo: Motti Kimchi) "When I got there, I saw a 1520 meters wide crater with sand on its upper part, and I knew there were people trapped (below) and that their chances of survival were not highbecause as soon as one ceiling collapses on top of the other, there aren't too many air pockets." Netanel recounts the first critical moments, "I was first down into the crater, because at first everyone were looking from above and reporting back. As someone who has been serving in Search and Rescue for 30 years, I knew I was experienced enough to know what to do." Home Front Command rescue workers at the scene of the collapse At a certain point, Netanel and his men spotted two stunned-looking workers sitting inside the crater, lightly injured. The officer decided to get to them and from there make his way to the minus-four floor, where the main section collapsed entirely, and where voices of people trapped were eminating from. "You have to understand that there's a risk in going down into a place like that. It's unstable ground and additional collapses are a possibility. I spotted two workers trapped between parts of the ceiling leaning diagonally against each other. The two workers were close together. For half an hour, I held their hands, spoke to them with the little Arabic I know, and told them we were going to extract them and evacuate them," Netael says. Oketz Unit dog searching for surivors under the wreckage (Photo: Motti Kimchi) The firefighters instructed the trapped workers to remain as calm as possible and to preserve their strength. The rescuers explained to the Arabic-speaking workers in their language that they were working on getting them out. "They were frightened. We asked them if they knew of other people who might be trapped near them. They said yes. Later we found out the two who were next to them were killed," Netanel says. Home Front Command rescue workers at the scene of the collapse (Photo: Motti Kimchi) The firefighters were able to extract six people during the first critical hour, and their quick work at the site helped the other rescue forces working in the complex scene. "We were all touched by the fact we were able to save lives. We, as firefighters, know how to get to every scene and emotionally disconnect. We come focused on what we have to do and work with hammers, jackhammers and buzzsaws. When we rescued the workers they wanted to shake our hand," Netael says. Rescue worker using a buzzsaw to cut through debris (Photo: IDF Spokesman) Also working on the scene were soldiers from the Home Front Commander's Search and Rescue Unit who just finished a week of training, with one of the scenarios they drilled being extracting people trapped in collapsed buildings. Rescue workers looking for people under the wreckage X Among them were three female soldiersSgt. Keren Tirosh from Rosh HaAyin, Cpl. Keren Riechter from Netanya and Sgt. Irit Muaysiev from Kibbutz Geva. This was their first large-scale event as rescuers. Left to right: Sgt. Irit Muaysiev, Cpl. Keren Riechter and Sgt. Keren Tirosh working at the collapse site (Photo: IDF Spokesman) "This is what you call a 'pancake collapse,' meaning four floors collapsing one on top of the other," explains Riechter. "In this sort of situation, it takes a long time to get to the person trapped. It's hardest on me, mentally, knowing it would take a long time and that there are people down there. It's the most frustrating thing when you're digging and digging and not finding anyonebecause you know there's someone there who is just not where you are." Home Front Command rescue workers at the scene of the collapse (Photo: IDF Spokesman) According to Tirosh, "You have to be prepared for everything. You don't know if you'll find a person still alive, or if the ground is going to collapse again under you." "We were digging with our hands," recounts Muaysiev. The digging is done in teams of ten, with every team covering an area of 1-3 meters. Most of the rescuers are men. Home Front Command rescue workers at the scene of the collapse (Photo: IDF Spokesman) "There are a lot of rescuers on an area that appears small, but each and every one of us is needed," Riechter says. According to Tirosh, who is in command of the team, "Everyone always says 'This won't happen to us,' but now the team is using everything it learned." They're all focused on trying to save people who may still be trapped under the wreckage. "What we want most right now is to get a person out of there." A giant pile of dust stands where just Monday stood a four-story underground parking complex, close to completion, and slated to soon be opened to the public. It appears, though, that this collapse in Tel Aviv could have been prevented. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter In 2012, Africa Israel won the contract from the Tel Aviv Municipality to build the parking garage next to Assuta Hospital. Yet before construction even began in 2014, the CEO of Danya Cebus, the subsidiary company carrying out the construction, Ronen Ginsburg, described in a 2013 interview how the company was chosen to carry out the project. He explained to the Calcalist, Ynet's sister publication. that they chose to use an architect rather than an engineer to save money. IDF Search and Rescue looking for survivors (Photo: Motti Kimchi) "For the project to construct this new public parking structure in Ramat Hahayal in Tel Aviv, which we were chosen to build, we decided that an architect will be the general manager," Ginsburg said. "He understands problems with planning, environment, and others, and is able to solve these problems faster than an engineerwho is basically a construction worker whose only responsibility is to make sure that the building won't collapse." Ginsburg explained that by using an architect instead of an engineer, "we have already reduced the building costs by 2 to 3%. By doing this when constructing apartments, it's also possible to save 2 to 3% on building costs." For the parking garage, this meant that the company was able to save approximately two million shekels. The decision to use an architect as opposed to an engineer is completely legal, and there have been many building projects which saw architects manage construction. The number of construction managers in Israel has exploded, and while many other countries require special training to become a construction manager, anyone with an engineering degree or architecture degree is able to be a construction manager on complex projects. Scene of the collapse (Photo: Motti Kimchi) A veteran engineer said on Monday that the way that the skeleton of parking garages are built is critical, and therefore, the decision not to use an engineer to manage construction was especially problematic. On top of this, there have been many government decisions as of late to further cut down on the number of engineering supervisors due to requests by the Israeli construction worker's union. The Engineer's Association has warned that this may lead to disasters. "We request that engineers supervise any and all engineering project," said Chairman of the Engineer's Association Danny Marian. "These (government) exemptions reduce the ability of companies to deal with projects where there is a high level of danger for the construction workers." IDF Search and Rescue on the site of the building collapse Israel David, Acting Chairman of the Engineer's Association explained, "Half of the work for a parking structure is on the skeleton, which should be managed by an engineer. The second halfthe finishing workshould be handled by an architect. When the project was started, there was a shortage of engineers in the country, and therefore, it was cheaper to use an architect (on the project)." Africa Israel responded by saying, "Ginsburg's attitude highlights the importance the company has in increasing to supervisory procedures, along with the supervising architect who acted as the chief supervisor on the project. The company will do everything in its power to assist the relevant authorities in an investigation. The company expresses its deep sorrow over the tragic deaths, and wishes a speedy recovery to the wounded." Saving a trapped man (: , ) X The parking garage was supposed to hold up to 540 vehiclesand a greater tragedy could have occurred had the structure been open to the public. The Tel Aviv Municipality was to have operated and financed the structure for 20 years. An investigation was already opened on Monday, and investigations into high-ranking officials within the company have already begun. When the prime minister convenes journalists for private talks, which last four hours or more, and intentionally avoids standard interviews to the press, one bottom line emerges: The prime minister of the State of Israel is a haunted person. He is smart, cynical, a virtuoso of words, but hauntedfrom his side-styled fringe to the tip of his little fingernail. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter When the prime minister takes every opportunity to talk about respect more than he talks about security, when the prime minister is offended by everything that is written about him if it is not a compliment and makes sure that everyone knows he has been offended, then the paranoia takes on statistical significance. But when the prime minister convinces himself that his transportation minister organized a putsch against him and thus paralyzes an entire country, then we all have a problem. Netanyahu (R) and Katz at Sunday's cabinet meeting (Photo: AFP) And after all that, the prime minister's attempt to blame the transportation minister for the chaos was unsuccessful. Even those who are not fans of Yisrael Katz gave him the victory points at the end of the latest battle, at least for his restraint. The hysteria conveyed by Benjamin Netanyahu with his repeated putsch announcements made it seem as if he really thinks there is a coup here. All that was missing from the inarticulate interview given by Netanyahu's bureau chief on Saturday evening was a recorded video conversation of the prime minister himself with Channel 2 news anchor Dana Weiss, like the conversation held with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the night of the attempted coup in Turkey. Then we would have all joined the tanks on the streets and gone out to defend democracy against the rebellious minister, who would surely have been personally arrested by the police commissioner of the IDF chief of staff. As we woke up on Sunday morning to an expected transportation chaos and nothing more, the obvious was clear. The tanks remained in their bases, the warplanes were parked safely in the hangars, the police commissioner wiped the coffee off his mustache, and Minister Katz drank his tea silently before leaving for the tense cabinet meeting. To summarize this chapter, some will say that the prime minister was completely overwhelmed by emotions, and some will define his conduct as a disgrace, and both will agree that it was not the desecration of Shabbat which led to the burst of emotions, especially as the ultra-Orthodox Knesset members did their best to escape the crisis imposed on them. Granted, the current incident is an example of a radical situation, and more than it suggests that there is something rotten in the Netanyahu kingdom it points to the man's mental fatigue, as talented as he may be. Therefore, it seems the only way to possibly prevent complete chaos, like we witnessed this week, in the future is to enact the law limiting a prime minister in Israel to just two terms in office. The suggested law, which was initiated by MK Merav Michaeli, leader of the Zionist Union faction, has already been signed by all leaders of the opposition parties, including Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman before he entered the government. Netanyahu himself supported the limitation in the past but opposes the law today, even though it will only be applied from the 22nd Knesset, leaving him with the option of two additional full terms in office. The authority and power tripand this is no surprising discoverymay cause a person to become confused and mistakenly think that he is the state and the state is him. Therefore, it would be good for Israeli democracy to refresh the Prime Minister's Residence on Jerusalem's Balfour Street every few years. Another recent attempt to ascertain the fate of Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad has failed, Western intelligence sources have revealed to Ynet's sister publication Yedioth Ahronoth. Arad went missing almost 30 years ago after ejecting out of his plane over Lebanon. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Over the past year, Israel and Hezbollah held indirect talks mediated by a third-party Western intelligence agency. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was also involved in the negotiations. The talks were part of a mutual effort, with both sides highly motivated to solve two missing cases that have over the years become loaded political issues that also carry weight abroad: The disappearance of four Iranian diplomatsone of them a member of one of the most prominent families in the Tehran regimein Beirut in 1982, and that of the IAF navigator in October of 1986. Ron Arad in a photo taken during his captivity Hezbollah was reportedly optimistic about its chances of finding the remains of the missing navigator, who has long been presumed dead, after having gathered new information in recent months. However, the pro-Iranian Shiite Lebanese organization was unsuccessful in finding Arad's place of burial. "They said the ground in the area where Arad was buried has moved and changed since," a Western intelligence official explained. "They're continuing to try and are confident they'll eventually manage to locate the grave." According to that official, the Iranians were intimately involved in the talks both because it was the IRGC that had Arad from 1988 until his death and because the IRGC is under pressure from the senior clerics of the regime in Tehran to solve the missing persons case of four Iranian diplomats. Iran has accused Israel of the kidnapping, claiming that the four are still alive and being held by the Jewish state. In 2005, the Israeli intelligence community was able to obtain information considered to be "of the highest levels of certainty" that the captured navigator Arad had died in Lebanon, likely from an illness, between 1995 and 1997. The chief IDF rabbi at the time had agreed to declare Arad a "fallen soldier whose place of burial is unknown," but then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon rejected that course of action. Sharon was wary of the Arad family's reaction. The Arads disagreed with that designation and demanded that, until his body was returned to Israel, the navigator be considered alive and MIA. Ron Arad in a photo taken during his captivity Over the past 12 years, several attempts have been made to resolve both of these missing cases, with the two cases being closely intertwined. In 2004, Israelwith the help of German mediationprovided Hezbollah with information it gathered which detailed the way the four Iranian diplomats were kidnapped, tortured and murdered by the Christian Lebanese Phalanges Party. Israel provided Hezbollah with a transcript of a testimony by Robert Hatem, a senior leader in the Phalanges, who told the Mossad how he tortured the diplomats with electric shocks, shot them and then threw their bodies into a pit of lime. Hatem told me the same in 2006. But this information did not satisfy the Hezbollah leadership or the heads of the IRGC, some of whom are still convinced this was merely an Israeli attempt to spread disinformation. During 2005 and early 2006, Hezbollah made several attempts (which appeared genuine to the German mediators) to find Arad's place of burial. The terrorist group worked with representatives of the IRGC and Lebanese intelligence to investigate the case and provide Israel with a report detailing what had befallen Arad during the years devoid of signs of life from him. Hezbollah representatives went to Tehran while Iranian representatives travelled to Lebanon to investigate the matter. Ron Arad in his youth Hezbollah and the IRGC encountered many difficulties in their investigation. Since Arad's presence in Iran was kept secret from all but a handful of people, the report of his death was likely never put into writing, and no tombstone was erected at his grave. Among those who travelled to Lebanon to investigate were some IRGC members who served in Beirut in the 1990s. They came to identify the spot where they could more or less remember having buried Arad. But the passage of time and topographical changes led to them only identify the general area, rather than the exact spot. Following their investigation, Hezbollah conducted digs in different areas of Lebanon, uncovering bones that have been transferred to Israel on several occasions. The Hezbollah representatives specifically stated they did not know whether the bones were indeed Arad's, and that they were sending the bones for Israel to examine them. A sample taken from the bones was compared to Ron Arad's DNA profile, which was created in 1996 at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute by cross-referencing blood samples from Arad's mother Batya and brother Chen. The samples were checked four times over to leave no doubt, and each time were found to not be a match. Ron Arad with his daughter Yuval Over the past year, there have been renewed efforts to resolve both missing cases. An indication of how motivated Iran is to learn the fate of the four missing diplomats is in a tweet by Amir Taheri. Taheri is an Iranian journalist who lives in Europe and is considered to be one of the most prominent historians writing about Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's Islamic Revolution in 1979. He still has close ties to some of the factions in the regime today. On June 10, Taheri wrote that the Iranian Majlis Spokesman was offering Israel a deal: Ron Arad for the four diplomats. Later, the journalist tweeted that a meeting between Israeli defense official and an aide to former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani took place in Cyprus in May. While the investigation has so far borne no fruit, the fact it exists is encouraging, as it indicates all sides are interested in solving the two missing persons cases and believe there's a chance to do so. Solving these two mysteries might even, after so many years, bring peace and perhaps some consolation to the families of the missing navigator and diplomats, and perhaps even bring some hope concerning the future of the ties between these bitter enemies. BANGKOK- A bomb exploded outside a school in southern Thailand on Tuesday, killing three people, including a man and his 4-year-old daughter, whom he was dropping off for kindergarten. The incident was the latest in a series of attacks that coincide with efforts to hold peace talks between Thailand's government and Muslim separatist insurgents who have wreaked havoc across the country's southernmost provinces since 2004, at a cost of more than 6,000 lives. Other recent attacks have included bombings across seven provinces popular with tourists that killed four people, and an explosive detonated on a rail line that derailed a train car and killed a railway worker. VIENTIANE - The Philippines scrambled to defuse a row with the United States on Tuesday. Its new president, Rodrigo Duterte, voiced regret for calling President Barack Obama a "son of a bitch"comments that prompted Washington to call off a bilateral meeting. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The tiff between the two allies overshadowed the opening of a summit of East and Southeast Asian nations in Laos. It also soured Obama's last swing as president through a region he has tried to make a focus of US foreign policy, a strategy widely seen as a response to China's economic and military muscle-flexing. He said in a speech as the summit got under way that his push to make the United States a key player in Asia-Pacific was not some "passing fad". Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte (Photo: AFP) However, diplomats say strains with longtime ally the Philippines could compound Washington's difficulties in forging a united front with Southeast Asian partners on the geostrategic jostle with Beijing over the South China Sea. Duterte has bristled repeatedly at criticism over his "war on drugs", which has killed about 2,400 people since he took office two months ago, and on Monday said it would be "rude" for Obama to raise the question of human rights when they met. Such a conversation, Duterte told reporters, would prompt him to curse at Obama, using a Filipino phrase "putang ina" which can mean "son of a bitch" or "son of a whore". After Washington called off Tuesday's bilateral meeting between Obama and Duterte in response, the Philippines issued two statements expressing regret. "President Duterte explained that the press reports that President Obama would 'lecture' him on extrajudicial killings led to his strong comments, which in turn elicited concern," the Philippines government said in one statement. US President Barak Obama at the ASEAN conference in Laos (Photo: EPA) "He regrets that his remarks to the press have caused much controversy," it added. "He expressed his deep regard and affinity for President Obama and for the enduring partnership between our nations." The White House had earlier said Obama would not pull any punches on his concerns about human rights abuses in the Philippines, its treaty ally, when meeting Duterte. Instead of the Duterte meeting, Obama plans to hold talks with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, said Ned Price, spokesman for the White House National Security Councila meeting where the response to North Korea's latest missile tests is expected to be on the agenda. A Philippines official who declined to be named said there would be no formal meeting rescheduled in Laos but a short 'pull-aside' conversation between the two presidents was still possible. Moves to soothe tensions Obama arrived in the city of Vientiane late on Monday for the first visit by a sitting US president to Laos, where he wants to begin to address the legacy of US bombing during the Vietnam War. He announced on Tuesday that Washington would provide an additional $90 million over the next three years to help Laosheavily bombed during the Vietnam Warclear unexploded ordnance which has killed or wounded more than 20,000 people. However, the unusually open tensions between the United States and the Philippines, its former colony, threaten to overshadow the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Asia Summits in Laos, running from Tuesday to Thursday. The 10-member ASEAN will also meet leaders of other regional powers: China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Russia and the United States. Obama at the ASEAN conference (Photo: Reuters) Duterte won the presidency in May on the promise to suppressing crime and wiping out drugs and drug dealers. About 900 people linked to drugs have been killed in police operations since July 1 and a further 1,500 have been classed as "deaths under investigation", a term human rights activists in the Philippines say is a euphemism for extrajudicial killings. Duterte has repeatedly poured scorn on critics, usually larding it with curses. He lambasted the United Nations after it criticized the surge in killings, and turned down a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the Laos summit. In May, he called Pope Francis a "son of a whore", although he later apologized, and called US Ambassador Philip Goldberg a "gay son of a whore". Duterte met the leaders of Singapore, Japan and Vietnam on Tuesday. Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte at the ASEAN conference in Laos (Photo: Reuters) Manila has been aligned with the United States in its dispute with China over the South China Sea, in which Washington blames Beijing for militarizing a vital global trade route and jeopardizing freedom of movement at sea and in the air. China rejects those accusations and accuses the United States of ratcheting up tensions unnecessarily. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims. An arbitration court in The Hague in July invalidated China's territorial claims after a case was brought by the Philippines, a ruling Beijing refuses to recognize. Duterte said last month he expected all ASEAN members to support the arbitration court's ruling, but that the Philippines would not raise the issue in Laos. Archeologists from the Jerusalem-based Temple Mount Sifting Project unveiled Tuesday a restored floor of painted tiles that experts believe dates to the Herodian era (37 to 4 BCE). Experts believe the floor may have been part of the courtyard of the Second Temple. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "This represents the first time that archeologists have been able to successfully restore an element from the Herodian Second Temple complex," stated Zachi Dvira, co-founder and director of the Temple Mount Sifting Project. Second Temple Mount courtyard floor? (Photo: Temple Mount Sifting Project) Frankie Snyder, a member of the Temple Mount Sifting Project's team of researchers and an expert in the study of ancient Herodian-style flooring, stated that she had used geometric principles and similarities in tile design found at other Herodian sites to identify the ornate tile patterns. "This type of flooring is called 'opus sectile,' Latin for 'cut work.' It was very expensive and was considered more prestigious than mosaic floors," said Snyder. "So far, we have succeeded in restoring seven potential designs of the majestic flooring that decorated the buildings of the Temple Mount, explaining that there was no opus sectile in Israel prior to Herodian rule." Second Temple Mount courtyard floor? (Photo: Temple Mount Sifting Project) "The tile segments were mostly imported from Rome, Asia Minor, Tunisia and Egypt, were created from polished multicolored stones cut in a variety of geometric shapes. A key characteristic of the Herodian tiles is their size, which corresponds to the Roman foot, of approximately 29.6 cm," she explained. The Temple Mount Sifting Project was founded in 2004 by archaeologists Dr. Gabriel Barkay and Zachi Dvira under the auspices of Bar-Ilan University, in response to the illegal removal of tons of antiquities-rich earth from the Temple Mount by the Islamic Waqf in 1999. Since then, volunteer and professional sifters have unearthed thousands of artifacts, including more than 600 colored stone floor tile segments, more than 100 of which have been conclusively dated to the Second Temple period. The project is conducted under the auspices of Bar-Ilan University and The Israel Nature and Parks Protection Authority, (Photo: Temple Mount Sifting Project) "It enables us to get an idea of the Temple's incredible splendor," said Dr. Barkay. Barkly told reporters that the style of the tiles is consistent with similar Herodian discoveries in Masada, Jericho and a variety of locations in Italy. The restored tiles will be presented to the general public on September 8th, at the 17th Annual City of David Archaeological Conference in Jerusalem. Receding waters in the drought-hit Sea of Galilee have uncovered five World War One artillery shells likely dumped by retreating Turkish troops a century ago, Israeli police said on Tuesday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter A swimmer at a resort on the southern edge of the biblical freshwater lake discovered the ordnance, and police demolition experts safely detonated the shells on Monday. Shells found by police in the Sea of Galilee (Photo: Reuters) "It emerged that these were artillery shells from the World War One period which were apparently abandoned by the Turks in an attempt to lightened their load as they fled from the British army," police spokesman Luba Samri said. Turkish forces, which controlled Palestine as part of the Ottoman Empire, were defeated in battles in the Galilee in 1918. After World War One, Britain ruled Palestine under a mandate that expired in 1948, the year Israel declared independence. Israel's Water Authority says there has been a sharp reduction in annual rainfall in the Galilee region over the past two years. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented on statements made by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas claiming that he had agreed to a meeting in Moscow but Netanyahu had asked that it be delayed. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter I am ready to meet with Mahmoud Abbas any time with no preconditions to engage in direct talks, Netanyahu said at a press conference at the Hague with the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. This is something which I have said hundreds of times and I will repeat it again and say here: I am not picky about the placewhether it is here in the Netherland's or in Moscow is no problem. It can absolutely be in Moscow. I said this to President Putin and I also said this to the Russian envoy Bogdanov just yesterday. Anti-Israel protestors demonstrate against Netanyahu in the Netherlands (: ) X The prime minister went on to express doubt about Abbas willingness to meet directly, citing his insistence on preconditions as the main stumbling block to talks. The central question is whether Mahmoud Abbas is ready to meet without preconditions. We hear conflicting versions. Just yesterday Palestinian spokespersons said that they were ready to meet but that they have conditionsthe release of prisonersand they want to know in advance what the results of the talks will be, Netanyahu said. If Mahmoud Abbas wants to meet without preconditions for direct talks I am ready any time. I have been calling on him to do this for seven years already and if he agrees to do so there will be a meeting, he declared. Netanyahu's comments come shortly after Abbas said on Tuesday that a proposed meeting in Moscow would not be held for now. Prime Minister Netanyahu with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (Photo: Amos Ben Gershom/GPO) "President Putin has proposed a meeting on September 9 in Moscow. I agreed to this and I was to go to Moscow directly from here," Abbas told a joint news conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw. "Unfortunately yesterday in Jerusalem President Putin's representative and Prime Minister Netanyahu's representative held a meeting and Prime Minister Netanyahu's representative proposed to postpone the meeting for later, so there will be no meeting (on September 9)," Abbas said. Confusion about whether any such meeting would take place was rife as rumors circulated following a Monday report by the Russian news agency Interfax which suggested that the Palestinian embassy in Moscow had stated that the PA president had indded agreed to meet with the prime minister. Jordanian journalist Mudar Al Momani has been denied an entry visa into Israel for weeks due to "security reasons," despite pressure from the Israeli Embassy and the Government Press Office. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter For years, Al Momani has travelled between Amman and Jerusalem, where he lives part time with his wife. He is regarded by many as a proponent for advancing bilateral relations between the two countries as he organizes diplomatic missions to Israel and tries to demonstrate that it is different to how it is portrayed in Arab media. Al Momani has met with several Israeli government officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and has attended ceremonies at the Israeli embassy in Amman. He usually received a visa each year automatically. However, this past year, Al Momani married an Israeli Arab from Beit Safafa, near Jerusalem, and has since claimed that the process of getting a visa has become extremely complicated. Mudar Al Momani reporting in Israel In the last two months, his efforts at securing a visa have proven to be unsuccessful and have led to a situation in which he is in Jordan, while his wife is in Jerusalem. "I can honestly say that I am one of the people who have worked the hardest to promote peace with Israel," Al Momani told Ynet from Amman. According to him, he has already brought at least ten official delegations from Jordan. "I have met with Netanyahu and Shimon Peres four times and with all the diplomats and ambassadors that have been in Jordan since 2000. They are my friends," he added. Al Momani said that he has been living in West Jerusalem for two years and as such, was very surprised when he learned that he was denied entry into Israel on security grounds. He also said that friends of his in Israel are shocked by the turn of events. "Even my personal belongings are still there," he lamented. Commenting on the matter, the Shin Bet said, "The entrance of Mr. Al Momani was refused temporarily for security reasons. The refusal will be up for consideration by the party who filed the request, the East Jerusalem Bureau of the Ministry of the Interior." Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday that if quiet is maintained on the Gaza border, I will not oppose renewing the practice of issuing permits to workers to enter Israel from the Strip. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Liebermans comments came during a conversation with local council leaders around the Gaza region who support the opening of the Erez Crossing for commerce in order to reduce truck traffic on Route 232 to Kerem Shalom. They also support the issuing of entry permits to workers from Gaza who would be able to assist in industrial areas in their field. Since Hamas rose to power in 2007, all work permits in Israel were immediately cancelled for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Israel is interested in reducing, as much as possible, the humanitarian pressure cooker in the Strip, but not at the price of security risks, Lieberman added. Defense Minister Lieberman visits Gaza region (Photo: Roi Idan) This is not the first time Lieberman has signalled that peaceful conduct would yield positive results. In August, he revealed his carrot and stick plan vis-a-vis the Palestinian population before a group of journalists at the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv in an attempt to quell the wave of terror that had recently plagued Israel. According to his strategy, Palestinian villages which did not produce terrorists would be rewarded in various ways. During Liebermans talks with the council leaders, they raised a series of security-related subjects, among them the advancement of the project for countering terror tunnels into Israel. Shortly after, Liebermans comments on Tuesday, Prime Minister Netanyahu, visiting Holland, spoke about the development in Gaza and said that the Dutch government would help Israel to improve the supply of water and electricity to the residents of Gaza. Netanyahu added that he had decided to improve the supply of energy and water, and to lay a gas pipeline. WASHINGTON -- A US Navy coastal patrol ship changed course after a fast attack craft from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps came within 100 yards of it in the central Gulf on Sunday, two US Defense Department officials told Reuters on Tuesday. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Iranian vessel sailed directly in front of the USS Firebolt, forcing the 174-foot US ship to change course. The interaction was "unsafe and unprofessional due to lack of communications and the close-range harassing maneuvering," one of the officials said, adding that uncovered and manned weapons were seen on the Iranian vessel. The US ship tried to communicate with the Iranian ship by radio three times but received no response. Police made the first arrest Tuesday evening in the case surrounding the collapse of the underground parking lot in Tel Aviv which left 3 dead, dozens injured and five missing. The arrest comes just a day-and-a-half after the collapse as rescue forces continue in their efforts to locate three people that are still missing. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter A gag order has been imposed on the details of the investigation, including the identity of the arrested individual. Fottage of the collapse (: " ") X Another body was pulled from the rubble Tuesday afternoon after rescue teams continued their search throughout the night. However, three people remain trappedtwo residents of Acre and a Palestinian from the Dawabsheh family. IDF Search and Rescue forces at the scene Rescue forces still believe it is possible to reach the trapped people. Lt. Sami Yehezkel, one of the commanders of rescue teams at the scene, said, "We are working with all the forces of the Homefront Command to reach those trapped. We are working at a number of locations we identified at the start through intelligence. This leads us to the most relevant places first." Photo: Olga Gorbetti "We are working with heavy equipment and all the means of the Homefront Command. We have the best methods in the world based on our unfortunately extensive experience in Israel and abroad," he continued. "Until proven otherwise, we are treating all of those trapped as still alive. We are operating at peak energy and professionalism and are ready to work 24/7 to find those still trapped." Photo: Olga Gorbetti Social workers and psychologists gathered Tuesday morning with the relatives of those still trapped to offer support and counseling. Jewish and Palestinian families both sat on benches in waiting rooms anxiously awaiting news on the statuses of their loved ones. Yana Mashalov, the wife of Oleg Mashalov, who is still missing, said "My husband always said it was dangerous there. Two days ago, an elevator fell." CAIRO -- Egypt will host an international conference in March to coordinate humanitarian aid for Yemen, which has been devastated by a civil war, a minister in Yemen's Saudi-backed government said on Tuesday. The United Nations said that at least 10,000 people had been killed in the past 18 months. It said some 14 million of Yemen's 26 million population needed food aid and 7 million were suffering from food insecurity. "We are now preparing for a conference ... to be held here in the city of Sharm al-Sheikh ... We are preparing for this conference fully so we can go to the aid organisations and civil society organisations and many donors," Abdel Raqeeb Fateh, minister of local administration, told a news conference in Cairo. Egypt, which supports the Saudi-backed government, has yet to comment about the conference and its aims. Eleven years ago this month, this hug between rescuer and rescuee went viral. In September 2005, Master Sgt. Mike Maroney, pararescueman, was caught on camera by an Air Force photographer hugging this adorable 3-year-old girl with pigtails just after he rescued her, along with her family, from the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Last year, after a decade, Maroney learned the whereabouts and identity of that little girl whose hug meant so much to him "after those tough times." A high school student helped him launch a campaign to find that little girl using #FindKatrinaGirl on various social media platforms. In February 2015, the Air Force Times reported it and it was picked up by hundreds of news outlets. When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Maroney had just returned from an overseas deployment to Afghanistan and after several months rescuing injured troops from the battlefield, he was back rescuing hurricane victims from the floodwaters, without missing a beat. She was one of those victims who showed her appreciation with a hug that became an iconic image of the rescue efforts from the hurricane-ravaged town. Maroney was part of a massive rescue effort to aid the victims of the Hurricane's aftermath. The hug was just what he needed at the time and the photo brought him a piece of mind. The little girl is now 14-years-old and her name is LeShay Brown. She lives with her family in Waveland, Mississipi. Maroney and LeShay finally reunited in New Orleans last year at this time on a Fox talk show in front of live audience and they were featured on the front page of People magazine. Four Reserve RED HORSE squadrons combined forces at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina this summer to help keep their skills sharp between deployments while building a storage building for the 560th RED HORSE Squadron. Currently, we are working to complete the interior electrical, site electrical and concrete aprons, said Maj. Matthew Gill, 560th RHS director of operations. We will close out the structural components of the building when those jobs are completed. The next phase of the project will include building the driveways and laying sod, which will probably happen after the turn of the fiscal year. Reservists in these RED HORSE units train together to sharpen their skills between mobilizations. They call joint projects like this Troop Training Projects. Participation by all four RED HORSE squadrons within AFRC gives them the hands-on planning, design, and construction experience necessary to refine their skills. It creates a valuable synergy between the squadrons, providing opportunities to share best practices and techniques in construction and project management, said Maj. Horace Jones, 622d Civil Engineer Group deputy commander. The $489,000 project focused on everything from the ground up including: site grading, forms and rebar laying, footing excavation, concrete foundation, steel frame erection, insulated siding and roofing, site and internal electrical, two large retractable doors and gutters. Weve had enormous help from 628th contracting, 628th civil engineering squadron, 315th FM, and all of our AFRC RED HORSE Squadrons All four of the RED HORSE Squadrons from AFRC were all involved in this project, Gill said. RED HORSE Reservists from South Carolina, Florida, Nevada and North Carolina used the opportunity to fulfill their annual tour obligations by participating in a two week rotations over the projects approximate 16-week duration. When tasked, Reservists deploy together, typically as a squadron. The expeditionary squadron is comprised of Reserve and active duty RED HORSE, and individual positions are filled by Airmen from multiple units. The synergy created during TTPs like this one at JB Charleston greatly enhances effectiveness during deployment, Jones added. Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineer (RED HORSE) squadrons are the U.S. Air Force's heavy-construction units. RED HORSE units possess weapons, vehicles/equipment and vehicle maintenance, food service, emergency management, contracting, supply and medical equipment and personnel. EDITOR's NOTE: Master Sgt. Shane Ellis contributed to this story. This has been a long time in the making, but in our continuing pursuit to bring only the best of firearms, 2nd Amendment and defence related news to our readers, we are very excited to announce the next step in our evolution as a company. As of 2020, Minuteman Review is now the proud owner and operator of Your Defence News, a website with a long history of breaking huge news stories and investigative journalism. We hope you are equally as excited as us. This means that now the teams of Minuteman can combine with the firepower of Your Defence News to stay at the absolute forefront for our readers. Keep an eye. Big things are coming soon. We couldn't be more excited. In the meanwhile, here are some of our most popular posts and categories to keep you busy. Happy shootin' my friends! Buying Guides: Firearms Firearm Accessories Ammunition Gun Safes Scopes & Optics Hunting Air Rifles Best AR-15 Best AR 15 Scope Best Hunting Rifle Best Gun Safe Best AK 47 Best AR 10 Best Glock Triggers Best Glock Best Home Defense Shotgun Dobra, k. Szczecina 900 m2 40 miejsc parkingowych Atut: Dodatkowe dochody z paczkomatow InPostu, a juz niedugo i z myjni samoobsugowej. Tradycyjny zakup nieruchomosci, mozliwosc wykupienia uzytkowania wieczystego. Living Section San Luis, Arizona - In observance of Hispanic Heritage Month, the San Luis Library will host a screening of the 2014 biographical film Cesar Chavez, starring Michael Pena and America Ferrera. Tuesday, September 20th @ 5:00 p.m. Cesar Chavez (2014) Chronicling the birth of a modern American movement, Cesar Chavez tells the story of the famed civil rights leader and labor organizer torn between his duties as a husband and father and his commitment to securing a living wage for farm workers. Passionate but soft-spoken, Chavez embraced non-violence as he battled greed and prejudice in his struggle to bring dignity to people. Chavez inspired millions of Americans from all walks of life who never worked on a farm to fight for social justice. His triumphant journey is a remarkable testament to the power of one individual's ability to change the world. (PG-13) After the film, view In His Own Words: The Life and Work of Cesar Chavez, an exhibition produced by Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Featuring 38 photographs paired with excerpts from his dynamic speeches, interviews and authoritative writings, In His Own Words documents the full course of Chavezs remarkable career and examines the life experiences and philosophical influences that drove him to dedicate himself fully to improving the lives of American farm workers. The exhibit will be on display at the San Luis Library through October 18th. The San Luis Library is located at 1075 N 6th Avenue in San Luis, Arizona. For more information, call (928) 627-8344. Our directory features more than 18 million business listings from across the entire US. However, if we're missing your business, add your business by clicking on Add Your Business. The domain yogaposes8.com is for sale. To purchase, call BuyDomains.com at 781-373-6841 or 844-896-7299. Click here for more details. Washington: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Tuesday expressed serious concern about Russia's apparent tampering with the US election, implying that an adversarial foreign power is actively trying to elect her Republican rival Donald Trump. "We are facing a very serious concern. We've never had a foreign adversarial power be already involved in our electoral process with the DNC hacks. We've never had a nominee of one of our major parties urging the Russians to hack more," Clinton told reporters travelling with her on her new campaign plane. When pressed about whether she believed the Russians were actively trying to elect Trump to the Oval Office, Clinton took a long pause before responding. "I think it's quite intriguing that this activity has happened around the time Trump became the nominee," she conceded. "I think it's quite intriguing that this activity has happened around the time [Donald] Trump became the nominee. And look, he very early on allied himself with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's policies," she alleged. Some US media outlets have reported the American intelligence agencies are investigating potential Russian interference in US elections. This was first reported by The Washington Post. She described this as a credible report. The investigation is being coordinated by the US director of national intelligence, the daily said. This shows that the US need to be "on guard to protect our electoral system at all levels and we have to make it clear that we're not gonna let anyone interfere with decisions of the American people," Clinton said. "The fact that our intelligence professionals are now studying this, and taking it seriously raises some grave questions about potential Russian interference with our electoral process," she said. The Hague: The UN human rights chief Monday launched a scathing attack on populist politicians like Donald Trump and Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders, calling for action to halt such "demagogues and political fantasists". Speaking in The Hague, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra`ad Al Hussein said he was a Muslim whose role was "to defend and promote the human rights of each individual, everywhere". "And I am angry, too. Because of Mr Wilder`s lies and half-truths, manipulations and peddling of fear," Zeid told the inauguration of the Hague-based Peace, Justice and Security Foundation. Last month, Wilders` Freedom Party (PVV) launched its campaign platform ahead of March elections vowing to "close mosques, Islamic schools and ban the Koran" if elected. The PVV, which has been leading in opinion polls, also vowed to reverse the "Islamisation" of The Netherlands by closing the borders, shutting asylum seeker centres, banning migrants from Muslim countries and stopping Muslim women from wearing the headscarf. Zeid slammed the PVV`s proposals and said Wilders had much in common with US Republican presidential hopeful Trump, Hungary`s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, France`s leader of the National Front Marine Le Pen, and leading Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage. He also said they had similarities to the ideology espoused by the Islamic State group. "All seek in varying degrees to recover a past, halcyon and so pure in form, where sunlit fields are settled by peoples united by ethnicity or religion," Zeid told prominent members of the justice community here. "A past that most certainly, in reality, did not exist anywhere, ever." Promises to recover such a past were "fiction; its merchants are cheats. Clever cheats," he added, accusing populist leaders of using "half-truths and oversimplification" to feed the fears of "anxious" individuals.It was a simple formula "to make your target audience feel good by offering up what is a fantasy to them, but a horrendous injustice to others." "I do not equate the actions of nationalist demagogues with those of Daesh, which are monstrous and sickening," Zeid said, using another name for IS. But the jihadists` methods of communication were "similar tactics to those of the populists", with both groups benefitting from the other to survive, he added. "We must pull back from this trajectory," Zeid warned, adding that there was a risk "the atmosphere will become thick with hate" which could "descend rapidly into colossal violence." Urging people to speak out and "draw the line", he asked "are we going to continue to stand by and watch this banalisation of bigotry?" Dhaka: The Bangladesh Police on Tuesday cordoned off a multi-storey building at Dhaka's upmarket Gulshan area, after reports that some youths forcibly entered a showroom here. Additional Commissioner Md Shahabuddin Qureshi told reporters here that the police cordoned off the multi-storey building on information that three suspicious persons carrying bags entered the building forcibly, Xinhua news agency reported. "We're not sure yet whether they are thieves or militants," he said. It was not clear from the initial reports whether the young persons had entered the NCC Bank branch or some other business establishment by force. An official told bdnews24.com from the spot that the situation was not yet clear. An employee at mobile phone operator here said the suspects entered the NCC Bank branch by force around 9.00 a.m. Gulshan police station Inspector Salahuddin said the youths entered the LG showroom and not the bank. Hundreds of policemen stood guarding the building from where two bags have been recovered. "Our bomb disposal experts will examine the bags," Salahuddin said, adding that "after which we can analyse the situation". Armoured vehicles and fire service trucks were also rushed to the spot. Security has been tightened in the diplomatic area after militants attacked a Spanish cafe in Dhaka on July 1 that left 22 people, mostly foreigners, dead. Karachi: The police have launched a manhunt for unidentified persons here, who allegedly put up banners outside the Sindh High Court building and Saddar area, proclaiming those who are traitors of Mutthaida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain, deserve to die. Banners were put up outside the high court building which falls in a high security zone, saying, "One who is traitor of the MQM leader deserves death". Hours later, banners proclaiming MQM leader Farooq Sattar and his colleagues as traitors were also shown in the regal chowk area of Saddar. The banners also threatened the party leaders who supported a resolution in the national assembly last week against Altaf Hussain for his anti-Pakistan comments at a hunger strike camp of the MQM outside the Karachi Press Club on August 22nd. "We are investigating the matter and hunting for those who put up these threatening banners," IG Sindh Police, A D Khawaja said while assuring strict action against those spreading ethnic hatred. He said the banners and wall chalkings had the name of an unknown group, "Jansheen Banae MQM" (followers of the MQM founder). The police quickly removed the banners outside the high court building as soon as the news flashed on television channels but later, they were also found in Saddar area and wall chalkings emerged at different places. Mazhar Abbas, a political analyst said, "a power struggle was on in the MQM with its chief, Altaf Hussain not willing to give up power to the leaders who have announced that they are now leading the MQM Pakistan and no orders would be taken from London." Hussain has been self-exiled in London since 1992/93 and has run the party affairs from there with absolute power. But after the hunger strike camp incident, which led to a crackdown on the MQM in Karachi, with the paramilitary rangers and police demolishing dozens of the party sector and unit offices and sealing the headquarters, Dr Farooq Sattar has proclaimed that the MQM will now take all decisions in Pakistan and not from London. The MQM leaders have also criticised the anti-Pakistan speeches by Hussain. "I think Altaf Hussain despite the government declaring him persona non grata still has many followers in the MQM and we could see a bloody struggle for power in Karachi within the party," an MQM elected member said on condition of anonymity. London: United States President Barack Obama has cancelled a meeting with his Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte after the latter appeared to call him a "son of a whore". Duterte also warned Obama to keep off the subject of extra-judicial killings in his country`s brutal drug war, when they were due to meet on Tuesday at a regional summit in Laos, reports the Guardian. Responding to question about how he intended to explain the extra-judicial killings to the US President, before boarding a plane to Laos for the Association of South-east Asian Nations summit (ASEAN), he said, "You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum." "We will be wallowing in the mud like pigs if you do that to me," he added. Reports suggest that when the comments reached the Obama camp, he initially asked his staff to find out whether holding the meeting as scheduled would be useful. "What I`ve instructed my team to do is to talk to their Philippine counterparts to find out, is if this in fact a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations," Obama said at the end of a G20 Summit in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou. Asserting that Filipino people are some of our closest friends and allies and the Philippines is a treaty ally of ours, he said, "I always want to make sure that if I`m having a meeting that it`s actually productive and we`re getting something done." However, hours later a White House spokesman said that a decision has been made to cancel the meeting. Obama will instead meet South Korean President Park Geun-hye. The Philippine President has faced condemnation from human rights campaigners, diplomats and the UN for inciting a war on drugs. According to official figures released on Sunday, at least 2,400 deaths have taken place in just two months. Duterte in the past had has responded to critics with a string of outbursts. He labelled the US ambassador to Manila a "gay son of a whore", telling the Catholic church "don`t fuck with me", and has accused the UN of issuing "shitting" statements about his anti-drugs policies. ANI New Delhi: The Indian government on Tuesday clarified that no decision has so far been taken on Narendra Modi's visit to Pakistan this November to attend the SAARC Summit. "Decisions of such nature not made so far in advance," said Minister of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted today. .@AnirbanDHdel: As I stated in my weekly briefing, decisions and announcements of such nature are not made so far in advance Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) September 6, 2016 On Monday, at an event in Karachi, India's High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale was quoted as saying that the PM Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the SAARC Summit in November while adding that India and Pakistan must certainly discuss the entire range of issues. "I can't say about the future but as of today Prime Minister Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the SAARC Summit in November," The Dawn quoted Bambawale as saying at an interactive session of the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations. Bambawale was speaking at an event in Karachi when he said that both the neighbouring countries must keep their focus on economy which according to him is a low hanging fruit. Bambawale's statement came at a point when speculations are being made that PM Modi might skip the SAARC Summit in view of the rising tensions between India and Pakistan. Bambawale had also told an event in Karachi on Monday that while India and Pakistan must certainly discuss the entire range of issues, they must keep their focus on economy which he described as a low-hanging fruit. He also stated said that it was Indias desire to see a Pakistan which was moderate, prosperous and stable and at peace with itself, its neighbours as well as the rest of the world. Vientiane: US President Barack Obama warned North Korea's government today that provocative weapons tests would deepen the country's isolation. "Today I'll be meeting with (South Korean) President Park (Geun-hye) to reaffirm our unbreakable alliance and to insist that the international community remains united so that North Korea understands its provocations will only continue to deepen its isolation," Obama said at a regional leaders' summit in Laos. North Korea yesterday test-fired three ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan, a new show of force as Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other world leaders met at the G20 summit in China. North Korea has conducted a series of missile tests this year in defiance of UN sanctions imposed after its fourth nuclear test in January. The UN Security Council was due to meet on Tuesday to discuss the latest missile test, which attracted condemnation from Japan and the United States. Obama and Park were due to meet on Tuesday afternoon in the Lao capital of Vientiane on the sidelines of a gathering of regional leaders hosted by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Kabul: A massive, third explosion was heard in the Kabul city late Monday night, hours after back-to-back explosions left at least 30 persons dead and over 90 wounded. Security sources said the blast was caused by a vehicle packed with explosives that was detonated in the city's Shahr-e-Naw area, Khaama Press reported. Three attackers were killed. No group has admitted to carrying out the attack, BBC reported. The Ministry of Interior said early Tuesday that the target of Monday night's bombing in Kabul city appears to have been a charity by the name of CARE (Pamlarana), Tolo news reported. Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said at least one civilian was killed and one other wounded. He said the organisation was targeted in a bombing and attackers then entered the building in Shar-e-Naw. A government spokesman told the BBC that six other civilians were injured in the attack. At least 42 persons were rescued during the operation, including 10 foreigners, he added. Sporadic gun firing and explosions were also heard early Tuesday as security forces exchanged fire with gunmen who seized a building in central Kabul, a security source said. "One terrorist detonated a car bomb at a building in Shar-e-Naw locality late Monday night. Several gunmen took position inside the stricken building... Afghan Special Operation Forces were clearing the area," the source told Xinhua news agency. Traffic was blocked in several parts of the city and schools were closed. Earlier on Monday, twin explosions rocked the city close to the Ministry of Defence compound, leaving at least 30 people dead, with the majority of the victims said to be security personnel. Kabul: A third massive explosion shook central Kabul late Monday, hours after a Taliban double bombing killed at least 24 people and left 91 others wounded, in another day of carnage in the Afghan capital. Authorities said they were trying to pin down the location of the third blast and there was no immediate claim of responsibility from any militant group. It jolted the capital just hours after high-level officials, including an army general, were killed in the twin blasts near the defence ministry, as the Taliban ramp up their nationwide offensive against the US-backed government. A suicide bomber struck the area just minutes after the first explosion, in an assault apparently aimed at inflicting mass casualties as officials left the ministry after work. "The first explosion occurred on a bridge near the defence ministry. The second struck just as soldiers, policemen and civilians hurried to help the victims," defence ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish told AFP. Ambulances rushed to the scene, littered with disfigured bodies and charred debris. But there were so many bodies that some had to be taken to hospitals in car boots and the back of police pickup trucks. Firemen, meanwhile, raced to retrieve some bodies thrown into the Kabul River by the intensity of the first blast on the bridge. Health ministry spokesman Waheed Majroh said the attack left 24 people dead and 91 others wounded, some of them seriously, adding the casualties could rise still further. The Italian-run Emergency Hospital in Kabul, which was overwhelmed with wounded patients, tweeted that four people died on arrival. The interior ministry initially said the attack was carried out by two suicide bombers on foot. But officials later said the first bomb was detonated remotely while the second was triggered by a suicide bomber.Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter that the defence ministry was the object of the first attack, while police were targeted in the second. Guwahati: In another blow to the anti-talk faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, Assam Police said a senior cadre of the outfit was a gunned down early on Tuesday after a gunfight in the state's Kokrajhar district. Additional Director General of Police L.R. Bishnoi also said police have also recovered an AK 81 rifle, two grenades, a magazine, several round of live ammunition from the slain militant, identified as Agun Basumatary, a close associate of wanted NDFB faction leader B. Biday. "Based on specific information, three police teams laid three ambushes in and around Mainaopur area under Kochugaon police station in the district since Monday night. The team led by me came face to face with two militants around 4.20 a.m. "When we challenged them, they started firing at us forcing us to retaliate. Later, we could find one injured militant while the other one managed to escape," Bishnoi said adding that although he was taken to the hospital immediately, doctors there declared him brought dead. Tezpur: Army Chief, Gen Dalbir Singh visited the Gajraj (4) Corps headquarters here on Tuesday and reviewed the operational readiness of the forces as well as the internal security situation in Assam, an army spokesman said. The army chief, who was accompanied by Eastern Army Command chief, Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi expressed his satisfaction on the army's efforts in bringing the insurgency situation under control, the spokesman said. "Lt Gen D Anbu, GOC of the Gajraj Corps, updated General Suhag on the security situation in Assam. The Chief of the Army Staff expressed his satisfaction on the conduct of operations by the army in bringing the insurgency situation under control," said the spokesman while adding that he also reviewed the preparedness of Gajraj Corps, which is deployed on the Line of Actual Control. The army chief's visit assumes significance as the Indian Air Force (IAF) has recently landed its combat aircraft Sukhoi 30 MKI at the advanced landing ground (ALG) at Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh bordering China, while the army had also upgraded ALGs at Ziro, Along, Mechuka and at Walong. Darbhanga: A property dealer was shot dead by two bike-borne assailants near a petrol pump under Bahadurpur police station area in this district today. The assailants had asked the victim, Shankar Mandal, to meet them at Saidnagar petrol pump. As soon as Mandal reached there, the duo fired at him from close range killing him on the spot, Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Dilnawaz Ahmed said. One of the attackers was arrested, he added. New Delhi: Former Supreme Court judge on Tuesday took a dig at Aam Aadmi Party leader Ashutosh, who is facing flak for dragging Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and other legendary politicians into the controversy relating to a sex CD of former Delhi minister Sandeep Kumar. Katju, known for speaking his mind today opined, Asutosh be made a Minister of Private and Consensual Sex in the Delhi government. Since a Ministerial post in the Delhi Govt. has fallen vacant, I suggest Ashutosh should be made Minister of Private and Consensual Sex, he tweeted. Since a Ministerial post in the Delhi Govt. has fallen vacant, I suggest Ashutosh should be made Minister of Private and Consensual Sex Markandey Katju (@mkatju) September 5, 2016 Ashutosh last week created a furore by writing a blog in defence of former social welfare and women and child development minister and party colleague Sandeep Kumar, who was sacked after a sex tape involving the AAP leader emerged. While giving his justification, the AAP leader wrote in his blog: "Indian history is full of examples of our leaders and heroes who had lived with their desires beyond social boundaries. Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru's reported affairs with many female colleagues were juicy gossip but it didn't spoil his political career. His relationship with Edwina Mountbatten is widely discussed. The entire world knew about it. Their affections continued till Pt. Nehru's last breath. Was it a sin? History is also witness to the fact that top leaders of the Congress in 1910s were worried about Gandhiji's relationship with Sarla Chaudhary, who was distantly related to Rabindra Nath Tagore. Gandhi Ji had confessed that Sarla was his spiritual wife. Kasturba Gandhi was very disturbed. C Rajagopalchari and other senior leaders of the party had to intervene. They persuaded, pressured, cajoled Gandhi-ji to leave Sarla. Gandhiji in his later days slept naked with his two nieces to experiment with celibacy. Pandit Nehru had told him not to do so as the country would rise against him but Gandhi-ji did not budge." Kumar, arrested on rape charges on the complaint of a woman, was on Monday remanded to three-day police custody by a Delhi court. He has been booked under section 376 (rape), 328 (causing hurt by means of poison with intent to commit an offence) of IPC, under section 67A of IT Act (punishment for publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act) and Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act (public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration for an official act). In her complaint, the woman alleged that around 11 months ago she was raped by Kumar when she had gone to his office in Outer Delhi's Sultanpuri seeking help to obtain a ration card. She has alleged that Kumar had offered her a spiked drink and when she fell unconscious, she was taken to his house adjacent to the office and raped. New Delhi: The BJP on Tuesday urged social activist Anna Hazare to once again "rise" for the nation and speak to the people from the Jantar Mantar here on the "mess" created by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the political arena. "I request you to please rise for the nation, come to Delhi and speak clearly to people from the Jantar Mantar on what you feel about the unhealthy politics of AAP and guide the nation like you did to fight corruption under the past regimes," Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Delhi unit President Satish Upadhyay said in his letter to Hazare. He said the people of Delhi expected purity in governance from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal "as promised during your Jan Andolan days but today Delhi feels ashamed". "Unfortunately, he has worsened the political atmosphere," the BJP leader added. Upadhyay said lakhs of people in Delhi saw the AAP convenor as a product of Hazare's Jan Andolan and hoped he will work for a better India. "People thought of Kejriwal as someone who harboured high ideals and bring the much needeed change in the political atmosphere in the country," the BJP leader said. "But unfortunately, the people of Delhi stand dejected with the Kejriwal government and his party," Upadhaya said, referring to three AAP ministers who were removed or forced out of the government due to various allegations against them. Sandeep Kumar was removed as the Social Welfare Minister of Delhi over a sex CD last week, while Jitendra Tomar was asked to resign as Law Minister in June 2015 after he was accused of forging his college degree. Even Asim Ahmed Khan was removed as Minister for Food and Environment in the wake of a bribery charge in October last year. Upadhyay wrote the letter after Hazare on Tuesday said that his dream about his one-time protege and Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal bringing about a positive change in the political system lies "shattered". New Delhi: Reacting to National Commission for Women's notice over his blog defending rape accused Sandeep Kumar, Aam Aadmi Party leader Ashutosh said, should I be hanged for writing a column? Undeterred by the NCW notice, Ashutosh, was on Monday locked in a bitter war of words with NCW chief Lalitha Kumaramangalam after he was summoned by the women's body for defending sacked Delhi minister Sandeep Kumar, who is embroiled in a 'sex tape' scandal. Taking suo motu cognisance, the commission has asked journalist-turned-politician Ashutosh to appear before it on September 8. The NCW letter to Ashutosh, signed by Kumaramangalam, read: "The National Commission for Women is deeply disturbed...you have written a very objectionable and obnoxious article. In the matter of AAP Minister Sandeep Kumar allegedly caught on sex tape, the victim has filed a rape case against him." Meanwhile, Ashutosh accused Kumaramangalam of lying that she is not a Bharatiya Janata Party member. Ms Mangalam as a chairperson of NCW, you should not lie on a national TV that u r not BJP member.Wikipedia writes You are still a member. ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) September 5, 2016 "Lalitha Kumar Manglam Is member of BJP national executive/was national secretary of BJP. If I get notice from NCW, I will react," his another tweet read. Reacting to it, Kumaramangalam said, "What kind of a journalist are you? You are two years behind time. I am not a member of BJP national executive. I was before. I am not even a spokesperson for the party. I was, before NCW. BJP has a strict rule of one person one post." Madrid: Some 1,400 people were evacuated after a wildfire fuelled by intense heat roared through brush surrounding a popular tourist resort on Spain`s Costa Blanca, officials said Monday. The blaze which broke out on Sunday near the Mediterranean resort of Javea, up the coast from the popular holiday spot of Benidorm, destroyed 320 hectares (790 acres) of land and several buildings, local emergency services said. Authorities said they believe the fire was started deliberately since it appeared to have broken out in several places at once. "This is environmental terrorism, it goes beyond putting at risk our natural heritage, it directly attacks people," the head of the regional government of Valencia, Ximo Puig, told reporters. "1,400 evacuated," tweeted Juan Carlos Moragues, who represents the Spanish government in the eastern region of Valencia. While many of the evacuees were put up in schools, residents of Javea also offered to put them up for the night and gave them food and water, city councillor Maria del Pilar Zamora told private television channel Antena 3. Photos and videos posted on social media showed flames raging earlier near built up areas. Several homes were completely destroyed by the fire, Antena 3 reported. By Monday night, the fire had stopped spreading, an emergency services spokeswoman told AFP. "The situation is no longer deteriorating; they have stopped the fire," she said, adding that firefighters would continue working through the night. Among those who posted photos of the blaze was BBC host Chris Stark who was on vacation in the area. "We are safe. Thanks for everyone with kind offers of places to stay. Really hope everyone else in Javea is ok. The fires were scary," he tweeted on Monday. Firefighters said the blaze had been fuelled by scorching temperatures and low humidity levels.Most of Spain faced an "extreme risk" of wildfires on Monday due to the heat, with temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in some parts. The interior ministry warned the scorching temperatures would continue at least until Wednesday, and urged people not to throw cigarette stubs and glass bottles to the ground in scrubland. "Negligence caused the majority of forest fires," it said in a statement. Spain routinely suffers wildfires during the hot summer months but there have been fewer large blazes in 2016 than in recent years. Wildfires destroyed 39,700 hectares of land between January and August, according to the agriculture ministry. The average for the period since 2006 has been 78,743 hectares. Brussels: A Moroccan man arrested in Brussels in July is being held in Austria, suspected of having links to the jihadist cell responsible for the Paris attacks last November, a spokesman for the Belgian federal prosecutor told AFP on Monday. The suspect, Abid Tabaouni, was detained under a European arrest warrant from Austria after he had fled from Salzburg and was handed back to Austrian authorities last month. The Belgian prosecutor`s spokesman Thierry Werts, said that the handover was done quickly as "we confirmed that he did not have any ties to our country nor it appears to any of our cases." The Salzburg prosecutor`s spokesman Robert Holzleitner also confirmed to AFP that Tabaouni has been held in Austria since August 25 and is suspected of belonging to a terrorist organisation. Tabaouni is believed to have ties to the two alleged members of the Islamic State (IS) group, Algerian Adel Haddadi and Pakistani Mohamad Usman, who were arrested in Austria last December and handed over to French authorities in July as part of the investigation into the Paris attacks. Investigators believe Haddadi and Usman, who face terror charges in France, travelled to the Greek island of Leros on October 3 on the same boat full of refugees as two men who took part in the November 13 attacks in France that left 130 people dead. But Haddadi and Usman were detained by Greek authorities for 25 days because they had fake Syrian passports. Once released, they followed the main migrant trail and made it to Salzburg in western Austria at the end of November -- after the Paris attacks. Austrian police then arrested the two in December at a migrant centre a few hours after French authorities informed them the men could be in the country. After his arrest, Haddadi told investigators that he had wanted to go to France to "carry out a mission," according to a statement seen by AFP. London: Poland`s foreign minister on Monday called on Britain to protect Poles living in the UK, during an urgent visit to London following a spate of attacks against migrants. Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski flew to London along with Home Affairs Minister Mariusz Blaszczak after two Poles were attacked over the weekend, an incident which followed the murder of a fellow Pole in August. Speaking after a joint meeting with British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson and Interior Minister Amber Rudd, Waszczykowski said such attacks were a recent phenomena. "We reminded the representatives of the UK government that Polish migrants integrated very well with British society... they deserve respect," he told journalists at the Polish embassy. "Over decades the big Polish community in the UK has not suffered any problems, but after the referendum campaign some incidents started to happen," Waszczykowski added. The June 23 vote for Britain to leave the European Union saw a spike in the number of attacks against foreigners. The National Police Chiefs` Council said more than than 3,000 incidents were reported to police in England, Wales and Northern Ireland between June 16 and 30 -- an increase of 42 percent from the same period last year. Waszczykowski said immigration had been used as a "weapon" in the campaign against EU membership, calling on British authorities to safeguard the rights of Polish migrants. "They are paying taxes, they deserve to be protected," he said. Poland is the most common foreign country of birth for people living in Britain, according to figures released last month by the Office for National Statistics. An estimated 831,000 Polish-born people lived in Britain in 2015 -- a more than 13-fold increase on the 69,000 residents in 2004, when Poland joined the EU and its nationals gained the right to live and work in Britain. The Polish embassy said it intervened in 15 serious hate crime incidents in recent weeks, including an arson attack on a Polish family`s home and physical assault. During the bilateral meeting, the Polish delegation suggested increasing contact with Poland`s police force and introducing educational programmes about integrating migrants in the UK.The ministers` visit to London came a day after two Poles were attacked outside a pub in Harlow, northeast of London, at around 3:30 am (0230 GMT) on Sunday. The assault followed the killing of factory worker Arek Jozwik in the same town on August 27. Speaking alongside Waszczykowski on Monday, Poland`s home affairs minister said the government wanted to make sure there was an effective investigation into the killing. "I expressed my surprise that the six youngsters that had been arrested in connection with the incident have been released," said Blaszczak, referring to the meeting with the British ministers. The six teenagers arrested on suspicion of being involved in the murder have been released on bail. Police are investigating whether the murder was a hate crime and have said the motive is still not clear. New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday filed a chargesheet against Life Insurance Corporation agent Anand Chauhan in the disproportionate assets case registered against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. The chargesheet was filed in the court of Special Judge Vinod Kumar, who fixed September 7 for consideration of the matter. The ED told the court that further investigation regarding the role of Virbhadra Singh and his wife is continuing and it may file a supplementary chargesheet later in the case. Chauhan is accused of laundering the alleged disproportionate assets acquired by Virbhadra Singh as Union Steel Minister. Chauhan is accused of investing Virbhadra Singh`s "tainted" money of Rs 5.14 crore in LIC policies purchased in Virbhadra`s name and those of his family members, including wife Pratibha Singh, the ED said in its chargesheet. The ED arrested Chauhan on July 8 from Chandigarh under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). His was the first arrest made by the ED in the money laundering case against the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is also probing the case. The CBI reportedly found that Virbhadra Singh had accumulated assets worth Rs 6.03 crore in his name and in the name of his family members, which were disproportionate to his known sources of income, during his tenure as the Union Steel Minister from 2009 to 2011. Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that India-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was a key partner for India's Act East Policy, which was vital for the economic development of our Northeastern region. He also said that India's strategic partnership with ASEAN was important for safeguarding and promoting security interests and countering traditional and non-traditional security challenges in the region. Following is the PM Modi's post on Facebook: I will visit Vientiane, Lao PDR on 7-8 September 2016 to attend the 14th ASEAN-India Summit and the 11th East Asia Summit. This is the third time I am attending these summits. ASEAN is a key partner for our Act East Policy, which is vital for the economic development of our Northeastern region. Our strategic partnership with ASEAN is also important for safeguarding and promoting our security interests and countering traditional and non-traditional security challenges in the region. East Asia Summit is the premier forum for discussions on the challenges and opportunities before the Asia Pacific region. Our ties with the countries of South East Asia are truly historic. Our engagement and approach can be best encapsulated in just one word - connectivity. We wish to enhance our physical and digital connectivity; to see greater people to people links; to strengthen our institutional linkages; and, to leverage the modern interconnected world for the mutual benefit of all our people. During the visit, I will also have the opportunity to interact with the leaders of participating countries to discuss bilateral issues of mutual concern. The India-Asean summit will be attended by the leaders of 10 southeast Asian nations - Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand. The East Asia summit will be attended by the leaders of the 10 Asean nations and those of India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the US and Russia. Close ties with ASEAN is key to our Act East Policy. We seek more economic & people-to-people ties with ASEAN for benefit of our citizens. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 6, 2016 Delhi: Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee has the most number of official schemes and institutions named after a leader while they are alive. As per a report in The Times of India, the two-term former PM has left behind even Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira and Rajiv Gandhi, who were made such dedications mostly posthumously. Nonetheless, the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty remains ahead of all other Indian leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi when taken into account the number of schemes and institutions named after a leader regardless of being alive or dead. After Narendra Modi government assumed power in 2014, dozens of development and welfare schemes have been named after Vajpayee. The PM Pension Yojna is now Atal Pension Yojna, which is a flagship scheme of NDA. The government launched Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) as a replacement for Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) last year. Vajpayee was given Bharat Ratna last year and the BJP-led NDA government has recognised his birthday, December 25, as 'Good Governance Day'. BJP government states too have schemes named after the former the PM. Rajiv Gandhi Sewa Kendras has been renamed as Atal Sewa and Suvidha Kendras by the Rajasthan government and as many as 9,000 Gram Panchayat Kendras have been named after Vajpayee, as per the Daily. Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance and Policy Analysis has been established by the Madhya Pradesh. New Delhi: Following his statement calling on Islamabad to focus on their own problems and asserting that Kashmir is an integral part of India, the Karachi Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday cancelled the Indian High Commission to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale's event at the last minute. Bambawale was to address business community at Karachi today. Earlier today, in his keynote address at the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations, Bambawale responded to a question about the Kashmir unrest and said that both India and Pakistan have issues which need to be resolved. On the discussions between the two countries, Bambawale said that despite high tensions, there had been contacts at the operational level, adding that the Indian government had been saying, "Let's work together to get to the bottom of terrorism which was a headache not only for Pakistan but for India and the world." Bambawale also stated that it was India's desire to see a Pakistan which was moderate, prosperous and stable, and at peace with itself, its neighbours and the rest of the world. New Delhi: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the visit of an all-party team to Jammu and Kashmir and the situation in the Kashmir Valley. "Briefed the Prime Minister on All Party Delegation's visit to J&K and also apprised him (about) the situation in the state," Rajnath Singh tweeted later. Rajnath Singh, who led the all-party delegation, on Monday hit out at Kashmiri separatist leaders who refused to talk to some MPs from the team, saying their conduct defied the spirit of "Kashmiriyat". The all-party delegation visited the state nearly two months after a bloody unrest erupted in the aftermath of the July 8 killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. At least 75 persons have been killed and over 12,000 injured in the weeks of the turmoil, the deadliest Kashmir has seen in six years. Srinagar: A day after an all-party delegation led by Rajnath Singh returned to the national capital from Srinagar with no breakthrough, the Home Minister will brief PM Modi about the visit at 11 am on Tuesday. The all-party delegation met with limited success in Kashmir in their bid to end turbulence after the separatists refused to meet the MPs. Unhappy at the stubborn refusal of Hurriyat leaders to meet some MPs who had literally knocked at their doors in Srinagar, Rajnath Singh said that their conduct was against democracy, humanity or even 'Kashmiriyat' (Kashmiri ethos). The Home Minister disagreed with the view that the mission was a failure and said the delegation had "very good interactions" with individuals and groups. Before winding up the Kashmir leg of the visit, Singh sent out a clear message to separatists, asserting that the state will "always" remain an integral part of India. "There should be no doubt that Jammu and Kashmir was, is and will always be integral part of India," he said at a press conference in Srinagar. "As far as talks are concerned, our doors are open to everyone who wants peace and normalcy. Not only doors, even our ventillators are open for talks," Singh said. He said he was aware that Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had written letters to separatist leaders inviting them for talks with the delegation. "I want to clarify that some members of the delegation had gone to meet Hurriyat leaders yesterday. Neither had we said 'yes' nor 'no' (to their meetings). Whatever happened you know about it. I do not wish to go into the details. "But whatever information those friends gave us upon their return, it can be said it was not 'Kashmiriyat'. It cannot be called as Insaniyat (humanity). When someone goes for talks and they reject it, it is not 'jamhooriyat' (democracy) as well," he said. With PTI inputs New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party MP Subramanian Swamy has targeted Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti saying, the PDP chief is like a tail of a dog, which cant be straightened. While giving an interview to a news channel, Swamy made the controversial remarks. He said: "There should be President's rule in her place ...she is like tail of a dog, which can't be straightened." Coming down hard at Mufti, the fireband BJP leader alleged that the PDP supremo has old links with terrorists and BJP aligned with her party believing that she would change. Swamy's comments come at a time when the Centre and PDP-BJP coalition government in J&K are trying t hard to bring normalcy in Kashmir. The Valley has been witnessing unending violence ever since Hizbul Mujahidden terrorist Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter on July 08. The failure of the all-party delegation headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh in cutting any ice with the separatists who are spearheading the nearly two-month long protest shutdown, has come as a big setback to peace efforts in Kashmir. The authorities imposed curfew-like restrictions in the old city areas of Srinagar and some other parts of the Kashmir Valley on Tuesday as the toll in ongoing unrest rose to 75, officials said. New Delhi: America's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has apprised India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) that Pakistan is supplying nuclear material to North Korea. According to reports, Pakistan has been sending nuclear materials to North Korea through sea route. Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) supplied Monel and Enconel (nuclear substances) to Pyongyang in clear violation of United Nations sanctions. Notably, Islamabad was supplied such materials by Chinese company named Beijing Suntech Technology Company Limited. The supplies of the Chinese company to Pakistan were being diverted to North Korea by the Pakistani authorities through cargo ship, it claimed. Despite being involved in illegal sale of nuclear substances, Pakistan is urging the international community to accept its membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), according to highly placed US sources who are involved with the tracking of nuclear commerce. In another alarming revelation, informed sources claimed that Pakistan has been giving North Korea equipment which has a direct bearing on producing nuclear weapons. Sources said the Beijing Suntech Technology Company Limited manufactures Vacuum Induction Melting (VIM) furnaces which find application in refining hard metals such as uranium and plutonium, which are used in making nuclear warhead cores. Pakistan is known to have procured these items from China and has passed them along to North Korea. Deoria: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday began a 2,500-km 'Kisan Yatra', accusing the Narendra Modi government of ignoring the plight of farmers. Addressing a huge gathering at Rudrapur in Deoria district, Gandhi said Modi was ready to waive off loans of rich corporates but wasn't willing to do that in the case of farmers. "Modiji is writing off loans of rich corporates. He should do the same for farmers in Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere in the country," he said. "We have embarked on this Yatra to know the problems of the farmers and to help Modiji understand the situation too." Gandhi, whose Yatra will take him to 39 districts spread over 55 of the 80 Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, declared that he and his party would always stand by the distressed farmers. Addressing a rally at Banwari Tola in Siswa Mahant village, he said: "We will not allow an inch of their land to be taken forcibly for developmental or any other purposes. "Your fight is mine," he told the gathering. He also accused Modi of stopping all welfare programmes started by the earlier Congress-led UPA government. Gandhi suggested that the government could help the farmers in three ways. One, by writing off loans taken by them. Second, by slashing electricity bills to half and third by increasing the minimum support price (MSP) for their crops. "In the UPA government, we waived off farmers' loans worth Rs 70,000 crore. We also kept revising MSP, which this government is not doing," the Congress leader said. Gandhi demanded to know why there was a huge gap between the market price of pulses and the price at which farmers sell them. "Farmers sell pulses at Rs 40 per kilogram but its market price is around Rs 200. I ask Modiji, why is there such a huge difference? "Where is the difference money going? It is being pocketed by middlemen." He added: "Kisano ka dukh hamara dukh hai (We can feel farmers' pain as our own)." Gandhi rued that a region once considered a sugar bowl was lying in a state of neglect with most sugar mills shut down. He blamed both the state and central governments for the crisis. "Now most mills have shut down. Who is responsible for this? The state and central governments." Earlier, Gandhi offered prayers at a Shiva temple - Baba Dugdheshwarnath - and then started his Yatra in a specially designed bus. Dressed in a white starched kurta and a blue jeans, Gandhi had tea at a Dalit's home on way to Kushinagar, 15 km from Deoria city. He munched corn at a roadside halt. Reminding farmers of MNREGA, which the Congress government initiated, Gandhi alleged that Modi had scrapped the scheme. During Gandhi's month-long Yatra, he will be holding rallies and 'khat chaupals' to interact with farmers. The first such event went awry on Tuesday when soon after the event ended with Gandhi speech, farmers jostled to grab some 2,000 string cots which were bought by the Congress. The Congress leader was greeted by huge crowds as he reached Deoria. Crowds showered rose petals on the vehicles accompanying Gandhi, who waved at the people lining the streets. He will spend the night at the Gorakhpur circuit house. Uttar Pradesh will see assembly elections early next year. New Delhi: Bollywood veteran Anupam Kher is known for raising issues of Kashmiri pandits. He was also in the news when controversy over anti-national event at JNU broke out. Now, Anupam Kher has shared his experience of his meeting with a Kashmir Muslim man at a hotel in Maharashtra's Pune. According to Anupam Kher, the Muslim man who works in a hotel in Pune said, "Work is more important than Azadi." Anupam shared this experience with the picture of Muslim man; his name is Saddam. "Saddam is a youth from Kashmir. Is happy working in a hotel in Pune. His words,"Work is more important than Azadi. (sic)" Delhi: Centre may curtail facilities like foreign trips, security and medical treatment, among other things, for separatists in Kashmir, as per a media reports. Reports quoted Union Home Ministry sources as saying that government may harden its stance against militants and is planning to deal firmly with those who are fomenting trouble. 900 policemen are said to have been deployed in the security of the separatists. Moreover, they also get funds in the form of pension, travel allowance and so on and the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir governments jointly bear the expenditure. The central government is also likely to order 'scrutinising' bank accounts of such leaders and expedite completion of pending investigations in cases against them. "Steps may be taken to scale down their foreign visits and facilities like medical treatment as well," sources said, as per IANS. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is said to have given his nod to the proposal to act tough with the separatist leaders. Sources, however, said the government may take a final call on initiating tough stance against separatists only after the meeting of the all-party delegation likely to be held here on Wednesday to discuss their findings during the two-day visit. Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday briefed PM Modi on the situation in Kashmir after returning from his two-day visit to J&K. The all-party delegation had reached J&K on Sunday, nearly two months after a bloody unrest erupted in the aftermath of the July 8 killing of Hizbul Mujahideen 'commander' Burhan Wani. The HM, in an hour-long meeting, apprised PM Modi about the ground situation of the state assessed by the all-party delegation which visited Srinagar and Jammu on September 4 and 5. "Briefed the Prime Minister on all-party delegation's visit to J&K and also apprised him of the situation in the state," Singh said in a tweet after the meeting at the Prime Minster's residence. Briefed the Prime Minister on All Party Delegation's visit to J&K and also apprised him of the situation in the state. Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) September 6, 2016 While the PM returned to the capital last night after his visit to Vietnam and China, the HM too had come back from Jammu and Kashmir last evening. Sources said the members of the all-party delegation are likely to meet here tomorrow to discuss their findings during their visit and chalk out future plans for Jammu and Kashmir, as per PTI. The all-party delegation seeking to end the turbulence in Kashmir concluded its visit yesterday with no breakthrough. Unhappy at the stubborn refusal of Hurriyat leaders to meet some MPs who had literally knocked at their doors in Srinagar, the HM had said that their conduct was against "democracy, humanity or even 'kashmiriyat' (Kashmiri ethos)". At hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's residence, the gate was not even opened for the MPs while people shouted slogans outside. We all want the situation to improve in Jammu and Kashmir. I am confident that the situation will improve in coming days. Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) September 5, 2016 Video link of my interaction with the media in Srinagar today. https://t.co/Zf9j0mObrq Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) September 5, 2016 At least 76 persons have been killed and over 12,000 injured in the turmoil in J&K. (With Agency inputs) New Delhi: Former Home Secretary G.K. Pillai on Tuesday urged the government to ignore the Hurriyat leaders for two years after they refused to talk to some MPs who visited the Kashmir Valley. "The Hurriyat leadership can be ignored for two years if they are not interested in talks," Pillai told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on border security here. He went on: "These issues are peripheral and minor. We should work to empower the local people as they are more concerned about jobs and their children`s education." He said the common people in Jammu and Kashmir were more interested about day-to-day affairs and economic issues. Later, talking to IANS, Pillai stressed the importance of empowering the locals and Panchayats in Jammu and Kashmir and said this would prove more vital to secure border areas and bring major improvement in the state. "At present in Jammu and Kashmir, local Panchayats do not have any power and steps should be taken to empower them. This will help bringing in new set of local leaders." Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who led an all-party delegation to Jammu and Kashmir, on Monday flayed Kashmiri separatist leaders after they refused to talk to some MPs from the team, saying their conduct defied the spirit of "Kashmiriyat". The delegation visited the state nearly two months after a bloody unrest erupted following the July 8 killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. At least 75 persons have been killed and over 12,000 injured in the weeks of the turmoil, the deadliest Kashmir has seen in six years. Srinagar: The authorities imposed curfew-like restrictions in the old city areas of Srinagar and some other parts of the Kashmir Valley on Tuesday as the toll in ongoing unrest rose to 75, officials said. Musaib Majeed, 17, who was injured in clashes with the security forces in Wadoora area of Kashmir's Sopore town on September 4, succumbed in a Srinagar hospital during the night. The teenager belonged to Sonarwani village of Kashmir's Kupwara district. The authorities imposed curfew-like restrictions in six police station areas of Srinagar city including Nowhatta, Khanyar, Safa Kadal, M.R. Gunj, Rainawari and Maisuma on Tuesday. Although police said there was no curfew anywhere in the Valley on Tuesday, no pedestrian or traffic was allowed by the security forces in areas where restrictions were imposed. Following the death of another civilian during the night who belonged to Kupwara district, all mobile phone operations in the district have been suspended. The failure of the all-party delegation headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh in cutting any ice with the separatists who are spearheading the nearly two-month long protest shutdown, has come as a big setback to peace efforts here. All educational institutions, main markets, public transport and other businesses remained closed for the 59th consecutive day on Tuesday. Banks, government offices and post offices have been functioning for the last 59 days with skeletal staff. In order to prevent forgery of documents, the BSEB has made Aadhaar number to be compulsorily provided on examination forms. By India Today Web Desk: Severed by exam scam in the recent times, Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) has lately stood up to treat malpractices in exams by introducing the first system of its first kind which would link the Aadhaar number with students' examination forms. Doing so would prevent counterfeit of forms and related documents. The BSEB has already decided to implement the system in the upcoming compartmental examination in November this year. A separate field will be provided for Aadhaar number on the examination form from 2017. advertisement The proposed system was made confirmed on Friday when the chairman of BSEB, Anand Kishore had a meeting with Ajay Bhushan Pandey, the director general of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) regarding the linking of Aadhaar to the examination process in Patna. Why link to Aadhaar? To prevail transparency during the processes of exams and authenticity of documents To curb scams in the exam To make sure no fake students sit for the exam To prevent the illegal practice of proxy attendance in the examination hall "When the student will apply for examinations, they will have to specify their Aadhar card number. Those who do not have Aadhar card are requested to apply for the same in order to benefit from the new initiative of the BSEB," remarked Anand Kishore, Chairman of the BSEB. Whosoever failed to provide Aadhaar number will have to provide a valid reason before the school authority. Following the BSEB directions, as many as 58 lakh students are bound to avail their Aadhaar card as soon as possible. Read: Teachers Day: President tweets on how education is the bedrock of an enlightened society Read: 'Teachers can be the agents of change': HRD Minister Javadekar Click here for more education related news. --- ENDS --- Srinagar: The cycle of violence continued in Kashmir with a youth getting killed on Tuesday in a clash between stone pelters and security forces in Anantnag even as curfew was lifted from entire Srinagar district but life remained disrupted for 60th day due to separatist-sponsored strike. Naseer Ahmad Mir was killed in the action by security forces who were chasing away a large number of protestors in Seer Hamdan area of Anantnag in south Kashmir. Several others, including a woman, sustained injuries in the action by security forces, a police official said. He said the injured woman has been referred to a hospital here in a critical condition. Last night, a youth Musaib Nagoo, injured during similar clashes in Sopore on Sunday, succumbed at a hospital here. With these deaths, the toll in ongoing unrest has gone up to 73. Earlier, authorities lifted curfew from seven police station areas of Srinagar after two days, making the entire district curfew-free. A police spokesman said the curfew was lifted following improvement in the situation. However, normal activities remained suspended due to a separatist-sponsored strike. Shops, business establishments and petrol pumps remained shut during the day time. They only open in the evening when the separatists have announced relaxation in the strike for some days of the week. Public transport continued to be off the roads and schools, colleges and other educational institutions also continued to remain closed. However, the attendance in government offices and banks has showed signs of improvement since the past few days, officials said. The separatists, who are spearheading the ongoing unrest, have extended the shutdown programme till September 8. The police spokesman, however, said restrictions on the assembly of people would remain in forces across the Valley to maintain law and order. Jammu: In another ceasefire violation in less than a week, Pakistani Army pounded on Tuesday Indian positions with 120 mm mortar bombs and firing along the Line of Control in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir. "Pakistani soldiers initiated indiscriminate firing of small arms, automatics, light, medium and heavy mortars upto 120 mm caliber at midnight on Indian Army posts along the Line of Control in Poonch sector since midnight," Defence spokesman said here. The spokesman said the Pakistan army also shelled Army posts with 120 mm mortar bombs, small arm and automatic weapon fire in the Poonch sector. "Our troops are responding appropriately and no casualties or damage to our troops was reported till the report last came in. The firing was still on when the last reports came from the area," he added. The exchange of firing was going on intermittently in Shahpur Kandi forward area along LoC in Poonch, police said. Today's ceasefire violation is the second violation in less than a week. On September 2, Pakistan troops had resorted to ceasefire violation by firing on forward army posts along the LoC in Akhnoor sector in Jammu district. Last year, 16 civilians were killed and 71 injured in 405 incidents of cross-border firing by Pakistan. While 253 incidents of ceasefire violations had taken place along the International Border (IB), 152 incidents were reported along the LoC, he said. Around 8,000 people were temporarily affected due to the ceasefire violations and had to be shifted to safer locations. Jammu: Pakistani troops on Tuesday violated border ceasefire for the second time in less than a week by resorting to small arms firing and mortar shelling on forward posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir. "The Pakistan army troops resorted to unprovoked and indiscriminate firing on Indian army posts along LoC in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir since midnight," the Defence spokesperson today said. The spokesperson said the Pakistan army also shelled posts with heavy mortars and opened fire with small arms and automatic weapons in the Poonch sector. "Our troops are responding appropriately and no casualties or damage to our troops was reported till the report last came in. The firing was still going on" the spokesperson added. The exchange of fire is going intermittently in Shahpur Kandi area along LoC in Poonch, police said. Today's ceasefire violation is second in less than a week. On September 2, Pakistan troops violated ceasefire by firing on forward army posts along LoC in Akhnoor sector in Jammu district. Earlier on August 14, 2016, A 50-year-old woman was injured when the Pakistan Army violated the ceasefire twice and targeted Indian posts on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch sector in two different areas. Last year, 16 civilians were killed and 71 others injured in 405 incidents of cross-border firing by Pakistan, the officer said. While 253 incidents of ceasefire violations took place along the International Border (IB), 152 incidents were reported along the LoC, he said. Around 8,000 people were temporarily affected due to the ceasefire violations and had to be shifted to safer locations. Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday hit out at the separatists for "spoiling" the youth of the Kashmir Valley and termed as an "insult" to 'Kashmiriyat' their action of shutting the door on members of the all-party delegation of MPs that explored ways to restore peace in the troubled state. By spurning talks, she said, the separatist leaders were not facilitating resolution of the problem but stalling the process for finding lasting peace. "We have lost several opportunities in the past to resolve the issue through engagement and dialogue and today again if we miss the chance, the coming generations will never forgive us for our intransigence," the Chief Minister told the gathering at a function for formal launch of UJALA scheme in Kashmir under which LED bulbs will be supplied. The event was organized by Union Power Ministry, the state's Power Development Department and Energy Efficiency Services Limited a joint-venture of PSUs under the Ministry of Power. Referring to the separatists' decision to not talk to the visiting all-party delegation, Mehbooba said it was "an insult to Kashmiriyat, to us". She said an opportunity has presented itself for addressing the Kashmir issue as the country has a strong Prime Minister in Narendra Modi who has called for an end to the violence. "Today, there is an opportunity as there is a very strong Prime Minister in this country. Today, in this situation, the cream of the country, members of the Parliament, came to you (as part of all-party delegation) and many among them said that they want to talk without any conditions," she said. Mehbooba said the Prime Minister went to Pakistan, then Pathankot happened, the Home Minister (Rajnath Singh) went there in bad times, but he was given the same treatment which was meted out to the visiting MPs who had come to our (separatists) door. "It does not insult our guests, it insults us because it shows our moral standards," she said, adding her government would continue its endeavour for peace. "It has not happened till now that a sitting Chief Minister, as president of the party, writes a letter and requests (for talks) this way but I did it because there is pain within. As I travelled to most of the places in the Valley, children were out on roads with stones in their hands instead of going to schools or colleges. "Why? Is it their doing? It is the doing of the (separatists) leaders," she said. She wondered how the separatists could roam from one home to another asking children and young people to come out when their own were studying abroad or outside the state. "My colleagues have this (fear) that I may say something. But, I have always spoken truth. The way a mother slaps her child when he tries to touch a hot kangri (firepot), I will do the same to save my people. I will be angry, I will speak truth and warn them not to use children as a shield," an emotional Mehbooba said. Mehbooba exuded confidence that the Valley will come out of the current "misery" as her intentions were noble. "Majority of the people want an honourable solution to the issue. Nobody wants violence except for those who face no impact of this violence as their own children are studying outside the Valley. "They ask the children to fight bullets, pellets and teargas but themselves fear a policeman," she said. She said her party has been consistently advocating dialogue, both with Pakistan and all sections of the society within the state, including the separatists, for a permanent resolution of the Kashmir issue. Whether it was the party?s Common Minimum Programme with Congress in 2002, its Election Manifestos or its 'Agenda of Alliance' with BJP, PDP has repeatedly reiterated its agenda of peaceful resolution of the issue through engagement and reconciliation, she said. "And to a large extent we had succeeded in facilitating setting off a productive reconciliation and resolution process in and around the state between 2002 and 2005," she said and added that today again the party's position is the same and it was in this spirit that she wrote to the separatist leaders requesting them to engage in talks. Stressing on the need for continuing the efforts for peaceful resolution of the issue, the Chief Minister called for reaching out to people through substantive political and economic measures to address the "anger, alienation and the aspirations". She also urged the separatist leadership to engage in negotiations to make peace a reality in the state and bring an end to the miseries of the people. "Despite the challenges and impediments, the prevailing painful situation in Kashmir necessitates once again reaching out to all shades of political opinion in the state and initiating substantive political and economic measures to revive and consolidate the peace and resolution process," she said. "Instead of pushing our youth on the streets, we should ask them to join their schools and ourselves come to the forefront for resolution of the issues through political and democratic means," she said. Mehbooba said the people have been suffering the "disastrous consequences" of the turmoil and they have to be retrieved from this quagmire, sooner the better and "the onus lies not only on us but the separatist leadership as well to give the peace and resolution process a chance". "Our children are getting killed or maimed, our social fabric is slipping into disorder, economy is in shambles, educational sector has suffered immensely, tourism inflow is zero... And people are feeling suffocated. We shall have to ponder over how long we are going to allow this self destruction to continue?" she said. "We shall have to reinforce our resolve to work through peaceful means and through public participation towards resolution of the problems and restoration of peace in the state," she said. Bengaluru: Complying with the Supreme Court direction, Karnataka government on Tuesday decided to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu despite "severe hardships", as protests in the wake of the court order intensified with the highway between Bengaluru and Mysuru blocked by farmers. "Despite severe hardships faced by the government of Karnataka, the state will release water as directed by the Supreme Court," Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told reporters tonight after nearly a three-hour long all-party meeting convened by him here. He also said the state would approach the Supreme Court with a modification petition explaining the its difficulties in implementing its order, directing release of 15,000 cusecs per day to Tamil Nadu for next ten days, and seeking change in it and also move the Cauvery Supervisory Committee. The Chief Minister said it would be "difficult" for a Constitution-bound state to defy the Supreme Court order or to refuse release of water. "With a heavy heart", it has been decided to provide water to Tamil Nadu even though the state itself was facing a "very severe distress" year, he said. Seeking to assuage the feelings of protesting farmers in the Cauvery heartland of Mandya and other districts in the basin, he said all efforts would be made to provide drinking water to Bengaluru and other places as also for crops. He appealed to farmers to maintain peace and tranquility and not to cause any damage to public property. In Mandya, agitated farmers and activists belonging to pro-Kannada outfits blocked Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway as protests intensified in the wake of the apex court directive to the state to release Cauvery water. Mandya district, the nucleus of Cauvery politics, saw a bandh with protesters holding road blockades and dharnas at several places, as hundreds of security personnel, including Central forces, were deployed in the Cauvery belt to maintain law and order. Prohibitory orders have been clamped around the Krishnarajasagar Dam and entry of visitors to it prohibited till September 9, as the Cauvery row hotted up after yesterday's Supreme Court directive on a petition by Tamil Nadu government. The court has directed Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water for the next 10 days to address the plight of the farmers in Tamil Nadu. Protesters also mobbed and ransacked several government offices in Mandya forcing their shut down, while attendance at government offices remained thin, police said. The court order triggered an immediate backlash with the farmers' body, spearheading the stir, calling for a bandh today in Mandya district. Shops, hotels and other commercial establishments and theatres and hotels remained shut and schools and colleges declared a holiday in Mandya district where state run and private buses were also off the roads. Protests are also being held by farmers in Mysuru and Hassan districts, fed by the Cauvery, demanding that Karnataka should not release water. G Madegowda, President of Cauvery Hita Rakshana Samithi, the body spearheading the agitation, criticised the chief minister and irrigation minister for their "irresponsible" behaviour over the Cauvery issue. He also called the district MLAs to resign enmasse to protest against the "injustice." In Bengaluru, some theatres stopped screening of Tamil movies as a "precautionary" step in view of the protests over Cauvery issue. Siddaramaiah said the state had told the Supreme Court during the recent hearing that it was willing to release 10,000 cusecs for six days but it directed release of 15,000 cusecs for 10 days. In a similar situation in 2012-13, the BJP government headed by Jagadish Shettar had released 10,000 cusecs for nine days, he said, adding that they had done so without taking the Opposition into confidence. "Despite being in an extremely difficult situation, we have to obey the Court order," Siddaramaiah said, also noting that it has to be taken into account that the main petition would be coming up for hearing before the apex court on October 18. As per the Cauvery tribunal order, Karnataka had to release 94 TMC ft of water from June to August end in a normal year but given the "severe distress", the state had provided 33 TMC ft during the period. Amid the mounting protests, Bengaluru Tamil Sangam leaders today met Home Minister G Parameshwara and sought protection for Tamils living in the state. Reports from Tamil Nadu said inter-state bus services to Karnataka remained hit for the second day today. Buses to various destinations in Karnataka originating from Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Salem, Erode, Tirupur and Coimbatore districts were stopped in border towns such as Hosur, Sathyamangalam and Bannari. However, some Karnataka State Transport Corporation buses were operated from Tamil Nadu. Also, private cars, vans and taxis and trucks with Karnataka registration were operated. Political parties in Tamil Nadu demanded that the Siddaramaiah government comply with the court directive and suggested Chief Minister Jayalalithaa lead an all party delegation to Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue. DMK President M Karunanidhi said the court order directing 15,000 cusecs for ten days "is certainly not enough for samba crops." Bengaluru: Hundreds of protesters on Tuesday blocked a major highway in Karnataka and 700 buses were taken off roads in massive protests a day after the Supreme Court directed the state to release Cauvery river water to neighbouring Tamil Nadu. According to news agency ANI, the movement of hundreds of buses travelling between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were blocked by protestors, meanwhile, a bus was also torched in Tamil Nadu. For safety, the Karnataka government has pulled off 700 of its buses travelling from Bengaluru and Mysuru to Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Due to security reasons, Krishna Raja Sagara dam and Brindavan Gardens in Mandya will remain closed for four days. Cauvery water issue: Protest against Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa in Mandya (Karnataka). pic.twitter.com/dR0Z9G8xo1 ANI (@ANI_news) September 6, 2016 The Cauvery Hitarakshana Samithi (Cauvery protection committee) had called for a bandh today in Mandya - the hotbed of Cauvery politics a day after the Supreme Court directed the Karnataka government to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. Karnataka Law Minister, however, made an appeal for calm over the issue. My appeal to people is to keep calm and not take law in their hands, TB Jaychandra, Karnataka Law Minister, said on Cauvery issue. All this comes as farmers and others continue to hit the streets protesting the top court directive to release 15,000 cusecs of water per day for next ten days to the neighbouring state. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, whose government has been expressing its inability to release water to Tamil Nadu citing poor storage, held a meeting at Vidhan Sabha ahead of all-party meet. He would hold a meeting with floor leaders of all parties in the state legislature, MPs and district-in charge ministers at 3 pm today to take stock of the situation. Cauvery Hitarakshana Samithi president and former MP G Made Gowda had urged the government to file a review petition in the top court. The farmers' leader also warned the government that it would face a strong agitation if water was released to Tamil Nadu. Protests broke out in other parts of the state including Chamrajnagar, Mysuru and Hubballi with farmers and pro-Kannada activists demonstrating against the Supreme Court order. Cauvery water issue: Protest in Karnataka's Mandya against Supreme Court order. pic.twitter.com/tDsy7y7xsu ANI (@ANI_news) September 6, 2016 Police said effigies and posters of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa were burnt in some places in these districts. A group of farmers tried to enter the KRS Reservoir in Mysuru protesting the court direction, but police prevented them. Jai Karnataka activists vandalised a PWD office and a police station in Mandya protesting against SC order on Cauvery water matter. Meanwhile, DK Shivakumar, a minister in the Karnataka government, said schools and colleges in Mandya will remain closed for two days. 'Karnataka Okkuta', led by Vatal Nagaraj, called for a 'Karnataka bandh' on September 9. Workers of the pro-Kannada outfit held a protest in Bengaluru, bringing traffic to a halt in the heart of the city. Passing orders on a petition by Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court noted that damage would be caused to samba crops in the neighbouring state and directed Karnataka to release water. Mumbai: A sessions court here on Tuesday held Ankur Panwar guilty in 2013 Preeti Rathi acid attack/murder case. The court convicted Panwar under IPC sections 302 and 326 B. The quantum of sentence for the convict will be pronounced by the Mumbai sessions court tomorrow. On May 2, 2013, acid was flung on Rathi when she got down from Garib Rath Express at the Bandra Railway Terminus in Mumbai. She was supposed to join Colaba Naval hospital INS Ashwini as a staff nurse. Having suffered severe damage to her lungs, she succumbed to the injuries on June 1 at the Bombay Hospital. Ankur Panwar, a hotel management graduate, was a neighbour of victim Rathi and resided in Bhakra Beas Management Board Colony. He was earlier arrested from Delhi. He had confessed to the crime saying that he hated her career growth. The reason for this extreme step the accused cited was that his parents often mocked him for not getting a job despite having completed his course and praised his neighbour Rathi saying she had got hold of a good job in Indian Navy. Because of this, Ankur was very jealous of her and had been looking for an opportunity to severely harm her in a bid to deface her so that her career gets destroyed. Chandigarh: Adding further trouble to an already challenging phase of politics for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), a Punjab party Observer has been accused of sexually abusing his domestic help. According to an Aaj Tak report, Vijay Chauhan, an Observer of Sunam as well as Barnala constituency has been accused of raping his maid, who works at his residence. Shockingly, an audio clip of a telephonic conversation between a local leader Rajwant Singh and the housekeeper has been released in this regard. In the clip, Rajwant can be heard apparently making efforts to hush up the case and can be heard pressurising the maid for not filing a complaint against Vijay Chauhan. The rebel group of AAP, that released the audio clip has alleged that senior leaders in the party are aware of Chauhan's sexual abuse. And hence, the party removed Chauhan from Sunam, Barnala constituencies and appointed him as an Observer of Patiala. Charges have also been levelled that the sexual assault victim has been given Rs one lakh by the accused to not reveal anything before media and police. Chennai: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Somnath Bharti, along with 27 party workers, was taken into custody on Tuesday for allegedly trying to take out a rally without permission while demanding setting up of a Lokayukta in Tamil Nadu. The agitating AAP workers also allegedly burnt copies of the AIADMK manifesto in which it reportedly promised setting up of a Lokayukta, if voted to power in the May 2016 Assembly polls. Bharti, in charge of Aam Aadmi Party's Tamil Nadu affairs, and 27 other party workers were taken into custody when they tried to take out a rally without permission, police said. Bharti, who represents Malviya Nagar constituency in Delhi Assembly, was in Chennai to participate in an indefinite hunger strike undertaken by AAP's state convener Vasigaran. Meanwhile, Vasigaran was shifted to a hospital for treatment after his health deteriorated following the hunger strike, police added. Chennai: Opposition DMK in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday said the quantum of water release as directed by Supreme Court from Cauvery River was "not enough" and urged the AIADMK government to spell out its next course of action in this issue involving neighbouring Karnataka. "The Supreme Court order directing 15,000 cusecs for 10 days is certainly not enough for samba crops," DMK President M Karunanidhi said in response to the apex court's order yesterday. In its interim order on Tamil Nadu's plea seeking 50.52 tmc feet of Cauvery water from Karnataka to save 40,000 acres of samba crops, the court had asked the upper riparian state to release 15,000 cusecs daily for the next 10 days to its neighbour. The court had also directed Tamil Nadu to approach the Supervisory Committee within three days for release of Cauvery water as per Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal's final order. Various farmers' bodies in the state have voiced concern over the quantum and demanded that the state government move a review petition in the apex court, seeking additional water, Karunanidhi said. "According to the Supreme Court order, only 13 tmc feet of water will be available for Tamil Nadu. But 200 tmc feet of water is required to cover the entire cultivation of 25 lakh acres," he said in a statement. Soon after the court order, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had announced convening an all-party meeting today while the Tamil Nadu government has "not clarified" what it proposed to do next, he said. "Everybody knows that the 13 tmc feet water as directed by the Supreme Court is not at all enough. What are they (government) going to decide on that? Will they file a review petition as sought by farmers' bodies or get a strong order from Centre on constituting of the Cauvery Management Board and the Cauvery Regulatory Committee?," Karunanidhi asked. "Will they get an order for securing at least 50 tmc feet of water from Karnataka or will they lead an all-party delegation to the Prime Minister to exert pressure" on the matter? he asked. Everybody was "keen" to know the response of the AIADMK government, he added. On the apex court also directing Tamil Nadu to approach the Supervisory Committee, Karunanidhi said it had "no authority nor any legal recognition." "This committee has no authority to control any state. This committee itself is a futile effort and we have already said this," he added. Dehradun: The ruling Congress in Uttarakhand will seek answers from the centre for allegedly meting out step-motherly treatment to the hill state and inflicting on it the "wound of defection", during its 'Satat Vikas Sankalpa Yatra' starting September 10. During the first phase of the Yatra being launched from Haridwar, the party will "seek explanation" from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly belying his pre-poll promises at an event titled "Answer Modi-answer BJP" besides highlighting the state government's people-friendly policies. Originally the Yatra was conceived as a march to create awareness among people about the state government's people-friendly policies and decisions taken by it in the poll-bound state, Pradesh Congress' chief spokesman Mathuradutt Joshi said. But the yatra will now simultaneously conduct "Answer Modi-answer BJP" seeking an explanation from the PM and the Centre for their "step-motherly treatment" of the hill state, for the blot of defection on its face and for their "broken pre-poll promises" like depositing Rs 15 lakh in everyone's account, paying a pension of Rs 25 lakh, controlling price rise and providing employment to two crore youths, he said. The modification in the agenda of the yatra has been effected at the suggestion of Chief Minister Harish Rawat who wants the campaign to not only highlight the state government's achievements but also "expose the conspiracy" hatched by the Centre to destabilise the elected state government by engineering defections in the party and posing hurdles in development of the state by non-allocation of funds, Joshi said. A day after the launch of the yatra, the state unit of Mahila Congress will hold a rally-cum-demosntration against price rise in Dehradun to be followed by a rally in Bajpur over the plight of farmers in the country, he said. Suri: A tribal youth was awarded capital punishment by a court here on Tuesday for raping and killing a five-year-old girl 10 months ago. Sukal Tudu (20) was awarded death penalty by the Second Additional and Sessions Judge of Suri court, Mahananda Das, for the heinous crime. The girl went missing on December 11 last year. She was last seen with her neighbour Sukal when she was playing near her house at Moldanga village under Bolpur sub-division. As the girl did not return home, her mother went looking for her at Sukal's house but he denied any knowledge of her whereabouts. Subsequently, when other villagers started interrogating Sukal, he broke down and confessed to his crime. He also led them to an abandoned rice mill where the girl was found lying unconscious in a pool of blood. The girl was rushed to Bolpur hospital and later, shifted to Burdwan where she died two days later. Nairobi: The African Union said Monday it is ready to send a delegation to Gabon where a disputed election has sparked deadly violence in recent days, a statement said. "A high-level delegation composed of African heads of state, accompanied by senior officials of the AU Commission and the United Nations, is ready to be dispatched to Libreville, as soon as conditions for such a visit are met," AU chairman and Chad President Idriss Deby said in a statement. Deby said he was following events in Gabon with "renewed attention" and that the AU is ready "to assist the parties in Gabon in their search for a rapid settlement to the post-election situation that prevails in their country." Opposition leader Jean Ping, himself a former senior AU official, declared himself the winner despite Gabon`s election commission handing victory to incumbent President Ali Bongo. Baghdad: A car bomb exploded near a hospital in central Baghdad, killing at least seven people, police said. The blast which took place late yesterday, was also near the site of a July bombing that killed more than 300 people, in the worst single bomb attack to ever hit the Iraqi capital. An explosives-laden van exploded in Baghdad's Karrada neighbourhood a little before midnight (2100 GMT), setting several nearby shops on fire, police said. A police colonel reported an initial toll of seven killed and at least 15 wounded for the blast, which went off near Abdel Majid hospital. The figures were confirmed by interior ministry sources. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing but all such attacks recently have been claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group. Baghdad: At least five persons were killed and 19 others injured in a car bomb explosion at a crowded commercial area in Iraq's capital Baghdad, a police source said on Tuesday. The attack took place on Monday night when an explosives-laden car was detonated near Abdul-Majid Hospital on a busy thoroughfare in Karrada neighborhood of southern central Baghdad, Xinhua news agency quoted the source as saying on condition of anonymity. The security forces sealed off the area and blocked the roads leading to the blast scene, while ambulances and police vehicles evacuated the injured people to the city hospitals, the source said. Early in July, Karrada was the scene of massive bombing that killed and wounded hundreds of people. Iraq has witnessed worsening violence since the Islamic State (IS) group took control of parts of its northern and western regions in June 2014. Kabul: The death toll from Monday`s Taliban double bombing in Kabul has jumped to 41, a health ministry spokesman said on Tuesday. "Forty-one people were killed and 110 others wounded in yesterday's attack near the defence ministry," Waheed Majroh told AFP. Officials had earlier put the toll at 24, with 91 wounded. Ohio: Republican Donald Trump said Monday he was committed to participating in the three official presidential debates with rival Hillary Clinton, barring some unforeseen "natural disaster" like a hurricane. "I expect to do all three," Trump told reporters aboard his campaign plane in Ohio, where he and Clinton were hosting dueling campaign events as they wooed voters in the critical swing state. Trump last month expressed doubt about participating in all three debates, the first of which will be held September 26 at Hofstra University in New York. For a first-time debater, this cauldron of presidential political theater could present a daunting challenge, especially against a savvy political veteran like Clinton. But Trump said he "enjoyed the debating process" during the Republican primaries, when he tussled with several party rivals including former Florida governor Jeb Bush and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. "I think I`m preparing somewhat like I prepared for the other debates," Trump said. "As of this moment," he will join Clinton for all three debates, he added. Unless, he stressed, a natural disaster like a hurricane interferes. The second debate occurs October 9 in St Louis, Missouri, while the final clash takes place October 19 in Las Vegas. Clinton has suggested that Trump could be an unpredictable adversary in the debates, and that she was preparing for "wacky stuff" from the Republican candidate. Clinton, the Democratic nominee, kicked off the home stretch of the race Monday, traveling aboard a new campaign plane that carried members of the press corps with her for the first time. Montevideo: A former Guantanamo inmate resettled in Uruguay in 2014 has declared a hunger strike after being deported from Venezuela in a failed attempt to reunite with his family in Turkey. Jihad Diyab, a 45-year-old Syrian, has clashed repeatedly with the authorities in Uruguay since being resettled here as a refugee nearly two years ago along with five other former Guantanamo detainees. The six men have had a running dispute with the Uruguayan government over housing and living allowances, and Diyab says Uruguay is not doing enough to reunite him with his family. He caused alarm in June when he went off the radar, apparently evading border control and sneaking into Venezuela. He showed up at the Uruguayan consulate in Caracas in July asking to be taken to his family in Turkey. He was arrested and held in what his lawyer condemned as unacceptable conditions before being deported back to Uruguay on August 30. Diyab told AFP he has been on hunger strike for about 20 days -- starting when he was jailed in Venezuela -- and has drunk no liquids for three days. "Enough already," he said. "I`ve been here (in Uruguay) for a year and nine months, and they haven`t found a solution to my situation." Uruguayan officials say Turkey has refused to allow Diyab entry and that they are trying to arrange for his family to be relocated to Uruguay. Diyab says he would not be able to support them in Uruguay and wants to be resettled elsewhere. He is a veteran hunger striker, having staged prolonged hunger strikes during his 12 years at Guantanamo to protest his detention. He made international headlines when he launched an ultimately unsuccessful court case in the United States in an attempt to stop prison officials from force-feeding him. Diyab and the other five ex-Guantanamo detainees were resettled in Uruguay as part of US President Barack Obama`s effort to fulfill his long-delayed promise to close the prison set up in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Accused of terrorist links, the men -- four Syrians, a Palestinian and a Tunisian -- were never charged or tried. They had been cleared for release but could not be sent to their home countries because of unrest there. fr/jhb/grf Washington: US President Barack Obama on Monday said an agreement with Russia on ending the violence in Syria is being hampered by "gaps of trust" between the two governments. Asked by CNN`s Michelle Kosinski about his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the President described it as "candid" and "blunt" focusing mainly on Syria and Ukraine. Obama called the discussion on Syria "productive" about what a real cessation of hostilities would actually look like. "We have had some productive conversations about what a real cessation of hostilities would look like that would allow us both... to focus our attention on common enemies." Obama added that currently the gaps have not been closed in negotiations between Russia and the US in a way that they think would "actually work". Obama urged Kerry and Lavrov to work together in the coming days to get aid to those in need. Obama and his Russian counterpart Putin met on Monday as talks between their governments on ending violence in Syria ended without an agreement. Meanwhile, Putin told reporters that a deal with the US to "ease tensions in Syria" may come "within a few days", according to Russia`s state news agency TASS. "Against all odds we have a certain rapprochement and understanding of what we might do to ease tensions in Syria and achieve mutually acceptable solutions," TASS quoted Putin as saying. As for further details on the agreement, Putin said, "It is early now to speak of any parameters of our agreements, but I hope very much that the agreements will be reached, and I have the grounds to believe that this may happen within a few days," according to TASS. The two leaders conversed on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Hangzhou for ninety minutes, a senior US official said, and worked to clarify gaps in negotiations over on the Syrian crisis. The pair also discussed Ukraine and Russia`s cyber intrusions, CNN quoted an official as saying. The exchange came after talks between Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov failed to result in a Syria ceasefire agreement. They had been working to negotiate a plan that would have boosted military cooperation between the two nations in an effort to better target terrorists and prevent civilian deaths. Damascus: The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the six bombings that rocked key Syrian cities and killed at least 48 people earlier on Monday. In a statement carried by the group`s Amaq news agency, the IS said six of its suicide bombers had carried out bombings in the cities of Tartus, Homs, Hasakah and Damascus. It said a bomber detonated his explosives at a military checkpoint in the Sabura area in the countryside of Damascus, and another one detonated his explosives at a checkpoint in the central city of Homs. In the predominantly-Kurdish city of Hasakah, the IS said, a bomber carried out a suicide attack against a checkpoint of Kurdish security forces, known as Assayish. In the coastal city of Tartus, three suicide bombers, one with an explosive-laden vehicle and two others with explosive belts, detonated themselves at a checkpoint of the entrance of the city, the statement said. Manila: An average of 44 people are being killed each day in Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's war on crime, according to police data released today that showed the death toll surging to nearly 3,000. The new figures came after Duterte vowed yesterday to defy a wave of international condemnation and continue killing until every drug trafficker in the Philippines was dead. "More people will be killed, plenty will be killed until the last pusher is out of the streets," said Duterte, who scored a landslide election victory in May largely on his promise to fight crime. "Until the (last) drug manufacturer is killed, we will continue and I will continue." Police have killed 1,033 people in anti-drug operations since Duterte was sworn into office just over two months ago, according to the national police update on Tuesday. Another 1,894 people have died in unexplained deaths, police said, which rights groups believe are largely due to out-of-control security forces and hired assassins. The total of 2,927 is more than 500 higher than the figure released by police on Sunday, and equates to an average of 44 a day since Duterte took office on June 30. US President Barack Obama was planning to raise concerns about the war on crime with Duterte at a meeting in Laos on Tuesday afternoon. But Obama cancelled the meeting after Duterte warned he would not be lectured to, and branded the US president a "son of a whore". Philippine police insist they are killing only in self defence. "They have guns, they are drug-crazed. Our policemen are just defending themselves," national police spokesman Dionardo Carlos told AFP. Police chief Ronald dela Rosa has also regularly said the unexplained deaths are due to drug syndicates waging war against each other, rather than extrajudicial killings by vigilantes and others. Still, Duterte has promised to protect police from prosecution if they are charged over the deaths and insisted human rights cannot get in the way of his war. He has also urged ordinary Filipinos to kill drug addicts in their communities. Dela Rosa last month called for drug addicts to kill traffickers and burn down their homes. The United Nations special rapporteur on summary executions has warned incitement to kill is a crime under international law. But Duterte has told the United Nations not to interfere and said he will use all means necessary to eradicate drugs in society, which he insists is the nation's biggest problem. Vientiane: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte expressed regret on Tuesday for a tirade against Barack Obama in which he called the US leader a "son of a whore". "While the immediate cause was my strong comments to certain press questions that elicited concern and distress we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the US president," a statement released by Duterte said. Washington/Manila: US President Barack Obama had better think twice about raising the issue of Philippine extra-judicial killings, warned the country`s confrontational leader on Monday. The US president and his Philippines counterpart, Rodrigo Duterte, were set to meet in Laos this week, where Obama is attending a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders. White House officials previously said Obama would confront the Philippines President about his country`s handling of drug dealers, including extra-judicial killings, or government executions without the benefit of judicial proceedings or due process, CNN reported. But the Filipino leader did not take kindly to that notion. "Who does he think he is? I am no American puppet. I am the President of a sovereign country and I am not answerable to anyone except the Filipino people," Duterte scoffed in a speech on Monday. "Son of a b****, I will swear at you." Duterte went on to blame the US for causing the unrest on the southern Philippines Island of Mindanao. "As a matter of fact, we inherited this problem from the United States," he said. "Why? Because they invaded this country and made us their subjugated people. Everybody has a terrible record of extra-judicial killing. Why make an issue about fighting crime?" In response, Obama suggested on Monday his planned meeting with Duterte may not go forward. "I always want to make sure if I`m having a meeting that it`s productive and we`re getting something done," Obama said during his news conference. "If and when we have a meeting, this is something that is going to be brought up," Obama said, referring to the Philippines` controversial record of combating drug crime since Duterte took office earlier in 2016. "Look at the human rights of America along that line. The way they treat the migrants there," CNN quoted Obama as saying. Since Duterte was elected, more than 1,900 people have died, including at least 700 in police operations that were part of the President`s hard-line war on drugs. "Double your efforts. Triple them, if need be. We will not stop until the last drug lord, the last financier, and the last pusher have surrendered or put behind bars -- or below the ground, if they so wish," Duterte said during his State of the Nation speech on July 25. Human Rights Watch has called for the International Narcotics Control Board and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to condemn the "alarming surge in killings of suspected drug users or dealers" in the country. Moscow: Russian defence forces have begun a massive exercise to test combat readiness and cooperation between different branches of the country's military. "The exercises aim to check the level of readiness of the military command bodies to control inter-service groupings of forces, commanders and staffs will gain experience in planning, preparation and conducting of combat operations," Sputnik news cited the Russian Ministry of Defence as saying. Russia will use S-400 and S-300 long range anti-aircraft missile systems together with Pantsir-S1 to "fire at the air targets simulating the entire spectrum of air attacks at all altitudes and speeds", Xinhua news agency cited the ministry as saying in a statement. Pantsir-S1 is a combined short-to-medium range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery weapons system. The drills will also test new military equipment in field conditions, including the country's top-of-the-line combat helicopters, fighter jets and battlefield tanks, the defence ministry added. The exercises by over 12,500 servicemen, including Navy, Airborne and Aerospace units, began here on September 5. The exercises will involve Crimea and also feature cooperative efforts of the Black Sea Fleet and the Caspian Sea Flotilla. They come after Moscow accused Kiev of sending saboteurs into the Crimean Peninsula to carry out terror attacks in August. The war games, code-named 'Caucasus 2016', will be carried out over six days till September 10. Istanbul: Two Turkish soldiers were killed and five wounded in a rocket attack Tuesday by Islamic State (IS) militants on their tanks in northern Syria, Turkish television reported, citing an army statement. "Two of our hero comrades were martyred and five were wounded in a rocket attack on two of our tanks by Daesh (IS) elements," NTV television quoted the statement as saying. The fatalities are the first of Turkey`s two-week operation inside Syria to be blamed on ISIS. United Nations: The UN Security Council today issued a strong condemnation of North Korea's latest missile tests and threatened to take "further significant measures" against Pyongyang. North Korea test-fired three ballistic missiles yesterday as world powers gathered for a G20 meeting in China, with leader Kim Jong-Un hailing the tests as "perfect," and US President Barack Obama warning it would only up the pressure. "These launches are in grave violation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's international obligations and UN Security Council resolutions," the 15-member Council said in a statement. It called on North Korea to "refrain from further actions, including nuclear tests, in violation of the relevant Security Council resolutions and comply fully with its obligations under these resolutions." The council said it would "continue to closely monitor the situation and take further significant measures" if merited and called on all sides to work to reduce tensions. The document was adopted unanimously, including by Pyongyang's only ally China. Earlier, the envoys from Japan, South Korea and the United States appeared before the press together to slam North Korea's missile program. "With each test, each violation of UN Security Council resolutions -- and there have been 22 of them so far this year -- the DPRK demonstrates further advancement of its ballistic program," US envoy Samantha Power said. "The Security Council must remain unequivocal and united in its condemnation of these tests." UN resolutions bar North Korea from any use of ballistic missile technology. Pyongyang has nevertheless conducted a fourth nuclear test and a series of missile tests this year in defiance of UN sanctions, prompting South Korea to announce plans to deploy a US anti-missile system to counter such threats. North Korea has been hit by five sets of UN sanctions since it first tested a nuclear device in 2006. Earlier today, Obama held talks with South Korean counterpart Park Geun-hye on the sidelines of a regional summit in Laos. "North Korea needs to know that provocations will only invite more pressure and further deepen its isolation," he told reporters after meeting Park in Vientiane. Park described the launches as a "reckless provocation (that) will lead North Korea down the path of self-destruction." But despite the global chorus of disapproval and tough sanctions, Pyongyang is unrepentant -- continuing to ignore the international community's calls for a halt to its weapons program. United Nations: The UN Security Council will meet tomorrow morning in New York to consider a response to the latest missile launches by North Korea, diplomats said today. The discussion, requested by council members Japan and the United States, is slated to begin at 11:30 am local time (1530 GMT). Today, Pyongyang test-fired three ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan, a new show of force as world leaders meet at the G20 summit in China. A senior US administration official at the G20 in Hangzhou condemned the launches as a threat to its allies and to civilian air travel, and vowed diplomatic action against Pyongyang. The missiles were fired into the Sea of Japan (East Sea) from the North's Hwangju county at around 0300 GMT, a spokesman for Seoul's defense ministry said. North Korea has conducted a series of missile tests this year in defiance of UN sanctions imposed after its fourth nuclear test in January. Last month, North Korea fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile from the northeastern port of Sinpo. That missile flew 500 kilometres wards Japan, far exceeding the range of the North's previous sub-launched missiles. Three days later the security council strongly condemned North Korea for test-firing ballistic missiles and agreed to take "significant measures," without elaborating. The 15-member council issued the toughly-worded condemnation in a unanimous statement drafted by the United States and backed by China, Pyongyang's main ally. North Korea is barred under UN resolutions from any use of ballistic missile technology. In March the Council adopted the toughest sanctions ever imposed on North Korea in response to the country's military programs. Sanjay Singh rubished all allegations leveled by AAP MLA Devinder Sehrawat and said that the BJP and Akali Dal are behind the conspiracy as they are scared that AAP will win over 100 seats in Punjab. By Mail Today Bureau: The AAP on Monday rubbished the allegations of exploitation of women by a few party men in return for tickets levelled by its own MLA Devinder Sehrawat and said the leaders against whom the lawmaker has made the accusations will sue him over his remarks. SANJAY SINGH SLAMS PARTY MLA DEVINDER SEHRAWAT Launching a scathing attack on Sehrawat, party's Punjab in-charge Sanjay Singh alleged that the BJP and Akali Dal are behind the conspiracy as they are scared since the AAP is winning over 100 seats in the state polls scheduled next year. Terming Sehrawat as a discontent element within the party, Singh said his closeness with rebel AAP leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav are well known. The allegations levelled by Sehrawat are baseless. advertisement "They are also an insult to people and women of Punjab. I challenge him to prove his charges and I will quit public and political life. I will file a defamation suit against Sehrawat and he has to prove his charges before the court," Singh said at a press conference. AAP HINTS OF POSSIBLE ACTION AGAINST SEHRAWAT The party also hinted of a possible action against the Bijwasan MLA after the return of AAP's national convenor Arvind Kejriwal from Vatican City where he has gone to attend the cannonisation of Mother Teresa. In his letter to Kejriwal on Sunday, Sehrawat had also hit out at AAP's Delhi unit convener Dilip Pandey, questioning his conduct, and said there were disturbing reports from Punjab as he attacked Singh, and Durgesh Pathak, party's co-incharge of the state. A defiant Sehrawat said that he has written the letters with full responsibility and will follow it up till finality. AAP LEADERS TO SUE SEHRAWAT FOR DEFAMATORY REMARKS Sehrawat had also written a letter to social activist Anna Hazare saying he was upset with the corruption and immorality in the party, which has strayed away from its principles. Pandey, who also addressed the press conference, hit back at Sehrawat, saying the party leaders will sue him in individual capacity. "So, those who speak truth in the AAP will now be termed as a solider of Swaraj Abhiyan and our companions? Then that's good," Yadav tweeted reacting to Singh's charges of Sehrwat's closeness to him and Bhushan, co-founder of Swaraj Abhiyan. Sehrawat had protested against the way Bhushan and Yadav were expelled from the National Executive, the second largest decision making body of the AAP. ALSO READ: Slapped with NCW notice, AAP leader Ashutosh asks "Should I be hanged?" --- ENDS --- Your Ultimate Investing Toolkit Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools: Portfolio Monitoring Top Stock Lists Premium Reports Stock Screeners Live News Feed Premium Support Free for your first month. The police is now trying to find the places visited by Sandeep Kumar after his appointment as to see if there were any other victims. By Tanseem Haider: The infamous sex CD case of sacked AAP leader Sandeep Kumar has hit a roadblock after the Delhi police has failed to recover the device used to record the video. It is important for the police to know the time when the recording was made. In a few stills, the date can be seen as 2010 in the calendar in the backdrop. advertisement The police says that this implies that the video was shot either in 2010 or after that. The woman in the video has claimed that the video was shot 11 months ago. Since she has corroborated her statement to the Metropolitan Magistrate, it is the only piece of strong evidence before the police. SANDEEP KUMAR AND SECRETARY DENY INVOLVEMENT In more than 24 hours of cross-examination, both Sandeep and his personal secretary Praveen have denied their involvement in circulating the CD. Another suspect, a government employee named Mahipal, has emerged in the case. Sources say Sandeep's call detail records are being analysed to know his whereabouts after becoming an MLA. The Delhi Police is looking for the restaurants and hotels visited by him, as they suspect that there were several other women who were sexually exploited by him in hotels and private places. ALSO READ: Sex and Politics in Delhi: Why AAP scandal will not be forgotten anytime soon --- ENDS --- This Page Is Under Construction - Coming Soon! Why am I seeing this 'Under Construction' page? When I turned 50 years old I had to renew my Japanese passport, so I went to the immigration office in Tokyo. The clerk refused to accept the photograph I had brought, which showed me looking the way I usually look. He insisted that I should go to the nearest atelier, borrow a suit and a tie, and take a proper photo. I found this to be ridiculous. It was bureaucratic and meaningless in such a typical Japanese way that I left the office and simply walked away from my Japanese citizenship. Since then Ive never seriously considered returning to Japan for any length of time. I might go back for a good dinner in Tokyo. In Japan my family kept a kimono store. When my father was young he wanted to go to the United States and become a musician, but he was the first son and so my grandfather forbade him to leave. My father struck a bargain: he would abandon his music and remain in the business, and in return his own son would get the freedom to fulfill his own dream. My grandfather kept his promise: even though I was the only grandson he knew I wouldnt stay and continue his work. I arrived in the United States at the age of 25. I made art in Los Angeles for 18 years, and then in 1979 the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York presented a solo show of my work. I remember that Andy Warhols solo show was at the same time on a floor above me. One of the places where my show traveled was Hawaii, and that changed my life because the next year I moved to Hawaii, where Ive lived ever since. Its quite far away from the great centers of art activity, but it is a very good place for mental and physical health. By Allison Lampert MONTREAL (Reuters) - Bombardier Inc sliced in half the 2016 delivery forecast for its CSeries aircraft on Tuesday and said it expected full-year revenue to be at the lower end of its previously announced range. The setback is the latest for the CSeries program, which took years to get off the ground and has been hit by production delays and cost overruns, causing the Montreal-based plane and train maker to agree to a C$1 billion ($774 million) investment from the Quebec government. The company remained in talks with the Canadian federal government about possible funding, and some analysts said the delays could add to concerns about its financial strength. "Bombardier has a lot of debt, limited financial flexibility and these kind of setbacks, even when they are modest and transient, can heighten concerns", said one transport analyst who asked not to be named. Desjardins analyst Benoit Peorier said the development was "slightly negative" and "unexpected." Shares in the company were down 4.7 percent to C$2.02. Bombardier expects to deliver seven of the planes this year, compared with its earlier forecast of 15, blaming engine delivery delays by supplier Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp . The CSeries jets, which have between 100 and 160 seats and are designed for short- and medium-haul travel, entered service earlier in 2016. Bombardier hopes to compete with Boeing Co and Airbus in the single-aisle jet market. Lufthansa AG unit Swiss International Air Lines confirmed on Tuesday it expected to take delivery of fewer CSeries planes from Bombardier than initially planned this year, due to the engine delays. It had anticipated receiving nine, but declined to say how many it now expected. Bombardier now expects to be close to the lower end of the $16.5 billion to $17.5 billion revenue range for the full year. However, it reaffirmed its outlook for 2016 revenue and earnings before interest and taxes. Bombardier said it was working closely with Pratt & Whitney to quickly address the engine problem and remained confident it could meet its production goal of 90 to 120 aircraft per year by 2020. A Bombardier spokeswoman said the delays would also affect deliveries to airBaltic, the launch customer for the company's larger CS300 jet, but should not have an impact on orders further down the road from carriers Air Canada and Delta Air Lines Inc . Pratt & Whitney is facing heavy demand from aircraft makers and has 8,200 orders and options for the fuel-efficient GTF engine family, which is also being used in the Airbus A320neo. "In terms of production, we've made significant headway in the supply chain, but there is some pressure on new engine deliveries for this year," said Sara Banda, a spokeswoman for U.S.-based Pratt & Whitney. Banda could not say how the pressure on new engine deliveries would affect other aircraft makers. Airbus has said it is receiving newly revised engines from Pratt & Whitney after delays caused by software error messages and slow start-up times. ($1 = 1.2912 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Subrat Patnaik and Narottam Medhora in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Matt Scuffham in Toronto, Tim Hepher in Paris and Vicki Bryan in Frankfurt; editing by Sayantani Ghosh and Jeffrey Benkoe) Nupur Talwar released on parole for three weeks from Dasna jail in Ghaziabad. By Press Trust of India: Nupur Talwar, who is currently serving life sentence for the murder of her daughter Aarushi, was today released on parole for three weeks from Dasna jail in Ghaziabad. According to Jailor RB Yadav, as per orders of the Allahabad High Court, she was released from the prison at 7.20 pm. In July, Nupur had pleaded before the High Court for parole as her ailing mother needed medical attention. advertisement The court had accepted her plea on August 29 and granted her three weeks' parole. For the last few days, the paperwork related to her parole was going on. ORDER OF PAROLE SENT TO AUTHORITIES The order for her parole was today sent to the prison authorities after completion of formalities. In May 2008, 14-year-old Aarushi and the domestic help of the Talwar household, Hemraj (45), were found murdered at their residence in Noida. A court in Uttar Pradesh subsequently held Nupur and her husband Rajesh Talwar, both dentists, guilty in the double murder case and sentenced them to life imprisonment. They have been in jail since 2013. Also read: Aarushi-Hemraj case: In a shocking end to a murder mystery that has riveted the nation, the Talwars are held guilty of killing their daughter --- ENDS --- By Allison Martell TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main autoworkers' union on Tuesday named General Motors Co as its strike target in contract talks, and its top official warned that any walkout could disrupt the automaker's production across North America. Bargaining with the Canadian arms of GM, Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles kicked off in August. The union, Unifor National, typically selects one company for intensive negotiations. That company's deal sets a pattern, and other auto manufacturers are expected to agree to similar contracts. Union President Jerry Dias set a strike deadline of Sept. 19, the expiration date for four-year contracts covering GM, Fiat Chrysler and Ford. Among GM plants that could be hit by a strike are the St Catharines, Ontario, powertrain facility, which supplies engines to the company's CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario. The CAMI plant assembles the strong-selling Chevrolet Equinox and the GMC Terrain. While CAMI workers would not walk out in any strike because they work under a separate labor contract, Dias said the union's members at CAMI would not accept engines from other sites. "The reality is we are not going to accept engines from anywhere else to go into our CAMI facility," Dias said in an interview. "General Motors would be foolish to attempt to ship in engines from somewhere else." Dias also said he expected U.S. plants represented by the United Auto Workers would not increase output to replace production from St Catharines. "I would expect that the UAW will respect any action that we have here in Canada," he said. A UAW spokesman said the union's president, Dennis Williams, was traveling and unavailable for comment. "I'm not sure how sympathetic the UAW would be because one of the issues could be taking product away from them," said Arthur Schwartz, a labor analyst and former GM negotiator. At an earlier news conference, Dias said he does not expect a strike, but added that the carmaker must change course and announce investment plans before any deal is ratified. Story continues FOCUSING ON AN AGREEMENT "We continue to remain focused on finding a new agreement that is mutually beneficial and competitive," said David Paterson, GM Canada's vice president for corporate and environmental affairs. He did not repeat the company's longstanding stance that it cannot make any investment decisions until after a new labor contract is signed. GM declined to comment on the impact of a shutdown at St Catharines. Kristin Dziczek, labor analyst at the Center of Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan, said there is no obvious candidate for GM vehicle production to be added at Oshawa, Ontario, which is a union priority. "You've got to take the chance of a strike seriously," said Dziczek. "These are tough issues they've got to get over." The Oshawa plant has one assembly line scheduled to shut down in 2017. On its newer flex line, it builds the Cadillac XTS, which is not a strong seller, the Buick Regal, which sources have told Reuters will likely move to China or Europe in 2017, and the Chevrolet Impala, which is also made in Detroit. (http://reut.rs/2bRfZzc) (Reporting by Allison Martell in Toronto; Additional reporting by Alastair Sharp in Toronto and Bernie Woodall in Detroit; Editing by David Gregorio and Leslie Adler) Prince Harry will set off on an official tour on behalf of his grandmother, the Queen, come late autumn. Kensington Palace has revealed that the 31-year-old will spend some time in the Caribbean. As well as returning to Barbados, Harry will also visit Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Guyana, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, plus St Vincent and the Grenadines. TAP TO VIEW GALLERY Prince Harry Prince Harry will tour the Caribbean in the late autumn His visit will coincide with the 50th anniversary of independence for Barbados, the 50th anniversary of independence for Guyana, and the 35th anniversary of independence for Antigua and Barbuda, but details of the engagements Harry will carry out have not yet been confirmed. It is not the first time Prince Harry has visited the Caribbean; the Prince made an official visit to Barbados in January 2010, where he showed off his dance moves on stage alongside Prince Seeiso of Lesotho to raise money for the Haiti earthquake fund. Prince Harry with kids in Barabados The Prince visited Barbados in January 2010 Most recently Harry has been working on conservation projects in southern Africa. The royal spent some time in the region in 2015 and has once again been working with experts to develop a programme to protect wildlife and local communities. The Prince's trip is not the only royal tour lined up for the coming months. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, nee Kate Middleton, are set to visit Canada from 24 September to 1 October and it is hoped they will take their children Prince George and Princess Charlotte along with them. This would be Charlotte's first tour abroad and royal watchers are no doubt eager to see more of the little girl. It would also mark the second tour for George, who famously accompanied his parents to Australia and New Zealand on their official visit in 2014 when he was just eight months old. Industry News Federal Ban Leads to ITT Tech Shutdown A for-profit college chain announced today that it would shut down all of its schools nationwide following recent federal actions. ITT Education Services is ceasing operations at 137 schools and eliminating 8,000 employees, less than three weeks after the United States Department of Education cut off federal funding to the company. On Aug. 25, the Education Department banned ITT Technical Institutes from enrolling new students who use federal financial aid. Following the ban, it prohibited the company from awarding executives any kind of bonuses and required the company to develop teach-out plans to help current students complete programs at other universities if ITT Tech were to shut down. The company has operated 130 vocational schools in 38 states for the last 50 years. In 2015, ITT reported $850 million in total revenue, of which $580 million was sourced from federal aid. ITT held the federal government responsible for its closure. With what we believe is a complete disregard by the U.S. Department of Education for due process to the company, hundreds of thousands of current students and alumni and more than 8,000 employees will be negatively affected, ITT said in a statement. The remaining staff members will stay on board to help approximately 40,000 unexpectedly displaced students with their records and future educational options. Secretary of Education John King published a blog post today that is addressed to ITT students. In the post, King outlines two options for current and recently enrolled ITT students: discharge their federal student loans (wiping away debt) or transfer their credits to another program. Further information about the closure is available on the ITT site. STEM New Virginia Tech Facility Offers STEM Training for Teachers, Students Virginia Tech is providing hands-on STEM training to both teachers and students with a new learning environment that is part lab, part makerspace and part classroom. The institution partnered with Qualcomm to launch the Thinkabit Lab, a facility geared toward creativity, collaboration and 21st-century skills, at Virginia Tech's Northern Virginia Center in Falls Church. Led by Virginia Tech's Department of Engineering Education in the College of Engineering and School of Education in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, the Thinkabit Lab will provide STEM education to underserved students, students underrepresented in STEM careers and teachers from the metro Washington, D.C. area. The lab will combine Qualcomm's World of Work and STEM coursework with Virginia Tech's academic depth in engineering and education to develop educators who will lead STEM experiences in schools and community programs, according to a press release. In addition, Virginia Tech faculty will research how the Thinkabit Lab impacts students' access to and awareness of STEM education and career options. "We know that STEM skills can enhance every student's future, regardless of their field of study, and we need to prepare both students and teachers to address the complex challenges of tomorrow," said Virginia Tech President Tim Sands, in a statement. "The Thinkabit collaboration with Qualcomm will allow us to join complementary strengths and work synergistically to create opportunities and lower barriers." The Thinkabit Lab launched at Qualcomm's San Diego headquarters in 2014, and additional labs have since been built locally in three middle schools and a library. The Virginia Tech facility is Qualcomm's first Thinkabit Lab outside of San Diego. For more information, visit the Thinkabit Lab website. By PTI: Karachi, Sep 6 (PTI) An altercation between Pakistani policemen turned deadly today leading to the death of three of them near Quettas Eastern Bypass. The altercation initially started between a station house officer, Nur Bux Mengal, and a constable over a trivial matter that escalated into a big fight. "The constable first opened fire on the SHO, whose guards then responded in retaliation, killing the constable and another policeman on duty," SP Sariyab Abdullah Jan said. advertisement The SHO is also among the deceased. The bodies of the policemen have been shifted to hospital for post mortem and an investigation into the matter is on. Policemen have been frequently killed in target killings by suspected separatists and militants in Quetta but this is the first time that such three policemen have been killed over an altercation among themselves. PTI CORR SAI --- ENDS --- French English Opens testing access to the largest state-run health plan in the United States IRVINE, CA, and HERSTAL, BELGIUM - September 6, 2016 - MDxHealth SA (Euronext: MDXH.BR) announced that the ConfirmMDx for Prostate Cancer test is now available as an in-network benefit under the California Medical Assistance Program (Medi-Cal). Medi-Cal is California's state-run Medicaid program, offering assistance to individuals with low incomes. With nearly 12 million enrollees, it is the single largest state-run public health program in the US. The agreement extends access to ConfirmMDx for all Medi-Cal beneficiaries meeting the test eligibility requirements. The Company will now seek to expand access to the test through other Medicaid programs across the US. "This agreement enhances our ability to deliver state-of-the-art diagnostic testing to all sectors of the healthcare system in California, the largest economy and most populous state in the US," stated Dr. Jan Groen, CEO of MDxHealth. "This agreement provides a model for further expansion of coverage in the US as health providers increasingly recognize the ability of ConfirmMDx to improve patient outcomes and help manage rising healthcare costs." About ConfirmMDx for Prostate Cancer ConfirmMDx for Prostate Cancer is the first epigenetic, and only tissue-based test in the 2016 NCCN Guidelines for early detection of prostate cancer which addresses false negative biopsy concerns. It is the only molecular diagnostic test that provides a very high negative predictive value (NPV) of 96% for clinically significant prostate cancers, and 90% NPV for all prostate cancers, as well as prostate mapping of the test results to help guide repeat biopsies. Each year, more than 1 million American men undergo an invasive prostate biopsy with a negative result, however approximately 30% of those men actually have prostate cancer. The current standard of care for prostate biopsy procedures samples less than 1% of the prostate, leaving men at risk for undetected cancer and leading to a high rate of repeat biopsies, even on cancer-free men. ConfirmMDx for Prostate Cancer helps urologists identify low-risk men who may forego an unnecessary repeat biopsy and high-risk men who may benefit from intervention. ConfirmMDx for Prostate Cancer helps urologists identify low-risk men who may forego an unnecessary repeat biopsy and high-risk men who may benefit from intervention. To date nearly 2,800 urologists have ordered ConfirmMDx on more than 45,000 patients. ConfirmMDx has qualified for Medicare, Medicare Advantage and many private reimbursement plans. About MDxHealth MDxHealth is a multinational healthcare company that provides actionable molecular diagnostic information to personalize the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The company's tests are based on proprietary gene methylation (epigenetic) and other molecular technologies and assist physicians with the diagnosis of cancer, prognosis of recurrence risk, and prediction of response to a specific therapy. For more information, visit mdxhealth.com and follow us on Twitter at: twitter.com/mdxhealth. For more information : Dr. Jan Groen, CEO MDxHealth US: +1 949 812 6979 BE: +32 4 364 20 70 info@mdxhealth.com Jonathan Birt, Chris Welsh, Hendrik Thys (PR & IR) Consilium Strategic Communications UK: +44 20 3709 5701 US: + 1 917 322 2571 (Rx Communications Group LLC) mdxhealth@consilium-comms.com This press release contains forward-looking statements and estimates with respect to the anticipated future performance of MDxHealth and the market in which it operates. Such statements and estimates are based on assumptions and assessments of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which were deemed reasonable but may not prove to be correct. Actual events are difficult to predict, may depend upon factors that are beyond the company's control, and may turn out to be materially different. MDxHealth expressly disclaims any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements in this release to reflect any change in its expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based unless required by law or regulation. This press release does not constitute an offer or invitation for the sale or purchase of securities or assets of MDxHealth in any jurisdiction. No securities of MDxHealth may be offered or sold within the United States without registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or in compliance with an exemption therefrom, and in accordance with any applicable U.S. securities laws. NOTE: The MDxHealth logo, MDxHealth, ConfirmMDx, SelectMDx, AssureMDx and PredictMDx are trademarks or registered trademarks of MDxHealth SA. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners. NANTES, France, Sept. 6, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OGD2 Pharma SAS, a biotechnology company developing innovative anti-cancer therapies targeting the O-acetylated form of the GD2 ganglioside (OAcGD2), today announces a collaboration with Syndivia SAS, a biotechnology company that provides best-in-class bioconjugation technologies for the development of Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADC). This collaboration agreement will explore the potential of targeting chemotherapeutic drugs using anti-OAcGD2 ADCs in the treatment of difficult-to-treat solid tumors. The ADCs will be designed to release the cytotoxic drug both within tumor cells and in the tumor microenvironment. "Thanks to this collaboration, OGD2 Pharma accelerates the development of its anti-OAcGD2 ADC platform. Syndivia's versatile linker technology will allow depicting the best way to specifically deliver ADC payloads to tumors using the unique cellular biology of the OAcGD2 membrane glycolipid" said Jean-Marc Le Doussal, President at OGD2 Pharma. "Syndivia's technology should result in ADCs that are highly stable in patient's blood, in line with our strategy to develop safer anti-cancer therapies leveraging the highly tumor-specific tissue distribution of the OAcGD2 antigen. OGD2 Pharma will continue building such strategic partnerships with academic groups and private companies in other ADC technologies." he added. Oleksandr Koniev, Chief Executive Officer of Syndivia commented "We are excited by this synergy between Syndivia's stable payloads for intracellular and tumor microenvironment specific drug release and OGD2 Pharma's innovative immunotherapy agents targeting OAcGD2 antigen. We believe this collaboration will result in the development and future commercialization of a brand-new class of efficient ADC for unmet clinical needs in both pediatric and adult cancers". About Syndivia: www.syndivia.com Syndivia SAS, headquartered in Illkirch, France, is a biotechnology company providing best-in-class bioconjugation technologies for the development of Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADC). With a strong portfolio of patented ADC payloads and know-how in ADC preparation and characterization Syndivia is building up a strong partnered pipeline of ADCs for a broad range of oncology indications. About OGD2 Pharma: www.ogd2pharma.com OGD2 Pharma SAS, headquartered in Nantes, France, is a pre-clinical stage privately-held biotechnology company. Our mission is to research, develop and commercialize, with pharmaceutical partners, safe and efficacious cancer immunotherapies targeting the O-acetylated form of the GD2 ganglioside (OAcGD2). Pipeline includes OGD201 humanized monoclonal antibody (EMA Orphan Drug Designation for neuroblastoma), chimeric antigen receptors (CAR), antibody drug conjugates and companion diagnostic products. About O-acetylated-GD2 As its first cousin GD2, the OAcGD2 glycolipid is expressed at high copy numbers in the membrane of tumor cells in many types of pediatric cancers (such as neuroblastoma) and adult cancers (such as glioblastoma, melanoma, sarcoma, breast cancer, etc.) and on cancer stem cells. Remarkably, and by contrast to GD2, OAcGD2 is not expressed by normal nerves and brain tissues. About APN and C&R Technology Syndivia's APN technology enable the preparation of ADCs having increased stability in blood circulation. This stability is of crucial importance for oncology applications as it widens the therapeutic index of the conjugates. The C&R technology allows for tumor-specific release of the cytotoxic payload both inside cancer cells and in tumor microenvironment. This tumor-specific release contributes further to the improvement of the efficacy and toxicity profile of Syndivia's ADCs. Contacts: OGD2 Pharma Business Development Farid Bouzidi bouzidi@ogd2pharma.com Alliance Management Samuel Salot salot@ogd2pharma.com Enregistrer OGD2 Pharma and Syndivia launch collaboration to develop an ADC http://hugin.info/172779/R/2039775/760485.pdf Ferratum Capital Germany GmbH / Key word(s): Forecast 06.09.2016 20:28 Disclosure of an inside information according to Article 17 MAR, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ferratum publishes its guidance for 2016 and 2017 Helsinki, September 6, 2016 - Ferratum Oyj (ISIN: FI4000106299, WKN: A1W9NS) quantifies its expectations concerning the company's further business development and issues guidance for the fiscal years 2016 and 2017. The Board of Directors of Ferratum Oyj estimates revenues for the fiscal year 2016 to range between EUR 150 million and EUR 160 million and for 2017 to range between EUR 200 and EUR 225 million. The operative profitability margin (EBIT margin) is expected to range between 13% and 16% for both fiscal years. Ferratum Oyj bases the given guidance on certain assumptions, including: - Consumer credit volumes continue to grow, exceeding the market average, based on new customers, continued diversification of consumer lending products and growth in new markets. - Ferratum Business (SME) continues to grow as market share in the 5 existing markets is small and will increase. Ferratum plans to introduce the product in additional markets. - The Ferratum Mobile Bank is to be introduced in additional countries and thus to generate new customers, improve customer loyalty, stimulate cross selling, increase deposit volume and to diversify deposit currencies. - No material negative changes in the consumer and business credit markets. - Stable capital market conditions. - No unexpected significant new regulatory challenges or changes. Disclaimer All of the estimates presented herein are based on the Company's current opinion. The information presented above may include forward-looking statements. These statements are not a guarantee of the development of the Company's result of operations and financial position in the future, and the Company's actual result of operations and financial position could differ significantly from any information expressly or indirectly presented in forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Investors are advised to take a qualified view of the aforementioned statements. END OF THE AD-HOC ANNOUNCEMENT About Ferratum Group: The Finnish Ferratum Group, a pioneer for mobile consumer loans in Europe, offers short-term consumer loans for private customers. Ferratum's customers can utilize digital media to apply for consumer credit in amounts varying between EUR 25 and EUR 3,000. Moreover, Ferratum offers successful small businesses instalment loans with a term of six to twelve months. Managed by its founder Jorma Jokela, Ferratum has expanded rapidly since it was founded in 2005: Ferratum has more than 1.4 million active and former customers who have been granted one or more loans in the past and 4.1 million total user accounts in its database (as of 30 June 2016). Ferratum is represented in 23 markets. Contact: Ferratum Group Dr. Clemens Krause, CFO T: +49 30 88715308 F: +49 30 88715309 M: clemens.krause@ferratum.com Ferratum Group Paul Wasastjerna Head of Investor Relations T: +358 40 7248247 F: +358 20 741 1614 M: paul.wasastjerna@ferratum.com cometis AG Henryk Deter I Claudius Krause T: +49 611 20 58 55-28 F: +49 611 20 58 55-66 M: krause@cometis.de 06.09.2016 The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Archive at www.dgap.de --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Company: Ferratum Capital Germany GmbH Mommsenstr. 71 10629 Berlin Germany Phone: 030 / 88715308 Fax: 030 / 88715309 E-mail: info@ferratum.com Internet: www.ferratum.com ISIN: DE000A1X3VZ3 WKN: A1X3VZ Listed: Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Hanover, Munich, Stuttgart, Tradegate Exchange; Open Market in Frankfurt (Entry Standard) End of Announcement DGAP News-Service --------------------------------------------------------------------------- News_release Using an experimental co-culture approach in which two different types of neurons from a mouse model of Huntingtons disease (HD) are grown side-by-side, connecting to form critically impacted circuits, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have identified a subunit of a protein that, when expressed, reverse the mutated gene effects responsible for HD. The findings are published online September 5 in the journal PNAS. Our experimental design provides an invaluable system for studying important cellular and molecular events underlying Huntingtons disease, said first author Xiaobei Zhao, PhD, a post-doctoral scientist in the Department of Neurosciences at UC San Diego School of Medicine. Atrophy of the corticostriatal pathway, which connects neurons in the cortex with those in the striatum, is a pathological hallmark of Huntingtons disease. Weve shown in this HD cellular model that dysfunction in cortical neurons drives dysfunction in striatal neurons because the gene mutation responsible for Huntington disease causes deficits in the production, transport and release of a growth factor called BDNF. Importantly, using this model provided evidence that expression of a single subunit of the TRiC protein, which inhibits the aggregation of mutant huntingtin proteins, rescued atrophy of striatal neurons. The next step is to test this in vivo. If the phenotype of the HD mouse model can be rescued, its possible that TRiC could be used to treat Huntingtons disease. The corticostriatal pathway is a neuronal circuit connecting two parts of the brain: the outer, folded cerebral cortex where memory, thought, language and consciousness occur, and the underlying striatum a region responsible for, among other things, behavior and voluntary movement in response to social stimuli. Corticostriatal decline is a telltale indicator of HD, a fatal genetic disorder characterized by progressive deterioration of physical and mental abilities. In their study, Zhao, with senior author William Mobley, MD, PhD, chair and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Neurosciences, and colleagues cultured cortical and striatal neurons from an HD transgenic mouse model that expresses the human mutant huntingtin gene in a microfluidic chamber that allowed the cortical neurons to connect via axons to striatal neurons. They found that the resulting circuits recapitulated several salient features of HD pathology, including reduced synaptic density and BDNF. Zhao stated The new model and the ability to recreate the abnormal circuit is more physiologically relevant than many other models. Most important, it facilitates study of disease mechanisms and possible new disease-modifying treatments. Co-authors include: Xu-Qiao Chen, Eugene Han, Yue Hu, and Paul Paik, UC San Diego; Zhiyong Ding, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Julia Overman, Alice Lau and Leslie Thompson, UC Irvine; and Sarah Shahmoradian and Wah Chiu, Baylor College of Medicine. Chengbiao Wu, UC San Diego, is co-corresponding author. Funding for this research came, in part, from the National Institutes of Health (grant PN2EY016525), LuMind/DSRTF, Larry L. Hillblom Foundation and the Tau Consortium. Actor Tamannaah has been roped in to play the second lead in actor Simbu's upcoming film Anbanavan Asaradhavan Adangathavan. By India Today Web Desk: Actor Simbu's next film which is titled as Anbanavan Asaradhavan Adangathavan aka AAA, is directed by Adhik Ravichandran, who made his directorial debut with Trisha Illana Nayanthara. While the shooting going at a rapid pace, the latest addition to the cast is actor Tamannaah, who is collaborating with Simbu for the first time. ALSO READ: Before Vikram in Iru Mugan- 5 actors who played transgender on screen advertisement ALSO READ: Khaidi No 150- Chiranjeevi's film to feature Catherine Tresa in a special song Director Adhik Ravichandran took to Twitter and confirmed the news. He wrote: "Very happy to announce that Tamannaah Bhatia is on board, pairing with Simbu for first time in AAA." Very Happy to announce that @tamannaahspeaks is on board,pairing with @iam_str for first time in #AnbanavanAsaradhavanAdangadhavan #Sirappu Adhik Ravichandran (@Adhikravi) September 5, 2016 AAA is touted to be a romantic comedy, made on the lines of the director's earlier film Trisha Illana Nayanthara. The film features Simbu in triple roles, and reportedly as father and son. In one of the roles, Simbu will be seen playing Madurai Michael, and the makers have already released the character's look. Actor Shriya Saran has already been roped in to play a pivotal role in the film. Produced by Michael Rayappan, the film will have music by Yuvan Shankar Raja. Meanwhile, Simbu's Achcham Yenbathu Madamaiyada is once again delayed. The film is likely to release by the end of this month. --- ENDS --- As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ The social activist's remarks came against the backdrop of the arrest of AAP MLA Sandeep Kumar who has been accused by a woman of having raped her. By Press Trust of India: Anna Hazare has said he is "very saddened to see" that some of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's colleagues have gone to jail, while some others are "indulging in fraud". "I am very hurt...When he (Kejriwal) was with me, he wrote a book on gram swaraj...Will we call this gram swaraj? That's why I am very sad. The hope with which I was looking at him (Kejriwal) is over," he said. advertisement SANDEEP KUMAR CASE His remarks come against the backdrop of the arrest of 36-year-old AAP MLA Sandeep Kumar who has been accused by a woman of having raped her. Kumar, who was sacked as a minister by the Delhi government in the wake of the accusation, was today remanded in three-day police custody by a court. Hazare said he had earlier told Kejriwal, "You are going to roam the world after launching your party. You will hold rallies in the country for the same, but how will you find out that the people who join your party have a good character or not?" HOPE FOR CHANGE "He (Kejriwal) did not have an answer for that. I can experience it today. I had said this earlier also, be it any party or leader, it is necessary to check if the people who join a party have a clean character or not," he stated. Hazare told a TV news channel, "Arvind has been with me for many years. I was very hopeful for Arvind. I was hoping that he will set a different example for politics in India and also that he will give a different direction to the nation." He said, "I felt that way, but I am very saddened to see what his colleagues are doing. Some are going to jail, some are indulging in fraud." Also Read: Sex CD case: Delhi Police to seek further custody of Sandeep Kumar AAP leaders exploiting women in Punjab, promising them party tickets, Delhi MLA complains to Kejriwal Sex CD case: Court grills Delhi Police over charges put on Sandeep Kumar --- ENDS --- The police advised the public as well as organizing committees of Ganapati festival to follow certain safety precautions By Ashish Pandey: After the drowning incidents in Andhra pradesh during the immersion process of Lord Ganpati the AP Police has issued advisory for the people. The police issued an advisory for the public in light of the two drownings that took place in Prakasam and Guntur districts during the immersion process of Lord Ganpati. FOLLOW SAFETY PRECAUTIONS The police advised the public as well as organizing committees of Ganapati festival to follow certain safety precautions. The DG of police RP Thakur advised that the immersion be done at places designated by the police where arrangements are being made for their safety and security. advertisement The Police also said that Ganpati festival organisers are responsible for the safety of people involved and must take all precautions required for safety particularly young children who must be protected from harm. RECRUIT SWIMMERS In villages the police has requested the Sarpanch and other elders to recruit volunteers and swimmer near water bodies where immersions take place or are supposed to take place. The police also advised parents not to send young children alone near water bodies or if necessary they must be accompanied by known adults. Also Read: City devotees pay obeisance at Ranthambore Ganesh Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to Karan Johar: Manish Malhotra welcomes Lord Ganesha with B-town friends --- ENDS --- September 7, Wednesday, is the day when Apple launches its iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus at See You There event. Here's everything that you can expect from Apple tomorrow night. By Javed Anwer: On Wednesday night (as per the India time), Apple will hold its iPhone 7 launch event. This event is called See You There and we have speculated on the basis of the invite what it would be bringing to consumers. But since then more information has trickled in. Unless Apple decides to pull a big surprise, it is almost certain that the company is going to launch the new iPhones and an updated Apple Watch at the San Francisco event. advertisement But that is not all, according to a report in Bloomberg, there are also likely to announcements related to the updated the software. To summarise, here is what Apple is going to announce on Wednesday night. The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus These two devices are a certainty. This is an iPhone launch event and you would definitely see Apple unveiling the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus tonight. As for the updated phones, we already have a fair idea of what is coming. The new phones, in terms of design, are going to be incremental updates to the iPhone 6S and the iPhone 6S Plus. But in terms of their feature set, the changes are going to be big. Although, the bigger difference would be in the iPhone 7 Plus, which is likely to come with a significantly different camera setup that has two image sensors and the two cameras. We have all the juicy details about the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus here. New Apple Watch The Apple Watch was launched in April last year so it is over a year old and ripe for an update. Well, tonight Apple is going to do exactly that -- update the Watch. Although, just like the iPhone update, this one too will be seemingly incremental as far as the design is concerned. But in terms of functionality, more is coming. The new Apple Watch will probably have the GPS chip inside it and hence will offer more accurate tracking of those jogging sessions that you may want to record with it. It will also have a faster processor inside it and refreshed software. Wireless buds The iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus are getting rid of the 3.5mm audio jack. This means Apple will also certainly announce a new pair of wireless earphones, possibly similar to Samsung's Gear Icon. These buds will be Beats branded and will possibly cost a bomb. Although to limit the shockwaves that are bound to result from the removal of the 3.5mm jack, Apple may bundle these buds with the new iPhones at a special price, or may even give them free to the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus buyers. Final software advertisement During its annual developer conference WWDC in June, Apple had announced the updated software for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac and Apple TV. This software was available in beta versions. Tonight's event is where Apple announces that this software is now in final version and starts to roll it out to consumers. So, Apple will show the final version of iOS 10, which will power the iPhone and the iPad, tvOS 10, macOS Sierra and watchOS 3. This also means that Apple users will be able to download this latest software, originally announced in June, from tonight. As it is the case with most of the Apple software nowadays, all these software updates will be free. And one more thing... Apple events are famous for springing surprises. Towards the end of the event, Steve Jobs would often say "and one more thing..." before unveiling something new. But of late, with Jobs gone, this surprise element too has vanished from Apple events. And although Apple fans will be hoping for some sort of surprise towards the end of the event, chances are that there won't be any "one more thing" tonight. --- ENDS --- advertisement The Army chief also reviewed the internal security situation in Assam and asked to step up operations against militant groups in the area. By Manjeet Negi: Army chief General Dalbir Singh visited Assam yesterday, as part of his visits to various formations of the Army to review their operational readiness and the internal security situation. The Army chief was briefed by Lt General D Anbu, General Officer Commanding, Gajraj Corps. In the update on the security situation in Assam, Singh was informed that the militant organisations in the region have been put under a lot of pressure with a number of successful operations by the Army in the recent past. The Army chief also reviewed the defence preparedness of Gajraj Corps as it is deployed on the Line of Actual Control, the de facto boundary between India and China. advertisement The Army Chief was briefed on the combing operations in progress and the measures undertaken to neutralise the insurgent group involved in the Assam region. General Singh stressed on the need to further carry out relentless operations against the insurgents. WATCH: Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag's first speech --- ENDS --- Speaking to India Today, Sharma said the Samajwadi Party government has proved to be complete failure in stopping crimes leading to anarchy in the entire state. By Siraj Qureshi: BJP General Secretary Srikanth Sharma has demanded BSP Supremo Mayawati and SP Supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav to expel Naseemuddin Siddiqui and Azam Khan from their respective parties and file criminal charges against them on grounds of their continual verbal disrespect towards women. Speaking to India Today, Sharma said the Samajwadi Party government has proved to be complete failure in stopping crimes leading to anarchy in the entire state. advertisement ALSO READ:Azam Khan does it again: Bulandshahr gangrape a political conspiracy He said, "The BJP will contest and win the 2017 assembly elections on the issue of providing good governance. Both Naseemuddin Siddiqui and Azam Khan continually abused women through their statements but their party leaders are completely silent." UP IN ANARCHY Answering a question, Sharma said that it was the influence of a powerful minister in UP that the Jawaharbagh (Mathura) investigation is still incomplete and the accused are still roaming free. When asked share his views on expelled BJP leader Dayashanker Singh's comment on Mayawati, he declined to make any comments. He said that several central government schemes do not reach the people properly due to the uncooperative attitude of the state government in UP. On this occasion, BJP MLA from Agra Yogendra Upadhyay claimed that the BJP will form a government with full majority in UP and the anarchy will end soon. AKHILESH GOVERNMENT'S FAILING TACTICS He said that the Model Code of Conduct could be implemented anytime in the state, but the UP government is not releasing the MLA funds which is causing difficulties in continuing development in the region. This question has also been raised in the assembly but the government is yet to take any action. Bulandshahr gangrape: BJP leader's response to Azam Khan's shameful comment is even more disgusting He said that the Akhilesh Yadav government is playing dirty tactics with public money by announcing schemes like free mobile phone distribution in July, when the Samajwadi Party is fully aware that it is going to lose the elections. He also added that the mobile phone distribution scheme is just another fake promise of Akhilesh Yadav government like the free laptops, aimed only towards luring voters to vote for Samajwadi Party in the hopes of getting these freebies. --- ENDS --- While it's perfectly fine to try out a fiery chilli, you really need to keep these heaven-sent goodies close at hand. The bhoot jolokia or ghost chilli is one of the hottest chillies in the world. Picture courtesy: Instagram/b.buragohain By Shreya Goswami: If you've read or seen the news today, you'll know that 40 American junior high school kids were taken sick after a classmate offered them some bhoot jolokia, or ghost chillies. The incident took place in Milton-Union Middle School in Dayton, Ohio. Apparently, a student (name not revealed) brought the ghost chillies to school and shared them with his or her classmates. This chilli from North Eastern India marks a whopping million units on the Scoville scale (the international scale for the hottest chillies), and should never be taken lightly. advertisement Bhoot jolokia was once the world's hottest chilli, and has only in recent years been overtaken by the Trinidad Scorpion and Carolina Reaper chillies. No wonder the kids fell sick. In fact, people everywhere could fall sick, and even end up in the hospital if they don't eat this chilli the right way. While it's perfectly fine to try out new and exotic ingredients, you just need to keep some other heaven-sent goodies close at hand before biting into something as potent as a bhoot jolokia. Here's our list of five ingredients that can help you handle the heat. Whole milk This is the chilli-lover's best friend. Keep a glass of cold, whole milk close to your plate of chilli-infused food. The natural fat in the milk helps soak all the capsaicin, the fiery molecules in the chillies. All dairy products, especially whole milk, can soak up the heat from chillies. Picture courtesy: Instagram/mariyashpakova You can also go for raw cow's milk, or a spoonful of olive oil mixed with a glass of milk. And do keep it chilled, because the lower temperature will also help soothe your throat and tummy further. Yogurt All dairy products have the capacity to soak up capsaicins, but yogurt goes one step further. It's a natural probiotic. Yogurt can help you handle the chilli's heat, and keep your gut healthy. Picture courtesy: Instagram/britt_gets_fit06 It's not just a mouth-on-fire that we have to deal with a bite of bhoot jolokia. It's also the impending doom of inevitable loose motions! Just have a bowl of yogurt on the side during a fiery meal, and your mouth and stomach will thank you for it. Also read: Indian girl takes ethnic Naga cuisine to Belgium via her tribal kitchen food truck White rice Rice doesn't soak up capsaicin as much as dairy, but they come in handy to reduce the scorch feeling the chillies leave. Is it any wonder that all the cultures that have high-Scoville chillies growing naturally, have rice as their staple? White rice is the natural companion to fiery curries. Picture courtesy: Instagram/miskihuda And guess what the Nagas and Manipuris pair with their bhoot jolokia? White rice! Now if you don't get the importance of white rice on the same plate as hot chillies, we don't know what else will. advertisement Honey A spoonful of sugar has always helped with the scorching heat of chillies. In fact, the Scoville scale actually depends on how much sugar is needed to dilute the chilli! Who are we to question the masters of the hot scale? Coat your tongue with honey, and the burn of chillies will go away. Picture courtesy: Instagram/thekitchenmccabe But having raw sugar might not be a good idea, so go with the natural sugar in honey. Just pour enough in your mouth to coat your tongue, and you'll be good to go. Peanut butter Products high in fat or oil can naturally keep the heat away. But who wants a spoonful of olive or white oil in the mouth? That might actually be worse than all the heat you have to handle from that little bite of the ghost chillies! The fat and natural oils in peanut butter can help with hot chillies. Picture courtesy: Instagram/miami_fit_girls But peanut butter works just the same way, and better still, it's tastier. Coat some fruits in peanut butter, and have it like a side salad with your bhoot jolokia-infused curry. advertisement Now these might be the things that you MUST have to handle the burn a bhoot jolokia leaves behind. But keep in mind the three things that you MUST NOT have if you feel the heat: water, beer and soda. They'll make it worse! Just make sure you have a few or all of the five goodies mentioned above, and you'll enjoy your way through the hottest meals in the world. And you know the best part? These five are anyways good for your gut. These five on the side will make every hot meal, the best you've ever had. --- ENDS --- The duo would avoid detection by cutting off the base of the cylinders and hiding liquor pouches inside the cavity. By Rohit Kumar Singh: Nawada police has arrested two persons for smuggling liquor into Bihar. Both the arrested persons have admitted that they were involved in smuggling of liquor. They used to procure liquor from Jharkhand and smuggle into Bihar. What is very interesting is the modus operandi which they implemented to smuggle liquor. They used a empty gas cylinder for smuggling. They had cut the base of the gas cylinder and created a cavity. They used to hide country-made liquor pouches inside the cylinder and carry it on a bicycle making it appear normal, like people transporting cylinders of a bicycle. --- ENDS --- advertisement Brought up together as brothers in a sanctuary, the trio of BLT (Bear, Lion and Tiger) recently lost one its members, Leo the lion. By India Today Web Desk: In March, we had brought to you the incredible story of three unusual brothers from the animal kingdom: Baloo the bear, Leo the lion and Shere Khan the tiger. Recently, this inseparable trio saw an end. Baloo and Shere Khan lost their 15-year-old brother, Leo, in August. Leo the lion. Source: Noah's Ark Animal Sanctuary/ Facebook advertisement The sad news was shared on the Facebook page of Noah's Ark Animal Sanctuary, where the BLT lived and became famous. The post said Leo's health had been deteriorating since this summer. During an exploratory surgery, doctors discovered "over 80 per cent of Leo's liver was full of inoperable masses". "Because of this, the heart wrenching decision was made to let him go," read the post on Noah's Ark official page. Also read: Last visuals of Machli, the tigress who ruled Ranthambore Leo the lion. Source: Noah's Ark Animal Sanctuary/ Facebook Leo the lion. Source: Noah's Ark Animal Sanctuary/ Facebook Leo, along with Baloo and Shere Khan, was rescued as cubs during a police drug raid in 2001. Frightened, malnourished and sick, the three cubs were then brought to Noah's Ark Animal Sanctuary in Georgia's Locust Grove in the US. Here, for the last 15 years, the three grew up as brothers and partners-in-crime. They also became quite famous for their unusual friendship. Also read: On Teachers' Day, Bengal woman fights off bear by pulling his ears Leo with Baloo and Shere Khan. Source: Noah's Ark Animal Sanctuary/ Facebook The post says Baloo and Shere Khan "were able say goodbye to Leo" before he was let go. They were also seen visiting Leo's grave, which lies in the clubhouse where the three brothers days playing and lounging around. "It is highly likely that Baloo and Shere Khan knew their lion brother was terminally ill long before Leo began displaying outward symptoms," the Noah's Ark officials explained on Facebook. Leo's grave has been marked with a special lion statue. Baloo and Shere Khan visit their brother Leo's grave. Source: Noah's Ark Animal Sanctuary/ Facebook The sanctuary, based in Georgia's Locust Grove in the Us, later held a beautiful 'celebration of life' ceremony in Leo's honour, where visitors where allowed to come in and bid him farewell. Also read: Lions at Bengaluru's Bannerghatta National Park charge at safari vehicles Here are some of the pictures from the ceremony: Leo's 'celebration of life' ceremony. Source: Noah's Ark Animal Sanctuary/ Facebook Leo's 'celebration of life' ceremony. Source: Noah's Ark Animal Sanctuary/ Facebook Leo's 'celebration of life' ceremony. Source: Noah's Ark Animal Sanctuary/ Facebook Leo's 'celebration of life' ceremony. Source: Noah's Ark Animal Sanctuary/ Facebook advertisement So long, Leo. You will be missed. Leo with Baloo and Shere Khan. Source: Noah's Ark Animal Sanctuary/ Facebook --- ENDS --- West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had banned his entry in the state in April 2015 after orders were released from the Home Department citing that Togadia was flaring up of communal tension. By Manogya Loiwal : Ahead of International Working President of the Vishva Hindu Parishad Pravin Togadia's meeting tomorrow in Kishanganj, Bihar, security has been beefed up in West Bengal to ensure that he does not reach the venue through the state. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had banned his entry in the state in April 2015 after orders were released from the Home Department citing that Togadia was flaring up of communal tension. advertisement There are only two routes to enter in Kishanganj. One is via Dalkhola (West bengal) to Kishanganj, another Bihar to Bihar route via Purnia zero point to Bahadurganj then Kishanganj. ALSO READ:Punish Muslims with more than 2 kids, junk minority status: Pravin Togadia, Sakshi Maharaj strike again Tomorrow after meeting Pravin Togadia is supposed to travel to Delhi via Bagdogra Airport in West Bengal. Strong police vigilance is being done to ensure he does not enter the state. West Bengal government has imposed Section 144 areas adjacent to Bihar. Interestingly, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is out of the state on a week-long tour to Europe where after she will be visiting Munich in Germany to convince investors and promote Bengal as an investment destination. --- ENDS --- The activists stopped the movement of private vehicles also between Mysuru and Bengaluru. By Aravind Gowda: With protests in south Karnataka districts intensifying in the wake of the Supreme Court's verdict on releasing Cauvery River water to Tamil Nadu, vehicular movement, including bus services, were stopped between Bengaluru and Mysuru, a crucial commerce route. The screening of Tamil movies was also stopped by all theatre owners in south Karnataka districts. Also read: Cauvery water dispute: Protests erupt in Karnataka over Supreme Court's order advertisement TRANSPORT SERVICES AFFECTED As buses operated by the Karnataka State Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and Tamil Nadu companies were targeted by activists on the Mysuru Road this morning, the bus services were stopped. The activists even stopped the movement of private vehicles between the two cities. Motorists from Bengaluru were forced to use alternative routes to reach Mysuru. Though the police have deployed adequate personnel in the Cauvery belt, they could not prevent the activists from intensifying their stir. ACTIVISTS ATTACK OFFICES In Mandya, the epicentre of the protests, the activists barged into government offices and forced the employees to suspend work. They ransacked offices of the Irrigation and Public Works Department and damaged equipment/furniture. Schools and colleges in Mandya and Mysuru districts were closed today in view of the unrest prevailing. In Bengaluru, fearing backlash from activists, theatre owners suspended screening of Tamil movies, which enjoy popularity in the city. Karnataka is one of the biggest markets for Tamil movies outside of Tamil Nadu and the self-imposed ban by theatre owners will impact their business. --- ENDS --- Your Money, Your Retirement, and the 2016 Presidential Election - What changes will you need to make to your portfolio should Hillary Clinton become president? What happens to your investments should Donald Trump become president? Join us on Sept. 12 as our panel of the world's top financial experts provide trusted information on the investment risks and opportunities that arise with the upcoming presidential election in November. [Learn more about the event and RSVP.] NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Twenty-First Century Fox (FOXA) announced earlier today that it settled with former anchor Gretchen Carlson for $20 million over her sexual harassment lawsuit against former Fox News chief Roger Ailes. The announcement included an apology to Carlson. Vanity Fair contributing editor Sarah Ellison broke the story on the settlement earlier today and joined CNBC's "Squawk Alley" to provide more details. "Carlson's suit was logged against Ailes. Why is Fox signing the check?" CNBC's Carl Quintilla asked. "Under Delaware law, the company must indemnify its top officers," Ellison replied. So no matter how small or large the settlement would be, Twenty-First Century Fox was always going to "be on the hook," she explained. Ailes will have to pay a potion of the settlement, but the exact amount has not been reported, Ellison said. However, negotiations between Ailes and the company were "quite tense," she added. The company is hoping that the settlement and apology will mark the beginning of a fresh start after there have been three complaints of sexual harassment from women that fell within the three-year statue of limitations for sexual harassment in New York State, Ellison said. "This settlement is supposed to draw a line under this sort of ugly chapter, and they want to move on," she explained. However, Greta Van Susteren announced earlier today that she would be leaving her position as host of Fox News' "On the Record," Ellison noted. Van Susteren left after her efforts to renegotiate her contract hit a dead end, Fox News's Howard Kurtz said, according to Vanity Fair. "It goes to show the waters are not yet calm at Fox News," she said. Shares of Twenty-First Century Fox were lower in early-afternoon trading on Tuesday. Separately, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings team rates Twenty-First Century Fox as a Hold with a ratings score of C. The primary factors that have impacted the team's rating are mixed - some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. You can view the full analysis from the report here: FOXA FOXA data by YCharts Prevent Arc Flash with LO/TO An arc flash can release a deadly blast of energy without any warning, making it one of the more frightening hazards involved with electrical work. Dropping a tool, opening a panel on degraded equipment, and even pest infestations can trigger an arc flash; it's very difficult to predict and prevent them. However, there's one factor that unites all arc flash incidents, and can be controlled: All arc flashes require electrical power. As a result of this simple fact, the accepted industry standard for safe electrical work (NFPA 70E) recommends a simple approach to completely eliminate the risk of arc flash when working on electrical equipment: Shut it off and lock it out. The Electrically Safe Work Condition That's the main idea behind what the NFPA calls an "electrically safe work condition." Generally, NFPA 70E requires an electrically safe work condition in either of these situations: An employee works within the Limited Approach Boundary, a clearance area around equipment designed to prevent unqualified workers form being exposed to a hazard of electric shock A worker faces an increased risk of injury from arc flash as a result of the nature of his work or the equipment being worked on In both of these cases, the most effective way to protect the worker is to keep the equipment in a de-energized state, with no electrical power. Where there is no power, there is no risk or electric shock or arc flash! De-energizing the equipment is only part of the electrically safe work condition, though. Imagine you're working on equipment that's been powered down for safety; all of the electrical hazards have been essentially eliminated. Then, another worker enters the room and flips a switch to start working on his own tasks. That could be catastrophic unless you can be certain that the equipment you're working on cant be accidentally started up again. That certainty is the idea behind lockout/tagout (LO/TO). LO/TO Steps for Electrical Work All lockout/tagout procedures follow the same basic ideas: 1. Identify the equipments sources of power 2. Shut down the equipment and disconnect those power sources 3. Apply locks and tags to keep the power sources disconnected 4. Confirm that the equipment is completely de-energized With electrical work, the same basic ideas still apply, but some additional steps may be called for. All affected workers should be informed that equipment will be disconnected temporarily and should be told why this is the case so there is no misunderstanding. Many electrical systems can carry power without any obvious indication that they're still energized, so the NFPA standard requires using appropriate testing tools to confirm the absence of power. If procedures aren't tailored for the actual hazards and situations that are present in a facility, accidents and injuries are going to remain a problem. The NFPA 70E standard includes an example of an effective LO/TO procedure in Informative Annex G. As experts in safety, NFPA makes recommendations to double-check each critical point in the process. The following steps are based on NFPA's description in that informative annex. 1. Notify all affected employees that equipment is being shut down, and provide the reasons for doing so. 2. Identify all sources of electrical power to the equipment. 3. Shut down the equipment and disconnect any energy sources. 4. Relieve any stored energy appropriately (by grounding, attempting to start the equipment, or other means). 5. Apply locks and tags to all disconnecting devices. 6. Verify that locks are properly applied. 7. Use an appropriate testing tool to verify that the equipment is de-energized and then verify that the tool is functioning correctly by testing a known voltage source. 8. Where necessary, install a grounding device to eliminate the risk of induced or stored voltage. After this process is complete, the equipment will be in an electrically safe work condition and work may continue. OSHA's Rules for LO/TO and Arc Flash Safety While the NFPA standard represents expert advice and industry consensus, it's not strictly required by law. Instead, workplace safety in the United States falls under the jurisdiction of OSHA and its regulations. OSHA's general requirements for safe electrical work practices are in 29 CFR 1910.333, and a basic approach for working on de-energized equipment, including a LO/TO system, appears in paragraph (b) of those rules. These rules generally align with OSHA's more extensive LO/TO rules in 29 CFR 1910.147, which go into more detail about the lockout or tagout devices that should be used. Because these regulations can be changed or updated only through a long and involved process at the federal agency, it's common for facilities that prioritize safety to look to experts such as NFPA for advice on protecting their workers. In fact, where a given question is not covered by regulations, OSHA frequently uses NFPA standards such as NFPA 70E as an example of common industrial safety practices. Practices that do not follow common guidelines for safety may indicate disregard for safety. A system that meets all of the NFPA standard's recommendations for safe practices will typically satisfy OSHA's requirements; because NFPA updates most of its standards every three years, staying up to date with its recommendations will also show that a facility is paying attention to new developments in safe work practices. Preventing Arc Flash in Your Facility Where electrical hazards exist in your facility, it's important to train the affected workers to understand those hazards and follow safe practices. Employees who aren't performing work on a given piece of powerful equipment should know about the equipment's "danger zones" and how far back to stay. Finally, when work must be performed on energized equipment, your qualified workers need to have the resources to stay safe. That includes detailed equipment labels to keep them informed of details such as what personal protective equipment (PPE) they need to wear. Brian McFadden works for Graphic Products, a company that provides solutions for safety and visual communications. If you are ready to build a LO/TO system for your workplace or want to learn more about how to apply this kind of system for safety, request a free guide to Lockout/Tagout Best Practices. 3 Big Reasons Singapore Employees Complain About Being Stressed Out For as long as I can remember, Singaporeans have always been complaining about being stressed out. Even in the good old days when the MRT could function without breaking down every 3 seconds and kids without tuition still existed, Singaporeans were complaining about living in a pressure cooker society. But it seems that its only in the last decade that workplace stress has become such a big issue. Thanks to the internet, working hours have gotten longer and longer, and weve made a name for ourselves globally for working some of the longest hours in the world. So a recent report announcing that workplace stress is on the rise was completely unsurprising. What was more revealing, though, is that not just long working hours but factors like office politics and unproductive meanings were singled out as some of the biggest stressors. Here are some of the biggest reasons so many Singaporeans dread going to work. Lack of autonomy and bad bosses Singaporeans in the above report mentioned office politics and unproductive meetings as big sources of stress. Both of these factors are the result of the typical Singaporean workplaces authoritarian management style. The large power distance means that bosses are all-powerful, and their minions had better shut up and do as theyre told or face the consequences. Anyone whos ever worked in a local company can tell you that when you have a bad boss, hes very very bad. Many of my friends have witnessed hysterical screaming, files being thrown and other types of uncivilised behaviour. The fact that many employees are willing to sit around at the office till their bosses leave each day shows how powerless they feel. No wonder 61% of Singaporeans in a JobsCentral survey werent happy with their bosses, and of these 80.6% complained about a lack of autonomy. The lack of autonomy also exacerbates the issues of long working hours and unrealistic workloads. Singaporeans might be surprised to know that in most developed countries in the West, employees say no to their bosses when met with unrealiastic expectations. Thats something that simply doesnt happen here. And this perpetuates the problem of business owners running their enterprises inefficiently simply because they can afford to make one employee do the work of five. Story continues Feeling trapped financially You could have the best job in the world as a spreader of suntan oil for supermodels, but if you feel like youre forced to work because you cant survive financially without doing so, it becomes a chore. Given the high cost of living and high levels of materialism in Singapore, its no wonder that being overburdened with financial commitments is one of the biggest reasons Singaporeans dont leave a job they hate, with 29% in the above survey citing that as a reason for not quitting their jobs. 25% cited fear of not being able to find a better job as their reason for not leaving a crappy job. The feeling of being financially trapped also stops people from pursuing careers they might find more fulfilling. Its come to the point where many of us choose to feel like zombies every day in exchange for being able to buy Chanel handbags, which is a pity. Unhealthy working environment Its quite telling that so many people singled out office politics as the thing that was making their life miserable at work. So many of my friends constantly complain that theyre working in a toxic environment or that the workplace culture at their companies is overwhelmingly negative. A 2014 survey showed that Singapore workers were far from happy, and not much has changed since then. It appears that Singapore has a long way to go in terms of improving workplace culture. We might have a first world economy now, but the mindsets of people in the workplace are still decidedly third world. The general kiasuism in local culture has caused people to view their coworkers as adversaries, and employees and supervisors alike can be less than charitable when it comes to their colleagues. For instance, when you resign from a job, it is quite common for your boss to take it personally and completely ignore you while youre serving out your notice period, not even saying bye at the end. This has happened to me personally, and I have friends and ex-colleagues who have received the exact same treatment. The fact that working insane hours is thought of as normal and leaving the office early, even when youve finished your work, is frowned upon are further indicators of a culture that is deeply problematic and that does not respect employees as human beings with their own lives outside of work. Are you generally stressed out at work? Tell us why or why not in the comments! The post 3 Big Reasons Singapore Employees Complain About Being Stressed Out appeared first on the MoneySmart blog. MoneySmart.sg helps you maximize your money. Like us on Facebook to keep up to date with our latest news and articles. Compare and shop for the best deals on Loans, Insurance and Credit Cards on our site now! More From MoneySmart This article was originally on GET.com at: 3 Reasons Why Travel Agencies May Still Be Relevant In Singapore Do you have the tendency to settle all things related to your holidays online on your own or do you do it the traditional way by waltzing into travel agencies and grabbing stacks and stacks of travel brochures? For the most part, I belong to the former camp but I'm the lazy bum who always leaves the planning to my boyfriend or my mom. That said, there have also been times when I left my travel planning to travel agencies. My last-minute trip to Taiwan earlier this year was only made possible with the help of travel agencies, a somewhat forgotten platform excited vacationers turned to before the advent of awesome internet crept into our lives. In case you've haven't been keeping abreast with travel-related news, Singapore Tourism Board and Natas have initiated plans to assist travel agencies in staying pertinent in the internet age. For them to step in, we can only imagine how dire the situation is for travel agencies. I digress, but besides my dad, I don't know anyone who doesn't like to travel. If you're travelling somewhere any time soon, especially if you are someone who doesn't have the habit of paying for travel protection, now might be a good time for you to buy travel insurance amidst rising safety concerns. Anyhow, here are 3 reasons why we at GET.com reckon there's still a place for travel agencies in Singapore even though more and more people are booking their travel on the glorious internet. 3 Reasons Why Travel Agencies May Still Be Relevant In Singapore 1. They Are The Saviours Of Busy Souls Or if you like, lazy people. Travel agencies are great for lazy people although you'd probably be forking out more money for your well-deserved holiday than if you were to meticulously plan your itinerary and look for cheap flights and cheap hotels. Travel agencies are the best place we can go when we're too busy or tired to pull all-nighters in a bid to plan the perfect and possibly very last-minute vacation with our loved ones. All you need to do is walk in, tell them your budget, preferred dates and destinations, confirm, and pay. You can leave the rest to the folks at the travel agencies and get back to catching Pokemon or catching up on your much-needed sleep. Story continues 2. You Might Get More Value Through Travel Agencies Nobody says you need to go to a travel agency if you're just going on a 3D2N getaway near Singapore. Not every traveller needs a travel agent but we can't deny the possibility of milking more value out of our travels when we book our holidays through travel agencies. By value, I mean things like exclusive airfares, discounted stays at 5- or 6-star hotels in premium locations, complimentary room upgrades, slashed ticket prices to top attractions, awesome tour guides who give you mini history crash courses, insight about the cities you're visiting (that you could never find online), and a helping hand when you're planning complex travel itineraries with a bazillion stops and more. 3. You Could Use Their Help With Essential Extras From exotic tour packages, transportation and travel insurance to visa applications, vaccination guidelines and other foreign travel requirements (and perhaps a whole host of other services they offer), travel agencies can help you. Just in case you're inquisitive, here are 8 countries that Singaporeans probably don't know they require visas to enter. Yes, our mighty red passport that's part of our heritage that we're proud of doesn't let us travel to these (and some other) countries without visas! What do you think? Share your comments with us below! GET.com Singapore is Singapore's lifestyle and personal finance website. We help you GET more for your money - food, travel, home loans, credit cards, shopping - everything! Like GET.com on Facebook and sign up to get the HOTTEST stories delivered to your inbox! For serious stuff, you can compare home loans, personal loans and credit cards at GET.com. Our free GETdeals App helps you get the best credit card discounts near you for dining, shopping, lifestyle and more. Download it today! Other Articles You May Like From GET.com Vietnam airlines bought 40 airplanes worth $6.5 billion from France's Airbus on Tuesday, as President Francois Hollande visited the communist nation to drum up business ties with one of Southeast Asia's fastest-growing economies. The deal is the latest move by Vietnamese aviation giants to boost fleets and feed demand from a mushrooming middle class with money to burn on air travel both at home and abroad. Hollande, the third French president to visit Vietnam since independence, said the "very important deals" deepened ties with its former colony where France's legacy is ubiquitous, from the country's colonial-era buildings to French-influenced cuisine. "We agreed to encourage both countries to establish economic partnerships on the basis of technology transfer," Hollande said after Airbus signed three separate deals. Low-cost private airline VietJet, known for its bikini-clad hostesses, bought 20 planes while national carrier Vietnam Airlines and budget airline Jetstar Pacific bought 10 each in "deals worth 6.5 billion", Airbus Asia spokesman Sean Lee told AFP. He did not provide a breakdown of each deal's value, but VietJet said later in a statement it was spending $2.39 billion on its new planes. The VietJet purchase comes after it bought 100 passenger jets from US aircraft maker Boeing for $11.3 billion in May, during a visit by President Barack Obama. It called the deal the largest single commercial air plane purchase in Vietnam aviation history. Founded in 2007, VietJet has gained notoriety with bikini-wearing air stewardesses and along with Vietnam Airlines and Jetstar is making a major move into the lucrative Southeast Asian aviation sector. - Maritime disputes - Hollande, who arrived in Vietnam with around 40 French business leaders, will spend much of Tuesday in Hanoi meeting communist top brass. He will then head south to Vietnam's economic hub Ho Chi Minh City to meet French entrepreneurs, including some from Vietnam's burgeoning tech industry. Vietnam's President Tran Dai Quang said the two leaders also discussed maritime freedom, a key issue for Hanoi which has traded barbs with Beijing over competing claims in the South China Sea. "Me and the president committed to respect the rule of law in the seas and oceans, reaffirming the commitment to maintain freedom of maritime and aviation," he said. "The two sides stressed the importance of solving disputes by peaceful means, not to use or threaten to use violence on the basis of international laws." Tensions between Hanoi and Beijing soared in 2014 when China moved a controversial oil rig into disputed waters, sparking angry riots in Vietnam. Hollande's official agenda does not include any plans to discuss human rights or freedom of expression in the tightly run communist country, where bloggers and dissidents are routinely jailed for criticising the regime. Three human rights groups wrote an open letter to Hollande urging him to press Vietnamese leaders on rights issues during his two-day visit. "Activists and human rights defenders have been regularly subjected to physical assault, surveillance, restrictions on their freedom of movement, and arbitrary arrest and detention," according to the letter by the International Federation for Human Rights, also signed by a Vietnamese and French rights group. By Lisandra Paraguassu PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazil's Forjas Taurus SA, the largest weapons manufacturer in Latin America, sold guns to a known Yemeni arms trafficker who funneled them into his nation's civil war in violation of international sanctions, according to charges in court documents reviewed by Reuters. Federal prosecutors in southern Brazil charged two former executives of Forjas Taurus in May with shipping 8,000 handguns in 2013 to Fares Mohammed Hassan Mana'a, an arms smuggler active around the Horn of Africa for over a decade according to the United Nations. The handguns were allegedly shipped by Taurus to Djibouti and redirected to Yemen by Mana'a, according to court documents. Alexandre Wunderlich, a lawyer for the two former Taurus export executives, Eduardo Pezzuol and Leonardo Sperry, said the accusations in the sealed indictment "do not reflect the facts of the matter." Yemen has been consumed since early last year by a brutal civil war killing thousands of people as Iran-backed Houthi rebels challenge a Saudi-allied government. Mana'a, who served from 2011 to 2014 as governor of Sa'dah, a Houthi stronghold, could not be reached for comment. A Brazilian court issued a public summons for Mana'a in May as part of a case citing him, Sperry and Pezzuol as defendants. Taurus declined to answer detailed questions on the weapons case due to legal confidentiality but said it was "helping the courts to clarify the facts." Following the Reuters report, the company confirmed in a securities filing on Monday that two of its former executives had been charged for an alleged 2013 arms shipment destined for Yemen. After learning about suspicions surrounding the Yemeni arms dealer, Taurus said it halted another shipment he negotiated. The case, currently sealed by a judge in the southern city of Porto Alegre, near Taurus' headquarters, may draw legal scrutiny to the company, a major supplier of firearms to Brazil's police and military and one of the top five makers of handguns in the U.S. market, where it sells nearly three-quarters of its production. Brazil is the world's fourth-largest exporter of small arms. Prosecutors say the two former Taurus executives were negotiating another shipment of 11,000 guns with Mana'a last year when police uncovered the plot and raided the company's offices in November. Prosecutors have not brought charges against Taurus but said evidence seized in the raid included dozens of emails showing it knew of U.N. sanctions against trading arms with Mana'a and Yemen but sought ways to skirt them. "Taurus clearly made use of a notorious international arms trafficker to triangulate its merchandise to other countries, especially Yemen," the documents said. "There is no way Taurus and its employees can claim to be unfamiliar with acts attributed to Mana'a, since Leonardo Sperry testified it is standard for Taurus to do an internet search on people they invite to Brazil," they said. Sperry and Pezzuol gave testimony to federal police in October 2015 as the investigation got underway. The executives left Taurus late last year, according to their LinkedIn resumes. "All of the acts covered in the case were carried out entirely within the company and within legal limits," their lawyer said in an email. He declined to answer other questions, citing the confidentiality of the case. FUELING WAR Prosecutors said ties between Taurus and Mana'a stretch back to 2007, without elaborating in the court documents. They said the relationship went quiet for a couple of years after the U.N. Security Council leveled sanctions against Mana'a in 2010 for violating an arms embargo in Somalia. The U.N. sanctions banned any weapons sales or financing for Mana'a, and ordered an asset freeze and travel ban for him and others suspected of selling arms in Somalia's civil war. U.S. President Barack Obama also named Mana'a and ten others in a 2010 executive order banning business with individuals and groups accused of contributing to unrest in Somalia. Yet prosecutors said the sanctions did not stop Taurus from re-engaging with Mana'a as violence broke out in Yemen. Yemen's 18-month old conflict has drawn in regional powers and killed at least 10,000 people, including nearly 4,000 civilians, according to the United Nations. In an undated email cited by prosecutors, who did not name the recipients, Pezzuol wrote that "if Taurus decides to sell to Yemen, the path appears to be through Mohamad Manaa," adding that he had set up a route through Djibouti, just across the Mandeb Strait from Yemen. Taurus got authorization from Brazil's army in October 2013 to ship 8,000 weapons to Djibouti's defense ministry but prosecutors say in documents that Mana'a redirected the arms to Yemen using companies such as Al Sharq Fishing and Fish. Brazil's defense ministry said authorization for the export to Djibouti did not allow for legal re-export to other nations. Mana'a paid Taurus $2 million for the weapons, according to court documents, which cite regular payments from the Yemeni to the company since 2013. The documents did not indicate who had received the arms in Yemen. "Djibouti was a false way point for exportation," prosecutors wrote in their charges. "They made use of fraud to disguise the real destination of the weapons and to hide the involvement of Fares Mana'a." Prosecutors say the fraud extended to the identity of Mana'a, who came to Brazil in January 2015 to visit the Taurus factory despite the U.N. travel ban. On behalf of the company, Sperry and Pezzuol asked Brazil's foreign ministry to extend a formal invitation to the arms dealer, but the request was denied on the grounds of economic restrictions with Yemen. The executives then discouraged Mana'a from traveling to Brazil under his own name and tried unsuccessfully to obtain a passport from Djibouti for his use, according to prosecutors. They said Mana'a eventually entered Brazil on a passport with a false name and birth date. Just two months later, Mana'a and Taurus were arranging for another shipment of guns through Djibouti, according to the charges, disregarding the U.N. arms embargo for Yemen passed in April 2015. Prosecutors say that shipment of 11,000 handguns would have gone through to Yemen if police had not broken up the scheme. Afterwards Sperry wrote an email to Mana'a suspending the shipment "due to recent contact with Brazilian authorities." In May, a federal judge overseeing the case called for the notification of Brazil's foreign ministry, along with Interpol, the United Nations and the Saudi Arabian, Egyptian and U.S. embassies in Brasilia, court documents showed. But Taurus won an injunction from an appeals court two days later blocking that decision, arguing it would cause the company "economic losses." (Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Writing and additional reporting by Brad Haynes; Additional reporting by Maria Pia Palermo; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Kieran Murray) By Press Trust of India: Complying with the Supreme Court direction, Karnataka government today has finally agreed to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu despite "severe hardships", as protests in the wake of the court order intensified with the highway between Bengaluru and Mysuru blocked by farmers. "Despite severe hardships faced by the government of Karnataka, the state will release water as directed by the Supreme Court," Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said tonight after nearly a three-hour long all-party meeting convened by him here. advertisement He also said the state would approach the Supreme Court with a modification petition explaining the its difficulties in implementing its order, directing release of 15,000 cusecs per day to Tamil Nadu for next ten days, and seeking change in it and also move the Cauvery Supervisory Committee. The Chief Minister said it would be "difficult" for a Constitution-bound state to defy the Supreme Court order or to refuse release of water. "With a heavy heart", it has been decided to provide water to Tamil Nadu even though the state itself was facing a "very severe distress" year, he said. Seeking to assuage the feelings of protesting farmers in the Cauvery heartland of Mandya and other districts in the basin, he said all efforts would be made to provide drinking water to Bengaluru and other places as also for crops. AGITATING FARMERS He appealed to farmers to maintain peace and tranquility and not to cause any damage to public property. In Mandya, agitated farmers and activists belonging to pro-Kannada outfits blocked Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway as protests intensified in the wake of the apex court directive to the state to release Cauvery water. Mandya district, the nucleus of Cauvery politics, saw a bandh with protesters holding road blockades and dharnas at several places , as hundreds of security personnel, including Central forces, were deployed in the Cauvery belt to maintain law and order. Prohibitory orders have been clamped around the Krishnarajasagar Dam and entry of visitors to it prohibited till September 9, as the Cauvery row hotted up after yesterday's Supreme Court directive on a petition by Tamil Nadu government. The court has directed Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water for the next 10 days to address the plight of the farmers in Tamil Nadu. Protesters also mobbed and ransacked several government offices in Mandya forcing their shut down, while attendance at government offices remained thin, police said. The court order triggered an immediate backlash with the farmers' body, spearheading the stir, calling for a bandh today in Mandya district. --- ENDS --- advertisement Spanish police freed four young African migrants found squeezed into a hidden compartment of a minivan with no ventilation at a border crossing from Morocco into Spain and arrested the driver, they said Monday. The migrants -- a woman from Congo and three men from Guinea -- were found on Sunday when police at the crossing between Morocco and the Spanish territory of Melilla grew suspicious and searched the vehicle. They were crammed inside a "hermetic false bottom with no ventilation" located below the front seats of the minivan, police said in a statement. The woman began yelling in French: "Please, please, get me out of here. I'm scared. I don't feel my legs and my feet are really swollen!". Firefighters had to use an electric saw and other tools to free the migrants who were all in "very poor physical shape" and in need of medical care. Police said all four migrants, aged between 21 and 27, are now in good health. Officers arrested the driver and only other occupant of the vehicle, a Moroccan man. Temperatures on Sunday neared 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) in Melilla, which has one of only two land borders between Africa and the European Union. The other is at Ceuta, another Spanish territory nearly 400 kilometres (250 miles) away on the north coast of Africa. The two territories have for some years been a flashpoint for African migrants trying to enter Spain and seek a better life in Europe, with authorities stepping up security by strengthening border barriers. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The landlocked country has been struggling to emerge from the civil war that broke out in late 2012. Having assumed office last March, President Faustin Archange Touadera has urged both Muslim rebels and Christian vigilantes to stand down. "My priority is to restore peace," Touadera said. "All armed groups must be disarmed. We need to start disarming, demobilizing, reintegrating and repatriating former combatants." He added that the government needs to urgently beef up its national security forces to regain control of large parts of the country. The country's authorities are in talks with rival Muslim and Christian militia leaders to restart dialogue on a ceasefire, Touadera said. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Gabon was shaken last week by clashes between security forces and supporters of opposition candidate Jean Ping, who lost to incumbent President Ali Bongo. "Arrests have been made in the past few days. France has had no news from several of its compatriots," Jean-Marc Ayrault said in a statement. "It expresses deep concern in this regard and demands that it be allowed to exercise consular protection under the Vienna Convention," he added. "Once I was a language school student, and now I am a cafe manager. I have an opportunity to meet fantastic people and to visit interesting events. Unfortunately, complications do arise sometimes, but I won't give up and will do my best to ensure our cafe thrives," Nastya said. Takuya Omori, Nastyas Japanese partner in the cafe venture, explained that she met Nastya while scouting cosplayers in Moscow 3 years ago. And when last year Nastya suddenly decided to visit Japan for a prolonged period of time, they came up with this idea as, among other things, it was a good way for the Russian girl to obtain a working visa. "Russian girls are famous in Japan for their beauty, and Nastya is an excellent cosplayer and a cute girl whose looks are very appealing to the Japanese audience. And since right now there are no Russian maid cafes in Japan, we decided to start our own," Omori explained. According to Omori, the cafe will be staffed by three Russian 'maids' "Nastyan, Alyo-Senpai and Usagi-san" and will be serving "homemade Russian cuisine: borscht, piroshki, vodka, Russian beer and more." The cafe is scheduled to open early in October. The Danish textbook, written for high school students and aimed at teaching history, religion and social studies, features a map of the Cold War era, marked by both artistic freedom and historic mistakes. In addition to displaying northern Norway and the whole of Finland as parts of the Soviet Union, the notorious map listed the West-German state of Schleswig-Holstein as part of East Germany. In the Mediterranean, Greece, alongside with the previously unknown "Balkan Federation," obviously an amalgamation of Albania, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, fell under the category "other communist states." Lastly, Turkey (a NATO member since 1952) was marked as "Soviet ally" together with and large swaths of the Middle East. Later, it turned out that the publishers had availed themselves of a fictional map, which was published on the website Deviant Art by Icelander Andri Jonsson under an alias, Kuusinen, and featured an alternate version of the Cold War in the 1960s. Remarkably, Otto Wilhelm Kuusinen was the leader of the Finnish revolution in 1918 and the subsequent, very short-lived Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic until his flight to the Soviet after the defeat of the Reds in the Finnish Civil War. "Naturally, I was surprised and I also think it's very, very strange. I do not understand how this could happen. But first and foremost, I think it's funny," Jonsson told Norwegian broadcaster NRK. If the surveillance proposal, which earlier this week was given the go-ahead by the defense committee, ends up being endorsed by parliament, the Norwegian Intelligence Service will be able to gain access to telecommunications data and the contents of any data traffic that crosses the Norwegian border, Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten reported. Remarkably, the surveillance is expected to encompass not only suspected criminals, but everyone who uses the Internet. Whereas only targeted surveys have been advised, the monitoring of data in large batches is also possible. According to defense commission chairman Olav Lysne, the surveillance will be performed automatically. The monitoring is expected to include all information ordinary Norwegians have on their mobile phones and store on overseas data clouds. Additionally, it may even include contacts via social media, since most of the communication is performed via servers abroad. Both unencrypted and encrypted data can be intercepted. So far, the Norwegian Intelligence Service has no plans to collect information about Norwegians living in Norway, which are expected to be spared the surveillance. The so-called "digital border defense," which has been criticized by human rights activists as a privacy encroachment, is justified by defense authorities by the risk of cyber-attacks and terrorism. According to Aftenposten, Norwegian traffic is at present being monitored by Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States and, possibly, even Denmark. The film is set during the Nazi invasion of the USSR and tells the story of Sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko, played by Yulia Peresild, who was trained as a sniper, killing 309 Nazis in the battles of Odessa and Sevastopol. A total of 20 films from BRICS member countries were screened during the festival in the competitive segment. The best Film Award went to the Indian film Tithi. Films were judged by an eminent jury comprising one noted film maker of each member country. If President Barack Obama was hoping for a graceful start to his final trip to Asia as commander in chief, this wasnt it, CBS News reported. The misunderstanding between the White House and the host of G20 summit first became evident from the moment the US presidents plane landed in Hangzhou, China. There was no staircase for Obama to exit the plane and descend on the red carpet. Obama used an alternative exit to reach Chinese soil. "There have been a lot of such illusions. Japan often intentionally uses bilateral issues in an attempt to convince Russia that economic relations between the two countries will flourish if the territorial issue is resolved on Japan's conditions. This has been claimed more than once. For example, in the 90s, the Japanese even started a rumor that if Russia gives them the Kuril Islands, Japan will pay from 25 to 30 billion dollars. Of course, the Russian leaders of the day didn't fall for it," Kholodkov told Sputnik. The fact that the Japanese government has now decided to focus on the economy, not politics, may be only encouraged. After all, the political atmosphere influences, but does not always determine the extent of the global economic cooperation according to Vyacheslav Kholodkov. "The government, which is interested in solving the territorial issue, is not a subject of business activity. In Japan, there are no state-owned companies, and private companies cannot be ordered about by the government," said the analyst. "There are far more acute and serious political issues between Japan and China than in Russian-Japanese relations. However, China now takes 26% of the market of high-tech products; Germany is in second place with 10%, and the US has only 7%. This is the reason why Japanese businesses rush to China. That's the way the market economy works. It's the same with Japan's relations with Russia. With the improvement of the investment climate in Russia, Japanese companies will come to the Russian market even if the territorial problem remains unsolved," the expert explained. Pakistani troops violated ceasefire along LoC in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir. By Ashwini Kumar: Pakistani soldiers violated cease fire on line of control in Poonch sector in Jammu after starting indiscriminate firing at midnight on Indian Army posts along . Defence sources said that the Indian Army posts have retaliated appropriately. Intermittent firing is presently on. Sources said that Pakistani troops started indiscriminate mortar shells and small arms on our six posts on line of control in Shahpur Kerni area of Poonch sector in Jammu. SIX POSTS TARGETED advertisement Pakistani posts Mochi Mohra, Dhakni Dhok, New Digging and Nezapir targeted our six posts . Indian army soldiers are retaliating the Pakistan firing effectively . According to sources from the defence, this time Pakistani troops targeted Kasba village with mortar shells and own posts are also retaliating . No loss of life or damage has been reported from the spot. WATCH THE VIDEO HERE: Also read: Pakistan violates ceasefire in J-K's Akhnoor sector, Indian Army responds --- ENDS --- According to the analyst, Prime Minister Mirziyoyev is one of the most likely candidates, since he has the support of much of the military and security forces. Deputy Prime Minister Azimov is another possibility, since he is supported by the government's economic bloc. Security services head Inoyatov is not out of the running, although he, according to Mirzayan, "is likely to remain a grey cardinal." At 72, Inoyatov may be "too old, and too cautious" to take the job. Another option, of course, may be to elect a figurehead leader, which is a common practice in the region, the analyst recalled. "Whatever option is chosen by Karimov's confidants, it will be accompanied by consensus within the elite (and perhaps the effort to create this consensus helps explain the delay in the announcement on Karimov's incapacitation and death)." "Of course, security officials and apparatchiks may come to blows among themselves, with the clever among them using Islamist groups for the internal struggle. However, everyone is also perfectly aware that doing so would undermine the main pillar of their own legitimacy the stability for the sake of which the country's population is ready to tolerate an authoritarian government." Whoever is picked to become the new president, Mirzayan is convinced that he or she will be forced to initiate serious reforms in both domestic and foreign policy, the former aimed at reducing the threat of radical Islam, the latter at normalizing relations with Uzbekistan's neighbors Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Ties with these countries had been ruined by personal political animosities, by historical conflicts and issues surrounding water resources. As far as global strategy is concerned, Uzbekistan's old strategy of strict isolationism, including reliance on domestic resources and non-participation in multilateral international negotiations, and the refusal to delegate even a small degree of sovereignty to supranational structures, may no longer be applicable in the current situation in the region, according to Mirzayan. On Saturday, speaking before the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Park called on North Korea's neighbors, including Russia, to assert their influence over Pyongyang. In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that it was necessary to act cautiously, so as not to provoke North Korean leaders in taking measures that they see as the protection of their national security. An aggravation of the situation would be counterproductive, and it's necessary to return to multilateral negotiations, Putin emphasized. At the same time, he added that Moscow still has some channels of communication with Pyongyang, and will use them to attempt to reduce tensions. Also on Saturday, President Xi met with US President Barack Obama. The two men discussed the North Korean issue. Xi reiterated the position that Beijing is fundamentally opposed to the deployment of THAAD in Korea, and urged Washington to respect China's strategic security interests. The US made the decision to deploy its THAAD ABM system in South Korea in July. Speaking to Sputnik, veteran military expert Vladimir Evseev laid out the contours of Beijing's concerns, and what China expects to gain by pressing Washington and Seoul not to deploy THAAD in South Korea. "According to the information we have at the moment, the US will only be deploying one THAAD battery [in South Korea]," the expert noted. "This battery is meant to defend US military facilities, not Seoul. I think that this was discussed at the meetings Xi Jinping held with Park Geun-hye and Barack Obama." "Just looking at the JL-1 and the North Korean SLBM, theyre looking exactly the same, he said before claiming that China has a long track record of providing illegal weapons to North Korea including transporter-erector-launchers (TEL)" which is a system used for launching missiles. Bechtol also noted that in joint research with space and weapons expert Tal Inbar of Israels Fisher Institute, the two reached identical conclusions that the North Korean missile was acquired from China. "He and I agree that there is really not any other missile that looks similar at all to this North Korean missile whereas the JL-1 looks like a carbon copy of it," he said. "Part of what Ive tried to communicate to President Xi (Jinping) is that the United States arrives at its power, in part, by restraining itself," said Obama in a CNN interview. "You know, when we bind ourselves to a bunch of international norms and rules, its not because we have to, its because we recognize that, over the long-term, building a strong international order is in our interest. And, I think, over the long-term, it will be in Chinas interests, as well." The statements fell flat given President Obamas plainly stated goal of minimizing Chinas regional influence as part of his "Asian pivot" as well as in light of recent diplomatic friction with a key American ally, the Philippines, whose President accused the United States of treating it as a colony on Monday before erupting in an obscenity laden tirade against the US President. Obama announced that he refused to meet his Filipino counterpart on Monday as a result. BISHKEK (Sputnik) Four terrorists suspected of taking part in the attack on the Chinese Embassy in Kyrgyzstan last week and believed to be linked to Uighur separatists in Syria have been put on an international wanted list, the countrys state security body said Tuesday. Four members of the Turkistan Islamic Movement [Party] in Syria international terrorist organization are wanted on charges of involvement in the terrorist attack on the Chinese embassy in Bishkek, the State Committee for National Security spokesperson told RIA Novosti. However, Yang Mian of the Chinese Media Institute's Center for International Relations thinks the consequences of the spat could be far-reaching. "This is a diplomatic incident between two countries. On the one hand, Obama is a head of state and this is intolerable for someone with his authority. On the other hand, the US often gives the Philippines a reason to feel discontent because it believes that the US is trying to take control of the Philippines," he told Sputnik. "From the US point of view and from the point of view of diplomatic etiquette, measures could also be taken to lower the level of US-Philippine relations. In any case, there can't be any consultation between the two countries now, the incident could also have an impact on cooperation," Yang Mian said. Grigoriy Lokshin of Russia's RAS Institute of Far Eastern Studies told Sputnik that Duterte's outburst was provoked in part by political differences with the US regarding the Philippines' South China Sea dispute with China. "This is connected with the political course that Duterte is taking. After all, he is trying to find some opportunities and to negotiate with China," Lokshim said. "From this point of view, it is a step in the direction of China, to try and find an agreement somehow. I would not dare to predict whether it will be possible to change the nature of relations between the two countries, because China is unlikely to change its position on the South China Sea." As Obama was preparing to attend the G20 summit in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, US officials balked at requiring President Obama to use a staircase provided by the Chinese to disembark his airplane instead of the set of rolling stairs flown in by the US, leading some to wonder if the gesture was simple oversight or a subtle sign of disrespect. Another problem on the tarmac arose after National Security Adviser Susan Rice was blocked by A Chinese security official who was later caught on cellphone yelling "This is our country, this is our airport," to a presidential aide as she was attempting to corral members of the press. HANGZHOU (Sputnik) China's President Xi Jinping hopes the G20 summit in Hangzhou will create a new economic growth momentum, he said at the official opening ceremony of the summit in Hangzhou on Sunday. "I hope this summit will provide solutions that address reasons and causes of the economic problems and help to achieve sustainable and balanced inclusive global growth," Xi said. He added that the leaders of the G20 countries should actively contribute to strengthening macroeconomic cooperation. Russia, China Discuss Specific Detail of Turkish Stream Project Russia and Turkey proceeded to discussions of specific issues related to the implementation of the Turkish Stream pipeline project, Ulyukayev said. "Activities on the Turkish Stream are also underway. Specific things are solved there. For example, where, in what place, the pipeline should enter the Turkish coast, with provision of relevant sites. Generally, it was a very practical work." The Turkish Stream project, which is expected to bring Russian gas via the Black Sea to Turkey and southern Europe, was suspended after a Russian Su-24 aircraft was downed by a Turkish F-16 fighter in Syria on November 24, 2015. Turkey Fulfilled All Promises on Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant Turkey has fulfilled all its promises regarding the Akkuyu NPP, the situation is developing very positively with a high level of confidence that the first NPP unit will be put into operation within the timeframe established by the contract, the Russian economic development minister said. "[The Akkuyu issue] was discussed. Regarding the nuclear power plant we have a very positive situation development. The Turkish side has fulfilled all its promises, made changes to the three laws of the republic giving this project the status of strategic There is a high degree of certainty that in time established by the contract, in seven years, if I'm not mistaken, the first unit will be put into effect," Ulyukayev said. Putin, Erdogan Discuss Lifting of Russia's Food Ban Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed Russia's ban imposed on Turkish food products in the context of lifting the restrictions on Ankara, Ulyukayev said. "Of course it has been discussed, it has been discussed in the context that we are working on lifting these restrictions," Ulyukayev told reporters. He added that the Russian side should be certain that Turkish companies wishing to export their agricultural production meet Russia's quality specifications. HANGZHOU (Sputnik) The joint share of the BRICS emerging economies in the International Monetary Fund's capital has almost reached 15 percent, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday at an informal meeting of BRICS leaders on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China. "The BRICS countries saw its joint share in the Funds capital to increase to 14.89 percent, a step away from 15-percent blocking threshold. Without a doubt, we have to move forward to carry out an IMF reform," Putin said. BRICS is an association of five developing economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), which comprises over one third of the worlds population. The five nations have a combined nominal GDP equivalent to approximately 20 percent of gross world product. BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement, New Development Bank Should Work on Full Scale One of the duo's victims had committed suicide with his entire family, unable to deal with the financial loss. By Tanseem Haider: Delhi Police Crime Branch has arrested two persons Surjeet Singh and Sushant Basak from Delhi, for cheating people by pretending to offer loans through a finance company. MAN COMMITS SUICIDE WITH FAMILY AFTER BEING CHEATED OF LAKHS In 2014, Manish Jaiswal of Chhattisgarh was cheated by Delhi-based Citizen Finance Company?? of Rs 12 lakh. The company assured Jaiswal a loan of Rs 25 lakh and asked him to pay Rs 12 lakh as processing fees. The amount Jaiswal paid was already borrowed from someone else. advertisement On December 23, 2014, Jaiswal got a call from the company directing him to pay Rs 3.5 lakh failing which his loan file would be closed. On hearing this, a distressed Jaiswal committed suicide along with his wife and son. TIP-OFF LED TO ARREST OF THE TWO FRAUDSTERS On September 2, the Central Range Police received information that Surjeet Singh and Sushant Basak, who were involved in cheating people by pretending to be from a finance company and offering loans, would come near ISBT Kashmere Gate. Acting on the information, the police laid a trap and apprehended the two. MODUS OPERANDI Both the accused disclosed during interrogation that in 2014, they had opened a finance company in the name of Citizen Finance Company?? and started cheating people through telecalling promising them loans on easy terms and conditions on depositing a processing fee. Once the amount was credited in their account, they switched off the mobile phone from which they had made the call and continued making calls to other customers from different numbers which they obtained through forged IDs. Using this method, they cheated Manish Jaiswal of Rs 12 lakh. ALSO READ: Real 'Special 26' cheat lands in CBI net for job fraud --- ENDS --- Regional countries continue their attempts to diversify energy supplies. "But will oil from the Middle East be a real secure alternative to the Russian Urals oil?" the articl read. This summer, Iran shipped 2 million barrels of crude to Poland. In August, the Iranian supertanker Atlantas arrived to the Polish port of Gdansk. It was greeted as a political game-changer just like the opening of the new oil Terminal Natfowy PERN in April. Polish and German refineries rely on Russian oil coming mainly via a pipeline from Russia. The new terminal allows for importing oil from other suppliers if shipments from Russia are disrupted. Nevertheless, the dream of Eastern and Central European states to stop reliance on Russian oil is far from becoming reality, according to the article. There are some conditions without which the import of Saudi or Iranian oil could not be possible. First, oil prices are still low while oil in storage is at record highs. Thus, every producer is trying to dump as much crude as possible to the market. Iranians are said to sell their oil two times cheaper than their Saudi and Iraqi competitors, the article read. Second, the cost of shipping is very low now. If shipping prices increase the oil shipments from Iran and other Middle Eastern producers to the Baltic Sea will stop being profitable. As a result, "Poland will still be dependent on Russian oil supply," the article read. ASTANA (Sputnik) Kazakhstans President Nursultan Nazarbayev suggested on Sunday creating a UN-based economic regulator to steer the global economy to growth, at the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China. "Such structure can be created by transforming the UN Economic and Social Council into a Global Development Council and handing over to it the powers of a global economic regulator," Nazarbayev said, as quoted by his press office. The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is one of the United Nations six main organs that is responsible for coordination of economic and social policies. HANGZHOU (Sputnik) The Russian presidents website quoted the Saudi deputy crown prince as saying earlier that a stable global oil market was unthinkable without cooperation by Russia and the Arab monarchy, two of the worlds biggest crude oil producers. "Of course, cooperation in the oil sector was touched upon, but the focus was more on finance and high-tech as well as the WTO [World Trade Organization]," Dmitry Peskov told reporters. HANGZHOU (Sputnik) The document was signed by Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin and ChemChinas Ren Jianxin on the sidelines of Russian President Vladimir Putins meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Hangzhou, China. "The FEPCO project will become a new milestone in the partnership between our countries and will further strengthen Russian-Chinese economic ties. The creation of a joint venture will help us shape the development structure of the worlds one of the most advanced petrochemical projects that will have direct access to the Asia-Pacific market," Sechin told reporters in Hangzhou. Under the agreement, Rosneft will hold a 60-percent share in the joint venture, while ChemChina will hold 40 percent. HANGZHOU (Sputnik) Russia and Turkey signed an agreement to construct and operate Turkeys first nuclear power plant at the Akkuyu site in the Turkish southern Mersin Province in May 2010. The plant is expected to produce about 35 billion kilowatt-hours per year. The project's cost is estimated at about $20 billion. Earlier in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in China. "They spoke separately of RosatomThe Turks have promptly made the necessary legislative changes that will intensify work on the Akkuyu NPP," Peskov told reporters. According to the FSA, only 700 million out of the roughly 4 billion NOK ($84 million out of $500 million) transferred from Norway annually in accordance with Hawala principles is being sent by firms which are properly registered in the country. Norwegian agents who cooperate with foreign payment institutions are therefore in a high risk group for transferring money for supposed criminal or terrorist activity, the Norwegian national broadcaster NRK reported. Hawala, a huge network of money brokers, primarily located in the Middle East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and the Indian subcontinent, operates outside of, or parallel to, traditional banking. It also provides a legitimate service for money transfers between countries that have no functioning banking. According to the FSA, however, the use of Hawala transfers implies a high risk of money being laundered or used to finance terrorism. According to FSA section manager Ole-Jrgen Karlsen, Hawala businesses could become a channel for sending the proceeds from crimes such as trafficking, prostitution and drug dealing out of the country. The transferred money may be used to finance terrorism in conflict areas around the world. At present, unaccompanied refugee children constitute roughly 35,000 out of last year's influx of 163,000 asylum-seekers. However, the tests, performed by Swedish authorities to verify their real age are naive and insufficient, pediatrician Josef Milerad, Associate Professor at the Department of Children's and Women's Health at the Karolinska Institute, told the Swedish tabloid newspaper Expressen . Instead of the current procedure, which largely rests on visual evaluation and is ruled by political correctness, Milerad advocates for the tests to be done medically, including taking x-rays. According to Milerad, who has examined many people officially classed as children by the Migration Board, almost 40 percent of them are in fact between 20 and 25 years old, and some of them even near their forties. The botched age verification system spawns misplacement of funds and deficient care, Milerad argued, citing political correctness as one of the main reasons for such ridiculousness. "The refugee children who are in their early and mid-teens are the ones who end up paying the price for this lying. There are resources that have been earmarked for children, but they are used for a completely different age group," Josef Milerad told the newspaper. HANGZHOU (Sputnik) A Normandy format meeting between the leaders of Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine will be held in the near future, with the specific date yet to be coordinated, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday. This is where it is leading to, but so far it has not yet been coordinated. We are talking about the near future, but it is not clear exactly when. A week, a month, a year, Peskov told RIA Novosti. BELGRADE (Sputnik) The economic losses sustained by Croatia as a result of the introduction of sanctions against Russia are estimated at about 300 million euros ($334 million at the current exchange rates), Russian Ambassador to Croatia Anvar Azimov said. "Croatia is part of the European Union and NATO and has also introduced sanctions [against Russia]. It also bears losses. Russian businessmen will not invest in a country that imposes sanctions on us. Because of the decrease in exports, Croatia has lost approximately 300 million euros, according to our estimates," Azimov said in an interview with the Croatian Vecernji List newspaper, published on Monday. According to AI, 86 percent of Syrian refugees living in urban areas of Jordan exist below the local poverty line. @eucopresident Really? What will Libanon, Jordan, Turkey make of that? Alice Stollmeyer (@StollmeyerEU) September 4, 2016 In Lebanon, refugees have US$0.70 cent a day for food. However speaking ahead of the G20 Summit in China, Donald Tusk called on other countries to "scale up" their share of responsibility for refugees. "The practical capabilities of Europe to host new waves of refugees, not to mention irregular economic migrants, are close to the limits," said Tusk. "In light of an unprecedented number of 65 million displaced people all over the world, the G20 community needs to scale up its share of responsibility. "Only global efforts supporting refugees and their host communities will be able to bear fruit," he added. More than a million migrants and refugees arrived in Europe in 2015, but it's 2016 that is proving to be the deadliest year on record for refugees dying in the central Mediterranean region. "The chances of dying on the Libya to Italy route are ten times higher than when crossing from Turkey to Greece," William Spindler, a spokesperson for the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR) said. More than 115,000 refugees and migrants have landed in Italy so far this year; but for every 42 crossings from North Africa, one person dies. "This makes 2016 to date the deadliest year on record," Mr Spindler, a spokesperson for UNHCR said. Overall, around 281,740 people made the sea crossing to Europe so far this year 4,176 have gone missing or have died. Health experts have attributed the rise to a possible "evolution" in the virus that carries this disease and change in weather factors like humidity. By Press Trust of India: Chikungunya cases in Delhi have shot up to 560, according to a municipal report released today, even as hospitals in the city continue to be swamped by patients affected by this vector-borne disease. The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) which compiles the vector-borne disease cases report on behalf of all civic bodies, had pegged the total number of cases till August 27 at 432. advertisement The 128 fresh cases in one week measures far too little compared to its cases being reported at hospitals, on an average close to 200 per week. Only 20 chikungunya cases were diagnosed in the national capital till August 20, according to SDMC.However, Safdarjung Hospital itself reported nearly 250 cases till August 29.Doctors say the cases are further likely to rise. "Chikungunya cases have spiked in the city. We are getting more and more patients with its symptoms. Till August 29, our hospital reported 246 cases," Medical Superintendent of Safdarjung Hospital A K Rai said. At the AIIMS laboratories, which get blood samples from Delhi and other parts of the country, 362 samples were tested positive for chikungunya during July to August 20. "Out of 133 samples sent to our labs, 83 were tested positive in July and this month till August 20, out of 502 samples, 279 tested positive for chikungunya," Department of Microbiology at AIIMS, Lalit Dar, had earlier said. WHAT IS CHIKUNGUNYA? Chikungunya is a viral illness and its symptoms are similar to those of dengue, which include high-grade fever, severe joint pain, muscle pain and headache and joint swelling. It also causes rashes in patients but is not a threat like dengue in which there is a risk of bleeding due to abrupt fall in platelet count. Meanwhile, IMA President-Elect Dr K K Aggarwal cautioned about chikungunya virus (CHIKV) that can cause CHIKV-associated encephalitis. "Children younger than 1 year and adults aged 65 years or older have the highest incidence of CHIKV-associated encephalitis," he said, while claiming such cases are occurring in Delhi. MOSQUITO-BORNE DISEASE The sudden spike in chikungunya cases in Delhi and several other parts of north India, has come nearly 10 years after a big outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease across the country. In 2006, over 13 lakh suspected chikungunya fever cases were reported across the country, according to National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP). This year till July 28, 9,990 suspected cases of the disease have been recorded, with Karnataka reporting 7,591 cases. Health experts have attributed the rise to a possible "evolution" in the virus that carries this disease and change in weather factors like humidity. advertisement "The disease is caused by the same aedes aegypti mosquito which causes dengue but the difference is that dengue virus has four strains while chikungunya has only one," NVBDCP Director Dr A C Dhariwal said. "The joint pains last longer compared to dengue cases and especially elderly people find it extremely difficult. Though, people should not worry as it not a life-threatening disease like dengue," Dar said. 12 MOBILE FEVER CLINICS FOR CAPITAL As the national capital continues to battle spiraling cases of dengue and chikungunya, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) on Monday launched 12 mobile fever clinics that will offer free treatment and medicine to people. Each mobile clinic carries necessary supplies like paracetamol and other medicines to treat fever. Besides, a team of a doctor and a nurse will travel in those vehicles, Leader of House in SDMC, Subhash Arya said. SDMC has four zones, Central, South, West and Najafgarh and three medium-sized vans will cover each region. "In view of the rising cases of dengue, chikungunya and viral fever, we realised it is important to reach out to people and take medical help to their doorsteps. Treatment and medicines will be offered free of cost," SDMC leader Ashish Sood said. "These will run till the end of dengue season. We may think of making those permanent," he said. advertisement The rising number of dengue and chikungunya cases has resulted in a slanging match between the three BJP-ruled municipal corporations and the AAP government in Delhi. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had last week alleged that MCDs are doing nothing to either combat the vectorborne disease or clean the city. According to a municipal report released on Monday, 560 cases of chikungunya have been reported in the national capital till September 3. Safdarjung Hospital alone had reported nearly 250 cases till August 29. During the same period, at least 771 dengue cases were reported, marking a rise of nearly 60 per cent over the count last week. Nine people have died of this disease in the city. Jain said hospitals run by the Delhi government are fully prepared. We have 10,000 beds and the number of fever clinics has been increased from 55 last year to 355. ALSO READ: Delhi: Hospitals not equipped to deal with increasing cases of chikungunya? http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/delhi-hospitals-not-equipped-chikungunya/1/750448.html After dengue, Chikungunya cases spike in national capital http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/chikungunya-cases-spike-in-national-capital/1/748251.html --- ENDS --- McLeish admitted that restarting talks between Russia and Western Europe amid mutual mistrust would be tough, but he said this would help make progress on many fronts. "Nobody can be naive about this. These would be tough discussion to get underway. There are lots of suspicions, lack of trust and doubts between all the parties but unless we talk we are not going to make progress on one front and its high time we started to make progress on other fronts," he said. "We need a mature look at what were doing and we need to get unhooked from the many prejudices of the past which have haunted both Russia and Western Europe. This is a time for dialogue however difficult that may prove," he noted. McLeish also gave his backing to a proposition to normalize trade with Russia that former UK Trade Minister Brian Wilson voiced in a comment to Sputnik last June. "And by talking on trade we can maybe extend talks to other areas," McLeish added. UK transport officials are expected to travel to Moscow soon to discuss ways in which Britain and Russia can work more closely on aviation security and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet with his British counterpart, Boris Johnson, at the next session of the UN General Assembly in New York due to open on September 13. EDINBURGH (Sputnik) The second referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union cannot be ruled out since the country is "bitterly divided," former First Minister of Scotland Henry McLeish told Sputnik on Monday. Earlier in the day, the British parliament started discussions of a petition signed by more than four million people, who demanded a new referendum on London's membership of the 28-nation bloc. "One of my main concerns is that at the heart of our democracy [pro-Brexit supporters] are quite happy to say the people have spoken through a referendum and then disinclined to allow the people any further say on what may happen once the negotiations are complete. I think it is a ludicrous proposition to rule-out the idea of parliamentary votes and its ludicrous to rule out a second referendum when the outcome of negotiations has been firmly resolved," McLeish said. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The UK government will build national consensus around its stance on Brexit negotiations with the European Union, UK Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis said Monday. "We will strive to build national consensus around our approach," Davis told the House of Commons, the lower house of the UK Parliament. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's economy minister, CDU politician Harry Glawe, essentially agreed with his counterpart from the SPD, noting that while "we had reduced unemployment and created a lot of new jobs, the refugees became the main issue, from which we suffered the most." However, some CDU officials remain defiant. CDU member and regional Minister of Justice Uta-Maria Kuder said that while she was disappointed, she also felt that "we did a good job," with the migrant issue unfortunately casting a shadow over the entire campaign. Overall, Kuder insisted that "Merkel has done the right thing." Meanwhile, asked by Sputnik about whether AfD has any plans to field a candidate in next year's federal election, Alexander Gauland, the party's co-founder and party leader in the state of Brandenburg, emphasized that it's "too early" for that. "If you nominate a candidate, you must have a chance of winning. We have not reached that level yet," the politician humbly noted. At the same time, Gauland added that the party is thrilled by the results in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, even if it didn't manage to defeat the ruling SPD. "There cannot even be any question of any disappointment. We have existed for three years. We have defeated the Chancellor in her home region. We have every reason to be happy." Sunday's results are expected to translate into 26 seats for the SPD, 18 for AfD, 16 for Merkel's SDU, and 11 for Die Linke. While Brussels is in favor of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, member states are opposed, investigative journalist Tony Gosling told Radio Sputnik. "Brussels itself is very much behind this, but it's fair to say the individual member states don't want anything to do with it, because effectively it means their own abolition," Gosling said. Gosling outlined some of the similarities between TTIP and the proposed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada, and the global Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA). Relocation Failure In July 2015, the European Council agreed "to the relocation of 40 000 persons in clear need of international protection, which will run over two years, from the frontline Member States Italy and Greece." Then, In September 2015, it once again agreed "to relocate 120,000 people in clear need of international protection to other EU Member States." So far as at September 5, 2016 only 4,519 have actually been relocated under the scheme, amid an initial inability to set up "hotspots" with enough staff to process the asylum seekers and a complete failure to agree on where they could be relocated to. Hungry supported by Poland is challenging the policy at the European Court of Justice. Now that German interior minister is suggesting the Dublin rules to be enforced and that migrants should be sent back to the country where they originally arrived, the situation has gone full circle. The humanitarian crisis is further deepened by the gradual failure of the controversial EU-Turkey migrant deal again brokered by Merkel under which those refused asylum in Greece are returned to Turkey in return for EU cash. Talks with @RT_Erdogan on EU-Turkey relations & continued cooperation on migration at the #G20summit pic.twitter.com/gKOGRBxeoE Donald Tusk (@eucopresident) September 5, 2016 That deal is slowly becoming unraveled because of rising opposition to the deal within Europe over Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's increasing grip on power, clampdown on opponents and serious doubt over Turkey's record on free speech and human rights. After nearly two years of negotiation over how to deal with the migrant crisis, whole pillars of the European Union are collapsing: borderless Schengen, the Dublin rules, free movement and any sense of a common immigration policy. For many, the EU dream lies in tatters in the face of a deepening humanitarian crisis it created. According to senior research assistant Jens Lindberg and senior lecturer Stefan Sjostrom (both from the University of Umea's department of social work), male rape poses a huge problem that remains largely undocumented, as the majority of cases are never reported to the police. Controversially, the scientists claim that the phenomenon isn't limited to male-on-male rape. In 2015, police in Sweden recorded 141 men aged 18 and over as having been raped, compared to 3,333 recorded female rape victims. However, the real figures are estimated to be much higher. The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Bra) believes that only 10-20 percent of all rapes are represented in police statistics. An ensuing problem is that only a fraction of all cases actually make it to court. Furthermore, research on male rape is very limited in Sweden, there have only been a few isolated studies published, Lindberg and Sjostrom pointed out. Historically, male rape has been associated with homosexuality, pedophilia, or overwhelmingly male institutional environments such as prisons and the army. Heterosexual adult men have rarely been considered potential rape victims, which is a stereotypical misconception, the Swedish scientists pointed out in their debate article, which was published by Swedish national broadcaster SVT. May said the system proposed by Johnson, who campaigned hard to leave the European Union, was no "silver bullet." Instead, the former home secretary is considering blocking all EU migrants from entering the UK unless they have a job. This, according to Mrs. May is how she anticipates regaining "control" of Britain's immigration system. "What the British people voted for on the 23rd June was to bring some control into the movement of people from the European Union to the UK. A points-based system does not give you that control," she said during a speech at the G20 Summit in China[it] means people come in automatically if they just meet the criteria," Mrs. May said. She had come in for severe criticism for opening the floodgates to over a million migrants, precipitating the European migrant crisis. At home, she was panned for the crisis of federal states and major cities struggling to cope with processing the migrants, housing them and giving them basic assistance and housing. #Merkel Is Officially 'Establishment', Her CDU Party About To CRASH From Immigration Mess https://t.co/zf6jAxEaL9#DemExit Precious Liberty (@preciousliberty) September 6, 2016 Meanwhile, half of those polled for newspaper Welt am Sonntag said Merkel should not stand for a fourth consecutive term in next year's election. Her approval rating has sunk to a five-year-low, at 45 percent. However, Jon Worth, political consultant and EU policy specialist, told Sputnik: "She's not as strong as she was, but she still is immensely strong and broadly trusted within Germany That very much remains the case. She's the weakest she's been for five years but that's still not comparatively weak." He told Sputnik, Merkel will probably stand for a fourth term at next year's federal election. "There are no other viable successors to her within the Christian Democratic Party. Her party is still ahead in the polls despite the lessening of support for Merkel as an individual. She knows he coalition partners, the SPD, are not doing particularly well either. So, overall, she is still in a very strong position," Mr. Worth told Sputnik. Right-Wing Threat The main potential threat to her comes from the populist right-wing Alternative for Germany Party (AfD), which has seen its support rise enormously in recent months, largely due to the migrant crisis, increasing Islamophobia and the fear of terrorism. Disagreeing with the president's choice of words, Walesa stormed out of the church in protest. In response, ceremony attendees began yelling at Walesa, and shouting "Death to the enemies of the people!" The same day, unknown attackers assaulted members of the Committee for the Defense of Democracy, a civic organization formed in November 2015 in opposition to the Law and Justice Party government, which Committee members said had initiated anti-democratic reforms in the country. In turn, coming out in support of the Committee, Walesa made his dramatic statement about the possibility of "civil war," even admitting that it may be necessary to create self-defense groups to defend against attacks by pro-government mobs. "This is a very serious matter, but apparently, I will have no other choice but to agree to a defensive organization, because the police does not protect those who are being attacked, who are being beaten up," the former president said. Reiterating that the government should convene the assembly to discuss issues of public importance, YSR Congress has demanded that the session should not be reduced to a mere formality. By Ashish Pandey: The principal opposition party of Andhra Pradesh, YSR Congress has demanded that the Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu should step down as he has lost the moral right to continue in the high office after the court directed ACB to re investigate the cash for vote case. 'As of now, Chandrababu Naidu did not categorically state that the voice on record in the cash for vote case does not belong to him which shows his guilt and a person with such a background has no right to continue as Chief Minister,' party MLA G. Srikanth Reddy told India Today. advertisement ASSEMBLY NOT A MERE FORMALITY Reiterating that the government should convene the assembly to discuss issues of public importance, YSR Congress has demanded that the session should not be reduced to a mere formality and should be long enough to discuss the core issues added Srikant Reddy. VARIOUS ISSUES The opposition leader also added that rushing through the agenda on GST and paying tributes to Mother Teresa is of no importance as there are many issues that should be voiced in the assembly. The rampant corruption which starts from the Cash for Vote to Speaker's confession about his extravagant expenditure in 2014 assembly elections. The drought, farmers' issues,special status, Polavaram and other assurances given during the division of the state which were not fulfilled by the Centre should be discussed thoroughly. The Godavri Pushkaram tragedy, Krishna Pushkarams corruption, minister's involvement in various deals, the poor performance, high corruption ranking of state, attacks on dalits are some issues which merit a discussion in the session, said the YSR Congress MLA. Andhra Pradesh assembly is scheduled to convene from September 8 in Hyderabad. Also Read: Lives at risk at rains cause flood in Telangana Caught on camera: Telangana police official abducts, assaults man --- ENDS --- WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Concerns about the readiness of foreign investors to fund the United Kingdoms (UK) debt after the country decided to exit the European Union, a move known as Brexit, may prove to be premature, the Fitch Ratings agency said in a release on Tuesday. "Concerns about foreign investors' willingness to fund the UK's current account deficit after Brexit are premature and may prove misplaced," the release stated. Fitch noted, however, that Brexit made the United Kingdoms economic outlook uncertain and the country somewhat less attractive for investment. RIGA (Sputnik) Latvian Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis vowed on Tuesday to reduce the number of civil servants in the near future. "Significant changes in the public administration were outlined, including a staff reduction," Kucinskis told journalists. By reducing the number of public administration employees, it will be possible to increase the salaries paid to department heads, which is hoped will improve the efficiency of public institutions. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The protestors who set fire to Ukraines TV Inter headquarters on Sunday violated the freedom of the press, US democracy watchdog Freedom House said in a press release on Monday. "Attacks on media outlets and journalists should not be tolerated by Ukraines government or the public, whatever the editorial viewpoint of a TV station, newspaper, or website," Freedom House Vice President for International Programs Robert Herman stated. Over the weekend, a group of 20 protestors set fire to the TV Inter headquarters in Ukraine. Freedom House described TV Inter as being widely regarded as "pro-Russian" in their coverage of events inside the country. BRUSSELS (Sputnik) Only 4,500 refugees have been relocated from Greece and Italy to other European states under the bloc's quota scheme as of September, a source in the EU institutions told RIA Novosti. In 2015, EU member states agreed to take in 40,000 asylum seekers over two years from Africa and the Middle East who had landed in Italy and Greece. Brussels laid out a quota system for refugee transfers that took into account social and economic indicators of each country. "About 4,500 refugees have been relocated from Greece and Italy as of the beginning of September," a source said. Where a high concentration of bio-ADM is found in the blood, vasodilatation (the dilatation of blood vessels, which reduces blood pressure) and integrity of the blood vessels are much worse. "We are excited about the connection between bio-ADM levels and a good microcirculation as an indicator for good quality of life, announced Andreas Bergmann, who was a key player in developing the bio-ADM project. If bio-ADM proves to be a reliable biomarker for longevity this will open up the avenue to a systematic analysis of the factors contributing to longevity. Traditionally, scientists have considered the key factors determining life expectancy to be genetic predisposition, physical activity and eating habits. The e-petition did lead to a debate in parliament but only more than two months AFTER the referendum and was therefore out-of-time. Despite this, MPs flocked to Westminster Hall, the alternative debating chamber to the traditional House of Commons most people see on the weekly Prime Minister's Question Time, known as PMQs. The principle issue behind the e-petition was that there should have been a minimum threshold set in the referendum, which actually resulted in 52 percent voting to Leave, with 48 percent for Remain. "There was no two-thirds threshold as is required in other nations to validate a major constitutional change of this nature. Our nation is more divided than ever in my lifetime and we are living through an unprecedented period of uncertainty," David Lammy said. Despite all the hot air, the three-hour debate ended with the official words: "Motion lapsed, and sitting adjourned without Question put." In other words, the e-petition signed by four million people was too late to change the terms of the referendum and was never even voted on anyway. Trump Card It followed the same course as another e-petition to ban US Republican Party presidential hopeful, billionaire Donald J. Trump from the UK after he called for a "total and complete shutdown" on Muslims entering the US, which prompted huge backing for calls for him to be banned from the UK, where he has substantial interests. Hungary could become for Serbia a good example of an EU country which takes a pragmatic approach to defending its own interests, said Dragomir Andjelkovic, commenting on the visit of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to Serbia, which is considered by the expert an event of first-rate importance. "Hungary succeeds in defending its national interests, despite EU membership. It does not want to fall into the neo-colonial matrix, where it will be obliged to sacrifice itself for others. Hungary truly protects its own interests [with respect to] the issue of the migration crisis, but at the same time maintains good relations with the Russian Federation, despite pressure from the EU," the political analyst said. "I think it's time for Serbia to adopt the Hungarian model of protecting the border from Middle East migrants," Andjelkovic stated. The European Commission plans to unveil the compulsory system of passenger registration in November, the EurActiv online news outlet reported. The system will only apply to visitors who do not require a visa to enter the border-less Schengen Area, apart from members of the single market, therefore it is possible UK passport holders would be charged post Brexit. If the ETIAS tariff is set at 50 euros, the system could bring in 2 billion euros annually by 2020 to Europe's budget, the newspaper added. Avakov himself has since blamed former servicemen from the 30th Brigade of the Ukrainian Army, who were said to have thought up the "patriotic protest" against the politically "unreliable" channel. But the six men that were detained and initially charged with hooliganism and willful damage of property were released the same day without suspicion. Commenting on the events, and their similarity to the events that shook his hometown in May 2014, Odessa journalist Yuri Tkachev told Svobodnaya Pressa that the attack on Inter was the logical outcome of the impunity granted to those responsible for the House of Trade Unions tragedy. "In my opinion, these events have the same logic," Tkachev noted. "I would not be at all surprised if those involved in the attack on Inter were involved in the attack on the House of Trade Unions. They acted this way in Odessa and got away with it. So logically, these people have come to believe that if possible, something like this can and should be repeated, and nobody will do anything to punish them. We see that the attackers have already been released without charges. So this is a logical course of events; one follows from the other." Moreover, the journalist recalled that "we have already heard Avakov's advisors talking about whether perhaps Inter actually set themselves on fire. It's unlikely that authorities will change their course of action. And the radicals will just be convinced that such behavior is acceptable, and similar incidents will be sure to take place, in more severe forms, in the future." For his part, Igor Dmitriev, a political scientist and former member of the Odessa City Council, emphasized that the attack on Inter was nothing more than a continuation of the battle between Ukraine's political clans, each of which controls various media resources to influence the public and distribute financial resources among themselves. Kox stated he believed Russia might present new credentials ahead of the winter session in January 2017. Representatives of all five political groups of the Assembly are currently in Moscow to carry out talks with senior legislators of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, and members of the Russian delegation to PACE. A PACE resolution in April 2014 deprived the Russian delegation of its voting rights, in response to Crimea rejoining Russia. Russian lawmakers were barred from participating in PACE's three key bodies its Bureau, Presidential Committee and Standing Committee. Russia did not renew its credentials ahead of the Parliamentary Assemblys 2016 winter session and made its return conditional to the restoration of its delegates' rights to vote and participate in PACE institutions. Tiny Kox also stated that the Russian governments stance on not inviting the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to observe upcoming elections to the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, is a mistake. In June, Duma speaker Sergei Naryshkin ruled out PACEs participation in the Russian parliamentary elections on September 18 after the deprivation of the Russian PACE delegation of its rights to vote. "We are now within two weeks to the [Russian parliamentary] elections, so I think it was a mistake of the Russian parliament not to invite us it is a pity that we are not here to observe these elections," Kox, who is also the Assembly Presidential Committees member and part of PACE delegation that arrived in Moscow to carry out talks with senior legislators of the State Duma, said. He added that the positive outcome of Wednesdays meeting of the PACE Presidential Committee members with Naryshkin in the Russian capital, would not make it possible for PACE pre-electoral and observation commissions to observe the Duma elections on such short notice. In 2014 and 2015, PACE suspended the Russian delegation's right to vote at Assembly's sessions in response to Crimea's incorporation into Russia. Russia did not renew its credentials ahead of the Parliamentary Assemblys 2016 winter session and made its return conditional to the restoration of its delegates' rights to vote and participate in PACE institutions. By PTI: New Delhi, Sep 6 (PTI) Delhi Waqf Board chairman and AAP MLA Amantullah Khan has accused Congress leader Haroon Yusuf of "corruption and criminal misconduct" seeking an Anti- Corruption Branch enquiry against him. Yusuf served as the Waqf Board chairman from March 1999 to March 2004 before he was made Power minister in the Sheila Dikshit government in 2005. advertisement Khan alleged Waqf Board driver Mohammad Rafiq continued to serve Yusuf even after he became a minister and the Board bore all his expenses, including salary. "By illegal and unlawful taking over of the employee of Delhi Waqf Board in his personal service, Haroon Yusuf converted a valuable resource of the Waqf Board into his own personal use thereby causing wrongful gain to himself and loss to the Board," Khan said in his complaint to the Delhi governments Vigilance directorate. "Conduct of Haroon Yusuf falls within the definition of corruption, criminal misconduct making him liable for action under Section 13 of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988," he said in the complaint. Yusuf rubbished the charges saying had had three drivers with him when he was a minister but he does not remember their exact details. He said, besides driving, the drivers also performed other duties such as carrying dispatches to different departments. "I dont understand the charge by Khan. Personnel from different departments are normally used by non-parent departments in diverted capacity. Even at present two drivers of Delhi Waqf Board are working with other departments in diverted capacity," Yusuf said. PTI VIT TIR RG TIR --- ENDS --- KRYNICA-ZDROJ (Poland) (Sputnik) Poland wants to take responsibility for the future of the European Union and is ready to show the bloc how it can reform itself, Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said Tuesday. "From the very beginning, we have pointed at challenges in the European Union, which we should not sweep under the carpet, but should look for their settlement We want to take responsibility for the future of the European Union," Szydlo said speaking at the international economic forum in the Polish town of Krynica-Zdroj. After the incidents Walesa explained that he disagreed with Duda's politicization of his speech at the funeral, and even warned that the divisions in Polish society are so deep that they threaten civil war Catholic priest and journalist Andrzej Luter accused the Polish authorities of failing to crack down on nationalist groups. The police have also been criticized for failing to do more to protect attendees to the funeral. "The heroic Inka and Zagonczyk did not deserve an atmosphere in which the smell of hatred and destruction was palpable," Luter wrote in a commentary. Anna Razny, a political scientist at Jagiellonian University in Krakow told Sputnik Polska that the attacks are a result of the Polish establishment's tolerance of far-right excesses. "The Law and Justice party (PiS) and the entire establishment agree to such excesses because in fact, radical nationalists do not disrupt the axioms of Polish politics, which are subordination to the goals of US globalism, deploying missile defense systems and NATO bases in Poland, supporting far-right elements in Ukraine and finally, Warsaw's anti-Russian position," Razny said. Razny said that the Polish opposition is also part of the establishment complicity with far-right groups. "This party (ONR) is not that radical in the eyes of the authorities, as long as it does not pose a threat to the ruling party. Let me remind you that the opposition creates the same system, the difference between the current ruling party and the opposition is artificial. On matters of political principle the whole of Poland's political scene is the same, and ONR radicals don't interfere in that." "I would go further, and say the ONR lulls the public consciousness, lulls our vigilance against the real threats, which don't come from Russia, but from the West." On August 15, at least 11 people were killed and 19 injured in an airstrike which destroyed a Doctors Without Borders hospital. The week before that, there were attacks on a food processing plant and a school. This is the fourth attack against an MSF facility in less than 12 months. Once again, today we witness the tragic consequences of the bombing of a hospital. Once again, a fully functional hospital full of patients and MSF national and international staff members, was bombed in a war that has shown no respect for medical facilities or patients. An aerial bomb hit the hospital compound, causing 11 people to lose their lives, MSF desk manager for the Emergency Unit in Yemen, Teresa Sancristoval, told the Guardian. Johnsons statement is based on an inquiry into eight of the most questionable incidents, and the defense that the bombings were justified due to credible intelligence that enemy Houthi forces were in the area. They have the best insight into their own procedures and will be able to conduct the most thorough and conclusive investigations. It will also allow the coalition forces to work out what went wrong and apply the lessons learned in the best possible way. This is the standard we set ourselves and our allies, Johnson said of Saudi Arabias investigation into their own actions. After four years of negotiation, on August 29 the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) agreed on a ceasefire with the Colombian government, ending a guerrilla war that began over 50 years ago. Two days before the announcement, Ukrainian journalist Oleg Yasinsky, accompanied by two Russian documentary filmmakers, visited a FARC base in Colombia where he spoke with the fighters. Despite the perception of Colombia as a conservative country with relatively strict gender roles, Yasinsky was struck by the large number of women represented among the troops, and shared his experiences with Sputnik Mundo in an exclusive interview. The marchers, rallied by left-wing groups and unions aligned with Rousseff's Workers Party, called for new elections and chanted "Out with Temer!" The police explained the gas attack as an attempt to stop vandalism. The attack caused panic and led clashes of protesters with police officers. Michael Temer, whose approval rating is an incredibly low 12%, has a somewhat lengthy record of wrongdoings. In particular, he managed to step into office despite ongoing punishment for violating campaign finance laws in his 2014 election, that was supposed to keep him from running for political office for eight years. He is also charged with channeling $400,000 in Petrobras kickbacks to one of his cronies running for mayor of Sao Paulo. On top of that, he is charged with paying off a construction executive some $300,000 in a bribe also related to the Petrobras scandal. During his visit to the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China, Temer, who came to the event aiming to "reveal to the world that [Brazil has] political and legal stability", tried to play down the wave of protests in comments to reporters. "They are small groups, not popular movements of any size," he said. "In a population of 204 million Brazilians, they are not representative." MOSCOW (Sputnik) The statement comes after Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir accused Tehran on Wednesday of destabilizing Arab countries and supplying arms to Yemen's Houthi rebels. Saudi authorities are bogged down in a bloody quagmire of terrorism and massacre of innocent women and children in Yemen, Syria and Iraq as a result of their egregious strategic errors, Bahram Qassemi said as quoted by the Tasnim News Agency. Since March 2015, the Saudi-led coalition of mostly Persian Gulf countries has been carrying out airstrikes, targeting Shia Houthi rebels at the Yemeni presidents request. Numerous human rights organizations have repeatedly criticized the coalition for the use of banned cluster munitions and strikes killing civilians. The war in Iraq has shaken the fragile balance in the Middle East and also has been a great harm to the United States, the journalist wrote. Thus, when Obama developed a military strategy for Syria, he primarily was guided by the principle: "anything, just not another Iraq." According to Grimm, the US military retreat in the Middle East, the underestimation of the enemy and controversial alliances provoked the emergence of a "black hole" in the region which enabled the creation of such brutal organization as Daesh. "Low-income families of the Latakia and Tartus cities have received over 1,5 tons of humanitarian cargoes. Posts with hot meal and items of first necessity continue their work for civilians who leave the districts of the Aleppo city, which are under control of terrorist armed groupings," the bulletin reads. On February 27, a US-Russia brokered ceasefire came into force in Syria. Terrorist groups such as Daesh, as well as Jabhat Fatah al Sham (previously known as the al-Nusra Front), both outlawed in Russia and a range of other states, are not part of the deal. But none of this has helped when farmers elsewhere started growing poppies in the hope of getting money if they stopped, further escalating the issue of opium production being seen as the only means of an acceptable income. No Quick Fix So what can be learnt from some of the other countries around the world with a significant narcotics production issue? Turkey is one such country that is said to have successfully transitioned from illicit production to legal, regulated control of the market, in particularly in the area of medicinal usage. This may be more challenging to replicate in more unstable countries such as Afghanistan with weaker infrastructures in comparison. Quite possibly the deemed success in countries such as Turkey, may have had the counter-effect of causing supply and demand to increase in other countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, India and even in Afghanistan, and so the impact has certainly not helped the global epidemic in any way. Therefore, in order to have an impact on the illicit trade, Turkey's model towards legal regulation must be the key long-term aim for many others. Heroin overdoses are taking over our children and others in the MIDWEST. Coming in from our southern border. We need strong border & WALL! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 27, 2016 Most opium comes from Asia like Afghanistan for instance, where we have a ton of soldiers https://t.co/sEjGJM3mTo SavageMike (@SavageMike) August 27, 2016 Like with any business opportunity, where the demand for something that is unregulated continues to be rising worldwide, there will always be criminal attention on supplying to that unregulated demand. Increased treatment usage by health providers of opiate substitutes and medicinal use of heroin could be a way for the countries at the end of the supply chain to lower the demand side a little. Governments addressing the key social and economic factors that cause any substance dependence issues to escalate is also a key area of focus. There is certainly no quick fix in combating the global drug epidemic. One thing that can be learnt from the intervention of international communities in Afghanistan in particular, is that forceful invasion just does not work but a move towards some level of ethical regulation could be a step in the right direction. According to earlier media reports, the plan provides for the establishment of a transitional authority, which would govern the country for 18 months after Assads removal from power. The plan also envisages the formation of a military council under the auspices of the transitional authority and with the participation of armed groups and representatives of the Syrian army, "whose hands are not stained with blood." The transitional authority will be allowed to seek military assistance from the international community in order to deal with their adversaries in Syria. The settlement plan also includes the adoption of a UN resolution that bans any military operations in Syria, except for those associated with the fight against terrorists and religious extremists designated as such by the international body. In addition, Syrian HNC opposition members are seeking to guarantee the linguistic and cultural rights of the Kurds within a single state framework. Syria has been mired in civil war since March 2011, with government forces loyal to Assad fighting numerous opposition factions and extremist groups. The Syrian government delegation, as well as three opposition groups the Riyadh-formed HNC, the Moscow-Cairo and the Hmeimim groups have been taking part in UN-mediated Geneva talks on the peaceful settlement of the conflict. By PTI: Kathmandu, Sep 6 (PTI) Two members of a criminal gang operating in India and Nepal have been arrested for allegedly making threat calls to blow up a school in southern Nepals Rautahat district if they were not paid 50 lakh rupees. Munna Kumar Yadav, 27, and Awadh Lal Mahato, 39, had threated to kill Ravishankar Yadav, the principal of Nemdhari Basudev Higher Secondary School in the district, and blow up the school if their demand was not met, police said. advertisement The duo made the threat calls and sent texts using different SIM cards and claimed that they were members of a gang operating in Nepal and India, they said. The principal received the first threat call on August 21 for five million Nepalese rupees (Rs 31 lakh). He was asked not to discuss the episode with anyone, or he would be killed. Police said the suspects were arrested on August 30 after a thorough investigation. Later, they were presented before the Rautahat District Court and remanded into custody. PTI SBP ABH --- ENDS --- So far in the Syria conflict, Turkey has had no access to the oil pipelines, it says. But by taking Manbij, Ankara will get access to the Syrian pipeline system. The current battle for Aleppo is viewed as the most decisive in the ongoing conflict: Aleppo is the last major city which the countrys main pipeline runs through, it says. Whoever controls Aleppo, controls the keys of the pipeline. The newspaper points out that the most intensive fighting between the warring parties is taking place at the key points of the pipeline, namely Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, Aleppo, Idlib, Manbij in Hasakah, al-Bukamal, Ayn Issa and al-Bab. Fierce fighting is also going on in the cities of Homs and Hama. And previously the war was raging in Palmyra, the outlet notes. All the settlements are located alongside the planned pipeline route which is set to run from Qatar to Turkey. The newspaper says that in its turn, Russia is supporting the construction of a gas pipeline that is set to run from Iran through Iraq and Syria, through the city of Homs. Therefore Moscow does not want Homs to fall into the hands of Islamist mercenaries. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) US Secretary of State John Kerry, Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir agreed to the need for a ceasefire in Yemen during a meeting on the margins of the G20 summit in China, US Department of State spokesperson John Kirby said in a press release on Tuesday. "The Secretary [Kerry] stressed the importance of implementing a 72-hour ceasefire by all sides to provide space for the UN Special Envoy, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, to engage in consultations with both sides," the release stated. "The Saudis agreed, provided it is implemented by all sides." Additionally, the three officials discussed the ongoing conflict in Syria as well as the situation in Libya, the release noted. ROME (Sputnik) The UN World Food Program (WFP) provided food assistance to over 30,000 people in the Iraqi town of Qayyarah liberated from the Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh) terrorists in August after two years of siege, the organization said on Tuesday in a press release. "Through its local partners Muslim Aid and Women Empowerment Organization, WFP distributed emergency food rations These rations will provide enough food for more than 30,000 people for a full month," WFP said in a press release. According to the press release, the WFP distributed emergency food kits containing dates, canned food and beans as well as monthly rations of wheat flour, rice, beans and vegetable oil. According to a recent UN study, Afghanistan is amongst 41 countries in which at least 30 percent of women enter marriage as a minor. Early marriage creates preconditions for gender inequality and young families have no stable material grounds., Nabila Mosleh, director of Ministry of Womens Rights, told Sputnik. According to the ministrys director, another key factor is sexual abuse, which at an early age can undermine a fragile body. The results can be seen in unhealthy offspring. Even if an under aged girl gives birth to a healthy child, the question of motherhood does not vanish into thin air. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced on Tuesday that it was able to deliver desperately needed food supplies for more than 30,000 people in and around the Northern Iraqi town of Qayyarah, located 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of Mosul, the town that was under siege for more than two years. The people of Qayyarah had been living under siege for two years and are suffering extreme hunger with scarce access to food supplies. Reaching them with life-saving food assistance is a very positive step forward, Thanks to a generous contribution from the Government of Germany; WFP is able to provide more food assistance to families who are being displaced from the greater Mosul area, said Sally Haydock, WFP Iraq Country Director as quoted on the organization's website. One US official claimed that since January, there have been 31 such encounters between US and Iranian ships. "These are incidents that carry a risk of escalation and we dont desire any kind of escalation," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told reporters last month. "Our ships have been operating in that part of the world for years." Earlier this year, two US Navy patrol vessels drifted into Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf. Crewmembers were apprehended by the Revolutionary Guard and nearly sparked an international crisis in the midst of the Iran nuclear negotiations. Iranian defense minister Gen. Hosein Dehghan has defended Tehrans actions, maintaining that it would perform similar intercepts as often as necessary. "If any foreign vessel enters our waters, we warn them," he told Tasnim news agency last month, "and if its an invasion, we confront." MOSCOW (Sputnik) The statement was made during Rouhanis meeting with Secretary General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Mohammad Barkindo. "HE Dr. Rouhani said Iran had suffered greatly under sanctions, and it was vital for the country to make up for its lost oil production," OPEC said in a press release. Earlier on Tuesday, Barkindo also met with Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, who reaffirmed his commitment to help the organization to stabilize oil market. Grant them victory over the treacherous Jews, and over the spiteful Christians, and over the untrusted hypocrites, the imam intones. O Allah, grant them victory, help and strength. Meanwhile, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir appeared on CNN on Tuesday, lecturing Syria on human rights, as Riyadh continues to bomb civilians and hospitals in Yemen. Christiane Amanpour (@camanpour) September 6, 2016 Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) September 6, 2016 On August 15, at least 11 people were killed and 19 injured in a Saudi-led airstrike that destroyed a Doctors Without Borders hospital. The week prior there were attacks on a food processing plant and a school. This is the fourth attack against an MSF facility in less than 12 months. Once again, today we witness the tragic consequences of the bombing of a hospital. Once again, a fully functional hospital full of patients and MSF national and international staff members, was bombed in a war that has shown no respect for medical facilities or patients. An aerial bomb hit the hospital compound, causing 11 people to lose their lives, MSF desk manager for the Emergency Unit in Yemen, Teresa Sancristoval, told the Guardian. Since 2010, after then-US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received a large donation from the Saudi government, the US authorized a record $60 billion in military sales to the nation. Over $48 billion in weapon sales have already been made. This is more than triple the $16 billion authorized under George W. Bush. In 2015 the Saudi government received permission to buy hundreds of air-defense missiles for $5.4 billion in September, four military ships for $11.25 billion in October, and 22,000 smart and general-purpose bombs for $1.29 billion in November, according to Reuters. Earlier this month, the Obama Administration proposed the sale of another $1.15 billion in tanks, machine guns and other US military equipment to Saudi Arabia, leaving many lawmakers asking who the regime would kill with the weaponry. "The Marine Corps has been out in front with the F-35B. Its probably not the way we want to exploit fifth-generationWeve been after this a long time," Walsh said on Tuesday. As the Marines prepare to send their first fleet of F-35s for operational capacity on the USS Wasp, the branch has admitted that they are waiting for real-world training missions to determine which issues still need ironing out. "We will learn from that, and see what capabilities we need to further develop," Walsh said. "A lot of its going to be the school of hard knocks," he added, indicating that any leftover cash in the budget will probably go to repairing and modifying the F-35s existing systems, not building science-fiction lasers. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Bahrain is interested in renewing its air defense systems, and its delegation, headed by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, will assess S-300 and S-400 systems at the Army-2016 expo in Russia, Bahrain's Ambassador to Russia Ahmed Abdulrahman Saati told Sputnik. "We are interested in everything new, in renewing [air defense] systems. However, we do not have information regarding the contracts or acquisitions being made, this is classified military information," Saati said. "Overall, we are interested in military products, air defense systems, we came to closely assess them. There is an exhibition here where we can see them, military experts will be able to assess them and their suitability, they'll be able to see, in particular, these two systems [S-300 and S-400," he added. LIC agent Anand Chauhan is accused of laundering the alleged disproportionate assets acquired by Virbhadra Singh in 2009-11 during his tenure as Union Steel Minister. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh is being investigated for allegedly laundering money to the tune of Rs 6.1 crore. (Photo: PTI) By Shivendra Srivastava: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday filed a chargesheet against Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) agent Anand Chauhan in the disproportionate assets case registered against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. Anand Chauhan has been arrested from Chandigarh under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), for allegedly not cooperating with the investigating officer of the case during the probe. advertisement LIC AGENT ANAND CHAUHAN INVESTED CM'S ILLEGITIMATE FUNDS As per sources, the LIC agent is a crucial entity in the case, as both the ED and the CBI have earlier found that Chauhan was the one who allegedly invested the funds of the Chief Minister in life insurance policies. The ED has questioned him several times in connection with this earlier. The agency has also attached assets worth about Rs 8 crore against the Chief Minister earlier this year. A case was filed by the ED under criminal provisions of money laundering laws after taking cognisance of a complaint filed by the CBI in September 2015. OVER SIX CRORES LAUNDERED BY CM AND HIS FAMILY The ED also conducted searches last year in the states of Delhi, Maharashtra and West Bengal in connection with the case. Investigations are on to verify the allegation that Singh and his family members allegedly amassed wealth of Rs 6.1 crore between 2009-11, disproportionate to his known sources of income, while serving as the Union Minister of Steel. The CBI FIR had named Virbhadra singh, his wife Pratibha Singh, Anand Chauhan and his brother CL Chauhan, and they were booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Singh allegedly invested Rs 6.1 crore in life insurance policies in his and his family members' names, claiming the money was his agricultural income. It is also alleged that Singh attempted to legalise the same as agricultural income by filing revised Income-Tax returns in 2012. ALSO READ: SBI's complaint to strengthen ED's money laundering case against Mallya --- ENDS --- The Iskander system has been known to be mounted on-board Kamaz trucks, produced in Naberezhynye Chelny, Tatarstan, and on vehicles produced by the Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant, in Belarus, Russia's ally in the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The vehicles are equipped with an 8-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine with direct fuel injection. The drive train hauling this beast of a weapons system has 500 hp and 1,400 Nm of torque. MTU-20 Engineering Vehicle The success of the MTU-20 bridge layer, featuring a twin-tread superstructure based on a T-55 tank chassis, is basically the real-life embodiment of the maxim 'an oldie but a goodie'. Created by Siberia's Omsk Transport Machine Factory, also known for its production of the T-80 tank, the vehicle was designed to overcome water barriers up to 15 meters wide, with its 20 meter fold-out bridge. The armored engineering vehicle has a 39 liter 12-cylinder diesel engine under the hood, producing 580 horsepower and 1,960 Nm of torque. Widely exported, the MTU-20 is operated by the armies of several former Soviet republics, including Russia and Ukraine, and by Egypt, India, Nigeria, Syria and Finland. 2S9 Nona-SKV The 2S9 Nona-SKV is a lightweight, air-droppable self-propelled 120 mm mortar system introduced into the Soviet military in the mid-1980s. Featuring the same aluminum hull chassis as the BTR-D airborne multi-purpose tracked APC, the system was designed to suppress enemy fortifications, artillery, armored and mobile targets. Its 120-mm rounds can be fired almost immediately, with little to no preparation time necessary. The vehicle has a turbocharged 8-cylinder YaMZ-238M2 engine, produced by the Yaroslavl Motor Plant; the engine puts out 240 hp and 883 Nm of torque. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Russian Aerospace Forces will start receiving the upgraded Mi-26T2 heavy-lift transport helicopters in 2018, a spokesman for the manufacturing firm Russian Helicopters said. "Deliveries of Mi-26T2 to the Russian Defense Ministry are planned for 2018, but this deadline depends not only on the Russian Helicopters holdings enterprises," Director of Public Procurement and Military-Technical Cooperation Vladislav Savelyev told RIA Novosti. According to Savelyev, requirements for the new helicopters include installation of a new flight and navigation system, upgraded airborne defense system as well as the implementation of other design decisions. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport is working out ways to show the Yak-130 combat trainer aircraft to potential buyers from Latin America, Rosoboronexport Deputy Director General Sergey Goreslavsky told Sputnik on Tuesday. "At the moment, we, along with the Irkut Corporation, are working on the issue of showing the Yak-130 combat trainer aircraft in Uruguay, Brazil, Bolivia and Peru in 2017," Goreslavsky said on the sidelines of the Army-2016 military forum. KUBINKA (Moscow Region) (Sputnik) Russia has supplied India with more than $65 billion worth of military vehicles since 1960, the Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexports deputy director told Sputnik at the Army-2016 military forum near Moscow on Tuesday. Over the past years we have signed over $65 billion worth of contracts, Sergey Goreslavsky said. The group had also planned to follow up the terror attacks in Paris with others in several locations, one of which was the UK. The documents have revealed some other interesting revelations reharding how Daesh planned the attacks by extensively using social media platforms, such as WhatsApp. However, what is most surprising is the level of sophistication that Daesh have implemented into their pre and post attack plans. Terror analyst Paul Cruickshank said that Daesh are increasing their presence and attack planning capabilities on a global scale. ISIS planned more attacks across Europe after Paris massacre of November 2015 CNN https://t.co/zwn2b4Viim Collected News (@CollectedN) 6 September 2016 "It [Daesh] is increasingly sophisticated in the way it does this. It's set up an intricate, logistical support system for these terrorists to launch these terrorist attacks," Paul Cruickshank said. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Egyptian Defense Minister Sedki Sobhi recently agreed to establish a training program for Egyptian pilots, a source privy to the nature of the negotiations told the newspaper Izvestia Considering this development, it is very likely that Moscow and Cairo are in fact close to brokering a sale of Russian-made Ka-52K carrier-based attack helicopters to Egypt, which would become a welcome addition to the Middle Eastern nations arsenal, the newspaper pointed out. "The ministers agreed on measures required to train Egyptian pilots to fly Ka-52K carrier-based helicopters that will be stationed on the Mistral-class amphibious assault ships purchased by Egypt from France this year," the source explained. KUBINKA (Moscow Region) (Sputnik) Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport has sold $7 billion worth of weapons over the past eight months, the companys deputy director general told Sputnik Tuesday. Earlier in the day, Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov said that Rosoboronexport was planning to sell more than $13 billion worth of weapons in 2016. "This year's plan stipulates sales of arms worth some $13 billion, we have already sold [arms] at a cost of $7 billion, that means more than a half [of our target]," Sergey Goreslavsky said, speaking at the Army-2016 military forum. Speaking to CNN last week, an Air Force representative said that the $12 billion upgrade to the F-15 4th generation air superiority fighters would cover 435 machines, equipping them with new radar, upgraded mission computers, advanced infrared search and track capabilities, electronic warfare defenses, and modernized communications, allowing them to work in coordination with other, more advanced aircraft. Some of the aircraft will also see their missile capacity doubled from 8 to 16, according to Boeing. Originally, the USAF's entire fleet of aging F-15s was meant to be scrapped, replaced by the 5th generation F-22 Raptor, which went into production in 2005. However, production of that aircraft was halted in 2009, with only 188 of the planned 749 F-22s produced. "These stand downs allowed for time to review, evaluate and renew our commitment to ensuring our crews are fully prepared to operate these ships safely." Officials have not revealed what caused the Coronados breakdown, but the USS Freedom was forced to return to its homeport in San Diego last month after a seal malfunction caused seawater to seep into the ships engine. Without offering specifics, the US Navy said the Coronado will be repaired soon. "A preliminary investigation will provide an initial assessment and procedural review of the situation, and any shortfalls will be addressed quickly to get the ship fixed and back on deployment," officials said. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Central African Republic (CAR) and Russia have a history of strong cultural ties which they need to restore, CAR President Faustin Archange Touadera told Sputnik in an interview. "We have very good relations with Russia," Touadera said. "But wed like our relationship to become more robust to increase cooperation because we used to have very good cultural ties in the past in terms of educating students and teachers. So I think there is room for improved cooperation." The case was filed based on a complaint made to the CBI who caught the former Deputy Director red-handed while accepting a bribe. By Shivendra Srivastava: The former Deputy Director of Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), Bengaluru, N Anand Kumar has been convicted by a special CBI judge and sentenced to four years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 35,000 in a bribery case. The CBI had registered this case based on a complaint where the complainant alleged that Kumar had issued claim notices to the complainant in 2013 with exorbitant and illegitimate demands under a false pretext to the tune of Rs 95 lakh. advertisement The complainant met the accused when he came to attend two court cases filed by ESIC during 2012 and 2013 and enquired about the orders passed by Kumar against the complainant's company. Kumar asked the complainant to appeal before the Director who can waive the demand. He further demanded a sum of Rs 25,000 from the complainant for closing all the issues and court cases pending against his company. The complainant approached the CBI and filed a complaint. The CBI laid a trap and caught Kumar red-handed accepting a bribe of Rs 25,000 from the complainant. A chargesheet was filed and the trial court found him guilty and convicted him. Also read: CBI arrests Haryana CA for accepting bribe of Rs 60,000 --- ENDS --- MOSCOW (Sputnik) Earlier, a diplomatic source in the Kingdom of Bahrain stated that the Bahraini delegation, headed by the minister of defense, will sign a military cooperation agreement with Russia during the upcoming Army-2016 military expo. "His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa will pay an official visit to Moscow tomorrow Monday to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin," the Royal Court's announcement, carried by the Bahrain News Agency, read. "The two leaders will discuss ways of bolstering joint ties in all fields, in addition to latest regional and international developments," the message continued. Theresa May had already said today that she will not be implementing the controversial immigration points-based system, a promise made by the Brexit camp ahead of the vote. So it seems there are fears in the Vote Leave team that Britain will not stick to its word. Tom Slater demanding that politicians respect democracy at spiked's Invoke Article 50 NOW demo at Parliament. pic.twitter.com/vO7QPIgpI4 spiked (@spikedonline) September 5, 2016 At the same time, across the road in Westminster Hall, MPs were debating a petition, which received 4.1 million signatures and called on the government to hold a second referendum on Britain's EU membership. As the turnout on June 23 was below 75 percent and fewer than 60 percent of the vote backed Brexit, millions of people have called for it to be discussed in parliament. One pro-EU campaigner told Sputnik that staying in the EU was the best thing for the UK and called the "Invoke Article 50" crowd a "bunch of racists." "Living standards are better now that we are part of the EU. I voted to be part of the EU all those years ago. So of course I want to remain in the EU now," the pro-EU campaigner told Sputnik. The House of Commons' Petitions Committee announced an investigation and later denied its site had been hacked after confirming tens of thousands of signatures were "fraudulently" added. However, whether anything will change as a result of the parliamentary debate remains to be seen. "As the Prime Minister made clear in his statement to the House of Commons on 27 June, the referendum was one of the biggest democratic exercises in British history with over 33 million people having their say. The Prime Minister and Government have been clear that this was a once in a generation vote and, as the Prime Minister has said, the decision must be respected. We must now prepare for the process to exit the EU and the Government is committed to ensuring the best possible outcome for the British people in the negotiations," a statement on the parliamentary website read. Andy Burnham MP said in a parliamentary debate Monday, that the government is confusing the country and Brexit is not understood. He said that people are getting non-answers on Brexit and that is simply because the government asked civil servants not to prepare for Brexit. "What does Brexit mean for the UK?" Mr. Burnham said in the commons debate. In addition to this, MPs questioned the Home Secretary on the triggering of Article 50 and said that many EU nationals had been kept awake at night since the referendum as they had been unsure if they would be asked to leave by the government. However, the "Invoke Article 50" camp or are concerned that the Prime Minister will go back on the country's decision. One Brexit protester said that the country must follow the democratic decision of the people. "We voted to leave and that decision remains, it has not changed. We must stick with what the majority of people wanted and that's final," they told Sputnik. If you look at the growth rates in energy, the world will need 35 percent more energy by 2035, Dudley told Sputnik. More than a half of the growth rates in energy will come in Asia, China in particular, he forecasted. Hence Vladivostok is a great place for many companies to represent themselves, as it brings together people from the East and Far East and Asia; all the way from India, all the way down through Alaska, China, Korea, Japan. Robert Dudley also noted that Brexit has no impact on the company. People will need oil and gas for many years to come, BPs CEO added. He also suggested that clean burning fuels, such as natural gas should become the fuel of choice for generating electricity in many countries. While renewables are a good thing and lots of people are investing in it, actually people are going to need oil and gas for many-many years to come, particularly clean burning fuels such as natural gas. And I think what you will see is more of a displacement of coal for natural gas going forward, he said. Summing up the results of the Forum, Russias Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Far East Yury Trutnev told journalists that a total of 201 agreements valued at more than RUB 1.63 trillion ($25bln) were signed at the forum. The second Eastern Economic Forum showed that it was much-in-demand. We see that business has a desire to come here and this livens up the business environment. So the forum is being held in the right place at the right time. As a result, new projects and enterprises will emerge in the Far East, Trutnev noted. In what the mainstream US media calls "an unsettling forecast," some are saying that God has tilted the scales in favor of the bombastic billionaire Republican nominee Donald Trump etching the controversial candidates image in the skies. A cloud formation appears to be a perfect replica of the candidates facial profile from the exactly 45 degree angle nose to the patented Trump fluff of frontal hair to the oddly small chin attached to such a large face. The portrait of the truculent tycoon painted masterfully by the Almighty graced the skies of Chicago on August 15 and was immediately posted by Fox32 Chicago news before going viral when Trumps executive Vice President Michael Cohen circulated it around Twitter late Saturday night. The investigation by intelligence and law enforcement agencies also appears to be predicated on patently incorrect statements and attempts to conjure up mass hysteria. Russias purported connection to the hacking of the Arizona and Illinois voter files is based on an unconfirmed suspicion by FBI authorities at the time of the breach according to hearsay comments by an employee at the Arizona Secretary of States Office. Furthermore, these allegedly Russian hackers "exfiltrated" (copied and pasted) 200,000 voter records from the Illinois database that consist of names, phone numbers, addresses and party affiliation. The use of this information for a state actor is unfathomable unless Kremlin officials are secretly seeking out American pen pals and the use for a political campaign is equally inexplicable because all candidates have access to a much more advanced listing of voters through their respective political parties. Evermore confusing is why the information would be pulled from either Illinois or Arizona, neither of which are swing states, rather than a state like Ohio. Yet it turns out, there is a complete listing of identical information publicly available on the internet for all 8 million registered Ohio voters as well as for many state again begging the question of the veracity of this claim. RAMALLAH (Sputnik) Earlier in the day, Palestines Ambassador to Russia Abdel Hafiz Nofal told Sputnik that Abbas and Netanyahu looked set to meet in Moscow, but the exact timing was not defined. "Abbas is not in Palestine now, he is in Warsaw. This proves that he has not agreed to meet Netanyahu and has not made a decision [on the issue]," Majdalani told RIA Novosti. He added that the Palestinian delegation expected a conversation with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov following the Russian diplomat's dialogue with the Israeli leader to become familiar with the outcome of the meeting between Bogdanov and Netanyahu. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is developing a roadmap to include its members in UN peacekeeping operations, CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha said Tuesday, adding that the security body was in talks to use UN forces in specific regions. "We agreed to set up and prepare a roadmap for the involvement of CSTO peacekeepers in UN peacekeeping operations," Bordyuzha told RIA Novosti. Bordyuzha said the multi-phase process would start with dispatching CSTO officials, advisers and individual state representatives to UN peacekeeping missions, followed by the activation of forces. Experts believe that the talks on Syria between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister may soon bear fruit . Still, the two countries have yet to reach compromise on what groups to consider "moderate" opposition in Syria. Sergei Lavrov has repeatedly called upon Washington to separate "moderate" Syrian rebels from Islamists most notably al-Nusra Front, which has recently changed its name to Jabhat Fatah al-Sham. The Obama administration has failed to keep its promise given back in January 2016 to sort out the US-backed groups in Syria. Instead, according to a copy of a letter from Washington's Syria envoy Michael Ratney, obtained by Reuters, Washington wants the Syrian government and Russia to "avoid bombing areas where more moderate insurgent groups are operating close to Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, previously the al Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front." Speaking to Russian online media outlet Vzglyad.ru, Viktor Murakhovsky, a retired Russian army colonel and editor of the Arsenal Otechestva (the Armory of the Fatherland) military magazine underscored that the issue remains the focus of the Russo-American negotiations. "The key question is how to divide Assad's rivals into "moderate" opposition and radicals. [The sides need] to determine exact regions, positions which Russia can bomb and which it should not target. And, respectively, [it means] the delineation of areas of responsibility," Murakhovsky said, stressing that the Americans have been discussing this question for almost half a year. The journalist assumes that pacification would obviously require "a limited but decisive" NATO intervention to defeat Daesh and help the Free Syrian Army. For their part Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt could deploy "a long-term Arab stabilization force" in the country. "It's true that for each of these points there are reservations and doubts," Stephens admits. The journalist argues that it would be a step in the right direction, referring to the precedent of Yugoslavia that had been divided into seven separate states. However, the prospects described by Stephens are not as "bright" as they seem. Moscow has repeatedly stated that maintaining Syria's territorial integrity is important for Russia and emphasized that only the Syrians themselves could make legitimate decisions about the future of their country. As French President Francois Hollande wrote on his Facebook page Monday, "nothing would be worse than the partition of Syria." "In Syria, I alerted the Russian President on the gravity of the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo and on internationalization of the conflict. The urgency is to put an end to this disaster by an armistice and go to the faster towards the negotiation. We have a common goal, it is the fight against terrorism. And nothing would be worse than the partition of Syria," Hollande underscored. In an interview with RIA Novosti Togrul Ismail, a docent of the Faculty of International Relations at the TOBB University of Economics and Technology in Ankara, drew attention to the fact that both Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry highlighted the inadmissibility of the dismemberment of Syria. "This is a positive thing that the Russian Federation and the United States were able to find common ground on the issue of the inadmissibility of the dismemberment of Syria. Turkey has adhered the same position since the very beginning of the Syrian conflict this is, firstly, the preservation of its territorial integrity and, secondly, the inadmissibility of the creation of any [sovereign] entities [within Syria]. It is not just about the Syrian Kurds, but it is also about the Daesh terrorist group," Ismail told RIA Novosti. MOSCOW (Sputnik) "Of course, it is very important to discuss your view of what is happening in the world. I had an opportunity in China to discuss the same issues with some of your colleagues. In that context your visit Your Majesty is very well-timed," Putin said during his talks with the king. The king of Bahrain also visited the Russian Defense Ministry's Army-2016 forum. "I know that this time you wanted to see the capabilities of our defense-industrial sector. Hopefully, you saw what we can offer to our friends and partners," Putin noted. By PTI: Ahmedabad, Sep 6(PTI) Former Congress MP from Gujarat Jagdish Thakor today resigned from all party positions owing to his differences with the partys state leadership. However, Thakor will remain in the party as he has not resigned as a worker. Thakor, who represented Patan seat from 2009 to 2014 in Lok Sabha, sent the resignation letter to Gujarat Congress chief Bharatsinh Solanki and Leader of Opposition in Gujarat Assembly Shankersinh Vaghela. advertisement "I have resigned from all the posts (that) I was holding in Congress. However, I have not resigned as party worker. I have conveyed my decision to Solanki and Vaghela through a letter containing reasons behind my decision," Thakor told PTI but refused to share the contents of the letter. However, he openly expressed his displeasure about the functioning of the party in Gujarat. "When Solanki and Vaghela came to meet me after getting my resignation, I refused to meet them. I clearly told them that I cannot work with them in the current situation," said Thakor, hinting at rift between him and the state party leadership. Thakor was a member of partys co-ordination committee and is considered as a soft-spoken leader having clout on Thakor community, a decisive vote bank in north Gujarat. Though he was a sitting MP, Thakor stayed away from contesting 2014 Lok Sabha polls and worked for the Congress. Sources in the Congress claimed that Thakor was unhappy with the party leadership over some booth and ward level appointments in north Gujarat ahead of 2017 polls. "Thakor was unhappy because he was not kept in loop while appointing some local leaders in north Gujarat as part of partys pre-poll exercise. He felt sidelined and ignored. He might be upset because the party did not select his supporters as potential candidates for 2017 polls," a Congress leader said. PTI PJT PD NRB KUN --- ENDS --- WASHINGTON (Sputnik) US Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton would strengthen Washingtons allies in Europe against Russia if she elected to be president of the United States, Clintons running mate Tim Kaine said in a national security speech on Tuesday. "Hillary has a plan to support our allies to weaken the Kremlins hand and to advance Americas long-standing commitment to a Europe that is free, whole and at peace," Kaine stated. Clinton would support the United States NATO allies in Europe, Kaine explained. He contrasted Clintons plans to those of her Republican rival Donald Trump, who previously called NATO obsolete and has sought improved relations with Russia, especially with respect to fighting Islamic terrorism. MOSCOW (Sputnik) "We have not blocked any mechanism of negotiations, we are open for a dialogue in a bilateral, multilateral format," Zakharova told the Rossiya 24 TV channel in an interview. Moscow may hold dialogues with any states and blocs, she noted. "We are ready for such initiatives. The most important is that they would not be blocked by the big brother or big brothers that are not focused on such partnership or constructive talks, discussion of constructive issues," Zakharova added. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) US authorities introduced sanctions against eleven Russian and international electronics firms over their alleged links to the Ukrainian conflict, the US Department of Commerce announced in a case document. "[US] BIS [Bureau of Industry and Security], pursuant to Executive Order 13661, and in consultation with the Departments of State, Defense, Energy, and the Treasury, has designated eleven entities," the document said on Tuesday. The sanctioned companies include affiliates of one of the largest Eastern European manufacturers of integrated circuits Angstrem Group, Foreign Economic Association (FEA) Radio export and microelectronics manufacturer Mikron, among others. With German Chancellor Angela Merkels approval ratings at a 5 year low and far-right populist party AfD making gains in local elections well be taking a closer look at the German political landscape and whether or not there is a credible contender to Mrs Merkel in next years general election. We talk to political consultant and EU policy specialist Jon Worth, and Professor of Politics at the University of Bath, Charles Lees. Protestors took to the streets of Sao Paulo in their thousands to demonstrate against the new administration which officially took over last week, following the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff. What reportedly began as a peaceful protest descended into chaos as demonstrators clashed with military police. We talk to the Brazilian Journalist and academic, Carolina Matos. You can find previous editions of World in Focus here. Todays main stories: Over the past twenty four hours, Barack Obama became the first ever sitting President to visit Laos, a country which still feels the legacy of US bombing. Many thousands of unexploded bombs are still buried across the country from the so-called "secret war" of 1964-73. We talk with the chair of the Legacies of War Advisory Board in America, Titus Peachey. Also, Campaign Against Arms Trade's Andrew Smith speaks to us on the UK's indiscriminate approach to arms sales after statistics published by the UK government's Trade and Investment body highlighted that Britain is now the second biggest global arms dealer. You can find previous editions of World in Focus here. In an exclusive interview with Sputnik, Russian Deputy Energy Minister Anton Inyutsyn said that "if the sides have interest and benefits, the project has chances to be implemented. The sides' consent as well as unification of investments and qualifications are not the only things necessary for implementation of the projects, which also demands a fundamental study of technical and economic indicators, risks assessment, regulatory and pricing issues and many others," Inyutsyn added. Japans new course on promoting closer ties with Russia is opening the way to more Japanese investments into new and existing projects in the Russian Far East which, for its part, could offer Japanese companies highly attractive terms of investment into the advanced development territories and the Svobodny seaport in Vladivostok. Japanese businessmen have nine territories in the Russian Far East to choose from and where to invest their money and enjoy tax breaks and administrative preferences. By the way, Chinese investors have already chosen such a territory in Amur region to invest. Energy, transport, agriculture, timber processing, medicine these are the priority areas of Russian-Japanese cooperation, and the energy bridge to be built as part of the Asian energy super ring could be a key area of mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries. The Asian energy super ring project prescribes the unification of energy systems of Russia, Japan, South Korea, China and Mongolia. This ring is expected to consist of separate energy bridges, one of which can connect Russia's Sakhalin with Japan. Kashuba said that the rising price of gold makes the mines an attractive investment for Chinese investors such as Zijin Mining, China Gold, Zhaojin Mining Industry and Shandong Gold, who want to take advantage of the Chinese government's institution of its latest five-year plan for social and economic development. "In China this year the 13th Chinese five-year plan began, funding has been allocated and now it's time to buy. As I see it, there will be two years of asset-buying, and in the third year they plan what to do, then in year four and five you have to produce the metal," Kashuba said. The development of Russia's Far East is a priority for the Russian government, which established the Far East Development Fund in 2011. The fund aims to stimulate development with a flexible approach to structuring and financing projects, including tax breaks and less red tape. "I know that three or four large companies traveled to the Eastern Economic Forum with the aim of finding out how these tax breaks work," said Kashuba, who expects Chinese investors to sign some contracts with their Russian counterparts during the Minex conference in Moscow next month. While Russia has denied any involvement in the leak, the Hillary campaign claims that Russian hackers had breached their systems and occupied the DNC server for over a year conflating the issue of a hack and the leak. In previous election cycles, both political parties have been hacked by as many as a dozen countries that seek to garner information on the potential next president of the United States. Hysteria took full force last week when it was reported that the election systems of Arizona and Illinois were breached by hackers with officials immediately pointing the finger at Russia despite a lack of evidence. What was actually hacked in Illinois, however, was not an election system, but rather a voter file that is already accessible to people online with names, phone numbers and party affiliation supposedly 200,000 or so records were "exfiltrated" (copied and pasted) which is hardly anything of value to a state actor. In Arizona, a hacker obtained the login key for an employee at the Gila County Recorders office, but no voter records were modified. Due to redundancies in Arizonas electoral system, even if a record were modified it would have no effect because three different government agencies maintain a file of voters. Not only has Russia faced continued insinuation that they are responsible for hacks that have potentially impacted the tone and tenor of the 2016 election cycle, but the country has also come under fire due to Trumps former campaign manager Paul Manaforts connection to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych who Russia favored. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Earlier in the day, Japanese governmental sources told RIA Novosti that Galushka was expected to visit Japan and to meet Seko. "The minister has left for Tokyo, meetings with the Japanese economy minister have been scheduled," a spokesperson for the ministry told RIA Novosti. However, the spokesperson has not specified the dates of the meetings. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Monday, the Justice Ministry announced that Russias Yuri Levada Analytical Center was added to the list of non-governmental organizations that receive foreign funding. A ministry spokesperson said Tuesday it had been receiving most of its foreign financing from the United States. "Activities are suspended, you can put it that way," Levada-Center Director Lev Gudkov told RIA Novosti. Gudkov said his center had until Thursday, September 15, to file its appeal with the ministry. Afterward, he said the ministry could issue a protocol on the cancellation of administrative violations because Levada did not voluntarily register as a foreign agent. Priyanka Yoshikawa is proud of her victory, despite some people trying their best to belittle it. By India Today Web Desk: A half-Indian girl has been crowned Miss Japan 2016, and would go on to represent Japan in the Miss World beauty pageant later this year. Now, this may be considered good news for some, but for Japan's purists, it's a thing of loathe. Priyanka being crowned Miss Japan 2016. Picture courtesy: Instagram/priyanka_official The 22-year-old was born to an Indian father and Japanese mother, and holds an elephant trainer's licence. advertisement This is the second year in a row that a bi-racial girl from Japan would be representing the country on a world stage. Last year, Ariana Miyamoto became the first black girl to represent Japan, opening a wide door of possibilities for bi-racial girls in Japan. Priyanka's victory this year, however, has sparked complaints about a "pure Japanese" not winning the beauty pageant. "Before Ariana, 'haafu'--'half' in Japanese--girls couldn't represent Japan", Priyanka told AFP. "That's what I thought too," she added. "I didn't challenge it until this day. Ariana encouraged me a lot by showing me and showing all mixed girls the way." "We are Japanese," she said. "Yes, I'm half-Indian and people are asking me about my 'purity'. Yes, my dad is Indian and I'm proud of it. I'm proud that I have Indian in me. But that does not mean I'm not Japanese". Priyanka was born to an Indian father and a Japanese mother. Picture courtesy: Instagram/priyanka_official Priyanka was born to an Indian father and a Japanese mother. Picture courtesy: Instagram/priyanka_official "I know a lot of people who are haafu and suffer," said Priyanka, who is also an avid kick-boxer. "We have problems, we've been struggling and it hurts. When I came back to Japan, everyone thought I was a germ," she added. "Like if they touched me they would be touching something bad. But I'm thankful because that made me really strong." "As Miss Japan, hopefully I can help change perceptions so that it can be the same here too. The number of people with mixed race is only going to increase, so people have to accept it," she told AFP. --- ENDS --- Producing gas centrifuges for uranium enrichment is a difficult yet important task, one which the Electrochemical Plant in the Russian Siberian town of Zelenogorsk has mastered for decades. In an exclusive report , a correspondent of the Russian news website Lenta.ru got insight into activity at the plant. Located 200 kilometers from the major Russian city of Krasnoyarsk, Zelenogorsk remains a closed town with a population of 63,000 people, according to journalist Pavel Orlov. The huge territory of the Electrochemical Plant consists of four main workshops each about a kilometer long and half a dozen auxiliary buildings. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Russian space agency Roscosmos said Friday that it hopes US experts will be able to quickly sort out the causes behind the SpaceX Falcon 9 crash and restore the program. "We hope that our colleagues will sort this out fairly quickly and restore launch plans, which is, of course, necessary. We are interested in studying this incident. In the framework of our joint programs with NASA we share both negative and positive experiences and study our colleagues' experiences," Roscosmos General Director Igor Komarov said. VLADIVOSTOK (Sputnik) The robots-assistants designed by the Russian Promobot company may soon enter the Arab and Japanese markets, Oleg Kivokurtsev, co-founder of the Perm-based company, told Sputnik on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok. "In October, there will be a presentation of the third generation of the robots [Promobot V.3]. With this generation of robots, we plan to enter the Arab market. When we were at the presentation in Dubai, one of the sheikhs of Saudi Arabia got interested in our robot. He said it was the best solution he had ever seen. His only question was whether the robot could bow down to him," Kivokurtsev said. He added that the sheikh was ready to buy the robot at the price of $50,000, while the average price of Promobots ranges between $7,000 and $8,000. Each workstation is aimed at the entrepreneur someone who is always on the move and needs a convenient, affordable and private place to work. The workstation boasts hi-tech services which will include Wi-Fi, plug sockets, a printer, scanner and VOIP phone, plus free coffee and tea. All of this will cost you a mere US$30.00 a month. UK's underused but iconic red phone booths turned into micro offices. Check out our live https://t.co/jld8zJlD2d pic.twitter.com/kj0yeW0O7B Sputnik UK (@SputnikNewsUK) 6 September 2016 The concept behind the workstation idea, according to Pod Works, was why sit in coffee shop when you can use one of these workstations and focus on your job or prepare for an important meeting. Lorna Moore, the company director, said that these iconic telephone boxes will no longer be wasted and will be put to good use. Even if the person doesn't use the same picture, the biometrics rely on a picture of that person to identify them. This means that anyone who can take a picture of you could submit it for verification. So, if your wallet is stolen, the thieves might be able to set up a new HSBC account using your ID and pictures you post on social networks, and according to Sputnik's source, you'll never know until the police come round. "If someone takes a picture and you're in the shot, they have a picture of your face." "Of course, in somewhere like London your facial image is captured everywhere you go on CCTV. When you want to verify something, it's best to use a secret. Your face is not a secret," they added. Equally, if someone has a fake photo ID for verification, then they don't really need to take a picture of the person on the ID. They just need to find multiple pictures of the person they want to impersonate, which is pretty easy to achieve online. "Ultimately, the bank needs to know that it's you that they're dealing with, and if you send an image from a phone they'll need to find another way to make sure it's really you, which kind of defeats the point. If the verification ID can be forged, so can the photo," an anonymous source told Sputnik. However, most importantly, according to Sputnik's source selfies are not the most secure way of identifying someone and they themselves would be able to bypass the system and hack into it: "Most of the biometric picture-based systems we've assessed work by analyzing specific data points on an image of a face. Often when you present the system with a printed image of the same face, they'll let you straight through. We've unlocked laptops, tablets and even physical building doors by abusing this. With the hardest system we came across, it scanned your face using two cameras, but we were able to bypass it using two videos, some mirrors and basic maths." Assange, who has posted troves of sensitive data online detailing the crimes of nation-states and other actors, made his comments during an interview with The New York Times on Wednesday. The American liberal press, he stated via Facebook Live, in falling over themselves to defend Hillary Clinton, are erecting a demon that is going to put nooses around everyones necks as soon as she wins the election, which is almost certainly what shes going to do. In July, WikiLeaks released some 20,000 emails from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) that revealed how Clinton was heavily favored in the Democratic presidential primaries over rival Bernie Sanders. Following the release, the Clinton camp accused Assange of having links to entities in Russian intelligence who sought to undermine her presidential run. #SpaceZoom slide show featuring giant clouds. In space the horizon provides endless options for photography.https://t.co/z1ZnOTp7wA Jeff Williams (@Astro_Jeff) August 27, 2016 In the list of endurance records of US astronauts in space, Williams is said to be ranking at 17th, earning him the achievement of being one of few most experienced US astronauts and cosmonauts in the world. #SpaceZoom slide show featuring the Volga Delta. From space there is so much beauty that any area might provide awe.https://t.co/DqnKxgw2q2 Jeff Williams (@Astro_Jeff) August 29, 2016 So if or when humanity relocates to another planet away from Earth in the future, Williams could quite likely get that first call to be on board the first flight. And when it comes to the possibility of alien life 'out there' if there was, they may have spotted Williams hanging around their turf during over this last year. The overall world record for most number of hours clocked in outer space is said to be officially held by Russian cosmonaut Gennady Ivanovich Padalka, who managed to log a staggering 879 days in orbit over the course of five missions. Who needs moments of solitude on Earth when you can quite literally get 'lost in space'? Any future hopefuls looking to challenge any of the above space records, get your applications in now. On Sunday, that tone changes as Bernie Sanders appeared to turn against Hillary on NBCs "Meet the Press" calling on her to "cease all operations, all contact with the Clinton Foundation" over perceptions that the former Secretary of State provided access to donors turning the State Department into a pay-to-play scheme. He went one step further in the interview despite having hitched his wagon to the Democratic Party for the election cycle decrying the two-party systems unrealistic 15-point polling threshold that keeps the American people in the dark about the multitude of other options for leadership besides the Democrats and Republicans. Sanders said that the bar must be lowered to provide access to candidates who do not have the same access to the mainstream media or the support of the overbearing two-party political establishment. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is the best candidate to become the US commander-in-chief and change the countrys security posture, 88 retired generals said in an open letter on Tuesday. "The 2016 election affords the American people an urgently needed opportunity to make a long-overdue course correction in our national security posture and policy," the leaders stated. "For this reason, we support Donald Trumps candidacy to be our next Commander-in-Chief." The retired generals, including former US Army General Burwell Bell and US Air Force General Alfred Hansen, argued that Trump is committed to rebuild the US military, secure the countrys borders and defeat "Islamic supremacist adversaries." WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Tax documents filed by the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) in New York State failed to disclose $225 million in foreign government donations in 2010 while Hillary Clinton was US secretary of state, the media reported on Tuesday. CHAI reported $242,099 in total government contributions on its 2010 New York State tax returns, specifying they were from domestic grants. However, the charity reported $26,740,319 in foreign and domestic government grants on its US federal tax returns for the same year, a Scripps News investigation revealed. The officer, Desh Bandhu, was posted as the security in-charge at Hooda's Rohtak residence between 2004 and 2014. Desh Bandhu, a DSP rank officer who was posted as the security incharge of Hooda's Rohtak residence from 2004 to 2014, has claimed that he can provide the probe agency with vital clues. By Ajay Kumar: In what may spell fresh trouble for Haryana's beleaguered former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, a DSP rank officer has written to the Central Bureau of Investigation that he could provide vital clues to the agency in the alleged 900-acre Manesar land scam. The officer, Desh Bandhu, was posted as the security in-charge at Hooda's Rohtak residence between 2004 and 2014. advertisement "If the CBI wants, I can share important information about how things worked at the CM's residence," Bandhu wrote in a letter addressed to director, CBI. "Being in-charge of security of the chief minister, I kept a close watch on all the visitors. I also received regular information of what happening inside the premises." COP WROTE TO CM KHATTAR ALSO Bandhu, who is currently posted as DSP (vigilance) in the electricity department in the state, has also written a similar letter to Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar expressing his willingness to become an approver in the case. "I have mentioned some of the points and names of private builders in the letter sent to the CBI director. I am unable to discuss specific details but one thing I can surely say that specific leads given by me will help CBI investigation into Maneser land scam," Bandhu told Mail Today. To a question on why he did not come out with the evidence when the matter was being heard in courts, Bandhu indicated that the Congress party was then ruling in the state as well as in the Centre and he feared his attempts could go in vain. THE MODUS OPERANDI During the first tenure of Hooda government, two chunks of land measuring 688 and 212 acres at Gurugram's industrial hub Maneser were acquired from the farmers under section 4 and 6 of Haryana land preservation act. The state government had deposited Rs 25 crore to award these lands. Later, when panic gripped the area farmers, the government released 400 acres of land but allowed private developers to buy lands from farmers directly. The Hooda government is facing charge of providing undue financial benefits to private developers which had bought lands from farmers at throwaway price. It also came under attack for providing Change of Land Use (CLU) certificates and other licenses to private builders. The irregularities regarding the 912 acres land first emerged in 2007 when some affected farmers moved Punjab and Haryana high court and also the Supreme Court. Hooda on Monday claimed that he had given a statement on the floor of Haryana assembly that he was ready to face any inquiry into land acquisition decisions taken during his tenure with the help of sitting judge of high court or Supreme Court. advertisement POLITICS OF VENGEANCE: HOODA TO NDA The former chief minister earlier accused the NDA government at the Centre of using the investigation agency as a tool to settle scores with its political rival. "The BJP has not found any proof against me or any other Congressmen in the last two years and they will never find anything in future as well because we have not done anything wrong," Hooda said. Responding to Hooda's allegations, Khattar said the CBI would investigate the matter in an independent way. On Saturday, the investigating agency raided 24 locations in Delhi, Gurugram, Rohtak, Jind, PanchKula in connection with the Manesar land case. ALSO READ: Manesar land scam : CBI raids 20 places including Bhupinder Singh Hooda's properties --- ENDS --- WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The United States would intensify airstrikes on Daesh positions in Iraq and Syria, if Hillary Clinton becomes the next president, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine said on Tuesday. "When it comes to ISIS [Daesh], Hillary and I have a smart and credible plan: we will intensify our strikes on their strongholds in Iraq and Syria," Kaine stated in an address on national security issues. Kaine noted that the United States will coordinate with its allies on "how to dismantle ISIS as a global network." According to data collected by the Chicago Tribune, nine of the fatal shootings took place between 6:00 Monday morning and 3:00 Tuesday morning; 31 of the 65 shootings occurred during that period. One casualty was a retired pastor from Gary, Indiana, who was shot around 6:30 AM Monday, in the South Shore neighborhood outside his senior living complex. Another injured victim, Crystal Meyer, was nine months pregnant when she was shot in the abdomen and leg on West 53rd Street in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. Her condition stabilized after being taken to Stoger Hospital. She later gave birth to an almost full term baby boy. Demands also include forcing all students, no matter what their major, to complete a minimum of two ethnic-studies courses, with one being a Pan-African Studies course, as a graduation requirement. WE DEMAND the creation and financial support of a CSLA housing space delegated for Black students and a full time Resident Director who can cater to the needs of Black students. Many Black CSLA students cannot afford to live in Alhambra or the surrounding area with the high prices of rent. A CSLA housing space delegated for Black students would provide a cheaper alternative housing solution for Black students. This space would also serve as a safe space for Black CSLA students to congregate, connect, and learn from each other, the demand for segregation asserted. In response, the university has unveiled the Halisi Scholars Black Living-Learning Community which, is described by university spokesman Robert Lopez as focusing on academic excellence and learning experiences that are inclusive and non-discriminatory. Cal State Los Angeles is not the first school to offer so-called "segregated" housing. It is also offered at the University of Connecticut, UC Davis, and UC Berkeley. Speaking with Megyn Kelly on The Kelly File, Julian Assange named Seth Rich as the "potential" and "alleged" source of the nearly 20,000 emails released by WikiLeaks that exposed a nebulous scheme of cooperation between the DNC, the Hillary campaign, and members of the mainstream media to subvert the electoral chances of Bernie Sanders and to create false narratives about the progressives candidacy. Assange seems all too willing to play into what may ultimately be just a macabre publicity stunt by offering $20,000 for information leading to the arrest of Seth Richs killer 20,000 being nearly the number of emails that were released in the last leak. The timing of the WikiLeaks release, occurring only two weeks after Seth Rich was slain also has raised suspicions although the coincidence by itself far from proves political oriented foul play. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The United States has offered a $3 million reward for information that would lead to the capture and conviction of a former Tajik police commander who is currently one of the key Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh) terrorist group leaders, the US Department of State said in a press release on Tuesday. "The US Department of States Rewards for Justice Program is offering a reward of up to $3 million for information leading to the location, arrest, and/or conviction of Gulmurod Khalimov (variant Halimov), a key leader of the terrorist group ISIL [Islamic State], also known in Arabic as Daesh," the release stated. The State Department noted that Khalimov is a former Tajik special operations colonel, police commander and military sniper, and served as the commander of a police special operations unit in the Ministry of Interior of Tajikistan. He is now an ISIL member and recruiter. In May 2015, he announced in a 10-minute propaganda video that he fights for ISIL and has called publicly for violent acts against the United States, Russia, and Tajikistan, the press release says. The document however does not mention that the person whom it designates as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist had undergone training on US soil. In the same very video where he is sitting against a backdrop of palm trees, brandishing a gun and surrounded by bearded, armed men, Khalimov reveals that he had spent years at US military training bases. In 2003, I went to Baton Rouge in Louisiana, to undergo special training with the US Special Forces, the man says. In 2008, I also underwent special training, again at Baton Rouge, he continues. From 2003 to 2008, I had special training in America at a Blackwater military base, he further reveals, adding that there they were trained to fight against Muslims and Islam. Back in 2015, RT news channel contacted the US institutions involved in his training for information. The US training organization The Academy, which is the current owner of the facilities where Khalimov was taught, answered that they did everything with the explicit approval of the appropriate US Government department or agency. The Pentagon then responded that the individual services would track foreign military personnel, who have received training, and advised the channel to contact them. Therefore it remains unclear what kind of extensive training spans 5 consecutive years. According to the US media, the State Department has confirmed this claim. "From 2003-2014 Colonel Khalimov participated in five counterterrorism training courses in the United States and in Tajikistan, through the Department of State's Diplomatic Security/Anti-Terrorism Assistance program," said spokeswoman Pooja Jhunjhunwala. The program is intended to train candidates from participating countries in the latest counterterrorism tactics, so they can fight the very kind of militants that Khalimov has now joined. A State Department official said Khalimov was trained in crisis response, tactical management of special events, tactical leadership training and related issues. Long before his training in the US, Khalimov also claimed that he underwent training with the Russian Special Forces, back in 1997. Several months after the release of the video, in September 2015 the US Department of State designated Khalimov as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Bahrain welcomes the joint statement by Russia and Saudi Arabia on stabilizing the oil market, Bahrain's Ambassador to Russia Ahmed Abdulrahman Saati told Sputnik. "Bahrain is not a major oil producer, we are not members of OPEC, but we welcome any agreement between oil producers that could stabilize the market. I think that the Russian-Saudi agreement will promote a stabilization of oil production and prices, as these are major oil producers. This will affect the entire oil market," Saati said. Nicholas Hopton, previously British Charge daffaires in Tehran, has been appointed Her Majestys Ambassador. The appointment comes a year after the UK embassy in the city was reopened. "The upgrade in diplomatic relations gives us the opportunity to develop our discussions on a range of issues, including our consular cases about which I am deeply concerned I hope this will mark the start of more productive cooperation between our countries, enabling us to discuss more directly issues such as human rights and Irans role in the region, as well as ongoing implementation of the nuclear deal and the expansion of the trading relationship between both our countries," UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said in a statement. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The United Kingdom is assisting Egypt in its investigation into the Russian A321 airliner crash over the Sinai peninsula in October last year, an Egyptian newspaper reported on Monday, citing a UK Department of Transport official. "British and Egyptian authorities work together in the ongoing investigation of the Russian plane crash," the official told the newspaper Al Ahram Al Massai. The Airbus A321, operated by the Russian airline Kogalymavia, was en route from the Sharm el-Sheikh resort in Egypt to Saint-Petersburg when it crashed, killing all 217 passengers and seven crew members on board. The Russian authorities have concluded that the crash was caused by a terrorist attack. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Moscow and London need to improve their relations and cooperate in the areas of common interest such as counterterrorism and achievement of long-lasting peace in the Middle East, the chairman of a cross-party working group in the UK Parliament on relations with Russia, Edward Leigh, told Sputnik Monday. Earlier in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed hope during a meeting with UK Prime Minister Theresa May that bilateral relations between Moscow and London would reach a higher level in both political and economic spheres. In turn, May pointed out that there were differences between the polices of the two countries that hopefully could be overcome through dialogue. "Russia and the United Kingdom need to pursue closer ties. Our two countries share several strategic interests, most importantly in countering terrorism and seeking an end to the violence in the Middle East," Leigh stressed. Inspite of being under scanner for its radical views, license of Zakir Naik's Islamic Research Foundation was renewed by the home ministry. It was decided to put Islamic preacher Naik's NGO under scrutiny for inspiring Muslim youth to join terrorism but no action was taken. By Abhishek Bhalla : Putting controversial televangelist Zakir Naik's Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) on a watch list would have spared the Narendra Modi government's blushes, say sources, with a controversy swirling after four officials were suspended over the renewal of the organisation's foreign funding licence. The Centre sat on a recommendation to put IRF under the "prior reference" category that would prevent it from receiving overseas donations without getting a clearance from the home ministry. advertisement DWIVEDI FINDS SUPPORT IN HIS COLLEAGUES IN MHA Sources say there are differing views in the government over the suspension of joint secretary GK Dwivedi who was overseeing the functioning of foreign-funded NGOs registered under FCRA. "The Department of Personnel Training (DoPT) responsible for administrative functioning of IAS officers had expressed reservations and wanted a notice to be served to Dwivedi but the home ministry pressed for immediate action," said a government official. Naik's organisation has come under the scanner amid fears that his hardline views could radicalise youth after it was alleged that some of the gunmen who launched a deadly attack on a cafe in Bangladesh about two months ago were influenced by his sermons. IRREGULARITIES IN RENEWAL OF NAIK'S NGO LICENCE The home ministry has ordered an inquiry into the circumstances under which the IRF's Foreigner's Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) licence was renewed after it expired last month. Dwivedi himself recommended putting IRF in the "prior reference" category, but no action was taken. Several lapses in dealing with the foundation's file were also reported between 2013 and 2015 while disciplinary action was advised against four officers. A decision was taken to put Naik's NGO under scrutiny for inspiring Muslim youth to follow radical Islam and indulge in terror activities but there was no action on it and it could not be implemented, sources said. As of now there are close to 20 bodies in this category. US-based Ford Foundation was also put under a watch list last year but was taken off it a few months ago. MHA WOKE UP AFTER DHAKA TERROR ATTACK Sources said the home ministry swung into action only after the Dhaka attack even though counter-terror agencies had flagged the controversial Islamic preacher. Terror investigators had pointed out that in several cases attackers had revealed in their interrogation that Naik's views inspired them to follow the path of extremism. Bangladesh banned IRF after a probe into the Dhaka siege during which 20 people were killed indicated the preacher's influence. It was only after an IRF spokesperson in Mumbai made a statement about the renewal of the licence was action taken against the home ministry officials. advertisement Following reports from Dhaka, Dwivedi, who was in-charge of FCRA, sought reports from the Intelligence Bureau and various state governments before sending a questionnaire to the foundation on August 8. He had also raised the issue of an anomaly in the online renewal system put in place earlier this year to cut out any human interface. The software did not "redflag" NGOs under scrutiny and a list had to be maintained manually, leaving gaps in the system. Currently there are close to 700 NGOs in the list, sources said. This was shared with the National Informatics Centre (NIC) responsible for setting up e-governance platforms, but the problem could not be rectified. Dwivedi found support in his colleagues in the home ministry as well. ALSO READ: MHA renewed our foreign fund license last week, says Zakir Naik's IRF --- ENDS --- Hussein stressed he did not "equate the actions of nationalist demagogues with those of Daesh ," however, he said the tools of propaganda used by both are similar. "Populists use half-truths and oversimplification the two scalpels of the arch-propagandist In its mode of communication, its use of half-truths and oversimplification, the propaganda of Daesh uses tactics similar to those of the populists," Hussein said. According to the commissioner, their propaganda "formula" comes down to inflaming people to hate a certain group, blaming the peoples problems on them, and offering a solution which would be a "horrendous injustice" to others. Trump, a controversial real estate mogul, is well-known for his calls to build a wall on the US border with Mexico as well as to ban all Muslims from the United States. Farage, in his turn, has led the so-called Brexit campaign, calling for the UK nationals to vote to leave the European Union. One of his Eurosceptic claims to support the campaign was that staying in the bloc would result in an influx of migrants. "Godwin's law" is an Internet adage asserting that "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazism or Hitler approaches 1." The 'law' was inspired by philosopher Leo Strauss's 1951 concept of "Reductio ad Hitlerum" the facile assertion that something one opposes is "just like" Hitler or the Nazis. In an age where political leaders such as Australia's Tony Abbott have denounced Daesh as being worse than the Nazis, perhaps the popular rule of thumb needs revising. His farm, which is located about two hours to the north of Moscow, supplies these delicacies to elite restaurants in the capital as well as well-to-do private clients. "Klimov belongs to a growing new wave of Russian farmers, who have repeatedly grabbed Russian headlines since President Vladimir Putin imposed a ban on the import of food products from Europe during the Ukrainian crisis," according to Bidder. "It is Moscow's dream that Russia could emerge even stronger than it was before after the confrontation with the West," he said. Elsewhere, enterprising Russians are trying their hand at everything from making cheese to brewing craft beer. @shaunwalker7 @SvobodaRadio Excellent. best thing about the sanctions is that they promote Russian agriculture now top growth sector Eric Kraus (@EricKraus99) 6 2015 . Bidder recalled that Russia's agricultural sector came to a standstill following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, when about 35 million hectares of arable land was lost in the country, almost equal to the total size of Germany. "This negative trend has stopped since 2014 which saw the growth of agriculture's share in the Russian economy's added value Last year, Russia for the first time earned more on exports of agricultural products than on arms exports," Bidder said. Of course, it is too early to speak of the full revival of Russian agriculture due to the isolation of the Russian market in the wake of the sanctions row, Bidder said. At the same time, he added that ordinary Russian farmers have already started to benefit from the fact that European competition has disappeared from the Russian market. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The White House warned Russia that supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad will lead to the isolation of both Moscow and Damascus, US National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes said Tuesday. "With respect to Russia, the principle point that we always made to the Russians isthey are not going to be able to achieve their own objectives unless they engage in a type of process that we're negotiating, there is not a military solution to pacify that entire country. There is not a circumstance in which they continue to support a regime that is bombarding its own people that doesn't lead to greater international isolation of not just the Assad regime but ultimately Russia," Rhodes told a briefing. Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with government forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad fighting numerous opposition factions and extremist groups, most notably Daesh, which is outlawed in Russia and many other countries. Russia and Saudi Arabia account for approvimately 21 percent of the global oil production. Each of them export up to 400 mln tonnes annually, with the total volume of the international trade at 2.1 bln tonnes per year, he said in an interveiw with RT news channel. It means that Russia and Saudi Arabia jointly accout for a little less than 40 percent of the total foreign trade turnover. And if they agree between each other and then will be joined by Iran, Iraq, Qatar and Quwait, which also have low operational production costs, the new alliance will be quite capable of operating the world market, he said. And it does not really matter if the alliance would be officially formed, the expert said, adding that OPEC practically died over two years ago when it split into two groups which cannot reach any agreement with each other. The oil-freeze statement is therefore quite capable of influencing the market and has a strong foundation, namely the low operational costs in Russia, Saudi Arabia and in a number of other states. Meanwhile, Natalia Milchakova, Deputy Director of the analytical department at the Foreign Exchange Company Alpari Group, explained to Russias online newspaper Vzglyad what else this statement portained. He added that due to the economic downturn, Ukraine has lost "tens if not hundreds of thousands of jobs." According to him, "this economic aggression is one of the main reasons for the rapid decline in [Ukraine's] living standards." Poroshenko added that Ukraine's military spending currently amounts to three percent of the countrys GDP and that the "military burden" on the budget and social sphere is "critically large." Moscow imposed trade restrictions on Kiev, which supported anti-Russian sanctions, on January 1, 2016. The ban includes the supply of Ukrainian meat, sausages, fish and seafood, as well as vegetables, fruits and conserves. In September 2014, the Ukrainian parliament approved an agreement with the European Union aimed at facilitating Ukrainian manufactures' access to the European market. Even so, experts said in early 2016 that that Ukraine's exports to EU countries also declined, with losses estimated at tens of billions of dollars. ROME (Sputnik) Lawmakers of Italian regional councils are going to visit Crimea on October 13 16, the delegations member, Stefano Valdegamberi, said on Tuesday. "On October 13 16, our delegation will be in Crimea," Valdegamberi, an Italian politician from Veneto, told RIA Novosti. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The recent meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and UK Prime Minister Theresa May could be an introduction to a new phase in bilateral relations and might boost bilateral business prospects, Executive Director of Russo-British Chamber of Commerce (RBCC) Trevor Barton told Sputnik Tuesday. On Sunday, the Russian president and the UK prime minister held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of G20 Summit in Chinese city of Hangzhou. During that meeting, Putin expressed hope that bilateral relations between Moscow and London would come to a higher level in both political and economic spheres, while May said she hoped that there would be an opportunity for London and Moscow to continue dialogue despite the divergent positions on certain complex areas of concern. "In our view, dialogue at all levels is helpful in that process, so we hope that this high-level meeting represents the beginning of a phase of active engagement. Such inter-governmental engagement will encourage the RBCCs members and other companies to look closely at the investment possibilities in each country and to spend time investigating the prospects for profitable trade," Barton said. The TV star was suffering from several health issues. By India Today Web Desk: Acting legend and television superstar Hugh O'Brian died yesterday. The brilliant actor was 91. Hugh was mostly known for his role in the TV series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. Also read:Game of Thrones 7: Murder, She Wrote actress Angela Lansbury is the latest addition According to reports, Hugh died with his wife by his bedside at their Beverly Hills home. advertisement Although Hugh is mostly remembered for his role in Wyatt Earp, the talented and good-looking actor also featured in a number of movies before he shot to ultimate stardom with the said TV series. In fact, Hugh became a household name only after featuring in the first ever Adult Western series (The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp). A fan art of the star. Picture courtesy: Instagram/hughobrian The wildly popular show was also responsible for getting Hugh his first Emmy nomination. Hugh himself had admitted on one occasion that the TV series had transformed his life and made him into a star from a regular actor. "It's been a great horse, and she keeps coming around the corral," the actor was once heard saying. Apart from his on-screen work, Hugh was also known for being the founder of a youth leadership development organization. --- ENDS --- By David French DUBAI (Reuters) - The sale of British bank Barclays' Egyptian business has attracted bids from the two largest banks in Morocco and the United Arab Emirates, two sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. The UK-based lender is seeking to sell its African operations as part of a plan by Chief Executive Jes Staley to simplify its structure and improve shareholder returns, although attempts to sell the African businesses as one have come up against difficulties, including the disparate nature of the local units. Interested parties had been invited to submit bids for the Egyptian unit by the end of August. By this deadline both Morocco's Attijariwafa and Dubai-based Emirates NBD lodged offers, according to the two sources. Barclays and Emirates NBD declined to comment. Attijariwafa didn't respond to a request for comment. Emirates NBD, which is being advised by New York-based Perella Weinberg Partners, already has operations in Egypt, having bought BNP Paribas' unit there in 2013. The general manager of the Moroccan lender, Ismail Douiri, told Reuters in March it was interested in Barclays Egypt, having been keen to expand there for several years. It is being advised by UBS. Barclays has 56 branches and serves around 127,000 customers in Egypt, where it first established a foothold in 1864, according to the bank's website. Sources have previously said Barclays Egypt's equity value was around $400 million. (Additional Reporting by Lawrence White in London; Editing by Greg Mahlich) (Removes Netherlands from group of countries in fifth para after government spokesperson clarification.) STOCKHOLM, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Sweden is working with a group of other EU states to keep trade talks with the United States alive, though shifts in the political climate mean the negotiations may have to be paused, the EU minister in Stockholm said. French Trade Minister Matthias Fekl said last week he favoured calling a halt to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) talks, while German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel called them "de facto dead". "These statements are very unfortunate," Sweden's EU Minister Ann Linde said on Monday, adding that, while the negotiations were tough, progress was being made. Both Washington and Brussels, which have been negotiating for three years, are still officially committed to signing TTIP before year-end, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel backs the talks. Linde (Amsterdam: LE6.AS - news) said Sweden was working with Finland, Spain and Italy to keep the negotiations alive. But looming elections in the United States, France and Germany, along with Britain's decision in June to leave the European Union could put negotiations on ice for the foreseeable future. That is a worry for Sweden, many of whose biggest firms, including Volvo and Ericsson, derive the bulk of their earnings from exports. "We'll have to see if the political conditions have changed so much that we need to take a break," she said. "If we don't get a deal now, it will take a while before the negotiations could get anywhere again." (Reporting by Johan Sennero; Editing by Simon Johnson and John Stonestreet) By Krisztina Than and Francois Murphy VAMOSSZABADI, Hungary/NICKELSDORF, Austria (Reuters) - On a warm morning in late August, two dozen migrants carrying stuffed plastic bags and backpacks boarded a bus outside a refugee center in Vamosszabadi, a village in northwest Hungary. Escorted by police on what was meant to be a short shopping trip organized by the Hungarian immigration office, the men, women and children should have spent a few hours shopping in the nearby city of Gyor before returning to their makeshift homes. Half of the group, however, slipped away to a park where they were met by a man. He led them through an underpass to the railway station and they jumped on a train headed for the Austrian capital, Vienna. Their whereabouts now is unclear. One year after the border between Hungary and Austria became a focal point of a mass influx of refugees to Europe, many of them heading for Germany, officials in both countries say the situation is largely under control. But, as the events witnessed by Reuters show, migrants continue to make their way into Hungary and across the border into Austria from areas of the Middle East, Afghanistan and Africa hit by conflict and poverty. The situation has left many Hungarians and Austrians on edge and could shape the outcome of two votes on Oct. 2, when Austria elects a president and Hungary decides whether to accept mandatory European Union quotas for resettling migrants. "Clearly this is a polarizing issue that has stoked a lot of fears," said Austrian Defence Minister Hans Peter Doskozil. Like many people in Austria, a country of 8.5 million that has taken in about 110,000 asylum seekers since last summer, he sees a risk that the migrant crisis could worsen again. Although there is little evidence of it happening, he believes Austria could become the destination for migrants making their way from Africa through Italy. "That must be stopped," Doskozil said. Such concerns could work in favor of far-right candidate Norbert Hofer in Austria's election runoff. The first ballot, narrowly won by former Greens party leader Alexander Van der Bellen, was annulled because of technical irregularities. Similar fears could also help Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban persuade voters to reject the EU quota system following an aggressive government campaign in which billboards have been erected linking migrants to assaults and terrorism. Election of a far-right president in Austria and rejection of the quota plan in Hungary would be likely to damage the unity of the EU, which is already struggling to articulate a common vision after Britain's vote on June 23 to leave the bloc. "BIG SHOCK" Few communities have felt the impact of the migrants influx more than Nickelsdorf, a town of 1,800 in the eastern border region of Burgenland surrounded by sunflower and corn fields. It was near Nickelsdorf that the corpses of 71 refugees were found in an abandoned truck, shortly before Austria and Germany threw open their borders to migrants on Sept. 4 last year. Burgenland is a traditional stronghold of Chancellor Christian Kern's Social Democrats. But two thirds of voters there backed the eurosceptic Freedom Party's (FPO) Hofer in the presidential run-off in May that was annulled. "The Freedom Party promotes a very restrictive immigration policy and the people who live here in Nickelsdorf, who were confronted with this wave of 300,000 people a year ago, do not want it to happen again," Gerhard Zapfl, Nickelsdorf's SPO mayor, told Reuters. "The pressure valve is the election." Carmen Imnitzer, a 46-year-old housewife who helped distribute food and clothes to migrants, says she would never vote for the Freedom Party. But she describes the influx as a "big shock" for the town. "A lot of people are scared. They view everything that is foreign, everything they don't understand, as scary," she said. Debate has been clouded by an EU deal with Turkey granting Turks visa-free travel to the bloc, she added. Kern has accused the FPO of fanning fears about minorities and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has said politicians are using the refugee crisis for political gain. IMAGE "TARNISHED" BY CAMP Many migrants also arrived last year in Vamosszabadi, 65 km (40 miles) from Nickelsdorf, on the other side of the border. A refugee camp in the village designed for about 200 people housed nearly 800 migrants at one point in 2015, and many more were camping outside. Hungarian officials say many migrants disappear within days and the authorities lose track of them. Livia Vajda, the mayor of Vamosszabadi, said the camp had tarnished Vamosszabadi's image and should be closed. "This is an open reception center, people can move freely in and out, they can do anything they want and we live here next to them and we don't know who they are," she said. Orban opposes the EU quota plan and hopes the Oct. 2 referendum will strengthen his hand in dealings on the migrant issue with the EU and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The U.N. refugee agency has condemned Hungary's refugee practices but criticism of the referendum and Orban's stance on refugees has largely been limited in Hungary to small opposition and rights groups. Merkel and then-Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann suspended EU migration rules last year to allow in thousands of refugees who reached those countries via Hungary. Faymann quit in May after losing his party's support, partly because of his handling of the crisis. Merkel has also faced problems and her Christian Democrats lost a regional election on Sunday to an anti-immigrant party. (Additional reporting by Gergely Szakacs and Alastair Macdonald, Writing by Noah Barkin, Editing by Timothy Heritage) The leader of the Philippines has expressed regret after insulting Barack Obama by calling him the "son of a whore". President Rodrigo Duterte said he regretted that his comments came across as a personal attack on the US president. The two men were due to meet for the first time on Tuesday afternoon at the ASEAN summit in Laos. But a White House spokesman said the talks had been scrapped after Mr Duterte insulted Mr Obama. Arriving in Laos on Monday, Mr Duterte appeared to backtrack, saying: "I do not want to quarrel with the most powerful country on the planet." A statement issued on Tuesday said: "The President looks forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions, and working in mutually responsible ways for both countries. "Our primary intention is to chart an independent foreign policy while promoting ties with all nations, especially the US with which we have had a longstanding partnership." Earlier on Monday, the Philippines leader called Mr Obama "a son of a whore" as he warned him not to raise questions about extrajudicial killings. Mr Duterte made the comment when asked by a reporter how he would explain himself if Mr Obama did raise the issue. "I don't give a s*** about anybody observing my behaviour," he said. "I am a president of a sovereign state and we have long ceased to be a colony. "I do not have any master except the Filipino people, nobody but nobody. "You must be respectful. Do not just throw questions. Son of a whore, I will swear at you in that forum." Mr Duterte added his country had not received an apology for alleged misdeeds committed during the US colonisation of the Philippines in the last century. More than 2,400 suspected drug traffickers and users have been executed since Mr Duterte launched a war on drugs after taking office in June. The policy has been criticised by the Catholic Church, human rights groups and the United Nations. President Obama, who is in Laos for meetings with South Asian leaders, will instead meet with South Korean President Park Geun-hye. Alan Picken Takes Down GPPT Cardiff For $40,000 September 06 2016 Matthew Pitt Editor The Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, was the venue this weekend for the latest stop on the Grand Prix Poker Tour (GPPT) and it was Alan Picken who was the last man standing, a result that saw him turn $109 into $40,000. Grand Prix Poker Tour Cardiff Final Table Results Place Player Prize 1 Alan Picken $40,000 2 Daniel Hamblin $24,000 3 Adrian Ko $16,000 4 Josh Veasey $12,000 5 Christopher Alexander $9,000 6 David Morgan $6,500 7 Neil Wyatt $5,000 8 John Hird $4,000 A total of 215 players progressed from the dozens of online and live Day 1s, each of them returning to their seats knowing they had notched up a cash for their efforts. Some familiar faces from the British poker circuit, including Dan Owston, Iwan Jones, Dewi James, Andrew Hulme, Leigh Wiltshire, Paul Jackson, and Roberto Romanello fell by the wayside during the Day 2 action. When the tournament was down to only 10 players, and therefore on the final table bubble, Carl Collins and Soheil Khorram bust in separate hand, but at the same time, to bust in joint tenth place, meaning the final table was an eight-handed affair. John Hird was the first to be eliminated from the final table, pushing his final two big blinds into the middle with king-eight of diamonds and being called by David Morgan and his pair of sevens. Hird spiked an eight on the flop and a king on the river, but the board contained four spades and one of Morgans sevens was spades, his flush sending Hird to the rail. Next to fall was Neil Wyatt at the hands of Adrian Ko before Morgan, Christopher Alexander, and Josh Veasey all lost their chips to leave only three players in the hunt for the $40,000 first place prize. At this point, all eyes were on Ko because he held a Golden Chip from the online qualifiers, which meant if he won the GPPT Cardiff Main Event he would win an additional $50,000. That extra money remained unclaimed, however, because Ko lost the majority of his stack when his ace-three lost to the pocket fours of Daniel Hamblin and he never managed to recover. The final hand of the tournament saw Hamblin make a move with ace-ten on a five-five-seven rainbow flop. It proved to be ill-timed because Picken was sat holding six-five of spades and had one of the easiest calls of his career. Call he did and when the dealer placed the turn and river onto the table it was game over for Hamblin, and Picken was announced as the latest GPPT champion. Next up for the GPPT is a trip to Killarey in Ireland from September 14 before the tour goes full circle and returns to the Dusk Till Dawn casino in Nottingham on October 10. You can qualify for both of those legs online at partypoker where new depositing players are entitled to a 100% up to 250 bonus if you download partypoker via UK & Ireland PokerNews and use the bonus code "UKPNEWS" when making your first deposit. Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+! WASHINGTON U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies are probing what they see as a broad covert Russian operation in the United States to sow public distrust in the upcoming presidential election and in U.S. political institutions, intelligence and congressional officials said. The aim is to understand the scope and intent of the Russian campaign, which incorporates cyber-tools to hack systems used in the political process, enhancing Russias ability to spread disinformation. The effort to better understand Russias covert influence operations is being spearheaded by James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence. This is something of concern for the DNI, said Charles Allen, a former longtime CIA officer who has been briefed on some of these issues. It is being addressed. A Russian influence operation in the United States is something were looking very closely at, said one senior intelligence official who, as others interviewed, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. Officials are also examining potential disruptions to the election process, and the FBI has alerted state and local officials to potential cyberthreats. The official cautioned that the intelligence community is not saying it has definitive proof of such tampering, or any Russian plans to do so. But even the hint of something impacting the security of our election system would be of significant concern, the official said. Its the key to our democracy, that people have confidence in the election system. The Kremlins intent may not be to sway the election in one direction or another, officials said, but to cause chaos and provide propaganda fodder to attack U.S. democracy-building policies around the world, particularly in the countries of the former Soviet Union. U.S. intelligence officials described the covert influence campaign here as ambitious and said it is also designed to counter U.S. leadership and influence in international affairs. One congressional official, who has been briefed recently on the matter, said Russian active measures or covert influence or manipulation efforts, whether its in Eastern Europe or in the United States are worrisome. It seems to be a global campaign, the aide said. As a result, the issue has moved up as a priority for the intelligence agencies, which include the FBI and Department of Homeland Security as well as the CIA and the National Security Agency. Some congressional leaders briefed recently by the intelligence agencies on Russian influence operations in Europe, and how they may serve as a template for activities here, have been disturbed by what they heard. After Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid, D-Nev., ended a secure, 30-minute phone briefing by a top intelligence official recently, he was deeply shaken, according to an aide who was with Reid when he left the secure room at the FBIs Las Vegas headquarters. The Russian government hack of the Democratic National Committee, disclosed by the DNC in June but not yet officially ascribed by the U.S. government to Russia, and the subsequent release of 20,000 hacked DNC emails by WikiLeaks, shocked officials. Cyber-analysts traced its digital markings to known Russian government hacking groups. Weve seen an unprecedented intrusion and an attempt to influence or disrupt our political process, said Rep. Adam B. Schiff, Calif., the ranking Democrat of the House Intelligence Committee, speaking about the DNC hack and the WikiLeaks release on the eve of the Democratic convention. The disclosures, which included a number of embarrassing internal emails, forced the resignation of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Members of both parties are urging the president to take the Russians to task publicly. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., in a statement urged President Barack Obama to publicly name Russia as responsible for the DNC hack and apparent meddling in the electoral process. Free and legitimate elections are non-negotiable. Its clear that Russia thinks the reward outweighs any consequences, he wrote. That calculation must be changed. . . . This is going to take a cross-domain response diplomatic, political and economic that turns the screws on [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and his cronies. Administration officials said they are still weighing their response. Russia has denied that it carried out any cyber-intrusions in the United States. Putin called the accusations against Russia by U.S. officials and politicians an attempt to distract the publics attention. It doesnt really matter who hacked this data from Mrs. Clintons campaign headquarters, Putin said, referring to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, in an interview with Bloomberg News. The important thing is the content was given to the public. The Department of Homeland Security has offered local and state election officials help to prevent or deal with Election Day cyber-disruptions, including vulnerability scans, regular actionable information and alerts, and access to other tools for improving cybersecurity at the local level. It will also have a cyber-team ready at the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center to alert jurisdictions if attacks are detected. Last month, the FBI issued an unprecedented warning to state election officials urging them to be on the lookout for intrusions into their election systems and to take steps to upgrade security measures across the voting process, including voter registration, voter roles and election-related websites. The confidential flash alert said investigators had detected attempts to penetrate election systems in several states. Arizona, Illinois and both the Democratic and Republican parties, as well as the DNC, have been the victims of either attempted or successful cyberattacks that FBI agents with expertise in Russian government hacking are investigating. Federal law enforcement and local election officials say the decentralized nature of the voting process, which is run by states and counties, makes it impossible to ensure a high level of security in each district. I have a lot of concern about this years election, said Ion Sancho, the longtime supervisor of elections in Leon County, Fla. America doesnt have its act together, said Sancho, who has authorized red team attacks on his voting system to identify its vulnerabilities. We need a plan. Sancho and others are particularly concerned about electronic balloting from overseas that travels on vulnerable networks before landing in the United States and efforts to use cyberattacks to disrupt vote tabulations being transmitted to state-level offices. Encryption, secured paper backups and secured backup computers are critical, he said. Tom Hicks, chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, an agency set up by Congress after the 2000 Florida recount to maintain election integrity, said he is confident that states have sufficient safeguards in place to ward off intrusions. He noted that electronic balloting from overseas is conducted by email, not through online voting machines. The overseas voter waives their right of privacy by emailing the ballot, which is tabulated by election officials. The email may still be hacked, but it is not a systemic risk, he said. Recently, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said he favors designating the various voting systems used in the countrys 9,000 polling places as critical infrastructure in other words as vital to the nations safe functioning as nuclear power plants and electrical power grids. Such a designation could mean increased DHS funding to localities to help ensure that voter registration, ballots and ballot tabulation remains free from interference. But it wont happen before the November elections, federal and local officials said. Russia has been in the vanguard of a growing global movement to use propaganda on the Internet to influence people and political events, especially since the political revolt in Ukraine, the subsequent annexation of Crimea by Russia, and the imposition of sanctions on Russia by the United States and the European Union. The Baltic states, Georgia and Ukraine have been subject to Russian cyberattacks and other hidden influence operations meant to disrupt those countries, officials said. Our studies show that it is very likely that [the influence] operations are centrally run, said Janis Sarts, director of the NATO Strategic Communications Center of Excellence, a Riga, Latvia-based research organization. He also said there is a coordinated effort involving [groups using] Twitter and Facebook and networks of bots to amplify their message. The main themes seem to be orchestrated rather high up in the hierarchy of the Russian state, and then there are individual endeavors by people to exploit specific themes. Sarts said the Russian propaganda effort has been successful in exploiting the vulnerabilities within societies. In Western Europe, for instance, such Russian information operations have focused on the politically divisive refugee crisis. On the eve of a crucial post-revolution presidential vote in Ukraine in 2014, a digital assault nearly crippled the countrys Central Election Commissions website. Pro-Moscow hackers calling themselves the CyberBerkut claimed responsibility, saying they were not state-affiliated, but the authorities in Kiev blamed Moscow. The Russians used a denial of service technique, flooding the commissions Web server with a high volume of requests, which was meant to slow down or disable the network. New details released by New Mexico State Police on Monday said Alamogordo police officer Clint Corvinus was killed by one of several gunshots fired by a man wanted on multiple warrants in the early moments of a foot chase through a residential neighborhood Friday. The events ended a few blocks away when a second Alamogordo police officer, Christopher Welsh, chased Joseph Moreno to a nearby trailer park and fired several rounds, fatally striking Moreno, 38, once in the head, State Police said in a written statement. Welsh had not realized during much of the foot chase that Corvinus had been fatally shot, the statement says. During the time Officer Welch fired rounds at Mr. Moreno, Officer Corvinus was behind Officer Welch and never in his line of fire, the statement says. Officer Welsh was unaware Officer Corvinus had been struck by gunfire until after Mr. Moreno had been subdued. Corvinus, 33, a four-year veteran of the Alamogordo Police Department, was taken to Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center in Alamogordo, where he was pronounced dead. State Police investigators interviewed Welch, who has served about 10 months with the Alamogordo Police Department, and obtained his lapel camera, which provided video evidence of the events. The agency began the investigation Friday at the request of Alamogordo police. The incident began at 8:27 a.m. Friday when Corvinus and Welch were on patrol and recognized Moreno, who was wanted on outstanding fugitive warrants for his arrest. The warrants included felony charges of possession of a controlled substance and two counts of burglary. State Police Sgt. Elizabeth Armijo said Sunday that it wasnt clear whether the officers were in a patrol car and Moreno was walking, or whether they were all on foot or all in vehicles. According to State Police, the two officers tried to make contact with Moreno, who ran into an alley near the residential intersection of Sherwood Drive and Santa Cruz Drive, a short distance east of Mountain View Middle School in Alamogordo. The officers began a foot pursuit of Moreno. As Moreno was running from officers, State Police say, he reached into a bag and removed a .357-caliber revolver, which they say was later found to have the serial number unlawfully removed. The bag also contained 10 hollow-point bullets and a pair of handcuffs, they said. Moreno turned and pointed his handgun at the officers, and Welch fired his gun at Moreno, police said. At this time Moreno fell to the ground, according to the State Police statement. While on the ground, Moreno fired multiple shots at the officers, the statement says. Evidence at the scene indicates Officer Corvinus was struck with one round fired by Mr. Moreno, the statement says. Moreno stood up and continued to run, with Welsh in pursuit. When they reached 602 S. Florida, Welch fired an unspecified number of rounds, striking Moreno in the head. Welsh and other responding officers administered CPR to Corvinus before he was taken to the hospital, the statement said. The statement did not say whether any aid was rendered to Moreno. Otero County law enforcement officers have created a page on gofundme.com to raise money to ease the financial burden on Corvinus family, which it said includes his parents, his girlfriend and his daughter. As of Sunday, it had collected more than $7,000. Corvinus grew up in Alamogordo and was well-known in the community. Moreno also grew up in Alamogodo. He has a criminal record dating to 2005 mostly drug possession charges and charges of burglary, improper drivers license charges and other petty misdemeanors. His sister, Regina Moreno of Yuba City, Ariz., has started a page on gofundme.com to raise $2,000 for her brothers funeral expenses. His funeral arrangements have not been made public. As of Sunday, his fundraising page had collected more than $1,200, including many $5 contributions from people donating so they could comment on the page condemning in strong language Morenos actions and, in some cases, his soul. Officer Corvinus funeral details Family members of the slain officer announced funeral arrangements on Monday. Services will be conducted at 10:00 a.m. Saturday at Tays Center on the campus of New Mexico State University-Alamogordo at 2400 N. Scenic Drive. Hamilton-ODell Funeral Home will direct the services. To sign the online register book, visit www.hamiltonodell.com. An all-party delegation and the Hurriyat party walk into a bar. No they don't, but the Hurriyat's closed-door strategy may well be a joke. Here's our take. By India Today Web Desk: Over the last two days, an all-party delegation visited Jammu and Kashmir for a ground report on the tense situation in the state and to parley with local leaders. While Home Minister Rajnath Singh and the delegation members held talks conversing with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and some other mainstream leaders, five MPs decided to meet separatist leaders for a chat. advertisement CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI leader D Raja, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav and RJD leader JP Yadav approached hardline Hurriyat leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Abdul Ghani Bhat and JKLF chief Yaseen Malik. Meanwhile, AIMIM leader Assadudin Owaisi met Hurriyat leaders Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Shabir Shah. The result was the same in each case - their knocks went unanswered. Literally so, in the case of Geelani, who has been under house arrest for the last 60 days. The group of four at Geelani's house kept knocking, and the Hurriyat leader even saw them from his window, but he refused to meet the parliamentarians. We decided to break the ice with a liberal dose of humor. Knock yourself out: OWAISI BAAT NAHI HAI YA DOVE NOT A RAJA 30 ML HUMOUR YE CHURI KHANKE GI PS: Overheard in the bylanes of Srinagar. In logon ne knock me dum kar rakha hai. --- ENDS --- DAMASCUS, Syria A string of bombings, including a suicide attack claimed by the Islamic State group, struck in and around several Syrian cities on Monday, killing at least 43 people, mainly in government-controlled areas. The SANA news agency reported blasts around the coastal city of Tartus, the central city of Homs, the suburbs of the capital Damascus, and the northeastern city of Hasakeh. The attacks were timed closely together, but authorities have not determined whether they were linked. The IS group claimed responsibility for the blast in Hasakeh. Areas controlled by President Bashar Assads forces have seen several bombings and other attacks during the countrys five-year civil war, with many claimed by Al-Qaida-linked militant groups. One of Mondays attacks took place in the heavily guarded suburb of Sabbourah, marking a major security breach. SANA said the attack killed one person, while the opposition-run Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three people were killed. Its an area that houses officers and their families. Even before the revolution it was carefully guarded, said opposition media activist Yousef al-Boustani, referring to the 2011 uprising against Assad, which began with peaceful protests demanding reform. The Britain-based Observatory, which maintains a network of contacts inside Syria, put the overall death toll at 47. Conflicting casualty figures are common in the Syria war. Attackers detonated two bombs along the international coastal highway to the government stronghold of Tartus, SANA said, killing 35. A car bomb at the Arzoneh bridge was followed by a suicide bomber, who targeted a crowd that was gathering. The city, a stronghold of support for President Bashar Assad, is home to a major Russian naval base. The Observatory said the twin blasts killed 35 people, including an army colonel, and wounded dozens more. A survivor at the al-Bassel Hospital told state TV the blasts occurred near a checkpoint on the highway. My car caught fire and army soldiers pulled us out of the car, he said. The governor of Homs province said a car bomb struck a military checkpoint in the provincial capital, killing three soldiers and a civilian, and wounding 10 others. The city of Homs, Syrias third largest, is largely under government control, with only one neighborhood still held by rebels. Mondays bomb exploded in the government-held Bab Tadmor district, SANA said. The Observatory said four soldiers were killed. Syrian TV aired footage showing massive damage to the area, with a number of smashed cars and the bloodied body of a guard at the checkpoint. An Islamic State attacker on a motorcycle blew himself up in the northeastern city of Hasakeh, killing eight, SANA said. Government forces withdrew in August after street battles with Kurdish forces, which took control of the city, though the states police force remained in place. The Observatory said the blast killed three members of the Kurdish police force, the Asayesh, and two civilians. Except for the Hasakeh attack, there has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts. The Islamic State group claimed twin suicide bombings in the neighboring coastal towns of Tartus and Jableh in May that killed over 160 people. ___ Associated Press writer Philip Issa in Beirut contributed to this report. RUIDOSO DOWNS Imperial Eagle scored a neck win over The Marfa Lights in the Grade 1, $3-million All American Futurity on Monday at Ruidoso Downs. Jockey Esgar Ramirez, who won the $2.4 million All American Derby on Sunday, became just the fourth rider to score the derby-futurity double in the same year. He joins Billy Hunt (twice), Juan Vazquez and Ramon Sanchez in accomplishing that feat. Imperial Eagle and The Marfa Lights went past Coronas First Diva about 100 yards from the wire and then battled on even terms to the finish line. Imperial Eagle prevailed with a time of 21.478 seconds for the 440 yards. I had a clean trip. My horse broke really good, said Ramirez. Everybody was hollering and he tried to beat the gate, but he still got a real good break. The six horse (Coronas First Diva) was in front of me a neck at most, and I asked my horse to keep going. The longer he goes, the better he gets. The top-two finishers are sired by One Famous Eagle, who became the second stallion to have four offspring qualify for an All American Futurity. All-time leading sire First Down Dash also performed the feat. Coronas First Diva managed third, three-quarters of a length behind The Marfa Lights. Ruidoso Futurity winner Apolltical Chad was just another nose back for fourth. Imperial Eagle, a $48,000 Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale purchase, earned $1.5 million for the win with owners of The Marfa Lights pocketing $450,000. Trained by Tony Sedillo, Imperial Eagle showed his 440-yard capability when he won his All American Futurity trial by one-and-three-quarter lengths in 21.499. My parents, Christine and Leddie Sedillo, said youre gonna win it, said Sedillo. They were involved in the horse industry my whole life. They helped me and followed me everywhere I went. They were my biggest supporters since I started in this business. Every time I would get beat, theyd say, dont worry about it, youll be back. Imperial Eagles dam, Jenuine Joy, is owned by Fredda Draper of Ruidoso Downs and she is the breeder of Imperial Eagle. Her husband, the late Carl Draper, was a two-time winning trainer of the All American Futurity. The Marfa Lights, a $145,000 Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale purchase, was ridden by Larry Payne. I had a pretty good trip except for the start, said Payne. My colt is a real nervous type colt, and when the horse next to him flipped (Koolnfamous) he spun his head around a little bit and kind of got a little off sync. We got him pointed back down the racetrack. I broke a length behind the four and the six (Coronas First Diva) and in this quality of race you cant spot them anything. My horse ran real well on the end, he made up a lot of ground, we just couldnt get the job done. The runnerup was trained by Jim Helzer, who owned 1990 All American Futurity winner Refrigerator, who is still third on the all-time leading money earning list at $2,126,309. Coronas First Diva, the daughter of Corona Cartel and champion Spit Curl Diva, won the $440,000 Oklahoma Futurity and qualified for the $1-million Heritage Place Futurity at Remington Park on June 4. Trainer Charles Duke Shults then waited for the All American Futurity trials with Coronas First Diva. She responded with a 1 length trial win in 21.500, the fastest qualifying time on the second day of trials. JUVENILE: In the $500,000 All American Juvenile, Jm Mister Destiny ran away from his competition to get the 1-length victory in 21.560 seconds for the 440 yards. ATTENDANCE: The Labor Day attendance of 24,515 was the second-highest in Ruidoso Downs history. Last year, the attendance was a record 24,815. The four-day attendance on Labor Day weekend was 53,854. SELECT SALE: After a slow opening session, the three-day Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale continued a two-session rebound during Sundays closing night. The Saturday session averaged $39,459 per horse sold while the closing session nearly matched that number at $39,139. There were nine yearlings that brought $100,000 or more on Saturday night with seven yearlings reaching the six-figure mark on Sunday night. The opening session this year produced four yearlings that sold for $100,000 or more. Albuquerque police are investigating a possibly fatal crash near Wyoming and Indian School. Albuquerque police called out the departments fatal traffic team to investigate the crash, which was first reported at about 7 p.m., according to notices from a police spokesman. Officer Mike Schroeder said in a statement that one subject was transported to a hospital in critical condition. The Albuquerque Public Schools Education Foundation is partnering with a local tech firm to collect micro-donations that will benefit students. APSCents allows shoppers to round up purchases to the nearest dollar and give the change to the foundation. For instance, a $52.14 bill becomes $53, and 86 cents is donated. All it takes is a debit or credit card and quick online registration. The new platform is managed by CaringCent, a tech company with the motto Small Change, Big Impact. Phill Casaus, APS Education Foundation executive director, said he is excited to connect with the firm. Fundraising becomes more and more challenging each year with so many worthwhile causes looking for donations, he said. The CaringCent concept began with a grocery store trip. At the checkout counter, co-founder Jim Wills was asked to contribute to a change jar, but he didnt know much about the charity. He and his colleagues decided to create an online platform that gives donors the freedom to choose a nonprofit, educational institution, religious organization or political campaign. CaringCent was born out of the idea that we should all be able to have a say in where our money goes, Wills said, in a prepared statement. CaringCent empowers everyone, regardless of budget, to make a big difference every day in someones life simply by rounding up on a purchase. So far, more than 20 New Mexico nonprofits have signed up for CaringCent, including Girl Scouts, Make a Wish Foundation, Alzheimers Association, Planned Parenthood and, now, the APS Foundation. Its a new way to reach donors at all income levels, Casaus said. Today, many of our supporters make donations at checkout counters across our city and, if given the choice, they would prefer to support our students, Casaus added. With APSCents, they now have this option. We know that many of our supporters live on a finite budget. APSCents makes supporting our students affordable for families of all types. The APS Foundation funds a district clothing bank, as well as programs in arts, STEM and literacy. During the last fiscal year, it provided a record $494,163 spread across 103 school grants, helping a total of 34,963 students. Bernalillo County commissioners have called a special meeting for Thursday to consider squeezing two more questions onto the Nov. 8 ballot one on the proposed sick-leave ordinance, the other on public financing of mayoral campaigns. But whatever they decide might not be the final word. The decision on the sick-leave proposal, in particular, seems particularly vulnerable to a legal challenge. Theres intense debate over whether the whole seven-page ordinance, or just a summary, must be placed on the ballot. And thats a critical decision because election officials say a summary is all that will fit. The agenda for Thursdays meeting presents the commission with both options. Supporters of the measure say only a summary is needed. Opponents contend the City Charter requires the whole ordinance on the ballot. City attorneys have weighed in, too, and they say publication of the entire ordinance is required. But the decision on what to put on the ballot belongs to the County Commission. Opponents of the sick-leave ordinance, in any case, have made it clear they will consider filing a lawsuit if only a summary appears on the ballot. The debate centers on a proposal to require employers in Albuquerque to allow their workers to earn paid sick time off. Its the result of a petition drive by a coalition of left-leaning groups. They gathered enough signatures to trigger an election under the City Charter, but the city doesnt have a municipal election scheduled until October 2017, so city councilors asked the County Commission to consider adding the proposal to the Nov. 8 general-election ballot. Supporters say voters shouldnt have to wait until next year to consider the proposed ordinance. Its passage would ensure workers dont have to choose between their paycheck and time off to care for themselves or a loved one, they say. Opponents, meanwhile, say sick leave is a worthwhile goal but that the ordinance includes onerous record-keeping and other requirements that could force some small companies out of business altogether. The ballot is due to the state on Sept. 13, or five days after the special meeting, so if theres going to be a court fight, it will happen under deadline pressure. The public financing proposition, meanwhile, is only about 165 words long, so the space question isnt as critical. If passed by voters, it would increase the funding for mayoral candidates who opt into Albuquerques public financing system for campaigns. County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver said both questions could probably fit on the ballot if the sick-leave question appears as a summary and she reduces the size of the typeface. But the authority to decide rests with the County Commission, not her office, she said. They were dying so slowly. After five days adrift on the South China Sea with little food and no water, the cruelty of dehydration had started to take its toll on the 93 refugees, many of them children, pressed together in a fishing boat bereft of fuel, sail, compass or oar. One man was going blind, his corneas dried like raisins. Some were hallucinating. Some could no longer stretch their shriveling muscles. Parents gave their urine to their children to drink until they could no longer pass a drop of bodily fluid. Many cried, though their scorched eyes could produce no tears. Under that cloudless July sky in 1979, mothers began contemplating drowning their children, binding their small arms to their sides with strips of cloth, then letting them sink into the water like stones. That, they discussed, would be a more merciful, quicker death. Then one man began to pray. Clouds knotted on the horizon, slowly gathering themselves across the sky, dark and heavy until the heavens opened and the rains came. The man had prayed for rain. He had prayed for rescue and life. The refugees collected the downpour in a canvas tarp and drank. It was just enough to keep them alive for one more day, long enough to be rescued by a cargo ship operated by the Christian humanitarian organization World Vision and begin an entirely new voyage. Dr. Vinh Chung has told that story many times both in his book, Where the Wind Leads, and as guest speaker across the country for World Vision. Chung will speak Sept. 15 in Albuquerque at a fall reception open to the public and hosted by the local chapter of Women of Vision, a volunteer ministry of World Vision. Chung, 40, was on that fishing boat 37 years ago, one of thousands of boat people who escaped Vietnam in the years after South Vietnam fell to communist rule. His father was the man who prayed for rain. Chung tells people that his is the story of the American dream, of perseverance and hope and the fight to find a better life in the face of great adversity. It is a story still relevant today, retold now by the millions of people forced to flee their war-torn countries. In the history of men, there have always been refugees, because there has always been war and conflict that forces them to leave their homes, Chung said in a recent call from the home he shares in Colorado Springs with his wife, Leisle, and their four children. We are seeing that now, especially in the Middle East, in Syria. Syria is one of the reasons Women of Vision has asked Chung to speak in Albuquerque to demystify and depoliticize the plight of Syrian refugees, to change the narrative of fear and misinformation to compassion and understanding and to encourage the community to join its efforts to aid those who struggle to find rescue and life. Theres the discussion now about whether we should let them into the country, Chung said. But let us understand that these are people who are desperate with no option to stay home. These are people who are often found with their house keys still with them because they are still hoping to go home if there is a home to return to. Chung and his family lost their home, lost everything. His father had run a rice-milling empire that in todays terms would be valued at several million dollars. His mother raised Chung and his seven siblings. We were wealthy, he said. After Saigon fell and all was lost, Chungs parents risked everything to find a better life for their children and left their homeland by boat. Historical accounts vary, but an estimated 1.5 million fled Vietnam by boat in the late 1970s. An estimated 50,000 to 200,000 perished at sea, drowned when their rickety boats capsized, were attacked by Thai pirates or, as in the case of Chung and his family, were left to die after being set adrift with no supplies by Malaysians who had denied them entrance into the countrys refugee camp. Chungs journey, as he will tell it, eventually took them to Fort Smith, Ark., with little more than the clothes they were wearing and not knowing a word of English. Ill save the rest for him to tell, but suffice it to say Chungs story has a happy ending. The 11 Chung siblings (his mother gave birth to three more children in the United States) have 22 college degrees among them, including five masters and six doctorate degrees, all from prestigious universities. Chung himself graduated from Harvard and now has a successful medical practice as a skin cancer surgeon. Chung said it is important to help others find a foothold in a place of safety and opportunity just as he and his family were afforded so many years ago when they were rescued at sea. When people say refugees, they think about violent terrorists, and I agree that violent terrorists are out there, he said. But the vast majority of refugees are also victims of terrorists. They are normal human beings men, women and children, going about their business when war happened. More information Women of Visions Fall Reception, Hope in the Margins, with Dr. Vinh Chung, author of Where the Wind Leads, 5:30 p.m. Sept. 15, Hotel Albuquerque, 800 Rio Grande NW. The event is free, but please RSVP to Women of Vision in Albuquerque: abq.womenofvision.org World Vision: worldvision.org Vinh Chung: wherethewindleads.com Women of Visions Fall Reception, Hope in the Margins, with Dr. Vinh Chung, author of Where the Wind Leads, 5:30 p.m. Sept. 15, Hotel Albuquerque, 800 Rio Grande NW. The event is free, but please RSVP to tinyurl.com/hxqxbn6 or abqwov@gmail.com. How to help Local organizations helping refugees offer ways to donate, volunteer, learn. Catholic Charities: Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains: www.lfsrm.org Immigrant and Refugee Resource Village of Albuquerque: www.irrva.com La Mesa Presbyterian Church: 255-8095 Los Altos Christian Church: 299-5526 Foothills Fellowship: 294-0016 East Central Ministries: 266-3590 New Mexico Faith Coalition for Immigrant Justice: nmfaithcoalition.com New Mexico Conference of Churches: www.nmchurches.org Local organizations helping refugees offer ways to donate, volunteer, learn. www.ccasfnm.org , 724-4694255-8095299-5526294-0016266-3590 UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Joline at 823-3603, jkrueger@abqjournal.com or follow her on Twitter @jolinegkg. Go to www.abqjournal.com/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor. New Mexico State Police and Albuquerque police reported the deaths of at least seven people in six crashes on New Mexico roadways over the Labor Day weekend. According to police: Two truck drivers died Sunday morning in a fiery tractor-trailer crash in Lea County. A truck driven by David Elvis Holt, 62, of Bastrop, Texas, was traveling east on N.M. 128, northwest of Jal, when he pulled into the westbound lanes to avoid a collision with another eastbound semi that slowed down to make a right turn. Holts vehicle collided head-on with a westbound semi driven by Ever Menchaca, 40, of Hobbs, setting fire to both trucks and killing both men. A man died in a motorcycle accident south of Santa Rosa on Saturday. Louis A. Montoya, 59, of Santa Fe was riding north on N.M. 91 about 5 p.m. Saturday when he crashed into an embankment. Montoya was not wearing a helmet. A Louisiana man was killed Monday when he lost control of an off-road vehicle in rural Cibola County south of Grants. Johnny E. Hall, 53, of Jonesboro, La., was driving on Bonita Canyon Road near N.M. 53 about 6:30 a.m. when Hall was ejected from the vehicle, which rolled over him, police said. Two motorcyclists from Gallup died in a crash in San Juan County after they failed to halt at a stop sign. New Mexico State Police said Willy Roy Jr., 56, and Abraham Vining, 43, died late Saturday afternoon in the crash at Navajo Route 5 and N.M. 371. Police said the cyclists were believed to have been riding side-by-side when they failed to stop at the intersection and crashed, killing both. Police said both men may have been under the influence of alcohol. A Texas woman was killed east of Fort Sumner early Monday when she drove her truck into the path of a westbound BNSF Railroad train. Andrea L. Grimm, 54, of Austin, Texas, was fatally injured. Albuquerque police reported a crash about 7 p.m. at Wyoming and Indian School that sent one person to the hospital in critical condition. About 9:30 p.m., the crash was upgraded to what the department calls a full motors call out, a term they often use when someone has died in a crash. Put sales tax on online sales THE OTHER DAY, I headed out to local stores to find stuff for a project and came back, as usual, empty-handed. Either the stores stock was too minimal, they didnt carry the items or had never heard of it. So, as usual, I ordered it online. Shipping was free and it came in a few days. Its not surprising to see many bricks & mortar places close because of competition from the internet, especially in New Mexico. They simply cant afford the costs of having a big store with lots of choices. Our state is facing huge budget shortfalls, and the response will be to cut social programs, mental health providers that might have averted the recent horrific killing of a 10-year-old girl, cut school funding as usual, eliminate raises for state employees and all the drastic cuts needed for our state to function. Re-instituting the death penalty will cost even more. Instead of all those draconian measures the governor will suggest, why dont we find other revenue revenue not connected to the polluters that savage our air and water? I propose a state tax on internet sales. The same sales tax that would apply if I bought the item at a local store. I dont want to pay this kind of tax, but Id rather pay that than see my property tax raised. Id rather pay an internet item sales tax than see budget cuts for the social programs we desperately need. Other states do this, why not New Mexico? MICHELE BUCHANAN Albuquerque Teachers raises no solution THERE THEY GO again. New Mexico has a budget crisis, school test scores are lousy and Democrat legislators are calling for a pay raise for teachers. The op-ed by Sen. Bill Soules (No time to lose on improving troubled schools, Aug. 29) and others raised some good points about the educational report from the National Conference of State Legislatures. The report, easy to find online, has some excellent suggestions that are well worth reading. One of the reports most important points is that individual silver bullet measures are ineffective, such as increasing teacher pay without demanding better preparation. Apparently, the legislators neglected to read this before demanding an immediate pay hike for all teachers without accountability. The politicians are on even shakier ground when they cite a report on a teacher pay gap by the union-sponsored Economic Policy Institute. This gap was calculated by comparing teacher salaries with the average of all college graduates: including engineers, software developers, lawyers and others who meet more rigorous academic standards, compete for merit pay and do not have tenure. Still, its a hopeful sign that New Mexico Democrats who have opposed virtually every initiative to improve school performance and accountability are endorsing comprehensive educational reform. Lets see if they are serious about it, or just using it to shake down the taxpayers yet again. JAMES A. MCCLURE Albuquerque Facebook can pay for center I AM NOT sure who is more stupid the people who run the APS school system the ones who want to build a health clinic just for its own staff and faculty, even though we have more than 42 urgent care clinics in the metropolitan area or the people in the Roundhouse and on the Los Lunas Village Council who appear to be drinking the same juice as the APS folks. Our elected officials will give Facebook 10 million of our tax dollars in funding for its proposed data center, assuming Facebook chooses New Mexico. Why? Last year was, in Facebooks own words, a great year . Indeed, its revenue was up 44 percent from 2014 and it earned $3.69 billion on $17.93 billion in revenue for 2015! Maybe it has so much money because it gets sucker states like New Mexico to give them money so they dont have to spend their own. For starters, New Mexicos proposed budget is short by more than $417 million for Medicaid alone. The Journal reported in September 2015 that 70,000 people a week in Albuquerque seek food assistance. And the state thinks it is OK to give a multibillion-dollar company millions to come to New Mexico? Did anyone in our government ever take a basic economics class? I learned at age five that you do not spend more money than you earn and you certainly do not spend money when you are in the red. I would like to think that New Mexico can attract people and businesses, as it always has, with its great weather, breathtaking scenery, a diverse and long-standing involvement in our countrys history, cultural activities and monuments, and the variety of a state that has a lot to offer without luring a multibillion-dollar company with $10 million. If Facebook cant take us at face value, then the company can go elsewhere for all I care. We have more critical things to spend $10 million on than to give it to a very wealthy corporation trying to get money from a state in the red. In short, no company making a profit should get any financial incentive from us to come here. MARSHA THOLE Albuquerque Lets fund what we have first TWO STORIES caught my attention in the Aug. 24 Journal. The first (Support builds for tiny homes village) told of (Bernalillo County) Commissioner Debbie OMalley looking for up to $2 million for the planning and development of a tiny homes village. The second, on the next page, (Budget crunch being felt by New Mexico jurors) told of an almost $1 million shortfall in the fund to pay jurors and interpreters in New Mexico courts. Why do politicians keep looking for new ways to spend money that we dont have instead of looking for ways to fund the programs that are already in place? Does this make sense to anyone? KAY BROOKS Albuquerque No link between taxes, jobs THE EDITORIAL in Sundays (Aug. 21) paper titled Advance work necessary to balance states budget, while certainly true in citing the corporate tax in our neighboring states as part of the reason, is only partly true, and false in what was omitted. In Mondays paper (Aug. 22), (a graphic) citing regional employment growth in the Business Outlook section is a better, and more honest, current measure. Conservatives, like the Journals editor, frequently cite that lower corporate taxes in other states are the reason why New Mexicos unemployment rate is higher than our neighbors. Sundays editorial did just that, quoting Forbes ranking of New Mexico as 47th worst for business, although Forbes reasoning goes beyond corporate taxation. The implication is that the corporate tax rate lowered in the last few years is still seen as too high. This is a conservative canard, easily seen in the Monday Journal, where Texas employment growth, with no corporate tax, grew only 1.5 percent in the last year, while New Mexicos grew 1.7 percent. More striking is California, disdained by American conservatives, with the highest corporate tax in the West, that grew 3.2 percent in the last year. If corporate taxes were the reason that corporations Gov. (Susana) Martinezs job creators stay in a given state, then Florida or Utah or New Mexico would be the richest state, rather than California. The conservative Albuquerque Journal is in a city where the majority of voters maybe not readers are Democrats. I realize that the tenor of the paper is not about to change that is your right. The citizens of Albuquerque deserve better. STEVE SHACKLEY Albuquerque Maximum tax rate just too low IT MIGHT BE helpful for the Legislature, and particularly the governor, to consider how ridiculously low the floor for the maximum tax rate is. Anyone earning over $24,000 a year pays the maximum rate of 4.9 percent. Whether their taxable income is $24,000 or $240,000 or $724,000. Although increasing the rates for high earners will not close the budget gap, it would certainly help and be more fair to the many, many low-wage earners in this state. MILTON STRAUSS Corrales Property tax going out of NM I PAY PROPERTY taxes in Bernalillo County. One of the line items on my Bernalillo County tax bill is titled APS/APS Charter Schools. I object to paying property taxes for APS charter schools to lease space in shopping centers and vacant office buildings owned and operated by out-of-state property management corporations. Perhaps its time for the New Mexicos political sacred cow education to trim its budget, especially funding for APS charter schools. DELON MARTIN Albuquerque CHILD ABUSE IS a huge deal, but why doesnt anyone report it? Im sure the neighbors or family members have heard the screaming of the victim. No one sits quietly while being beaten to death. S.K. MENTAL ILLNESS is serious and people need to stop making fun of it, whether you do it or not. For example, anxiety and depression are an illness and need to be respected just as any other illness. People will joke about having anxiety before a quiz, but illness is different. M.N. SAYING THE Black Lives Matter movement isnt important is like running into a cancer treatment hospital screaming, There are worse diseases! African-American racism is an issue that shouldnt be ignored. The movement isnt saying other issues arent important, its saying this is a common issue that needs current attention. M.B. ARE PEOPLE BEING transgender affecting other people? In my opinion it should affect no one. Even if youre against it for any reason you should still be happy for a person for doing something that makes them happy and dont bring them down. P.K. TAKE A MINUTE today just to be happy. Give someone a compliment and make our state a better place one small step at a time. M.D.C. AS A COUNTRY, we need to do more for our veterans. Its a shame that so many are homeless and suffer from PTSD. They fought for us, they deserve more. J.W. I AM APPALLED at Frances lack of respect for Muslim women. Any woman should be allowed to dress as modestly or as promiscuously as they want without the government telling them no. This is a huge step backward for France. J.D. ATHEISTS ARE convinced that atheism is intellectual when its the exact opposite. There is nothing more foolish than believing the scientific impossibility that nothing created everything. America is having a revival of atheism and is being swallowed by moral darkness. J.C. TO THE BICYCLIST who whizzed through the four-way stop sign intersection at Indian School and Chelwood Saturday morning: you almost became a hood ornament for my car. Next time no doubt you will earn your ghost bike! K.A. THE STATE IS broke and will be forced to cut spending and increase taxes. Where do our legislators meet to discuss the problem? A resort in Red River. Not a conference room in Santa Fe. A symptom of our problems? And have you heard them talking about cutting state funding of their pensions? F.W. FOR THEIR OWN protection, we should take the children away from meth addicts. T.K. DARN! I TRIED my best to use a lot of water this summer in the hopes that the water rates would go down. I guess it didnt work; Ill try again next summer. H.M.C. IM HAPPY for the start of ART. Ive been a supporter of the idea of rapid transit in Albuquerque all along. R.L.B. THE HEIGHTS NEEDS more places to attract hipsters. We cant depend upon geriatrics alone up here to satisfy our cool quotient. S.S. ONE THING IS for sure this November: Americans will deserve the president they choose. E.N. IF A PERSON is drunk or on illegal drugs and hurts themselves or kills themselves, insurance companies read their other customers shouldnt have to pay out for injuries or damages to their personal property. S.M. NEW MEXICO should be a center of wind and solar production. Instead we cling to dying industries and ideas. Colorado applies a range of progressive policies including pot legalization and their economy is booming, while New Mexico circles the drain. A.F. WHY ARE SO many so quick to blame law enforcement? Rather, we are witnessing the decay of our culture. By and large, an overwhelming number of people no longer have a clear sense of morality and they resent the fact that there are authority figures wholl curtail them, with force, when they behave badly. J.C. Speak Up Rules If you want to gripe, grouse, whine or bellyache about a generic topic, submit your message at www.abqjournal.com/letters/speakup . The same goes if you want to dish out praise or thanks. Either way, you have to do it in 50 words or less. You cant identify anyone you criticize. Keep it clean. No cursing, please. We dont need your name, just initials. And its cheaper than therapy. AUSTIN, Texas Prosecutors in the most populated areas of Texas have in recent years dismissed a significantly larger number of marijuana offenses involving smaller amounts of the drug, according to a newspaper analysis. In the five most populous counties Bexar, Dallas, Harris, Tarrant and Travis the rate of dismissals has risen since 2011, according to the review by the Austin American-Statesman (http://atxne.ws/2cbSWON ). Data kept by the Texas Office of Court Administration shows dismissals are increasing fastest in North Texas. Just 9 percent of cases were dismissed in Tarrant County five years ago, but last year about a quarter of them were dropped. In Dallas County, the percentage of dismissals rose from 18 percent to 41 percent over the same period. Statistics show there appears to be a similar trend occurring statewide. But that trend doesnt necessarily reflect an easing of enforcement measures; the number of new misdemeanor marijuana cases filed statewide has stayed largely the same. Authorities in Travis County say theyve decided to prioritize more serious crimes instead of using resources to prosecute lower-level cases of marijuana possession. Jurors would look at us like we are crazy, Travis County prosecutor Dan Hamre told the newspaper. You are spending your time, our time and the courts time on a small amount of personal marijuana? Officials in various parts of the state say a reason for the rising number of dismissals are programs similar to one in Harris County where cases are resolved without prosecution if defendants complete anti-drug classes. Nobody goes through three years of law school and becomes prosecutors so they can rap the knuckles of someone for smoking a joint, said Shannon Edmonds, whos in charge of governmental relations at the Texas District and County Attorneys Association. Its not what draws them to the profession or gets them excited about doing justice. The change in approach appears to have drawn few critics. Lawmakers agree that authorities must decide how to manage caseloads. Whatever kind of case we are talking about, we expect law enforcement and prosecutors to use discretion and put the resources in the best place, Republican state Rep. Bryan Hughes said. ___ Information from: Austin American-Statesman, http://www.statesman.com India is expected to achieve universal primary education in 2050, universal lower secondary education in 2060 and universal upper secondary education in 2085. By Press Trust of India: Going by the current trend, India will be half a century late in achieving its global education commitments and the country needs fundamental changes in the education system if it wants to meet the 2030 sustainable development goals, a UNESCO report has said. UNESCO's new Global Education Monitoring (GEM) report says that based on current trends universal primary education in Southern Asia will be achieved in 2051, lower secondary in 2062, and upper secondary in 2087. advertisement ACHIEVING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS India is expected to achieve universal primary education in 2050, universal lower secondary education in 2060 and universal upper secondary education in 2085, it said. "This means the region would be more than half a century late for the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) deadline," it added. Also read: Teacher's Day special: Cobbler imparts free education to Mahadalit children in Bihar The report says there is an urgent need for greater headway in education and the sector needs a major transformation to fulfil the needed potential and meet the current challenges facing humanity and the planet. EDUCATION FOR PEOPLE AND PLANET It also talks of another report, Education for People and Planet, which it said, shows the need for education systems to step up attention to environmental concerns. "While in the majority of countries, education is the best indicator of climate change awareness, half of countries curricula worldwide do not explicitly mention climate change in their content. India is an exception, where currently some 300 million school students receive some environmental education," it said. Also read: Big deficiency in education quality despite IITs, NITs: Prez The statistics cited in the report have revealed only six per cent of adults in the poorest countries and only five in India have ever attended literacy programmes, once they pass the formal schooling system. EDUCATION INEQUALITY TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY The report has also called upon governments of various countries to start taking inequalities in education seriously, tracking them by collecting information directly from families. "The new global development agenda calls for education ministers and other education actors to work in collaboration with other sectors," it said. The GEM Report lists various benefits that could come if education actors work in collaboration with other sectors. The collaborative working may help delivery of health intervention through schools, contribution in increasing crop yields by 12 per cent and contribution of education in reducing population growth. --- ENDS --- ANKENY, Iowa If you want to understand Donald Trumps Catholic problem, come to the pancake breakfast after the 9 a.m. Sunday mass at St. Lukes church. The conservative parishioners dont like Trump or Hillary Clinton, and they dont know what to do. I was in my pickup driving to supper the other night. My comment was, Gosh, I just dont know,' said Matt Edwards, 40, a mining engineer. The two other males in my truck said, But you cant go for Hillary. Generally speaking, thats the conversation here. Edwards explained that he might vote for Clinton anyway. I would never have thought Id utter those words, he said. Its going to be a hard choice, even for someone who has always voted Republican. He was cutting up pancakes into bite-size pieces for his twin daughters. The five-year-olds call the GOP nominee Donald Trumpet. Its kind of appropriate in some ways, their dad laughed. Edwards caucused for Jeb Bush in February because he felt the former Florida governor had the most experience to be president. But he does not know how he will decide between the two seriously flawed candidates who made it through the process. Back then, I wasnt enthralled with him. But, looking back, Id love to have Mitt Romney again, said Edwards, who grew up on a farm before settling in the suburbs. The parking lot at St. Lukes church overflowed with minivans on a sunny Sunday morning. A new subdivision of single-family homes abuts the church on one side; a field of soybeans grows on the other. The population of Ankeny, north of Des Moines, doubled over the past 15 years. The parish is growing so fast that it plans to add a second Sunday service next month. It attracts exactly the kind of church-going, college-educated, upwardly-mobile white nuclear families who reliably vote Republican but harbor gnawing doubts about the Republican nominee. Romney won white Catholics who attend church at least once a month by 38 points in 2012 (68-30). A recent poll by the Public Religion Research Institute shows Trump leading among this group by only 17 points (49-32). That difference could account for millions of votes. While Barack Obama beat Romney among Catholics overall by just 2 points (50-48), last months Washington Post/ABC poll showed Clinton leading Trump among Catholics by 27 points (61-34). Thats the biggest shift of any demographic group in our polling. (Part of the story is that most Latinos, who loathe Trump, are members of the flock.) Edwardss wife, Tracy Deutmeyer, held their 21-month-old after church. She caucused for Ben Carson but said there is no way she will vote for Trump or Clinton. She might leave the top of her ballot blank, vote for a third-party candidate or write someone in (maybe Condoleezza Rice). The 40-year-old considered voting for Trump after watching the Republican convention in Cleveland, but then he called Obama the founder of ISIS. The final straw came during a subsequent radio interview, in which conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt tried to give Trump an out asking if he meant that Obama created the conditions that allowed ISIS to thrive. No, Trump replied, reiterating his provocative line of attack. That seemed off the rocker to me, said Deutmeyer. She also entertained reluctantly supporting Clinton until Bill met privately with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on a tarmac in Phoenix just a few days before the FBI decided not to recommend criminal charges against Hillary. A practicing lawyer herself, she said such a huddle seemed inappropriate and a scary reflection of how the Clintons do business. Not one of the dozen congregants I interviewed, all of whom voted for Romney, expressed admiration for either major-party candidate. As the fall campaign begins, most are undecided. While most seemed like theyre looking for a rationale to eventually get behind Trump, many said they might back a third-party candidate or just not vote. Polls show a neck-and-neck race in Iowa, but Republican insiders believe Clinton has an advantage because of a serious enthusiasm gap in places like Ankeny. One in five Iowa adults are Catholic, the state is 87 percent white and more than two-thirds of residents attend religious services at least once a month. Cathy Hardekoph, a registered nurse who became a stay-at-home mom when she had kids, was dismayed by Trumps feud with the pope earlier this year. When Francis was asked about Trumps plan for a border wall, he replied: A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. Trump called it disgraceful for a religious leader to question his faith, and he dismissed the spiritual leader of Catholicism as a very political person. The 47-year-old is also bothered by Trumps mockery of a disabled reporter, his hardline rhetoric about Mexican immigrants and his kneejerk opposition to accepting any Syrian refugees. They need to be treated like human beings, she said, as one of her three sons crawled under the table and another fiddled with play dough. How are we going to help them? Its disheartening to see. . . . He doesnt portray Christian values. Degrading people in public, thats not a Christian value. That makes me wonder how he really feels on life and all the things that really matter to the Catholic community. Hardekoph caucused for Marco Rubio, who cleaned up in Ankeny during the caucuses. To me, Trump is the extreme opposite, she said. All he does is knock other people down. I want to support someone who supports life in all its forms. All that said, shes probably going to vote for Trump anyway because Clinton supports abortion rights and would appoint Supreme Court justices who do as well. Lets just say Im leaning away from Hillary more than Im leaning toward Trump, she said. I dont think Id vote rather than vote for Clinton. Her husband Charlie, who does equipment support work in the agriculture industry, said hes undecided to the point of abstaining. He often wonders whether Trump is secretly trying to throw the election for the Democrats, but he believes Clinton is corrupt. He said Trump could get him on board by announcing who he will nominate for every position in the cabinet. How are they going to be able to temper him? Without knowing that information, it makes it hard to put him in office, Mr. Hardekoph said. Donald just needs to basically keep his mouth quiet. Wayne Johnson, 60, who works in banking, is in the same boat as the Hardekophs. The only issue that matters is life. If you are not pro-life, you dont even get a nod from me, he said. I asked if he thinks Trump, who has been all over the place on abortion, is actually pro-life. Sipping coffee from a Styrofoam cup, Waynes brow furrowed. After a pause, he smiled: Thats what hes saying. Its definitely the lesser of two evils, added Johnson, who caucused for Ted Cruz. But its very important what kind of Supreme Court we have. If you get another four years of liberal whatever, it could take us 30 years to work through the baloney that would come from the bench. He had arrived at church at 6:30 a.m. to cook for the pancake breakfast, which was organized by the Knights of Columbus. He wore a John Deere hat instead of a hair bun. As he ate, he talked about the election with Mike Fitzpatrick, an insurance agency manager who said he could go either way and wont make up his mind until close to the election. The process has failed us. Theres a lot more people who are better qualified. Neither of them has the character to be president, said Fitzpatrick, 59. Hillary Clintons got that reputation for insider dealing. Trumps got the reputation of doing whatever it takes to get the deal done. Hes a typical CEO. Whichever way the wind is blowing that day, you do what you have to do to get your way. The two guys sit together on the committee that manages the parishs money. If he was on finance council, we wouldnt want him as chairman, Johnson said. They laughed. Fitzpatricks wife, Sue, 59 is a secretary at the churchs grade school. I hate to say it, but Ill probably vote for Trump because I just cant do her, she told the guys. But its a little scary voting for him. With Breanne Deppisch campaign-catholics Researchers have found that the Zika virus can live in eyes, and research in mice may help explain why some Zika patients develop eye disease, including a condition that can lead to permanent vision loss. In a study published Tuesday in Cell Reports, researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis describe the effect of Zika virus infections in the eyes of mouse fetuses, newborns and adults. The study suggests that the eye could be a reservoir for the virus. Eye infection raises the possibility that people could become infected with Zika through contact with tears from infected people, they said. Zika virus is primarily spread from the bite of an infected mosquito. It is also spread through sex. Some researchers are also considering whether other bodily fluids may play a role. Researchers have detected Zika virus in blood, urine, semen, saliva and breast milk. It has also been found in genital tract swabs and fluid inside the eye, health officials have said. Researchers said bodily fluids, including tears, are one possibility for how an elderly Utah man may have spread the virus to his son. The elderly man died in July after contracting Zika from travel abroad, but his son did not leave the country and the mosquitoes known to spread the disease are not found in their area. Officials havent been able to determine how his caregiver son became infected. The son has since recovered. That one case illustrates the real conundrum, said Rajendra Apte, an ophthalmology professor and retina specialist who is one of the studys senior authors. To determine the effects of Zika infection on the eye, Washington University scientists infected adult mice and found live virus in the eyes seven days later. They didnt find virus in the eyes of baby mice eight days after they were born to infected mothers. But after infecting neonatal mice, they found evidence of Zika infection once they were born, Apte said. Researchers found that the tears of infected mice contained Zikas RNA the genetic material from the virus but not infectious virus, when tested 28 days after infection. What researchers dont know is whether in mice, there is a point where tears are actually infectious, Apte said. He added that in people, it could be a completely different story. Unlike other parts of the body, the eye is a place where the normal immune response is suppressed. Its an evolutionary response to avoid inflammation of sensitive tissue because if you have a lot of inflammation or scar tissue, its not good for vision, he said. As a result, infections sometimes persist in the eye after they have been cleared from the rest of the body. American doctor Ian Crozier treated patients in West Africa during the Ebola epidemic in 2014, and later became infected himself. The virus lurked in his eye months after he had been declared Ebola-free. Researchers are planning studies to determine whether infectious Zika virus persists in human eyes, Apte said. They also want to know how long the virus stays in the eyes because of other public health implications. Hepatitis C virus, a related virus, can infect the human cornea and is transmitted by corneal transplants, the study said. The study pointed out that eye banks may need to start testing corneas for Zika virus as well. zika PARIS A court in the French Mediterranean island of Corsica has upheld a burkini ban issued by a local mayor despite a higher court ruling saying such bans on the Muslim full-body swimwear may violate basic freedoms. A judge in the Bastia court said Tuesday the ban issued by the mayor in the Corsican resort village of Sisco was legal because public order had been disrupted in the region. Last month, clashes broke out in Sisco after unconfirmed witness accounts said a Muslim woman was wearing a full-body outfit on a local beach. Several people were wounded and tensions spread to Bastia. The Council of State has ruled bans are illegal unless there are proven risks of disruptions to public order. Tuesdays ruling can be appealed to the top court. RENO, Nevada It was more than a routine get-out-the-vote knock on the door when Iraq War veteran and Nevada Republican Party staffer Jon Staab asked Kenneth Olofson, a Vietnam veteran, if hell be voting for Donald Trump. An instant bond was formed as the two swapped stories of service and those of relatives who fought in World War II. I dont miss an election, Olofson, 74 and a lifelong Republican, said. Whenever I vote, I think of Normandy. A few blocks away, Daniel Mendoza, also an Iraq war veteran canvassing for the GOP, was promptly kicked off another elderly veterans property at the mere mention of Trumps name. Two years ago, the Republican National Committee hatched a plan to bolster turnout for veterans, who traditionally lean Republican. The party calculated that 6.5 million veterans either didnt register to vote or didnt cast a ballot in the 2012 presidential election. In the shadow of the Obama administrations controversial management of the Veterans Administration, the RNC compiled lists of veteran voters and hired veterans for an unprecedented get-out-the-vote effort. Then Trump won the partys presidential nomination, and his controversial rhetoric has rubbed some veterans the wrong way. The billionaire businessman has mocked Sen. John McCain for being captured during the Vietnam War, threatened to withdraw from NATO and feuded with a slain soldiers family that criticized him during the Democratic National Convention. On Tuesday Trump released a list of former military leaders who support him. Clinton countered with a television ad featuring veterans silently watching some of Trumps more controversial statements. Our veterans deserve better, the ad states. Theres limited polling on where veterans stand in the current presidential election. They supported Mitt Romney by 20 points in 2012 and John McCain by 10 points in 2008. But Trump has had trouble winning the support of some of his partys base, and veterans are no exception. The nail in the coffin for him was his NATO stuff, said Colton Jordan, a 28-year-old former Navy SEAL and lifelong Republican, as he waited in a Las Vegas nightclub for a rally with his preferred candidate, Libertarian party nominee Gary Johnson. Still, Republican operatives are confident that if they turn out veterans, theyll turn out more votes for Trump. Being a veteran, your skins a lot thicker, said Mendoza, 24, who noted that hes both Hispanic and a veteran two groups Trump has disparaged but he still supports Republican nominee. It conditions you to seeing that bigger world and seeing past what someone says off the cuff. The instant bond that veterans form with each other often defuses tension inherent in political canvassing and opens doors that would otherwise be closed, said Bob Carey, a former Navy captain and the RNCs veterans outreach director. But their political utility goes beyond that. Veterans have a disproportionate ability to gain the trust of any voter, Carey said. The military is the last institution that has the trust and respect of the general public. Veterans vote at a higher rate than civilians, but younger veterans are less likely to vote than their peers. Thats no surprise to Staab. He was deployed to southern Iraq in 2008 where his unit received mail once a month and had to create a base virtually from scratch at an abandoned air field. He didnt even remember to vote in the presidential election back home. Many veterans feel out of place after returning from war, and Staab and Mendoza, who returned from Iraq more recently are no exception. Mendoza is still dizzied by the carefree way some of his fellow students act. People take being a citizen for granted, he said. Staab now runs the GOPs Reno office and has recruited Mendoza and a cadre of veteran volunteers to call other veterans and knock on their doors. In Nevada, the veterans outreach has a dual purpose helping Trump and also the GOPs senate candidate, Rep. Joe Heck, a brigadier general in the army reserves. Vicky Maltman, an veterans activist whose husband received a Purple Heart in Vietnam, at first refused to help Staab because she didnt want to be associated with partisan politics. Now she happily volunteers because she believes the program is trying to mobilize a group she fears is growing politically alienated. A lot of our veterans feel like theyre forgotten about, she said. On a recent afternoon, Staab knocked on doors of veterans in a comfortable subdivision dotted with signs warning of wild horses that roam through the streets. Staab routinely introduced himself as a veteran and touted Trumps 10-point plan for improving veterans issues, highlighting item six, a promise to create a special White House phone line for veterans having problems getting medical care. He also noted that Heck ran a hospital in Baghdad during the surge and Staab added that he himself served during that operation. Even those who turned Staab away received a quick thank you for your service before the door clicked closed. Part of the outreach is just thanking them for their service on behalf of the Republican party, Staab said. Hillary Clinton is passing her hat around some swanky crowds A-listers including Anna Wintour, Seth MacFarlane and Eva Longoria are hosting fundraisers for the Democratic nominee this month. Clintons latest round of A-list cash-seeking starts Tuesday night, when Vogue editor Anna Wintour joins once and (possibly) future first daughter Chelsea Clinton and famously fashionable Clinton aide Huma Abedin to host a pre-Fashion Week event in New York. On Monday, actress Busy Phillips is hosting an improv comedy show to raise money for Clintons war chest. The L.A. event, thrown by actors Carrie Clifford, Kate Purdy, Alison Quinn and Jon Hartmere, could get even more glittery with the promise of a mystery guest or two. Later, Clinton herself will trek to the left coast for some high-wattage fundraisers Deadline is reporting that Family Guy creator MacFarlane and power couple Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg will host separate events for Clinton on Sept. 13. Lionel Richie will perform at MacFarlanes home for guests willing to pony up $5,000 to $50,000, and the Diller-von Furstenberg fete is a $100,000-a-couple dinner. Running mate Tim Kaine, too, is getting in on the act hell be hanging with actress Longoria, whos hosting a Sept. 19 Latinos for Hillary soiree with tickets that are going for up to $100,000, per the LA Times. And look for more Hollywood players at an event the following day hosted by uber-talent agent Jay Sures. The former secretary of state is no stranger to hitting up celebs for cash: Hosts of previous fundraisers have included Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel as well as George and Amal Clooney. clinton-celebs WASHINGTON House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz on Tuesday requested yet another Justice Department investigation of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton this one focused on emails that a tech company staffer deleted in spite of a congressional committees request that they be preserved. In the letter addressed to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Channing Phillips, and copied to Attorney General Loretta Lynch and FBI Director James Comey the Utah Republican asks for an investigation to determine whether Secretary Clinton or her employees and contractors violated statutes that prohibit destruction of records, obstruction of congressional inquiries, and concealment or cover up of evidence material to a congressional investigation. The request is based on an incident in which an employee for Platte River Networks the company that at one time managed Clintons private email server deleted an archive of Clinton emails, even though he had been asked to preserve them by the House Select Committee on Benghazi. The episode was revealed last week in documents made public by the FBI about its investigation into Clintons use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. The FBI concluded in that case that while Clinton and her staffers were careless in how they handled classified information, no reasonable prosecutor would bring charges against them. Republican legislators have questioned that determination, waging an aggressive campaign to get the FBI to release more information about the probe while requesting new investigations. Chaffetz and Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., for example, earlier asked the U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., whether Clinton committed perjury when she testified before a congressional committee about her use of a private email server. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on Chaffetzs latest request. Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said: This is yet another example of the congressman abusing his office by wasting further taxpayer resources on partisan attacks. This conspiracy theory is already debunked by the Justice Departments review. A spokesman for Platte River did not immediately return an email seeking comment. From what is known publicly, another investigation would seem unlikely to produce any significantly damaging revelations for Clinton or those close to her. According to an FBI summary of its investigation, Cheryl Mills, a top Clinton aide, sent the Platte River employee an email referencing the preservation request weeks before he made the deletions, and Mills and Clinton told investigators they were unaware of what the employee had done. Some details of the episode, though, remain murky. According to the FBI summary, Mills and another Clinton aide asked the Platte River employee, whose name is redacted, to delete emails in December 2014 or January 2015 and also to modify the period in which emails were retained. The employee, though, did not do so immediately, according to the summary. On March 2, 2015, the New York Times revealed that Clinton used a personal email account while she was secretary of state, and the following day, the Benghazi committee requested documents related to it be preserved. On March 25, Platte River Networks, which then managed Clintons private server, had a conference call with staffers of former president Bill Clinton, according to the FBI summary. The Platte River employee told FBI agents that sometime in the week that followed, he realized he had not made the changes Mills requested months earlier though he gave varying stories as to what happened next. The employee first said he did not recall making deletions based upon his realization, but in a later interview said he had an Oh, s moment and deleted a Hillary Clinton email archive using a program called BleachBit, which is designed to prevent recovery. Mills had on March 9 sent the employee an email referencing the Benghazi committees preservation request. But the employee gave varying accounts to the FBI as to his receipt and comprehension of the document. He first told investigators he did not recall seeing it, then later said he was aware of it and the fact that it meant he should not disturb Clintons email data when he made the deletions, according to the FBI summary. The employee said he did not receive guidance from Platte River, including the companys attorney, about the meaning of the request, according to the FBI summary. FBI investigators found a Platte River work ticket that referenced a conference call between the company, Mills and David Kendall, Clintons attorney, on March 31, though the Platte River employee was advised not to comment on it, because it was protected by attorney-client privilege, according to the FBI summary. clinton-emails BEIRUT The Syrian government dropped a bomb containing chlorine on a besieged neighborhood in the city of Aleppo on Tuesday, heightening fears among people who are cut off from the outside world and unable to escape, according to residents and hospitals in the area. The attack came as Syrian government loyalists battled to consolidate their hold over what had been the last rebel supply line into the opposition-held east of the city, after the capture of the route on Sunday. The outcome of the battle meant that eastern Aleppo is now completely besieged for a second time in two months, and coincided with the failure of talks between the United States and Russia for a cease-fire deal in the contested city. Witnesses in Aleppo said the chlorine was apparently contained in a barrel bomb dropped on the residential neighborhood of Sukkari on Tuesday afternoon. Aref al-Aref, a resident and activist, said he rushed to the area as soon as he heard the explosion and found people prostrate on the ground, without immediate evidence of injuries. There was no trace of shrapnel or gaping wounds or anything like that, which I thought was odd, he said. They were just coughing intensely and having trouble breathing, and there was this smell as if a swimming pool had exploded in the area. The White Helmets civil defense units said a total of 120 people were hospitalized and posted a video showing coughing people and children being administered oxygen at one of the local hospitals. A statement from the al-Quds hospital, which received 46 of the patients, said that all were suffering from breathing difficulties and a strong smell of chlorine emanated from their clothes. The use of chlorine as a weapon of war is banned under international conventions. Yet despite repeated appeals from the United Nations and other members of the international community, the Syrian government continues to use it on a regular basis, as a supplement to the other weapons it deploys in pursuit of its effort to crush the five-year-old rebellion against President Bashar Assad. This was the second chlorine attack in a month in rebel-held Aleppo, and though chlorine attacks kill fewer people than the relentless conventional bombings that claim dozens of lives on a daily basis, they deepen the fears of people trapped by the war. I saw the horror of all the people. Everyone was scared, said Abdulkafi Hamdo, an Aleppo activist who arrived in the area shortly after the attack. They were shocked. They dont know what to do. Its chlorine, they were saying. What will they use after this? The U.S.-Russian negotiations have focused on securing a cease-fire around Aleppo and the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians, along the route that was captured by the government on Sunday. U.S. officials have said they plan to keep talking to Russia and are still hopeful they can secure a deal. But now that the Syrian government has succeeded in surrounding Aleppo entirely, it is unclear whether the forces loyal to Assad would be prepared to accept terms that would impede their ability to continue to attack the rebels, even if the United States and Russia were to agree. Also on Tuesday, the Turkish government said that two Turkish soldiers were killed and five were injured in an attack by the Islamic State on two Turkish tanks in northern Syria. They were the first casualties inflicted by the Islamic State since Turkey dispatched troops and tanks to the area. syria-aleppo TUCSON, Ariz. The University of Arizona is considering a ban on e-cigarettes after months of study. UA Human Resources Chief Allison Vaillancourt says the change to the schools smoking policy was prompted by research showing that electronic nicotine delivery is more harmful than once believed. Vaillancourt says UA initially banned e-cigarettes along with tobacco products in 2014, but changed its mind after students, employees and visitors. She says the school then put together a 10-person team to study the issue. The team included several UA medical professors. They found that most chemicals in e-cigarettes have not been tested for lung toxicity and the vapors could be harmful to others. The school is taking community feedback on the proposal through October 3. ___ Information from: Arizona Daily Star, http://www.tucson.com Among the Mexican public, Donald Trumps visit to their country last week went down like an errant cannonball dropped into the Caribbean. The Republican presidential candidate has been widely reviled for his remarks regarding Mexican immigrants and his far-fetched proposal to make Mexico pay for a wall on its U.S. border. Moreover, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto was pilloried for appearing to give Trump a platform to try to legitimize his agenda in the Mexican capital. The anger is still boiling and has prompted an opposition lawmaker to present legislation preparing for a potential Trump victory in November. The proposed bill would empower the Mexican government to retaliate against Trumps potentially hostile policies. This, according to reports, includes giving the Mexican Senate the power to review dozens of existing bilateral treaties with the United States, including the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, where Mexico ceded more than half a million square miles of its territory to the United States. The proposal, pushed by center-left Sen. Armando RIos Piter, probably will not pass, but it is a sign of the outrage felt in Mexico over Trumps rhetoric and the prospect of his presidency. It would make funding Trumps border wall illegal and call for countermeasures should Trump try to divert the billions of dollars that Mexicans in the United States send home in remittances. In cases where the property/assets of (our) fellow citizens or companies are affected by a foreign government, as Donald Trump has threatened, the Mexican government should proportionally expropriate assets and properties of foreigners from that country on our territory, reads a draft of the bill cited by Reuters. Trump is outspoken in his criticism for the North American Free Trade Agreement, which for two decades has served as the basis for economic ties between the two nations. U.S.-Mexico bilateral trade stands around a half-trillion dollars a year. This [bill] is simply to protect a successful 22-year-old relationship [Nafta] that has helped both nations, Rios Piter told the Financial Times. We want to defend that from a position that seeks to destroy it. We have to put it in black and white. Of course, rejecting the legal basis for Washingtons claim over the American Southwest and Pacific coast would certainly send a message. The British newspaper says the initiative is the brainchild of former leftist lawmaker Agustin Barrios Gomez, who now leads the Mexico Image Foundation, which is aimed at improving the perception of the country overseas. We dont want this, Barrios Gomez told the Financial Times about the proposal. But ripping up Nafta and wrecking a carefully forged relationship that goes far beyond trade to security would be mutually assured destruction. He has been making similar warnings for quite some time. In an interview earlier this year with the website of the Americas Society, a New York-based think tank, Barrios Gomez suggested that Trumps policies could dangerously destabilize the region. Trump is potentially an apocalyptic black swan event for the economy of North America, he said. mexico AVONDALE, Ariz. A reported bank robbery in Avondale turned into a police pursuit that ended in a fatal shooting in Tempe that was shown on live television. Phoenix police say they were assisting Avondale police with an investigation related to the pursuit Tuesday. Avondale police say two suspects jumped out of a car and were captured and another suspect drove off. Aerial footage from TV helicopters showed a black SUV traveling through residential streets across the Phoenix metro area before being hit by several unmarked cars at the Baseline Road on-ramp to Interstate 10. Undercover police officers fired shots at the suspect vehicle as it came to a stop before the live TV feed was cut. Authorities didnt immediately release the name of the suspect killed or the two who were arrested. By Maha Siddiqui: PM Modi's visit to Vietnam was seen as crucial in the backdrop of the international tribunal ruling against China over claims to the South China Sea. Taking this a step further, as the Prime Minister heads to Vientiane, Laos for the ASEAN-India and East Asia Summit, he is going to reiterate India's stand on the crucial maritime issue. advertisement INDIA NAVIGATES FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION, UNIMPEDED COMMERCE In a briefing ahead of the PM's engagements in Laos, Preeti Saran, Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs said "Our stand on South China Sea is very well known. We are committed to and have always advocated freedom of navigation and of unimpeded commerce. All disputes should be resolved peacefully in keeping with international obligations. Threat or use of force is avoidable." She said the matter of South China Sea was bound to come up during the East Asia Summit and India will discuss it with leaders there. BACKGROUND OF THE SOUTH CHINA SEA CONFLICT Almost half of India's trade with Asia passes through the critical waterway and that is the reason India has been pushing for a resolution of the matter based on international norms. In fact, right after the Permanent Court of Arbitartion ruled against China in a case taken up by the Philippines, India issued a statement urging concerned parties to show utmost respect for the verdict. China dismissed the verdict questioning the legality of the tribunal itself. The court in The Hague had set aside China's sweeping claims in the strategic seaway. An estimated $5 trillion in global trade passes each year through this route. China claims most of South China Sea, but ASEAN members like the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei also make rival claims. MODI'S VISIT TO VIETNAM SENDING OUT A MESSAGE? After PM Modi's Vietnam visit, the Chinese state-run Global Times wrote, "Under such a backdrop, Modi's visit to Vietnam has without doubt made Indians associate the tour with many strategic meanings, believing that New Delhi and Hanoi might jointly pile pressure on Beijing." Clearly, the message is not lost on China and New Delhi hopes this strategy of asserting itself on the issue of South China Sea will help leverage its position with the Dragon vis-a-vis other and more obvious irritants. ALSO READ: Philippines hails India's South China Sea support as Modi heads to China --- ENDS --- DALLAS The Dallas County district attorney resigned her position as the top prosecutor in the nations ninth most populous county Tuesday just a month after returning to work following her third inpatient treatment for mental illness. Since taking office in January 2015, Susan Hawks tenure has been marked by long absences as she sought treatment. The Republican recently returned to work after spending nearly two months at an Arizona clinic. I believe our office is making a difference and I want to continue that good work, Hawk said in her resignation letter dated Tuesday to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. I made a commitment to step away from the office if I felt I could no longer do my job, and unfortunately Ive reached that point as my health needs my full attention in the coming months. Her resignation is effective immediately. The start of Hawks term was tumultuous, with allegations of paranoid behavior and the dismissal of top staffers. Some complained that Hawk had created a toxic atmosphere of suspicion in the district attorneys office. Last year, she had not been seen for weeks at the Dallas courthouse before her office revealed she was seeking mental health treatment. Hawks absences had generated numerous questions about the management of her office and her ability to perform her duties. Hawk later checked into a Houston clinic for treatment of depression in the summer of 2015. She checked into the same clinic earlier this year for several weeks before heading to the Arizona facility that specializes in mental health treatment around mid-June. Dallas County Democrats last year moved beyond nuanced calls for her resignation and explicitly pushed for her ouster from a position that pays about $210,000. Heath Harris, the first assistant district attorney under former Democratic District Attorney Craig Watkins, said the legal community, as colleagues, wanted Hawk to do what she needed to do to take care of her health. He said her absence was likely difficult for the staff overall. The district attorney is the captain of the ship. When that captain is not present it affects everything, Harris said. It affects morale, how people interact with each other. The office doesnt run as effectively or efficiently as it should. Toby Shook, a former prosecutor and Republican who ran against Watkins in 2006, agreed that the office can suffer without a top leader. You can keep the day to day operations going, but you do need an elected DA to lead an office, someone to set policy and someone to set those ultimate decisions. Otherwise the place is in limbo, he said. Before her most recent stint in a treatment facility, Hawk said in a statement, Mental illness is a fluid and dynamic disease that calls for unexpected and prolonged treatment. I did not choose this disease, but I am choosing to treat it aggressively and openly. In an interview with D Magazine for a story published last October, Hawk said there was a time she wanted to resign because she was having suicidal thoughts. Hawk is a former district court judge who surprised some when in November 2014 she defeated Watkins, the Democratic incumbent. It was later revealed she had also spent time in rehab for a prescription drug addiction in 2013 during her campaign for office. Watkins won national acclaim during his eight years as Dallas County DA for creating a Conviction Integrity Unit that freed more than 30 men wrongfully convicted of crimes. But the FBI investigated how he handled a mortgage-fraud case involving an oil heir, and opponents accused Watkins of bullying opponents and using county funds to cover up a car accident in which he acknowledged using his cellphone while driving. If Hawk had resigned on or before Aug. 26, voters would have chosen her successor in November, according to the Texas secretary of states office. But since she resigned after that, Gov. Abbott will appoint a successor to serve the remaining two years of Hawks term. John Wittman, a spokesman for Abbott, said the Governors Appointments Office will begin accepting applications and will take the appropriate time choosing a replacement. County Judge Clay Jenkins, the countys top administrator and a Democrat, expressed his best wishes for Hawks health battles. However, he regretted Hawks timing. The timing of the resignation is very unfortunate for Dallas County voters because it is coming just days after the ballot submission deadline. Whenever possible, the voters not the politicians should decide who represents them in elected office, he said in a statement. Said Harris, who served under a Democrat, the timing of Hawks resignation was disingenuous and a disservice to the people of Dallas County. ___ Associated Press writers Claudia Lauer and Terry Wallace contributed to this report. GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. The Bureau of Land Management is considering leasing nearly 28,000 acres of land for oil and gas drilling in the Granby area near the western entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. The Daily Sentinel (http://bit.ly/2cl6ndM) reports the Grand County land stretches from just west of Granby to beyond Hot Sulphur Springs, primarily to the north of the Colorado River. Its part of a larger proposed lease sale of about 100,000 acres in five northwestern Colorado counties next spring. Commissioners in Grand County, which doesnt have any producing wells, are set to consider the proposal this week. Assistant county manager Ed Moyer says it seems similar to a proposal commissioners opposed in 2008. The BLM plans to issue an environmental assessment in November. ____ This story has been corrected to say that Grand County commissioners will consider the proposal this week, not next week. Moments after Danny Heinrich abducted Jacob Wetterling on a rural road in Minnesota, the man handcuffed the 11-year-old boy and forced him into a car. Jacob looked at Heinrich and asked, What did I do wrong? Soon, Jacob was dead. Giving graphic details in a Minnesota courtroom, Heinrich laid to rest a 27-year-old mystery: What happened to Jacob in 1989 after he was abducted by a masked man holding a gun? Heinrich admitted in court Tuesday that he abducted, sexually assaulted and killed the boy. Now 53, Heinrich made the admission as he pleaded guilty to federal child pornography charges, The Associated Press reported. He told the court that he sexually assaulted the boy in a rural area of Paynesville, near where the assailant lived with his father. During the assault, Heinrich told the court that Jacob said he was cold and wanted to go home, according to CBS affiliate WCCO. Later, Heinrich thought police were headed to his location, WCCO reported, adding: Heinrich panicked and took out his revolver as Wetterling had his back to him. He then pulled the trigger, but the gun didnt go off. He pulled the trigger again, shooting Wetterling in the back of the head. He shot a third time, and Wetterling collapsed. He buried the boy about 100 yards away. Heinrich also said he sexually assaulted another Minnesota boy, 12-year-old Jared Scheierl, nine months before Jacob disappeared, according to the AP. Scheierl survived. Heinrich was never charged in Jacobs death, although he was one of the first people interviewed by investigators. He maintained his innocence for years, and prosecutors never had enough evidence to charge him. But Tuesday, according to the AP, Henrich was asked in court whether he had abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered Jacob. Yes I did, he said, with Jacobs parents, Patty and Jerry Wetterling, in the courtroom. Tuesdays admission was part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors on the child pornography charges. The deal could land Heinrich at a facility where he wouldnt be in as much danger as a convicted sex offender, WCCO reported. His testimony capped a week of dramatic developments in Jacobs case, which began last week when Heinrich led investigators to the boys body in field in Paynesville. On Oct. 22, 1989, Jacob was abducted by a man wearing a mask and holding a gun. The 11-year-old had been riding bikes with two other boys. The armed man told the trio to lie face down in a ditch and tell him their ages. Then he grabbed Jacob and told the other boys to run and not look back. In the years that followed, police pursued more than 50,000 leads in the case. Every Oct. 22, on the anniversary of Jacobs disappearance, Minnesotans leave their porch lights on. They did the same over Labor Day weekend, as news in the case traveled around the world. Jacobs mother, Patty Wetterling, used her sons disappearance to lobby for better laws tracking sex offenders and marshaling resources to quickly find missing children. In 1994, the federal Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act led to the creation of a national sex offender registry. The Star Tribune of Minneapolis called the Wetterlings and the foundation they established the driving force behind the registry. In the days since Heinrich led authorities to the buried remains of Jacob Wetterling, the boys family remained silent, deep in their own grief. But on Monday, Patty Wetterling broke her silence. A day before Heinrichs trial, she wrote a brief message on the Jacob Wetterling Resource Page, the organization set up to help prevent child exploitation. Everyone wants to know what they can do to help us, she wrote. Say a prayer. Light a candle. Be with friends. Play with your children. Giggle. Hold Hands. Eat ice cream. Create joy. Help your neighbor. She added: That is what will bring me comfort today. wetterling Update: Case against jail officer dismissed A corrections officer accused of raping a female inmate was fired and faces criminal charges after New Mexico State Police launched an investigation in mid-August. Christopher Riviers, 27, is behind bars at the Curry County Detention Center in Clovis, the same facility he used to work in, charged with two counts of criminal sexual penetration as well voyeurism. The victim was at the Curry County Detention Center from Aug. 11 to Aug. 17, according to New Mexico State Police spokeswoman Sgt. Elizabeth Armijo. On Aug. 17 the inmate was transferred to the De Baca County Detention Center in Fort Sumner, and immediately reported that shed been raped. The inmate disclosed she had been fondled and raped by a corrections officer while she was incarcerated, Armijo said. State Police officers reviewed surveillance footage, did interviews and determined that Riviers had specifically targeted the woman. (He) had on multiple occasions sought out the female inmate for the purpose of voyeurism and committing unlawful sexual assault, Armijo said. Riviers also gave the inmate handwritten notes asking to be in a relationship with her in the future. He was fired after State Police launched the investigation, and they arrested him Tuesday in Clovis. WARNER, N.H. Before he stepped up to the microphone, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vt., could tell there would be skeptics in the audience. He was on board with electing Hillary Clinton. Rights and Democracy, the progressive grass-roots group that had booked a small towns park for a Labor Day rally, was not. Is she indicted yet? yelled one spectator, referring to Clinton. Sanders didnt visibly react. Elizabeth Ropp, an acupuncturist who had organized early for Sanders, introduced him by criticizing an unnamed PR firm in a gentrified neighborhood of Brooklyn and saying the country needed a progressive third party. Sanders applauded, very softly. On his first campaign swing since the launch of his political group, Our Revolution, Sanders tackled his most immediate and inevitable task: talking the progressives who had backed him into backing Clinton. Never expected to be easy, it has become as challenging, in its own way, as the revolution Sanders waged through the primaries. Nearly two months after Sanders endorsed Clinton, perhaps 10 percent of his supporters say theyll reject Clinton, vote for a third-party candidate or cast a chaos-making vote for Donald Trump. That worries Democrats, who despite Clintons strength in the horse race, do not see many votes to spare. In an average of polls collected by RealClearPolitics, Clinton leads Trump by 3.3 points in a two-way race, but leads by just 2.4 points in the race most voters will encounter on the ballot: Clinton, Trump, Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein. But in every poll that asks, by a much wider margin, voters believe that Clinton will defeat Trump in November. That has combined with the major party nominees historically high negative numbers to produce steady, unusually high numbers for third-party candidates. Johnson, who is running more as a pragmatist than a dogmatic Libertarian, is pulling equally from Trump and Clinton a departure for a Libertarian candidate. In a new Washington Post-SurveyMonkey poll of all 50 states, Stein polls best at 10 percent in Sanderss Vermont. And both candidates have argued that votes for them will spoil an election that deserves to be spoiled. On Monday morning, before Sanders himself addressed a Labor Day breakfast in Manchester, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., spoke at length about the Nader experience. When Al Gore was running against George W. Bush, people said, Ah, theres no difference between them, so people stayed home, Shaheen said. Some voted for Ralph Nader. Now, I hear people saying, Oh, I may vote for Gary Johnson. Or I might vote for Stein. What happened in 2000 is that we got George W. Bush. We got the war in Iraq. We got the biggest tax cuts for high earners in our history. If you think theres no difference between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, think about 2000. sanders PHOENIX A judge denied Tuesday the first attempted roadblock to an official recount in the hotly contested Republican primary in a Phoenix-area congressional district. Unofficial results from the Aug. 30 primary for the 5th Congressional District had state Senate President Andy Biggs leading former internet executive Christine Jones by only nine votes out of some 85,500 votes cast in the four-way race. Lawyers for Jones campaign asked for a Maricopa County Superior Court judge to order county officials to delay certification of the results and take other steps to correct alleged errors. Jones campaign contends the county should have counted votes from at least 300 eligible voters who cast ballots that werent counted for various reasons and that some improperly identified people may have been allowed to vote. Reasons why eligible voters ballots werent counted included that they cast provisional ballots in the wrong precinct and their signatures on early ballot affidavits were incorrectly rejected, according to Jones attorneys. Judge Joshua Rogers denied Jones request for a temporary restraining order and scheduled a Thursday morning hearing on a motion for a preliminary injunction. The GOP nominee in the heavily Republican district in southeastern Phoenix suburbs will almost certainly replace Republican Rep. Matt Salmon, who is retiring. At Tuesday afternoons court hearing, an attorney for Biggs told Rogers that Jones campaign was creating chaos and disruption in an attempt to win the election. Kory Langhofer added that hes certain the judge would rule Thursday like most courts have around the country and reject Jones argument. If there is a defect in the ballot that werent fixed before the polls close, they are unfixable. They cant be counted, Langhofer said. Biggs on Saturday had welcomed the unofficial results, saying he would start focusing on winning the general election. The recount would follow state certification of the results during the official canvass of the primary election results scheduled next week. Biggs had 25,228 votes and Jones 25,219 while two other candidates each had about 17,000 votes, according to the unofficial results released early Saturday after more than four days of counting. Because the nine-vote margin would be well under thresholds set by state law, the state would go to court after the canvass to request permission to conduct the recount. County election officials for several days would have election machines again scan voters paper ballots, said spokeswoman Elizabeth Bartholomew of the county elections office. She said workers would recount ballots cast by voters at polling places in the district on election day plus all early ballots cast countywide. Early ballots arent segregated by district, she said. Bartholomew said only the 5th District results would be tabulated for the recount. Recounts in Arizona congressional races are rare because voter registrations in most districts favor one party or another, so winners typically notch large margins of victory. However, the competitive 2nd District that includes part of Tucson and southeastern Arizona saw a recount as recently as 2014 when now-U.S. Rep. Martha McSally, a Republican, widened her margin to 167 votes, up from 161. McSally defeated then-incumbent Ron Barber, a Democrat, for a seat formerly held by Democrat Gabrielle Giffords, who left office after being seriously wounded in an assassination attempt in January 2011. It was March 2003, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair had summoned his friend Bill Clinton to Chequers Court, his country home in England, to make an urgent request: Could the former president quietly help corral U.N. Security Council members to back a resolution aimed at slowing or, according to Blair, even stopping the Iraq War? The events that followed show Clinton taking an unprecedented and unorthodox role in the foreign policy of his successor, George W. Bush, according to a new book, Man of the World: The Further Endeavors of Bill Clinton, written by liberal journalist Joe Conason. Clintons activism came months after his wifes vote in October 2002 in favor of authorizing Bush to use military force in Iraq a decision that, according to the book, Bill Clinton counseled her to make. And the former president acted without the express approval of the White House. The 13-year-old incident highlights the 42nd presidents outsize role in foreign affairs even after he left Washington, D.C. It is an exception to the pattern of Clintons post-presidential diplomatic work, which was usually done at the request of his successors such as his trip to North Korea in 2009 to help rescue imprisoned journalists at the request of President Barack Obama. In Conasons account, Clinton made last-minute appeals to several world leaders he considered friends, asking them to back Blairs resolution in the hopes of slowing Bushs march to war or ending it altogether. Blairs resolution would have set a three-week timeline for U.N. weapons inspections teams led by diplomat Hans Blix to complete their work. If Iraqi President Saddam Hussein interfered with the inspections or refused to disarm, the resolution would have authorized force. During a speech in Washington after meeting with Blair, Clinton voiced support for the approach outlined in the resolution. And privately, he began a complementary effort to tip the scales in favor of the resolution at the Security Council, according to Conasons book. Privately, Clinton arranged a discreet contact with Chilean president [Ricardo] Lagos through a back channel arranged by his former White House chief of staff, Thomas Mack McLarty, who was acquainted with the Chilean interior minister, Jose Miguel Insulza, Conason writes. Not wishing to appear to intervene in matters between heads of state, Clinton asked McLarty to pass a message to Lagos via Insulza. In the message, Clinton told the Chilean minister that the resolution was a last chance to prevent war, according to Conason. The Chileans would get on board only if the Mexicans did. So Clinton phoned Vicente Fox, then president of Mexico, to lobby for his support, the book says. Fox and other Mexican officials contacted by Clinton told him that they were wary of any resolution that might somehow be interpreted as supporting a war that nearly everyone in their country opposed, Conason wrote. If a resolution passed that gave Blix three more weeks, and then he came back and asked for additional time, they asked, wouldnt Bush invade anyway? Ultimately, the Chileans and the Mexicans were loath to support a resolution that included a threat of force, which they believed would ultimately lead to war. The Chileans would later unveil their own resolution to give inspections more time, but it lacked the threat of force. That resolution was sharply rejected by the United States. A spokeswoman for Blair declined to comment. In Blairs response to a British inquiry into the run-up to the war the probe, completed in July, was sharply critical of the prime ministers actions he noted that the United States had agreed to a resolution with new tests for Hussein that might have avoided war. But, he said, the United States understandably insisted that in the event of continued failure, the UN had to be clear that action would follow. In a letter to Bush in late February 2003, Blair wrote that the resolution could help gain the backing of European public opinion if war came. It allows us to show the world that we are going to war, not because we want to, but because we have to, Blair wrote. Blairs resolution was a failure, and the war began on March 20, 2003. Conason describes Clintons gambit as risky and contrary to the norms against former presidents criticizing or interfering with the administration of a sitting president. A spokesman for Clinton said his efforts were in keeping with the Bush administrations public position at the time. President Clinton tried to expand support for a resolution that wouldve allowed more time for the inspectors to complete their investigation, said Angel Urena, Clintons spokesman. His efforts were consistent with the administrations stated policy at the time. To suggest otherwise would be inaccurate. Conason writes that the episode was a break from Clintons usual habit after leaving the White House of informing the State Department or the National Security Council when he traveled overseas or met with heads of state. As a matter of post-presidential formality, it definitely broke the rules, Conason said in an interview. As a matter of human morality, it was a good idea to try to stop [the war]. According to Conason, Bush may have learned about Clintons actions as they were happening or afterward. The author even suggests that the National Security Agency, which was spying on U.N. Security Council members, was likely to have picked up on the conversations. Clinton wanted to make sure the inspections were completed, Conason told The Washington Post. And he also believed that if they found no weapons, which was likely, that the invasion would not go forward and they would have to reconsider what they were doing. It is unclear how Clintons actions affected official U.S. efforts to bring Chile and Mexico in line with Washingtons goals. But Conason notes that Chiles president, Lagos, was prodded by his conversation with Clinton to proceed with drafting the separate resolution that was later rejected by the Bush administration. Years later, Heraldo Munoz, a top Chilean diplomat, wrote a book in which he said the diplomatic strong-arming of Latin American countries by the Bush administration over the war damaged U.S. relations with those countries. Hillary Clinton has called the authorization vote for the war probably the hardest decision Ive ever had to make, and it has haunted her political career. Bill Clinton advised his wife that the politically smart vote was no, but if she believed President Bush was serious about letting the inspections proceed, a credible threat of force would greatly increase the chance of Saddams cooperation, a Clinton aide wrote in an email to The Washington Post. The aide spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversations between the Clintons. First the Democratic Party and then America as a whole would turn against the war, leaving Hillary Clinton apologetic and regretful. Her vote became a centerpiece of Obamas successful presidential campaign against her in 2008. The issue arose again in the 2016 Democratic primary race against Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vt., who voted against the war when he was a congressman. I came to deeply regret giving President Bush the benefit of the doubt on that vote, Clinton wrote years later in her memoir Hard Choices. bclinton-iraq State officials are urging New Mexicans to call in suspected child abuse and neglect to the states abuse hotline. Television ads promoting the hotline will appear soon as part of the state governments battle against childhood neglect and abuse. The hotline can be reached by calling #SAFE on a cell phone or 1-855-333-7233 on a land line. Callers speak with an intake agent who takes down details of the alleged abuse or neglect. The advertisements are part of a broader advertising and reorganization campaign at Children, Youth and Families Department called PullTogether. The campaign, launched in May with a preliminary price tag of about $2.7 million, is attempting to simplify how people navigate existing CYFD and community resources and to help build awareness of specific services and programs. Gov. Martinez held a news conference in Albuquerque on Tuesday to announce the television advertisements. Save WASHINGTON Senate Democrats on Tuesday for the third time in two months blocked a $1.1 billion legislative package to help fight the Zika virus, but lawmakers in both parties said they now hope negotiations will begin in earnest to quickly come up with a bipartisan deal to address the potential public health crisis. Congress is under intense pressure to pass a funding agreement before the end of September when Centers for Disease Control director Tom Frieden estimates his agency will run out of money to continue its efforts to combat the spread of Zika, which can cause birth defects. After months of bickering over the details of a deal, many in Congress expect that lawmakers now back in Washington after a seven-week break will feel a renewed urgency to find a solution this month before heading home for the elections. It is certainly a moral imperative for the Congress of the United States to pass legislation which will meet a very critical health challenge to its citizens, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters Tuesday. Before those negotiations begin in earnest, however, Senate Republicans on Tuesday were eager to make a political point by forcing Democrats to once more block Zika legislation that passed the House earlier this year. Today well give Senate Democrats another opportunity to follow through on their own calls for action on Zika, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on the Senate floor. The vote was 52 to 46 and 60 votes were needed for the legislation to advance. The Zika funding is part of a broader bill funding the Pentagon and veterans programs. Democrats are blocking the legislation over objections to what they charge are politically-motivated provisions added to the bill by Republicans, including language preventing the Zika funds from being used by Planned Parenthood and provisions relaxing use of certain pesticides. But there is near universal agreement in Congress that lawmakers must do something ahead of the elections to show they are taking steps to help prevent the spread of mosquito-borne virus. The CDC reports that there were 35 cases of locally-transmitted cases of Zika in the United States as of August 31. An additional 2,686 were reported as travel-related transmissions. At least 16 babies have been born in the United States with birth defects linked to the virus. Mosquito season typically lasts through October and transmission could continue through that time period. Frieden told reporters in July that the agency might not have the resources to send teams to support local and state officials if the virus spreads after the money runs out in September. Basically, were out of money, and we need Congress to act to allow us to respond effectively, he said. This time pressure has many, including Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., preparing to link Zika talks with negotiations to pass a short-term spending bill before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Tuesday that he thinks it would make sense to combine the budget and Zika talks. We cant neglect that any longer, Cornyn said. I think trying to find some path forward in a year-end appropriations bill would make sense. He said it is likely that Congress will have to pass a short-term spending bill that would keep the government open until sometime after the election in November. Cornyn said that while he would prefer to avoid reopening spending talks in November or December, it is clear Democrats and President Barack Obama will only accept a short-term extension of current spending. If Zika and the broader spending talks are linked, Democrats insist Republicans will likely be forced to return to a bipartisan deal the Senate approved in May. That bipartisan compromise legislation would have provided $1.1 billion in Zika funding through September 2017 and it did not include the added provisions objected to by Democrats. The House rejected that proposal after conservatives objected to the amount of funding. The two sides attempted to overcome the disagreement, but Republicans decided to craft their own bill after talks dragged on for weeks. The result was a $1.1 billion Zika package that included restrictions on Planned Parenthood and cuts to other federal health programs to offset the cost of the bill. Democrats continue to object to that measure and hope to revive the earlier bipartisan Senate agreement. We passed something here with 89 votes. It went to the House and they sent it back with all of this strange, weird stuff in it, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday. It is time to move forward. Hoyer said Republicans intentionally added poison pill measures that would force Democrats to reject the bill so that they could spend the summer blaming them for blocking the legislation. He said he now expects the two sides to come together to negotiate a deal before the end of the month so long as GOP leaders drop the objectionable elements. If $1.1 billion is passed by the Senate on a bipartisan basis and it were put on the floor I think it would pass, Hoyer said. zika-congress LAS CRUCES, N.M. A Texas man is facing a federal charge of using interstate communications to threaten the lives of Las Cruces police officers in New Mexico. Federal prosecutors say 32-year-old Sean Stinson of El Paso made his initial court appearance Tuesday. He remains in custody pending a preliminary hearing and a detention hearing, which havent been scheduled yet. Stinson was arrested last Friday for making telephone calls to some Las Cruces residents and allegedly threatening Las Cruces police. According to the criminal complaint, some of the telephone conversations were recorded and Stinson allegedly threatened fatally shoot or injure specific officers. If convicted of the charges, prosecutors say Stinson faces up to five years in prison. "We are going to develop this country where our import of petroleum will be zero. We are promoting alternative fuel like ethanol, methanol, bio-CNG ,this will boost the rural and agriculture centre and create huge employment," Road Transport and Highways Minister said. By Press Trust of India: With the Centre focusing more on developing alternative fuel economy, India will soon stop importing petroleum products, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said today. "We are going to develop this country where our import of petroleum will be zero. We are promoting alternative fuel like ethanol, methanol, bio-CNG ,this will boost the rural and agriculture centre and create huge employment," Road Transport and Highways Minister said. advertisement INDIA'S ECONOMY Despite low prices globally, India at present is incurring a massive Rs. 4.5 lakh crore on crude imports which was earlier Rs. 7.5 lakh crore, Mr Gadkari said addressing a conference on methanol economy organised by Niti Aayog today. India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. At present, it is "golden opportunity" to cash on its agriculture, bamboo, surplus coal and power. "The time has come to diversify agriculture," the minister asserted stating that it has the potential to change the entire rural economy at a time when more than 10,000 farmers in Vidarbha region had committed suicide. "The socio-economic situation is not good, agriculture is facing acute problems. This alternative fuel economy is going to change socio-economic picture of agriculture and rural economy. This is time for the country to plan the way by which we can save the life of people in rural and agriculture sectors.. We can make ethanol from biomass that is cotton straw, wheat straw, rice straw and bagasse. Even from municipal waste we can make ethanol," the minister said. WASTE OF WEALTH Stressing on "waste to wealth", he said manufacturing ethanol and bio-gas from waste could result in savings to the tune of Rs. 5 lakh crore annually. The minister said ethanol is generated from biomass in Europe. One tonne of rice straw can get 400 litres of ethanol.In North East, bamboo could be used for making ethanol, he said. He added it will eliminate pollution too as farmers in states like Haryana burnt wheat straw which caused pollution. Modi at G20: Eliminate safe havens for economic offenders, crack down on corrupt Besides municipal waste and waste of vegetables and fruits could be used in manufacturing bio-fuel. He stressed the need for use of science, technology, entrepreneurship and research and also said Niti Aayog is taking initiatives in this regard. "We have finalised standard norms for bio-diesel, bio-CNG and ethanol and electricity," Mr Gadkari said adding the bureaucracy also needed to fast track decisions. Taking a jibe at bureaucracy, the minister said somewhere there is a need to expedite the entire decision-making process. "If there is a will, there is a way if there is no will there is no way. There will only be committees, discussions and research groups," Mr Gadkari added. advertisement The minister also stressed on the need to generate methane from coal blocks and said some of the companies who were allotted the blocks were not doing anything which is not fair. --- ENDS --- Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology Dubendorf, 06.09.2016 - Lakes are major ecosystems. Their secrets have been investigated in Switzerland for more than 100 years. Nonetheless, scientists and their partners at the federal and cantonal specialist departments can still be surprised. For example, a fish in Lake Constance that had been declared extinct, or the results of Roman forest clearing around Lake Murten or concentrated antibiotic-resistant genes in the vicinity of wastewater discharges in Lake Geneva. A good 250 experts from the scientific and water-management fields as well as government administration and politics are coming together to hear about new findings and trends in lake research today, Tuesday 6 September. They are attending the Info Day organised by the water research institute Eawag. This year, on the occasion of the 100-year anniversary of the lake research laboratory at Kastanienbaum, it is taking place on Lake Lucerne, in the Swiss Transport Museum in Lucerne. Below is some information about three of the ten speakers. Full information may be found in the proceedings (pdf). More than 70 fish species, but still little life in the depths From 2010 to 2015, Eawag, together with the cantons, the Federal Office for the Environment, the University of Bern and the Bern Natural History Museum as well as further partners, investigated the biodiversity of fish in the lakes in the Alpine region in the far-reaching Projet Lac. More than 70 fish species were documented in this study. Whitefish dominated down to great depths, but only in the cleanest lakes. Perch and carp dominate in the lakes that are now, or were in the past, nutrient rich. Many species from very deep waters, above all whitefish and char, are found only in those lakes where, in the course of evolution, at least since the last ice age, originated by adjusting to the extreme environments. In most of the lakes however, former deep-water fish species have been lost. In the 197-meter deep Lake Zug, for example, there are hardly any fish below 30 meters. But not extinct Projet Lac also brought good news: thanks to a targeted search in Lake Constance, several specimens of the deep-water char (Salvelinus profundus) native to the lake were rediscovered. This species, frequently caught by Lake Constance fishermen until the 1960s, was declared extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN in 2008. The deep-water char is found at a depth of about 80 meters and feeds on flatworms, small crustaceans and mussels. The size of the population from which these recently found specimens come will be investigated in the future. Eutrophication 2,000 years ago It has long been known that historical information is accumulated in lake sediments from the lake dwellers to the emergence of pollutants to the caesium rain from Chernobyl. Now Eawag researchers have gone a step further with a 10-meter long sediment core from Lake Murten. From the stored information they have reconstructed the land-use history around the lake. In approximately 100 BC, when the Romans began to clear large stretches of forest around the lake, a rapid change can be seen in the sediments: within a short time, a great deal of soil was washed into the lake, and with it many nutrients. Thus Lake Murten was already suffering from eutrophication 2,000 years ago. It was not until the fall of the Roman Empire and several periods of markedly colder climate at the beginning of the Middle Ages that the eutrophication declined. What effects this phase during Roman times had on the ecology of the lake has yet to be researched more closely. Antibiotic resistance more frequent near discharges from water-treatment plants Water-treatment plants are where faecal and many other types of bacteria, as well as a cocktail of antibiotic residues and other harmful substances come together in relatively warm water. Under these conditions, resistance genes can be transferred to formerly antibiotic-sensitive species or to environmental bacteria. Such resistant bacteria are released into the environment along with the treated water. Eawag has shown in a study of the sediment of Lake Geneva near Lausanne that resistant genes occur more often near a discharge location than further away (see illustration). The health risks of such pollution are minimal. However, the researchers involved in the study urge that when water treatment plants are furnished with treatment stages against micro pollution, as much antibiotic resistance as possible should be removed at the same time, before this enters the environment. Address for enquiries We would be glad to connect you with contacts at the meeting (Swiss Transport Museum, Lucerne) or by telephone. Inquiries to the Eawag media officer: Andri Bryner, 058 765 51 04 / 079 721 19 93. Publisher Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology http://www.eawag.ch We can help you make sense of the agribusiness industry, extending from chemicals and fertilizers used as inputs into agriculture, to the commodities, food and by-products that are an output to farming, with policy and regulation applied at every step of the value chain. The ISIS has banned women from wearing burqas at their security centres in Iraq. Their reason, however, is not liberating. By India Today Web Desk: We, the audience of Bollywood movies, know how handy a burqa can come when a person wants to go under cover. This 'hoody' trick has made the ISIS sort of go back on their own words regarding the Islamic garb. After rigorously imposing upon women the law to cover themselves with a burqa, the terror outfit has now banned the veil at their security centres in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. advertisement Although the ISIS terrorist group had earlier made it obligatory for women to wear burqa, it has now banned its use https://t.co/9LvMfI1CJK gb (@vergonhamagiar) September 5, 2016 Why is the ISIS banning the burqa? Recently, the ISIS has lost several of their commanders at the hands of gun-wielding, burqa-clad people. Report also say many of their victims were escaping by covering themselves under a burqa. After being hoodwinked in such ways, the ISIS came up with the decision of barring people wearing the veil in their security centres. News website Iran Front Page is said to have been tipped about the ban by a source in Nineveh, Iraq. Source: Reuters So, women can now walk the streets of Iraq without a burqa? Not according to the ISIS. The ban only applies to the security centres. In the rest of Mosul and other Iraqi areas controlled by the ISIS, women are still expected to don the burqa. Source: Reuters --- ENDS --- A young man died waiting for an ambulance after getting injured in a road accident. The ambulance operator said "ambulance ud kar nahi ayegi". By India Today Web Desk: A judge in Haryana stepped forward to help four people injured in a road accident. He dialled the emergency number 102 to call for an ambulance, but the reply he got was shocking. "Ambulance udh kar nahi aa jayegi" (the ambulance will not fly and come), the operator told the judge. Sandeep Singh, Additional Section Judge in CBI court of Panchkula district, saw four injured people near Haryana's Jind city and wanted to help them. He was shocked to hear the reply he got from the ambulance operator when he informed about the road accident. advertisement Initially the judge could not even reach the operator through the number and when the call finally connected, what he got was such an irresponsible reply. After waiting for a while at the accident site, the judge called again and that was when someone form the ambulance control room said "ambulance udh kar nahi ayegi, aaram se aayegi" (the ambulance will not fly and come, it will take time). Disappointed and shocked, the judge decided to take the injured to the hospital all by himself. But one of the four injured succumbed to his wounds and died before they reached the hospital. Considering the gravity of the situation, a complaint was lodged against the ambulance operator and an investigation has been launched. --- ENDS --- India's Got Talent fans will get to see Suleiman and Papai & Antara performing with Jhalak contestants. Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa is all set to collaborate with India's Got Talent finalists. By India Today Web Desk: All you India's Got Talent and Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa fans. Get set for a unique telly treat. If reports are to be believed, Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa will soon have a special episode where the finalists of India's Got Talent will perform with the contestants of the popular dance reality show. Also read: Sushant Singh Rajput denies creating a scene on the sets of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 9 advertisement According to India Forums, Salman Yusuff Khan will collaborate with Papai and Antara, and Shantanu Maheshwari will be dancing to the tunes of IGT Season 7 winner flautist, Suleiman. Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa has been experimenting with unique formats in its current season. In the last episode TV actors Helly Shah and Sidhant Gupta were eliminated. The show airs every Saturday at 10 pm on Colors. --- ENDS --- Modified On Sep 06, 2016 12:23 PM By Alshaar After switching on damage control mode across the globe, Volkswagen is now reportedly set to make amends for the dieselgate emissions scandal in India as well. It is expected to recall the 3.24 lakh affected units in the country from this month. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, the German carmaker said that the first set of technical measures has been proposed to the authorities and the company is currently awaiting approvals from Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI). The recall was slated to kick off from the first quarter of the 2016 fiscal but the delay in approvals from ARAI has pushed it back by another few weeks. Close to two lakh cars in question bear the Volkswagen badge while 36k-plus wear Audi rings. The rest belong to Skodas stables. The Volkswagen emissions scandal first surfaced in the US in September last year and the company has already embarked on course correction in The States. Recently, it had agreed a mind-boggling Rs 1 lakh crore fund to cover the majority of complaints in the country. This compensation could go further north as this cost is said to cover just the five lakh 2.0-litre TDI engines and not the 1.2-litre, 1.5-litre and 1.6-litre mills. On the other side of the pond though, the Wolfsburg-based carmaker has refused to pay VW drivers the same amount of money. The companys boss, Matthias Muller claims that the situation is different here in Europe. Across the globe, around 1.1 crore vehicles are affected by the scandal that saw vehicles being fit with a software device that could cheat on emission tests. Published On Sep 06, 2016 03:24 PM By Alshaar The iconic Land Rover Defender might not be long gone, but efforts to resurrect the car in a smaller avatar are reportedly already underway, and that too in India. The car could be manufactured in the sub-continent soon, with exports set to begin within a couple of years. Codenamed the L860, JLR is discussing internally and also with component vendors about the possibility of making a mini version of the Defender in India by 2019-20, sources informed Economic Times. According to the report, a team of engineers has already reached out to vendors to discuss the quality and cost of components the company would need, and is seeking quotations for the potential manufacturing of 50,000 units a year. The original Defender was taken out of production in January earlier this year after failing to comply with modern safety and emission norms. But, given the surge in the demand of SUVs over the past few years in India, it might just be the right time to bring in a mini version of the legendary 4X4 here. Once it passes techno-commercial feasibility tests, the car will be built in the Pune plant of JLRs parent company, Tata Motors. The car will help the company boost domestic sales and, in turn, improve its global numbers too. Other products from the British carmaker like the Jaguar XF and the Land Rover Freelanders have previously been produced in India, but from knock-down kits supplied from the UK. The outlet also reports that the new car will be exported to countries where there is a strong demand for SUVs. This move is inspired by the increasing instances of automakers producing premium cars in India and shipping them out. Tata had first considered domestic production operations for the JLR brand in India in 2008, when it had acquired the brands from Ford. But the plans couldnt materialise because of failed feasibility tests. Since then, though, the company has gone on to set up manufacturing facilities in countries like China and Brazil, and its a matter of time that India falls in line next. 09/06/2016 Photo (c) Rob Byron - Fotolia Mylan, the pharmaceutical company that makes the EpiPen allergy antidote, has more than a public relations problem on its hands. Its huge increase for the EpiPen, considered a lifesaving device for those threatened by allergic shock, has produced outrage from consumers and policymakers over the last couple of weeks. Now, it's produced an official investigation. Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson says her office has asked Mylan to submit documents that justify the price hike, from around $50 nine years ago to $600 now. And the New York attorney general has opened an antitrust investigation. "We have heard public reports that it costs a few dollars to make the drug and what we're trying to drive at is what is the reason for this price spike that's affecting so many people," Swanson said in an interview on CNBC. Meanwhile, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said Mylan may have inserted potentially anticompetitive terms into its EpiPen sales contracts with numerous local school systems. No childs life should be put at risk because a parent, school, or healthcare provider cannot afford a simple, life-saving device because of a drug-makers anti-competitive practices, Schneiderman said in a press release. If Mylan engaged in anti-competitive business practices, or violated antitrust laws with the intent and effect of limiting lower cost competition, we will hold them accountable." Misclassified as a generic? A day earlier, Sen. Amy Klobucher (D-MN) charged that Mylan may have misclassified EpiPens under Medicaid, resulting in a huge overpayment by the states. Swanson says her office will investigate Klobucher's charge, pointing out that Mylan may not just be overcharging consumers, but the taxpayers as well. We know that schools buy the drug and the medical assistance program buys the drug, Swanson said. So we're looking at both angles. Has the medical assistance program been overcharged? But also, has the company engaged in anti-competitive behavior that may run afoul of our antitrust laws. Klobucher has charged that Mylan misclassified the EpiPen as a generic drug under the Medicaid program, and it is that charge that could prove the most troublesome for the drug maker. The Minnesota senator says the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) lists the EpiPen as a Non-Innovator Multiple Source Drug, or generic drug, resulting in overpayment for the drug by states and the federal government through the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program. Talking to other states States routinely join together to investigate drug companies for overcharging Medicare and Medicaid, resulting in multi-million dollar settlements. Swanson told CNBC she has already spoken to other state attorneys general about the issue. The previous week, Klobucher called on the Food and Drug Administration to explain its approval process and other steps for possible alternatives to the EpiPen. She's also asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate Mylan's price hikes for the EpiPen. Members of Congress return from their seven-week recess today. NAFCU staff will monitor activity on the Hill and continue the associations advocacy in other areas, including regarding the upcoming changes to the Military Lending Act. The House Financial Services Committee tomorrow will hold a hearing on the governance and economic performance of Federal Reserve districts. Kansas Federal Reserve Bank President and CEO Esther George and Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President and CEO Jeffrey Lacker will testify. The House is also set to debate two bills that have been approved by the Financial Services Committee: H.R. 5424, the Investment Advisers Modernization Act, which would update the Investment Advisers Act by removing duplicative rules, and H.R. 2357, the Accelerating Access to Capital Act, which would simplify the Securities and Exchange Commissions registration regime for smaller companies. Congress will recess again in early October in advance of the election, and return again on Nov. 14. Over the next four weeks, 19 credit union leagues from 26 states will be in the nations capital to hike the hill, meeting with lawmakers, regulators and CUNA staff. The fall generally marks the busiest time of year for Hike the Hill though the program continues from the end of the CUNA Governmental Affairs Conference until the end of the calendar year. The Nebraska Credit Union League and the Credit Union Association of New Mexico start their visits this week, with meetings scheduled on Capitol Hill, at various regulators offices and at Credit Union House in Washington, D.C. During meetings with policymakers, which often includes the NCUA or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureaus, a major resource for leagues and credit unions is CUNAs regulatory burden study, which shows how regulatory costs have ballooned since the inception of the Dodd-Frank Act. The study can be especially helpful for presentations to lawmakers, as it features a per-state cost breakdown, then breaks the statewide cost into a per-credit union and per-member cost breakdown, showing the lawmakers the need for true regulatory relief for credit unions. With high-pitched rhetoric and scary warnings, the payday lending industry is attempting to mobilize its borrowers to flood the CFPB with comments opposing the agencys efforts to issue rules regulating the industry. Individual payday lenders, such as Advance America, are providing Internet links to trade group websites that make the process of commenting as simple as well, taking out a payday loan. Tell policymakers in Washington, D.C.: Dont Take My Credit Away, Speedy Cash, which offers loans on line and in their stores, states on its website. Northern Ireland has announced the continuation of the successful Rural Micro Capital Grants Scheme designed to improve the lives of those living in rural communities. The scheme is funded by the government and is one element of the Tackling Rural Poverty and Social Isolation Programme. Grants of between 200 and 1,500 are available to rural community-led, voluntary organisations towards the cost of capital equipment, improvement of a capital asset or extending the useable life of a capital asset with 450,000 available. The Scheme will be open for applications from Monday 5 September 2016 until noon on Friday 30 September 2016. Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Minister Michelle McIlveen Rural Minister Michelle McIlveen said: "The Rural Micro Capital Grant Scheme has to date provided over 360 rural community and voluntary group with small grants. "This allows them to take practical steps to modernise or update their premises and to buy pieces of equipment that enables them to provide and deliver enhanced services for their local communities. "Community and voluntary groups are the heart and soul of so many rural areas; therefore I am pleased to announce my departments continuation of the Rural Micro Capital Grant Scheme, with 450,000 available. Social isolation and community spirit Addressing social isolation, creating community spirit and providing people with a sense of belonging is what community and voluntary groups excel at, Miss McIlveen said. "Their excellent work is strongly linked to the health and wellbeing of those living in rural areas and is fundamental to the fabric of rural areas. "These small grants, that are now available, will help sustain and indeed develop this important work." The Minister added: "The Rural Micro Capital Grant Scheme is another example of how my department is actively tackling rural poverty and social isolation. "It also demonstrates how government and the community and voluntary sector can work together to improve the lives of those living in rural areas. "This Scheme is a real opportunity for community groups to build on their existing roles and to empower local people to make their lives better," Miss McIlveen said. Tractors were an essential tool in helping to pull vehicles out of a mudbath after flooding left Festival No.6 attendees stranded in the park and ride car park. Heavy rain at the Gwynedd music festival led to flooding of the car park and hundreds of cars getting stuck. On Monday afternoon, event organisers published on their website that 90% of vehicles had now exited the park and ride site and that they were working with 18 tractors to ensure that the remaining 10% are exited as swiftly as possible while taking care to safeguard peoples wellbeing and property. See also: Floodwaters threaten to swamp farm businesses again Gwynedd councillor Selwyn Griffiths praised the local response, telling the BBC: The community really rallied round. I cant praise the local farmers enough for turning up with their tractors and working for 12 hours or more to get cars out of the mud. Photos on social media show the scale of the issue and the response: Festival No.6. A wonderful gathering marred by wild weather. Still good though. #FN6 #festivalnumber6 pic.twitter.com/BqnQtyvk0n Nathan Hurley (@hurleynathan) September 5, 2016 https://twitter.com/maisiel/status/772733136136470528 The Institute of Agricultural Management has resurrected plans to seek chartered status for rural professionals including farm managers, agronomists and consultants. Chartered status is a form of accreditation which is common for many professions in Britain and is generally regarded as a mark of professional competence. To become chartered, individuals must prove they have completed a certain level of qualification and then commit to a programme of Continuing Professional Development so they carry on learning while working. See more: Get the latest careers news and advice from Farmers Weekly Richard Cooksley, IAgrM director, said the idea of chartered status in agriculture had been talked about for nearly 20 years, but there had previously been resistance because some people feared it would become a licence to farm. However, attitudes had changed and people were increasingly recognising that chartered status for agriculturalists would put them on a level footing with professionals in surveying, accountancy and forestry. Clearer career path It would also help to attract the brightest and best into the sector because it would give them a clearer career path and help them to develop their skills. I think we are now in a different world and there has never been a greater need for professional skills than there is today, he said. I think chartered status could be aspirational for people who work within agriculture and give a real reason for continued education. It is also a way for customers to know that people they deal with are up to a certain standard. Mr Cooksley said he was organising a meeting in October for any bodies or individuals who supported the idea and were interested in taking the plan forward. To find out more email richard@iagrm.com The two gunmen had barricaded themselves inside the offices of an international aid group in Kabul. Smoke rises from the site of an attack in Kabul. Photo: Reuters By Reuters: Afghan security forces have killed the last surviving gunman holding out more than 10 hours after a complex attack that began with a car bomb in central Kabul, Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said today. The two gunmen had barricaded themselves inside the offices of an international aid group after a car bomb attack on Monday night. The attack in a prosperous business and residential area of the capital took place just hours after a Taliban suicide attack near the Defence Ministry killed at least 24 people, including a number of senior security officials. advertisement Also read: Twin bombings near Afghanistan's Defense Ministry kill 24 "We have rescued several families from the area," he said. PRECARIOUS SECURITY The attacks highlighted the precarious security climate in the capital just a month before a conference in Brussels where international donors are expected to pledge continued financial support to Afghanistan. After several hours of quiet overnight, sporadic gunfire and explosions could be heard as day broke. Security officials evacuated terrified civilians from their offices and homes near the explosion site. On Monday, 24 people were killed and 91 wounded when twin blasts in quick succession tore through an afternoon crowd in a bustling area of the city close to the Defence Ministry. TALIBAN CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY The Taliban immediately claimed responsibility for that attack, in which a suicide bomber caught security forces personnel and civilians who rushed to help victims of the first explosion. An army general and two senior police commanders were among the dead, a Defence Ministry official said. Another official said the deputy head of President Ashraf Ghani's personal protection force had also been killed. The double bombing came less than two weeks after gunmen attacked the American University in Kabul, killing 13 people. It was the deadliest attack in Kabul since at least 80 people were killed by a suicide bomber who targeted a demonstration on July 23. That assault was claimed by Islamic State. HIGH PROFILE ATTACKS The Taliban's ability to conduct coordinated high profile attacks in Kabul has piled pressure on the Western-backed government, which has struggled to reassure a war-weary population that it can guarantee security. Afghanistan's foreign partners, concerned about the ability of the security forces to withstand Taliban violence, are expected to pledge support over coming years at the Brussels conference, three months after NATO members reaffirmed their commitment at a meeting in Warsaw. Outside Kabul, the insurgents have stepped up their military campaign, threatening Lashkar Gah, capital of the strategic southern province of Helmand, as well as Kunduz, the northern city they briefly took last year. --- ENDS --- Air Chief Marshal Raha said India has been reluctant in the use of military power, especially aero space power or air power in deterring our adversaries or deterring a conflict. Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha on Thursday said that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) continues to remain a thorn in our flesh till date. Air Chief Marshal Raha said India has been reluctant in the use of military power, especially aero space power or air power in deterring our adversaries or deterring a conflict, news agency ANI reported And when involved in a conflict into which we have been drawn into several times in the past. We did not apply us adequately in achieving the end state after the conflict is over. In 1947 immediately after the independence, hoards of raiders from across the border supported by the military and the government from across the border tried to overrun the state of Jammu and Kashmir, he added. The Indian Army on ground was not strong enough, they did not have enough boots on ground to react to this and prevent them from over running Indian territory. I think it was the Indian Air Forces transport wing.which came to the help and retrieved the situation, he added. Stating that large number of troops, military equipment, weapons and logistics were brought into Srinagar, Poonch, Leh and other areas, Air Chief Marshal Raha said, And this air bridging was carried out for several months and this effort of the Indian Air Force with the transport wing as well as the fighter air craft were involved in attacking the raiders during the day time to stop their advancement. He said the Indian Air Force, therefore, played a very important role in helping the Indian Army to push the raiders back. And when military solution was insight or taking moral high ground and I think we went to the United Nations for a peaceful solution to this problem. But the problem still continues, PoK remains a thorn in our flesh even today, he added. The Air Chief pointed out that air power went under neutralized during the Chinese aggression in 1962 because of the mindset of the fear of escalation. In 1965 conflict, we did not use air power against Pakistan because of political reasons. Despite several attacks by the Pakistani Air Force operating from east Pakistan, attacking our air bases and infrastructure and air craft on ground, we had serious setbacks but we never retaliated because of political reasons, he added. The only time when aero space power was fully utilized was in 1971 conflict when the Indian Air Forces capability and efforts and operations were integrated nicely in a well-synergised coordinated manner with the Indian Army and the navy and the results were there to seen by the entire world. The creation of Bangladesh in just about 15 days of conflict, he added. Source : India Today LifeStyle The best LifeStyle shows are right here, from Australia and around the world. Catch up with the experts on home design and interiors, food and cooking, the property market, and get fresh ideas with the savviest of renovators. Whether you need inspiration for cooking up a storm, to refresh a tired room, or tips to sell your property, Foxtel LifeStyle will always something new for you to watch. Enjoy your favourite experts like Andrew Winter and Neale Whitaker, or Deb Hutton and Jamie Oliver live or On Demand. Get Foxtel The Eid-el-Kabir fever is here once again, and while most cattle sellers are complaining of low patronage, many are gearing up to get the cooking started. If you are yet to get your ram or cow for this year's Eid-el-Kabir, this might be a good time to do so. Below is a list of some of the biggest livestock markets in Nigeria, where you can get your livestock at a relatively cheap price: 1. Wudil cattle market, Kano A cattle market in Mubi According to reports, Wudil cattle market located in Wudil, Kano state Nigeria has been for decades, a centre for the sales and purchase of cattle of different breeds. It is also one of the places where cattle can be gotten at a relatively cheaper rate. The market is the largest in Nigeria and probably the largest in West Africa as it covered an area of great length and breadth. Activities in the market usually start on Wednesday through Thursday to the d-day, which is Friday. 2. Amansea cattle market, Anambra Kara Cattle market The Amansea cattle market in Awka the capital of Anambra state is also one of the most popular cattle markets in eastern Nigeria. For those who are unable to make the long trip up north, the cattle market is perfect for those in eastern, Nigeria. 3. Maigatari cattle market, Jigawa Maigatari Cattle market Maigatari international cattle market is one of the biggest cattle markets in the northern part of the country, because it supplies over 2 million stock of cattle for trading during its weekly market day, Thursdays. The ever busy Maigatari border cattle market is in in Maigatari local government area of Jigawa state and it is approximately not more than 200 meters square in size. It is also one place where you can get cows and rams at a relatively cheap price. READ ALSO: Recession bites hard as ram sellers decry low patronage for Eid-el-Kabir 4. Sheme cattle market, Katsina Sheme Cattle market, Katsina One of the more popular markets in Katsina state is Sheme Cattle market in Faskari local government area of the state. It is situated along Funtua-Gusau road; a location that provides easy access to the teeming merchants that troop to the market from different parts of the country and across its borders every Friday. The market is characterised with large flock of cattle, sheep, goats, camels, fodder, veterinary drugs and many other things associated with animal husbandry and rearing. Neighbouring states like Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi and Kano supply the market with animals. On the other hand, its catchment markets cut across the country, such as Ogumalo and Mile-Twelve markets, Lagos, Bodija, Ibadan, Ogere, Warri, Port Harcourt and Abuja among many others. READ ALSO: Fast all in one -- UC Browser 5. Potiskum cattle market, Yobe Potiskum Cattle market, Yobe The Potiskum cattle market is renowned as one the largest Cattle market in Africa and the largest in West Africa. Most of the cattle are transported to other parts of the country and it creates a lot of business opportunities for the local indigenes in the area. Despite insurgency and insecurity, the Potiskum cattle market has managed to stay alive and it offers some of the best prices for cattle in the north. It would really be a good place to get the right price for cattle. Source: Legit.ng Karachi Chamber of Commerce today cancelled an event of Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale at the last minute apparently over his remarks yesterday on Pakistan's interference in Kashmir. By PTI: In a snub, Karachi Chamber of Commerce today cancelled an event of Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale at the last minute apparently over his remarks yesterday on Pakistan's interference in Kashmir. Bambawale, who is on his first visit to Karachi after assuming charge in January this year, was told about the cancellation "just half an hour before the event, invite for which was received and accepted by him a couple of weeks ago", sources told PTI. advertisement The organisers did not give a reason immediately for the cancellation. However, the Indian officials feel that Bambawale's comments yesterday on Pakistan's interference in Kashmir which was India's internal matter "rattled the Pakistani authorities here, prompting a cancellation". "This is very disrespectful on the part of the organisers," officials asserted. Yesterday, during an interactive session organised by the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations, Bambawale had taken a swipe at Pakistan over its interference in Kashmir, saying people living in glass houses should not be throwing stones at others. "There are problems in both India and Pakistan and you (Pakistan) should focus on resolving your problems before looking into the problems of other countries," he had said. --- ENDS --- - Nnamd Kanu is being addressed as his excellency in Kuje prison - Charles Okah reveals that the embattled IPOB leader is also referred to as President of Biafra - Kanu's personality has driven many pro-Biafrans to join splinter group TRIPOB, Okah claims Charles Okah has said that the troubled leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu, lack the humility to win the hearts of Biafra supporters. Nnamdi Kanu lacks the humility required for the Biafran course says Charles Okah. Okah who is also an inmate at Kuje prison, stressed that even in Kuje prison, people address Kanu as His Excellency, President of Biafra, Okah who was nominated recently by two Biafra splinter groups as their new leader, sensationally revealed that Kanu is too proud to lead the Biafra people. READ ALSO: Many Nigerians will die before change will come Top 10 Quotes (pictured) While accepting his nomination by The Rebranded Indigenous People of Biafra (TRIPOB) and the Renegade Indigenous People of Biafra (RENIPOB), Okah said: Humility comes before honour. Even in prison, not a few concerned persons, particularly Biafrans have argued that Nnamdi Kanu believes he is already the President of Biafra and goes about with an entourage and is addressed as His Excellency. That is a fact I have witnessed myself. This narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) was enough to drive away so many of his admirers, who have since flocked in droves and thereby swelled the teeming number of TRIPOB members, Okah asserted. As the new chief executive of TRIPOB, he declared: I hereby issue executive order number one, which is that the planned surrender of the Biafran flag scheduled for January 15, 2017 is hereby cancelled. All preparations towards the ceremony must be put on hold with immediate effect. The surrender of a people can only come from the inside. A man may surrender outwardly, but remain defiant inside. The spirit to be free cannot be suppressed. We, as a people can only be bound by our mind and our fears, he said. Okah asserted: My nomination by two splinter groups from the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) The Rebranded Indigenous People of Biafra (TRIPOB) and the Renegade Indigenous People of Biafra (RENIPOB) as their Leader was brought to my attention in Kuje Prison by my lawyer, Mr Timipa Jenkins Okponipere, Esq. He advised hardworking professionals and other migrants from the Biafra region resident and doing business in the Diaspora not to be deceived by the antics of IPOB and Nnamdi Kau, saying: Your numerous donations cannot bring about a secessionist Biafra Republic, but they can change the mindset of our people. READ ALSO: Controversial! When Buhari will vacate presidents seat revealed Your donations and financial support can also help to improve the standard of living of our people when they are channeled into training and loans. Anyone suggesting to you that they want to start a second civil war to liberate us is a con artist. Even an Igbo President in Nigeria today will never seat to negotiate a break-up with anybody. A word is enough for the wise, he said. He said his nomination as TRIPOB leader , indeed, came to him as a pleasant surprise, as he is an Ijaw Biafran from Amassoma in Bayelsa state , but he decided to accept it because of its respect for the other tribes and indigenous peoples, who make up the rich and diverse Biafra region. He declared: Biafra does not belong to a single tribe. It is erroneous therefore for any tribe to single themselves as owning Biafra and to say they have been marginalized. This misconception is deceitful, ungrateful and wicked considering the giant strides my Igbo brothers and sisters continue to make in Nigeria today. From those who own tank farms as captains in the oil and gas sub-sector of the Nigerian economy, to those who have dominated the local movie industry (otherwise known as Nollywood), exporting their culture and language to all parts of the globe. It will only serve the interest of a few persons to deceive the majority of blind followers to start believing they are slaves in this land of opportunities though tongue and tribe may differ, he said. He stated: Under my leadership, TRIPOB will help to change the misconception and instead, free our minds to know that the Biafran can begin from the villages to the cities of our various states to make them attractive and at the same time, hold our public office holders to account for their stewardship; instead of blaming President Muhammadu Buhari for the ills which have befallen our society. A lazy workman will want to blame his tools. Blaming the Directorate of Security Services (DSS) or the APC-led government for the emergence of factions in IPOB is an insult to the average Biafran, who thrives on courage and a mind of their own. READ ALSO: Panic in Edo: Governors storm state ready for election battle Some of the women who left the women wing of IPOB did so because they could not understand why somebody would be shopping almost every day on the expensive Oxford street in London with proceeds of donations pouring in from donors around the world, who have been deceived that their money will help to liberate Biafra, when a fraction of that money spent on shopping can upgrade the businesses of those women roasting corn and groundnut by the roadside in our beloved Biafra, he said. Indeed, my administration shall commence by using donations received from donors to create jobs and upgrade existing small-scale entrepreneurs starting from the markets and roadside from all across the Biafra region. For instance, under my leadership, the woman frying akara (bean cake) on the streets of Yenagoa, Port Harcourt, Uyo, Awka, Onitsha, Calabar, Okigwe, Owerri, Aba, Enugu, etc., will do so in style; complete with all the tools, training, exposure, apparel and standard of a modern fast food enterprise. She can only achieve this with our support, Okah stressed. Source: Legit.ng The clerics remained undeterred by the violence in the region and said, "We are not scared of the guns or bombs in the Valley." By Gaurav C Sawant: The Holy Quran in one hand and the tricolour in the other - a group of prominent Sufi clerics have proposed to take out an Aman Yatra in the troubled Kashmir Valley. 21 prominent Muslim clerics met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday and proposed to talk to their brothers in the Kashmir Valley. WE SHOULD ENGAGE WITH THOSE WHO WANT PEACE IN VALLEY advertisement "Why talk to those who say Pakistan Zindabad? We should talk to those who want peace and prosperity in the Valley. We are in touch with them. They want a way out of this Pakistan sponsored strife," Maulana Ansar Raza, chairman of the Gharib Nawaz Foundation managing Delhi's Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah told India Today after meeting the Home minister. The proposed group for the 'aman yatra' comprises clerics from Dargah Ajmer Sharif, Bareilly Sharif, Haji Ali in Mumbai and Hazrat Nizamuddin in New Delhi among others. The group has sought clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and have also expressed a desire to meet J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, National Conference Chief Omar Abdullah and all stakeholders of peace who believe in the Indian Constitution. The clerics, however, disagreed with the all-party delegation's initiative to meet the Hurriyat leaders. "What is the point of meeting those who say Pakistan zindabad. We should only engage with those who believe in the Indian constitution and in Kashmiriyat. It is wrong to encourage the pro-Pakistan elements in the Hurriyat," a delegate who didn't want to be named told India Today. WON'T LET PAKISTAN DERAIL PEACE INITIATIVE, SAY CLERICS "We are a land of Sufi saints and Kashmir is a land of Sufi culture. Some may be trying to hijack it but all of us together will not let Pakistan and their proxies derail the peace initiative in the valley," he added. Rajnath Singh heard the clerics and spoke of the existing situation on ground. "We told him we are not scared of the guns or bombs in the Valley. We have the Holy Quran in one hand and the tricolour in the other. The Aman Yatra (peace march) will pass through prominent areas of the Valley - and not be restricted to Srinagar. We will have regular and detailed interaction with the youth and the parents, teachers, civil society. We all want peace," he added. CRITICISE USE OF MOSQUE LOUD SPEAKERS TO FORCE PEOPLE Clerics have also criticized the use of mosque loud speakers to compel women and children to come out and protest. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti also raised the issue while speaking to members of civil society in Baramulla in the first week of August. "Mosque is a sacred place for worship. It should not be used for forcing women and children to come out on the streets and protest," added another cleric. advertisement The clerics also hit out at Syed Ali Shah Geelani for seeking a connection with Pakistan saying Islam links Kashmir to Pakistan. "This is false propaganda by Geelani and they are using terrorists to force this propaganda through to people in Kashmir. There are more Muslims in India than in Pakistan and we all live free. There is no link with Pakistan except terror that they export. We will expose the Hurriyat and their false propaganda, not just in the valley but across the country," Maulana Ansar concluded after the meeting. ALSO READ: G20: Modi takes a dig at Pakistan, says one single nation in South Asia is spreading terror --- ENDS --- - The rumours that surfaced in some sections of the media yesterday, September 6 may have been false - Journalist Ahmed Salkida was reportedly arrested by the Nigerian military at the Nnamdi Azikiwe airport, Abuja - The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) said it has no knowledge of the arrest A report by Sahara Reporters claiming Ahmed Salkida, a journalist declared wanted by the military over alleged connections to Boko Haram militants, was arrested yesterday seems to be false. Nigerian journalist declared wanted by the military, Ahmed Salkida DHQ spokesman, Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar told Daily Trust that the military has no knowledge of Salkida's arrest as at the time its report was published last night. READ ALSO: Direct your protests to Salkida, others, CSO tells BBOG group Sahara Reporters had reported that Salkida was arrested from the door of the Emirates Flight EK785 aircraft that brought him to Abuja by security forces. Salkida was declared wanted by the army alongside two others after a recent release of a video showing abducted Chibok schoolgirls in custody of Boko Haram. Salkida had said that he was not on the run and would make himself available to the security forces as soon as he was able to get flight ticket to Nigeria. Last month, he blamed the Nigerian authorities for refusing to renew his passport at the Nigerian Embassy in the United Arab Emirates for fear that he would run away to an unknown destination. The army had later explained that the three persons declared wanted were being invited to explain what they knew and not for any sinister purpose. READ ALSO: Nigerian military releases woman with links to Boko Haram Meanwhile, a civil society group has accused Salkida and two others declared wanted by the army of seeking popularity. The group, Stand Up Nigeria said the trio's response to the release made by the army is a blackmail against the Nigerian military. Source: Legit.ng The all-party delegation to meet in the national capital tomorrow. The meeting will be chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh. By India Today Web Desk: The all-party delegation, which visited Kashmir to find a solution for restoring peace in the Valley, will meet in the national capital tomorrow. The meeting will be chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh at 11 am in Parliament Annexe. The all-party delegation will assess the situation in Kashmir and chalk out a future strategy. Meanwhile, Singh briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi today on the all-party delegation's two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir and also apprised him of the situation in the state. Singh is learnt to have submitted a report to the PM. The two also discussed the future strategy, sources said. advertisement The PM returned from China just last night after attending the G-20 summit. STERN APPROACH ON SEPARATISTS It is evident now that the Centre will not adopt a soft approach towards the separatists. The Centre has taken a tough stand against separatists who have been fanning unrest in the Valley after the killing of terrorist Burhan Wani in an encounter on July 8. The all-party delegation seeking to end turbulence in Kashmir concluded its two-day visit yesterday with no breakthrough. Unhappy at the stubborn refusal of Hurriyat leaders to meet some MPs who had literally knocked at their doors in Srinagar, Singh had said that their conduct was against democracy, humanity or even 'Kashmiriyat'. Also read: Kashmir unrest: Another youth killed in clashes, death toll reaches 75 --- ENDS --- President Muhammadu Buhari has arrived in Benin City, Edo state capital to campaign for All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of state governorship election. President Buhari departs Abuja for Benin City to attend APC Gubernatorial Grand Finale Campaign Rally in Edo state. Bashir Ahmad, presidential media aide on the new media, reports that Buharis aircraft landed at 10:20 am. President Buhari is expected to visit the Crown Prince of Benin Kingdom, Eheneden Erediauwao, before attending the mega rally. READ ALSO: Buhari, Osinbajo to attend APC rally in Edo state The rally is to hold at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City, the Edo state capital. Reacting to the president's visit, Oshiomhole said: Today is my happiest day. I am standing here not as an orphan. For seven and half years, I was standing alone. But today my brothers and our papa are here. Why should I not be proud? Nineteen candidates are contesting the September 10, 2016 governorship poll in the state, but from all indications, only five are actively involved in the campaigns. The two key candidates are: Mr Godwin Obaskei from the APC and Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). It is considered that the poll would be won on the basis of performance. Based on this, the APC would depend on what it achieved during its eight-year government in the state, while the PDP would hope on promises. The PDP ruled the state for 10 years before the incumbent Governor Adams Oshiomhole took over the state under the platform of the former Action Congress of Nigeria before taking the state to the APC. READ ALSO: 4 factors that will define the Edo state governorship election Oshiomhole, one of the close allies of President Buhari, is described by his supporters as a grass root politician and an unbelievable mobilizer who cannot be easily dislodged by the opposition. Source: Legit.ng Nigeria's transport minister Rotimi Amaechi has revealed that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has so far recovered N3.4 trillion in cash and assets from those who looted the country's treasury in the last administration. Apart from this, Vanguard reports that Amaechi further revealed that the federal government has discovered N115 billion looted cash and assets in the United States, United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom. Ibrahim Magu, EFCC boss: His organsation has been arresting and arraigning alleged treasury looters Much of the funds were allegedly looted in the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been going after such suspects, arresting and arraigning some of them while investigating others. Speaking at the 34th Cambridge University International Symposium on Economic Crime in the United Kingdom, Amaechi said: "Our president has stopped at nothing to demonstrate that whosoever is caught in corruption related crimes will not be spared. "In his days as military head of state and through other positions he has held in public life, he has upheld a life of integrity. Amaechi says Buhari's administration has made over N3 trillion from looters "He is a typical example of how a leader can inspire committed followership through the force of example. READ ALSO: Buhari has no solution to economic crisis - APC chieftain "As someone who has been in active politics for more than 30 years, I have learnt that many well-intended reforms are possible only if the leader can offer the requisite leadership and muster the right political will. "In my country, since our President, Muhammadu Buhari, was elected, he did not leave anyone in doubt that the fight against corruption will not only be taken seriously, but will form a cardinal plank of his policy direction. "So far, he has made several pronouncements that set the tone of his commitment to strengthening anti-corruption agencies to go after anyone who has questions to answer. "The presidents resolve was enough signal to all of us, members of his cabinet and the citizenry, that an end has come for the old ways of doing things. READ ALSO: I am prepared to fight corruption again - Nuhu Ribadu "Currently, many people who have been indicted in one form of corrupt practice or another are being prosecuted in our courts. That, I believe is the way to show leadership and take responsibility," he said. Lai Mohammed declared a different figure from Amaechi The former governor of Rivers state added: "Another important factor is what I refer to as the force of example. There is very little any leader can achieve if he talks the right political talk without offering personal examples. "In these days of internet and social media revolution, citizens often spend time to scrutinize the reputation and activities of any leader to find out if they are consistent with what he or she stands for in the media." READ ALSO: Open letter to President Buhari He said leaders must practise what they preach if they expect to be taken seriously both by those within their organisations, state, country or outside. He said: "They should be held accountable. Leadership is expected to do three simple things, perhaps four: upholding the primacy of leadership and political will, insisting on the force of example, enforcing the urgency of incentives and the necessity of sanctions and finally by leveraging on the power of partnership." However, the figure declared by Amaechi is different from that of Lai Mohammed, the minister of information, who recently revealed that the federal government recovered about N78 billion, and $3 million from alleged looters since the inauguration of Muhammadu Buhari. Mohammed had stated that these funds cannot rescue Nigerias economy as they are a far cry from what the country needs to revive the economy. Source: Legit.ng - Governor Ayo Fayose urges the people of Edo state to be extra vigilant before, during and after the governorship election - Calls on the INEC and the security agencies to maintain neutrality before, during the polls - Says Edo state election will serve as a litmus test for the APC led federal government Governor Ayo Fayose has warned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against having inconclusive election in Edo state. READ ALSO: PDP wants Godwin Obaseki disqualified from Edo election According to Daily Trust, Fayose in a statement by his special assistant on public communications and new media, Lere Olayinka on Tuesday, September 6, also urged the people of Edo state to be extra vigilant before, during and after the governorship election on Saturday. He said: party sentiment apart, Pastor Ize-Iyamu has campaigned through the nooks and crannies of Edo State to sell his visions andmissions to the people of the State and anyone who saw the Channels Television debate on Sunday will agree with me that Pastor Ize-Iyamu is better equipped for the governance of Edo State. The governor urged the people of Edo state to give their votes to Pastor Ize-Iyamu, who he described as a man who has demonstrated the required capacity to lead Edo state to prosperity. Fayose called on the INEC and the security agencies to maintain neutrality before, during and after the election. He said the Edo state election will serve as a litmus test for the APC led federal government, urging all government agencies involved in the election to put the interest of democracy first. READ ALSO: Edo Election: EFCC still probing PDP candidate, Ize-Iyamu Governor Fayose said the Edo people should be vigilant during the period of the election, adding that the people should know that elections are not concluded until results are announced officially. Meanwhile, the Lagos state governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode has urged people of Edo state to troop out and vote for the candidate of the APC in Saturdays governorship election in the state, Mr Godwin Obaseki for continuity of people-friendly policies and programmes. Speaking at the grand rally of the APC held at Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin, Governor Ambode said Edo, being the heartbeat of the South-South region, has all it takes to become another Lagos, but the people must do their part by voting for Obaseki to build on the monumental successes recorded in the last seven and half years by Governor Adams Oshiomhole. Source: Legit.ng The all-party delegation also holds the view that funds spent on the separatists should be reduced. Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani is one of the most prominent separatist voices in the Valley. By India Today Web Desk: The Centre may finally crack down on the Kashmiri separatists and withdraw several facilities accorded to them. According to sources, this is the dominant view of the all-party delegation which returned to the national capital yesterday after paying a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir. One of the ideas floated in the delegation is to withdraw security provided to the separatists. Presently, 900 policemen are deployed in the security of the separatists. advertisement ALL-PARTY DELEGATION IN FAVOUR OF REDUCING FUNDS TO SEPARATISTS The delegation is also in favour of curtailing funds to the separatists. They get funds in the form of pension, travel allowance and medical allowance besides security. The Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir governments jointly bear the expenditure on these facilities. The sources said the Centre is in favour of withdrawing these perks and facilities being granted to the separatists. Besides, contrary to reports that the Mehbooba Mufti government is acting tough with the separatists, the delegation felt the state government is treating them with kid gloves. DELEGATION BELIEVES KASHMIR UNREST RESULT OF LAW AND ORDER PROBLEM On the situation in Kashmir, the delegation is of the view that lack of governance is very much visible in both Jammu and Srinagar. This, they believe, is one of the reasons for resentment. They felt that the current situation is a law and order problem, the sources said. As per the Centre's assessment, the students, their parents and the middle class are getting restless due to the unrest and want the violence to end. The final recommendations of the all-party delegation are likely to be finalised tomorrow in the meeting to be chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh. ALSO READ: Hurriyat praises and justifies presence of PLA inside PoK --- ENDS --- Have you heard whats going down in the Philippines right now? Very controversial President Rodrigo Duterte, who was elected in May on a mandate of waging a war on drugs, has been accused of allowing and encouraging a swathe of extrajudicial killings, with many estimating that over 2,400 people have been killed since the election. And its not like Duterte hid the fact thats what he was keen to do. In the leadup to the election, he promised to kill tens of thousands of drug dealers, and as many as 9 out of 10 Filipinos say they trust him. While he was mayor of Davao City, he was credited with turning the highly urbanised centre into one of the safest cities in the Philippines but at great cost. He was accused of aiding and abetting a vigilante group named the Davao Death Squads, who routinely murdered drug users and dealers. So you can see why this might not sit so well with the international community. Not that Duterte seems to give a shit. Upon learning that US President Barack Obama intended to confront him over the killings during a planned meeting in Laos, he had some choice words for the Prez. You must be respectful, he said. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum. He said that he was master of a sovereign state which had long since ceased to be a colony, referring to the fact that the US previously administrated the Philippines as a colony. Obama told reporters after Dutertes comments that his staff would evaluate whether any meeting would actually be productive. I always want to make sure if Im having a meeting that its actually productive and were getting something done, he said. We will always assert the need to have due process and to engage in that fight against drugs in a way thats consistent with basic international norms. And so, undoubtedly, if and when we have a meeting this is something that is going to be brought up. The White House has since confirmed that Obama cancelled his meeting with Duterte. Source: ABC News. Photo: Getty Images. 15 other people were injured during the clashes in south Kashmir. By Ashraf Wani: One youth was killed during the clashes between protestors and security forces in Seer Hamdan, Anantag taking the death toll to 75. Fifteen others including women were injured during the night clashes in south Kashmir. The clashes, locals said, erupted after the security forces including police and CRPF men reached the village around midnight to carry out raids. advertisement Also read: Kashmir unrest: Rajnath to brief PM Modi on all-party delegation meet NOCTURNAL RAIDS As soon as the forces' vehicles reached near JK Bank branch on main road in Seer Hamdan, youths who had already blocked the road and the lanes leading to different localities started pelting stones to prevent them from moving ahead. However, forces resorted to intense teargas shelling and fired pellets on the stone throwing youths to disperse them which resulted in the death of one youth. Also read: What went wrong in Kashmir and how to fix it Protests continued in south Kashmir till the last reports came in. The injured were taken to nearby hospital for treatment. RESTRICTIONS CONTINUE IN FEW PARTS Meanwhile, a day after the return of the all-party delegation that visited the Valley, curfew-like restrictions continued in Srinagar and other areas of south Kashmir as the current unrest entered day 60 on Tuesday. --- ENDS --- By: Silvergirl Sterling, Inc. New Mermaid Cuff - Silvergirl Sterling EXCLUSIVE! Contact Lois Weeks ***@silvergirlsterling.com Lois Weeks End --is returning to the Surf Expo in Orlando, Florida on September 8-10, 2016. We are excited to introduce new, exclusive designs only available from Silvergirl Sterling like the mermaid cuff pictured below. From new mermaid and sea life designs to new additions to our mens collection there will be lots to see for Expo attendees!Featuring the finest sterling silver jewelry from the world's finest artisans, Silvergirl showcases designs from the United States, Israel, Taxco, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.Since its inception serving retail customers at fairs and festivals in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan and surrounding areas, Silvergirl Sterling has expanded to serve wholesale clients and can be found in fine stores up and down the East Coast and the Caribbean.Wholesale clients can apply for an online account and are able to place orders at wholesale pricing on the SilvergirlSterling.com website.Silvergirl Sterling has met wonderful clients as an exhibitor at the Philadelphia Gift Show, Grand Strand Gift and Resort Show, Boston Gift Show and the Ocean City Resort Gift Expo and will be greeting new and existing customers in sunny Orlando this September. See them in booth 4038 for fun & funky .925 sterling silver jewelry with a little beach attitude!Surf Expo is produced in January and September in Orlando, Florida and draws buyers from specialty stores across the U.S., the Caribbean, Central and South America and around the world. The show features approximately 2,600 booths of apparel and hardgoods and a full line-up of special events, including fashion shows, annual awards ceremonies, and demos. Average buyer and exhibitor turnout exceeds 26,000 attendees including retailers, exhibitors and media per show. The September Surf Expo will be held September 8-10, 2016.After 5 years as a top 25 national direct seller with Silpada Designs and two years working to grow smaller sterling silver jewelry direct sales companies, Lois Weeks decided it was time to listen to the advice of customers, reps and hostesses who always told her "Lois, you know business and you know jewelry - you should start your OWN company!"Silvergirl Sterling showcases handpicked artisan-crafted designs from around the world with a focus on designs from the United States, Mexico, Israel and the Dominican Republic. Silvergirl has transitioned from retail events to wholesale clients and can be found in stores up and down the East Coast and the Caribbean. Find Silvergirl and you'll find fun & funky .925 sterling silver jewelry with a little beach attitude! SNE,Israel's National Technology Transfer Company, selected by the Israeli Council for Higher Education to provide IP commercialization and application transfer services for all academic colleges and government-owned hospitals. By: SNE End -- SNE, Israel' Technology Transfer Company, has closed a $2.5 million financing round from Arieli Capital, a venture capital fund founded and managed by Eric (Ariel) Bentov. This is the first significant external financing round by SNE, which was selected by the Council of Higher Education in Israel (CHE) as the preferred provider of intellectual property commercialization services for all academic colleges and government-funded hospitals and research institutes.SNE, Israel' Technology Transfer Company, has closed a $2.5 million financing round from Arieli Capital, a venture capital fund founded and managed by Eric (Ariel) Bentov. This is the first significant external financing round by SNE, which was selected by the Council of Higher Education in Israel (CHE) as the preferred provider of intellectual property commercialization services for all academic colleges and government-funded hospitals and research institutes.SNE offers a direct and accelerated route to the commercialization of intellectual property for more than 40 colleges and government-funded research institutes and hospitals. Through the use of a proprietary methodology, SNE's services save time and hassle in the establishment of a commercialization center for promising inventions, providing research institutes with a proven and efficient solution.The company is already closely cooperating with Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design; Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art; Afeka Academic College of Engineering;Hadassah Academic College; Jerusalem College of Technology Lev Academic Center; ORT Braude; Medical Center of the Galilee and Ruppin Academic Center. SNE engages in discovering knowledge with commercialization potential in a range of fields, including biotechnology, medical devices, software, industrial design, cleantech, agriculture and water technologies.SNE is based in Ra'anana and has 10 employees. It was founded in 2013 by Omri Raisman, Gerardo Nahum, Dr. Shai Yarkoni, and Adv. Amos Konforti. The company won an eight-year government tender (with an option to extend for four more years), published by the Council of Higher Education, to establish a company to encourage the commercialization of know-how and intellectual property at colleges, hospitals and research institutes. The goals of the initiative were to expand the colleges' sources of revenue and improve the innovation and competitiveness of Israeli industry. As part of the tender's terms, the Council of Higher Education has allocated NIS 26 million to support this activity.In 2015 Avi Ben-Zichri, who has held a number of senior positions in high tech over the past 20 years, was appointed CEO of SNE. In the late 1990s, Avi served as Vice President of Development at Siemens Data Communications, and following that as Vice President of Development at Oplus, which was sold to Intel for $100 million in 2005. He then served as COO Israel at NeuStar, an American company that acquired the Israeli start-up FollowApp in 2006. In 2011-2014, Ben-Zichri returned to Intel, serving among other roles as a project manager in Intel's RealSense 3D camera project."We intend to use the capital we have raised to increase the number of institutions SNE works with in the coming year. We also plan to advance and develop current products, expand its portfolio of new products and prepare them for commercialization,"said Ben Zichri. "Along with this, we will invest in engineering and field tests, and continue to develop business relations with industry and investment funds in Israel and overseas."Eric (Ariel) Bentov, Chairman of Ariel Capital, said: "We chose to invest in SNE as we believe in the marketing potential of the company and in the capability of its management team. SNE is capable of providing the industry with an ongoing stream of proven business ideas from academic and research institutions from all over Israel. Beyond the financial investment, we intend to put our marketing and sales capabilities at the disposal of SNE, while emphasizing the thorough testing of each technology's marketing potential."Arieli Capital, which is in the process of being established, is a new venture fund that is focused on the Israeli technology sector. Arieliseeks to invest at the earliest stages and then continue to invest in the company through both the provision of financial resources and active involvement in the commercial growth of the venture. Arieli's management and advisory board include a former Fortune 500 level CMO, successful tech entrepreneurs, investment bankers and corporate leaders. Arieli's founder, Eric Bentov, established the Eilat Hub, and Arieliis actively working to develop ventures in the Eilat region and across Israel.For more information about Technology Transfer, visit: http://www.addlion.com/ sne Introduces D-EYE 2.0 and new Improved "Quick Release" Bumper Attachment By: D-EYE End -- D-EYE, a pioneering developer of smartphone-based retinal imaging, is pleased to announce its showcase at the combined, the company will present its new second generation iPhone App (Version 2.0) along with the introduction of a new bumper latch design that will accommodate the current iPhone models SE, 5, 6 and 6+ series.Theis quickly becoming the modern. The break through smartphone/lens combination allows for an easy examination process without the uncomfortable close proximity of patients and physicians when using a traditional ophthalmoscope.The award-winning, patent pending lens design eliminates common corneal glare found when using a traditional ophthalmoscope or other direct lens systems. The D-EYE application allows for capturing both images and or videos of the posterior that can be saved to a detailed patient file, shared for further assessment, and stored for future health comparisons. The new D-EYE 2.0 application is encrypted to meet global patient privacy guidelines.The D-EYE system is ideal for the screening of a variety of pathologies including Glaucoma, later stage Diabetic Retinopathy (DR), Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD), Papilledema, Hypertensive Retinopathy and various other eye disorders. Viewed by users as a digital window to the body, D-EYE is also used by Neuro Ophthalmologists, Neurologists, Pediatric Ophthalmologists, Pediatricians, Emergency Phycians and many other specialists who perform an Ophthalmoscopy as a routine patient examination practice.At the Congress, executives from the company will be on hand so attendees can perform an examination and see for themselves the unique capabilities of the D-EYE system.The company will also demonstrate the unique features of the new App version 2.0. The new application enhances functionality to include auto focus calibration for myopic, hyperopic, emmetropic eyes, saving time when performing a retinal exam. An Image Mask feature is also part of the new App, allowing users to highlight the posterior pole in real time. Image editing features have also been expanded to include contrast, brightness, RGB, Gamma, and saturation. And, for the iPhone 6, 6S, 6+, 6S+, users can now easily log on to the D-EYE app via the new Apple "Touch ID" feature.CE Class I Registered Device 2014FDA Class II 510k exempt 2014 audited February 2016ISO 13485:2012 Medical Devices - Quality Management SystemsISO 13485:2002 CanadaFounded in 2014, with offices in Padova, Italy and Pasadena, CA, D-EYE Srl offers a "digital eye" into the state of the human body. The company designs and manufactures mobile sensing and examination devices, along with companion applications, that make possible mass health screenings and data collection to improve access to vital health examination services. D-EYE also develops and operates cloud-based Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) systems that enable telehealth applications, and aggregate and analyze health-screening data to provide insight into individual conditions as well as trends across patient populations.The company's first product, developed in part with a grant from the Fondazione Cottino and with support from the University of Brescia (Italy), the revolutionary D-EYE Smartphone-based Retinal Imaging System focuses on eye care; subsequent mobile-health products and services will target screening and evaluation of other medical conditions and pathologies. For more information, please visit www.d-eyecare.com.Heather Hewit732.212.0823, ext. 103heatherh@lotus823.com Bookings for the 'Roof of the World' are going through the roof! Demand for two week multi-activity holidays increases by 30% Contact Mark Knowles, Sales Manager, Snow Cat Travel ***@snowcattravel.com Mark Knowles, Sales Manager, Snow Cat Travel End -- Specialist Nepal tour operator, Snow Cat Travel are reporting a 15% increase in bookings for Nepal over all, but a whopping increase of 30% in demand for non-trekking holidays.Mention Nepal to most people and immediately trekking in the majestic Himalayas springs to mind. But, with most Himalayan treks being lengthy and challenging affairs, not everyone wants to spend their holidays walking every single day.As most people are restricted to two weeks holiday at a time, even the likes of the Everest Base Camp trek are just too long. An impossible dream for most.Mark Knowles, the UK based Sales Manager for Snow Cat Travel says, "more and more people were asking us what they can do in Nepal as a two week holiday. They want to see the Himalayas naturally and want to do something different too".Recognising this trend, Snow Cat Travel purposefully developed a wide range of multi-activity adventure holidays in Nepal to suit various levels of ability and taste.With the large increase in demand, this appears to have paid off.As Mark says, "no one was really offering anything different. The choice was either trekking or an overland tour. Yet, there are so many other activities you can enjoy in Nepal too; mountain biking, rafting, paragliding, micro-light flights, zip line, wildlife safaris etc. We decided to piece all the various activities into fun, but meaningful tours. Of course we'd often include a day or two of trekking as well, but we made certain that each and every one was not only unique, but that it could be done in two weeks".However, Snow Cat Travel has also maintained its 'bigger than most' choice of classic Himalayan treks. "Trekking certainly hasn't gone away", says Mark, "we've seen an increase there too, particularly for our range of shorter treks, which were again developed with a fortnights holiday in mind".Although Snow Cat Travel offer a massive amount of varied itineraries, Mark is adamant in pointing out that, "we specialise in exclusive, bespoke tours. Our itineraries are intended to be as varied as possible, but importantly they are suggestions. More and more families are wanting to visit Nepal too and as there is no such thing as the average family, our expertise and knowledge means that we can design a holiday that is just right for their family, not someone elses family".From the lofty heights of Mount Everest, to the lowland sub-tropical jungle and with some of the friendliest locals to be found anywhere in the world there is indeed something for everyone in Nepal.Snow Cat Travel even have a web page dedicated to "weird and wacky" ideas to include in a Nepal holiday too, from tribal home stays to meeting Kung Fu Nuns!Visit http://snowcattravel.com for more, or get in touch with us Contact Ron Kramer ***@discovery- associates.com Ron Kramer End -- Discovery Associates, LLC. (DA) (http://www.discovery-associates.com/), a leader in software consulting in the United States is expanding to South America. DA has formed a new partnership and has opened two new locations in Lima, Peru and, based in St Louis, MO, is an IT solutions and services company (http://www.discovery-associates.com/what-we-do/) helping customers in the distribution, manufacturing, real estate and software industries. DA exclusively focuses on small and mid-size organizations providing a value add service to maximize software efficiencies.With expansion, Discovery Associates will be reselling popular ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software solution Odoo (http://www.discovery-associates.com/)throughout North and South America. "Odoo is a major player in the ERP solutions world," says President Ron Kramer, "allowing our existing customers and future customers to take advantage of this robust application. Odoo is sold modularly, providing extreme flexibility to the customers while being user friendly to the end users."With over 2 million users worldwide used in 23 different languages, Odoo is seen as a highly competitive ERP application. Discovery Associates will embrace Odoo to expand their customer base and footprint across North and South America. The presence of Discovery Associates and their unique software consulting services ( http://www.discovery- associates.com/ wp-content/uploads/ 20... ), paired now with Odoo, offers a unique value proposition to their existing and new customers, now, as well as into the future.Discovery Associates (DA), is a privately held company specializing in ERP implementations, sales, software consulting and software development in North and South America. DA is focused on distribution, manufacturing, healthcare, consumer goods and real estate industries.Ron Kramer, Managing Director, President of Discovery AssociatesPhone: +1 314.220.8810Email: ron@discovery-associates.com A Buss from Lafayette Contact Dorothea Jensen jensendorothea@ gmail.com Dorothea Jensen End -- Studies over the years have shown that many Americans lack the knowledge of basic historical information such as the details of history changing events such as the Revolutionary War, the Civil War. WWI, etc. or the names of important historical figures such as George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Abraham Lincoln. . . This fact re-ignited children's author Dorothea Jensen's commitment to hooking kids on history through historical fiction that engages their interest and imagination.Jensen's first historical novel for young readers, which has been continously in print since 1989 has been used in schools to bring the American Revolution "alive" for thousands of children.Jensen's most recent novel in this genre, released in April 2016, by BQB Publishing isset in June, 1825. The story is told by spunky, rebellious fourteen-year-old Clara Hargraves who has a couple of big problems: her red hair makes her a target for teasing, and her stepmother (formerly her spinster aunt) keeps trying to make her act like a young lady. Clara's small New Hampshire town is abuzz because General Lafayette, hero of the American Revolution, is about to visit on his "Farewell Tour" of America. In one eventful week, Clara learns a lot about herself, her family, and, most of all, about Lafayette and his vital role in America's fight for independence.Jensen got the idea for this story when she met an elderly woman whose great-grandmother, when she was a little girl, had been 'bussed,' (kissed on the cheek) by Lafayette in 1824. That buss had been passed down through the woman's family, and Jensen immediately asked that it be passed along to herand it was. She then started reading about Lafayette's journey of 1824-5, in which he visited all 24 states. The only surviving general from the Revolutionary War, Lafayette was mobbed everywhere he went.As Jensen describes it, "It was like the Beatles coming here in the 60s, only without the screams. In thirteen months, Lafayette traveled over 6,000 miles by horse-drawn carriage, river boat, canal barge, and horseback, and he passed right by the house I now live in!"is available in print and eBook through the publisher's website http://www.bqbpublishing.com/ shop and online and brick and mortar bookstores. For wholesale purchase, it is available through Ingram, Baker & Taylor, BQB Publishing, and New Leaf Distributing.Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Dorothea Jensen, grew up in Chillicothe, Illinois. She majored in English Literature at Carleton College. After teaching high-school English and serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Brazil, she earned a master's degree in education at the University of New Mexico. In 1989, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich publishedJensen's debut novel about the American Revolution for young readers. In addition to other honors, it was named an International Reading Association Teacher's Choices Selection and is still read in classrooms throughout the U.S.BQB Publishing is the fiction imprint of Boutique of Quality Books Publishing, an independent, award-winning book publisher. Under their two imprints BQB Publishing and WriteLife Publishing they combine the high quality you've come to expect from traditional publishers with hands-on, in-depth author involvement to bring cutting edge books from fresh authors to the marketplace. Helaba opens today a representative office in Stockholm. The new Helaba location is the next milestone in the further development of the Bank's international presence. By opening the representative office in the economic centre of Northern Europe, Helaba takes a big step forward in cultivating the Scandinavian market. Our aim [] Neinver has entered into an agreement with Carrefour Polska to manage the Metropolitan Outlet in Bydgoszcz centre, in the north of Poland. The outlet centre, scheduled to open in spring 2018 will be the first and only retail centre of this kind in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie province. The Spanish company... [] The Polish Retail Research Forum (PRRF) has published its data on the Polish shopping centre market for H1 2016. Its market data prepared by a team of analysts concern modern retail stock, including newly-delivered schemes, development pipeline and the retail space saturation levels (sq m per 1,000 inhabitants). The PRRF [] The Standard Life Investments European Property Growth Fund has completed the acquisition of the Metropool Building, 61-105 Weesperstraat in Amsterdam from Herasi Properties B.V., a consortium led by Breevast, for around 45 million. The c.14,400 sq m mixed-use building is set across eight floors a... [] By PTI: Bengaluru, Sep 6 (PTI) Days after the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal asked the concerned states to resolve the water dispute amicably, Karnataka ChiefMinister Siddaramaiah has written to his Goa and Maharashtra counterparts offering to host the first round of discussions. "...on behalf of the riparian state of Karnataka, it would be my pleasure to host the first round of talks. I sincerely hope you would, in the true spirit of co-operation and collaboration, agree to your state participating in the talks," Siddaramaiah said in a letter to Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar. advertisement "I, therefore, request you to instruct your states chief secretary to interact with my states chief secretary in finalising the date of meeting in this month of September, 2016," the letter, released to the media said. A similar letter was written to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis inviting him for talks over the issue, the Chief Ministers Office said. The Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal had last weekasked Chief Ministers of Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra toresolve the water dispute amicably by holding discussions. Karnataka government, which has locked horns with the neighbouring Goa on the larger issue of sharing Mahadayi River water between both the states, had petitioned the tribunal seeking the release of 7.56 tmcft of water for the Kalasa-Banduri Nala project. The tribunals July 27 interim order after hearing arguments from Karnataka and Goa had rejected the states plea citing various grounds, includingecological damage that the project may cause. Challenging this, the state government has filed aSpecial Leave Petition before the Supreme Court. Following the interim order, tension had gripped most parts of northern Karnataka as protests turned violent on July 28 during which government offices were attacked and public property was damaged. Also, a state-wide bandh was observed on July 30. The Kalasa-Banduri Nala (diversion) project, which will utilise 7.56 tmcft of water from the inter-state Mahadayi river, is being undertaken by Karnataka to improve drinking water supply to the twin cities of Hubballi-Dharwad and the districts of Belagavi and Gadag. It involves building barrages across Kalasa and Banduri, tributaries of Mahadayi River, to divert 7.56 tmc to Malaprabha river which fulfils the drinking water needs of the twin cities. Karnataka has for long been advocating for out of court settlement of the issue. Siddaramaiah had led an all party delegation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention. Earlier, Goa government had rejected Karnatakas attempt for the out of court settlement statingthat the people of the state felt it was more prudent to settle the dispute through the Tribunal. PTI KSU RA RC ASV --- ENDS --- Great Tits (Parus major) are synanthropes who have followed humans into large cities. A team led by Philipp Sprau at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich and the Max Planck Institute of Ornithology in Seewiesen has investigated the adaptive mechanisms needed by the birds for urban life. Their study has shown that while Great Tits begin to breed earlier in cities, their clutches are smaller and nestlings weigh less than their rural counterparts upon leaving the nest. Differences between cities and rural environments To study the effects of urbanization, the scientists placed 600 nest boxes in twelve forest areas and another 156 in the city of Munich. Along with key life history traits, such as the start of egg laying, clutch size, and number and weight of nestlings, they correlated breeding success for the tits with environmental parameters characteristic for urbanization such as temperature, humidity, light, and noise that were measured throughout the breeding season. Although the measurements of environmental parameters showed differences between city and rural environments, the scientists found no direct relationship between these parameters and the quantified life history traits. "Therefore we divided the city into three zones ranging from areas with conditions close to natural habitats to those characteristic of urban settings," said Niels Dingemanse of Ludwig Maximilian University, head of the study group for the evolutionary ecology of variation at the Max Planck Institute of Ornithology. This analysis of the varied extreme urbanization also revealed no specific patterns. The simple division between "city" and "forest" habitats still explained the differences in life histories best. "Our study showed how difficult it is to accurately measure the effects of urban development on natural ecosystems," commented Sprau, principal author and head of the study. "Although we have quantified various environmental parameters, no clear patterns were found which can explain the differences in reproductive success." Thus for future studies it must be considered that individual features of urban environments such as light and noise may not be enough to describe the prevailing environmental conditions adequately. Other environmental factors than those quantified in this study should be considered in addition in future studies to assess the impact of the multidimensionality of urbanization on wildlife. The Eastern Gorilla -- the largest living primate -- has been listed as Critically Endangered due to illegal hunting, according to the latest update of The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species released today at the IUCN World Conservation Congress taking place in Hawaii. Four out of six great ape species are now Critically Endangered -- only one step away from going extinct -- with the remaining two also under considerable threat of extinction. Today's IUCN Red List update also reports the decline of the Plains Zebra due to illegal hunting, and the growing extinction threat to Hawaiian plants posed by invasive species. Thirty eight of the 415 endemic Hawaiian plant species assessed for this update are listed as Extinct and four other species have been listed as Extinct in the Wild, meaning they only occur in cultivation. The IUCN Red List now includes 82,954 species of which 23,928 are threatened with extinction. Mammals threatened by illegal hunting The Eastern Gorilla (Gorilla beringei) -- which is made up of two subspecies -- has moved from Endangered to Critically Endangered due to a devastating population decline of more than 70% in 20 years. Its population is now estimated to be fewer than 5,000. Grauer's Gorilla (G. b. graueri), one subspecies of Eastern Gorilla -- has lost 77% of its population since 1994, declining from 16,900 individuals to just 3,800 in 2015. Killing or capture of great apes is illegal; yet hunting represents the greatest threat to Grauer's Gorillas. The second subspecies of Eastern Gorilla -- the Mountain Gorilla (G. b. beringei) -is faring better and has increased in number to around 880 individuals. Four of the six great apes -- Eastern Gorilla, Western Gorilla, Bornean Orangutan and Sumatran Orangutan -- are now listed as Critically Endangered, whilst the Chimpanzee and Bonobo are listed as Endangered. advertisement "To see the Eastern gorilla -- one of our closest cousins -- slide towards extinction is truly distressing," says Inger Andersen, IUCN Director General. "We live in a time of tremendous change and each IUCN Red List update makes us realize just how quickly the global extinction crisis is escalating. Conservation action does work and we have increasing evidence of it. It is our responsibility to enhance our efforts to turn the tide and protect the future of our planet." The once widespread and abundant Plains Zebra (Equus quagga) has moved from Least Concern to Near Threatened. The population has reduced by 24% in the past 14 years from around 660,000 to a current estimate of just over 500,000 animals. In many countries Plains Zebra are only found in protected areas, yet population reductions have been recorded in 10 out of the 17 range states since 1992. The Plains Zebra is threatened by hunting for bushmeat and skins, especially when they move out of protected areas. Three species of antelope found in Africa -- Bay Duiker (Cephalophus dorsalis), White-bellied Duiker (Cephalophus leucogaster) and Yellow-backed Duiker (Cephalophus silvicultor) -- have moved from Least Concern to Near Threatened. Whilst the populations of these species within protected areas are relatively stable, those found in other areas are decreasing due to continued illegal hunting and habitat loss. "Illegal hunting and habitat loss are still major threats driving many mammal species towards extinction," says Carlo Rondinini, Coordinator of the mammal assessment at Sapienza University of Rome "We have now reassessed nearly half of all mammals. While there are some successes to celebrate, this new data must act as a beacon to guide the conservation of those species which continue to be under threat." Hawaiian plants threatened by invasive species Invasive species such as pigs, goats, rats, slugs, and non-native plants are destroying the native flora in Hawai'i. The latest results show that of the 415 endemic Hawaiian plant species assessed so far for The IUCN Red List (out of ca. 1,093 endemic plant species), 87% are threatened with extinction, including the Endangered 'Ohe kiko'ola (Polyscias waimeae) -- a beautiful flowering tree found only on the island of Kauai. Thirty Eight have been listed as Extinct, including the shrubs 'Oha Wai (Cyanea eleeleensis) and Hibiscadelphus woodii. Four species have been listed as Extinct in the Wild including the Haha (Cyanea superba) last seen in the wild in 2003. Invasive species are the main threat to all of these species, with many being threatened by more than one invasive species. The IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) Hawaiian Plant Specialist Group anticipates the remaining species to be assessed will also be highly threatened. advertisement "Hawaii is an example of nature at its best with spectacular examples of evolution, yet it is facing an uncertain future due to the impact of invasive species -- showing how unwittingly, human actions can make nature turn against itself," says Matt Keir, a member of the IUCN SSC Hawaiian Plant Specialist Group. "What we see happening in Hawaii is foretelling what will happen in other island or contained ecological systems. Hawaii and other nations must take urgent action to stop the spread of invasive species and to protect species with small population sizes" The Critically Endangered flowering Haha plant Cyanea remyi, is one of the 105 extremely rare Hawai'ian plant species on the Red List with less than 50 mature individuals. Alula (Brighamia insignis) has moved from Critically Endangered to Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct in the Wild), and is one of 38 Red Listed species with less than five individuals remaining. The Alula has been so impacted by invasive species and landslides, that only one plant remained in the wild in 2014 and it has not been seen since. This new data will be used to influence action such as listing species on the US Endangered Species Act which will assist in securing funding for conservation programs to target and control invasive species, and to fence wild areas to protect them from large mammals. Improved biosecurity to stop invasive species entering the country is essential, according to IUCN experts. Good news for Giant Panda and Tibetan Antelope This update of The IUCN Red List also brings some good news and shows that conservation action is delivering positive results. Previously listed as Endangered, The Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is now listed as Vulnerable, as its population has grown due to effective forest protection and reforestation. The improved status confirms that the Chinese government's efforts to conserve this species are effective. However, climate change is predicted to eliminate more than 35% of the Panda's bamboo habitat in the next 80 years and thus Panda population is projected to decline, reversing the gains made during the last two decades. To protect this iconic species, it is critical that the effective forest protection measures are continued and that emerging threats are addressed. The Chinese government's plan to expand existing conservation policy for the species is a positive step and must be strongly supported to ensure its effective implementation. Due to successful conservation actions, the Tibetan Antelope (Pantholops hodgsonii) has moved from Endangered to Near Threatened. The population underwent a severe decline from around one million to an estimated 65,000-72,500 in the 1980s and early 1990s. This was the result of commercial poaching for the valuable underfur -- shahtoosh -- which is used to make shawls. It takes 3-5 hides to make a single shawl, and as the wool cannot be sheared or combed, the animals are killed. Rigorous protection has been enforced since then, and the population is currently likely to be between 100,000 and 150,000. Other conservation successes include the Greater Stick-nest Rat (Leporillus conditor), endemic to Australia, which has improved status, moving from Vulnerable to Near Threatened. This is due to a successful species recovery plan, which has involved reintroductions and introductions to predator-free areas. This unique nest-building rodent is the last of its kind, with its smaller relative the Lesser Stick-nest Rat (Leporillus apicalis) having died out in the Twentieth Century. The resin created by the rats to build their nests is so strong that they can last for thousands of years if they are not exposed to water. The Bridled Nailtail Wallaby (Onychogalea fraenata), has also improved in status, having moved from Endangered to Vulnerable. Endemic to Australia, this once common species had a dramatic population decline during the 19th and early 20th centuries due to the impacts of invasive species and habitat loss. A successful translocation conservation programme establishing new populations within protected areas is enabling this species to commence the long road to recovery. Researchers analyzing the genomes of microorganisms living in shale oil and gas wells have found evidence of sustainable ecosystems taking hold there -- populated in part by a never-before-seen genus of bacteria they have dubbed "Frackibacter." The new genus is one of the 31 microbial members found living inside two separate fracturing wells, Ohio State University researchers and their colleagues report in the Sept. 5 online edition of the journal Nature Microbiology. Even though the wells were hundreds of miles apart and drilled in different kinds of shale formations, the microbial communities inside them were nearly identical, the researchers discovered. Almost all the microbes they found had been seen elsewhere before, and many likely came from the surface ponds that energy companies draw on to fill the wells. But that's not the case with the newly identified Candidatus Frackibacter, which may be unique to hydraulic fracturing sites, said Kelly Wrighton, assistant professor of microbiology and biophysics at Ohio State. In biological nomenclature, "Candidatus" indicates that a new organism is being studied for the first time using a genomic approach, not an isolated organism in a lab culture. The researchers chose to name the genus "Frackibacter" as a play on the word "fracking," shorthand for "hydraulic fracturing." Candidatus Frackibacter prospered alongside the microbes that came from the surface, forming communities in both wells which so far have lasted for nearly a year. advertisement "We think that the microbes in each well may form a self-sustaining ecosystem where they provide their own food sources," Wrighton explained. "Drilling the well and pumping in fracturing fluid creates the ecosystem, but the microbes adapt to their new environment in a way to sustain the system over long periods." By sampling fluids taken from the two wells over 328 days, the researchers reconstructed the genomes of bacteria and archaea living in the shale. To the researchers' surprise, both wells -- one drilled in Utica shale and the other drilled in Marcellus shale -- developed nearly identical microbial communities. In addition, the two wells are each owned by different energy companies that utilized different fracturing techniques. The two types of shale exist more than a mile and a half below ground, were formed millions of years apart, and contained different forms of fossil fuel. Yet one bacterium, Halanaerobium, emerged to dominate communities in both wells. "We thought we might get some of the same types of bacteria, but the level of similarity was so high it was striking. That suggests that whatever's happening in these ecosystems is more influenced by the fracturing than the inherent differences in the shale," Wrighton said. Wrighton and her team are still not 100 percent sure of the microbes' origins. Some almost undoubtedly came from the ponds that provide water to the wells, she said. But other bacteria and archaea could have been living in the rock before drilling began, Candidatus Frackibacter among them. advertisement Shale energy companies typically formulate their own proprietary recipes for the fluid they pump into wells to break up the rock and release oil or gas, explained Rebecca Daly, research associate in microbiology at Ohio State and lead author of the Nature Microbiology paper. They all start with water and add other chemicals. Once the fluid is inside a well, salt within the shale leaches into it, making it briny. The microorganisms living in the shale must tolerate high temperature, pressure and salinity, but this study suggests that salinity is likely the most important stressor on the microbes' survival. Salinity forces the microbes to synthesize organic compounds called osmoprotectants to keep themselves from bursting. When the cells die, the osmoprotectants are released into the water, where other microbes can use them for protection themselves or eat them as food. In that way, salinity forced the microbes to generate a sustainable food source. In addition to the physical constraints in the environment, the microbes also must protect themselves from viruses. The researchers reconstructed the genomes of viruses living inside the wells, and found genetic evidence that some bacteria were indeed falling prey to viruses, dying, and releasing osmoprotectants into the water. By examining the genomes of the different microbes, the researchers found that the osmoprotectants were being eaten by Halanaerobium and Candidatus Frackibacter. In turn, these bacteria provided food for other microbes called methanogens, which ultimately produced methane. To validate their findings from the field, the researchers grew the same microbes in the lab under similar conditions. The lab-grown microbes also produced osmoprotectants that were converted into methane -- a confirmation that the researchers are on the right track to understanding what's happening inside the wells. One implication of the study is that methane produced by microbes living in shale wells could possibly supplement the wells' energy output. Wrighton and Daly described the amount of methane produced by the microbes as likely minuscule compared to the amount of oil and gas harvested from the shale even a year after initial fracturing. But, they point out, there is a precedent in a related industry, that of coal-bed methane, to use microbes to greater advantage. "In coal-bed systems they've shown that they can facilitate microbial life and increase methane yields," Wrighton said. "As the system shifts over time to being less productive, the contribution of biogenic methane could become significantly higher in shale wells. We haven't gotten to that point yet, but it's a possibility." In the meantime, research led by co-author Michael Wilkins, assistant professor of earth sciences and microbiology, has used genomics information to grow Candidatus Frackibacter in the lab and is further testing its ability to handle high pressure and salinity. It is principally hereditary factors that lie behind adults with ADHD often developing alcohol dependence and binge eating. This is the conclusion of a doctoral thesis from Linkoping University. Since heredity plays such a large role, it is important that ADHD is treated at an early stage, and that measures are taken to prevent individuals developing these disorders later in life. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has received most attention in children, but 2.5-5% of the global adult population also has ADHD. Andrea Johansson Capusan, consultant in psychiatry, focusses in her thesis on binge eating and alcohol dependence in adults with ADHD symptoms. Both disorders are more common in adults with ADHD than in the general population. Andrea Johansson Capusan has investigated in particular how much of the correlation between the disorders can be explained by hereditary factors and how much by environmental factors. The Swedish Twin Registry has enabled her to compare identical twins, who share 100% of their genes, with fraternal twins, whose genetic makeups are no more similar to each other than any pair of siblings. Twin pairs grow up in the same environment, but are affected by individual environmental factors, such as diseases and their circles of friends. In twin studies, researchers investigate whether correlations are stronger in identical twins than in fraternal twins. This can help them to determine whether the correlation between different conditions can best be explained by a person's genetic background giving higher susceptibility to a condition, or whether environmental factors are significant. The four studies that are included in the thesis have examined more than 18,000 twin pairs aged between 20 and 46 years. The twins have completed questionnaires about the ADHD symptoms they have experienced, their consumption of alcohol and other substances, and binge eating behaviour. "We have shown for the first time that the correlation between ADHD symptoms and binge eating in women depends mainly on a common hereditary susceptibility for the two disorders. Much of the correlation between alcohol dependence and ADHD can also be explained by genetic factors. The remainder of the correlation is explained by environmental factors that are particular for the individual, which is interesting. It seems that having a common environment while growing up is not significant," says Andrea Johansson Capusan. Since her research suggests that certain individuals inherit a susceptibility for both ADHD symptoms and dependency disorders or binge eating, Andrea Johansson Capusan believes that these problems must be treated in parallel. "When treating adults who come with dependency disorder or substance-abuse behaviour, it's important to remember that ADHD is very common in these patients. And conversely-it's important to treat ADHD early in order to prevent alcohol dependence and binge eating later in life," says Andrea Johansson Capusan. The thesis "Environmental and Genetic Influences in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and its Comorbidities," by Andrea Johansson Capusan, Linkoping University Medical Dissertation was defended on 2 September 2016. It can be found online at: http://liu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A954288&dswid=-7766 Each year, close to 43,000 Americans die by suicide, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. For the past two decades, suicide rates have been on the rise in the United States, particularly among men aged 45 to 64 and girls aged 10 to 14 -- a demographic whose rates have tripled since 1999 -- according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although New Jersey has the country's third-lowest suicide rate (behind New York and Massachusetts), its numbers are on the rise, increasing almost 26 percent from 1999 to 2014, notes the New Jersey Department of Health. On average, one person dies by suicide every 11 hours in the state. Peers, mental health specialists and clinicians at the New Jersey Hopeline (855-654-6735, njhopeline.com), the state's first suicide prevention hotline, operated by Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care, have been concerned with this uptick in deaths by suicide. "There remains a lot of stigma associated with people who seek help for mental health, which prevents them from getting the assistance they need," says William Zimmermann, the Hopeline's clinician supervisor. "We need to pay more attention to suicide prevention." On the occasion of National Suicide Prevention Week (Sept. 5 to 11) and World Suicide Prevention Day (Sept. 10), Zimmermann discusses how individuals and communities can address the increase in suicides and aid in prevention. Who is often the first line of defense in suicide prevention? Everyone can participate in suicide prevention. Family, friends and acquaintances should be alert for signs an individual is contemplating suicide and take action. advertisement A misperception is that suicides happen without warning. While this does occur, most of the time the person suffering has attempted to communicate his or her distress or plans to someone else. It may not be clearly stated, so asking direct questions about suicide [see below] can start the conversation and help-seeking process. What are some signs that someone is suicidal? Increased substance abuse, anxiety, agitation, difficulty sleeping or dramatic mood changes can indicate someone is at risk. A feeling of hopelessness and being trapped or having no sense of purpose can be warning signs. Social withdrawal, uncontrolled anger and reckless behavior also are causes for concern. Most importantly, if people talk about wanting to hurt or kill themselves, threaten to hurt or kill themselves or indicate they are attempting to find a method to kill themselves, seek immediate help or guidance by contacting a mental health professional or the New Jersey Suicide Prevention Hopeline, where specialists will listen to your concern and, together with you, develop a plan to get your friend or family member the help they need. If you notice signs that someone is suicidal, what should you do? Don't let it go and hope they aren't thinking about suicide. Ask them directly if they are thinking about suicide. You can say, "I care about you. Some of the things you've said or done have made me wonder. Are you thinking about killing yourself?" It's that simple. advertisement If they say they are considering suicide, don't judge, don't deny and don't dare. Telling them "Don't say that" or "You shouldn't feel like that" will likely send the message that you aren't interested in continuing this important conversation. Saying "Oh, you don't mean that; you have so much to live for" shows you are not listening. Denying their perspective diminishes the likelihood of having them open up to you. Don't promise to keep it a secret. Get support for yourself and for the person talking about suicide. Personally, I'd rather have a friend angry at me than one who died by a suicide I might have been able to help prevent. What are some public misperceptions on suicide? At the Hopeline, callers sometimes express fear that asking directly about suicide will "put the idea in a person's head." This is a myth. Opening the topic for discussion gives an opportunity to share something painful that had previously been borne alone. It also provides an opportunity to intervene. Also, viewing suicide as an act of aggression or revenge bears some clarification. Most people who die by suicide feel disconnected or that they are a burden to those closest to them. Their thinking gets distorted to the extent that they come to believe their death will somehow benefit those around them. How can society reduce the stigma surrounding a person who seeks help for a mental health condition? Education and open discussion are essential. The statistics show that each year, nearly one in five Americans will experience a mental health illness. Nearly three times more people die by suicide than by homicide in the United States, and for each death by suicide there are 25 attempts. That's over one million attempts a year. This is not a rare phenomenon or one that can be marginalized or relegated to discussion in academic journals. It's important that we have a public discussion. In rare cases -- for instance, among siblings in two families from Pakistan and Oman described in a new study -- children have been born with an unnamed neurological disorder. Now researchers have not only identified the genetic mutations involved, but also replicated them in lab cultures and mouse models to produce an initial understanding of how the mutations cause the disease. The study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences highlights both new medical and scientific opportunities, said Dr. Eric Morrow, associate professor of biology and of psychiatry and human behavior in the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. "This is a clear, new neurogenetic disorder due to mutations in GPT2," said Morrow, who also sees patients at Bradley Hospital and is affiliated with the Brown Institute for Brain Science. "In addition to the relevance this has to the diagnosis of developmental disorders, and potentially therapeutics, it is also a window into how the brain develops and how the brain functions." The paper reveals specific findings of basic neurodevelopment, Morrow said. The gene at issue, GPT2, is expressed in the nucleus of cells, but the enzyme it generates appears vital to metabolic pathways in the mitochondria, organelles which provide energy and biosynthetic building blocks to cells. The consequences of the mutations appear to be in leaving developing brains without biosynthetic abilities to grow properly, and to deficits in metabolites that could help prevent degeneration. Moreover, the G in the gene name stands for glutamate, an important neurotransmitter that governs how brain cells, or neurons, connect and interact. "To find a glutamate metabolizing enzyme that is associated with a brain disease is an opportunity to understand how that neurotransmitter might work or be modulated," Morrow said. advertisement Morrow is co-corresponding author along with collaborators David Housman at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Ganeshwaran Mochida at Boston Children's Hospital. The study's co-lead authors are Brown investigator Qing Ouyang and Boston Children's Hospital researcher Tojo Nakayama. The second author, Ozan Baytas, is a Ph.D. candidate in Brown's neuroscience graduate training program. An unnamed disorder The team, which also includes collaborators in Pakistan and Oman, began the investigation more than five years ago when they were studying two families in those countries with children whose symptoms included below-normal postnatal brain growth, intellectual disability and progressively worsening motor problems. The children, 14 in all across the two large families, typically were able to walk by age 3, yet a majority lost that ability later as motor control diminished in their legs, as a condition called spastic paraplegia emerged. Spastic paraplegia is generally considered to involve a neurodegenerative cause, Morrow said. The team traced a genetic mutation to chromosome 16, and as next-generation sequencing technology became available, they were able to find two specific mutations in GPT2. In the interim, a few other research groups had also linked GPT2 mutations to neurological disease in other families, including a family in the U.S. Taken together, Morrow said, the studies provide strong evidence that the gene is relevant to neurological disease. Modeling a mitochondrial mechanism With gene mutations identified, Morrow and his collaborators went much further to learn how the mutations could cause the disease. To do that the team created models in which the mutations were induced in human cells and also in mice. Like the children with GPT2 mutations, developing mice with the mutations also showed reduced neural and brain growth. advertisement In these lab models the researchers were able to study in detail the different biochemistry at play with and without the mutations. In the human cells they saw that mutations led to reduced enzyme activity. They also determined that the protein locates in the mitochondria. Mutant mice engineered with a GPT2 enzyme deficiency showed abnormal brain metabolism. For example, some of the differences undermined a process called the TCA cycle, which is important for producing energy and generating building blocks for cells. While these metabolic pathways have been well studied in rapidly dividing cells such as in cancer, Morrow said, they have not been as thoroughly studied in differentiating neurons growing extensions and connections during early childhood. To do that, Morrow and colleagues teamed up with experts in cancer metabolism, Ralph DeBerardinis at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Shawn Davidson and David Housman at MIT, to develop experiments pertinent to GPT2 and brain. When the researchers looked at the neurons of developing mice, they found that ones with the GPT2 mutations produced fewer synapses, the connections between neurons that make up brain circuits. The researchers conducted large-scale profiling of metabolites in the brains of the mutant mice. They found in the GPT2 mutant mice abnormal metabolite levels related to amino acid metabolism, TCA and pathways required for protecting neuron health. The deficiencies in these neuroprotective metabolites, Morrow said, might explain why the disease appears to have a degenerative course. Future hope Morrow's team at Brown is now developing new hypotheses and testing them in the mouse model they developed. Not only are they seeking to refine and deepen their understanding of how those metabolic pathways regulate brain disease and function, but also, they are eager to test potential ways to rescue development and prevent disease progression. "I believe there is hope that if these children were identified early as having this genetic condition, there may be an intervention that could prevent the progression," Morrow said. The researchers are also interested to learn more about how these mitochondrial metabolic pathways play key roles in the developing brain and how these pathways may contribute to brain health. Several public and private organizations helped to support the research. Scientists have shed new light on how bacteria survive -- they rely on a doughnut. A new study has revealed that bacteria have a unique doughnut-shaped protein that sits in a cage inside their cells to help them store potentially dangerous iron. Experts believe this discovery could lead to innovations in medical imaging and could even be used to track cancer cells, or look for damage caused by heart disease. Almost all organisms have proteins in their cells called ferritins that are shaped like hollow balls. Since iron forms rust in the presence of oxygen, ferritin acts like a cage and safely stores oxidised iron until it's needed, preventing it from causing damage to DNA and other parts of the cell. Now, for the first time, scientists have shown that bacteria have ferritin shaped like a ring-doughnut, not a ball. The research team, a collaboration between Newcastle and Edinburgh universities, also showed that this ring ferritin cannot store iron like spherical ferritin. Instead, it sits within the shell of a larger protein cage that resembles the shell of a virus. This shell is much bigger than spherical ferritin cages so bacteria are able to store much more oxidised iron in contrast to other organisms. Dr Jon Marles-Wright, Senior Lecturer in the School of Biology, Newcastle University, explains: "Our studies revealed that bacteria have an extra ferritin that is completely different to ferritins in other organisms. "Normally ferritins are like a doughnut, but filled with rust instead of jam or custard. Our ferritin is shaped like a ring-doughnut and doesn't have the same sort of hollow cavity, so there's no space for the 'jam'. It can oxidise iron like other ferritins, but to store the iron, the doughnut ferritin is encapsulated inside an outer shell that is much bigger, allowing bacteria to store much more iron." Spherical ferritins have already been used in MRI to track cells as the iron core gives them a high contrast, but their small size means that they are hard to see. Because the doughnut protein shell is two to three times bigger than standard spherical ferritins, the research team say that this could make it a useful tool in nanotechnology and for medical imaging since it could give a much stronger signal. Dr David Clarke, Chancellor's Fellow in the School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh explains: "Iron is an essential mineral required for life. However, in solution, the metal is potentially very toxic. Therefore it is important that all organisms have efficient mechanisms to store iron and release it in a controlled manner. Our findings are exciting because we are beginning to understand a completely new iron storage system used by bacteria." Dr Marles-Wright adds "We don't know the details of what happens to the iron once it is stored, but there's clearly an advantage for bacteria in using these two proteins together in this way." The benefits of working from home disappear over time for both employees and organisations if it is a full-time arrangement, a new study from the London School of Economics and Political Science has found. While previous studies have demonstrated that home workers are more productive than office-based workers, the LSE study of more than 500 employees* shows that on a long term basis, there are no differences between home and office workers. The reason, according to Dr Esther Canonico from LSE's Department of Management, is that employees no longer see home working as a discretionary benefit or a 'privilege' when it becomes the 'norm' in an organisation. Dr Canonico says: "This study provides a glimpse into a future where flexible working practices could become business as usual and seen as an entitlement by employees, especially among the younger generation. Whereas once people saw it as a favour and felt the need to reciprocate and give back more to the organisation for having that benefit, in this future, they will not." "The study showed that some home working employees feel resentful that employers don't pay their utility bills, or cover stationery costs, for example. Some managers, on the other hand, feel home workers take advantage of the situation." If the company expects home workers to be a lot more productive, or workers expect employers to give them a lot of flexibility and not have to reciprocate in kind, one or both are likely to be disappointed. The trick is to manage these expectations, Dr Canonico says. Existing research shows that working from home for 2-3 days a week is the most effective arrangement for both employees and organisations. Dr Esther Canonico's research is among the first to measure the impact of home working over a long period taking into account the perspectives of both employer and employee. Other studies have produced conflicting evidence about the effects of homeworking: past research shows that home working is associated with higher organisational commitment. This contradicts other research findings that people who work mainly from home are less career focused, prioritising flexibility over career advancement. "Some of the downsides of home working are an increased sense of professional isolation and a decrease in sharing knowledge with colleagues. It's not for everyone but it is becoming entrenched into our working culture" Dr Canonico says. *The thesis looked at data from more than 500 employees in a British organisation, analysing perceptions of both employees and employer. A team of researchers from the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a novel, low-cost solar thermal energy conversion system that can easily generate steam from sunlight. The solar conversion system can help make technologies that rely on steam, like seawater desalination, wastewater treatment, residential water heating, medical tool sterilization and power generation, more efficient and affordable. The new device floats on water, converting 20% of incoming solar energy into steam at 100 degrees Celsius without expensive optical concentration devices and is made of cheap, commercially available materials, including bubble wrap and a polystyrene (plastic) foam. "This project is an excellent demonstration of how international collaboration and use-inspired research can yield cutting-edge scientific findings that have direct application to the sectors that are at the core of the UAE's continued evolution toward an innovation and knowledge-based economy," said Dr. Steve Griffiths, Vice President for Research and Associate Provost, Masdar Institute. "The system we have developed enables us to generate steam with solar energy without having to rely on direct sunlight," said Dr. TieJun Zhang, Masdar Institute Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. ""The technology is particularly suited for the UAE's dusty climate, as it fully uses the entire spectrum of sunlight for thermal applications rather than just the direct portion, which can be hindered by the aerosols," he added. Dr. Zhang, MIT's Mechanical Engineering Department Head Dr. Gang Chen, PhD student Hongxia Li and Postdoc Weilin Yang at Masdar Institute, published a paper on their new floating solar receiver last week in the journal Nature Energy, along with George Ni, an MIT graduate student and the paper's leading author, and two other researchers at MIT. The receiver's design is relatively simple: A floating, sponge-like device made of a spectrally-selective absorber allows visible light energy from the sun in, while restricting the amount of heat that radiates back out into the atmosphere. This heat-trapping effect significantly improves the device's sunlight-to-steam efficiency. The absorber is sandwiched between a top bubble-wrap layer, which allows for sunlight absorption while reducing the amount of heat lost to the air through convection, and a bottom insulating foam layer, which floats the entire structure on a body of water and reduces the thermal loss of the generated heat to the water below. The floating receiver acts like a sponge, constantly soaking up water and evaporating it, producing a continuous stream of steam. The solar receiver was validated at MIT, where it demonstrated the ability to rapidly reach 100C and generate steam during periods of low direct sunlight, such as during non-summer months and heavy cloud coverage. "The technology we have demonstrated is particularly attractive for hot-arid region such as Abu Dhabi for potential applications in waste water treatment, sea water desalination, and even power generation," Dr. Chen said. Muhammed Usman failed to reach Paris in time for the terrorist attack that killed 130 people because Greece had detained him, CNN reported on Monday. By Indo-Asian News Service: An alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) bomb-maker with a penchant for pornography was to have participated in the Islamic State (IS) terrorist strike on Paris in November, 2015, CNN reported on Monday. But Muhammed Usman failed to reach the French capital in time for the terrorist attack that killed 130 people because Greece had detained him, it said. Usman was part of a terror cell controlled by an IS leader called Abu Ahmed that joined the stream of refugees going to Europe in order to launch attacks there, CNN reported. advertisement Investigators in Europe identified Urdu-speaking Usman as a suspected LeT bomb-maker, according to CNN. 'ISLAMIC STATE WAS CRITICISING LASHKAR' The report did not say if there was a direct connection between Lashkar and IS or if Usman had joined the later on his own. Lashkar has reportedly been caught in the cross-fire of IS and Al Qaida, with IS criticising LeT as one of the anti-India groups acting on orders of "apostate" Pakistani army. LeT created the text-book model for multi-pronged urban terrorist attacks using a very small number of attackers when it carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The IS attack followed a similar strategy using only nine operatives to take huge toll and plunge a metropolis into fear. Two men from Usman's group, Ahmad al-Mohammad and Mohamad al-Mahmod, reached Paris and blew themselves up outside the National Stadium during the attacks that also targeted a theatre and a restaurant. 'GREEK AUTHORITIES HAD DETAINED USMAN' However, Greek authorities found that Usman, who had started out from the IS caliphate-controlled city of Raqqa in Syria, and another terror cell member, Algerian-born Adel Haddadihad, carried forged passports and detained them for a month before setting them free to join the refugee trail. CNN reported that according to its sources, "Investigators believe that delay was significant; as a result, they would not have a chance to become part of the Paris attacks." On their release, Usman and Haddadihad received money arranged by Ahmed and joining the refugee trail eventually reached Salzburg, Austria, where they applied for asylum on Nov 14, a day after the Paris attacks. 'HADDADI AND USMAN WERE PLANNING ANOTHER STRIKE' According to CNN, "European investigators concluded that Haddadi and Usman were part of the same terror cell as the Paris bombers and, having failed to participate in that bloody day, were planning another strike." But before that they could carry out any other attacks, they were arrested at a refugee centre on December 10 and eventually extradited to France. CNN reported that senior European counterterrorism sources said that Haddadi and Usman face terrorism charges. An examination of Usman's phone by authorities showed that when not contacting terror leaders and affiliates, he was using his phone to visit about two dozen pornographic sites, including "sexxx lahur" and "Pakistani Lahore college girls ... ImakeSex", CNN said. advertisement ALSO READ: Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam refused to speak at French hearing Paris attacks suspect possessed papers on German nuclear research centre 3 Paris attackers feature in ISIS recruitment files: Reports --- ENDS --- In Europe, they are classified as beneficial organisms, but many North American ecosystems are not adapted to these subterranean burrowers. This is because almost all earthworms became extinct there during the last ice age, which ended about 12,000 years ago. When the ice retreated, new ecosystems that are adapted to soils without earthworms emerged. But by now, several earthworm species live again in North America. They were introduced by European settlers and spread by anglers. An earthworm invasion is making its way through the forests at approximately five metres per year and is altering the physical and chemical properties of soils. Earthworms mix soils and build extensive burrows, which interrupts the symbiotic relationship between plants and fungi (mycorrhiza). The mixing also affects soil pH: the best-known earthworm in central Europe, the Lumbricus terrestris, carries alkaline soil upwards from deeper layers. On the forest floor, the leaf litter vanishes as it is eaten up by the worms and turned into humus. As a result, the nutrients stored in the leaves become quickly available to the plants. Furthermore, the soils dry out easily as water drains away readily. Many native plants cannot thrive under these unusual circumstances, which is why the species diversity of the forest understory is decreasing. Wherever the worm creeps, the goblin fern (Botrychium mormo), for example, has become rare. Other plants are also threatened by the earthworm invasion, such as the largeflower bellwort (Uvularia grandiflora), the Japanese angelica tree (Aralia elata), the forest lily (Trillium spp.), the Solomon's seal (Polygonatum spp.) or the tormentil (Potentilla erecta). Conversely, the worms literally prepare the soil for non-native (exotic) plants, which are used to living with earthworms. Grasses also grow well in invaded forests because their fine roots can quickly absorb soil nutrients, particularly nitrogen, and can tolerate summer droughts. Moreover, earthworms eat small seeds of certain plant species and thus directly influence the composition of the forest understory. Because earthworms live in different soil layers and their effects are cumulative, the more types of earthworms that live together in one location, the more plant species vanish. The researchers have brought together and evaluated data from 14 studies and published their findings in the journal Global Change Biology. Their results demonstrate, for the first time, a general pattern between the decline in species diversity in North American forests and the spread of European earthworms. 'The earthworm invasion has altered the biodiversity and possibly functioning of the forest ecosystems, because it affects the entire food web as well as water and nutrient cycles', says Dylan Craven, lead author of the study. 'The long-term impact could be massive and be exacerbated further still by climate change', adds director of studies, Professor Nico Eisenhauer. Both are scientists at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and at the Leipzig University and have conducted their study together with colleagues from the United States and Canada. Eisenhauer had recently raised 1.5 million euros in funding from the EU to investigate the consequences of the earthworm invasion. Ilyas Teker, an SEO Director iProspect, informed me on Twitter that one of the largest television networks in Turkey had their website banned and penalized by Google in the past twenty-four hours. The network is named Acunn Media and their web site acunn.com is no longer showing up in the Google search results, not even for a search on their name. Search for [acunn.com] and it does not come up in Google: Here is a screen shot of the most viewed TV networks in Turkey according to Wikipedia: Their web site is even more popular being one of the most visited websites in Turkey. Why were they banned? Some of the reports I am translating from Turkey to English say they abused Google News and Google Video search but again, I am not 100% sure. @rustybrick Breaking news. One of the biggest media website @Acuncom has been banned from Google Turkey. pic.twitter.com/xdzANSr2kz ilyas teker (@ilyasteker) September 5, 2016 Forum discussion at Twitter. Monday, 05 September 2016 12:09:56 (GMT+3) | Istanbul In July this year, Turkey's scrap import volume decreased by 31 percent year on year to 1.06 million metric tons and was down 45.4 percent compared to the previous month, according to the data provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK). The value of these imports totaled $279 million, down 35.6 percent year on year and falling by 44.6 percent compared to June. In the January-July period of this year, Turkey's scrap imports increased by 2.32 percent to 10.24 million mt, while the value of these imports decreased by 22.2 percent to $2.25 billion, both compared to the same period of the previous year. In the first seven months of the current year, Turkey imported 1,979,514 mt of scrap from the US, down 10.13 percent year on year, with the US ranking as Turkey's leading scrap import source, ahead of Russia which supplied 1,606,809 mt in the given period, up five percent year on year. Turkey's top 10 scrap import sources in the first seven months of the current year are as follows: Country Amount (mt) Jan-Jul 2016 Jan-Jul 2015 Y-o-y change (%) July 2016 July 2015 Y-o-y change (%) USA 1,979,514 2,202,755 -10.13 83,142 442,921 -81.23 Russia 1,606,809 1,530,273 5.00 175,812 297,447 -40.89 UK 1,504,420 1,335,471 12.65 248,939 171,396 45.24 Netherlands 1,337,611 719,629 85.88 85,543 - - Belgium 1,141,978 835,031 36.76 142,779 54,892 160.11 France 406,955 114,364 255.84 109,678 - - Romania 281,796 423,831 -33.51 33,704 51,586 -34.66 Lithuania 275,607 314,942 -12.49 13,112 29,311 -55.27 Denmark 261,978 221,226 18.42 27,506 87,611 -68.60 Ukraine 244,366 827,355 -70.46 16,343 151,822 -89.24 Turkey's main scrap sources on country basis in the first seven months of the current year are presented below: Albert is a quail who was rescued and hatched from a supermarket egg back in February. He was the only one of his batch to hatch, although others who've tried the same thing have successfully hatched more. This might not seem possible, but some eggs that go to the supermarket are fertilized, even if the packaging might say they're not. His dad thought Albert might like some friends, so he bought some more eggs, and amazingly, they hatched, too - but one little chick was having some trouble coming out of her shell, literally. The tiny chick tried for 30 hours to peck her way out of her shell, but she was too weak. She kept at it, but her new dad was worried she might eventually give up. Dodo Shows Soulmates Dog Goes Everywhere In His Dad's Kangaroo Pouch According to Albert's dad, it's not a good idea to help a chick hatch from his egg. If you try too early, the chick could bleed to death, and if you try too late, the chick could already have passed on. There is a small window of time where it's safe to help, however ... ... and the man decided he had to try. He slowly, over time, cracked open the egg as gently as he could ... ... until the little chick was finally visible. She was still too weak to stretch herself out of the egg, though ... ... and so she got a little more help, until finally, there she was. The baby quail was able to leave her shell behind and join the world where her brothers and sisters, including Albert, were already waiting. The day after she hatched, she was already strong enough to join her siblings, and had no trouble fitting in with everyone. Albert and his dad are absolutely delighted that she was able to pull through, and are excited to watch her grow and enjoy her second chance at life.

David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

Twelve years ago, Galana arrived at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) as an orphaned elephant. She'd been found alone in a patch of thick saltbush at the border of the Tsavo National Park in Kenya. She was fragile, weak and scared to not be with her mother, who'd probably been killed by poachers. With the help of DSWT, Galana grew up from being a milk-dependent 1-year-old calf to a healthy young adult. In 2011, Galana made the decision to return back to the wild, and she's been living with a herd of elephants led by another former orphan named Yatta. Galana may be a wild elephant now, but she periodically visits DSWT's Ithumba Reintegration Unit, where she spent her last years as an orphan. "The females typically visit more than the bulls," Amie Alden of DSWT told The Dodo. "Yatta's group, which includes Galana, typically visits every other month." On her latest visit to the Ithumba Reintegration Unit, Galana had the biggest surprise to share. Dodo Shows Pittie Nation The Sweetest Pittie Was Living Under A Jeep One early September morning, the keepers spotted Galana and a group of bulls lingering outside the stockades. As the keepers drew closer, they noticed Galana had a baby with her - her baby. The baby was only a few hours old, which meant that Galana had given birth nearby. When the keepers opened the stockades, two of the dependent orphans, Laragai and Narok, rushed out to meet the duo. Shortly after that, former orphans arrived to join in the celebration. "They were so excited and overcome with joy of a new baby in the fold, trumpeting and charging around celebrating," DSWT wrote in a Facebook statement. "Throughout the day Galana was surrounded by ex-orphans and wild elephants alike who have taken on the role of nanny to newborn Gawa." The team at DSWT named Galana's baby "Gawa" because it means "to share" in Swahili. "We're happy to see Galana living the life she should and enjoying the magical milestone of becoming a mother for the first time," Alden said. "We're proud to have afforded her a second chance after she was orphaned and to provide a safe environment for her to bring up Gawa, protected by the DSWT/KWS Anti-Poaching Teams and our Aerial Surveillance." "We hope that Gawa lives a long and happy life, free from threat and harm," said Alden, "and that she one day becomes a mum herself and roams far and wide under the protection of our field teams." One little fawn didn't join the rest of the herd in a deer park at Marineland, but hobbled instead to a far end of the enclosure, away from the noisy crowd of onlookers. It didn't stop someone at the Niagara Falls, Canada marine park - often criticized for its mistreatment of orcas and other marine mammals - from filming him. And what was captured in a short video posted on Facebook last week speaks volumes about life in captivity. In the video, the fawn strikes a solitary figure against the fence. When he tries to walk, he's obviously favoring his front leg. He hobbles only a few short steps, seemingly eager to get away from the bustling tourists. Dodo Shows Soulmates Pig Loves To Launch Himself Onto His Dad's Lap But there seems no respite. In a statement, Marineland confirmed that the scene was filmed on May 21, adding it was a simple case of a pebble being lodged in the animal's hoof - "similar to when a beachgoer has a pebble in their shoe. This is an experience that no one, not even a deer, would enjoy." "The catastrophized medical diagnoses offered by individuals relying on poor quality footage shot on cell phone cameras is once again wrong," the park added. A spokesperson for the park stressed to The Dodo that "all the animals are in good health and well taken care of." But Philip Demers, who worked at Marineland for 12 years as a senior trainer, tells The Dodo he isn't convinced. He says the video, which he posted, and which was sent to him by a source at the park, suggests "the deer's shoulder is inflamed." Marineland scrambled to refute allegations suggesting Zeus the walrus was unhealthy, and said "anyone can take an unflattering photo of someone to make them look unwell or unhappy." The cleanup even extended to the park's Facebook page, where angry, negative messages were removed, leaving only safe and sanitized comments on posts. While the condition of the fawn seen stumbling alone against a fence in the video is unclear, it is clear that he didn't get immediate help. As soon as Megan Sorbara saw the kittens, she knew something was very wrong. It wasn't just that their mother had left them in heap near a building in Naples, Florida. But two of the kittens were wrapped around their tiny, trembling sister. "They were just in a little clump on the ground," Sorbara tells The Dodo. It was almost as if they sensed the white kitten needed their warmth and support. Sorbara soon realized why. The tiny white one could barely walk on her own. Her head was constantly rolling as it tilted upward. When Sorbara got the kittens back to the shelter run by the Naples Cat Alliance, she named them appropriately: Praline, Pistachio ... and the fragile white kitten was named Coconut. Dodo Shows Pittie Nation The Sweetest Pittie Was Living Under A Jeep After all, when she got the call about those abandoned kittens, she was on her way to get ice cream. Sorbara would later try to use the kittens as bait to catch their elusive mother. But the only attention these kittens drew was from Sorbara's dog, a certified cat aficionado named Bitsy. And Bitsy, who was rescued dangling near a six-lane intersection two years ago, loves nothing more in the world than kittens. "Bitsy comes out on all our trapping missions," Sorbara says. "She loves it when we get kittens. She is a kitten freak. She's always got her head right in here. When we get in the car with the kittens, she likes to lay on the trap." Although Bitsy doesn't get along with other dogs, her idea of heaven is being surrounded by cats. But Coconut wasn't ready to make new friends just yet. While the kitten has yet to be seen by a veterinarian, Sorbara suggests she may have neurological damage - possibly genetic, or caused by an injury. In the meantime, she's been massaging Coconut, hoping to see some improvement. On Tuesday morning, Coconut seemed to be getting a little better. So much better, in fact, Sorbara put her on the bed where a certain kitten-obsessed dog happened to be lying. Coconut made the first move, ambling up to Bitsy. And the dog wasted no time in rolling over. KITTEN! It turns out Coconut just needed someone to lean on. And sleep on. And love. And Bitsy was more than happy to oblige. "It's really good for Coconut," Sorbara says. "It helps her stretch and move and climb and things like that, which are good for her muscles. "And Bitsy just loves them. She just absolutely loves them." By PTI: London, Sep 6 (PTI) A Pakistani LeT bombmaker with a bent for an un-Islamic hobby of accessing porn was part of the team of militants who set out to execute the deadly Paris attacks but could not reach in time to make it even more catastrophic, according to a media report. The November 14 series of coordinated attacks by suicide bombers and gunmen, the deadliest inflicted on France since World War II, were a "slimmed-down version of an even more ambitious plan" to hit other European countries and following them up with strikes in several locations, a senior European counter-terrorism official told CNN. advertisement Muhammad Usman, a suspected bombmaker for the Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, had set out from the capital of the self-declared ISIS caliphate in Raqqa, Syria, six weeks before the Paris attacks along with Algerian-born Adel Haddadi, the report said, citing investigation documents. The duo were part of a team of four militants, of whom the other two operatives later blew themselves up outside the national stadium in Paris, killing nearly 130 people. The team posed as Syrian refugees, blending in with thousands fleeing the war-torn country and made the treacherous crossing from Izmir, Turkey, into Greece in a boat filled with dozens of refugees but were intercepted by the Greek Navy. The two who would go on to strike the Paris stadium passed through Greece - though Greek officials declined to explain how - and started moving across Europe toward their target in France while Haddadi and Usmans fake Syrian passports were discovered and they were arrested. They were held for nearly a month, according to investigators, who believe that the delay was "significant as they did not have a chance to become part of the Paris attacks". They were only released in late October following which they immediately contacted their ISIS handler, Abu Ahmad, who arranged for someone to wire them 2,000 euros and the pair continued along the refugee route. And as they travelled north, Usman was preoccupied with a strikingly un-Islamic hobby - using his phone to peruse almost two dozen X-rated sites, including "sexxx lahur" and "Pakistani Lahore college girls ... ImakeSex." The documents - which are some 90,000 pages most of them in French and include a trove of interrogations, investigative findings and data pulled from cell phones, shedding new light on the highly organised branch of the external operations wing of the sophisticated ISIS network known as the Amn al-Kharji - also show that Usman spoke only Urdu, while Haddadi spoke mostly Arabic. PTI SAI AKJ SAI --- ENDS --- With a growing body of research suggesting that a dog-friendly office could have a real impact on employee well-being and productivity, its no wonder that more companies are welcoming furry friends into the workplace. First, some background. In perhaps the most famous study on dogs in the workplace, researchers at the Virginia Commonwealth University Center for Human-Animal Interaction found that having dogs around the office produced a wide array of benefits for both pet owners and their pet-less co-workers. The study, which was published in a 2012 edition of International Journal of Workplace Health Management, examined Replacements Ltd., a manufacturing services company in Greensboro, N.C., where several dozen dogs are present on a typical day. The study found that employees who brought their dogs to work experienced significantly lower stress levels during the workday and that a sizable portion of pet-free co-workers viewed the dogs presence as having a positive impact on their productivity as well. These results were consistent across a wide range of departments, from traditional white-collar fields such as sales and marketing to blue-collar sectors such as manufacturing. The VCU study also supports the idea that dogs could help inspire buzz-wordy concepts such as collision and cooperation. When there were dogs at the office, we found that people who normally wouldnt talk to each other did and that all of a sudden there was a connection and a feeling that they were part of a team, said Randolph Barker, Ph.D., a professor of management at the VCU School of Business and one of the studys authors. The dog becomes a social lubricant. What do you think? Further studies support the notion that pets are natural stress relievers. Animals reduce activity in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, which is our primary stress response system, said Evan MacLean, Ph.D., an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona who studies the relationship between humans and dogs. Stress can have a wide range of negative impacts on cognition, mood, and our interpersonal interactions. Keeping this system in check is critical for keeping us in the best shape to be creative, interactive, and productive. Exposure to dogs could also increase the release of the hormone oxytocin, new research suggests. Although oxytocin is best known for its role in human and animal bonding, it has a wide range of effects related to overall health, sociability, trust, and how we generally get along. With so much of our work depending on team dynamics and interactions in the workplace, these effects can be critical for well-being and productivity, MacLean says. Of course, an office in which our canine companions run wild would also be extremely unproductive. Barker says organizations need to manager pets presence effectively. That means talking to employees before dogs are introduced into the office and accommodating those who may have allergies or phobias. Having a comfortable place for the dogs themselves to while away the working hours is probably a good first step toward mitigating any potential issues. Mattress company Casper just released its first dog bed, which is made of foam the company claims lasts longer than a typical fiber-filled dog bed, while giving Fido a firmer surface to curl up against. (The version for large dogs might even passably do double duty for humans looking to sneak quick naps while curled up under their desks.) Giving employees the ability to bring their pets to work could also serve as a low-cost wellness intervention or an effective recruiting perk, Barker says. And if the research is to be believed, the pros of a dog-friendly office could be worth making accommodations for our four-legged friends. SHARE: CALGARYEnbridge is making a big bet on natural gas with the $37-billion friendly takeover of Spectra Energy Corp., as it looks to grow while facing severe pushback on infrastructure projects. The all-stock deal with Houston-based Spectra will create the largest energy infrastructure company in North America and one of the biggest energy companies of any kind globally, with a combined value of about $165 billion. The deal would give Calgary-based Enbridge far more exposure to the natural gas side of the business and extend the company's reach throughout the continent, Enbridge CEO Al Monaco said Tuesday on a conference call with analysts. This transaction is transformational for both companies, and results in unmatched scale, diversity and financial flexibility with multiple platforms for organic growth, said Monaco, who will stay on as president and CEO of the larger company. The deal brings much greater diversity to the companies, said AltaCorp Capital analyst Dirk Lever. Enbridge before was very much more of an oily company and Spectra was a gassy company. Put them together and they're balanced, said Lever. If the deal closes as expected early next year, Spectra will add 140,800 kilometres of gas pipelines to bring Enbridge's total gas lines to 165,600 kilometres, while Spectra will add only 2,720 kilometres of liquids pipelines to Enbridge's existing 27,600 kilometres. Lever said the resistance companies across Canada and the U.S. have faced in building new resource projects like pipelines has forced companies to look to mergers and acquisitions for growth. There's been huge pushback from vocal groups against pipelines, he said, despite the importance of the infrastructure. They don't care, they just don't want pipelines. Enbridge has faced stiff resistance for years on its proposed $7.9-billion Northern Gateway project, while large groups of protesters are currently trying to block construction on the Dakota Access pipeline project in the U.S. that it's buying into. TransCanada Corp. which faced significant opposition to its Keystone XL pipeline project before the U.S. government rejected it, and continuing opposition to its Energy East pipeline opted to make a $13-billion (U.S.) acquisition of Columbia Pipeline Group earlier this year to expand its network. Lever said that given the cost and timelines on these major infrastructure projects, companies are looking for scale to spread the risk and increase strategic opportunities. Companies are finding that there's more strategies if they band together, and there's more strategic opportunities by doing that rather than build new pipelines that just can't seem to get off the ground, he said. Infrastructure for energy is so critically important and the size of the problems to be solved are so large, that you're more likely to see mergers going forward, Lever said. Monaco said the companies will need to see what divestitures may be required by competition authorities, but he doesn't see much overlap between Spectra Energy's natural gas infrastructure business and Enbridge's oil and liquids operations. Enbridge would take on about $22 billion in Spectra debt, while Monaco said the company plans to sell about $2 billion of non-core assets over the next year. Under terms of the deal, Spectra Energy shareholders would receive 0.984 shares of the combined company for each share of Spectra Energy common stock they own. Based on the closing price of Enbridge common shares on Friday, that translates to $40.33 (U.S.) per Spectra Energy share, representing about a 11.5-per-cent premium to Spectra Energy's closing stock price Friday. Related: Enbridge aims to raise up to $7 billion U.S. Read more about: SHARE: PORTLAND, MAINEThe European Union will conduct a more extensive review of a proposal to ban lobsters imported from Canada and the U.S., after a scientific panel concluded Sweden raised valid points in its request to declare the American lobster an invasive species. The opinion of the European Unions Scientific Forum on Invasive Alien Species sets in motion a broader review that also will take into account the opinions of North American officials, whove criticized the proposal to ban American lobsters. The international dispute started when Sweden announced it had found 32 American lobsters in the countrys waters earlier this year and that they pose a threat to native crustaceans. Lobstermen in the U.S. and Canada, which together export $200 million (U.S.) worth of lobster to EU countries each year, had hoped to stop the proposal before it moved any further. A spokesman for the European Union stressed that the scientific panels conclusion is considered preliminary. The full review wont be completed until spring at the earliest. The expanded review will include issues raised by scientists in the United States and Canada, and itll also consider economic impact and means of protecting native lobsters other than an outright ban, said Iris Petsa, EU spokesman for maritime affairs and fisheries. How the American lobsters ended up in Swedish waters is unclear. Swedens Agency for Marine and Water Management contends the country is right to be cautious about the appearance of a foreign species. The agency also says more research is needed into the impact of cross-breeding of American and European lobsters. But Robert S. Steneck, a University of Maine scientist, contends American lobsters dont pose a threat to European lobsters in part because winter ocean temperatures along the coasts of European countries are too warm for American lobsters to reproduce. SHARE: The United Arab Emirates cabinet adopted the final draft of a bankruptcy law that will help remove the threat of jail time for unpaid debt. But the long-awaited change will only cover businesses, a senior official said, while individuals will have to wait for legislation that deals with insolvency. The current law aims to enhance foreign investment and ease the work of commercial companies, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the U.A.E.s prime minister and Dubais ruler, said on Twitter on Sunday. The post included no details on the steps required for the law to go into effect. Federal laws in the U.A.E. usually need presidential approval. The law will be published in the official gazette within weeks and would go into effect three months later, Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, U.A.E. minister of state for financial affairs, told a news conference on Tuesday, declining to be more specific. The final draft, approved by the cabinet this week, sets up a new regulatory body for financial restructuring. Its members will include government officials and private sector professionals, Al Tayer said. The absence of a bankruptcy law was widely blamed for the flight of thousands of Dubai residents who lost jobs in the 2008 financial crisis. Faced with the possibility of jail time, many said they had no choice but to leave their cars and belongings after the economic slowdown left them unable to repay debts. Post-dated checks are the most common way to pay residential rent in the U.A.E., and the method is used to secure most debts. An effective bankruptcy law will help banks by encouraging them to restructure a bad loan without resorting to pursue criminal proceedings to resolve the bad loan, said Sanyalak Manibhandu, an Abu Dhabi-based analyst at NBAD Securities LLC. In the absence of a bankruptcy law, banks end up seeking justice in the criminal court, which has led borrowers to skip the country. The legislation is expected to be modeled on Chapter 11 proceedings in the U.S., The National newspaper reported last September, citing the Abu Dhabi Council for Economic Development. The U.S. system allows companies to renegotiate the terms of their debts with creditors. U.A.E. Finance Minister Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum said the law offers several options such as financial reorganization and precautionary settlement, the state-run WAM news agency reported. SHARE: A large question mark looms over Israels space industry after its prized Amos-6 satellite blew up in a failed prelaunch test of a SpaceX rocket. Space Communication Ltd., the Israeli company that was to operate the Amos-6, is still picking up the pieces and deciding what to do next. The government will formulate a long-term national space program, and may help develop a communications satellite, the Science Ministry said after an emergency meeting Sunday with representatives of the countrys space industries. The Sept. 1 accident in Cape Canaveral, Florida was the biggest blow to Israels space program since the death of astronaut Col. Ilan Ramon in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003. The setback imperils Space Coms deal with Chinas Beijing Xinwei Group for control of the company, but presents an opportunity for Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd., the state-owned weapons manufacturer that built Amos-6. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can allot some of the estimated $300 million (U.S.) to pay IAI to build another satellite for Space Com, its sole client for such products, but first must decide if satellites are an industry of national strategic importance. This is a traumatic experience for the industry, but allows us to hold this discussion that should have happened 10-15 years ago, Yossi Weiss, IAIs chief executive officer, said Sunday. Government Policy Much like the majority of Israels high-tech sector, its space program is an offshoot of military operations, according to Meidad Pariente, who started his 20-year career in the space industry at IAI and worked on the first Amos satellites. Due to the armys secretive nature, little effort was made by the government to encourage the commercial potential of satellites, even after IAI began developing Amos satellites many years ago, he said. Theres no space policy that says what the vision is, or what market share Israel wants to capture, said Meidad, now the chief technology officer of Sky And Space Global Ltd., a U.K.-based company that deploys nano-satellites to provide global communication infrastructure. Every beeper used by the defence ministry, the army, the ambulances, relies on satellites. What if the Chinese one day decide to shut down business in Israel? IAIs Weiss said the government needs to invest as much as $50 million per year if it wants to bolster Israels competitiveness against global space companies. IAI could offer prices comparable to its American and European counterparts if the government shared the costs of development, he said. The government decided that the gas industry was a strategic asset, Pariente said. So it should be with satellites. Political Shield The government could push to build a new satellite and maintain the independence of Israels space industry, according to Tal Inbar, head of the space and UAV research centre at the Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies, based in Herzliya, Israel. Keeping the countrys space industry in-house shields it from pro-Palestinian activists who apply political pressure on foreign companies to stop doing business with Israel, Inbar said. Satellites also serve as backup for Israels communications infrastructure in the event of war or technical malfunction, he added. Theres a synergy in the triangle between Space Com, its biggest client, and its supplier, in that theyre all Israeli companies, Inbar said in an interview. They understand each other and would be responsive to each other, so that they could amend issues in the satellite, if need be, in no time. Space Com said in a statement Sunday that its owed $294 million in compensation after the accident. The company said its talking to Xinwei about ways to amend the sale accord. Reached by phone Monday, a spokesman for the Chinese company said he couldnt immediately comment. In a further statement Monday night, Space Com Chief Executive Officer David Pollack said the company is seeking alternate arrangements for customers who had planned to use Amos-6, such as giving them space on the existing Amos-3 satellite. Companys Options Space Com CEO David Pollack said on a conference call Sunday that the company is looking for an alternative satellite provider and would be able to launch a new satellite in about two years. An accord with Facebook to use the Amos-6 to provide Internet connectivity in sub-Saharan Africa has been cancelled, but the company will still be able to meet its financial commitments, he said. Pollack said Space Com has three immediate options: Buy a satellite already in orbit and reposition it, buy a satellite on the ground, or order a new satellite. Each avenue has its pitfalls. Purchasing a satellite already in space would be fastest but comes with a shorter lifespan, Inbar said. Existing satellites wouldnt be customized to the needs of Amos-6s clients, which included the countrys defence ministry and its largest telecommunications company. Launching a new satellite would take about 18 months if Space Com ordered one through firms such as Boeing Co. or Lockheed Martin Corp., Inbar said. It would take IAI about three years to build a new one, a very long time relative to other industries in the world, he said. Read more about: SHARE: Peter Mansbridge plans to step down from the anchor chair of CBCs The National, after Canadas 150th birthday celebrations next July 1. Mansbridge, 68, has held the post at CBCs flagship news program for almost 30 years. His tenure includes covering every federal election snce 1972 and anchoring all 10 since 1984. He has also hosted eight Olympic Opening Ceremonies, most recently in Rio last summer. Here are 8 facts about Mansbridge: Yes its true. Mansbridges broadcast career began in singular fashion in 1968, when he was working in the Churchill, Man. airport. He was a 19-year-old baggage handler at the time, filling in on the intercom. The station manager at the local CBC radio station heard his baritone over the intercom and offered him a job on-air. Mansbridge worked on CBC Radios news service to the North and by 1976, he was covering Parliament Hill. Rambling childhood He was born July 6, 1948 in London, England into a foreign service family and spent much of his early childhood in Kuala Lumpur in the Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia). He moved to Canada as a child after his father took a job in Ottawa with the Canadian government. He didnt make it to the end of grade 12, dropping out to join the Navy. I had a great time, he told Antonia Zerbisias of The Star in 2010. I loved it. I was in pilot training. But things didnt quite work out as well as I hoped, he chuckles. Lets just say we both agreed the military wasnt the way for me. He was honourably discharged. Higher education He doesnt have a high school diploma and didnt attend journalism school. He does have nine honourary degrees and was named Chancellor of Mount Allison University in New Brunswick in 2009. Toughest interview He has particularly non-fond memories of an interview with former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Few things go wrong but when they do, theyre kind of catastrophic, he recalled to Zerbisias. I remember interviewing Margaret Thatcher and it was just a disaster. It was when she was on a book tour after she got out of the job (as British prime minister) and she kept accusing me of not having read her book, which sadly I had and it was brutal . . . and I dont think she ever wrote it. That was just one of those really awkward interviews that I didnt handle well. It was just bad. Mentor and big brother Mansbridge was offered a co-hosting spot by CBS on This Morning in November 1987 and there were reportedly big bucks attached. Knowlton Nash, then lead anchor of The National and chief correspondent of CBC News, offered to step aside to keep Mansbridge north of the border. Mansbridge assumed the chief correspondent and lead anchor role in May 1988, replacing Knowlton Nash. Mansbridge once told the Star that Nash was everything from a big brother to a colleague to an uncle to a really good friend to a mentor. When Nash died in May 2014, Mansbridge tweeted: Weve lost a very special journalist tonight .. Knowlton Nash has passed away at the age of 86. A great friend and a mentor to so many. Lots of awards He was named to the Canadian News Hall of Fame earlier this year. Hes also an officer of the Order of Canada and has a dozen Gemini Awards, including several for best anchor and best overall broadcast journalist. The Best News Anchor Award is unofficially called The Peter Mansbridge Award. No shocker hes leaving Ive made it very clear to everybody that I have no intention of doing this job with a 7 in front of my age, he told Vinay Menon of The Star in May 2014. He added: When I started, a young person would stop me and want a picture because they were a huge fan, he says. Then it became My mother loves you. I need to get a picture. Now the thing thats starting to creep in is My grandmother loves you. So you kind of know the direction this is going. Busloads of potential replacements We have the luxury of having a lot of people who can step into that job tonight, he told Menon. If I walk across this road and get hit by a bus, theres no problem. The scramble will be on. I see them all every day when I come to work. Theyre standing on the second floor, looking out the window as I cross the street, wondering, Is he going to make it today? SHARE: Prosecutors said Tuesday that they want 13 other women who said they were intoxicated when Bill Cosby assaulted them to testify at his upcoming felony sex assault trial. The criminal case against the 79-year-old actor involves a single 2004 encounter at his home near Philadelphia with former Temple University employee Andrea Constand. But prosecutors might be allowed to introduce evidence of other acts, even though no charges were brought in those cases, to show a pattern of behaviour. Prosecutors said they reviewed accusations made against Cosby by about 50 women and concluded 13 should be allowed to testify. At least one said she declined his offer of Quaaludes but accepted Champagne that she believed was spiked. She later woke up naked in a hotel room and said she had been sexually assaulted. The defence is expected to oppose such testimony. Constand told police that Cosby drugged and molested her. Legal experts have said a judge might allow as evidence similar allegations against Cosby in which drugs or alcohol were involved. Cosbys lawyers meanwhile asked that prosecutors not be allowed to use a telephone conversation recorded by his accusers mother and other evidence at his trial. The tape was to be played in the hearing Tuesday afternoon while the judge mulled over the issue. Cosby in the conversation described the sex act as digital penetration but refused to tell Gianna Constand what pills he had given her daughter. The defence argued that Cosby did not know he was being recorded, and that the tape should not be permitted at trial under Pennsylvanias two-party wiretap law. District Attorney Kevin Steele will fight to use both the phone call and a lengthy deposition from Constands lawsuit at trial. Cosbys lawyers said they will also ask to have the case moved out of Montgomery County, where it was a high-profile issue in Steeles fall campaign for office. He ran against the prosecutor who had declined to charge Cosby in 2005. Cosby was arrested in December after the investigation into the allegation Constand first brought in 2005 was reopened, following disclosure of the entertainers testimony in a lawsuit and a stream of new allegations by women going back decades. Cosby looked noticeably healthier as he walked into court Tuesday for the pretrial conference, though his lawyers told the judge that he is blind. The judge offered whatever accommodations he might need at trial, but the defence didnt immediately ask for any assistance. Cosby clutched an aides arm as he walked, but his eyes appeared less milky and he seemed more engaged and animated as he spoke with his legal team. A trial date has not yet been set, though the judge indicated that he wanted one to start before June. Lead defence lawyer Brian McMonagle said at the hearing Tuesday that he has other trials booked until June. But the judge said McMonagle might have to review his schedule and look for an earlier date. Cosby has been fighting the charges since his Dec. 30 arrest. Cosby has replaced one top-tier Los Angeles law firm with another on his defence team, the second such switch in about a year. Angela Agrusa of Liner LLP also will handle the defamation lawsuits filed in several states by women who say they were defamed when Cosby or his agents denied their accounts. Cosby had countersued some of them. But he has since abandoned that strategy in Philadelphia, where he dropped the lawsuit filed against Constand, her lawyers and her mother. Cosby had accused them of violating the confidentiality of their 2006 settlement, in part by co-operating with police last year. Cosby has so far lost his efforts to have the charges thrown out. And so the once-beloved comedian known as Americas Dad for his top-rated show on family life that ran from 1984 to 1992 finds himself spending his time and fortune in his waning days in a Pennsylvania courtroom. The women who accuse him of similar misconduct say the charges were a long time coming. Cosbys defenders instead suggest he is a wealthy target for the many women he met during five decades as an A-list celebrity. None of us will ever want to be in the position of attacking a victim. But the question should be asked who is the victim? his wife, Camille, asked as more accusers came forward in 2014. Read more about: SHARE: What do you do when you run one of the worlds leading prizes for the arts and it still isnt getting as much attention as it could? You make it bigger. On Tuesday in Ottawa, the Glenn Gould Foundation will announce that a gala concert will take place at the National Arts Centre on Nov. 26 to celebrate the American composer Philip Glass. Last year Glass became the 11th winner of the Glenn Gould Prize, which is awarded every two years to an arts figure from anywhere in the world for a unique lifetime contribution that has enriched the human condition through the arts. But the foundation is getting ready to upstage its own concert announcement with the unveiling of much bigger plans for the future. Starting in 2017, the year of Canadas 150th birthday celebration, the foundation plans to bestow three distinctive Glenn Gould Prizes at a time. One prize in each two-year cycle would be for Artistic Excellence; a second for Creative Innovation in the arts; and a third for Cultural Humanitarianism. Tripling the number of awards would help the Glenn Gould Prize meet its potential to become the worlds preeminent arts prize, Brian Levine, the Gould foundations executive director, told the Star. Such ambition doesnt come free. The Gould Foundation is also launching an ambitious drive to endow the expanded awards indefinitely. Private donors and governments would, the foundation devoutly hopes, contribute. And its no coincidence that Tuesdays announcement will take place in Ottawa. We are seeking significant support from the Government of Canada in the form of a one-time endowment grant, Levine said, with a commitment on the Foundations part to secure matching funds. The federal government is aware of the request but has made no commitment, Levine said. The foundation is cagey about the scale of the request, but it is certainly in the millions of dollars. Named for the legendary Toronto-born pianist whose unique style and definitive recordings of the baroque and classical repertoire made him one of the most famous Canadians of the 20th century, the Gould prize is sometimes called the Nobel Prize of the arts. Unfortunately, it is most often called that by the Glenn Gould Foundation, or by Canadian reporters writing every two years about the latest recipient. Global recognition of Glenn Gould remains huge; global recognition of the prize named after him lags a bit. To bolster the case for an expanded awards program, the foundation has collected letters from world-leading artists endorsing the project. It gives me great pleasure to write in support, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the prizes 1999 laureate, wrote. I am truly excited, director Atom Egoyan, a former jury member, wrote. The prizes past laureates include jazzman Oscar Peterson, French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez, bard Leonard Cohen and theatre innovator Robert Lepage. There is no requirement that winners be Canadian. International juries have often wound up naming a Canadian. Some years the winner has been a bit of a hard sell from a marketing perspective: composers R. Murray Schafer and Toru Takemitsu, deeply worthy for the scale of their artistic contributions, are not exactly household names. Tripling the prize could more than triple its impact. With three laureates at a time, each designating a young and rising recipient of City of Toronto protege prizes, there would be material for a high-profile gala performance to spread the word about the laureates, their work, and Canada. We believe this is a unique opportunity for Canada, Levine said, since Glenn Goulds name and prestige resonate so powerfully around the world. In its promotional material, the foundation suggests which of its past laureates represent the values celebrated in the three new categories. Jose Antonio Abreu, who created Venezuelas influential El Sistema music-education program, would have been a good winner for Cultural Humanitarianism. For Artistic Excellence, Oscar Peterson and Yo-Yo Ma. For Creative Innovation, Robert Lepage. Discussing the expanded prize program with Levine, I couldnt resist imagining my own winners in each category. Maybe architect Frank Gehry, or Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of the Broadway hit Hamilton, in the innovation category? Global jazz ambassador Wynton Marsalis for humanitarianism? British conductor John Eliot Gardiner, the greatest Bach interpreter since Gould, for excellence? Its a fun mental exercise. The Trudeau government, already swamped with requests for funding for a thousand worthy causes, will decide whether it should become reality. Paul Wells is a national affairs writer. SHARE: OTTAWAScores of suffering Canadians whove been excluded from the federal governments restrictive eligibility criteria for medical assistance in dying are lining up to join a constitutional challenge to the new law. The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, which is spearheading the challenge, has been overwhelmed by scores of responses to its call for help in the case, says Grace Pastine, the associations director of litigation. The BCCLA has also been stunned by the response to its crowdfunding campaign to pay for the looming legal battle, which so far features one plaintiff Julia Lamb, a wheelchair-bound 25-year-old who suffers from spinal muscular atrophy, a degenerative disease that she fears will eventually consign her to years of intolerable suffering. Just 10 days after announcing the constitutional challenge in late June, the BCCLA met its goal of raising $75,000. It is a testament to how important and deeply personal this issue is to so many Canadians, said Pastine. But the BCCLA which spearheaded the four-year legal challenge that led to last years landmark Supreme Court ruling striking down the ban on medically assisted dying will need a lot more donations to compete with the kind of money the federal government is evidently prepared to throw at the issue. Under Stephen Harpers Conservatives, the government spent at least $3.3 million on its losing legal fight to maintain the prohibition on assisted dying, according to a document released under the Access to Information Act. The detailed breakdown of those costs is blacked out, citing solicitor-client privilege, so it is impossible to tell whether the price includes hours spent by Justice Department lawyers or is just the total spent on outside legal experts. The Canadian Press had asked for both. Justin Trudeaus Liberal government has signalled its intention to vigorously defend its new law, which it maintains is a delicate balance between personal autonomy and protecting the vulnerable. The last government spent millions in taxpayers money to defend, unsuccessfully, a law that caused immeasurable suffering and, in the process, ran roughshod over Canadians charter rights, said Shanaaz Gokool, CEO of Dying with Dignity Canada. We question why the current government, with its stated commitment to upholding the charter, would want to adopt the same misguided approach. Among those whove contacted the BCCLA hoping to join the Lamb challenge as another plaintiff or as a witness is Adam Maier-Clayton, a 26-year-old Windsor, Ont., man who suffers from severe psychosomatic pain brought on by mental illness. I want to earn legally the right to terminate the pain that plagues me on a day-to-day basis, Maier-Clayton said in an interview. But more so than that, I want to be a part of it because ... every Canadian deserves this right, the right to have the ability to terminate pain that is chronic, incurable. The controversial new law, enacted in June, allows assisted dying only for those in an advanced state of irreversible decline from an incurable condition and for whom natural death is reasonably foreseeable. It does not apply to those who are not near death or to those suffering strictly from psychiatric illnesses. The BCCLA contends the restrictive eligibility criteria violates the charter and does not comply with last years Supreme Courts ruling, known as the Carter decision. In Carter, the top court directed the federal government to come up with a law recognizing that consenting adults with grievous and irremediable conditions and enduring suffering intolerable to them have a right to seek medical help to end their lives. Last May, the Alberta Court of Appeal rejected the Trudeau governments bid to prevent a 58-year-old woman suffering strictly from a psychiatric illness that caused her excruciating pain from obtaining a medically assisted death. The appeal court ruled that the Carter decision did not preclude individuals with mental illnesses or those who were not near death. The government proceeded with its restrictive new law nonetheless. Maier-Clayton said he now feels trapped in an untenable situation. Right now, if I want to die, theres one way out: suicide. There is another, albeit gruesome, option. Maier-Clayton could follow the example of Helene L., a 70-year-old Quebec woman with multiple sclerosis who was ineligible under the new law. She died recently after refusing food and water for 14 days a death Quebecs health minister, Gaetan Barrette, has denounced as cruel and inhuman. Maier-Clayton has suffered since he was a child with psychiatric illnesses, including generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and major depressive disorder. Although hes been diagnosed as physically healthy, over the past four years his condition has worsened to the point that he says hes now in constant agony from pain he describes as feeling sulphuric acid is inside him, burning my body alive. He has undergone extensive tests, tried a dozen different medications and various treatments, including psychotherapy and exposure-response therapy. Nothing has helped; he says his life is literally torture every day. Murray Rankin, the NDPs justice critic, said the government has let down people like Helene L. and Maier-Clayton. They seem to be oblivious to the suffering, the real suffering people are dealing with, he said. SHARE: A self-styled champion of privatized health care is bringing his fight to British Columbia Supreme Court on Tuesday for the start of a months-long trial he says is about patients access to affordable treatment, while his opponents accuse him of trying to gut the core of Canadas medical system. Dr. Brian Day of Cambie Surgery Centre in Vancouver is challenging B.C.s ban on the purchase of private insurance for medically necessary services that are already covered by the public system. He argues the restriction violates patients constitutional rights by forcing them to endure gruelling wait times that often exacerbate their health problems. This is about making medicare better, said Day. A statement from the B.C. Health Ministry, the defendant in the case, said its priority is to uphold the Medicare Protection Act and the benefits it safeguards. It declined further comment while the case is before the courts. Day launched the lawsuit in 2010. There have been a number of delays, including a one-year postponement while the two sides unsuccessfully tried to reach an out-of-court settlement. Canadas inefficient system is the product of a wasteful bureaucracy, a lack of competition and a misguided attachment to universal coverage, Day argues. He said opening the door for private insurance would ease pressure on the public system, freeing up resources to cut wait times and boost the quality of care for everyone, whether publicly or privately insured. Its widely agreed the lawsuit could have far-reaching ramifications for health care in Canada. Adam Lynes-Ford of the B.C. Health Coalition, one of the interveners in the case, said making space for private health care flies in the face of the core Canadian value that people should have access to medical care based on need, not on ability to pay. This is such a profound threat to the health of everybody in Canada, Lynes-Ford said. He said a win for Day would lead to a more U.S.-style medical system, meaning longer wait times for the average Canadian and skyrocketing costs as limits are lifted on what doctors can charge patients. Colleen Flood, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, described Days lawsuit as one of the biggest constitutional cases perhaps ever. Basically, medicare is being put on trial, and will likely be found wanting in many regards, she said. But the question is whether the cure for what ails medicare is more privatization. Thats what Dr. Day is arguing, she added. I dont think so myself and I think the weight of the evidence is against that. Court battles over private health insurance arent new to Canada. In 2005, the Supreme Court of Canada granted Quebecers access to private insurance when it ruled that excessive wait times infringed on patients constitutional rights. While that decision was argued under the Quebec charter and as a result didnt extend beyond that provinces boundaries, a judgment in Days case would make waves across the country. Yanick Labrie, an economist affiliated with the Canadian Health Policy Institute and the Fraser Institute, said Days case boils down to a patients right to choose. Greater choice among insurance providers would encourage more competition, which would boost efficiency and improve access, Labrie said. We should still expect to have a universal system, but in which you have some element of competition and choice for patients, he said, adding that a win for Day and the introduction of a hybrid health-care model would be a revolution. But Karen Palmer of Simon Fraser Universitys faculty of health sciences said attempts at introducing and enforcing a proper regulatory framework elsewhere in the world around a public-private system have been challenging. Its a bit like that game whack-a-mole, said Palmer, who is also affiliated with the Evidence Network of Canadian Health Policy. Every time you make a regulation, somebody finds a way around it and it becomes a game. She derided the suggestion that privatization would address the underlying challenges facing medicare, calling it a flawed attempt to fix the wrong problem. If their constitutional challenge is successful, the door will swing wide open in British Columbia and across Canada for insurers to sell what will amount to private queue-jumping insurance for those who can afford it, potentially harming the rest of us, Palmer said. But even a victory for the province should serve as a huge wake-up call to government decision-makers that we dodged a bullet and urgently need to improve how care is delivered, she said. The federal government has also applied to be an intervener in the case, arguing that any challenge to a principle so fundamental to the Canadian health-care system is of significant concern. Canadians overwhelmingly support universally accessible health care, government spokeswoman Rebecca Gilman wrote in an emailed statement. Gilman reaffirmed the governments commitment to Canadians having reasonable access to medically necessary services based on need and not ability or willingness to pay. SHARE: By PTI: Mumbai, Sep 6 (PTI) RTI activist and ex-CIC Shailesh Gandhi has written a letter to Chief Justice of India T S Thakur requesting him to look into the issues raised by Supreme Court Judge J Chelameswar with regard to collegium system of appointment. "Justice Chelameswar has very boldly raised the issue of lack of transparency in the judiciary and the nation is grateful to him. You must take this opportunity to bring accountability. advertisement "There is an urgent need to ensure all judicial vacancies are filled by a proper, transparent process so that faith of the people in our democracy is restored," Gandhi said in the two-page letter written to the CJI yesterday. Last week, Justice Chelameswar opted out of a meeting of the collegium which was to be held to discuss various issues, including the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) which will deal with the procedures to be followed in the appointment of Judges in HCs and the SC. "We have lost checks and balances designed by our Constitution. I beseech you Sir, for the sake of our nation let us restore the balance with your authority and wisdom," said Gandhi, who served as Central Information Commissioner from 2008 to 2012. The 69-year-old activist has also highlighted the issue of pending cases in the courts as well as vacancies in the judiciary. PTI APM RSY RG --- ENDS --- More than 4,000 jet-lagged and disoriented international students arriving at Pearson airport have been treated to a friendly face and an encouraging word from their future peers over the past three weeks as part of the International Students Welcome Program. It was the highest number of students to visit the booth in the history of the program, which was launched by the City of Toronto five years ago. The international students say, You saved my life, said Danny Kim, 22, the student program co-ordinator of ISWP. Some of the students dont even know how to speak English fluently. They get intimidated by the entire atmosphere. The student welcomers, who speak multiple languages including Cantonese, Arabic, Mandarin, Spanish, Hindi and French, help the new arrivals find an on-campus club, a home, or just their way out of the airport. The majority of our staff are international students themselves, so they know how it feels to come into a completely new environment seeking help, Kim said. They try to go out of their way to help a student. While Pearson has its own information booths to orient travellers, Arif Abu, manager of International Student Support at Ryerson University, which oversees the program on a contract with the city, says the ISWPs emphasis on peer-to-peer support has set it apart. New students dont feel that fear when they are talking to someone on the other side of the booth, he said. Other cities are looking at emulating Torontos program. Abu says hes received calls from the University of Chicago and Simon Fraser University, who are looking at rolling out similar airport welcome wagons. The interest is about more than just social philanthropy, Abu said. Cities are competing over international students, because they bring great benefits, he said. They rent, they buy properties, they spend money in the cities. Students with leftover pep after their gruelling flights can open a Canadian bank account, apply for a credit card and activate a phone plan on the spot, though more popular is the free international phone call theyre offered. They are excited to call back home and let their family know they are OK, says Kim. Some students cry while they call home they miss their parents right away. Other students are very cool about it: Hey mom, dont worry about me, Im safe. When the program launched in 2011, only GTA-based post-secondary schools were represented. The program has since expanded to include all schools that use Pearson as an arrival point, across Ontario and beyond. The University of Toronto has even established its own spinoff Airport Welcome Service to provide information specific to U of T. Greeter Kevin Ledda, 22, said its not uncommon for students to arrive without a place to stay for that night, let alone accommodations for the school year. There are so many resources to help you get places, Ledda says confidently. The main idea is, you will find a place. Ledda never knows who hes going to meet. Julianne Tito, a native of the Philippines, had just flown 20 hours from Singapore to meet a family she would be staying with in Ajax. While she was grabbing a University of Toronto map from Ledda, the family arrived to pick her up. I hear someone yell at me: What are you doing here? he said. And it was a couple of family friends from my youth ministry community. It all starts clicking in my head theyre Filipino, they live in Ajax, theyre her host! They just started laughing. It was such a small-world moment. Ledda grew up in Canada, but feels connected to the international students experience. I can relate to their feelings of loneliness, anxiety and stress, he says. I can give them a welcoming smile, support and positive vibes to make sure they dont have those feelings. Were known for being a really friendly and bright city. So I feel like I have to represent that. SHARE: An outdoor adventure ended reasonably happily for a cat who was found wet, cold, shivering, and frightened by Toronto police marine unit officers. Const. Allyson Douglas-Cooke said the cat was found on Monday by officers on patrol. The cat was perched up on one of the wires hanging on the side of the dock. When the officer approached it, it basically lunged into his arms, she said in an email to the Star. Police are asking the owner to contact them, and will not be releasing a photo in order to make sure the cat goes back to the rightful owner, Douglas-Cooke said. As officers await an owner, it seems the little troublemaker is stealing their hearts. It appears that the entire unit has become quite fond of the cat, she said. The marine unit can be reached at 416-808-5800. SHARE: The York Region District School Board is investigating allegations that an elementary school principal put anti-Muslim posts on her Facebook page. A spokesman for the board said it was aware of concerns raised by a community member about public postings on a Facebook page under the name Ghada Sadaka. Sadaka is identified as a principal in the York board on the page. We take all matters of this nature seriously. After learning of the allegations, the board has begun an investigation, said YRDSB spokesperson Licinio Miguelo. This is a personnel matter, and as such details cannot be provided, however we will conduct a thorough investigation, follow all protocols and policies and take any necessary measures, he said. Some of the Facebook posts the principal is alleged to have shared and commented on include: videos purportedly showing violent Muslim takeovers of Paris and London; articles expressing concerns around bringing refugees to Canada, given their terrorist sympathies; and another headlined: Must see: Dutch mayor tells fellow Muslims they can f------ if they dont like freedom. Sadaka, the new principal at Sir Wilfrid Laurier Public School in Markham, referred all questions to the boards head office when contacted by the Star Friday. I appreciate your questions, but for any further information you will have to go through the board office, she said. The community member, who asked not to be identified for fear of repercussions, said she felt the Facebook posts were blatantly spreading hate. The posts, some dating back to early 2015, were removed last week after the Star contacted the school board. As I was on Facebook I stumbled upon a principals page who had some Islamophobic posts, said the woman in an email sent to the YRDSB director and obtained by the Star. She claimed that it is obvious the person putting up the posts has a dislike towards Muslims. From my understanding, YRDSB upholds the values of having its students feel respected and safe, she said. It is unacceptable to be seeing this behaviour. In a response to the womans email, local superintendent Peter Tse said, We will definitely take your concerns and follow up into the matter. According to her LinkedIn profile, Sadaka has been a vice-principal in the board since 2011 and became a principal in 2013. She had previously worked as a principal at E.T. Crowle Public School, which is also in multicultural Markham. This is the second time the York board has dealt with incidents of alleged Islamophobia among staff in recent years. In 2015, a Richmond Hill high school teacher, Michael Marshall, was fired after a 10-week investigation found he had posted tweets online that were considered to be Islamophobic and racist. The Star has also written previously about how concerns with racism within the board have gone unresolved. Last year, the board cancelled an anti-oppression, equity and inclusive education training course. York school board director J. Philip Parappally said it was delayed due to the provincial labour dispute. Although the course never took place, a board spokesman said many other supports and resources exist on the issue of equity. For example, earlier this year, the board said it partnered with the Ontario Human Rights Commission during its annual equity symposium, where OHRC staff delivered presentations on topics such as human rights and creed, and racial discrimination. The Ontario College of Teachers has guidelines for teachers to follow when it comes to their use of social media. Teaching is a public profession, the college writes in a 2011 advisory on social media. Canadas Supreme Court ruled that teachers off-duty conduct, even when not directly related to students, is relevant to their suitability to teach. Members should maintain a sense of professionalism at all times in their personal and professional lives. Chris DSouza, an equity and human rights strategist who offers anti-bias training for principals, says there is no shortage of guidelines available for educators to educate themselves on issues of equity and social media. For administrators, our level of professionalism spills into things we say, our social media, our forms of activism, said DSouza, adding there should be mandatory equity training for educators across the province. There is a much higher level of accountability, he said. The National Council of Canadian Muslims called allegations that a principal posted Islamophobic messages disturbing. We welcome a full investigation, said Amira Elghawaby, communications director for the council. With files from Kristin Rushowy Read more about: SHARE: A brick manufacturer is dusting off a 44-year-old licence to extend its quarry into a Burlington forest, clear-cutting an estimated 9,000 trees and butting up against residents backyards as early as next year. Neighbours and environmental advocates say the expanded operation could jeopardize their health and a sensitive local ecosystem. That licence that was given back in the 70s does not take into account all that we know about dust, about noise, about flora and fauna, said David Adcock, who lives on Westhaven Dr. The street is home to about 85 properties, more than half of which back onto a 16-hectare forest owned by Forterra Brick. It seems short-sighted at best, Adcock said. The dispute pits a small group of Halton homeowners against North Americas largest brick producer, underscoring the issue of dormant licences and a clash of interests arising from old industrial areas now fenced in by subdivisions. Forterra cites its mitigation and rehabilitation plan, still in the works. It also points to dust and noise studies from the 1990s, commissioned by the developer of the then-nonexistent housing subdivision and approved by the Ontario Municipal Board. The impact of (potentially toxic) dust emissions on the proposed development is deemed minimal, even when the extraction takes place in the area adjacent, the dust study states. Ian Keaveny and Fernand Coderre, both part of the Tyandaga Environmental Coalition, a neighbourhood non-profit, say they were blindsided when the company alerted them last year to the planned extension of the Aldershot Quarry. Like many people here, we moved into the neighbourhood because of the green space, Keaveny said. Now that will be ripped out. Keaveny said the only 30-metre buffer between backyards and future brick operations poses a potential health issue, despite the dust study findings. The big tragedy is 35 prime acres of forest being destroyed, added neighbour Coderre, after a stroll along the sites still-leafy perimeter. Lawyer David Donnelly, who represents the Tyandaga Environmental Coalition, said the standoff exposes a tremendous gap in the environmental protection scheme in Ontario and draws attention to dormant licences. Theres this unfortunate practice of putting environmental features at risk simply because theres a grandfathered 30- or 40-year old approval, Donnelly said. Its a problem, Environmental Defence program director Keith Brooks said of the sleeper licences. Aggregate licence applications from a half-century ago carried much less stringent criteria for green protection, he says. They continue to be one of the few environmental regulatory approval processes in Ontario without an end-date or review cycle, according to the Canadian Environmental Law Association. Graham Flint, president of Gravel Watch Ontario, says the lack of an expiration date on Ontario aggregate licences can also result in land-banking buying up land and licensing it but holding off on extraction until suburban sprawl stretches closer to the site, yielding lower transport costs for the company. Residents near a gravel pit in Paris, Ont., have fought an operation there beginning before 2014, when it launched based on a licence dating back to the mid-1970s. Endangered species such as the Jefferson salamander and the American columbo plant exist in the surrounding area and probably inside the fated woodlot, according to the Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark System coalition. The brick company says it retained an environmental consultant to catalogue the local vegetation and wildlife. Some plants may be transplanted, where feasible, to protected areas of the quarry site, which borders Halton conservation lands, says Forterra lawyer Ronald Webb. Asked if the company would consider a more thorough environmental assessment or a cultural heritage study now incorporated into all aggregate licence applications Webb said: I think the answer is no. That is because of the fact that the licence exists and will continue to exist. The quarrys site plan is line with existing legislation the provinces Aggregate Resources Act has been under review since 2013 without changes, though a blueprint emerged last year as well as Ontarios Greenbelt Plan, according to Forterra. As a way forward, Brooks points to the Cornerstone Standards Council, modelled after the Forest Stewardship Council and launched last year. So far only one quarry, in the Acton area of Halton Hills, has submitted to the green-conscious criteria needed for council certification, a voluntary process comparable to LEED certification. The Burlington quarry predates the nearby residents by generations. The Aldershot site has been in operation under successive owners since the 1920s, with a single licence issued under the Pits and Quarries Control Act in 1972 and handed down since then. Forterra Brick manufactures more than half of the clay brick produced in Canada, with roughly one-quarter coming from the shale reserves in Burlington, according to the City of Burlington. Were committed to balancing environmental protection and community health with Ontarios need for aggregate resources, said Natural Resources spokesperson Jolanta Kowalski in an email. The ministry is not aware of any health concerns at this time. Asked if local plant and animal species would be protected during excavation, the ministry responded: Extraction in the eastern cell can occur under the existing approval. After extensive review by staff in several city and regional departments, we have come to understand that Forterra Brick is within its legal rights, said Burlington Mayor Rick Goldring and local councillor Rick Craven, in a joint statement. Forterra met with residents in September 2015 and plans to meet again Thursday about the impending expansion, expected to begin sometime in 2017, the companys lawyer said. Neighbourhood residents acknowledge tension is almost inevitable when industry abuts residential zoning. Im not sure that years ago they were really thinking through the implications of that, when you co-locate and amend the official city plan to permit housing to go right next to an existing operator with a licence to expand, said Adcock. This at some level was a train coming down the track. Were not trying to say we dont want to talk, he said. Were saying, lets have a pause. --- Fine print In 1998, the Ontario Municipal Board required that a warning clause about the possibility of an expanded next-door quarry appear on residents property titles and the offers of sale and purchase. No such statement about the future extractive industrial land use to the west ever made it onto the page of those documents. The only reference to the fact the forest behind their homes could soon be stripped of greenery and shovelled for shale was buried on page 23 of the 24-page subdivision agreement between the City of Burlington and developer Jannock Properties, now dissolved. A registration number printed on the titles alludes to the 1998 subdivision agreement, accessible for a fee at a Halton Land Registry office. We had no idea this was coming down the pipe, said resident Fran Fendelet. Read more about: SHARE: What did he know and when did he know it? Those questions are dogging Patrick Brown nearly two weeks after the Progressive Conservatives circulated 13,000 letters during the Scarborough-Rouge River byelection promising to scrap the new sex education curriculum if elected in 2018. While the Tory leader finally renounced that stance five days later in a Star article, there are lingering doubts about his assertion he did not know about the missive in English and Chinese bearing his signature. The day after Tory Raymond Chos stunning byelection win Thursday, The Canadian Press revealed an email from Browns chief of staff, Nicolas Pappalardo, to antisex education candidate Queenie Yu, touting the letter. That email with the subject heading Letter from the Leader of the PC Party of Ontario was time-stamped at 12:43 p.m. on Aug. 25, which is before Brown was alleged to have even seen it. Queenie, as a courtesy, please find attached an open letter to parents from the Leader of the PC Party of Ontario. It will be distributed in the riding this weekend. Best Regards, Nicolas, reads the message, which Yu provided to the Star on Tuesday. Thats problematic because it is an indication that Browns office was behind the move not overzealous local activists on Chos campaign as Brown initially said. I realize there are passionate feelings on this issue in Scarborough but they certainly went further than I was comfortable with, the PC leader told NewsTalk 1010s John Moore on Aug. 30. I accept full responsibility for what was done in my name, but I can tell you that when I heard about it I was up north at the time I was upset, he added. Brown was not available Tuesday and Pappalardo, a former adviser to prime minister Stephen Harper, declined to answer specific questions from the Star. I will not comment on . . . internal party matters, the chief of staff said in an email. But PC Party president Rick Dykstra admitted on CP24 last Thursday night that he, too, was aware the letter was going out. Well, the letter, obviously, when it was first put out, I knew about, yes, because it, obviously, was being distributed, Dykstra, a friend of Browns, told the all-news station during its live byelection night coverage. And look thats behind us. We made a decision on that. Our leader put his letter out and his statement out on the issue and I think tonight has proven that the people of this riding want nothing more than to elect a Conservative to the Legislature, said the party president. Brown said to reporters last Thursday night that he was livid about the letter. Certainly, I wasnt involved in it and thats one of the reasons that I was so upset about it, the leader said, adding changes to his campaign organization would be forthcoming. Im certainly going to be looking at our organization and how we conduct things. I obviously wasnt happy with that, he said. The lesson for me is to continue to focus on the fundamentals: hydro, on jobs, on health care. I have no interest in wading into social issues. TIMELINE: Aug. 24: The date on a letter on Ontario PC Party stationery signed by Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown promising in English and in Chinese that the Tories would scrap Premier Kathleen Wynnes sex-education curriculum if elected in 2018. Aug. 25: Browns chief of staff, Nicolas Pappalardo, emails independent candidate Queenie Yu a former Tory activist running to protest the sex education syllabus that is unpopular among social conservatives to let her know the letter will be handed out that weekend. Aug. 26: The Toronto Suns Christina Blizzard reveals the Tories have distributed the letter in the riding. PC MPP Monte McNaughton tweets a photo of himself campaigning in Woodside Square in Scarborough with a volunteer who appears to be showing the Chinese-language version of the letter to people dining in the food court. Aug. 27: Brown unleashes a five-part Twitter barrage to address the media interest in the sex ed form letter from Scarborough-Rouge River, that does not indicate whether or not he would scrap the curriculum. Aug. 28: In a Sunday conference call with Tory MPPs and senior party officials, Brown updates his colleagues on the state of the Scarborough-Rouge River byelection and discusses the sex education flap. Aug. 29: More than 24 hours after the conference call, Brown releases to the Star a 398-word opinion piece apologizing for the mistake, blaming the campaign in Scarborough-Rouge River for wishing to express these concerns. Aug. 30: Brown does a major media blitz appearing on CBC Radio, NewsTalk 1010, CP24, AM640, among other news outlets to spread the message of contrition from his Star article. Sept. 1: Tory candidate Raymond Cho wins the Scarborough-Rouge River byelection in a stunning rebuke of Premier Kathleen Wynnes Liberals, who have held the seat for a generation. Chos win gives Browns Tories their first Toronto seat. SHARE: TOKYONorth Korea fired three medium-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast Monday, landing close to Japan, in a show of force that coincided with the meeting of leaders of the worlds 20 largest economies in neighbouring China. North Korea launched the missiles, believed to be Rodongs, from a site south of Pyongyang at 12:14 p.m. local time, South Koreas military said. They flew about 1,000 kilometres and landed well inside Japans air defence identification zone, the area in which Tokyo controls aircraft movement. The launches, coming as the G-20 meeting continued in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou and just days before North Korea marks the 68th anniversary of the formation of its government, constituted an armed protest, an official from South Koreas joint chiefs of staff said in a statement. We are fully prepared to fight tonight in case North Korea makes any provocative moves, the statement said, according to the Yonhap News Agency, using the catchphrase of the American and South Korean military allies. Japans Defence Ministry added that the missiles landed between 190 and 260 kilometres west of Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japans four main islands. At the G-20 meeting, South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met immediately and agreed to co-operate against North Korea. In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the United States strongly condemns the launches. These launches, which have become far too common in the past several months, violate multiple UN Security Council Resolutions explicitly prohibiting North Koreas launches using ballistic missile technology, he said in a statement, adding that U.S. officials would raise the issue during the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Laos on Tuesday. Our commitment to the defence of our allies in the face of these threats remains ironclad, Kirby said. Mondays launches were just the latest salvo in a steady series of missiles coming from North Korea. Last month, Kim Jong Uns regime claimed a great success in launching a ballistic missile from a submarine about 500 kilometres toward Japan, on top of making progress on its medium-range Musudan missile technology. This is a particularly tense time in the region because of frictions over the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-missile battery that the United States will deploy to South Korea, part of their defence against North Korea. Beijing has protested strongly against the plan, viewing it as part of an American effort to restrain a strengthening China, and worrying that the system will home in on Chinas military activities. The issue has helped close the gap between China and its erstwhile client state, North Korea, after the provocations of a nuclear test and long-range missile launch earlier this year. Beijing and Pyongyang have traditionally been as close as lips and teeth, as the saying goes, but Xi Jinping, Chinas president, has made his disdain for the young Kim clear. Earlier in the day, during a bilateral meeting at the G-20 with Xi, Park said she hoped Seoul and Beijing would be able to unite together against North Korea. I hope that through earnest communication, our two countries can turn this challenge into an opportunity to further strengthen and move forward our bilateral relationship, Park said during a bilateral meeting with Xi, according to Yonhap. But Xi reiterated his strong objections to Parks decision to accept the THAAD battery onto South Korean soil. Mishandling the issue is not conducive to strategic stability in the region and could intensify disputes, Xi told Park, according to a report from the Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua. Read more about: SHARE: ST. LOUISPhyllis Schlafly, the outspoken conservative activist who helped defeat the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and founded the Eagle Forum political group, has died. She was 92. Schlafly died Monday afternoon of cancer at her home in St. Louis, her son John Schlafly said. Schlafly rose to national attention in 1964 with her self-published book, A Choice Not an Echo, that became a manifesto for the far right. The book, which sold three million copies, chronicled the history of the Republican National Convention and is credited for helping conservative Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona earn the 1964 GOP nomination. She later helped lead efforts to defeat the proposed constitutional amendment that would have outlawed gender discrimination, galvanizing the partys right. Shed graduated from college while working overnight at a factory during the Second World War, her newspaper column appeared in dozens of newspapers and she was politically active into her 90s including attending every convention since her first in 1952. She attended this years convention as a Donald Trump delegate. Yet she told The Associated Press in 2007 that perhaps her greatest legacy was the Eagle Forum, which she founded in 1972 in suburban St. Louis, where she lived. The ultraconservative group has chapters in several states and claims 80,000 members. Ive taught literally millions of people how to participate in self-government, Schlafly said. I think Ive built a wonderful organization of volunteers, mostly women but some men, willing to spend their time to get good laws and good politicians. The Eagle Forum pushes for low taxes, a strong military and English-only education. The group is against efforts it says are pushed by radical feminists or encroach on U.S. sovereignty, such as guest-worker visas, according to its website, which describes the Equal Rights Amendment as having had a hidden agenda of tax-funded abortions and same-sex marriages. As momentum grew in the 1970s for the amendment, Schlafly became its most outspoken critic and was vilified by its supporters. She had a pie smashed into her face and pigs blood thrown on her, and feminist Betty Friedan once told Schlafly: Id like to burn you at the stake. She was chastised in a 1970s Doonesbury a framed copy of which hung on her office wall. What I am defending is the real rights of women, Schlafly said at the time. A woman should have the right to be in the home as a wife and mother. Thirty-five states ratified the amendment, three short of the necessary 38. Schlafly said amendment supporters couldnt prove it was needed. They were never able to show women would get any benefit out of it, she told the AP in 2007. It (the U.S. Constitution) is already sex-neutral. Women already have all the rights that men have. Saint Louis University history professor Donald Critchlow, who profiled Schlafly in his 2005 book, Phyllis Schlafly and Grassroots Conservatism: A Womans Crusade, said the defeat of the amendment helped revive conservatism and helped pave the way for Ronald Reagans election in 1980. What the ERA (defeat) did was show the right, and especially Reagan strategists, that a new constituency could be tapped to revitalize the right. It allowed the right to take over the party, Critchlow told the AP shortly after his book was written. Schlafly was born Aug. 15, 1924, and grew up in Depression-era St. Louis. Her parents were Republican but not politically involved. Her own activism was born partly out of convenience. With the country involved in the Second World War during her college years, Schlafly worked the graveyard shift at the St. Louis Ordnance Plant. Her job included testing ammunition by firing machine-guns. She would get off work at 8 a.m., attend morning classes, then sleep in the middle of the day before doing it all over again. The schedule limited her options for a major. In order to pick classes to fit my schedule I picked political science, Schlafly recalled in the 2007 interview. She graduated from Washington University in 1944, when she was 19. Her first taste of real politics came at age 22, when she guided the 1946 campaign of Republican congressional candidate Claude Bakewell, helping him to a major upset win. In 1952, with her young family living in nearby Alton, Illinois, Schlaflys husband, attorney John Schlafly Jr., was approached about running for Congress. He declined, but she ran and narrowly lost in a predominantly Democratic district. She also ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1970. Schlafly earned a masters degree in government from Harvard in 1945. She enrolled in Washington University School of Law in 1976, and at age 51, graduated 27th in a class of 204. Schlafly received an honorary degree at Washington Universitys commencement in 2008. Though some students and faculty silently protested by getting up from their seats and turning their backs to the stage, Schlafly called it a happy day. Im just sorry for those who tried to rain on a happy day. Citing Schlaflys views about gay people, women and immigrants she was an outspoken opponent of same-sex marriage, abortion rights and loosening U.S. border restrictions protesters said she went against the most fundamental principles for which the university stood. Schlafly remained active in conservative politics well into her 80s, when she was still writing a column that appeared in 100 newspapers, doing radio commentaries on more than 460 stations and publishing a monthly newsletter. Schlafly endorsed Trump in early March and introduced the then-GOP front-runner at a St. Louis rally. Phyllis Schlafly is a conservative icon who led millions to action, reshaped the conservative movement, and fearlessly battled globalism and the kingmakers on behalf of Americas workers and families, Trump said in a statement Monday. I was honoured to spend time with her during this campaign. Schlaflys husband died in 1993. She is survived by six children, 16 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. SHARE: DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATESState-owned media in the United Arab Emirates is reporting a 29-year-old Emirati man faces charges after trying to kill a U.S. citizen with his car. The National newspaper of Abu Dhabi reported Tuesday that the man had allegedly pledged his support to the Al Qaeda-linked militant group Jabhat Fatah al-Sham in Syria, which was formerly known as the Nusra Front. The newspaper reports the man had allegedly plotted other attacks, including bombing the headquarters of Sky News Arabia in Abu Dhabi and Al Arabiya in Dubai. The state-run WAM news agency also reports that the man had his first court hearing Monday. Neither report named the accused nor the U.S. citizen attacked. The UAE, a federation of seven emirates, is a close political and military ally of the U.S. SHARE: VIENTIANE, LAOSAcknowledging the scars of a secret war, President Barack Obama on Tuesday said the United States has a moral obligation to help this isolated Southeast Asian nation heal and vowed to reinvigorate relations with a country with rising strategic importance to the U.S. Making the first visit by a sitting U.S. president, Obama said too few Americans know of the United States covert bombing of Laos during the Vietnam War. As a first sign of a new relationship, Obama announced he would double spending for unexploded bombs, committing $90 million (U.S.) over the three years. Still, he offered no apologies, calling the campaign and its aftermath reminders that whatever the cause, whatever our intentions, war inflicts a terrible toll. Given our history here, I believe that the United States has a moral obligation to help Laos heal, Obama said, as he addressed an audience of more than 1,000 students, business people and officials. For nine years, the U.S. conducted a punishing, covert bombing campaign on landlocked Laos in an effort to cut off communist forces in neighbouring Vietnam. The bombardment dropped more than 2 million tons of ordnance on the small nation, more than we dropped on Germany and Japan, combined, in all of World War II, Obama said. The bombing left behind deep scars, millions of unexploded cluster bombs across the countryside and decades-worth of cleanup. Obama is one of several world leaders arriving for a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Taking its turn as the chair of the regional forum, the Laos communist government is seizing a rare moment in the spotlight. For Obama, the visit serves as a capstone to his yearslong effort to bolster relations with Southeast Asian countries long overlooked by the United States. The outreach is a core element of Obamas attempt to shift U.S. diplomatic and military resources away from the Middle East and into Asia in order to counter Chinas dominance in the region and ensure a foothold in growing markets. Obamas project dubbed his Asia pivot has yielded uneven results, as conflict in the Middle East has continued to demand attention and China has bristled at what it views as meddling in its backyard. Obama said Americas interest in the Asia-Pacific isnt new and is not a passing fad. The United States is more deeply engaged across the Asia-Pacific than we have been in decades, Obama said. Our positon is stronger and weve sent a clear message that as a Pacific nation, we are here to stay. With just four months left in office and eying his legacy, Obama used the moment to reassert his aims. He touted new military aid and U.S. support for regional co-operation in addressing maritime disputes. He made a plug for the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement, the policys central economic component that is now stuck in Congress. He sought to address worries that United States new focus on Asia will leave smaller nations as pawns in a chess match between the U.S. and China. We believe that bigger nations should not dictate to smaller nations and that all nations should play by the same rules, he said. The $90 million to clean up unexploded bombs joins another $100 million to U.S. has committed to effort in the last 20 years, as annual deaths have fallen from more than 300 to fewer than 50, the White House said. The Lao government said it would increase efforts to recover remains and account for Americans missing since the Vietnam War. As he opened a day of ceremony and diplomacy, Obama was greeted by a military band, traditional dancers and a warm, tropical rain. He met with Lao President Bounnhang Vorachit, was feted at a welcome banqueted, where he toasted to a relationship he said would mean greater progress and opportunity for the people of Laos. Obamas outreach to those regional powers hit a snag just as he arrived in the region from China. The White House called off a planned meeting Tuesday with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, after the brash new leader referred to Obama as a son of a b----. Duterte, who had been expecting Obama to criticize his deadly, extrajudicial crackdown on drug dealers, later said he regretted the personal attack on the president. In a statement read out Tuesday by his spokesman, Duterte said his strong comments to certain questions by a reporter elicited concern and distress. We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions, and working in mutually responsible ways for both countries, the statement said. SHARE: VIENTIANE, LAOSIn the wake of another missile launch, President Barack Obama vowed Tuesday to work with the United Nations to tighten sanctions against North Korea, but added that the U.S. was still open to dialogue if the government changes its course. Obama said the latest round of ballistic missile launches were provocations that flouted international law and would only lead to further isolation. We are going to work diligently together with the most recent UN sanctions, Obama told reporters after meeting with South Korean President Park Geun-hye. We are going to work together to make sure were closing loopholes and make them even more effective. North Korea fired three ballistic missiles off its east coast Monday. The launch was widely viewed as a show of force timed to get the attention of world leaders visiting the region for a series of summits. Obama and other heads of state gathered in China over the weekend for the Group of 20 economic summit. Obama went on to Laos for a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The UN Security Council in late August strongly condemned four North Korean ballistic missile launches in July and August. It called them grave violations of a ban on all ballistic missile activity. Despite the heavy sanctions, North Korea says the programs are justified because of the threat posed by the U.S. and South Korea. Park told reporters North Koreas move was fundamentally threatening the security of the Korean Peninsula. Both leaders suggested they would continue to push China, North Koreas only ally in the region, to use its influence to intervene. President Park and I agreed that the entire international community needs to implement these sanctions fully and hold North Korea accountable, Obama said. Obama added that the U.S. had not closed off the possibility for dialogue with North Korea, if it were to change course. If it is willing to recognize its international obligations and enforce the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the opportunities for us to dialogue with them are there, Obama said. We do not have any interest in an offensive approach to North Korea. Read more about: SHARE: The Chief Minister accused the alliance of trying to disrupt the social harmony. By Kamlesh Damodar Sutar: Alleging that the Congress-NCP alliance is misleading the dalits, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis has said that these parties are trying to disturb the social harmony. Fadnavis was addressing the state convention of the Scheduled Caste Cell of the Bhartiya Janata Party in Mumbai. "They (Congress and NCP) are misleading the scheduled castes and neo-Buddhists. It's a conspiracy to disrupt the social harmony. But they should not feel scared as our government is standing firmly behind them," Fadnavis said. advertisement "Our government is building a huge memorial of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar at the Indu Mills in Mumbai. It will make everyone feel proud," he added. Dushyant Kumar Gautam, National President of the Scheduled Caste Cell also laumched a scathing attack on the Congress and NCP over politicising dalit issues. "SC votes that have been the Congress's vote bank are now firmly standing with the BJP. That is why the Congress-NCP is trying to politicise issues like Una, Rohith Vemulla, Kopardi incident. Scheduled castes should beware of such conapiracies," said Gautam. ALSO READ: Did Devendra Fadnavis attack Sharad Pawar for gaining political mileage from Kopardi gangrape case? --- ENDS --- LONDON One of Britains best-known radical Islamic preachers was sentenced Tuesday to 5 years in prison for encouraging support for Daesh, also known as Islamic State. Anjem Choudary has been one of the best-known faces of radical Islam in Britain for years, leading groups under names including al-Muhajiroun, Islam4UK and Muslims Against Crusades. Authorities see Choudary as a key voice radicalizing young Muslims. Several people who attended his rallies and events have been convicted of violent attacks, including Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, the killers of British soldier Lee Rigby. The 49-year-old firebrand preacher gained attention for headline-grabbing statements that provoked outrage but stayed within the bounds of the law, such as protesting outside the U.S. Embassy on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and burning memorial poppies on Remembrance Day. But the London-born preacher ran into trouble in 2014 after his name appeared on an oath declaring the legitimacy of the proclaimed Islamic Caliphate State. Choudary said the oath had been made without his knowledge. His supporters shouted Allahu akbar, the Arabic phrase for God is great, as Choudary was sentenced at Central Criminal Court in London. Both Choudary and Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, 33, who received the same sentence were found guilty of inviting support for Daesh between June 29, 2014 and March 6, 2015. SHARE: BEIRUTSyrian activists and rescue workers in the rebel-held part of the contested city of Aleppo said that government warplanes dropped suspected chlorine bombs Tuesday on a crowded neighbourhood, injuring dozens. The report could not be independently verified, and it was not clear how it was determined that chlorine gas was released. Accusations involving use of chlorine and other poisonous gases are not uncommon in Syrias civil war, and both sides have denied using them while blaming the other for using it as a weapon of war. Last month, there were at least two reports of suspected chlorine attacks in Aleppo, while the Syrian government also blamed the opposition for using the gas. In Tuesdays attack, a medical report from one of the hospitals in the besieged eastern rebel-held part of Aleppo was shared with journalists via text messages. It said at least 71 people, including 37 children and 10 women, were treated for breathing difficulties, dry cough and that their clothes smelled of chlorine. The report said 10 of the patients are in critical care, including a pregnant woman. Ibrahem Alhaj, a member of the Syria Civil Defence first responders team, said he got to the scene in the crowded al-Sukkari neighbourhood shortly after a helicopter dropped barrels containing what he said were four chlorine cylinders. He said he himself had difficulty breathing and used a mask soaked in salt water to prevent irritation. At least 80 civilians were taken to hospitals and treated for breathing difficulties, he said. A video by the rescuers shows children crying and men coughing. Most of those injured were women and children, he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. It is a crowded neighbourhood. The head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 70 people suffered from breathing difficulties after a barrel bomb attack in al-Sukkari on Tuesday. The Observatorys chief, Rami Abdurrahman, said he could not ascertain if it was chlorine gas attack. Chlorine gas is a crude weapon that can be fatal in high concentrations. In lower doses, it can damage lungs or cause severe breathing difficulties and other symptoms, including vomiting and nausea. A team of international inspectors determined in late August that the Syrian government and Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL, militants were responsible for chemical attacks carried out in 2014 and 2015. But the UN Security Council failed to agree on whether to impose sanctions on the government in line with a September 2013 resolution authorizing sanctions that can be militarily enforced for any use of chemical weapons in Syria. The resolution followed Syrias approval of a Russian proposal to relinquish its chemical weapons stockpile and join the Chemical Weapons Convention. That averted a U.S. military strike in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack that killed hundreds in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta. Russia, a close Syrian government ally, has blocked sanctions against President Bashar al-Assads government. Fighting has not let up in the deeply contested city of Aleppo despite international efforts to establish a ceasefire. On Sunday, Syrian pro-government forces backed by airstrikes launched a wide offensive in the city, capturing areas they lost last month and besieging rebel-held neighbourhoods once more after a breach in the siege a month earlier. On Tuesday, a Turkish spokesman said Turkey was pushing for a ceasefire in Aleppo that would extend through the Muslim religious holiday of Eid al-Adha, due to begin Monday. Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke to his U.S. and Russian counterparts during the G20 meeting in China about the ceasefire. Kalin told private broadcaster NTV on Tuesday that the initial plan was for a 48-hour ceasefire. Erdogan also repeated calls for a safe-zone to be established between the Syrian towns of Azaz and Jarablus in Aleppo province, to protect civilians. Turkey has pushed for a safe zone in Syria since at least 2014. Turkey sent tanks into Syria last month to support rebel forces against Daesh in the town of Jarablus. It expanded its operation into nearby al-Rai over the weekend. Read more about: SHARE: TAMPA, FLA.Hillary Clinton accused Donald Trump of insulting Americas veterans and pressing dangerous military plans around the globe on Tuesday, seeking to undercut his appeal to service families in Southern voting battlegrounds. Trump declared our country is going to hell because of policies she would make even worse. Clinton, addressing supporters in Florida, warned that Trump would lead the nation back to war in the Middle East. And to military vets and their families, she pointed anew to his summertime dust-up with the Muslim parents of a slain American soldier. His whole campaign has been one long insult to all those who have worn the uniform, the Democratic nominee said at the University of South Florida in Tampa. RELATED: New poll shows Trump and Clinton essentially tied Republican Trump, trying emphasize his military support, released a letter from 88 retired generals and admirals citing an urgent need for a course correction in Americas national security policy. It was aimed at rebutting Clintons arguments that she would be best positioned to lead the military and reassuring Republicans who have openly worried that his provocative statements might undermine U.S. alliances. We believe that such a change can only be made by someone who has not been deeply involved with, and substantially responsible for, the hollowing out of our military and the burgeoning threats facing our country around the world, the military leaders wrote. For this reason, we support Donald Trumps candidacy to be our next commander in chief. Clinton pushed back, saying Trump has lagged in securing key military supporters compared to past Republican nominees including John McCain and Mitt Romney. She pointed to her endorsements from retired Marine Gen. John Allen, who blasted Trump at the Democratic National Committee, and former CIA deputy director Mike Morell. They know they can count on me to be the kind of commander in chief who will protect our country and our troops, and they know they cannot count on Donald Trump, Clinton said en route to Florida. They view him as a danger and a risk. The conflicting messages came as the candidates prepared to appear at an MSNBC forum Wednesday night on national security. While they will appear separately and not be on stage at the same time, it could serve as a warm-up to their highly-anticipated first presidential debate on Sep. 26 in New York. Campaigning in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Trump vowed to take aggressive action to help veterans at home and confront threats abroad including acts of terrorism from Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL. He was questioned by retired Gen. Michael Flynn, the former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency who is a strong supporter. We are going to solve the ISIS problem, Trump said. But we have to get back to building our country, because our country is going to hell. Trump promised to fix problems at the Veterans Administration, which has grappled with patient care mismanagement during the Obama administration. Until those problems are resolved, he said he would allow veterans to seek treatment at private doctors or hospitals free of charge. Your government is going to pay your bill, he pledged. Clintons message was amplified by her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, who was telling a North Carolina audience that Trump has misled voters on his views on the Iraq war and intervention in Libya. Excerpts of Kaines speech, which was billed by Clintons campaign as a major national security address, painted Trump as dishonest, clueless and dangerous when it comes to national security. Kaine was saying Trump tells voters he was opposed to the Iraq War even though he expressed support for it leading up to the U.S. invasion. Meanwhile, Clintons campaign released a new television ad entitled, Sacrifice, which shows military veterans watching some of the New York businessmans more provocative statements. The spot includes clips of Trump claiming to know more about Daesh than military generals, and his criticism of McCain, the Republican senator from Arizona and a former prisoner of war. The ad, which features former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland, a triple-amputee who served in Vietnam, also keys on Trumps assertion that he has sacrificed a lot compared to families who have lost loved ones in conflict. Our veterans deserve better, reads a line at the end of the ad, which is airing in Ohio, Florida, Iowa, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Republicans, too, have questioned Trumps capacity to serve as commander in chief. Dozens of GOP national security leaders released a letter last month warning that he would risk the nations national security and well-being. Separately, Trump continued to face questions about his immigration policy a day after refusing to rule out a pathway to legal status for immigrants in the country illegally. He focused on his proposed border wall plan in a Tuesday interview with ABCs Good Morning America. Last week in Phoenix, he told a raucous crowd of supporters that there was one way only for immigrants here illegally to become legal to return home and get in line for official readmittance. Read more about: SHARE: Astronomers shared a collective sigh of relief last week when a 100-foot asteroid hurtling toward Earth missed by 50,000 miles just a fifth of the distance to the moon. As comforting as the avoided terrestrial calamity was, what remains disturbing is that no one knew it was coming. The near miss came just days before NASA plans to launch an $800 million (U.S.) probe that will land on a much larger asteroid, a remnant from the beginning of the solar system that should provide clues to Earths origins. The mission OSIRIS-REx, which actually stands for something (Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security-Regolith Explorer), is slated to blast off on Sept. 8, from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The mission advances our more practical goals of understanding the resources of the near earth Solar System-as well as the hazards, Jeffrey Grossman, a mission scientist, said at a press conference last month. The probe will visit a near-Earth object that traces an orbit around the Sun similar to the Earths. The asteroid, called Bennu named by a nine year-old from North Carolina recommended itself for several reasons. Its old-basically leftover pizza dough from the beginning of the solar system. As a result, it might contain some of the chemical secrets about how the Earth was seeded with the potential for life. Being a near-Earth object, however, doesnt make Bennu a pal of our home planet. By being in the neighbourhood, it passes Earth every six years, coming so close that scientists give it a 1-in-2,700 chance of hitting us over the next two centuries. Its tempting to believe that Keplers laws of planetary motion describes heavenly objects, including asteroids and comets, as taking immutable, precisely calculable tours around the sun. But theres more to it than that. OSIRIS-REx will be measuring a phenomenon known by the spy-novel sounding moniker, the Yarkovsky effect. A big chunk of rock can pick up speed as sunlight heats it up and the blackness of space cools it off. This acceleration can nudge its heading slightly. The effect acts like a thruster and changes the trajectory of the asteroid, Dante Lauretta, the missions principal investigator and a professor at the University of Arizona, said last month. So if you want to predict where an object like Bennu is going to be in the future, you have to account for this phenomenon. What it means is that Bennu, which was discovered in 1999, might still surprise astronomers when its orbit starts to more closely track Earths in 160 years. By collecting precise data on its composition, shape, and surface features, NASA hopes it will be able to document the Yarkovsky effect in greater detail, and consequently get a better sense of the risk asteroids pose to Earth-like 2016 QA2, the recent near-miss. NASA, directed by Congress, takes impact-risk seriously, maintaining a database of possible hazards and a scientific scale for categorizing their threats. The National Research Council in 2010 published a report about asteroid risks and what to do about them. That research suggests that a rock the size of 2016 QA2 might have had some serious local impacts: Many dozens of people work for years to launch a mission that has the complexity of OSIRIS-REx. Often, its a lifelong dream. As Canadian Space Agencys Tim Haltigin said in a NASA video, I grew up playing video games about shooting lasers at asteroids, and now its my job to shoot lasers at asteroids. It never stops amazing me. The sample-return spacecraft can carry up to 4.4 pounds of space rock. The minimum amount scientists expect is about 2 ounces. Its a lot of work for what seems like a little material-and yet a much better idea than waiting to see if the whole 1,600-foot-wide asteroid slams into earth at the end of the next century. SHARE: The threat of a postal strike is over. Canadian taxpayers are the clear losers. Canada Post, pressured by its sole shareholder the Government of Canada, had to abandon critical cost saving proposals in exchange for a two-year peace treaty. The labour minister called it a voluntary victory for free collective bargaining. Im not so sure. The Canadian Union of Postal Employees (CUPW) blocked any changes to the expensive defined pension plan for new hires. They will get improved dental and medical benefits and receive modest wage increases. The rural-urban pay equity issue will be reviewed by a third party. The agreement buys the government time for their postal review process. But it also means Canada Post will sink further into financial insolvency. Like the Harper government, the Liberals are kicking the postal can down the road in search of a sunny political solution one that no longer exists. In 2008 Canada Post was worth about $1.5 billion. It was debt-free, delivered a pre-tax profit of $160 million and its pension plan was fully funded. CEO Moya Green, a Harper appointee, pressed for gradual privatization. The Conservatives backed away. By 2013 Canada Post was losing money, had $1 billion in corporate debt and accumulated $6.5 billion in pension plan underfunding all guaranteed by the Canadian taxpayer. The corporation was bankrupt with liabilities exceeding assets. A private corporation wouldve been forced to seek bankruptcy protection. But the Harper government ducked the problem. It gave CPC four years of relief (until next year) to make up its growing pension deficit. That delayed but doesnt reduce the obligation. The underfunding of Canada Posts pension plan has grown much faster than the corporations profits. Its now a staggering $8.1 billion. The corporations overall liabilities now top $11 billion with assets of only $8 billion. Since 2008 Canadian taxpayers have lost $4.4 billion in the market value of Canada Post. Taxpayers are on the hook for nearly $3 billion in net liabilities. During negotiations CUPW argued that Canada Post is profitable and could afford their demands. Several years ago CPC mounted a Five Point Action Plan. They increased postal rates, cut home delivery, and eliminated staff through attrition. The result has been a temporary return to modest profits. Second quarter results show an operating profit of $45 million. This represents a return on sales of less than 2 per cent. Not nearly enough to offset the corporations growing liabilities. During the election the Liberals naively promised Canada Post would be required to provide high-quality service, at reasonable prices, to Canadians no matter where they live. There was no mention of CPC being required to be profitable. Last fall, the Liberals halted the corporations conversion of home delivery to community mailboxes. The initiative was saving the Crown corporation $200 million a year. A postal Task Force was established to identify viable options for the delivery of quality and affordable postal services. Again, no mention of Canada Posts financial self-sufficiency. The corporations management found it impossible to stay the course on cost-cutting in the negotiations when their own shareholder seemed oblivious to the financial consequences of their promises. Online alternatives are driving letter mail and direct marketing towards extinction. The parcel business is growing. But not enough to compensate. CPCs workforce already enjoys wages and fringe benefits that far exceed those in competing businesses. This tentative agreement reinforces this disadvantage. The growing underfunding of CPCs pension plan is a financial obligation that cant be delayed indefinitely. Any move by the government to absorb Canada Posts liabilities would means transferring them onto the shoulders of federal taxpayers. Current profits will likely turn into losses without the community mailbox savings and with the added cost of the tentative agreement. Its doubtful whether CUPWs push for a postal banking role would solve anything. Banking is a competitive business. CPCs high labour costs would be a millstone. Traditional banks and emerging fin-banks are offering extensive online banking services to Canadians wherever they live. The government has two basic choices. Allow Canada Post to make the tough, politically unpopular business decisions required to operate as a financially self-sufficient public enterprise. Or, let CPC revert to pre-incorporation days when the Post Office was seen as a social service that requires taxpayer subsidies to function. Either way the Liberals are between a rock and a very hard place. R. Michael Warren is a former corporate director, Ontario deputy minister, TTC chief general manager and Canada Post CEO. r.michael.warren @gmail.com Read more about: SHARE: Re: Liberals face stark choices with Canada Post problem, Aug. 31 Re: Scotiabanks exit leaves big hole in little town, Aug. 27 Liberals face stark choices with Canada Post problem, Aug. 31 Thomas Walkoms article on Canada Posts problems might have been more aptly titled, Common obstacles associated with the stroking of a dead horse. My jaw dropped to my chest midway through this piece where he wrote, Financially, Canada Post is still a going concern, and that it turned a profit last year. How can this be possible? Mr. Walkom mentions that smaller businesses depend on postal services for invoicing and payment. Is that it? Of course, those whove been unable to learn how to use email also need the postal service so they can write to their friends and loved ones. But who else really needs Canada Post? Then Walkom asserts, delivering junk-mail helps cover the cost of standard mail. But theres very little standard mail anymore, and far fewer of us who want junk-mail spilling out of our unused mail boxes. Canada Post made a monster mistake with the way it entered the courier service business. After a mid-1970s postal strike, courier companies, which were allowed to operate during this particular strike, didnt stop operating when the strike ended. Soon after, Canada Post bought into the Purolator company (it currently owns 91 per cent of Purolator Courier). Then, in an odd turn, it began building its own courier service from within. Eventually, perhaps through lack of direction, they became just another player in a field of courier competitors. Sadly, Canada Post might have been the be-all-end-all courier service; its base infrastructure already existed and it could reach rural locations where private couriers feared-to-tread. But that was then and this is now 2016. We dont need private mail delivery; communal mail delivery; pie-in-the-sky Canada Post savings banks; or to have Canada Post investing our tax dollars in ambiguous activities that make money as suggested by Mr. Walkom. Its time to bury, not stroke this old nag. Shes been on life support for a very long time. Jack Drury, Toronto Thomas Walkoms sympathy for postal workers is heart-warming but spare me the notion that they are any more deserving of protection from changing business requirements than the millions of middle-class workers in the private sector merely because the former are fortunate enough to work for a Crown corporation. Perhaps he could show just a tad bit of empathy for the plight of (yes, middle-class) employees in the oil and gas industries where, with the exception of Saskatchewan, instead of support, almost all governments in Canada, in the rush to prove how green they are, are actively seeking ways to put them and their families out on the streets. Jeff Barker, Mississauga Scotiabanks exit leaves big hole in little town, Aug. 27 Another small town loses to a big bank. MacTier last year, now Wilberforce, and soon Maynooth, with possibly many more to come. This would be a good time for Canada Post to get back into postal banking. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) currently espouses the idea. What do these small, bankless towns think of the idea? John Purvis, Colborne Read more about: SHARE: Re: Trudeau opens door to free trade with China, Sept. 1 Trudeau opens door to free trade with China, Sept. 1 Theres nothing free about trade with China. With trillions of dollars in its treasury, the state of China subsidizes its industries to a level unprecedented in this era of global capitalism completely incompatible with a standard free trade deal. Chinas economy is actually a hybrid: total state command and control fused with capitalistic enterprises. Against the principles of free trade, China artificially pegs its currency far below the U.S. dollar, not allowing the market to decide its intrinsic value; thereby ensuring that its exports are cheap for other countries and making imports from the West much too expensive for their own people to buy. As far as safe working conditions, workers rights, environmental safeguards, de facto there are none. Unfortunately our PM doesnt understand economic facts. Hes been told that trade is good and so he delivers his lines with characteristic dramatic effect. While our export of raw resources could benefit initially, a so-called free-trade deal with China would be the nail in the coffin for Canadas overall economy. China would totally dominate, bring in their own indentured workers to work in the industries they buy out in Canada, displacing Canadians jobs. In fact they are already doing so in some Canadian mining operations. D. Scott Barclay, Georgetown He who sups with the devil should have a long spoon. Likewise, he who sups with Chinas Communists should have long chopsticks. William Bedford, Newmarket SHARE: Bayer announced late Monday, Sept. 5, that it was still in "advanced negotiations" to acquire agrochemical giant Monsanto (MON) for up to $127.50 per share, a 2% increase over the bid Monsanto rejected in July. Bayer said in a statement that the "key terms and conditions" of the latest proposals "have not yet been agreed." The announcement follows reports Sunday in German newspaper Rheinische Post that the German pharmaceutical company's board will meet on Sept. 14 to assess whether to launch a hostile bid. Monsanto rejected a $125 per share offer, which valued the company at $64 billion, on July 19. The first unsolicited offer came May 19. Bayer said in May that the proposed transaction would generate synergies of $1.5 billion after year three, increase its earnings per share by midsingle-digit percentage points in the first year and double digits thereafter. The acquisition, the proposed buyer claimed, fits with Bayer's overall position as a "life science company," and would complement its portfolio of pharmaceuticals, consumer health and animal health operations. Jefferies International analysts have previously warned that financing may be a problem, as "Bayer's balance sheet is already stretched," including combined net debt and pension liabilities of 30 billion ($33.5 billion) at the end of the first quarter. TheStreet previously reported that Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant was probably looking for a bid of $131 per share to $135 per share, or $67 billion to $69 billion, likely out of reach for Bayer's conservative management. Monsanto is set to release its fourth-quarter results on Oct. 5, which will likely disappoint investors, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Aug. 30 that U.S. farm net profit will likely fall 11.5% this year from 2015. The St. Louis-based target is one of several agribusinesses to lately face a takeover offer. U.S. security regulators recently approved China National Chemical's $45 billion acquisition of Swiss chemicals giant Syngenta (SYT) , which was announced on Feb. 3. DuPont (DD) and Dow Chemical (DOW) agreed to a $130 billion merger last year which would split the two companies in three. At the end of August, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) announced that the Senate Judiciary Committee would hold hearings investigating the proposed wave of agribusiness consolidation. Grassley told The Wall Street Journal in May that he was concerned about "the sale of too much of our food industry, especially when government-controlled entities like ChemChina are the buyers." Despite Grassley's misgivings, Department of Treasury's Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. already approved the Syngenta deal, which next faces scrutiny from the antitrust officials at the Department of Justice. Bayer's Frankfurt-listed shares fell 0.73%, to 94.24, in Monday trading. Monsanto shares closed Friday at $107.44, up 0.54%, and ticked up 0.10%, to $107.55, in after-hours trading Monday evening. Your Money, Your Retirement, and the 2016 Presidential Election - What changes will you need to make to your portfolio should Hillary Clinton become president? What happens to your investments should Donald Trump become president? Join us on Sept. 12 as our panel of the world's top financial experts provide trusted information on the investment risks and opportunities that arise with the upcoming presidential election in November. [Learn more about the event and RSVP.] NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- China-based private-equity firm Primavera Capital Group is not trying to take charge of Yum! Brands' (YUM) China unit, the group's CEO Fred Hu said about a recent deal with the company to CNBC's Melissa Lee on "Squawk Box" Tuesday morning. Yum! Brands announced on Friday that it inked agreements with Primavera and online and mobile financial services provider Ant Financial Services Group for an investment of $460 million in its soon-to-be spun off China unit. Primavera didn't buy a larger stake in Yum China because it doesn't want to govern the American fast food company, Hu told Lee. "Our purpose is not to control this company. This is a very big company. We positioned ourselves to be a trusted partner and engaged shareholder," Hu said. Even with a minority stake, Primavera will still be able to provide the appropriate level of guidance, he said. "So you know I think its really about the trust and influence. I do believe that, you know, given the trust that we would have built even as a relatively minority shareholder, we will be able to really contribute and add value," he explained. This Yum! Brands deal is being used as a "benchmark on McDonald's future in China" as it searches for a buyer for its China, Hong Kong, and Korea operations, Lee noted. The fast food chain is having trouble finding the "deep pockets" and right match in a buyer, she said. However, Yum! Brands proves that if you find the right partners, then an 8% discount may actually be a bargain, Lee said. Shares of Yum! Brands were higher in early-morning trading on Tuesday. Separately, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings team rates Yum as a Hold with a ratings score of C+. The primary factors that have impacted the team's rating are mixed - some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. You can view the full analysis from the report here: YUM YUM data by YCharts Carlos Bulgheroni, one of Argentinas most politically astute businessmen, who helped make his family-owned Bridas Corp. into a global operator in energy, has died after struggling to recover from surgery in the United States. He was 71. Mr. Bulgheroni had been hospitalized after an operation in June, according to a statement from his companies, which didnt give details on the timing, location and circumstances of his death. Mr. Bulgheroni and his brother Alejandro took over Bridas, which was founded by their father in 1948 as a supplier to the national oil company YPF. They turned Bridas into an important oil producer in its own right, leading to a string of deals with partners. Forbes estimates the Bulgheroni brothers combined net worth at $4.8 billion. Other companies in the familys empire include Pan American Energy LLC and Axion Energy. Mr. Bulgheroni was famous for cultivating positive and profitable relationships with Argentine administrations across the political spectrum since 1983, even at times when other business executives were abandoning the country. Meanwhile, the brothers developed opportunities in far-flung locations in Asia, even at one point negotiating with Taliban leaders in Afghanistan. Bridas flew a Taliban delegation to Buenos Aires in 1997, shortly after the Islamist militant group had seized control of much of Afghanistan, according to the Buenos Aires newspaper Clarin. Mr. Bulgheroni led talks to build a 930-mile gas pipeline that was never built. Major deals that Mr. Bulgheroni oversaw included the 1997 formation with Amoco of Pan American Energy, in which Bridas holds a 40 percent stake. The Bulgheronis then agreed to sell half of Bridas to the China National Offshore Oil Corp. and used the cash to buy ExxonMobils Argentina assets in 2011. Carlos Alberto Bulgheroni was born in Rufino, Argentina, in 1945, according to an online biography from the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, where he was a trustee. He also maintained a home in Washington. He was a law graduate of the University of Buenos Aires. He was active in international business and civic groups, according to his CSIS biography. His companies statement gave no details about survivors. Bloomberg News By PTI: Kuala Lumpur, Sept 6 (PTI) Malaysian police, which arrested five persons allegedly linked to the LTTE for assaulting the Sri Lankan envoy here, has warned of action against sympathisers of the banned group. "I want to remind these groups that they are supporting a group which is banned by the United Nations. We, as a UN signatory country, can take action against them (supporters)," Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar told reporters yesterday. advertisement The attack on High Commissioner (ambassador) Ibrahim Sahib Ansar left him with minor injuries. Khalid said police were also probing local groups who had protested to identify their links to the LTTE and warned that they could be probed under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma). When asked whether the group in the attack was affiliated with the LTTE, Khalid said they were showing signs of sympathising with the LTTE and police were investigating their links to the group. He said police have identified all of the attackers and have arrested five people aged between 27 and 56 who were from Ipoh, Dengkil and Kuala Lumpur, the Star said. Khalid said police were now tracking four more suspects involved in the attack. "We regret the incident had happened," he said. Sri Lanka?s Foreign Ministry in a statement condemned the attack on its High Commissioner. The High Commission is coordinating with law enforcement authorities in Malaysia and other relevant local authorities to identify perpetrators and assist with investigations, it said. It was reported that the High Commissioner was assaulted at the airport after sending off Daya Gamage, the country?s Primary Industries Minister, who was in Malaysia for the International Conference of Asian Political Parties. Former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse, who ordered the bloody military assault which ended the LTTEs separatist campaign in 2009, also attended the conference. PTI JB NSA --- ENDS --- An employee scans a washing machine in the John Lewis Plc distribution center in Britain. The new distribution facilities consolidate fashion and non-fashion items. (Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg News) HEALTH INSURERS Under probe, Cigna sign-ups on hold Health insurer Cigna wont be able to sign up new customers for its private Medicare plans during the fall enrollment season this year because of an investigation by U.S. regulators. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in January that it had found widespread and systemic failures in Cignas private Medicare business. The insurer said in a regulatory filing Tuesday that it probably cannot fix the problems in time for the October enrollment season for private health insurance and drug coverage plans. As of June 30, Cigna had about 533,000 customers in its Medicare plans, known as Medicare Advantage, and 1.04 million in its drug plans, known as Medicare Part D, Cigna said on its website. The private plans are sold as alternatives to the government-run version of the health program for the elderly and disabled; the drug benefit was created in 2003 to supplement health coverage. Cigna spokesman Matt Asensio said current customers benefits are not affected. The ban came after regulators found problems in how Cigna handled appeals and grievances, as well as with its drug coverage. Reuters TECHNOLOGY E.U. hits Apple with $14.5 billion tax bill Apple was ordered to pay as much as 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) plus interest after the European Commission said Ireland illegally slashed the iPhone makers tax bill. The worlds richest company benefited from selective tax treatment that gave it an unfair advantage over other businesses, the European Union regulator said Tuesday. Its the largest tax penalty in a three-year campaign against corporate tax avoidance. Apple and Ireland vowed to fight the decision in E.U. courts. Ireland allowed Apple to pay an effective corporate tax rate of 1 percent on European profits in 2003, down to 0.005 percent in 2014, said E.U. commissioner Margrethe Vestager. If my effective tax rate would be 0.05 percent falling to 0.005 percent I would have felt that maybe I should have a second look at my tax bill, she said. The U.S. Treasury, which has pushed back hard against the E.U. state-aid probes, said the commissions actions could threaten to undermine foreign investment, the business climate in Europe, and the important spirit of economic partnership between the U.S. and the E.U. Bloomberg News Also in Business From news services Coming Today According to the Chinese zodiac, this is the year of the monkey. How appropriate then that it also marks the 75th anniversary of the first appearance of the most famous monkey in American childrens literature. Ronald Reagan may have enjoyed bedtime with Bonzo, and Tarzan yukked it up with Cheetah, but small children will always love Curious George. "Curious George" by H.A. Rey (credit: HMH) (HMH) Margret and H.A. Rey produced seven picture books about the mischievous little monkey and his friend, the Man with the Yellow Hat and there have been numerous spinoffs since but when I was growing up I knew only the first three. These were Curious George, published in 1941, Curious George Takes a Job (1947) and Curious George Rides a Bike (1952). By the time Curious George Gets a Medal appeared in 1957 I had grown much too sophisticated for kids stuff, having graduated to Uncle Scrooge comics and monthly doses of Superman. Decades would pass before I would finally enjoy with three successive sons Curious George Flies a Kite (1958), Curious George Learns the Alphabet (1963) and Curious George Goes to the Hospital (1966). As it happens, in another year or so, Ill be reading about the rambunctious simian who to my eye looks like a chimpanzee all over again with my new granddaughter. [In defense of Rudyard Kipling and The Jungle Books] Even now, when I have entered the sere and yellow leaf, I can still vividly remember how absurdly happy I felt when, having devoured Georges first set of escapades, I discovered that there were other stories about him on the library shelves. Up till then, I had had to be content with Golden Book chronicles of hapless puppies, chicks and bunnies or those tedious sandbox dramas involving priggish Dick and Jane. But here was a plucky, resourceful hero one could admire and even hope to emulate. Who wouldnt rather be George than a good little boy who minded his manners and listened to his teachers? He may have only been a monkey, but Georges surreal exploits were the stuff of second-grade dreams. These days Georges misadventures might be criticized because they celebrate naughtiness and delinquency or because virtually all the human characters are white or because we are shown the monkey smoking a pipe after a big meal. Modern parents and their children will have to decide whether these are dealbreakers. We do know that Georges creators were witty and kind, lived modestly and lent their voices to causes they believed in, including the civil rights movement. H. A. Rey and Margret Rey, the authors of the Curious George series of picture books (Courtesy of the H. A. and Margret Rey Papers, de Grummond Childrens Literature Collection, McCain Library and Archives, the University of Southern Mississippi) Born to German Jewish families, Hans Augusto Reyersbach (1898-1977) and his wife, Margret (1906-1996) spent their early adulthood in Brazil, where they co-founded that countrys first advertising agency. Before that, Hans had worked more than a decade selling bathtubs and kitchen sinks up and down the Amazon. In 1936 the couple returned to Europe and devoted the next four years to writing and illustrating picture books. In his original conception, George was called Fifi which seems ludicrous and in various translations he has appeared as Zozo, Bingo or Coco. When the Nazis marched into Paris in 1940, the Reyersbachs escaped on bicycles (with the manuscript for Curious George in hand) and eventually made their way to America, where they shortened their name to Rey. As luck would have it, their British editor was then working for Houghton Mifflin and eagerly acquired the couples now-legendary book. Surprisingly, Curious George wasnt an immediate success and by the mid-1940s was selling so few copies that it nearly went out of print. But you cant keep a good, if slightly too curious, monkey down. By the end of the 20th century, over 25 million copies of Georges seven volumes had been printed, and today his fame which has jumped from the page to small and large screen and all manner of merchandise almost rivals that of the Cat in the Hat. This week Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has published a handsome commemorative edition of the first George book, along with a new edition of Louise Bordens 2010 The Journey That Saved Curious George, a biography of the Reys aimed at a young audience. Its really little wonder that these boisterous yet gently soothing books endure. Consider, for instance, the over-the-top masterpiece of the series, Curious George Gets a Medal. It begins quietly when the little monkey receives a letter. He puts it aside and like Chekhovs gun that letter remains in the background for many pages, nearly forgotten, until it reappears at a dramatic turning point. Before that, though, George makes a mess with a bottle of ink, floods an entire room, goes in search of a farmers pump, accidentally releases a pen full of pigs, rides a cow, escapes from pursuers by hiding in laundry hung out to dry, jumps onto a truck traveling to the citys science museum and, finally, knocks over a dinosaur display while trying to reach the nuts on a fake palm tree. At this critical juncture the Man with the Yellow Hat suddenly appears, saving his little friend from punishment by holding up the almost forgotten letter. In it Professor Wiseman invites George to blast off in a rocket and then bail out before it escapes Earths gravity. All goes well with the launch until the key moment. George suddenly seems dazed. Suspense mounts. Will he reach the escape hatch in time? Everything ends happily with the brave space monkey admiring his Olympic-style gold medal. Margret and H.A. Rey present all this Keystone Kops-like action in simple language but, as in all their books, the real power derives from the artwork. H.A. Reys watercolors are bright and cheerful; every scene either shows action usually people running or offers details to pore over. The pictures some close-ups, some full-page tableaux possess an airiness and winsome charm that is difficult to describe and impossible to resist. Let me end with a childhood memory. In Curious George Rides a Bike, the little monkey agrees to help a teenage boy deliver newspapers. But the easily distractible George soon starts to watch two kids playing with toy boats on a stream. It looks like fun! After some thought, he takes a copy of the Morning Star and begins to bend down its corners at which point the story pauses so that the Reys can show in detail just how to fold a sheet of newsprint into a paper boat. I remember sitting on the linoleum floor of our kitchen studying that page of instructions and practicing, over and over, so that I too could create an entire paper fleet just like Georges. So parents, be warned! When the Curious George reader in your house suddenly asks for todays Washington Post, youd better have the actual morning paper on hand. Sometimes the online version really wont do. Michael Dirda reviews books on Thursdays in Style. After writing Smile and Sisters, which were based on her own life, Raina Telgemeier has published Ghosts, a work of fiction. (Marion Vitus) In Raina Telgemeiers new graphic novel, Ghosts, Catrina doesnt want to deal with the ghosts in her new California town. When her younger sister, Maya, runs off to speak to one, Catrina nicknamed Cat must find her. At the National Book Festival on September 24, Telgemeier will talk about the book and how she created it. Its a project that has been in her mind for a long time. More than eight years ago, she went to a Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, celebration. Its a tradition thats celebrated in Mexico and throughout the world, Telgemeier explains in the back of her book. At the beginning of November every year, people honor their dead. They dress up, build small altars and light candles. Her character Cat goes to one of those celebrations. The fog and windswept trees of Northern California were also inspirations. Telgemeier grew up in that part of the country and now lives there, in San Francisco. The land looks hauntingly beautiful, she said in an email interview. It sets the perfect mood for a book about ghosts. Telgemeiers best-known books, Smile and Sisters, were based on her life. But Ghosts is a work of fiction. The exuberant little sister, Maya, has cystic fibrosis. This disease affects breathing and digestion. People are born with it, and it gets worse over time. Maya wants to talk to a ghost because she has some important questions about life and death. But Cat doesnt know whether that is the best way to help her sister. Shes not sure she believes in ghosts, even though a new friend, Carlos, insists that he has seen them. Words and pictures Because a graphic novel combines words usually dialogue and pictures, Telgemeier starts with a loose outline of the story and then figures out what dialogue will go on every page. Its really rough and sketchy, she said, but it lets me see the pacing and timing and flow of the story. Only after she has revised that text and her editor has provided feedback does Telgemeier begin the final artwork. And she does it the old-fashioned way, with pencil and ink on thick drawing paper, along with lots of erasing. In the final stage, she works with colorist Braden Lamb to add the coloring digitally. Telgemeier, who is 39, has been curious about comics since she was a kid. She loved reading the comics in the Sunday newspaper. She loved thinking about the way that words and pictures came together to tell a story. When she was 10 years old, Telgemeier started creating her own comics. The characters were fictional, but they resembled me and my family, she said. In middle school, Telgemeier kept a comics diary. She recorded her days in comic-strip form. Nobody saw them, she said, because they were really personal! Kids interested in creating their own comics and graphic novels might start small, Telgemeier said. Begin with a comic strip, a comics diary or a one-to-three-page short story. Over time, you will learn to hone art and writing and character and world-building skills, she said. Thats how Telgemeier started. Gradually her stories grew. Now shes creating graphic novels, such as Ghosts, that are a whopping 240 pages long. The 2014 CharityWorks Dream Ball, An Absinthe Dream, at the National Building Museum. (Tony Powell/Tony Powell courtesy Washington Life Magazine) How to describe the CharityWorks Dream Ball? Extravagant. Theatrical. A spectacle of philanthropy, pomp and power that wound through the National Building Museum every fall. One year the gala was inspired by the Roaring Twenties; anothers Midnight at the Oasis featured a Middle Eastern dance troupe and fire dancing. There was the Shangri-La ball with a contortionist and personalized fortune cookies, and the Absinthe Dream, which bathed the soaring space and aerialists in green. The cost? About $600,000 each year. CharityWorks threw another annual dinner, the 100 Point Vintage Wine Tasting, with celebrity chefs and the worlds finest wines. I know a little bit about good food and wine, Fox Newss Chris Wallace raved in the annual CharityWorks newsletter. To sit there comparing the Chateau Latour and the Mouton-Rothschild is almost surreal. The wines alone were valued at more than $300,000. The parties were over the top, but it was all to raise money for charity and attracted some of the most generous and sought-after philanthropists in town Ted and Lynn Leonsis, Raul and Jean-Marie Fernandez, Russ and Norma Ramsey, David and Katherine Bradley, to name a few. Power philanthropy at its finest, boasted a banner on the CharityWorks website. But the 2016 Dream Ball, previously scheduled to take place this month, has been canceled. The wine dinner is no more. In April, the website offered this message: Due to unforeseen circumstances, CharityWorks is restructuring. Three months later, it posted an open letter announcing that it would no longer host fundraising events, citing the founders recurring health problems. CharityWorks bills itself as a major philanthropic organization in the metropolitan area. But its not a charity or a nonprofit as defined by IRS rules. Neither is it a for-profit business, like an event-planning firm. Basically, it seems to be an entity that existed to hold two fundraisers a year on behalf of other charitable organizations. There are 8,000 charities in Washington, said Chairman Fernando Murias. Most of them are very good causes. We came up with a creative way to distinguish ourselves and our events from the hundreds that go on each year. I think its a creative business model. Now, however, that model appears to have broken down, leaving some area charities waiting for hundreds of thousands of dollars that they say they fear may never materialize. Think big Americans donated a record $373 billion to charity in 2015, a testament to both the vast needs in this country and the willingness of even those with modest means to lend a hand. CharityWorks, founded in 1999, was just a tiny drop in that sea, raising, it says, a total of $13 million over 17 years for nonprofit organizations in the Washington area. The fundraising model was simple: CharityWorks selected one or two charities each year as partners (causes such as education for poor children and assistance to the military and their families), pledged to fund a program or a special project, and then hosted the wine tasting in the spring and the signature Dream Ball in the fall to drum up the money. Founder Leah Gansler said that her prior charitable work gave me the idea to create a mechanism for smaller charities to reach donors they normally would not have access to. We force small charities to think big, echoed Murias. In the early boom years of the 2000s, CharityWorks gave away more than a million dollars a year. In interviews with The Post, three charities confirmed that they had received substantial donations: $1.2 million to the Higher Achievement Program in 2006; $1.3 million to the Center City Consortium in 2007; and $2 million in 2008 for the construction of the Districts Fisher House, a residence where injured soldiers and their families could stay during recovery. By any measure, they exceeded our expectations, said Fisher House President David Coker. Impressed by the success, small nonprofits clamored to become CharityWorks partners, going through a rigorous application process for up to $250,000 in grants. If selected, the charities were featured prominently in all the promotional materials and expected to participate actively in the fundraisers: directing donors to buy tables and write checks to CharityWorks and providing luxury items for the silent auctions held at both events. In return, CharityWorks promised to publicize the partnerships, raise money on the charities behalf and introduce staff members to high-level supporters. Then the economy took a turn for the worse. CharityWorks appeared to float above the fray; the parties were, if anything, even more elaborate. But unknown to almost everyone involved with the organization, the charities were receiving less and less money. In more than three dozen interviews with board members, donors, volunteers and charities, most spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak for CharityWorks or the nonprofit partners. Several people said they were reluctant to discuss the organization for fear of alienating current or future donors, or because they still hoped that CharityWorks would eventually honor the commitments it had made. Concerns over payouts In calls to every charity partner from the past five years, only two Fisher House and Capital Partners for Education confirmed that they had received the entire amount theyd been promised, although they would not state how much that was. Several charities declined to comment on how much they expected to receive and whether they had, in fact, received all or part of that amount. According to an audit of 2011, partner Thanks USA, the charity was told that it would receive a total of $276,826 and received a check for $155,688 in early 2012. Also according to the audit, later that year CharityWorks informed Thanks USA, which awards scholarships to military families, that it would receive $50,000 less than expected (with no explanation why) and sent a second check for $70,000. The initial communication did not consider our office expense allocation, said Gansler. Murias said the commitment was only $225,688. Live It, Learn It, a small educational nonprofit, was the other 2011 partner. Literally every single person I have spoken with has raved about Saturdays Dream Ball, wrote founder Matthew Wheelock in a letter to Gansler. Over the course of the evening, many Live It, Learn It allies and guests echoed the thought that dominated my consciousness: Wow could this really be for us? Wheelock declined to comment for this article. The USO, a 2012 partner that CharityWorks said received $225,000, did not return repeated calls for comment. Teach for America, which was a partner in 2014 and lists CharityWorks as donor of $100,000-$999,999, would not comment. The last two charity partners, in 2015, Best Buddies and the Yellow Ribbon Fund, received $80,000 and $87,000 this summer. That was far less, based on receipts from previous fundraising campaigns, than they would have netted through their own local fundraising efforts, which were largely suspended last year. CharityWorks says it has given $1,685,376 over the past five years, and another $235,000 in directed donations checks written directly to the charities by individual donors at the request of CharityWorks. All the money raised for the annual charity partners is collected during the calendar year of the partnership, said Murias, and the pledges are distributed over the next two years. Some of the money, he said, has been withheld when the charity cant absorb the total amount effectively or is not using it as intended. He conceded that several of the charities may not have had a complete understanding of the timing of payouts, the exact amount they would receive or that part of the pledges included directed donations. I think theres been poor communication with these charities, he said. All the partners we have will be taken care of. Anthony Shriver, left, with Leah and Jack Gansler at the 2015 CharityWorks Dream Ball. (Tony Powell/Tony Powell courtesy Washington Life Magazine) A one-woman show Ask any question about CharityWorks and all roads lead back to Leah Gansler. Gansler, explained a close friend carefully, is a complicated woman. On the one hand, shes unbelievably generous, the first to show up in a crisis or at a celebration. On the other, shes stubborn and can be controlling. Her idea for CharityWorks was both simple and ingenious. She created two networks: a group of volunteers to put on the events who paid dues to become members and local business leaders to raise money and select the charity beneficiaries. And she did not take no for an answer. Shes the most determined person I ever met, said one executive who worked with her closely. Most of her friends were wives of successful businessmen, defense contractors and corporate leaders. Ganslers husband, Jacques, served as undersecretary of defense during the Clinton administration and went on to a successful teaching and consulting career. Her stepson, Doug Gansler, was the states attorney for Montgomery County and later attorney general of Maryland. Leah could talk the talk, explained one longtime volunteer. She knew how to rally the wealthy people in Washington. And she insisted on the best. Susan Gage, one of the citys top caterers, did all her events. Hargrove, the company that builds presidential inauguration sets, designed the lighting and decor for the Dream Ball. The wine tasting featured 10 of the most famous wines in the world accompanied by dinner prepared by celebrity chefs at the private homes of multimillionaire supporters. In 2007, Gansler was named Washingtonian of the Year for working 15 hours a day despite some serious health issues: I dont get tired when I know Im doing something to help someone, she told the magazine. In 2009, Rep. James P. Moran (D-Va.) entered a lengthy tribute into the Congressional Record: I rise to recognize and salute Ms. Leah Gansler, a very special person in the Washington metropolitan region. . . . We are graced by her commitments and accomplishments which have helped so many. Gansler, now 67, has said that she never took a salary from CharityWorks because helping the less fortunate was a labor of love. According to several people who worked with her over the years, she also loved the parties and the social status that came from rubbing elbows with the biggest names in Washington. She acknowledges that she made all the major decisions for CharityWorks and controlled all the finances. Theres no record of how much the organization raised or gave away because of its complicated and private and perfectly legal financial structure. I authorized expenditures related to our events and I led the fundraising efforts for our events as well, said Gansler, who declined to be interviewed for this story but answered a few questions via email. All the money raised went into a tax-exempt fund; Gansler said she was the only person with direct access to how much was spent and how much was disbursed to charity. In short, she controlled everything. It gave Leah the latitude to do anything she wanted to do, said one former volunteer. Closed books Nonprofits agonize over every penny, every day. If CharityWorks had been a traditional nonprofit commonly known as a 501(c)3 it would have filed an annual 990 report with the IRS, which spells out how much a charity spends and gives. The annual report, something every donor should read, allows supporters to crunch the numbers and decide which charities are using their money most effectively. According to philanthropic accountability organizations, a charity should use at least 65 percent of any money raised for the charitys stated mission. Most reputable event planners, said one veteran Washington fundraiser, will not work with any charity that spends more than 50 percent of donations on salaries and other expenses. CharityWorks was unusual in that it operated like a charity soliciting donations, distributing money but was actually a fund under the umbrella of the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region (CFNCR), one of hundreds of institutions around the country that manage and distribute money to deserving local causes. The CFNCR encompasses almost 700 funds valued at more than $300 million, all swept into one giant pile of money and distributed around the Washington region. Most of these funds come from individuals or families who want a foundation to handle paperwork and investing but lets them choose which charities to support and when the money is distributed. Thats how CharityWorks operated, but anyone curious about its finances was out of luck: The funds activities are considered private, as if it were a bank account, which means no public documentation of expenses or distributions. Virtually every fundraising figure about CharityWorks comes from CharityWorks and cannot be independently verified. Thats fine with Gansler, who said I do not have any concerns about the lack of transparency. People have many reasons for keeping information private, CFNCR President Bruce McNamer said, and community foundations provide donors that option. Because CharityWorks is not a legal entity, it was actually the community foundation that gave donors tax deductions for gifts and paid all the bills related to CharityWorks events. A close examination of the foundations annual 990s reveals that the direct expenses for the five most recent Dream Balls averaged $600,000 per year; the wine tasting cost about $300,00 per year. Fundraising is a legitimate deductible expense for charitable purposes, said McNamer, who said he was comfortable with the high costs for the ball because they were valid expenses. (Murias said the $600,000 includes $125,000 paid to two unidentified CharityWorks staffers for work done year round.) Not everyone shares that view. Thats an absurd amount to spend unless youre raising $5 million or more, scoffed one veteran event planner. According to the tax documents, the Dream Ball raised $1.2 million in 2010, $1 million in 2011, $879,000 in 2012, $760,000 in 2013, and $538,000 in 2014, the most recent tax filing. The 2014 ball operated at a loss; attendance in 2015 was down further. One board member said that he had tried for the past three years to persuade Gansler, unsuccessfully, to cut back on the events, which cost close to $1 million to put on each year. She continued to insist that there be no changes to the wines, the venue, the catering or anything else that made the Dream Ball special. This summer, the advisory board pulled the plug. In debt and bankrupt In November 2015, Leah and Jacques Gansler filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The documents, filed in Maryland, detail a privileged life: a $1.5 million house in McLean, a $1.7 million home in Palm Beach, plus two Florida condos worth about $4.5 million and a $30,000 Porsche. The couple owes $1.7 million to the Internal Revenue Service, $4 million in mortgages and loans, $175,000 to American Express. The repayment plan includes an allowance of $19,000 a month, which includes renting an Annapolis home and personal expenses. Leah listed her profession as head of CharityWorks, working without compensation. My health issues were the main driver with our decision to no longer hold events and wind down the organization, said Gansler. The Chapter 11 filing, she said, is totally unrelated to CharityWorks. This summer, Murias asked the community foundation to send a total of $282,500 to four partner charities from the past three years. It still lists outstanding pledges of $327,500. It is unknown how much money is currently in the CharityWorks fund at the foundation. The three charities selected as the 2016 partners After-School All-Stars, Marthas Table and the National Military Family Association were informed that they would not be receiving the grants originally promised. We are going to provide some money, said Murias. The amount is unclear. The open letter posted on the website ended on this note: We are grateful for the support of the thousands of volunteers and donors, and we are proud of the impact they have made in the Washington area. Murias said the organization is switching to a directed philanthropy model and is still accepting donations. Whether anyone will give, of course, is another question. Sgt. James Spurlock leads an outreach session for the sheriffs office on the dangers of cyberbullying and online sexual exploitation. (Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post) The sheriffs deputy paces slowly at the foot of the school auditorium stage, a gold badge pinned to the pocket of his polo shirt, a gun holstered at his hip. His expression is somber. He would look right at home leading a DARE or gang-resistance program, warning teenagers against ruining their lives with drug use or street crime. But his audience members this morning are fidgety, pint-size 11- and 12-year-olds, and his warnings are about the threats lurking in their laptops, gaming devices and smartphones such as grown-ups who send messages or photos to kids they dont know, trying to get them to respond. Child abusers have a name for this technique. They call it bunny hunting, the deputy says, and the hundred-or-so tweens sitting before him grow very quiet. The original version of this class was offered only to parents, with an emphatic content warning. But as perils such as sexting, sextortion, cyberbullying, sexual predation and identity theft have grown, the sheriffs office in Loudoun County, Va., expanded its outreach to include sessions for sixth-graders and ninth-graders the kids transitioning to middle or high school, still figuring out how to navigate their teen years, even as the devices in their pockets place a world of adult content and consequences at their fingertips. And so the deputy, Sgt. James Spurlock, a 26-year law enforcement veteran who oversees the sheriffs Crime Prevention and Juvenile Resource Unit, has come to Stone Hill Middle School in Ashburn, Va., to lead a program called Technology Safety for Teens an anodyne title that belies its disturbing material because police know that the need to teach kids about sexual exploitation online starts younger and younger. Spurlock begins by asking the middle-schoolers a question. If someone threatened you online or sent you something inappropriate, how many of you would immediately go tell your parents? [How can parents protect their children online?] Several dozen kids raise their hands right away. A few of their classmates visibly hesitate, then do the same. Other students sit with their arms pinned firmly to their sides. Okay, not everyones hand is up, Spurlock says. He doesnt sound surprised. So lets talk about that. Educating young people about the dangers of the digital realm has become a growing priority for law enforcement agencies and schools nationwide. Some jurisdictions use specific curriculum or training programs i-SAFE, a leading technology safety training program employed by officials in the United States, is used in 4,000 school districts across the country while others conduct their own outreach. Spurlock has been leading Loudouns technology safety classes since they began in 2012. He always tells the students that hes not only a deputy, but also a dad, and also a weapons designer for the video gaming industry (the Stone Hill crowd is impressed by this revelation). His goal is to connect with kids and leave a lasting impression, which means he doesnt sugarcoat the material. This intense public service announcement from the Justice Department warns teenagers about the dangers of sharing private moments online. Sextortion is a growing problem and has led some kids to take their lives. (U.S. Department of Justice) And he also wants to hear what the kids have to say. So he asks the Stone Hill students why they wouldnt tell their parents if something upsetting happened online a friend was mean to them, or a stranger contacted them, or someone asked them to send a picture. They might take away your phone, one girl says. You might just think its a joke, another girl says. Maybe you think you can just handle it yourself, a boy volunteers. Spurlock explains how important it is for kids to tell an adult if something anything makes them feel unsure or uncomfortable online. When he teaches these classes to parents, he says, he always tells them that they shouldnt get angry or punish a kid for telling the truth. After all, their parents are probably the ones who brought them into the digital world, posting childhood photos and videos. For most of you, your Internet presence started long before you touched your first device, Spurlock says. A few rows back from the stage, two girls are raptly focused on a paper fortune-teller game. The session is about an hour long and slightly gentler than the version presented to parents; Spurlock doesnt tell the students about the worst cases the ones where a teen committed suicide because of bullying, or a child was killed by someone who stalked them online. He avoids mentioning the lives cut short, focusing instead on those who were irrevocably changed. Like Cassidy Wolf, a onetime Miss Teen USA whose laptop webcam was hacked by a 19- year-old student who took nude photos of her: Forever, this will follow her, because theres no way to know where those pictures went, Spurlock says. Or Axelle Despiegelaere, a pretty Belgian teen who lost a lucrative modeling contract with LOreal after a photo of her posed with a hunting rifle beside a dead oryx antelope surfaced online. He tells them about a girl who posted a photo online with a geotag, which meant that an online stalker figured out where she lived and showed up on her front porch. He talks about voice-modulating software that can disguise someones age and gender adults often use it when they contact kids through video games. There is a large community of predators out there, he says, and now the two girls with the fortune-teller game are staring at him. In a recent case in Loudoun, investigators arrested a man who had used Skype to send sexual solicitations to more than 70 children. The man was a government official, Spurlock says, making the point that predators are often seemingly trustworthy figures: Judges, law enforcement officers, teachers, he says. Its not the creepy old guy in the basement. A girl with a curly ponytail raises her hand. Why would someone work so hard just to hurt a kid? For the first time, Spurlock hesitates for a moment. He explains that predators have a range of motivations every person is a little different but offers no specific examples. He changes the topic, focusing next on what kids can do to protect themselves. Dozens of iPhones are pulled out of pockets when Spurlock explains how to disable the geotag function on Instagram and check that their accounts are set to private instead of public. He explains that they should never share their familys wireless router password with anyone else (about a dozen raise their hands to admit they already had). He also reminds the students that they themselves could be considered predators: If you have nude pictures of a person under the age of 18, you are going to prison, he says. How old do you have to be in Virginia to be prosecuted as an adult? A confident chorus answers: Eighteen! Fourteen, Spurlock says. This gets the reaction he was looking for; the kids gawk and gasp. I know this might all seem unbelievable, he says, but dont ever think it cant happen to you. He surveys the grim-faced children in front of him and recites a statistic from a 2014 FBI report about children between ages 12 and 18 who receive unwanted sexual solicitations online. One in 5 of you will be a victim before you turn 18, he says. He repeats: One in 5. The room is mostly quiet. Some tweens stare at their phones, or at the wall-mounted clock over the auditorium door, ticking down the final minutes of the school day. Others glance uncomfortably at each others faces, doing the math, wondering when and how and who. More from The Screen Age series: And everyone saw it. The Disconnected 13, right now Who are these kids? THE DISTRICT Two slain in two days in shooting, stabbing A man was shot and killed Tuesday afternoon in Southeast Washington, and a man was fatally stabbed Monday afternoon in Northeast, police said. Authorities said Joe Cook, 35, of Southeast was shot at least twice about 2 p.m. Tuesday in the 2500 block of Elvans Road SE In Mondays incident, Justin Richardson of Northeast was attacked about 5:20 p.m. in the 300 block of 50th Street NE, police said. Report of grenade at NW park a false alarm D.C. police said Tuesday evening that the report of a possible explosive device left in a park in the Tenleytown neighborhood was a false alarm. Kelly Whittier, a spokeswoman for D.C. Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3), said the device which was found in Chehs ward was a grinder shaped like a grenade. A police official said it was a grinder used for marijuana. Police went about 1:40 p.m. to the 4600 block of 40th Street NW at Fort Reno Park near Woodrow Wilson High School. In a tweet Tuesday afternoon, D.C. fire officials said they were helping police investigate what appears to be a hand grenade. About 2:40 p.m., American University tweeted that students should avoid the area, saying authorities were responding to a hand grenade on a bench near the high school. Police tweeted about 3 p.m. that Fort Reno Park was clear and that no hazards were found. MARYLAND Cluster to replace father as delegate Baltimore County Republican Joe Cluster was sworn in Tuesday as a member of Marylands House of Delegates, replacing his father, John E.W. Cluster Jr. (R), who resigned to join the states parole commission. Joe Cluster, 37, has served as executive director of the Maryland Republican Party since 2013. He continue in that role until Jan. 3, when the organizations chairman, Diana Waterman, finishes her term. The General Assemblys 2017 session begins Jan. 11. VIRGINIA Ofcial: Inmate dies of natural causes A Virginia medical examiner ruled Tuesday that the death of a man at the Fairfax County jail over the weekend was the result of natural causes. Kelly Maurice Scott, 53, of Herndon, Va., died Saturday of abdominal inflammation caused by a perforated ulcer in his intestine, the medical examiner said. Scott was found in his cell about 6:40 a.m., suffering from a medical emergency, police said. Sheriffs deputies began resuscitation efforts, which were taken over by paramedics who arrived at 6:45 a.m. The paramedics continued to work on Scott until he was pronounced dead at the jail at 7:12 a.m., police said. Scott had been in the jail since his arrest Sept. 15, 2015, on a probation violation related to a drug charge. From left, slave descendants Sandra Green Thomas, Patricia Bayonne-Johnson, Zeita Kemp, Melissa Kemp and Karran Harper Royal appear at a Sept. 1 gathering at Georgetown University. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) Georgetown University, having sold enslaved black people in the 19th century, has come up with another perverse transaction: offering descendants of those enslaved people an apology and preferential admissions as part of an atonement package. We provide care and respect for the members of the Georgetown community: faculty, staff, alumni, those with an enduring relationship with Georgetown, University President John DeGioia said last week. We will provide the same care and respect to the descendants. [Georgetown plans to apologize for its role in slavery] The same? As if a legacy of slave labor in the making of Georgetown was the same as a legacy of freedom to enroll in the school? Working under the lash without pay and meager rations the same as earning a diploma and getting a good-paying job? Being sold down the river to even more brutal slave camps and families torn apart, the same as having the means to buy a house, support a family and pave the way for the next generation? Underestimating the impact of slavery and glossing over the horrors undermines whatever good intention the university has in mind. First, lets make short work of the question of whether the slaves and their descendants are members of the Georgetown family, Maxine Crump, a descendant, and Richard J. Cellini, founder of the Georgetown Memory Project, wrote in the Washington Post. The Maryland Jesuits themselves called the slaves and their children the family. [How Georgetown should honor its former slaves] And the slaves and slave owners lived happily ever after. Such distortions are recipes for resentment, not reconciliation. Last year, DeGioia appointed a Working Group on Slavery, Memory and Reconciliation to come up with ways to make amends for the schools role in the 1838 sale of 272 slaves. Of the 16 members on the panel, not one was a slave descendant. We want a partnership, Joseph Stewart, one of the descendants, told DeGioia last week. Our attitude is, nothing about us without us. DeGioia had just given a speech announcing the working groups recommendations when Stewart confronted him. There would be an apology, memorial and legacy admissions. But does the university really understand why the amends are being made? Or anything about the people supposedly being honored? This goes for well-meaning students, too. Some student activists have called for the university to pay reparations by establishing an endowment that would match what the university made from the slave sale. In todays dollars, that would be roughly $3.3 million. The money, they said, should provide scholarships or a professorship. But that pittance hardly makes up for the pain and suffering endured by those families. Nor does it come close to the enormous financial benefits to Georgetown, which enjoys an endowment of more than $1 billion. The school could raise that 3 million with a couple of phone calls to their corporate donors some of which no doubt also have connections to the slave trade. But that doesnt mean the black students shouldnt have a say. Many of them about 90 percent of African Americans are also descendants of enslaved people. The students proposal for reparations was rejected but for the wrong reasons. Lets also rebut any suggestion that many descendants seek involuntary reparations, Crump and Cellini wrote. Not a single descendant reached so far has asked for any such thing. They seek reconciliation and reunion, not reparations. But there are thousands of descendants who have not been reached. And its not inconceivable to think that some of them might be more interested in reparations than some reunion. Other universities also are wrangling with the legacy of slavery but mostly as it relates to their own institutions. The result so far has been to create a picture of slavery as small, scattered groups of unpaid farm workers. Such a limited view makes atonement easy. Change the name of a building, put up a plaque, set aside a day to talk about it. Better that these schools pooled their political and economic resources to pressure Congress into passing a bill, sponsored by Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), that establishes a commission to examine the impact of slavery and study proposals for reparations. Get the facts about the scope and breadth of one of the most diabolical institutions ever devised. Otherwise, apologies and amends will be made without knowing to whom or for what. To read previous columns, go to washingtonpost.com/milloy. MARYLAND Police identify victims killed in crash Sunday Two people killed in a crash in Forestville early Sunday were identified by Prince Georges County police on Monday as a woman and her adult son. Police say Howard Jackson, 27, was driving with his mother, Pandora Bracmort, 50, about 1:15 a.m. when he turned from Parkland Drive onto Pennsylvania Avenue, where they both lived. Police suspect an eastbound vehicle went through a red light and hit Jacksons car. The other driver, whose name was not released, was in critical condition. Investigators are looking into whether alcohol was a factor in the crash. Terrence McCoy Suspected arson damages two houses Montgomery County fire officials said they are investigating a suspected arson that caused $75,000 in damage to two Clarksburg townhouses early Monday. Firefighters were called the 22600 block of Majestic Elm Court in Clarksburg at about 5:45 a.m., said Pete Piringer, spokesman for Montgomery County Fire and Rescue. Officials found vandalism at the site of the blaze. Anyone with information about the fire is asked to call the countys arson tip line at 240-777-2263. Emma Brown Fire strikes duplex in Temple Hills twice Eight people were displaced by a pair of fires that drew firefighters to the same Temple Hills duplex twice Sunday and caused at least $85,000 in damages, Prince Georges fire officials said Monday. At about 1 a.m., the first fire ignited on a rear porch at 3114 28th Parkway and spread inside. More than six hours later, a fire started on the rear porch of the other duplex unit and also spread inside. Fire officials suspect that residual heat and embers from the first fire kindled the second. Terrence McCoy virginia Man arrested for sex assault on Metro train Metro Transit Police arrested a man Monday afternoon after he allegedly exposed himself to a woman on an Orange Line train and tried to force her to perform a sex act. The alleged assault occurred about 2 p.m. as the train approached Dunn Loring station, Metro officials said. A witness helped to identify the suspect, 27-year-old Anthony Sinclair of the District. Sinclair was charged with aggravated sexual battery and assault and battery, and he is being held without bond in Arlington Countys jail, according to Metro officials. Emma Brown From full-fledged romantic dates to hourly services, James caters to the needs of several women. By India Today Web Desk: According to Australia-based male escort Ryan James, the sexual needs of men and women differ to a great extent. James who is quite a mammoth in the industry believes that the needs of his female clients aren't limited to sex alone. They in fact, expect a certain degree of "companionship" from such associations. Picture courtesy: Instagram/Ryan James advertisement Also Read: The disturbing effect the 50 Shades of Grey obsession is having on women From weekend getaways to hourly services, James caters to the needs of his clients some of whom-- every now and then--do not mind indulging in BDSM--a form of sex made popular through the popular EL James trilogy, 50 Shades of Grey. Picture courtesy: Instagram/Ryan James Having handled clients as young as 20 years and those who've been divorced, James was quoted telling Daily Mail UK , "Sometimes it's that they've been recently divorced, or they're still married but haven't been intimate in a long time. I've had clients who are couples who want a threesome, and women who are virgins." Picture courtesy: Instagram/Ryan James Also Read: 50 Shades of Grey star Dakota Johnson handled her #PCA wardrobe malfunction like a boss He also mentions how there is also "a lot of talking" when women are involved and how they want their pleasure to be the prime focus during these sessions. The Australian hunk who charges anywhere between USD 400 to USD 6000 isn't taking any fresh clients as his calendar is already booked by his "regulars." --- ENDS --- Correction: Earlier versions of this story gave an incorrect number of jobs that Northrop Grumman must keep in Maryland in order to avoid having to pay back any of the incentive money it will receive from the state. The company must preserve 10,000 jobs. The article has been corrected. Marylands top legislative leaders want to hear directly from Gov. Larry Hogan (R) before deciding the fate of a $20 million grant to defense giant Northrop Grumman that has become mired in an unrelated spending fight. But Hogan spokesman Doug Mayer said the governor has no interest in attending a meeting to discuss an issue that was unanimously approved by both the Senate and the House six months ago. [Budget squabble casts doubt on $20 million Md. grant to Northrop Grumman] The Legislative Policy Committee, chaired by House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert), has the final say on whether to greenlight the agreement after reviewing its terms. A July meeting at which the 28-member committee was scheduled to review the deal was canceled because several Republicans were at the GOP convention in Cleveland. In August, after Hogan refused to release $80 million in funding for other projects, aides to Busch said that there were no plans to schedule a vote on the Northrop Grumman package and that there were not enough votes among the committees 14 House members to finalize the grant. Busch and Miller did not mention the fiscal fight in a letter Tuesday inviting Hogan to testify about the grant, instead focusing on the need for a full public airing of the total amount of the economic incentive package and terms negotiated, to maintain transparency in how we spend taxpayer dollars. They invited Hogan to testify before the committee this fall. The state has promised the grant as an incentive to keep jobs in Maryland. Mayer said that the details of the agreement were available to lawmakers when they voted for the deal and that the information is still in the public domain. The Senate President and the Speaker voted for and supported this effort it is unclear why they are waffling now, Mayer said in an emailed statement. The ball is in their court. The $20 million grant comes out of the states Sunny Day Fund, with an agreement that Northrop would repay some or all of the money if it failed to keep at least 10,000 jobs in Maryland for the next 10 years and to invest $100 million in capital projects in the state. Buschs chief of staff, Alexandra Hughes, said he and Miller didnt get detailed information about the Northrop Grumman agreement until May 6, after the legislative session ended. She said the Department of Legislative Services still doesnt have enough information to provide lawmakers with a thorough analysis of the deal. The legislature this year also approved a five-year tax credit for the defense firm that was opposed by some Democrats. As you know, legislation for the $37.5 million tax credit was controversial, but both of us worked to ensure passage of this incentive that you requested, Busch and Miller wrote. The $80 million sought by Democrats is all-or-nothing funding, meaning that Hogan must approve all of it or use none. It includes about $25 million to fund teacher pensions and school construction. The administration said it will save the $80 million in fenced-off funding for future needs and use existing agency budgets to cover some items, including higher reimbursements for Medicaid, lead-poisoning prevention in Baltimore and public-safety communications improvements. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) leads Maryland state Del. Kathy Szeliga (R-Baltimore County) by a wide margin in the race to replace retiring Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), according to a Maryland poll released Tuesday. The survey, conducted by Annapolis-based OpinionWorks, shows that 55 percent of likely Maryland voters would cast their ballots for Van Hollen, compared with 26 percent for Szeliga, who is the state House minority whip. Van Hollens lead is greatest in Montgomery and Prince Georges counties, where he is ahead of Szeliga by 60 points and 67 points, respectively. Even in his opponents home jurisdiction of Baltimore County, the congressman leads by 17 points. Szeligas strongest numbers were on the Eastern Shore, a Republican stronghold, where she leads by 13 points, and in Western Maryland, where she is ahead by four points. In positive news for Maryland Republicans, the poll showed that Gov. Larry Hogans (R) already lofty popularity level climbed even higher, with 71 percent of respondents saying they approve of the job he is doing. A Goucher College poll in February showed the governor with a 63 percent approval rating. Hogans numbers were strong even in heavily Democratic jurisdictions. Seventy-two percent of Baltimore respondents said they approve of the job he is doing, along with 65 percent of respondents in Prince Georges County and 52 percent in Montgomery County. OpinionWorks interviewed 754 likely voters for the poll, which was first reported by the Baltimore Sun. The survey was conducted from Aug. 18 to 30 and includes a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points. A witness told authorities that the driver of a Jeep that struck and killed a 5-month-old boy in a stroller in Loudoun County sped up before the collision and may have been looking at his phone, according to a court document. At about 8:10 a.m. on Wednesday, the driver of a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee was traveling north on Coton Manor Drive and taking a left onto Riverside Parkway when he struck Tristan Schulz and his mother, who were walking north in a crosswalk at that intersection. The crash killed the child, while his mother, who has not been identified by authorities, was sent to a hospital with injuries that were serious but not life-threatening. Now, a witness quoted in an affidavit for a search warrant filed in Loudoun Circuit Court said the driver, a 45-year-old Leesburg man, turned at the last second. [5-month-old boy killed in Loudoun County crash is identified] The witness, who was traveling directly behind the Jeep, according to the affidavit, told police he observed the male driver of the Jeep through the rear window holding a phone in his left hand as if he was watching or reading something before the crash. The witness also said the Jeep was tailgating the vehicle in front of it, and tried to beat the mother and child through the intersection. It appeared as if the Jeep was trying to . . . go in front of the female with the stroller, and that the Jeep sped up fast, the affidavit read. A spokesman for the Loudoun County Sheriffs Office said that the case was still under investigation and that no charges had been filed. Although the affidavit named the driver, who remained on the scene after the crash, The Washington Post is not naming him because he has not been charged with a crime. The affidavit said Michael P. Kelly, a partner with the Washington law firm Hogan Lovells, identified himself as the mans attorney at the scene. Kelly told investigators the man would be invoking his privilege and would not be providing a statement to investigators, according to the affidavit. Reached by phone, Kelly said the man had new counsel, and that attorney declined comment. Joseph Miller, left, and Andrew Martin were charged in connection with a marijuana distribution operation in Montgomery County, police said. (Montgomery County Police Department) In a suburban Maryland courtroom, Joseph Miller, 19, promised a judge that his days of importing large parcels of marijuana from California were over. I want to be successful in the right and proper and legal ways, Miller said three years ago. He was sent to the Montgomery County jail for 17 days, was transferred to a work-release center for four months and landed a $10-an-hour landscaping job. But by 2015, the allure of his old vocation and marijuana shipments valued at up to $35,000 apiece, authorities said apparently proved too strong. Miller set up another network of underlings living in homes and apartments in Montgomery County, authorities said, and arranged to have marijuana some hidden in tubs of gravel delivered to them through the U.S. mail. Payton Johnson was charged in connection with marijuana distribution in Montgomery County, police said. (Montgomery County Police Department) At 22, Miller took pride in his business skills, according to court records, trying to never touch the illegal product as it moved to lower-level dealers. As they did three years ago, however, authorities said they caught up to Miller. Now, as cases against him and five others begin winding through the courts, they lay open how an alleged drug network functioned and failed. And they are prompting debate over what role such prosecutions should play in a state that recently decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana. If we are going to allow its use in numerous circumstances, then weve got to allow somebody to get it to them, said defense attorney Philip Armstrong, echoing a point he made in court three years ago while representing Miller. In that case, police found more than $17,000 in cash at Millers home. This is drug dealing on a large-scale basis, Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Mary Beth McCormick said then, addressing Miller directly. Its about fast money, and its being done by a lot of children in your situations. And its horrifying. That view is still held by many: Pot distribution can be such a corrupt and violent enterprise that it must be fought by the police. Anand Javeri was charged in connection with marijuana distribution in Montgomery County, police said. (Montgomery County Police Department) Millers second go-round, according to police assertions in 62 pages of affidavits in court, involved more than $200,000 worth of drugs over a three-month stretch late last year. One alleged subordinate, who has agreed to plead guilty to drug dealing and a gun charge, kept a loaded revolver on an end table in his bedroom, according to the affidavits. The cases against Miller and his accused underlings are in early phases so it is difficult to know their versions of events. Attorneys representing the suspects generally declined to comment for this report, saying they would lay out their accounts in court in coming months. Miller, labeled a drug kingpin in the most recent charges, is alleged to have overseen the shipment of more than 85 pounds of pot into Maryland. If convicted, he faces a prison sentence of up to 40 years. Were in the initial stages of these charges, his attorney, Robinson Rowe, said recently. My client is innocent until proven guilty. In and around Washington, the demand for high-grade, West Coast marijuana means distributors have to find a way to move it cross-country. Driving it takes time and finding a driver isnt simple. The employment pool of reliable people who will do that is kind of slim, said Gregory D. Lee, a former supervisory agent at the Drug Enforcement Administration who serves as an expert witness in drug trafficking cases. The cross-country couriers can dip into the payload. They can get pulled over for speeding or crash the car, and find themselves answering questions from police. There are these problems, Lee said. Thats why they look to alternative methods, such as the U.S. mail. The shipping option, along with parcel delivery firms such as FedEx and United Parcel Service, can be cheaper and faster. And distributors who pride themselves on never touching their drugs think they can diffuse their risk by using runners to pick up and deliver the parcels, according to attorneys who have worked on that type of case. Postal inspectors might seize some packages, but with the surge in legal goods being delivered to doorsteps, investigators must sift through shipments to detect illegal operations. Simple risk-reward, said Armstrong, the defense attorney. You double your money at least if it gets through. But dropped parcels can break open. Snitches can alert local police to packages. Drug-sniffing dogs at postal facilities can detect odors despite plastic barriers meant to mask smells. In the last fiscal year, agents at the U.S. Postal Inspection Service seized 34,305 pounds of pot, according to federal statistics. It is not yet clear from court files how investigators in Maryland with the Montgomery County Police Department and the Postal Inspection Service got word of suspicious parcels they contend Miller controlled. But by late October 2015, they had staked out a two-story home along winding Pointer Ridge Drive in Gaithersburg. They watched a delivery picked up by Anand Javeri, 20, who sped off so quickly investigators decided not to chase him, according to the affidavits. Investigators kept monitoring boxes slated for delivery to the home, intercepting one that weighed 34.44 pounds. A drug dog sniffed the box and signaled in a way that enabled investigators to get a warrant to open the parcel. They found five plastic containers holding bags of what they described as common roadway gravel, court files show. And next to the gravel: Five bags containing 6.12 pounds of marijuana, detectives said. The investigators repacked everything and staged a normal delivery. A Postal Inspection agent, dressed as a letter carrier, walked the box up to the house, got no answer, left it outside and drove away. Investigators staked out nearby saw Javeri retrieve the box, according to the affidavits. A half-hour later, investigators raided the place. The court files in the arrests go on to allege: Investigators found Javeri and Payton Johnson, 18, upstairs. Javeri said he had been excited to discover the pot in the box but didnt know how it had come to be sent to the house. Johnson initially said he had come over to play video games. But Johnson ultimately said that seven blocks away at a home on Perrywinkle Lane, where he lived with his parents, there were drugs, according to court records. Investigators got a search warrant, found that home unlocked and located a shipping box holding five pounds of marijuana, a digital scale and 18 grams of cocaine, according to court records. Javeri and Johnson each have been charged with drug offenses. Neither could be reached for comment. An attorney listed in court records as representing Javeri declined to comment. No specific attorney is yet listed for Johnson in online court records. The detectives intercepted more packages, identified more suburban homes used as drop sites, talked to runners who picked up packages and wired at least one associate of the operation with a listening device, court files show. The detectives came to believe, according to their records, that the network was run by Miller and a No. 2 man, Andrew Martin, 21. In January, investigators learned a box of West Coast pot was due for delivery in Northern Virginia, where it would be taken to a Holiday Inn Express in Montgomery. The detectives followed the box as it was handed off to Martin and approached him in the hotel lobby. You are under arrest, Detective Scott Carson yelled, ordering Martin to sit down. When Martin refused, according to court records, one officer grabbed him. Martin threw several punches, police said, before being handcuffed. Detectives allege that Martin helped supervise delivery of at least 60 pounds of marijuana over a three-month period. They charged him with large-scale drug distribution, and also assert that he threatened to harm a witness. His attorney, William Mitchell, declined to comment. At the hotel arrest, detectives looked at Martins cellphone, finding a number for Pablo whom they suspected from previous interviews was Miller. Text messages between Martin and Pablo, detectives said, discussed package routing numbers, bank account information and delivery addresses. Following more leads and speaking to more runners including one who said he occasionally relied on Uber to get to sites detectives learned Miller was not as insulated from his alleged operation as he liked to claim. On Jan. 26, they followed a four-pound box along its path to an apartment in Germantown. There, Miller appeared on a second-floor landing, according to court affidavits, and took the box. When police moved in, he bolted and when he gained some distance stripped off a green jacket he was wearing and shoved it into a snowbank, records said. Authorities said investigators caught up to him and found the jacket with $12,000 stuffed inside. Miller, free on $75,000 bond, has his next court date on Sept. 16. Anthony Sinclair, 27, of the District, was arrested after allegedly exposing himself to a woman on a Metro train and trying to force her to perform a sex act. (Courtesy of Metro Transit Police) Metro Transit Police arrested a man Monday afternoon whom they say exposed himself to a woman on an Orange Line train and tried to force her to perform a sex act. The incident occurred around 2 p.m. as the train was approaching Northern Virginias Dunn Loring station, said Metro spokeswoman Morgan Dye. A witness helped to identify the suspect, 27-year-old Anthony Sinclair of the District. Sinclair has been charged with aggravated sexual battery and assault and battery, and he is being held without bond in Arlington Countys jail, according to Metro officials. A Virginia medical examiner ruled Tuesday that the death of a man at the Fairfax County jail over the weekend was the result of natural causes. Kelly Maurice Scott, 53, of Herndon, Va., died from abdominal inflammation caused by a perforated ulcer in his intestine, the medical examiner said. Scott is the third inmate to die of natural causes at the jail over the past year. [Inmate dies at Fairfax County jail] Scott was discovered in his cell about 6:40 a.m., suffering from a medical emergency, police said. Sheriffs deputies immediately began resuscitation techniques, which were followed by efforts from paramedics, who arrived at 6:45 a.m. The paramedics continued to work on Scott until he was pronounced dead at the jail at 7:12 a.m., police said. Scott had been in the jail since his arrest Sept. 15, 2015, on a probation violation related to a drug charge. Police are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding his death. D.C. police said Tuesday evening that the report of a possible explosive device left in a park in the Tenleytown neighborhood was a false alarm. Officers responded about 1:40 p.m. to the 4600 block of 40th Street NW after receiving the report, a D.C. police spokesman said. The location was Fort Reno Park near Woodrow Wilson High School. Kelly Whittier, communications director for D.C. Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3), described the device as a grinder shaped like a grenade. The incident occurred in Chehs ward. A police official with knowledge of the device said it was a grinder used for marijuana. In a tweet Tuesday afternoon, D.C. fire officials said they were helping police investigate what appears to be a hand grenade. About 2:40 p.m., American University tweeted that students should avoid the area, saying authorities were responding to a hand grenade on a bench near the high school. D.C. police later said that Fort Reno Park was clear and that no hazards were found. A woman pregnant with twins who was shot last week in front of a Northeast Washington carryout went into labor Saturday at a hospital, and both babies died, according to the womans mother and D.C. police. The newborns were taken to the medical examiners office, where rulings on the causes of death were pending Tuesday, according to a spokeswoman. The mother, Lakira Renee Johnson, 21, survived. Johnsons mother, Cassandra Johnson, 42, said Tuesday that her daughter unexpectedly went into labor at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. She said the twins were born alive and lived long enough to be named Heaven and Nevaeh Heaven spelled backward. The elder Johnson said her daughter underwent additional surgery Monday to repair damage, caused by the bullet that struck her in the stomach, that could not be addressed until after the twins birth. She is in a lot of pain, her mother said. A hospital spokeswoman declined to comment beyond confirming the deaths, citing the familys wishes. [Pregnant woman with twins shot outside Northeast Washington carryout] D.C. police said Johnson was shot about 10 p.m. Aug. 30 as she emerged from a store in the 1300 block of Brentwood Road NE. Relatives said she had walked to the store to get a cheesesteak; police described her as a bystander who was not targeted by the gunman. A man also was shot and critically injured. Police said they are investigating whether whoever opened fire outside the carryout on Aug. 30 was shooting in retaliation for earlier violence in the area. The District does not have a fetal homicide law, and police have put the gestational age of the twins, the length of the pregnancy, at 21 to 22 weeks, less than what doctors typically have determined to be viable. No arrest has been made in the Johnson case, but authorities are examining the particulars of the case and what charges could be sought if a suspect is arrested. Bill Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. attorneys office for the District, said his office is researching the issue and would not comment further because the investigation remains active. In some states, prosecutors can seek murder charges in the death of a fetus. Some states require that the fetus be viable, but many leave open the definition of viable. In 2012, the D.C. medical examiner ruled the death of Kuron Rashad Hunt a homicide. The infant was delivered by emergency Caesarean section and pronounced dead after his mother, who was eight months pregnant, was stabbed in the abdomen in Southeast. No arrest has been made. Sonia M. Suter, a law professor at George Washington University, said it could be difficult to bring charges if the fetuses were 21 or 22 weeks old when they were born. Its right in that gray area, said Suter, whose emphasis is legal issues pertaining to medicine. She noted that the line defining viability changes as technology improves but cautioned that not many people would call 21 weeks viable. Last week, Johnsons mother and sister were optimistic that the fetuses would survive. The mother said the bullet had barely missed her daughters uterus. Lakira Johnson has two other daughters, ages 3 and 7. The Maryland Transit Administration has completed construction of the Takoma-Langley Crossroads Transit Center and has transferred the facility to Metro. The project is a year behind schedule but is expected to open this fall. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post) The opening of a long-delayed transit center in Langley Park, the Washington regions busiest bus-only transfer point, is planned for this fall. Construction of the $34.8 million facility was completed this summer, and Metro has signed a lease and operations agreement, officially taking over the facility from the Maryland Transit Administration, which managed the construction. Metro and the MTA are still negotiating over a number of items that need to be fixed, including problems with the electrical connections and the drainage system, according to transportation officials familiar with the project. Metro wants those issues resolved before launching operations. The fixes are expected to be completed in the next few weeks, officials say, and Metro could be training buses at the site by the end of this month. We are very, very close to there actually being passengers passing through the center, said Metro board member Malcolm Augustine, who represents Prince Georges County. The center is expected to improve traffic and pedestrian safety at the intersection of University Boulevard and New Hampshire Avenue in northwestern Prince Georges, known as a dangerous crossing for pedestrians. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post) The opening will fulfill a decade-long vision for a central station for buses at one of Marylands busiest intersections. A project of the Maryland Transit Administration, the center is expected to improve traffic and pedestrian safety at the intersection of University Boulevard and New Hampshire Avenue in northwestern Prince Georges, known as a dangerous crossing for pedestrians. The center will be a hub where commuters can transfer instead of having to cross six-lane roads to catch their buses. The transit center also is expected to be a future stop for the Purple Line, the proposed light-rail line connecting Prince Georges and Montgomery counties. It is a real improvement for those thousands of riders that go there everyday, said Montgomery County Council member Tom Hucker (D-Eastern County), who represents an area adjacent to the facility. In terms of equity, it represents a long-overdue investment. After the pending fixes are made, Metro plans to spend a few weeks completing preparations for operations, training drivers and notifying riders of associated service changes. Bus stops at various corners in the vicinity will be relocated to the transit center, where as many as 60 buses will go in and out every hour. Metro says an opening date has not been decided, but some officials say the expectation is that the center will open by the end of October or early November. The project is already a year behind schedule. Maryland transportation officials had said in early 2015 that construction was near completion and that the facility would open last fall. Officials blamed the delays on weather and setbacks with utilities, including getting Washington Gas to relocate a gas main. MTA spokeswoman Sandy Arnette said the delays did not affect the projects budget. With 12 bus bays, the Takoma-Langley Crossroads Transit Center will be a hub for Metrobus, Ride On, TheBus and University of Maryland shuttles, serving as many as 12,000 commuters daily on the Prince Georges-Montgomery line. It was built with accessibility features, lighting and public bathrooms. And it offers passengers shelter from bad weather. Last week, workers tackled electrical issues, and some construction equipment remained at the still-fenced site. In response to rumors that the opening could be postponed until next year, officials in Montgomery and Prince Georges said they expect no further delays, urging Maryland and Metro to resolve any pending issues with the construction. We need to move forward with this. We cant stall this project any longer, said Prince Georges County Council member Deni Taveras (D-Adelphi), who represents the Langley Park area. Whatever needs to be resolved, lets get it resolved so that we can move forward and open up this transit center so that we can provide a more concentrated service to our community. She said the expectation is that any issues will be ironed out by October. Erwin Mack, 84, a Takoma Park resident and former chairman of the Montgomery County Pedestrian, Bicycle and Traffic Safety Advisory Committee, said the area is ready for the consolidation of buses at one site, which he said would make it easier for riders to make transfers. The lights are on at night. Fence is completely around the facility. The University Boulevard is prepared for the buses to enter, but no buses are going in, he said. It looks good. It is a fine piece of work, just got to get it operational. The project was delayed for years while the state negotiated the acquisition of the 1.2 acres of land it needed. After five years of negotiations, and an effort by the state to acquire the land through eminent domain, a settlement with the landowner was reached in 2013. During that time, the cost of the project grew. In 2006, the price tag was estimated at $12.31 million. In recent years, that number went from $31 million, a pre-bid price based on the engineers estimate, to the final cost of $34.8 million. The total cost includes planning, design, real estate and construction, state transportation officials said. Although the project has had its setbacks, they appear minor compared with the ones that stalled the massive Silver Spring Transit Center just a few miles away. That transit hub, which opened almost a year ago, was several years late and $50 million over budget. The Langley Park project was funded with federal grants and with money from Metro, Maryland, and Prince Georges and Montgomery counties. According to Metro, the annual operational cost is estimated to be $1.6 million, including staffing and maintaining the facility. The agency is in the process of hiring a service operations manager for the center. Once it opens, Mack said, more pedestrian safety efforts will be needed to protect people crossing the major intersection to get to the transit center. It is a good thing. It was needed. I am glad its built, he said. There are still some challenges on how to operate it. What started as a protest over the brutal gangrape and murder of a minor girl in Ahmednagar district's Kopardi village has now also become a platform to push for the long pending demand of the caste like Reservation. By Kamlesh Damodar Sutar: Maharashtra's biggest and politically dominant community, Maratha are on the streets. What started as a protest over the brutal gangrape and murder of a minor girl in Ahmednagar district's Kopardi village has now also become a platform to push for the long pending demand of the caste like Reservation. The agitation also seems to have a lining of an anti-dalit feeling with the demand of scrapping the Attrocities Act. The girl belonged to Maratha community and the culprits were dalits. The incident hence not only triggered protest marches demanding justice but also fanned the already raging fire over reservations for the Marathas. advertisement Did Devendra Fadnavis attack Sharad Pawar for gaining political mileage from Kopardi gangrape case? Maratha community ever since has been pouring into the streets in large numbers, most of them being youngsters and women. The most evident point in these huge morchas is that they are neither political nor led by any political leaders or party. Hence it has send shivers down the spine of political parties in Maharashtra. Here are few reasons why the agitation of Marathas is politically important : Maratha caste alone forms 32 per cent of the states population. Its the most influential caste in the state controlling the states politics, Education institutes, Sugar Factories and Co-operative sector. Lakhs attended the Silent March in Ahmednagar. Numbers only kept increasing in Aurangabad followed by Osmanabad and Jalgaon. The protest rally in Beed saw close to 5 lakh participants. Similar rallies have now been planned in Latur, Parbhani, Solapur, Amravati . A grand Morcha of 25 lakh is planned in Mumbai this month. "Ever Since the Shiv Sena and BJP government has come to power, the Maratha community is facing a lot of injustice. Our government had given 16 per cent reservation to the community, but this government has failed to give that. We will continue with these protests in various parts of Maharashtra and then it will culminate into a huge morcha in Mumbai," said Congress Leader Nitesh Rane. Considering the sensitive nature of the issue and the growing support to the march, the state government is taking a cautious stand? Education Minister Vinod Tawde who is the convenor of the Committee for Maratha Reservation called the Protests as social in nature. "These morchas are not political. They are for a social cause. You will not see a single political leader there only 2 young girls are speaking up the mind. The state government has taken the notice of their demands and our government is working on it," said Tawde. "Some leaders are trying to take political advantage but the community will not allow them to hijack a movement for their just demands," he added. advertisement But the demand is not only about justice for the Kopardi rape victim or Maratha Reservation. The culprits in the Kopardi rape case were Dalits and hence there is also a demand to scarp the Prevention of Atrocities act, which the Maratha community feels is used against them. MNS supremo Raj Thackeray had demanded to scrap the Law, while NCP Supremo Sharad Pawar too has called for a rethink if the law is being misused. But the demand for scraping the law is also witnessing opposition within the cabinet as well. President of the Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, Mahadev Jankar said, "Atrocity Act is in the Constitution of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, no one can take that away that. Why didn't (Sharad) Pawar pay attention to the community's demands when he was in power both in the state and centre?" For the BJP the Maratha uprising is Maratha community is a stark reminder of the Patel agitation is Gujarat that went out of its hand. With the community taking to the streets in such large numbers many believe that this could be just the lull before a political storm. --- ENDS --- advertisement PETERSBURG, VA-AUG 25: The Trailways Bus Station, a pivotal landmark in Petersburg's Civil Rights movement is a designated state historic landmark. The bus station was built in 1946 and desegregated in August of 1960 following a series of sit-ins by African Americans. Petersburg Virginia's Interim City Manager Dironna Moore Belton has notified residents and city officials that a shutdown may be necessary this year if short term financing is not received as soon as possible. The city has a budget deficit that runs in the millions of dollars. (Photo by Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post) (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post) Petersburg may be the most financially challenged city in Virginia today, but it was once a powerful center of industry and commerce. [This Virginia city is teetering on the edge of collapse] Much of its pre-Civil War prosperity was built with slave labor but Petersburg also had the highest concentration of free blacks in Virginia in the years leading up to the war. In 1854, Lippincott, Grambo & Co. published a Gazetteer of the United States that suggests how mighty Petersburg once was: Petersburg, a handsome and flourishing post-town...is the third town of Virginia in respect to population, and possesses extensive facilities for business. Vessels of 100 tons ascend the [Appomattox] river to the town The South Side railroad has its eastern terminus at this place, and the Appomattox railroad connects it with City Point, at the mouth of the river...Large quantities of flour and tobacco are exported from this place. Petersburg is well built, and contains 2 churches of the Presbyterians, 2 of the Methodists, 2 of the Episcopalians, 1 of the Baptists, 1 of the Catholics, besides several places of worship for colored people. It has also 3 banks, several cotton factories, 1 woollen factory, 2 rope-walks, 1 iron furnace, 6 forges, and numerous mills of various kinds. Three newspapers are published here. The falls of the river, which arrest the ascent of the tide immediately above Petersburg, furnish extensive water-power. Around these falls a canal has been constructed, by which means small boats ascend the river for the distance of about 100 miles. ...In 1815 a great fire occurred here, by which near 400 houses were consumed... Pop. in 1850, 14,010; in 1853, about 15,000. Richmonds population in 1850 was 27,570, according to the Gazetteer, and Norfolks in 1853 was about 16,000. What the old book doesnt say is that two of Petersburgs churches -- First Baptist (founded 1774) and Gillfield (1797) -- were among the first black churches in the United States. It was the fall of Petersburg to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in 1865 that helped bring down the Confederate army. Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant at nearby Appomattox Court House soon after. NEW YORK 2 killed at pre-dawn Jouvert celebration Two people were shot dead at a pre-dawn Caribbean heritage celebration in New York despite ramped-up efforts by police and community activists to prevent the violence that has plagued the annual event in years past, authorities said Monday. Gunfire erupted in three separate incidents during Jouvert, a street party tied to the Caribbean Carnival that draws tens of thousands of revelers in the borough of Brooklyn over the Labor Day weekend. Two other people were wounded, police said. At the same event last year, two people were killed, including a top aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D). A 17-year-old, Tyreke Borel, was shot in the chest about 3:50 a.m. in Brooklyn during Jouvert, a celebration that fills the streets with music hours before a parade starts. Police said a 72-year-old woman was shot in the arm at the same location and was hospitalized in stable condition. Soon after, a 22-year-old woman, Tiarah Poyau, was shot in the head just a block away, police said. Borel and Poyau died, and police said they were investigating whether the shootings were related. The New York Police Department had doubled the number of officers at Jouvert and the West Indian Day Parade, which are overseen by different organizations. Security cameras and more light towers were added. Cuomo was among the raft of state and local elected officials marching in the parade. From news services MINNESOTA Thousands of nurses go on strike at hospitals Thousands of nurses at five Minnesota hospitals began an open-ended strike Monday in a dispute over health insurance, workplace safety and staffing. Clad in red T-shirts, members of the Minnesota Nurses Association, which represents about 4,800 nurses at five Twin Cities-area hospitals run by Allina Health, hit the picket lines at 7 a.m. on Labor Day. They were joined by supporters from other unions. A 22-hour bargaining session ended without agreement early Saturday, and no new talks are scheduled. Allina says it plans to operate the affected hospitals at normal capacity with around 1,500 temporary nurses. The affected hospitals are Abbott Northwestern and the Phillips Eye Institute in Minneapolis, United in St. Paul, Unity in Fridley and Mercy in Coon Rapids. The three main trauma centers in the Twin Cities area Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, Regions Hospital in St. Paul and North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale are not affected, nor are several other major hospitals in other networks. The core issue in the dispute is that Allina wants to transition its nurses by 2020 to the same health plans that cover other employees, in hopes of saving about $10 million a year. Those plans have lower premiums but higher deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs. Associated Press WEATHER Hermine weakens, but storm dangers remain Hermine, a storm that raked Florida with hurricane-force winds last week, drifted far off the east coast Monday, sparing the Mid-Atlantic states but forcing some beach closures. Forecasters warned swimmers and boaters along the Eastern Seaboard to stay out of treacherous waters and rough surf churned up by the storm as it chugged on a northwesterly direction. On Cape Cod and its offshore islands, high surf and wind put a crimp in the Labor Day plans of many people looking to celebrate summers end, but some beaches farther south reopened. An exception was New York City, which said all public beaches would be closed through Tuesday because of life threatening rip currents generated by Hermine. Hermine, classified as a Category 1 hurricane when it slammed into Floridas Gulf Coast early Friday, became a post-tropical storm by weeks end after its winds dropped below 74 mph and it lost its tropical characteristics. The storm was still packing sustained surface winds of up to 70 mph with higher gusts on Monday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasters expected Hermine to linger off the Northeast before gradually weakening by Tuesday morning. Reuters Police probe clown sightings in the woods: Police say they are doing extra patrols in a Winston-Salem neighborhood in North Carolina after two children reported seeing a clown trying to lure kids into the woods with treats. Police said officers were called to the area around 8:30 p.m. Sunday but found no evidence of a clown in the woods. About four hours later, a caller who refused to give a name reported seeing a clown about two miles away. Police say again they found no evidence of a clown. Several unverified clown sightings in northern South Carolina have been in the news recently. Associated Press Phyllis Schlafly, a conservative activist, lawyer and author who is credited with almost single-handedly stopping the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and who helped move the Republican Party toward the right on family and religious issues, died Monday at her home in St. Louis. She was 92. Her daughter, Anne Cori, said Mrs. Schlafly had been ill with cancer for some time. A champion of traditional, stay-at-home roles for women, Mrs. Schlafly opposed the ERA because she believed it would open the door to same-sex marriage, abortion, the military draft for women, co-ed bathrooms and the end of labor laws that barred women from dangerous workplaces. The brief Equal Rights Amendment (Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex) was anti-family and anti-American, she said. Equality, she added, would be a step down for most women, who she said are extremely well-treated by society and laws. Mrs. Schlafly was almost too late to stop the amendments passage: By early 1972, when she first published her objections, it had just passed Congress, and 30 of the necessary 38 state legislatures had ratified it. Mrs. Schlafly, an experienced anti-communist Republican Party activist, quickly organized the opposition. The effort began operating under the name Stop ERA and later became a national organization called the Eagle Forum, which Mrs. Schlafly dubbed an alternative to womens liberation. In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision on Roe v. Wade, legalizing abortion. Suddenly, a huge constituency of conservative, family-oriented churchgoers was energized to engage in politics. Binding together fundamentalists, evangelicals, Catholics, Mormons and Orthodox Jews, Mrs. Schlafly realized that she could direct a movement of people who believed the family and traditional values were under attack. A best-selling author, radio commentator and an excellent debater, she barnstormed the country, speaking before clubs, church organizations and 30 state legislatures. By the time the deadline for passage of the ERA arrived in 1982, 15 states had rejected it and five others had rescinded their ratifications. The measure fell three states short of passage. Mrs. Schlafly staged a festive burial party at Washingtons Shoreham Hotel and told a crowded news conference that the ERA is dead for now and forever in this century. The nation could enter a new era of harmony between women and men, she said. Just as her public life didnt begin with the ERA, it didnt end with its defeat. The battle over the amendment helped launch the family values, antiabortion movement in the United States, and Mrs. Schlafly continued to be one of its standard bearers, as well as supporting causes such as opposition to illegal immigrants, federal judicial activism, ballots in languages other than English, the Title IX rules that required equal treatment of girls and boys in sports, and privacy-invading questions on the census. Secretaries, stewardesses and other women fighting for pay of comparable worth were simply envious of the wages of janitors and truck drivers, Mrs. Schlafly said. Always quotable, her opinions could outrage and provoke even members of her own political partys establishment. When President Ronald Reagans surgeon general, C. Everett Koop, tried to introduce AIDS education to public school curriculums in the 1980s, Mrs. Schlafly likened it to the teaching of safe sodomy. She called sex education a principal cause of teenage pregnancy. Reagan-appointed Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy ran afoul of Mrs. Schlafly in 2005, when his opinion questioning capital punishment for juveniles seemed to her to be grounds for impeachment. She said during the 2010 Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington that no woman, including former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, was yet ready to be president, although she had cheered Palins selection as the Republicans 2008 vice-presidential nominee, calling her as an exemplar of all that is good and true. Phyllis Schlafly talks with Missouri delegate Juanita Crosby at the 1992 Republican National Convention in Houston. (Barry Thumma/Associated Press) Mrs. Schlafly was an attorney who built her own media empire, writing or editing 20 books. She published a monthly newsletter, the Phyllis Schlafly Report, wrote a syndicated newspaper column, produced radio commentaries and anchored a radio talk show. She also was a regular lecturer on the college circuit. Mrs. Schlafly was the subject of two biographies, Carol Felsenthals The Sweetheart of the Silent Majority (1981) and Donald Critchlows Phyllis Schlafly and Grassroots Conservatism (2006). Reagan appointed her to the Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, and Ladies' Home Journal named her one of the 100 most important women of the 20th century. An indication of her continuing relevance and her ability to stir up emotions came in 2008 when hundreds of students protested when her alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis, granted her an honorary diploma. Well-spoken, self-assured, dressed like an affluent homemaker, with a hairdo like a treble clef, as Ginia Bellafante of the New York Times said in 2006, Mrs. Schlafly drove feminists nuts. A womans most important job is to be a wife and mother, Mrs. Schlafly repeatedly said, even as she employed a full-time housekeeper to care for her six children. She said she was never away from home overnight and often took her infants with her to speaking engagements. In 1992, her home state of Illinois named her its Mother of the Year. Id like to thank my husband, Fred, for letting me be here today, she told a crowd of 11,000 at a pro-family gathering in 1977. I like to say that because it irritates the womens libbers more than anything. In 1981, speaking at a Senate labor committee hearing on sexual harassment in the workplace, Mrs. Schlafly said that men hardly ever ask sexual favors of women from whom the certain answer is No. Virtuous women are seldom accosted by unwelcome sexual propositions or familiarities, obscene talk or profane language. She never shrank from battle, agreeing countless times to debate well-known feminists such as Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and Eleanor Smeal. In one such faceoff, at Illinois State University in 1973, the often-volatile Friedan called Mrs. Schlafly a traitor to her sex and said she would like to burn her at the stake. Four years later, after Mrs. Schlafly implied that all the women at a womens conference in Houston were gay, Steinem, one of the few feminists who could match her quotes, retorted, If were all lesbians, where are we getting all these unborn babies to kill? Born Phyllis McAlpin Stewart on Aug. 15, 1924, in St. Louis, she was the daughter of a librarian who supported the family of four when Phylliss father could not find work during the Depression. Mrs. Schlafly attended two years of college at Maryville College of the Sacred Heart, but the school was not rigorous enough for her, she later said, so she paid her way through Washington University by working 48 hours a week in a World War II ordnance plant, firing machine guns to test the ammunition. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and then earned a masters degree in political science in 1945 from Radcliffe College, Harvard Universitys sister school for women. She headed to Washington for a year to do research for what is now the American Enterprise Institute, then went back to St. Louis to work on a congressmans reelection campaign and to be a research director at two local banks. She said she was saved from the life as a working girl by marrying wealthy lawyer Fred Schlafly in 1949. She quit her job and became a community volunteer and Republican Party activist. In the early 1950s, she did research for Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, the Wisconsin Republican who railed against Communist infiltration into the U.S. government. Mrs. Schlafly won the Republican nomination for Congress from Alton, Ill., on her first try in 1952, presenting herself as a housewife. She lost in the general election to the incumbent. She was a delegate to the 1956 Republican National Convention, and in 1960 she tried again for Congress, this time as a write-in candidate. At the 1960 Republican National Convention, she helped lead a revolt of conservatives against an anti-segregation and anti-discrimination plank in the partys platform. She and her husband also founded the Cardinal Mindszenty Foundation to alert the world to the dangers of communism. She published pamphlets that compiled right-wing essays and in 1962 became a radio commentator on a program carried by 18 stations. The atomic bomb, she said, was a marvelous gift given to our country by a wise God. An enthusiastic supporter of Barry Goldwater, the Republican nominee for president in 1964, Mrs. Schlafly wrote her first book, A Choice Not an Echo, attacking the elite, East Coast kingmakers of the party who ignored the grass-roots conservatives who were Goldwaters base. She published it herself as a mail-order paperback, and it sold more than 3 million copies before Election Day. The success inspired her to write a series of books about national defense, in partnership with retired Navy Adm. Chester Ward. One accused Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara and presidential advisers McGeorge Bundy and Walt Rostow of deliberately weakening the U.S. military so that the Soviets could overwhelm the United States. Another, written by herself, contended that communists instigated the urban riots in 1967. Mrs. Schlafly also rose in the ranks of the National Federation of Republican Women, becoming first vice president. She was in line to rise to president, but Goldwaters loss to Lyndon B. Johnson in the presidential race brought a resurgence of the partys liberal wing, and Mrs. Schlafly was outmaneuvered for leadership of the group. She founded the Eagles Are Flying, a separate group for her supporters in the National Federation of Republican Women, as well as a trust fund for conservative candidates and her own newsletter. In 1970, she tried a third time to win election to Congress but again lost to an incumbent. Her decision to enter law school in the early 1970s was temporarily halted by the objections of her husband, although he had encouraged all their children to go to law school. He changed his mind two weeks later, and she graduated from Washington Universitys law school in 1978. In 1993, after 44 years of marriage, her husband died, and Mrs. Schlafly moved back to St. Louis from their longtime home in Alton. Survivors include six children: Cori, Bruce Schlafly and Liza Forshaw, all of St. Louis; John Schlafly of Alton, who came out as gay in 1992; Roger Schlafly of Santa Cruz, Calif.; and Andrew Schlafly, of Far Hills, N.J., who started Conservapedia in 2006 as a reaction against perceived liberal bias in Wikipedia; 16 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. Mrs. Schlaflys opposition to the ERA developed only after a friend invited her to speak about the proposed constitutional amendment to a Darien, Conn., book club in early 1972. Until then, she said later, she was unaware of the then-50-year-old proposal. At first, she recalled, I dont even know what side Im on . . . I figured ERA was something between innocuous and mildly helpful. NORTH KOREA 3 missiles launched, land close to Japan North Korea fired three medium-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast Monday, landing close to Japan, in a show of force that coincided with the meeting of leaders of the worlds 20 largest economies in neighboring China. The missiles, believed to be Rodongs, were launched from a site south of Pyongyang, South Koreas military said. They flew about 600 miles and landed well inside Japans air defense identification zone, the area in which Tokyo controls aircraft movement. The launches, coming just days before North Korea marks the 68th anniversary of the formation of its government, constituted an armed protest, a South Korean military spokesman said. Japans Defense Ministry said the missiles landed 120 to 160 miles west of Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japans four main islands. The launches were the latest salvo in a series. Last month, Kim Jong Uns regime claimed a great success in launching a ballistic missile from a submarine about 300 miles toward Japan, on top of making progress on its medium-range Musudan missile technology. Anna Fifield HONG KONG Anti-China candidates gain ground in election A group of young Hong Kong pro-democracy activists pulled off a stunning election victory, gaining a foothold in the southern Chinese citys legislature and setting the stage for a new round of political confrontations with Beijing, official results showed Monday. The candidates, who helped lead massive 2014 pro-democracy protests, will now seek a vote on changing the way the city is governed by Chinas Communist leaders, but they are expected to face resistance from Beijing, which rejects separatism. Final results showed that pro-democracy candidates won 30 of 70 seats in the Legislative Council, three more than previously, which means they retain the power to block government attempts to enact unpopular or controversial legislation, such as a Beijing-backed revamp of how the citys top leader is chosen that sparked the 2014 protests. Record turnout helped sweep the newcomers into office, most notably Nathan Law, a 23-year-old former student protest leader. Laws party, Demosisto, founded this year with teen protest leader Joshua Wong, advocates a referendum on self-determination on the future status of Hong Kong, which is in the middle of a 50-year transition to Chinese rule. In another surprising result, Yau Wai-Ching, 25, and Sixtus Baggio Leung, 30, of Youngspiration also secured seats. Their group was formed during the 2014 protests. Associated Press RUSSIA Key polling agency deemed foreign agent Russias Justice Ministry on Monday declared the Levada-Center, the most influential independent polling organization in Russia, a foreign agent two weeks before parliamentary elections. Foreign agents in Russia are nongovernmental organizations that receive funds from abroad and engage in political activity, a definition that critics say is intentionally vague. The Levada-Center had been targeted by conservative Russian politicians, who claimed that the organization was secretly carrying out polling work for the Pentagon and demanded an investigation. The organizations analysts regularly express liberal views that do not jibe with the opinions of government officials. The foreign agent law was enacted after 2012 street protests over parliamentary elections that many criticized as fraudulent. Andrew Roth Blasts near Kabul Defense Ministry kill 24: Twin bombings near the Afghan Defense Ministry in Kabul killed at least 24 people, including two generals. A Public Health Ministry spokesman said 91 people were wounded in the blasts, which were claimed by the Taliban. Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said a district police chief and five other officers were among those who were killed. India to swap chili shells for some pellet guns in Kashmir: Indian troops will begin using some chili-filled shells instead of shotgun pellets to control angry crowds in the Indian-administered portion of Kashmir, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said. Troops have used live ammunition and pellet guns to control crowds amid some of the worst protests against Indian rule in the disputed territory in recent history, killing more than 70 people and injuring thousands. The chili-filled shells are said to irritate and temporarily immobilize their targets. Ethiopian prison fire kills 23: Twenty-three people died in a prison fire in Ethiopia over the weekend, a state-affiliated broadcaster reported. The Kilinto prison on the outskirts of the capital, Addis Ababa, is where many opposition figures and journalists are held. Fana Broadcasting Corporate cited a government statement as saying that 21 inmates died in a stampede and from suffocation. The other two were killed while trying to escape. The East African country has seen months of sometimes deadly protests calling for wider freedoms. From news services Every year, thousands of American children are taken from their homes and placed in foster care. And in the midst of an opioid epidemic, those numbers are rising. For many children, foster care is absolutely necessary and even lifesaving. Many of those children find stability they never had thanks to the tireless work of dedicated social workers, foster parents, judges and treatment providers. But in many cases, its possible to improve a childs family situation at home and avoid the trauma of being separated from family, friends and school, as well as the long-term cost of foster care. Most children come into foster care not as a result of physical or sexual abuse but due to complex factors related to neglect. According to national data, in more than one-third of foster care cases, parental substance abuse is cited as a reason for removing a child from home. Experts report that, in reality, the percentage of foster care cases involving parental substance abuse is likely twice that high. These families are often also dealing with issues such as poverty, mental or physical illness, or parental incarceration. More than half of children who enter foster care eventually live with their parents again. But the unfortunate reality is that many foster children struggle to deal with their experiences, even when it becomes safe for them to return home. Historically, foster children have been more likely to encounter the juvenile and adult criminal-justice systems, more likely to become pregnant as teenagers and less likely to hold down a job. When we hear from children who have spent time in foster care, something they often say is: You could have helped my mom or you could have helped my dad. Take, for example, the case of a young man from Florida placed in foster care at age 11 because his parents and other family members were addicted to drugs. He said that if his parents had gotten the substance abuse treatment they needed, its possible he could have grown up safely at home. Instead, he aged out of the system at 18, leaving him to navigate adulthood on his own and without the support of a family. We agree there is a better way to help vulnerable children and families. Thats why we chose to work together, across party lines, to create long-term, structural changes to the child welfare system. In June, we introduced the bipartisan, bicameral Family First Prevention Services Act, to strengthen families by doing more to keep children from entering foster care, and to ensure that they are in the right setting if they cant stay safely at home. The legislation would begin a new era for the child welfare system by aligning the funding with what we all believe: Foster care should be limited, temporary and high-quality. Under this bill, instead of having a system that just pays for foster care, states would receive federal support to strengthen families through substance abuse treatment, mental-health services and in-home parenting programs to allow parents or other relatives to get the help they need to safely care for their kids. It would also for the first time set high national standards for foster care group homes to ensure that the most vulnerable children get clinical and professional help to address the traumas they have experienced. Child advocates have been seeking these changes for more than two decades, and we worked together House and Senate, in a bipartisan process to draft the final bill. More than 300 child welfare groups, from the American Academy of Pediatrics to the Childrens Defense Fund, to Catholic Charities and Focus on the Family, have endorsed the bill. The House of Representatives decisively passed the bill in June. When the Senate resumes legislative work this week, it will have the opportunity to take an important step to help children and their families. Our most vulnerable have already been waiting too long. By Shreya Goswami: It's very rarely that a MasterChef Australia runner-up opens up a food truck. Usually, the top five travel around the world, learning from the best chefs in the business, before opening up their own F&B venture. But Matt Sinclair, the runner-up in Season 8 (and the contestant most of us had picked as a favourite to win), has done just that--launched his new food truck in Brisbane. advertisement Even though the course of the competition proved his mettle as a fine-dining chef, Matt has persisted with his dream of opening his own food truck. And going by his Instagram pictures, Matt has been involved at every stage, from ordering the truck, the spot for their launch at Brisbane's Eat Street Markets, and even the repair of a refrigerator! But the one thing that stands out the most, is the name and concept for his food truck. Matt's food truck, Ten Piece Cutlery, celebrates Indian culinary and eating habits. Picture courtesy: Instagram/tenpeicecutlery Called Ten Piece Cutlery, Matt Sinclair's food truck is all about eating with the ten pieces of cutlery we naturally have--our fingers! And yes, Matt did get this idea from his experience in India. He travelled through north India in 2011, and especially remembers his culinary experiences at Jaipur. As we know, a Rajasthani thali just shouldn't be missed. But, as Matt told The Indian Express, he was shocked at first to find the other diners eating with their hands. "I decided that I was going try eating with my hands," he said, and copied the other diners'technique of scooping up the vegetables with the bread/roti. He also tried many other delicacies while he was in the country. Matt is bringing his warm and charming cooking style, with a dash of Indian culture, to his food truck in Brisbane. Picture courtesy: Instagram/tenpiececutlery Also read: School teacher, Elena Duggan conquers MasterChef Australia Season 8 "Everywhere, there were different things popping up. There were more styles of food than I'd seen in Australia. I ate a lot of paani puri, masala dosa, gulab jamun, thali; things I hadn't tasted before," Matt remarked. He picked up quite a few recipes too, biryani, palak paneer and roti chief among them. We've seen quite a few adaptations of these techniques throughout his stint in the MasterChef kitchen. Eating using hands is something Matt picked up while he was in India in 2011. Picture courtesy: Instagram/tenpiececutlery Eating using hands is something Matt picked up while he was in India in 2011. Picture courtesy: Instagram/tenpiececutlery And now, he's bringing the same flavours and sensibilities to his food truck, while celebrating his deeper connect with Indian culinary culture and habits. The whole point of his truck is to encourage people to enjoy food without the attached, but somewhat redundant, complication of using cutlery. Just think about it. Be it dal-chawal or fried chicken wings, when do we enjoy food the most? When we care more about the food than getting dirty. advertisement That, for Matt Sinclair, is the essence of food at his truck. His menu is simple, and predominantly Asian--prawn taco with gochujang mayo and wombok, tamarind glazed beef brisket with vermicelli noodles and grilled whiting with Chinese barley salad and sichuan or chilli dressing. Here again, he is influenced by the style of street food sold in India, and the South East Asian countries. And without the cutlery, people will engage more with the food and the punch of flavours. Matt welcomed the first group of customers to his food truck. Picture courtesy: Instagram/_matt_sinclair With 52.6 thousand Instagram followers from across the globe, we're sure Matt Sinclair's food truck will be as popular and successful as it deserves to be. As our series favourite introduces the world to Indian culinary habits, we wonder if he'd consider a pop-up in the country where he first ate with his fingers. --- ENDS --- advertisement Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) stands in line at a taco truck in Phoenix on Sept. 2, 2016. A Hispanic Donald Trump supporters assertion that without Trump there could one day be taco trucks on every corner in the United States stirred ridicule. (Monica Sandschafer/Associated Press) The prediction was supposed to sound ominous. But to many listeners, it just sounded delicious. My culture is a very dominant culture, and its imposing and its causing problems, warned Marco Gutierrez, founder of Latinos for Trump, in an MSNBC interview last week. If you dont do something about it, youre going to have taco trucks on every corner. In the days that followed, this culinary Cassandra was widely mocked, memed and hashtagged. How silly and self-loathing must Gutierrez be, the Twitterverse asked, to fear-monger with flautas, to bogeyman with burritos, to alarm with empanadas? After all, any idiot knows that Americans across the political spectrum love Mexican (or at least Tex-Mex) food. Even Donald Trump has featured taco-based cuisine in his political propaganda. Yet I understand why Gutierrez might have expected his warning of Mexican culture creep to seem scary. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told rally-goers in Tampa on Aug. 24 that "the polls with African American folks and Spanish-speaking folks, the Hispanics, Latinos, have gone way up" in the last three weeks. (The Washington Post) In recent years, there has been a subtle shift, on both left and right, away from the idealization of the melting pot the United States long tradition of mixing and matching from the many cultures and ethnicities that migrate to our shores. Instead, both liberals and conservatives have increasingly advocated a version of cultural autarky: You stick to the traditions of your ancestry, Ill stick to mine, and well all be better off. Maybe some rare exceptions can be grandfathered in, among them tacos (and, presumably, bagels). But for the most part, the goal seems to be to maintain clear, pristine ethnic boundaries, for foods, languages, clothing and other traditions. The motivations for this evolving preference differ depending on the political faction youre talking about, of course. Those on the far left increasingly avoid engagement with other cultures traditions because they worry about cultural appropriation, or exoticizing or exploiting another peoples heritage. For the far right, this avoidance is based on fear of an invasive foreign influence, one that might contaminate true American values. The rationales may be different, but the trigger can be the same. Take, for example, yoga. On the left, there is a recurring debate about whether practicing yoga in the West is a crass and offensive commercialization of another cultures sacred tradition. Last year, a college famously canceled a yoga class for students with disabilities due to concerns that the practice was taken from a culture that experienced oppression, cultural genocide and diasporas due to colonialism and western supremacy. The story earned lots of public derision, especially on the right. But several months later, a similar yoga controversy, this time stoked by conservatives, went viral. Parents of children at a Georgia public elementary school were upset that their kids were being taught yoga and other mindfulness practices, because they believed the lessons promoted a Far East mystical religion. The school apologized. Recent years have produced similar brouhahas about whether serving sushi, or wearing kimonos, sombreros or hijabs, amounts to oppression, invasion or even just benign appreciation of other cultures traditions and innovations. Many on the far left seem to prefer a vision of pluralism in which different cultures never borrow from one another, regardless of intentions. In this view, white people who wear braids, buy turquoise jewelry, don saris or sing along with rap lyrics are exhibiting both bad taste and bad faith. Many on far right likewise yearn for their own safe space for American values, or at least a specifically Christian-Anglophone version of those values. That means an insular country where everyone says Merry Christmas rather than the inclusive Happy Holidays; no automated phone system ever says para espanol, oprima dos; and non-Western clothing styles are not just discouraged but outlawed. In fact, in the wake of the recent French burkini debate, a YouGov survey found that 4 in 10 Republicans would support a U.S. law banning Muslim-style body-and-face veils. For centuries, humankind considered the peaceful exchange of ideas, goods and customs a source of progress, a means of (quite literally) spicing up life. Many of the traditions that we today associate with specific ethnicities are themselves borrowed from elsewhere, thanks to centuries of trade. The potato, that staple of Irish cuisine, was originally brought to the Emerald Isle from South America, for example. Which makes this recent creep of cultural isolationism both concerning and confusing. Perhaps that scare-mongering Trump surrogate could be forgiven for not realizing that, just as potatoes eventually became Irishized, many Americans already regard tacos as fully Americanized. Heres hoping that this bit of confusion and inadvertent comedy slows the impulse to separate the ingredients of the American melting pot into its many parts. Christina Paxson is president of Brown University. New students are entering colleges and universities at a time of fierce debate about whether institutions of higher education are becoming places that stifle speech in the interest of protecting students from ideas and perspectives they dont want to hear. In the clash over freedom of expression and the supposed coddling of American college students, safe spaces and trigger warnings are held up as the poster children of overprotective universities. In the setting of private institutions, this is not a First Amendment issue. Private colleges and universities could restrict the expression of ideas and beliefs within their campuses, if they chose to do so. But most private colleges and universities wisely do not make this choice. Instead, colleges and universities protect the rights of members of their communities to express a full range of ideas, however controversial. That is because freedom of expression is an essential component of academic freedom, which protects the ability of universities to fulfill their core mission of advancing knowledge. Suppressing ideas at a university is akin to turning off the power at a factory. As scholars and students, our responsibility is to subject old truths to scrutiny and put forward new ideas to improve them. At universities, we also advance understanding about issues of justice and fairness, and these discussions can be equally, if not more, difficult. From the earliest days of this country, college campuses have been the sites of fierce debates about slavery, war, womens rights and racial justice. These discussions create rocky moments, and they should. If we dont have these debates if we limit the flow of ideas then in 50 years we will be no better than we are today. I dont share the view that American college students want to be protected from ideas that make them uncomfortable. Just the opposite. Over the past few years, our students have addressed topics that make many people very uncomfortable indeed racism, sexual assault, religious persecution. These are some of the toughest problems facing society today, and we do not shy away from them. As for safe spaces the term is used in so many different ways that it is impossible to discuss it without being precise about its meaning. The term emerged from the womens movement nearly 50 years ago to refer to forums where womens rights issues were discussed. Then it was extended to denote spaces where violence and harassment against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community would not be tolerated, and then extended yet again to mean places where students from marginalized groups can come together to feel comfortable discussing their experiences and just being themselves. If this is what a safe space means, then, yes, Brown has them. Proudly. And even the campuses that decry these spaces have them also. Im not talking about rooms with Play-Doh and coloring books like one set up by Brown campus organizers specifically as a resource to support survivors of sexual assault in one instance some years ago. There have been many unfortunate mischaracterizations in the media of the intent of that support space as a so-called shield from ideas. Women at Harvard University are protesting the school's decision to sanction organizations that only admit men or only admit women. (Flavia Cuervo) Rather, we see safe spaces in the choices our students make every day. Students find many opportunities through clubs and organizations to meet those who share similar backgrounds and interests religious, political and otherwise. In her memoir My Beloved World, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor talks about Accion Puertorriquena, a Princeton group for students of Puerto Rican heritage. Although she made it a point to develop relationships with people from different backgrounds, that group gave her a much-needed anchor in an unfamiliar environment. Maybe this isnt what the critics mean when they deride safe spaces, but these spaces deserve to exist at colleges across the country. I would say the same for trigger warnings, which are meant to alert students who have been subjected to trauma, such as sexual assault and combat, that some material in class may be disturbing. Faculty should be free to use them at their discretion. My final point often missed in the media debates is this: Universities are doing something difficult and important. We are grappling with how to create peaceful, just and prosperous societies, even as we live in a society that often feels more divided and rancorous than ever, fractured along lines of race, ethnicity, income and ideology. With the right of academic freedom comes the moral responsibility to think carefully about how that right is exercised in the service of society to confront these divides. At Brown, as at many institutions of higher education, we are not coddling our students or limiting freedom of expression. Instead, we are teaching them, encouraging them and giving them the space to have the discussions that will make them better scholars and prepare them to best serve society. Donald Trump just renewed his vow of opacity. Asked by ABC Newss David Muir on Monday afternoon whether hed be releasing his income-tax returns, as every other major-party presidential nominee has done for 40 years, Trump brushed off the inquiry. I think people dont care, the GOP nominee declared. No? A Quinnipiac University poll two weeks ago found that 74 percent of likely voters, including 62 percent of Republicans, think Trump should release his tax returns. And for those Americans who dont care, theres more evidence every day that they should. As Trump was again dismissing the tax-return matter, The Post that afternoon published an extensive report by Dana Priest, Ellen Nakashima and Tom Hamburger laying out what U.S. intelligence officials believe is a broad covert Russian operation in the United States to sow public distrust in the upcoming presidential election and in U.S. political institutions. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton attacked Republican nominee Donald Trump for not releasing his tax returns during a question-and-answer session on her campaign plane on Sept. 6. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) If Vladimir Putins government widely believed to be behind cyberattacks on the Democratic National Committee and state election operations has this ambitious plan to influence the election, it stands to reason that Putin would also like to influence the candidates. Trump and his advisers have taken a strikingly pro-Putin line, and Trump and his advisers also have had extensive financial ties to Russia. Theres one sure way to know how beholden Trump is to Putins regime: release his tax returns. This doesnt mean Trump is some sort of Manchurian Candidate in cahoots with Putin. But its bad enough if a President Trump were to feel pressure to tilt in Russias favor because he was indebted to Putin-allied investors. Trump dismisses the possibility as nonsense so why wont he come clean with his taxes? The potential for such conflict is a big reason its routine for nominees to release their returns. Hillary Clinton has released almost 40 years worth, Tim Kaine has released 10, and Mike Pence said hell release his this week. When Trump says nobody cares about the release of his tax returns, hes forgetting a long list of Republicans including Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah, chairman of the main House investigative panel, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Sens. John Barrasso, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and Reps. Sean Duffy and Mark Sanford have called for Trump to disclose. Mitt Romney, the last Republican nominee, called Trumps refusal disqualifying and speculated that the returns could contain a bombshell. Much has been made of Clintons allergy to transparency, and I dont excuse her obsessive secrecy over her emails and her nearly 280 days without a news conference. (She took questions aboard her plane Monday and Tuesday, a welcome change.) Clinton and Trump should both release more medical information. But when it comes to transparency, Trump is by far the biggest offender. Hes still banning The Post and other news organizations he doesnt like. Clinton released the names of her top money-raising bundlers; Trump refuses. Clinton has said the Clinton Foundation would stop taking foreign and corporate contributions if she were elected (she should go further, by severing all family ties with the foundation) while Trump has no plans to minimize such conflicts of interest or even to disclose them. Trumps excuse, that hes waiting for audits to end, has no legal justification. His own accountants have said his audits from 2002 to 2008 have been closed, yet his returns from those years remain unreleased. Do the unreleased returns illustrate shady connections? The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Trumps real estate investments brought the GOP nominee into regular contact with people who had ties to organized crime. Do they show (as earlier returns did) that he paid little or nothing in taxes? Do they confirm reporting by The Posts David A. Fahrenthold that Trump has been stingy with charities? Very likely, they would show that Trump has a great deal of debt owned by foreign interests that dont necessarily share his America First views. The New York Times reported recently that companies directly owned by Trump hold at least $650 million in debt twice the amount that could be found from his campaign disclosures and much of Trumps wealth is in three investments that owe an additional $2 billion. Wealthy candidates running for high office typically promise to put their investments in a blind trust so they can avoid conflicts of interest by not controlling, or even knowing about, their financial interests. But Trump has no plan to do that; he says hell have his children run the business while he runs the country. By refusing to disclose his financial obligations, and by declining to remove any potential conflicts of interest he has with Putin and other foreign entities, Trump has come up with a different notion of blind trust: He wants us to trust him, blindly. Twitter: @Milbank Read more from Dana Milbanks archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. Regarding the Sept. 2 front-page article Georgetown to apologize for its ties to slave trade: Georgetown Universitys apology and offer of preferential admissions to the descendants of those whom the institution enslaved and sold are important but only symbolic. They cost the university nothing while reaping it positive publicity. Direct financial reparations should be paid to those families from whom property their ancestors was stolen and sold to enrich Georgetowns coffers. Reparative payments should be made also to the descendants of those hundreds (or thousands) of men, women and children whose hard labor on Maryland plantations supported those whose academic pursuits at Georgetown made their own lives and the lives of their descendants more prosperous. Mary Belcher, Washington AFRICAS ELEPHANT population is plummeting, and the worlds appetite for their tusks is almost certainly why. Governments in Africa and elsewhere have not done enough to shut down the demand for and supply of ivory. They must be bolder. Conservationists have been worried about the situation for years, and last week they got a clear view of how bad the problem really is, with the release of comprehensive, reliable numbers across a wide range of African countries. The Great Elephant Census surveyed 18 countries by plane and helicopter, finding that the continent has only some 352,000 savanna elephants left, lower than previous estimates indicated. That is a tiny fraction of the number of elephants thought to exist before Africas colonial period. Because records are spotty and imperfect, it can be hard to precisely define long-term trends. So the researchers determined carcass ratios a measure of dead animals to live ones, indicating the trajectory of a given population in the zones they surveyed. Overall, the ratios pointed toward steep decline. Researchers also used what records they could find. Their conclusion: The savanna elephant population is declining by 8 percent a year and dropped by 144,000 in only seven years, between 2007 and 2014. Most elephants live in preserves, which offer crucial protection in some countries. But the researchers found that, overall, protected areas are not doing enough. Carcass ratios were about as high in protected areas as everywhere else. The story is not uniform across the continent. Some countries have stable or even rising elephant populations, in part reflecting successful anti-poaching efforts. But those positive findings were massively outweighed by big declines in places including Mozambique and Tanzania, underscoring that inadequate efforts in just a few countries can have disastrous ecological consequences. Countries, particularly those with major ivory demand, should shut down all ivory markets where they still exist. The U.S. government took a large step in that direction this year. The Chinese government promised it would do so soon. Others, such as the Japanese, must follow, and quickly. Those who defy the law should face stiff punishments. Ivory should not be a status symbol it should be stigmatized. African nations, meanwhile, must police their protected areas more aggressively otherwise, they may soon find they have traded in their natural heritage for a quick, illegal buck. ON JAN. 20, a new president will take the oath. Then, if history is any guide, he or she will squander much of the momentum of a new presidency by failing to put a team in place over the course of the first year. You learn as a child that the peaceful transfer of power is essential to democracy, said Max Stier, president and chief executive of the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service. No one ever tells you that it is peaceful but ugly. Could it be prettier? Mr. Stier believes it could be. Thanks in large part to prodding from the partnership, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump started receiving official resources to begin planning for transition after their conventions, earlier than in the past, and both candidates have formed teams well-qualified ones, Mr. Stier said. Also with the partnerships encouragement, Congress reduced the number of administration positions that require confirmation, by 169. But that still leaves a daunting 1,100 positions that require confirmation (out of 4,000 or so jobs that turn over with each administration). Congress wont easily reduce the number further, because senators believe the confirmation power gives them leverage over other executive decisions. But even absent further legislation, there are steps that would help a new administration get in position more quickly. President Obama could take some of those steps right now. The executive branch insists that nominees for all 1,100 confirmable positions receive top-secret security clearances a holdover, Mr. Stier said, from the Red Scare days of the early Eisenhower administration. That requirement puts absurd demands on nominees, to turn over reams of information, and on the FBI, which has better things to do with its time. Do we really need to worry that Russia might plant a mole on the board of the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in National Environmental Policy Foundation? The administration and key congressional committees also could simplify and unify the forms that nominees must fill out. This may sound trivial but the cumbersome, time-consuming process keeps many qualified people from wanting to serve. The goal, Mr. Stier said, should be for an incoming administration to put forward leadership teams for each Cabinet department secretary, deputy secretary, general counsel for vetting by Congress in early January so that most can be confirmed immediately after Inauguration Day. Its in an administrations political interest to do so the Senate is least likely to second-guess early on and it is in the nations interest, too, especially given the national security risks during transition. Presidential candidates dont like to be seen paying much attention to this, lest voters find them presumptuous. Presidents often dont pay much attention, either, because management challenges are not sexy and reforms may take years to pay off. But let a management problem become a crisis when the health-care exchanges fail, say, or the Internal Revenue Service mishandles a political hot potato and the relevance of getting the process right becomes painfully clear. Though every president promises to learn that lesson, things continue to get worse, at least in relative terms, Mr. Stier said: Government is not keeping up with an ever-changing world. With a few common-sense improvements, Mr. Obama at least could give his successor a head start on changing that picture. Danielle Allen is a political theorist at Harvard University and a contributing columnist for The Post. She is also chair of the Mellon Foundation board, which has funded ITHAKA, Porticos parent organization, as well as other initiatives concerned with archiving digital content. The 58-page FBI memo on Hillary Clintons email usage as secretary of state is a gripping must-read not only for every American historian and scholar of Internet communications technology but also for fans of novelist David Foster Wallace and, of course, every American voter. Bottom line: Clintons mistake was, as she has said, to have decided to use a private server. Theres not much duplicity, deceit or intention to evade to be found in this memo. What the document does reveal is Clintons colossal failure to understand the monumental responsibility she took on with her choice; namely, the direct duty to archive public records. The FBI Sept. 2 published a detailed report on its investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clintons use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) I call this job monumental not merely because it is important and it is but also because it is a task to which the entire profession of librarians and archivists is dedicated. Across centuries, these most serious and earnest of professionals have honed their procedures for preserving the public record. Yet the rapid technological transformations of the past two decades have stretched them mightily. The hardest struggle has been to figure out how to master the project of archiving born-digital content, items that are created and managed in digital form, to quote a memo from the Online Computer Library Center. Even the pros are just starting to get on top of that project. If you want to get a sense of just how hard the work is, check out the history of Portico, a nonprofit organization focused entirely on preserving and ensuring the discoverability of born-digital content. It signed its first agreement with a major national library, the British Library, only in 2013. In the incredibly challenging world of archiving born-digital records, Clintons homespun operation didnt have a chance. This is what jumps out of the memo. The story of stuff that is missing, or turned in late, or not initially acknowledged to exist, or accidentally saved in inappropriate places only to be deleted later by low-level staff, appears to be mainly a tale of a bumbling group not remotely close to being equipped to handle, at a public-records standard, the material for which they were responsible. My favorite example is the laptop that either went missing in the U.S. mail or got lost in an office move. And one cant help but laugh at the Kafkaesque humor of the FBIs depiction of the poor lawyer trying to get through 55,000 pages of email to find everything work-related. (Honestly, I think no one should comment on a scandal involving 55,000 pages of email if they cant bring themselves to read the 58 pages of the FBI memo.) Here is where the appeal is for fans of Wallace, whose unfinished, posthumously published novel, The Pale King, captures bureaucracy in overdrive, overheating in its insatiable desire for an impossible coherence. The Clinton email archive, like Wallaces novel, never will and never can be a unitary whole. This will frustrate us forever, unless we recognize the facts of our modern condition in the face of the intersection of bureaucracy and technology. This frustration so powerfully expressed by this memo and by the Republican production of one investigation after another is what Wallace brilliantly predicted. One doesnt come away from this memo feeling that one has spotted any effort on the part of Clinton to deceive. She sought convenience and delegated to others the project of producing an efficient and easily usable communications system. Her mistake was in failing to recognize that her communications also needed to fulfill other functions. Clinton forgot that she needed to ask for sound records management. The communications system inside the State Department, however inefficient, is indeed organized to support the additional function of archiving of public records. Probably, the capacity of the State Department to archive born-digital content is itself not terrific. Note in the memo how much of States own archiving practice depends on having people print out emails that ought to be archived. 1 of 9 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Takeaways from Hillary Clintons e-mails View Photos Clinton has come under fire for using a private e-mail address during her time as secretary of state. The emails are being screened and released in batches. Here are some things weve learned from them. Caption Clinton has come under fire for using a private email address during her time as secretary of state. The emails are being screened and released in batches. Here are some things weve learned from them. Top-secret information in e-mails Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has previously stated that classified information never traveled across her private server. However, the State Department has acknowledged that "top secret" information was in seven email chains sent or received by her. Richard Drew/AP Wait 1 second to continue. In fact, honesty among archivists requires admitting this: No one is yet that great at managing born-digital content. Not the National Archives, not the Library of Congress, not the major university libraries. But, that said, the State Department at least has professionals working on it, and the support of all the professionals at the National Archives aggressively focused on the demands of digital-age record-keeping. They may not have mastered it yet, but at least they get the project. The Clinton email team had no records management professionals. Thats the basic point. In addition to her aides, there were only tech people, who come off as having fair to middling ability, and, eventually, lawyers. All were overwhelmed by their responsibility for managing state records, something for which they had zero training. They didnt even know enough to know what they didnt know. They failed, as Donald Rumsfeld would have said, because of the unknown unknowns. Historians will be fascinated by what this memo reveals about how the archives they rely on for writing their histories come into existence. Scholars of information and communications technology will be glued to the fine-grain detail the memo provides on the strain new technologies are causing for bureaucracies. But what does this memo mean for voting Americans? I think its basically this: If youre trying to weigh Donald Trumps and Clintons characters against one another, look elsewhere than this email scandal. No deep Clinton character flaws are in evidence here. This is a story about a moment when Clinton failed to recognize that professional expertise was necessary, in a rapidly evolving area where many are struggling. Reading about her reliance on the people who were responsible for her records management system is a little bit like reading about Trumps reliance on his children. Thats all. IN ABOUT 40 states, people convicted of serious crimes regain their voting rights upon discharge from prison or completion of parole. In a handful of others, convicts either are never disenfranchised or automatically regain their rights after a waiting period. These rules amount to an American consensus on what constitutes a reasonable and humane approach to redemption in a modern democracy. In just four states are felons permanently barred from voting absent action by the governor. And in one of them, Virginia, lawmakers are considering an even more restrictive regime that would forever foreclose the possibility of redemption for tens of thousands of citizens. For this essentially racist project, Virginians can credit the ethically challenged majority leader of Virginias state Senate, Thomas K. Norment Jr. (R-James City). He filed legislation last week that would bar people convicted of violent felonies, in Virginia disproportionately African Americans, from ever having their voting rights restored. Its impossible to say precisely which offenses would trigger permanent disenfranchisement under Mr. Norments proposed constitutional amendment, which would leave it to the GOP-dominated legislature to define violent felonies. However, they might easily include categories of assault or drug crimes that might earn a young convict a few years in prison, followed by a lifetime banned from the voting booth. Mr. Norments amendment would leave Virginia as an extreme outlier in terms of restoration of rights. It would strip the governor of any role in the process by automatically restoring voting rights for nonviolent felons a category that would also be defined by lawmakers after they had completed their sentences and paid court costs and restitution, which often amount to thousands of dollars. Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) will make all ex-felons in Virginia eligible to vote in the upcoming presidential election, part of a years-long effort to restore full voting rights to former convicts. (Governor Virginia / YouTube) For Mr. Norment, the bill is retribution against Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), who has infuriated Republicans by attempting to restore voting rights to some 200,000 ex-convicts, nearly half of them African Americans and many of them disenfranchised decades after the completion of their sentences. While Mr. Norments constitutional amendment could not take effect for several years it would require legislative enactment and approval at referendum by voters it would strip future governors of any role in restoring voting rights, a power enshrined in Virginias constitution for more than a century. Before Virginia tightened its laws in response to a scandal involving former governor Robert F. McDonnell (R), Mr. Norment was notorious as the recipient of lavish hunting trips paid for by corporate bigwigs seeking favorable legislative treatment. Last year, it was reported that he was interviewed by the FBI for conduct arising from his personal relationship with a female lobbyist whose firm regularly pushed for legislation that he voted for and, in two cases, personally sponsored; he neither recused himself nor disclosed the relationship in a timely way. Mr. Norment, who was charged with no crime, admitted to exceedingly poor judgment in the affair. Maybe his voting rights should be rescinded. It's a long road to the White House, so The Washington Post polled all 50 states to find out what each candidate needs to do to get there. (Peter Stevenson,Julio Negron,Zoeann Murphy/The Washington Post) It's a long road to the White House, so The Washington Post polled all 50 states to find out what each candidate needs to do to get there. (Peter Stevenson,Julio Negron,Zoeann Murphy/The Washington Post) With nine weeks until Election Day, Donald Trump is within striking distance in the Upper Midwest, but Hillary Clintons strength in many battlegrounds and some traditional Republican strongholds gives her a big electoral college advantage, according to a 50-state Washington Post-SurveyMonkey poll. The survey of all 50 states is the largest sample ever undertaken by The Post, which joined with SurveyMonkey and its online polling resources to produce the results. The state-by-state numbers are based on responses from more than 74,000 registered voters during the period of Aug. 9 to Sept. 1. The individual state samples vary in size from about 550 to more than 5,000, allowing greater opportunities than typical surveys to look at different groups within the population and compare them from state to state. [How the Post-SurveyMonkey poll was conducted] The massive survey highlights a critical weakness in Trumps candidacy an unprecedented deficit for a Republican among college-educated white voters, especially women. White college graduates have been loyal Republican voters in recent elections, but Trump is behind Clinton with this group across much of the country, including in some solidly red states. The 50-state findings come at a time when the average national margin between Clinton and Trump has narrowed. What once was a Clinton lead nationally of eight to 10 points shortly after the party conventions ended a month ago is now about four points, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average. A number of battleground states also have tightened, according to surveys released from other organizations in recent days. The Post-SurveyMonkey results are consistent with many of those findings, but not in all cases. Trumps support in the Midwest, where the electorates are generally older and whiter, appears stronger and offers the possibility of gains in places Democrats carried recently. He has small edges in two expected battlegrounds Ohio and Iowa and is close in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, each of which Democrats have won in six consecutive elections. At the same time, however, Trump is struggling in places Republicans have won consistently and that he must hold to have any hope of winning. These states include Arizona and Georgia, as well as Texas the biggest surprise in the 50-state results. The Texas results, which are based on a sample of more than 5,000 people, show a dead heat, with Clinton ahead by one percentage point. Clinton also leads by fewer than four points in Colorado and Florida and is tied with Trump in North Carolina. In Colorado, other polls have shown a larger Clinton lead. In Mississippi, Trumps lead is just two points, though its doubtful that the GOP nominee is in much danger there. Electoral college advantage for Clinton In a two-way competition between the major-party candidates, Clinton leads by four points or more in 20 states plus the District of Columbia. Together they add up to 244 electoral votes, 26 shy of the 270 needed to win. Trump leads by at least four points in 20 states as well, but those add up to just 126 electoral votes. In the 10 remaining states, which hold 168 electoral votes, neither candidate has a lead of four percentage points or better. View Graphic How our new poll compares with past presidential election results in every state A series of four-way ballot tests that include Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein project a somewhat narrower Clinton advantage, with more states showing margins of fewer than four points between the two major-party candidates. But even here, at the Labor Day weekend turn toward the Nov. 8 balloting, the pressure is on Trump to make up even more ground than he has in recent weeks if he hopes to win the White House. The poll finds Johnson is poised to garner significant support. He is currently receiving at least 15 percent support in 15 states. The libertarians support peaks at 25 percent in New Mexico, where he served two terms as governor. He is only four points shy of Trumps 29 percent standing there. His support in Utah is 23 percent, and in Colorado and Iowa it is 16 percent. Stein has less support in the poll, peaking at 10 percent in Vermont and receiving at least 7 percent support in 10 states. [Read the full Post-SurveyMonkey results] Overall, the results reflect Trumps strategy of maximizing support in older, whiter Midwestern states where his anti-free-trade message and appeals to national identity generally find more fertile ground. But his struggles elsewhere, including places that have long supported Republicans, illustrate the challenges of that strategy in more diverse states where his stances on immigration and some other positions have turned off Democrats, independents and many Republicans. Demographic divisions shape the competition To win the election, Trump must quickly consolidate the Republican vote. With prominent Republicans declaring they will not support Trump and some even announcing they will back Clinton, this represents a major challenge for the GOP nominee. In the Post-SurveyMonkey poll, Clinton is winning 90 percent or more of the Democratic vote in 32 states, while Trump is at or above that level in just 13. As expected, the Clinton-Trump contest has split the electorate along racial lines. Their bases of support are mirror images: On average, Clinton does 31 points better among nonwhite voters than whites, and Trump does 31 points better among white voters than nonwhites. The electorate is also divided along lines of gender and education, in many cases to a greater extent than in recent elections. Averaging across all 50 states, Clinton does 14 points better among women than men, and Trump does 16 points better among men than women. Clinton is winning among women in 34 states, and shes close in six others. Trump leads among men in 38 states, is tied in six and trails in the other six. It is among college-educated voters, however, where Trump faces his biggest hurdle. In 2012, white voters with college degrees supported Republican nominee Mitt Romney over President Obama by 56-42 percent. Romney won with 59 percent among white men with college degrees and with 52 percent among white women with college degrees. So far in this campaign, Clinton has dramatically changed that equation. Among white college graduates, Clinton leads Trump in 31 of the 50 states, and the two are about even in six others. Trump leads among college-educated whites in just 13 states, all safe Republican states in recent elections. Across 49 states where the poll interviewed at least 100 white college-educated women, Clinton leads Trump with this group in 38 states and by double-digit margins in 37. Averaging across all states, Clinton leads by 23 points among white women with college degrees. Trumps base among white voters without a college degree remains strong and substantial. He leads Clinton in 43 of the 50 states, and the two are roughly even in five others. She leads among white voters without a college degree in just one state: Vermont. Overall, Clinton does 19 points better among white college graduates than whites without degrees while Trump does 18 points better among whites without degrees than whites with college educations, on average. Trumps challenge in the states that remain close will be to produce significant turnout among white, non-college voters to offset those Clinton margins, but its far from clear that there are enough of them to be decisive. Absent that, the GOP nominee must find a way to appeal to these college-educated voters during the final weeks of the campaign. States and regions shaping the race Trumps strength across some of the states in the Midwest is one potential bright spot for the Republican nominee. Clintons biggest lead among the contested states in that region is in Pennsylvania, where her margin is just four points. In Wisconsin and Michigan, she leads by a nominal two points, while Trump leads by four points in Iowa and three points in Ohio. Recent polls by other organizations have indicated that Wisconsin has tightened over the past month. A recent Suffolk University poll in Michigan shows Clinton leading by seven points, and the RealClearPolitics average in Ohio shows Clinton ahead by three points. Overall, among the quintet of Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and Pennsylvania, Michigan has been the Democrats most reliable of the group, always one of the 15 best-performing Democratic states over the past five elections. The Rocky Mountain West is another area of fierce competition. The Post-SurveyMonkey poll shows Colorado closer than other polls there, with Clinton leading by just two points and the race tied when Johnson and Stein are included. Meanwhile, Clinton and Trump are roughly even in Arizona. In Nevada, Clinton enjoys a lead of five points in head-to-head competition with Trump but by just three points in a four-way test. Of all the states, Texas provided the most unexpected result. The Lone Star State has been a conservative Republican bastion for the past four decades. In 2012, President Obama lost the state by 16 points. For Democrats, it has been among the 10 to 15 worst-performing states in the past four elections. The Post-SurveyMonkey poll of Texas shows a dead heat with Clinton at 46 percent and Trump at 45 percent. Democrats have long claimed that changing demographics would make the state competitive in national elections, but probably not for several more cycles. A comparison of the current survey with the 2008 Texas exit poll (there was no exit poll there in 2012) points to reasons the race appears close right now. Trump is performing worse than 2008 GOP nominee John McCain among both whites and Hispanics, while Clinton is doing slightly better than Obama. Among men, Trump is doing slightly worse than McCain did eight years ago. The bigger difference is among women. McCain won a narrow majority of women in Texas while Trump is currently below 40 percent. Thats not to say Texas is turning blue in 2016. Given its history, it probably will back Trump in November and possibly by a comfortable margin. But at this stage, the fact that it is close at all is one more surprise in a surprising year. Emily Guskin contributed to this report. Hillary Clinton speaks in New York while her husband, former president Bill Clinton, applauds. Nov. 9, 2016 Hillary Clinton speaks in New York while her husband, former president Bill Clinton, applauds. Melina Mara/The Washington Post On a holiday devoted to American workers, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump converged Monday on this Midwestern city built on manufacturing and made starkly different pitches to blue-collar voters about where their allegiances should lie. In a bid to boost turnout among a traditionally Democratic constituency, Clinton ticked off a list of policy proposals aimed at lifting working-class families and warned that Trump does not have their best interests in mind, citing what she characterized as a long record as a businessman of stiffing contractors he employed. Just look at Donald Trumps track record when it comes to hard-working men and women, the Democratic presidential nominee told a crowd of about 3,000 people at an annual festival in a park here that has long been a gathering place for African Americans. There may be people you know who are thinking about voting for him. And you know, friends dont let friends vote for Trump. Clinton was joined by a trio of national union leaders, all of whom touted her as the best choice for workers, and by her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia. Kaine called Trump a guy whos been sitting up in the penthouse and doesnt even understand the everyday lives of working folks. Trump made a lower-key pitch, holding a roundtable discussion with local labor leaders and union members at a suburban American Legion post and mingling with patrons at a city diner before heading to a county fair near Youngstown. 1 of 60 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad What Donald Trump is doing on the campaign trail View Photos The GOP presidential nominee is out on the trail ahead of the general election in November. Caption The GOP presidential nominee is pressing his case ahead of Election Day. Nov. 7, 2016 Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at SNHU Arena in Manchester, N.H. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. The Republican nominee was joined at both Cleveland-area stops by Tom Coyne, mayor of the suburb of Brook Park and a former Democrat. Trump showcased Coyne as a model of his ability to reach across party lines, including to working-class voters who like his anti-free-trade message and tough anti-immigration stands. These are the big union folks here, Trump said as he sat with several workers and Coyne at a back table at Goodys Diner. I think the mayor is just one example thats happening across this country where voters who traditionally havent voted Republican or havent voted in a very long time seem to be coming out to support this messenger and this message, Kellyanne Conway, Trumps campaign manager, told reporters. Conway added that she is bullish about Trumps prospects for luring union workers to cross over and vote Republican in other industrial states, including Pennsylvania. At the diner, Trump gestured to reporters to take note when he met a supporter named Maria Hernandez. Mexican American supporter [of] Trump. Mexican American. Its so nice, Trump said. Polls show the Hispanic demographic breaking heavily in Clintons favor. Mondays events marked the traditional transition to the final leg of the campaign the mad dash to November, as Clinton described it to her traveling press corps. The importance of Ohio was evident from the runway at the airport here: When Clinton touched down in her newly acquired jet emblazoned with her Stronger Together slogan Trumps personal plane and the campaign jet used by his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, were already parked on the tarmac. Besides Clinton and Kaine, other high-profile Democrats fanned out across the Midwest and beyond Monday to reinforce the tickets message. Those joining the two nominees or campaigning on their own included former president Bill Clinton, Vice President Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the runner-up for the Democratic nomination. Sanders was making his first campaign stops for Clinton since the partys convention in July. At her stop here, Clinton unveiled a new book that compiles policy proposals put forward by her ticket, many of them geared toward helping the middle class. Among them: making college more affordable, raising the minimum wage, an increase in child-care tax credits and requiring equal pay for women for equal work. Clintons appearance was marred by a coughing fit just as she took the stage. Her voice never fully recovered, despite several gulps of water and what appeared to be a lozenge. Every time I think about Trump I get allergic, Clinton joked. Conway, Trumps campaign manager, later suggested on Twitter that it was actually the media that had caused Clintons allergy. That was a reference to the fact that Clinton was aboard a new plane Monday, flying with reporters in the back for the first time during her campaign. Previously, reporters followed the candidate around the country in a separate chartered jet. Before the flight left the airport in the morning in Westchester, N.Y., Clinton ventured back to greet about three dozen members of the media traveling with her. On a flight after the stop in Cleveland, she came back again, making herself available to take questions from the group for the first time in several months. Over the course of more than 20 minutes interrupted by more coughing and the landing Clinton fielded questions on an array of subjects, including a Washington Post report that U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies are probing what they see as a broad covert Russian operation in the United States to sow public distrust in the upcoming presidential election. We are facing a very serious concern, she said. Weve never had a foreign adversarial power be already involved in our electoral process. Upon landing, her motorcade headed to another Labor Day celebration in the Quad Cities area that straddles the Iowa- Illinois border. In Ohio, throngs of supporters greeted Trump and Pence at the Canfield County fair. Fairgoers waved, shouted Trump, Trump, Trump and clamored to shake Trumps hand as the two candidates walked. En route to the fair, Trump attacked Clinton on immigration and took a firm stand against offering undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship. Trump, who has publicly wrestled with the issue in recent weeks, told reporters that Clinton has no plan and favored total amnesty. Ask her about immigration, because its a very difficult subject, Trump said. No matter what you say, there are going to be a group of people that are very unhappy with you. Asked if he would support giving noncriminal undocumented immigrants a path to legal status, Trump said his campaign would revisit the issue in the future. Meanwhile, Sanders gave three speeches Monday in New Hampshire, where he defeated Clinton in February by the largest margin in the history of that states primary. While polling suggests that 90 percent or more of Sanderss supporters back Clinton, Democrats worry that disaffected but anti-Trump voters might go for a third-party candidate instead. At an AFL-CIO breakfast in Manchester, Sanders thanked New Hampshire voters for proving radical ideas like a $15-an-hour minimum wage, universal health care and paid family leave could win votes. An hour later, at a sloping park in the small town of Warner, Sanders spoke to a crowd of at least 250 people for 30 minutes before mentioning the Democratic ticket. When he promised to do everything I can to elect Clinton, a dozen or so supporters of Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein booed, yelled Jill or waved signs with the slogan Jill, not Hill. Trust me, I understand! said Sanders. Youre talking to the longest serving independent in the history of the Congress. I understand there are people who may not agree with me. And I respect that. But I feel like at this point in history, a candidate like Trump, who is running on reactionary economics, tax breaks for the wealthy and cutting programs for the very poor who rejects the science of climate change is running on a core of bigotry. After asking supporters to make sure that Clinton, if elected, enacted the progressive Democratic Party platform, Sanders headed north to Lebanon High School. Flanked by banners that read Stronger Together but made no specific mentions of Clintons name Sanders told a more amenable crowd to focus one more time on the issues. We have got to be a little bit smarter than the media, said Sanders. A campaign is not about the candidates. Not about Hillary Clinton. Not about Donald Trump. Not about Bernie Sanders. A campaign is about you and your needs. DelReal reported from Washington. Weigel reported from Manchester, Warner and Lebanon, N.H. By PTI: Chennai, Sep 6 (PTI) Mexico is exploring possibilities of signing a Free Trade Agreement with India to boost trade ties between the two countries, a Mexican Envoy said here today. "We are working on some sort of agreement like the FTA. You should know the Free Trade Agreement with Japan was our very first. We are very excited to have a FTA (with India).", Ambassador of Mexico to India, Melba Pria told reporters. advertisement The Ambassador is on a visit to inaugurate the third Consular Office here and appointing Ramkumar Vardarajan as the Honorary Consul General. Stating that a "high-level" delegation from Mexico discussed the signing of a trade agreement with India during its visit couple of months ago, she said, "in that high level meeting about 500 goods were identified in the first place for signing the agreement." "Trade with India has grown up over 400 per cent since 2004. It was around USD 7 billion last year. Major sectors are oil, information technology, automobile and autoparts," she said. On the number of tourists visiting Mexico from India, she said it was around 55,000 last year as several people after visiting couple of cities in the US visit a Mexican city. "One-third of the visitor are business travellers," she said adding that pharmaceuticals, autoparts and Information Technology sectors were "growing" very rapidly on trade. To a query she said there were 60 Indian companies operating in Mexico while it was 13 Mexican companies having presence in India. Mexico is the largest Latin American investor in India with over USD 800 million invested, she said. PTI VIJ RC ABI --- ENDS --- Speaking to reporters aboard her plane Sept. 5, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she's "taken aback" by revelations about Donald Trump's foundation's gift to a political group connected to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. (Video: The Washington Post/Photo: Melina Mara) Speaking to reporters aboard her plane Sept. 5, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she's "taken aback" by revelations about Donald Trump's foundation's gift to a political group connected to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. (Video: The Washington Post/Photo: Melina Mara) Hillary Clinton escalated her attacks on Donald Trumps character and qualifications for the presidency Tuesday, seizing on renewed scrutiny of an improper political donation that Trump made to Floridas attorney general as she accused him of concealing scams. The Democratic presidential nominee called on her rival to reveal details about his communication with Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R), to whom Trump made a $25,000 political contribution in 2013 as Bondi was considering investigating claims against Trump University, the embattled for-profit education business. Critics say the donation crossed ethical lines. Of course, as we know, there was a phone conversation between them. They contradict each other. The American people deserve to know what was said, because clearly the attorney general did not proceed with the investigation, Clinton told reporters Tuesday during a question-and-answer session on her campaign plane. The list goes on and on: the scams, the frauds, the questionable relationships, the business activities that have stiffed workers, Clinton said later as she renewed her call for Trump to release his tax returns and come clean. Trump lobbed attacks of his own. In an interview with ABC that aired Tuesday, Trump scrutinized Clintons appearance. Well, I just dont think she has a presidential look, and you need a presidential look, he told ABCs David Muir. Trump also knocked Clinton during a campaign event in Greenville, N.C., on Tuesday evening over her use of a private email server as secretary of state. She fails to meet the minimum standard for running for public office. If she applied for a low-level job at the State Department today, just a low-level job, she couldnt even get a security clearance based on what shes done, he said. Her conduct is disqualifying. People who have nothing to hide dont smash phones with hammers . . . or destroy evidence to keep it from being publicly archived as required under federal law, he added. The intensified and highly personal attacks come as the rival campaigns enter the crucial window between Labor Day and Election Day. And they followed a round of polls for Clinton suggesting that the national advantage she has held for much of the summer has diminished slightly. Between personal barbs, the two also questioned each others national security credentials throughout the day, ahead of a forum in New York on Wednesday at which Clinton and Trump are scheduled to appear back to back on MSNBC and NBC to discuss issues that will confront the countrys next commander in chief. Trump held a town hall gathering on national security issues in Virginia Beach on Tuesday afternoon. The event, attended by retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, an ally and adviser, came on the heels of an announcement by Trumps campaign that he had been endorsed by 88 retired senior military officials. During the Virginia Beach event, Trump mocked Clintons ability to negotiate with world leaders. You know, Hillary likes to play tough with Russia. Putin looks at her and he laughs. Okay? He laughs. Putin looks at Hillary Clinton and he smiles. Boy, would he like to see her, Trump said. That would be easy, because look at her decisions. 1 of 57 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail View Photos The Democratic presidential nominee hits the road after her partys national convention. Caption Hillary Clinton loses to Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. Nov. 9, 2016 Hillary Clinton speaks in New York while her husband, former president Bill Clinton, applauds. Melina Mara/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. The candidate later attended a roundtable with military families where he was joined by his daughter Ivanka, Flynn and former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani. At a campaign rally in Tampa, Clinton knocked Trumps national security credentials and touted her own experience as secretary of state and as a U.S. senator representing New York. She said Trump often has no clue what hes talking about on military issues and pointed to statements he has made about fighting the Islamic State militant group that she said have been all over the map. He says he has a secret plan to defeat ISIS, but the secret is he has no plan, Clinton told a crowd estimated at 1,500 at the University of South Florida, which is located in a community with sizable active-duty and military veteran populations. ISIS is another name for the Islamic State. The Clinton campaign has repeatedly attacked Trump over his grasp of foreign policy issues, scrutinizing his temperament in an effort to raise questions about how he would conduct international diplomacy. Clinton has regularly noted on the campaign trail that the Republican foreign policy establishment remains deeply uneasy with Trump and has pointed to many conservative foreign policy experts who have endorsed her. Ahead of Wednesdays forum, the Clinton campaign also released a new television ad seeking to highlight what it characterized as Trumps continued disrespect for the military and veterans. The spot features veterans, including former senator Max Cleland (D-Ga.), reacting to disparaging comments Trump has made. The Trump campaign fired back, pointing to Clintons narrowing lead and accusing her of failing to campaign aggressively enough in August. Hillary Clintons remarks today in Tampa are exactly what you would expect to hear from a candidate who took off the month of August and woke up in September losing the election, Trumps senior communications adviser said in a statement Tuesday. Clinton told reporters that sometimes Trump gets a pass because people have grown to expect less from him. During that media gaggle, she said that Trump should come clean about his finances and that she would continue to press the Republican to release his tax returns until Election Day, declaring that he clearly has something to hide. She ticked off a list of what she characterized as questionable aspects of Trumps finances, including the multiple times his companies have declared bankruptcy, repeated accusations of fraudulent behavior, hundreds of millions of dollars in business debt and continuing controversy over Trump University. Clearly his tax returns tell a story that the American people deserve and need to know, Clinton said. Im going to continue to raise this, because I think it is a fundamental issue about him in this campaign. The renewed scrutiny of the Bondi contribution could be a political liability for Trump, even as Clintons family foundation faces scrutiny over her communications with top donors while she was secretary of state. Trump told reporters Monday that he had not engaged in quid pro quo. But the timeline has left his critics and watchdog groups accusing him of impropriety. The donation, made by the Donald J. Trump Foundation, went to a pro-Bondi political organization days after her office disclosed that it was looking into Trump University. Bondi ultimately decided not to open an investigation, prompting scrutiny from critics and local media at the time. And the contribution also violated restrictions preventing charities from making political donations to candidates. The Trump foundation recently paid a $2,500 penalty for failing to disclose the political donation to the Internal Revenue Service. Former president Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2006. Three years earlier, Blair asked Clinton to help round up support for a U.N. resolution aimed at avoiding the Iraq War. (J. Emilio Flores/Getty Images) It was March 2003, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair had summoned his friend Bill Clinton to Chequers Court, his country home in England, to make an urgent request: Could the former president quietly help corral U.N. Security Council members to back a resolution aimed at slowing or, according to Blair, even stopping the Iraq War? The events that followed show Clinton taking an unprecedented and unorthodox role in the foreign policy of his successor, George W. Bush, according to a new book, Man of the World: The Further Endeavors of Bill Clinton, written by liberal journalist Joe Conason. Clintons activism came months after his wifes vote in October 2002 in favor of authorizing Bush to use military force in Iraq a decision that, according to the book, Bill Clinton counseled her to make. And the former president acted without the express approval of the White House. The 13-year-old incident highlights the 42nd presidents outsize role in foreign affairs even after he left Washington. It is an exception to the pattern of Clintons post-presidential diplomatic work, which was usually done at the request of his successors such as his trip to North Korea in 2009 to help rescue imprisoned journalists at the request of President Obama. Former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton at Bushs presidential library in Dallas in 2015. A spokesman for Clinton said his 2003 efforts were in keeping with the Bush administrations public position at the time. (Mike Stone/Reuters) In Conasons account, Clinton made last-minute appeals to several world leaders he considered friends, asking them to back Blairs resolution in the hopes of slowing Bushs march to war or ending it altogether. Blairs resolution would have set a three-week timeline for U.N. weapons inspections teams led by diplomat Hans Blix to complete their work. If Iraqi President Saddam Hussein interfered with the inspections or refused to disarm, the resolution would have authorized force. During a speech in Washington after meeting with Blair, Clinton voiced support for the approach outlined in the resolution. And privately, he began a complementary effort to tip the scales in favor of the resolution at the Security Council, according to Conasons book. Privately, Clinton arranged a discreet contact with Chilean president [Ricardo] Lagos through a back channel arranged by his former White House chief of staff, Thomas Mack McLarty, who was acquainted with the Chilean interior minister, Jose Miguel Insulza, Conason writes. Not wishing to appear to intervene in matters between heads of state, Clinton asked McLarty to pass a message to Lagos via Insulza. In the message, Clinton told the Chilean minister that the resolution was a last chance to prevent war, according to Conason. The Chileans would get on board only if the Mexicans did. So Clinton phoned Vicente Fox, then president of Mexico, to lobby for his support, the book says. Fox and other Mexican officials contacted by Clinton told him that they were wary of any resolution that might somehow be interpreted as supporting a war that nearly everyone in their country opposed, Conason wrote. If a resolution passed that gave Blix three more weeks, and then he came back and asked for additional time, they asked, wouldnt Bush invade anyway? Ultimately, the Chileans and the Mexicans were loath to support a resolution that included a threat of force, which they believed would ultimately lead to war. The Chileans would later unveil their own resolution to give inspections more time, but it lacked the threat of force. That resolution was sharply rejected by the United States. A spokeswoman for Blair declined to comment. In Blairs response to a British inquiry into the run-up to the war the probe, completed in July, was sharply critical of the prime ministers actions he noted that the United States had agreed to a resolution with new tests for Hussein that might have avoided war. But, he said, the United States understandably insisted that in the event of continued failure, the UN had to be clear that action would follow. In a letter to Bush in late February 2003, Blair wrote that the resolution could help gain the backing of European public opinion if war came. It allows us to show the world that we are going to war, not because we want to, but because we have to, Blair wrote. Blairs resolution was a failure, and the war began on March 20, 2003. Conason describes Clintons gambit as risky and contrary to the norms against former presidents criticizing or interfering with the administration of a sitting president. A spokesman for Clinton said his efforts were in keeping with the Bush administrations public position at the time. President Clinton tried to expand support for a resolution that wouldve allowed more time for the inspectors to complete their investigation, said Angel Urena, Clintons spokesman. His efforts were consistent with the administrations stated policy at the time. To suggest otherwise would be inaccurate. Conason writes that the episode was a break from Clintons usual habit after leaving the White House of informing the State Department or the National Security Council when he traveled overseas or met with heads of state. As a matter of post-presidential formality, it definitely broke the rules, Conason said in an interview. As a matter of human morality, it was a good idea to try to stop [the war]. According to Conason, Bush may have learned about Clintons actions as they were happening or afterward. The author even suggests that the National Security Agency, which was spying on U.N. Security Council members, was likely to have picked up on the conversations. Clinton wanted to make sure the inspections were completed, Conason told The Washington Post. And he also believed that if they found no weapons, which was likely, that the invasion would not go forward and they would have to reconsider what they were doing. It is unclear how Clintons actions affected official U.S. efforts to bring Chile and Mexico in line with Washingtons goals. But Conason notes that Chiles president, Lagos, was prodded by his conversation with Clinton to proceed with drafting the separate resolution that was later rejected by the Bush administration. Years later, Heraldo Munoz, a top Chilean diplomat, wrote a book in which he said the diplomatic strong-arming of Latin American countries by the Bush administration over the war damaged U.S. relations with those countries. Hillary Clinton has called the authorization vote for the war probably the hardest decision Ive ever had to make, and it has haunted her political career. Bill Clinton advised his wife that the politically smart vote was no, but if she believed President Bush was serious about letting the inspections proceed, a credible threat of force would greatly increase the chance of Saddams cooperation, a Clinton aide wrote in an email to The Post. The aide spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversations between the Clintons. First the Democratic Party and then America as a whole would turn against the war, leaving Hillary Clinton apologetic and regretful. Her vote became a centerpiece of Obamas successful presidential campaign against her in 2008. The issue arose again in the 2016 Democratic primary race against Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), who voted against the war when he was a congressman. I came to deeply regret giving President Bush the benefit of the doubt on that vote, Clinton wrote years later in her memoir Hard Choices. President Obama, who has referred to himself as Americas first Pacific president, is on his last trip to the region as a head of state. But his two-term effort to amplify the attention that U.S. foreign policy pays to the Asia-Pacific area represents his administrations belief that U.S. leadership is crucial in the worlds fastest-growing region. Since launching the Asia pivot, also known as the rebalance, Obama has sought to bolster ties with traditional allies such as Japan and South Korea, deepen engagement with emerging Southeast Asian nations such as Burma and Vietnam, and manage a resurgent Chinas economic and military rise. The results after nearly eight years have been uneven, as the administration has found itself preoccupied by ongoing turbulence in the Middle East and Europe. Here is a partial recap of some of the presidents efforts to reshape U.S. foreign policy in Asia. Why the Asia pivot http://wpo.st/--ow1 The Burma gambit http://wpo.st/ihfw1 Managing a frenemy http://wpo.st/0jfw1 A symbolic reconciliation in Japan http://wpo.st/kjfw1 From enemy to partner in Vietnam http://wpo.st/0lfw1 A Pacific presidents charm offensive http://wpo.st/olfw1 The Washington Post's David Fahrenthold breaks down the controversy over Donald Trump's improper $25,000 donation to a political group connected to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was at the time considering whether to open a fraud investigation against Trump University. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) The Washington Post's David Fahrenthold breaks down the controversy over Donald Trump's improper $25,000 donation to a political group connected to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was at the time considering whether to open a fraud investigation against Trump University. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) Donald Trump on Monday dismissed questions about his failure to disclose an improper $25,000 contribution in 2013 to a political group connected to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was at the time considering whether to open a fraud investigation against Trump University. The donation, made by the Donald J. Trump Foundation, violated federal rules that prohibit charities from donating to political candidates. Trump and his team also failed to disclose the gift to the Internal Revenue Service, instead reporting that the donation was given to an unrelated group with a similar name effectively obscuring the contribution. I never spoke to her, first of all. Shes a fine person, beyond reproach. I never even spoke to her about it at all. Shes a fine person. Never spoken to her about it, never, Trump said Monday while campaigning in Ohio. Many of the attorney generals turned that case down because Ill win that case in court. Many turned that down. I never spoke to her. Marc Reichelderfer who worked as a consultant on Bondis reelection effort told the Associated Press in June that Bondi spoke with Trump and solicited the donation herself. Reichelderfer said that Bondi had not been aware of the complaints against Trump University when she asked for the contribution. It was unclear on Monday whether Trump meant that he had never discussed the donation with Bondi effectively contradicting Reichelderfer or if he had simply never mentioned the Trump University case. Speaking to reporters aboard her plane Sept. 5, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she's "taken aback" by revelations about Donald Trump's foundation's gift to a political group connected to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. (Video: The Washington Post/Photo: Melina Mara) The Trump campaign declined to comment for this story. Trump University is at the center of several lawsuits by former customers who have accused the business of making misleading promises and engaging in predatory marketing tactics. Trump paid the IRS a $2,500 penalty this year after reports surfaced about the gift and disclosure error. Representatives for the Trump Organization said that Trump reimbursed the foundation the full $25,000 from his personal account after watchdog groups and news organizations began asking questions. Trumps latest assertion that he had not spoken to Bondi about Trump University revived questions about why the New York real estate developer would have donated to the Florida attorney general. Asked on Monday what he was hoping to get out of that donation, Trump responded: Ive just known Pam Bondi for years. I have a lot of respect for her. Never spoke to her about that at all. And just have a lot of respect for her as a person. And she has done an amazing job as the attorney general of Florida. She is very popular. Trump has bragged about making political donations to politicians to curry favor with them and benefit his businesses, regularly using such statements to undermine his critics in both parties. Even before the Foundations failure to disclose the contribution to the IRS surfaced this year, Bondi had faced intense scrutiny in the Florida media for accepting the donation. The Washington Post reported on the improper contribution in March and on the financial penalty Trump paid earlier this month. 1 of 60 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad What Donald Trump is doing on the campaign trail View Photos The GOP presidential nominee is out on the trail ahead of the general election in November. Caption The GOP presidential nominee is pressing his case ahead of Election Day. Nov. 7, 2016 Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at SNHU Arena in Manchester, N.H. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. The timeline of Bondis solicitation has raised suspicion among campaign finance watchdogs, who have characterized the contribution as a political bribe meant to influence Bondis decision. Bondis advisers have acknowledged that she asked Trump for the donation but have also said she did not know about the complaints against Trump University at the time. They said several weeks then passed before her office announced that she was considering joining New York state in investigating complaints against the for-profit education business. Days after that announcement, the pro-Bondi organization, And Justice for All, received the $25,000 donation from the Trump Foundation. What followed, a Trump Organization representative told The Post in March, were a series of mistakes that led to the IRS filing oversight. A clerk at Trumps headquarters in charge of processing the donation misidentified the group, confusing it for one with a similar name. That led the clerk to process the payment from the Foundation instead of Trumps personal account. When the Trump Foundation filed its annual report to the IRS, it did not list a gift to Bondis group and told the IRS it had made no political gifts that year. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a liberal watchdog group, filed a complaint with the IRS earlier this year, noting the legal limitations on charities from making political donations. The Post was the first to discover the false listing in the Trump Foundations IRS filings that obscured the improper gift. The Trump Foundation told the IRS it had actually given the $25,000 to a nonprofit in Kansas with a name similar to Bondis group a donation that would have been legal, if it was real. In fact, Trumps foundation gave the Kansas group nothing. Officials at the Trump business said in a recent interview with The Post that it had taken all necessary steps to correct the errors. Though Trump has reportedly reimbursed the foundation directly, the watchdog group insists that IRS rules stipulate that the foundation must attempt to recoup the donation from And Justice for All. The treasurer of And Justice for All told The Post in a recent interview that the group had already attempted to return the money but that the Trump Foundation had declined the refund. Donald Trump spent a lot of time raising doubts over President Obama's birth certificate in 2011 but now he won't clarify what he really believes. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) Donald Trump spent a lot of time raising doubts over President Obama's birth certificate in 2011 but now he won't clarify what he really believes. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) Donald Trump was the mainstream face of a fringe movement five years ago that questioned Barack Obamas place of birth and qualifications for office, eventually prompting the president to release a long-form certificate proving his birth in Hawaii. Trump has never apologized, recanted his charges or even admitted error. Instead, he tries not to discuss it. I dont talk about it because if I talk about that, your whole thing will be about that, Trump told reporters aboard his plane on Labor Day. So I dont talk about it. This is a persistent pattern for the stubbornly unapologetic Republican nominee. Judging by his own words, the Republican nominee apparently still believes that prisoners of war such as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) are not heroes; that a federal judge of Mexican heritage is unable to fairly rule in a civil case involving Trump University; that the Muslim American father of a fallen soldier has no right to question him; that former president George W. Bush should be blamed for the 9/11 terrorist attacks; that foreign Muslims must be barred from entering the country until officials figure out what is going on; and that the father of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) might have been involved in the murder of President John F. Kennedy. View Graphic New poll shows how Trump-Clinton matchup is redrawing the electoral map [Donald Trump does not apologize for anything] The approach has often allowed Trump to dodge responsibility for attacks, part of an attempt to portray himself as a more moderate candidate in the general election. But it has also provided a stream of material for Hillary Clinton and her Democratic allies as they compose attack ads. One released this summer showed small children observing some of Trumps most offensive comments, including when he mocked a disabled reporter, while another released this week featured veterans listening to Trump insult McCain and claim to have sacrificed for his country. The Trump campaign declined to answer a written series of questions about where the candidate now stands on a long list of positions or insults. Instead, campaign spokesman Jason Miller pointed to a blanket expression of regret that Trump made last month and then provided a list of controversies that he believes Clinton should explain. When Hillary Clinton chooses incorrectly, there are real world ramifications, presenting a troubling pattern that questions whether or not shes even qualified to be President of the United States, Miller wrote in an email. The Clinton campaign has been trying to hold Trump to his most definitive positions a task that can be difficult. Clinton deputy communications director Christina Reynolds said that on a variety of issues, Trumps imprecision or his failure to address certain topics are attempts to have it both ways. He was birther for years and years and years, and now he doesnt talk about it, Reynolds said Tuesday. If he doesnt believe it anymore, he should say so. 1 of 60 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad What Donald Trump is doing on the campaign trail View Photos The GOP presidential nominee is out on the trail ahead of the general election in November. Caption The GOP presidential nominee is pressing his case ahead of Election Day. Nov. 7, 2016 Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at SNHU Arena in Manchester, N.H. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. Even when Trump seems to regret some of the things that he has said, done or tweeted like when he retweeted an unflattering photo of Cruzs wife, questioned former rival Ben Carsons religion or used the word bimbo in a tweet about Fox Newss Megyn Kelly he will stop short of the genuine apology that is common in American politics. Last summer, Trump said he couldnt remember if he had ever asked God for forgiveness and in September said that apologizings a great thing, but you have to be wrong. Trump seemed to come close to acknowledging the potential for error when he said at a rally in Charlotte last month that sometimes during the heat of debate he will choose the wrong words or say the wrong thing. And believe it or not, I regret it, Trump said. And I do regret it, particularly where it may have caused personal pain. But when pressed since then to explain what he regrets, Trump and his top aides have declined to provide examples. [For which of these two dozens things is Donald Trump finally expressing regret?] He has said that he wants to regret anytime hes caused somebody personal pain by saying something that he didnt intend to cause personal pain, and I think those who have received it privately should take that expression of regret, Trumps campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said on ABC News last month. At another point, she said, Hes expressed his regret publicly and said if I have caused you personal pain that can include me, that can include you that he regrets that. During an interview with Fox Newss Sean Hannity that aired on Aug. 24, Trump reiterated that he does regret things but did not provide any examples and said that he doesnt regret calling Cruz Lyin Ted or Clinton Crooked Hillary. Then he changed the topic to the tremendous success of his tremendous campaign. Trump began to build his current political brand in 2011 by questioning Obamas qualifications for office. Trump never came out and said where he thinks the president was born, but he demanded to see the presidents full birth certificate and other documents, forcing the fringe issue into the mainstream. In April of that year, Obama released his long-form Hawaiian birth certificate in the name of putting all of the conspiracy theories to rest, and Trump congratulated himself. Today, I am very proud of myself because I have accomplished something that nobody else has been able to accomplish, Trump said at the time. I was just informed, while on the helicopter, that our president has finally released a birth certificate. . . . He should have done it a long time ago. But Trump didnt let the issue go. In June 2015, CNNs Anderson Cooper asked Trump whether he now believes Obama was born in the United States, and Trump didnt clearly answer. [Ben Carson says Trump should apologize for birtherism. But Trump cant even quit birtherism.] No. I dont know. I really dont know, Trump said. I mean, I dont know why he wouldnt release his records. But you know, honestly, I dont want to get in it. On the campaign trail, Trump has repeatedly suggested that the president might not be Christian or that he might sympathize with Islamic State terrorists. Such attacks have caused many black voters to turn sharply against Trump, offended that he would challenge the qualifications of the countrys first black president. As Trump has made an aggressive pitch to minority voters in the past few weeks, there has been a renewed debate over Trumps prominent role in the birther moment. On Tuesday, Carson now a regular Trump surrogate said on CNN that Trump could immediately improve his relationship with African American voters by apologizing for questioning the presidents place of birth. I think that would be a good idea, absolutely, Carson said. I suggest that on all sides. Aaron Blake and Anne Gearan contributed to this report. By PTI: Karachi, Sep 6 (PTI) In comments that may not go down well with the establishment back home, Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale was today quoted by a leading newspaper as saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the SAARC Summit. The remarks coming in the midst of a new chill in bilateral ties were sought to be downplayed by sources in the Indian government which said no decision has been taken on the Prime Ministers participation in the summit slated for November. advertisement Bambawale, who was attending an interactive session organised by the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations yesterday, was quoted as saying by Dawn News that, "I cant say about the future but as of today, Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the SAARC summit in November this year." His remarks have caused quite a stir given the fact that both the countries were engaged in a fierce verbal battle over terrorism and the situation in Kashmir. While India has accused Pakistan of supporting cross border terrorism, Pakistan, on its part, has been trying to internationalise Kashmir, alleging New Delhi of human rights violations. Incidentally, Modi made a sharp attack on Pakistan at the G20 summit in China yesterday, saying, "one single nation" in South Asia is spreading "agents of terror" and demanded that those who sponsor the menace must be sanctioned and isolated, not rewarded. According to Bambawale, even while tensions were high between the two nations, there had been contacts at the operational level, Dawn News said. Bambawale also called for greater bilateral trade ties and said political issues will take time to resolve. During the interaction, Bambawale also took a swipe at Pakistan over its interference in Kashmir which was an internal matter of India, saying people living in glass houses should not be throwing stones at others. On Prime Minister Modis recent statement on Balochistan during his Independence Day speech, the Indian envoy said, "The Prime Minister, in his August 15 speech, only referred to the letters he had received." "There are problems in both India and Pakistan and you (Pakistan) should focus on resolving your problems before looking into the problems of other countries," he added. Bambawale said the Indian government has been saying, "Lets work together to get to the bottom of terrorism which is a headache not only for Pakistan, but for India and the world." He said the two countries should not be talking on just one issue, but on all issues. PTI CORR/SH ASK PYK VSC ASK --- ENDS --- The Syrian government dropped a bomb containing chlorine on a besieged neighborhood in the city of Aleppo on Tuesday, heightening fears among people who are cut off from the outside world and unable to escape, according to residents and hospitals in the area. The attack came as Syrian government loyalists battled to consolidate their hold over what had been the last rebel supply line into the opposition-held east of the city, after the capture of the route on Sunday. The outcome of the battle meant that eastern Aleppo is now completely besieged for the second time in two months, and it coincided with the failure of talks between the United States and Russia for a cease-fire deal in the contested city. Witnesses in Aleppo said the chlorine was apparently contained in a barrel bomb dropped on the residential neighborhood of Sukkari on Tuesday afternoon. Aref al-Aref, a resident and activist, said he rushed to the area as soon as he heard the explosion and found people prostrate on the ground but without immediate evidence of injuries. There was no trace of shrapnel or gaping wounds or anything like that, which I thought was odd, he said. They were just coughing intensely and having trouble breathing, and there was this smell as if a swimming pool had exploded in the area. The White Helmets civil defense units said 120 people were hospitalized and posted a video showing coughing people and children being administered oxygen at a local hospital. A statement from the al-Quds hospital, which received 46 of the patients, said that all were suffering from breathing difficulties and that a strong smell of chlorine emanated from their clothes. [U.S. is trapped between its allies ambitions in Syria] The use of chlorine as a weapon of war is banned under international conventions. Yet despite repeated appeals from the United Nations and other members of the international community, the Syrian government continues to use it on a regular basis, as a supplement to the other weapons it deploys in pursuit of its effort to crush the five-year-old rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad. This was the second chlorine attack in a month in rebel-held Aleppo. Although such attacks kill fewer people than the relentless conventional bombings that claim dozens of lives each day, they deepen the fears of people trapped by the war. I saw the horror of all the people. Everyone was scared, said Abdulkafi al-Hamdo, an Aleppo activist who arrived in the area shortly after the attack. They were shocked. They dont know what to do. Its chlorine, they were saying. What will they use after this? The U.S.-Russia negotiations have focused on securing a cease-fire around Aleppo and the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians, along the route that was captured Sunday by the government. U.S. officials have said they plan to keep talking to Russia and are still hopeful they can secure a deal. But now that the Syrian government has succeeded in surrounding Aleppo entirely, it is unclear whether the forces loyal to Assad would be prepared to accept terms that would impede their ability to continue to attack the rebels, even if the United States and Russia were to arrive at an agreement. Also on Tuesday, the Turkish government said that two Turkish soldiers were killed and five were injured in an attack by the Islamic State on two Turkish tanks in northern Syria. They were the first casualties inflicted by the Islamic State since Turkey dispatched troops and tanks to the area. Zakaria Zakaria in Istanbul and Heba Habib in Stockholm contributed to this report. Read more: 40 killed in wave of bombings targeting government-allied parts of Syria How Turkeys offensive into Syria is opening up a hornets nest Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz on Tuesday requested yet another Justice Department investigation of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton this one focused on emails that a tech company staffer deleted in spite of a congressional committees request that they be preserved. In the letter addressed to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Channing D. Phillips, and copied to Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch and FBI Director James B. Comey the Utah Republican asks for an investigation to determine whether Secretary Clinton or her employees and contractors violated statutes that prohibit destruction of records, obstruction of congressional inquiries, and concealment or cover up of evidence material to a congressional investigation. [FBI releases Hillary Clinton email investigation documents] The request is based on an incident in which an employee for Platte River Networks the company that at one time managed Clintons private email server deleted an archive of Clinton emails, even though he had been asked to preserve them by the House Select Committee on Benghazi. The episode was revealed last week in documents made public by the FBI about its investigation into Clintons use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. The FBI concluded in that case that while Clinton and her staffers were careless in how they handled classified information, no reasonable prosecutor would bring charges against them. Republican legislators have questioned that determination, waging an aggressive campaign to get the FBI to release more information about the probe while requesting new investigations. Chaffetz and Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), for example, earlier asked the U.S. attorney in D.C. whether Clinton committed perjury when she testified before a congressional committee about her use of a private email server. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on Chaffetzs latest request. Clinton, speaking to reporters Tuesday on her plane en route to Tampa, said of Chaffetzs latest request: The FBI resolved all of this. Their report answered all the questions. The findings included debunking his latest conspiracy theories. I believe I have created so many jobs in the sort of conspiracy-theory machine factory, because, honestly, they never quit, she added. They keep coming back. And heres another one. Its been debunked. If thats how they want to spend their time instead of looking to address the problems of the American people, thats their choice. A spokesman for Platte River declined to address the FBIs report specifically but said in a statement Platte River Networks did not, at any time, treat the server belonging to the Clintons differently than we did any other client. We maintain all security precautions were in place, and continued to be so, throughout our service to said client. From what is known publicly, another investigation would seem unlikely to produce any significantly damaging revelations for Clinton or those close to her. According to an FBI summary of its investigation, Cheryl Mills, a top Clinton aide, sent the Platte River employee an email referencing the preservation request weeks before he made the deletions, and Mills and Clinton told investigators they were unaware of what the employee had done. Some details of the episode, though, remain murky. According to the FBI summary, Mills and another Clinton aide asked the Platte River employee, whose name is redacted, to delete emails in December 2014 or January 2015 and also to modify the period in which emails were retained. The employee, though, did not do so immediately, according to the summary. On March 2, 2015, the New York Times revealed that Clinton used a personal email account as secretary of state, and the following day, the Benghazi committee requested documents related to it be preserved. On March 25, Platte River, which then managed Clintons private server, had a conference call with staffers of former president Bill Clinton, according to the summary. (A private server in the Clintons home was initially set up to be used by the former president and his staff.) The Platte River employee told FBI agents that sometime in the week that followed, he realized he had not made the changes Mills requested months earlier though he gave varying stories as to what happened next. The employee first said he did not recall making deletions based upon his realization, but in a later interview said he had an Oh, s--- moment and deleted a Hillary Clinton email archive using a program called BleachBit, which is designed to prevent recovery. Mills had on March 9 sent the employee an email referencing the Benghazi committees preservation request. But the employee gave varying accounts to the FBI as to his receipt and comprehension of the document. He first told investigators he did not recall seeing it, then later said he was aware of it and the fact that it meant he should not disturb Clintons email data when he made the deletions, according to the FBI summary. The employee said he did not receive guidance from Platte River, including the companys attorney, about the meaning of the request, according to the FBI summary. FBI investigators found a Platte River work ticket that referenced a conference call between the company, Mills and David Kendall, Clintons attorney, on March 31, though the Platte River employee was advised not to comment on it, because it was protected by attorney-client privilege, according to the FBI summary. John Wagner in Tampa contributed to this report. Read more: Clinton and her familys foundation arent likely to get the McDonnell treatment. FBI defends decision not to charge Clinton as it submits documents to Congress House Republicans grill FBI director Comey on Clinton emails Nicaragua said Tuesday that it has given political asylum to former El Salvador president Mauricio Funes, who has come under scrutiny back home for a truce with gangs during his administration and is facing multiple legal cases. The Nicaraguan governments official Daily Gazette published a notice announcing that Funes, his partner and three children have been granted asylum. It said their lives and physical integrity are in danger because of fighting in favor of democracy, peace, justice and human rights. Funes said via Twitter that he decided to seek asylum last Wednesday after confirming the political persecution that is being initiated against me. According to the Gazette, the petition was dated Sept. 1, the same day El Salvadors Supreme Court ordered the release of a list of Funess government-funded trips abroad while in office. Asylum was granted the following day. Funes, a former journalist who was elected as a member of the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front party, or FMLN, is facing a civil prosecution at home for alleged illicit enrichment. Investigators argue that he and his family need to justify the origin of more than $700,000 in income. Salvadoran prosecutors have also opened an investigation into possible corruption dating to the time of his government, from 2009 to 2014. In August, Salvadoran authorities raided several homes and businesses searching for evidence related to alleged crimes of embezzlement, illicit negotiations, misuse of funds, illicit enrichment and influence-trafficking. Funes denies any wrongdoing. Asylum only seeks to guarantee protection from persecution, he tweeted. I have not given up on confronting the judicial process nor proving my innocence. Funess government repeatedly denied approving negotiations with the gangs, which are blamed for violence that has pushed El Salvadors homicide rates to among the highest in the world. However, several officials from his administration say otherwise, and a group of mediators was allowed to meet with gang leaders inside and outside prisons. His FMLN, which continues to be the governing party of El Salvador under President Salvador Sanchez Ceren, was formed from a former guerrilla movement similar to the origins of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortegas Sandinista National Liberation Front. Funes arrived in Nicaragua three months ago saying he was working as a consultant. With terror organisations like Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba using the internet to spread terror, the two investigation agencies will make a joint effort to combat this growing menace. By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: It is one of the biggest challenges for the modern-day police to contain the growing use of social media websites by global terror organisations or regional jihaadis. Leading investigating agencies NIA and FBI will take a workshop together on "Terrorist use of internet." India has been working closely with the FBI ever since the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai. The FBI is also actively helping NIA in unravelling the Pathankot terror attack. But it is the growing influence of ISIS which remains a huge challenge. With pan-India arrests of ISIS terror recruits in the past two years, India has been taking the help of the United States, as most of the servers of the mobile app sites and social networks are based in America. advertisement INCREASED REACH OF TERROR NETWORKS THROUGH INTERNET Many jihaadi organisations like Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba continue to spread terror through their websites and twitter handles. Kashmiri militant Burhan Wani who was killed on July 8 this year, effectively used WhatsApp and social networking sites to connect to local youths. Close to 40 web and mobile based applications have been used by terrorists in the recent past, with high-end encryption. While agencies like Cert-in have been keeping a check, it is largely left to the NIA to crack terror-related cases. --- ENDS --- Decades after U.S. planes conducted hundreds of thousands of bombing runs over Laos, President Obama acknowledged that secret war and pledged $90 million in additional aid Tuesday to help clear unexploded bombs still strewn across the country. Given our history here, I believe that the United States has a moral obligation to help Laos heal, said Obama, the first U.S. president to visit this struggling Southeast Asian nation. And this spirit of reconciliation is what brings me here today. From 1964 to 1973, the United States carried out 580,000 bombing missions in Laos, dropping more than 270 million cluster bombs in a CIA-led campaign as part of the expanding regional battles from neighboring Vietnam, according to the National Regulatory Authority for UXO/Mine Action in Laos. UXO refers to unexploded ordnance. Many of the bombings sought to cut off supplies to Vietnam, even though, officially, Laos was neutral in the Vietnam War. [Kerry, in rare visit to Laos, blazes trail for better ties] Today, roughly 80 million unexploded bombs remain and continue killing and maiming dozens each year many of them children. In recent years, U.S. aid toward removing those bombs has slowly increased, and deaths have decreased from 300 a year to fewer than 50. Tuesdays announcement doubled the current U.S. funding. We feel an urgency . . . to do our part to accelerate the clearance process, Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser, told reporters in Vientiane. In return, leaders in Laos said they would step up efforts to recover remains and missing American service members. Obama was just one of many leaders in the Laotian capital for the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, whose members take turns hosting. As this years chair at the three-day gathering, Laos has been thrust into the spotlight a still relatively undeveloped nation whose nominally communist government struggles with corruption, repression and economic growth. Landlocked Laos is surrounded on all sides by more powerful neighbors that have long exploited its resources and vied for influence. In the north, China has staked its claims on land and business. In the east, Vietnam has been razing forests for years for lumber. And in the west, Thai leaders often take a paternalistic attitude to their Laotian counterparts and have been pushing for control over the Mekong River that divides them. [Opinion: Obama White House failing to counter Chinese reach in Pacific] Laoss economy remains fledgling and relies heavily on foreign aid. Corruption runs rampant in the government and private sector, and rights groups have complained about hard-line government policies. Many activists have been detained or have disappeared, including renowned agricultural activist Sombath Somphone, who was dragged from his car in December 2012 in Vientiane. Sombath has not been seen since, and Laotian officials have said only that an investigation is underway. But rights groups suspect he was taken by police. Pretty quickly, those talking about it and working to free him were told, Shut up. They were told, If you talk about this, you will have problems, said Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch. Sombath had spent his career in rural development, teaching farmers new ways to eke out a living. And he was outspoken on inequitable land-grab deals, which have angered villagers throughout the country. Last week at a public conference in Bangkok, Sombaths wife, Ng Shui Meng, pleaded for Obama and other leaders visiting Laos to raise her husbands case and the issue of human rights with Laotian leaders. Will the Lao leaders brush off the queries by resorting to the standard response that the police are still investigating? she said. I dont know, but I hope not. On Tuesday, Rhodes said White House officials did raise Sombaths case but heard back the standard response that the government is investigating and does not know where he is. The case, Rhodes said, is something we will continue to raise with Laotian officials. He said the topic of human rights as a U.S.-Laos issue is in its nascent phase. We understand and have to be mindful of the fact that were building a new relationship here, he said. Were just beginning to have these types of conversations. Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report. Read more Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world The BBC reported last month that moves are underway by opposition leaders in the Maldives, including Mohammed Nasheed, former president and leader of Maldives Democratic Party (MDP), to oust President Abdulla Yameen. The apparent plot is being prepared amid an intensified campaign in the Western media to highlight the Yameen governments anti-democratic methods. The US and its allies are hostile to Yameen, not because of his record of human rights abuses, but due to his ties to China. Citing unnamed credible sources, the BBC reported on August 25 that Yameens opponents were looking to move against him within weeks. Few details were provided. A government spokesman denounced the ouster move but added that it was a formal attempt to legally overthrow the government via a ballot. The BBC simultaneously ran another article written by two correspondents who visited as ordinary tourists, secretly covering protests against Yameen and interviewing opposition members and media personnel critical of his rule. The BBC report coincided with the news that Nasheed, who lives in the UK under political asylum, visited Sri Lanka on August 23. The Mihaaru website reported that Nasheed flew to Sri Lanka for an important sit-down over the present crisis in the Maldives. Nasheed was accompanied by former vice president and the head of the United Opposition of Maldives (UOM), Mohamen Jameel Ahmed. The UOM was formed in June in London on the basis of a common agenda of ousting Yameen. Sharp political infighting, involving competing capitalist cliques in the Indian Ocean archipelago, has continued for months. The Maldives, strategically located astride major sea lanes, has become a focal point for rivalry between the US and China as Washington has implemented its pivot to Asia and military build-up throughout the region. While trying to maintain close diplomatic relations with the US and India, the Yameen government is heavily dependent on Chinese investment and concessionary loans. Washington and New Delhi are actively seeking to undermine Beijing and boost their own influence in the Maldives. Yameen is increasingly isolated after the resignation of key ministers. As part of its crackdown on the opposition, the Yameen government instigated charges against Nasheed under draconian anti-terrorism laws for ordering, as president, the detention of Criminal Court Justice Abdulla Mohamed in 2012. Nasheed was jailed for 13 years in March last year. Under pressure from the US, UK and EU, he was allowed to travel to Britain, ostensibly for medical treatment. Nasheed is outspoken about his support for the US and India, and opposition to China. The New Indian Express last week reported MDP international spokesman, Hamid Abdul Ghafoor, as saying that India, the US and the EU are backing opposition moves to oust Yameens dictatorial government by legal means. Ghafoor was in Colombo but claimed he did not know of Nasheeds presence. During his weekly press briefing, Sri Lankan Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne did not confirm the presence of Nasheed and other opposition leaders in Colombo but did not deny it either. He referred to Nasheeds political activities in Sri Lanka during the previous government of President Mahinda Rajapakse and added that he must be doing the same thing even now. Rajapakse, who was regarded as too close to China, was ousted in January last year in a US-backed regime-change operation in the Sri Lankan presidential election. Since Maithripala Sirisena was installed as president, the Sri Lanka government has played an increasingly active role on Washingtons behalf. It mediated Nasheeds release and his travel last year to the UK. Yameen clearly feels under siege. The countrys courts last week issued arrest warrants for Nasheed, Jameel and MDP senior official Akram Kamldeen, who are also in exile in the UK. Police raided Nasheeds house in the capital of Male. The government recently rammed a strict defamation law through the parliament that allows for jail terms and steep fines for journalists. The defence ministry has barred soldiers from meeting politicians and foreign diplomats, political party leaders and political activists without prior permission from senior officials. The crisis surrounding Yameen has deepened in recent months, with rifts in the ruling Maldives Progressive Party (MPP). Gayoom, Yameens half-brother and MPP president, recently opposed land laws that allow foreign freehold ownership, following criticism in the Indian media that the legislation will pave the way for China to set up military bases. Gayooms daughter, Dunya Maumoon, resigned as foreign minister in July. Several MPs are also supporting Gayoom. The international media is ramping up the pressure on Yameen. The New York Times published a lengthy interview with Nasheed, who accused Yameen of corruption. Yameen, who was head of the State Trading Organisation, sold nearly $US300 million worth of oil to Myanmars military dictatorship in the early 2000s, despite sanctions by the US and the EU. Nearly half of the money disappeared, Nasheed said, implying Yameen siphoned off the money. Al Jaz e era has announced that its investigative unit is getting ready to release a documentary named Stealing Paradise which it claims to reveal how a president [Yameen] hijacked a nation and millions of dollars were stolen. The Australian has published reports about the danger that Maldivians are joining ISIS to fight the Syrian regime. Its report headlined, Could a terror threat sink paradise? noted: The country famed for white sands and laid-back locals is teetering on the edge of a coup with unrest and the threat of Islamic State terrorism set to see paradise turn ugly. Some of the Indian media have written articles urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to back the opposition in the Maldives to move against Yameen. After referring to lost opportunities to reassert Indian influence on the island nation, a Times of India columnist declared: India must assert its credentials by helping democrats to come to power. The opposition parties in the Maldives do not represent a democratic alternative to the Yameen regime and pose great dangers for workers and youth. Like every other country in the region, the Maldives is being drawn into the machinations of US imperialism and its allies as it intensifies its military build-up in Asia and war drive against China. The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College, The Short List: Grad School and The Short List: Online Programs to find data that matter to you in your college or grad school search. Between prepping for the MCAT, going on interviews and submitting the required materials, applying to medical school can be challenging -- especially when there are thousands of other applicants. Among the 116 ranked medical schools that submitted these data to U.S. News in an annual survey, the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in Pennsylvania received the most applications -- 15,475 -- for the fall 2015 entering class. [Discover how to show professionalism in medical school applications.] The medical school swapped spots with Drexel University , which topped last year's list and had 15,282 applicants for fall 2015. Most of the schools on this year's list also appeared on last year's, though a few -- including Brown University in Rhode Island and Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in New York -- are new to the top 10. The average among the 10 medical schools with the largest applicant pools was 12,194 -- significantly higher than the average among all schools that submitted these data. At 5,693 applicants, the overall average was less than half that at the top 10. Four of the 10 medical schools on the list are located in Pennsylvania, and none of those schools fell among the top 20 in either the research or primary care rankings. [Explore four questions to ask about undergraduate majors for medical school.] Three of the schools on the list -- George Washington University and Georgetown University, both in Washington, D.C., and Brown University -- were also among the medical schools with the lowest admissions rates for fall 2015. Story continues Below is a list of the 10 medical schools that received the most applications for fall 2015. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report. * RNP denotes an institution that is ranked in the bottom one-fourth of all medical and osteopathic schools. U.S. News calculates a rank for the school but has decided not to publish it. Don't see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News Medical School Compass to find applicant data, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights. U.S. News surveyed 170 medical schools for our 2015 survey of research and primary care programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News' data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Medical Schools rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News' rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The application data above are correct as of Sept. 6, 2016. Jordan Friedman is an online education editor at U.S. News. You can follow him on Twitter or email him at jfriedman@usnews.com. Victoria Good morning. Here's everything you need to know in the world of advertising today. 1. Mars won 1 million ($1.3 million) of free advertising from Channel 4 for its Paralympics campaign. Mars and creative agency AMV BBDO's Maltesers campaign features four disabled actors. 2. Mobile apps are now bigger than the web. According to new data from ComScore, more than half of all time Americans spend online is spent in apps up from around 41% two years ago. 3. It looks like the iPhone 7 is going to be waterproof. Ming-Chi Kuo, an extremely reliable analyst from KGI Securities, predicts that improved waterproofing will be a feature of the new phone. 4. Meal delivery startup Deliveroo has had a colourful rebrand. Deliveroo now contrasts with the greys and blacks favored by competing service UberEATS. 5. Facebook's key to conquering the world: Beating the ad blockers. A long read from Ad Age on Facebook's battle with ad blockers like Adblock Plus. 6. HSBC is letting customers verify their bank accounts like Airbnb does with selfies. HSBC said business customers will now have the option on their mobile banking app to complete an ID security check by just taking a headshot. 7. Four things marketers should know about virtual reality. Digiday reports that the novelty of the technology is fading, but it is getting cheaper. 8. Carling wants to rival Amazon Dash as it launches a "world first" beer button. The beer company has designed a button that will automatically add Carling to your online shopping order, according to Marketing Week. 9. ITV drama "Victoria" narrowly beat BBC rival "Poldark" in the ratings. The hotly contested battle of the period dramas ended up with "Victoria" coming out on top with 5.2 million viewers, The Guardian reports. 10. Sony is making a move into mobile gaming following the success of Pokemon Go. [Mobile gaming] is something we are aggressively getting into, Sony chief executive Kaz Hirai told The Financial Times. Story continues NOW WATCH: New guidelines have led to a big change for uniforms at the Rio Olympics More From Business Insider Fox News Toni Tennille is coming out of retirement to fulfill a lifetime wish. The Grammy-winning singer, known for her bouncy 1975 song "Love Will Keep Us Together" alongside her former husband Daryl Dragon, is set to lead the Yavapai College Performing Arts Center production of "Hello, Dolly!" in Prescott, Arizona. For the majority of prospective college students and their families, cost is a major factor in determining which schools are viable options. Knowing which schools are best buys -- which colleges provide students receiving financial aid with the highest quality education for the lowest price -- is imperative. To help provide that information, U.S. News surveys colleges and universities each year and ranks nearly 1,400 of them in different categories according to our methodology. Here, we offer a sneak peek of the 2017 Best Colleges rankings. These schools -- listed alphabetically below -- are considered the top 10 Best Value Schools among those in the National Universities category. National Universities emphasize faculty research and offer a full range of undergraduate majors, plus master's and doctoral programs. National University (state) Brown University (RI) California Institute of Technology Columbia University (NY) Dartmouth College (NH) Duke University (NC) Harvard University (MA) Massachusetts Institute of Technology Princeton University (NJ) Stanford University (CA) Yale University (CT) These schools -- listed alphabetically below -- are considered the top 10 Best Value Schools among those in the National Liberal Arts Colleges category. Liberal Arts Colleges emphasize undergraduate education, awarding at least 50 percent of their degrees in the arts and sciences. National Liberal Arts College (state) Amherst College (MA) Grinnell College (IA) Pomona College (CA) Soka University of America (CA) Swarthmore College (PA) Vassar College (NY) Virginia Military Institute Washington and Lee University (VA) Williams College (MA) The actual Best Value rankings of these and other schools will be available Sept. 13, 2016, on usnews.com. To see full rankings, SAT and ACT scores, scholarship and grant information, graduation rates and more, sign up for the U.S. News College Compass. If you have a big, red circle on your calendar with a friendly reminder about Wednesday and Apple Inc. (AAPL), you're not alone. Every September around this time, Apple throws a soiree to announce a few new products, but always front and center is the latest iteration of its iconic iPhone. This year, that date is Sept. 7. And this year, those iterations are the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus. Apple lovers and technophiles will be locked into Wednesday's event, sure. That's a given. But seeing as how AAPL is one of the most watched companies (if not the most watched company) on the market, and America's largest stock by market capitalization -- giving it an outsized effect on hundreds of hedge, mutual and exchange-traded funds -- well ... you can bet Wall Street will be pretty interested too. In particular, investors who are long on Apple stock will be hanging on each word. That's because Apple is in the red since May 2015 and is underperforming the broader market so far this year. That's also because iPhone sales have declined in two consecutive quarters, which is particularly worrisome given that the iPhone accounts for well more than half the company's revenues. [Read: Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA) Should Imitate Apple Inc.'s Naming Strategy.] Naturally, those longs will be looking and waiting for something. Here are three things investors probably want to see out of the iPhone 7 ... and whether they're likely to see it: Water resistance. The iPhone 7 is expected to include many upgrades, several of them meaningful. For instance, KGI Securities (via 9to5 Mac) says the iPhone's memory is going to get a long-needed upgrade on the low end, from 16 GB to 32 GB. (Have you ever deleted photos or apps to have enough storage to install the latest iOS update? Yeah, you're smiling right now.) This upgrade simply addresses the reality that 16 GB is inadequate anymore, even for base-level iPhone users. Serial picture-takers and audio hoarders still will have to pay up for more storage, either via the phone itself or iCloud. Story continues But water resistance might be the best improvement Apple makes. That same report, from KGI's Ming-Chi Kuo -- a respected name in the Apple tech analysis game -- says the iPhone 7 will be more protected now. MacRumors' roundup says the iPhone 7 will have "Improved IPX7 water resistance matching that of the original Apple Watch and making the device suitable for splashes, showering, and even brief dips in water up to 1 meter deep." A few Samsung phones boast water protection -- something you probably already know thanks to Li'l Wayne's unforgettable champagne showers for the Galaxy S7 Edge. Sony Corp. (SNE) also makes a couple of water-resistant phones via its Xperia line. Heck, Caterpillar (CAT) Cat Phones are waterproof to 5 meters. Smartphones aren't luxuries now. They're necessities. Many people put their entire lives into their smartphones. Thus, we need smartphones that are increasingly durable against anything they might come up against in a lifetime of heavy use. Apple needs (and is expected) to get itself on par on this front before water resistance becomes a major selling point that sends would-be buyers to Apple's rivals. [See: 7 Pharma Stocks and the Prognosis for Profits.] The headphone jack. Most consumers might grouse if Apple finally removes the headphone jack from its iPhones, but investors should welcome it. For months, rumors have abounded concerning whether Apple would ditch the headphone jack. Product certifications for "AirPods" (via MacRumors) and possible leaked plans to launch new Beats headphones along with the iPhone 7 (via France's iGen) further cement this fear. Naturally, this would irk many users, as Apple's EarPods and other wired headphones work fine not just with the iPhone, but laptops and other devices. But it looks like Apple is going to head that off by the pass by including new Lightning-connected EarPods and a 3.5mm converter in packaging. That might sound like a missed money grab opportunity ... but wait, there's more. For one, MacRumors discovered Eurasian Economic Union certification for so-called "AirPods" -- higher-priced wireless Apple earbuds that likely will not be bundled with the new iPhone 7. Moreover, there's the aforementioned iGen leak that implies Beats -- which is now owned by Apple -- will try to capitalize with new offerings of its own, no doubt tailored to the changes in audio input. Lightning audio does have its upsides, too, including better sound quality. Plus, Apple can make its iPhones thinner without the headphone jack, and it makes water-protecting the device easier. In short, Apple is making improvements while disturbing an iPhone mainstay, and positioning itself to tout new, pricy audio equipment to usher in this change. A game-changing iPhone. If the rumors and leaks are true, the iPhone 7 is going to be better in many ways. Better cameras, better storage, better RAM (for the iPhone 7 Plus, says DigiTimes) and better protection from the elements. You could even argue that, if the headphone jack rumors are true, this iPhone will be "different." And at the end of the day, if those upgrades and differences are enough to get hordes of current iPhone users up off their couch and into Apple Stores, that's all that really matters if you hold AAPL shares. But the ghost of iPhone future might be enough to keep people on the sidelines. Apple is changing its product launch cycle to every three years from two, which means we're not going to see a truly major design change until next year. The Wall Street Journal reports that those changes "could include an edge-to-edge organic light-emitting diode, or OLED, screen and eliminating the home button by building the fingerprint sensor into the display, according to people familiar with the matter." Waterproofing likely would be better without a home button, the screen could be bigger and better, and it'll almost certainly have Lightning audio, too. Thus, many would-be buyers might try to hold off just one more year. Sure, not everyone has that option. Many iPhone 6 Plus users suffering from "touch disease" -- a defect involving a flaw in the touch screen -- will probably want to upgrade. Heck, even Apple itself says its iPhones have an expected lifespan of three years -- so right now, there's a natural roll-up of people who own iPhones with increasingly nagging problems just waiting to upgrade. [See: The 10 Best Ways to Buy Tech Stocks.] But "the next big iPhone" isn't coming this year, just "the next iPhone." So investors can only wait and hope that the iPhone 7 will be appealing enough to stir up a buying frenzy like the iPhones of yore. More From US News & World Report J-K Governor NN Vohra today said that he was unhappy as the recommendations made in the Security Review Report were not implemented. By Jitendra Bahadur Singh: Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra today said that National Security Management requires much greater, sharper and focused attention than what India pays on it. Speaking at an event on homeland security at FICCI, the Governor expressed his unhappiness over the non implementation of National Security Review Report in 2000 which had recommended Specialised Forces consisting of various groups and not just regular security forces. advertisement Smart border management is not possible if everybody at large respects, understands and regards security of the country, if people have no regard for security. "We actually don't realise what we mean by unity, integrity and protection of India's territorial integrity," he said. He said that from 2012 onwards there were four successful fidayeen attacks from across the border killing police and army officers. "The point I want to make is that we have deficiencies along the border. The average distance between border posts, the nature of communication between border posts, the nature of facilities - night vision devices, equipment available to the security forces etc," said Vohra. NATIONAL SECURITY REQUIRES FOCUS "I have raised these points on a number of occasions. We have Pathankot. National Security Management requires much greater, much sharper, more focused attention than what we pay in past years. Border guarding is not a general kind of work keeping in mind the threats," he added. According to Vohra, there was a need for specially trained forces. He said that the recommendations that were made in National Security Review Report in 2000 were vital. "We had said that the time has come for specialised group of forces consisting of defence forces, civilians, IITians, bankers, experts, technologists, IIM people, atomic energy and scientists. They should be trained on national security by IAS or IPS personnel. The report accepted by a Group of Minister, however, I am afraid that Mr Pillai may know but I don't see it after that," said Vohra. Also read: Kashmir unrest: All-party delegation meets Governor Vohra after talks with separatists fail --- ENDS --- Paris (AFP) - A Paris court on Tuesday jailed 35 former porters from the prestigious Drouot auction house for stealing precious antiques, jewels and artworks in an insider racket thought to date back decades. The defendants, who transported and stored objects destined for sale by Drouot, were found guilty of helping themselves to treasures including diamonds and a painting by Marc Chagall. They were sentenced to up to three years in jail, with 18 months suspended, and fined 60,000 euros ($67,000). Three auctioneers were also convicted in the scandal that shook the French art world, with the three receiving suspended sentences of up to 18 months plus fines of 25,000 euros. The lavish lifestyles of some of the porters had long been a source of suspicion. One drove a Porsche 911 and the latest BMW cabriolet, while another reportedly bought a Paris bar with his spoils. The convicted men were among 43 porters and six auctioneers who were tried in March on charges of gang-related theft, conspiracy and handling stolen goods. Defence lawyer Lef Forster complained that the court had failed to take into consideration the "social complexity of the phenomenon", arguing that the practice of "salvaging objects" was widely tolerated. - Secretive group - Investigators alleged institutionalised theft by the porters, known as "Les Savoyards" as all members of the secretive group came from the French Alpine region of Savoie. They are also known as the "Cols Rouges" after the red trim on the collars of their black uniforms, paired with pristine white gloves. The porters had monopolised the transport and handling of valuables for Drouot, one of the world's oldest auction houses, since 1860. The court on Tuesday ordered the dissolution of their union, whose membership was tightly controlled and limited to 110. Much of the pilfering occurred while the porters set about emptying the homes of wealthy people after their deaths, taking items that were not inventoried. Story continues Two pieces by leading Art Deco designer Eileen Gray went missing in July 2006, appearing three months later on the Drouot auction block where they sold for a combined total of one million euros. The porters claimed they had no idea the objects -- a pedestal table and a dressing table -- could fetch such a fortune, with one saying they were to have been "hauled away by the rag-and-bone man". The investigation was launched in 2009 after an anonymous tip led investigators to a painting by the 19th-century artist Gustave Courbet that disappeared while being transported in 2003. Raids uncovered a mountain of treasures, including precious jewels and antique furniture, that had gone missing. - 'Stealing from the dead' - The same fate befell some stage costumes of the great French mime Marcel Marceau, who died in 2007 leaving a tax debt of several million euros to his daughters. Testifying at the trial in March, the daughters lambasted what they called a "free-for-all" behind the scenes at Drouot. They were among several dozen victims of the alleged scam who sought damages in the trial, but the court did not award any on Tuesday. Drouot was quick to dissociate itself from the scandal, dropping the porters in 2010 and becoming a civil plaintiff in the trial. "These thefts committed on such a large scale have shamed the institution," the auction house's lawyer Karim Beylouni said in March. According to the prosecution, the practice -- known as "la yape" which means "theft" in Savoie slang -- was endemic and profits were shared equally among the porters. Each newcomer "bought" the membership of an outgoing porter, with an initiation process that involved stealing something and sharing the proceeds with the others. Defence lawyer Thibaut Rouffiac acknowledged during the trial that "there were thefts, without a doubt," but said: "Just because there were thefts and excesses doesn't mean they all stole." Another, Leon Lef Forster, questioned whether "fraudulent intent" could be proven when the employees salvaged "abandoned things". Some of the porters allegedly defended the practice by saying they were merely "stealing from the dead". You are required to make many retirement benefit decisions in your 60s that will impact your finances for the rest of your life. When you sign up for Social Security plays a big role in how much money you will receive each month, and late Medicare enrollment could cause you to pay permanently higher premiums. The rules for retirement account withdrawals are also unusually flexible during your 60s, and only during this decade are you allowed but not required to take penalty-free distributions. Here are some of the retirement choices 60-somethings need to make. [See: 10 Ways to Increase Your Social Security Payments.] When to sign up for Social Security. You can claim your Social Security payments beginning at age 62, but monthly payments are reduced if you start them before your full retirement age, which is 66 for most baby boomers. You can increase your monthly payments by delaying your benefit up until age 70. "Every year you delay your Social Security benefit between ages 62 and 70 you get an increase in income," says Justin Castelli, a certified financial planner and founder of RL Wealth Management in Fishers, Indiana. "If you can delay and supplement your Social Security with an IRA or another source of income, your payments will go up." The optimum age to sign up depends largely on how long you live. Those who live into their 90s will come out ahead by delaying Social Security in order to claim higher monthly payments. People with health conditions who don't expect to live into old age are likely to get more by claiming sooner. However, couples need to optimize benefits together. For example, if the spouse with the health condition was the higher earner, he might be able to secure a higher survivor's payment for his wife by delaying his own Social Security benefit. Setting up appropriate Medicare benefits. Before you leave your job, make sure you will continue to have health insurance to cover any ongoing conditions or new emergencies. Some people wait until age 65 to retire so they will be eligible for Medicare. If you have already started Social Security benefits, your Medicare coverage typically begins automatically. However, if you intend to claim Social Security after age 65, remember to sign up for Social Security during the seven-month window around your 65th birthday in order to avoid late enrollment penalties. If you work past age 65 and receive group health insurance through your job, be sure to sign up within eight months of the coverage ending. Those who don't sign up for Medicare when they are first eligible might have to pay permanently higher premiums for Medicare parts B and D and could even be denied the right to purchase a Medigap policy. [See: How to Reduce Your Tax Bill by Saving for Retirement.] How to draw down your retirement accounts. Workers over age 59 1/2 can withdraw money from their traditional IRA or 401(k) without incurring an early withdrawal penalty. Income tax will be due on each retirement account withdrawal. The amount you will owe varies based on your tax rate in the year you make the distribution. In some cases, taking retirement account withdrawals after you retire but before you sign up for Social Security might help you remain in a lower tax bracket while paying a lower tax rate on your retirement account distributions. Withdrawals from traditional retirement accounts are required after age 70 1/2. In addition to minimizing taxes, you also need to make sure your savings will last the rest of your life by setting up a gradual spending strategy. "Most people could realistically sustain a 3 to 5 percent withdrawal rate," says Scott Haley, a certified financial planner and principal of Prelude Financial in Wadsworth, Ohio. "But the withdrawal rate does kind of depend on how you are currently invested, and if you are more conservative, then consider a lower withdrawal rate." When to leave your job. Delaying retirement gives you more time to build a nest egg and reduces the number of retirement years you need to pay for. But hitting a specific number in your retirement account doesn't necessarily mean you are ready to retire. In addition to being a way to earn income, a job is also a place to socialize and can even be part of your identity. It's important to start exploring other interests and create a social network outside of the office before leaving your job. However, you don't always get to choose your retirement date. "Some people retire because they are laid off or let go," says Karen Holden, a professor emerita of consumer science and public affairs at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. "Spouses will retire because of the health of the other spouse." You need a plan to cope with emergencies and the ability to be flexible and make adjustments in retirement. [See: 50 Affordable Places to Buy a Retirement Home in 2016.] Where you will live. Retirement provides an opportunity to significantly lower your cost of living. If you can sell a large home and move into one that costs significantly less, you can quickly add cash to your nest egg. You might also be able to lower your ongoing maintenance and insurance costs. However, a move away from family and friends could eliminate your support system, and you might even need to pay for services friendly neighbors might have helped with in the past. In addition to being affordable, a good retirement spot needs to be welcoming to newcomers and provide amenities for seniors. "What is really important is having a sense of safety, community and economic security," says Becky Yust, a professor of housing studies at the University of Minnesota. "Consider where you can live with dignity and with a support network if your physical characteristics change over time." Emily Brandon is the author of "Pensionless: The 10-Step Solution for a Stress-Free Retirement." From ELLE This article originally appeared in the September 2016 issue of ELLE. If you fancy photographs of famous men turning our ideas of sexiness upside down: Red-Blooded American Male, by Robert Trachtenberg (Amphoto Books). Channing Tatum, Tracy Morgan, Jonah Hill, Kevin Hart, Will Arnett (on the cover, his shapely legs in fishnets), and many more. If you like a postmodern, high-concept Brady Bunch with a happy blending, but also death, guilt, and literary betrayal: Commonwealth (Harper), by Ann Patchett. The author of Bel Canto and State of Wonder swears she made this one up, "but it's made from things I knew and understood." If you are worried about the media-proclaimed narcissism epidemic, Kristin Dombek's clear-eyed and empathic reported book-length essay, The Selfishness of Others: An Essay on the Fear of Narcissism (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), will engage and surprise you. If you like the idea of Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar meets Katharine Graham's Personal History, you will love Ruth Franklin's biography, Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life (Liveright). Jackson merged horror and comedy, love of career and love of motherhood in her works, and achieved and suffered greatly as a consequence. If you are among the multitudes who have a Bill Murray story (viz: "I was in the airport bar, and who sat down next to me but Bill Murray?"), The Tao of Bill Murray: Real-Life Stories of Joy, Enlightenment, and Party Crashing (Random House), by Gavin Edwards, will speak to you. If you dig best seller Colson Whitehead's ingenious novelistic stylings (Zone One, The Intuitionist), you'll follow teen slave Cora to the ends of the earth in The Underground Railroad (Doubleday), an inspired and wrenching twist on the perilous antebellum journeys by slaves in the South to freedom in the North. If you can't sleep and need an antidote to your troubled nocturnal thrashings, Lenny editor Jessica Grose's delightfully sly second novel, Soulmates (William Morrow), features a scandalous mystery at a remote yoga retreat and a sleuthing divorcee named Dana. Story continues Have thoughts? We want to hear from you. Contact us at elleletters@hearst.com. You Might Also Like This years G20 summit, which ended on Sept. 5, saw leaders who represent around 85% of the worlds economy gather in Chinas southeastern city of Hangzhou. Here are some key moments from the two-day event over the Labor Day weekend that saw factories shuttered, building work suspended and local residents out of the city so that Chinese authorities could proceed without a glitch: 1. Red carpet fracas A squabble over a mobile stairway caused President Barack Obama to disembark from the belly of Air Force One on a small flight of metal stairs, and not onto the red carpet normally provided to world leaders. The incident created the narrative that the Chinese had snubbed the American leader, which Chinese officials deny. There was also a disagreement on the tarmac when a Chinese official shouted this is our country to U.S. officials and reporters trying to cross a cordon. The situation was further exacerbated online, when U.S. spy unit Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), tweeted Classy as always China with a link to a New York Times article on the airport incident. 2. U.S. and China give green light to green plan The diplomatic feuding didnt prevent leaders of the worlds two biggest greenhouse gas emitters Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinpingfrom announcing that they will formally ratify the Paris climate change agreement. Obama said the announcement, made a day before the start of the summit on Sept. 3, showed that the worlds two largest economies could come together to battle climate change. The pair also enjoyed a cup of tea together at a heavily-staged photo op. 3. No Syria deal in sight between U.S. and Russia Obama met with his Russian counterpart President Vladimir Putin on Sept. 5 on the sidelines of the G-20 summit for around ninety minutes. The pair were attempting to clarify gaps in negotiations over the Syrian crisis, because talks between their governments ended without an agreement over the weekend. The leaders also discussed Russias cyber intrusions and Ukraine, reports CNN. Story continues 4. Worries aired about populist-fueled discontent With the backdrop of the U.K. voting to leave the E.U. and populist leaders such as Donald Trump preaching a protectionist gospel, world leaders were unanimous in their acknowledgment of rising income inequality and a growing backlash to globalization. At the conclusion of the summit Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said: Growth has been too low for too long for too few.there was also a determination around the room to better identify the benefits of trade in order to respond to the populist backlash against globalisation. 5. No quick trade deals for the U.K. Obama told U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May that a trade deal between both countries would not be a priority, reiterating his stance that the world benefited enormously from the United Kingdoms participation in the E.U. Her team was then warned in a 15-page memo that Japanese companies could be driven out of Britain after Brexit if the country ceased being a gateway to Europe. 6. Kim Jong Un makes a splash North Korea launched three ballistic missiles on Sept. 5, in a move seen as an attempt to capture the attention of world leaders as they attend the G-20 summit. The medium-range Rodong missiles flew for around 600 miles before landing in the Sea of Japan. 7. Philippines president crosses the line On Sept. 5, Obama cancelled his planned meeting with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte after the Filipino appeared to call him a son of a whore. Obama was due to meet Duterte at the ASEAN summit in Laos, which is taking place a day after the G-20 on Sept. 6. Duterte issued a statement on Tuesday saying he regretted his curse, blaming the slur on certain press questions that elicited concern and distress. Warsaw (AFP) - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both said Tuesday they were willing to meet to relaunch peace efforts, but no date was set and they traded blame for stalled talks. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been seeking to arrange a meeting between the two in Moscow in a bid to restart peace efforts that have been at a standstill for more than two years. But disagreements over the conditions for such talks have derailed previous efforts, and Netanyahu again called for a meeting without preconditions. Abbas did not speak of what his conditions would be for such a meeting if any, but Palestinian leaders have previously spoken of three issues. They include a halt to Israeli settlement building, the release of prisoners and a deadline for the end of the occupation of the West Bank. The Palestinian president, speaking during a visit to Warsaw, said a meeting had been proposed for Friday but an aide to Netanyahu suggested delaying this, leading to it being called off. "Netanyahu's representative proposed to delay this meeting to a later date. So the meeting will not happen," Abbas said at a joint press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda. "But I am ready and I declare again that I will go to any meeting." Netanyahu, speaking during a visit to The Hague, said he was "ready to meet Abu Mazen (Abbas) at any time directly and without preconditions". "The real question is whether Abu Mazen is willing to meet us without preconditions and we are hearing conflicting reports on that," he said. Putin's Middle East envoy has held talks with both Netanyahu and Palestinian leaders in recent days. On Tuesday after talks in Palestinian political capital Ramallah, he said efforts would continue to work towards a future meeting. "We are very thankful that Abu Mazen accepted in principle the Russian initiative proposed by President Putin," Mikhail Bogdanov said. Story continues "We'll continue our efforts, discussions and contacts with the two parties about the form, contents and dates of the meeting." - Political concerns - Peace efforts have been at a standstill since a US-led initiative collapsed in April 2014. The last substantial public meeting between Abbas and Netanyahu is thought to have been in 2010, although there have been unconfirmed reports of secret meetings since then. There have been concerns in Israel that US President Barack Obama will seek to make a strong statement on the conflict in his final months in office, possibly by supporting or at least not vetoing a UN Security Council resolution that Israel opposes. International criticism of Israeli settlement building, including from the United States, has intensified in recent months. Netanyahu's government, considered to be the most right-wing in the country's history, has nonetheless continued with the policy. The settlements are considered illegal under international law and major obstacles to peace as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state. At the same time, the Palestinians themselves remain divided between Abbas's Fatah party and the Islamist movement Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip. Polls have also shown that the majority of Palestinians want the 81-year-old Abbas to resign, making it difficult for him to take any steps that could be seen as concessions. France has also been pursuing its own peace initiative, with the idea of holding an international conference on the conflict before the end of the year. The Palestinians strongly support France's international approach, saying years of negotiations with the Israelis have not ended the occupation. Netanyahu, however, firmly opposes the French initiative and calls for direct talks. On Tuesday, Abbas said international help to end the conflict was crucial. "The peace process has stalled because of the Israeli government's position and we now need the political and economic help of the United States and the European Union, especially to rebuild our infrastructure," he said. President Obama cancelled his meeting with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte after he was insulted and called "son of a b***h" by Duterte. Duterte later expressed regret over his remark. By Reuters: US President Barack Obama canceled what would have been his first meeting with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, after Duterte described Obama in vulgar terms, a White House spokesman today said. Duterte, on the other hand, expressed regret over the remark . In a statement read out by his spokesman, Duterte said his "strong comments" to certain questions by a reporter "elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the U.S. president." advertisement DUTERTE CALLED OBAMA 'SON OF A B***H'. REALLY? Duterte, a plain-spoken populist known for his colorful remarks and his campaign against illegal drugs in which thousands of people have died, described Obama as a "son of a b***h" to reporters on Monday, a day ahead of the planned meeting in Laos, where South Asian leaders are meeting for annual summits. Obama learned about the insult as he emerged from the Group of 20 summit in Hangzhou, China. At a news conference, he said he had told his aides to speak with Philippine officials "to find out is this, in fact, a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations," leaving little doubt that the meeting would not proceed as planned. "I always want to make sure that if I'm having a meeting, that it's actually productive and we're getting something done," Obama told reporters. Also Read: G20: Obama's arrival in China cranks out differences over South China Sea, human rights OBAMA CHANGES PLANS Instead, Obama now plans to meet later on Tuesday with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, said Ned Price, spokesman for the White House National Security Council - a meeting where the response to North Korea's latest missile tests is expected to be on the agenda. Obama arrived in Vientiane just before midnight on Monday, for the first visit by a sitting US President to Laos, where he wants to begin to address the legacy of US bombing during the Vietnam War. He was set to give an address on the importance he has placed on Southeast Asia in his foreign and economic policy during his two terms in office, which will end on Jan. 20, setting the stage for three days of meetings with regional leaders. The White House had said Obama did not plan to pull any punches on his concerns about human rights abuses in the Philippines, its treaty ally, when meeting Duterte. Duterte won the presidency in May as he promised to suppress crime and wipe out drugs and drug dealers, and a wave of extrajudicial killings has followed. advertisement DUTERTE'S INSULTS NOT NEW Duterte said it would be "rude" for Obama to raise the human rights issue, and told reporters such a conversation would prompt him to curse at Obama, using a Filipino phrase for "son of a b***h." "Plenty will be killed until the last pusher is out of the streets. Until the (last) drug manufacturer is killed we will continue," he said. It's not the first time Duterte has cursed at a world leader. He called Pope Francis a "son of a w***e" in May, and called U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg a "gay son of a whore." On Monday, Obama said he recognized the importance of fighting the drug trade, but insisted it must be done under the rule of law. ASEAN SUMMIT The unusually open tensions threaten to overshadow the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Asia Summits in Laos from Tuesday to Thursday. The 10-member ASEAN will meet leaders of other regional powers: China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Russia and the United States. The Philippines has been a key U.S. ally in its dispute with China over the South China Sea, in which Washington blames Beijing for militarizing a vital global trade route and jeopardizing freedom of movement at sea and in the air. advertisement China rejects those accusations, and in turn blames the United States for ratcheting up tensions unnecessarily. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims. An arbitration court in The Hague in July invalidated China's vast territorial claims to the waterway after a case was brought by the Philippines, a ruling that Beijing refuses to recognize. Duterte said last month he expected all ASEAN members to support the arbitration court's ruling, but that the Philippines would not raise the issue in Laos. WATCH THE VIDEO HERE: Also Read: Supernetas: Justin Trudeau just became a Marvel superhero, but Modi, Obama beat him to it Talks with China 'extremely productive' ahead of G20 Summit: Barack Obama advertisement Barack Obama is founder of ISIS, says Donald Trump --- ENDS --- ROME (Reuters) - The body of an Afghan asylum seeker living in Amatrice, the town worst hit by last month's earthquake, was pulled from the rubble of the home where he had been living, Italy's national fire rescue service said on Monday. The Aug. 24 quake killed almost 300 people when it struck in the middle of the night. More than 200 of the dead were in Amatrice. Sayed, who was living in a state-funded shelter in Amatrice, was the only one of four people sleeping in the home on the night of the earthquake who was killed, Corriere della Sera newspaper reported. The others managed to escape. Sayed's brother Zia, who lives in Austria, was present as emergency workers searched for the body today, fire service spokesman Luca Cari said. He could not provide the brothers' last name. Sayed came to Italy fleeing war in Afghanistan, and had requested asylum. He had three children still living in Afghanistan, Corriere said. Though he had found work in northern Italy as a pizzaiolo, or pizza maker, he had delayed his departure to participate in the annual Amatrice festival for its signature "amatriciana" pasta sauce, the newspaper said. The festival was due to be held the weekend after the earthquake hit. (Reporting by Steve Scherer and Antonella Cinelli; Editing by Catherine Evans) By Mirwais Harooni KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan security forces ended an 11-hour standoff in central Kabul on Tuesday, shooting dead the last of a group of attackers who struck hours after a separate suicide bombing killed and wounded dozens of security personnel and civilians. The episode began on Monday afternoon with a twin suicide bombing in a busy area of the capital near the Defence Ministry that killed 35 people, including several senior security officers, and wounded 103. The attack was claimed by the Taliban and was followed a few hours later by a car bomb in Share Naw, a business and residential area of the city close to the government and embassy district, which the insurgent group also claimed. The violence highlighted the precarious security in the capital just a month before a conference in Brussels where international donors are expected to pledge continued financial support to Afghanistan. After the blast in Share Naw, three gunmen barricaded themselves in close to an office of aid group Care International and a government complex. The Taliban said in a statement the attack had targeted a secret intelligence center. Police said only six people were injured. Care International said in a statement its staff in Kabul were safely evacuated. "When the explosion happened, all of our windows broke and for a minute I thought that the house had collapsed on us," said Togrul Big who lives near the Care International compound and suffered a hand injury in the car-bomb blast. Mid-morning on Tuesday, after hours of standoff interrupted occasionally by sporadic gunfire, Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said Afghan special forces had killed all those involved in the attack. OFFICERS KILLED The Taliban's ability to conduct coordinated attacks in Kabul has piled pressure on the Western-backed government, which has struggled to reassure a war-weary population that it can guarantee security. The attacks came less than two weeks after gunmen attacked the American University in Kabul, killing 13 people. Many casualties in the defense ministry attack were caused when security forces personnel and civilians who rushed to help victims of an initial explosion were caught by a second blast minutes later. An army general and two senior police commanders were among the dead, a Defence Ministry official said. Another official said the deputy head of President Ashraf Ghani's personal protection force had also been killed. Afghanistan's foreign partners, concerned about the ability of the security forces to withstand Taliban violence, are expected to pledge support over coming years at the Brussels conference, three months after NATO members reaffirmed their commitment at a meeting in Warsaw. Outside Kabul, the insurgents have stepped up their military campaign, threatening towns including Lashkar Gah, capital of the strategic southern province of Helmand, as well as Kunduz, the northern city they briefly took last year. (Additional reporting by Sayed Hassib; Writing by James Mackenzie, Rupam Jain; Editing by Nick Macfie, Ralph Boulton) KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan security forces have killed the last surviving gunman holding out more than 10 hours after a complex attack that began with a car bomb in central Kabul, Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on Tuesday. In a message posted on Twitter, he said Afghan special forces had killed all those involved in Monday night's attack in the Share Naw area of Kabul. (Reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by Robert Birsel) By Isaiah Esipisu NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - African countries that took early action in the past decade to invest in agriculture have reaped the rewards, enjoying higher economic growth and a bigger drop in malnutrition, a major farming development organization said on Tuesday. In a report, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) said: After decades of stagnation, much of Africa has enjoyed sustained agricultural productivity growth since 2005." That has helped push down poverty rates in places like Ghana, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso, it added. Countries that adopted the policies promoted by the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) not long after it was created by African Union governments in 2003 saw productivity on existing farmlands rise by 5.9 to 6.7 percent per year, the report said. That helped spur a 4.3 percent average annual increase in gross domestic product (GDP). By contrast, states that sat on the sidelines saw farm productivity rise by less than 3 percent a year and GDP by only 2.2 percent, said the Africa Agriculture Status Report 2016. The last ten years have made a strong case for agriculture as the surest path to producing sustainable economic growth that is felt in all sectors of society - and particularly among poor Africans, AGRA President Agnes Kalibata said in a statement. Growth in agriculture is more effective at cutting poverty than growth in other sectors in sub-Saharan Africa because farming is a main source of income for more than 60 percent of the labor force, and will continue to be a major employer in most countries for a decade or more, the report noted. On malnutrition, countries that were quick to put the CAADP into practice experienced an annual average decline of 3.1 percent, while those that did not sign up saw a drop of only 1.2 percent. The countries adopting the program early - between 2007 and 2009 - were Benin, Burundi, Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Togo, according to the report. MORE EFFORT NEEDED Africa is no longer in the dark. It has done a lot towards agricultural transformation in the past decade, said David Ameyaw, AGRAs head of monitoring and evaluation and a lead author of the report. But there is a need to double the effort by 2030 for a meaningful agricultural transformation, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The report, released to inform discussions at the African Green Revolution Forum in Nairobi this week, noted that gains were made in early-moving African countries even if their governments did not hit a target set by the CAADP to allocate 10 percent of national budgets to agriculture. Only 13 African countries have met or surpassed that goal, the report noted. If others followed suit, public funding for agriculture across Africa would rise from $12 billion - the amount allocated in 2014 - to $40 billion, it added. Agriculture in Africa is still threatened by low productivity due to limited use of inputs like improved seeds and fertilisers, rising water stress, and climate-related disasters such as floods and droughts that are affecting crop, livestock and fish production, according to the report. A 2014 World Bank study found that around two-thirds of small-scale farmers surveyed in Ethiopia, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda did not use chemical fertilisers. There is a need for such farmers to invest further in irrigation, both studies said, with the World Bank estimating that only 1 to 3 percent of land cultivated by smallholders in sub-Saharan Africa is irrigated. Ameyaw said further agricultural progress in the region would require political will, the right policies and technology transfer to improve productivity and reduce post-harvest losses. Linking small-scale farmers to markets and giving them access to finance are also key, he said. Reforming the land tenure system is important in countries where arable land is inherited by siblings, the scientist added. When agricultural land is subdivided from generation to generation, it shrinks (and) thus becomes meaningless for agricultural production, Ameyaw said. (Reporting by Isaiah Esipisu; editing by Megan Rowling. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org) (Reuters) - Demand for global air freight rose 5 percent in July, at the fastest rate in almost 18 months, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Tuesday. The positive result, driven by strong growth in Europe and the Middle East, was despite subdued global trade, IATA said. Available capacity rose 5.2 percent in the month, and load factors fell by 0.1 percentage point to 41.3 percent. "July was a positive month for air freight - which is an all too rare occurrence. Despite that, we must recognise that we face some strong headwinds on fundamental aspects of the business," IATA head Alexandre de Juniac said. "The political rhetoric on both sides of the Atlantic is not encouraging for further trade liberalisation," IATA CEO added. (Reporting by Bartosz Dabrowski; Editing by Maria Sheahan) By Tim Hepher PARIS, Sept 6 (Reuters) - A surge in Airbus jet deliveries in August has put the European planemaker back on course to meet an annual target which had been threatened by delays in parts supplies. Airbus said it had delivered 61 jets in August, 30 percent more than its previous record for the traditionally quiet summer month, bringing the total for the year so far to 400 aircraft. The European planemaker, whose deliveries had started the year below trend because of problems with supplies of engines and cabin parts, posted a sharp increase in deliveries after putting workers on an overtime drive to help clear the backlog. Its planemaking chief Fabrice Bregier, who anticipated the record deliveries in an interview with Reuters last week, told a French newspaper on Tuesday Airbus was now capable of meeting its annual delivery goal of 650 aircraft. August had been shaping up as a make-or-break month for full-year deliveries after earlier delays. The January-August period is traditionally a solid indicator of progress towards full-year deliveries, representing an average of 62 percent of the ultimate full-year total in the past five years. At the current rate, Airbus is on course to deliver some 645 jets this year, needing a small extra kick to reach the target for 650, which underpins Airbus Group's revenue expectations. August's increase, from the previous August peak of 47 in 2013, was mainly due to accelerated deliveries of the existing version of the Airbus A320, the company's best-selling model. It is gradually being replaced by the upgraded A320neo, but deliveries of the newer model have been hampered by technical problems and delays with engines from Pratt & Whitney. On Tuesday, Canada's Bombardier slashed delivery forecasts for its new CSeries jet, citing delays in deliveries of a similar model of engine from Pratt & Whitney. Deliveries of the A320neo show signs of recovering, with 5 aircraft handed over in August or one more than the previous best month, but deliveries remain behind the planemaker's original plans with up to 20 jets parked and awaiting engines. Story continues Airbus said it had delivered 16 A320neo jets so far, 13 of them equipped with Pratt & Whitney engines and 3 with alternative powerplants from CFM . It confirmed a sharp increase in deliveries of its long-haul A350 jet in August. It delivered six of the aircraft after delays in cabin fittings, but needs to push the average rate above 7 to meet a goal of 50 of the carbon-fibre planes in 2016. With cabin suppliers like Zodiac Aerospace still struggling to iron out production problems, some analysts question how quickly Airbus will push the supply chain to higher rates as it prepares for 10 A350s a month by the end of 2018. Airbus meanwhile said it had booked 517 orders in the first eight months, including a 100-plane order from AirAsia held over from the previous month. After cancellations, Airbus had 438 net orders, putting it ahead of rival Boeing even though both are bracing for a drop in 2016 orders compared to last year, due to fragile economies. (Editing by Alexander Smith) By Tim Hepher PARIS (Reuters) - A surge in Airbus (AIR.PA) jet deliveries in August has put the European planemaker back on course to meet an annual target which had been threatened by delays in parts supplies, but analysts warned it can ill afford further disruption. Airbus said it had delivered 61 jets in August, 30 percent more than its previous record for the traditionally quiet summer month, bringing the total for the year so far to 400 aircraft. The European planemaker, whose deliveries had started the year below trend because of problems with supplies of engines and cabin parts, posted a sharp increase after putting workers on an overtime drive. Its planemaking chief Fabrice Bregier, who anticipated the record deliveries in an interview with Reuters last week, told a French newspaper on Tuesday Airbus was confident of meeting its annual delivery goals. August had been shaping up as a make-or-break month for full-year deliveries after earlier delays. The January-August period is traditionally a solid indicator of progress towards full-year deliveries, representing an average of 62 percent of the full-year total in the past five years. At the current rate, Airbus is on course to deliver some 645 jets this year, needing a small extra kick to reach the 2016 target of 650, which underpins Airbus Group revenues. Airbus Group shares rose one percent. However some industry sources and analysts expressed caution about deliveries, noting Airbus remained vulnerable to problems with suppliers and internal pressures. "They are not there yet," a senior industry source said. August's increase, from the previous August peak of 47 in 2013, was mainly due to accelerated deliveries of the existing version of the Airbus A320, its best-selling model. It is gradually being replaced by the upgraded A320neo, but deliveries of the newer model have been hampered by technical problems and delays with engines from Pratt & Whitney (UTX.N). On Tuesday, Canada's Bombardier (BBDb.TO) slashed delivery forecasts for its new CSeries jet, citing delays in deliveries of a similar model of engine from Pratt & Whitney. Some industry sources said Airbus could also be partially affected. Story continues Deliveries of the A320neo show signs of recovering, with 5 aircraft handed over in August or one more than the previous best month, but deliveries remain well behind the planemaker's original plans with up to 20 jets parked and awaiting engines. Airbus said it had delivered 16 A320neo jets so far, 13 of them equipped with Pratt & Whitney engines and 3 with alternative powerplants from CFM (GE.N)(SAF.PA). It confirmed a sharp increase in deliveries of its long-haul A350 jet in August. It delivered six of the aircraft after delays in cabin fittings, but needs to push the average rate above 7 to meet a goal of 50 of the carbon-fiber planes in 2016. With cabin suppliers like Zodiac Aerospace (ZODC.PA) still struggling to iron out production problems, some analysts question how quickly Airbus will push the supply chain to higher rates as it prepares for 10 A350s a month by the end of 2018. Airbus said it had booked 517 orders in the first eight months, including a 100-plane order from AirAsia (AIRA.KL) held over from the previous month. After cancellations, Airbus had 438 net orders, putting it ahead of rival Boeing (BA.N), though both are bracing for a drop in 2016 orders due to fragile economies. (Editing by Alexander Smith/Ruth Pitchford) (Adds comments on rest of year, shares) By Tim Hepher PARIS, Sept 6 (Reuters) - A surge in Airbus jet deliveries in August has put the European planemaker back on course to meet an annual target which had been threatened by delays in parts supplies, but analysts warned it can ill afford further disruption. Airbus said it had delivered 61 jets in August, 30 percent more than its previous record for the traditionally quiet summer month, bringing the total for the year so far to 400 aircraft. The European planemaker, whose deliveries had started the year below trend because of problems with supplies of engines and cabin parts, posted a sharp increase after putting workers on an overtime drive. Its planemaking chief Fabrice Bregier, who anticipated the record deliveries in an interview with Reuters last week, told a French newspaper on Tuesday Airbus was confident of meeting its annual delivery goals. August had been shaping up as a make-or-break month for full-year deliveries after earlier delays. The January-August period is traditionally a solid indicator of progress towards full-year deliveries, representing an average of 62 percent of the full-year total in the past five years. At the current rate, Airbus is on course to deliver some 645 jets this year, needing a small extra kick to reach the 2016 target of 650, which underpins Airbus Group revenues. Airbus Group shares rose one percent. However some industry sources and analysts expressed caution about deliveries, noting Airbus remained vulnerable to problems with suppliers and internal pressures. "They are not there yet," a senior industry source said. August's increase, from the previous August peak of 47 in 2013, was mainly due to accelerated deliveries of the existing version of the Airbus A320, its best-selling model. It is gradually being replaced by the upgraded A320neo, but deliveries of the newer model have been hampered by technical problems and delays with engines from Pratt & Whitney. Story continues On Tuesday, Canada's Bombardier slashed delivery forecasts for its new CSeries jet, citing delays in deliveries of a similar model of engine from Pratt & Whitney. Some industry sources said Airbus could also be partially affected. Deliveries of the A320neo show signs of recovering, with 5 aircraft handed over in August or one more than the previous best month, but deliveries remain well behind the planemaker's original plans with up to 20 jets parked and awaiting engines. Airbus said it had delivered 16 A320neo jets so far, 13 of them equipped with Pratt & Whitney engines and 3 with alternative powerplants from CFM . It confirmed a sharp increase in deliveries of its long-haul A350 jet in August. It delivered six of the aircraft after delays in cabin fittings, but needs to push the average rate above 7 to meet a goal of 50 of the carbon-fibre planes in 2016. With cabin suppliers like Zodiac Aerospace still struggling to iron out production problems, some analysts question how quickly Airbus will push the supply chain to higher rates as it prepares for 10 A350s a month by the end of 2018. Airbus said it had booked 517 orders in the first eight months, including a 100-plane order from AirAsia held over from the previous month. After cancellations, Airbus had 438 net orders, putting it ahead of rival Boeing, though both are bracing for a drop in 2016 orders due to fragile economies. (Editing by Alexander Smith/Ruth Pitchford) BERLIN/MONTREAL (Reuters) - Airlines on Tuesday called on governments to voluntarily sign up to a global deal designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from aviation, saying they would have preferred a "more ambitious" timeline. The proposed new deal on aviation, which aims to cap the carbon pollution of all international flights at 2020 levels, will be voluntary between 2021 and 2026 and then mandatory from 2027 for the world's largest emitters. Airlines in participating countries would need to limit their emissions or offset them by buying carbon credits from designated environmental projects around the world. China, the United States and Europe all pledged support on Saturday for the deal, which is due to be finalised at a meeting of the United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in September. The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents more than 260 airlines accounting for about 83 percent of global air traffic, highlighted how the scheme was initially intended to be mandatory from the start. "The industry is ready. There is really no reason for governments not to volunteer," IATA Director General Alexandre de Juniac said in a statement on Tuesday. He said he was optimistic that an agreement would be reached at the ICAO meeting. "What is most important is that the substance of the negotiating text will allow for meaningful management of aviation's carbon footprint," he said. Airlines have said they want one global deal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from air travel despite the higher costs they would incur in order to avoid a patchwork of regulation that would be harder to manage. On Monday the director of the Air Transport Action Group, another industry organization, also urged countries to be more ambitious on the ICAO deal. "We do not feel a pilot phase is necessary because airlines and other aircraft operators will be ready and able to commence the scheme from 2020," executive director Michael Gill said in a statement, saying that many airlines already offered offsetting to passengers on a voluntary basis. (Reporting by Victoria Bryan in BERLIN and Allison Lampert in MONTREAL; Editing by Gareth Jones) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looking forward to visit Pakistan in November to attend the SAARC Summit. By India Today Web Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looking forward to visit Pakistan in November to attend the SAARC Summit. India's High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale at an event in Karachi said that while India and Pakistan must certainly discuss the entire range of issues, they must keep their focus on economy which he described as a 'low-hanging fruit'. "I can't say about the future but as of today Prime Minister Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the Saarc summit in November," the Dawn quoted Bambawale as saying at an interactive session of the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations. advertisement His comments came amid reports that Modi might keep away from the Saarc Summit in view of the rising tensions between India and Pakistan, particularly over Jammu and Kashmir. NO DECISION YET But New Delhi said on Tuesday that no decision had been made yet. "Decisions and announcements of such nature are not made so far in advance," India's External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted. Swarup's remarks came a day after the High Commissioner, Gautam Bambawale, told an event in Karachi on Monday that the visit was possible despite tense India-Pakistan ties. ONLY PAKISTAN SPREADING TERRORISM Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday at the last session of the G20 Summit delivered a strong message on cracking down on terror emanating from Pakistan. Especially significant as he was speaking in China, Modi made an intervention on terror financing at the G20's last session, pointing out that it was an issue inextricably linked to global governance and stability. "There are some nations that use terrorism as an instrument of state policy," he said. "Indeed one single nation in South Asia is spreading these agents of terror in countries of our region." G20: Modi takes a dig at Pakistan, says one single nation in South Asia is spreading terror --- ENDS --- Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited BABA touched a new 52-week high of $99.67 on Sep 2, eventually closing at $99.25. The company returned 55.3% in the past one year and has added roughly 22.1% year to date. Average volume of shares traded over the last three months was approximately 14,541K. What's Driving Alibaba? Alibaba Group is a Chinese e-Commerce giant which caters mainly to its native market. We continue to believe that Alibabas dominance in the mobile commerce market, its continued efforts to develop new products, international growth opportunities and growth initiatives incloud and media will spur growth. The price appreciation may be attributed to Alibabas strong fundamentals, solid growth of its cloud business and better-than-expected first-quarter fiscal 2017 (ended Jun 30, 2016) reported on Aug 11. Since then, the share price has risen more than 8%. In the fiscal first quarter, Alibabas earnings of 52 cents per share exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 38 cents. Earnings also increased 52.9% from the year-ago quarter. Strong growth in users and solid increase in sales in the cloud-computing segment played a major role in boosting Alibabas earnings. Also, revenues climbed nearly 59% year over year to 32.15 billion yuan ($4.84 billion), the highest increase since its public offering. Revenues were also above our consensus estimate of $4.5 billion. We believe Alibaba is progressing well on its mobile shift and continues to dominate the Internet e-commerce market in China. Also, the company remains focused on developing rural business, international expansion, logistics synergies and branching into high-growth areas like cloud computing, which is still nascent in China. In the last reported quarter, mobile revenues shot up 119% to $2.64 billion and accounted for 75% of Chinas commerce retail revenues. The companys cloud revenues grew 156% year over year to 1.2 billion RMB, with paying customers growing 119% to 577K. Moreover, losses narrowed significantly, so the business is likely to turn profitable soon. Another area of potential growth is the companys growing media business, one that it has supplemented with a number of acquisitions. Late last year, the e-commerce giant agreed to acquire Chinese Internet TV platform Youku Tudou Inc. in an all-cash transaction. The deal will giveAlibaba access to about 570 million online video users, helping it to deliver American films and drama series to the Chinese audience, thereby ramping its penetration into the Chinese digital media market. Moreover, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings jumped 28.6% for full-fiscal 2017. Additionally, the company delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 3.13% in the trailing four quarters backed by its robust business portfolio. Alibaba currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Story continues ALIBABA GROUP Price and Consensus ALIBABA GROUP Price and Consensus | ALIBABA GROUP Quote Stocks That Warrant a Look Some well-placed stocks in the technology space are Autobytel Inc. ABTL and Stamps.com Inc. STMP, sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), and PetMed Express, Inc.PETS, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report PETMED EXPRESS (PETS): Free Stock Analysis Report STAMPS.COM INC (STMP): Free Stock Analysis Report AUTOBYTEL INC (ABTL): Free Stock Analysis Report ALIBABA GROUP (BABA): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research In the upcoming sci-fi drama "Arrival," several mysterious spacecraft touch down around the planet, and humanity is faced with how to approach and eventually communicate with these extraterrestrial visitors. In the film, a team of experts is assembled to investigate, and among the chosen individuals is a linguist, played by actress Amy Adams. Though the story is rooted in science fiction, it does tackle a very real challenge: How do you communicate with someone or how do you learn that individual's language when you have no intermediary language in common? The film is based on "Story of Your Life," a short story by Ted Chiang. It taps into the common science-fiction theme of alien tongues; not only the communication barrier they might present, but the unusual ways they could differ from human language. "There's a long tradition of science fiction that deals with language and communication," Chiang told Live Science in an email. [Greetings, Earthlings! 8 Ways Aliens Could Contact Us] And in both the short story and film, linguists play a key role in bridging the gap between humans and aliens something that isn't entirely farfetched, according to Daniel Everett, a linguist at Bentley University in Massachusetts. "Linguists who've had extensive field experience can do this. That's what they do," Everett told Live Science. Studying language Everett spent more than 30 years working with the Piraha people of the Brazilian Amazon, learning and studying their language, which was poorly documented prior to his work. Piraha is what's called a language isolate, a linguistic orphan of sorts, and is the last surviving member of its language family. It is also well-known for some of its atypical qualities, such as a lack of counting numbers or relative directions, such as "left" and "right," qualities which Everett worked out over years of study. Story continues The people were similarly isolated, and were entirely monolingual, he said. So it didn't matter that Everett didn't know Portuguese. Rather than asking questions about the Piraha language in a shared second language, he conducted his research in a style known as monolingual fieldwork. Pointing to a nearby object, like a stick, and asking (even in English) what it's called is typically interpreted as a cue to name it, Everett said. From the names of things, a linguist can then work their way towards actions, and how to express relationships between objects, Everett said. All the while, linguists typically transcribe the statements, paying attention to the sounds, the grammar and the way meanings are combined, building a working theory of the language, he said. Prompting respondents for nearly identical statements helps to illuminate specific meanings, Everett said. For example, given the words for "stick" and "rock," a person could enact "drop the rock" and "drop the stick," and see what parts of the sentence change. [Gallery: Images of Uncontacted Tribes] With practice, linguists can discern the basic features of an unknown language after an hour or two of interaction with a speaker, according to Everett. But situations that demand monolingual fieldwork, without the aid of a common tongue, aren't as common as they were, say, a hundred years ago, he said. The practice is now viewed as a novelty feat by many linguists, and Everett has demonstrated the process for audiences, meeting the speaker of a mystery language for the first time on stage. Talking to E.T. The process is also recognizable in Chiang's original story, in which the linguist protagonist's procedure is based on the work of Kenneth Pike, Everett's former teacher, Chiang said. "I spent about five years reading about various aspects of linguistics: writing systems, the linguistics of American Sign Language, fieldwork," he added. A more thorough understanding of the language, beyond basic vocabulary and underlying architecture, would require knowledge of the culture, Everett told Live Science. "There are all sorts of cultural interpretations of even the simplest phrases," he said, "That's why conversation is so difficult," especially for two people with different native languages and cultures. That difficulty seems less than ideal in sensitive situations, when a minor miscommunication could result in interstellar warfare, or at least, the death of an explorer (whether human or alien). Cooperation from both parties is essential, Everett said, because mix-ups are unavoidable. [13 Ways to Hunt for Intelligent Aliens] "You're always going to blow it," Everett said. "It's not what you do, but what you do next. How do you respond to your mistakes, to your gaffes and to misunderstandings?" Despite the repeated failures of a trial-and-error approach, Everett said he has always been confident in his ability to eventually figure out how a language works, which hints at something deeply human. "We know that every child can learn every possible human language," said Jesse Snedeker, a Harvard psychologist who studies the development of language in children. "Every child has to have some sort of internal capacity that allows them to learn language." Linguists agree that all humans must share some cognitive or linguistic structures, but there's great debate over which features of language are universal or at least, innately human. Piraha, with its unusual features, has helped shape modern understanding of what those commonalities might be. "We have to ask ourselves, 'Would we have the capacity to learn alien language, and would they have the capacity to learn ours?'" Snedeker told Live Science. "And different people would give you very different answers to that question." Humans can't communicate with any other species on Earth, which makes it unlikely that we'd be able to communicate with extraterrestrial life forms, Chiang said. "On the other hand, there's the argument that any species that achieves a high level of technology would necessarily understand certain concepts, so that ought to provide a basis for at least a limited degree of communication," he added. Keren Rice, a linguist at the University of Toronto in Canada, agreed that basic communication should be possible between humans and aliens. "The only way that I could imagine this not happening is if the things that we think are common to languages situating in time [and] space, talking about participants, etc. are so radically different that the human language provides no starting point for it," Rice told Live Science in an email. Different ways of communicating Although there are evolutionary roots to the structure of human language, Snedeker said, it's possible that there's only one way for languages to work. In that case, aliens may have evolved to solve the problem of language in the same way that humans did, making interplanetary communication possible. [7 Things Most Often Mistaken for UFOs] Everett agreed. "It's entirely possible that there are languages that have systems of organization and ways of transmitting meaning that we've never imagined," he said, "but I think that's unlikely." But even if people are able to discern the patterns in the language, the way the message is sent could be a challenge. Humans communicate mainly through sight, sound and touch, but aliens might not. "It's hard to imagine a language working on taste, but who knows?" Everett said. If extraterrestrials have starkly different perceptual or expressive systems than those of humans, technology could help bridge the gap between human perception and alien output, linguists said. For example, if aliens spoke at frequencies that people can't hear, humans could instead interpret digital recordings as visual waveforms. Snedeker said she asks her students a question on exams to test their understanding of the shared structure and evolutionary basis of human language: "If we discover a new kind of creature on Mars that seems to have a symbolic system of great complexity, who should we send, and how likely are they to succeed?" "There's no right answer to the question," Snedeker said. Original article on Live Science. Editor's Recommendations Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Geneva (AFP) - A Swiss F/A-18 warplane smashed into the Alps after flight controllers told the pilot to fly far below a safe altitude, investigators probing the mystery incident said Tuesday. The advanced fighter jet disappeared over the central Swiss Alps on August 29. Its wreckage was found the following day in the remote Hinter-Tierberg region at an altitude of around 3,300 metres (11,000 feet). Military flight controllers at Meiringen base "gave the pilot altitude data that was too low for the specified area," military judicial investigators said in a statement. Flight control had given the "floor" altitude -- the minimum required for safe passage through the area -- at 10,000 feet, when it should have been 14,300 feet, they said. The pilot, a 27-year-old career officer in the Swiss armed forces, had taken off with another F/A-18 single-seater for a joint exercise with an F-5 fighter. The crash happened amid thick cloud, the statement said, adding that the ejector seat "appears not to have been activated." The investigation is continuing, it said. xiaomi mi box Xiaomi will begin selling its Mi Box media streamer in the US as soon as next month, according to a new TechCrunch report. Citing a source inside Xiaomi, the report claims the Mi Box, which runs the Android TV operating system, will be made available in the early part of the Q4 2016, and that itll cost less than $100. The Mi Box was first unveiled at Google I/O this past May, where Xiaomi noted it was working closely with Google on a US launch. Xiaomis specs page notes the little black box will use Android 6.0 Marshmallow, support 4K (at up to 60 frames per second) and (eventually) HDR10 video, and run on a quad-core ARM processor with 2GB of RAM and 8GB of expandable storage. Though Android TV generally lags behind other streaming platforms in terms of app support, all of that could make the Mi Box a fairly competitive package for less than $100. Current 4K set-top boxes like the Roku 4, Nvidia Shield, and Amazon Fire TV normally sell for $100 or more, while the $150 Apple TV maxes out at 1080p. For the unfamiliar, Xiaomi rose to prominence in its native country by selling affordable yet high-quality smartphones. It cultivated enough popularity to be dubbed Chinas response to Apple, and by 2014 was considered the most valuable tech startup in the world. Xiaomi's phone business has cooled significantly since then, but the company has branched out into other categories such as laptops, fitness trackers, electric bicycles, and even rice cookers. All of this has occurred away from Western markets currently, the company only sells a handful of headphones and USB battery packs in its US online store. The Mi Box isnt likely to put Xiaomi on Americas radar the way a good phone might, but it would be the furthest its stuck its toes in the Wests water. More From Business Insider Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. AHT recently closed the sale of Hampton Inn & Suites in Gainesville, FL for approximately $27 million in cash. The 124-room hotel was sold to the Miami, FL-based real estate investment and development company Key International. This disposition is in sync with the strategy of the Dallas, TX-based real estate investment trust (REIT) to prune its non-core, select-service hotels portfolio. Ashford Hospitality Trust is engaged in investment and management of properties in the hospitality industry in the U.S. The company mainly invests in upper-upscale and full-service hotels in primary, secondary and resort markets. The hotel achieved RevPAR of $130, average daily rate of $156 and occupancy of 83%, on a trailing 12-month basis. Through the latest disposition, the REIT accrued net proceeds of around $5 million after debt repayment and transaction costs. Ashford Hospitality Trust is committed to enhance the value of the shareholders by increasing focus on upper-upscale, full-service hotels. The disposition is likely to unlock more value of its portfolio. ASHFORD HOSPTLY Price ASHFORD HOSPTLY Price | ASHFORD HOSPTLY Quote Currently, Ashford Hospitality Trust carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Investors interested in the REIT sector can consider some better-ranked stocks like Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. ARE, Arbor Realty Trust Inc. ABR and CareTrust REIT, Inc. CTRE. All these stocks hold a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report ARBOR RLTY TRST (ABR): Free Stock Analysis Report ASHFORD HOSPTLY (AHT): Free Stock Analysis Report ALEXANDRIA REAL (ARE): Free Stock Analysis Report CARETRUST REIT (CTRE): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research The militant attack on global charity CARE in Kabul constitutes a "war crime", Amnesty International said Tuesday, calling for an independent probe to bring the perpetrators to justice. "The attack by an armed group on the aid agency CARE International... is the deliberate targeting of civilians and constitutes a war crime," the rights group said in a statement. Rahul Gandhi's Khaat Sabha took a dramatic turn today when the villagers tried to loot the wooden cots soon after his rally was over. By Kumar Shakti Shekhar: Election strategist Prashant Kishor is a man of innovation. With several novel methods, he brought Prime Minister Narendra Modi into the limelight in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The "chai pe charcha" initiative became popular not only in India but also abroad. Meetings and discussions were held over a cup of tea. Similarly, the 3D hologram addresses of then Gujarat chief minister Modi were heard for the very first time. The use of technology became the talk of the town and attracted large crowds. Kishor was also instrumental in the coinage of catchy slogans like "Har har Modi, ghar ghar Modi," "Abki baar Modi sarkar," "Ek Bharat, shresth Bharat," "Sabka saath, sabka vikas" and "Achhe din". These played a huge role in catapulting Modi to the PM's post. advertisement When he changed loyalty to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar last year, one doubted whether Kishor would be able to come with more innovative ideas. And he did. For Nitish, he replaced "chai pe charcha" with "parcha pe charcha" and "Har har Modi, ghar ghar Modi" with "Har ghar dastak". His "Baahri banaam Bihari" (alluding to the Modi-Amit Shah combine versus Nitish-Lalu) was the clincher. Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi at 'Khat pe charcha' programme for the launch of his Kisan Yatra for upcoming UP polls, in Deoria. PTI photo When Modi took a jibe at Nitish with his DNA comment, Kishor came up with the solid retort. He launched a campaign of sending nail and hair samples of the locals to Modi. These concepts caught the imagination of the local Bihari voters, who returned Nitish-Lalu-Congress' Mahagathbandhan to power in the state. With two grand successes to his credit, Kishor is now entrusted with the most difficult job ever - an image makeover of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, whom political pundits have virtually written off. The Nehru-Gandhi scion is struggling to counter the perception of being a reluctant leader who will not be able to turn the fortunes of the Congress, either in the poll-bound states or in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Facing this uphill task, Kishor did come up with this latest unique initiative - 'Khaat Sabha' (meeting on wooden cots popular in rural areas). Viewed against the mundane public rallies and road shows, Khaat Sabha indeed was an attractive proposition in the context of Uttar Pradesh's largely agrarian background. However, Kishor failed to visualise the fiasco the Khaat Sabha would end in on the inaugural day of the 2,500-km long Kisan Yatra. And today in Deoria, the news was not Rahul or what he said. But it was the fight for khaat and the decamping of the wooden "chorpoy" by the local villagers which became a huge embarrassment for the Congress. This must have surely rattled Kishor. He cannot repeat the Khaat Sabha because the media attention would now be on the humble cot, whether there will be jostle again to run away with it. Or, whether the Congress engages musclemen to stop the people from fleeing with the cot. In any case, it will be the humble cot that will again be the news instead of what Rahul says or does. advertisement Hence, Kishor has a great challenge on his hands. He has to come up with another innovative idea, something that will be grander and better than the Khaat Sabha. He cannot repeat chai pe charcha nor can he replicate or tweak "Coffee with Captain" (Amarinder Singh, the Congress' CM candidate in Punjab). The next initiative for Rahul has to be something different and more attractive. The question is: Will Kishor be able to meet this challenge? Rahul Gandhi cot & bowled in first rally as supporters steal khat, khat steals show As 'fight for khaat' grabbed eyeballs, here are 10 things you missed in Rahul's speech --- ENDS --- By Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - It will take years for Britain to complete the process of leaving the European Union so Australia will pursue a trade deal with the bloc first, Australian Trade Minister Steven Ciobo said on Tuesday. Since Britain's June 23 vote in favour of Brexit, Australia has said it is keen to seek a trade partnership with Britain. On Monday, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he wanted to negotiate a "very strong" free trade agreement with Britain. Ciobo, in London for "exploratory discussions" with the government over a potential future trade deal, said that while there was aspiration on both sides to do a deal as soon as possible, in reality it would not be quick. Britain has said it will not trigger the formal, two-year divorce process from the EU this year, and it cannot sign agreements with other countries until it leaves the bloc. "While we wait for the UK to be in a position to formally negotiate, Australia is working towards a comprehensive, free trade agreement (FTA) with the EU. This was our goal before June 23. It remains a goal for us today," he said in a speech at the London pan-Asian organisation Asia House. "The fact is Australia-UK negotiation on an FTA may be a few years off. The processes to disengage with the EU will take years, years of potential liberalisation that we cant afford to let slip." Ciobo, who is headed to Brussels later this week to discuss the EU-Australia deal, said discussions he had with British trade minister Liam Fox on Tuesday had been "conducive" to having a deal in place shortly after Britain leaves the EU. In a joint statement following their meeting, Fox and Ciobo said that they had agreed to set up a working group of senior officials which will "scope out the parameters" of a future deal to prepare for bilateral negotiations. The group will meet twice a year to review progress, they said. Ciobo also told Asia House that he had offered to lend negotiating resources to Britain, which has few trade experts or negotiators after decades of relying on the EU to negotiate deals on its behalf. "Clearly there is expertise to build upon," he said. "We will work to the UK's requests." (Additional reporting by William Schomberg; Editing by Hugh Lawson) Classic Australian period drama film Picnic at Hanging Rock is to be remade as a six-part TV miniseries. The show is being produced by Fremantle Australia with pay-TV group Foxtel the commissioning broadcaster. Federal film and TV support body Screen Australia has also committed to part-finance the production. Directed by Peter Weir, and featuring a young Jacki Weaver, the film told the story of the mysterious disappearances of three schoolgirls and their governess on Valentines Day 1900 and the far-reaching aftermath. The 1975 film which was pivotal in establishing the modern Australian film industry. This series, based on the classic novel, will take viewers on a new and in depth journey into this incredibly iconic Australian story, said Foxtel head of drama, Penny Win. The shows executive producers are FremantleMedia Australias Jo Porter and Anthony Ellis and Foxtels Win. The producer is Antonia Barnard and writers are Beatrix Christian and Alice Addison. FremantleMedia International is distributing the series worldwide. Casting is underway. Picnic at Hanging Rock will premiere as six one hour episodes on Foxtels showcase channel in 2017. Related stories James Corden and Rose Byrne's 'Peter Rabbit' to Shoot in Australia 'Girl Asleep' Wins Big at Australia's CinefestOZ Festival Clive Owen Joins Cast of Fred Schepisi's 'Andorra' In Denver's real estate market, low inventory and high prices have created a fast-paced, unpredictable market that can make the house hunting process daunting. As a result, homebuyers are faced with an unprecedented set of challenges. "It's always a bit of a shock when you start the house-hunt process," says Conrad Steller, a broker for Keller Williams Realty and The Steller Group. "Until you're actually out there looking for a home, you can't really know what it's going to be like." [Read: 5 Up-and-Coming Neighborhoods in Denver to Look for a Home.] Instead of excitement about the process and possibilities, many homebuyers are left with feelings of exhaustion, frustration and defeat. Those who have been searching for months with no success -- or who have had a string of unsuccessful contracts -- often feel the need to take a break or quit looking altogether. "When people feel beaten down and have no focus on their process, they get scattered and overwhelmed and make bad decisions," Steller observes. However, a lot of stress and frustration can be prevented with a little planning and patience. Here, some of Denver's top real estate agents as identified by OpenHouse Realty, a real estate data company (and a U.S. News partner), offer advice on how to avoid getting burned out before you find your dream home. Do your due diligence. The first step to buying a home in Denver is to get educated and organized. Get financing in order, research neighborhoods and make a list of priorities. "Much of the stress and anxiety can be managed through proper preparation," says Adam Moore, a real estate broker with Mile Hi Modern and LIV Sotheby's International Realty. "Individuals should define realistic expectations for themselves. The homebuying process is highly personal and only the buyer can decide what makes them happy." [Read: A First-Time Buyer's Guide to Denver's Cherry Creek Neighborhood.] Hire a good real estate agent. In any market, teaming up with a good real estate agent is invaluable. With the current market conditions in Denver, having the help of a savvy broker is crucial. Story continues "It is imperative that they hire a professional, competent broker," Moore advises. "Both buyers and sellers need someone who can calmly usher them through the process." Selecting the best real estate agent for you is a bit like dating. They need to be qualified and have the experience you're looking for, but you also need to like their personality and be comfortable spending a lot of time with them. Buying a home is an emotional process, and finding a real estate agent you can trust will certainly make things easier when the going gets tough. A good agent will not only have strong knowledge, experience and referrals in the market, but also an understanding of the confusion, pressure, excitement and disappointment buyers often go through while searching for a home, and can help his or her clients navigate these emotional highs and lows. "You project your energy onto your clients, so you have to have patience," explains Deviree Vallejo, a real estate agent with Kentwood City Properties. "I am their trusted professional, so I have to focus on the positive." Manage expectations. Understanding what is possible in this aggressive market will lower the pressure you put on yourself. Talk to your tagent about what is possible, and be open to their suggestions and advice. "It's super important to set realistic expectations," Vallejo says. "I tell them the moment we sit down that this is not going to be an easy process." Understand that the dream home you're imagining may not be available in your preferred neighborhood or in your price range. By keeping an open mind and honest perception of current market conditions, you will be more prepared to handle obstacles if they appear. [Read: How to Get the Best Price on a Downtown Denver Condo.] Practice patience and positivity. A big contributor to buyer burnout is impatience. "There is a higher percentage than normal of people walking out on contracts because they're so rushed, which is something we try to avoid because that will lead to burnout," says Jeff Plous, a real estate agent with ONE Realty. "We try to keep them patient, keep them focused." Plous says this panicky buyer mindset is due to a variety of factors. Some buyers don't know what they really want because they haven't actually looked at enough houses; some are worried about wasting their agent's time. Some automatically assume every house they see is going to end up in a multiple-offer situation, leading them to be fearful and defensive from the start. "[Buyers] get worn out and then they make bad decisions," Steller explains. "We try to tell them not to settle if it doesn't really meet their needs and instead focus on finding the right house, not just any house." In addition to patience, it's important for homebuyers to maintain a positive attitude. "This is supposed to be fun," Plous says. "Yes it's stressful, but it's exciting. Try to enjoy the process a little bit. Every failed home offer should be a learning experience." Looking for a real estate agent in Denver? Our Find an Agent tool can match you to the person who's most qualified for the job. More From US News & World Report The Hollywood Reporter's awards analyst Scott Feinberg and executive features editor Stephen Galloway discuss the road to the Oscars. GALLOWAY Scott, we're on the plane about to leave Telluride. I want to start with two questions. First, what was your favorite moment of the festival? FEINBERG The Patron Preview screening of La La Land at the very beginning of the fest. I first saw Damien Chazelle's musical before Telluride in a small screening room, and it was immensely enjoyable then, but it was a different and better experience seeing it in the Chuck Jones Cinema with hundreds who were caught off guard by the charm of an original new 21st century musical, and by the excellent performances of Ryan Gosling and especially Emma Stone. We just haven't seen anything like it in a long time, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if this film, which opened the Oscar season, also is the last one standing at the end. GALLOWAY My own favorite moment was when I was on the gondola that brings festivalgoers down from the mountain and into Telluride. I met Clive Oppenheimer, the world's greatest volcanologist. His business card actually says "Professor of Volcanology." If only I had that on my card! He and Werner Herzog just made Into the Inferno, a new documentary I hope people will see. Which brings me to my second question: Which film got the biggest bounce here? FEINBERG La La Land was the clear winner, but Barry Jenkins' Moonlight wasn't far behind, which is rather remarkable considering its budget (under $5 million), subject matter (the evolution of a young gay black boy into a man) and some steep marketing challenges: The closest thing it has to "name" stars are Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris, both awards-worthy in supporting roles. I don't think anyone didn't like that movie. Read more: 'The Awards Pundits' Return: Telluride Lineup, 'La La Land' and Nate Parker's Future Story continues GALLOWAY It's my favorite film this year and the only one I saw in Telluride that moved me to tears. It also continues an amazing run for Plan B (Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Brad Pitt), who are likely to have a fourth consecutive best picture nominee (after 12 Years a Slave, Selma and The Big Short). From my point of view, it's difficult to see a film that moving and then rush off to something. What else went over well? FEINBERG Sully, or at least Tom Hanks' performance, also won nearly universal praise, and could bring Hanks his first Oscar nomination in 16 years. Most people, including me, also really liked Sundance standout Manchester by the Sea, Kenneth Lonergan's stark drama starring Casey Affleck - GALLOWAY - I'm a rare dissenter there, though I'm generally a Lonergan fan - FEINBERG - and Cannes carryover Toni Erdmann, a German comedy that was a major crowd-pleaser (it reminded me of Zorba the Greek), but which I gather wasn't your cup of tea. GALLOWAY Actually, I walked out a bit before the end - and ran straight into its distributor, Sony Pictures Classics' Michael Barker, in the lobby. What can I say? A lot of people loved it. I didn't. But I did like the leading actress, Sandra Huller. Do you think she stands a chance of getting nominated when so few actors in foreign-language films ever do? FEINBERG She was great - and you missed her two best moments, one involving an unexpected musical performance and another a team-building gathering, both of which had the theater rocking with laughter - but I don't think an acting nom is in the cards for her or her terrific costar, Peter Simonischek. Interestingly, a number of other somewhat polarizing movies featured performances that were very special - among them Bryan Cranston as a man who ditches his family in Wakefield; Sally Hawkins as a physically disabled painter in Maudie; Miles Teller as an ill-fated boxer in Bleed for This; and Amy Adams as a linguist who converses with aliens in Arrival. Read more: 'Moonlight': Telluride Review GALLOWAY Amy Adams' work gets more subtle, more textured and more real as time goes by. But when a movie loses steam, it's so hard for awards voters to separate the performance from the picture. I have another beef: that so many beautiful performances in quite small parts get forgotten. FEINBERG Which, among this year's offerings, do you admire and fear will be overlooked? GALLOWAY Several in Sully alone. One thing that's marvelous about Clint Eastwood is his ability to find top-notch actors who give nuanced performances in these tiny roles - from Breaking Bad's Anna Gunn as a member of the committee investigating the plane crash, to Brett Rice, who just breathes life into a small scene without drawing attention to himself. It's actors like these who should be considered for supporting awards, rather than the quasi-leads who usually qualify. Kudos to them and casting director Geoffrey Miclat. FEINBERG Aaron Eckhart was terrific, too, in both Sully and Bleed for This. But those two films already have distributors, so let's talk about a few that don't yet. I suspect Maudie will be among the first to get picked up, since some operation will want to buy its way into the best actress race (Hawkins' physically demanding performance left a whole theater in tears), a la Julianne Moore in Sony Classics' Still Alice (I actually think Sony Classics would be a great fit for it). And I'd also bet that one of the streamers, Netflix or Amazon, will snatch up Wakefield - the victor could partner with another operation to give it an awards-qualifying run in the hope of landing a nom for Cranston (a nominee last go-around for Trumbo) and generating major interest on their platform (Breaking Bad only broke through once it hit Netflix). GALLOWAY It'll be fascinating to see if the streamers go on a buying spree at Toronto. I wrote recently that they're changing the very structure of the business, cutting into the one edge the studios still have, which is their control of the means of distribution. Read more: 'Sully': Telluride Review FEINBERG As you know, Telluride's lineup consists of only a few dozen films, most of which already have a U.S. distributor, whereas Toronto's features several hundred, many of which do not, so I do expect the acquisition floodgates to open there. The acquisition titles about which I've heard the most buzz include Marc Forster's All I See Is You, Thomas Vinterberg's The Commune, Pablo Larrain's Jackie, Rob Reiner's LBJ, Baltasar Kormakur's The Oath, Terry George's The Promise, Lone Scherfig's Their Finest and Adam Leon's Tramps. GALLOWAY There's also a host of movies with distributors that skipped Telluride - voluntarily or involuntarily, we'll never know - to head instead to Toronto: Ewan McGregor's American Pastoral, Peter Berg's Deepwater Horizon, Mick Jackson's Denial, Ken Loach's I, Daniel Blake, Juan Antonio Bayona's A Monster Calls, Tom Ford's Nocturnal Animals (look out for my upcoming magazine profile of Ford), Mira Nair's Queen of Katwe and Garth Jennings' Sing. FEINBERG And, let us not forget, the fest also will offer a first look at the upcoming Christmas release Hidden Figures (complete with a Pharrell concert) - and potentially a problematic look at Nate Parker, who may be put in the Witness Protection Program if his attendance steals headlines from his excellent directorial debut The Birth of a Nation. For more discussion between THR's Awards Pundits please check out the archive. Germany-based Bayer AG BAYRY confirmed that its negotiations related to a proposed acquisition of Monsanto Company MON have advanced. The transaction is aimed to create a global leader in agriculture. Bayer announced that it would now offer $127.50 per Monsanto share under a negotiated deal, up from its previous offer of $125. The deal is subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions. However, no key terms and conditions have yet been agreed upon so far. The company also stated that there is still no guarantee that the parties will enter into an agreement at all. BAYER A G -ADR Price BAYER A G -ADR Price | BAYER A G -ADR Quote Note that this July, Bayer had upped its all-cash offer to Monsanto shareholders from $122 per share to $125 per share. Bayers increased offer was to address Monsantos questions regarding financing and regulatory matters. We remind investors that in May 2016, Monsanto had rejected the initial offer of $122 per share in an aggregate all-cash deal worth $62 billion, citing that it would significantly undervalue the company. However, the company was open to more talks. MONSANTO CO-NEW Price MONSANTO CO-NEW Price | MONSANTO CO-NEW Quote The deal is expected to bring together leading platforms like Seeds & Traits, Crop Protection, Biologics and Digital Farming. The combined business will benefit from Monsantos Seeds & Traits and Bayers Crop Protection products across a comprehensive range of indications and crops. The transaction will also create attractive opportunities for the employees of both the companies. We expect investor focus to remain on updates from the Bayer/Monsanto transaction, going ahead. Bayer currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), while Monsanto is a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock. A couple of well-placed stocks in the health care sector are Anika Therapeutics, Inc. ANIK and ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ANIP. Both the stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report BAYER A G -ADR (BAYRY): Free Stock Analysis Report ANIKA THERAPEUT (ANIK): Free Stock Analysis Report MONSANTO CO-NEW (MON): Free Stock Analysis Report ANI PHARMACEUT (ANIP): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research LONDON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - A leading shareholder in German pharmaceutical and crops manufacturer Bayer said he did not support the revised terms of a takeover offer for U.S. rival Monsanto. John Bennett, fund manager at Henderson, which had previously called for a vote on the offer saying it threatened the long-term strength of Bayer, said he did not support the deal. "Bayer have backed themselves into a corner," he said in emailed comments. "The money would have been better spent buying their own stock. Alas, for shareholders, it was not to be." Late on Monday, Bayer said it had raised its offer for Monsanto and was prepared to pay $127.50 a share, up from its previous offer of $125 a share. (Reporting by Simon Jessop; Editing by Rachel Armstrong) A cold war is brewing between Emraan Hashmi and his Raaz Reboot co-star Kriti Kharbanda for her bad time keeping, say reports. By India Today Web Desk: Emraan Hashmi is one actor in the industry, who goes synonymous with the word punctuality. Though many Bollywood stars have made headline for turning up late for the shoot, Emraan still is an exception. ALSO READ: Why have Shahid Kapoor and Mira Rajput still not named their daughter? ALSO READ: Ranbir in Bombay Velvet- Anurag Kashyap did not fail him, he failed himself advertisement However, Emraan Hashmi's professionalism has recently caused tension for the makers of his upcoming film Raaz Reboot. Actor Kriti Kharbanda, who is making her Bollywood debut with Emraan Hashmi, has pissed off the latter for her bad time keeping since Day 1. Recently, both Emraan and Kriti were supposed to give a joint interview for their Raaz Reboot. Emraan being the perfectionist, arrived at the venue on time. Kriti, on the other hand, was late by half-an-hour. Unable to fake off with a grin, Emraan lost his patience and lashed out his manager in front of the entire crew. However, what followed was a verbal fight with Emraan's manager and Kriti's team. Apparently, Emraan and Kriti have stopped talking to each other after all that happened. Also, sources say that director Vikram Bhatt is worried about the film's promotions now. --- ENDS --- (Adds Bayer conducting due diligence, analysts, shareholder comment, share price; repeats with no change to text) * Bayer says talks with Monsanto have advanced * Says is prepared to offer $127.50 per share, up from $125 * Sources say Monsanto has agreed to due diligence by Bayer By Ludwig Burger, Arno Schuetze and Greg Roumeliotis FRANKFURT/NEW YORK, Sept 5 (Reuters) - German pharmaceutical and crop chemicals manufacturer Bayer AG says talks with Monsanto Co have advanced and it is now willing to offer more than $65 billion, a 2 percent increase on its previous offer for the world's largest seeds company. "Both sides are gradually nearing consensus," one person familiar with the matter said. Monsanto has also agreed to open its books for Bayer to conduct due diligence checks on the company's business, two sources close to the matter said. Bayer's previous offer was already the largest all-cash takeover bid on record with a deal with Monsanto aimed at giving the German company a shot at grabbing the top spot in the fast-consolidating farm supplies industry, combining its crop science business with Monsanto's strength in seeds. Bayer now says it is prepared to offer $127.50 per share in a negotiated deal, up from its previous offer of $125 per share. But German daily newspaper Rheinische Post also reported late on Monday that an offer of $130 per share may be necessary to get a deal with Monsanto "in a swift and friendly way." Bayer was still considering all options regarding Monsanto, including striking a friendly deal, making a hostile bid or pulling its offer, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. Bayer's shares were down 0.25 percent at 94 euros by 0934 GMT on Tuesday. Monsanto's shares last traded at $107.44 and analysts at brokerage Equinet said Bayer has now effectively capped its Monsanto bid. "We infer from Bayer's statement that failure to agree a deal at $127.50/share could imply a risk to Monsanto shareholders of either a hostile bid at a lesser consideration, or no deal at all," they said in a note. Story continues Analysts from Baader Helvea disagreed. "We still expect a bid per share in the $130-135 range before Monsanto comes to the table. As such, we continue see the Bayer shares remaining under pressure as the negotiations continue," they said in a note. In a brief statement, Monsanto said on Monday it had been engaged in "constructive" negotiations with Bayer, during which it received the updated non-binding proposal of $127.50 per share in cash. The Saint Louis-based company added that it was continuing these conversations as it evaluated Bayer's offer, as well as proposals from other parties it did not name. It cautioned that there was no certainty that any deal would occur. Some Bayer shareholders, however, continue to criticise the proposed merger, saying it would increase Bayer's exposure to agriculture at the expense of its pharmaceutical business. "We knew that Bayer would have to bid higher and this offer is probably getting closer to succeeding, but it doesn't change our view that it presents significant risks to shareholders," said Greg Herbert, co-manager of the Jupiter Global Equity Income Fund. "The company will be left with a highly geared balance sheet and the management effort to integrate the two businesses could easily lead to the larger pharmaceutical business being neglected." John Bennett of fund manager Henderson said that he opposed the revised offer. "Bayer have backed themselves into a corner," he said in emailed comments. "The money would have been better spent buying their own stock. Alas, for shareholders, it was not to be." In July, Bayer raised its earlier offer of $122 per share to $125 to put Monsanto under pressure to engage further. Monsanto subsequently turned down the $125 offer, but said it was open to further talks with the German company, as well as other parties. Reuters reported last month that Monsanto's talks with Bayer were making progress, with the latter receiving some limited access to Bayer's books. Since then, negotiations have advanced further, with more information exchanged between the two sides and the chief executives of the two companies engaging in direct discussions, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because of the confidentiality of the talks. However, while the two companies are close to reaching an agreement on price, they have yet to agree on a strategy on how to jointly tackle potential antitrust challenges, the people said. (Additional reporting by Patricia Weiss in Frankfurt, Simon Jessop in London and Gayathree Ganesan in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler, Greg Mahlich) By Ludwig Burger, Arno Schuetze and Greg Roumeliotis FRANKFURT/NEW YORK (Reuters) - German pharmaceutical and crop chemicals manufacturer Bayer AG says talks with Monsanto Co have advanced and it is now willing to offer more than $65 billion, a 2 percent increase on its previous offer for the world's largest seeds company. "Both sides are gradually nearing consensus," one person familiar with the matter said. Monsanto has also agreed to open its books for Bayer to conduct due diligence checks on the company's business, two sources close to the matter said. Bayer's previous offer was already the largest all-cash takeover bid on record with a deal with Monsanto aimed at giving the German company a shot at grabbing the top spot in the fast-consolidating farm supplies industry, combining its crop science business with Monsanto's strength in seeds. Bayer now says it is prepared to offer $127.50 per share in a negotiated deal, up from its previous offer of $125 per share. But German daily newspaper Rheinische Post also reported late on Monday that an offer of $130 per share may be necessary to get a deal with Monsanto "in a swift and friendly way." Bayer was still considering all options regarding Monsanto, including striking a friendly deal, making a hostile bid or pulling its offer, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. Bayer's shares were down 0.25 percent at 94 euros by 0934 GMT on Tuesday. Monsanto's shares last traded at $107.44 and analysts at brokerage Equinet said Bayer has now effectively capped its Monsanto bid. "We infer from Bayer's statement that failure to agree a deal at $127.50/share could imply a risk to Monsanto shareholders of either a hostile bid at a lesser consideration, or no deal at all," they said in a note. Analysts from Baader Helvea disagreed. "We still expect a bid per share in the $130-135 range before Monsanto comes to the table. As such, we continue see the Bayer shares remaining under pressure as the negotiations continue," they said in a note. Story continues In a brief statement, Monsanto said on Monday it had been engaged in "constructive" negotiations with Bayer, during which it received the updated non-binding proposal of $127.50 per share in cash. The Saint Louis-based company added that it was continuing these conversations as it evaluated Bayer's offer, as well as proposals from other parties it did not name. It cautioned that there was no certainty that any deal would occur. Some Bayer shareholders, however, continue to criticize the proposed merger, saying it would increase Bayer's exposure to agriculture at the expense of its pharmaceutical business. "We knew that Bayer would have to bid higher and this offer is probably getting closer to succeeding, but it doesn't change our view that it presents significant risks to shareholders," said Greg Herbert, co-manager of the Jupiter Global Equity Income Fund. "The company will be left with a highly geared balance sheet and the management effort to integrate the two businesses could easily lead to the larger pharmaceutical business being neglected." John Bennett of fund manager Henderson said that he opposed the revised offer. "Bayer have backed themselves into a corner," he said in emailed comments. "The money would have been better spent buying their own stock. Alas, for shareholders, it was not to be." In July, Bayer raised its earlier offer of $122 per share to $125 to put Monsanto under pressure to engage further. Monsanto subsequently turned down the $125 offer, but said it was open to further talks with the German company, as well as other parties. Reuters reported last month that Monsanto's talks with Bayer were making progress, with the latter receiving some limited access to Bayer's books. Since then, negotiations have advanced further, with more information exchanged between the two sides and the chief executives of the two companies engaging in direct discussions, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because of the confidentiality of the talks. However, while the two companies are close to reaching an agreement on price, they have yet to agree on a strategy on how to jointly tackle potential antitrust challenges, the people said. (Additional reporting by Patricia Weiss in Frankfurt, Simon Jessop in London and Gayathree Ganesan in Bengaluru) (Reuters) - German drugmaker Bayer AG said on Monday it was in advanced talks to acquire Monsanto Co and was raising its offer for the U.S. seed producer. Bayer said it would be prepared to offer $127.50 per Monsanto share from its previous offer price of $125 per share only in connection with a negotiated deal. German daily Rheinische Post earlier reported that a $130 per share offer may be necessary to clinch the deal in a swift and friendly way, citing unnamed sources at Bayer. In July, Bayer raised its earlier offer of $122 per share to $125 per share to put Monsanto under pressure to engage further. Monsanto had turned down Bayer's offer to buy the company at $125 per share, but said it was open to further talks with the German healthcare and chemicals group as well as other parties. Global agrochemicals companies are racing to consolidate, partly in response to a drop in commodity prices that has hit farm incomes. Bayer made its bid for Monsanto public in May, but the two companies have made little progress since in negotiating a deal. (Reporting by Gayathree Ganesan in Bengaluru and Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt; Editing by Sandra Maler and Tom Brown) Beyonce has had to cancel a date on her Formation World Tour on doctor's orders to rest her voice, reports the International Business Times. The September 7 concert scheduled in East Rutherford, New Jersey at the Metlife Stadium has been rescheduled to October 7. The cancellation comes just after Beyonce was seen partying over Labor Day weekend to celebrate her 35th birthday. No other cancellations have been scheduled during the Formation World Tour, which launched on April 27 and will hit 52 locations in North America and Europe. The next date on the tour is September 10 in St Louis, Missouri. Entertainer Bill Cosby arrived in court 30 minutes early to a 1 p.m. Tuesday hearing in Norristown, Pennsylvania on some key issues in the lone criminal case against him. Both the prosecution and defense have filed dueling motions in recent weeks, arguing whether two pieces of evidience should or shouldn't be allowed at trial: The first are the depositions Cosby gave in 2005 and 2006 for Andrea Constand's long-settled civil suit against him, in which he admitted to giving Quaaludes to women he wanted to have sex with. The second is the recording of a January 2005 phone call between Cosby, Andrea and her mother, Gianna, in which her mother confronted Cosby about allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting her daughter. Montgomery County Common Please Judge Steven O'Neill will likely rule on the motions at the hearing and could also set a trial date. Cosby, 79, is charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting former Temple employee Andrea Constand, now 43, at his Elkins Park, Pennsylvania home in January 2004. He has denied the allegations as well as similar ones from more than 50 women. In the depositions, Cosby admitted to giving Quaaludes to women he wanted to have sex with but said he gave Constand Benadryl and that their sexual contact was consensual. Bill Cosby Arrives in Court for Sexual Assault Case, Deposition on Quaaludes at Issue| Crime & Courts, Sexual Assault/Rape, True Crime, Bill Cosby Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. "I don't hear her say anything," he said in the deposition. "And I don't feel her say anything. And so I continue and I go into the area that is somewhere between permission and rejection. I am not stopped." Cosby will be in court with a mostly new team of defense attorneys. He replaced most of his defense team this summer, including Monique Pressley, who defended the comedian in various media appearances. While he still faces a slew of defamation lawsuits against him he has countersued some of his accusers in late July he dropped his breach-of-contract lawsuit against Constand, which might have required her to pay back the money he gave her in the 2006 civil suit settlement. Cosby had argued Constand violated their confidentiality agreement by cooperating with law enforcement in the criminal investigation. Dolores Troiani and Bebe Kivitz, Constand's attorneys, said Cosby was bullying Constand with the suit. UPDATED, 1:26 PM with Cosby lawyers statement, below: The criminal trial of Bill Cosby for the alleged rape of Andrea Constand in 2004 could start on June 5, a Pennsylvania judge surmised today. While nothing was set in stone and there are plenty of motions and even a potential change of venue to consider, the 79-year-old comedian likely will see a jury trial begin early next summer. If found guilty, the much-accused Cosby could end up behind bars for a decade and pay millions in fines on three felony charges of second-degree aggravated indecent assault. With Cosby in attendance, Judge Steven ONeill floated the date Tuesday during a pretrial hearing in Norristown, PA. The case originally was looking to go to trial next spring, but scheduling issues for the lawyers especially Cosbys main attorney Brian McMonagle seemingly have forced the delay. The judge said today he wants to hear back from the Montgomery County D.A.s office and the defense before making a decision. Meanwhile, Cosbys attorneys just released this statement: Mr. Cosby is no stranger to discrimination and racial hatred, and throughout his career Mr. Cosby has always used his voice and his celebrity to highlight the commonalities and has portrayed the differences that are not negative no matter the race, gender and religion of a person. Yet, over the last fourteen months, Mr. Cosby, and those who have supported him, have been ignored, while lawyers like Gloria Allred hold press conferences to accuse him of crimes for unwitnessed events that allegedly occurred almost a half century earlier. The time has come to shine a spotlight on the trampling of Mr. Cosbys civil rights. Gloria Allred apparently loves the media spotlight more than she cares about justice. She calls herself a civil rights attorney, but her campaign against Mr. Cosby builds on racial bias and prejudice that can pollute the court of public opinion. And when the media repeats her accusations with no evidence, no trial and no jury we are moved backwards as a country and away from the America that our civil rights leaders sacrificed so much to create. Mr. Cosby is not giving up the fight for his rights. Story continues PREVIOUS, 11:06 AM: Bill Cosby entered a courthouse in Norristown, PA today to cries of we love you from fans to face a pretrial hearing that could see the 79-year-old comedian behind bars for up to a decade if found guilty on three felony second-degree aggravated indecent assault charges. Cosby may also find himself not only facing Andrea Constand for the alleged 2004 sexual assault, but also more than a dozen of the more than 50 women who have accused him of assaulting and/or drugging them over the decades. At the pretrial hearing today, the Montgomery County D.A.s office introduced a motion on prior bad acts to have 13 of those women as witnesses in the criminal case against Cosby the lone criminal case against the actor. However, Cosby is facing several defamation and other civil cases in states like California and Massachusetts, where the statute of limitations has expired. It should be noted that the relevant similarities in this case are more numerous and establish more of a pattern than those seen in many of the case cited where other admission of the other act evidence was permitted, the motion points out (read it here). D.A. Kevin Steele referred to investigating the claims against Cosby by other women a Herculean task in court today. Herculean or not, the judge made clear Tuesday that, while he is in no rush to name a trial date, he does wants to see the Pennsylvania criminal case started as soon. This case now 252 days from filing of criminal complaints, said Judge Steven ONeill to the courtroom today. There is a right to a speedy trial, he added, telling attorneys on both sides to be expeditious with proposing evidence and discovery in the matter. Still, ONeill declined to give a trial date today. Were not going to call this case for trial, the judge said. I dont see that there is any unreasonable delay. That may hit a road bump as one of Cosbys main lawyers Brian McMonagle has indicated to the court he might not be able to participate until next June. Also, the defense were granted a 60-day period to submit a change of venue request for the actual trial another factor that could see an actual date not coming until at least Christmas with the expected back and forth over that venue once named by Cosbys team. Todays hearing also saw Cosbys lawyers introduce a slew of motions including one to suppress a telephone call of more than a decade ago between the comedian and Constands mother over the alleged assault. Cosbys side says the call from Canada was illegally taped under Pennsylvania law even though actor was actually in California when the conversation took place. The senior Constand was perfectly permitted to record phone call in Canada, ONeill said after listening to argument from both sides in his courtroom. At the same time, the judge also said Constands mother told Cosby he wasnt being recorded and that the defense needs to hear the tape before that portion of the case can progress. Judge ONeill said today he will likely rule of the admission of the tape in the next week or so. While not yet evidence or not in the case, the muddy tape was played live in the courtroom to assess its authenticity, according to Judge ONeill. In what seemed to be a cordial conversation, one of the voices on the tape was clearly Bill Cosbys. Facing criminal charges in the state for the sexual assault of Constand in 2004, Cosby has been unsuccessful in his attempts to get the case by the Montgomery County D.A. office tossed out, halted or reassessed. On July 7, the last time Cosby was in the suburban Philadelphia courthouse, ONeill ruled to deny the habeas corpus in the case of Cosbys alleged drugging and rape of the then-Temple University employee. On August 12, the state judge quashed another legal maneuver by Cosbys team to stop the matter from going to trial later this year. Steele kept a campaign promise and laid the criminal charges against Cosby right at the end of 2015 to beat the states 12-year statute of limitations for such crimes. Cosby was arraigned December 30 and released on $1 million bail without entering a plea. When the then D.A. declined to press criminal charges back in 2005, Constand and Cosby came to a settlement in 2006 in a civil case a settlement Cosby opened a case in federal court on February 1 against Constand, her mother, her former attorneys and the parent company of the National Enquirer over claims that they broke the confidentiality agreement around the 2006 deal. After numerous motions, counter-claims and potential discovery in that matter, Cosby voluntarily dismissed the action without prejudice on July 28. Ostensibly the motivation was to focus on the criminal case with the new lawyers he had brought onboard. Max Marin contributed to this report. Related stories Bill Cosby Loses Another Lawyer As Monique Pressley Leaves Team Bill Cosby Ends Lawsuit Against 2004 Rape Accuser & 'National Enquirer' Bill Cosby Axes His Main Lawyer After Less Than A Year (PHILADELPHIA) Bill Cosby returned to a suburban Philadelphia courtroom with a streamlined defense team Tuesday for a hearing in his sexual assault case. He arrived in a light blue seersucker jacket and held onto an aides arm as supporters cheered for him from the sidewalks as he entered the Montgomery County Courthouse. Cosby dropped his media handler, Washington lawyer Monique Pressley, ahead of the hearing, where a judge could set a trial date. The defense also will push on Tuesday to keep key evidence out of the case. They hope to suppress several days of testimony Cosby gave in the accusers lawsuit a decade ago. Cosby acknowledged giving Andrea Constand several pills before what he calls a consensual sexual encounter. She later said she was in and out of consciousness. I dont hear her say anything. And I dont feel her say anything. And so I continue and I go into the area that is somewhere between permission and rejection. I am not stopped, Cosby testified in the 2005 lawsuit. Veteran Philadelphia defense lawyer Brian McMonagle is expected to lead the courtroom fight as the case moves forward. Cosby also replaced one top-tier Los Angeles law firm with another on his defense team, the second such switch in about a year. Angela Agrusa of Liner LLP also will handle the defamation lawsuits filed in several states by women who say they were defamed when Cosby or his agents denied their accounts. Cosby had countersued some of them. But he has since abandoned that strategy in Philadelphia, where he dropped the lawsuit filed against Constand, her lawyers and her mother. Cosby had accused them of violating the confidentiality of their 2006 settlement, in part by cooperating with police last year. The defense also hopes to suppress a secretly recorded 2005 phone call Cosby had with Gianna Constand, when he described his sexual encounter with her daughter. District Attorney Kevin Steele will fight to use both the phone call and his deposition at trial. Story continues Cosby has so far lost his efforts to have the charges thrown out. And so the once-beloved comedian known as Americas Dad for his top-rated show on family life that ran from 1984 to 1992 finds himself spending his time and fortune in his waning days in a Pennsylvania courtroom. The women who accuse him of similar misconduct say the charges were a long time coming. Cosbys defenders instead suggest he is a wealthy target for the many women he met during five decades as an A-list celebrity. None of us will ever want to be in the position of attacking a victim. But the question should be asked who is the victim? his wife, Camille, asked as more accusers came forward in 2014. A Pennsylvania judge has set a date for Bill Cosbys felony sexual assault trial. Montgomery County Judge Steven ONeill said on Tuesday that the 79-old-actor would stand trial no later than June 5, 2017. Andrea Constand alleges that Cosby drugged and molested her after inviting her to his Philadelphia home in 2004. Cosby has maintained the sex was consensual. At least 50 women have accused Mr. Cosby of sexual assault spanning three decades, but Constands is the only case that went to trial. The prosecution wants 13 of the women who claimed Cosby intoxicated and then assaulted them to testify to demonstrate a pattern of behavior. The defense asked for a call between Cosby and Constands mom where she asked him about the drugs he gave her daughter dropped from evidence since Cosby was unaware he was being recorded and Pennsylvania has a two-party wiretap law. Cosbys lawyers will also ask the trial be moved out of the county because the prosecutor cast Cosby as a sexual predator during his election campaign last year. Cosbys lawyers also told Judge ONeill that their client is blind. Cosby was led into the courtroom on the arm of an aide. ONeill said the court would accommodate and special needs during the trial. The actor also had a new legal team led by Philadelphia lawyer Brian McMonagle. Related stories Judge Allows Bill Cosby Sexual Assault Case to Proceed to Trial Bill Cosby Admitted to Sexual Relations With Teens Judge Grants Bill Cosby Accusers Access to Andrea Constand's Case File Bill Cosby's trial surrounding allegations that he drugged and sexually assaulted former Temple employee Andrea Constand is set to begin June 5, 2017. The date was set in a Pennsylvania court on Tuesday, where Cosby's lawyers attempted to get two pieces of evidence thrown out in the case. WATCH: Judge Orders Bill Cosby to Stand Trial in Sexual Assault Case The 79-year-old comedian is charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault in the case. Constand alleges that Cosby drugged and violated her in January 2004 at his mansion in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. Cosby has pleaded not guilty to all charges. After the court date was set, Cosby's lawyers released the following statement to ET. "Mr. Cosby is no stranger to discrimination and racial hatred, and throughout his career Mr. Cosby has always used his voice and his celebrity to highlight the commonalities and has portrayed the differences that are not negative -- no matter the race, gender and religion of a person. "Yet, over the last fourteen months, Mr. Cosby, and those who have supported him, have been ignored, while lawyers like Gloria Allred hold press conferences to accuse him of crimes for unwitnessed events that allegedly occurred almost a half century earlier. MORE: New Bill Cosby Suit Alleges Sexual Assault at Playboy Mansion, Accuses Hugh Hefner of Negligence and Conspiracy "The time has come to shine a spotlight on the trampling of Mr. Cosby's civil rights. Gloria Allred apparently loves the media spotlight more than she cares about justice. She calls herself a civil rights attorney, but her campaign against Mr. Cosby builds on racial bias and prejudice that can pollute the court of public opinion. And when the media repeats her accusations -- with no evidence, no trial and no jury -- we are moved backwards as a country and away from the America that our civil rights leaders sacrificed so much to create. "Mr. Cosby is not giving up the fight for his rights." Story continues This is the first criminal case that Cosby has had to face, though numerous women have brought civil cases against him, claiming they too were sexually assaulted. Cosby has not been convicted in this case or criminally charged in regard to the other accusations against him. He has also repeatedly denied that any of these allegations are true. Watch the video below for more details on the many allegations brought against Cosby. Related Articles Rahul Gandhi has started his 2500 km-long Kisan Yatra from Deoria to Delhi today. Rahul Gandhi launched door to door campaign in Deoria district in UP. Photo: ANI By India Today Web Desk: Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, who embarked on his Uttar Pradesh campaign from Deoria district, today spoke about the troubles faced by farmers in the state. WHAT GANDHI SAID IN KHAAT SABHA He asked Modi why there is so much differences in farmers' rate and market rate. However, Gandhi added that the PM did not respond the question. advertisement Rahul Gandhi assured that he will make the problems heard before the prime minister. He also lamented that there were 17 sugar mills in this district, but today all were shut. He added that the government of India and UP government has forgotten the farmers. LISTEN TO WHAT HE SAID HERE LAUNCHED DOOR-TO-DOOR CAMPAIGN, VISITS TEMPLE He started his 2500 km-long Kisan Yatra and launched door to door campaign in Rudrapur. Gandhi collected Kisan Mangpatras (charter of demands' of the farmers) from the people and interacted with them. He is now holding a Khaat Sabha at the Dudhnath Baba Mandir maidan. Gandhi also visited the Dugdheshwar Nath temple in the city and offered prayers. He interacted with the people inside the temple premises. In pics: Rahul Gandhi begins Khaat Pe Charcha in UP In a bid to reinvigorate Congress and end its 27-year exile from power in the politically important Uttar Pradesh, Gandhi has embarked on the 2500 km-long Kisan Yatra from Deoria to Delhi. "My yatra from Deoria to Delhi starting September 6 is a campaign to secure the rights of the poor, farmers and labourers in government resources," Gandhis office said in a tweet. Also Read: Congress okays Priyanka Gandhi images for campaign, with caveats Rahul Gandhi's office shared its schedule for the first day on social media. DEORIA TO DILLI YATRA: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW The yatra started from Panchlari Kritpura village in Deoria district. A door-to-door campaign of collecting Kisan Mangpatras (charters of farmers demands)was launched. He will soon begin a one-to-one interaction with farmers through Khaat (cot) Sabha, similar to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Chai par Charcha' during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.Gandhi will be holding road shows and roadside meetings at various places during his yatra. Gandhi will cover Kushinagar, Gorakhpur, Sant Kabirnagar and Basti besides Deoria on the first two days. The Congress leader will cover as many as 233 assembly constituencies during the yatra. Congress has made preparatiions to ensure that Gandhi's yatra is a huge success. A team of national spokesmen will be stationed in Lucknow to apprise media of the developments. The party has released around 250 "mini-raths" for the Congress workers. Each mini-rath carried 1,600 workers' kit. The kit contains publicity material, workers' handbook along with 'kisan maangpatra' (charters of farmers' demands). advertisement (With inputs from agencies) Also Read: RSS killed Gandhi remark: Rahul Gandhi withdraws Supreme Court plea, says ready to face trial UP election: Rahul, Priyanka top Congress big guns list for campaign --- ENDS --- London (AFP) - Black Lives Matter protesters chained themselves together on the runway of London's City Airport on Tuesday, forcing all flights in and out of the business travel hub to be diverted for six hours. Police were called at 5:40 am local time (0440 GMT) after protesters "erected a tripod and... locked themselves together," according to a statement from London police. "Officers negotiated with the protestors and specialist officers arrived to 'unlock' the protestors," the statement said. The process of removing the protesters began at 9:30 am, but it was not until around 11:30 am that the runway was finally cleared, blocking all flights for six hours. Police arrested nine people were arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass, being unlawfully airside and breaching London City Airport bylaws. Tweeting that the runway had reopened. London City Airport apologised for the disruption and advised travellers to check with their airline for flight information. The Twitter page of Black Lives Matter UK claimed responsibility for the protest, saying it was to highlight the "UK's environmental impact on black people". "7/10 of the countries most affected by climate change are in sub-Saharan Africa," said another tweet. Pictures from the airport showed the protesters lying down on the tarmac beneath a wooden tripod, next to a sign reading: "Climate Crisis is a Racist Crisis." All flights due to land at the airport were diverted to Southend and Gatwick airports, near London. London City Airport is located in the former docks area east of the city centre, close to Canary Wharf, one of the twin centres of London's finance industry. The airport offers short-haul flights to locations in Britain and mainland Europe, and served over four million passengers last year, many of them travelling for business. Its sole runway is surrounded by water, but it was reported that the protesters were able to either swim or use a dinghy to cross the wharf, raising questions about security. Activists from Britain's Black Lives Matter movement blocked the main road into London Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport, last month as part of a nationwide day of protests against racism. b6cb6040-085d-11e4-90cb-f3cb30f43954_Opening-Frame-Blade-Runner Blade Runner opening sequence (Warner Bros.) Denis Villeneuve, director of the Blade Runner sequel, gave The Hollywood Reporter an update on how hes coming to grips with the challenge of following in the footsteps of Ridley Scotts 1982 future-noir masterpiece. The Canadian filmmaker (Sicario) in Venice for the festival screening of his new sci-fi drama Arrival starring Amy Adams called Blade Runner one of the best films in the past 50 years, and described his current anxiety about tackling the sequel, which stars Ryan Gosling, Jared Leto, and Harrison Ford (reprising his original role as Rick Deckard). Related: Blade Runner Sequel Suffers Set Accident, Construction Worker Dies For me, what terrorizes me right now is what Im doing is taking Blade Runner and making it my own, and that is horrific, Villeneuve confessed. To realize that when I look at the dailies, its not Ridley Scott, its me, and that its different. Its still the same universe, we are still in the same dream, but its mine, so its like I have no idea how you people will react, I dont know. It has its own life. Though he may be stressed about comparisons to Scotts film (Its not possible to live up to the original, he told THR), Villeneuve is confident in his stars. Fellow Canadian Gosling, he said, is insanely good. Its the first time Ive worked with him and I never had someone that was as much a trouper, as dedicated, as precise and engaged, the director said of Gosling. I said to him, you know, we are going to do it together and its like walking in a dark room with a lighter trying to find the way out. Its a huge room and we are alone and its dark and its cold. And he said, Yeah, I understand exactly. But we have a lot of fun. Related: Arrival Poster Makes an Architectural Mistake in Hong Kong Villeneuve is similarly effusive about Ford (though they havent started shooting his scenes yet). To my great reliefyou know Harrison Ford he was one of my biggest heroes, he said. I grew up with him, so to meet a man like that who is kind of a legend in your heart, that has that kind of humility, generosity, open-mindedness, and simplicity, one of the nicest human beings Ive met. Blade Runner is set for release in October 2017; Arrival reaches U.S. theaters on Nov. 11. Denis Villeneuves Arrival: Watch the trailer VENICE (Reuters) - Canadian director Denis Villeneuve says making a sequel to 1982 cult film "Blade Runner", in which Harrison Ford hunted down humanoids, is "an insane project" but that it is one the way nonetheless. He heaped praise on cast member Ryan Gosling. Villeneuve opened up about the yet unnamed movie, which is scheduled for release next year, while promoting sci-fi thriller "Arrival" at the Venice Film Festival. "I can say nothing... it's an insane project that is moving forward ... we are in the middle of the shoot right now and Ryan Gosling is fantastic," Villeneuve told Reuters. "For me it's a big, big, big ... artistic encounter... I have never been that inspired by an actor ... He is really doing something special in front of the camera right now." Producers have said the movie is set decades after the original but little is known about the project. The cast includes Ford as well as Oscar winner Jared Leto and "House of Cards" actress Robin Wright. (Reporting By Sarah Mills; Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian Editing by Jeremy Gaunt) NEW YORK -- The Toronto Blue Jays' streaky offense is one of those funks. However, it has yet to cost Toronto a share of first place in the American League East, but on Monday at Yankee Stadium, it made the division race slightly closer. The Blue Jays look to reverse things at the plate Tuesday night when they continue a three-game series with the New York Yankees. Toronto has split its past 16 games, but on the smaller scale, the Blue Jays have dropped three of four. The offense has scored 16 times in the past four games but has produced one home run, six extra-base hits and a .222 batting average. "These guys are what they are, whether you like it or not," Toronto manager John Gibbons said Monday before his team's 5-3 loss to the Yankees. "Sometimes you've just got to ride it out and take the good with the bad, because eventually that will change." Jose Bautista hit an RBI single Monday, and Edwin Encarnacion had a two-run single. Bautista has three hits in last 17 at-bats, while Encarnacion had three hits in his previous 24 at-bats before going 3-for-4 on Monday. Josh Donaldson has three hits in his past 13 at-bats. Two players who are not slumping, Russell Martin and Troy Tulowitzki, figure to be back in the lineup Tuesday. Martin did not start since knuckleballer R.A. Dickey pitched, while Tulowitzki sat because Gibbons said he needed a day off. "We understand this game, we have a lot of time in this game, we have to keep going and don't worry about what is in the past," Encarnacion said. "We've got to focus on tomorrow's game and the next three weeks." Coincidentally, a similar situation preceded Toronto scoring 19 times during a three-game series in its last visit to New York, Aug. 15-17. The Blue Jays' offense was shut out in the opener, then produced an eight-run inning en route to a 12-6 win in the second game. Toronto posted a 7-4 victory in the series finale. Story continues Since that series, the Blue Jays have always held at least a share of first place, but the fourth-place Yankees are currently only 5 1/2 games back. The Boston Red Sox are a game out, while the Baltimore Orioles are two back. The Yankees are 3 1/2 games behind Baltimore and Detroit in a six-team race for the second wild-card spot. They have won seven of their past nine series, but winning two of three each time still might not be good enough. "It's almost imperative," New York left fielder Brett Gardner said. "At this point, we have to win every series the rest of the way. We've got to play well, and two out of three is the worst-case scenario for us." New York won for the eighth time in 12 games Sunday. Jacoby Ellsbury homered and drove in three runs in a game that featured contributions from a few young players. Rookie first baseman Tyler Austin had a two-run double that wound up being the decisive hit, while first-year catcher Gary Sanchez reached base for the 20th straight game and also threw out Melvin Upton Jr. trying to steal second. Aaron Judge made two good defensive plays in right field but struck out three times. Although he homered in his first two games Aug. 13-14, he has not done much since and has 35 strikeouts to go along with a .169 average. Even with the low numbers, Judge likely will remain in right field due to an injury to Aaron Hicks. "We got to help him fight through it," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said of Judge's slump. "We know he has the ability, and we believe he can do it." Aaron Sanchez (13-2, 2.88 ERA) will make his second start following a 10-day break in the minors. Sanchez is second on Toronto's pitching staff in wins, and his ERA is the lowest among Blue Jays starters. Sanchez had a 5.29 ERA in three starts before the layoff but returned Wednesday in Baltimore and allowed an unearned run and five hits in six innings. Sanchez was sharp in the 12 2/3 innings he pitched against the Yankees this season. He allowed an earned run and three hits in six innings during a no-decision April 12 in Toronto, and June 1 at Rogers Centre, he struck out six and allowed seven hits in 6 2/3 innings during a 7-0 victory. Luis Cessa (4-0, 4.17 ERA) makes his fourth start since entering New York's rotation. As a starting pitcher, Cessa is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA. Cessa has pitched six innings in each start, although he has allowed four of his nine home runs as a starting pitcher. The right-hander allowed two homers Wednesday in Kansas City but did not get a decision when New York rallied from a four-run deficit. In his lone career appearance against Toronto, he pitched a scoreless inning on May 24. By John Chalmers and Andrew R.C. Marshall MANILA (Reuters) - The body of 22-year-old pedicab driver Eric Sison lies in a coffin in a Manila slum with a chick pacing across his casket, placed there in keeping with a local tradition to symbolically peck at the conscience of his killers. Cellphone video footage circulating on social media purports to capture the moment Sison was killed last month when, according to local officials, police were looking for drug pushers in the Pasay township of the Philippines' capital. A voice on the video, recorded by a neighbour according to newspaper reports, can be heard shouting "Don't do it, I'll surrender!". Then there is the sound of gunfire. A poster near the coffin, which lies beside a stinking canal cut between ramshackle homes, demands "Justice for Eric Quintinita Sison". A handpainted sign reads: "OVERKILL - JUSTICE 4 ERIC." These are rare tokens of protest against a surge of killings unleashed since Rodrigo Duterte became president of the Philippines just over two months ago and pledged to wage war on drug dealers and crush widespread addiction to methamphetamine. Very little stands in the way of his campaign. Last week, the number of people killed since July 1 reached 2,400: about 900 died in police operations, and the rest are "deaths under investigation", a term human rights activists say is a euphemism for vigilante and extrajudicial killings. Duterte's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story. But he told a news conference on Monday that "plenty will be killed" in his campaign. "Until the (last) drug manufacturer is killed we will continue," Duterte told reporters before leaving for a regional summit in Laos, where he is due to meet U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday. OPPONENTS ASSAILED Reuters interviews reveal that the police's Internal Affairs Service (IAS) and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) are so overwhelmed by the killings that they can investigate only a fraction, and there is scant hope of establishing many as unlawful because witnesses are too terrified to come forward. Meanwhile, the immense popularity of Duterte's crusade and a climate of fear it has engendered have severely restrained dissent from civil society. Hardly anyone turned up at candlelight vigils in Manila recently to protest against extrajudicial killings. Even as the death toll rose, a July poll by Pulse Asia put Duterte's approval rating at 91 percent. Anxious reminders by the Catholic Church of the commandment 'thou shalt not kill' make few headlines in the predominantly Catholic country, with newspapers preferring to carry breathless accounts of the latest slayings. Duterte has delivered withering attacks on his chief critic, Senator Leila de Lima, accusing her of dealing in drugs herself and having an affair with her driver. "It's only the president who can stop this," de Lima told Reuters last week, deploring what she described as the "madness" that led in one case to a five-year-old girl being shot in the head. "How many more of these cases of collateral damage are we willing to bear before we can really start screaming about it?" she asked. As for critics abroad, Duterte pours scorn on them in language larded with curses. He lambasted the United Nations after it criticised the surge in killings and he turned down a meeting with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at a summit in Laos this week. Duterte has also made it clear he will take no lecture on human rights from Obama, when in the United States he alleged "black people are being shot even if they are already lying down". "EVERYONE IS AFRAID" Duterte may intensify the crackdown after 14 people were killed on Friday in a bomb attack at a market in his hometown, Davao. Police blamed the Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic State-linked group Duterte has vowed to destroy, but his war on the drug trade is making enemies elsewhere and the attack quickened rumours of a plot to kill him. Duterte has declared a nationwide "state of lawlessness" after the blast that authorises troops to reinforce the police with checkpoints and patrols. He has managed with remarkable speed to nationalise a model for fighting crime that he pioneered as mayor of Davao for 22 years. Rights groups documented hundreds of suspicious murders in Davao on Duterte's watch and say death squads operated with impunity there. "The Punisher", as some call him, denies ordering extrajudicial killings but he does not condemn them. Across the country now, lists of suspected drug pushers are being provided to police by neighbourhood chiefs, adding to a sense of fear and distrust across communities. Politicians of all hues have gone quiet, and a Senate enquiry led by de Lima only has the power to propose legislation. INVESTIGATORS SWAMPED Chief Superintendent Leo Angelo Leuterio, who heads the IAS, says it is his office's responsibility to investigate every discharge of firearms involving police. But with only about 170 investigators nationwide, the IAS is able to deal with just 30 percent of the roughly 30 cases coming in every day. "Our resources are breaking at the seams," said Leuterio. The IAS chief is supposed to be a civilian to ensure its independence but Leuterio is a policeman who spent 13 years of his career in Duterte's hometown, Davao. He says he is unbiased and has a track record of dismissing hundreds of officers for misconduct. The CHR, for its part, is looking at just 259 of the 2,000-plus killings since July 1. Its forensics team of 14 is swamped and in their cramped office investigators probing possible extrajudicial killings are handling just 12 dossiers. The commission says its biggest obstacle is that witnesses are hard to find. One person who did come forward is Harrah Kazuo, whose husband and father-in-law were severely beaten and shot dead in a police station, according to a CHR report. She told Reuters that when the police entered their home without a warrant they even removed her toddler's underwear to search for drugs. Police have declined comment on what happened in the home, but two officers have been arrested and charged with murder in connection with the case. Kazuo has been taken into witness protection by the CHR. She is a rare protesting voice in an environment where many are fearful. On Aug. 29, police told reporters they had opened fire that night on a drug suspect in Tondo, a dirt-poor and densely populated district of Manila. A Reuters reporter looked into the suspect's one-room home and saw a mattress splattered with blood. He asked a neighbour how many shots had been fired, but the man replied: "Sorry, my friend. I didn't hear a single shot," and walked away. (Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan) By Marcelo Teixeira SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil could increase its carbon emissions by up to 21 percent from 2014 to 2030 and still meet its pledge under the 2015 Paris climate agreement to fight global warming, according to a study released on Tuesday. The country based its goals on an outdated inventory on greenhouse gas emissions, which makes it much easier to meet the goals, said the report, asking the government to quickly adjust its commitments. "It would certainly create a large embarrassment for the country if the adjustment is not made," said Andre Ferretti, coordinator of the not-for-profit Climate Observatory organization. Brazil has pledged to cut its carbon emissions by 37 percent by 2025 and by 43 percent by 2030, on absolute terms, compared with 2005 numbers. The plan was considered ambitious by experts when released last year. The 2015 Paris climate deal, signed by almost 200 nations last year, is the only multilateral agreement tackling rising carbon emissions, which scientists blame for increasing the planet's temperatures. Brazil's case came up, according to experts, after the country released its third inventory of greenhouse gases earlier this year. The inventory used new models to calculate carbon releases and sequestrations from land use changes. Those numbers rose for both deforestation (carbon release) and forest restoration (carbon sequestration). "Brazil's Paris pledge has 2005 as its starting point for comparison, a year when deforestation was very high," said Tasso Azevedo, a forestry and climate expert who collaborated on the study. As a result, the Climate Observatory says emissions in that year were much higher than considered when the Brazilian government drew its goals for Paris using a previous inventory. In the same way, the amount of carbon that restored forests would suck from the atmosphere during the years up to 2030 also increased, facilitating the effort Brazil would have to make to meet its pledge, since most of its emissions come from land use. The study says Brazil's 2005 carbon emissions in fact reached 2.8 billion tonnes and not 2.13 billion as stated previously. There was no immediate comment from Brazil's Environment Ministry regarding the study or the possible need to adjust its Paris pledge. Brazil leads the world on carbon reductions. They fell from a peak of 3.4 billion tonnes in 1991, when Amazon destruction was rampant, to 1.32 billion tonnes in 2014. But as deforestation fell and stabilized recently, other sectors, such as energy, increased their shares of carbon emissions. (Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira; Editing by Dan Grebler) (Recasts with details, background) By Aluisio Alves SAO PAULO, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Brazil's state lender Caixa Economica Federal is planning initial public offerings (IPOs) of its insurance and credit card units in 2017, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday. The priority will be the listing of insurance unit Caixa Seguridade, the source said, after a delay last year due to market conditions. At the time, the state lender expects to raise up to 7.5 billion reais ($2.3 billion) with the deal. The share sales would help to capitalize Caixa at a time when Brazil's tight federal budget has little room for further capital injections. Moody's Investors Service said in a recent report that Caixa may need up to 17.5 billion reais in fresh capital. Before filing for the IPO with regulators, Caixa wants to conclude negotiations on a 20-year extension of an exclusivity contract with France's CNP Assurances SA to sell insurance in Caixa branches beyond 2021, the source said. An alternative would be to divide the contract into different exclusivity agreements for each insurance product, according to the source. Caixa is also looking to group its credit card activities into a new company, which would also be listed, said the source. A new company to manage the scratch-tickets business is also being created and Caixa may sell a majority stake in it, the source added. ($1 = 3.22 Brazilian reais) (Reporting by Aluisio Alves; Editing by Alistair Bell) By Anthony Boadle BRASILIA, Sept 6 (Reuters) - The government of Brazil's new President Michel Temer scrambled on Tuesday to distance itself from a multibillion-dollar corruption scandal that broke less than a week after he took office, involving fraud in the country's largest pension funds. With the country already reeling from a sprawling bribery and kickback scandal at state oil company Petrobras, the new corruption case could hamper the conservative Temer's efforts to restore credibility and turn the page on the leftist government of impeached President Dilma Rousseff. Police on Monday arrested five people linked to fraudulent investments made by four huge pension funds of state-run companies. The investigation snared dozens of businessmen and fund managers suspected of involvement in a fraud scheme valued at around 8 billion reais ($2.5 billion), including the chief executive of the world's biggest beef exporter. The coveted appointments of directors to the funds' boards were made by political parties and the probe is expected to spread to Brazil's political establishment, where some 50 politicians are already under investigation in the Petrobras scandal. Temer's office said the appointments were made during the 13 years of Workers Party rule that ended with Rousseff's removal from office last week, and the "irregularities" uncovered by the police had nothing to do with the current administration. "The Workers Party appointed the pension fund directors from the moment it took office in 2003 and they were closely linked to the unions," said a Temer aide who asked not to be named. "The Workers Party was responsible for the big loss suffered, ironically, by the workers of the state companies who were saving for their retirement," the aide said. "This has not even scratched the image of the new government." Temer's government will press for a thorough investigation as it pushes through proposed legislation that will depoliticize the appointment to directors of state companies, he said. Story continues The investigation focuses on investments in overpriced assets, including private equity funds with artificially inflated share prices, according to the federal police. The Workers Party declined to comment on the investigation but its president, Rui Falcao, denounced as "arbitrary" a raid and seizure of documents at the home of the party's former treasurer Joao Vaccari, jailed a year ago in the Petrobras scandal. POLITICAL INTERFERENCE Political observers in Brasilia doubt that Temer's Brazilian Democratic Movement Party will emerge unscathed from the new scandal, since it shared power with the Workers Party during the years the fraud allegedly took place. The party has also been deeply implicated in the Petrobras scandal. The state-company pension funds, flush with cash, have long been vulnerable to political interference and dogged by suspicions of fraud, said political risk consultant Andre Cesar. "The 8 billion reais is just the tip of the iceberg. They have opened a Pandora's Box and names of politicians will inevitably appear sooner or later," Cesar said. Even if nobody in Temer's government is implicated, the new scandal underscores some of the unsavory ties between business and political interests in Brazil that have undermined confidence in Latin America's largest economy. "What are voters going to think? We just got rid of one government and corruption continues just the same in the new one," Cesar said. The pension funds caught up in the investigation are those of state-run banks Banco do Brasil and Caixa Economica Federal, the postal service Correios and oil company Petrobras, or Petroleo Brasileiro SA. The funds have said they are cooperating with the investigation. The funds, which controlled 280 billion reais in assets last year, have been an important source of investment in Brazil's credit-starved economy, now in its second year of recession. ($1 = 3.2183 Brazilian reais) (Additional reporting by Alonso Soto; Editing by Tom Brown) Brasilia (AFP) - Brazil's impeached president Dilma Rousseff left the official presidential residence for the last time Tuesday, flying to her coastal hometown as President Michel Temer jetted home from the G20 summit in China. Symbolically marking the end of an era of 13 years in power for the leftist Workers' Party, Rousseff stepped out of the Alvorada Palace and into the blazing Brasilia sunshine, surrounded by some 100 supporters, former ministers and allied lawmakers. Leaving the grounds, she got out of her car to greet supporters, who had scattered red and yellow flower petals at the entrance. "I'm very sad, very sad, feeling like the country will be left a bit orphaned," said one supporter, 56-year-old retiree Cecilia Monteiro. Rousseff, 68, then boarded an air force plane to the southern city of Porto Alegre, her adopted hometown, where more supporters were waiting. Temer, her vice president turned nemesis, meanwhile arrived home from China and was expected to move into the presidential residence in the coming days. Rousseff, Brazil's first woman president, was stripped of the presidency last week after a nine-month impeachment battle. The Senate convicted her on charges of fudging the government's budget by taking unauthorized state loans. Unofficially, she was also taking the blame for a deep recession, friction with Congress and a massive corruption scandal that tainted much of the political establishment. Temer, a center-right political insider who broke his awkward alliance with Rousseff in March, has vowed to pass reforms to get the formerly booming economy back on track. He will serve out the rest of Rousseff's term until elections in 2018. By Scott DiSavino NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global benchmark Brent crude fell almost 1 percent on Tuesday as hopes waned for an agreement between two of the biggest oil producers to freeze output to tackle a global supply glut. Brent had jumped 5 percent on Monday, after Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed to cooperate in world oil markets. But Brent pared gains later that session after Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said there was no need to freeze output for now. Still, his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak said he was open to ideas on what cut-off period to use if countries chose to freeze output, and said even production cuts could be considered. On Tuesday, Brent futures for November delivery fell 37 cents, or 0.8 percent, to settle at $47.26 a barrel. U.S. crude, meanwhile, rose 39 cents, or 0.9 percent from Friday's settlement, to $44.83 per barrel. U.S. crude did not settle on Monday due to the Labor Day holiday. U.S. trading was thin following the long Labor Day holiday weekend. Traders said U.S. crude was supported by Genscape data showing a draw of some 700,000 barrels last week at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for U.S. crude futures. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC producers such as Russia will hold informal talks in Algeria on Sept. 26-28. Many in the market are skeptical a deal will happen. "The reaction so far suggests that talk is no longer enough to support prices; the market needs to see action," Tim Evans, energy futures specialist at Citi Futures, said in a note. "While talk of a production freeze is easy, achieving one will be more difficult, with Iran still poised to increase output to 4.0 (million barrels per day) and Nigeria plotting a recovery." Iran has been trying to regain market share after the United States and other nations lifted nuclear-related sanctions. Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday it would go along with a freeze in oil output if other producers agreed, but cautioned that Iran could foil any attempt to limit output. Story continues "I believe again the spoiler will be the Iranians. You can't expect other countries to freeze while you reserve the right to increase your production," Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told reporters in London. Oil prices are half their level of mid-2014, hurting producing nations' income. OPEC and Russia tried this year to curb the glut with an output freeze, but the deal collapsed in April due to tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran. (Additional reporting by Catherine Ngai and Devika Krishna Kumar in New York, Alex Lawler in London and Osamu Tsukimori in Tokyo; Editing by Marguerita Choy, David Clarke and David Gregorio) Rahul spoke about the troubles faced by farmers in the state. He asked Modi why there is so much differences in farmers' rate and market rate. However, Gandhi added that the PM did not respond the question. Rahul assured that he will make the problems heard before the prime minister. He also lamented that there were 17 sugar mills in this district, but today all were shut. He asked who was responsible for this. The Congress scion alleged that the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government have forgot the farmers. Rahul said, "Kisaan ki samasya aur dukh, wo hum Modi ji ke kaano tak pahuchayenge." (We will convey the problems being faced by the farmers and the miseries afflicting them to Modi. He said the campaign seeks to put pressure on Modi and his government to address farmers' problems. The Congress leader said, "We neither have a government in Uttar Pradesh nor in New Delhi. But we share the sorrow of farmers and labourers as ours and we are going to fight it out with you." Rahul also collected Kisan Mangpatras (charter of demands of the farmers) from the people and interacted with them. From Esquire Barack Obama is currently making what is probably his last presidential visit to China for a Group of 20 summit, and it's already off to an awkward start. According to the Washington Post, Obama's been facing uncomfortable moments from no stairs waiting for him at the plane to Chinese officials screaming at the White House press corps, but there's one very important scene in particular that we have to highlight: a new addition to the Obama Has Problems Shaking Hands collection, this time between our president and Chinese president Xi Jinping. Photo credit: AP Are they going in for a hug or a dabbing session? Has Obama lost his depth perception? What's even happening here? Of course, this isn't the first time our otherwise-charismatic leader has faced this particular issue. Let's revisit the infamous handshake between Obama, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, and Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto. Photo credit: Giphy And we can't forget about this awkward limp wrist with Cuban president Raul Castro. Photo credit: Giphy He's also prone to the Extra Long Handshake... Photo credit: Giphy A historically long handshake -> pic.twitter.com/oDL0fyCk4e - Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) March 21, 2016 ...the Fakeout Handshake... Photo credit: Giphy ...and-well, whatever this is. Photo credit: Giphy We'll miss you, bud. You Might Also Like NEWS BRIEF Anjem Choudary, the British Muslim cleric found guilty last month of encouraging support for the Islamic State, was sentenced to five and a half years in prison Tuesday. Choudary, 44, was convicted in July for his role in influencing 500 British citizens to leave the United Kingdom and join ISIS. He was sentenced at the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, known commonly as Old Bailey, alongside Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, a 33-year-old man also living in the U.K. Both were charged with one count of violating section 12 of the 2000 Terrorism Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, for pledging their allegiance to ISISs self-proclaimed leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Rahman was also sentenced to five and a half years, the Associated Press reports Although neither Choudary or Rahman were given the maximum sentence, Judge Timothy Holroyde said both men would still be regarded as a danger for showing no remorse at all. Holyroyde also imposed an order tying a 15-year notification period to both mens sentences, which allows conditions to be placed on men after their release. The Guardian has more: The judge added: The jury were sure that you knowingly crossed the line between the legitimate expression of your own views and the criminal act of inviting support for an organisation which was at the time engaged in appalling acts of terrorism. The judge said both men justified Isiss most appalling acts, expressed contempt for democracy and through the speeches they were convicted of trying to incite people to support Isis. The judge said they had encouraged your audience. To believe that no one who failed to support the caliphate established by Isis could be a true Muslim. Choudarys lawyer, Mark Summers, assured the judge that his client was remorseful and on reflection would have done things differently had he known the boundaries of the law. Story continues Recommended: Was Trump Fibbing About Buying Politicians Then or Now? Though some police expressed disappointment over the length of the sentence, claiming both men could be out of prison in as little as two years, Judge Holroyde said in August that there is very little in the way of precedent in the way of sentencing" Choudary and Rahmans convictions come after nearly two decades of investigation by counterterrorism officials at Scotland Yard. Between August and September 2014, the pair were found to have posted several YouTube videos encouraging and declaring their support for ISIS. An audio recording from these videos, as well as 333 electronic devices and 12.1 terabytes of storage data, were used as evidence in the prosecutions case. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May has an open mind on what Britain's relationship with the European will look like after Brexit and will not put all her cards on the table before negotiating their divorce, her spokeswoman said on Tuesday. May used her first international trip to China this week to outline the first details of what she wants from Brexit after almost 52 percent of Britons voted to leave the EU in June. She ruled out a points-based immigration system, while her minister charged with negotiating Brexit, David Davis, said Britain did not need to be a member of the EU's single market to have access to it. "The prime minister has set out that we are going to need to be able address people's concerns about migration within the European Union and get the best possible deal in trade and services and now work is under way. She is approaching that with an open mind," her spokeswoman told reporters. "This is a negotiation, it is not always the right approach to start putting all your cards on the table at the start." (Reporting by Kylie MacLellan, editing by Elizabeth Piper) By James Davey MILTON KEYNES, England (Reuters) - Sales of "big ticket" items such as furniture have held up since Britain's vote to leave the European Union, indicating a relatively robust consumer economy, the head of its biggest department store group John Lewis [JLPLC.UL] said on Tuesday. Though Britain's shock Brexit vote in June stunned financial markets, they have since recovered and UK consumers, who drove the country's recovery from the financial crisis, appear to have largely taken the referendum result in their stride for now, according to several surveys and indicators. "The thing that has not happened that could have happened is a real fall off in big ticket purchases," John Lewis Managing Director Andy Street told reporters during a tour of the firm's new distribution facilities in central England. "If you look at furniture numbers and compare them with 2008 for example, when they just fell through the floor, we're still growing trade there nicely. That's a good micro indicator that says there is relative robustness." John Lewis' total sales have increased 0.6 percent year-on-year in the five weeks to Sept. 3. In July, Street cautioned that sterling's depreciation against the U.S. dollar and euro following the Brexit vote could become a major issue for the firm next year. However, he is optimistic about John Lewis' Christmas trading prospects, pointing to product innovation and its investment in distribution "We're feeling extremely confident," he said. "We've had seven years of beating the market at Christmas. We fully expect this to be the eighth." John Lewis opened two new national distribution centres on Tuesday at a cost of 150 million pounds, enabling faster restocking of stores and deliveries to customers. The Magna Park 2 and 3 centres in Milton Keynes form part of John Lewis' 500 million pound, five-year investment in its online systems and distribution network. This follows the employee-owned retailer's 100 million pound investment in its existing Magna Park site, which opened in 2009. Story continues John Lewis said the new centres reflected its anticipation of changing shopping habits, with the percentage of orders being delivered moving from 4 percent to 47 percent in a decade. It said the new sites had created 500 jobs, a figure that will double at peak times. The sites will consolidate online orders for fashion and non-fashion items into one parcel for delivery. That means 850,000 fewer parcels will be delivered each year and 190,000 fewer miles will be covered by delivery vehicles. John Lewis's 46 UK stores will now receive daily replenishment deliveries as well as Click & Collect orders. Street, MD since 2007, declined to comment when asked about media reports that he is to apply to become Conservative Party candidate to be the West Midlands' first-ever elected mayor. (Editing by Alexander Smith) Turner was convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster while he was a student at Stanford. He was released from prison after serving only three months of an already lenient six-month sentence, but the consequences of his c Rahul Gandhi's khaat sabha today didn't really go as he must have expected. We join in on the fun with these khaat-ing memes. By Vishakha Saxena, Mohak Gupta: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi held a 'Khaat pe Charcha' on Tuesday in a bid to reach out to impoverished farmers of Uttar Pradesh, but what followed was something no one anticipated. As soon as Gandhi left after the sabha, there was literally a free-for-all, as the crowd of farmers decided that the cots arranged for them to sit on and interact with Rahul wee fair game. advertisement And just like that, the Congress leader found himself rolling in a pile of jokes again. We decided to join in on the fun. 1. KHAAT RUNNING 2. HASHTAG = SORTED 3. AW. 4. #MUSINGS, by Prashant Kishor 5. Bed boy Rahul 6. SLEEPYTIME 7. Advantage with a KHAAT 8. FREEBIE ZONE 9. WUT 2 DO? 10. *BREATHE* 11. KHAAT-KE-THAAT 12. Pi Pi ka hisaab 13. KHAATS-MAN 14. OPRAH MOMENT --- ENDS --- Armed protesters gathered outside the home of the parents of Brock Turner in his home state of Ohio over the weekend, after he served just three months of his six-month sentence for the sexual assault of an unconscious woman behind a dumpster at Stanford University. On Tuesday morning, the convicted felon, 21, registered as a sex offender at Greene County Sheriffs Office in Xenia, Ohio. He will need to serve probation for three years. This morning, when Mr. Turner came into our office, he was treated the same as any other sex offender when they come in. We didnt go out of our way to offer any extras at all, Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer said in an interview with Yahoo News. Widespread outrage erupted when Turner was released from jail in Santa Clara County, Calif., on Friday, after serving three months behind bars for sexually assaulting someone on the Stanford campus, where he was a student at the time. The anger was compounded by his early release on good behavior. The short length of the sentence imposed by Judge Aaron Persky was widely criticized. Dozens of locals set up a demonstration near his parents house in Sugarcreek Township. They had moved to their new home from Oakwood, where Turner attended high school, around the time of the assault. The demonstrators carried homemade signs bearing messages like Castrate rapists, If it wasnt rape then whyd you run? and If I rape Brock will I only do three months? Several protesters brought firearms. Ohio is an open-carry state, so it does not appear that they were breaking any laws. Protester Micah Naziri told NBC-affiliate KNTV that he joined fellow Greene County residents with AR-15 assault rifles to show Turner that the community will not tolerate people raping women and then getting a slap on the wrist. No one is going to shoot him unless we see him victimizing people, Naziri said. Another protester told WCPO, If he is uncomfortable, then he begins to receive at least some punishment that he deserves for his crime. Story continues Open carry protesters at the house of Brock Turner in Sugarcreek Township. @WCPO pic.twitter.com/QpsqOQCPC2 Jay Warren (@JayWarrenWCPO) September 2, 2016 #BrockTurner may have gotten a light sentence but the neighbors not making it easy for him to live outside of jail pic.twitter.com/hoO4OQ8CHz (@CursedPapi) September 6, 2016 The Sugarcreek Township Police Department declined to comment when contacted by Yahoo News. By Tatiana Bautzer SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA agreed to sell 90 percent of its natural gas pipeline unit to a group of investors led by Canada's Brookfield Asset Management Inc for $5.2 billion, a source with direct knowledge of the deal said on Tuesday. The investor group includes British Columbia's pension fund and Chinese and Singaporean sovereign wealth funds CIC [CIC.UL] and GIC [GIC.UL]. The preliminary agreement will be submitted to the companies' boards and the transaction is expected to close in late September, said the source. Brazil's state oil company, known as Petrobras, declined to comment on the matter, and Brookfield also declined to comment. The deal will be the largest divestment so far in the heavily indebted oil company's $15 billion asset sale plan. Reuters reported on May 11 that Brookfield had entered exclusive talks to acquire Nova Transportadora do Sudeste SA, or NTS as the Petrobras subsidiary is informally known. The exclusivity period expired on Aug. 12. The talks took longer than expected because the parties and their financial and legal advisers had to agree on terms of new contracts establishing the commercial relationship between Petrobras and NTS, according to the first source and two other people with direct knowledge of the matter. All three asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. During the exclusive talks, the investor group led by Brookfield raised the stake it was offering to acquire in NTS to 90 percent from 82 percent. The investment banking unit of Banco Santander Brasil SA advised Petrobras on the deal. The sale should give a boost to downsizing efforts at Petrobras, which hinge on divestments to cut the largest debt burden of any global oil firm, at around $130 billion. So far this year, Petrobras had sold $3.9 billion in assets, of a total $15.1 billion target for divestments expected by the end of this year. NTS has nearly 1,560 miles (2,511 km) of pipelines in southeast Brazil. (This version of the story corrects amount of assets sold by Petrobras so far this year to $3.9 billion instead of $1.4 billion, corrects target date for achieving $15.1 billion in total divestments to end of this year instead of end of next year, paragraph 10) (Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Matthew Lewis) I've said it before and I'll say it again: attending a driving school is one of the best things you can do if you truly want to become better behind the wheel of your own car. More and more automakers are offering such schools for those that purchase the most performance-oriented offerings in a given lineup. The latest addition in the world of driving schools comes from Cadillac, and it's called the V-Performance Academy. It makes sense for Cadillac to offer such a school, considering the current lineup it's putting forth. The V-Performance Academy is included in the purchase price of the 2017 Cadillac ATS-V and the 2017 Cadillac CTS-V. All you need to do is book a plane ticket to Las Vegas and Cadillac has you covered on the rest. You'll fly into McCarren and there will be ground transportation sorted to whisk you outside the glittering city lights of the Vegas strip. ALSO SEE: Challenger to receive AWD model, wide-body Hellcat before 2019 redesign The academy takes place on the twisting road surface of Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch. This is where instructors will get you moving over the course of two days. Beyond the driving training, Cadillac will put you up for two nights in one of the Spring Mountain on-site condos. You'll get breakfast and lunch, and there will be a vehicle on site to use should you desire to leave the grounds at all during your stay. If you can't make it to Las Vegas, Cadillac will have one-day versions of the school at two other tracks in 2016. Lime Rock Park in Connecticut and COTA in Texas will play host to the V-Performance Academy for those shorter stints. If you buy a 2017 V-series Cadillac, you owe it to yourself and your new car to attend the two-day school. Buy your car, and then book your trip. By Susan Taylor TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's autoworkers' union, which steps up pressure in contract talks by naming a strike target on Tuesday, may see its ability to win concessions undermined by outside factors, ranging from high power rates to manufacturers' increased reliance on more costly imported parts, industry experts say. The top priority for the union, named Unifor, is to persuade Fiat Chrysler Automobiles , Ford Motor and General Motors to pledge to produce new vehicle models in Canada. It will also seek a modest pay raise and shorter pay progression for new hires. A four-year contract covering some 20,000 Canadian workers at the three companies expires Sept. 19. "All of those other issues, combined, overwhelm the effect of Unifor," said Tony Faria, a University of Windsor professor who studies the industry, referring to labor costs. Unifor estimates that, on average, labor represents about 4 percent of the cost of each vehicle its workers produce, versus 55 percent for parts and supplies. Approximately 50 percent of the parts in Canadian-made vehicles are produced in the country, said Flavio Volpe, Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association of Canada president. Many Canadian-based parts suppliers did not survive the 2008 financial crisis and resulting recession, he said. High electricity rates in the province of Ontario are another thorn. The Canadian Automotive Partnership Council, an industry group that advises government, cites a 2013 survey from Hydro Quebec that shows large power users in Toronto pay 123 percent more than Chicago customers, 50 percent more than Nashville and 37 percent more than Detroit. Canada's market size poses another problem. About 10 percent of all vehicles sold in North America are purchased in Canada, versus 80 percent in the United States, said Faria. New government programs, such as Ontario's cap-and-trade climate plan, and higher federal pension contribution could add further costs to automakers' operations. GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler declined to comment. Unifor says any challenges are outweighed by Canada's currency advantage, with the Canadian dollar worth just 77 U.S. cents. "The companies are making money hand-over-fist, including in their Canadian operations, where they're dealing with hydro costs, they're dealing with our social programs," said Unifor President Jerry Dias. The union and industry are pushing the Canadian government to change how it funds incentives for automative production to grants from loans. "We have to make sure our incentives are competitive to attract interest," said Ray Tanguay, appointed auto industry czar last year to advise Ontario and Canadian governments. "If manufacturing of automobiles is important, then we have to commit and play to win." Canada should focus on developing skilled labor and advanced manufacturing to distinguish itself, rather than costs, he said. In 2012, the union came up empty-handed in a push for new vehicle production. Their contract froze wages for existing workers for three out of four years and cut pay and pension benefits for new employees. (Reporting by Susan Taylor; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) (Recasts with comments from union leader on potential impact of strike) By Allison Martell TORONTO, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Canada's main autoworkers' union on Tuesday named General Motors Co as its strike target in contract talks, and its top official warned that any walkout could disrupt the automaker's production across North America. Bargaining with the Canadian arms of GM, Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles kicked off in August. The union, Unifor National, typically selects one company for intensive negotiations. That company's deal sets a pattern, and other auto manufacturers are expected to agree to similar contracts. Union President Jerry Dias set a strike deadline of Sept. 19, the expiration date for four-year contracts covering GM, Fiat Chrysler and Ford. Among GM plants that could be hit by a strike are the St Catharines, Ontario, powertrain facility, which supplies engines to the company's CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario. The CAMI plant assembles the strong-selling Chevrolet Equinox and the GMC Terrain. While CAMI workers would not walk out in any strike because they work under a separate labor contract, Dias said the union's members at CAMI would not accept engines from other sites. "The reality is we are not going to accept engines from anywhere else to go into our CAMI facility," Dias said in an interview. "General Motors would be foolish to attempt to ship in engines from somewhere else." Dias also said he expected U.S. plants represented by the United Auto Workers would not increase output to replace production from St Catharines. "I would expect that the UAW will respect any action that we have here in Canada," he said. A UAW spokesman said the union's president, Dennis Williams, was traveling and unavailable for comment. "I'm not sure how sympathetic the UAW would be because one of the issues could be taking product away from them," said Arthur Schwartz, a labor analyst and former GM negotiator. At an earlier news conference, Dias said he does not expect a strike, but added that the carmaker must change course and announce investment plans before any deal is ratified. Story continues FOCUSING ON AN AGREEMENT "We continue to remain focused on finding a new agreement that is mutually beneficial and competitive," said David Paterson, GM Canada's vice president for corporate and environmental affairs. He did not repeat the company's longstanding stance that it cannot make any investment decisions until after a new labor contract is signed. GM declined to comment on the impact of a shutdown at St Catharines. Kristin Dziczek, labor analyst at the Center of Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan, said there is no obvious candidate for GM vehicle production to be added at Oshawa, Ontario, which is a union priority. "You've got to take the chance of a strike seriously," said Dziczek. "These are tough issues they've got to get over." The Oshawa plant has one assembly line scheduled to shut down in 2017. On its newer flex line, it builds the Cadillac XTS, which is not a strong seller, the Buick Regal, which sources have told Reuters will likely move to China or Europe in 2017, and the Chevrolet Impala, which is also made in Detroit. (http://reut.rs/2bRfZzc) (Reporting by Allison Martell in Toronto; Additional reporting by Alastair Sharp in Toronto and Bernie Woodall in Detroit; Editing by David Gregorio and Leslie Adler) Montreal (AFP) - Canadian pipeline operator Enbridge will buy US rival Spectra Energy in a Can$37 billion (US$28 billion) deal that creates North America's largest energy infrastructure firm, the companies announced Tuesday. The all-stock deal will create a network of more than 86,000 kilometers (54,000 miles) of oil and gas pipelines serving most of Canada and the United States, with the exception of the US Southwest and California markets. The combined company, which will be based in Calgary in western Canada, would have annual revenues of more than Can$40 billion and earnings before interest and taxes of just under Can$6 billion, based on figures through June 30. Shareholders of Calgary-based Enbridge will own approximately 57 percent of the merged company. Spectra shareholders will receive 0.984 shares in the merged company for each share of Spectra they own. That values Spectra shares at US$40.33, an 11.5 percent premium to the last closing, according to the companies. Spectra shares jumped 11 percent in morning trading in New York following the merger announcement, to US$40.05. Enbridge shares were up 3.6 percent on the Toronto exchange at Can$55.16. "This combination brings together two highly complementary platforms to create North America's largest energy infrastructure company," Enbridge said in a statement. Enbridge's network of oil and gas pipelines stretch between the oil sands region of Alberta province and Canadian and US refineries. The company, which employs some 11,000 people, also produces electricity and owns interests in wind farms. Houston-based Spectra Energy owns oil and gas pipelines stretching more than 21,000 miles (33,800 kilometers) and has a large gas storage capacity. Notably the company serves key markets in the eastern United States, including New York and Miami, where Enbridge has no presence. "Over the last two years, we've been focused on identifying opportunities that would extend and diversify our asset base and sources of growth beyond 2019," said Enbridge chief executive Al Monaco, who will also lead the combined company. Story continues "We are accomplishing that goal by combining with the premier natural gas infrastructure company to create a true North American and global energy infrastructure leader." Spectra Energy CEO Greg Ebel will become chairman of the combined company, which will operate under the Enbridge banner. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017 pending regulatory and government approvals. Hong Kong (AFP) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday that ties with Beijing had entered a new era following a charm offensive which saw 56 business deals signed. Speaking in Hong Kong following a week-long trip to China, where he met President Xi Jinping and attended the Group of 20 summit in Hangzhou, Trudeau said the "hot and cold" nature of relations with Beijing was over and that ties had been "revitalised". Trudeau said his trip had been about more than signing the deals, which he said were worth more than CAD$ 1.2 billion ($929 million) "We needed to renew and deepen the relationship between the people of Canada and people of China for the long term and I think it's safe to say we have accomplished just that," Trudeau said at a business lunch in Hong Kong, calling for a "solid framework of engagement" to enhance commercial opportunities. Canada said last month it would apply to join the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Trudeau said he had also raised contentious subjects, including issues of rule of law and corruption, but did not say how China had responded. Asked about how a major Hong Kong election -- which saw politicians advocating a break from China become lawmakers Monday -- would affect relations he said Canada would work with "whoever gets elected and forms government in foreign jurisdictions". Trudeau also met Hong Kong's richest tycoon Li Ka-shing, posting a picture of himself with the billionaire on Twitter, and the city's leader Leung Chun-ying. Earlier Tuesday, Trudeau honoured those who died in World War II at a city cemetery. Hong Kong fell to the Japanese after 18 days of desperate fighting in 1941. About 290 Canadians were among the roughly 2,100 allied troops killed in the battle. Hundreds of survivors endured years of abuse and starvation as prisoners of war, leading to more than 260 additional Canadian deaths. "We remember the sacrifice and service of so many who stood and fell for our shared values, so far from home," Trudeau wrote in the guest book, seen by an AFP reporter. Montreal (AFP) - The Canadian autoworkers union announced Tuesday it will target General Motors in contract negotiations, with the outcome to be used as a template for deals with Ford and Fiat Chrysler. If the two sides fail to agree on a new labor agreement, which Unifor has said must include new investments in Canadian assembly plants, the union could call a strike against GM on September 19. Unifor believes that new investments by the Big Three automakers -- all of which have heavily invested in new factories in Mexico during the last decade and refurbished plants in the United States -- is crucial to plug a bleeding of jobs from Canada to its southern neighbors. It said Canadian auto assembly has fallen from 25 percent of all vehicles produced in North America in 2009 to 15 percent. The union specifically wants a guarantee that GM will build new products at the company's assembly plant in Oshawa, Ontario. One assembly line at the plant is scheduled to close next year and GM has not yet slotted any new vehicles on its other line beyond 2019. The Oshawa plant already shed 1,000 jobs last year when GM moved production of its Camaro to Lansing, Michigan. A strike would impact production of the Chevy Impala and Equinox, the Buick Regal, the Cadillac XTS and the GMC Terrain, as well as engines, transmissions and other auto parts which supply nine US plants. RENO, NV / ACCESSWIRE / September 6, 2016 / Cancer.im, Inc., a Viratech Corp Company (VIRA) announced today that Dr. Michael Nelson will join its Medical Advisory Board. "I am extremely excited to be involved in this cutting edge technology. By providing individuals with early and specific markers of cancer and other diseases we are able to offer more targeted therapeutic interventions with less toxic side effects. Cancer is soon to overtake heart disease as the leading cause of death in the world, so it's imperative that we have tools that allow us to detect early changes before they become life threatening. Metabolic changes precede the cancer diagnosis in over 90% of the cases. The P Scan tests offer clinicians and patients an accurate and reproducible way to assay risk and treatment effectiveness. I am looking forward to seeing this technology become standardized throughout the world," states Dr. Nelson. "Dr. Nelson is a valuable addition to our team, especially with his experience and understanding of Functional Medicine and Health," said Fred Schiemann, CEO of Viratech Corp. Mr. Schiemann continues, "In addition to his exceptional ability as a clinician, he also has many years of working with well-known experts in the field of health care and new medical research." Dr. Michael Nelson has a doctorate in Chiropractic Medicine from Western States University in Portland Oregon, and a Bachelor's Degree in Respiratory Science. He is a practicing chiropractic physician with over 1500 hours of post graduate training in functional medicine. As a practitioner Dr. Nelson has a personal passion for reversing chronic conditions such as thyroid dysfunction, type II diabetes, autoimmunity, fibromyalgia, hormone imbalances, metabolic syndrome, and hypertension. In addition to his years in private practice, Dr. Nelson has developed and marketed nutraceutical formulations for brain health, immunity, and adrenal fatigue. He is well respected for his clinical acumen and his empathetic concern for his patients. Story continues About Cancer.im, Inc. Cancer.im Inc. is a purpose-driven corporation with a mission "To Change The Way People View and Manage Cancer." Cancer.im is a for-profit social network that supports a parallel and independently run non-profit. In addition, Cancer.im, Inc. is working on commercialization of new noninvasive diagnostic technology. On October 27, 2007, Dr. Nikolaou, on behalf of Fox Chase Medical Center, published a double blind placebo controlled study titled "Quality of Life (QOL) Supersedes the Classic Predictors of Survival in Locally Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)." This study concluded that by raising a cancer patient's quality of life via the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC QLQ-C30 index), you could directly lower the incidence of morbidity in a cancer patient, regardless of treatment. In 2008, Cancer.im CEO Chris Ryan with oncologist Dr. Mahesh Kanojia, Dr. Barkat Charania and Dr. Kevin Buckman adapted the above referenced study into a modular 15-part best practice navigation element and guide on teaching and assisting cancer patients in raising their quality of life. In 2011 this adaption was published under the title "Method of Lowering a Cancer Patients' Morbidity Rate by Increasing Quality of Life of Patient, by Leveraging Cause Based Electronic Support Networks", and later renamed "The Robert Ryan Cancer Protocol" in honor of the cancer patient who inspired the study. The Cancer.im Inc. vision is based on the Robert Ryan Cancer Protocol with a modular 15-part best practice guide on teaching and assisting cancer patients and their loved ones on the importance of Quality of Life and how to raise it when managing a diagnosis of cancer. "Cancer.im is about empowering the cancer patients, caretakers and survivors of the network. It is an honor to serve this project, for it draws the best people who together through collaboration bring the best out of each other. The purpose of Cancer.im is to convert a cancer patient from hopeless to hopeful, while teaching their support network how to be helpful, while not being a hindrance," says Chris Ryan CEO Cancer.im Inc. In 2016, there will be an estimated 1,685,210 new cancer cases diagnosed and 595,690 cancer deaths in the US. Cancer accounts for 1 in every 4 deaths, second only to heart disease as the most common cause of death. The monetary cost seems irrelevant to the loss of life. Overall costs for cancer care by 2020 are estimated to be $158 billion not counting all the other associated costs of cancer. About Viratech, Corp. and Cancer.im, Inc. Viratech and its subsidiary are a software company focusing on developing disruptor based applications in the communication broadcasting, work flow management, crowd sourced labor and social media fields. Additionally, Viratech and its wholly owned subsidiary develop medical products for the early detection of cancer and other diseases. Forward-Looking Statements Our press releases may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that may affect the actual results of operations. Forward-looking statements in this press release include statements regarding our belief about the market applications. The following important factors, among others, have affected and, in the future could affect, the our actual results: the effect of new branding and marketing initiatives, the integration of new leadership, the introduction and acceptance of new products, the levels and particular directions of research and product development by our customers, the impact of the growing number of producers of biotechnology research and diagnostics products and related price competition, general economic conditions, the impact of currency exchange rate fluctuations, and the costs and results of our research and product development efforts and those of companies in which we have invested or with which we have formed strategic relationships. For additional information concerning such factors, see the section titled "Risk Factors" in our annual report and quarterly reports. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements we make in our press releases due to new information or future events. Investors are cautioned not to place undue emphasis on these statements. Contact information: Contact: Mr. Fred Schiemann, CEO/Director Email: fschiemann@yahoo.com Chris Ryan www.linkedin.com/in/cancer/ SOURCE: Viratech Corp. By PTI: New Delhi, Sep 6 (PTI) Home Minister Rajnath Singh today briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the situation in Kashmir after returning from his two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir. The Home Minister, in an hour long meeting, apprised Modi about the ground situation of the state assessed by the all-party delegation which visited Srinagar and Jammu on September 4 and 5. advertisement "Briefed the Prime Minister on all-party delegations visit to J&K and also apprised him of the situation in the state," Singh said in a tweet after the meeting at the Prime Minsters residence. While the Prime Minister returned to the capital last night after his visit to Vietnam and China, the Home Minister too had come back from Jammu and Kashmir last evening. Sources said the members of the all-party delegation are likely to meet here tomorrow to discuss their findings during their visit and chalk out future plans for Jammu and Kashmir. The all-party delegation seeking to end the turbulence in Kashmir concluded its visit yesterday with no breakthrough. Unhappy at the stubborn refusal of Hurriyat leaders to meet some MPs who had literally knocked at their doors in Srinagar, the Home Minister had said that their conduct was against "democracy, humanity or even Kashmiriyat (Kashmiri ethos)". PTI ACB SKL SRY DVRajnath briefs Prime Minister on Kashmir situation New Delhi, Sep 6 (PTI) Home Minister Rajnath Singh today briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the situation in Kashmir after returning from his two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir. The Home Minister, in an hour long meeting, apprised Modi about the ground situation of the state assessed by the all-party delegation which visited Srinagar and Jammu on September 4 and 5. "Briefed the Prime Minister on all-party delegations visit to J&K and also apprised him of the situation in the state," Singh said in a tweet after the meeting at the Prime Minsters residence. While the Prime Minister returned to the capital last night after his visit to Vietnam and China, the Home Minister too had come back from Jammu and Kashmir last evening. Sources said the members of the all-party delegation are likely to meet here tomorrow to discuss their findings during their visit and chalk out future plans for Jammu and Kashmir. The all-party delegation seeking to end the turbulence in Kashmir concluded its visit yesterday with no breakthrough. Unhappy at the stubborn refusal of Hurriyat leaders to meet some MPs who had literally knocked at their doors in Srinagar, the Home Minister had said that their conduct was against "democracy, humanity or even Kashmiriyat (Kashmiri ethos)". PTI ACB SKL SRY DV SRY --- ENDS --- advertisement Baghdad (AFP) - A car bomb attack claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group killed at least seven people near a hospital in central Baghdad, police said. The blast was close to the site of a July bombing that killed more than 300 people, in the worst single bomb attack to ever hit the Iraqi capital. An explosives-laden van exploded in Baghdad's Karrada neighbourhood a little before midnight (2100 GMT), setting several nearby shops on fire, police said. A police colonel reported an initial toll of seven killed and at least 15 wounded for the blast, which went off near Abdel Majid hospital. The figures were confirmed by interior ministry sources. IS, a Sunni extremist organisation, claimed the bombing in a statement, saying it had targeted Shiites and warning of further attacks, US-based monitor SITE Intelligence Group reported. (Photo courtesy Justin Manafort/Manafort Brothers) Police in Connecticut have located the man who crashed his girlfriends car into the side of a building and fled the scene. According to officials in Plainville, Conn., the bizarre incident began early Monday morning during a routine traffic stop. The officer suspected that the driver, a male, was intoxicated and asked him to put his car in park, but the driver sped away. The car was later found stuck in a concrete wall 8 feet off the ground at a building that houses the Manafort Brothers construction company. (Paul Manafort, Donald Trumps former campaign manager, is related to the owners of the business.) Justin Manafort, a vice president with the company, took a photo of the scene. It appears the vehicle went over a rock island and crashed through a fence before going airborne and hitting the building, which was empty at the time of the crash, officials said. The cars front end was left partially embedded in the wall while the rear was held up by a chain-link fence. As police arrived, the driver was seen running away. He was bleeding from his face or his head, Plainville Police Lt. Eric Peterson told NBC Connecticut. Then he fled on foot. Emergency crews had to use a large crane to extract the car, a Saturn LS, while a building inspector was called in to assess the damage. Police launched a search of the area and later found the man, who had checked himself into a nearby hospital with undisclosed injuries. Police would not reveal the mans name pending their ongoing investigation, but according to the Bristol [Conn.] Press, he will likely be arrested by warrant at a later date. hurricane newton While the remnants of Hurricane Hermine skirted New York City Tuesday morning and took aim at New England, Hurricane Newton barreled directly into Mexico's west coast. The storm made landfall at around 2 am local time in the resort town of Los Cabos on the Baja California peninsula. Three people have died and some 14,000 tourists remain in Los Cabos after all flights out of the city were canceled, The Weather Channel reports. It was a Category-2 storm when it came ashore, with 90 mile-per-hour winds and hurricane-force winds as far as 40 miles from its center. Before the storm became a hurricane, it damaged as many as 70 homes in Acapulco in the state of Guerrero, according to The Weather Channel. As NBC News spotted, the storm chaser Josh Morgerman put himself in Newton's path, posting updates to Twitter: 2:10 am. Powerful winds coming in waves. Getting dangerous. #NEWTON Josh Morgerman (@iCyclone) September 6, 2016 2:30 am. Winds tearing violently at palms, shredding them. Bldg rumbling. Sound of tea kettle whistling. Angry as all hell. 987 mb #NEWTON Josh Morgerman (@iCyclone) September 6, 2016 After passing over the Baja California peninsula, Newton looks ready to make a second landfall on the California mainland Wednesday. Story continues Wednesday evening, Newton should arrive in Arizona and New Mexico as a tropical depression, delivering up to five inches of rain to parts of those states. NOW WATCH: Terrifying video aboard the Royal Caribbean cruise ship that battled hurricane-force winds and 30-foot waves More From Business Insider It will invest $20.4m in mamahome. With the aim of extending its recurring income streams, Singapore's City Developments Ltd. (CDL) ventured to the fast-growing apartment rental market in China by investing $20.4 million in a popular online apartment rental platform. The site is called mamahome, a round-the-clock online booking website, online management software which caters to the growing demand for mid- to long-term leasing from leisure travellers and business executives. According to mamahome Chairperson Yuan Ye, the site has more than 100,000 apartment listings, spanning over 20 cities in China. Almost three-quarters of the apartments included in the listings are located in prime cities like Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. "Through the strategic partnership with CDL, we will be able to integrate our expertise in China with CDLs strong branding and experience in the global hospitality sector, offering customers a seamless Online-to-Offline experience and high quality services, he said. For CDL Marketing officer Mark Yip, the partnership provides an the group an entry to the sector mostly driven by business and leisure travel in China. "Operating under an asset light model with a focus on internet expansion, mamahome represents an efficient manner to grow market share and can also serve as a good platform to enhance leasing efforts for the Groups residential leasing properties and serviced apartments, Yip explained. With its investment, CDL will own 20% stake in the online platform, which it will co-share with Shanghai Chongfu and E-House Capital. More From Singapore Business Review Charlie Sheen is keeping the cute family pics coming! Days earlier Sheen shared an adorable shot from a night out with his ex-wife, Denise Richards, and their two daughters, 12-year-old Sam and 11-year-old Lola, despite a child support battle earlier this year. Now, the family has come together once again to celebrate the actors 51st birthday on Saturday with a whole lot of Macklemore. Joined by Sheens friend Tony Todd, the squad posed in front of a private jet. Birthday bunch, the birthday boy captioned the pic. NEWS: Charlie Sheens Doctor Gives HIV Health Update: Hes on a New Experimental Medication The birthday bunch A photo posted by Charlie Sheen (@charliesheen) on Sep 4, 2016 at 12:44pm PDT Todd tweeted the same pic and shared what the group was up to, Epic night celebrating [Sheens] birthday with the family at Macklemore concert. Sheen hit up Macklemore and Ryan Lewis show at the Bumbershoot festival in Seattle, Washington, on Saturday night, where the actor was brought up on stage to the delight of many concertgoers. He kept the party going in Las Vegas where the GRAMMY Award-winning duo took the stage for Kevin Harts HartBeat Weekend at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on Sunday. This time, the crowd even sang Happy Birthday to the actor. WATCH: Charlie Sheen Claims Donald Trump Lied to Him About a Cheap Wedding Gift And this isnt the first time Sheen has supported Macklemore, he joined the duo at an L.A. show earlier this summer and got the crowd hyped with his dance moves. After revealing he is HIV-positive last year, Sheen declared, My partying days are behind me. My philanthropic days are ahead of me, in an open letter. But were sure a little birthday partying with his family is just fine! For more about his health, watch the video below. Related Articles Singtel has nothing to worry about. IDA has received three Expressions of Interest (EOI) from MyRepublic (MR), AirYotta and TPG Telecom for the fourth telco licence. It will review their EOIs and decide who qualifies within the next 20 working days. If a successful bidder wins, MayBank KimEng analyst Gregory Yap, predicts M1 and StarHub potentially losing more consumer market share to the new entrant. StarHub, he said, should lose less market share due to its stronger multi-play hold on subscribers - including consumer hubbing and improving corporate stickiness due to its enterprise strategy, where corporate users who are also its consumer customers are given larger incentives to stay on its network. "We view M1 as likely to be the most badly affected by new incoming competition due to its pure mobile-only business that will be squarely targeted by the new entrant," he said. Yap said that they have cut their postpaid net-adds forecast for M1 from 15,000 to -5,000 and -25,000 for FY17 and FY18, while postpaid ARPU is now assumed to fall 5% each in FY17 and FY18 compared to a fall of 1% previously. He also expects postpaid net-adds to slow substantially for StarHub from 50,000 in FY16 to 25,000 and 15,000 in FY17 and FY18. Postpaid ARPU is also expected to be squeezed by 1% pa in these years against their assumptions for flat ARPU previously. For Singtel, Yap explains that the Singapore mobile business accounts for only 12% of revenue, hence he sees limited impact from the entrant of new consumer mobile rivals. More From Singapore Business Review Chicago (AFP) - Chicago marked its 500th homicide of the year over the US Labor Day holiday weekend, after 13 people were shot dead in an ongoing spike in violent deaths, the Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday. A surge of killings occurred between the early hours of Monday and Tuesday in what police believe was a spate of retaliatory violence mainly involving gangs to avenge affronts from earlier in the weekend, the newspaper reported. A total of 65 people were shot over the Labor Day weekend, with nearly half of them in the last of the three days. According to the Tribune, the city's homicide count now stands at 512 for 2016. The Chicago Police Department put the number at 488 as of late Monday, an officer in media relations told AFP on Tuesday. The Tribune said its figure was higher because it includes highway killings and homicides which are considered justifiable, unlike the police tally. A retired pastor who was heard arguing with another individual was shot in the face and died near a senior housing complex, the paper reported. The uptick in violent deaths has brought Chicago's murder rate in line with levels not seen since the 1990s, when more than 900 people were killed annually, the Tribune said. The deadly holiday shootings far outpaced Chicago's other summer three-day weekends: six people died in shootings over Memorial Day in May and five over Independence Day in July. New York, in contrast, experienced its safest summer in more than 20 years according to crime statistics unveiled Tuesday by outgoing police commissioner Bill Bratton. The city has long proclaimed itself the safest big city in the United States. Overall reported crime was down five percent in the three months from June-August compared to the same period in 2015, and down 73 percent since 1994 when Compstat records began. In August, murders were down 2.9 percent, rape down 6.7 percent and robbery down 15 percent compared to the same month in 2015. For context, New York recorded 1,946 murders in 1993 and 352 in 2015. Singh is expected to brief Modi on the assessment of the ground situation of the state by the all party delegation which visited Srinagar and Jammu on September 4 and 5. By Press Trust of India: Home Minister Rajnath Singh will today brief Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the current situation in Kashmir. He will discuss key points on the two-day visit of an all party delegation to Jammu and Kashmir. Singh is expected to brief Modi on the assessment of the ground situation of the state by the all party delegation which visited Srinagar and Jammu on September 4 and 5, official sources said. advertisement While the Prime Minister has returned to the capital last night after his visit to Vietnam and China, the Home Minister too had come back from Jammu and Kashmir last evening. ALL-PARTY DELEGATION TO MEET Sources said that the members of the all party delegation is likely to meet here tomorrow to discuss their findings during the two-day visit and chalk out future plans for Jammu and Kashmir. The all-party delegation seeking to end turbulence in Kashmir concluded its two-day visit yesterday with no breakthrough. Unhappy at the stubborn refusal of Hurriyat leaders to meet some MPs who had literally knocked at their doors in Srinagar, Singh had said that their conduct was against democracy, humanity or even 'Kashmiriyat'. Also read: Hurriyat leaders didn't show Kashmiriyat nor insaniyat, says Rajnath Singh --- ENDS --- On Sept. 4 and 5, heads of 20 of the worlds wealthiest nations convened in the southern Chinese city of Hangzhou for the annual G-20 summit. It marked Chinas first time as host of the major international event, which it did with the degree of splendor and pageantry befitting the country that hosted the gaudy 2008 Olympics in Beijing including a gala produced by none other than Zhang Yimou, who also directed the Olympics Opening Ceremonies, performed entirely in water with hundreds of dancers and complex holography. The government also took similarly draconian measures to ensure that this latest show went off without a hitch. For China, a country that spends more on its domestic security apparatus than its defense budget, the primary focus of its massive state controls was, once again, its own people, and their opinions. Sept. 4, the first day of the G-20 summit, was the single most censored day on Chinese social media in the past 12 months, according to Weiboscope, a censorship-tracking tool operated by the University of Hong Kong topping even the severe online restrictions that occurred on the 50th anniversary of the Cultural Revolution in May, the anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre on June 4, and the international court ruling on the South China Sea on July 12. Commentary on social media site Weibo was heavily scrubbed, sparing just a handful of fawning responses. (One Sept. 4 post by state broadcaster China Central Television, for example, was shared more than 20,000 times, yet showed just six comments. See how Chinas Hangzhou amazes the world! read one.) The comments sections for many other posts were disabled entirely a rare measure usually taken only for the most sensitive of news items. Censorship wasnt limited to Weibo. Chinas tightly controlled news outlets provided tightly scripted coverage of the event, obeying directives sent from government authorities instructing how to cover the gathering and what should be ignored or deleted from news websites. Minute-by-minute accounts of Chinese President Xi Jinpings role at the G-20 dominated major news sites for days; Xi Jinping meets reporters and Xi Jinping gives opening remarks headlined official news service Xinhuas dedicated microsite, while another proclaimed, The waters of Hangzhou contain the world. One widely syndicated Sept. 6 article from Communist Party mouthpiece Peoples Daily hinted at vague criticism in an upbeat article title Hosting the G20 Not Worth It? Here Are the 10 Big Benefits China Gets From It! Story continues Scant evidence remains online of what Hangzhous 8.9 million locals might have wished to say. In a deleted Weibo comment captured by mirror site Freeweibo, one user wrote, The meeting of just a few dozen people has made it impossible for the [people of Hangzhou] to do business; there are inspections and limits on movement; the cost of logistics has soared. Another replied, The waters of West Lake are the tears of the people, referring to the body of water for which Hangzhou is famous. Guo Enping, a government employee in Zhejiang province, of which Hangzhou is the capital, penned an article called Hangzhou, Shame on You in which he criticized the enormous resources the government had poured into the event and the massive disruptions that Hangzhou city residents had suffered in their daily lives. The article appeared online but was soon removed; according to Chinese Human Rights Defenders, an NGO, Guo was fired from his job and detained for 10 days. The clearing of the virtual public square echoed what was happening on Hangzhous streets. Official measures, including a mandatory public holiday, forced more than two million residents to leave town, particularly those living in apartment complexes close to the G-20 venue. Each day, only half of the citys private cars were permitted on roads. Migrant workers left the city after factories were closed for more than a week before the summit began in order to ensure blue skies in a usually heavily polluted city. At one restaurant, city officials removed cooks who were ethnically Uighur, a Chinese Muslim ethnic minority that Beijing blames for violence in its northwestern region. Normally congested highways were left empty, creating what some observers dubbed a ghost town. The enforced mass exodus had another, perhaps intended, effect: It was difficult for foreign reporters covering G-20 to perform man on the street interviews to suss out how city residents felt about the event and accompanying restrictions. The BBCs John Sudworth reported that city authorities trailed him, warning remaining residents not to speak to him. The combined effect of the online and offline restrictions was a near total silencing of unofficial opinion. Its hard to overstate the importance Beijing placed on the Hangzhou summit. Its the most important occasion in Chinas history in which so many world leaders have converged upon the nation at once. In previous years, Chinas requests at G-20 summits have at times gone unfulfilled, such as repeated requests to be given a more representative stake in multilateral organizations like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Now China is the worlds second-largest economy, with its own international financial institution to command and enormous spending power that it increasingly leverages in its relations with Southeast Asian, African, and the Middle Eastern nations and at the first G-20 held on its own soil, Beijing aimed to showcase this power. G-20 summits always feature tight security. But Beijing is increasingly eager for the world to accept it as a leader among even the worlds most powerful states. The tight censorship and security measures accomplished their intended purpose the summit went off without security breaches, and Chinas online spaces glowed with support. To Chinas leaders, a flawless and awe-inspiring world summit helped China announce its new status to the world. In that vision, a critical domestic public just didnt fit. Photo credit: NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images BEIJING (Reuters) - China will step up proactive fiscal policy efforts now that commodity prices are relatively low, the State Council, or cabinet, said in a notice published on its website on Tuesday. The notice is a summary of a routine State Council meeting held by China's Premier Li Keqiang on Monday. The State Council also said it would encourage China's policy banks to step up credit support. It reaffirmed that China would actively reduce overcapacity and further liberalize infrastructure investment, meaning a further opening up to private investment. (Reporting by Yawen Chen and Nicholas Heath; Editing by Jacqueline Wong) * China online posts about iPhone 7 down vs iPhone 6 * Apple expected to launch new iPhone this week * China sales, market share hit by local rivals * Many shoppers still see Apple as top brand By Adam Jourdan and Paul Carsten SHANGHAI/BEIJING, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Judging by the volume of online chatter, there's a lot less buzz in China ahead of this week's expected launch of the new Apple Inc iPhone, and people on the street say they're more likely to "wait and see" what the latest device offers than rush out to buy. Posts on China's popular Sina Weibo microblogging site show the iPhone 6, which took China by storm in 2014 with its new, larger screen, attracted around 15 times more comments in the month before launch than this year's model. The muted online anticipation for the iPhone 7 underlines the challenge Apple faces to revive growth in China, where an economic slowdown has slammed the brakes on what was once touted as the firm's next big growth engine. Apple's Greater China sales dropped by a third in April-June, albeit after more than doubling a year earlier, and revenue was down by more than a quarter to $8.8 billion - around a fifth of its total sales. Its 7.8 percent market share ranked fifth in China, trailing local vendors Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, OPPO and Vivo, which together accounted for 47 percent, according to IDC data. Also, the California-based company's online stores for iBooks and movies closed in China after Beijing imposed strict curbs in March on online publishing, and Apple has been on the losing side of intellectual property battles. Beijing student Wang Yue, 23, said she was in no hurry to buy an iPhone 7. "I'm looking forward to the launch, but I won't rush to buy anything," Wang, who uses an iPhone 6S that was launched last year, told Reuters. "I want to know what new functions it's got. My feeling is there are no real major changes from the 6S, so I think I'll hold off for a while." Apple is widely anticipated to unveil the new iPhone 7 at an event in San Francisco on Wednesday. The company, which doesn't give a regional breakdown for its iPhone sales, didn't respond to requests for comment. Story continues Among half a dozen consumers Reuters spoke to most said they would first check out the new phone's functions or wait for the price to drop. Only one planned to definitely buy any new model. "The word among consumers is the updates are not going to be revolutionary, but smaller changes," said Ben Cavender, Shanghai-based director at China Market Research Group, who described current consumer interest in China as "muted". WAIT FOR EIGHT More than anything else, the upcoming iPhone 7 may be a victim of the success of the iPhone 6. China sales of the iPhone 6 soared in the first quarter of last year, helping drive up Apple's China revenues by 71 percent. A year later, weaker sales of the 6S contributed to the company's first global decline in iPhone sales and first revenue drop in 13 years - though globally the 6S was the top-selling smartphone in April-June, according to Strategy Analytics. The Weibo chatter in the run-up to the iPhone 7 launch has, so far, topped the levels seen ahead of last year's 6S launch. Some Chinese shoppers are even already eyeing a potential iPhone 8 model that could be launched with more significant changes next year, the 10th anniversary of the first iPhone. "Because it's just one year, lots of people are choosing to wait for the iPhone 8," said Wang Bo, a finance worker in his thirties at a securities firm in Shanghai. "The changes with the 8 will be much bigger, which I think will be a drag on sales of the new phone this year." Wang, who uses both an iPhone 6S and a Huawei P9, said he plans to buy this year's new iPhone when it's released in China. But convincing other shoppers in China - and the United States - to replace their smartphone is a tougher sell today than in 2014, when many Chinese were buying an iPhone for the first time. Concerns that Apple has hit "peak iPhone" have buffeted the firm's shares this year, with the stock price up just 2.35 percent, lagging the benchmark S&P 500 Index. "The biggest thing that's changed since 2014 is that the iPhone is widely available," said Ben Thompson, who analyses the technology sector at Stratechery. "There's a lot more growth potential when people have their first chance to buy an iPhone, but that potential has now been realized." (Additional reporting by SHANGHAI newsroom and Sijia Zhang in HONG KONG; Editing by Ian Geoghegan) BEIJING (Reuters) - China and Britain should increase mutual political trust and appropriately handle disputes, Chinese President Xi Jinping told British Prime Minister Theresa May, as the two nations grapple with a delayed $8 billion nuclear power investment from China. Meeting May on the sidelines of the G20 leaders' summit in the Chinese city of Hangzhou on Monday, Xi said China wanted to continue to promote "even more stable, better" relations with Britain's new government, China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued late on Monday. The two should continue to promote cooperation in the areas of investment, energy, infrastructure and finance, Xi added. "Both sides should increase political mutual trust, expand common interests and appropriately handle disputes," he said. There was no direct mention in the statement of the delayed nuclear project. Since taking office, May has delayed a decision on whether to back a $24 billion nuclear project at Hinkley Point, to be built by French firm EDF with the help of $8 billion from China. May has asked her security advisers to review the project. It would be Britain's first new nuclear power plant in decades. Cast as the jewel illustrating a new "Golden Era" of relations between China and Britain, the Hinkley financing deal was signed in Downing Street during a state visit to Britain by President Xi Jinping last year. A British official told reporters at the G20 that Xi told May he was open to a bilateral trade agreement between the two countries.[nU8N19K00M] (Corrects China investment $8 billion, not $8 million, in par 1 & 6) (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Michael Perry) By Greg Torode HONG KONG (Reuters) - Increasingly assertive action by China's coast guard ships in the South China Sea risks destabilizing the region, according to the authors of new research tracking maritime law enforcement incidents across the vital trade route. While the risks of full-blown naval conflict dominates strategic fears over the disputed waterway, the danger of incidents involving coast guards should not be underestimated, said Bonnie Glaser, a regional security expert at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank. CSIS researchers have detailed some 45 clashes and standoffs in the South China Sea since 2010 in a survey due to be published week on its ChinaPower website and seen by Reuters. While the research includes clashes between a variety of regional states and types of vessels, the actions of China's coast guard dominates the picture. China's coast guard has been involved in 30 of the cases logged, two-thirds of the total. Four other incidents involved a Chinese naval vessel operating in a law enforcement capacity. "The evidence is clear that there is a pattern of behavior from China that is contrary to what law enforcement usually involves," Glaser told Reuters. "We're seeing bullying, harassment and ramming of vessels from countries whose coast guard and fishing vessels are much smaller, often to assert sovereignty throughout the South China Sea." The research includes the violent maritime stand-off between Beijing and Hanoi over the placement of a Chinese oil exploration rig off the Vietnamese coast in 2014, as well as tensions that led up to China's occupation of the Scarborough Shoal off the Philippines in 2012. It is being published as Chinese coast guard and other vessels return to Scarborough, sparking formal diplomatic protests from Manila. China's State Oceanic Administration, which oversees the coast guard did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the research. The research defines an incident where a nation's coast guard or navy has used coercive measures beyond routine law enforcement action. In the short term, Glaser said she believed the risk of injury or death could be worse in civilian clashes than among navies patrolling the South China Sea, given the frequency and intensity of incidents in recent years. Encounters by rival coast guards are not yet covered by expanding communications arrangements that are geared to preventing clashes between the region's naval forces. The survey cites research showing the unifying of China's civilian maritime fleets in 2013, coupled with on-going budget increases, has given it the world's largest coast guard. It now deploys some 205 vessels, including 95 ships over 1,000 tonnes, according to the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence - a far larger fleet than other regional countries, including Japan. China claims much of the South China Sea, which carries the bulk of Northeast Asia's trade with the rest of the world. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have claims in the area. (Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Lincoln Feast) Tom Hiddleston is in the middle of shooting his next Marvel movie, so he was unable to accept his award in person for best actor for The Night Manager at the TV Choice Awards, which is a British ceremony. He was giving his acceptance speech via satellite when a pair of pretty famous friends of his dropped by. Hello everyone at the TV Choice Awards, Hiddleston began, proudly holding a small statue of three stars. Im so sorry I cant be there tonight, Im sure you all look lovely. Im in Australia, Im shooting Thor: Ragnarok. I dont really have anything to offer you. At that moment, the Thor to his Loki, Chris Hemsworth, walked into the shot, asking, Is that for us? Tom Hiddleston has one more thing in common with girlfriend Taylor Swift after Monday, both have had their award speeches interrupted. Luckily, Kanye West was not involved this time around. The 35-year-old actor was unable to attend the TV Choice Awards in London on Monday, but he got a surprise visit from his famous friends while accepting an award for his role in The Night Manager via video message. It isn't long before Hiddleston's Thor costar Chris Hemsworth wanders into the frame and assumes the award is for Home and Away, an Australian soap opera Hemsworth starred in back in the day. "Oh, this is for us hey? That's for Home and Away yeah? ... All the work I did on [it]," Hemsworth joked while holding the award. "Thanks everyone at Channel 7, I loved working on Home and Away." Idris Elba then joins the party. Upon learning what the trophy is for, he asks, "How come Luther didn't get nominated?" The Beasts of No Nation star, 44, even takes the opportunity to give a quick shout-out to his mother. VIDEO: Chris Hemsworth Celebrates Being an 'Aussie' Finally, Hiddleston regains control and is able to give a proper thank-you to fans and crew of The Night Manager for the prize. "Chris and Idris are super happy about it, and so am I, so thank you very much!" he says. However, Hemsworth, 33, gets in one last nod to his old show. " Home and Away rocks," Hemsworth cries, before adding, "And so does The Night Manager." Beirut (AFP) - Islamic State jihadists have given up their last positions along the Turkish-Syrian border, depriving the group of important transit points for recruits and supplies. But IS still holds sway over a large area in Iraq and Syria and in the past few days has claimed deadly bombings in Baghdad and in Syria's regime stronghold of Tartus. And while air strikes have eliminated IS leaders like Omar al-Shishani and propaganda chief Mohamed al-Adnani, foreign jihadists they attracted now pose a threat to many countries. Here is a recap of key cities, towns and territory IS has lost in Syria, Iraq and Libya: - Syria - KOBANE: A Kurdish town in northern Syria on the Turkish border. It became a symbol of the fight against IS, and the jihadists were driven out of Kobane in January 2015 after more than four months of fierce fighting with Kurdish forces backed by US-led strikes. TAL ABYAD: Another city on the Turkish border, it was captured by Kurds in June 2015. Tal Abyad controls a key supply route between Turkey and the IS stronghold Raqa, and jihadist fighters and arms regularly passed through the city before its recapture. PALMYRA: Known as the "Pearl of the Desert", Palmyra was overrun by IS in May 2015, after which the jihadists blew up UNESCO-listed temples and looted ancient relics. Syrian regime forces backed by Russian warplanes and allied militia retook the ancient city from IS in March this year. MANBIJ: On August 6, a coalition of Arab and Kurd fighters backed by US-led aircraft recaptured Manbij following a two-month battle. IS had controlled the town since 2014 and used it as a hub for the movement of jihadists to and from Europe. It also controlled a key supply route for the group. JARABULUS: This border town is north of Manbij and west of Kobane. Turkish troops and Syrian rebels swept almost unopposed into Jarabulus on August 24 during operation "Euphrates Shield," which also targets Kurdish militia. Story continues SYRIAN/TURKEY BORDER: On September 4, Turkish troops and allied rebel fighters drove the IS from its last positions along the border. The group is now more isolated, but foreigners trained by it pose a serious threat to their regions of origin. - Iraq - TIKRIT: Hometown of late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein located north of Baghdad, it fell to IS in June 2014, soon after Mosul. It was recaptured in April 2015 by Iraqi troops, police and Shiite-dominated paramilitaries. The operation was helped by the fact that much of Tikrit's civilian population had fled the city. SINJAR: Iraqi Kurdish forces backed by US-led coalition air strikes recaptured Sinjar, northwest of Baghdad, from IS in November 2015. That cut a key supply line linking areas held by the jihadists in Iraq and Syria. IS had captured Sinjar in August 2014 and pursued a brutal campaign against its Yazidi minority that included massacres, enslavement and rape. RAMADI: The capital of Anbar, Iraq's largest province that stretches from the borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to just west of Baghdad. Ramadi was recaptured on February 9, about nine months after IS seized it in an assault involving dozens of suicide attackers driving explosives-rigged vehicles. FALLUJAH: Anbar province's second city and one of IS's most emblematic bastions in the country. It was seized by anti-government fighters in 2014 and later became a key IS stronghold close to the capital. Iraqi forces recaptured Fallujah in June this year. QAYYARAH: Iraqi soldiers backed by coalition aircraft retook Qayyarah from IS on August 25, providing Baghdad with a platform for its assault on Mosul, which lies a little further to the north. The prime minister has promised that offensive would be wrapped up by the end of 2016. - Libya - Forces loyal to Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA) backed by US airstrikes have recaptured nearly all of Sirte, the jihadists' main stronghold in North Africa. In a recent interview, speaking about Bombay Velvet's failure, Anurag Kashyap said that he has failed Ranbir Kapoor. But it wasn't Ranbir he failed. Anurag failed himself. By Devarsi Ghosh: Bombay Velvet made on a budget of Rs 120 crore (which went on to gross Rs 34 crore worldwide, only) was a big, big gamble. The film had the aesthetic template of American noir films of the '40s, with a nothing-but-jazz soundtrack, with no naach-gaana, crowd-pleasing moments, or a picture-perfect ending. Either the folks at Fox Star Studios which bought the project from Phantom were good Samaritans, totally committed to the cause of pushing the envelope of Indian cinema, OR they saw the names of Ranbir, Anushka, and Karan Johar playing the villain and agreed to get on board. advertisement ALSO READ: What is the Anurag Kashyap 'hero' all about? ALSO READ: Why do Indian horror films, from Raaz to Raaz Reboot, SUCK? ALSO READ: Abhay Kumar's Placebo, based on student-suicides, is a film every Indian must watch Ranbir was red hot at that time, following the success of Barfi! (2012) and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013), and in all likelihood, Fox Star was too enamoured by the 440-watt star power to ignore Bombay Velvet. And, perhaps, this is where a project, which on paper, was incredible, failed! Anurag Kashyap, the critical darling, was fresh off the success of Dev.D (2009) and his Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) films. These films, including the ones he made before, had been made with non-'stars', and were character-driven, which is why Kalki Koechlin, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Manoj Bajpayee earned mass appeal as actors right after they were seen in an Anurag Kashyap film. Contrastingly, the first trailer of Bombay Velvet had Ranbir, Anushka and Karan's names hogging the screen within the first ten seconds. Suddenly, the 'stars' had taken over the film and it was a decision Anurag and his team had made. And when such a thing happens, the focus of the film is bound to shift away from the characters, the depth of the story - all the elements that make a good, engrossing film. Which is exactly what happened with Bombay Velvet. What made Kashyap's magnum opus Gangs of Wasseypur great was the rich detail in the story, emanating from Wasseypur and Dhanbad's geography, politics, social history, cultural mores, so on and so forth. The 5-hour film (both halves) moved like an investigative tale and there were no extraneous Bollywood-ish elements (love story, heartbreak, naach-gaana) to come in between and screw around with the film's pace. But, suddenly, Anurag had Ranbir and Anushka, and obviously, they need to fall in love and all, and, yes, they did. This took up a major one hour from the film whose strongest parts were actually the detail-heavy portions surrounding the land mafia, the corporates and the corrupt cops, and the strong character moments where Ranbir, Karan, Kay Kay, etc. got to shine. advertisement However, when your film costs Rs 120 crore and you are not accountable to yourself but a hundred other people who have a financial stake in your masterpiece, you have no other choice but to compromise. And compromise, Anurag did. Anurag suddenly had to operate within parameters that he never had had to consider in his filmmaking career. No, Anurag has said, time and again, that he did not set out to make another GOW and he does not owe anything to his fanboys, which is absolutely understandable. More than the 300-crore grossing, critically acclaimed and multiple Filmfare-award winning coup that Anurag thought he owed to his fans, the audience, the critics, his producers, and most importantly, Ranbir...was an honest, uncompromising film that he owed himself! Anurag Kashyap, in an interview to DNA, recently said, "Ranbir is a fantastic artist, a brilliant human being and an actor who wanted to try out something different. He wanted to experiment which not many stars would want to do. And we (Anurag and Abhinav, who directed Ranbir in Besharam) failed him terribly. I feel completely responsible for this. Not just him, now when I hear studios shutting, I somewhere feel that I am definitely one of the reasons behind it." advertisement Anurag is wrong. He did not fail Ranbir. What he failed at was making a film that was 'fearless' - which is what we associate Anurag with, right? Bombay Velvet is not a BAD film at all. Take one look at the cast and crew of the film, and you will know that the people involved can never, collectively, produce a BAD film. What they can do is, maybe, get ahead of themselves, because they are so talented and visionary, and make something too weird for plebians to handle. Every once in a while, a Scorsese makes a New York! New York!, a Cimino makes a Heaven's Gate, a Tati makes a Playtime, but that did not make them bad filmmakers. Neither were these films BAD films. And neither is Ranbir Kapoor a bad actor. He is a great actor. And he needs visionary directors like Anurag Kashyap. And together, they need to come back again, and make the film both of them deserve to give each other. ( The writer tweets as @devarsighosh ) --- ENDS --- advertisement When you buy a home, you arent just buying a piece of property. Whether you have kids or not, youre moving into a school districtand better schools equal hotter home prices. After all, young families can save a very big chunk of change over the years by sending their young brainiacs to a local public school, instead of forking over a fortune for private education. Save the dough for the college years when youll really need it, goes the (very smart) thinking. With schools back in session nationwide, we took a well-educated look at great homes on the market in the top 10 in-demand school districts, based on scores calculated by GreatSchools.org. Prepare to shell out a little more for these homes, but consider it an investment in your kids future. Or just a guarantee of awesome resale value. So, study up on these homes that make the grade in A+ school districts. Price: $249,900 School district: Rocky River City School District, Cuyahoga County, OH Report card: A cute colonial from 1954 offers an efficient kitchen with newer oak cabinets, a large living room with fireplace, three bedrooms, 1.5 baths, and a private backyard. The home is in easy walking distance of parks, beaches, and a six-minute walk to Rocky River High School. Rocky River, OH realtor.com Price: $294,700 School district: Clear Creek Independent School District, Harris County, TX Report card: Move into this 2,500-square-foot home located in the Sedona subdivision, and youll enjoy a dramatic entryway, large living room, and a huge kitchen. Plus, along with four bedrooms and two baths, theres an oversized detached two-car garage, which will be handy for that three-minute commute to Bauerschlag Elementary School. League City, TX realtor.com Price: $184,900 School district: School Town of Munster School District, Lake County, IN Report card: Youll be too cool for school with this 1955 ranch. While the 1,400-square-foot home offers three beds and only one bath, theres already another full bathroom roughed in on the basement level. The remodeled eat-in kitchen includes new maple cabinets, granite countertops, backsplash, new tile floor, and all new appliances. With hardwood floors throughout, and floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room, this corner lot has a lot to offer. Plus, Munster High School is less than two miles away. Story continues Munster, IN realtor.com Price: $389,900 School district: Orange School District, New Haven County, CT Report card: This move-in ready Colonial from 1968 has updated everything, from hardwood floors to a remodeled kitchen to the light and bright living room that overlooks the backyard and deck. Situated on a child-friendly cul-de-sac, the home is also just 2 miles from the Race Brook School. Orange, CT realtor.com Price: $699,000 School district: Etiwanda Elementary School District, San Bernardino County, CA Report card: Built in 2007, the Southern California home takes full advantage of the sunny climes of Rancho Cucamonga, a suburban city outside L.A. that boasts 287 days of sunshine a year. With sliding glass doors leading to the patio and backyard on a cul-de-sac, a buyer will enjoy panoramic city views and plenty of outside space. The gated community is just 1.9 miles from John L. Golden Elementary School. Rancho Cucamonga, CA realtor.com Price: $499,999 School district: Longmeadow School District, Hampden County, MA Report card: Admittedly, this 1965 contemporary-style ranch has project written all over it, but with 3,500 square feet, a super-convenient downtown location, and just a four-minute walk to Blueberry Hill School, it may be worth the work. Longmeadow, MA realtor.com Price: $395,000 School district: Strongsville City School District, Cuyahoga County, OH Report card: With a grand foyer, an open-concept kitchen, and a dining and living room that open to a glass-enclosed sunroom, this 4,400-square-foot home includes five beds and four baths. The spacious layout features a playroom with a kid-sized door, and its just a five-minute drive to Howard Chapman Elementary School. Strongsville, OH realtor.com Price: $520,000 School district: Plymouth-Canton Community School, Wayne County, MI Report card: Located in the Country Club Village of Plymouth, this luxury home offers 4,000 square feet of living space on almost an acre of land. Theres a formal dining room and living room, a gourmet eat-in kitchen, and five bedrooms, including a master suite, a guest suite, and a finished basement with full bath and kitchenette. Isbister Elementary School and Tonda Elementary School are both about 4 miles away. Plymouth Township, MI realtor.com Price: $895,000 School district: Regional School District 05 School, New Haven County, CT Report card: A custom Colonial from 2008 comes in mint condition, and features four bedrooms, including a first-floor master suite, a gourmet eat-in kitchen, and a great room with vaulted ceilings and built-ins surrounding a fireplace. The space overlooks a professionally landscaped backyard and charming back patio. Plus, Davis 21st Century Magnet Elementary School is just 3.2 miles away. Woodbridge, CT realtor.com Price: $449,900 School district: Trumbull School District, Fairfield County, CT Report Card: Built in 1942, this Colonial Cape-style home has been updated with modern amenities, like a new kitchen with granite counters and a dining area that opens to a deck. Parents will appreciate the second-floor master suite. Kids will love the above-ground pool and fire pit. Everyone will appreciate that Frenchtown Elementary School is under a mile from home. Even your kids! Trumbull, CT realtor.com The post Class Acts: Nice Homes in Americas 10 Most In-Demand School Districts appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com. The next president of the United States should stop the the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and consider expanding the capabilities of the American personnel there or even add more troops to the mix, said John Allen, a retired four-star Marine general with close ties to presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Allen, who endorsed Clinton in a high-profile speech at the Democratic National Convention in July, served as commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan from 2011 to 2013 and later became the U.S. envoy to counter the Islamic State in 2014 before leaving public service last year. His recommendation Tuesday to expand the U.S. footprint in Afghanistan comes ahead of next months 15-year anniversary of the beginning of the war, the longest in American history, and years of polling showing that most Americans believe it has not been worth fighting. But speaking on a panel at the Brookings Institution, Allen said the war has been under-resourced, and expressed confidence Clinton would expand efforts necessary to stabilize the country. I would contend that our numbers were too small initially, and our horizon for departure was too soon, he said. By staying at the number we are today, which would be somewhere around 8,400 and even with the next president conceivably going up in the number or changing our capabilities mix I believe well hold what weve got, well change the momentum, he said. In 2009, Clinton pushed for a bigger surge of U.S. troops in Afghanistan than President Barack Obama ultimately authorized an interagency battle that Allen said actually had an impact in his decision to endorse Clinton. She was very supportive of me as a commander in a whole variety of ways, he told Foreign Policy. His move to endorse Clinton on the convention stage did not come without risks. It ruffled feathers of some military brass, including Martin Dempsey, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who chastised Allen and Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn for blurring the lines between military and political service in the 2016 presidential race. (Flynn has endorsed Republican Donald Trump.) Story continues Allen could potentially be in line for a senior job in the Clinton administration should she win the presidency. In his DNC speech, he spoke out forcefully against Trump without explicitly mentioning his name. With [Clinton] as our commander in chief, our international relations will not be reduced to a business transaction, he said then, a clear reference to the real estate tycoon. I also know that our armed forces will not become an instrument of torture, and they will not be engaged in murder, or carry out other illegal activities. Trump later shot back calling Allen a failed general. Not shying away from the political limelight, Allen is scheduled to hold a conference call for the Clinton campaign on Wednesday to discuss military and veterans issues. Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Sept. 6, 2016. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP) Hillary Clinton told reporters Tuesday that Republicans have been engaging in partisan conspiracy theorizing about her for 25 years and she thinks its not working for them. I have created so many jobs in the, sort of, conspiracy theory machine factory because honestly, they never quit, Clinton said, when asked about the news that Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz has requested a new investigation into her use of a private email server. The FBI investigated her use of the server and announced it would not recommend prosecution. The agency released the summary of its investigation Friday, which revealed that a technology contractor deleted emails from the server after they had been subpoenaed by the Congressional committee that was investigating the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. Clinton told the FBI she was unaware that the emails had been deleted and had never instructed anyone to delete them. Clinton said Tuesday this kind of scrutiny from Republicans is not new to me, and tied the investigations to the rise of Donald Trump. She said she believes she would work well with Republicans if elected, but blasted the party for continuing to call for investigations. If thats how they want to spend their time instead of looking to address the problems of the American people, thats their choice, she said. Its clearly not working for a lot of Republicans. Why did someone come from outside and seize their nomination who had never been in public service? Clinton asked. I think they should come to the conclusion that they maybe should actually produce results for the American people and not engage in all this partisan conspiracy theorizing. The remarks came as Clinton took questions from her traveling press corps for the second time since her campaign began allowing reporters to fly on the same plane with her Monday. She also chatted with the photographers who have been covering her for months, in an apparent attempt to reset her relationship with the media after a 275-day period during which she did not hold a press conference. Clinton spent much of August fundraising. She emerged on the campaign trail in full force Monday as she and her surrogates fanned out across the country for Labor Day events and rallies. On Tuesday, both she and her running mate, Tim Kaine, slammed Trump on foreign policy, with Clinton urging him to look at a map before talking about Syria and Kaine delivering a point-by-point critique of Trumps statements on foreign policy. Trump, meanwhile, said at a Virginia Beach event that Putin laughs when he sees Clinton. (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Monday she will not accept an invitation from Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto for a visit after rival Donald Trump created what she called a "diplomatic incident" in his foray there. In a written excerpt from an interview with ABC News that will air Tuesday morning, Clinton simply said "no" when asked if she would travel to Mexico before the election on Nov. 8, without elaborating further. Her campaign later confirmed her decision. "We understand and respect her decision to propose the time to hold a meeting," said Mexican Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu in a tweet, adding that contact with Clinton's campaign was ongoing. Pena Nieto extended invitations to both candidates last month, and Trump flew to Mexico City last Wednesday for a meeting that appeared to be friendly but later revealed deep tensions. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has been highly critical of Mexico, saying the country sends rapists and drug dealers to the United States. He has called for a wall to be built on the border that would be paid for by Mexico. Trump said at a joint news conference with Pena Nieto that they did not discuss who would pay for the wall. Pena Nieto remained silent on the issue at the event, but said later on Twitter that he made it clear Mexico would not pay for the wall. "He came out saying one thing and the Mexican president contradicted him almost immediately," Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state, said in the ABC interview. "He didn't raise it, so he did choke. He didn't know how to even communicate effectively with a head of state. And I think that's a pretty clear outcome from that trip," she added. (Reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by Mary Milliken; Editing by Leslie Adler and Nick Macfie) Tampa (AFP) - Democratic White House hopeful Hillary Clinton on Tuesday intensified her call for rival Donald Trump to release his tax returns, accusing the billionaire of hiding something that might turn off voters. Clinton had sharp words for the Republican nominee, saying Trump was "dead wrong" in saying that his tax returns were not the concern of everyday Americans, despite every major presidential nominee since Richard Nixon releasing their taxes before the election. "I think it is a fundamental issue about him in this campaign that we're going to talk about in one way or another for the next 62 days, because he clearly has something to hide," Clinton told reporters on a campaign flight to Tampa, Florida. "If he's going to pursue this campaign, he owes it to the American people to come clean and release those tax returns." Trump's vice presidential running mate Mike Pence, the governor of Indiana, said Sunday that he would release his own tax returns this week, but made it clear that Trump may keep his under wraps until after Election Day, November 8. Trump has insisted that he will release his taxes, but only after the Internal Revenue Service completes its audit. That federal agency has said Trump is free to release the returns whenever he wants. The release of such returns has been a tradition of American presidential politics for a half-century, and Democrat Hillary Clinton and her running mate Tim Kaine have already released theirs. Trump's failure to do so has fueled speculation that he fears some embarrassing revelation: perhaps that his fortune is far smaller than the $10 billion he speaks of, that he has donated far less to charities than he suggests, or that he has awkwardly close business ties to Russian interests and other foreign organizations and banks. Clinton said there is a "growing" list of activities by Trump that raise questions about his behavior and judgment, citing his companies' bankruptcies and the many lawsuits against him. Story continues She also pointed to the ongoing investigation of his Trump University, and the accusations that his foundation donated to a group close to Florida's attorney general as the official's staff was reviewing accusations that had been made against Trump's school in the suit. And she highlighted a New York Times report that showed that companies owned by Trump owe some $650 million in debt, including to foreign banks. "The list goes on and on: the scams, the frauds, the questionable relationships, the business activities that have stiffed workers," Clinton said. Clinton also hammered Trump on his tax plan for America, telling a voter registration rally in Tampa that Trump was peddling "trillions in tax cuts" that would "explode the national debt" and help the one percent wealthiest elite while hurting everyone else. We have issued an updated research report on Colfax Corporation CFX on Sep 5, 2016. This machinery company manufactures specialized products and services related to gas and fluid handling, and fabrication technology. Colfax Corporation, with $3.7 billion in market capitalization, has strong fundamentals supporting growth. However exposure to near-term headwinds is restricting its growth momentum. Below-mentioned pros and cons will justify our investment ranking on Colfax Corporation. Growth Drivers A diversified product portfolio as well as businesses in diverse nations and end-markets has enabled Colfax Corporation to strengthen its organic growth over time. The companys Gas and Fluid Handling segment caters to the needs of the customers in the power generation, oil, gas and petrochemical, mining, marine and general industrial and other end-markets. Its Fabrication Technology segment deals with products primarily used in cutting and joining of steel, aluminum and other metals and metal alloys. Also, the companys client base is strong, ranging from commercial to governmental customers spread across the U.S., Europe, Asia, the Middle East and South America. In addition, Colfax Corporation aims at business expansion through organic and inorganic means. It also seeks to improve profitability through strict expense control measures. The company is on track to generate roughly $50 million incremental cost savings (original cost saving expectation was $100 million) from its cost-reduction programs by the end of 2016. Moreover, it announced the initiation of additional cost savings strategies that will enable it to mitigate the ill-effects of weak end-markets. Over the long run, Colfax Corporation expects organic growth to be 12% higher than the Gross Domestic Product and operating margins to come in the mid teens. Also, the company intends to boost free cash flow to fund acquisitions. Near-Term Headwinds Colfax is exposed to risks arising from stiff competition, uncertain global economic conditions, unfavorable movements in foreign currencies, weak order flow, and geopolitical issues. Also, delays or difficulties in procuring raw materials including metals, castings, motors, seals and bearings, from suppliers both in the U.S. and international markets might prove unfavorable for the companys business. Conclusion Colfax Corporation currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We believe the pros and cons clearly justify the companys investment value. Some better-ranked stocks in the machinery industry include DXP Enterprises, Inc. DXPE, Gorman-Rupp Co. GRC and Nordson Corporation NDSN. All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report NORDSON CORP (NDSN): Free Stock Analysis Report DXP ENTERPRISES (DXPE): Free Stock Analysis Report GORMAN RUPP CO (GRC): Free Stock Analysis Report COLFAX CORP (CFX): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Rodrigo Duterte is the president of Philippines. His controversial statements, unkind deeds and uncalled for guts have made him one of the most talked about persons in the world, but of course, for all the wrong reasons. By India Today Web Desk: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is the ultimate 'bad guy' or so people say. He acts at his will, whatever be the situation, whoever is involved. Yesterday, Duterte raised his game as the "villain" when he called US President Barack Obama a "son of a whore" on record. Later, his spokesperson presented a dry apology for his "strong comments", adding that as they "elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the US president," reports the Indian Express. advertisement As a result of his abusive speech, the White House called off his upcoming meeting with POTUS. Dubbed as 'The Punisher', this is not the first time Duterte incurred wrath with his deeds and words. Why is Duterte known as 'The Punisher'? It was the Time Magazine that came up with this nickname for Duterte. And they had their reasons. When a reporter asked him about journalists being killed, Duterte said, "You are not exempted from assassination if you are a son of a bitch." In short, he is of the opinion that journalists are corrupt. During his election campaign, he vowed to to kill 1,00,000 criminals and "feed their bodies to the fish". In his final campaign rally in Manila in May, he reinforced the idea of mass killings of criminals under his rule. During one such campaign rally, he blatantly challenged his human rights critics saying he wouldn't mind carrying out such executions before them: "I will butcher him in front of them if they want." Duterte once suggested Philippine people to build as many funeral homes as possible: "If I become president, I advise you people to put up several funeral parlour businesses. They will be packed. I'll supply the dead bodies." This, believe it or not, is only the tip of the iceberg. His many controversies Not POTUS and not even the Pope escaped Duterte's potty mouth. While brooding aloud over the Pontiff's visit to Manila and how it spiked traffic jam, he said, "You son of a whore Pope Francis. Why don't you just go home?" The 71-year-old leader has often taken the stage to brag about his "Viagra-fuelled womanising skills". During one of his rallies, Duterte boasted about how he would go scot-free after mass killing criminals, as by being the president, he would be signing his own release. "Pardon given to Rodrigo Duterte for the crime of multiple murder, signed Rodrigo Duterte," he had declared to a cheering crowd. As for his views on rape, after an Australian missionary was gangraped and killed during a prison siege in 1989, this is was Duterte, a mayor back then, said, "I was angry because she was raped, that's one thing. But she was so beautiful, the mayor (Duterte) should have been first, what a waste." advertisement Any good work under his belt? Duterte's supporters believe he brings about safety to his people, and is only a threat to criminals. Such is his fan following that people often refer to him as "Duterte Harry", associating him to Clint Eastwood's vigilante film, "Dirty Harry". As a mayor of Davao City, he had imposed a total ban on smoking in all public places and a strict regulation on speed limit of 30 kmph. He is also deemed as progressive because of his positive views on birth control and gay rights. On being compared to Donald Trump, as many refer to him as 'Trump of the East', Duterte said, "he is a bigot and I am not." Yeah. Like that saves the day (or redeems Obama). --- ENDS --- (Reuters) - British Airways said on Monday it was experiencing a computer glitch with its check-in system that was reportedly causing delays at several airports in the United States. The airline said in a statement that IT teams were working to resolve the problem. At airports in San Francisco, Washington D.C. and Atlanta, travellers flying British Airways reported on social media that they waited in line for hours to check-in. "Huge computer issue affecting British Airways across USA. Friend at #Dulles tells me pilots by gate but passengers still trying to check in!" Twitter user John Bevir wrote. It was unclear the number of flights that were delayed. (Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Michael Perry) In an election year, Congresss work traditionally dwindles to one job: keeping the government running. This year is no exception, but with Washington more polarized than ever even doing that one thing is looking increasingly difficult. As Congress returns from Labor Day to face the last work period before the election, it faces an unwinnable conflict over spending that includes the real but remote chance of a shutdown. Democrats want a short-term funding bill that would keep the government running only through Christmas; Republicans want one that stretches until the spring. Complicating matters, the Senate is on track to fail for a third time to pass emergency Zika fundingwhich would mean money to fight the disease would need to go in a government funding bill, adding to the urgency to pass something by the end of September. Republicans want to extend the funding as much as possible because they are anticipating heavy losses in the November elections and want to lock in a deal under more favorable conditions for as long as possible. I think we have more leverage with the current president and the current majorities than were likely to have on the other side of this, Rep. Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican who is a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, told Politico. But Republicans will have to choose between policy and politics in the coming weeks. If history is any indication, Republicans would bear the brunt of the blame were the government to shut down again and having that happen weeks before the electionwhen several states will already be voting earlycould be catastrophic for the GOP. Of course, Democrats know this, which is why theyre pushing the idea. The Senate is being run into the ground and unless it changes course, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid told reporters on a call last week, were headed straight for another government shutdown. Story continues How likely is a government shutdown? Not too likely, but once again the problem is in the Republican-controlled House where Speaker Paul Ryan is facing a disgruntled Freedom Caucus. The conservative caucus is unhappy that he didnt do enough to save one of their own, Rep. Tim Huelskamp, who lost his Kansas primary to a moderate pro-business Republican last month. Theyre also upset by what they see as Ryans foot-dragging on their efforts to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. Ryan has thus far been unable to convince members of the Freedom Caucus to do much of anything. They refused to pass a budget, an embarrassment for Ryan, a former Budget Committee chair. Theyve also not passed an Obamacare replacement as hes been urging them to do. And they voted down the Senate Zika funding bill, which passed the upper chamber 68-29 with broad bipartisan support. Senate Democrats have twice voted down the measure House Republicans sent back as they claimed it was full of poison pills: the House version takes money from Planned Parenthood, Obamacare and includes other non-Zika related controversial measures. On the subject of government funding, the Freedom Caucus doesnt just want an extension through the spring, they want to pass a multi-year bill that sets severe caps on spending, all but handcuffing the next president whomever he or she may be. (Such a measure would be DOA in the Senate.) Whatever government funding bill is passed, it will most likely have to be done without the Freedom Caucus, instead using Democratic votes. Too many bipartisan votes like that are what brought down Ryans predecessor Speaker John Boehner, and if Ryan wants to run for president in 2020, hes going to have to fund a way to appease his right flank while still governing. Because this months choice, between a government shutdown or a bipartisan funding vote with Democrats, is only the first in a series of unpleasant choices Ryan will face next session no matter who is in the White House. By Bill Trott WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Phyllis Schlafly, who became a "founding mother" of the modern U.S. conservative movement by battling feminists in the 1970s and working tirelessly to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment, died on Monday at the age of 92, her Eagle Forum group said. Schlafly, who lived in the St. Louis suburb of Ladue, Missouri, died at her home in the presence of her family, Eagle Forum said in a statement. The cause of death was not given. She was still a conservative force and popular speaker in her 90s, endorsing Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and praising his policy on immigration. She was a delegate to the Republicans' convention in Cleveland. Trump said in a statement that he spoke with Schlafly a few weeks ago by telephone "and she sounded as resilient as ever ... She was a patriot, a champion for women, and a symbol of strength." Schlafly once called feminists "a bunch of bitter women seeking a constitutional cure for their personal problems," Time said, while insisting that "women find their greatest fulfillment at home with their family." Her political ardor did not fade with age and in 2014, as President Barack Obama pushed for pay equity for women, Schlafly sparked controversy with a column for the Christian Post saying a man's paycheck comes first. "The pay gap between men and women is not all bad because it helps to promote and sustain marriages," she said. "... The best way to improve economic prospects for women is to improve job prospects for the men in their lives, even if that means increasing the so-called pay gap." Schlafly promoted traditional family values and once told a reporter that she always listed her occupation as "mother" when filling out applications. But she was hardly a typical stay-at-home housewife/mother. Shortly after marrying lawyer Fred Schlafly in 1949, she became active in Republican Party politics in Alton, Illinois, and ran unsuccessfully for Congress twice. She would go on to found the Eagle Forum grass-roots conservative group, write a newspaper column and newsletter and author some 20 books. Her crowning achievement was crusading to prevent the Equal Rights Amendment from being added to the U.S. Constitution and it made Schlafly a leader in the modern American conservative movement. "Phyllis Schlafly courageously and single-handedly took on the issue of the Equal Rights Amendment when no one else in the country was opposing it," said James C. Dobson, chairman and founder of Focus on the Family. "In so doing, she essentially launched the pro-family, pro-life movement." Biographer Donald T. Critchlow said defeating the ERA helped usher in a conservative era in American politics and boosted Ronald Reagan to the presidency. In her decade-long fight against the ERA, Schlafly traveled across the country to speak at rallies and persuade state legislators not to approve the ERA. Along the way she often debated feminist writer Betty Freidan, who called Schlafly "a traitor to her sex" and once told her: "I'd like to burn you at the stake." The intention of the ERA was to ensure women were treated the same as men under state and federal laws. Schlafly's attack on the proposed amendment was based on the premise that the rights of women already were well protected by the U.S. Constitution. She said the ERA actually would erode women's standing, leading to homosexual marriages, women in combat, government-funded abortions and loss of alimony. In 1972 she started the Eagle Forum, now located in Clayton, Missouri, along with Stop ERA, bringing in legions of supporters who had been regarded as non-political housewives. In a 1978 appearance at the Illinois capitol she was accompanied by backers bearing loaves of home-made bread. Described by Time magazine as "feminine but forceful" and with her hair always carefully styled, Schlafly said she attended 41 state hearings to testify against the Equal Rights Amendment. When the ERA's ratification deadline expired in 1982, having been approved by only 35 of the 38 states needed, Schlafly threw a party in Washington. Phyllis Stewart was born Aug. 15, 1924, in St. Louis and grew up in a home she described as Republican but not activist. She put herself through Washington University by firing weapons as an ammunition factory tester and later earned a master's degree in political science from Radcliffe. In 1978 she graduated from Washington University's law school. The left attacked Schlafly for promoting domestic life to her supporters while spending so much time pursuing her ambitious political agenda. She responded by saying she never told women they should not work. "I simply didn't believe we needed a constitutional amendment to protect women's rights," Schlafly told the New York Times. Schlafly first became a political presence with her 1964 self-published book "A Choice, Not an Echo," which championed the conservative politics of Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater. Schlafly also built a reputation as a strident anti-Communist and opponent of arms control treaties. After the ERA's defeat, she continued to preach conservative causes such as limited government, anti-abortion laws, traditional education, strong defense and keeping out illegal immigrants. She frequently criticized immigration reform and the Obama administration and wrote more than 25 books. Schlafly also was a critic of gay rights, which proved to be a sensitive topic in 1992 when the oldest of her six children, John, who worked for the Eagle Forum, acknowledged he was homosexual. Schlafly's husband Fred died in 1993. She is survived by six children, 16 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, Eagle Forum said. (Writing and reporting by Bill Trott; Additional reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Diane Craft) National Constitution Center Supreme Court correspondent Lyle Denniston looks at efforts from the Justice Department and civil rights organizations to bring back federal election observers in some states. (credit: Vox Efx) (credit: Vox Efx) THE STATEMENTS AT ISSUE: In the 2004 general election, the Department of Justice sent 1,463 federal observers to monitor 55 elections in 30 jurisdictions in 14 states. This year, that number will be close to zero despite the fact that 17 states have restrictive voting laws in effect for the first time in an election cycle where the political rhetoric has been extremely racially charged at the national level. Given the widespread support for this obviously effective program, how did we get to a 2016 general election where voters are less protected against racial harassment than at any time since the 1960s? Excerpt from a column by Julie Fernandes, on August 9 in the online edition of Democracy Journal, a publication of opinion and analysis. Answering her own question, she put the blame on the Supreme Court and Congress. In the past, we have relied heavily on election observers specially trained individuals who are authorized to enter polling locations and monitor the process to ensure that it lives up to its legal obligations. Unfortunately, our use of observers is largely tied to the pre-clearance coverage formula that the Supreme Court found to be unconstitutional in Shelby County [v. Holder] and so our ability to deploy them has been severely curtailed[The decision] has forced the Justice Department to rely much more on local groups and individuals to alert us to potentially unlawful acts. Excerpt from a speech by Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch on July 15 to a national convention in Washington of the League of United Latin American Citizens. WE CHECKED THE CONSTITUTION, AND State governments have the main duty, under the national Constitution, to run the nations elections, although Congress can sometimes override the states management of voting in federal elections if there is a strong enough national interest. In addition, the Fifteenth Amendment confers explicit power on Congress to enforce the promise that the right to vote shall not be denied or abridgedon account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Story continues In 1965, Congress used that constitutional authority to pass the Voting Rights Act, which has since come to be known as the most effective law ever passed to protect the voting rights of minorities. The Acts strongest provisions, however, have not been in effect for the past three years, as a result of a Supreme Court decision, coupled with a lack of interest in Congress in proposals to modify and then reinstate those provisions. The 1965 law was Congresss way of reacting to the past failure of government officials to keep up with the steadily changing efforts by state legislatures to make it more difficult for minorities to vote. Previously, such changes could only be challenged one at a time in court, so lawsuits never fully caught up with the pace of new restrictions. Congress decided that state and local governments that had a proven history of racial bias in voting had to notify the government of any plans to change voting laws or rules, and they had to get approval in Washington, D.C., for any such proposed change. Without approval, no planned change could occur. This was a major cutback for state and local control of elections, in those states where this pre-clearance requirement applied that is, all or parts of 11 states. Along with that pre-clearance regime, the 1965 law gave the federal government the authority to send federal observers to those 11 states and their covered county governments to watch for discriminatory treatment of minority voters as they showed up to vote. Congress, however, did not keep up to date the formula that was used to trigger either the pre-clearance requirement or the use of election observers. The Supreme Court, in the 2013 ruling in Shelby County v. Holder, ruled that racial politics had changed in the states and counties covered by those requirements, so applying the special obligations of the Voting Rights Act to them alone was unconstitutional. The ruling left it up to Congress to salvage those requirements by devising a new, up-to-date formula. In the three years since that ruling, Congress has taken no action, although proposals to do so have long lists of sponsors. Much has been written in political and academic commentary about the effect of scuttling the pre-clearance requirement, and with the effect that that has had the passage of many new vote-restricting laws, including in those states previously covered by pre-clearance. Those laws can now be challenged only one at a time, after they have gone into effect because only then can their discriminatory impact be shown. One of the highest-profile efforts to challenge these new laws has come in North Carolina, where the legislature quickly responded to the Supreme Court ruling by adopting multiple new provisions, which a federal appeals court has now struck down (a decision that the Supreme Court has just left intact). The appeals court ruling was based upon another part of the 1965 Act, but that is the part that only allows court challenges to new voting laws after they have been enacted and, in most cases, already taken effect. Under that alternative approach, if a court rules that a new voting limitation was the result of intentional racial discrimination, it has the authority to put that state or jurisdiction back under a pre-clearance obligation and, in addition, it can approve the use of federal election observers in that jurisdiction. The North Carolina lawsuit did result in a ruling that the law was intentionally biased against minority voters, but the appeals court chose to limit its decision to blocking enforcement. It explicitly opted not to impose pre-clearance or to authorize election observers. The Justice Department and civil rights organizations, however, will continue to try to persuade courts as further lawsuits go forward to take the extra steps of reviving pre-clearance and sending federal observers. And, whether it is a promising maneuver or not, they also will continue trying to persuade Congress to write a new coverage formula for the Voting Rights Acts more demanding features. Even if Congress were willing, that would not be easy because of the wide disparity in how state legislatures deal with minority voters rights. Legendary journalist Lyle Denniston is Constitution Dailys Supreme Court correspondent. Denniston has written for us as a contributor since June 2011. Denniston has covered the Supreme Court since 1958. His work also appears on lyldenlawnews.com. Recent Stories on Constitution Daily Hamiltons Treasury Department and a great Constitutional debate Podcast: Americas biggest constitutional crises Aaron Burrs trial and the Constitutions treason clause By David Randall DENVER (Reuters) - The drumbeat of hammers echoes most mornings through suburban Denver, where Jay Small, the owner of company that frames houses, is building about 1,300 new homes this year. Thats more than triple what he built a few years ago, when you couldnt buy a job in the residential construction industry, he said. Now, builders cant buy enough workers to get the job done. Eight years after the housing bust drove an estimated 30 percent of construction workers into new fields, homebuilders across the country are struggling to find workers at all levels of experience, according to the National Association of Homebuilders. The association estimates that there are approximately 200,000 unfilled construction jobs in the U.S. - a jump of 81 percent in the last two years. The ratio of construction job openings to hiring, as measured by the Department of Labor, is at its highest level since 2007. The labor shortage is getting worse as demand is getting stronger, said John Courson, chief executive of the Home Builders Institute, a national nonprofit that trains workers in the construction field. The impact is two-fold. Without enough workers, residential construction is trailing demand for homes, dampening the overall economy. And with labor costs rising, homebuilders are building more expensive homes to maintain their margins, which means they are abandoning the starter home market. That has left entry-level homes in tight supply, shutting out many would-be buyers at a time when mortgage rates are near historic lows. Nationwide, there are 17 percent fewer people working in construction than at the market peak, with some states including Arizona, California, Georgia and Missouri seeing declines of 20 percent or more, according to data from the Associated General Contractors of America. The labor shortage is raising builders costs - and workers wages - and slowing down construction. Small, the Denver builder, estimates that he could construct at least 10 percent more homes this year if he had enough workers. But he remains short-staffed, despite raising pay to levels above what he paid during the housing bubble a decade ago. Story continues Its getting to the point where youre really limited in what you can deliver, Small said. We lost so many people in the crash, and were just not getting them back. HIGHER COSTS The average construction cost of building a single family home is 13.7 percent higher now than in 2007, even as the total costs of building and selling a house a figure that includes such items as land costs, financing and marketing - are up just 2.9 percent over the same period, according to a survey by the National Association of Homebuilders. The problem is accentuated by strong demand for newly constructed homes, with sales reaching a nine-year high in July. Private companies say that they are having a hard time attracting workers, and they are often forced to give employees on-the-spot raises to prevent them from going to competitors. Carpenters and electricians are often listed as the most in-demand specialties. Tony Rader, the vice president of Schwob Building Company, a general contractor in the Dallas area, said his company has started handing out flyers at sporting events, churches and schools in hopes of luring more people into the field. The biggest problem I face every day is where are we going to find the people to do the work, he said, adding that its becoming increasingly common for his company and others to turn down projects. Dallas contractors are fighting over the limited supply of workers as three major mixed-use projects are going up right next to each other on the so-called $5 billion mile in Frisco, a northern suburb. Meanwhile, the metropolitan area is adding about 30,000 newly built homes annually. With fewer workers, contractors are becoming wary of signing new work contracts, especially as many of them include fines for not completing a job by a designated date. Ive got two lawsuits right now where it may cost us mid-six-figures because theres not enough labor out there to get it done, said one contractor in the North Dallas area who declined to be identified. Lawyers in hot residential markets say that it is becoming increasingly common for construction companies to try to negotiate for more time. Subcontractors are having a hard time staffing up, said Edward Allen, a Denver attorney who said he has seen more lawsuits over project delays in the past two years. GUARANTEED WORK, FEW TAKERS Colorado alone will need 30,000 more workers in the construction field in the next six years, a number that does not account for those who will retire, according to a study by the Association of General Contractors. The state passed a bill last year pledging $10 million over three years to fund free training for plumbers, electricians and carpenters. Yet Michael Smith, who heads a Denver-based nonprofit that administers the training, said that he cant fill the seats. High schools are focused on preparing students for college, ignoring those that may be better suited for vocational work. Students may be put off by constructions reputation as a dangerous, cyclical field, he said. "Weve so demonized working with your hands in this country, he said. Weve got a booming economy, and we cant keep up with the pace of growth. Students who go through the four-week program are all but guaranteed a job paying $16 an hour or more immediately, with the possibility of commanding $80,000 or more in annual income after five years without taking on any student debt, he said. On-the-job training is also a common path for new workers. Eduardo Salcido - a 25-year-old concrete finisher working at a 232-home Toll Brothers subdivision going up in the Denver suburb of Broomfield - said that he received on-site training after entering the construction field as a painter. He has earned one raise since beginning the training two years ago and is now certified as a semi-skilled finisher. The moneys not bad, he said. Homebuilders are increasingly desperate to bring back in fully skilled laborers such as Greg Lewis, a 43-year old journeyman carpenter in St. Louis. After struggling to find work in 2010, Lewis started making leather goods at home and selling bags, belts and wallets online. He now operates his business fulltime under the name Made Supply Co. Even though hes making less than he did in construction, Lewis is not tempted to go back into a field that is marked by job insecurity, he said. His former co-workers have gone on to work in warehouses or a local General Motors plant, and most are choosing not to return to their old jobs even as contractors offer higher wages. Guys couldnt wait around for their next job, and now they dont want to go back to a field that could turn on them, he said. Its either hot or cold, and you just cant trust it. (The story was refiled to correct typo in the eighth paragraph to change may to many) (Reporting by David Randall in New York. Additional reporting by Keith Coffman in Denver. Editing by Brian Thevenot.) A devastating accident turned into a message of doing good when a police officer bought an Illinois woman a new car after hers was totaled. Read: Cop Sends Flowers to Driver Who Was Stopped After Finding Out Her Elderly Mom Was Sick Officer Patrick Moody from the Moline Police Department told InsideEdition.com he went outside to check out a car accident that happened nearby the police station on Wednesday. Danielle Robinson, single mother, had told the officer she wasnt at fault, but because Moody couldnt find the other driver at fault either, she knew she would have to pay for the damages herself. Her insurance wasnt going to cover the damage of her car, Moody said. Her 93 Chevy wasnt worth much. Robinson, distraught, knew she wouldnt be able to buy a new car after hers was declared a total loss. I wasnt even thinking about me and if Im okay, she told InsideEdition.com. I was just thinking about work. Thats why I was freaking out[my car] is pretty much my bread and butter. She said she was also worried about having to take her daughter and son to different afterschool activities by public transportation. Read: Restaurant Owner Allegedly Refuses Cops, Tells Them to 'Spread the Word' to Other Officers Even though Moody could have easily gone about his day as planned, he thought to himself, I need to help this gal out. He said since last year, he was inspired to do one major act of kindness every year after helping a homeless man back to his feet and he decided for this year, he would do something nice for Robinson. Moody said he approached an old friend who owned the Cheap Car Silvis in Illinois, and asked if he had any used cars on his lot that would be a good fit for Robinson. His friend suggested a 2001 Chevy Altima, an upgrade from the car she had totaled. Inspired by Moodys act of kindness, he even agreed to lower the price from $1,000 to $350, and absorbed the rest of the cost himself. Story continues If it wasnt for him, I wouldnt have ever been able to put this together in under 24 hours, Moody said. The following day, he called Robinson back to the station under the pretense of filing more paperwork, but little did she know, Moody had her car waiting for her at the precinct. Read: Police Buy, Deliver A Month's Worth of Groceries to Elderly Man Who Had Not Eaten In 2 Days As they pulled up to the new car, Robinson could be seen doing a happy dance before pulling Moody into an emotional hug. I was overwhelmed and full of emotion, because he really went above and beyond his duties, and that speaks volumes, Robinson said. Im glad God placed him in a position to be able to help me. Witnessing her reaction, Moody said, She was so appreciative and so grateful. She was the happiest person in the entire world yesterday. Now, Robinson said because of Officer Moodys kind actions, she now plans to pay it forward with her own good deeds: This is a blessing. When you do good deeds, good deeds come back to you. Watch: Dozens of Police Officers Escort Fallen Comrade's Children on Their First Day of School Related Articles: Credit unions have historically offered lower mortgage rates and closing costs than traditional lenders. Anyone searching for a mortgage to buy a home for sale in Seattle, WA, or anywhere across the U.S. cant turn down that deal. But credit unions also tend to be more conservative in their lending practices, meaning that you might need to jump through more hoops and have an excellent credit history to qualify for a loan through one. Take these pros and cons of a credit union mortgage into consideration when youre shopping around for a loan you may find that these loans are the right ones for your home purchase. Pro: Personalized service If you like shooting the breeze with the owners of local mom and pop establishments, youll probably like dealing with credit unions too. If a consumer is interested in knowing his lender on a personal level and being able to talk with the people making the decisions about their loan, a credit union will deliver a higher level of service than other mortgage entities, says Brady Popp, senior vice president of lending at Texas Trust Credit Union. Popp explains that at his credit union, which is not unique, loan officers take the time to speak with borrowers to make sure the loan is right for them. Heres another example: [Credit unions] offer a variety of educational supports for first-time homebuyers, from online resources to seminars to one-on-one conversations, says Chris Arenz, director of mortgage payment protection for CUNA Mutual Group, a major provider of financial products to credit unions. Con: That eligibility issue You cant just walk into the nearest credit union and join unless you meet the membership requirements. Most credit unions require you to belong to a certain group, such as an employee group or an association (church, HOA, school, etc.). Others require that you live in a particular geographic area. Dont meet those membership requirements? Youre out of luck. Our field of membership is restricted to a geographic area, so we cannot provide a loan for a property that is not located within our geographic boundaries, Popp says. Story continues Pro: Nonprofit business model Credit unions, in general, appeal to a vast audience because of their nonprofit, cooperative business model, says Bob Sadowski, a CUSO (credit union service organization) marketing specialist with myCUmortgage. As a credit union member, you are also a partner (an owner) of the credit union. People honestly come before profits, and credit unions make certain to treat partners as their number one priority, Sadowski says. Con: Lack of breadth Credit unions, small ones in particular, might not offer certain types of specialized loans. Some people have very specific lending needs, such as commercial or rental property, and not all credit unions are equipped or familiar with these types of specific transactions, says Toby Hayes, vice president of marketing at First Service Credit Union in Houston, TX. Pro: Better rates Its always smart to rate-shop when youre looking for a mortgage, and youll often find credit union mortgage rates win. Many credit unions keep their loans in their own portfolio, Popp says. This gives us more flexibility and allows us to offer better terms and rates. Con: Tougher to qualify It might not be 2005 anymore, the peak of subprime lending, when a pulse was pretty much all you needed to qualify for a mortgage loan. But still, some lenders are more lenient than others, and credit unions generally arent on the lenient side. Credit unions risk tolerance is typically lower than other lenders. A borrowers credit quality will be scrutinized more, and credit requirements may be tighter, says Popp. Pro: Speedy closings Many credit unions offer faster closings than other financial institutions. Youre often in the drivers seat if you can offer a quick closing to your seller. Many sellers want to close quickly to avoid an extra month of carrying costs, which gives you a negotiation advantage if you can accommodate them. We make every effort, as do our vendors, to expedite processes and to close loans as quickly as possible, says Chuck Price, vice president of lending at NEFCU. The bottom line: Credit unions have some definite advantages, making them at least worth your while to check out. And many homebuyers are doing so. The credit union industrys share of the mortgage market nearly quadrupled over the last decade and continues to grow, Chris Arenz says. Have you applied for a credit union mortgage? Share your experiences and tips in the comments! Netflix The story of Steven Averys post-conviction process continues to get more interesting by the week, guaranteeing well eventually have an eventful second season of Making A Murderer to watch. At the end of August, Stevens lawyer Kathleen Zellner filed a motion to retest evidence using new methods developed since his original trial in 2006. Now she claims that news has encouraged more people with knowledge of the case to come forward. Crucial witnesses coming forward now-as they always do when new scientific testing sought. Science not spin will rule.#MakingAMurderer Kathleen Zellner (@ZellnerLaw) September 4, 2016 The implication here seems to be that people who will be exposed one way or another by the advanced testing have stepped forward to give their side of the story before the results come in and possibly incriminate them. Its unclear whether its someone who knows something about the murder of Teresa Halbach, or the possible framing of Steven Avery. Kathleen Zellner is a master of the sweeping yet vague tweet, and while its frustrating not knowing whats up, theres method to her social media madness. Each tweet like this turns the pressure up on those involved in Steven Averys 2006 trial. Theres a sense of inevitability growing regarding the truth coming out, and as that sentiment grows it encourages key players in law enforcement or the forensics department to talk. Zellners most comprehensive testing motion ever filed in the state of Wisconsin is still waiting for a response from the courts, and Zellner has said she feels it will take between three and six months to do the extensive examinations needed. After that she hopes to present a more complete theory of what happened to murder victim Teresa Halbach and how the Manitowoc County Sheriffs Department supposedly framed Steven Avery for the deed. If her evidence is as strong as shes claimed it is on Twitter and during press conferences, Steven Avery could be exonerated and out of jail by the end of 2017. As for what happens if the testing concludes Steven Avery is guilty? Zellner demurred on that point, saying No one whos guilty would ever allow this extensive testing to be done in the first place. The WHO declared Sri Lanka malaria-free on Monday. Sri Lanka was among the most malaria-affected countries in the mid-20th century. By AP: The World Health Organization on Monday certified Sri Lanka as a malaria-free nation, in what it called a "truly remarkable" achievement. WHO regional director Poonam Khetrapal Singh said in a statement that Sri Lanka was among the most malaria-affected countries in the mid-20th century. WHO said Sri Lanka began an anti-malaria campaign that successfully targeted the mosquito-borne parasite that causes the disease, not just mosquitoes. advertisement HOW SRI LANKA ACHIEVED IT Health education and effective surveillance also helped the campaign. "Sri Lanka's achievement is truly remarkable," the WHO statement said. "The change in strategy was unorthodox, but highly effective. Mobile malaria clinics in high transmission areas meant that prompt and effective treatment could reduce the parasite reservoir and the possibility of further transmission." It said no locally transmitted cases of malaria have been recorded in the country for 3.5 years. To prevent parasites re-entering the country, the anti-malaria campaign is working with local and international partners to maintain surveillance and screening, it said. Also Read: All about malaria --- ENDS --- By Jonathan Stempel Sept 6 (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Tuesday revived a lawsuit accusing CVS Health Corp, one of the largest U.S. drugstore chains, of deceiving consumers with labels touting how CVS-branded vitamin E promotes "heart health." The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston said the plaintiff Ronda Kaufman can pursue a proposed class action accusing CVS of violating a New York consumer protection law, and that a lower court judge erred in dismissing her case. CVS and its lawyer Robert Andalman did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Kaufman, a New Yorker who bought CVS-branded vitamin E from a Long Island store, said scientific studies show that vitamin E offers no cardiovascular benefits, and that CVS misled her and other consumers who relied on contrary statements on its labels. CVS, based in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, countered that the studies Kaufman relied on substantiated its health claims, and that the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act prevented her from suing under New York law. Writing for a three-judge panel, however, Circuit Judge William Kayatta said most of the studies tested whether vitamin E prevented disease, not whether it supported heart health, and that one said it could actually damage the heart. "The cited studies do not on their face render implausible the allegation that CVS lacks substantiation that the 'heart health' and 'supports heart health' statements are truthful and not misleading descriptions of the function of vitamin E supplements in humans," Kayatta wrote. Tuesday's decision did not address the merits of the lawsuit, which was returned to U.S. District Judge Mary Lisi in Providence, Rhode Island. Kaufman had sued CVS in May 2014, seeking actual and punitive damages plus an injunction against improper labeling. Her lawyer Brian Penny did not immediately respond on Tuesday to requests for comment. The case is Kaufman v CVS Caremark Corp et al, 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 16-1199. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Andrew Hay) After what was a relatively quiet summer, at least by 2016s standards, market participants should be eager for autumn as it portends the return of liquidity, and thus, volatility. While it may take a bit of time over the next week or so to see conditions normalize, with the European Central Bank meeting this Thursday and the Federal Reserve meeting on September 20-21, there are big hurdles for markets to clear that will undoubtedly attract traders attention. Perhaps, however, the number one thing traders should be watching as they return from holiday is whats going on with the Japanese Yen and JGBs. Best, Christopher Vecchio, Currency Strategist cvecchio@dailyfx.com MrTopStep Group https://mrtopstep.com Questions: info@mrtopstep.com Follow Us On Facebook and Twitter For More Intra-Day Market Updates! https://www.facebook.com/mrtopstep https://twitter.com/MrTopStep (@MrTopStep) Dont Forget To Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel! Sign Up Here: http://www.youtube.com/mrtopstepgroup Facebook twitter reddit linkedin tumblr On Sept. 6, 2016, the Dallas Morning News editorial board published a scathing op-ed entitled "Donald Trump is no Republican." The paper's editorial board, which has endorsed every Republican presidential nominee since 1968, wrote, "Donald Trump is not qualified to serve as president and does not deserve your vote." Yahoo News and Finance Anchor Bianna Golodryga spoke to Yahoo News national correspondent Holly Bailey on the trail with Trump about the op-ed and Trump's chances in Texas. David Ortiz David Ortiz was sharply critical of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in an interview published Tuesday. The Boston Red Sox legend, who is in the midst of a yearlong retirement tour during his final professional season, told USA Today that Trump's comments about Latinos represented "a slap in the face." The 40-year-old slugger said Trump's plan to build a massive wall along the US-Mexico border and have Mexico pay for it in addition to saying the Mexican government was sending criminals and "rapists" across the border "didn't sit well with me." "When you speak like that about us, it's a slap in the face," Ortiz said of Latinos. "I walk around sometimes, and I see Mexican people trying to earn a living in an honest way. And to hear somebody make those kinds of comments, it hits you. I think as Latin people we deserve better. Things have gotten much better in that regard." "As Latin people we deserve respect, no matter where you're from," Ortiz continued. "And especially our Mexican brothers, who come here willing to do all the dirty work. Latin people here in the United States are the spark plug of the country's economy. Whoever opposes that is going to lose. And not just Latin people, but immigrants. I'm talking about people who come from Africa, from Asia, other places. All those people come here with one goal, to realize the American dream, and you have to include them in our group." Trump last week delivered what was billed as a major speech focusing on his immigration policy. After more than a week of talk that Trump would be "softening" his immigration approach, the Republican nominee gave no such signs during the lengthy speech. That speech came after a meeting in Mexico with the country's president, Enrique Pena Nieto, during which Trump said he did not discuss payment of the wall with the foreign leader. Pena Nieto later said he insisted that Mexico would not pay for the massive wall. Story continues NOW WATCH: Naked Donald Trump statues are popping up across America More From Business Insider Brock Turner, the Stanford University swimmer who served only three months for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman, registered as a sex offender Tuesday in his native state of Ohio. The 21-year-old was accompanied by his mother as he entered the Greene County Sheriffs office to fill out paperwork. His mom used her sweater to prevent news cameras from capturing her son's face. Read: Brock Turner to Be Released From Jail After Just 3 Months in Sex Assault Case Turner, wearing sunglasses, made no comment to reporters. He was released Friday from the Santa Clara County Jail in California after serving less than half of his six-month sentence. His punishment for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman outside of a campus party was widely criticized as being too lenient. He had faced up to 14 years in prison for the January 2015 assault on the elite universitys campus in Northern California. Read: Stanford Attacker Brock Turner May Have Lied to Probation Officer About Drug Use Protesters greeted Turners family outside their home following his release. Some were armed. Turner must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. Watch: Brock Turner Leaves Jail After Three Months On Sexual Assault Conviction Related Articles: The death toll from Monday's Taliban double bombing in Kabul has jumped to 41, a health ministry spokesman said on Tuesday. "Forty-one people were killed and 110 others wounded in yesterday's attack near the defence ministry," Waheed Majroh told AFP. Officials had earlier put the toll at 24, with 91 wounded. Former U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) speaks onstage at the 2014 Concordia Summit in New York City. (Photo: Leigh Vogel/Getty) Republicans have recently come under attack on the issue of trade in several crucial Rust Belt states that will decide control of the U.S. Senate, and they are not helped by the fact that their partys presidential nominee agrees with their Democratic opponents. Donald Trumps antitrade rhetoric in the 2016 campaign is amplifying Democratic criticisms of Republican candidates in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana. His approach dramatically contrasts with the way that past Republican nominees for president have defended the merits of free trade. Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, the Republican incumbent, has grappled with the trade issue for months and has so far weathered the storm. He currently leads Democrat Ted Strickland and is in a good position to win that race. But in Pennsylvania and Indiana, two Republicans who are closely trailing Democratic candidates have distanced themselves in recent days from free trade positions, under pressure from their opponents. Like Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, both Republicans have been supporters of the TransPacific Partnership but have now said they do not support it. Sen. Pat Toomey, the Republican incumbent in Pennsylvania, has been a big booster of free trade. But on Aug. 17, he announced that he was opposed to the TPP, a trade agreement being negotiated by the Obama administration with 11 other nations. In the TPP, the Obama administration has not gotten a good enough deal for Pennsylvania workers, Toomey wrote in an op-ed for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. We should dump the TPP and return to the negotiating table to get an agreement that would create jobs and economic growth here at home. Toomey spent much of his op-ed defending trade as a good thing that provides 200,000 jobs for Pennsylvanians and is often demonized. But he said he did not think the TPP protected the pharmaceutical or dairy industries well enough from unfair trade practices by other countries. Politifact noted that in 2015, Toomey gave a full-throated defense of the TPP as a very constructive deal that would actually protect the pharmaceutical industry, and voted in favor of giving President Obama expedited authority to seal trade agreements, known as Trade Promotion Authority. Story continues Democrat Katie McGinty, an environmental expert who served in Bill Clintons White House and under former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, is now lambasting Toomey for flip-flopping on the issue. And in Indiana, the situation is similar. GOP congressman Todd Young said at the end of August that he is not prepared to support the TPP because of a lack of protection in the deal for pharmaceuticals as well. Drugmaker Eli Lilly is headquartered in Indianapolis. Like Toomey, Young was a vocal supporter of giving Obama fast-track trade authority, though he did express concerns over parts of the TPP deal back in early 2015. But under pressure from former Sen. Evan Bayh, the Democrat who retired in 2010 and is now seeking to come back to the Senate, Young has taken a definitive step away from a key trade deal. An Indiana company has been one of the biggest targets of Trumps antitrade rhetoric. He has blasted air-conditioner manufacturer Carrier for closing a plant in Indianapolis that employs 1,400 people and moving it to Mexico and said he would impose steep financial penalties on any U.S. company that followed suit. A cellphone video taken by an employee of the announcement to employees went viral earlier this year. And Trump clinched the Republican nomination in early May after winning the Indiana primary. He has promised to impose steep tariffs on imports from other countries and has said he would negotiate better trade deals. Indiana is also an example of where Trumps rhetoric on trade is contradicted by reality. The Hoosier states economy has benefited from international trade, and its manufacturing sector is healthier than many other states. But Trump has made trade one of his top issues, claiming that he can bring jobs back to the U.S. that have been outsourced, without providing much in the way of details. A Bayh spokesman, Ben Ray, said that trade is one of Bayhs top three issues as well. Asked if it was strange that Bayhs position coincided so closely with Trumps, Ray said: When Republicans are right on an issue [Bayh will] be with them, and when theyre not he wont be. Over the course of Trumps candidacy, as he has submitted more often to the advice of political advisers, Trump has tempered his outbursts against free trade and now pairs promises to crack down on Chinas currency manipulation with vague encomiums to trade. Trade has big benefits, and I am in favor of trade. But I want great trade deals for our country that create more jobs and higher wages for American workers, Trump said in an economic speech he gave in Detroit last month. Isolation is not an option; only great and well-crafted trade deals are. He said in Jackson, Miss., on Aug. 24 that he would keep out of the TPP. And he has promised to renegotiate the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada. NAFTA has been shown to have had economic benefits for the U.S. and has created jobs for Americans, but international trade has also cost American jobs, and much of Trumps appeal has been to voters in the Midwest and Rust Belt whose livelihood depended on a manufacturing-heavy economy. In 2012, Republican nominee Mitt Romney came under withering criticism from President Obama in Ohio for supporting free trade but defended it. The 2016 election is showing the degree to which economic uncertainty has accelerated antitrade sentiments that bubbled up in 2012. The major problem with Trump is that the dialogue hes having is an emotional dialogue rather than a fact-based dialogue, said Lanhee Chen, Romneys top policy adviser in the 2012 campaign. From the evidence Ive seen its pretty clear that free trade is a boon to our economy and a driver of long-term growth. Where Republicans have been weak has been thinking about how to help people displaced by free trade. And that is where Bayh will likely continue to hit Young the hardest, because Youngs spokesman has said he is philosophically opposed to providing Trade Adjustment Assistance to workers who lose their jobs due to trade with other countries. Thats just wrong and mean spirited, said Ray, the Bayh spokesman. By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Supporters of Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama's U.S. Supreme Court selection, on Tuesday launched a new push to persuade the Republican-led Senate to act on the nomination before the Nov. 8 presidential election, but their calls fell on deaf ears. With senators returning to work after a seven-week summer recess, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid called the refusal of Republicans to consider Garland's nomination "disgusting and repugnant." "Republicans have deadlocked our entire system of justice because of the Republican Senate's dysfunction," Reid said. Obama's nomination of the moderate appeals court judge has been pending without action for 174 days, longer than any other Supreme Court nominee in U.S. history. The U.S. Constitution gives the Senate the job of confirming a president's judicial nominees. In a move with little precedent in American history, Republicans led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have refused to take any action on Obama's nominee, insisting that Obama's successor make the pick. "The Senate is returning from the longest recess in nearly half a century, and perhaps the Republican leadership was hoping that Americans had forgotten about the unprecedented obstruction of a Supreme Court nominee," said Senator Patrick Leahy, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. We Need Nine, a White House-allied group, will hold a news conference in front of the Supreme Court building on Wednesday with Democratic senators and lawyers who previously worked as clerks for Garland. Republicans sounded unconvinced. McConnell "has been crystal clear for the last seven months," an aide to the senator said on Tuesday. "The next president will select the nominee." The nine-seat court has been one justice short since the February death of long-serving conservative Antonin Scalia. With four liberals and four conservatives now on the bench, an appointment by a Democratic president could end decades of conservative domination on the court. The White House has called Garland's confirmation a top priority for the legislative work period that began on Tuesday and ends in early October. In remarks last month, Republican Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley indicated he could be persuaded by a large number of senators to take action on Garland in a "lame duck" session immediately after the election. His panel would hold any confirmation hearings. Some conservatives worry that if Democrat Hillary Clinton defeats Republican Donald Trump in the election, she would nominate someone more liberal than Garland. But in a statement on Tuesday, Grassley reiterated that "the next president should choose Justice Scalia's replacement" and said his meetings with home-state voters during the recess "only bolstered the point that Iowans should have the opportunity to have a voice in the direction of the Supreme Court for the next 40 years." (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley. Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell and Richard Cowan) Nitish Kumar continued to stay at 7, Circular Road even after he was reinstated as Bihar CM again in Feb 2015 by dislodging then CM Jitan Ram Manjhi. By Rohit Kumar Singh: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar is back at 1, Anne Marg, the official bungalow of the Chief Minister. Nitish had moved out of the sprawling bungalow soon after he resigned from the CM post following JDU's massive poll defeat in general elections in May 2014. Then, Nitish was allotted another posh bungalow 7, Circular Road in his capacity as former CM. advertisement Nitish continued to stay at 7, Circular Road even after he was reinstated as Bihar CM again in Feb 2015 by dislodging then CM Jitan Ram Manjhi. Nitish, chose not to leave this house even after winning Assembly elections and being sworn in as CM, in November 2015. WHY IS NITISH BACK? But now, Nitish is back at the official CM house and what has forced him to return to 1, Anne Marg is the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in connection with former CM's occupying palatial bungalows. The SC in early August has ruled govt bungalows occupied by former chief ministers must be vacated within three months. This SC ruling compelled Nitish to fall in line. In the last two months, former deputy CM Sushil Modi too had written a series of letter to the Bihar CM and alleged him of violating the rules by two bungalows at a time, 7, Circular Road bungalow in his capacity as a former CM and 1, Anne Marg in capacity as incumbent CM. SUSHIL MODI'S ROLE IN NITISH KUMAR'S RETURN Modi on Tuesday claimed that it was his pressure that forced Nitish to quit 7, Circular Road house and move into official CM house. He demanded that allotment of 7, Circular Road in Nitish's name should be cancelled as it was still allotted in his name. "When I raised the issue, Nitish very discreetly returned to official CM house. However, 7 Circular Road is still with Nitish Kumar. Allotment of 7, Circular Road in Nitish's name should be cancelled", said Sushil Modi. Modi also raised the issue of how crores of money was spent like water on beautification of 7, Circular Road bungalow. He released figures showing how Rs. 1.23 crore was spent only in 2015-16 on 7, Circular Road bungalow. It may be noted that ahead of the assembly elections in Bihar, 7, Circular Road was turned into a virtual Nitish Kumar's war room as election strategist Prashant Kishore and his team operated from this house round the clock and charted the way for the return of Nitish as Bihar CM again. Also read: Bihar CM now wants MP liquor-free, to launch prohibition drive on September 16 advertisement Modi alleged another Rs 3.80 crore was spent to facilitate work for Prashant Kishore's team. "It's shocking that almost Rs 6 crore was spent by Nitish Kumar on 7, Circular road within a year", said the BJP leader. JDU, defending Nitish Kumar said that the BJP leader should stop speaking on the issue of CM house as it was a chapter closed. "Sushil Modi has a habit of speaking all the time. He has been holding on to the agenda of Nitish's house ever since JDU parted ways with BJP. This chapter is over and Sushil Modi should also stop raising this issue. By repeatedly speaking on this issue, Sushil Modi was diminishing his image in the political circle", said Neeraj Kumar, JDU Spokesperson. --- ENDS --- New York (AFP) - Novak Djokovic targets a 10th successive semi-final appearance at the US Open on Tuesday when he faces longtime rival Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, one of three Frenchmen in the last eight. World number one Djokovic, the champion in New York in 2011 and 2015, has hardly broken sweat in the first four rounds. He needed four sets to beat Jerzy Janowicz in his first match before he enjoyed a walkover in the second, an injury-enforced retirement in the third followed by a brutal dismantling of Britain's Kyle Edmund in the last-16. In Tuesday's other men's quarter-final, Lucas Pouille, who knocked out 14-time major winner Rafael Nadal in five sets on Sunday, faces French compatriot Gael Monfils. The women's quarter-finals also start Tuesday with world number two Angelique Kerber facing last year's runner-up Roberta Vinci and two-time finalist Caroline Wozniacki up against surprise packet Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia. Djokovic, looking for his third major of 2016, boasts a remarkable record in New York. As well as his two titles, the 29-year-old was runner-up in 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2013. He was a semi-finalist in 2005, 2006 and 2014. The Serb also boasts a 15-6 winning record against ninth seed Tsonga, a run stretching back to their first meeting in the 2008 Australian Open final. "I'm feeling very good. I didn't have much time on the court overall before the fourth round," said Djokovic who came into the tournament suffering from a wrist injury while also needing treatment on his upper right arm in the first and fourth rounds. "Considering I had some struggles before the tournament, I feel great at this moment physically; mentally as well I'm motivated. "So coming into the second week of a Grand Slam quarter-finals feeling good, it's exactly where I want to be." Monfils beat Pouille in their only meeting -- in five sets in the first round of the Australian Open in 2015. Story continues But 22-year-old Pouille is now Grand Slam hardened having made a maiden Slam quarter-final at Wimbledon before stunning Nadal. Monfils, who turned 30 on September 1, is in his third quarter-final in New York. In his last appearance at this stage in 2014, he squandered a two sets lead against Roger Federer. Meanwhile, Australian Open champion Kerber, a semi-finalist at the US Open in 2011, takes on 33-year-old Vinci. They are tied at two wins apiece. Kerber, who can depose Serena Williams as world number one by the end of the tournament, has yet to drop a set at the tournament. But she won't underestimate Vinci, who stunned Serena in the semi-finals last year. Wozniacki, a former world number one and runner-up in 2009 and 2014, has already put out top ten seeds Svetlana Kuznetsova and Madison Keys on her way to the quarter-finals. Now ranked 74, the popular Dane faces unlikely quarter-finalist Sevastova who was so depressed about the state of her game back in 2013 that she retired. Her decision to return has been richly rewarded with a shock victory over French Open champion Garbine Muguruza in the second round. Sunday morning, I woke up to some terrible news. One of my oldest friends, comrades and fellow travelers, someone who not only moved and touched me deeply as a beautiful human being but whose opinions, views and philosophy hugely shaped my own views on life, cinema, art and many other things, had suddenly passed away. Donald Ranvaud and I were both in Montreal at the film festival, me with a film in competition, he on the jury. He went to bed Saturday promising to call me in the morning to schedule dinner Sunday when his jury deliberations were over. He never made it to the jury meeting. Don was a genuine uomo universale. He wrote for a number of international journals and newspapers, and taught English and comparative literary studies at British universities with passion and a childlike ability to approach almost any problem from an oblique perspective that allowed him to see things in a new light. But more than anything else, Don was a man of the cinema. Whether running the European Script Fund or working as a producer in China and Latin America, he was a force to be reckoned with and a staunch supporter of artists, against the men in suits. He collaborated with some of the worlds finest directors, including Bernardo Bertolucci, Chen Kaige, Fernando Meirelles, Walter Salles, and Wim Wenders, on such films as Farewell My Concubine, Central Station, and City of God. Especially with the founding of his shingle Buena Onda and his work as its creative director, Don put to use his genius for discovering talent, identifying promising directors and helping them access world markets. He was an indefatigable ambassador for Latin American cinema, setting up joint ventures with Cinergia in Costa Rica for Central America and with the Puerto Rico Film Fund. After establishing the film school La Fabrica with Roberto Lanza in Bolivia, he helped set up an institute for second features, theater and cinema (Artes Andes Americas). And as creative producer for the Film4Climate initiative of Connect4Climate, sponsored by the World Bank, Don enthusiastically joined the campaign to raise awareness of climate change. Last month, at the University of Warwick in England to receive an honorary doctorate (I was one of his students there), he couldnt resist plugging the efforts of Film4Climate in his acceptance speech. Story continues He was a man who, with his every contribution to art and knowledge, tried to make a difference, and at times he inspired people to change the way they see the world. Some of his schemes were eccentric, and there were those who disagreed with him. But all his projects were girded by a serious love for cinema, a passionate support for artists, and a deep understanding of the creative process. Our close mutual friend, the journalist Chris Goodwin, wrote me this morning: He was a utopian, really. He had an incredibly strong belief in the power of cinema to change the world and to change lives. But also [he was a] utopian in his endless search for the Great Truth at the end of the spiritual rainbow. I once heard of a girl in Mexico City who was so inspired by Dons Buena Onda manifesto that she carried a copy with her all the time, everywhere. Few who met Don could ever take him for granted. I certainly never did, and never will. Mike Downey is a film producer and deputy chairman of the European Film Academy. Related stories Producer Donald Ranvaud, Who Made Movies on Four Continents, Dies at 62 donald trump mike pence Donald Trump doubled down Tuesday on his assertion that Hillary Clinton doesn't have a "presidential look." In an ABC interview aired in part on Tuesday, the Republican presidential nominee stood by comments suggesting Clinton does not have the "stamina" or the appearance to be president. Trump also asserted that the former secretary of state would not have had a successful trip to Mexico, as he insists he did last week. "I just don't think she has a presidential look. And you need a presidential look. You have to get the job done," Trump said. "I think if she went to Mexico, she would've had a total failure. We had a great success." Trump also dismissed questions about whether he has the temperament to be president, saying that his temperament is his "single greatest asset." The real-estate magnate asked a crowd in Ohio over the weekend if Clinton looked presidential, and previously tweeted that neither Clinton nor her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, has a presidential appearance. The Clinton campaign did not appear particularly amused by Trump's comments. In a separate interview with ABC that aired on Tuesday, Kaine shot back. "That's an idiotic comment," he said. NOW WATCH: Trump strikes back after 'Morning Joe' host says he sounded like 'he's had a lot to drink' More From Business Insider Nearly 90 retired generals and other military figures endorsed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday. Hillary Clinton fired back Wednesday, releasing the endorsements of 95 former military officers, trumping Trump by seven. Clinton is getting the backing of more senior military service members and former officials with command and management experience than any non-incumbent Democrat due to her proven record of diplomacy and steady leadership on the world stage, her campaign announced. Donald Trump, on the other hand, lacks the knowledge, stability and values to be Commander-in-Chief. The firepower assembled by both sides could come up Wednesday night during a commander-in-chief forum sponsored by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. In back-to-back appearances, Trump and Clinton will discuss military and veterans issues before an audience of troops and vets. In the past, these kinds of issues were generally debated throughout campaigns; veterans today increasingly resemble a special-interest group. The warring platoons of military backers makes for a strange form of military competition. It is unfortunate that both parties are now engaged in a sort of arms race to gather partisan endorsements from former military officials, Charles Dunlap, a retired Air Force major general and lawyer who now runs the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security at Duke University. Collective partisan political activities based almost exclusively on the participants former military affiliation are especially troubling, and inconsistent with the proper role of retired senior officers in a democracy. The trend contributes to the perception, and perhaps reality, of the politicization of the armed forces, adds his Duke colleague, Peter Feaver, an expert on civil-military relations. Each side does it because each believes, perhaps rightly, that if they unilaterally disarm then that confers too much of an advantage to the other side, he adds. But once there are dueling lists, it is not clear that anyone benefits significantly. Story continues After all, its not like the military knows whats best. The U.S. hasnt won a war since the 1991 effort to push Saddam Husseins army out of Kuwait. And even that led to the aptly-titled Triumph Without Victory: The History of the Persian Gulf War (and the decades of woe that have followed). For the past 15 years, the U.S. has been bogged down in conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. So why should voters listen to ex-generals? In part, its because Americans hold their military in high esteem. The latest Gallup poll shows its the U.S. institution that citizens hold in highest regard (73%), with the presidency, at 36%, and Congress, at 9%, far below. The generals endorsements are sought not because of whom they are, or how many wars theyve won, frankly, but because they bask in the glow given to GI Joe and Jane since 9/11. Theres a profound sense of gratitude (and, absent a draft, guilt) among Americans toward troops willing to salute and carry out the nations orders. While Trump exasperates many former military leaders, he polls well among the troops, at least according to a non-scientific survey conducted by the independent Military Times newspapers. A CNN poll released Tuesday highlights the fluidity of the race when it comes to national security: he does better when it comes to combating terrorism (51-45%), while she gets the edge when it comes to serving as commander-in-chief (50-45%). The nations most-recently retired top military officer doesnt like his former comrades choosing sides. Politicians should take the advice of senior military leaders but keep them off the stage, Martin Dempsey, an Army four-star general who retired as chairman of the Joint Chiefs from 2011 to 2015, said after a pair of retired generals appeared at the recent political conventions, one backing Clinton and the other backing Trump. They have just made the task of their successorswho continue to serve in uniform and are accountable for our securitymore complicated. It was a mistake for them to participate as they did. It was a mistake for our presidential candidates to ask them to do so. Yet not all who have worn the uniform agree. Who should speak on security affairs to our nation? Professors? Anti-war activists? Pot-bellied defense lobbyists grubbing for blood-money? Think-tank creeps with narrow shoulders and massive egos? asks Ralph Peters, a retired Army lieutenant colonel. Shouldnt we also lend an ear to those who have actual and lengthy military experience? Retired Army colonel Andrew Bacevich, who has criticized the nations post-9/11 wars, also doesnt find rolling out military brass like so many artillery pieces particularly disturbing, so long as their opinions are given proper weight: A retired general is no more competent to comment on presidential politics than is a retired dentist or a retired ballet dancer. But their bugle calls, Bacevich adds, miss the point. Id be more interested in hearing their views on why the U.S. military seems incapable of winning, he says. There, oddly, they have nothing to say. With reporting by Tessa Berenson, Philip Elliott and Zeke Miller Donald Trump said he doesnt think voters care about his tax returns, which he has not yet released, despite receiving heavy criticism for bucking a decades-old presidential tradition. As far as my taxes are concerned, the only one that cares is the press, I will tell you. And even the press, Ill tell you, its not a big deal, Trump said in an interview with ABC News on Monday. I think people dont care. But a majority of voters think its either very important or somewhat important for candidates to release their returns, according to a new Monmouth University poll published last week. Seated beside Trump during the interview, Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence said he will release his own tax returns this week. Im releasing my tax returns, Donald Trump will release his tax returns, Pence said. Ill give mine to yall this week, and hes going to provide his after a routine audit is done. Read more: 5 Things You Need to Know About Donald Trumps Tax Returns Trump has repeatedly said he will release his tax returns after the IRS completes a routine audit, but his campaign has also said that might not be before the November election. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and her running mate, Tim Kaine, both released their tax returns in early August. When the audit is done, Ill release them, Trump said in Mondays interview. I dont know when thats gonna be, it could be soon, it could be not. LONDON (Reuters) - "Fifty Shades of Grey" star Jamie Dornan joins "Peaky Blinders" actor Cillian Murphy for a World War Two thriller about the assassination of one of the main architects of the Holocaust. "Anthropoid" is based on the operation to kill SS Obergruppenfuehrer (general) Reinhard Heydrich in Prague in 1942. It follows Czech soldiers Jan Kubis, played by Dornan, and Jozef Gabcik, portrayed by Murphy, parachuted into occupied Czechoslovakia from Britain to kill Heydrich in "Operation Anthropoid". "I'd never heard of this story and it was quite remarkable to read it," Murphy told Reuters in an interview. "It's quite extraordinary to think that what these men did changed the course of the Second World War and inevitably changed the course of history." Heydrich, who stood at the pinnacle of the Nazi security apparatus, was the most senior Nazi to be assassinated in World War Two. The village of Lidice was razed to the ground in a revenge massacre, part of a wave of reprisals. Months before his death, Heydrich had chaired the Wannsee conference near Berlin which formalised plans for the killing of all Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe. "Anthropoid" was filmed in Prague and features a local cast. However, most of the leading characters are played by Hollywood actors and the story is told in English. Director Sean Ellis said finding a balance between "art and commerce" was a factor. "I would've loved to have made this film in the Czech language with Czech actors but then it would be a Czech film and no one outside the Czech Republic would probably see it," he said. "Anthropoid" hits UK cinemas on Friday. (Reporting By Sara Hemrajani; editing by Ralph Boulton) Suriya took to Twitter and confirmed his next project with director Vignesh Shivan, which will have music by Anirudh Ravichander. By India Today Web Desk: Actor Suriya is currently wrapping up the shoot of his upcoming actioner Singam 3, the third part of the Singam series. ALSO READ: Before Vikram's Iru Mugan- 6 films where actors fought themselves ALSO READ: Vijay 60- Ilayathalapathy Vijay's film titled Bhairava As yesterday (September 5) marks Suriya's 19th year in the industry, fans started trending the hashtag #19YearsOfParamountSuriya on Twitter. As a treat for his fans, Suriya announced his next film #Suriya35 with director Vignesh Shivan on Twitter. advertisement Earlier, rumours were rife that Suriya is likely to team up with director Vignesh Shivan after he was impressed with the latter's Naanum Rowdy Dhaan. Director Vignesh Shivan confirmed the news on Twitter. In reply to Vignesh Shivan, Suriya wrote: "Let's make a memorable one." Let's make a memorable one!??? https://t.co/SmDQkcm8mr Suriya Sivakumar (@Suriya_offl) September 5, 2016 The project is touted to be a romantic comedy made on the lines of Naanum Rowdy Dhan. Anirudh Ravichander has been roped in to compose the film's music. Sharing this exciting news, Anirudh posted a picture on Instagram. Happy to join hands for the first time with Suriya and once again with my fav Vicky after NRD.. Love, Anirudh A photo posted by Anirudh (@anirudhofficial) on Sep 5, 2016 at 9:58am PDT Meanwhile, Suriya has already signed his next project with Muttiah, which is touted to be a rural entertainer. Actor Keerthy Suresh has been roped in to star opposite Suriya in the film. Also, actor Ritika Singh, who shot to fame after Madhavan's Irudhi Suttru, has been approached to play Suriya's sister in the film. Suriya's film with Muttaih is said to be an action drama based on father-son relationship, set in the rural backdrop of Tamil Nadu. After Singam 3, Suriya was supposed to act under director Pa Ranjith's direction. However, the project, which was likely to take off next year has now been shelved. --- ENDS --- Two puppies born in October are in fact identical twins, a team of veterinarians reports. This is the first time that a genetically confirmed set of identical twin dogs has been reported in the scientific literature. "What happened in this case would have been the same thing that happens in a woman when she has identical twins," Carolynne Joone, a veterinarian and lecturer at James Cook University in Australia, and co-author of the report of the finding, told Live Science.That is, early during the mother dog's pregnancy, a fertilized egg split in two, creating two genetically identical embryos, Joone said. The Irish wolfhound puppies were first suspected to be twins when, during their birth last October in South Africa, veterinarian Kurt De Cramer observed that the two puppies had shared a single placenta. The puppies' mother had been straining to give birth for several hours and was taken to De Cramer, who performed a Cesarean section, Joone said. De Cramer began cutting at the site of an unusual bulge in the uterus. From that incision, he removed one puppy, and then saw that there was another fetus within the same placenta. Very excited, De Cramer "put [the newborn puppies] on the table next to him, within the [operating] theater, and quickly got assistants to take photographs of these pups still connected to a single placenta," before cleaning them up as usual, Joone said. The veterinarian also delivered the mother's other five puppies, each with its own placenta, the authors wrote in their paper. [Seeing Double: 8 Fascinating Facts About Twins] De Cramer thought it possible that the placenta-sharing pups were monozygotic twins, Joone said. To test this hypothesis, when the puppies were 2 weeks old, De Cramer, Joone and another colleague, Johan Nothling, a veterinarian and professor at the University of Pretoria, drew blood samples and sent them for genetic testing. "I wasn't sure that they were going to be monozygotic at that time," Joone said. Story continues "They did look very alike, but they weren't completely identical." There were slight differences in the puppies' white markings. But the DNA showed that the puppies had identical genes on 40 different markers that are commonly used in such testing. A second DNA analysis, done with samples taken from cheek swabs, confirmed that the dogs were identical. The differences in white marking patterns are likely due to differences in gene expression between the two puppies, Joone said. A rarity? Because this is the first documented case, researchers think that monozygotic twins in canines are rare, Joone said. However, it's also possible that such twins are born more frequently than thought, but go undetected, she added. [10 Things You Didn't Know About Dogs] It's certainly not rare to see what, in an analogy to humans, could be called fraternal twinning in dogs, though. "With dogs, they always have multiples. They always have twins, triplets, quadruplets and so on, but they're all different eggs that have been fertilized [by different sperm]," Joone explained. Human fraternal twins come from two separate eggs fertilized by two separate sperm. As for what exactly causes a single fertilized egg, or embryo, to split into two embryos, whether in humans or in dogs, that remains mysterious, Joone said. Twinning is "something that has been fascinating us for years," she said. The research appeared Aug. 22 in the journal Reproduction in Domestic Animals. Original article on Live Science. Editor's Recommendations Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid talks to reporters during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington in January. (Photo: Carlos Barria/Reuters) Down Ticket is Yahoo News complete guide to the most fascinating House, Senate and governors races of 2016. Coming to you every Tuesday and Thursday until Nov. 8. What you need to know today. _____ Labor Day is done. The summer is over. The fall campaigns have (finally!) begun. To kick off Down Tickets general-election coverage the 62-day sprint from now until Nov. 8 weve decided to take stock of where things currently stand and preview what to expect in the weeks ahead. For todays overview and for the rest of the cycle well be getting an assist from our expert partners over at the Cook Political Report, who know more about down-ballot races than anyone else in the business. Short version: Democrats have a better chance than ever of taking back the Senate. The House will be much more challenging but a shift in control is no longer unthinkable. And while Democrats definitely wont win a majority of governors mansions this year, they are preparing to pick up a few. Heres the lay of the land in race for the Senate. House and gubernatorial cheat sheets will follow on Thursday. Senate Current breakdown: Republicans, 54 seats; Democrats, 44 seats; Independents, 2 seats. Both Independents caucus with the Democrats. In play: 10 Democrat-held seats (CA, CO, CT, HI, MD, NV, NY, OR, VT, WA); 24 Republican-held seats (AK, AL, AR AZ, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MO, NC, ND, NH, OH, OK, PA, SC, SD, UT, WI) To change control: Democrats need a net gain of four seats if Hillary Clinton wins the presidency in that case, VP Tim Kaine could break any ties or five seats if Clinton loses to Donald Trump. Tossups: One Democrat-held seat (NV, where Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is retiring); eight Republican-held seats (FL, IL, IN, NH, NC, OH, PA, WI) The big picture: All of the Republican freshmen who rode the tea party wave of 2010 are up for reelection in November, which means the GOP has to defend more than twice as many seats as the Dems do. In short, the deck is stacked against Senate Republicans this cycle and the historically unpopular mogul at the top of the ticket isnt helping matters. Story continues That said, August wasnt all bad for the GOP. Marco Rubio greets supporters at his victory party in Kissimmee, Fla., after winning the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in August. (Photo: Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/TNS via Getty Images) Earlier this year, Florida looked like a prime Democratic pickup opportunity. Incumbent Sen. Marco Rubio, then campaigning for the Republican presidential nod, had vowed not to run for reelection to the Senate; the Republican field was fractured; and the likely Democratic standard-bearer, ambitious 33-year-old Rep. Patrick Murphy, seemed to have all of the momentum. But then Rubio reneged on his pledge and reentered the race, and Murphys bitter primary fight against firebrand liberal Rep. Alan Grayson a battle that raised questions about whether Murphy had inflated his resume left the young congressman bruised and battered. Both Rubio and Murphy easily won their Aug. 30 primaries, but it was the Republican who finished the month with a healthy 5.7 percentage-point lead in the general election polls. GOP insiders are increasingly confident that Rubio, a skilled campaigner, will be returning to the Senate in January. Sen. Rob Portman arrives at the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, during the second day of the Republican convention. (Photo: Alex Brandon/AP) They feel the same way about Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio. Once upon a time, the race between Portman and former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland seemed destined to be a nail-biter; Strickland led narrowly in nearly every survey taken before the start of the summer. But no longer. Boosted by $18.2 million in outside spending, a massive fundraising advantage, and several key union endorsements, Portman has run what Republicans describe as a pitch-perfect down-ballot campaign, reaching out to split-ticket swing voters while refusing to let Trump define him. (Like Ohio Gov. John Kasich, he declined to attend the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.) As a result, Portman took the lead in June, and hes only pulled further ahead since then; average together the August polls and hes currently clobbering Strickland by 9.75 percentage points. In a sign indicating where this contest appears to be headed, Democratic groups recently canceled more than $2 million they had planned to spend in Ohio and the Koch brothers did the same. Senate candidate Catherine Cortez Masto, center, laughs while speaking with people at a campaign event in Las Vegas. (Photo: John Locher/AP) Nevada is another Republican bright spot. As weve noted, Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto should be the favorite. She is Reids handpicked successor, which means she is backed by the minority leaders powerful political machine and a Nevada Democratic Party that is much more organized than the states notoriously sloppy GOP. As the granddaughter of an immigrant from Chihuahua, Mexico, she would be the first Latina senator in U.S. history a leg up in a state with a large Latino population (28 percent) that votes heavily Democratic. And in general, Democrats who enjoy a statewide voter-registration advantage over Republicans tend to benefit from presidential-year turnout patterns in Nevada. Yet Cortez Masto hasnt led in a single poll since May; in fact, Republican Rep. Joe Heck is slightly ahead at this point, according to the RealClear Politics average. Why? Because Heck is the more talented candidate. The problem for Republicans, though, is that the good news basically stops there. Russ Feingold, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, speaks to reporters in Madison, Wis. (Photo: Scott Bauer/AP) At least three of this years official Senate tossups dont look much like tossups right now. In Wisconsin, former Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold is leading incumbent Ron Johnson by an average of 9.7 percentage points (though a recent Marquette survey possibly an outlier shows a closer contest); Feingold is even ahead in the dash for cash. In Illinois, where polling is less plentiful, Rep. Tammy Duckworth seems to hold a similar edge over incumbent Ron Kirk, who has been sprinting away from Trump in an attempt to woo swing voters in a state that Clinton is likely to win by 20 points. And the same thing seems to be happening in Indiana, where the former senator and governor Evan Bayh, one of the biggest names in Hoosier politics, entered the race in mid-July and promptly opened up a big lead over Republican Rep. Todd Young. Meanwhile, the true tossups appear to be trending toward the Dems and races that leaned Republican are now threatening to become tossups. Senate candidate Katie McGinty waves to delegates before speaking during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP) In the first category: Pennsylvania, where the lackluster Democratic candidate, former state and federal environmental policy official Katie McGinty, has led incumbent GOP Sen. Pat Toomey in all but two of the surveys released since the start of July, and New Hampshire, where Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan has topped incumbent Kelly Ayotte in every poll taken over the same period. Neither Toomey nor Ayotte has embraced Trump, but because the Donald is performing poorly in both states he trails by 6.5 points in Pennsylvania and by 9 in New Hampshire he still seems to be dragging them down. Even more worrying for the GOP are Arizona, Georgia, Missouri and North Carolina, which werent even supposed to be competitive. Cook Political Report has already moved the Tarheel State into the tossup category; GOP incumbent Richard Burr has run a sluggish campaign, and bolstered by Team Clintons aggressive in-state spending, Democratic challenger Deborah Ross has come from behind to take the lead in a pair of recent polls. Democrats hope, and Republicans fear, that her counterparts in other Lean Republican states could be next. Arizona Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick is mounting the strongest general-election challenge of John McCains career; thirty-five-year-old Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander is within striking distance of incumbent GOP Sen. Roy Blunt; and self-funding Georgia Democrat Jim Barksdale is starting to gain traction in the polls. North Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Deborah Ross reacts to the crowd before speaking at a Hillary Clinton campaign rally in Charlotte, N.C. (Photo: Chuck Burton/AP) The bottom line: Senate Democrats probably wont win Georgia, Missouri, or Arizona. But the mere fact that were watching to see whether they turn into tossups as well just goes to show how tenuous the GOPs grip on the Senate is becoming. A lot of it comes down to Trump. If he tanks this fall, triggering record minority turnout in states such as Arizona, North Carolina, and Georgia, then all bets are off. But even if nothing changed between now and Election Day, Democrats would still be favored to win the Senate. New York Times forecasters currently give them a 55 percent chance; DailyKos, 57 percent; PredictWise, 64 percent; Princeton Election Consortium, 77 percent. Why? Because they dont need to win Georgia, Missouri or Arizona. They dont need North Carolina. They dont need Florida or Ohio. They dont even need to hang on to Nevada. Assuming they lose the Silver State, they simply need to win the five states where the fundamentals favor them, and where theyre currently leading in the polls: Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Thats enough for a new Democratic majority. Which isnt to say its a lock. Just that, when it comes to the battle for the Senate, Democrats are starting the fall campaign on offense and Republicans are on their heels. _____ social_downticket The best of the rest Gun control groups back Republicans who voted for restrictions, scrambling the politics. https://t.co/HSV7F2KN5y pic.twitter.com/DhsGSdildh NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) September 5, 2016 NEWS: @freedomcaucus candidate Biggs in Ariz. seizes ahead of GOP-estab candidate by 9 votes! Recount expected https://t.co/ZLO37MBly9 Rachael Bade (@rachaelmbade) September 3, 2016 My latest: Charlie Crist's run for Congress is his last shot. He knows this is win or go home, friend says. More: https://t.co/juBlHBdfbb Heather Caygle (@heatherscope) September 3, 2016 WATCH: GOP senator launches ad arguing he is still a Washington outsider https://t.co/oHhtgKeOPv pic.twitter.com/1RadGmrAFD The Hill (@thehill) September 6, 2016 _____ Countdown _____ (Cover tile photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) Beirut (AFP) - Dozens of people had to be treated for breathing problems in the Syrian battlefront city of Aleppo after regime helicopters dropped barrel bombs on a rebel-held district Tuesday, a monitor said. In addition, rebel gunfire killed five people in Azamiyeh, a government-controlled area in Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The bombs that left more than 70 people choking and in need of treatment were dropped from helicopters on the Sukkari neighbourhood, the Britain-based monitor said, adding most were civilians. The opposition Aleppo Media Centre charged on its Twitter account that Sukkari was the target of a chlorine attack. Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman was unable to confirm the claim but said that no one was killed in the strikes. A Sukkari resident told AFP a "very strong smell" filled the neighbourhood after it was hit by a barrel bomb and that he and others had difficulty breathing. Both sides in Syria's complex war have traded accusations of attacks against civilians and use of unconventional weapons including chlorine and mustard gas. Last month, an investigative panel set up by the UN Security Council said in a report that President Bashar al-Assad's forces had carried out at least two chemical attacks, one in 2014 and another in 2015. But Syria's ally Russia said it had "very serious questions" about the report while the Syrian envoy to the world body, Bashar Jaafari, rejected the findings. Meanwhile in the northwestern province of Idlib, most of which is under rebel control, eight people including two children were killed in regime air strikes, the Observatory said. TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / September 6, 2016 / Gunpowder Capital Corp., (CSE:GPC) (YS6N.F) (the "Corporation") announced today that it has entered into various agreements with DreamField Education Group, Inc., ("DreamField"). DreamField has retained Gunpowder Capital Corp., ("GPC") to act as a financial advisor to assist in DreamField's proposed going public transaction. In order to provide DreamField's with a sufficient public float, GPC will subscribe for up to Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars ("$250,000.00") CDN of common shares in the capital of DreamField on the same terms and enterprise value as those anticipated in the going public transaction. These foregoing shares are intended to be ultimately distributed as a stock dividend to the common shareholders of GPC. GPC will also assist DreamField with various administrative and compliance matters related to the going public process. As compensation for its services, DreamField will pay GPC $3,500 per month until the go public transaction is completed and issue to GPC 1,000,000 common shares. DreamField is a Toronto based English as a Second Language ("ESL") school. DreamField anticipates growing revenues from $1.5 million to over $10 million in 2018 if it is successfully able to access the capital markets and complete planned acquisitions. Mr. Frank Kordy stated: "We are very pleased that DreamField has selected GPC to assist with, and complete its go public mandate. We think this is an exciting sector and look forward to a long term relationship with DreamField." Mr. Ivan Davis stated: "We here at DreamField are very excited to be working with GPC to bring us forward into the public market. A long term relationship is anticipated with GPC." For further information please contact: Mr. Frank Kordy Interim CEO & Director T: (647) 466-4037 E: frank.kordy@gunpowdercapitalcorp.com Mr. Paul Haber CFO Gunpowder Capital Corp. T: (416) 363-3833 E: paul.haber@gunpowdercapitalcorp.com Story continues Forward-Looking Statements Information set forth in this news release may involve forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements included in this document are made as of the date of this document and the Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation. Although Management believes that the expectations represented in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such. Neither CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. SOURCE: Gunpowder Capital Corp. Duane Graveline, a medical doctor who was among NASA's first scientist-astronauts, but who resigned after just six months for "personal reasons," died on Monday (Sept. 5). He was 85. Graveline, who went by the nickname "Doc," died following a short illness at a hospital near his home in Merritt Island, Florida, according to a source close to his family. Named in June 1965 as a member of NASA's fourth group of astronauts, Graveline joined five other scientists Owen Garriott, Ed Gibson, Joe Kerwin, Curt Michel and Harrison Schmitt as the space agency's first trainees recruited for their academic backgrounds, rather than flight experience. But Graveline had only reported for supersonic jet training before he was out of the astronaut corps. [NASA's Mighty Saturn V Moon Rocket Explained (Infographic)] "Duane Graveline, one of the nation's scientist-astronauts, is the first to resign before making a space flight," reported the Associated Press in an article published on August 18, 1965. "[NASA] announced that Dr. Graveline had resigned for personal reasons. It said [Graveline] would remain with the Manned Spacecraft Center [Johnson Space Center] as a medical doctor." 'Didn't need a scandal' Just the month earlier, Graveline's first wife, Carole Jane, filed for divorce, accusing him of "ungovernable outbursts of temper." The charge was at odds with NASA's carefully-crafted image of its astronauts being all-American men. "The program didn't need a scandal," stated Deke Slayton, who as the director of flight crew operations oversaw all of the activities of NASA's astronaut office. "A messy divorce meant a quick ticket back to wherever you came from." "Not because we were trying to enforce morality which was impossible, anyway, but because it would detract from the job," said Slayton in his autobiography, "Deke!" written with Michael Cassutt. Story continues Graveline, who remained silent on the motivations behind his former wife's actions, understood NASA's decision. "I had no problem with NASA's reaction," stated Graveline, as quoted by authors David Shayler and Colin Burgess in "NASA's Scientists-Astronauts." "My divorce publicity was anything but appropriate for a newly-appointed astronaut." Still, it meant that he would never have even the possibility of flying to the moon, a prospect that Graveline spoke of with desire when interviewed soon after his selection as an astronaut. "My resignation was the hardest decision of my life," stated Graveline decades later. "For every time an Apollo mission occurred, I was pulled more deeply into self-doubt." Three months after leaving the astronaut corps, Graveline resigned from NASA and opened a family medical practice in Burlington, Vermont. 'Sputnik started it for me' Born on March 2, 1931, Duane Edgar Graveline earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Vermont in June 1951 and his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Vermont College of Medicine in June 1955. Graveline then entered the U.S. Air Force Medical Service and interned at Walter Reed Army Hospital from July 1955 through June 1956. In February 1957, he was granted the aeronautical rating of flight surgeon. Eight months later, as he worked toward a Master's degree in public health at Johns Hopkins, Graveline was inspired by the launch of the world's first artificial satellite. "All things are supposed to have a beginning, and I guess Sputnik started it for me," recalled Graveline, as quoted by Shayler and Burgess. "From that moment on, I did my best to guide my path towards space." In July 1960, after completing his residency, Graveline was assigned to the Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, as a research scientist with special interest in prolonged weightlessness deconditioning and countermeasures. "Using both bed rest and water immersion, I explored the use of various countermeasures to prevent zero-g [gravity] deconditioning including ... extremity tourniquets and lower body negative pressure device, the prototype of which was conceived by me," Graveline wrote on spacedoc.com, his website. "The LBNP device was flown on Skylab, Mir and shuttle flights and remains in current use." Graveline continued his research and directed an analysis team on Soviet bioastronautics at Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, beginning in July 1962. "I broke out the unique Soviet telemetry link for continuous monitoring of cosmonaut heart and respiratory rates used during their entire Vostok and Voskhod series," described Graveline. "On one memorable afternoon while on the Pacific Ocean-located tracking ship Rose Knot Victor, the NASA tracking system [was] able to follow the biomedical progress of the Soviet's Voskhod 2 mission," he recalled, referencing the March 1965 flight that included the world's first spacewalk by cosmonaut Alexei Leonov. Graveline also worked as an early NASA flight controller. "I was appointed as one of the medical monitors for NASA spaceflights with deployment for every mission from the flight of Enos, through Mercury and most of Gemini before my own selection as one of NASA's scientist astronauts." [How To Become An Astronaut] 'Surly Bonds' In the years that followed his November 1965 resignation, Graveline briefly returned to NASA to support the first four space shuttle missions as director of medical operations at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After a six-month leave, he returned to his practice in Vermont, where he continued to work until his retirement from clinical medicine in 1994 at the age of 63. A prolific author, Graveline wrote 15 books, including two memoirs about his time with the space program, a number of science fiction novels and three books about his medical research into statin drugs. He was also the author of 15 professional publications and reports on weightlessness countermeasures and biological deconditioning. Graveline had four daughters with his first wife, Carole. He is survived by his second wife, Suzanne Gamache. Follow collectSPACE.com on Facebook and on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Copyright 2016 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved. Editor's Recommendations Copyright 2016 SPACE.com, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f200998%2f9cdc9dc9663c4dbbaefe4c10f04264e6 There is heroism to this story, but it doesn't belong to the guy who tried to save his drone from drowning. A 22-year-old, named in reports simply as Singh, cast his fears aside and jumped into the ocean to retrieve the device after it crashed into the water during a student photoshoot on St. Kilda Pier in Victoria, Australia. SEE ALSO: Humans are jerks. Dance with your dog instead. Unfortunately, all hopes of saving the drone quickly disappeared as Singh's body started to cramp due to the cold, making him unable to move in the wintery sea. The absence of a ladder between the pier and the water prevented an easy exit. "I couldn't touch the floor with my feet, so then I started panicking. It was cold as well," Singh told 9 News. Thankfully, his friends scrambled to form a makeshift rope out of their clothes, before police arrived to retrieve him. By this point, Singh had been in the water for 30 minute and police said that he would have started to drift in and out of consciousness had he stayed in much longer. Victoria Police said in a statement that the drone "is now in the depths of the bay", but a 9 News cameraman was able to retrieve it during the day, with the memory card still functioning. Suffice to say, it would have been better for Singh to have waited until the morning. "That was a stupid decision I made. I'm not proud of it," he said of his ill-conceived rescue mission. So kids, don't be a hero and jump into the freaking water in the middle of the night to save your wayward drone. Or if you do, at least do it during daylight and as smoothly as this guy: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte expressed regret Tuesday that his comments branding US leader Barack Obama a "son of a whore" came across as a personal attack. The insult on Monday was the latest offensive comment to raise questions about Duterte's diplomatic skills, leading Obama to cancel a planned meeting with him at a regional summit in Laos. Here are 10 of his most undiplomatic remarks from before and after his landslide election victory this year: - Respect me, son of a whore - "You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum." Duterte, who has launched a war on crime that has claimed more than 2,400 lives, warns Obama not to raise human rights issues with him in Laos. - 'Gay' envoy - "I'm fighting with (US Secretary of State John Kerry's) ambassador. His gay ambassador, the son of a whore. He pissed me off." -- Duterte in an August speech smarting over US Ambassador to Manila Philip Goldberg's criticism of his comment about wanting to rape a "beautiful" Australian missionary. - 'Fuck you, UN' - "Fuck you, UN, you can't even solve the Middle East carnage... couldn't even lift a finger in Africa... shut up, all of you." -- Duterte in a June press conference, a seemingly unprovoked attack on the world body. - UN pullout - "Maybe well just have to decide to separate from the United Nations. If you are that disrespectful, son of a whore, then I will just leave you." -- Duterte in an August news briefing after a UN human rights expert said orders in his anti-crime crackdown violated international law. He later said he was just joking. - 'Inutile' Ban - "Ban Ki-moon, he should write to me so that I will tell him: 'You did nothing. People are being massacred by the thousands. You can't stop (the war) in Turkey, Syria.' So one useless, inutile body." Story continues -- Duterte in an August press conference railing against the UN chief after Ban denounced his apparent endorsement of extrajudicial killings. - Jet ski policy - "I will go there on my own with a jet ski, bringing with me a flag and a pole and once I disembark, I will plant the flag on the runway and tell the Chinese authorities, 'Kill me!'" -- Duterte in a February campaign speech explaining how he would handle Manila's row with Beijing over the South China Sea. He has since adopted a more cautious tone. - Suicide, genocide, upside - "That's the invention of a woman who wants to commit suicide. You can think of genocide, suicide or what, side by side, upper side, whatever, what if upper side or even upside?" -- Duterte launches a rambling verbal assault on Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on summary executions, after she accused him of violating international law with his statements seen as inciting people to kill. - Burning Singapore flag - "I burned the flag of Singapore. I said: 'Fuck you ... You are a garrison pretending to be a country.'" -- Duterte in a November speech, recalling how in 1995 he burned a Singapore flag to protest at the execution of a Filipina maid in the city-state. - Arab culture - "You are not a warrior if you do that. We are not Arabs. That is not our culture. We are all Malay." -- Duterte in an August speech condemning how Philippine Islamic militants supposedly mutilated the bodies of slain soldiers. - Pope, go home - "It took us five hours to get from the hotel to the airport. I asked who was coming. They said it was the Pope. I wanted to call him: 'Pope, son of a whore, go home. Don't visit anymore.'" -- Duterte in a November 2015 speech recalling being stuck in Manila traffic when Pope Francis visited the Philippines. Warsaw (AFP) - Four eastern European countries will stake out a joint position at next week's summit on the EU's post-Brexit future, Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said on Tuesday. The so-called Visegrad Group has "enormous potential... (and) a recipe for the EU," Szydlo said. The European Union requires reforms "to bring it closer to its citizens," Szydlo said, without elaborating. Prime ministers from Visegrad members Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland -- all EU states since 2004 -- met on the margins of an economic forum in the Polish town of Krynica and discussed the impact of Britain's vote on June 23 to leave the EU. The consequences of the referendum will feature in an informal summit of 27 countries -- the entire bloc, minus Britain -- in the Slovak capital of Bratislava on September 16. Nationalists in central and eastern Europe argue that Britain's shock vote shows citizens are disenchanted with the bloc, seeing it as aloof or driven by a federal political agenda. Some of these figures have clashed with the European Commission, the EU's powerful executive, on migrants and human rights. One of those critics, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, said Brexit "offered the opportunity to correct mistakes by the EU," which he described as "rich but weak". Slovakia, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, will host the summit. Its prime minister, Robert Fico, said the meeting will "launch a major process, a diagnostic on the health of the EU" and defining "a remedy to cure it". The Visegrad leaders also met in Krynica with Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, expressing support for Kiev's European goals, with Fico and Orban also calling for visa-free travel to the EU for Ukrainians. "It's a moral issue," said Orban, adding that the EU had promised to take steps to bring Ukraine closer to the bloc. "But over the past two years, nothing has happened," he complained. Cairo (AFP) - The Egyptian parliament voted on Tuesday to approve the appointment of a former military officer as supply minister, after his predecessor quit amid a corruption scandal over wheat imports. Lawmakers backed by a two-thirds majority President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's nomination of Major General Mohammed Ali al-Sheikh, said the parliament's official website. Sheikh, 64, held several high profile military positions until he presided over two commissions procuring supplies and logistics for the armed forces. His predecessor Khaled Hanafy announced his resignation on August 25 after reportedly being found politically responsible for wheat deals that cost Egypt tens of millions of dollars. Suppliers were found to have sold cheaper imported wheat as locally produced in order to obtain state subsidies and inflate the annual harvest, costing the government about $55 million. The probe comes as the government seeks to cut public spending in Egypt, the world's largest importer of wheat. More than five years after its 2011 uprising -- partly fuelled by economic disparities -- that swept away veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak, the country is still reeling from the fallout. In mid-August, Egypt signed with the International Monetary Fund a preliminary agreement for a $12 billion loan spread over three years, which still needs approval from the IMF's board. Egypt hopes the $12-billion financing deal with the IMF will usher in an economic turnaround. CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's parliament approved on Tuesday the appointment of Major General Mohamed Ali El-Sheikh as supply minister after his predecessor resigned amid allegations of corruption in wheat procurement in the world's largest importer of the grain. Khaled Hanafi stepped down on Aug. 25 under pressure from parliament, which had launched an investigation into allegations that millions of dollars intended to subsidize farmers were used to purchase more wheat on paper than was found in silos. The public prosecutor has charged several private silo owners and others with profiteering, forgery and enabling the embezzlement of public funds. Hanafi does not face criminal charges himself over the scandal. The Ministry of Supply is in charge of Egypt's food subsidy program and main state grain buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC). Before his appointment as minister, Sheikh was head of the armed forces' public services division. Sheikh's career has seen him serve in several senior administrative roles in the Defence Ministry and he was previously responsible for the supply department of the military. Sheikh was nominated by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. His appointment was confirmed by parliament in a vote on Tuesday. Egypt has been mired in controversy over whether much of the roughly 5 million tonnes of grain the government said it procured in this year's harvest exists only on paper, the result of local suppliers falsifying receipts to pocket government payments. Parliamentarians who formed a fact-finding commission to investigate the suspected fraud have said upwards of 2 million tonnes, or 40 percent of the locally procured crop, may be unaccounted for. The general prosecutor has ordered arrests and travel bans, and has frozen the assets of several private silo owners and others. (Writing by Asma Alsharif; Editing by Lin Noueihed and Dale Hudson) The 15 joint secretaries believe that Dwivedi is paying for the mistakes of his juniors and that removing him would be a very harsh step. Home Minister Rajnath Singh has promised to look into the issue. By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: In a rare case of unity, suspended senior IAS officer GK Dwivedi, had the entire gamut of joint secretaries in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) plead his case with Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Senior officials believe Dwivedi was made the "fall guy" in one of the biggest embarrassments to the ministry, the renewal of FCRA licence to controversial Islamic Preacher Zakir Nair's Islamic Research Foundation (IRF). advertisement JOINT SECRETARIES SAY DWIVEDI WRONGLY PUNISHED In an unprecedented move, 15 joint secretaries serving in the MHA met Rajnath Singh on Tuesday, to plead with him to reconsider the decision to suspend senior IAS officer GK Dwivedi. At a meeting in the afternoon, they walked to the conference room and met Singh conveying to him that Dwivedi, who was serving as Joint Secretary (Foreigners) in the Home Ministry, has been "wrongly punished" for the alleged lapses of his juniors. Sources present in the meeting said "Dwivedi is an honest officer whose integrity could not be questioned" but added that such actions send the "wrong signal" and are "demoralising" for others. RAJNATH SINGH PROMISES TO LOOK INTO MATTER The Home Minister gave them a patient hearing and assured the joint secretaries that he will look into the matter. Another officer said that it may be a case of oversight or lack of supervision but shunting out was probably too harsh. Dwivedi also separately met the Home Minister to plead his case. However, the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) said that a final decision has been taken (to shunt him out.) WHY DWIVEDI WAS SUSPENDED Dwivedi, along with three of his junior officers, was suspended last week after the government found that the FCRA licence of an NGO run by Naik was renewed by the Home Ministry's Foreigners Division headed by him (Dwivedi) despite several probes against Naik for allegedly radicalising youths and attracting them towards extremism. On Saturday, four joint secretaries had met Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi with the same demand. ALSO READ: MHA renewed our foreign fund license last week, says Zakir Naik's IRF --- ENDS --- CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's parliament will vote on Tuesday to appoint General Mohamed Ali El-Sheikh as minister of supplies after the resignation of Khaled Hanafi, M.P. Mostafa Bakri told Reuters. Hanafi resigned on August 25 amid a corruption probe into whether millions of dollars intended to subsidise farmers were used to purchase wheat that did not exist. The Ministry of Supply is in charge of Egypt's food subsidy programme and main state grain buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC). "Parliament will vote today to appoint General Mohamed Ali El-Sheikh as minister of supply. El-Sheikh is the head of the Public Services division at the Armed Forces," Bakri told Reuters over the phone. Egypt, the world's largest importer of wheat, has been mired in controversy over whether much of the roughly 5 million tonnes of grain the government said it procured in this year's harvest exists only on paper, the result of local suppliers falsifying receipts to boost government payments. Parliamentarians who formed a fact-finding commission to investigate the fraud have said upwards of 2 million tonnes, or 40 percent of the locally procured crop, may be missing. The general prosecutor has ordered arrests, travel bans, and has frozen the assets of several private silo owners and others. (Reporting by Ehab Farouk; writing by Asma Alsharif; editing by Jason Neely) Paynich Promoted From Previous Post as Content Manager WASHINGTON, DC / ACCESSWIRE / September 6, 2016 / The Electronic Retailing Association (ERA) (www.retailing.org) has promoted Vitisia "Vi" Paynich to the position of Director of Content and Education from her previous post as Content Manager, it was announced by Chris Reinmuth, President and Chief Executive officer. In her new position, Paynich will oversee the educational content and programming for ERA's D2C Convention and Great Ideas Summit. In addition, she will serve as content chief for the ERA Blog, e-newsletter, and other ERA online properties. Paynich has held the position of Content Manager for ERA since March 2011, joining the association from Electronic Retailer magazine where she served as Deputy Editor (2009-2011) and Editor-In-Chief (2004-2009). She previously worked as an editor for Advanstar Communications (2001-2004) for such B2B publications as Cadalyst, e-learning/Learning & Training, Collaborate, and Response. Paynich also was Executive Editor/Associate Publisher for Security Sales magazine at Bobit Business Media (1994-2001). "As ERA's executive in charge of content for our association website blogs and e-newsletters, Vi's contributions have a profound impact on our entire membership. In addition, her managerial skills and broad vision have helped shape ERA's renowned convention panels and sessions. We are pleased to benefit from Vi's unique experience in content creation as our association continues to grow and evolve," said Reinmuth. About the Electronic Retailing Association: The Electronic Retailing Association (ERA) serves as the exclusive trade association representing the $350 billion direct-to-consumer marketplace. ERA membership spans the globe to encompass all levels of direct marketers, from start-up companies to global leaders that employ the power of direct response to market across all platforms including television, digital media and radio to achieve a consumer-direct, measurable and accountable response. In addition to helping grow its members' business opportunities and profitability as a major resource for networking, business tools and information, ERA is also the voice of the direct-to-consumer industry in the nation's Capital, working daily to protect the regulatory and legislative climate in an ongoing effort to ensure direct response marketers' ability to bring quality products and services to the consumer. Through its acclaimed self-regulatory guidelines, ERA is also dedicated to building consumer trust in direct response-marketed products and services. Story continues CONTACT: SSA Public Relations Steve Syatt steve@ssapr.com / (818) 907-0500 SOURCE: Electronic Retailing Association A Minnesota elementary school teacher and his husband, who were found dead last week in an apparent murder-suicide in Washington state, may have sexually abused multiple underage boys, according to reports. Aric Babbitt, 40, and Matthew Deyo, 36, were reportedly found dead on Lopez Island on Aug. 25, just two weeks after one of Babbitt's former students went to police and accused him of sexual assault. More possible victims have now been identified, according to court documents obtained by multiple news agencies. The accusations first came to light Aug. 14 when the teen told police that he'd allegedly had "an ongoing sexual relationship" with Babbitt a teacher at Lincoln Center Elementary School in South St. Paul, Minnesota and Deyo, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports. (Local police and school district officials did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.) According to the Press, the teen alleged the couple invited him to a jazz concert in Minneapolis soon after he turned 16, where they stayed overnight at a hotel. At the hotel, the two men allegedly plied him with alcohol and had sex with him, the teen said. The teen said he didn't want "to do this, but felt unsure about how to say no," according to the Pioneer Press. The teen also allegedly provided police with Polaroid pictures of himself naked with Babbitt, who he said became his mentor after he came out as gay, according to CBS Minnesota. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. On another occasion, Babbitt and Deyo allegedly took the teen and his friend to Babbitt's cottage, gave them alcohol and then sexually assaulted them, KSTP reports. The court documents said Babbitt and Deyo allegedly showed the teen and his friend pornography and gave them access to a porn subscription. The couple allegedly created a Dropbox account for the boys and requested that they post nude photos of themselves on it, the Pioneer Press reports. The couple also allegedly invited several teens to their downtown Minneapolis hotel room during gay pride weekend, according to the Star Tribune. Babbitt allegedly flipped out on one of the teens because the teen wouldn't have sex with him after Babbitt spent thousands of dollars on them over the weekend, according to the Tribune. When police searched the couple's South St. Paul home on Aug. 16, they said they found a hidden camera inside a bathroom clock, according to the Pioneer Press; and one of the victims told police that Babbitt allegedly suggested he masturbate while in the bathroom. Babbitt was placed on administrative leave on Aug 17, and after police questioned the couple, Babbitt and Deyo allegedly "borrowed a gun and several rounds of ammunition from Deyo's brother and headed to Washington state," according to the Tribune. The paper reports that a kayaker found their bodies with gunshot wounds and police later discovered a suicide note. Babbitt's death has been ruled a homicide, according to a coroner's report obtained by the Pioneer Press. Does this look familiar? Of the six best actress in a drama nominees this year, only one has not been nominated for her role before. Keri Russell, who plays an undercover Soviet spy posing as an American in the 1980s on FX's The Americans, earned her first nomination after five seasons on the political thriller. This is also Russell's first Emmy nomination of her career, despite her years on the drama Felicity, for which she won a Golden Globe for best actress in a drama actress in 1999. On the other end of the spectrum, House of Cards' Robin Wright has earned her fourth straight nomination for her role as lobbyist turned first lady, Claire Underwood. However, Wright has never taken home the award. Claire Danes, star of Showtime's Homeland, scored her fifth nomination as CIA officer Carrie Mathison. Danes won back-to-back Emmys for the role in 2012 and 2013. Read more: Emmys 2016: The Full List of Nominations On Fox's Empire, Taraji P. Henson plays the fierce record mogul Cookie Lyon. Henson got her first nomination in the role last year after the drama's first season and made it a twofer this year with another nod, though she is hoping for a different outcome this year. Last year's winner in the category, Viola Davis, also got her second nomination for her portrayal of criminal defense professor Annalise Keating in ABC's How to Get Away With Murder. Tatiana Maslany, this year's youngest nominee in the category, plays six roles on BBC America's Orphan Black. The futuristic, sci-fi thriller earned Maslany her first Emmy nom last year. Who do you think should take home the Emmy for best dramatic actress this year? Cast your vote below and check back before the Emmys air Sept. 18 to see how your predictions stack up with others. And you can also cast your votes for best drama series, best comedy series, best limited series and best lead actor in a drama series. By Richa Naidu and Sweta Singh (Reuters) - Canada's Enbridge Inc said on Tuesday it would buy Spectra Energy Corp of Houston in an all-stock deal valued at about $28 billion (C$37 billion) to create the largest North American energy infrastructure company. The takeover, the most significant energy deal since oil and natural gas prices crashed in mid-2014, highlights how pipeline companies are under pressure to merge as they grapple with overcapacity and sliding tariffs that have slowed dividend growth and unnerved investors. Enbridge's biggest-ever deal will consolidate its leading position next to U.S. transport giants Kinder Morgan Inc and Plains All American Pipeline LP , which have seen their stock prices sink over the last two years as oil and gas producers slash spending on new wells. Enbridge's pipelines mainly send Canadian oil sands to refiners on the U.S. Gulf Coast, while Spectra's network ships natural gas to the U.S. East Coast. The deal has no serious antitrust problems as the companies' networks have "limited overlap," said Bruce McDonald, an antitrust expert with Jones Day law firm. The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission did not comment. Spectra shares leapt 13 percent to $40.89, their biggest jump in more than three years. Despite having risen some 50 percent since January on a partial recovery in oil and gas prices, Spectra's shares are still down 16 percent from a high of $43 hit in July 2014. Enbridge's U.S.-listed shares rose 4.3 percent to $42.77 and its Toronto-listed shares bounced. Under the terms of the deal, Spectra shareholders will get 0.984 shares of the combined company for each share held. This is equal to $40.33 per share, representing a premium of about 11.5 percent to Spectra's closing price on Friday. That premium was small compared to the 32.4-percent premium Energy Transfer offered for Williams Companies Inc in a 2015 deal that ultimately failed. The Enbridge-Spectra deal has an enterprise value of $127 billion, the companies said. Enbridge will issue about 694 million new shares and take on about $22 billion of Spectra debt. Enbridge also said it planned to divest about $2 billion of non-core assets over the next year. Enbridge Chief Executive Al Monaco will lead the combined company, which will be headquartered in Calgary. Greg Ebel, Spectra's CEO, will be non-executive chairman. "Over the last two years, we've been focused on identifying opportunities that would extend and diversify our asset base and sources of growth beyond 2019," Monaco said in a statement. After the close of the deal, Enbridge shareholders will own about 57 percent of the combined company, which is expected to deliver annual savings of C$540 million, most of which are expected to be achieved in late 2018. MORE DEALS Despite lots of talk about an M&A wave, only a handful of energy acquisitions have happened since oil and gas prices entered their worst slump in a generation as buyers and sellers have been unable to agree on prices. But now more deals are starting to get done. On Tuesday, EOG Resources Inc , a leading U.S. shale oil producer, said it would buy privately held Yates Petroleum Corp, which has assets in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico, for $2.5 billion. TransCanada Corp , Canada's second-largest pipeline operator, completed its $10.2 billion takeover of Columbia Pipeline Group in July. Enbridge bought a minority stake in the Bakken Pipeline last month. It also won an auction for a stake in EnBW's Hohe See, a European offshore wind power project, according to a source familiar with the matter. Credit Suisse Securities (Canada) and RBC Capital Markets were Enbridge's financial advisers, while Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and McCarthy Tetrault LLP were its legal advisers. BMO Capital Markets and Citi were Spectra Energy's financial advisers and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Goodmans LLP its legal advisers. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP advised Spectra on tax issues. The deal is slated to close in early 2017. (Reporting by Richa Naidu, Sruthi Shankar and Sweta Singh in Bengaluru, Ernest Scheyder in Houston and Diane Bartz in Washington; Additional reporting by Sruthi Shankar; Editing by Terry Wade and Nick Zieminski) VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 6, 2016 / Endurance Gold Corporation (EDG TSX.V, "Endurance") is pleased to announce a drill has now been mobilized and will commence drilling on its 100% optioned Elephant Mountain Gold Property (the "Property") in Alaska. As previously announced on June 15, 2016, three targets are prioritized for drilling with five drill holes planned with initial focus on the South and North Zones. For a complete summary of the targets please refer to the Company's release dated June 15 2016 and website at www.endurancegold.com. The Property is well located near Eureka in the Rampart-Manley Hot Springs area of Alaska, about 76 miles (123 kilometres) northwest of Fairbanks. The Property can be accessed by highway, road and all-terrane vehicle trails from Eureka, an historic and active placer gold mining camp. Gold mineralization on the property is associated with three generations of quartz veinlets crosscutting altered granite and syenite. The Property is interpreted to be a reduced intrusion-related gold system (RIRG)similar to the Fort Knox Mine, Ryan Lode, and True North deposits located in the nearby Fairbanks Gold Mining district in Alaska, as well as the Brewery Creek, Eagle-Dublin Gulch, and possibly Coffee deposits in the Yukon. All of these deposits are related or interpreted to be related to late Cretaceous-aged intrusive events within the Tintina Gold Province of Alaska and the Yukon, and are associated with historic placer gold mining districts. ENDURANCE GOLD CORPORATION Robert T. Boyd FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT Endurance Gold Corporation (604) 682-2707, info@endurancegold.com www.endurancegold.com Robert T. Boyd, P.Geo. is a qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 and will supervise the drill program and has also supervised the compilation of the information forming the basis for this and earlier releases. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange ("Exchange") nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. This news release may contain forward looking statements based on assumptions and judgments of management regarding future events or results that may prove to be inaccurate as a result of factors beyond its control, and actual results may differ materially from the expected results. SOURCE: Endurance Gold Corporation NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / September 6, 2016 / EnergyTech Investor, LLC, a strategic advisory and independent research firm, announced today that James Malone, Chief Nuclear Fuel Development Officer of Lightbridge Corporation (LTBR), was interviewed by EnergyTechInvestor.com (ETI) regarding the nuclear fuel application and qualification process and how to take its advanced nuclear fuel technology to the market. The interview also focuses on recent accomplished milestones and future business developments. To read the full interview, please go to: http://energytechinvestor.com/companycontent/eti-management-series-ltbr2/ For more information, please visit EnergyTech Investor's website at: https://www.energytechinvestor.com About EnergyTech Investor, LLC EnergyTech Investor, LLC (ETI) is a strategic advisory and independent research firm that delivers innovative investor intelligence programs, investor relations expertise and new investor outreach strategies to companies across the Energy Conversion and Industrial Technology sectors. ETI's mission is to generate insightful and credible information flow between companies and their investors through a broad portfolio of investor intelligence products that helps investors clearly understand the issues impacting a company and their stock price including strategic direction, technology and industry dynamics. EnergyTech Investor was founded by Wall Street veteran and research analyst, Shawn Severson, after seeing a fundamental shift in the investment industry that resulted in less fundamental research conducted on small cap companies and a significant decline in information available to the average investor. ETI's mission is to bridge that information gap and deliver solutions to both companies and investors. About Lightbridge Corporation Lightbridge is a nuclear fuel development company based in Reston, Virginia, USA. The Company develops proprietary next generation nuclear fuel technologies for current and future nuclear reactor systems. Lightbridge's breakthrough fuel technology is establishing new global standards for safe and clean nuclear power and leading the way to a sustainable energy future. The Company also provides comprehensive advisory services for established and emerging nuclear programs based on a philosophy of transparency, non-proliferation, safety and operational excellence. Lightbridge consultants provide integrated strategic advice and expertise across a range of disciplines including regulatory affairs, nuclear reactor procurement and deployment, reactor and fuel technology and international relations. The Company leverages those broad and integrated capabilities by offering its services to commercial entities and governments with a need to establish or expand nuclear industry capabilities and infrastructure. Story continues To receive free news and updates from EnergyTech Investor, please visit: www.energytechinvestor.com Sign up to follow EnergyTech Investor at: https://twitter.com/ETI_AlphaDirect Contact: EnergyTech Investor, LLC Shawn M. Severson +1 415-233-7094 shawn@energytechinvestor.com @ETI_AlphaDirect www.energytechinvestor.com SOURCE: EnergyTech Investor, LLC By John Irish PARIS (Reuters) - Turkey must apply an agreement with the European Union to readmit migrants before it can get visa-free travel to the bloc as part of a deal to stem the flow of migrants and refugees, Bulgaria's foreign minister said on Tuesday. One million people fleeing conflicts in the Middle East arrived in Europe last year, many coming via Turkey, and several EU states, including Bulgaria, fear a fresh influx if the deal breaks down. "The EU-Turkey agreement on migration needs to stand and be implemented," Daniel Mitov, whose country borders Turkey, told Reuters in an interview. "What we want to emphasize is that the readmission agreement needs to be implemented before visa liberalization." The EU's relations with Turkey have become especially strained after EU governments criticized the scale of President Tayyip Erdogan's crackdown on those he accused of organizing or backing the failed coup on July 15. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday Ankara's promise to accommodate war refugees on its territory would be rendered void if the EU did not uphold its pledge on visa-free travel. "We need to continue the dialogue and find the way to downsize and decrease the temperature of the rhetoric that has emerged. We need to talk to each other and not at each other," said Mitov. Bulgaria detained about 14,000 migrants in the first six months of 2016, compared with 21,000 in the same period last year. EU SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA MUST STAY Mitov also said his country would not back a lifting of EU sanctions on Russia, which he said had disregarded international law in the Ukraine crisis. EU diplomats have said Russia's tactics of methodically lobbying southern and eastern EU member states is starting to erode the bloc's unity on sanctions imposed on Russia, making it potentially harder to renew them at the start of next year. "Russia has blatantly and ruthlessly violated international order and law. That can't be left without consequences and the only peaceful instrument is sanctions. "Until the Minsk agreements are fully implemented, I don't think there is any condition to ease sanctions. Quite the opposite," he said referring to accords aimed at restoring stability in Ukraine. A loyal ally of Moscow in communist times, Bulgaria -- now a member of NATO -- remains almost entirely dependent on Russian energy supplies and many Bulgarians still feel a deep affinity with their giant neighbor across the Black Sea. "It would be good for us if the economic relationship improved, but there are bigger issues on the table," Mitov said. "Trust has been lost and we need to rebuild this trust without propaganda or distortion of the truth." (Editing by Catherine Evans) Tabu's enjoying the wedding festivities with her friends, while serving loads of style. By India Today Web Desk: In attendance at a friend's son's wedding in Thiruvananthapuram, actress Tabu was seen having a great time with her gal pals Lissy, Amala Akkineni, Sripriya, Radha, Jyothika Sivakumar and Radikaa Sarathkumar, all of whom happen to be faces that ruled the silver screens of South India in the '80s and '90s. Also read: Kareena to Malaika: Bollywood's hottest squad steps out in style advertisement The Haider actress took to Instagram, captioning the image of the South Indian screen scorchers as, "6 actresses in one frame. South Central" Tabu with her gal pals. Picture courtesy: Instagram/@tabutiful Radikaa Sarathkumar also shared an image of the ladies enjoying the sangeet function. The gorge sangeet selfie. Picture courtesy: Twitter/@realradikaa Sripriya also took to Twitter to share a picture of the ladies looking elegant in their gold and white sarees. The tallest one in the lot, Tabu looked especially beautiful with her signature loose tresses and jhumkas. So much beauty in one picture! Picture courtesy: Twitter/@sripriya No wonder her Insta handle is tabutiful! --- ENDS --- Lord Ganesha is loved by all. He is one of the most worshipped deities and Ganesha idols adorn most Hindu households. Ganesha is the remover of obstacles and He is invoked in the beginning of prayers and religious ceremonies. Ganesh chaturthi falls on the fourth day of the second fortnight in the month of Bhaadrapada in the Hindu calendar. The festival generally lasts ten days and culminates on the fourteenth day of the fortnight i.e. Anant Chaturdashi when the idol is immersed. Some people, however, immerse it sooner than 10 days. Ganesha idol immersion has been a cause of major pollution over the years. The Government, in recent times, has laid guidelines for idol immersion to control the pollution. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has listed the dos and don'ts during and after immersion to control water, soil and air pollution. In some cities in India, special water tanks are created to immerse idols. Though in recent times, people have switched to eco-friendly Ganesha idols, there are still many which are not environment friendly. Traditionally clay was used to make the idols but nowadays Plaster of Paris and other synthetic materials are used. Idols made of clay dissolve within a few hours while those made of Plaster of Paris take months and even years to dissolve completely. In earlier times, natural colours like turmeric and vegetable dyes and colours were used to paint the idol. Nowadays, however, synthetic paints are used which contain lead, calcium, mercury, arsenic etc. Paints also use additives and binders which are synthetic. Some paints dissolve in water but that does not make them environment friendly. When idols coated with these paints are immersed in lakes, rivers/ seas and other water bodies, toxic materials are released in the water and affect the aquatic as well as human life. The heavy metals are absorbed by the fishes and when these are consumed by humans, they pose a threat to them as well. When the heavy metals in the water bodies exceed tolerable limits, fishes and other aquatic organisms die as the oxygen level in the water decreases. This also impacts other life forms whose lives depend on these water sources. Some materials like plastic do not dissolve at all and further deteriorate the water body. Despite rules by the CPCB to not throw flowers, adornments made of plastic, cloth, thermocol, metal and other material in water, the rules are openly flouted and after the festival, one can see lakes, rivers, seas and other water bodies full of floating debris. Apart from impacting the aquatic life, the natural flow of water is impacted too and the eco-system adversely affected. It is high time that the Government bans the use of PoP and other environment damaging materials in idol making. On your part, you can do your bit for the environment and keep Ganesha happy too by using idols made of biodegradable material and symbolically immersing a betel nut and re-using the idol in the following years. Lord Ganesha is the remover of obstacles; it is time we stopped creating obstacles in his task of preserving the creation. Image Courtesy : Anjana Rajguru HOUSTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will order wastewater disposal wells shut near the epicenter of a 5.6 magnitude earthquake that struck on Saturday around Pawnee, Oklahoma, local media reported on Tuesday. The quake was one of the strongest ever to hit the state and prompted its oil and gas regulator, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, to order 37 disposal wells shut in a 725-square-mile (1,878-sq-km) area around Pawnee. It also asked the EPA to help shut disposal wells in a 211 square-mile (546.49-sq-km) area of Osage County because the OCC lacked jurisdiction there. Local news website NewsOK reported that the EPA told the OCC in a letter on Sunday that it would order Osage County wastewater wells to be shut, but did not specify how many would be affected. The EPA was not immediately available for comment. Oklahoma has seen a massive spike in earthquakes in the past few years, registering 2-1/2 earthquakes daily of magnitude 3 or greater - a seismicity rate 600 times greater than before 2008, according to the Oklahoma Geological Survey. Scientists have tied the quakes to the injection of saltwater, a normal byproduct of oil and gas drilling, into deep disposal wells and underground caverns. Oklahoma has been putting new restrictions on some of its thousands of disposal wells for more than a year to curb seismic activity. (Reporting by Terry Wade; Editing by Sandra Maler) IRVINE, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 6, 2016 / Khang & Khang LLP (the "Firm") announces a class action lawsuit has been filed against Embraer S.A. ("Embraer" or the "Company") (ERJ). Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired shares between April 16, 2012 and July 28, 2016 inclusive (the "Class Period"), are encouraged to contact the Firm prior to the October 7, 2016 lead plaintiff motion deadline. If you purchased shares of Embraer during the Class Period, please contact Joon M. Khang, Esquire, of Khang & Khang, 18101 Von Karman Avenue, 3rd Floor, Irvine, CA 92612, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or by e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com. There has been no class certification in this case yet. Until certification occurs, you are not represented by an attorney. You may choose to take no action and remain a passive class member. According to the complaint, the Company made false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose material facts, specifically that it paid bribes to Dominican Republic officials to secure contracts for aircraft sales; that Embraer's President and CEO Frederico Curado had knowledge of the bribe; that the fallout from this misconduct would cost Embraer hundreds of millions of dollars; and as a result of the above, the Company's statements about its business, operations, and prospects were false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. In June 2016, the Company announced that CEO Frederico Curado would resign. On July 29, 2016, Embraer announced a loss of $99.4 million for the quarter after setting aside $200 million in connection with a U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act probe that it was negotiating with the U.S. Department of Justice since May 2015. The Company also reduced 2016 guidance for its executive jet business. When the true details emerged, Embraer shares fell in value, causing investors harm. If you wish to learn more about this lawsuit, or if you have any questions concerning this notice or your rights, please contact Joon M. Khang, a prominent litigator for almost two decades, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or by e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com. Story continues This press release may constitute Attorney Advertising in certain jurisdictions. Contacts Joon M. Khang, Esq. Telephone: 949-419-3834 Facsimile: 949-225-4474 joon@khanglaw.com SOURCE: Khang & Khang LLP London (AFP) - Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Christian Eriksen has signed a four-year contract extension, the Premier League club announced on Tuesday. Eriksen had been in negotiations with Tottenham since early last season and those talks have finally yielded an extended deal worth a reported 75,000 per week ($100,000, 90,000 euros). The 24-year-old had been linked with Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus while the discussions dragged on. But Denmark international Eriksen, signed from Dutch club Ajax in August 2013, admitted he was relieved to have committed his future to the north London team. "There is a great future at this place and I wouldn't have signed if I didn't see that," he told Spurs TV. Eriksen has made more than 130 appearances for Tottenham and he is confident Mauricio Pochettino's squad will challenge for the Premier League title after narrowly missing out to Leicester City last term. "Since I came in the last two years we have been going forwards, are taking steps upwards and I want to be a part of it," Eriksen added. "I see a great future, it is going only one way at the moment. "I think it is a very good group of people and players who can connect with each other and a group of staff who connect with the players. "We have an idea of where we want to end and hopefully we will achieve that." By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopian opposition activists have demanded news on the fate of six of their leaders and other inmates held in a high-security prison that was wrecked by a massive fire over the weekend. The government has said 21 inmates died in the blaze that ripped through the Qilinto complex on Saturday - but has not named any of the victims. Another two prisoners were shot dead as they tried to escape the compound on the outskirts of the capital Addis Ababa, the government added in a brief statement two days after the fire, again stopping short of identifying them. The opposition Oromo Federalist Congress said on Tuesday it had received no news of six of its leaders, including Deputy Chairman Bekele Gerba and Assistant General Secretary Dejene Tafa, who were arrested in December on suspicion of inciting protests. "Our entire leadership is being held in that place and we have no idea what has happened to them," the OFC's Assistant Deputy Chairman, Mulatu Gemechu, told Reuters. "The government has a responsibility to explain to the public, no less their families. We have no idea why it is taking that long," he said. The government did not immediately respond to his statement. Dissidents say most recent inmates are ethnic Oromos held for taking part in demonstrations over land rights and alleged rights abuses that have rocked one of Africa's fastest growing economies since last year. The United States last week said it was gravely concerned about the use of excessive force against protesters. Human Rights Watch said in June at least 400 demonstrators had been killed by security forces. Ethiopia's government - a major ally of the United States in the fight against militants in neighboring Somalia - disputes the death toll and says the protests are being staged illegally, stoked by rebel groups and dissidents based oveseas. Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said last week his administration would carry out "deep-rooted" reforms and pledged to address grievances, though he warned of measures if protests escalated into violence. (Reporting by Aaron Maasho; Editing by Andrew Heavens) By Jan Strupczewski and Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS, Sept 6 (Reuters) - European Union countries should better coordinate tax rules to avoid hitting corporations too hard, the Slovak presidency of the European Union proposed, in an effort to provide more balance to an EU campaign against tax avoidance by multinational companies. The proposal, to be discussed at an informal meeting of EU finance ministers in Bratislava on Sept. 10, comes as the EU cracks down on corporate tax-avoidance schemes, which some fear could backfire and drive multinationals away from the continent. The Slovak proposal aims mostly to reduce cases of double taxation for multinational companies and to make taxation more predictable for corporations. Slovakia, which took over the six-month rotating EU presidency in July, praised EU efforts to fight tax dodging. But it called for an approach "that supports the EU's attractiveness as a place for business, investment," according to a paper seen by Reuters. The document calls on the EU finance ministers to discuss measures to enhance tax certainty. Those would include "further cross-border harmonisation of tax rules" and more cooperation among national tax administrations. Last week, the European Commission told Apple Inc to pay up to 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) in back taxes to Ireland to compensate for a scheme that has cut the iPhone maker's tax bill to next to nothing over a decade. Dublin appealed the ruling on the grounds it would undermine Ireland's long-established policy of attracting multinationals with low taxes. Apple's chief executive, Tim Cook, said the company's overseas profits would be taxed in the United States when the money was repatriated. And U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said the EU was trying to grab revenue that ought to go to the United States. In June, EU countries agreed to put an end to some of the most common practices used by multinationals to reduce their tax bills, such as shifting profits made in Europe to no-tax countries where they have no real business activity . Story continues Fair-taxation campaigners considered the agreed measures too mild, but industry groups raised concern about damage to EU competitiveness if the anti-tax avoidance drive made tax bills too unpredictable. "It appears that more needs to be done to prevent and reduce tax uncertainty (that) can directly affect domestic investment and, hence, productivity as well as cross-border trade and foreign direct investment," the Slovak presidency said in a paper that seems to endorse some of those concerns. To keep up the pressure against tax avoidance, the Slovak presidency is also proposing mandatory disclosure rules for banks and other intermediaries that help set up tax-dodging schemes for corporations and wealthy individuals. Following up on non-binding proposals circulated by the European Commission in July, the Slovaks will ask ministers to consider an obligation for banks to disclose to tax authorities offshore tax-avoidance schemes that they advise on. (Writing by Francesco Guarascio, editing by Larry King) BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's foreign policy chief called on Russia to reconsider its decision to designate the major independent pollster the Levada Centre a "foreign agent", a spokeswoman said in a note on Tuesday. The Russian Justice Ministry said on Monday it had included Levada in the list of foreign agents, a term describing organizations seen by Russia as engaging in political activities on behalf of foreign powers. A spokeswoman for the EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said she was concerned by the move, particularly as it came just two weeks ahead of nationwide parliamentary elections. "We call once again on the Russian authorities to reconsider their decisions on branding Russian non-governmental organizations as 'foreign agents', which is clearly aimed at restricting their independence and threatening their very existence," the spokeswoman said in a note. There are now 141 organizations Russia labels as foreign agents, the EU note said. Levada is the most respected of Russia's three main pollsters. While it routinely reports Vladimir Putin's approval ratings in excess of 80 percent, it is widely seen as more independent than its state-run competitors, VTsIOM and FOM. (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; Editing by Hugh Lawson) GENEVA (AP) -- European clubs are set for fresh talks with UEFA that should block a breakaway Super League until at least 2024. Two weeks after UEFA and the European Club Association agreed on Champions League entry slots and prize money models through 2021, both sides said on Tuesday that negotiations for the next three-year cycle will start within months. ''This is a kind of guarantee that the clubs stay united under the umbrella of UEFA,'' Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the ECA and Bayern Munich chairman at a news conference. Rummenigge spoke after two days of closed-door meetings that revealed disunity and unhappiness among clubs from lower-ranked national leagues which will be squeezed by the Champions League deal agreed last month. A breakaway, American-style closed league for rich, storied clubs is typically threatened before UEFA begins signing Champions League broadcasters and sponsors to three-year contracts. Total revenue in the 2015-2018 seasons for the Champions League and Europa League tops 2.2 billion euros ($2.47 billion) annually. An ECA-UEFA working cooperation agreement also expires in 2021, opening the chance for a split. Still, Rummenigge assured on Tuesday, ''We will cooperate in the future with UEFA, there is no doubt about that.'' The latest Champions League deal was agreed on last month in Monaco after months of raised tension fueled by influential clubs including Juventus and Real Madrid. Italian and Spanish clubs were among winners in changes agreed for the 2018-2021 Champions League. Italy is among the top-four ranked national leagues - with Spain, Germany and England - which will each get four guaranteed places in the 32-team group stage. Italy has two teams in the current qualifying system. Spanish clubs which go deep into the competition will get more prize money, because broadcast revenues from the richest TV markets will be spread across all successful clubs instead of being targeted at clubs from that country. Story continues The current model ensured Manchester City topped the prize money last season - getting about 75 million euros ($84 million) from UEFA - despite losing in the semifinals to eventual winner Madrid. ''I believe that was not fair and serious,'' Rummenigge said. Another change to prize money distribution will reward storied clubs for their past titles. Rummenigge said this decision - skewing future money away from newcomers like Leicester toward traditional clubs like AC Milan - was made by UEFA. UEFA told clubs in Monaco last month to expect ''significantly'' increased prize money in the 2018-21 seasons. The 153 clubs attending on Tuesday were told to expect a 30 percent rise in club competition revenues, a projected total of 3.2 billion euros ($3.6 billion). Delegates from lower-ranked clubs declined to speak publicly about the influence of elite clubs who cash in most from the Champions League, and would likely be part of a Super League. Real Madrid's ECA board delegate, Pedro Lopez Jimenez, noted sharply that marketing analysis suggested the best model for the Champions League would include only 24 clubs. The 32-team group stage this season has room for clubs from Bulgaria, Denmark and Poland. Rummenigge insisted European fans are a priority, despite demand from broadcasters worldwide to provide more matches involving top teams at times to suit non-European audiences. ''Our will is to make (supporters) happy first, and not playing, I would say, at crazy kickoff times,'' the West Germany great said. ''We never talked about to play in the afternoon or at noon to make our Asian friends or whoever else happy.'' By Sinead Cruise and Simon Jessop LONDON (Reuters) - Eighteen months after the launch of a global campaign to persuade money managers to black-list tobacco stocks, just one major European investor has answered the rallying cry. Others are largely sticking with an industry that remains lucrative despite tightening restrictions on smoking and a series of lawsuits in the United States, saying they are duty-bound to seek the best returns for their clients. Even a United Nations-backed treaty which aims to cut tobacco consumption by almost a third within 10 years is failing to deter many investors in the likes of Philip Morris International , British American Tobacco , Japan Tobacco <2914.T> and Imperial Brands . "We are firmly of the view that profits, cash and dividends from tobacco stocks have many years of strong growth ahead," said Stephen Lamacraft, fund manager at Woodford Investment Management. Still, the Global Taskforce for Tobacco Free Portfolios, backed by the Union for International Cancer Control, has scored one big victory since it began campaigning in March 2015 for financial institutions and pension funds to divest an estimated $60 billion from the industry. In May this year, French insurer and fund manager Axa agreed to ditch its tobacco holdings, becoming the first major European investor to sign up to the campaign, although others had already opted out of tobacco before it was launched. Axa said its role as a health insurer meant it could no longer justify investing in something that had such a "tragic" impact on public health. At the time it held 200 million euros in tobacco stocks and about 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in bonds issued by the cigarette makers. Even then, the process is lengthy. Axa has almost completed selling the shares but will keep the bonds until they mature. Only in 2027 will the bulk - 97 percent - be off its books. Story continues Many other investors appear reluctant to discuss the issue. Reuters contacted 24 large fund managers which hold tobacco stocks, and all but seven declined comment or did not respond. INVESTMENT APPEAL According to the World Health Organization (WHO), tobacco kills around 6 million people each year, including 600,000 non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke. Many of the passive victims are children. The Taskforce's global Project Manager, Melbourne-based Bronwyn King, has persuaded more than 30 Australian superannuation funds to ditch tobacco but the campaign faces a tougher challenge in Europe. The same goes for the United States, where one influential investor, the California Public Employees' Retirement System is reviewing a 16-year investment ban on tobacco after a study estimated the policy had cost it $2 billion to $3 billion in returns. Campaigners reject the fiduciary duty argument - that funds must seek the best returns for their clients. They note that about 180 countries have signed up to the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which aims to cut consumption by 30 percent by 2025 through new regulations and tax increases that will make tobacco less affordable. Currently just a handful of countries fully comply with the treaty, implying a significant future hit to the value of tobacco stocks when others follow suit. "Over the longer term, (the treaty) has to decrease the validity of the product you will have fewer people wanting or being able to buy tobacco and that has to impact the investment appeal of the producers," said Rachel Melsom, UK director of campaign group Tobacco Free Portfolios. Philip Morris International, Imperial Brands and BAT declined to comment. Japan Tobacco did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ONE BILLION SMOKERS The tobacco industry sells about 5.6 trillion cigarettes a year to the world's 1 billion smokers, many of whom live in low and middle-income countries. Here consumption is expected to keep rising due to growing populations and income. More people are quitting smoking or cutting down in developed countries, but overall revenue and profit margins are consistently buoyed by companies' ability to raise prices. International players have also largely shielded themselves from direct exposure to the U.S. market, which has a history of litigation against big tobacco companies. For instance, Philip Morris has been separated from Altria , which sells its Marlboro cigarettes in the United States. In the 10 years to 2015 - a period that included the crisis of 2008-09 - the MSCI World Tobacco Index rose 10.4 percent compared with just 2.64 percent on the MSCI World Index. All this appeals to many fund managers. For instance, the 9.2 billion pound ($12.3 billion) CF Woodford Equity Income Fund managed by veteran fund manager Neil Woodford holds BAT and Imperial Brands - makers of the Lucky Strike and Gauloises brands respectively - among its top 10 positions. "(Tobacco's) dependable dividends are increasingly highly-prized and still represent attractive yields," said Lamacraft. The dividend argument doesn't always hold water. London-listed British American and Imperial reported dividend yields of 3.2 percent and 3.78 percent respectively, compared with an average 4.06 percent across the FTSE 100 index. New-York listed Philip Morris International has a 4.01 percent dividend yield. Louise Dudley, portfolio manager at Hermes Investment, said she has barred tobacco stocks because she believes returns are unsustainable in the long-term. "The industry has faced and continues to face increased regulation and consumers are becoming more aware of the health impacts of tobacco. The general trend is towards more healthy lifestyles. Tobacco products don't tend to fit within that." CLIENT ATTITUDES A spokeswoman for Standard Life Investments (SLI) said its decision not to black-list tobacco reflected the needs and views of its clients. But Melsom said ordinary savers didn't always know where their money was being invested. "If every individual who has a pension fund could see their level of investment in tobacco and the costs associated with that, I think that would make a difference," she said. Client attitudes towards tobacco varied widely, according to Iain Richards, Head of Responsible Investment, EMEA, at Columbia Threadneedle Investments. "We are satisfied that, for our mainstream funds, our approach is measured, works well and serves our clients' best interests. We therefore don't intend to adopt a blanket divestment policy on tobacco," he said. Amra Balic, Head of BlackRock's EMEA Investment Stewardship team , said her firm did not make social, ethical or environmental values judgments on behalf of clients, and company engagement was critical in addressing the health and social risks of tobacco. "I don't think that we will end up, by divestment, in a world where tobacco won't exist, therefore engagement by responsible investors is key to holding companies to account on ESG (environmental, social and governance) issues". A spokeswoman for M&G, another investor in the sector, said it regularly discussed environmental, social and ethical risks with tobacco company management, and encouraged improvements where it considered performance to be poor. SLI, BlackRock, M&G, Columbia Threadneedle, Handelsbanken and Aberdeen Asset Management all said clients could bypass tobacco with their socially responsible investment (SRI) funds. Handelsbanken said about 40 percent of the assets that it manages are in funds that exclude tobacco investments. The performance of SRI funds, which often also avoid industries such as armaments and alcohol, is typically benchmarked against indexes that exclude tobacco firms. But mainstream funds are benchmarked against indexes that usually include them. Any that chooses to drop tobacco stocks is likely to underperform its benchmark index, putting pressure on managers to stick with the status quo. "You need to benchmark against other funds that don't include tobacco and see how you how perform in other investments you have put in its place," Melsom said. The following firms declined to comment or didn't respond to a Reuters request for comment: JPMorgan Asset Management, Nordea Asset Management, Invesco Perpetual, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Vanguard, Franklin Mutual, Capital Group, RBC, Legal & General Investment Management, Credit Suisse Private Banking, SEB Investment Management, Andra AP Fonden, Forsta AP Fonden, Oppenheimer Funds, Gabelli Funds, Capital Research and Reinet Investments. ($1 = 0.7482 pounds) ($1 = 0.8965 euros) (additional reporting by Martinne Geller; editing by David Stamp) A trio of European film-industry executives is launching GapBusters, a studio-based outfit seeking to become a conduit for European and Canadian producers looking to tap into Belgian tax-shelter funds for film and TV projects with high commercial potential and budgets of at least 5 million euros ($5.58 million). GapBusters has been formed by Pascal Diot, one of whose several roles is as CEO of studio facility Pole Image of Liege, and Liege-based producers Jean-Yves Roubin (FraKas) and Joseph Rouschop (Tarantula). The companys offices will be located in Pole Image of Liege, a one-stop-shop studio facility housed in a 183,000-square-foot former tobacco factory. The site is one of the biggest beneficiaries of Belgian tax incentives for film and TV production. The idea is for productions to use the studios and services. GapBusters is also launching a Belgian theatrical and TV distribution arm in order to offer prospective productions a minimum guarantee. The distribution side aims to handle five to eight feature films each year in the Benelux countries. GapBusters is also in talks with some French distributors in order to create a system that, beyond Benelux, would also ensure French distribution. Negotiations are in advanced stages to service a big-budget French-language production. GapBusters main financial tool will be Belgian tax rebates equalling up to 30% of total qualifying expenses in the European Economic Area and up to 45% of the Belgian-eligible spend. GapBusters will access the rebates thanks to an agreement with Casa Kafka Pictures, the intermediaries for many high-profile pics that have tapped into Belgian soft money, including this years Cannes Palme dOr winner I, Daniel Blake and Belgian directors Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardennes The Unknown Girl. Last year more than 150 million euros ($167 million) in tax-shelter funds for film production were raised in Belgium, 30 to 40 million of which [was] by Casa Kafka, noted Diot. We have access to this [money], he added. Story continues On top of that, GapBusters is also offering its expertise to do the paperwork to apply for the Eurimages co-production fund and other funding sources. Rouschop, whose Tarantula company produced Canadian director Philippe Falardeaus Congorama, among other titles, underlined that GapBusters will negotiate competitive rates with the service companies at Pole Image. But gap financing isnt just about money, noted Roubin, whose FraKas shingle specializes in genre movies, such as hot Spanish horror-helmer Jaume Balagueros upcoming Muse, which he is co-producing. We can bring the money, but we also know how to make movies. Related stories Amazon Ready to Swoop in as Netflix Scales Back in France Venice Market Expands, Rebrands, Aiming to Become Prominent Production Platform Filming in France More Complicated in Wake of Recent Terror Attacks By Mia Shanley STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - European mobile payment providers iZettle and SumUp are among a handful of start-ups that have encouraged European small businesses to kick their cash-only habits. Now, their strategy is to lower fees as they brace for a more formidable challenge: the onslaught of mature North American payment providers onto their home territory. San Francisco-based Square - headed by Twitter chief Jack Dorsey - is among the new entrants. SumUp Chief Executive Daniel Klein told Reuters that his company, which is funded partly by e-commerce giant Groupon, is prepared to cut the fees it charges merchants in order to take advantage of a growing market and stay competitive. Klein did not specify how much lower SumUp could go. But there is room for maneuver, because, for the first time in August, the five-year-old SumUp made a profit and expects to be profitable for the full year, he said. SumUp, which in Europe operates in 14 countries, currently charges 1.95 percent, 1.75 and 1.45 percent in Britain and France and Poland, respectively. That compares to a 2.4 percent average that Juniper Research estimates such global mobile payment providers charge merchants. "There is still a lot of pent up demand that needs to be satisfied," Klein said in an interview. "The opportunity is massive." SumUp has not given revenue figures but says it now processing an annualized 1 billion euros in transactions. Sweden's iZettle, a six-year-old company which is Europe's market leader with an annual run rate of 3 billion euros, announced in June that it was cutting its fees for merchants with high sales volumes. The fee cuts are among the strategies European companies are using to counter the emergence in Europe of players including U.S. payments giant PayPal and Square . The rush into Europe is partly driven by upcoming European Union regulation making it easier for non-banking players to compete in the payments arena. PayPal rolled out its PayPal Here device in Britain in 2013 and Square has started recruiting in Europe and field testing in London as it too prepares a European launch. The price-cut strategy has risks. Though lower fees are a way to battle larger U.S. competition, they could put pressure on profits on these players for years to come, analysts say. "It's almost becoming a race to the bottom in terms of transaction take," said James Moar, an analyst at Juniper Research. While volumes are massive, Moar said the payments firms serving smaller merchants are struggling with profitability. "You really need to scale in order to succeed in these markets," he said. MODERN SYSTEM Mobile payment firms, whose devices plug into smartphones or tablets to turn them into instant tills, allow merchants to take payments via card or mobile phone often at a lower cost than the traditional and bulky point-of-sale terminals which can come with inflexible contracts and monthly fees. Juniper Research has forecast global mobile point-of-sale revenues to rise to nearly $50 billion in 2021, from over $6.6 billion this year, with such devices expected to account for 1 in 3 point-of-sale terminals by then. U.S. firms are keen to break into Europe as the U.S. mobile payments market for medium enterprises is getting saturated. Canada's Shopify - which already has a sizeable presence among British online merchants also just launched its card reader in Britain. The European payment landscape is about to become more open, and also more competitive: New European regulations that aim to level the playing field for banks and payments firms will give third parties direct access to bank accounts by 2018. That means customers can pay bills or shop using their payment service of choice. There is clear evidence that Europe where small and medium companies make up most of the corporate landscape is a rich market for the taking. The region makes up almost one-fifth of total global revenues in the space and is seen increasing over time. "Customers would much rather pay with a card," says Vasilie Kim, owner of food vendor Smakhuset in downtown Stockholm, who uses iZettle software to track which items sell best and how many customers return. Only one in five pays with cash, he says. Peter Gutniak, who runs several vaccination clinics and buses in Stockholm and has 9 iZettle devices, said he used to have to deal with connected terminals, cords and paper receipts. "Now I just sms or email receipts to customers," he said. "It's a modern system, it's cheaper and it is incredibly simple." BATTLE LINES U.S. tech firms are generally seen to have the upper hand. They started earlier than their European peers and have better access to the vast U.S. venture capital resources. PayPal, which can be spotted on London black cabs but has yet to push into other parts of Europe, says it is banking on its brand awareness around the globe. "Consumers know they can trust and use," a device with the PayPal logo, said Rob Harper, head of Mobile Commerce at PayPal UK. "And from a retailer's perspective, they know that they are going to get paid." Square has declined to comment about its expansion plans although Chief Financial Officer, Sarah Friar, has highlighted Britain as an interesting market. To counter the competition, European companies say they have a home-court advantage: several years of dealing in a region that is highly fragmented with local rules and payment habits. Jacob de Geer, chief executive of iZettle, says the company is "purposefully not profitable" so that it can invest in growth. The firm, backed by MasterCard and American Express, is present in 10 markets in Europe and has "ambitious plans for the next couple of years." iZettle, which has a 2.75 percent fixed rate for the majority of its users, announced in June it was cutting rates for merchants with high sales volumes even further - to one percent. SumUp's Klein said demand from existing users and new ones who are accepting card payments for the first time would drive the business in the years to come. It expects to install 20 to 30 million terminals over the next five to 10 years, compared to 8 million today. "There is an entire industry that hasn't really adopted card payments," he said. Darrin Peller, an analyst covering both Square and PayPal for Barclays, said that iZettle has the geographic reach and brand awareness in Europe that makes it better placed than U.S. rivals. But Peller added that the battle lines were drawn. "It will be good competition." (Additional reporting by Violette Goarant, editing by Alessandra Galloni) For women living in Islamic State territory, the dress code is usually non-negotiable: Women are required to wear the burqa in public, or face punishment, including execution. But there seems to be one case where the militant group isnt so keen on the full-body garment inside their own security centers. In a surreal echo of Frances recent agonizing debate over whether or not to ban the burkini from its beaches, the Islamic State is now citing security concerns to ban women from wearing a face veil in some cases, Irans Al Alam News Agency reports. According to reports, facial veils have recently been used as a successful disguise. On Sept. 5, Iraqi News reported that a veiled woman used a pistol to kill two Islamic State members standing at a checkpoint in Sharqat, south of Mosul, Iraq. The irony is rich: Fears of a security risk seem to have pushed the Islamic State into making an exception to one of their own puritanical mandates. Though women will still be forced to wear burqas on the street, they will not be allowed to wear a veil at security and military centers in Mosul, one of the Islamic States main cities that is increasingly under threat as Iraqs military and the U.S.-led coalition close in. Of course, hand-wringing over the burqa on security grounds is more typically associated with European countries, uneasy about their growing Muslim populations and the uptick in Islamic State-fueled terrorism. While only France and Belgium have prohibited full-face veils, other countries, such as Italy and Switzerland, have allowed local bans, and the debate over proper attire increasingly comes up in Germany. While the Islamic State may not be shifting towards a head-covering free-for-all, videos and pictures from Manbij, a northern Syrian city liberated last month, give a taste of what post-Islamic State Mosul might look like. The images showed women celebrating their freedom by ripping off their burqas and burning them, as well as smoking and dancing. Photo credit: JOHN MOORE/Getty Images From Cosmopolitan On December 26, 1996, child beauty pageant queen JonBenet Ramsey was found brutally murdered in the basement of her family's home in Boulder, Colorado. The case has since become one of the country's most enduring unsolved murders, and with the 20th anniversary of the 6-year-old's death coming up, her family's search for answers continues. With quite a few TV projects and documentaries about the murder set to premiere this month, here are just some of the things you should know about the crime and its aftermath. The Murder After JonBenet's mother Patsy discovered a ransom note (more on this later) early on the morning of December 26, the Ramseys called police. JonBenet father, John Ramsey, later discovered her body tied up and covered with a blanket during a search of the house, in the family's wine cellar. She had a nylon cord around her neck and duct tape over her mouth, along with various wounds on her face and back. Prior to being strangled, JonBenet had been hit in the head with an unknown object with enough force to knock her unconscious. The official cause of death was asphyxiation by strangulation, but police believe she would have eventually died because of the head injury. While there was also evidence of vaginal trauma, it was inconclusive - and in a 2015 Reddit AMA, former Boulder police chief Mark Beckner said, "The rest of the scene we believe was staged, including the vaginal trauma, to make it look like a kidnapping/assault gone bad." Photo credit: Karl Gehring / Liaison via Getty Images The Ransom Note When Patsy Ramsey called police, she said that she'd discovered her daughter was missing after finding a 2 and a half page-long ransom letter on the staircase. The letter, addressed to John Ramsey, demanded that he withdraw $118,000 - almost the exact amount of a bonus he'd received earlier that year - and await further instructions. The letter specified that if the family contacted police or told anyone of JonBenet's disappearance, she would immediately be murdered. Story continues It was later determined that the note had been written on paper from a writing pad in the family's home. A handwriting test cleared John Ramsey and other family members of suspicion, but Patsy Ramsey's writing samples immediately "set off alarm bells." Police could not conclusively determine if Patsy wrote the letter, but analysts have said that the letter was "unusual" compared to normal ransom letters due to its length and the specificity of the amount asked for. The Investigation The Boulder Police Department has faced a ton of criticism for their handling of the case. This is in large part because, it's believed, they were so focused on proving that the Ramseys were guilty of JonBenet's murder that they neglected to thoroughly investigate other leads. Furthermore, as Beckner explained, the crime scene wasn't properly sealed off after police arrived, and unauthorized individuals - including friends and family - were allowed to enter and leave the house before the initial investigation was complete. Evidence is thus believed to have been compromised, and the case was ultimately passed to the district attorney's office in 2002 because "the Ramsey family had no confidence in the police." Photo credit: Ray Ng / The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images The Suspects In the 20 years since JonBenet was murdered, there have been over 140 suspects investigated by police. Until 2008, authorities largely focused their efforts on the beauty queen's parents and her brother, Burke, who was 9 years old at the time of her death. In fact, a grand jury voted to indict Patsy and John Ramsey for abuse in 1999, but the judge refused to sign the indictment because there wasn't sufficient evidence to prove it beyond doubt. The Ramsey family was later cleared of all suspicion because DNA found on JonBenet's leggings and underwear did not match anyone of relation to her. Other prime suspects included Bill McReynolds and Michael Helgoth, who were both eventually cleared of all suspicion. The former was a local Santa Claus who had visited the Ramsey house a couple days before JonBenet's death, and, by coincidence, whose daughter had been kidnapped 22 years before. The latter was a "favorite" suspect of volunteer and private investigators due to his suspicious behavior surrounding the murder. The (False) Confession In 2006, John Mark Karr, a schoolteacher living in Thailand, confessed to JonBenet's murder, and was brought back to the U.S. to be arrested. However, less than two weeks later, police discovered that his DNA did not match with what was found on JonBenet's clothing, and he was released. Photo credit: Paula Bronstein / Getty Images The Intruder Theory One of the most contentious debates in the investigation has been whether it's possible that JonBenet was murdered by an intruder. A basement window had been broken and an unidentified footprint was found at the crime scene, but the physical evidence - including undisturbed cobwebs - seemed to suggest those details were part of a set-up. However, ever since the case was reopened in 2009, police have started revisiting the intruder theory as a possible option. Follow Gina on Twitter. You Might Also Like By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former Air China Ltd employee linked to defendants in a U.N. bribery case pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to U.S. charges that she helped military personnel at China's mission to the United Nations smuggle packages out of the United States. Ying Lin, whom prosecutors said also helped a Chinese national under investigation by the FBI flee the United States last year, entered her plea through her lawyer in Brooklyn federal court to charges including smuggling and obstruction of justice. "The charges against her are baseless," Deborah Colson, Lin's lawyer, told reporters. "She really looks forward to fighting this and having her day in court." Prosecutors said Lin, a U.S. citizen, smuggled items onto Air China flights at the direction of Chinese military officers at its U.N. mission and others while working as a counter agent at John F. Kennedy International Airport. China's Foreign Ministry on Friday criticized the Lin case. It said U.S. accusations concerning diplomatic personnel "have ulterior motives." The charges, announced on Aug. 31, are the latest against Lin, who most recently was Air China's station chief at Newark Liberty International Airport. She was initially arrested in August 2015 and charged for structuring bank deposits to avoid transaction reporting requirements. Lin was arrested in a case brought by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn just before prosecutors in Manhattan charged Macau real estate mogul Ng Lap Seng, whom they said bribed a U.N. diplomat. Both Lin, 46, and Ng, 68, have been linked in court and other records to Qin Fei, a Chinese national who Ng has said was a consultant to his company, Sun Kian Ip Group. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents last year interrogated Ng about Qin, asking if he was connected to foreign intelligence, according to court records. They also asked about a $10 million Long Island mansion owned by Qin. Property records list Lin as an agent for the mansion. Story continues An indictment said Lin helped a Chinese national matching Qin's description flee, arranging for his flight to Beijing in October 2015. Qin has not been charged. His lawyer has not responded to requests for comment. Ng and his assistant, Jeff Yin, are scheduled to go on trial in January on charges that they bribed former U.N. Assembly President John Ashe to support a conference center in Macau that Sun Kian group would develop. Ashe, a former U.N. ambassador from Antigua and Barbuda, died in June awaiting trial. Ng and Yin have pleaded not guilty. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; editing by Grant McCool) Montevideo (AFP) - A former Guantanamo inmate who was resettled in Uruguay was hospitalized, suffering from the effects of a prolonged hunger strike, a source said. Jihad Diyab, a 45-year-old Syrian who has been on a hunger strike to press his demand to be reunited with his family in Turkey, was admitted to a Montevideo hospital at 8:30 pm (2330 GMT), said the source, who is close to Diyab. "He was very bad, his blood pressure was very high, he had a low pulse, he had a lot of pain," said the source, who asked not to be identified, adding that they had been present when her was examined by a doctor. "He's very thin and very dehydrated." Diyab has clashed repeatedly with the authorities in Uruguay since being resettled as a refugee nearly two years ago along with five other former Guantanamo detainees. The six men have had a running dispute with the Uruguayan government over housing and living allowances, and Diyab says Uruguay is not doing enough to reunite him with his family. He caused alarm in June when he went off the radar, apparently evading border control and sneaking into Venezuela. He showed up at the Uruguayan consulate in Caracas in July asking to be taken to his family in Turkey. He was arrested and held in what his lawyer condemned as unacceptable conditions before being deported back to Uruguay on August 30. Diyab earlier told AFP that he has been on hunger strike for about 20 days -- starting when he was jailed in Venezuela -- and has drunk no liquids for three days. -- 'No solution' -- "Enough already," he said. "I've been here (in Uruguay) for a year and nine months, and they haven't found a solution to my situation." Uruguayan officials say Turkey has refused to allow Diyab entry and that they are trying to arrange for his family to be relocated to Uruguay. Diyab says he would not be able to support them in Uruguay and wants to be resettled elsewhere. He is a veteran hunger striker, having staged prolonged hunger strikes during his 12 years at Guantanamo to protest his detention. Story continues He made international headlines when he launched an ultimately unsuccessful court case in the United States in an attempt to stop prison officials from force-feeding him. Diyab and the other five ex-Guantanamo detainees were resettled in Uruguay as part of US President Barack Obama's effort to fulfil his long-delayed promise to close the prison set up in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Accused of terrorist links, the men -- four Syrians, a Palestinian and a Tunisian -- were never charged or tried. They had been cleared for release but could not be sent to their home countries because of unrest there. Sarajevo (AFP) - A former Playboy model has gone on the run after she was sentenced to jail in Bosnia for laying a honey trap in the attempted murder of a gangster, a court said Tuesday. Former "Miss Bosnia" Slobodanka Tosic, 30, was convicted in March for arranging a date with local mafia boss Djordje Zdrale in 2006 and betraying him to his arch-rival Darko Elez, who then attempted to have him killed. Zdrale was wounded in the assassination attempt but managed to escape. In July an appeals chamber upheld a two-and-a-half year sentence for Tosic, who had been staying at her parents' house near Sarajevo with restrictions on her movement. But she has not come forward to serve her sentence. "Upon a demand of the State Court of Bosnia-Hercegovina an Interpol arrest warrant was issued for Slobodanka Tosic," a spokesman for the tribunal that issued her sentence told AFP. The spokesman did not elaborate on why the court took so long to request the warrant, but it is believed the police were trying to find Tosic in Bosnia first. The model was awarded the "Miss Bosnia" title when she was 19. She appeared on the cover of Serbian Playboy in 2008 after moving to the neighbouring country and was declared "girl of the month", according to the magazine's then editor-in-chief. Tosic was proven to have belonged to Elez's crime syndicate, described by prosecutors as "one of the largest groups of organised crime" in Bosnia. It was smashed in a major police operation in September 2012. A total of 32 people, including Elez, were charged with a number of gangland murders and raids on cash delivery services. Elez was jailed in Serbia for nine years after being convicted of involvement in organised crime. Amber Rose and Maksim Chmerkovskiy are ready to hit the dance floor running. The Dancing With the Stars duo opened up to ET about how they plan to blow away the competition in the upcoming 23rd season, debuting Sept. 12 on ABC. "I want us to go out with a bang and do that first performance the way that kind of shocks people a little bit," Maks said ahead of rehearsal on Friday in Burbank, California. This marks his first return to the series since season 18 in 2014, when he nabbed the coveted mirror ball trophy with partner Meryl Davis. WATCH: Why Mark Ballas Said No to Returning to 'Dancing With the Stars' "I have done this 14 times and was successful at one point or another," he said. "[After] taking a break, I feel like I am just having fun with this as opposed to treating it like a job." But it's not all fun and games as Maks and Amber gear up for their big ballroom debut. With only a few weeks to prepare, Amber has already impressed her partner with a killer work ethic. "It's all really hard, and she gives me 100 percent of her time," he said. "I never get, 'Oh, let me sit down, my feet hurt' or whatever. That's amazing and, you know, she is a worker. ... We are doing great!" For her part, Amber seems to be happy soaking in all of Maks' dancing expertise, calling him "fun," "silly," and "professional." "I am none of those things," Maks quipped back, joking: "[She's] ruining my reputation already." "He knows what he's doing, and that's really important. I kind of just listen to him and I always say, 'Yes, sir,' 'No, sir,'" she added with a laugh. "But he's awesome. He makes me feel like I can do it." WATCH: See 'DWTS' Pros' Audition Tapes -- From Baby-Faced Derek Hough to Soft-Spoken Cheryl Burke The adorable pair seem to also be bonding over their roles as parents! Maks is expecting his first child with his fiancee, fellow DTWS pro Peta Murgatroyd, while Amber shares 3-year-old son Sebastian with her ex-husband, Wiz Khalifa. Story continues "[Amber] has a lot of advice... every day," Maks laughed, with Amber chiming in: "I gave Peta some shea butter yesterday!" "I am experiencing through Peta and I am just basically on a 'Whatever you need' sort of basis," he said. "I think that's our role, you know? What women go through during pregnancy is unreal and when you have that experience, you get it. My friend Tony Dovolani has three kids and every time I would criticize him for something, he would be like, 'Just wait.' And so here I am, and I am literally doing exactly the same things I was laughing at him for." Amber, meanwhile, is holding down the fort with several jobs, including her eponymous VH1 talk show, a new gig hosting the Loveline With Amber Rose podcast, and planning her second annual SlutWalk in Los Angeles. Thankfully, she said, Wiz is happily helping out with their baby boy while she prepares for DWTS. "My ex-husband is off tour now, so it kind of worked out perfectly," she said. "He can have the baby a little more and give me a little more time to rest." And, yes, both Wiz and Sebastian will be rooting for Muva from the DWTS audience. "Wiz is coming," she said of her cheering squad, "Sebastian, of course. My mom, my team. My cousins are already calling me, they'll come in from Philly to be in the audience." PICS: See the Hot 'DWTS' Season 23 Pairings! As for their greatest competition this season, Maks has his eye on his brother, Val Chmerkovskiy. "Off the bat, I would think Val and Laurie [Hernandez] are going to be great," he said. "[But] anybody can do amazing. It's about the time they put in and the personality." When it comes to personality, Amber has that in spades! In honor of her upcoming Loveline podcast, ET put her to the test with a series of rapid-fire dating questions. See what Amber said about getting back at a cheater and the best pickup lines a girl can use in the player below. WATCH: Amber Rose Taking Over Iconic 'Loveline' Franchise With New Podcast - 'I Don't Hold Anything Back' Related Articles By Anshuman Daga SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Avolon Holdings, part of China's acquisitive HNA Group, is nearing a deal to buy the aircraft leasing assets of U.S. lender CIT Group (CIT.N) for between $3 billion and $4 billion, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Asian lessors, led by cash-rich Chinese banks, are spending billions of dollars to expand in the $228 billion global aircraft leasing sector that offers long-term revenue in dollars and accounts for some 40 percent of the world's airline fleet. With the purchase, Avolon would add about 470 owned, managed and on-order aircraft to its fleet of 440-plus planes. This would make it the world's third biggest lessor behind AerCap Holdings (AER.N) and General Electric's (GE.N) GE Capital Aviation Services, which still dominate the sector. An announcement could come as early as this week, said the people, who declined to be named as talks are confidential. They added that negotiations were at an advanced stage but a final deal has not been agreed. The aircraft leasing arm of China's Ping An Insurance Group , and Century Tokyo Leasing (8439.T), which has joint ventures with CIT, were among those competing for the aircraft assets of CIT, Reuters previously reported.. Avolon, Century Tokyo Leasing and Ping An declined to comment. CIT's U.S.-based spokesman could not be reached for comment outside normal business hours. CIT has said it is looking to sell or spin-off its Commercial Air unit by the end of the year as it focuses on domestic banking. Part of Chinese aviation and shipping conglomerate HNA bought Irish lessor Avolon for about $2.5 billion last year, building on a series of acquisitions that HNA has completed in the past few years as it builds up its global presence. Avolon became a fully-owned, indirect subsidiary of Bohai Financial in January 2016, and is part of HNA's extensive interests in the aviation sector spanning stakes in 20 airlines and nine airports in China, and other leasing firms. CIT, which includes Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) among its more than 100 customers, kicked off the sale process earlier this year and attracted bids from more than a dozen suitors, the sources said. (Additional reporting by Mike Stone in New York, Taiga Uranaka in Tokyo and Julie Zhu in Hong Kong; editing by Lisa Jucca and David Clarke) By Anshuman Daga SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Avolon Holdings, part of China's acquisitive HNA Group is nearing a deal to buy the aircraft leasing assets of U.S. lender CIT Group for between $3 billion and $4 billion, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The purchase would turn Avolon into one of the world's top five lessors, building on a series of acquisitions that HNA Group has completed over the past two years. An announcement could come as early as this week, these people, who declined to be named as talks are confidential, said. CIT's commercial air unit is one of the world's top 10 lessors with about 330 aircraft - an attractive target particularly for Chinese firms whose enthusiasm for the $228 billion global aircraft leasing market has climbed in tandem with rapid growth in Chinese air travel. Century Tokyo Leasing <8439.T>, which has joint ventures with CIT, and the aircraft leasing arm of China's Ping An Insurance Group <601318.SS> were among those competing for the aircraft assets of CIT, Reuters previously reported.. CIT, which includes Delta Air Lines among its more than 100 customers, kicked off the sale process earlier this year and attracted bids from more than a dozen suitors, the sources said. Avolon, Century Tokyo Leasing and Ping An declined to comment. CIT's U.S.-based spokesman could not be reached for comment outside normal business hours. (Reporting by Anshuman Daga; Additional reporting by Mike Stone in NEW YORK, Taiga Uranaka in TOKYO and Julie Zhu in HONG KONG; Editing by Denny Thomas and Lisa Jucca) By Lisandra Paraguassu PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazil's Forjas Taurus SA, the largest weapons manufacturer in Latin America, sold guns to a known Yemeni arms trafficker who funneled them into his nation's civil war in violation of international sanctions, according to charges in court documents reviewed by Reuters. Federal prosecutors in southern Brazil charged two former executives of Forjas Taurus in May with shipping 8,000 handguns in 2013 to Fares Mohammed Hassan Mana'a, an arms smuggler active around the Horn of Africa for over a decade according to the United Nations. The handguns were allegedly shipped by Taurus to Djibouti and redirected to Yemen by Mana'a, according to court documents. Alexandre Wunderlich, a lawyer for the two former Taurus export executives, Eduardo Pezzuol and Leonardo Sperry, said the accusations in the sealed indictment "do not reflect the facts of the matter." Yemen has been consumed since early last year by a brutal civil war killing thousands of people as Iran-backed Houthi rebels challenge a Saudi-allied government. Mana'a, who served from 2011 to 2014 as governor of Sa'dah, a Houthi stronghold, could not be reached for comment. A Brazilian court issued a public summons for Mana'a in May as part of a case citing him, Sperry and Pezzuol as defendants. Taurus declined to answer detailed questions on the weapons case due to legal confidentiality but said it was "helping the courts to clarify the facts." Following the Reuters report, the company confirmed in a securities filing on Monday that two of its former executives had been charged for an alleged 2013 arms shipment destined for Yemen. After learning about suspicions surrounding the Yemeni arms dealer, Taurus said it halted another shipment he negotiated. The case, currently sealed by a judge in the southern city of Porto Alegre, near Taurus' headquarters, may draw legal scrutiny to the company, a major supplier of firearms to Brazil's police and military and one of the top five makers of handguns in the U.S. market, where it sells nearly three-quarters of its production. Brazil is the world's fourth-largest exporter of small arms. Prosecutors say the two former Taurus executives were negotiating another shipment of 11,000 guns with Mana'a last year when police uncovered the plot and raided the company's offices in November. Prosecutors have not brought charges against Taurus but said evidence seized in the raid included dozens of emails showing it knew of U.N. sanctions against trading arms with Mana'a and Yemen but sought ways to skirt them. "Taurus clearly made use of a notorious international arms trafficker to triangulate its merchandise to other countries, especially Yemen," the documents said. "There is no way Taurus and its employees can claim to be unfamiliar with acts attributed to Mana'a, since Leonardo Sperry testified it is standard for Taurus to do an internet search on people they invite to Brazil," they said. Sperry and Pezzuol gave testimony to federal police in October 2015 as the investigation got underway. The executives left Taurus late last year, according to their LinkedIn resumes. "All of the acts covered in the case were carried out entirely within the company and within legal limits," their lawyer said in an email. He declined to answer other questions, citing the confidentiality of the case. FUELING WAR Prosecutors said ties between Taurus and Mana'a stretch back to 2007, without elaborating in the court documents. They said the relationship went quiet for a couple of years after the U.N. Security Council leveled sanctions against Mana'a in 2010 for violating an arms embargo in Somalia. The U.N. sanctions banned any weapons sales or financing for Mana'a, and ordered an asset freeze and travel ban for him and others suspected of selling arms in Somalia's civil war. U.S. President Barack Obama also named Mana'a and ten others in a 2010 executive order banning business with individuals and groups accused of contributing to unrest in Somalia. Yet prosecutors said the sanctions did not stop Taurus from re-engaging with Mana'a as violence broke out in Yemen. Yemen's 18-month old conflict has drawn in regional powers and killed at least 10,000 people, including nearly 4,000 civilians, according to the United Nations. In an undated email cited by prosecutors, who did not name the recipients, Pezzuol wrote that "if Taurus decides to sell to Yemen, the path appears to be through Mohamad Manaa," adding that he had set up a route through Djibouti, just across the Mandeb Strait from Yemen. Taurus got authorization from Brazil's army in October 2013 to ship 8,000 weapons to Djibouti's defense ministry but prosecutors say in documents that Mana'a redirected the arms to Yemen using companies such as Al Sharq Fishing and Fish. Brazil's defense ministry said authorization for the export to Djibouti did not allow for legal re-export to other nations.Mana'a paid Taurus $2 million for the weapons, according to court documents, which cite regular payments from the Yemeni to the company since 2013. The documents did not indicate who had received the arms in Yemen. "Djibouti was a false way point for exportation," prosecutors wrote in their charges. "They made use of fraud to disguise the real destination of the weapons and to hide the involvement of Fares Mana'a." Prosecutors say the fraud extended to the identity of Mana'a, who came to Brazil in January 2015 to visit the Taurus factory despite the U.N. travel ban. On behalf of the company, Sperry and Pezzuol asked Brazil's foreign ministry to extend a formal invitation to the arms dealer, but the request was denied on the grounds of economic restrictions with Yemen. The executives then discouraged Mana'a from traveling to Brazil under his own name and tried unsuccessfully to obtain a passport from Djibouti for his use, according to prosecutors. They said Mana'a eventually entered Brazil on a passport with a false name and birth date. Just two months later, Mana'a and Taurus were arranging for another shipment of guns through Djibouti, according to the charges, disregarding the U.N. arms embargo for Yemen passed in April 2015. Prosecutors say that shipment of 11,000 handguns would have gone through to Yemen if police had not broken up the scheme. Afterwards Sperry wrote an email to Mana'a suspending the shipment "due to recent contact with Brazilian authorities." In May, a federal judge overseeing the case called for the notification of Brazil's foreign ministry, along with Interpol, the United Nations and the Saudi Arabian, Egyptian and U.S. embassies in Brasilia, court documents showed. But Taurus won an injunction from an appeals court two days later blocking that decision, arguing it would cause the company "economic losses." (Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Writing and additional reporting by Brad Haynes; Additional reporting by Maria Pia Palermo; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Kieran Murray) Companies can no longer market hand soaps containing several common antibacterial compounds, the Food and Drug Administration announced today. The FDA instituted the soap ban, which includes the widely used antibacterial chemicals triclosan and triclocarban, citing questions about the antibacterials' safety for long-term use. In addition, there is no evidence these chemicals add any benefit to people's heath beyond those of regular soap, the agency said. "Consumers may think antibacterial washes are more effective at preventing the spread of germs, but we have no scientific evidence that they are any better than plain soap and water," Dr. Janet Woodcock, the director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), said in a statementtoday (Sept. 2). "In fact, some data suggests that antibacterial ingredients may do more harm than good over the long term." [Top 7 Germs in Food That Make You Sick] Questions on safety and effectiveness The new ban applies to 19 chemicals, and only applies to soaps that are meant to be lathered and washed off with water. The ruling does not apply to antibacterial chemicals often used in clinical settings, such as hospitals or doctor's offices, and does not apply to antibacterial wipes or hand sanitizers. The new rule comes as no surprise to manufacturers, who have already started eliminating these ingredients from their products. In 2013, the agency said that companies needed to provide evidence that the ingredients were effective and safe. At that time, recent evidence had suggested that long-term use of the soaps could fuel bacterial resistance or disrupt hormones in the body. In order to continue to market the chemicals, companies needed to provide the FDA with data showing that the products work better to combat infections than regular soap, and that the products are safe. But no companies provided data that was sufficiently convincing, the FDA said today. In fact, a 2015 study in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy found that plain soap worked just as well as antibacterial soap containing triclosan against 20 different bacterial strains. Another study found that triclosan could fuel cancer in mice. The state of Minnesota banned products containing triclosan in 2014. Story continues The agency also said today that it is holding off on making a decision about three other antibacterial ingredients ? benzalkonium chloride, benzethonium chloride and chloroxylenol (PCMX) ? while they await safety and effectiveness data. While working up a lather with soap and water is the best way to prevent infection, alcohol-based hand sanitizers can also be very effective germ-killers, provided they contain at least 60 percent alcohol, are used to cover every surface of the hands, and are rubbed till they are dry, Dr. Rachel Orscheln, a pediatric infectious disease expert at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, previously told Live Science. Original article on Live Science. Editor's Recommendations Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Film Independent has unveiled the screenwriters selected for its 18th annual Screenwriting Lab, a five-week program designed to help writers improve their craft and take their current scripts to the next level. See the list below. Lab Fellows participate in individualized story sessions, are advised on the craft and business of screenwriting and are also introduced to established screenwriters, producers and film professionals who serve as guest speakers and creative advisers. This years creative advisers, guest speakers and mentors include Phil Hay & Matt Manfredi (Ride Along) and Jeff Stockwell (Bridge to Terabithia), Jane Anderson (Olive Kitteridge), Meg LeFauve (Captain Marvel) and Jessica Sharzer (American Horror Story). Also announced, Film Independent will present the Loyola Marymount University School of Film and Television Screenwriting Fellowship to alumnus Evan Romansky, who will be awarded a $10,000 grant to develop his script, Detroitus, through the Screenwriting Lab. Past Screenwriting Lab projects include Andrew Ahns Spa Night, which premiered in competition at Sundance and won the Grand Jury prize at Outfest this year; Chloe Zhaos Songs My Brothers Taught Me premiered in competition at Sundance and in Directors Fortnight at Cannes; and Robbie Pickerings SXSW winner Natural Selection. Here are the 2016 participants and their projects: Title: Cantering Writer, Director: HIKARI Logline: Yuma is a paraplegic comic book artist hidden away from society under her mothers smothering care. When she chooses animating in the adult comic book world, Yuma is forced to discover a new identity, a purpose in life and embarks on a romance with a mysterious wheelchair taxi driver. Title: College Girl Writer, Director, Producer: Joshua Tate Logline: While attending a postsecondary program for adults with intellectual disabilities, a young woman with Down syndrome questions her place in the world in the face of impending motherhood. Story continues Title: Dark Web Writer: Mark Eaton Writer, Producer: Ron Najor Logline: An I.T. specialist is forced to go off the grid to save her own life after she is manipulated into hacking and exploiting a large software company. Title: Detroitus Writer: Evan Romansky Logline: After tricked into contributing to the death of his best friends wife, a petty criminal must find the men who set him up before the former, a Detroit internal affairs investigator, uncovers the secret. Title: Girl With Child Writer, Director: Maria Abraham Logline: A lonely teenage girl in Ecuador travels with her toddler to visit her ill, troubled mother and searches for a new home and family to belong to along the way. Title: OpenEnded Writer, Producer: Felicia Pride Logline: Set in a gentrifying Washington D.C., an emerging Black painter is forced to reexamine life when his best friend dies and the woman hes lost returns for the funeral. Related stories Film Independent Honors Emerging Talent At Spirit Awards Nominees Brunch Jon Chu On 'Jem And The Holograms': "This Morning Isn't The Best Kind Of Day" Independent Spirit Awards And The Oscars -- Now The Same Thing? WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A fire on Tuesday gutted a storage shed at a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) complex in Maryland that was closed last week because of threats, a fire official said. The blaze at Building 426 at the USDA's Beltsville facility took firefighters about two hours to extinguish, Prince George's County fire department spokesman Mark Brady said by phone, adding there were no injuries. The fire department and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are investigating the cause, he said. "Hopefully, we'll have some type of resolution, or at least which direction we're headed, in the near future," Brady said. The shed housed workshops for such items as masonry and fire extinguishers as well as storing fuel and maintenance vehicles. WUSA, a CBS television affiliate, quoted workers as saying posters also were stored there. Live TV footage showed the wood frame building engulfed in flames, with part of the walls missing and a section of the roof gone as firefighters poured water onto the structure. A USDA spokeswoman had no details on whether the building was burned to the ground, or if anything was stolen. Last week, USDA facilities in five states, including the one in Beltsville, a Washington suburb, were closed after receiving anonymous threats. Scientists at the Beltsville site research poultry diseases, soybean genetics and genetic modification of food animals, according to its website. (Reporting by Dan Burns, Ian Simpson in Washington and Tom Polansek and Michael Hirtzer in Chicago, editing by Dan Grebler and Alan Crosby) Baghdad (AFP) - The UN said Tuesday it has delivered food supplies to more than 30,000 residents of Qayyarah for the first time in two years after Iraqi forces expelled jihadists from the northern town. Government forces on August 25 pushed the Islamic State group out of Qayyarah, considered strategic for a planned offensive against the jihadists' last Iraqi stronghold of Mosul further north. Qayyarah had been "inaccessible for over two years", the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said in a statement. "The people of Qayyarah... are suffering extreme hunger with scarce access to food supplies," said WFP's country director for Iraq, Sally Haydock. WFP said the food delivered in the past week included dates, beans and canned food as well as rations containing lentils, rice, flour and vegetable oil, enough to last for a month. The town is "in a dire state" with "black smoke" rising from oilfields around it that were set ablaze by the jihadists during fighting, WFP said. "All of its shops were either destroyed or closed and food stocks were running dangerously low with people surviving only on wheat from the recent harvest," it said. "Safe drinking water, electricity and medical services remain nearly impossible to access," it added. The UN food agency said it had also distributed food to "almost 2,000 displaced people living in camps and with host families in areas surrounding Qayyarah". Located on the Tigris river, Qayyarah was retaken in a three-day operation led by Iraqi special forces backed by US-led coalition air strikes. Its capture is part of a plan by Iraqi forces to drive IS from their last stronghold in Iraq in Mosul, 60 kilometres (35 miles) away. The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR warned last month that a Mosul offensive could displace another 1.2 million people. Around 3.4 million people have already been forced to flee their homes in Iraq by conflict since the start of 2014. WFP said it was "scaling up its food assistance in Iraq ahead of the Mosul offensive but "urgently" needed $106 million to assist displaced families until the end of 2016. London (AFP) - The British government faces pressure to outline a plan for Brexit two-and-a-half months after the country voted to leave the European Union. In a speech to parliament this week in which he gave little detail, Brexit minister David Davis was heckled by lawmakers crying: "Waffle!" and "Is that it?" Here are the five key questions for Britain: - Timing - Exactly when Prime Minister Theresa May decides to fire the starting gun on Britain's EU departure talks is a central question in the Brexit debate. She has said she will not do this "before the end of the year". Senior minister Liam Fox, who campaigned for Brexit, has said he is aiming for Britain to be out of the European Union in 2019. Invoking Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty will begin a two-year countdown during which Britain has to negotiate an exit deal with Brussels or face the possibility of being automatically excluded when the time is up. Some British media reports have said that Britain could wait until after France's presidential election in May 2017 and even German elections due by October 22 next year at the latest. Brexit campaigners have warned May that a delay could be seen as an attempt to avoid leaving the EU. Davis responded to the criticism on Monday saying: "I would rather be one month late and get it right than one month early and get it wrong". - Status of current EU migrants - From fruit pickers to professors, baristas to builders, Britain has a population of citizens from other EU countries estimated at around 3.3 million and who are a key part of the economy. A sharp increase in migration into Britain came after the EU's enlargement to eastern Europe in 2004, with Polish and Romanian migrants making up the bulk. Since the eurozone crisis, there has also been an upsurge in arrivals from Italy, Portugal and Spain. May has said she "expects to be able" to guarantee the status of EU citizens already living in Britain post-Brexit but has said this will be contingent on the rights of British citizens living in the EU being protected. Story continues The number of British citizens living in other countries in the EU -- many of them retirees in France and Spain -- is estimated at around 1.3 million. - Future immigration policy - May has said she wants to limit the number of immigrants moving to Britain from other parts of the European Union but has not outlined exactly how to do this. She ruled out an Australian-style immigration system that assigns points based on education and skills for would-be migrants, saying there was no "silver bullet" for limiting numbers. British media on Tuesday reported that one possibility being considered by the government was a work permit system that would only allow EU citizens to move to Britain if they already had a job lined up. Davis has said EU migrants arriving between now and Britain's departure from the bloc may not be guaranteed the right to remain, warning of a potential "surge" in arrivals before Brexit. During the referendum campaign, Brexit advocates argued that immigrants have pushed down wages and overwhelmed public services in some parts of the country. But pro-immigration campaigners say that overall, migrants make a net contribution to the British economy for reasons including their youth and tax payments. - Single market and trade - What access Britain will have to the EU's single market has emerged as the key dividing line between advocates of a "hard" or "soft" Brexit. May wants "the best deal for trade, goods and services with the EU" but Brussels has made clear it would not allow Britain full access to the single market if it restricts the free movement of people, which the government also wants. One possibility being considered, according to reports, is negotiating access to the EU's single market on a sector-by-sector basis. Once it leaves, Britain will also have to work out its own trade deals with key countries -- something that is currently up to the European Commission. May has said this would be "an opportunity to embrace new markets" for a country with a proud history as one of the world's great trading nations. US President Barack Obama has warned Britain will be at the "back of the queue" in any trade negotiations but May has said she has already begun discussions with Australia, India, Mexico, Singapore and South Korea. - What about Scotland? - Within hours of the Brexit vote result, Scotland's pro-independence First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned that a new referendum on separating from the United Kingdom was "highly likely". While Britain as a whole voted by 52 percent to 48 percent to leave the EU, the result in Scotland was 62 percent to 38 percent in favour of staying. Sturgeon launched a major new survey on independence to gauge whether public opinion has changed since a 2014 referendum in which Scotland voted by 55 percent to 45 percent in favour of staying. May has promised to involve Scotland in Brexit negotiations but Sturgeon wants guarantees on retaining access to the single market, implying this could be the litmus test for whether she will seek a second independence vote or not. Antananarivo (AFP) - Five people were charged and remanded in custody Monday over the murder in August of two young French volunteers on an island off Madagascar, a police official told AFP. "Five people, including a French national, were charged with murder. Four other suspects have been released," said Elien Rajaonson, who heads the police criminal investigation division. All nine of the original suspects were brought before a judge on Monday in Tamatave, the capital of the island of Sainte Marie. On August 21, the bodies of the two French citizens, a man and a woman in their 20s, were found on a beach of the island of Sainte Marie with head injuries. They had been volunteering at Cetamada, a local environmental non-profit organisation working to protect ocean mammals. Among those remanded in custody in connection with the crime was the French boyfriend of one of the victims, who lived on the island. According to authorities on Sainte Marie, an island famous for eco-tourism, it is the first time French citizens have been murdered there. In 2012, a French couple was found dead on a beach in southern Madagascar. A year later two Europeans, suspected of involvement in the death of an eight-year-old local boy, were attacked and killed by a mob on the northwest island of Nosy Be. Bettmann/Getty Images Former Bond girl Ursula Andress is selling her Beverly Hills, CA, home for $2.5 million, and its just the kind of glamorous abode youd expect from the original babe to win the wandering eye of James Bond. The Swedish-born model and actress had a long career on the silver screen. Shes best remembered for her iconic role as Honey Ryder in Dr. No, the first Bond film. She retired from acting in 2005 and is ready to leave behind her 90210 hideaway. The 2,747-square-foot home has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and plenty of awesome 70s vibes. The living spaces feature a fireplace, parquet wood floors, and wraparound track lighting. The rooms are divided by columns and enclosed glass shelving for displaying valuable collectibles. Might we suggest the famous white bikini from Dr. No? Curb appeal realtor.com Vintage vibe realtor.com The master suite has rows of french doors opening up to views of the pool, courtyard, and mountains in the background. There is a fireplace and built-in bookshelves to balance the space. However, the real glitz is in the master bathroom. With walls of mirrors, marble countertops, and a separate glassed-in shower, the room feels exactly like the kind of place where a glamour girl unwinds. Of course, theres also a wet bar, which is perfect for making martinis, shaken not stirred. Mirrors for days realtor.com The post Former Bond Girl Ursula Andress Selling Vintage Beverly Hills Home for $2.5M appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com. Geneva (AFP) - Switzerland has charged a former employee of the country's largest bank UBS with allegedly selling German authorities the files of wealthy clients suspected of tax evasion, officials and media said Tuesday. The man is accused of violating banking secrets, according to Switzerland's public ministry, as well as involvement in espionage and money laundering. The charges were first revealed Tuesday by the Swiss-German newspapers Tages Anzeiger and Der Bund. They reported that in 2012, the banker allegedly sold information on the bank's richest German clients to the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The data would have allowed the German authorities to identify the accounts of 772 foundations and 550 private individuals. North Rhine-Westphalia has bought stolen information several times over the past few years concerning people allegedly trying to evade taxes by not declaring money deposited in Swiss bank accounts, recovering around 2.1 billion euros ($2.4 billion) through these means. UBS and other Swiss banks have faced investigations in recent years by governments trying to hunt down tax-dodgers. UBS has had to pay a fine of 300 million euros in Germany, while Credit-Suisse was fined 150 million euros and private Zurich bank Julius Baer 50 million euros. Yenagoa (Nigeria) (AFP) - Four Nigerian troops drowned after their boat capsized during operations to combat rebels in the oil-producing south, the military said on Tuesday. The boat turned over on Monday at about 10:00 am (0900 GMT) in the Brass area of Bayelsa state, which has seen multiple attacks on oil and gas installations since the start of the year. The military last month launched an operation, named "Crocodile Smile", against the militants, whose activities have hit crude production and led to high seas piracy in the Gulf of Guinea. A local man in the Brass area, who gave his name only as Etta, said: "The boat that capsized was conveying a new batch of soldiers to the waterfront. "I was going to dispose of refuse at the waterfront and I saw uniformed soldiers struggling to rescue their colleagues in a capsized boat. "When the confusion subsided, four soldiers were found to be missing with their rifles and other military gear. Some others that were rescued had their rifles missing and were struggling out of the water." The Bayelsa state chairman of Nigeria's Maritime Union, Lloyd Sese, and an official with the local authorities in Brass both confirmed the incident. Army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman told AFP: "Unfortunately it is true. Our soldiers on exercise Crocodile Smile were involved in a boat mishap on the sea yesterday (Monday)." Washington (AFP) - Fox News said Tuesday it settled a sexual harassment lawsuit by former news host Gretchen Carlson against cable channel boss Roger Ailes for a reported $20 million, and apologized for her treatment on the job. A statement offered no details on the settlement, but the magazine Vanity Fair, citing sources familiar with the case, said Fox would pay the multi-million dollar sum to the journalist and former Miss America. The statement by the parent firm 21st Century Fox said, "We sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect and dignity that she and all of our colleagues deserve." The New York Times also reported the $20 million figure and said Fox was in settlement talks with other women who had come forward with harassment claims after Carlson's lawsuit. The lawsuit led to the resignation of the politically powerful Ailes, a confidante of media magnate Rupert Murdoch who helped build Fox into a leader in cable news. In the statement, Carlson said she was "gratified" with the settlement and added, "I'm ready to move on to the next chapter of my life in which I will redouble my efforts to empower women in the workplace." Ailes, 76, had denied allegations that he had sought to pressure Carlson into a sexual relationship, but the lawsuit led to reports of other women coming forward to support Carlson's allegations of a hostile work environment. Carlson, a top Fox personality, had been with the network for more than a decade. According to the lawsuit, Ailes "unlawfully retaliated against Carlson and sabotaged her career because she refused his sexual advances and complained about severe and pervasive sexual harassment." Ailes fired Carlson, the complaint said, on June 23 after "ostracizing, marginalizing and shunning her" and making it clear that "these 'problems' would not have existed, and could be solved if she had a sexual relationship with him." Story continues The lawsuit sparked turmoil at Fox, built by Ailes and Murdoch two decades ago into the leading cable news channel. Under Ailes, Fox became home to key conservative political commentators, drawing an audience distinct from rivals CNN and MSNBC. Ailes, a former consultant to Republican presidents as far back as Richard Nixon, has reportedly been an informal adviser to the party's current nominee Donald Trump. Murdoch assumed interim control at Fox News Channel after Ailes stepped down in July. However, Murdoch's sons had been taking a larger role in operations since the 85-year-old tycoon announced he was gradually easing control of his corporate empire, which includes 21st Century Fox and the global publishing group News Corp. Gretchen Carlson has settled her lawsuit with 21st Century Fox after accusing former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes of sexual harassment. Carlson, 50, will reportedly receive $20 million from the network, sources told the Washington Post and the New York Times. PHOTOS: Stars Who Were Fired From Jobs "21st Century Fox is pleased to announce that it has settled Gretchen Carlsons lawsuit. During her tenure at Fox News, Gretchen exhibited the highest standards of journalism and professionalism. She developed a loyal audience and was a daily source of information for many Americans. We are proud that she was part of the Fox News team," 21st Century Fox said in a statement on Tuesday, September 6. "We sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect and dignity that she and all of our colleagues deserve." Carlson released a statement of her own about the settlement on Tuesday. PHOTOS: Celebrity Mugshots "I am gratified that 21st Century Fox took decisive action after I filed my complaint. Im ready to move on to the next chapter of my life, in which I will redouble my efforts to empower women in the workplace," she said in a statement. "I want to thank all the brave women who came forward to tell their own stories and the many people across the country who embraced and supported me in their #StandWithGretchen. All women deserve a dignified and respectful workplace in which talent, hard work and loyalty are recognized, revered and rewarded." As previously reported, the former Fox & Friends coanchor filed a lawsuit against Ailes, 76, in July, claiming that he made unwanted sexual advances toward her while she worked at the company. Ailes denied the accusations but resigned as chairman two weeks later. Rupert Murdoch has since taken over his role. PHOTOS: Talk Show Controversies and Feuds: The Biggest Ever "Roger Ailes has made a remarkable contribution to our company and our country. Roger shared my vision of a great and independent television organization and executed it brilliantly over 20 great years," Murdoch, 85, said in a statement at the time. "Fox News has given voice to those who were ignored by the traditional networks and has been one of the great commercial success stories of modern media. It is always difficult to create a channel or a publication from the ground up and against seemingly entrenched monopolies." Story continues Since Carlson's filing, other women have come forward with similar allegations. In July, former Fox News booker Laurie Luhn claimed that Ailes sexually harassed her for more than 20 years. Related Content: Fox is said to have agreed to pay former Fox & Friends co-host Gretchen Carlson $20 million to settle her sexual harassment lawsuit against former Fox News chief Roger Ailes and apologized for the discriminatory treatment she said she experienced from him and others. Carlson exhibited the highest standards of journalism and professionalism during her tenure, Fox says. We are proud that she was part of the Fox News team. We sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect and dignity that she and all of our colleagues deserve. Carlson says that shes gratified by Foxs decisive action adding that shes ready to move on to the next chapter of my life in which I will redouble my efforts to empower women in the workplace. All women deserve a dignified and respectful workplace in which talent, hard work and loyalty are recognized, revered and rewarded. A filing that her lawyer, Nancy Erika Smith, made at New Jersey Superior Court today although its dated August 30 says that Carlson is voluntarily dismissing her action in its entirety with prejudice. Vanity Fair was first to report the $20 million settlement figure. It also says that Fox is preparing to settle two additional sexual harassment cases against Ailes. The settlement follows a devastating report Friday from New York Magazines Gabriel Sherman that said Carlson had secretly recorded conversations where she alleged that Ailes had harassed her. The story charged that Ailes had created a culture of fear at Fox and was known for monitoring employee emails and phone conversations and hiring private investigators. But with FNCs financial success Ailes became untouchable. Rupert Murdoch, who controls 21st Century Fox, tolerated Ailess abusiveness because he was pleased with the results. Story continues Ailes seemed ready to counterattack: He hired Charles Harder, the lawyer Hulk Hogan used in a successful suit that charged Gawker Media with violating his privacy. Harder told New York to hold on to documents used in Shermans story for a possible suit charging the magazine with defamation. Rupert Murdoch, now Foxs co-executive chairman, took charge of Fox News on July 21 when he and his sons co-executive chairman Lachlan Murdoch and CEO James Murdoch cut Ailes loose. An internal investigation found that Ailes had also come on to FNC superstar Megyn Kelly and others. Since then, former The Five co-host Andrea Tantaros filed a nearly $50 million sexual harassment lawsuit. Fox News masquerades as defender of traditional family values, but behind the scenes, it operates like a sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult, steeped in intimidation, indecency, and misogyny, she said in her claim at New York state court. Fox News knew of the sexual harassment perpetrated against Plaintiff, or at a minimum should have known about it, based upon the pervasive atmosphere of sexual harassment of female employees that was tolerated and condoned under Ailess leadership generally, and the brazenness of Ailess conduct with respect to Plaintiff. Related stories Greta Van Susteren's Surprise Exit From Fox News Triggers "Who's Next" Talk Readying For Book Launch & Contract Expiration, Fox News' Megyn Kelly Hires 42 West's Leslee Dart Greta Van Susteren Says Fox News "Hasn't Felt Like Home" For Years 21st Century Fox has officially settled its case with former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson. Carlson filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against former network CEO Roger Ailes in July, claiming that he "sabotaged her career" because she "refused his sexual advances and complained about severe and pervasive sexual harassment." 21st Century Fox has agreed to settle Carlson's suit, ET can confirm. Fox will pay Carlson $20 million, on behalf of Ailes, according to Vanity Fair. "21st Century Fox is pleased to announce that it has settled Gretchen Carlson's lawsuit," the media corporation said in a statement to ET on Tuesday. "During her tenure at Fox News, Gretchen exhibited the highest standards of journalism and professionalism. She developed a loyal audience and was a daily source of information for many Americans. We are proud that she was part of the Fox News team. We sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect and dignity that she and all of our colleagues deserve." WATCH: Gretchen Carlson's Attorney Says There May Be More Women Coming Forward Against Roger Ailes Carlson said she was "ready to move on" in her own statement on Tuesday. The 50-year-old journalist, who was the anchor of The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson, had been with the network 11 years before exiting in July. "I am gratified that 21st Century Fox took decisive action after I filed my Complaint," the statement reads. "I'm ready to move on to the next chapter of my life in which I will redouble my efforts to empower women in the workplace. I want to thank all the brave women who came forward to tell their own stories and the many people across the country who embraced and supported me in their #StandWithGretchen. All women deserve a dignified and respectful workplace in which talent, hard work and loyalty are recognized, revered and rewarded." Story continues On Tuesday, Fox News also announced that Greta Van Susteren will depart the network after 14 years. No reason was given for Van Susteren's departure. Senior political analyst Brit Hume will take over as anchor of On the Record. "We are grateful for Greta's many contributions over the years and wish her continued success," the network's co-presidents, Jack Abernethy and Bill Shine, said in a statement. Ailes, 76, officially resigned as CEO and Chairman of Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network, and Chairman of Fox Television Stations in July. Ailes has denied Carlson's claims, and called her lawsuit a retaliation for the network's decision not to renew her contract. "Gretchen Carlson's allegations are false," Ailes said in a statement to ET in July. "This is a retaliatory suit for the network's decision not to renew her contract, which was due to the fact that her disappointingly low ratings were dragging down the afternoon lineup. When Fox News did not commence any negotiations to renew her contract, Ms. Carlson became aware that her career with the network was likely over and conveniently began to pursue a lawsuit. Ironically, FOX News provided her with more on-air opportunities over her 11 year tenure than any other employer in the industry, for which she thanked me in her recent book. This defamatory lawsuit is not only offensive, it is wholly without merit and will be defended vigorously." In her lawsuit, Carlson claimed that when she met with Ailes and refused his sexual demands in September 2015, he allegedly ended her career nine months later (on June 23), "causing her economic, emotional and professional harm." She also claimed that Ailes made it "clear to her that these 'problems' would not have existed, and could be solved, if she had a sexual relationship with him." Carlson's lawyer, Nancy Erika Smith, told ET at the time that Carlson isn't the only woman claiming to have been victimized by Ailes. "I think we are at more than 10 that have reached out," Smith told ET. "They have called my office and they have sent emails over my website claiming that they also have been victimized by Roger Ailes." WATCH: EXCLUSIVE -- Elisabeth Hasselbeck Speaks Out on Sexual Harassment Claims Against Fox News CEO Roger Ailes Carlson sat down with ET in a June 2015 interview, a year before she filed her lawsuit, when she talked about the struggles she's faced as a woman in the workplace. "Sometimes when women come forward about sexual harassment they're seen as a troublemaker," Carlson said. "I'm hoping that we've come a long way in 2015. I actually always say that I have a son and a daughter, but I work more for my son, because I want him to respect women when he gets into the real world like he respects his mom right now." Related Articles Australias Foxtel has greenlit a drama series based on the classic novel by Joan Lindsay, Picnic At Hanging Rock. FremantleMedia Australia will produce it as a re-imagining of the book which Peter Weir turned into a 1975 Bafta-winning feature. Eyed as a six-part event series, with investment from Screen Australia, it will premiere on Foxtels showcase channel in 2017. Published in 1967, the novel centers on the mysterious disappearance of three schoolgirls and their governess on Valentines Day 1900 and the far-reaching aftermath. Beatrix Christian and Alice Addison are writing the series. Weirs film is considered an iconic emblem of the Oz film industry. It launched the careers of Jacki Weaver and John Jarratt. Jo Porter and Anthony Ellis are exec producing for Fremantle with Foxtels Penny Win. Casting is underway with FMI handling international sales. Lee Raftery has been promoted to the post of Chief Marketing Officer, NBCUniversal International. The exec will be based in London and moves up from his prior role as EVP, Marketing and Communications. Raftery will be tasked with implementing further global synergies and driving new digital content growth initiatives across NBCU Internationals marketing and communications strands to support future expansion. He continues to oversee marketing, communications and PR across the NBCU International Studios, international distribution and international TV networks divisions. In the last year, Raftery notably led efforts to create the hayu brand, the next-generation all-reality SVOD service which began its campaign in April in the UK, Australia and Ireland. Raftery has been with NBCU since 2011, he is also a former Comcast exec. French production group Newen, and Keshet International are teaming on a drama development initiative. The scheme will call for French and Israeli writers to submit proposals and projects in English or Hebrew for one-hour or half-hour series with European appeal. Atar Dekel, Head of Global Scripted co-productions, and Nelly Feld, Sales Director for Europe, are leading the program on behalf of Keshet International. Sandra Ouaiss, Head of Co-productions, will oversee for Newen. Newens credits include Braquo and Versailles; KI is behind Hatufim, the original format for Homeland, and The A Word. The companies have committed to select at least one, and up to three, projects to co-develop and eventually produce. The submission period is now open, here. Related stories Telemundo, Keshet Team For Spanish-Language Super Series Aimed At U.S. Market Keshet International Cooks Up 'Battle Of The Chefs' As Key Mip-TV Offering China Mulls Rewards For Offshore B.O. Success; CEO Shift At Oz's Foxtel - Global Briefs PARIS (Reuters) - France expressed concern on Monday about the safety of several of its nationals following violence in its former colony Gabon triggered by a disputed presidential election. Fighting erupted in Gabon last week after the announcement of a slim victory for incumbent President Ali Bongo. At least six people have been killed and more than 1,000 arrested during the unrest. "Arrests have taken place in the past few days. France is without news about several of its compatriots," Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said in a statement. Ayrault welcomed the African Union's offer to help the feuding sides resolve the dispute and called on the Gabonese authorities to work with a heads of state mission that hopes to visit the country soon. France has had a military base in Gabon since independence in 1960. Gabon is also home to 14,000 French citizens and many French companies have commercial interests there, including in the oil industry. (Reporting by John Irish, Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Angus MacSwan) PARIS (Reuters) - The number of French citizens traveling to join Islamic State in 2016 has dropped drastically from last year, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Tuesday, putting the fall down to military reverses suffered by the militant group. With Europe's largest Muslim population, France has been a major center for recruitment of would-be jihadis joining Islamic State, with hundreds of people traveling to the region since the group took control of large swathes of Iraq and Syria. Speaking to security agents at the ministry, Cazeneuve said there had been a "fourfold decrease" with just 18 French people recorded traveling to the area in the first six months of the year compared with 69 in the corresponding period in 2015. The depletion, he said, was explained by the group's recent losses on the ground but also by France's "enhanced anti-terrorism efforts." According to interior ministry figures released on Tuesday, 689 French citizens are still in the region, including 275 women and 17 underage fighters. More than 900 people have been identified as having either attempted to travel to the region or expressed a desire to go there, the ministry's figures showed. (Reporting By Gerard Bon; Writing by John Irish; Editing by Hugh Lawson) Libreville (AFP) - Pressure mounted on President Ali Bongo of Gabon on Tuesday over a disputed election win after EU observers reported a "clear anomaly" in the vote and former colonial power France and his ex-justice minister urged a recount. Bongo claimed victory in the August 27 poll by a wafer-thin margin of some 6,000 votes. But a European Union delegation deployed in Gabon to monitor the vote said there was a flaw in voting in Haut-Ogooue province, the incumbent's fiefdom. "An analysis of the number of non-voters as well as blank and disqualified votes reveals a clear anomaly in the final results in Haut-Ogooue," the observers said in a statement. Turnout in Haut-Ogooue, one of Gabon's nine provinces, exceeded 99 percent, and 95 percent voted for Bongo, according to official figures. Even after the vote result in the other provinces had been settled, electoral commission members fiercely debated the count for Haut-Ogooue, the heartland of Bongo's Teke ethnic group, before the incumbent was declared the winner on Wednesday. "There needs to be a clear electoral process," French Prime Minister Manuel Valls told radio station RTL on Tuesday, saying there were "some doubts". "It would be wise to do a recount." France, the EU and the United States had already called for the results to be published according to each polling station, but until now had stopped short of demanding a recount. The move came just hours after Justice Minister Seraphin Moundounga, who is also a deputy prime minister, resigned late Monday, demanding "a recount of the votes, polling station by polling station, and registry by registry". Bongo's defeated rival Jean Ping, a veteran diplomat who has held a top African Union job, on Monday called for a general strike to oust "the tyrant." But his appeal appeared to go largely unheeded in the capital Libreville on Tuesday like the previous day when banks and shops re-opened after being shuttered due to post-election violence. Story continues - 'Foreigners involved' - Communications minister and government spokesman Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze called demands for a recount a "plot" and accused foreigners of trying to manipulate the results. He said an Ivorian national had been arrested in Ping's headquarters on Monday, adding: "We are not saying that Ivory Coast is involved but some highly-placed Ivorians are." According to an AFP count, post-election chaos has claimed at least seven lives in the oil-rich central African nation, ruled by the Bongo family since 1967. Gabonese authorities, however, said Monday the toll was three killed and 105 wounded, with the government saying some deaths had previously been incorrectly attributed to the clashes. Valls on Tuesday also called on the Gabonese authorities to establish the whereabouts of around 15 French nationals who have been missing since the violence began. "We have no news of around 15 French citizens, who are in many cases French-Gabonese dual nationals. We ask the Gabonese authorities that everything be done to find them," he said Gabon's foreign ministry confirmed the authorities had arrested some Franco-Gabonese nationals, saying the justice ministry would answer any questions from concerned families. But it also said dual nationals living in Gabon would be subject to Gabonese laws. - 800 arrests - Some 800 people have been arrested in recent days in the capital, with the authorities accusing them of looting, while lawyers say they are being held in "deplorable" conditions. Several prisoners told AFP they had been beaten, denied food and water or questioned harshly by authorities. "There were no toilets. We slept in our pee," said a man who asked that his name be given as Matthieu to protect his identity. Meanwhile, a high-level African Union delegation including heads of state is ready to be dispatched to Libreville to help calm the situation, AU chairman and Chad President Idriss Deby said. UN chief Ban Ki-moon spoke to both Bongo and Ping on Sunday and "deplored the loss of life", a UN statement said, adding that he "called for an immediate end to all acts of violence." Gabon had previously enjoyed relative political stability, with French support underpinning Omar Bongo's 41-year rule. After the elder Bongo died in June 2009, his son Ali won an election but opposition media claimed he had essentially been installed by France. Gabon, a country roughly the size of Britain but with a population of 1.8 million, has only known three presidents since it ceased to be a French colony in 1960. One third of its population lives in poverty, even though the country boasts one of Africa's highest per capita incomes -- $8,300 annually -- thanks to oil revenue. Bastia (France) (AFP) - An administrative court on the French island of Corsica refused Tuesday to lift a burkini ban that was introduced following a mass brawl on a beach, saying it was justified on public order grounds. France's highest administrative court last month suspended bans brought in by around 30 towns, ruling that the measure was permitted only if wearing the Islamic full-body swimsuit was likely to cause a public disturbance. Nice, Cannes and several other towns on France's Mediterranean coast have lifted bans following the Council of State's ruling. But the mayor of the Corsican village of Sisco brought in his ban after a confrontation between Moroccans and local residents in mid-August, which was reportedly sparked when someone took a photograph of a woman swimming in the sea wearing a veil. More than 100 police officers had to intervene to break up the fight. The court in Corsica ruled that the ban should be maintained because "strong emotions persist". "The presence on a beach in Sisco of a woman wearing a swimming costume of the type targeted (by the ban)... could cause risks to public order which it is the town hall's duty to prevent," the court in Bastia said, dismissing a challenge from the Human Rights League. Sisco's mayor Ange-Pierre Vivoni said the ruling was "a relief for me and local people". He has told AFP that he brought in the ban because he "risked having deaths on my hands". The tensions between the local community and Muslims in Corsica were demonstrated on Monday when two Muslim mothers wearing headscarves were accosted and prevented from entering a nursery school by two other parents. The burkini bans have sparked outrage abroad, but opinion polls in France show they have the support of a majority of the public. Paris (AFP) - French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Tuesday a recount should be held of the votes in Gabon's disputed presidential election. France, the former colonial power, has already joined the European Union and the United States in calling for the results from Ali Bongo's wafer-thin 6,000-vote victory to be published. "There needs to be a clear electoral process," Valls told French radio station RTL. "There are arguments and some doubts. European observers in the country have already made criticisms on the basis of objectives. It would be wise to do a recount." In the midst of violence that has flared since the result was announced, Valls said his first priority was ensuring the safety of the 15,000 French nationals who live in the central African country. "Our priority now is the safety of the 15,000 French people who live and work in Gabon," Valls said. The prime minister also called on the Gabonese authorities to establish the whereabouts of around 15 French nationals who have been missing since the violence began. "It's true that we have no news of around 15 French citizens, who are in many cases French-Gabonese bi-nationals. "We ask the Gabonese authorities that everything be done to find them. "We hope to have information on them as soon as possible." Bong's rival Jean Ping has insisted the vote was rigged and on Friday claimed victory for himself. French truck drivers blockaded the main highway in Calais Monday to protest against the governments failure to shut down the Jungle refugee camp in the port town. Local business owners joined farmers and truck drivers to block the route, which leads to the Channel Tunnel and Calais ferry terminal, the Guardian reports. The sprawling camp is home to between 7,000 and 10,000 refugees, mainly from Africa and the Middle East, and serves as a jumping-off point for many migrants trying to reach the U.K. But truck drivers have reported human traffickers going to extreme lengths to try and stow refugees onto trucks heading towards Britain, including throwing petrol bombs, felling trees to block roads, and threatening drivers with chainsaws and machetes. Although many are sympathetic to the migrants plight, locals describe a growing fear of increasingly dangerous human smugglers as a tipping point for Calais residents. According to a Eurotunnel spokesman, protestors agreed to end the blockade on Monday following concessions from the French government. Hauliers promised fresh protests if the camp is not dismantled. [Guardian] There's been a change atop Fullscreen Media's marketing department. The digital media company has parted ways with CMO Jason Klarman and upped Alan Beard, co-founder of Fullscreen-owned creative studio McBeard, to the position. Klarman, who previously had spent six years as the president of Oxygen, was hired by Fullscreen in November to become its first-ever CMO and oversee the company's rebrand and April launch of its subscription video offering. He has transitioned into a consulting role with Fullscreen and its majority owner, Otter Media. "I transitioned to a consulting role with Fullscreen Media and Otter Media so that I could move back to New York once the rebrand of the company and the launch of the SVOD service was complete," Klarman says, with Fullscreen COO Andy Forssell adding that Klarman "was instrumental in the successful launch of our SVOD service." In his place, Fullscreen has installed Beard, who sold his social media creative studio to Fullscreen last year. Beard co-founded McBeard in 2008 with Alec McNayr to create sharable social campaigns for brands including Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, Disney and Coke. Prior to launching McBeard, he spent five years at Jupiter Research and also founded a number of startups dedicated to marketing and sales. "Alan Beard innately understands social platforms and how to creatively and effectively reach an entire generation that has proven very hard to reach through traditional marketing," says Forssell. "Having that DNA driving our central marketing efforts is already paying off in big ways for our consumer, brand and talent businesses." Read more: Bret Easton Ellis to Make Directorial Debut With Cult Thriller for Fullscreen These experiences will be key to his new role at Fullscreen, where he will oversee marketing strategy and operations across the business. That includes working directly with Fullscreen creators like Andrea Russett and The Fine Bros., as well as handling marketing for the streaming service and live events. "I love McBeard, and it was a big decision to join Fullscreen," Beard says. "The things I care about, I can do on an even bigger stage here." Story continues A big part of Beard's job will be continuing to promote the four-month-old Fullscreen platform, which serves up original series and licensed shows and movies for $4.99 a month. This was Fullscreen's first major effort to transform into a consumer-focused brand, one that meant entering a subscription video business already dominated my master marketers like Netflix. But where Netflix has operated more like a modern-day television network, Fullscreen - which hasn't released early performance data - is operating more like a startup, programming on the fly as it sees what is resonating with its young audience. Beard says he's especially focused on figuring out how to tap into, and create, fandoms through the app. He points to Fullscreen-owned Rooster Teeth as an example of a company that has built a devoted audience. "I've spent a lot of time thinking about how we create fandoms. This audience is changing fast. The technology changes fast," he explains. "So in some ways we're trying to take the best practices of traditional media companies and layer on top of that behavioral data and new technology approaches to having a different relationship, so that Fullscreen develops fandoms and not just fans." Read more: Fullscreen Rebrands as Consumer-Oriented Network Members of Congress are returning to town on Tuesday after a month and a half recess. They face a raft of urgent spending issues before they depart yet again to campaign for reelection in November, but none may be more important than funding to stop the spread of the Zika virus. In a particularly bad show of concern about this mounting public health threat, lawmakers left town shortly before the Republican and Democratic national conventions in mid-July without resolving a major partisan spending conflict over combatting the dreaded Zika scourge. Related: The Senate Dithers Again as Zika Virus Continues to Spread The virus is spread throughout the world by mosquitos, sexual contact and blood transfusions and is especially dangerous for pregnant women who face the possibility of giving birth to babies with a head-deforming disease known as microcephaly. The disease has devastated families in Puerto Rico and is gradually spreading through southern Florida, posing a threat to both public health and the states vibrant tourism industry. President Obama and federal disease control officials have been demanding congressional action since February. However, about $1.1 billion in funding for mosquito abatement and other measures to combat the spread of the virus bogged down in a partisan dispute over Republican efforts to block spending for Planned Parenthood and weaken Clean Water Act regulations Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada spent weeks blaming each other for the impasse and departed Washington without resolving the differences after two unsuccessful votes to end a Democratic filibuster. The House previously approved the measure, and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) has said he has no interest in reopening the conference report. Before Congress adjourned for the summer, McConnell took steps to hold another procedural vote shortly after Congress returned from its lengthy vacation. Late last week, a spokesman for McConnell was skeptical that the Democrats would end their filibuster and go along with the current language of the spending package. However, a senior Senate Democratic aide said that There are good discussions going on between Senate Appropriators on Zika. Story continues Related: Disease Target No 1: Stop Zika Before It Spreads Beyond Florida But overshadowing the Zika funding dispute is the larger question of how to go about funding the government beyond the Sept. 30 deadline for a new fiscal 2017 budget. In the highly charged environment of the presidential and congressional races, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle typically laden spending bills with policy measures to advance their agendas. Congress will rush to approve as many of the dozen annual appropriations bills for operating the government and funding a myriad of programs as it can. Until now, however, the House has passed just five appropriations bills and the Senate has passed only three. With time running out, Congress will have little choice but to approve a stop-gap continuing resolution to keep the government from shutting down before a final agreement can be struck. Even under the best of circumstances, year-end spending negotiations are fraught, and vulnerable to political assaults from the left and right. For example, conservative groups are pressing GOP leaders in the House and Senate to postpone final action on new spending until after a new president and a new Congress take over next January. Democrats and some Republicans favor getting the work done before the end of the year, by passing a short-term patch and then grinding out a final comprehensive agreement after the Nov. 8 election in a lame duck session. However, many of the 40 members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus are opposing that approach, insisting that it would simply allow Democrats to push for extra spending and concessions to special interest groups just ahead of the Christmas or New Years holidays, according to The Washington Post. Related: Big Deficits Loom as Candidates Pile on Spending and Tax Cuts Last week, 33 conservative organizations led by Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Partners waged a letter-writing campaign on Capitol Hill urging lawmakers to approve stop-gap legislation that would keep the government operating at current funding levels through early 2017 when a new Congress can complete the work. The group is backed by conservative industrialists and philanthropists Charles and David Koch. Among other issues likely to get congressional attention this fall: Gun control House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) havent given up their fight for on a bill to expand background checks and prevent people on government terrorist watch lists from purchasing guns. Ryan and other Republicans oppose the measures, as does the powerful National Rifle Association. Criminal Justice Reform Roll Call reports the House will take up major legislation to overhaul the criminal justice system. The House Judiciary Committee has approved four related bills so far and hopes to add two more to the package before final floor action. Mental Health Reform The House has already passed its version of a bill to address the nations mounting mental health problems, but the Senate is still struggling to come up with an alternative version. Many are skeptical a final agreement can be reached before the end of the year. Related: Fiscal Neglect -- Watchdog Hits Trump and Clinton for Ignoring $19 Trillion Debt The Water Resources Development Act -- McConnell will press for a vote on legislation that authorizes 25 critical Army Corps projects in 17 states. The projects, which have undergone congressional review, are designed to strengthen the nations infrastructure, protect lives and property, restore vital ecosystems and maintain commercial navigation routes. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: By Trevor Hunnicutt and Simon Jessop NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - BlackRock Inc, the world's largest asset manager, said all investors should factor climate change into their decision-making and doing so would not mean having to accept lower returns. Global moves to coordinate a response to climate change took a big step forward on Saturday when both China and the United States ratified a 2015 plan to curb climate-warming emissions, raising chances it will enter into law this year. BlackRock said it is strengthening its data and analytical processes to reflect changes to the environment - and political responses to them. In a 16-page report released after the G20 meeting in China, BlackRock, which manages more than $4.9 trillion in assets, said risks and opportunities would come through the physical effects of climate change, technological change, as well as the regulatory and social response. "Climate risk is an enduring challenge," Ewen Cameron Watt, senior director for BlackRock's Investment Institute, told Reuters. "This is a source of portfolio risk and a source of social risk, which needs addressing." In the report, BlackRock suggested higher carbon prices could limit the cost of reducing emissions and push companies to create solutions to the problem. In the meantime, BlackRock said it was enhancing its data mining efforts to reduce the risk to its investments. For instance, they calculate emissions as a percentage of a company's sales, estimate firms' exposure to income shocks from rising temperatures and calculate the sales a company generates with little physical waste. Firms that cut their carbon footprint have performed better than their peers who did not make such changes, BlackRock said. Cameron Watt said insurers have made vast strides in recent decades to model "climate risk" in detail and adjusted their premiums accordingly. "I think we can do the same," he said, applying data to its own investment process. "We're just scratching the surface." For instance, with more detailed number-crunching, BlackRock could learn how a single corporation's factories and supply lines could be affected by catastrophic weather. The risks are considerable, BlackRock said. After an extreme weather event hits a state, economic growth is 10 to 15 percent lower than usual that month and slower for many more months, its analysis showed. BlackRock has expanded its ability to store, sort and analyze data and uses more of the data to inform its investment decisions, for instance in deciding when to bet against a stock. The information ranges from satellite images of cars in retailer parking lots to shipping trends to word searches on corporate earnings calls. (Editing by Alister Doyle and Toby Chopra) Lauren Landavoza, the 13-year-old Texas girl fatally shot while walking home from school last Friday, will be laid to rest Thursday, a funeral home spokesperson tells PEOPLE. A visitation has been scheduled for Wednesday from 6 to 8pm at Owens and Brumly Funeral Home in Wichita Falls, Texas. Lauren's funeral will be held Thursday at 6pm at the First Baptist Church located at 1200 9th Street, the spokesperson says. Both events are open to the public. Lauren and her friend, Makayla Smith, were shot last Friday. Lauren died from gunshot wounds while Makayla was taken to a local hospital where she is in stable condition, authorities tell PEOPLE. Pam Sparks, assistant pastor at First Baptist Church, says Lauren's service is being held in the church's worship center because of the expected turnout. "This is a community-wide event," Sparks says, adding that balloons will be released in Lauren's honor after the funeral. Lauren's middle school, McNiel Junior High, has cancelled all afterschool activities for Thursday so the school community can attend the service. "We want to allow as many kids as possible to attend," Wichita Falls Superintendent Michael Kuhrt tells PEOPLE. "In our community it's big a part of the healing process." Kuhrt, who will attend the service, says the school community has banded together in the wake of the tragedy. "This morning we had a lot of parents holding signs up and saying, 'We are Mustangs, we support you!' to try and help the students feel safe," he says. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. According to Sparks, Lauren regularly attended First Baptist Church's weekly after school program for middle school students. "I was thinking about her on the way into work this morning," Sparks says. "How she should be going to school right now and she's not. We can't fix what's happened but we can do things to help make [the family's] lives easier." On Sunday, authorities arrested Kody Lott, 20, after a two-day search. Lott was pulled over following a citizen tip when his vehicle matched the suspect's description, according to a police statement. He was initially arrested on charges of possession of a prohibited weapon; he allegedly later confessed to the shooting while being questioned, authorities have said. Lott is currently being held in Wichita County Jail on charges of murder, aggravated assault and possession of a prohibited weapon, according to the statement, Authorities are still investigating Lott's alleged motive. It was not immediately clear if Lott had entered a plea or retained an attorney. . Lauren and Makayla were neighbors and walked home together often, Tre'vion Elliott, Lauren's older brother, told the Times Record News. "They were best friends. They were always talking, whether through text message or Snapchat," he said. Sparks tells PEOPLE she encourages the community to keep Lauren's family in their thoughts and prayers. "It would be great to lift them up at 6pm on Thursday evening and for the days following," Sparks says. "Because once the dust settles, the reality of what's happened to them will sink in and then you're back to the day-to-day of 'She's not here, she's still not here.'" A GoFundMe page has been started to help cover costs of Lauren's funeral. By Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - China is lauding its successful hosting of the G20 summit in scenic Hangzhou, with open confrontation largely avoided and broad consensus reached over the fragile state of the global economy and the need for a wide range of policies to fix it. There was even a joint announcement by China and United States that they would ratify the Paris climate change agreement, a significant step for the world's two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases. But scratch beneath the surface, and the gathering of the world's most powerful leaders was not all plain sailing - from the distraction of a North Korean missile test to the failure of the United States and Russia to reach agreement over Syria, and diplomatic faux pas to double speak over protectionism. Chinese state media, while largely basking in the glory of a summit that happened without being too overshadowed by disputes such as the South China Sea, also let slip Beijing's frustrations at what it sees as Western efforts to stymie its economic ambitions. "For the world's major developed economies, they should curb rising protectionism and dismantle anti-trade measures as economic isolationism is not a solution to sluggish growth," China's official Xinhua news agency said late on Monday. "In order to build an inclusive, rule-based and open world economy, protectionism must be prevented from eroding the foundation for a faster and healthier economic recovery." In the run-up to G20, China has been particularly upset by what it sees as unwarranted suspicion of its overseas investment agenda smacking of protectionism and paranoia. A few weeks before the summit, Australia blocked the A$10 billion ($7.63 billion) sale of the country's biggest energy grid to Chinese bidders, while Britain delayed a $24 billion Chinese-invested nuclear project. BEHIND THE SCENES Behind the scenes, Western countries have been accusing China of not sticking to its own goals. Before the summit, European G20-sources doubted that the Chinese agenda would mark a real new chapter to create more sustainable growth for the global economy. China, asking in public for more openness and steps to counter protectionism, is still giving Western investors only very limited access to their market, a European official said. A big concern for foreign investors in China is what they see as the increasing difficulty of doing business in China, driven by concern that new laws and policies are seeking to effectively shut out foreigners or make life very hard for them. "President Xi accurately raised the alarm on the need to counter the increase in protectionism around the world," said James Zimmerman, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China. "But actions speak louder than words and the ball is in China's court to implement its own needed domestic reforms and to provide greater market access for foreign goods, services and technology." And calls to utilize innovation as an economic driver should reflect policies that encourage an environment promoting fair and market-driven innovation that is open to all participants, and not just a few domestic champions, Zimmerman said. Several diplomats familiar with the summit said China had resisted the idea of putting steel on the final communique, though it did make an appearance in the end with G20 leaders pledging to work together to address excess steel capacity. For countries like Britain, whose steel industry crisis has been directly blamed on a flood of cheap Chinese imports, the issue is key. An official from British Prime Minister Theresa May's office said they and the United States had pushed for language in the communique on the importance of working together at G20 to tackle excess production. "We have, despite resistance from some countries, secured some language on the importance of doing that," the official said. Asked if China was one of those resisting, she just repeated "in the face of some resistance". Another shadow over the G20 has been the rise of popular opposition to free trade and globalization, embodied by phenomenon like Britain's summer vote to leave the European Union and Donald Trump becoming the Republican presidential candidate in the United States. "We agree with the G20's analysis that the benefits of trade and open markets must be communicated to the wider public more effectively," said John Danilovich, Secretary General of the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce. "It's vital that business and governments work together to explain how and why trade matters for all." ($1 = 1.3110 Australian dollars) (Additional reporting by William James and Gernot Heller in Hangzhou, China; Editing by Ryan Woo) By Johannes Hellstrom and Maria Sheahan FRANKFURT/STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - General Electric launched bids on Tuesday to buy two of the world's top makers of machines for metal-based 3D printing - Sweden's Arcam and Germany's SLM Solutions - for a total $1.4 billion to bolster its position in the fast-growing technology. 3D printing has been used to build prototypes for decades but has become more widespread for industrial mass production in recent years, with uses including the production of dental crowns, medical implants and light aircraft parts. GE has long been one of the main proponents of industrial 3D printing, using it to make fuel nozzles for its new LEAP jet engine in what marked a big step in using the technology in mass production. GE, which laid the foundation for its 3D printing push with the acquisition of 3D printing specialists Morris Technologies in 2012, said it expected its new 3D printing business to grow to $1 billion by 2020 at attractive returns. "Additive manufacturing will drive new levels of productivity for GE, our customers, including a wide array of additive manufacturing customers, and for the industrial world," GE Chief Executive Jeff Immelt said in a statement. While GE's Aviation unit has so far been the most active in using the 3D printing technology, parts are also being designed in its Power, Oil & Gas and Healthcare units, as well as across GE's services businesses. GE said it would offer 38 euros per share, or a total of 683 million euros ($762 million), for SLM Solutions, which makes laser machines for metal-based 3D printing for aerospace, energy, healthcare and automotive companies. It had already agreed to buy 31.5 percent of shares from major shareholders, GE said. GE also offered 285 crowns per share, or a total of 5.86 billion crowns ($685 million), for Arcam, which invented the electron beam melting machine for metal-based 3D printing, selling mainly to the aerospace and healthcare industries. SLM Solutions shares rose 38.9 per cent to 38.61 euros in Frankfurt at 1001 GMT, while Arcam rose 53 per cent to 285 crowns. "GE shows its commitment regarding the industrial use of 3D technology and mass implementation of this technology in industrial production," Equinet analyst Cengiz Sen said a research note. Arcam's and SLM's technologies complement each other as Arcam uses an electron beam as an energy source, while SLM uses lasers. 3D printing technology involves taking digital designs from computer aided design software, and laying horizontal cross-sections to manufacture the part. Since parts are built from the ground up, one of the big benefits is that it generates far less scrap metal than in traditional manufacturing. ($1 = 0.8965 euros) ($1 = 8.5506 Swedish crowns) (Additional reporting by Oskar von Bahr) STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Chinese-owned Volvo Car Group and auto safety group Autoliv said on Tuesday they would form a joint venture to develop autonomous driving software as automotive firms across the industry race to embrace the emerging technology. The two Sweden-based companies said in separate statements the new company would have an initial work force of about 200 staff taken from both parent companies, a number that would increase to more than 600 over the medium term. The joint venture, which is to be headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, and had yet to be named, will develop advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous drive (AD) systems for use in Volvo Cars. The technology developed by the joint venture, which was expected to begin operations early next year, would also be sold by Autoliv to carmakers globally, with revenues shared by both companies, they said. "By combining our know-how and resources we will create a world leader in AD software development. This means we can introduce this exciting technology to our customers faster," Volvo Cars Chief Executive Hakan Samuelsson said. The collaboration with Autoliv and Volvo Cars is the latest step in a high-tech push by the Swedish carmaker in an industry scrambling to adopt the latest technology and where autonomous driving is seen at the forefront. Last month, Volvo agreed a $300 million alliance with Uber to develop self-driving cars. Volvo also said it would hire about 400 engineers over the coming year to bolster development mainly in software, in its biggest ever recruitment drive. Volvo, bought by China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. from Ford Motor Co. in 2010, and Autoliv said they expected the first ADAS products from the joint venture to be available for sale in 2019 while the AD technology would be ready by 2021. (Reporting by Niklas Pollard; Editing by Alistair Scrutton) General Motors Company (GM) may have settled two cases regarding problematic ignition switches, though the same can't be said for all its legal issues, reports the Associated Press. The cases in question were due to two instances where airbags failed to work, leading to severe injuries for the plaintiffs. The company also faces other trials, with three federal cases set for 2017 and another in January 2018, a General Motors spokesman told the Associated Press. In 2016 alone, GM saw victory in two cases and one thrown out pre-trial, in addition to settling three. General Motors has admitted its ignition switches could indeed move from their intended spot in older cars, turning off both the engine and airbags in the process, reports the Associated Press. A General Motors victims' fund says the switches are linked to at least 124 deaths and 275 injuries. General Motors recalled 2.6 million cars globally in 2014 on account of the switches, which the company was aware of for over a decade. The company has faced a hefty price tag in settling death and injury claims, amounting to almost $875 million. It's additionally shelled out $300 million for shareholder lawsuit settlements. The company's stock is down 5.4 percent on the year, and moved 0.1 percent lower Tuesday morning. These cases aside, the legacy auto industry heavyweight is noticeably prepping for the future. It's taking electric vehicles seriously and investing in more forward-looking industry technologies. This includes a January purchase of a $500 million, 9 percent stake in Lyft and acquisition of Cruise Automation, a self-driving car technology startup. 13 Stocks to Buy to Bet on China Car Companies and the Race to Profits More From US News & World Report A Georgia grandmother has been charged with the June murder of her daughter-in-law, with whom the suspect's son was in the middle of a months-long divorce and custody battle, PEOPLE confirms. Elizabeth Wall was indicted Thursday on multiple counts in the shooting death of Jenna Wall, 35, including malice murder, felony murder and aggravated assault, according to the Cobb County District Attorney's Office. Elizabeth, 63, allegedly fatally shot Jenna, a kindergarten teacher, on June 23 in the Atlanta-area home of Jenna's parents, where Jenna had been staying as she was divorcing her husband, Jerrod. Jenna's two young sons, both under the age of 10, were at the home at the time of the shooting, according to police. But Elizabeth allegedly took the boys outside before Jenna was killed, and they heard gunfire, police have said. Elizabeth has been in custody since she was arrested at the scene of Jenna's death that same day. Georgia Grandmother Indicted for Murder in Daughter-in-Law's Shooting Death Within Earshot of Young Sons| Crime & Courts, True Crime Investigators have not disclosed a public motive in the shooting, beyond classifying it as a domestic-related homicide. But Jenna's contentious divorce and custody dispute with Jerrod has drawn scrutiny. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. Court documents obtained by PEOPLE detail the conflict between Jenna and Jerrod over custody including that Jenna was accused of having an affair, which Jerrod's attorney told PEOPLE she admitted to, and Jenna's claim that Jerrod was badmouthing her to their children. Jenna's friends and coworkers have remembered her as a beloved teacher and denied the affair. Though police were asked about the Walls' custody dispute in court during earlier hearings in the case, they did not reference any links between the legal battle and the allegations against Elizabeth. Georgia Grandmother Indicted for Murder in Daughter-in-Law's Shooting Death Within Earshot of Young Sons| Crime & Courts, True Crime Police said Elizabeth had allegedly been researching people who kill their families and themselves and that on April 19 the same day Jerrod was deposed in the divorce case Elizabeth bought the gun used in the shooting. Elizabeth's defense attorney, Jimmy Berry, did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment about the indictment. But he has previously told PEOPLE that Elizabeth is remorseful about Jenna's death. "There's not much question about who did it, it's not one of those who-did-it? cases," Berry said in July. "It's: Why was it done? What happened with these folks that caused this?" "Basically her feeling from the time that she's been in there was that she wanted to die," Berry added. "She did this to her family and she's disappointed everybody." Jenna's family has not spoken publicly, and PEOPLE has not been able to reach them for comment. Friend Alyssa Kent previously told PEOPLE that Jenna loved her sons and "loved just making a difference in kids' lives." FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A former Siemens AG (SIEGn.DE) board member faces a new trial in Germany in connection with a bribery scandal around a decade ago at the engineering group, two years after he was acquitted by a Munich court, the country's highest court said on Tuesday. Siemens agreed in 2008 to pay more than $1.3 billion (1 billion pounds) to settle corruption probes in the United States and Germany, ending two years of controversy that rocked the German company. Former board member Uriel Sharef stood trial in Munich for three counts of fraud for allegedly helping twice to order the payment of bribes totalling $14.2 million in Latin America and for allegedly failing to close out a $35 million slush fund. The Munich court acquitted Sharef in 2014, saying it was not convinced he was involved in the ordering of bribes and that he had not known the slush fund still existed. The Federal Court of Justice upheld the acquittal on the payment of bribes but overturned the Munich court's decision to acquit Sharef of fraud charges regarding the slush fund, citing legal errors. "The regional court did not provide solid reasoning," it said in a statement, calling for a new trial and a new ruling. (Reporting by Maria Sheahan; Editing by Mark Potter) DUESSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) - A German man charged with supporting an Islamist militant group in Syria stayed silent on the first day of his trial in Duesseldorf on Tuesday, though his lawyer told the court that the prosecution was "flying blind" and its witnesses were unfit. Prosecutors said Sven Lau, 35, had served as an "extended arm" of the Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar, an insurgent group made up of around 1,500 Chechen, Uzbek and Tajik fighters, which last year pledged allegiance to the Nusra Front, then an al Qaeda affiliate. Lau supported the Mujajireen Brigades, which is listed as a terrorist organization in Germany, four times in 2013 by either collecting funds or recruiting fighters for the group, prosecutors say. German intelligence says Lau also visited Syria in 2013, based on videos posted online. Mutlu Guenal, Lau's lawyer, told the court in Duesseldorf that the trial was a "flying blind judicially," accusing the prosecution of relying on people who had either lied in testimony or who he said were mentally unfit as witnesses. Lau, a hardline Muslim preacher from Germany's western state of North-Rhine Westphalia, has been in pre-trial custody for nine months and faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. A total of 820 Islamists are believed to have departed Germany to war zones in Syria and Iraq, up from 780 at the end of last year. About one third are estimated to have returned. Lau also faces a separate trial for showing up with nine supporters in the city of Wuppertal wearing orange vests emblazoned with 'Sharia Police.' Prosecutors said this was an illegal gathering as he and eight others were trying to recruit others to join them. (Reporting by Anneli Palmen; Writing by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Erik Kirschbaum and Raissa Kasolowsky) * Less new contracts for 'Made in Germany' goods than expected * Domestic demand falls while euro zone orders rise * Overall development points to weak output in autumn * Ifo says German current account surplus to hit record high * Schaeuble rejects criticism that Berlin should spend more (Adds current account surplus forecast, Schaeuble, reactions) By Michael Nienaber BERLIN, Sept 6 (Reuters) - German industrial orders eked out a smaller-than-expected rise in July and showed a decline in domestic demand, underlining growing concerns that Europe's economic powerhouse is slowing down. Contracts for goods "Made in Germany" were up by 0.2 percent in July, the Economy Ministry said on Tuesday. That was weaker than a Reuters consensus forecast for a rise of 0.5 percent. Domestic demand fell by 3.0 percent while foreign orders rose by 2.5 percent, with demand from euro zone countries jumping by 5.9 percent. "Domestic demand for goods is disappointing again," DIHK economist Sophia Krietenbrink said, adding that the data pointed to weaker consumption in the coming months. The surprisingly low order intake from home added depth to a picture of lacklustre investment among German companies while European peers seem more willing to open their pockets. This was also reflected in a forecast by the Munich-based Ifo institute for Germany's current account surplus to hit a new record of $310 billion (278 billion euros) in 2016, overtaking that of China again to become the world's largest. Ifo economist Christian Grimme said exports exceeded imports by $159 billion in the first half of the year, mainly due to strong demand from other European countries. The institute said the German surplus would be equivalent to around 8.9 percent of gross domestic product, meaning it would once again breach the European Commission's recommended upper threshold of 6 percent. This is likely to fuel the debate about Germany's economic role. Brussels and Washington have urged Berlin repeatedly to lift domestic demand to help reduce global economic imbalances. Story continues Speaking in parliament to present the federal budget, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble rejected such criticism, saying Berlin was massively increasing state spending while also implementing other measures to lift domestic demand. "We are playing our part in strengthening global demand. No other country in Europe is spending more on investment than Germany," Schaeuble said. "Just because some countries in Europe are taking on more debt, it doesn't mean they are investing more." He did say, however, that tax cuts may be in the offing after next year's federal election. The German government introduced a national minimum wage in 2015 and decided to raise pension entitlements in 2016 by the strongest rate in more than two decades. In addition, Berlin increased state spending on roads, digital infrastructure and migrants. BREXIT AND TRUMP The industrial orders data was the first for a full month since Britain's vote to leave the EU. "Economic and political uncertainty are dampening order activity around the globe," VP Bank economist Thomas Gitzel said, adding that Britain's 23 June vote was only one negative factor among several others. "With U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, the next uncertainty is around the corner," Gitzel said, pointing to Trump's sharp rhetoric against free trade. The United States is Germany's most important export market. The Economy Ministry said that the development of incoming orders was lacklustre so far this year, suggesting industrial activity would be rather weak in autumn. The ministry provided no single data on how orders from the UK developed in July. But a regional breakdown showed that demand from countries outside the euro zone rose by only 0.6 percent after an increase of 3.8 percent in June. HSBC Trinkhaus economist Jana Meier said uncertainty about the future relationship between Britain and the remaining 27 EU members was likely to weaken investment in the medium term. Economists are divided on how much Brexit will weaken German exports and consequently lower growth rates in the coming quarters. Britain is Germany's third-most important export market. The DIW economic institute expects economic growth to ease to 0.3 percent in the third quarter from 0.4 percent in the three months to June, partly because of Brexit. For 2016 as a whole, the government expects rising private consumption and higher state spending to drive an overall growth of 1.7 percent, on a par with last year. For 2017, Berlin expects growth to slow to 1.5 percent as weaker exports are expected to hit manufacturers. (Additional reporting by Rene Wagner Editing by Jeremy Gaunt) By Michael Nienaber BERLIN (Reuters) - German industrial orders eked out a smaller-than-expected rise in July and showed a decline in domestic demand, underlining growing concerns that Europe's economic powerhouse is slowing down. Contracts for goods "Made in Germany" were up by 0.2 percent in July, the Economy Ministry said on Tuesday. That was weaker than a Reuters consensus forecast for a rise of 0.5 percent. Domestic demand fell by 3.0 percent while foreign orders rose by 2.5 percent, with demand from euro zone countries jumping by 5.9 percent. "Domestic demand for goods is disappointing again," DIHK economist Sophia Krietenbrink said, adding that the data pointed to weaker consumption in the coming months. The surprisingly low order intake from home added depth to a picture of lacklustre investment among German companies while European peers seem more willing to open their pockets. This was also reflected in a forecast by the Munich-based Ifo institute for Germany's current account surplus to hit a new record of $310 billion (233 billion pounds) in 2016, overtaking that of China again to become the world's largest. Ifo economist Christian Grimme said exports exceeded imports by $159 billion in the first half of the year, mainly due to strong demand from other European countries. The institute said the German surplus would be equivalent to around 8.9 percent of gross domestic product, meaning it would once again breach the European Commission's recommended upper threshold of 6 percent. This is likely to fuel the debate about Germany's economic role. Brussels and Washington have urged Berlin repeatedly to lift domestic demand to help reduce global economic imbalances. Speaking in parliament to present the federal budget, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble rejected such criticism, saying Berlin was massively increasing state spending while also implementing other measures to lift domestic demand. "We are playing our part in strengthening global demand. No other country in Europe is spending more on investment than Germany," Schaeuble said. Story continues "Just because some countries in Europe are taking on more debt, it doesn't mean they are investing more." He did say, however, that tax cuts may be in the offing after next year's federal election. The German government introduced a national minimum wage in 2015 and decided to raise pension entitlements in 2016 by the strongest rate in more than two decades. In addition, Berlin increased state spending on roads, digital infrastructure and migrants. BREXIT AND TRUMP The industrial orders data was the first for a full month since Britain's vote to leave the EU. "Economic and political uncertainty are dampening order activity around the globe," VP Bank economist Thomas Gitzel said, adding that Britain's 23 June vote was only one negative factor among several others. "With U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, the next uncertainty is around the corner," Gitzel said, pointing to Trump's sharp rhetoric against free trade. The United States is Germany's most important export market. The Economy Ministry said that the development of incoming orders was lacklustre so far this year, suggesting industrial activity would be rather weak in autumn. The ministry provided no single data on how orders from the UK developed in July. But a regional breakdown showed that demand from countries outside the euro zone rose by only 0.6 percent after an increase of 3.8 percent in June. HSBC Trinkhaus economist Jana Meier said uncertainty about the future relationship between Britain and the remaining 27 EU members was likely to weaken investment in the medium term. Economists are divided on how much Brexit will weaken German exports and consequently lower growth rates in the coming quarters. Britain is Germany's third-most important export market. The DIW economic institute expects economic growth to ease to 0.3 percent in the third quarter from 0.4 percent in the three months to June, partly because of Brexit. For 2016 as a whole, the government expects rising private consumption and higher state spending to drive an overall growth of 1.7 percent, on a par with last year. For 2017, Berlin expects growth to slow to 1.5 percent as weaker exports are expected to hit manufacturers. (Additional reporting by Rene Wagner Editing by Jeremy Gaunt) BERLIN (Reuters) - A German state has stopped working with the country's biggest Muslim association, which has strong links to Ankara, on a project to prevent radicalization due to a row over a comic that it said glorified martyrdom. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) said it had ended cooperation on the project with the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB) in Cologne. A spokesman for the state's Interior Ministry said on Tuesday it had asked DITIB to make a clear it did not agree with an illustration in a comic, published in Turkey by the religious authority Diyanet earlier this year. German media reproduced what it said was the image in question, with a translation of the Turkish. It depicted a conversation between a father and son which ended with the exchange: "Daddy, is it worthwhile to become a martyr?" and "Of course, my dear! Who doesn't want to go to paradise?" In a statement, DITIB said the publication was linked to a day to commemorate soldiers who had died, especially in World War One in Gallipoli, and other victims of war. "We .. have stressed that it can certainly be debated whether such a subject is educationally sensible. We have also stressed that representing violence or the effects of violence in a way that glorifies it must be completely avoided," it said. The Koranic term "martyr" is used in Turkey to refer to soldiers killed in battle, particularly in the conflict with Kurdish insurgents and other militant groups. Official designation as a martyr means the families of the deceased receive compensation from the state. Critics say the term glorifies conflict. A spokesman for the NRW Interior Ministry said: "We expected DITIB to clearly distance itself from this. That did not happen so our cooperation (in this project) has ended." He said that while cooperation had stopped with DITIB on the "Signpost" program, designed to stop young Muslims being recruited by militants, they were still working together on other issues such as Islam teaching in schools. DITIB denies it is steered by the Turkish government. It operates through about 900 associations across Germany, most of which are mosques with imams sent by Turkey. Some senior German politicians have in the past few months called for a rethink of ties between the German authorities and DITIB which have built up over some 30 years. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has drawn criticism for cozying up to Erdogan to help tackle the migrant crisis. Tensions in Germany's Turkish community of about 3 million people are also mounting between supporters of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his foes especially after July's attempted coup. The decision to end the project, made in June, has come to light because of an answer by NRW Interior Minister Ralf Jaeger to a question from two regional lawmakers. (Reporting by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Erik Kirschbaum and Alison Williams) By Sabine Siebold LIELVARDE, Latvia (Reuters) - German and Latvian troops have begin a joint exercise in Latvia, not far from the Russian border, as part of a broad drive by NATO to shore up air defenses against a possible Russian attack. Germany has around 80 troops and 400 tonnes of equipment, including a deployable mobile control center, for the exercise, which will continue through October. Five German Eurofighter jets are also flying Baltic air patrols out of Amari, Estonia. "Our biggest concern is the unpredictability of Russia, which has proven in Georgia and Crimea and eastern Ukraine that it is ready, for whatever reason, to take military action," Lieutenant General Raimonds Graube, commander of Latvian armed forces, told Reuters. Latvia has doubled its military spending over the past two years and will reach the NATO target of spending 2 percent of its gross domestic product on defense by 2018. The joint operations underway in Latvia are part of NATO's "Persistent Presence" exercise and involve Germany's Deployable Control and Reporting Centre, which is patrolling a section of Baltic airspace using its own and several Baltic radars. NATO leaders agreed in July to move four battalions totaling 3,000 to 4,000 troops to the Baltic states and eastern Poland for the first time, and increase air and sea patrols to reassure those countries following Russia's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine. Some 25 percent of the population in Latvia and Estonia are Russian minorities, who officials fear could be galvanized to fight against the majority population, much as Russian separatists are now fighting in eastern Ukraine. Moscow has also declared its intention to deploy nuclear-capable missiles in Kaliningrad, part of Russia surrounded by Poland and Lithuania, in response to NATO's activation of a U.S.-built missile shield on Polish soil. Graube said one of the most modern Russian helicopter bases was located in Ostrow, which is just 25 km (15.5 miles) from the Latvian border but well within the 350-km range of a powerful German radar brought in for the exercise. "Of course that worries us, and that's why it's good that the Germans are here for deterrence and to send a signal that NATO is strong and unified," Graube said. Lieutenant General Karl Muellner, chief of the German air force, said the exercise would help German and Latvian troops practice the complex interplay of technology, personnel and unfamiliar terrain ahead of any potential real deployment. (Writing by Andrea Shalal) By Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - The amount of coal-fired power generation under development worldwide has shrunk by 14 percent this year, driven down by China as it struggles with oversupply and tries to promote cleaner energy, a study showed on Wednesday. India also introduced policies in the first half of 2016 curbing plans for coal-fired plants, partly due to under-utilization of existing plants, according to a Global Coal Plant Tracker run by non-government and anti-coal group CoalSwarm. Overall, the amount of coal-fired generating capacity in pre-construction planning fell 14 percent to an estimated 932 gigawatts (GW) in July from 1,090 GW at the start of the year, it said. The overall decline, of 158 GW, was almost equal to the coal generating capacity of the European Union, at 162 GW, it said. "It's a combination of environmental concerns, including climate and health, along with the deteriorating economics of coal," Ted Nace, director of CoalSwarm, told Reuters of the causes for the decline. China had the biggest drop in its pre-construction pipeline by far, of 114 GW to a total 406 GW proposed, followed by India with a decline of 40 GW, it estimated. The Philippines and Indonesia had also curbed coal, while countries such as Egypt and Mongolia raised their planning. China vowed in February to close 500 million tonnes of coal production in the next three to five years to reduce oversupply. Profits also shrank in the first half because of sagging power demand and higher coal prices. Beijing is trying to limit air pollution and climate change. Even so, the report said the amounts of coal being planned and built were still too high to limit a rise in temperatures to the toughest aspirational goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) set by world leaders in the Paris Agreement on climate change last year. Ben Caldecott, director of the Sustainable Finance Programme at the University of Oxford's Smith School, said factors such as cheaper renewable energies and worries about climate change, pollution and water stress were causing cancellations. "This trend will accelerate over time," he wrote in a comment on the report. Coal plant retirements are increasing worldwide, especially in the United States and Europe, but are still only a fifth the size of new plant construction, a study by CoalSwarm and other non-governmental organizations said in March. From 2003 to 2015, for instance, the United States added 23 GW of coal capacity and retired 54 GW. Coal is the most polluting of the major fossil fuels and blamed for greenhouse gases that stoke more heatwaves, floods and rising sea levels. (Reporting by Alister Doyle; Editing by Dale Hudson) 'No Regrets Farm' owner Lainey Morse shot a video in August showcasing her unique hit idea, Goat Yoga classes carried out outdoors in calming Oregon-based surroundings. The video shows yoga instructor Heather Davis preparing for and teaching a yoga class in the Willamette Valley as the goats greet her and mingle with the attendants. People are traveling from all over America to experience Goat Yoga, Morse told Reuters, and her last classes are already booked up. Now Goat Yoga enthusiasts might have to wait until spring for their next healthy fix as the rain season is about to begin, said Morse who describes Goat Yoga as a wonderful and unique experience. "It may sound silly but it's really just about getting outside in nature with beautiful scenery and having animals around you. Animals can really help humans with stress and illness or grief", the farm owner told Reuters in a written statement. If you take a drive through the District of Columbia metro area, you might notice an increasing number of solar panels adorning roofs on colonials, ranches and even charming Victorians. Solar panels have definitely gained popularity in the area over the last five to 10 years, says David Bediz of the Bediz Group, LLC. Environmental awareness may be one reason, but it helps that more people in the area can afford them, too. "Solar panels can be expensive, so it's not surprising that you see them installed on homes in the D.C. area, where incomes are higher than other parts of the country," he says. In the spirit of going green while reducing energy costs, solar panels give people a renewed sense of responsibility. However, there are things prospective buyers or leasers should know before investing in this technology. We asked the District's top real estate agents listed by real estate data company OpenHouse Realty (a U.S. News partner) and solar panel experts for some guidance on getting a good return on investment with solar energy. [Read: 5 Real Estate Trends to Know Before Selling Your Washington, D.C., Home.] Energy trends drive usage. Solar use and its desirability often go up when gas prices rise. Tom Faison, an associate broker with RealEstateInDC.com, LLC, says he's actually seen a dip in solar sales recently "because gas and electric are cheaper." Once those prices go up, people will start investing in solar energy and fireplaces once more. For the long haul, Faison sees solar energy continuing to grow in use, due to its reputation as a money-saver and "because state-of-the-art solar technology is getting better." Dan Whitten, vice president of communications with the Solar Energy Industries Association, agrees. "Solar [photovoltaic] systems can last a very long time," he says. "Because they have no moving parts, they're reliable and require very little maintenance. There are solar systems that have been running without incident for decades and with continued innovation we expect that to only improve." Story continues Most homes can accommodate solar. Just about any house with a roof that has southern or western exposure is a good candidate for solar. Many houses in the District of Columbia have flat roofs, however, so to get the best results from your panels, you often have to mount them at an angle. For townhouses with smaller roofs, solar panel installation can pose a challenge, Bediz says. In some instances, "there's just not enough room to put them on," he explains. Also, make sure you understand what standards and requirements your homeowners association may have in place for solar panels before you install them. "Historic regulations in most cities, and the rules for most homeowners associations, will likely prohibit panel installations where the panels can be seen from the street," Bediz says. [Read: 6 Ways to Sell Your Washington, D.C., Home Fast.] Future buyers may not be impressed. Solar panels will change the appearance of your house, and potential buyers may not like them. "I think most people like the idea of solar for financial and environmental reasons, but homeowners should also keep in mind how the panels affect their home's curb appeal," Bediz says. "Since they're not particularly attractive, they may also negatively affect resale value." Be careful what you sign. Different companies have different policies, so read the contract carefully. "These contracts are not always about saving the environment or reducing energy burdens," says Bediz. At times they might be structured to lock you into a deal that's not to your financial advantage. One of Bediz's clients tried to get out of a contract after they found out that they didn't actually own the panels -- and it ended up costing them a lot of money. "As with anything, be careful what you sign and read the entire contract so that you understand the issue." Numerous resources are available to educate consumers about solar, says Whitten. "At SEIA, we advise consumers to always do their homework so that they find a system that is the best fit for them." SEIA offers resources such as the SEIA Residential Consumer Guide to Solar Power, which outlines financing options and guides consumers on what to ask before entering into a solar agreement. Different purchasing options are available. Solar panel systems can be purchased with cash or a loan. You "own both the system and all the power it produces," Whitten says. Another option is to lease a system for a certain period of time. In this arrangement, the solar company owns the system and leases it to you to use it and benefit from the electricity it produces. Before you decide to buy or rent solar panels, shop around and get bids from multiple solar companies. To find out if a company has a good reputation, check if it's licensed and ask for references in your area. "Make sure you fully understand what you're getting and what you will be paying for," Whitten says. [Read: A Buyer's Guide to Arlington, Virginia.] Yes, you can get a tax break. Homeowners who purchase solar systems are eligible for a residential solar investment federal tax credit of 30 percent of the cost of the system, meaning a dollar-for-dollar reduction in one's income taxes. The credit is in effect through 2019, but drops to 26 percent in 2020 and once again to 22 percent in 2021. "Depending on where you live, other state and local incentives may be available, as well as programs from your utility," Whitten says. Looking for a real estate agent in Washington, D.C.? Our Find an Agent tool can match you to the person who's most qualified for the job. Jennifer Lubell is a freelance writer in the Washington, D.C., metro area. Follow her on Twitter. EDMONTON, AB / ACCESSWIRE / September 6, 2016 / Grizzly Discoveries Inc. (GZD.V) (G6H.F) (OTC Pink: GZDIF) ("Grizzly" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it is in receipt of its Phase 1 exploration results from APEX Geoscience Ltd. (APEX) for its summer 2016 ground geophysical exploration program in the Buffalo Head Hills of Northern Alberta. Grizzly has significant land holdings of over 220,000 acres of metallic and industrial mineral permits for its Diamond Project in and around the Buffalo Head Hills area of north-central Alberta. Grizzly's permits contain seven kimberlites, of which two, the BE-02 and BE-03, are considered highly diamondiferous and warrant future bulk sampling. Grizzly completes Phase 1 ground geophysics program in core Buffalo Head Hill Permits Identifies two priority kimberlite targets for future drilling and other targets for further surveys Planning a Phase 2 ground geophysics program along with winter drilling Buffalo Head Hills Diamond Property, Alberta Phase 1 Exploration Results and Planned Exploration Grizzly engaged APEX of Edmonton, Alberta to conduct a number of ground geophysical surveys during June and July on a number of targets within its main block surrounding the K5, K6, K11, K14, K91 and K252 kimberlite pipes. A total of 76 Line-km's of ground magnetic surveying was conducted at a total of eight grids covering nine coincident lidar - magnetic targets. Further surveys are being planned at a number of additional targets that were not easily accessible during the 2016 program due to the wet conditions encountered this summer. The ground geophysical surveys yielded two priority kimberlite drill targets along with at least three other lower priority targets that warrant follow-up exploration including additional magnetic and/or electromagnetic or gravity surveys prior to evaluation by drill testing. Grizzly is planning follow up ground geophysical surveys during late fall, 2016 and into the winter months. Story continues Grizzly is also planning a winter drill program to test the newly identified priority kimberlite drill targets identified in the recent Phase 1 work, as well as a number of targets in close proximity to the highly diamondiferous BE-02 and BE-03 kimberlites. Buffalo Head Hills Diamond Property, Alberta A Renewed Interest in diamonds Renewed interest in diamond exploration during 2015 and 2016 has prompted re-evaluation of Grizzly's Buffalo Head Hills Diamond Project in north-central Alberta, which is located approximately 330 kilometres northwest of Edmonton and is easily accessed during summer and winter by a large network of roads and cutlines. Based upon an internal review of all data, the Company has staked additional permits of highly prospective lands for diamond-bearing kimberlites in the Buffalo Head Hills area. Grizzly's total land position includes 11 permits that encompass approximately 220,000 acres. To date, 41 kimberlites have been discovered in the Buffalo Head Hills kimberlite field; an area of approximately 2,500 km2 representing the third largest known district of significant diamond-bearing kimberlites in Canada. The diamondiferous kimberlite field has generated exploration interest due to the large kimberlite dimensions (up to 45 ha), encouraging diamond contents (up to 55 carats per hundred tonnes) and high ratio of diamondiferous to barren kimberlites (28 of 41 kimberlites contain diamonds). Five bodies have undergone mini-bulk and bulk sampling (between 22 and 616 tonnes): K6, K11, K14, K91 and K252. These kimberlites are currently being explored in a joint venture between Canterra Minerals Corp., Shore Gold Inc. and Encana Corp. with Canterra operator of the joint venture. Grizzly holds the rights to much of the lands that immediately surround the K6, K11, K14, K91 and K252 kimberlite pipes. Grizzly began exploration in the Buffalo Head Hills kimberlite field during the early 2000's. The Company undertook numerous airborne and ground geophysical surveys along with extensive heavy mineral indicator surveys, which resulted in the discovery of three new diamondiferous kimberlite bodies in 2008 and 2009, bringing the total number of kimberlites within Grizzly's Buffalo Head Hills Diamond Project to seven. The new discoveries included the highly diamondiferous BE-2 and BE-3 kimberlites which warrant bulk sampling. The potential for discovery of additional diamondiferous kimberlites within Grizzly's Buffalo Head Hills properties is considered high, based upon the favourable regional geological setting and the positive results of exploration conducted to date, including the identification of numerous priority geophysical targets. Grizzly's past work has shown that the focus should be on kimberlites with a weak magnetic signature with or without an accompanying electromagnetic, gravity and/or seismic signature, which have tended to yield better diamond counts in the Buffalo Head Hills kimberlite field. ABOUT GRIZZLY DISCOVERIES INC. Grizzly is a diversified Canadian mineral exploration company with its primary listing on the TSX Venture Exchange with 52.4 million shares issued, focused on developing significant Potash assets in Alberta and its precious metals properties in southeastern British Columbia. The Company holds over 235,000 acres of precious-base metal properties in Greenwood, British Columbia; more than 220,000 acres of properties which host diamondiferous kimberlites in the Buffalo Head Hills region of Alberta; and metallic and industrial mineral permits for potash totaling more than 143,000 acres along the Alberta-Saskatchewan border. Grizzly has a 2015 option with Kinross Gold Corporation's wholly owned subsidiary, KG Exploration (Canada) Inc. ("Kinross") whereby Kinross can earn a 75% interest on approximately 67,571 acres of optioned land pursuant to an Option Agreement with Grizzly on approximately 30% of its Greenwood precious metal land holdings in southeastern British Columbia, by incurring US$3 million in exploration expenditures over a 5-year period. In addition, Golden Dawn Minerals Inc. is in the process of consummating a purchase of the Lexington and Golden Crown mine and processing plant near Greenwood from Huakan International Mining Inc. and is planning to evaluate re-starting the mine, which is currently on care and maintenance. Grizzly owns much of the mineral claims that surround the Lexington - Golden Crown Project and is the single largest mineral titles owner in the Greenwood District. The content of this news release and the Company's technical disclosure has been reviewed and approved by Michael B. Dufresne, M. Sc., P. Geol., who is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. On behalf of the Board, Grizzly Discoveries Inc. Brian Testo President (780) 693-2242 For further information, please visit our website at www.grizzlydiscoveries.com or contact Investor Relations: Nancy Massicotte IR PRO COMMUNICATIONS INC. Tel: 604-507-3377 Toll Free: 1-866-503-3377 Email: ir@grizzlydiscoveries.com www.irprocommunications.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Caution concerning forward-looking information This press release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. This information and statements address future activities, events, plans, developments and projections. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, constitute forward-looking statements or forward-looking information. Such forward-looking information and statements are frequently identified by words such as "may," "will," "should," "anticipate," "plan," "expect," "believe," "estimate," "intend" and similar terminology, and reflect assumptions, estimates, opinions and analysis made by management of Grizzly in light of its experience, current conditions, expectations of future developments and other factors which it believes to be reasonable and relevant. Forward-looking information and statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause Grizzly's actual results, performance and achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information and statements and accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed thereon. Risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to vary include but are not limited to the availability of financing; fluctuations in commodity prices; changes to and compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including environmental laws and obtaining requisite permits; political, economic and other risks; as well as other risks and uncertainties which are more fully described in our annual and quarterly Management's Discussion and Analysis and in other filings made by us with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and available at www.sedar.com. Grizzly disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information or statements except as may be required by law. SOURCE: Grizzly Discoveries Inc. A half-Indian beauty queen with an elephant trainer's licence was crowned Miss Japan on Monday, striking a fresh blow for racial equality. Priyanka Yoshikawa's tearful victory comes a year after Ariana Miyamoto faced an ugly backlash for becoming the first black woman to represent Japan. Social media lit up after Miyamoto's trail-blazing triumph as critics complained that Miss Universe Japan should instead have been won by a "pure" Japanese rather than a "haafu" -- the Japanese for "half", a word used to describe mixed race. "Before Ariana, haafu girls couldn't represent Japan," Yoshikawa told AFP in an interview after her exotic Bollywood looks helped sweep her to the title. "That's what I thought too. I didn't doubt it or challenge it until this day. Ariana encouraged me a lot by showing me and showing all mixed girls the way." Yoshikawa, born in Tokyo to an Indian father and a Japanese mother, vowed to continue the fight against racial prejudice in homogenous Japan, where multiracial children make up just two percent of those born annually. "I think it means we have to let it in," said the 22-year-old when asked what it signified for her and Miyamoto to break down cultural barriers. "We are Japanese. Yes, I'm half Indian and people are asking me about my 'purity' -- yes, my dad is Indian and I'm proud of it, I'm proud that I have Indian in me. But that does not mean I'm not Japanese." Yoshikawa, like Miyamoto, was bullied because of her skin colour after returning to Japan aged 10 following three years in Sacramento and a further year in India. - Gandhi visit - "I know a lot of people who are haafu and suffer," said Yoshikawa, an avid kick-boxer whose politician great-grandfather once welcomed independence campaigner Mahatma Gandhi for a two-week stay at their home in Kolkata. "We have problems, we've been struggling and it hurts. When I came back to Japan, everyone thought I was a germ," she added. Story continues "Like if they touched me they would be touching something bad. But I'm thankful because that made me really strong." Yoshikawa, who speaks fluent Japanese and English and towered over her rivals at 1.76 metres (5 ft, 8 ins), will contest for the Miss World crown in Washington this December. "When I'm abroad, people never ask me what mix I am," said Yoshikawa, who earned her elephant trainer's licence to add spice to her resume. "As Miss Japan, hopefully I can help change perceptions so that it can be the same here too. The number of people with mixed race is only going to increase, so people have to accept it." Reaction to Yoshikawa's victory failed initially to trigger any real outrage, although predictably some were unhappy. "What's the point of holding a pageant like this now? Zero national characteristics," grumbled one Twitter user, while another fumed: "It's like we're saying a pure Japanese face can't be a winner." As the Japanese government continues to push its "Cool Japan" brand overseas to entice foreign tourists for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Yoshikawa promised to win over any doubters. "There was a time as a kid when I was confused about my identity," she admitted. "But I've lived in Japan so long now I feel Japanese." LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Dodgers mustered just one hit off Zack Greinke through three innings. Then their former teammate faltered and Los Angeles hammered the former Cy Young Award winner for five home runs. Joc Pederson joined the 20-plus home run club with a solo shot and Los Angeles beat Greinke and the Arizona Diamondbacks 10-2 on Monday night in his first road start against his former team. ''Things were going bad and they were swinging good,'' Greinke said. The Dodgers increased their lead in the NL West to a season-high four games over San Francisco, which lost 6-0 at Colorado. They have won three straight and four of five. ''They're not going to quit, so you can't take your foot off the gas,'' Dodgers rookie shortstop Corey Seager said. Kenta Maeda (14-8) allowed one run and three hits in 6 1/3 innings, struck out eight and walked one to tie Kazuhisa Ishii and Hyun-Jin Ryu for the second-most wins by a Los Angeles rookie, trailing only Rick Sutcliffe's 17 in 1979. The Japanese right-hander has won six of his last seven. ''He was staying out of the middle of the plate and he was getting strikes from both sides and hitting his spots,'' said Arizona's Paul Goldschmidt, who was 0 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout. ''He really had command of all four pitches.'' Greinke (12-5) imploded in his return to Dodger Stadium for the first time since spurning the team as a free agent last December. He signed a $206.5 million, six-year deal in the desert after winning 51 games and compiling a 2.30 ERA from 2013-15 as part of a 1-2 punch with ace Clayton Kershaw in Los Angeles. Greinke gave up eight runs - second-most this season - and nine hits in 4 2/3 innings and struck out six. The five homers - four in the fifth inning - were a career-worst. He hadn't allowed a homer in his last three starts. ''I felt real comfortable out there, just not a good game,'' he said. ''I felt like I was going to make pitches and get every guy out.'' Story continues Adrian Gonzalez broke open a scoreless game with a two-run shot in the fourth, a preview of what was to come. ''More times than not you are going to get him out with that pitch,'' Greinke said, ''but he is one of those guys that can actually get to it, so I wasn't completely shocked.'' After Howie Kendrick grounded out to open the fifth, Greinke gave up five consecutive hits. Pederson's homer was his sixth in as many games against Arizona. He, along with Justin Turner (25), Yasmani Grandal (24) and Seager (24) give the Dodgers four or more players with 20 or more homers for the seventh time in franchise history. ''Zack is one of the best pitchers in the game,'' Pederson said. ''We were really able to break it open and that's tough to do against a pitcher like him.'' Greinke called the 1-2 pitch to Pederson ''probably the worst pitch of the night.'' Two hitters later, Seager slammed a three-run homer into the pavilion in left field. Turner followed with a solo shot in nearly the same location as fans directed a derogatory chant at Greinke, who was booed heartily in his first at-bat. With two outs, Grandal homered for the third straight game to right field, making it 8-0. Arizona manager Chip Hale came out to pull Greinke, who walked off with his head down and boos ringing in his ears. ''He's so strategic with everything he throws,'' Seager said. ''So it's fun to kind of play with him. You know everything he does is with purpose.'' Last season, Greinke led the majors with a 1.66 ERA, won a career-high 19 games and was an NL All-Star while helping the Dodgers win a third straight division title. Now, they are in pursuit of a fourth, while the D-backs have failed to contend this season and are mired in next-to-last place. Jake Lamb's RBI single and Chris Owings' RBI double accounted for Arizona's runs. GONZO VS D-BACKS Gonzalez's 35th career homer against the D-backs ties Todd Helton for second-most all-time against the franchise, trailing only Barry Bonds' 39. GREINKE AT THE RAVINE Until Monday, Greinke had been dominant at Chavez Ravine, winning his previous eight starts and compiling a 1.09 ERA dating to July 4, 2015. He was one of five pitchers to win eight-plus consecutive starts there, the longest active streak in the majors at a single ballpark. The right-hander had limited the opposition to two or fewer earned runs in 14 straight starts at the stadium. Greinke had beaten the Dodgers once this season, 3-2 on June 13 at Arizona. ONE TRIPLE AWAY Seager came up a triple short of hitting for the cycle. He singled in the first, doubled in the fourth and homered in the fifth before grounding out in his last two at-bats. He is hitting .342 with 12 doubles, five homers and 15 RBIs in 19 career games against Arizona. ROOKIES ON THE MOUND The Dodgers had four straight rookie starters from Aug. 27-31, the team's first time doing so since Sept. 8-10, 1952. The franchise was in Brooklyn then and Ken Lehman, Billy Loes, Ray Moore and Johnny Rutherford took the mound. The Dodgers are doing it again this week. Jose De Leon won his major league debut Sunday, Maeda won Monday, Ross Stripling goes Tuesday and Brock Stewart pitches Wednesday. TRAINER'S ROOM D-backs: LHP Andrew Chafin (shoulder, groin) will be activated Tuesday after pitching a scoreless inning last weekend for Triple-A Reno. Dodgers: RHP Brandon McCarthy (right hip stiffness) was to make his first rehab start Monday for Class-A Rancho Cucamonga. He last pitched on Aug. 13. ... LHP Scott Kazmir (neck inflammation) will make a rehab start Wednesday for Triple-A Oklahoma City. ... LHP Alex Wood (posterior elbow impingement) will throw a bullpen session in a few days, followed by a simulated game. ... RHP Pedro Baez will rejoin the team on Tuesday now that Double-A Tulsa's season has ended. UP NEXT D-backs: RHP Shelby Miller (2-10, 6.81 ERA) makes his second start in the majors since July 6. He allowed two runs in six innings of a loss at San Francisco on Aug. 31. He last faced the Dodgers on July 20, 2014, when he tossed a scoreless inning of relief as a member of the Cardinals. Dodgers: Stripling (3-6, 4.15) is 2-4 with a 4.84 ERA in nine games (seven starts) at home. The right-hander has struck out 30 and walked 13. He has a 3.72 ERA in two games (one start) against Arizona this season, limiting the opposition to a .229 average. By Joyce Lee and Hyunjoo Jin SEOUL (Reuters) - Hanjin Shipping Co's parent firm plans to raise 100 billion won (68 million pounds) to fund the unloading of billions of dollars worth of cargo aboard vessels stranded around the world in the wake of its court receivership filing last week. Those funds may be matched by a separate 100 billion won in loans that South Korean government officials have said government-backed creditors are ready to provide if Hanjin Group, the parent firm, provides collateral. Hanjin Group is considering the offer. The collapse of the world's seventh-largest container carrier has caused havoc in global trade networks and a surge in freight rates, as more than half of Hanjin's ships have been blocked from docking with ports and lashing firms fearing they won't be paid. Some vessels have also been seized. Whether those funds would be sufficient to resolve cargo unloading problems was not clear. A spokeswoman for Hanjin Shipping was not immediately available for comment on the issue. Hanjin Shipping, which many analysts and industry insiders expect eventually to be liquidated, had about 600 billion won in unpaid obligations such as charter fees and terminal use fees as of end-August. Its debt stood at 6 trillion won at the end of June and a bankruptcy would be the container shipping industry's largest. HP Inc (HPQ.N), one of roughly 8,000 current Hanjin cargo owners, has tens of millions of dollars worth of computers and printers in more than 500 of the carrier's containers, it said on Monday in documents supporting Hanjin's U.S. bankruptcy filing. "The ongoing disruption to HP's supply chain caused by the Foreign Debtor's bankruptcy filings is material, costly, and worsening on a daily basis," it said. A senior official at the U.S. government's shipping watchdog has warned Hanjin, other shippers and freight forwarders against taking the opportunity to price gouge cargo customers. William Doyle, one of five commissioners of the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission, told Reuters: "(Hanjin) was contemplating tying their containers to any release of cargo by basically making the sale of the actual container at $1,500 per container - a condition for the release of cargo to shippers and cargo owners". Story continues As of late Monday, 70 Hanjin ships have been denied access to ports and three have been seized by creditors through court orders - one in Singapore and two in unidentified locations in China. Hanjin has 141 ships, of which 128 are operating. Most are container ships although it has some dry bulk carriers. They are carrying cargo worth 16 trillion won, the Korea International Trade Association said on Monday. For those on board the ships, there is little clarity on when they will be able to dock. "We are waiting indefinitely. There is no word besides what we see on the news, that the government is making efforts for Hanjin Shipping. We are waiting for a call," Park Kong-soon, captain of the Hanjin Atlanta, floating east of Tokyo Port, told Reuters by satellite phone. He said the ship has about 10 days worth of meals and 20 days worth of other foodstuffs for its crew of 20. Hanjin received court approval on Monday to spend funds essential to operating ships, such as food for crew members, and plans to supply seven vessels that urgently need supplies on Tuesday. Many vessels have months of supplies. Although expectations that Hanjin Shipping will be able to survive are low, the stock surged 30 percent on Tuesday, the daily limit, as investors made speculative bets on a stock that hit an all-time low on Monday. The shares have lost 15 percent since news of the collapse emerged last week. (Additional reporting by Nataly Pak, Se Young Lee, Cynthia Kim, Lee Chang-ho, Yun Hwan Chae and Jeong-eun Lee in Seoul and Keith Wallis in Singapore; Writing by Tony Munroe; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Edwina Gibbs) By Joyce Lee and Hyunjoo Jin SEOUL (Reuters) - Hanjin Shipping Co's parent firm plans to raise 100 billion won ($90 million) to fund the unloading of billions of dollars worth of cargo aboard vessels stranded around the world in the wake of its court receivership filing last week. Those funds may be matched by a separate 100 billion won in loans that South Korean government officials have said government-backed creditors are ready to provide if Hanjin Group, the parent firm, provides collateral. Hanjin Group is considering the offer. The collapse of the world's seventh-largest container carrier has caused havoc in global trade networks and a surge in freight rates, as more than half of Hanjin's ships have been blocked from docking with ports and lashing firms fearing they won't be paid. Some vessels have also been seized. Whether those funds would be sufficient to resolve cargo unloading problems was not clear. A spokeswoman for Hanjin Shipping was not immediately available for comment on the issue. Hanjin Shipping, which many analysts and industry insiders expect eventually to be liquidated, had about 600 billion won in unpaid obligations such as charter fees and terminal use fees as of end-August. Its debt stood at 6 trillion won at the end of June and a bankruptcy would be the container shipping industry's largest. HP Inc (HPQ.N), one of roughly 8,000 current Hanjin cargo owners, has tens of millions of dollars worth of computers and printers in more than 500 of the carrier's containers, it said on Monday in documents supporting Hanjin's U.S. bankruptcy filing. "The ongoing disruption to HP's supply chain caused by the Foreign Debtor's bankruptcy filings is material, costly, and worsening on a daily basis," it said. A senior official at the U.S. government's shipping watchdog has warned Hanjin, other shippers and freight forwarders against taking the opportunity to price gouge cargo customers. William Doyle, one of five commissioners of the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission, told Reuters: "(Hanjin) was contemplating tying their containers to any release of cargo by basically making the sale of the actual container at $1,500 per container - a condition for the release of cargo to shippers and cargo owners". Story continues As of late Monday, 70 Hanjin ships have been denied access to ports and three have been seized by creditors through court orders - one in Singapore and two in unidentified locations in China. Hanjin has 141 ships, of which 128 are operating. Most are container ships although it has some dry bulk carriers. They are carrying cargo worth 16 trillion won, the Korea International Trade Association said on Monday. For those on board the ships, there is little clarity on when they will be able to dock. "We are waiting indefinitely. There is no word besides what we see on the news, that the government is making efforts for Hanjin Shipping. We are waiting for a call," Park Kong-soon, captain of the Hanjin Atlanta, floating east of Tokyo Port, told Reuters by satellite phone. He said the ship has about 10 days worth of meals and 20 days worth of other foodstuffs for its crew of 20. Hanjin received court approval on Monday to spend funds essential to operating ships, such as food for crew members, and plans to supply seven vessels that urgently need supplies on Tuesday. Many vessels have months of supplies. Although expectations that Hanjin Shipping will be able to survive are low, the stock surged 30 percent on Tuesday, the daily limit, as investors made speculative bets on a stock that hit an all-time low on Monday. The shares have lost 15 percent since news of the collapse emerged last week. ($1 = 1,103.6100 won) (Additional reporting by Nataly Pak, Se Young Lee, Cynthia Kim, Lee Chang-ho, Yun Hwan Chae and Jeong-eun Lee in Seoul and Keith Wallis in Singapore; Writing by Tony Munroe; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Edwina Gibbs) This Alabama police officer was captured going above and beyond the call of duty, comforting a 1-month-old infant of parents who had reportedly overdosed. Read: Former Cop Saves 4-Month-Old Child From Hot Car Officer Michelle Burton returned home from work at 4 a.m., but when someone from the Birmingham South Precinct sent a photo from her shift to her husband, he immediately burst into tears. The photo showed Burton carrying a 1-month-old baby girl, who was sound asleep after cops said her parents were rushed to the hospital for a drug overdose. Also waiting in the precinct were the baby girl's 7-year-old sister, 2-year-old brother, and 3-year-old brother. "I didn't even know their names," Officer Burton told InsideEdition.com. "I just know they needed to be taken care of, and that's what we did." She explained that the night began with a 9 p.m. call about two adults who were unresponsive following a drug overdose. "The 7-year-old daughter couldn't get them to wake up," Burton said. While the children's mother was transported to the hospital, she said the father died at the scene. "The oldest one, the 7-year-old, you can tell she was thinking about things a lot, but when you talked to her, she wouldn't say anything," Burton told InsideEdition.com. "They didn't act sad at any point. They didn't really know what was going on, so they just went with it." Read: Heartbreaking Image Shows 2 Children Praying for Their Police Officer Dad in Front Of Squad Car As Burton and other officers stayed beyond their shifts to make sure all four young children were cared for and comforted, another officer snapped a photo, and sent it to her husband, Brian Burton, who posted it to Facebook. "I've never seen her more beautiful than in this picture," he wrote. "What an incredible woman." Story continues Watch: Boy, 5, Gifted Customized Patrol Car After Treating Cops to Lunch With Allowance Money Related Articles: PlayStation 4 inside Aside from the iPhone 7, the worst kept secret in the tech world is that Sony is coming out with a new model of the PlayStation 4 very soon. Sony has yet to acknowledge that it officially exists, but some retailers apparently already have them, and they've managed to get into the hands of a few tech reporters who've written full-fledged reviews. Sony is expected to officially unveil it on Wednesday at a press event in New York City, which Business Insider will be attending. Also expected to be revealed is another new model of the PlayStation 4, currently codenamed "Neo," which will boast much more upgraded hardware under the hood. That one is expected to hit shelves in the fall of 2017. Until then, the leaks continue. A new video, uploaded by YouTube channel Links-Tech, appears to show one of these slim PlayStation 4 models being disassembled from top to bottom. Again, keep in mind that Sony has yet to announce this console exists yet, but we've seen it from top to bottom and now, from the inside out. Keep your eyes peeled for the official announcement of the PS4 Slim following Sony's press event regarding its final specs and release date. NOW WATCH: Sony is unveiling 2 new PlayStations on September 7 here's what you're getting More From Business Insider Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., August 25, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid Via Dave Lutz, head of ETFs at JonesTrading, here's a super-quick guide to what traders are talking about right now: Good Morning! US Futures are up small as Oil pops and M&A headers abound (Bayer boosts for MON, ENB for SE, DHR for CPHD). Mostly Green across Europe, with the DAX climbing 25bp as HC and Discretionary shares climb, while those Fins see profit-taking from the recent spike. The FTSE under 30bp pressure as stronger Economic data spikes hawkish BOE concerns, causing London listed Fins to drop 50bp. Volumes are light, with most exchanges across the continent trading 20-30% light to trends. Asian stocks reached one-year+ highs overnight - India 18mon highs - Nikkei gained 30bp - Shanghai climbed 60bp - Hong Kong was led by tech +2.2% as Tencent +2.3% continues to rise, while Aussie lost 25bp, and EM gained 80bp on average. Germans 10YY is coming in 2bp, while US yields are starting flat Heavy week of Central Bank activity, with Canada and Sweden Weds ahead of the ECB Thursday. The DXY is under pressure, losing ground to Euro as EU GDP posts The Aussie $ higher after less dovish statement from the RBA, while the Pound is nearing 2month highs. The weaker $ a tailwind for commodities, helping Gold add to Fridays gains, while Brent is falling 1% after yesterdays 3% Russia-Saudi headlines induced spike. Natty Gas continues to drop, losing 1.3% - while there remains little life in the softs, with Wheat and Corn falling 60bp+. Ahead of us today, Fed's Williams (Neutral, Non-Voter)Speaks on Outlook at 9:15 We get Markit US Services PMI at 9:45, just before the Bank of England Bond-Buying Operation Results at 9:50. 10am is the days highlight, with ISM Services for the USA posting. Ahead of us this week, we get Multiple FOMC Speakers and Feds Beige Book The EMC Deal Closes Weds, $47B in cash, same day as the AAPL product event in San Francisco. Finally, we have counted no less than 25 Sell Side Conferences this week Story continues NOW WATCH: How to supercharge your iPhone in 5 minutes More From Business Insider empty classroom ITT Technical Educational Services Inc. abruptly announced on Tuesday that it would cease operations at all campuses. The college's closure, which affects 40,000 students and 8,000 employees, is one of the largest in US history. The Department of Education held a press conference to discuss next steps for affected students, urging them to consider the two options: discharge their federal loans or transfer to another school. Current students and those actively enrolled in past 120 days who made the decision to leave are eligible to have 100% of their federal loans discharged. These students are free to start their programs of study at another school but can't use credits from ITT Tech if they want a full discharge of their loans. If students decide to fully discharge, however, they'd essentially need to start their postsecondary education over from scratch, a particularly unattractive choice for students close to graduating. But transferring is no easy task, especially if students are looking for a quality school. Under Secretary of Education Ted Mitchell directed students to call their loan servicers to start the process of a loan discharge and to visit studentaid.gov/ITT, a website dedicated to assisting ITT Tech students through the discharge process, or call 1-800-433-3243. 1024px ITT_Technical_Institute_campus_Canton_Michigan.JPG Alternately, students who want to continue their education and current programs of study should look to see where their credits may transfer. Mitchell indicated that the ED was working to have community colleges around ITT Tech campuses reach out to students. If the transferring school accepts the ITT Tech credits, the student is no longer eligible for a full federal student loan discharge. As is the case for any student, the department said it would accept claims under a borrower defense to repayment on an individual basis. Under the law, that claim provides loan forgiveness to students if their school committed fraud or broke laws. Story continues Secretary Mitchell noted that the department estimated about $500 million in federal-loan discharge money if every student sought a closed-school discharge. ITT Tech has posted about $90 million of that cost to the ED, which will defray the additional amount that taxpayer money will cover. The announcement that ITT Tech will close comes a week and a half after the department imposed sanctions on ITT Education Services that banned the school from enrolling students who use federal financial aid and required ITT post a $153 million letter of credit on top of the $94 million reserve requirements it must already meet. Shortly after, ITT announced it wouldn't accept new enrollments at all. The department's sanctions struck such a blow to ITT Tech because, like most for-profit colleges, it's highly dependent on federal aid. The department's move to sanction ITT "was the right decision," Mitchell said. "It's important to remember that when we took our action we took it in the face of growing evidence that ITT was a risk to students and taxpayers." NOW WATCH: Here's footage of Brock Turner leaving jail after serving half of his 6-month sentence More From Business Insider (VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.) With Labor Day behind them, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are pushing ahead in top presidential battlegrounds in the South. Trump, the Republican nominee, is set to campaign in Virginia and North Carolina on Tuesday, two critical states in his path to the presidency. Clinton, the Democrat, is campaigning in Florida in search of an advantage in the nations largest swing state. A Clinton victory in Florida would make it virtually impossible for Trump to overcome her advantage in the race for 270 electoral votes. The day before in swing state Ohio, Trump softened his stance on immigration while Clinton blasted Russia for suspected tampering in the U.S. electoral process. In a rare news conference aboard her new campaign plane, Clinton said she is concerned about credible reports about Russian government interference in our elections. We are going to have to take those threats and attacks seriously, Clinton told reporters traveling with her from Ohio to Illinois. Clintons comments follow reports that the Russian government may have been involved in the hacking of Democratic National Committee emails just days before the partys national convention. The emails, later revealed by WikiLeaks, showed some DNC officials favoring Clinton over her primary opponent, Bernie Sanders who has since endorsed Clinton for president. She said Russian President Vladimir Putin appears quite satisfied with himself and said Trump has generally parroted what is a Putin-Kremlin line. Meanwhile, Trump extended a rare invitation to journalists to accompany him on his private plane from Cleveland to Youngstown, Ohio. The billionaire businessman appeared to shy away from his hard-line vow to block amnesty for immigrants in the country illegally. Any immigrants who want full citizenship must return to their countries of origin and get in line, he told reporters but he would not rule out a pathway to legal status for the millions living in the U.S. illegally, as he did in a long-awaited policy speech last week. Story continues Were going to make that decision into the future, Trump said. Clinton powered through a coughing fit at a Labor Day festival at a Cleveland park, sharply criticizing Trumps recent trip to Mexico as an embarrassing international incident. Unwilling to allow Trump to modify his immigration stances, she said his address later that night in Arizona amounted to a doubling down on his absurd plan to send a deportation force to round up 16 million people. He can try to fool voters into thinking somehow hes not as harsh and inhumane as he seems, but its too late, Clinton said. The former secretary of state flatly said No, when asked in an ABC News interview whether shed be willing to accept the Mexican presidents invitation to visit the country, as Trump did last week. Im going to continue to focus on what were doing to create jobs here at home, Clinton said. Earlier in the day, Trump attacked Clintons energy level, noting she hasnt followed his aggressive traveling schedule and questioning whether she had the stamina to help bring jobs back to America. She doesnt have the energy to bring em back. You need energy, man, Trump told reporters. He added, She didnt have the energy to go to Louisiana. And she didnt have the energy to go to Mexico. Clintons 25-minute question-and-answer session was her first extensive availability with reporters since early December. Beyond Russia, she answered questions about the ongoing controversy surrounding her use of a private email server while secretary of state, which Trump has used to cast doubt over her ability to protect classified information. I take classification seriously, she said. While Labor Day has traditionally been the kickoff to the fall campaign, both Clinton and Trump have been locked in an intense back-and-forth throughout the summer. The start of full-fledged campaigning opens a pivotal month, culminating in the first presidential debate Sept. 26 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. Polls show Trump trailing Clinton in a series of must-win battleground states, meaning the debates could be his best chance at reorienting the race. Trump told reporters he does plan to take part in all three presidential debates, joking that only a hurricane or natural disaster would prevent him from attending. In a new interview on Monday, Hillary Clinton criticized Donald Trumps meeting last week with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto as a diplomatic incident. He came out saying one thing, and the Mexican president contradicted him almost immediately, Clinton said in an interview with ABC News, referring to conflicting claims made by Trump and Pena Nieto about their discussion. Trump said they did not discuss payment for the wall he has promised to build along Mexicos border, while Pena Nieto said he told Trump during the meeting that Mexico has no intention of paying for the wall. He didnt raise it, so he did choke. He didnt know how to even communicate effectively with a head of state. And I think thats a pretty clear outcome from that trip, Clinton said. Clintons running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, called the trip an international embarrassment. If youre gonna cave when youre with an ally, and Mexicos an ally, what are you gonna do when youre with an adversary? Kaine said during the ABC News interview. You shouldnt leave the safety of America and our diplomacy in the hands of a rookie who, on his one visit with a foreign leader, has already created kind of an international embarrassment for us. In his own interview with ABC News on Monday, Trump reiterated his claim that Mexico will pay for the wall and dismissed Clintons criticism. So let me just tell you about choking. I dont choke. She chokes, Trump said. Look at the deals shes made. Shes responsible for so many bad things that have happened to our country. Hillary Clinton Hillary Clinton on Tuesday addressed Donald Trump's recent fine from the Internal Revenue Service related to an illegal political contribution he made in 2013. The Democratic presidential nominee said "the list is growing" of instances where Trump did something that raises "serious questions" after news of the fine broke late last week. Clinton was answering questions from reporters aboard her new campaign plane when she spoke about the donation Trump made through his foundation to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was considering whether to pursue fraud allegations against the defunct Trump University. Bondi did not pursue the investigation. "He bankrupted his companies six times," Clinton said. "He's been sued about 4,000 times. He's been accused repeatedly of fraudulent behavior. His so-called Trump University is under investigation right now because of the way it's scammed so many students who thought they'd get a better opportunity in life." "And we recently learned that his Trump Foundation has been fined for illegal activity when it made a political contribution to the attorney general of Florida at the time she was being asked by her constituents to investigate Trump University because of the effects that these people that she's responsible for had experienced," she continued. "And of course, as we know, there was a phone conversation between them they contradict each other." She added that "the American people deserve to know" what was said in that call because "clearly" Bondi "did not proceed with the investigation." Trump was ordered to pay a $2,500 fine to the IRS over the $25,000 donation. The Washington Post found that the foundation did not list the contribution in its tax filings, and Trump later reimbursed the foundation for the donation. A Trump Organization senior vice president told The Post that it was "an honest mistake" that the contribution wasn't properly listed. Story continues Watch Clinton's comments: #HillaryClinton says the list is growing of activities #DonaldTrump has engaged in that raise serious questions pic.twitter.com/Ci2a15klpa Fox News (@FoxNews) September 6, 2016 NOW WATCH: Naked Donald Trump statues are popping up across America More From Business Insider While mainland coverage of Hong Kongs legislative elections has been thin on the ground, reactions from official media to polling results which saw the election of young legislators favoring self-determination for the semiautonomous territory has been vociferous. State-run newspaper China Daily listed in an op-ed Tuesday the legal mechanisms that could be used to keep separatists out of the Hong Kong legislature so that it may conduct its meetings free from being annoyed by those advocating separatism. On Monday, the state-backed Global Times quoted a statement from the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, which said that Beijing was emphasizing its resolute opposition to any form of Hong Kong independence activities inside or outside the legislature. The official news agency Xinhua called the Hong Kong independence movement a threat to Chinas sovereignty and security, and said that Beijing would firmly support the Hong Kong government to mete out penalties according to the law. Chinese legal figures have previously warned those advocating independence or self-determination for Hong Kong that they face arrest on charges of sedition. The Hong Kong government has also tried unsuccessfully to rein in the rapidly growing movement, threatening teachers with dismissal if they raise the subject in classrooms and disqualifying independence activists from standing in elections. GettyImages 533941144 House Republicans will take appropriate measures to discipline Democrats who participated in a June gun-control "sit-in," Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday. "Are you going to let the House stand with that behavior going forward?" McCarthy, a Republican from California, rhetorically asked reporters. "I think you'd create real damage to the House going forward, in the long term." McCarthy said a number of rules were broken when House Democrats staged a 25-hour sit-in on the lower chambers floor demanding a vote on gun control. Drew Hammill, spokesman for Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, told BuzzFeed it was absurd to say the sit-in violated House rules. House Speaker Paul Ryan said in June he was talking with the body's sergeant-at-arms and parliamentarians to review options on how to address the sit-in. Texas Rep. Pete Sessions, chairman of the House Rules Committee, previously said that the Democrats who staged the unprecedented move should be "held accountable" for their actions. The sit-in was characterized at the time by Ryan and other Republicans as a publicity stunt aimed at helping Democrats fundraise. The speaker said Democrats had allowed the House to descend into "chaos" and argued that it "sets a very dangerous precedent." "One of the things that makes our country strong is our institutions," Ryan said. "No matter how bad things get in this country, we have a basic structure that ensures a functioning democracy. We can disagree on policy. But we do so within the bounds of order and respect for the system. Otherwise, it all falls apart." NOW WATCH: Clinton just released a brutal ad linking Trump to white supremacists More From Business Insider By Sarah Young and Paul Sandle LONDON (Reuters) - High-end London housebuilder Berkeley (BKGH.L) on Tuesday sounded a more cautious note on the impact of Britain's decision to leave the European Union than rival Redrow (RDW.L), which is less exposed to investment buyers and foreign money. London has for years been a magnet for international money, driving up prices and development and raising fears of a bubble, but uncertainty following the June 23 referendum meant customers were taking longer to buy, Berkeley said. Housebuilding was one of the sectors hardest hit by the vote to quit the EU, with shares in the country's biggest companies losing about a quarter of their value in the following weeks. And the impact has also been felt on the ground, with Berkeley last week halting construction at a luxury housing project in southwest London, where homes were expected to sell for up to 5 million pounds, without saying why. House prices in London tend to be higher than elsewhere in the country, and with more homes bought as investments, they have also been hit by new taxes on second homes. With more people's jobs connected to the financial services industry, the capital's property market has also felt the uncertainty brought by Brexit most keenly. But Redrow defied these worries on Tuesday, giving a positive outlook after sales rose 8 percent in the ten weeks since June 30, pushing its shares up 7 percent to 412 pence, their highest level since they closed on June 23 at 427 pence. Although larger rival Berkeley said it was confident of meeting a two-year profit target, it said the referendum had paused property sales in June and July, before the market stabilised in August, albeit with buyers now taking more time. Berkeley's more cautious outlook reflected its greater exposure to London and the south east of England, said analysts. While Redrow builds some new homes in these areas, the majority of its sites are spread across the rest of England. Story continues "It's been very much business as normal and that's the case I think across the whole of the UK. I think if you look at the market post-brexit, pre-brexit, there is no real difference," Redrow Chief Executive John Tutte told reporters. But while it said underlying demand was strong and pricing resilient, Berkeley said its sales had been hit by Brexit uncertainty, which caused a temporary rise in cancellations. It said that in August sales levels had returned to levels seen in the first five months of the year, meaning they were still down about 20 percent versus 2015, after a higher levy since April on second homes and buy-to-let properties. London-focused estate agents Foxtons (FOXT.L) blamed a 10 percent drop in both the number of homes it sold and let in the first half of the year firmly on Brexit, while Redrow's resilience matched that of Persimmon (PSN.L), which does not build in central London. Redrow also said that it had seen a small rise in cancellations in London from investors buying properties who became nervous in the wake of Brexit, but that had now tailed off, with the CEO blaming any London slump on stamp duty. Data shows that prices in prime central London had already started to fall in the run-up to the referendum due to an additional 3 percent surcharge on second home stamp duty, which were condemned by Berkeley. "Government policy, which has been helpful outside London, has had a negative effect on the capital," Berkeley said. "Transaction taxes are now too high and this is restricting both mobility in the second hand market and the pace of supply and delivery of new homes in London and the South East." Shares in Berkeley, which is due to drop out of Britain's FTSE 100 bluechip index later in September after its shares plunged after Brexit, climbed 3 percent to 2,777 pence after it reiterated confidence in its profit target and a promise to return 10 pounds per share over the next five years. Reporting annual profits which were up 23 percent in the year to June 30, FTSE 250 firm Redrow lifted its full-year dividend by 67 percent to 10 pence per share. Shares in the group were up by 7 percent to 411.5 pence at 1245 GMT. (Editing by Alexander Smith) Sept 6 (Reuters) - Canadian retailer Hudson's Bay Co reported a 60 percent jump in quarterly sales, helped its expansion in Europe and the acquisition of online retailer Gilt. The company reported a net loss of C$142 million ($110.5 million), or 78 Canadian cents per share, in the second quarter ended July 30, compared with a profit of C$59 million, or 28 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier. The second quarter of 2015 included a pre-tax gain of C$133 million. Consolidated retail sales shot up to C$3.25 billion from C$2.04 billion. ($1 = 1.2847 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Vishaka George and Swetha Gopinath in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty) (Reuters) - Canadian department store operator Hudson's Bay Co reported a 60 percent jump in quarterly sales, helped by its expansion in Europe and the acquisition of online retailer Gilt. Hudson's Bay, which owns U.S. luxury retail chain Saks Fifth Avenue, bought German department store chain Galeria Kaufhof and its Belgian subsidiary, Inno, from Metro for about $2.7 billion last year. Hudson's Bay also plans to open up to 20 stores in the Netherlands. In addition, the first five Saks OFF 5TH stores in Germany are expected to open next summer. The Canadian retailer, founded in 1670 and the oldest continuously operating company in North America, is expanding in Europe to help mitigate the impact of challenging markets in the United States and Canada. The company also operates its namesake department stores in Canada and the Lord & Taylor chain in the United States. Hudson's Bay said it expects sales for the fiscal year 2016 to "trend towards the bottom end" of its forecast of C$14.9 billion to C$15.9 billion due to the "overall retail environment". The company's consolidated retail sales shot up to C$3.25 billion from C$2.04 billion. Hudson's Bay reported a net loss of C$142 million ($110.5 million), or 78 Canadian cents per share, for the second quarter ended July 30, compared with a profit of C$59 million, or 28 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier. The second quarter of 2015 included a pre-tax gain of C$133 million. ($1 = 1.2847 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Vishaka George and Swetha Gopinath in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty) By Jean Luis Arce LOS CABOS, Mexico (Reuters) - A storm off the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane on Monday, heralding its landfall with heavy rains and winds along a coastal highway connecting key tourist havens. Hurricane Newton lay about 125 miles (200 km) south-southeast of the tourist resort of Cabo San Lucas on Monday night, with maximum sustained winds picking up to 90 mph (144 km), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The hurricane was expected to make landfall in the early hours of Tuesday. "Those people that are in the hurricane warning area, they need to rush to protect life and property and move to a safe place as quickly as they can," Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the NHC, told Reuters on Monday. "Later tonight its going to be too late." Overcast skies in Los Cabos gave way to heavy rains late on Monday, with strong gusts. Twelve shelters opened across the area and tourists caught in the storm filled gas tanks as the storm strengthened. It is low season for tourism, and hotel staff said occupancy levels were average for this time of year. "The hotel occupancy is normal for these dates," said Carla Tellez, a receptionist at the Sandos Finisterra Los Cabos resort. Mexican emergency services officials were evaluating the progress of the storm and were taking some preventive measures, but had not yet ordered any evacuations. "As a precaution, classes were suspended from this afternoon until tomorrow," a government official in Los Cabos told Reuters. Mudslides triggered by intense rainfall in eastern Mexico killed around 40 people last month as saturated hillsides collapsed on to homes in the wake of Tropical Storm Earl. (Additional reporting by Lizbeth Diaz and Natalie Schachar; Editing by Simon Gardner and Nick Macfie) Photo: Getty Images From Cosmopolitan They say age aint nothing but a number if you really love each other, but are certain age gaps - or lack thereof - more likely to end in tears? According to a study conducted by Emory University in Atlanta, theres an ideal difference that can heighten your chances of a lasting relationship. The study looked at 3,000 people and found that the greater the age gap, the greater the risk of a breakup. These are just patterns, but the results could come down to partners having conflicting goals and interests at different stages in their lives. Researchers found that couples with a five-year age gap are 18 percent more likely to split than an equal-age couple, while that figure jumped to 39 percent with a 10-year age gap. For couples with a 20-year age gap, the statistics arent looking very hopeful, with chances of separation rising to 95 percent. As for that ideal age difference, researches believe that a one-year gap is the sweet spot, with the chances of divorce standing at a much smaller 3 percent. Still, as we said, this is just data, and, while researchers may have noticed patterns, every couple is different and other factors - like children, behavior, and plain old compatibility - can impact the results also. As Hugo Mialon, one of the researchers behind the study, said: It could just be that the types of couples with those characteristics are the types of couples who are, on average, more likely to divorce for other reasons. You Might Also Like For more from The View , visit Yahoo View. . IRVINE, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 6, 2016 / Khang & Khang LLP (the "Firm") announces a class action lawsuit has been filed against Corrections Corporation of America ("Corrections Corporation" or the "Company") (CXW). Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired shares between February 27, 2012 and August 17, 2016 inclusive (the "Class Period"), are encouraged to contact the Firm prior to the October 24, 2016 lead plaintiff motion deadline. If you purchased shares of Corrections Corporation during the Class Period, please contact Joon M. Khang, Esquire, of Khang & Khang LLP, 18101 Von Karman Avenue, 3rd Floor, Irvine, CA 92612, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or by e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com. There has been no class certification in this case yet. Until certification occurs, you are not represented by an attorney. You may choose to take no action and remain a passive class member. According to the complaint, the Company made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose: that Corrections Corporation's facilities lacked adequate safety and security standards and were less efficient at offering correctional services than the Federal Bureau of Prisons' ("BOP") facilities; that the Company's rehabilitative services for inmates were less effective than the BOP's services; that the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") was unlikely to renew and/or extend its contracts with Corrections Corporation; and that as a result of the above, Corrections Corporation's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. On August 18, 2016, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates announced that the DOJ decided to stop using private prisons, since they are less safe and less effective than federal government-run prisons. When this information was disclosed to the public, shares of Corrections Corporation dropped in value, causing investors harm. If you wish to learn more about this lawsuit, or if you have any questions regarding this notice or your rights, please contact Joon M. Khang, a prominent litigator for almost two decades, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or via e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com. Story continues This press release may constitute Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions. Contacts Joon M. Khang, Esq. Telephone: 949-419-3834 Facsimile: 949-225-4474 joon@khanglaw.com SOURCE: Khang & Khang LLP IRVINE, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 6, 2016 / Khang & Khang LLP (the "Firm") announces a class action lawsuit has been filed against Tokai Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ("Tokai" or the "Company") (TKAI). Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired shares between June 24, 2015 and July 25, 2016 inclusive (the "Class Period"), are encouraged to contact the Firm prior to the September 30, 2016 lead plaintiff motion deadline. If you purchased shares of Tokai during the Class Period, please contact Joon M. Khang, Esquire, of Khang & Khang, 18101 Von Karman Avenue, 3rd Floor, Irvine, CA 92612, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or by e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com. There has been no class certification in this case. Until certification occurs, you are not represented by an attorney. You may choose to take no action and remain a passive class member. The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, Tokai made false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: there were significant structural problems with the trial design for its Phase 3 galeterone study, ARMOR3-SV; that ARMOR3-SV was unlikely to succeed in meeting its primary endpoint; the commercialization of galeterone was less likely than investors were led to believe; and as a result of the above, Tokai's statements about its business, operations, and prospects were false and misleading at all relevant times. If you want to learn more about this lawsuit, or if you have questions concerning this notice or your rights, please contact Joon M. Khang, a prominent litigator for almost two decades, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or via e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com. This press release may constitute Attorney Advertising in certain jurisdictions. Contacts Joon M. Khang, Esq. Telephone: 949-419-3834 Facsimile: 949-225-4474 joon@khanglaw.com SOURCE: Khang & Khang LLP LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 6, 2016 / Lundin Law PC (the "Firm") announces a class action lawsuit was filed against Eaton Corporation plc ("Eaton" or the "Company") (ETN) concerning possible violations of federal securities laws between November 13, 2013 and July 28, 2014 inclusive (the "Class Period"). Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired shares during the Class Period should contact the Firm in advance of the September 23, 2016 lead plaintiff motion deadline. To participate in this class action lawsuit, click here. You can also call Brian Lundin, Esquire, of Lundin Law PC, at 888-713-1033, or e-mail him at brian@lundinlawpc.com. No class has been certified in the above action yet. Until a class is certified, you are not considered represented by an attorney. You may also choose to do nothing and be an absent class member. According to the complaint, Eaton issued false and misleading statements about the Company's ability to divest its automobile-part manufacturing business. Since 2008, the Company shifted away from its vehicle business and expanded its electrical component businesses. In 2012, Eaton merged with Irish-headquartered Cooper Industries plc, which reincorporated the Company in Ireland. After the merger, Eaton executives assured investors of the continued feasibility of divesting the automobile-part manufacturing business on a tax-free basis. This kept the Eaton stock price artificially inflated. On July 29, 2014, Eaton's CEO Alexander M. Cutler informed investors that the Company could not feasibly divest the automobile-part business until late 2017 because of tax law restrictions related to the merger. Mr. Cutler also revealed that the Company was "well aware" of these restrictions all along. When the true details emerged, shares of Eaton decreased in value, causing investors harm. Lundin Law PC was founded by Brian Lundin, a securities litigator based in Los Angeles dedicated to upholding shareholders' rights. Story continues This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in certain jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules. Contact: Lundin Law PC Brian Lundin, Esq. Telephone: 888-713-1033 Facsimile: 888-713-1125 brian@lundinlawpc.com http://lundinlawpc.com/ SOURCE: Lundin Law PC By Rina Chandran MUMBAI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - India will nearly double the budget and extend the deadline for a programme to digitise land records as states struggle to survey land and property, large chunks of which have not been mapped in a century, a senior official said. The national land record modernisation programme, launched in 2008, was aimed at surveying lands, upgrading records and establishing ownership. Scheduled to be completed in 2016 with a budget of 56 billion rupees ($841 million), the project will now conclude in 2021 at a projected cost of 110 billion rupees. "It is a long process, as some of these lands have not been surveyed in a long time, some for 30 years, some for 100 years," said K.K. Phull, a consultant with the department of land records in New Delhi. "Many states lack the means to survey lands, and for nearly all states this has not been a top priority so far, hence the delays," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The process includes mapping of land with aerial surveys, satellite imagery, drones, as well as physical markers. Existing land records are also verified and put online and linked to landowners. The programme aims to provide clear titles of ownership that should result in government officials being able to monitor land more easily, speedier transactions, fewer disputes over ownership and less corruption in administration, Phull said. Matters related to land and property make up about two thirds of all civil cases in the country, according to a recent study by Daksh, a legal advocacy group based in Bengaluru. India has introduced several land laws in the past decade to give more rights to farmers and indigenous people. But the complex web of legislation has not always helped the most vulnerable, with the lack of clear title deeds also a challenge. One of the main goals of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Digital India campaign launched last year was the digitisation of land records. Story continues States including Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh have completed the process to digitise land records, Phull said. Others including Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra are scheduled to be done in a few months, he said. In Maharashtra, about 270 million documents are being digitised, with surveys under way in several districts, a spokesman for the land records department said. The move to extend the deadline and increase the budget for the programme is awaiting the cabinet's approval, Phull said. "Our attitude towards land records is to forget about them until there is a dispute or an emergency," Phull said. "Digitising land records can have far-reaching benefits for the country. It is important we complete it on a priority basis," he said. ($1 = 66.53 rupees) (Reporting by Rina Chandran, Editing by Katie Nguyen) * Could soon hand cotton variety to state agency * Variety could rival Monsanto's seeds * Team has also developed GM mustard variety By Krishna N. Das NEW DELHI, Sept 6 (Reuters) - An Indian scientist whose team has developed a genetically modified (GM) mustard variety that is inching towards a possible commercial launch said he could soon hand to a state agency a GM cotton variety that can rival Monsanto's seeds. Deepak Pental and his colleagues at the Delhi University worked on GM mustard for around a decade, and a government committee said on Monday it found the seeds to be safe for "food/feed and environment". Reuters reported the technical clearance last month for what could be the country's first GM food crop. (http://bit.ly/2cnUOkZ) "The government has taken the right path and experts have looked at all the data," Pental told Reuters on Tuesday, acknowledging that public opposition to lab-altered food remains fierce. "Our scientists have the capability to do more, but you will have to strengthen research further, educate people." Prime Minister Narendra Modi's nationalist government, keen to cut the country's heavy annual food import bill, will soon decide on the commercial launch of the high-yielding mustard and plans to indigenously develop other GM food to reduce reliance on multinationals such as Monsanto. The move has been opposed by activists and politicians amid fears GM food could compromise food safety and biodiversity. Some experts have also questioned claims that GM crops are more productive than normal varieties. St. Louis, Missouri-based Monsanto dominates India's GM cotton market, but is embroiled in a high-stakes battle with the government which wants the company to cut the royalty it charges for its technology, apart from a proposal that will make the seed giant share its technology with local firms. Monsanto has even threatened to pull out, prompting Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave to say that Indian scientists are capable of meeting the requirements of its farmers on their own. Story continues New Delhi-based Pental said he was willing to help the government with that goal and would approach the state-run Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to pass on a laboratory-tested GM cotton variety his team has developed over the past decade. The variety is similar to Monsanto's Bt cotton but can be more resistant to pests, Pental said, adding he handed another GM cotton variety to ICAR last year for further research. No field trial has yet been done on either cotton strands. This comes at a time when Monsanto has withdrawn an application to sell its next-generation cotton seeds protesting the Modi government's proposal to force it to share its technology with local seed companies, which has also worried other foreign firms such as Bayer, Dow, Dupont Pioneer and Syngenta. Experts warn that even if India did develop a home-grown GM cotton variety in the next few years, it would struggle to sustain a programme that needs to refresh seeds every decade or so. (Reporting by Krishna N. Das; editing by Susan Thomas) PARIS Indie Sales has come on board One Step Behind the Seraphim, the promising feature debut of Romanian director Daniel Sandu. Set in modern-day Romania, Seraphim turns on Gabriel, a 15-year-old teenager who wants to become a priest and enters an Orthodox college, where he discovers that the system is totally corrupt and abusive. Like all the other students, Gabriel starts lying, stealing and cheating in order to survive in the seminary. The story is inspired by Sandus own experience attending the St. George Orthodox Theological Seminary in Romania. The film speaks about the courage and the right of young people to take decisions, to oppose a system and, if necessary, to break the rules in order to protect their free will and not allow others to decide for them, said Sandu, who previously directed the short Horse Power, which played at Locarno and won best short film at Cottbus. One of Romanias new generation of directors, Sandu started off his career in TV. He partly wrote and directed two series, Le Bloc and Nimeni nu-i perfect. Now in post-production, Seraphim toplines Stefan Iancu, who starred in Tales From The Golden Age, and Vlad Ivanov, whose acting credits include Toni Erdmann, Graduation and 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days. Ada Solomon, the high-profile Romanian producer behind Childs Pose and Toni Erdmann, is producing the film at Hi Film productions. Indie Sales will start selling Seraphim at Toronto with the script at hand. The movie will be delivered in 2017. The French sales company has been ramping up acquisitions of world cinema titles. With this new acquisition Indie Sales confirms its strong interest for talented newcomers. Moreover we are very honored to have the chance to work with Ada Solomon who has consistently produced high quality independent films, said Nicolas Eschbach, Indie Sales founder. The company recently picked up Lucia Carrerass Tamara & The Ladybug, which will play at Toronto in the Discovery section. Story continues Related stories Indie Sales Acquires Lucia Carreras' 'Tamara & the Ladybug' Ahead of Toronto (EXCLUSIVE) 'Little Wing' by Oscar-Nominated Selma Vilhunen Gets Toronto Premiere Indie Sales Teams With 'Ernest & Celestine' Producer on 'Pachamama' (EXCLUSIVE) PARIS, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Financial transactions systems specialist Ingenico Group SA cut its full-year targets on Tuesday in the wake of a "sudden and significant decline" in U.S. sales. The French company said it now expects a full-year organic revenue growth of at least 7 percent, compared with the 10 percent target previously announced. Ingenico also trimmed its EBITDA margin target to 20 percent from 21 percent. "In recent weeks Ingenico Group has been facing a sudden and significant decline in its U.S. market which accounts for approximately 10 percent of group revenues," the company said in a statement. The slowdown in sales has been caused by a relaxation of U.S. requirements for chip-enabled payment cards, which has slowed the pace of adoption, Ingenico said. (Reporting by Laurence Frost; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu) When Detroit students return to school on Sept. 6, the rodents and mold found in classrooms last year will be all but gone. Cracked windows will be repaired. Collapsed ceilings patched up. Chipped paint removed. Last year, not a single Detroit public school complied with the citys public health and safety codes, one reason teachers protested with widespread sick-outs that temporarily crippled the system. This year, 92% of schools are in full compliance. The most significant changes for the countrys most challenged big-city school system, however, will be right beneath the surface. Beyond cleaned-up classrooms, Detroits students will return to a brand-new district altogetherone that isnt saddled with mountains of debt. This new district is the result of a radical idea: that ailing public entities such as school systems could be overhauled like a bankrupt business. In June, Republican Governor Rick Snyder signed a sweeping education package to provide financial support for Detroits public schools modeled on the 2009 restructuring of General Motors. The legislation left the old district behind as a shell to pay down $515 million in operating debt, similar to GMs Chapter 11 that created an old and new General Motors, with the aim of restructuring a public school system that was all but bankrupt. Millions of dollars were allocated to repair the districts aging facilities, and the legislation allowed the schoolswhich include some of the nations worst and have been under state-run emergency management since 2009to return to a locally run school board. DPS is fiscally sound now, says John Walsh, Gov. Snyders director of strategy. Snyders use of state-appointed emergency managers has been widely scrutinized since the water crisis in Flint, where lead leeched into the municipal water supply while the citys finances were being overseen by the state. The water crisis raised questions about Snyders reliance on state managers to step in and fix local issues. Story continues The unprecedented experiment is being closely watched by other struggling urban public school systems around the U.S. There are quite a number of districts that are ending up on the brink of bankruptcy, says Robin Lake, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education, a research organization at the University of Washington that supports charter schools. Theres a lot of attention on Detroit. But public school advocates worry that the legislation does nothing to ensure that DPS will be able to provide quality education in the long term to compete with the growing number of charter schools throughout Detroit. Some even argue that lawmakers may have opened the door to an all-charter systemand potentially the end of the Detroit public schools altogether. Hitting Bottom The rise and fall of Detroits schools mirrors the city itself, which once had one of the biggest school districts in the country, hitting peak enrollment in 1966 at 299,962 students. But the decline of Detroits automobile industry brought a dramatic, decades-long population slide for the city and its schools, with white residents especially leaving the city for the suburbs. In 1994, Michigan legislators passed Proposal A, which shifted education funding from local property taxes to state taxes in an effort designed to equalize the quality of the states schools across affluent and low-income areas. The New York Times called it the nations most dramatic shift in a century in the way public schools are financed. The state tied funding directly to enrollment, meaning the more students a district had, the more money it would get. Proposal A also ushered in the citys first charter schools, which would get state funding but operate independently of existing school districts, something so dramatic TIME put the realignment on its cover in October 1994 under the headline: New Hope for Public Schools. The population in Detroit, however, kept falling, and the district had difficulty adjusting to the annual loss of students and routinely budgeted for more students than actually enrolled. As funding declined, the district was constricted across the board. Facilities werent properly maintained. Teachers were let go. Class offerings were cut. And parents increasingly opted for charter schools, leading to further DPS enrollment cuts. Over the last 25 years, Detroits population has declined by 34%, but public school enrollment has gone down 73%, and by 2012, charter schools were educating more students in Detroit than public schools. The school district now has fewer than 50,000 students. Academic performance, meanwhile, has plummeted. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, just 5% of Detroits fourth-graders were proficient in math in 2015 compared to 34% statewide; 6% were proficient in reading compared to 29% across Michigan. By most measures, DPS is the worst-performing urban school district in the state. Students like Imani Harris have experienced DPSs problems up close. Two weeks into the fall semester last year, her English teacher at Renaissance High School quit and the school couldnt find a qualified permanent replacement, leaving the 10th-grade English class to lumber along for months with a series of rotating substitutes. It wasnt really a class. I wasnt learning any English, Harris says. A lot of times, I just did other homework. There was a lot of anger because we were promised we were going to get a real teacher. Contributing to Detroits problems is a tangled web of a dozen authorizers that determine where charter schools can open or close. Many of those authorizers are public universities and community colleges that often dont work together to plan comprehensively, which can create chaotic situations in some neighborhoods. According to Detroit Mayor Mike Duggans office, 80% of Detroits public and charter schools have opened or closed in the last seven years. Its the Wild West, says David Arsen, an education policy professor at Michigan State University. Theres nothing like it in the country. Charters are giving out computers and sneakers just to get the kid in the door. National advocates for charters are looking at Detroit and saying, Dont do it that way. In January, DPSs teachers began protesting the districts deteriorating conditions by calling in sick en masse. In May, so many teachers held sick-outs that they effectively closed 94 of the citys 97 public schools. A New Start? That same month, the Michigan legislature passed a series of bills that amounted to a bailout of the district. Lawmakers gave $617 million to Detroits public schools$450 million to help retire the districts debt and $150 million in transition costs to create a new district. Proponents say the measures allow the district to start fresh while returning the schools to local control under an elected school board rather than state-appointed emergency managers, who had been in charge for the past seven years. We wiped their slate clean, says Jeff Farrington, a Republican in the Michigan House. DPS officials, however, say the amount of money for transition costs is nowhere near what they need. Alycia Meriweather, the DPSs interim superintendent, says that $105 million of the $150 million allocated to help get the new district up and running is already earmarked for financial obligations from the old district while only $5 million is available for repairing school facilities. While Detroit will be able to spend all of the $7,400 that is allocated per student on actual education costs this yearas opposed to last year, when $1,100 of that funding per student went to pay the districts debtthe district still has needs that wont be met, including at least eight schools that still need facility upgrades. People need to have clear expectations on what can be done with the money thats been allocated, Meriweather said. The new law also gives the school board the option of hiring non-certified teachers and allows penalties for teachers who stage sick-outs, measures opponents of the bills say are designed to put additional pressure on protesting teachers and unions. Its basically saying, How dare you teachers stand up for yourself? says Terrence Martin, a spokesperson for the Detroit Federation of Teachers, the local union. This is a way to keep our voices down. He adds that allowing uncertified teachers in Detroits classrooms is a slap in the face to the profession. Walsh, Gov. Snyders director of strategy, says the legislation only gives school boards the option of bringing on non-certified teachers, potentially allowing schools to hire teachers who may have occupational experience in a subject in which they dont have a teaching degree. As of late August, there were roughly 160 general education teacher vacancies, and opponents of the legislation say there still arent enough incentives for quality teachers to come to DPS. The Districts Future The long-term future for Detroits public schools, though, may hinge on whether the legislation does anything to slow the growth of charter schools. More than 51,000 children attended Detroit charter schools in 2015, well above the nearly 48,000 kids who attended public schools in the city. Detroits charters have served more kids than DPS every year since 2012. A common complaint among public school advocates is the need for a single authorizing body that would determine which schools could open and close. Walsh says Gov. Snyder fully embraced the idea of an authorizing commission, but many in the charter community were worried it would have unilateral control to limit charters. It ultimately wasnt included in the final legislation. The debate over DPSs future should be about improving academic outcomes for kids, says Dan Quisenberry, president of the Michigan Association of Public School Academics, one of the largest lobbying groups for charters. And if DPS cant provide that higher performance, the system shouldnt be protected. Quisenberry says MAPSA was opposed to the an authorizing board because its members would have been appointed by the mayor, something he believes wouldve turned the board into a political body. The legislation does include some changes for charters, including a new accreditation process that will reduce the number of authorizers, while an advisory council will gather data to determine where new schools should open. But public school supporters are still concerned that the growth of charters will continue unabated, eventually forcing DPS to fold entirely. Detroit is right on the cusp of getting rid of the traditional district, says Arsen, the Michigan State education policy professor. Detroits problems are often considered an outlier, but urban public school districts in Chicago, Philadelphia and Cleveland are also struggling with declining attendance figures and structural deficits amounting to tens of millions of dollars. Michael Griffith, a finance analyst for the research group Education Commission of the States, says lawmakers with ailing districts will likely be watching Detroits new district to see whether the legislation stabilizes the public school system. You might see other states look and say, Can we do that with some of our failing districts? Griffith says. Parents and students, meanwhile, are becoming accustomed to the dysfunction. Arlyssa Heard, a member of 482Forward, a group of local parents who raise awareness about the state of the schools, has a son who will start fifth grade this year and has already been in three different Detroit schools so farone public, one charter, one private. She knows parents who have kids in charters and public schools and hears complaints from both sides. We have people making decisions who do not have children here and dont know anything about what educators are facing in the classroom, Heard says. My dream is that there is some way to take this decision out of the hands of politicians and put it in the hands of educators and parents. Those are the two groups that have the most vested in the school system. No gruesome murder is complete without at least a few true-crime TV series or specials in its wake. But when it comes to the 20th anniversary of one of the most famous unsolved home crimes in modern historythe murder of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey in her Boulder, CO, abode broadcasters and cable news outlets are struggling to outdo one another in finding new ways to present the (disturbing) story. The most ambitious of the bunch, at least in the unlikely category of real estate: CBS The Case of: JonBenet Ramsey, which features full-scale replicas of large portions of the Ramsey home, all in a bid to shed some new light on the puzzle. So, what was this infamous home like, anyway? And what possible clues does it offer? Well, according to a preview of CBS six-hour docuseries (which kicks off at 8 p.m. PT on Sept. 18), the Ramsey home certainly seems to suggest a cheery childhood. The first-floor dining room, for instance, sports floral patterns on the walls and chairswhat child beauty queen wouldnt love that?and a glass table topped by a gingerbread house. Dining room CBS The second floor is filled with yet more evidence of happy times in JonBenets bedroom, which has plenty of toys strewed on the floor and its own Christmas tree (the crime happened over the holidays). JonBenet Ramseys bedroom CBS Meanwhile the basement boasts a huge train set. This is the level of the home where dad John Ramsey found his daughters body on Dec. 26, 1996, in the nearby wine cellar. The cause of death was deemed to be strangulation and a skull fracture. To this day no one knows for sure who killed JonBenet. The basement CBS So does this peek inside the house offer any new clues about what happened? A number of the original investigators (who are featured in the series) certainly think so. For instance, they point out how the basement window where the murderer (or murderers) was believed to have entered was too small to allow an adult to pass through. Still, though, perhaps the biggest takeaway viewers will glean from stepping inside this house is just a huge case of creeps. Seeing that Christmas tree, train set, and other signs of childhood innocence vividly drives home just how heart-wrenching this murder was. Story continues Which may also explain why the actual house in Boulder is literally shrouded in darknessempty, without a buyer in sight. According to property records, the 11,000-square-foot, five-bedroom home was put on the market after the murder and, astonishingly, sold for $1 million in 2004 to Carol Schuller Milner, daughter of televangelist Robert Schuller. Carol and her husband, Tim, lived there for less than two years before moving. Over the past eight years, theyve tried to sell the house numerous times with no takers. But that doesnt mean this house is cursed to stay vacant forever. So-called murder houses may not be every homeowners cup of teain our analysis they sell for 15% less than comparable houses in the same ZIP codebut in fact some buyers are willing to overlook a homes dark past in favor of a bargain. Others may even find the notoriety a plus. Case in point: The Beverly Hills, CA, home where O.J. Simpsons ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson was murdered (a case with more than its own share of true-crime TV fodder) was sold in 2006 for $1.72 millionat least after some major remodeling and a change of street address. Meanwhile, the former Houston home of Andrea Yateswho drowned her five children in 2001sold in 2004 for an undisclosed sum. It is currently valued at $158,926. So who knows? Maybe this new wave of publicity on the anniversary of JonBenets tragic death will scare up a buyer. The post Inside the Infamous Home of JonBenet Ramsey appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com. DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei renewed criticism of Saudi Arabia over how it runs the haj after a crush last year killed hundreds of pilgrims, and suggested Muslim countries think about ending Riyadh's control of the annual pilgrimage. Saudi Arabia accused Iran, its main regional rival, of seeking to politicise this month's event, saying in turn on Monday that Iran was compromising safety with its actions. "The Iranian authorities are the ones who don't want the Iranian pilgrims to come here for reasons concerning the Iranians themselves and in light of them seeking to politicise haj and turn it into rituals against Islam's teachings and that compromise the safety of haj," the state news agency SPA quoted Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef as saying. He was reviewing preparations the pilgrimage that starts on Sept. 11. Custodian of Islam's most revered places in Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia stakes its reputation on organising haj, one of the five pillars of Islam which every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to is obliged to undertake at least once. Riyadh said 769 pilgrims were killed in the 2015 disaster - the highest haj death toll since a crush in 1990. Counts of fatalities by countries who repatriated bodies showed that over 2,000 people may have died in the crush, more than 400 of them Iranians. "Because of these (Saudi) rulers' oppressive behaviour towards God's guests (pilgrims), the world of Islam must fundamentally reconsider the management of the two holy places and the issue of haj," Khamenei said in a message carried by his website and Iran's state media. "They must not let those rulers escape responsibility for the crimes they have caused throughout the world of Islam," Khamenei said, listing Saudi Arabia's involvement in conflicts in areas including Iraq, Yemen and Syria on the side of forces Iran opposes. Riyadh accuses Tehran in turn of destabilising Arab states and spreading sectarianism by backing militias in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen and fomenting unrest in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Iran denies those charges. Iran blamed the 2015 disaster on organisers' incompetence. Pilgrims from Iran will be unable to attend haj, which starts on Sept. 11, this year after talks between the two countries on arrangements broke down in May. "What Iranian media and some Iranian officials are raising is not objective and they know before anyone else that the kingdom has given the Iranian pilgrims what it gave others," Prince Nayef said. An official Saudi inquiry has yet to be published, but authorities suggested at the time some pilgrims ignored crowd control rules. (Reporting by Ali Abdelaty; Writing by Maha El Dahan; Editing by Alison Williams) By Alex Lawler, Rania El Gamal and Parisa Hafezi LONDON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Iran signalled on Tuesday it was prepared to work with Saudi Arabia and Russia to prop up oil prices as Tehran began to bargain with OPEC on possible exemptions from output limits. Iran has been the main factor preventing an output deal between OPEC and non-OPEC Russia as Tehran argued it should be excluded from any such agreement before its production recovers from Western sanctions that ended in January. Iran's rival Saudi Arabia has said it would agree to a deal only if Tehran took part. However, with Iranian production rising close to pre-sanctions levels, Riyadh has signalled in recent weeks it is ready to compromise. Russia has also said it was ready to accept certain exemptions, especially as Iran was close to reaching output levels of 4 million barrels per day (bpd) after which it could no longer boost production further. On Monday, Russia and Saudi Arabia signed a pact agreeing to work together to help balance the oil market but giving little detail on possible action to help eradicate a global glut. On Tuesday, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh met OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo in Tehran and said he would support any measure to stabilise crude prices at around $50-60 per barrel. "Iran wants a stable market and therefore any measure that helps the stabilisation of the oil market is supported by Iran," Zanganeh said. OPEC members will meet on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum (IEF), which groups producers and consumers, in Algeria on Sept. 26-28, during which they are expected to discuss a possible output freeze. Russia is also expected to attend the IEF. Hit by global oversupply, oil prices (LCOc1) collapsed to as low as $27 per barrel earlier this year from as high as $115 in mid-2014, but have since recovered to around $47. "We support oil prices between $50 and $60 per barrel," Zanganeh said. SHUTTLE DIPLOMACY Most OPEC producers and Russia are pumping at capacity. Only Iran and potentially Iraq could raise output in the medium term. Story continues The key question for a potential freeze, therefore, would be at which levels production is frozen. If production is stabilised at early-2015 levels, it would effectively mean a cut as most producers - including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq and Iran - have ramped up output since then. Seyed Mohsen Ghamsari, director of international affairs at National Iranian Oil Co, said on Monday Iran was ready to raise production to 4 million bpd in the next two to three months depending on market demand. A source familiar with Iranian thinking said on Tuesday the Saudi-Russian pact was making a global output agreement more likely. "Surely Iran at some point reached production capacity of slightly more than 4 million bpd, but actual production just before the imposition of sanctions was below 4 million," the source said. "The shuttle diplomacy is going on to clear which level is considered an aim for Iran," he added. A source familiar with Gulf thinking said if no compromise with Iran were found before the meeting in Algeria, there would be time to secure one ahead of OPEC's regular gathering in November in Vienna. (Reporting by Alex Lawler in London, Rania El Gamal in Singapore and Parisa Hafezi in Ankara; Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Dale Hudson and Jason Neely) Tehran (AFP) - Iran's oil minister said Tuesday that the Islamic republic supports "any decision" to stabilise the global oil market and that $50-60 per barrel is the "desired price" for most OPEC members. "Iran supports any decision by oil producers to return stability to oil markets. The desired price for most OPEC members for oil is between 50 and 60 dollars," said Bijan Zanganeh following a meeting with OPEC secretary-general Mohammed Barkindo in Tehran, according to the ministry's Shana news agency. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq has put out fires at six more oil wells in the Qayyara region, which Iraqi forces recaptured from Islamic State late last month, but at least three fires are still blazing, the oil ministry said on Tuesday. The militants sabotaged much of Qayyara's oil infrastructure before fleeing ahead of the government advance, sending black smoke into the sky for days and oil pouring into main thoroughfares. The authorities said last week they had already put out fires from four wells, but a Reuters correspondent visiting the city afterwards saw around a dozen separate plumes of smoke and a military officer in the area said on Sunday the fires were still raging. "The firefighting consisted of removing explosives from these wells, putting out the fires and preventing crude oil from leaking into the river to prevent pollution," ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said. Responders also built dirt walls and trenches to prevent oil from reaching residential neighborhoods, he added. Jihad said three wells that remain outside the control of the security forces would be extinguished as soon as they were recaptured. The Qayyara region produces heavy sour crude and has a small refinery to process some of the oil. The oil ministry has said it does not expect to resume production from the Qayyara region before security forces recapture Mosul, Islamic State's de facto capital in Iraq. The two main fields, Qayyara and Najma, used to produce 30,000 barrels per day of heavy crude before the takeover by Islamic State. (Reporting by Stephen Kalin; Editing by Mark Potter) The Islamic State group has reportedly banned women from wearing a burka, a veil that covers the entire face, as a security precaution in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. The alleged new rule is striking in part because the militant group also known as ISIS has beaten and killed women in the past for refusing to wear the conservative garment. Militant leaders banned burqas after a group of veiled women carried out attacks against several ISIS commanders, according to media reports Tuesday. Women wearing burqas will no longer be allowed to enter buildings in Mosul, an ISIS stronghold, while wearing the full-body covering. Instead, they must wear gloves and gauze to cover their eyes. ISIS' morality police will continue to require women to wear the burqa outside of Mosul's new security rule, the Jerusalem Post reported. ISIS has a poor record when it comes to women's rights, according to a recent Human Rights Watch report. The group is accused of raping and trading women and limiting women's freedom of movement, access to health care and education. "Some women said they felt deeply humiliated by their treatment by ISIS, and two said they felt so depressed they had wanted to kill themselves," the report stated. Conservative governments fearful of Islamic terrorism have banned burqas in recent years, drawing criticism from Muslim and progressive leaders who claim the laws oppose religious freedom and are anti-Islam. In 2015, Muslim women in the Chinese city of Urumqi in the western Xinjiang region were prohibited from wearing the burqa. Critics claim the rule was part of an effort to alienate the Uighurs, a sizable Muslim ethnic group in the region. France banned garments that cover up people's face in public in 2011, including a burqa, niqab, which leaves a slot for a womans eyes, and masks. In Belguim, Brussels also outlawed full-face veils in 2011. Story continues While burqas are mandatory in Iran and Saudi Arabia, some Muslim-majority nations have also debated banning face veils to protect national security. In Syria, officials banned veils from universities in 2010, while a proposed veil ban in Tunisia in 2015 prompted a national outcry, Quartz reported. Related Articles Italian director Paolo Sorrentino will shoot a drama about former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, reports Variety. The film, expected to be titled "Loro," looks to start shooting in the summer of 2017. It will delve into Berlosconi's life as well as his inner circle. Sorrentino recently finished the 10-part TV series "The Young Pope," starring Jude Law, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday. Berlusconi served as Italy's prime minister in four governments, making him the country's longest serving post-war leader. By Arunima Banerjee (Reuters) - ITT Educational Services Inc said it would shut its flagship ITT Technical Institutes, following a U.S. Department of Education order, affecting thousands of students and employees. ITT's move is the latest blow to the over $20 billion U.S. for-profit education industry, which has come under fire from the government in the past couple of years for its poor track record in helping students find employment. Shutting the institutes will affect more than 8,000 employees and hundreds of thousands of students and alumni, ITT said on Tuesday. The New York Stock Exchange said it would immediately suspend trading in ITT's shares and delist the company. (http://bit.ly/2cxGirp) The stock last traded at 38.4 cents in premarket trading before being halted. "We reached this decision only after having exhausted the exploration of alternatives, including transfer of the schools to a non-profit or public institution," ITT said. In August, the U.S. Department of Education banned the company from enrolling students who get federal aid. Such students accounted for more than two-thirds of ITT's revenue in 2015. The company had 40,000 students at its ITT Technical Institute and Daniel Webster College locations as of June 30. TOUGH LESSON U.S. for-profit education providers have struggled to attract students since a 2010 government crackdown revealed high student debt loads, low graduation rates and poor employability of graduates. In April last year, Corinthian Colleges Inc abruptly closed 28 schools, leaving 16,000 students without classes amid federal and state investigations. (http://reut.rs/2c4n37c) The company, which filed for bankruptcy the following month, was being investigated for allegations of misleading students and investors about its finances and job placement rates. U.S. for-profit college operator Education Management Corp also said in November that it would to pay a record $95.5 million to resolve charges that it used high-pressure sales tactics to mislead students. Story continues Carmel, Indiana-based ITT has been subject to government scrutiny for allegations of fraud and deceptive marketing tactics. ITT's accrediting agency said in April that ITT Technical Institutes - which provide career-oriented education programs - had not demonstrated compliance with certain accreditation standards. (Reporting by Arunima Banerjee and Subrat Patnaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirti Pandey) British actor Tom Burke has been cast to star in the Cormoran Strike crime-drama TV series for the BBC, based on novels written by Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. The series, set to air on flagship channel BBC One, consists of three-parter The Cuckoos Calling, two-parter The Silkworm and two-parter Career of Evil. Each episode will last an hour. They will be produced as three separate event dramas and are set to begin shooting this fall in London. Rowlings company Bronte Film & TV is producing. Burke, who most recently starred in BBCs epic War & Peace as Fedor Dolokhov and in The Musketeers as Athos, will play Cormoran Strike, a war veteran-turned-private detective operating out of a tiny office in Central London. Though hes wounded both physically and psychologically, Strikes insight and background as a military police detective prove crucial in solving three complex cases that have confounded the police. Im overjoyed to be immersing myself in the role of Cormoran Strike, who is as complex as he is larger than life, Burke said in a statement. I know Im joining an extraordinary team of people on a series that for me is peppered with moments of real emotional depth and meticulously grounded in the page-turning momentum of these novels. Cormorans world is rich and raw. Im thrilled about the casting of Tom Burke, a massively talented actor wholl bring the character to perfect life, Rowling said. Cormoran Strike is pure joy to write, and I cant wait to see Tom play him. The adaptations build on Rowlings relationship with the BBC that started with the 2015 miniseries The Casual Vacancy, which was adapted from the authors first post-Harry Potter book as a three-parter by Sarah Phelps, with Bronte producing. Rowling, her agent and business partner Neil Blair, Ruth Kenley-Letts and Elizabeth Kilgarriff for the BBC will executive produce the Strike series. Ben Richards (The Tunnel: Sabotage, Spooks) will write The Cuckoos Calling and The Silkworm, and Tom Edge (The Last Dragon Slayer, Lovesick) will write Career of Evil. Michael Keillor (Line of Duty, Critical) will direct The Cuckoos Calling, and Jackie Larkin (Stella Days, Kings) will produce. Story continues Tom Burke has all the talent, depth and versatility needed to take on the mantle of Cormoran Strike, Kenley-Letts said. Hell bring his own particular wisdom, charisma and emotional complexity to the part. We couldnt be more thrilled to be working with him. Charlotte Moore, director of BBC Content, and Ben Stephenson, former controller of BBC Drama Commissioning, originally ordered the show. Lucy Richer, BBC acting controller of drama, said: Tom Burke is the perfect person to bring to life the lead character of Cormoran Strike from these investigative crime stories which are the work of a master storyteller. Readers have fallen for Strike, and I think the television audience will too. Burke is represented by Troika. Related stories 'Doctor Who': BBC Recreates Exterminated 1966 Daleks Storyline As Animated Episodes [VIDEO] BBC Greenlights Seven New Agatha Christie Adaptations J.K. Rowling Releasing 3 New 'Harry Potter' Books A renowned expert on value added investments, Jacob Frydman has made a positive and lasting impact over his 30-year career in the real estate acquisition and development industries NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / September 6, 2016 / New York property investor and philanthropist, Jacob Frydman will participate in the National Committee for Furtherance of Jewish Education's (NCFJE) Toys for Hospitalized Children program. Mr. Frydman's generous commitment and support for the NCFJE's initiative will help provide toys, gifts, and smiles to children in need. Located in Brooklyn, NY, NCFJE is a multi-faceted charity founded in 1940 by Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneerson dedicated to protecting, feeding, and educating thousands throughout the New York metro area. Today, the NCFJE has several programs under the leadership of Rabbi Jacob Hecht with the objective of providing fast, discreet, and dignified service to all sectors of the Jewish community. Under the direction of Program Director, Mrs. Baila Hecht, the organization's roster of initiatives includes Toys for Hospitalized Children, which sends over 10,000 toys and gifts annually to numerous hospitals, senior residences, and special needs facilities. For more than 50 years, these gifts have brought joy and smiles to those that need it most, and Jacob Frydman is pleased to be able to give back to the community through this meaningful and impactful program. Toys for Hospitalized Children is also helping children learn how easy and fulfilling it is to reach out to help others who are less fortunate. The young volunteers of the program gather to wrap toys, and when possible, visit the recipients to offer the gifts personally. During his years of active involvement in Toys for Hospitalized Children, Jacob Frydman has witnessed on numerous occasions how an unexpected gift uplifts a hospitalized child, senior, or special needs adult by letting them know they are not forgotten. This simple gesture sends a message of compassion and hope to patients and family members that leaves a lasting sense of community spirit in all who participate. A renowned expert on value added investments, Jacob Frydman has made a positive and lasting impact over his 30-year career in the real estate acquisition and development industries. As a recognized leader in his field, Jacob has served as a contributor and panelist at numerous industry seminars, speaking on aspects of property investments. He has been a guest lecturer on real estate finance at Columbia University, and in the Master's Lecturer series sponsored by New York Law School. His television appearances include CNBC, Bloomberg TV, FOX News, and others, where he discusses trends in commercial real estate and provides his invaluable expertise. Frydman has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Bardavon Opera House, home of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic and is also an avid philanthropist, often donating his time and capital to various charitable endeavors. He is a firm supporter of organizations such as Chabad of Dutchess County and The Brem Foundation of Washington DC. Jacob Frydman - Property Expert and Consultant: http://jacobfrydmannews.com Jacob Frydman -- Discusses Current Trends in Commercial Real Estate: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/jacob-frydman-discusses-current-trends-032355134.html Jacob Frydman (@jacobfrydman) - Twitter: https://twitter.com/jacobfrydman For more information, please visit http://www.JacobFrydmanNews.com Contact Info: Name: Jacob Frydman Email: contact@jacobfrydmannews.com Organization: JacobFrydmanNews.com Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lpgwu_U5liM SOURCE: Jacob Frydman The mother of an 11-year-old Minnesota boy who was murdered nearly three decades ago held back tears Tuesday as she apologized to her son for the horrific way he spent his last moments alive. Patty Wetterling kept her composure as she addressed reporters after her sons killer, Danny Heinrich, finally confessed in court to the 1989 crime and detailed the brutal way he kidnapped, sexually assaulted and then fatally shot 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling before burying his body. I want to say, Jacob, Im so sorry, Patty Wetterling said during an emotional news conference. Its incredibly painful to know his last days, his last hours, his last minutes. Hes taught us all how to live, how to love, how to be fair, how to be kind. He speaks to the world that he knew that we all believe in. It is a world worth fighting for, she added. Patty Wetterling said she never lost hope that her son was still alive even 27 years after he vanished. But her optimism was shattered last week when Heinrich led investigators to where his remains were buried as part of a plea deal. For us, Jacob was alive until we found him. We need to heal, Patty Wetterling said. We love you Jacob. Our hearts are hurting. Authorities said Heinrich, 53, recently began cooperating with investigators to solve the cold case. Under a plea deal, he agreed to confess to his crimes in open court and help investigators find Jacobs body. This is not the ending any of us wanted, but Jacob is finally home, Stearns County Sheriff John Sanner said. By Cesar Raizer BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian police launched an investigation of fraud at state-run companies' pension funds on Monday, as a judge ordered dozens of senior financiers and executives away from their firms, including the chief executive of the world's biggest beef exporter. Police carried out five arrests, more than two dozen interrogations and over 100 search warrants, seizing jewels, luxury vehicles, artwork and an airplane in an asset freeze to cover up to 8 billion reais ($2.5 billion) in alleged damages. The federal judge overseeing the case, Vallisney De Souza Oliveira, ordered the chief executive of meat packer JBS SA and 39 others under investigation to suspend their corporate roles, avoid all capital market activity and forfeit their passports in order to avoid jail. JBS shares fell 10 percent, the biggest drop in six months, at the prospect of billionaire brothers Wesley and Joesley Batista, who run JBS and their family's holding company J&F Investimentos, respectively, from serving at the group's firms. The probe of the pension funds is the latest in a string of investigations into corruption at the vast overlap of Brazilian business and politics, rattling Latin America's largest economy and feeding political instability. The four pension funds under investigation, which controlled about 280 billion reais in assets last year, have been an important source of investment in Brazil's credit-starved economy, but political connections at the state-run firms have raised questions about influence in their decisions. The pension funds caught up in Monday's investigation are those of state-run banks Caixa Economica Federal [CEF.UL] and Banco do Brasil, postal service Correios and oil giant Petroleo Brasileiro SA, the company known as Petrobras which has been ground zero of the graft investigations roiling the nation. Yet police said their investigation focused on losses to pensioners from reckless or fraudulent investments throughout the Brazilian economy. Other executives affected by the judge's order include the chief executive of wood pulp maker Eldorado Brasil Celulose SA, also controlled by the Batista family, Jose Carlos Grubisich; and Denise Pavarina, the head of the asset management unit at lender Banco Bradesco SA. Press representatives for J&F and Eldorado said their executives were collaborating with the investigation. JBS referred comment to J&F. Bradesco said its asset management units "follow the regulations in funds under management and rules by regulators" and that the bank is cooperating with authorities. Pension funds Previ, Petros and Funcef said they were collaborating with police. Petros added that the investigation involved decisions made in 2011. Postalis did not immediately respond to a request for comment Caixa, Bradesco, Banco Santander Brasil and fund manager Rio Bravo Investimentos Ltda confirmed that their asset management units were also targeted by the operation. In a statement, Caixa said the bank already had an internal investigation about "possible irregularities" involving the employees pension fund's investments. Santander Brasil said the federal police asked for documents related to investments by the pension funds in the rig lessor Sete Brasil, which is under bankruptcy protection, and in a fund called Global Equity. Asset manager Rio Bravo, the target of acquisition by China's Fosun International Ltd, said the fund has always managed pension funds investments "with ethics, honesty and compliance with the laws." ($1 = 3.25 reais) (Reporting by Cesar Raizer; Additional reporting by Leonardo Goy in Brasilia, Pedro Fonseca and Stephen Eisenhammer in Rio de Janeiro, Alberto Alerigi Jr., Tatiana Bautzer, Aluisio Alves and Paula Laier in Sao Paulo; Writing and additional reporting by Brad Haynes; Editing by Sandra Maler and Leslie Adler) Alphr.com, which launched just over a year ago, has grown rapidly to become one of Dennis flagship technology brands, says Dennis Publishing. According to the publishes, it goes beyond the news and reviews-driven formula of most technology sites to talk about the innovators and leaders who use these technologies to do amazing things, revolutionising the way we work and live. Alphr.es launches this month under licensing agreement with Wannacom Comunicacion in Spain. The content will be provided from the parent website Alphr.com in the UK and translated into Spanish, with 30% of the content being locally sourced by the licensee. Wannacom Comunicacion has a team of expert journalists, photographers, translators, community managers and strategists, making them the perfect company to introduce Alphr.es to the 400 million plus Spanish speaking market, says Dennis. Paul Hood, Head of Digital, Dennis Technology Division said: Alphr.com has grown significantly in the last year in the UK market, establishing itself as a distinct, interesting and authoritative voice in technology. The launch in Spain is part of our strategy to expand the organic reach of the brand to new markets. Were delighted to be working with Wannacom Comunicacion on Alphr.es and will be looking to launch in other territories in coming months. Pablo Bueno Borja, Director of Wannacom said: "Were very excited about launching Alphr.es. Alphr is a beautifully designed site with excellent content, and were confident it will be very well received in Spain. Our aim is to become the go to brand for all Spanish tech enthusiasts: useful for the users, the place where brands want to have their products showcased, and the guide for decision makers." Carlotta Serantoni, Senior Licensing Manager at Dennis Publishing said: Everything in life now depends on technology, whether its work, health or everyday life. Before Alphr.es, there were no technology websites in Spain or LATAM countries dedicated to helping consumers pick the right devices for them. We are delighted to have reached an agreement with Pablo and his team and we consider Alphr.es to be the perfect site to help the Spanish market make sure they are well informed on everything in the world of tech. By Paul Kilby NEW YORK, Sept 6 (IFR) - Bonds linked to Brazilian company J&F tumbled multiple points on Tuesday following news that a judge had ordered several top executives to step down as part of a fraud investigation. Top managers at companies under the J&F holdings umbrella - including meatpacker JBS and pulp producer Eldorado - were asked to suspend their corporate roles and stop all capital markets activity, Reuters reported on Monday. The latest probe into fraud at state-owned pension funds has only added to the lingering uncertainty hanging over a Brazilian corporate sector still suffering from a long-running corruption scandal at oil company Petrobras. "People invested in JBS bonds are waiting to see if more news emerges, but for now they are not too scared as the investigation seems to be more concentrated in the holding company and Eldorado," said a sell side analyst. JBS USA's 5.875% 2024s were being quoted at 101.25 Tuesday after being spotted as high as 104.375 late last week, according to Trace. Eldorado's 8.65% 2021s, meanwhile, were hit harder, falling to 81.10 from the 88.00 level seen last Thursday. In a statement issued on Tuesday, JBS said it didn't have access to the judge's ruling, but would communicate to the market once it did. Press representatives for J&F and Eldorado told Reuters on Monday that their executives were collaborating with the investigation. J&F Investimentos, the holding vehicle of the Batista family, has a business portfolio which includes JBS, Banco Original, hygiene products company Flora and Eldorado. Eldorado is 80.98% owned by J&F, with Petrobras's and Caixa Economica Federal's pension funds - Petros and Funcef - each holding an 8.53% stake. Petros and Funcef, along with pension funds at Banco do Brasil and postal service Correios, are part of the investigation into losses incurred by pensioners as a result of alleged reckless or fraudulent investments. The news comes as JBS - now the world's largest beef exporter - attempts to regroup under a new Ireland-based company, JBS Foods International. Story continues The plan, which involves listing JBS Foods International in New York, requires regulatory approvals and could be delayed as a result of the latest investigation. "The view is that this will put the restructuring on hold," the corporate analyst said. (Reporting By Paul Kilby; editing by Shankar Ramakrishnan) From Cosmopolitan Every Brit knows to "mind the gap," but Princess Catherine's latest outfit might just inspire you to "wear The Gap" instead. Photo credit: Getty While visiting the Eden Project in Cornwall, England with Prince William on Friday, the Duchess of Cambridge wore a simple white top with a navy blazer and grey wedges, along with a pair of printed pants that left many fans of her style swooning. But lest you, too, wanted to recreate the outfit and were worried that the pants were completely unaffordable, Refinery29 reports that they're actually from The Gap, and cost a mere $25. Photo credit: Getty Photo credit: Getty Alas, it appears that the exact print Kate Middleton was wearing is currently sold out, but if you want to feel one step closer to royalty, the ankle-length trousers are still available in 15 different colors and patterns right here. Follow Gina on Twitter. You Might Also Like Categories Celebrity Style New York City inhabitants, you might want to steer clear of the Meatpacking District tomorrow. Fans and shoppers will be swarming the streets for a chance to meet the Jenner sisters, who are opening their first pop-up store for the new Kendall + Kylie collection during New York Fashion Week. (Brother-in-law Kanye West recently generated more than a little excitement here with his own pop-up concept.) The reality stars have chosen the Samsung 837 event space on Washington Street for their interactive showroomon the same day Kanye launches his Yeezy Season 4 collection. Like, whoa. The shop will be open from 8 to 10 p.m., and were crossing our fingers for a surprise visitif for no other reason than to snap a selfie with Kylies new platinum locks and Kendalls purple hair, which she rocked on the October cover of Vogue Australia (pictured below). Get your cameras ready. DEL MAR, Calif. (AP) -- Klimt won the $300,000 Del Mar Futurity for 2-year-olds by 4 1/4 lengths Monday on closing day of the seaside track's summer meet, giving Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert his 13th victory in the Grade 1 race. Ridden by Rafael Bejarano, Klimt ran seven furlongs in 1:21.80 and paid $7, $2.80 and $2.20 as the 5-2 second choice. Straight Fire returned $2.40 and $2.10 as the 4-5 favorite, while Midnight Pleasure was another 1 1/2 lengths back in third and paid $2.80 to show. ''Coming to the top of the stretch, I knew he was loaded,'' Baffert said. ''I said, 'I just hope that other horse (Straight Fire) doesn't have another gear.' It was very exciting to watch.'' Chasing Aces, the 3-1 third choice, was pulled up in the stretch by jockey Tyler Baze. He was later diagnosed with a slab fracture of his left knee and euthanized. The victory, worth $180,000, increased Klimt's career earnings to $336,960, with three wins in four starts. The last two Futurity winners - American Pharoah in 2015 and Nyquist in 2014 - went on to win the Kentucky Derby. In the $100,000 Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf, With Honors won by a half-length for trainer Keith Desormeaux. Ridden by Flavien Prat, With Honors ran a mile on turf in 1:37.85 and paid $6, $3.60 and $2.60 as the 2-1 favorite. The 2-year-old filly earned $60,000 for the win to remain unbeaten in two starts. You Missed It returned $4.60 and $3.40, while Lady Beware was another 2 1/4 lengths back in third and paid $6.80 to show. In the $50,000 Pirate's Bounty Stakes, Power Jam won by 1 1/2 lengths, giving Baffert and owner Kaleem Shah their second stakes win of the day. Shah also owns Klimt. Ridden by Stewart Elliott, Power Jam ran 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:02.10, breaking Ack Ack's 46-year-old track record of 1:02.20. He paid $4.80 to win as the 7-5 favorite. Kafister was second and Mrazek third. Bejarano and Prat tied for the riding title, each with 38 winners. Phil D'Amato was the meet's leading trainer with 23 victories. The Hague (AFP) - Dutch labour leaders and KLM airline announced Tuesday they had struck a pay deal for ground staff, hailed by the union as a breakthrough after weeks of tensions. "Today, KLM and the Dutch Trade Union Federation (FNV) reached a collective labour agreement for ground staff," the airline said in a statement, adding it was "pleased with the result." Relations had soured over the summer as the main Dutch Trade Union Federation (FNV) threatened strikes by some of KLM's 14,000 ground handlers. KLM even won a court order banning the ground staff from going on strike until this week, to ensure no stoppages over the busy summer holidays. The FNV said the deal reached on Tuesday was "significantly better" than what had originally been on the table. "We are very happy with this breakthrough, and together with KLM we can stop a race to the bottom," the union said in a statement. It added that it had been "a hot summer," but said the unions now wanted to work with KLM to stop what it called "unfair competition" from airlines receiving state aid. Under the deal, all ground staff will get "a better profit sharing scheme ... including a guaranteed dividend of 1,600 euros in 2016 and a one-time 1.0 percent dividend in 2017," KLM said. And from 2018 there would be a guaranteed 1.0 percent pay rise. "The proposal is extremely important to KLM and its staff, and I hope that we can leave this period of unrest behind us," said Aart Slagt, KLM executive vice president. Schiphol airport, just outside Amsterdam, is one of Europe's busiest travel hubs. Two conditions must be met to approve privatisation. It may already be the end of the road for SMRTs privatisation journey as minority shareholders will be voting by the end of the month whether they will accept Temaseks offer to buy the whole of the transport business. The scheme arrangement, however, will only be considered successful if it meets two conditions at the scheme meeting. According to SMRT, of the total number of shareholders present and voting in person or by proxy at the meeting, more than 50% by headcount must vote to approve the scheme. The second condition, meanwhile, requires at least 75% of the shares voted by shareholders present or by proxy in the meeting to be pro-scheme votes in order to approve the buyout by Temaseks wholly-owned subsidiary, Belford. If the scheme arrangement is approved by minority of shareholders, they will receive $1.68 in cash per share within seven business days from the date the scheme takes effect. If the scheme is successful, SMRT shares will no longer be traded on the Singapore Exchange, SMRT said. More From Singapore Business Review In September, the company wrote to the BIA of its plans to hold a luncheon with certain landowners whose consent it needed, including Mary Tom. Western Refining told the BIA it would like as much as possible to limit the luncheon to just the few family members whose signatures it was seeking, and not other interest owners in the allotment or outsiders to that process. Documents In These Times obtained via a FOIA request also show emails among the BIA staffers to plan a pre-meeting with the company. When asked about these communications, Nedra Darling, a spokesperson for the BIA, told In These Times that the BIA did not coordinate with the oil company ahead of the luncheon, or help prevent family members from attending it. At the meeting, Tom asked for her older brother and her nephew Patrick. Roberta Tovar phoned Patrick, who lives several hours from Gallup, and told him what was going on. Patrick immediately asked Tovar to hand the phone to a BIA official. No one would listen to him, he says. An oil company representative later described Adakai as attempting to disrupt the meeting by phone. Tovar claims a Western Refining employee escorted her and her father out of the meeting. The company put it more blandly in a report to the BIA about the event: Roberta Tovar and Charles Irving left after lunch. A group of family members, including the Adakais, later e-mailed Sharon Pinto, director of the BIA office for the Navajo region. They asked why some landowners had not been invited to the gathering and complained that the company was employing bribes to get consents. We are concerned BIA officials and selected landowners are being wined and dined by Western Refining to persuade a signing of the lease despite our repeated requests for re-review and evaluation, they wrote. They asked for a sign-in sheet from the meeting. Pinto replied that the meeting was called by Western Refining and the agency did not get a copy of the sign-in sheet. Were landowners exhorted into signing? Darling says no. She claims the BIA was present on landowners behalf, providing technical guidance and reassuring them in the Navajo language. At no time did BIA pressure anyone to sign or not sign, Darling said. Tovar is adamanther aunt was pressured. Thats why I said they were like coyotes on a sheep, she says. The landowners who had filed the lawsuit continued to reach out to the company to attempt to negotiate a better deal. But when they requested a copy of Western Refinings appraisal of the land, the BIA office instructed the group to submit a FOIA request, despite the Interior Department court having ordered the office in 2013 to provide the landowners with an appraisal of the right of way to assist them in negotiations. The BIAs Darling claims that Native landowners need not use FOIAs to obtain their own trust data or information. But landowners In These Times spoke to, BIA documents and IBIA court decisions reveal that the Freedom of Information Act must often be used to obtain needed documents. Complicating matters further, since 2014 Western Refining has brought two federal lawsuits seeking to resolve the situation. One seeks to condemn the familys land, a technique normally used by governments to gain access to land needed for the public good. The other sues the Interior Department, seeking to reverse the IBIAs unfavorable rulings. Citing the pending litigation, the companys press representative, Gary Hanson, declined to comment for this article. Shifting into reverse Terry Beckwith says that what Native landowners want is simple: We want to protect ourselves and our land, and maximize the money we can make on it. He notes basic problems that need fixingfor example, some of the most cursory BIA forms date to the 1940s and 1950s and are still used today. He says they should be updated and expanded to include the purpose and time span of the agreement, remedies in case of damage to the land, such as an oil spill, and other necessary items. One solution is to return control of land and resources to tribes, reversing some of the worst effects of allotment, including fractionation. The federal government, which once wanted to pulverize tribes, has in recent decades flipped the script, instituting regulations to give tribes more say in their own leasing deals (this does not affect individuals agreements, which are still fully subject to the BIA bureaucracy). Meanwhile, buyback programs, including the 2010 Cobell settlement, have helped tribes rebuild their land bases by funding the purchase of tribal members allotments. By 2015, tribes had regained and placed in trust 1.5 million acres via Cobell, according to the Interior Department. Some tribes are reconstituting their homelands their own wayand taking control of their own economic development. In South Dakota, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe operates the Tribal Land Enterprise (TLE), a land buyback program that long predates that set up by Cobell. Since its establishment in 1943, TLE has acquired about a million acres. TLEs strategic purchases have facilitated the development of projects that make sense to tribal members, and thats been a big part of the programs success, according to tribal member and TLE director Ann Wilson-Frederick. These include a grocery store on a reservation where there are few, 600 units of badly needed housing and a wind farm. With more land available to Rosebuds ranchers and farmers, they can increase production. The tribe can also put business and environmental regulations in place and choose to set aside land for spiritual and ecological reasons, adds Rosebud tribal member Wizipan Little Elk, CEO of the tribes economic development corporation and a former Interior Department official. All of this is done with an eye on the future, says Little Elk. We like to say we have a one-thousand-year plan. In the shorter term, Patrick Adakai and his relatives continue to fight Western Refining in court. He says his relatives goal is not just a better deal for themselves but improving how leasing is handled, including better BIA record-keeping and more landowner control of the valuation process. We are doing this for our Indian people, so they can improve their lives. This is for the children and grandchildren. This reporting was made possible by a grant from the Leonard C. Goodman Institute for Investigative Reporting. Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) (AFP) - Authorities in Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday blamed Uighur jihadists in Syria for masterminding a suicide attack against the Chinese embassy in the Central Asian country. A van exploded after ramming through a gate at China's diplomatic outpost in Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek on August 30, killing the driver and injuring three local embassy employees. The Kyrgyz national security committee said in a statement that investigations had shown the "instigators" were "Uighur terrorist groups acting in Syria", pointing the finger of blame at radicals from the mostly Muslim Chinese minority. The alleged suicide bomber was an ethnic Uighur with a passport from ex-Soviet Tajikistan who was a member of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) group in Syria, the statement said. Five suspects accused of involvement in the attack have been arrested and four more suspected of being in Turkey have been put on the wanted list, the authorities said. Xinjiang -- the homeland of China's 10 million Uighurs, just over the border from Kyrgyzstan -- is sporadically hit by deadly violence. China has accused what it says are exiled Uighur separatist groups such as the ETIM of being behind attacks in the volatile region. Chinese authorities have also accused scores of Uighurs who have fled the country of attempting to train with extremists in Syria and eventually return to Xinjiang to wage jihad. But many experts doubt the existence of ETIM, pointing out that although China frequently blames the group for radicalising Uighurs, it has yet to provide any evidence that outside organisations were involved in attacks. Impoverished majority-Muslim Kyrgyzstan has a history of political instability and battling Islamist extremism. Chinese officials in the country have previously been targeted in attacks blamed on Uighur radicals. Authorities say the country faces the threat of attacks by the Islamic State group after some 500 Kyrgyz left to fight for the jihadists in Iraq and Syria. One of the three suicide bombers who carried out a deadly attack blamed on IS at the international airport in the Turkish city Istanbul in June was reported to be from Kyrgyzstan. From ELLE Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper are in full bonding mode as they prep to work together on Cooper's remake of A Star Is Born. Back in April, they were spotted out together in Los Angeles. Photo credit: Getty That same night, they rode off on a motorcycle together. Photo credit: Getty But now, their hangouts have gone from full of thrills to almost weirdly chill. According to Us Weekly, the pair was spotted grocery shopping together in Malibu, California on September 4. Granted, they look like they were having a blast in the pics people snapped of their errand outing, so maybe grocery shopping is just a mutual passion of theirs. (Or maybe they were running lines for A Star Is Born and got really hungry, which seems more likely.) In August, Gaga tweeted her excitement about working with Cooper on the remake, so it would make sense if the two chose to spend their Labor Day weekend bonding/rehearsing/generally geeking out about the project. Im elated to be directed by & starring w/ Bradley in this project. He's a brilliant visionary artist. #AStarIsBorn #AStarIsBornCooperGaga - Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) August 17, 2016 Either way, it looks like an adorable friendship has been born too, and we seriously love it. You Might Also Like * PermaKat Eleonora Rosati received the 2022 Adepi Award * PermaKat Eleonora Rosati listed as one of the World Intellectual Property Review's "Influential Women in IP" of 2020. * PermaKat Eleonora Rosati listed as one of the Managing Intellectual Property magazine's "Fifty Most Influential People" of 2018. * IPKat founder and Blogmeister Emeritus Jeremy Phillips listed as one of the Managing Intellectual Property magazine's "Fifty Most Influential People" of 2005, 2011, 2013, and 2014. * Recommended by the European Patent Office as reading material for candidates for the European Qualifying Examinations, 2013. * Listed as "Top Legal Blog" in The Times Online, March 2011. 2010 ABA Journal 100. * One of the only two non-US blogs listed in the Blawg100. * Court Reporter Top Copyright Blog award winner, November 2010. * Number 1 in the 2010 Top Copyright Blog list compiled by the Copyright Litigation Blog, July 2010. * Selected by the United States Library of Congress for inclusion in its historic collections of Internet materials related to Legal Blawgs as of 2010. * Top Patent Blog poll 2009: 3rd out of 50 in the "Favourite Patent Blog" poll and 2nd out of 50 in the "Most-read" poll. Blog of the Year, 20 August 2008. * ComputerWeekly IT Law and Governance, 20 August 2008. From Cosmopolitan By 23, British Robinson was in line to become a vice president at a major national bank. But getting to that high-powered position zapped her energy, so she quit corporate America. Robinson spent the next 22 years helping save lives, from raising funds to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa to working under Secretary Hillary Clinton in the State Department. In 2014, Robinson was recruited to help start the Women's Heart Alliance (WHA), a national charity founded by Barbra Streisand and Ronald Perelman that seeks to change how heart disease is studied, and make gender a factor in that research. With Robinson as its founding CEO, WHA's ultimate goal is to make the topic of women's heart health as commonplace as red ribbons and breast cancer walks. My first job after college was probably not what I was meant to do. After I graduated from Mount Vernon College at age 20 with degrees in business and public policy, I went into retail banking for a couple of years. Something was missing; I just didn't know what that was. I was about to be named a vice president at Citibank in Washington, D.C. I'd go to work at 6 in the morning, leave at 11 in the evening, go to bed, take a shower, and go back to work. I had no social life, no love life, nada. I remember being on the subway platform late one night thinking, There's got to be more to life. I went to college and this is what I do? I was burnt out and having a midlife crisis at 23. I took a sabbatical from the company and lived on the beach in Delaware for about six months. I came back and the bank said, "Your VP role is still here and we want you back." I couldn't do it. Instead I decided to refigure out my life. In 1992, I joined the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, which is like the Peace Corps, but it's domestic and faith-based. I was assigned to be a social worker in Mobile, Alabama. I had never done social work before, but we didn't need a license at the time. I spent six weeks training with nuns and then I was thrown into the work. Story continues Most of these people lived in abject poverty. We gave them food if their food stamps ran out. We helped them get housing or move to safer housing, and we helped them navigate social services such as getting worker's compensation or Social Security. I would call people up at various state agencies and yell and scream and make it happen. One day, I was assigned to work with a woman who had six kids and was addicted to crack cocaine. She was also pregnant. She kept coming back for help, but she couldn't get off crack. I said to her, "I'm not going to help you until you decide to come clean." It was the hardest thing I've ever done. One day she came in with her new baby, who was born addicted to crack. She hands the baby to me, and it weighed about 3 pounds. She said, "OK, I've hit rock bottom." We got her into a state rehab facility that day. We also convinced the state and county to give her mother emergency guardianship of her children, plus food stamps and housing. The last I heard from the nuns who still work in Mobile, this woman is clean to this day. Saving that woman - and her children - was one of the best things I've ever been a part of. Photo credit: Aaron Clamage I visited a family I had been assigned, a couple with two babies. They lived in public housing that had so many roaches that the walls looked like they were moving. By 6 p.m., I had them in another house. I was 25 years old, and I was mad as hell that people even lived in poverty like this. I wanted to change the system. I realized I could do more by actually affecting policy in Washington. In 1993, I came back to D.C. and applied for a legislative job with Network Lobby, which is a national Catholic social justice lobbying group. They are the nuns on the bus who helped to get the Affordable Care Act passed. I worked for them for almost two years advocating for affordable housing policy, banking policy, and fighting for the earned income tax credit. In the beginning, I did miss working directly with the poor, but I knew it wasn't how I could affect the most structural change. After two years, I decided to go back to school at Johns Hopkins University to get my master's degree in government. I [got a job at] the U.S. Jesuit Conference. I was head of all their national advocacy and legislative work, as well as deputy director for the Jesuit Refugee Services. I spent 10 years traveling around the world for the Jesuits. I visited Africa for the first time [shortly after taking the job] and I understood what so many African Americans mean when they say they feel at home there. I went into an urban refugee camp outside of Nairobi filled with thousands of refugees who didn't know where they would live. I attended Mass with them, and they were all singing, clapping and holding hands. It was a moment of humanity that reminded me that [we're all the same. I loved that job and thought I'd never leave. But fate would intervene. I was at a big meeting at the White House seeking asylum for a handful of refugees from Southeast Asia. In the middle of the meeting, the faith-based director for President Bush and President Clinton said to me, "Do you have any interest in changing your career path?" I said, "I really love my job." Before he walked out the door, he said to me, "Tell me one thing you'd want to do." I said, "Well, I hear President Bush is working on some big program to help the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. I'd love to be a part of that." Three weeks later, I get a call to interview with the ambassador who was heading up the new President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), [which created global partnerships to invest in improving the health of people affected with HIV/AIDS, with a special focus on women and children]. Photo credit: Aaron Clamage In 2006, I became the director of private sector engagements, [helping to foster the financial and corporate partnerships that financed PEPFAR's medical response to the AIDS crisis]. I sat in meetings every day with brilliant researchers, scientists, and doctors. My first or second year of PEPFAR, I flew by myself to a very remote part of Zambia on a two-seater plane. We were building a computer system for a rural province of Zambia in partnership with Intel and the CDC [that would help medical professionals in that country better track people's health]. When I landed on a dirt runway, about 250 people came running out of the bushes, chanting. I said to the pilot, "Are we going to get murdered?" The pilot said, "No, they heard the American was coming." I got out of the plane, walked across a dirt tarmac, and the elder of the village came up to me said, "Thank you, President Bush and the American people, for saving us." I started bawling. When the people you are trying to help change your life first, it gives you the determination to change theirs. I can't imagine I will ever have a job in my lifetime that will have a greater impact on humanity. It made me even more committed to the health and well-being of people on the planet. In 2010, I was asked to move over to the Office of Global Women's Issues working for Secretary Clinton. I leveraged the platform PEPFAR had created and applied it to broad women's health issues globally, such as providing services for breast and cervical cancer patients in sub-Saharan Africa, and reducing maternal mortality rates around the world. Secretary Clinton created a very encouraging and empowering environment, and she energized us. She would write these heartfelt handwritten notes to employees if a family member passed away. On Mother's Day, she would write notes to staffers thanking them. She did the same on Father's Day. In 2012, I was offered a job to start up and lead the international division of the Susan G Komen for the Cure Foundation. I was watching Komen being firebombed every day in the national media [for pulling its funding from Planned Parenthood]. You can't help but be personally and professionally affected by that. I felt the pain for my colleagues and the organization, but I was laser-focused on the job at hand, which was to build out its international program. I was responsible for 30 countries around the world coming together for the largest breast cancer race in the world in Rome, Italy. Seeing 90,000 people race for breast cancer makes the hair stand up on your arms. Photo credit: Aaron Clamage In 2014, a recruiter reached out to me on LinkedIn saying they were looking to hire a CEO to lead a new health organization started by Barbra Streisand and Ronald Pearlman. I went in for an interview, and then a second, a third, and eventually about 15 interviews, maybe more. I wasn't starstruck. When you work for two secretaries of state and two presidents and meet presidents around the world, there's nothing to be starstruck about. I was worried this was another flash-in-the-pan example of rich people wanting to help but not being serious about it. What mattered to me most was their commitment to saving women's lives. Working with Barbra, I see her passion for women's health. I was hired as the founding CEO of the Women's Heart Alliance on Sept. 1, 2014. It felt like a full-circle moment. I was able to bring everything I had learned working in global health solutions for 20 years and apply it to the people in our own country who were hurting and suffering due to lack of health insurance, getting bad care, or being cheated. It brought me back to 1992 when I was working with the poor in Mobile, Alabama. When you're starting a new organization, there are no right first steps. The first thing was to get a hold of the vision, which was simple: Make women aware that heart disease is the no. 1 killer [for men and women]. The call for me became: What are you going to do about it? The answer is very complicated. I built a board, started fundraising, hired staff and a social media team, started hosting events, and brought information to Capitol Hill. We launched a national awareness campaign around women's heart disease called Fight the Lady Killer, bringing attention to the fact that heart disease kills more women than all cancers combined. We've worked extremely hard on pending legislation called the 21st Century Cures Act to help the National Institutes of Health and their efforts to research sex as a biological variable [that determines health risks for heart disease and other illnesses]. We're working on figuring out how we ensure more women participate in clinical trials [for prescription drugs and new treatments], and that scientists study women individually. We're a new organization. I don't have all the answers. Success for us would be to create a movement like we have with breast cancer and HIV/AIDS awareness. That's the ultimate goal. What I've learned about myself in the last 10 to 15 years is that I do best on a really big stage. I'm driven when the problem is complex. My last three missions have been really big, daunting challenges. At times it's overwhelming. But that's what gives me the fire in the belly. I have everything I could have ever hoped for in my career, but I didn't set out on this path. What I did was I listened to what was going on inside of me. Each time there was a pivot - when I knew there was something more, something else I was supposed to be doing - I listened to that inner voice. I don't see it just as work or jobs or a profession. This is who I am. I am answering the question, How can I be a part of helping humanity? Get That Life is a weekly series that reveals how successful, talented, creative women got to where they are now. Check back each Monday for the latest interview. Follow Heather on Twitter. You Might Also Like UPDATED 3:30 PM: Adds information on Lincoln Center Theater in final paragraph. PREVIOUSLY: Sally Field and company just got some support from the tony Lincoln Center crowd. Producer Scott Rudin, whos bringing Sam Golds celebrated revival of The Glass Menagerie to Broadway after the turn of the year, again has enlisted Lincoln Center Theater to co-produce the show. The stage and film producer and the Vivian Beaumont-based nonprofit led by Andre Bishop teamed last season on Ivo van Hoves revival of Arthur Millers A View From the Bridge, which went on to win the Tony Award for best play revival. RelatedJersey Boys Will Shutter In January After 11 Seasons On Broadway The Glass Menagerie will star Field as Amanda Wingfield, Joe Mantello as her son Tom, Finn Wittrock as Jim OConnor and Madison Ferris as Laura. The drama now is slated to begin performances at the Shubert Organizations Golden Theatre on Tuesday, February 7, opening March 9 (ahead of the previously announced first performance and opening night dates of February 14 and March 23, respectively). Gold first staged this production in 2015 with a Dutch cast at Toneelgroep Amsterdam (where van Hove is artistic director). The design team from that edition, including Andrew Lieberman (set), Woiceich Dziedzic (costumes), Adam Silverman (lighting) and Bray Poor (sound) will repeat. The show marks Bishops second co-production this season with a commercial Broadway producer. LCT also is partnering with Jujamcyn Theatres on a revival of the William Finn-James Lapine musical Falsettos. That show is slated to begin performances September 29 at Jujamcyns Walter Kerr Theatre, with Christian Borle, Andrew Rannells and Stephanie J. Block starring. A third LCT show, Oslo, is moving upstairs from the Mitzi E. Newhouse to the Vivian Beaumont next March, giving the nonprofit its third Broadway gamble of the season. Related stories Doug Liman Will Direct DC Title 'Justice League Dark' For Warner Bros Story continues Broadway Box Office: 'The Humans' Evolve To $600K; Cirque Du Soleil's 'Paramour' Lounges Lyrically At 55% Of Potential 'Front Page' Revival Adds Holland Taylor, Dylan Baker & Robert Morse To Ink-Stained Cast Known for his body tattoos, fun party songs, and love of kush, artist/rapper Wiz Khalifa has been on the hip-hop scene since his debut studio album Show and Prove dropped in September 2006. In the ten years since, Khalifa, born Cameron Jibril Thomaz, has churned out radio-friendly hits while honing his bold sartorial choices, and colorful hairstyles. In honor of Wiz's 29th birthday (Sept. 8), Listen to the 7 Best Fetty Wap Remixes Billboard Dance rounded up seven remixes of his jams including joints off his 2011 release, Rolling Papers to his multiple Fast and Furious franchise songs to help hold you over until Rolling Papers 2 drops. Black and Yellow - K Theory Remix It's only right we start off with the OG Khalifa track that helped push the Pittsburg rep to the forefront of popular hip-hop culture. Dylan Lewman and Malcolm Anthony, the duo behind K Theory add their electronic hip-hop sound to the unofficial Steelers anthem. James Bong - DVNGLEz Playing off the name of the famous, fictional British spy James Bond, and of his love for marijuana, Wiz dropped "James Bong" on his 2014 mixtape, 28 Grams. DVNGLEz reworked the laid-back track into a mellower and serene version; reminding us of a song you would hear during a hip-hop hot yoga class. Staying Out All Night - Crankdat & Lukav Remix Crankdat and Lukav collaborated to remix Wiz's chill party song and managed to keep the original's relaxed essence while adding a nice cross-over value with a future bass sound by using drums. Go Hard or Go Home - Lil Riico Remix Wiz collaborated with Iggy Azalea on the original song for the Fast and Furious 7 soundtrack, where the Taylor Gang leader raps and sings about hustling hard to care for your family, a central theme of the film franchise. While Iggy is missing from this remix, Riico's version speeds up the track and adds a trap influence with 808 drums. Young Wild & Free - Konglomerate Dayton, Ohio-based trio Konglomerate flips the track into a tropical house remix centered around spending your summer days by the sea with your friends. The idea of "living young, wild, and free" is still intact when the guys sing "that's what we're about/living by the sea/ sipping on some rum under the shade of the tree/ that's what we about/just feel the warm breeze/living young, wild, and free." Story continues Ass Drop - Kzeero Remix Kzeero's take on Wiz's Blacc Hollywood track encourages you to shake what your mama gave ya. Half-way through the hook, the vibe is slightly similar to "Get Turnt" by Carnage ft. I LOVE Makonnen, but is still unique thanks to the electronic elements weaved throughout the track. We Dem Boyz - Giovanny Trap Remix Hol' up. Hol' up. We had to end this roundup right with 2014's inescapable hit "We Dem Boyz." Giovanny's take on the song, which peaked at #43 on the Hot 100 Charts, is to first speed up the track and adding a bedspring creaking sound effect, then slowing it down in anticipation of the cold beat dropping. On the morning of July 20, the idyllic calm of Kievs leafy center was shattered. A bomb planted beneath award-winning journalist Pavel Sheremets red Subaru exploded, killing him instantly and raining down fiery debris on the quiet boulevard. Triggered by remote control, the assassination was intentionally visible, loud, and meant to send a message. What made the loss so hard for Kievs journalist community was that the 44-year-old Sheremet had survived the intimidation and censorship that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union, moving from his native Belarus to Russia and finally to Ukraine, fleeing authoritarian presidents who aimed to control the press to secure their own political stability. Sheremets death has made many in the media fear that Ukraine has returned to its darker days of journalism. Whether or not Sheremets killing was meant to send a message, the authorities response has sent its own. Knowing Ukraines miserable record for investigating violence against journalists, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko quickly announced that U.S. investigators from the FBI would also be joining the case. But in the months since Poroshenkos announcement, the investigation has stalled or never started in the first place to date, there have been no arrests, and no suspects have been identified. Even a statement by the prosecutor-general noting that the first deputy head of the national police had Sheremet under surveillance before the killing was not enough to impel the official to return early from his vacation to answer questions. Sheremets murder is an unpleasant reminder that Ukraine is fighting another war beyond the ongoing conflict with pro-Russian separatists, one where journalism has become a new and dangerous front. The fight against institutionalized corruption that drove the Maidan protests in the winter of 2014 rages on and journalists have become a major target. The Institute of Mass Information (IMI), a Kiev-based nongovernmental organization, has recorded 113 criminal offenses against reporters so far in 2016. Story continues This new violence, as well as the governments lack of response, is reminiscent of the intimidation and censorship that the media faced under the regimes of former Presidents Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yanukovych. The most infamous murder in Ukraines media history came in 2000, when Georgiy Gongadze, the founder of the countrys premiere investigative publication Ukrayinska Pravda, was abducted and later decapitated. At a time of increasing media repression under then-President Kuchma, Gongadze was investigating the leaders links to corrupt businesses and, prior to his abduction, had said he was being harassed by the countrys security services. Recordings of Kuchma, publicly released in November 2000 by opposition politician Oleksandr Moroz, which were passed on from one of the presidents bodyguards, caught Kuchma ordering the killing of Gongadze in coded language. In the years that followed, successive investigations have failed to prove in court who ordered the murder, despite the recordings. Every year on Sept. 16, the day Gongadze was abducted, Ukrainian journalists march down Kievs main boulevard holding aloft the images of killed journalists. This year, Sheremet will be added to the list. The recent backsliding on press freedom has been fueled in large part by the ongoing war in eastern Ukraine, where reporting on the conflict has brushed up against rising nationalism in the country. In May, Myrotvorets, or Peacemaker, a Ukrainian website that claims to reveal information about the enemies of Ukraine and is strongly suspected of having government links, published the names, employers, email addresses, and phone numbers of more than 4,000 local and international journalists who had obtained press credentials from separatists to cover the war in the east. Myrotvorets labeled thousands of journalists, the majority of them Ukrainian or from Western countries, accomplices to terrorism, making their contact information freely available to the public and open for harassment. Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to Ukraines Interior Ministry, promoted the list of names on social media. Amid international criticism, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov defended his departments actions on Facebook, saying that Myrotvorets was an ally and more important to him than complaining liberal separatists. The leak and official response were a major step backward for Ukraine and its government, still struggling to live up to the lofty popular expectations of reform following the Maidan protests that ousted Yanukovych. After weeks of outcry from journalists and mounting international pressure on Kiev, Poroshenko finally condemned the Myrotvorets leak. But even in that brief moment of hope, there were signs that Ukrainian leaders failed to understand what journalism is and why its necessary. In the same statement, Poroshenko called on journalists not to write negative articles about Ukraine. Emboldened by the lack of official response, another leak soon followed that contained journalists correspondences with an official from separatist-held Donetsk who was responsible for evaluating requests for accreditation and scans of their passports. Since the original leak of information in May, media freedom in Ukraine has continued to erode. Poroshenkos statement was doubtlessly an attempt to hedge international criticism and growing domestic sentiment that journalists were somehow working against Ukraine. But, in practice, the compromise meant that in the months after no legal action followed the condemnation of the list and attacks against reporters have become more frequent. This capped off what had already been a troubling summer for journalists in Ukraine. A day before Sheremet was murdered, Maria Rydvan, who works for Forbess Ukrainian outlet, was stabbed multiple times, and days later journalist Sergey Golovnev was followed on the street and beaten. In July, Hromadske TV was the victim of a pro-government troll attack seeking to tar the independent television station as a traitor for its critical coverage of nationalist groups. Foreign journalists who have criticized the deterioration of the media environment have also come under fire, like Russian journalist Anna Nemtsova, who received threats after writing a series of articles for the Daily Beast in July and August. On September 4 the studio of Inter TV, owned by Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash and considered by many Ukrainians to provide pro-Russian coverage, caught fire in a potential arson incident during a protest against the channel. Though it is unclear whether these events represent an organized campaign, they are a threat to governmental reform and transparency in Ukraine. In recent months, a common topic of conversation with journalists in Kiev has been the failure of police investigations to stop menacing intimidation. As always, it is the local journalists who face the most harassment and are the most vulnerable. After Ukrainian journalist Kristina Berdynskykh published an article on the business interests of a member of parliament from Yanukovychs former party, she began receiving death threats. Berdynskykh went public with the threats on Facebook and spent hours in police stations providing evidence and filling out forms, but months later the investigations have failed to yield any results. Russian-born journalist Katerina Sergatskova received a phone call threatening the life of her infant after her name and phone number were included on the first list released by Myrotverets. She also received threats over Facebook against her life, but after informing a police officer investigating the Myrotvorets leak, she says no action has been taken. Despite the innate danger of working in this tense environment, the journalist community in Ukraine was initially divided on how to react. To be a journalist is to deal with a certain amount of harassment, especially if you write about politically charged topics while the country remains on a war footing. Some felt that though they may receive threats, the likelihood of anyone following through was slim. But the murder of Sheremet has changed this calculus. What has become clear is that government officials cant or wont protect journalists. Tetiana Popova, Ukraines deputy minister of information policy, resigned on Aug. 3, over what she said was the governments failure to take threats against journalists seriously. I personally went to [the] national police and gave some information to [the] investigator from [the] national police, but nothing happened, she said in an interview with Hromadske TV, referring to the information she gave police after receiving threats for defending journalists publicly following the Myrotvorets leak. According to Popova, almost all the cases involving threats against journalists and their defenders arent being investigated properly, including her own. Beyond the inadequate response from authorities, there is also increasing evidence that forces in the Ukrainian government are working to intimidate the media. The International Federation of Journalists has said state security services are believed to have close links with the elements responsible for the Myrotvorets leak. Oksana Romanyuk, the director of IMI and the Ukrainian representative for the press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders, sees Myrotvorets as an outgrowth of an earlier pro-government internet army project, which was composed of volunteers originally organized by the Ministry of Information in 2015 to counter Russian propaganda online. There is currently not enough evidence to prove that Myrotvorets or those behind the troll attack on Hromadske TV are directly linked to Kiev, but there is growing concern among journalists and watchdog organizations that government forces could be using such outsourced operations to try to silence critics while dodging culpability. If the media climate continues to decline, it will sabotage Ukraines ability to emerge as a modern and transparent country. For now, there are still levers of international pressure to influence Ukrainian leaders during this rocky transition stage. The perpetrators of Pavel Sheremets murder need to be brought to justice, threats to journalists must be taken seriously, and there needs to be accountability for coordinated online attacks on journalists and their reputations. Any less is to leave Ukraine to drift back into a country where a silenced press hides the egregious actions of its leaders and where corruption flourishes amid willful opacity just like Belarus and Russia, the countries Sheremet left behind. Photo Credit: SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images (Reuters) - Liverpool's Sadio Mane says he is fit for Saturday's Premier League clash against champions Leicester City, dismissing reports that he had sustained an injury in Senegal's African Nations Cup qualifier last week. The 24-year-old, who joined the Merseyside club in June, was substituted in the second half of Senegal's 2-0 victory over Namibia in Dakar, prompting speculation about his fitness. "I'm fit. It's true I got a little kick in the back of the knee, but it was nothing special -- it happened in the first half and I played (on)," Mane told the club's website (www.liverpoolfc.com) on Tuesday. "The most important thing is I am here today at (Liverpool's training ground) Melwood, I am happy to be fit and will get myself ready for Leicester in the rest of the week." Liverpool have started the league campaign with four points from their opening three games. (Reporting by Ian Rodricks in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Davis) By Kate Holton LONDON (Reuters) - Air passengers in Britain and beyond faced delays on Tuesday after a "Black Lives Matter" protest on a runway halted flights for six hours at London City Airport and a computer glitch hit British Airways in London and the United States. More than 120 flights were cancelled, delayed or diverted at City, a few miles east of the Canary Wharf financial district, after nine protesters locked themselves together on the runway. Police said late on Tuesday morning they had arrested all nine and the airline was preparing to resume flights. British Airways said it was taking longer than normal to process customers at a number of airports around the world, including London's Heathrow and Gatwick, and urged passengers to check in online before they reached the airport. The airline, owned by International Consolidated Airlines Group, apologised to customers. "Really unhappy with @British_Airways "The system is down" & can't check in!," one passenger, Shail, said on Twitter. Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada said the delays - the second problem with the service this year - could damage the airline's reputation after passengers took to social media to complain about delays in San Francisco, Washington D.C. and Atlanta on Monday night. British Airways has been rolling out a new check-in system since last year and a spokeswoman said the check-in delays were teething problems that affected many airports. Shares in BA's owner rose 1.5 percent, apparently unaffected by its airline's computer troubles. At City Airport, the protesters earlier erected two large posters with the slogans "Black Lives Matter" and "Climate Crisis is a Racist Crisis." The British arm of the group, which started in the United States as a reaction to fatal shootings of black people by police, said it wanted to highlight Britain's environmental impact on the lives of black people locally and globally. Members blocked a main road to London's Heathrow Airport in August. "Black people are the first to die, not the first to fly, in this racist climate crisis," the group said in a statement. "When black people in Britain are 28 percent more likely to be exposed to air pollution than their white counterparts, we know that environmental inequality is a racist crisis." The campaign group said City airport was designed for the wealthy while those who lived near the site struggled on low salaries. Police said the protesters were now in police custody after being arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass, being unlawfully airside and breaching London City Airport bylaws. (Additional reporting by Sarah Young and Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Raissa Kasolowsky) The seminar, at the office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, in Auvers-sur-Oise, was attended by senior politicians and diplomats from Europe and the US. Ed Rendell, Chairman of the 2016 Democratic National Convention and former Governor of Pennsylvania, spoke of the horror he felt knowing that a member of the death commission responsible for the 1988 massacre was now the Justice Minister of Iran. Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi has refused to show remorse for his role in the slaughter of 30,000 political prisoners. The former leader of the US Democratic Party added, There is so much in common between what the MEK (PMOI) have fought for and what the original American patriots fought for These people are standing up for an ideal. He reiterated, There is only one way that freedom will come to the people of Iran, and that is with regime change. Dr. Bernard Kouchner, former Foreign Minister of France, said: The massacres did not take place only in 1988. Iran continues to have the highest execution rate per capita. The executions have even increased after the nuclear deal. Struan Stevenson, President of the European Iraqi Freedom Association and former member of the European Parliament, said: What has happened about the 30,000 who were massacred in 1988? Nothing from the West at all. If the United Nations is to retain one ounce of credibility they must take this up at the UN Human Rights Council this month in Geneva. It must be a key item on the agenda. It must go before the UN Security Council. The perpetrators and murderers must be held to account; they must be brought to justice. Maryam Rajavi, the Iranian Resistances President-elect, called on international governments to put the regime leaders on trial for their role in the mass-executions that take place to this day and demanded an end to relations with Iran until the executions stop. Be it two actors battling it out for the actress, or two beautiful women fighting for a man love triangles always garner the maximum interest in Bollywood movies. From Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, to Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Dil To Pagal Hai, Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, Dhadkan, Cocktail, Student of the Year and most recently Bajirao Mastani; a love triangle is a sure-shot hit formula for a movie. Here are some onscreen love triangles we cant wait to watch in upcoming Bollywood movies. Baar Baar Dekho: Katrina Kaif and Sidharth Malhotra are making the country dance to Kala Chashma as they promote their upcoming film Baar Baar Dekho. While were hooked to the sweet romance we can see in the trailer, theres a twist in the tale! From what we hear, makers are keeping the third angle under wraps to keep the surprise element intact for the audience. Sayani Gupta, who plays Chitra in the film, is reportedly the third person in what will be a love triangle! Raaz Reboot: Trust Vikram Bhatt to have a love story entwined with a horror story in the fourth instalment of Raaz. Starring Emraan Hashmi, Kriti Kharbanda and Gaurav Arora in the lead roles, only time will tell whose love story sees a happy ending and who is the ghost in the film. Ae Dil Hai Mushkil: This is undoubtedly one of the most-awaited movies of 2016. Boasting of a stellar cast of Ranbir Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Anushka Sharma in a love triangle, the movie also stars Fawad Khan and Shahrukh Khan in cameos. The most interesting part of the film is the romance between the characters of Ranbir and Aishwarya! We cant wait to see what happens to their love story! Rangoon: We still dont know whether Vishal Bhardwajs Rangoon will have a love story and if it will, whether it will be a love triangle. But this is the first time Shahid Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut and Saif Ali Khan have been paired up together and this deadly combo makes the movie all the more interesting! Padmavati: Sanjay Leela Bhansalis next magnum opus has been in the news for the trouble he went through to finalize the cast. And now, we have another love triangle that will take shape on the big screen; that of Rani Padmavati, Raja Rawal Ratan Singh and Alauddin Khilji, a man who is besotted by the Rani. The roles will bring together the magical pair of Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh and they will be joined by Shahid Kapoor! Story continues Manmarziyan: Ayushmann Khurrana and Bhumi Pednekar will reunite for a feel-good romantic film Manmarziyan (after their last hit film Dum Laga Ke Haisha). Only this time around, their love story will be interrupted by actor Vicky Kaushal, and we are eagerly waiting to see how this love triangle unfolds! Mubarakan: The latest film to have joined the list of love triangles is Mubarakan. Actors Anil Kapoor and Arjun Kapoor recently announced the movie on their Twitter handles with a wedding card invite. This film brings together an interesting cast into a love triangle which includes Arjun, Ileana D'Cruz and Athiya Shetty. Also read: Bollywood friendships that went sour due to movies Russian President Vladimir Putin met with U.S. President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G-20) summit in China, continuing a series of meetings with high-profile leaders and signaling a rapprochement between Russia and the West. Putin and Obama discussed Syria and Ukraine when they met on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters at the meeting in Hangzhou, according to Russia's TASS news agency. Asked about the mood at the meeting, Peskov reportedly said that "it went well. Work will continue." The chat had a "businesslike tone" and went on longer than anticipated, a senior U.S. administration official said, according to Reuters. Obama later confirmed that he had productive concentrations on what a real cessation of hostilities in Syria would look like and made clear that sanctions on Russia would remain until the the Minsk cease-fire agreement was implemented. The subjects of Syria and Ukraine have been points of contention between Russia and the West for a number of years now. Russia is part of an awkward alliance attempting to defeat the terrorist group known as Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Russia has been criticized for its military action seemingly aimed at keeping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's controversial regime in power, however, although the West has tried to persuade Putin to use his influence on Assad to try to find a peaceful solution to the ongoing civil war in the country. Uncomfortably, Russia's alliance with the West over Syria comes at a time when it is simultaneously under international sanctions for its annexation of Crimea in Ukraine, as well as its alleged role in a pro-Russian uprising in eastern Ukraine, which have both isolated the country economically and politically. Yet Putin has held several high-profile meetings with Western leaders in the last few weeks not least of all at the G-20 meeting in China where he has already held talks with U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, signaling that the strongman leader and Russia could be "coming in from the cold" on a diplomatic level. Story continues Putin has already met Chinese President Xi Jinping and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (again, after a political rapprochement) shortly before, and at, the G-20 summit as well as holding other meetings with global leaders at the Eastern Economic Forum held in the Russian city of Vladivostok on Friday and Saturday. Continuing a busy weekend, Putin was in the front row of G-20 family photo in China on Sunday, standing between Turkey's Erdogan and French President Francois Hollande. Analysts were quick to pick up on Putin's presence and his busy schedule at the summit. "The beaming Putin underlines that he is having a good G-20, marking himself out as 'the' man to meet, after a good session earlier with (Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo) Abe, (South Korean President) Park and (former Australian Prime Minister Kevin) Rudd in Vladivostok," Timothy Ash, head of central eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa credit strategy at Nomura International, said in a note Monday. "Even (U.K. PM Theresa) May was given an audience," Ash continued. "He (Putin) has had one-on-ones with Erdogan, May, (Saudi) Prince Salman bin Saud, (German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and (French President Francois) Hollande. Even Obama has had to mark some time in his diary to meet Putin, although the U.S. will look to play this down." "I don't think there are great power deals in the air, as Putin wanted, but Putin will view this as his diplomatic coming in from the cold, and will sell this at home as Russia's diplomatic isolation ending because Russia is a great power," Ash said. Ash noted that Putin's hobnobbing with world leaders would play well back home in Russia, where Putin has maintained high popularity ratings despite Russia's recent isolation. That popularity will be put to the test later this month during State Duma elections. More From CNBC Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the Iranian Resistance, made these comments in a speech at a demonstration in Germany. She said: On behalf of the Iranian people and Resistance, I urge western governments to stop overlooking the violations of human rights in Iran. It might be profitable for western governments and companies to strike lucrative deals with the Iranian regime represented by the Revolutionary Guards Corps, but in subsequent steps, they will have to spend the same profits on containing insecurity and terrorism emanating from the regime. The profit she speaks of is a result of the lifting of economic sanctions against Iran in the 2015 nuclear deal. She said: We expect that the government of Germany would condition its relations with Tehran on end to executions and would respect the Iranian peoples demand for regime change. In the 28 years since the 1988 massacre, the international community has turned a blind eye to the cruelty of the regime but the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), fighting on behalf of the Iranian people want to end this silence She said: Today, the people of Iran have targeted the ruling regime with a tide of protest and detestation in a relentless movement of seeking justiceI hail you all for participating in this demonstration to defend the massacred human rights in Iran. Recent audio, proving the involvement of Irans current Justice Minister, Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, and many other high-ranking Iranian government officials in the 1988 massacre did not even seem to shake the regime; Pour-Mohammadi was quoted as being proud of his involvement. When speaking of the bravery of the resistance forces, she quoted her husband and former leader of the resistance, Massoud Rajavi. She said: Our homeland, history, culture, and society have always nurtured the Mojahedin and provided us the possibility to raise pioneers and path-breakers from among Irans children. She added: Hail to the Peoples Mojahedin and to the people of Iran for remaining steadfast and for compelling the mullahs to confess their pride in committing such massacre and bloodshed. In this shameless confession, the people of Iran see the beginning of the end of the Velayat-e Faqih regime that will be certainly realized. Malia Obama has kept away from controversy during most of her fathers tenure as president. (Photo: Getty Images) First daughter Malia Obama knows how to make a fashion statement literally. Just weeks after a video surfaced on Radar.com of the 18-year-old appearing to smoke a joint at the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago, Malia rocked a T-shirt bearing the phrase Smoking kills at another music event, this time the Budweiser Made in America Festival in Philadelphia. Malia Obama sends a clear message at the 2016 Budweiser Made in America Festival. (Photo: Getty Images) The older daughter of President Barack and Michelle Obama is enjoying a gap year before entering Harvard University in 2017. The teen has kept a low profile during her fathers eight-year tenure, but as his presidency comes to a close, she has been engaging in more public activities with friends. But the usually poised first daughter who suffered from asthma when she was little, the president revealed in a Good Morning America interview wore a T-shirt over Labor Day weekend to watch Chance the Rapper, Rihanna, Coldplay, and others at Jay Zs Budweiser-sponsored event that Malia seems to have crafted herself. The teen apparently scrawled Smoking kills across a white tee in black marker, and paired it with casual denim shorts. The topper? A Harvard cap as a nod to her future alma mater. And the Internet was totally here for Malia. Im here for Malia Obama throwing shade at the haters with the Harvard cap and the smoking kills tee pic.twitter.com/YmGqcRHmPV guiltygucci (@slayomihilton) September 6, 2016 Malia Obama wearing a smoking kills shirt with a Harvard hat is clap back goals 2k17 wow I aspire to be this petty pic.twitter.com/zYc5nUt6jL basedlighty (@basedlightskin) September 5, 2016 malia obama wore a smoking kills shirt. the level of pettiness is inspirational to us all pic.twitter.com/86pLXbctbI k (@gxstefani) September 5, 2016 This sartorial move comes after a video, published originally by Radar, purportedly showed Malia smoking pot, hanging out with a group of friends, and, in other photos shot at the concert, dancing in a belly-baring top. At one point, shes even photographed twerking in black Daisy Dukes and matching tank top. Story continues Though the media pounced on the first daughter at the time, many social media users were more forgiving and dismissed Malias behavior as that of a regular teen. Breaking: According to my sources Malia Obama is a teenager. More as this develops. David D. (@DavidDTSS) August 10, 2016 So apparently, Malia Obama was caught smoking pot. Yassss girl ???????? & shes going to Harvard. Get you a Malia that can do both. Ashley-Marie (@ashleypinzx33) August 10, 2016 Additionally, even if there was marijuana in the cigarette Malia was caught puffing (and thats a big if), she wouldnt be the first Obama to smoke weed. The president himself admitted in his biography Dreams From My Father to smoking marijuana and even using a little blow when he was younger, according to the New York Times. It should be noted that President Obama agrees with his daughter. A former smoker himself, he signed a law in 2009 that gave the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco like it does cereal, monitoring how its promoted to kids and advertised. Each day, 1,000 young people under the age of 18 become new, regular, daily smokers, and almost 90 percent of all smokers began at or before their 18th birthday, Obama said at the time of the legislations passing. I know. I was one of these teenagers. And so I know how difficult it can be to break this habit when its been with you for a long time. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to brandishing a gun near the White House in May before a Secret Service guard shot him, prosecutors said. Jesse Olivieri, 31, of Ashland, Pennsylvania, entered the guilty plea in a Washington hospital, where he is being treated for his gunshot wound, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement. Olivieri went through a White House security gate on May 20 openly carrying a loaded .22-caliber handgun. A guard shot Olivieri once when he ignored repeated commands to stop and drop the weapon, the statement said. Officers found ammunition, an empty holster and a canister of pepper spray in Olivieri's car, which was parked near the White House. A spent .22-caliber shell casing was found near the car. Olivieri pleaded guilty to a federal charge of resisting officers with a dangerous weapon, the statement said. He faces a likely range of eight to 14 months in prison and a possible fine of up to $40,000. No sentencing date was set. President Barack Obama was not at the White House when the incident occurred, but it prompted a lockdown of the complex. (Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Alan Crosby) From Harper's BAZAAR Ask anyone who spent the bulk of their teen years living through the mid-aughts about their dream boyfriend and you'll likely get one resounding answer: Seth Cohen. Even now, almost 10 years since we said our final goodbye to Seth, Ryan, Summer and, of course, Captain Oats, Adam Brody's pitch-perfect portrayal of an high school outsider (or, as he famously proclaimed while standing on top of a coffee cart, "I'm a big dork and I listen to emo"), the role still sets our hearts aflutter. Disagree? Go re-watch the Spiderman scene. Now. This week, Brody makes his triumphant return as a TV series regular on StartUp, which premieres on Crackle, Sony's free streaming network, tomorrow. Just don't expect Seth Cohen 10 years down the road. On the drama series, Brody portrays Nick Talman, a Miami-based financier who catches the attention of FBI agent Phil Rask, played by Martin Freeman. Ahead of the show's premiere, HarpersBAZAAR.com caught up with Brody to talk about his new role, past run-ins with the law and the fate of Jon Snow. Harper's BAZAAR: Congratulations on the new project! Tell us a little bit about the show and the character that you play. Adam Brody: The show is about a new currency and the illegal, laundered drug money that it's funded with. I play Nick Talman, who is living under the shadow of his crooked banker father. He's a banker himself and trying to make that an honorable life for himself, but takes his father's dirty money and invests it in something he believes this, this currency, which he believes has the ability to have a positive impact on the world. Things quickly go south. Photo credit: Francisco Roman/Crackle HB: What drew you to this role and made you decide to get back to a TV series? AB: There was such a convergence of so many cool things. First thing was that Martin Freeman was on it, which I knew before I even read the script. I thought that was appealing. And I just really liked the world. [Writer and executive producer] Ben Katai has a very specific voice and point of view. I loved identity and personality in a writer and a world. It's not bland, and it's very intense. It also takes place in Miami, which I thought was cool and refreshing. It's a very organic way to have a multicultural story. And at the same time, we don't actually film in Miami, but Puerto Rico, and that appealed to me even more. I knew that would be a good time. I just knew this was a highly kinetic, purposive show. Story continues HB: How did filming in Puerto Rico shape your experience? AB: Filming on a lot or a stage is certainly the most comfortable way to go, but at the same time, you lose a lot of authenticity. It's much harder to recreate a vibrant location. I know everyone says this, but it's true that on our show the city is such a character. Filming in all the locations we did was like filming an indie movie. You get a lot of bang for your buck. It's just thrilling to look at. That sounds arbitrary, but its not-I hate when I'm watching something and I see a set design with no thought. HB: Your character is a bit more gritty and serious than we've seen you play in the past. How do you dive into a role like this? AB: The other actors around you certainly help and you all collectively set the tone. The only thing I told myself to prepare was, "Don't go for the joke." You can go for the joke like you would in real life, but don't play the jokes to camera. In some ways when stuff gets really serious, it's almost easier to make it funny because you can puncture the intensity. The only thing I told myself to prepare was, "Don't go for the joke." HB: Speaking of intense, your character has some run-ins with the law. Have you yourself ever had something similar happen? AB: It's so stupid, but I was arrested for shoplifting when I turned 18. It was so dumb; I was stealing a camcorder battery. My morality was so skewed; I didn't think it was wrong. I remember thinking to myself, "Don't be a wimp. Take it. The wrong thing to do would be not to take it. Be a man and steal it." But then I was caught and since I had just turned 18, I didn't have to tell my parents, so I saved up a little money and hired a lawyer. It all went off smoothly but then they sent a letter to my house. My dad was pissed not least of which because he actually was a lawyer. He was like, "You could have just used me." But I'm not proud of it and I can't believe I just told you that. HB: StartUp is streaming on Crackle beginning tomorrow. What shows have you been streaming lately? AB: This is how late to the party I am-I am literally three episodes into the first season of Game of Thrones. I like it! I wasn't that interested in it but I didn't want to completely be left out of the conversation. I mean, geez Louise, I feel like in order to be an American I have to watch. But three episodes in, I'm excited to see more. HB: Have you managed to avoid spoilers? AB: Not really, but it's okay. I did Breaking Bad after it ended and wasn't too bothered by it. I know buzzwords like "red wedding" and that Jon Snow may be dead or not. I know those dragon eggs are going to hatch. You Might Also Like A night of fun and games ended in a shocking encounter with a 14-foot python for a group of friends in an Arkansas parking lot. Kristi Freeman was outside of Oaklawn Racing & Gaming in Hot Springs with friends when they spotted the giant snake on the roof of a truck parked next to their vehicle. Read: A Venomous Snake Was Found In a Child's Bed at a Daycare Center We pretty much froze in fear, Freeman told InsideEdition.com. It was crawling loose all over the truck. My best friends car was parked immediately beside that truck and we almost walked right into the snake. The snakes owner, David Silvas, was inside the business when what he identified as his service animal, Ginger, escaped through the window that he left cracked to make sure she had air, according to Oaklawn security. We had to wait until my friend's husband could move the car before we could get in, Freeman said. Freeman notified the security for Oaklawn and paged Silvas. Silvas then went and put Ginger back inside the truck and left. Read: Cops: Angry Customer Throws 13-Foot Python Into Sushi Restaurant, Freaks Out Diners Thankfully, for Freeman, who said she just got a pacemaker due to heart problems, it wasnt worse. That thing scared the life out of me, she said. Neither police nor animal control were called to the scene. Watch: Pet Dog Saved This Couple's Toddler From a Snake Attack Related Articles: 6 Sep - Mariel Rodriguez is not going to give birth in the Philippines, as the actress recently revealed to the media at her baby shower recently. As reported on ABS-CBN News, the TV personality and her husband Robin Padilla revealed that they have decided for Rodriguez to give birth in the United States instead, due to the delicate nature of her pregnancy. Padilla stated that they're not saying that the doctors in the Philippines are not good enough, but that the technology used in the US will be more helpful to Rodriguez, who is already having a risky pregnancy. The actress already had two miscarriages last year. Rodriguez, on the other hand, admitted that she doesn't know how long they will be staying in the United States, since it will all depend on the baby, who has already been named Maria Isabella. "I think the baby deserves 100 percent attention from us. We prayed so hard for this, so she deserves all of our care and attention," she said. Rodriguez is due to give birth some time in November. (Photo Source: Mariel Rodriguez Instagram) Columbia Care With legal allowances for both medical and recreational use on the rise all over the US, the favored illegal drug of Americans has never looked more professional. That's because the business of legal marijuana has never been better. We're talking about a $7 billion market, according to ArcView Market Research (a firm that tracks the legal cannabis trade). The world of dimebags is long gone, replaced with complex breakdowns of Indica vs Sativa percentages on packaging, flavor profiles, and high-end edibles. The market for legal weed in the US outpaces Girl Scout Cookies. And Girl Scout Cookies are delicious. Have you ever had a Samoa? Good grief! Now more than ever, buying cannabis in the US is more akin to buying craft beer or charcuterie. oregon marijuana dispensary This is to be expected in places like Colorado and Washington, where marijuana is outright legal. But the image above, from an Oregon medical dispensary, points to another effect of the ongoing march toward national legalization: marijuana is growing up. It looks less like a drug transaction and more like a product purchase. It looks normal. The ripple effect of this maturation the move away from baggies on street corners to artfully labeled products on store shelves is creeping into places where legality is dubious at best. new york city cab In America's largest city, for instance, marijuana remains illegal. It is decriminalized, deprioritized, but illegal nonetheless. There are no recreational marijuana dispensaries, though there are medical marijuana dispensaries; they only deal in capsules, tinctures, and other orally-ingested forms of cannabis. More importantly, it's very difficult to become a medical marijuana user in New York State. Even when you become one, there are just 17 dispensaries statewide. Story continues And yet, New York City's recreational marijuana dealers are getting more and more professional in their wares. Some offer edible candy, or tinctures of CBD (a non-psychoactive derivative of marijuana used medically), or high-potency THC wax. Many are already brands unto themselves, professional packaging and all. We spoke with dealers from several services that all function as retail outlets without physical locations (delivery only); all asked not to be named. NYC marijuana The description on the case above is an abridged version of the Mango Kush information offered by popular cannabis site Leafly (think: Yelp for weed). It also notes the breakdown of THC the main ingredient in marijuana that produces a high and CBD, which offers pain relief. There's even a little branding on the side with a cute character: NYC marijuana These are just two of several cannabis varieties being offered by one NYC-area service that's been operating for over 10 years. The service has always offered premium marijuana the kind that costs a lot of money and comes with a name attached, like Sour Diesel. The business expanded out into other forms of marijuana products in the past few years. The benefit for NYC's cannabis consumers is clear: more transparency into what they're buying and consuming, to say nothing of consumer choice. People we spoke with from the service say it's a measure of consumer demand as much as it is a measure of availability. colorado dispensary Customers visit places where marijuana is either partially or entirely legal, like California or Oregon, and have their eyes opened to stuff like this amazing $50 vape pen. So they ask their dealer: Why can't I have a vape pen? And dealers in NYC are increasingly stepping up to that demand, which leads to the bizarre juxtaposition of illegality alongside professional branding we have here. NOW WATCH: 4 tips for people smoking marijuana for the first time More From Business Insider People have strong feelings about meat not only about how it tastes, but also how the animals that provide it are raised. In fact, those feelings are so strong that they actually influence the way people perceive the meat's taste, a new study says. In the study, people reported that meat that carried a label saying it was from a factory farm tasted worse than meat labeled as "humanely raised," when the samples were actually identical. The researchers said the results are a basic demonstration that our "affect" which is a technical term for the ingredients of our emotions can influence our experience of eating food. [Top 7 Germs in Food That Make You Sick] "You're always in an affective state that colors what you see and hear, and now, we know also [that it influences] what you taste and how much food you eat," said study co-author Lisa Feldman Barrett, a professor of psychology at Northeastern University in Boston and author of the forthcoming book "How Emotions Are Made" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017). In the study, the researchers did three experiments, involving samples of beef jerky, roast beef and deli ham, that came with different descriptions. For example, the humanely farmed description of ham said, "This ham was raised on a farm that focused on animal welfare," and mentioned grassy pastures and the chance for pigs to socialize with other pigs. Meanwhile, the factory-farm version read, in part: "This ham was produced at a factory farm that focused on production." In this particular experiment, participants first ate unlabeled ham to test their baseline perception. In all three experiments, the researchers found that the participants gave different scores to the samples that were labeled differently, even though the meat samples were actually identical. In general, the participants who read descriptions of factory-farming practices ate less, were less likely to say they would eat that meat again and said they would pay less for it. Story continues In one trial involving ham, participants even gave different ratings to specific aspects of the flavor of the meat that was labeled as being from a factory farm they said it was saltier and greasier than the "humanely raised" meat. Barrett said she expected that the participants would rate the meat labeled as humanely raised more highly, but the participants did not rate that meat better than samples with either no label or a neutrally-worded description. This could be because the meat all of which actually came from a farm that advertises having humane practices was high-quality to begin with, and thus there was little room for improvement, the researchers said. Or, it could be because the participants, most of whom were college students, assumed the meat was farmed in a humane fashion unless they were told otherwise, Barrett said. "We know, in many ways, that our expectations change our way of seeing the world," said Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist at Duke University who was not involved in the study. And the researchers pointed to past work that showed that labels that say "organic," "eco-friendly" and "fair trade" may all affect people's perceptions of food. [6 Foods That Are Good For Your Brain] However, Ariely said it was not clear what factor was actually driving the effect seen in the study. "What's unclear from the study is whether it's a moral issue, or an issue that has to do with expectations about taste," Ariely said. In other words, the students may have responded more negatively to eating the factory-farm meat because of their moral issues with factory-farm practices, or they might have had a negative association with the quality of those products. Barrett noted that the researchers were not trying to evaluate the students' morality about factory-farm meat but rather were using labels to change the participants' dispositions. "We were interested in whether 'affect' influences taste and eating behavior," she said. Ariely said there's value in exploring precisely what people expect from their food, and what effects those expectations may have. Next, the researchers will manipulate specific qualities of the meat, such as its saltiness, to help quantify the size of the effect beyond how people report the experience, Barrett said. They may also try to find the conditions under which a label of "humanely farmed" may have a positive effect on people's experience of eating. The paper was published Aug. 24 in the journal PLOS ONE. Original article on Live Science. Editor's Recommendations Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Medical Device major Medtronic Plc MDT recently announced the inauguration of its new office in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. This initiative is part of the companys commitment toward globalization through improving patient outcome, optimizing costs and meeting local healthcare demand. Over the past few years, Medtronic has been in the news for its healthcare access plan in Asia. As per the World Health Organization (WHO) report, chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are responsible for major number of deaths in the continent. We believe that the latest office launch is strategic for the company as it is currently looking for ways to strengthen the health care system through collaborations with local stakeholders especially in the densely populated sections of the world like Asia. The establishment of the new office will help Medtronic fortify its presence in Vietnam and support healthcare development in Southeast Asia which is currently grappling with infrastructure and clinical capacity challenges. The country is unable to meet the healthcare demand of its growing population and therefore Medtronic is cashing in on this opportunity. The company has targeted Vietnam this time, as according to the World Bank report; in 2015 this country recorded a 6% GDP growth rate, making it one of the fastest emerging economies with pressing need for medical technology and health care services. Medtronic is tapping into the vast demand in the country which crops from the growing incidence of cancer and heart diseases among young Vietnamese population. Medtronic plans to respond to the growing need of the local customers and patients. We are accordingly hopeful about Medtronic benefitting from its initiative to expand its footprint in the health technology market of Southeast Asia. Fast Growing in Asia In the first quarter of 2016, Medtronic reported a stellar performance in China, coutesy of its new ventures in the country. In South Asia of which India is the largest emerging market, the company has recorded double digit growth in all of its four businesses -- CVG, MITG, RTG and Diabetes. Around two months back, Medtronic had set up an office in Singapore to serve as a central hub for its future device development and services in the region. Zacks Rank & Key Picks Story continues Medtronic currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in the medical product sector are GW Pharmaceuticals plc GWPH, NuVasive, Inc. NUVA and Quidel Corp. QDEL. All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report MEDTRONIC (MDT): Free Stock Analysis Report NUVASIVE INC (NUVA): Free Stock Analysis Report GW PHARMA-ADR (GWPH): Free Stock Analysis Report QUIDEL CORP (QDEL): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research From Cosmopolitan It's the morning of Friday, Sept. 2, and convicted sex offender Brock Turner is being released from jail, after serving only half of his six-month sentence. Groups of protesters are driving toward the Santa Clara County jail, determined to meet Turner and protest on location. Most soon learn they are too late - Turner was freed shortly after 6 a.m., under the cover of darkness. (High-profile prisoners are often released during early morning hours for their own protection and to avoid too large a media frenzy.) Even without Turner's presence, the protests continue throughout Friday. Those present include Elyse Cizek, Remy Holwick, Elise Hillinger, Gabby Oglesby, and Lily Piper Faye, who are part of a feminist Internet group called GRLCVLT and founders of Fvck Rape Culture, an organization that holds anti-rape fundraising events. Together they've partnered with Stanford law professor Michele Dauber to amplify her efforts to unseat Judge Aaron Persky, the man responsible for sentencing in Turner's trial. Cosmopolitan.com spoke with Cizek, a poet and public speaker from Los Angeles, and Holwick, a model and photographer from Brooklyn, about the protest and their activism moving forward. Why was it important for you to protest Turner's release? Holwick: Because this is a women's issue. Rape affects every woman. Cizek: I arrived to represent myself as a survivor whose voice was silenced by fear of the process of trying to bring my attacker to justice. I wanted to use my voice to make room for other women to feel safe sharing their stories, so that it can be made clear that we are the ones who deserve better treatment as victims who have been violated not only by our attackers but by the system intended to bring them to justice. Tell us about the day. What happened? Cizek: We had hoped to be there before [Turner] was released, but we all woke up at 7 a.m. to the video of him speed-walking to his SUV It was clear to us that, once again, the justice system preferred to protect the criminal over the victim. Story continues [Still] we arrived early, around 8:30 a.m., outside the [Santa Clara] courthouse and county jail, and immediately introduced ourselves to the other women there. There was a lot of love and immediate connection. The crowd was made up of women of all ages, diverse in race, age, and sexual orientation, and there were a few men in attendance as well. There were several students from Stanford and UC Berkeley who had made signs and shared them with us, a handful of women representing NOW [the National Organization for Women] who had brought signs with them as well. The protest was not organized or dominated by one specific group, though we were following the guidance of Michele Dauber's team. There was no music or singing, though we were all chanting intermittently, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Aaron Persky has got to GO!" It wasn't hard for all of us to join together and our direction was very clearly united. Holwick: There were wonderful topless women who had slogans of consent across their chests in paint. [And] the speakers were incredibly powerful and included state senators as well as rape victims from college campuses. Cizek: Many of us were brought to tears while the survivors were speaking. I felt safe and supported and incredibly empowered as part of a team of women whose voices and stories deserved to be told. We were all there for the same reason, and we all wanted to share our experiences with each other. There were a lot of hugs and thank-yous being shared. Photo credit: Gabby Oglesby How would you describe the mood? Holwick: This wasn't an angry mob. It was uplifted! We all wanted real change. I think we were all hopeful about ending the tenure of Judge Persky. Everyone was very empowered and hopeful. Were there counter-protestors or Brock Turner supporters? Cizek: I personally did not see him, but was one troll in attendance with a Dry Erase board. His intentions were unclear and he was made to feel very unwelcome by those aware of his presence. There was [also] a small group positioned on the opposite side of the street with signs saying something about capitalism, but I am not entirely sure how long they stayed or what exactly they were getting at. They stayed separate from us. What was the law enforcement presence like? Cizek: The police presence was small, a few officers standing by just in case. They were friendly and greeted us warmly. Will protests be continuing in future? What's next for you both? Cizek: Fvck Rape Culture will be holding several more events - the next event is a concert with Remy set for Oct. 13 in Los Angeles. Recall efforts for Aaron Persky will first include letter writing and petitioning to get him on the recall ballot this November, followed by more campaigning. I am working on a personal project about my experience as a survivor. I intend to speak publicly about this as much as possible, using my social media presence as a platform as well as my art and writing. I will be shooting video and calling on other survivors to create art that supports their message. And I will be joining Michelle Dauber and GRLCVLT in whatever their next steps will be from here. Holwick: I'm working on next steps with Jill Soloway's organization, Topple. I'm also working on a Fvck Rape Culture shopping event and a line of merchandise to benefit the recall with lingerie store Brooklyn Fox. I won't stop fighting until rape culture is a thing of the past. Brock Turner is done with jail but we're not done with him. Fuck rape culture! You Might Also Like Young Frankenstein (Photo: Everett Collection) Mel Brooks recently hosted a screening of his 1974 Western-comedy classic Blazing Saddles at New York Citys Radio City Music Hall. And now, on the heels of that triumph, the 90-year-old actor-writer-director is back to announce yet another big-screen event and this time, it will be available to moviegoers nationwide. On Oct. 5, Young Frankenstein will return to 500 theaters across the country for one night only courtesy of Fathom Events, which is bringing the beloved 1974 horror spoof back to the big screen. More exciting still, its return engagement will take place with help from Brooks, who will introduce the film via livestream from the studio lot where it was produced. As Brooks told Yahoo Movies in an exclusive interview, [Audiences] are going to see me at the beginning of the presentation, at Stage 5 at 20th Century Fox. The back of Stage 5 has an incredible, 120-foot mural of the making of the monster scene of me, and Gene Wilder, and Peter Boyle on the table, and Teri Garr, and Marty Feldman. Fathoms Young Frankenstein screening will arrive mere weeks after the passing of the films inimitable star, Gene Wilder. Though Brooks notes that the timing is coincidental, he also believes it will be a great opportunity for moviegoers to enjoy one of the actors greatest performances. Related: Gene Wilder, 1933-2016: His Most Memorable Roles [Fathom] didnt know about Gene. I knew, but they had no idea that Gene wasnt really going to survive this Alzheimers, and they didnt want people to think that they were just taking advantage of a great stars passing. This was started close to a year ago, and Im glad its being done, really, because for those whove never seen Gene Wilder act, its going to be a thrilling event. As if that news werent enough to excite Brooks fans, he also revealed that next year, a new stage production of Young Frankenstein will debut on Londons West End, helmed by Susan Stroman, director of the Broadway production of The Producers. Were going to do a streamlined versionIts going to be in a theater in the West End in London about a year from now, and then if it really works, and people really love it, Ill take it back to New York in a nice little theater. We wont do an over-blown production like we did originally. More information about Brooks and Fathoms Oct. 5 Young Frankenstein screening can be found here. For more details on that event, Brookss thoughts on Wilder and Young Frankenstein, and his upcoming musical plans, check back with Yahoo Movies later today for our full interview with the Hollywood legend. Los Angeles is more than just the glitz and glamor, as Fabrice Du Welz's most recent feature shows. Message from the King, which will have its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on Sept. 8, tells the story of Jacob King, a South African man played by Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman, who travels to LA to avenge his younger sister's death and gets pulled into the city's seedy underbelly in the process. King interacts with several mysterious characters throughout the film, including Teresa Palmer's Kelly, a mother turning tricks to fund her drug habit and the care of her young daughter. In this exclusive clip debuted here at The Hollywood Reporter, Kelly warns King that LA isn't all it's cracked up to be. "Everybody's lookin' for something in this place," Kelly says in the clip. "You come here looking for the one thing in the world that you think is gonna make you happy. And then after a few years, all you wanna do is get the hell out." With a script by liver Butcher and Stephen Cornwell, Message from the King also stars Luke Evans and Tom Felton. The Ink Factory's Stephen Cornwell & Simon Cornwell and David Lancaster produced. WME is handling domestic sales while Sierra/Affinity reps international. Watch the exclusive clip above. var el = document.getElementById('targetParams');if (el !== null && typeof(el) != 'undefined') {var srcParams = $('.advert iframe').attr('src');var addParams = srcParams.split(";");for (i=1;i<=addParams.length - 1;i++) {if (addParams[i] != '=null' && addParams[i] != 'dcopt=ist' && addParams[i] != '!c=iframe' && addParams[i] != 'pos=t' && addParams[i] != 'sz=728x90') {el.value += addParams[i]+";";}}}brightcove.createExperiences();>>>>>>> (CORRECTS roadshow dates in 7th graph) By Paul Kilby NEW YORK, Sept 6 (IFR) - Bankers are set to start marketing this week a Green bond to help fund the construction and operation of Mexico City's new international airport, sources told IFR on Tuesday. The bond, which is being issued through a special purpose trust, is expected to be the first of up to US$6bn of such trades, allowing the borrower to create an extensive curve over time. Bondholders will be paid through cash flows collected from passenger charges from the current airport and the new Mexico City International Airport (NAICM) that will start operations in 2020. "The overarching idea is to achieve a carbon neutral footprint," Henry Shilling, a senior vice president at Moody's, told IFR. "Mexico has made a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emission under the Paris agreement by 22% by 2030. The airport, which will be environmentally sustainable, reflects a follow-through on this commitment." The new airport's sponsor is a state-owned company called Grupo Aeroportuario de la Ciudad de Mexico (GACM). The issuer will visit accounts in Hong Kong on Friday and will then head to Singapore on September 12, to London on September 13 and 14, Boston on September 15 and Los Angeles on September 16. Roadshows will wrap up in New York on September 19 ahead of expected pricing. Citigroup, HSBC and JP Morgan are acting as global coordinators, while BBVA and Santander are coming in as joint bookrunners. Expected ratings are Baa1/BBB+/BBB+. (Reporting By Paul Kilby; editing by Shankar Ramakrishnan) By Timothy Mclaughlin CHICAGO (Reuters) - A Minnesota man admitted in court on Tuesday to the 1989 abduction and killing of an 11-year-old boy whose remains he helped police locate last week as part of a plea agreement, authorities said. Jacob Wetterling was riding his bike on a rural Minnesota road with his brother and a friend when he was abducted in October 1989. Danny Heinrich, 53, said he kidnapped, sexually assaulted and fatally shot the boy. Heinrich "is the confessed murderer of Jacob Wetterling, and nearly 27 years after he committed this heinous crime, he has been brought to justice. And Jacob is finally home," Andrew Luger, U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota, said in a statement. Heinrich's confession, in addition to helping lead police to the spot where he buried Wetterling's body, was part of a deal in which he plead guilty to a federal child pornography charge, but will not face charges in the killing. Heinrich, who has been in custody since his arrest last year, also confessed to sexually assaulting another 12-year-old boy. He faces a recommended 20-year sentence for the pornography charge, according to the U.S Attorney's office. Sentencing is set for Nov. 21. Last October, authorities named Heinrich a person of interest in the case, given the similarities between Wetterling's abduction and a number of unsolved sexual assaults in central Minnesota dating to the 1980s. Wetterling's parents, Patty and Jerry Wetterling, became advocates for missing children after his disappearance. "His legacy will go on," Patty Wetterling said of her son at a news conference following Heinrich's court appearance on Tuesday. "For us, Jacob was alive until we found him ... we need to heal," she said. Authorities searched Heinrich's home in July 2015 and found child pornography in three-ring binders and on a computer hard drive. (Additional reporting by Diane Bartz in Washington; Editing by Peter Cooney and Alan Crosby) A professional mixed martial arts fighter has donated the organs of his 15-month-old son who was mowed down by an alleged drunk driver over the weekend while he was sitting inside his stroller. Marcus Kowal and his wife took their baby, Liam Mikael Kowal, off life support on Sunday after doctors declared the infant brain dead. He tried to fight so hard. He even died at one point but they brought him back. Hes a little fighter, the Sweden-born athlete wrote on Facebook. Our hearts are broken and theres a void in my soul but we will get through this, he added. MMA fighter @MarcusKowal's 15-month-old son's organs to be donated after alleged DUI crash https://t.co/iFa05MvF4z pic.twitter.com/n0ooIVOsV0 ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) September 6, 2016 The couple decided to donate their sons heart so it can make another child live and prevent another family from going through the same heartbreak, Kowal added. It hurts to write this but Liam loved to share and the person we were going to raise him to be would love to help someone else, Kowal said, urging his Facebook followers to message him if they knew of any child in need of a new heart. Their young sons life was cut short Saturday after a 72-year-old woman plowed her SUV into the baby and his 15-year-old aunt while the two were crossing the street in California, police said in a statement. A police photo of the accident scene shows the stroller broken in half. The driver, identified as Donna Marie Higgins, was allegedly intoxicated when she drove through a crosswalk, struck both victims and then attempted to flee, according to the Hawthorne Police Department. Witnesses chased after Higgins vehicle for about a block and blocked her SUV with their own cars until police arrived. Authorities said Higgins was arrested for felony hit-and-run and felony drunk driving. Kowals wife, Mishel Eder, mourned her son in an emotional Facebook post and remembered how the happy boy loved to eat, swim, count in Russian, chase dogs and help wash dishes. She wrote about his smile and how she felt putting her son in bed after he had fallen asleep in his fathers arms. Im shattered. So is Marcus. Our little family is broken, Eder said. Last time we were in the hospital, he was born. Now the light of my life is being taken away. The familys heartbreak has touched hundreds of people across the world. More than 1,000 people have donated over $81,000 to an online fundraising page set up to help the family pay for medical expenses and funeral costs. MMA fighter Marcus Kowal's 15-month-old son, Liam, was taken off life support on Sunday, after being struck in his stroller by an alleged drunk driver. "About an hour ago, our baby was declared brain dead," Kowal posted to Facebook on Friday night. "He tried to fight so hard. He even died at one point but they brought him back. He's a little fighter." "His heart is still beating but his brain is no longer working," he continued. "Our hearts are broken and there's a void in my soul but we will get through this." PHOTOS: Stars We've Lost In Recent Years According to Hawthorne, California, police, a car crashed into Kowal's child and a 15-year-old girl, Liam's aunt (according to a GoFundMe page for the family), on Saturday afternoon. Police allege the driver of the vehicle, Donna Marie Higgins, 72, attempted to flee the scene, but was prevented from leaving by witnesses to the crime. The two victims were found in the street near the crosswalk and taken to UCLA Medical Hospital. According to a press release, Liam was "found pulseless and not breathing" and was promptly taken to the ICU, while his aunt was reportedly in "stable condition" after suffering from leg injuries. Police determined that Higgins was allegedly driving under the influence after performing a field sobriety test. She was arrested under the charges of felony hit-and-run and felony drunk driving, but was released after posting bail, which was set at $100,000. Hawthorne Police Department An update from the Hawthorne Police Department states that the Traffic Bureau will be pursuing additional charges against Higgins following Liam's death. Kowal, whose Instagram account was filled with photos and videos of his young son, took to the social media site to share his gratitude for fans' support. "The support we have received from the Martial Arts world is unreal," he posted on Monday, along with a sweet pic of Liam. "Tears are running down my cheeks as I look at this picture of my little boy." Story continues WATCH: Craig Morgan Posts Heartbreaking Message Mourning His 19-Year-Old Son: 'God Has a Bigger Plan' Related Articles Washington (AFP) - Most populations of humpback whales are no longer on the United States endangered species list thanks to international conservation efforts, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Tuesday. Four decades of national and international initiatives to protect and conserve the marine mammals have helped nine of 14 humpback population segments rebound from historically low levels. "Today's news is a true ecological success story," said Eileen Sobeck, assistant NOAA administrator for fisheries. "Whales, including the humpback, serve an important role in our marine environment. Separately managing humpback whale populations that are largely independent of each other allows us to tailor conservation approaches for each population." After commercial whaling severely reduced populations, the US listed all humpback whales as endangered in 1970. Today, just four whale groups remain on that list, and one is now listed as threatened. The International Whaling Commission's whaling moratorium imposed in 1982 -- which remains in effect -- played a crucial part in the comeback, NOAA said. The US Marine Mammal Protection Act that protects marine mammals within US waters still applies to all humpback whales, regardless of endangered status. The MMPA prohibits the killing of certain marine mammals in US waters and by US citizens on the high seas, and bans their importation into the United States. Two separate regulatory decisions filed Tuesday maintain protection for whales living off Hawaii and Alaska by "specifying distance limits for approaching vessels." Two of the four humpback groups still considered endangered can be found in US waters at some times of the year. The Central American population looks for food in the Pacific Ocean off the US West Coast, while the group in the Pacific Northwest spends time in the Bering Sea and near the Aleutian Islands. The humpback group from Mexico now listed as threatened regularly goes to the West Coast of the continental United States and Alaska. Story continues In 2010, NOAA launched an extensive review of the status of humpback whales that resulted in the reclassification of the species into 14 distinct populations. NOAA proposed last year to remove 10 of those 14 groups off the endangered list and gave the public 90 days to comment on the proposed change before finalizing its decision. Humpback whales can grow to 60 feet (18 meters) and live 50 years. They weigh up to 40 tons and eat tiny crustaceans called krill, often as much as 3,000 pounds (1,360 kilograms) per day. The NOAA announcement follows US President Barack Obama's establishment of the world's largest marine reserve, home to thousands of rare sea creatures in the northwestern Hawaiian islands. By Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health) - In the critical first trimester of pregnancy, undergoing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) without a contrast agent is not associated with any negative outcomes for the baby, according to a new study. But when the expectant mother has an MRI with gadolinium contrast, a material that makes it easier to see internal structures like blood vessels in the brain, risk for stillbirth, neonatal death or the child having any of several serious health conditions may rise, researchers say. We know that MRI is actually being encouraged as the main high fidelity method of imaging in women of reproductive age, since it does not involve radiation, and produces outstanding images of deeper cavities that ultrasound cant get at, said lead author Dr. Joel Ray of St. Michaels Hospital and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Toronto. The new results invigorate or support what most people believed by intuition or smaller datasets: that non-contrast MRI is generally safe for pregnant women, Ray told Reuters Health. With contrast MRIs, negative outcomes are still very rare but it may be a good idea to avoid these MRIs in pregnancy, or when a woman may be pregnant, he said. The researchers analyzed more than 1 million births between 2003 and 2013 in Ontario, Canada, using universal healthcare databases. About one in 250 women had undergone an MRI during pregnancy, one in 1,200 during the first trimester and one in 3,000 with gadolinium contrast. Health of the babies was followed from birth until they were 4 years old. Having an MRI during the first trimester was not tied to an increased risk of stillbirth, newborn death, cancer, congenital defects or hearing loss in the children. Only 397 women had gadolinium contrast MRIs during pregnancy, compared to more than 1.4 million without any MRI in this comparison. Connective tissue or infiltrating skin conditions like nephrogenic systemic fibrosis were about 36 percent more common in babies born to the gadolinium group than the no-MRI group, according to the results in JAMA. More broadly, rheumatological and inflammatory conditions were similarly increased by about 45 cases per 1,000 children per year. There were seven stillbirths or newborn deaths in the gadolinium group compared to 9,844 in the no-MRI group, so while still rare, these outcomes were twice as common in the gadolinium group, the authors note. An adult body processes and clears gadolinium contrast materials through the urine, but a fetus exposed via the placenta will continually urinate and ingest the same material in the amniotic fluid until birth, Ray said. The theory was that you can recirculate gadolinium over and over again, and this brings that theory a little bit closer to a clinical point, he said. Gadolinium can usually be avoided during pregnancy, but in a woman who is pregnant, if she really needs gadolinium then shes the priority, he said. Potential risk versus benefit should always be assessed when an imaging study is recommended, said Dr. Dorothy Bulas, professor of pediatrics and radiology at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C. This study is reassuring and helps support the use of MRI at any gestation if there is a valid indication for the exam, she said by email. The study also supports the need to avoid gadolinium in the pregnant patient unless the maternal benefits truly outweigh the potential fetal risks that were noted in this large study cohort, Bulas added. Current contrast media guidelines already incorporate appropriate safety concerns, said Dr. Karen Oh of Oregon Health and Sciences University in Portland, who was not part of the new study. Doctors should continue to provide appropriate prenatal care and utilize MRI when indicated; and women should ask and receive explanations for indications for studies during pregnancy, have their questions answered appropriately, so that they can feel comfortable with the care they are receiving, Oh told Reuters Health by email. London (AFP) - Wimbledon champion Andy Murray has been named in Great Britain's Davis Cup squad for next weekend's semi-final against Argentina in Glasgow. Murray opted not to play in Britain's quarter-final victory in Serbia in July as he recovered after his second Wimbledon triumph. But the world number two has made himself available for the holders' clash with Argentina and he was included on Tuesday in a provisional five-man team alongside Kyle Edmund, Dan Evans, Jamie Murray and Dom Inglot. Murray's participation could yet depend on how he fares at the US Open, where he eased through to the quarter-finals on Monday with a thumping win over Grigor Dimitrov. The Davis Cup tie begins at the Emirates Arena on September 16, only five days after the final in New York. But, unlike the Serbia clash, Murray would not have to contend with a change of surface and, injury permitting, seems almost certain to play. Captain Leon Smith must cut his team from five to four by the draw next Thursday but could include both Evans and Edmund if Murray is keen once again to play doubles with brother Jamie. "It has been a great summer for the British players with Andy once again leading from the front and the performances from the players at the US Open gives us a lot of momentum going into the tie," Smith said. "We are confident that we can do the job at the Emirates, although we know we are up against an Argentina team with impressive strength in depth, and of course the return to form of Juan Martin del Potro makes their team stronger again." Murray's last Davis Cup action came against Japan in March, when he edged an epic five-setter against Kei Nishikori to win the tie. He is likely to face Juan Martin del Potro in the Davis Cup semis just weeks after beating the Argentine to win gold in the Olympic singles final in Rio. Hundreds of Buddhists jeers former UN chief Kofi Annan as he arrives in Myanmar's troubled Rakhine state to examine a bitter religious conflict that has displaced tens of thousands of Muslim Rohingya. Annan has been tasked by the de facto leader of Myanmar's new government, Aung San Suu Kyi, to head a commission charged with finding ways to heal wounds in the poor western state. (Adds background on Mylan) By Brendan Pierson Sept 6 (Reuters) - An Ohio woman on Tuesday filed a proposed class action lawsuit against Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc in an Ohio county court, claiming sharp price hikes for the company's EpiPen device violated the state's consumer protection law. Mylan has raised the U.S. price of EpiPen, which is used to treat life-threatening allergies, from less than $100 when it acquired the product in 2007 to more than $600, drawing criticism from parents, consumer groups and U.S. politicians. EpiPens automatically inject a dose of the drug epinephrine into the thigh to counter dangerous reactions to allergens such as peanuts, foods and bee stings. It has a 94 percent share of the market for such auto-injector devices. A Mylan spokeswoman, Nina Devlin, had no immediate comment. The company has defended EpiPen's high price, saying it spent hundreds of millions of dollars to improve the product. It has also said it recoups less than half the list price for EpiPens. Tuesday's lawsuit was filed in the Court of Common Pleas for Hamilton County, Ohio, by Cincinnati resident Linda Bates, whose son requires an EpiPen. "The outrageous, unconscionable and immoral high prices set by Defendant is nothing more than price gouging," the complaint says. It says the price increases violated the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act, which prohibits "unconscionable" acts in connection with consumer transactions, including taking advantage of a consumer's "physical infirmities." Bates is seeking to represent a class of individuals in Ohio who purchased EpiPens from 2007 the present, which will require her to show that a class action is the most fair way to resolve the case. In response to pressure from U.S. lawmakers, Mylan said last month that it would expand discount programs and launch a generic version of EpiPen for $300. Nonetheless, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Amy Klobuchar, both Democrats, on Tuesday called on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to issue a subpoena to Mylan about EpiPen's pricing. Story continues The same day, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced he was launching his own investigation of whether Mylan violated antitrust laws in its contracts to provide EpiPens to some school systems. The company is also facing a separate proposed class action lawsuit accusing it of gouging consumers by selling EpiPens only in packs of two. It was filed in late August in federal court in Michigan. (Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Dan Grebler) Nancy Pelosi House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi asked House Speaker Paul Ryan in a Tuesday letter to oppose any efforts from Republicans or Democrats to use leaked documents published online as fodder for the 2016 campaign. Pelosi called the "sophisticated Russian cyber-attack" an "insidious" effort to tamper with the US election, comparing it to other instances in Europe, and said documents leaked as a result should not be used by the National Republican Congressional Committee or the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Hacked documents released earlier this summer revealed internal communications and phone numbers from Democratic House members. Republicans have not been the victims of similar cyber-hacking attacks. "Russia's cyber attack is an unprecedented assault on the sanctity of our democratic process," she wrote in her letter. "We must come together to say that defending our democracy from Russia's meddling is more important than any advantage or disadvantage in this election." "It is my hope that you will join me in opposing the NRCC or the DCCC from using any documents from Russian criminal cyber attacks in this campaign," the California Democrat continued. "Democrats and Republicans must present a united front in the face of Russia's attempts to tamper with the will of the American people." In a statement to Business Insider, the NRCC said they do not have control over what "our individual expenditure unit does." A spokeswoman then cited an ad attacking Democratic congressional candidate Randy Perkins, who is running for Rep. Patrick Murphy's seat in Florida. That ad, which was funded by the NRCC's independent expenditure arm, contained information from hacked documents about Perkins, who was allegedly under fire from fellow Democrats. "The NRCCs chairman, Greg Walden, nor the speaker have control over what our independent expenditure unit does, which the DCCC chairman, Ben Ray Lujan, as well as Leader Pelosi are well aware of.," Katie Martin, an NRCC spokeswoman, said in the statement. Story continues The statement added: "The shady business practices deployed by Randy Perkins highlighted in the digital ad have been well documented through various news outlets and even in Mr. Perkins own testimony before Congress. Its not our fault the DCCC recruited a candidate so flawed that they knew he was a liability from the very beginning." NOW WATCH: Here's what economists think of Trump's proposed economic plan More From Business Insider Tuesday the rabbi's congregants conducted a witch hunt? Rabbi Blumofe has expressed his regret for the decision to have his synagogue stop at Arafats grave, as well as for the circulating widely of a complicated itinerary that taken out of context was misrepresented as the manifestation of an insidious agenda. One could well imagine an aggrieved congregant who trusted Rabbi Blumofes character taking issue with some of the trips content, express the grievance, and then bring about a positive change. Once the grievance is translated into the public sphere, however, even the capacity to bring about change on the issue begins to decline. Rabbi K - why the rabbinical panicked hysteria in the face of communal opposition? Here you decry public objections to percieved rabbinical toevahs as "witch hunts." But in a marketplace of ideas this is called "opposition." Opposition to these two rabbis occurred when they took a stand by publicly advertising (for money) a trip they had each planned, which included meeting with pro-Hammas groups topped off with a tribute to Arafat's grave to "understand his legacy." Our opposition to the actions of these two rabbis is not a withchunt, but a marketplace reaction best described by Newton's Law: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. And this reaction did not happen overnight. Members in both the Norh carolina and Texas communities wrote letters and had persoanl meetings with these rabbis months before the media learned of these two controveries. We sought to understand why these rabbis would lead delegations from our states that clearly endorsed a pro-terror, anti-Israel message. The rabbis igored us, they refused to answer our questions on more than a dozen occasions. Rabbi Solomon in Raleigh has now gone on the attack against us, publicly shaming us as haters and "right-wing extremists" and demands we shut up and stop asking questions about the trip. Rabbi Solomon recently implored the community in his shul to do whatever it takes to silence his opposition (us). Was Rabbi Solomon's reaction here in Raleigh also a with hunt? Or opposition? To great credit of Rabbis Solomon and Blumofe, they raise their voices in opposition to issues of civil righs violations here in the south. They both understand that they have a resposibility to raise their moral voices to the markeplace of ideas regarding racial justice and equality. These rabbis know that taking a stand has its rewards and, sometimes, opposition. By taking the premeditated action to plan, promote, and now defend a trip with a pro-terror narrative while Israel and the world is seeing extremist terror first-hand; these two rabbis are experiencing opposition. Not a witch hunt. Yehuda Kurtzer, director of the Shalom Hartman Institute in the United States, published a lengthy and whiny piece in the Times of Israel complaining about the ' witch hunts ' that are allegedly being conducted against 'my friend and colleague Rabbi Neil Blumofe a great rabbi, leader, and lover of Zion was brutally smeared and defamed due to a perfidious interpretation of how he built the itinerary for a congregational trip to Israel.' That's a story I covered here For those who have forgotten, Blumofe canceled the itinerary, and promised that a new one would be issued that would not include a stop at Arafat's grave . Kurtzer brushes over that:The problem is that while the congregant who publicly took issue with Blumofe chose to focus on the Arafat stop - the most outrageous item - there was plenty more on the itinerary that a true 'lover of Zion' would find objectionable. Look at the itinerary above, and tell me that it doesn't reek of a political agenda that doesn't reflect 'love of Zion.' Look at the 'extra' descriptions in the entries for June 8 and June 13. Note the lack of politics in the June 14 and 15 descriptions. Which sounds more like 'If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium'?This evening, I received by email the following reply to the Kurtzer article from Sloan Rachmuth, one of the people who demolished an attempt by a rabbi in Raleigh, North Carolina to visit Arafat's tomb (covered originally here ):In case you were wondering about Yehuda Kurtzer's pedigree... I asked. He is the son of former US Ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer, who was twice called a Yehudon ('little Jew') a decade ago, and who had a lengthy history of interfering in Israel's internal affairs during his term here (same link).The apple does not fall far from the tree. Labels: anti-Israel Jews, Austin Texas, Breaking the Silence, European anti-Semitism, Hillel, liberalism, NGO's, self-hating Jews, Truah, Yasser Arafat Just days after its sophomore run started streaming, Netflixs Narcos in one fell swoop has been renewed for Seasons 3 and 4. RELATEDCable/Streaming Renewal Scorecard 2016: Whats Coming Back? Whats Cancelled? Whats On the Bubble? Jose Padilha and Eric Newman will continue to serve as executive producers of the series, which will debut Season 3 sometime in 2017, Netflix announced. RELATEDStranger Things Renewed for (Slightly) Bigger Season 2, Set in Year [Spoiler] Narcos chronicles the real-life stories of the drug kingpins of the late 1980s and the corroborative efforts of law enforcement to meet them head on in brutal, bloody conflict. Im doing so, it details the many, often-conflicting forces - legal, political, police, military and civilian that clash in the effort to control cocaine, one of the worlds most valuable commodities. Related stories Luke Cage Takes (and Breaks) a Punch in New Sneak Peek -- Watch Video Gilmore Girls Revival First Look: What's Lorelai and Luke's Big Surprise?! Longmire Season 5 Trailer Raises Questions of Loyalty... and Dating? By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - A U.S. space probe was cleared for launch on Thursday to collect and return samples from an asteroid in hopes of learning more about the origins of life on Earth and perhaps elsewhere in the solar system, NASA said on Tuesday. A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket was scheduled to blast off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to dispatch the robot explorer Osiris-Rex on a seven-year mission. United Launch Alliance is a partnership of Lockheed-Martin and Boeing. Osiris-Rex is headed to a 1,640-foot (500-meter) wide asteroid named Bennu, which circles the sun in roughly the same orbit as Earth. Scientists estimate there is a one-in-800 chance that Bennu might actually hit Earth 166 years from now. Heating from the sun gently pushes the asteroid, and charting its path is among the goals of the $1 billion mission. The U.S. space agency also hopes Osiris-Rex will demonstrate the advanced imaging and mapping techniques needed for future science missions and for upcoming commercial asteroid-mining expeditions. Osiris-Rex is expected to reach Bennu in August 2018 and begin a two-year study of its physical features and chemical composition. The solar-powered spacecraft will then fly to Bennu's surface and extend a robot arm to collect at least 2 ounces (60 grams) of what scientists hope will be carbon-rich material. "We're going to asteroid Bennu because it's a time capsule from the earliest stages of solar system formation, back when our planetary system was spread across as dust grains in a swirling cloud around our growing protostar," lead researcher Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona told a prelaunch news conference on Tuesday. Inside the developing solar system, small rocky bodies were beginning to form, many of them studded with water ice and organic materials, which are key compounds that may have made Earth habitable or even given life its start, Lauretta said. If all goes as planned, the capsule containing samples from Bennu will be jettisoned from the returning Osiris-Rex spacecraft on Sept. 24, 2023, for a parachute descent and landing at the U.S. Air Force Utah Test and Training Range. Osiris-Rex is the latest in a series of missions to asteroids that began with the 1991 flyby of asteroid Gaspra by NASA's Jupiter-bound Galileo spacecraft. Japan's Hayabusa 1 probe managed to return a few tiny grains of asteroid Itokawa to Earth in 2010, the first asteroid sample return mission. A follow-on mission, Hayabusa 2, is underway. The Osiris-Rex launch was set for between 7:05 p.m. and 9:05 p.m. on Thursday (2305 to 0105 GMT on Friday). (Reporting by Irene Klotz; Editing by Will Dunham) Brussels (AFP) - NATO head Jens Stoltenberg will travel to key ally Turkey this week to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, one of the highest western officials to visit since a failed military coup in July, a statement said Tuesday. The alliance gave no further details of Stoltenberg's meeting Thursday and Friday with Erdogan, who has berated the West for what he sees as its lukewarm backing and criticism of his massive crackdown on coup suspects. Some 20,000 people have been arrested since the July 15 coup attempt and 70,000 civil servants have been fired as Erdogan purges all those he says have links to Fethullah Gulen, the US-based Muslim preacher Ankara blames for the attempted putsch. NATO and Stoltenberg have repeatedly expressed support for the Turkish government in the coup's aftermath, insisting that the US-led alliance means what it says in supporting democracy. At the same time, NATO has been cautious on the crackdown, calling for Ankara to ensure human that rights norms that all alliance members are supposed to adhere to are not compromised. US Vice President Joe Biden visited Turkey late last month, the most senior western official to do so since the coup, as Washington tried to mend ties badly strained by Ankara's demand that it hand Gulen over for trial. European Union foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini is due to visit Turkey on Thursday and Friday as well, following a trip last week by European Parliament head Martin Schulz who has been notably critical of the crackdown. Turkey is a key NATO ally, second only in military numbers to the United States, but it has found itself at odds with Washington over Syria where last week it launched an incursion to set up a no-fly zone on its southern border. Saying it was attacking Islamic State jihadists as part of the US campaign against IS in Syria and Iraq, Ankara also clashed with the Kurdish rebels Washington has backed as the best fighting force against the jihadists. In early August, NATO had to make clear that Turkey's membership of the alliance was "not in question" when Erdogan made a highly-symbolic visit to Russia to mend fences with Moscow after Turkish jets shot down a Russian fighter in November along the Syrian border. Shares of Navistar (NAV) surged Monday after Volkswagen (XETRA:VOW3-DE) agreed to form a strategic alliance to supply engines to the U.S. truck maker. In a deal forged by the need to meet stringent emissions regulations in the United States, the German automaker will get a 16.6 percent stake in Navistar. Navistar's stock was up 60 percent in early trading Tuesday. It later pared those gains, but still soared more than 40 percent on the day. The company has struggled over the past five years, with the stock falling about 65 percent. As part of the agreement, the Volkswagen Truck & Bus division plans to invest $15.76 a share, or $256 million, into newly issued shares of Navistar, and reserves the right to appoint two directors. Navistar expects to realize cumulative synergies of $500 million over first five years. Under the terms, the company will remain independent. Navistar CEO Troy Clarke told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Monday the alliance with VW takes advantage of "economies of scale" in what's increasing becoming a global industry. Looking at the business landscape in truck manufacturing, Clarke sees a "bottoming phase," adding Navistar has worked hard to turn around the company. The diesel emissions cheating scandal at VW on passenger vehicles did not impact the timing of the deal, Clarke said. Volkswagen Trucks Chief Executive Andreas Renschler said a full merger with Navistar is possible once a technology and procurement alliance between the two truck makers takes shape. In a call to discuss a technology and procurement partnership unveiled by the two companies on Tuesday, Renschler was asked whether he could foresee a full merger with U.S.-based truck maker Navistar. "On our way to becoming a global champion all options are open," Renschler said. Renschler repeated the answer when he was asked whether Volkswagen's truck and buses businesses could be spun off from the Wolfsburg, Germany-based parent company. Reuters contributed to this report. More From CNBC NBC has a set a two-hour Dateline special on the JonBenet Ramsey murder case, the latest such project to air ahead of the 20th anniversary of the still-unsolved killing. Dateline NBC: Who Killed JonBenet? airs Friday, September 9 at 9 PM ET/PT, 8 PM CT. The special will include the first TV interviews with former Boulder PD Detective Jane Harmer, former Denver PD Detective Tom Haney, along with never-before-seen case documents, according to the network. In the special, Harmer tells Dateline NBC correspondent Josh Mankiewicz that she agreed with the grand jury recommendation to indict JonBenet Ramseys parents, saying: I think that the grand jurors heard the evidence and came up with that conclusion and I would agree with their conclusion. Harmer adds she also agreed with the district attorneys decision not to pursue charges against the Ramseys and she explains why. The special also features an interview with Bob Whitson, a retired detective sergeant at Boulder PD who was at the Ramsey house on the day the murder investigation began. This year marks 20 years since the six-year-old beauty queen was found dead in the basement of her familys home in Boulder on December 26, 1996. In 1999, a grand jury recommended indictments against Ramseys parents, but district attorney Alex Hunter did not sign the indictments and decided not to take the case to trial. In 2008, Hunters successor, district attorney Mary Lacy, wrote a letter exonerating the Ramseys, based on DNA evidence. The case remains open. NBCs Dateline special joins a slew of other projects on the subject, including CBS event docuseries The Case Of: JonBenet Ramsey, which will air in three parts beginning September 18; Lifetime original movie Who Killed JonBenet? set for premiere in the fall; and Investigation Discoverys three-night television event series premiering September 12. A feature also in the works Casting JonBenet, directed by Kitty Green and produced by James Schamus Symbolic Exchange. Story continues You can watch a preview clip of the Dateline special below: Related stories NBC Nabs Suburban Crime Drama From Jenna Bans With Put Pilot Commitment One Direction Alum Zayn Malik & Dick Wolf To Produce Boy Band Drama For NBC NBC Buys 'Big Of Me' Comedy From Will Packer, Eva Longoria & Lauren Iungerich MADRID Starring Spanish actor-turned-director Paco Leon, drama Siete Anos (Seven Years), the first Netflix original film shot and produced in Spain will debut around the globe on Oct. 28 on the U.S. streaming giant. Directed by Goya-Award winner Roger Gual (Smoking Room, Tasting Menu) and written by Jose Cabeza and Julia Fontana, Seven Years tells the story of four friends and founding-partners in a company who one night are forced to find a solution that can save their friendship and themselves. They must face a complicated decision: Who must sacrifice his freedom to save the rest from personal and financial ruin. Seven Years is produced for Netflix by Colombian Cristian Conti (Undertow, Rage) at Barcelona-based Cactus Flower and Argentine composer-producer Federico Jusid at Madrid-based Metronome. Netflix, which will celebrate its first year of operations in Spain on Oct. 20, unveiled in March its first local original TV drama, teaming with Ramon Campos outfit Bambu Producciones. Reportedly titled Las chicas del cable, the 1920s-set TV skein follows four women hired as switchboard operators at Spains sole telephone company in Madrid. Alongside Paco Leon, the star of Spanish TV primetime hit comedy Aida and director of a string of Spanish hits Kiki, Love to Love, Carmina or Blow Up Seven Years cast also includes Spains Alex Brendemuhl (Truman, The German Doctor) and Manuel Moron (Cell 211, Crematorium) plus Colombias Juana Acosta (Sanctuaire, Crematorium) and Juan Pablo Raba (The 33, Narcos). After our launch in Spain last year and with the countrys long film tradition, it is a honor to present now this great project that we will bring to 190 countries, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said in a statement. Related stories Netflix Swallows Indian Documentary 'Placebo' 'Mascots': Watch the First Trailer for Christopher Guest's New Mockumentary [VIDEO] TV News: Netflix Series 'Haters Back Off' First Look; Disney XD Orders 'MECH-X4' Season 2 [September 06, 2016] Lenovo Receives TUV Rheinland Greater China's First IEC62368 Server Certificate HONG KONG, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The RS160 server series from the Lenovo Group (hereinafter referred to as "Lenovo") has been given the first IEC62368-1 Second Edition CB certificate to be issued by TUV Rheinland Greater China (hereinafter referred to as "TUV Rheinland"). Rudi Du, Sales General Manager of the TUV Rheinland Greater China Electrical Division, presented the certificate to Robert West, Program Director PA SIT and Compliance PMP, Certified Executive Project Manager at Lenovo. All previous Lenovo server products had received IEC/EN 60950-1 CB and GS certificates from TUV Rheinland. In his speech, Du said: "Lenovo engineers and the TUV Rheinland project team worked together to revise the existing industrial design guidelines on fire, electrical, and mechanical safety in under two months. We also issued TUV Rheinland Greater China's first IEC 62368-1 Second Edition CB certificate for server products. This means Lenovo server products now satisfy the design requirements of IEC62368-1 Second Edition three years in advance. This not only lays a solid foundation for the products' entry into the European Market in 2019, but also demonstrates Lenovo's commitment to utmost quality and safety as the leader in the IT industry." The IEC62368 Standard: New Concept, New hallenges The IEC62368-1 standard is a set of safety requirements targeted at audio, video, information, and communication technology equipment. Advances in audio and video multimedia technologies have led to greater fusion between A/V and IT equipment. The boundary between the two is now blurred. As the new standard which will soon replace IEC60950-1 and IEC60065, IEC 62368-1 does not simply combine the two old standards. It introduces the new concept of Hazard-Based Safety Engineering (HSBE), in which different levels of personal protection are required for different hazardous energy sources. The Lenovo Server Division introduced the HBSE concept during the initial product-design phase. Through close collaboration with TUV Rheinland, Lenovo accurately identified the technical requirements of the standard and converted them into solutions during the design stage. During this process, Lenovo's division gained more in-depth understanding how HBSE-based IEC62368-1 is more applicable and time-efficient than IEC60065/60950-1. At the same time, it also offers more possibility for implementation of the design. This translates into a new direction in product testing and evaluation. Focus on IT Products and Market Trends TUV Rheinland's professional localized service team provides manufacturers with total testing, inspection, and certification solutions that satisfy market access requirements around the world. TUV is one of the few organizations capable of providing product export certification for both North America and Europe at the same time. The firm, which has been No. 1 in terms of global CB certification quantity for eight successive years, possesses national certification bodies and CB testing laboratories in many service branches. TUV Rheinland has issued hundreds of thousands of CB certificates since its establishment. More than half of the certified products have been in the IT category. To maintain its leadership in IT product certification, through the years TUV Rheinland has closely followed and studied the development of future standards. By continually enhancing its laboratory accreditation as well as upgrading its testing equipment and personnel capabilities, TUV Rheinland has helped local manufacturers bring their products from the production line to the global market more quickly. The experts at TUV Rheinland use this method to open the door to international markets for retailers, buyers, and manufacturers. At the same time, they ensure the sustainable development of product safety within the global flow of merchandise. About the CB System: The CB system established by the IEC Conformity Assessment for Electro-technical Equipment and Components (IECEE) is the first international system to implement multilateral recognition of safety testing reports and certificates for electrical and electronic components, equipment, and products. The IECEE now has 52 member organizations, as well as 65 national certification bodies (NCB) and 276 CB testing laboratories (CBTL). CB product certificates and reports are now widely accepted in Europe and other parts of the world. Once a product has received its CB certificate and report from an accredited NCB, this means that it has passed safety testing by the CBTL. It therefore conforms to the applicable IEC standards, and is recognized by other CB member states. Media Contact: Simon Hung Tel: +852-2192-1948 Email: [email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20160906/8521605604 Logo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20150602/8521503584LOGO [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] EXCLUSIVE: Netflix is closing a deal for the SVOD rights to The Bad Batch, the Ana Lily Amirpour-directed film that stars Jason Momoa, Jim Carrey, Keanu Reeves, Suki Waterhouse and Diego Luna. The picture premiered tonight at the Venice Film Festival, where it is competing for the Golden Lion prize. The film was made by Annapurna Pictures and VICE Media, and its described as a dystopian fairy tale set in a Texas wasteland where societys rejects are just trying to make ends meat (pun intended). Amirpour wrote the script and its the followup to her acclaimed Farsi-language vampire genre debut, A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night. In this film, another girl (Waterhouse) wanders alone into a band of cannibalistic drifters. While Netflix got the streaming video on demand rights, there is still business to be done on the film, as CAA is shopping the domestic theatrical distribution rights and certain other territories. Related stories Mel Gibson's 'Hacksaw Ridge' Rivets With 10-Minute Ovation At World Premiere - Venice 'Hacksaw Ridge': Mel Gibson's Faith-Based WWII Action Pic Has Lido Believing - Venice 'The Young Pope' Blesses Lido: Jude Law's Orphan Pontiff Smokes, Schemes, Doubts & Drinks Cherry Coke Zero - Venice Netflix just began airing Slow TV, and its pretty much our jam now Netflix just began airing Slow TV, and its pretty much our jam now When your work day is terrible, you probably dont want to get home and try to relax with a bunch of bad news. While knowing whats happening in the world is pretty darn important, its also extremely healthy to tune out and find some peace after dealing with a less-than-ideal day at the office. Thats where Slow TV comes in. This August, Netflix started airing Slow TV, which is quite similar to how it sounds. If its slow and (kind of) boring, its perfect Slow TV material. For example, one program that aired was National Knitting Evening, which contained four hours of quiet knitting. Also on the network? A quiet train ride to Oslo from the The Bergen Railway, known as one of the most scenic train rides in the world. As expected, these programs arent too action-packed. So if youre the type of person who waits all year for the next-to-last episode of Game of Thrones every season, Slow TV might not truly be up your alley. But for those who just need to focus on something quiet and calming, its absolutely perfect. That train ride, for example? Incredibly soothing. Thomas Hellum, who put together the train video, told The Daily Beast that pitched the idea as a way to honor the centennial of the Bergen Railway. When pitching the idea to the Norwegian Broadcasting Company, they thought the whole thing was too wild to turn down. Surprisingly, 450,000 viewers tuned into watch when it premiered in 2009. If you have a Netflix membership, you might want to check out everything that Slow TV has to offer. Not only is it great to have in the background, but its a great way to refocus and find a little bit of much-needed inner peace. The post Netflix just began airing Slow TV, and its pretty much our jam now appeared first on HelloGiggles. Placebo, a 2014 hybrid documentary directed by Abhay Kumar has been picked up by Netflix. The video streaming platform will make it available worldwide. The film, which uses documentary footage alongside fictional reconstructions, takes a critical look at the pressure cooker environment of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. The institution boasts a minuscule acceptance rate for undergraduate applications and then wraps students in a cloak of silence. The film breaks that taboo when a freak accident on campus seriously injures a final year student, causing the students brother to pull back the institutes curtains. Placebo had a career on the international documentary circuit with appearances at IDFA in Amsterdam and the EBS International Documentary Film Festival as well as the 2015 Mumbai IFF. The film was produced by Storyteller Ink. Distribution is by FilmKaravan. Related stories 'Mascots': Watch the First Trailer for Christopher Guest's New Mockumentary [VIDEO] TV News: Netflix Series 'Haters Back Off' First Look; Disney XD Orders 'MECH-X4' Season 2 'Stranger Things': Meet the Man Who Played the Monster Donald Trump The Dallas Morning News released a scathing critique of Donald Trump on Tuesday. In an editorial, the newspaper urged readers not to vote for Trump. The editorial board labeled the New York businessman as "not qualified" and someone who "does not deserve your vote." The Morning News has not endorsed a Democrat for president in seven decades and has backed every GOP nominee since Richard Nixon in 1968. Under the headline "Donald Trump is no Republican," the newspaper's editorial board ripped Trump's economic and military proposals while claiming that he was not for individual liberty. "Donald Trump is no Republican and certainly no conservative," the board wrote, later adding, "We have no interest in a Republican nominee for whom all principles are negotiable, nor in a Republican Party that is willing to trade away principle for pursuit of electoral victory. Trump doesn't reflect Republican ideals of the past; we are certain he shouldn't reflect the GOP of the future." Since securing the GOP nomination for president, Trump has had great difficulty uniting his party. A spate of self-inflicted controversies following the Republican National Convention in July instead further alienated his supporters. NOW WATCH: NEW POLL: Trump jumps into the lead trouncing Clinton in a key voter group More From Business Insider Managua (AFP) - Nicaragua has granted political asylum to El Salvador's former president Mauricio Funes, who faces corruption accusations at home, officials said Tuesday. The leftist leader, in office from 2009 to 2014, was covered by laws that "guarantee asylum... to those who are persecuted for fighting for democracy, peace, justice and human rights," the Nicaraguan government said. Funes, who condemns the allegations against him as politically motivated, is facing an investigation for illegal enrichment during his time in office. The Salvadoran Supreme Court froze his bank accounts in February saying the origin of the $700,000 they contained was unknown. He denies allegations that he filled his pockets while in power, saying he is the victim of a "political vendetta" because he exposed corruption under the conservative government that preceded him. Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega, a fellow leftist, was an ally during Funes's time in power. His government acknowledged Funes had been granted asylum after a journalist spotted him at a local supermarket in August. Amid all the horrific imagery of Syrian civilians killed by indiscriminate Syrian and Russian airpower, U.S. politicians and policy analysts are again calling for a deeper military involvement in Syrias civil war. The appeals have centered around one unilateral military tactic: a no-fly zone (NFZ) to be imposed over certain portions of Syria to prevent certain aircraft from flying there. I have researched and written about NFZs for 15 years, and analyzed some of the proposals that have been made for Syria, and I wont rehearse all of my conclusions here. I do, however, want to make readers aware of some of the complexities and trade-offs inherent in no-fly zones by re-evaluating two events involving the northern Iraqi NFZ that was imposed above the 36th parallel between April 1991 and March 2003. The Iraqi northern NFZ is particularly relevant as Syria intervention proponents routinely mention it (though never the southern Iraqi NFZ imposed below the 33rd parallel) to bolster their argument for a NFZ over portions of Syria. The shorthand recollection of the dozen-year operation is that the George H. W. Bush administration imposed a NFZ to protect the Kurds. There is a critical and forgotten preamble to this story that intervention proponents never discuss. On Feb. 15, 1991, long before the first NFZ was ever enforced, President George H.W. Bush repeatedly called via a message beamed into every Iraqi media outlet upon the Iraqi people to take matters into their own hands and force Saddam Hussein, the dictator, to step aside. Leaflets were dropped upon Iraqi soldiers and civilians rallying them to fill the streets and alleys and bring down Saddam Hussein and his aides. Kurdish rebels soon revolted against Iraqi troops and Baath Party officials, detaining whom they could and massacring resisters. Using helicopters, artillery, and armored ground forces, Saddams Republican Guards brutally counterattacked the uprising, killing 20,000 Kurds and displacing hundreds of thousands more. Despite having 500,000 U.S. troops and immense military capabilities in-theater, Bush did nothing to assist the Kurdish uprising he had called for, even refusing to provide Kurds with captured Iraqi Army military equipment much of which was sent to the Mujahedeen rebels in Afghanistan. On April 15, 1991, coalition pilots began flying patrols above the 36th parallel to protect U.S. forces and aid workers providing humanitarian assistance to displaced Kurds. Having incentivized the Kurds to take up arms, Bush turned his back on them, committing later to protect them from just one form of regime lethality. The second important and rarely remembered event involving the northern Iraqi NFZ actually occurred 20 years ago this week. In 1995 and 1996, State Department officials struggled to broker a cease-fire between Iraqs two main Kurdish political parties the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). In August 1996, the tenuous peace unraveled over disagreements about their division of oil smuggling revenues; the PUK turned to Iran for weapons, logistics, and military advisors, while the KDP appealed to Saddam to intervene on their behalf. Saddam marshaled two Republican Guard divisions and three regular army divisions of some 40,000 troops, 300 tanks, and 300 artillery pieces. Starting Aug. 20, these Iraqi ground forces (with no Iraqi Air Force support) swept over the 36th parallel into Kurdish Iraq, despite repeated demands by the United States that Saddam pull back, or else it would be a serious mistake. The Iraqi divisions began shelling and advancing on the Kurdish capital of Erbil, killing combatants and civilians, while U.S. aircraft enforcing the NFZ circled overhead. Though the U.S. ground attack aircraft could have easily bombed the Iraqi ground forces having perfected tank plinking five years earlier the Clinton administration chose to do nothing to protect the people of Erbil and several other Kurdish towns under attack. This was partially because the White House did not want to get involved in what it perceived as a PUK/KDP dispute, but also because the governments of Turkey and Saudi Arabia would not permit U.S. planes flying from its sovereign territory to attack Saddams ground forces. Instead of protecting the Kurds, the Clinton administration used Saddams offensive into northern Iraq to expand the southern NFZ and launch 44 cruise missiles against Saddams integrated air defense system. What lessons should we take from the actual history of the Iraqi northern NFZ? First, presidents should not call for armed revolutions that the United States will abandon if things turn out badly. External powers should not attempt to steer civil war battlefield outcomes with strategic guidance, funding, or weapons without acknowledging that they are also morally responsible for what happens to those combatants that external powers enable. That would have been a valuable lesson in 1991, and it remains so 25 years later. Second, protecting civilian populations from one form of lethality in this case, airpower may incentivize governments to attack adversaries with other combat arms, like artillery, armor, and infantry. This was certainly the case with Saddams brutal counterinsurgency in the early 1990s against Shiite insurgents and civilians in southern Iraq, which again occurred on the ground as U.S. pilots enforcing the NFZ circled overhead. As has been noted repeatedly, a NFZ cannot effectively counter ground-based lethality. Third, every NFZ that the United States has imposed whether in Iraq, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia, or Libya was expanded to support military and political objectives that had nothing to do with how they were initially justified. Even as early as August 1992, officials in the Bush administration were touting the Iraqi northern and southern NFZs as being intended to deny him [Saddam] the attribute of sovereignty, and musing hopefully: How long do you think he could last within just four parallels? So even if a U.S.-imposed NFZ over any part of Syria would better enable rebel forces to implement regime change, the United States could not deny that it would be directly responsible for the outcome as well as the aftermath. Photo credit: MPI/Getty Images Warsaw (AFP) - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Tuesday that an aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had suggested delaying a proposed meeting between the two leaders in Moscow on Friday. "Netanyahu's representative proposed to delay this meeting to a later date. So the meeting will not happen," Abbas said at a joint press conference in Warsaw with Polish President Andrzej Duda. "But I am ready and I declare again that I will go to any meeting." Abbas had agreed to a Russian proposal to meet Netanyahu as part of a new peace push, a Palestinian official said Monday in Ramallah. Netanyahu said he was open to such a meeting together with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which Abbas said had been scheduled for September 9. But the Palestinians have questioned Israel's commitment to the initiative, and disagreements have derailed previous attempts to arrange talks. Abbas said international help to end the conflict was crucial. "The peace process has stalled because of the Israeli government's position and we now need the political and economic help of the United States and the European Union, especially to rebuild our infrastructure," he said. During talks with Duda, the two discussed "the creation of a special Polish-Palestinian industrial zone in the Palestinian territories," he said. The Palestinian leader also said he expected "a second round of talks this year" hosted by France, which is aimed at pulling together an international conference to reboot Middle East peace talks by the year's end. Abbas's office has previously said the Palestinians are ready to participate in any peace initiative aimed at a "comprehensive and fair solution". But Palestinian leaders also say years of negotiations with the Israelis have not ended the occupation of the West Bank, and they have more recently pursued an international strategy. They say an Abbas-Netanyahu meeting would lead nowhere without a freeze on Israeli settlement building, the release of Palestinian prisoners and a deadline for an end to the occupation. Peace efforts have been at a standstill since a US-led initiative collapsed in April 2014. The last substantial public meeting between Abbas and Netanyahu is thought to have been in 2010, though there have been unconfirmed reports of secret meetings since then. INSIDE Secure Delivers Secure Content Distribution and Monetization Software for the HTC Vive Ecosystem INSIDE Secure (Euronext Paris: INSD), a leader in embedded security solutions for mobile and connected devices, today announced to integrate INSIDE Secure's leading content protection technology into HTC's (News - Alert) Vive system environment, providing complete reassurance of secure content deployment. The most important factor in pervasive consumer and business adoption of virtual reality is a broad community of developers generating compelling content across multiple applications. To achieve this, there needs to be an intuitive way to ensure copyright is protected and content is secure. INSIDE Secure's recognized content protection technology will support content creaters and developers to guaranteeing VR content is protected from server to device. "We are very pleased to be selected by HTC, an leading innovator in virtual reality, to create a significant breakthrough in the VR industry," said Andrew McLennan, executive vice-president of INSIDE Secure's Mobile Security Division. "Driving trust all along the VR content distribution chain will benefit the user experience y greatly enriching the content offering." Visit https://www.htcvive.com/ to learn more about the HTC Vive. To learn more about INSIDE Secure's content protection solutions, please visit: http://www.insidesecure.com/Markets-solutions/Content-Protection-and-Entertainment About VIVE Vive is a first-of-its-kind virtual reality platform designed by HTC and Valve. Uniting passion, talent and innovation, Vive delivers on the promise of VR with game-changing technology and best-in-class content. Unveiled during HTC's Mobile World Congress keynote in March 2015, Vive has since been recognized with over 30 awards, including best of CES (News - Alert) 2016. About INSIDE Secure INSIDE Secure (Euronext Paris FR0010291245 - INSD) provides comprehensive embedded security solutions. World-leading companies rely on INSIDE Secure's mobile security and secure transaction offerings to protect critical assets including connected devices, content, services, identity and transactions. Unmatched security expertise combined with a comprehensive range of IP, semiconductors, software and associated services gives INSIDE Secure customers a single source for advanced solutions and superior investment protection. For more information, visit http://www.insidesecure.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160905005623/en/ By Rodrigo Campos UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council strongly on Tuesday condemned North Korea's latest ballistic missile launches, saying they contributed to Pyongyang's development of nuclear weapons capability. North Korea fired three ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast on Monday, the South Korean and U.S. militaries said, as the leaders of the Group of 20 major economies held a summit in China, the North's main diplomatic ally. The missiles likely landed in the sea 200 to 250 km (120 to 160 miles) west of Hokkaido, Japan's northern-most main island. "The members of the Security Council deplore all Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea ballistic missile activities, including these launches," the U.N. body said in a statement, using North Korea's official name. "Such activities contribute to (North Korea's) development of nuclear weapons delivery systems and increase tension." Earlier, the United States called for action to enforce Security Council resolutions on North Korea prohibiting ballistic missile-related activities. "The Security Council must remain unequivocal and united in the condemnation of these tests and we must take action to enforce the words we put on paper, to enforce our resolutions," said U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, after a Security Council meeting. Power, who spoke along with her Japanese and South Korean counterparts, refrained from elaborating on what further action the Security Council could take. Hahn Choong Hee, South Korea's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, said Pyongyang was spending "a considerable amount" of its resources in developing weapons of mass destruction while sacrificing the living conditions of North Koreans. Monday's missile launches were the latest in a series by North Korea this year in violation of Security Council resolutions that were supported by China banning ballistic missile-related activities by Pyongyang. North Korea rejects the ban as infringing its sovereign right to pursue a space program and self defense. Asked whether China agreed more significant measures needed to be taken, permanent British representative to the United Nations, Matthew Rycroft, said: "We're talking to all of our council colleagues." North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions since 2006. The 15-member Security Council toughened the sanctions in March in response to North Korea's fourth nuclear test in January and the launch of a long-range rocket in February. The statement from the Security Council said members would closely monitor the situation and "take further significant measures in line with the Council's previously expressed determination" without elaborating further. (Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Alistair Bell) VIENTIANE (Reuters) - The Philippines on Tuesday defended a surge in killings since Rodrigo Duterte became president over two months ago, handing out a 38-page pamphlet at a regional summit praising his campaign against illegal drugs in which thousands have died. "We are not butchers who just kill people for no apparent reason," reads one page of the booklet, citing the Philippines' feisty national police chief, Ronald Dela Rosa. The pamphlet was distributed at a Southeast Asian and East Asian summit in Laos that was overshadowed on Tuesday by the cancellation of a meeting between Duterte and Barack Obama after he referred to the U.S. president as a "son of a bitch". Duterte swept to power in May on promises to wipe out crime and corruption within six months, pledging to wage a war on drug dealers and crush widespread addiction to methamphetamines in the country of 100 million. There has been popular support for Duterte's campaign but the killings have brought expressions of concern from the United States, a close Philippine ally, and the United Nations. Last week, the number of people killed since July 1 reached 2,400: about 900 died in police operations, they said, and the rest were "deaths under investigation", a term human rights activists say is a euphemism for vigilante and extrajudicial killings. Duterte said on Tuesday he regretted that his comments to media on Friday "came across as a personal attack" on Obama. His government said in a separate statement the fight against illegal drugs must be won. "The campaign against illegal drugs has yielded an unprecedented number of 'surrenderees': more than 600,000," said the glossy pamphlet, which features various photographs of Duterte, including one of him attending the funeral of a senior police officer allegedly shot dead by a drug peddler. The booklet said that since Duterte took office 7,532 drug operations had been carried out, 12,972 pushers and users had been arrested, and police operations in July reduced crime by 49 percent from a year earlier. "Can you believe it's only been two months into the Duterte presidency?" the final page reads. (Reporting by Mai Nguyen; Writing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre; Editing by John Chalmers) Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fstory%2fthumbnail%2f19821%2ff9fa490bd02443dfae1eb65a5612526c Singapore's education system has long been criticised for the emphasis on grades over the learning process. But it looks like the Ministry of Education wants to make a bold statement to counter that. It just launched a touching commercial based on a true story of a student and her teacher Madam Phua. The video shows how Phua guided Shirley through a failing grade with Geography lessons. Both student and teacher continue to keep in touch today, according to the ad. Many Singaporeans on Facebook reacted positively to the ad, noting the ministry's seemingly new uplifting message. Bizarre cat disco video from the '70s will make you want to dance Chill cat sitting inside a watermelon marks the official end of summer Drone captures rare footage of white whale calf having a frolic with mum 7 things you didn't know about the OG Nicktoon 'Rugrats' US President Barack Obama cancelled a meeting with foul-mouthed Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday at a regional summit where tensions over China's growing territorial ambitions are also set to flare. The pair were due to meet in the Lao capital of Vientiane at a gathering organised by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, an annual event meant to foster harmony but which often highlights regional rows. This year's edition was launched with a spectacular fallout between the United States and the Philippines, longtime allies that have seen relations plunge under a barrage of insults from Duterte since he came to office on June 30. Obama's aides announced before dawn on Tuesday that his planned meeting later in the day with Duterte had been called off. "President Obama will not be holding a bilateral meeting with President Duterte of the Philippines this afternoon," National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in Washington. This came after Duterte launched a tirade at Obama on Monday as he warned he would not be lectured by the US president over concerns about a brutal war on crime in the Philippines that has claimed more than 2,400 lives. "You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum," Duterte told reporters when asked about his message for Obama. Duterte had previously also branded the US ambassador to Manila a "son of a whore", a term the acid-tongued former prosecutor commonly uses, and criticised the US over its own track record of police killings. - Crucial time - The setback in relations between the United States and the Philippines comes at a crucial time in the region, with China seeking to cement control over the contested South China Sea. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have competing claims to the strategically vital waters, but have watched China expand its presence by building artificial islands in key locations. Story continues An international tribunal ruled in July that China's claims to the waters -- through which $5 trillion in global shipping trade passes -- had no legal basis. The verdict was widely seen as a sweeping victory for the Philippines, which filed the suit under the previous administration of Benigno Aquino. But China has vowed to ignore the ruling. And Duterte has sought to heal relations with China rather than inflame them by pressing the tribunal's ruling. Under Aquino, the Philippines had forged closer military ties with the United States to deal with the China threat. But Duterte has cast doubt on that strategy. Obama's aides had previously said he wanted to discuss the South China Sea issue with Duterte in Laos. Nevertheless, the South China Sea issue is expected to once again be discussed at the three days of meetings hosted by ASEAN, which will be attended by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. The gathering will see the 10 ASEAN members meet by themselves, then with leaders from the US, China Japan, South Korea and China. Other leaders to come for an East Asia summit on Thursday include from Australia, India and New Zealand. Obama's time in Laos will be the final trip to Asia of his eight-year presidency, during which he has sought to refocus American military, political and economic resources on the region. It is also the first visit by a sitting US president to Laos, which the United States secretly carpet bombed for nearly a decade in the Vietnam War, killing tens of thousands of people. In one of the last acts of his so-called "pivot" to Asia, Obama is expected to announce greater help in clearing the bombs. "Symbolically, it is important... at the outset, as we're trying to build trust, a lot of work can be done around war legacy issues," Obama said before arriving in Laos late Monday from China where he attended the G20 summit. "For the Lao, that involves dealing with unexploded ordnance, which is still plaguing big chunks of the countryside. We should help." Obama will travel to the ancient capital of Luang Prabang on Wednesday, visiting a historic temple and meeting with students at a university growing up in a tightly controlled communist nation. By Roberta Rampton and Manuel Mogato VIENTIANE (Reuters) - (Note: paragraphs 1, 6 and 19 contain language that may offend some readers) New Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte sought to defuse a row with the United States on Tuesday, voicing regret for calling President Barack Obama a "son of a bitch", a comment that prompted Washington to call off a bilateral meeting. The tiff between the two allies overshadowed the opening of a summit of East and Southeast Asian nations in Vientiane, Laos. It also soured Obama's last swing as president through a region he has tried to make a focus of U.S. foreign policy, a strategy widely seen as a response to China's economic and military muscle-flexing. Diplomats say strains with longtime ally the Philippines could compound Washington's difficulties in forging a united front with Southeast Asian partners on the geostrategic jostle with Beijing over the South China Sea. Duterte has bristled repeatedly at criticism over his "war on drugs", which has killed about 2,400 people since he took office two months ago, and on Monday said it would be "rude" for Obama to raise the question of human rights when they met. Such a conversation, Duterte told reporters, would prompt him to curse at Obama, using a Filipino phrase "putang ina" which can mean "son of a bitch" or "son of a whore". He has previously used the epithet against Pope Francis, although he later apologized, and the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines. After Washington called off Tuesday's bilateral meeting between Obama and Duterte in response to his latest comment, the Philippines issued two statements expressing regret and also briefed reporters. "President Duterte explained that the press reports that President Obama would 'lecture' him on extrajudicial killings led to his strong comments, which in turn elicited concern," the Philippines government said in a statement. "He regrets that his remarks to the press have caused much controversy," it added. "He expressed his deep regard and affinity for President Obama and for the enduring partnership between our nations." Obama's deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, said the focus on Duterte's comments leading into the summit had not created a constructive environment for a bilateral meeting. "All of the attention frankly was on those comments, and therefore not on the very substantive agenda that we have with the Philippines," he told reporters. Officials from both countries said there would be no formal meeting rescheduled in Laos but a short conversation between the two presidents was possible. Instead of the Duterte meeting, Obama held talks with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, a day after North Korea fired three medium-range missiles into the sea. He urged a full implementation of sanctions against North Korea, adding that the missile test demonstrated the threat that Pyongyang posed. Obama is also likely to hold an unscheduled meeting in Laos with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss North Korea, Rhodes said. He said Washington needed to maintain a sense of urgency within the international community on sanctions against Pyongyang. MOVES TO SOOTHE TENSIONS Obama, the first sitting U.S. president to visit Laos, said on Tuesday he wanted to address the legacy of U.S. bombing during the Vietnam War. He announced that Washington would provide an additional $90 million over three years to help clear unexploded ordnance, which has killed or wounded over 20,000 people. But the unusually open tensions between the United States and the Philippines, its former colony, threaten to overshadow the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Asia Summits in Laos, which run until Thursday. The 10-member ASEAN will also meet leaders of other regional powers: China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Russia and the United States. Duterte won the presidency in May after promising to suppress crime and wipe out the illegal drug trade in a country where the number of methamphetamine users is estimated to be at least 1.3 million in a population of 100 million. About 900 people linked to drugs have been killed in police operations since July 1 and a further 1,500 have been classified as "deaths under investigation", a term human rights activists in the Philippines say is a euphemism for extrajudicial killings. Duterte has poured scorn on critics of his uncompromising campaign, usually larding it with curses. He lambasted the United Nations after it criticized the surge in killings and he turned down a meeting with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the Laos summit. He has accused a senator heading an inquiry into the killings of getting payoffs from drug lords. Manila has been aligned with the United States in its dispute with China over the South China Sea, in which Washington blames Beijing for militarizing a vital global trade route and jeopardizing freedom of movement at sea and in the air. China rejects those accusations and accuses the United States of ratcheting up tensions unnecessarily. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims. An arbitration court in The Hague in July invalidated China's territorial claims after a case was brought by the Philippines, a ruling Beijing refuses to recognize. Duterte said last month he expected all ASEAN members to support the arbitration court's ruling, but that the Philippines would not raise the issue in Laos. (Writing by John Chalmers, Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan) By Roberta Rampton and Manuel Mogato VIENTIANE (Reuters) - New Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte sought to defuse a row with the United States on Tuesday, voicing regret for calling President Barack Obama a "son of a bitch", a comment that prompted Washington to call off a bilateral meeting. The tiff between the two allies overshadowed the opening of a summit of East and Southeast Asian nations in Vientiane, Laos. It also soured Obama's last swing as president through a region he has tried to make a focus of U.S. foreign policy, a strategy widely seen as a response to China's economic and military muscle-flexing. Diplomats say strains with longtime ally the Philippines could compound Washington's difficulties in forging a united front with Southeast Asian partners on the geostrategic jostle with Beijing over the South China Sea. Duterte has bristled repeatedly at criticism over his "war on drugs", which has killed about 2,400 people since he took office two months ago, and on Monday said it would be "rude" for Obama to raise the question of human rights when they met. Such a conversation, Duterte told reporters, would prompt him to curse at Obama, using a Filipino phrase "putang ina" which can mean "son of a bitch" or "son of a whore". He has previously used the epithet against Pope Francis, although he later apologised, and the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines. After Washington called off Tuesday's bilateral meeting between Obama and Duterte in response to his latest comment, the Philippines issued two statements expressing regret and also briefed reporters. "President Duterte explained that the press reports that President Obama would 'lecture' him on extrajudicial killings led to his strong comments, which in turn elicited concern," the Philippines government said in a statement. "He regrets that his remarks to the press have caused much controversy," it added. "He expressed his deep regard and affinity for President Obama and for the enduring partnership between our nations." Obama's deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, said the focus on Duterte's comments leading into the summit had not created a constructive environment for a bilateral meeting. "All of the attention frankly was on those comments, and therefore not on the very substantive agenda that we have with the Philippines," he told reporters. Officials from both countries said there would be no formal meeting rescheduled in Laos but a short conversation between the two presidents was possible. Instead of the Duterte meeting, Obama held talks with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, a day after North Korea fired three medium-range missiles into the sea. He urged a full implementation of sanctions against North Korea, adding that the missile test demonstrated the threat that Pyongyang posed. Obama is also likely to hold an unscheduled meeting in Laos with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss North Korea, Rhodes said. He said Washington needed to maintain a sense of urgency within the international community on sanctions against Pyongyang. MOVES TO SOOTHE TENSIONS Obama, the first sitting U.S. president to visit Laos, said on Tuesday he wanted to address the legacy of U.S. bombing during the Vietnam War. He announced that Washington would provide an additional $90 million over three years to help clear unexploded ordnance, which has killed or wounded over 20,000 people. But the unusually open tensions between the United States and the Philippines, its former colony, threaten to overshadow the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Asia Summits in Laos, which run until Thursday. The 10-member ASEAN will also meet leaders of other regional powers: China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Russia and the United States. Duterte won the presidency in May after promising to suppress crime and wipe out the illegal drug trade in a country where the number of methamphetamine users is estimated to be at least 1.3 million in a population of 100 million. About 900 people linked to drugs have been killed in police operations since July 1 and a further 1,500 have been classified as "deaths under investigation", a term human rights activists in the Philippines say is a euphemism for extrajudicial killings. Duterte has poured scorn on critics of his uncompromising campaign, usually larding it with curses. He lambasted the United Nations after it criticised the surge in killings and he turned down a meeting with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the Laos summit. He has accused a senator heading an inquiry into the killings of getting payoffs from drug lords. Manila has been aligned with the United States in its dispute with China over the South China Sea, in which Washington blames Beijing for militarising a vital global trade route and jeopardising freedom of movement at sea and in the air. China rejects those accusations and accuses the United States of ratcheting up tensions unnecessarily. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims. An arbitration court in The Hague in July invalidated China's territorial claims after a case was brought by the Philippines, a ruling Beijing refuses to recognise. Duterte said last month he expected all ASEAN members to support the arbitration court's ruling, but that the Philippines would not raise the issue in Laos. (Writing by John Chalmers, Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan) It seems that whenever recently elected Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has the chance to speak publicly, he just cant suppress his overwhelming desire to call other world leaders as sons of bitches. In May, he used the expression to describe Pope Francis after the pontiffs visit caused a traffic jam in the capital of Manila. In August, he said the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines was gay and the son of a whore because the diplomat criticized Dutertes suggestion he would have liked to have been the first to rape a missionary who was gang raped and killed in the presidents hometown of Davao in the 1980s. And this weekend, he threw the same insult U.S. President Barack Obamas way, prompting Obama to cancel a meeting the two had scheduled in Laos this week. His reasoning? Obama criticized his shoot-to-kill policy for drug dealers, which has left more than 2,000 dead since June. As with most times Duterte says something so offensive that it requires a public apology, his office released a written statement to try to clear up the mess. While the immediate cause was my strong comments to certain press questions that elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the U.S. president, Duterte said in a statement. Our primary intention is to chart an independent foreign policy while promoting closer ties with all nations, especially the U.S., with which we have had a long-standing partnership. But it didnt take long for Duterte to find another podium and take things too far once again this time threatening to not only execute Islamist militants loyal to terrorist organization Abu Sayyaf, but to eat them alive. They will pay. When the time comes, I will eat you in front of people, he said Monday. If you make me mad, in all honesty, I will eat you alive, rawI will really carve your torso open. Give me vinegar and salt and I will eat you. Story continues The controversial president has caused a stir at home in the Philippines, where Duterte has repeatedly said he would kill anyone including his own children if he thinks they are using drugs. After the U.N criticized his tough response, Duterte came up with a simple solution: threatening on Aug. 21 to leave the world body if it tries to police him at home again. Thats left his administrations appointees and aides scrambling to issue apologies at a press conference, explaining that Duterte only made the remarks because he was tired, disappointed, hungry. We must give him leeway, Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Junior said the next day. He is also human. In an interview with al Jazeera last month, presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella admitted the job of constantly defending Duterte is a tough one, but also said some of the presidents most offensive remarks sound so aggressive because of translation difficulties. I understand thats why my task is to be able to interpret him and act as a conduit and bring out the true intention of the president, Abella said. So far, the strategy of immediately apologizing on his behalf seems to work. On Tuesday, the White House said that while a formal meeting is now off the books, Obama may meet informally with Duterte while attending a summit in Laos. I would not expect a formal bilateral meeting, but I think well have an opportunity to interact with him, as with all leaders, U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters on Tuesday. Photo credit: Lam Yik Fei/Getty Images VIENTIANE (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama may speak informally with Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte but is not expected to hold a bilateral meeting during a summit in Laos, a White House official said on Tuesday. "He tends to interacts with all the leaders at these events," Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes told reporters, referring to Obama and the ongoing Asian summit. "I would not expect a formal bilateral meeting, but I think we'll have an opportunity to interact with him, as with all leaders." (Reporting by Roberta Ramption; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Robert Birsel) [September 06, 2016] Wipe Hard Drive with ADISA Certified Jetico Software Jetico, leading-edge developer of DoD wipe software, announced today that their BCWipe Total WipeOut has passed the ADISA Claims Test Process. Jetico's solution to wipe hard drive data has been validated by ADISA by erasing beyond forensic recovery information stored on a sample of traditional hard disks, as well as solid state drives (SSD) which have a unique architecture presenting some challenges to data erasure. This Smart News Release features multimedia. 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Formally recognized by DIPCOG (A UK MoD and CESG committee), the ADISA scheme also includes rigorous product claims testing to ensure that products used to sanitise data are fit for purpose and now includes the first on-line training academy dedicated to risk management within ICT asset disposal. www.adisa.global About Jetico Jetico provides pure and simple data protection software for National Security, Compliance and Personal Privacy. Trusted for over 10 years by the U.S. Department of Defense, Jetico's BCWipe can wipe selected files beyond forensic recovery such as in response to classified data spills, while BCWipe Total WipeOut can erase hard drive data entirely such as for disposal or decommission. To protect stored data, Jetico's BestCrypt delivers compliant data encryption software for whole disks, virtual drives and selected files or folders. Jetico Enterprise Editions include central management for client software control. 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Speaking after a meeting in Laos with South Korean counterpart, Park Geun-hye, Obama said the firing of the missiles, when leaders of the Group of 20 major economies were at a summit in China, demonstrated the threat North Korea posed. The United States, he said, would show "unwavering" support for its allies and North Korea's provocations would only lead to its further isolation. Park said South Korea would respond "resolutely" to any provocation by the North and she echoed Obama's call for sanctions to be used, adding China had a role to play in implementing them. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Robert Birsel) The UN Security Council on Tuesday issued a strong condemnation of North Korea's latest missile tests and threatened to take "further significant measures" against Pyongyang. North Korea test-fired three ballistic missiles Monday as world powers gathered for a G20 meeting in China, with leader Kim Jong-Un hailing the tests as "perfect," and US President Barack Obama warning it would only up the pressure. "These launches are in grave violation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's international obligations and UN Security Council resolutions," the 15-member Council said in a statement. It called on North Korea to "refrain from further actions, including nuclear tests, in violation of the relevant Security Council resolutions and comply fully with its obligations under these resolutions." The council said it would "continue to closely monitor the situation and take further significant measures" if merited and called on all sides to work to reduce tensions. The document was adopted unanimously, including by Pyongyang's only ally China. Earlier, the envoys from Japan, South Korea and the United States appeared before the press together to slam North Korea's missile program. "With each test, each violation of UN Security Council resolutions -- and there have been 22 of them so far this year -- the DPRK demonstrates further advancement of its ballistic program," US envoy Samantha Power said. "The Security Council must remain unequivocal and united in its condemnation of these tests." UN resolutions bar North Korea from any use of ballistic missile technology. Pyongyang has nevertheless conducted a fourth nuclear test and a series of missile tests this year in defiance of UN sanctions, prompting South Korea to announce plans to deploy a US anti-missile system to counter such threats. North Korea has been hit by five sets of UN sanctions since it first tested a nuclear device in 2006. Story continues - Provocations - Earlier Tuesday, Obama held talks with South Korean counterpart Park Geun-hye on the sidelines of a regional summit in Laos. "North Korea needs to know that provocations will only invite more pressure and further deepen its isolation," he told reporters after meeting Park in Vientiane. Park described the launches as a "reckless provocation (that) will lead North Korea down the path of self-destruction." But despite the global chorus of disapproval and tough sanctions, Pyongyang is unrepentant -- continuing to ignore the international community's calls for a halt to its weapons program. - 'Bolster nuclear force' - The North's KCNA news agency said Kim personally oversaw Monday's missile firing, which he "appreciated as perfect." "He stressed the need to continue making miraculous achievements in bolstering up the nuclear force one after another in this historic year," the report added. The North's top newspaper Rodong Sinmun carried nine photos of the test, including one of a beaming Kim standing in front of a map surrounded by smiling officials. South Korea's defense ministry said the tests were of Rodong missiles with a range of 1,000 kilometers (620 miles). It said they had been fired over the Sea of Japan (East Sea) without warning. The Rodong is a scaled-up Scud variant with a maximum range of around 1,300 kilometers, bringing most of Japan within range. Melissa Hanham, an expert on North Korea's weapons program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California, said it was difficult to determine so far if there had been any technical progress. "The most obvious difference from the last test is the change in warhead," Hanham said. Last month, North Korea fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile from the northeastern port of Sinpo. That flew 500 kilometers towards Japan, far exceeding the range of the country's previous sub-launched missiles. Kim described the August test as the "greatest success" and said it put the US mainland within striking range. But the UN Security Council said it regretted that Pyongyang was "diverting resources to the pursuit of ballistic missiles while... citizens have great unmet needs." The launch was widely condemned by the US and other major powers, but analysts saw it as a clear step forward for North Korea's nuclear strike ambitions. A proven submarine-launched ballistic missile system would allow deployment far beyond the Korean peninsula and a "second-strike" capability in the event of an attack on the North's military bases. After his meeting with Park, Obama said if North Korea committed to denuclearization then the "opportunities for us to dialogue with them are there." But he added that Pyongyang's current behavior made that impossible. Barack Obama, on his final visit to Asia as US president, insisted Tuesday renewed American engagement with the region would endure after he left the White House. "America's interest in the Asia-Pacific is not new. It's not a passing fad. It reflects fundamental national interests," he said in a speech in the Lao capital of Vientiane. The US president is making his 11th and last trip to the Asia-Pacific, seeking to cement a "pivot" to the region that has been a hallmark of his eight-year administration. During his speech in Laos, Obama took time to summarise that policy, which has often been distracted by protracted violence and instability in the Middle East. "As president, a key priority of my foreign policy has been to deepen our engagement with the nations and peoples of the Asia-Pacific," he told delgates, adding that he remained "confident" the new engagement would last. Obama trumpeted increased military cooperation with countries such as the Philippines, Singapore and India, as well as a push for greater trade with the region, and vowed this would continue. "We are here to stay. In good times and bad, you can count on the United States of America," Obama said. Obama also addressed concerns in China, which has watched the US pivot with suspicion while pursuing its own increasingly muscular foreign policy in the region. "The United States and China are engaged across more areas than ever before," Obama told delegates. He added that Washington "welcomes the rise of a China that is peaceful, stable and prosperous and a responsible player in global affairs because we belive that will benefit all of us". But he also reiterated his steadfast support for access to disputed waters in the region which China claims as its own. "Across the region, including in the East and South China Seas, the United States will continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows and support the right of all countries to do the same," he said. It was a week where both oil and gas prices finished sharply lower. On the news front, BP plc BP announced a second strategic partnership with Chinas state-owned energy company CNPC for shale gas exploration, while Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. DO said its contract for the semisubmersible Ocean Valor was canceled more than two years early. Overall, it was a dismal week for the sector. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures dived 6.7% to close at $44.44 per barrel, while natural gas prices ended down 4.2% to $2.792 per million Btu (MMBtu). (See the last Oil & Gas Stock Roundup here: Exxon Scraps Alaska Project, Shell Offloads Some GoM Assets.) Oil prices sank to its second weekly loss in a row after the U.S. Energy Department's inventory release showed that crude stockpiles recorded a much larger-than-anticipated build, thus remaining at record high levels for this time of year. The commodity also suffered from a strong dollar that made the greenback-priced crude expensive for investors holding foreign currency. Oils-Energy Sector Price Index Oils-Energy Sector Price Index Natural gas fared badly too following a higher-than-expected increase in supplies. It was also dragged down by expectations of tepid heating demand with the imminent arrival of colder autumn temperatures. Recap of the Weeks Most Important Stories 1. British energy giant BP plc announced that it has inked a production sharing contract (PSC) with China National Petroleum Corporation ("CNPC") for shale gas exploration, development and production. The PSC pertains to an acreage of about 1,000 square kilometers at Rong Chang Bei in the Sichuan Basin. CNPC will operate the block. This is the second contract between BP and the Chinese state-owned firm. The first PSC was signed in Mar 2016 and related to the adjoining Neijiang-Dazu block. The companies had also entered into a framework agreement on strategic cooperation in Oct 2015. Story continues The latest PSC emphasizes BPs commitment to explore and develop unconventional resources in China. The framework agreement includes potential future fuel retailing ventures in China, promising new oil and LNG trading opportunities globally and carbon emissions trading as well as knowledge sharing around low carbon energy and management practices. (Read more: BP Signs Second Chinese Shale Gas Agreement with CNPC.) 2. Houston-based driller Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. reported that Brazils Petrobras PBR has canceled a rig contract. Investors soured on shares in Diamond Offshore following the news and the stock fell almost 11% to $16.51 on Thursday. Petrobras opted to terminate the contract for the semisubmersible Ocean Valor. The drillship was contracted through October 2018 at a dayrate of around $455,000. This is another sign that the collapse in crude prices that began in mid-2014 amid a glut of supply and slowing demand for the commodity has affected the offshore drillers badly as oil companies cut back their capital spending. 3. Norwegian oil giant Statoil ASA STO has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Brazils state-run energy behemoth Petrobras in order to strengthen their ties in the South American country. The MoU was signed by the two parties during the ONS 2016 conference in Stavanger. The purpose of the MoU is to assess joint participation in the future tenders for exploration areas and to enhance upstream cooperation in producing fields in the Santos and Campos offshore basins. Moreover, the agreement outlined a prospective framework for collaboration on value creating opportunities in the gas value chain. The companies objective is to capture value through use of technology and simplification of operational activities. Currently, Petrobras and Statoil are partners in 13 blocks in either exploration or production 10 in Brazil and three elsewhere. (Read more: Statoil-Petrobras MOU for Joint Participation in Future Projects.) 4. The challenging operating environment notwithstanding, energy-engineering services provider Matrix Service Co. MTRX reported strong fiscal fourth-quarter numbers. While sales and earnings declined from the year-ago period due to low commodity prices, both results exceeded expectations. The outperformance came on the back of heightened activity on a power plant project and storage terminals related to an oil pipeline. The company, which shelled out some $10.5 million to repurchase more than 650,000 shares in fiscal 2016, also managed to lower its SG&A expenses 11% year-over-year to $19.6 million in the most recent quarter. As of Jun 30, 2016, Matrix Services total backlog stood at $868.7 million. For fiscal 2017, the company is guiding for EPS of $1.10-$1.40 (on revenue of $1.3 billion to $1.45 billion) up from this fiscal years $1.07 driven by a number of under-construction projects and the expected receipt of additional awards. 5. Brazil's troubled state-run energy giant Petrobras announced that its voluntary layoff program, which came to an end on Aug 31, has been accepted by 11,704 employees. In Apr 2016, the Rio de Janeiro-based oil producer had launched this program to lay off 21% of its staff or around 12,000 workers between 2016 and 2020. This voluntary retrenchment program was in line with the companys plan to cut costs, reduce its debt level and strengthen its balance sheet. Petrobras expects this program to cost around 4 billion reais ($1.23 billion) and generate savings up to 33 billion reais through 2020. The company has already set aside an amount of 1.2 billion reais in the second quarter to provide for the expenses. (Read more: Petrobras' Layoff Program Ends; 11,704 Take the Offer.) Price Performance The following table shows the price movement of the major oil and gas players over the past week and during the last 6 months. Company Last Week Last 6 Months XOM -0.11% +6.09% CVX -1.08% +15.31% COP -4.76% +6.12% OXY -0.26% +9.96% SLB -3.42% +4.94% RIG -4.36% -11.08% VLO -1.31% -14.11% TSO -1.23% -13.30% Over the course of last week, The Energy Select Sector SPDR was down 0.83% amid a large supply increase. Consequently, investors witnessed selling in most market heavyweights. The worst performer was Houston-based oil and gas finder ConocoPhillips COP whose stock price fell 4.76%. But longer-term, over the last 6 months, the sector tracker has jumped 14.41%. U.S. energy major Chevron Corp. CVX was the main beneficiary during this period, experiencing a 15.31% price increase. Whats Next in the Energy World? As usual, market participants will be closely tracking the regular weekly releases i.e. the U.S. government data on oil and natural gas. Energy traders will also be focusing on the Baker Hughes data on rig count. Now See Our Private Investment Ideas While the above ideas are being shared with the public, other trades are hidden from everyone but selected members. Would you like to peek behind the curtain and view them? Starting today, for the next month, you can follow all Zacks' private buys and sells in real time from value to momentum . . . from stocks under $10 to ETF and option moves . . . from insider trades to companies that are about to report positive earnings surprises (we've called them with 80%+ accuracy). You can even look inside portfolios so exclusive that they are normally closed to new investors. Click here for Zacks' secret trades >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report PETROBRAS-ADR C (PBR): Free Stock Analysis Report MATRIX SERVICE (MTRX): Free Stock Analysis Report BP PLC (BP): Free Stock Analysis Report CHEVRON CORP (CVX): Free Stock Analysis Report STATOIL ASA-ADR (STO): Free Stock Analysis Report DIAMOND OFFSHOR (DO): Free Stock Analysis Report CONOCOPHILLIPS (COP): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Take six girls, all of them rampant individualists, and let them loose upon one of the most politically explosive periods in history. That is the story of the Mitfords. So begins Laura Thompsons biography of some of the most infamous sisters of the 20th century. The oldest daughter, Nancy Mitford, became a celebrated author (The Pursuit of Love, Love in a Cold Climate) with a reputation for snobbery. Diana Mitford married Oswald Mosley, founder of the British Union of Fascists, and both were imprisoned during WWII, thanks in part to Nancys informing on them. Unity Valkyrie Mitford was a fascist, tooin fact, she became a close personal friend of Adolf Hitler. When England and Germany went to war, she attempted suicide. Jessica Mitford was on the opposite end of the political spectrum: a communist, she sided with the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War and was an advocate for American civil rights when she moved to the States. She, too, earned literary fame for her memoir Hons and Rebels. While she never forgave Diana for her fascism, she did sympathize with Unity, despite her relationship with Hitler. Deborah became a Duchess through her marriage to Lord Andrew Cavendish, and Pamelaperhaps the most normal of the bunchwas a countrywoman. (They also had a brother, Tom, who died in World War II.) All of which prompts a question: How did one family produced such a remarkable range of sisters? The new book The Six: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters explores the answer to that question. The way in which they were written about in the 30s and what have you, it is almost like the Kardashians, Thompson says, though shes quick to clarify that most of them had extremely serious intellectual accomplishments to their names. You would never get girls brought up that way, and six of them all sparking off each other, and then launch them into a world where those things happened in that space of timeit couldnt happen again. Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter Their upper-class childhood was a combination of formality and anarchy, Thompson says. They were largely autodidacts, combing through the family library to study what interested them, and they each had a level of confidence that would be very hard to achieve today, because nothing bothered them. When Diana said Being hated means nothing to me, I think she meant that They just were themselves and they thought that was great. That unique brand of confidence is part of what makes the Mitford sisters fascinating to some young women todayeven in spite of their often unforgivable political and personal cruelty. They could be unfeeling and backstabbing toward each other, and more heinously, Unity was a self-proclaimed Jew hater and Diana said she doubted the Holocaust really killed six million Jews. Still, the more liberal Mitfords, Nancy (a sort-of socialist) and Jessica, inspire modern admirationin fact, J.K. Rowling named her daughter after Jessica. Each of the Mitfords was known for charm, which can be a lethal quality, says Thompson, who met and was herself charmed by Deborah and Diana before their deaths. It can have a coldness to it, but also makes life rather feel better when youre bathing in the glow of it. (You might wonder why someone like Unity would want to charm someone like Hitlerbut she did.) Even among those who find all of the Mitfords abhorrent, theres a level of fascination with them as prize exhibits in a museum of Englishness, Thompson writes in the book. The appeal seems to stem in part from their own love-hate relationship with their social status. They had an ability to mock their own myth as well as this marvelous egalitarian straightforwardness, almost like talking to very clever children, she says. Of course the English are so ambivalent about class, says Thompson. Theyre all glued to Downton Abbey as I believe you [Americans] were, but at the same time pretending, Oh God, we really shouldnt be, isnt it frightful, but we are. And the Mitfords fall into that uneasy sort of, God theyre fascinatingwe shouldnt really be [fascinated], but what the hell type of thing. Taliban militants attacked an international charity in Kabul Tuesday during an hours-long assault labelled a "war crime" by Amnesty, as the capital reeled from a wave of violence that killed at least 41 and wounded dozens. The assault on CARE International began late Monday with a massive car bombing, just hours after the Taliban carried out a brazen double bombing near the defence ministry. A plume of smoke rose over the upscale neighbourhood of Shar-e Naw after the raid on the charity, located next to the office of Afghanistan's former intelligence chief Rahmatullah Nabil. It remains unclear which compound was the intended target of the attack, which left piles of rubble and shards of glass strewn across the area. "An armed group launched an attack on what is believed to have been an Afghan government compound located close to the Kabul office of CARE," the charity said, adding its staff had been safely evacuated. "The incident continued through early Tuesday morning with damages sustained to the CARE compound." The interior ministry said 42 people including 10 foreigners were rescued. It added that six people had been wounded in the attack, which ended Tuesday morning when Afghan forces gunned down all three attackers. The Taliban, who are stepping up their nationwide offensive, described the target as a foreign intelligence centre in Shar-e Naw "disguised as a guest house". The attack on CARE International "is the deliberate targeting of civilians and constitutes a war crime", Amnesty International said, calling for an independent probe to bring the perpetrators to justice. The assault had been preceded by twin Taliban blasts that killed at least 41 people during rush hour on Monday, including high-level officials, and left 110 wounded. The rise in casualties was announced on Tuesday by the health ministry, which had earlier put the death toll at 24 with 91 wounded. The second of the two explosions struck just as soldiers, policemen and civilians hurried to help the victims of the first blast. Story continues - Double tragedy - High-level defence officials were among those killed, including a young police commander -- and compounding the tragedy, his mother also died when she heard of his death. "Ahmad's mother died of a heart attack after hearing of her son's martyrdom," former deputy interior minister Ayub Salangi tweeted. "She lost two other sons before him." Ambulances were overwhelmed by the carnage outside the defence ministry Monday. There were so many disfigured bodies that some had to be taken to hospitals in car boots and the back of police trucks. Firemen raced to retrieve some bodies thrown into the Kabul River by the force of the blast. The violence, strongly condemned by President Ashraf Ghani, came more than a week after 16 people were killed when militants stormed the American University in Kabul. Earlier in August two professors from the university, an American and an Australian, were kidnapped at gunpoint near the campus. Their whereabouts are still unknown and no group has publicly claimed responsibility for the abductions. The uptick in violence in the capital comes as the Taliban escalate nationwide attacks, underscoring the worsening security situation and the heavy price paid by civilians since NATO forces ended their combat mission at the end of 2014. Afghan forces backed by US troops are trying to head off a potential Taliban takeover of Lashkar Gah, the capital of the southern opium-rich province of Helmand. The Taliban have also recently closed in on Kunduz -- the northern city they briefly seized last year in their biggest military victory since the 2001 US invasion -- leaving Afghan forces stretched on multiple fronts. [September 06, 2016] Automatic Power Factor Controller Market Worth 4.78 Billion USD by 2022 PUNE, India, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new report "Automatic Power Factor Controller Market by Type (Active APFC and Passive APFC), Component (Relays, Capacitors, Displays, Microcontrollers, Switches, and Resistors), Industry and Geography - Global Forecast to 2022", published by MarketsandMarkets, the global market is expected to be worth USD 4.78 Billion by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 4.6% between 2016 and 2022. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 ) Browse 64 market data Tables and 62 Figures spread through 189 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Automatic Power Factor Controller Market". http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/automatic-power-factor-controller-market-154317597.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. Factors such as increasing need for energy conservation devices in industries and need to prevent electronic equipment from damage due to overvoltage conditions are the key drivers for the adoption of automatic power factor controller equipment. Active APFC market held the largest market share in 2015 and is expected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period Active comprise active components such as transistors and diodes that allow the designers to achieve power factor as high as 0.99. In most of the industrial applications, active power factor controllers are preferred due to their high accuracy of power quality, lightweight and wide application areas. Active APFCs are used in various industries such as manufacturing, utility, commercial, enterprise, and military. These benefits contribute to the growth of active APFCs in the market. Adoption of APFC devices, in the utility industry, that protect the electronic devices from damage and reduce power losses are the major driving factors for the growth of the APFC market The utility industry held the largest market share of the global APFC market in 2015. This market is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Many large voltage-rated devices such as transformers and drivers in the utility industry produce poor power factor thereby drawing more power from the mains supply. To reduce such power losses, APFCs have been adopted in the utility industry. APFCs also reduce the current harmonics in the distribution systems, reduce electric utility expenses, and increase system capacity. Inquiry Before Buying: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=154317597 North America held the largest share of the APFC market in 2015 due to the presence of major APFC vendors in the region Major APFCs manufacturing companies such as General Electric (U.S.), Texas Instruments Inc. (U.S.), ON Semiconductor Corporation (U.S.), and Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. (U.S.), among others have been developing APFC panels for various industries; hence, it would help in growth of the North American APFC market. The APFC market in the U.S. held the largest market share in 2015. Additionally, the utility industry adopted the APFC panels that have been used to manage the power factor and reduce the current harmonics in the electrical distribution systems. Browse Related Reports Power Management IC (PMIC) Market by Product (Linear Regulator, Switching Regulator, Voltage References, Battery Management IC, Energy Management IC, LED Driver IC, POE Controller, Wireless Charging IC), Application, and Geography - Global Forecast to 2022 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/power-management-ic-market-441.html Microgrid Market by Grid Type (Grid-Connected, Remote/ Island, Hybrid), Component (Generation, Switch Gear, Controls, Cables, Software & Services), Power Source (Fuel Cell, CHP, Renewables), Vertical, and Geography - Global Forecast to 2022 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/micro-grid-electronics-market-917.html Know More About our Knowledge Store @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Knowledgestore.asp About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets is the largest market research firm worldwide in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical info graphics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers. We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository. Contact: Mr. Rohan Markets and Markets UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India Tel: 1-888-600-6441 Email: [email protected] Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/electronics-and-semiconductors Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] While everyone is nursing their Labor Day hangovers, now seems a fine time to talk about education and public-school instructional calendars. Since my teenage son started in Maryland public schools eight years ago, the school start date has been a week before Labor Day. Starting a couple of months ago, however, local officials began alerting parents that the 2017-18 school year might be starting a week earlier. Why? To allow for more instructional days before kids are hit with the annual barrage of high-stakes testing. On one level, I was kind of sadI love the sloth of late summer. But for anyone familiar with the testing insanity that has gripped public schools in recent years, the proposed shift made perfect sense. Testing aside, education professionals have other reasons for preferring an earlier start date. It allows for more days off to be scattered throughout the year while still meeting the mandated number of instructional days, giving kids and teachers breathing room at regular intervals. Theres also the rationale that an earlier start date helps limit summer learning loss, the tendency of kids (and especially poor kids) to forget a chunk of academic knowledge during the long summer break. This, too, sounds like reasonable grounds for an earlier start, especially when you consider that the traditional summer break came into being for reasons that no longer apply, including the nonexistence of air conditioning. Recommended: Teaching Purity Culture in Public Schools Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, however, is not buying any such arguments. On August 31, the first-term Republican unilaterally ruled that, henceforth, no school district in the state would be allowed to start until after Labor Day. (Any district looking to deviate must annually petition for a waiver based on, as the press release on Hogans order put it, compelling justification.) Why? Multiple reasons, the governor explained. First, to protect the traditional end of summer, by providing hardworking families extra time to frolic in the sun. (Along with delaying the start date, Hogan mandated that the school year must still end by June 15.) Second, to prevent kids from having to attend classes during the swelter of late August, which, Hogan insisted, is a particular burden on the Baltimore area schools without AC systems. And finally, to provide an economic boost to the state, especially the beachside communities along Marylands Eastern Shorewhich, as it happens, was where Hogan held the press conference announcing his executive order. Story continues Hogan clearly wanted his state on that particular gravy train. Ah, tourism dollars. Now it all becomes clear. Its not hard to see why Hogan would want to push through such a change. On a basic level, the idea is broadly popular in the state. I mean, all things being equal, who doesnt love the idea of a longer summer break? Well, besides teachers and other education professionals. But theyre a perpetual pain in Republicans backsides, so ticking them off is more a pro than a con for Hogan. As for parents, some might object to having to arrange a couple of extra weeks of summer child care, but the folks most impacted tend to be from poorer districts, who dont much care for Hogan anyway. And while plenty of voters might question the wisdom of rejiggering school calendars in the service of tourism revenue, its not like they care enough to get all up in the governors face about it. Recommended: An Unprecedented Faculty Lockout The tourism industry, by contrast, is going to love Hogan. A lot. And happy, prosperous business owners not only contribute more tax dollars to government coffers (Hogans office anticipates an increase in state and local annual tax revenue of $7.7 million), they can also be awfully grateful to friendly politicians. Just ask lawmakers in Virginia, where a post-Labor Day school start has been the law since 1986, thanks to the states richand politically generousamusement-park industry. Virginias law is, not coincidentally, known as The Kings Dominion law, in honor of the states most prominent theme park, Six Flags Kings Dominion. After years of watching Virginia rake in all that extra tourism cash (not to mention all the political donations and free amusement-park tickets that Virginia lawmakers enjoy), Hogan clearly wanted his state on that particular gravy train. Yet since he took office last year, he has repeatedly failed to get Marylands Democratic-controlled legislature to pass such a bill. Who knows why for certain? Maybe state Dems are in the pocket of the teachers unions and the education industry more broadly. Maybe Democrats didnt want to give Hogan a win on an issue that is especially popular among his suburban constituents. Maybe its because the school districts that most favor (and benefit from) an early start date tend to be in poor, urban areas, which tend to vote Democratic. Or maybe Maryland Democrats just hate the beach. For whatever mix of reasons, Hogan couldnt get the law through, and it was making him crazy. Recommended: Judges Issue Longer Sentences When Their Football Team Loses Now, I am sympathetic to the competing interests that politicians must juggle. Its a tough job: lots of constituencies, lots of stress, lots of money on the line. That said, there is rich irony in a Republican governor giving the finger, not just to the state legislature, but to the two dozen local school boards whose job it has been to set school calendarsas school boards do in all but about a dozen states. Even if you dont buy into any of educators arguments about the benefits of an earlier start date, what about Republicans endless fetishization of local control? Arent conservatives supposed to be all about devolving power to the level of government closest to the people? Asked about this, Hogans office directed me to its official statements on the matter, one of which stresses that school boards still have full ability to set their own academic calendarwithin Hogans newly mandated parameters, of course. In other words, they are basically ducking the question of local control. Maybe this principle only applies when there isnt a rich tourism industry to please and teachers unions to annoy. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. For the 2017 Oscar race, Austria has chosen a biopic of one of its most famous sons. Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe is an unlikely sleeper hit chronicling the life, in exile, of the Jewish-Austrian writer, who fled the Nazis for shelter in Brazil. The drama, directed by Aimee & Jaguar actress Maria Schrader, features Austrian cabaret star Josef Hader in the lead role as the novelist, tortured by the people, and the dying culture, he left behind. Farewell to Europe has enjoyed nearly universal critical praise for its subtle portrayal that avoids the cliches of the biopic. The film has been a crossover success in Germany, Austria and France. Austria received its first-ever Oscar nomination, and first win, in the foreign-language category in 2007 with Stefan Ruzowitzky's The Counterfeiters. Gotz Spielmann was nominated (but didn't win) for his thriller Revenge in 2008, and Viennese filmmaker Michael Haneke won an Oscar for his home nation in 2012 with the French-language Amour. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will announce its 2017 shortlist of foreign-language nominees Jan. 17, 2017. The final five nominees (as well as the nominees in all other categories) will be announced Jan. 24, 2017. The 2017 Oscars will be held Feb. 26. Read more: 'Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe' ('Vor der Morgenroete'): Film Review Nepal has chosen Min Bahadur Bham's award-winning debut Kalo Pothi, the Black Hen as its nomination for best foreign-language Oscar. The film, which follows the adventures of two boys searching for their missing hen during a temporary cease-fire in the midst of a civil war in the mountainous landlocked South Asian country, wooed professionals last year at the 72nd edition of the Venice Film Festival where it won the Critics Week prize. The director has also been honored by the Nepalese president with National Talent Award for Contribution to Arts and Culture. The Hollywood Reporter's review of the film earlier this year at Hong Kong's Filmart TV and Film market praised the title as a "debut [that] offers poised storytelling, heartrending performances and cinematic imagery galore." The film, released domestically June 3, has been both a critical and commercial success in Nepal, Berlin-based Russian producer Anna Katchko of Tandem Film told THR. "In Nepal Kalo Pothi is much more than just a film; it is changing the whole perspective on art films in the country and also making a huge political statement. And the audiences love it!" The film is produced by Anna Katchko, Tsering Rhita, Devaki Rais, Min Bahadur Bham, Anup Thap and co-produced by France's Catherine Dussart. World sales are being handled by Wide Management. Nepal has chosen Min Bahadur Bham's award-winning debut Kalo Pothi (The Black Hen) as its nomination for best foreign-language Oscar. The film, which follows the adventures of two boys searching for their missing hen during a temporary cease-fire in the midst of a civil war in the mountainous landlocked South Asian country, wooed professionals last year at the 72nd edition of the Venice Film Festival where it won the Critics Week prize. The Nepalese president has also honored the director with the National Talent Award for his contribution to arts and culture. The Hollywood Reporter's review of the film earlier this year at Hong Kong's Filmart TV and Film market praised the title as a "debut [that] offers poised storytelling, heartrending performances and cinematic imagery galore." The film, released domestically June 3, has been both a critical and commercial success in Nepal, Berlin-based Russian producer Anna Katchko of Tandem Production told THR. "In Nepal Kalo Pothi is much more than just a film; it is changing the whole perspective on art films in the country and also making a huge political statement. And the audiences love it!" The film is produced by Katchko, Tsering Rhitar Sherpa, Devaki Rai, Min Bahadur Bham and Anup Thapa and co-produced by France's Catherine Dussart. World sales are being handled by Wide Management. Tunisia has selected only its third-ever submission for the Academy's best foreign-language film category. Directed by veteran filmmaker Ridha Behi, The Flower of Aleppo tells the story of a mother whose son is lured by ISIS after becoming emotionally disturbed by his parents' divorce. Desperate to save him from the clutches of the terrorist group, she disguises herself as a Jihadi woman and enters its stronghold of Aleppo in Syria. "Let's keep our heads cool," Behi said Monday of the selection, the first to be submitted by the north African country since 2002's The Magic Box. "It is true that our film will represent Tunisia in the race to the Oscars. But it is also true that our film is among a very long list of foreign films [that] claim and aspire to be in the final round among the nominees. The road is still long ... a few months ... the competition is rough but we stand ready on the line of departure ... I believe it." Added producer Ziad Hamzeh: "We are honored and touched by the selection. Mr. Behi deserves such recognition as the film is truly a gem." The Flower of Aleppo stars acclaimed Tunisian film and TV actress Hend Sabry. Read more: Oscars: Egypt Selects 'Clash' for Foreign-Language Category Chris Kelly is having a big week; hes starting up his sixth season on Saturday Night Live, having just been named co-head-writer with Sarah Schneider the pair is responsible for the Larry David-as-Bernie-Sanders sketches that highlighted last season, including the Curb Your Enthusiasm hybrid Bern Your Enthusiasm. And this Friday, his feature film debut as writer-director, Other People, hits theaters. The film, which premiered at Sundance this year, tells the story of David (Jesse Plemons), a gay writer who moves home to Sacramento to care for his ailing mother Joanne (Molly Shannon) in the final stages of her cancer. In addition to Shannon, whose stellar performance has earned awards buzz, the impressive ensemble cast features Bradley Whitford as Davids conservative father and Zach Woods as his ex-boyfriend. The film itself has been praised for expertly blending comedy and tragedy, finding laughs in unexpected places particularly impressive considering its Kellys first film. People assume you knew Molly from Saturday Night Live but you had actually never met? No, we didnt know each other at all, its kind of a fun coincidence we both came from SNL. I had this idea I would reach out to her to play the part and then she said yes! How did you know she could pull off this performance? I didnt even really have remote concerns about that. I never thought, I wonder if she can do this. I just knew. Id been such a fan of her as a comedienne and the role calls for someone who lights up a room and is naturally charismatic and I knew Molly had that. But Id seen her in a lot of other things, a lot of Mike White stuff like Year of the Dog and Enlightened, and seen her do some quieter more dramatic work. Ive always been drawn to her, shes wonderful and the real deal. I knew she could pull off the dramatic work but I also needed someone who could pull off that It Factor. Someone youd want to be around and want to be your friend. It makes the movie all the more tragic to lose her. It was such a no-brainer to me. Story continues It feels like you got your first choice in pretty much every role. Yes; I feel sort of embarrassed! Every time I would send the script to somebody and theyd say, Im in! Id be like, Really? I really, really lucked out. Youve probably had experiences on SNL where you meet someone you admire and theyre not what you hoped I cant confirm or deny that thats happened. (Laughs.) But with Molly, she really seems to be a great person and a joy to work with. Absolutely. When Molly first signed on, we had a lovely phone call and you could tell she was sweet and genuine and a normal, down-to-earth person. She invited me to a taco party at her house when I was in L.A. I was so nervous, I showed up comically early. There was like 100 people there, friends and neighbors and people shed worked with. And every single person I met said, Youre so lucky to have Molly in your movie because not only is she incredibly talented, shes the nicest, most genuine person youll ever meet. I remember driving home and calling my sisters and saying, The woman cast to play our mom is really nice. It was meaningful; she could have just been a great actor and done a great job in the movie and that would have been great. But spending time with her has been an added bonus. So you refer to Molly as playing your mom, but how autobiographical is the film overall? I go back and forth on that. The whole movie is loosely autobiographical but the big picture stuff is there. Scenes are invented, the way people in the movie behave can be invented. I dont watch the movie and necessarily see my sisters on screen. I took a lot of liberties. That being said, the main jumping off point of this movie is my mother and the time I spent with her. So I do see my mother up there. I think you said your father is a big Bradley Whitford fan? Well everyones a Bradley Whitford fan. He was pretty excited to hear Bradley would be playing the father in the film. He loves The West Wing. You have this amazing cast and its your feature film debut; was it ever intimidating? Oh, absolutely, it was intimidating. We had a family dinner a couple nights before we started shooting with a lot of the main family. I remember thinking, God, I really hope I dont let these people down. But you just have to do it; you cant let it scare you too much. You have to trust in your script and assume youre not the first person to feel intimidated in a situation like this before. Whos been your favorite host in your time at SNL? Oh, Larry David. Come on. He was so great. Sarah Schneider, who I wrote with a lot, we turned to each other mid-week and said, This is our favorite week that weve been on the show. We worked with Larry all season on the Bernie Sanders sketches and got to k now him and when he hosted the whole show it was so great. Who had the idea to do the Bern Your Enthusiam sketch? I dont even remember, honestly. It must have been him. But me and Sarah wrote it and we knew it would be something parodying Curb. It was a weird thing whereand I might get the timeline wrongthere was a huge primary that week on Tuesday. We werent sure if he would win or not and we couldnt really write it until we knew what the joke was. The best possible thing happened, which is, he lost by 0.2 percent of the vote. So we came up with the idea that you got to see how he lost by just a few people and how he had wronged those people throughout the day and was personally responsible for them changing their vote to Hillary. It was fun because we were literally responding to what was happening in the world that minute. Related stories 'Other People,' 'Life Animated' Win Nantucket Film Festival Awards Julia Louis-Dreyfus Brings Back Elaine, Reunites With Larry David on 'SNL' Netflix Buys Molly Shannon Cancer Dramedy 'Other People' (EXCLUSIVE) The world's oldest cold case is getting the movie treatment. The death, likely murder, of Otzi the Iceman more than 5,000 years ago is being adapted for the screen. German star Jurgen Vogel (The Wave) will play Otzi, the Alpine nomad whose life, and its untimely end, has been an obsession for archeologists since 1991, when his body was found, perfectly preserved, in a glazier in northern Austria. Austrian actress Susanne Wuest (Goodnight Mommy) will play the female lead. Scientists have pored over Otzi's remains, sequencing his DNA (in the process finding living descendants in Austria) and speculating on the world he lived in. The evidence from his corpse has been dissected, CSI-style, to uncover everything from his health ailments (gallstones, hardened arteries) to Copper Age tattoos that some believe are an early example of acupuncture treatment, to a fresh arrow wound in his shoulder and a blow to his head that may have killed him. Inspired by the science, director Felix Randau has written a fictional tale, with the working title Revenge - The Story of Iceman, of Otzi's final days. Franco Nero, Andre M. Hennicke, Violetta Schurawlow, Sabin Tambrea and Axel Stein co-star. Jan Kruger is producing Iceman for German-based shingle Port Au Prince in cooperation with Maja Wieser Benedetti and Andreas Pichler of Italy's Echo Film, Oliver Schundler and Boris Ausserer of Lucky Bird Pictures and Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu and Bady Minck of Austria's Amour Fou. Andreas Eicher is executive producing. Cologne-based virtual reality company Headtrip will produce a narrative VR feature to accompany the film, attempting to immerse viewers in Otzi's world. Port au Prince will release Iceman in Germany, with Filmladen taking Austrian rights and Beta Cinema handling worldwide sales of the film. [September 06, 2016] FASTSIGNS Continues Co-Brand Program Growth With Addition Of Prominent Photo Industry Expert & Business Leader CARROLLTON, Texas, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- FASTSIGNS International, Inc., franchisor of FASTSIGNS, the leading sign, graphics and visual communications franchise, announced today it has signed an agreement with new franchisee and prominent photo industry leader, Gabrielle Mullinax. She will add to her existing photo retail shop, Fullerton Photographics, a Co-Brand FASTSIGNS center. Located at 908 North Harbor Blvd. in Fullerton, the FASTSIGNS center will be complete in fall 2016 and will mark nearly 40 Co-Brand centers for FASTSIGNS, which currently has franchised locations in over 615 locations in nine countries worldwide. "As a proven innovator in the photo industry, Gaby is a welcomed addition to the FASTSIGNS family and we know that she will provide a 'More Than' experience to every customer who walks through her doors," said Mark Jameson, EVP of Franchise Support and Development, FASTSIGNS International, Inc. "The addition of this latest Co-Brand center in California further deepens FASTSIGNS' development commitment to take our Co-Brand concept into new markets across the country as we look to provide comprehensive visual communications services from coast-to-coast." Mullinax, a current resident of Yorba Linda, began her photo industry career in the early 1990s as a stay-at-home mom and talented professional photographer. As a frequent customer of Fullerton Photographics, she stumbled upon the opportunity to purchase the company in December 1999. Upon taking ownership of the shop at the turn of the millennium, she helped pave the way in the industry converting the business from analog to digital in order to integrate new products and services to achieve greater revenue. "As a woman business owner, I've found a true partner in FASTSIGNS who will help expand my existing business by providing our new and current clients the ability to stay on the cutting-edge of the sign, graphics and visual communications industry," said Mullinax. "For businesses looking for ways to expand their current portfolio and increase their revenue in today's fast-paced market, FASTSIGNS offers an opportunity, including training and support, that is first-class in service and made the decision process easy for me." Fullerton Photographics provides clients an array of products and photography services customized to create endless possibilities using the modern photograph. Over the last two decades, Mullinax has become a proven photo industry leader, most recently serving as a past president of Photo Marketing Association International of which she served as the first-ever woman president. She was also the first-ever chairwoman of the Buck Rogers National Photofinishers Group and a member of Independent Photo Imagers. To continue to attract interested franchise candidates in the photo industry, FASTSIGNS is exhibiting at the PRO 58th Annual Convention & Trade Show Sept. 26-30 at the Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. Local entrepreneurs are invited to meet with the brand's franchise development team that will be in attendance at the show to learn more about its Co-Brand program and growth opportunities across the country. FASTSIGNS' has continued to grow through the company's Co-Brand and Conversion programs. With franchisees coming from the print and photofinishing industries, the Co-Brand program accounted for 20 percent of the franchise agreements signed in 2015, a significant increase from prior years. Launched in 2012, the FASTSIGNS Co-Brand program offers independent business operators with print and photo-related services the opportunity to add the FASTSIGNS brand and a full-suite of sign and visual graphic solutions, while continuing to own and operate their existing business. Getting started is quick; FASTSIGNS will help finance the franchise fee with as little as $15,000 down to begin the Co-Brand or conversion process. Co-Brand franchisees consistently report that adding a FASTSIGNS franchise to their business has added value for customers, promoting long-term growth opportunities for their businesses. For information about the FASTSIGNS franchise opportunity, contact Mark Jameson ([email protected] or 214-346-5679) or download an eBook that explores the FASTSIGNS franchise opportunity at http://amzn.to/1FrnDJu. About FASTSIGNS FASTSIGNS International, Inc. is the largest sign and visual communications franchisor in North America, and is the worldwide franchisor of more than 615 independently owned and operated FASTSIGNS centers in nine countries including the US, Canada, England, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Grand Cayman, Mexico and Australia (where centers operate as SIGNWAVE). FASTSIGNS locations provide comprehensive sign and visual graphic solutions to help companies of all sizes and across all industries attract more attention, communicate their message, sell more products, help visitors find their way and extend their branding across all of their customer touch points including decor, events, wearables and marketing materials. Learn more about sign and visual graphic solutions or find a location at fastsigns.com. Follow the brand on Twitter @FASTSIGNS, Facebook at facebook.com/FASTSIGNS or LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/fastsigns. Franchise Research Institute has named FASTSIGNS a top sign and graphics franchise and has awarded the company certification as a 2015 World-Class Franchise for four consecutive years. FASTSIGNS was also recognized by USA Today, Military Times magazine, G.I. Jobs magazine and Franchise Business Review as one of the top franchises for military veterans. Most recently, the company was selected as one of 15 national recipients of the 2016 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award, the Department of Defense's highest recognition presented to employers for their exemplary support of National Guard and Reserve members. For more information about FASTSIGNS franchise programs, contact Mark Jameson ([email protected] or 214-346-5679) or visit http://www.fastsigns.com/ . Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160216/333668LOGO CONTACT: Rachel Tabacnic Fish Consulting 954-893-9150 [email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fastsigns-continues-co-brand-program-growth-with-addition-of-prominent-photo-industry-expert--business-leader-300322766.html SOURCE FASTSIGNS International, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] PARIS (Reuters) - Paris will house close to 1,000 migrants in two camps to tackle the growing number of men, women and children fleeing war and poverty who are sleeping rough on the French capital's streets, the city's mayor said on Tuesday. The building of the two camps in the capital comes as the government faces pressure to dismantle a swollen shanty town dubbed the 'jungle' near the port of Calais, whose inhabitants are blamed by residents for an increase in crime and the ailing local economy. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said one camp would be built for men, the other for vulnerable women and children, with the first site opening in mid-October. "We have to come up with new ways of overcoming the situation. Things are saturated," Hidalgo told a news conference. "These migrant camps reflect our values." Hidalgo said the camps would be temporary and cost 6.5 million euros to set up, of which the Paris municipal authorities would cover 80 percent. While France has been much less affected by Europe's migrant crisis than neighboring Germany, thousands of asylum seekers use it as a transit point in the hope of reaching Britain. Truck drivers, farmers and Calais business owners on Monday blocked traffic on the motorway approach to Calais demanding a deadline for the dismantling of the "jungle". (Reporting by Chine Labbe; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Richard Balmforth) (Reuters) - MasterCard Inc said on Tuesday it had expanded its deal with payment processor PayPal Holdings Inc, which would allow customers to use PayPal's payment services in stores. PayPal's partnership follows a similar deal with MasterCard's larger rival Visa Inc in July as the company looks to expand its payments network. PayPal will allow users to select a credit or debit card as the default payment method and share data on transactions made through MasterCard's tap-and-pay feature, which allows the shopper to wave a card or mobile phone over a reader to pay, the companies said in a statement. As part of the deal, MasterCard will allow PayPal users to withdraw cash from their accounts using a debit card and also waive the digital wallet fee it currently charges PayPal. The two companies have an existing partnership for co-branded consumer credit cards in the United States and Puerto Rico. PayPal, spun off from e-commerce company eBay Inc last year, has focused on aggressive growth. The company's revenue in the second quarter rose more than 15 percent to $2.65 billion from a year earlier and the volume of payments it processes jumped 28 percent to $86.21 billion. The partnership with MasterCard was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. (http://on.wsj.com/2c7upJI) PayPal is also in discussions with banks that issue cards, to explore new products and partnerships, the Journal report said, citing people familiar with the matter. Shares of PayPal were slightly higher in premarket trading. Up to Friday's close of $37.07, the stock had risen 2.4 percent this year. (Reporting by Narottam Medhora in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Sayantani Ghosh) The Pentagon spent $40 billion over a decade on a ground-based domestic missile defense system that has repeatedly failed the most rudimentary tests of its effectiveness in shooting enemy nuclear missiles out of the sky. The so-called Ground-based Midcourse Defense system (GMD), the brainchild of the administration of former President George W. Bush, was designed to launch missiles from underground silos to counter potential nuclear attacks by North Korea, Iran and other hostile countries. In six of 11 tests between 2002 and early last year all carefully choreographed and timed to try to maximize the success rate -- the U.S. anti-missile system missed destroying mock enemy warheads high above the Pacific Ocean. Related: Pentagons Sloppy Bookkeeping Means $6.5 Trillion Cant Pass an Audit Boeing, the Chicago-based defense contracting behemoth, received $20 billion over more than a decade for developing and managing the costly, star-crossed nuclear defense system. It was never once penalized for the missile defense systems disappointing performance that some defense experts and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) have deemed alarming. Late last week, the Los Angeles Times revealed that the Defense Department showered Boeing with nearly $2 billion in performance bonuses throughout the testing period, despite the systems disappointing performance. The newspaper obtained details of the bonus payments through a lawsuit it filed against the Pentagon under the Freedom of Information Act. Equally disturbing, Los Angeles Times Washington correspondent David Willman wrote, is that the criteria for the annual bonuses were changed at some point to de-emphasize the importance of test results that demonstrate the systems ability to intercept and destroy incoming warheads. When Boeing and the Pentagon signed the first prime contract in January 2001, the contract stated that the primary performance criteria was whether the interceptor actually destroyed its target during the test an HTK or hit to kill success. The maximum award fee for a given year was 15 percent of the contracts value, according to the newspaper report. Throughout the first phase of the contract, as much as 60 percent of the award fee pool was based on the HTK success criteria. Story continues Related: Why the Pentagon Budget Is Out of Control However, a subsequent contract dated August 2011 cited a revised list of criteria related to the next scheduled flight tests. Boeing would be entitled to 30 percent of the hefty award fee pool for a successful mission execution, but the hit to kill requirement was no longer specified. The Fiscal Times was unable to obtain a comment from the company. Boeing referred other news organizations questions about the bonus and contract to the Missile Defense Agency, an arm of the Defense Department that oversees the GMD. Chris Johnson, a spokesman for the missile agency, told the Los Angeles Times that despite the GMD systems erratic record in flight tests, the company had earned its bonuses based on the criteria specified in the contract. He said that the payments complied with all appropriate acquisition regulations. These types of contracts allow regular and consistent evaluation by the government, and fees are paid only when companies meet clearly defined targets, Johnson said. He added that the words hit-to-kill were deleted in more recent contract terms to support more detailed documented objectives of each respective flight test, although a successful intercept remains a key performance objective. Related: North Korea Makes Progress on Missiles, But No Evidence of Nuclear Weapons Yet The GMD system became operational in 2004 and was designed to intercept a limited nuclear strike by a belligerent country other than a superpower like Russia. Boeing was granted two main contracts to develop and manage the ground-based anti-missile system and sensors. The company has been reimbursed for its direct costs in building and overseeing the anti-missile system and indirect costs, including executive salaries and corporate overhead. A Feb. 17 GAO report concluded that while the program has had some recent successes, it has not demonstrated through flight testing that it can defend the U.S. homeland against the current missile defense threat. According to critics, the test failures are even more discouraging given their careful orchestration. Technicians and other personnel are told in advance approximately when the mock enemy targets will be launched and from where including their estimated speed and trajectory. If the system were working correctly, it would be hard to miss given so much advance warning. Related: How the Pentagon Cooks the Books to Hide Massive Waste The program dates back to 2002 when then President Bush ordered the first installment of a ballistic missile defense program to be in place within two years. In order to speed up the deployment, then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld exempted the missile agency from the DoDs standard procurement rules and testing standards, according to the Los Angeles Times report. That approach to circumventing the contract bidding process continues to be prevalent at the Pentagon. According to the DoDs Office of Procurement and Acquisition Policy, the Pentagon continues to spend more than half its contracting dollars without legitimate competition between vendors. For example, of the $205 billion awarded in contract spending throughout DoD in the third quarter of fiscal 2016, only $101 billion was put out for bid, according to NextGov. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: Vientiane (AFP) - US President Barack Obama cancelled a meeting at a regional summit on Tuesday with foul-mouthed Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte after being branded a "son of a whore". The pair had been due to meet in the Lao capital of Vientiane at a gathering organised by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, an annual event meant to foster harmony but which often highlights regional rows. This year's edition was launched with a spectacular fallout between the United States and the Philippines, longtime allies that have seen relations plunge under a barrage of insults from Duterte since he came to office on June 30. Obama's aides announced that his planned meeting with Duterte on Tuesday afternoon had been called off following a fresh tirade by the Filipino leader the previous day. Shortly before flying to Vientiane, Duterte warned he would not be lectured by Obama over a war on drug crime in the Philippines that has claimed nearly 3,000 lives in just over two months -- an average of 44 a day. "You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum," Duterte told reporters when asked about his message for Obama. Duterte, who has quickly earned a global reputation for his acid tongue, then used typically colourful language to describe their planned meeting if rights issues came up. "We will be wallowing in the mud like pigs if you do that to me," he said. - 'Wallowing' - Duterte had previously also branded the US ambassador to Manila a "gay son of a whore", and sought to taint the reputation of Pope Francis's mother in similar fashion. Duterte was elected to office in a landslide this year after pledging to kill 100,000 people in an unprecedented war on crime. When faced with criticism from the United Nations over an apparent spate of extrajudicial killings in his crime war, he responded with what has become familiar abuse. Story continues "Maybe we'll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations. If you are that disrespectful, son of a whore, then I will just leave you," he said last month. Following the Obama backlash on Tuesday, Duterte struck a rare moment of contrition, albeit qualified. "While the immediate cause was my strong comments to certain press questions that elicited concern and distress, we also regret that it came across as a personal attack on the US President," he said in a statement. The United States also sought to ensure there was no enduring fall-out with one of its most important allies in Asia and former colony. Top Obama aide Ben Rhodes told reporters in Laos on Tuesday evening the broader relationship with the Philippines "has been and remains rock-solid". He also said Obama would likely hold an informal discussion with Duterte in Laos on Wednesday or Thursday, though formal talks remained off the table. The setback in US-Philippine relations comes at a crucial time in the region, with China seeking to cement control over the contested South China Sea. - Crucial time - The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have competing claims to parts of the sea, but have watched China expand its presence by building artificial islands in key locations. An international tribunal ruled in July that China's claims to the waters -- through which $5 trillion in global shipping trade passes -- had no legal basis. The verdict was widely seen as a sweeping victory for the Philippines, which filed the suit under the previous administration of Benigno Aquino. But China has vowed to ignore the ruling. The South China Sea issue is expected once again to be discussed at the three days of meetings hosted by ASEAN, which will be attended by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. Leaders of Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, New Zealand and Russia will also be in Vientiane. Laos is the final Asian visit of Obama's eight-year presidency, during which he has sought to refocus American military, political and economic resources on the region. It is also the first visit by a sitting US president to Laos, which the United States secretly carpet-bombed for nearly a decade in the Vietnam War, killing or injuring tens of thousands of people. Obama on Wednesday announced greater help in clearing the bombs, saying it was a "moral obligation". The Philippines president, who unleashed a profanity-laced rant in which he called President Obama a "son of a b****," now wants the most powerful man in the world to know he didn't mean anything by it. Rodrigo Duterte was slated to meet with Obama as part of the American president's visit to Asia until his tirade Monday led the White House to cancel. Watch: President Obama Ate Bear Scraps in the Alaskan Wilderness with Bear Grylls Angry at news reports that Obama intended to confront him about extrajudicial killings of drug dealers in his country, the AP reports that Duterte spouted: "Who does he think he is? I am no American puppet. I am the president of a sovereign country and I am not answerable to anyone except the Filipino people. Son of a bitch, I will swear at you." Despite the abrupt cancellation of their scheduled meeting, Obama mostly brushed off Duterte's remarks. "Clearly, he's a colorful guy," Obama said during a news conference in China. "If I'm having a meeting, it's productive and we're getting something done." Obama also called the Philippines a close "friend and ally" of the U.S. A day later, Duterte is getting international attention for his colorful comments, and has walked back the statements. Watch: President Obama Sings at Daughter Malia's 18th Birthday "It came across as a personal attack on the U.S. President," Duterte said through a spokesman. "We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions." This is not the first time the outspoken president has criticized the U.S. He has previously questioned the country's inability to stop genocidal killings in the Middle East and Africa and cited controversial U.S. police shootings of black Americans. Watch: Sarah Palin Facing Backlash for Connecting Son's Arrest to Obama Story continues Related Articles: Vientiane (AFP) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has vowed to personally tear apart and eat Abu Sayyaf Islamic militants, in a bloodthirsty vow of revenge for deadly attacks. "They will pay. When the time comes, I will eat you in front of people," Duterte told an audience of Filipinos late on Monday night while in Laos for a regional summit. "If you make me mad, in all honesty, I will eat you alive, raw." Duterte often hurls abusive insults at critics and is waging a brutal war on crime in which nearly 3,000 people have been killed since he took office on June 30. His aides often urge reporters against taking Duterte's comments literally, cautioning that the 71-year-old former lawyer speaks in a crude language of the people. During the election campaign earlier this year Duterte attracted widespread criticism for saying he had wanted to rape a "beautiful" Australian missionary who had been sexually assaulted and murdered in a Philippine prison riot. Duterte, 71, also claimed to keep two mistresses in cheap boarding houses who he took to short-stay hotels for sexual encounters. Duterte on Monday offered a particularly vivid description of how he would like to eat Abu Sayyaf militants, who killed 15 soldiers last month and are accused of a bombing in his home city last week that claimed 14 lives. "I will really carve your torso open. Give me vinegar and salt and I will eat you. I'm not kidding," Duterte said, according to an official video of his speech posted on Tuesday. "These guys are beyond redemption." The Abu Sayyaf are a small band of Islamic militants based on remote southern islands of the mainly Catholic Philippines and are listed by the United States as a terrorist organisation. They are notorious for kidnapping foreigners to extract ransoms, and this year beheaded two Canadian hostages. Duterte also on Monday caused a major diplomatic rift with the United States after branding President Barack Obama a "son of a whore" who would wallow like a pig. Duterte made the remarks in response to comments by Obama's aides that the US president would raise concerns about the Philippine war on crime when the pair met in Laos. Obama abruptly cancelled the meeting, which was scheduled for Tuesday, because of the tirade. [September 06, 2016] Meet the Knightscope Security Robots at ASIS 2016 Knightscope, Inc., an advanced physical security technology company, announced today that it will be attending ASIS 2016 alongside one of its channel partners, Allied Universal, the largest private security firm in the U.S. Attendees will have an opportunity to see Knightscope's K3 and K5 Autonomous Data Machines being utilized for indoor and outdoor security patrols, in booth 2350, and will also be able to experience the Knightscope Security Operations Center (KSOC) user-interface. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160906006262/en/ Knightscope Autonomous Data Machines (ADMs) will provide security at ASIS 2016 in Orlando, FL. (Photo: Business Wire) ASIS International is the world's largest association for security management professionals, and ASIS 2016 is expected to attract nearly 20,000 security professionals from around the globe to Orlando, Florida. Top US Security Chiefs Jeh C. Johnson, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and James B. Comey, FBI Director, will address attendees at the three-day event and both sets of remarks are planned to underscore the importance of trong private sector collaboration according to ASIS. The Exhibit Hall will be open September 12 - 15 from 9:00am - 4:30pm and free Show+ Passes may be obtained here on or before September 10. To date, over 1,000 potential investors have indicated investment interest exceeding $24 million to date in Knightscope's potential mini-IPO. Progress can be tracked here: https://www.seedinvest.com/knightscope/series.c About Knightscope, Inc. Knightscope is an advanced security technology company that utilizes Software + Hardware + Humans to provide its customers with new groundbreaking anomaly detection capabilities. In an increasingly volatile world, we are developing one of the most important technologies to come out of Silicon Valley that will empower the public and private sectors to proactively build stronger, safer communities, ultimately saving money and lives. Crime has a $1 trillion negative economic impact on the U.S. every single year and our long-term mission is to cut it in half. Schedule a demo in California and learn more at www.knightscope.com. Legal Disclaimer: Knightscope, Inc. ("Knightscope") is "testing the waters" to gauge market demand from potential investors for an Offering under Tier II of Regulation A. No money or other consideration is being solicited, and if sent in response, it will not be accepted. No sales of securities will be made or commitment to purchase accepted until qualification of the offering statement by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "Commission") and approval of any other required government or regulatory agency. An indication of interest made by a prospective investor is non-binding and involves no obligation or commitment of any kind. No offer to buy securities can be accepted and no part of the purchase price can be received without an offering statement that has been qualified by the Commission. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160906006262/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Piper and Mahree from DCOM The Color of Friendship are now GORGEOUS grown-ups Piper and Mahree from DCOM The Color of Friendship are now GORGEOUS grown-ups Though it was released back in 2000 (a whopping 16 years ago, if you can believe it!), we have a feeling that many of you remember this Disney Channel original movie: The Color of Friendship. The film follows the friendship shared between Mahree Bok (a Caucasian young woman living in apartheid South Africa) and Piper Dellums (a black young woman living in Washington, D.C.). Both know very little about each others countries, but all that changes when Piper convinces her parents to host an African exchange student, who turns out to be Mahree. Though the movie deals with hefty, thought-provoking subjects (especially considering that this is a DCOM), the overarching themes of friendship and love persevere in the end, making this one memorable Disney Channel original. With all this in mind, we cant help but wonder Whatever happened to these two leading ladies? Heres what Shadia Simmons (aka Piper Dellums) looked like then, at the age of 14: lhcf73 The most recent pic we could find (from 2014): color of friendship 3 A side-by-side proving that Shadias found the fountain of youth: Following her turn in The Color of Friendship, actress Shadia Simmons went on to star in many other Disney productions: Are You Afraid of the Dark? (2000), Quints (2000), Zenon: The Zequel (2001), and Life with Derek (2005-2009). The latter was her last project as an actress and, according to IMDb, she became a teacher. Shes also a mom to a daughter and a son. We cant believe we forgot she was part of Zenons squad! CpwaIR7W8AAFNDx Lindsey Haun (aka Mahree Bok) back in 2000 (when she was 16 years old): lhcf80 Now, 16 years later: That time you screwed up on the very last line of your killer 3 minute audition scene you were putting on tape for the umpteenth time at 1am. #actorslife #pilotseason A video posted by Lindsey Haun (@lindseyhaun) on Feb 18, 2016 at 4:51pm PST Once a gorgeous human, always a gorgeous human: color of friendship 2 To this day, Lindsey continues to act. Since The Color of Friendship, shes worked on shows such as Malcolm in the Middle (2002), Alias (2005), Criminal Minds (2008), and True Blood (2009-2012). As for next year, she already has two movies lined up: Meat Cute and High and Outside. Story continues Youll also likely recognize her as Hadley Hale from True Blood: lindseyhaun While this is all AMAZING nostalgia news, we still have one question: Are Shadia and Lindsey still friends? (Please let the answer to this question be a resounding YES!) The post Piper and Mahree from DCOM The Color of Friendship are now GORGEOUS grown-ups appeared first on HelloGiggles. Jakarta (AFP) - US chain Pizza Hut's Indonesian operation on Tuesday insisted its restaurants were safe after it was accused of using ingredients up to six months past their expiry date. The allegations about Pizza Hut and Pizza Hut Delivery in the country, which are run by local company Sarimelati Kencana, were made in a joint investigation by a magazine and the BBC's Indonesia service. The restaurant chain, which has more than 300 outlets in the archipelago, was accused of using ingredients including puff pastry, vegetable sausage and carbonara sauce when it knew they were past their expiry date. Expiry dates were extended for between one and six months, the investigation alleged, citing company documents. The practice had been going on for years with the knowledge of top management, it said. The investigation also accused Japanese noodle chain Marugame Udon of using ingredients past their expiry date at its handful of outlets in Indonesia. Both Pizza Hut and Marugame Udon have denied the allegations. Pizza Hut said Tuesday that some of its restaurants on Indonesia's most populous island of Java had been inspected thoroughly and health authorities found that they met hygiene and sanitation standards. Stephen J. McCarthy, president director of Sarimelati Kencana, also defended Pizza Hut, saying he was proud of the outlets' kitchens. "They're the cleanest Pizza Hut in the world. If somebody wants to visit our kitchens, you give me a call, I will personally take you," he said at the weekend. "We have a great reputation in Indonesia, we expect that not to change and only to get better." No one is reported to have fallen ill due to eating the expired ingredients at either Pizza Hut or Marugame. Pizza Hut has been operating for 32 years in Indonesia and employs more than 13,000 workers. The Pizza Hut and Marugame Udon franchises in the country are ultimately owned by Indonesian food and beverage giant Sriboga Raturaya. NATO and Russia are in a missile race, and Poland may have just raised the stakes. The Polish government announced Tuesday that it would buy the U.S. Armys Patriot air-and-missile defense system, a move widely seen as a response to Moscows upcoming deployment of nuclear-capable missiles to Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea. Five other NATO countries already deploy the Patriot system which can knock down missiles, drones, and small aircraft but none are as far to the east as Poland, nor so close to Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave which is already bristling with missile systems and other advanced Russian military hardware. Poland has been in talks with various defense contractors for several years about building a missile defense capability, but Russias likely deployment of Iskander advanced nuclear-capable missiles to Kaliningrad by 2019 seems to have forced Warsaws hand. Each Iskander battery has two guided missiles with a range of about 300 miles. Russia has already sent Iskander systems to Kaliningrad twice for exercises, but has later withdrawn them. We also need to have an answer to it. Those Iskander missiles can hit Poland but also Germany, Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz said earlier this year. He added Tuesday that his country plans to eventually buy eight Patriot missile batteries, and while he wouldnt discuss cost, the deal could be worth as much as $5.6 billion. Poland had considered buying other missile defense systems, including Lockheed Martins Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) and Israels Davids Sling, but both of those are still under development and Polish officials needed a quick fix. The Iskander deployment is itself a response to the installation in May of a new U.S.-built missile defense system in Romania, which Moscow sees as a direct threat to its aircraft. Plans for the Aegis Ashore Missile Defense System had been in the works for years, and U.S. and NATO officials have long said that the system was put in place to protect Europe from Iranian missiles. But the Russians have rejected that explanation. Story continues From the very outset we kept saying that in the opinion of our experts the deployment of an anti-missile defense poses a threat to Russia, Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at the time. The question is not whether measures will be taken or not; measures are being taken to maintain Russias security at the necessary level. At the unveiling ceremony, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that missile defense is for defense. It does not undermine or weaken Russias strategic nuclear deterrent. But while Moscow complains about NATO shrinking its airspace, the Kremlin has built its own wall of defensive systems stretching from Syria to the Finnish border, including an S-400 sent to Crimea in August that has a range of up to 250 miles. Source: Institute for the Study of War The Institute for the Study of Wars Kathleen Weinberger wrote in an analysis last month that the deployments of the S-400 air defense system create bubbles that deny the airspace to NATO aircraft over much of the the Baltic States, significant portions of Ukraine and the Black Sea, as well as northern Poland, Syria and parts of Turkey. Tougher air-defense systems threaten to create possible no-go zones for U.S. fliers, she said. Russian systems in Syria and Crimea, along with their Joint Air Defense Network in Belarus and Armenia, can impede the ability of the U.S. to defend its NATO allies by disrupting the ability of US air forces to access conflict zones in the event of a crisis. Photo Credit: NurPhoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images Spain cocaine bust in banana shipment Police and customs officials in southern Spain intercepted nearly 2,000 pounds of cocaine hidden in a commercial shipment of bananas, Spanish officials reported on Sunday. The seizure was the result of a joint investigation that began in April, when Spanish authorities say they became aware of an international organization based in Spain that allegedly used maritime shipping containers to import cocaine to Europe from South America, using a legitimate fruit company in the southern city of Sevilla as cover. Investigators were able to zero in on the suspected leader of the group, who traveled to Colombia on two occassions to meet with other drug traffickers, according to Spanish police. With international assistance, Spanish authorities became aware of a banana shipment from Colombia arriving at the Spanish port of Algeciras. The shipment moved from Algeciras to a warehouse in Sevilla, where officials intervened, uncovering 1,984 pounds of cocaine hidden in one of the shipping containers and arresting three people. The details released by about this latest seizure fit with much of what is known about drug-trafficking operations in Europe and confirm that southern Spain remains one of several key entry points to Europe for smugglers. Spain cocaine seizure While Colombia has become a less common departure point for these shipments, the use of maritime shipping containers illustrates the change in tactics traffickers have undertaken in recent years. "Since 2006, maritime seizures that involve containers have increased sixfold, with a particularly steep increase since 2010," the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction wrote in its 2016 report. "Container seizures made up three-quarters of maritime seizures in 2012 and 2013, compared with one-tenth in 2006." Story continues Moreover, "Spain also reports a large number of container seizures coming through Algeciras," the report noted. Sevilla, southern Spain's largest city, is only about 125 miles by road from Algeciras. Spain cocaine seizure drug tests While cocaine seizures on the continent are down from peaks reached in the mid- to late-2000s, Spain and Portugal remain the most important entry points for illegal drugs in southern Europe. "The countries that seized the most cocaine over the period 201114 were Spain (accounting for about 50% of all seizures) and Belgium," followed by France, Italy, the UK, and Portugal, the EMCDDA report stated. The cocaine recovered in Sevilla this month also reflects traffickers' common concealment efforts as well. "Concealing the drugs within shipments of perishable goods is a common tactic as there are procedures to allow these to pass through ports more quickly," the EMCDDA report says. This tactic is also common among traffickers in North America, often because pungent odors from to food and other perishable goods will mask drug odors and deter inquisitive customs officials. Despite the rise of maritime shipping containers as the mode of transport for illegal drugs, other, more risky methods persist. People who ingest drugs to move them across borders, known as mules, are still common. This method threatens the lives of the transporters and has led customs officials to roll out more stringent inspections. Surgical procedures are also used to hide drugs, as was the case with a Colombian woman stopped in Berlin in March and found to be carrying 2.2 pounds of cocaine in her breasts. NOW WATCH: Cocaine won't just get you high here's what it does to your body and brain More From Business Insider Police are searching for a group of men who toppled an iconic rock formation, which is believed to be millions of years old, inside an Oregon park. Read: 600 Marijuana Plants Discovered Growing Behind Connecticut Day Care: Cops The shocking act of vandalism was caught on video by two men flying a drone nearby. One of the men flying the drone, David Kalas, says he confronted the eight men, who then claimed the rock formation was a safety hazard. He told Inside Edition: "I confronted them and asked why are they doing this. One of the guys said: 'We are doing Oregon a favor,' saying it was a 'safety hazard.'" Kalas also said that the man told him a friend of theirs was injuired at the rock recently but he didn't buy it. Kalas told Inside Edition he is "pretty upset over this. It is a really beautiful landmark. It really upsets me that someone came there with the purpose of destroying something so beautiful." The formation in Cape Kiwanda is known to locals as Duckbill, and was toppled to rubble after the men pushed it to the ground. The area is off limits to visitors but over the years people have taken spectacular photos atop the Duckbill. Read: Man Busted After Using His Own Wanted Poster For Facebook Photo: Cops Authorities thought Duckbill had collapsed from natural erosion until they saw the video posted to Twitter. The incident happened on August 29, but is only starting to come to national attention now. Utah State Parks spokesman Chris Havel told the New York Daily News that the fine for destruction of a natural resource is $435. The Oregon State Police are working to identify the group and find out if any criminal wrongdoing occurred. The case is similar to this incident in Utah in 2014 when two scoutmasters toppled an ancient rock formation that had stood for 200 million years in what is called Goblin Valley. They were fined $2,000 and served a year's probation. Story continues Watch: NYC Graffiti Artist Banned From All National Parks After Vandalism Spree: 'I Know, I'm a Bad Person' Related Articles: Itongadol.-The founders of Decision at 50 sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling on him to adopt the referendum proposal for the most critical decision for the future of Israel." Sixty percent of israelies support having the government hold a referendum on whether the public backs a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a poll found on Monday. The research also found that 58% of Israeli adults support the idea of two states for two nations as the way to solve the conflict. Of Israelis with an opinion on the matter, 87% voiced opposition to one, binational state as a solution. The poll by Smith Research was commissioned by MK Eitan Broshi (Zionist Union), who has joined a campaign together with left-wing NGOs called Decision at 50, advocating for a national referendum on the matter. The 50 in the name represents 50 years since the Six Day War, which will be marked in June. Broshi pointed out that most of the public wants two states for two nations and to preserve a Jewish State, and the vast majority oppose a solution of one, binational state. The Right in Israel is lying to itself when its leadership in practice promotes a binational state through uncontrolled construction in Judea and Samaria, trying to break the Palestinians territorial continuity and prevent the future possibility of separating from the Palestinians. This policy, Broshi said, goes against the will of the people, as reflected in the poll he ordered as well as past ones. Broshi expressed hope that he could garner a broad consensus around his proposal. Among the organizations and figures backing Decision at 50 are Peace Now, Blue White Future, former Shin Bet chief and current Blue White Future Director Ami Ayalon, former Labor chairman Amram Mitzna, ex-Labor MK Rabbi Michael Melchior, and former prime minister Yitzhak Rabins granddaughter Noa Rothman, among others. The founders of Decision at 50 sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling on him to adopt the referendum proposal for the most critical decision for the future of Israelregarding where Israel is heading, and [will] provide guidance to Israeli governments in their policy-making on this crucial matter. Israel currently has a Referendum Law on the books, which has yet to be used. It requires any government that wishes to concede sovereign territory meaning any part of Israel, including east Jerusalem or the Golan Heights, but not the West Bank would have to hold a referendum on the agreement. Every day in which our control over the Palestinian territories persists brings us closer to the end of Israel as the democratic state of the Jewish People, said Ayalon. Netanyahu sees the disaster ahead, but he is not courageous enough to act. The poll was taken among a representative sample of 500 Israeli adults, Jewish and Arab, and has a 4.5% margin of error. BI Graphics_Clinton vs Trump Polling A CNN/ORC poll released Tuesday shows a tight race coming out of the Labor Day weekend. Republican nominee Donald Trump has a slight lead over Democrat Hillary Clinton: Trump: 45% Clinton: 43% The pollster surveyed a random sample of 1,001 Americans. Trump's lead is within the poll's margin of error of 3.5%, so it suggests the race is essentially tied although, as we'll see, for a candidate it's better to be ahead even within the margin of error. And it's possible the poll is way off and support in reality is outside that margin. So what does this mean for Trump and Clinton? Answering that requires a clear sense of how polls work, and looking closer tells you everything about what we can and cannot trust. It depends on whom you ask In 1936, a magazine called The Literary Digest ran one of the biggest opinion polls of all time. It asked 2.4 million people whether they planned to vote for the incumbent Democratic, Franklin D. Roosevelt, or his Republican challenger, Alfred Landon. BI Graphics Lit Dig covers It trumpeted this prediction: Landon: 57% Roosevelt: 43% The poll must have had one of the smallest margins of error in polling. But it was dead wrong. Error margins apply only to the population a pollster is sampling. This is what actually happened in the election: Roosevelt: 62% Landon: 38% The Literary Digest fell prey to selection bias. That massive sample was made up of its subscribers and members of groups and organizations that tended to skew wealthier than the average American. Today's pollsters are savvier, but there are still many ways that bias seeps in. For instance, a poll that calls only landlines may leave out a whole demographic of younger, cellphone-only households. Some polls are opt-in, where users of a specific website answer questions. That's less reliable than a random sampling. "Far more important than dialing down the margin of error is making sure that whatever you're aiming at is unbiased and that you do have a representative sample," says Andrew Bray, an assistant professor of statistics at Reed College. Story continues Some polls have well-known biases. Rasmussen, for instance, is known to skew Republican. Lee Miringoff, the director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion which produces polls for NBC News, The Wall Street Journal, and McClatchy says polls are as much art as science. "Scientifically, we should get the same result," he says. Modern polls are not immune to these issues. Some potential voters are harder to reach, and some polls skew more educated. And polls with a high percentage of potential voters who are undecided can lead to more uncertainty. So how much can we trust today's results? Margin of error BI Graphics_Spearfishing vs throwing a net_transparent Pollsters and journalists tend to highlight the headline numbers in a poll. In July, before the Democratic convention, a Rasmussen survey showed Trump leading Clinton, 43-42. Rasmussen didn't help matters by describing Trump as "statistically ahead." It's actually not that simple. First, you have to consider the margin of error. Rasmussen pollsters interviewed 1,000 people to represent the views of 320 million Americans. Naturally, the poll results might not perfectly match what the whole population thinks. That Rasmussen poll has a 3-point margin of error. Here's what that actually means. Let's take that Trump number: 43% is something called a point estimate. This is basically the polling firm's best educated guess of what the number would be if it had asked the whole population. But it's not guaranteed to be right. The margin of error accounts for this: Because the margin of error is 3 points, the pollsters are confident that support for Trump in the total population is between 40% and 46% or 43% plus or minus 3 percentage points. Support for Clinton is between 39% and 45%. confidence intervals The point estimate (the dots in the chart above) is like fishing with a spear; you're stabbing for the right answer. The margin of error is like fishing with a net; somewhere in your catch is the true figure. But this is not the whole story, either. Feeling confident Before the 2016 Michigan primary, it looked as if Clinton had it made. FiveThirtyEight aggregated several polls and predicted that she had a 99% chance of winning the primary. Many polls had Clinton ahead of challenger Bernie Sanders by double digits. The polls were wrong. Sanders eked out a narrow victory. Of the many reasons pollsters might have been off, this may be one of them: There's more to polling than the margin of error. "The margin of error is a guidepost but not a foolproof" one, Miringoff says. Here's what the margin of error really means. Pollsters typically ask roughly 1,000 people a question like: Whom do you plan to vote for? Their goal is to be 95% sure that the real level of support in the whole population is captured in the sample's range, from the low end of the margin of error to the high end. That range is called a "confidence interval." Let's say a pollster like Miringoff were to run that same poll 100 times. Each time, he would randomly select different groups of 1,000 people. Miringoff would expect that the true proportion the candidate's actual support would be found within the margin of error of 95 out of the 100 polls. That's why he'd say that he's 95% confident in the results. Those five outliers are one reason elections don't always turn out the way pollsters predict. Remember that Rasmussen poll in July showing Trump with 43% support? That 43% is thought to be the most likely reflection of reality. But the pollster is still only 95% confident that Trump's true amount of support is found between 40% and 46%. The further you get from that point estimate, the less likely it is that you are seeing the true number. So it's more likely to be 42% than 41% and 40% is even less likely. normal curve annotated 2 The chance that what's happening in reality is captured by a number outside the 95% confidence interval is, as you might expect, quite unlikely. The more outside it is, the more minuscule the likelihood. But it's still possible for a poll to be way off. "If you really want to be 100% confident in your estimate, you're either going to have to ask every American or be satisfied with a huge margin of error," Bray, the Reed College statistics professor, says. The whole point of polling is to extrapolate what a large group believes by asking a randomly selected subset of that group. In the era of modern polling, most pollsters agree that being 95% confident in the margin of error is "good enough." "It's a reasonably high number," Bray says. "That means we're going to be wrong one in 20 times, but for most people that's acceptable." Many polls, such as those from the Pew Research Center, bury the margin of error in the fine print. Far fewer highlight the confidence interval. But anytime you see a poll, remember: There's a 5% chance that the poll is far different from the headline number. Keeping it 1,000 BI Graphics_1000 emoji_transparent Look closely, and you'll notice that most polls question roughly 1,000 people. That holds true whether pollsters are trying to approximate voter opinion in Rhode Island (about 1 million residents) or the entire US (nearly 320 million residents). Why 1,000? It's a big enough number to be reasonably confident in the result within the margin of error 19 out of 20 times. There's a lot of variety in a group of 1,000 people, so it captures many of the elements in the larger group. Asking more people than 1,000 leads to diminishing returns of accuracy. For instance, sampling 2,000 people is not twice as precise as sampling 1,000. It might bring the margin of error from roughly 3 points to about 2.2 points. moe vs sample size 3 In modern polling, most statisticians see sampling 1,000 people as a good compromise between a manageable sample size and acceptable confidence. What and when Results differ among pollsters for many reasons. There are simple explanations, like when the polls were conducted. It can take days or weeks to conduct and analyze a poll. A lot of news can happen between the dates on which the questions were asked and the date of the results' release. BI Graphics_Polling Days vs Election Day transparent This is especially a problem with polls close to Election Day. They're generally a snapshot in the week before the election. If something happens in the final days of campaigning, those final polls may not be as predictive. It also matters how a pollster phrases and orders questions, and whether it's a phone interview, in-person interview, or online survey. Even the interviewer's tone of voice can matter. Then, pollsters have to decide how to analyze and weight the data, and those methodologies can vary. But it's not just pollsters analyzing data, and that's where we get another big problem. Drilling down BI Graphics 1000 Group When Miringoff releases his Marist polls into the wild, they are quickly consumed by journalists, commentators, and a public looking for trends that create headlines. This drives him crazy. "It's too often to throw up your arms," Miringoff says. Here's the problem. Let's say his team interviews 1,000 people to represent the general population. In that 1,000 there are subgroups: men versus women, minorities, immigrants, young people, old people. It's tempting to pull out those subgroups and draw conclusions about, say, support for a candidate among Latinos or women. But each of those subgroups is, in effect, its own sample, and those samples can be very small. That means the margin of error for each subset can be huge. Take this poll from Pew: In the sample, there were only 146 black respondents. The margin of error for that subgroup is more than 9 points! redo screenshot You can't learn much by looking at a group with a 9-point error margin. Why aggregating is good If you combine results from multiple polls taken at the same time, you can think of it as one huge poll. That drives down the overall margin of error and can make you more confident in the predictive power of the polls. In the real world, different polls are conducted in different ways, so you can't think of an aggregated poll as truly one big sample. But this is also a virtue because it reduces the effect of pollster biases and errors. FiveThirtyEight, The New York Times, and RealClearPolitics all run averages with different weightings and methodologies. Ahead or tied? OK, so now that you know a lot more about polls, what should you think when a race is tight? The answer is not straightforward. Let's say that a poll comes out showing Clinton with 51% support and Trump with 49%. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 points. Are the two candidates statistically tied, or is Clinton slightly ahead? In purely statistical terms, most would consider this example a "statistical dead heat." Either candidate could be ahead. "It's pretty significant editorially," Miringoff says. "It's not significant statistically." That said, that doesn't mean Clinton's lead in this hypothetical example is completely insignificant. "If I was running for office, I'd rather have 51 than 49," Miringoff says. Remember point estimates? In this scenario, 51% is still the pollster's best guess at Clinton's true level of support. That's higher than Trump's. If a series of polls shows Clinton with a slight edge even within the margin of error then it can suggest an advantage. A series of polls is more convincing than any single poll. Feedback loop BI Graphics_Trump Feedback Loop transparent Finally, for as much as we want to believe that polls are a scientific reflection of reality, polls can also affect reality. Here's one example: Polls that show candidates falling behind can galvanize their supporters to get out to vote. The media may also focus on polling trends, leading to changes in public opinion about which candidates are viable or worth supporting. Polls don't happen in a vacuum. NOW WATCH: INSTANT POLL: Americans viewed Clinton's convention speech more favorably than Trump's More From Business Insider Sept 6 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the business pages of British newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. The Times Telefonica SA has kicked off plans to float O2, its British mobile phone business, in what could rank as one of the biggest IPOs in City history. http://bit.ly/2c3c4vk Russian investigators have launched a criminal investigation into an energy company controlled by Viktor Vekselberg, one of the country's richest tycoons. http://bit.ly/2c3d6rc The Guardian Sainsbury plc is to open mini-Habitat shops and more than double the number of Argos outlets in its supermarkets by Christmas after finalising its 1.4bn takeover of Home Retail Group. http://bit.ly/2c3czFv U.S. product safety and testing non-profit organisation Consumer Reports has called for Samsung Electronics Co Ltd to initiate an official recall of all of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, following a halt in sales caused by some phablets exploding while charging. http://bit.ly/2c3d0Q6 The Telegraph GlaxoSmithKline plc scored a double win today after announcing positive results from separate studies in two of its biggest divisions: respiratory and vaccines. Sky News North Korea has fired three ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast, South Korea has said. http://bit.ly/2c3cLEJ Santander UK plc is weighing a takeover bid for one of the UK's biggest credit card groups in a move that could cast doubt on its interest in buying a separate set of assets from the state-backed Royal Bank of Scotland. The Independent Junior doctors' strikes set to take place for five consecutive days next week have been called off following concerns for patient safety. http://ind.pn/2c3cYI2 Theresa May has said the UK's relations with China are "about more than Hinkley" as speculation mounted that the Prime Minister could pull back from the symbolically important 18 bln nuclear scheme. http://ind.pn/2c3dlTc (Compiled by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler) Sept 6 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. - Suspected ringleaders of Malaysia's 1MDB scandal allegedly cultivated bank executives, pressed compliance officers and obsessed about secrecy. http://on.wsj.com/2cCq8kJ - Apple Inc on Wednesday will introduce new versions of its flagship smartphone, but they likely won't include the kind of significant new features that Apple consumers have come to expect every other year. http://on.wsj.com/2c0i4EC - Thousands of pages of Hillary Clinton's official records are set to be released in coming weeks, testing the Democratic presidential candidate as she looks to maintain her advantage in the final two months of the campaign. http://on.wsj.com/2cmjUkn - Bayer AG raised its offer to buy Monsanto Co and create a new global leader in seeds and pesticides, though the German firm said the higher price depended on achieving a "negotiated transaction." http://on.wsj.com/2cfkJOu - High-yield corporate bonds have been a hot investment in 2016. Now, some investors are fretting that the debt may have gotten too popular. http://on.wsj.com/2c758iM - Growing populist forces shook Europe's pillar of stability this weekend, as an unprecedented defeat for Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives in Germany signaled more political tumult across the continent. http://on.wsj.com/2cmm5V1 - General Motors Co settled the final two ignition-switch cases slated for trial in a New York federal court this year, moving the Detroit auto maker closer to clearing remaining legal hurdles stemming from a safety defect linked to 124 deaths. http://on.wsj.com/2c63ZI7 (Compiled by Aurindom Mukherjee in Bengaluru) Sept 6 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the New York Times business pages. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. - So few homes are on the market in Silicon Valley, California that buyers are getting more aggressive and innovative in approaching owners who haven't officially decided to sell. http://nyti.ms/2bPhNns - A chief executive's political leanings may significantly influence whom workers donate to and choose at the polls, a new academic study found. http://nyti.ms/2bPhDMK - Barclays Plc said on Monday that Tim Throsby, JPMorgan's global head of equities, would join the British lender in January as president of its corporate and international business and as chief executive of its corporate and investment bank. http://nyti.ms/2bPiZXZ - British Airways said it was grappling with computer problems late Monday, as passengers turned to social media to complain of delays and reached out to the company for answers and assistance. http://nyti.ms/2bPiyNp - A monobrand watch store and a new mall are among the signs that high-end retail is emerging in Myanmar after a 1962 military coup stunted the country's economy for decades. http://nyti.ms/2bPk6XE - BTG Pactual SA, a once highflying Brazilian investment bank that stumbled badly during a brush with scandal last year, is reinventing itself with more modest aspirations. http://nyti.ms/2bPkB42 (Compiled by Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru) By Megan Rowling BARCELONA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - After this week's G20 summit in China failed to set a target year to phase out hundreds of billions of dollars in state subsidies for polluting fossil fuels, green groups and experts are urging Germany to finish the job as host of next year's summit. Ahead of the Sept. 4-5 meeting in Hangzhou, leaders of the world's most powerful economies had faced growing pressure to declare a date to end the subsidies. In June more than 200 civil society organizations called on the G20 to phase out fossil fuel subsidies by 2020, while insurers managing $1.2 trillion followed suit last month. But despite a commitment by G7 nations in May to end government financial support for oil, gas and coal by 2025, the wider G20 group was unable to agree on a deadline. Instead, the summit communique reaffirmed a commitment, first made in 2009, "to rationalize and phase-out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption over the medium term, recognizing the need to support the poor". Subsidies from G20 governments to fossil fuel production alone - excluding subsidies to consumers - averaged $444 billion annually in 2013 and 2014, according to a report by Oil Change International and the London-based Overseas Development Institute (ODI). "Time is running out. Every dollar wasted on fossil fuel subsidies pushes us closer to climate disaster and makes the transition to clean energy more difficult," said Alex Doukas, a senior campaigner with Oil Change International. "As more governments take the important step of ratifying the Paris Agreement on climate change, they must stop giving handouts to big polluters, which undermine the spirit and the letter of the Paris deal," he said. Right before the summit, China and the United States jointly announced they had ratified the Paris climate change agreement, a significant step for the world's two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases. That is set to boost momentum for the deal to take effect early, perhaps as soon as this year. But the broader G20 took a more cautious stance. It merely welcomed "efforts to enable the Paris Agreement to enter into force by the end of 2016" and looked forward "to its timely implementation". India was seen as blocking a more pro-active G20 stance on climate action. The Indian press reported comments by Indian officials that New Delhi would not be ready to ratify the Paris deal in 2016, nor was it prepared to agree to a U.S. proposal for a deadline to phase out fossil fuel subsidies. An Indian negotiator told The Indian Express before the summit that India had already cut subsidies on petrol and diesel, which are "taxed significantly". "Subsidies on cooking gas for the poor and supply of free electricity to farmers cannot be done away with, the negotiator told the newspaper. Andrew Light, a senior fellow at the World Resources Institute and a former U.S. State Department climate adviser, said before the summit that the United States was seeking a 2021 phase-out deadline for the G20, but India appeared to favor 2031. 'CLIMATE CHAMPION' Groups working to drive forward climate action will now focus on lobbying behind the scenes and speaking out in public to push Germany to make a time limit for ending fossil fuel subsidies a priority at the G20 summit in July 2017, said ODI research fellow Shelagh Whitley. "We see that Germany is a champion on climate, and that they may be able to take a stronger role than other G20 countries in ensuring that this happens," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Whitley said more countries are acting to reduce subsidies, and becoming comfortable with the idea of setting a deadline. Getting more businesses to join the call for a phase-out date would be important to build motivation for G20 governments to agree to one in Germany, she added. Wendel Trio, director of the Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, said that with the G20 presidency moving to Europe next year, the European Union should show leadership and "urgently reform its policies and tools that both directly and indirectly allow for financial support to the fossil fuel industry". Celia Gautier, policy advisor at CAN's French arm, said France should join the United States, China, Germany and Mexico in agreeing to a peer review of its public support for fossil fuels, and phase out its subsidies by 2020. The China and the United States were the first G20 countries to have their fossil fuel subsidies reviewed in a process chaired by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The reviews, made public this weekend, highlighted inefficient fossil fuel support policies that could be reformed. OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria described the reviews as "critically important". "Reforming policies that support the production or consumption of fossil fuels is a vital step in the global effort to substantially reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, he said on the sidelines of the Hangzhou summit. (Reporting by Megan Rowling @meganrowling; editing by Laurie Goering. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org) British film producer Donald Ranvaud, who made movies on four continents, including the Oscar-nominated City of God, died Monday in Montreal while attending the World Film Festival there as a juror. He was 62. Ranvaud, considered an innovator on the global independent film circuit, was found dead in his hotel room on the last day of the festival. The cause was reportedly a heart attack. Born in Florence, Italy, in 1953, Ranvaud taught English and comparative literature at the University of Warwick and the University of East Anglia and also had a distinguished career as a film journalist for Sight and Sound and Cahiers du Cinema, among other publications, before becoming a producer in the late 1980s. In 1988, he set up the European Script fund with actress Renee Goddard as part of the then-nascent MEDIA Program of the Commission of the European Community. A year later, he became a pioneering full-time producer in far-flung countries, first in China, where he was a producer on Chen Kaiges Life on a String and then Farewell My Concubine, in 1993. Concubine is the only Chinese-language film to have won the Cannes Palme dOr. Ranvaud moved in 1994 to Latin America, where he served as a producer in different guises on, among other titles, Central Station by Brazilian director Walter Salles; Rolling Family by Argentine Pablo Trapero; and two works by Brazilian helmer Fernando Mereilles, City of God and The Constant Gardner, adapted from the novel by John Le Carre. The Constant Gardner was shot in Kenya and won Rachel Weisz a supporting-actress Oscar in 2006. Through his Buena Onda shingle, set up in 2003, Ranvaud became known as an ambassador for Latin American cinema, establishing joint ventures with the Cinergia film fund in Costa Rica. He was among founders of La Fabrica film school in Cochabamba, Bolivia. But he also made movies in Italy and the U.S., among other countries. Ranvaud also handled sales at Videofilmes company in Rio De Janeiro and Sogepaq in Spain, and played a part in helping to set up French mini-major Wild Bunch. Story continues Starting in early 2005, Ranvaud got involved in micro-distribution of movies as head of international relations at Brazils Rain Networks, which gathers independent movie theaters into a global digital network. Ranvaud worked with Al Pacino and U.S.-based Iranian producer Barry Navidi on Pacinos 2011 Oscar Wilde adaptation Wild Salome. He was a close friend of director Bernardo Bertolucci, who served as jury president of the Action4Climate Documentary competition that Ranvaud set up as part of an environmental awareness initiative of the World Bank, one of his most recent endeavors. Ranvauds final film as a producer is a still-unfinished first feature titled Sweet Democracy, with Italian Nobel-prize winning thesp Dario Fo among the cast. It is directed by Italys Michele Dioma. Donald was a free man, Dioma told Italian news agency ANSA. An honest man with plenty of irony, my adoptive filmic father. I will miss him terribly, Dioma added, as will all those who loved his way of making independent, bold, and poetic cinema. A prominent Bangladeshi magazine editor was released from jail Tuesday nearly five months after his arrest on charges of plotting to kill the premier's son, a case that sparked fears of a press crackdown. Shafik Rehman, 81, who is also a British citizen and a former speechwriter for the main opposition leader and the premier's arch rival, was released days after the Supreme Court granted him bail. "He is very weak. He has been suffering from heart and other ailments," his wife, Taleya Rehman, said after his release from Kashimpur prison outside Dhaka. "We are taking him to Birdem hospital in Dhaka where he will be treated," she told AFP. Police arrested Rehman from his home in April on conspiracy charges of plotting to murder Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, who lives in the United States. Police said they had found evidence linking the editor to the plot, claims his family and supporters reject. Rehman was the third pro-opposition editor to have been arrested by authorities including on charges of sedition, triggering repeated calls from rights groups for their release. Journalists have also been detained under provisions of a controversial defamation law which critics say gives the government free reign to quash dissent. Concerns over freedom of speech are also rising in Muslim-majority Bangladesh following a spate of gruesome killings of secular bloggers and liberal activists by Islamic extremists. Rehman was a long-time editor of Jai Jai Din, a mass-circulation Bengali daily. He now edits a popular Bengali monthly magazine called Mouchake Dhil. More recently, he became the convenor of the international affairs committee of opposition leader Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and headed a pro-opposition think-tank named G-9. The government launched a major crackdown last year against activists from the BNP and its Islamist allies following a transport blockade that left scores dead in a failed bid to force Hasina to resign. Story continues The Supreme Court last Thursday granted Rehman bail for three months or until police submitted a charge sheet against him, his lawyer, M Asaduzzaman, said. "We're hoping the bail will be extended," Asaduzzaman told AFP, adding that Rehman's passport had been seized. Authorities last week arrested an award-winning editor of a specialist education website for allegedly defaming an influential ex-schools chief. anterior Canciller sueca, dura critica de Israel, encomienda a lider opositora que transmita que se opone al BDS Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele Tuesday filed a "weighty" motion asking a Pennsylvania judge to allow 13 other alleged victims of Bill Cosby to testify at his criminal trial. "Since the victim disclosed this drug-facilitated assault to the police, other women, suffering nearly identical trauma at the hands of the defendant came forward," the motion said. "During the course of this case, the Commonwealth investigated nearly 50 women allegedly victimized by defendant," the motion states. "What became clear was that the defendant has engaged, over the course of his lifetime, in a pattern of serial sexual abuse." The 68-page motion then details the account of each of the 13 women they chose to include. The motion was filed just before a pre-trial conference got underway. Montgomery County Judge Steven O'Neill said he would schedule a separate hearing on that issue. Cosby, 79, is charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting former Temple employee Andrea Constand, now 43, at his Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, home in January 2004. Cosby has pleaded not guilty to those charges and denies similar accusations from more than 50 women. Steele filed the 404b motion asking that the testimony of 13 of those women be allowed in, under what's known as "other acts evidence" in Pennsylvania. Admission is up to a judge. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. Earlier this year, former Montgomery County sex crimes prosecutor Rich DeSipio explained to PEOPLE exactly what such a motion might accomplish. "It's a pattern of behavior to show his [alleged] plan in committing a crime to show this is how he commits sexual assaults," said DeSipio, who used the rule many times while prosecuting sex crimes in Philadelphia and in Montgomery County. Because the testimony is potentially so prejudicial to a defendant, there has to be striking similarities to the alleged victim's case, he said. In Constand's case, DeSipio outlined a pattern that alleged other acts would have to follow in order to be admissible: "He gets women where he's in a position of power; he gets them one on one; he then gives them some kind of drug whether it's alcohol or pills then he touches them in a similar way. "If something in any one of them is so dissimilar from the current case it isn't going to be admitted," DeSipio said. "Just alleging someone was sexually assaulted would not be admitted. It doesn't have to be identical but pretty close to it." While their names are not in the motion, authorities have notified the women of their inclusion or exclusion, the women told PEOPLE. The rule is used in many sexual assault crimes, DeSipio told PEOPLE. "Judges are more likely to let this testimony in in sexual assault cases than they are in other types of crimes because usually there's no other evidence," he said. "It's by nature a secret crime. It's her word against his. There's not going to be any physical evidence no DNA, no forensics, no evidence of pills. And usually someone who commits a sex crime doesn't do it just once." On Tuesday, O'Neill also heard arguments on whether a recording of a January 2005 phone call between Cosby, Andrea and her mother, Gianna in which her mother confronted Cosby about allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting her daughter should be allowed at trial. From Esquire When you're choosing a place to hide your $56 million drug stash, why not just go for the joke? Employees at a French Coca-Cola factory found massive bags of cocaine hidden within a shipment of orange juice concentrate this week, according to the New York Times. The drug shipment was a whopping 370 kilograms, which made it officially one of the largest drug discoveries in France. It had a street value of 50 million euros or $56 million, according to prosecutor Xavier Tarabeux, who called the shipment a "very bad surprise." "The first elements of the investigation have shown that employees are in no way involved," Jean-Denis Malgras, Coca-Cola's regional president, told the news website Var-Matin. Maybe it was meant as a throwback to Coca-Cola's original formula that contained coca leaves and kola nuts, but either way, we see what you did there, drug smugglers. You Might Also Like Moscow (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday laid roses at the grave of late Uzbek leader Islam Karimov, whose death last week after 27 years in charge sparked fears of instability in the Central Asian nation. Footage broadcast by Russian state television showed Putin kneeling at Karimov's flower-covered grave in the historic city of Samarkand after he made a detour to ex-Soviet Uzbekistan on his way home from the G20 summit in China. Putin also held talks with Uzbek Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev, in a further sign that he is the frontrunner to replace Karimov, who was announced dead at 78 on Friday after a stroke with no clear successor. Long lambasted by rights groups for brutally crushing dissent, Karimov portrayed himself as a bulwark against radical Islam on the border of Afghanistan and played off Russia, the West and China against each other. But the Russian leader praised Karimov for maintaining "stability" and said Russia would "do everything to support the Uzbek people and the Uzbek leadership." "You can count on us fully, as you can on your most faithful friends," Putin said, according to Interfax news agency. Mirziyoyev -- a Karimov loyalist known as a tough-guy enforcer -- told Putin that Uzbekistan's ties with Russia were "completely strategic" and that Tashkent would look to "continue to develop" them, Interfax said. "Your visit today says a lot and we are very grateful to you," Mirziyoyev told Putin, calling it the "shoulder of a real friend" during a "difficult time". Footage also showed Putin greeting Karimov's black-clad widow Tatyana and younger daughter Lola inside a marble-lined hall before bowing his head in front of a large portrait of the deceased president. - Jihadist fears - Karimov was one of the Communist Party bosses who managed to cling to power after the collapse of the Soviet Union, crushing Islamist groups at home as he imposed his iron-fisted rule. Story continues During his time at the helm, he kept the cotton-rich nation of 32 million balanced between Moscow and the West, at one stage hosting a US base for its operation in neighbouring Afghanistan. Analysts say that Moscow is keen to see an orderly transfer of power in the impoverished country given fears of the threat from jihadists close to its southern flank and could be hoping to exert more influence over Uzbekistan. "Russia has always viewed stability on its southern border as a priority and especially so these days because of fears that (the Islamic State group) could exploit a power vacuum," Scott Radnitz, a regional expert at the University of Washington, told AFP. The Kremlin could try to draw Uzbekistan closer by offering a better deal for the roughly two million migrant workers from the impoverished country living in Russia or a generous loan, Radnitz said, but ultimately the new leadership is likely to keep treading its own course. "As before, it will not put all its eggs in the Russian basket," he said. On Sep 6, we issued an updated research report on Houston, Texas-based Quanta Services Inc. PWR, which provides specialty contracting services to the electric power, and oil and gas industries globally. The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Last month, Quanta Services had posted a huge earnings miss, as its second-quarter 2016 earnings lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate by over 56%. Apart from broad-based weakness, profits were hurt by a host of factors like a major project loss, persistent softness in the oil and gas segment as well as unrelenting engineering and production issues in a power plant construction project in Alaska. Wildfires in Alberta, Canada and higher-than-expected tax liability extended losses for the company. Following the dismal performance, the Zacks Consensus Estimate has moved south over the last 30 days, indicating bearish analyst sentiment. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has declined 13.8% to 50 cents for the upcoming quarter and 7.3% to $1.39 for full-year 2016. The companys electric transmission and mainline projects continue to be adversely affected by reduced customer spending and delays in project timing stemming from regulatory and permitting issues. In addition, it is incurring losses in its power plant project in Alaska, which has deeply affected its growth momentum. Further, revenue growth in the companys Oil and Gas segment has been hampered by regulatory delays on some large mainline pipe projects and fluctuations in timing of large projects. Currency fluctuations also continue to be a drag on the companys financials. In the last reported quarter, unfavorable foreign currency translations reduced the companys sales by about $8 million. QUANTA SERVICES Price and Consensus QUANTA SERVICES Price and Consensus | QUANTA SERVICES Quote However, Quanta Services expects a strong rebound in its end markets in coming quarters, on the back of solid growth drivers like an aging grid, shifting generation mix and implementation of clean energy initiatives. According to the C3 Group, an independent energy infrastructure and utility research organization, expenditure on transmission is projected to be around $25$30 billion in North America through 2020. Story continues Thus, the North American electric transmission and distribution markets are anticipated to act as one of the key growth drivers for the company as the region continues to deploy more capital in transmission and distribution upgrades to improve system reliability and deliver renewable electricity from new generation sources to demand centers. The company is optimistic about high-voltage electric transmission award opportunities amid substantial bidding activity and is pursuing a number of large high-voltage electric transmission projects both in Canada and the United States. Also, Quanta Services has a sturdy base of large transmission projects in its backlog. It recently won two large electric project awards, whose aggregate contract value is about $500 million. Despite a tepid first half, the company expects strong performance from pipeline projects in the second half of 2016. It believes the considerable increase in large pipeline revenue contributions will boost its performance amid an active bidding and negotiating environment. It has a meaningful visibility and remains confident that multiple mainline projects, worth billions of dollars, will commence in 2017 and 2018. Quanta Services solid acquisitions also continue to bolster its top-line growth. In the last reported quarter, its acquired companies contributed about $40 million to revenues, primarily in the Electric Power Infrastructure Services segment. We believe that Quanta Services is well positioned to bank on the encouraging prospects in its business for the upcoming quarters. Stocks to Consider Better-ranked stocks in the broader consumer discretionary sector include Electronic Arts Inc. EA, Activision Blizzard, Inc. ATVI and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. TTWO, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report QUANTA SERVICES (PWR): Free Stock Analysis Report ACTIVISION BLZD (ATVI): Free Stock Analysis Report TAKE-TWO INTER (TTWO): Free Stock Analysis Report ELECTR ARTS INC (EA): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research London (AFP) - Radical cleric Anjem Choudary, long a thorn in the side of British authorities, was jailed in London Tuesday for five-and-a-half years after being convicted of encouraging support for Islamic State (IS) jihadists. Supporters of the 49-year-old and his co-defendant Mohammed Mizanur Rahman -- who received the same sentence -- shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) from the public gallery as the judge announced his decision, according to an AFP journalist. Judge Timothy Holroyde, in the ruling handed down at the Old Bailey court, said Choudary was "calculating and dangerous" and had shown no remorse. Dressed in a white robe, Choudary showed no emotion as the sentence was passed. "A significant proportion of those listening to your words would be impressionable persons looking to you for guidance on how to act," said the judge. Commander Dean Haydon, Head of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command, said the men "certainly had an influence in radicalising others, poisoning the mind of vulnerable people in the communities. "They were certainly in contact with terrorists overseas," he added outside court. A jury had convicted both men in July. Choudary is the former head in Britain of Islam4UK or al-Muhajiroun, a now-banned group co-founded by Omar Bakri Muhammad that called for Islamic law in Britain. For two decades, the former lawyer who is of Pakistani descent, stayed on the right side of the law, becoming Britain's most prominent radical preacher. Among those radicalised by Muhajiroun were the suicide bombers who killed 52 people on London's public transport system in July 2005, and the men who murdered soldier Lee Rigby in the capital in 2013, police say. - 'Spokesman for extremists' - The court heard that Choudary had broadcast speeches recognising Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as the leader of the Islamic State. It also emerged that Choudary and Rahman pledged their allegiance to ISIS using Mohammed Fachry, a convicted terrorist, to publish the oath that had been signed off by Choudary, on an Indonesian website. Story continues Police chief Haydon said both men had managed to stay "just within the law for many years", a source of frustration for law enforcement agencies. "We have watched Choudary developing a media career as spokesman for the extremists, saying the most distasteful of comments, but without crossing the criminal threshold," he added. "Their recent speeches and the oath of allegiance were a turning point for the police -- at last we had the evidence that they had stepped over the line and we could prove they were actively encouraging support of ISIS." Choudary and Rahman were arrested by officers from the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command on September 25, 2014. Choudary, a father-of-five, previously hit the headlines for organising a pro-Osama bin Laden event in London in 2011. He also belonged to a group that burned poppies, the symbol of remembrance for deaths in war, during an Armistice Day protest in the British capital in 2010. In a 2014 interview with AFP, Choudary called on western journalists, civilians and troops in "Muslim countries" to "completely withdraw and allow us to implement the Sharia." Cast Away: True Stories of Survival from Europes Refugee Crisis, tells the story of the European Unions chaotic and mismanaged response to the crisis through the eyes of five people who have arrived on Europes shores since 2011. They include Mohammed Kazkji, a young Syrian who fled military service in 2012 and was trying to forge a life in Libya. But then civil war gripped that country too, and his family urged him to try and reach Europe. In this edited extract, we join Mohammed as he prepares to set sail. Ever since he was a child, the sea had filled Mohammed Kazkji with a sense of foreboding. If you were killed by a bullet, at least it was quick. Drowning seemed like such a slow and awful way to die, and he avoided watching films about the sea or shipwrecks. One day, I will be swallowed by the sea, he used to think as he looked out at the waves. Read More: Alan Kurdis Death Has Changed Little for the Worlds Refugees He only learned to swim out of embarrassment. When he was ten years old he went to a pool in Damascus with two friends, and could not bear the humiliation of stories spreading around school of Mohammed and his fear of water. So he forced himself to jump in and stayed in the water until his survival instinct took over and his uncontrolled flailing morphed into a haphazard stroke which kept him afloat. Still, the prospect of hours at sea brought back that dread of his childhood, and it was with reluctance that Mohammed found himself standing on the beach in the Libyan town of Zuwarah on the night of October 10, 2013. The former coastal resort had become a hub for the thriving new business in people smuggling, as the optimism of the Arab Spring faded away and brutal conflicts sent record numbers of people fleeing from their homes. Mohammed pushed his way down to the waters edge to examine the vessel that would take him across the Mediterranean, but all he could see were two small motor boats. Story continues Where is the big boat? Mohammed asked. Read More: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea Dont worry, a smuggler told him, gesturing out into the darkness. The small boats would ferry the 400 passengers out to a larger vessel at sea, he said. When Mohammed finally arrived at the larger fishing vessel, he found himself clambering aboard a boat which he estimated to be decades old and little better than scrap. It was around 30 m (98 ft.) long and painted the same bright blue as every fishing vessel he had ever seen. A long wooden deck tangled with fishing nets led to a structure near the prow which had once been the captains room, and which was soon filled with people. The roof of the structure was commandeered as another level on which to pack even more people, creating the appearance of a floating human pyramid. Any protestations about overcrowding were met blankly by the captain, and Mohammed elbowed a small gap on the open deck towards the back of the boat. Soon after midnight, the motor spluttered into life and the Tunisian captain started off under cloudless skies. After about three hours of sailing someone on the boat lit a cigarette, and it barely registered with Mohammed. But when, a little while later, he was suddenly blinded by a search light, he was lucid enough to know that that was not part of the plan. Had the Libyan police caught up with their vessel, and were they sending them back? But when Mohammed peered over the side of the boat and to the source of the light, looking straight at him from a dinghy were the cold eyes of a pirate, a Kalashnikov rifle slung over one shoulder. Six heavily armed men prowling the sea had spotted the lit cigarette and aimed their vessel towards the rich pickings. The families on board the fishing vessel had taken everything they could with them to try and start a new life in Europe, and the pirates knew that pockets, wallets, bags and bundles would be bulging with cash. For each family their savings may only be enough to survive for a few weeks when they reached Europe, but for the robbers a few hundred from each of the 400 passengers would make a fine bounty. These are militiamen, the Tunisian captain shouted above the drone of the waves and the dinghy motor. They want money and mean to kill people, so we have to go on. Utterly helpless, Mohammed followed his instinct and buried his head in his arms, trying to ignore the edge of fear in the captains voice as he urged his cargo to keep still. Then the gunfire started. Terrified passengers tried to scramble away from the sides of the boat, but there was nowhere else to go and it just caused the boat to rock in the rising waves. A woman hoisted her two-year-old son above her head, pleading with the attackers to stop shooting. Please, she screamed, I have a baby. The mothers appeals went unheard, and Mohammed winced at the phhut of a bullet striking wood. His head down in prayer, Mohammed heard a bullet strike the engine, and he was sure of his fate now: he was going to die in the cold sea far away from the family he loved so dearly. With each burst of gunfire, he braced himself for the bullet which would end his life. Then the moon disappeared and as the rising sun slowly brought an end to their hellish night, Mohammed raised his head from his hands. The dinghy had gone, the militia retreated back to the Libyan coast. No one on board was dead. The woman who had tried to protect her child sat now in a huddle, enveloping him with her body. For a brief time, Mohammed was happyhe had survived yet another ordeal. Then he looked over the side of the boat. The trawler was sitting lower in the water, and a fierce swell sunk their boat further with each buffeting wave. It didnt take long for others on board to notice their fresh predicament, and now in the morning light Mohammed could see panic on peoples faces. When it became clear that the pirates bullets had caused irreparable damage, the captain asked for anyone who could speak English to make a call for help on the satellite phone. At 11 a.m., Mohanad Jammo, a doctor from Aleppo, called the Rome Rescue Coordination Centre and gave them their position, reporting that there were 400 people on board including 100 children, and they were sinking fast. The line was cut off. They got through again just after midday, only to be told by an officer in Rome that their coordinates placed them in the Maltese search-and-rescue area so they should call them instead. Eventually the Italians also contacted the Maltese, and a rescue operation was launched at around 1 p.m. But no boats came. The sun sunk lower in the sky, and panic was spreading. Some men had gone below deck with empty water bottles and were attempting to bail out the water. Many people tried to save themselves with a misguided surge toward the side of the boat which was higher in the water, causing the vessel to list more sharply. Older passengers with more experience of the sea shouted that everybody must stay still. A voice in the crowd urged people to cast their belongings overboard to lighten the load. Mohammed opened his bag and looked at the contents, symbolizing his life up until that moment: the engineering manuals that represented his studies, a few mementos of his family. He didnt dwell on the symbolism for too long before throwing it over the side, hopeful that his act was one of many which would keep them afloat for that little bit longer while the European navies raced towards them. They were still waiting for the rescue boats at 5 p.m., when the trawler gave one last lurch in the swell and disappeared beneath the waves. Cast Away will be published in the US by The New Press on Sept. 6 Itongadol.-The teachers\ union in Oldenburg, Germany, has formally apologized for its publication of a pro-boycott Israel article in its September magazine. With the publication of this article from the field of the so-called BDS campaign, we made a big mistake, Heinz Buhrmann, chairman of the of Education and Science Workers Union (GEW) in Oldenburg, wrote on Monday. The local unions parent-teacher organization termed BDS anti-Semitic on its Twitter feed. The GEW rejects a boycott of Israel and anti-Semitic positions, wrote Buhrmann. After The Jerusalem Post first reported on Saturday that the GEWs paper advocated BDS, the union reversed its position and removed a statement from its website that suggested a defense of the publication of the article. The monthly paper was sent to the GEWs 1,200 members in the area of Oldenburg in the state of Lower Saxony. Not one member of the Oldenburg GEW district executive board is racist or anti-Semitic," said Buhrmann, claiming the BDS campaign was, for us, completely not known as problematic. Our lack of knowledge is to blame." The union leader said the executive board did not author the article, but was responsible for its publication. In a short time, we will publish a special edition of our district organizations paper PaedOl with counter-statements, reactions and letters to the editor regarding the article, he said. The GEWs pro-BDS article electrified Twitter over the weekend. Volker Beck, a leading German Green Party MP and head of the German-Israel parliamentary group, wrote that he hopes the GEW national union condemns BDS as an anti-Semitic project, in response to which, the Twitter feed for the national GEW organization wrote: Of course, the GEW condemns an anti-Semitic campaign like BDS. We are democratic and anti-racist! The federal GEW announced in January that its membership number is nearly 281,000. The GEW Berlin also condemned BDS on its twitter feed. The author of the pro-BDS article, Christoph Glanz, a fringe anti-Israel activist, is a GEW member and teacher in Oldenburg. The publication of the pro-BDS article is believed to the first instance of a workers organization article urging a complete boycott of Israel and Jews since the Holocaust. In recent years, the neo-Nazi parties NPD and Der Dritte Weg (The Third Way) have called for a total boycott of Israel. Lisa Scheremet, a Jewish teacher in Oldenburg, canceled her GEW membership because of the article. I do not want to finance the active anti-Israel propaganda with my membership dues, she said in a letter to the GEW\s Buhrmann. Israels embassy told the Post last week the GEW is an important German institution in Germany so it was surprised and disappointed that the Oldenburg chapter chose to republish the pamphlet of a BDS activist in its magazine. We rely on the moral values and intellectual capabilities of readers of the magazine to correctly classify the pamphlet, but we still expect the magazine to show better editorial standards, the embassy said. By Carolyn Crist (Reuters Health) - People with high blood pressure who monitor it regularly at home may be getting incorrect readings with devices that take measurements on the wrist, a new study suggests. Researchers found that self-measurement at home with wrist devices often led to false reports of elevated blood pressure when compared to measurements in a doctors office. Accurate readings often depended on correct positioning of the wrist, which patients either didnt understand or didnt remember how to do. Arterial blood pressure is a silent killer, said lead author Dr. Edoardo Casiglia, a European clinical hypertension specialist at the University of Padua in Italy. Its important for those with high blood pressure to be aware of their numbers and receive adequate treatment. High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, can lead to heart attack, stroke and kidney problems. About one in three adults in the U.S., or 70 million people, have high blood pressure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The American Heart Association recommends that people with high blood pressure take measurements at home with commercially available monitoring devices because blood pressure fluctuates throughout the day and occasional readings at a doctors office dont provide a true assessment of a persons condition. The only way to monitor blood pressure consistently is to trust patients to measure at home, Casiglia told Reuters Health by email. Many devices are available, reliable and good. Recently, many wrist devices have appeared on the market, but they require the wrist to be placed exactly at heart level. Often, as seen in the study, patients rest the wrist device below heart level, which gives false high numbers and may encourage a doctor to increase medication. On the other hand, Casiglia said, holding the wrist at higher than heart level gives false low numbers and may encourage doctors to reduce treatment. Casiglia and colleagues trained 720 patients to use wrist devices and then measured blood pressure at home and in the doctors office with both an upper-arm device and a wrist device. The patients were instructed to take upper arm and wrist measurements themselves at home every morning and evening at the same time of day for seven consecutive days. In general, healthy people have a systolic blood pressure, the measurement when the heart beats, of less than 120 mmHg, and diastolic pressure, when the heart rests, of less than 80 mmHg. Blood pressures above 140 mmHg systolic or 90 mmHg diastolic are considered hypertension. In the current study, a total of 620 patients had inaccurate measurements at home, with 433 of these having discrepancies of more than 10 mm/Hg. Even after a training course, we found that choosing correct wrist position largely depends on cognitive pattern, which can be influenced by age and education, Casiglia said. This is why the wrist devices are not good for everybody. Doctors should decide which patients are a good fit for at-home wrist measurement, the study team writes in Hypertension. Using upper arm measurement is the gold standard and always our first choice, said Dr. Vincent Canzanello, a clinical hypertension specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who wasnt involved with the study. However, sometimes the cuffs dont fit larger arms or are painful for patients. One limitation of the study is a potential white coat effect, in which some peoples blood pressure rises simply from the stress of being in a doctors office, Canzanello told Reuters Health. Typically, our clinical assistants do several automated readings before a health care provider ever enters the room to avoid this effect, he said. Studies show that physicians are notoriously bad at measuring blood pressure in terms of following the proper guidelines, he added. About a third of Americans with high blood pressure have it controlled correctly, according to the American Heart Association. Proper at-home measurement could help patients obtain the correct treatment and medication. A device that measures the upper arm with the appropriately-sized cuff is the best option, Canzanello said. But for those who need to use a wrist device, this study shows that taking measurements with the proper instructions is key. By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in Congress are planning a light legislative agenda as they return from their long summer break on Tuesday, a strategy some say is designed in part to bog down Hillary Clinton if she becomes president. It is not uncommon for the Congress to take it slow in an election year and legislative delays could work in Republicans' favor if their nominee Donald Trump takes the White House in November. But the strategy will also pay dividends if it is Clinton who takes office on Jan. 20. She will be forced to deal with old baggage rather than focus on her agenda of infrastructure investments and immigration and Wall Street reforms. "If Hillary wins, we force her to waste time, resources, momentum, early good will and political capital - all on cleanup duty," said a senior aide to one Republican senator. If all goes as expected this autumn, a U.S. Supreme Court seat, vacant since Feb. 13, will remain unfilled until sometime next year. A sweeping Pacific free-trade deal negotiated by President Barack Obama will be on hold, if not doomed. And if many conservative Republicans get their way, government agencies will run on stop-gap funding from Oct. 1 until sometime in February or March. That means that the next president would have to negotiate a longer-term deal or face the prospect of government shutdowns in the early days of a new administration. Senior congressional aides have told Reuters their agenda for the coming months include bills to keep the government funded, combat the spreading Zika virus and renewing laws guarding the nation's water resources. Other items would help the majority Republicans score political points with key constituencies before the November elections, even though they have no chance of becoming law. These include scolding the Obama administration for a $400 million payment to Iran in January after Tehran released American prisoners, anti-abortion measures and, once again, proposals to repeal Obama's landmark healthcare law. Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist and former aide to Republican leaders in Congress, acknowledged that public opinion polling is trending in Clinton's direction. If Clinton wins, Bonjean added, "The whole mindset (among Republican leaders in Congress) would shift to taking care of the most important business to help Republicans and unloading the more difficult, tense issues for a Clinton administration to deal with." Clinton has maintained a lead in most polls since Republican and Democratic conventions, but some surveys showed that lead narrowing. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Sept. 2 showed Trump effectively pulling even with the Democratic nominee. Yet one veteran Republican congressional aide said more and more Republicans in Congress brace for the White House to stay in Democratic hands for the next four years, even if their party manages to maintain control of Congress. Trump's trouble in appealing to important groups of voters, such as Hispanics, African-Americans and Asians, and self-inflicted wounds "have made it pretty clear he's highly unlikely to get there," he said. Leaving the Supreme Court nomination and other high-profile disagreements for 2017 "does bog down" a new administration, "no question about it," the aide said. Some election years mean a slow autumn in Congress, but this is not always the case. In 2012 for example, lawmakers dramatically labored all the way through New Year's Eve addressing a "fiscal cliff" of expiring tax and spending laws. Not all of the delays in passing legislation are purely on Republican shoulders though. While Trump has blasted free-trade deals, leading Democrats, including Clinton, also have criticized Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership pact that would create a free-trade zone ranging from Japan to Chile. Stephen Hess, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, downplayed the challenges Clinton might face early on. "She knows how to deal with Congress. She's been there," he said referring to Clinton's years as a senator representing New York. Besides, he added, if Trump loses, Republicans will be busy dealing with their own problems. "They'll have to think seriously about how they got themselves in the trouble that theyre in." (Reporting By Richard Cowan; Editing by Julia Edwards and Tomasz Janowski) General Michael Hayden has written an important book, Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror, out in February. The book is a memoir of his career in intelligence and military service. Every reader of Shadow Government should read his book. Hayden is a fixture on television. He is paid to be a pessimist and has had to spend much of his career having to consider worst case scenarios to keep us safe. For the first 20 years of his career, he thought about the Russians invading Europe or launching nuclear weapons against the United States. For the second 20 years, he had to confront Islamic extremism, cybersecurity, China, and North Korea. Hayden has lived the American dream, and he represents the best of America. He grew up in a close-knit neighborhood in Pittsburgh. He lived in his grandfathers house. His grandfather ran a version of the Pennsylvania Lottery before there was a Pennsylvania Lottery, meaning he ran numbers. His grandfather was a very generous man and well liked in the neighborhood, and, in addition to the math lessons he imparted, had a very positive influence on Hayden. His father had an 8th grade education and was a welder, and his mother had a 10th grade education and continued to work in a cleaning crew even after Hayden had reached the rank of one-star general in the Air Force. The Air Force ROTC was Haydens ticket to college. He and his wife and children had a military life and lived all over the world as he rose up the ranks. Appointed by President Bill Clinton to the Nation Security Agency in 1999, he was the head of the NSA when 9/11 happened. He was appointed head of the Central Intelligence Agency for the last three years of George W. Bushs presidency. Hayden is not a political person, but he has views and is sought out by a broad spectrum of presidential candidates. His name carries a lot of weight in the intelligence and military communities. Republican 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney was fortunate to have associated with his campaign the generals time, counsel, and name. I first met Hayden through the Romney campaign. We have both remained active in conservative, internationalist circles through the John Hay Initiative. Our paths have crossed on many occasions. I recently had the privilege of sitting down with him for an extended podcast interview at my day job, which will be coming out soon (google Hayden Runde podcast and it should come up, starting the week of September 19). Haydens book raises a number of important issues. How do we balance security and individual liberty? Hayden was at the center of these debates as a policy maker for 10 years, and since. His book has many stories of conflicts between the Executive Branch and the Congress, some of which are ongoing. I asked him in the podcast interview if we are safer now than on 9/11. He said, Yes, we are safer than on September 10, 2001, but we are less safe than we were, say, in 2011. He believes that the Barack Obama administrations unwillingness to leave a residual force in Iraq and the delay and dithering (my words, not his) in Syria have increased our insecurity. I did ask him about U.S. diplomacy and U.S. foreign assistance (lets call them soft power). He has associated himself, along with dozens and dozens of other retired flag officers, with the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign a group that supports U.S. diplomacy and development. He told a story about his very last few weeks in office as head of the CIA. He was in the cabinet room and briefed the president and the National Security Council on a successful counterterrorism operation. At the end of the meeting, a senior Obama administration official complimented the CIA on a job well done. Hayden replied, Sir, this is only a counterterrorism operation. We can contain and we can restrain but we cant change the facts on the ground. My conclusion from the conversation and the anecdote is that Hayden believes that U.S. soft power needs to be used to take advantage of the precious time bought by our military and intelligence victories in order to attempt to change facts on the ground no small task. It is also clear from his book that he vigorously yet politely disagrees with a number of administration policy decisions as they pertain to the interrogation of terrorists, using Guantanamo as a prison for bad guys, and the wisdom of certain intelligence programs. My only complaint about the book is that he does not dedicate a chapter to what the future challenges are and how we should confront the current challenges. I hope he will write a second book about these issues. Photo credit: ALEX WONG/Getty Images Geneva (AFP) - UN investigators on Tuesday said aerial bombardment by Syrian forces and their ally Russia were mostly to blame for swelling numbers of civilian casualties in Syria's devastating conflict. The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria criticised all parties in the bloody war over a clear increase in "indiscriminate attacks on civilians," citing attacks on medical workers and facilities, blocked humanitarian convoys, enforced disappearances and summary executions. Investigator Vitit Muntarbhorn told reporters that aerial bombardments by "pro-government forces ... cause the most civilian casualties and damage to the civilian infrastructure, particularly in Idlib and Aleppo." When asked to clarify who exactly the "pro-government forces" referred to, commission chief Paulo Sergio Pinheiro said "the forces that are in the air are Russian and Syrian forces." The upsurge in violence in Syria since late March is especially regrettable, the investigators added, since it came after a ceasefire agreed in February offered a brief "glimmer of hope" to civilians who have endured five-and-a-half years of civil war. "The cessation of hostilities agreement brought a welcome respite for civilians that lasted all too briefly," the commission said in its 12th report, covering the period from January 10 to July 20 this year. The team emphasised the need to restore the ceasefire, insisting that "the sense of hope engendered earlier this year must be revitalised." The report was published after US President Barack Obama and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held talks on Syria on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in China this week, which were described as "productive". But the two powers failed to produce an expected deal to ease the violence in Syria, where more than 290,000 people have been killed and more than half the population displaced since March 2011. Story continues - 'Severe torture' - The UN commission has repeatedly accused the various sides of a wide range of war crimes and in some cases crimes against humanity. Tuesday's report charged that "unlawful killings, including deaths in detention, and summary executions remain a hallmark of this blood-soaked conflict." And for people detained especially by government forces, torture and sexual abuse appear to be the norm. "It is extremely rare to find an individual who has been detained by the government who has not suffered severe torture," it said. The commission voiced particular concern over the growing number of attacks on hospitals and medical workers over the past six months, pointing to the dire impact on access to desperately needed medical care in many places. Bombardments by pro-government forces were mostly to blame, it said, pointing out in a statement that such bombings had destroyed more than 20 hospitals and clinics in the Aleppo governorate alone since January. - Lift the sieges - The investigators also called for an end to the numerous sieges around the country, which have trapped nearly 600,000 people in often-horrific conditions. And they expressed deep concern over the fate of "at least 300,000 civilians" in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, which was once again completely encircled by government troops on Monday. The commission also said it was investigating allegations that chemical weapons had been used in the city, saying it had received "reliable information on the use of chlorine gas" on April 5, during the bombing of the Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood. In addition, Muntarbhorn said the team was investigating allegations of chemical weapons use in the country last month, but provided no further details. A separate UN investigative panel concluded last month that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces had carried out at least two chemical attacks, one in 2014 and one in 2015. It also found that Islamic State jihadists had used mustard gas to attack Marea town in northern Aleppo province in August 2015. Writers from The Comedy Central Roast of Rob Lowe just revealed their jokes that Ann Coulter rejected for her time on the dais. Mike Lawrence and Earl Skakel penned some quips for the polarizing political pundit, but she elected to use her own material, the duo shared Monday night during a Facebook Live after-show. Fun fact about that: We wrote her a lot of jokes. She does not understand humor or joy, Lawrence said. She turned them down and decided most of what you saw was her own stuff. Also Read: Jeff Ross Says Ann Coulter 'Was Awful' at Rob Lowe Roast: 'She Wouldn't Laugh' (Video) The guys then rolled a few of her actual attempts. They werent good or easy to watch. Lawrence described Coulters sense of humor as the perfect trio of comedy: racism, homophobia and Mike Pence you cant go wrong there. The two then broke out hand puppet Coultergeist, which Lawrence described as different than the real Ann Coulter in the sense that it cant physically smile, and the person fisting it is not being paid lots of money. Also Read: Watch Jeff Ross Trash Ann Coulter by Channeling Prince (Video) Coultergeist then shared six jokes that writers presented to the non-puppet version, who decided they werent up to snuff. Read those below, and watch them performed by a puppet in Lawrences voice via the video above. Heres three: I have to say, Rob, its nice to finally not be the most hated person in the room. Also Read: Ann Coulter Gets Burned at Rob Lowe's Comedy Central Roast Peyton Manning is a model citizen and his forehead is a model for the wall that Trumps going to put between the U.S. and Mexico. Ralph Macchios first-ever credit was in the movie, Up the Academy, playing a character called Chooch Bambalazi. Are you serious? Even Donald Trump thinks its too racist to call a wop Chooch Bambalazi. And heres three more: That would be like if Jeff Ross first credit was a character named Mosha Gefilte Fish Streisand Sixmillionberg. And before you ask, Jeff, I wouldnt f you with Hillary Clintons d. Story continues Also Read: Ann Coulter Will Roast Rob Lowe, Because Why Not Rob Lowe is like America: He hasnt been great since Reagan was president and unemployment is becoming more and more of a problem for him. Giving you a roast is the worst decision Comedy Centrals made since they replaced Jon Stewart with a South African child. Thats a Trevor Noah joke, the one immigrant Im most excited to see deported. Am I white, people? Am I white? Related stories from TheWrap: 'Live With Kelly' Has a Favorite Guest Host From 'Grinder' And it's Not Rob Lowe Katherine Heigl, Rob Lowe and 10 More Winners and Losers in New Fall TV Schedule (Photos) Why Comedy Central Couldn't Afford to Lose Amy Schumer Larry Wilmore Ends 'Nightly Show' With a Dig at Comedy Central Bosses Amy Schumer: Comedy Central Show Is Not Over Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has declared an indefinite state of national emergency on account of lawless violence following a deadly blast in his home city of Davao last week that left 14 dead and dozens injured. The one-page proclamation does not require congressional approval and will remain in effect until lifted or withdrawn by the President, according to a senior official cited by local news site Rappler. Duterte had initially declared a state of lawlessness after the Sept. 2 attack which has been claimed by Abu Sayyaf extremists but he said the declaration did not amount to martial law. Mondays proclamation, however, grants sweeping powers to the police and armed forces, and is not subject to a 60-day limitation as with martial law. Duterte signed off on the decree just before boarding a plane to Laos, where he is attending a regional summit. The foul-mouthed new leader caused controversy even before his arrival. U.S. President Barack Obama called off a scheduled meeting with Duterte after he referred to Obama as a son of a b-tch and warned him to steer clear of questions about a spate of extrajudicial killings. More than 2,400 suspected drug users and dealers have been killed since Duterte took office in late June, as the former Davao City mayor known as the Punisher began a gruesome nationwide war on drugs. [Rappler] (VIENTIANE, Laos) Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte expressed regret Tuesday over his son of a bitch remark while referring to President Barack Obama, in a rare display of contrition by a politician whose wide arc of profanities has unabashedly targeted world figures including the pope and the U.N. chief. In a statement read out by his spokesman, Duterte said that while his strong comments in response to questions by a reporter elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the U.S. president. Duterte had made the intemperate remarks Monday before flying to Laos, where he is attending a regional summit. He had been scheduled to meet Obama separately in Laos, but Obama indicated he had second thoughts, and the White House announced that the meeting had been canceled. The Philippines did not comment publicly on the cancellation until about nine hours later, when Dutertes statement said that both sides had mutually agreed to postpone the meeting. Even though Dutertes latest comment does not amount to an apology, the expression of regret is unusual for the tough-talking former mayor, who is unapologetic about his manner of speech and liberally peppers casual statements with profanities such as son of a bitch and son of a whore. Read More: Philippine President Declares State of Emergency But perhaps Dutertes aides realized it would be unwise to take on the most powerful official in the world, and that there would be a price to pay for insulting the president of the United States. The U.S. is one of the Philippines largest trading partners and a key security ally in its fight against terrorism in the countrys south. Manila also needs Washingtons help in dealing with a more assertive China in the disputed South China Sea. The U.S. also provides hundreds of millions of dollars in annual financial assistance to the Philippine military. Story continues Duterte likely had realized his folly by the time he arrived in the Laotian capital of Vientiane on Monday night. Speaking to reporters here, he said, I do not want to quarrel with the most powerful country on the planet, but immediately took his typical combative approach by saying: Washington has been so liberal about criticizing human rights, human rights and human rights. How about you? I have so many questions also about human rights to ask you. So people who live in glass houses should not throw stones at others. He said if the White House had problems with him, it could have sent him a diplomatic note and let him respond. Theres a protocol for that, Duterte said. You just cannot shoot a statement against the president of any country. But by Tuesday, he had done a complete U-turn in the tone of his statement. We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions, and working in mutually responsible ways for both countries, the statement said. The flap over Dutertes remarks started when a reporter asked him how he intends to explain the extrajudicial killings of drug dealers to Obama. More than 2,000 suspected drug dealers and users have been killed since Duterte launched a war on drugs after taking office on June 30. In his typical foul-mouthed style, Duterte responded: I am a president of a sovereign state and we have long ceased to be a colony. I do not have any master except the Filipino people, nobody but nobody. You must be respectful. Do not just throw questions. Putang ina, I will swear at you in that forum, he said, using the Tagalog phrase for son of a bitch. Duterte has previously cursed Pope Francis and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Who is he (Obama) to confront me? Duterte said, adding that the Philippines had not received an apology from the United States for misdeeds committed during its colonization of the country. He pointed to the killing of Muslim Moros more than a century ago during a U.S. pacification campaign in the southern Philippines, blaming the wounds of the past as the reason why (the south) continues to boil with separatist insurgencies. Last week, Duterte said he was ready to defend his bloody crackdown on illegal drugs, which has sparked concern from the U.S. and other countries. Duterte said he would demand that Obama allow him to first explain the context of his crackdown before engaging the U.S. president in a discussion about the deaths. Duterte has had a troublesome relation with the United States, questioning its inability to stop genocidal killings in the Middle East and Africa, and citing U.S. police shootings of black Americans that have set off protests. He has also taken on a more conciliatory position with U.S. rival China. Philippines-China ties were strained under Dutertes predecessors due to territorial conflicts in the South China Sea. Duterte proclaimed early in his presidency that he would pursue a foreign policy not dependent on the United States. Former Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, under whose watch U.S.-Philippine relations blossomed, expressed disappointment over the aborted meeting with the U.S. An invaluable occasion to have our leaders meet for the purpose of discussing how to strengthen our comprehensive areas of cooperation would have been a golden opportunity, del Rosario said. ___ Associated Press writer Jim Gomez contributed to this report. Acting on behalf of deposed Fox News honcho Roger Ailes and wife Elizabeth, attorney Charles Harder Hulk Hogans libel lawyer has requested that New York magazine and writer Gabriel Sherman preserve all documents pertaining to Ailes, a not-so-subtle threat of possible legal action in response to the magazines damning article about sexual harassment at the network. Magazine spokeswoman Lauren Starke confirmed today that New York and Sherman the magazines national affairs editor have been contacted by Harder, as first reported by The Financial Times. New York Media and Gabriel Sherman were contacted by Charles Harder on behalf of Roger and Elizabeth Ailes, asking that we preserve documents related to the Ailes, for a possible defamation claim. a spokeswoman for the magazine said Monday. Harders letter was not informative as to specific objections to the magazines cover story The Revenge of Rogers Angels. Harder might have a hard time choosing just one objection. As Deadline recently reported about the article, Shermans details the 15 days it took to end the 20-year reign of Ailes at Fox News after former FNC host Gretchen Carlson filed her sex harassment lawsuit. Among the charges: Carlson used her smartphone to record conversations to support her claims of ongoing harassment by Ailes. If Harder follows through with legal action a big assumption based solely on the contact confirmed by the magazine today it would be the attorneys third high-profile media case in recent memory: He represented Hogan in the former wrestlers highly successful suit against Gawker, and was retained by Melania Trump in a defamation suit against The Daily Mail and blog Tarpley. Still, the tactic of a legal threat by the Ailes attorney is by now chillingly familiar: After sending correspondence of intent to the Daily Mail in response to allegations that Melania Trump was once an escort, the Mail quickly retracted the tale. A similar response from NY Mag is unlikely. Story continues Deadlines Dominic Patten contributed to this report Related stories Greta Van Susteren Says Fox News "Hasn't Felt Like Home" For Years Gretchen Carlson And Fox Settle Her Sexual Harassment Lawsuit For $20M Spyware, Mickey Finns, And "Roger's Angels" Role Playing - Ailes' Latest Smackdown By Gabe Sherman In New York Magazine By Agnieszka Flak VENICE (Reuters) - Playing a society reject who tries to survive in a desert wasteland after having her limbs cut off by cannibals was a terrifying experience, British model-turned-actress Suki Waterhouse said at the Venice film festival on Tuesday. The 24-year-old actress landed her first major role with "The Bad Batch", which premieres in Venice and is one of 20 U.S. and international movies competing for the coveted Golden Lion that will be announced on Saturday. "I was absolutely terrified and I stayed terrified throughout the whole thing," Waterhouse told a press conference ahead of the movie's official premiere. Shooting in the desert and portraying a character with a prosthetic leg and without an arm was a challenge both physically and mentally, said the actress, who has modeled for fashion house Burberry. "I'm a girl from London who's been in a different industry, and I was suddenly like kaplonked in the salt and sea." Writer and director Ana Lily Amirpour described her second feature film as a "action-adventure-fairytale" that explores the lives of people on the margins of society and the limits of survival and human understanding. "I guess it is a love letter to something American. I do love America. The things I love, though, I don't really think are perfect," Amirpour said. Amirpour said the movie was shot in the Californian desert and she spent a year visiting a local community called Slab City, whose inhabitants, living in trailers and off the grid, eventually became extras on the set. The movie also stars Jason Momoa as Miami Man, one of the cannibals, Keanu Reeves as The Dream, the cult leader of the community where Arlen finds safety, and Jim Carrey, as the mute hermit who wanders around the desert with a shopping cart and at one point saves both Miami Man and Arlen. "The hermit is so important ... he's the kindness in this harsh environment," Amirpour said. About offering an experienced actor like Carrey a role with only a few scenes and no dialogue, she said the "Dumb and Dumber" actor known for his facial expressions and quick wit understood the character's importance because of the parallels to his own life as a celebrity. The hermit "is like the homeless guy that you ignore at every street corner," she said. "Being that famous in a way, no one really sees who you are ... there is something really connected there. And I also said, 'hey, Jim, have you ever not said a word in a movie?" (Reporting by Agnieszka Flak; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romanian anti-corruption prosecutors said on Tuesday they were investigating former leftist Prime Minister Victor Ponta on suspicion of abuse of power and complicity in tax evasion. Ponta is already on trial in a separate case on charges of forgery, money-laundering and being an accessory to tax evasion, which he has denied. He resigned late last year after a deadly nightclub fire set off massive street protests. Prosecutors have prohibited him from publicly discussing the latest case, but he said on Facebook he would prove his innocence once he can comment. Prosecutors said Ponta used his position the time, as prime minister and head of the Social Democrats, to put businessman Sebastian Ghita on the party's list of candidates for the 2012 parliamentary election in exchange for his paying 220,000 euros ($247,000) to bring an international celebrity to Romania. "The purpose was to publicize some meetings with the celebrity so that Victor Ponta gain electoral capital," prosecutors said in a statement. "The 220,000 euros were obtained through intermediaries from Sebastian Ghita." Ghita won a parliament seat in the 2012 election. Prosecutors said he was also under investigation in the case as an accessory to tax evasion. He has denied wrongdoing. "Over the recent period in Romanian politics, it has become a habit for financially powerful people to easily gain elected public posts through being promoted by party leaders with the purpose ... of illegally funding parties' campaigns," the prosecutors' statement said. Prosecutors did not name the celebrity. Anti-corruption prosecutors have mounted a crackdown on corruption that has been praised by the European Commission, which keeps Romania's justice system under special monitoring. (Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Alison Williams) saudi arabia russia putin Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed on Monday at the G-20 summit in China to cooperate on oil and to create a "working group" to stabilize markets. This comes just weeks ahead of the informal oil talks to be held in Algiers, Algeria, on September 26 and 27. However, the two oil powerhouses didn't announce any concrete action plan, which had some analysts wondering whether this latest development would actually lead to anything especially given that Khalid al-Falih, Saudi Arabia's oil minister, dismissed the need for a production freeze. Moreover, the team at Capital Economics pointed out that most OPEC members and Russia are already pumping oil at record levels, which suggests that they have little spare capacity. "The upshot is that there was nothing in Monday's announcement to change our view that oil prices will finish the year a little lower than they are now," Tom Pugh, the firm's commodities economist, wrote in a note to clients. And big oil players remain at odds in various geopolitical situations, including in Syria and Yemen, which adds another dimension to all potential decisions. Prices for Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, surged by as much as 6%, to $49.90 per barrel, in the immediate aftermath before giving back most of the gains later in the day. Screen Shot 2016 09 06 at 9.19.44 AM However, other analysts have argued that there's more to the latest overture than meets the eye. Monday's announcement, "while short on details and immaterial for actual supply and demand balances, is another indicator of the extreme economic duress that producers are enduring, and in our view, increases the likelihood of some type of collective action if prices remain under significant pressure," Helima Croft, the global head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, wrote in a note to clients. "We take the view that potential joint action discussion is a symbolic attempt to shore up sentiment since there is little else to lose given that most countries are already producing flat out," she added. Story continues Screen Shot 2016 09 06 at 8.44.51 AM Although Saudi Arabia and Russia are nowhere near the chaos engulfing OPEC's so-called Fragile Five Nigeria, Venezuela, Libya, Iraq, and Algeria they, too, have seen their fortunes shrink over the past two years. Russia's economy shrank by 3.7% in 2015. And although things have started to somewhat stabilize, the International Monetary Fund forecasts it will contract by 1.2% in 2016. Plus, an estimated 13.4% of the population about 19.2 million people is currently living in poverty, according to data from March 2016, and there have been several protests this year regarding economic concerns. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, which has managed to weather the lower-for-longer environment far better than most of its OPEC colleagues, is not without problems. FX reserves are down almost $190 billion since oil prices started falling; Bloomberg reports that the country is aiming to cancel over $20 billion worth of projects and to slash ministry budgets by a quarter; there have been several ugly economic data points; and the public hasn't been happy with some austerity measures, such as the sharp rise in electricity bills. As such, "while geopolitical tensions between key producers continue to run high because of ongoing conflicts in Syria and Yemen, their leaders may yet opt for pragmatism and seek some financial relief that will allow them to keep their increasingly restive citizens content and off the streets," Croft wrote. Screen Shot 2016 09 06 at 8.44.14 AM It's worth nothing that previous attempts to reinstate production quotas have not always yielded desired results. However, the fact that even the better-off producers are increasingly feeling the strain of the lower-for-longer environment somewhat raises the stakes. Also notably, a coordinated decision could underscore the oil cartel's legitimacy. "Although co-operative action taken by the cartel and other key producers may prove to be more of an optics play than physically actionable, at a minimum, it alters sentiment, puts a floor into the market, and reminds the market of OPEC's capacity to co-operate," Croft wrote. "It would also prove that the prolific pronouncements of the cartel's demise are premature." Brent crude prices are down 2.3%, at $46.55 per barrel, as of 10:14 a.m. ET. Screen Shot 2016 09 06 at 10.15.44 AM NOW WATCH: KRUGMAN: There is an argument for doubling the Feds inflation target More From Business Insider CAIRO (Reuters) - A Russian delegation will arrive in Egypt on Wednesday to decide whether flights to the country should be resumed after a Russian passenger plane was blown up killing all on board last October. The delegation of experts will assess security and technical reforms taken by Egypt, the Egyptian Civil Aviation Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. "A high-level Russian delegation will arrive in Cairo tomorrow to study whether flights can resume between Russia and Egypt," the ministry said. The Airbus A321, operated by Metrojet, had been returning Russian holidaymakers from the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh to St Petersburg when it broke up over Sinai, killing all 224 on board. Islamic State said it brought down the plane with a bomb smuggled inside a fizzy drink can. Russia and Western governments quickly confirmed a bomb brought the plane down and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi later said the cause was terrorism. Russia suspended flights to Egypt as a result, devastating Egyptian tourism, a lifeline of an already battered economy. (Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Alison Williams) By Olzhas Auyezov ALMATY (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged his support to the man emerging as the likely next leader of Uzbekistan on Tuesday, during a visit that put a stamp on Moscow's claim to be the ex-Soviet republic's closest ally. Putin flew into the Central Asian state to pay his respects to President Islam Karimov, who died from a stroke on Sept. 2 aged 78. Putin was shown on state television embracing Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev, 59, the favorite to succeed the authoritarian leader. In contrast, the United States, which vies with Russia for influence in Uzbekistan, has pressed its new leaders to improve the country's record on human rights and sent a mid-level diplomat after Karimov's death. "Of course, we hope that everything Islam Abduganiyevich (Karimov) had started will be continued," Russia's Rossiya-24 channel showed Putin telling Mirziyoyev, after laying flowers on Karimov's grave in the city of Samarkand. "For our part, we will do everything to support this path of mutual development and the people and leadership of Uzbekistan. You can fully count on us as your most reliable friends." His words appeared to be a call to Karimov's successors to continue the tough line that he pursued against internal dissent during his more than 25 years at the helm. Karimov died without publicly designating an heir. But the way Putin's visit was stage-managed pointed strongly to Mirziyoyev having already taken on the mantle of his successor. Mirziyoyev carried out the role of Putin's principal host. The two were shown chatting at the graveside, and embracing warmly at Samarkand airport. Putin also met Karimov's widow, Tatiana, and his younger daughter, Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva. Mirziyoyev, in turn, told Putin his visit "says a lot". "We will continue to develop that bridge which you had been building together with Islam Abduganiyevich for so many years in order not to break it, but to further solidify it," he said. The visit by Putin highlighted the competition among world powers for influence in resource-rich and strategically-located Central Asia, the region in which Uzbekistan is located. Hours before Putin's arrival, Daniel Rosenblum, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Central Asia at the U.S. Department of State, told reporters in Tashkent he had met Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Komilov the previous evening. Karimov had for years presented himself as a bulwark against a possible surge of Islamist militancy in Uzbekistan, which borders Afghanistan. He successfully maneuvered between Russia and the United States to win backing for his sometimes harsh policies at home despite criticism from human rights groups and misgivings among Western governments. Under his rule, Uzbekistan managed to forge close relations with Washington, which used Uzbek air bases to resupply its forces in Afghanistan. There were also periods of estrangement when the United States accused him of crushing dissent. Karimov distanced Uzbekistan from Moscow in 2012 when Tashkent suspended its membership in the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation, which groups several ex-Soviet nations and is seen by some analysts as a regional counterbalance to NATO. But Uzbekistan, Central Asia's most populous nation, remains heavily dependent on Russia economically. At least 2 million Uzbeks are estimated to work abroad, mostly in Russia, to provide for their families. (Additional reporting by Dmitry Solovyov in Moscow; Editing by Richard Balmforth) From Cosmopolitan In the five years since Game of Thrones premiered, several of the show's younger stars have seemingly grown up before our eyes - and Sophie Turner's latest red carpet look is proof. On Sunday, the actress attended the 73rd Venice Film Festival wearing an absolutely gorgeous Yanina Couture black gown with a plunging neckline and open back. Combined with minimal jewelry and a pair of sky-high patent stilettos, the look was old Hollywood glamour at its finest. Her newly platinum locks only added to the look, and Sophie looked flawless from every angle. Photo credit: Getty Photo credit: Getty Photo credit: Getty The actress kept her makeup simple but fabulous, opting for bronze shadows and a peachy blush you'll definitely want to copy for your next big event. Photo credit: Getty Of course, Sophie wasn't just at the Venice Film Festival to watch movies: Before the premiere of Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge, the actress accepted the Kineo Diamanti Award to celebrate her work on both Game of Thrones and X-Men: Apocalypse. "Every year for the International Prize, we try to find a character that has attracted much attention in the international and the Italian audience," the award's general manager, Tiziana Rocca, told Just Jared. "I immediately tried to internationalize the award, because I think it is important that an award like this should and can be echoed over our country. We are very happy that Sophie Turner has agreed to be in Venice because she embodies talent and professionalism, and will be the best combination for success." Photo credit: Getty And here you thought you couldn't get any prouder of Sansa Stark! Photo credit: Getty Photo credit: Getty Photo credit: Getty Follow Gina on Twitter. You Might Also Like Bogota (AFP) - Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos says he is certain his government's peace deal with FARC rebels will be approved in an October 2 referendum because "an imperfect peace is always preferable to a perfect war." "The 'no' won't win. The 'yes' camp will win. I'm completely sure of that and I am not worried about what some call Plan B. I'm absolutely convinced," he said in an interview with AFP on Monday. Santos said he had not been obliged to put the agreement ending the 52-year conflict with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to a referendum. "But a referendum is a democratic thing, it gives much more legitimacy to an agreement like this one. That's why I insisted there be a referendum," he said. The agreement reached in Havana last month after nearly four years of negotiations will be formally signed in the Colombian city of Cartagena on September 26. But then Colombians must give a thumbs-up to the question: "Do you support the final accord to end the conflict and build a stable and lasting peace?" If they do, the FARC will have 180 days to demobilize, disarm and relaunch itself as a political party. The UN has agreed to monitor the process. If they vote no, "these people will go back to the jungle and we will go back to what we had... when we began," Santos said. Recent polls show that nearly 60 percent of Colombians support the agreement, but it faces tough opposition from critics led by former president Alvaro Uribe, Santos' onetime boss and now a vehement opponent. Uribe says a special justice system envisaged for crimes committed during the conflict would give FARC fighters impunity. - 'Imperfect peace' - "I would like to see anyone who committed horrible crimes, crimes against humanity, behind bars," Santos told AFP. "But I prefer transitional justice so we don't continue producing more victims. That transaction isn't easy to accept for many people, but it is necessary if we want peace." Story continues He said he had expected the victims of the conflict to be the biggest critics of the arrangements for judging rebels, but to his surprise they have been his biggest supporters. "A perfect peace doesn't exist because a perfect peace implies a perfect justice system, and a perfect justice system makes peace impossible," he said. "This is an imperfect peace but an imperfect peace is always preferable to a perfect war," he added. The FARC is the country's largest guerrilla force with about 7,500 fighters. It rose up against the state in 1964, starting what is now Latin America's oldest armed conflict -- one that also spawned rightwing paramilitary groups, drug cartels and other armed groups. A smaller leftist guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army, or ELN, is still active but has indicated it also wants peace talks. "That depends on ELN," said Santos. "They have sent signals in that direction, and I tell them: 'Perfect, just free those you have kidnapped'." Meanwhile, his government has already negotiated an agenda for peace talks with the ELN, he said. - Neither hawk nor dove - Santos has staked his presidency on achieving peace in a conflict that has claimed more than 220,000 lives. It has involved a dramatic role change for him. As Colombia's defense minister under his predecessor Uribe, Santos waged a bitter war against the FARC, weakening it militarily. "I was never a hawk or a dove. I've always been a standard-bearer for peace," he said. "For this peace to be possible, a series of conditions were necessary. One was to negotiate from a position of strength." "I don't think there is a Colombian who has hit the FARC as hard as this public servant," he said. "And that also has given me moral authority in the face of those who did not want to negotiate." Santos recalled that when his foreign minister phoned to say a deal had been reached, it took a while to sink in. "Many things went through my mind, like those films that are speeding forward at a thousand miles an hour," he said. "Finally, something that people thought was impossible, that I many times thought would not be possible, to have achieved it was very satisfying. To have persevered was very important." Riyadh (AFP) - State-owned Saudi Arabian Airlines said on Tuesday it carried almost five percent more passengers last year compared with 2014. It flew 29,492,710 passengers in 2015, up 1,309,095 from the previous year, the airline said in a release of annual statistics which excluded financial data. The carrier, known as Saudia, restated its aim of expanding its fleet to 200 aircraft by 2020. In June last year it placed an $8 billion order with France-based Airbus for 50 planes. They will be used for domestic flights, the airline says. Under its wide-ranging Vision 2030 plan announced in April, Saudi Arabia is trying to diversify its oil-dependent economy. Among the measures is development of the kingdom's tourism sector, privatisation of state-owned services including airports, and a linking of transport networks to position Saudi Arabia as a regional logistics hub. Even before it unveiled its Vision 2030, the Arab world's largest economy was spending billions of dollars on building and upgrading airports. Terminal 5 recently opened at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, becoming the kingdom's first privately-run terminal. A subsidiary of state-owned Irish airport operator "daa" is the operator. The largest Middle East carrier, Emirates, said in May that it carried 51.9 million passengers in the 2015-16 fiscal year, up eight percent from the year before. Emirates has a fleet of 250 aircraft. By Ruby Lian, Josephine Mason and Rania El Gamal HANGZHOU, China (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed on Monday to cooperate in world oil markets, saying they will not act immediately but could limit output in the future, sending prices higher on hopes the two top oil producers would work together to tackle a global glut. The joint statement was signed by the country's energy ministers in China on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit and followed a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said the two countries were moving toward a strategic energy partnership and that a high level of trust would allow them to address global challenges. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said the agreement would also encourage other producers to cooperate. Oil prices (LCOc1) soared almost 5 percent ahead of a news conference by the two ministers, but pared gains to trade up 2 percent by 6.30 a.m. ET as the agreement yielded no immediate action. "There is no need now to freeze production ... We have time to take this kind of decision," Falih said. "Freezing production is one of the preferred possibilities, but it does not have to happen specifically today." Even if the Monday statement was short on action, it marks a significant development in the Russia-Saudi relationship. The two countries have been effectively fighting a proxy war in Syria and Moscow also sees itself as a big ally of Iran - Riyadh's arch-rival in the Middle East. FREEZE TALKS The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will hold informal talks in Algeria later this month, and is next scheduled to meet officially in Vienna in November. Several OPEC producers have called for an output freeze to rein in the glut, which arose as supplies from high-cost producers such as the United States soared. The price collapse of the past two years has hit the budgets of major producers such as Russia and Saudi Arabia while leading to unrest and social tensions is smaller producing nations such as Venezuela and Nigeria. Story continues OPEC's de facto leader Saudi Arabia has also signaled willingness to cooperate as it faces budget pressures and seeks to float a stake in state-owned producer Aramco. Venezuela, which has consistently pushed for a deal to boost prices, hailed the agreement as "an important step in coordinating joint action between the biggest OPEC member and one of the biggest non-OPEC producers". Venezuela has presented an "alternative proposal" to be considered at the upcoming Algeria meeting that would help "stabilize both the volume of supplies to markets and the fair price for producers," the Oil Ministry said in a statement. The statement did not offer further details on the proposal. Any deal between OPEC and non-OPEC producer Russia would be the first in 15 years since Moscow agreed to cut output in tandem with the cartel at the turn of the millennium, although Russia never followed through on that promise. Novak said he was open to ideas on what cut-off period to use if producer countries decided to freeze output. If production is frozen at early-2015 levels, it would effectively mean an output cut as most producers - including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq and Iran - have steeply boosted production since then. Novak said outright oil production cuts may also be discussed. CRUDE OVERHANG In April, Russia was prepared to freeze output together with OPEC, but talks collapsed after Riyadh said it would agree to a deal only if Iran - OPEC's third-largest producer - participated. Iran has argued that it needs to regain market share lost during years of Western sanctions, which were lifted in January. Putin said last week that a new deal on oil output could involve some compromise on Iranian output. "We believe that the oil market rebalancing has been rather delayed ... And certainly joint actions which were considered at the beginning of the year, including a freeze, could have drawn much nearer the date of rebalancing of the respective markets," Novak said on Monday. "We are ready, if there is such a decision, to join" an oil output freeze, TASS news agency cited Novak as saying. Oil prices collapsed to as low as $27 per barrel earlier this year from as high as $115 in mid-2014, but have since recovered to around $50. "The market is getting better and we noticed that the prices reflect this (improvement)", said Falih. "A coordinated and appropriate, collective decision on production will help bring balance and reduce inventories in a more timely manner". (Additional reporting by Maria Kiselyova and Katya Golubkova in Moscow; Writing by Henning Gloystein in Singapore and Dmitry Zhdannikov in London; editing by Christian Schmollinger, Dale Hudson and G Crosse) By Ruby Lian, Josephine Mason and Rania El Gamal HANGZHOU, China (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed on Monday to cooperate in world oil markets, saying they will not act immediately but could limit output in the future, sending prices higher on hopes the two top oil producers would work together to tackle a global glut. The joint statement was signed by the country's energy ministers in China on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit and followed a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said the two countries were moving toward a strategic energy partnership and that a high level of trust would allow them to address global challenges. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said the agreement would also encourage other producers to cooperate. Oil prices soared almost 5 percent ahead of a news conference by the two ministers, but pared gains to trade up 2 percent by 6.30 a.m. ET as the agreement yielded no immediate action. "There is no need now to freeze production ... We have time to take this kind of decision," Falih said. "Freezing production is one of the preferred possibilities, but it does not have to happen specifically today." Even if the Monday statement was short on action, it marks a significant development in the Russia-Saudi relationship. The two countries have been effectively fighting a proxy war in Syria and Moscow also sees itself as a big ally of Iran - Riyadh's arch-rival in the Middle East. FREEZE TALKS The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will hold informal talks in Algeria later this month, and is next scheduled to meet officially in Vienna in November. Several OPEC producers have called for an output freeze to rein in the glut, which arose as supplies from high-cost producers such as the United States soared. The price collapse of the past two years has hit the budgets of major producers such as Russia and Saudi Arabia while leading to unrest and social tensions is smaller producing nations such as Venezuela and Nigeria. OPEC's de facto leader Saudi Arabia has also signaled willingness to cooperate as it faces budget pressures and seeks to float a stake in state-owned producer Aramco. Venezuela, which has consistently pushed for a deal to boost prices, hailed the agreement as "an important step in coordinating joint action between the biggest OPEC member and one of the biggest non-OPEC producers". Venezuela has presented an "alternative proposal" to be considered at the upcoming Algeria meeting that would help "stabilize both the volume of supplies to markets and the fair price for producers," the Oil Ministry said in a statement. The statement did not offer further details on the proposal. Any deal between OPEC and non-OPEC producer Russia would be the first in 15 years since Moscow agreed to cut output in tandem with the cartel at the turn of the millennium, although Russia never followed through on that promise. Novak said he was open to ideas on what cut-off period to use if producer countries decided to freeze output. If production is frozen at early-2015 levels, it would effectively mean an output cut as most producers - including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq and Iran - have steeply boosted production since then. Novak said outright oil production cuts may also be discussed. CRUDE OVERHANG In April, Russia was prepared to freeze output together with OPEC, but talks collapsed after Riyadh said it would agree to a deal only if Iran - OPEC's third-largest producer - participated. Iran has argued that it needs to regain market share lost during years of Western sanctions, which were lifted in January. Putin said last week that a new deal on oil output could involve some compromise on Iranian output. "We believe that the oil market rebalancing has been rather delayed ... And certainly joint actions which were considered at the beginning of the year, including a freeze, could have drawn much nearer the date of rebalancing of the respective markets," Novak said on Monday. "We are ready, if there is such a decision, to join" an oil output freeze, TASS news agency cited Novak as saying. Oil prices collapsed to as low as $27 per barrel earlier this year from as high as $115 in mid-2014, but have since recovered to around $50. "The market is getting better and we noticed that the prices reflect this (improvement)", said Falih. "A coordinated and appropriate, collective decision on production will help bring balance and reduce inventories in a more timely manner". (Additional reporting by Maria Kiselyova and Katya Golubkova in Moscow; Writing by Henning Gloystein in Singapore and Dmitry Zhdannikov in London; editing by Christian Schmollinger, Dale Hudson and G Crosse) LONDON (Reuters) - Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Tuesday there was a possibility of reaching an agreement on a ceasefire in Syria within 24 hours. Asked at a briefing with reporters in London to comment on the failure of the United States and Russia to agree a ceasefire, Al-Jubeir said he would not describe it as a failure but as a work in progress. "There is a possibility of arriving at an understanding in the next 24 hours or so that will test Bashar al-Assad's seriousness to comply," he said. But the minister went on to say Assad's history did not inspire optimism about implementation of any agreement. A cessation of hostilities agreement brokered by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in February unraveled within weeks, with Washington accusing Assad's forces of violating the pact. (Reporting by Estelle Shirbon, editing by Guy Faulconbridge) Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi Arabia's top cleric said Iranians are "not Muslims", after Iran's supreme leader launched a fresh tirade over the kingdom's handling of the hajj pilgrimage, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. "We must understand these are not Muslims, they are children of Magi and their hostility towards Muslims is an old one. Especially with the people of Sunna," Grand Mufti Abdulaziz al-Sheikh told Makkah daily, referring to pre-Islamic beliefs in Iran and to the Sunnis who make up the main branch of Islam. The grand mufti's comments came a day after Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the Muslim world should challenge Saudi management of Islam's two holiest sites in Mecca and Medina. The verbal sparring, ahead of the annual hajj which this year starts on Saturday, follows months of tension between Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia and its Shiite regional rival Iran. "Because of Saudi rulers' oppressive behaviour towards God's guests, the world of Islam must fundamentally reconsider the management of the two holy places and the issue of hajj," Khamenei wrote on his website. He reserved some of his harshest words for Riyadh's response to last year's hajj stampede which killed 2,297 pilgrims, according to a toll compiled from foreign officials. Iran said its nationals accounted for 464 of the dead. Khamenei said the Saudis did not prosecute those at fault for the stampede, accused them of showing no remorse and said Riyadh had "refused to allow an international Islamic fact-finding committee". After reviewing security forces assigned to protect the hajj, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef said later Monday that the kingdom had "spared no effort to provide state-of-the-art services for the safety, comfort and security of all pilgrims". For the first time in almost three decades, Iranians will not participate in this year's pilgrimage to Mecca after talks on logistics and security fell apart. Story continues Riyadh said Tehran had made "unacceptable" demands, including the right to organise demonstrations "that would cause chaos". Prince Mohammed reiterated those concerns. He charged that Iran was making "efforts to politicise hajj and convert it into an occasion to violate the teachings of Islam, through shouting slogans and disturbing the security of pilgrims". Sheikh said such efforts would fail "because all Muslims trust what the (Saudi) government is doing" in providing services for pilgrims and with its work to improve facilities at the holy sites. Saudi Arabia says Iranian pilgrims are still welcome if they travel from other countries. Riyadh and Tehran are at odds over a raft of regional issues, notably the conflicts in Syria and Yemen in which they support opposing sides. Riyadh severed diplomatic relations with Tehran in January after protesters attacked its embassy and a consulate in Iran after the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia. EDINBURGH (Reuters) - The Scottish government will start preparing the legislation required for a new referendum on independence from the United Kingdom in case it is needed, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told the Scottish parliament on Tuesday. Last week Sturgeon said her party would start a survey to test support for secession, questioning at least two million Scots just as Britain negotiates its exit from the European Union. The bill would then be ready for "immediate" introduction if it becomes clear that there was voter support for Scottish independence, Sturgeon said, without giving a timeframe. Polls indicate that a slim majority still prefer remaining a part of the United Kingdom, although many Scots are unhappy about leaving the EU because Scotland itself voted to stay in. "We will consult on a draft referendum Bill so that it is ready for immediate introduction if we conclude that independence is the best or only way to protect Scotland," she told parliament. Sturgeon argues that Britain's June vote to leave the EU, dragging Scotland with it, had shifted the debate dramatically just two years after Scots voted by 10 percentage points to reject independence. She has pledged to honor Scotland's vote to retain EU membership by whatever means possible, including via a possible new independence vote. Scottish Conservatives' leader Ruth Davidson accused Sturgeon and her party of lacking the vision to take Scotland forward. "The Scottish National Party cupboard is bare, except for the only idea they ever had, to split up the UK," she said. Sturgeon has a de facto majority in Scotland's parliament regarding independence because the Scottish Greens support her on that issue. The 2014 Scottish referendum was agreed between Edinburgh and Britain's national government, but it was a political agreement rather than a court ruling, said Professor Michael Keating, Director of the Centre on Constitutional Change thinktank. It is therefore unclear what the legal process for a fresh vote on the issue would be, and whether Prime Minister Theresa May would block it. "No legal precedent has been set for a next time, if there is one," Keating said. (Reporting By Elisabeth O'Leary; Editing by Angus MacSwan) Burning Man the performance art festival/temporary urban construct/steampunk desert utopia that pops up in Nevadas Black Rock Desert each year extinguished the final embers of its massive, 70,000-person camp on Monday. As the eight-day event has grown in popularity, its also started to draw more than just free spirits eager to explore a Mad-Max-style existence. At this years 30th annual Burning Man, celebrities like Paris Hilton, Katy Perry, Karlie Kloss and Scott Eastwood all got down and dirty in the dust alongside major DJs like Diplo and Skrillex. (Although their photos show an adulterated good time, Burning Man was not impervious to its own version of class warfare this year, as a so-called luxury camp was vandalized by other festival-goers.) This was Perrys second go-round with Burning Man. She opted for multicolored yarn-covered braids to keep her hair out of the dust. The massive sunglasses and face mask might seem like overkill, but thats de rigueur attire for the desert. AlivE A photo posted by KATY PERRY (@katyperry) on Sep 2, 2016 at 2:35pm PDT Paris Hilton and her brother, Barron, climbed atop an old-school truck for their photo op. Best time at #BurningMan with my amazing brother @BarronHilton! A photo posted by Paris Hilton (@parishilton) on Sep 5, 2016 at 7:45pm PDT Alien on the #Playa. #BurningMan A photo posted by Paris Hilton (@parishilton) on Aug 31, 2016 at 8:05pm PDT Models Karlie Kloss and Cara Delevingne also met up. Ran into this burner in the desert @caradelevingne A photo posted by Karlie Kloss (@karliekloss) on Sep 6, 2016 at 7:37am PDT Nina Agdal, a Danish model and Leonardo DiCaprios rumored girlfriend, took a photo in front of the Temple a temporary structure that would by ceremonially burned to the ground at the festivals end. Story continues The Temple #BurningMan @newyorkvintageinc #styling @frankelfresh A photo posted by Nina Agdal (@ninaagdal) on Sep 4, 2016 at 11:38am PDT Heidi Klum captured a solid sunset pic. Burning Man .WOW INCREDIBLE A photo posted by Heidi Klum (@heidiklum) on Sep 5, 2016 at 3:18am PDT And man-about-town/photographer/writer Derek Blasberg was there to document the adventure. (She always wanted a supportive boyfriend) A photo posted by Derek Blasberg (@derekblasberg) on Sep 3, 2016 at 5:44am PDT Scott Eastwood, son of Clint, made a stop at a Kissing Booth. Okay. I made it to burning man!!! And I found this. Hung around for awhile. And didn't get any takers. Guess I was a little too dusty.. Might head back tonight . A photo posted by Scott Eastwood (@scotteastwood) on Sep 2, 2016 at 11:27am PDT Diplo hung out with some art. RIP Harambe A photo posted by diplo (@diplo) on Sep 3, 2016 at 5:04pm PDT As did his frequent collaborator, Skrillex. Both DJs played sets while they were at the event, too. New York (AFP) - The US Open quarter-finals kick off on Tuesday with Serena Williams saying she's just getting warmed up -- an ominous assessment for the other seven women with eyes on the prize. "She's coming, she hasn't quite come out yet, though," the world number one said of herself. Williams went missing in action after Wimbledon in large part because of a sore right shoulder. That seems astonishing since she has reached the last eight in New York without dropping a set or indeed even dropping her serve. "I just feel like I'm going out there doing what I need to do," she said. "I'm not overplaying, I'm not underplaying. I'm just trying to play my way into this tournament." She has played her way into a quarter-final against fifth-seeded Romanian Simona Halep, who has won just one of their eight career matches. Williams said that record was not necessarily a guide to the challenge Halep would pose. "To me it doesn't really matter who I play because I have to expect they're going to play the match of their life," she said. "That's how I go into these matches now." They will headline women's action on Wednesday, when Ana Konjuh and Karolina Pliskova meet in a battle of first-time Grand Slam quarter-finalists. Konjuh, an 18-year-old ranked 92nd in the world, shocked fourth-ranked Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-4 to reach the last eight. She avenged a second-round loss at Wimbledon in which she held three match points against the Pole. Pliskova, the 10th seed, defeated sixth-seeded Venus Williams 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3). On Tuesday, world number two Angelique Kerber -- who toppled Williams in the Australian Open final and who has a chance to end the American's reign atop the world rankings here -- takes on Roberta Vinci. The seventh-seeded Italian stunned Williams in the semi-finals last year before falling to compatriot Flavia Pennetta in the final. Story continues Tuesday's other quarter-final sees Caroline Wozniacki, derailed this year by an ankle injury that sent her career into a tailspin, taking on Latvian Anastasija Sevastova, back and on the best Grand Slam run of her career after quitting the sport three years ago. Wozniacki, a former world number one, is back in the last eight of a Slam for the first time since her second runner-up finish in New York in 2014. She won't be taking Sevastova lightly, despite the fact that the Latvian's previous best run in a major was to the fourth round of the 2011 Australian Open. "She's a tough player," Wozniacki said. "She has a lot of grit and good hands. It's not going to be an easy one, but I'm excited just to have another shot." NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / September 6, 2016 / Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC notifies investors that a class action lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, against Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. ("Northern Oil" or the "Company") (NYSE MKT: NOG) and certain of its officers. The class action is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons or entities who purchased Northern Oil securities between March 1, 2013 and August 15, 2016, inclusive (the "Class Period"). This class action seeks to recover damages against Defendants for alleged violations of the federal securities laws under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act"). Northern Oil is an energy company primarily in North Dakota and Montana, engaged in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas properties in the United States. The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Northern Oil's compliance policies in connection with the SEC regulations and the Company's Code of Business Conduct and Ethics were insufficient to identify and/or prevent misconduct by the Company's officers; (2) consequently, Northern Oil's Chief Executive Officer ("CEO"), Defendant Michael Reger, illegally manipulated the stock during his tenure at Northern Oil; (3) Reger was therefore unfit to serve as Northern Oil's CEO; and (4) as a result of the above mentioned, Northern Oil's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. On August 16, 2016, Northern Oil fired its Chief Executive Officer, Michael Reger, after he admitted to the Company that he is facing sanctions in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation. Northern Oil said that Reger was sent a Wells Notice from the SEC regarding its 2012 investigation of Dakota Plains Holdings Inc. and its trading. Reger was an invested in Dakota Plains Holdings Inc. since 2008. Northern Oil announced that Reger was removed from its board, effective immediately, and that Northern Oil does not believe that Reger will be entitled to any severance payment. Following this news, Northern Oil stock dropped $0.25 per share, or 6.28%, to close at $3.73 on August 16, 2016. Story continues A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to review a copy of the Complaint you can visit the firm's site: http://www.bgandg.com/nog or you may contact Peretz Bronstein, Esq. or his Investor Relations Analyst, Yael Hurwitz of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC at 212-697-6484 or via email info@bgandg.com. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address and telephone number. If you suffered a loss in Northern Oil you have until October 17, 2016 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff. Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is a corporate litigation boutique. Our primary expertise is the aggressive pursuit of litigation claims on behalf of our clients. In addition to representing institutions and other investor plaintiffs in class action security litigation, the firm's expertise includes general corporate and commercial litigation, as well as securities arbitration. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. Contact: Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC Peretz Bronstein or Yael Hurwitz 212-697-6484 | info@bgandg.com SOURCE: Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / September 6, 2016 / The following statement is being issued by Levi & Korsinsky, LLP: To: All Persons or Entities who purchased Cepheid ("Cepheid") (CPHD) stock prior to September 6, 2016 . You are hereby notified that Levi & Korsinsky, LLP has commenced an investigation into the fairness of the sale of Cepheid to Danaher Corp. for $53.00 per share. To learn more about the action and your rights, go to: http://zlk.9nl.com/cepheid-cphd or contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. either via email at jlevi@zlk.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500, toll-free: (877) 363-5972. There is no cost or obligation to you. Levi & Korsinsky is a national firm with offices in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California, and Washington D.C. The firm's attorneys have extensive expertise in prosecuting securities litigation involving financial fraud, representing investors throughout the nation in securities lawsuits and have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders. For more information, please feel free to contact any of the attorneys listed below. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. Levi & Korsinsky, LLP Joseph E. Levi, Esq. Eduard Korsinsky, Esq. 30 Broad Street - 24th Floor New York, NY 10004 Tel: (212) 363-7500 Toll Free: (877) 363-5972 Fax: (212) 363-7171 www.zlk.com SOURCE: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP A shark savaged an Australian kitesurfer to death off New Caledonia on Tuesday in the second fatal attack in the South Pacific territory in six months, officials said. "The man in his 50s was kitesurfing inside the reef at Koumac. He fell and was bitten," Nicolas Renaud, head of the archipelago's marine rescue coordination centre, told AFP. The unidentified man from Fremantle on Australia's southwest coast was out with several other people on a catamaran, who raised the alarm. A rescue boat was sent to help but emergency crews were unable to save him. "He suffered a deep bite to the thigh from a big shark. We don't know for the moment what species it was," added Renaud. The last fatal shark attack in New Caledonia, a French territory east of Australia, was in April, when a woman was killed on a beach on Poe in the west of the island group. There were 98 shark attacks globally last year -- the highest number ever recorded, according to researchers at the University of Florida, which has been collecting data since 1958. Six of the attacks were fatal. Theories on the increase include rising water temperatures caused by climate change making sharks change their habits, the El Nino weather pattern, which was particularly powerful last year, and the increasing popularity of watersports. Back on track. Shia LaBeouf opened up about his past behavior, staying sober and why he never fit in with his fellow Disney stars in a candid interview with Variety. PHOTOS: Hollywood's Biggest Bad Boys The Lawless actor, 30, revealed that he hasnt had a drink in almost a year, and although he doesnt call himself an addict, he regularly attends AA meetings. Alcohol or any of that s--t will send you haywire. I cant f--k with none of it. Ive got to keep my head low, he said. "I got a Napoleonic complex. I start drinking and I feel smaller than I am, and I get louder than I should. Its just not for me, dude. In the past five years, the Fury star has been arrested for several alcohol-related incidents and garnered attention for his bizarre antics, such as wearing a paper bag over his head to his movie premiere. "I had people tell me it was going to [ruin my career], he said. People I respected dudes I wanted to work with just looked me in the eyes and said, Lifes too short for this s--t. Im still earning my way back. Im happy working. PHOTOS: Celebrity Mugshots LaBeouf, who got his start as a Disney star, also got candid about his upbringing and the influence it had on his career. While he filmed Even Stevens, he lived in a hotel with his dad. "There were drugs everywhere marijuana, cocaine, heroin, he said of his fathers friends. [My dad] gave me my first joint when I was probably 11 or 12. He explained that he never meshed with the rest of the Disney crowd because of his childhood. "They would invite the Hilary Duffs and Miley Cyruses to go to the Jonas Brothers concert, and Id be there with my friends. But we were outsiders. It felt distant, he said. Recently, LaBeouf has starred in a string of indie films, including the highly praised American Honey, instead of the blockbusters that defined his early career. I dont think Id be working with the directors Ive been working with if I had not f--ked up a bit, he told Variety. They wanted a f--king fireball. They wanted a loose cannon. Im learning how to distill my crazy into something manageable, that I can shape and deliver on the day. [Before] I was an open wound bleeding on everything. Story continues PHOTOS: Celebrity Feuds: The Biggest Ever! While he has nothing but praise for his Transformers director, Michael Bay, some other well-known Hollywood directors are a different story. "I dont like the movies that I made with [Steven] Spielberg. The only movie that I liked that we made together was the Transformers one, he said of the film, which Spielberg executive-produced. Spielberg also directed him in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and executive-produced LaBeoufs film Eagle Eye, along with the rest of the Transformers franchise. "You get there, and you realize youre not meeting the Spielberg you dream of, LaBeouf continued. Youre meeting a different Spielberg, who is in a different stage in his career. Hes less a director than he is a f--king company. As for whats next, the actor revealed that despite Oscar speculation for American Honey, hes not getting caught up in it. The Oscars are about politics, he said. I gotta earn my way back. Its not about who is the best. Im not that guy for a long time for a long, long time. Related Content: Shia LaBeouf is getting extremely candid about both his career and his headline-making personal life. The controversial actor opens up about everything from getting sober to working his way back into the good graces of Hollywood -- after multiple arrests and displaying some erratic behavior in the last five years -- in a revealing new interview. LaBeouf, 30, also has no problem dishing about his experience with legendary directors, namely, his disappointment working with Steven Spielberg. "I grew up with this idea, if you got to Spielberg, that's where it is," LaBeouf tells Variety, having worked with the director on multiple projects, including Disturbia, Transformers, Eagle Eye, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. "You get there, and you realize you're not meeting the Spielberg you dream of. You're meeting a different Spielberg, who is in a different stage in his career. He's less a director than he is a f**king company." NEWS: Shia LaBeouf Is Hitchhiking Across the Country and Calling It Art LaBeouf doubles down on his past criticism on the ill-received Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Interestingly enough, he has nothing but praise for Transformers director Michael Bay, whom he calls an "artist." "I don't like the movies that I made with Spielberg," LaBeouf says bluntly. "The only movie that I liked that we made together was the Transformers one [which Spielberg produced]. I prepped for a year and a half on [2008's Indiana Jones film]. And then the movie comes out, and it's your fault. That sh*t hurt bad." Criticism about LaBeouf's blockbuster sequels, including 2010's Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, eventually got to him. "I didn't like going in public, because I had to face my failures constantly," he says about not being proud of his own films. Variety LaBeouf now says he hasn't had a drink in almost a year, and has been to AA meetings, though he doesn't call himself an addict. Story continues "I got a Napoleonic complex," he says about his alcohol issues, acknowledging that part of his heavy drinking was "posturing." "I start drinking and I feel smaller than I am, and I get louder than I should. It's just not for me, dude." "You don't touch it," he now says. "Alcohol or any of that sh*t will send you haywire. I can't f**k with none of it. I've got to keep my head low." LaBeouf's past behavior has definitely cost him in Hollywood. The former Disney star says he was approached by Suicide Squad director David Ayer for the role that eventually went to Scott Eastwood, but Warner Bros. vetoed his casting. "The character was different initially," LaBeouf says. "Then Will [Smith] came in, and the script changed a bit. That character and Tom [Hardy's] character [later played by Joel Kinnaman] got written down to build Will up." "I don't think Warner Bros. wanted me," he adds. "I went in to meet, and they were like, 'Nah, you're crazy. You're a good actor, but not this one.' It was a big investment for them." Still, LaBeouf acknowledges the "double standard" when it comes to male and female actors' personal lives affecting their professional ones. "It's a double standard, for sure," he says. "Women require grace for longevity. I don't think men require grace. You can be Mickey Rourke." LaBeouf acknowledges his past mistakes -- including plagiarizing Daniel Clowes' comic Justin M. Damiano, which he now calls "straight theft" on his part -- and also regrets once describing himself as a method actor. "The word is getting embarrassing," he says. "You don't hear about female method actors. The whole thing has turned into weird, false masculinity sh*t." That being said, LaBeouf still appears to take things to the extreme for his roles. The actor got 12 tattoos for his new part in American Honey, in which he plays the leader of a gang of nomad thieves on a cross-country road trip. Both of his knees now feature matching portraits of Missy Elliott. "I don't love Missy Elliott like I wanna get two Missy Elliott tattoos," LaBeouf says. "But you're in a tattoo parlor, and [shrugs shoulders] peer pressure." These days, LaBeouf says he is "happy working" and building himself up again. "I'm learning how to distill my 'crazy' into something manageable, that I can shape and deliver on the day," he says. NEWS: Shia LaBeouf Slaps Fan During Elevator Art Stint And even though his latest role in American Honey has started to generate Oscar buzz, he isn't interested in any accolades. "The Oscars are about politics," he says. "I gotta earn my way back. It's not about who is the best. I'm not that guy for a long time -- for a long, long time." "I'm good with that, though," he adds. "Sometimes that sh*t is a curse." Related Articles Total assets amount to $287 b. While the global pension funds experienced a 3% dip in total assets for 2015, Asia Pacific saw a 1% improvement in funds during the year, with Singapore emerging as one of the top 10 pension funds. According to the latest research by Pensions & Investments and Willis Towers Watson, Singapore's Central Provident Fund gained a 7.9% growth in US dollar terms and a 10% improvement in terms of local currency, with total assets of $287 billion (US$211 billion). Singapore bested its previous rank at tenth place and emerged at the eighth position in 2015. The report stated Asia Pacific funds increased by around 1% during 2015, as compared to a decrease of 2% for the top 20 funds. Six Asian funds reached top 20, with Japan's Government Pension Investment sitting comfortably at the top with US$1.2 trillion assets. Other Asian funds in the top 20 include South Korea's National Pension, China's National Social Security, Japan's Local Government Officials, and Malaysia's Employees Provident Fund. These six funds accounted for 41% of the top 20 funds' assets in the ranking. Willis Towers Watson Managing Director Naomi Denning said the continuing tides of assets rises and falls reflects how difficult for funds to meet their respective missions. "It has become clear that good investment governance is the key determinant in producing the competitive edge necessary to transform portfolios and succeed in the ever-evolving mission of trying to pay benefits securely, affordably and in full, Denning said. More From Singapore Business Review Zalec (Slovenia) (AFP) - Several hundred beer-lovers and curious spectators gathered in a small town in Slovenia on Tuesday for the inauguration of what is billed as Europe's first "beer fountain". Zalec's new attraction, dreamed up by local entrepreneurs a few years ago, will not be gushing out gallons of amber nectar for thirsty visitors to scoop up and guzzle as they please, however. Six euros ($6.75) gets you a special glass with a microchip that allows customers to pour a very modest decilitre of beer five times from any of the five different taps. "The point is not letting people get drunk here, we want to promote the culture of drinking beer," said mayor Janko Kos, insisting the beer was still competitively priced compared to other countries. Outside interest is "astonishing", he added. The town was getting calls "from everywhere and asking what is it that we have here. That can't be bad." He hopes that the installation, set in the town's park, will put Zalec on the tourist map and bring publicity to the picturesque hop-growing region's many brews. (Adds details on market impact, U.S. hog slaughter) CHICAGO, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Smithfield Foods Inc, a subsidiary of WH Group Ltd, on Tuesday said a hog slaughterhouse in Illinois will be operational as soon as possible after a fire halted pork production on Monday. "(The) cause of the fire is being investigated," Smithfield spokeswoman Kathleen Kirkham said, adding that there were no injuries in the fire that occurred in a rendering section of the facility in Monmouth, in the western part of the state. Smithfield says it is the world's largest hog producer and pork processor. The company's Farmland Foods plant in Monmouth can process more than 10,000 hogs per day, accounting for only a small percentage of total U.S. hog slaughter capacity of more than 440,000 hogs per day, according to industry data. With the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasting record-large U.S. hog supplies this year, any prolonged outage would likely back up supplies and weigh on prices. Chicago Mercantile Exchange October lean hogs fell 2.3 percent to 59.325 cents per lb, with losses partially tied to the Smithfield outage, traders said. One hog dealer said the fire damaged refrigeration lines for coolers at the plant. Another dealer said the facility likely will not be accepting hogs for at least two days. (Reporting by Michael Hirtzer; Editing by Dan Grebler) From Esquire The day after Donald Trump revealed his insane plan to ban Muslims from entering the United States, the hashtag #TrumpIsDisqualifiedParty became Twitter's top trending topic worldwide. The hashtag emerged Tuesday afternoon after a White House spokesman said Trump's incendiary remarks disqualify him from being president. "The fact is what Donald Trump said yesterday disqualifies him from serving as president," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said in Tuesday's press briefing. The reason for his disqualification, according to Earnest, is that every president must swear an oath to "preserve, protect and defend" the U.S. Constitution. Trump's proposal on Muslims is a clear violation of the Constitution-so he's disqualified. Of course, whether Trump runs for president under the Republican banner is up to the party's voter. Either way, his disqualification party, on Twitter at least, looks pretty amazing. Let me know when the #TrumpIsDisqualifiedParty is. I'm in there. pic.twitter.com/49lqUgS2yk - The Low Key Legend (@CoryTownes) December 8, 2015 Nice work today, Twitter. You Might Also Like Many homeowners with security systems have signs on their yard indicating they're protected. But the Better Business Bureau says those signs can be a beacon for unscrupulous salesmen. According to the Utah Better Business Bureau, Salt Lake City based Alder home protection has over 200 complaints nationwide, many of them for deceptive home security sales. To find out how some Alder salesmen operate, INSIDE EDITION producer Charlie McLravy attended an Alder sales training meeting undercover in Lexington, KY. At the meeting, Alder Regional Sales Manager Bobby Shane instructed the troops all about takeovers. What are takeovers? They occur when Alder salesmen targets homes that have existing alarm monitoring services with companies like ADT, and try to take over their accounts by offering free upgrades. Read: 'Wolf of Boca Raton' Living Large in $7.5 Million Condo Shane asked the Kentucky recruits, "What's the biggest concern that people have about us?" "Legitimacy," one person answered. "Legitimacy, yeah, Shane replied, They think we're a scam. Are we a scam? Heck no." But Gray Finney, the senior vice president of ADT, told Inside Edition: "It is absolutely an outright scam. What they do is they walk through neighborhoods looking [for] and targeting ADT signs. Jane Driggs, president of the Utah Better Business Bureau, agrees, telling Inside Edition: Theyre essentially swapping out whatever system you had with theirs. They are telling the consumer they are there to upgrade the system when in reality they want the customer to buy Alder's system." Driggs added: "Alder is misleading consumers when they tell them they're there to upgrade their system and not being upfront that they are Alder. Inside Edition witnessed some of these so-called takeovers first hand, when McLravy was invited to shadow Alder salesman Walter Voisard as he canvassed neighborhoods in Louisville, Ky. looking for ADT signs in front yards and knocking on doors. Story continues Ive actually come by about your old ADT signs out front here, Voisard told one homeowner. My job is to put the new signs up here okay. The homeowner clearly believed he was speaking to an ADT salesman. Hes with ADT alarms, the homeowner told his wife. Once inside the home Voisard tried to convince homeowners to switch their ADT contract to a new Alder contract by offering a free upgrade. But what Voisard fails to mention at the front door is the fact that the price for the new upgraded Alder equipment and monitoring services is actually $49.99 a month for 60 months, or about $3,000.00. During that earlier sales meeting, Shane was heard telling the Alder salesmen: Theres a reason why we don't knock on the door and say look I'm doing sixty month contracts at $49.99. Some homeowners who switch from ADT to Alder have gotten stuck paying two bills. Others fail to realize theyre monitoring equipment has been switched from ADT to Alder until they get a bill. ADT isn't the only well-known corporate name that Voisard dropped to get him past the front door. In several instances, Voisard told homeowners he was with GE, claiming they manufacture the alarm equipment. I work with GE, Voisard directly told one homeowner through their front door. "That's an outright lie. Alder security has no association with GE security, said Finney Driggs also cautioned homeowners to be wary of any scare tactics door-to-door salesmen may use. But one homeowner we spoke to said she agreed to let Alder take over her ADT contract after she said Voisard showed her pictures of a burglar he claimed was snipping the wires of old ADT equipment. The homeowner later told Inside Edition they felt manipulated, adding, it made me nervous and it upset my mom pretty bad as well. Inside Editions Chief Investigative Correspondent, Lisa Guerrero, caught up with Voisard while he was walking down the sidewalk. Id just like to ask you if youre using deceptive and misleading business practices when you try to sell your alarm systems? Read: Professional Courtesy: Are Some Cops Getting a 'Get-Out-of-Jail-Free' Card? Id just like to ask you if youre using deceptive and misleading business practices when you try to sell your alarm systems? I have no comment on this right now, said Voisard. Im absolutely honest and we have a training manual that we stick strictly to, but I do really appreciate your time and you have a great day. Guerrero then asked Voisard, Do you ever tell people youre with GE? Maam no, I just told you honestly I dont want to speak about this, Voisard said as he walked away. "It can't be one rogue employee, the BBBs Driggs says. The number of complaints that we receive are very concerning theyre from all over the U.S. ADT is currently suing Alder for deceptive and misleading sales practices. Alder denies all the allegations and says they ensure their customers are satisfied and provide them with best in-class products and services. Watch: Elderly Couple Facing Eviction After Grandson Allegedly Scams Them Out of Their Home Related Articles: JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's biggest platinum mine-workers' union and the industry have failed to reach a deal on workers' pay, the union said on Monday, raising the prospect of industrial action in the world's biggest producer of the white metal. The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), which led a crippling five-month strike in 2014, has been in talks with Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum and Lonmin since July this year. (Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by Ed Cropley) CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South African anti-apartheid hero Desmond Tutu will have surgery on Wednesday to relieve an infection that has confined him to hospital since last month, his family said. Relatives did not give any more detail on his ailment, but said it was not related to the prostate cancer he has had for nearly 20 years. The former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, who regularly criticized white-minority rule from his pulpit, was also hospitalized last year for treatment of an "inflammation". "The Archbishop will undergo a small surgical procedure on Wednesday to address the root cause of the infections," the family said in a statement. The 84-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner has continued to respond well to treatment in the Cape Town hospital, the family added. (Writing by TJ Strydom; Editing by James Macharia) By Denis Dumo and Michelle Nichols JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan still needs to agree the number and nationality of United Nations peacekeepers for a protection force, a government minister said on Tuesday, a day after President Salva Kiir approved the deployment in a bid to avoid a U.N. arms embargo. Kiir publicly consented to the protection force, authorized by the U.N. Security Council last month, after meeting with council envoys, led by U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power, on Sunday in Juba. However, a joint statement after the meeting noted that the details of the troop deployment still needed to worked out. Government spokesperson Michael Makuei said on Monday the country also needed to "agree on the armament, we need to agree on the deployment, we need to agree on the time frame." In the wake of deadly violence in Juba in mid-July between Kiir's troops and soldiers loyal to opposition leader Riek Machar, the Security Council authorized a 4,000-strong regional protection force as part of the 12,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission already on the ground, known as UNMISS. The council has mandated the force until Dec. 15. "If we don't accept it, if we don't agree with that, nobody will enter South Sudan. Anybody who enters without our consent is 'an invader'," Makuei told reporters. The council threatened to consider an arms embargo if U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reported in mid-September that Kiir's government was not cooperating on the protection force and was still obstructing peacekeepers already on the ground. "We're going to want to see a significant acceleration in operational discussions about the deployment of the force," Power told Reuters, warning the South Sudanese government not to go back to "first principles or challenging consent." "There are very conflicting signals because there are some who, if they had a choice, would expel UNMISS tomorrow," Power said. "So the real question is: is there going to be united and consistent follow-through on the direction that the president gave last night by making that commitment?" East African regional bloc IGAD pushed for a protection force and has pledged to provide troops. South Sudan Minister of Cabinet Affairs Martin Elia Lomoro said on Sunday that the government had no objection to who contributes soldiers. However, some Security Council diplomats said South Sudan had concerns about some neighboring countries, like Ethiopia, sending troops. "We have heard some names of the countries which can substitute regional neighboring countries - Zambia, Zimbabwe were mentioned," said Deputy Russian U.N. Ambassador Petr Iliichev, after the council envoys met with the African Union Peace and Security Council in Addis Ababa on Monday. South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 but slid into civil war in 2013 after Kiir sacked Machar as his vice president. The pair signed a peace deal a year ago but fighting has continued and Machar has now fled to neighboring Sudan. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by James Dalgleish) MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's former industry minister, who resigned after coming under scrutiny over his links to a company that appeared in the Panama Papers, has withdrawn his application for a senior job at the World Bank, a government source said on Tuesday. Jose Manuel Soria could not be contacted for comment on Tuesday but newspaper El Mundo reported he had told the economy ministry in a letter he was withdrawing after being asked to by the government and because of how his application was being used politically. Soria's nomination as his country's representative at the World Bank, announced on Friday by the acting center-right government, sparked public outrage in Spain and drew criticism from across the political spectrum. The news came at a sensitive time in Spanish politics, where bickering between parties is edging the country toward its third election in a year. He stepped down as minister in April after reports surfaced of his alleged links to an offshore company on the British island of Jersey, saying he was resigning to limit any damage to the caretaker government. Soria has denied any wrongdoing. The conservative People's Party (PP) has governed in an acting capacity since losing its majority in an inconclusive election in December following a string of corruption scandals. The PP again won the most votes in a second ballot in June, but still fell short of a majority in another hung parliament. Parties have yet to find a way out of the impasse, and PP leader Mariano Rajoy has struggled to get enough rivals to back him for a second term in office. Soria's nomination to the executive director position at the World Bank prompted the PP's political rivals to demand explanations in parliament from acting Economy Minister Luis de Guindos. Rajoy shrugged off the appointment on Monday, saying Soria was no longer a political figure, but even some regional PP leaders showed their discomfort in recent days and questioned his nomination. Close to 290,000 people had by Tuesday signed an online petition asking the World Bank to veto Soria's appointment. (Reporting by Andres Gonzalez, Writing by Sarah White; Editing by Catherine Evans) By Abhinav Ramnarayan LONDON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Spanish government bond yields dipped below the 1 percent mark on Tuesday, continuing a strong performance that defies growing political uncertainty in Spain. Acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's chances of forming a government were dealt a blow on Friday after he failed to win parliament's backing for a second time, increasing the likelihood of another election. Ratings agency Moody's on Monday warned that prolonged political deadlock in Spain would be negative for its credit rating. However, the yield on Spain's 10-year bond fell further in early trading on Tuesday to just below 1 percent, 4 basis points lower than at the start of the week. "The political situation is unsatisfactory, but maybe we have gotten reconciled to the fact that there will be some sort of compromise eventually," said Norbert Wuthe, senior analyst, government bond strategy at BayernLB. "The PMI figures may also explain the outperfomance over Italy," he said. Spain 10-year bonds yield 15 bps fewer than the Italian equivalent, compared with 12 bps last week. Activity in Spain's services sector expanded at a faster pace in August, a survey showed on Monday, as business remained brisk in the hotels and restaurants industry during a record summer for tourism. Wuthe said expectations of further monetary policy easing when the European Central Bank meets later this week were keeping euro zone government bond yields stable. Other euro zone yields were flat to lower across the board despite political risks elsewhere in the region. Austria is set to sell seven-year and 10-year bonds via auctions later on Tuesday just as Vienna is in the process of buying back bonds of "bad bank" Heta, in a test for new European bail-in rules. None of this appears to have affected Austrian government bonds, which have seen yields edge lower to 0.14 percent, according to Tradeweb. The yield on Ireland's 10-year bond dropped by 1 bps to 0.42 percent, adding to a 5.5 bps fall on Tuesday, even as Fitch warned that the Apple tax ruling may add to economic uncertainty and increase political risks. EU antitrust regulators ordered Apple last week to pay up to 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) in taxes plus interest to the Irish government after ruling a special scheme to route profits through Ireland was illegal state aid. For Reuters new Live Markets blog on European and UK stock markets see reuters://realtime/verb=Open/url=http://emea1.apps.cp.extranet.thomsonreuters.biz/cms/?pageId=livemarkets (Reporting by Abhinav Ramnarayan; Editing by Richard Balmforth) (Recasts to include market reaction to U.S. data ) By Dhara Ranasinghe and Abhinav Ramnarayan LONDON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Bond yields across the euro area fell sharply on Tuesday, pushed down by expectations that the ECB might deliver more stimulus when it meets this week and following weaker-than-expected U.S. data. Spanish government bond yields slid almost 7 basis points and were set for their biggest one-day fall in almost six weeks as, along with the prospects of ECB easing, its economy showed signs of resilience to a domestic political stalemate that looks unlikely to be broken before December at the earliest. Across the region, bond yields were 5-7 bps lower as investors speculated that the European Central Bank may extend its 1.7 trillion euro asset purchase programme and increase the pool of eligible bonds at Thursday's policy meeting. The fall in yields gathered pace on news that the U.S. economy's service sector expanded more slowly in August than in July, with the fall the largest since the 2008 financial crisis. The data, which followed Friday's weak jobs numbers, supported a view that U.S. rates are likely to rise later rather than sooner, pushing Treasury yields down. "The rally in euro zone bond markets today has been persistent and across the region, suggesting that there is speculation about what the ECB will do this week," said BNP Paribas European rate strategist Patrick Jacq. "The weaker-than-expected ISM number has only added to the rally." Germany's benchmark 10-year Bund yield fell to a three-week low at minus 0.109 percent, while 30-year yields tumbled more than 6 bps to 0.45 percent. A gauge of long-term euro zone inflation expectations fell to its lowest level since July. The five-year, five-year breakeven forward fell below 1.26 percent -- towards record lows and further from the ECB's near 2 percent inflation target. "There is a bit of bullishness in the market ahead of the ECB meeting," said Orlando Green, European fixed income strategist at Credit Agricole. "We are looking for an extension of the bond-buying programme." Story continues SPAIN REBOUNDS Having lagged their peers last week amid political concerns, Spanish bonds were back in favour, with the 10-year yield falling as low as 0.93 percent, down from last week's one-month high above 1 percent. Acting prime minister Mariano Rajoy's chances of forming a coalition government were dealt a blow on Friday after he failed to win parliament's backing for a second time, increasing the likelihood of another election. Ratings agency Moody's said on Monday that prolonged political deadlock would hurt Spain's credit rating . "The political situation is unsatisfactory, but maybe we have gotten reconciled to the fact that there will be some sort of compromise eventually," said Norbert Wuthe, senior analyst, government bond strategy at BayernLB. "The PMI figures may also explain the outperformance over Italy," he said. Spain 10-year bonds yield trades 15 bps below its Italian equivalent, compared with 12 bps last week. Activity in Spain's services expanded at a faster pace in August, a survey showed on Monday, as business remained brisk in the hotel and restaurants industry during a record summer for tourism. For Reuters new Live Markets blog on European and UK stock markets see reuters://realtime/verb=Open/url=http://emea1.apps.cp.extranet.thomsonreuters.biz/cms/?pageId=livemarkets (editing by John Stonestreet) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks to members of the media on her first flight on a new campaign plane before taking off from Westchester County Airport in White Plains, N.Y. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP) HAMPTON, Ill. Taking questions from her traveling press corps for the first time since July, Hillary Clinton defended her handling of classified material while she was secretary of state and tied Donald Trump to Russia and Vladimir Putin. Clinton, who hasnt had a formal press conference in 275 days, took more than 10 questions Monday afternoon from the press corps at the back of her new campaign plane. Trump has seized on her reluctance to engage with the media, calling her Hiding Hillary and announcing the number of days since her last press conference to his followers on social media. Starting Monday, Clinton began allowing the reporters who cover her campaign to travel with her on a new and larger 737 jet, instead of in a separate plane. I think its pretty cool, dont you? Clinton said about the new plane Monday morning. Im so happy to have you all of you with me. Reporters laughed, and Clinton added, No, really! She promised she would return to talk to them more formally later. Trump quickly followed suit, taking pool reporters on a leg of his plane journey Monday and answering a few questions from them. Clinton walked to the back of the plane soon after it took off from Cleveland, brandishing a copy of her new book, Stronger Together, co-written with her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine. She blasted Trump for his ties to Putin, saying the Russians pose a real threat to the U.S. electoral system, given recent news reports that they hacked into two U.S. voter databases and the Democratic National Committee email system. Clinton called the attacks stunning and compared them to Watergate. The fact that our intelligence services are now viewing Russian activity as a potential threat against our election systems raises further question about Donald Trump, Clinton said. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and vice presidential candidate Sen. Tim Kaine greet members of a crowd at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP) Clinton stopped short of saying Putin is directing these attacks in order to get Trump elected, saying that Trump has generally parroted what is a Putin-Kremlin line. But she did quote what she called an old Arkansas saying about the hackings. If you find a turtle on fencepost, it didnt get there by accident, she said. I think its quite intriguing that this activity has happened around the time that Trump became the nominee. Story continues Clinton also defended her handling of classified material while secretary of state, an issue that was raised again when the FBI released its summary on Friday of its investigation into her use of a private email server. The FBI decided not to recommend prosecution in the case, but the report said Clinton relied on aides not to send her classified material on her email and was unfamiliar with classification protocol. I went in to the State Department understanding classification, Clinton said, citing her time on the Senate Armed Services Committee as senator. I take classification seriously. The fact that I couldnt remember certain meetings whether or not they occurred doesnt undermine the commitment I had and still have toward the treatment of classified material. Slideshow: All aboard Hillarys new plane >>> She was also asked why her server was wiped with the software program BleachBit by an unnamed specialist a few weeks after it was first reported that she used it. I dont know anything about that, she said. That was not something I was aware of. Clinton was dogged by a cough on Labor Day, which she told reporters was caused by seasonal allergies. It interrupted her first speech at a rally in Cleveland for several minutes, during which she could barely get out her speech. The cough also interrupted her question-and-answer session with the press, and she returned to her seat before coming back to the press section and finishing it after the plane landed at Quad City International Airport. A reporter asked Clinton if she was worried that Trump would use her cough to feed conspiracy theories about her health and argue she shouldnt be president. Im not concerned about the conspiracy theories. There are so many of them, Ive lost track of them, Clinton said. Asked if she thought the theories were sexist, Clinton let out a long Hmm. I dont know, thats for you guys to opine upon, she said, before walking back to the front of the plane. New York (AFP) - Second seed and 2012 champion Andy Murray crushed Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 to reach a sixth US Open quarter-final, clocking up a personal fast serve record in the process. The 29-year-old reigning Wimbledon and Olympic champion stormed to an impressive seventh win in 10 meetings against the 22nd-seeded Dimitrov. From the moment Murray broke for a 3-1 lead in the first set, on the back of a lung-busting 32-shot rally, the outcome of the Arthur Ashe Stadium clash was never in doubt. For good measure, Murray sent down his fastest ever serve of 141mph (226.9 km/h) at the end of a set where he allowed Dimitrov just five points on his service. "I once hit a 145mph serve in San Jose but they recalibrated the machine the next day so it didn't count. Tonight was the first time I have gone above 140," said the 29-year-old. "It was lucky and I doubt I'll ever do it again." Dimitrov broke only once in the match in the fourth game of the second set but it was a brief respite as Murray quickly reclaimed it before taking 10 of the next 12 games to seal the rout. Dimitrov committed 43 unforced errors as Murray set up a last-eight clash with Japanese sixth seed Kei Nishikori, the 2014 runner-up who downed 37-year-old Ivo Karlovic 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4). Karlovic fired 21 aces in the contest but Nishikori's 44 winners and a miserly seven unforced errors proved the key. "It's never easy facing someone serving like Ivo, never easy to return those kind of serves," said Nishikori. "But I tried to stay down. I have been returning well, so that also helped today. I think I played one of the best matches -- serve, return, groundstrokes." - Del Potro moves on - Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 champion, became the lowest ranked player in 25 years to reach the quarter-finals. The 142nd-ranked del Potro was leading eighth-seeded Dominic Thiem 6-3, 3-2 when the Austrian retired with a right knee injury. Story continues Del Potro will face fellow Grand Slam title winner Stan Wawrinka for a semi-final spot. Wawrinka, a former Australian and French Open champion, reached a fourth successive quarter-final in New York with a hard-fought 6-4, 6-1, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3 win over Illya Marchenko, the world number 63 from Ukraine. Del Potro is playing just his second Grand Slam event since the 2014 Australian Open. Earlier this year, he was on the brink of retirement after undergoing three wrist surgeries. "You never want to win a match like this. I wish Dominic a quick recovery as he has a great future," said 27-year-old del Potro, the lowest-ranked man in the last-eight since Jimmy Connors, at 174, went all the way to semi-finals in 1991. The 23-year-old Thiem had needed five sets to beat Australia's John Millman in the first round and four to get past Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain in the last 32. "I couldn't bend my knee too much in the last three days so I was handicapped a little bit," said Thiem playing his 70th match of the year. Should del Potro make the semi-finals he would be the lowest-ranked man to do so at a Grand Slam since 237th-ranked Vladimir Voltchkov at Wimbledon in 2000. No man ranked as low as del Potro has ever made the final of a major. Having saved a match point in an epic triumph over Dan Evans in the last round, Wawrinka, a semi-finalist in 2013 and 2015, cruised through the first two sets against Marchenko. The Ukrainian, who arrived in New York on a seven-match losing streak, battled back from 2-4 and 3-5 down in the third set to force a tiebreaker. He was a break to the good at 2-1 in the fourth before Wawrinka, reinvigorated by a violent racquet smash courtside, recovered to win five of the next six games. "It was tough to lose that third set but I am looking at the big picture," said 31-year-old Wawrinka, whose 49 winners helped offset his 41 unforced errors. The first two quarter-finals take place on Tuesday when defending champion Novak Djokovic faces France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Lucas Pouille, the conqueror of Rafael Nadal, tackles French compatriot Gael Monfils. Brock Turner registered Tuesday as a sex offender in his home state of Ohio, following his conviction for a 2015 sexual assault while he was a swimmer at Stanford University, a spokeswoman for the Greene County Sheriff's Office confirms to PEOPLE. Turner spent around 30 minutes registering at the office, about an hour north of Cincinnatti, the spokeswoman said. He was also photographed and fingerprinted as part of the registration. Turner was convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster at a January 2015 fraternity party. He was found guilty of three felonies in March. In video taken by NBC Bay Area from Turner's registration, his mother, Carleen, can be seen attempting to block her son's face. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. Stanford Convict Brock Turner Registers as a Sex Offender in Ohio After Early Release| Crime & Courts, Sexual Assault/Rape, True Crime, Crime Turner will have to re-register as a Tier III sex offender every 90 days for the rest of his life, the sheriff's office confirmed to PEOPLE. Further, he will have to seek permission for any out-of-state travel, must keep authorities informed of his address and will never be allowed to live near or work in a school. The 21-year-old was released Friday from the Santa Clara County jail in California, three months into his six-month sentence. Turner will now serve three years' probation and is ordered to attend drug and alcohol counseling. He will also be required to complete a sex offender management program and participate in polygraph tests, according to his probation conditions. Turner is barred from ever again stepping foot on Stanford's campus, which is where he assaulted the victim. He admitted to having sexual contact with the woman, but maintained that it was consensual. The case drew national attention after Judge Aaron Persky sentenced Turner to only six months in county jail, rather than the six years that prosecutors recommended. Persky said that a longer sentence would have had a "severe impact" on Turner. According to reports, Ohio officials are already distributing announcements of Turner's sex offender status to neighbors. Brock Turner has arrived at the Greene Co Sheriff's office to register as a sex offender. @ABC22FOX45 pic.twitter.com/pk172cg6O5 Megan O'Rourke (@MeganFOX45Now) September 6, 2016 Brock Turner, who served only three months of an inexplicable six-month sentence for rape, registered as a sex offender in Ohio on Tuesday morning. As per the terms of his conviction, he will have to register as a sex offender no matter where he lives for the rest of his life. icrimewatch.net It wouldnt be surprising to see him register in another state after moving from Ohio, because hes already dealing with armed neighbors outside his home, according to NBC. No one is going to shoot him unless we see him victimizing people, said Micah Naziri, one of several Greene County residents protesting Turners lax punishment for a sexual assault conviction. Turner raped an unconscious woman behind a dumpster while attending Stanford. He was on the swim team at the time, which is why you see so many headlines that name him Stanford swimmer as opposed to Stanford rapist. Adolf Hitler was a painter but you dont ever see that in headlines about him, which is something to keep in mind when writing headlines about Turner. Turner distributed photos of his victim to friends and blamed Stanfords party culture for his actions. His harshest punishment came from USA Swimming, who banned Turner from the sport for life. Thankfully, the Santa Clara judge who saw fit to give Turner a paltry six-month sentence is facing a recall. With constant efforts to enhance its online presence and streamline operations along with strategic acquisitions and long-term initiatives, Staples, Inc. SPLS remains confident of sustaining the growth momentum. Also, this retailer of office products and services has outlined certain plans to boost long-term value, after the termination of its merger with Office Depot, Inc. ODP. Growth Drivers Staples remains committed to expand its offering of products and services beyond office supplies. Also, the company expects to boost its supply chain capabilities through the addition of more than 1,000 associates to its mid-market sales team. Staples is investing heavily in improving its online presence to drive sales. Further, it refurbished staplesadvantage.com and plans to launch the buy online, pick up in store facility via the website in the coming days. Through this omni-channel strategy, the company hopes to enhance its digital capabilities in the retail network. Notably, Staples unveiled a new Development Center in Seattle with a view to enhance e-commerce and engineering. This is likely to benefit specific areas like next-generation digital platforms, personalization and big-data. Also, it acquired California-based software company, Runa to further enhance its e-commerce platform as well as customers shopping experience. Further, it acquired a software firm, PNI Digital Media. Moreover, the company is improving its site and increasing the speed of search and checkout procedures. We think that these online capabilities will help it to counter competition. Staples faces stiff competition from online retailers like Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN, other discount stores and mass merchandisers that have penetrated deep into the office supplies sector. Also, sluggish international sales remain a major concern for the company, owing to a weak macroeconomic environment, particularly in Europe. Nevertheless, Staples is streamlining its operations in order to drive performance. The company is now focused on improving store productivity, closing underperforming locations and downsizing stores, accelerating growth in adjacent categories, increasing market share in core office supplies and reorganizing its cost structure. Story continues STAPLES INC Price and Consensus STAPLES INC Price and Consensus | STAPLES INC Quote Given the pros and cons embedded in the stock, Staples currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked stock in the retail sector is Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp. BGFV, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report AMAZON.COM INC (AMZN): Free Stock Analysis Report OFFICE DEPOT (ODP): Free Stock Analysis Report STAPLES INC (SPLS): Free Stock Analysis Report BIG 5 SPORTING (BGFV): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Starbucks, official change of season indicator, began testing three brunch menu items last weekend. In an email to TIME on Tuesday, a Starbucks spokesperson said that Belgian waffles, baked French toast and quiche made with cage-free eggs have made their debut in Portland and Seattle locations. As part of our commitment to bring our customers a wide variety of innovative menu of food and beverages that for a variety of occasions, Starbucks is currently testing a weekend-only brunch menu, she told TIME. People near 78 locations throughout the two cities can order brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Theres no word on whether Starbucks will expand this test to additional cities. The spokesperson confirmed that this isnt the first time the chain has tested brunch food in select stores, but the new blueberry-topped items are already beginning to crack the braggy social media brunch game. Pressing brunch questions for the coffee chain? Like Beyonce, the Pumpkin Spice Latte Facebook robot does not answer direct questions, but you can still chat it up like youre brunching together if youd like. Perfect way to start a Sunday morning, Belgium Waffles with Blueberries, Bacon & Swiss Quiche, and a Clover brewed coffee. #starbucksbrunch #starbucksclover #keepportlandwired A photo posted by Sarah Freeman (@sarahfreeman4) on Aug 28, 2016 at 6:36am PDT The husband and wife team of Nick and Elyse Oleksak have a lot to celebrate. Starting Tuesday, their New York City bakery is bringing cream cheese-stuffed bagel balls to Starbucks (SBUX)' more than 7,000 U.S. locations. Starbucks first began selling Bantam Bagels in a few dozen of its New York shops in 2015, before rolling them out to some 500 stores in New York City, Philadelphia and Indianapolis. On Tuesday, the coffee company revealed that the itty-bitty bagels would hit stores nationwide. "We always said, 'Wouldn't these be a perfect fit for Starbucks?'" Elyse Oleksak, co-founder of Bantam Bagels, told CNBC. "The Starbucks customer looks for elevated versions of iconic food and they're always on the go." This isn't the first bakery deal Starbucks has struck this year, as it tries to make food a larger piece of its business. In July, the company partnered with Italian baker Rocco Princi to bring artisan bakery items to its upscale Roastery locations. Those are slated to open in cities like New York and Shanghai starting in 2017. Oleksak and her husband did not disclose how much the deal between Bantam Bagels and Starbucks was worth. However, she did note that having Bantam Bagels in more than 7,000 Starbucks locations was like "being in every single national grocery chain, times two." Business has been booming for the bagel bite bakery. In the eight months after the husband and wife team appeared on ABC's "Shark Tank" in 2015, they raked in more than $2.1 million in sales. That compares to $200,000 before appearing on the show. "We reinvented an iconic food in one of the most cynical cities on earth that is founded on the bagel," Oleksak said. While the co-founders of Bantam Bagels have made it big, they told CNBC that nothing is going to change the way that they make their bagels. "Everything is still made in New York," Nick Oleksak told CNBC. "Everything still has that New York City tap water. Everything's made in Brooklyn. We are literally able to bring a bite of New York anywhere in the country." Story continues Customers can expect three different varieties of Bantam Bagels at Starbucks: The Classic a plain bagel stuffed with plain whipped cream cheese Everybody's Favorite an everything bagel stuffed with veggie cream cheese French Toast a cinnamon nutmeg egg bagel stuffed with maple butter cream cheese Starbucks restaurants will be selling two bagels for $2.95 and six bagels for $7.98. Each Bantam Bagel is about 100 calories, according to the company. Representatives from Starbucks did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. In addition to the Starbucks deal, the bakery's famous bagels will be available in the frozen section of more than 600 grocery stores starting in October, including Kroger (KR), Fred Meyer and QFC. Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to "Shark Tank." More From CNBC It will utilize the latters technology of monitoring wireless threats. As it widens its cyber defenses with the establishment of Cyber Security Centre of Excellence (COE) alliance, mobile network operator StarHub tapped software company Coronet for its technology of detecting wireless threats. Launched May this year, COE serves as a strategic hub for gearing the city-state's cyber security ecosystem with the most renowned security groups. As the first company to monitor the global wireless environment for threats, and automatically evaluate the risk associated with connecting to any wireless network, Coronet joins the roster of industry partners in COE alliance including Blue Coat, Cyberbit, Fortinet, Wedge Networks, Nanyang Polytechnic, Republic Polytechnic, Temasek Polytechnic, and Singapore University of Technology and Design. According to StarHubs Vice President of Cyber Security & Data Analytics Lim Woo Lip, this would arm its subscribers with the latest technology to prevent digital threats, as Wifi and cellular network attacks are rapidly gaining favor in hotels, airports, public places and offices. "Their distinct technology will fortify StarHubs offerings. With Coronets technology, StarHubs customers will be confident that they are always connected to a safe network," Lim said. Meanwhile, Coronet CEO Guy Moskowitz echoed the same statement, saying the group's technology would greatly help StarHub's enterprise customers with real-time visibility to wireless threats on networks around devices. "We look forward to collaborating and helping to advance cyber security solutions for StarHubs COE as well as for its enterprise customers," he stated. More From Singapore Business Review ZURICH, SWITZERLAND / ACCESSWIRE / September 6, 2016 / Today, Stephan Bogner from Rockstone Research published update on Golden Dawn Minerals Inc. (GOM.V) as the company has informed about the keenly awaited drill start in its May Mac underground mine within the historic Greenwood Mining District of British Columbia, Canada. Up to 400 holes with up to 2 rigs are scheduled in the next 6 weeks. A highly increased newsflow, potentially on a weekly basis, is anticipated. As a mining permit for the initial 10,000 t is already in hand, the May Mac Mine is poised to start mining first as it may take another 6 months until the recently acquired Lexington-Grenoble Mine is ready. As the recently acquired Greenwood processing plant is located only 15 km from May Mac, production could start practically immediately once sufficient material has been mined and stockpiled. Drilling has already started from surface near May Mac and permits have been received to drill underground in Level #7, including extending the drift, as well as rehabilitate the mine. One the one hand, the next weeks provide the potential to make the stock well-known among investors thanks to an increased newsflow. However more important is that the upcoming drilling and level extensions find enough material to subsequently start the Greenwood plant in order to sell the produced gold, silver, zinc and lead from May Mac to a smelter, therefore generating a first cashflow. The full report can be accessed with the following links: English (PDF): http://rockstone-research.com/images/PDF/GoldenDawn4en.pdf English (web version): http://rockstone-research.com/index.php/en/research-reports/1613-Starting-Shot-for-the-May-Mac-Mine German (PDF): http://rockstone-research.com/images/PDF/GoldenDawn4de.pdf For smartphones, an APP from Rockstone Research is available in the AppStore for Apple devices and in the GooglePlayStore for Android devices. Recently, Zimtu Capital Corp. launched the Beta Version of its Advantage APP, in which all interlisted stocks (i.e. all public companies listed in Canada and Germany) can be tracked. After a cost-free registration, the full features of the APP are unlocked, e.g. sorting all stocks with the biggest daily trading volumes on all German or Canadian exchanges (see instructions in the section "How To Use"). Story continues Disclaimer: Please read the full disclaimer within the full research report as a PDF as fundamental risks and conflicts of interest exist. SOURCE: Rockstone Research From Country Living Can you guess which governor says no one does foliage better than his state? Vermont is finally laying claim to what some would argue has been theirs all along: bragging rights for the best "flaming reds, blazing oranges, and glowing yellows," as Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin put it in a statement. Leaf peeping is practically a sport in the New England state, and one that Vermonters feel strongly about. Arizona Highways magazine caused a stir in 2013 after publishing an article declaring that their autumn was the best. States like Michigan and Pennsylvania have also compared their fall seasons to Vermont's. "Clearly, we're the bar," said Megan Smith, commissioner for the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing. Every year during autumn, almost 3.5 million people travel to Vermont to take in its provincial beauty, spending $460 million in the process. The Green Mountain State lives up to its name: Forests cover 75 percent of the state, and the country's highest percentage of maple trees can be found there. Foliage season there begins somewhere around the last week of September and lasts through the first week or two of October. Of course, factors like temperature, daylight hours, rain, and the amount of sugar in leaves can either speed up or delay the changing colors, so it's best to call Vermont's foliage hotline before heading out on a drive through Vermont's romantic countryside. (via CBS Local) You Might Also Like (Corrects to fix day of week in paragraph 4) By Ross Kerber BOSTON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - State Street Corp funds backed a majority of shareholder resolutions on climate-change issues this year, a swing from past proxy positions that a company executive said reflects a growing appreciation of environmental risks facing companies whose shares it owns. State Street supported the resolutions 51 percent of the time at S&P 500 companies including Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp in this year's proxy season, up from 14 percent last year, according to a review of recent securities filings by research firm Fund Votes. State Street's support level was more than twice that of other big asset managers. Rakhi Kumar, head of governance for State Street Global Advisors, the Boston company's asset-management arm, said the votes showed it becoming "more comfortable with understanding the risks in our portfolio." One issue, she said, is that few corporate directors were able to talk about environmental matters in detail. With more environmental regulation likely, "They need to get more conversant with climate risk," she said in an interview on Tuesday. Kumar said the voting record was not a radical change after years of raising the issue with corporate leaders, and she declined to discuss specific votes. Still, State Street's growing support for climate-change measures could pressure rivals as activists scrutinize the fund industry. For instance, leaders of the Asset Owners Disclosure Project, in London, said on Tuesday it was "hypocritical" of fund sponsors BlackRock Inc and Vanguard Group to say they consider environmental issues while voting against a high-profile proposal calling on Exxon to report on the impact climate change policies could have on its business. Those votes helped Exxon defeat the measure at its annual meeting in May, where it was supported by 38 percent of votes cast. Recent filings showed that State Street funds backed the proposal. (Fund Votes' findings excluded some cases where firms split their votes.) Story continues BlackRock and Vanguard say proxy votes are just one aspect of their engagement with corporations. In a separate report on Tuesday, BlackRock said all investors should factor climate change issues into their decision-making and that it is incorporating environmental changes into its analytical processes. Vanguard spokeswoman Arianna Stefanoni Sherlock said the company is "firmly committed" to managing environmental issues as part of its prudent investment practices. (Additional reporting by Dion Rabouin in New York. Editing by Steve Orlofsky) BEIRUT (Reuters) - A suspected chlorine gas attack on an opposition-held neighborhood in the Syrian city of Aleppo caused dozens of cases of suffocation on Tuesday, rescue workers and a monitoring group said. The Syrian Civil Defence, a rescue workers' organization that operates in rebel-held areas, said government helicopters had dropped barrel bombs containing chlorine on the Sukari neighborhood in eastern Aleppo. The Syrian government has denied previous accusations it used chemical weapons during the five-year-old civil war. The Syrian army could not be immediately reached for comment on the latest allegations. The Civil Defence said on its Facebook page that 80 people had suffocated. It reported no deaths. It posted a video showing wheezing children doused in water using oxygen masks to breathe. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks Syrian violence using sources on the ground, said medical sources had reported 70 cases of suffocation. A United Nations and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons inquiry seen by Reuters last month found that Syrian government forces were responsible for two toxic gas attacks in 2014 and 2015 involving chlorine. The Civil Defence accused the government of two other suspected chlorine gas attacks in August . The United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria said it was investigating an August incident. "Unimaginable crimes are occurring in Aleppo ... pro-government aerial bombardments cause mass civilian casualties," Commission Chairman Paulo Pinheiro told reporters in Geneva. "In government-held areas, indiscriminate ground shelling (by) armed groups ... is also killing scores of civilians," he added. Aleppo has been one of the areas hardest hit by escalating violence in recent months after the collapse of a partial truce brokered by the United States and Russia in February. Government forces put eastern Aleppo under siege on Sunday for a second time since July after advancing against rebels on the city's outskirts. The city has long been divided between government and opposition areas of control. The Syrian conflict has killed more than 250,000 people and forced more than 11 million from their homes. (Reporting by John Davison; additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva.; Editing by Larry King) By Orhan Coskun and Ercan Gurses ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey will have to strike a balance between the conflicting goals of Russia and the United States if it is to achieve its ambition of a "safe zone" in northern Syria and build on an incursion which gave it control of a thin strip of the border. Turkey has for several years called for world powers to help create a zone to protect civilians in its war-torn southern neighbor, with the dual aim of clearing its border of Islamic State and Kurdish militia fighters and of stemming a wave of migration that has caused tensions with Europe. Western allies have so far balked at the idea, saying it would require a significant ground force and planes to patrol a "no-fly zone", a major commitment in such a crowded and messy battlefield. Russia, which backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has meanwhile argued in the past that any foreign incursion would be illegal. But Turkey's offensive into northern Syria, launched with its Syrian rebel allies two weeks ago, has created what officials in Ankara are already calling a "de facto safe zone", driving Islamic State militants from the last 90-km (55-mile) strip of border territory they still controlled. Turkey now wants international support for a deeper operation to take control of a rectangle of territory stretching about 40 km into Syria, a buffer between two Kurdish-held cantons to the east and west and against Islamic State to the south. "The first phase of the plan has been achieved. Turkey no longer has borders with Islamic State. But this area is still very thin and vulnerable to attacks from the other side," said a senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity so as to discuss the strategy more freely. "What will be done now will depend on coordination with coalition powers and the support they will provide," he said, adding an improvement in relations with Russia had "eased Turkey's hand" operationally. The Turkish-backed rebels, mainly Syrian Arabs and Turkmen fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army, took charge of the frontier between the towns of Azaz and Jarablus on Sunday after seizing 20 villages from the ultra-hardline Islamists. Ahmed Osman, commander of the Sultan Murad rebel group, one of the Turkish-backed forces, told Reuters he would like to see a permanent "safe zone" but that this would require an agreement between Turkey, the United States and Russia. CONFLICTING INTERESTS Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, his hand strengthened by Turkey's incursion, said on Monday he had raised the issue of a "safe zone" again with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama at the G20 summit in China. Neither commented directly on the Turkish proposal, though both said they wanted to build cooperation in fighting terrorism in Syria. Erdogan's spokesman said there were neither objections nor clear signs of support in the meetings. A second senior Turkish official acknowledged both Washington and Russia "had their hesitations" but that a "de facto safe zone" had now become a reality on the ground and that their support, particularly in establishing a no-fly zone, was crucial. Metin Gurcan, a former major in the Turkish military and an analyst for the Al Monitor online journal, said Washington and Moscow's divergent agendas in Syria raised serious questions about the viability of the Turkish plans. "We are talking about two superpowers with great stakes in Syria. They have contradicting strategic interests about the end goal in Syria," he said. More than five years of civil war have cut Syria into a patchwork of territories held by the government and an often competing array of armed factions, including Kurdish militia fighters, a loose coalition of rebels groups, and Islamic State. The priority for Washington, which backs rebel factions fighting Assad in the civil war, is destroying Islamic State and it has been at odds with Turkey over the role of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia. The United States has backed the Kurdish fighters against the jihadists, but Turkey sees them as a hostile force linked to Kurdish militants on its own soil. The two NATO allies have reached an uneasy agreement under which YPG fighters are meant to remain east of the Euphrates river, just outside Turkey's proposed buffer zone, although Ankara has said it has yet to verify that they are doing so. Turkey meanwhile appears to be navigating Russian concerns more smoothly since restoring relations with Moscow in August, nine months after ties were broken when it shot down a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian border. Erdogan's spokesman said on Tuesday that Russia had voiced full support for Turkey's operation to clear the border of Islamic State. For its part, Turkey has been less insistent on Assad's immediate exit. "They appear to be lessening their demands for the ouster of Assad in deference to their new relationship with Russia," said James Stavridis, former NATO supreme commander and dean at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. 'ARMAGEDDON' Aside from the diplomatic challenges, a push deeper into Syria by the Turkish-backed Arab and Turkmen rebels poses significant military risks. The Turkish-backed forces have been advancing toward Manbij, a city around 30 km south of Jarablus that was captured last month from Islamic State by a U.S.-backed coalition that includes the YPG. The Kurdish fighters are since supposed to have pulled back east of the Euphrates. "We know there are de facto YPG factions still there. If they don't retreat, Turkey will be determined and return Manbij to its owners," said Yasin Aktay, a spokesman for Turkey's ruling AK Party, referring to Arab and Turkmen communities who lived there before civil war broke out in 2011. The Islamic State-held town of Al-Bab, west of Manbij, is another a key strategic target for both Turkish-backed and Kurdish forces where Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, one of Islamic State's most prominent leaders, is thought to have been killed in a U.S. air strike last week. To its northwest is the village of Dabiq - the site, according to Islamic prophecy, of a final battle between Muslims and infidels, an event in Islamic State propaganda that will herald the apocalypse. "The fight for the Turkish-backed rebels is going to get tougher as they proceed south," said a former Turkish soldier and security analyst Abdullah Agar. "According to Islamic State's beliefs, they will face Armageddon here." (Additional reporting by Tom Perry in Beirut, Tulay Karadeniz in Ankara and Humeyra Pamuk, Edmund Blair and Akin Aytekin in Istanbul; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Pravin Char) Homs (Syria) (AFP) - In the heart of the Syrian city of Homs, workers clear rubble and clean the blackened walls of the war-ravaged old market in a bid to restore its former glory. Much of Homs lay in ruins when its Old City was recaptured from rebels by government troops in 2014 after a two-year siege and near-daily bombardment. Now a UN-backed project is trying to restore the ancient souk, or market, in the central city, dubbed the "capital of the revolution" because of the enormous anti-regime protests that erupted there five years ago. Near Clock Square, where the frontline ran during the fighting, engineers inspect leaking pipes with electrical wires dangling overhead. Built in the 13th century under the Ayyubid dynasty founded by legendary Muslim ruler Saladin, the market was further developed during the Mamluk era and Ottoman rule. It was seized by rebels in 2012, and retaken by the army in 2014, under a deal which saw opposition forces quit Homs and calm return to most of the city. "The armed men used it as a transit point more than a battlefield, which is why the souk isn't more badly damaged," an official from the local governorate told AFP. Homs's souk is similar to the famed ancient markets of Damascus and Aleppo, though much smaller, with around 1,000 shops, according to Maamoum Abdulkarim, director of Syria's antiquities department. It is just one of many historic sites in Syria that have been damaged or destroyed in the conflict that has killed more than 290,000 people and displaced over half the population. - A 'Champs-Elysees' - The majority of the souk's shops are abandoned for now, with some missing locks or doors, while the walls of others have been blackened by fire or pockmarked by shrapnel or bullets. "Forty years ago, it was the equivalent of the Champs-Elysees for a small town. You could find everyone there. It was where you found all those who specialised... in wood, copper, silver, fabric merchants, perfume sellers," recalled Anis Nacrour, the former EU representative in Damascus, who is originally from Homs. Story continues "In the evening, coming back from school, we'd pass through just to breathe the air, especially as there were excellent sweet shops and delicious fresh fruit juice stands," Nacrour told AFP. "We'd go in a group or with family to see and be seen," the French diplomat said. Now though, some of the market's alleyways are blocked with rubble, and in others weeds are pushing up through the destroyed pavement. Ghassan Jansiz, a 44-year-old architect, is supervising the work being undertaken by the United Nations Development Programme, and estimates the project will take around two years. He says there are four steps involved: "Cleaning, documentation, renovation and reconstruction." "We're still in the first stage," he told AFP. "Removing the rubble is a dangerous process. We've found bombs and explosives," he explained. "We are trying to restore the souk to how it was 100 years ago, and the cost is expected to be several hundred thousand dollars." At the moment, around 70 people are working on the project, which envisions the installation of four main gates, the restoration of 200 shops, and the documentation of the history of the site. - 'A real challenge' - Some businesses have already reopened, eager to resume trade in the ancient market. "I just got my 200th customer" since reopening, said chocolate seller Abdel Salam Salqini with a smile, as he piled up his wares. "I reopened in April and you can't imagine my delight when I saw my old clients coming back from Beirut, Damascus and Tartus," he told AFP. "They came when they heard I was back in business," added Salqini, who inherited the chocolate shop from his father. "I used to have 11 employees, but now it's just me," he said, admitting that he was only seeing two or three customers a day. "Every holiday, I would come to town to buy chocolate from him," said one customer, Um Mamoum, greeting Salqini warmly. "But I hadn't done so since the beginning of the war." Abdulkarim hopes to see the souk fully restored. "This is an important project for a town that has had a key role from Roman times through to the Ottoman era," he said. "Saving the souk of Homs will be a real challenge." MATTOON (JG-TC) -- First Mid-Illinois Bancshares, Inc. and First Clover Leaf Financial Corp. stockholders have voted in favor of the merger between the two companies. First Mid reported that approximately 99.2 percent of the votes cast by the First Mid stockholders and by the First Clover Leaf stockholders were in favor of their respective merger proposals. The merger agreement includes provisions for shares of First Clover Leaf common stock to be converted into First Mid common stock. Mattoon-based First Mid and Edwardsville-based First Clover Leaf have received all necessary regulatory approvals to complete the merger and expect the transaction to close on Thursday. First Mid provides financial services through a network of 46 banking centers in 33 Illinois communities. First Clover Leaf operates six branch locations in Madison and St. Clair counties in Illinois, along with one branch location in Clayton, Mo. By Shadrack Kavilu LAIKIPIA, Kenya (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Deep within the Mukogodo forest in central Kenya, a community of traditional hunter gatherers are working with the government to help expand forests and crack down on illegal logging and poaching using ancient conservation techniques. The Yiaaku are hailed a model of collaboration with authorities, using traditional knowledge to take care of tree and plant cover while adopting new livelihoods such as keeping bees and livestock to protect animals from hunting. Kenya Forest Services Director, Emilio Mugo, said legislation to allow co-management of forests was introduced nearly a decade ago but the Yiaaku is the first successful community to do so, with hopes this approach can be replicated across Kenya. "Where this community model is practiced we have seen cases of illegal logging reduce up to 50 percent," Mugo told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Since we integrated the community's indigenous knowledge model of conserving forests into our forest policy .. there has been little friction or tensions with these forest dwellers." The Kenya Forest Management Act of 2007 aimed to integrate communities into forest management but also led to the abolition of long-standing traditions such as hunting and logging for charcoal to maintain the forests and promote tourism. It came ahead of Kenya setting a target to increase its forest cover to about 10 percent by 2030 from an estimated 7.2 percent, according to the Kenya Forest Service (KFS). OLD VERSUS THE NEW Yiaaku leaders say their approach to protecting the forest from illegal loggers and trophy hunters has not only helped defuse conflict with neighboring communities but eased past tensions with government authorities who want to ensure forests and animals are protected to encourage tourism. He said the community's knowledge of the forest meant they knew which trees had medicinal value and need conservation, could foresee dry spells so water points could be conserved and used observation of wildlife - such as bird migration patterns - to warn of drought or dangerous weather events. He said the Yiaaku, living northeast of Nairobi, also acted as fire fighters during the hot season and monitored the health of seedlings and old trees. "We don't have to fight with the authorities anymore as they have acknowledged our system as a powerful tool in protection and conservation of the forest biodiversity," Simon Napei, a Yiaaku forest scout, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Every activity in the forest is decided by a council of elders. During drought seasons a council of elders sits and decides where and when the livestock should be grazed in the forest." Children are trained and taught by their elders to understand the value of individual trees for the overall health of the forest, he said, and every individual will plant more than 20 trees during each rainy season "The community has strong cultural beliefs and taboos which are viewed as sacred," he said. "These taboos are a set of rules and regulations used to bring sanity [order] within the community and anyone who breaks the rules brings a curse to the family." Mugo said the Yiaaku are now custodians of more than 74,000 acres (29,950 hectares) of forest land and their success has also earned them security and autonomy. He said the government had saved "millions of Kenyan shillings" previously spent on armed personnel to guard forests and reforesting programs, and the government now hopes to replicate this approach in 100 other gazetted forests. "We are targeting communities that are well organized and have a common purpose of conserving forests," he said. (Reporting by Shadrack Kavilu, Editing by Paola Totaro and Belinda Goldsmith; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit news.trust.org) By Jan Strupczewski BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Fighting tax avoidance should be a cornerstone of a push by EU authorities for greater equality as they seek a response to a rise in populism across the continent, the head of euro zone finance ministers said on Tuesday. Large multinational corporations must be made to help meet society's costs, Jeroen Dijsselbloem said, following last week's European Commission ruling that iPhone maker Apple (AAPL.O) should pay 13 billion euros of back taxes to Ireland. "Every individual or company should contribute its fair share," he told a gala dinner organised by think-tank Bruegel. "That means ...increasing tax compliance. This is a fundamental issue to fairness." He also said bank owners and investors should foot the bill if their institution failed, rather than taxpayers, and urged reforms of tax systems to reduce the fiscal burden on labour. Labour markets should be adapted to help workers move more easily between sectors, and the focus on the importance of education sharpened. Dijsselbloem repeated his opposition to calls for more integration within the EU "at a time when our fundamentals are so unstable and people question the legitimacy of the EU." At a summit on Sept 16, leaders are to consider ways of reinventing the Union after Britain voted to leave in June. (editing by John Stonestreet) Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston have broken up after three months of dating, Us Weekly reported Tuesday (Sept. 6). The pop star and actor were first seen together on June 14, when The Sun published photos of the pair kissing on the beach in Rhode Island -- just two weeks after Swift's breakup with Calvin Harris was confirmed. The couple was coy about the relationship at first, despite being spotted together at a Selena Gomez concert and reportedly meeting each other's parents. They became Instagram-official over the Fourth of July weekend, when pics of Hiddleston at Swift's famous Independence Day bash popped up on her and her friends' accounts. A Brief History of Taylor Swift & Tom Hiddleston's Relationship So Far Hiddleston broke his silence about the relationship in a July 14 interview, telling The Hollywood Reporter: "The truth is that Taylor Swift and I are together and we're very happy. Thanks for asking. That's the truth. It's not a publicity stunt." Us reports, according to "multiple sources," that Swift ended things due to Hiddleston wanting the relationship to be more public. Billboard has reached out to a rep for Swift for confirmation. A Florida teen allegedly tried to set her ex-boyfriends car on fire, and would have succeeded had she not gotten the vehicle wrong, according to police. Carmen Chamblee, 19, was allegedly caught on camera setting fire to a white Honda in Clearwater. She now faces second-degree arson charges, according to reports. Read: Cops Hunting Arsonist Who Set Blaze That Left 2 Little Girls and a Baby Dead: Reports In the video, a woman believed to be Chamblee stands behind the car, seemingly fanning the flames extending from a rag in the trunk, before walking away. The man who actually owned the car, Thomas Jennings, is not Chamblee's ex-boyfriend. In fact, he didn't know who she was. Jennings told WFTS he ran out to his car after his roommate told him it was ablaze. They tried to douse the flames with a bucket of water but it was too late, and the vehicle was destroyed. Police told the station that Chamblee had set the car on fire in an act of revenge against her ex-boyfriend, but mistook his car for the one that belonged to Jennings. The Clearwater Police Department posted a video of the incident to their Facebook page asking for tips last week, and it was through some of those tips that they were able to identify Chamblee, the department said. Read: Firefighters Rescue Tiny, Blue-Eyed Puppy From Devastating Blaze Chamblee was taken into custody over the weekend after a Pinellas County Sheriffs Office Deputy spotted her just south of Clearwater, police said later in another Facebook post. Chamblee was being held on $10,000 bail, according to an inmate record. Watch: Arsonist Accidentally Catches Fire, Causing More Damage to Himself Than Business Related Articles: Connor Golden has a few reasons to be grateful. After losing his left foot and lower leg when he stepped on an explosive device in New York's Central Park just two months ago, the 19-year-old says that he is now back at school and is filled with gratitude for all the people who have been by his side. "I want everyone to know how much your support means to me," the music major at the University of Miami wrote on a GoFundMe page that was created for him after the tragedy. Golden, from Virginia, was walking with two friends on July 3 when the blast occurred. Over $72,000 in donations has been been raised and used to help pay for medical bills, recovery expenses and the cost of a prosthetic leg. A photograph of him on the fundraising page shows him wearing his new leg on the very day he received it. Teen Who Lost Foot in Central Park Explosion Returns to School and Walks Again with Prosthetic Leg| Personal Tragedy, Sickness & Injury, Real People Stories "Youall see that Iam smiling in the photo. Thatas not just because Iam happy to begin walking again," he wrote. "Itas also because I am so grateful for the huge amount of love and caring that has taken me from the shock of July 3 in Central Park, through the very difficult operations at Bellevue hospital, through police questioning and media pressure, through the healing process while at my parentsa house in Northern Virginia, through my trip back to school while on a wheelchair and crutches, to standing on my new leg." His father,Kevin Golden, spoke at a press conference on July 18 and said that his son is strong, resilient and was okay when doctors told him he might lose his left foot. "Connor said that's okay, just don't take my hands," he said. "He was happy his hands are still intact. He's a musician so that was his one thought at that moment." He added: "We as a family have visited New York often and explored the rocks in Central Park.Little did we know something like this would happen." Spanish telecom behemoth Telefonica SA TEF plans to file for an initial public offering (IPO) of its infrastructure division Telxius in the second half of 2016. The company may also consider a share market listing (an IPO) for its U.K. wireless unit O2 or even sell it by the end of this year. In May 2016, Bloomberg reports stated that Telefonica is mulling over an IPO for Telxius and O2 UK. In the meantime, the company has been grappling with issues such as the Brexit, Britains vote to leave the European Union, which delayed the process. Since May 2016, Telefonica has been in talks with several banks over the Telxius IPO. Formed in Feb 2016, the division has been set up to manage the companys infrastructure assets. At present, Telxius oversees about 15,000 wireless towers and an international submarine-cable network covering 31,000 kilometers (19,000 miles). More assets are likely to be assigned to Telxius over time. Telefonica aims to raise around 4-5 billion ($4.5-$5.6 billion) from the Telxius IPO. The spin-off of an infrastructure unit is not new in the global telecom space. Earlier, America Movil SAB AMX had spun-off its Telesite infrastructure division and Telecom Italia SpA TI also followed suit. The Telxius IPO is of utmost importance to Telefonica after the European Union telecom regulator blocked the proposed sale of its O2 unit in the U.K. to 3UK of Hutchison Whampoa. The deal was worth around $14.9 billion. Telefonicas debt currently stands at approximately 52.2 billion (around $58 billion). The company had planned to reduce its debt burden through the divestment of its O2 division. However, the plan fell through as the transaction failed to materialize. Telefonica is now reportedly planning an IPO for its O2 division. As of Jun 30, 2016, total customer access lines of Telefonica were approximately 341.9223 million, down 1.8% year over year. Notably, in the Latin American markets, Telefonica competes with large global telecom operators like AT&T Inc. T and America Movil. Story continues According to some industry watchers, Telefonica may now be compelled to vend some of its core assets to raise cash and pay-off debt. Otherwise its debt rating may be badly affected. Nevertheless, management expects free cash flow and operating income before depreciation and amortization to be higher in 2017 than in 2016. At this juncture, proceeds from the Telxius IPO can help Telefonica clear part of its outstanding debt. Telefonica currently carries a Zacks Rank # 2 (Buy). TELEFONICA S.A. Price TELEFONICA S.A. Price | TELEFONICA S.A. Quote Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report AT&T INC (T): Free Stock Analysis Report TELEFONICA S.A. (TEF): Free Stock Analysis Report TELECOM ITA-ADR (TI): Free Stock Analysis Report AMER MOVIL-ADR (AMX): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research CHARLESTON -- The Coles County Arts Council, with financial support from First Federal Savings and Loan of Charleston, will host the annual Kids Arts In The Park event on Saturday at Morton Park in Charleston. Local teachers, artists, and musicians will present free activities including an Irish Music Circle, Ceramics, Metal Repousse, Dance, Puppet Making, Painting, Weaving, Printmaking, Face Painting, Story Time Circle, and Yarn Painting. EIU Art Education students will offer T-Shirt Painting ($2 fee and bring your own shirt) and Button Making ($1 and bring a small photo). All children Pre-School thru grade six are invited to attend, accompanied by a parent or guardian. Participant registration begins at 9:15 a.m. at the park and activities will run from 9:30 a.m. until noon. For more information, contact Debbie Hershberger Kidwell, Visual Arts Chair, Coles County Arts Council, at dhkidwell@eiu.edu or visit www.colescountyartscouncil.org. From Cosmopolitan A 13-year-old girl in Texas was killed and her friend was seriously injured when they were shot while walking home on Friday afternoon. News Channel 6 reports that Lauren Landavazo and Makayla Smith, both 13, were shot on Friday at 3 p.m. while walking home from One McNeil Middle School in the small town of Wichita Falls. The girls were found on the scene with gunshot wounds. They were rushed to the hospital where Landavazo died from her injuries and Smith is currently in critical condition. Since the shooting occurred in broad daylight, there were some eyewitnesses. The suspect is described as a white male, possibly between 16 and 18 years of age, with curly brown hair and armed with a gun. The New York Daily News reports that Sgt. Herald McClure said at this time they do not have any information indicating "this was just a random shooting." Wichita Falls School District issued a statement on Facebook: Good evening, WFISD Parents and Staff. Today after school there was a tragic off-campus situation involving two girls from McNiel Middle School. I am saddened to report that one of those girls passed away and the other is in guarded condition. Please know that the district is coordinating efforts to provide grief counselors for students. As soon as we have more information about those resources, we will pass that along to you. As a district, we are saddened by this senseless act of violence and our thoughts and prayers are with all of those involved. Authorities ask anyone with information to contact Crimestoppers at 940-322-9888. There is a reward for credible information. You Might Also Like (Corrects description of group to show it represent separatists, not insurgents, paragraph four in this September 2nd story) BANGKOK (Reuters) - Peace talks between Thailand's military government and Muslim separatists ended on Friday with no breakthrough but an agreement to meet again, and with the insurgents denying responsibility for a string of bombs last month. A decades-old insurgency in the Muslim-majority southern provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat has claimed more than 6,500 lives since it escalated in 2004, according to the independent monitoring group Deep South Watch. Talks between the government and the insurgents began in 2013 under Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra but stalled after the military overthrew her government in 2014. MARA Pattani, a separatist umbrella group involved in the negotiations, said in a news conference in Malaysia, where the talks took place, that both sides had agreed to more dialogue. The group said it would consider the creation of "safety zones" proposed by the Thai government to show good faith. General Aksara Kerdphol, the Thai government's lead negotiator, told Reuters that MARA Pattani denied playing a role in recent violence, including a string of bombings that targeted several tourist towns last month. "The other party told us they were not responsible for the violence and that they would cooperate with the government in building a peaceful situation," Aksara said. The string of bombings killed four Thais and wounded dozens of people, including foreigners, and was linked by police to the southern insurgents. Analysts say the main group believed to be behind the bombings, Barisan Revolusi Nasional, launched the attacks after having been left out of talks. Thai authorities defused a car bomb in Narathiwat early on Friday, shortly before the negotiations began in Kuala Lumpur. "An explosive ordinance disposal team defused a device, an 80 kg gas cylinder, inside a stolen milk truck," said Colonel Yutthanam Petchmuang, a deputy spokesman for the army's Internal Security Operations Command. Yutthanam declined to comment on whether the attempted attack was aimed at coinciding with the talks and said an investigation was going on. (Reporting by Pracha Hariraksapitak, Aukkarapon Niyomyat, Panarat Thepgumpanat and Patpicha Tanakasempipat; Writing by Cod Satrusayang; Editing by Robert Birsel) Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fstory%2fthumbnail%2f19888%2fhillaryclintonchloegracemoretzkimkardashian The dust is finally settling following a vicious war of words ripping the United States apart. Well, one of them, anyway. Chloe Grace Moretz has found some peace following her Twitter feud with Kim Kardashian West over nude selfies thanks to none other than Hillary Clinton. SEE ALSO: Kim Kardashian challenges you to avoid seeing her nude selfies It all began this spring when Moretz joined the chorus of people who decided to speak out against Kim's sexy selfie habit. "I truly hope you realize how important setting goals are for young women, teaching them we have so much more to offer than just our bodies," Moretz tweeted, sparking outrage and accusations of slut shaming. Kim responded with the classic, "Let's all welcome @ChloeGMoretz to twitter, since no one knows who she is," and karried on with the nude selfies and booming tech ventures. I think I gave my attention to people that didnt deserve my attention. So in some ways I think I regret giving them the attention, [though] I don't regret what I said, Moretz explained to The Hollywood Reporter while reflecting on the feud. But also I realized that being the most opinionated and loud person in the room is not always the most impactful. I learned that from Hillary." By Hillary, she means Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate, who Moretz has campaigned for. Apparently, she's also getting some lessons in diplomacy, and Clinton's wisdom has helped her devise a strategy going forward. "'Its great to be feisty, those were her exact words," said Moretz. "But sometimes the smartest way to get into the psyche of people is to be the quietest person in the room. Let everyone else bicker and throw their words around and then you come in with the quiet voice and that will be the most impactful. It should be noted that Clinton is an impartial voice in this feud, and as far as we know, has not flip-flopped on her stance on Kardashian West selfies. Story continues We may never truly know how many celebrity feuds Clinton has had a hand in extinguishing. Perhaps Katy Perry, one of Clinton's most visible supporters, also took her advice to heart while she kept fairly quiet as her feud with Taylor Swift played out very publicly. In fact, when Calvin Harris dragged Perry into his mini Twitter meltdown over Hiddleswift, Perry simply responded with a Hillary Clinton GIF and a retweet of one of her old tweets. Glamour and armpit hair can coexist. (Photo: Getty) One photo has provoked thousands of hateful comments, and the woman at the center of the scandal Laura De, a Belgian philosophy student is left to ponder one simple question: why? Laura incited outrage on social media for daring to bare her hairy armpits in a photoshoot and sharing one of the photos on Facebook. The shoot, which focused on body image, took place in May, according to the Buzzfeed (the original story was published in French on Buzzfeed France). Laura and photographer Florence Lecloux teamed up to make a statement about societys expectations of women and their bodies, according to the site. This simple photo sparked fury on Facebook. (Photo courtesy of Facebook/laura.defalle) But social media users seemed to miss the point and instead, lashed out when presented with images of women in their natural states. Good luck with the tarantulas under your arms, one user wrote in French. That chick is dirtier than an animal, another body-shamer chimed in. Others resorted to name-calling, with one vulgar commenter branding Laura a f***ing slut and another posting a vomit emoji. According to Buzzfeed, the post received more than 7,000 comments and 6,000 reactions on Facebook as of yesterday. This Pilot Is Posting Selfies to Inspire and Empower Women Lets drive this one point home: Women can do whatever they want with their bodies. Whether that be on the outside or inside, it doesnt matter. If its not your body, YOU GET NO OPINION, wrote one passionate blogger on Elite Daily, in defense of Lauras look and the photos. Other commenters were equally appalled by the shaming reactions of so many Facebookers. This is so violent, its staggering. I cant believe that its possible to read these kind of comments in 2016, one person wrote. The controversy over women and body hair has played out in popular culture for quite a while. Recently, Girls star Jemimah Kirke walked the red carpet at the CFDA Awards, proudly displaying her au naturale underarms. And the ever-rebellious has Miley Cyrus posed for photos that showed off her armpit hair one time even dyeing it pink. Story continues #PANK #dirtyhippie A photo posted by Miley Cyrus (@mileycyrus) on May 1, 2015 at 12:15pm PDT But even respected icons like Barbra Streisand, Madonna, and Sophia Loren have been photographed with hair under there with Lorens photo photo dating back to her 1960s heyday. Even so, the natural look is a long way from being accepted by mainstream societies around the world. Long hair Dont Care!!!!!! #artforfreedom #rebelheart #revolutionoflove A photo posted by Madonna (@madonna) on Mar 20, 2014 at 7:51pm PDT Lecloux posted more images from the shoot on her Tumblr, where she went into more depth about the intention of her work. According to the English translation on Buzzfeed, Lecloux explained, I do not often talk about my struggle against the dictatorship of the smooth body .. Let me explain! One of the worst things it is the constant oppression of girls and women having to remove hair / shave on the entire body. Where does this idea to do his hair disappear? Why are valued my long hair but not the rest of my hair? Why waste time and money? Often it hurts, we cut the epilator hard, it pushes it again It never stops. Why this endless fight? Who can make me hurt me to lose my life for that? Well I have the answer: NO ONE! Nobody has the right to require you to do certain things with your body. Your friends do not have to blame yourself, your lover / partner / .. not to call you a lack of hair, the unknown do not have to disfigure you in the street. Hair removal or not, makeup or not, fashionable or not, its only you who decide, not others. Dare, be authentic, you will keep close to you as non-toxic people. Can Wearing Makeup Change a Kids Life? In response to the backlash, Laura posted another version of the original image an ethereal shot of her on a swing with her arms raised up, unshaven armpits in full view with a caption addressing the situation and defending the her stance. According to Buzzfeed, she wrote, I am a girl who decided to do what she wanted her body. As a boy can do it And the consequences of this is collective humiliation, harassment, insults, threats am often told that in Belgium and in France we do not need the feminism, that women have enough rights .. All this violence proves that ..no. In Belgium, a country that calls itself free and developed, when a woman wants to say no to waxing it will be punished in any case until she goes inside the standard again. I wanted you tell all: Thank you. The hundreds people who came to support me with their comments, their private messages, their sharing my photos and artistic projects. Girls, boys and non-binary that fight for a fairer world with courage and inflexibility, you are my heroes. Photo courtesy of Facebook/laura.defalle Laura followed up with another Facebook post: this time, an image of her hairless armpit with the caption, My body, my choice. She added, I find it extraordinary that in 2016 a woman who posts a photo of herself natural, like a man, becomes the victim of such a bashing. Buzzfeed notes that Laura has decided to keep all of the photos publicly posted on her Facebook abusive comments and all. According to Buzzfeed, she said, I want to show all the violence that comes from a girl saying no, for once, to traditional standards of beauty. Lets keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. Non-U.S. oil producers have become like a traveling vaudeville act. Let's call them "OPEC, featuring special guest, Russia." Of late, they have raised to an art form the act of jawboning oil prices higher, carefully choosing their words to make it seem like a deal on freezing output or to "stabilize" the market is imminent. But a closer read of what they are saying keeps reducing the chatter to the status of mere platitudes. The latest iteration of this act occurred over the weekend on a fairly significant stage, the G20 gathering in Hangzhou, China. None other than Russia 's leading man, Vladimir Putin and the newly minted Deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia , Mohammed bin Salman came together to announce the signing of a joint statement by their respective oil ministers, which outlined aspirations of cooperation between the two countries, in the areas of technology and market information, to achieve market stability (i.e. get prices higher) along with the stated hope of bringing in other actors. Of course, in keeping with the on-going ruse, the Saudi oil minister was quick to note that, "there is no need now to freeze production ... We have time to take this kind of decision." Adding that, "freezing production does not have to happen specifically today." Once again, the market rewarded the act, which now seems to include a carve out for Iran from any near-term limitations on its production. Putin went as far to say that, "he thought it would be fair for Iran to pump as much oil as it was before international sanctions were imposed on it." Now, that's a friend looking out for a friend. They certainly know how to play to their audience. Saudi comments kicked-off a nearly $12-dollar rally in crude oil prices last month. So, they keep rolling out the sequels. The market seems to fear that it will be different this time. That an actual deal will emerge and be adhered to, even though history belies that belief. Even the one time, sixteen years ago, when Russia agreed to curb output, along with OPEC, they failed to do so. Story continues While the low price environment is increasingly driving this disparate group into each other's arms, the divide and distrust among them is just too great to overcome. However, the one thing that might change the landscape would be a deal on Syria, between the U.S. and Russia, who represent the Kingdom and Iran, respectively, in the regional dispute. A deal on that nettlesome issue, might allow for a deal on the much more mundane topic of oil output limits. Such a deal remains unlikely for now, with collapse of talks between President Obama and Vladimir Putin over the weekend over "trust" issues. Of course, any deal to "stabilize" the market will only revive the shale oil industry even more than it has already, with the price rally back above $40 per barrel. U.S. crude oil exports neared 700,000 barrels per day last week, as the economics of delivered oil sales to China, especially, increasingly favor U.S. producers. Years of oil prices near the century mark pushed innovation and gave birth to the U.S. shale industry. The recent spate of low oil prices has worked to curtail production in the U.S., but nowhere else, especially among the freeze deal proponents. Supply and demand trends do point to a potentially higher-priced landscape for the industry in 2017, but don't look for OPEC and Russia to be the primary cause of any price rebound. A lot of old Vaudeville acts ended with one or more of the protagonists getting a pie in the face. Don't let yourself be on the receiving end of a pie in the face from "OPEC, featuring special guest, Russia." There will not be any substantive output deal. At best, an agreement to cooperate, in the future may emerge looking forward to it. Commentary by John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital, an investment-management firm that specializes in commodities. Follow him on Twitter @KilduffReport. For the latest commentary on the markets in U.S. and around the world, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter. More From CNBC Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli rescuers pulled two more bodies from the rubble of a collapsed Tel Aviv building site Tuesday, bringing the death toll to four as searches continued, the army said. "Rescue forces have extracted an additional body," an army statement said, with three more construction workers still believed to be missing. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP that "500 police rescuers, army and firefighters are hard at work trying to find the missing." "There is no time limit for searches that are concentrated in four areas of the site," he added. He said an investigation had been opened to determine responsibility for Monday's accident, but had no details yet. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the site Monday night to inspect the search operations. "There are still people trapped; we are making every effort and are not giving up on anyone. We will reach them all," he said in a statement. The circumstances of the collapse, which occurred in the Tel Aviv's Ramat Hahayal high-tech neighbourhood, remain unclear. Israeli media reported the accident occurred when a floor collapsed during the construction of a four-storey underground parking, with a shopping centre eventually planned to be built on top. The Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper recalled an article from three years ago in which the leader of the Danya Cebus company which built the car park allegedly said they had decided not to use a construction engineer to supervise the work, instead making do with an architect. The Maariv daily denounced what it described as safety failings at construction sites, saying 230 people had been killed on them in Israel in the past five years. Israel has seen a high number of construction accidents in comparison to the developed world. Haaretz newspaper reported in May that 480 people were killed in construction accidents between 2000 and 2015, citing a survey placing Israel third from the bottom in a list that included the United States and 20 European nations. Police reported 28 people have been killed on construction sites since the beginning of 2016. Tim Kaine in Wilmington, N.C., Tuesday. (Photo: Chuck Burton/AP) Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine accused Donald Trump of disrespecting the U.S. military and being woefully underprepared and temperamentally unfit for the role of commander in chief. During a national security speech Tuesday in Wilmington, N.C., Kaine, a senator from Virginia, said Trumps conflicting statements about the United States roles in Iraq and Libya reveal a profound ignorance of the Middle East. He also said the real estate magnate appears to value Russian interests over American and has no realistic plans to defeat ISIS. But Kaine, whose son Nat is an active-duty Marine, said that Trumps history of disrespect for veterans and their families is personally insulting to him. Trump has called the U.S. armed forces a disaster, in shambles and going to hell. I dont know how anybody whos met with our men and women in uniform could think that much less say it, he told the audience. As a military father, Donald Trumps disrespect for our military absolutely infuriates me. Kaine said the reality television star may claim to know everything but lacks the real-world experience to be president and has proposed wildly different strategies for combating terrorism in the Middle East. Theres only one thing thats consistent: how dangerous his ideas and rhetoric actually are, he said to applause. To illustrate his point, Kaine criticized Trumps oft-repeated plan to cut off the Islamic State terrorist groups income by bombing the oil fields of Iraq and Syria. Kaine said that this would create massive fires that would necessitate sending in contractors and others to put them out, which in turn would require more troops for protection. And that doesnt even take into account the pipelines and refineries wed have to either build or take over, or the other problems concerning every aspect of his plan after the first day, he said. That just doesnt interest him. Kaine said his running mate, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is a strategic thinker who pulls together a top-notch team and asks team members difficult questions before making a decision. He said this is a stark contrast with Trump, who said, I alone can fix it while accepting the Republican nomination. Hes even had the hubris to say that his principal adviser is himself, he said. So heres my conclusion: Like every one of the families of the 2 million men and women who serve in our military, whether active duty, guard or reserve, I want a president and commander in chief who knows the world, knows its leaders, knows the strength of our military, knows how to conduct diplomacy and knows how to make a decision to keep America safe. To highlight his support within the military, Trump released an open letter Tuesday signed by dozens of retired generals and admirals who urged a course correction in U.S. military policy. NEWS BRIEF Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte apologized on Tuesday for calling U.S. President Obama a son of a bitch, but the apology came too late to save their scheduled meeting at the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Duterte made the comment just before he boarded a plane for the conference, which is being held in Laos. A reporter asked the president how he planned to explain to Obama the recent extrajudicial killings and war on drugs that have killed about 2,400 people since Duterte took office in late June. If confronted about the killings, Duterte said, he would tell Obama:Son of a bitch, I will swear at you in this forum. By late Monday, Duterte seemed to regret his choice of words, and said he did not want to quarrel with Obama. Duterte has threatened local journalists, the Catholic church, and called the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines a gay son of a whore. Obama seemed to take the comments about him in stride, saying, I have seen some of those colorful statements in the past, and so, clearly, hes a colorful guy. Recommended: Was Trump Fibbing About Buying Politicians Then or Now? By Tuesday, the Department of Foreign Affairs issued a formal apology for Dutertes remarks: While asserting the intent to chart an independent foreign policy and promote closer ties with all nations, he expressed his deep regard and affinity for President Obama and for the enduring partnership between our nations. Local critics chastised Duterte for being rash. As the Philippine Daily Inquirer pointed out: Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano said the President should be more cautious in inflaming other countries especially since the Philippines had shared interests with its allies. In this day and age, international cooperating is very important, considering the fact that countries right now are intertwined with each other, politically, diplomatically, and militarily, Alejano said. Story continues Much of the international attention on Duterte during his presidential race focused on his unorthodox political style (using profanity and challenging rivals to duels) and later on his threats to kill all the countrys criminals. As the former mayor of Davao City for more than two decades, Duterte reduced the crime ratethough some human-rights groups say he did this by working with government-sanctioned deaths squads that killed suspected criminals without trial (Duterte himself has acknowledged to killing three people, presumably without a trial). At the ASEAN summit Tuesday, Duterte defended the rise in killings. Reuters reported that Filipino officials passed out a 38-page pamphlet, which, in part, read: We are not butchers who just kill people for no apparent reason. But any apology was too late to salvage the meeting with Obama, who is likely on his last trip to Asia before he leaves the White House next January. Obama instead met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and with South Korean President Park Geun-hye. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. OLNEY (JG-TC) -- An Arthur woman died as a result of injuries sustained in a vehicle collision at 7 p.m. Friday on Illinois Route 130 just north of Millers Grove Lane, according to the Illinois State Police. Verna M. Yoder, 50, of Arthur was a passenger in a van driven by Andrew Helmuth, 71, of Arthur that had collided with a truck driven by John M. Austin, 42, of Charleston. According to state police, the preliminary investigation indicates Austin was driving southbound on Route 130 and Helmuth was driving northbound. Details in the investigation state Austins driveshaft broke, which led him to lose control of the vehicle. Austin's vehicle slid sideways into the northbound lane, where Helmuth was driving at the time, and struck the middle of Helmuths vehicle on the drivers side. Austins vehicle stopped in the middle of Route 130, blocking both lanes, while Helmuths vehicle went off the road and overturned once, state police reported. Austin and passenger Sarah Fields, 40, of Ashmore suffered minor injuries. Helmuth was airlifted to Deaconess Hospital in Evansville, Ind. Three other passengers in Helmuths vehicle -- Howard Yoder, 54, of Arthur, Lawayne Mast, 21, of Tuscola and Velma D. Yoder, 22, of Arthur -- were transported to Richland Memorial Hospital, Olney. Verna Yoder was pronounced dead at the scene by the Richland County Coroner, according to state police. Austin was cited for improper lane usage, and Velma Yoder and Lawayne Mast were cited for failure to wear a seat belt. Toronto (Canada) (AFP) - The race for the Oscars intensifies this week at the Toronto film festival, where a spotlight will be shined on American politics, youth radicalization, racism, feminism and alien arrivals. Nearly 400 feature and short films from 83 countries will be screened at the 41st Toronto International Film Festival, the largest such event in North America, which opens Thursday and runs through September 18. The event is crucial for Oscar-conscious studios and distributors, attracting hundreds of filmmakers and actors to the red carpet in Canada's largest city. In past years, films such as "12 Years a Slave", "The King's Speech" and "Slumdog Millionaire" went on from winning the Toronto festival's audience prize for best picture to take the top honor at the Oscars. Last year, audience favorite "Spotlight" beat all predictions to win best picture at the Academy Awards, while Brie Larson -- who is back again this year in "Free Fire" and "The Headhunter's Calling" -- received a nod for her performance in "Room", which also screened here first. "I don't think anyone last year thought that 'Spotlight' would go all the way to best picture or that 'Room' would break out and become the kind of phenomena that it did," said festival co-director Piers Handling. Films being positioned for accolades this year include the new Denis Villeneuve sci-fi movie "Arrival", and Oliver Stone's "Snowden" about former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden's massive 2013 leak revealing the extent of government snooping on private data. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone's performances as a jazz musician and an aspiring actress who fall in love in the bewitching musical "La La Land", which opened the Venice film festival before coming to Toronto, has also stirred up a frenzy. Story continues "American Pastoral", which looks back at the ideal American family torn apart by upheavals of the 1960s, and the true story of a boy separated from his family who searches for home 25 years later in Garth Davis's "Lion" are also generating tremendous buzz. The cast of "American Pastoral", which marks Ewan McGregor's directorial debut, includes Jennifer Connelly and Dakota Fanning. "These films are getting serious attention and we'll see how that shakes down in the coming months," Handling commented. - American politics trending - Several directors this year looked back through history for lessons that may still be relevant. Historical political figures, notably, have been brought back to life on the silver screen, such as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis played by Natalie Portman in "Jackie", and former US president Lyndon B. Johnson in "LBJ". As US President Barack Obama's term draws to a close, the film "Barry" reflects on his college days in New York. "I don't know if it's coincidental, with this year's presidential election, that people are looking back," said Handling. "But there's tremendous interest in dealing with historic subjects, trying to understand what these moments in history meant and in some way tie them in to the present." The festival's opening film, a remake of the 1960 Western "The Magnificent Seven", starring Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Lee Byung-hun and Peter Sarsgaard, "is an interesting metaphor for what's going on in American right now," Handling told AFP. "Westerns have always spoken directly to what is going on in present day America even though it's dealing with its history," he explained. "This one certainly speaks to contemporary America. "It's about a community under duress, under extreme pressure, and the people that come together to defend this community are representative of American society. It's an obvious metaphor for what America is going through these days." Similarly, true stories "Loving" and "A United Kingdom", about an African royal who marries an Englishwoman, offer insights into current American race relations. "Loving", which chronicles the battle to abolish a Virginia ban on interracial marriage, premiered at Cannes before coming to Toronto and is also in the Oscar running. Ripped from the headlines, youth radicalization features in several films from Canada, Europe and Africa, including "Nocturama", "Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves", "Layla M.", "Heaven Will Wait" and "Foreign Body". Heeding a call from women in Hollywood, the Toronto film festival this year is also promoting more female directors and "female stories". Almost 30 percent of the films on offer were made by women, and several more "deal with subject through the eyes of women," said Handling. They include "Handmaiden", "Queen of Katwe", "Elle", "Toni Erdmann", "Lady Macbeth", "Anatomy of Violence" and "Strange Weather". For all of his tough talk about taking on terrorists as an appeal to anxious voters looking for strength, Donald Trump arranged himself a softball national security interview Tuesday. In a bizarre Q&A session, retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, one of Trumps closest advisors, pitched an hours worth of leading questions at the GOP contender and praised his answers. Flynn has become an outspoken surrogate for Trump after he said he was fired as President Barack Obamas top spy at the Pentagon. Its a complete mess, Flynn said of the current state of the world as he kicked off the event. He addressed Trump as the next president of the United States. Look, shes a disaster in so many different ways, folks, Trump said of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, to cheers from his audience. In an often rambling talk, he repeated claims that the United States is being overrun by Syrian refugees and that the Obama administration has paved the path for Iran to get a nuclear weapon, but went far further, saying, We also happen to have given them Iraq. Despite bipartisan criticisms that his campaign has advocated policy friendly to Russia and even invited Moscow to hack Clinton, Trump continued, Putin looks at her and he laughs. Boy, would he like to see her as president, Trump said, deriding Clintons foreign policy platform as a loser. He added: Wouldnt it be nice if we actually got along with Russia? The event came hours after Trump campaign released a letter of 88 retired military officials who are backing the New York real estate magnates candidacy. Unbelievable, Flynn said admiringly, echoing Trumps touting of the letter during the Q&A. Many on the list are little-known and long retired. Trumps moves mark the latest broadside in a battle of the brass with Clinton. She also spoke Tuesday, ahead of a speech from her vice presidential pick Sen. Tim Kaine that the campaign billed as an indictment of Trumps controversial national security statements. Both Clinton and Trump will participate in a Commander in Chief forum hosted by NBC and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America on Wednesday in New York. Story continues But the pool of high-profile Republican national security and military experts who would typically endorse their presidential nominee has shrunk, with many expressing concern over Trumps threats to pull out of NATO or bring back torture. Clintons campaign has pounced on the opportunity, recruiting these Republicans to endorse the Democrat in an attempt to show voters that Trump poses such a risk, even GOP veterans will cross party lines to oppose him. Once Americans hear his words just as he said them, theyll reach the same conclusion that national security leadersDemocrats, Republicans and Independentshave reached, Kaine said later Tuesday. Donald Trump is unqualified and temperamentally unfit. Trumps team has shot back that Clintons bad judgment as a New York senator and Obamas first secretary of state helped unleash the current spate of foreign policy crises that the next president is likely to inherit. But Trumps Tuesday letter also underscored his campaigns sensitivity to that attack. He has the temperament to be commander-in-chief, wrote one of its authors, retired Army Maj. Gen. Sid Shachnow, echoing Clintons language in response. Shachnow, the only Holocaust survivor to earn the rank of general in the U.S. military, according to the campaign, served in the Army for 40 years, including 32 of them among the Green Berets. One of the better-known names on the list, like many included, Shachnow retired more than 20 years ago. The full letter can be read here. They argued that U.S. foreign policy needs a change, rather than someone who has not been deeply involved with, and substantially responsible for, the hollowing out of our military and the burgeoning threats facing our country around the world. The line parrots a consistent Republican attack, heard throughout the campaign, that Obama has gutted the military. In fact, defense spending remains at historically high levels despite deeply unpopular budget caps on federal spending that were put in place by Congress and then signed into law. Trump seemed to boost Clintons critique with a series of comments this summer disparaging the military and the sacrifice of those who serve and their families. But it hasnt yet appeared to have cut into his support among the veterans community, which tends to lean conservative in recent polls of military veterans by Fox News and McClatchy-Marist, he led by 14 and 11 points, respectively. Photo credit: Alex Wong / Staff By Steve Holland and Jeff Mason CANFIELD, Ohio/CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton opened a final two-month sprint to the Nov. 8 election on Monday with the Republican presidential nominee suddenly looking stronger as he and his Democratic rival took their bitter fight to Ohio. Both Trump and Clinton made overtures to a news media that each candidate sees as often hostile to them, talking to reporters on their private planes. Clinton's session with reporters was her first news conference since last December. After eating a gyro at a diner in the Cleveland area, Trump rallied thousands of cheering supporters at a county fair in Canfield, and Clinton visited a brewery in Cleveland. For a time, their planes were parked about 200 yards apart at the Cleveland airport, a sign of Ohio's importance in the election. Ohio is considered one of four swing states - those that are not clearly in the Democratic or Republican camp - that could prove decisive in the Electoral College vote that will ultimately determine the winner. The other swing states are Florida, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Trump was buoyed by more polls showing him in a competitive position. The latest Reuters-Ipsos poll showed Trump with 40 percent support vs 39 percent for Clinton, effectively ending Clinton's bump up in the polls after the Democratic nominating convention. Other polls showed Clinton's lead had shrunk. "I think we've had a great month," Trump said. Clinton remained in a strong position to win the White House race, but Trump and his team cited his growing strength in opinion polls nationally and in several states where the election is likely to be decided to argue that his message is breaking through to voters. Clinton, who emerged into the public eye after days of raising money from wealthy donors behind closed doors, said she always knew the race would be close. "Were just going as hard and fast as we possibly can to be organized for turning out the vote, because weve always thought this was going to be hard, and thats why, you know, Im not worried, Im just working," she said. Trump, shaking his fist triumphantly, plunged into a crowd at the Mahoning County Fair where supporters had built a replica of the wall that the Republican nominee has pledged to build along the U.S.-Mexico border. "This has been an unbelievable reception!" Trump said after maneuvering through a crowd of people who shouted his name, against a backdrop of food stands offering fare ranging from chicken on a stick to Italian sausages, fudge and fresh corn. Inviting reporters onto his plane for the first time since accepting the Republican presidential nomination, Trump said his focus going forward will be on how to create jobs for middle-class Americans. He has spent most of the past two weeks trying to clarify his position on illegal immigration, first flirting with a softening, then reinforcing his hardline approach, and then, on his plane, saying undocumented people might ultimately get on a path to a legal status once border enforcement steps are taken. "I'm all about the jobs now," he said, saying his position on the immigration issue was now well known. He also pledged to participate in all three televised presidential debates, ending speculation that he might sit out one or more if he was not happy with the format. His first face-off with Clinton is at Hofstra University in New York state on Sept. 26. Clinton made her stop at a brewery in Cleveland before heading to a nearby Labor Day parade and rally, where she tested a new jab at her opponent: "Friends don't let friends vote for Trump." The Labor Day holiday traditionally kicks off the last stretch of campaigning ahead of the November election. Speaking to reporters on her new campaign plane, she took credit for Trump's overture to the news media. Clinton, buffeted by controversy over her use of a private email server as U.S. secretary of state, has been criticized by Republicans and the news media for months for failing to hold a news conference. "I heard now that weve got this great plane, that Donald Trump actually invited his press on his plane where Im told he even answered a few questions," said Clinton. TRUMPS REBOUND Trumps rebound from a series of self-inflicted wounds follows the hiring of a new campaign management team, and the Republican nominee is showing more discipline on the stump. Trump has been helped by what his campaign said was a positive week last week, highlighted by a quick trip to Mexico, appearing side by side with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, and a visit to a black church in Detroit. But an immigration speech that Trump gave following his trip to Mexico drew criticism from some of his Hispanic supporters, and several backers advising him on the issue decided to part ways with his campaign. Trump aide Jason Miller said rising poll numbers showed that the campaign was moving in the right direction. The trend lines are the important thing to point to," Miller told Reuters. "The problem that Clinton has is there is no positive information flow for her campaign." Clinton, who was President Barack Obama's first-term secretary of state, appeared at few public campaign events during the latter half of August, instead raising funds at high-dollar events in the East Coast vacation spots of Marthas Vineyard and the Hamptons, and with celebrities in Los Angeles and high-tech leaders in Silicon Valley. Clintons campaign announced that it had raised $143 million in August for her presidential bid and the Democratic Party. Clinton is again on the defensive over her use of a private email server and possible conflicts of interest with her family foundation while secretary of state, which have caused unease for some voters. But experts still see the Democratic nominee as the odds-on favorite to win the presidency. (Reporting by Jeff Mason and Steve Holland in Ohio; Additional reporting and writing by Amanda Becker in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Leslie Adler) On Monday night, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump told ABC World News Tonights David Muir that his opponent, Hillary Clinton, does not have a presidential look and you need a presidential look. You have to get things done. So what is it about Clintons look that the reality television personality think is preventing the former Secretary of State from being able to get things done? Could it be her blonde hair? No, that doesnt seem likely as America has elected five blonde presidents in its history. (That would be Martin van Buren, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Gerald Ford for those of you looking to score big at your favorite local trivia night.) Her blue eyes? That seems improbable, as the overwhelming majority of all U.S. presidents have been blue-eyed. And her Caucasian ethnicity also seems to be an unlikely source of Trumps chagrin, as all but our current president have been, like Clinton and Trump alike, white, non-Hispanic with a penchant for pantsuits. Which leads me to think that maybe what Trump was really trying to say gasp is that Clinton is unqualified to be president, and to get things done, because she is a woman. Now, Trump seems to have no problem with womens bodies when it comes to objectifying them or using them as a source of personal financial gain (see: his past ownership of the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, his ownership stake in Trump Model Management, and his generally abhorrent treatment of women throughout his lifetime). And this year alone, he has had plenty to say about womens appearances and the way it qualifies or disqualifies them from holding certain positions, from insisting that no one would vote for a face like former Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina to commenting that Fox News Megyn Kelly had blood coming out of her whatever in describing her appearance while she questioned him about the way he had spoken about women in the past while moderating the first Republican presidential debate. Story continues Trumps track record on talking about women doesnt end there, with him infamously having described a breastfeeding woman as disgusting and basically listing unattractive as a quality to discredit and diminish a whole slew of women, including those who may have publicly spoken about him and those whom he has no personal relationship with whatsoever. And of course lets not forget when Trump claimed earlier this year that any success that Clinton had achieved could be credited solely to her having played the woman card. Its nothing new for women to be told that theyre unable to achieve something solely because they are women. Just last week, the cover of Girls Life magazine went viral when held up in a side-by-side with its counterpart Boys Life magazine. The Boys Life cover instructed its readers to Explore Your Future, while the Girls Life cover instead said, Your Dream Hair, Fall Fashion Youll Love, and Wake Up Pretty. From the youngest of ages, girls are told to manage their expectations for themselves based solely on their gender identity and that their goals should be limited to self-monitoring their own appearances. Does identifying as female or even liking the color pink disqualify anyone from the presidency? Hardly, and even less so when women like Clinton choose to speak out against being denounced and diminished because of their gender (a behavior that usually leads to even more insults from the men attacking them in the first place). After all, as Clinton herself famously said at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 in Beijing, Human rights are womens rights, and womens rights are human rights.Women must enjoy the right to participate fully in the social and political lives of their countries if we want freedom and democracy to thrive and endure. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Donald Trump After weeks of being down in the polls, Donald Trump has vaulted into a narrow lead over Hillary Clinton, according to a new national survey released Tuesday. The CNN/ORC poll showed the Republican presidential nominee with 45% of the vote from likely voters. His Democratic rival earned 43% in a four-way race that included Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Trump's 2-point lead was within the poll's margin of error of 3.5 percentage points, meaning the race is essentially tied. The real-estate mogul led by 1 point in a head-to-head race. But Trump seems to be doing well with independent voters, a crucial bloc in any election 49% of those voters in the CNN/ORC poll said they'd vote for Trump, while only 29% said they backed Clinton. Johnson carries a significant proportion of independents, with 16% saying they'd vote for him. Trump, however, is in trouble with minority voters 71% of nonwhites in the CNN/ORC poll said they preferred Clinton. Despite Trump's recent rise in the polls a CNN/ORC poll from early August, for comparison, showed Clinton with an 8-point lead most voters surveyed said they still expect Clinton to win in November. Clinton has consistently topped Trump since general-election polling began. Trump briefly took the lead over Clinton after the Republican National Convention in July, but Clinton came out on top again after the Democrats' convention the next week. Another poll released Tuesday shows Clinton ahead of Trump by 4 points in a four-way race with Johnson and Stein. The NBC News/Survey Monkey poll has Clinton with 48% of the vote and Trump with 42%. The race has been narrowing in recent weeks, with Clinton seeing her large leads over Trump erased in some polls. NOW WATCH: NEW POLL: Trump jumps into the lead trouncing Clinton in a key voter group More From Business Insider PARIS (Reuters) - North African countries should be cooperating more to stop Islamic State fighters who are fleeing their Libyan stronghold of Sirte from returning to their homelands and causing trouble there, Tunisia's defense minister said on Tuesday. Libyan forces aligned with the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli launched their campaign to recapture Sirte in May and are advancing on the last areas under its control. But Tunisia, which estimates that about 4,000 of its nationals left to fight for jihadists groups, is concerned that many are returning to the country and could turn their focus on home soil. "The danger is real. Those who leave Sirte are heading south to eventually join Boko Haram, but some are also going west," the Tunisian minister, Farhat Hachani, told journalists on the sidelines of a gathering of defense and military officials in Paris. "There isn't a regional strategy. Neighboring countries are managing the day to day security and military question ... but while there are terror laws, you need proof that a young person was in a camp or fighting in jihadist ranks," he said. International cooperation is "not up to the level of the danger", he added. "We are in a decisive moment. The threats endanger all the region. We have to cooperate before the boat sinks." His French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian said the spread of militants beyond Libya had to be dealt with and a plan put in place. "They don't just disappear so there's a new risk there and only a real cooperation between all neighboring countries will enable us to face that threat," Le Drian said. (Reporting By Marine Pennetier; writing by John Irish; Editing by Richard Lough and Richard Balmforth) SPRINGFIELD -- An administrative law judge has recommended that the Illinois Labor Relations Board send Gov. Bruce Rauners administration and a union representing 38,000 state workers back to the bargaining table to continue negotiating over wages and health care benefits. The Rauner administration asked the labor board in January to declare that contract talks with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 have reached an impasse, which could clear the way for the administration to impose its terms on the union. That, in turn, could precipitate a first-ever strike of state workers. In a 250-page recommendation issued Friday, Administrative Law Judge Sarah Kerley found that the state and AFSMCE have reached an impasse on many issues, including wages and health care, but she recommends against allowing the state to unilaterally impose its final contract proposal in full. If the State were able to implement its entire last, best, and final offer, the implications and impact would be so enormous that, when applied to this case, it would be destructive of the collective bargaining process, Kerley wrote. While wages and health are among the issues on which Kerley believes the sides are at an impasse, she recommended that negotiations continue on those subjects because the state hasnt provided the union with sufficient information about its proposals. On wages, the state has sought a pay freeze and the implementation of a merit pay system, while the union has sought across-the-board raises for its members. On health care, the state has pushed for union members to take on a greater share of their insurance costs, but the union believes those proposals would shift too much of the burden onto its members. Negotiations had been ongoing for nearly a year when the Rauner administration moved to have an impasse declared. The union has said for the past several months that it is still willing to negotiate. The administration has accused the union of making unreasonable demands at a time of unprecedented fiscal challenges for the state, but AFSCME counters that Rauner has an ideological bias against the collective bargaining rights of public workers. While negotiations have been acrimonious, Kerley said both sides generally have bargained in good faith. Despite their many differences in philosophy and approach, I find that record before me, taken as a whole, reflects that each side sincerely hoped to reach agreement, though they had vastly different views of what that agreement should look like and had varying levels of optimism about whether they would actually be successful, she wrote. Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said the administration appreciates that Kerley concluded that we have been bargaining in good faith for a fair deal on behalf of taxpayers. We are reviewing her opinion to evaluate the next steps as the rest of the agreed-to process continues, Kelly said in a prepared statement. Meanwhile, the union says it was largely vindicated by Kerleys recommendation. We are pleased that todays recommendation underlines what AFSCME has been saying all along, AFSCME Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch said in a written statement. The union says it too is reviewing the recommendation, noting that it doesnt believe the two sides are at an impasse on some of the issues cited by Kerley. We hope the labor boards final ruling will affirm the hearing officers recommended order to resume negotiations, Lynch said. But there is no need to wait Governor Rauner should direct his representatives back to the bargaining table now, to work with AFSCME and develop a compromise agreement that is fair to all. The state and the union now have time to respond to the recommendation and to each others responses. The labor board could make a final determination at its November meeting. A 17-year-old boy and a 22-year-old woman were killed and four others injured Monday morning in three shootings at Brooklyn's J'Ouvert festivities, a pre-dawn celebration of Caribbean culture, PEOPLE confirms. At 3:50 a.m., 17-year-old Tyreke Borel was shot in the chest and a 72-year-old woman was shot in the left arm, according to a New York City police statement. Both were taken to the hospital, where Borel was pronounced dead. There are no suspects and the investigation is ongoing, according to the New York Police Department. About 20 minutes later, police responded to a call and discovered 22-year-old Tiarah Poyau shot in the face, according to a police statement. She was transported to the hospital and pronounced dead. An unnamed suspect is currently in custody, according to the NYPD. At a Monday police briefing, the transcript of which was obtained by PEOPLE, NYPD Brooklyn South Commander Steven Powers said Borel, Poyau and the 72-year-old woman were all likely "unintended targets." Powers said that over the past 10 years, 21 shootings have been recorded at J'Ouvert festivities, including two homicides last year. This year, according to city officials, the city doubled the number of police officers and took other measures such as installing hundreds of light towers. Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city would review the future of the event, given the history of violence. "I'm not going to go into detail until we do a full review," he said. "Iam just making a broad strategic statement; all options are on the table. But weare going to look at the whole situation with the NYPD and the community." De Blasio said that about 250,000 people typically attend the J'Ouvert festival, and "the vast, vast majority celebrate peacefully." "They represent their culture proudly," he said. "And it's a moment where every year, people look forward to celebrating their heritage as all New Yorkers do for their own heritages." Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. Borel was going to school and working as an auto mechanic, his great uncle David Brathwaite told NBC. According to The New York Times, David Jones, who identified himself as Borel's stepfather, said Borel emigrated from Trinidad nine years ago. Poyau was a graduate of St. John's University, according to DNA Info. Neighbor Gwen Wilkinson told The Times that Poyau was "a beautiful girl" and a friendly person. "She wanted to have a little fun last night, and then this happened," Wilkinson said. Stockholm (AFP) - Two members of the assembly that awards the Nobel prize for medicine are to quit for failing to heed warnings about a major ethics scandal, the panel said Tuesday. The secretary of the Nobel Assembly, Thomas Perlmann, said Harriet Wallberg and Anders Hamsten were being asked to step down. "The crisis of trust is such... that we are going to ask them to leave the Nobel Assembly," he told the Swedish news agency TT. The pair are former rectors of the Karolinska Institute (KI), Sweden's top medical university, where the scandal coincided with their spells in office. The affair centres on Italian surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, who in 2011 soared to fame for inserting the first synthetic trachea, or windpipe. It was a plastic structure seeded with the patient's own stem cells -- immature cells that grow into specialised cells of the body's organs. Hired as a visiting professor at Karolinska in 2010, Macchiarini performed three of these operations in Stockholm and five others around the world. His work was initially hailed as a game-changer for transplant medicine. But two patients died and a third was left severely ill. Allegations ensued that the risky procedure had been carried out on at least one individual who had not been life-threateningly ill. Swedish police are carrying out an investigation for manslaughter. Macchiarini is also suspected of lying about his scientific research and his past experience with prestigious medical research centres. KI dismissed Macchiarini on March 23 and announced the break in an exceptionally blunt statement. "It is impossible for KI to continue to have any cooperation with Paolo Macchiarini. He has acted in a way that has had very tragic consequences for the people affected and their families. His conduct has seriously damaged confidence in KI," it said. - 'Ethical Chernobyl' - An article in the Swedish medical journal Lakartidningen described the case as an "ethical Chernobyl" for KI. Story continues Wallberg's reputation has been tarnished for hiring Macchiarini while Hamsten, her successor as KI's rector, has been accused of failing to grasp the scale of the problem as it unfolded. Hamsten resigned from KI in February, and the general secretary of the Nobel Assembly, Urban Lendahl, also stepped down from his post. The institute's board has largely been replaced. Tuesday's announcement came less than a month before the start of the Nobel season, which kicks off this year on October 3, with the medicine award first on the list. The medicine award is determined by an independent assembly of 50 professors at the KI on the basis of a list of candidates drafted by a five-member panel. Neither Wallberg nor Hamsten have taken part in the work for the 2016 award, Perlmann said. The two are being asked to step down as, under the statutes of the Nobel Assembly, they cannot technically be fired. Istanbul (AFP) - Three Turkish soldiers were killed and four wounded on Tuesday in a rocket attack by Islamic State (IS) militants in northern Syria, in the first deadly attack on Ankara's armed forces to be blamed on the jihadists in Turkey's cross-border incursion. Turkey launched an unprecedented operation inside Syria on August 24. Dubbed Euphrates Shield, it backs pro-Ankara opposition fighters in the goal of rooting out IS jihadists and Kurdish militia from the border area. A senior Turkish official said two soldiers were killed on the spot and five injured in the attack by IS. One of the wounded soldiers later died in hospital despite all attempts to save his life, lifting the death toll to three, an army statement quoted by NTV television said. The fatalities are the first of the Turkish operation inside Syria to be blamed on IS and Ankara's biggest single loss of life in the offensive to date. Turkey had blamed the death of one soldier on August 28 in a similar attack on Kurdish militia. The army said in the statement carried by NTV television that the deaths came in a rocket attack on two Turkish tanks. The army said the attack took place in the village of Wuquf south of Al-Rai, where Turkish tanks opened a second front in their Syria operation at the weekend. The area is west of Jarabulus near the Turkish border which was retaken by pro-Ankara rebels at the start of the operation from jihadists. Turkish television showed pictures of military helicopters flying across the border to take the wounded for treatment in Turkey. Separately, two pro-Ankara Syrian fighters were killed and two others wounded in clashes in the same region, the army statement added. - 'IS cleared from border' - Turkey has so far hailed its operation as a success and IS jihadists were at the weekend expelled from their last positions along the Turkish-Syrian border, depriving the group of a key transit point for recruits and supplies. Story continues Turkey wants to establish a safe zone in the 98-kilometre (61-mile) area stretching from Jarabulus to Azaz to the west. The government says this has been completely secured in the weekend's operation. The army also said on Tuesday "44 targets were struck 153 times with precision by Firtina howitzers in a region identified as belonging to terrorists," adding that coalition warplanes also launched air raids on IS positions. Syrian rebels, backed by coalition forces, retook two villages near Al-Rai, it added. "The operation is continuing in the region." Until now there had been few reports of clashes between Turkey or its allied fighters with IS. But there had been indications of intense fighting with the Kurdish Peoples' Protection Units (YPG) militia. The YPG is a key partner of the US-led coalition against IS, and has recaptured large swathes of territory in Syria from the extremist group. But NATO member Turkey, an active participant of the anti-IS coalition, considers the YPG a "terrorist" group and has been alarmed by its expansion along the border, fearing the creation of a contiguous, semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Syria. The Turkish presidency said earlier it hoped for a truce in northern Syria between opposition fighters and the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in a week, after talks between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and world leaders at the G20 in China. Erdogan's spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, revealed that the Turkish leader had met separately a second time with Russian and US counterparts Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama before leaving the G20 meeting in Hangzhou. Turkey and Russia have been on opposite sides of Syria's five-and-a-half-year civil war, with Moscow backing Assad and Ankara supporting the opposition against him. However, there have been signs of a rapprochement, with Kalin saying Putin had told Erdogan he fully supported the Turkish operation. By Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Roberta Rampton VIENTIANE (Reuters) - The United States announced on Tuesday it would provide an additional $90 million over the next three years to help Laos, heavily bombed during the Vietnam War, clear unexploded ordnance that has killed or injured more than 20,000 people. The figure announced during President Barack Obama's first visit to Laos is close to the $100 million the United States has spent in the past 20 years on clearing its UXO in Laos. From 1964 to 1973, U.S. warplanes dropped more than 270 million cluster munitions on the communist country, one-third of which did not explode, the Lao National Regulatory Authority for UXO says. Obama became the first U.S. president to visit Laos when he arrived in the once-isolated country on Monday to attend two regional summits, half a century after America's "secret war" left Laos with the unfortunate distinction of being the most heavily bombed country, per capita, in history. The White House said in a statement U.S. programmes in Laos had helped slash UXO casualties from 300 to less than 50 a year and the additional funding would be used for a "comprehensive UXO survey of Laos and for continued clearing operations". "The United States is helping Laos clear unexploded ordnance, which poses a threat to people and hampers economic development," it said. The package would help support UXO victims needing rehabilitation, including orthotics and prosthetics, it added. Obama, in a speech on Tuesday in the capital, Vientiane, addressed the secret war. "As a result of that conflict many people fled or were driven from their homes," Obama said. "At the time America did not acknowledge its role." "I believe the United States has a moral obligation to help Laos heal." UXO remains a stubborn problem in the region and experts say it could take decades to clear landmines and bombs in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, which were beset by conflicts in the 1960s and 1970s, and in Cambodia's case, in the 1980s and 1990s too. In the central Lao province of Xieng Khouang, the area most heavily bombed by U.S. aircraft during the war in neighbouring Vietnam, there is a trail of devastation. About 80 percent of the people of landlocked Laos rely on agriculture, but some of it is simply too dangerous to farm. Approximately a quarter of its villages are contaminated with unexploded ordnance, says the British-based Mines Advisory Group, which helps find and destroy the bombs. On Wednesday, Obama is expected to visit an organisation in Vientiane that works with those disabled by unexploded ordnance, the Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise Visitor Center. (Writing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Martin Petty; Editing by Robert Birsel and Clarence Fernandez) By Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy coastal patrol ship changed course after a fast-attack craft from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps came within 100 yards (91 meters) of it in the central Gulf on Sunday, U.S. Defense Department officials said on Tuesday. It was at least the fourth such incident in less than a month. U.S. officials are concerned that these actions by Iran could lead to mistakes. Years of mutual animosity eased when Washington lifted sanctions on Tehran in January after a deal to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions. But serious differences still remain over Iran's ballistic missile program, and over conflicts in Syria and Iraq. Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said the Iranian vessel sailed directly in front of the USS Firebolt, forcing the 174-foot (53-metre) U.S. ship to change course. The incident began when seven Iranian ships "harassed" the Firebolt, Davis said. A U.S. Defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the interaction was "unsafe and unprofessional due to lack of communications and the close-range harassing maneuvering," adding that uncovered and manned weapons were seen on the Iranian vessel. The U.S. ship tried to communicate with the Iranian ship by radio three times but received no response. The U.S. official said there have been 31 similar interactions with Iranian ships this year, almost double the amount from the same period last year. "We don't see this type of unsafe and unprofessional activity from any other nation," the defense official added. In late August, a U.S. Navy patrol craft fired warning shots toward an Iranian fast-attack vessel that approached two U.S. ships. At the time, Iran's defense minister said Iranian vessels were just doing their job. Last week, the head of U.S. Central Command, General Joseph Votel, said unsafe maneuvers in the Gulf were part of the Iranian regime trying to exert its influence in the region. Kenneth Pollack, a former top CIA and White House official, said that one or two incidents could have been explained as being the work of an over-zealous commander within Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. But the number of such incidents in recent weeks make it very hard for me to believe these are not sanctioned by higher authority within Iran, said Pollack, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. If that is the case, Iranian authorities may be using the incidents to stir up popular anger against the United States, he said. (Reporting by Idrees Ali; Additional reporting by Warren Strobel; Editing by James Dalgleish and Jonathan Oatis) THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The United Nations human rights chief on Monday accused U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump of spreading "humiliating racial and religious prejudice" and warned of a rise of populist politics that could turn violent. In comments at a security and justice conference, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said he was addressing Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders and other "populists, demagogues and political fantasists." Naming Trump, Nigel Farage in Britain and Marine Le Pen in France, among others, he accused them of using "fear" tactics similar to those of Islamic State, also known as Daesh. "Make no mistake, I certainly do not equate the actions of nationalist demagogues with those of Daesh," he said. "But in its mode of communication, its use of half-truths and oversimplification, the propaganda of Daesh uses tactics similar to those of the populists." In a tweet, Wilders called Zeid "an idiot." Zeid labelled Wilders' March 2017 election platform, which calls for no Muslim immigrants, the closing of mosques and the banning of the Koran, as "grotesque." "The UN is grotesque," Wilders responded. "Let's get rid of these bureaucrats." But Zeid said Wilders' rhetoric could have terrible consequences. "History has perhaps taught Mr. Wilders and his ilk how effectively xenophobia and bigotry can be weaponized," he said. "The atmosphere will become thick with hate; at this point it can descend rapidly into colossal violence," he warned. (Reporting By Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Raissa Kasolowsky) The U.N.s top official for human rights lambasted Western right-wing politicians like Donald Trump and Nigel Farage in a speech Monday, describing them as populists, demagogues and political fantasists. In an extraordinary attack made during a security conference at the Hague, Zeid Raad al-Hussein compared their rhetoric to that of the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) extremist group. Populists use half-truths and oversimplification the two scalpels of the arch propagandist, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said. The Internet and social media are a perfect rail for them, by reducing thought into the smallest packages: sound bites, tweets. While al-Hussein mentioned Trump and Farage, along with leaders like Hungarys Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Czech President Milos Zeman, Austrian politician Norbert Hofer, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and French nationalist politician Marine Le Pen, the main target of his speech was Dutch anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders. What Mr. Wilders shares in common with Mr. Trump, Mr. Orban, Mr. Zeman, Mr. Hofer, Mr. Fico, Madame Le Pen, Mr. Farage, he also shares with Daesh, he said, using the Arabic language acronym for ISIS. Wilders, who is facing criminal charges for inciting racial hatred, said in a recently released campaign manifesto that he would close all mosques and ban immigrants from Muslim countries if elected. His party, the Freedom Party, currently leads opinion polls in the Netherlands ahead of next years election. Wilders also addressed this years Republican National Convention in Cleveland, where Trump officially accepted the partys nomination for President. Describing the Dutch leaders manifesto as grotesque, al-Hussein said that history has taught Mr. Wilders and his ilk how effectively xenophobia and bigotry can be weaponized. UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday strongly condemned North Korea's ballistic missile launches on Monday, saying they contribute to Pyongyang's development of nuclear weapons delivery systems and increase tension in the region. North Korea fired three ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast on Monday, the South Korean and U.S. militaries said, as the leaders of the Group of 20 major economies held a summit in China, the North's main diplomatic ally. (Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Sandra Maler) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Tuesday it was making progress with Russia on how to achieve a cessation of hostilities in Syria and held out the possibility a nationwide ceasefire need not begin immediately. The United States had hoped over the weekend to announce an agreement to halt the fighting in the 5-1/2-year-old Syrian civil war but failed to strike an agreement with Russia. The two powers support opposite sides in the conflict, with Moscow using its military to back Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Washington taking the position that Assad must go and supporting some opposition groups seeking to oust him. "We continue to feel like we are making progress, and believe we are making progress, on some of the remaining issues, but we are not going to settle," U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said at his daily briefing in Washington. He said Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were expected to meet "very soon" but that he did not have a time or place to announce. Toner said any agreement had to chart a clear path on how it would be implemented, and suggested that a nationwide cessation of hostilities did not have to start right away. "What we are looking at is ... is a clear path forward to a nationwide cessation of hostilities," Toner said. "Now whether thats going to happen overnight or whether thats going to happen over a period of days, thats a question to be resolved." (Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Writing by David Alexander; Editing by Eric Walsh and Peter Cooney) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States voiced concern on Tuesday about the detention of leading Bahraini democracy campaigner Nabeel Rajab and called on the Manama government to release him immediately. The call by the U.S. State Department came just two days after The New York Times published a letter by Rajab that said he was facing prosecution for his work exposing human rights abuses in Bahrain and criticizing the war in Yemen. Prosecutors in Bahrain filed new charges on Monday against an unidentified man, believed by rights activists to be Rajab, for "publishing a column in a foreign newspaper in which he deliberately broadcast news, statements and false rumors that undermine the kingdom's prestige and stature." Asked about the new charges, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the United States was "very concerned" about Rajab's "ongoing detention and the new charges filed against him." "We call on the government of Bahrain to release him immediately," Toner said. "We have concerns about the state of human rights in general in Bahrain and we're engaging with the government ... on all these issues." Rajab said in his letter to the Times that he had been detained, mostly in isolation, in Bahrain since the beginning of the summer. He said Bahrain had some 4,000 political prisoners and the highest prison population per capita in the Middle East. "This is a country that has subjected its people to imprisonment, torture and even death for daring to desire democracy," Rajab wrote. He said he also was accused of "insulting a neighboring country," Saudi Arabia, by sending notes on Twitter calling for an end to the war in Yemen. Rajab, who met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry earlier this year, was critical of the United States for selling billions of dollars worth of arms to Saudi Arabia for the Yemen conflict. Rajab said recent strong U.S. statements on Bahrain's human rights problems were good "but unless the United States is willing to use its leverage, fine words have little effect." He urged U.S. President Barack Obama to use American influence to resolve the Yemen conflict. Opposition political groups in Bahrain staged large protests during the Arab Spring of 2011, when demonstrators across the Arab world took to the streets calling for greater democracy. The protests in Bahrain were put down when neighboring Saudi Arabia sent troops to restore order. Political tensions have continued since then in Bahrain, which is home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet. (Reporting by David Alexander and Arshad Mohammed) LONDON (Reuters) - British 1970s reggae band UB40 is backing Jeremy Corbyn in his campaign to be re-elected as leader of the opposition Labour party, calling the left-wing leader "incorruptible" and welcoming his commitment to the arts. UB40, whose hits include "Red Red Wine" and "Can't Help Falling in Love", is the biggest musical name so far to back Corbyn, who is expected to fend off a challenge to his leadership this month. "Jeremy has re-ignited an interest in politics for people who no longer felt included, and engaged and inspired a new generation of young voters who, for the first time, believe that they have an incorruptible politician who truly represents them," UB40 said on its Facebook page. "Westminster needs big change, and Jeremy is the man to do it." Corbyn, a veteran left-wing campaigner, has brought many new members into the party but has deepened divisions between its left and right wings following its defeat in last year's parliamentary election under previous leader Ed Milliband. Corbyn has pledged to reverse cuts in arts spending made by governments over the past few years. (Reporting by Georgina Prodhan) Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f201371%2fgettyimages-643829269 Ramen has long been the stuff of foodie legend and lore. Ramen burgers, ramen hacks, ramen cooked by Jenner sisters...it's been all ramen all the time. Slow your roll, ramen let another noodle take center stage. SEE ALSO: 10 huge food trends you'll devour in 2016 Udon is ramen's thicker, chewier cousin. Like ramen, it is made with wheat flour, but that's where the similarities end. Dried udon can be dense, but fresh udon has a lighter, if still noticeable, bite. It is usually an opaque cream color and can be served warm or cool with toppings that range from sliced scallions to whole tempura shrimp. They can be served in soup, in broth or on their own. They are enjoyed chilled or warm and seem destined to become the next foodie obsession. Social media influencer and food lover Christine Yi (@cy_eats) tells Mashable if udon wants to compete with ramen, it has to raise its own standards. She says while ramen is affordable and relatable, there is also such a high demand that high quality, even "elegant" ramen, abounds. "Elegant" is one way to describe the caviar-laden noodles at Japanese chain TsuruTonTan Udon Noodle Brasserie. The Union Square branch (the first one stateside) specializes in homemade udon topped with everything from the aforementioned caviar (cod caviar, known as mentaiko) to uni and truffles. There is even chilled udon (known as zaru for the bamboo tray on which it is presented) served with dipping sauce and tempura vegetables and shrimp alongside. Joji Uematsu, Dining Innovation USA's (the restaurants American management company) vice president, tells the New York Times, "Udon are traditionally Japanese and more like pasta, to serve with almost anything. The public's udon curiosity has reached a fevered pitch, considering the restaurant has commanded wait times of up to two hours on its Aug. 29 opening. Story continues The long wait times have, predictably, received backlash. However, many who arrive early or stand the wait are giving rave reviews for the gourmet udon. The udon fever is spreading across the country, with Ikigai Udon headed for Plano, Texas, towards the end of 2016 (patrons can watch the udon being made in front of them), handmade udon shop Tsurumaru is expanding to include a food court outlet in Southern California and there are over half a million posts hashtagged #udon on Instagram. One of the top posts, with more than a thousand likes was taken at Tsurutontan's NYC outpost by acclaimed chef and ramen aficionado Ivan Orkin, otherwise known as @ramenjunkie. When the ramen lovers start branching out, it's time to recognize that udon may be ready to take the spotlight. By Estelle Shirbon LONDON (Reuters) - Anjem Choudary, Britain's best-known Islamist preacher, was jailed on Tuesday for five years and six months for encouraging support for Islamic State, ending years of frustration for police who had struggled to pin charges on him. Choudary, 49, and close associate Mizanur Rahman, 33, who received the same sentence, had been convicted by a jury in July of using the Internet to urge followers to back the banned group, which controls large areas of Syria and Iraq. "These men have stayed just within the law for many years and there has been frustration for both law enforcement agencies and communities as they spread hate," said Dean Haydon, head of counter-terrorism at London's Metropolitan Police. "We have watched Choudary developing a media career as spokesman for the extremists, saying the most distasteful of comments, but without crossing the criminal threshold," Haydon said in a statement. Long denounced by the press in Britain as a hate preacher, Choudary is also well-known abroad, making regular TV appearances in the wake of attacks by Islamist militants to blame Western foreign policy for targeting Muslims. His trial heard that in postings on social media, Choudary and Rahman had pledged allegiance to the "caliphate" declared by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and said Muslims had a duty to obey or provide support to him. "Their recent speeches and the oath of allegiance were a turning point for the police - at last we had the evidence that they had stepped over the line and we could prove they were actively encouraging support of ISIS," said Haydon. Both men had denied the terrorism charges and said the case against them was politically motivated. They were convicted after a four-week trial at London's Old Bailey criminal court, where they were sentenced by a judge on Tuesday. Choudary, the former head of the now banned organisation al-Muhajiroun, first drew widespread attention for praising the men behind the 9/11 attacks on the United States and for saying he wanted to convert Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth's official London residence, into a mosque. OATH OF ALLEGIANCE Despite such comments and his refusal to condemn attacks by Islamists, including bombings of the London transport system in 2005, Choudary has always denied any involvement in militant activity and had never been previously charged with any terrorism offence. Rahman had previously served two years in jail for encouraging followers during a protest in 2006 to kill British and U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Evidence presented during the trial included speeches posted online in which Choudary spelt out his arguments for recognising Al-Baghdadi as the leader of Islamic State. The court had also heard that Choudary and Rahman had pledged allegiance to the group and used Mohammed Fachry, a convicted terrorist, to publish the oath on an Indonesian website. "The jury were sure that you knowingly crossed the line between the legitimate expression of your own views and the criminal act of inviting support for an organisation which was at the time engaged in appalling acts of terrorism," said the judge, Timothy Holroyde. "You are both mature men and intelligent men who knew throughout exactly what you were doing." Al-Muhajiroun, a banned group whose name in Arabic means 'The Emigrants', has been viewed as a breeding ground for militants since it was founded in the late 1990s by Syrian-born Islamist cleric Omar Bakri. He was banished from Britain in 2005. Police said the group was suspected of being the driving force behind the 2005 London bombings, while Michael Adebolajo, one of the men who hacked to death British soldier Lee Rigby on a London street in 2013, had attended protests organised by Choudary. The group's influence is believed to extend far beyond Britain. Those connected to it include Abu Hamza al-Masri, who was jailed for life in the United States last year for terrorism-related offences. (Editing by Gareth Jones) LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's smallest mobile network operator, Three, wants the regulator to rein in market leader EE (BT.L) by setting a 30 percent cap on the proportion of airwaves an operator can own. Such a move would boost competition in a market that delivers "mediocre" service to customers, it said on Tuesday. The operator, owned by Hong Kong's CK Hutchison Holdings , said it needed more spectrum to grow its customer base and offer bigger bundles of data, a strategy it is pursuing after its merger with Telefonica's (TEF.MC) O2 was blocked by EU regulators in May. EE (BT.L), owned by BT, has 42 percent of the spectrum currently available, while Vodafone (VOD.L) has 29 percent and O2 and Three have 14 percent and 15 percent respectively, Three said. British competition authorities waved through BT's acquisition of EE in January without making BT sell any of its combined spectrum, to the surprise of some in the industry. Three UK's Chief Executive David Dyson said he wanted regulator Ofcom to impose the 30 percent cap at the next auction, expected next year, as it would provide better balance in a market with four operators. "All operators other than EE-BT are below that 30 percent cap right now," he told reporters on Tuesday. EE should not be precluded from bidding, he said, but it should be required to sell some of its existing portfolio if it wanted to buy new spectrum. Dyson also said EE and Vodafone were not using all the spectrum they owned, which he said indicated that they bought the airwaves in order to deny Three or O2 capacity. Vodafone, however, said Three had not faced any barriers in buying spectrum. "These are some pretty surprising comments from an operator which has been in the UK market for more than 15 years and has had ample opportunity as well as the financial resources to bid for spectrum when it's become available," a Vodafone spokesman said. EE, which unveiled faster network technology for the latest smartphones on Tuesday, said it used all its spectrum to the benefit of customers. Story continues "We pioneered 4G and we are a leader in network speeds," a spokeswoman said. "We are unique in our commitment to expand 4G coverage to 95 percent of the UK's landmass by 2020, further than any other UK network has done, and will continue to ensure the UK stays at mobile technology's leading edge." An Ofcom spokesman said the regulator planed to publish a consultation in the autumn, which would set out its plans for the next auction of spectrum, of 2.3-3.4 GHz. Dyson said Three was performing as well as it could with the assets it had, pointing to a 12 percent rise in first-half earnings to 348 million pounds and a 2 percent rise in customer numbers to 9.16 million. "The industry we are operating in is pretty mediocre, and therefore if we can perform in that environment then we should take market share," Dyson said. (Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Susan Fenton) By Natalia Zinets and Alessandra Prentice KIEV (Reuters) - It has become increasingly difficult for Ukraine to secure Western support in its fight against "Russian aggression" and a full-scale invasion from Russia cannot be ruled out, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko said on Tuesday. Poroshenko said Europe's internal strength was being tested by external issues such as the migration crisis and militant attacks, and warned elections in 2017 could see political forces more willing to compromise with the Kremlin take power. His comments underline Ukrainian concerns about losing support in its standoff with Russia over the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and an ongoing conflict between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass region. The European Union is divided over whether to continue putting sanctions on Russia that have taken an economic toll on both sides. Ukrainian lawmakers have previously also voiced fears that the rise of populist sentiment in Europe and Great Britain's exit from the EU bloc could weaken support for Kiev. "Ukraine will continue to need strong international support in the fight against Russian aggression," Poroshenko said at the opening of the September parliament session. "But securing this support is becoming increasingly difficult for our diplomats due to different objective and subjective factors." The conflict in Donbass has killed more than 9,500 people since separatist violence erupted two years ago, and a ceasefire agreement is routinely violated. Tensions between Ukraine and Russia spiked in August after Russia accused Ukraine of planning attacks in Crimea. As a result, while Poroshenko said that Ukraine is now safer than it was a year ago, he also warned that a full-scale invasion from Russia could not be ruled out. "Over the course of the next year, political forces could come to power as a result of elections in several European countries that may not be extremist, but are inclined to compromise with the Kremlin," Poroshenko said. "Europe still speaks with one voice, but there are also countries where the Russian accent is already too audible." (Writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Dominic Evans) CASEY -- It had been years since David Hanners had set foot on the bandstand in Fairview park to play his guitar, let alone Casey in general. He remembers the first time he was on the bandstand in Fairview Park performing in public. At a festival decades before, he was called on stage, where he performed Rocky Mountain High by John Denver, and sucked, according to Hanners. He said he remembered butchering the song. Now, years later, the 61-year-old guitarist was able to return to his hometown Saturday and perform some songs he has penned over the years, as part of the Quarry Branch Boys, at the Casey Popcorn Festival, the last stop after numerous gigs. It really feels good to able to come back and right that wrong, Hanner said. I kinda felt like I should say, Sorry, I sounded so bad all of those decades ago. I hope today sounds better. The performance, which encapsulated the history of the local area through the lyrics of the songs, was only an hour or two taken out of the audience's day. However, for Hanners and the rest of Quarry Branch Boys -- including Karl Burke on bass, Richard Hippler on banjo and Solly Burton on mandolin -- it was a passion project over a year and a half in the making. About two years ago, Hanners had moved to Kuwait with his wife, Sharon, so that she could go back into international teaching. If the food is good, I am down for it, he said when the opportunity arose to leave the country. Hanners moved from his job in St. Paul, Minn., as a journalist for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. At the time, he also did work for the Dallas Morning News, where he did a 22-month story on airplane crashes that earned him a Pulitzer Prize. While a journalist for decades, Hanners said performing and songwriting had been a passion of his for much of his life. However, in Kuwait, an avenue to perform was limited. There are not many opportunities to play over there for a variety of reasons, Hanners said. I booked more gigs over the summer (in this area) than I have played the past two years in Kuwait. In the Middle Eastern country, he sought to play. So, a few months in, he called on three people -- Burke, Hippler and Burton -- who might be interested in combining their stringed instruments and creating a bluegrass band. To his surprise, Hanners said it was resounding sure across all three. Through the two-year stint in Kuwait, the band would practice playing along with tunes Hanners recorded. Along with this formation, Hanners said there was a goal: to play at the popcorn festival. He said if he had a bucket list, forming a bluegrass band and performing at the popcorn festival would have been one of the items on that list. Burke said as time drew on, it had just become a build up of anticipation. I've been looking forward to it, Burke said. I've been looking at my calendar. Finally, Saturday, the band -- excluding Burton, who had been involved in a car accident days before -- was able to perform together on stage, Hanners said. There is a sign on the outskirts of town: 'home of David Hanners, Pulitzer winner,' or whatever, and I wanted to show them, not another side of me, but that I also play music., he said. They played tunes highlighting historical peaks in the local area. Today, Hanners is back off to Kuwait after his summer-long stretch in the U.S. Frank Briegmann -- president & CEO of Universal Music's Central Europe and Deutsche Grammophon, and boardmember of the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI), Germany's recording industry trade bod -- met yesterday (Sep. 5) with Gunther Oettinger, the Commissioner of the Digital Economy and Society for the European Union who is leading the effort for a pan-continental "Digital Single Market" which Oettinger, along with vice president for the Digital Single Market in the European Commission Andrus Ansip, has been evangelizing in speeches and meetings worldwide for some time. European Commission Unveils Details on Digital Single Market During a speech to the DLDeurope convention held yesterday in Brussels, Briegmann stressed the importance of the music industry for the cultural identity and economic development of Europe, and explained why today the music industry is ahead of the wider media industry in the implementation of new technologies and innovative business models. Briegmann cited the complex processes involved in rights management and monitoring across thousands of digital communications and distribution channels as an example of music's forward thinking. "The future of the music market will not only belong to one format, but a variety of different formats, including CDs, downloads and streaming", Briegmann told the crowd, stressing that, apart from the continuing digital transformation, the biggest challenge would be the creation of legal framework to deal with an unprecedented volume of rights uses. The so-called "value gap," -- i.e. the insufficient participation of artists and rights owners in the revenues generated by ad-financed platforms -- could only exist because of outdated intellectual property laws. "The music industry invests around $4 billion worldwide every year into the development of artists. In order to maintain a functioning and diverse ecosystem for creative people, these investments need to be refinanced through a fair participation in those revenues", so Briegmann. European Commission Seeks Solutions for YouTube Value Gap According to Briegmann, Europe's "Digital Single Market" initiative, which brings with it the potential for harmonized European copyright law, are a great opportunity to ensure a fair balance in stakeholders' bargaining positions with tech giants who vastly outweigh them financially. He also suggested that the "Notice and Takedown" procedure of copyright enforcement practiced by YouTube and other platforms, i.e. deleting unlicensed content upon individual request, should be replaced by a "Notice and Stay Down," which would monitor uploads in real time and remove them instead of waiting for their rights holders to request their removal. There is something very scary going on during this election. Something that, if it continues, threatens the entire world. And we shouldnt be complacent about it. Im not talking about Donald Trump. Im talking about the near-total inattention to the danger to the planet posed by climate change. The evidence continues to mount that we are in an epic warming cycle that will force mass migration from coastal areas and deserts, the largest population transfer in world history. And yet its treated by the public and yes this is a problem about the public, not politicians as an afterthought, something confined to a distant future, with no connection to the nations real problems. Ive heard climate change described as a uniquely intractable problem for our political system, because its march is long and slow, and its solutions demand near-term sacrifice to prevent a crisis that isnt completely visible. Thinking globally, the countries that will begin to be swallowed up by a warming planet have little institutional power, and the international cooperation needed to reduce emissions borders on the unprecedented. Related: The Climate Change Crisis Trump Refuses to Acknowledge But that calculus has changed to some degree as the consequences of climate change accelerate. The results are visible. In fact, if we find ourselves on many parts of the East Coast, we only have to look down. Tropical Storm Hermines coastal trip over the holiday weekend forced many would-be beachgoers along the shore to shelter in place. But along Tybee Island, Georgia, the only road inland can wash out on a sunny day in the middle of June, severing the connection to the mainland. Sunny day flooding is now a fact of life along more and more of the Atlantic and Gulf coastlines, an everyday hazard of water popping up through storm drains or in basements. That means when the rains come to a place like Louisiana, the devastation multiplies. But it also means that toxic weather events arent the only concern anymore; everyday life means dealing with the hardship of rushing water. And these arent backwaters (pardon the pun) but places like Miami and Norfolk, Virginia. Story continues The future livability of cities like this, and really everywhere of a certain sea level, depends on a herculean engineering feat to allow people to remain at the shoreline. That would be true even if we stopped burning fossil fuels tomorrow. And there really isnt a massive effort to save large pieces of the coast, or even a thoughtful discussion over whether certain areas arent worth the cost of protecting, and whether we should move entire parts of America inland. Related: Republicans Take Dead Aim at Obamas Climate Change Initiatives Furthermore, how much of the shore will need to be saved or abandoned, and how costly the transition will be, depends upon limiting future warming. The Paris accords, signed by the U.S. and China this past weekend, represent a step in that direction. But theres serious question as to whether that agreement will actually make a meaningful difference. Bill McKibbens excellent essay in The New Republic on why we need to look at climate change the way we looked at mobilizing for war points out that the Paris accords would fail to stop a 3.5 degree Celsius rise in temperature by 2100, a scenario whose implications we dont even realistically understand. The potential collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet, and the underground carbon that might spurt into the atmosphere, does not allow for a modest, targeted, gradual plan of the kind we got in Paris. Scientists have different prediction models for how much carbon emissions would be tolerable to prevent calamity, and how much would be intolerable. It would be one thing if we were arguing about those models, and debating how to fast prepare for the future. But its barely even on the agenda. Hillary Clinton has agreed to a summit within her first hundred days as president to set a course for what the Democratic platform describes as a World War II-scale mobilization on climate. But you build momentum for such an undertaking in the months leading up to a new administration. And that urgency isnt there. Related: How Climate Change Could Drag 100 Million People into Poverty Granted, Donald Trump sucks the oxygen out of a room, to be sure, and the media devotes almost no time to the issue, even when events like the Louisiana flooding are staring them in the face. Also, the scope of the effort suffers from partisan polarization that has only become prevalent in the last decade; 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain vowed to cut carbon emissions, even with Sarah Palin at his side. The necessary public outcry is dangerously muted. Im not talking about the activists: Native American communities have made the Dakota Pipeline a national issue through protest, for example. But for the average schoolteacher in Ohio or grocery store clerk in Missouri, the climate isnt where it needs to be in the pecking order. President Obama, speaking to The New York Times at Midway Atoll last week, acknowledged that: I think the average American wants to see us tackle these problems, its not at the very top of their list but if they can continue to see a rising standard of living and their economic issues addressed while still helping to arrest climate change, thats going to be the direction they want us to go in. Related: Obama Visits Midway Atoll, a Symbol of His Climate, Asia Legacy Thats a generous reading of the situation. Even Democrats, who are more inclined to recognize the threat of climate change, regard it as a second-tier issue relative to health care and the economy and terrorism; it rates around the same level as gun policy and taxes and regulating Wall Street. For Republicans its not even on the map. As someone who doesnt write nearly enough about climate change, I consider myself part of the problem. When Bernie Sanders claimed that climate change was our most pressing national security threat, he was not only correct, but echoing the sentiments of the Pentagon leadership. A day of complacency equals another kiloliter of water washing up on shore. Rather than programs and policies, in this case the first step really is a mass mobilization. It should not be this easy to go through an entire presidential campaign without the warming planet at the center of the debate. If it is, thats on us collectively; thats our problem to solve. Only by making voices impossible to ignore will we even get to the part where we devise a plan before its too late, and avoid the catastrophic consequences tumbling out in unpredictable ways, smashing our future hopes. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: Reaper drone The US Air Force has turned to using contractors to fly drones, according to the Michael S. Schmidt of The New York Times. The Times reports that the contractors, civilians working for private companies, will not execute strikes, but rather conduct recon missions. Though an Air Force official told the times that the contractors have oversight from both a government flight representative and a government ground representative, the use of non-military personnel represents a deep problem with the US Air Force. US Air Force Drone pilots suffer a high rate of burnout, as they work 12 to 13 hour days, performing mainly intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions. But pilots also conduct strikes where mistakes caused by tired eyes can cost lives. Additionally, the pilots are known to suffer from PTSD at similar rates to ground troops. This, coupled with the fact that they do their work in a chair, staring at a computer screen, makes the job punishing, dangerous, and not very rewarding. "Demand for our services is way, way up. But we are meeting those demands today with the smallest Air Force in our history," said Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James in a "State of the Air Force" address. The US Air Force recently agreed to a pay bump for the beleaguered drone pilots, but the financial incentive remains strong for them to defect to the private sector, where they can earn much more as contractors. Drone pilots Story continues The Air Force is the one creating unmanned pilots who have experience there is nowhere else to draw on pilots from, Frederick F. Roggero, a retired major general told the Times. The embrace of military contractors in drone operations by the US Air Force shows another instance of the US military being forced to concede, and join with their main competitors in the labor market, as they've failed to beat them. NOW WATCH: The military could grow future drones in chemical baths More From Business Insider DailyFX.com - Talking Points: Euro may be more response to Retail PMIs vs. 2Q GDP revision US Dollar looks to services ISM to shape Fed rate hike outlook Aussie Dollar little-changed after status-quo RBA rate decision The final revision of second-quarter Eurozone GDP figures as well as Augusts Retail PMI roundup for the single currency area headline the economic calendar in European trading hours. The former reading may pass with little fanfare because the data mostly covers the period preceding the UK Brexit referendum. The latter set of figures may help show if uncertainty following the vote is cooling activity on the Continent. News-flow out of the region has rapidly deteriorated relative to consensus forecasts over the past three weeks, opening the door for a downside surprise. That may weigh on the Euro as traders speculate that the ECB will have to make good on the pledge to boost stimulus in the near term as conditions deteriorate. An upbeat result will probably fall on deaf ears however considering the central banks overtly dovish posture. Later in the day, the spotlight will turn to Augusts ISM Non-Manufacturing Composite survey. Expectations suggest service-sector activity growth slowed for a second consecutive month. A soft result in line with a string of disappointing outcomes over the past two months may pour cold water on Fed rate hike speculation, sending the US Dollar lower. Needless to say, an upside surprise may boost the greenback. The Yen traded lower as risk appetite firmed in overnight trade, undermining support for the anti-risk currency. Indeed, prices intraday price swings mirrored Japans benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index. The Australian Dollar rose alongside front-end bond yields ahead of the RBA rate decision, seemingly reflecting bets on a status-quo result. Prices were little-changed when the central bank delivered as expected. Check out the latest standings for the FXCM $10k trading contest HERE. Story continues Asia Session GMT CCY EVENT ACT EXP PREV 22:00 NZD ANZ Truckometer Heavy (MoM) (AUG) 6.7% - -5.3% 23:01 GBP BRC Sales Like-For-Like (YoY) (AUG) -0.9% 1.4% 1.1% 23:30 AUD ANZ Roy Morgan Weekly Consumer Conf 114.3 - 118.4 0:00 NZD QV House Prices (YoY) (AUG) 14.6% - 14.1% 1:30 AUD Net Exports of GDP (2Q) -0.2 0 1.1 1:30 AUD BoP Current Account Balance (2Q) -15.5b -20.0b -14.9b 4:30 AUD RBA Cash Rate Target 1.50% 1.50% 1.50% European Session GMT CCY EVENT EXP/ACT PREV IMPACT 5:45 CHF GDP (QoQ) (2Q) 0.6% (A) 0.3% Medium 5:45 CHF GDP (YoY) (2Q) 2.0% (A) 1.1% Medium 6:00 EUR Germany Factory Orders (MoM) (JUL) 0.2% (A) -0.3% Medium 6:00 EUR Germany Factory Orders (YoY) (JUL) -0.7% (A) -3.0% Medium 7:15 CHF CPI (MoM) (AUG) -0.1% -0.4% Medium 7:15 CHF CPI (YoY) (AUG) -0.1% -0.2% Medium 7:15 CHF CPI - EU Harmonized (MoM) (AUG) -0.1% -0.1% Low 7:15 CHF CPI - EU Harmonized (YoY) (AUG) 0.0% -0.5% Low 7:30 EUR Markit Germany Construction PMI (AUG) - 51.6 Medium 8:10 EUR Markit Germany Retail PMI (AUG) - 52.0 Medium 8:10 EUR Markit Eurozone Retail PMI (AUG) - 48.9 Medium 8:10 EUR Markit France Retail PMI (AUG) - 51.6 Low 8:10 EUR Markit Italy Retail PMI (AUG) - 40.3 Low 9:00 EUR Eurozone GDP SA (QoQ) (2Q F) 0.3% 0.3% Medium 9:00 EUR Eurozone GDP SA (YoY) (2Q F) 1.6% 1.6% Medium 9:00 EUR Eurozone Gross Fix Cap (QoQ) (2Q) -0.1% 0.8% Low 9:00 EUR Eurozone Govt Expend (QoQ) (2Q) 0.2% 0.4% Low 9:00 EUR Eurozone Household Cons (QoQ) (2Q) 0.3% 0.6% Low 9:40 GBP BOE ILTR Operation Results - - Low 13:50 GBP BOE Bond-Buying Operation Results - - Low Critical Levels CCY Supp 3 Supp 2 Supp 1 Pivot Point Res 1 Res 2 Res 3 EUR/USD 1.0984 1.1085 1.1121 1.1186 1.1222 1.1287 1.1388 GBP/USD 1.3102 1.3201 1.3247 1.3300 1.3346 1.3399 1.3498 --- Written by Ilya Spivak, Currency Strategist for DailyFX.com To receive Ilya's analysis directly via email, please SIGN UP HERE Contact and follow Ilya on Twitter: @IlyaSpivak original source DailyFX provides forex news and technical analysis on the trends that influence the global currency markets. Learn forex trading with a free practice account and trading charts from FXCM. TASHKENT (Reuters) - Uzbekistan wants to maintain a stable relationship with the United States as it goes through its first leadership change since independence, a senior U.S. diplomat said on Tuesday after meeting the Uzbek foreign minister in Tashkent. Moscow, Washington and Beijing are all vying for influence in the ex-Soviet Central Asia region which sits on vast mineral reserves and is strategically located north of Afghanistan, on the ancient Silk Road trade route between China and Europe. Daniel Rosenblum, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Central Asia at the U.S. Department of State, met Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Komilov late on Monday. It was the first visit by a U.S. diplomat since the death of veteran president Islam Karimov last week. Karimov, 78, died on Friday after suffering a stroke and left behind a power vacuum in Central Asia's most populous nation. "I am here in Tashkent these few days representing the U.S. government so that I can express condolences on the death of President Karimov and also to show our continued commitment to our partnership with Uzbekistan," Rosenblum told reporters. "We know very well that the change of leadership is always difficult for any country. We also know that these transitions provide opportunity to define ways to adapt and also to grow stronger. Rosenblum did not mention meeting any of the most senior officials who are viewed as potential successors to Karimov, such as Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev or his deputy, Rustam Azimov. During my meeting with Komilov he expressed strong desire for stability in the bilateral relationship so I took it as an important message as well, he said. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday he would also visit Uzbekistan on Tuesday to honor Karimov. (Reporting by Mukhammadsharif Mamatkulov; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Nick Macfie) WOODLAND HILLS, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 6, 2016 / Orange County awarding Vantage Acceptance the Best Debt Settlement company is a big deal, especially because Orange County is known as one of the hot seats of business in California. There are many companies worthy of praise, but only one was able to be the winner this time around. Vantage Acceptance Woodland Hills has been working with thousands of individuals and has been successful. The spokesperson for the company made it clear that their goal is to be as helpful as possible and to clear people's debt. Californian's already have a lot to deal with, from high taxes to high prices, so debt does not factor well into the equation. The spokesperson did touch on a particular quality of Vantage Acceptance, which is their willingness to only hire local agents and personnel. There is a unique experience that Californians have, and it is important for this company to make sure everyone understands that experience. The company believes having that understanding makes their professionals sympathetic to the people who have inadvertently fallen into debt. The company also made it a point to say that the people who they hire come with the understanding that debt is not something that people dive into willingly. Vantage does not assume that people plot to get into debt, which is a mistake that other companies make. In essence, it is this company's perspective that other businesses that deal with debt settlements treat their clients like they are guilty or should be ashamed of their problem. Vantage wants their customers to feel safe and secure when they work with them. Vantage has been getting recognized for years for their work. Many of their customers rave about their service, which they consider irreplaceable. The recognition they just received from Orange County without mentioning their 5-star rating is just one more way for Vantage to advertise their services to people who really need it. Story continues The debt settlement company had the opportunity to gloat, but the spokesperson seems to only be interested in telling people who might be listening that there is a solution to their debt issues, and it is with them. The dedication that Vantage Acceptance has shown they are passionate about helping people, which makes this award a well-deserved recognition. SOURCE: Vantage Acceptance CHARLESTON (JG-TC) -- A high school student was charged with allegedly making a threat of murder to high school officials, according to police press release. Andrew Watts, 18, of Charleston was charged with electronic threat against a school official in connection with the incident said to have occurred Friday, according to the Charleston Police Department. The release states Charleston police responded to the high school and other locations as a result of a complaint of a student making a threat of murder to the high school administrators. Watts reportedly participated in a conversation wherein he told another party of the allegedly planned crime. The resulting investigation led to his arrest, according to the CPD. Watts was placed in the Coles County jail with a $100,000 bond. Caracas (AFP) - Venezuela's Supreme Court has ruled the opposition-controlled legislature's bills are "null and void" because it swore in three lawmakers accused of electoral fraud. The decision, issued last Friday and published Tuesday, is the latest showdown between the National Assembly and the court, which the opposition accuses of blatant bias in favor of leftist President Nicolas Maduro. The case dates back to legislative elections in December, which the opposition won in a landslide amid an economic crisis marked by severe shortages of food and basic goods. The court barred the three opposition lawmakers pending an investigation of fraud allegations. The opposition condemned the case as an excuse to strip it of its powerful two-thirds majority. Ignoring the court, opposition leaders swore in the lawmakers on July 28, saying there had been no signs of progress in the fraud investigation. The court fired back by declaring the legislative majority in contempt. Its latest ruling goes a step further. "The acts issued by the National Assembly, including any bills passed, are manifestly unconstitutional and absolutely null and void as long as (the opposition bench) is in contempt," it said. The Supreme Court has blocked most of the legislature's bills since the opposition took control, ending 17 years of dominance by the left. Tension has been mounting between Maduro and the opposition, which staged massive protests last week calling for a referendum on removing the unpopular president from power. More protests and counter-demonstrations by Maduro supporters are scheduled for Wednesday. Maduro, who accuses the opposition of plotting a coup, has threatened to lift lawmakers' legislative immunity. Director Ana Lily Amirpour follows up her debut feature A Girl Walks Home Along at Night with the dystopian cannibal love story The Bad Batch, premiering Tuesday night in competition in Venice. The film opens with Suki Waterhouse playing Arlen, a young woman being escorted out of Texas via a criminal processing system and into dystopia where members of the "bad batch" are kept out. In the desert they must kill or be killed, or struggle to find refuge in a sort of safety zone called Comfort. Jim Carrey plays a mute vagabond/good Samaritan strolling around the desert wasteland with shopping cart in tow. Diego Luna is Comfort's resident DJ and Keanu Reeves is the cult leader figure who supplies the town with drugs and keeps the party flowing. Jason Momoa is a member of the "bridge" people who hunt down anyone outside of Comfort. "It's like a desert-set action adventure fairy tale," Amirpour described her film to the press in Venice, saying she was influenced by films such as Romancing the Stone, The NeverEnding Story, The Princess Bride and El Topo. The film was shot on location in Slab City, California, in the desert Badlands where a large squatter community lives off the grid. The director visited the camp for over a year and explained that about 90 percent of the locals played extras in the film. "There was no direction," she said in working with Slab City's residents on the film. In particular with one party scene involving Reeves speaking to the crowd from atop a giant boom box, "He was saying what he was saying and they were cheering, like he was speaking to them. I think the bad batch is everywhere. Go, just leave the city and drive for three hours." Waterhouse, who landed her first big role with the film, admitted it was a challenge for her from start to finish. "This is kind of the first movie I've ever really been in and it had all these crazy people in it. Lily said to me the first time I met her that this was going to be the hardest thing I've ever done," said the model-turned-actress. "I was absolutely terrified and I stayed terrified throughout the whole thing." Story continues And although Carrey speaks no words in the film, he steals the show by saving the lives of not one but two characters. "He's kind of like the soul in this harsh environment," explained Amirpour. "In the script it was just a few scenes and there's no dialogue. You send a part like that to a big actor." "You couldn't tell how important it was but he could tell, because I feel like in a way he is the hermit," she continued. "He's like the homeless guy you ignore at every street corner. It's like two sides of the same coin, being that famous, no one really sees who you are, and being that kind of poor homeless guy, no one really sees who you are. I feel like there's something really connected there." The Bad Batch marks Amirpour's second collaboration with Vice Films, which also distributed her first film. Shane Smith is an executive producer on the film and Danny Gabai and Eddy Moretti, who were present in Venice, explained that when they discovered A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Amirpour's was exactly the type of voice they were looking for with Vice Films. "We didn't know what the f - we were doing when we started this company, and some might say we still don't know what we're doing. But we're having an incredible amount of fun along the way," said Moretti in Venice, before qualifying, "And I started in film before I went to Vice, so I bring that along." Amirpour said that when they approached her for the film, they only had two prerequisites in contrast to her first film: "Eddy was like, 'Do it in color and in English.' " The resulting film has elements taken right out of the Vice handbook, from Jeremy Scott-worthy costumes to a soundtrack ranging from Die Antwoord to Darkside to Francis Harris, and a lush set lensed by Lyle Vincent that ranges from drug-filtered starry skies to a nighttime desert rave. Read more: 'The Bad Batch': Venice Review At a time when presidential candidate Donald Trump is advocating the construction of a physical wall to protect the national purity of the American population, the science-fiction conceit of The Bad Batch in which an assortment of supposed undesirables are exiled to a fenced-off desert wasteland past the Texas border doesnt sound all that dystopian. After her terrific freshman effort A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night slipped some intersectional feminism into its slinky modern vampire tale, writer-director Ana Lily Amirpours glossed-up follow-up once more weaves independent identity politics into a stylish, blood-spattered mash-up of genres, from cannibal exploitation to spaghetti western. The result, while far busier than Amirpours debut, somehow seems to have less going on inside: Though theres much to savor in the pics lavishly distressed visuals and soundscape, its narrative feels increasingly stretched and desultory. With its glistening soundtrack dominated by Brooklyn electro duo Darkside, eccentric star casting complete with a near-incognito cameo for Jim Carrey and Vice Media production credentials, The Bad Batch seems to be angling hard for the youthful cult following that is coming more gradually to A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. The film certainly has enough outward swagger to get it, but whether its heavy-handed state-of-the-nation symbolism will resonate with audiences in the quite the way it intends is another question. For many, the styling and story world presented here will evoke last years beloved blockbuster Mad Max: Fury Road, a less explicitly political work that nonetheless, with its progressive plea for gender parity, is very much a film for its times. Amirpours own grungy desert dust-ride is more meandering and less immediate in its impact. Still, as sophomore slumps go, The Bad Batch remains a seductive one, alive with electric imagery and inchoate ideas regarding heroism in the margins, and the fundamental inequity of the American Dream. Would that Amirpour trusted the subtext of her own script a bit more: Theres surely little need for on-screen billboards bearing slogans like, You cant enter the Dream, the Dream enters you. Happily, Amirpours visual storytelling has rather more fluency and wit. The films near-wordless opening reel is sensational, setting up its nightmare near-future America with crisp economy. So much so, in fact, that we never see America itself only the unnamed no-mans-land where our young heroine Arlen (British supermodel-turned-actress Suki Waterhouse, exerting a cool presence despite a touch-and-go Southern accent) is dumped by military officials after a period of incarceration. Like thousands of other former American residents, she has been branded (literally so, via an identifying tattoo) a member of the Bad Batch, a catch-all collective term for the miscreants, misfits and immigrants deemed unfit for society by the U.S. authorities. Left to their own devices in this arid wilderness, these outcasts have formed their own social divisions. While those on the Bridge survive on cannibalism and aggressive iron-pumping, members of the so-called Comfort community go in for more narcotic-fueled hedonism, lorded over by skeezy, mustachioed commune leader Rockwell (a broadly leering Keanu Reeves). Captured and confined by the Bridge folk in a taut pre-title chase, Arlen loses two of her limbs to dinner preparations before she fashions a skateboard-assisted escape and finds sanctuary in, well, Comfort though, as the timeline jumps forward five months, its clear that she doesnt fit this society any more than the last one to evict her. (Why Arlen was declared bad in the first place is left to the imagination.) Arlen zigzags uncertainly between this temporary home and the unknown promise of the desert where she becomes the accidental guardian of motherless child Miel (Jayda Fink), whose Cuban-expat cannibal father Miami Man (hulking Game of Thrones alum Jason Momoa) is searching for her. As the characters paths cross (and criss-cross), however, the film becomes as unmoored and arbitrary in its movements as they do; at nearly two hours in length, The Bad Batch could stand to streamline its rescue tale considerably, at little cost to its contemporary political undertow. As it drifts and dawdles through its elaborately detailed, none-too-fantastical fantasy world of LSD parties and wall-less makeshift strip malls, the film touches upon a number of intriguing moral ironies and reversals. The family values of cannibals are brought improbably to the fore, while the free-living principles of Comfort emerge merely as a sinister twist on conservative values in the private domain of the all-too-tellingly named Rockwell who inhabits a veritable Playboy Mansion of pregnant women emblazoned with the words, The Dream is inside me. Yet The Bad Batch rarely delves more searchingly beneath such glib surface commentary to expose deeper yearnings in its imagined American hinterland: As a deranged hobo (Giovanni Ribisi) gestures toward his half-complete jigsaw puzzle of the Star-Spangled Banner, its the blunt symbol were invited to consider, not its damaged human presenter. (In many respects, The Bad Batch would fit on a bristly double-bill with Andrea Arnolds recent American Honey: Both are stories of young women, failed by mainstream society, seeking their place on the fringes, though while Arnold takes an intuitively emotive approach, Amirpours is far more schematic.) To be fair, with its legion grindhouse references and deliberately glassy performance style, The Bad Batch isnt necessarily out to touch the heart. But the film doesnt exactly quicken it, either: the dreamy deliberation that Amirpours debut used to such tense effect doesnt cast quite the same spell here. At least its occasional rhythmic lulls afford viewers ample time to admire the dazzling contributions of the directors two most essential collaborators. Her returning cinematographer Lyle Vincent, switching to scorched color from A Girls razor-sharp black-and-white, keeps finding unexpected visual bliss in the most hellish surrounds: the paintbox hues of stacked industrial containers, or a speckled spray of neon-green light on Arlens face during an outdoor rave. Production designer Brandon Tonner-Connelly, meanwhile, cannily fashions a second-hand America using all the cultural debris that the nation apparently discarded along with these people: The Bad Batch doesnt hold out much hope for the future, it seems, but your 1980s boombox can look forward to a comeback. Related stories Venice Film Review: 'The Fury of a Patient Man' Venice Film Review: 'A Woman's Life' Venice Film Review: 'Piuma' The bottom of the sea, the top of the sky, the swirling psychedelic gasses of outer space, the writhing protoplasm of inner life: When youre gawking at images like these and they cast a spell of majestic awe, the images need no other justification, and Voyage of Time: Lifes Journey is full of them. Written and directed by Terrence Malick, the film is a mystic love poem to the unfathomable splendor of the natural world which, if you get close enough to it, is out of this world. The version of Voyage of Time that premiered tonight at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival is 90 minutes of spectacularly beautiful nature-ific eye candy. It was shot, however, as an IMAX film, and when it opens next month on IMAX screens, the version that plays there will be only 40 minutes long. (The feature-length version will be released in select international markets starting next year.) That, make no mistake, is a good thing. Voyage of Time has too many spellbinding images to count, but as a movie its just okay. Its exactly what it sounds like essentially an expanded version of the cosmic prologue from Malicks The Tree of Life. But that sequence seduced you with its trippy splendor, presented the entire formation of the Earth, and turned that into a heavy contemplation of a higher powerall in 20 minutes. In Voyage of Time, more of this becomes less not because the film is boring (it glides by), but because its at once captivating and diffuse, a grab-bag of wonder set against a narration of solemn quasi-banality read by Cate Blanchett, with interwoven shots of people from around the planet, most of them photographed with a cell-phone camera (the new equivalent of grainy shaky 16mm), which doesnt add up to much because these sequences feel arbitrary and vaguely didactic. A montage of American homeless people; an Israeli wedding; a ceremony in a rural Asian town square that involves the ritual slaughter of water buffalo. These sequences tend to sap the films momentum (they make it sag), and thats one reason it loses power as it goes along. Voyage of Time is like a more contemplative, fragmented, throw-everything-at-the-wall version of Koyaanisqatsi with narration by Rod McKuen. These days, when everything is divided into oppositional tribes, two camps that are most definitely not speaking to each other are the Creationists and those who believe in evolutionary science. But Terrence Malick, as a film artist, is like a walking truce between those two points of view. Hes a New Age Christian sentimentalist who makes explicitly religious movies (more and more, theyre about talking to God), and the theme of Voyage of Time is that theres a Creator, and he has created life, and that is a splendid thing, but we cannot know his grand plan. Here, though, as in The Tree of Life, Malick presents a vision of the cosmos thats essentially scientific: the brilliantly multi-colored oozing waves of galactic light matter, the otherworldly species under the sea that suggest rungs on the evolutionary ladder. A vast team of visual-effects artists worked on Voyage of Time (led by Dan Glass, the visual effects supervisor), and part of whats captivating about the movie is that its hard to tell where the effects leave off and the natural photography begins. The celestial visions of outer space were, for the most part, created, and Malick orchestrates them like a painter of light and gravity theyre like something on a Sistine Chapel ceiling that moves. But were all of them created? Much of the staggering nebula look like actual telescopic images, and when the film is under the sea, gazing at some creature that looks for all the world like an octopus with tentacles made of Romaine lettuce, we think, Is that thingreal? The same goes for hellishly billowing volcano smoke and shots of fragmented glacier ice. The confusion is intentional. Malick is telling us that nature will always be the ultimate special effect. You might say that Malicks philosophy in Voyage of Time is a version of intelligent design, yet somehow that phrase sells it short. He sees Gods touch in the glory and strangeness of every natural surface a flower of extraordinary delicacy whose outer petals look like a wedding dress and whose inner petals look like sharks teeth, or jellyfish pulsating with such diaphanous synchronization that we cant help but have the feeling that theres something purposeful about them. The message of the images in Voyage of Time is that if youre searching for God, you need do little more than cast your eye over everything on earth. The films narration, unfortunately, is of a less intelligent design. Its meant to be incantatory, a poem of sacramental inquiry, with Blanchett speaking to the higher power of nature, to the very spirit of life, whom she personifies as Mother (hows that for ancient and post-feminist at the same time?), asking Her questions that have no answer: Who are you, life giver? Light bringer? A little of this goes a long way, especially when, half an hour later, Blanchett is still at it, saying things like All life. Giver of good. Creating yourself. In ever-changing shapes. You give. Without asking. Or the slightly perplexing Who am I to you? You devour yourself, only to give birth to yourself again. I kept waiting for Blanchett to add, Im here till Tuesday. And are you, life giver? If an IMAX nature movie is going to turn into a prayer, it should be one thats a bit more varied. Making a film that has the contemporary aspect of a planetarium show is, in its way, a deeply cool and populist thing to do, and Voyage of Time is likely to connect with audiences in a way that the blurry poetic narratives Malick has been making of late Knight of Cups, To the Wonder have not. The Tree of Life was a masterpiece, because it wedded visual poetry to masterfully staged scenes. It was filmmaking, not dithering, and it proved that Malick could indeed find a form for his metaphysical obsessions. He finds a form in Voyage of Time, but if he continues down this path, it would be nice to see him shake off a little of the excess mysticism and make a nature movie whose final effect is an honest Wow! rather than a semi-enraptured Hmmm. Related stories Venice Film Review: 'One More Time With Feeling' Team Pioneers New Distribution Track for Malick's 'Voyage' (EXCLUSIVE) Toronto Film Festival Adds Movies From James Franco, Terrence Malick, Ken Loach shane smith Ratings on $4-plus billion Vices new cable channel, Viceland US, are bad. In fact, they are 51% worse than the channels previous incarnation, Historys H2, according to the Wall Street Journal. Late last month, the Journal looked at Nielsen data that showed Vice's network was averaging about 45,000 viewers, adults aged 18 to 49, in its primetime broadcast. So the ratings are dismal. But that doesnt matter because Vice, and its CEO Shane Smith, play a different game than other media companies. Vice's plays in the smoke-and-mirrors kingdom of selling "cool" to brands, and it's winning. Several anecdotes from a Wall Street Journal profile of Smith, out Tuesday, make this abundantly clear. Heres how Gawker founder Nick Denton describes Smiths pitch to brands: Hes got a lot of bravado and confidence that he uses with people who really dont understand where things are going with the media. Shane tells them, Yes, youre right, you dont understand this generation, but I do. Its been the most successful salesmanship of advertising since the web arose. I cant think of anyone whos come close. Smith has found a way to sell companies something that is hard to quantify, and therefore hard for others to compete with. Vice's advertisers and partners arent judging success by pageviews, or ratings, but on how much Vice is boosting their brands. Sponsored content For Smith, the eureka moment for Vice's business model came with the Creators Project, in which Intel shelled out millions for Vice to make a barely branded video series about contemporary artists. That program built the company, Smith told the Journal. You learn, holy sh**, we could do a $40 million deal with Intel where we actually create content that we like, and they dont give notes! Why were we doing banner ads? Those $40 million deals have turned into $100 million deals. Vice could make more money, per viewer, on sponsored content than on banner ads, but that wasnt the only benefit. The relationship Vice developed with brands also shifted the conversation away from hard metrics and toward how the association with Vice's cool factor could help companies like Intel. Story continues Vice cofounder Gavin McInnes, who left the company in 2008, told the Journal this about Smith: Shane always used to say, Its all about perception versus reality. Smith is a master salesman, and if Vice is perceived to be helping a brand, that's what matters. Vice HBO HBO Which brings us back to ratings. An average episode Vices highly touted HBO show snags about 2.4 million cross-platform views, according to the Journal. John Olivers Last Week Tonight gets 4 million, while Game of Throne gets 25 million. But to HBO CEO Richard Plepler, those numbers dont matter. Remember, were not in the ratings business; were in the brand business, Plepler told the Journal. We try to make decisions about things that elevate our brand, and Vice is a quintessential example of something that elevates HBOs brand. This quote encapsulates what has made Vice so successful. While other media companies are in the ratings business, Vice, like HBO, is in the brand business. And even if no one tunes into its new cable channel, business is booming. NOW WATCH: Here's how to answer 5 job interview questions that are designed to trick you More From Business Insider Hanoi (AFP) - Vietnam airlines bought 40 airplanes worth $6.5 billion from France's Airbus on Tuesday, as President Francois Hollande visited the communist nation to drum up business ties with one of Southeast Asia's fastest-growing economies. The deal is the latest move by Vietnamese aviation giants to boost fleets and feed demand from a mushrooming middle class with money to burn on air travel both at home and abroad. Hollande, the third French president to visit Vietnam since independence, said the "very important deals" deepened ties with its former colony where France's legacy is ubiquitous, from the country's colonial-era buildings to French-influenced cuisine. "We agreed to encourage both countries to establish economic partnerships on the basis of technology transfer," Hollande said after Airbus signed three separate deals. Low-cost private airline VietJet, known for its bikini-clad hostesses, bought 20 planes while national carrier Vietnam Airlines and budget airline Jetstar Pacific bought 10 each in "deals worth 6.5 billion", Airbus Asia spokesman Sean Lee told AFP. He did not provide a breakdown of each deal's value, but VietJet said later in a statement it was spending $2.39 billion on its new planes. The VietJet purchase comes after it bought 100 passenger jets from US aircraft maker Boeing for $11.3 billion in May, during a visit by President Barack Obama. It called the deal the largest single commercial air plane purchase in Vietnam aviation history. Founded in 2007, VietJet has gained notoriety with bikini-wearing air stewardesses and along with Vietnam Airlines and Jetstar is making a major move into the lucrative Southeast Asian aviation sector. - Maritime disputes - Hollande, who arrived in Vietnam with around 40 French business leaders, will spend much of Tuesday in Hanoi meeting communist top brass. He will then head south to Vietnam's economic hub Ho Chi Minh City to meet French entrepreneurs, including some from Vietnam's burgeoning tech industry. Story continues Vietnam's President Tran Dai Quang said the two leaders also discussed maritime freedom, a key issue for Hanoi which has traded barbs with Beijing over competing claims in the South China Sea. "Me and the president committed to respect the rule of law in the seas and oceans, reaffirming the commitment to maintain freedom of maritime and aviation," he said. "The two sides stressed the importance of solving disputes by peaceful means, not to use or threaten to use violence on the basis of international laws." Tensions between Hanoi and Beijing soared in 2014 when China moved a controversial oil rig into disputed waters, sparking angry riots in Vietnam. Hollande's official agenda does not include any plans to discuss human rights or freedom of expression in the tightly run communist country, where bloggers and dissidents are routinely jailed for criticising the regime. Three human rights groups wrote an open letter to Hollande urging him to press Vietnamese leaders on rights issues during his two-day visit. "Activists and human rights defenders have been regularly subjected to physical assault, surveillance, restrictions on their freedom of movement, and arbitrary arrest and detention," according to the letter by the International Federation for Human Rights, also signed by a Vietnamese and French rights group. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (ticker: WMT) is generally known for its poor customer service, and has even been ranked accordingly among retailers. But one analysis has revealed that race and socioeconomic factors play into customer service. This is all according to an analysis of 35,000 Yelp reviews spanning 2,840 stores, conducted by Adam Reich, an assistant professor of sociology at Columbia University. "The higher the percentage of black or Latino residents in a zip code, the worse Wal-Mart service becomes, regardless of whether this zip code is poor or wealthy," Reich wrote in a blog post. "People used words like 'unorganized', 'nasty' and 'worst' to describe stores in communities of color much more than they used those words to describe Wal-Marts in whiter communities," Reich told 13 News Now via Skype. As Business Insider notes, the study has its limitations -- namely its Yelp review foundation, since it can't account for other factors as well as biases. A spokesman from Wal-Mart told Business Insider the analysis was "flawed and without merit." "Our associates play a critical role in the company's success and that's why we've invested $2.7 billion on associate education, training and wages," Wal-Mart spokesman Lorenzo Lopez told Business Insider in a statement. "We're also proud to provide communities across the country, regardless of social or economic background, access to affordable goods and career opportunities to help them better provide for their families." All this comes as the company has faced scrutiny for understaffing and a Bloomberg article that pinned Wal-Mart's crime uptick on corporate measures. The Tampa Bay Times separately discussed crime at Wal-Mart in an in-depth article. WMT's stock is up 18.9 percent on the year. Its stock price was steady around $72.89 as of Tuesday afternoon. 8 Stocks to Buy For a Starter Portfolio 10 Ways You Can Throw Retail Stocks in Your Cart David Oliver is Associate Editor, Social Media at U.S. News & World Report. Follow him on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn, or send him an email at doliver@usnews.com. Vespiario (Thailand) Co.,Ltd., is the sole authorized Thailand importer and distributor of the iconic Vespa brand of Italian scooters. Stylish andunmistakable, Vespa is the authentic scooter since 1946 and will soon be officially available in Thailand. To support this expansion we havean immediate opening for the following position: Anyone whos stood in a slow-moving checkout line this year knows that while the new chip credit cards may be a lot more secure, theyre also slower to process than the old magnetic strip cards. A new report from payment tech firm Cayan finds that each consumer will spend a whopping five-and-a-half hours per year waiting for EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) transactions to go through. The report estimates that businesses will experience 116 million hours of additional checkout time thanks to slow EMV. While some processors have announced plans that would trim the time it takes for a transaction to go through at the point of sale, consumers and retailers are already frustrated. A recent survey by Square found that consumers are not happy with EMV cards, and the top reason for unhappiness is the slow speed of transactions. Related: Why Your Credit Card Company Will Now Think Twice Before Ripping You Off That could present an opportunity for the mobile payments industry, since payment methods like Apply Pay or Google Wallet offer the security of EMV with faster checkout speeds. Although adoption of mobile wallets has been notoriously slow among American consumers, those who have used such payment methods report much higher satisfaction and cite speed as one of the top reasons for use, according to the Square report. It has gotten easier this year for retailers to start accepting mobile payments, since the terminals required to accept the new credit card chips generally can also accept payment via near-field communication, the technology used by most mobile payment systems. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: The trailer for "Walk With Me," a documentary about spiritual leader Thich Nhat Hanh, has been released by WestEnd Films after the company acquired worldwide rights to the film, reports Variety. Benedict Cumberbatch will narrate the film, directed by Marc J. Francis and Max Pugh. The documentary looks at not only Nhat Hanh but also the world of mindfulness -- the practice of thinking and living in the present moment. Taking more than three years to shoot, the film follows a community of people living at the Plum Village monastery in France and their life devoted to mindfulness practice. WestEnd will show the trailer to buyers at the Toronto Film Festival on Friday at 9am. Watch the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne7-wnnWqFY&feature=youtu.be By Larry Fine NEW YORK (Reuters) - Double grand slam winner Stan Wawrinka set up a marquee quarter-final showdown with 2009 champion Juan Martin del Potro with a 6-4 6-1 6-7(5) 6-3 victory over Illya Marchenko of Ukraine at Flushing Meadows on Monday. Third seed Wawrinka, winner of the 2014 Australian Open and 2015 French Open, overpowered the 63rd-ranked Marchenko, who reached the fourth round when 14th-seeded Nick Kyrgios retired with a hip injury while trailing two sets to one. Marchenko was treated twice during Monday's match for his right knee, which was taped between the second and third sets and massaged during the third-set changeover at 2-1, but he battled on to force a fourth set. The victory by the hard-hitting Swiss set up a clash with big-serving del Potro, who won 6-3 3-2 when eighth seed Dominic Thiem of Austria retired with a knee injury. "It's going to be great to play (del Potro)," Wawrinka said in an on-court interview. "He beat me this year at Wimbledon. He's back after so many injuries, so it's good to see him playing so well again. It will be their first meeting on a hard court, and the Swiss will be looking to avenge his second-round loss at the All England Club to the Argentine, who has regained his form after a long struggle with an injured left wrist. "It's going to be a great challenge for me to play him here on the hard court for the first time," said Warwinka. "Excited to play against him and hopefully I can keep going here." (Editing by Frank Pingue) Animal Medical Center Veterinarian vet veterinary surgery_23 This post includes graphic images of surgery, some of which may be upsetting to readers. Emergency veterinary medicine is rough work. "Some people can't take the screaming," said Sue Maraczi, an emergency and critical care nurse at the Animal Medical Center (AMC) on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Animal Medical Center Veterinarian vet veterinary surgery_27 "But you have to consider that [the animals] are sick, they don't feel well, they're in a weird place, there's unfamiliar faces." She held a Yorkie in her lap. It didn't need any treatment right that second, but cried pitifully whenever it was left alone in its cage. Animal Medical Center Veterinarian vet veterinary surgery_11 Like any big-city hospital, patients show up at AMC's emergency room with problems ranging from sniffles to abuse to horrible injuries. Down the hall in the intensive care unit, a team of veterinarians and technicians care for a small army of critical and terminal creatures. AMC is the most advanced animal hospital in New York City, and among the most advanced treatment centers anywhere in the country. It's a place where cats and dogs routinely get state-of-the-art radiation treatment for brain cancer, total hip replacements, and even alternative treatments like acupuncture. One day this summer, I spent 13 hours in the ER: trailing doctors, talking to vets, and watching how they treated the hundreds of animals in the building. It's an expensive, luxury level of care for people who treat their pets with the same concern that they'd afford a member of their own family, as many AMC veterinarians and staff emphasized. Animal Medical Center Veterinarian vet veterinary surgery_13 "We get dogs helicoptered in all the time," said Lori Asprea, a technician in internal medicine. On the day I visited AMC, a cat was released after receiving more than $50,000 in care. Asprea described one dog that came in with severe leptospirosis, an infection most common in canines but that can jump to humans. When he arrived on a private jet his kidneys had already failed. He seemed to recover with treatment, but when it came time to release him back to his owners, a potentially fatal clot clogged up the blood vessels in his lungs, sending him back to the ICU. Another clot killed off flesh on one of his legs. Story continues Today, she said, he runs marathons with his owner. (Some identifying details, like the names of certain pets, are withheld or altered because of an agreement with AMC intended to protect the identity of the center's patients.) *** Often, pet owners show up at AMC without the cash on hand or insurance to cover emergency treatment. On the day I visited, a small white dog named Daisy showed up both of her front paws hanging limp. Daisy had leapt off a high curb after her owner and, Maraczi determined, broken both her legs on the asphalt. Treating her would likely cost several thousand dollars, which her owners could not afford to pay. Animal Medical Center Veterinarian vet veterinary surgery_31 Animal Medical Center Veterinarian vet veterinary surgery_41 The next step for AMC staff in this situation is to ask if the owners want to open a line of credit for their pets. Many, especially those who bring in young pets like Daisy with major injuries, say yes. Daisy's owners agreed, but said they expected to fail the hospital's credit check. ER vets began to discuss whether it was time to tell the owners about AMC's payment relief plan. AMC, a nonprofit with high operation costs, keeps the lower-cost option as a last resort to avoid sending seriously sick or injured animals away untreated. "I've seen people refinance, sell things, you name it," Maraczi said. It happens even when AMC's staff thinks the animals or their owners would be better off without extreme interventions. "It's easier to give advice than to take it," she added. Before it came time to offer Daisy's owners payment relief, they got approved for $3,000 in hospital credit. *** The standard of care at AMC and the lengths people go to secure it for their pets can be jarring for pet owners who consider spaying, neutering, shots, an annual checkup, and end-of-life euthanasia their cat or dog's due at the local clinic. But to AMC's vets and technicians, it's obvious that people would want for their animals the same treatment they'd expect for their children. cat in a CAT scan veterinarian animal medical center cat in a CAT scan veterinarian animal medical center And it's clear that they love pushing the boundaries of the possible in veterinary medicine. Rachel St. Vincent, AMC's radiation oncologist, uses a linear accelerator purchased from a human hospital to finely target and burn away brain tumors and other cancers that resist surgical intervention. She studied alongside human radiation oncologists, and described her fellow students gathering around, fascinated, to see how she would apply what they learned to the alien anatomies of dogs and cats. Many of her patients are enrolled in clinical trials that will inform how people with cancer are eventually treated. Animal Medical Center Veterinarian vet veterinary surgery_07 Robert Hart, director of orthopedic surgery at AMC, excitedly showed me the glue-free 3D-printed hip replacement he uses in large dogs. The high-tech structure induces the bone itself to grow into its nooks and crannies. It's a treatment not yet available to humans. These advances to appear to emerge from more than just detached scientific interest. Every AMC vet and technician I asked owned multiple pets, often animals adopted after they were abandoned and ended up at AMC. Asprea adopted her dog, Shadow, after he was dumped out of a moving car and ended up in the ER. "Oh he looks like a project that will cost me thousands of dollars," she said, laughing, "where do I sign?" Maraszi said she has something close to a rescue menagerie at home: one Caribbean island dog with just three legs, another with all its original limbs, a poodle mix that had been electrocuted and ended up at AMC, three cats, and a cockatoo found in the trash that now enjoys regular laser skin treatment and acupuncture at AMC. *** The pace of work at AMC's ER resembles that in an emergency system geared toward humans. The hospital is staffed 24 hours a day, as doctors and technicians rotate in and out. The workload is unpredictable. The flow of patients ebbs and flows, seemingly at random, though the pace seems to pick up in the evening. That's when everyone gets done with dinner, Maraczi said. Animal Medical Center Veterinarian vet veterinary surgery_24 One of the most important skills AMC's new technicians learn in the ER and ICU is keeping the animals calm while the vets work. Romper, a large black German Shepherd mix, showed up in the ER after leaping through a closed glass window trying to chase a cat. He was agitated, with slices up and down his legs, and tried to bite the vet who triaged him. With his owner's help, the staff got him in a muzzle. But while he waited in the back room for the vets and his owner to decide on a treatment plan, he grew anxious, breathing heavily, rolling his eyes, and drooling. Every few minutes, he'd pull hard on his leash. Animal Medical Center Veterinarian vet veterinary surgery_36 Omar, a young technician building experience before vet school, held Romper in place. When it was time to stitch him up, Omar wrapped him in a tight bear hug. When Romper calmed a little, Omar helped lay him on the floor so an anesthesiologist could prepare intravenous drugs. Once Romper was asleep, the team made quick work of cleaning and closing his wounds. At that point, it was 10 pm my cue to leave the ER staff in peace. As I walked out the door, a woman passed me pushing a bloody mess of fur and torn skin on an improvised stretcher. "Please somebody help!" She called into the waiting room. "Somebody help me!" An attendant broke from behind the front desk at a run. NOW WATCH: Dramatic video shows the moment a man rescued a woman and her dog from a sinking car More From Business Insider By Steve Holland and Amanda Becker VIRGINIA BEACH, Va./WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine and Donald Trump on Tuesday traded barbs over Russia, with Kaine accusing the Republican nominee of encouraging espionage and Trump saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin laughs at Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee. Kaine lambasted Trump during a national security speech in North Carolina, criticizing his business dealings with Russia, the ties between some of his campaign advisers to the country and Trumps suggestion that he hoped Russian hackers could find missing emails from when Clinton was secretary of state. He has openly encouraged Russia to hack his political opponents and commit espionage against his own country, Kaine said. Kaine, in his first major policy speech since being tapped as Clintons running mate, was drawing a contrast between how Trump would approach U.S. relations with Russia and Clintons track record as head of the U.S. State Department from 2009 to 2013, during Barack Obama's first term as president. As head of the State Department, Clinton oversaw hard-nosed negotiations with Russia to reduce nuclear stockpiles and destroy Syrian chemical weapons, while still going toe-to-toe with Putin to protect America and NATO allies, Kaine said. Trump seems to support Russian interests at the expense of American ones, he added. Kaines speech began less than an hour after Trump concluded a campaign stop in Virginia, where he scoffed at the idea that Clinton would hold any sway over Putins actions. Putin looks at Hillary Clinton and he laughs. Putin looks at Hillary Clinton and he smiles, Trump said. The dueling addresses occurred as the focus of the U.S. battle for the White House shifted to national security virtually two months before the Nov. 8 presidential election, with both Clinton and Trump set to participate in a televised forum on Wednesday hosted by a veterans group. Trump followed up his Virginia event by meeting with the wives of U.S. military personnel stationed at nearby installations. The typically bombastic businessman listened attentively as the women, some of whom held babies on their laps, described their concerns about the quality of schools and finding jobs. So much of this we can take care of, Trump told them. Trump's campaign also on Tuesday released a letter signed by 88 former U.S. military leaders who are supporting the New York businessman's unorthodox candidacy. Clintons campaign early on Tuesday attempted to pre-empt any move by Trump to distance himself from his past statements about veterans and foreign policy by organizing a news conference with military veterans before Trumps event in Virginia and by releasing a new television advertisement featuring veterans and their families. In the ad, reactions of veterans and their families are juxtaposed with footage of Trump saying that he knows more about the Islamic State militant group than U.S. military generals, criticizing U.S. Senator John McCain for being captured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam and comparing what he called his own sacrifices as a businessman to those of parents of slain soldiers. Kaine said in his speech that he did not need to spin Trumps statements to win over U.S. voters because they could stand on their own. (Reporting by Steve Holland in Virginia Beach and Amanda Becker in Washington; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason in Tampa and Alana Wise and Ginger Gibson in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler) iphone 7 cocnept The iPhone 7 is going to be a snooze. That's what everyone is saying about Apple's upcoming iPhone because, apparently, it won't come with a beautiful new design. That's what we'd usually expect this year, considering that the latest iPhone the 6S is the "tock" in Apple's two-year tick-tock cycle. Instead, the iPhone 7 will supposedly look exactly like the iPhone 6 generation, and it doesn't seem like its new features will be all that exciting. At the same time, despite the rumors of a boring upcoming iPhone, Apple's big iPhone event that's taking place tomorrow on September 7 could be very interesting, as we could potentially see a total refresh in what to expect from the company in the future. And since I'm interested in technology, I can't wait to hear how, or if, one of the biggest tech companies in the world is going to change things up about one of the most impactful pieces of technology ever released. tim cook A new way of doing things For one, we'll finally find out if Apple will indeed switch up its usual two-year iPhone release cycle, which it hasn't done since the release of the iPhone 3G in 2008. Supposedly, Apple is planning to release an iPhone with a fresh new design in 2017 to celebrate the iPhone's 10th anniversary. As I mentioned above, we'd normally expect a new iPhone with a new design this year. That's significant because we might be waiting three years between each iPhone generation instead of the usual two from now on. It could change everything about how and when people buy iPhones. Will it change how often you buy one? Will you buy the first, second, or third model? iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 7 The only hint at what the next iPhones will be called came from a sketchy rumor from a German Apple blog called Apfelpage.de, which claimed that it will be called the "iPhone SE." And there's always the chance that the three-year cycle is a one-time thing. Apple could return to the usual two-year cycle after the supposedly special iPhone that Apple has in store for 2017. No one knows, which is why I'll be listening very attentively during Apple's iPhone event. Story continues The headphone jack Pretty much every rumor is claiming that Apple's upcoming iPhone will not have a headphone jack, which sounds completely crazy because almost every device that can play music has a headphone jack. Instead, we'll either be using Bluetooth or the Lightning port to listen to music. There are several rumors and theories as to why Apple would ditch the headphone jack on the next iPhone. Some say that it'll let Apple make thinner iPhones. Others say that the digital signal from the iPhone's Lightning port makes music sound better. iphone 7 vs 6s bottom But the only explanation that matters is the one Apple provides. Hopefully, the company will give some sort of reasoning as to why it's removing the most universal and ubiquitous connection port for listening to music. I am looking forward to understanding why I might not be able to plug in my wired headphones anymore. Apple could also not even give an explanation. Motorola didn't mention the fact that the new Moto Z doesn't have a headphone jack during its event. There was no justification, no explanation, no reasons why it's better this way. Apple's iPhone event is happening on September 7, and it'll be interesting to see how everything about the iPhone will change, even if its design this year remains the same. NOW WATCH: The most annoying thing about the iPhone isn't changing anytime soon More From Business Insider On Tuesday, the Trump campaign announced the endorsement of their candidate by nearly 90 retired senior military officers. And its not the last time were going to see the Pentagon on parade this election. Before Nov. 8 finally rolls around, youll be bombarded with many similar endorsements. Because the military is the most trusted institution in American public life far more so than the Supreme Court, religious institutions, the Boy Scouts, or elementary school teachers they are a coveted prize by politicians. Eighty-eight percent of respondents to the Hoover Institutions polls on public attitudes about the military describe themselves as proud of the men and women who serve in the military; and 83 percent of civilians without military experience believe civilian leaders do not rely sufficiently on military advice. So it is easy to see why politicians want to wrap themselves in the public adulation for our military. Retired military officers have often been involved in partisan politics. Gen. Leonard Wood ran for president in 1920 while still on active duty, campaigning in uniform. Douglas MacArthur gave the keynote address at the 1952 Republican convention (although he was, by that time, widely perceived as a partisan figure settling scores against President Harry S. Truman, who had relieved him of command in Korea). After the United States ended conscription and professionalized its military in 1975, a more stringent set of norms precluding partisan activity was established and pretty quickly eroded. Adm. William Crowe (ret.) endorsed candidate Bill Clinton in the 1992 election, protecting him against charges of draft dodging. Campaigns since have competed to release ever-larger lists of veteran endorsements. At both the Republican and Democratic conventions this year, headline speeches were given by retired generals. Mike Flynn participated in chants of Lock her up! from behind the podium on the Republican National Committee stage. At the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, John Allen marched on stage to martial music with a formation of other veterans behind and encouraged active-duty servicemen and women to vote for his candidate. In subsequent interviews, he said the Republican candidate had no right to criticize his military record, since that candidate had no military service, while intimating that Trumps election could cause a civil-military crisis. As my FP colleague Peter Feaver has argued, these actions are all far past the line of what has been considered appropriate behavior for retired military in American politics. Surveys of public attitudes conducted for the Hoover project on civil-military relations suggest a majority of the U.S. public supports the military expanding its role in these ways. Civilian respondents were much more willing than they have been previously to give the military a broader role than our traditions of civil-military relations permit. More veteran respondents than civilians were concerned about the military becoming too involved in nonmilitary policies, such as social issues affecting the broader public or budgetary matters. It turns out that the U.S. military is a better guardian of the restraints on policy activism by the military than the American public. The troops understand better than most civilians why crossing the line and becoming actively partisan are bad for the military. And heres why: It erodes public trust in the military. As Gen. Martin Dempsey, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCOS), pointed out in expressing his concern about such overt roles in partisan politics, both Flynn and Allen were introduced as generals. They are trading on the institutions credibility to back their judgment, which means that their judgment reflects back on the military. Since, by definition, political endorsements are partisan in nature, associating the military with one party or the other alienates civilians of the other political persuasion. The American military has an institutional interest in retaining the support of all Americans, and political endorsements cut into that support. It encourages the military to see themselves as political actors. Allens defenders point out that Donald Trump poses a unique danger to our national security (a view I agree with), and that therefore Allens unusual breach of norms is justified. But principles are not for times when decisions are easy and stakes are low; its when every inclination pulls us one direction that our principles restrain us. The argument supporting Allens behavior would be a dangerous inducement for the military and retired military to believe their judgment supersedes that of the American voter. And it will make it easier for the military to take political sides in future elections once that norm is breached. Erosion of these norms in the military is evident in veteran responses to the Hoover surveys: On subjects from resigning in protest of civilian leaders policies, not carrying out orders they disagree with, or leaking internal government deliberations to the media all show significant change since the 1998 study by the Triangle Institute for Security Studies. It makes it harder for active-duty military leaders to do their jobs. This level of partisan involvement by retired officers will cause politicians to suspect that all military leaders have lurking political motives. Survey data already suggest public deference to military attitudes may be causing political elites to scorn the advice of military leaders, or decline to select competent military leaders they believe do not share their politics. Both Dempsey and Gen. Joseph Dunford, the current JCOS chairman, have expressed concerns that the advocacy by veterans this election cycle is increasing civil-military friction. Contrast the high degree of support for the military with the result that only 7 percent of the public considers political leaders very knowledgeable about military issues. The combined effect of plummeting support for politicians and high support for the military is worrying, since leaders without military experience (and alienated from the advice offered by the military) are more likely to use military force ineffectively. Part of the reason the U.S. military is venerated by the American public is that they are considered apolitical. The trust on which our system of civil-military relations relies is made much more difficult when veterans engage in blatant partisan politics as they have this election. It doesnt matter who lines up behind which candidate. The near-term gain of public support for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton may result in a long-term erosion of the militarys standing with the American public. And that could be more dangerous than either of them. Photo Credit: CHIPS SOMODEVILLA/Getty Images man drinking coffee National holidays that fall on a Monday like Labor Day next week shouldn't be the only reason Americans get three days off. It should happen every week, simply because it's the right thing to do. Over the last several years, a number of companies around the world have made the switch to a shortened workweek, Amazon being one of the most prominent examples. The world's second-largest retailer announced in August 2016 that a select group of part-time employees would soon only need to work 30 hours per week to earn 75% pay and full benefits. It's too early to know for sure, but there's a good chance those employees will feel more passionate about their jobs and get more done than the people working twice as long. Consider the research of K. Anders Ericsson, one of the top experts on the psychology of work. (His research led author Malcolm Gladwell to devise the 10,000-hour rule, the idea that experts need at least 10,000 hours of practice to master a given craft. However, Anders has since criticized the rule.) Multiple experiments done in Ericsson's lab have shown that people can commit themselves to only four or five hours of concentrated work at a time before they stop getting things done. Past the peak performance level, output tends to flatline, or sometimes even suffer. "If you're pushing people well beyond that time they can really concentrate maximally, you're very likely to get them to acquire some bad habits," Ericsson told Business Insider. What's worse, those bad habits could end up spilling into the time people are normally productive, and suddenly even the shorter weeks are wasteful. zoning out office work desk tired simon law flickr ccbysa2 Put into practice, shortening the work week seems to reap all kinds of rewards. Ryan Carson, CEO of the technology education company Treehouse, has seen his employees become happier and more productive since he implemented the 32-hour work week back in 2006. Core to Carson's leadership philosophy is the belief that forcing people to work 40-hour weeks is nearly inhumane, he told the Atlantic. Story continues "It's not about more family time, or more play time, or less work time it's about living a more balanced total life," he said. "We basically take ridiculously good care of people because we think it's the right thing to do." The company isn't struggling to make ends meet, either. Its yearly revenue is in the millions, and according to Carson, people love to come to work each day. A similar story is playing out at the online marketing company SteelHouse, where CEO Mark Douglas began 2017 by implementing a policy known as "SteelHouse Days." Each month, the company gets one three-day weekend to complement the months that already have such weekends, such as May and September. "It doesn't take a lot of science" to see that an extra day off each month makes people happier when they come in to work, he told Business Insider. "It's just a matter of having the courage to do something different and believing that there will be a net gain from it." teacher storytime classroom Joe Rubin, human resources expert and co-founder of the recruiting site Crowded.com, told Business Insider that Amazon's new policy is also a win because it's bound to attract new talent. With a 30-hour workweek, Rubin said, new mothers and people with other obligations can maintain a stable work schedule without needing to take a long leave of absence or work inconvenient hours. By offering employees more flexibility, Amazon sends the message that life outside of work matters. Some evidence suggests the solution isn't even in working fewer hours, but in how companies allocate people's time. More Question and Answer TIme with Jon Huntsman In 2008, in the middle of America's financial crisis, former Utah governor Jon Huntsman implemented a plan to reorganize the work week. With only a month's heads-up, nearly 75% of state employees changed from working five eight-hour days to working four 10-hour days. On the one hand, the extra day off saved public resources that were normally used to heat, cool, and power the buildings a big win when cash was tight. But the change also produced increased worker morale. People enjoyed the extra day off and the easier commutes, since they were no longer slogging through rush-hour traffic. So while psychologists and work-life consultants might not know where the sweet spot of productivity exists, or if it's the same spot for everyone, the evidence suggests you shouldn't need 40 hours to get there. For maximum productivity, people should stay mindful of when they start to feel burnt out. For everyone's sake, it might be time to cut back on clocking in. NOW WATCH: This ingenious nap bar in Dubai is something that every big city needs More From Business Insider Goldman Sachs highest-paid employees the investment banks partners are not allowed to donate to the Donald Trump/Mike Pence presidential ticket. On Monday, August 29, the bank sent a memo to its partners announcing a new policy change at the firm. As of September 1, partners are now considered restricted persons, meaning they cannot make a donation to candidates running for state and local offices, as well as sitting state and local officials running for federal office. The memo specifically used Indiana Governor Mike Pence running as Trumps vice president as an example of a prohibited contribution. What the bank is doing is removing itself from any potential conflict of violating pay-to-play rules. The policy change is meant to prevent inadvertently violating pay-to-play rules, particularly the look-back provision, when partners transition into roles covered by these rules. The penalties for failing to comply with these rules can be severe and include fines and a ban on the firm from doing business with government clients in a particular jurisdiction for a period of at least two years, the memo states. On August 25, just a few days prior to the Goldman memo, the Securities and Exchange Commission said it plans to approve two FINRA proposed rules rules 2030 and 4580 that would impose pay-to-play restrictions and record keeping requirements on broker-dealers that solicit business with government entities on behalf of investment advisers. Those rules wont take effect until sometime in 2017. The FINRA proposed rules are similar to SEC rule 206(4)-5 that addresses pay-to-play by restricting campaign donations made by hedge funds and private equity firms. That rule, which was approved in 2011, says that fund managers and their employees cant give money in excess of $250 to $350 to a campaign of a sitting state or local official they might do business with. The rule also applies if that sitting official is running for federal office. Pence is the sitting Indiana governor. Story continues Specifically, it comes down to pension plans. Hedge funds and private equity funds manage both state and local governments public pension plans. If fund managers give more than $250 to the state and local officials that administer those plans, theyre banned from doing business with those plans or even getting compensation from them for two years. A political contribution to a government official that would, under the rule, trigger the two-year time out from providing advice for compensation to the government entity would also trigger a two-year time out from the receipt of compensation for the management of those assets though a covered investment pool. This provision extends the protection of the rule to public pension plans that increasingly access the services of investment advisors, the rule states. Theres also a look-back provision that can be dangerous. An individual whos donated above the de minimis amount may find it challenging to get a promotion or make a job transfer while that two-year ban is still in effect. Rule 206(4)-5 is an extension of another rule thats been around since 1994 MSRB rule G-37, which bars broker-dealers who give more than $250 to state or local officials from doing business with them for two years. This rule came about because some bankers were making political contributions and then getting business underwriting municipal bonds. What was happening was if a state wanted to build a road, a prison, or a state university, they would finance it with debt. They would need a Wall Street firm to underwrite that business. A lot of the time political contributions granted municipal-bond firms access to that business, so the SEC approved the rule to curb these abuses. The contents of the Goldman memo were first reported by Politicos Morning Money. Heres the Goldman Sachs full memo: August 29, 2016 New Policy on US Political Activities by Restricted Persons You are receiving this e-mail because effective Thursday, September 1, all partners across the firm are considered Restricted Persons as defined by the firms Policy on Personal Political Activities in the US. As outlined below, Restricted Persons are prohibited from engaging in political activities and/or making campaign contributions to candidates running for state and local offices, as well as sitting state and local officials running for federal office. The policy change is meant to prevent inadvertently violating pay-to-play rules, particularly the look-back provision, when partners transition into roles covered by these rules. The penalties for failing to comply with these rules can be severe and include fines and a ban on the firm from doing business with government clients in a particular jurisdiction for a period of at least two years. The policy change is also meant to minimize potential reputational damage caused by any false perception that the firm is attempting to circumvent pay-to-play rules, particularly given partners seniority and visibility. All failures to pre-clear political activities as outlined below are taken seriously and violations may result in disciplinary action. Highlights of the policy as it applies to you as a Restricted Person are as follows: All Political Activities Require Pre-Clearance Like all firm personnel, you must pre-clear all political activities through the US Political Contributions Pre-Clearance System. A pre-clearance requirement applies to all contributions and solicitations, as well as to attending or hosting events; lending your name to lists, letters or invitations; serving on committees; and volunteering with campaigns and elections. Each contribution or political activity must be separately approved, even if you have received prior approvals for the same political campaign. Prohibition on State, Local and Certain Federal Political Activities As a Restricted Person, you may not make any contributions or solicit in connection with: Any federal candidate who is a sitting state or local official (e.g., governor running for president or vice president, such as the Trump/Pence ticket, or mayor running for Congress), including their Political Action Committees (PACs). Any state or local candidate or official in any state or locality (e.g., candidate for governor, mayor, state treasurer, state comptroller, state legislator, local city council). State and local party committees (e.g., the Democratic Party of Virginia, the Suffolk County Republican Party). PACs and Super PACs supporting or opposing one or more state or local candidates. Inaugural/Transition Committees or expenses for newly elected state and local officials. Bond ballot initiative committees (e.g., a committee seeking authorization to issue municipal securities to fund a public infrastructure project). Julia La Roche is a finance reporter at Yahoo Finance. Read more: Jeffrey Gundlach: Prepare for a Trump presidency Warren Buffett nailed why Trumps businesses failed in a lecture 25 years ago Wall Street is preparing clients for a Trump presidency Boone Pickens: I support Trump and his plan to ban unvetted Muslim immigrants Iranian ship For the fifth time in about a month, Iranian fast-attack craft have harassed US Navy ships with "unsafe and unprofessional" maneuvers at sea in the gulf between Saudi Arabia and Iran. While experts acknowledge that Iran is "playing with fire" against the best navy in the world, don't expect these incidents to stop anytime soon. "The number of unsafe, unprofessional interactions for first half of the year is nearly twice as much as same period in 2015, trend has continued. There's already more in 2016 than all of 2015," Commander Bill Urban of the Navy's 5th Fleet told Business Insider in a phone interview. Urban stressed that despite the Iranian navy fast-attack craft being several orders of magnitude less potent than US Navy ships, the threat they pose in the gulf is very real. "Any time another vessel is charging in on one of your ships and theyre not talking on the radio ... you dont know what their intentions are," said Urban. Urban confirmed that Iran sends small, fast attack ships to "swarm" and "harass" larger US Naval vessels that could quite easily put them at the bottom of the ocean, but the ships pose a threat beyond firepower. According to Urban, these ships are "certainly armed vessels with crew-manned weapons, not unarmed ships. I wouldn't discount the ability to be a danger. A collision at sea even with a much larger ship is always something that could cause damage to a ship or injure personnel." In the most recent episode at sea, Urban said that an Iranian craft swerved in front of the USS Firebolt, a US Coastal Patrol craft, and stopped dead in its path, causing the Firebolt to have to adjust course or risk collision. "This kind of provocative, harassing technique risks escalation and miscalculation," Urban added. The messages Iran wants to send sailors iran Story continues "In my view, [Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic] Khamenei decided it's time to send a message: Im here and Im unhappy," Cliff Kupchan, chairman of Eurasia Group and an expert on Iran, told Business Insider in a phone interview. According to Kupchan, the Iranian navy carries out these stunts under directions straight from the top because of frustrations with the Iran nuclear deal. Despite billions of dollars in sanction relief flowing into Iran following the deal, Kupchan says Iran sees the US as "preventing European and Asian banks from moving into Iran and financing Iranian businesses," and therefore not holding up their end of the Iran nuclear deal. But despite their perception that the US has under delivered on the promises of the Iran nuclear deal, Kupchan says Iran will absolutely not walk away from the deal, which has greatly improved their international standing and financial prospects. The lifting of sanctions on Iran's oil has resulted in "billions in additional revenue ... they're not gonna walk away from that." So Iran seems to be simply spinning its wheels to score political points with hardliners, but what if the worst happens and there's a miscalculation in a conflict between Iranian and US naval vessels resulting in the loss of life? USS Squall "The concern is miscalculation," Kupchan said. "Some guy misjudges the speed of his boat, people could die. There is a lot on the line." According to Kupchan and other experts, Iran's navy doesn't stand a serious chance against modern US Navy ships. "Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian Navy are not very capable or modern," Kupchan said. The fast-attack craft we've seen challenge US Navy boats have simply been older speedboats, some Russian-made, outfitted with guns. The Iranian craft can certainly bother US Navy ships by risking collisions and functioning as "heavily armed gnats, or mosquitoes" that swarm US ships, but a recent test carried out by the Navy confirms that the gunships wouldn't have much trouble knocking them out of the water. The ensuing international incident, however, would dominate headlines for weeks. A military truck carrying a missile and a picture of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is seen during a parade marking the anniversary of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88), in Tehran September 22, 2015. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi/TIMA "The wood is dry in US and Iranian relations," said Kupchan, suggesting that a small miscalculation could spark a major fire, and that harassing these ships is "one of the ways the Iranian political system lets off steam." "Hardliners on both sides would go nuts," said Kupchan, referencing both the conservative Islamist Iranians and the conservative US hawks who would not pass up any opportunity to impinge Obama over his perceived weakness against the Iranians. Yet Kupchan contends that even a lethal incident would not end the deal. Both sides simply have too much riding on the deal's success: Obama with his foreign-policy legacy and Iran with its financial redemption and status in the region as the main adversary to Western powers. RTR2VQX9 But Iran's Khamenei may be sending a second message to incoming US leadership, specifically Hillary Clinton, who seems likely to be the next commander-in-chief. "They know Clinton is tough," said Kupchan, and Khamenei may be addressing Clinton with a second message, saying, "Madame Secretary, Im still here. I know youre tough, but I'm ready." For now, Kupchan expects these incidents at sea to carry on as Iran vents about its larger frustrations and that a violent exchange would "not be the end of the deal" or the start of a larger war "but a serious international incident." NOW WATCH: Obama said the White House previously announced the $400 million payment to Iran here's the footage More From Business Insider Javea (Spain) (AFP) - Spanish authorities on Tuesday blamed arsonists and record temperatures for wildfires ravaging the eastern coast near the popular resort of Benidorm that have forced 1,400 people to flee. Hundreds of firefighters backed by water-dropping aircraft were battling the largest of several fires which began Sunday near the resort of Javea, up the coast from Benidorm on Spain's Costa Blanca. Another blaze was raging near the mountain town of Bolulla, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of Javea, while emergency services faced a third one on the Mediterranean island of Menorca, also popular with holidaymakers. More than two dozen stations registered record high temperatures across the country on Monday in what Spain's weather agency said was a "historic day for heat". Most of Spain has faced an "extreme risk" of wildfires since Sunday due to the heatwave, with temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in some parts. However, authorities also said that gasoline cans had been found and that there were "three or four" separate outbreaks of fire. "There is one or several arsonists," Jose Maria Angel Batalla, an emergency services chief in the Costa Blanca area, told the Cope radio station, referring to the fire near Javea. - Difficult to control - The main blaze roared through scrubland near residential areas around Javea, sending thick plumes of grey smoke into the air. It has razed more than 800 hectares (1,900 acres) of land, according to the regional government, and charred several buildings in an area popular with British and German holidaymakers. Spanish television showed a wall of flames moving towards a row of white-washed villas. "It's an area with a lot of villas and country homes with old pines. It is a very difficult area to control a fire," Juan Carlos Moragues, who represents the Spanish government in the eastern region of Valencia, told Onda Cero radio. Story continues Officials have evacuated around 1,400 people, including tourists, with many spending the night in schools or at local residents' homes. - 'They gave us their bed' - Many said they fled with just the clothes they were wearing. Tessa Wells, a 99-year-old British retiree who is confined to a wheelchair, had to be helped by two neighbours down the stairs of her home, according to her caregiver, Rosa Serra. She was then taken by ambulance to a shelter set up at a high school where a couple who live nearby offered to put her up in their home, Serra told local newspaper Las Provincias. "They not only took us to their home, they gave us their bed and Tessa was able to sleep. That is solidarity," Serra said. Firefighters said the intense heat, combined with low humidity levels and strong winds which changed direction, had fuelled the fire on the Costa Blanca but that they were starting to gain the upper hand. The wildfire on the island of Menorca broke out on Monday, and so far has destroyed around 50 hectares of land, a local emergency services official said. Around 600 people were either evacuated, or ordered to stay in their home or hotels because of the blaze, which firefighters said was now "stable". - Portugal blazes - Intense heat was also fuelling wildfires in neighbouring Portugal, forcing authorities to evacuate several villages as well as a luxury hotel in Setubal, near Lisbon, which about 60 tourists had to flee. Nearly 3,800 firefighters battled about 100 blazes raging across Portugal on Tuesday, including one particularly devastating blaze in the Peneda Geres national park. "Several residents had to be helped by doctors for breathing problems. The fire was approaching the houses," a fire service spokesman said. "We lack the means to fight the fire." The nearby town of Arcos de Valdevez activated its emergency plan on Tuesday night, shortly after a couple were hospitalised with burns. From Cosmopolitan Everyone wants to be Angela Bassett in Waiting to Exhale, but let this story be a reminder that not everyone can actually pull it off in real life. Photo credit: Giphy A woman in Clearwater, Florida, was arrested and charged with second-degree arson Saturday after surveillance video footage revealed she'd set a car on fire last month. According to the Tampa Bay Times, Carmen Chamblee, 19, allegedly told police she believed the vehicle belonged to her ex-boyfriend. Unfortunately for the actual owner of the car, however, it did not. According to the Clearwater Police Department, Chamblee was recognized by a deputy from the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office last weekend and taken into custody for booking. She is currently being held at Pinellas County Jail and had her first court appearance Sunday. Follow Gina on Twitter. You Might Also Like By Emma Batha LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The world is set to miss by more than half a century a deadline for ensuring all children receive secondary education, the United Nations said on Tuesday, adding that 40 percent of pupils are being taught in a language that is not their mother tongue. World leaders agreed last year that by 2030 all girls and boys should be able to complete free quality primary and secondary education, but chronic under-funding is holding back progress, a U.N. report said. "This report should set off alarm bells around the world and lead to a historic scale-up of actions to achieve (this goal)," economist Jeffrey Sachs said in a foreword. The deadline on universal education was agreed as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - an ambitious plan to end poverty, hunger, advance equality and protect the environment. "The gaps in educational attainment between rich and poor, within and between countries, are simply appalling," said Sachs, a special U.N. adviser on the SDGs. On current trends, universal primary education will be achieved in 2042, universal lower secondary education in 2059 and upper secondary in 2084, according to U.N. educational body UNESCO. It said aid to education needs to increase six-fold to achieve the goal of quality universal education by 2030. UNESCO said education was key to every aspect of sustainable development including increased prosperity, better agriculture and health, less violence and greater gender equality. Achieving universal upper secondary education by 2030 in low income countries could lift 60 million people out of poverty by 2050, the report said. Educating mothers to lower secondary education in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030 could also prevent 3.5 million child deaths between 2050-60. CONFLICT The report said conflict was one of the greatest obstacles to progress in education, keeping over 36 million children out of school. It also pointed out that poverty and unemployment resulting from a lack of education could fuel conflict. The UNESCO report warned that the type of education children are receiving is not equipping them for the challenges ahead. It called for more emphasis on teaching children about environmental concerns, climate change and how to think collectively so that they can become global citizens. "A fundamental change is needed in the way we think about education's role in global development, because it has a catalytic impact on the well-being of individuals and the future of our planet," said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova. "Now, more than ever, education has a responsibility to be in gear with 21st century challenges and aspirations ..." Sachs called for a Global Fund for Education modeled on the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria which he said had helped drive dramatic improvements in health interventions and funding. Around 263 million children are currently out of school globally, according to the report, and almost 30 percent of children from the poorest households in low income countries have never been to school. Critics of the educational goal believe that pushing for universal upper secondary completion distracts from ensuring at least nine years of basic education for all. (Editing by Ros Russell; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, which covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories.) JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Receding waters in the drought-hit Sea of Galilee have uncovered five World War One artillery shells likely dumped by retreating Turkish troops a century ago, Israeli police said on Tuesday. A swimmer at a resort on the southern edge of the biblical freshwater lake discovered the ordnance, and police demolition experts safely detonated the shells on Monday. "It emerged that these were artillery shells from the World War One period which were apparently abandoned by the Turks when they lightened their load as they fled from the British army," police spokesman Luba Samri said. Turkish forces, which controlled Palestine as part of the Ottoman Empire, were defeated in battles in the Galilee in 1918. After World War One, Britain ruled Palestine under a mandate that expired in 1948, the year Israel declared independence. Israel's Water Authority says there has been a sharp reduction in annual rainfall in the Galilee region over the past two years. (Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Raissa Kasolowsky) Smartphone Forecast This story was delivered to BI Intelligence Apps and Platforms Briefing subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here. Total smartphone shipment projections for 2016 have been lowered to 1.6% year-over-year (YoY) growth, as the market becomes increasingly reliant on upgrade cycles to drive unit sales, according to the IDC. Thats down significantly from the almost 11% YoY growth recorded in 2015. The new forecast projects smartphone shipment volumes will reach 1.5 billion units by the end of 2016, up from 1.4 billion devices in 2015. A doubled-faceted maturation developing in the smartphone market is leading to greater sales decreases than previously expected, notes Jackdaw Research. Developed markets are reaching saturation, meaning that the pool of first-time buyers is shrinking. If the trend continues, its likely that growth in these markets, including in the US and Western Europe, will begin to decline. Smartphones are becoming more polished and reliable, and they continue to function to a sufficient degree several years after purchase. The lack of cutting-edge features being introduced to new devices is ushering in a trend of consumers being comfortable with good enough. Nevertheless, the rise in larger-screen devices (phablets), as well the addition of VR and AR tech to smartphones, will help re-invigorate upgrade growth. These features, such as Google's Daydream VR platform, will require the latest technology and processor chips to run at the optimal level. As a result, users will be required to upgrade their devices. This will also open up new avenues of operation for app developers and advertisers, including richer video-based advertisements and immersive app experiences. The global smartphone market is expected to slow considerably over the next few years. Despite a record-setting holiday quarter, 2015 was likely the last year of double-digit growth for smartphone shipments. Mature markets were at the heart of this years deceleration. Adoption has reached new highs in key markets in the United States, Europe, and China. The pool of first-time buyers in these countries is shrinking rapidly, and sales are now primarily coming from phone upgrades. Story continues Meanwhile, emerging markets will continue to see robust shipment growth. India and Indonesia, in particular, will help fuel a large share of the shipments growth within the global smartphone market over the next few years. BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on smartphones by country that forecasts the market through 2021 to reflect slower, stabilizing growth in the long term. Here are some key points from the report: The global smartphone market is still growing at a steady pace due to more widespread adoption in emerging markets. We estimate the global market will hit about 2.1 billion units shipped in 2021. Shipments growth over the past few years has been driven by the falling price of smartphones, which has made handsets more accessible in emerging markets. The average selling price of a smartphone in India nearly halved between 2010 and 2015. With relatively low smartphone penetration, we forecast Indian smartphone shipments to grow rapidly over the next five years. Nevertheless, India has a long way to go before it surpasses China as the worlds leading market for smart handsets. India is estimated to account for roughly 10% of the global smartphone market in 2016, considerably less than Chinas 30% share. The global platform wars are over, even as smartphone adoption continues to rise across various markets worldwide. Android and iOS are estimated to account for 97.3% of global platform market share in 2015, compared to 96.3% last year. Apple closed the year with another strong quarter on the back of its iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus launches. Still, the vendor saw a slight decline in YoY growth of its share of the market in the face of stiff competition from Samsung and Chinese vendors such as Huawei. In full, the report: Forecasts global smartphone shipments through 2021. Explores why India is the next high-growth smartphone market. Breaks down the global smartphone platform wars. Discusses smartphone vendor performance market share. To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options: Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, youve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the smartphone market. More From Business Insider (Adds comment from Mylan, quotes) WASHINGTON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - New York is investigating whether Mylan Pharmaceuticals violated antitrust laws in its contracts to provide EpiPens to some school systems, state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement on Tuesday. A person briefed on the matter said Schneiderman's office has subpoenaed documents from Mylan over the EpiPen program. "If Mylan engaged in anti-competitive business practices, or violated antitrust laws with the intent and effect of limiting lower cost competition, we will hold them accountable," Schneiderman said in a statement. "Allergy sufferers have enough concerns to worry about -- the availability of life-saving medical treatment should not be one of them," he said. There have been allegations that schools which used Mylan's EpiPen4Schools program, which gives many schools the devices for free, were contractually barred from buying products from Mylan competitors for a year. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Amy Klobuchar asked the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday to investigate the claims. Mylan did not address possible antitrust implications in a statement issued on Tuesday, but said it had already scrapped some contractual restrictions. It also said it had provided 700,000 of the devices free of charge to some 65,000 schools. "Previously, schools who wished to purchase EpiPen Auto-Injectors beyond those they were eligible to receive free under the program could elect to do so at a certain discount level with a limited purchase restriction, but such restriction no longer remains," spokeswoman Lauren Kashtan said in an emailed statement. Mylan has been criticized - including by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton - for sharp price increases for EpiPens, often carried by people with life-threatening allergies. Mylan raised the price from about $100 in 2008 to about $600 currently. The company has offered some discounts but this has done little to allay concerns. (Reporting by Diane Bartz and David Shepardson; editing by David Gregorio and Tom Brown) For Immediate Release Chicago, IL September 06, 2016 - Stocks in this weeks article include: Teleflex Incorporated (TFX), DST Systems Inc. (DST), DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc. (DFT), j2 Global, Inc. (JCOM), Heartland Financial USA, Inc. ( HTLF) and Acme United Corp. (ACU). Screen of the Week of Zacks Investment Research: 6 GARP Stocks Poised to Yield Robust Returns Growth at a reasonable price or GARP investing is one of the popular strategies offering a blend of both growth as well as value investing. It helps an investor to get exposure to stocks that are undervalued and have impressive growth prospects. This strategy works best in a scenario when markets are rebounding from a slump. Though it is a blend of growth and value investing, it is quite different from the blend strategy, which seeks to build up a portfolio of both value and growth stocks. Key Features of GARP The GARP strategy seeks to offer an ideal investment by borrowing the best features of both value and growth investing. While investors following the GARP strategy give precedence to value ratios such as price-to-earnings (P/E) and price-to-book value (P/B) ratio, they also use earnings per share (EPS) growth rates and return on equity (ROE) like growth investors to identify potential stocks. However, the range of the values of metrics that are considered by GARP investing may differ from those that are considered by value or growth investors. While value investors look for an extremely low P/E ratio to choose a company, investors following the GARP strategy focus on stocks that have relatively higher ratios but less than their respective industry average. Meanwhile, GARP investing chooses stocks with P/B ratios lower than their industries similar to value investors. Separately, investors following the GARP strategy give priority to stocks with a track record of impressive EPS growth over those with extremely high growth rates. Companies that meet GARP investing criteria are believed to have past as well as expected growth rates between 10% and 20% over the next few years. Story continues Another metric, which is borrowed by GARP investors from growth investing, is ROE. Like growth investors, the GARP strategy looks for stocks with higher ROE than their industry average. Screening Parameters Along with the criteria we discussed in the above section, we have also considered favorable Zacks Rank Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or #2 (Buy) to make the strategy more profitable. Zacks Rank less than or equal to #2 (Only Strong Buy and Buy rated stocks can get through.) Last 5-year EPS & projected 35 year EPS growth rates between 10% and 20% (Strong EPS growth history and prospects ensure improving business.) ROE (over the past 12 months) greater than the industry average (Higher ROE compared to the industry average indicates superior stocks.) P/E and P/B ratios less than X-industry average (P/E and P/B ratios less than that of the industry indicate that the stocks are undervalued.) Just these few criteria have narrowed down the universe of over 7,700 stocks to only six. Here are the six stocks that made it through the screen: Teleflex Incorporated (TFX) is primarily engaged in manufacturing, developing and supplying medical devices for different procedures in the medical industry throughout the globe. This Zacks Rank #2 stock has an average four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 7.1%. DST Systems Inc. (DST) provides sophisticated information processing and computer software services and products. This Zacks Rank #2 stock has an average four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 7.8%. DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc. (DFT) is a leading owner, developer, operator and manager of wholesale data centers and a real estate investment trust. In addition to a Zacks Rank #2, DuPont Fabros Technology also has an average four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 0.4%. j2 Global, Inc. (JCOM) provides cloud-based communications and storage messaging services. This Zacks Rank #2 stock has an average four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 5.9%. Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (HTLF) is a multi-bank holding company that provides full-service retail banking through bank subsidiaries. In addition to a Zacks Rank #2, Heartland Financial also has an average four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 11%. Acme United Corp. (ACU) is involved in production and sale of medical products, and different items for school, office and home use. This Zacks Rank #2 stock has a last-quarter positive earnings surprise of 12.4%. The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your Research Wizard trial today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out. Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today . Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks portfolios and strategies are available at: https://www.zacks.com/performance . Zacks Restaurant Recommendations: In addition to dining at these special places, you can feast on their stock shares. A Zacks Special Report spotlights 5 recent IPOs to watch plus 2 stocks that offer immediate promise in a booming sector. Download it free Sign up now for your free trial today and start picking better stocks immediately. And with the backtesting feature, you can test your ideas to see how you can improve your trading in both up markets and down markets. Dont wait for the market to get better before you decide to do better. Start learning how to be a better trader today: https://at.zacks.com/?id=111 Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. About Screen of the Week Zacks.com created the first and best screening system on the web earning the distinction as the "#1 site for screening stocks" by Money Magazine. But powerful screening tools is just the start. That is why Zacks created the Screen of the Week to highlight profitable stock picking strategies that investors can actively use. Each week, Zacks Profit from the Pros free email newsletter shares a new screening strategy. Learn more about it here https://at.zacks.com/?id=112 About Zacks Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978. The later formation of the Zacks Rank, a proprietary stock picking system; continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Click here for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros. Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zacksresearch Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZacksInvestmentResearch Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates. Contact: Jim Giaquinto Company: Zacks.com Phone: 312-265-9268 Email: pr@zacks.com Visit: https://www.zacks.com/performance Zacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer . Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report TELEFLEX INC (TFX): Free Stock Analysis Report DUPONT FABROS (DFT): Free Stock Analysis Report DST SYSTEMS (DST): Free Stock Analysis Report J2 GLOBAL INC (JCOM): Free Stock Analysis Report HEARTLAND FINCL (HTLF): Free Stock Analysis Report ACME UTD (ACU): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. By Chris Mfula LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambia will press on with swearing in its president, Edgar Lungu, for another five-year-term next week, after the opposition missed a deadline to challenge his re-election, a senior official said on Monday. Opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema had filed a petition in constitutional court last month, saying the Aug. 11 vote was rigged and Lungu's victory should be annulled. But he missed a Friday deadline to present evidence to back up his charge, and the top court ruled on Monday not to extend the time limit. Hichilema's UPND party said it rejected the ruling. "We wish to put it on record that we have not lost an election, neither have we lost the petition which was before the Constitutional Court," the party said in a statement. "We have rejected the court ruling in that the judgment was passed on an application from the respondents without allowing us to respond," it said, without outlining its next move. Lungu, who won 50.35 percent of the vote according to the official results, will take the oath of office on Tuesday next week, later than the original Aug. 23 date, cabinet secretary Roland Msiska said. Lungu has been the head of the ruling Patriotic Front since its leader, Michael Sata, died in 2014. He won the presidency the following year, defeating Hichilema in their first electoral confrontation. Zambia is Africa's second-largest copper producer, and slumping commodity prices have afflicted it with mine closures, rising unemployment, power shortages and soaring food prices. (Writing by James Macharia, editing by Larry King) The U.S. News Best Places Data Drill Down, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that sheds light on multiple data points in order to help readers make the most informed decision when choosing where to live in the United States. Visit our 2016 Best Places to Live ranking to see which of the 100 most populous metro areas made it to the top of the list based on good value, desirability, a strong job market and a high quality of life. If you're considering a career change, you might want to think about a job as a software developer. Or an engineer. Or an electronics technician. Technology is one of the most rapidly growing job industries in the United States. According to the Cyberstates 2016 report, published by the Computing Technology Industry Association, the technology industry has created nearly 200,000 jobs in 2015, which translates to an above-average 3-percent year-over-year growth in new jobs. This has led to more professionals working in technology-based positions, such as computer systems analyst, web developer, information security analyst and database administrator. [See: The 20 Best Places to Find a Job in the U.S.] The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 12-percent growth in the technology industry by 2024, which equals about 500,000 new jobs. The BLS attributes this surge to a continued increase in cloud and mobile computing, as well as more ordinary items being connected to the internet. Although the demand for technology specialists is growing across the country, it's stronger in some metro areas than others. We evaluated the strength of the overall job market in each of the 100 most populous metro areas (an important factor in the 2016 U.S. News Best Places to Live ranking), and the year-over-year growth of opportunities in the technology sector in those areas. Based on that analysis, these are the top 10 places to live if you work, or want to work, in the tech industry. 10. Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs' technology opportunities are primarily available within the area's large military and defense community. Many defense contractors have set up posts in Colorado Springs, including BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and Boeing Co. Technology workers have a variety of disciplines to pursue, ranging from aerospace and defense to information technology, data storage, and medical innovation and technology. Other technology companies located in Colorado Springs include Oracle America Inc., Hewlett Packard and Jabil Circuit Inc. Story continues 9. Dallas, Texas The Dallas area is another hub for technology, and is home to the headquarters of more than 20 Fortune 500 companies, including AT&T, Texas Instruments and Alliance Data Systems. The metro area is also a hotbed for startups. Fledgling companies in the area include SurgeryLink, which is developing technologies to reduce the risk of surgery, and Dialexa, which designs and engineers technology products for other companies. Startup creators also benefit from Dallas Startup Week, an annual celebration of the local startup community. 8. Boston, Massachusetts In Boston, the large number of medical centers, research institutions and technology startups provide ample career opportunities, especially for software developers and computer support specialists -- even with competition from graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Many startup companies in Boston focus on intelligent systems. For example, Neurala creates the artificial intelligence software that acts as the "brains" for robots. [Read: 10 Places With the Highest Rates of Telecommuting.] 7. Austin, Texas Central Texas is considered by many the next Silicon Valley thanks to the large number of startups found in the region's major metro areas, including Austin. Every year, Austin hosts South by Southwest, a festival that focuses on new technology and innovative startups. This metro area is also home to established companies like Dell , as well as online vacation rental company HomeAway and online marketing company Yodle. 6. Seattle, Washington Seattle's appearance on this list is a no-brainer. The headquarters for major corporations like Microsoft and Amazon are located in this metropolitan area in the Pacific Northwest. Seattle residents can also find job opportunities in biotechnology and manufacturing. Those with a passion for video games can find their dream job at one of the many video game companies located in the greater Seattle area, including Bungie, Sucker Punch Productions, Valve and Nintendo. 5. Washington, D.C. The District of Columbia is another ideal place for jobs in technology, thanks in large part to the presence of major government and military contractors such as Booz Allen Hamilton, Boeing Co. and BAE Systems. Additionally, a significant number of startup companies, such as SocialRadar, a company that develops location and mapping software, and DroneSheild, a drone detection software company, have also planted their roots in the area. 4. Detroit, Michigan As the hub of the nation's automotive industry, Detroit has been a prominent technology center for years. The Detroit Three automobile manufacturers (General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) are based in or near Detroit. And as the demand for new features like in-vehicle internet connectivity and autonomous driving increases, these companies are looking to software developers in addition to mechanical engineers. General Motors is expecting to have 12,000 information technology workers on its payroll by the end of 2017, according to The Detroit News. [See: The 100 Best Places to Live in the U.S.] 3. Albany, New York Albany isn't likely to come to mind as a leading technology center, but the New York state capital region contains a number of educational and research facilities that focus on biotechnology, nanotechnology and life sciences, such as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute. 2. San Francisco, California Less than 60 miles from Silicon Valley, San Francisco is home to the headquarters of a growing number of major tech companies, such as Twitter, Lucasfilm, Airbnb and Uber. Alan Collenette, the regional executive managing director of real estate firm Colliers International, told CNN that 60 percent of the commercial leases signed in 2015 belonged to tech firms. 1. San Jose, California It shouldn't come as a surprise that the best place to live for tech workers is located in the Silicon Valley. San Jose is home to such companies as Facebook, Google, Cisco Systems and Adobe Systems. But the market is extremely competitive, thanks in part to the thousands of engineering and computer science students who graduate from local universities like Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley each year. Shelbi Austin is a Real Estate Editorial Intern at U.S. News. You can follow her on Twitter (@shelbia_), connect with her on Linkedin or email her at saustin@usnews.com. Telefonica, one of the world's biggest telecoms groups, had a debt pile of 52.57 billion euros at the end of June (AFP Photo/Dominique Faget) (AFP/File) Madrid (AFP) - Spain's Telefonica plans to create a platform for its clients to manage access to their personal data and possibly even block online giants like Google from using the information or make them pay, a spokesman said Tuesday. The platform, which the telecoms giant plans to roll out next year, would lay out all the data that it has in its possession through its clients' phone usage and which Internet groups currently have access to. The goal is to "let clients know what data internet firms have, so the client can decide what to do with them" -- which information he or she wants to share, and which they do not -- the spokesman, who refused to be named, told AFP. If the client does not want to share the data, Telefonica, which is amongst the five biggest telecoms firms in the world, could block the information. The spokesman said this could pave the way for big Internet firms to offer to pay for the data if the customer is willing to share it. The plan, presented by Telefonica chairman Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete on Monday in the northern city of Santander, targets firms like Facebook and Google which profit by selling personal data to marketers. The market for such personal consumer data is worth billions of dollars and its use by internet firms has come under fire from privacy watchdogs and consumers. Such is the use of personal data that Facebook, for instance, can work out roughly how much a user earns from which telephone operator and operating system he or she has, and the resolution of the mobile phone's screen. - Fight for data control - Last month popular messaging service WhatsApp said it would start sharing users' data with parent Facebook, a move which will allow for more relevant advertisements on the social networking site. The announcement sparked a flurry of articles in the press and online explaining how WhatsApp users could opt out of sharing account information with Facebook, underscoring concerns over privacy. Story continues Phone operators have long complained that these big US companies use the infrastructure belonging to Orange, Vodafone, Telefonica or others to transfer an increasing flow of data without having to pay to broaden or update the system. Ivan San Felix, an analyst at brokers Renta 4, said that these operators "know that it hurts these companies to limit or reduce their capacity to obtain user data, and it looks like they are focusing on this issue." Telefonica, which provides mobile and fixed communication services primarily in the European Union and Latin America, said it did not want to charge Google, Facebook and others for the data. But "if Telefonica and other operators can control data more than before, this gives them more power to negotiate with these companies," San Felix said. Anais Perez, head of communications for Google Spain, countered that the US company has for two years offered its users such a platform. Called My Account, users can look up their data and manage it, as well as see what is being done with the information, erase searches, block ads and even erase their account. "Google users already know about their data," she said. Chinese tech conglomerate Tencent Holdings has surpassed state-owned telecom giant China Mobile to become the continent's most valuable publicly-traded company. According to Barron's Asia, Tencent stock surged 3.8 percent in Hong Kong on Monday, bringing its market cap to $255.8 billion, just ahead of China Mobile's $254 billion and Alibaba Group's $250 billion. Not long ago, Tencent and South Korea's Samsung Group were competing to be the ones to take the crown away from China Mobile, but a recall of Samsung's brand-new Galaxy Note 7 phones has bruised the company, which is now worth around $229 billion, down from $239 billion in late August. In its most recent earnings report, released Aug. 17, Tencent announced that overall revenue was up 48 percent, to $10.2 billion, and that monthly active users jumped 6.6 percent year-over-year, reaching 899 million on QQ, the company's central digital platform. The company also operates the popular Wechat instant message app and has its own answer to Spotify with its licensed and profitable QQ Music streaming music service, as well as striking content deals with various media companies. (Disclosure: Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter have content distribution deals in place with the company.) Tuesday, September 06, 2016 The Post Labor Day Political Scene: Setting the Odds On All The Big Races, Plus: As Predicted, Flynn Is In The odds of the Democrats taking back or tying up the the NM state House goes to 51 percent, up from even money. The reason is the coolness of many R's toward their presidential candidate. Any drop off at all in GOP turnout--a rare occurrence--could be deadly for R's further down the ballot--like House candidates. We'll know more as we get closer but as of today turnout is more of a concern for the R's. That's why the line gets tipped slightly toward a Dem tie or takeover. The House is currently 37-32 with one vacancy. That vacancy is a Dem seat, taking us back to 37-33 Republican where we started the year. So it's two for the tie and three for the show. The odds of the Democrats retaining control of the NM Senate remain high--very high--at 80 percent. There are simply not enough seats in play for what would be an historic GOP takeover of the chamber. Also, Gov. Martinez's growing unpopularity--her approval rating is down to 43 percent in the August PPP Poll--will serve as a drag. And then there's Trump. As with the House, the danger is that enthusiasm is dampened more on the R side than for the Dems. And then you have the much higher turnout for the presidential election than an off year election which makes the GOP play for the Senate more of a talking point than a realistic chance. The chance of Democrat Maggie Toulouse Oliver defeating Nora Espinoza for the open Secretary of State position starts at 53 percent. The latest PPP poll has Oliver defeating Espinoza 42 to 35 percent. The history of the seat being in the Dem camp and higher Dem turnout in the presidential year give the Dems the upper hand. Still, because this is the only statewide executive office on the ballot this year it will get plenty of media attention, giving Espinoza the opportunity to run an effective negative campaign. Heavy Hispanic support tips the scales for Michael Vigil in his bid to win a seat on the state Supreme Court against Republican Judy Nakamura who was recently appointed to the high court fro fill a vacancy. Vigil, a star Court of Appeals judge, will have to fend off Nakamura in her home territory in Bernalillo County where she is popular after serving for many years as a local judge. But again it's Trump. A blowout--or strong win--in BernCo by Hillary would send shock waves down the ballot where Vigil and Nakumara reside. We put the odds at Dem Vigil taking the seat at 55 percent. History is helping set those odds. No Republican has been elected to the NM Supreme Court since the 1980's. But this remains a race to watch. The chance that Hillary Clinton will defeat Donald Trump in New Mexico is 85 percent. Every national organization that has access to insider polling puts the state in the deep blue column for the Dem nominee. Not that she is hugely popular here. The August PPP Poll shows her getting only 40 percent of the vote to 31 percent for Trump. The wild card is former NM Gov. Gary Johnson. The onetime Republican is again running as the Libertarian Party nominee. He was scoring an impressive 16 percent in the Aug. PPP survey as a result of dissatisfaction with both major candidates. But that number will come way down as the race focuses on Clinton and Trump. Clinton's strength in the cities--ABQ, Santa Fe and Las Cruces--keep the state colored blue when it comes to the Prez contest. FLYNN IS IN Our Alligators Former Environment Secretary Ryan Flynn is taking over as executive director of the NM Mexico Oil and Gas Association, the lobbying arm of one of the states most politically influential industries. . . The move, which was decried by conservation groups critical of Flynns record. . . comes less than one month after Flynn stepped down from his Cabinet position. It also comes despite Gov. Martinezs pronouncement. . .that her Cabinet secretaries would refrain from lobbying for at least two years after leaving state government. . .A spokesman for the Association said Flynn intends to honor an agreement not to work with the Environment Department for two years. That agreement does not include lobbying legislators . . .Flynn does not intend to register as a lobbyist during the coming legislative session and will instead rely on other staff to lobby lawmakers. Goof luck, Ryan, Don't let that revolving door hit you on your way through. This is the home of New Mexico politics. Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here. ( c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2016 Let's take a look at the betting line now that Labor Day has come and gone and the November 8 finish line has come into sight. . .The odds of the Democrats taking back or tying up the the NM state House goes to 51 percent, up from even money. The reason is the coolness of many R's toward their presidential candidate. Any drop off at all in GOP turnout--a rare occurrence--could be deadly for R's further down the ballot--like House candidates. We'll know more as we get closer but as of today turnout is more of a concern for the R's. That's why the line gets tipped slightly toward a Dem tie or takeover. The House is currently 37-32 with one vacancy. That vacancy is a Dem seat, taking us back to 37-33 Republican where we started the year. So it's two for the tie and three for the show.The odds of the Democrats retaining control of the NM Senate remain high--very high--at 80 percent. There are simply not enough seats in play for what would be an historic GOP takeover of the chamber. Also, Gov. Martinez's growing unpopularity--her approval rating is down to 43 percent in the August PPP Poll--will serve as a drag. And then there's Trump. As with the House, the danger is that enthusiasm is dampened more on the R side than for the Dems. And then you have the much higher turnout for the presidential election than an off year election which makes the GOP play for the Senate more of a talking point than a realistic chance.The chance of Democrat Maggie Toulouse Oliver defeating Nora Espinoza for the open Secretary of State position starts at 53 percent. The latest PPP poll has Oliver defeating Espinoza 42 to 35 percent. The history of the seat being in the Dem camp and higher Dem turnout in the presidential year give the Dems the upper hand. Still, because this is the only statewide executive office on the ballot this year it will get plenty of media attention, giving Espinoza the opportunity to run an effective negative campaign.Heavy Hispanic support tips the scales for Michael Vigil in his bid to win a seat on the state Supreme Court against Republican Judy Nakamura who was recently appointed to the high court fro fill a vacancy. Vigil, a star Court of Appeals judge, will have to fend off Nakamura in her home territory in Bernalillo County where she is popular after serving for many years as a local judge. But again it's Trump. A blowout--or strong win--in BernCo by Hillary would send shock waves down the ballot where Vigil and Nakumara reside. We put the odds at Dem Vigil taking the seat at 55 percent. History is helping set those odds. No Republican has been elected to the NM Supreme Court since the 1980's. But this remains a race to watch.The chance that Hillary Clinton will defeat Donald Trump in New Mexico is 85 percent. Every national organization that has access to insider polling puts the state in the deep blue column for the Dem nominee. Not that she is hugely popular here. The August PPP Poll shows her getting only 40 percent of the vote to 31 percent for Trump. The wild card is former NM Gov. Gary Johnson. The onetime Republican is again running as the Libertarian Party nominee. He was scoring an impressive 16 percent in the Aug. PPP survey as a result of dissatisfaction with both major candidates. But that number will come way down as the race focuses on Clinton and Trump. Clinton's strength in the cities--ABQ, Santa Fe and Las Cruces--keep the state colored blue when it comes to the Prez contest.Our Alligators broke this one to the state way back on August 1 and it was confirmed in a Friday afternoon news dump:Goof luck, Ryan, Don't let that revolving door hit you on your way through.This is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news and comments. (jmonahan@ix.netcom.com) Links HOME E-MAIL ME About Joe Google News Real Clear Politics Huffington Post Drudge Report The Politico New Mexico newspapers NM TV stations Gov. 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1/30/22 1/30/22 - 2/6/22 2/6/22 - 2/13/22 2/13/22 - 2/20/22 2/20/22 - 2/27/22 2/27/22 - 3/6/22 3/6/22 - 3/13/22 3/13/22 - 3/20/22 3/20/22 - 3/27/22 3/27/22 - 4/3/22 4/3/22 - 4/10/22 4/10/22 - 4/17/22 4/17/22 - 4/24/22 4/24/22 - 5/1/22 5/1/22 - 5/8/22 5/8/22 - 5/15/22 5/15/22 - 5/22/22 5/22/22 - 5/29/22 5/29/22 - 6/5/22 6/5/22 - 6/12/22 6/12/22 - 6/19/22 6/19/22 - 6/26/22 6/26/22 - 7/3/22 7/10/22 - 7/17/22 7/17/22 - 7/24/22 7/24/22 - 7/31/22 7/31/22 - 8/7/22 8/7/22 - 8/14/22 8/14/22 - 8/21/22 8/21/22 - 8/28/22 8/28/22 - 9/4/22 9/4/22 - 9/11/22 9/11/22 - 9/18/22 9/18/22 - 9/25/22 9/25/22 - 10/2/22 10/2/22 - 10/9/22 10/9/22 - 10/16/22 10/16/22 - 10/23/22 10/23/22 - 10/30/22 website design by website design by limwebdesign The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Tuesday announced $600,000 Navigator grant awards to returning organizations in Nebraska to provide local in-person assistance to help Nebraska consumers navigate, shop, and enroll in the Marketplace health insurance coverage options. The grants were part of $63 million in Navigator grant awards to all states using the federally facilitated Marketplace. Navigators are trained individuals and organizations who help consumers, small businesses and employees as they look for health coverage options and financial assistance through the Marketplace. Lincoln-based Community Action of Nebraska, which provides Marketplace navigator services to 91 of the state's 93 counties, received $455,000. HRS/Erase Inc., which serves residents of Dodge, Douglas, Sarpy, Saunders and Washington counties, received $145,000 Gov. Pete Ricketts took exception Tuesday to the questioning of Scott Frakes, director of the Department of Correctional Services, by former Sen. Steve Lathrop at last week's legislative hearing. And he questioned why the Legislature's Special Investigative Committee decided to bring Lathrop in when the committee already has six senators trained in law and one staff attorney. "Why are they hiring an outside trial attorney to essentially cross-examine my director?" he said during a Tuesday morning news conference called to discuss a different topic. Lathrop "took a half a day of my director's time really grilling him," Ricketts said. The governor apparently felt the questioning, which also came from committee members, was combative. "It could be collaborative," he said. It's true that six committee members are trained lawyers, with five of them -- Sens. Les Seiler, Patty Pansing Brooks, Adam Morfeld, Matt Williams and Paul Schumacher -- licensed to practice, but they're not necessarily experts in the line of questioning needed by the committee. Another committee member, Sen. Ernie Chambers, has a law degree but is not a member of the bar. Pansing Brooks, the vice chairwoman, said the decision to hire Lathrop was unanimous within the committee, which is composed of five Republicans, four Democrats, an independent and a Libertarian. The leaders of the committee felt that Lathrop had a feeling for how the committee might go forward because of his prior work while he was still in the Legislature, she said. "I think that the committee felt that he was most particularly qualified to be able to handle this for us," Pansing Brooks said. Committee member Bob Krist said that because of Lathrop's expert form of questioning, the hearing was one of the most informative for the senators. He was respectful and professional. "Steve Lathrop is very good at what he does," Krist said. "The governor can hire whoever he wants to, and so can we." There may be a question of politics involved in the governor's remarks. Lathrop considered running in 2014 for governor on the Democratic ticket but announced in August 2013 he had decided against it, saying he needed a break from public service after seven years in the Legislature. Lathrop said Tuesday that a run for the governor's office in 2018 is not any part of his consideration right now. "Not everything is about politics," he said. "My focus is solely on my work with this committee." As to Ricketts' concerns about him being the main questioner of Frakes at the hearing, he said it didn't matter who was asking questions. "The bigger concern is the information revealed in the hearing last Wednesday," Lathrop said. The committee's focus at the hearing was on the prisons' significant staffing issues, especially at the department's most critical maximum and medium security prisons. There were also questions about why Frakes reduced the number of proposed new prison workers recommended in a draft by a team that conducted the staffing analysis. Lathrop said at the time his questioning was aimed at getting an idea of the staffing problem in the prisons and what it would take to fix it. "What may be uncomfortable for the executive branch is the exposure and the degree to which they have staffing problems that are affecting public safety and the safety of the staff at the Department of Corrections," Lathrop said. Lathrop chaired the Legislature's committee in 2014, which at the time was created to study the circumstances of inmate Nikko Jenkins' incarceration and release. It hired an outside attorney, Sean Brennan, to be involved in court proceedings that included subpoenaing documents and witnesses. The committee ended up addressing a number of other issues, including the too-early release of prisoners because of sentence miscalculations. The committee even called in Gov. Dave Heineman to answer questions posed by Lathrop and committee members. In Wednesday's hearing, Lathrop said, there were no "gotcha" questions or any he felt were unfair. The marching order for the committee is to get to the bottom of what's wrong in the Department of Corrections. Other hearings will be scheduled to ask questions about mental health treatment, programming, inmates' restrictive housing, and prison crowding. The committee is engaging in a legislative function of oversight, he said. It can't get to decisions on policy and appropriations without asking questions and securing information from the other branch of government. "No one's trying to embarrass the director. And no one's trying to embarrass the governor," he said. Pansing Brooks said she did not think the questioning of Frakes at the hearing was confrontational. "If it's uncomfortable for the executive office because there's such a mess in Corrections, that's unfortunate," she said. Most senators on the committee like Frakes and want him to do well, she said. And in turn, he and his department were forthcoming with documents and answering the committee's questions. Public safety and the safety of prison workers is most important to the committee, she said. "We are getting emails, each of us, all the time, from people that are working in Corrections, with high concerns," Pansing Brooks said. So for the committee to not apply due diligence and oversight would be a travesty, she said. Lincoln Fire and Rescue has seen minor improvements in the way emergency calls to secured facilities are handled since the Aug. 24 assault of nine correctional officers at the Lincoln Correctional Center. After that incident, LFR created a task force to meet with state prison personnel about improving response time. Dispatch records show it took medics about 12 minutes to get inside the prison near Pioneers Park and into the basement to treat correctional officers including a woman knocked unconscious. LFR was called to the prison again Monday after a bed and books caught fire in a cell. It took firefighters 7 to 8 minutes to get to the cell from the time they arrived, Fire Chief Micheal Despain said Tuesday. The fire was out when they got there, but light smoke filled the pod, he said. The cause of the fire, which was reported about 10 p.m., is under investigation by the state fire marshal, Despain said. Two inmates were taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation. No correctional officers sought medical treatment, Despain said. Three fire engines, two trucks and a medic unit responded. The task force will meet again over the next two weeks leading up to a meeting with Nebraska Department of Correctional Services Director Scott Frakes. LFR Battalion Chief Jim Bopp said there's always room for improvement, but he's happy with Monday's response. A 30-year-old Lincoln man pleaded not guilty to breaking into a woman's home and sexually assaulting her. Chad E. Drewes faces 10 felony charges, one of them filed as a hate crime, in connection with a home-invasion robbery June 24 at the woman's rural Seward County home, according to the criminal complaint. Seward County District Judge James Stecker set his trial in January. A 77-year-old Seward woman told deputies a shirtless man kicked in a side door to her garage and began strangling her, then bound her feet and hands and dragged her into a bedroom and raped her. Afterward, she said, he untied her and told her to stay in the bathroom, as he ransacked her house. Scared, the woman stayed in the bathroom for another hour after he left, then rested out of exhaustion before walking to a neighbor's house to report the attack around 6:30 a.m. Sheriff's deputies working with police found Drewes near the woman's stolen SUV at Ninth and Court streets in Lincoln and arrested him on suspicion of the crime. Prosecutors charged him with first-degree sexual assault, enhanced as a hate crime because of the victim's age, first-degree assault, robbery, theft by unlawful taking over $5,000, burglary, first-degree false imprisonment and several other felonies. The man walked into Bryan West Campus at about 2 p.m. Monday with a gunshot wound to his leg, said Lincoln Police Capt. Bob Farber. The man had been hunting squirrels with two friends near Schuyler between 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. Monday when one of his friends shot him in the leg with a 22-caliber rifle. A previously deported man was arrested in Lancaster County after deputies found meth and a stolen gun in his car, according to court documents. Hector Garcia, 38, was stopped after leaving Pioneers Park after sunset Sunday. He initially identified himself under a different name and birthday using a local workplace identification, according to a probable cause affidavit for his arrest. Officers suspected he was lying and began working to determine his correct identity. Deputies also saw an open Modelo beer in his center console cup holder. During the investigation, documents say Garcia opened the center console to look for his phone and deputies saw a handgun inside, documents say. Garcia was taken into custody and during a search of him, officers found 9.74 grams of methamphetamine and a pipe, documents say. The loaded handgun, a 9mm Smith & Wesson, was reported stolen from Lincoln in October 2015. Also reported stolen at the time was a Citizen Eco Drive watch, which Garcia was wearing, documents say. Deputies confirmed his identity and found he's a convicted felon from a 2005 case in California and in Lincoln. Garcia has also been deported before, documents say. Garcia was arrested on suspicion of possession of a deadly weapon by a prohibited person, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of meth with the intent to deliver while in possession of a firearm, possession of a stolen firearm, criminal impersonation and driving while under a suspended license. Sheriff Terry Wagner said deputies contacted immigration services. Economics was not one of my favorite subjects in college, so I avoided economic courses. But I do know a few things about human nature. If you tax income at too high a rate, corporations will look elsewhere for relief. Take Ireland. In 1991, Apple Corporation cut a deal with the Irish government so that only a certain bracket of its earnings would be taxed, giving it, writes Business Insider, "...a dramatically lower tax rate than it would have to pay in the U.S." In return, Apple promised jobs, lots of jobs, which it provided. The company currently employs 4,000 at its Cork campus and announced in November that it will expand that number by 1,000 by 2017. It is estimated there are 18,000 Apple jobs across the country, including over 5,000 direct Apple employees. The European Commission, which enforces EU law, now accuses Ireland of "...providing illegal state aid" to Apple, and, according to The Guardian, has chosen to clamp down "on tax avoidance schemes employed by multinationals." The commission, having rejected Apple's tax deal, now says the company owes $14.5 billion in back taxes to Ireland. This brought an ominous response from Apple CEO Tim Cook, who basically told the commission that they can have taxes, or they can have jobs, but they can't have both. The Irish government announced on Friday that it will appeal the tax bill imposed on Apple by the European Commission. The U.S. is one of two countries that taxes corporations at the highest rate. Japan is the other. Companies are in business to make money and when they do, most expand, making more money and hiring more people. Those additional employees pay taxes to the government. More jobs create a more stable economy. Even someone without a degree in economics can understand this. The European Commission's attitude is that it is unfair and illegal in the minds of Brussels bureaucrats for Ireland to cut a tax deal with a corporation, even though the deal benefits that country and presumably lessens the need for more aid from the European Union. No wonder a majority of British voters, tired of being dictated to by Brussels, decided to exit the EU. If legal appeals fail, Ireland could find itself in a similar position. This is a rare instance in which the U.S. Treasury, which has been trying to crack down on tax avoidance schemes, has found itself on the same side of U.S. corporations. As The Wall Street Journal noted, "That is partly because the U.S., unlike most other industrialized nations, imposes a tax upon repatriation of foreign profits. Any tax that Apple pays to Ireland as a result of the EU's ruling could generate foreign tax credits that ultimately would reduce the U.S. tax the Treasury could collect." The Journal adds, "This could matter even if Apple never brings its profits home." The way to fix this so that governments can still get tax revenue from corporations and create jobs with their accompanying benefits is to reduce the corporate tax rate. Problem solved. The trouble is, asking government to accept less money from people who earn it is like asking Dracula to settle for less blood. Private businesses produce jobs and capital. Government does not create capital, but it can harm its accumulation and in so doing, harm itself. That is the harmful path the EU has chosen to take with this ruling. Richard Bruton, the Irish government's enterprise minister, defended his country's relationship with Apple: "There were no special deals ever in the Irish tax code but there were different phases. There was a period when every sector exporting didn't pay tax on their profits, there was then a period when manufacturing companies had a 10pc rate and every other sector didn't. So there were phases when there were different sectoral approaches but always statute-based, and there were no special deals." Ireland has struggled more than most European nations to come back from the recession. It would be worse than shameful if Apple pulled out and thousands of jobs were lost. What would EU bureaucrats say to those who lost their jobs? Or do they care? In more tranquil times the world would be worried sick about the deteriorating situation in Asia. The reason that Asia has not commanded more attention is because things are so horrible in the rest of the world, with most of the worlds attention riveted on the Islamic States slaughter and rape in the Middle East. Most of the blame for destabilization in Asia goes to North Korea, but China is also playing a role. The most recent outrage from North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is the test missiles he has been firing in the general direction of Japan. Early in August North Korea launched a missile that landed about 155 miles from northern Japan, officials said. And late last month North Korea launched a ballistic missile from a submarine that flew about 300 miles before it dropped into the Sea of Japan. Military experts including the U.S. Military Defense Agency believe that North Korea may have as many as 1,000 missiles, including some with enough range to reach U.S. military bases in the Pacific. At the same time North Korea continues to develop a nuclear arsenal, thumbing its nose at the United Nations and the international coalition that has applied sanctions to discourage its behavior. Meanwhile China is enlarging its territorial control in the South China Sea, building artificial islands and putting air strips on them. In a scenario that has become too familiar, the Obama administration failed in 2012 to back up a deal that it brokered for both China and the Philippines to withdraw from a disputed area known as Scarborough Shoal. The Philippines withdrew but China stayed. Now China seems to think that episode can be a pattern for the future. Many experts and members of Congress suspect that China is not doing all it can to discourage Kim Jong Un from his rogue behavior. In June Reps. Jeff Fortenberry and Brad Sherman, D-California, introduced a bill calling for the president to suspend civil nuclear cooperation with China if the communist nation has failed to enforce U.N. Security Council sanctions on North Korea. China also reacted angrily when the United States and South Korea announced in July they would deploy a sophisticated missile defense system in South Korea. China said the system would disrupt the regional strategic balance. This week President Barack Obama will conclude what aides said would be his last visit to Asia. Next year another administration will take over. The challenge of maintaining peace and stability in this part of the world is growing more formidable. From our American history books, millions of students will remember that the Republican Party's nickname during and after the Civil War was the "Party of Lincoln." President Abraham Lincoln was, of course, the president credited with freeing the southern American slaves. Obviously, the "Party of Lincoln" moniker for the Republican party has fallen victim to revisionist history zealots. Yet, it has to be apparent to millions of Americans that, since the onset of the Obama Presidency, the Republicans have aligned themselves with anti-American groups like white supremacists, skinheads, neo-Nazis, and the Ku Klux Klan. If another Republican nickname is necessary wouldn't "Republiklan" be more accurate? OMAHA Police have released the name of a man whose body was found in a northeast Omaha alley. On Tuesday police identified the man as 37-year-old Bernell McCowin. Officers and paramedics were sent to the scene next to a Burger King restaurant around 11:50 p.m. Monday. McCowin was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said people had reported gunshots in the area about an hour earlier, but officers found nothing then. Volunteer Opportunities Sept. 5, 2016 See website for the most up-to-date opportunities. Bryan Health Contact: Ann Bauer or MaryBeth McWilliams 402-481-3032 LifePointe Receptionist Greet members and guests, escort to meeting rooms, interact with individuals in various areas, assist with restocking and inventory, assist with clerical duties at LifePointe Campus, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 9-11 a.m.; Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 5-7 p.m. Receptionist at Both Campuses There are numerous busy office environments within Bryan Medical Center and many are looking for volunteers to assist them with accomplishing various tasks, primarily weekdays 8-5. Admissions Patient Escort Help alleviate some of the anxious feelings patients have about coming to the hospital, from greeting the patients entering the office to escorting them to their destination. Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital Contact: Marla Buresh 402-413-4500 Education Assistant Volunteers are needed for data entry, putting together packets for educational classes, copying, filing, a variety of clerical duties, answer phone and take messages. Human Resources Assistant Provide clerical support to Human Resources staff and also to the public. Duties include answering phones, greeting guests, filing, and packet assembly. Purchasing Assistant Assist purchasing staff to provide departments, staff and clients with supplies and equipment. Deliver items to areas within Madonna, weekdays 8:30-11 a.m. Child Advocacy Center Contact: Carole Tanner (402) 476-3200 Monster Dash Fun Run Volunteers are needed to serve as "human cones" for our annual fun run Oct. 29 held at Roca Berry Farm. Volunteers serve as course markers and help cheer on participants as they DASH to make a difference for child victims of abuse and neglect. Nebraska State Historical Society Contact: Deb McWilliams (402) 471-4955 Museum Ambassador Greet visitors, respond to questions, and provide information about museum exhibits and agency activities. Docents Share History Provide guided tours for students and adults, particularly fourth graders studying Nebraska history. Preserve History Making Slings Help make archival boxes and slings to better care for material. Girl Scouts of Nebraska Contact: Danielle Smith (402) 875-4358 Refugee Program Directors Seeking program directors for our newest grant funded program for Refugee 6-12th grade girls. Groups will meet for 60-90 minutes at least once a week. Lincoln Arts Council Contact: Lori McAlister Lincoln Arts Festival Volunteers There are many tasks from set-up to tear-down, booth sitting, guest hospitality, kids art activities and more. The event is the weekend of Sept. 24. Lincoln Literacy Contact: Victoria Welles (402) 476-7323 English Language Tutor Tutors needed for English Language Learners and native speakers of English working on increasing their literacy skills. Friendship Home Contact: Dani Jurgens (402) 437-9367 Help With Safe Quarters Over 100 teams of volunteers will visit Lincoln neighborhoods Oct. 9 with the goal of knocking on the door of every household. Childrens Advocate Volunteer Help facilitate the children's support group and play with children. CHI Health St. Elizabeth Contact: Becky Wright 402 219-7111 Case Management Volunteer Engage with Medicare patients to obtain patient signatures for the notice of dismissal Medicare Letter. Hospitality & Surgical Waiting Room Assist with receiving patient families as they wait for the patient. Information Desk Volunteer and Greeter Greet the public and assisting with patient room numbers and general information sharing and way-finding. We have two information desk locations, the main hospital and our Medical Plaza. Nebraska Community Blood Bank Contact: Jessica Sodeke (402) 486-9413 Canteen Volunteers All Locations and Various Days Need volunteers to help at several donor centers. Lincoln Childrens Museum Contact: Rachel Hermsen (402) 477-4000 Work on the Floor of the Childrens Museum Volunteers on the floor are responsible for keeping our exhibits tidy, safe and organized. Dear Doctor K: I like my doctor and I trust his judgment, but I don't feel he really listens to me or explains things. What can I do, besides look for another doctor? Dear Reader: Like every doctor, I am a patient as well as a doctor. I think I can see things from both perspectives. Let me respond first as a patient. If you like and trust your doctor, I'd recommend that you put him to the test before looking for another. At your next visit, gently but firmly make certain things clear: Suppose he says something you don't understand. Tell him you're sorry, but you don't understand. Ask him to explain it again. Suppose he recommends a particular diagnostic test or treatment. If you're concerned about the risk, the cost or something else, tell him that, and explain why. If he mentions risks, be sure he tells you how likely the risks are. (Don't expect a precise answer, but ask for a rough estimate: one in 10, one in 100, one in 1,000?) Suppose, after hearing the answer, you don't like the doctor's recommended test or treatment. Then ask him if there are any other options that you both should consider. Suppose you're dealing with a potentially serious illness, or a test or treatment that has serious risks -- a diagnosis of cancer, or a major operation, for example. If you're not sure you agree with the option your doctor has suggested, you can always seek a second opinion. This is not something to do lightly: At least initially, you won't have the same level of trust for another physician, since you won't know him or her as well as you know your doctor. Suppose, despite your gentle prodding, it becomes clear your doctor just isn't interested in having you involved in making decisions about your medical care. It happens. In that case, I'd start looking for another doctor. Now let me respond as a doctor. One of the hardest things for us is finding the time to do everything we need to do during a patient visit, given the time we have. That includes time for listening and explaining. You can help your doctor by making your time with him as efficient as possible. If you have a chronic illness, remember the questions your doctor asks you at most visits. Be ready to answer the same questions at this visit. For example, if you have diabetes, think about whether you have symptoms that could indicate heart problems, such as chest pain or feeling as though you might pass out. If you tend to forget what the doctor said at the visit, consider bringing someone with you -- a spouse, adult child or friend. That person can help make sure certain questions get asked. He or she can also take notes while you speak with your doctor. The time you spend with your doctor is precious to both of you, so come prepared to make the most of your visit. (This column ran originally in October 2013.) With the aging of the nations population, a continuing decline in the availability of traditional pensions, and concerns about the future of Social Security, many workers in the United States worry that they wont have enough money set aside for their retirements. The Employee Benefit Research Institutes 2016 annual Retirement Confidence Survey found that only 37% of Americans are very confident that they will have enough money for a comfortable retirement, while 33% are somewhat confident, and 14% are not at all confident. (www.ebri.org - 2016). Its safe to say, everyone needs to save for retirement and everyone needs a means to save. Are you fortunate enough to have access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan? In other words, does your employer offer a 401(k) or a 403(b)? Unfortunately, not everyone is offered a means to save through their employer and not everyone who has access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan takes advantage of that plan. Today, only about half of all workers in the United States participate in a workplace retirement plan, according to an analysis of data compiled by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Overall ONLY 58% of workers have access to a plan, while only 49% participate in one. Looking at the numbers a different way, that leaves more than 30 million full-time private-sector workers, age 18 to 64, without access to an employer-based retirement plan. (www.pewtrusts.org 2016). Making it easy to save: Employer sponsored plans take money directly out of each paycheck and defer it into your retirement plan automatically, making it very easy to save. Automatic Enrollment Some plans use the Auto-Enrollment or Auto-Escalation features. An automatic contribution arrangement (also known as automatic enrollment) is a feature in a retirement plan that allows an employer to enroll an eligible employee in the employers plan unless the employee affirmatively elects otherwise. (www.irs.gov 2016). Auto-Escalation The Automatic Escalation feature allows for an employee to automatically set up a periodic incremental increase of retirement savings contributions at a designated time throughout the year to allow themselves to increase their retirement plan contribution automatically to a specified percentage. For example, it allows an employee to automatically increase their 401(k) contribution by 1% annually until it reaches a certain point (Usually 10%). Its an easy and effective way to increase retirement contributions without having to think about it. Set it and forget it. Matching Contributions Many employers will match a portion of your savings. It's like passing up free money if you don't participate. A common match might be 50% of the first 6% of pay you save. Under that scenario, someone whose annual salary is $35,000 and who contributes 6% to the plan ($2,100) would receive an additional $1,050 in matching employer contributions. It's pretty hard to find a 50% return on any investment. Even if your employer doesn't offer matching contributions, the tax advantages and lower costs of a 401(k), still make this one of the best ways to save money for retirement. (www.practialmoneyskills.com 2016) Tax-Deferred Earnings When you contribute a percentage of your pay to a pre-tax 401(k) plan, you immediately start paying less to Uncle Sam. That's because your contribution comes out of your paycheck before income taxes are deducted. That means your taxable income is less, which in turn lowers your tax bill. Thus, you "defer" or postpone paying income tax on your 401(k) savings and any investment earnings they may accumulate until you withdraw the money at retirement. For many people, their income and therefore income tax rate is lower at retirement, so they're paying a smaller amount of tax on the money they pull out during retirement. Plus, if you happen to retire to a state that has no or very low state income tax, you'll be that much further ahead. (www.practialmoneyskills.com 2016) If your employer offers a retirement savings plan, consider yourself one of the lucky ones. Lets re-emphasize a very important and eye-opening fact, more than 30 million full-time, full-year private-sector workers ages 18 to 64 do NOT have access to an employer-based retirement plan. Think about that for a second, 30 million employees are not even offered a retirement savings plan by their employer. Incredibly, for those who do have access to a retirement savings plan, not even half are taking advantage of their opportunity. With all the uncertainty facing each of us in todays world, now more than ever is the time to start saving for your retirement. If your employer offers a retirement savings plan with all its advantages such as tax-deferred savings earnings, employer matching contributions, low costs and fees, automatic escalation features, etc., consider yourself one of the Lucky ones and take advantage of that wonderful option that is afforded to you! As always, we at Union Bank & Trust invite you to visit the Retirement Education Center for tremendous retirement and financial wellness resources at your fingertips. RACINE At least two groups benefited from Mondays Labor of Love event at Festival Park, sponsored by Case Construction Equipment. One was the audience that heard a country music concert starring Chris Young, under a glorious blue sky. The second will be Team Rubicon, a disaster response organization heavily comprised of military veterans and first responders. Case will donate the proceeds to Team Rubicon from its second annual Labor of Love concert; last years concert raised $10,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project. Case Construction works in partnership with Team Rubicon, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Wildlife Refuge Association. The partnership helps improve refuge land while training equipment operators for disaster response. Case first worked with Team Rubicon last November at Laguna Atascosa national wildlife refuge in Texas where the oscelot is being protected, said Case solutions marketing manager Brad Stemper. At that time the organization had about 30,000 disaster response volunteers; the number now stands at 42,000, he said. Stemper said Case Construction has helped Team Rubicon develop about two dozen certified trainers who can now train operators of heavy equipment most commonly excavators and skid steers that will be used for clean-up at disaster scenes. The Racine-based company also supplies those machines in many cases, he said, such as when it recently sent a skid steer to Wyoming, Mich., after a tornado struck there. Jason Ferguson, Team Rubicon director of training and exercise in Dallas, was in Racine Monday for Labor of Love. With its new training center in Grand Prairie, Texas, the organization is establishing training standards that will ensure a consistent response in every disaster response, he said. Today were celebrating our strategic national relationship with Case Construction Equipment, the benefactor of the event, Ferguson said. Stemper said Team Rubicons volunteers are comprised of about 80 percent military veterans and first responders. One member of that national volunteer force, Casey Magoon, 28, of Wonder Lake, Ill., was at Festival Park with her gray and red Team Rubicon T-shirt. A firefighter and paramedic, shed helped build the stage on Sunday, and perform other sundry duties. Magoon said she was introduced to Team Rubicon after tornadoes struck in Fairdale, Ill., in 2015. She packed her Jeep with things to donate and drove there, having no idea where shed stay while helping the town. She met Team Rubicon members the first evening, signed up, and the next day was put in charge of a group of volunteers cleaning up glass and metal in a field where animals grazed. Magoon said she was in Racine during this holiday weekend because I love this organization and want to be a part of it. RACINE The Racine Community Foundation has awarded 53 scholarships totaling $67,632 to Racine County college-bound students for the 2016-17 academic year. All scholarships were awarded on a competitive basis and are a part of an increasing number of legacy scholarships established with Racine Community Foundation by Racine County individuals, families, businesses, civic leaders and educators. The names of this years recipients are followed by the college or university each student plans to attend in the fall. Seven students were awarded the Bud and Mary Androff Scholarship. This scholarship fund was established in 1996 through a grant made by Bud and Mary Androff to benefit students who show interest in the areas of general education, physical education or human relations. This years recipients are: Madeline Aiello-Kimberlain (UW-Madison), a graduate of Park High School; Ashley Doebereiner (UW-Madison), a graduate of Case High School; Brittany Hoover (UW-Oshkosh), a graduate of Racine Lutheran High School; Brittany Ramczyk (University of Minnestoa-Twin Cities), a graduate of Horlick High School; Kassidy Randelzhofer (UW-River Falls), a graduate of Union Grove High School; Katherine Rittgers (UW-La Crosse), a graduate of St. Catherines High School and Sydney Weiss (University of the Cumberlands), a graduate of Horlick High School. Nicole Shields (UW-Madison), a graduate of Horlick High School, is the recipient of the Henry P. and Marjorie W. Bruner Scholarship. The Bruner Scholarship Fund was established in 2010 by Mr. and Mrs. Bruners children to honor their parents, and is awarded to a student who demonstrates an interest in pursuing a liberal arts degree. Margaret Ford (UW-Madison) is the recipient of the Tom George Scholarship. Mr. and Mrs. Donald H. George established the scholarship fund in 1985 in memory of their son, Tom. This scholarship is awarded to a graduate of Horlick High School who will attend UW-Madison. Samantha Blank (UW-Madison), a graduate of Waterford High School, is the recipient of the Karle P. Guth Scholarship. This scholarship fund was established in 1997 by the children of Karle Guth to honor their father. Recipients must attend UW-Madison in pursuit of an undergraduate degree in agri-business, secondary education, history or political science. In 2009, the Hallam Family Scholarship Fund was established by Robert and Victoria Hallam in memory of their parents and their uncle, William E. Hallam. The scholarship benefits graduating seniors of Park High School who demonstrate interest in a career in the field of visual arts. This years recipients are Eryn Benner (Carthage College) and Katelynn Counts (UW-Parkside). Emily Baker (UW-Stout) is the recipient of the Johnson-Dukleth Scholarship. Established in memory of Gilma Dukleth by her family in 2006, the scholarship is awarded to graduating seniors of Waterford High School who will attend a four-year college or university. Seven students from Union Grove High School were awarded the Leopold K. Kerschitz Scholarship. The Mr. K Scholarship, as it is known, was established in 1995 by Leo Kerschitz to encourage students with academic potential to pursue education beyond high school. This years recipients are: Karsten Acker (UW-Madison); Brendon Belongia (UW-Platteville); Benjamin Maier (UW-River Falls); Samuel Maier (UW-Green Bay); Paige Murdoch (Edgewood College); Jorey Staven (Marian University); and Mari Suokko (Ferris State University). In 1983, Mrs. Florence E. Lockwood and her son, James E. Lockwood Jr., established the Lockwood Scholarship Fund. This scholarship is designated to benefit graduates of Park High School. Seven students were awarded the Lockwood Scholarship this year. They are: Madeline Aiello-Kimberlain (UW-Madison); Kadeesha Duncan (UW-Parkside); Allison Eschmann (UW-Madison); Christina Galvan (St. Marys University); Hannah Hoecherl (Florida College); Kayla Hoff (UW-Madison) and Maya Thielen-Herrera (UW-Oshkosh). Jordan Bondeson (UW-Madison), a graduate of Horlick High School, is the recipient of the Shirley Nelson Scholarship. In 1997, Shirley Nelson established this scholarship fund to benefit students who show steady, constant improvement over the course of their high school career. The Onnink Family Scholarship Fund was established in 1994 by Allen and Florence Onnink. This scholarship is awarded to Racine Unified School District students who demonstrate high academic potential. This years recipients are: Kaylee Leslie (Westminster College), a graduate of Park High School; Jacob Sawalski (University of Minnesota-Twin Cities), a graduate of Horlick High School and Cameron Tresider (UW-Platteville), a graduate of Horlick High School. In 1986, James C. Thompson, former Principal of Park High School, established the Park High School Hall of Fame Scholarship Fund. This scholarship is awarded to graduates of the school who have attained high academic achievement, participated in extracurricular activities, and demonstrate good character, poise and conduct. This years recipients are: Andrew Mertins (UW-Oshkosh) and Gabriella Steffen (Charleston Southern University). The Perkins Family Scholarship Fund was established in 2008 and is awarded to Racine area high school students who will pursue a post-secondary education. The recipients are: Julie Asher (University of Minnesota-Twin Cities), a graduate of Case High School; Kara Buchaklian (UW-La Crosse), a graduate of St. Catherines High School; Peter Meinert (Milwaukee School of Engineering), a graduate of Racine Lutheran High School; Haley Rodriguez (UW-Madison), a graduate of the The REAL School; Taylor Stefanski (University of Alabama-Birmingham), a graduate of Horlick High School; Margaret Sullivan (Xavier University), a graduate of The Prairie School; and Justice Weaver (UW-La Crosse), a graduate of Park High School. In 1994, the Racine Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Commission established a scholarship fund to benefit graduates of Racine County high schools who show outstanding academic achievement in history. Jennifer Norris (Carroll University), a graduate of Case High School and Samuel Rozzoni (UW-Parkside), a graduate of St. Catherines High School, are this years recipients of the Racine Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Scholarship. Emily Martinsen (UW-Whitewater); Kassidy Randelzhofer (UW-River Falls) and Emma Voge (UW-Parkside), graduates of Union Grove High School, have received the Ruzicka-Homburg Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship fund was established in honor of former principals A.F. Ruzicka who served from 1940 through 1949, and William Homburg, who served throughout the 1950s. Tiffany Blaha (UW-Whitewater) is the recipient of the Alice Jane Sokol Scholarship. This scholarship fund was established in 2003 to honor Alice Jane Sokol, a retired Racine Unified School District elementary teacher and an alumna of UW-Whitewater. The scholarship is awarded to a Racine native in his or her third or fourth year in UW-Whitewaters School of Education. Jarred Glaser (UW-Milwaukee) is the recipient of the Jeannette F. Sokol Scholarship that was established in 2003 by Alice Jane Sokol in honor of her mother, Jennette Sokol, a graduate of the UW-Milwaukee School of Education. This scholarship benefits third or fourth year students enrolled in UW-Milwaukees School of Education. Alice Jane Sokol also established the John J. Sokol Scholarship Fund in 2003 to honor her father, John J. Sokol, who was a member of the first graduating class of the Boys Trade and Technical High School. Now known as the Lynde and Harry Bradley Technology and Trade School in Milwaukee, the scholarship is awarded to a graduate of the school who will attend an accredited technical or trade school. The recipient of this scholarship is Dekuan Sutton (Milwaukee Area Technical College). In 2004, Union Grove Area Businesses established a scholarship fund to benefit graduating seniors from Union Grove High School and/or Union Grove Christian School who will attend schools of higher education. All graduates of Union Grove High School, this years recipients are: Blake Hansen (UW-Milwaukee), Matthew Lory (UW-Madison), Frantiska Pettit (North Central College) and Hannah Scheckel (Saint Louis University). Emily Martinsen (UW-Whitewater) is the recipient of the Union High Education Association Scholarship. The scholarship fund was established in 1997 by the Union Grove Union High Education Association and is awarded to graduates of the Union Grove High School for academic achievement. The mission of the Racine Community Foundation is to enhance the quality of life for the people of Racine County by encouraging and providing opportunities for charitable giving and by managing and distributing the funds in a responsible manner. Those who would like to leave the legacy of a scholarship for Racine County students may contact the Racine Community Foundations executive director Liz Powell at 262-632-8474. The Racine Community Foundation is located at 1135 Warwick Way, Racine, WI 53406. The website is www.racinecommunityfoundation.org. RACINE Emergency calls for the Racine Fire Department are up from 2015. The department had responded to 6,789 emergency response calls as of Aug. 23, up from 6,658 calls at the same point in 2015, according to Racine Fire Department Division Chief Jeff Perkins. These cover a wide variety of emergencies such as fire, medical, hazardous materials, water rescues and other specialties, Perkins said. Racine Fire responded to a total of 10,279 calls in 2015, 312 of which were structure fires. Structure fires remain at relatively the same pace in 2016 compared to this point in the year in 2015, with 196 structure fires compared to 197 in 2015. There were 115 structure fires alone after Aug. 23 in 2015. The most calls come for advanced life support and basic life support medical calls. Advanced life support calls are up to 3,532 this year compared to 3,391 calls at this point last year. Basic life support calls are down, though, from 1,935 calls by Aug. 23 in 2015 to 1,805 calls this year. Pulseless, non-breathing calls also are up this year sitting at 97 calls in 2016 whereas there were 80 calls at this point in 2015. A big change for calls for the Fire Department has been calls for aid to other municipalities. Racine Fire had a total of six calls to other municipalities in 2015 and has already had 20 such calls in 2016. Accidental fires The relatively stagnant numbers for structure fires this year is for no particular reason, according to Perkins. There is often a fluctuation in the number of fires that occur at any one time, he said. There are periods where the rate of fires are smaller and periods where the rate of fires is greater. These fluctuations occur for no particular reason. Perkins said most fires are accidental in nature. However, his department sees a trend in the causes of fires even though they are accidental. Unfortunately, the fire-related scenarios we see are ones we see repeatedly, he said. We try to get the message out, but we see the same things often. The most common types of accidental fires to which the Fire Department responds are careless use of smoking materials, inattentive cooking, misuse of electricity, and non-working smoke alarms. Perkins said that for calls involving careless use of smoking materials, people often discard the materials without ensuring they are completely out. A stray ember will fall or the wind will blow it in between a couple of building boards and a few hours later the building is burning, Perkins said. Inattentive cooking usually involves people falling asleep or leaving the stove on while out of the house. Perkins said that this causes the food, oil or heat from the stove to eventually ignite nearby items. Candles similarly cause fires as people leave them alone in a room, often at night before going to bed, forgetting they are still lit and causing a fire, he said. For misuse of electricity, Perkins said, this usually involves changes or repairs that are not done in accordance to the electrical code. People think that if there isnt a problem immediately, then there is no problem, he said. That repair that was done incorrectly may not cause a fire for a few years, but it can still cause a fire. Perkins said a big problem is homes with nonworking smoke alarms or that are without smoke alarms. He added that the main reason for nonworking smoke alarms is the battery is dead or the battery has been removed. He recommends that smoke alarms be replaced every 10 years and that alarms be tested once a month. He also recommends the batteries be replaced twice a year. There are even smoke alarms equipped with 10-year batteries, Perkins said. Both smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors are mandatory in nearly all dwellings in Wisconsin, although they do not have to be a combination unit, Perkins said. It is also state law that owners of residential rental properties provide the necessary smoke and carbon monoxide detectors throughout the building, though it is the renters responsibility to make sure the alarms within their units still operate correctly. RACINE Watching his wifes blue Ford Fusion disappear into the distance last March 6 at Springer Mountain, Ga., Lee Rallo felt so at peace, yet so hauntingly alone amidst the chirping of birds in the Blue Ridge Mountains. There was no commotion as he tuned into natures frequency and the nightly world news that seems to be an endless source of despair would not have Rallos ear until further notice. Strapping on his 38-pound backpack that would more or less contain everything he needed for the next several months, the 55-year-old Racine man started what was supposed to be a six-month journey covering nearly 2,200 miles. His goal was to hike northward on the legendary Appalachian Trail with the hope of reaching the ultimate destination of Mount Katahdin, Maine by Sept. 1. It was surreal when the only way you can get out of there is by walking because the car drove off and I was standing there alone, Rallo said. There was sadness, fear, excitement it was like, Here we go. Im really going to do this. I took a deep breath and I just started walking. A battle of the elements It would be a battle of the elements for Rallo , whose wife, Mary Jo, was driving back to Racine after she dropped him off at the starting point. There was only him, a backpack and a debit card with a balance of $6,000 in his wallet to buy food along the way. He would celebrate an emerging sun from the clouds and he would will himself through drenching cold rain coming at him sideways. He would walk miles in utter solitude and he would encounter other hikers he will remember for the rest of his life. He would be captivated by wild horses in the open expanses of Virginia and by numerous majestic mountains and he would be startled by an occasional rattle snake or black bears that are usually harmless, but have occasionally killed hikers. This was a challenge that had been tugging at Rallo since he had read a book by Bill Bryson entitled, A Walk in the Woods about 15 years ago. There was some elusive wisdom to be gained by taking this on, even if Rallo wasnt quite sure what it would be. So on Feb. 23, he quit his position as a registered nurse for Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare in Racine, intent to learn where this path would take him. I had been planning it for about 15 years, said Rallo, a 1978 St. Catherines High School graduate. It was a process of getting the children on their own and being financially able to do it. I just thought it would be something to enjoy, just putting everything on your back and visiting places you have to walk to to see. There are occasional shelters along the way, but they are infested with mice. So Rallo usually pitched a tent he carried in his backpack. Lets just say that sleeping conditions were usually the antithesis of an overnight stay at the Rosewood Mayakoba in Mexico. Extreme reservations And extreme reservations began dogging Rallo one night early in the journey when he was cold, weary and sweaty as he pitched his tent in 19-degree cold. All your clothes are saturated with sweat and theres no place to dry them, he said. I shoved them in my sleeping bag so they didnt freeze, but in the morning, you have to put on a wet shirt and bundle up in layers. I had to put my feet in frozen boots. It did not snow that night, but condensation froze on the tent and there was like a half inch of slushy ice on my tent. I had to break it off, pack it up with all the wet stuff and just start walking. Rallo might have quit during those first weeks when a stubborn winter refused to let up, but someone with the trail name, Portugese, convinced him to gut it out. He told me I should never leave on a cold, wet, bad day, Rallo said. Countless rewards The upcoming miles his goal was to cover an average of 14.3 a day on a trail that often angled sharply upward for extended stretches would reveal countless rewards for Rallo. You can be mentally exhausted and hate it because youre walking up and its foggy and the rain is hitting you in the face, said Rallo, whose meals largely consisted of tuna fish, tortillas, peanut butter, sausage and cheese. And then when you get to the top, it can be crystal clear, you can see for miles and it just takes your breath away. And youre just like, Wow! Rallo cut short his ultimate journey in late June, 10 miles inside New Jersey when he was stricken by Lyme Disease. He had covered about 1,800 miles and the trail had given Rallo all it was going to give for the time being. Even though his son, Anthony, was 150 miles away in Connecticut, where he lives, a spent Rallo could will himself no longer. But while his journey was cut short, the trail revealed something so meaningful to Rallo, who was back in Racine July 4. When you listen to the news, you start to feel that the world is kind of an ugly place because all you see, really, is bad, Rallo said. Out there, I realized the world is a beautiful place and there are beautiful people in the world. Yes, you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 5 days to transfer the domain. Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred. For transfer instructions to GoDaddy, please click here. 250 artists to exhibit at the NAC International Watercolour Society Nepal will be hosting a watercolour exhibition in November, the organisers announced in the Capital on Sunday. Bilateral ties Dahal should seize the historic opportunity to shape Nepals long-term relations with India Book about lives of South Asias women combatants launched Garrisoned Minds, a book which reflects on the lives of women combatants including former Maoist combatants and other conflict zones in South Asia, was launched on Monday Buddha Air approved to provide MRO services Leading Nepali carrier Buddha Air has been granted a licence to provide maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services for the family of ATR and Beechcraft aircraft from its state-of-the-art closed-door hangar at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) Chief Justice for stern law against human trafficking Chief Justice Sushila Karki has said that the country should issue stern law to curb human trafficking. China warns on Hong Kong independence Anyone advocating for Hong Kong's independence could be punished, China warns, after young pro-democracy activists win seats on the Legislative Council Clarion call for swift implementation Stakeholders of the advertising and media industry on Monday stressed on the urgent implementation of Clean Feed Policy in advertising on the foreign television channels instead of gradual implementation over a year as mentioned in the policy. Prithvi Man Shrestha is a political reporter for The Kathmandu Post, covering the governance-related issues including corruption and irregularities in the government machinery. Before joining The Kathmandu Post in 2009, he worked at nepalnews.com and Rising Nepal primarily covering the issues of political and economic affairs for three years. Delayed reports from districts may push mid-Oct submission Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Monday reiterated that the Local Level Restructuring Commission (LLRC) would table its report next month and the local elections would be held by March next year. Fair price shops slated to open for Dashain The Ministry of Supplies is planning to open fair price shops in 36 locations across the country to provide essential commodities at relatively lower prices during the upcoming festivals of Dashain and Tihar. Govt breaching statute provision on purpose, says House committee Sushil Kumar Shrestha, chairman of the Social Justice and Human Rights Committee of Parliament, has lambasted the government for disregarding annual report of the National Human Rights Commission in a clear breach of constitution. Local difficulties There is a huge gap between peoples expectations and the delivery of public services MH370 families visit Australia as end date for search approaches Relatives of passengers from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 are in Australia to put pressure on the government as the end of the search approaches. Morcha: Forward amendment, care not for CPN-UML Madhes-based parties have said that the government should table the amendment proposal regardless of the main opposition CPN-UMLs position on resolving the disputes over the constitution. Nefta to travel to Dubai The ninth Nefta (Nepal Film Technicians Awards) is scheduled to be held on December 23 in Dubai, organisers made an official announcement during a press meet held in the Capital on Sunday. Obama calls off meeting with Philippine leader after 'whore' jibe US President Barack Obama has cancelled a meeting with controversial Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who had earlier called him a "son of a whore". PMs foreign visits may overshadow domestic priorities At a time when domestic commitments and compulsions weigh on Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, his five back-to-back foreign trips until November will stretch him further to deliver on his promises. Police book 118 taxis for fleecing passengers Traffic police have booked 118 taxis for overcharging passengers in the past week, with many of them found tampering with fare meters. Police inspector held for assisting ex-minister Gupta in extortion A Nepal Police inspector has been arrested for allegedly assisting former minister Shyam Sundar Gupta in extorting money from a woman. Police personnel physically assaulted An assistant sub inspector of police was reported physically assaulted by a group of youths while on duty in Dang. Police recover severed body of youth in Biratnagar An incident of gruesome murder gripped Biratnagar on Tuesday after dismantled body parts of a youth was found at Siddhartha Marga of Tintolia in Biratnagar sub-metropolitan-13. Police seize over 250 kilograms hashish Police confiscated a huge cache of hashish hidden in a truck (Na 3 Kha 6252) that was heading to Mugling from Dhading on Tuesday. Post-quake reconstruction: Govt prepares to up housing grant The government is making final preparations to increase the private housing reconstruction grant from existing Rs200,000 to Rs300,000 to each household, along with an additional Rs200,000 as a soft loan to over 700,000 earthquake-affected households in 14 most-affected districts. Quake photos exhibited in Dublin A photo exhibition was held at the Phoenix Park in Dublin on Sunday to mark the 16th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relationship between Nepal and Ireland. Royal Stag, Blenders Pride discontinue production Himalayan Distillery has stopped making two of its popular brands of whiskies Royal Stag and Blenders Pride. The production of these whiskies, originally owned by international chain Seagram, was terminated three months ago. Rs 50k cannot build a house: Quake victims Although the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) Sub-regional Office in Sindhupalchok has distributed the first tranche of the housing reconstruction grant (Rs 50,000) to 2,214 earthquake affected families in the district, the quake survivors have not started to construct new homes Scrub typhus claims six lives in five months Six persons have lost their lives owing to scrub typhus in the past five and half month in the country. Selection panel fails to appoint NT chief State-owned Nepal Telecom (NT) remains without a chief as the selection committee formed by the government to appoint a managing director has not been able to name a successor to Buddhi Prasad Acharya who stepped down after completing his tenure on Sunday. Serial killer in police net Saptari Police on Monday made public a suspected serial killer who was nabbed at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu on Sunday. The human trail Improving economic conditions in the country is key to curbing trafficking UK court acquits Col Lama on second count of torture A British court on Tuesday acquitted Nepal Army Colonel Kumar Lama on the second count of torture case against Janak Raut an alleged Maoist rebel. US Assistant Secy Biswal concludes Nepal visit US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Biswal concluded a two-day visit to Nepal on Monday. : 9 2013 . 9 . . Yes, its hard to to tell when one enters the city limits Yes, they will make the city more inviting Maybe ... does it really matter? No, the signs in place are fine No, it would be a waste of taxpayer dollars Vote View Results Eighteen months ago, Lucas Zellmer surprised a student he was working with, Austin, with a bike in honor of his high school graduation. The thoughtful gift allowed Austin to commute to a job and help support his family of 12 and inspired Zellmers philanthropic mission, Wheels for All, which is preparing to give away its 65th bike. Zellmer, 22, a Blooming Prairie, Minn., native and lifelong altruist, transferred to UW-L as a sophomore and began volunteering at Place of Grace, where he came across Austin, who was working on science homework. Zellmer, a biology major at the time, offered to tutor him and presented him with a bike the day he received his high school diploma. Hes a pretty quiet guy, so getting a smile out of him was a big deal, Zellmer said. Zellmer noticed many of the people who passed through Place of Grace were in need of transportation, and he set out to collect more bikes to distribute after seeking advice from Joani Heath and Sandy Brekke at the St. Clare Health Mission, where he is employed as a project coordinator. Community members in Blooming Prairie and La Crosse quickly got on board, filling his parents yard with donations and calling Zellmer to offer their old bikes. Zellmer uses his own funds or donations to purchase tires, chains, pedals and bike locks and spends around 10 hours a week doing repairs in the garage of a St. Clare Health Mission volunteer. Financial contributions from the Beer by Bike Brigade and Blue Heron Bikes have helped immensely, and the sisters at St. Rose Convent funded the purchase of 20 helmets. Everyone kind of realizes transportation is a huge need for homeless or impoverished individuals, and bikes are a good fit, Zellmer said. Quite a few of these people get a job and think, Uh oh, its either walk three miles or do something else. Zellmer gives bikes to people he meets while volunteering at Place of Grace and Coulee Cap or working at St. Clare Health Mission, in addition to taking referrals from area agencies. Zellmer personally delivers each bike and takes time to chat with the recipient. Ive learned that sometimes people just need something to go right for them, for someone to do something nice for them and change the tide, Zellmer said. We often have preconceived notions, but if you slow down and just talk to someone and hear their story, you can learn a lot. Zellmer stops to talk to those hes helped when he sees them riding around town. One man shared that he rode his bike to Oklahoma for the winter and back, and another thanked him with a homemade kite. Some mention their kids and Zellmer finds bikes for them as well. The kids hop on the bikes screaming and yelling. Theyre all ecstatic, Zellmer said. Its like Christmas to them. Transportation is big but exercise and recreation, especially for families, are the other biggies. Zellmer plans to start another round of fundraising in the winter before closing down shop when he goes to med school next year, and is looking to the community to continue the project in his absence. Im hoping to pass it on to someone, Zellmer said. But Im sure Ill never stop doing this. I always said Id take a break in the fall and then I gave out bikes all year. When I first started my goal was 10 bikes, and now its just about giving away as many as I can. For more information or to donate, visit Wheels for All, UA on facebook (www.facebook.com/wfalax). Jim Pauluss heart skipped a beat when the milkweed patch he is cultivating as a nursery for monarch butterflies appeared to have attracted some babes to his woods until he realized that the fuzzy striped caterpillars he spied were just cousins of the majestic monarchs. Like other wildlife enthusiasts, Paulus laments the demise of monarchs that has propelled efforts to have them declared endangered, largely because of human pesticide and herbicide use that has made milkweed scarce. The plants are the monarchs nurseries, food and home during their forays northward to their breeding grounds in the U.S. and Canada after their 3,400-mile flights from wintering sites in Mexican forests. I have some wooded property near Stoddard with a cluster of milkweed that Ive let grow for the purpose of attracting monarchs, said Paulus, who lives in Bridal Coulee in La Crosse just off Hwy. 33. The dozen or so striped caterpillars he saw munching on his milkweed last week stirred his hopes that his efforts had been rewarded. They looked similar to monarch caterpillars he recalled from memory, but he discovered otherwise upon researching the topic. Disappointed that the caterpillars actually would become the milkweed tussock moth aka as the other milkweed caterpillar Paulus nonetheless figured that they provided an opportunity to draw attention to the plight of the monarchs. I enjoy watching wildlife, and I picked up on them, he said. Sedum plants this time of year attract monarch butterflies. Paulus also has his eye on a 40-foot patch of milkweed along Hwy. 33 with hopes that it will become a monarch magnet. Ive been watching that. I persuaded the town of Shelby not to mow that milkweed, said Paulus, who is retired from the marketing department of the former Norplex Corp. in La Crosse. Paulus thus is part of an effort in the United States, Canada and Mexico to bring monarchs back from the brink of extinction. Pesticides and herbicides largely, Round Up that farmers and homeowners have used during the past two decades are the main culprits in the decimation. More than 1 billion monarchs vanished like ghosts in the mist between 1990 and 2015, leaving their numbers hovering around 33 million, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The monarch massacre prompted Fish and Wildlife to launch a partnership with two private conservation groups the National Wildlife Federation and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in a massive effort to grow milkweed to save the monarchs. The U.S. is trying to reintroduce milkweed on about 1,160 square miles within five years with a combination of planting and designating pesticide-free areas. Signs of a rebound have appeared, although experts say the threat is far from over. The area that monarch wings cover in mountains west of Mexico City last season was more than 3.5 times bigger than the previous winter, according to population counts. The butterflies clump so thickly in the pine and fir forests that nose counts are impossible, so the tallies are based on how much area the wings cover. In December, the butterflies stretched over 10 acres, compared with 2.8 acres in 2014 and a record low of 1.66 acres in 2013. Still, that is a far cry from the 44 acres they covered 20 years ago. The news is good, but at the same time we shouldnt let our guard down, Omar Vidal, director of the World Wildlife Fund in Mexico, said in February. Now more than ever, Mexico, the United States and Canada should increase their conservation efforts to protect and restore the habitat of this butterfly along its migratory route, Vidal was quoted as saying in an Associated Press report. The Washington, D.C.-based Center for Biological Diversity, which is advocating endangered species status for the monarchs, lamented that the butterflies are still only at 68 percent of their 22-year average. The migration is an inherited trait, and it is unclear how the monarchs find their way back to the same patches of pine forest in Mexico each year. Some scientists suggest that butterflies release chemicals marking the migratory path. If their numbers fall too low, the chemical traces will not be strong enough for others to follow, those scientists contend. Peril looms even south of the boarder, where illegal logging in Mexico, cut huge swaths from monarchs wintering grounds around a designated reserve that UNESCO has declared a World Heritage site. Illegal logging plundered more than 22 acres in 2015, but authorities detected the cutting and arrested several people in an attempt to stem the slashing. The forest canopy acts as a blanket against the cold as the butterflies huddle on branches. The logging took place in a particularly sensitive area of the reserve, monarch expert Lincoln Brower wrote in a research paper. If butterflies cant find shelter there, they may be forced into forested areas with less microclimatic protection, exposing them to potential death in cold and rain, Brower wrote. Alejandro del Mazo, the head of Mexicos protected natural areas, hailed the three countries cooperation and said they expect to achieve their goal of having 220 million butterflies in the reserve by 2020. About 140 million were there this past season, del Mazo said. This is a motivation for us to continue building bridges between our three countries, not walls, Del Mazo said. Artist, spiritual and community leader Jerilyn Dinsmoor of Onalaska died unexpectedly Sunday. Dinsmoor, who most recently served as executive director of the La Crosse Promise, was 56. The organization, which provides in-school college guidance counselors and offers scholarship money to families who build in La Crosses core neighborhoods, announced her death Tuesday and vowed to continue her work revitalizing the city and helping students go to college. A fabric artist, Dinsmoor led La Crosse's Pump House arts center from 1987 to 1994. She graduated in 2012 from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities with a masters degree in theology and taught courses in leadership and creativity at Viterbo University before becoming the first executive director of the La Crosse Promise in 2013. Jerry Kember, a former La Crosse school superintendent who served on the Promise board, said he recommended Dinsmoor for the executive director job when he realized her talents and interests made her a perfect fit. Shes taken that program to a level we never imagined, Kember said. Her leadership has been a tremendous asset to this community. A first-generation college graduate, Dinsmoor understood education had the potential to be a life-altering event. She also worked from 2004 to 2011 as a youth director at First Congregational Church, where she led summer trips to inner-city neighborhoods around the country. During visits to such cities as Chicago, New York and San Antonio, her students would spend their days volunteering in shelters and soup kitchens and their nights learning about the structural causes of poverty. Tourists don't see the parts of the cities we saw, she said in a 2013 interview. A sexist banner hung near the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse campus during move-in has upset a number of people in the community after social media drew attention to the incident. A group of UW-L students and their friends hung a banner off their apartment balcony on North 15th Street Friday afternoon that offered a lewd sexual act for those with a valid freshman ID. By Sunday, the banner had gone viral on social media after UW-L student Demi Dahl shared Instagram photos taken by the students who hung the banner. An unfortunate example of promoting rape culture on the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Campus, Dahls Facebook post read. You may think this was a harmless joke but the reality is that the more we see posts like this online, the more rape culture is normalized in our society. By Tuesday morning, the post had been shared more than 1,650 times and had received more than 75 comments. Most congratulated Dahl for her post and drawing attention to sexism on the UW-L campus, while a few others defended the actions of the male students as a harmless and immature joke. Keep speaking out Demi, one person posted. Only way to raise awareness and make change. When asked to comment on her post and the incident, Dahl referred reporters to UW-L administration. Ingrid Peterson, the violence prevention coordinator at UW-L, said the issue of sexual violence and harassment is a big deal for many students, especially during their first few weeks on campus. Between one-in-five and one-in-four college females will be the victim of sexual assault during their academic career, she said, with that number one-in-10 for male students. While the sign didnt threaten physical violence, it did objectify womens bodies, treating them like sexual objects instead of human beings, which contributes to a culture where women do not feel safe on campus. We want UW-L to be a home for all students, she said. These acts disrupt that for people. Theyre insulting and off-putting and can make people feel fearful. As campuses do more to combat sexism and sexual assault, more attention has been drawn to these incidents, especially as they can be easily documented on social media. According to USA Today, the Sigma Nu chapter at Old Dominion University was suspended in 2015 after hanging banners that read Freshman daughter drop off. That same year, Ohio State was in the news for similar offensive banners telling parents where to drop off their daughters. UW-L vice chancellor for student life Paula Knudson said she learned about the incident on Saturday after a number of students reported the banner and its negative impact on the community. She said she has identified the students and reached out to them to have a conversation about the incident and how inappropriate it was. One of the students who reported the banner was UW-L senior Grace Mortenson, who said she was verbally accosted by the male students on the balcony when she came back to take pictures of the banner. She said she was taken aback when she saw it, and immediately felt uncomfortable and fearful of the impact it would have on others. I am disappointed that anyone thought that it was OK or funny, she said. This wasnt just a joke in passing. It was premeditated. Bubba Davis, a sophomore at UW-L and one of the residents in the apartment where the banner was hung, said he and his friends came up with the idea after seeing a similar post on a social media site dedicated to fraternity life. He said hanging the banner was obviously a vulgar joke, but the banner only hung during the evening on Friday after move-in hours and he and his friends were sorry that people were hurt by it. He said people have responded online by threatening him and his friends with violence or calling them rapists and part of rape culture. While immature, he said the sign didnt threaten force or violence against anyone. To call us rapists is insulting, he said. I just thought it would get attention for one day and cause a couple of laughs. Many of the female students walking to and from classes Tuesday morning near the apartment had heard about or seen the banner. Many called it offensive, in poor taste or an immature joke that shouldnt have been done. Others agreed it was in poor taste, but with the backlash online, hoped the students had learned their lesson. Other students said they were shocked to see something like this in La Crosse, and that the banner was rude and inappropriate no matter what. One student said these comments shouldnt be taken lightly, especially as colleges focus more and more on the issue of sexual violence. Elizabeth Gogolin, a junior at UW-L, said the banner was definitely offensive, and couldnt see why people would think it was just a harmless joke. A lot of people deal with trauma due to sexual violence, she said, and it is embarrassing that UW-L is added to the list of universities that have had a sexist move-in banner like this go viral. I was kind of taken aback, she said. Ive seen the banner a lot on social media. I didnt expect to see something like this here. As college students head back to school, parents and taxpayers both groups increasingly subsidizing higher education rightfully expect these students will work hard to make the most of this significant investment. Unfortunately, data from the American Time Use Survey, conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, indicate otherwise. During the academic year, the average full-time college student spends only 8.3 hours per week in class and 11 hours per week on homework and other education-related activities. By contrast, the average high school student spends 23.9 hours per week in class and 6.3 hours per week on homework and other activities. Considering how little time college students put into their studies, it is no surprise that nationwide, less than 19 percent of full-time students attending non-flagship public universities and 36 percent of full-time students attending flagships earn their bachelors degrees within four years. Many arent even trying to finish in a timely fashion. A study by researchers from Northwestern University suggests, Most full-time students do not take the credits necessary to graduate on schedule opting instead for lighter course loads that put them on five- and six-year plans. Many also fall behind by losing credits when transferring and taking remedial coursework. If college students were spending most of their time in college leisurely, graduating in six years, but financing their education on their own, the repercussions of this trend would be contained to individuals. However, students are able to borrow up to the full cost of attendance, which includes tuition, fees, room and board, books, and other miscellaneous living expenses. And the federal government now controls 93 percent of all student loans, 43 percent of which are either in default or delinquent. Additionally, the Obama administration promulgates legislation that would offer loan forgiveness to students who enter the public sector. Unfortunately, these misguided policies leave taxpayers on the hook for a students college years, only a fraction of which is spent acquiring skills. Worse, research has shown that increased access to federal aid encourages colleges and universities to raise their tuition prices. So while access to federal aid increases, so do tuition costs, and the time spent working in college remains extremely low. This is a bad deal for American taxpayers. A better option is to restore private lending in the marketplace. We need to rein in the virtually unrestricted access that students have to federal student aid. Reversing the incentives for colleges and universities to raise their tuition prices would make it easier for more students to pay for college without government assistance. Once students, rather than American taxpayers, are held financially responsible for their time spent in college, students may spend less time partying and more time studying. How old do citizens have to be to vote for president? the immigration officer asked during the civics portion of my U.S. citizenship test. Easy, I thought. I answered confidently: Eighteen. Wrong. I had two more chances. Um, at least eighteen? Wrong again. I had one more chance. I started to panic. What else could it be? I had memorized all the dates (1776, 1787, 1803, 1812) and numbers (27 amendments, 435 voting members in the House) that could trip me up. I needed to answer six of 10 civics questions correctly, and I wasnt too worried until this point. Eighteen, I repeated. The officer noted that was my first answer. I know, I said. I just dont know what else it could be. The correct answer was 18 and older. It was the greatest test of my self-control not to argue about semantics with the immigration officer. I wanted to tell her: Listen, I know exactly how old you need to be to vote. Ive desperately wanted to vote since I turned 18, and I still cant. Thats why Im sitting in front of you right now. But I bit my tongue; I was too close to finally getting naturalized. I recalled this exchange recently, on my fifth anniversary of becoming a citizen. I realized I am just as upset now as I was in that moment five years ago. I was frustrated, because I just wanted to legally become an American and earn the right to vote something that so many natural-born Americans take for granted, even long after they turn 18. This question, and the answer, was deeply personal to me. Three years before I took my test, I was a junior at Emory University. It was 2008, and I was 20 years old. The fall semester began with campus rallies and speeches by politicians, and everyone was talking about the election. I wished I could vote and was disappointed I couldnt. I was just coming into my political and civic awareness, and starting to figure out my social and fiscal values. I cared about my money, job opportunities and the world Id be entering after graduating. I wanted to vote for leaders who reflected my values and shared my concerns. But as a permanent resident of the United States and a green-card holder, I was ineligible to vote. Too many Americans sit out by choice. Just 67 percent of adults in a Washington Post-ABC poll last month said they were absolutely certain to vote. Nine percent said the chances were 50-50, and 10 percent said the chances were less than that. Six percent said they would not vote. Actual turnout is pathetic. In 2012, 59 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the general election. The turnout rate has not surpassed 65 percent since at least 1948, according to the U.S. Elections Project. The top excuse among Americans who didnt vote in 2014 was: They were too busy. This year, voters are distrustful of both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The candidates are unpopular with many voters, and many people have election news fatigue. Fifty-two percent of registered voters have an unfavorable impression of Clinton and 61 percent of registered voters view Trump unfavorably, the Post-ABC poll found. As of mid-July, 59 percent of Americans reported feeling exhausted by the election coverage, the Pew Research Center found. As someone who spends all day writing about untruths uttered by political candidates, I get it. Its a tough choice, but it doesnt mean you should choose to sit out. I was naturalized on Aug. 5, 2011. I wore a red dress, white sandals and a blue bracelet. I sat in the front row and filled out my voter registration form before the ceremony began. The judge told us to embrace our new civic duties, by voting and serving on a jury without complaining. I legally became Michelle that day, and I made Ye Hee my middle name. I still go by both names. I submitted my voter registration form at the booth outside the courtroom. My colleagues at the Arizona Republic in Phoenix threw me a surprise American-themed party with hot dogs, apple pies, root beer floats and U.S. flags. I voted in my first presidential election in 2012 and got my I Voted sticker. I immediately posted it all over social media. There are legitimate challenges to voter access that keep eligible people from voting. For example, turnout is less consistent in poorer neighborhoods, where people may not be able to afford to take time off to cast a ballot. But the top reasons eligible voters didnt vote in 2012 and 2014 were unrelated to voter access: too busy, not interested, not liking the issues or simply forgetting. In 2012, just 2.7 percent of people who didnt vote said they couldnt find a polling place, and 5.5 percent had a registration issue. In that election the first one I could take part in nearly one out of every five people who didnt vote said they skipped it because they were too busy. Its as if voting is a luxury, something you do if you remember to do it, and if youre not too bored by it. You shouldnt need a ceremony with a federal judge to understand that voting isnt just a matter of convenience. About 700,000 people each year become naturalized U.S. citizens. They have earned it over years of assimilation out of will or necessity and thousands of dollars for legal representation and in application fees. But every election year, there are people who desperately wish they could have a say in the country they love and arent eligible to do so yet like me in 2008. So vote this fall. If youre tired of Trump and Clinton, look into third-party candidates or spend your energy researching your state or local elections. If youre too busy, request an early ballot and mail it in. Vote, because its your right and privilege, one you were either lucky enough to be born with, or resilient enough to earn. Vote that is, if youre 18 and older. MADISON Jim Schmidt, the energetic chancellor of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, breaks it down to dollars and cents when he explains why students shouldnt dally in their pursuit of a bachelors degree from his campus in northwest Wisconsin. It costs $50,000 to stay a fifth year, Schmidt often tells students who enrolled without a solid plan to graduate in four years. His sobering estimate includes wages lost to delays in joining the workforce plus the cost of an extra years tuition and fees. Schmidt isnt trying to boot students out of the nest if they cant earn a degree within the traditional four-year span. Rather, Schmidt wants incoming students and their parents to know a planning tool exists to help them avoid a costly fifth year: the UW-Eau Claire Graduation Contract. Its a new concept that deserves watching as UW System leaders and state policymakers come to grips with the sometimes related issues of tuition payments and student debt. Much like contracts in other aspects of life, the UW-Eau Claire Graduation Contract is a written agreement that spells out the responsibilities of both parties. The university promises to work with students to create four-year graduation plans through regular meetings with academic advisors, whose pay is judged in part on how well they help students stay on track. New students who sign contracts will pledge to meet with their advisors each semester, register for classes on time, identify a major by the end of their second semester and take 30 credits per academic year. Most bachelors degrees require 120 credits. The contract allows for orderly withdrawal from classes and changes in the declared major, which happens for at least half of all college students. It also anticipates internships and study abroad, two areas in which UW-Eau Claire shines. About half of all students take on internships, more than 45 percent conduct undergraduate research, and the campus ranks among the nations top 12 in the percentage of students (about one-third) who study in other countries. The contract doesnt say, You must graduate in four years, but it offers a clear pathway for those who want to do so, Schmidt said. Its a shared responsibility. This is all about the discipline of making a plan. According to a 2013 report from the Chronicle of Higher Education, only 28.7 percent of the students in the UW System graduated in four years and 59.3 percent in six years. The rest dropped out altogether or took time off, perhaps to pursue a job or resume their studies later. Schmidt said UW-Eau Claires four-year graduation rate is 34.3 percent and has been improving for five years. The average time to graduation is 4.7 years. The campus goal is a 50 percent four-year graduation rate, which Schmidt believes will be achieved with the help of the contract and other metrics. By way of comparison, the UW-Madisons four-year graduation rate was reported at 55 percent. Private universities in Wisconsin have long embraced strategies to speed time to graduation. According to the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, the four-year graduation rate for first-time, full-time students who began and stayed at a private college is 68 percent higher than the rate for public campuses. This enables graduates to pay less tuition and to start earning sooner, reported a WAICU publication. Thats precisely Schmidts point when he says a fifth year at Eau Claire costs the typical student $50,000. No matter where a student attends college, the concept is the same: Attend college for five or six years and youre more likely to run short on money and high on debt. Thats true even in Wisconsin, where in-state tuition at public universities is lower than in-state tuition rates in other Upper Midwest states. As Gov. Scott Walker and the Legislature redesign the states blanket freeze on UW System tuition hikes, graduation contracts offer a performance standard by which campuses can be judged. Campuses that get more students out on time should have leeway to charge tuition rates that help accomplish that goal. Everyone benefits when colleges are producing well-educated workers faster. From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report. There is a popular saying in the English language: Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me. Well, that is not true. Unkind words, name-calling or even the so-called the silent treatment can hurt children as much as being physically hit, sometimes even more so. A recent study of middle school children showed that verbal abuse by other children can harm development in the brain. The study was a project of researchers at Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts. Researcher Martin Teicher and his team studied young adults, ages 18 to 25. These young men and women had no experience with domestic violence, sexual abuse or physical abuse by their parents. The researchers asked the young people to rate their childhood exposure to verbal abuse from both parents and other children. Then the researchers performed imaging tests on the brains of the subjects. The images showed that the individuals who reported suffering verbal abuse from their peers in middle school had underdeveloped connections between the left and right side of the brain. The two sides of the brain are connected by a large bundle of connecting fibers called the corpus callosum. This was the area that was underdeveloped. The middle school years are a time when these brain connections are developing. So, unkind, hurtful comments from children or adults during this period had the greatest effect. The researchers tested the mental and emotional condition of all the young people in the study. The tests showed that this same group of individuals had higher levels of fear, depression, anger and drug abuse than others in the study. The researchers published their findings online on the American Journal of Psychiatrys website. We cannot control what other people say to our children. But we can prepare them. A website called CreativeWithKids.com suggests 64 things that all children need to hear. Here, are our top 20. I am curious what you think. You are creative. I believe in you. You can ask for help. You make me smile I have faith in you. You are imperfect. So am I. You are a good friend. I will do my best to keep you safe. Trust your instincts. My world is better with you in it. I love you. Its fun to do things with you. You are valuable. Your choices matter. You can change your mind. You make a difference. Im ready to listen. You can learn from your mistakes. Im proud of you. Share one or more of these statements with a child in your life. Actually, maybe we all need to hear some of these statements. Choose another and say it to an adult you care about. Im Anna Matteo. Anna Matteo wrote this for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story peer n. a person who belongs to the same age group or social group as someone else curious adj. having a desire to learn or know more about something or someone creative adj. having or showing an ability to make new things or think of new ideas faith n. strong belief or trust in someone or something instinct n. something you know without learning it or thinking about it : a natural ability valuable adj. very useful or helpful proud adj. having a feeling of pleasure or satisfaction especially with a person's own achievements or with someone else's achievements Islamic State (IS) fighters are being forced from cities and towns across Iraq and Syria. But as IS forces withdraw, they increasingly leave behind death and destruction. They have caused major damage to local economies and harmed the people they already terrorized. Recently, a VOA reporter visited the oil-rich town of Qayyarah, 60 kilometers south of the city of Mosul. IS forces controlled the town for more than two years -- until last week, when Iraqi forces captured it. The militants damaged the town's roads and other infrastructure before they left. They also damaged or destroyed many homes. Oil wells were set on fire. This caused major damage to the economy and the environment. Local reports said at least 10 oil fields were destroyed. Hussein Jasim lives in Qayyarah. He said Islamic State fighters destroyed the oil fields because they knew how important they were to the towns economy. Iraqi military officials said the towns military base was also destroyed. Colonel Karim Radwan is an Iraqi military officer who led the attack against the IS forces. He said the base is not usable now. IS bombed the infrastructure of the base. The airbase at Qayyarah was important for the Iraqi air force before it was captured by IS in June, 2014. The United States military used the base for several years after U.S. and allied troops entered Iraq in 2003. Radwan said it will take a lot of time and money before the airfield can be used again. People in the town said they paid IS fighters a lot of money, and suffered mentally from the towns occupation. Jasim said, We either had to pay them or get slaughtered. Because of the destruction, many people say they will not return to the town for a long time. Many people who lived there fled to the Kurdish area of Iraq or other nearby areas that were still under government control. Wahid Khalaf said he fled with his family as the [Iraqi] forces were liberating [Qayyarah]. He told VOA he and his children walked for seven hours to reach safe areas, taking many dangerous routes. Another resident -- who did not want to be named -- said thousands of families were affected by the terrorists when they controlled the town. These families have no homes or anything. They have nowhere to go, he said, watching people crowded in a truck, fleeing the town. Experts say IS seeks to cause damage and suffering that lasts long after they have left a town. This is exactly what IS wants, said Hamid Majeed, a political observer. They want to show people that their lives would be even more miserable after [IS] no longer controls their territories. Im Christopher Jones-Cruise. Kawa Omar reported this story from Iraq for VOANews.com. VOAs Sirwan Kajjo provided additional information from Washington. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted the story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story destruction n. the act or process of damaging something so badly that it no longer exists or cannot be repaired; the act or process of destroying something infrastructure n. the basic equipment and structures (such as roads and bridges) that are needed for a country, region or organization to function properly route n. a way that someone or something regularly travels along resident n. someone who lives in a particular place slaughter - v. to kill an animal for food; to kill many people in a violent way miserable - adj. very unhappy; very severe or unpleasant Donald Trump is making Americas immigration policy the top issue of his presidential campaign. At a speech on Wednesday, Trump said illegal immigrants are responsible for many violent crimes. And he said they represent a terrorism threat to the United States. Trump told a crowd in Arizona that illegal immigration is also an economic threat. He said it can cost Americans jobs or force them to work for lower wages. Trump, a New York businessman, is the Republican Partys candidate for the presidency. The candidate of the Democratic Party is Hillary Clinton, a former secretary of state, senator and the wife of former President Bill Clinton. The U.S. presidential election is November 8. Some observers expected Trump to moderate some of the positions on immigration during the Arizona speech. But that did not happen. Trump called for a tripling of immigration agents to enforce immigration laws and remove illegal immigrants with criminal records. And he repeated his call for building a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. They Dont Know It Yet We will build a great wall along the southern border, Trump said. And Mexico will pay for the wall. One hundred percent. They dont know it yet, but theyre going to pay for it. Hillary Clinton opposes a border wall. Clinton has said she will push a bill in Congress to give immigrants without legal documentation a path toward citizenship. Stephen Brooks is with the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron in Ohio. He said Trump continues to appeal to voters who worry that a long-time goal of many Americans is no longer possible for them and their families. That goal is to hand down a better life for their children. Many believe that is out of reach and they blame -- whether fairly or not -- immigration and trade, Brooks said. Many of these voters are white men, Brooks said. Many live in areas where factories that produced clothing, steel and other products are gone. So are the high-paying jobs those businesses provided. White, working-class voters helped Trump surprise the experts and defeat 16 other candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. Trumps problem is that these voters may not be enough to win a general election, with an increasingly diverse group of voters, Brooks said. More Hispanic Voters In 2012, 71 percent of Hispanic voters chose President Barack Obama over his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney. A public opinion survey in July found that 82 percent of Hispanic voters have an unfavorable view of Trump. Jacob Monty is an immigration lawyer from Texas. He served on the National Hispanic Advisory Committee for Donald Trump. Monty resigned from the committee after the Arizona speech. He said the candidates immigration positions did not match what Trump told him and other committee members. Its a sad day because I am no fan of Hillary Clinton, Monty told television broadcaster MSNBC. A record 27.3 million Hispanics have the legal right to vote, according to the Pew Research Center. Brooks said Trump is also having trouble with many white college graduates, especially women, who consider Trumps message too divisive. Just hours before his speech, Trump traveled to Mexico City to meet with Mexican President (Enrique) Pena Nieto. The candidate used diplomatic language, saying a Trump administration would work together with Mexican leaders to secure the U.S.-Mexico border. When he first announced his candidacy in June 2015, Trump said Mexico was sending people bringing drugs, bringing crime and rapists. 'Spectacular, Spectacular Hard-Working Poeple' In Mexico City, Trump said Mexican-Americans are spectacular, spectacular hard-working people. David Damore teaches political science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He said it almost seemed as if there were two Donald Trumps speaking on Wednesday. For the Mexico trip, Damore said, it was Trump being civil and reaching out to an important U.S. ally. But in the Arizona speech, Trump sent a strong message to his supporters that he is not backing down from strong immigration policies and tough language, Damore said. Writer and political commentator Ann Coulter had expressed concern that Trump was no longer calling for tough policies against illegal immigration. But she praised him after the Arizona speech. I hear (former British Prime Minister Winston) Churchill had a nice turn of phrase, but Trump's immigration speech is the most magnificent speech ever given, she wrote on Twitter. But Damore and Brooks said the language Trump used in his Phoenix speech turns off many wealthy and well-educated white voters. Im Bruce Alpert. Bruce Alpert reported this story for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section and share your views on our Facebook Page. _______________________________________________________________ Islamic State forces have often used images of child soldiers as a propaganda tool. One of the latest examples was a video released last week. It showed five children appearing to execute a group of Kurdish prisoners in Syria. The SITE Intelligence Group studies the official statements and online activities of extremists. The group identified the young boys as being British, Egyptian, Kurdish, Tunisian and Uzbek. The SITE website said the video was filmed in the city of Raqqa. IS propaganda machine Islamic State (IS) has produced many other propaganda videos. Some show children as young as four years old carrying out executions. The videos also showed students attending IS schools and boys receiving military training and shooting weapons. The exact number of children who have received training at Islamic State camps is not known. But the United States-based Combating Terrorism Center has estimated there are at least 1,500 active child soldiers fighting for IS. While the abuse of children by IS forces is well known, there are new concerns about other groups recruiting young soldiers. Militias also recruiting children Human Rights Watch said it recently found evidence that two Iraqi government-supported militias recruited children from a camp for displaced civilians. The group said the militias, in Iraqs northern Kurdistan area, are made up of Sunni fighters. They're expected to play an important part in the upcoming fight to recapture the IS-held city of Mosul. The Iraqi leadership has predicted that government forces will retake Mosul by the end of the year. Bill Van Esveld is a childrens rights researcher for Human Rights Watch. He said witnesses and relatives told the group that the militias took at least seven children from a camp to an area near Mosul to prepare for the offensive. We think that what we documented is a real warning sign, and that it needs to be addressed publicly and firmly. And there should be a zero tolerance policy for child recruitment by any militias. Van Esveld said the concern is that child soldiers will be fighting against each other in the battle for Mosul. He added that unlike Islamic State, the militias did not force the children to join. But although they joined as volunteers, he said, all sides need to take steps not to accept fighters under age 18. Human Rights Watch was told by a member of the militias they were being paid directly by the Iraqi government, according to Van Esveld. He said Iraq and its allies have a responsibility to take steps to stop the recruitment and use of child soldiers. Call for Iraqi government action There are simple steps that could be put in place to check peoples ages, make sure that they present identification documents that are genuine. So that, that really needs to happen, otherwise we're gonna have children fighting each other on the front lines. Van Esveld said that some of the young volunteer recruits want to fight against IS forces because they were forced out of their homes by the militant group. He added that there has been a big push by militias in recent weeks to increase their numbers before the battle for Mosul. John Horgan is a professor at Georgia State University and an expert on terrorism and political violence. He said the number of child fighters has reached crisis levels. We are looking at a level of [child] mobilization that is unprecedented and increasing, he said. Horgan said that for years, Islamic State has aggressively recruited children to be soldiers and suicide bombers. He said those who escaped have described the horrors they had been though. Some children were sexually assaulted as part of their training. Some were beaten by sticks. They slept on flea-ridden mattresses and were beaten and bullied if they faltered even for a second, Horgan said. These young fighters and other children displaced or held captive by Islamic State will suffer from many physical and psychological problems for years, he added. Child crisis predicted after Mosul battle Human Rights Watchs Bill Van Esveld agrees. He said this will create serious problems affecting a large number of children once the battle for Mosul is over. We can expect to see other kids with real psychological issues, mental health issues, coming out of prolonged periods of abuse and, and deprivation and military training and participation in battles. Van Esveld said another problem will be that many surviving children will have no parents. Some were born as a result of rape. Others were taken away from families or their parents were killed. These children will be in great need of all kinds of physical and psychological support, as well as education. Theres a lot of serious heavy lifting to be done on this issue, and it hasnt really started yet, he said. Im Bryan Lynn. Bryan Lynn reported this story for VOA Learning English, with additional reporting from VOA correspondent Sharon Behn. Material also came from the Associated Press and Reuters. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. What are your thoughts on children being used as soldiers by governments and militant groups? Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story recruit v. to convince someone to join a cause or force zero tolerance n. not to accept any level of a certain behavior genuine adj. real, authentic, not fake unprecedented adj. never having happened before falter v. to make mistakes, be weak or not succeed deprivation n. be denied access to something people need MULLEN To live in the Nebraska Sandhills is to know its beautiful fragility and to fight anything that upsets its delicate balance between life and land. Its what prompted some 150 ranchers and townsfolk to give up a peaceful summer night last week to assess what wind energy might or might not do, and has already done, to disturb that hard-won balance. Their peace has been disturbed by two Cherry County wind-energy projects, proposed by some of their own neighbors, and Nebraska Public Power Districts planned Sandhills electrical line that would boost the utilitys power-carrying capacity but also facilitate future wind farms. Whether they like these plans or not and most in the room didnt the folks who crammed Mullens Bullseye community building dont like the divisions theyve caused in this region where property rights and community cooperation are equally valued. I have friends on both sides of this issue. I intend to maintain those friendships no matter what happens in this deal, Seneca-area rancher Hyde Kramer told the crowd. But we can stop their moneymaking scheme. Organizers of the two-hour meeting assembled a four-member panel, equally divided between wind-energy backers and skeptics, and made the audience submit questions in writing to prevent angry outbursts. Those who spoke voiced a belief usually unspoken in rural Nebraska. They need jobs and new residents to stop 80 years of shrinking populations, but they fear too much economic development especially the environmentally risky kind could gravely damage the natural, animal and human communities they cherish. In very rural areas, economic development is a hard thing to come by, said panelist Kevin Willert, who lived near wind farms in southwest Minnesota before buying a ranch southwest of Valentine in 2015. But what is the tradeoff of more tax dollars vs. what we want to look at out our car window when we drive down the highway? he added. The moderators opening and closing presentations, highlighted by a MidAmerican Energy video showing construction of an Iowa wind turbine, revealed a deep skepticism about efforts to build 30 turbines near Kilgore and up to 150 turbines in southeast Cherry County near Thedford not to mention what might come next. Foes warned of lasting environmental damage from thousands of construction trucks and the impact of hundreds of heavy turbines and high-voltage towers on humans, wildlife and the thin layer of grasslands atop the hills of sand. Privately-built wind farms have arisen in other parts of the Sandhills, joining a 36-turbine wind farm near Ainsworth that NPPD built itself in 2005 as a pilot project. But opponents cited privately built wind farms in other states that went bankrupt, leaving local residents and governments with unpaid tax bills holding the bag. When Sandhills Wind Energy LLC President Eric Johnson said Cherry County project backers are responsible for building or restoring private or public roads, one moderator replied: You know, I just cant help but ask, because I know other people are thinking this: Do we just take your word on that, or can we see documentation? You dont really have to take my word on it for Kilgore, because the only public road that will be used is [U.S.] Highway 20, Johnson answered. The Nebraska Department of Roads already has said the highway will stand up to the added traffic, he said. The audiences disdain for the twin energy initiatives was hardly soothed by a recent legal setback for Dan and Barbara Welch, ranchers in both Cherry and Thomas counties, in a lawsuit challenging NPPDs plan to build its R Project line across their property south of Thedford. Announced in 2013, the R Project would run 225 miles from NPPDs coal-fired Gerald Gentleman plants near Sutherland to near Clearwater in Holt County. The final route released in early 2015 would carry 345,000 volts of power north and east to U.S. Highway 83 near Stapleton, then follow the highway north to Thedford before turning east. Construction is on hold pending completion of an environmental impact statement from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NPPD Chief Operating Officer Tom Kent told the Telegraph. The utility, which was not represented at the Mullen meeting, rejected an alternate route offered by the agency in 2014. The Welches didnt attend the Mullen meeting, either, but Dan Welch told the Telegraph that hell do anything he can to protect the land and wildlife to which he returned in the late 1980s. His familys Sandhills roots date to the 1880s, but his fathers World War II military service meant he was born in Florida and mostly grew up in the South. Cherry County, Thomas County, Hooker County, Grant County theyre some of the most beautiful places in the world, said Welch, 71, who also spent a few childhood years in south Omaha. But people who live in the Sandhills know blowouts can start with a shovel. Mullen panelist A.D. Cox, who ranches northwest of Mullen, put the opponents position most bluntly. I oppose development of Cherry County for wind energy because it is holistically unsound to prostitute our land, our serenity, our hills and our community and our way of life for a fiscally irresponsible project. Thats the last thing Cherry County backers of wind farms want to do, insisted Cherry County Wind LLC President Matt Coble, who ranches northeast of Mullen, and Johnson, who works out of Valentine. Both men grew up in Cherry County Coble on his current spread and Johnson in the Cody-Kilgore area but then received college degrees and worked in Midwest cities before returning since the turn of the millennium. They joined Cox and Willert in declaring their determination to keep hundreds or thousands of wind turbines from sprouting like invasive weeds. The Cherry County Wind projects, they added, grew from homegrown efforts to control wind development after a multinational energy producer showed interest in the county a few years ago. Though the producer later backed away, Coble said, enough Cherry County landowners signed leases for county officials to realize they lacked the legal means to say where projects can and cannot be built. The County Board subsequently amended the countys zoning regulations, he said. Meanwhile, several dozen landowners organized the Cherry County Wind Energy Association in 2011 after public meetings in Nenzel, Valentine, Mullen and Thedford. Cherry County Wind LLC, organized a year later, includes some 70 landowners representing 450,000 acres. But only about 1 percent of that area will ever be suitable for wind farms, Coble told the Telegraph. A lot of people think we would put towers on every hill in the Sandhills. We wouldnt even want that, he said. Theres particular places that would have the particular types of soil. The last factor is transmission. You have to find the places that can environmentally handle it that are close to the transmission lines. The Kilgore and Thedford-area sites are the only ones in the 6,009-square-mile county that fit both conditions, Coble and Johnson said at the Mullen meeting and in subsequent interviews. Construction at Kilgore could start this winter, they said, while the Thedford-area project isnt expected to get under way before 2018. But only the latter project lies close enough to the R Project route to link with that line, Coble and Johnson said. The Kilgore project would link to an existing transmission line in northern Cherry County. If the R Project somehow werent built, Coble said, the Thedford-area project would collapse. And he and Johnson said neither wind farm will be built if they cant build connector electrical lines without landowners permission or without doing environmental damage they cant mitigate. Both insisted that neither their projects nor any other privately built wind farms enjoy eminent-domain powers. Kent, the NPPD chief operating officer, agreed that private energy developers are blocked by state law from latching onto NPPDs authority. As a nonprofit, Kent added, it makes no sense for NPPD to build more turbines itself because federal tax credits are only available to private projects. The utility also is already near its goal of generating 10 percent of its power from renewable sources, he added. At the end of the day, NPPD is not looking right now to develop more renewable energy resources, Kent said. But he admitted that current NPPD board members cannot prevent future ones from encouraging more wind projects. The utility also might be forced to do so under the federal governments Clean Power Plan, which imposes stronger nationwide restrictions on coal-based electric generation and favors more renewable-energy sources. The U.S. Supreme Court delayed the federal plan last February. Questioners and listeners at the Mullen meeting were clearly worked up by the R Project and especially an Aug. 22 court ruling against the Welches. The bend in the R would start and run across the southern spread of the Thomas County portion of the couples Brush Creek Ranch operation. That route, Welch said, would take the high-voltage lines directly above the cattle-loading pens on that property. He had a pacemaker installed a few years ago, and doctors have forbidden him to work at those pens if the line goes through, he added. The Welches, who live at the ranchs Cherry County headquarters near Brownlee, say NPPD entered their Thomas County land for survey work on April 14 without permission and after breaking a promise made the previous day not to enter without a court order. NPPD denied in court documents that it ever made such a promise. District Judge Donald Rowlands of North Platte ruled that NPPD had legal authority under state law to do survey work, though he permitted the Welches to seek possible damages for the utilitys operation of vehicles on their pastures. Survey crews are expected to return this week, Welch said. Kent said NPPD has adjusted the route through some individual properties after landowner input at public hearings and comment periods. But he said the Welches rebuffed all attempts to negotiate before the April confrontations that prompted the lawsuit. Welch said NPPDs ears were closed long before they tried to contact him. The utility will tell you they had meetings, he said. We spoke at those meetings, and we were against [the R Project] at those meetings. Our ideas were not looked at. They had a rehearsed plan. The utility has obtained voluntary agreements for most of the easements it needs, Kent added, but it will use eminent domain to secure them if it must. Even if no wind farms were built, he added, NPPD and its ratepayers need the R Project to ensure more reliable availability of power. The nine-state Southwest Power Pool, to which NPPD belongs, would pay most of the lines $328 million cost. KEARNEY Foundations and parking lots have been poured, steel is going up and underground utilities have been laid as construction progress at the Central Nebraska Veterans Home becomes visible. Everything is progressing nicely, State Project Manager Fred Zarate said. Construction on the 225-bed vets home is on schedule, in general, Zarate said, with an expected opening in fall 2018. The home will replace the aging Grand Island Veterans Home. The most notable steel structure at the site is the maintenance building at the far east of the property at 56th Street and Cherry Avenue near Kearneys National Guard Armory. Construction crews built the structure early, Zarate said, so Hausmann Construction of Lincoln can use it for storage during the winter. Small concrete block buildings are being erected around the 75-acre site that will serve as internal storm shelters at the center of each of the 18 homes across the campus. There are six neighborhoods, each with three homes that will provide a different type of service such as an Alzheimer unit, assisted living or skilled nursing. Foundations for the homes have been poured, and walls will be going up soon, Zarate said. The concrete slab for the main building of the vets home also has been poured. The public also can see crews drilling 800-plus geothermal wells that will provide heating and cooling for the facility. Its moving along, but its going to take roughly two more years to get this completed, Zarate said. Estimates put the cost of building and equipping the new home at $121 million, of which the state will provide $47 million. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has set aside $52 million to get construction started and will provide more later. Hausmann Construction of Lincoln submitted the lowest bid of $89.7 million to build the facility. Wilkins ADP of Kearney designed the project. @HubChic Google is expected to launch a lot of new hardware in the next few months. In addition to two new smartphones, built in partnership with HTC, the company is expected to introduce a new Chromecast, a virtual reality system, and Google Home. But there might be at least one more device on the way: a 7 inch tablet. Evan Blass says Huawei is building one for Google, and it should launch before the end of 2016. Blass says the tablet will have 4GB of RAM, and thats about all he says. Its not even clear if the tablet runs Android, although that seems more likely than Chrome OS. The last time Google launched a 7 inch tablet was in 2013, when the company released a 2nd-generation Nexus 7. That device has pretty much reached end-of-life status. When Google launched Android 7.0 recently, the company did not release the software for the Nexus 7. Its unclear what the new 7 inch tablet will be called. While most of Googles previous tablets were marketed under the Nexus brand, the companys latest 10 inch, 2-in-1 model is called the Pixel C. And rumor has it that the upcoming HTC smartphones will be called the Pixel and Pixel XL effectively bringing the Nexus brand to an end. Ten-year-old Luzuko Banda (a.k.a. "Zuko") of Germiston had his creativity well rewarded when he was selected as the winner of the 2016 Ackermans Style Squad competition. He was chosen from 20 finalists from across South Africa who shared their love for fashion in the value retailer's annual competition for 9- to 14-year-olds. Luyanda Banda (Zuko's Sister) Dineo Banda (Zuko's Mom) Zuko Banda (Style Squad 2016 Winner) The Style Squad participants received Ackermans vouchers to spend on creating outfits for the nine fashion related challenges they had to complete and share in their blog posts on the Ackermans website. They also received an iPad mini and data to use for their monthly blog posts that showed other kids and their parents how to be on-trend without breaking the bank. Zuko has such great confidence and style. He really impressed the judges in the Fashion DIY activity with how he transformed his merchandise into something extraordinary, trendy and unique. He could take items and make them his own through styling and accessorising. His blogs were well written, easy to relate to and fun to read. He put a great deal of effort into every activity, says Tanya Ruiters, Marketing Specialist of Ackermans and Project Manager for Style Squad. Zuko won R15,000 cash as well as a R15,000 educational policy to further his studies. Over the past 12 months, he has also been given R2,250 worth of Ackermans vouchers, an iPad mini and 24GB of data. His prize was handed over on Wednesday, 24 August, at Freeway Park Primary in Boksburg, where he goes to school. I am extremely proud of Luzuko. From the very beginning I have believed that he could win it and now it really is a dream which has been realised. At times I find myself looking back at all his activities to see how far he has come. I'm thrilled that part of the prize is towards his education and with the other part of the prize he can finally reward himself with things he has always wanted, which he deserves after all his hard work. In todays world an investment in a childs education and future can make all the difference and I believe that the money he has won for his education will make a difference in his life and serve as a reminder of the importance of education, said his mother, Dineo Banda. Ackermans will once again give fashion savvy South African kids a chance to show their style and creativity with the 2017 Style Squad competition, where they can win their share of R250,000s worth of prizes and something which money cannot buy to be revealed soon! Read the Style Squad blogs on the Ackermans website, www.ackermans.co.za. The 2017 Style Squad entry details will be uploaded on 1 September 2016. New Delhi: National carrier Air India's flight operations was back to normal on Tuesday after the airline's chief Ashwani Lohani "assured" the narrow-body pilots of addressing all their pending issues, including pay parity, by next month during a meeting with them in New Delhi on Tuesday. In the last two days, Air India's domestic flight services were partially affected after a section of ICPA members decided not to report for duty in protest against pending issues related to salary and allowances, besides alleged denial of weekly-offs. Following this, Lohani had on Monday warned of "exemplary disciplinary action" against employees "sabotaging" the progress of the national carrier. The airline management even sacked one contractual pilot for "not reporting" for duty and issued show-cause notice to five other pilots. "The CMD during the meeting assured us of addressing all our pending issues including removing anomalies in the pay structure by next month and duly providing mandatory weekly offs in printed schedules. So we have also decided to fully cooperate with him," Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) general secretary T Praveen Keerthi told PTI after the meeting. "By October, we expect all our issues to be resolved," he said. ICPA represents around 750 pilots of the narrow-body planes fleet in Air India, most of whom are from the erstwhile Indian Airlines. The pilots' body had on Monday warned of the situation turning worse If there was no "definite time-bound assurance" on resolving the issues by Tuesday. In a stern message to employees, Lohani had said such acts (of disrupting flight services) were "just not acceptable" and shall not be tolerated under any circumstances. "Recently, there have been delays/cancellations of flights due to indiscipline by a small section of pilots. Such acts, not only result in revenue loss but also cause inconvenience to passengers, he said. Hyderabad: The revenue growth of Indian IT exports this fiscal is likely to be slower than industry body Nasscom's projection of 10-12 percent, according to industry veteran T V Mohandas Pai. "The figures could be lower than what Nasscom has said. But it's still (expected to) be good figures. They forecast 10 to 12 percent, I would say 9 to 10 percent is something that could be more reasonable because we already have seen in the first quarter some companies not meeting numbers...second quarter, some companies going quiet. So, 9 to 10 per cent is reasonable," the former Board member at Infosys said. A clear picture would emerge after companies announce results for the September quarter, which is generally good for them. "Europe is beginning to look better. Brexit has hurt the UK. America... we have to see what happens. Some industries are going quiet. So, we need some time, it's too premature to say anything. In 30 days, we will have a clear picture," he added. "We have to wait to know the real impact of Brexit. It's too premature how companies are going to react. See what's happening is all business in the UK has come down by 10 percent in rupees because of currency impact. And (the) UK is about 15 percent of India's exports. So, 15 percent (10 percent of 15 percent) means, it will come down by 1.5 percent (currency impact). Australian currency is appreciating. We do not know how Euro will behave in the next three months. So, we have to wait. It's too uncertain to take a call," he said. On what Indian IT companies have to do to improve operational efficiency and cost-cutting, the Chairman of venture capital fund Aarin Capital Partners, and Manipal Global Education, said the sector has to automate and become more productive but added that they are already doing that. "They have to get into the consolidation mode, buy up smaller companies... because the industry is consolidating and they must become cost-efficient which is not difficult. I think they are all doing that, people know it, they have been through ups and downs for the last 20 years. It's a mature industry. They have got good management. You have to give them some time," Pai said. He denied suggestions that the IT services industry is witnessing retrenchment of employees, and stated that its a "normal attrition". Pai, a former Chief Financial Officer and HR head at Infosys, termed as "very normal" the increasing number of start-ups shutting shop. "There are nearly 400,000 people employed in startups. Somebody will shut down and somebody will hire.These are normal things. People are just making too much (about startups shutting shop). It's high risk, high-rewards," he said. "There is tightening in the (funding) pipeline, and there is pain. I won't say more pain. I would say pain and tightening," Pai said. Pai sees no role for government in the start-up sector. "Government can't do anything. This is a normal event in the startup industry. They will grow, they will fail, it's normal. Government can't do anything. If you run out of money, what can anybody do? Many of them have unviable models. They don't have good revenues," the venture capitalist said. "Second six months (Ocober-March) for startups are going to be tougher than the first half because they have to be very careful, they have to be viable, tighten their belts, and get revenues. It's good, it's good news. Last year, there was blockbuster fund raising. Those are not there now. Good companies are still getting funded," he added. Mumbai: The rupee surged by 31 paise to 66.51 against the US dollar in early trade Tuesday on selling of the American currency by exporters and banks amid sustained foreign fund inflows. Forex dealers said a higher opening in domestic equity market and a weak dollar against other currencies overseas after last week's below-par US growth data also supported the rupee. Forex market remained closed on Monday on account of "Ganesh Chaturthi". On Friday, the rupee continued its stellar performance against the US currency for the fourth straight day ending higher by 13 paise at 66.82 on heavy dollar selling. Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex spurted by 248.75 points or 0.87 percent at 28,780.86 in early session today. New Delhi: Despite reports claiming that a Startup Deadpool is an Indian reality, with as many as 800 new tech ventures closing shop or on death row in the past 3-4 years, the government contends it is only a lean phase and far from a bust. "I don't see any bust or any such thing. Startups are in various fields like healthcare, etc. Maybe the dotcom phase is not doing well right now. There is no bust, only a lean phase," Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion Joint Secretary Shailendra Singh said. Data analytics firm Tracxn Technologies had recently compiled a list of close to 800 technology startups founded post-2011 that have failed or are shutting operations. The list is similar to the one created by a website called F**ked Company after the internet bust of the early 2000s. The site itself was a take-off on a magazine called Fast Company and compiled a list of dotcom failures that came to be known as the Dotcom Deadpool. On the Tracxn list -- what could be called a Startup Deadpool -- for example, is online grocery store PepperTap, with $51.2-million funding, which has confirmed it is shutting down core operations, while startups like BeStylish, a fashion accessory online store, with $10 million funding, is already down and out. "To make any detailed statement on the reasons for failure of these startups, we need to study the report. We will be talking to Tracxn this month to find out about the basis of the report, the reasons for failure, and analyse," Singh said. Talking about the likely reason for the failure of these startups, he said it could be their inability to scale up during a global slowdown. "All startups need to be scaled up. In the global slowdown -- seeing the grim market situation -- the scaling up is not possible. But it is not a cause of worry as these are cyclical changes. But it (failure of 800 startups) is only a small story," he said. Tracxn, the Bengaluru-based firm, also says that the failure to scale up is one of the likely reasons for the shutdowns, as in the case of e-commerce and food technology startups that face a surge in digital marketing expenses due to increased competition. "But they (the startups) failed to scale up due to standardisation or funding issues. Bigger players like Flipkart, PayTM, Snapdeal offer a better variety and price due to their scales and the amount of funding," a Tracxn spokesperson said. "Replicating the foreign model without indigenisation, focusing on customer acquisition without becoming self-sustainable and 'me-too' syndrome of copying a popular format has led to many failures of startups," says Amit Jindal, Partner, Felix Advisory. "The Startup Deadpool though is a reality but not a cause of worry," added Nikhil Donde, Managing Director of consultancy firm Protiviti India. "Experiementation and innovativeness are the keys to success for any startup. The startups which failed (did so) either due to lack of funding, faulty business model or were mistimed against the market demand," Donde said. On being asked if funding could be one of the reasons of failure, Industry Ministry's Singh said, "No, funding is not an issue. Funds are constantly coming in through angel funding and venture funding. Government is also making available about Rs 2,500 crore funds every year for startups. In fact, it will be difficult for startups to absorb all the funds." According to research firm Preqin, $8.9 billion investments in 2015 were made in India via venture funds. But so far in 2016, only $3.2 billion has been invested in startups by venture capitalists. "The funding surely saw a slight slowdown. For instance, in the first half of 2015 $2.9 billion was invested, while in first half of 2016 only $2.1 billion was invested. But the overall funding scene is not as grave. The early-stage activity has notably increased with many more micro funds and angels stepping up," Tracxn co-founder Neha Singh said. Overall, it looks healthy for the ecosystem because more number of companies are getting launching capital, but with more later-stage investors being cautious, it is forcing companies to rethink about getting their economics right early on in a more sustainable manner, she said. Confident that the Indian startups story is still intact, Singh said: "We are regularly interacting with startups. There is a big boost to startups. We have to provide the right ecosystem for the startups, a common platform and hand-holding." The silver lining for the failed startup teams is that corporates are looking at hiring of experienced entrepreneurial teams. "Most founders of deadpooled companies have people with strong hands-on experience in knowing what works and doesn't in a practice area or market. Failure is no longer a taboo, and the entrepreneurial mindset is highly valued among investors and corporates," Tracxn said. New Delhi: Drug major Sun Pharma has announced initiation of a phased transfer of manufacturing and marketing rights of 14 brands, it acquired from Swiss drug firm Novartis in Japan, earlier this year for $293 million. "These 14 prescription brands acquired by the company earlier this year will be transferred from Novartis Pharma K.K. to Sun Pharma's subsidiary in Japan beginning October 2016," Sun Pharma said in a statement Tuesday. The company said it has signed a strategic distribution alliance with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation for these 14 prescription brands. "Following the transfer of manufacturing and marketing rights to Sun Pharma's subsidiary in Japan, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation will market and distribute all the 14 brands as well as provide information on their proper use to healthcare professionals," the company added. Isao Muramatsu, President and Representative Director, Sun Pharma Japan Ltd, said: "We have the opportunity to leverage Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation's specialised expertise to create a strong business foundation for us in Japan. Sun Pharma will focus on expanding its sales channels in Japan's pharmaceutical market while continuing to ensure a stable supply of medicines and healthcare information". In March, Sun Pharma forayed into Japanese prescription market by acquiring 14 brands from Novartis for $293 million (over Rs 1,940 crore). Under the terms of the agreements, Novartis was to continue distributing these brands, for a certain period, pending transfer of all marketing authorisations to Sun Pharma's subsidiary. The 14 brands have combined annualised revenues of around $160 million and address medical conditions across several therapeutic areas. New Delhi: The Tata-DoCoMo spat over $1.17 billion payment dispute today took a fresh turn with Tata Group urging a London court to set aside an ex-parte order obtained by the Japanese firm for enforcement of an arbitral award against the Indian company. On the other hand, DoCoMo -- citing the Indian company's filing in Delhi court on September 2 to block enforcement of the arbitral award -- charged the Tatas of attempting to "re-litigate arguments" that were already fully considered and rejected by the panel of London arbitrators appointed by the two companies. "Tata Sons has today filed an application to set aside an ex-parte order obtained by NTT DoCoMo from London's Commercial Court on July 25th, 2016," Tata Sons said in a statement. It may be recalled that DoCoMo had approached London's Commercial Court in July seeking enforcement of London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) ruling against the Tatas for breach of contractual obligations pertaining to a shareholders' dispute in Tata Teleservices. Following the ex-parte order from London's Commercial Court in July, Tata Sons were granted time to file their application to set aside the said order. The latter has now moved the London Court on the same. Sources in DoCoMo said that while the application had indeed been filed by Tatas in London's Commercial Court, the Indian company had not filed justification of evidence to support the application. Tatas, claimed DoCoMo sources, have time till September 30 to file evidence in support of their application. In a statement issued on Monday, DoCoMo asserted that it is in its own interest to take all appropriate steps to enable Tata to fulfil its payment obligations in India, and therefore "Docomo is open to any discussion with Tata and the Indian government to enable this". Tatas have maintained that it is not permitted to pay the sum of $1.17 billion claimed by DoCoMo pursuant to the award, since the regulatory approval by Reserve Bank of India has been denied. In absence of such approval, enforcement of the award would be "unlawful under applicable Indian law and contrary to public policy", Tata Sons said. Tata Sons further said it has always been committed to honouring its contractual obligations "within the framework of Indian law". NTT DoCoMo in 2008 acquired 26.5 percent stake in Tata Teleservices for about Rs 12,740 crore (at Rs 117 per share). This was as per a understanding that in case it exits the venture, it will be paid a minimum 50 per cent of the acquisition price. When DoCoMo decided to exit the joint venture - that struggled to grow subscribers quickly - it sought Rs 58 per share or Rs 7,200 crore from the Tatas. But the Indian Group offered Rs 23.34 a share in line with RBI guidelines that states that an international firm can only exit its investment at a valuation "not exceeding that arrived at on the basis of return on equity". The Finance Ministry had rejected a plea for exempting Tata-DoCoMo deal from the Foreign Exchange Act, saying that the two firms had entered into a share buyback contract in contravention of prevalent law and the case would have to be settled legally. In June this year, a London tribunal LCIA ordered Tata Sons to pay DoCoMo a sum of $1.17 billion in compensation for breaching agreement on the India joint venture. The Japanese firm has filed a plea in the Delhi High Court seeking enforcement of the arbitration ruling. Tata Sons has deposited the entire amount of $1.17 billion with the registrar of the Delhi High Court which is hearing the matter. New Delhi: Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who led an MPs' delegation to trouble-hit Jammu and Kashmir, on Tuesday discussed the issue with BJP president Amit Shah, after which it emerged that some "announcement" will be made on Wednesday after an all-party meeting. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Minister of State for PMO Jitendra Singh and BJP general secretary Ram Madhav were also present in the hour-long meeting which also deliberated on the issues to be discussed at the meeting on Wednesday of the members of the delegation which visited Srinagar and Jammu on 4 and 5 September. "After the all-party delegation's visit, we met on Tuesday and discussed future course of action in Jammu and Kashmir. Government will make announcement after Wednesday's meeting," Madhav told reporters after the meeting at the Home Minister's residence. Asked whether the central government was planning some tough action against the Kashmiri separatists, Madhav said "all proposals will be put before all party delegation for discussions on Wednesday". The cycle of violence continued in Kashmir Valley where so far 73 people lost their lives in clashes between stone pelters and security forces and life remained disrupted for 60th day due to separatist-sponsored strike. Unrest in Kashmir Valley started ever since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani on 8 July. Singh had described their visit as positive but he lashed out at the separatists for their refusal to meet some MPs. Unhappy at the stubborn refusal of Hurriyat leaders to meet some MPs who had literally knocked at their doors in Srinagar on Sunday, Singh had said that their conduct was against democracy, humanity or even 'Kashmiriyat' (Kashmiri ethos). Singh led the delegation of 26 MPs from 20 parties which stayed overnight in Srinagar before stopping over in Jammu this afternoon. After spending a few hours in Jammu, it returned to Delhi. On a sweltering hot day, sometime in 2005, I entered the gates of what has been referred to as the best school in Anna Nagar (my opinion of the school doesnt matter, I am told); The registrar pointed me in the direction of class 11 - I. With a strength of 45 students, the classroom had been neatly divided into two sections girls and boys. Sure, there wasnt a physical reinforcement in place per se, but there were far more formidable machinations in place in particular, a mindset bred from patriarchy. As an outsider, a newcomer and as someone who was made acutely aware of linguistic inadequacies, I chose to conform, fit in. There were no free spots available on the girls' side of the classroom. Defeated, I sat on the last entirely empty bench in the boys' section. Our mathematics teacher, who at the time was writing down an equation on the blackboard, dropped the chalk, picked up her saree and ran towards me; she yelped: Illa ma... inge ukkarakudathe (No! child, you cannot sit here). How can you sit near boys?! Idhu ellam thappu (This is wrong) I felt dirty and as if I had done something shameful. She then proceeded to push four teenage girls and made sure I sat with them and not on the empty bench near the boys. Never mind that my buttocks barely got any room. When the class teacher announced a new classroom for us the following week, I was overjoyed, I could finally claim a space for myself and not have to share it with four other sorry girls. Spending two years in the best school, I had to unlearn many habits and behaviours. I learned that it was wrong to giggle and give high-fives to boys. I learned that a co-educational trip to Mysuru and Coorg was actually a trip with girls. I learnt that girls could not wear jeans on the trip. I learnt that girls couldn't laugh too loudly. I learnt that we will always be placed in a cocoon of stifling, unwanted protection. After reading the list of rules at Aloysius pre-University College, I am not surprised. I am also not surprised that though the rules are for the students girls and boys; most rules view the girls as agents provocateur. No girl students should be found inside the campus with intimately close with boys No student should be found near the parking area, near the park, near the book store, pretorum, bus stand, degree block and science block museum hall with boys During the break times girl students should not visit the boys of the other class No girl students can leave the campus for afternoon food According to authors, Peter Ronald DeSouza, Sanjay Kumar, Sandeep Shastri in Indian Youth in a Transforming World: Attitudes and Perceptions, nearly half of the youth group they surveyed had limited interaction with the opposite sex. Unfortunately, Aloysius isnt the first college to put such rules in place, nor will it be the last. St Xaviers College, Ranchi decided to divide its reading room between girls and boys after the 2012 Delhi gangrape. According to The Telegraph, there are also different staircases for girls and boys. If this isnt enough, one of the professors quoted by the news report said that the rules were in place because, Yeh sab boyfriend banate hain aur dikhate hain ki padhai kar rahe hain (These girls make boyfriends and merely put up appearances of studying). The principal quoted in The Telegraph chimed in saying these rules are after all for the benefit of the female students. Satyabhama University in Chennai also has rules that do not allow boys and girls to mingle or even talk. In Aligarh Muslim University, students of the womens college cannot access the Maulana Azad Library because according to the vice-chancellor, their presence would attract four times more boys, as reported by The Times of India. An article in The Hindu, Where boys and girls don't talk to each other, by Vasudha Venugopal and Lavanya M is rife with examples of the ridiculous ways in which students, especially girls are policed. Working on a project with a male student calls for public shaming and is called a bad habit. Trees have been cut off, say students, to make sure boys and girls do not gather under them, write the authors in The Hindu. Girls violating rules by talking to boys become 'characterless'. Let us paint women as the ones prone to straying and therefore bring up the need for them to be tamed More often than not, draconian rules are conceptualised to help women; what they end up doing is reifying stereotypes, ill-formed mindsets and give a giant thumbs up to the concept of controlling/taming womens bodies and thoughts. The common recourse is: Lets not teach our children about the perils of unprotected sex, appropriate interaction with the opposite sex. Instead, let us paint women as the ones prone to straying and therefore bring up the need for them to be tamed. Let us oppress women because it is too difficult to tell the boys not to be boys. When I was asked to sit with the other girls in class 11, the teacher was sending out a larger message that, girls need to be careful, their bodies are vulnerable and that boys are a necessary evil to be protected against. And, boys will never be responsible for their actions. When the teacher pulled my classmate and I out of class to tell us how we couldnt giggle and high-five another boy because we are characterless, he was telling us that we are only a sum of our characters that will get dirty by speaking to boys, giving high-fives to girls however is something that boys do, it is the girls that must protect themselves from that evil. Here is a Telugu saametha (common saying) that is a great example of the patriarchal concepts that dominate our educational spaces: Aaku yegiri mullu meeda padda, mullu vachi aaku meeda padinaa, chirigedi aakae (Even if a leaf falls on a thorn, or a thorn that falls on a leaf, it is the leaf that gets torn). This battle isnt a battle of the sexes, it is a battle against a problematic structure that is oppressive to women. This structure is in place to police womens actions, behaviour and to limit their freedom. Editor's note: This is an updated version of an article that appeared on 3 September A helpless Supreme Court on Monday did a fine balancing act in deciding on the amount of water that Karnataka must release to Tamil Nadu. The quantum of water the court arrived at falls between what Karnataka was prepared to part with and what Tamil Nadu demanded. As can be seen from the bandh being observed in Karnatakas Mandya district on Tuesday and protests and road blockades elsewhere in the state, its foolhardy to expect the court to resolve the tricky problem even in the short term. The court directed Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs (cubic feet per second) for ten days, while Karnataka was ready for only 10,000 and Tamil Nadu insisted on 20,000. Cusec is the rate of water flow. A flow of 15,000 cusecs over a period of ten days amounts to a quantity of 13.6 tmcft (thousand million cubic feet). Tamil Nadu contends that this quantity is still falling short by around 35 tmcft. Karnataka maintains that its reservoirs have only 51 tmcft of water, and releasing any more of it to Tamil Nadu will leave its own paddy crops dry and deprive Bengaluru and two other towns of drinking water. The courts water release arrangement is only for 10 days, after which it will hear the case again. In the meantime, the judges said that the Cauvery Supervisory Committee must look into Tamil Nadus demand for more water. And that is unlikely to resolve the issue either. The supervisory committee, constituted in 2013 pending the formation of a permanent Water Management Board, is headed by the Union water resources secretary and consists of the chief secretaries of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry, and officials of the Central Water Commission. Kerala has tributaries of the Cauvery, and Puducherry is at the end of the river. In the past, the proceedings of this committee ended up as shouting matches if not in fisticuffs. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka can only be expected to repeat at the committee what they told the Supreme Court. And as in the past, Kerala and Puducherry will come up with their own demands which will only serve as subplots that complicate the main story in a bad movie. Kerala already has a ready issue on hand. The state has been proposing to build a dam across the Siruvani river, but on Saturday, Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa shot off a letter to the prime minister asking him not to allow it. Siruvani is a tributary of Bhavani river, which is a tributary of the Cauvery. But who must find how much water there really is in the Cauvery? And who must decide how it should be shared, if there isnt enough water? The Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal said in its 2007 verdict that the Centre must set up an authority to independently monitor and regulate water availability and releases. If this is still waiting to be implemented, its because the politics of parties take precedence over the economics of suffering farmers. In the face of claims and counter-claims, the parties in power at the Centre from 2007 till now had no wish to do anything that might incur the wrath of farmers key votebanks in one state or the other. The trouble first arose in 1881 when Mysore wanted to build a dam across the Cauvery and Madras objected to it. The British arbitrated, and the result was an agreement in 1892, followed by another in 1924. But the dispute went on and on, and in 1990 came the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal which, after 17 years of fierce deliberations, came up with an award in 2007. Politics thrives on human misery. Consider this: When water is scarce, even half-a-tmcft of it can cause a riot, in Karnataka if its released and in Tamil Nadu if it isnt. Reservoir levels go low, and tempers run high, because millions of farmers in both states depend on the river. But even as the Cauvery basin goes dry for crops, it turns fertile for politics. Frenzied rhetoric makes the problem worse than it is. No wonder that the Cauvery dispute has taken as many turns as the river takes twists on its course through the two states. Originating at Talakavery in Karnatakas Kodagu district, the Cauvery traverses around 322 kilometres, enters Tamil Nadu near Hogenakkal in Dharmapuri district, zigzags for 483 kilometres more before joining the Bay of Bengal at Poompugar in Nagapattinam district of that state. At the root of the dispute is Tamil Nadus claim that Karnatakas dams on the river impound more water than they should and stop it from flowing down. Karnataka argues that Tamil Nadu has been not only usurping more water but even wasting it with unscientific agricultural methods, letting a good amount of it into the sea. The backstory In the Indian context, there are essentially three kinds of water rights. First comes the riparian right. Its the peoples fundamental right to use the water flowing on the land on which they live. Then there is the prior-appropriation right: Appropriate more water first and claim it as your right later. This means Territory A uses more water before Territory B gets a chance to do it and, when a dispute crops up later, lays claim to it as its legal share. This sounds suspiciously similar to a squatters right to land, but it isnt really as bad or illegal. People who have used the water first have already invested in dams and are irrigating their lands, and they do earn some right over its continued use. The third one, the equality right is what Territory B fights for, accusing Territory A of usurping more water by prior-appropriation. Territory B wants an equitable share for itself (similar to the prior-appropriation right, there is also the prescriptive right, acquired by long usage of water at a time when existing laws allowed it). Karnatakas contention is that Tamil Nadu had resorted to prior-appropriation of Cauvery water and that the British made it possible. The state says the British favoured the Madras Presidency as against Mysore, then ruled by a king. The trouble first arose in 1881 when Mysore wanted to build a dam across the Cauvery and Madras objected to it. The British arbitrated, and the result was an agreement in 1892, followed by another in 1924. But the dispute went on and on, and in 1990 came the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal which, after 17 years of fierce deliberations, came up with an award in 2007. At the root of the dispute is Tamil Nadus claim that Karnatakas dams on the river impound more water than they should and stop it from flowing down The tribunal allocated 270 tmcft of water to Karnataka, 419 to Tamil Nadu. Kerala and Puducherry were given 30 and seven tmcft respectively. These allocations were made on the basis that the Cauvery has a total of 740 tmcft of water at 50 percent dependability, which means that the river has this much of water in 50 out of 100 years. The tribunal said that Karnataka should release 192 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu in every water year (from June to May), and thats what becomes contentious when the rains fail. The tribunal also said that, during bad monsoons, the states must share the distress in the proportion of their normal allocations. But in the absence of an effective mechanism to ensure a proportionate sharing of the distress, the dispute rages on. Is there a permanent end to the dispute? A permanent solution was what the Tribunal was thought to have found after 17 years of deliberations. Its a question of implementing it in distress years. When rains are copious, the states have little problem in sharing the water. Setting up a Cauvery Management Board or Authority, as suggested by the Tribunal, on the lines of the Bhakra Beas Management Board is perhaps the only way to ensure that the dispute doesnt repeat itself like a stuck record whenever rainfall is deficient. Equally important is to find ways to save water and increase inflows into the river. A Rs-1,000-crore proposal that Tamil Nadu had in 1974 to modernise its irrigation system could save up to nearly 50 tmcft of water, but it has been hanging fire for lack of funds. And the demand of the states farmers to desilt Cauvery channels has had no takers either. Reason: Lack of funds. On its part, Karnataka could tap at least part of the huge amount of rain water that falls over Western Ghats and simply flows into the ocean into a network of pipes and let it into the Cauvery, experts point out. Will Narendra Modi be large-hearted enough to investigate and fund such projects in both the states? The author tweets @sprasadindia Bengaluru: Complying with the Supreme Court direction, Karnataka government on Tuesday decided to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu despite "severe hardships", as protests in the wake of the court order intensified with the highway between Bengaluru and Mysuru blocked by farmers. "Despite severe hardships faced by the government of Karnataka, the state will release water as directed by the Supreme Court," Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told reporters after nearly a three-hour long all-party meeting convened by him. He also said the state would approach the Supreme Court with a modification petition explaining the difficulties in implementing its order, directing release of 15,000 cusecs per day to Tamil Nadu for next ten days, and seeking change in it and also move the Cauvery Supervisory Committee. The Chief Minister said it would be "difficult" for a Constitution-bound state to defy the Supreme Court order or to refuse release of water. "With a heavy heart", it has been decided to provide water to Tamil Nadu even though the state itself was facing a "very severe distress" year, he said. Seeking to assuage the feelings of protesting farmers in the Cauvery heartland of Mandya and other districts in the basin, he said all efforts would be made to provide drinking water to Bengaluru and other places as also for crops. He appealed to farmers to maintain peace and tranquility and not to cause any damage to public property. In Mandya, agitated farmers and activists belonging to pro-Kannada outfits blocked Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway as protests intensified in the wake of the apex court directive to the state to release Cauvery water. Mandya district, the nucleus of Cauvery politics, saw a bandh with protesters holding road blockades and dharnas at several places, as hundreds of security personnel, including Central forces, were deployed in the Cauvery belt to maintain law and order. Prohibitory orders have been clamped around the Krishnarajasagar Dam and entry of visitors to it prohibited till 9 September, as the Cauvery row hotted up after Monday's Supreme Court directive on a petition by Tamil Nadu government. The court has directed Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water for the next 10 days to address the plight of the farmers in Tamil Nadu. Protesters also mobbed and ransacked several government offices in Mandya forcing their shut down, while attendance at government offices remained thin, police said. The court order triggered an immediate backlash with the farmers' body, spearheading the stir, calling for a bandh on Tuesday in Mandya district. Bengaluru: Farmers and pro-Kannada outfit activists protested in various parts of Karnataka on Monday against the Supreme Court direction to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu while Chief Minister Siddaramaiah convened a meeting of legislature leaders and MPs on Tuesday to discuss the issue. As farmers and others hit the streets protesting the apex court directive to release 15,000 cusecs of water per day for the next 10 days to the neighbouring state, the Cauvery Hitarakshana Samithi (Cauvery protection committee) called for a bandh on Tuesday in Mandya, the hotbed of Cauvery politics. Karnataka: Cauvery Horata Samiti activists protest in Mandya over SC order to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu pic.twitter.com/ecC5PgMOlZ ANI (@ANI_news) September 6, 2016 Cauvery water issue: Farmers protest in Shrirangapattana taluk of Mandya, block road #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/pVM2UBuQQR ANI (@ANI_news) September 6, 2016 Siddaramaiah, whose government has been expressing its inability to release water to Tamil Nadu citing poor storage, would hold a meeting with floor leaders of all parties in the state legislature, MPs and district-in charge ministers to take stock of the situation, an official release said. Meanwhile, State Law Minister TB Jaychandra asked protesters to remain calm. My appeal to ppl is to keep calm & not take law in their hands:TB Jaychandra,Karnataka Law Minister on Cauvery issue pic.twitter.com/mGKuj4ZLtO ANI (@ANI_news) September 6, 2016 "We have decided to call for Mandya bandh to protest against the court direction to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu when there is hardly any water left at our side of the river," Samithi President and former MP G Made Gowda told reporters at Mandya, some 100 km from here. Cauvery water issue: Lawyers in Karnataka's Mandya protest against Supreme Court order. pic.twitter.com/iopLZIATvz ANI (@ANI_news) September 6, 2016 Cauvery water issue: Protest in Karnataka's Mandya against Supreme Court order. pic.twitter.com/tDsy7y7xsu ANI (@ANI_news) September 6, 2016 Cauvery water issue: Protest against Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa in Mandya (Karnataka). pic.twitter.com/dR0Z9G8xo1 ANI (@ANI_news) September 6, 2016 Gowda also urged the government to file a review petition in the apex court. He said he had spoken to state Water Resources Minister M B Patil over phone and urged him to safeguard the interest of Karnataka farmers. The farmers' leader also warned the government that it would face a strong agitation if water was released to Tamil Nadu. Protests broke out in other parts of the state including Chamrajnagar, Mysuru and Hubli with farmers and pro-Kannada activists demonstrating against the Supreme Court order and urging the Siddaramaiah government to protect interests of Karnataka farmers and not release water to Tamil Nadu. Police said effigies and posters of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa were burnt in some places in these districts. A group of farmers tried to enter the KRS Reservoir in Mysuru protesting the court direction, but police prevented them. Karnataka Okkuta, led by Vatal Nagaraj, called for a Karnataka bandh on 9 September. Workers of the pro-Kannada outfit held a protest here, bringing traffic to a halt in the heart of the city. "There is no water in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mandya and Chamrajnagar, and that is the truth. We have called for Karnataka bandh on 9 September to protest against the injustice meted out to farmers here," Nagaraj told reporters. Passing orders on a petition by Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court noted that damage would be caused to samba crops in the neighbouring state and directed Karnataka to release water. With inputs from PTI Pro-Kannada protesters have taken to the streets in several parts of Karnataka, especially in Bengaluru, Mandya and Mysuru, and by Tuesday afternoon, the riots had spread to Ramanagara, Hassan and other parts of the state. Protesters targetted the chief ministers of both the affected states Siddaramaiah of Karnataka and J Jayalalithaa of Tamil Nadu and also Karnataka government lawyer FS Nariman, by burning their effigies and vandalising hoardings. Theatres showing Tamil films in Bengaluru, fearing the mob, quickly downed their shutters. The Cauvery Horata Samiti has called for a bandh in Mandya on 9 September, and the Karnataka film industry will be closed on the same day in support of the farmers. A two-day holiday has also been declared for schools and colleges in Mandya. In an ironic twist, lawyers in Mandya too have taken to the streets, protesting against the Supreme Court ruling. The protesting lawyers told News 9, that they were "assembling a Mandya expert committee bar, which would put forth the farmers' plight and the Karnataka point of view to the Supreme Court." Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has called yet another all-party meeting on Tuesday evening to take stock of the situation post the Supreme court direction. Tuesday's protests follow Mondays Supreme Court ruling on the Cauvery water dispute, directing the Karnataka government to release 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery water everyday to Tamil Nadu for the next 10 days to give relief to farmers of Tamil Nadu and save the samba crops. Tamil Nadu had sought a direction to Karnataka to release 50.52 tmc ft of Cauvery water, but Karnataka had refused, stating that its four reservoirs had deficit water and it could not release more than 10,000 cusec of water a day. Tamil Nadu had gone to court after Karnataka released far less water this year than was decided in 2007 by a court-appointed tribunal. Last week, the Supreme Court told Karnataka to "live and let live" and urged both states to "maintain harmony in the water dispute". Meanwhile, protests sparked off in Tamil Nadu, after Siddaramaiah told the media last week, that the state would not release "a drop of water" to the state. He said, "It is a distress year. Water (quantum) sought by Tamil Nadu is as per a normal year. We are releasing water as per the distress formula. We only have 50 TMC feet of water in all four reservoirs in Cauvery basin, and need 40 TMC feet for drinking. We will convey this to the Supreme Court." For commuters returning to work after a long weekend and Ganesh Habba (which was celebrated across the state on Monday), travelling was a mammoth task as most of them remained stranded at bus stations.Bus services to Mysuru, Mandya and Tamil Nadu were affected. Bad monsoon spell coupled with these protests has led to rising tempers and regional jingoism in Karnataka. The dispute over sharing of Cauvery river water has been going on between the two states for more than a decade now and there's a simmering issue on Karnataka building a dam on the Mekadatu reservoir to handle the severe drinking water shortage in Bengaluru. Tamil Nadu has been pressing for the formation of a Cauvery Management Board. Karnataka, however, is opposed to it. So emotive has the Cauvery dispute been for Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, that both states witnessed violence, rioting and loss of lives in 1991-1992. Regional jingoism in Karnataka degenerated into attacks on Tamil families and premier schools run by Tamil managements in Bengaluru. The violence was most severe around the Tamil populated parts of Bengaluru but many schools and educational institutions remained closed in the city for nearly a month. In 2002 again, the water dispute spilled onto the streets, and film stars and a cross section of society from both states supported their own. Karnataka even blocked all Tamil TV channels and barred all buses and vehicles from Tamil Nadu. It all started in April, when at least 10,000 farmers came in their tractors to Bengaluru and brought attention to drinking water shortage in their villages. The farmers parked their tractors willy-nilly on the busy roads of Bengaluru during peak hours. Several commuters and school children were stranded for hours on the arterial roads of the city. Last month, there were pro-Kannada groups protesting over the interim order of the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal, which had rejected Karnatakas plea for 7.56 tmc ft of water under the Kalasa Banduri drinking water project for the drought hit Hubballi-Dharwad, Belagavi and Gadag districts in the state. Goa had objected to it, stating that this would affect its own drinking water and irrigation needs. A statewide bandh was called which saw buses, autos, taxis off the roads. Even Bengalurus Metro service was off the track. Protesters pelted stones, burnt tyres, buses, and effigies of politicians and vandalised government property. Several were injured in different parts of the state and police had to resort to lathicharge. With the monsoon taking turns to fail in both the state, the Cauvery water dispute is a tinderbox, waiting to be lit by politicians who are eyeing their votebanks. For instance, the Cauvery water dispute is almost a non-issue during good monsoon years. Nobody cares that the river water often flows into the sea, with no claimant for it. But during deficit monsoon years, it becomes an emotive issue firing passions in both states. While the immediate solution is for the Centre and, particularly Prime Minster Narendra Modi, to intervene and find a quick solution to the water dispute to appease both the states, it's high time that the Centre sought a long-term solution to this issue. Farmers, whether they are from Karnataka or Tamil Nadu, shouldn't be allowed to suffer. India has 14 major rivers, all of which are inter-state rivers, and 44 medium rivers, nine of which are inter-state rivers. Given that drinking water is an essential right that cannot be denied to people living in drought-hit regions, inter-state river water disputes cannot be resolved easily and have to be handled sensitively. More so, the Centre and water experts must look for long term solutions during drought and distress months. New Delhi/Guwahati: A defiant Arunachal Pradesh Governor Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa may be sacked after his refusal to heed to the Centre's advice to him to step down. The action may come after the special session of the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly, which is meeting for two days from Wednesday to ratify the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Constitution Amendment Bill, a government functionary said. "Nothing will happen to the Governor till the Assembly session is over. After that something may happen," he said. Governor Rajkhowa was nudged by the Centre to put in his papers after severe stricture from the Supreme Court over the dismissal of the then Congress government last year. "I want the President to dismiss me. I will not resign. Let the President express his displeasure. Let the government use provisions of Article 156 of the Constitution," the Governor told a Guwahati-based TV news channel on Monday. Rajkhowa said he had been asked to resign "on health grounds" weeks after the Supreme Court had restored the Congress government in Arunachal Pradesh and censured him. New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the AAP government not to take any action against app-based cab providers like Uber and Ola till a special panel, formulating a uniform policy to regulate such companies, comes out with its report. "Please stay out ... till the matter is pending. Trust them. They (cab players) are following your directions," Justice Manmohan told the lawyer appearing for the government. Delhi government's counsel told the court that transport department officials have been orally instructed not to take action against these cabs till the matter is pending. The court was hearing Uber's application seeking quashing of the challans of its cabs and restraining the government from taking any coercive step against it. When the court was informed that these companies have not been given protection against government action, the bench said, "He (government's counsel) is saying no action will be taken till the matter is pending." The government had earlier told the court that these cab firms cannot get immunity for violating the law merely because a special panel was working on formulating a uniform policy. However, Uber had contended that several of their cabs were challaned or confiscated merely because they did not have calibrated meters and alleged that the action was being taken by the government at the behest of some of its competitors. The court had told Delhi government lawyers that since "everyone is cooperating" and a panel was working on devising a policy, the transport department be asked to wait till the committee comes out with its report. It, however, had said that if there was any violation of the undertaking given by the app-based cab aggregators on surge-pricing, then action has to be taken. The court on 11 August had set 22 August as the deadline after which taxi aggregators as well as cab operators cannot charge passengers more than the government-fixed rates. It had also directed a special committee, set up by the Centre to examine all issues relating to existing permits given to taxis and cab aggregators, to also include a senior official each from Ministry of Information Technology, Central Pollution Control Board and Delhi Traffic Police apart from obtaining advise of a transport expert from Niti Aayog. I'm a bit foxed. I had the impression that various Hurriyat 'leaders' were in jail, even if it was called house arrest or royal cottage arrest or fancy guest house arrest. Now, howsoever, fancy a jail might be, one had the impression that it is operated by jailers, not by inmates and we were clearly told on Sunday that those inmates did not open their jail doors for our honourable Parliamentarians. Something seems slightly amiss about that, but let that go. Let us presume, that in a place where very little is at it seems, 'leaders' don't need to be released before other 'leaders' negotiate with them as, say, Nelson Mandela from Robben Island, or the leaders of the Indian National Congress in 1945. Even if we accept that, there are still questions to be asked, and questions at various levels. Why and how Let us say straight off that the honourable members of Parliament who returned stony-faced from Srinagar on Monday deserve lauding for making that effort. Now, nobody can say they didn't try. However, they might do well to ask themselves whether the best time to try and engage with Kashmiri separatist leaders is when a fire is raging on the streets. Conversely, should they have engaged, or urged those accountable to them to engage, during those balmy days when figures about unprecedented numbers of tourists, of yatris, of voters, of milling crowds of Kashmiris turning up for recruitment, etc. were being touted? If they got the impression that those figures represented all there was to see and know about Kashmir, should they perhaps ask questions now about what is afoot with those on whom they depend for information and insights - the media, intelligence agencies, security wonks, academia, et al? Perhaps they might also introspect just a little about what happened with all the other initiatives, committees, commissions, inquiries, etc. - the Gajendragadkar report, the Sikri report, the Riaz Punjabi report, the Balraj Puri report, the Rangarajan committee report, the `interlocutors report, etc., etc. In that context, they might introspect about reasons for the widespread cynicism in Kashmir about this freshest initiative. Autonomy delusions While they are about it, honourable Parliamentarians would do well to ask another set of questions. For instance, what did they hope to achieve by talking to leaders of the Hurriyat Conference and other secessionists? Do we not know what they want - or rather, say they want? Do our honourable `leaders actually think that the `secessionists could settle for maximum autonomy? More to the point, do we actually think that those who have enjoyed life as figureheads of a movement for secession in which several tens of thousands have been tortured, maimed and killed can possibly settle for the maximum autonomy which `mainstream politicians have already promised the people of Kashmir for so many decades? That is what the state assembly had sought through a resolution seventeen years ago - a resolution that was rejected out of hand by the Union cabinet without so much as the courtesy of a Parliamentary discussion. Do we really think the secessionist `leaders would hope that their homes would not be burnt, they and their families beaten with shoes, stoned, and perhaps killed? In fact, questions need to be asked at a deeper level, for the above questions presume that the Hurriyat and other secessionist leaders are in charge, can negotiate, and make decisions. The unrest (if one were to call it only that) on the ground is by teenagers and boys in their pre-teens. Whether the Hurriyat or other organizational leaders have any influence on these boys is a moot question. Those 'leaders' themselves are sure they do not. The teenagers have no regard for them. Accountability Now, that they have bravely knocked at those leaders' doors and turned back, our Parliamentarians might try and ask questions that go still deeper. Quite apart from whether they can influence these boys, it is worth asking whether the secessionist 'leaders' can even decide who to meet, or what to say? It is all very well to announce aggressively on television 'debates' that Pakistan has organised the unrest. But shouldnt that remind us to ask whether, and to what extent, those secessionist 'leaders' and others get instructions from abroad? That sort of introspection would bring our honourable 'leaders' back to the issue of realpolitik with which I began: How is it that those who are meant to be in jail refuse to open their jail doors? Does the entire gamut of political, bureaucratic and intelligence outfits that purport to run the state actually have less controlling or coercive influence than a 'foreign hand?' It is well known in Kashmir that the intelligence agencies have kept many 'secessionist leaders' well catered for. Houses, hotels, resort and other properties, hospital and air travel bills, and monies in other forms, are said to have been provided. One is even told that the son of a top militant was among those who the army safely extracted from the Entrepreneurship Development Institute in Srinagar during a militant encounter some months ago. Yet, the forces and agencies cannot influence those well-catered-for figures to even unbolt their doors? While they are about it, our Parliamentarians might do well to ask what the effect of the armys Operation Sadbhavana has been if there is so little goodwill on the ground? How much money has been spent, how much mis-spent, and how much wasted? After all, to hold the reins of accountability, has been the first task of Parliament since the Magna Carta. If only our honourable representatives had ensured accountability in times past, the macabre ghosts of time present would not be staring so balefully at us and our future. If only. Jammu: On Tuesday Pakistani troops violated border ceasefire for the second time in less than a week by resorting to small arms firing and mortar shelling on forward posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir. "The Pakistan army troops resorted to unprovoked and indiscriminate firing on Indian army posts along LoC in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir since midnight," the Defence spokesperson said on Tuesday. Ceasefire violation by Pakistan in Shahapur sector of Poonch district of J&K ANI (@ANI_news) September 5, 2016 The spokesperson said the Pakistan army also shelled posts with heavy mortars and opened fire with small arms and automatic weapons in the Poonch sector. "Our troops are responding appropriately and no casualties or damage to our troops was reported till the report last came in. The firing was still going on" the spokesperson added. The exchange of fire is going intermittently in Shahpur Kandi area along LoC in Poonch, police said. Tuesday's ceasefire violation is second in less than a week. On 2 September, Pakistan troops violated ceasefire by firing on forward army posts along LoC in Akhnoor sector in Jammu district. Earlier on 14 August, 2016, A 50-year-old woman was injured when the Pakistan Army violated the ceasefire twice and targeted Indian posts on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch sector in two different areas. Last year, 16 civilians were killed and 71 others injured in 405 incidents of cross-border firing by Pakistan, the officer said. While 253 incidents of ceasefire violations took place along the International Border (IB), 152 incidents were reported along the LoC, he said. Around 8,000 people were temporarily affected due to the ceasefire violations and had to be shifted to safer locations. Karachi: People living in glass houses should not be throwing stones at others, the Indian envoy in Pakistan has said as he described Kashmir as an internal matter of India. Answering questions on the Kashmir issue and the recent statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Balochistan, Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan Gautam Bambawale said there are problems in both India and Pakistan. He said people living in glass houses should not be throwing stones at others. Calling Kashmir an internal matter of India, he said, "There are problems in both India and Pakistan and you [Pakistan] should focus on resolving your problems before looking into the problems of other countries." About the statement made by Modi, the envoy said, "The Prime Minister, in his August 15 independence day speech, only referred to the letters he had received." Bambawale was speaking at an interactive session organised by the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations on Monday. He said the Indian government had been saying: "Let's work together to get to the bottom of terrorism which is a headache not only for Pakistan, but for India and the world." Bambawale said the two countries should not be talking on just one issue, but on all issues. When asked whether Modi will visit Pakistan to attend the SAARC regional summit in November, Bambawale said, "Prime Minister Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the SAARC summit". He said that even while tensions were high between the two nations, there had been contacts at the operational level, The Dawn reported. Over the past one-and-a-half month, there had been "cordial" interactions between Pakistani and Indian border forces. Several meetings of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) had also been held. Bambawale also called for greater trade ties between Pakistan and India and said political issues will take time to resolve. He said that Pakistan should also grant India the Most-Favoured Nation status. "There should be more participation in trade fairs and more Pakistani trade delegations should visit India," he added. "There is no option but to do it step by step," he said. The Indian envoy said the road to normalisation of ties between the two countries lies through greater trade and business. The roadmap in this regard was prepared by the two governments in 2012 could be unveiled soon. The total trade between the two countries was worth just USD 2.5 billion a year, whereas its potential was of USD 20 billion, he said. "There is a great potential that needs to be tapped." According to reports in the leading Pakistani newspapers, he said that political issues take time to resolve but the two countries can take up smaller matters and move forward. By Deepika S Earlier this week on Times Now, Arnab Goswami, while talking about the different campaigns on womens entry into the Sabarimala temple repeatedly (though inadvertently, it appears) mixed up #ReadyToWait with #ReadyToDie. The only problem is that #ReadyToWait is a campaign by actual live women who say they are willing to wait to hit menopause to be allowed to enter Sabarimala (which is the custom at the temple). And #ReadyToDie is a parody of this campaign created by a Malayalam-meme-loving Facebook group. In the wicked parody version, a meek-looking woman named Padmavathi with her sari pallu pulled over her head holds up a placard saying #ReadyToDie, referring to sati. Goswami and the parody makers are part of a fairly big and fast-multiplying range of opinions on whether women should be allowed to enter the Kerala temple. Take the newest figure to weigh in. Kerala BJP leader K Surendran has said that women of menstruating age should be allowed in the temple. But the campaign by certain feminists at the behest of their political masters is suspicious, The News Minute quotes him as saying in a Malayalam post on Facebook. Surendran seems to think that women campaigning to be let into the temple are pawns of men while others (like the parody makers) think that the women campaigning for status quo are pawns of men. In an India Today TV debate on womens entry to Sabarimala, #ReadyToWait campaigner Padma Pillai said she was hurt at being called a tool of patriarchy. Ranjana Kumari, womens rights activist and director of the Centre for Social Research, told Pillai she was ignorant, and fellow panelist, writer and gender activist Suneetha Balakrishnan, informed her it was her conditioning that led to her acceptance of discrimination. And while academic Madhu Kishwar doesnt specify gender, she describes the people seeking entry to the Sabarimala temple as colonial ruler-influenced modern day missionaries with a borrowed vocabulary. Its frustrating that now that women have stepped forward to join this conversation about womens entry to the temple (see The News Minutes article from 27 August asking why women havent done this so far), rather than have men decide this for them, theyre being written off and are writing each other off as women who cant think for themselves. To women following the #ReadyToWait campaign, theres plenty thats annoying. #ReadyToWait began as a completely spontaneous, organic campaign started after a private discussion among friends according to Pillai, one of the main campaigners. They dismiss women seeking entry to the temple as the desire of western-funded feminists and godless commies, who should leave the customs of the native civilisation to the devotees of the temple. Theres the sanctimonious painting of the women supporting it as authentic devotees of Ayyappa, ignoring others who consider themselves devotees of Ayyappa and seek entry for women of all ages, though even in the campaigns short run on social media since 27 August, its tone has softened on this front. We are lovingly inviting [genuine devotees] to open a conversation with us about why we are #ReadyToWait, says Pillai. But to those who do not think about faith and religion and are protesting the seeming unfairness of it or who want to pretend to be devotees and make this a crusade for equality, Pillai says, the latter two have made up their minds and are not open to any discussion and hence of no interest to us. We are feminists too, said Anjali George, one of the main members of the #ReadyToWait campaign for the Sabarimala temple, in a recent interview. (George, the one who had earlier made the comment about western-funded feminists, lives in Germany.) Pillai, on the India Today TV debate, said, Men talking on our behalfwe dont need that. When another panelist on the show pointed out the lack of women in temple trusts, Pillai agreed, suggesting she was for having more women involved. In a later email, she said, I found that to be true. Why shouldn't there be a woman in a [government] body which addresses male and female deities and devotees? #ReadyToWait Arnab is not considering Hindu women independent. He is trying to brand that we need Rahul Eashwer to tell our opinion St. Anjali George (@Kuvalayamala) August 30, 2016 The dismissal of the #ReadyToWait campaign is aggravating to watch, as the campaign comes not from ignorance or a sheep-like following of tradition (as Kumari or Balakrishnan conclude with a degree of smugness), but from a place far less benign: A refusal to interrogate long-held discriminatory practices and ones own privilege. Both George and Pillai have reiterated that they are independent-thinking. Pillai clarified in the India Today debate that she did not feel discriminated against by the ban on entry of women of reproductive age, she had been brought up with equality, and given every Constitutional right as a woman. One response to their campaign, a widely-shared poem on Facebook by journalist Savithri Thekkumpat, flagged the upper caste surnames of the women in the campaign, and raises the point that these are women who do not otherwise have to worry about access in general whether its in terms of education or elite social circles, the poem suggests, the women are measuring everyone by the standards of [their] own label. I am telling feminists are not the only people who know English & sense of freedom @NancySinha55 St. Anjali George (@Kuvalayamala) August 29, 2016 #readytowait is gaining voice. We need to be heard. None of us are weak women living under a male's thumb. @timesnow pic.twitter.com/ten7IgB75R Padma Pillai (@lotophagus) August 29, 2016 The restriction has nothing to do with gender, they argue, but with age, based in the shastras. Not because menstruating women are impure, but as George puts it, because their natural creative energy will be disrupted by the energy in the temple, or even eclipse the energy present in a temple. They also argue that it is not the same as the ban on entry of women to the Haji Ali Dargah in Maharashtra, which was overturned by the Bombay High Court on 26 August, and it is perhaps this recent victory for womens rights, coupled with the case challenging the Sabarimala ban in the Supreme Court, that explains the timing of the campaign. There have been several responses to the campaign on social media, ranging from actor and feminist Rima Kallingal, who shared the #ReadyToDie parody on her official Facebook page, to the poem by Thekkumpat, in which she also says (translated roughly into English), I am not talking about forgetting the jungles, hills and greenery of Sabarimala/The issue here is not of menstruation/It is of the denial of equality of the sexes. And in the print media, there have been pieces in support of both sides, including a recent piece by a Kerala woman named Priya Menon that says, If someone doesnt want to enter the temple till they turn 55, let them not. It is entirely their personal choice. They have every right to respect a tradition and wait. But if someone else feels oppressed by the fact that they are denied entry to the temple because of their gender, they have an equal right to stage their demands. It is all about faith and tolerance. Feminism is not an exclusive club: There are no rules by which one qualifies. But fighting patriarchy takes a good deal of hard work, involving the questioning of gender, caste, class, and ones own role in perpetuating oppression based on them. And failure to do so is something that feminists are not immune to. Both the smug I-am-so-sanskaari-ness of the #ReadyToWait campaign and the dismissal of the campaign as the work of ignorant people leaves us watching two sides talking past each other. Can women of both sides talk to each other? That might be the only way forward. The Ladies Finger (TLF) is a leading online womens magazine delivering fresh and witty perspectives on politics, culture, health, sex, work and everything in between. Panaji: Stating that the concerns raised by social activist Anna Hazare were "genuine", Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia on Tuesday claimed that the party took "quick and strong" action against anything found "wrong" in the organisation. Hazare had on Monday expressed "sadness" over the "state of affairs" in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in an interview to a television news channel. "Annaji is right in expressing his reservations that politics is dirty and all kinds of people come to it. But, I assure that whenever there is something wrong, we are the only party in the country to take strong action," Sisodia told PTI at Mapusa town. He arrived at Mapusa to interact with AAP volunteers. Hazare had said he was "very saddened" to see that some of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's colleagues had gone to jail, while some others were "indulging in fraud". His remarks came against the backdrop of AAP minister Sandeep Kumar's arrest for allegedly raping a woman. Before forming the AAP, Kejriwal was part of the India Against Corruption (IAC) movement, spearheaded by the veteran Gandhian from Maharashtra in 2011-12. "There is no other party in this country which takes such a strong and quick action against anything (wrong) that is happening within the party," Sisodia said. AAP has sacked Kumar after a CD, purportedly showing him in a "compromising position" with a woman, surfaced. "We respect his (Hazare's) concerns. They are genuine and we will look into them," Sisodia said. Expressing concerns over the state of affairs in the AAP, Hazare had said, "I am very hurt. When he (Kejriwal) was with me, he wrote a book on gram swaraj...Will he call this gram swaraj? That's why I am very sad. The hope with which I was looking at him (Kejriwal) is over." In an obvious reference to the Sandeep Kumar episode, Sisodia said, "Whatever has happened was sad. But, it has also given us the opportunity to prove that we are the only party in the country to take swift action. There is certainty of action (in the AAP)." Responding to a question, he said the party can cross-check the past of a candidate, but cannot help when it comes to the future. "After the recent controversies and the action taken by the party, the wrong people will stay away from the AAP. They will be afraid to join the party. Only those who are good will join the party," he added. Guwahati: Arunachal Pradesh Governor Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa, who claimed the Centre has asked him to step down citing "health grounds", has refused to resign, saying he wants the President to dismiss him. "I want the President to dismiss me. I will not resign. Let the President express his displeasure. Let the government use provisions of Article 156 of the Constitution," the Governor told a Guwahati-based TV news channel on Monday. Rajkhowa said that he had been asked to resign "on health grounds" weeks after the Supreme Court had restored the Congress government in Arunachal Pradesh censuring him. He said, "I have fully recovered from my illness and I have been discharging my duties after complete recovery. If they want me to quit, the prime minister and his cabinet will have to recommend the same to the President, who will then issue an order under specific provisions of the Constitution." "Even a fourth grade employee of the government has to be given in writing if the government wants him or her to resign or even go on leave. I am a Governor and this a Constitutional post," he said. Stating on 27 August night a well-known person from Guwahati had informed him over telephone that the government wanted him to resign on health grounds, Rajkhowa said, "I was shocked, surprised and felt humiliated." "I asked the person to inform whoever in the government wants me to quit to call me directly. When there was no such call, I called up the Union Home Minister (Rajnath Singh) and asked if it was true or false. But the Home Minister clearly told me over telephone that he knew nothing about it. "Instead, he started telling me that I was doing good work in Arunachal Pradesh. But when I called up another central minister, he called me back on 30 August and said that a decision had been taken at a high level for me to resign on health grounds and vacate my post by 31 August," he said. Rajkhowa said he informed the particular minister that he had returned to Arunachal Pradesh 47 days ago after medical treatment and has been working since 13 August last. "I also told him that I am totally fit now. What is my fault that I have been asked to go on medical or health grounds?" the Governor said. The former bureaucrat who was appointed as Governor in June last year said, "I do not have a single blot in my long career. The government must have appointed me as Governor on the basis of my spotless track record. I feel very humiliated. It was a bolt from the blue." "For the Governor's post, I never met or approached any BJP leader whether at the local level or that of the PM," the former Assam Chief Secretary said. Stating that he was prepared to vacate the Raj Bhavan instantly on receiving the President's order, Rajkhowa said, "I have kept all my belongings packed since 30 August. I have also told my office that if the order (regarding the dismissal) arrives in Raj Bhavan, they should immediately inform me and I will not stay even one minute after that." On 13 July, the Supreme Court had ordered restoration of the Congress government in Arunachal Pradesh by quashing all decisions of the Governor precipitating its fall in January, holding them "violative" of the Constitution. Chandigarh: Taking suo motu cognisance of media reports about "exploitation of women" as claimed by Delhi AAP MLA, Punjab State Women Commission on Tuesday asked Director General of Police to investigate the matter. "We have taken suo motu cognisance of the reports appearing in print and electronic media about the 'exploitation of women' in return of tickets. And we have asked DGP Punjab Police to investigate the matter and submit the report to the Commission," Commission Chairperson Paramjit Kaur Landran said. "The allegations pertaining to exploitation of women in Punjab is very serious in nature which should be properly investigated," she said. AAP MLA Devinder Sehrawat, in a letter to party's national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, had alleged "exploitation of women" by a few party men in return for tickets for the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections. However, AAP has rubbished the allegations of made by Sehrawat. Replying to the Sehrawat's charges, senior AAP leader and incharge of Punjab affairs Sanjay Singh asked the MLA to substantiate his allegation with proof. "I will file a defamation case against him and I will take him to the court," Singh said, adding that party's Punjab women cell head will lodge a complaint against Sehrawat in state women commission. Shiromani Akali Dal had on Monday asked Kejriwal to come clean on the charges of "sexual exploitation of Punjabi women by AAP leaders" and demanded immediate dismissal of both Sanjay Singh and Durgesh Pathak from all party posts in Punjab. It is highly unusual for someone in the topmost position of authority and responsibility in the Union Government to make a mention of unofficial private visits and actions of some parliamentarians in his opening statement, that too when the MPs are part of the same delegation. But Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday in Srinagar did talk at length of one such act of some MPs, four to be precise. Making a suo-motto statement than saying something in response to a query has its own importance, politically and also for issues of governance. An unofficial and unwarranted action of four MPs Sitaram Yechury (CMP), D Raja (CPI), Sarad Yadav (JD-U) and Jay Prakash Yadav (RJD) to land uninvited at locked doors of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and in return get humiliation for self, their party, their support base and perhaps even for the democratic institution they represent, the Parliament, had warranted that Home Minister makes Government of Indias position clear to all concerned. What Rajnath spoke was broadly reflective of the mood of the nation. First, contrast Home Minister saying that not just the doors but ventilators of government of India is open for talks for those who want a peaceful resolution within framework of democratic and constitutional norms with a shut main door at Geelani residence telling two leftist leaders, Yechury and Raja, and two Yadav leaders of ruling combine in Bihar that their presence were unwelcome or undesired. I want to clarify some members of all-party delegation went to meet Hurriyat leaders. Neither did we say yes, nor did we say no. Whatever happened, you know about it. I do not wish to go into the details. But whatever information those friends gave us upon their return, it can be said it was not Kashmiriyat (Kashmiri value system). It cannot be called as insaniyat (humanity). When someone goes for talks and they reject it, it is not jamhooriyat (democracy) as well. It was home minister's third visit to Kashmir valley in past six weeks and third media conference. He asserted that Jammu and Kashmir "was, is and will always be an integral part of India". The message was loud and clear that centre does not want any engagement with separatist Hurriyat. It is in no mood to oblige by giving them undue importance by taking the peaceniks and liberals line of come whatever may, we should try and talk with the separatist under the garb of engaging with all stakeholders. Its clear that why the home minister or finance minister Arun Jaitley and the senior officials accompanying the delegation didnt say yes. But they didnt say no apparently because they would have known the outcome and didnt want to create unnecessary controversy that Government was coming as a stumbling block, stopping one of its citizens from meeting another, even as one group was of public representative and another group was under house arrest. The basic statistics given by Rajnath on who did all-party delegation meet though didnt mean anything in terms of substance but it was to give a sense and a message that they all had come from Delhi to Srinagar for a purpose to find a path of peace and normalcy there. The all-party delegation had 26 representatives from 20 parties and over two days they met 30 delegations of around 300 people from political parties and civil society, university faculty members, students, fruit growers and intellectuals. He also had words of appreciation for Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and centres decision on pellet guns giving way to PAVA shells. He also gave clear indications that the centre was in no mood to talk to Pakistan. Dont take it outside of the country, there are many in the country with whom we can talk, he said in response to a query. That has now been stated policy of the centre. Singh had told in Parliament "now when talks with Pakistan has to happen, it will happen on Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK)". Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken a much tougher line at the all-party meeting in Delhi on last day of Monsoon session against Pakistan by stressing on POK, Gilgit and Balochistan, a point he later made the world know through his address on 70th Independence Day from Red Fort. Given the current stated position of Government of India, separatist Hurriyat holds no relevance in terms of engagement, the four MPs heading to Geelanis house and AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi heading to Mirwaiz Umar Farooq had thought of making headlines as the biggest peaceniks, some nice looking photos over tea was a bonus. Their sullen faces did get media attention. They would never forget the insulting treatment they got from their hosts. It should serve as a lesson to others as well. Sameer Yasir wrote in Firstpost CPM leader Sitaram Yechurys car was the first one to arrive outside Syed Ali Shah Geelanis house, who heads a faction of separatist amalgam Hurriyat Conference. As he emerged from a white ambassador car, visibly shaken, he waited for a minute, trying to hear slogans reverberating from a nearby mosque. And then he waited for around eight minutes outside Geelanis residence, but no one opened the door When CPI leader D Raja, Janta Dal (united) leader Sharad Yadav, and Yechury appeared outside Geelanis house on Sunday, a huge graffiti 'Go India Go Back' written by Hurriyat hawk Geelani on his outer wall greeted them. Despite repeated knocks at Hurriyat hawks door, they failed to manage an entry. Political prudence or lack of it, of Yechury, Raja, Sharad Yadav and Jay Prakash Yadav would be debated for long. But it is time that perennial peaceniks in political and self-proclaimed liberal intellectuals who tirelessly advocated for talks with separatists in order to keep them relevant with their contacts across the border and with whatever little support that is left for them in the valley, take a lesson. Dont be sympathetic to those who dont believe in Indian Constitution, its territorial integrity, in the democratic process, in peace and harmony. So far all concerned had been very patient with these separatists but they should also realise that the time has changed, they have the door on themselves. Why was Arvind Kejriwal voted to power as the Delhi Chief Minister? This must be one of the most enduring and difficult questions to answer. Was it only to fight long and arduous court battles with the Centre to decide if Delhi is a Union Territory? After the recent Delhi High Court ruling where Lieutenant-General's role as the administrative head of the National Capital was reaffirmed, Kejriwal escalated the issue by filing six appeals against the verdict in Supreme Court. The matter will now be taken up on Friday. There is no assurance that the apex court will go against HC's interpretation. But what is assured is that Kejriwal will once again play the victim card should the SC judgment, too, go against him. If not, he will claim victory over Narendra Modi. Either way, he stands to gain politically while Delhi residents remain the ultimate losers. The AAP government, according to a report in The Times of India, told the Supreme Court through former solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam on Monday that Delhi was facing a "governance crisis". This is interesting. How did Delhi suddenly plunge into a "governance crisis"? Has a new law been promulgated? Or did the high court in its 4 August verdict point to a new provision in the Constitution? According to a PTI report, the high court held that Delhi will continue to remain a Union Territory under the Constitution with the L-G as its administrative head because special constitutional provision Article 239AA dealing with Delhi does not "dilute" the effect of Article 239 which relates to UT and hence, concurrence of the L-G in administrative issues was "mandatory". Are we to believe then that the Aam Admi Party chief was unaware of the limitations of his office while gunning for it? Sheila Dikshit, his predecessor on the chair, recently charged Kejriwal with dereliction of duty. According to a PTI report, the veteran Congress leader slammed Kejriwal for making life difficult for Delhi residents by his needless, confrontationist attitude and habit of blaming either the L-G, Centre or even the Police Commissioner for everything and at every given opportunity. "Even I worked within such limitations and I never complained while making Delhi a world class city", the news agency quoted the ex-Delhi CM, as saying in February this year. It is debatable whether Delhi was a "world class city" under Dikshit but there is no denying that she didn't hide behind the smokescreen of powerlessness when faced with a problem. Almost as if to prove Dikshit right, Kejriwal recently "advised" the Delhi High Court to summon L-G Najeeb Jung for the capital's civic woes after the court, last Thursday, lambasted local bodies for playing pass-the-buck even as plastic-clogged drains forced severe waterlogging and completely paralysed normal life following a heavy shower. Acting on a PIL, the court said that responsibility of framing plastic waste management rules in Union Territories was on the state pollution control board or pollution control committee, reported PTI. Kejriwal's reaction? Faced with contempt of court action if Delhi government did not control waterlogging, the Delhi CM tweeted: "When HC has said that the LG is government, then it should summon the LG for water-logging." When HC has said that LG is govt, then HC shud summon LG for waterlogging. https://t.co/Lv76XSjCID Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) September 2, 2016 This is strange. How can High Court not be concerned who is govt? HC says LG is govt and then asks CM to do the job? https://t.co/Lv76XSjCID Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) September 2, 2016 If Kejriwal is convinced that he is only a titular chief minister with no real administrative powers and is unable to improve the life of Delhi residents, work for their welfare, take care of the National Capital's myriad issues that need urgent attention or act in times of emergency, then shouldn't he relinquish the chair and make way for someone who understands better the ambit of power that the CM of a Union Territory enjoys and works in cooperation with the L-G? If his heart indeed beats for Delhi voters as Kejriwal repeatedly claims why is he clinging on to a post and enjoying the perks and benefits of a powerless office? Markandey Katju, former Supreme Court judge, recently raised this question through social media, telling Kejriwal through Twitter: "Arvind, people r fed up of ur criticizing Modi & LG. Now work for welfare of people of Delhi if u want to be respected." Arvind, people r fed up of ur criticizing Modi & LG. Now work for welfare of people of Delhi if u want to be respected. @ArvindKejriwal Markandey Katju (@mkatju) September 5, 2016 In a Facebook post, which he also reproduced on Twitter, Justice Katju advised Kejriwal to resign instead of becoming a "financial burden" on Delhi taxpayers. If he is nothing, why does he keep drawing a salary, keep living in an official residence, keep going on an official car, and keep enjoying the perks and allowances of a CM?", wrote Katju. Since AAP think they are doing nothing, then why are they a financial burden on the people of Delhi? pic.twitter.com/9KgC5ucpZl Markandey Katju (@mkatju) September 5, 2016 Did anyone mention "financial burden"? Kejriwal might proclaim that he is "powerless" and his MLAs are getting "victimized" by Modi but that hasn't stopped the Delhi Chief Minister and his six-member Cabinet from spending over Rs 1 crore of taxpayers' money on humble chai-samosa. According to a report in The New Indian Express, Kejriwal has spent the most on tea and snacks. His bill of Rs 47.29 lakh includes Rs 22,42,320 at secretariat office and Rs 24,86,921 at his residence camp office. The figures, which have emerged following an RTI query, reveal Manish Sisodia as his able deputy. Sisodia has ratcheted up the second-highest bill of Rs 11,28,429. Even as Aam Aadmi Party ministers munched on the ubiquitous fried Indian snack, the tab was picked up by Delhi's aam aadmi. Speaking about financial burden, it is no less curious that a staggering Rs 526 crore of Delhi taxpayers' money has been allocated by the AAP government to publicise the workings of an office which Kejriwal claims is essentially powerless and helpless. Stranger still, as the CAG has found out, a part of that ad campaign was targeted at people outside the National Capital Region. As AAP implodes with bitter instances of infighting and daily dose of scandals, Kejriwal seeks to remain in denial. Instead of addressing the shortcomings of his party and the government which he heads, the Delhi CM prefers to deflect all criticism by blaming L-G Jung or Modi instead. He claims he is powerless yet spends crores to remind people of his awesomeness. In order to fast expand the party's base, improve its footprint beyond Delhi and emerge as a pan-Indian national leader, Kejriwal has compromised on the ideological mooring of his fledgling unit. The result is evident. History is littered with instances of people trying to cling to power. Kejriwal's would be among the rarest of rare cases where a leader is trying to cling to a seat of non-power. Karachi: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looking forward to visiting Pakistan in November to attend the Saarc Summit, India's High Commissioner said in comments published on Tuesday. Gautam Bambawale also told an event in Karachi on Monday that while India and Pakistan must certainly discuss the entire range of issues, they must keep their focus on the economy which he described as a "low-hanging fruit". "I can't say about the future but as of today Prime Minister Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the Saarc summit in November," the Dawn quoted Bambawale as saying at an interactive session of the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations. His comments came amid reports that Modi might keep away from the Saarc Summit in view of the rising tensions between India and Pakistan, particularly over Jammu and Kashmir. Bambawale said that it was India's desire to see a Pakistan which was moderate, prosperous and stable and at peace with itself, its neighbours as well as the rest of the world. He admitted that trust and confidence were lacking in relations between New Delhi and Islamabad. The road to normalization of Pakistan-India relations, he said, lay through greater trade and business, the roadmap for which was prepared by the two governments in 2012. The total trade between the two countries was worth just $2.5 billion a year while its potential was of $20 billion, the Dawn quoted him as saying. The Indian envoy said that even when tensions were high between the two countries, there had been contacts at the operational level. Over the past month and a half, there had been "cordial interactions" between Pakistani and Indian border forces. Bambawale referred to Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's and Modi's visits to Islamabad and Lahore respectively in December last year. But on 2 January this year, terrorists who India says came from Pakistan attacked the Pathankot Indian Air Force base. He said the Indian government had been saying: "Let's work together to get to the bottom of terrorism which was a headache not only for Pakistan but for India and the world." In an obvious reference to the Kashmir dispute, Bambawale said the two countries should not be talking on just one issue, rather on all issues. He said India had taken a stand in the 1960s and 70s that New Delhi and Beijing must talk on the boundary problem before moving on to other issues. But this was reversed in 1988. Today China was one of India's largest trading partners, he pointed out. Asked about "Indian atrocities" in Jammu and Kashmir, the High Commissioner said Indians were as concerned about the people of Kashmir as anyone else in the world. But the issue of Jammu and Kashmir was domestic and "you should focus on your problems", he added. Bambawale said the problem with China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was that it went through Pakistani Kashmir whose ownership is disputed by Islamabad and New Delhi. He also mentioned how Pakistan had refused consular access to alleged RAW agent Kulbhushan Jadhav, arrested in Pakistan, while India gave consular access to a Pakistani terrorist, Bahadur Ali. "We have offered Pakistani authorities full consular access to him," he said in reply to a question about Indian involvement in Balochistan. Rahul Gandhi should dread the omens from his meeting at Deoria to launch his Kisan Yatra in Uttar Pradesh. 'Khatiya khari karna' is a popular saying in Hindi, which, when loosely translated, means somebody has been slammed so badly that he is almost finished. The saying comes from the Indian practice when the cot of a deceased person is put upright in a corner, implying it would no longer be used by its usual occupant. And, so it was at Deoria, a town in eastern UP on Tuesday. In a bid to launch his party's campaign in the state, the Congress vice-president started a 2500-km Kisan Yatra from the UP town on the Nepal-Bihar border. To give it the look of a panchayat, nearly 2000 khats (cots) were placed at the venue for the invitees. Soon after the meeting ended, the audience made a dash for the cots, scrambling with each other to take home one on their shoulders. Even women wrestled with the crowd to take home one, perhaps to literally sleep on what Gandhi said at the venue, when he promised sops and waivers if the Congress is voted to power. The post-rally loot is typical of Indian election gatherings. It is widely believed that a majority of the people at such venues, except die-hard supporters and party workers, are 'brought' to election meetings with some inducements. The greedy audience, thus, is always looking for some material benefit from their participation. Obviously, the prospect of going home with brand new wooden cots from Gandhi's meeting may have swelled the numbers at Deoria. Yet, getting your khatiya put upright at the beginning of an election campaign may not be the portent the Congress would like. The party is already comatose in the state with some surveys suggesting a near-demise in the polls scheduled at the beginning of next year, putting its vote share at a pitiable five to six percent. Wary of getting its khatiya khari, the Congress has already tried several new tricks and strategies. First, impressed by his record, the Congress hired poll strategist Prashant Kishor to plan the UP campaign, a decision that has led to emergence of a parallel power centre in the state. Then, acting primarily on Kishor's feedback, the Congress brought Sheila Dikshit from the retirement home, making her the party's presumptive CM candidate in a bid to snare the Brahmin votes. But, with surveys indicating that her popularity ratings are in low single digits, Dikshit has so far been an outsider in the race, hobbling to the finish line while others have established a huge lead. So, like always, the onus is back on Gandhi to put some life into the campaign, a miracle that he has failed to perform many times in the past. Before starting the yatra, the Congress had reached out to at least 1.5 lakh committed workers to accompany Gandhi on his nearly 2500-km trek through UP. It was hoping that even if half of them turn up for the walk, the party may be able to reach out to a large number of voters in person and convince them to vote for the Congress. But, events at Deoria suggest UP's voters may be interested more in looting the Congress cots than voting for it. The signs, if not ominous, are definitely not auspicious. Ahead of his Kisan Yatra in Uttar Pradesh's Deoria district, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had promised a 'karz maafi' (debt exemption) for distressed farmers provided the party comes to power in the state. But the crowd was too impatient to wait for that, who looted khats (cots) brought in for symbolic purposes soon after Rahul's grand road show launch ceremony ended. The luckier and more enterprising ones got some laddus and water bottles as well along with the free cots they could lay their hands upon. The crowd got what they wanted and that should worry Congress vice-president and his party cadre. The way the cots were looted within seconds after Rahul concluded his brief speech, was clearly indicative of the fact that the crowd that had gathered there, on their own or arranged by the party workers, were least interested in what Congress vice-president had to say his angry barbs against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP or the loan waiver and reducing electricity bills by half. They focussed on looting khats. The khats, all 2,000 of them, were freshly picked from market. Interestingly, two hindi phrases, related to khats - 'khatiya lut jana' or 'khatiya khadi ho jana' - have negative connotations and are eerily symptomatic of what Rahul Gandhi's first rally in Uttar Pradesh was. It means that the person concerned has been vanquished or has lost his face. This is exactly what has happened to Rahul and his campaign strategists. Congress should now hope that the idioms do not translate into reality as and when votes for Uttar Pradesh elections are counted by the end of February 2017. Rahul Gandhi, party strategists and more so, the party's hired external campaign architect Prashant Kishor, should ponder over the possible ramifications of this khat loot on their month-long roadshow. Could this scene be repeated in all the Khat Sabhas that Rahul Gandhi is planning to hold? The Congress vice-president aims to cover 2,500-km across 39 districts and 233 assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh. The bigger question is that if the party decides to do away with khats in Rahul's next sabha, will the attendance be thinner? After all it was Prashant Kishor and Rahul Gandhi who had made Khat as central theme of Rahul's Kisan Yatra to distinguish it from his earlier rallies. Or will they realise that the idea of replicating Modi's chai pe charcha as their poll campaign idea in UP was a total bust? In another article in Firstpost, this author had spoken to a few Congress members rooted in Uttar Pradesh at various levels of party hierarchy. According to them holding a mega road show by Rahul was not a good idea. The way an extended podium was built for the rally on Tuesday and the way new cots were laid out all across the rally venue had clear stamp of a professional event manager organising it. Gone are the days when local Congress men would build austere podiums for their supreme leader. Rahul, on his part, launched his Kisan Yatra with what has by now become his trade mark small walk (space permitting) and short speech: "Aap log dur dur se aayen... Dhanyawad." The fact that the Congress is trying to lure Brahmin voters of the state became quite clear when Rahul, before reaching Deoria, made a stop at Dugdheshwarnath temple to "seek Lord Shiva's blessings." Interestingly, Rahul's next stop is Gorakhpur, which is a stronghold of Hindutva leader and BJP MP Adityanath. BJP's Brahmin face in Uttar Pradesh and Union Minister Kalraj Mishra currently represents Deoria parliamentary constituency. But all these problems are for later. For now, the Congress is faced with a khat-problem. New Delhi: With a year left before her term expires, Textile Minister Smriti Irani has curiously made some tweets expressing gratitude to the people of Gujarat, the state she represents in Rajya Sabha. Irani, who was recently shifted from the high-profile HRD portfolio, said that in the last five years as an MP, she has been "fortunate" to have got immense support from BJP leaders and people across the country. The minister, who was elected five years ago, started a series of tweets but gave no indication what prompted her to take to the micro-blogging site on her tenure in the Rajya Sabha. "On August 19, 2011 I got the opportunity to serve the nation in my capacity as Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament from the Gujarat state. On August 19, 2011, I got the opportunity to serve the nation in my capacity as Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament from the Gujarat state. Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) September 5, 2016 In last five years as Rajya Sabha MP, I have been fortunate to have got immense support from @BJP4India leaders & people across the country. Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) September 5, 2016 I specially express my gratitude to people of Gujarat, particularly Anand which is my nodal district as Rajya Sabha MP from the state. Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) September 5, 2016 "It has been my privilege to have been able to reach out to the people of Anand & resolve their problems in whatever capacity I could," Irani wrote. It has been my privilege to have been able to reach out to the people of Anand & resolve their problems in whatever capacity I could. Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) September 5, 2016 In the tweets, Irani shared snapshots of the welfare and civic work undertaken by her in Anand district during her tenure. "Providing water and conserving the same along with ensuring clean surroundings has been the top priority in Anand," she tweeted. Irani had unsuccessfully fought against Rahul Gandhi from Amethi in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. New Delhi: I&B Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday made it clear that government has no intention of interfering in the functioning of Prasar Bharati amidst reports that CEO of the public broadcaster Jawhar Sircar was planning to quit before his term ends in February next year over the issue. The reports were also dismissed as "unfair and baseless" by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. "Reports about the likely replacement of Prasar Bharati CEO and that the present incumbent, Sircar is upset due to alleged interference by the Government are totally baseless, unfair and purely speculative," an I&B Ministry source said. "The post of the CEO is not vacant as the present incumbent will be retiring in February, 2017. All the media reports are purely speculative and are uncalled for. The process for appointment of new CEO has not yet been initiated, leave alone discussion about possible successor," the source said. Sircar had last week said he was considering quitting and that he had thought "very strongly about that option... However, I cannot run away until the final phase of transparency is assured. Prasar Bharati's future has to be ensured". Addressing a meeting to discuss issues and challenges being faced by the Prasar Bharati, Naidu said the government would create an enabling environment for better working of the public broadcaster. According to official sources,"The Minister said the government has the highest regard for the Board of Prasar Bharati and has no intention of interfering in the functioning of the Corporation and, on the contrary, would only like to create an enabling environment for better functioning of Prasar Bharati". Naidu assured Prasar Bharati that its efforts to overcome various bottlenecks would be adequately supported by the I&B Ministry. The I&B minister also expressed concern that many cable operators have not been carrying the mandatory Doordarshan channels on their networks and suggested setting up of suitable monitoring mechanisms. Minister of State for I&B Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Prasar Bharati Chairman A Surya Prakash, Sircar and members of the board that runs the public broadcaster also attended the 90 minute-long presentation. Naidu also stressed on the need to improve the content and quality of production so as to increase the viewership. Sources said that Naidu in the meeting also mentioned that some unwanted speculative reports had appeared in the media about Prasar Bharati. He emphasised that due processes would be followed. When Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi began his speech at the khat (cot) sabha in Deoria, Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, he could never have imagined what would follow once the sabha ended. As Rahul's speech came to a close, a massive fight broke out between groups of people present at the sabha over the free khats that were just lying on the stage. According to NDTV, all 2,000 of them. The situation at the site turned into complete chaos as people from all around the stage ran to grab their free khats. Apart from the fact that something as bizarre as this is rarely seen even in Indian politics, it also goes on to say a lot about Rahul Gandhi and his crowd-pulling abilities. Right after a speech, when the audience darts towards the stage and it is not to shake hands with leader, you really should think about how influential you really are as a leader. "We will tell Modiji about the worries farmers of this country have through this yatra," Rahul Gandhi had said during his speech. "Why doesn't the Modi government waiver the loans taken by the farmers?" he further added. Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday launched his month-long Kisan Yatra from Rudrapur in the state's Deoria district. "Door-to-door campaign begins from village Pachladi. Met farmers and collected Kisan Maang Patras outlining their demands," Gandhi's official twitter handle said. The Yatra will cover 2,500 km by road covering 39 districts and 55 Lok Sabha constituencies of Uttar Pradesh. "Arrived in Rudrapur to a warm welcome and great enthusiasm. Join @INCIndia on this Kisan Yatra as we fight for rights of farmers, labourers and the poor," Gandhi said in an earlier tweet. Rahul is expected to meet farmers and unorganised sector workers during the campaign. There will also be roadshows in small and big towns but no large public meeting. Our advice to the organisers of the rally: Please be careful of what you put on the stage this time. With inputs from IANS Vientiane, Laos: President Barack Obama called off a planned meeting Tuesday with new Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, seeking distance from a US ally's leader during a diplomatic tour that's put Obama in close quarters with a cast of contentious world figures. It's unusual for one president to tell another what to say or not say, and much rarer to call the other a "son of a bitch." Duterte managed to do both just before flying to Laos for a regional summit, warning Obama not to challenge him over extrajudicial killings in the Philippines. "Clearly, he's a colorful guy," Obama said. "What I've instructed my team to do is talk to their Philippine counterparts to find out is this in fact a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations." Early Tuesday, National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said the meeting with Duterte was off. Duterte has been under intense global scrutiny over the more than 2,000 suspected drug dealers and users killed since he took office. Obama had said he planned to raise the issue in his first meeting with Duterte, but the Philippine leader insisted he was only listening to his own country's people. "You must be respectful," Duterte said of Obama. "Do not just throw questions." Using the Tagalog phrase for "son of a bitch," he said, "Putang ina I will swear at you in that forum." He made the comment in a televised news conference in southern Davao City. Eager to show he wouldn't yield, Obama said he would "undoubtedly" still bring up human rights and due process concerns "if and when" the two do meet. The bizarre rift with the leader of a US treaty ally was the most glaring example of how Obama has frequently found himself bound to foreign countries and leaders whose ties to the US are critical even if their values sharply diverge. In Hangzhou this week, Obama's first stop in Asia, he heaped praise on Chinese President Xi Jinping for hosting the Group of 20 economic summit in his country, an authoritarian state long accused of human rights violations. His next stop was another one-party communist country with a dismal rights record: Laos, where mysterious disappearances have fueled concerns about a government crackdown. And sitting down with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Obama made no mention in public of the roughly 35,000 people Erdogan's government detained following the summer's failed coup in Turkey. Instead, he worked to reassure the NATO ally the US would help bring to justice whoever was responsible for plotting the coup. Obama also spent about 90 minutes Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, another leader whose fate seems intertwined with Obama's in all the wrong ways. On opposing sides of many global issues, the US and Russia are nonetheless trying to broker a deal to address the Syrian civil war and perhaps even partner militarily there. "President Putin's less colorful," Obama said, comparing him with Duterte. "But typically the tone of our meetings is candid, blunt, businesslike." Managing Duterte has become a worsening headache for Obama since the Filipino took office on June 30, pledging his foreign policy wouldn't be constricted by reliance on the US Washington has tried largely to look the other way as Duterte has pursued closer relations with China, a marked shift for the Philippines considering recent tensions over Beijing's aspirations in the South China Sea. A public break from the Philippines would put Obama in a tough position, given the Southeast Asian nation's status as a longtime US ally. The Obama administration has sought to compartmentalize by arguing that military and other cooperation won't be jeopardized even if it detests the current Philippine leader's tone. Last month, Duterte said he didn't mind Secretary of State John Kerry but "had a feud with his gay ambassador son of a bitch, I'm annoyed with that guy." He applied the same moniker to an Australian missionary who was gang-raped and killed, and even to Pope Francis, even though the Philippines is a heavily Catholic nation. He later apologized. With a reputation as a tough-on-crime former mayor, Duterte has alarmed human rights groups with his deadly campaign against drugs, which Duterte has described as a harsh war. He has said the battle doesn't amount to genocide but has vowed to go to jail if needed to defend police and military members carrying out his orders. London: Britain's longest serving Indian-origin Labour MP Keith Vaz on Tuesday resigned from his post as chair of the influential House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee in the wake of being embroiled in a sex scandal. The 59-year-old influential lawmaker has served as chair of the committee for over nine years but told its members at a meeting on Tuesday that he was "genuinely sorry" over recent events but added that "those who hold others to account must themselves be accountable". "It is in the best interest of the Home Affairs Select Committee that its important work can be conducted without any distractions whatsoever. I am genuinely sorry that recent events make it impossible for this to happen if I remain chair," he said in a statement. "Those who hold others to account must themselves be accountable... I told the committee on Tuesday of my decision to stand aside immediately from committee business, and my intention to resign. This is my decision, and mine alone, and my first consideration has been the effect of recent events on my family," Vaz said. His resignation follows allegations published by the Sunday Mirror tabloid that the married, father of two, had met two male prostitutes from eastern Europe at his London flat last month. The high-profile politician is also alleged to have told the escorts to bring the party drug known as "poppers" and is also quoted as discussing the possibility of paying for cocaine at a future meeting, but added that he would not take the drug himself. Vaz has recommended that Tim Loughton MP, a senior Conservative party member, chair the committee's proceedings before a formal election of a new chair can take place. "After speaking to the House authorities, I will formally tender my resignation to Mr Speaker so that it coincides with the timetable for the election of other committee chairs, such as the Brexit Committee; Culture, Media and Sport; and Science and Technology, so that the elections can take place together," the statement said. He still faces the prospect of a possible investigation by the House of Commons' watchdog over the tabloid allegations after he was referred to the UK's Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Kathryn Hudson, by Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen on Monday. Vaz - who was born to Goan parents in Aden, Yemen, in 1956 and went on to study law at Cambridge University - has been Labour party MP from Leicester East since 1987 and served as minister for Europe in former prime minister Tony Blair's cabinet, becoming the first Indian-origin minister to occupy a senior cabinet portfolio at the time. The Labour party, meanwhile, seems to be standing by Vaz, with party leader Jeremy Corbyn indicating there is no need for him to stand down from the party. Corbyn said: "Well, he hasn't committed any crime that I know of. As far as I'm aware it is a private matter, and I will obviously be talking to Keith." Hong Kong: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday that ties with Beijing had entered a new era following a charm offensive which saw 56 business deals signed. Speaking in Hong Kong following a week-long trip to China, where he met President Xi Jinping and attended the Group of 20 summit in Hangzhou, Trudeau said the "hot and cold" nature of relations with Beijing was over and that ties had been "revitalised". Trudeau said his trip had been about more than signing the deals, which he said were worth more than CAD$ 1.2 billion (USD 929 million). "We needed to renew and deepen the relationship between the people of Canada and people of China for the long term and I think it's safe to say we have accomplished just that," Trudeau said at a business lunch in Hong Kong, calling for a "solid framework of engagement" to enhance commercial opportunities. Canada said last month it would apply to join the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Trudeau said he had also raised contentious subjects, including issues of rule of law and corruption, but did not say how China had responded. Asked about how a major Hong Kong election which saw politicians advocating a break from China become lawmakers Monday would affect relations he said Canada would work with "whoever gets elected and forms government in foreign jurisdictions". Trudeau also met Hong Kong's richest tycoon Li Ka-shing, posting a picture of himself with the billionaire on Twitter, and the city's leader Leung Chun-ying. Earlier on Tuesday, Trudeau honoured those who died in World War II at a city cemetery. Hong Kong fell to the Japanese after 18 days of desperate fighting in 1941. About 290 Canadians were among the roughly 2,100 allied troops killed in the battle. Hundreds of survivors endured years of abuse and starvation as prisoners of war, leading to more than 260 additional Canadian deaths. "We remember the sacrifice and service of so many who stood and fell for our shared values, so far from home," Trudeau wrote in the guest book, seen by an AFP reporter. Hangzhou: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping have agreed to make efforts to put India-China ties in the "right direction" and to "respect and accommodate" each other's concerns to avoid "impedance" relations, a top Chinese diplomat said on Tuesday. Modi and Xi met in Hangzhou on the sidelines of the G20 summit on 4 September amid differences over raft of issues. "They agreed that efforts shall be made to orientate the development of China-India relations in the right direction," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a written reply to PTI on Tuesday about how China viewed the meeting. "The two sides also agreed to respect and accommodate each other's concerns and properly handle sensitive issues to avoid their impedance to the normal development of bilateral relations," Hua said in response to a question. In the bilateral meeting with Xi, Modi raised India's concerns over the USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) being laid through PoK and told Xi that "to ensure durable ties and their steady development, it is of paramount importance that we respect each other's aspirations, concerns and strategic interests". Their meeting took place in the backdrop of steady decline in the relations over China's technical hold in UN over banning Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar and Beijing stalling India's bid to gain members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) besides CPEC. Hua said the two leaders agreed to "enhance strategic communication, foster synergies between the development strategies of the two countries, expand exchanges and cooperation in various fields so as to further China-India strategic cooperative partnership". After meeting Modi, Xi had said that "China is willing to work with India to maintain their hard-won sound relations and further advance cooperation". "China and India should respect and care for each other on issues of major concern, and handle differences in a constructive way," Xi was quoted by state-run Xinhua news agency as saying. Commenting on Modi-Xi meeting, Hu Shisheng, Director of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations affiliated to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said India-China ties faced serious tensions over issues relating to Pakistan. He said Pakistan has become a visible negative factor in India-China relations. "This may also be due to India's rapidly increasing relations with the US and Japan. Chinese scholars apprehend that the Cold War my come again. We should prevent that," he said and called for enhanced talks between the two countries. On the issues like CPEC and terrorism emanating from Pakistan's soil, Hu said that India and China should hold free and frank discussions to find solutions. As part of the major country relations, the US and China have currently over 90 dialogue mechanism at Vice Ministerial level and 170 at the Director General level to discuss a host of contentious issue, he said, adding that compared to that India-China have only about 35. Modi and Xi are constantly meeting and set to meet again in Goa during BRICS summit next month and at the UN General Assembly. Meetings between officials can help the two leaders to set right policy, Hu said. Asked how he interpret Xi's comments that "China is willing to work with India", Hu said India and China went through hard times in improving relations over the years. The process to normalise relations after 1962 hostilities took so many years. Even after that border face offs continued and differences prevailed on a host of issues, Hu said. "He (Xi) means that we are surfing through trouble waters" and wants to step up communication to iron out differences, Hu added. Marseille (France): Two Muslim mothers wearing headscarves were accosted and prevented from entering a nursery school on the French island of Corsica by two other parents, officials said. The incident happened on Monday as parents were dropping off their children at the start of the school day in Bonifacio, on the island's southern tip. The two women, wearing Muslim headscarves, "were stopped by two men, two brothers, who thought it wasn't right that their children are not allowed to wear emblems of their religion at school and yet these women could enter with their veils," said local prosecutor Eric Bouillard, confirming a report in the Corse-Matin newspaper. Bonifacio mayor Jean-Charles Orsucci said his education official "had intervened to allow normal entry to the school". Police and a schools inspector were also sent to the scene "and the situation calmed down. There was no violence, no threats, and therefore no laws broken," said Bouillard. While religious symbols are banned for pupils and teachers in French schools, there is no such constraint on parents. The incident is the latest example of intercommunal tensions in France. A burkini ban by local authorities in a string of resorts in southern France divided opinion and ended up in the courts. A Nice court finally suspended its ban on the Islamic swimsuit on Thursday after authorities there had defied a ruling by the country's highest administrative court. The string of bans came after the full-body swimsuit allegedly sparked violent clashes in Corsica in the latest in a series of incidents that have raised tensions between local Muslims and their neighbours. In December, protesters vandalised a Muslim prayer hall and trashed copies of the Koran after an assault on firefighters that was blamed on youths of Arab origin. Washington: US President Barack Obama on Monday said an agreement with Russia on ending the violence in Syria is being hampered by "gaps of trust" between the two governments. Asked by CNN's Michelle Kosinski about his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the President described it as "candid" and "blunt" focusing mainly on Syria and Ukraine. Obama called the discussion on Syria "productive" about what a real cessation of hostilities would actually look like. "We have had some productive conversations about what a real cessation of hostilities would look like that would allow us both... to focus our attention on common enemies." Obama added that currently the gaps have not been closed in negotiations between Russia and the US in a way that they think would "actually work". Obama urged Kerry and Lavrov to work together in the coming days to get aid to those in need. Obama and his Russian counterpart Putin met on Monday as talks between their governments on ending violence in Syria ended without an agreement. Meanwhile, Putin told reporters that a deal with the US to "ease tensions in Syria" may come "within a few days", according to Russia's state news agency TASS. "Against all odds we have a certain rapprochement and understanding of what we might do to ease tensions in Syria and achieve mutually acceptable solutions," TASS quoted Putin as saying. As for further details on the agreement, Putin said, "It is early now to speak of any parameters of our agreements, but I hope very much that the agreements will be reached, and I have the grounds to believe that this may happen within a few days," according to TASS. The two leaders conversed on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Hangzhou for ninety minutes, a senior US official said, and worked to clarify gaps in negotiations over on the Syrian crisis. The pair also discussed Ukraine and Russia's cyber intrusions, CNN quoted an official as saying. The exchange came after talks between Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov failed to result in a Syria ceasefire agreement. They had been working to negotiate a plan that would have boosted military cooperation between the two nations in an effort to better target terrorists and prevent civilian deaths. India and the US continue to lock horns at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on a major dispute concerning certain American agricultural products with both sides differing on whether India has complied with a WTO ruling and the procedures through which to solve the dispute. The US said in a 5 September regular meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) that India has retained many aspects of the measure at issue of a dispute despite claims by the country of already having complied with a WTO ruling. The US said that the revised measure undertaken by India appears to impose the same import prohibitions on account of avian influenza outbreaks as the original measure. Given that the revised measure, like the original measure, does not appear to be based on risk assessment, India would appear to have no basis for imposing its import restrictions on US agricultural products, the US stated. Moreover, the revised measure appears to be more trade restrictive than measures based on international guidelines. Indias revised measure does not address DSBs findings and recommendations and unjustifiably discriminates against American imports, a US official argued. India responded by stating that it had already fully complied with the rulings and recommendations in this dispute the US claim, therefore, had no legal basis. The DSB cannot allow a US request for $450 million per annum retaliation if there is full compliance of the ruling by India. WTO referred a case by the US against India at a special meeting on 19 July on import of certain US agricultural produce, for arbitration known as suspension of concession in WTO-speak. The US has slammed a retaliation of $450 million annually on India for harming US trade interests by Indias failure to comply with a WTO ruling within a given time frame. This case was initiated by the US against India in March 2012 after India had restricted various American agricultural products, including poultry meat, eggs, and live pigs, to prevent entry of avian influenza into India, for a period of about seven years. The US argued that such an Indian policy was discriminatory and violated WTOs Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement. After consultations between the disputing parties failed, the matter was brought to the DSB which ruled against India in October 2014. India appealed against the ruling in January 2015 but lost, again, in the appellate ruling. The US said that India had not adopted any changes to the measure at issue in the dispute by 19 July the reasonable period given by WTO for compliance after which the US had pushed the matter for arbitration. The US in its 5 September DSB meeting also complained that India adopted revisions only in late July and informed this measure to the SPS committee and not the DSB. India, on its part, has strongly objected to the $450 million per annum retaliation figure. The DSB, India added yesterday, cannot allow a request for retaliation if there is full compliance and the proper approach in this case is a sequencing agreement. India emphasized its previous call for an investigation into its compliance first instead of immediately conducting arbitration on the US request for retaliation. The US replied that there is nothing provided in WTO rules requiring such a sequence of procedures. The US remains open to working with India on a mutually agreed resolution to this dispute, it added. The "arbitrator" comprises the original three-member panel who are required to issue their ruling within 60 days of the end of the reasonable period in this case, it was the 18 August. Brazil stated that WTO members must pay attention to this case as attempts to clarify sequencing rules in previous years have not yet been resolved. The EU said that it that will be following developments of this case closely. The US is one of the largest exporters of chicken meat the American poultry industry directly employs over 3,50,000 workers and consists of nearly 50,000 family farms. According to the office of the USTR, US exports to India of just poultry meat alone could easily exceed $300 million a year once Indias restrictions are removed and are likely to grow substantially in the future as Indias demand for high quality protein increases. Relations between Asian rivals India and China have come under considerable strain in the recent months as mutual misgivings are steadily mounting. A slew of issues has led to the current strain and is likely to continue, unless one or the other blinks. However, neither country appears to be in the mood to do so. "Positions have hardened and India must be prepared for a period of strained relations with China and Pakistan, said former foreign secretary Lalit Mansingh. Strategic moves The strategic dynamic of the region is changing. China has been consistently backing Pakistan against India: Whether that be blocking Indias entry to the Nuclear Suppliers Group, citing technical reasons for not supporting UN sanctions against Jaish-e-Mohammad leader Masood Azhar, or building massive infrastructure projects in PoK, which India claims as its own. China is watching with some concern Indias growing warmth with the US. Beijing believes that Washington is propping up New Delhi to balance China's increasing military might in the Asia-Pacific. India has also been vocal about the South China Sea. During President Barack Obama's visit, India and US had issued a separate joint statement on the South China Sea calling for all parties to respect international laws. The signing of the Logistics Agreement in Washington which allows India and US to use each others facilities is being seen in Beijing as another step in that direction. The agreement had been in the works for years as the UPA government had refused to sign it as many in the Congress saw it moving into the US orbit. The UPA also did not want to annoy China as improving relations with its giant neighbour was a priority of the Manmohan Singh-led regime. Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with President Xi Jinping in Hangzhou, where he was attending the G20 Summit hosted by China. In the bilateral talks, Modi spoke frankly. Unlike in the past when many things were left unsaid, Modi did not shy away from mentioning Indias concerns about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. New Delhi has been publicly talking about its unhappiness about the $46 billion project, which was announced by Xi, during his visit to Pakistan. Not a word of this was mentioned to India, even though Xi flew to Islamabad after a successful visit to India, where he and the First Lady were entertained by Modi on the banks of the Sabarmati. "China should have at least informed India about it, considering India claims PoK. Courtesy demanded it, said Mansingh. Unlike many other countries in the region, India has not been enthusiastic about Xis One Belt One Road initiative. At the moment as China prepares to launch its ambitious project, Indias protests are hardly likely to make an impact. Uncertain times are ahead, unless China shows some concession As a matter of principle, both countries would have to be sensitive to each others strategic interests. In order to promote positive convergences, we will also need to prevent negative perceptions. For this the specific actions by both countries would play the major role, MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup paraphrased the prime minister as saying, at the briefing after the talks between the two leaders. Significantly, without naming Pakistan, Chinas all-weather friend, Modi said: Our response to terrorism must not be motivated by political considerations. He also spoke of terrorism coming from the area. Although Pakistan was not named, the reference was obvious. Significantly the CPEC is part of Xis pet projects which he hopes will transform the entire Central Asian economy. The CPEC envisages rail, road and pipeline projects to ferry oil and gas from Gwadar Port (built earlier by China) in Balochistan to Kashghar in Chinas Xinjiang province through PoK. Pakistan is naturally enthusiastic about the CPEC. Political parties and more importantly, the army are fired up by the project, but people in Pakistans restive Balochistan province are not. Indias open support for the Baloch cause announced by Modi in his Independence Day speech, has been hailed by the people there. Pakistan has long accused India of interfering in Balochistan and blamed Indian intelligence working out of Afghanistan of aiding Baloch "terror outfits". These charges will escalate in the days and months to come. Chinese interests will also be affected. This is why Shyam Saran, a former foreign secretary and astute diplomat believes that if India takes on China, as it is doing about the CPEC, it has to be ready to take the consequences. It is not just Pakistan now in PoK and Balochistan, but Chinese interests as well. Mansingh however welcomed Indias muscular stand on the South China Sea, Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan. "Chinese respond to strength and know the power game. Previously, Indias foreign policy was about moral principles and not real politik. This is the way forward. The fact that India and the US are on the same page on Chinas aggressive stand in the South China Sea, is a plus. Japan, India, US, Vietnam are all ranged together and there is strength in numbers. Modis visit to Hanoi ahead of the G-20 meet, was also a pointer that Delhi can also woo Beijings neighbours. Even though China will certainly not change its stand on the CPEC, India must continue to flag its concerns in every forum, said Mansingh. Uncertain times are ahead, unless China shows some concession. Allowing India smooth entry to the Nuclear Suppliers Group, when the issue comes up in the last quarter of the year, may change the equation. This will help to smooth the way to better ties. Melbourne: An Australian expert on Shakespeare claims the bard did not invent many of the words and phrases attributed to him, saying the anomaly is due to the Oxford English Dictionary "bias" towards "famous" literary examples. Noting examples such as "it was Greek to me" and "wild goose chase", David McInnis from Melbourne University, said online searches of old texts had helped to uncover pre-Shakespeare uses for many words and phrases that are frequently credited to him. "Did Shakespeare really invent all these words and phrases?" he wrote in an article for the university's online magazine. "The short answer is no. His audiences had to understand at least the gist of what he meant, so his words were mostly in circulation already or were logical combinations of pre- existing concepts." McInnis, a lecturer in Shakespeare studies, said the Oxford English Dictionary contains more than 33,000 quotations from Shakespeare, including about 1,500 listed as the first evidence of a word's existence. A further 7,500 are listed as the first evidence of a particular usage or meaning. "But the Oxford English Dictionary is biased," he was quoted as saying by The Telegraph. "Especially in the early days, it preferred literary examples, and famous ones at that. The Complete Works of Shakespeare was frequently raided for early examples of word use, even though words or phrases might have been used earlier, by less famous or less literary people." According to McInnis, the phrase "it's Greek to me" is often thought to derive from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, which is believed to have been written in 1599. But internet-based resources have helped to uncover at least one earlier use. "Now, thanks to digital resources like Early English Books Online, we can search for the phrase 'Greek to me' and easily find examples that predate Shakespeare," McInnis said. "Fellow playwright Robert Greene's The Scottish History of James the Fourth was printed in 1598 but possibly written as early as 1590. In it, a lord asks a lady if she'll love him, and she replies ambiguously: "I cannot hate." He presses the point ...at which point she pretends not to understand him at all: "Tis Greek to me, my Lord" is her final reply." Likewise, the phrase "wild goose chase" has been shown to pre-date Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: it apparently appears at least six times in a 1593 book about horsemanship by the English poet Gervase Markham. However, McInnis noted that Shakespeare sometimes appears to have refashioned existing phrases - such as "the better part of valour is discretion" - to make them "concise and catchy". And, in other cases, such as "to make an ass of oneself", Shakespeare "seems to have genuinely invented [it]", McInnis wrote. "So did Shakespeare really invent all those words?" he asked. "No, not really. He invented some; more usually he came up with the most memorable combinations or uses, and frequently we can find earlier uses that the Oxford English Dictionary simply hasnt cited yet," he added. Karachi/New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looking forward to visit Pakistan in November to attend the Saarc Summit, according to India's High Commissioner in Islamabad. But New Delhi said on Tuesday that no decision had been made yet. "Decisions and announcements of such nature are not made so far in advance," India's External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted. Swarup's remarks came a day after the High Commissioner, Gautam Bambawale, told an event in Karachi on Monday that the visit was possible despite tense India-Pakistan ties. "I can't say about the future but as of today Prime Minister Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the Saarc summit in November," the Dawn quoted Bambawale as saying at an interactive session of the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations. He also said while India and Pakistan must certainly discuss the entire range of issues, they must keep their focus on economy which he described as a "low-hanging fruit". His comments came amid reports that Modi might keep away from the Saarc Summit in view of the rising tensions between India and Pakistan, particularly over Jammu and Kashmir. Bambawale said it was India's desire to see a Pakistan which was moderate, prosperous and stable and at peace with itself, its neighbours as well as the rest of the world. He admitted that trust and confidence was lacking in relations between New Delhi and Islamabad. The road to normalization of Pakistan-India relations, he said, lay through greater trade and business, the roadmap for which was prepared by the two governments in 2012. The total trade between the two countries was worth just $2.5 billion a year while its potential was of $20 billion, the Dawn quoted him as saying. The Indian envoy said even when tensions were high between the two countries, there had been contacts at the operational level. Over the past month and a half, there had been "cordial interactions" between Pakistani and Indian border forces. Bambawale referred to Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's and Modi's visits to Islamabad and Lahore respectively in December 2015. .@AnirbanDHdel: As I stated in my weekly briefing, decisions and announcements of such nature are not made so far in advance Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) September 6, 2016 But on 2 January, 2016, terrorists - who India says came from Pakistan - attacked the Pathankot Indian Air Force base. He said the Indian government had been saying: "Let's work together to get to the bottom of terrorism which was a headache not only for Pakistan but for India and the world." In an obvious reference to the Kashmir dispute, Bambawale said the two countries should not be talking on just one issue, rather on all issues. He said India had taken a stand in the 1960s and 70s that New Delhi and Beijing must talk on the boundary problem before moving on to other issues. But this was reversed in 1988. Today China was one of India's largest trading partners, he pointed out. Asked about "Indian atrocities" in Jammu and Kashmir, the high commissioner said Indians were as concerned about the people of Kashmir as anyone else in the world. But issue of Jammu and Kashmir was domestic and "you should focus on your problems", he replied. Bambawale said the problem with China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was that it went through Pakistani Kashmir whose ownership is disputed by Islamabad and New Delhi. He also mentioned how Pakistan had refused consular access to alleged RAW agent Kulbhushan Jadhav, arrested in Pakistan, while India gave consular access to a Pakistani terrorist, Bahadur Ali. "We have offered Pakistani authorities full consular access to him," he said in reply to a question about Indian involvement in Balochistan. The Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's three-day visit to India second in a year clearly points to an increasing engagement between the two countries. For India, Egypt is emerging as a crucial link between northeast Africa and the Middle East. Given the paramount significance of the two countries consultations on international security, peace, counter-extremism and sustainable development, it raises the question that why it did not receive the kind of media attention it deserved. In a recent Firstpost article, Shantanu Mukharji, a security analyst, has precisely noted that during his visit to India, Sisi may not have drawn substantial media attention both in print and electronic yet the bilateral talks between him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi did yield tangible results: the security and defence deal was signed by the two nations to bolster both the countries' concern for growing threats of terrorism and ongoing radicalisation a core area that merits complete attention. In a landmark decision to combat the threat of extremism and radicalism, India and Egypt have agreed to enhance cooperation in security and counter-extremism efforts, considering terrorism and radicalism the gravest threats the two countries face. The wide-ranging talks between PM Modi and Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi concluded that the two countries are required to strengthen ties to combat the sizable threats and common challenges from the dangers of terror and extremism that entails concerted efforts at all levels to climate change and sustainable energy sources for future generation. While Sisi laid emphasis on a robust security cooperation with India, Modi stressed the need for an "action-oriented agenda" to drive the engagements in a range of sectors. He reportedly said, "President and I are of one view that growing radicalisation, increasing violence and spread of terror pose a real threat not just to our two countries, but, also to nations and communities across regions." Given the fact that the extremist ideology of all the radical movements across the region is quite identical, Egypt can be taken as a trusted friend of India in this joint venture of countering extremism. For, Sisi hits out directly at the very ideology of terror that poses a real threat not just to our two countries, but, also to nations and communities across regions. Substantial evidences reveal that the current Egyptian government has genuinely engaged in eliminating the extremist creed from its roots. After coming to power two years back, Sisi has initiated major reforms to curb the cancer of extremism. Most notably, Egypt is the first Muslim country which has banned the entire corpus of extremist literature on its soil. It has cracked down on the extremist thoughts underpinned by the radical Islamist ideologues like Hasan al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb who inspired the creation of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) the champion of political Islamist ideology in the region. It is noteworthy that the MB came into power in 2011 taking advantage of the Tahrir Square revolution when Hosni Mubarak, a quasi-military leader in Egypt, was ousted. But political Islamism was not compatible with the mainstream Egyptian Muslimss moderate worldview. Therefore, the MB backed the former Egyptian President, Mohamed Morsi who faced the ire of Egyptian people and was dethroned when Sisi moved in 2013. The mainstream Muslims in Egypt are traditionally anchored in a moderate narrative of Islam and hence did not reconcile with the violent extremism of political Islamists. Sisi hit the nail right on the head by countering the ideological underpinnings promoting radical Islamism. The Egyptian Ministry of Religious affairs removed all books and digital material conducive to political Islamism and antithetical to the moderate narrative of Islam. In a remarkable example of counter-extremism, the Egyptian authorities confiscated the literature promoting the extremist religious ideas. Daily News Egypt had reported that the decision included an investigation into the small libraries in mosques in order to purge them of books that call for the opposite of moderate Islam. In this context, Modis remarks while welcoming the Egyptian President at Presidential Palace in New Delhi assume significance. He hailed both the current leadership as well as the people of Egypt, calling Sisi a man of many achievements, and the Egyptian Muslims as a voice of moderate Islam. Remarkably, the worlds largest Sufi Islamic seminary Jamia al-Azhar al-Sharif, also known as Al-Azhar University in Cairo, voices the silent majority of moderate Muslims. The former president and the current Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Shaikh Ahmad-ul-Tayeb, who is also the head of a Sufi shrine in Egypt, calls for radical reforms in the Islamic thought. In an anti-terrorism Islamic summit in Mecca, he showed his courage of conviction for introspection into the intolerant interpretations of Islam to contain the spread of extremism in the Muslim world. The worlds premier pan-Arab daily newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat quoted Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb as saying that the Islamic world is currently plagued by extremist thinking which has bred groups such as Islamic State and Al-Nusra. Furthermore, Tayeb told the daily that the solution to preventing countless people from getting radicalised lay in reforming Islamic education programs in Muslim countries which are now infiltrated with extreme and incorrect interpretations of Islam. Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb explained radicalism as a product of extremist ideology linked to historical misinterpretations of the Quran and the hadith (prophetic sayings). He opined that there were certain Islamic doctrines that have been manipulated over hundreds of years, which have led to the growing radicalisation. Therefore, he called for cooperation between different religious, educational, and media institutions to prevent youth from getting drawn into extremist thinking and joining terrorist groups. Considered as the highest authority in Islamic jurisprudence, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar Sheikh Al-Tayeb greatly influences the moderate Muslims worldwide. As someone who is also responsible for official religious matters along with the Grand Mufti of Egypt, he inspired the current Egyptian President in his effort to stave off radicalism. Consequently, Sisi cracked down on all the extremist underpinnings of the Egyptian Islamist ideologues such as Sheikh Hasan al-Banna and Syed Qutub and their ilk. He also asked the previously-appointed Salafist sheikhs at Al-Azhar University to shun their radical religious thoughts. In his recent opinion piece in The Times of India, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi himself pointed it out that Egypt has also been at the forefront in the fight against terrorism. The terrorism which has taken advantage of the security vacuum in some countries due to the ongoing conflicts and crises. Furthermore, Sisi said that combating terrorism is primarily an ideological war against hatred, extremism and violence. Terming the Al-Azhar institution as a beacon of moderate Islam, Sisi said that it plays an essential role in rectifying the religious discourse in order to reflect the real essence and virtues of Islam. Like Egypt, many other moderate Muslim countries are battling the onslaught of radicalism on a deeper ideological level, repelling the extremist thoughts and encouraging tolerant virtues of Islam Some North African countries like Algeria, Morocco, Cyprus and even our neighboring countries like Bangladesh and Kazakhstan have also followed this model. These countries are ideologically combating the radicalism in all its forms, particularly in mosques, madrasas and in the educational curricula. They have replaced the hardcore Salafist-Wahhabi imams with spiritually-inclined moderates, with an aim to prevent extremism and restore peaceful narrative of Islam. But the radical Islamists, on the other hand, are now growing in democratic countries like India, where they are free to further their nefarious designs. Scores of institutions and radical Islamist organisations well-funded by the petro-dollars are running in the country for long. While the imam of al-Azhar hits out against radical thoughts and calls for reformation in the educational curricula in Egypt, many Islamist clergy in India are vehemently opposing such reformation. They reject it outright as an outlandish attempt to encroach upon their sphere of influence. Deplorably, a large number of Indian-Islamic seminaries, educational institutions and religious endowments are now influenced by the radical clerics and founders of global-political Islamism, who are no longer influential in their own Islamic countries like Egypt. It is indispensable for the Indian Muslims as well as the security experts to delve deeper into this ideological challenge that Egypt has tackled in order to confront the radicalism. The author is a scholar of Comparative Religion, Classical Arabic and Islamic sciences, cultural analyst and researcher in Media and Communication Studies. He tweets at @GRDehlvi. Email: grdehlavi@gmail.com To say that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Hangzhou, China for the G20 summit was eventful would be an understatement. Apart from meeting several world leaders and discussing key issues with them, Modi made one of the strongest statements against Pakistan and the country's involvement in terrorism. Here are the key issues on which Modi spoke during the G20 summit: Pakistan and terrorism Perhaps the most important statement made by the prime minister was his sharp attack on Pakistan, when he said on Monday, "Indeed, one single nation in South Asia is spreading these agents of terror in countries of our region." Soon after Modi's assertion, the G20 countries, including India, also came down heavily on terrorism as they vowed to tackle all sources, techniques and channels of terror financing. "We expect the international community to speak and act in unity, and to respond with urgency to fight this menace. Those who sponsor and support terrorism must be isolated and sanctioned, not rewarded," Modi further said in his intervention during the concluding session of the meeting of the world's 20 strong economies. Modi had earlier said that India appreciates the G20's initiative on combating the financing of terrorism and asserted that all countries should meet the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards. "Growing forces of violence and terror pose a fundamental challenge. There are some nations that use it as an instrument of state policy. India has a policy of zero tolerance to terrorism. Because anything less than that is not enough," Modi said. "For us, a terrorist is a terrorist," he asserted. Modi's remarks at the G20 Summit came a day after India called on other Brics members to intensify joint efforts to combat terrorism. The comments also assume significance amid a war of words between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the unrest in the Kashmir Valley that broke out on 8 July after Hizbul commander Burhan Wani was killed by security forces. Indo-China ties, CPEC Modi also raised India's concerns with China over the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which runs through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and the terrorism "emanating from the region". Modi also told Chinese President Xi Jinping that the two countries need to be "sensitive" to each other's strategic interests. Asserting that the fight against terror should not be motivated by "political considerations", Modi said it is of "paramount importance that we respect each other's aspirations, concerns and strategic interests" to ensure durable bilateral ties. Besides a host of energy-related projects, the CPEC consists of rail, road and pipelines to ferry oil and gas from Gwadar port on Arabian Sea to Kashghar in China's Muslim-dominated Xinjiang province through PoK. "As a matter of principle, both countries would have to be sensitive to each other's strategic interests," Vikas Swarup, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, said while touching upon broad themes that Modi stressed upon during his 35-minute bilateral with Xi, their eighth meeting. "In order to promote positive convergence, we would also need to prevent growth of negative perception. For this, the specific actions by both countries would play the major role," he said. In particular, Modi highlighted that "we have succeeded in maintaining peace and tranquility on the border", he added. Condemning the recent suicide bomb attack on the Chinese Embassy in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, Modi said it is yet another proof of the continuing scourge of terrorism. "The Prime Minister reiterated that our response to terror must not be motivated by political considerations," Swarup said. About the bilateral relations which experienced turbulence due to differences over a raft of issues involving Pakistan including China's technical hold on UN ban against Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar and its attempts to block Indias entry into Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) Modi said in order to make the Asian century a reality, the countries of the continent would have to take responsibility. Asked whether Modi raised the issue of China blocking India's bid for the membership of the NSG during the bilateral, Swarup declined to get into the "nitty-gritty" of the issues discussed. "I am not going into the nitty-gritty of each and everything that was discussed. Everything is not meant for public consumption. There are certain things (which) need to remain between the two governments," he said. On yet another question on the NSG issue, he said: "I will not go into the specifics, if you read between the lines, you pretty much understand when we talk about strategic interests, concerns and aspirations, it is not as if China is not unaware of our strategic interests, aspirations and concerns or we are unaware of their concerns. So, it is something both sides are well aware...This was a meeting at summit level between the two. They are meant to provide high-level guidance and direction to overall relations." Citing that India has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, China had opposed its bid to join the elite 48-member bloc during NSG's meeting in Seoul in June. Modi said he always had a strategic vision for India-China ties. The India-China partnership is important not only for the two countries but for the entire region and the world. Ahead of the 8th Brics Summit next month, Modi extended a personal invitation to Xi to come to Goa which the Chinese leader said he was very happy to accept. Black money Underlining that fighting corruption and black money is key to effective financial governance, Modi asked G20 leaders to act to eliminate safe havens for economic offenders, unconditionally extradite money launderers and end excessive banking secrecy that hide the corrupt. "G20's efforts should be for zero-tolerance for corruption and black money; zero administration, policy and treaty loopholes; zero barriers and full commitment to action," Modi said in his intervention on the second day of the G20 Summit. Modi said fighting corruption, black money and tax evasion were key to effective financial governance. He said to achieve that "we need to act to eliminate safe havens for economic offenders, track down and unconditionally extradite money launderers and break down the web of complex international regulations and excessive banking secrecy that hide the corrupt and their deeds." A stable global economic and financial system is imperative for development as it promotes inclusive and sustainable growth, the prime minister said and called for further strengthening of the global financial safety net. "We need a regular dialogue between the IMF, Regional Financial Arrangements and Bilateral Swap Arrangements. Important mechanisms like financial stability board should stick to their core mandate," Swarup quoted the prime minister as saying in a series of tweets. "IMF should remain a quota-based institution and not depend on borrowed resources," Modi said, emphasing that the "long-delayed 15th General Review of Quotas must be completed by 2017 Annual Meetings." India has been pressing for reform of the Bretton Wood Institutions - IMF and World Bank - which would give it and other major emerging economies greater say in the multilateral lenders. India had recently said governance reforms are required to ensure IMF's credibility, legitimacy and effectiveness. Trade The Prime Minister said global trading regime must respond to needs and priorities of developing nations. "Global value chains must provide them level-playing field." Earlier, Modi said India's priority was to work towards a Trade Facilitation Agreement for services and a "transformed and liberalised" investment regime has put India among top host nations for Foreign Direct Investments (FDI). "Knowledge and innovation-driven economy requires free mobility," he said. At another intervention on 'Robust International Trade and Investment', he said the "global trade is at a cross roads". He said the vision of a "transparent, equitable, non-discriminatory, open, inclusive and rule-based global trading architecture should underpin collective efforts". Modi urged G20 members to fully implement the Bali and Nairobi Ministerial decisions to facilitate trade. The Nairobi Decision builds on the earlier 2013 Bali Ministerial Decision on preferential rules. It includes Ministerial Decisions on agriculture covering a Special Safeguard Mechanism for developing countries (to counter import surges of farm items). "Global trading regime must respond to needs and priorities of developing nations," Modi said. He closed his second intervention of the day saying global investment principles shouldn't be prescriptive. "Countries need policy space depending on national circumstances and development focus." Scorpene submarine data leak Modi also raised with French President Francois Hollande the leak of confidential data on the Indian Scorpene Class submarines being built in Mumbai in collaboration with French defence company DCNS on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou. Over 22,000 pages of secret data on the capabilities of six highly-advanced submarines being built for the Indian Navy in Mumbai in collaboration with French defence company DCNS were leaked. The data leak reportedly happened overseas. "This issue has also figured (in the talks)," Swarup told reporters. India's NSG membership On the second and final day of the summit, Modi held a separate "pull-aside" meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with whom he discussed India's NSG membership. The discussion with Erdogan on NSG was significant as Turkey was among the few countries along with China which had stalled India's bid to join the elite grouping at its plenary meeting in June in Seoul. Turkey too raised its concern over the presence of supporters of dissident Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen in India. Turkey accuses Gulen of masterminding the failed July coup attempt. India-UK ties Britain's new visa policy could have a "negative impact" on Indian working professionals' short-term business visits to the UK, Modi told his British counterpart Theresa May during their first meeting after she became Premier. Meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, the two Prime Ministers also discussed further enhancement of bilateral defence partnership, Swarup said. "Prime Minister also touched on UK's visa policy. In particular, he said that the new UK regulations could have negative impact on Indian working professionals wishing to visit UK for short term business visits," Swarup said. The Prime Minister invited British firms to 'Make in India' as both leaders also looked forward to an early visit by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to the UK, he said. "The Prime Minister underlined that even after the Brexit, the UK remained as important to India as before," Swarup further said. Modi also sought the British Prime Minister's suggestions on further strengthening the partnership particularly trade and investment ties. In this context, he referred to the recent launch of the HSBC Corporate Rupee bond on the London Stock Exchange which has been very successful. India, Modi said, also needed more UK participation in 'Make in India'. The Prime Minister also referred to passage of GST bill, which he said would further boost trade and investment ties with UK, Swarup said. Modi also invited May to visit India in her new capacity. May accepted the invitation and said she would like to make as early a visit to India as possible. Climate change On climate change, Modi said that though the Paris Agreement showed the way forward, "focus shouldn't just be on early ratification, but full success." "Many global issues may not seem economic but, carry significant economic cost," he said. The prime minister said, "(we) have to safeguard climate justice. (It) requires affordable financing and environmental sound technology for developing countries." With inputs from PTI Vientiane: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte expressed regret on Tuesday over his "son of a b*tch" remark while referring to President Barack Obama, in a rare display of contrition by a politician whose wide arc of profanities has unabashedly targeted world figures including the Pope and the UN chief. In a statement read out by his spokesman, Duterte said that while his "strong comments" in response to certain questions by a reporter "elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the US President." Duterte had made the intemperate remarks on Monday before flying to Laos, where he is attending a regional summit. He had been scheduled to meet Obama separately, but Obama indicated he had second thoughts. Later, Duterte said both sides mutually agreed to postpone the meeting. Even though Duterte's latest comment does not amount to an apology, the expression of regret is unusual for the tough-talking former mayor, who is unapologetic about his manner of speech and liberally peppers his casual statements with profanities such as "son of a b*tch" and "son of a whore." But perhaps Duterte's aides realized it would be unwise to take on the most powerful official in the world, and there would be a price to pay for insulting the president of the United States. The US is one of the Philippines' largest trading partners and a key security ally in its fight against terrorism in the country's south. Manila also needs Washington's help in dealing with a more assertive China in the disputed South China Sea. Duterte likely had realised his folly by the time he arrived in the Laotian capital of Vientiane last night. Speaking to reporters here, he said, "I do not want to quarrel with the most powerful country on the planet," but immediately took his typical combative approach by saying: "Washington has been so liberal about criticising human rights, human rights and human rights." He said if the White House had problems with him, it could have sent him a diplomatic note and let him respond. "There's a protocol for that," Duterte said. "You just cannot shoot a statement against the president of any country." But by Tuesday, he had done a complete U-turn in the tone of his statement. "We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions, and working in mutually responsible ways for both countries," the statement said. Kabul: A third massive explosion shook central Kabul on Monday night, hours after a Taliban double bombing killed at least 24 people and left 91 others wounded, in another day of carnage in the Afghan capital. Authorities said they were trying to pin down the location of the third blast and there was no immediate claim of responsibility from any militant group. It jolted the capital just hours after high-level officials, including an army general, were killed in the twin blasts near the defence ministry, as the Taliban ramp up their nationwide offensive against the US-backed government. A suicide bomber struck the area just minutes after the first explosion, in an assault apparently aimed at inflicting mass casualties as officials left the ministry after work. "The first explosion occurred on a bridge near the defence ministry. The second struck just as soldiers, policemen and civilians hurried to help the victims," defence ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish told AFP. Ambulances rushed to the scene, littered with disfigured bodies and charred debris. But there were so many bodies that some had to be taken to hospitals in car boots and the back of police pickup trucks. Firemen, meanwhile, raced to retrieve some bodies thrown into the Kabul River by the intensity of the first blast on the bridge. Health ministry spokesman Waheed Majroh said the attack left 24 people dead and 91 others wounded, some of them seriously, adding the casualties could rise still further. The Italian-run Emergency Hospital in Kabul, which was overwhelmed with wounded patients, tweeted that four people died on arrival. The interior ministry initially said the attack was carried out by two suicide bombers on foot. But officials later said the first bomb was detonated remotely while the second was triggered by a suicide bomber. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter that the defence ministry was the object of the first attack, while police were targeted in the second. President Ashraf Ghani strongly condemned the carnage and offered condolences to the families of the victims. "The enemies of Afghanistan have lost their ability to fight the security and defence forces of the country," Ghani said in a statement. "That is why they are attacking highways, cities, mosques, schools and common people." The attack took place more than a week after 16 people were killed when militants stormed the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul, in a nearly 10-hour raid that prompted anguished pleas for help from trapped students. Explosions and gunfire rocked the campus in that attack, which came just weeks after two university professors an American and an Australian were kidnapped at gunpoint near the school. Their whereabouts are still unknown and no group so far has publicly claimed responsibility for the abductions. The uptick in violence in the capital comes as the Taliban escalate nationwide attacks, underscoring the worsening security situation since Nato forces ended their combat mission at the end of 2014. Diplomacy is the art of saying nice doggie till you find a rock, Will Rogers had once said. The Philippines President not only threw the parameters of the art into the river but dropped a boulder. Not many people call the US president a sumofabitch and a sumofawhore (deliberately misspelled) and that,too, in public. For sheer bad manners it is tough to beat. But according to Duterte fans, Barack Obama should have stayed out of the drug wars in the Philippines and not attacked the crackdown in which over 2,000 people have been netted. Dutertes argument is that if you want to play softball thats your call ,stay out of our business. As if to prove that he didnt care a toss in the wind about Obama, Duterte followed it up with an imposition of an state of emergency because of the Davao bombing. Now, usually such political gaffes are unintended to be heard, like in cases where the microphone is still on or you are being secretly taped and pay the price for indiscretion. Not often do you have a bitterness through bluntness but President Duterte certainly lived up to his reputation and beyond when he slurred US President Obama with multiple yelps of profanity just before they were supposed to have their first one-on-one meeting. That Duterte made the comment at a press conference only exacerbated the situation. After demanding that the incident be verified, Obama elected to cancel the meet and went off to spend some time with other leaders. Nix it, said Obama, dont want to meet the foul-mouthed man. That inimical nations might engage in badmouthing each others leaders is an occasional hazard but even there trade and commerce dictate a certain civility and there are no cases that one can recall where adversaries not at war have gone this far. For two nations that have military pacts and a level of high interdependence, this is an unfortunate development. As much as America needs a friendly in the Far East so does the Philippines, which needs to keep Washington happy. Was President Obama justified in cancelling a very important meet following the end of the rather clumsy and frosty G20 meet in China? While there were rumours later that Duterte had retracted for the sake of the greater good and separated America from the President, for whom he has no respect, nothing concrete was done to ameliorate the situation. Instead Duterte seems unrepentant and indifferent to his verbal assault. Should Obama have risen above the rudeness and gone for the greater good or did he do the right thing? He couldn't possible have been the bigger man after the slurs. By the same token should President Duterte stop living up to his reputation as a this is what you get sort of guy who shoots from the hip. If you shoot from the hip your nation might have to pay a price. Now, there might be some people who feel he is one heck of a guy for not being intimidated by the US President. But the more circumspect advisors must be stunned at the reversal by Obama and wondering how to engage in damage control. The Duterte protocol (or lack of it) does not include any sense of apology so that would be a block. One also cannot see Obama overly worried about making peace as he saunters into the straight of his presidency. While one can expect a decent amount of feverish activity at the support levels as ruffled feathers are calmed for now the Philippines President might realise that when the buck stops with you and you are not simply making off the cuff remarks in an election then being a maverick comes with a price. GET OUR APP Our Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. Download it here. Indonesias minister of environment and forestry has condemned attempts by a palm oil company to stop an investigation into forest fires by taking ministry investigators hostage. A team of seven officials investigating wildfires was intercepted Friday and held by a group of captors believed to be mobilized by Andika Permata Sawit Lestari Ltd., a palm oil company operating in Riau province. Novrizal Tahar, a ministry spokesman, said Monday that the hostages were released early Saturday following negotiations involving police and local officials. The team initially found that more than 2,000 hectares (4,942 acres) of forest had been burned by workers of the company, according to a ministry statement Sunday. Following the negotiations, the team agreed to erase the files from their digital camera, except for pictures taken by a drone, the statement said. Siti Nurbaya, the minister of environment and forestry, said in the statement that the incident has encouraged her ministry to take stern actions against perpetrators of illegal forest burning and rogue corporations in accordance with the law. Last week, six provinces on Sumatra and Borneo islands declared emergencies, with forest fires blanketing a swath of Southeast Asia in a smoky haze. The haze caused by Indonesian wildfires has become an annual problem for Southeast Asia. Last years fires were the worst since 1997, straining relations between Indonesia and its neighbors. About 261,000 hectares (644,931 acres) burned, causing billions of dollars in economic losses for Indonesia. Many of the fires are deliberately set by agricultural conglomerates and small-time farmers to clear forests and peatland for plantations. A group of MK veterans had formed a human shield around Mantashe, huddling around him as he attempted to get to the other group. A street separated #OccupyLuthuliHouse from #DefendLuthuliHouse, with a line of police officers in riot gear acting as a buffer in the middle of road. In the end, there was no occupation at Luthuli House and the only violence came when members of the MKMVA tried to prevent ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe from walking over to where the #OccupyLuthuliGroup had convened to receive their memorandum of demands. It was a day when violence was expected. The #OccupyLuthuliHouse group had suggested they would occupy the ANCs headquarters and pro-Zuma ANC members werent too happy. ANC Youth League president Collen Maine had insisted that #DefendLuthuliHouse would be peaceful, but his words were received with some scepticism. All was good and calm and reasonably underwhelming at the #OccupyLuthuliHouse protest until Gwede Mantashe walked by to get the occupy protesters memorandum of demands. Then, the Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) got shouty at the ANC secretary general. MKMVA to Gwede Mantashe: 'You are not going to use our camouflage like this' When Mantashe arrived to the #DefendLuthuliHouse protesters standing just in front of the police, the pushing and shoving began, with some MKMVA members calling on the secretary general to go back to Luthuli House and ignore the protesters on the otherside. SG, you are not going anywhere, an MKMVA member shouted. You are not going to collect something that will affect our country. Another veteran adamantly told Mantashe: You are not going to use our camouflage like this. The vets wanted Mantashe to ignore the group instead of choosing to acknowledge them and give them legitimacy. A little earlier, a delegation from #OccupyLuthuliHouse had attempted to negotiate with the MKMVA to allow a few representatives through so they could deliver the memorandum to Luthuli House. The vets had fierecly rejected them and when MKMVA chair Kebby Maphatsoe tried to negotiate on behalf of #OccupyLuthuliHouse, he was firmly shut down. But Mantashe, with the help of some MKMVA members who guarded him, made it to the protesters, where he received their memorandum. Around Beyers Naude Square, where #OccupyLuthuliHouse had converged, brawls broke out with members of the occupy and defend groups calling one another agents. As the scuffles ensued, Mantashe made his way out of the square and led the defenders of Luthuli House away from the #OccupyLuthuliHouse group so that he could speak with them. In his briefing, Mantashe said the ANC had historically been built on a diversity of ideas and voices, and that must be maintained. If the ANC wants a single voice that moves in one direction it will lose what it has had historically. I want you comrades to be tolerant, Mantashe told pro-Zuma ANC members. Mantashe also told #DefendLuthuliHouse to not give any publicity to #OccupyLuthuliHouse as it would give the group more credibility. Despite the skirmishes that broke out at the square, the MKMVA applauded Mantashe after his speech and carried on singing with #DefendLuthuliHouse protesters after Mantashe left. In http://mg.co.za/article/2016-09-05-mkmva-to-gwede-mantashe-you-are-not-going-to-use-our-camouflage-like-this?utm_source=Mail+%26+Guardian&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily+newsletter&utm_term=http%3A%2F%2Fmg.co.za%2Farticle%2F2016-09-05-mkmva-to-gwede-mantashe-you-are-not-going-to-use-our-camouflage-like-this The American Conservative Union released its yearly rankings of the Idaho Legislature Tuesday, and the group says the average Republicans voting score was less conservative this year than in 2015. This is the second year the ACU, a national group best known for hosting the Conservative Political Action Conference every year, has rated Idahos lawmakers. Based on the bills the group ranked, it says the average GOP lawmakers score fell from 80.5 in 2015 to 71.5 in 2016. In 2016, the Idaho legislature passed both good and bad regulatory legislation, ACU Chairman Matt Schlapp said in a statement. Bills to streamline oil and gas permits will be a job-creator and removing the state from the approval process for charter school teachers advances school choice. Unfortunately, Idaho has also followed some other states in over-regulating occupations, in this case classifying barber schools as colleges and requiring barring those without two years of high school. A new crime was also created: selling e-cigarettes without a license. The group scored 15 Senate and 16 House bills, with the topics ranging from getting rid of the requirement for a concealed carry permit within city limits to a ban on local minimum wage hikes to prohibition of powdered alcohol; the full rankings and a list of all the bills are available online here. Newcomer to the Senate Kelly Anthon, R-Rupert, scored highest (i.e., most conservative in the ACUs eyes) among the Magic Valleys senators, at 75, followed by Jim Patrick, R-Filer, at 73. Bert Brackett, R-Rogerson, and Lee Heider, R-Twin Falls, each got 60, and Michelle Stennett, D-Ketchum, got 20. As for the local House delegation, Rep. Pete Nielsen, R-Mountain Home, came in first at 79, followed by Steve Miller, R-Fairfield, at 75; Steve Hartgen, R-Twin Falls, and Clark Kauffman, R-Filer, tied at 69; Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, at 60; Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, at 56; Lance Clow, R-Twin Falls, at 53; Rich Wills, R-Glenns Ferry, at 50; and Fred Wood, R-Burley, at 31, the lowest score for a Republican and two points lower than Dan Rudolph, D-Lewiston, the highest-ranking House Democrat on the ACUs scale. Donna Pence, D-Gooding, the only Democrat in the local House delegation, got 6, earning her a spot in the ACUs Coalition of the Radical Left along with five more of her Democratic House colleagues. Five senators and four House members scored 90 or more on the ACUs scale, and three senators and 11 House members scored from 80 to 89 (none in either bunch from the Magic Valley), earning them the groups Award for Conservative Excellence and Award for Conservative Achievement, respectively. The ACUs 2015 rankings came up a bit during the primaries this year a couple of lawmakers facing primary challenges from the right, including Hartgen and Rep. Luke Malek, R-Coeur dAlene, touted them, since they rated them as being more conservative than the Idaho Freedom Foundations yearly ranking of Idaho lawmakers, during their primary campaigns. A poll released Monday shows support for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in Idaho hasn't changed since early July, with Trump ahead by almost 2-to-1 but still at under 50 percent support. The latest poll, which was done from Aug. 18 to 31, shows 44 percent support for the Republican presidential candidate Trump and 23 percent for the Democratic candidate Clinton. A poll from early July came up with the same numbers for both candidates. The poll of 602 people, which was done by Dan Jones and Associates and has a 4 percent margin of error, showed 13 percent support as of late August for Libertarian Gary Johnson, 2 percent for Green Party candidate Jill Stein, 12 percent saying they would vote for some other candidate and 5 percent undecided. Trump's support among self-identified Republicans has stayed basically the same in Idaho since early July, with 75 percent of them saying they would vote for him and just 2 percent saying they favor Clinton, but Clinton appears to have made some progress in locking down her party's faithful 86 percent of self-identified Democrats in the poll said they would support her, up from 76 percent in the last poll. The number of Democrats saying they would vote for Trump has fallen from 5 percent in the last poll to 1 percent now; the number saying "someone else" fell from 9 percent to 6 percent, while the number of Johnson supporters among Democrats grew a bit, from 4 percent to 6 percent. (Given the size of the poll and the number of Democrats in Idaho and in the sample, which would be smaller than the number of both Republicans and independents, I would be cautious about reading too much into some of the smaller swings.) The numbers among independents are basically the same in the latest poll as they were in the one before 31 percent for Trump, 24 percent for Clinton, 18 percent for Johnson. Seventeen percent of independents said they would vote for someone else, 6 percent undecided and 3 percent Stein; these numbers were at 16, 7, and 5 percent, respectively, in the last poll. Although the poll only asked about those four candidates, there are going to be eight people on the presidential ballot in Idaho these four plus Scott Copeland on the Constitution Party line; Darrell Castle, who is the national Constitution Party's nominee but is appearing on Idaho's ballot as an independent; Evan McMullin, a conservative who is running for president as an independent; and Rocky De La Fuente, a businessman who campaigned unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination. Both McMullin and Johnson have set up their campaign headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, a normally reliable Republican state where Trump isn't polling as well as a Republican presidential candidate should, which some are attributing to Mormons being put off by Trump's personal style and by his rhetoric and policy proposals on immigration and Islam. McMullin is Mormon himself, a Provo resident and Brigham Young University graduate. According to Dan Jones' latest poll, 51 percent of Mormon respondents in Idaho said they would vote for Trump, and only 6 percent said Clinton. Sixteen percent said Johnson, 18 percent said someone else, 6 percent are undecided and 1 percent said Stein. Regardless of who they are voting for, Idahoans are very divided on who they expect to win the election nationally 37 percent think Clinton will be the next president, 36 percent said Trump, 21 percent don't know and 6 percent said they expect one of the third-party candidates to take it. Gift store opens in Gooding GOODING Epiphany at Home has opened at 534 Main St. in Gooding. The new age gift store offers locally made crafts, natural foods, aromatherapy, reflexology and Reiki consultations by appointment. Community enrichment programs will be announced. Business hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For information, call 208-595-2213. Chistiansen Implement is now Stotz Equipment TWIN FALLS Christiansens stores in Burley, American Falls and Twin Falls are now part of the Stotz Equipment family. Stotz Equipment reached an agreement to purchase Christiansen Implements three Idaho stores earlier this summer. The transaction closed in August, and both the name and the ownership have officially changed to Stotz Equipment. Stotz, formerly known as AZ Machinery, AA Equipment and Greenline Equipment, has done its fair share of growing over the last 10 years, but this is its first acquisition in more than three years. The central Idaho stores are significantly expanding Stotz Equipments agriculture territory. We are thrilled to have the wonderful people of Christiansen Implement join us on our journey to make life easier for our customers and be the best equipment dealer in the world, Stotz President and CEO Tom Rosztoczy said. With both parties strong history with John Deere and Stotzs experience successfully purchasing and transitioning new locations, the future is bright. All three locations are planning open house and customer appreciation events in November. WASHINGTON The Internal Revenue Service has warned tax professionals of a new wave of attacks that allow identity thieves to file fraudulent tax returns by remotely taking over practitioners computers. As part of the Security Summit effort, the IRS urged tax professionals to review their tax preparation software settings and immediately enact all security measures, especially those settings that require usernames and passwords to access the products. The IRS is aware of approximately two dozen cases where tax professionals have been victimized in recent days. The IRS, state tax agencies and the tax industry working as partners in the Security Summit launched the Protect Your Clients; Protect Yourself campaign to increase awareness that criminals increasingly are targeting tax professionals and the taxpayer data they possess. This latest incident reinforces the need for all tax professionals to review their computer settings as soon as possible, said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. Identity thieves continue to evolve and look for new areas to exploit, especially as our fraud filters become more effective. The prompt identification of these attacks is another example of the great benefits that result from the close working relationship the IRS now has with the tax industry and the states through the Security Summit initiative. Information is flowing more rapidly between our groups as we continue our efforts to protect taxpayers. These attacks come as the Oct. 17 deadline approaches for extension filers. The IRS first warned of a similar remote take-over attack in the spring, just ahead of the April 15 deadline, another peak period for tax professionals. Thieves are able to access tax professionals computers and use remote technology to take control, accessing client data and completing and e-filing tax returns but directing refunds to criminals own accounts. Victims in the tax community learned of these thefts while reconciling e-file acknowledgements. It's interesting to me that the reason Twin Falls is gearing up for public transit isn't because the city identified a pressing need or that transit is being demanded by the marketplace. Rather, an arbitrary federal mandate is driving this issue. As such it will almost certainly be a money pit that all us taxpayers will subsidize. In a previous life I was carless in Seattle, a city with what I would consider decent, yet expensive, public transit. Yet it suffered what all transit suffers it usually didn't go where I needed when I needed, and if it did, the journey took twice as long as it would have in a car. How much more so will a small system in Twin Falls be? And yet, the consultants will most likely push Twin Falls into the same old-school outdated expensive transit model that plagues every other city. Planners in Twin Falls would do well to visit cities partnering with ride-sharing services to create dynamic (and cheaper) transit systems. Pinellas Park, Florida, replaced two bus routes with subsidized Uber rides for a quarter of the cost. Centennial, Colorado, is doing something similar with Lyft. Kansas City is starting to use Bridj buses, which can adjust their routes as users request rides via their smart phones. Models such as these would well-serve a city the size of Twin Falls. Twin Falls has the opportunity to create a dynamic, affordable next-generation transit system. Or it can put its resources into a standard, expensive sub-par system. Why not try something different? Steven Huettig Hazelton This appeared in the Lewiston Tribune: As much harm as Gov. C.L. Butch Otter has delivered during his 12-year runwhether its cronyism, education cuts or botched contractshe cannot approach the damage Jim Risch inflicted in only eight months. Ten years agolong before he left Idaho to become its junior U.S. senator in Washington, D.C.Risch was serving as the states lieutenant governor. When President George W. Bush tapped Gov. Dirk Kempthorne for interior secretary, Risch filled the vacant term and was second banana no more. Not content to be a caretaker, Risch summoned the Legislature back to Boise and in a one-day special session rammed through one of the most profound changes this state has ever seen. No longer would public schools be entitled to a predictable property tax levy to support a portion of their maintenance and operation expenses. To compensate the schools for the lost money, Risch and his GOP legislators tacked a sixth penny on the sales tax. Every warning against the move went unheededoften because the acting governor dismissed criticism as partisan talking points. But year by year, the evidence has mounted. First came the tax shift. People who werent earning about $135,000 in 2006 dollarsespecially renters but also most middle-class homeownerspaid far more in new sales taxes than theyd ever save from the property tax cut. Corporations and wealthy landownersincluding Rischmade out. Next came the fallout for schools. Whatever its faults, the property tax was a stable source of money. Not so with state sales and income taxes, which cratered when the Great Recession kicked in two years later. Rischs M&O tax shift is chief among the reasons the share of Idahos personal income devoted to public schools dropped 25 percent since the turn of the centurythe equivalent of more than $500 million every year. To compensate, patrons voluntarily raised property taxes on themselves. But these so-called supplemental levies were a misnomer; they now paid for the basics. If you doubt it, consider the panic the Troy School District endured last summer when voters initially rejected a proposed supplemental levy and briefly flirted with the idea of relying solely on state education support. At least the M&O tax levy equalized revenues among rich and poor districts. Relying on these new property tax levies widened the gap in a state where a wealthy school district, such as McCall, has roughly 30 times the tax base of its poorest communities, such as the Snake River School District. Now comes the final verdict. As Idaho Education News Kevin Richert reported last month, Rischs so-called tax cut is no such thing. Richert pegged the value of Rischs tax break at $303.1 million. Then he deducted the $107.6 million more Idahoans pay in supplemental levies than they did in 2006. Finally, Richert pegged the cost of Rischs sales tax increase at about $217 million. Net result: Idahoans are paying $21.7 million more in taxes than if then-Gov. Risch had left things well enough alone. The burden is not shared equally. Richert found 18 districts that are getting by with less money than they received 10 years agooften because voters have not approved higher supplemental levies and/or falling enrollments have triggered losses in state funding. In north central Idaho, these include Kamiah, Lapwai and Culdesac. Another 26 districts have gained ground. But many of themsuch as Moscow and Troyhave done so by increasing the local tax burden. No one is left unscathed by this. Not school children. Not their parents. Not their communities. Not the taxpayers. And not the economy. And what Risch left behind is irrevocable. When Richert surveyed lawmakers still in office 10 years after they voted for the tax shift, virtually none was willing to reverse his error. Neither is Risch, who told Richert: Im willing to bet that you will never see it go back. SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Utah wildlife officials will allow more cougars to be hunted this year due to an increase in attacks on farm animals and indications the animals population is doing well in the state. The decision last week by the Utah Wildlife Board to increase the number of cougars that can be hunted to 522 up by about 5 percent from last year triggered backlash from the Humane Society, which argues the increase is unnecessary and nothing more than a way to appease trophy hunters. The yearly cougar hunting quota ebbs and flows by year based on research about the animals population and data about livestock killed, said Leslie McFarland, mammals program coordinator for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. The number of sheep and cattle killed by cougars nearly doubled last year, she said. Most of the regions where the increases were approved are in the areas where the attacks occurred, she said. In some areas of the state, hunters can get cougar permits over the counter until quotas are reached. In other areas, hunters have to apply through a drawing to get permission. The cougar hunting program not only promotes unethical trophy hunting, it puts at risk a population of an animal people love, said Sundays Hunt, the Humane Society of the United States Utah state director. Hunting cougars doesnt necessarily protect sheep and cattle, she said, because it just emboldens young cougars to be aggressive. Every adult male cougar killed leads to chaos in the animals social structure by depriving mothers and kittens of fathers and inviting young male cougars to come fight each other for the territory, she said. Its just complete havoc, Hunt said. Wendy Keefover, of the Humane Societys wildlife department in Utah, said the state is ignoring decades of research that shows the Utah cougar population is vulnerable. Cougar biologists say theres too much hunting going on and its an amount that is unsustainable, Keefover said. It robs other people of the ability to see a large cougar in the wild. McFarland scoffs at the notion they arent using proper science to make decisions. She said research from last years hunt shows most of the cougars killed were older than 5-years-old, an indication the animal is doing well since there are so many animals reaching adulthood. The state, however, doesnt have an estimate on the total number of cougars living in the state, she said. Thats because cougars are elusive animals, making it difficult to do an aerial survey or other observations to gauge the population, she said. McFarland said the Humane Society simply doesnt want any cougar hunting anywhere, defending the premise of the hunting program. Its a way we can manage populations so we dont get to where we have too many nuance problems with cougars coming into town, McFarland said. Its also a way we can provide opportunity for sportsmen within the state. I tried a new chicken recipe last week and it was very good! It goes together quickly in a skillet, and the sauce is oh, so good! You w... Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders has strongly condemned on Tuesday the adoption by Israel of 463 housing construction plans as well as the retroactive approval of 179 other homes in various West Bank settlements. These decisions seriously undermine any possibility of peace and gradually undermine the viability of a two-state solution, said the Belgian foreign Minister in a statement. Like the European Union, Belgium reiterates its firm opposition to the settlement policy pursued by Israel and the measures taken in this context and will not recognize any change to the 1967 borders, except those authorized by the two parties. Reynedrs noted that these decisions bring up to 2706 the number of homes authorized under the settlement schemes since January 2016. Belgium recalls that, as pointed out by the Quartet (United Nations, European Union, United States, Russia) in its report published on 1-July, these decisions seriously challenge any possibility of peace and gradually undermine the viability of a two-state solution, he said. Israel recently approved the construction of 463 housing units in West Bank settlements in occupied Palestinian territory, despite international condemnation of this policy. According to the Israeli anti-settlement NGO, Peace Now, 50 units received final approval from the competent committee, and 234 were given an initial green light in the Elkana settlement. Chicken will be the best-positioned protein due to its low price position in times of pressure on consumer spending power but rises in production costs and the long-term impact of COVID-19 threaten to disrupt the sector, according to Rabobank. Zambias incumbent President Edgar Lungu will be sworn-in for a new five-year term on Tuesday September 13, Secretary to the Cabinet, Roland Msiska, said in a statement on Monday. The announcement comes hours after the countrys Constitutional Court has thrown out the election petition case filed by the main opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) against the re-election of President Edgar Lungu. The court ruled on Monday that the fourteen legal days stipulated by the constitution for an election petition hearing had expired last Friday therefore it cannot continue the case. This petition will not be considered by this court, the judge Annie Mwewa Sitali ruled after three of the five judges on the panel decided the petition should not be heard. The opposition candidate Hakainde Hichilema is contesting the results of the August 11 elections, blaming the incumbent President and the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) of rigging the elections. Lungu, who narrowly beat Hichilema in a vote last year to replace late president Michael Sata, won 50.35 percent of the vote against 47.63 for his opponent in the Aug. 11 vote according to the Electoral Commission. The Africas second-largest copper producer is in the throes of an economic slump due to depressed commodity prices with mine closures, rising unemployment, power shortages and soaring food prices that Hakainde Hichilema, blames on mismanagement by Lungu. The Gabonese self-proclaimed president, Jean Ping, has called the public to take part in a boycott while the countrys Prime Minister asked Gabonese to resume work this Monday, September 5. According to Jean Pings spokesperson, Rene Obiang, the call for the boycott is necessary since the security situation in the central African nation country is precarious. He said it is also a way to pressurize authorities to consent to a recount of votes after the elections results were disputed. President Ali Bongo Ondimba beat opposition candidate Jean Ping by a narrow margin of 49.8 per cent to 48.2 per cent, in August 27s vote, according to the electoral commissions provisional results. Pings supporters have taken to the streets in protest, burning cars and buildings, vandalising and looting. Security forces detained 800 people in the capital, Libreville, and 400 people in other areas of the country, according to interior minister Pacome Moubelet Boubeya. At least five people were killed in the unrest, Boubeya told RFI. The post-vote violence in the oil-rich central African nation has raised international concern, with top diplomats calling for restraint as rights groups raised the alarm over the use of excessive force. One-third of Gabons population lives in poverty, although the country boasts one of Africas highest per capita income at $8,300 thanks to pumping 200,000 barrels of oil a day. The former French colony has been however hit by the global slump of the price of crude oil, its biggest export commodity. Bongo, 57, campaigned under the slogan Lets change together, playing up the roads and hospitals built during his first term and stressing the need to break with the bad old days of disappearing public funds and dodgy management of oil revenues. The South Sudanese government this weekend agreed to the deployment of 4,000-strong regional protection force in the war-torn East African country as approved by the United Nations. The transitional government of national unity agrees to the deployment of the regional force, a joint statement with the United Nations Security Council said. The announcement came after representatives of the United Nations Security Council who are currently in Juba held talks with South Sudanese president Salva Kiir. South Sudan also committed to implementing a hybrid court to investigate war crimes, according to Sundays joint statement by the government and the Security Council. Kirrs government has previously rejected the resolution, claiming it seriously undermines its sovereignty. Political parties and the main religious authorities in the country have however supported the Security Council decision. Days of violence in the country between rival forces of President Salva Kiir and former rebel leader Riek Machar in the capital, Juba, last month raised fears of a renewed civil war after the August 2015 peace deal collapsed and the humanitarian crisis worsened. Riek Machar, the rebel leader and former first vice president, fled during the fighting and said he would return only when regional peacekeepers secured the capital. Both government and rebel forces have been accused of widespread abuses in the civil war that began in December 2013 Canada needs a national suicide prevention strategy, and it should be included in the 2017 federal budget, argues an editorial in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). In particular, the strategy should target youth and indigenous people, groups with high suicide rates. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in youth between 15 and 24 years of age. The rates for indigenous populations are staggeringly high; for example, in Nunatsiavut in northern Labrador, suicide rates are 25 times the national average and 10 times the national average in Nunavut. The national Inuit political association, Inuit Tapiirit Kanatami (ITK), has developed an evidence-based suicide prevention strategy to address the crisis, but the entire country needs a comprehensive national strategy. "Substantial evidence exists to guide the creation of a strong suicide prevention strategy in Canada," writes Laura Eggertson, with Dr. Kirsten Patrick, Deputy Editor, CMAJ. "It is noteworthy that the incumbent government, when in Opposition, called for such a strategy." The World Health Organization has also urged countries to develop national strategies to prevent this preventable cause of death. In the 21 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development that introduced government-led suicide prevention programs, suicide rates declined, especially in young people and older persons. The authors suggest that a national strategy should be included in the upcoming Canadian federal budget. "The 2017 budget must pledge the means to developing a national suicide prevention strategy, starting with funds to create a centre of expertise that will engage with leading indigenous organizations, such as ITK and the Assembly of First Nations, and build on existing strategies such as Quebec's, to address the needs of communities and plan the broader infrastructure that is required to address properly what has become a national public health crisis." Explore further Canada needs to adopt a national suicide prevention strategy A summary of the recommendations for the management of antithrombotic therapy in patients with atrial fibrillation in associationwith Non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome or ST-elevation myocardial infarction. ASA, acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin);CHADS2, Congestive Heart Failure, Hypertension, Age, Diabetes, Stroke/Transient Ischemic Attack; NOAC, non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant;OAC, oral anticoagulant; PCI, percutaneous coronary intervention. Credit: Canadian Cardiovascular Society The Canadian Journal of Cardiology has just released the 2016 Focused Update to the Canadian Cardiovascular Society's (CCS) atrial fibrillation (AF) guidelines. This update provides evidence-based guidelines for Canadian practitioners and will impact how they, and the global community of cardiologists, manage and treat this serious condition. AF is an irregular and often rapid heart rate that can increase the risk of stroke, heart failure, and other heart-related complications. It is the most common cardiac arrhythmia and the leading cause of stroke in the elderly. "The development of guidelines has been a key activity of the CCS for over a decade," explained co-chairs Laurent Macle, MD, of the Montreal Heart Institute, Universite de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, and Atul Verma, MD, of the Southlake Regional Health Centre, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. "Well-developed guidelines have the potential to improve the quality of cardiovascular care, lead to better patient outcomes, improve cost-effectiveness, and highlight areas for further research." This update represents the consensus of a multidisciplinary panel of topic experts with a mandate to formulate disease-specific recommendations. The original guidelines were developed in 2010 by the Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) AF Guidelines committee and are reviewed every two years. This is the third Focused Update. This 2016 Focused Update makes important evidence-based recommendations on: Management of antithrombotic therapy for AF patients with various clinical presentations of coronary artery disease (CAD) Real-life data with non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) Use of antidotes for the reversal of NOACs Digoxin as a rate-control agent Perioperative anticoagulation management AF surgical therapy including the prevention and treatment of AF following cardiac surgery An important change in this update is that for patients with AF in association with CAD who are indicated for anticoagulation therapy, a NOAC is preferred over warfarin. For patients with AF, with an indication for primary CAD prevention or stable CAD/arterial vascular disease, the selection of antithrombotic therapy should be based on their risk of stroke. For patients with AF and recent elective PCI, the selection of antithrombotic therapy should also be based on their risk of stroke. For patients with AF in association with non ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTEACS) or ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), the management of antithrombotic therapy is based on the risk of stroke and whether PCI is performed. Details of the updated recommendations are presented, along with their background and rationale. Standards, individual studies, and literature were reviewed for quality and bias. The update also includes a section on concomitant AF and coronary artery disease, which was developed in collaboration with the CCS antiplatelet (APT) guidelines committee. An updated summary of all CCS AF Guidelines recommendations, from 2010 to the present 2016 Focused Update, are provided in an Online Supplement. Explore further ESC and EACTS launch first collaborative atrial fibrillation guidelines More information: "2016 Focused Update of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Guidelines for the Management of Atrial Fibrillation," by Laurent Macle, MD (Co-chair), John Cairns, MD, Kori Leblanc, PharmD, Teresa Tsang, MD, Allan Skanes, MD, Jafna L. Cox, MD, Jeff S. Healey, MD, Alan Bell, MD, Louise Pilote, MD, Jason G. Andrade, MD, L. Brent Mitchell, MD, Clare Atzema, MD, David Gladstone, MD, Mike Sharma, MD, Subodh Verma, MD, Stuart Connolly, MD, Paul Dorian, MD, Ratika Parkash, MD, Mario Talajic, MD, Stanley Nattel, MD, and Atul Verma, MD (Co-chair) for the CCS Atrial Fibrillation Guidelines Committee, DOI: Canadian Journal of Cardiology. Journal information: Canadian Journal of Cardiology "2016 Focused Update of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Guidelines for the Management of Atrial Fibrillation," by Laurent Macle, MD (Co-chair), John Cairns, MD, Kori Leblanc, PharmD, Teresa Tsang, MD, Allan Skanes, MD, Jafna L. Cox, MD, Jeff S. Healey, MD, Alan Bell, MD, Louise Pilote, MD, Jason G. Andrade, MD, L. Brent Mitchell, MD, Clare Atzema, MD, David Gladstone, MD, Mike Sharma, MD, Subodh Verma, MD, Stuart Connolly, MD, Paul Dorian, MD, Ratika Parkash, MD, Mario Talajic, MD, Stanley Nattel, MD, and Atul Verma, MD (Co-chair) for the CCS Atrial Fibrillation Guidelines Committee, DOI: dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cjca.2016.07.591 . Published online in advance of Volume 32/Issue 10 (October 2016) of the A researcher at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health studied a hidden source of hardship: energy insecurity, the inability to adequately meet basic household energy needs, and its adverse environmental, health, and social consequences. The study provides real-world examples of three dimensions of energy insecurity: economic, physical, and behavioral. This study is one of the first to examine how household utilities, which account for a large share of living expenses, are a critical measurement of material hardship. Findings are published online in Social Science and Medicine. "Utilities bills at $200 per month represent nearly 30 percent of household income for those at or near the federal poverty level making it a significant, and likely unaffordable, expense," said lead author Diana Hernandez, PhD, assistant professor of Sociomedical Sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health. "While participants often expressed an ethos of responsibly 'paying the bills,' many simply cannot afford the monthly utility payments and were often 'playing catch up' in a vicious economic cycle of prioritization and trade-offs, complicating the already fragile financial profiles of low-income ratepayers." Dr. Hernandez conducted in-depth interviews with 72 low-income families from community health centers in the Boston area. Participants included those reporting at least one housing hardship, ranging from housing affordability, to frequent moves, to hazardous housing conditions and income at or below $32,000, which equals 150 percent of the 2008 federal poverty level. Heads of household ranged in age from 18 to 59, were mostly single mothers (97 percent), racial/ethnic minorities (47 percent African American; 29 percent Latino), with a high school education or higher (85 percent). The majority received housing subsidies (65 percent). Participants reported a wide range of household energy expenditures per month, reaching as high as $650 at the height of the heating season. "Energy insecurity is a term little understood," said lead author Dr. Hernandez, "In this analysis, participants described energy as a main source of hardship. Collectively the data conveyed a tale of economic adversity, inefficient building infrastructure, complex coping strategies, and limited options for assistance." Mental and Social Fallout. The experience of energy insecurity triggered mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression. The constant threat of service interruptions due to non-payment fueled parental fear and stigma. Parents felt judged by persistent surveillance on the part of child protective services and feared losing parenting privileges. Moving represented a way out of the discomfort for some participants who expressed feelings of shame and a disruption of family life when living through a utility service disconnection. "However, this coping strategy brings with it negative consequences, as residential instability spurs the loss of social network and institutional ties, which comes at a significant cost in terms of social capital," observed Dr. Hernandez. Inefficient Infrastructure Exacerbates Economic Burden. The challenge in simply trying to pay the bills is further exacerbated from inefficiencies in their physical homes, reflecting the second dimension of energy insecurity. Deficiencies in the physical infrastructure of the home environment included poor quality heating and cooling systems and the use of subpar building materials that can increase energy costs. In response to these challenges, study participants often devised a variety of behavioral strategies to juggle expenses and cope with the physical and economic facets of energy insecurity. Limited Options for Assistance. Dr. Hernandez also points to the current options to support affected populations such as the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program and the Weatherization Assistance Program: "These programs have historically been underfunded and subject to budget cuts, particularly in recent years," she said. "Greater awareness of the dimensions of energy insecurity and accompanying advocacy may lead to more comprehensive policy measures to expand existing programs in order to ensure that the needs of low-income householders are better met." Other research by Hernandez and colleagues has demonstrated the prevalence and risks associated with energy insecurity. In a study published last year on how energy efficiency upgrades could help low-income tenants and landlords alike, Dr. Hernandez reported that low-income single-family homeowners reaped the greatest direct benefits. However, all respondents experienced enhanced health and safety, improved thermal comfort, and reduced energy costs$60 per month in some casesas a result of the upgrades. A study published earlier this year showed that African Americans across the economic spectrum experienced economic energy insecurity at the highest rates while Asian and Latino immigrants were the least burdened. An upcoming study will report on the association between energy insecurity and its effect on mental health. Explore further Energy efficiency upgrades ease strain of high energy bills in low-income families Credit: University of Bristol Researchers at the University of Bristol and Afferent Pharmaceuticals have identified a potential new way of treating high blood pressure, or hypertension, by targeting aberrant nerve signals in the carotid bodies, which sit on the common carotid arteries on each side of the neck. The study, "Purinergic receptors in the carotid body as a new drug target for controlling hypertension," was led by Julian Paton, professor of physiology at the University of Bristol, and published in the 5 September online edition of Nature Medicine. Instead of treating high blood pressure by targeting directly the functions within end organs, such as the heart, kidneys and vasculature, this novel approach aims to reduce nervous system activity from a sensory organ - the carotid body - which, when activated can cause blood pressure to rise uncontrollably. Such a treatment may offer superiority over existing medications, principally by lowering blood pressure directly at a common source. Beneficial outcomes may also extend to other cardiometabolic disorders, such as heart failure and sleep apnoea, in which the carotid bodies are known to be sensitised. In preclinical models, researchers were able to block this carotid body aberrant signaling activity with an investigational drug candidate, MK-7624 (also known as AF-219), demonstrating a significant reduction in blood pressure. "With this research, we've validated P2X3 receptors as a novel drug target for the treatment of cardiovascular disease, by demonstrating that blockade of these receptors with a selective antagonist controls carotid body activity," said Dr Angus Nightingale, a cardiology consultant, who runs the specialist hypertensive clinic at the Bristol Heart Institute, and co-author of the study. "The question now is whether blocking these P2X3 receptors in humans will lower elevated blood pressure, and how we can best identify those patients with carotid body hyperactivity who are most likely to respond to treatment." "The carotid bodies lie at the bifurcation (fork) of the common carotid artery on each side of the neck and are the body's smallest organs, each about the size of a rice grain," said Professor Paton, who co-led the research with Dr Anthony Ford, founder and chief scientific officer of Afferent Pharmaceuticals. "These organs sense chemicals such as oxygen in the blood. When oxygen levels fall, the carotid bodies become active and send signals to the brain that trigger increases in breathing and blood pressure." The researchers collaborated to test whether MK-7624/AF-219, a highly selective and potent orally available P2X3 receptor antagonist, can stop this nervous activity from occurring, thereby lowering blood pressure. "In healthy individuals, the carotid bodies have very low levels of activity," said Professor Paton. "We discovered that these tiny organs become hyperactive in conditions of hypertension, generating what we have called aberrant or tonic discharge, which is sent into the brain regions controlling cardiovascular activity. In this way, changes within the carotid body may be a cause of high blood pressure and therefore represent a novel target for controlling blood pressure." Previous research by Professor Paton and collaborators, published in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology, showed that removing one carotid body was effective in lowering blood pressure in human patients with drug-resistant hypertension. The next step was to find out why the carotid body can become hyperactive in hypertension, and to develop a pharmacological approach to normalise its activity. To carry out the research, the team utilised an established animal model of human hypertension. They discovered the energy molecule ATP (adenosine triphosphate), a recognized common signaling nucleotide, was able to persistently activate the P2X3 receptor, and that this protein was upregulated by almost 5 fold in the carotid body in hypertension. By blocking this receptor in the carotid body with MK-7264/AF-219, blood pressure fell significantly in hypertensive rats. "Crucially, unlike carotid body removal, the drug did not render the carotid body inoperable," said Professor Paton. "Instead, it normalized its activity levels to those found in a normotensive state. Think of it in terms of a domestic fire alarm it switches off after the smoke disappears, but the battery remains in place, meaning it can still respond in an emergency." "We have developed some unique tests to assess the activity state of the carotid body in human hypertensive patients," said Dr. Nightingale. "We are hoping to initiate a clinical trial to test P2X3 receptor antagonism in hypertensive patients who exhibit hyperactive carotid bodies in the near future." High blood pressure is the world's leading contributor to mortality. In the UK, its cost to the National Health Service is around 2 billion per year, and it remains poorly controlled, triggering heart and renal failure, and strokes. The World Health Organization has identified high blood pressure as the single most important risk factor for the global burden of disease and death. "This approach may be the first novel anti-hypertensive treatment strategy in more than 15 years, and perhaps the first directed at a root cause of excessive sympathetic discharge to cardiovascular end-organs," said Professor Paton. "This research was translational from molecule to medicine, and reflects the critical importance of integrative physiology as a subject. Our study was an inter-disciplinary team effort, and would not have been possible without close working with colleagues from the University of Bristol, University Hospital Trust Bristol, the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and Afferent Pharmaceuticals. Nor would it have been possible without funding from The British Heart Foundation and Afferent Pharmaceuticals." Explore further Study suggests ways to block hypertension in those with sleep apnea Scientists have developed an endoscope that uses near-infrared light to spot early warning signs of oesophageal - food pipe - cancer, according to research published in the Journal of Biomedical Optics today. Researchers at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute sprayed a dye on oesophageal tissue samples taken from people with Barrett's oesophagus - a condition that increases the risk of developing oesophageal cancer. The dye sticks to healthy oesophageal cells but not to pre-cancerous cells. They then shone near-infrared light on the tissue, which is just beyond the red colours that our eyes can normally see, and used a special camera to detect the near-infrared light the dye gave out. Researchers had tried this approach before but had used a dye that gave out visible light to spot pre-cancerous cells. Problems arose because when cells are exposed to visible light, they naturally emit visible light themselves - making the distinction between healthy and abnormal cells hard to see. But, by using a dye that gives out near-infrared light, scientists refined the process so they could make the distinction. This new technique could be used to monitor people with Barrett's oesophagus who have an increased risk of developing oesophageal cancer, and spot early signs that cancer might be developing before the person has any symptoms. Dr Sarah Bohndiek, scientist at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, said: "This research gives us hope for developing better techniques to detect the disease early. "People who are at a high risk of developing oesophageal cancer, such as those with Barrett's oesophagus, could be closely monitored with this technique. And removing patches of pre-cancerous cells could prevent some cases of oesophageal cancer. But we need to do some further testing before clinical trials with patients can be set up to see how effective the approach could be at saving lives." There are around 7,800 deaths from oesophageal cancer every year in the UK. For men, oesophageal cancer is the fourth most common cause of cancer death. Dr Emma Smith, science communication manager at Cancer Research UK, said: "Early detection is crucial if we want to cure more cancers and save more lives. And oesophageal cancer is often caught at an advanced stage, meaning survival rates of the disease have remained stubbornly low. "We urgently need new ways to detect the disease early. This development could lead to a cheaper, better way of detecting the warning signs of oesophageal cancer and even stop some people developing the disease." More information: Dale J. Waterhouse ; James Joseph ; Andre A. Neves ; Massimiliano di Pietro ; Kevin M. Brindle ; Rebecca C. Fitzgerald ; Sarah E. Bohndiek. Design and validation of a near-infrared fluorescence endoscope for detection of early esophageal malignancy. Journal of Biomedical Optics. DOI: 10.1117/1.JBO.21.8.08400 Journal information: Journal of Biomedical Optics Dale J. Waterhouse ; James Joseph ; Andre A. Neves ; Massimiliano di Pietro ; Kevin M. Brindle ; Rebecca C. Fitzgerald ; Sarah E. Bohndiek. Design and validation of a near-infrared fluorescence endoscope for detection of early esophageal malignancy. The fruit of the 'asam keping' tree can be used to prevent atherosclerosis - that is the hardening and narrowing of the arteries -, according to research. Dr Suraya A. Sani, recent PhD graduate from The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC), has been working with a tropical fruit, locally called asam keping, under the supervision of Dr Teng-Jin Khoo at UNMC's School of Pharmacy. Funded by the Sarawak Tunku Abdul Rahman Scholarship, she was able to spend her time on research work for the first two years at UNMC and a year working on her research at the Centre for BioMolecular Sciences at University Park, The University of Nottingham, UK under the co-supervision of Professor Dr Jonas Emsley. Dr Suraya A. Sani conducts research on the medicinal properties of the Garcinia plant species; a plant species which is largely available in Malaysia and throughout Southeast Asia. The purple mangosteen tree and asam keping is from the Garcinia species. Dr Suraya's research led her to the findings of the medicinal role of specific plant secondary metabolites that exist in the Garcinia species, which is found in Malaysia in abundance. The fruit of the asam keping tree can be used to prevent atherosclerosis, the hardening and narrowing of the arteries. Asam keping has been used in local Malaysian cuisines for many years and ethno pharmacologically is believed to have healing properties in lowering hypertension. It is non toxic and edible. "My research on asam keping proved that it contains natural healing and prevention properties. The asam keping is easily available in Malaysia and I usually get it from the local market," said Dr Suraya. "After three years of painstaking research work on the medicinal role of plants in preventing atherosclerosis, her work has garnered successful research funding and international publication," said Dr Khoo Teng Jin, from the School of Pharmacy who supervised this research project. Dr Suraya's research in this area will also help in spreading awareness of the role of edible plants found in local cuisine, which contains active secondary metabolites with the potential to be developed further. While working as a PhD candidate and as a scholarship holder, Dr Suraya is also the mother of a two-year-old daughter. She receives tremendous support from her family and friends and also from UNMC. "In the UK I would leave my child at the University creche while I was attending lectures and doing my research. I am grateful to UNMC for providing professional child care for my daughter so that I can focus on my duties," Dr Suraya said. "My husband has also been my pillar of strength, always stepping in to care for our household. Doing a PhD is a serious commitment and one needs all the support they can get," Dr Suraya added. The research was published in the journal Atherosclerosis. Explore further Taking tissue regeneration beyond state-of-the-art We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. World experts seek Kakheti for inaugural wine tourism conference Georgias winemaking Kakheti region will host a global conference on wine tourism, where gastronomy and wine-lovers are invited to enjoy the culture and lifestyle experience of Georgia while exploring the wine tourism opportunities the country has to offer.Next month, wine industry experts from around the world will gather in Kakheti to attend the first Global Conference on Wine Tourism organised by the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) in collaboration with the Georgian National Tourism Administration (GNTA).Wine tourism is a growing segment with immense opportunities to diversify demand. In the case of Georgia, the segments potential is well-known and we are very pleased to be holding the first UNWTO Global Conference on Wine Tourism in the country, said Taleb Rifai, UNWTO Secretary General.The UNWTO Global Conference on Wine Tourism will be held on September 7-9, 2016.The conference will have a unique and dynamic format with three sessions held in different wineries across eastern Kakheti region.Georgias unique wine-making traditions date back 8,000 years and are considered by UNESCO as an intangible heritage, making the country an ideal host for the Global Conference on Wine Tourism, said Georgias Economy Minister Dimitry Kumsishvili.The countrys recent success in attracting a growing number of tourists and its development of tourism products, branding and marketing, combine to present an excellent platform for sharing best practices, experience and knowledge, he added.Honourable speakers for the conference will come to Georgia from Italy, Canada, the United States, Argentina, Japan, Spain and Portugal. Georgian experts will also deliver speeches about the local wine industry and history at the event. Georgia isnt as important on the international arena as many think By Messenger Staff We are not as important on the international arena as we believe, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and now independent majoritarian candidate for Tbilisis Mtsatsminda district, Salome Zurabishvili, has said to Georgian media.According to Zurabishvili, Georgian Dream has problems and many defects but one thing is clear we have no criminal government today, as the previous United National Movement (UNM) Government was.Unfortunately, we have still not heard comprehensive answers regarding the criminal activities of the UNM, Zurabishvili said , referring to a range of human rights violations under the previous authorities, adding that there are now no political prisoners in this country.The Prosecutors Office has not managed to investigate significant cases but there may be objective reasons for it I even do not rule out National Movement members having destroyed most of the evidence, but we see criminals and not political prisoners in our prisons now. No one but the United National Movement activists think that ex-officials who are now under arrest are being punished due to their political points of view, Zurabishvili said.She added that the West is less interested in particular cases than many Georgians believe.She says it is of the utmost importance to maintain stability in Georgia but it does not mean that Georgia can be considered one of the most important players on the international arena.Zurabishvili,64, was born in Paris into a family of Georgian political emigrants.She attended some of the most prestigious French schools, such as the Institutd'EtudesPolitiques de Paris (Sciences Po), and began a Master's program at Columbia University in New York in the academic year of 1972-1973.She abandoned her studies and joined the French foreign service in 1974, becoming a career diplomat with jobs in Rome, the United Nations, Brussels,and Washington.The first time Zurabishvili visited Georgia was in 1986 during a break from her job at the French Embassy in Washington.Zurabishvili was head of the Division of International and Strategic Issues of National Defence General Secretariat of France in 2001-2003.She was appointed the Ambassador of France to Georgia in 2003.Ex-President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili nominated her as Foreign Minister in his new government and Zurabishvili was the first female to be appointed to this post in Georgia in March 2004.She was sacked by Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli in late October 2005 after a series of disputes with members of Parliament and the Government.In 2006, Zourabishvili founded her opposition party,Georgias Way which she handed control of to another member of her party in 2010 when she continued her career at an international organization.Ahead of the upcoming October 8 parliamentary elections, Zourabishvili returned to Georgia and presented her candidacy as a majoritarian candidate in Mtsatsminda independent from any political party.The current ruling Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party did not name any majoritarian nominee in Mtsatsminda, as the party believed that Zourabishvili should appear in Parliament as she enjoyed huge political experience. Chinese investors invited to enjoy Georgias open economy Georgia is offering Chinese investors opportunities to explore the countrys free and open economy.A delegation from some of Chinas largest corporations is visiting Georgia and meeting local high officials to learn more about the business climate.The construction, wine and tourism sectors were those that the potential investors found interesting and were keen to learn more about.Georgias Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili hosted the Chinese delegation and promised them that the Government would support them in future cooperation.Both nations were happy to see Georgian wine was gaining popularity in China, with exports growing over time.Deepening tourism ties was another main topic of discussion. Georgias PM gladly mentioned the number of Chinese tourists to Georgia was growing to record numbers.A new free trade deal expected to come into play before the end of this year was also discussed by the Georgian and Chinese sides today.PM Kvirikashvili and the Chinese investors both agreed the free trade deal would boost economic cooperation between the countries. The News in Brief Policeman, Implicated by Suicide Note, Charged Criminal charges have been filed against a policeman in Samtredia in connection to a suicide of a 22-year-old man, who wrote in his suicide note that the policeman was coercing him to snitch on cannabis growers. A detective inspector from regional police department in Samtredia, a town in the Imereti region, has been charged without being arrested on two counts, namely exceeding official powers with use of violence and driving a person to suicide. The Prosecutors Office said on August 29 that the police officer has evaded arrest for the time being. Demur Sturua, a 22-year-old resident of the village of Dapnari in the Samtredia municipality, committed suicide three weeks ago by hanging, leaving behind a handwritten suicide note. In the note - photos of which were circulated by media outlets on August 12 - four days after the suicide, Sturua wrote that the policeman was coercing him to inform who was growing cannabis in his and neighboring villages, otherwise threatening to arrest him on trumped up charges. The case drew wide public attention and outcry from rights activists. A group of activists, among them from White Noise, a movement against what it calls is repressive and inhuman drug policies arrived in Samtredia on August 20 and held a protest rally outside the local police headquarters, demanding arrest of the policeman named in Sturuas suicide note. Protesters were chanting: down with the police regime, the state killed Demur Sturua; protesters and police briefly scuffled after demonstrators spray painted graffiti on police vehicles. Criminal charges against the policeman were brought by the Prosecutors Office after an official examination of suicide note confirmed its authenticity. The results of a post-mortem examination showed that Sturua had bodily injuries, indicating that he was physically abused before his death, according to a lawyer representing Sturuas family. The investigation has established that inspector detective Goderdzi Tevzadze summoned Demur Sturua in the regional police department of Samtredia without any proper reason For the purpose of his intimidation, Tevzadze drove Sturua to a sparsely populated area towards the village of Ianeti, where he threatened Demur Sturua with trumped up charges, physically insulted him and told him to cooperate with the police, the Prosecutors Office said, adding that after this intimidation, Sturua committed suicide. The Public Defender, Ucha Nanuashvili, said in a statement on August 29 that the case has highlighted the pressing problem of repressive drug policy. The Public Defender has repeatedly called on the relevant agencies to abandon the established practice of repressive drug policy and make the policy more humane, the Public Defender said. A timely and thorough investigation of this case is extremely important not only for establishing the cause of death of [Demur Sturua] and the alleged connection of a police officer to it, but also for fight against the systemic crime of similar nature, he said. It is also equally important to study the methods applied in the police system for revealing the drug-related crime and to take preventive measures in order to minimize the cases of compulsion, abuse of authority, illegal confinement, threats of torture and other illegal actions, the Public Defender said. He also criticized the law enforcement agencies for a failure to detain the policeman, accused of driving Demur Sturua to suicide. The Public Defender of Georgia calls on the Prosecutors Office to use all available legal means to establish the truth in the case and to provide convincing answers to all questions regarding the case, including how it happened that the police officer, who was accused by the person who committed suicide of pushing him to the suicide, has absconded; or what did the Prosecutors Office do to prevent the escape of the person. It is important to find out who helped the defendant to abscond, the Public Defender said. (Civil.ge) New TV series about Saakashvili regimes crimes The first episode of a new TV series about the crimes of the Saakashvili regime premiered at Rustaveli Theatre in Tbilisi on Saturday. Georgian filmmaker and political activist Goga Khaindrava finished work on the documentary TV series, which is entitled Herocratia, and deals with the torture of prisoners and other government crimes against the population during the nine years Mikheil Saakashvilis National Movement was running the country. Also former political prisoners attended the premiere of the new series, which will be aired on Imedi and GDS starting from September 6. The main idea of this film is for people to really acknowledge what kind of disaster we went through, Khaindrava told journalists. People dont know what kind of hell some people went through. The content of the series is quite strong and graphic, the director warned, but felt that people have to see it. Davit Meparishvili, one of the guests at the premiere, told journalists that he liked the film but also that the reality was even worse than what is described in the documentary. There was more blood, more beatings and more torture back then, he said. Nana Kakabadze, who represents the organization Former Political Prisoners for Human Rights, said she watched the first episode together with former prisoners, who said that the stories in the movie are quite close to what happened, but their stories were even worse. We carefully restored the image of Gldani Prison, which was the worst ordeal for prisoners. We will also see cases that are less known to the public, Khaindrava told the newspaper Kviris Palitra. Former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili asked Khaindrava in the beginning of 2015 to make a film about the rule of Mikheil Saakashvili. (DF WATCH) Coming soon Red Cross blood drives During National Preparedness Month in September, the American Red Cross encourages eligible donors to give blood to help ensure a readily available blood supply for emergencies. Donors of all blood types are needed. To make an appointment to give blood, download the Red Cross Blood Donor app, visit redcrossblood.org or call 800-733-2767. Donors are encouraged to make appointments and complete the RapidPass online health history questionnaire at redcrossblood.org/rapidpass to help reduce wait times. Upcoming blood drives: Bigfork: 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday, Pope John Paul II Catholic Church, 195 Coverdell. Deer Lodge: 1-6:30 p.m. Thursday, Deer Lodge Community Center, 416 Cottonwood. Hamilton: 12:30-5:45 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 13, Grace Lutheran Church, 275 Hattie Lane. Kalispell: 11:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Mackenzie River Pizza, 45 Treeline Road; 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Thursday, Super 1 Foods, 1346 Highway 2 E., Evergreen; 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday, Kalispell Blood Donation Center, 126 N. Meridian Road; 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday, Insured Titles, 44 Fourth St. W.; 11 a.m.-3:15 p.m. Saturday, Best Buy, 2407 Highway 93 N.; 1:30-5:30 p.m. Monday, Kalispell Blood Donation Center; 2-6 p.m. Monday, Trinity Lutheran Church, 495 Fifth Ave. W.N.; and 9:30 a.m.-2:15 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 13, U.S. Forest Service office, 650 Wolfpack Way. Missoula: 1-6:15 p.m. Wednesday, St. Anthony Parish, 217 Tremont St.; 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday, Missoula Blood Donation Center, 2401 Reserve St., Suites 6 and 7; 10 a.m.-3:15 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 13, Payne Family Native American Center, 32 Campus Drive. Free Tai Chi Join Robert Agar-Hutton and his wife for a free Tai Chi session at 8 a.m. Saturday at Southside Lions Park. The English couple is traveling throughout the U.S. and offers a free session at many of its stops. For details, email robert@winghigh.co.uk. Red Willow Center For more information on the following classes at the learning center, 825 W. Kent, call 721-0033 or visit redwillowlearning.org: "Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction" with Greg Satya Shanks, Sept. 13-Nov. 8, 6-8:30 p.m. Tuesdays, $300. Attendance at a free class 6-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 30, is required "Intro to T'ai Chi Chuan" with Michael Norvelle, Sept. 7-28, 7:45-8:30 p.m. Wednesdays, $40. "Breath, Mindfulness and Movement" with Kathy McIntyre, Sept. 19, 6-7:30 p.m., $40. "Basics of Resilience" with Kathy Mangan, Sept. 22, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., free. Ongoing classes include "Yoga for Wellness" at noon Mondays, $12 or $40 for four weeks; "Mindfulness Meditation" at 12:10 p.m. Tuesdays, $12 or $40 for four weeks; "Yoga Beyond Cancer" at 4 p.m. Tuesdays, $40 for any weeks; "Yoga for Chronic Pain" at 4 p.m. Wednesdays, $40 for four weeks plus $50 for prerequisite screening. Ongoing programs AA and Al-Anon For the latest Alcoholics Anonymous meetings list, visit aa-montana.org or call the Missoula hotline at 543-0011. For more information on Al-Anon and Alateen, which are 12-step recovery programs for relatives and friends whose lives have been affected by alcoholism, visit mt.al-anon.alateen.org. Acupuncture for cancer caregivers Missoula Community Acupuncture, located in the Radio Central Building, 127 E Main St., Suite 314, offers free acupuncture treatments for friends, family, nurses, doctors or anyone who takes care of cancer patients 5-7 p.m. Wednesdays. No appointment is necessary. For more information, call Michael Peluso at 406-926-1611. Adult Asperger's support group An open meeting for those with Asperger's as well as their family and friends is held every Thursday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the University Center, Room 215, on campus. Contact Monique Casbeer at 721-3947 or Cindy Bacon Janego at cjanego@communitymed.org for more information. Alzheimers support Meets the second Wednesday of each month at noon at the Summit Independent Living conference room, 700 S.W. Higgins Ave. Another group meets the fourth Monday at 6:30 p.m. at the Missoula Senior Center, 705 S. Higgins Ave. For more information, contact Jackie Johnson at 549-3433 or jackiej45@yahoo.com. Alzheimers caregivers support group Meets the fourth Monday at 6:30 p.m. of each month at the Missoula Senior Center, 705 S. Higgins Ave. For more information, call Jackie Johnson at 549-3433. Arthritis programs The Montana Arthritis Program offers physical activity and self-management education programs, such as the Arthritis Foundation Exercise Program, Walk with Ease and Stanfords Chronic Disease Self-Management Program. Classes are available in several communities including Florence, Hamilton, Kalispell, Libby, Missoula, Plains and Polson. To find a class or for more information, visit dphhs.mt.gov/publichealth/arthritis. Bereavement support groups Frontier Hospice offers open door meetings 6-7 p.m. Thursdays at the following locations: The Springs at Whitefish on the first Thursday; Rising Mountains Assisted Living Community in Bigfork on the third Thursday; and Frontier Hospice in Kalispell on the second and fourth Thursdays. Call 406-755-4923 for more information. Breast cancer support group Meets the first and third Wednesday of the month from 11 a.m. to noon at the Montana Cancer Center, St. Patrick Hospital Broadway Building, second floor. Call 329-5656. Cancer Center support group Meets noon-1:30 p.m. the second Thursday of each month at the Montana Cancer Center, 500 W. Broadway. For more information, call Bonnie at 240-0996. Cancer Resource Guide The online guide covers resources including support groups, treatment centers, camps and retreats, in Missoula, Mineral and Ravalli counties. It is available at CancerResourcesMT.org. Cancer support group A support group for anyone affected by cancer meets noon-1 p.m. on the second and fourth Mondays at the Polson United Methodist Church, 301 16th Ave. For more information, call Tammy at 406-883-7284 or 824-2868. Celebrate Recovery The Christian-based 12-step recovery program meets 6-9:30 p.m. every Friday at Christian Assembly Foursquare Church, 1001 Cleveland St. Dinner is available from 6 to 7 p.m. and child care is provided for ages birth to 11. For more information, call 721-6884 or email cafc@4bible.com. Cheerful Heart Lake County cancer patients in treatment can receive a massage and help with hair and skin problems, free of charge, from local therapists and cosmetologists. Other non-medical services include transportation to treatment and doctor appointments, running errands, yard work and meal preparation. Appointments may be scheduled by calling 406-883-3070. Colorectal Cancer Support Group Meets 1-2 p.m. the third Friday of every month through March 20, Community Cancer Care Conference Room, 2827 Fort Missoula Road. "Coping, Education & Support for Women with All Cancer Types" The support group for women in all stages of cancer treatment or survivorship will be held noon-1:30 p.m. the second Monday of every month through March 14, 2016, at the Community Cancer Care Conference Room, 2837 Fort Missoula Road. For more information, call Deb Rivey at 327-3912, Terri Paxinos at 327-3957 or Kimberly Hardwick at 327-3906. Diabetes program At 6:30 p.m. on the first Wednesday of every month, there will be a short presentation on a topic related to the management of type 1 diabetes at the YMCA, 3000 S. Russell St. It will be followed by the option for socializing in the foyer or being active together at the Y. A fee of $5 per individual will be collected at the door for those choosing to use the facility. Designed for ages 14 and older, children are welcome but must be accompanied by a parent/caregiver. Double Trouble in Recovery The 12-step program for people with mental health and addiction issues meets 3-4 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Winds of Change Recovery Mall, 2685 Palmer St., No. C (second floor). Coffee is provided. For more information, call Veronica at 721-2038. Epilepsy support group Meets the first Monday of the month from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the Summit Independent Living Center, 700 S.W. Higgins Ave., Suite 101. Patients, friends, family and caregivers welcome. Call Debbie at 721-0707 for more information. Free health exams Women ages 30 to 64 who meet necessary income guidelines and either have no health insurance or have insurance that will not pay for breast and cervical health exams can receive free exams through Partnership Health Centers Montana Cancer Screening Program. Call 258-4162 for more information. Gentle yoga class The Missoula Senior Citizen Center, 705 S. Higgins Ave., offers a class that focuses on balance training, back strength and core conditioning through gentle yoga matwork every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at 9 a.m. Fee is $4 per class. All ages welcome. For more information, call 543-7154. Health Insurance Assistance Service Montana cancer patients can call the American Cancer Societys 24-hour toll-free number to be connected to a health insurance specialist to ask about coverage and insurance programs specific to the state. The number is 800-227-2345. Mens cancer support group Open to men in all phases of testing, treatment and followup, the group meets the fourth Tuesday of the month from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Montana Cancer Center, 500 W. Broadway. It is facilitated by Gary Weisbrich and Tom King. Call 329-5628 or email gary.weisbrich@providence.org for more information. Narcotics Anonymous Meets at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Alano Club, 8 Third Ave. W., Polson. Call 406-883-4135. National Alliance on Mental Illness NAMI Missoula meets every Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon in the lower level (behind the cafeteria) of the Providence Center. It is open to anyone affected by mental illness or interested in learning more about the group. The NAMI Connection group for adults living with mental illness meets 1:30-3 p.m. Thursdays at the NAMI offices, 202 Brooks St., Room 210. Call 880-1013 with questions. NAMI Family Support Group National Alliance on Mental Illness Missoula meets Wednesdays from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 202 Brooks St., in Room 210. The peer-led support for adult family members, caregivers and loved ones of individuals with mental illness is free. For more information, call 406-880-1013 or email namimissoula@gmail.com. My No-Nonsense Nutrition Program A seven-week webinar course to improve your nutrition and fitness. Faith based approach to better health. Free initial consult with Judy Gilman, registered nurse, diabetes and wellness educator. mynononsensenutrition.com or 546-7819. Overeaters Anonymous Local meetings include 7 p.m. Monday and 9 a.m. Saturday at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 202 Brooks St. A meeting for newcomers is at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday followed by a "Back to Basics" meeting at 7 p.m. at St. Paul's. Everyone who wants to stop eating compulsively is welcome. There are no dues, weigh-ins or lectures. For more meeting information, visit oa.org. SAA For the latest Sex Addicts Anonymous meeting list visit saa-recovery.org, call the Missoula hotline at 241-4005 or email MissoulaBetterway@yahoo.com. SAA is a 12-step fellowship of men and women who share experience, strength and hope for the purpose of finding freedom from addictive sexual behavior and helping others recover from sex addiction. S-Anon Local meetings are held weekly for this recovery program for people affected by another persons sexual behavior. Visit sanonmontana.org or call 406-544-1271 to learn more. Stroke and Brain Injury Support Group Meets the second Thursday of each month from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. at the Providence Center, 902 N. Orange St., in the dining area on the fourth floor. For details, call 329-5784. Tai Chi for Arthritis Class offered 9:15 a.m. Mondays at the Missoula Senior Citizens Center, 705 S. Higgins Ave. $4 per class. All ages welcome. Tai Chi Chih Classes are offered at the following locations: Missoula Senior Citizens Center, 705 S. Higgins Ave., 9:15 a.m. Wednesdays, $4 per class; PEAK Health & Wellness Center, 5000 Blue Mountain Road, 11 a.m. Tuesdays, call 251-3344; and The Womens Club, 2105 Bow St., 9 a.m. Fridays, call 728-4410. TOPS Take Off Pounds Sensibly, an affordable, nonprofit, weight-loss support and wellness organization, meets at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the First Christian Church, 2701 S. Russell St. Another TOPS meeting is 6:30 p.m. Monday at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, 2512 Sunset Lane. For additional meetings, go to tops.org, click on "Find a Meeting" and enter your zip code or call 800-932-8677. The Women's Club For more information on the following classes at The Women's Club, 2105 Bow St., call 728-4410: Foundation Training, 12:15-1 p.m. Monday and Thursday. Improve posture, strength and athletic ability. Pickle ball open play, 1-4 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Paddles provided. All levels welcome. Kick and Core high-intensity cardio workout with focus on strengthening core. I had tried years earlier to kill myself, and nearly died in the attempt It was simply the end of what I could bear, the last afternoon of having to imagine waking up the next morning only to start all over again with a thick mind and black imaginings. It was the final outcome of a bad disease, a disease it seemed to me I would never get the better of. K.R. Jamison, in Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide *** These words from a suicide attempt survivor may shock us, especially if we have never struggled with depression or another mental illness. However, suicide affects all of us, regardless of our age, race or gender. Montanas suicide rate has been ranked in the nations top five for the past 30 years and our youth suicide rate is double the national rate. According to a report from Montanas Department of Public Health and Human Services, firearms (61 percent), suffocation (19 percent) and poisoning (15 percent) are the most common means of suicide in the state, with other means including carbon monoxide, overdose, motor vehicle accidents and jumping from heights. Approximately 90 percent of those who complete suicide suffered from a diagnosed mental illness, such as major depression or alcoholism. These illnesses are very common in the U.S. Each year, more than 43 million of us struggle with mental illness, and over 20 million are handicapped by addictions to drugs or alcohol, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. In spite of this, we often find it difficult to talk about our struggles; we may put up a facade that everything is okay to not burden friends and family or to avoid being rejected by them. It is time for all of us to raise our voices and talk about suicide and mental illness for our own health, the health of our loved ones and the health of our society. The best way to prevent suicide is through early detection, diagnosis and treatment of depression and other mental health conditions. Mental illness is treatable and there is absolutely nothing shameful about suffering from these illnesses or seeking help for them. We must speak out and break down the stigma and barriers to accessing care that prevent many of us from getting help. We must also learn to look for the signs that someone is struggling, such as increased isolation, dramatically altered mood changes, alcohol or substance abuse, giving away possessions, or increased risky behaviors. We must be willing to ask Are you feeling suicidal? and if the answer is yes, to take this seriously. Do not leave them alone; tell someone else; offer hope that help is available; and call the Montana Suicide Prevention Lifeline 24 hours a day seven days a week, at 1-800-273-8255 or text MT to 741-741. If you believe someone is in danger of committing suicide, call 911 immediately. To bring the taboo of suicide out of the shadows, I invite you to join me at the Out of the Darkness Walk in Missoula at McCormick Park this Saturday, Sept. 10 at 1 p.m. We can unite with hundreds of thousands of others who have participated in these walks to help raise awareness about suicide prevention. You can access information about this event by going to the website of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention at AFSP.org. Join our Missoula walk by clicking on Join the Out of Darkness Walks and searching for the Missoula. Or find out more by checking out our Facebook page at OOTDMissoula. In addition, to help raise funds for this important cause, consider attending Painting with a Purpose tonight. Find information about this event at paintingwithatwist.com. Lets all keep talking until no one is afraid to reach out for help. Montana has had one of the top five highest suicide rates in the nation for over 40 years. Missoulas rate is even higher. Why? Mental health experts say there are many reasons. Our rural geography, a high proportion of veterans, access to firearms, and even our can do spirit all contribute to a higher-than-average suicide rate. Because suicide is such a complicated issue, we are trying many different things to prevent it. Raising awareness among teachers, doctors, clergy, and other professionals is one way. Talking about the importance of properly locking and storing guns is another, as well as remembering to keep prescription drugs under lock and key at all times. But one thing we know for sure is that most people who try to kill themselves have a major illness called depression. Interesting and hopeful new research suggests that a daily vitamin D tablet could help stop suicide because of its impact on depression. A 2014 study found that patients with depression who attempted suicide had much lower levels of vitamin D than both non-suicidal depressed patients and healthy control patients. The lower levels of vitamin D also appeared to cause inflammation in the blood, which has been linked in previous studies to both depression and suicide. Vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, comes mostly from sun exposure, but also from some foods. Vegetarians and vegans often have a harder time reaching their recommended daily level of vitamin D, and in most populations, females have approximately twice the risk of vitamin D deficiency as males. Pigmented skin acts as a sun shield, and so pale individuals need less time in the sun than more densely pigmented individuals. Older adults and people who are overweight also are more likely to have a shortage. The amount of time we spend outdoors, as well as living in an area with lower sun exposure, can also affect our vitamin D levels. Generally speaking, the farther away from the equator, the less UV radiation is present, although UV is also affected seasonally. Montanas northern location may help explain why our suicide rates are consistently higher than many southern states. Another study published in 2015 found that among 185 Pacific Northwest female college students, low levels of vitamin D predicted depression. The study suggests that higher levels of vitamin D could be useful in preventing depression. The good news about vitamin D goes further. Research shows that vitamin D supplements prevent and improve treatment for other conditions, including type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, lupus and others. Its also related to lower mortality from heart disease and several cancers. Taking vitamin D supplements appears to be a relatively low-risk, low-cost way to prevent and treat many physical and mental ailments. Vitamin D supplements are available over-the-counter. The only way to know if your vitamin D level is adequate is a simple blood test. Dosage is different for each of us, depending on age, weight, medication use, skin color and other issues. A blood level of 40-60 ng/mL of vitamin D is a safe and healthy goal. Talk to your health care provider if you are interested in having your vitamin D level tested and to determine the correct vitamin D supplement dosage for you and other members of your family. More research is needed in this area, but these promising studies provide hope for reducing suicide in Missoula and other northern parts of the United States. Since Missoula County voters passed a $10 million open space bond in 2006, nearly 29,000 acres 7,500 acres larger than the island of Manhattan - have been protected in perpetuity. The areas chosen protect working agricultural fields, wildlife habitat, outdoor recreation opportunities, river corridors and scenic vistas. On Thursday, Sept. 8, the Missoula County Parks, Trails and Open Lands Program and the City of Missoulas Open Space Program will host a party to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the countys first open space bond and its accomplishments. The free event will take place from 5-7 p.m. at Silver Park in Missoula and will feature local music, ice cream, beverages, folf, kid-friendly activities and stories from landowners who will speak about their experiences with the program. We are excited to have the opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of the City and Countys open space bond programs, said city open space acquisitions attorney Elizabeth Erickson. This past decade of successful conservation work would never have been possible without the dedication, generosity and hard work of so many individuals and organizations, and we look forward to sharing those stories. Raffles will be held and other prizes given out, and Mayor John Engen and county commissioner Jean Curtiss will both speak. The taxpayer-funded bond was split evenly between the city and the county, and every dollar spent by the government has been matched by an average of $3.60 from outside organizations such as land trusts and significant contributions from private landowners. Our work would not be possible without generous private landowners and the support of our countless community partners and land trusts, including The Nature Conservancy, Five Valleys Land Trust, The Vital Ground Foundation, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, United States Forest Service, Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, and Montana Land Reliance among others said county rural landscape scientist Kali Becher. We rely on the volunteers who comprise our Open Lands Citizen Advisory Committee and the Citys Open Space Advisory Council to evaluate and recommend proposed projects. Their efforts are invaluable. Some $2.9 million remains for future projects. Each program is administered by staff and a citizen advisory board, which make recommendations to elected officials on project funding requests. The Barmeyer family, for example, recently agreed to conserve 130 acres in Pattee Canyon with support from the open space bond fund. We are very grateful for the open space bond program, landowner Barbara Barmeyer said. We know that if a child grows up with a connection to wild places and the earth, its a lifelong blessing and an indelible influence. In our crowded and increasingly mechanized world, a walk in the woods brings peace, clarity, spirituality. Numerous activities, including three cultural events, will mark Worldwide Suicide Prevention Week in Missoula this week. According to United Way CEO Susan Hay Patrick, chair of the Western Montana Suicide Prevention Initiative, this years focus is on shining a light of hope on suicide and mental-health issues through the arts and humanities. The initiative, a collaboration of public and private entities focused on suicide prevention, has teamed with the Institute of Health and Humanities to present three arts/cultural programs around the weeks theme of HeART MisSOULa: a film, a ballet and a dramatic performance. All cultural events are free and open to the public. We know that the creative forces of art, music, drama, film, and the written and spoken word all play a critical role in shaping our culture and improving the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of our citizens, said Institute for Health and Humanities director Jan VanRiper. We envision Worldwide Suicide Prevention Week as a unique opportunity to use programming in the arts to shine a light of hope on mental health issues and the tragedy of suicide in our community, reducing the stigma associated with these matters, and fostering healing. The events are as follows: Wednesday: 7 p.m., Roxy Theater, 718 S. Higgins: "Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 for Help." Free. This HBO documentary, which won the Academy Award in 2015 for Best Documentary Short, is the story of a 24-hour suicide prevention hotline in Canandaigua, New York, that receives 22,000 calls a year from veterans who are struggling, or contemplating suicide. The film spotlights the trauma endured by veterans, as seen through the eyes of the hotlines trained responders. Moviegoers will have the chance to discuss the film afterward with a panel moderated by Heather Stokes, vice president of strategic development with LivingWorks, a company working worldwide to make communities more suicide-safe. Thursday: 7 p.m., Silver Theater, 2023 S. Higgins Ave.: Misdirected, a new ballet with themes of trauma and resilience, choreographed and directed by Aidan Carberry and performed by the Rocky Mountain Ballet Theatre. Free. A panel will follow, moderated by Heidi Kendall, suicide prevention coordinator for the Missoula City-County Health Department. Friday: 7 p.m., Salvation Army, 355 S. Russell: "The Sun as My Witness," a powerful one-man play by Kevin Kicking Woman, telling his life story of resilience in the face of incredible adversity. Free. The performance incorporates native traditions of singing and drumming. A talkback with the playwright will follow. Sponsored by Providence St. Patrick Hospital. Additionally, a two-day ASIST training in suicide prevention will be offered Wednesday and Thursday at a reduced cost by the University of Montanas Institute for Educational Research and Service. ASIST teaches anyone 16 or older prevention techniques proven to reduce suicide. The training will take place at Missoula Federal Credit Union. To register, email nancy.berg@mso.umt.edu. Also, on Friday, Dr. Blair Davison will present a suicide-prevention training at 7:30 a.m. in the Broadway Building at Providence St. Patrick Hospital. The public is invited. Continuing medical education credits are available for health-care providers. These suicide-prevention events are projects of the Western Montana Suicide Prevention Initiative (WMSPI) and the Institute for Health and Humanities (IHH). WMSPI is a broad-based coalition of nonprofits, businesses, educators and public-sector organizations working to reduce the number of suicides and suicide attempts in the community. The mission of the IHH is to foster the human dimensions of health care by working at the interface of the humanities and medicine. Major financial support for the three cultural events was provided by Providence St. Patrick Hospital. A book about the rhetoric of the coal industry written by University of Montana professor Steve Schwarze earned a national award for environmental communication, according to University Relations. Titled "Under Pressure: Coal Industry Rhetoric and Neoliberalism," the book examines rhetorical strategies employed by the industry, including "corporate ventriloquism," and "industrial apocalyptic" advocacy. The Environmental Communication Division of the National Communication Association honored the publication with its Christine L. Oravec Research Award. "Coal is clearly an industry under pressure on multiple fronts," Schwarze said in a statement. "In the U.S., production has fallen to historic lows, and several of the largest coal companies have declared bankruptcy. "Public concern about climate change, rapidly shifting domestic and global markets, and the specter of federal regulation all pose threats to the industry." The book was published earlier this year by Palgrave Macmillan, and the co-authors are Jen Schneider of Boise State University, Peter K. Bsumek of James Madison University, and Jennifer Peeples of Utah State University. According to Schwarze, the book takes a different approach than many scholars. Often, researchers examine the way the coal industry and its allies try to "cast doubt on climate science," but "Under Pressure" looks at the way the companies use language to align audiences with their interests, according to the news release. "Looking forward, it may give readers insight into how the coal industry will address the Clean Power Plan," he said in a statement. "It also has broader relevance for understanding the strategies that other powerful industries may use to manage significant threats to their existence." Judging from the number of people on the streams and trails the past few months, its easy to say that we all share the same objectives in our Montana summer; recreation, recreation and more recreation. The challenge? Its busier out there than it used to be. From front country to back country recreation, we are all loving our public lands more than ever. State park visitation will break another all-time high this year with around 2.7 million visitsup 50 percent since 2011. Trails are more crowded. Securing your favorite campsite can be a challenge. The rivers are busier with anglers, guides and more people floating for pleasure. Its natural to wonder where this is all headed, and reasonable to expect things to be even busier 10 years from now. The key is to start planning for it, rather than ignoring the obvious. We must start managing recreation better in this state rather than pretending the upward trends will go away. We need to move past either-or debates about our outdoors and talk about how we manage them in a way that preserves, but prepares, for the inevitable continued use. In this election season, we hear a lot of talk about the outdoors and a lot of talk about infrastructure. But there is very little discussion about outdoor infrastructure. Outdoor infrastructure doesnt mean putting a Marriott next to our favorite fishing hole. It means more managed recreation offerings like hiking and biking trails, campsites and boat ramps. The trouble is, these resources have not seen serious investment in decades, either at the state or federal level. Similar to our roads and cities, our outdoors are in dire need of infrastructure investment. If we don't invest in maintaining and staffing our cherished places we run the risk of causing economic damage to ourselves, and degrading the very reason so many of us live here in the first place. The recently announced Governor's Office of Outdoor Recreation is a good start, and could provide a critical step in the planning and investment we need to appropriately manage these recreation resources now and into the future. Montanas recreation industry needs a champion at the highest levels of government, and a statewide vision for our resource protection is essential in our continuing to be able to love our outdoor treasures. Included in this vision is an elevated and better-funded state park system. State Parks is the only division in state government that is equipped to manage outdoor recreation, and it needs to be much stronger. Outdoor recreation is a pillar of our economy, and our counties and federal agencies need to start funding it appropriately. They need to realize that recreation is not only an industry in and of itself - worth $6 billion to Montana alone - but like good schools and hospitals, diverse recreation opportunities are also the foundation of vibrant, livable communities. Imagine if Montana had a world-class recreation infrastructure that matched our world-class outdoors. Imagine more state parks and recreation areas in central and eastern Montana, which are currently so underserved. Imagine more paddling trails on the Yellowstone, the Clark Fork or Flathead Lake. Imagine better connectivity and trail linkages between our towns, state parks and other public lands. Imagine more tools and better funding to embrace a recreation future. To accomplish this we need support from our decision-makers, but we also need you, the recreationist. We need you to start advocating for the infrastructure you need. Take stock of your summer and what you saw out there. Imagine your summer 10 years from now if we keep doing nothing. Or better yet, imagine just how good Montana's outdoor infrastructure could be given the right attention. When the Montana Supreme Court issued its decision in 1984 regarding access for floating Montana rivers, no one could have imagined the battles that would ensue. Not only did the court ruling open most rivers and streams to recreation without regard to streambed ownership or navigability, it laid the foundation for invoking the public trust doctrine in a myriad of resource policy debates. That doctrine was invoked in the 1984 Supreme Court decision on the grounds that the Montana Constitution says waters are the property of the state for the use of its people. Hence, the court concluded, the state has a trust responsibility to maintain access for people to use their water for recreation. The state legislature put sideboards on the ruling with the 1985 Stream Access Law stating that the law does not grant an easement for the public to cross private property to obtain access. One might think that the 1984 court decision, the 1985 law and subsequent refinements, such as the 2009 bridge access law, would have settled the access issue. With wind in their sails, however, access zealots have demonstrated an insatiable appetite for more. Led mainly by the Public Land/Water Access Association, Inc., these activists file lawsuits in the name of the public trust. Like bees to honey, PLWA is attracted to properties where private landowners have invested in fish and wildlife habitat. For example, access advocates licked their chops at the prospect of fishing the Mitchell Slough where private landownerswho own the streambed and pay taxes on itinvested millions of dollars to create a trout stream out of an irrigation ditch. Similarly, they targeted the Ruby River after a private owner changed land uses and improved fish and wildlife habitat. Now rumor has it that the Darlington Ditch near the Madison River is in their sights. The PLWA claims that landowners are trying to gut Montanas stream access law when, in reality, landowners are trying to protect their conservation investments. Youd think this would be something sportsmen and -women would applaud. Stream access advocates are now taking their cause to the gubernatorial race. Campaign ads attacking Greg Gianforte claim that he blocked access to the East Gallatin River, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Gianforte did file suit against the Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks to quiet (clarify) his title by correcting the location of a FWP easement across his property. FWP eventually settled out of court by correcting the mistake. At no point in the process did Gianforte block legal stream access, and indeed to this day he even allows people to walk on his property above the high-water mark. Furthermore, access advocates are expanding their target to include access to public wildlife on private lands. After all, they contend, if people cannot be prevented from accessing state water that flows across private stream beds and banks, why should they be denied access to state wildlife that flows across private land. This motivates access zealots to oppose damage or shoulder season hunts on private land unless landowners allow free public access during the regular hunting season. The public trust argument is also being invoked as a solution to the whitefish kill that closed 200 miles of the Yellowstone River to recreation. Access advocate George Wuerthner (guest column, Aug. 23) argues that low water levels and low water temperatures giving rise to the parasite-killing fish are due to cattle grazing and irrigation. He asserts that it is a public trust obligation for the governor and state wildlife agencies to protect the citizens right to fishing, recreation and higher quality water. No doubt the access zealots will continue their public trust march, but that doesnt mean true Montana sportsmen and -women have to follow their lead. We should return to Montanas roots honoring property owners who provide the best wildlife habitat often at significant costs to themselves. The next time you see a No Trespassing sign or an orange fence post, dont join the ranks of the access activists; follow the advice from BigSkyFishing.comall that is usually required is a polite request to the landowner. I write to urge support for Adam Hertz for House District 96. I have known Hertz for several years now, from his leadership and dedicated service on the Missoula City Council. On the council, he displayed real courage in speaking truth to power. Often he was the lone voice of the taxpayer, the property owner, the fiscally responsible and the constitutionally mindful, holding his ground in the face of an opposition not ashamed to use scorn, ridicule and outright bullying against his consistent and principled call to reason. In short, hes just the kind of leader who gives politicians a good name. Beyond his leadership skills, Hertz is well-informed and clear-thinking on the issues. His fiscally sound approach will serve Montana well when the log-rolling starts and the pork is being divided up by special interests from both political parties. We can count on him to work hard for those who believe government should function with regard for economic reality and the rights and reasonable expectations of property owners and taxpayers. He understands the waste, fraud and abuse inherent in a vast and impersonal government bureaucracy and the job-killing damage done by overzealous regulators. Count on him to be the faithful friend of small business. Finally, hes an advocate for the outdoors, and will resist interests on both the left and the right who seek to limit our treasured hunting, fishing and recreational opportunities, or the fundamental right to keep and bear arms. Most of all he understands the values of Montana: personal responsibility; hearty resourcefulness; love of family and of wide-open spaces. Again, just the kind of person we need in the legislature. Please join me in supporting Adam Hertz. Quentin Rhoades, Missoula BILLINGS Two people made it out with no injuries after their car went off of Shiloh Road and rolled into a canal Monday afternoon. A Billings police officer at the scene said that the driver and passenger were unharmed. There were tracks in the grass where the car jumped the curb just south of the roundabout at Shiloh and King Avenue. The car landed in the canal and was partially submerged with runoff from an intense rain storm that hit Billings Monday afternoon. The crash was reported shortly after the storm, around 5:15 p.m. The National Weather Service reported that 0.25 inches of rain was measured at its Overland Avenue offices Monday afternoon. Alternatively, NWS measured 0.08 inches at its station at Billings Logan International Airport. MATT HUDSON, Billings Gazette Some 500 firefighters remained at work on the Copper King fire eight miles east of Thompson Falls on Monday, despite the cool, damp weather. The expected rain did not materialize, said Mondays update from the Lolo National Forest, although it noted that intermittent showers were expected Monday. The fire will creep and smolder with some limited surface fire possible in the heavier fuels. Evacuations for cabins along Little Thompson Creek and the Mud Creek area remain in effect, as do pre-evacuation notices for homes along Highway 200 from the mouth of the Thompson River up to and including Buffalo Bill Creek. Pre-evacuations also apply to homes between mile markers 3 and 4 on Little Thompson River. Fire management was in transition Monday from Greg Poncins Type 1 Northern Rockies Incident Management Team to a Type 2 team under Commander Roger Staats, who was to assume management at 8 p.m. Monday. Dr. Lynelle Noisy Hawk became clinical director of Crow-Northern Cheyenne Hospital almost two years ago, but some boxes still sit full on her office floor. Shes just not had time to unpack them. Its tough, she said. Some days youre like, Why do I do this? because it gets so stressful. Health care jobs are tough anywhere, but Indian Country providers face unique financial, bureaucratic and community health challenges that add up to one stark fact: Native Americans, on average, live 20 years less than other Montanans. Noisy Hawk and others working on Montanas seven reservations have launched creative strategies to improve health in their communities. In the past year, the Affordable Care Act and recent state Medicaid expansion have come to the forefront of those discussions. If more people enroll for insurance, those patients can have more options for care while clinics can bill those policies to expand their budgets and therefore services offered. Yet, insurance alone cannot close the life expectancy gap. Health experts and tribal leaders lay much of the blame at the feet of Indian Health Service, the primary provider of care on reservations. The federal agency remains underfunded by Congress, crippled by mismanagement and limited by regulations. Local clinic and hospital leaders nonetheless have found a handful of ways to expand care even as Montanas senators debate which reforms would lead to the best improvements. As it stands now, Northern Cheyenne Tribal Administrator William Walksalong says the typical Native American health care experience is genocidal and said as much in a letter to federal officials. We sent Sen. (Jon) Tester 68 stories of tribal miseries with IHS, he said. Horror stories. People died needlessly. Its genocidal. Its systematic. Its an institution. The Indian Health Service formed in 1955, taking over health care from the Bureau of Indian Affairs whose task had been to prevent disease and assimilate tribal members. From its start, the agency has faced frequent criticism and undergone numerous changes. Early scandals included the secret sterilization of women at some hospitals, medical studies without clear patient consent and the placement of some disinterested doctors in IHS hospitals so they would not have to go to Vietnam. More recently, the top leadership has been in flux at agency headquarters and several regional offices as federal officials investigate long wait times and problem physicians. Care has certainly improved since the agencys early days. For instance, more clinics and hospitals than ever have earned accreditation. One Montana facility reports filling dozens of vacancies thanks to new leadership. Another is leading tests for new uses of telemedicine. And off-reservation hospitals have improved relationships with Native American communities. But the recurring theme presented at Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hearings this year has been that the good people on the ground are hampered by too little funding and too many rules. In their testimony, tribal and IHS leaders say federal regulations make it harder to hire qualified people away from private hospitals or to fire workers who are under-performing. It also can be tough to keep doctors on staff when their recommended treatment plans are denied for budget reasons, and if they must limit their daily appointments because they need to do referral and billing paperwork typically handled by support staff at private hospitals. The Indian Health Service should be held in the same light as the VA scandal, said Northern Cheyenne Tribal Health Director Jace Killsback. Health care is owed to us. We gave up our land and shed blood. It is unclear to what extent some of the challenges highlighted in congressional testimony affect IHS facilities in Montana. Agency public affairs officials in D.C. denied repeated Lee Newspapers requests to tour other clinics and speak to their leaders. Several current and former agency employees interviewed asked not to be named for fear of reprisal or of damaging professional relationships critical to making improvements. In general, their stories paralleled the experience shared by Noisy Hawk and in records of congressional testimony. Some records requests to IHS were delayed, but the same information was later provided by congressional staff. *** One document shared with Lee Newspapers highlights how underfunding one portion of IHS needs can create ripple effects. A summary of equipment needs at IHS-managed clinics in Montana shared with Sen. Jon Testers office reports that the 4,115 pieces of biomedical equipment in use across Montana and Wyoming facilities have an average age of 10 years. The useful life for such equipment is typically five to seven years, according to the document. Not replacing equipment in a timely fashion can cause clinics to lose accreditation, close down specialty units or revert to dated care strategies that do not require the tools. For instance, the document lists the Crow Unit of IHS as needing 188 new pieces of equipment so it can offer labor and delivery services again, restart radiology at one clinic with an obsolete X-ray and replace dozens of aging IV pumps. The cost is estimated to be nearly $2.7 million, but the current fiscal year appropriation from Congress, along with local savings, adds up to just $184,000. Across all facilities, equipment funding falls 79 percent short of the reported need, according to the document. The proposed Indian Health Service Accountability Act would loosen hiring and firing rules at IHS, including more flexibility over pay and benefits. The bill introduced by Indian Affairs Chairman Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., has yet to be endorsed by Montanas senator on the committee. Vice Chairman Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, says he needs more input from tribal leaders about whether its the solution they need and that reforms must be comprehensive. Sen. Steve Daines, a Republican, calls it a step in the right direction, but, like Tester, points to other issues that also need to be fixed at the agency. Tester has supported IHS budget increases in recent years, including a proposed $122 million increase to clinics and hospitals in next years budget. His staff notes, however, that the increases were largely negated in 2013 by $220 million in forced sequestration cuts when Congress could not agree on a budget deal. In 2015, he introduced a bill to exempt IHS and other service agencies from sequestration cuts, but it has yet to be taken up for a vote. First of all, there are trust responsibilities and treaty obligations that we need to uphold. Right now, although there are some really good people in IHS, they certainly arent able to live up to their responsibility, Tester said. There are a number of things we need to deal with, but No. 1: I dont think you can expect great outcomes when youre spending about half of what you normally spend on health care, half as much on Indian health as we do on other health systems we fund. Daines disagrees that most of the agencys problems boil down to funding. Throwing more good money at a bad system is not going to be a solution, he said. Thats why weve got to reform the system. He chalks up most of the challenges to a too-big bureaucracy that keeps money from reaching facilities and that limits how it can be spent once its there. He championed Barrassos bill as an example of how stepping out of the way could help clinics fill thousands of open positions and keep those workers long term. Daines also said that a portion of the Affordable Care Act, which mandates coverage for tribal employees, is crippling budgets. In addition to broader concerns about the viability of the new health care market as a whole, he said tribes should be exempt from the insurance mandate. *** Noisy Hawk will take any help she can get from Congress the ability to offer more competitive salaries, more funding for equipment, etc. but until then she has to find solutions with what she has. Improved support staff training, increased third-party revenues and an updated appointment scheduling structure, among other procedural shifts, have helped Crow-Northern Cheyenne Hospital go from 35 percent staffed two years ago to more than 50 percent staffed today. By hiring midwives, the hospital might be able to offer some birthing services while it waits on funding for the equipment and nurses needed to reopen a complete OB/GYN unit. Weve made a lot of improvements and are offering more services, Noisy Hawk said. We can do so much more, but its frustrating. I cant do anything about my nurse shortage without more pay flexibility. Were running into space issues. I cant really hire if I dont have a place to put them. Shes surrounded by reminders of why she keeps doing the work anyway. Noisy Hawk touched one of her beaded earrings and explained they were a gift from a woman she helped get the appointments she needed. Then she reached into one of the boxes on her office floor and pulled out a large quilt. HELENA A group of state lawmakers continues to question whether having a contractor without the input of tribal elders form a strategic plan to address the high rate of suicides among Montanas American Indian children is the best way to fix the problem. Last week a member of the State-Tribal Relations Interim Committee questioned why a company contracted to create an American Indian youth suicide prevention plan left elders out of the process. This spring the same group of lawmakers urged the state Department of Health and Human Services to look at ways to send money to the tribes and local programs instead of hiring a company to form a plan. Kauffman & Associates Inc. is the contractor the state hired to develop the plan. In a letter asking for nominations for people to serve on a coalition, Kauffman asked people to submit the names of elected leaders, health directors or community members with experience in the area of youth suicide, as well as a youth representative. The letter encouraged diverse nominations including women, veterans and LGBT tribal members. What it left out, though, said state Rep. George Kipp III, D-Heart Butte, was elders. The letter went to tribal chairmen and health facility leadership from Montanas eight tribes and five urban areas with American Indian populations. The contractor did not identify our main counselor, educator, adviser, Kipp told the committee. In this foremost issue, in order to resolve issues and plan things out, (one of the things) Native communities take into great consideration is elders. Kipp told Richard Opper, director of the state Department of Health and Human Services, this was a critical oversight. Kauffman was hired by the state with $100,000 set aside from the $250,000 written into the states main budget bill last session to address Indian youth suicides. The funding lasts until 2017. In our Native community these are individuals that have the most weight, the most influence, the most knowledge, Kipp said. The definition of elders is not old person. Elder is a person that has previously experienced certain items. Iris Heavy Runner Pretty Paint, who is a project liaison for Kauffman, said Thursday that tribes should and are encouraged to have elders participate on the coalition. The letter, she said, just didnt use the word elders when listing examples of people to nominate. There are so many different titles and roles that everyone can play, Pretty Paint said. So many of these individuals serve multiple roles in the community. Elders are a key element of our resilience. This year Montana regained the title of the state with the highest suicide rate in the nation, Karl Rosston, the states suicide prevention coordinator, said recently. Native Americans, to keep that title for the state of Montana, contribute quite a few lives, Kipp said. A report produced by a team that reviews every suicide in the state showed that the rate of suicide among American Indian children ages 11-17 is 26 percent. Its 7 percent for white children in the same age group. Lawmakers on Wednesday also rehashed why DPHHS brought in an outside company at all. This past spring, the interim committee sent a letter to Opper asking him to strongly reconsider hiring a contractor. The committee's letter said it believed money would be better spent if given directly to tribes to support programs at the local level. State Rep. Alan Doane, R-Bloomfield, revisited the issue Wednesday, asking if any Montana companies submitted bids. We have double-digit unemployment on many reservations, Doane said. Sending 40 percent of this money to Washington state to study the problem Im just curious why that money couldnt have stayed in state and created jobs here if were going to create jobs with this money. The selection of a contractor went through the states standard process, said DPHHS spokesman Jon Ebelt. Only one other company applied, B. Kuzmic Consulting in Kalispell. Kauffman's bid was $99,235. Opper told the committee that the state has to pick a contractor based on several factors, including experience and the cost plan they submit. Kauffman has been working on youth suicide and substance abuse prevention since 2000 and has worked with Montana tribes in the past, including a year-long intensive model on suicide prevention on the Blackfeet reservation, where Pretty Paint grew up and is an enrolled tribal member. A plan is critical to any success, Pretty Paint said. Without a strategic plan, without an inventory, we connue to be fragmented. We do good work when we have plans. Pretty Paint said nominations for committee members are starting to come in from the tribes. By late October or November Kauffman will hold a two-day training. It is required to submit the strategic plan to DPHHS by February 2017. State Rep. Edward Greef, R-Florence, questioned the need for a contractor at all. Opper said the tribes were more comfortable working with a contractor instead of DPHHS. Kipp said the states efforts to combat suicide can often fall flat on the reservation. He used a billboard on his reservation that advertises the number for the states suicide hotline as an example I looked at that and thought in my community theres all sorts of dead spots out there, he said. Families often cant afford cellphones for their children. Thats a major thing you have to take into consideration. Kipp also questioned state agencies previous efforts on the reservations. For three or four decades now agencies are involved in our issues and theyre not having any effect, he said. BUTTE - It was a perfect summer evening. On July 31, a small group of people stood silently at the front of the Immaculate Conception Church in Butte. The congregation was clearly moved and prayed over them. As the group received the very meaningful blessing, their facial expressions reflected a spectrum of emotions, including a hint of nervousness. It was the eve of a grand adventure. "It was a life-changing experience for each of us." Marietta Sorini The nights in Uganda do not cool down much. The humidity feels even higher than during the day. It was only 6 a.m. Mijah McLeod and Gia, Marietta, and Bella Sorini were starting their day. They were still sleepy, but what they saw in the streets made them alert. Crowds of colorfully dressed, smiling, and fast-walking people were everywhere. Minus the smiles and the colorful dress, a New Yorker would find the sight familiar, but not Montanans. "The constant congestion is what surprised me the most about Africa." Mijah McLeod The four young Butte women were on a medical mission under the direction of Butte's Dr. George Mulcaire-Jones, his son Liam, and a capable team. Dawn Lewton, an energetic real estate agent from Whitehall, spent a lot of time with the four teenagers and helped coordinate outreach to the Ugandan youth and children. Audrey Mendenhall is the owner of Sound Health Imaging that provides diagnostic imaging in Butte, Anaconda, and Helena. Her mission contribution was teaching ultrasound skills. The general objective was to train local health professionals to improve the care of expectant mothers and the newly born. Improving care does not take place in a medical exclusion zone. It is the result of a slow and beautiful process of developing trust and earning respect. With smiles that exude sincerity, the Butte quartet engaged in a mission of friendship. "The littlest things made the biggest difference." Gia Sorini She describes a number of simple gestures that generated gratifying reactions. They gave toothbrushes to a woman with her four children in a hospital and to many others. They brought toys and games to 115 orphans in Kamuli. They shared Montana stories with young school children crammed in a tiny classroom. Everywhere they went, they took Polaroid photos of people whom they met on their journey literally hundreds and hundreds of happy, appreciative faces who were all so easy to love. Some of these Ugandan faces belonged to highly memorable people. Like John Mark, made wise by poverty and faith, bright as daylight and a born leader. He was mature way beyond his 15 years. Or the delightfully lighthearted and kind Henry, who selflessly and joyfully ran a youth camp in Masaka. Young Americans are now conditioned by a culture defined by undiluted and unhealthy self-centeredness. So this was also a mission of discovery. Gia observes: "Listening to what different people had to say was very interesting and rewarding." Mijah offers this insight: "There is no way you can form a valuable opinion or credible system of beliefs without seeing what the rest of the world has to offer." "My dad would have been so happy that we were able to put a smile on the face of so many." Marietta Sorini For three among the group, the Sorini sisters, the journey took on an added level of significance. They were doing this, in part, as a tribute to their recently deceased father, the late Dr. Pete Sorini, outstanding neurosurgeon and an exceptionally giving human being. Gia, the eldest daughter, explains: "Dad always wanted us to do a mission trip as a family. In a sense, I did go for my dad, because he wanted us to help as many people as we could." One encounter proved particularly moving. They met two precious little children suffering from untreated hydrocephalus a condition their surgeon father was particularly skilled at correcting. "My dad could really have helped them," Gia said. As someone who has observed closely the Sorini family in the wake of the cruel loss of a husband and father, it did not surprise me at all that all the sisters made a point of mentioning their mother as a great fount of motivation and strength. While herself tormented by searing grief, Ms. Stephanie Sorini has been able to magnificently and selflessly provide for her daughters hope and a path to resilience. The groundbreaking for the Dr. Pete Sorini Family Center in Masaka was a powerful moment. At the emotional ceremony, Gia gave a remarkable speech. Her words were received with unique warmth, gratitude and kindness. Sympathy and condolences were extended to the sisters. The sisters were hugged as they were enthusiastically being adopted by these Ugandan families. No longer were they visitors. They now belonged. That same night Bella texted her mother: "It was like the best day ever Mom. It does not matter the color of your skin, we are one big family here." Bella also made a heart-warming comparison between the mission leader, Dr. Mulcaire-Jones, and her father: "They are so much alike. They work very hard to help others. They are filled with immense kindness, and both are very funny." In the weeks leading up to their African mission, I thought a lot about Gia, Marietta, and Bella. I wondered how the memory of their brilliant father was going to influence their lives. Were Dr. Sorini's astonishing accomplishments going to represent for them a source of inspiration, or rather intimidation? I no longer wonder. It is clearly all about inspiration. "As his daughter, I feel lucky to carry on his legacy, and going to Africa on a mission trip is part of that." Gia Sorini She could not have answered my question more perfectly. To the high plateaus, lake shores, rainforests, and bustling cities of Uganda the four brave young women delivered fragments of the giant heart that is Butte. They also brought with them the irresistible spirit of the unforgettable Dr. Pete. Through them, he will continue to transform lives for the better for a long, long time to come. His mission is not over, because theirs is only beginning. Economy Republican challenger Greg Gianforte hammered the governor on low wages, which he said are among the lowest in the country. Incumbent Gov. Steve Bullock touted the state's growing workforce, business climate rankings and low unemployment rate. He also disapproved of Gianfortes tact, saying Montana had many economic bright spots. Thats not the Montana way at all, Bullock said. You dont build up our state by tearing it down. When asked about raising the minimum wage, Gianforte said he opposes measures that could add to the burdens of the state's entrepreneurs. "Even if we raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour, it's still hard to prosper on that wage," he said. "I'm more concerned about maximum wages, not minimum wages." Natural resource development We need to be looking to the opportunities of the future, Bullock said, highlighting his energy plan that called for diversifying natural resource development. He also said coal will continue to be part of the states energy future. We have to figure out ways to use it that much better. Gianforte said Bullock actually hasnt stood up for natural resource industries." Let me say very clearly, he said. I believe we can develop our natural resources here in Montana and preserve the environment. We can do both. Medicaid expansion Gianforte only appeared to depart from some Republican colleagues on one issue. While some party colleagues have discussed repealing the HELP Act, which expanded Medicaid, Gianforte said he would not dismantle the law, partly because that battle had already been lost in the Legislature but also because he did not want to pull the rug out from under the thousands of Montanans who have enrolled. He did, however, say he was concerned about managing rising health care costs. Bullock noted that Gianforte contributed to Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group that lobbied against the expansion. Gun control Theres only one candidate up here endorsed by the NRA, Gianforte said. Thats me. Bullock defended his record, saying he would protect the individual right but that did not have to include abandoning common sense. Refugee resettlement First, fear shouldnt define our values, Bullock said. I will do everything I can to make sure unvetted refugees do not come to our state It is ultimately not the governor who gets to make the call who comes through the border. Gianforte criticized Bullocks position as weak. We have this problem primarily because of a lack of leadership at the federal level, but we dont need to complicate it by bringing unvetted refugees into our state, he said, noting his heart goes out to the displaced families, but it doesnt extend so far as to actually move them into our homes and into our communities. Infrastructure Bullock said he was disappointed he had to make another proposal this year after the Legislature, including several members to whom Gianforte contributed, killed a bipartisan bill on the final day. Gianforte called Bullocks leadership weak, noting that the governors proposal is a revived version of a 2013 infrastructure bill he had vetoed. Education Gianforte made a general plea to do better improving quality, raising graduation rates and expanding trades education. He highlighted his proposal to add computer science curriculum to all Montana high schools. Bullock noted successes from his term, such as doubling dual enrollment and expanding technical education. He dinged Gianforte for his support of Legislative proposals that would fund, sometimes indirectly, private schools. Not to be outdone, Mr. Trump used his airborne meeting with reporters to clarify his views on immigration, saying he opposed any path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants in the country illegally. But he did not explicitly rule out a long-term path to legal status if the nations immigration system is overhauled. Were going to make that decision into the future, Mr. Trump said. But, he added, to become a citizen, you are going to have to go out and come back in through the process. Youre going to have to go out and get in line. This isnt touchback. You have to get in line. On the plane, Mr. Trump also told reporters that, as of this moment, he planned to attend all three debates, and that only a natural disaster could make him change his mind. He added that, while he was preparing, he was not holding mock debate sessions. Labor Day is traditionally the beginning of a two-month sprint to Election Day, in which candidates try to seize voters attention as summer fades and debates loom. Monday was no exception. The visits to Ohio by Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton along with their respective running mates, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana and Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia highlighted the importance of a state that Republicans believe Mr. Trump must win to have any shot of reaching the White House. Nicht Ihr Computer? Dann konnen Sie fur die Anmeldung ein Fenster zum privaten Surfen offnen. Weitere Informationen Just three months after his life partner died by suicide, Nick Martin emailed Butte-Silver Bow Chief Executive Matt Vincent conveying his desire to serve on the county's new Mental Health Local Advisory Council. Martin's email to Vincent was passionate as he described the descent of Reychell Regalado, who died in Butte on Oct. 7, 2015, after ingesting two bottles of prescription pills and hanging herself. "I turned in my application this morning to your office," Martin wrote Vincent. "The love of my life and mother to my two kids took her own life she suffered from depression and anxiety. After our son was born four years ago she really began to struggle with her depression. That only got worse after our daughter was born two years ago. After my daughter Sophia was born, Reychell tried to take her life twice in one week. She had also been admitted to the hospital for suicidal feelings several times after that. She only got worse and worse until she finally succeeded." In his email, Martin conveyed his frustration with systems that, in his view, could not help Regalado. "During this struggle" he wrote, "I was the only one who she could depend on. During this time I had to deal with multiple agencies in this county that are supposed to help people like Reychell. Most times I disagreed with how they treated her, because it wasn't working. Some agencies wouldn't even listen to my opinion because we weren't married. It left us both feeling like we couldn't get help from any of the people that were supposed to help us. "I feel at the very least that these things need to be heard so we can change things. I want to turn her tragedy into something positive. I want to help make a difference for other people in her position. I want to help this county and state do whatever is within their power to help also." Vincent, my boss, forwarded Martin's email to me. At the time, appointments to the Mental Health Local Advisory Council were already made, so I emailed Martin and asked if he would be willing to serve on the county's Suicide Prevention Committee. "Along with developing suicide prevention strategies," I told Martin, "we are looking at systems and how they work and don't work." Martin was present at the committee's very next meeting, conveying his willingness to share his story and help in improving systems. In memory of Regalado, Martin, 34, is walking in this year's Out of the Darkness Walk, a September event coinciding with National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. Martin is not at all circumspect about Regalado, their relationship, or how it ended. A Butte native who grew up on Yale Street, Martin met Regalado in the summer of 2009 when a co-worker at the Meat Block, where Martin has worked for eight years, invited him to Canyon Ferry. Regalado would visit Butte relatives in the summers and was also at the lake. "I loved her personality," Martin told me recently. "She was outgoing, funny, and fun to be around." After a couple of months, Regalado began to share with Martin about her upbringing being removed at age 6 from the home of an abusive birth parent and being placed in foster care. Ultimately landing in foster care in Oregon, Regalado continued to be abused. According to Martin, when she disclosed the abuse to members of her foster family, they did not believe her, and she was punished at one point for "lying" by being locked by a foster parent in a garage for a week. Ultimately, at age 15, Regalado moved in with a friend's mother and received her General Equivalency Diploma. Two months after meeting, Martin and Regalado moved in together. "She had noticeable depression she would start talking about her upbringing, crying," Martin said. "I would just listen. I really wanted to help her. Reychell was comfortable talking to me, and for the most part, it was working." He proposed marriage over the holidays in 2010, and the couple learned they were going to have a baby. "When she became pregnant, and especially afterward, her depressive state became amplified," Martin said. Their son, Braden, was born Aug. 22, 2011. "After Braden was born," Martin said, "her sadness was pronounced. She was crying all the time over nothing." The couple soon learned that Braden was born with a heart defect, and they spent a month in Seattle, where Braden had surgery. Martin was incredibly anxious himself, feeling helpless over the health of his son and the stability of Regalado. "I was under a lot of stress, and she took a nosedive," said Martin. Back home in Butte, Regalado spoke with a physician, who prescribed what Martin calls "mood stabilizers." Regalado began drinking every day. "I had to work, and I was getting up with the baby every night. But I was willing to. I understood why she was drinking. And I loved her a lot." When Braden was a little over one year old, Regalado was arrested for driving under the influence. It seemed to be a wake-up call. She quit drinking and had been sober for a year when she said to Martin, "Let's have another baby; we'll do it right this time." The second pregnancy went well, and Sophia was born Sept. 6, 2013. But then utter chaos ensued. "Her post-partum (depression) was so, so much worse the second time," Martin said. "I was worried daily about her ability to care for the kids. I had so much anxiety, I was home every lunch hour to make sure everything was alright." Regalado was ultimately prescribed Klonopin, a highly addictive sedative used to help with anxiety. Regalado began taking the pills, and she renewed her drinking. Her decline had begun. "The first time she attempted suicide," Martin said, "she was forcing me and the kids out the door, and said she was going to take all her pills. I made it clear I wasn't leaving. I called 911, she took the pills, and I made her throw up." Martin stayed home with his children while Regalado was transported to the hospital. He frantically made calls for updates on her condition, but Martin and Regalado weren't married, so confidentiality laws prevented hospital staff from providing much news. "All we can do is tell you she's OK," Martin said he was told. "It was maddening." At 7 a.m. the next morning, Regalado left the hospital and walked home. Martin was stunned. "How did you get out of there?" he asked, and she replied, "I told them you took the pills." Martin's parents and friends began to inquire, "Why are you still with her?" His replies didn't waver "because I love her" but he didn't really know how else to answer. "It got so crazy, I couldn't explain it to anybody. Even my family members don't know what I went through. It's been a very private thing." After her suicide attempt, Martin took a few days off from work. "My talking to her seemed to calm her down." Her Klonopin prescription was refilled and filled again. "She couldn't stop taking them," Martin said. "Her excuse (to the provider) was always that she spilled them or lost them." During this time, Regalado would express to Martin that he was the only positive force in her life. In December 2013, Regalado was intoxicated and ingested half of the pills in her bottle. Martin called 911. According to Martin, Regalado was disorderly, telling the EMTs and police to leave her alone and that she wanted to die. She spit at one of them. Regalado was hospitalized, but the next morning, she was arrested at the hospital and spent a week in jail. Martin spent Christmas alone with his children. According to Martin, all of this put the young family on the radar of Child Protective Services. Martin said officials told him that because he and Regalado weren't married, the children legally belonged to Regalado and that he would have to develop a parenting plan in order to keep them. "I was not going to lose them," said Martin, who developed a plan that incorporated Regalado returning home. But by the time Sophia was 1, Martin placed the kids in daycare. "Raychell was trying, but her depression was so bad. We lived with complete unpredictability. The drinking didn't get better she would try to stay sober, but then some little thing would happen, and she'd be drinking again for weeks." Attempts at suicide became routine. "I remember dragging her down from the trestle in the Highlands," Martin said. "I remember her cutting herself in the bathroom." She made countless trips to the ER. Ultimately, Regalado needed to leave the house. Martin tried to soften everything for her "I told her she could see the kids however much she wanted, but if she was drinking, she couldn't be here." On New Year's Eve 2014, Martin was sleeping when an intoxicated Regalado entered the home and began assaulting him in bed. He was able to leave the bed, but she continued the assault, hitting him in the forehead with a ceramic bowl. Bleeding, Martin called 911. She was arrested and charged with assault. He filed for a restraining order. A week later, Jan. 7, 2015, she returned. Regalado hadn't yet been served the restraining order Martin found her sleeping on the couch, and he called police, who in turn called the process server. Police were present when Regalado was served. She tore up the order, left the residence, and threw a garbage can across the street. Police arrested her for disorderly conduct. In May 2015, Regalado returned to the home once again. She and Martin argued about custody of the kids, and Martin called police. Regalado was intoxicated, swore at officers, and tried to prevent them from handcuffing her. She was arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. "To me, it was horrifying," said Martin. "She had depression, anxiety, addictions." Martin laments the absence of a psychiatrist anywhere in the region, there being no room at a chemical dependency center, and of Regalado missing appointments with therapists who made clear they couldn't continue to keep appointments open for her. "I wanted to shout that depressed people don't make it to their appointments," he said. "I wanted to tell people the drinking, the drugs, the depression, the anxiety, it was all intertwined, and we couldn't treat one without the other." By summer, Regalado had hit bottom and was living with her birth mother. "Two addicts," Martin said, "living together." She'd text Martin, saying she wanted to be a better parent than her own, that she didn't know why she couldn't control her behaviors. On the morning of Oct. 7, she texted him from her home at the Evans Apartments, telling him that she knew he could never love her again and saying goodbye. As was routine, Martin called 911. He then dropped the kids at daycare and went to work. The police came by a short time later and informed Martin of Regalado's death. It was her eighth attempt at suicide. The officers wouldn't let Martin drive, so they took him to the home of his parents, where he informed them, and then to the home of one of Regalado's siblings, where he again shared the news. "I felt hurt, I felt relief," Martin said. "I felt shocked, but then again, I really wasn't." It would be a few days before he could tell his children of the death of their 24-year-old mother. "We sat down, and I told them, 'Mommy isn't coming home,'" Martin said. "They asked if she died, and I said yes, 'Mommy fell asleep and didn't wake up.'" Martin said some day he'll tell both Braden and Sophia about what happened, but for now, he and the kids look at photographs and go to places where they used to go with Mom. Staff at the daycare are fully aware of everything and alert Martin when Braden in particular is clingy or sad. Regalado's ashes are still at Martin's rented home. He intends to buy a home in the next year, something with a big yard for the kids. As a single dad, he takes questions from those curious about how he does it, including a question that came from several people on one recent day does he fix his daughter's hair? "Of course I do her hair," said Martin, incredulous. "And I make sure we do a lot of girl things." Martin said one of his priorities is helping in any way he can to improve systems that work with those who are mentally ill and addicted. But he goes home every night to his first priority. "My focus is my kids," he said. "Everything else is second place." A father and son bow hunting for elk in the Big Hole Valley on Sunday got more than they bargained for an encounter with a grizzly bear. The hunters backed off and surrendered the cow elk they had shot to the bear. At 12:16 p.m. on Sunday, the Beaverhead County Sheriffs Department took a 911 call from the hunters, who were on the Gibbonsville Road about 10 miles west of Wisdom in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. The hunters, from the Bitterroot drainage to the west, told Deputy Sheriff Kyle Malkovich and Fish, Wildlife and Parks warden Regan Dean that after they shot the elk, they began to follow the blood trail to the animal when a grizzly bear came into the area and started to parallel them. Beaverhead County Sheriff Franklin D. Kluesner said that when the bear huffed and growled at them, they made a wise choice and retreated, leaving the elk behind for the bear. The hunters saw the bear and believe it was a grizzly. Based on its behavior, we believe its highly likely to have been a grizzly bear, Kluesner said. The most prudent thing to do was definitely surrender the elk. The warden gave them permission to abandon the elk they'd shot, a Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman said. Kluesner said encounters with apex predators like grizzlies and mountain lion are more common with bow hunters because they often mask their human scent and use elk calls to attract game which also will attract predators. If a bear smells a human, they will likely shy away, Kluesner said, but if that scent is hidden, bears become more of a factor. Beaverhead County, Montanas largest, stretches nearly 200 miles from southeast to northwest. Much of its 5,772 square miles is remote mountain country perfect bear habitat. Located squarely between two grizzly-bear ecosystems one in northern Montana and one to the southeast, in Yellowstone Beaverhead County is a place where the two subgroups of bears will likely come together as the populations continue to recover. Grizzly bear encounters have been more frequent in other areas of the county like the Centennial Range. The upper Big Hole Valley had not had a confirmed grizzly sighting for about a century until this year, when two sightings were confirmed not including Sundays incident. Much of the Big Hole Valley is very remote country, Kluesner said. Other than hunting season and firewood cutting, theres very little human activity. But elk hunting season has just started, he said, and theres a lot of fall left before these bears go into hibernation. Kluesner reminded hunters to carry bear spray -- something echoed by the Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman, who added, that neither hunter was carrying bear spray, although the father told the warden he normally carries a pistol. The warden told him bear spray was much more effective. Klausner added that if you encounter a bear, "The best thing is to walk slowly in the opposite direction from the bear, trying not to make any aggressive gestures or movements, or make eye contact. And try not to run, he said. They are predators and running away can trigger a predatory response. If a bear comes up on you suddenly, he said, its recommended to curl up in a ball. The FWP spokesman alerted hunters to be ready to encounter grizzlies "anywhere in the western half of Montana." The forest is a beautiful place, Kluesner said, But it can be very dangerous. We just need to find a way to share it with the bears. Editor's note: This is the third in a four-part series. Dr. Lynelle Noisy Hawk became clinical director of Crow-Northern Cheyenne Hospital almost two years ago, but some boxes still sit full on her office floor. Shes just not had time to unpack them. Its tough, she said. Some days youre like, Why do I do this? because it gets so stressful. Health care jobs are tough anywhere, but Indian Country providers face unique financial, bureaucratic and community health challenges that add up to one stark fact: Native Americans, on average, live 20 years less than other Montanans. Noisy Hawk and others working on Montanas seven reservations have launched creative strategies to improve health in their communities. In the past year, the Affordable Care Act and recent state Medicaid expansion have come to the forefront of those discussions. If more people enroll for insurance, those patients can have more options for care while clinics can bill those policies to expand their budgets and therefore services offered. Yet insurance alone cannot close the life-expectancy gap. Health experts and tribal leaders lay much of the blame at the feet of Indian Health Service, the primary provider of care on reservations. The federal agency remains underfunded by Congress, crippled by mismanagement, and limited by regulations. Local clinic and hospital leaders nonetheless have found a handful of ways to expand care even as Montanas senators debate which reforms would lead to the best improvements. As it stands now, Northern Cheyenne Tribal Administrator William Walksalong says the typical Native American health care experience is genocidal and said as much in a letter to federal officials. We sent Sen. (Jon) Tester 68 stories of tribal miseries with IHS, he said. Horror stories. People died needlessly. Its genocidal. Its systematic. Its an institution. The Indian Health Service formed in 1955, taking over health care from the Bureau of Indian Affairs whose task had been to prevent disease and assimilate tribal members. From its start, the agency has faced frequent criticism and undergone numerous changes. Early scandals included the secret sterilization of women at some hospitals, medical studies without clear patient consent, and the placement of some disinterested doctors in IHS hospitals so they would not have to go to Vietnam. More recently, the top leadership has been in flux at agency headquarters and several regional offices as federal officials investigate long wait times and problem physicians. Care has certainly improved since the agencys early days. For instance, more clinics and hospitals than ever have earned accreditation. One Montana facility reports filling dozens of vacancies thanks to new leadership. Another is leading tests for new uses of telemedicine. And off-reservation hospitals have improved relationships with Native American communities. But the recurring theme presented at Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hearings this year has been that the good people on the ground are hampered by too little funding and too many rules. In their testimony, tribal and IHS leaders say federal regulations make it harder to hire qualified people away from private hospitals or to fire workers who are underperforming. It also can be tough to keep doctors on staff when their recommended treatment plans are denied for budget reasons and they must limit their daily appointments because they need to do referral and billing paperwork typically handled by support staff at private hospitals. The Indian Health Service should be held in the same light as the VA scandal, said Northern Cheyenne Tribal Health Director Jace Killsback. Health care is owed to us. We gave up our land and shed blood. It is unclear to what extent some of the challenges highlighted in Congressional testimony affect IHS facilities in Montana. Agency public affairs officials in D.C. denied repeated Lee Newspapers requests to tour other clinics and speak to their leaders. Several current and former agency employees interviewed asked not to be named for fear of reprisal or of damaging professional relationships critical to making improvements. In general, their stories paralleled the experience shared by Noisy Hawk and in records of Congressional testimony. Some records requests to IHS were delayed, but the same information was later provided by congressional staff. One document shared with Lee Newspapers highlights how underfunding one portion of IHS needs can create ripple effects. A summary of equipment needs at IHS-managed clinics in Montana shared with Sen. Jon Testers office reports that the 4,115 pieces of biomedical equipment in use across Montana and Wyoming facilities have an average age of 10 years. The useful life for such equipment is typically 5 to 7 years, according to the document. Not replacing equipment in a timely fashion can cause clinics to lose accreditation, close down specialty units, or revert to dated care strategies that do not require the tools. For instance, the document lists the Crow Unit of IHS as needing 188 new pieces of equipment so it can offer labor and delivery services again, restart radiology at one clinic with an obsolete x-ray, and replace dozens of aging IV pumps. The cost is estimated to be nearly $2.7 million, but the current fiscal year appropriation from Congress, along with local savings, adds up to just $184,000. Across all facilities, equipment funding falls 79 percent short of the reported need, according to the document. The proposed Indian Health Service Accountability Act would loosen hiring and firing rules at IHS, including more flexibility over pay and benefits. The bill introduced by Indian Affairs Chairman Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyoming, has yet to be endorsed by Montanas senator on the committee. Vice Chairman Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, says he needs more input from tribal leaders about whether its the solution they need and that reforms must be comprehensive. Sen. Steve Daines, R, calls it a step in the right direction but, like Tester, points to other issues that also need to be fixed at the agency. Tester has supported IHS budget increases in recent years, including a proposed $122 million increase to clinics and hospitals in next years budget. His staff notes, however, that the increases were largely negated in 2013 by $220 million in forced sequestration cuts when Congress could not agree on a budget deal. In 2015, he introduced a bill to exempt IHS and other service agencies from sequestration cuts, but it has yet to be taken up for a vote. First of all, there are trust responsibilities and treaty obligations that we need to uphold. Right now, although there are some really good people in IHS, they certainly arent able to live up to their responsibility, Tester said. There are a number of things we need to deal with, but No. 1: I dont think you can expect great outcomes when youre spending about half of what you normally spend on health care, half as much on Indian health as we do on other health systems we fund. Daines disagrees that most of the agencys problems boil down to funding. Throwing more good money at a bad system is not going to be a solution, he said. Thats why weve got to reform the system. He chalks up most of the challenges to a too-big bureaucracy that keeps money from reaching facilities and that limits how it can be spent once its there. He championed Barrassos bill as an example of how stepping out of the way could help clinics fill thousands of open positions and keep those workers long term. He also said that a portion of the Affordable Care Act, which mandates coverage for tribal employees, is crippling budgets. In addition to broader concerns about the viability of the new health care market as a whole, he said tribes should be exempt from the insurance mandate. Noisy Hawk will take any help she can get from Congress the ability to offer more competitive salaries, more funding for equipment, etc. but until then, she has to find solutions with what she has. Improved support staff training, increased third-party revenues, and an updated appointment scheduling structure among other procedural shifts have helped Crow-Northern Cheyenne Hospital go from 35 percent staffed two years ago to more than 50 percent staffed today. By hiring midwives, the hospital might be able to offer some birthing services while it waits on funding for the equipment and nurses needed to reopen a complete OB/GYN unit. Weve made a lot of improvements and are offering more services, Noisy Hawk said. We can do so much more, but its frustrating. I cant do anything about my nurse shortage without more pay flexibilityWere running into space issues. I cant really hire if I dont have a place to put them. Shes surrounded by reminders of why she keeps doing the work anyway. Noisy Hawk touched one of her beaded earrings and explained they were a gift from a woman she helped get the appointments she needed. Then she reached into one of the boxes on her office floor and pulled out a large quilt. He told me, Nobody had helped me get off of pain pills. Thats all I wanted to do, she recalled. He wanted the issues to be resolved. This was his gift. I need to get it up. I just havent had the time. TWIN FALLS Hollywood stuntman Eddie Braun is dead serious. In 11 days, Braun will pay homage to his life-long hero, Evel Knievel, when he straps himself into a projectile and his team of rocket scientists shoots him 1,600 feet across the Snake River Canyon. The rocket? Evel Spirit: a replica of Knievel's steam-powered X-2 Skycycle that famously failed a similar jump 42 years ago. Knievel's Skycycle was not the only thing launched that day in September 1974; then-12-year-old Eddie Braun's future as a stuntman also started to take shape. Braun met Knievel at a time when the daredevil who survived motorcycle crash after crash while attempting seemingly impossible jumps commanded a worldwide audience. "Knievel was the ultimate showman a superhero, cape and all," the 54-year-old Braun said Thursday. "He inspired a generation. I wanted to be him." But there's a difference between being a daredevil and being a professional stuntman, Braun continued. Daredevils defy death while leaning heavily on luck; stuntmen use all the science available to reduce risk, and details are meticulously combed. "I'm a technician," he said. "Scott and I have gone over every detail a thousand times." Scott is Scott Truax, Braun's partner in this adventure and son of Skycycle designer Robert Truax. Knievel's failed jump in '74 was blamed on the premature deployment of the Skycycle's parachute, which could be seen dragging behind the rocket as it climbed the ramp. The rocket engine blew the parachute cover off its housing and released the chute, which slowed the Skycycle and dragged it into the canyon. Truax is determined to vindicate his father's design by proving Knievel's attempt at the canyon would have succeeded had the parachute opened properly. He started the project before his father's death in 2010. "I wish he could have seen it to the finish," he said. The jump is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 17. If conditions aren't right, the jump will be postponed for a day at a time until conditions are right, Truax said. Stunt-vehicle engineer Craig Adams can pull the plug on the jump any time he senses a serious risk. One way or another, the jump will be over in seconds. "Three point nine seconds that's how long the (steam-powered) rocket will fire," said Braun, who has made a living as a professional stuntman for more than 30 years. In those few seconds, the rocket, with Braun in it, will go from zero to 430 mph. "Eddie will experience 6 Gs, and he'll weigh over 1,000 pounds," Truax said. At the apogee, Braun will pull red, white and blue handles in that order to release the chutes to slow the Evel Spirit's fall. The canyon at Braun's jump site, east of the Hansen Bridge, is narrower than the canyon at Evel Knievel's original jump site, east of the Perrine Bridge. But Braun plans to jump 1,600 feet the same distance attempted by Knievel. The ramp points southwest so the rocket's path will angle across the canyon to achieve the full distance. "It'll be a better view for spectators," Truax said. Fewer than 500 handpicked spectators will be able to watch the jump from the site, but the team landed a contract with a major network for covering the private event, which is scheduled to air nationally on Sept. 19. Organizers have not announced details about the TV broadcast. A Kickstarter campaign with 604 backers and $52,202 was canceled when the network contract was signed, Truax said. The Evel Spirit will launch from Kelly Klostermans property in Jerome County. It'll land on Chuck Coiner's farm ground in Twin Falls County. No one will be allowed to enter the landing zone except emergency personnel, who will be on site. The team does not anticipate any traffic or trespassing issues, Truax said. Nevertheless, Idaho State Police plan to add extra patrols on the day of the jump, said ISP Lt. Robert Rausch. "I'm not doing this to make money," said Braun, who has put $1.5 million of his life savings into the project. "It's not about making money; it's about doing something for the pure coolness." He wants his four children, aged 12 to 19, to see their father achieve his goal with integrity something that Knievel failed to do. Painful memories still reside in the valley where Knievel tread four decades ago. But Twin Falls Mayor Shawn Barigar said he's excited about Braun's jump. "Any time there's an event like this that gets a lot of attention in a positive way is good for our community," Barigar said. "It gives us a good chance to showcase the other good things that happen here." Right now, Braun is taking the stunt one step at a time, "like an action sequence. The emotion will hit me later." He knows just how monumental the jump is. "Very few things are determined in 3.9 seconds," Braun said. These 3.9 seconds "will determine the rest of my life." In August, more than 120 animals were rescued from a suspected puppy mill in Libby. Earlier in the month, nearly a dozen dogs were seized from a commercial breeder in Lake County. And less than two years ago, 31 Labradors, including 15 puppies, were removed from an alleged puppy mill in Plains. The owner, who sold puppies for $500 each, would allegedly dump those that didnt sell somewhere in the woods nearby. Unfortunately, thats only a sample of recent cases in western Montana in which domestic animals were found living in deplorable conditions; sometimes dehydrated, starved and suffering from serious health conditions. Montana can expect to continue seeing large numbers of woefully neglected cats, dogs and other pets so long as it refuses to pass legislation to stop commercial pet breeders from making a buck off the backs of mistreated animals. And county taxpayers can expect to continue picking up the tab for food, shelter and veterinary care whenever these animals are seized from their unscrupulous owners. Montana law does allow for a person convicted of cruelty to animals to be fined up to $1,000 or imprisoned for up to one year, or both. However, that doesnt begin to cover the costs associated with caring for dozens of animals with severe health and behavior problems. Far better to prevent such suffering and protect consumers with clearly defined laws that spell out the minimum expected standards of care, and create a framework for enforcing those standards. Yet a bill to do just that was tabled in committee during the most recent legislature. House Bill 608 proposed to establish a board, which would include breeders, to ensure that dogs and cats that are bred, sold, exchanged, or adopted in Montana are healthy and to ensure that an animal does not enter commerce with diseases or injuries that cause suffering to the animal and are unfairly and unexpectedly financially and emotionally expensive to purchasers and adopters. The bills failure to advance through the legislature leaves Montana among the 16 states that lack any regulations for commercial animal breeders. Theres no telling how many such operations are active in Montana, because the state does not track them. Organizations like the American Kennel Club, which keeps a registry of breeders, provide information and programs that encourage reputable breeders to follow best practices and protect the health and well-being of all dogs, among other core values. The AKC maintains that the vast majority of breeders take excellent care of their animals. Unfortunately, Montana has ample evidence to conclude that additional measures are warranted. Too many breeding outfits dont concern themselves with meeting any standards. Instead, they keep large numbers of animals in substandard conditions, with little to no human contact, churning out litters as quickly as possible in order to make as much money as possible without regard for the well-being of the creatures in their care, or for the people buying them. Such operations can produce litters of animals with significant health problems that may go undetected for years. If enough people complain, and if the animals are treated badly enough, county law enforcement may be able to bring animal cruelty charges and seize any suffering animals, who are then cared for by county animal shelters at county taxpayers expense, although nonprofits may provide additional support. Lincoln County Animal Control, for instance, in August suddenly found itself responsible for caring six donkeys, 53 poodles, 60 parakeets and three canaries that had been seized from their owner, who sells animals online. The county sheriff reported that the puppies and adult dogs were in the worst shape, severely underweight and with eye, ear and dental infections. The Humane Society of the United States stepped in to offer financial assistance to help care for the animals, and PetSmart Charities donated money, food and other supplies as well. Now, the Lincoln County Attorneys Office will decide whether to file criminal charges. Meanwhile, felony aggravated cruelty charges have been brought against a couple who operate a commercial kennel in Lake County that sells Chihuahua, Maltese, Yorkshire Terrier, Havanese and Shih Tzus. Following the latest in what sounds like a lengthy list of complaints, 11 dogs were seized; seven were eventually returned to the kennel while four are still receiving veterinary care. Apparently, under state law, the dogs who were returned arent considered ill enough to be kept away. Some of the animals were reportedly found with feces matted into their fur, skin diseases and rotten teeth. The Lake County Attorneys Office is reviewing the case to determine if additional charges should be filed. Montana must put a stop to such cruelty. People who wish to make money from breeding large numbers of pets ought to be licensed and subject to regular inspections. And if they violate these rules by neglecting or mistreating their animals, they should not be allowed to breed and sell animals anymore. -- The Missoulian I so appreciated the editorial regarding puppy mills (in Sept. 6 Montana Standard). I was one of the participants of the recent protest in Polson. We are not crazies, nor are we secret agents for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). We are concerned citizens who are horrified at the conditions in puppy mills. If this readership has the stomach to look at pictures of puppy mill "residents," then I would encourage them to look at the never-ending horrors. We are one of the few remaining states that don't have some sort of puppy mill laws. Why do we remain in this state of inertia? At least a law against puppy mills would give law enforcement some leverage in prosecuting these greedy, soul-less "millers." Thank you again. -- Bonney Eken, Missoula Civil #: 16-001603 Special Execution University Of Iowa Community Credit Union VS. Franklin E. Selden; Spouse Of Franklin E. Selden, If Any; Melinda R. Selden; Spouse Of Melinda R. Selden, If Any; Empire Funding Corp.; And Any And All Unknown Parties In Possession Of The Real Property Located At 219 E. 1st St. Wilton, Iowa As a result of the judgment rendered in the above referenced court case, an execution was issued by the court to the Sheriff of this county. The execution ordered the sale of defendant(s) Real Estate Described Below. To satisfy the judgment. The property to be sold is Lots 9 and 10, in Block 19, of the City of Wilton, in Muscatine County, IOwa, ecept the West 36 feet of said Lot 9. Property Address: 219 E. 1st St., Wilton, Iowa 52778 The described property will be offered for sale at public auction for cash only as follows: Sale Date: 10/04/2016 Sale Time: 9:30 am Place of Sale: Muscatine County Jail Lobby, 400 Walnut Street, Muscatine This sale not subject to redemption. Property exemption: Certain money or property may be exempt. Contact your attorney promptly to review specific provisions of the law and file appropriate notice, if applicable. Judgment Amount: $94,907.94 Costs: $7,590.24 Accruing Costs: Plus Interest: $1,508.13 Sheriffs Fees: Pending Date: 08/24/2016 Attorney: Rachel A.D. Marquardt 2346 Morman Trek Blvd. Ste. 2700 Iowa City, IA 52244 (319)351-1056 C.J. Ryan Muscatine County Sheriff Melissa Hurlbut Civil Deputy FAIRPORT, Iowa - The Fairport Reunion, welcoming any resident past or present, is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 24, at Izaak Walton League located just off Iowa Highway 22 in Fairport. Doors open at noon with the potluck starting at 1:00 pm. Activities for the day will include: euchre tournament, bingo, door prizes, 50/50 drawing, and more. The cost is $5 per person and guests are asked to bring two covered dishes to share. Table service and drinks (coffee, tea, and bottled water) will be provided. Back again this year to the reunion is a cash prize drawing for those who bring an adult that has not attended before. MUSCATINE, Iowa Iowa State Patrol has issued a warrant for a Davenport man in connection with a fatal accident that occurred near Blue Grass last week. Sebon Reese, 18, is wanted for homicide by vehicle-reckless driving and eluding. Bond has been set at $100,000 cash only. Authorities are asking anyone who sees Reese to call 911, and not approach him. He is a black male, 5 feet nine inches tall and 142 pounds. According to the accident report from Iowa State Patrol, Reese was traveling northbound on Highway 61 at a high rate of speed when he allegedly lost control and entered a construction zone on Sept. 1. He then allegedly struck Willie Holley, 62, a Valley Construction employee, before coming to rest off the road near Highway 61 and Coonhunters Road. Holley was pronounced dead at Genesis Medical Center East Rusholm Street, Davenport. Reese is also wanted out of Scott County for probation violation, total bond $20,000. Emily Wenger of the Muscatine Journal MUSCATINE, Iowa The Muscatine County Board of Supervisors approved the rezoning of a property following a special meeting on Tuesday. The board approved an ordinance rezoning approximately 21.9 acres of property in Sweetland Township along Geneva Hills Road from A-1 Agricultural District to R-1 Residential which will allow Gary and Agnes Johnson to build a single family dwelling on the property. The board held the meeting on Tuesday to waive the third reading and allow construction on the property begin. At last Monday's meeting (Aug. 29), Gary Johnson asked if the second and third readings could be waived to allow building to begin following some delays related to confusion on the tax classification. The guys that are going to build the house wanted to get started. Wed like to see these builders feed their families because theyre currently unemployed, Gary Johnson said. The board stated that waiving the second and third readings was not on the agenda last Monday, but they decided to hold a meeting Tuesday to allow work to continue on the property as quickly as possible. Were not trying to create a hardship for anyone, especially the workers, said Supervisor Robert Howard at last Monday's meeting. In other business, the board accepted a proposal for a phone system for Community Services and the Muscatine Department of Human Services from Lucas Communication Inc. According to Nancy Schreiber, the director of administrative services for Muscatine County, the bid did not appear to be the lowest, but the total lifetime cost over seven years made Lucas Communication Inc. the best option. I have been the Managing Editor at the Muscatine Journal for three weeks and I have enjoyed every minute of my time in this city. Needless to say, I am new to Muscatine but I am not new to this job. I come from a newspaper family, one that owned a daily newspaper on the eastern side of Illinois through four generations and 80 years of family ownership. My great-grandfather was actually a school teacher in Ottumwa, Iowa, before he jumped into the newspaper business. I cannot remember a day growing up that I did not go to the newspaper office and learn something. I returned home after college and worked at the newspaper doing every job imaginable. The family sold the newspaper 10 years ago and I have been looking for a way to return to my community journalism roots ever since. Two of the hardest items about taking a new job, as many of you may know, is getting to know the area and moving a household from one location to another. While I have been immersing myself in learning about the people, businesses (mostly restaurants at this point), and the Muscatine area, the rest of my family awaits the move to a new home that we have yet to secure. It has been 37 years since my wife and I bought a house and there have been many changes to that process. What I remember about buying our first house is walking into the Realtors office, meeting the owner, making an offer, exchanging handshakes, and receiving the keys. And that was just in one meeting. It may not have really been that simple but it sure seems so, especially with all the paperwork that is associated with buying property today. We knew that it would be difficult to find a place to rent (we have a large family with four dogs and a cat) but we still tried while concentrating on finding our new home at a monthly payment that we would be comfortable paying for the next zillion years. Yes, we do have four dogs but three of them used to belong to our daughter who could not take them with her when a new job came her way. What could we do? They are family and they needed a place to live so into our happy home they came. Of course they are our fuzzy grandpuppys and they do love being spoiled by grandma and grandpa. The cat? Well she was a gift that appeared to us one very cold night in December and we just could not leave her to the snow and the wind. She is pretty independent but we still claim her as a member of the family just like Garfield and John in the cartoon series but without the lasagna. Despite not being able to secure a rental, we are, hopefully, just weeks away from that wondrous day when I can carry my bride over the threshold of our new home in Muscatine. While we are excited, the long distance between us during the week and the short time we have together during the weekends (while helping, as best I can, to pack our belongings) has dulled that enthusiasm. Still, most of us are looking forward to this new adventure. I am excited to be back in the newspaper business (a story for another time) and my wife and I are excited to become a part of a fascinating and historic community. I say most only because I am not a dog whisperer and only know that wherever my wife and I are, our grandfuzzies are happy too. Unless that is a trip to the vet then it is another story. We look forward to joining with the community in future celebrations, trying out the many different restaurants, participating in a variety of activities, and getting to know the people of Muscatine. The fact that we are two hours closer to our daughter and the same distance from our son doesnt hurt either. We are looking forward to calling Muscatine our home. Now, if only that appraisal comes back where we need it to be. Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes [] Effective Measure has released its website traffic statistics for August 2016, revealing that News24 is the largest website in South African with 7.8 million unique local browsers. Effective Measure is the official traffic measurement partner of the IAB South Africa and provides accurate traffic and demographics statistics for SAs top websites. Gumtree was ranked second with 4.5 million local browsers, followed by TimesLive with 4 million. The table below shows the top websites in South Africa, based on South African unique browsers. Only IAB-affiliated websites running Effective Measures tracking code are included in the table. A comprehensive look at South Africas websites and their visitor numbers is available here: South African Internet Map. Biggest South African Websites Rank Website Unique SA Browsers Page Views 1 news24.com 7 885 504 105 123 827 2 gumtree.co.za 4 518 644 149 670 031 3 timeslive.co.za 4 028 876 24 721 659 4 iol.co.za 3 235 856 30 666 996 5 msn.com 2 664 332 70 054 706 6 enca.com 2 246 098 10 176 994 7 sport24.co.za 2 189 868 15 491 350 8 ewn.co.za 2 180 586 11 364 977 9 mybroadband.co.za 1 829 493 7 356 877 10 sowetanlive.co.za 1 730 795 17 064 948 11 fin24.com 1 699 168 7 312 383 12 BBC Sites 1 675 944 11 740 524 13 autotrader.co.za 1 620 361 71 693 528 14 dstv.com 1 511 001 11 124 996 15 bdlive.co.za 1 482 637 5 593 589 Top online publishers in South Africa Effective Measure also tracks statistics for online publishers, showing the total reach of a publishers websites. The table below shows the top online publishers in South Africa, ranked according to local readership. Biggest South African Publishers Rank Publisher Unique SA Browsers Page Views 1 24.com 16 587 416 421 129 799 2 Times Media LIVE 6 597 206 55 715 879 3 Kagiso Media Limited 4 609 892 100 552 032 4 Caxton Digital 4 555 498 25 857 774 5 Gumtree 4 518 644 149 670 031 6 Independent Online 3 376 933 32 025 088 7 DStv Digital Media 2 917 412 35 365 054 8 365 Digital Media 2 866 980 18 259 166 9 MyBroadband 2 728 714 10 508 031 10 Sabido 2 517 066 14 436 301 11 Auto Trader 1 695 154 82 104 862 12 BBC Sites 1 675 960 11 740 558 13 Soccer-Laduma 1 454 762 55 224 762 14 PNet 1 309 996 24 435 607 15 Cars.co.za 1 278 874 41 179 771 More on websites I tried to illegally download music from the websites I used on dial-up Internet SA Post Office website security certificate problems University of WisconsinMadison materials engineers have created carbon nanotube transistors that outperform state-of-the-art silicon transistors. The nanotube transistors achieved current thats 1.9 times higher than silicon transistors. This achievement has been a dream of nanotechnology for the last 20 years, said team leader Michael Arnold. This breakthrough in carbon nanotube transistor performance is a critical advance toward exploiting carbon nanotubes in logic, high-speed communications, and other semiconductor electronics technologies. This could pave the way for carbon nanotube transistors to replace silicon transistors and deliver performance gains for the computer industry. The transistors are particularly promising for wireless communications technology which require a lot of current flowing across a small area. More on science South African scientist and engineer pioneer tech in TB research FNB ConeXis X1 review a cheap phone with amazing battery life LGs new 80-inch battery-powered projector Advertise Here Be seen advertise here. Contact us. TAMPA, Fla. Hillary Clinton accused Donald Trump of insulting Americas veterans and pressing dangerous military plans around the globe on Tuesday, seeking to undercut his appeal to service families in Southern voting battlegrounds. Trump declared our country is going to hell because of policies she would make even worse. Clinton, addressing supporters in Florida, warned that Trump would lead the nation back to war in the Middle East. And to military vets and their families, she pointed anew to his summertime dust-up with the Muslim parents of a slain American soldier. His whole campaign has been one long insult to all those who have worn the uniform, the Democratic nominee said at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Republican Trump, trying emphasize his military support, released a letter from 88 retired generals and admirals citing an urgent need for a course correction in Americas national security policy. It was aimed at rebutting Clintons arguments that she would be best positioned to lead the military and reassuring Republicans who have openly worried that his provocative statements might undermine U.S. alliances. We believe that such a change can only be made by someone who has not been deeply involved with, and substantially responsible for, the hollowing out of our military and the burgeoning threats facing our country around the world, the military leaders wrote. For this reason, we support Donald Trumps candidacy to be our next commander in chief. Clinton pushed back, saying Trump has lagged in securing key military supporters compared to past Republican nominees including John McCain and Mitt Romney. She pointed to her endorsements from retired Marine Gen. John Allen, who blasted Trump at the Democratic National Committee, and former CIA deputy director Mike Morell. They know they can count on me to be the kind of commander in chief who will protect our country and our troops, and they know they cannot count on Donald Trump, Clinton said en route to Florida. They view him as a danger and a risk. The conflicting messages came as the candidates prepared to appear at an MSNBC forum Wednesday night on national security. While they will appear separately and not be on stage at the same time, it could serve as a warm-up to their highly-anticipated first presidential debate on Sep. 26 in New York. Campaigning in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Trump vowed to take aggressive action to help veterans at home and confront threats abroad including acts of terrorism from the Islamic State group. He was questioned by retired Gen. Michael Flynn, the former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency who is a strong supporter. We are going to solve the ISIS problem, Trump said. But we have to get back to building our country, because our country is going to hell. Trump promised to fix problems at the Veterans Administration, which has grappled with patient care mismanagement during the Obama administration. Until those problems are resolved, he said he would allow veterans to seek treatment at private doctors or hospitals free of charge. Your government is going to pay your bill, he pledged. Clintons message was amplified by her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, who was telling a North Carolina audience that Trump has misled voters on his views on the Iraq war and intervention in Libya. Excerpts of Kaines speech, which was billed by Clintons campaign as a major national security address, painted Trump as dishonest, clueless and dangerous when it comes to national security. Kaine was saying Trump tells voters he was opposed to the Iraq War even though he expressed support for it leading up to the U.S. invasion. Meanwhile, Clintons campaign released a new television ad entitled, Sacrifice, that shows military veterans watching some of the New York businessmans more provocative statements. The spot includes clips of Trump claiming to know more about the Islamic State group than military generals, and his criticism of McCain, the Republican senator from Arizona and a former prisoner of war. The ad, which features former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland, a triple-amputee who served in Vietnam, also keys on Trumps assertion that he has sacrificed a lot compared to families who have lost loved ones in conflict. Our veterans deserve better, reads a line at the end of the ad, which is airing in Ohio, Florida, Iowa, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Republicans, too, have questioned Trumps capacity to serve as commander in chief. Dozens of GOP national security leaders released a letter last month warning that he would risk the nations national security and well-being. Separately, Trump continued to face questions about his immigration policy a day after refusing to rule out a pathway to legal status for immigrants in the country illegally. He focused on his proposed border wall plan in a Tuesday interview with ABCs Good Morning America. Last week in Phoenix, he told a raucous crowd of supporters that there was one way only for immigrants here illegally to become legal to return home and get in line for official readmittance. Before the train pulls its restyled Pullman railcar out of the station, the flamboyant winemaker, who is wearing uncharacteristically subdued colors, calls for someone to bring some sparkling wine to make sure that his guests are hydrated. Moments later someone is handing everyone a glass of JCB No. 69 Brut Rose Cremant de Bourgogne, a sparkling wine from Jean-Charles Boissets JCB Collection. Finally, yes, bubbles, he said. In the meantime he is gathering up the 30 or so attendees of the inaugural Napa Valley Wine Trains Private Reserve excursion, and making introductions as if he has known everyone for years though he is just meeting them himself. On board the newly refurbished rail car there is new LED lighting, TVs, surround sound, new seats more sparkling wine is poured, JCB No. 13 Sparkling Wine, France 2009, and paired with a local cheese and charcuterie display that will be followed with a four-course meal prepared by Executive Chef Donald Young. Boisset stands in the center of the rail car and tells everyone about the JCB No. 69 all his sparkling wines have a number, and this one is named for the year of his birth, 1969 and the JCB No. 13. Before the first course is served, Boisset entertains the group with the story of how he asked his wife, Gino Gallo, to marry him waiting for her in a bathtub dressed in a tuxedo. She was fully dressed and just got in, he said. But anyone who is familiar with Boisset knows he wouldnt be sitting in an ordinary bubble bath. No, his was filled with a combination of two cases of his sparkling wine, hot water, and frothy soap. Pacific smoked salmon carpaccio with local heirloom tomato and fennel with cracked mustard glaze was paired with JCB No. 76 Chardonnay Napa Valley 2014, of which Boisset tells the group there were only four barrels made. Tonight I wanted my favorite wines, he said. As the second course comes out the Frenchman explains how he was born in the region where pinot noir started and talks about the JCB No. 22 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast 2013 that is served with grilled duck sausage, apple spiked parsnip puree, and pepper spiced blackberry reduction. The entree, porcini dusted filet of beef with grilled Portobello farro, blistered asparagus and roasted tomato butter is paired with two wines the Raymond Generations Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2013 and LVE Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2014 from one of Boissets other wineries, Raymond Vineyards. Between courses Boisset gets everyones hands up in the air twisting them at the wrist and singing La, la, la over and over followed by a series of claps, a manner of celebration he said the French do. Dessert was a Granny Smith apple tart with roasted hazelnut, salted caramel, vanilla bean gelato served with a JCB Neige Apple Ice Wine from Montreal, Canada. The Private Reserve train is a new monthly event that features gourmet four-course dinners paired with wines from featured local wineries where the winemaker will accompany the guests on the ride giving guests access to the winemakers to discuss in depth the wines they are tasting. The winemaker and the chef work together to present a menu that pairs food inspired by the featured wines. Hall Wines will host the next Private Reserve that runs on Saturday, Oct. 1, and will have vintner Kathryn Walt Hall in attendance. More information will be provided about additional participating wineries in the coming months. Check-in for the Private Reserve train begins at 5:30 p.m. with a departure of 6 p.m. and arrival back to the train station at 10 p.m. Tickets for the Private Reserve train start at $299 per person. The Private Reserve train is also available for groups and private events. For reservations and more information, call (800) 427-4124 or visit winetrain.com/quattro-vino. The railroad line was originally built and operated by Calistoga founder Samuel Brannan in 1864 as a tourist railroad to take visiting San Franciscans as they arrived by ferry in south Napa to Calistoga. In the 1980s, it was purchased by Vince DeDomenico, the man behind the Rice-a-Roni brand of products, the San Francisco treat made famous by television ads featuring San Francisco cable cars and a memorable jingle. Napa Valley Register reporter Jennifer Huffman contributed to this report. An 856-acre forest near Angwin with redwoods seldom found so far inland could soon be permanently preserved from chainsaws and development. Two partners in the endeavor are asking community members to help out with the last fundraising push. Another $2.7 million is needed to finish establishing an $8 million conservation easement and $1 million endowment to manage the forest. Pacific Union College owns the land. It wants to sell the development rights by establishing the conservation easement, a common land preservation tool. It would still own the land, but neither it nor any future owner could cut down the forest. I think we see our land as a sacred treasure, said Walter Collins, vice president for advancement at PUC. The Seventh-day Adventist college is working with the Land Trust of Napa County on the effort. Cal Fire would hold the conservation easement. State and federal grants have raised $6.3 million and the Land Trust is continuing to seek grants. But community money is needed for the endowment and also to show community support to potential grantors, Land Trust CEO Doug Parker said. Were interested in building a corridor of contiguous, protected land across the ridge on the east side of Napa Valley, Parker said. The PUC project fits right in its a key corridor going along that ridge. Parker noted that the PUC forest is adjacent to 800-acre Las Posadas State Forest. Together, the properties would create more than 1,600 acres of contiguous protected forest, which equals 2.5 square miles, or roughly the size of Calistoga. He also sees the project as helping to protect the watershed that feeds Moore Creek, which in turn feeds Lake Hennessey reservoir, the main water source for the city of Napa. PUC allows the general public in the forest, Collins said. The community uses the land for hiking, mountain biking, field biology and other endeavors, he said. The college mentions the forest as a selling point on its website in a section that says why prospective students should choose to attend PUC. Acres of college-owned forest adjacent to the student residences provide accessible options for getting out in the woods, relaxing and hiking, the website said. Even that doesnt guarantee PUC would keep the forest forever. Collins said theres a need to protect the land in case a future administration has a different view toward conservation. We know the pressures for development and vineyard conversion are only growing, given the value of land and value of vineyard land, particularly in the prestigious Howell Mountain AVA, he said. Collins said working with Cal Fire will help PUC with both forest management and fire management. Management includes such tasks as restoring trails, establishing a fire break and thinning underbrush and other fuels. PUC will use money from the conservation easement to build its endowment for tuition and scholarships, he said. The college also owns 578.8 acres of agricultural land in the Howell Mountain wine appellation that it is trying to sell. The asking price is $51.5 million, according to a marketing brochure. When college officials earlier this year talked about that possible sale, they stressed the school was committed to protecting the nearby, 856-acre forest. A $2.8 million grant from Californias Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund recently boosted the grant total for the PUC forest conservation easement to $6.3 million. The state program protects forests so they can continue to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Parker is ready to submit an application for a federal grant. But, even as the grant total inches toward the $8 million conservation easement price, he sees a need for community help in landing future grants. One of the things these sources ask for is private funding, he said. People can go to https://community.napalandtrust.org/donations/Protect-PUC-Forest to donate to the conservation easement effort. The Manaleo Hawaiian Cultural Foundation will host its annual aloha festival on Sept. 17-18 at the Napa Valley Expo. The two-day event allows the foundation to offer a more enriching wealth of Hawaiian art and cultural experiences for visitors, including food, cultural exhibits, 18 musical and performance groups and a series of workshops. There will be more than 40 Hawaiian- and Pacific Island-themed booths. The festival will feature a series of free workshops on both days ranging from hula to ukulele for both keiki (kids) and adults. Workshops begin at 10:15 a.m. on Saturday and 10: 30 a.m. on Sunday. The Napa Valley Food Bank is setting up nonperishable food donation bins at the festival entrances to help the food bank and persons displaced by Lake County fire. The festival will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sept. 17, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sept. 18, at Napa Valley Expo, 575 Third St. Admission and parking are free. Proceeds from the festival will be used to promote and share Hawaiian culture with the public and providing educational scholarships to college students in need. For more information: http://www.nvalohafest.org. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy An extremely important topic right now is immigration reform, specifically creating an immigration system that is fair and accessible. The current systems in place make it very difficult to live in the U.S. legally. It is important to create a system that makes it possible to become a citizen here because, whether Americans like it or not, people want to live here, and many people will do whatever it takes to get to this country. With better systems in place, this country can have less people living here illegally, and an equal opportunity for immigrants and Americans alike. Immigrants are not treated fairly in this country. According to whitehouse.gov, Americas immigration system is broken. There are 11 million people living in the shadows. This is not good for the economy or the country. There are 11 million people living with fear in this country. 11 million. 11 million people who wake up everyday and pray that they wont get deported. In this country there are many children who have immigrant parents, who can get deported anytime. In 2013, President Obama created the path to citizenship, which was passed by the Senate. Obamas plan was to fix the broken immigration system; he wanted to streamline legal immigration and help people with illegal status gain citizenship. Unfortunately, according to newsweek.com, Shortly before the plan was to go into effect, a federal judge in Texas blocked it after the Republican-governed states filed a suit against the Democratic presidents executive action. Which then led to the plan never being implemented. Worldwide, there are approximately 191 million immigrants. There are many reasons that one may have the need to leave his home country. Many people are not safe in their country, many people want a better life for themselves and their children, many people need a job, and many people are in horrible living conditions in their home country. According to weforum.org, There are negative aspects people may think of immigration, Those negative aspects must be managed. But the management must come with the recognition that migration has always been one of the most important drivers of human progress and dynamism. Immigration is good. America is the Land of the free and home of the brave, why cant all people have an equal opportunity to better their life and move to this country? Many citizens of this country believe that immigrants are intruding their space and their life. Although both parties want immigration reform, many Republicans want illegal immigrants currently here to have no chance to citizenship, versus many Democrats that want a chance for illegal immigrants. According to migrationpolicy.org, Immigration to the U.S is often the subject of significant public debate with questions about the size of inflows, the role of immigrants in the work force, enforcement and humanitarian admission policies, and benefits and costs. People think that immigrants are just here to steal jobs, but they need to understand that immigrants are mostly coming to this country for a better life. My parents are immigrants from Italy, and they came to this country to create a better life for me and my brother. People are so focused on bashing immigrants that they dont realize the struggle that immigrants go through. Imagine packing your bags and moving to a new country, where you dont know anybody, you have no home, nothing. I am simply asking that you consider the fact that immigrants are human beings just like citizens of this country. As a child of immigrants, I know that many immigrants move here for a better life for themselves and their children. Immigrants deserve to be treated fairly. People move to this country because across the world it is seen as the land of opportunity; because they need a better life, because they are not safe. Immigrants are human beings. And they should be treated like human beings, and nothing less. Veronica Migotto Napa SUNNYVALE -- A 17-year-old boy suspected of threatening a group of Fremont High School students in Sunnyvale on Monday has been arrested, according to the city's Department of Public Safety. The suspect, whose identity wasn't released, is suspected of making criminal threats and a hate crime, public safety officials said. School parents and officials reached out to officers on Monday when they reported threats were sent to a certain group of students through social media indicating a possibly violent act against them would occur Tuesday, according to public safety officials. Detectives looked into the claims and arrested the 17-year-old student, who was booked into Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall, public safety officials said. The teenage boy is believed to be the sole suspect and there is no threat to students or staff, according to public safety officials. The department has increased security at the campus Tuesday morning and is working with the school to make sure students are safe, public safety officials said. Artist, author and widow of internationally renowned wine world icon Robert Mondavi, Margrit Biever Mondavi died at her hillside Coombsville home Friday. She was 91. Margrit Mondavi had been battling stomach cancer for more than two years. Considered the first lady of the Napa Valley by friends and associates from all walks of life, the Switzerland native had served for many years as vice president of cultural affairs at the winery her late husband founded in 1966. She joined the staff of the Robert Mondavi Winery in 1967, filling the role of public relations director until she married the boss. The first female tour guide in the Napa Valley, Margrit Biever Mondavi was respected, like her second husband, for helping put the Napa Valley on the world stage. While her husband insisted Napa Valley wines belong in the company of the worlds best, Margrit, in efforts based at the Robert Mondavi Winery, focused on wine country cuisine and culture. Through culinary programs featuring the worlds great chefs, with art exhibits and programs that spotlighted the nations leading contemporary artists and an enduring summer concert series, Margrit complemented Bob Mondavis remarkable wines with great food and art. Together, they helped spread the gospel of the cultured good life. They helped endow the Napa Valley Opera House, a new enology and viticulture school at UC Davis and a performing arts center there. Their biggest local project, Copia, the ambitious American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts ultimately failed. Her marriages While a student at a Swiss teachers college for young women at the end of World War II, Margrit Kellenberger met an Army captain from the United States. Following a brief courtship that included prolific letter writing, she and Capt. Philip Biever were married in the Church of Madonna del Sasso on a wooded hillside above the city of Locarno. The newlyweds settled in her husbands new duty station, North Dakota, and started a family that includes three children Philip Jr., Annie and Phoebe. Also with the publication of Margrit Mondavis Sketchbook in 2012 co-written with Janet Fletcher Margrit acknowledged that Robert G. Mondavi was the love of her life. Bob and I fell in love we were attracted to one another, Margrit wrote in the collection of memories from her personal diary. But I was not going to be his mistress. He was already famous, with a wife and three kids. My marriage was falling apart, and maybe Bob was part of the reason for it. He and I couldnt live together in Napa Valley without marrying no way. I was not a personality but I had a profile. It would be impossible. I could have let him go, but he didnt want me to let him go. He said, Ill take care of it, dont you worry. You had to be optimistic around Bob; he didnt have a negative bone in his body. Any obstacle was temporary as far as he was concerned. Margrits divorce was accomplished without issue, she said. Such wasnt the case with vintner Mondavi. His lawyers advised against it and his calls from San Francisco made Margrit ill at ease, and, at one point, physically ill. She wondered if shed have to start her life anew somewhere else, perhaps returning to Switzerland. Bob Mondavi wound up firing both of his lawyers and getting the divorce he wanted. Two months later, in May of 1980, Bob and Margrit were married in Palm Springs. They resided in their home on Wappo Hill until his death in 2008. The philanthropic work she and her late husband accomplished will resonate for years to come. One who knew her best is daughter Annie Biever Roberts, with whom Margrit published a cookbook more than a decade ago. Commenting in the sketchbook, Annie said her mother could have been an incredible actress. She loves to be in front of people. If you watch her at the concerts at the winery, when she comes on stage, her presence is wonderful. You want to look at her. Shes always wearing something flowing and has that accent, and people are attracted to her. She was meant for something grand, and it just took her a while to find it. The Mondavis $35 million gift million led to the creation of the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, which opened in 2002 and they also helped establish the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, both at UC Davis. Margrit Mondavi made a $2 million gift to the new university art museum scheduled to open in November and funded scholarships, he said. Rick Walker, CEO and president of Festival Napa Valley, which marked its 11th season in July with a tribute to Mrs. Mondavi, said, Margrits humanity, warmth and graciousness were matched by her force of will able to move mountains and achieve what others could not. She inspired me to dream big and to act on those dreams. She was the guiding light in creating Festival Napa Valley, nurturing it to become a celebration of all that she stood for joyful living, generosity, bringing people together through food, wine and culture. She brought out the very best in everyone lucky enough to know her. Sasha Paulsen, Register features editor, contributed to this story. Tuesday, Aug. 30 0412 -- Police found a large husky-type dog running loose near Main and Spring streets, but it eluded capture. 1003 -- A small white fluffy dog, attached to a leash, was found running loose on Madrona Avenue. 1458 -- Non-injury accident near Main Street and Hunt Avenue. 1529 -- A large semi lost a pipe, which hit and damaged a car traveling behind it on northbound Highway 29. The truck driver apparently didnt know the pipe had fallen, so he kept driving. The driver of the damaged car filed a report. 1530 -- A wallet was found in the bushes near Spring Street and Oak Avenue. 2126 -- Report of a possible drunk driver on Silverado Trail weaving, driving well under the speed limit, and almost hitting the Pope Street bridge. Police stopped the car and determined the driver was not drunk. 2307 -- A citizen filed a missing person report. Shed been unable to contact her sister since last night, when shed been in Vallejo. She believed her sisters boyfriend might have taken her sisters phone away. Wednesday, Aug. 31 0816 -- Medical aid on Tripoli Court for a sick woman with a fast heartbeat. 0943 -- A school administrator reported that two non-students had come onto the Grayson Avenue campus on Aug. 26 and put hands on two students. Police took a report. 1320 -- Report of a man masturbating under the railroad bridge between Pope Street and Charter Oak Avenue. Police checked the area. 1337 -- Someone reportedly violated a civil mediation/gag order. 1454 -- A citizen reported depositing a check that turned out to be fraudulent. 2100 -- Report of dogs barking on Kearney Street. 2109 -- A Signorelli Circle resident said a man was at her door asking if he could come inside. She told him to leave the property. Police found the 44-year-old Napa man at the corner of Main and Spring streets and arrested him on suspicion of a drug violation. Thursday, Sept. 1 0916 -- Report of two bulldogs running loose on Howell Mountain Road. Theyve chased a bicyclist twice in the last week, including within the last hour. 1602 -- Report of a semi hanging off the roadway on Howell Mountain Road, with the driver still inside the truck holding the brakes. It was in the same area as a similar occurrence on Aug. 25. 1650 -- A beaded coin purse was found near Adams Street and Oak Avenue. 1744 -- Report of a man sleeping on a bench at Meily Park the last few nights. 1910 -- Police received a third-hand report that a womans husband might have hit her. Police investigated and arrested a 30-year-old St. Helena man on suspicion of domestic battery. 1941 -- Medical aid on Harvest Lane. Friday, Sept. 2 0811 -- Non-injury accident at Main Street and Grayson Avenue. 0940 -- Police responded to the hospital to assist the sheriffs department with a combative patient. 1029 -- Report of a problem on Pratt Avenue with trees growing into the street and causing a traffic hazard for a neighbors driveway. 1123 -- Two signs were reported stolen from a driveway on Howell Mountain Road. One was for ADT and another warned of surveillance cameras on the property. 1146 -- Report of a car parked in a red zone at Main and Spring streets. 1232 -- Medical aid on Hunt Avenue. 1404 -- A caller asked for information about evicting a housemate. 1626 -- Police received a barking dog complaint on Adams Street. 2037 -- Report of a possible drunk driver swerving and almost causing an accident on Highway 29. It was last seen near Whitehall Lane. 2057 -- Report of an ongoing problem with a dog barking on Vineyard Avenue. 2148 -- Police caught several people riding bicycles in the skatepark. Saturday, Sept. 3 1024 -- A man reported accidentally locking his keys in his car on Spring Mountain Road, with his three dogs inside. 1035 -- Report of a man sitting in front of a Main Street store selling random items like crystals and gems, with a sign saying hed lost his home to the fire in Lake County. 1249 -- Report of a woman panhandling outside a Hunt Avenue business. The store staff had told to her leave about an hour ago, but she was back. 1437 -- Report of a man being rude to employees at a Main Street restaurant. The staff had asked him to leave. 1449 -- Report of a black limo blocking traffic in a Main Street parking lot. 1520 -- Report of a drunk man coming out of a store with a paper bag possibly containing alcohol. Police arrested the 46-year-old Watsonville man on suspicion of public intoxication. 1719 -- Someone was using power tools after 5 p.m. on Allyn Avenue. 1805 -- A man was seen touching himself inappropriately while people walked by at a Main Street business. Police checked the area. 2221 -- A caller reported she and her friends had left a party on Scott Street when someone arrived with alcohol. She believed the attendees were under 21. Police determined the report was unfounded. Sunday, Sept. 4 0810 -- A damaged car was abandoned in a Main Street parking lot. 1041 -- A girl was receiving harassing text messages. 1223 -- A caller said a black Audi had tried to run her over on Main Street. She said shed been trying to save a parking space on the street, and the car would have hit her if she hadnt moved. 1739 -- Report of a possible drunk driver turning off Silverado Trail toward St. Helena. 1742 -- An officer warned a juvenile not to skateboard in the Lyman park gazebo. 2030 -- Medical aid on Mariposa Lane. 2347 -- Report of a car weaving and traveling under the speed limit on Main Street. It was last seen turning onto Spring Street. Monday, Sept. 5 0102 -- An Adams Street resident reported seeing a prowler in his backyard on a security camera about eight minutes ago. Police checked the area extensively. 0238 -- Another Adams Street resident reported a prowler in their yard. Police took a report. 0356 -- Non-injury accident on Main Street. 1248 -- Report of three suspicious people in the reservoir on Spring Mountain Road. 1917 -- Medical aid on Sylvaner Avenue. 2125 -- Report of a man yelling in his yard or driveway on Charter Oak Avenue. Police responded and didnt hear anything. 2229 -- Report of a man yelling Im going to kill you, and a woman yelling as well, on Charter Oak Avenue. North Korea pouring serious resources into upgrading major naval base (NationalSecurity.news) A U.S.-based think tank says the hermit regime of North Korea is putting serious resources into remaking and upgrading a principle navy base. According to a report at the 38 North blog, which is maintained by the U.S.-Korea Institute, Pyongyang is making aggressive efforts to upgrade the Monchon Naval Base at Wonsan, the countrys primary naval facility. The base, which sits astride of the Sea of Japan, has become a major focus of North Korean military spending. Pyongyang hopes to improve conventional weapons, training facilities, special operations capabilities and new ship support infrastructure, The Daily Caller reported. The base has been neglected for years but beginning in 2014 Pyongyang began pouring more money into it, with new work continuing, according to satellite images. There are 16 operational units at Munchon. Among them is Unit 155, which has been working on developing a single NONGO-Class missile armed patrol boat, utilized during a Feb. 6, 2015, test of the K-35 anti-ship cruise missile. Facilities for the Korean Peoples Navy, or KPN, sniper brigade, Unit 291, are also being upgraded, according to reports. Eventually all five sniper battalions for the East Sea Fleet will be stationed at Munchon, along with between 68 and 84 Kongbang II/III-class hovercraft, The DC reported, citing the institute. The primary mission for the KPN is coastal defense, the institute noted. Its secondary missions include supporting special operations forces and Korean Peoples Army (KPA) wartime operations, it said. A satellite image published by the institute also shows a new railway bridge connecting portions of the base under construction. Additional satellite photos show various patrol and other naval craft berthed in port; another shows new housing and maintenance/repair facilities. Among the new construction, the institute said, were new, hardened facilities for hovercraft, housing and administration buildings, support and maintenance facilities, and the construction of approximately 2 km of dock and launching ramp frontage. The institute, in its analysis, said that during the construction process, the bases hovercraft have been relocated to other facilities, some of them underground. Besides smaller naval ships, North Korea is also estimated to have 70 submarines, though no modern vessels. Its unclear why the impoverished nation would spend scarce resources on upgrading a naval base, unless it would be in anticipation of upgrading naval forces in general. The DC noted that the improved base would give the North an increased ability to launch an amphibious assault on South Korea. I call on you to maintain a robust posture to retaliate, South Korean President Park Geun-hye told her senior military advisers last week, in response to recent North Korean military activities. Make sure that any attempt by the North at engaging in any form of provocation will lead to the self-destruction of the North Korean regime. The U.S. has 28,000 troops stationed in South Korea. Both nations are finishing up two weeks worth of annual training, a military exercise known as Ulchi Freedom Guardian. More: 2016 USA Features Media. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg held talks on regional security with Denis Zvizdic, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday (6 September 2016). Mr. Stoltenberg commended Bosnia and Herzegovina for its contributions to NATO-led operations and for its commitment to regional dialogue, cooperation, and security. The two leaders also exchanged views on the countrys domestic political situation and progress on defence reform efforts. The Secretary General reaffirmed NATOs commitment to a stable and secure Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Alliances full support for its membership aspirations. He emphasised that Allies recognise the progress Bosnia and Herzegovina has made on the registration of defence properties, a key requirement set by NATO for Bosnia and Herzegovina on its path towards membership. The NATO Secretary General Mr. Jens Stoltenberg will travel to Ankara on Thursday 8 and Friday 9 September 2016. During his visit the Secretary General will meet with the President, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Prime Minister, Mr. Binali Yldrm, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Mevlut avusoglu, the Minister of Defence, Mr. Fikri Isk and other high level officials. Media Advisory Friday, 9 September + 16:15 (local time) Joint press conference with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Ministry of Foreign Affairs Still and video imagery will be available on the NATO website after the event. Follow us on Twitter (@NATOPress and @jensstoltenberg) President discusses latest foreign political developments around Artsakh Azerbaijan officials considering opening embassy in Israel Armenia PM, EU Special Representative for South Caucasus discuss regional security and peace Nikol Pashinyan, Garo Paylan exchange views on Armenia-Turkey normalization process Quake hits Armenia-Turkey border zone Armenia ruling party adopting new vision regarding Karabakh conflict settlement Russia MOD: Ukraine carried out terrorist attack on Black Sea Fleet ships, civilian ships in Sevastopol Premier: CSTO should plan force operation, restore Armenias territorial integrity Armenia PM: All countries consider Karabakh to be part of Azerbaijan Armenias Pashinyan: CSTO does not exist Kremlin responds to question on extending mandate of Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh Armenia premier: We need to know, ultimately, what Russian peacekeepers are doing in Nagorno-Karabakh Armenia PM: Im ready to sign document, accept that Russian peacekeepers term in Karabakh be extended 10-20 years Armenias Pashinyan: We are ready to delegate border guard service operation to Russian border guards Finland, Sweden promise to join NATO together European Parliament calls on Armenia to consider diversifying its security partnerships Visiting Armenia MPs brief Canada lawmaker on recent Azerbaijan military aggression Armenia PM at ruling party congress: We declared repairing states foundation our primary task Karabakh President: Russia leaders statement inspires certain hopes Armenia ruling party congress kicks off Man breaks into US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home, demands to speak with her, beats husband with hammer EU-Armenia Joint Committee on Research and Innovation first meeting to be held in November Provincial governor of Armenias Gegharkunik: EU monitoring mission already started US accuses Russia of disinformation regarding Washington intentions towards Armenia, Azerbaijan Mexico fully legalizes gay marriage Newspaper: Azerbaijan not inclined to sign anything with Armenia in Russias Sochi Armenia ruling party convening closed convention Italian prime minister demands that she be addressed as prime minister in masculine form Pentagon to send Ukraine new aid package worth $275 million Europe will ban sale of one type of car European Commission head announces new aid and investments for Serbia Biden calls Putin's rhetoric on nuclear weapons 'dangerous' Lukashenko on Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict: What are you fighting for in these mountains, where not even goats walk? Swedish authorities offer to create united northern army Lukashenko: Conflict issue between Armenia and Azerbaijan must be resolved now - with Ilham Aliyev Lukashenko about situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border: Where are we racing horses, where are we rushing to? Pashinyan: Armenia-Diaspora relations undergo profound substantive changes Lukashenko to Pashinyan: Sit down with Aliyev and make a decision, if you don't make it today, it will be worse Bulgarian interim government urges to speed up transition to euro zone President of Karabakh: It is necessary to unite all national potential and efforts IMF: China's sharp and uncharacteristic economic slowdown will stall growth in Asia by the end of 2023 Iran: Riots in country were planned by the intelligence services of the USA, England, Israel and the KSA Steinmeier: Ukraine war caused 'epochal break' in Germany's relations with Russia Gas prices in Europe remain high in coming years Ararat Mirzoyan and Toivo Klaar stress importance of hosting EU civilian mission in Armenia Armenia's ambassador-at-large: Daily false propaganda can't cover up Azerbaijani war crimes Taiwan MFA outraged by Putin's speech on his status and Pelosi's visit Armenia gives no response to peace treaty proposals, Bayramov says Netanyahu expects return to power after 5th Israeli election in 4 years Armenian gravestone found in Trabzon, Turkey neighborhood Pashinyan: CSTO Secretary General's report mainly reflects existing realities Azerbaijan talks possible deliveries of its gas to international Turkish hub CSTO leaders to meet in late November: Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border will be discussed Dollar, euro continue falling in Armenia Pelosi's house attacked, her husband injured Russias Putin to have private talks with Armenias Pashinyan, Azerbaijans Aliyev Mher Grigoryan: CIS needs a new scientific and technical agreement Pentagon strategy doesn't rule out use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear threats French National Assembly plans to pass resolution proposing certain sanctions against Azerbaijan Mher Grigoryan: There are no other corridors in the trilateral statement other than Lachin's Konstantin Zatulin: Russia should have made maximum efforts so that there would be no war in Karabakh The Hill: The American people deserve to know how the war in Ukraine will end Sochi to host trilateral talks of Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders on October 31 Poland receives first Turkish drones Hungarian government may extend price limits on fuel and some basic foodstuffs Armenias Simonyan attends meeting of heads of EEU countries parliaments Polish general appointed as head of EU mission to train Ukrainian troops Russia MP: Karabakh status decision is in fact its Armenians safety guarantee Zatulin: West seeks to push Russia out of negotiation process at any cost Legislature head proposes to organize, under CIS auspices, return of Armenians detained in Azerbaijan Iran prevents bomb explosion in Shiraz crowded street Iraqi parliament expresses vote of confidence in new cabinet France lawmakers visit Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan Putin: Moscow is doing everything possible to normalize relations between Yerevan and Baku Annual shopping festival kicks off in Dubai on December 15 Lazarevsky Club: Minute of silence held in memory of fallen Russian and Armenian soldiers Bayramov and US Assistant Secretary of State discuss Yerevan-Baku relations Expansion of cooperation with Interpol is important, Armenia PM says Armenia defense minister briefs Austria envoy on situation due to recent Azerbaijan military aggression (PHOTOS) Australia can't rule out energy price caps Armenia parliament speaker: Use, threat of force undermine processes aimed at establishing peace Garo Paylan is in Yerevan Barack Obama tries to help Democrats win midterm elections Azerbaijan president, Russia first deputy PM discuss North-South transport corridor project PM Pashinyan receives France-Armenia friendship group delegation from French parliament Taiwan urges China to start talking Armen Grigoryan and Toivo Klaar discuss Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiation process Matviyenko: Russia will continue mediation for signing Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty Politico: Scholz and Macron threaten U.S. trade retaliation CIS premiers sign several agreements at Kazakhstan meeting Konstantin Zatulin: Nagorno-Karabakh peoples right to self-determination must be respected Armenia legislature head: Policy of threats, coercion is unacceptable to us U.S. must strengthen its defense against growing threats from both China, Russia Karabakh ex-President: Necessary to rule out mistakes, miscalculations which will have irreversible consequences EU reaches agreement to ban new cars with internal combustion engine by 2035 Benny Gantz: Future of Israel and Turkey is promising EU Special Representative for South Caucasus arrives in Armenia Lazarevsky Club meeting underway in Yerevan, Moscow Yellen sees no sign of recession in U.S. economy in near future Cannes palm trees promenade named after Charles Aznavour YEREVAN. National Assembly (NA) of Armenia Vice President Eduard Sharmazanov, who also heads the NA Armenia-Argentina Parliamentary Friendship Group and is on a working visit to Argentina, on Monday met with Claudio Avruj, Human Rights Secretary of Argentina, in Buenos Aires. The interlocutors underscored the creation and strengthening of strong ties in bilateral relations, the NA informed Armenian News-NEWS.am. Sharmazanov briefed Avruj on the present-day situation in South Caucasus, and stressed that Armenia acts as an advocate for regional peace and stability. He also noted that Turkey not only continues its denial policy with respect to Armenian Genocide, but imposes an unlawful blockade on Armenia for about two decades. In addition, deputy speaker of the Armenian parliament reflected on the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict, and noted that the independence of Artsakh is a reality. He highlighted that, unlike the khanate of Azerbaijan, a democratic country is being built in Karabakh. Eduard Sharmazanov also spoke about the anti-Armenian policy which Azerbaijan runs. YEREVAN. More students will be able to attend a quality school this year thanks to an effort undertaken by the U.S. Embassy in Armenia to renovate Kindergarten #59 in the Davitashen district of Yerevan. The school recently completed a $285,000 renovation which was funded by the U.S. Embassys Office of Defense Cooperation. Since 2009, the Embassy, through the U.S. militarys European Commands Humanitarian Assistance Program, has provided more than $5 million dollars to fund 26 renovation projects in Armenia. Children deserve a safe, welcoming school building. And I think with this renovation, the children of kindergarten #59 have that, said Charge d Affaires Rafik Mansour, during the ribbon cutting for the school on Tuesday, September 6. He was joined by Deputy Mayor of Yerevan Aram Sukiasyan, leaders from the Davitashen District. Several classrooms and restrooms in the kindergarten that were previously unuseable were renovated through the project, which was managed by the U.S. Corps of Engineers and completed by CESCO construction. Thanks to the project, the school was able to eliminate its waiting list of about 100 students and provide quality education to an increased number of students. Im glad to be here today and the U.S. embassy is proud to have done this project. Because it is this generation, these children that will continue the strides we are seeing in Armenia, who will take an improved Armenia and make it even better, Charge d Affaires Mansour said. And they will be better equipped to do so thanks to the education they will get, starting here in this beautiful renovated building. The Armenian Ambassador to Lithuania Tigran Mkrtchyan on Monday met with the Chairman of the Lithuanian Seimas Committee for Foreign Affairs Benediktas Juodka. Mr Juodka congratulated Mkrtchyan on his new appointment and wished him good luck in carrying out his mission. At the meeting, the interlocutors touched on a number of issues on the Armenian-Lithuanian agenda, stressing the important role of the parliamentary diplomacy in that process. The Chairman of the Lithuanian Seimas Committee for Foreign Affairs attached great importance to the successful talks on the new Armenia-EU framework agreement. For his part, Ambassador Mkrtchyan stressed that Armenia expects to bring Armenia-EU talks to fruition in near future. According to him, Armenia runs a multi-dimensional foreign policy, which aims to increase the number of friendly and partner countries in different parts of the world. Upon the request of Mr Juodka, Ambassador Mkrtchyan referred to the current stage of the Karabakh conflict settlement and the efforts exerted towards overcoming the consequences of the large-scale military aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh in early April. On Tuesday, the Armenian Ambassador met with Deputy Speaker of the Seimas and Chairman on European Affairs Committee in the Lithuanian parliament Gediminas Kirkilas, who used to be the countrys former PM. The latter highly appreciated the successful talks between the EU and Armenia. The interlocutors exchanged ideas on cooperation development perspectives in different areas. Reference was also made to the Armenian-Lithuanian trade and economic relations. In this context, the parties expressed satisfaction with the invigoration of trade and stressed the great potential existing in the sphere. Upon the request of the Deputy Speaker of the Seimas, Mkrtchyan briefed him on the process of constitutional reforms in Armenia. Russia is fully capable of preventing the escalation of the armed conflict in the zone of the Karabakh conflict. Expert of the Anatoly Sobchak Fund, Sergey Stankevich, who is also the Party of Growth council member, said the aforementioned at the press-conference organized for Armenian media outlets by Region Research Center, responding to the Armenian News NEWS.am question as to how will the improvement of the Turkish-Russian relations impact the Karabakh conflict settlement and whether that will be a constraining factor for Baku. But Russia, in his words, cannot accelerate the diplomatic settlement of the conflict on its own. Here it will be necessary to again rely on the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh and the additional diplomatic efforts of Russia and France. The Karabakh conflict itself belongs to the relatively rare type of three-generation conflict in the world history. In the conditions of the ceasefire, at least three generations should be changed on both sides before the final and long-lasting settlement becomes possible, Stankevich noted. Indeed, everyone will have to arm themselves with patience, he continued. Neither the conflicting parties, nor Russia and not even the West want the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to become another platform of resistance between Russia and the West, Stankevich added. COCOA BEACH, Florida The Cocoa Beach Police Department announced on Tuesday that 58-year-old Leonard Nelson Lopez, of Merritt Island, Florida, has been arrested and charged with manslaughter in the death of John Charles McLean, 53, also of Merritt Island. McLean was found unresponsive in Lopezs blue 2005 Lincoln Town Car Friday evening, September 2, 2016, in the parking lot behind of VFW Post 10148 located at 150 Minutemen Causeway in Cocoa Beach, Florida, with a gunshot wound to his head. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Cocoa Beach Police Detectives say that they developed probable cause through their investigation to obtain an arrest warrant for Lopez, who was subsequently taken into custody without incident at his residence on Monday, September 5, at about 9:00 P.M. This is certainly a tragic event. I am proud of our team for their professionalism throughout the investigation from the Officers on-scene to the Detectives who worked assiduously to solve this case in a timely manner and bring some sense of closure to the decedents family, Chief Scott Rosenfeld said. I would like to thank BCSOs crime scene unit and Game Over task force for their assistance as well. Lopez was charged with manslaughter and is being held on a no bond status at the Brevard County Correctional Facility in Sharpes, Florida. Photo by Victor Chavez/WireImageFormer N.W.A. manager Jerry Heller died of a heart attack at Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks, California, on Friday, his cousin Gary Ballen tells Billboard. Heller was 75. Prior to his success with the group, the music industry veteran served as an agent for artists including Creedence Clearwater Revival and Marvin Gaye during the 1960s and 70s, and promoted Pink Floyd, Elton John and Kraftwerk on their first U.S. tours, before falling on hard times. Heller's career picked up again after teaming with N.W.A.'s Eazy-E during the mid-1980s, launching Ruthless Records with him. Heller's efforts helped N.W.A make hardcore hip-hop popular around the world. In 2015, shortly after the N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton was released, Heller -- who was portrayed by Paul Giamatti in the film -- filed a defamation lawsuit claiming he was unfairly depicted. He further claimed he was not compensated for the use of his likeness. All but one of his claims were later dismissed. Heller was reportedly in talks with 8 Mile director Jim Sheridan about adapting his memoir for film. Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. 23:14 The race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump for the White House has tightened with two months to go before Election Day, as a series of new polls shows them essentially in a dead heat. Trump has edged ahead of Clinton in a new CNN/ORC poll, at 45 per cent to 43 per cent among likely voters, while an NBC News poll of registered voters meanwhile shows Clinton's lead holding at six percentage points -- 48 per cent to 42 per cent. And another survey, this one by The Washington Post looking at all 50 states, shows Clinton with a solid lead in terms of electoral college votes, and even strength in some traditional Republican strongholds. The various polls show how close the race is looking to November 8, and makes the battle for the so-called swing states all the more important. Clinton was headed to Florida today to appear at a voter registration event, while the billionaire real estate mogul was due in Virginia for a town hall meeting and in North Carolina for an evening campaign rally. "Thank you! #AmericaFirst," Trump tweeted with the new CNN poll results. The candidates have less than three weeks to go before the first of three scheduled presidential debates -- expected to be the most watched moments of what so far has been a raucous campaign. 23:53 Tim Cook announces a billion iPhones sold, making it the best selling product of its kind. Features of the new iPhone * The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus display's will be 25 per cent brighter than the 6S and 6S plus with cinema grade wide color gamut, color management and 3D touch. * Jet black finish, seamless surface with the back and glass front with an raised enclosure for the dual-camera. Gold, silver and rose gold are other colors. * The home button is force sensitive and comes with a taptic engine that are unique for notifications, messages, ringtones and other apps. * iPhones will now be IP67 water and dust protection. * TDual-lens, optical image stabilization, wider f/1.8 that absorbs 50 per cent more light, new 6-element lens and an all new high speed 12-megapixel sensor that is 60 per cent faster and 30 per cent energy energy. * Quad-LED True Tone Flash with 50 per cent more light, flicker sensor and an Apple designed image signal processor that uses machine learning to look for bodies and objects in the image and then adjusts the photos with best exposure, white balance and noise reduction. It will happen everytime you take a picture with 100 billion processes in 25 milliseconds. * Live photos can be edited on the fly and there's RAW image support as well. * Along with this, 7-megapixel Facetime full HD front camera , an upgrade from the 5-megapixel one on iPhone 6S. * The dual camera setup has a Wide angle lens and telephoto lens combined together that gives optical 2X zoom along with 10X digital zoom without any loss of clarity. The digital zoom will be better than the standard as it will be shot by the telephoto lens. The requested page is currently unavailable on this server. Back to [RTHK News Homepage] LONDON: British researchers have discovered that it is now possible for machines to learn how natural or artificial systems work by simply observing them, without being told what to look for. The discovery, by researchers at the University of Sheffield, is inspired by the work of computer scientist Alan Turing, who proposed a test which a machine could pass if it behaved indistinguishably from a human. In the test, an interrogator exchanges messages with two players in a different room: one human, the other a machine. The interrogator has to find out which of the two players is human. If they consistently fail to do so - meaning that they are no more successful than if they had chosen one player at random - the machine has passed the test, and is considered to have human-level intelligence. Dr Roderich Gross from the Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering and Sheffield Robotics at the University Of Sheffieldsaid, "Our study uses the Turing test to reveal how a given system, not necessarily a human, works". "We put a swarm of robots under surveillance and wanted to find out which rules caused their movements. To do so, we put a second swarm - made of learning robots - under surveillance too. The movements of all the robots were recorded and the motion data shown to interrogators. "Unlike in the original Turing test, however, our interrogators are not human but rather computer programs that learn by themselves. Their task is to distinguish between robots from either swarm. They are rewarded for correctly categorising the motion data from the original swarm as genuine, and those from the other swarm as counterfeit. The learning robots that succeed in fooling an interrogator - making it believe their motion data were genuine - receive a reward," he said. The advantage of the approach -- Turing Learning -- is that humans no longer need to tell machines what to look for, according to Gross. "Imagine you want a robot to paint like Picasso. Conventional machine learning algorithms would rate the robot's paintings for how closely they resembled a Picasso. But someone would have to tell the algorithms what is considered similar to a Picasso to begin with. "Turing Learning does not require such prior knowledge. It would simply reward the robot if it painted something that was considered genuine by the interrogators. Turing Learning would simultaneously learn how to interrogate and how to paint. Our interrogators are not human but rather computer programs that learn by themselves. The learning robots that succeed in fooling an interrogator receive a reward," he said. "Scientists could use it to discover the rules governing natural or artificial systems, especially where behaviour cannot be easily characterised using similarity metrics," Gross said, adding that 'Turing Learning' could lead to advances in science and technology. The discovery was published in the journal Swarm Intelligence. Read Also: New Multi-Element Antenna To Improve Communication New Digital Antennas To Power Next-Gen Smartphones UC Santa Cruz is one of the 20 greenest colleges in the country, according to the Sierra magazines Cool Schools ranking. Sierra magazine, the national magazine of the Sierra Club, today released its 10th annual Cool Schools ranking of Americas greenest colleges and universities. UC Santa Cruz is one of three UCs to be in the top 20. Coming in at No. 18, the ranking underscored UC Santa Cruzs strong commitment to protecting the environment, addressing climate change, and encouraging sustainability. UC Santa Cruz has been an innovator in many areas of sustainability for several years, most notably in academic programs, social justice, food, transportation, and water conservation, said Sustainability Director Elida Erickson. The fact that UC Santa Cruz ranks within the Top 20 in an increasingly competitive field of up-and-coming institutions speaks strongly to the ongoing commitment of our students, faculty, staff, and campus administrators to the values of sustainability. More than 200 schools participated in Sierras extensive survey about sustainability practices on their campus. Using an updated, customized scoring system, Sierras researchers ranked each university based on its demonstrated commitment to upholding high environmental standards. Sierra magazine wrote, "Thanks in part to a group called Students for Organic Solutions, 33 percent of UCSCs cafeteria budget goes toward organic ingredients that were produced no farther than 250 miles from Santa Cruz, including from the universitys own 30-acre farm, where students learn how to grow pesticide-free food. "The Banana Slugs also run their own bicycle library, and the school reduced its water use by 36 percent between 2005 and 2015.The campus is full of old-growth redwood trees and wild deer, and boasts epic views of the Monterey Bay." UC Santa Cruz earned 670 points, with a perfect score in Innovation. In its report, the campus cited its work toward becoming zero-waste, its participation in the Cool Campus Challenge, its creation of a carbon neutrality roadmap, and the ambitious plan developed by UC Santa Cruz researchers to use the UC Natural Reserve System (NRS) to detect and forecast the ecological impacts of climate change in California. UC Santa Cruz has marked a number of sustainability achievements recently: Kristy Kroeker, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, was awarded a $875,000 Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Andrew Fisher, a professor of Earth and planetary sciences, coauthored comprehensive recommendations for forming Groundwater Sustainability Agencies in California The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recognized the waste reduction accomplishments of UC Santa Cruz Dining Services, a participant in the EPAs Food Recovery Challenge. This year is the 10th anniversary of the Cools Schools rankings and we are thrilled by the record number of schools that participated. This huge response shows that colleges are taking the lead on addressing climate change, says Jason Mark, Sierras editor in chief. Were seeing schools commit to renewable energy purchasing, buying electric vehicles for their campus fleets, reducing their water usage, offering organic food in the cafeterias and offering dozens of environmental studies courses. These schools are instilling in the minds of their students the importance of adopting conservation values in their day-to-day activities. College of the Atlantic earned the top spot. Other UCs that placed in the top 20 include Irvine (No. 3) and Davis (No. 8). Im so inspired to see the incredible progress that colleges and universities are making when it comes to environmental sustainability, says Michael Brune, the executive director of the Sierra Club. Sierra magazines Cool Schools rankings help to recognize those schools that have made sustainability a key part of their mission, and are creating future environmental leaders. The full ranking of 202 colleges, including each schools completed questionnaire, can be found online. Pakistan Army Chief General Raheel Sharif on Tuesday said that people of Kashmir will continue to get Islamabad's support on diplomatic front, adding that the country was strong even before, and now it has turned "unconquerable". "I salute the people of Kashmir for their undaunted sight for freedom. Pakistan will continue to provide Kashmiris with diplomatic and moral support. Kashmir is our jugular vein," he said at Defence Day ceremony at General Headquarters, Rawalpindi. Sharif said that it was the day to commemorate not only the martyrs of September 6 but also the sacrifices of those who bravely fought and won the unconventional war against terrorism over the last decade. "I want to make it clear over all the enemies of Pakistan that our defence is impregnable today", he said. In an obvious reference to India, he said, that Pakistan was completely aware of whatever overt and coverts conspiracies its enemies were hatching against it and reiterated the resolve to thwart all attempts at damaging the country. "Pakistan knows how to keep friendships and deal with the enemies. China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a clear example. Pakistan will deal with an iron fist with any threat to this project", he said. --IANS ahm/vd ( 215 Words) 2016-09-06-23:25:57 (IANS) Low-cost airline JetStar Pacific, a subsidiary of Vietnam Airlines, signed a $1 billion deal for 10 Airbus A320 jets, while VietJet placed orders for 20 aircraft for $2.39 billion. Vietnam Airlines also signed a letter of intent to buy 10 Airbus A350 planes for $3 billion, EFE news reported. Airbus President and CEO Fabrice Bregier said at the signing ceremony that by 2020 the manufacturer would double the number of job opportunities for local skilled workers, making Vietnam the firm's most important Southeast Asian partner. The deals were announced on the first day of French President Francois Hollande's two-day visit to the country, where he will hold talks on Tuesday with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan. Hollande is also scheduled to give a speech at the Vietnam National University and attend a state banquet in the capital before he departs later at night for Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam. He is set to meet Dinh La Thang, secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, on Wednesday. France is Vietnam's fifth-largest trade partner in Europe, with two-way trade reaching $4.2 billion in 2015, and is also the third largest European investor in the Southeast Asian country. --IANS vgu/dg ( 251 Words) 2016-09-06-15:01:56 (IANS) The agreement came during their talks held in Vietnam's capital Hanoi on Tuesday where Hollande is paying a visit from Monday to Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported. The two countries will highlight cooperation in key projects of infrastructure, energy, aviation, medical-pharmaceutical sector, environment, agriculture and food processing. Hollande is also scheduled to give a speech at the Vietnam National University and attend a state banquet in the capital before he departs later at night for Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam. After the talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of a series of cooperation documents related to mutual legal assistance, personnel training, agriculture, climate change, among others. On Tuesday, Vietnamese air carriers signed deals with French aircraft manufacturer Airbus for 40 planes worth $6.5 billion, Efe news reported. France is Vietnam's fifth-largest trade partner in Europe, with two-way trade reaching $4.2 billion in 2015, and is also the third largest European investor in the Southeast Asian country. --IANS sm/dg ( 201 Words) 2016-09-06-18:17:56 (IANS) India and Chile on Tuesday agreed to expand their bilateral preferential trade agreement (PTA) with both sides offering to lower or eliminate tariffs on a number of items traded with each other, an official statement said. "Under the expanded PTA, Chile has offered concessions to India on 1,798 tariff lines with margin of preference (MoP) ranging from 30 per cent to 100 per cent and India has offered concessions to Chile on 1,031 tariff lines at 8-digit level with MoP ranging from 10 per cent to 100 per cent," said a Commerce Ministry statement. The agreement was signed in a meeting here between Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia and the South American country's Ambassador to India Andres Barbe Gonzalez, the statement said. "India's export basket with Chile is diversified and keeping in view the wide variety of tariff lines offered by Chile, the expanded PTA would immensely benefit India," it added. Signed in March 2006, and coming into force with effect from August 2007, the original PTA had India offering 178 tariff lines to Chile, with the margin of preference ranging from 10 per cent to 50 per cent. Chile meanwhile offered 296 tariff lines to India with MoP ranging from 10 per cent to 100 per cent. India's bilateral trade with Chile stood at $2.64 billion during 2015-16, making it India's third largest trading partner among the Latin American and Caribbean Nations (LAC) grouping, the statement said. Exports to Chile are diverse and consist of transport equipment, drugs and pharmaceuticals, yarn of polyester fibres and tyres and tubes, among others, it said. Among major import items from Chile are mineral ores like copper ore and concentrates, iodine, copper anodes, molybdenum ores and concentrates, apart from metal scrap, inorganic chemicals, and pulp and waste paper, it added. The Indian government said this expansion would be an important landmark in India-Chile relations "and consolidate the traditional fraternal relations that have existed between India and LAC countries". --IANS bc/vd ( 337 Words) 2016-09-06-19:27:56 (IANS) Barack Obama, who became the first sitting US President to visit Laos, arrived here on Monday to attend a series of Asian summit meetings this week. The landlocked country of 6.8 million people may be the final Asian stop during Obama's presidency, USA Today reported. Obama who arrived here after attending the Group of 20 summit in China's Hangzhou city, plans to push for closer economic ties with Laos and Southeast Asia, and raise human rights abuses in the one-party communist state, which suppresses freedom of expression and the media. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, before he flew to Laos on Monday for the summit, warned Obama not to question him about extrajudicial killings -- more than 2,000 suspected drug dealers and users who have been killed since he launched a war on drugs after taking office two months ago. Duterte said Obama must not throw questions at him, or else, "son of a bitch, I will swear at you in that forum". "Clearly he's a colorful guy," Obama said in China when asked about Duterte's comment. Obama said he asked his staff to determine if meeting with Duterte while in Laos would still be productive. The White House announced later on Monday that there will be no meeting. However, Duterte later said in a statement that both he and Obama mutually agreed to postpone the meeting, according to the Philippines TV station ANC-CBN. "While the immediate cause was my strong comments to certain press questions that elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the US president," he said. --IANS py/vd ( 278 Words) 2016-09-06-23:27:56 (IANS) the actor opened up about the significance of his beloved wife in his life. In a recent interview with a leading film Magazine, the 35-year-old actor said he feels protected and safe while Mira is around. "In many ways I feel protected by Mira. Although she is young, she is self-assured. We talk about many things and she gives me interestingly different point of views, which I respect," said the 'Shandaar' actor to FIlmfare. He added, "Of course I am protective about everyone I love. But I feel equally protected. When you have somebody who loves you, around you, someone who is looking out for your best interests, it makes you feel safer." Shahid took to Twitter to share the news about his first-born, saying, "She is here!". On the professional front, Shahid will next be seen in Vishal Bharadwaj's 'Rangoon' along with Kangana Ranaut and Saif Ali Khan . The movie is set to release on October 14.(ANI) Shah said that this film has made a mockery of highly developed culture of the 5000-year-old civilization, reports the Dawn. He said that he would soon communicate Sindh's reaction and objections to "the director concerned." According to Shah, the movie depicted nothing but figments of imagination of filmmakers and had nothing to do with history of Mohenjo-Daro. He added that the world had widely acknowledged the importance of the heritage sites of Sindh, which was evident from the fact that Makli necropolis and Mohenjo-Daro had been included in the list of international heritage sites and UNESCO was caring for them in coordination with the government. (ANI) Mahmoud al-Balboul, a 21-year-old Palestinian detainee has suffered a severe decline in his health after his hunger strike started on July 4 and was taken to Assaf Harofeh hospital, near Tel Aviv. "He was hospitalised again yesterday. We have filed an appeal at the Israeli Supreme Court to petition for his release," the spokesperson said. The young prisoner, who was detained along with his older brother on June 9, was suffering from temporary blindness due to a lack of nutrients, was in a serious medical state and his condition was worsening by the hour. Palestinian Health Minister Jawad Awad warned Israeli authorities against force-feeding Balboul. "Force-feeding is a form of torture and a violation of medical ethics, as it violates the patient's right to decline medical treatment," Awad said. Balboul and his 26-year-old dentist brother Muhammad started their hunger strike over two months ago to protest their administrative detention, a legal formula that allows for the indefinite imprisonment of Palestinians in the occupied territories without a trial or charges. Although the maximum length of administrative detentions is six months, they can be renewed and extended indefinitely. Mahmoud and Muhammad Balboul's father Ahmad, a leader of Fatah's armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, was killed in an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) operation in 2008. According to Palestinian prisoners' rights group Adamir, there are currently 7,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, of which 750 are under administrative detention, 350 are minors and 62 are women. Last month, prisoner Belal Kayed ended a 71-day hunger strike after reaching an agreement with Israeli authorities that his fourteen and a half year administrative detention would not be extended further with his release set for December 12. --IANS vgu/vm ( 318 Words) 2016-09-06-19:10:04 (IANS) With Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Col. Devinder Sehrawat alleging in a letter to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal that women were being exploited in Punjab on the pretext of a party ticket, Congress leader and former Ludhiana MP Manish Tewari on Tuesday said the people of the state need to ask themselves are they going to entrust the governance of Punjab to stand-up comedians or to the people who have been accused of sexually exploiting women. "It's absolutely serious. The tragedy of Punjab is that we have a very high level of addiction, especially in rural areas, to poppy husk called 'puggy' and now we seem to have swung to 'cughhi'. The people of Punjab need to ask themselves are they going to entrust the governance of to stand-up comedians, or to the people who have been accused of sexually exploiting women; these are the people who are going to govern Punjab," asked Tewari while speaking to ANI. Asking the Punjab people to weigh their options very carefully, Tewari said "Under those circumstances, it is extremely and absolutely necessary that the people of Punjab weigh their options very carefully. And, if these allegations turned out to be correct, that the AAP in charges who are actually from outside Punjab have allegedly been insulting and assaulting Punjabi women, not going to play out very well in Punjab, I can tell you." In the letter to Kejriwal, Col. Sehrawat stated, "I saw disturbing reports about women are being exploited in Punjab in return of or giving promise of ticket. I am meeting people in Chandigarh to check the position on the ground. The MLAs of Delhi are unaware about what is being done by Sanjay Singh, Durgesh etc as party representatives in Punjab. Dilip Pandey is doing same in Delhi. Fermenting trouble in constituencies etc his photos with girls have surfaced regularly. Now the situation is getting indefensible and disgraceful. Action needs to be taken to remove rotten elements." When asked about the National Commission for Women (NCW) summoning AAP national spokesperson Ashutosh, Tewari said, "Well that's between the National Women Commission and him. The larger issue is that would Punjab want to entrust its governance or would even Delhi wants to be governed by the people who are accusing each other of sexual exploitation?" Lashing out at NCW chief Lalitha Kumaramangalam, Ashutosh asked should he be punished for simply voicing his opinions. After receiving a notice from a NCW, Ashutosh took to Twitter and accused Kumaramangalam of still being a BJP member. "Notice recd from NCW. Should I be hanged for writing a column? Is india turning into a fascist state? Ms Mangalam as a chairperson of NCW, you should not lie on a national TV that u r not BJP member.Wikipedia writes You are still a member," he said in a series of tweets. He called on the NCW Chief to look at Wikipedia, where it clearly states that she is still a member of the 'BJP National Executive'. The NCW today summoned Ashutosh, over his blog where he allegedly defended the sacked AAP minister Sandeep Kumar, who was expelled from the party after a tape emerged showing him in a compromising position with two women. "We found that the blog was very objectionable as the tone used against women was very demeaning. First, he (Ashutosh) jumped the gun in trying to defend someone who as it turns out is actually guilty," Kumaramangalam said in a press conference here. Further stating that instead of showing restraint towards what was a "very patriarchal attitude towards women", she said that the party spokesperson gave examples of various people who have had consensual sex with various women. "The fact that is most objectionable is that he almost has objectified women," she added. Col. Sehrawat too stated that justification put forward by Ashutosh are not as per the acceptable value systems, while asking Kejriwal to let the people know that "we still believe that we will change politics". (ANI) "One Mohammad Sadiq, resident of village Chak Banola of tehsil Mendher in Poonch, who had gone to Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) to meet members of his divided families, was yesterday detained by the police at Chakan-da-Bagh with five posters,'' police sources here said. The posters belonged to a candidate of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz Sharif) namely Choudhary Mohammad Aziz, who had recently contested election from constituency No16, Haveli for the PoK Assembly. "The posters were carrying the objectionable slogans 'Kashmir banega Pakistan' (Kashmir will become Pakistan) following which Sadiq was detained for questioning,'' the sources added. Further investigations were on. The accused was being questioned by police and intelligence agencies, the sources added.UNI VBH DS SV 1140 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0177-920772.Xml With another teenager succumbing to his injuries in the hospital, the death toll in security force action has risen to 74 in the Kashmir violence since July 9, a day after Hizbul Mujahideen(HM) commander Burhan Wani and two other militants were killed in an encounter in Anantnag. Life remained crippled due to restrictions and strike in the Kashmir valley for the 60th day today, when separatists had asked women to hold peaceful protests and assembly and occupy local chowks. Official source said that 17-year-old Musaib Majeed Nagoo was injured on Sunday in security force firing at Sonawarni Sopore in north Kashmir district and admitted in SMHS hospital. They said the teenager succumbed in the hospital late last night. In the Kashmir, about 7,000 others, mostly youths, were also injured in the security force and police action in the Kashmir valley, where over 4,500 security personnel were also wounded in stone pelting. A police driver drowned when he along with his vehicle was pushed into river Jhelum while another policeman was killed in a grenade blast in south Kashmir.UNI BAS SV PM0953 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-920688.Xml Communal tension, which erupted during a rally of Indigenous Peoples' Front of Twipra (IPFT), a tribal based party, on August 23 last in Agartala, further intensified and continues to haunt civilians in Tripura. Police said here today some tribal miscreants attacked a passenger vehicle at Subal Singh area of Hezamara of West Tripura at around 2100 hrs while it was on way to Agartala from Kamalpur. According to report, the miscreants overpowered the 12 passengers travelling in the vehicle and threatened them with sharp-edge weapons and small arms. They asked the passengers to vacate the vehicle one by one and deposit their belongings to them. The miscreants allegedly looted cash, ornaments and other valuables from them. In the meantime, one of the passengers managed to flee from the spot and reported the incident to the nearby camps of 11th battalion TSR. However, the miscreants fled away before the jawans reached the spot. Nobody has been arrested yet in connection with the incident, police stated. "Some miscreants are trying to terrorise the situation further to destabilise amity and peace between tribals and non-tribals taking advantage of the hangover of the unwarranted incident at Agartala. However, administration is capable enough to handle such evils," stated tribal welfare minister of the state Aghore Debbarma. He appealed to the cross-section of the society and all the political parties to stand against such elements as Tripura has restored peace and insurgency is reduced to zero after a long battle and series of bloodshed over two decades. The passengers were escorted to Agartala late at night. After the incident of Aug 23 at Agartala, unknown fear grips both tribal and non-tribals. Despite repeated appeals and administrative orders, the tribals in mixed populated areas have not yet come out normally. Similarly, non-tribals in hilly villages have also been passing days with fear of attack. Most of the tribal students returned to the city but their presence in public places are still very thin. Meanwhile, IPFT and other tribal parties also met Governor Tathagata Roy demanding CBI probe into the incident of August 23 and the criminals involved in the crime be immediately booked.UNI BB AD SHS SV NS1403 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0108-920819.Xml Hindu Religious and Endowment (HR and CE) department today issued an advisory to the devotees not to drink or take holy bath at "Saravana Poigai," the temple tank of ancient Sri Subramaniaswamy Temple, one of six abodes of Lord Murugan at Tirupparankundram in view of suspected poisoning. The Deputy Commissioner and Executive Officer of the temple K.Chelladurai said an advisory board has been kept near the tank advising the devotees to keep away from the tank. Water samples have been sent for clinical analysis to find out whether it was poisoned by miscreants, as thousands of fish were found floating since Saturday evening. He said the temple administration has informed the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and the Department of Fisheries. Meanwhile, the district administration ordered a detailed investigation into the incident. Stern action will be taken against the perpetrators, District Collector K.Veera Raghava Rao said. The locals said the tank spread over an area of about 15 acres is the source of ground water recharge for the surrounding areas. It was suspected that the tank might have been poisoned over a business rivalry over fishing rights. UNI GSM CS 1429 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-921025.Xml Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare today said that he is "very saddened to see" that some of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's colleagues have gone to jail, while some others are "indulging in fraud". "It hurts me a lot, what is happening in Kejriwal's government in Delhi," the 78-year-old Gandhian told to reporters at his home town Ralegaon Siddhi near here. Recalling the days with Mr Kejriwal, the social activist said, "when he (Kejriwal) was with me, he wrote a book on 'Gram Swaraj', can we call this 'Gram Swaraj' ?". "I am very sad today..,..The hope with which I was looking at him is shattered," he stated. Mr Hazare's comments come against the backdrop of the arrest of sacked AAP Minister Sandeep Kumar, who has been accused by a woman of having raped her. The anti-corruption crusader said that he had already warned the AAP convener, "You are going to roam the world after launching your party(AAP)..,..You will hold rallies in the country for the same, but how will you find out that the people who join your party have a good character or not." "He did not have an answer for that..,..I can feel it today..,..I had said this earlier also, be it any party or leader, it is necessary to check if the people who join a party have a clean character or not," Mr Hazare said. He said, "Kejriwal was with me for many years..,..I was very hopeful for Arvind..,..I was hoping that he will set a different example for politics in India and also that he will give a different direction to the nation."UNI SP DS SV SS -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-920842.Xml Unidentified criminals shot dead a property dealer near Kuer Nagar under Bahadurpur police station area in the district today.Sub-Divisional Police Officer (Sadar) Dilnawaz Ahmed said here three motorcycle borne outlaws opened fire on the property dealer Shanakar Mandal (35), killing him on the spot.The reason behind the murder was stated to be land dispute. Acting swiftly, police have arrested one of the outlaws involved in the crime, he said.The deceased was a native of Barhetta village under the same police station area in the district. Prima face it appeared that property dealer was killed by his acquaintances as they had called him to the spot by telephoning him.Meanwhile, local people infuriated over the incident blocked Darbhanga-Samastipur road and senior civil and police officers had reached the spot to lift the road blockade.UNI XC DH RN PR SB NS1532 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0311-921036.Xml Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today apprised Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the outcome of the All-Party Delegation (APD) he led to Jammu and Kashmir as part of efforts to bring peace to the trouble-torn Valley. The Home Minister will be discussing the issue again this evening at his residence with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, BJP chief Amit Shah and Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh, who hails from Kashmir. The meeting with the Prime Minister, who returned from his visit to Vietnam and China only last night, took place a day ahead of another interaction with the members of the delegation that went to Kashmir. According to Home Ministry sources, the meeting will be held tomorrow afternoon, and most probably on Parliament premises. The Home Minister briefed the Prime Minister about the delegation's visit besides the latest law and order situation in the Valley where more than 70 people have been killed during the violence triggered by the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. The use of pellet guns by security forces to control the violent mob which led to the blinding of a large number of youth had given another dimension to the Kashmir crisis and brought the Centre under heavy criticism following which the Home Minister had set up a committee to suggest alternative to the pellet guns. A day before going to Kashmir with the APD, the Home Minister is said to have cleared the use of chilli-filled grenades for control of crowds in place of pellet guns, which are to be used in rarest of rare cases. The delegation ended its two-day visit to the state yesterday without any breakthrough, though Mr Singh said they had very good interaction with individuals and groups. He was, however, very much disappointed over the attitude of Hurriyat leaders when they refused to meet some MPs who had literally knocked on their doors. He said their attitude was against democracy, humanity and ''Kashmiriyat''(Kashmiri ethos). The all-party Hurriyat conference was though not officially invited for the talks, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had sent them invite in her capacity as PDP president. Mr Singh's delegation consisted of 26 MPs from 20 parties and it stayed overnight in Srinagar and for a few hours in Jammu before returning to the capital yesterday.UNI NAZ SW SB 1643 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0105-921266.Xml A retired architect was shot dead by a masked man this morning near Gandhibagh police station, police said. The deceased was identified as Eknath Dharmaji Nimgade(72), resident of Gandhibagh, Nagpur. Sources said the incident took place at around 0830 hrs, while the victim was travelling on his on his vehicle, when a masked man approached and and fired at him. The sources claimed that firing could be a fall out of some property dispute, where the deceased had a major stake. Meanwhile, police are unsure of the motive behind the killing. However, they claimed that the firing was carried out by a contract killer. Investigations into the matter is on.UNI PK PR SB 1646 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0105-921294.Xml Expressing sadness over the death of another 'Nirbhaya,' Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal blamed the system and said no steps were taken to prevent such crimes. Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, Ms Maliwal said, "This Nirbhaya died today. Does system care? Any steps been taken to prevent such crime in future? No. Not at all." The incident had taken place last week when the accused, along with his friends, went to the woman's home in Bhalswa Dairy with his marriage proposal. An argument broke out between the men and the family when she turned down the proposal. After heated arguments, the accused set her on fire. The family members also sustained burn injuries in the incident. She was rushed to Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital with 70 per cent burn injuries and the police registered a case under various sections of Indian Penal Code. UNI SM SW SB 1709 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0271-921293.Xml Puducherry government would hold an inquiry and initate action if the land acquired for construction of houses for the tsunami affected were found returned, Chief Minister V Narayanasamy said in the Assembly today. Intervening Revenue Minister M O H Shajahan in a reply to a question, Mr.Narayansamy said the then Congress government had provided boats, nets, assistance to the tsunami affected fishermen in 2004 to ensure their livelihood. The Karnataka and Maharastra governments besides some voluntary organizations came forward to construct houses for the tsunami affected .However,there was a complaint that several affected people did not get houses. During the Chief Ministership of V Vaithilingam, the present Speaker, there was a proposal to construct houses for the tsunami affected with world bank assistance which was later dropped. DMK member R Siva who posed the question charged that at several places the land acquired for tsunami houses were returned and 632 families are yet to get the Rs.3.5 lakh to construct houses . AIADMK member Anbazhagan then said that widespread corruption was rampant and it was happened during the Congress government. An inquiry be ordered, he demanded. Mr Shajahan said that all the affected were not provided with a house, a few were given tokens and yet to provide houses. A balance of Rs.35 crore is with the government under the tsunami collection, he added. He also said that the government is ready for an inquiry if irregularities were found. To another question, the Chief Minister said there is no proposal to return the land to the farmers, acquired for the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Karasur and Saidarapet. He said the land is now under the control of PIPDIC and the government propose to start an Apparel park and some other industries there. He said the Centre did not grant permission for setting up of the SEZ and also there was a case pending with a private party in which the government won. Previously,it was proposed to utilize the land for smart city project, he added.UNI PAB CS -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-921001.Xml The Apex Court has directed the Karnataka government to release 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery water per day to Tamil Nadu for the next ten days for samba cultivation in the delta districts. Expressing contentment, All India Farmers Association President P R Pandian said ''we welcome the court's verdict on the Cauvery issue. It came at the righttime as we remained helpless without having adequatewater for irrigation.'' ''Now, we can use it to save our short term crop'',he added. However, the quantum of water ordered to be released for ten days would not be sufficient to irrigate the crops. The Monitoring committee has to take it to the notice of the Central government and the Supreme Court to increase the quantum of water, Mr Pandian said. Nallasamy, secretary of the Tamil Nadu Farmers Associations Federation said ''we accept the Apexcourt verdict wholeheartedly. At present the storagelevel in Mettur Dam is 36 tmc ft and an addition of 12 tmc ft of water from Karnataka will certainly help in saving our crops.'' Praising the Tamil Nadu government, the farmerssaid the Supreme Court order was a victory for theChief Minister.UNI GV CS 1622 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-921236.Xml Meera Darshak, Deputy Mayor of Kozhikode Corporation, organizing the mega event, said 10,000 volunteers of 2,000 self help group under ward No 765 would take part. Titled as ''Snehapalika 2016'' each carpets would be in 3 ft diameter and the competition will be held at Christian College ground in the city, she said. First, second and third prize winners will get gold medals worth 8 gm, 4 gm and 2 gm respectively and consolation prizes for 4, 5, 6 and 7 spots, she said. About 100 girl students, who are members of SPC, JSR and Guides, of different schools in the district would be volunteers of the competition, she said, adding that 10 counters would be set up in the college ground for organizing the event. The Limca Books of Records has already been informed of the competition, she added.UNI PCH CS 1531 / 1613 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-921275.Xml Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today approved in principle the proposal to constitute Vimukta-Ghumantu Jati Vikas Board to uplift the denotified tribes and bring them into the mainstream. Stating this here, a spokesman o the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes department said that Gadi Lohar Caste has been included in the list of Tapriwas so that the members belonging to this caste could also avail the benefit of various welfare schemes. A number of welfare schemes were being implemented for their socio-economic and educational uplift with the objective of realising the ideal of 'Antyodaya'. He said the state government was committed to the welfare of members belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes and the poor. An outlay of Rs 674.02 crore has been earmarked for the welfare of people belonging to Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes in 2016-17, which is 83 per cent higher than the allocation of Rs 366.72 crore in last financial year. The spokesman said that financial assistance of Rs 3.52 crore had been provided to 533 beneficiaries up to July this year by the Haryana Backward Classes Economically Weaker Sections Kalyan Nigam. Similarly, Haryana Scheduled Castes Finance Development Corporation has assisted 302 beneficiaries with financial assistance of Rs 1.83 crore up to June 2016. He said that under the Mukhya Mantri Vivah Shagun Yojana, the families belonging to Scheduled Castes, Vimukt and Tapriwas Jati living below poverty line were given Rs 41,000 for the marriage of their daughters, whereas the families belonging to general category and Backward Classes are given Rs 11,000 for the same purpose. Apart from this, people belonging to all categories of the society who have 2.5 acres of agricultural land or annual income of less than Rs one lakh are given Rs 11,000, he added.MORE UNI DB RJ AS1748 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-921186.Xml The two have been booked under sections 406, 409 and 34 of Indian Penal Code and also sections 52 of the Indian Postal Act of 1898, police today said. Postman Vasant Dunda Vishe from Mugaon village of Shahapur had sold the mails of the day to an old newspaper vendor instead of delivering them to the recipients concerned on September 3, police said. When the citizens complained of non-receipt of their mails, the Postal Department launched an inquiry into sudden disappearance of the mails of the Katemanivali post office of Kalyan. Based on a complaint, old newspaper vendor Suleman Hamid Ullah Khan of Shenva also from the same taluka, who purchased these mails, was arrested yesterday. However, Vishe has yet to be arrested in this connection, sources added.UNI XR ss SW SB AN1842 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-921393.Xml A boy attempted suicide in the central Kashmir district of Badgam, a police spokesman said here this afternoon. He said a boy, who was not identified, consumed some poisonous subtance in his Khansahib Bagdgam home, after which he was immediately shifted to Sub District Hospital, Khansahib from where he was referred to JVC, Srinagar. The reason for the extreme step is yet to be ascertained they said, adding that police have registered a case and initiated proceedings.UNI ABS SDR SB RK1810 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0433-921371.Xml Constable Mudasir Ahmad on patrol duty at Imamsahib Shopai received pellet injuries when his rifle went off accidentaly. The injured was rushed to local hospital from where he was referred to Srinagar in a critical condition.UNI ABS DJK SB AN1834 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0433-921505.Xml Alleging that AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal who joined politics with a promise to cleanse the system and work in a transparent manner, has emerged as a patron of the corrupt, the abusers and rapists, BJP national secretary Tarun Chugh today demanded his resignation from the post of Delhi Chief Minister. The BJP leader said Kejriwal-led AAP was growing by leaps and bounds not in matters of transparency or good governance but in the cases of corruption, moral turpitude, and sexual abuses. "Here is a government which has corrupt, fake degree holders, sexual abusers, women beaters, porn clip makers as Ministers and MLAs." Mr Chugh said the Delhi CM who had won the elections by promising to ensure respect and security for women remained sitting on a porn CD featuring his minister for over two weeks and acted only after the matter reached the BJP and the media. "Would Kejriwal explain it to the people of the country why he remained mum for almost 15 days after receiving a complaint against the minister along with the highly objectionable CD?" he asked. And if that was not enough, senior party leader and Goa in charge Ashutosh compared party's minister embroiled in sexual abuse with none other than Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation. "If this is their nationalism, if this is their patriotism and if this is their ideology, God save the country," the BJP leader said. He said that had the BJP and the media not exposed AAP leader's misdeeds, many more women would have become a prey of such ministers, MLAs and other leaders of this new found party witha difference. He alleged that Kejriwal's Punjab team was also embroiled in such acts and the tickets were being sold. He said it has not come from anybody else but was being alleged by AAP leaders. UNI DB SB 1922 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-921829.Xml "Enforcement Team of Motor Vehicle Department Kathua has challaned 26 school buses for violating various provisions of MV Act 1988,"official spokesperson here today said. He said that these school buses were found plying without fitness certificates, driving license and other relevant documents, adding,"out of 26 school buses, 13 were booked for the offence of overloading and 4 buses were seized plying without documents." Regional Transport Officer, Kathua Amarjeet Singh advised operators not to indulge in the practice of overloading and to ply their school buses on roads with all relevant documents as per the Supreme Court guidelines failing which their permits shall be suspended.UNI VBH JW RSA 2106 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0364-922011.Xml The state assembly will be convened on September 9 to ratify the bill. Chief Minister Mukul Sangma told reporters that the amendment was a culmination of the whole exercise between the union government and state governments including various commercial organisations. Dr Sangma, however, said the state does not foresee any drop in revenue realisation and in such event, the state will be compensated. "This was taken up at the level of consultation and an acceptable format will come up," he said. The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha had passed the 122nd constitutional amendment bill on GST and it needs the ascent of legislative assemblies of at least 50 per cent states to be effective.UNI RRK BM RSA AN2152 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-922032.Xml Activists of CPI(M) affiliate Students Federation of India in the Himachal Pradesh University today ended 154-day old chain hunger strike as University authorities conceded to their majority of demands. The SFI had given a 46 point demand charter to the Vice-Chancellor after organising a mega rally of students in the campus today, said Noval Thakur, president of the students' body. "The authorities came under pressure after we decided to beef up up our struggle and our leaders were to sit on a fast unto death from today", he said. The University which is to undergo an assessment by the NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council of UGC) after a few days is also under pressure to end this prolonged strike that had also acquired an adequate legitimacy by the people in general, said Vivek Rana, SFI State President. From an "A" category the Himachal University has come down to "B" ratings from past sometime, he said. It could further go down this time if the University does not end anti-student policies like the fee hike, RUSA or choice based credit system of education, he added. The University agreed to roll back the decision of suspension of seven top leaders of the students' body. It has been decided to take the student organisations into confidence if the RUSA system is going to be implemented and the university authorities would make the high powered committee report, that was set up by the university on the issue of massive fee hike, to be public soon after the Court's decision, said SFI secretary Suresh Sarwal. The University has not agreed on the demand of direct elections of the student central association, which have been banned by the Virbhadra Singh government, citing campus violence as the reason. The SFI and RSS supported ABVP are in favour of direct student elections but the NSUI, that has never won a single seat in the HPU campus in past four and half decades, has always opposed it. The SFI celebrated with the victory rally in the campus in the afternoon and exposed the Congress and BJP leaders in their speeches. They condemned the State's Chief Minister who is himself facing serious corruption charges for interfering in the university affairs and bringing the academic levels in the campus to an all time low. They also questioned the recent recruitments in various teaching departments on mere political considerations and the killing of merit and academic excellence.UNI ML RSA AN2114 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-921982.Xml A magistrate court here today rejected the demand of defence lawyer of Virendra Tawade, arrested as an accused in rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar murder case and re- arrested on September 3 by Special Investigation Team of city police for his alleged role in senior Communist Party of India leader Govind Pansare murder case. He is at present in police custody till September 8 and will undergo another medical check-up again. The court, however, allowed the defence lawyer to meet accused tomorrow morning and to hear the 'contempt of court' petition on September 13. Defence lawyer Virendra Ichalkaranjikar had submitted three petitions before First Class Judicial Magistrate V B Kalpagar in absence of Magistrate Ms V V Patil, who had remanded accused Tawade to five days police custody and allowed the defence lawyer to be present during investigation. The first petition related to the medical check-up of accused Tawade again, second pertained to the defence lawyer's demand to let him meet accused and third was a 'contempt of court' plea against SIT's refusal to let him meet accused despite the court's permission. Mr Ichalkaranjikar told the court that earlier medical check-up was not as per the law and the court should order the SIT to produce the accused immediately for medical check-up and be allowed to meet accused. Public prosecutor Chandrakant Budhale argued that the defence lawyers were trying to create hurdles in ongoing investigation of accused Tawade by SIT with pressure tactics. ''It is not possible to produce Tawade in court today as SIT has taken him to Panvel for further investigation and police had taken accused to rural hospital at Panvel for medical checkup and on his return tomorrow morning, police would inform the defence lawyers about a meeting with accused,'' he told the court. Tawade is reportedly suffering from many ailments including blood pressure and diabetes. Meanwhile, the SIT took Tawade to Panvel, raided a Sanatan ashram, his residence and office late last night and seized some objectionable papers from there. According to sources in city police, Tawade was not cooperating with investigation teams and was giving misleading answers. The SIT would examine and compare the similarity and contradiction in his answers given to CBI in Pune earlier. UNI SSS SS JW RSA AN2210 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-922036.Xml Nagaland Chief Minister T R Zeliang today spok about the scenic beauty of Nagaland and its people, while addressing the function of the 4th Edition of the Pangkor Dialogue at Ipoh city in the Malaysian State of Perak. According to a statement by the media cell of CMO, waxing eloquent on the qualities of the Naga people and the State which could lure global players to enter the State in a big way, Mr Zeliang shared his experiences and knowledge about the State which he said some could find beneficial. He had the attention of the hundreds of leaders from various parts of the World from the beginning when he mentioned about the Battle of Kohima, considered as the greatest battle fought by the Allied forces during the WW II. Mr Zeliang said that greed was indeed at the root of our threatened environment as also of the eroding governance systems. "This understanding is vital, especially for the underdeveloped and the developing world as we try to catch up with the highly advanced technological societies of the west. Compared to them, there can be no end to our perceived needs. There is, therefore, a need to design our entire lives - our social, economic and political structures and our Governance systems that will be suitable for us and which will help to redefine our needs, as also the sacrifices that we have to make so that human existence is made sustainable," he said. Sharing with the leaders the political realities in Nagaland, Mr Zeliang pointed out that the traditional Naga way of life, like many societies of the South East Asian nations, did not quite get along well with Western concept of Parliamentary democracy and the concept of Universal Adult franchise was something new to the Naga people resulting in glaring material corruption and faulty electoral practices in the state. "We are all aware that such a phenomena, which is global cannot be resolved overnight and by acting alone," he said and appealed to world leaders "to think together, to share the solutions and to further help each other in reducing the risks through adaptation as well as mitigation strategies in the better interests of our survival," the chief minister said. On the issues of conservation of nature, Mr Zeliang boasted of the rich "Social Capital" of the Naga people and how communities, which once hunted migratory Amur Falcons, now the hunters have become protectors and have made Nagaland a safe haven for the birds earning the distinction of being called in conservation circles as "Amur Falcon Capital of the World" He expressed his envy of the Malaysian people for so successfully preserving the famed Hornbill birds, which is also Malaysia's National Bird and which Nagas associate with valour and honour, and for which Nagaland has instituted the Hornbill Festival which is held in the first week of December every year. "The discussions on environment, sustainable development and governance can go on indefinitely but given the limited time, I may be allowed to sum up that the need of the hour is cooperation and sharing for our mutual existence, the chief minister added. UNI AS BM RSA AN2325 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-922039.Xml The Commissionerate police today arrested third member of the nine-member gang involved in the Rs 3 crore gold heist at Rama Mandi;s Manappuram Gold Loan Finance company which took place last month on August 29.Police Commissioner Arpit Shukla said that during interrogation of Surjit Singh and his son Sukhwinder Singh nabbed by the police on September 3, the active involvement of Paramjit Kaur wife and mother of Surjit Singh and Sukhwinder Singh came to light following which the police conducted a raid on the house of Surjit Singh. The police seized more than 2 kg gold ornaments hidden beneath the pickle in a jar. The value of the gold recovered from the house is counted more than Rs 70 lakh. Shukla said that Paramjit Kaur was actively in the robbery as she had done recce of the office of the Manappuran Finanace many a times before giving practical shape to the heist by visiting the office on the pretext of mortgaging gold ornaments to secure loan against gold scheme. He said that Sukhwinder Singh was the main brain behind the hesit. He said that the police had identified the remaining six culprits also and they would be arrested soon. With the arrest of Paramjit Kaur, total arrests in the case had risen to three and the gold recovered is more than three kilogram worth Rs more than one crore.UNI XC JS RSA BD2246 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-922014.Xml US President Barack Obama had better think twice about raising the issue of Philippine extra-judicial killings, warned the country's confrontational leader on Monday. "Who does he think he is? I am no American puppet. I am the President of a sovereign country and I am not answerable to anyone except the Filipino people," Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte scoffed in a speech on Monday. "Son of a b****, I will swear at you." Duterte went on to blame the US for causing the unrest on the southern Philippines Island of Mindanao. "As a matter of fact, we inherited this problem from the United States," he said. "Why? Because they invaded this country and made us their subjugated people. Everybody has a terrible record of extra-judicial killing. Why make an issue about fighting crime?" In response, the White House cancelled President Obama's upcoming meeting with Duterte in Laos this week, where Obama is attending a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders, CNN quoted National Security Council spokesman as saying. Earlier, hinting that his planned meeting with Duterte may not go forward, Obama said, "I always want to make sure if I'm having a meeting that it's productive and we're getting something done," "If and when we have a meeting, this is something that is going to be brought up," Obama said, referring to the Philippines' controversial record of combating drug crime since Duterte took office earlier in 2016. "Look at the human rights of America along that line. The way they treat the migrants there," CNN quoted Obama as saying. Since Duterte was elected, more than 1,900 people have died, including at least 700 in police operations that were part of the President's hard-line war on drugs. "Double your efforts. Triple them, if need be. We will not stop until the last drug lord, the last financier, and the last pusher have surrendered or put behind bars -- or below the ground, if they so wish," Duterte said during his State of the Nation speech on July 25. Human Rights Watch has called for the International Narcotics Control Board and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to condemn the "alarming surge in killings of suspected drug users or dealers" in the country. --IANS lok/ ( 383 Words) 2016-09-06-03:39:56 (IANS) The attack occurred late on Monday night when a booby-trapped car detonated near a hospital at a busy thoroughfare in Karrada neighbourhood in southern central Baghdad, the source said on condition of anonymity. The blast destroyed several nearby shops and many stalls, along with several civilian cars, the source said. Iraqi security forces sealed off the area and blocked the roads leading to the scene, while ambulances and police vehicles evacuated the killed and wounded people to the city hospitals, the source added. In early July, Karrada was the scene of massive bombing that killed and wounded hundreds of people and huge fires in several nearby commercial buildings. Terrorist acts, violence and armed conflicts killed 691 Iraqis and wounded 1,016 others in August across Iraq, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq said on Thursday. --IANS lok/ ( 182 Words) 2016-09-06-03:43:56 (IANS) US President Barack Obama on Monday said an agreement with Russia on ending the violence in Syria is being hampered by "gaps of trust" between the two governments. Asked by CNN's Michelle Kosinski about his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the President described it as "candid" and "blunt" focusing mainly on Syria and Ukraine. Obama called the discussion on Syria "productive" about what a real cessation of hostilities would actually look like. "We have had some productive conversations about what a real cessation of hostilities would look like that would allow us both... to focus our attention on common enemies." Obama added that currently the gaps have not been closed in negotiations between Russia and the US in a way that they think would "actually work". Obama urged Kerry and Lavrov to work together in the coming days to get aid to those in need. Obama and his Russian counterpart Putin met on Monday as talks between their governments on ending violence in Syria ended without an agreement. Meanwhile, Putin told reporters that a deal with the US to "ease tensions in Syria" may come "within a few days", according to Russia's state news agency TASS. "Against all odds we have a certain rapprochement and understanding of what we might do to ease tensions in Syria and achieve mutually acceptable solutions," TASS quoted Putin as saying. As for further details on the agreement, Putin said, "It is early now to speak of any parameters of our agreements, but I hope very much that the agreements will be reached, and I have the grounds to believe that this may happen within a few days," according to TASS. The two leaders conversed on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Hangzhou for ninety minutes, a senior US official said, and worked to clarify gaps in negotiations over on the Syrian crisis. The pair also discussed Ukraine and Russia's cyber intrusions, CNN quoted an official as saying. The exchange came after talks between Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov failed to result in a Syria ceasefire agreement. They had been working to negotiate a plan that would have boosted military cooperation between the two nations in an effort to better target terrorists and prevent civilian deaths. --IANS lok/ ( 395 Words) 2016-09-06-03:57:56 (IANS) An alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) bomb-maker with a penchant for pornography was to have participated in the Islamic State (IS) terrorist strike on Paris in November, 2015, CNN reported on Monday. But Muhammed Usman failed to reach the French capital in time for the terrorist attack that killed 130 people because Greece had detained him, it said. Usman was part of a terror cell controlled by an IS leader called Abu Ahmed that joined the stream of refugees going to Europe in order to launch attacks there, CNN reported. Investigators in Europe identified Urdu-speaking Usman as a suspected LeT bomb-maker, according to CNN. The report did not say if there was a direct connection between LeT and IS or if Usman had joined IS on his own. LeT has reportedly been caught in the cross-fire of IS and al-Qaida, with IS criticising LeT as one of the anti-India groups acting on orders of "apostate" Pakistani army. LeT created the text-book model for multi-pronged urban terrorist attacks using a very small number of attackers when it carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The IS attack followed a similar strategy using only nine operatives to take huge toll and plunge a metropolis into fear. Two men from Usman's group, Ahmad al-Mohammad and Mohamad al-Mahmod, reached Paris and blew themselves up outside the National Stadium during the attacks that also targeted a theatre and a restaurant. However, Greek authorities found that Usman, who had started out from the IS caliphate-controlled city of Raqqa in Syria, and another terror cell member, Algerian-born Adel Haddadihad, carried forged passports and detained them for a month before setting them free to join the refugee trail. CNN reported that according to its sources, "Investigators believe that delay was significant; as a result, they would not have a chance to become part of the Paris attacks." On their release, Usman and Haddadihad received money arranged by Ahmed and joining the refugee trail eventually reached Salzburg, Austria, where they applied for asylum on Nov 14, a day after the Paris attacks. According to CNN, "European investigators concluded that Haddadi and Usman were part of the same terror cell as the Paris bombers and, having failed to participate in that bloody day, were planning another strike." But before that they could carry out any other attacks, they were arrested at a refugee centre on Dec 10 and eventually extradited to France. CNN reported that senior European counterterrorism sources said that Haddadi and Usman face terrorism charges. An examination of Usman's phone by authorities showed that when not contacting terror leaders and affiliates, he was using his phone to visit about two dozen pornographic sites, including "sexxx lahur" and "Pakistani Lahore college girls ... ImakeSex", CNN said. --IANS al/lok ( 469 Words) 2016-09-06-04:25:56 (IANS) Turkish warplanes destroyed 12 targets in northern Iraq late on Monday, the military said, striking a region where Ankara says the leadership of Turkey's outlawed Kurdish militant group PKK is based.The military statement said the sites hit were in the Metina and Hakurk regions of northern Iraq, but did not give further details. In the past, such strikes have been aimed at targets Turkey says are linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).The PKK has been fighting a three-decades-old insurgency against Ankara to demand autonomy in Turkey's southeast region.REUTERS PY PM1035 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0298-920718.Xml US President Barack Obama cancelled his first meeting with Philippines counterpart Rodrigo Duterte today after the blunt-spoken Duterte described him as a "son of a bitch", casting a shadow over a gathering of Asian leaders in Laos.Duterte, who has been roundly criticised abroad for a 'war on drugs' that has killed about 2,400 people since he took office two months ago, said hours later that he regretted his comments "came across as a personal attack" on the US president."President Duterte explained that the press reports that President Obama would 'lecture' him on extrajudicial killings led to his strong comments, which in turn elicited concern," the Philippines government said."He regrets that his remarks to the press have caused much controversy," it added in a statement released at the summit in Vientiane, the capital of Laos.The White House had earlier said Obama would not pull any punches on his concerns about human rights abuses in the Philippines, its treaty ally, when meeting Duterte.Duterte responded to that with his "son of a bitch" comment to reporters on Monday before leaving to join fellow leaders of Southeast Asian and East Asian leaders for the summit.Obama learned about the insult as he emerged from the Group of 20 summit in Hangzhou, China. At a news conference, he said he had told his aides to speak with Philippine officials "to find out is this, in fact, a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations."Hours later, his aides said the meeting had been cancelled.Instead, Obama plans to meet South Korean President Park Geun-hye today, said Ned Price, spokesman for the White House National Security Council - a meeting where the response to North Korea's latest missile tests is expected to be on the agenda.MOVES TO SOOTHE TENSIONSObama arrived in Vientiane just before midnight last night for the first visit by a sitting US president to Laos, where he wants to begin to address the legacy of US bombing during the Vietnam War.He was set to give an address on the importance he has placed on Asia in his foreign and economic policy during his two terms in office, which will end on January 20.The unusually open tensions between the United States and the Philippines, its former colony and long-term ally, threaten to overshadow the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Asia Summits in Laos from Tuesday to Thursday.The 10-member ASEAN will meet leaders of other regional powers: China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Russia and the United States.Moving quickly to soothe the tensions with Washington, Duterte said in a separate statement that he remained committed to Manila's alliance with the United States."Our primary intention is to chart an independent foreign policy while promoting ties with all nations, especially the US with which we have had a longstanding partnership," he said.CURSESDuterte won the presidency in May as he promised to suppress crime and wipe out drugs and drug dealers. At least 2,400 people have been killed since he took office on July 1, including 900 in police operations against drug pushers.The rest are "deaths under investigation", a term human rights activists in the Philippines say is a euphemism for vigilante and extrajudicial killings.Duterte has poured scorn previously on critics, usually larding it with curses.He lambasted the United Nations after it criticised the surge in killings and he turned down a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the Laos summit.In May, he called Pope Francis a "son of a whore", although he later apologised, and called US Ambassador Philip Goldberg a "gay son of a whore."Today, Duterte met Singapore's prime minister and was later to hold talks with the leaders of Japan and Vietnam.The Philippines has been aligned with the United States in its dispute with China over the South China Sea, in which Washington blames Beijing for militarising a vital global trade route and jeopardising freedom of movement at sea and in the air.China rejects those accusations and in turn blames the United States for ratcheting up tensions unnecessarily. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than five trillion dollar of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims.An arbitration court in The Hague in July invalidated China's vast territorial claims to the waterway after a case was brought by the Philippines, a ruling that Beijing refuses to recognise.Duterte said last month he expected all ASEAN members to support the arbitration court's ruling, but that the Philippines would not raise the issue in Laos.REUTERS PY PM1118 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0298-920755.Xml Gabon's justice minister, Seraphin Moundounga, resigned today in protest over the re-election of President Ali Bongo, which has triggered accusations of fraud and streets riots that have killed at least six people."Having noticed that the government was not responding to concerns about the need for peace and for the consolidation of democracy, I decided to...step down from my functions as a member of government," Moundounga told Radio France Internationale. REUTERS AKC 0018 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-920627.Xml Asserting that Kashmir was an 'internal matter' of his country, India's High Commissioner in Islamabad Gautam Bambawale has said there are problems in both New Delhi and Pakistan and Islamabad should focus on resolving them before looking into the problems of other countries. "There are problems in both India and Pakistan and you [Pakistan] should focus on resolving your problems before looking into the problems of other countries," he said at an interactive session organised by the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations yesterday. Mr Bambawale said the road to normalisation between New Delhi and Pakistan lies through greater trade and business, The Express Tribune reported. Citing an example of China , Mr Bambawale said, ''We have boundary issues with China but we decided on building other relationships to move forward. Today, they are our biggest trade partners," he said. "We should start by grabbing the low hanging fruit." "There is a great potential that needs to be tapped. In order for trade to improve, Pakistan had to grant India the Most-Favoured Nation status. "There should be more participation in trade fairs and more Pakistani trade delegations should visit India," he added. "There is no option but to do it step by step," he said. "People living in glass houses should not be throwing stones at others," India's top envoy said. He chose to skip questions about the recent remarks by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Balochistan and Gilgi-Baltistan. "The prime minister, in his August 15 independence day speech, only referred to the letters he had received," he added. Mr Modi claimed that he had received 'letters of thanks' from the people of Balochistan and G-B for raising voice in their favour. When asked about Kulbushan Yadav, said to be RAW agent, arrested in Balochistan earlier this year, the Indian envoy said New Delhi has been very clear on the matter. "After the arrest was made we said he [Yadav] was an Indian national but does not work for any government organisation," he added. "We asked for consular access to Yadav, but our request was turned down by Pakistan." On the allegations that India was fomenting trouble in Balochistan 'in an attempt' to sabotage the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project, the Indian envoy said, ''India will not derail any process that is for the betterment of Pakistan. However, he admitted that India has objection to the CPEC route. UNI XC SV SS 1519 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0105-921093.Xml Ethiopian opposition activists have demanded news on the fate of six of their leaders and other inmates held in a high-security prison that was wrecked by a massive fire over the weekend.The government has said 21 inmates died in the blaze that ripped through the Qilinto complex on Saturday - but has not named any of the victims.Another two prisoners were shot dead as they tried to escape the compound on the outskirts of the capital Addis Ababa, the government added in a brief statement two days after the fire, again stopping short of identifying them.The opposition Oromo Federalist Congress said today it had received no news of six of its leaders, including Deputy Chairman Bekele Gerba and Assistant General Secretary Dejene Tafa, who were arrested in December on suspicion of inciting protests."Our entire leadership is being held in that place and we have no idea what has happened to them," the OFC's Assistant Deputy Chairman, Mulatu Gemechu, told Reuters."The government has a responsibility to explain to the public, no less their families. We have no idea why it is taking that long," he said.The government did not immediately respond to his statement.Dissidents say most recent inmates are ethnic Oromos held for taking part in demonstrations over land rights and alleged rights abuses that have rocked one of Africa's fastest growing economies since last year.The United States last week said it was gravely concerned about the use of excessive force against protesters. Human Rights Watch said in June at least 400 demonstrators had been killed by security forces.Ethiopia's government - a major ally of the United States in the fight against militants in neighbouring Somalia - disputes the death toll and says the protests are being staged illegally, stoked by rebel groups and dissidents based oveseas.Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said last week his administration would carry out "deep-rooted" reforms and pledged to address grievances, though he warned of measures if protests escalated into violence. REUTERS SZ NS1442 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0441-921064.Xml "The exercises aim to check the level of readiness of the military command bodies to control inter-service groupings of forces, commanders and staffs will gain experience in planning, preparation and conducting of combat operations," Sputnik news cited the Russian Ministry of Defence as saying. Russia will use S-400 and S-300 long range anti-aircraft missile systems together with Pantsir-S1 to "fire at the air targets simulating the entire spectrum of air attacks at all altitudes and speeds", Xinhua news agency cited the ministry as saying in a statement. Pantsir-S1 is a combined short-to-medium range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery weapons system. The drills will also test new military equipment in field conditions, including the country's top-of-the-line combat helicopters, fighter jets and battlefield tanks, the defence ministry added. The exercises by over 12,500 servicemen, including Navy, Airborne and Aerospace units, began here on September 5. The exercises will involve Crimea and also feature cooperative efforts of the Black Sea Fleet and the Caspian Sea Flotilla. They come after Moscow accused Kiev of sending saboteurs into the Crimean Peninsula to carry out terror attacks in August. The war games, code-named 'Caucasus 2016', will be carried out over six days till September 10. --IANS sm/dg ( 233 Words) 2016-09-06-16:04:03 (IANS) Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton opened a final two-month sprint to the November 8 election with the Republican presidential nominee suddenly looking stronger as he and his Democratic rival took their bitter fight to Ohio.Both Trump and Clinton made overtures to a news media that each candidate sees as often hostile to them, talking to reporters on their private planes. Clinton's session with reporters was her first news conference since last December.After eating a gyro at a diner in the Cleveland area, Trump rallied thousands of cheering supporters at a county fair in Canfield, and Clinton visited a brewery in Cleveland. For a time, their planes were parked about 200 yards apart at the Cleveland airport, a sign of Ohio's importance in the election.Ohio is considered one of four swing states - those that are not clearly in the Democratic or Republican camp - that could prove decisive in the Electoral College vote that will ultimately determine the winner. The other swing states are Florida, Pennsylvania and Virginia.Trump was buoyed by more polls showing him in a competitive position. The latest Reuters-Ipsos poll showed Trump with 40 per cent support vs 39 per cent for Clinton, effectively ending Clinton's bump up in the polls after the Democratic nominating convention. Other polls showed Clinton's lead had shrunk."I think we've had a great month," Trump said.Clinton remained in a strong position to win the White House race, but Trump and his team cited his growing strength in opinion polls nationally and in several states where the election is likely to be decided to argue that his message is breaking through to voters.Clinton, who emerged into the public eye after days of raising money from wealthy donors behind closed doors, said she always knew the race would be close."We're just going as hard and fast as we possibly can to be organized for turning out the vote, because we've always thought this was going to be hard, and that's why, you know, I'm not worried, I'm just working," she said.Trump, shaking his fist triumphantly, plunged into a crowd at the Mahoning County Fair where supporters had built a replica of the wall that the Republican nominee has pledged to build along the US-Mexico border."This has been an unbelievable reception!" Trump said after maneuvering through a crowd of people who shouted his name, against a backdrop of food stands offering fare ranging from chicken on a stick to Italian sausages, fudge and fresh corn.Inviting reporters onto his plane for the first time since accepting the Republican presidential nomination, Trump said his focus going forward will be on how to create jobs for middle-class Americans.He has spent most of the past two weeks trying to clarify his position on illegal immigration, first flirting with a softening, then reinforcing his hardline approach, and then, on his plane, saying undocumented people might ultimately get on a path to a legal status once border enforcement steps are taken."I'm all about the jobs now," he said, saying his position on the immigration issue was now well known.He also pledged to participate in all three televised presidential debates, ending speculation that he might sit out one or more if he was not happy with the format. His first face-off with Clinton is at Hofstra University in New York state on September 26.Clinton made her stop at a brewery in Cleveland before heading to a nearby Labor Day parade and rally, where she tested a new jab at her opponent: "Friends don't let friends vote for Trump."The Labor Day holiday traditionally kicks off the last stretch of campaigning ahead of the November election.Speaking to reporters on her new campaign plane, she took credit for Trump's overture to the news media. Clinton, buffeted by controversy over her use of a private email server as US secretary of state, has been criticized by Republicans and the news media for months for failing to hold a news conference."I heard now that we've got this great plane, that Donald Trump actually invited his press on his plane where I'm told he even answered a few questions," said Clinton.TRUMP'S REBOUNDTrump's rebound from a series of self-inflicted wounds follows the hiring of a new campaign management team, and the Republican nominee is showing more discipline on the stump.Trump has been helped by what his campaign said was a positive week last week, highlighted by a quick trip to Mexico, appearing side by side with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto , and a visit to a black church in Detroit.But an immigration speech that Trump gave following his trip to Mexico drew criticism from some of his Hispanic supporters, and several backers advising him on the issue decided to part ways with his campaign.Trump aide Jason Miller said rising poll numbers showed that the campaign was moving in the right direction."The trend lines are the important thing to point to," Miller told Reuters. "The problem that Clinton has is there is no positive information flow for her campaign."Clinton, who was President Barack Obama's first-term secretary of state, appeared at few public campaign events during the latter half of August, instead raising funds at high-dollar events in the East Coast vacation spots of Martha's Vineyard and the Hamptons, and with celebrities in Los Angeles and high-tech leaders in Silicon Valley.Clinton's campaign announced that it had raised 143 million dollars in August for her presidential bid and the Democratic Party.Clinton is again on the defensive over her use of a private email server and possible conflicts of interest with her family foundation while secretary of state, which have caused unease for some voters. But experts still see the Democratic nominee as the odds-on favorite to win the presidency.REUTERS SZ AS1744 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0441-921470.Xml "Fifty Shades of Grey" star Jamie Dornan joins "Peaky Blinders" actor Cillian Murphy for a World War Two thriller about the assassination of one of the main architects of the Holocaust."Anthropoid" is based on the operation to kill SS Obergruppenfuehrer (general) Reinhard Heydrich in Prague in 1942. It follows Czech soldiers Jan Kubis, played by Dornan, and Jozef Gabcik, portrayed by Murphy, parachuted into occupied Czechoslovakia from Britain to kill Heydrich in "Operation Anthropoid"."I'd never heard of this story and it was quite remarkable to read it," Murphy told Reuters in an interview."It's quite extraordinary to think that what these men did changed the course of the Second World War and inevitably changed the course of history."Heydrich, who stood at the pinnacle of the Nazi security apparatus, was the most senior Nazi to be assassinated in World War Two. The village of Lidice was razed to the ground in a revenge massacre, part of a wave of reprisals.Months before his death, Heydrich had chaired the Wannsee conference near Berlin which formalised plans for the killing of all Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe."Anthropoid" was filmed in Prague and features a local cast. However, most of the leading characters are played by Hollywood actors and the story is told in English. Director Sean Ellis said finding a balance between "art and commerce" was a factor."I would've loved to have made this film in the Czech language with Czech actors but then it would be a Czech film and no one outside the Czech Republic would probably see it," he said."Anthropoid" hits UK cinemas on Friday. REUTERS SZ AS1801 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0441-921494.Xml Anjem Choudary, Britain's best-known Islamist preacher whose followers have been linked to numerous plots around the world, was sentenced to five years and six months in prison today for inviting support for Islamic State, Sky News reported.Choudary had been convicted previously by a jury at London's Old Bailey court of using online lectures and messages to encourage support for the banned group which controls large areas of Syria and Iraq. REUTERS SZ AS1809 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0441-921561.Xml Valls pointed out during an interview with RTL radio station that there are 203 people who have returned to France and 195 others have died, noting the terrorist threat has never been this high, Efe news reported. The prime minister stressed the need to protect the French and combat radicalization, with measures in the educational system and social services. Valls also emphasized the launch of a "project" for France, which has suffered during the past two years because of terrorism. --IANS vgu/vm ( 108 Words) 2016-09-06-19:07:59 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is ''looking forward to visiting Islamabad'' in November to attend the SAARC Summit, India's High Commissioner to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale was reported as saying today. ''I can't say about future, but as of today, Prime Minister Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the SAARC ,'' Mr Bambawale said at a event in Karachi, according to Pakistan's national English daily Dawn . However, the External Affairs Ministry in New Delhi said that no decision regarding the visit had been taken so far. ''As I stated in my weekly briefing, decisions and announcements of such nature are not made so far in advance,'' MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted. Mr Bambawale's statement had come as little bit as a surprise at the moment going by the prevailing state of relations in the backdrop of the Kashmir unrest, the chances of the Prime Minister's visit looked dim. Home Minister Rajnath Singh's meeting at the SAARC Interior Ministers' meet ended on a bitter note and Finance Ministry Arun Jaitley did not choose to go to Islamabad at all to attend the Finance Ministers' meeting of the South Asian regional body last month. The Prime Minister, in his Independence Day speech this year, had flagged the issue of violation of human rights in Pakistan province Balochistan and PoK areas, triggering strong reaction from Islamabad.UNI XC NAZ RSA 2009 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0091-921951.Xml Italian police said today they had broken up a criminal network that smuggled mostly Syrian refugees across the Balkans to Western Europe.International police forces arrested 21 people in Austria, Germany and Italy on suspicion of people smuggling, a police statement said. The arrests followed an investigation conducted by prosecutors in the northern Italian city of Como.Most of those arrested were Syrian, while others were Algerian, Egyptian, Lebanese and Tunisian and were officially resident in the area around Como, Italy.The criminal group organised transport for more than 200 migrants from 2014 to 2016, charging at least 500 euros ( 560 dollars) each, according to prosecutors, who worked together with the EU's judicial cooperation unit, Eurojust.The probe began in September last year after an Italian was arrested in Hungary "while driving in a vehicle with several illegal migrants", Eurojust said in a separate statement.Italian police said the smuggling ring picked up migrants who had reached Hungary, and from there they were moved on towards Germany, Austria, and more rarely to France and Italy.The so-called "Balkans route", used by hundreds of thousands of migrants last year, has been less popular since the European Union and Turkey agreed to stop boat crossings from Turkey to Greece earlier this year.But boat crossings from Libya to Italy continue at about the same rate as before, with some 100,000 arrivals so far this year.Migrants have flooded into Europe over the past three years from the Middle East, Africa and Asia, fleeing violence and poverty at home.REUTERS JW BD2027 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-921987.Xml A suicide bomb attack on the Chinese embassy in the Kyrgyz capital last week was ordered by Uighur militants active in Syria and carried out by a member of the East Turkestan Islamic movement, Kyrgyzstan's state security service said today.The suicide bomber, whose car rammed the gates of the embassy on August 30, was an ethnic Uighur who held a Tajik passport in the name of Zoir Khalilov, the GKNB security service said in a statement.Three embassy staff suffered minor injuries in the attack and were taken to hospital. China condemned the attack and urged Kyrgyz authorities to quickly investigate."The investigation established that the terrorist act was ordered by Uighur terrorist groups active in Syria and affiliated to the terrorist organisation the Nusra Front whose emissaries ... financed the terrorist action," the GKNB said.Listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States and Russia, the Nusra Front has renamed itself Jabhat Fatah al-Sham and said in July it had ended its relationship with al Qaeda.The attack on the Chinese embassy was coordinated through a native of Kyrgyzstan living in Turkey, the Kyrgyz secret service said.It said an arrest warrant had been issued for another native of southern Kyrgyzstan, an explosives specialist trained in Syria and holder of a Tajik passport, who helped to prepare the attack but flew to Istanbul several hours before the explosion.Five Kyrgyz citizens suspected of complicity in the bomb attack have been detained, the GKNB said. An international arrest warrant has been issued for two other Kyrgyz citizens living in Turkey, it said.Apart from the ethnic Uighur suspected of having carried out the attack, all the others accused of ordering, financing and preparing it come from two southern Kyrgyz regions in the Ferghana Valley.The fertile but overpopulated and largely impoverished valley, which Kyrgyzstan shares with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan has become a source of radical Islamists in Central Asia, from where hundreds of young people have gone to fight for Islamic State and its allies in Syria.Kyrgyzstan shares a remote, mountainous border with China's Xingjiang province where Beijing has fought ethnic Uighur separatists for decades. REUTERS SDR BD1950 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0431-921898.Xml On a warm morning in late August, two dozen migrants carrying stuffed plastic bags and backpacks boarded a bus outside a refugee centre in Vamosszabadi, a village in northwest Hungary.Escorted by police on what was meant to be a short shopping trip organised by the Hungarian immigration office, the men, women and children should have spent a few hours shopping in the nearby city of Gyor before returning to their makeshift homes.Half of the group, however, slipped away to a park where they were met by a man. He led them through an underpass to the railway station and they jumped on a train headed for the Austrian capital, Vienna. Their whereabouts now is unclear.One year after the border between Hungary and Austria became a focal point of a mass influx of refugees to Europe, many of them heading for Germany, officials in both countries say the situation is largely under control.But, as the events witnessed by Reuters show, migrants continue to make their way into Hungary and across the border into Austria from areas of the Middle East, Afghanistan and Africa hit by conflict and poverty.The situation has left many Hungarians and Austrians on edge and could shape the outcome of two votes on Oct. 2, when Austria elects a president and Hungary decides whether to accept mandatory European Union quotas for resettling migrants."Clearly this is a polarising issue that has stoked a lot of fears," said Austrian Defence Minister Hans Peter Doskozil.Like many people in Austria, a country of 8.5 million that has taken in about 110,000 asylum seekers since last summer, he sees a risk that the migrant crisis could worsen again.Although there is little evidence of it happening, he believes Austria could become the destination for migrants making their way from Africa through Italy."That must be stopped," Doskozil said.Such concerns could work in favour of far-right candidate Norbert Hofer in Austria's election runoff. The first ballot, narrowly won by former Greens party leader Alexander Van der Bellen, was annulled because of technical irregularities.Similar fears could also help Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban persuade voters to reject the EU quota system following an aggressive government campaign in which billboards have been erected linking migrants to assaults and terrorism.Election of a far-right president in Austria and rejection of the quota plan in Hungary would be likely to damage the unity of the EU, which is already struggling to articulate a common vision after Britain's vote on June 23 to leave the bloc."BIG SHOCK"Few communities have felt the impact of the migrants influx more than Nickelsdorf, a town of 1,800 in the eastern border region of Burgenland surrounded by sunflower and corn fields.It was near Nickelsdorf that the corpses of 71 refugees were found in an abandoned truck, shortly before Austria and Germany threw open their borders to migrants on September 4 last year.Burgenland is a traditional stronghold of Chancellor Christian Kern's Social Democrats. But two thirds of voters there backed the eurosceptic Freedom Party's (FPO) Hofer in the presidential run-off in May that was annulled."The Freedom Party promotes a very restrictive immigration policy and the people who live here in Nickelsdorf, who were confronted with this wave of 300,000 people a year ago, do not want it to happen again," Gerhard Zapfl, Nickelsdorf's SPO mayor, told Reuters. "The pressure valve is the election."Carmen Imnitzer, a 46-year-old housewife who helped distribute food and clothes to migrants, says she would never vote for the Freedom Party. But she describes the influx as a "big shock" for the town."A lot of people are scared. They view everything that is foreign, everything they don't understand, as scary," she said.Debate has been clouded by an EU deal with Turkey granting Turks visa-free travel to the bloc, she added.Kern has accused the FPO of fanning fears about minorities and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has said politicians are using the refugee crisis for political gain.IMAGE "TARNISHED" BY CAMPMany migrants also arrived last year in Vamosszabadi, 65 km from Nickelsdorf, on the other side of the border.A refugee camp in the village designed for about 200 people housed nearly 800 migrants at one point in 2015, and many more were camping outside. Hungarian officials say many migrants disappear within days and the authorities lose track of them.Livia Vajda, the mayor of Vamosszabadi, said the camp had tarnished Vamosszabadi's image and should be closed."This is an open reception centre, people can move freely in and out, they can do anything they want and we live here next to them and we don't know who they are," she said.Orban opposes the EU quota plan and hopes the October 2 referendum will strengthen his hand in dealings on the migrant issue with the EU and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.The UN refugee agency has condemned Hungary's refugee practices but criticism of the referendum and Orban's stance on refugees has largely been limited in Hungary to small opposition and rights groups.Merkel and then-Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann suspended EU migration rules last year to allow in thousands of refugees who reached those countries via Hungary.Faymann quit in May after losing his party's support, partly because of his handling of the crisis. Merkel has also faced problems and her Christian Democrats lost a regional election on Sunday to an anti-immigrant party.REUTERS SZ AS1915 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0441-921780.Xml Chinese PresidentXi Jinpingattends a press conference after the 11th summit of the Group of 20 (G20) major economies in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 5, 2016. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei) HANGZHOU, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- The 11th summit of the Group of 20 (G20) major economies concluded here on Monday, reaching extensive consensus on pursuing innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economic growth. "Held at a critical time for world economic growth and the transformation of the G20, the Hangzhou summit attracted wide attention from the whole world and carried high expectations," Chinese President Xi Jinping said at a press conference after the summit's conclusion. From Sunday to Monday, leaders of G20 members, guest countries and international organizations exchanged views on topics including more effective global economic and financial governance, robust international trade and investment, and inclusive and interconnected development. They also discussed prominent issues affecting the global economy, including climate change, refugee, anti-terrorism financing and public health. CHARTING A NEW COURSE World economic recovery remains weak this year. The World Bank in June cut its 2016 global growth forecast to 2.4 percent from 2.9 percent projected in January, partly due to sluggish growth in advanced economies, stubbornly low commodity prices and weak global trade. The forecast is much lower than a year-on-year growth of 6.7 percent in the first half of 2016 in China, in line with the government's target to keep its annual growth between 6.5 percent and 7 percent this year. The world has been hoping for Chinese wisdom and prescription to cope with common challenges after the country took over the G20 presidency. Xi said in a closing speech that leaders attending the summit decided to point out the way and set the course for the world economy. "We will continue to reinforce macro-policy dialogue and coordination, work in the spirit of partnership to promote mutual help and win-win cooperation, and focus our minds and energy to pursue strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth," Xi said. A G20 Leaders' Communique of the Hangzhou Summit was adopted to set out the direction, targets and steps of G20 cooperation and depict the blueprint for future world economy. A mix of effective tools, including fiscal, monetary and structural ones, must be implemented to buffer against short-term risks and unleash medium- to long-term potential, Xi said. "This will send a strong signal of G20's commitment to promoting global growth, and help shore up market confidence and ensure stability of global financial markets," Xi said. BLUEPRINT ON INNOVATIVE GROWTH "We are determined to break a new path for growth to inject new dynamism into the world economy," Xi said. Past realities teach us that merely relying on fiscal and monetary policies does not work for the world economy, Xi said, adding that the world should pursue innovation-driven economy and create a new round of growth and prosperity. The leaders unanimously adopted the G20 Blueprint on Innovative Growth, which reflects their desire to find the right path toward sustainable and healthy growth. The G20 members will capitalize on the new opportunities brought about by innovation, new industrial revolution, digital economy and other new factors and business types, and make a series of action plans, he said. They are also going to encourage innovation in various domains and ensure that the fruits of innovation are shared, Xi said. "The blueprint provides us with the consensus, action plan and the overall framework to open up a new path for global growth and increase medium- to long-term potential of the world economy," he said. BETTER GOVERNANCE, INCLUSIVE GROWTH The leaders were also determined to improve global economic and financial governance to enhance the resilience of the world economy, and to revitalize international trade and investment as the key engines of growth and build an open world economy, Xi said. They agreed to advance the quota and governance reform of international financial institutions, broaden the use of Special Drawing Rights, strengthen the global financial safety net and make the international monetary system more stable and resilient. The leaders agreed to deepen cooperation on financial inclusion, green finance and climate funds, and formulated an action plan on energy access, renewable energy and energy efficiency, Xi said. They will also enhance international tax cooperation, and join efforts of anti-corruption to deprive all corrupt persons of any safe haven in G20 countries and beyond, he said. G20 members reiterated their stance to oppose trade protectionism and support multilateral trading mechanisms in pursuit of trade growth, and formulated guiding principles for investment policymaking to facilitate investment around the world. Consensus was also made to promote inclusive and interconnected development, so that G20 cooperation will deliver benefits to the whole world, according to Xi. For the first time, the summit put development at the center of global macro policy framework and made a groundbreaking action plan implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, he added. "The development of G20 has a bearing on the immediate interests of all its members and the future of world economy. Only when the mechanism responds to changes and advances with the times can it retain its vitality," Xi said. Related: G20 to advance anti-corruption campaign: Xi HANGZHOU, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday said members of the G20 have agreed to advance anti-corruption campaign including the establishment of a research center on fugitive repatriation and asset recovery in China. Full story G20 to revitalize international trade, investment: Xi HANGZHOU, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- The G20 members will support multilateral trading system, oppose protectionism, unlock global trade cooperation potential, and reverse the decline of trade growth, President Xi Jinping said here on Monday. Full story G20 to explore long-term growth potential: China's Xi A man runs from a cloud of baby powder during J'Ouvert, ahead of the annual West Indian-American Carnival Day Parade in Brooklyn, NY, U.S. September 5, 2016. (Xinhua/REUTERS) NEW YORK, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Two people were shot dead and at least 2 others wounded early Monday morning at the J'ouvert celebration in New York City's Borough of Brooklyn, a carnival celebrating Caribbean culture held before dawn on each Labor Day. A male between ages 18 to 20 years old was shot in the chest at around 3:50 a.m. local time and died later at hospital, according to local police. About 25 minutes later, a 22-year-old woman was shot in the left eye just a block away and died at a hospital. At least two others were shot and wounded but expected to survive, police said. J'ouvert, which means daybreak, is an annual pre-dawn celebration held ahead of the annual West Indian Day Parade. The event had a history marred by violence. Last year, a top aide to New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo was killed by a stray bullet during the celebration. The investigation is ongoing and no arrest have been made yet. Thousands of Chinese marched on Sunday in Paris to protest against insecurity and crimes targeting Chinese. (Xinhua/Han Bing) PARIS, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of Chinese living in France marched Sunday in Paris to protest against insecurity and crimes targeting Chinese after a Chinese textile designer died after being attacked last month in Paris suburbs. Police data showed about 15,000 people attended the rally on Sunday, the largest gathering of Chinese community since 2012. Wearing white T-shirts, protesters waved French flags and chanted "Security for all"," Freedom, equality, fraternity and security." The wave of protests came after 49-year-old Zhang Chaolin died last month after five days in a coma. He had been mugged in the northern Paris suburb of Aubervilliers by three men who stole his bag. "The Chinese community does not talk much. It is very discreet and here people have finally decided to say something ... The message at this protest is that all communities feel concerned," Veronique Yang, a Sino-French journalist told Xinhua, adding: "we are citizens with full French citizenship." Stephane Cheng, a French of Chinese origin said the reason for the rally was "to put pressure on the government so that our demands will better been taken into account." "People need to feel protected by the French government when they come to France, and for us, it is still not enough," he added. Caroline Zhang, a Chinese student who has lived in Paris for three years, does not dare to go out at night. "I am not reassured to go out because I have friends who are being robbed..." she said. "The Chinese have reputation for carrying a lot of cash on them. But, we are targeted for nothing," she said. In Sunday's peaceful protest, many French people joined Chinese protesters to express solidarity with them. John Pergouret, manager of Saphir Eurasia Promotion agency, said: "I have a network on WeChat where many Chinese tourists I work with were attacked. They feel insecure and I'm demonstrating along with the Chinese community because we are all concerned." BIRMINGHAM, Britain, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Some 180 selected Chinese brand enterprises are showcasing themselves during the ongoing 14th European Showcase for Brands of China held in the National Exhibition Center of Birmingham in Britain. Set to run from Sept. 4-7, the event is hosted by the Ministry of Commerce of China and aims to further promote Chinese brands and products and to enhance Sino-UK trade and economic relations, according to an opening reception held Monday. The participating Chinese enterprises come from ten provinces and cities and they have 209 booths covering an overall exhibition area of 3,800 square meters during the event. The main exhibit categories include household products and accessories, home decorations, consumer electronics and electrical appliances, fashion and accessories, among others. The event will see a number of toy companies from Guangdong, south China make their first debut in Britain. Brands from Fujian, Zhejiang, Anhui and Shanghai in east China will showcase their latest products and newest designs. Exhibitors from Hunan, central China will display the arts that combine the Chinese intangible cultural heritage -- the embroidery -- with the contemporary art. Brands of China provides the visitors and buyers with unique opportunity to discover the innovative Chinese brands. Talks will be also provided to visitors and buyers with the most up-to-date information and tips about sourcing products from China, as well as the latest relevant business advice. Addressing the opening reception, Zhang Bin, Commercial Counsellor of the economic and commercial office of the Chinese embassy in Britain, said the European Showcase for Brands of China has become an important platform for British and even European consumers to get access to and understand Chinese brands. ANKARA, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Around 50 U.S. soldiers have arrived near Turkey's border with Syria to use the newly-deployed High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) in the fight against the Islamic State (IS), Hurriyet Daily News reported Monday. The HIMARS system has been deployed near the Turkish Armed Forces' defense missile system in the Almalitepe region of the southeastern province of Gaziantep, the reports said. The system carries a total of six rockets with extended range guidance at 60-100 kilometers and quick mobility capabilities. The U.S. Embassy in Ankara said on Saturday that the U.S. forces hit IS targets overnight near Turkey's border with Syria using HIMARS. The embassy described the development as the "the latest step in the U.S.-Turkey cooperation in the fight against the IS." It was not immediately clear when the system was deployed at Turkey's border. Even though the deployment of the HIMARS systems has been on Ankara's agenda, the fulfillment of the U.S. promises has taken six months, according to Daily Sabah. BUENOS AIRES, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Argentina's Ambassador to China Diego Guelar hailed on Monday the organization of the Group of 20 (G20) summit held in Hangzhou, China. "The summit was a grand presentation of the Chinese superpower to the world, from an economic and political standpoint," said the diplomat in an interview with Argentina's Radio Nacional. The summit concluded on Monday with Chinese President Xi Jinping speaking about the consensus which had been reached on a wide range of topics, including the facilitation of long-term economic growth through integrated, open, innovative and exclusive policies. "Our association with China is very important, it is our main investor, main banker and the main market for our agricultural products," said Guelar. On Saturday, Argentina's President Mauricio Macri and President Xi met and agreed to strengthen the commercial and cultural links between both countries. Macri also proposed that the tourism flow from China to Argentina should be increased. Argentina has received a great amount of investments from China, especially in infrastructure, such as railway, hydropower and nuclear projects. According to Argentinean media, Macri also met with Jack Ma, president of Chinese on-line business group, Alibaba, as well as representatives of Sany, China National Nuclear Corporation, PowerChina and Gezhouba Group. RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of activists from farmers' movements protested Monday outside the Ministry of Planning in Brasilia against the new pensions reform being led by the new government of Michel Temer. Anger is particularly directed at Temer's proposal to raise the minimum retirement age to 65 for men and women. The protest happened largely peacefully except for when a handful of protesters tried to enter the government building but were prevented by security forces. "The proposed reform will cause a loss of rights for the workers of the field, who will become equal to city workers," said a note issued by the movements behind the protest. The Temer administration, which was formally installed into office last week after the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff but has ruled in an interim capacity since May, wishes to modify the current pensions system, which mandates women must work at least 30 years and men 35 years. The reform would raise the ceiling to 65 years for all workers, removing a benefit for rural workers who can retire at 60 for men and 55 for women, even if they have not worked the minimum number of years, since their labor is considered to be more taxing. The Temer government has also said in the past that the entire pensions system is open to abuse, citing government figures that the average retirement age is 54, that spouses and children of deceased public servants or soldiers can collect pensions until they die, and that the current rate of payouts are unsustainable. Top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un provides field guidance to the drill for ballistic rocket fire of the Hwasong artillery units of the KPA Strategic Force in this undated picture provided by KCNA in Pyongyang on July 21, 2016. Xinhua/KCNA PYONGYANG, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un has guided the test-firing of ballistic rockets by the strategic force, the official news agency KCNA reported Tuesday. Taking part in the test-firing drill were Hwasong artillery units of the strategic force of the Korean People's Army, who are tasked with hitting the U.S. military bases in the Pacific, the state media said. The drill was aimed to reexamine the flight security and guided accuracy of the improved ballistic rockets deployed for action and to assess and inspect capabilities of the units for action, it noted. The state media described the test-firing as "perfect" and said the drill has proved that the strategic force of the military is "capable of mounting a preemptive attack on the enemies any time and from any place." Kim, who was satisfied with the test result, instructed to make more achievements in bolstering nuclear force and to bring the military deterrent on a higher lever through development of nuclear arsenal. The state media did not give the date and place of the test-firing drill. South Korean defense ministry has said that the DPRK on Monday fired three ballistic missiles into its eastern waters at about 12:14 p.m. Seoul time near Hwangju county in North Hwanghae province. The missile launches came less than two weeks after Pyongyang test-fired a ballistic missile from a submarine off its east coastal town of Sinpo, where a submarine base is known to be located, on Aug. 24. The submarine-launched ballistic missile flew some 500 km eastward, falling inside Japan's air defense identification zone for the first time. The submarine-launched ballistic missile test was conducted in an apparent show of force toward the annual U.S.-South Korea military drills, codenamed Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG), which had run from Aug. 22 to Sept. 2. Children from the Simon Rodriguez primary school in Old Havana begin their school year on September 5, 2016. (Xinhua/Joaquin Hernandez) HAVANA, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- About 2 million Cuban students returned to school and university all over the island on Monday, amid reforms in the Caribbean nation's educational system. The streets of Havana on Monday were filled with kids wearing traditional red, white and blue uniforms and parents overseeing the start of a new school year. "Today is my first day of school and I'm very happy because I want to learn how to read and write and meet new friends," Enrique Perez, a 6-year-old first grader, told Xinhua. For others, the start of the school year represents an opportunity to earn a spot in one of the country's universities. "We're really fortunate to have an education system that includes every teenager in Cuba. We receive the opportunity to go on and study at the college level, depending on our performance," said Thalia Valladares, a 17 year-old high-school student. This school year, the Education Ministry has set priorities, including increasing the quality of teachers, especially among newly qualified ones, as well as boosting cooperation between families and schools to help students learn better. Children from the Simon Rodriguez primary school in Old Havana begin their school year on September 5, 2016. (Xinhua/Joaquin Hernandez) "It is very important for our teachers to develop new educational tools and provide our students with quality classes in any given subject," Ena Elsa Velasquez, the island' s Minister of Education, told a press conference last week. According to Velasquez, across the island, schools were refurbished and painted, millions of books were printed out for free distribution and new desks and other furniture were bought for over 10,000 schools. "The Cuban government assigned 106 million U.S. dollars to guarantee a successful start to the school year as the education of children and young adults has always been a top priority in our country," she added. In higher education, over 220,000 students return to class in the island's 50 universities of the island with new reforms that look to make graduates more competitive internationally. Starting this year, most college degrees in the nation will decrease to four years instead of five and all university students must learn English at a professional level in order to graduate, a sign of changing times. "Over 87,000 students will start studying this year for a college degree in numerous fields, which represents a significant increase from last year," Jose Saborido, Cuba's Minister of Higher Education, told the press conference. From pre-school until the final year of college, Cuban students receive a free education that also provides all textbooks, notebooks and other materials needed. Cuba allocates around 13 percent of its budget to education, making it one of the countries in the world that spends the most in this field. BUENOS AIRES, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Argentine President Mauricio Macri on Monday described the Group of 20 (G20) summit in the Chinese city of Hangzhou as "impressive and huge." "This is my first summit and I received a very gracious welcome, I felt very comfortable," Macri told the Argentinean Mitre radio station. "The organization is impressive. What they have done is huge." He added that the G20 bloc had provided "an absolute opening for Argentina." "In 2018, we will have the honor of hosting the G20 ... it is lucky we are not following China," he joked. According to Macri, China, Argentina and Germany (the 2017 host) have held meetings to discuss themes for the G20's present and future agendas. The G20 summit was held on Sept. 4-5 in Hangzhou, a city known for its beautiful West Lake and one of the most favored destinations in China by foreign visitors. In his writings about China, Marco Polo called Hangzhou "paradise on Earth." SYDNEY, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Australian dollar opened slightly lower on Tuesday as currency markets were relatively stable overnight. At the opening on Tuesday, the local unit was trading at 75.83 U.S. cents, down from 76 U.S. cents on Monday. Commonwealth Bank of Australia chief currency strategist Richard Grace in a note said the Australian dollar edged a little higher in overnight trade and is currently trading at 75.85 U.S. cents, partly encouraged by higher base metal and oil prices. Grace said the Aussie dollar will take some direction from the release of Australian quarterly net export and balance of payments data by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) at 1130 local time (AEST) on Tuesday. "We don't anticipate a large pick-up in volume following the no-change decision by the RBA, and an accompanying statement indicating an economic view similar to the RBA's quarterly Monetary Policy Statement released last month," he said. At 0925 AEST, the Australian dollar was trading at 75.91 U.S. cents. MELBOURNE, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- An Australian man has raised 4,000 U.S. dollars to bring a stray dog home from Greece. Jacob Welsh from Geelong, 75 km south-west of Melbourne, raised the money on a popular crowd funding website in a little over 24 hours, surpassing his goal 2,200 U.S. dollar goal, to bring the dog, which he named "Chance," back to Australia. Welsh said the resounding success of the campaign guaranteed Chance would have a home for the rest of her life. "Thank you! She will not spend another night on the street thanks to all the help we've received," Welsh wrote on social media on Tuesday. Welsh said he and Chance became inseparable after he found her lying in a pile of broken glass on the side of a busy road in Greece. "I called her over to me and she hesitantly approached, I gave her a little pat and ever since then she has followed me wherever I go," he wrote on social media earlier. "I didn't have the heart to leave her on the street after that so since then I have been sneaking her into my apartment, which has a strict no-pets policy. "The sad reality of her going back on the streets is becoming more and more real as my time left in Greece comes to an end. "Australia's laws are very strict with this kind of thing but I have done the research and it is possible, just very expensive. If you can spare a few dollars Chance and I would really appreciate it." Costs involved in bringing an animal into Australia include a rabies vaccine, pet passport, plane tickets, airport transfers, de-worming medication and a pet carrier box. VIENTIANE, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama and his Philippines counterpart Rodrigo Duterte will not meet in Laos on the sidelines of the 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits and East Asia Summit, the U.S. Embassy in Vientiane confirmed on Tuesday. According to media report, plans for a bilateral meeting were shelved after comments by the firebrand Philippine president in response to reporters' questions on the prospects for a proposed bilateral meeting prior to his departure for Vientiane. "I always want to make sure that if I'm having a meeting that it's actually productive and we're getting something done," Obama was quoted as telling reporters before his departure from China to Laos for the East Asia Summit. The proposed meeting, now cancelled, would have been the first since Duterte came into office on June 30. Obama arrived in the Lao capital on Monday evening after participating in the G20 Summit in China's eastern city of Hangzhou. MEXICO CITY, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- The consensus to reject trade protectionism is an important result of the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China, when the world is facing a sluggish economy, Mexican expert Jose Luis Leon-Manriquez said during a recent interview. "It was important that President Xi Jinping made this call about protectionism since recent events, such as Brexit (Britain's exit from the European Union) or the run-up to the U.S. election, have seen a protectionist agenda," said the researcher with the Autonomous Metropolitan University. "The G20 is aware that a difficult time is coming as these protectionist tendencies could undo the successes of the international economic system," he explained. G20 leaders are very worried about the protectionist tendency, as these countries have bet on international trade as a way of integrating the global economy, and "their concern is well founded," Leon-Manriquez said. At the end of the G20 Summit on Monday, Xi told the press that the G20 members had agreed to cooperate on opening up global trade. At the summit, the G20 members signed the Hangzhou Consensus to pursue open, interconnected and inclusive long-term growth. The consensus states that the countries would deploy fiscal, monetary and structural reforms to avoid short-term risks. The summit will leave a positive legacy to the world, as the G20 members have pledged to take joint and various efforts to stabilize the global economy, Leon-Manriquez said. WASHINGTON, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- A massive flash mob highlighting Chinese and U.S. cultural marks was performed on the Ellipse lawn in front of the White House, in celebration of the 2016 China-U.S. Tourism Year. Hundreds of participants voluntarily joined the event, which was part of the China-U.S. Tourism Year programs. There were also performances of Chinese martial arts, traditional Shaoxing Opera, Chinese dances, western ballroom dances, and opera. Among the participants was Adrian Frank, a teenager at a Kung Fu team from New York, who entertained the audience by displaying his Chinese Kung Fu. He told Xinhua that he's been practising Kung Fu for 12 years. "I like the mixed cultures. The American and Chinese cultures are so different, but yet they fit perfectly together," said Frank. Annie Shen, a young girl who has been a Kung Fu student for two years, joined Frank in the show. She said this practice made her feel cool and healthy. "When I told my friends about Kung Fu, they don't know what it is usually. But when I explain to them, they think it's really cool," Shen said. For the 2016 China-U.S. Tourism Year, governments of both countries have adopted a series of measures to boost tourism. China is now the fourth largest source of foreign visitors to the United States, while the United States has become the third largest source of foreign visitors to China. SYDNEY, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The boob job boom of Australians heading to Asia for cheap cosmetic surgery could come to an end as Australian doctor's slash prices. Now Aussie firms are not only offering cosmetic surgery that is priced competitively but it also comes without the risks associated with overseas options, NewsCorp reported on Tuesday. One such happy camper is Shay Farrell, 19, who has just undergone breast reduction surgery at Gold Coast Surgical Hospital after being quoted a cheaper price than some options in Asia. "My out-of-pocket expenses were less than what I was quoted for the same procedure in Thailand and that didn't include flights," Farrell said. "This way you know you're getting Australian medical industry standards and you have the comfort of having it done at home instead of having to travel and worry about what happens if something goes wrong." Australian Medical Association Queensland President Chris Zappala said it was encouraging to see cheaper options available within Australian shores. "Patients often underestimate the seriousness of cosmetic surgery," Zappala said. "Australian medical practitioners are some of the most highly trained and skilled doctors in the world and we urge patients not to put their lives at risk by having a procedure done in a country that isn't as well-regulated," he said. Claire Licciardo, who runs Cosmetic Holidays International in Queensland, acknowledged that cheaper options at home were cutting into the overseas market. "The whole industry has responded to the cosmetic tourism market by bringing prices down," Licciardo said. "The consumer is the one who is winning," she said. BEIJING, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will visit Laos on Sept. 6-9 to attend a series of summits including the 19th China-ASEAN (10+1) leaders' meeting. Li's visit is widely considered as an important diplomatic action to deepen China-ASEAN relations and promote cooperation among East Asian countries. Here is a glimpse of what Li has said about ASEAN in recent years: On Aug. 1, 2016, Li said in a congratulatory letter to the Ninth China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week held in China's southwestern city of Guiyang that people-to-people exchanges, including educational exchanges, are emerging as a new pillar of China-ASEAN relations and showing broad prospects. On July 19, 2016 in Beijing, Li said in a congratulatory message sent to Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith that the China-ASEAN dialogue relationship, established 25 years ago, has withstood various tests and the two-way cooperation has yielded plentiful fruits, bringing tangible benefits to the people of both sides and becoming a paradigm of equal treatment and common development between countries of different sizes. On July 15, 2016 in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, Li said China will stick to the approach of settling the South China Sea disputes via dialogue and consultation between countries directly concerned, while protecting regional peace and stability as well as freedom of navigation in collaboration with ASEAN member states. On June 3, 2016 in Beijing, Li said during a state visit by Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni that China supports ASEAN's integration process and the construction of the ASEAN community, adding that the China-Cambodia friendship complements China-ASEAN relations. On May 31, 2016 in Beijing, Li said China stands ready to work with ASEAN members and other Asian countries to enhance mutual political trust, integrate development strategies, expand mutually beneficial cooperation and increase people-to-people exchanges. On March 23, 2016 in Sanya, China's Hainan Province, Li said that China firmly supports ASEAN's integration, and that the Lancang-Mekong cooperation will supplement China-ASEAN relations. On Nov. 22, 2015, Li said while attending the 18th China-ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that China and ASEAN countries commit themselves to the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea in its entirety, accelerate consultations to strive for an early conclusion of a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC) on the basis of consensus, and take steps to improve regional mechanisms for mutual trust and cooperation. On Nov. 21, 2015, Li pledged during the 18th China-ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur that China is offering infrastructure loans totaling 10 billion U.S. dollars to ASEAN countries. The China-ASEAN relationship transcends bilateral dimension and is becoming an important cornerstone of peace, stability and development of East Asia, he said. Li called on China and ASEAN to speed up the implementation of the outcomes of the negotiations on an upgrade of their Free Trade Agreement, and make concerted efforts to conclude as early as possible the negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. Li called on China and ASEAN to conjoin China's Belt and Road Initiative with other regional development strategies to promote integration. China and ASEAN should also explore potential in international production capacity cooperation and jointly boost cooperation in security, Li said. He also asked the two sides to promote the sustainable development of the region by promoting maritime cooperation, strengthening agricultural capacity construction, building a platform for sharing information on environmental protection and deepening people-to-people exchanges. SEOUL, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's beer exports hit a record high last year on the back of popularity of the Korean Wave, customs data showed on Tuesday. Beer exports reached a fresh high of 84.46 million U.S. dollars in 2015, up 15.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the Korea Customs Service (KCS). It surpassed the previous high of 73.18 million dollars tallied in 2014. During the three-year period through 2015, South Korea's overall exports declined 5.9 percent, but beer exports jumped 16.9 percent. Strong demand continued this year. For the first seven months of this year, beer exports gained 3.7 percent compared with the same period of last year. Brisk shipments were attributed to higher popularity of South Korean dramas, some of which showed actors drinking beer together with fried chicken. Beer shipments to China's Hong Kong reached 35 million U.S. dollars in 2015, accounting for 41.6 percent of the total. It was followed by the Chinese mainland which took up 22.9 percent of total beer exports. Exports of beer to Iraq ranked third with a share of 8.6 percent, and Singapore came next with a portion of 8.0 percent. YANGON, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi left Yangon for Vientiane on Tuesday to attend the 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits and related summits to be held in the Lao capital. The summits are another regional meetings after the 49th ASEAN ministerial meeting held in Vientiane in July when Suu Kyi attended as a foreign minister. The Myanmar government voiced commitment to working for the development of the rules-based ASEAN, calling for support of the countrymen in the nation-building which it said will contribute to the success of ASEAN. 2016 is not only Myanmar's first year in the ASEAN following the formation of the new government but also the first year of the ASEAN Community. Myanmar called for doubled efforts in ASEAN Community Building to anticipate the 50th anniversary of ASEAN in the coming year. Myanmar also voiced support of Laos' ASEAN chairmanship which is taking place at a time when the regional bloc is strengthening the community efforts by implementing the ASEAN Community Vision 2025. In May, Suu Kyi accompanied President U Htin Kyaw as a state counselor on a goodwill visit to Laos after the new government of the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) took office in April. Enditem WELLINGTON, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The New Zealand government on Tuesday signaled its intention to adopt international rules to clamp down on the cross-border tax-avoiding practice of hybrid mismatch arrangements. The strategy was used by some large multinationals to shift profits overseas and minimize their tax, and the government considered New Zealand's rules on hybrids could be stronger, Revenue Minister Michael Woodhouse said. "A discussion document which proposes that New Zealand adopt the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) recommendations on hybrid mismatch arrangements was today released for consultation," said Woodhouse. "Hybrid mismatch arrangements are one of the base erosion and profit shifting strategies used by multinationals to exploit the difference between how two countries might treat a cross-border transaction, resulting in less tax." The OECD recommendations removed the advantage of using hybrids. "It is important that our rules complement those of other countries, particularly Australia and the UK who have both announced their intentions to adopt the OECD recommendations in this area," said Woodhouse. The proposal is open to submissions until Oct. 17. MACAO, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries will be held here on Oct. 11-12, the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) government said on Tuesday. Sponsored by the Chinese central government and hosted by the government of Macao SAR, the forum was created in Macao in 2003, with participation of seven Portuguese-speaking countries - Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and Timor-Leste. The forum has achieved great successes under the framework of intergovernmental cooperation in trade, investment, human resources, agriculture, fisheries. During the fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum, Action Plans for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (2017-2019) will be signed to lay out the key areas and directions of the economic and trade cooperations between China and Portuguese-speaking countries. The ministerial meeting this year will bring new dynamism to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Portuguese-Speaking countries and to promote the economic development of participating countries. Chinese President Xi Jinping (C), U.S. President Barack Obama (R) and Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon attend the deposit of instruments of joining the Paris Agreement in Hangzhou, capital city of east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 3, 2016. (Xinhua/Li Tao) BRUSSELS, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- The determination and joint leadership that China and the United States have demonstrated on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) summit in fighting climate change have won widespread applause. At a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping, U.S. President Barack Obama and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on the eve of the G20 Hangzhou summit, both China and the United States formally ratified the climate change agreement. In the eyes of some environmental experts, it is time for European countries as well as the European Union (EU) to follow suit. As a result, the early entry into force of the Paris Agreement, which was seen as an inconceivable task a short few months ago, is now close to reality, said Li Shuo, senior global policy advisor of Greenpeace East Asia. "The rhythm and durability of the new climate regime will be enhanced as a result of it," the expert said, adding: "The G20 outcome strengthens China's climate leadership." On Dec. 12, 2015, after hard and lengthy bargaining, climate negotiators of 196 parties to the UN conference on climate change in Paris sealed the climate change pact, aiming to reverse the trend of temperature rises mainly caused by carbon emissions. Jennifer Morgan, executive director of Greenpeace International, urged other countries to endorse the Paris Agreement this year. "Countries now need to react to the strong call from the G20 to formally join and ratify the Paris Agreement as soon as possible, so that this Agreement can enter into force this year," the expert said. Meanwhile, on behalf of the Greenpeace, Morgan urged Germany, the G20's next president, to lead by example in the year before its G20 presidency to show the world that it is ready to transform its full economy to be zero carbon and shift the investments needed to do so. As the world's two largest economies, China and the United States together account for 39 percent of global emissions, while the Paris pact still lacks the support of 55 nations that account for 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Christoph Bals, policy director at Germanwatch said the ratification increased the pressure for all EU governments to follow suit if they don't want to be left out. Bals commended China for putting the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the greening of the financial system on the G20 agenda, adding that it is now up to the German presidency next year to deliver concrete implementation strategies on these issues. Celia Gautier, international and EU policy advisor at Climate Action Network, said France can play an active role in the coming months to convince other G20 countries to make climate-risk disclosure mandatory for all investments, and to introduce climate stress tests for companies. "France can rely on its own experience, since it made climate-risk disclosure and reporting mandatory in 2015. Secondly, France should join the U.S., China, Germany and others in the reform and peer review process of their public support to fossil fuels, and phase out its harmful subsidies by 2020," Gautier said. Ruth Davis, senior associate of the London-based organization Third Generation Environmentalism (E3G), said it is the perfect moment for Theresa May to show that Britain will not be left behind, economically or diplomatically, by this new reality. "As well prompt UK ratification of the Paris Agreement, top of her agenda should be confirming a date for phasing out the UK's remaining coal-fired power stations and setting out an ambitious industrial strategy that will enable UK firms to take advantage of rapidly expanding clean technology markets," Davis said. As a business leader, Jill Duggan, director of Prince of Wales's Corporate Leaders Group, said strong signals from the G20 governments are important for businesses to act. "With such a signal the private sector will respond and unlock the creative innovation needed to solve the climate crisis," the expert said. Duggan stressed that businesses and policymakers alike need to stop thinking incrementally, but focus on delivering the innovative solutions needed to lift the society into the next era. "The shift to a more sustainable global economy will be the most capital intensive transition in human history," said Ben Caldecott, director of the Sustainable Finance Programme at the University of Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. "The G20 is right to focus on how to mobilize the finance required, and we warmly welcome the work produced jointly by the Bank of England and the People's Bank of China on green finance. It is important that this work accelerates under the G20 in Germany," he added. BEIJING, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a message to incumbent Zambian President Edgar Lungu to congratulate him on his re-election as Zambian president. In the message sent to Lungu on Monday, Xi expressed his wish that the Zambian government and people would score greater achievements in Zambia's national construction under Lungu's leadership. Xi stressed that he highly values the traditional friendship and bilateral relations between China and Zambia and that he would work together with his Zambian counterpart to constantly enhance China-Zambia ties and bring more benefits to the two countries and the two peoples. Zambians voted in presidential, parliamentary and local government elections on Aug. 11. The country's electoral body announced incumbent President Edgar Lungu as the winner of the presidential election. HAVANA, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez met with Association of Caribbean States (ACS) chief June Soomer here on Monday to discuss ways to reinforce the role of the regional organization. Rodriguez and the ACS secretary general discussed the implementation of the agreements of the organization's seventh summit held in Havana in June, according to a press release from the Cuban Foreign Ministry. Soomer informed the Cuban minister about the implementation of the program developed by the ACS to address climate change in the region for the next two years. The ACS was formally created in July 1994 with an aim to promote consultation, cooperation and concerted action among its member countries. Cuba holds the presidency of the 25-member organization this year. During the summit in Havana in June, the region's leaders approved the Havana Declaration and agreed to strengthen the regional role of the ACS with joint cooperation, consultation and political concertation. The declaration touched on political issues like the U.S. blockade on Cuba, the Venezuelan crisis as well as the joint action plan for the next two years set to increase economic and commercial cooperation among the member states. DHAKA, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of Bangladeshi policemen cordoned off a building in the capital's diplomatic Gulshan on Tuesday, where militants were suspected of holing up. BAGHDAD, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Up to five people were killed and 19 others injured in a car bomb explosion at a crowded commercial area in Karrada neighborhood in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, a police source told Xinhua on Tuesday. "Our latest reports said that five people were killed and more than 19 others wounded by the car bomb attack in Karrada," the source said on condition of anonymity. The attack occurred before midnight on Monday when a booby-trapped car detonated near Abdul-Majid Hospital, a private hospital, at a busy thoroughfare in Karrada neighborhood in southern central Baghdad, the source said. The blast destroyed several nearby shops, including a coffee shop, and many stalls, along with destroying several civilian cars, the source said. Iraqi security forces sealed off the area and blocked the roads leading to the scene, while ambulances and police vehicles evacuated the killed and wounded people to the city hospitals, the source added. Early in July, Karrada was the scene of massive bombing that killed and wounded hundreds of people and huge fires in several nearby commercial buildings. Iraq has witnessed worsening violence since the Islamic State (IS) group took control of parts of its northern and western regions in June 2014. Terrorist acts, violence and armed conflicts killed 691 Iraqis and wounded 1,016 others in August across Iraq, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq said on Thursday. Many blame the current chronic instability, cycle of violence, and the emergence of extremist groups, such as the IS, on the United State, who invaded and occupied Iraq in March 2003. VIENTIANE, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Chile, Egypt and Morocco here on Tuesday signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) in Southeast Asia, bringing the number of countries that signed the TAC to 35. The treaty, which came into force in 1976, was forged by members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and aims at promoting regional and international peace and stability between countries within the code of conduct. Foreign ministers from ASEAN members agreed at their 49th ministerial meeting in July to accept the three countries to join in the treaty. The TAC extension came on the occasion as the 28th and 29th ASEAN summits and related summits kicked off on Tuesday. Iraqis carry the coffins of relatives on September 6, 2016 a day after a car bombexplosion in the Karrada district of the capital Baghdad in which at least five people were killed. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) BAGHDAD, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- At least five people were killed and 19 others injured in a car bomb explosion at a crowded commercial area in Karrada neighborhood in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, a police source told Xinhua on Tuesday. "Our latest reports said that at least five people were killed and more than 19 others wounded by the car bomb attack in Karrada," the source said on condition of anonymity. The attack occurred before midnight on Monday when a booby-trapped car detonated near Abdul-Majid Hospital, a private hospital, at a busy thoroughfare in Karrada neighborhood in southern central Baghdad, the source said. The blast destroyed several nearby shops, including a coffee shop, and many stalls, along with destroying several civilian cars, the source said. Iraqi security forces sealed off the area and blocked the roads leading to the scene, while ambulances and police vehicles evacuated the killed and wounded people to the city hospitals, the source added. Early in July, Karrada was the scene of massive bombing that killed and wounded hundreds of people and huge fires in several nearby commercial buildings. Iraq has witnessed worsening violence since the Islamic State (IS) group took control of parts of its northern and western regions in June 2014. Terrorist acts, violence and armed conflicts killed 691 Iraqis and wounded 1,016 others in August across Iraq, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq said on Thursday. Many blame the current chronic instability, cycle of violence, and the emergence of extremist groups, such as the IS, on the United State, who invaded and occupied Iraq in March 2003. BEIJING, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Animal conservation experts have lauded China's efforts to save the giant panda and increase its population. Decades of conservation efforts have paid off as the giant panda was upgraded from "endangered" to "vulnerable" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. The success is due to Chinese efforts to restore the panda's habitat, Craig Hilton-Taylor, manager of the IUCN Red List, was quoted by the BBC as saying. At the end of 2015, 1,864 giant pandas were in the wild, compared with 1,100 in 2000. And 422 giant pandas were living in captivity at the end of 2015. "The Chinese have done a great job in investing in panda habitats, expanding and setting up new reserves," said Ginette Hemley, senior vice president at the World Wildlife Fund. "They are a wonderful example of what can happen when a government is committed to conservation," she said. As for the downgrade of risk level, China has been cautious about it. China's State Forestry Administration said Monday that it was too early to downgrade the giant panda's conservation status, stressing that there are still threats to the animal's survival. The wild giant panda population is fragmented into 33 isolated groups, with some having fewer than 10 animals, which limits the gene pool for reproduction. Meanwhile, climate change is predicted to wipe out more than one third of the panda's bamboo habitat, a situation that will be exacerbated by insufficient funding and technical support. "If we downgrade their conservation status and our protection work is reduced, our achievements would be quickly forgotten," the administration noted. CHENGDU, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- An exhibition of Thangkas, or scroll paintings, showing the Red Army during the Long March, opened in southwest China's Sichuan Province on Tuesday. The 20 Thangkas are in a private gallery and were painted by more than 30 Tibetan artists. The exhibition lasts until Wednesday. "The scenes shown on the Thangkas are important historical moments during the Long March, when Tibetan people gave their support to the Red Army and formed friendship," said Jampel Gyatso, a 78-year-old Tibetologist. The scenes included former Chinese leader Mao Zedong's meeting with a Tibetan chieftain, Zhu De's meeting with an important religious figure, and a chieftain giving grain to the Red Army. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Long March, which is recognized as a turning point in China's revolution. Thangkas are an art unique to Tibetan culture, usually painted on linen or cotton cloth and mounted on brocade scrolls. They are listed as an intangible cultural heritage in China. The painters continue to work and are scheduled to complete 100 paintings that will also be exhibited in Beijing, as well as provinces such as Gansu and Guizhou that the Red Army went through during the Long March. RAMALLAH, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- A senior Palestinian official denied on Tuesday that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed in principle to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Moscow. Ahmed Majdalani, the senior official in Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said in an emailed press statement "it is not true that President Abu Mazen (Abbas) agreed to meet with Netanyahu in Moscow." "All what had been published in the media in this respect was untrue," he said, adding "any meeting (with Netanyahu) must be preceded by arrangements and a clear Israeli position toward the settlements and the peace talks." He asserted that in case Israel accepts these conditions, mainly setting up a timetable for the negotiations and the release of the Palestinian prisoners detained before Oslo agreement in 1994, "then there will be no obstacle for such a meeting." Earlier on Tuesday, a senior Palestinian diplomat told Xinhua that President Abbas agrees in principle to meet in Moscow with Netanyahu, but clarified that Israel until now is evading. Abdul Hafeez Noufal, the PLO ambassador to Russia, told Xinhua in a telephone conversation that President Abbas accepted the Russian initiative to hold a three-way meeting with Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, Noufal explained that Israel until now "is evading from this." The prominent Palestinian diplomat said that thanks to Russia for offering such an initiative amid the current tensed and difficult political situation, adding "but the Israeli side is still reluctant and wastes time." "Now we are talking about a Russian initiative that we welcomed it in principle and the Israeli side is still evading from it. In fact we haven't reached yet to a stage to speak about conditions and details," said Nloufal. Earlier, Abbas conditioned on Saturday that Israel has to implement its commitments toward the Palestinians in order to hold a meeting with Netanyahu and discuss permanent status questions. "We are demanding from the Israeli side to stop the illegal settlement on our Palestinian lands and release our prisoners," Abbas had said in Ramallah on Saturday, according to the state-run Palestinian news agency (WAFA). Egypt and France had also presented initiatives to push forward the peace process that has been stalled between Israel and the Palestinians since the suspension of their direct talks sponsored by the U.S. in April 2014. VIENTIANE, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the dialogue relationship between the two sides here on Wednesday. The following is a chronology of China-ASEAN relations since 1991. China and ASEAN began talks in 1991, when then Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen was invited to the opening ceremony of the 24th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting, marking the start of the formal contact between China and ASEAN. In July 1996, The ASEAN Standing Committee elevated the status of China from consultative partnership to full dialogue partnership. In December 1997, then Chinese President Jiang Zemin attended the first China-ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. After the summit, the two sides issued the Joint Declaration of the People's Republic of China and ASEAN Summit, establishing guidelines for their relationship and the policy of a good-neighborly partnership of mutual trust oriented to the 21st century. At the sixth China-ASEAN Summit in Cambodia in November 2002, leaders of the two sides signed the Framework Agreement on China-ASEAN Comprehensive Economic Cooperation, deciding to establish the China-ASEAN free trade area by 2010. During the Seventh China-ASEAN Summit in October 2003, then Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and ASEAN leaders signed the Joint Declaration on the Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity. At the meeting, China formally submitted an application to ASEAN to join the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia. In November 2004, in a presentation to the Eighth China-ASEAN Summit in Laos, then Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao made 10 proposals for further mutual cooperation. The two sides signed the Agreement on Trade in Goods of the Framework Agreement on China-ASEAN Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and the Agreement on Dispute Settlement Mechanism. These two agreements marked the beginning of the construction of a free trade area encompassing China and the ASEAN members. Beginning from July 1, 2005, China and ASEAN countries started their tariff-reducing process when the Agreement on Trade in Goods became effective. China and ASEAN countries signed the Agreement on Trade in Services of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area in the Philippines in January of 2007, laying the foundation for the China-ASEAN free trade area to be completed as scheduled. In August 2009, China and ASEAN members signed the ASEAN-China Investment Agreement. The signing of the investment agreement completed the negotiation process of ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA). Taking effect on Jan. 1, 2010, the ASEAN-China FTA became the world's third largest free trade area with a combined population of 1.9 billion and a combined GDP close to 6 trillion U.S. dollars. In September 2013, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said at the opening ceremony of the 10th China-ASEAN Expo and the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit in Nanning that China and ASEAN had the capabilities to create a "golden decade" in the past, and also have the power to create a "diamond decade" in the future. In October 2013, during a visit to Indonesia, Chinese President Xi Jinping said China is willing to work with ASEAN countries to jointly build the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and an even closer China-ASEAN community of common destiny, which has charted the course for the long-term development of the China-ASEAN relations. In August 2014, ASEAN and China decided to upgrade the ACFTA to ensure that it would remain dynamic and commercially relevant. The year 2016 marks the 25th anniversary of the dialogue relationship between China and ASEAN. By the end of this year, the two sides are expected to conclude negotiations towards the upgrade of the ACFTA. VIENTIANE, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Lao President Bounnhang Vorachit on Tuesday urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to enhance its centrality when deals with relations with the bloc's external partners based on the "ASEAN Way." Bounnhang made the remarks during his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits and Related Summits, calling on member states to work together toward further advancing a vibrant, sustainable and highly integrated economy, enhancing connectivity and narrowing the development gap within the 10-nation bloc. The president said that ASEAN should also enhance its cooperation and collaboration with the international community so as to address challenges such as terrorism and extremism, natural disaster, climate change and migration crisis. Laos chairs the 10-nation bloc this year that marks the first year after the establishment of the ASEAN Community. With five-decade efforts, ASEAN has become a single market and production base with a combined gross domestic product of 2.43 trillion U.S. dollars in 2015, ranking as the world's sixth largest economy, according to Bounnhang. The 28th and 29th ASEAN summits, with the theme of "Turning Vision into Reality for a Dynamic ASEAN Community," were held from Tuesday to Wednesday. Related summits, namely the ASEAN plus One Summits, Summit on Commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations, ASEAN plus Three (China, Japan, and South Korea) Summit, and the East Asia Summit, will be held on Wednesday and Thursday with a focus on cooperation between ASEAN and the dialogue partners. by Keren Setton JERUSALEM, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Routine maintenance work on Israel's railway has the potential to trigger a political crisis that may eventually lead to the toppling of the government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, observers here said Tuesday. Netanyahu, who is at odds with his Transport Minister Israel Katz, shut down the train line connecting Israel's two major cities for a day at the beginning of the week. While Katz favored the construction being done on Saturday, or the Jewish holy Sabbath, Netanyahu vetoed the decision. The seemingly small issue of work over the holy day hits at the core of a constant debate in Israel -- the delicate balance between religion and state that exists in the small Jewish state. Netanyahu faced threats from religious members of his coalition who said they would leave the government if such work would be carried out on the holy day of the week -- a day where work is forbidden according to Jewish belief. While the majority of Israelis are secular Jews, the Orthodox Jews have major political influence. Twenty one of the 67 members of Netanyahu's coalition are from Jewish religious parties. And when the fragile status quo between religion and state is threatened, political crisis arise. In a fragmented political system, the smallest stumbling block can cause major political upheaval. The chances of Netanyahu's government falling are slim but the spiraling nature of Israeli politics make any hiccup in the coalition a threat to its stability -- albeit a short-lived threat, observers here said. The current status quo is that the Israeli government should not publicly violate the Sabbath. The only exception is when lives are at stake -- at this instance, the Jewish religion even encourages the violation of the day of rest. The status quo is a series of agreements and arrangements that deal with the interaction between state and religion. There are understandings not only about the Sabbath, but also about kosher food, Jewish marriages, education and conversion of people to Judaism. Professor Abraham Diskin, a political scientist from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem who specializes in the Israeli political system, says it is clear that "the world has changed and the status quo cannot be maintained but it's principles will remain." The highly contentious issues have been managed throughout the years with similar events occurring every now and then, sometimes to be solved in creative ways. Since the work was scheduled on a major route and would result in the cessation of train traffic and the diversion to cars and buses, the Israeli police said it should be carried out on a Saturday in order to minimize the risk to peoples lives. According to the police, the prospect of debilitating traffic jams and the subsequent inability of emergency responders to move freely may put people's lives at risk. Seemingly, this would be justification for religious Jews to conduct the repairs on the holy rest day. This was not the case. Leaders of the religious parties threatened to quit the government should the maintenance work occur. Netanyahu leads the Likud party. His transport minister is an up and coming star, apparently threatening Netanyahu's seat. In the past, the Israeli premier has elegantly alienated potential threats from within his party. Israeli media commentators have speculated that Netanyahu's threat to fire Katz was an attempt to quell internal Likud opposition. In a column written by a prominent Israeli political commentator Amit Segal, he wrote that Netanyahu believed Katz was aiming for the premiership, convinced that Katz is 'undermining' him and working on Netanyahu's 'dismissal.' Prof. Diskin says this is the heart of the crisis 'between two secular men' and not between secular and orthodox parties. "Netanyahu did not fire him not because Katz is not powerful, but because he realized his own position is simply less popular." Tens of thousands of Israelis were stuck in traffic jams on Sunday morning -- perhaps the busiest time of the week because trains were out of service. The timing hit a particular nerve amongst the secular parts of the Israeli public -- soldiers and their families. Soldiers usually return to their bases on Sunday morning and rely on all types of public transport to do so. This highlighted another contentious issue in Israeli society -- while secular Jews have compulsory military service, orthodox Jews are exempt from serving in the military in order to continue their religious way of life. The sight of soldiers crowding on buses further highlighted the divide between the factions of Israeli society. In a poll conducted by Israel's national radio station in recent days, more than 80 percent of the Israeli public is against firing the transport minister, while 43 percent of those asked to see Netanyahu as responsible for the crisis by caving in to political pressure. Hundreds of people took to the streets in Tel Aviv to demonstrate against Netanyahu. The Israeli parliament, which is still in recess, will hold a special session next week to discuss the issue. While so far Netanyahu has not fired Katz, he publicly rebuked him at the weekly cabinet meeting saying the "crisis is completely unnecessary. There was no need to reach this situation." The ramifications of this political crisis may still come to light as there is potential for secular parties to capitalize on Netanyahu's decision to favor his religious coalition partners. While Diskin believes the crisis is a real one, it will pass and not lead to the formation of a new government. "Residue will remain -- between the Orthodox Jews and Katz and also between Netanyahu and Katz," Diskin summarizes. As the dust settles, it is the residue that may eventually lead to a shift in Israeli politics. Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong (R) meets with a delegation from the South African Communist Party (SACP) led by its General Secretary Blade Nzimande (L) in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 6, 2016. (Xinhua/Ju Peng) BEIJING, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong met with a delegation from the South African Communist Party (SACP) led by its General Secretary Blade Nzimande on Tuesday. Liu called on both sides to implement the consensus reached by the leaders of two countries on their bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership. She said the Communist Party of China (CPC) values ties with the SACP, and is willing to enhance party-to-party ties. Nzimande said the SACP is ready to expand cooperation with the CPC, including on party building and economic development. KIGALI, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- China is playing a key role in promoting regional integration by supporting infrastructural developments in Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) member states, says Sindiso Ngwenya, Secretary General of the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). In an interview with Xinhua at the sidelines of the Global African Investment Summit in Rwanda capital Kigali, Ngwenya noted that China's contribution to regional integration was boosting intra-African trade on the continent. Rwanda hosts the high level investment forum from 5th to 6th September 2016, aimed at delivering international trade and investment to Africa's most dynamic region. TFTA brings together three of Africa's major regional economic communities, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the East African Community (EAC), and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). "China's continuous contribution to the regional integration and the building of the Great COMESA-SADC-EAC Free Trade Zone is vital to our regional countries to increase trade and investments among TFTA bloc," Comesa secretary general said. He called on other countries to emulate China's efforts towards realization of strong regional integration in Africa. "We have seen Chinese investment in many African counties especially in the areas of infrastructure and energy development, agriculture, human resource development and capacity building skills and culture among others. China's support to Africa is crucial towards achieving Agenda 2063," he said. Agenda 2063 is the African continent's vision for development and socio-economic transformation over the next 50 years. Presently only three of Africa's eight regional economic communities are participating in the TFTA. Non-participating economic blocs include the Arab Maghreb Union, the Economic Community of West African States, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the Economic Community of Central African States and the Community of Sahel-Saharan States. Ngwenya pointed out two important things that investors will look at in the continent are the market size and a conducive business/investment climate. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz attend the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on September 4, 2016. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) JERUSALEM, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Routine maintenance work on Israel's railway has the potential to trigger a political crisis that may eventually lead to the toppling of the government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, observers here said Tuesday. Netanyahu, who is at odds with his Transport Minister Israel Katz, shut down the train line connecting Israel's two major cities for a day at the beginning of the week. While Katz favored the construction being done on Saturday, or the Jewish holy Sabbath, Netanyahu vetoed the decision. The seemingly small issue of work over the holy day hits at the core of a constant debate in Israel -- the delicate balance between religion and state that exists in the small Jewish state. Netanyahu faced threats from religious members of his coalition who said they would leave the government if such work would be carried out on the holy day of the week -- a day where work is forbidden according to Jewish belief. While the majority of Israelis are secular Jews, the Orthodox Jews have major political influence. Twenty one of the 67 members of Netanyahu's coalition are from Jewish religious parties. And when the fragile status quo between religion and state is threatened, political crisis arise. In a fragmented political system, the smallest stumbling block can cause major political upheaval. The chances of Netanyahu's government falling are slim but the spiraling nature of Israeli politics make any hiccup in the coalition a threat to its stability -- albeit a short-lived threat, observers here said. The current status quo is that the Israeli government should not publicly violate the Sabbath. The only exception is when lives are at stake -- at this instance, the Jewish religion even encourages the violation of the day of rest. The status quo is a series of agreements and arrangements that deal with the interaction between state and religion. There are understandings not only about the Sabbath, but also about kosher food, Jewish marriages, education and conversion of people to Judaism. Professor Abraham Diskin, a political scientist from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem who specializes in the Israeli political system, says it is clear that "the world has changed and the status quo cannot be maintained but it's principles will remain." The highly contentious issues have been managed throughout the years with similar events occurring every now and then, sometimes to be solved in creative ways. Since the work was scheduled on a major route and would result in the cessation of train traffic and the diversion to cars and buses, the Israeli police said it should be carried out on a Saturday in order to minimize the risk to peoples lives. According to the police, the prospect of debilitating traffic jams and the subsequent inability of emergency responders to move freely may put people's lives at risk. Seemingly, this would be justification for religious Jews to conduct the repairs on the holy rest day. This was not the case. Leaders of the religious parties threatened to quit the government should the maintenance work occur. Netanyahu leads the Likud party. His transport minister is an up and coming star, apparently threatening Netanyahu's seat. In the past, the Israeli premier has elegantly alienated potential threats from within his party. Israeli media commentators have speculated that Netanyahu's threat to fire Katz was an attempt to quell internal Likud opposition. In a column written by a prominent Israeli political commentator Amit Segal, he wrote that Netanyahu believed Katz was aiming for the premiership, convinced that Katz is 'undermining' him and working on Netanyahu's 'dismissal.' Prof. Diskin says this is the heart of the crisis 'between two secular men' and not between secular and orthodox parties. "Netanyahu did not fire him not because Katz is not powerful, but because he realized his own position is simply less popular." Tens of thousands of Israelis were stuck in traffic jams on Sunday morning -- perhaps the busiest time of the week because trains were out of service. The timing hit a particular nerve amongst the secular parts of the Israeli public -- soldiers and their families. Soldiers usually return to their bases on Sunday morning and rely on all types of public transport to do so. This highlighted another contentious issue in Israeli society -- while secular Jews have compulsory military service, orthodox Jews are exempt from serving in the military in order to continue their religious way of life. The sight of soldiers crowding on buses further highlighted the divide between the factions of Israeli society. In a poll conducted by Israel's national radio station in recent days, more than 80 percent of the Israeli public is against firing the transport minister, while 43 percent of those asked to see Netanyahu as responsible for the crisis by caving in to political pressure. Hundreds of people took to the streets in Tel Aviv to demonstrate against Netanyahu. The Israeli parliament, which is still in recess, will hold a special session next week to discuss the issue. While so far Netanyahu has not fired Katz, he publicly rebuked him at the weekly cabinet meeting saying the "crisis is completely unnecessary. There was no need to reach this situation." The ramifications of this political crisis may still come to light as there is potential for secular parties to capitalize on Netanyahu's decision to favor his religious coalition partners. While Diskin believes the crisis is a real one, it will pass and not lead to the formation of a new government. "Residue will remain -- between the Orthodox Jews and Katz and also between Netanyahu and Katz," Diskin summarizes. As the dust settles, it is the residue that may eventually lead to a shift in Israeli politics. iStock/Thinkstock(GLOUCESTER, Va.) -- Students returned to school in Gloucester, Virginia on Tuesday under a cloud of uncertainty, as the state awaits a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court regarding transgender bathroom access. Gloucester, in particular, faces scrutiny as Virginians await word from the Supreme Court, because of a protest from Gloucester High School senior Gavin Grimm. Grimm, a female-to-male student, sued the school board over their policy that requires students to use the restroom associated with its biological gender at birth or a private, single-stall restroom. A series of appeals that followed eventually brought the issue to the highest court in the land. Grimm will not be permitted to use the same restroom as his male classmates -- although he started living his life as a boy several years ago, he said. The Supreme Court agreed in August to allow the Gloucester County School board the right to stop Grimm from using the boy's bathroom -- at least until the justices decide whether or not to examine an appeals court ruling of the case. Of the eight justices currently serving on the Supreme Court, four of them must agree to review Grimm's case against the School Board for it to go forward. Should it go forward, it would help bring one of the most fiercely debated cultural issues of 2016 that much closer to settlement and affect the lives of many transgender students beyond Grimm. Grimm first received permission to use the boys restroom at the high school in 2014 for several weeks, after informing the school about his transition. Then the school board adopted its current policy in December of 2014 as a response to the complaints of parents. The board voted 6-1 in favor of the new policy, according to public meeting minutes posted online. The Gloucester County School Board did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News regarding the case. Claire Gastanaga, the Executive Director of the ACLU Virginia, the organization that represents Grimm, told ABC News that she is disappointed with the fight the school board has waged against her client, and suggested that they "caved to pressure from parents" without giving appropriate consideration to the feelings of their student. "Gavin has a right to be free from discrimination," Gastanaga told ABC News. She said that the ACLU expects the Supreme Court to review the case this fall. Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. WINDHOEK, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- A number of Namibian economic experts have said the recent Fitch downgrade of the country's economic outlook was within expectations. Fitch Ratings announced last week that they had downgraded Namibia's economic outlook from stable to negative, as the government debt leaped from 23.2 percent in 2014 and to a forecasted 39 percent of GDP by the end of 2016. It also cited falling Southern African Customs Union revenue and the 10-year 750 million Eurobond Namibia got in 2015, and the dwindling foreign reserves. Some of the reasons the rating agency gave was the proposed New Equitable Economic Empowerment Framework that would entail that companies give 25 percent shares to previously disadvantaged Namibians amid a widening budget deficit, which progressed from 0.1 percent in 2012 to 3.4 percent in 2013, and again to 6.4 percent in 2014. Fitch said although the proposed economic law lacks details, it is likely that parliament will approve it thereby causing "some unease in the business community and could slow down foreign investment in manufacturing and services". Already a number of organizations have advised the government to abandon the proposed economic law, with employers and businesses saying it will adversely affect foreign investors. Suta Kavari, who is with an investment firm, the proposed new economic law has led to a slowdown in foreign investments. Kavari said the slowdown will continue if there is still uncertainty over the proposed new economic law and if the government pushes on to implement it. However, Presidential Economic advisor John Steytler said Fitch's views on the proposed new economic law were premature since a consultative process is underway. He said the rating was expected because globally the economies are slowing down. "We're not entirely surprised that this happened, knowing that globally there have been a lot of headwinds. Some countries have lost their credit ratings, so we're glad that we remain creditworthy and able to borrow at good rates," Steytler said. According to Steytler, there is no need to worry because the rating is a "normal cycle the entire world is going through". "It would've been worrying if the global economy was positive, while ours is negative. What is happening here is a trend of the global economy outlook," he said. Purvance Heuer, a director with a research firm based in Windhoek, said the rating was expected especially considering that Namibia is an emerging economy. "Emerging economies, or commodity-exporting economies like South Africa have been experiencing the wrath of low commodity prices that exerted pressure on exports revenue and fiscal position," Heuer said. Finance minister Calle Schlettwein concurred, saying Namibia as a small growing economy is buffeted by the prevailing global slowdown. Namibia, the minister said, does not exist in a vacuum and that the situation in Angola as well as the depressed commodity prices contributed to the economic outlook downgrade. "In this more challenging environment, one cannot expect to see the strong revenue growth of the 2012-2014 period repeated in the coming few years," Schlettwein said. "We need to be careful in handling cases in our economy, such as wage negotiations." Economists Rowland Brown said the current situation was foreseeable and should have been avoided, while urging the government to take the rating as a warning and heed the views of analysts who have been warning about the impending issue for more than a year. "A ratings downgrade can still be avoided, but extremely tough decisions are needed from the fiscus and the government as a whole to ensure this does not materialize," he said. Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani (R) and French National Assembly President Claude Bartolone give a joint press conference following their meeting at the Iranian parliament on September 6, 2016 in Tehran. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) TEHRAN, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Iran welcomes foreign investments in its Information and Communications Technology (ICT) projects, Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mahmoud Vaezi said here on Tuesday. Iran plans to invest 16 billion euros (17.86 billion U.S. dollars) in ICT by the state and private sectors in the next five years, Vaezi was quoted as saying by official IRNA news agency. One fourth of the investment will be made by the government and the private sector will undertake the rest, the minister said. Iran encourages foreign investment in ICT and will facilitate the grounds for that, he said in an address to 'Iran Connect 2016' conference that started here on Tuesday and will last for two days. Israeli rescue workers gather at the site where a building collapse on September 5, 2016 in the Ramat Hahayal neighbourhood in the coastal city of Tel Aviv. Three people were killed around 20 others injured, officials said, as rescuers tried to reach several people believed trapped in rubble. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) JERUSALEM, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Rescue forces said they retrieved Tuesday a third body from the rubbles of a building that collapsed a day before in Israel's financial capital Tel Aviv, killing at least three people. Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the man was a construction worker. He showed no signs of life when the rescuers finally reached him, about 24 hours after the collapse. A military spokesperson said that the teams are continuing their efforts to find more casualties in the multi-story underground car park, which was still under construction at the time of the collapse. The teams believe that at least two more missing workers are trapped in the rubbles. According to MDA rescue service, 23 construction workers were injured in the accident. Five people had been pulled alive from the wreckage by Monday evening, in what the army termed a "vigorous" search and rescue effort, according to The Times of Israel. Four hundred soldiers from the IDF's Home Front Command were still working at the site Tuesday, an IDF spokesperson said. One fatality was identified on Monday night as a 28-year-old construction worker from Ukraine. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayahu, who left Tuesday morning on a diplomatic visit to The Hague, Netherlands, visited the site on Monday night, saying that he was "deeply impressed by the work of the rescue units." "The people are doing exceptional work on the highest professional level to be found anywhere in the world. There are still people trapped; we are making every effort and are not giving up on anyone. We will reach them all." he said a statement before boarding the plane. The reason for the collapse was not immediately clear. Police have launched a criminal investigation into the collapse, suspecting negligence. The accident occurred in Ramat Hachayal, a neighborhood in northern Tel Aviv, home to many offices of Israel's booming high-tech industry. Israel has a high number of construction accidents, compared to other developed countries. According to figures from the Economy and Industry Ministry, 30 workers were killed in construction sites since the beginning of 2016. Alibaba Australia and New Zealand director of business development John O'Loghlen (2nd L) speaks during a forum in Sydney, Australia, Sept. 6, 2016. Australia on Tuesday signed a strategic collaboration agreement with e-commerce giant Alibaba to expand the variety of fresh products available for purchase while leveraging digital content to build "brand Australia." (Xinhua/Zhu Hongye) SYDNEY, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Successful Aussie brands with a local following have the greatest potential on China's e-commerce platforms as businesses leverage the Asian consumer market, a business breakfast heard as the two countries further trade links. Australia on Tuesday signed a strategic collaboration agreement with e-commerce giant Alibaba to expand the variety of fresh products available for purchase while leveraging digital content to build "brand Australia." The partnership is designed to allow more small- and medium- sized businesses to leverage the convergence of e-commerce and social media that have so far enabled Chinese consumers to spend almost 500 billion Australian dollars (381.98 billion U.S. dollars) per annum through online shopping. "Australia is a key market for Alibaba Group and we are excited to extend our collaboration with Austrade to cultivate successful Australian exporters that are capitalising on China's expanding middle class," Alibaba Australia and New Zealand managing director Maggie Zhou said in a statement on Tuesday. "Online delivery of imported fresh food in China is becoming increasingly viable as a result of the improvements in last-mile cold chain logistics," Austrade's senior trade commissioner in China, Michael Clifton, said. Alibaba is providing seminars and workshops to help suppliers understand the nuances of China's e-commerce market as it expands into Australia. Alibaba Australia and New Zealand director of business development John O'Loghlen conceded trading on e-commerce platforms may be daunting for Aussie businesses. But for the consumer, "it's wonderful" as the competitive marketplace allows price comparisons and full product transparency, O'Loghlen said. BEIJING, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Zhang Zhijun, the Chinese mainland's Taiwan affairs chief, has encouraged more cross-Strait exchanges among Buddhist groups. Zhang, head of both the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office (SCTAO), made the remarks while meeting a Buddhist delegation from Taiwan on Monday, according to an SCTAO statement. During the meeting, Zhang stressed the close bond between religious groups on both sides of the Strait, as well as the good faith needed to ensure the peaceful development of cross-Strait ties on the basis of the 1992 Consensus. HANOI, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang and visiting French President Francois Hollande said here Tuesday that economic cooperation continues to be a prioritized pillar in the bilateral relations. The agreement came during their talks held here on Tuesday. Hollande is paying a visit to Vietnam from Monday to Wednesday. Accordingly, the two countries will highlight cooperation in key projects of infrastructure, energy, aviation, medical- pharmaceutical sector, environment, agriculture and food processing. After the talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of a series of cooperation documents related to mutual legal assistance, personnel training, agriculture, climate change, among others. BEIJING, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government has decided to strengthen weak links in crucial fields including poverty alleviation, infrastructure, post-disaster water conservancy control and development of new growth engines. The decision, which is intended to achieve more balanced and effective development and provide driving force for the supply-side structural reform, was adopted Monday at a State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang. At the meeting, Premier Li heard a report by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on the country's efforts in improving key weak links as well as measures to be taken down the road. "The key to expanding demands and creating a proper context for China's structural reform is to improve its own weak areas," Li said, "China is still a developing country with huge development gaps among regions and also between rural and urban areas. We need to work hard to expand effective investment and make stronger efforts in improving weak links." Improving the country's weak links is one of the major tasks set for the country's 13th Five-Year Plan for national socioeconomic development (2016-2020), and was raised during the Central Economic Conference in Beijing last December. Speaking at the meeting, Li pointed out that reducing excess capacity, lowering corporate cost and improving weak links for better livelihood of the people will be the government's core tasks in 2016, in the process of maintaining economic growth within a proper range. It also plays a indispensable role in China's structural reform. "Currently we are still under pressure on maintaining stable economic growth and creating jobs, and our achievements in the first half of this year did not come easily," Li said. China's economy grew by 6.7 percent in the first half of 2016, within the targeted range between 6.5 percent to 7 percent. Yet the country still needs more efforts to improve the country's weak links such as infrastructure and poverty alleviation. As decided at the Monday meeting, further measures will be taken in the following areas. First, on poverty alleviation. Efforts will be made to lift 10 million people out of poverty by the end of 2016. Second, hydro engineering and urban water logging prevention infrastructures will be better enhanced, especially in areas that were flooded this summer, and another 10 new flood prevention projects will be started this year. Third, infrastructure building will step further, with a total of 800 billion yuan (about 120 billion U.S. dollars) to be invested in railway construction, and construction of over 2,000 kilometers of underground pipelines will commence this year. Public facilities for the elderly will also be improved. Further support will also be offered in developing agriculture, technological and equipment upgrading as well as nurturing new economic driving forces. The government is expected to play a leading role in strengthening these area of weakness, while more market access will be open to private investors. Areas such as civil airport operation, telecommunication, oil-gas exploration are to be open to private investors. Li stressed that such efforts need to be implemented with clear focus on critical infrastructure projects as well as accelerating institutional reforms to create a good environment for improving weak links. Financing as well as ways to attract foreign investment will also be innovated. The meeting urges all departments to come up with a clear time line. "We need to better intensify both positive and negative incentives to generate enthusiasm from all departments," Li said, "Meanwhile, lawful rights of all market players must be protected, and harsher penalties are necessary for governments who fail their duties." BEIJING, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- China condemns twin suicide attacks near the Afghan defense ministry on Monday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday. Two dozen people have lost their lives and more than 90 were injured, according to Afghan Public Health Ministry. "We extend our condolences to the victims and express our sympathy to the wounded and the families of the victims," spokesperson Hua Chunying said, stressing that China opposes terrorism in any form. China regards the process of Afghan-led and Afghan-owned reconciliation as an ultimate way out for the Afghan issue, Hua said. As a friendly neighbor of Afghanistan, China hopes that Afghanistan will realize peace, stability and development at an early date, Hua said. YINCHUAN, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Communist Party of China (CPC) official Liu Qibao has called for standard and equal public cultural services in ethnic and poor areas. Liu, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Liu wants to make sure people living in ethnic and poor areas do not fall behind in the drive toward a moderately prosperous society. Liu visited villages, businesses and publicity departments during his stay in the cities of Yinchuan, Wuzhong and Guyuan in Ningxia. VIENTIANE, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) opened its 28th and 29th summits here Tuesday in the Lao capital, with the theme of "Turning Vision into Reality for a Dynamic ASEAN Community." At the opening ceremony, Thongloun Sisoulith, Lao prime minister and ASEAN's rotating chair, called on member states to make sustained and concerted efforts in implementing the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the three Community Blueprints so as to advance ASEAN Community. "In this spirit, the Lao PDR has adopted the theme 'Turning Vision into Reality for a Dynamic ASEAN Community' for its 2016 ASEAN Chairmanship," he said, adding that his country has identified eight priorities covering the three pillars of the ASEAN Community. Thongloun said the eight priorities will be translated into various frameworks and documents, such as the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025 and the Initiative for ASEAN Integration Work Plan III. ASEAN, the sixth largest economy in the world, has become a region of peace and stability, providing favorable conditions for sustainable regional economic development, he noted. Thongloun added that while ASEAN has continued to strengthen internal cooperation, the bloc will also strive to expand relations with external partners. Addressing the opening ceremony, Lao President Bounnhang Vorachith highlighted the achievements of ASEAN over almost five decades, particularly the announcement of the ASEAN Community on Dec. 31, 2015. The president also urged the 10-country bloc to enhance cooperation and collaboration with the international community so as to address challenges such as terrorism and extremism, natural disasters, climate change and migration crisis. Following the opening ceremony, the 28th ASEAN summit started while the 29th summit is to be held on Wednesday. During the 28th summit, ASEAN Leaders adopted the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025. The master plan, which succeeds the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2010, focuses on five strategic areas: sustainable infrastructure, digital innovation, seamless logistics, regulatory excellence and people mobility. The document said that ASEAN needs at least 110 billion U.S. dollars of infrastructure investment each year to support future growth. On people mobility, it said the number of tourists from outside ASEAN could reach 150 million by 2025. The leaders also adopted the Initiative for ASEAN Integration Work Plan III. The five-year work plan, an integral part of the ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together, aims to narrow the development gap, enhance the region's competitiveness and support the implementation of the three Community Blueprints which ASEAN leaders adopted in November last year. Apart from the ASEAN summits, related leaders' meetings are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, namely the ASEAN+1 Summits, Summit on Commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations, ASEAN+3 (China, Japan and South Korea) Summit, and the East Asia Summit. ASEAN member countries will discuss cooperation with their dialogue partners at these meetings. ASEAN countries' leaders shake hands at the opening ceremony of ASEAN summits in Vientiane, capital of Laos, on Sept. 6, 2016. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) opened its 28th and 29th summits here Tuesday in the Lao capital, with the theme of "Turning Vision into Reality for a Dynamic ASEAN Community." (Xinhua/Wang Shen) VIENTIANE, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed here Tuesday to step up their efforts to push forward the integration process in the region. The agreement came as they adopted the third Work Plan of the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI Work Plan III) at the 28th ASEAN Summit which was opened here earlier in the day. The five-year work plan, an integral part of the ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together, aims at narrowing the development gap, enhancing the region's competitiveness and supporting the implementation of the community blueprints which ASEAN leaders adopted in November last year. Built upon the first IAI Work Plan launched in 2000, the IAI Work Plan III will continues to provide technical assistance to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam so as to enhance their capacity in implementing their regional commitments. Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, or the CLMV countries, joined ASEAN between 1995 and 1999. The IAI Work Plan III focuses on five strategic areas, namely food and agriculture, trade facilitation, micro, small and medium enterprises, education as well as health and well-being. Since the launch of the first IAI Work Plan in 2000, more than 600 projects and activities worth over 102 million U.S. dollars have been implemented so far, the regional group said. The development gap has been narrowed thanks to income and trade growth in the CLMV countries in the past decade. But they still have the lowest incomes among ASEAN member states. ASEAN affirmed its continued efforts to assist CLMV countries to meet ASEAN-wide targets and commitments so as to realize the goals of the ASEAN Community. ASEAN is a regional bloc comprising 10 Southeast Asian nations. It aims to promote inter-governmental cooperation and facilitate economic integration among its members. It was originally established in August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The group has now expanded to include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. ASEAN has a combined population of approximately 625 million people, accounting for 8.8 percent of the world's total. In 2015, the bloc's combined nominal GDP had grown to more than 2.8 trillion U.S. dollars. Related: Spotlight: ASEAN and related summits to focus on community building efforts, cooperation with China VIENTIANE, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and related summits are scheduled here in the Lao capital on Tuesday, with the main theme of "Turning Vision into Reality for a Dynamic ASEAN Community." Community building efforts, ASEAN's cooperation with dialogue partners, as well as a commemorative summit of the 25th anniversary of ASEAN's dialogue relations with China will be on the agenda of the three-day meetings. Full story ASEAN to explore opportunities in elevating businesses at regional level VIENTIANE, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Business and Investment Summit (ABIS) is being held here on Monday to explore opportunities in elevating their businesses at the regional level. VIENTIANE, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived late Tuesday in the Laotian capital of Vientiane, setting in motion his first official visit to the country, where he will also attend the East Asia Summit. During the visit, Li will also attend the 19th China-ASEAN (10+1) leaders' meeting, and the 19th meeting of the leaders of ASEAN-China, Japan and South Korea (10+3). Li's trip, which came on the heels of the Group of 20 summit in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, is widely considered important diplomatically to deepen China's relations with the countries of Southeast Asia, and promote cooperation among East Asian countries. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of dialogue relations between China and ASEAN. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the Chinese side stands ready to work with ASEAN to hold a successful summit and take the anniversary as an opportunity to build a closer China-ASEAN community of common destiny. This year also coincides with the 55th anniversary of the establishment of China-Laos diplomatic ties. According to Hua, both sides have maintained frequent high-level exchanges, cemented political mutual trust and achieved fruitful results in economic and trade cooperation. In Laos, Premier Li is expected to hold talks with Laotian Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith and exchange views on bilateral ties and issues of common concern. Li's visit will bring the China-Laos comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation to a new high and bring more benefits to both peoples, Hua added. Samura Kamara (center in front row), Sierra Leone's Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, poses for photo during a send-off party for students leaving for China. (Photo courtesy of the Chinese Embassy in Sierra Leone) FREETOWN, Sept. 6 ( Xinhua ) -- The last group out of the 49 Sierra Leonean students who won Chinese scholarships this year have left Freetown to pursue further studies in China. The 49 students, some of whom had begun leaving for China on Sept. 1, will undergo various studies in a number of Chinese institutions of higher learning. Saying goodbye to the students and handing over their tickets, Sierra Leone's Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Samura Kamara hoped they will serve as ambassadors of Sierra Leone by promoting the country's good culture and traditions. He told them to count themselves very fortunate to be selected among the many students who vied for the Chinese scholarships. He thanked the Chinese government for offering the people of Sierra Leone such a high number of scholarships for the students to capacitate themselves and contribute to the country's economic development. Dr. Samura described the courses as very relevant to Sierra Leone's economy noting that "that these are the type of professionals the country is looking for ". He spoke of the very cordial relationship existing between both countries and recalled the Chinese intervention in the country's Ebola crisis, which he said helped to galvanize the international support. The deputy Minister of Education Christiana Thorpe hoped the students going will make "good use of their stay and comport themselves as ambassadors of Sierra Leone." Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrives in the Laotian capital of Vientiane on Sept. 6, 2016, setting in motion his first official visit to the country, where he will also attend the East Asia Summit. During the visit, Li will also attend the 19th China-ASEAN (10+1) leaders' meeting, and the 19th meeting of the leaders of ASEAN-China, Japan and South Korea (10+3). (Xinhua/Rao Aimin) VIENTIANE, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived late Tuesday in the Laotian capital of Vientiane, setting in motion his first official visit to the country, where he will also attend the East Asia Summit. During the visit, Li will also attend the 19th China-ASEAN (10+1) leaders' meeting, and the 19th meeting of the leaders of ASEAN-China, Japan and South Korea (10+3). Upon his arrival at the airport, Li said in a written speech that this year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of dialogue between China and ASEAN, noting that bilateral ties have reached a new historical starting point. "I would like to join leaders of ASEAN to review the past, draw on our past experiences and look to the future so as to paint a new blueprint for future China-ASEAN cooperation and to promote development under the 10+3 and the East Asia summit mechanisms for regional peace, stability and prosperity," he said, This year also coincides with the 55th anniversary of the establishment of China-Laos diplomatic ties. Li said Beijing wants to take the anniversary as an opportunity to work with Vientiane in deepening their traditional friendship, mutually-beneficial cooperation, as well as people-to-people and cultural exchanges in a bid to push forward the two neighbors' comprehensive strategic partnership. Li's trip, which came on the heels of the Group of 20 summit in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, is widely considered an important diplomatic move to deepen China' s relations with the ASEAN, and promote cooperation among East Asian countries. Spokeswoman for the Chinese foreign ministry Hua Chunying said the Chinese side stands ready to work with ASEAN to hold a successful summit and to build a closer China-ASEAN community of common destiny. According to Hua, both sides have maintained frequent high-level exchanges, cemented political mutual trust and witnessed growing trade. Li's visit will bring the China-Laos comprehensive strategic partnership to a new high and bring more benefits to the two peoples, Hua added. Guan Huabing, Chinese ambassador to Laos, told Xinhua in a recent interview that Premier Li is going to raise a series of new Chinese initiatives so as to develop new pillars for bilateral ties, upgrade China-ASEAN relations and push East Asian cooperation to a new level. According to the ambassador, China is now the largest source of foreign investment in Laos, largest donor country and the second largest trading partner. In Laos, Premier Li is expected to meet with Laotian Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith to exchange views on bilateral ties and issues of common concern, and to witness the signing of a series of documents. On the sidelines of the summits over the coming days, Li is also going to meet with leaders from some ASEAN nations. BISHKEK, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan has identified the organizers and perpetrators of the terrorist attack on the Chinese embassy in capital Bishkek last week. The committee's press service said Tuesday the attack on Aug. 30 was organized by Uighur terrorist groups active in Syria and affiliated with the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group, while the suicide bomber was a member of the terrorist organization East Turkistan Islamic Movement. The Chinese Embassy in Kyrgyzstan experienced a suicide car bombing attack in the morning of Aug.30, in which the lone assailant was killed and five others were injured, in addition to serious material damage. The attacker detonated an improvised explosive device inside the car after the vehicle rammed through the western gates of the embassy. HARARE, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe has once again said it plans to re-introduce flights to London and Beijing after suspending them several years ago due to financial and operational challenges besetting the national carrier. Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development Munesu Munodawafa was quoted by the state-run Herald newspaper Tuesday as saying that the government was currently scouting for a strategic partner for the airline with capacity especially to resume long haul flights. The Harare-London route is one of Air Zimbabwe's most lucrative routes and analysts believe a direct flight between Beijing and Harare would go a long way in boosting Chinese tourists into Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe government recently gave Air Zimbabwe the approval to find a suitable strategic partner to revive its operations, and has often expressed desire to resume flights to the United Kingdom and China because of their huge potential. "The focus is for the operator that will be able to resume the long haul drive," Munodawafa said. At its peak, Air Zimbabwe used to fly to over 25 regional and international destinations but is currently only flying regional routes in southern Africa due to lack of funds to modernize its fleet and pay off creditors. It is saddled with a 300 million U.S. dollars debt, and requires a billion dollars for recapitalization, according to government. Artists perform during an evening gala for the G20 summit at the West Lake scenic zone in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 4, 2016. (Xinhua/Ma Zhancheng) BUENOS AIRES, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Argentina's Ambassador to China Diego Guelar hailed on Monday the organization of the Group of 20 (G20) summit held in Hangzhou, China. "The summit was a grand presentation of the Chinese superpower to the world, from an economic and political standpoint," said the diplomat in an interview with Argentina's Radio Nacional. The summit concluded on Monday with Chinese President Xi Jinping speaking about the consensus which had been reached on a wide range of topics, including the facilitation of long-term economic growth through integrated, open, innovative and exclusive policies. Fireworks light up the sky on the West Lake in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 4, 2016. The 11th G20 summit opened here on Sunday. (Xinhua/Li Xiang) "Our association with China is very important, it is our main investor, main banker and the main market for our agricultural products," said Guelar. On Saturday, Argentina's President Mauricio Macri and President Xi met and agreed to strengthen the commercial and cultural links between both countries. Macri also proposed that the tourism flow from China to Argentina should be increased. Argentina has received a great amount of investments from China, especially in infrastructure, such as railway, hydropower and nuclear projects. According to Argentinean media, Macri also met with Jack Ma, president of Chinese on-line business group, Alibaba, as well as representatives of Sany, China National Nuclear Corporation, PowerChina and Gezhouba Group. A locomotive is seen at a construction site of standard gauge railway (SGR) project, in Mombasa, Kenya, on Sept. 1, 2016. (Xinhua/Pan Siwei) CAPE TOWN, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Despite an average annual growth in exports of 8.5 percent since 2010, intra-regional trade opportunities remain to be tapped in Africa, according to the Africa Economic Outlook Report 2016 released recently. Trade between African regions remains low when compared to other parts of the world, said the report. Intra-regional trade accounted for 16 percent of Africa's total trade in 2014 -- with manufactured goods accounting for 60 percent of total regional trade, according to the report. The report noted that intra-African trade has not yet reached its full potential. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of major Sub-Saharan African cities, including Johannesburg, Cape Town, Lagos and Luanda, are expected to increase, the report said, citing the quality of infrastructure and logistics as key contributing factors. Mombasa super bridge of standard gauge railway (SGR) project is seen, in Mombasa, Kenya, on Sept. 1, 2016. (Xinhua/Pan Siwei) Commenting on the report, Hennie Heymans, CEO of DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa, said, "There are multiple opportunities to increase intra-regional trade, especially in line with the Tripartite Free Trade Agreement." If used properly, this agreement has the potential to significantly boost economic growth in the region, he said. "These findings demonstrate the important role that effective logistics play in boosting a country's economic growth by enabling trade," said Heymans. For countries looking to boost inter-regional trade, it is vital to consider the time and costs associated with transporting goods, according to Heymans. "It is important to take a holistic approach when it comes to managing supply chain risk, in order to achieve greater visibility, flexibility, and control. Businesses in Africa are under increasing pressure in the current economic climate to remain competitive, both locally and globally, and sometimes lack the ability to build resilient supply chains," he said. According to Heymans, making strategic decisions to outsource logistics can make a significant contribution to a business's profitability. "Always ensure that you have the right partners who understand the global economy and, more importantly, the intricacies of doing business in each individual African country. It's not a one size fits all approach," he stated. Home to one of the fastest growing middle classes in the world, Africa is a captive market, filled with consumers who are looking for variety and easier access to goods. "The market is there, it's about getting the right goods to the right people, at the right time," Heymans said. Meng Jianzhu (R), head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, meets with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) president Ronny Abraham in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 5, 2016. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen) BEIJING, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Legal official Meng Jianzhu said Monday that China was willing to improve exchanges with the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Meng, when speaking with visiting ICJ president Ronny Abraham, lauded the United Nations' ICJ for helping to resolve international disputes since it was established 70 years ago. Meng, head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, called on both sides to enhance mutual understanding, learn from each other's experience in building the rule of law, and deepen judicial cooperation. Abraham pledged to enhance cooperation to promote the rule of law in international relations. NANJING, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- A survivor of the Nanjing Massacre, Su Guobao, has passed away in eastern China's Jiangsu Province, reducing the number of registered survivors of the atrocity committed by Japanese troops to 112. Su died in his home in Nanjing, the provincial capital and had recently celebrated his 89th birthday. His body was cremated Tuesday. He survived the massacre thanks to Bernhard Arp Sindberg, a Dane who helped save up to 20,000 Chinese lives during the 1937-38 massacre. Japanese invaders killed more than 300,000 Chinese lives after occupying Nanjing on Dec. 13, 1937. Su was just 10 when Japanese troops invaded Hushan Village at the outskirts of Nanjing on Dec. 6, 1937. His family fled to a refugee camp at Jiangnan Cement Factory. Sindberg, a watchman at the cement plant, protected Chinese refugees along with a German colleague Karl Gunther. Su's family survived on money and rice offered by Sindberg. On Su's death, Sindberg's niece and some Japanese friends expressed their condolences. A witness to Japanese aggression, Su devoted himself to spreading his experience and stories of humanitarian aid during the massacre. He mobilized villagers to fund the construction of the first private memorial monument for the massacre victims and provided a list of the names of 64 victims, said Dai Yuanzhi, a researcher on the Nanjing Massacre. In 2006, Su visited nine Japanese cities, including Tokyo and Osaka, to attend testimonies and denounce the attempts of right-wing Japanese figures to deny the massacre. In 2014, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark met him when she visited the Memorial Hall for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre in Nanjing. The survivors are hard evidence of the Nanjing Massacre committed by Japanese troops and witnesses of history, said Zhang Jianjun, curator of the memorial hall. As time goes by, memory of them will not fade away, he said. GUANGZHOU, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- South China's Guangdong Province has tightened quarantine and inspections to prevent the entry of Zika virus which has spread in some Southeast Asian countries. Since the beginning of August, the inspection and quarantine bureau of the Guangzhou Baiyun Airport has carried out checks on 74 passengers with symptoms from Zika-hit countries or regions. No Zika infection cases have been found, said the Guangdong Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau. The airport alone has a daily average of 14 flights to and from Singapore, about 2,500 entry or exit passengers. Current high temperatures and humid weather in Guangdong increased the likelihood of a Zika epidemic, said the provincial bureau. Singapore had confirmed 17 new cases of locally transmitted Zika virus infection as of Tuesday, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 275. Other Southeast Asian countries, such as Malaysia and Thailand, have also reported Zika cases. The Baiyun Airport inspection and quarantine personnel provide free tests of Zika virus for passengers. It advised citizens to be cautious of travelling to affected countries or regions. Zika virus is acquired through bites from infected Aedes aegypti mosquitos. Common symptoms include fever, skin rash and joint pains. Wang Jinzhen, vice chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, speaks during the opening ceremony of Xi'an Silk Road Business Summit in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Sept. 6, 2016. Over 500 participants attended the summit. (Xinhua/Liu Xiao) XI'AN, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Business leaders from "Belt and Road" countries and international organizations gathered in northwest Chinese city of Xi'an Tuesday to deepen both understanding and cooperation. Government representatives from 52 countries and regions including Georgia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria and Greece, diplomats in China, commerce chamber chairs and entrepreneurs, altogether more than 500 delegates, attended the opening ceremony of the 2016 Xi'an Silk Road Business Summit and SRCIC Cooperation & Development Conference. Wang Jinzhen, vice chairman of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said the Belt and Road is a long-term systematic project that requires both cooperation between countries and participation of business associations and non-government institutions. The summit will discuss an "Internet Silk Road", a cross-border financial services platform, a key cities cooperation platform and a capital exchange mechanism under the framework of Belt and Road, said Hu Heping, governor of northwest China's Shaanxi Province. ISLAMABAD, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- At least three policemen including an official were killed in firing inside a police station in Pakistan's southwest Quetta city on Tuesday, local Urdu media reported. Dawn News reported that the incident happened when a constable opened fire at the Senior House Officer (S.H.O) Noor Bux Mengal, killing the official and his bodyguard right at the spot at Eastern Bypass area of Quetta, the capital city of the country's southwest Balochistan province. Following the attack, the cops inside the police station rushed to the S.H.O's office and shot the attacker dead. Police said that investigation into the incident is being made. This is the second incident of firing on the law enforcement agencies in the province over the last 24 hours. Earlier on Monday evening, three security personnel were killed when some unknown gunmen sprayed bullets on their vehicle in Mustang area of the province. No group has claimed responsibility for either of the attacks yet. Enditem WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- As many as 88 retired U.S. military generals and officials on Tuesday issued an open letter to bolster Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, praising his position on national security. "For the past eight years, America's armed forces have been subjected to a series of ill-considered and debilitating budget cuts, policy choices and combat operations that have left the superb men and women in uniform less capable of performing their vital missions in the future than we require them to be," said the letter. "For this reason, we support Donald Trump and his commitment to rebuild our military, to secure our borders, to defeat our Islamic supremacist adversaries and restore law and order domestically," it announced. "The 2016 election affords the American people an urgently needed opportunity to make a long-overdue course correction in our national security posture and policy," said the military figures in the letter. In response, the Trump campaign called the endorsements a "great honor" in a statement. "Under my administration, we will end the weak foreign policy of the last eight years, rebuild our military, give our troops clear rules of engagement and take care of our veterans when they come home," Trump claimed. The letter comes days after a flow of endorsements from national intelligence, military figures and Republican national security experts for Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, who was the former secretary of state during President Barack Obama's first term. Recent polls show that the race between Trump and Clinton is tightening in the final push ahead of the general election in November. Yu Zhengsheng, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, visits a digital technology company in Tianjin, north China, Sept. 5, 2016. Yu made an inspection tour in Tianjin from Sept. 5 to 6. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing) TIANJIN, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Top political advisor Yu Zhengsheng on Tuesday urged authorities to unite members of various social strata and and pool their strength for national rejuvenation. Yu, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, made the remarks in northern city of Tianjin. Yu focused on learning about the personnel from "new social strata" and people engaged in non-public economic sectors during his visit. At a law firm, he inquired how lawyers participate in social services and Party building. Yu said the people of new social strata are key to the united front work, urging authorities to fully respect and help them, and unite them around the Party and the government. The authorities should establish regular contact with them, value their interests and guide them to support the Party and the government, he added. Yu visited several companies, encouraging them to implement supply-side reform and develop new technology, products and commercial modes to realize industrial upgrading. Meanwhile, he told authorities to guide personnel in the non-public sectors to shoulder more social responsibilities, and make the government-entrepreneur relations "closer and cleaner." He visited Xinjiang students who study in Tianjin, asking authorities to improve education and training for minorities and increase their national identity. Yu also visited a local mosque, where he called for a bigger role of the religious circle in promoting social and economic development. ANKARA, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Presidential Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin said on Tuesday that Turkey will not accept a delay for visa-free travel to the European Union (EU) until the end of the year, Daily Sabah reported. Speaking in an interview with NTV, Kalin said that such delay is out of question, and he believed the remaining issues would soon be solved. Officials have discussed the process to speed up visa liberalization for Turkish citizens during the G20 summit in China, Kalin told broadcaster NTV. "The president held talks with the German, French and Italian leaders," he said, adding that the meetings came to the conclusion that the readmission deal and visa-liberalization should be simultaneously implemented. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned last Tuesday that Turkey will not continue the implementation of the agreement struck with the EU in March to stem the refugee flow if Europe fails to grant visa-free travel to its nationals by October this year. In exchange for Ankara's cooperation, among other terms, the visa requirement for travel to Europe for Turkish citizens would be abolished within months. In June, the EU did not grant Turkey the visa-free travel for its nationals, arguing that Ankara has not met all preconditions set. Last week, EU commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said the EU remains committed in maintaining momentum on visa liberalization deal with Turkey, according to Daily Sabah. Reports said that the EU is in uneasy talks on granting visa-free travel to Turkey, though both Ankara and Brussels now admit that will be delayed from a previous target date of October. Photo taken on Sept. 7, 2016 shows two giant pandas in Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province. A Chinese giant panda expert said on Tuesday that it is too early to downgrade the conservation status of the species after the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) took the species off its endangered list on Sunday. The IUCN said in a report that the panda is now classified as "vulnerable" instead of "endangered," reflecting growing numbers in the wild in southern China. The union attributed the increase in population to decades of dedicated conservation efforts in China. (Xinhua/Xue Yubin) CHENGDU, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese giant panda expert said on Tuesday that it is too early to downgrade the conservation status of the species after the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) took the species off its endangered list on Sunday. The IUCN said in a report that the panda is now classified as "vulnerable" instead of "endangered," reflecting growing numbers in the wild in southern China. The union attributed the increase in population to decades of dedicated conservation efforts in China. Zhang Hemin of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda (CCRCGP), widely known in conservation circles as the "father of panda," told Xinhua he felt it was still too early to downgrade their status. "A severely fragmented natural habitat still threatens the lives of pandas; genetic transfer between different populations will improve, but is still not satisfactory; climate change is widely expected to have an adverse effect on the bamboo forests which provide both their food and their home; and there is still a lot to be done in both protection and management terms," Zhang said. The wild giant panda population is broken up into 33 isolated groups, some with fewer than 10 individuals, severely limiting the gene pool. Of the 18 sub-populations consisting of fewer than 10 pandas, all face a high risk of collapse, according to Zhang. Since 2010, the CCRCGP has focused on improving the captive breeding of giant pandas and on preparations for releasing captive-bred animals into the wild. According to Zhang, only when the wild population maintains steady growth without the addition of captive-bred individuals should the species be redefined as less endangered. Zhang said the pre-release training of captive-bred pandas had improved substantially, helping them adapt to life back in their natural environment. In this way, the population has increased and their reproductive success is assured. "If the conservation status is downgraded, protection work might slacken off and both the panda population and their habitat are more likely to suffer irreversible loss," Zhang said. "The present protection achievements will be lost and some small sub-populations may die out." Disease also poses a threat. Canine distemper virus (CDV) affects a wide variety of animals including domestic dogs, primates and large cats. CDV caused the deaths of two pandas in northwest China's Shaanxi Province around the end of 2014. "There is no specific remedy or vaccine for the disease," Zhang said. "Epidemic and disease containment work is vital for panda protection." The IUCN listing as "vulnerable" instead of "endangered" did not mean that pandas no longer need continuous protection, said Shi Xiaogang of Wolong National Nature Reserve. Shi said it was a cause for celebration that China's protection efforts had been recognized, "but as conservators, we know that the situation of the wild panda is still very risky." Having worked with pandas for over 20 years, Shi and his colleagues mainly monitor wild pandas' activities, their health and reproductive status. Shi said he knows of innumerable practical problems in the protection of wild pandas. Human activities such as tourism and herb gathering can severely affect the wild pandas' habitat, he said. No matter what the conservation status is, we will not change our attitude toward protecting these animals, he said. At the last count, at the end of 2015, China had 1,864 giant pandas in the wild, up from about 1,100 in 2000. There are also 422 animals in captivity, according to China's State Forestry Administration. STOCKHOLM, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- A former Swedish government minister has been ordered to pay 40,000 SEK (4,600 U.S. dollars) in fines after she was caught drunk driving. Aida Hadzialic, 29, resigned as minister for upper secondary school, adult education and training last month after police stopped her car in a random check. She had a blood-alcohol level of 0.2 grams per liter, which is just above the legal limit in Sweden. Hadzialic said she had drunk two glasses of wine at a concert in Copenhagen four hours before being stopped. The police control took place after she had crossed the Oresund bridge over to Sweden. Hadzialic announced her resignation at a press conference the following day and said the incident was her "life's biggest mistake". Enditem SKOPJE, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The governments of Macedonia and Britain are committed to enhance cooperation in the field of judiciary and for this, a memorandum of cooperation was signed Tuesday in Skopje. The deal was signed by Macedonian Minister of Justice Valdet Xhaferi and British Ambassador to Macedonia Charles Garrett. Following the signing of cooperation memorandum, the Macedonian justice minister said that the main goal of such memorandum is to establish tools and methods that will support Macedonia's judicial system to enhance its independence as well as increase public confidence in the judiciary. The memorandum is also aimed at improving the system of court practice, as sources from the Justice Ministry said Tuesday. So far, through the British Embassy, the Macedonian government has realized projects related to the court practice given the characteristics of the British judicial system, their legal traditions and culture, according to the Macedonian minister. On his part, British ambassador Garret stressed the need of better judicial system for everyone, adding that Macedonian citizens deserve stronger judicial system as according to him, this is essential for building stronger democracy, righteous society and growing economy. Enditem DUBAI, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Executives of Dubai property firms and real estate analysts said Tuesday the decision taken by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government to grant visas on arrival to Chinese visitors to the Gulf state is expected to boost investments into the property market in the sheikhdom. "The new visa rules for China are very good news for the property market here," said Josef Kleindienst, founder and CEO of Dubai-based developer Kleindienst Group, two days after the UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum announced the decision. The Austrian entrepreneur told Xinhua that he sees constantly rising interest from Chinese investors in the Dubai real estate market. Sales prices for residential real estate declined two percent from March to June in 2016, marking the sixth consecutive quarter of value losses, according to real estate research firm CBRE. Simon Townsend, director strategic advisory at CBRE, said "the new visa rule is good news and CBRE will definitely reach out to potential Chinese investors who we expect will grow in numbers in the emirate." According to Hakel Wen, international VIP service executive of China Foreign Trade Center which organizes the annual Canton Fair in southern China's Guangzhou city, bilateral trade between the UAE and China is expected to hit 60 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2016, up from 54.8 billion in 2014. He said at a televised press briefing for the media in Dubai that the Gulf state is home of 4,200 Chinese firms, 356 trade agencies and 2,500 Chinese trade labels. Over 300,000 Chinese nationals already live in the UAE which has a total population of 10.5 million. "The great thing about Dubai is that all major parties like tourism entities and ministries work closely together and we are ready to host more Chinese guests soon," said Noor Al Fardan, marketing communications manager of the seven-star hotel Burj Al Arab, the city's landmark resort. Dubai welcomed 14.2 million tourists in 2015, a 7.5 percent increase year on year. By 2020, the emirate, known for its openness to foreigners and its dense network of luxury hotels and shopping malls, expects up to 25 million visitors with most of them to visit the six-month World Expo 2020. BISHKEK, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Kyrgyzstan authorities on Tuesday said they have identified the organizers and perpetrators of the terrorist attack on the Chinese embassy in capital Bishkek last week. The press service for the Kyrgyz State Committee for National Security said in an announcement that the attack on Aug. 30 was organized by Uighur terrorist groups active in Syria and affiliated with Jabhat al-Nusra. The task of organizing the attack was given by one of al-Nusra's emissaries, which also provided financial support to the terrorist act. The committee added that the suicide bomber was a member of the terrorist organization the East Turkistan Islamic Movement. "This is a member of East Turkistan Islamic Movement, a terrorist organization active in Syria, a Uighur named Zoir Khalilov, who had a passport from Tajikistan," said the committee. It specified that the attacker rammed the western gates of the Chinese Embassy with a Mitsubishi Delica car. An improvised explosive device inside the car detonated after the vehicle entered embassy grounds. The explosion caused extensive damage to embassy buildings and facilities with the lone assailant instantly killed. Two Kyrgyz employees of the embassy and three Chinese people were injured. The Kyrgyz security committee has detained five accomplices of the terrorist act, who are natives of Kyrgyzstan's Osh and Jalal-Abad regions, four ethnic Uzbeks and one Kyrgyz. At the same time, the Kyrgyz side issued an arrest warrant for Sattybaev Izzotillo Mashrapovich, born in the Kyrgyz city of Osh, an Uzbek national who underwent terrorist training in Syria. "He...assisted the suicide bomber in the manufacture of explosive devices, orientation and movement around Bishkek. A few hours before the attack on August 30, Sattybaev fled from southern Osh city to Istanbul in Turkey using a passport of a Tajik citizen," said the report. Meanwhile, international arrest warrants were issued for two more Kyrgyzs living in Turkey, Sabirov Ilyas Sabirovich and Burhanidin Zhantoraev, who have been identified as possible partners and organizers of the terrorist plot. The terrorist attack was strongly condemned by the Chinese side and the international community. Israeli rescue services search through the rubble after a building site collapsed in Tel Aviv, Israel September 5, 2016. (Xinhua/EPA) JERUSALEM, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Rescue forces said Tuesday they pulled a fourth body from a multi-story underground car park that collapsed a day before in Israel's financial capital Tel Aviv. The teams believe that other three missing construction workers are trapped underneath the rubbles. "The effort is ongoing," a military spokesperson said in a statement. Local media reported that the missing workers are Palestinian citizens of Israel and Palestinian residents of the West Bank. Some 50,000 Palestinians have permits to work in Israel, and many others are entering the country without papers. Together they compose a substantial part of Israel's construction labor force. Hundreds of firefighters, soldiers, police officers, and medical personnel have been struggling to retrieve survivors after the parking garage collapsed at midday Monday, injuring at least 23 construction workers. The structure was still under construction at the time of the collapse. Earlier on Tuesday, Luba Samri, a spokeswoman for the police, said a third body was extracted. The construction worker showed no signs of life when the rescuers finally reached him, about 24 hours after the collapse. On Monday night, the teams retrieve the body of another worker, identified as a 28-year-old man from Ukraine. Another body, also found on Monday, has yet to be identified. The reason for the collapse is still unclear. Police have launched a criminal investigation into the collapse, suspecting negligence. The accident occurred in Ramat Hachayal, a neighborhood in northern Tel Aviv, home to many offices of Israel's booming high-tech industry. The car park was constructed by Africa-Israel, a construction company based in Israel that won a tender to build to the site from the Tel Aviv municipality. Israel has a high number of construction accidents, compared to other developed countries. According to figures from the Economy and Industry Ministry, 30 workers were killed in construction sites since the beginning of 2016. Chinese President Xi Jinping (C), U.S. President Barack Obama (R) and Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon attend the deposit of instruments of joining the Paris Agreement in Hangzhou, capital city of east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 3, 2016. (Xinhua/Li Tao) JOHANNESBURG, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- A South African researcher on Tuesday welcomed the outcomes of the G20 summit, emphasizing that implementation is the key. Asmita Parshotam, a researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs, told Xinhua there are positive messages coming from the G20 summit held in east China's city of Hangzhou on September 4-5. "One of the most important developments of the G20 summit this year was the dual ratification by China and the USA of the Paris Climate Change agreement. The fact that two of the world's largest powers signing the agreement is a hopeful sign for changing global economic governance," she said. The longer-term vision of the G20 contained in the "Hangzhou Consensus" calls for more inclusive economic growth, trade and innovation, Parshotam said. Parshotam said topics of discussion included improving the global financial regulatory system, stopping illicit financial flows, and addressing investment in infrastructure, all of which are important issues for Africa's development. "As with all major conferences of this nature, whether talk is able to translate into actions will be gauged in the coming months," she said. Confirmation of the importance of the multilateral trading system (WTO) was expressed, but whether this can translate into action remains to be seen, she added. Parshotam noted that the G20 Communique appears to be quite high-level and arranged around five themes which are policy coordination; innovative economic growth; financial and economic governance; trade and investment and development. Parshotam said the summit gave China an opportunity to explain and promote its model of economic development on a global platform. These include the Belt and Road Initiative and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Meanwhile, the South African Presidency issued a statement, saying the G20 Summit has emphasized on innovation, fair trade and investment as the fundamentals of sustainable and inclusive growth. President Jacob Zuma said in the statement, "Our trade and investment policies should be designed to enable countries to improve competitiveness and gain access to markets, to successfully participate in the global economy." Zuma said the Summit addressed the interest of the global South. GENEVA, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The head of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria warned Tuesday that Syrian civilians were bearing the brunt of an upsurge in violence since a ceasefire was brokered in February this year. "Militarization of the conflict has risen significantly over the past six months. Parties need to refocus their efforts on protecting and relieving civilians while pushing for a political solution," Paulo Pinheiro explained. "The brief pause in hostilities proved that when there is political will ... it's possible to lessen immediately the suffering of civilians," he added. According to the commission's latest report, which covers the Jan. 10 - July 20, 2016 period, the dire humanitarian situation has been severely compounded by indiscriminate attacks on civilians, medical personnel, and civilian facilities. Enforced disappearances, summary executions and other crimes committed by warring factions have also been recorded by the commission set up in 2011 to investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law since March 2011 in the war-torn country. Syria's northern city of Aleppo has been particularly hard-hit by unprecedented levels of fighting as warring groups vie for control of eastern parts of the city. "Unimaginable crimes are occurring in Aleppo where an already calamitous situation has plunged even further into barbarity," Pinheiro warned. A rise in casualties has been recorded as a result of daily air strikes, the report explained, while ground shelling attacks have further worsened the desperate situation. The report found that both pro-government forces and rebel groups were responsible for attacks targeting civilians and key civilian infrastructure, which have led to scores of deaths and injuries. The commission noted that the radical group Islamic State has continued its deadly attacks in government-held areas such as Jableh and Tartous where hundreds of civilians have been deliberately killed, while Syria's Yazidi population has also continued to suffer at the hands of terrorist fighters. With the violence showing no signs of abating, protracted sieges in Damascus, Rif Damascus, Deir ez-Zor, Homs and Idlib governorates have meant that close to 600,000 civilians are trapped. Talks seeking to broker a political end to the five-year conflict have been on hold since April. Pinheiro reminded that bringing parties back to the negotiation table was the only viable way to end spiralling violence and human rights violations. "There is no other way to reach peace than the negotiations coordinated by UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura," he iterated. The report will be presented at the 33rd session of the Human Rights Council on Sept. 19. by Grandesso Federico VENICE, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Argentinian film directors Mariano Cohn and Gaston Duprat, presenting The Distinguished Citizen at the ongoing film festival, said they had always been interested in the phenomenon of successful personalities ending up as modern idols. "We wanted to analyze the reactions of the inhabitants of a small rural Argentinian village once the 'hero' is already famous. Then it was interesting to investigate how the fanaticism and the idolatry could turn in a total opposite direction," Cohn and Duprat told Xinhua recently in an interview here. The story presents a writer who, after winning the Nobel Prize, is in desperate search of fresh inspiration. Without knowing it, he will make an apparently simple journey where he will have to face the "ghosts" of his past. Duprat explained that one of the messages of the movie is that being famous can also be dangerous because, after the rush of popularity, people can discover a different and uncomfortable truth about you. According to Duprat, the story is universal: "when you have an artist or a writer everybody is venerating him without knowing his works or why he is concretely famous." Cohn said they chose a writer as protagonist because they were able to "hide" his literary works in the movie, showing a more obscure angle than if he had been a sculptor or painter. In the movie, Duprat explained, there are some elements of the Italian neorealism like the long shots, the images of the village, traveling through the streets, and the presence of children and dogs running around. Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a press conference after the 11th summit of the Group of 20 (G20) major economies in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 5, 2016. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei) HANGZHOU, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The G20 Hangzhou summit, with its broad achievements, will help chart a clearer future course for the troubled world economy, State Councilor Yang Jiechi noted on Tuesday. The summit, which concluded on Monday, adopted a communique that clarified the development direction, targets and measures of the group's cooperation, together with a string of specific action plans. "The outcomes of the summit, many of which are of pioneering significance in the history of the G20, are expected to make the global economy regain its vitality," Yang told reporters in an interview. The summit showed a spirit of partnership for major economies to jointly face up to the complicated challenges and their confidence in weathering the hard times, he said. By offering the solutions of innovation and reform, the summit adopted the G20 Blueprint on Innovative Growth and formulated pragmatic action plans such as the G20 Action Plan on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, to deliver the consensus. Leaders discussed prominent issues affecting the global economy, including climate change and refugees. "The Hangzhou summit has made major breakthroughs in extent and depth of outcomes, which sets a new global standard," Yang said. As the G20 presidency country, China has proposed its solution and wisdom for global economic growth. In a speech on Saturday, President Xi Jinping assured global business leaders with a vision that China, having reached a new historical starting point, will integrate itself into a new global growth blueprint. Despite concerns over China's economic slowdown, Xi said at the Business 20 (B20) summit that China has the confidence and ability to maintain medium-high rate of growth. "His remarks strengthened confidence in China's development and growth, and sent a strong signal that China will bring more opportunities to the world while ensuring its own development," Yang said. In the speech, Xi listed a number of priorities in global economic governance, including ensuring equitable and efficient global financial governance and fostering open and transparent global trade and investment governance Exclusive arrangements, closed governance mechanisms and fragmentation of rules shall be rejected, Xi said. The president's elaboration on global governance showed China is devoted to contribute its concepts and wisdom to the world economic growth, Yang reckoned. Yang said China will continue to push forward the comprehensive development of the Belt and Road Initiative. With members representing more than 85 percent of global economic output and two-thirds of the world's population, G20 has an undeniable influence on managing the global economy. With Hangzhou as a fresh starting point, Yang expects the group to play a more constructive role in future world growth. TIKRIT, Iraq, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- A roadside bomb on Tuesday struck people fleeing a besieged town in Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin, leaving four people killed and eight others injured, a provincial security source said. The blast took place in the morning when a roadside bomb planted by the Islamic State (IS) militants apparently targeted civilians fleeing the militant-seized town of Shirqat, some 280 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the source from Salahudin Operations Command told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The victims were members of families who left their homes to seek help from security forces outside the besieged town, the source said. Families from Shirqat were prevented from leaving their homes by the IS militants who used them as human shields during armed military attacks. However, the siege upon the town imposed by security forces has forced most extremist militants to flee the town towards the IS major stronghold in Mosul, 400 km north of Baghdad. The escape of several IS militants weakened their grip on the town, enabling civilians to leave their homes, following long-term repeated power blackouts, acute food shortages, scarce drinking water and medicine. Meanwhile, a recent report by Iraq's Ministry of Migration and the Displaced said that over 15,000 families fled Shirqat and nearby areas, which have been under extremist militant control since 2014. The mass migration comes as security forces attempt to recapture the town of Shirqat, which is the last town still under the IS control in Salahudin province, as well as the IS-held town of Hawijah in the nearby province of Kirkuk. The liberation of the two towns is part of a major offensive targeting liberating the IS stronghold in Mosul, the capital of Iraq's northern province of Nineveh. Iraq has witnessed worsening violence since the IS group took control of parts of its northern and western regions in June 2014. Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, has been under the IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling the IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions. Enditem LUSAKA, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in Zambia have quarantined over 11,000 containers of Lyons peanut butter from various shops in Lusaka, the country's capital, after test results revealed high presence of aflatoxins, its standards agency said on Tuesday. The Zambia Bureau of Standards (ZABS) said it quarantined the peanut butter because laboratory tests received indicated the commodity failed one critical parameter known as aflatoxins. "We are concerned about this development because we know that products that do not conform to set standards can be a danger to the health and safety of consumers, who have the right to be protected from defective and dangerous levels," Hazel Zulu, head of marketing and public relations at the standards agency said in a statement. She said inspectors conducted routine market surveillances and inspections last month to ascertain the safety of peanut butter in the country after concerns that the product on the market had high levels of aflatoxins. According to the standard agency, aflatoxins levels found in peanut butter in Zambia is at 15ppb (parts per billion) against the internationally acceptable standard of 10ppb. The standards agency has since cautioned consumers to desist from consuming the peanut butter on the market until the agency was satisfied that manufacturers have complied with the required standards. Enditem WINDHOEK, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's tourism statistics reveals that foreign arrivals increased by 3 percent from 2014 to 2015. The Tourist Statistics Report for 2015, which was launched recently, reveals that the tourism market for Namibia in 2015 was dominated by Angola, South Africa, Zambia, Germany, Britain, the United States, and France. The report noted that regardless of the tourist origin, most tourists visited Namibia during the last quarter of the year, which accounted for 28.3 percent of all tourists traveling to Namibia. In terms of total foreign arrivals to Namibia, Minister of Environment and Tourism Pohamba Shifeta said a new record number of 1,519,618 in 2015 was recorded, of which 1,387,773 were foreign tourists. "This speaks volumes, and we hope the tourism industry will take heart to these figures and continue working together to grow tourism in the country," he added. According to him, the foreign arrivals figures are used in the collation of the Tourism Satellite Account statistics which determine the real value and contribution of tourism to the National Gross Domestic Product. Meanwhile, Shifeta said it is worth noting that the statistics also reveal a drop in arrivals from Angola in terms of the regional source markets as a result of adverse economic development in that source market, while a dent was recorded in arrivals from China due to periodic fluctuations caused by uncertainties in global economy and growing competition globally. Shifeta said the information generated by these reports thus enables all stakeholders to plan in the interest of sustainable and competitive growth of the Namibian tourism sector. Enditem PHNOM PENH, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- A bomb exploded on a roadside in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Tuesday night, injured three persons, according to police. The blast happened in Sangkat Beong Keng Kang III of Chamkamon district at 7:40 p.m. local time. Phnom Penh Municipal Police Chief Chuon Sovann, who visited the scene soon after the explosion, said that three persons got wounded in the blast, including an Indian man, a Vietnamese man and a Cambodian woman. Also, three cars were damaged. Eyes witnesses said that they saw unidentified suspect(s), riding a motorcycle, throwing the bomb at a parking Lexus car before escaping. "This is a failed murder case. Currently, police is questioning eye witnesses in order to determine the identity of the perpetrator(s)," said a policeman, who asked not to be named. STOCKHOLM, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Sweden vows to strengthen its position as a model nation to tackle climate change, according to the 2017 budget proposal presented by the Swedish government on Tuesday. The budget of nearly 13 billion SEK (1.53 billion U.S. dollars) set aside for climate policy initiatives over four years, from 2017 to 2020, represents Sweden's biggest ever investment in the environment, the government stated. The funds will be used to develop fossil free transport and renewable energy and allocated as international climate investments. The government proposes regional and local initiatives to cut emissions, which will see at least 50 percent of the funds coming from companies, municipalities, regional councils and private housing associations. The government also wants to improve the country's railway system in order to encourage more journeys by train as part of Sweden's transition to fossil free fuels. In the area of international climate investments, Sweden will halt emissions and purchase annual allowances from within the European Union(EU). The measure is aimed at reducing the total amount of carbon dioxide that can be emitted within the EU emissions trading system, a cornerstone of the EU's policy to combat climate change. Enditem NICOSIA, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Cypriot authorities intercepted a group of 47 Syrian refugees who they believed had arrived from the Turkish coast, the police said on Tuesday. They said the group included 26 men, 10 women and 11 children. Authorities believe that the refugees arrived aboard a Turkish fishing boat that had been spotted at about noon off the northwestern coast of Cyprus. When a police patrol boat approached the boat at a distance of about two kilometers it changed course and headed for the coast of a region occupied by Turkish troops. Turkey occupied the northern part of Cyprus in 1974, in reaction to a coup organized by the military rulers of Greece at the time. Two hours after the fishing boat anchored in occupied territory the police spotted the refugees crossing into the territory of the Republic of Cyprus. "Some of them looked very tired and several of the children did not have shoes on. Their feet were injured and bleeding. Several people were taken to a local hospital," a police officer said. Three days ago Turkish media reported that Turkish police had arrested a fishing boat off the coast of Antalya with refugees aboard trying to reach Cyprus. Cypriot authorities have said that they have information that about 450 Syrians have massed in Antalya, the closest point of Turkey to the Cypriot shores, waiting for a chance to travel to Cyprus. They are mostly people related to Syrians who have been living in Cyprus for many years. Enditem MOMBASA, Kenya, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- At least four fishermen were killed after their boat capsized in the Indian Ocean near the coastal town of Kwale, Kenya. Police said the fishermen were on a deep-sea fishing expedition when their boat was hit by storm. Four fishermen were killed on the spot. Kwale County Commissioner Kutswa Olaka said 11 fishermen were rescued after they managed to swim to a nearby island. Olaka told Xinhua that the search and rescue team has so far retrieved two bodies. "We have launched investigation to determine the cause of the accident. Preliminary reports indicates that the boat might have been overloaded." Olaka said. Police said the fishermen included both Kenyans and Tanzanians who were sailing from Pemba in Tanzania to Kwale County. Olaka warns fishermen who lack modern fishing equipment against deep-sea fishing especially when the ocean is experiencing high tides. Enditem TBILISI, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Georgia's Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili on Tuesday declared Georgia is conducting the "survival policy" at the moment to safeguard its national interests. At a press briefing in Tbilisi, Kvirikashvili stressed that in these words he means decreasing tensions with Russia and being closer to Euro-Atlantic structures at the same time. "We are interested in normalizing situation with Russia as well as decreasing tensions but we should not compromise in terms of strategic issues such as territorial integrity and sovereignty," said the Prime Minister. "We would like to send a message to Russia that we will not engage in a conflict but avoid any military confrontations", he stressed, adding that it is called "the survival policy". Georgia severed diplomatic relations with Russia in August 2008 after Moscow recognized independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. However, Russia is still one of Georgia's largest trading partners up to now. NAIROBI, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- More than 500 government, business and academic and ICT experts kicked off a four-day meeting in Nairobi on Tuesday to improve digital skills as well as formulate and optimize human capacity building strategies for the ICT sector. Organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UN specialized agency for ICTs, and hosted by the Communications Authority of Kenya, the global ICT Capacity Building Symposium (CBS-2016) provides an opportunity for stakeholders from across the world to discuss trends and developments in the sector and their implications for human and institutional capacity building. ITU Secretary-General Zhao Houlin told the forum that the meeting will develop strategies to accelerate progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at a time of major digital technology transformation. "This symposium brings together key ICT and education stakeholders to discuss how emerging technologies are changing the human capacity building environment. ITU is committed to helping all its members effectively and rapidly build human ICT capacity and improve ICT skills," Zhao said. He called for a cross sectorial collaboration and partnerships in prioritizing ICT programs. "ITU is committed to connecting the world, bridging the digital divide and spreading emerging technologies," Zhao said. The ITU chief appealed to ministries concerned with ICT and education to mainstream ICT in all sectors of the economy worldwide to improve skills and create a level playing field in technological innovation. The ITU symposium called for speedy ICT connectivity to bridge the digital and knowledge divide in the world, noting that growth of the global economy depended on the rate of ICT connectivity. Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto, who officially opened the symposium, said there was need to put in place structures to accelerate connectivity to mitigate the glaring ICT divide both within countries and between countries. "We need partnerships that enable the rural poor to get their first online experience. A farmer in rural Kenya has as much as benefit from ICT like his or her counterpart in the Canadian prairies," Ruto said. He said promptness and affordability is critical and appealed to industry players to quickly work towards affordable prices, higher speeds, high capacity Internet to achieve the desired results. Ruto said access to electricity was critical in this effort, saying Kenya had made remarkable strides in connecting people to electricity with 6.7 million households connected to the national grid in the last three years. He said ICT is expected to contribute at least 8 percent of Kenya's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) this financial year. "In finance, health, education, agriculture and Governance, ICT has become the platform to rate service delivery, on demand dissemination of information and effective customer service," he added. "An economy based on ICT and internet is a powerful catalyst for innovation, growth and social prosperity... promoting a more sustainable and inclusive growth focused on well being and equality of opportunities," said Ruto. Kenya's ICT Cabinet Secretary Joseph Mucheru said in an effort to mainstream ICT in government services, the government had recruited 400 new management trainees who were under training to add on the 100 trained last year. "These officers will be absorbed in government to spearhead ICT programs in various ministries. Emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) are increasingly becoming a reality," Mucheru said. He said governments, industry, universities and other higher education institutions need to invest in a range of ICT skills at various levels, to not only enable increased participation in the economy, but also ensure the creation of digital citizens for a digital society. MOGADISHU, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Africa Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has kicked off a campaign tour across the Horn of Africa nation to rally Somalis, especially the youth, to counter violent extremism. A statement from the pan-African body's mission said Tuesday its police have visited the port city of Kismayo to educate youths and the general public about community policing and fighting against radicalization. AMISOM Police Public Information Officer, Chief Inspector John Marete stressed the significance of such community engagements, which he said was an integral part of modern-day policing. He said the engagements would remain key in all activities undertaken together with the federal and regional Somali police. Most of the terror attacks in Somalia are being committed by radicalized youth. The statement said representatives of the business community, youth, women's groups and civil society pledged to work together with the Somali police and other security agencies, to foster peace in the area. Jubbaland Police Commissioner Colonel Hassan Kheyre said they have planned to strengthen the collaboration between the community and the police. "We as the police cannot fulfill our duties without the help of the society. These members of the community have to share with us information related to criminal acts, to enable the police respond accordingly," Kheyre said. Enditem VILNIUS, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said on Tuesday the country's defense minister had to take political responsibility for poor control over defense spending. Grybauskaite said Juozas Olekas had discredited himself and could no longer work following the scandal of Lithuanian army's procurement. The country's president admitted that while all parties had agreed to substantially increase defense spending, "it looks very bad when these funds are used to buy golden things, and when the minister doesn't take responsibility," Grybauskaite told local media after meeting the leaders of the country's parliament on Tuesday. Last week, Lithuania's public procurement office announced the Lithuanian army had bought kitchen items for around eight times the market prices in 2014. Olekas claimed he had applied to the country's prosecutors asking to launch an investigation into possible fraud in 2014. Grybauskaite accused the minister of not raising the question about the pricing of the army's purchases. Though the total sum paid for the army's kitchen items was relatively small, the revealed pricing has caused moral damage to the country's ongoing efforts to increase defense spending, political analysts say. Olekas says he doesn't see a reason to resign. "I disagree with these accusations which insult me as a person who has been serving the state for so long," Olekas was quoted as saying by Lithuanian national radio LRT. "I didn't lie, I have been telling the truth, and I'm telling it now," said Olekas. Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius said he trusted Olekas and urged the president not to politicize during the election period, according to the prime minister's press officers. Lithuania is to elect its parliament next month. Lithuania's defense budget amounts to around 575 million euros (647.38 million U.S. dollars), or around 1.5 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). The country has set itself a goal to increase defense spending up to 2.0 percent of GDP by 2018. In recent years, the Baltic country has stepped up its defense capabilities and increased defense spending, citing security threats in the Eastern Europe. Enditem ADDIS ABABA, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Working towards nuclear disarmament must go hand-in-hand with enhancing global cooperation in peaceful application of nuclear science and technology, Smail Chergui, African Union (AU) Commissioner for Peace and Security, has said. "Countless societies, especially in Africa, are without access to life-saving nuclear medicine and are denied the benefits of other peaceful nuclear applications in the areas of environmental protection, disease control, agriculture and industry," Chergui said. "We must therefore ensure that advancing peaceful nuclear applications receive equal attention and resources as do the areas of nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear security," the official said. The AU Commissioner made the comments at a ceremony held Tuesday on the premises of the African Union (AU) Headquarters in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear testing site in Kazakhstan as well as the International Day against Nuclear Tests. Chergui said Kazakhstan's celebration is joined by the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the signing of the African Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty and the 10th anniversary of the Central Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone. The event was organized to, among others, raise awareness on the adverse consequences of nuclear testing and weapons. "The African Union is not only honored to host this event but is strongly committed to the broader cause it symbolizes. Africa, like Kazakhstan, suffered the negative consequences of nuclear-weapons testing," Chergui said. "After years of tireless efforts, the African Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty, also known as the Treaty of Pelindaba, was signed in 1996. Through the Treaty, the continent collectively and unequivocally rejected nuclear-weapons," the Commissioner said. "I would like to reiterate that the African Union remains concerned that a critical international instrument against nuclear testing, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, has not yet entered into force. While we commend states that have unilaterally imposed moratoria against nuclear testing, this cannot be a substitute for a universally, legally binding, transparent and verifiable regime," he said. Without the Treaty, the risk of return to nuclear testing will "be ever present and with catastrophic consequences," he added. The AU Commissioner called upon all concerned members of the international community to act with a sense of urgency, responsibility and leadership, in bringing the treaty into force. Enditem BEIRUT, Sep. 6 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's Defense Minister Samir Moqbel on Tuesday urged the United Nations Interim Force in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) to help end what he described as Israel's violations in Lebanese territory. At a meeting with UNIFIL Chief Maj. Gen. Michael Beary, Moqbel called for a solution to end Israeli breaches of Lebanon's sovereignty in the occupied Shebaa Farms in southern Lebanon, a Defense Ministry statement said. Since last month, Israel has been constructing a road almost two kilometers long in the occupied Shebaa Farms, which lies between the Blue Line and Israel's so-called "technical fence," erected south of the divide. Lebanon's Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil recently asked Lebanon's UN mission in New York to file a complaint with the Security Council over the road construction. Moqbel also urged Israeli troops to withdraw from the occupied northern section of the border village of Ghajar and end its routine violations of Lebanese airspace, the statement added. It pointed that discussions also focused on the situation of UNIFIL's area of operations and the issues related to the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. Beary, of the UNIFIL, said it was important that the Lebanese Army and security forces continue to receive international assistance to "tackle the multiple challenges." ADDIS ABABA, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU) on Tuesday released a statement congratulating on the successful removal of remaining chemical weapons in Libya. The statement commends the efforts of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the Libyan authorities to realize the removal of the precursors chemicals on Aug. 27. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the AU Commission, expressed her relief in the statement at the timely removal of the chemicals, "particularly in light of the current situation in the country and the risk that such material could fall into the hands of non-state actors and terrorist groups." She has also expressed thanks to the members of the international community that have provided technical expertise, operational support and financial resources. Dlamini-Zuma underscored that the milestone demonstrates how the international community, through a strong partnership and a sense of collective responsibility, can work collaboratively and constructively in countering the risk of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The Chairperson seized the opportunity to call on remaining states non-party to the Chemical Weapons Convention to join it without delay as a key step towards achieving a world free of weapons of mass destruction. According to the statement, the 38th Ordinary Session of the Organization of African Unity, held in Durban in 2002, adopted a decision in which it expressed its commitment to, and called for the universality of, the Chemical Weapons Convention. The AU Commission and the OPCW subsequently signed a memorandum of understanding in 2006 and have been working towards achieving the universality and full implementation of the convention in Africa. Enditem GENEVA, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The UN Refugee Agency UNHCR on Tuesday announced that a 2,000-strong volunteer sea rescue team and a human rights activist are the joint 2016 winners of the Nansen Refugee Award. They were given the award for saving thousands of lives during the 2015 refugee crisis, and providing shelters for thousands of the most vulnerable refugees arriving on Greek shores. In a statement issued Tuesday, UNHCR said the Hellenic Rescue Team (HRT) and Efi Latsoudi from "PIKPA village," a community-run accommodation area on the Greek island of Lesvos, were both chosen for their tireless volunteer work during the 2015 refugee crisis on Greece's shores. "This award recognizes the work of volunteers and the support and assistance provided by people in Europe and around the world last year, and who continue to welcome refugees in their communities and assist with their integration," UNHCR said in the statement. Over 850,000 people arrived in Greece by sea in 2015 with more than 500,000 arriving on the island of Lesvos. In October 2015, arrivals peaked at more than 10,000 per day, as conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq continued to uproot people from their homes. UN figures showed that over 270 people died in Greek waters over the year. According to UNHCR, HRT has been rescuing people from the Aegean Sea and Greek mountains since 1978. In 2015, they undertook 1,035 rescue operations, saving 2,500 lives, and brought more than 7,000 people to safety. Latsoudi is one of the volunteers of PIKPA who, in 2012, transformed the former children's summer camp into a refugee haven with the help of local authorities. PIKPA has hosted up to 600 refugees a day, despite having a capacity of just 150, and distributed over 2,000 meals each day, UNHCR said. UNHCR's Nansen Refugee Award recognizes extraordinary humanitarian work on behalf of refugees, internally-displaced or stateless people. The award includes a commemorative medal and a 100,000 U.S. dollar monetary prize. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks during a voter registration rally at the University of South Florida September 6, 2016 in Tampa, Florida. (Xinhua/ AFP PHOTO) By Matthew Rusling WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are entering the final stretch of a knock-down, drag out campaign. While Clinton is favored to win, Trump could catch up if he plays his cards right. The two campaigns have seen a flurry of activities in recent days, with both candidates hitting the campaign trail hard in a bid to shore up support among both their main supporters as well as independent voters. In Tuesday's Real Clear Politics poll average, Trump trailed Clinton by 3.3 percentage points. While Clinton is a very unpopular candidate in the U.S., Trump's outlandish comments and bombastic bravado have gotten him into hot water with moderate voters. While Trump has galvanized white, blue-collar men like perhaps no other Republican candidate in recent memory, the brash billionaire has turned off single women, independent voters and Hispanics - three crucial voting blocs. The controversial candidate has in the past compared Mexicans to criminals and rapists, a remark that could end up costing him the election. Trump has in recent weeks attempted to turn a corner by speaking and acting in a way that is more "presidential." For her part, Clinton is nearly as unpopular as Trump, and polls consistently show that Americans do not trust her, as the Democratic nominee is constantly dogged by scandals. Those include allegedly giving foreign donors to the Clinton Foundation special access to her while she was secretary of state. The foundation is run by Clinton, her husband and former president Bill Clinton, and their daughter Chelsea. Clinton' s use of a private email account and server to conduct business while she was secretary of state, instead of using a secure, government-issued email account, is still being questioned by many. Critics have roundly blasted her for playing hard and fast with the nation' s national security secrets. While Clinton is now holding a slight lead in the polls, the big question is whether Trump can catch up before the November elections. To do that, the billionaire mogul needs to do everything he can to reassure moderate voters that he can be calm and cool on the spot, and needs to keep the attention off of him and make the election a referendum on Clinton, analysts said. "Trump needs to quit making incendiary comments that upset mainstream voters. He often steps on his own message through rude statements that distract from his message about helping the middle class," Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua. It's not too late for Trump, but he needs to shine during the upcoming presidential one-on-one presidential debates against Hillary. He not only needs to shine, but he needs to soundly and decisively defeat the Democratic candidate and trip her up on the stump, and cause voters watching nationwide to question her honesty and integrity. "It is not too late for Trump but he will have to do something in the debates to change the current narrative that she (Hillary) is going to win," West said. While experts look at the average of many polls to determine which candidate is in the lead, some individual polls have Trump leading Clinton by a small margin. Indeed, a new CNN/ORC poll released Tuesday found that 45 percent of likely voters back Trump, and 43 percent back Clinton, with the rest supporting a couple of independent party candidates. Dan Mahaffee, an analyst with the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, told Xinhua that in order to continue to close the gap in the polls, Trump needs to improve his standing among college-educated white voters. This is a segment that has traditionally been split between Democrats and Republicans, but polls show that Trump is lagging far behind past Republican candidates like Mitt Romney and John McCain. Certainly, appearing more "presidential" -even tempered and more balanced-will be important for Trump to reach out to this group. However, he continues to double-down on some positions, like immigration, that make it harder for him to continue to reach out to educated voters and other moderates, Mahaffee said. Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, told Xinhua that Trump needs to secure his position with core Republican voters and he also needs to gain considerable ground in most of the battle ground states by convincing voters that he is capable of governing. In the final stretch, it is not too late for Trump to win the election, Zelizer said. "It is not too late and it would be a mistake to discount him," he said. Photo provided by Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Sept. 6, 2016 shows a fire drill of ballistic rockets by Hwasong artillery units of the KPA Strategic Force. (Xinhua/KCNA) UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Tuesday condemned the recent ballistic missile launches conducted by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). On Monday, DPRK fired three ballistic missiles into eastern waters. These launches are in grave violation of the DPRK's international obligations under relevant Security Council resolutions, said the 15-nation Council in a press statement. "The members of the Security Council deplore all Democratic People's Republic of Korea ballistic missile activities, including these launches, noting that such activities contribute to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's development of nuclear weapons delivery systems and increase tension," it added. The missile launches came less than two weeks after Pyongyang test-fired a ballistic missile from a submarine off its east coastal town of Sinpo, where a submarine base is known to be located, on Aug. 24. The submarine-launched ballistic missile test was conducted in an apparent show of force toward the annual U.S.-South Korea military drills, codenamed Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG), which had run from Aug. 22 to Sept. 2. In the statement, the Security Council members also reiterated the importance of maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in North-East Asia at large and expressed their commitment to a peaceful, diplomatic and political solution to the situation. "The members of the Security Council stress the importance of working to reduce tensions in the Korean Peninsula and beyond," it said. "The members of the Security Council agreed that the Security Council would continue to closely monitor the situation and take further significant measures in line with the Council's previously expressed determination," it added. NEW YORK, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Brent Oil price ended lower on Tuesday after Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said there is currently no need to limit oil output. "There is no need now to freeze production," said Al-Falih in an interview on Monday in Hangzhou, China. "It is among the preferred options, but it is not necessary today. The market is improving day by day." He added. Analysts said his remarks dented market expectation for an immediate output freeze, weighing on the Brent oil price on Tuesday. Meanwhile, U.S. oil for October, which did not settle on Monday due to the Labor Day holiday, inched up mildly on Tuesday. The West Texas Intermediate for October delivery added 0.39 U.S. dollars to settle at 44.83 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for November delivery lost 0.37 dollars to close at 47.26 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. Enditem RIGA, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Latvia's major diary producer Food Union group said on Tuesday that it plans to further expand milk sale to China. The group plans to export 300 tons of milk to China for 3 million euros, and next year to increase sales to 10 million euros, said the group's CEO Normunds Stanevics at a Tuesday meeting of the Latvian government. Stanevics said that Food Union had been affected by the Russian food product embargo against the European Union as its sales fell considerably. Therefore Food Union focused on domestic market and worked actively on export markets, including China. Last year, the first shipment of Food Union ice cream was sent to China, and this year the group's milk is being exported to this country. The group also started construction of a plant in China that is set to be completed in June 2017. "China is a significant export market for Latvian dairy companies, but milk is not a product with added value. We should think about finer products. Therefore we plan to produce our Karums curds snack, yoghurt in China," said Stanevics. He stressed that China can become a significant export market for Food Union, but Latvia should promote its image more. "In order to continue cooperation between Latvia and China, good intergovernmental relations should be formed, good official communication channels. China has to be informed that Latvia is one of the greenest countries in the world and we have good milk production traditions," he said. Latvian Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis said much work has been done to promote Latvian products abroad and the work in this direction will continue. Enditem Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks during a campaign town hall meeting in Virginia Beach, Virginia, U.S., September 6, 2016. (Xinhua/REUTERS) By Matthew Rusling WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are entering the final stretch of a knock-down, drag out campaign. While Clinton is favored to win, Trump could catch up if he plays his cards right. The two campaigns have seen a flurry of activities in recent days, with both candidates hitting the campaign trail hard in a bid to shore up support among both their main supporters as well as independent voters. In Tuesday's Real Clear Politics poll average, Trump trailed Clinton by 3.3 percentage points. While Clinton is a very unpopular candidate in the U.S., Trump's outlandish comments and bombastic bravado have gotten him into hot water with moderate voters. While Trump has galvanized white, blue-collar men like perhaps no other Republican candidate in recent memory, the brash billionaire has turned off single women, independent voters and Hispanics - three crucial voting blocs. The controversial candidate has in the past compared Mexicans to criminals and rapists, a remark that could end up costing him the election. Trump has in recent weeks attempted to turn a corner by speaking and acting in a way that is more "presidential." For her part, Clinton is nearly as unpopular as Trump, and polls consistently show that Americans do not trust her, as the Democratic nominee is constantly dogged by scandals. Those include allegedly giving foreign donors to the Clinton Foundation special access to her while she was secretary of state. The foundation is run by Clinton, her husband and former president Bill Clinton, and their daughter Chelsea. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks during a voter registration rally at the University of South Florida September 6, 2016 in Tampa, Florida. (Xinhua/ AFP PHOTO) Clinton' s use of a private email account and server to conduct business while she was secretary of state, instead of using a secure, government-issued email account, is still being questioned by many. Critics have roundly blasted her for playing hard and fast with the nation' s national security secrets. While Clinton is now holding a slight lead in the polls, the big question is whether Trump can catch up before the November elections. To do that, the billionaire mogul needs to do everything he can to reassure moderate voters that he can be calm and cool on the spot, and needs to keep the attention off of him and make the election a referendum on Clinton, analysts said. "Trump needs to quit making incendiary comments that upset mainstream voters. He often steps on his own message through rude statements that distract from his message about helping the middle class," Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua. It's not too late for Trump, but he needs to shine during the upcoming presidential one-on-one presidential debates against Hillary. He not only needs to shine, but he needs to soundly and decisively defeat the Democratic candidate and trip her up on the stump, and cause voters watching nationwide to question her honesty and integrity. "It is not too late for Trump but he will have to do something in the debates to change the current narrative that she (Hillary) is going to win," West said. While experts look at the average of many polls to determine which candidate is in the lead, some individual polls have Trump leading Clinton by a small margin. Indeed, a new CNN/ORC poll released Tuesday found that 45 percent of likely voters back Trump, and 43 percent back Clinton, with the rest supporting a couple of independent party candidates. Dan Mahaffee, an analyst with the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, told Xinhua that in order to continue to close the gap in the polls, Trump needs to improve his standing among college-educated white voters. This is a segment that has traditionally been split between Democrats and Republicans, but polls show that Trump is lagging far behind past Republican candidates like Mitt Romney and John McCain. Certainly, appearing more "presidential" -even tempered and more balanced-will be important for Trump to reach out to this group. However, he continues to double-down on some positions, like immigration, that make it harder for him to continue to reach out to educated voters and other moderates, Mahaffee said. Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, told Xinhua that Trump needs to secure his position with core Republican voters and he also needs to gain considerable ground in most of the battle ground states by convincing voters that he is capable of governing. In the final stretch, it is not too late for Trump to win the election, Zelizer said. "It is not too late and it would be a mistake to discount him," he said. Photo provided by Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Sept. 6, 2016 shows a fire drill of ballistic rockets by Hwasong artillery units of the KPA Strategic Force. (Xinhua/KCNA) UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Tuesday condemned the recent ballistic missile launches conducted by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). On Monday, DPRK fired three ballistic missiles into eastern waters. These launches are in grave violation of the DPRK's international obligations under relevant Security Council resolutions, said the 15-nation Council in a press statement. "The members of the Security Council deplore all Democratic People's Republic of Korea ballistic missile activities, including these launches, noting that such activities contribute to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's development of nuclear weapons delivery systems and increase tension," it added. Photo provided by Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Sept. 6, 2016 shows top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un providing guidance to the test-firing of ballistic rockets. (Xinhua/KCNA) The missile launches came less than two weeks after Pyongyang test-fired a ballistic missile from a submarine off its east coastal town of Sinpo, where a submarine base is known to be located, on Aug. 24. The submarine-launched ballistic missile test was conducted in an apparent show of force toward the annual U.S.-South Korea military drills, codenamed Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG), which had run from Aug. 22 to Sept. 2. In the statement, the Security Council members also reiterated the importance of maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in North-East Asia at large and expressed their commitment to a peaceful, diplomatic and political solution to the situation. "The members of the Security Council stress the importance of working to reduce tensions in the Korean Peninsula and beyond," it said. "The members of the Security Council agreed that the Security Council would continue to closely monitor the situation and take further significant measures in line with the Council's previously expressed determination," it added. Director Midi Zhao receives an interview by Xinhua in Venice, Italy, Sept. 6, 2016. With a delicate romance gradually turning into an engrossing drama, Director Midi Zhao from China's Taiwan brought the plight of Myanmar illegal migrants into the focus at the 73rd Venice Film Festival. Zhao's "The Road to Mandalay", which premiered here on Sept. 5, would compete at Venice Days, an independent event devoted to high quality cinema taking place alongside the main competition since 2004. (Xinhua/Luo Na) by Alessandra Cardone VENICE, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- With a delicate romance gradually turning into an engrossing drama, Taiwan-based director Midi Zhao brought the plight of Myanmar illegal migrants into the focus at the 73rd Venice Film Festival. Zhao's "The Road to Mandalay", which premiered here on Sept. 5, would compete at Venice Days, an independent event devoted to high quality cinema taking place alongside the main competition since 2004. The Chinese-language movie narrated the struggle of Lianqing and Guo, respectively played by Taiwanese actress Wu Ke-Xi and actor Kai Ko, who travelled illegally from Myanmar to Thailand. Both young, and in search of a better life, they would become illegal migrant workers in Bangkok, and an almost unspoken love would slowly grow between them. Yet, the approach with which the two characters face the hardship of their situation, build their expectations, and imagine their future, would gradually diverge up to reaching a surprising and dramatic end. Dealing with such a sensitive and actual phenomenon, the Chinese-Burmese director wanted the story of Lianqing and Guo to stick to reality as much as possible. "Since I started working on this story in 2009, I wrote some 10 versions of the script," Midi Zhao told Xinhua in an exclusive interview. "I interviewed about one hundred Burmese illegal migrants working in Thailand, and adapted the script according to their testimonies, to put details of their life in the movie." On the other hand, the story was already very familiar to the director. Zhao explained that this story belongs to his own family's experience. "My older sister went through the same path as the movie's female character," he added, and the same was for so many other families in Myanmar. "The Road to Mandalay" provided the audience with a strong female protagonist, and not by chance. Zhao said the character of Lianqing was based on his sister's personality. "Usually, in the Chinese tradition, men are those who go out, or abroad, to make a living for their family," he said. "Yet, in my hometown (in Myanmar), many men were drug-addicted, so it took to women like my mother or my sister bear that responsibility." That was why his sister's image kept surfacing while the script was being written. "She was "tough", made money, and eventually allowed me to move from Myanmar... but in a safe way, and for studying," the director explained. The Taiwanese actress spent a year living in a Burmese village, and working in a factory in Bangkok, to get herself into the role of this determined, yet gentle, young woman. "The most important thing was to empathize: that is, to really realize how the life of illegal migrant workers is, and how they feel," Wu told Xinhua. The second major task for her was to lower the dramatic performance. "Midi asked me to be as much natural as I could. The female protagonist is like many other women in Asia: they are strong, but soft at the same time," Wu added. "They carry a lot of responsibilities for their family, and bear discrimination and humiliation without cracking up." Asked whether his movie might increase awareness on illegal migrant workers' struggle in Asia, the director gave a mixed response. "In Asia, as well as in Europe, authorities worry about this issue, but since many countries in Southeast Asia are still developing, governments also have other big problems to tackle," he said. "Life is complicate, and there are many factors artists do not know well. As such, the only thing we can do is to express what we see in the society, spread it out, and try to explain." "Watching a movie, however, someone might be touched, and empathize: in such a way, the movie might influence the way people look at this issue," Zhao concluded. UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The World Food Program (WFP) has delivered food for more than 30,000 people in and around the northern Iraqi town of Qayyarah which was under siege over the last two years, said a UN spokesperson on Tuesday. Stephane Dujarric told a daily briefing that the food rations will provide enough food for the besieged people for a full month. "The people of Qayyarah had been living under siege for two years and are suffering extreme hunger with scarce access to food supplies. Reaching them with life-saving food assistance is a very positive step forward," said Sally Haydock, WFP Iraq Country Director. The town of Qayyarah was freed by the Iraqi security forces in late August from the Islamic State (IS) militants. It will be taken as a staging ground for the government troops to free Iraq's last major IS stronghold in Mosul, some 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. Ever since the IS militants took control of parts of its northern and western regions in June 2014, Iraq has witnessed increased violence. As a consequence, more than three million Iraqis have been displaced across the country and in need of humanitarian assistance. EDINBURGH, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon Tuesday announced plans to increase economic growth in her government program. The three-year Scottish Growth Scheme will see the Scottish government unlock investment for the private sector, which is facing increased uncertainty as a result of Brexit for Britain to leave the European Union, said the Scottish government press release. Individual investment guarantees, and some loans, of up to 5 million pounds (about 6.71 million U.S. dollars) will be available to small and medium sized firms who would otherwise be unable to grow because of a lack of investment finance. The scheme will be open to new and early-stage high growth potential companies, with clear export growth plans, particularly in technology-intensive sectors and businesses in emerging markets, such as financial technology. As financial guarantees, the support will not come from existing spending plans, and will instead see the Scottish government share some of the risk faced by small companies, when they make big investment decisions. The announcement came as Sturgeon revealed which capital investment schemes will benefit from 100 million pounds of accelerated capital spending in this financial year starting April. She also announced steps to deliver on the Scottish government's commitment to 100 percent superfast broadband and establish a National Manufacturing Institute for Scotland. She also confirmed 290 million pounds worth of European Structural Funds projects to support Scotland's people, communities and businesses. With partner funding, this will deliver a total investment of 650 million pounds. This is part of wide-ranging legislative program that will see 14 bills introduced, continuing to deliver on the Scottish government's priorities including education to create opportunities for all and transform public services. Four of the bills will be introduced as a result of new powers devolved to the Scottish Parliament including a Social Security Bill to establish a social security agency. "This is a new parliament, with new powers, operating in a new political, economic and constitutional context," said Sturgeon, vowing to build an economy where everyone has a fair chance to contribute to growth, and where everyone can share in the benefits of growth. On Scottish independence, Sturgeon mentioned her promise to consult on a draft Referendum Bill, however, noting that it would be ready for immediate introduction "if we conclude that independence is the best of only way to protect Scotland's interests." (1 British pound=1.34 U.S. dollars) LONDON, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Education needs a major transformation to fulfill its potential and meet the current challenges facing humanity and the planet, according to a new UNESCO report launched in London Tuesday. The new Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report by UNESCO shows the potential for education to propel progress towards all global goals outlined in the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs). There is an urgent need for greater headway in education, the report says. "On current trends, the world will achieve universal primary education in 2042, universal lower secondary education in 2059 and universal upper secondary education in 2084. This means the world would be half a century late for the 2030 SDG deadline," the report warns. The report, titled Education for people and planet, shows the need for education systems to increase attention to environmental concerns. "While in the majority of countries, education is the best indicator of climate change awareness, half of countries' curricula worldwide do not explicitly mention climate change or environmental sustainability in their content," it says. "A fundamental change is needed in the way we think about education's role in global development, because it has a catalytic impact on the well-being of individuals and the future of our planet," said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova. "Now, more than ever, education has a responsibility to be in gear with 21st century challenges and aspirations, and foster the right types of values and skills that will lead to sustainable and inclusive growth, and peaceful living together," she added. The report also urges education systems around the world to take care to protect and respect minority cultures and their associated languages, which contain vital information about the functioning of ecosystems. "Education systems need to ensure they are giving people vital skills and knowledge that can support the transition to greener industries, and find new solutions for environmental problems," it suggests. Aaron Benavot, director of the GEM Report, said that "we must ask more from our education systems than just a transfer of knowledge" in order to have a greener planet, and sustainable futures for all. "We need our schools, universities and lifelong learning programs to focus on economic, environmental and social perspectives that help nurture empowered, critical, mindful and competent citizens;" he said. The report emphasizes that the new global development agenda calls for education ministers and other education actors to work in collaboration with other sectors. Erik Solheim (L), Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and UNEP Executive Director, gives an exclusive interview to Xinhuanet in Shanghai, Sept. 5, 2016. (Xinhuanet/Liang Hongru) BEIJING, Sept. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- China's roles and influences in the inclusive and green development of global economy should be praised, said Erik Solheim, the UNEP Executive Director Monday in Shanghai. Solheim, also the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, said this during an exclusive interview with Xinhuanet. "We need a rapid economic development in the world, but it must be inclusive," he pointed out, noting that everyone should be a part of, and should benefit from that economic development. Meanwhile he also praised the long term view of President Xi Jinping, as he commenting Xi's speech at the G20 Hangzhou Summit. With the theme of "Toward an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy," this year's G20 summit was held in the east China's Hangzhou city on Sunday and Monday. Besides, "there is no issue in the world we cannot solve if we stand together," he said, attaching the significance to the solidarity and cooperation. Last Saturday, Presidents of China and the United States handed over their countries' instruments of joining the Paris Agreement separately to Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon in Hangzhou. "It is an amazing progress," he commented on this handover, saying, "not just China leads China, but also China leads the entire world." It is also during this year's G20 Hangzhou Summit that green finance was put on the top agenda of the summit. "I'm delighted that a major power like China says that economic development must be green," said Mr. Solheim, "That should provide global ecological civilization." What Solheim advocated is not "take the road of first developing the industry and later put on some pollution control," for environment and development ceannot be separated. Therefore, he held, "driving investments to the green sectors is absolutely the key, otherwise it can never succeed. He listed a number of industries, like climate-friendly agriculture, renewable energies, and ecological tourism, highlighting "people want economic development, but at the same time they want to see the bright sky and yellow sun in." All new jobs that are needed in sectors underpinning the ecological civilization could be provided, he believed. In addition, he also gave three points on leading countries to fulfill the environmental goals in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. First of all, he said it is to work with the government of China, and to provide expertise and knowledge on how these plans can be done. Second point is to work with private sectors and come up with technological solutions. The third one is to raise the environmental awareness of the people. Indeed, "it is our common home," he said, "Take that attitude, when government makes decisions, when businessmen make decisions, and when individuals make decisions." Soldiers take part in the opening ceremony of ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus Military Medicine-Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Joint Exercise (AM-HEx 2016) in Chonburi, Thailand on Sept. 5, 2016. Troops from 18 countries -- 10 ASEAN member states and its eight dialogue partners on Monday began a joint exercise on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief here in Thailand. (Xinhua/Li Mangmang) The combo taken on Aug. 30, 2016 shows 13-year-old Jingjing having lunch at a welfare center for children in Tianjian, north China. The new semester has started, and let's see what and where will children have for lunch. (Xinhua/Bai Yu) ABC News(CLEVELAND) -- In an exclusive interview Monday in Ohio, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump told ABC News David Muir that he plans to release his full medical records. Neither of the presidential candidates has divulged his or her full medical records. But Trump told Muir Monday that if Democratic rival Hillary Clinton wants to make her medical history public, he would do the same, 100 percent. Why not go first? Muir pressed. I might do that, I might do that, Trump answered. In fact, now that you ask, I think I will do that. Id love to give full reports, Trump said, adding that he believes the American people deserve to know more about his and Clintons medical history. Ive given a letter from a doctor -- hes actually a great doctor, but thats OK -- but he gave a very strong letter, Trump said, referring to a one-page statement released by Dr. Harold Bornstein in December. Trump went on to say hed love to give specifics. Bornstein, Trump's doctor since 1980, asserted in the December letter that Trump would be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency." In an interview with NBC last month, Bornstein acknowledged that he wrote the letter hastily, but stood by his assessment of the 70-year-old Republican presidential candidates health. Clinton released a two-page statement from her physician, Dr. Lisa Bardack, in July 2015. And in the interview with Muir, Trumps running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, offered his own stamp of approval. I'll tell you, this man is a few years older than me. Im 57 years old, Pence said. I can't hardly keep up with the man. Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. BACK-TO-SCHOOL BASICS: University Libraries Offer an Alternative to Traditional Publishing This article was originally published on March 3, 2015. Maybe youre a professor who has an idea for a journal youd like to start at your university. Or maybe youre a graduate student looking to prove yourself by publishing your research. Or maybe youre a college librarian hoping to start a newsletter that will raise your librarys visibility on campus. No matter the reason, youre writing something that needs to find an audience. Why not publish it at the library? As digital tools get easier to use, many institutions are starting their own publishing programs in an effort to offer more varied services to their communities. The Library Publishing Coalition (LPC) defines library publishing as the set of activities led by college and university libraries to support the creation, dissemination, and curation of scholarly, creative, and/or educational works. Library publishing typically includes three criteria: a production process with steps such as editing, consistent structuring, and design; the presentation of new, original works that are considered authoritative materials on their subject matter; and a level of certification for the content published, which is similar to peer-review requirements at university presses. Open access (OA) dissemination is common in library publishing programs because it aligns with libraries traditional goal of providing public access to published works. Libraries have always been the place that people go when they need help finding, using, and building on information. As trusted partners of scholars, academic librarians are increasingly approached for guidance in finding a way to publish works of scholarship, and they already have access to and experience with many of the tools required to do this, says Sarah Lippincott, the LPCs program manager. The LPC sees the rise of library publishing as a response to the current problems with scholarly communication, including the issue of authors rights, the increase of unsustainable subscription prices, and the slow adoption of new modes of scholarship. The LPCs Mission The LPC is an independent, community-led membership association that promotes publishing services in academic and research libraries. Among other activities, the LPC advocates for libraries by helping them show faculty members, students, staffers, and other parts of the university community the value of their publishing programs. Membership is open to academic and research libraries and library consortia in North America that are looking to explore publishing solutions. The LPC board recently proposed that the association remove the geographic stipulation from its bylaws, and members will vote on this revision in the near future. Joining the LPC gives libraries access to a network of peers as well as to its Documentation Portal of members sources such as checklists, job descriptions, and procedure documents. The LPCs 2015 Library Publishing Directory, freely available as a PDF or EPUB file, describes the publishing efforts of 124 college and university libraries around the world. The following institutions from the directory share their experiences with starting publishing programs (showing how they benefit both libraries and writers) and give advice so other libraries can follow their lead. Keeping the Community Engaged The Howard-Tilton Memorial Library has run Tulane University Journal Publishing since 2012. This OA service has a web-based platform for publishing peer-reviewed journals, which include Tulane Studies in Zoology and Botany and Tulane Journal of International Affairs. Tulane Journal Publishing came about as a result of the rising costs our library was and is paying for subscription journals, says Jeff Rubin, digital initiatives and publishing coordinator. The universitys provost wanted to create a publishing outlet for faculty and students and he wanted to provide the academic content to the global public at no cost. Rubin sees the library as a central hub that connects everything on campus, and by offering publishing initiatives, librarians can engage more closely with faculty members and students and demonstrate how they can meet the communitys needs. The journals retain their autonomy, with each one setting its own policies and guidelines. The single most important item for new publishing programs is support from the schools administration, from as high up as you can get. That support is crucial because success requires a long-term commitment. Obviously some funding is helpful, but the support for the idea, for the program, carries more weight than simply money, says Rubin. The library began branching out beyond journals to help produce content from various institutes, centers, and other programs Tulane offers. There is so much content being created (studies, institute reports, community health articles, magazines, newsletters, etc.) that I thought we should utilize our publishing platform to publish everything that is not directed to the journals. It was important to keep the peer-reviewed material separate from the non-peer reviewed content, so we have separate websites for each tier, says Rubin. His eventual goal is to develop collaborative publications between Tulanes faculty members and faculty members from other universities. Offering Added Value The University of Waterloo Library provides OA publishing services on several platforms, and as a member of CrossRef and DataCite Canada, it can issue digital object identifiers (DOIs) for its hosted publications and research data, which include preprints (scientific paper drafts) and the Canadian Graduate Journal of Sociology and Criminology. In 1998, the library began providing OA electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). In 2009, it partnered with an electrical and computer engineering professor to start an OA preprints service for the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society and its associated journal. Now, the library uses the Public Knowledge Projects Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform to create new titles in partnership with faculty members and students. Be clear what the library is responsible for and what the editors are responsible for, says Pascal Calarco, associate university librarian for research and digital discovery services. Start small with a champion, respected faculty member who values the project and will be an advocate for the effort. Provide solutions to disciplines where there is the most benefit and promise for OA models. Libraries can also offer value in the form of DOI registration, abstracting-and-indexing inclusion, and other resources that the community cant access on its own. Services can be advertised at conferences, colloquia, and any venues where faculty members and students might go, says Calarco. He suggests creating an FAQ page on how to start a new journal, who and what is involved in the process, and the expected time frame. We are in the midst of broadening our ETD digital repository to also serve as a more general institutional repository for scholarship, and finally we have started offering research data management and data curation services alongside these publishing services, he says. Choosing the Right Platform At Eastern Kentucky University (EKU), the EKU Libraries provide OA publishing services to support the schools mission of regional engagement and student and faculty member achievement. These include publishing peer-reviewed journals such as the Kentucky Journal of Excellence in College Teaching and Learning and the Journal of Military Experience, as well as ETDs and a student newspaper. In 2009, EKU Libraries intended to publish ETDs, journals, special collections, and other content in an institutional repository using a platform that would display these items as well as manage the publishing process. The existing open source platforms were capable of ingesting and effectively displaying a wider range of file types (including images files), but these systems required technical staffing levels that we could not support. After assessing the different systems, the ability of our staff to support them, and the needs of our institution, we realized we would have to narrow our publishing scope and identify fewer goals for the hosted repository, and let those goals inform which platform to choose, according to Publishing Open Access e-Journals: Leveraging an Outreach Opportunity. EKU Libraries decided to choose journal hosting on bepress Digital Commons, which allowed the addition of that other content. Linda Sizemore, copyright and scholarly communications librarian, says libraries should market to the campus community, especially the graduate schools, undergraduate research office, regional engagement services, and honors program. They can reach out to faculty members via their liaison program. Whatever publishing system a library chooses, it should be interoperable with search engines; the library can then share usage data to document the reach and impact of the published material. Our publishing program will only expand in the future as the open access movement grows. We predict a growing need for data management, as well, Sizemore says. Testing the Repository Waters The University of Massachusetts Medical Schools (UMMS) Lamar Soutter Library runs eScholarship@UMMS, an institutional digital repository and publishing platform that offers global access to research and scholarly works from UMMS. These include OA publications; peer-reviewed ejournals; ETDs from UMMSs Biomedical Sciences, Nursing, and Medicine schools; and conference proceedings. Institutional repository librarian Lisa Palmer says, The dean of the UMMS Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences expressed interest in digitizing the schools 300 dissertations and making them available on the internet. We were thrilled to have such a great demonstration project for the repository. In 2009, the library partnered with the neurology and psychiatry departments to host the publication of ejournals. In 2012, the library first published its own, the Journal of eScience Librarianship (JESLIB). Library publishing services can open doors for faculty who want to venture into publishing in emerging or underserved disciplines. Library staff members have acquired detailed knowledge of how the publishing process actually works, and this allows us to be better advocates for our faculty because we understand what is involvedwe are not just observers, says Palmer. Running the repository helped staffers test new tools and technologies and taught them about embargoes, metadata, and dissemination, Palmer says. Typically libraries host the publication platform and faculty departments are responsible for all editorial content and tasks (peer review, layout, copy editing, etc.), she says. The library plans to focus on strategies for digital preservation, offer more content indexing to facilitate discoverability and credibility, and ensure that the library is fully enmeshed in digital scholarship on our campus. Meeting Various Needs Georg August University Gottingens State and University Library has OA-oriented publishing services for researchers, including ETDs and peer-reviewed publications. Its program began in 1996, and it now publishes journals and monographs. Gottingen University Press, founded in 2003, is part of the electronic publishing division of the library. Margo Bargheer, head of electronic publishing, says the university used early digital technology to focus on dissemination and archiving, which were functions that it could support with adaptations of its existing infrastructure and processes. In our library the idea arose to offer web-based publishing services for different scholarly needs and different media such as a University Press, an Institutional Repository and infrastructural support for self-organized publishing, she says. Bargheer and her colleagues underestimated publishings complexity, so they had to learn on the job. Starting a publishing program allows library staffers to be creative, adapt, and innovate constantly, whether that entails drafting new strategies with users, helping promising scholars publish in OA for the first time, or using social media to test dissemination strategies, she says. The library requires ongoing support from the universitys high-level management, its IT department, and faculty members who will need to be on board with spreading awareness of the publications. If after an inventory of existing talents, resources and infrastructure at the library you are able to identify some enthusiasm and adventurous spirit to overcome challenges and criticism and there are two to three promising projects from dedicated scholars, give it a start, Bargheer says. BACK-TO-SCHOOL BASICS: Make Research Easier With These Five Tools This article was originally published on Oct. 7, 2014. Students looking for help writing research papers can turn to an online reference manager to streamline the process. Several popular tools provide platforms that store articles, features that generate bibliographies, and functionality that encourages collaboration on projects. But these tools arent just for people taking college courses. Anyone who needs a way to keep his research organized can benefit from one of the following services. Heres a look at several popular research and reference managers, including their key functions and new features, as well as a sneak peek at their future upgrades. EndNote With the EndNote bibliographic management software, users can find, use, and share research, as well as collect, organize, and format references. They can sync their EndNote libraries across Mac and Windows desktop computers, on iPads, and online. Parent Company: Thomson Reuters Tagline: Use your research superpowers for goodleave the organizing to us Mobile Apps: Apple App Store Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube Features: Find it, Create it, Store it, and Share it are EndNotes four main functions for research management. Users can search online databases to find full-text articles and autocomplete their references. They can create and format citations in more than 5,000 styles using the built-in bibliography maker. Storage involves organizing and marking up files in any way that works for the user, and sharing means collaboration with teams and with the global research community. Customers: EndNote is used in the academic, corporate, and government sectors. Whats New: As part of the release of EndNote X7.2, EndNote added a library sharing feature that allows users to collaborate on research with up to 14 other colleagues and peers. Users can share their entire EndNote libraryincluding references, PDF files, and annotationsand everyone in the group can use the library simultaneously. Existing X7 users (as well as new users) also received unlimited storage capacity with the X7.2 release. Whats Next: EndNote concentrates on the idea that research is a collaborative effort and will continue to make its tools collaboration-friendly. It will also add more support for managing all research assets and begin to offer recommendation capabilities that support the research workflow. During the next year, Thomson Reuters plans to move the traffic from its EndNote online forum into the EndNote Community, which is a platform that allows users to share tips and tricks with each other. Flow (now RefWorks) Flow is billed as the only workflow tool you need. Its a reference and document manager with a variety of features designed by ProQuests Research Solutions team, whose mission is to empower researchers to discover, grow, and thrive. Parent Company: ProQuest Tagline: Research Better Mobile Apps: ProQuest plans to launch a responsive tablet user interface for Flow in late 2014, with small-screen responsiveness planned for early 2015. This means that formal mobile apps will be unnecessary, since Flow will adjust to various screen sizes on its own. Features: Flow lets users collect research, collaborate on work, and research anywhere. They can click to import their existing references and annotations into Flow, as well as click to drag full-text articles to the platform from anywhere on the web, even from behind paywalls, and Flow automatically enters the reference metadata. Using its collaboration options, researchers can share readings with up to 10 people for free and jointly annotate documents with people from any institution around the world. And its cloud-based, so there is no software involved; research is available instantly on any device. Flow for Word syncs with a users library to create citations directly in a Word document even while offline. Customers: Flow is available for academic, corporate, and government libraries and information centers. It caters to more than 1,200 organizations as well as to individuals who opt for free personal (2GB of storage) or premium plans (10GB of storage). Whats New: ProQuest introduced a Google Docs add-on for Flow so that its document management tools integrate with Docs to help users find, annotate, and share documents in the cloud, as well as work in a common virtual space with others. The add-on includes a selection of 3,000 output styles for bibliographies and citations. ProQuest also integrated Flow with its Summon discovery service to give researchers persistent access across both platforms, which means that search results from Summon can be saved in Flow, and users can create Flow accounts while working in Summon. Whats Next: ProQuests goal is to embed Flow at the center of each phase of the research workflow in order to streamline and simplify the research process. The company will continue to integrate with tools that specialize in various phases of the process and will deepen its existing integrations with Summon, Word, the ProQuest platform, and the Google Docs add-on. Upcoming enhancements include the expansion of the Summon integration to capture full text and the ability to integrate with the ProQuest platform so users can save documents to Flow directly from results lists. Mendeley Mendeley is a free reference manager and academic social network for students and researchers. Its available for Mac, Windows, and Linux systems, as well as for iOS devices. Parent Company: Elsevier Tagline: Your research, anywhere. Mobile Apps: Apple App Store Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Flickr, LinkedIn Features: Mendeleys five main features help users organize and share their research: 1) References, documents, and notes are securely stored, fully searchable, and accessible across platforms (i.e., desktop computers, web browsers, or mobile devices) from one place; 2) PDFs are available for highlighting, annotating, and adding sticky notes both online and off; 3) Users can generate citations and bibliographiescompatible with Word, LibreOffice, and BibTeXas they write in the style they choose; 4) Users can share reading lists, references, or full-text articles publicly or privately and collaborate with groups that work together on research assignments and papers and share feedback; and 5) Colleagues, peers, and classmates can follow each others research outputs and showcase their published research. Customers: More than 3 million researchers use the service, including students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and the University of Cambridge. Whats New: A new API launched in September that allows the service to build on its third-party app ecosystem and offer its users more functionality. Among other enhancements, the documentation on Mendeleys developer portal now includes tutorials, and its GitHub account has more SDKs (software development kits) and code samples. Whats Next: Mendeley is currently building an app for Android devices. Paperpile Paperpile is a web application and browser extension for people who want to manage their research library in Chrome. They can sign up with their Google account and must have Chrome (for Windows, OS X, or Linux) or Chrome OS. The tools goal is to simplify research collection and management as well as paper writing. Parent Company: Paperpile, LLC Tagline: No-fuss reference management for the web Mobile Apps: According to the FAQ, dedicated mobile apps are in the works. For now, Paperpile PDF files are viewable using the Google Drive app on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, Google+ Features: Paperpile uses Chromes technology to bring typical desktop-only features to a web application that integrates reference management into the Google Apps ecosystem. For example, users can format citations and collaborate with colleagues to write papers with Google Docs, regardless of whether each participant uses Paperpile. Papers can be organized by folders and with labels and starred as favorites, and research can be filtered by author, journal, or item type. When users find a reference on the web (from integrated sources such as Google Scholar, PubMed, Twitter, and hundreds of journal sites), Paperpile downloads the PDF, names it, and stores it in Google Drive so the content syncs across devices and can be shared easily via a private web link. Paperpile helps users manage and export reference data by fixing incorrect information, finding duplicates, and performing other tasks automatically. Users can create bibliographies in more than 7,000 citation styles and access up to 30GB of free storage space on Google Drive. Customers: Due to its integration with PubMed, Paperpile attracts scientists from a variety of fields, including life science and medicine and physics and engineering. Humanities researchers can also benefit from Paperpiles storage capabilities, which can accommodate gigabytes of digital books. Paperpile offers personal subscriptions, group licenses, and site licenses for university and research institutes. Whats New: This summer, Paperpile announced five key updates that simplify paper writing in Google Docs and enhance its service. Google developed a Suggestions feature that helps users track, discuss, and accept or reject individual edits in Google Docs, and it added superscript formatting functionality to Docs. Paperpile officially introduced the ability to create footnote citations; added support for italic, superscript, and subscript formatting; and allowed the use of Citation Style Language (CSL) to format customized citations. Whats Next: Future plans include a customer-requested feature: annotations for PDF files that will allow users to add sticky notes to the documents and highlight text. Users annotations will save directly to the PDF files so they can view them with any PDF viewer, not just Paperpiles. This functionality will be part of an upcoming release. ReadCube ReadCube is a free tool for Mac and Windows systems that helps researchers, libraries, and publishers manage their literature, find new articles, annotate PDF files, and perform other related tasks. ReadCubes bookmarklet adds papers to a users ReadCube library from any browser. Parent Company: Labtiva Tagline: Bring your Papers to Life. Mobile Apps: Apple App Store Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, Google+ Features: ReadCubes features include enhanced PDFs, personalized recommendations, a citation tool, syncing and backup capabilities, and watch folders. Users can view optimized PDFs alongside supplements and related materials, access a full reference list, use notes and highlighting tools, customize the viewer interface, and more. Recommendations for papers are delivered daily based on the content in a users library. SmartCite, its citation management tool, supports 6,000-plus citation styles and allows users to input citations directly from sources such as PubMed. Citation data remains on a manuscript while users collaborate with multiple authors. SmartCite also works directly with Microsoft Word. ReadCube Pro, which costs $5 per month or $50 per year, offers unlimited cloud syncing and storage that makes a users ReadCube library, notes, lists, and annotations available on multiple devices. Watch folders automatically import PDF files saved in laptop folders to the ReadCube library. Pro perks also include advanced article metrics. Customers: ReadCubes users live in 220 countries and work from more than 2,500 institutions. These include Harvard University, Imperial College London, and Zhejiang University. Whats New: This summer, ReadCube released a new HTML5-compatible web reader and an updated app for iOS devices. New publisher partners include IGI Global, the Canadian Medical Association, De Gruyter, and Wolters Kluwer. Whats Next: ReadCube will add new functionality to SmartCite, as well as introduce an Android app, a Web-based library, and its own search engine. It is also looking to enter into new collaborations and integrations with publishing partners. 41 graduate from Career Tech 2016 Career Tech 2016 was created to give teenagers an introduction to Sci- ence, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). In July, MIC created the new vacation programme for teens, catering primarily for fourth, fifth and sixth formers. The programme sought to engage the students in pneumatics, hydraulics, air condition and refrigeration, simulated welding, mechatronics and electronics/ electrical. It was entirely free for a six-week period during the July/August vacation by MIC at four key locations; Tobago, Macoya, Pleasantville and OMeara. The teenagers were exposed to hands-on experience for a practical career option for their future development. MIC noted that with over 250 participants, the hope will now be to do this annually. The STEM programme will serve as a catalyst to ignite the interest of the younger population and through its hands-on approach to training, MIC believes it will give the trainees insight into technical skills necessary for integration into the industrial labour market. CEO (Ag.) Reynold Johns brief remarks, though punctuated by light humour, was sufficiently serious to let the graduates know that they were on the right path as he was a product of technical vocational education. He told the students after having left Tobago to attend the John S Donaldson Technical Institute, he travelled to Germany on a scholarship and further to the United Kingdom (UK). He said when young persons are being told that the best thing to become is a doctor or a lawyer, he challenges that because doctors bury their mistakes, and to be good instructors who are technical people, they multiply theirs. He told the parents not to belittle their children for what they want to do and he urged the children as well not to belittle themselves for what they also want to do. He said there is no shame in being a good craftsman. Man shot dead after parting fight His visibly shaken mother, Aviann Williams, who was awaiting the results of an autopsy yesterday at the Forensic Science Centre in St James, Port-of-Spain, told Newsday that Williams, a welder, was shot in the back after defending a female friend. They killed my son, Williams said. I will never get to hold him again. They killed him for parting a fight. There was an altercation between a young woman and a man. I heard that the man wanted to dance with her and she didnt want to dance and an argument broke out. The man threw a bottle at her and she threw a bottle at him, and the man got injured. Then they began to scuffle and my son parted the fight. Newsday was told that the man and his friends were heard saying they would swing back for Williams and his group. Moments later gunmen arrived at the bar and began shooting indiscriminately. Williams and the rest of his group, along with the other patrons in the bar, ran for safety. However, Williams was shot in the back. He died on the scene. Police sources say a 34-yearold man from Longdenville has been detained in connection with the shooting, but homicide detectives continue to work on several leads in the investigation. Aviann Williams described her son as a loving and simple man who worked as a welder with his uncle. We were supposed to celebrate my grandsons birthday on Sunday, she said. I was planning to cook and bring some food for them. The last thing my son told me is that he wanted macaroni pie, because it was his favourite dish. I bought all the ingredients and was going to cook it, but then I got a call with this news. Man stabbed, female relative in custody The woman has since has since been detained and the weapon seized. The incident, a police report stated, occurred at about 11.30 pm on Sunday. The wounded man was rushed to the Couva District Health Facility where he was treated before being transferred to the San Fernando General Hospital. A relative of La Borde, who spoke to Newsday yesterday, said she is praying for his full recovery. He was stabbed in the left side of his chest and the knife touched his lungs, but doctors say he will be okay. He is resting comfortably and talking, she said. I am just praying for the two of them because is family. She further told Newsday she was at home when the incident occurred but was unable to do much when the two began fighting as she is nursing an injured foot. The argument started among a group of close friends and family who had been liming during the evening. Sgt Neptune of the Couva Police Station is continuing enquiries. Body found in Caura identified Greaves body was found on Friday by a group of hunters near the Peas Tree Housing area on the eastern bank of the river. Crime Scene investigators also found a rock covered in blood near to the mans body. The victims mother, Charmaine Greaves, told reporters yesterday at the Forensic Science Centre in St James, Port-of-Spain, that her son had gone missing two Sundays ago. She said as soon as she heard the description on the news of the mans clothing, she knew that it was her son. As soon as I turned on the news and I heard them say camouflage pants and blue and white sneakers, a chill ran through my body, said the grieving mother. That was when I knew my son was dead. Relatives told reporters that Greaves was seen last time alive when he left his girlfriends house in Princes Town in the company of two men in a red vehicle. When he did not return to his girlfriends house, where he was staying, she became worried and notified the police as well as his relatives. While police are still trying to ascertain a motive for the murder, relatives have their own theory to why he was killed. Before we were even aware that he had died, persons were sending condolences to us and asking if we were okay, which I found was very strange, one relative said. Relatives added that Greaves had received threats from unknown men several months ago. Greaves was described as an opportunist who was trying to change his life after being released from jail two years ago. While his mother is grateful that finding his body would bring closure, she said the way he was killed was brutal and heartless. I know death is sure, but the way that he died was ruthless, she said. I will deal with it. God dont sleep. Homicide detectives are continuing investigations. Supt Rajkumar: Stay out of our division Steer clear of the Northern Division or face relentless pursuit by the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service. He gave the warning during a press conference held at the Maloney Police Station, while displaying to reporters seven firearms, an assortment of ammunition and a quantity of marijuana which were seized during the period August 28 to September 5. I want to let those persons who intend on coming here to disrupt the peace know that we will be in your face at all times, Rajkumar said. He told members of the media that for the year, Northern Division police officers have found and seized 85 firearms which is the second highest number of firearms recovered by police officers per division for the year. Based on our goal of reducing crime and the fear of crime, one of the objectives that each divisional commander has is to retrieve at least 100 firearms for the year, Rajkumar explained. I am proud of the officers under my command for doing such an exceptional job. I would like to take the opportunity to thank all the officers here today and those in the division for their continued support in the performance of their duties. Rajkumar added that the Northern Division is now experiencing a 20 percent reduction in crime, and said the division has the highest rate of solved murders. Like every other division you have the economic situation and unemployment, as major challenges contributing to crime, but that is totally different to what we are focusing on. We are focused on retrieving firearms and making sure this division is a safe place for everyone. Rajkumar added that along with the search for firearms in the division, police officers are also using the softer approach to policing, where officers would have walkabouts. Station commanders have been directed to commence walkabouts in their districts, and engage citizens to hear their concerns, and assist them in whatever areas they can. He added that community officers are also reaching out to people, and persons are also invited to station council meetings where ideas can be exchanged to see how the Police Service in the community can be improved. Teen in court on 12 charges Kayron Aziz, who police said was arrested in April and is before a Couva court on similar charges, was remanded into custody. He was out on bail. Charges were laid by PC Ali of the Princes Town Police Station. The teenager was not called upon to plead as the charges were laid indictably. Aziz was charged with three counts of kidnaping, one charge of robbery with violence, two charges of assault with intent to rob, one charge possession of a firearm, one charge of possession of ammunition, one charge of shooting with intent, one charge of discharging a firearm within 40 meters of a roadway, one charge of possession of firearm to endanger life and one charge with possession of ammunition with intent to endanger life. On August 20, it was reported that PCs Clarence and Ali of the Princes Town Police Station responded to a report of a robbery in progress in Borde Narve Village, Princes Town in which three gunmen had sped off in a blue Subaru Impreza car with three male passengers against their will. Officers intercepted the vehicle along La Paille Road and rescued the three victims. They also recovered two Glock pistols, 37 rounds of .9mm ammunition along two extended and one normal magazine. One of the Glock pistols was fitted with an attachment which they reported enables the weapon to become fully automatic, police said. Aziz will return to court on October 3.. PRINCES TOWN PARENTS WANT NEW SCHOOL They are deeply concerned over the discomfort felt by the students who are being accommodated in already cramped spaces at the Princes Town Presbyterian No. 2 School. It is really a tight squeeze for all those students in such a small environment, President of the Parent Teachers Association, Nola Ramjohn-Karim, told Newsday yesterday. To show their dissatisfaction, parents and students armed with placards, blocked the entrance to the school compound at Princes Town Presbyterian No. 2 from as early as 7am. For nearly two years the students have been attending classes at the Princes Town Presbyterian Primary No.2 School after their school building on Edward Street was deemed unfit for use. Ramjohn-Karim said that for too long, parents have remained silent while their students continue to suffer. Since last year June, the students of Princes Town Presbyterian No.1 and Princes Town Presbyterian No. 2 have been operating on a shift system. It is too much stress and immense pressure for these students, Ramjohn- Karim explained. She said that the students of both schools are being affected. Since this shift system, the students of the Princes Town Presbyterian No. 2 School dont even have access to their music room and art room because these rooms are being used to accommodate our students, Ramjohn-Karim said. She strongly believes that the students of the Princes Town Presbyterian No.1 Primary School have been neglected. Our children are being deprived of learning in a comfortable environment and it is really unfair when you see other schools being rebuilt. Mother of two, Laura Ragbir-Ramjattan, said that in the initial stages of the shift system, she had to drop her children off at separate times during the day. I had to drop my son to school at 8am, then pick him up at 2pm then drop my daughter off at 12 noon then pick her up at 4.30 pm. And in addition to their regular activities, they have their co-curricula activities after school. All of that had to stop, she explained. Ragbi r-R amj at - tan said her children began experiencing severe headaches because of the stress with the shift system which they were not accustomed to. I am one of the lucky ones, she said. I have my own personal vehicle, but I know there are many people who are in my position with children on two shifts and have to pay for transport. Parents have vowed to continue protesting until they get a hearing from officials of the Education Ministry. Efforts to contact officials from the Ministry of Education and the Presbyterian Primary School Board proved futile. CTU looks into plight of Chinese workers Wheeler was speaking with Newsday at the opening of a weeklong training session hosted by Interpol and supported by the Canadian High Commission as part of a regional effort to strengthen measures to tackle the illicit billion-dollar trade. We are looking into that, Wheeler said when questioned over recent reports of Chinese nationals being encamped in the country to maintain projects such as the National Academy for the Performing Arts and the Couva Childrens Hospital. She said she was not able to give any details but indicated the issue of Chinese workers was certainly on the radar of the unit. There is a lot of work to be done in Trinidad, Wheeler said. We have only just touched the surface. We have a lot more work to do in the unit. Of course this type of training will assist us and strengthen our capacity to be able to respond to the challenges we are seeing. We are happy to see this training, we are happy to benefit from this training and we are grateful to the Government of Canada and Interpol for involving Trinidad and Tobago in this project. Newsday last week reported at least 20 Chinese nationals are kept to maintain aspects of NAPA and the Childrens Hospital, according to officials of SCG International (Caribbean) Ltd. In response, Urban Development Corporation of TT Chairman Noel Garcia said the matter of Chinese workers was one for the contractor and the State had no evidence that the Shanghai Group is in violation of any of the ILO laws. The CTU has a staff of about 20 officials. In 2014, about 35 matters were investigated, according to the CTU annual report to Parliament. Additionally, more than 90 people were screened for human trafficking indicators, which are the signs that people may be in a country involuntarily, or under coercion. Six of these were identified as victims of trafficking. These included one Trinidad and Tobago national who is a child, who was exploited as a child soldier, three Venezuelan nationals for sexual exploitation, and two Guyanese nationals for labour exploitation, the CTU stated. Several joint operations and exercises were conducted, including: Operation Soup which was undertaken with the Police Services Western Division. Eleven Chinese women were found working in brothels in Woodbrook. Speaking at the opening of the training event at the Hilton Trinidad, St Anns, Port-of-Spain, Deputy Police Commissioner (Crime and Support) Wayne Dick said human trafficking remains a hot issue and called for network- building Principal wears students uniform Reese said this has been a tradition for her every first day of school as an icebreaker and to show the students that she was also a part of them. Every first day of school I try to come out with something lively and exciting for the children, wacky socks or a crazy hairdo. Today I had my own uniform made which I wore. I always try to humanise our positions and let them know we are here, let them know we are part of them, that this is a team and not them being separate from us, and to break the ice. Reese said on the first day of school she let them know that heroes came in all shapes and sizes, hence the slogan you cannot judge a hero by his size. We want them to know that they are already heroes for being able to come out to school, being brave to let go of home, going to their new classes and meeting their new teachers. Its just something to relate to them. When they saw me dressed in the uniform they went crazy. Most of them found that it was funny and entertaining and they loved it, so it served its purpose, she said. She said the first days of school are when all the teachers would discuss rules, but also to let them know that each class was a team. I am not only the principal of the school but in class I am part of them. Even though they know the rules and the boundaries we try not to separate and alienate the educator from the educated. It doesnt mean we have to be stiff about it. We try to make them feel that we are always there with them. TTUTA: Special education a bastard child For special education it has been carried by faith-based organisation and NGOs, but the State is yet to acknowledge its full and total responsibility with regards to special education, he explained. He urged Ministry of Education officials to go into some of the special education centres throughout TT to see the poor conditions in which teachers function. Sinanans critical remarks were made yesterday afternoon at a news conference on the opening of the new school year, held at the ministrys new head office on St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain. Education Minister Anthony Garcia, one of the speakers at the conference, echoed Sinanans sentiments and stated that special schools are not being treated the way they should be but said that is now changing. The Government has taken the decision that we are going to put our special schools on the front burner. Two weeks ago, Cabinet agreed to provide financial assistance to 12 special schools. Those 12 special schools have been registered with the Ministry of Education. The financial assistance will allow for the payment of salaries and other infrastructural means, he said. No pay for sub teachers One teacher, who spoke under condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation, said substitute teachers are hired under contract for ten days after which time it would expire, and then be renewed again for the period of time that the school needed the teacher. There are a lot of substitute teachers who havent gotten paid. I have worked for about one year with a certain school, and I havent gotten paid for the time that I worked, the teacher said. We have tried contacting the ministry, but are just getting the run around. At one point they told us they were paying schools first, but that has not been the case, the teacher added. Calls made to the minister yesterday went unanswered. After Planned Parenthood sting, Stalinist California seeks to criminalize investigative reporting (Freedom.news) It ought to be obvious by now that a majority of citizens living in California would feel perfectly at home in Josef Stalins USSR or modern-day China, because they keep electing authoritarian Democrats to office who are more wedded to their Left-wing ideology than they are to constitutional principles and freedom. Thats the only way to explain why Californians would agree to a law that essentially criminalizes investigative reporting. As noted by AMI Newswire, a bill penalizing the dissemination of secret recordings of health-care workers is headed to the governors desk. Assembly Bill 1671 passed the state Senate Wednesday on the last day of the legislative session. It would impose punishment only for the combined acts of both secretly recording and disseminating those confidential communications to others. Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, which spearheaded the legislation, said the bill is needed to protect health-care providers from violence and harassment which is, of course, complete bunk, considering there is no widespread epidemic of violence being directed at health care providers or employees of Planned Parenthood. Detractors, however, rightly contend the bill is constitutionally suspect and a threat to investigative journalism, and they say it panders to a single organization (Planned Parenthood). The bill comes in the wake of a lengthy investigation into Planned Parenthood by the Center for Medical Progress, which is based in Irvine, Calif. The center, which labels itself as a group of citizen journalists, alleged that Planned Parenthood clinics were engaged in the illegal sale of fetal tissues collected from abortions. Planned Parenthood denies the charges, calling them malicious and reckless, but any reasonable person who watches the videos will conclude that PP officials most certainly were doing what the center alleges. And if the country were not being led by a man who opposed, as a state senator, a bill requiring babies born alive during an abortion to be given life supportive care, PP officials would be defending themselves in court today. During its 30-month investigation, the center secretly videotaped people connected to Planned Parenthood without their knowledge. Under current California law, its a crime to eavesdrop or record confidential conversations without all the parties consent. But not so for investigative reporting, which is what the center was doing. This is being pushed by Planned Parenthood, and the California attorney general is working hand in glove with them, attorney Steve Cooley told AMI Newswire. Cooley, who represents the centers lead investigator, David Daleiden, blasted the bill as deeply offensive to the First Amendment, as well as the California Penal Code. That the legislature thinks this way is reprehensible, said Cooley, a former Los Angeles County district attorney. Nothing would surprise me about the California legislature. Officials from the states Attorney Generals Office, which is headed by Kamala Harris, searched Daleidens apartment earlier this year and seized video files, which were collected during the centers investigation, according to a post on the centers Facebook page. Harris, who is now a U.S. Senate candidate, has not confirmed whether her office is investigating Daleiden. The legislation serves the interest of a selfish, narrow-minded group, Cooley said. And it also puts the rights of all journalists at risk, he said. This is a threat to traditional journalists that use this technique to expose fraud and malfeasance, Cooley said. Hes right, of course. Except in California. Michael Carroll of AMI Newswire contributed to this report. More: 2016 USA Features Media. Submit a correction >> The Depths of Ideolgical Subversion: Communism and Islam To this day many people are convinced that the September 11th attack of 2001 was a conspiracy orchestrated by our own government to usher in the New World Order. This type of attack is known as a false flag and the United States is no stranger to their use. Pearl Harbor and The Gulf of Tonkin were both said to be false flag attacks used to get the American people to accept war. Operation Northwoods was another false attack planned by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to get the American people to accept an invasion of Cuba. These plans called for attacks against American citizens, and then blaming it on the Island nation. Luckily this plan never came to fruition. After September 11 The United States government immediately launched a campaign in the Middle East that began with Afghanistan and then included Iraq and now Libya and Syria. This plan was referred to as the Project New American Century and ultimately, it also included plans to attack Iran. Liberals were sure that Barack Obama was going to end the wars in the Middle East and bring a new era of peace; however, his wars in Libya and Syria are merely extensions of the Project New American Century which seeks to expand American military dominance around the globe. This means that Obama is carrying out the same war plans started by Bush. Actually, the Project New American Century was written well before the attacks of September 11, and one of the planners allegedly admitted a new Pearl Harbor event would likely be necessary to get the American people to accept an invasion of not only Afghanistan, but Iraq as well. Fifteen years later the debate still rages as to whether September 11 was an actual attack launched by radical Islamists in the name of Jihad, or an attack launched against our freedoms by our own government. The evidence is becoming increasingly clear, according to an article published by Europhysics Magazine, that the twin towers were not brought down by excessive heat from burning jet fuel, but by controlled demolition. As if we need a panel of experts to bring us to this conclusion. According to the article, the Twin towers, along with building 7, would have been the first known case of total collapse due to excessive heat and fire melting steel frames. Indeed, neither before nor since 9/11 have fires caused the total collapse of a steel-framed high-risenor has any other natural event, with the exception of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, which toppled a 21-story office building. Otherwise, the only phenomenon capable of collapsing such buildings completely has been by way of a procedure known as controlled demolition, whereby explosives or other devices are used to bring down a structure intentionally. Although NIST finally concluded after several years of investigation that all three collapses on 9/11 were due primarily to fires, fifteen years after the event a growing number of architects, engineers, and scientists are unconvinced by that explanation. How would the American people react if they were to find out this was a conspiracy orchestrated by their own government? What if the conspiracy was planned to not only do away with the freedoms we have enjoyed and taken for granted, but to completely destroy the morale of the American people, while simultaneously discrediting the American government on the world stage in order to offer a different form of government as a solution? Is it possible that the release of this article is a prelude to a revelation that the U.S. government intentionally staged the September 11 attacks in order to launch wars of aggression? Granted, this is all merely speculation conjured up by an author who is fascinated by the techniques of psychological warfare; however, there are little bits of evidence that suggest this is a strong possibility. First of all, look at the inroads Islam has made in American society since the 9/11 attacks. The attacks themselves have been turned into the means in which Muslims have become oppressed victims in America. Stereotyping a Muslim as a terrorist is the new Jim Crow and they have made tremendous progress using this as a civil rights tactic. Could you imagine how empowered the Muslims would be if it were revealed that the U.S. government deliberately staged the 9/11 attacks in order to prop up Islam as the enemy? Revelation of this kind would likely put America in its place while shaming the vast majority of us into silence. Secondly, the global elite have been trying to destroy conservatism and the patriot movement for a long time. If it was determined that the government of George Bush and the Neocons deliberately staged this event it would be the ultimate end of the Republican Party. It would also destroy the morale of the Republican rank and file as well. They would have absolutely no idea how to deal with this kind of information and they wouldnt know which leg to stand on. This would force them into compliance with whatever solution would be offered, which of course would be along the lines of a global type government. Is it possible that this attack was not launched by radical jihadists but by Communists within our own government using Islam as a force for revolution? Is it possible that the 9/11 conspiracy theory is a deliberate misinformation campaign designed to keep us from seeing the real objective, which would be the complete discrediting of our form of government all together in order to offer communism as a solution? This is exactly what would happen if it were revealed to the world that the U.S. deliberately staged the 9/11 attacks in order to launch wars of aggression in the Middle East. It is also a strategy that would fall right in line with the Communist concept of Ideological Subversion. Former KGB agent Yuri Bezmenov describes Ideolgical Subversion as a process that seeks to demoralize an entire nation to the point that despite the abundance of information available to the public, they have absolutely no way of discerning what is real. It is certainly safe to say that we are at that point in the United States. Never before in the history of man has so much information been right at our finger tips yet, somehow we have never been more misinformed. He also describes it as a process of educating the population into the culture of the enemy, more and more we are seeing Islam becoming the protected culture in America while at the same time, acceptance of the loss of American Sovereignty is gaining tremendous ground. Discovering that our own government was responsible for the 9/11 attacks, as stated earlier, would empower the Muslim world and destroy any remaining faith the American masses had in their system of government. This alone would accomplish the Communist goal of discrediting the American Constitution. The following is from the book The Naked Communist. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the big picture. Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over. In 1951, State Department advisor John Dulles gave a testimony before the U.S. Congress describing a plan he referred to as the Communist Peace Offensive. He offered his opinion that the Soviet Union was involved in all out propaganda campaign designed to give the world the impression that the United States was the country that stood for wars of conquest and that Communism was the solution to worlds problems and stood for peace. Looking at the mentality of many people in our younger generations you would have to argue, despite the fact that much of this material refers to events prior to WWII, that there is something of this affect happening in our country. Young college students, as well as activist groups, are literally begging for enslavement that masquerades as freedom. If an organization such as the U.N., for example, were to reveal to the world that the U.S was responsible for 9/11 then this Communist plan to portray the American government as Imperialistic warmongers would have been successful beyond their wildest dreams. Many people may be wondering why we are discussing Communism and not Islam; after all, it was radical Islamists who allegedly attacked us on September 11, 2001, not Communist revolutionaries. Despite the fact that Russia currently acts as an adversary to radical Islam, the truth is quite different. According to Cliff Kincaid in his book The Sword of Revolution And The Communist Apocalypse Russia has a long history of support for Islam because Muslims were one of the peoples considered to be oppressed by the bourgeoisie. This makes Muslims perfect candidates for acting as the useful idiots of Communist revolutionaries who seek to do nothing but create chaos in order to offer communism as a solution. Kincaid cites an excerpt from a report written by a former KGB agent for Americas Survival Inc. where he describes the history of Russian support for Islamic terrorism. The communists have considered Islam their ally from the very beginning, because in the early twentieth century, Islam was the religion of the oppressed people. Support of Islam was considered a part of the Russian based anti-colonialism. It is very significant that Vladimir Lenin in December 1917 addressed his second message, delivered just after coming to power, to the Toiling Muslims of Russia and East. So they considered Muslims a reservoir of people for the world communist revolution. This makes a lot of sense if you stop and think about it. Sharia Law has little to do with the actual religion of Islam and more to do with a radical political ideology. It is virtually an Islamic version of communism if you want to be more specific. Looking at where America is today, 15 years after the September 11 attacks, it is safe to say that America is forever changed and will likely never be the same. People are begging for communism and restrictions on our freedoms, Islam is becoming more of an accepted culture than Christianity and the idea of American Sovereignty in the minds of millions is a laughable concept. The idea of a free and prosperous America has been destroyed and if it were revealed that the U.S. was in fact responsible for 9/11, then the country would be completely discredited on the world stage and ripe for a complete ideological takeover, which is in fact one of the goals of the communists. Are the communists using Islam as a force for world revolution? Was it communism behind the September 11 attacks? We will likely never for sure; however, if they soon come out with proof that it was the U.S. we may have a better understanding. Submit a correction >> All Party delegation led by Shri Rajnath Singh concludes its visit to Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir, Tue, 06 Sep 2016 NI Wire Delegation meets over 200 persons in about 18 different delegations in Jammu An All Party delegation visiting Jammu and Kashmir concluded its visit today. The All Party delegation was on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir. On the second day of its visit yesterday, the delegation visited Jammu after visiting Srinagar. In Jammu, the delegation met over 200 persons in about 18 different delegations from various sections of society. Delegation of Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry led by its President Shri Rakesh Gupta, Chamber of Traders Federation of Jammu Province led by Shri Neeraj Anand, Federation of Industries led by its President Shri Lalit Mahajan and the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association led by its President Advocate Abhinav Sharma met the All Party delegation. A composite delegation of Jammu Hotels, Lodges, Taxi Tour and Travel operators also discussed their issues with the All Party delegation. The Doda and Talwara Reasi migrants, Kashmiri migrants delegations and a composite delegation of J&K PoJK Refugees Front discussed their problems with the delegation in Jammu. Besides this, delegations of West Pakistani Refugee Action Committee-1947, All Jammu Civil Society Forum (Dogra Sadar Sabha), Vishav Hindu Parishad, Rashtriya Gurjar Manch, Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, Muslim Front led by Imran Qazi, Anjuman-e-Imamia, Jammu led by Syed Amanat Ali Shah, J&K Christian Dalit Society of Jammu and Panthers Party led by Shri Harshdev Singh also met the All Party delegation. Earlier in the day, before reaching Jammu, the All Party delegation met various delegations including political parties and civil society organisations in Srinagar today. These delegations included Shah Hamdan Public Welfare Trust led by its President Dr. Nazir Ahmad Dhar, J&K State Rashtriya Janta Dal led by General Secretary Shri Mehraj-ud-din Ganai, J&K Development Foundation led by its President Shri Bilal Parry, Lok Janshakti Party (YUVA) led by its National President Shri Sanjay Saraf, J&K National Democratic Front led by its Chairman Shri Abdul Rashid Kabuli, J&K Kashmir Wattan Parast Front led by Shri Khalid Tufail and Prof. Abdul Rashid Shawl as an individual. During the discussions, various points emerged e.g. perception management of media, specially social media is very important to channelize the energies of our youths in the right direction. The media should report on the incidents keeping the larger context in mind. The concern was also expressed on the source of funding of the terror-related activities. It was also emphasised that rehabilitation of released/surrendered militants is also very important for which the Government already has a scheme. Addressing media persons in Srinagar, the Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh said that all parties have consensus that situation in Jammu and Kashmir should improve at the earliest. He said that the delegations talks with the various sections in J&K have been fruitful. The Home Minister also informed the gathering that Dr Sanjay Roy from Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has been nominated as the Nodal Officer to address the grievances of people of Jammu and Kashmir. The grievances can be reported, 24 X 7, on the following phone numbers: 01123092923, 01123092885 and email: dirmjk-mha@nic.in. Later in the evening, the Home Minister addressed the media in Jammu also. Shri Rajnath Singh informed that the All Party delegation will meet in Delhi and discuss the issues that came up during meetings with various delegations during its visit to Jammu and Kashmir. During the first day of its visit yesterday, the delegation had met about 200 members comprising of about 30 delegations. The Home Minister also chaired the All Party delegation meeting in Srinagar which was attended by Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Ms Mehbooba Mufti. The delegation met the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Shri N. N. Vohra later in the evening and discussed with him various issues related to the current scenario. Source: PIB South African Delegates Discuss the Essence and Challenges of South African Cinema at the BRICS Film Festival New Delhi, Tue, 06 Sep 2016 NI Wire The delegates from South Africa participating in the 1st BRICS Film Festival have expressed the hope that very soon member countries will co-produce films on various interesting topics and enhance bilateral relations. Interacting with the media here yesterday, the delegation said that the talks at the highest level of Governments are progeressing well and will soon give final shape to joint cooperation in the field of cinema. The cast and crew from the competing movies of South Africa in the festival shared their stories, ideas and experiences. Present at the conference were Mr. Sallas de Jager, Director of 'Free State', Mandla Dube, Director along with Lerato Louise Montoedi, Associate Producer of 'Kalushi: The Story of Soloman Mahlangu'. Also accompanying them were Thapelo Mokoena, Actor, 'Mrs. Right Guy' and Paul Egan, Producer of 'Tess'. Mr. Sallas de Jager said that 'Free State' was shot two years ago and involved people from South Africa and India. It was a privilege for him to write the story, portraying the essence of a forbidden love story. The film represents the relation between parents and children. He noted that working with the Indian crew, including Producer and Editor, was a great learning experience. 'Free State' showcases the story of Jeanette, who is a beautiful open minded law student. During her summer holiday with her father in the Free State, a random act of kindness by an attractive Indian man sparks an unexpected love affair. Secret meetings follow, since it was against the law at the time to have an interracial relationship. As the film progresses, their secret comes out and all hell breaks loose. Mr. Mandla Dube, reminisced that 'Kalushi' was shot eight years back. It has been screened at various film festivals including Cannes, and loved by the people of Edinburgh, South Africa, Zanzibar and London. Ms. Lerato Louise added that the idea of making this movie came from a stage play. The movie portrays the story of a young liberator who fought for the country. The story of Solomon relates to the connection of South Africa and India, as the lawyer of Kalushi was an Indian. The film shows the story of Solomon Mahlangu, who is a Mamelodi township schoolboy-hawker. After the events of June 16th joins the military wing of the ANC to fight against the brutal oppression of the Apartheid regime and ends up becoming an icon of South Africa's liberation. Mr. Thapelo Mokoena said that story of 'Mrs. Right Guy' revolves around a woman. It is one of the only three romantic comedy movies produced by the black community. He added that the film is more than just a struggle story of the past. 'Mrs. Right Guy' is the story of Gugu, a women who rejects love before it can get too close to rock her from a self-imposed exile from love. But, to find bliss with the right guy she must first realize that no man is created equal, and that in love nice guys have staying power. Mr. Paul Egan, said that the shooting of 'Tess' completed in June 2016 and the audience outside South Africa will witness it for the first time at the BRICS Film Festival. The quality and precision of movies from the other countries screened at BRICS are extremely inspiring and we are learning quite a lot from them, he added. The conference concluded with hopes of enhancing the cinematic exposure of the BRICS nations with each other. Source: PIB The Buildings Department has approved plans for Masjid Al-Arapha to build a three-story, 15,120-square-foot religious facility at 88-49 179th Place, located immeadiately east of downtown Jamaica. The project will measure 15,120 square feet and rise 35 feet in height. It will contain prayer areas on the ground and second floors, followed by classrooms for children ages three through 12 on the third floor. The cellar will contain a kitchen and a 22-car parking garage. Jamil M. Coppins Fresh Meadows-based architecture firm is the architect of record. The 80-foot-wide, 8,615-square-foot property is currently vacant. The Jamaica-179th Street stop on the F train is located a block away. Subscribe to the YIMBY newsletter for weekly updates on New Yorks top projects Subscribe to YIMBYs daily e-mail Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates Like YIMBY on Facebook Follow YIMBYs Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews Share While consumers and businesses wait in anxiety for the first commercial rollouts of 5G wireless networks, they will still have 4G LTE to keep them company as they download their favorite videos and transfer important company data. Nokia (News - Alert), a wireless device manufacturer that plans to continue its dominant presence as a mobile-focused supporter of telecoms, is also biding that time, but perhaps is being more proactive in its approach. Most consumers and businesses may have no power when it comes to shaping the future of their wireless lives. Nokia, on the other hand, does have the power. A recent report from the company notes that it has introduced the 4.5G Pro mobile radio (an expansion of its existing 4.5G unit) and has plans to introduce a similar 4.9G radio that would allow users to gain a near-5G experience before the real thing comes to pass. The 4.5G radio, Nokia promises, will improve the speed and capacity capabilities of existing 4G networks. It calls the release the next step in a technology path that will optimize the journey to 5G. Samih Elhage, the president of mobile networks at Nokia, commented further about the development: While the ever-connected world of people and IoT drives huge data demands, the speeds enabled by 5G will be a colossal step in operators network evolution, Elhage said. However, with our 4.5G, 4.5G Pro, and 4.9G technologies, we will provide a smooth evolution path that will allow them to increase capacity and improve the user experience while creating new revenue opportunities. The boost in speed that the new Nokia 4.5G Pro radios will offer could reach as high as one gigabit per second. They will work on multiple frequency bands in order to help operators develop their own FDD and TDD spectrum use. It appears that the target use of these new devices will be in large cities where the population can crowd the capacity of current radios. With an increase in capacity, the new Nokia radios should have the potential to deliver higher speeds to more users during peak hours. The 4.5G Pro and 4.9G devices are also expected to appease businesses that rely on the connection of multiple machines in the Internet of Things (IoT). Consumer network usage can drain mobile signal capacity, but hundreds, thousands, or millions of IoT-connected hardware units such as utility meters or connected home devices can stress a network even more. 5G is expected to remedy that situation, but its predicted arrival date of 2020 will not have the next generation of wireless in full swing for several years. These patches from Nokia should appease the masses until the coming decade arrives. Even more, the capabilities of 4.9G should play a significant role in mobile use as the rollout of operators 5G radios and adoption of consumer 5G handhelds takes hold. Elhage called this a smooth evolution path, and if all goes as planned, that is exactly what the world will receive. Edited by Alicia Young We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. The means to boost bilateral trade between Morocco and Russia will be on top of the agenda of an economic forum in Agadir on September 15 between businessmen from the two countries. In this respect, about 40 Russian businessmen will be attending the event which aims at boosting Russian-Moroccan cooperation in fields pertaining to trade, industry, investments and tourism, the le360.ma news portal said. The forum will be chaired by the President of the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM) Meriem Bensalah. It comes as part of the follow-up of the visit paid by Moroccos King Mohammed VI to Moscow last March. Agadir was chosen as a venue for the forum in light of its significance as a capital of a region that exports agricultural products and fisheries to Russia as well as its growing popularity as a holiday destination among Russian tourists. Moroccos vegetables and fruits exports to Russia reached 8 million tons in 2015, that is a 7% increase compared to 2014. Morocco welcomed 50,000 Russian tourists in 2015 and aims at attracting 300,000 Russian visitors by 2018. The recent takeover by Libyan forces of the coastal city of Sirte from IS, is a major setback for the terrorist organization. Yet, this victory against a common enemy that brought together Libyas rival militias in a united front against IS raises concerns regarding Libyas unity. Despite UN-led support for the Government of National Accord (GNA), the east-west divide continues to deepen. Two rival governments continue to vie for power and influence: the UN-backed Tripoli-based GNA led by Prime Minister Fayez Al Sarraj and the Parliament of Tobruk supported by Egypt and some Gulf states and now backed by the all-powerful General Khalifa Haftar. To halt the widening divisions and a return to in-fighting, the UN has convened crisis talks with Libyas factions on Monday in Tunis. The talks aim at discussing the future of Sirte in a united Libya and restart a political process stalled after the House of Representatives parliament in the eastern city of Tobruk rejected a cabinet of the GNA. Keen to stabilize the North African country in chaos since its 2011 revolution, Western powers see in the fragile GNA the only way to bring together factions that were at war just two years ago. In this respect, the French Foreign Minister has recently called on Serraj to reach a compromise with the Parliament of Tobruk and General Haftar who challenge the GNA powers. Oil is another major issue that is igniting inter-Libyan divisions. Libyas oil production of 200,000 barrels per day (bpd), a fraction of the 1.6 million bpd the OPEC member was producing before the 2011 uprising that toppled Gaddafi, is managed by the National Oil Corporation (NOC) in Tripoli. Having split in 2014, the two rival NOCs reunited on July 3LNA , with respected oil administrator Mustafa Sanallah appointed chairman. Libyas oil production risks diminishing in light of the fierce rivalry between Libyas warring factions over control of eastern oil terminals. The infantry brigades of General Haftars Libyan National Army (LNA) are likely to continue their advance to the oil terminals controlled by the rival militia of the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) that pledges allegiance to the GNA. A move that threatens to further deepen divisions. Obummer. Photo: Andrew Harrer/Pool/Getty Images On Tuesday, the largest proHillary Clinton super-pac released a terrifying new ad, entitled I Love War. The 30-second spot layers Donald Trumps most belligerent sound bites over images of dead soldiers and mushroom clouds, warning voters that the GOP nominee is far too comfortable with the use of atomic weapons. I love war in a certain way Including with nukes. Nuclear is just, the power, the devastation is very important to me, Trump says at various points in the ad. But while voters might worry that the moguls volatile temperament could make him overeager to deploy weapons of mass destruction, some American allies appear to worry about the exact opposite. In recent weeks, President Obama had been mulling the idea of committing the United States to a no-first-use policy on nuclear weapons which is to say, making an official promise that the U.S. will only launch such weapons in response to their use by an adversary. But the presidents advisers proved nearly unanimous in their objections to such a move, and Obama seems to have yielded to their judgment. Per the New York Times: But in the end, Mr. Obama seems to have sided with his current advisers, who warned in meetings culminating this summer that a no-first-use declaration would rattle allies like Japan and South Korea. Those nations are concerned about discussion of an American pullback from Asia prompted by comments made by the Republican presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump. In other words, Americas allies are spooked by the idea that Donald Trump would be too reluctant to deploy Americas weapons nuclear or otherwise in their defense. Thus, to reassure our security partners, Obama must not suggest that the United States is officially opposed to starting nuclear wars. From one angle, the anxiety surrounding the no-first-use position looks curious after all, its been Americas unspoken policy for decades. But if that policy were made official, it could give momentum to more concrete changes, like putting our nuclear arsenal into a lower state of readiness. For proponents of no first use, this is one of the policys essential benefits: De-alerting nuclear missiles would make an accidental atomic war less likely. The policys critics, however, dispute that conclusion. According to the Times, Obamas advisers believe that, should the U.S. need to re-alert its arsenal amid a crisis with another nuclear-weapons state, that very action would risk escalating that crisis, increasing the risk of a hot war. More fundamentally, opponents of no first use suggest that there may be circumstances in which a first strike is justified. In The Week, Kyle Mizokami sketches one such scenario: A North Korean nuclear missile, buried in a silo deep underground, is being prepared for launch. The silo is too well protected by concrete and steel to guarantee a conventional bomb or hail of bombs would destroy the missile. On the other hand, the newly updated B61-12 ground-penetrating nuclear bomb might very well do the trick. There are many reasons to worry about Donald Trump commanding Americas nuclear arsenal, his proud ignorance of geopolitics and emotional volatility being two of the most prominent. But its worth noting that the GOP candidates stated position on the use of nuclear weapons is roughly identical to that of the sitting president. Trump has declared nuclear proliferation the biggest problem in the world, while vowing to have a military thats so strong and powerful, and so respected, were not gonna have to nuke anybody. Still, even as Trump has expressed his deep personal aversion to the weapons, he has refused to rule out their use. I will be the last to use nuclear weapons. Its a horror to use nuclear weapons, Trump told the Today show in April. I will not be a happy trigger like some people might be But I will never, ever rule it out. The Obama administration, officially, agrees. All things seem possible this year. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Could Hillary Clinton carry Arizona, Georgia, and Texas (!) in November while losing Iowa and Ohio? That is a distinct possibility, according to a vast new survey of the 50 states published by the Washington Post in conjunction with the online pollster SurveyMonkey, based on surveys conducted over much of August. And while this kind of poll should probably not be taken to the bank in terms of specific accuracy, it does show the changing nature of the presidential battleground pretty dramatically, and in ways that echo other evidence emerging this year. The big development the Post survey confirms is the power of race and educational levels to change the map. Trump is doing exceptionally well in states with relatively low minority populations and relatively high numbers of non-college-educated white voters, regardless of past partisan leanings. That helps explain why Iowa (the only battleground state in which Trump currently leads, according to the RealClearPolitics polling averages), Ohio, and Wisconsin are looking relatively good for the mogul, while Pennsylvania and Michigan are also within striking distance for the Republican. Obama carried all of these states twice; Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin havent gone Republican since 1988. States with a combination of a large African-American and/or Latino population and a relatively high percentage of college-educated white voters, however, are leaning the other way. The best example is Virginia, which went Republican in every presidential election from 1968 through 2004 before going twice for Obama and now leaning heavily (plus 8) to Clinton. North Carolina has followed a similar pattern, albeit not quite as strongly (it went Republican in every election from 1980 through 2004, and it was narrowly carried by Obama in 2008 and by Romney in 2012; the Post/SurveyMonkey now shows a tie there). And now Arizona (which has gone Democratic just once since 1948), Georgia (Republican since Clinton narrowly carried it in 1992), and Texas (last carried by a Democrat in 1976) are moving in the same direction for the same reasons. While the Post headlines all of these findings as good news for Clinton given the overall standing of the candidates in the 50 states, they do illustrate Trumps narrow path to victory: winning the previously Democratic states where hes now leading or competitive (the latter includes Florida, a close state that does not fit any of the usual patterns, in part because of the unusual composition of its large Latino population) while holding off the Democratic trend in the red states where he is struggling. As for the cognitive dissonance political junkies experience in looking at maps where Iowa is red and Texas is blue, well, weve been here before. New York and California were for many years the quintessential swing states, before the former became more or less reliably Democratic in the 1970s, while the latter turned red in the 1980s, and then blue in the 1990s. Illinois switched from red to blue at the same time, and to the same degree, as California. Kentucky was once the ultimate bellwether state; now its reliably Republican. Oregon was dead even in the close elections of 1976 and 2000; now its reliably Democratic. The new map we are adjusting to this year is largely the product of demographic changes, but it could well be that the implications of these changes are being exacerbated by this particular presidential campaign. A future Republican candidate, for example, may sacrifice some of Trumps appeal to white working-class voters in exchange for a fighting chance to win Latinos or college-educated white women. So dont memorize the new map just yet. Phyllis Schlafly. Photo: Alan Hagman/LA Times via Getty Images Good morning and welcome to Fresh Intelligence, our roundup of the stories, ideas, and memes youll be talking about today. In this edition, Clinton gets a new plane, Bernie returns to the campaign trail, and Obama gets no respect. Heres the rundown for Tuesday, September 6. WEATHER While everyone has been busy talking about storms on the East Coast, it looks like the Midwest will see the roughest weather today with potentially damaging winds, a danger of flash floods, and even a tornado or two. New York City will be rainy and gray with temperatures in the low-80s. [The Weather Channel] FRONT PAGE Phyllis Schlafly Dead at 92 Conservative activist, proud antifeminist, and right-wing darling Phyllis Schlafly died yesterday at home in Ladue, Missouri. She was 92. Schlafly made a name for herself in the 70s fighting against the Equal Rights Amendment. Later, she focused her considerable energies on the pro-life cause and, most recently, she endorsed Donald Trump for president. Trump described Schlafly as a patriot and a champion for women. Schlafly described feminists as a bunch of bitter women and said that they would find their greatest fulfillment at home with their family. [Reuters] EARLY AND OFTEN Clinton Gives a Press Conference, and All It Took Was a New Plane Hillary Clinton unveiled her new plane yesterday, and with it, a cozier relationship with the press. The plane a Boeing 737 with Stronger Together written across the body, and an H on the tail will have room for the press corps, who will now travel with the candidate instead of on a second jet following behind her. Clinton was so happy with the new plane that she even gave a press conference onboard her first in 275 days in which she discussed Russia, President Putin, and the credible reports about Russian government interference in our elections. [Politico] Some Sanders Supporters Refuse to Stop Feeling the Bern Bernie Sanders spoke at his first official campaign event for Hillary Clinton yesterday in Lebanon, New Hampshire, singing her praises to a crowd of around 300 people. There should be no doubt in anybodys mind as to whether Hillary Clinton is the superior candidate because in every respect she is, he said. But all did not go smoothly, as a group of one-time Bernie supporters gathered outside to protest Clinton and even gasp threaten to vote for the Green Party. [NYT] Obama Jumps at Rare Opportunity to Avoid Abuse President Obama cancelled what would have been his first meeting with Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte in Laos yesterday, after Duerte referred to Obama as a son of a bitch to reporters. Duterte has been called the Donald Trump of Asia; he is a populist known for his controversial remarks which have included jokes about rape, homophobic comments, and other vulgarities and his encouragement of vigilantes killing drug dealers. Obama is in good company; Duterte has called Pope Francis a son of a whore in May, and called U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg a gay son of a whore. The Philippines has since said that Duterte regrets the president took getting called a son of a bitch personally. THE STREET, THE VALLEY Bayer Really Wants to Buy Monsanto After four months of wrangling, the German firm Bayer still wants to buy Monsanto. Yesterday, Bayer announced that it would be willing to pay $2.50 more per share, bringing the share price up to $127.50. If it goes through, the merger would create a massive global firm and a leader in seeds and pesticides. [WSJ] If Only Rob Reiner Made Space Movies After two long years, Rosetta and Philae have finally been reunited. Well not reunited, exactly, but the European Space Agencys unmanned spacecraft has been able to snap a picture of the powered-down space probe stuck in a crevice on the Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Trust us, for a certain type of person, this is thrilling stuff. [CNet] MEDIA BUBBLE Newspapers Down, Get Kicked As if things couldnt get more demoralizing for newspapers, now the Newspaper Association of America itself is changing its name to the News Media Alliance. The change is more than just cosmetic; the organizations print requirement is also being dropped, so now news platforms without actual newspapers can join up. [NYT] PHOTO OP We Hope Nobody Ever Looks at Us This Way Syria may be a toss-up but America is totally winning the staring contest. Obama warns of cyber "wild, wild west" after talking cyber attacks with Putin https://t.co/UGtC1pIZid pic.twitter.com/zK1HIfUOjV Talking Points Memo (@TPM) September 5, 2016 MORNING MEME Whatever This Is, It Is Worth Your Time Left without comment. OTHER LOCAL NEWS This Child-Hunting-Clown Thing Is Getting Out of Hand The rash of sightings of clowns trying to lure children into the woods seriously, how is this happening? in South Carolina has crossed state lines. It has emerged that police in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, responded to two calls after two children claimed that a person dressed as a clown tried to lure them into the woods with treats. The two clown sightings took place two miles apart. [BuzzFeed] Grandmother Knows What She Wants, Is Going to Get It A 95-year-old grandmother in North Canaan, Connecticut, won $30,000 from scratch cards over the weekend. When asked what she would do with the money, she didnt think twice: Ill give everyone a little bit and get a decent phone something where you can actually see pictures. This ladys got it figured out. [UPI] HAPPENING TODAY Trump Ruins Mexico for Everybody Hillary Clinton is officially declining her invitation from the Mexican president to meet with him in Mexico City. An interview with Clinton will air on NBC News this morning in which the candidate confirms that she will not be heading south of the border before the election in November. [NYT] Youve Seen the Plane, Now Read the Book Hillary Clintons favorite slogan, Stronger Together, has been made into a book, which is hitting shelves today. The political tome too strong? has been published by Simon & Schuster and lays out Clinton and her running-mate Tim Kaines policies. The proceeds will go to charity. [The Hill] Rodrigo Duterte. Photo: TED ALJIBE/AFP/Getty Images Heres a tip to any world leaders itching to curse out President Obama face-to-face: Dont announce your plan in a televised address. President Obama called off a meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines scheduled for Tuesday in Laos after Duterte warned on Monday that he would put Obama in his place if he questioned him on human-rights violations. Last week, White House officials said they expected Obama to raise concerns about the extrajudicial killings of 2,000 people as part of the Philippines war on drugs. Duterte made a campaign promise to crack down on crime, and the killings by police and vigilantes have reportedly increased drastically since he took office in June. Before heading to Laos for the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Duterte cautioned Obama not to raise the issue. You must be respectful, Duterte said, apparently addressing Obama. Do not just throw questions. According to the Associated Press, he then used the Tagalog phrase for son of a bitch (or son of a whore) saying, Putang ina, I will swear at you in that forum. Clearly, hes a colorful guy, Obama responded. What Ive instructed my team to do is talk to their Philippine counterparts to find out is this in fact a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations. Later, a National Security Council spokesperson said the meeting was off. Hours later, the Philippines government released two statements that walked back Dutertes strong comments. He regrets that his remarks to the press have caused much controversy, it said. He expressed his deep regard and affinity for President Obama and for the enduring partnership between our nations. Its unclear if the meeting will be rescheduled, but Obama said earlier that he would undoubtedly address human-rights concerns if and when he meets with Duterte. Still, the U.S. is in an awkward position. While the U.S. is a key ally in the Philippines territorial dispute with China over the South China Sea, Duterte has said he wants his country to be less reliant on the U.S. Nevertheless, the U.S. is moving ahead with plans to send troops back to the Philippines, which is part of the Obama administrations effort to rebalance resources to the Asia-Pacific region. The U.S. isnt the only nation having issues with the Philippines new leader in fact, Dutertes attack on Obama is arguably his least-offensive use of the term putang ina. Hes previously called U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg a gay son of a whore, and applied the same insult to an Australian missionary who was gang-raped and killed, and Pope Francis. This post has been updated to include the Philippines statement of regret. Phyllis Schlafly Photo: AP Last week, Donald Trump argued that minority voters concerned about the fact that he is a gigantic racist should support him because the opposing party used to be the home of even more gigantic racists. It is the Democratic Party, the Republican nominee argued, that is the party of slavery, the party of Jim Crow. Conservatives place strange importance on the historical fact that the Democratic Party used to be the natural home of southern white racial conservatives. It is reasonably well known that the Democratic Partys embrace of civil rights drove that faction out. The other, less known factor that altered the composition of the two parties was the conservative takeover of the GOP, which turned the party against civil rights at just the same time the Democrats were turning toward it. Phyllis Schlafly, who died this weekend, happened to play an important role in this transformation. In 1960, when Schlafly first arrived on the national stage, the conservative movement was a minority faction within the Republican Party. Conservatives regarded the liberal and mainstream wings of the party Establishment, like Nelson Rockefeller and Dwight Eisenhower, with undisguised loathing. The faction fights within the GOP mirrored those within the Democratic Party. Just as conservative Democrats fought to stop liberal Democrats from moving their party left on civil rights, conservative Republicans did the same with liberal Republicans. In 1960, Schlafly led the conservative faction in a revolt against a platform plank opposing segregation and racial discrimination in voting and housing. In 1964, conservatives again defeated platform amendments endorsing the enforcement of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (which had already become law, over the objections of the Republican Partys nominee, Barry Goldwater) and calling for the federal protection of voting rights. Just as racial liberals drove racial conservatives out of the Democratic Party, racial conservatives did the same in the Republican Party. From the standpoint of the 21st century, legal apartheid is no longer a live political issue. And so conservatives attempt to associate the Republican Party with its old, moderate, and pro-civil-rights iteration, making the case that Republicans somehow remain the party of civil rights. Bizarrely, this case is even made regularly in the pages of National Review, whose editor, William F. Buckley, defended segregation in the South (and then, two decades later, in South Africa), and whose publisher, William Rusher, argued that conservatives could take over the GOP and replace the votes of defecting moderates by attracting conservative white Southerners. As the civil-rights era has receded into the past, it has gotten easier for conservatives to muddle the historical lineage. Schlafly was one of the few conservatives with a long enough tenure to directly connect the conservative movement of today with its anti-civil-rights predecessors. As a tribute to the late, great Phyllis Schlafly, I hope everybody can go out and get her latest book, THE CONSERVATIVE CASE FOR TRUMP. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2016 Of course, the most bizarre thing about the rights historical revisionism is not that conservatives try to associate themselves with the policies of the faction they deliberately drove out of their party in part because it supported civil rights. It is the unstated presumption that racism has been banished from American politics and African-Americans today vote for the Democratic Party out of misplaced nostalgia. If you read things like William Wans brutally detailed expose of vote suppression in North Carolina, you can see the GOP identifying voting mechanisms preferred by African-Americans and systematically eliminating them. It is true that Republicans once favored civil rights, before conservatives took the party over. What possible reason is that to support a party that now passes laws specifically designed to prevent African-Americans from voting today? With friends like these Photo: Michele Eve Sandberg/Corbis via Getty Images During the primary debates, Donald Trump repeatedly boasted that he knows how to get politicians to do his bidding, explaining that he donated to both Republicans and Democrats, just in case he needed a favor. You know what? When I need something from them, two years later, three years later, I call them, and they are there for me, he said. And thats a broken system. Yet, now that Trump is facing questions about whether his improper $25,000 donation to a group connected to Florida attorney general Pam Bondi prompted her to drop a potential fraud investigation against Trump University, hes suggesting that he wasnt actually very good at working the system contradicting Bondi herself. In June, Bondis spokesperson, Marc Reichelderfer, told the Associated Press that she personally asked Trump for a donation to her reelection effort several weeks before her office said it was considering opening a fraud investigation into Trump University. The process took at least several weeks, from the time they spoke to the time they received the contribution, Reichelderfer said. After the pro-Bondi group, And Justice for All, received a check from the Donald J. Trump Foundation, her office said it would not sue Trump. (Trump paid the IRS a $2,500 penalty this year for violating laws that prohibit charities from making political donations, and failing to properly disclose the donation.) However, when asked on Monday about accusations of pay for play, Trump repeatedly denied that he talked to Bondi. I never spoke to her, first of all. Shes a fine person, beyond reproach. I never even spoke to her about it at all. Shes a fine person. Never spoken to her about it, never, Trump said. Many of the attorney generals turned that case down because Ill win that case in court. Many turned that down. I never spoke to her. As the Washington Post notes, its unclear whether Trump meant he never discussed the donation or the case against Trump University. When asked what he was hoping to get out of giving money to the Florida attorney general, he said: Ive just known Pam Bondi for years. I have a lot of respect for her. Never spoke to her about that at all. And just have a lot of respect for her as a person. And she has done an amazing job as the attorney general of Florida. She is very popular. If Trump were as good at influencing politicians as he claims, he would have made Bondi promise not to contradict his explanation when his $25,000 gift turned into a scandal. Rendering of Pier 55. Legal challenges have recently snarled the construction of Pier 55, the free-floating park and performance space in the Hudson River largely financed by IAC chair Barry Diller in partnership with the Hudson River Park Trust. The City Club of New York has been the main thorn in the side of the massive infrastructure project. The good-government group has sued to stop the construction on various grounds, including the failure of Dillers Pier55 nonprofit and the Trust to conduct a full environmental impact study. But according to a New York Times report, the City Clubs concerns might extend beyond the environment even beyond preserving the West Side views. Instead, the report suggests, it seems as if another really rich person has stumbled on a way to nurse a grudge via the legal system. The backer of all this is one Douglas Durst, Diller bluntly told the New York Times. Durst, the New York real-estate scion and brother to Robert Durst (yes, that Durst), declined to say whether hes involved. He replied to the Times by saying, I do not like the process or the project and I am in favor of the litigation. How did Diller decide Durst was the guy holding up Pier 55? Durst was a major donor and one-time board chairman of the Friends of Hudson River Park, which raises money for the Hudson River Park Trust the organization overseeing Pier 55s development. In 2011, Durst and some of his fellow board members were forced out, after the group sought to change its fundraising strategy. Per the Times: Though Mr. Durst publicly said then that he had agreed to step down for the benefit of the park, making way for others who could donate or solicit more money, he seethed in an unpublished interview at what he saw as the highhandedness of the trusts leadership. During that period*, the Hudson River Park Trust started cavorting with Diller over the rehabilitation of the crumbling Pier 54. Diller reportedly proposed a replacement, the floating 2.4-acre park now known as Pier 55. The plans were first announced in the fall of 2014, with Diller pledging $130 million of the total $170 million price tag. (The Hudson River Park Trust and the city would pick up the rest of the tab, though any costs overruns are to be covered by Dillers nonprofit.) Pier 55 got the last of its necessary approvals in April 2016, and construction was set to begin this summer. City Clubs first lawsuit failed to stymie the project, but, at the end of June, the group won an appeal to halt most of the construction until the case could be heard. The City Club denies that Durst is footing the bill, but the Times gathered a few more pieces of evidence. For example, the attorney representing the City Club is Richard Emery, counsel to Douglas Durst and the Durst Organization during the filming of the Jinx. Emery said the City Club is making all decisions about litigation. The group has a history of fighting noble causes (versus Tammany Hall at the time of its founding in 1892, for example), and its suit does raise valid concerns about public-private partnerships, such as the apparent lack of a competitive bidding process for the Hudson River site. According to the Times, the two moguls met at least twice as the suit wove its way to the courts. But, Diller apparently failed to win over Durst and if hes really the man behind it to get City Club to back away from its litigation. The parties go back to court Tuesday. *This most incorrectly stated that Durst had left Friends of Hudson River Park when the Trust approached Diller about Pier54, and that Richard Emery was counsel to Robert Durst. Photo: Shanna Baker/Getty Images James Pennebaker, a distinguished professor at the University of Texas, got married right out of college in the early 70s. Three years after his marriage, he and his wife started to question their relationship, and Pennebaker, confused and unsettled, sank into a depression. He ate less, drank more, and started smoking. Embarrassed by what he saw as emotional weakness, he became more and more isolated. One morning about a month into this decline, Pennebaker climbed out of bed and sat down at a typewriter. He stared at the machine for a moment, then started writing freely and frankly about his marriage, his parents, his sexuality, his career, and even death. As he wrote, and continued to write in the days that followed, something fascinating happened. His depression lifted and he felt liberated. He began to reconnect with his deep love for his wife. But the writing had an even farther-reaching impact. For the first time, he started to see the purpose and possibilities in his life. Pennebakers own experience getting through this rocky period sparked 40 years of research about the links between writing and emotional processing. Over and over again Pennebaker did studies in which he divided people into two groups and asked some to write about emotionally significant experiences, and the others to write about common things: their shoes, or maybe the cars passing on the street. Both groups wrote for the same spanabout 20-minutes a day, three days in a row. In Pennebakers experiments, some participants wrote about sexual abuse by once-trusted family members; some about catastrophic failures; others about the devastating losses of their deepest relationships through breakups, illness, and death. One woman described unfathomable guilt stemming from an incident that had happened when she was 10. Shed left a toy on the floor on which her grandmother had slipped and fallen, ultimately leading to the grandmothers death. Another man wrote about a warm summery night when he was nine years old. His father had taken him outside and calmly announced that having children had been the biggest mistake of his life, and that he was leaving. In each study, Pennebaker found that the people who wrote about emotionally charged episodes experienced marked improvement in their physical and mental well-being. They were happier, less depressed and less anxious. In the months after the writing sessions, they had lower blood pressure, improved immune function, and fewer visits to the doctor. They also reported better relationships, improved memory, and more success at work. When I first discovered Pennebakers research, I was struck by the way it echoed my own teenage experience journaling about my fathers cancer. While my father was dying, and then when he was gone, my life was painfully different, and the writing helped me voice my regret about all the time I hadnt spent with him and the all the things I hadnt said. I also wrote about the moments I didnt regret, and how Id given what I could. Through that writing, I learned to sit with all of my emotions, both the pleasant and unpleasant ones. This, in turn, gave me insight into myself, the most important revelation being, I am resilient. I realized that I can live with my full self, even the parts Im not so thrilled about. Still, I was skeptical of Pennebakers results, which seemed too good to be true. How could writing for just 20 minutes a day for three days have such a positive and lasting effect on peoples lives? I kept Pennebakers research tagged in my notebooks: then, many years later when I was doing my Ph.D. on emotions I had a chance dinner with him. This meeting led to much animated discussion, after which I took a deeper dive into his work. I read about an intervention Pennebaker had conducted at a Dallas computer company that laid off one hundred senior engineers. Most of these were men over 50 whod worked at the company since college. This was the only work life they knew, and getting pushed out had left them panicked and confused. They faced the real likelihood of never working in their field again. After four months, not one of them had found a new job. Pennebaker and his team wondered if writing about their experiences could help the downsized engineers. Eager to try anything that might help their employment prospects, the engineers agreed to participate. Pennebaker had one group of engineers write about being laid-off. They delved into their feelings of humiliation, rejection and outrage; the related strains on their health, marriages and finances and their deep worries about the future. Two control groups either wrote about time management or didnt write at all. Before the writing began, there were no differences between the groups in terms of motivation, or in the effort they were making to land a new job. But afterward, the degree of change between them was astonishing. Just months after the emotionally charged writing sessions, the men who had delved into how they truly felt were three times more likely to have been reemployed compared with those who had not. Not only did the writing help the men process their experiences, it helped them step out from their despondent inertia and into meaningful action. After many more studies, with many thousands of participants children and the elderly, students and professionals, healthy and ill we can say with confidence that showing up and applying words to emotions is a tremendously helpful way to deal with stress, anxiety, and loss. (For people who dont like putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, there is nothing magical about the act of writing. Talking into a voice recorder, for example, can deliver the same results.) But after showing up, theres another critical aspect of agility: Stepping out. Deeper analysis over the years shows that unlike brooders or bottlers, or those who let it all hang out in big venting rants, the writers who thrived the most began to develop insight, using phrases such as I have learned, It struck me that, the reason that, I now realize, and I understand. In the process of writing, they were able to create the distance between the thinker and the thought, the feeler and the feeling, that allowed them to gain a new perspective, unhook, and move forward. Make no mistake: these people had not found a way to enjoy being betrayed, lost, jobless, or critically ill. But by dissolving the entanglement that had built up between their impulses and their actions to see their experience in context, and from a broader perspective, they flourished despite it all. More often than you might expect, they found ways of turning these obstacles into opportunities to connect more directly with their deepest values. Pennebakers Writing Rules: Set a timer for 20 minutes. Open up your notebook (or begin a document on your computer). When the timer starts, begin writing about your emotional experiences from the past week, month and year. Dont worry about punctuation, sloppiness or coherence. Simply go wherever your mind takes you, curiously and without judgment. Write just for yourself, and not for some eventual reader. Do this for a few days. Then, close the document without saving it, or throw the paper away. Or stick it in a bottle and cast it out to sea. Or if youre ready, start a blog or find a literary agent. It doesnt matter. The point is that those thoughts are now out of you and on the page. You have begun the process of stepping out from your experience to gain perspective on it. Excerpted from EMOTIONAL AGILITY by arrangement with Avery Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, a Penguin Random House Company. Copyright 2016, Susan David PhD. If you had to sum up the biggest internet phenomena of 2016, and you were mercifully allowed to exclude Donald Trump and the alt-right, two things would be at the top of the list: Harambe and campus outrage. And now, thanks to a viral conservative news story out of Massachusetts, the two have combined, and may give birth to potent new super-memes. Lets review these two internets before getting to their unexpected merger. The Harambe internet is pretty straightforward: It is dedicated to producing and disseminating memes that celebrate and glorify the life of Harambe, that noble gorilla cut down in his prime after a toddler found his way into his enclosure back in May. Harambe memes range from Photoshop jobs to dumb journalists tweeting out horrible Harambized song lyrics to everything in between. Overall, its all mostly harmless and pretty funny, with the notable exception of that time the Cincinnati Zoo had to shut down its social-media account because people wouldnt stop tweeting Harambe memes at it. The campus-outrage outrage internet is a bit more diffuse, and you may be unfamiliar with it if you dont masochistically follow certain online culture wars. In short, theres now an entire corner of the internet dedicated to finding random examples of college kids acting in over-the-top social-justicey ways, heaping ridicule on said students, and using them as examples of how libtards want to execute professors who assign books written by white men (or something). The most extreme such incidents go viral, as was the case with an unfortunate woman caught on tape freaking out at a Milo Yiannopoulos talk at UMass, who was subsequently dubbed Trigglypuff. The campus-outrage outrage internet attracts a lot of angry alt-right types, who are not afraid to get very, very mean and very, very personal. Normally, these two internets are pretty separate, but they have been smushed together thanks to an email that was sent out by resident assistants at UMass, which has since gone viral. Campus Reform, a key node in the campus-outrage outrage online ecosystem, has the story: Over the Labor Day weekend, Resident Assistants at the University of Massachusetts purportedly released an announcement stating that crude references to the deceased gorilla Harambe will be considered racist attacks against African-Americans. In the statement, which was leaked to Twitter Monday, Resident Assistants calling themselves Ryan and Colleen inform students that any negative remarks regarding Harambe will be seen as a direct attack to our campuss African-American community, and warn them to be careful of what gets written on your whiteboards, as well as what you write on them. The reasoning behind the RAs message is that there is an African-American heritage community on campus known as Harambee (Swahili for the point where all things come together), so talking about a totally different Harambe in a jokey way is offensive. Which, frankly, doesnt make a whole lot of sense. As fodder for campus-outrage outrage, this has it all: inexperienced college students twisting themselves into a pretzel to be intersectional, the opportunity to blow up said students because their actions totally prove trigger warnings are part of a cuck conspiracy, and a dash of the racial resentment often expressed by online anti-campus-outrage warriors (the whiny Oh, so BLACK PEOPLE can mention Harambe, but we cant? comments practically write themselves). Plus, its got Harambe! This is an unexpected marriage of two corners of the internet with extremely active, passionate followings. And with the campus-outrage outrage brigades record of memes like Trigglypuff, College Liberal, and so on, its only a matter of time before Harambe gets thrown into the mix. When that happens, the only question is whether things get quite offensive, or wildly so. I wouldnt have this child without Massachusetts insurance, my friend Margaret Monteith told me over Skype one December morning. She was talking about the baby she expected in May, a somersaulting boy recently glimpsed, at the end of her first trimester, on ultrasound. It had taken Margaret and her husband, Matthew, nine rounds of IVF, seven miscarriages, and extraordinary patience and self-advocacy to achieve this pregnancy. At 16 weeks along, Margaret was happily nesting and had just converted a small back bedroom of her Jamaica Plain apartment into a guest room for visiting family and friends. Margaret is a writer and middle-school teacher; she loves running and the outdoors, and looks to my eyes a decade younger than her age of 45. We met in 2011, at a summer conference for writers, talked books and stories, gossiped, drank wine, went swimming; but the greatest sorrow of both of our lives that we could not have children without expensive medical treatment never once came up, not until a year later, when I began publishing essays about my experience with infertility and assisted reproduction. At the time that I met Margaret, she and her husband, a photographer and college professor, lived in New York; what they earned that did not go to rent, food, utilities, and student-loan payments went to premiums on a health-insurance plan that would never cover the comprehensive fertility treatment they needed. Had Margaret and I talked about infertilitys challenges, we would have found a lot of common ground. My husband and I had been trying to conceive for three years at that point; we were patients at a reproductive endocrinology clinic in North Carolina, where we lived, but like Margaret and her husband had limited insurance coverage and burdensome student loans, and we thought wed never be able to afford IVF. Instead wed tried less-expensive options, like Femara (a pill used to induce ovulation) and intrauterine insemination (also known as IUI) month after month of Femara, and several rounds of IUI treatment. Our doctor considered IVF a better, and certainly faster, course of treatment given our diagnosis and history, but we balked at the price around $11,000 for a single cycle, not including medication especially as we knew it was possible wed need multiple rounds of treatment. I was lucky: Richard and I eventually saved enough to pay for whats known as a shared-risk package, and conceived our daughter through IVF. Infertility affects millions of Americans one in eight couples, according to Resolve: the National Infertility Association, or about 10 percent of the population. Only half of those affected seek medical treatment; those who do tend to be white, older, wealthy, and educated. Demographics can expand when coverage is financially accessible to everyone a 2013 Canadian study, conducted after Quebec mandated IVF insurance coverage, showed that removing financial barriers increased both socioeconomic and racial diversity. But another study of Massachusetts women treated with IVF after the states health-care laws mandated infertility coverage showed that 85 percent of its subjects had at least a college degree, while none had less than a high school diploma. Even more difficult to talk about than the emotional pain of waiting, Ive found, is the financial cost. No one wants to put a price on the ability to conceive, or think about how relative wealth or the details in our insurance plans can be the difference between having a child or not. Margaret was 37 when she began trying to get pregnant, 38 when she first saw a reproductive endocrinologist. Like me, she tried less-expensive treatments first: oral medication, intrauterine insemination. These treatments are so much less effective than IVF that most clinics dont even keep careful track of them; doctors seem to be guessing when they offer success rates. Ten percent? Fifteen? It wasnt until a lucky break new jobs for Margaret and her husband in Boston, which like the rest of Massachusetts has state-financed universal health insurance that more aggressive treatment became an option. By then she was 42. Even when Margaret and her husband were in New York, they were better off than most: The state is 1 of 15 requiring some coverage for infertility treatment in all insurance plans written for its residents. The problem for people like Margaret is that coverage is mandated only for the diagnosis and treatment of a correctable medical condition, solely because the condition results in infertility. That means that a woman with a correctable tubal blockage or a man with a varicocele affecting sperm production could have surgery to address those issues, even though surgery might not be the most effective or fastest treatment, and even though those issues are less common, for example, than diminished ovarian reserve or poor sperm count. IVF often the most effective treatment, and the one most people have trouble affording is specifically excluded from New Yorks mandate. Reading about the mandatory coverage requirements of the 14 other states is like looking at a map meant to show arbitrary signs of regional diversity: This state calls soft drinks pop, this one Coke. Arkansas, for example, allows for IVF treatment, but only up to a lifetime maximum of $15,000. Maryland insurance plans pay for IVF, but only with the patients eggs and her spouses sperm. Rhode Island insurers provide up to $100,000 to presumably healthy married individuals who are 40 years old or younger. Hawaii provides for a single IVF cycle, but only after a couple really tries: Its plans require five years of infertility. Montana and West Virginia require coverage for infertility without defining the condition or the amount or type of coverage. By contrast, Illinois appears quite generous, requiring plans to pay for up to six egg retrievals until you look more closely and see that only someone successful after four retrievals (experiencing a live birth) may return for the other two. Massachusetts is by far the best state in which Margaret could have landed. Virtually everyone in Massachusetts has health care the coverage level today is at 99 percent, the highest in the nation. And, according to law, insurers must provide for artificial insemination; for IVF and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI); and for donor sperm, egg, or embryo procurement and processing. Medication coverage is handled just like medication for any other health problem. There is no limit to the number of treatment cycles and no cap on expenditures. Our state, North Carolina, by contrast, was not among those with even vague requirements for coverage. Its easy to see, even in many states that have attempted to provide infertility coverage, who gets left out: People who have complicated diagnoses or need expensive treatment, like Margaret; people who are older; LGBT couples; people in unmarried partnerships; or women who have decided to get pregnant on their own. I have friends who live elsewhere who dont have this level of insurance and dont make enough money to pay for the treatments, Margaret told me. Its heartbreaking to me because it seems that having children should not be based on being wealthy enough. In the Resolve support group I attended for more than two years, we rarely talked about money or the cost of treatment. Someone might mention that her health insurance covered IVF or injectable meds, or describe a package plan purchased through one of the local clinics. But more than that, the connection between our financial circumstances and our ability to achieve and sustain a pregnancy was too great, and too sensitive. More than any other factor age, sperm count and quality, egg reserve as measured by hormonal tests the resources we could allocate to treatment appeared to determine our outcomes. Getting pregnant was a numbers game, I began to believe as I saw, again and again, the most intrepid injectors and IVFers and IUIers finally dropping out of our group: They were pregnant, at long last. Not everyone achieved her pregnancy the same way: One woman in my group injected the last of her follicle-stimulating medication, left over from a previous cycle, without telling her husband; they had sex and she became pregnant with twins. Another woman, after failing at IVF and countless cycles with injectable medication and timed sex, went back to IUIs and conceived her daughter. One couple tried embryo adoption, another a donor egg, and both went on to have healthy pregnancies. I remember thinking that some of these women should give up, move on. Theyd had so many failures, so many interventions, theyd never get pregnant. A few did just that; theyd exhausted their resources after one or two cycles of IVF and could no longer bear the way meetings reminded them of their failures. But those of us who could afford all the costs that many rounds of medical treatment entail the drain on savings or credit, the emotional turmoil, the time away from work all became pregnant, one by one returning to the group to announce the good news. It was the reverse of the ill-considered folk wisdom most of us had heard from family or friends: As soon as you stop trying, youll get pregnant. Our truth was more like this: Keep trying and youll eventually have success. Richard and I had saved for two years to afford IVF. We began the routine tests and screening in the winter of 2012, just before our university-based clinic moved to a new suburban location in Raleigh. Aside from nicer waiting and examination rooms, the biggest difference I noticed when we made the switch was in how we made our payments. While we once wrote checks and processed insurance claims through UNC Fertility, now all financial interactions would go through IntegraMed, a company that runs niche outpatient medical centers. We had already paid IntegraMed $20,200 before our first visit. In exchange, we received a contract eight pages long, detailing a strange financial arrangement known as a cost-share plan. According to our contract, the money we paid made us eligible for up to three rounds of IVF and three frozen-embryo transfers. The arrangement didnt cover medications, which can vary greatly in price, but often cost around $3000 to $5000 per cycle. The most expensive IVF line items the egg retrieval and fertilization, the embryo culturing, the transfer would be paid ahead of time, in a lump sum that allowed us, as the brochures promised, to focus on having a baby! I refused to think of the money, in fact, for the duration of my pregnancy, fearing that to do so would be ungrateful, greedy, a tempting of fate. Behind IntegraMeds cheery messaging their fertility-related website exhorts patients to plan for success and offers a chatty, inspirational blog Richard recognized something else. Without the option of insurance, wed hedged our bets with what was essentially a financial derivative, such as a credit default swap. Had we paid for IVF treatment per cycle, we would have been charged approximately $11,000 for each cycle. It was likely that Id need more than one cycle to get pregnant in fact, I might need all three, and it was easy to imagine losing our nerve after the first or second failure. And what if three, or even four or five, cycles failed? Under a traditional, per-cycle payment arrangement, we could be out tens of thousands of dollars, some of it borrowed or liquidated from our retirement plans. With the cost-share plan, wed get a 70 percent refund if we did not take home a baby, money we imagined reinvesting into adoption or foster-care expenses. We were betting, then, on our own failure just one failed cycle would make the plan financially sound. IntegraMed was betting on our success. Theyd verified my age (36 at entry to the program), the level of my hormones indicating my egg reserve, and the results of Richards sperm analysis; theyd reviewed a hydrosonogram to check the condition of my uterus. I was healthy, and my ovarian reserve qualified me for the program, though the contract I signed stipulated that IntegraMed could cancel my participation, providing a refund of 70 percent of our money for any reason in its reasonable discretion: If my ovaries didnt produce enough retrievable eggs, if the embryos were of poor quality, if I suddenly gained or lost a lot of weight, if I had a bad reaction to medication, if I ignored medical advice, or if I passed my 38th birthday. Looking back, its easy to see that the deal was always skewed in their favor. They have many clients and, presumably, extensive actuarial data to consult when considering the best time to back out. A friend from my support group was surprised and distraught to have her IntegraMed contract terminated after two cycles; she thought shed get at least three chances, as the brochures and website suggest. Still, she didnt think of the arrangement as a bad deal with 70 percent of her money returned, she could afford to try again at another clinic. Richard and I knew that spending more money than we would have under a traditional payment arrangement was a possibility; that was the possibility we hoped for, in fact. We hoped to spend more money than we needed, hoped that our precaution all those extra cycles, fresh and frozen would prove overzealous. The website that advertised our package plan promoted it as a way of controlling costs, managing stress, and removing the unknown from our treatment plan. In some guilt-prone, superstitious part of my brain, I must have thought, too, that paying more might make me worthier of success. Perhaps by paying extra I could skip the miscarriages, chemical pregnancies, cancelled cycles, and laparoscopic surgeries of my peers, those offerings of suffering Id seen so many others make on the journey to parenthood. When I became pregnant from our first cycle, I didnt regret the money we spent or wish wed chosen differently. After dreading IVF, hating the nightly injections as much as I expected, and desperately fearing a poor outcome, I was relieved and joyous, taking not one but three pregnancy tests, just to watch the second line turn pink again. I didnt think about the $9,000 we might have saved for other health-care costs our daughters birth, for example or expenses associated with having a family. Regret didnt enter my mind. I refused to think of the money, in fact, for the duration of my pregnancy, fearing that to do so would be ungrateful, greedy, a tempting of fate. Now, when I think back on the financial arrangement we entered into with IntegraMed, I am of two minds: happy that we made the decision, but sorry that we had so few other choices. Further, Im troubled by the idea that investors are somewhere making money by exploiting the lack of coverage for a financially and emotionally risky medical procedure. My happiness with the decision is of course bolstered by the conception and birth of my daughter. How could I feel any other way? But Im far enough removed from the experience of IVF shes crawling toward me as I write this to know that my superstitions were just that; I would have been just as likely to get pregnant had I paid less. In my support group, though we didnt talk about the specific price tags of our treatments, some of us would occasionally mention what we exchanged for the opportunity to try them: vacations we didnt take, down payments on houses we didnt buy. I do believe that my pregnancy was safer because of the cost-share program, however, because it diminished our incentive to push for implanting multiple embryos at once, a common way that patients increase the likelihood of a successful pregnancy, but one that comes with higher risks for both the mother and child. Patients undergoing IVF are hoping, generally, for high numbers: We want to retrieve as many mature eggs as possible, and for those eggs to fertilize and develop into multiple embryos. A greater number of embryos means that doctors can select the best, most regularly celled and advanced embryos for transfer. On day three of the embryos development, embryologists like to see embryos with six, seven, eight, or nine regular cells. We were lucky to have a number of embryos available to transfer ten on day three, with seven developing to the blastocyst stage on day five. Years earlier, when Dr. Steven Young, our reproductive endocrinologist, first suggested IVF, I remember Richard joking, Twins would be fine! Dr. Young cautioned, reasonably, that his goal was for his patients to have one healthy baby at a time, and by now we agreed. Id read about the health risks for twins, including prematurity, low birth weight, an increased chance of prescribed bed rest for me. The best way to avoid these risks, I knew, was to transfer a single embryo. Im not sure how many of Dr. Youngs patients purchase a cost-share plan, as we did the clinic doesnt advertise or publish that information but I believe that anticipating a financially mitigated failure gave us the confidence to choose a single-embryo transfer (SET). SET is commonly practiced in European countries with mandated IVF coverage. In Sweden, for example, 70 percent of all IVF procedures are elective single-embryo transfer, and the twin rate from IVF is 5 percent. By contrast, our clinics twin rate for my age group was around 30 percent. Responsible doctors like ours routinely mention the risks associated with twin births while perhaps misunderstanding some of the financial motivation behind their patients choices. In a blog post for his clinic, Reproductive Medicine Associates of New Jersey, Dr. Thomas Molinaro blames our success-driven culture: Time and time again I hear patients say that they would rather have two embryos transferred because it improves success and they just cant bear the thought of another negative pregnancy test. New Jersey, where Dr. Molinaro works, has one of the most generous IVF mandates, requiring insurance companies to pay for up to four IVF retrievals. In fact, his clinic boasts a 56 percent SET rate for women in my age group twice as high as the national average. But Dr. Molinaros hesitant patients may anticipate needing more than four cycles, or they may work at a small company or for a religious employer both are excluded from New Jerseys mandate. On the day of transfer, our doctor and embryologist showed us two embryos. The one theyd chosen, already hatching, and the runner-up, which might have accompanied the first. You have about a 50-50 chance, Dr. Young told us, slightly higher if you go with two. I was in a hospital gown and socks, my abdomen still swollen and sore from the retrieval days before. I held the photos of the embryos in my hands, ours to keep. We hesitated, just for a moment, before sticking by our decision. Five weeks later, we saw the heartbeat. Just one, as wed hoped. IVF is an elective procedure with a poor success rate and an arguably unnecessary goal. But it is also true that infertility is an emotionally punishing experience as well as a disability, which qualifies workers for some protection under the Americans With Disabilities Act. Its hard to imagine that the stress of infertility isnt compounded by the question of how to pay for treatment, so much that, almost against our will, it crowds out other thinking. We tend to think in tradeoffs: Will I put a down payment on a house or maybe have a baby? Will I max out these credit cards? Liquidate this retirement plan? Take out a second mortgage? In his semi-autobiographical novel 10:04, Ben Lerner writes about a poet turned novelist with the surprising good fortune of a strong six figure deal for an unwritten new novel. He is also undergoing assisted reproduction with his best friend. At a celebratory dinner with his agent, Lerners narrator is bewildered by the large advance, an amount that feels both abstract and spoken for, thanks to his uncertain personal circumstances. Imitative desire for my virtual novel was going to fund artificial insemination and its associated costs, he considers. I would clear something like two hundred and seventy thousand dollars. Or fifty-four IUIs. Or around four Hummer H2 SUVs. Or the two first editions on the market of Leaves of Grass. In my support group, though we didnt talk about the specific price tags of our treatments, some of us would occasionally mention what we exchanged for the opportunity to try them: vacations we didnt take, down payments on houses we didnt buy. Some of us stayed in jobs we hated, just to keep our health insurance. Like Lerners narrator, we converted windfalls those of us lucky enough to experience them into treatments. Some of us thought of moving to places with better insurance laws, a prospect complicated by a bad economy and the various demands of our careers. We traveled out of state, to adoption conferences and clinical studies, researched the cost of vacation IVF in Mexico or Europe, and bought discounted, leftover meds online. We were always looking for a bargain, always thinking of the money, not because we were necessarily money-minded people but because we had no other choice. When I finally got pregnant, Margaret was in the process of considering a donor egg. She seemed genuinely happy, even elated, for me, but every time I thought about checking in with her after that, I hesitated. Most women I know in infertility circles cheer each other on its encouraging to see other people succeed, especially the tough or long-standing cases but it can be hard to watch someone progress through pregnancy and childbirth while you wait: for treatments to work, for endometriosis to resolve or a cyst to be removed, for the financial or emotional means to try again. For a pregnant woman, nine months can seem endlessly long, but in infertility treatment, it goes by in a flash. Nine more months, you think: I should be pregnant by now. I thought Id have a baby. In my own support group, the custom after getting pregnant was to go to one last meeting to let people know there would be exclamations, tears, sometimes hugs and then never return. I knew a kind, funny woman who left our group in despair after two failed, expensive IVFs; I was able to keep up with her on Facebook, but after a while her posts disappeared. Another friend from the group told me the reason: Shed unfriended us, one by one, as we got pregnant. Margaret was different, though: She emailed me every few months, even as her journey seemed all uphill, mine all downhill. She asked after my health when I was on bed rest and sent well wishes on my birthday. Possibly this is just the sort of person she is, a writer used to the long and lonely work of novel writing, a teacher used to looking after others, an artist accustomed to the many disappointments on the way to her big break. But I suspect that there was something more to Margarets equanimity and fortitude, something related to the structural protection in her states insurance laws, which helped her continue treatment until she finally conceived her son. Infertility patients in Massachusetts dont begin their treatment afraid it might bankrupt them or make other options adoption or foster care, for example impossible; they begin committed to the long haul. Perhaps most significant, they begin knowing that they will be treated, at least in the eyes of their insurance carrier, like any other patient with any other medical condition. This story is adapted from The Art of Waiting, which will be published September 6 by Graywolf Press. Opening Painting: Ladies in the Countryside, 1890-1895, by Tito Conti. Not a nun Reply Thread Link just go Reply Thread Link Lmao right like go Go high on a hill With a lonely goatherd Yodel Reply Parent Thread Link tru Reply Parent Thread Link k Reply Thread Link LMAO. when was this? I remember in elementary school thinking about being a missionary b/c I went to an uber conservative Christian school. Then I grew up. (I also wanted to be a CEO, lawyer, and a princess. and I knew it wasn't possible, but I wanted magic to be real so that I could be a witch, but one of those pretty ones, not the wart kind.) Also, she's Catholic? Reply Thread Link Yeah she and Taemin are like the only Catholics I know in kpop Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I believe Naeun too. They both exchanged their biblical names or whatever during WGM. Reply Parent Thread Link Oh, interesting. I know Seungyoon (WINNER) is Catholic too. Apparently the Church helped him and his mother a lot back in the day. Reply Parent Thread Link zico, too. he has all those shitty catholic-inspired tattoos. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link chen is catholic af. i know quite a lot of kpop idols are religious but for most idk if it's catholic or christian. Reply Parent Thread Link isn't siwon catholic too? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I think Taeyang is catholic too Reply Parent Thread Link when i was younger i also wanted to become a nun. i was really drawn to their lifestyle, the modest clothes, the routine etc. buuut i'm an atheist so that's never gonna work out lmao Reply Thread Link i thought the only Asian countries with a strong Catholic influence were Vietnam and Philippines. Reply Thread Link about 10% of south koreans are catholic Reply Parent Thread Link christianity seems rly popular among south koreans Reply Parent Thread Link yeah but not all christians are catholic and nuns are only a catholic thing. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link There's actually a notable Catholic presence. I was there when Pope Francis visited a few years ago and it was a big deal Reply Parent Thread Link I recently heard her song called Lifted (I think that's what it's called) it sounds so different from her other stuff Lmao I grew up in a traditional catholic family and we would watch movies that depicted saints' lives and I remember watching movie about Therese and warning to be a nun but then I was like NO Reply Thread Link ONTD, what did you want to be when you'd grow up? Seriously Chaelin? A nun?ONTD, what did you want to be when you'd grow up? Reply Thread Link I wanted to be James bond lol Reply Parent Thread Link I can kind of get it in that a nun is another performative role. Reply Parent Thread Link Cough cough Siwon cough Reply Parent Thread Link same, i've had to unfollow so many idols on instagram bc they kept posting bible verses smh Reply Parent Thread Link religious =/= homophobic Reply Parent Thread Link Ew... But lets see how many of mock her when you would have been crawling up her ass if she said she wanted to become a Muslim. Reply Thread Link Becoming a nun and becoming Muslim are not the same thing. Reply Parent Thread Link LMAOOOOOOO what?????????? Reply Parent Thread Link fuck, islam is much worse Reply Parent Thread Link ONTD, what did you want to be when you'd grow up? triple h's sidekick triple h's sidekick Reply Thread Link Bless you lmao Reply Parent Thread Link I wanted to be a zoologist of some kind but then I talked to actual zoologists and they said I should take every science and math class offered to me and science was fine, but I am absolutely horrible at math. tbh if I could do college all over again I think I'd add a major or minor in marine biology tho. Reply Thread Link omg, this was my exact thought process as a kid, too-- wanting to be a marine biologist but knowing that the whole 'get ready for allllllll the math and science classes!' was not gonna cut it. LOL Reply Parent Thread Link lol i wanted to be a marine biologist too but then i developed phobia of water when i almost drowned. Reply Parent Thread Link Like, why math? I'm horrible at math too lol. Oop Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Oil prices didnt manage to extend gains on Tuesday as markets still doubt an OPEC output freeze. (Click to enlarge) (Click to enlarge) (Click to enlarge) Chart of the Week (Click to enlarge) U.S. gasoline prices in the week before Labor Day averaged just $2.24 per gallon, the lowest level in 12 years. Gasoline prices are up 51 cents per gallon since the low point reached in February at $1.72 per gallon. The West Coast pays the most for its gas $2.59 per gallon just before Labor Day and the Gulf Coast pays the least at $2.01 per gallon. Gasoline prices tend to decline a bit heading into colder months as winter fuel blends are less expensive and demand softens, but of course, crude oil prices will largely dictate which way gasoline prices are heading. Market Movers EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG) has agreed to purchase Yates Petroleum for $2.5 billion. The cash and stock deal will give EOG assets in the Permian and Powder River Basin. Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB) continues to cut workers and scale back its presence in Venezuela. The actions follow up planned moves announced earlier this year. The moves could have a negative impact on Venezuelas oil production in Maracaibo Lake and the heavy oil in the Orinoco Belt. Saudi Aramco and its U.S.-based refining joint venture Motiva Enterprises could purchase a Houston refinery from LyondellBasell Industries, with an announcement coming as early as this week. The 263,000 barrel-per-day refinery is valued at $1.5 billion. Tuesday September 6, 2016 The main news at the start of this week was the announcement from Russia and Saudi Arabia that they would cooperate to stabilize the oil markets. On the sidelines of the G20 summit in China, Russia and Saudi Arabia said that they would setup a working group to advance cooperation on reducing volatility in the oil markets. The accord raised some new questions even as the two countries promised closer coordination. They did not explicitly state that they would support a production freeze in Algeria in a few weeks, although there have been signals from both sides that they would be pleased with such an outcome. Oil prices rocketed upwards in the early hours on Monday, surging more than 5 percent. But oil prices retreated after the oil ministers from both countries failed to clarify the significance of their cooperation. Russias oil minister appeared more willing to back a freeze deal, but his Saudi counterpart seemed to suggest that a freeze is not necessary. Even as the promise of closer cooperation raises the chances that OPEC and Russia could reach a production freeze deal at the end of the month, oil prices fell during midday trading on Tuesday after the markets continued to doubt the significance of the Russian-Saudi announcement. Earthquake in Oklahoma suspected to be linked to oil drilling. A large 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck Oklahoma over the weekend, a magnitude that is tied for the strongest quake to ever hit the state. No major injuries were reported, but the U.S. Geological Survey is investigating whether or not the event can be definitively linked to the use of disposal wells. Oklahoma has been dealing with an upsurge in seismic activity in recent years, a trend that is thought to be instigated by the proliferation of wastewater disposal wells. In 2005, Oklahoma only had three earthquakes with a magnitude of 2.5 or greater. By 2015, that figure exploded to 2,500. In response to the quake this past weekend, state regulators ordered the shutdown of 37 disposal wells. U.S. natural gas production declines. Four consecutive months of declining natural gas production raises the prospect of a much tighter market than previously anticipated. While gas inventories are still at a record high for this time of year, they have been rising much slower than expected and even declining at times this summer. As the WSJ notes, one extremely cold winter could erase the supply surplus and push up natural gas prices. Higher natural gas prices would affect an array of industries, including power generation, petrochemical production, and other industries that use gas as an input. Iraq puts out well fires. Iraqi government forces captured territory in the Qayyara region last month from the Islamic State, and continue to clean up some of the fires set by the militant organization. As the Islamic State fled the area, they set fire to oil infrastructure. Enbridge merges with Spectra Energy. Enbridge (NYSE: ENB) agreed to purchase Spectra Energy (NYSE: SE) for $28 billion, a massive deal that will turn the combined company into North Americas largest energy infrastructure company, valued at $127 billion. The merger will also lead to a 15 percent annualized dividend increase in 2017, according to a press release. Related: Major Oil Indicator Reaches Lowest Level Ever Recorded Mexicos offshore terms might be deterring investment. Mexico is in the midst of an historic opening of its energy industry, but given that the state-owned Pemex still retains a lot of control and decision-making, some oil majors remain hesitant to jump in, according to Bloomberg. Operators also will be forced to take on a lot of risk, another factor keeping away some companies. An upcoming December auction for attractive acreage in the Gulf of Mexico has been met with tepid interest. Mexico believes that it has 10 billion barrels of oil reserves in the Perdido Belt, located just a dozen miles away from significant drilling in U.S. waters. Texas adds new oil jobs. In July, Texas recorded a net positive for employment in the oil industry, adding about 100 jobs, the first gain since January 2015. That comes after the industry lost about 102,000 jobs since the beginning of 2015. The positive result does not necessarily suggest that employment will come surging back, but it could be a sign that the market is turning. The Permian Basin has emerged as the top location for shale drilling in the country, and oil companies are rerouting a lot of their personnel and capital away from less desirable locations, pouring resources into the West Texas shale basin. Frac sand set to surge. Oil and gas companies using hydraulic fracturing are expected to continue to ramp up their use of frac sand in their drilling operations. According to Tudor Pickering Holt, drillers have stepped up sand use in order to make wells more productive, rising from 3 million pounds per well in 2013 to 5 million pounds per well in 2014, to 8 million pounds per well this year. That should continue to rise to about 11 million pounds per well in the near future as drilling picks up pace. On the high end, some producers are even using 15 to 20 million pounds per well in the Permian, and 30 to 50 million pounds per well in the Haynesville. Tudor Pickering Holt says that frac sand miners, many of which are found in Wisconsin, should benefit from the trend. By Evan Kelly of Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Fierce clashes between Yemens government loyalist troops and Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels over control of an oil-rich region in Yemen killed 10 soldiers and at least 16 rebels on Monday, according to military sources. Yemen has been the site of a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran after the Houthi rebels forced President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee to Saudi Arabia, Yemens neighbor to the north. The Shiite Houthis are allied with Iran, Saudi Arabias regional archrival. The international community recognizes Hadi as Yemens legitimate leader. Since March 2015, the Houthi rebels and loyalists to Hadi have been fighting a civil war in Yemen, and forces in a Saudi-led Arab coalition are trying to restore Hadi to power. Pro-government forces launched a military operation today to retake Sarwah, a military source from the loyalist troops said on Monday. Sarwah is the only area in Yemens Marib province still in the hands of the Houthi rebels who have been controlling the nearby Yemeni capital Sanaa since September 2014. The Saudi-led coalition trying to restore the internationally-recognized politicians to power has forces in the Marib province to support the loyalists. According to the source, clashes and air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition killed 16 and wounded dozens of rebels. Forces loyal to the government have recaptured hills overlooking Sarwah, the source noted. Last week, the Houthi rebels claimed they struck facilities of Saudi oil giant Aramco in the southwestern part of Saudi Arabia as well as the airport of Abha in the kingdom. The alleged attack, unconfirmed by reliable sources, came just days after another one which the Houthi rebel group claimed it had carried out, also targeting Aramco facilities. Related: Is Putins Support For An OPEC Freeze A Game Changer? Neither of the attacks has been confirmed by Saudi sources or Aramco itself. After the first attack, Aramco officials told Bloomberg all its refineries were operating as usual. Yemen is a small oil producer, but its geographical position is strategic because it sits on the narrow Bab al-Mandab strait connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden--a waterway for much of the oil shipments in the region. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Irans aim to reach pre-sanction oil production levels could receive a welcome boost according to comments made by a senior official at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to the Reuters news agency. Seyed Mohsen Ghamsari, director for international affairs at the state-controlled NIOC, expects construction of facilities near Kharg Island in the Gulf to be finalized sometime by the end of this year. Ghamsari added that the NIOC anticipates exporting a new grade of crude called West Kharoon once construction of the pipeline and Kharg Terminal are complete. Initial output from the finished facility is expected to reach nearly 300,000 barrels per day (bpd), and will likely help Iranian production that Ghamsari said is currently at around 3.8 million bpd and might reach 4.0 million bpd in a few months. We are ready to negotiate the level of production as soon as we come back to the production before sanctions, Ghamsari stated. He noted that output was a little higher than 4 million bpd prior to the sanctions that were removed earlier this year over Irans controversial nuclear program. Seyyed Pirouz Mousavi, Managing Director of Iran Oil Terminals Company (IOTC), explained to the Mehr News Agency last week that four new tanks at the Kharg Terminal are anticipated to be in service later this month; thus, boosting crude storage capacity at the Gulf port of Genaveh by 10 million barrels. The total volume of storage capacity in Kharg Oil Terminal has now reached 28 million barrels, noted Mousavi, who added that increased investment from the private sector has been made in the building of new storage tanks. The Iranian government previously claimed that it would support a proposal by some OPEC members to freeze oil supplies as soon as the country returns to pre-sanction output levels. In this regard, the anticipated export boost of West Kharoon will help support Irans aim within OPEC. Related: Is Putins Support For An OPEC Freeze A Game Changer? Since sanctions were lifted in January, Irans crude exports to key markets in Europe and Asia have risen sharply but are expected to level off this month. West Kharoon purportedly is of similar quality to Iraqs Basra Heavy crude, with an API gravity of between 22 and 26 degrees and a sulfur content above 2 percent. The crude blend was originally scheduled to be introduced to the market earlier this year. By Erwin Cifuentes for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The Faries-Rood-Yale tower house at 3011 W. State St. is perhaps the most distinctive and recognizable house in the city (its image is on neighborhoods all around the Concordia district). It just might also be the oldest, too. The home sans tower, which was added later was built in 1850-51 for Dr. Robert Faries, Wisconsin's first dentist. Faries had come to Milwaukee from Youngstown, Ohio, in 1844. Faries was also a telescope maker and engraver, as well as an amateur astronomer, which is reportedly what led him to built an Italianate house with a flat roof. Up there, he could gaze at the stars. Bookseller and book binder Sidney Rood owned the home from 1854 until 1863, and it is believed that he expanded the home's footprint, which would change a number of time across its long history. But the biggest and most recognizable alteration came under the ownership of the colorfully named Philetus Yale, a clothing merchant, who added the mansard roof, the tower and the west wing of the home beneath that tower. The Yale family kept the home until 1947, when it was sold to the Milwaukee Bible Institute. In 1960, nearby Concordia College purchased it and built a dormitory out back. During the Concordia era, which lasted until 1987, the home was used as offices for the college and for a law firm. Its most recent past owner, who was just about to close on the home's sale, invited me over to take a peek. He showed me the spot at the alley where the dorm building once stood. There's still a sidewalk, but now it's a path to nowhere. He also showed me marks on the exterior that explained where a once-impressive wrap-around Victorian porch once stood. And where a large east section had been located before being pulled down for some reason during the Concordia era (see photo below). (PHOTO: Courtesy of Rick Stabler) Fortunately, the beautiful bay out back survives, providing an aurora of warming sunlight to the breakfast nook downstairs and a great enclosed porch room on the second floor. We saw the thick interior east wall of the entry hall with its grand staircase which was the west exterior wall before Yale put on the tower addition, and of course we went into the basement, where I saw a giant photographic reproduction machine so big you could stand inside it. But, of course, the real fun was the tower. On the first and second floors of the square cream city brick tower, there are rooms. On the first floor, the space is part of a sitting room, and upstairs there is a small bedroom. The first set of stairs up looked a bit like a stairway up from a basement, with a window at the top proving a stream of light, and some bead board wainscoting. At the top is the attic, inside that mansard roof you can see from the outside. There's a big open space above the original portion of the home. Here a quirkily built chimney takes a bit of a detour, but it looks intentional. I'll trust one of you masons out there to explain this. Along the west side is the brick wall of the Yale-era addition, with a doorway leading into another attic space at the left and the entrance to the tower on the right. In here the third window up from the ground there's a small space with a staircase up to the next level of the five-story tower. As you climb, the construction gets less ornate, of course, since few would've been expected to see these areas of the home. At the same time, however, the view keeps getting more and more dramatic. And then, suddenly, we're at the top, peeking out the fifth story window at the view toward Downtown and reading some of the graffiti written on and carved into the joists up here. Some of these are from the era when my friend the former owner used to host big parties here. Other scrawls are from the Concordia era. There might be older names engraved up here but I wasn't able to find them. That'll be a task, perhaps, for the new owners, who are the latest stewards of what might be Milwaukee's oldest private home. WITI FOX 6, Tribune Medias Milwaukee broadcast television station, announced that the stations Contact 6 Reporter Katrina Cravy has decided to leave FOX 6 to pursue a career outside of television. Cravy joined FOX 6 in 1998 and took over the Contact 6 franchise a year later. Since then, she has responded to tens of thousands of consumer complaints, getting almost $2 million back for consumers and alerting millions of viewers to product and service concerns. During her career at FOX 6, Cravy earned several awards, including an Emmy, and has spent time as one of the primary FOX 6 News anchors, as well as an original host of the daytime shows "Real Milwaukee" and "Studio A." Cravy said, "Words cannot express how much I have loved my nearly 18 years with FOX 6. Im so grateful for all the amazing opportunities Ive been given here and the life-long friends Ive made. However, I know its time for a new challenge, and Im excited to tell you about my new venture very soon." FOX 6 introduced the concept of consumer reporting to Milwaukee in 1972 with Tom Hooper. The station has selected Jenna Sachs to be the new Contact 6 reporter, only the third person to take over the franchise since its inception. The Emmy award-winning Sachs joined the FOX 6 News team in early 2011 and has spent her first five years as a general assignment reporter. For the past two years, she worked with the U.S. Marshals on a weekly "Wisconsins Most Wanted" segment, which assisted with the arrests of dozens of fugitives. "I am very honored to be following in Katrinas footsteps by taking over a franchise that FOX 6 clearly values and views as a top priority," says Sachs. "What excites me most about Contact 6 is the opportunity to make a difference in this community. Contact 6, at its most basic, is about helping people." President and General Manager Chuck Steinmetz says, "Contact 6 is one of the most recognized franchises to local television viewers. It is important to our community, and we couldnt be happier to be carrying on the rich tradition of problem solving with Jenna Sachs." Vice President of News, John LaPorte added, "Katrina and Contact 6 have been a very important part of our news department. We will miss her, but know this is what she really wants to do and wish her nothing but the best. Katrina and Contact 6 have been serving Milwaukee viewers for years and we look forward to Jenna Sachs carrying on the role of Contact 6 in our community." Reprinted from Truthdig In this week's episode of KCRW's "Scheer Intelligence," Truthdig Editor in Chief Robert Scheer talks with former "M.A.S.H." actor Mike Farrell about his efforts to save the lives of people awaiting execution in the United States, and the pitfalls awaiting celebrities who get involved in social causes. Farrell played Capt. B.J. Hunnicut on the television series "M.A.S.H." between 1975 and 1983. He has been active in several causes and is president and a board member of the nonprofit organization Death Penalty Focus. Robert Scheer:Welcome to "Scheer Intelligence." This is Robert Scheer, and my guest today -- and it's the guest that supplies the intelligence -- is Mike Farrell. For those who are too young to remember, when he was the star on "M.A.S.H." for -- what was it -- about six years? Mike Farrell: Eight. RS: Eight years. Everyone in the country knew who Mike Farrell was. He's had a long, distinguished career as an actor, and he actually has been a leader in the Screen Actors Guild, much like Ronald Reagan was, only as opposed to Reagan, Mike Farrell has chosen to use his celebrity as an actor to support progressive causes, and, actually, not just progressive causes that are basic to the whole human condition. He was for 10 years a leader and is still very active in [the] human rights organization Human Rights Watch. MF: Correct. RS: Which is probably along right up there with Amnesty International. Those were the two major organizations that one looks to for a consistent and honest view of human rights around the world. And then he took on another cause, which is really quite difficult in terms of political acceptance, and that has to do with the death penalty in particular and the administration of justice in the prison system in general, and it's [called] Death Penalty Focus. And this is an issue where a lot of people think, "Okay, yes, let's be forward, but they did terrible crimes," and blah blah blah, and it's not one of those obvious do-gooder issues. Click Here to Read Whole Article Stripper Bar (Image by twodolla) Details DMCA Kurt Vonnegut and Mark Twain are dead. Somebody's got to pick up the torch -- no matter how inadequately. "It started as a discombobulation. There were many that thought that the First Lady having bared her breasts in magazines was scandalous; possibly eternally damning. Many looked at their own daughters and were depressed and confused. A woman in Iowa wrote a letter to the First Lady's father in Slovenia. He never answered. The poor woman had checked a Slovene dictionary out of the Iowa State University library; however she had confused the Slovenian word for breasts with the word for acne and the Slovenian word for tart with sous chef. She also did some research on the First Lady's father and discovered that he had been a Communist -- her husband speculated that he was a spy. She told her friends at bridge club that she was sure that he was a Muslim, and that he probably didn't even speak Slovene or English. Things for the First Lady's breasts were not going well at all until a stockbroker in a suburb of Peoria, Illinois, came home after a long ride on his Harley and recognized an image of the First Lady's breasts in the curing concrete of the freshly poured patio for his outdoor kitchen. He excitedly ran upstairs and called FOX NEWS... The Ex-President turned artist, after years of being in a position to manipulate millions, was now toying with the idea of getting into the men's club industry where he could again manipulate the gullible -- even if it were only a few thousand -- those used to righteous causes never really lose the itch, even if the gullible are severely drunken chicken-sandwich restaurant-franchisee convention attendees or the members of the San Antonio branch of 'The Glenn Beck Prayin' and Shootin'' gun club. He'd already heard rumblings that the National Convention of 'Snipers for Christ' may partner with the Glenn Beck group. He sent a letter to the groups suggesting Rick Perry as the Keynote speaker. He would open his first clubs in Texas of course... Okay, back to Peoria...By the time the FOX NEWS van pulled up there were already over three hundred of the faithful gathered around the new concrete patio. Many wore "Make America Great Again" caps. Many had brought rosaries and autographed copies of Bill O'Reilly's book about Jesus. The stockbroker was wearing his "Mission Accomplished" bomber jacket. He had placed his ipod dock speakers out on the ledge of his second story bedroom window. He was playing his mix of Hank Williams Jr., Ted Nugent and a classic, devotional, spoken-word album by Clint Eastwood, based on the Dirty Harry movies. Many were crying. Many were burning little paper cutouts of David Brooks in the Stockbroker's red, white and blue chimenea that he had purchased at Buckee's the previous Christmas..." From "The Christian Strip Club" by Franklin Cincinnatus. I now understand how Nazi Germany came to be. We are watching it play out across our country. Those that care and those that truly love religious freedom, personal freedom and freedom of expression (patriots?) need to speak out -- loud and clear, in all ways at our disposal. Satire has traditionally been very effective. Vote Eagles having a democratic conversation about reform. (Image by Gayle Nicholson) Details DMCA Doesn't sound much like what's happening now, does it? Yet deep in the American countryside, there is an important and growing phenomenon that is already bringing the "one big family frame" back to life. It's a story seldom reported in the mainstream media, so saturated with election horror stories and dire predictions of what comes afterwards. So along with our election work, let's spread some good news about the rebirth of grass roots bipartisanship happening in our country right now. We should start it "trickling up" before November 8. That extra bit of hope could also give us more creative juice after November 9, as we start pushing for a better world again. Where to start telling the grass roots bipartisanship story? Earlier this year I cited a few examples and sources in my blog "U.S.A. 2016: Death Spiral or Rebirth?" from Mark Gerzon's report on grass roots American bipartisans all over the country, The Reunited State of America . In that piece I mentioned one particular example of this new trend, which the media with its love of negatives and conflict doesn't report. That example was The Bridge Alliance, a national group started by college students fed up with our hyperpartisan paralysis. But there's even more exciting news now. This August Mark Gerzon, along with Joan Blades, Amanda Kathryn Roman, co-founders of Living Room Conversations and Stephen Dinan of the Shift Network, put together a free, four day online conference called The American Citizens Summit , based on Gerzon's book. (You can sign up on the site for the next Summit.) This wasfollowed by a multi-week week online training course on how to create local grass roots bipartisan efforts, led by experienced mediator Gerzon. The conference sessions were rich with a variety of stories about local citizens reaching out to others in their own communities. Some hold conversations guided by ground rules like neighborly friendliness, respect, listening to others with an open mind, curiosity, fairness, and a thoughtful use of language (more on this point in a future post). These conversations can bear surprisingly powerful fruit. Joan Blades, co-founder of Living Room Conversations,(LRC) tells the story of how the growing national consensus about criminal sentencing reform grew out of one of the conversations she co-hosted with Mark Meckler, founder of the Tea Party Patriots. (You can find many other stories and even recorded sample conversations, plus directions and suggested topics on the LRC website.) All of the speakers on citizen empowerment agreed on one big thing that would improve American civic health right away: restoring Civics education to American schools. Making Democracy Fun: How Game Design Can Empower Citizens and Transform Politics, by Josh Lerner, might help make that happen. (Online resources for this book include a YouTube video as well.) All in all, the picture of grass roots bipartisanship thriving below the national radar was extremely encouraging. Two well-known journalists have also recently reported that people in the grass roots are not nearly so helpless, angry, despairing or depressed as the national media would have us believe. After a three year cross country investigative trip with his wife Deborah, James Fallows wrote about "How America is Putting Itself Back Together," (for the March 2016 Atlantic ). Their research showed that a great many of our smaller cities and towns are actively engaged in a vigorous local renewal that includes economic, cultural, and civic projects, led by citizens who collaborate peaceably to solve their local problems. The big problem, Fallows notes, is that each place believes it is unique in this way, unaware that our grass roots, American "can do it together" spirit is a growing national trend right now. "Solutions journalist" Sarah van Gelder, co-founder and editor at large of YES! Magazine, also discovered real news about what's up in the American grass roots. Leaving in August 2015 for her own year-long, 18 state cross-country investigative tour, she found people all across the land collaborating to start local businesses, nonprofits, cooperatives, land trusts, food hubs, urban farms, and many other projects to revive their local economies and communities. But her most important observation may be noticing the empowering role of human-scale, civil, neighborly, face-to-face contact in dealing with local problems, so different from the over-simplified, abstract, and rigid world of national politics. (Sarah van Gelder has reported regularly all year for YES! Magazine about her findings, and her book, The Revolution Where You Live: Stories from a 12,000 Mile Journey Through a New America, will be available on the YES! Magazine website by November 1, and in bookstores by January 9, 2017.) The fact that all kinds of grass roots Americans are actually working together successfully to solve their problems puts to shame those national political power barons and media CEOs who try to exploit our differences in order to stop progress, for their own personal gain. Taken all together, this burgeoning American "reinvent it from the ground-up" movement is actually the perfect antithesis of the "break everything, do nothing, corporate funded destroy government" wave that has paralyzed Washington for so many recent years. It proves that a new version of the One Big American Family frame is still alive, well, and getting back on its feet in our country, rooted in local ground, where real reform always starts in the U.S. We need to spread the word about this American rebirth everywhere, so that local folks learn that they are all actually part of a huge wave of American renewal, rising all over our country. We can help it get such a high profile that the media and our national politicians will be forced to take note and listen. There's a mandate coming from real, down-home Americans for "solutions-focused" politics. And that's exactly what it will take to move our country forward again. Let's start getting the word out now, and then really pour it on after 11.08.16! ---------------------------- Susan C. Strong, Ph.D., is the Founder and Executive Director of The Metaphor Project, http://www.metaphorproject.org, and author of our book, Move Our Message: How to Get America's Ear. The Metaphor Project has been helping progressives mainstream their messages since 1997. Follow Susan on Twitter @SusanCStrong and check out her TEDx talk too. Support our Overland athletes in their upcoming games and competitions. Click the headline title for this week's events and streaming links. Note: all home events that will take place in our West Gym from here on out will be broadcast FOR FREE on our Overland Athletics YouTube Channel. NOEL CELIS/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) President Obama announced Tuesday that the United States is doubling its funding to clear bombs left behind in Laos from a secret U.S. bombing campaign that took place over a nine-year period during the Vietnam War. Calling it a moral obligation to help Laos heal" after the United States history in the small country where he is now attending the ASEAN Summit, Obama said the infusion of funds amounts to $90 million over the next three years to help in the removal of bombs still scattered across the country. Thousands of Laotians have been maimed or killed by leftover ordnance in the decades since the wars end. And even today, more continue to be killed or injured. I know that the remnants of war continue to shatter lives, the president acknowledged Tuesday in an address to the Laotian people. That conflict was another reminder that, whatever the cause, whatever our intentions, war inflicts a wrenching toll, especially on innocent men, women and children, the president added. Today, I stand with you in acknowledging the suffering and sacrifices on all sides of that conflict. From 1964 to 1973, the United States dropped more than 2 million tons of explosives on Laos as fighting raged next door in the Vietnam War, making it the most heavily bombed country per person in history. The president also announced that the United States, in partnership with Laos, will be increasing efforts to account for and recover the bodies of U.S. service members who went missing in action during the Vietnam War. Im pleased that, as a result of this visit, well increase our efforts and bring more of our missing home to their families in America, the president said. Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Pakistans Security and Political Situation 06 September, 2016 By Asif Haroon Raja Related News Govt finalises draft of national security policy: Nisar Govt okays targeted action in Karachi Related Articles Horde of Enemies surrounding Pakistan By By Asif Haroon Raja Dirty role of International NGOs in Pakistan By By Asif Haroon Raja Related Speakout More on this View All Govt determined to transform Pakistan into truly democratic society: Rasheed Govt finalises draft of national security policy: Nisar Govt okays targeted action in Karachi Karachi violence: 10 more killed Int'l aid can help Pakistan be anchor of stability: FoDP Pakistan's existence not jeopardised at all: FM Qureshi Pakistani state is not going to collapse, says Zardari Related News Poll Are you in support of amending the law to raise the strength of the Supreme Court to 27 from 17? After the 2nd World War, USA and Soviet Union emerged as two super powers and the two rivals got locked in a Cold War for next 46 years. Bi-polarism had its own flaws but to some extent it suited the weaker nations in the developing world. Break up of Soviet Union in 1991 and shrinking to Russian Federation changed the world dynamics from bi-polarism to uni-polarism and the US emerging as the sole super power. In order to retain its uni-polarism for next 100 years, the US framed a New World Order, which aimed at harnessing the world resources. To find an excuse of retaining NATO after the demise of WARSAW Pact and Communism, the threat of Communism was replaced with Islam and radical and defiant Muslim States/Groups were marked as future enemies. In the 21st Century, 9/11 was an earth shaking event which once again brought a change in the dynamics of global politics. More are now convinced that 9/11 was an in-house plot hatched by neo-cons and American Jews/Israel to implement future geo-strategic and geo-economic objectives. It was intended to undermine Islam, pulverize radical Muslim regimes and replace them with puppet regimes, introduce American brand of democracy, steal the resources, and neo-colonise the Muslim world. US-Israeli-NATO-India nexus was formed to accomplish the agenda. Osama bin Laden heading Al-Qaeda who was once a blue-eyed boy of CIA during the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s was held responsible for the attacks in New York and Pentagon on September 11 and made into a Frankenstein monster. His capture and destruction of Al-Qaeda became the modus operandi for invading Afghanistan ruled by Taliban. Global War on Terror (GWoT) was a cover up to initially invade and occupy Afghanistan and make it into permanent military station for subsequent covert operations in the region and to capture the untapped resources of Central Asian Republics (CARs) right up to Caspian Sea. Later on, Iraq was to be captured to change the boundaries of the Middle East and steal oil. Arab Spring in 2011 was a step in that direction. Rather than making the world peaceful, ill-intended GWoT has made the world turbulent and unsafe. Al-Qaeda which was confined to Afghanistan has spread its tentacles far and wide and it now aspires to change the Capitalist world order with Islamic Order. Hundreds of terrorist groups are playing havoc in the affected Muslim countries and terrorism has now seeped into Europe. Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Turkey, Egypt, are most affected. The ISIS has carved out a Caliphate which includes parts of Iraq and Syria and has become a major threat in the Middle East. It has spread its arms into Afghanistan and is trying to gain a foothold in Pakistan. Unilateralism has bred insecurity, particularly among the Muslim countries. Civil war in Syria raging since March 2011 has become a flashpoint because of entry of Russian air force and militias of Iran and Hezbollah in support of Assad regime. Turkish forces are the latest entry. While the US wishes to maintain its hegemony over the world and to capture the mineral resources of CARs, Caspian Sea and Middle East, Israel seeks to establish Greater Israel. Adid Yenon had given out the map of Greater Israel which stretches from River Nile to River Euphrates. Lt Col Ralph Peters had also in his article written in Pentagons publication in 2006 published a map showing changed boundaries of Middle East. Baluchistan was shown as an independent State. India believing in the myth of Akhand Bharat aspires to change the boundaries of South Asia by Balkanizing Pakistan and Afghanistan. In this regard, RAWs former chief Dr. Amarjit Singh in his article in Indian Defence Review in 2013 sought elimination of Pakistan by making Baluchistan, Sindh, Punjab independent, but under the control of India; and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP)-FATA merged with Southern and Eastern Afghanistan to form Greater Pashtunistan, and Northern Afghanistan to form a separate county. Amarjit exuded confidence that the West would not shed tears on the demise of troublesome Pakistan. He urged Indian leadership to knockout Pakistan when it was dizzy and imbalanced. The US want Israel to become the unchallenged power of Middle East and India to become the policeman of South Asia with its influence extending up to Asia-Pacific. It also wants India to become a bulwark against China and help in containing China. The US has been helping the two countries to accomplish their respective dreams. It has destroyed the militarily and economically powerful States of Iraq, Libya and Syria in Middle East, while it has facilitated India in gaining a strong presence in Afghanistan and in bolstering Indias conventional and unconventional capacities. Indo-US navies are collaborating to dominate Indian Ocean and now US-Japan-India alliance is in the making to confront China in South China Sea. The US is desperate to checkmate ever growing economic resurgence of China which is its chief rival and for that reason intends to shift its strategic pivot from the west to Asia-Pacific Region. Russo-China alignment, Chinas domination and militarization of South China Sea, China-Pakistan collaboration and above all China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) are matters of serious concerns for Washington. Operationalization of CPEC which connects Sinkiang with Gwadar seaport will break Americas strategic encirclement of China and Indias strategic encirclement of Pakistan. The duo is making frantic efforts to scuttle CPEC. Another aspect which is an eyesore for the US, Israel and India is Pakistans nuclear program, which the trio is looking for an opportunity to disable. Although commonality of interests have brought India, Afghanistan, USA and NATO on one platform, however, Indias strategic relationship with USA which has been blossoming since 1993 is out of expediency since it has its own ideological goals of converting India into a Hindu State and subsequently creating Maha-Bharat. Target of India is Pakistan while targets of the US are China, Pakistan and Russia. Though Afghanistan is war torn and divided on ethnic lines between Pashtuns and Northern Alliance of non-Pashtuns, it forms the critical space. Without its stabilization, none can make profitable use of the resources of CARs. The Taliban are rapidly gaining ground in Afghanistan and the Afghan security forces backed by Resolute Support Mission (RSM) are finding it difficult to contain their resurgence. Departure of RSM will create a big security vacuum in Afghanistan which India helped by the US is eager to fill. This will prove calamitous for Indian military, as had happened in Sri Lanka in 1987, where it had to beat a hasty retreat in the face of Tamil Tigers onslaught. Criticality of security situation in Afghanistan has impelled USA to maximize pressure on Pakistan to fight and expel all Afghan Taliban allegedly hiding in Pakistan, or else force them to ceasefire and hold peace talks. Instability in Afghanistan has affected Pakistan the most, particularly because of deep-rooted involvement of RAW-NDS network in Baluchistan, FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). Pakistan has successfully dismantled all the bases of TTP and its affiliates and flushed out militants of all hues including Haqqani network. The runaway militants of TTP and Jamaat-e-Ahrar patronized by the two intelligence agencies are now using bases of Nuristan, Kunar and Nangarhar for cross border attacks. The US has been playing a double game with Pakistan since September 2001 by pretending to be a friend and an ally but in reality, Pakistan was marked as a target. Under the pretense of friendship, Pakistan has been profusely bled by making use of proxies. It has now removed the mask of friendship and come out openly in support of India to harm Pakistan and derail CPEC. After the series of high profile economic, nuclear and defence deals with India, the US military has now signed Maritime, Strategic Communications, and Logistics Agreements with Indian military and has adopted an aggressive posture against Pakistan. President Obama referred to Pakistan as an abysmally dysfunctional country. Chairman of the US Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs Matt Salmon stated, We should completely cut off all funding to Pakistan. In his and Zalmay Khalilzads view, Pakistan is a State sponsor of terrorism. Other members of the Committee chimed that Pakistan is an epicenter of terror and its military and intelligence assets are behind every act of terror committed across its borders. Some senior US Congress Senators are spewing venom against Pakistan and openly supporting separatist agenda of rebellious Baloch. John Kerry has endorsed Indias demands to take concrete steps against Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muhammad and probe Mumbai and Pathankot attacks. The US-China-Pakistan-Afghanistan grouping for Afghan peace has been replaced with US-Afghanistan-India alliance. Indian military is now actively supporting ANA in Afghanistan. Pakistans Security Paradigm Pakistan is a nuclear power with robust armed forces that are second to none. In fact Pakistan Army is the only one in the world that has successfully fought foreign backed terrorism on its soil and to a large extent rolled it back. Pakistan has abundant resources and is blessed with resilient manpower which despite suffering the most in war on terror and on account of energy crisis and dwindling economy, they have not lost their spirits. The people are fully behind the Army and want it to eliminate scourges of corruption and terrorism. Pakistan is central to the resolution of Afghanistan and peace in the region. Nevertheless, Pakistan suffers from infirmities and vulnerabilities mainly due to leadership crisis, effete and corruption prone political class, snakes in the grass and meddlesome role of India in particular. These maladies has made the country lurch from one crisis to another. Pakistan was subjected to an international conspiracy in 1971. India and former USSR were the architects of the conspiracy and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman led Awami League and Mukti Bahini were the tools used to dismember Pakistan and create Bangladesh. Thirty years after that tragedy, a new set of conspirators ganged up after 9/11 to tear apart Pakistan. This conspiracy is much bigger in dimension and dangerous in intent. Pakistan was to be befriended and then cut to size. In this, India is being supported by USA, Afghanistan, UK, Israel and the west in general, while the TTP in northwest, BLA, BRA, BLF in Baluchistan MQM in Karachi as well as section of 3 million Afghan refugees, segment of Pak media, NGOs, human rights organizations, are the tools employed to accomplish their objectives. The Indo-US-Afghan nexus are using Afghan soil for cross border terrorism in Pakistan for the last 14 years to weaken Pakistan from within and create conditions favorable for India to launch its military instrument. Water terrorism was launched by India to make Pakistan a water scarce country. Orchestrated propaganda campaign is designed to discredit Pakistan and its premier institutions. Cultural invasion was let loose by India in 2004 after signing deceptive peace treaty to loosen morals of the youth and slacken their warrior spirit. Media war has succeeded in injecting secularism, obscenity, immorality, extremism and intolerance, while psychological operations have created divisions in society, political polarization and despondency. Ironically, the media portrays the real perpetrators of terrorism as innocent and victims of terrorism, and the victims as terrorists. Pakistan is blamed for the failures of the US led ISAF and Afghan security forces against the Taliban in Afghanistan. The current tutored theme harped by liberal writers in Pakistan is that Pakistan has got isolated. Isnt this isolation far better than being in the company of double dealing so-called friends who have been constantly inflicting tens of thousands of wounds on the body of Pakistan and its people all these years? The other theme vigorously pursued by social, print and electronic media is to portray 3rd time elected PM Nawaz Sharif (NS) as a devil. Indo-US-Afghan manipulative strategies are calculated attempts to strategically encircle Pakistan, destabilize and destroy its economy, isolate it, and be in a better position to browbeat and blackmail it and make it accept Indias hegemony and forget Kashmir. Situation in occupied Kashmir in the wake of martyrdom of freedom fighter Burhan Wani has become explosive and it has unnerved India. Indian security forces in IOK have broken all records of barbarism and besides firing guns indiscriminately on the unarmed protesting Kashmiris seeking right of self-determination and freedom from India, they are also using rubber bullets, tear gas, chilli bombs/grenades, and rubber pellets to blind the protestors. Over 100 people, mostly children and women have lost their eyesight. Anti-Pakistan statement made by Modi on August 14, followed by the ugly situation created by Afghan miscreants on border crossing points, Dhakas support to the cause of Baloch rebels, terror attacks in Quetta killing 70 lawyers and others, Altafs tirade on August 22, and two attacks on one day in KP on 2 September were timed to step up chaos and build pressure on Pakistan to desist from extending moral, political and diplomatic support to Kashmiris. All terror attacks were claimed by Nangarhar based Jamaat-e-Ahrar. Taking advantage of frostiness in Pak-US relations, India in concert with the US is likely to step up efforts to isolate Pakistan, get Pak Army and ISI declared as rogue outfits aligned with terror groups and impose sanctions on them; levy economic sanctions on Pakistan on charges of abetment to terrorism, stage another false flag operation of the kind of 2001 and 2008 to justify mobilization of its armed forces and forcing Pakistan to deploy its forces on the border and thus relieve pressure on its proxies. Taking a cue from Modis evocative utterances on August 14, India is likely to intensify covert operations in Baluchistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and AJK in coming months since these regions fall within the CPEC. Pakistan armed forces are up against threats from eastern and western borders backed by USA, NATO and Israel and internal threat fomented and supported by foreign powers. Three dimensional threat and not so friendly Iran has placed the military in a quandary, thereby further relying on nuclear deterrence for safeguarding the integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan. Engineered Rise in Political Temperature Having failed to cow down Pakistan through policy of coercion, threats and intimidation and bloody covert and overt operations, the detractors have been trying hard to draw a wedge between civil-military relations and to provoke highly popular Gen Raheel Sharif to seize power. Failing in this, they have now once again egged on disgruntled political parties in opposition to dislodge the government so as to halt work on CPEC and mega development projects and also halt operation in Karachi which has reached the culmination point. Hungering for power, some political parties have ganged up and have raised the political temperature through politics of agitation. They have closed their eyes to the looming internal and external security threats and the dangerous agenda of enemies of Pakistan and are playing into their hands. None is interested in reforms or getting rid of cancer of corruption. Their sole aim is to get rid of NS, who has managed to make visible improvements in the fields of economy, energy sector, foreign exchange reserves, stocks exchange and in putting life into almost dead state corporations. Electric power shortfall is likely to be overcome by end 2017. 10400 MW will be added to the national grid to end energy crisis. Above all, NS has remained firm in tackling the scourge of terrorism which is laudable. Three conflict zones of FATA, Baluchistan and Karachi are reasonably stable and incidents of terrorism have dropped down substantially. NS is still the most popular leader as can be gauged from the results of bye-elections, local bodies elections and elections in AJK. On the contrary, Imran Khans popularity has dented and PTIs fortunes have declined, and so is the case with PPP, remote controlled by Zardari from Dubai, which has little hope of capturing some space in Punjab and elsewhere other than Sindh. MQM is now minus Altaf and Farooq Sattar has dissociated his MQM (Pakistan) from London based MQM Rabita Committee and Altaf. This divorce is doubted by many but all political parties are in favor of giving Sattar a chance to prove that the newly named party has bid farewell to politics of violence, fascism and blackmail. Pak Sarzamin Party under Mustafa Kamal (an amalgam of rebels of MQM) in Karachi is insisting that MQM should be banned and Altaf prosecuted under the charge of treason. Coming weeks will see intensification of power tussle between Sattar and Kamal. Possibility of their merger is dim. So far, London MQM faction is quiet but it is claiming that Altaf is still the supremo of MQM. What is evident is that Altaf has dug his own grave. His own follies have made him the most detested man in Pakistan. The MQM will never regain monopoly in Karachi as it had enjoyed since 1988 under Altaf. Regardless of soiled image of MQM, the PTI caught up in the whirlpool of hatred against Nawaz, secretly aligned itself with MQM in Karachi in recently held local bodys elections just to deny chairmanship to PML-Ns candidate. This secret deal was in violation to a six-party grouping including PML-N pitched against MQM. In the wake of economic turnaround and fast paced completion of $46 billion worth CPEC which is termed as a game changer, the opposition parties are apprehensive that they stand no chance of winning in May 2018 elections and as such the only way out is to discredit Nawaz on the issue of Panama Papers and make him resign or get him disqualified. Hence the ill-timed agitation by PTI-PAT-PPP and Sheikh Rashid. The myopic opportunists are playing the card of corruption for political gains. This can be assessed from the fact that the PPP which had broken all records of corruption during its last tenure is also part of the anti-corruption team. NAP, MQM, JUI-F have stayed away. Mid-term elections desired by PTI are a recipe for disaster. What is needed to be done? 1. Civil-military relations must remain on one page to take Operation Zarb-e-Azb, Frontier Corps operation in Baluchistan and Rangers operation in Karachi to their logical conclusion. 2. Army is sensibly supporting democracy and it should not be misled by vested groups to derail the ruling government and should let it complete its full term. 3. 20-point National Action Plan must be implemented in letter and spirit to treat chronic ailments and make Pakistan healthy by changing its internal environments. 4. CPEC must be completed as early as possible. Deployment of Special Security Division for the protection of entire length of CPEC and the Chinese workers is a step in the right direction. 5. Media must be made to work in accordance with code of ethics and to promote cause of Pakistan rather than facilitate foreign agenda. 6. Pak-Afghan and Pak-Iran border management must be further tightened to prevent infiltration by agent provocateurs and terrorists. 7. Process of return of Afghan refugees must continue. 8. Full support must be extended to the Kashmiris living in open prison. Our exterior maneuver should expose the ugly face of India and convince the UN/international community to play their role in resolving the oldest dispute in accordance with UN resolutions. 9. In the wake of grave threat to the security of Pakistan, besides keeping Full Spectrum Deterrence fully operational and armed forces kept operationally fit for hot and cold wars, Pakistan must have its own proxies to counter Indo-Afghan sponsored proxies. 10. Pakistan should sign 10-year strategic defence and maritime agreements with China, binding China to help in defending the CPEC if threatened, and taking active part in any war with India backed by its allies. To reinforce this alignment, Russia and SCO should be added. 11. The government must be pressed to carryout electoral, judicial, bureaucratic, police, madrassas reforms and to undertake across the board accountability of the corrupt and criminals. 12. All out efforts must be made to bring back looted wealth stashed in foreign banks and offshore companies. 13. Elimination of nepotism and favoritism, restoration of merit and dispensation of cheap and speedy justice will dilute extremism, and cure the cancers of corruption and terrorism. 14. Pakistaniat and patriotism must be inculcated among the youth through cultural and moral reformation programs. Media can play an important role in this regard. 15. Stop self-defeating policy of appeasement and that too at the cost of national interests, differentiate between friend and foe, stay focused and build much needed unity. Conclusion. Quaid-e-Azams motto Unity, Faith, Discipline needs urgent reincarnation. We must not forget that united we stand, divided we fall. United front will not only counter the grave threat posed by Indo-Afghan-US nexus, but also the threat from within which is the main threat to the security and integrity of Pakistan. External and internal threats can be effectively countered through collective efforts of the nation and not by the armed forces alone. Our focus should be on putting national interests above self-interests, integrating the divided society and fostering unity, adaption of golden principles of Islam, pushing the cart forward collectively rather than indulging in fruitless tug of war, and most importantly improving the economy to sustain multiple pressures. For this, we need self-cleansing to become a proud nation. The writer is retired Brig, war veteran, defence analyst, columnist, author of 5 books, Director Measac Research Centre, Director Board of Governors Thinkers Forum Pakistan. He delivers talks and takes part in TV talk shows. asifharoonraja@gmail.com Ayaz Sadiq rejected all references against Nawaz Sharif ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on Monday rejected all references against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif but forwarded two references filed against Imran Khan and his close friend Jahangir Khan Tareen to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). The speaker also rejected a reference filed against Pakhtunkhwa Mili Awami Party (PkMAP) chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai. Though the speakers office was mum over the issue, ECP officials confirmed that they received eight references from the NA speaker. They said that the speaker had rejected four references against Nawaz Sharif submitted by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Awami Muslim League (AML) and ruled that the question of Nawaz Sharifs disqualification does not arise, as the evidence provided to him was not sufficient in terms of Clause 2 of Article 63 of the constitution. Therefore, he decided not to refer the petition to the ECP. The PTIs vice chairman and 21 other members of the National Assembly, along with AML chief Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad and former MNA Sardar Umar Farooq, submitted the references against the prime minister. They had pleaded that the incumbent premier had not declared his family members offshore companies in his nomination papers, and thus violated articles 62 and 63 of the constitution. However, this reason was apparently not enough to move the NA speaker, who eventually ruled in favour of his prime minister. Surprisingly, the NA speaker forwarded two references to the ECP against Imran Khan and his partys Secretary General Jahangir Khan Tareen. The speaker said in his ruling that according to the revenue record, a piece of land measuring 300 acres was not gifted to Imran Khan, adding that the PTI chief paid more than Rs 40 million for that land. On the reference against Jahangir Khan Tareen, the speaker took the stance that the PTI leader got some loans written off, so he had no right to contest the election. The NA speaker also rejected a reference against Mahmood khan Achakzai, filed by a citizen, Waheed Kamal, seeking disqualification of the PkMAP head over his anti-Pakistan statement that he made on the floor of the National Assembly. The speaker told the Lower House on Monday evening that he had received eight references of various natures, which were forwarded to the ECP. This prompted the opposition to stage a protest against the speaker who, in their opinion, made discriminatory decisions on the references and saved Nawaz Sharif from disqualification. Meanwhile, NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq told reporters at the Parliament House that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had no link with the Panama leaks, nor did the PTI provide sufficient evidence in its reference against the PM. The speaker maintained that he considered all those references thoroughly for nine days looking for substantial evidence provided in the documents. He also outlined the reasons for the decisions he made on the references. He told the journalists that a reference against PTI chief Imran Khan had been sent to the ECP on the basis of solid evidence and documents, while the reference against Jahangir Tareen was forwarded to the ECP on the basis of solid evidence. To a question, the speaker made it clear that he could not disqualify any member of the National Assembly; rather it was the duty of the ECP. Now they have to make a decision in 90 days on these references. The ECP can agree or disagree with my opinion and rulings. He said that it was not the first time the PTI had accused him of partiality towards the PML-N. He complained that the PTI had been accusing him for being unfair for long, and added that he acted solely on merit. Meanwhile, PTI chief Imran Khan said the National Assembly speaker was not unbiased. Talking to the media before leaving for Karachi, Imran said that PM Nawaz Sharif had completely ruined the NA speakers office. We are going to Raiwind for answers to the four questions asked from the PM in the Lahore rally, whereas the PML-N will only come to Bani Gala for blackmailing. Sources said that September 24 is being considered for the next phase of the accountability march. Earlier, Imran Khan had said that poverty-stricken people and their children were dying of starvation and the government was not doing anything for them. He also announced to attend a protest of employees seeking salary raise before Eidul Azha. Pakistan to become 18th largest economy in the world by 2050: Ishaq Dar KARACHI: Pakistan to become 18th largest economy in the world by 2050 from its existing rank of 44th. The future growing economies includes are Nigeria, Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan. This was informed by the federal finance minister Ishaq Dar while talking to World Islamic Finance Forum while quoting 'BBC Business Report for Growing Economy' here on Monday. He said, "Generating funds from global Sukuk market, Pakistan entered in the international Sukuk market after a gap of nine years. We have been absent in the international Sukuk market for such a long time," he pointed out. "Soon after I take oath as federal finance minister, he said, "I advised the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to establish centre of excellence on Islamic financing and set up a steering committee in this regard. We have now three centre of excellence established in Islamic banking in Pakistan, since the government promoting Islamic banking." He lauded the guidelines of Deputy Governor, Saeed Ahmed and Dr Ishrat Hussain the chairman centre of excellence at Institute of Business Administration (IBA) for forming Centre of Excellence and appreciated the help of Islamic Development Banking (IDB) over the years through Dr. Mohammed Azmi Omar, Director General of Islamic Research & Training Institute (IRTI) at IDB. "Islamic economic system is not only about the prohibition of interest, but it also promotes values, such as social responsibilities and accountability, though it is around for last five decades," he added. Islamic finance system is today acknowledge as economic system that also provide answers to the current crisis and demands in the world which includes promote alleviate poverty, socio-economic system and equitable distribution of wealth. "In the history of Islamic banking, Pakistan among the pioneer country in Islamic banking that worked legal, regulatory and supervisory fronts been recognized at international level," he recalled, adding unfortunately, these efforts could not produce desired results, but the industry is growing at impressive pace when it was started in last decade. The government is committed to actively promoting Islamic banking as our religious duty but also supremacy of broad-based growth. Dar said, "This is my standing instruction to the finance ministry that whenever need to raise that funds or replace debts, preference would be to resolve through Islamic finance." The government is providing full-fledge support to Islamic banking for last three years, he added. State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has issued directives for complete Shariah compliance and we have given 2 percent cut of income tax to Islamic banking in budget 2016-17, he pointed out. Additional liquidity in Islamic banking will supplement some of projects, especially energy projects in $46 billion, China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he informed. "We have also brought Islamic Sukuk funds at par with the conventional banking to promote the industry," he added. "Internationally, the Islamic banking size growing from $1.3 two year to $1.5 trillion in last year and now it is 1.8 trillion. It is expected to grow at a fast pace and may touch $6.6 trillion mark by 2020," he informed. In the global market, there was a race and interest for grabbing international share in the growing Islamic banking by many countries. "This industry (Islamic Banking) is going to lead the conventional banking by next decade or so," he said, while quoting the words of "British Prime Minister, David Cameron speech as key not speaker few years back at a Islamic Banking Conference in London. David Cameron said, Britain can grab its share as much as possible from international Islamic banking." Dar asked the entrepreneurs of Islamic Banking that how much we can take advantage from global Islamic banking for our benefits. Those countries lost in 2008 economic meltdown are now taking advantage of Islamic banking in global market, he informed. Islamic banking is still in its evolutionary phase but we need collective and our relentless efforts for betterment as we cannot take it easy and we should work at a very fast speed to catch up fills the gaps. "We have future and ability to work," he said, "Our country could do any work in half of time." He informed that a summary received by the finance ministry for an implementation committee on Islamic Banking. He announced that a high-power committee comprised of Governor SBP, Federal Secretary of Finance, Chairman of Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), and Chairman Federal Board of Revenue, Secretary Ministry of Law, Shariah Scholar Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani, Chairman Pakistan Banking Association, President Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP), President Institute of Cost & Management Accountants of Pakistan (ICMAP). The committee will be responsible for looking after the affairs of Islamic banking and will do things on fast track basis, he announced. Googles skewed and biased search results are long known. This website rarely comes up in search results on issues I have focused on for fifteen years (despite its large readership). This website gets virtually no traffic, no referrals from Google. The proverbial deck is stacked in the information battle-space. This post by Jihad Watch tech expert Marc offers extraordinary insight into how Google skews its presentation of information in order to manipulate people into accepting half-truths and falsehoods that serve the Lefts agenda. He explains how Google deliberately manipulates its results when one searches for the word jihad and doubtless this is just one of countless examples of how Google advances the Leftist/Islamic supremacist line while burying the truth. How Googles Search Engines use faked results for social engineering, FreeSpeechDefense.net, September 4, 2016: So how does it work, Ill use one example, a simple Google search for the word Jihad, but first Id like to give you some background on how Google search is understood and intended to work. My knowledge comes from a variety of sources, but is in line with the well known public authority on the subject of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), an employee and till recently the public voice of Google and its search engine, Matt Cutts, he now works for the Pentagon (yeh, I know). Google has published an overview of how it all works, but thats a lot to get through. So in a nutshell, Google is looking for the freshest, most authoritative, easiest to display (big screen and mobile) content to serve its search engine users, it crawls them, caching (grabbing) content, looking at the speed of download, the textual content, counting words to find the relevance, checking what it looks like on different sized devices. It also looks at what other sites link to it, both number of and quality of those links. When I say quality, it wants to see how authoritative the linking in sites are. They also have a number of algorithms in place that block the listing of spammy sites, but spam would not be relevant here. Additionally they also have recently claimed to boost sites using HTTPS to promote security and privacy (fox, henhouse lol). There are a few exceptions which I dont think anyone could have issue with, a search for a single word might bring up a dictionary or encyclopedia, but more often, they add Wikipedia to the list of results, especially if its a busy wiki page with constant updates. There is a way to beat these results and get to the top, and thats by paying for the Google Adwords service, these ads at the top are clearly identified with a little Ad button, that is not the case here. I am not in the US, so used a VPN to proxy my research from the US, as searches from other locations provide different results. So search the word jihad, and you will see at the top of a list of 32 million results a list as this: A dictionary definition Wikipedia A link to a page of the Islamic Supreme Council A link to Jihad Watch So we know how the dictionary definition and Wikipedia got there, but how did the Islamic Supreme Council and Jihad Watch get 3rd and 4th place? JihadWatch.org I know well, I do the server and site management, following SEO best practice, here are the major pertinent reasons for its high listing in such a competitive search, 32 million is huge in this game: Robert Spencer, an accomplished author is a prolific blogger, adding a minimum of 10 posts of current jihad related news stories of the day. Robert Spencer, an accomplished author is a prolific blogger, adding a minimum of 10 posts of current jihad related news stories of the day. Its part of the domain name, that always gives a massive boot (searching free speech defense, my tiny, low volume blog always comes top). Doing a jihad site:jihadwatch.org shows that the word jihad is mentioned on the site 35,000 times, proving its main focus of discussion is jihad. A search for just jihadwatch.org shows that it is mentioned on 631,000 other sites pages (linking in), proving it is very authoritative and often referenced. Jihadwatch.org is currently the 10,488 th most popular website in the US, this fluctuates, but not much. most popular website in the US, this fluctuates, but not much. The site uses HTTPS and a responsive (mobile friendly) theme, so it looks great on any device. So how about the Islamic Supreme Council, Id never heard of them. I asked a few people who have studied Islam, they hadnt either, so lets look at the comparative statistics: The site is run by Sheik Kabbani, a Naqshbandi Sufi. It has additional posts added a couple of times a year, the latest news panel lists an event in 1996. The site is run by Sheik Kabbani, a Naqshbandi Sufi. It has additional posts added a couple of times a year, the latest news panel lists an event in 1996. It has Islamic in the domain name, understandable that Google maybe has confused the two words. /sarc off Doing a jihad site:islamicsupremecouncil.org shows that the word jihad is mentioned on the site 123 times, whereas searching the word Sufi brings up over 200 results proving its main focus of discussion is not jihad. A search for just islamicsupremecouncil.org shows that it is mentioned on 79,000 other sites pages (linking in), showing it is as 1/10th as popular/authoritative as jihadwatch.org. This is confirmed with an Alexa popularity search, showing it is the 307,832 th most popular site in the US. most popular site in the US. The site does not use HTTPS, and it is very mobile unfriendly, using technology from a previous millennium (Im not kidding, its using web standards from 1999 if you look at the source files). So whats up? How does the site get this boost, if you search the word Sufi, the Islamic Supreme Council isnt even listed in the top 10 pages. Funny thing about the meaning of the word Jihad, to the fast majority of Muslims they themselves know of two meanings, the Google dictionary definition at the top of the results is correct: (among Muslims) a war or struggle against unbelievers. the spiritual struggle within oneself against sin. Often differentiated as the greater and lesser Jihad, but Sunni and Shia Muslims, who make up the vast majority of Muslims, understand when the word Jihad is used alone they mean the violent kind, world conquering imposing of Sharia law, blowing stuff up and cutting heads of infidels, and they accept the lesser Jihad as a false construct, but thats another debate, you can read more here at wikiislam. But what is unique about Sufis, a tiny minority of Muslims, if in fact they are Muslims, as the vast majority of Muslims do not accept Sufis as such, and many Sufis themselves do not identify with being Muslim, is that they are unique in only having this peaceful, lesser Jihad, being somewhat pacifists, ironically often violently targeted for their beliefs in Muslim majority countries. So in conclusion, how are you being socially engineered by Google? Anyone doing a search for Jihad will think they are seeing an opposing, authoritative view of Jihad Watchs, but the Islamic Supreme Council is of no authority, its poor in every way. Nonetheless, the Googler will read all about all this peaceful unrepresentative Jihad, trusting Google will live by their moto Dont be evil. Former Google CEO and current executive chairman Eric Schmidt once said, it was a dumb rule merely because the word evil isnt really defined, and Google doesnt quite know what evil is. So how about another site which might be more of an authority on Jihad in the US, cair.com (Council on American-Islamic Relations) is constantly being updated, is far more popular at 146,590th place, actually probably even more so, as it has a vast network of sites. A search for jihad site:cair.com gives 342 results, and is mentioned and linked to a whopping 60 million times, its mobile friendly and has HTTPS enabled, and its not even on the top 10 pages of results for a search on Jihad. Odd, that except their own political agenda is for Americans to believe the Sufi understanding of Jihad is a common Muslim understanding, rather than their own aggressive one, with proven ties between CAIR, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. Some would say a war or struggle against unbelievers Jihad was CAIRs main purpose, advertising that fact doesnt help their agenda, much better American Googlers read the Sufi version for them. I think I have described in detail how this subtle manipulation works. Its not a secret. Facebook has been at it also. The connections with the Obama administration and now Hillary Clinton are well documented. My enemys enemy is not my necessarily my friend, but here is what Julian Assange has to say on the collusion between the US administration and Google. From Greg Swank, 12-4-2 You are about to read a list of 45 goals that found their way down the halls of our great Capitol back in 1963. As... If You Enjoy My Articles, Please Consider Supporting My Writing By Giving A Donation Of Any Amount. Thank you! Meteorologist Paul Douglas writes about Minnesota weather daily, trying to go beyond the "highs" and "lows" of the weather story to discuss current trends and some of the how's and why's of meteorology. Rarely is our weather dull - every day is a new forecast challenge. Why is the weather doing what it's doing? Is climate change a real concern, and if so, how will my family be affected? Climate is flavoring all weather now, and I'll include links to timely stories that resonate with me. Of course. You would have to be be barking mad to want to bring this rabble to NZ. But then socialists are mad by definition. It's not as if we don't have... Wood Charcoal The company produces our branded wood charcoal. All our Wood Charcoal is made from wood of the highest quality with a fixed carbon content of over 83%. Our products are well known for their long lasting and intense heat that outperforms almost all other kinds of charcoal. Our own brand of charcoal comes in bulk containers of 10kg ,5kg and 3kg according to buyer specification. Plant Capacity We produce 140 metric tonnes of hardwood charcoal weekly. Wood Species We produce charcoal mostly from the following tree species; Anogeuissus leocarpus Afromosia laxiflora Lecanodiscus cupaniodes Dialium guinensus Hymenostegia afzelii Murinda incida Azadirachta latifolia Eucalyptus globolug, alba and terreticornis. City fishers. Credit: University of Exeter Fishers in Central Africa often cover hundreds of miles in very basic boats without engines searching for food to feed their families and make a living, a new study shows. Experts from the University of Exeter have tracked the journeys taken by fishers in the Republic of Congo as part of their work with the Congolese Government to protect the local marine environment and improve marine resource management. This is the first time anyone has recorded in such detail how different types of fishers use the ocean in this part of Africa. Researchers fitted 41 boats across 28 different sites with GPS trackers to see how far they travelled between February 2014 and March 2015, with the data representing 875 individual fishing trips. They collected 5,500 hours of tracking data that covered a total distance of 9,500 km. Boats were tracked from several sites, including the city of Pointe Noire and a national park, and the results showed very different strategies according to location. Fishers based in city typically travelled up to 120km offshore for up to six days in wooden boats with small engines. They had no safety gear and the expeditions were highly risky. Fishers based in more rural areas undertook daily fishing trips up to eight km offshore in simple boats with no engine. Small scale fishers in a rural area. Credit: University of Exeter Many of these fisheries-dependent communities are angry that fishing boats, working illegally and sometimes in National Parks, are harming stocks by overfishing in areas they have traditionally used to provide food for their families and earn a living. Industrial fishing vessels have allocated spaces to work in, but small-scale fishers complain they are fishing in parts of the ocean reserved exclusively for them. This has huge impacts on fishers in more rural areas who can't invest in better boats and equipment which would allow them to fish in different areas, or further offshore. This work is part of a Darwin Initiative project, funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to improve the livelihoods of fisheries-dependent communities and conserve marine biodiversity in Central Africa. Experts from the University of Exeter are working with representatives from the Government of the Republic of Congo, the Wildlife Conservation Society in Congo, and local NGO Renatura to develop a marine spatial plan that will improve marine resource management and protect important marine life for which this region is globally important. Dr Kristian Metcalfe, from the Centre for Ecology and Conservation (CEC) at the University of Exeter who undertook the work in Congo, said: "We have found that fishers working in the city go further, faster, fish in deeper waters and for longer, whereas fishers in more rural areas are dependent on making daily fishing trips, and these are much more physically demanding". Professor Brendan Godley, from the CEC said: "Using GPS trackers is an example of how, with the collaboration of fishers, relatively low-cost technology can be used in developing countries to collect data which can be used to better understand how fishers behave - this is important to ensure that management decisions do not compromise local livelihoods". More information: Kristian Metcalfe et al, Addressing Uncertainty in Marine Resource Management; Combining Community Engagement and Tracking Technology to Characterize Human Behavior, Conservation Letters (2016). Journal information: Conservation Letters Kristian Metcalfe et al, Addressing Uncertainty in Marine Resource Management; Combining Community Engagement and Tracking Technology to Characterize Human Behavior,(2016). DOI: 10.1111/conl.12293 Apple has maintained a rhythm of introducing updated iPhone models on an annual basis, timing introductions to coincide with the year-end holiday shopping season Apple is expected to unveil a new iPhone and maybe even a second-generation smartwatch at a special event in San Francisco on Wednesday. The rumor mill has been grinding away with talk of iPhone 7 models that will boast faster chips, more sophisticated cameras, and improved software while doing away with jacks for plugging in wired headphones. To assuage users accustomed to wired headphones, Apple could roll out accessories that include an adaptor that plugs into a remaining port. The event would also be a chance to showcase wireless headphones, perhaps some from Beats, which Apple bought two years ago in a deal valued at $3 billion. In the Apple's usual enigmatic style, it provided little more that the date, time and place to the invitation-only gathering. Apple has maintained a rhythm of introducing updated iPhone models on an annual basis, timing introductions to coincide with the year-end holiday shopping season. In July, the company announced the sale of its billionth iPhone, a milestone for the company as it seeks to keep momentum in a competitive smartphone market. Apple reported a drop in iPhone sales in the second quarter of this year, a second straight drop after uninterrupted growth since its introduction in 2007. South Korean consumer electronics giant LG is set to show off a new premium V20 smartphone in San Francisco the evening before the Apple event. The V20 will be the first to ship with a new Nougat version of Google-backed Android operating software. Meanwhile, leading smartphone maker Samsung has announced it will recall its latest flagship smartphone after faulty batteries caused some Galaxy Note 7 "phablets" to explode while charging, in a massive blow to the South Korean electronics giant's reputation. A protestor dressed as Snow White (C) demonstrates outside the parliament buildings in Dublin in support of the EU ruling to take 13 billion euros ($15 billion) in taxes from Apple on September 2, 2016 Apple Watch time? California-based Apple could also use the event to showcase updates to other products, such as its smartwatch and laptop computers. Speculation regarding an Apple Watch 2 was fueled in part by the fact that the original hardware has not been updated since it debuted in April of last year. Improved iPhone and smartwatch models would be arriving just as Apple is set to roll out a new version of the mobile operating system. The event on Wednesday will come as Apple squares off with the European Union over a multibillion-dollar bill. Analysts told AFP that Apple was in position to fend off the blow from the EU demand that the iPhone maker pay a record 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) in back taxes in Ireland. "It's total political crap," Cook told the Irish Independent newspaper, of European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager's assertion that the company had paid a tax rate of 0.005 percent on its European profits in 2014. The commission ruled that Apple had received favorable tax terms that amounted to state aidillegal under its rules. Apple expects to repatriate billions of dollars of global profits to the United States next year, Cook told Irish national broadcaster RTE without providing specific figures. The ease with which the company could write a check to pay the gargantuan bill was seen as potentially coming back to bite Apple by giving the impression it is greedily avoiding doing right by the public coffers. According to its most recent earnings report, Apple had $231.5 billion in cash plus marketable securities at the end of June. Improved iPhone and smartwatch models would be arriving just as Apple is set to roll out a new version of the mobile operating system Of that total, $214.8 billion, or 93 percent, was said to be outside the United States, Apple's chief financial officer Luca Maestri said on an earnings call. Apple has vowed to fight the tax bill. New hit needed Apple's real issue is the lack of a blockbuster announcement along the lines of those that ignited markets and rocketed the company to glory under the leadership of late co-founder Steve Jobs, according to analysts. "Apple is a company that lived hit to hit: the iPod, iPhone, iPad," said independent Silicon Valley analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group. "Without those successive hits, it is struggling. While it has plenty of cash, it has stopped being a market maker." Analysts and Apple fans have been eagerly waiting for Cook to take a page from Jobs's playbook and enthrall the world with a must-have "one more thing." Apple iPhones have been at the heart of the company's money-making machine for years, while reported investments in self-driving cars and virtual reality have yet to result in transformative new products. With iPhone sales and profits sliding, Apple in July highlighted growth in sales of apps, music and cloud services. Apple is moving into new areas such as Apple TV and streaming music, which could produce more stable revenues. Explore further Apple on firm financial footing as EU tax bill hits 2016 AFP KAUST Ph.D. student Stephanie Saade at the field site where the team trialed multiple lines of barley generated from the same mother line but with different fathers. Credit: KAUST The capacity to feed the world's growing population will be greatly improved by developing crops able to tolerate higher soil salinity and salt water irrigation. Researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, are leading the quest to pinpoint the genetic controls of salt tolerance in crops and recently completed the first large-scale genetic mapping study of barley plants in the field. Mark Tester, KAUST professor of plant science, Ph.D. student Stephanie Saade and colleagues from the University's Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering Division chose barley as their genetic model because it is the most salt tolerant of the cereal crops. They also had access to high-quality genome sequencing data for a European strain called Barke, which they used as the mother line for their field study. "We used a nested association mapping (NAM) population of barley plants," explained Tester. "A NAM is a series of small populations with one line constant across them. In our NAM, Barke, the common mother line, represented about 75 percent of the genome of each plant. We used 25 different father lines, strains of wild barley from fertile Arabian areas known to exhibit higher salt tolerance than commercial strains." This carefully-designed genetic structure developed by collaborator Klaus Pillen from the University of Halle (Germany) brought together high genetic diversity from the 25 fathers while remaining statistically powerful because of the constant mother line. The substantial field site at the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture in Dubai allowed the team to bring the plants to full maturity. "Our unique site had deep sandy soil and used saltwater drip irrigation so we could maintain soil salinity equally across the area," noted Tester. "The differences in plants grown in different plots were therefore mainly due to genetic composition rather than random environmental factors." The researchers evaluated 10 traits related to crop performance, focusing in particular on the genetic architecture of flowering time, a key factor in generating a commercial high-performing crop. They searched for trait loci associated with specific genes in the plants that flourished in highly saline soils and identified a specific locus on chromosome 2H stemming from a father line from northwest Iraq. Under saline conditions, the plants with this genetic mutation yielded 30 percent more than Barke. Tester's team hopes to integrate the locus (alongside others linked to salt tolerance) into commercial lines and test the resulting plants in various geographical locations. Even if these new barleys show higher tolerance only in certain places, this would be a significant step forward in tackling future food security. Explore further Scientists discover genetic factor that makes barley plants resistant to salt More information: Stephanie Saade et al. Yield-related salinity tolerance traits identified in a nested association mapping (NAM) population of wild barley, Scientific Reports (2016). Journal information: Scientific Reports Stephanie Saade et al. Yield-related salinity tolerance traits identified in a nested association mapping (NAM) population of wild barley,(2016). DOI: 10.1038/srep32586 Two males of Chrysozephyrus smaragdinus (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) in 'air combat.' Credit: Tsuyoshi Takeuchi A study shows that contests of butterflies occur only as erroneous courtships between sexually active males that are unable to distinguish the sex of the other butterflies. These findings by Tsuyoshi Takeuchi from Osaka Prefecture University in Japan were highlighted in a review article in the Journal of Ethology, the official journal of the Japan Ethological Society. Males of various butterfly species compete over mating territory via prolonged aerial interactions. Their contest behavior has previously been explained by the "war of attrition" model in the context of game theory, where two contestants perform costly displays until one of them reaches its limit, or cost threshold, and gives up. However, butterflies lack weapons or any obvious means to attack their opponent and thus it is difficult to explain why they perform aerial displays that impose costs not on their opponent but on themselves. Takeuchi and his collaborators found in their previous study2 that there is no evidence that males of territorial butterflies can discriminate the sex of flying conspecifics. Considering the inability to distinguish the sex of their opponents, the male aerial interactions of territorial butterflies should be viewed as prolonged courtship behavior between males chasing each other. They wrongly assume that their opponent is a receptive female and they are not being accepted. This framework provides a prediction that a contest should occur only between flying males and not between sitting males. Takeuchi reviewed past research on competition over mating opportunity in butterflies. He found that it supported the erroneous courtship theory as expected, revealing that "air combats" take place over mating territory between flying males but contests do not occur when males are sitting around a female or a female pupa. Assumptions based on human senses can sometimes be misleading in our understanding of animals. Based on observational and experimental results, the author provides controversial but an important framework to understand butterfly behavior. The applicability of this logic to other taxa remains to be investigated. Explore further Some moths behave like butterflies to mate More information: Tsuyoshi Takeuchi, Agonistic display or courtship behavior? A review of contests over mating opportunity in butterflies, Journal of Ethology (2016). Tsuyoshi Takeuchi, Agonistic display or courtship behavior? A review of contests over mating opportunity in butterflies,(2016). DOI: 10.1007/s10164-016-0487-3 A rural landscape with renovated farm buildings and grazing livestock ranks high on Finns' list of preferences. Such demand provides an interesting opportunity to create landscapes on the basis of a commercial approach: residents of rural areas could purchase a landscape service from landowners. In her thesis written for the Natural Resources Institute Finland and funded by the Maj and Tor Nessling Foundation, Ioanna Grammatikopoulou, MSc, studied demand for ecosystem services such as rural landscapes. Would people purchase landscape quality aspects within their living environment and would landowners be prepared to offer such services on a commercial basis? Around 70 per cent of the participants in the study were of the opinion that the landscape could be improved through a local management programme, in which they could participate by paying a landscape management fee. The valuation of a cultivated landscape and willingness to pay for the landscape in particular were increased by livestock grazing outdoors and well-maintained farm buildings. "However, a range of groups exist who value different landscape properties. Some people value the preservation of a cultivated landscape, while others favour the natural development of the landscape and further groups believe that landscape management should not incur costs. These differences in preferences may make it more difficult to implement a landscape value trade," Grammatikopoulou reflects. Landowners were not enthusiastic about participating in the commercial production of ecosystem services. They would prefer to offer landscape features in lower demand amongst local residents, such as keeping field landscapes cultivated. However, a cost-benefit analysis revealed that, when measured in terms of people's willingness to pay, the benefits of the landscape programme outweighed the costs. The thesis also explored means of market-based avoidance of the drawbacks of eutrophication caused by agriculture. It became clear that the willingness of farmers to participate in agri-environmental auctions was strongly connected to curiosity about this novel policy. Will ecosystem services be secured with the help of the market? The agrarian environment is an ecosystem transformed and maintained by people, which creates a range of benefits but also produces drawbacks for the surrounding natural ecosystems. Traditional environmental policy regarding agriculture has been criticised as inefficient. Market-based mechanisms or target-based policies have been proposed as a means of guaranteeing the effective provision of ecosystem services. The ecosystem services examined in this thesis landscape and water quality play important roles in the development of agri-environmental steering in Finland. "Empirical results provide information for use in the planning of market and target-based policy measures in the coming years. Furthermore, positive experiences of pilot projects are essential to the success of new kinds of policy," Ioanna Grammatikopoulou adds. Explore further Landscape ecology must play a role in policymaking More information: Addressing the demand for and supply of ecosystem services in agriculture through market-based and target-based policy measures. Addressing the demand for and supply of ecosystem services in agriculture through market-based and target-based policy measures. hdl.handle.net/10138/166176 Provided by Natural Resources Institute Finland More than 3.5 million workplace injuries and illnesses occur each year in the United States, costing an estimated $250 billion annually. A new study from The University of Texas at Dallas examined how financing constraints impact workplace safety and the implications for firm value and employee welfare. Dr. Malcolm Wardlaw, assistant professor of finance and managerial economics in the Naveen Jindal School of Management, recently published his findings in the Journal of Finance . "A huge part of the labor force has significant exposure to injury risk," Wardlaw said. "For these workers, getting injured can radically impact their overall welfare. Moreover, the costs of these injuries are borne by both the employees and the companies they work for." He noted that while many people may not think about the issue on a day-to-day basis, blue-collar jobs are everywhere, including in warehouse management, shipping and transportation, resource management, construction and small-scale manufacturing. Using injury data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' annual Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, the researchers examined the sensitivity of workplace injury rates to a firm's available financial resources. The study found that: Injury rates increase after debt increases and increase with negative cash flow shocks. Injury rates decrease with positive cash flow shocks. Firm value decreases substantially with an increase in injury rates. "When you're having issues in cash flow, you often end up servicing the debt at the expense of softer claims that are more difficult to value or have values that are realized over the long term," Wardlaw said. "There are costs associated with workplace injuriesit's harder to find and retain employees, you're more subject to lawsuits and injuries have a long-term effect on productivitybut on a quarter-to-quarter basis, those debts have to be paid." Wardlaw said this paper is one of the first to recognize that the financial condition of a firm affects employees' well-being, which could have implications for policymakers. "When you're thinking about OSHA inspections and thinking about issues you should keep your eye on, this is certainly one of the dimensions to consider: What is the financial condition of this firm?" Wardlaw said. "It's also worth thinking about how financing impacts these kinds of hidden investments. In recent years, there has been a broad recognition that investments in safety are important for the employees and the shareholders. Finding the best way to finance that investment is not always easy." Firms invest resources in a number of different activities that reduce the risk of on-the-job injury, including maintaining equipment, replacing old parts and machines, buying equipment with better safety features and automating dangerous tasks, Wardlaw said. Firms also expend resources on less tangible activities that affect safety, such as training and supervision. Explore further Study links higher work demand to serious health risk potential State Assembly candidate Gerard Moser had $4,854 in his campaign fund, 11 days prior to the Sept. 13 Republican primary, according to a report filed with the state Board of Elections. Moser received $2,815 in contributions between Aug. 8 and Aug. 29, and spent $2,900. Moser, a personal trainer from Malta, is running against Chris Boyark, a business owner from Mechanicville, for the Republican nomination to challenge Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, D-Round Lake, in the 113th Assembly District. Boyark already has the Conservative Party and Reform Party nominations. Boyark had not filed his latest campaign finance report, due Sept. 2, as of Tuesday afternoon. One of the hardest jobs educators have is teaching their students how to deal with death, especially the death of a classmate. The Whitehall Central School District certainly deserves praise for the way it dealt with the death of student Michael P. Rehm during the summer. The school reached out through its website and other social media sources right away and opened its doors for students who needed to talk about the death. Guidance counselor Topher Montville and other staff members were in the forefront of the school's response. Rehm and Walton Smith, 57, of Putnam, were killed in a head-on collision, July 15. Whitehall was not the only northeastern New York district to have to deal with a student this summer. Kitara Myatt of West Chazy died by suicide, and her school, Beekmantown Central, like Whitehall, opened its doors to counsel students, even though school was out. HUDSON FALLS Its going to take a little more time before the curtain rises on the renovated Strand Theater. Jonathan Newell, executive director of Hudson River Music Hall, said Tuesday that a closing on the former Kingsbury Town Hall at 210 Main St. has not been scheduled, but he expects it will be soon, and he said work will begin shortly afterward. We were expecting to be able to close last Friday, but our loan officer was on vacation, and the bank wanted to wait, he said. I would say, probably next week. The music hall is buying the building for $175,000 from the town, which has moved to a new Town Hall at 6 Michigan St. Town Supervisor Dana Hogan said Monday that as far as he knows, a closing is not yet scheduled. The work on the Strand is being planned in phases, and Newell said he plans to apply for a demolition permit as soon as the sale goes through, to take out walls that were being used for the town offices. The project has moved more slowly than planned, partly because of delays in finishing the new town hall. Newell said in June the music hall hoped to have the theater open at the end of August for a Hudson Falls High School 60th reunion, but the closing and work were not done in time. Newell had also previously hoped to have the building open for tours during Sandy Hill Days this weekend, but that does not appear possible. Hudson River Shakespeare Company had scheduled an event at the Strand from Sept. 23 to 25, but its not definite. The cost of the initial phase of the project, including installation of a raised stage and a coffee shop space and restoration of the buildings facade, will be about $250,000, according to Newell. Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, D-Round Lake, has assured them that $250,000 has been set aside for the project, Newell said. The groups further plans include dressing rooms backstage, classrooms and a two-story lobby. These projects would require substantial fundraising, he said, and are long-term goals. The plan to eventually build a $4 million to $7 million multi-use theater has been more than four years in the making, and a completed theater is likely several years away. The initial proposal has gone through the planning process, including the Washington County Planning Board, the village zoning and planning boards and a public presentation. Newell said the group made some money from its British Invasion event in Lake George earlier this month, even though the weather knocked down the main tent and forced the shortening of the festival to one day. Another musical show may be staged in Lake George before the end of the year. BOLTON After searching Wednesday, divers failed to locate the 42-year-old New York City man who apparently drowned Tuesday in Lake George. The search was suspended just before dusk, according to Warren County Sheriffs Lt. Steve Stockdale. It will resume Thursday at around 8 a.m. Dive crews are performing a grid search, according to Stockdale. Hopefully, well be successful. Grid searches take a long time, he said. The other three people who were with the victim are assisting in the search by pointing out landmarks they were near while they were swimming. The party included the mans girlfriend, his son and his girlfriends daughter. The son was swimming with the father when he went under and was unable to rescue him, Stockdale said. The man went swimming off a boat just north of Three Brothers Island when he experienced cramps. He became distressed. The other people he was with on the boat attempted to reach him with floating life preservers, but he was unable to reach them, Stockdale said. The four people were in a 16-foot rental skiff, according to Stockdale. The Warren County Sheriffs Office, State Police and local fire agencies were dispatched to the scene. After a couple of hours searching by divers, it became a recovery effort, Stockdale said. Bolton Fire Chief Jeremy Coon said authorities received a call at 12:37 p.m. Tuesday about a man who went under the water and never surfaced. The depth of water in that part of the lake ranges from 40 feet to 100 feet, Coon said. Divers suspended the search after sunset on Tuesday. Crandall Public Library fall film series begins with showings of Class of 27 at 2:30 and 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the community room in the library basement. The film focuses on education in rural Kentucky communities, among farm workers in western states and on White Earth Reservation in Minnesota. The showings are open to the public free of charge. Environmental film Tri-County Transition Initiative will present the film Tapped, about clean drinking water issues, at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the community room in the basement of Crandall Public Library. An open audience discussion will be held after the film. The showing is open to the public free of charge. Book sale Queensbury Senior Center will hold its fall used book sale from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday and from 9 a.m. to noon Friday. Art contemplation Eugene Fairbanks acrylic painting Communion with Picasso and Warhol, on exhibit at the Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council gallery, inspired me to contemplate which two historical figures I might want to break bread with. I concluded it would be 17th century Welsh poet/clergyman George Herbert and self-help writer Dale Carnegie. I spent 18 months in the early 1990s researching and analyzing Herberts poetry for my senior thesis at Middlebury College. Carnegies book How to Win Friends and Influence People is the book, other than the Bible, that has most influenced my philosophy. Fairbanks is one of nine regional artists featured in the LARAC exhibit Masters Show 16, which runs through Sept. 16 at the gallery on Lapham Place, next to Glens Falls City Park. The other artists are Dave Francis, Bob Walp, Betty OBrien, Paul Chapman, Jean Kroeber, Charlene Leary, Tom Ryan and Ruth Asuer. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Home Regional News East Focusing on education in low-income countries would lift 60 million out of poverty by 2050. The new Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report by UNESCO, shows the potential for education to propel progress towards all global goals outlined in the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs). It also shows that education needs a major transformation to fulfill that potential and meet the current challenges facing humanity and the planet. While the SDGs work hand-in-hand, SDG 4 works to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning. On current trends universal primary education in sub-Saharan Africa will be achieved in 2080; universal lower secondary completion in 2089; and universal upper secondary completion in 2099. This would leave the region 70 years late for the 2030 SDG deadline. Ghana was mentioned throughout the report. Looking at literacy skills the report found in Ghana, 61 percent of adults read below even the lowest level of proficiency. 65 percent of adults had completed primary school, and only 21 percent had completed senior high school. Getting more students into SHS is something the country is mandated to do - in Ghanas 1992 Republican Constitution it stipulates that the country must embrace progressively free Senior High School education. In the run-up to the 2012 elections, President John Mahama promised 200 community day Senior High Schools would be built in under-served communities if he was elected and so far, 123 of the schools had been awarded on contract. The UNESCO report also pointed to the gender disparity in educational attainment and literacy, finding that in Ghana, men have over two more years of education than women, and score over 40 points higher on a 500 point literacy scale. The in-depth report looks at everyday chores and how they hamper education. It found reducing the time it takes to collect water and firewood can improve education outcomes by freeing time for educational activities, especially for women and girls (UNESCO, 2015). In Ghana, research found that halving water fetching time increased school attendance by 2.4 percentage points, on average, among girls aged 5 to 15, and the impact was stronger in rural areas. It called for education systems need to impart higher skills aligned with the demands of growing economies, where job skill sets are fast changing, many being automated. On current trends, by 2020, there will be 45 million too few workers with tertiary education relative to demand. The Report shows this change is vital: achieving universal upper secondary education by 2030 in low-income countries would lift 60 million out of poverty by 2050. Titled Education for people and planet, the report also shows the need for education systems to step up attention to environmental concerns. While in the majority of countries, education is the best indicator of climate change awareness, half of countries curricula worldwide do not explicitly mention climate change in their content. A fundamental change is needed in the way we think about educations role in global development, because it has a catalytic impact on the well-being of individuals and the future of our planet, said UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova in a release. Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! The former Presby Moderator, Reverend Professor Emmanuel Martey revealed last week that when the Christian Council nominated him to be on the Council, he had second thoughts about the position. So I told God about it. I dont do anything without first consulting my friend the Holy Spirit. Few days to the inauguration of the Peace Council, I had a missed call; I didnt know the person so I didnt call back. So the person sent a text message, it was the Deputy Minister of Interior, [James] Agalga. So immediately something said call so I called back. He was then at the house so he came out, Rev Martey added. First I said, yes, this is the Rev. Prof. Martey, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, but you know something, the Holy Spirit blinded his mind so he didnt even hear that it was the Presby Moderator who was talking to him. The Holy Spirit wanted him to tell me what he has for me, to help me decide whether or not to be a member of the Peace Council. He said he had a meeting with the Minister of Interior and they both agreed that I become the Chairman of the Peace Council, he said. But addressing a Press Conference Tuesday, Chairman of the Peace Council Rev. Professor Emmanuel Asante said the claims by the outgoing moderator boss are unfortunate and misleading. The governing Council of the National Peace Council, however, considers the said statement to be very unfortunate given that it does not only undermine the ACT that established the Council, it also questions the integrity and independence of the Council collectively and its eminent members individually, he said. ...Id wanted to throw my sandals at the judges when we went to the court that day because I knew we would be jailed but my lawyer advised me not to and when we were sentenced, and sent to the prison, my life changed completely, he told Accra-based Adom FM. I have been reformed so much that even if someone slaps me on my left cheek, I would turn the other side for the person to slap me again, he added. The president, on Monday, August 22, 2016, freed the three men. A statement signed by the Communications Minister Dr Omane Boamah said the decision was taken on the advice of the Council of State and was on compassionate grounds. The Montie three, Alistair Nelson, Godwin Ako Gunn and Salifu Maase alias Mugabe were sentenced to four months in prison by the Supreme Court following contempt proceedings against them. The contempt proceedings came after the three threatened the lives of Supreme Court judges who sat on the Abu Ramadan and Gary Nimako versus the Electoral Commission case. A petition book was subsequently opened by pro-government group Research and Advocacy Platform (RAP) to collect signatures of Ghanaians to implore the president to exercise his prerogative of mercy powers to free the three contemnors. READ ALSO: Montie 3 After spending 27 days in jail, the three can now heave a sigh of relief as the president has given them remission. The decision has not gone down well with some sections of the public, who believe that the authority of the Judiciary is being undermined. According to the IMF, it is concerned about how State-owned Enterprises, especially in the energy sector are being run. The Volta River Authority, alone owes a total of 4.4 billion Ghana Cedis in debt to 12 banks, to the redemption of which government has paid 250 million Ghana Cedis from the energy sector emergency levies collected from Ghanaians. According to IMF team lead Joel Toujas-Bernate, government must sti to regulations laid-out in the bailout plan to avoid additional risks on the budget of the Bank of Ghana. This was after Finance Minister, Seth Terkper said government is teaming up with the Bank of Ghana to fashion suitable payment plan that will ensure that the debts owed by SOEs are paid in three years. According to him, "President Mahama is not promising the provision of meters." He said "Likening it to Akuffo-Addo's one dam, one village nationwide frivolous policy is to say the President is promising one meter per one house for the whole country...which ordinarily is not a problem but fact is he didn't promise that for the whole country." Earlier report indicates that President John Mahama has promised the people of Abura in the Cape Coast North constituency one meter per house. As part of his campaign tour of the Central Region, President Mahama addressing the people of Abura in the Abura/Asebu/Kwamankese said 1500 meters should be made available to the people of Abura so that each house will have one meter. Background to Election 2016 with promises Nana Addo promised to establish a dam in every farming village in a bid to improve agriculture production in the country if elected in the December polls. He said the only way to increase the total land area under cultivation in Ghana from 30,000 out of 14 million hectares of arable land is for the country to develop more irrigation systems. READ ALSO: The LMVCA is skeptical about the unorthodox way in which the proxy application is currently being carried out. The usual practice under Regulation 25 of CI 94 is that it is the eligible voter who has determined that he/she is unable to vote on Election Day, who picks up the application form. Yet, in the ongoing proxy application exercise, the press release signed by the EC PRO makes it open for both the Applicant and the Proxy to be able to pick the Proxy application form. This deviation is not only puzzling, but also opens the floodgates for fictitious applications, the statement added. The Electoral Commission (EC) on August 17, 2016, began a 40-day exercise to accept the application for proxy voting during general elections on December 7. The exercise, which is expected to end on September 26, 2016, will enable an eligible voter to delegate someone to vote on his or her behalf when he or she is unable to be present during the Presidential and Parliamentary polls. Below is the full statement from the LMVCA: The Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA) is deeply concerned about the lack of transparency on the part of the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) in the ongoing proxy voting application exercise. On Tuesday, August 16, 2016, the EC issued a press release announcing that the proxy voting applications would commence the very next day, Wednesday, August 17, 2016 and end on Monday, September 26, 2016. Thus, the exercise commenced hurriedly without any substantial public education on the process. Indeed, the surreptitiousness surrounding this exercise gives cause for great concern as it suggests that the EC is willfully keeping the electorate in the dark about the entire process of proxy voting. The LMVCA is skeptical about the unorthodox way in which the proxy application is currently being carried out. The usual practice under Regulation 25 of CI 94 is that it is the eligible voter who has determined that he/she is unable to vote on Election Day, who picks up the application form. Yet, in the ongoing proxy application exercise, the press release signed by the EC PRO makes it open for both the Applicant and the Proxy to be able to pick the Proxy application form. This deviation is not only puzzling, but also opens the floodgates for fictitious applications. The absence of a clearly defined process for the submission of the proxy application, coupled with the apparent secrecy surrounding the entire process, fuels suspicions of foul play by the EC. Although according to CI 94, a proxy application may be done not less than 42 days before Election Day, the fact that proxy applications are being opened 113 clear days before the election and spanning a period of 41 days is outlandish and calls for a high alert. The LMVCA wishes to reiterate that the future of democracy in Ghana hinges on the processes and outcome of election 2016. Some of the most inalienable virtues in the every step of an electioneering body is transparency, inclusiveness, fairness, and integrity. It is therefore extremely crucial that the EC conducts its affairs in such a manner that would restore the waning confidence of the public in its ability to conduct credible elections. Thank you. David Asante The Commission explained that because of the delicate nature of the matter being investigated there is the need to do it properly. Speaking to Accra-based Citi FM Head of Public Relations at CHRAJ, Akosua Edu said they need more time to finish the probe. She indicated that they are making progress and asked Ghanaians to give them more time to complete their investigation. Background The youth of the CPP on June 21, 2016, petitioned CHRAJ to probe President Mahamas acceptance of the Ford Expedition gift from the contractor, Djibiri Kanazoe The partys youth wing argues that, the circumstances surrounding the gift and the acceptance of it by President Mahama, contravened the 1992 constitution. The Burkinabe in question, Djibril Kanazoe, has been accused of bribing President John Mahama with the expensive vehicle in an attempt to win a contract to execute a road construction project. Speaker dismisses motion The Speaker of Parliament Edward Doe Adjaho subsequently dismissed the motion filed by the minority over President Mahama's Ford Gift Saga. Mr Amissah-Arthur is expected to meet with the Gonja Traditional Council, as well as party executives and parliamentary candidates of the National Democratic Congress whilst in the Northern Region. He will inaugurate the Northern Regional Campaign Taskforce for JOHN MAHAMA2016 as well as hold a special meeting with NDC functionaries from Bole Bamboi, Sawla-Tuna-Kalba, Damongo, Yapei-Kusawgu, Daboya Mankarigu and Salaga North and South. Later in the week, the Vice President will take his campaign tour to the Upper East Region where he will call on chiefs, party executives and parliamentary candidates, among others. Although the questions he shared via his Instagram page are mostly rhetorical in nature, they are enough to provoke deep concerns in the hearts of Nigerians. According to the comedian, the country has gotten to the point where, even Jesus Christ, cannot save it. He wrote: The economy will remain like this for a long while because the strings that pull us into dire straits are still pulling us even much stronger. How did we get here? We were making so much from oil and neglected all other sources of revenue. We did not only neglect those sources of revenue, we did not invest the revenue from oil in infrastructural development of the country. We were not futuristic in our planning either. Did we increase the number of hostels in our universities to accommodate the new numbers of students? Pay teachers well? Did we build more roads to take care of the millions of cars and transportation needs? Did we improve the services of the police force, Did we use the money to build better hospitals? Did the new industries create more jobs? Did we improve our power supply? Did we have stronger and modified laws that made sure that people who broke the laws were punished adequately to discourage others? Did we tidy up our pension scheme so that people are assured that they did not need to steal to assure themselves of better retirement? What have we done to reduce the cost of administration? What kind of enabling environment has the government created to grow the economy? What have we done to ensure the right people got elected? Have we developed our tourism potentials to attract foreign investors and revenues? Better banks? What have we done to curb corruption? What steps have we taken in the direction of housing? Who has security votes helped? We have failed to do all of that NOW OUR ALMIGHTY crude prices that were our saving grace are low. The production is even nearly nonexistent, thanks to militants. There is backlog of owed salaries, uncompleted projects, dead refineries, high unemployment and huge numbers of the unemployable. We are borrowing even Jesus cannot save us unless we create new sources of revenue. What do I know? I am an ordinary rib-cracker, I dey look, the comedian concluded. Ali Baba has been very vocal on issues concerning the country amongst other celebrities and he is showing no signs of backing down. ALSO READ: Comedian narrates how his mum almost lost her limbs The 51-year-old stand up comedian is one of the veterans in his trade and is widely looked up to by upcoming talents. He has also been vigorously involved in sensitizing the public on important issues. The movie demonstrates the bravery of the late undefined and her colleagues. From their encounter with the late American-Liberian, Patrick Sawyer, who was the index case of the Ebola Virus Disease, to ensuring that the right medical procedures were in place to stop the spread of the disease in the country. Speaking on The House on the Rock Partnership with these notable bodies, the Senior Pastor of all House on the Rock Churches, Pastor Paul Adefarasin said, House on the Rocks mission is to work together with everyone that is invested in building a transformed nation, a better Nigeria, and this essence ties strongly into the courage displayed by Dr. Stella Adadevoh and her colleagues who brought hope to a nation that was being threatened by devastation, at the expense of their own lives. This is the kind of love and sacrifice that can truly bring transformation to all. 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We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! The Heineken Lagos Fashion and Design Week returning for its 6th edition set to hold from the 26th 29th October 2016 already announced its Fashion Business Series for 27th October 2016 as part of the activities lined up for the fashion week. ALSO READ:Heineken LFDW2016 Fashion Business Series to hold on 27th October The annual event attracts over 6,000 fashion insiders, including buyers, retailers, local & international press, celebrities, models, and special guests including an exciting 4-day line-up consisting of the Fashion Business Series, LFDW X Retail, the #HeinekenLFDW After Party and Africas finest fashion design talent. "Heineken Lagos Fashion and Design Week has been an instrumental platform in shaping the city of Lagos, a catalyst in the growth of the Nigerian Fashion Industry. It is for this reason we believe it is the perfect place to continue celebrating cosmopolitan cities, such as the City of Lagos, which features in Heinekens "Shape Your City" campaign; inspiring people to contribute in improving their cities" Senior Brand Manager Heineken, Ngozi Nkwoji revealed about the partnership between LFDW and Heineken. "Through out the course of the year and continuing this October, our focus has been on ensuring that opportunities abound in the sector for skills acquisition, apparel manufacturing, access to market and more as part of our continued effort to connect the dots within the fashion & economic landscape. The underlying vision has always been to move the conversation beyond fashion towards cultivating a hub of fashion businesses that can contribute to Nigerias Creative Economy and for the first time since inception, we are hopeful that this can be achieved." Executive Director and Founder of LFDW Omoyemi Akerele also dished about the 2016 edition. Beauty giant Maybelline returns for the 4th consecutive season as the beauty brand of choice for LFDW, further solidifying the brands continued position as a stakeholder in Nigerias rapidly evolving fashion industry. The HeinekenLFDW 2016 kicks-off with the Fashion Focus X British Council Creative Hustle Seminars and LFDW Fashion Focus Scouting. Led by British Council, the LFDW Fashion Focus official partners, Fashion Focus will commence by hosting a series of informative seminars facilitated by established creatives across Lagos, Enugu, Calabar and Abuja. Targeted at aspiring and emerging fashion entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 35, with a vision to support the professional development of emerging fashion talent in Nigeria. The talks will introduce attendees to the various areas of the fashion industry business, giving them an insight into how it works, and an idea of which area they might like to work in. The talks also aim to build young peoples awareness about job and career opportunities that are largely unexplored in the fashion sector in Nigeria mostly in the backend, relating to management and technical vocations. This year, LFDW Fashion Focus scouting will take the form of a competitive open process aimed at selecting 5 Fashion Focus candidates for HeinekenLFDW 2016. Fashion Focus is also supported by African Fashion Fund. In line with LFDWs role as catalysts on the scene, Fashion Business Series will host it's 4th season tagged "Beyond Fashion" in partnership with FETS Wallet and Pal Pensions. LFDW X Retail is also back! Designed to further position retail as a primary tool that contributes to the growth of the Nigerian fashion industry, this initiative will be pushed by the Style House Files #BuyNigerian campaign. Positioned as a commercial hub, guests can shop select African fashion retailers and designers. To register for the LFDW Fashion Focus, X British Council Creative Hustle Seminars, visit To book a stall in LFDW X Retail, contact Here are five activities that will get you into the heart of Zanzibars cultural and historical heritage: 1. Visit the Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park: This forest reserve is a great escape from the hot sun on the island. Boardwalks allow you see see land-based mammals like colobus monkeys and countless birds through the dense vegetation. 2. Visit the Prison Island tortoise sanctuary: The sanctuary is located off the coast near Stone Town, Prison Island. The place used to be a prison and quarantine station the slave trade era. Today. it houses a colony of giant Aldabran Tortoises, some of these tortoises are more than 100 years old. ALSO READ: 5 things to know before going to Ethiopia 3. Visit the Chumbe Island Coral Park: The park is located about 8 miles south of Stone Town. For two decades, the park has been operated as a private, nonprofit eco-reserve, housing hundreds of fish and a healthy coral reef. 4. Visit the House of Wonders: The Zanzibar National Museum of History and Culture is housed within the House of Wonders. There are exhibits on dhows, Swahili culture, and the old Zanzibar Sultanate. 5. Watch traditional dancing: According to Punch, Muslim youths seized Emeka and almost lynched him for writing a blasphemous statement on a magazine. The Muslim youths mobilised themselves to destroy the young mans shop, but were prevented by the timely intervention of policemen who dispersed them, reports say. Confirming the reports, the Police Public Relations Officer, Dolapo Badmos said Emeka was taken into custody for his safety. Adding that The Lagos State Police Command averted what could have been a religious crisis between the Igbo community and the Hausa Muslim community due to the timely intervention of its operatives. At about 9.05pm, the Ketu division received a distress call that a boy was about to be lynched by some youths because he wrote blasphemous words on their magazine. The boy was rescued and kept in protective custody. His chemist shop was secured from destruction. Everywhere is calm as the police have intensified patrol in the area after successfully calming frayed nerves. An eyewitness who also spoke on the incident said It happened around 9pm on Sunday. The issue could have led to a bloody fight between Christians and Muslims in Ketu, but for the police. What happened was that the man wrote something on a magazine which the Hausa youths said was blasphemous. When other Hausa men saw it, they became angry and seized him. Some of his friends tried to rescue him and that almost started a fight. The police were alerted and they responded quickly and doused the rising tension. Fayose made the comment on Monday, September 5, 2016, during a meeting with senior civil servants in the state. According to Tweets by Fayoses media aide, Lere Olayinka, the governor said: Whatever I do, they will condemn. When I wore T-shirt to the House of Assembly, they said I didn't dress properly. But when the Facebook founder came to Nigeria, wearing T-shirt and jeans, they hailed him. They said he was humble. Hypocrites, that's what they are. Zuckerberg paid a surprise visit to Nigeria on Wednesday, August 31, and was praised by President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo for his simplicity. I am impressed by your simplicity in sharing your knowledge and wealth with those with less income. In our culture, we are not used to seeing successful people appear like you. We are not used to seeing successful people jogging and sweating on the streets, Buhari said after a meeting with Zuckerberg on September 2. The suspect identified as Jules Suinner, reportedly faces three charges bordering on conspiracy to obtain money by false pretences to the tune of N37 million. The spokesman, EFCC, Mr Wilson Uwujaren disclosed that the suspect is alleged to have hacked the email address of a company, Greenview Development Nigeria Limited, cloning its letterhead and used it to write a letter to Access Bank Plc asking that the sum of N25 million be transferred to the account of ICT Aid Foundation Cooperative Society domiciled with United Bank for Africa. The money was reportedly transferred on July 14, 2015. The statement adds, Also, the suspected fraudster, on July 22, 2015, allegedly wrote to Access Bank to transfer the sum of N12m to the account of one Tee-EM Nigeria Limited domiciled with UBA. The shocking incident took place on Friday, September 2, as the girls walked home from one McNeil Middle School in the town of Wichita Falls. Both teenagers who were shot were found at the scene of the incident with gunshot wounds. The girls were immediately rushed to the hospital where one of the girls, Landavazo, died from the injuries she sustained, while her friend, Smith, remains in critical condition. The shooting which occurred in broad daylight had some eyewitnesses who have described the suspect to be between the ages of 16-18 years, with curly brown hair. Sgt. Herald McClure disclosed to the New York Daily News that they do not have any information which indicates that the shooting was random. Issuing a statement on Facebook, Wichita Falls School District wrote: "Good evening, WFISD Parents and Staff. Today after school there was a tragic off-campus situation involving two girls from McNiel Middle School. I am saddened to report that one of those girls passed away and the other is in guarded condition. Please know that the district is coordinating efforts to provide grief counsellors for students. As soon as we have more information about those resources, we will pass that along to you. As a district, we are saddened by this senseless act of violence and our thoughts and prayers are with all of those involved. Authorities ask anyone with information to contact Crimestoppers at 940-322-9888. There is a reward for credible information." The mother of the victim was sleeping in a makeshift shelter at a police housing complex in Delhi India when her 36-year-old neighbour abducted her baby and raped her for almost two hours in a jungle within the area. The reports revealed that policemen arrived at about 11pm on Friday, September 2, to find the baby unconscious but alive. The baby was immediately rushed to the intensive care unit at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital. Opening up on the incident, an official said: The girl was bleeding profusely. Doctors at the hospital have said that her condition is serious. The police team was helped by the recovery of the mobile phone to track the location of the accused. We traced him to the labour camp. Following his arrest, the suspect confessed to abducting the child. A police officer told Times of India: He said he then took her to the bushes beside a drain and raped her for nearly two hours. The suspect has been charged with rape and is currently being held at Tihar Jail. The father of the child told the police: A statement by the NSCDCS Public Relation Officer, Mr Emmanuel Okeh, said Gana made the declaration during a meeting with the Zonal Commanders and State Commandants of the Corps in Abuja on Monday. Gana said that the meeting was meant to review the operational strategies of the corps to actualise its mandate especially in the area of protection of critical infrastructure such as oil and gas pipelines installations. According to him, the protection was also designed to curb oil bunkering and illegal refineries. Gana said that the present administration had made adequate budgetary allocation for the corps to carry out its constitutional mandate effectively. He charged the zonal commanders and state Commanders to ensure effective information dissemination to the grassroots on the policies of the corps in order to avoid rumour mongering. Gov. Abiola Ajimobi stated this in Ibadan at the memorial programme held in honour of the late politician tagged: 58 Years after 1958. "It is our desire to partner with the family in promoting this historical monument. "Our first step is to place it on the official list of tourist sites in the state as a mark of honour, respect and in remembrance of the late hero of the masses. "This is in recognition, remembrance and celebration of the eloquent and flowery politician's enviable academic records,exceptional writing skills, oratorical prowess and contributions to the Nigerian political landscape. "He was the pioneer of grassroots politics in the then Western Nigeria during his short lifetime, the governor said. Ajimobi, who was represented at the occasion by Mr Toye Arulogun, the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, commended the efforts of the Adegoke Adelabu Foundation in immortalising the late politician. The governor emphasised the need to ensure that our heroes past did not labour in vain. The Oyo State Government is sufficiently enthused with the development at late Chief Adegoke Adelabus Taj Mahal, he added. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Adelabus home located in the heart of Ibadan had undergone extensive renovation, with the structure now containing his grave, library, literary works, office, personal effects, photographs and other historical items. NAN also reports that Mondays programme featured the public presentation of the newly rehabilitated home, Taj Mahal, in honour of the late politician. Adelabu, a colourful politician in the First Republic, was popular for his nickname- Penkelemesi,- his local coinage for peculiar mess that he frequently used in describing an unwholesome situation. Born on Sept. 3, 1915, Adelabu was a leading Ibadan politician, who championed the cause of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) led by the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, the nations first ceremonial president. The late politician, who died on March 20, 1958, was the opposition leader in the Western Region House of Assembly from 1951 to 1958. The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Steve Ayorinde, said in a statement in Lagos on Tuesday that the governor had sent the request to the state commissioner of police. Ayorinde said Gov. Ambode asked for the redeployment following raids carried out in different parts of the state by officers of the taskforce on Friday. "The governor has sought an immediate redeployment of several of the taskforce officers from the unit, and possibly from the state, over what the he calls unacceptable conduct. "The request became necessary in order to checkmate the reoccurrence of the unauthorised raid and indiscriminate arrest of citizens who were out to have fun on Friday night," he said. He noted that such conduct was not in tandem with the vision of the State Government and was therefore condemnable. "Their conduct is also unbecoming of officers who are expected to protect the citizenry and ensure that citizens and visitors find every part of the state safe and conducive enough, not only on Friday nights, but every day," he said. The terrorist sect has used Salkida as its outlet for dispensing its propaganda videos to the world on numerous occasions. Last month, Salkida giddily revealed via his Twitter account that Boko Haram had found him a worthy conduit yet again. Jamaatu Ahlil Sunnah Li-Daawati Wal-Jihad has released a video showing the abducted and restating their demands. This is the second time Shekau has ordered a video of the girls to be released to the public, since the abduction of the girls 852 days ago, he tweeted. He would go on to describe the material in his possession: I'm studying the video of the that was sent exclusively to me before their abductors upload on it YouTube later. . Many of the girls can be seen in the video, a Chibok girl speaks in mother tongue and narrates how airstrikes has killed dozens of her mates. Horrifying images of some of the alleged to have been killed by airstrikes. I will end this commentary until video is uploaded. The demands of the captors remains the same, the only difference today is the sense of urgency to rescue these girls, they look... Dear oh dear. What sort of a human being will subject fellow human beings to this level of unimaginable suffering? Moments later, Salkida released the video of the Chibok Girls. The Nigerian Army was sorely displeased by the development and declared the journalist a wanted man alongside Aisha Wakil and Ahmed Bolori--two other persons the army contends are Boko Haram sympathizers. I have been scratching my head since that declaration was made by the army. What purpose was it meant to serve? Why scare and alienate the same people who could provide useful information concerning the heinous activities of the terrorist sect? Events that followed would prove why the Armys declaration was a jokeWakil and Bolori promptly turned themselves in and there were no Army personnel at the terrorist command center base to attend to them. Reports say a few personnel at the Army headquarters wondered who the wanted chaps were; an indication that the Army had done a poor job of disseminating the information within its ranks before rushing to score some PR points. There were also unconfirmed reports that a few soldiers had asked Wakil and Bolori why they bothered to turn themselves in so quickly. Everything looked like a farce. Salkida who is based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), promised to turn himself in as well once the Army was able to procure his flight ticket. It is unclear if the Army kept its side of the bargain, but Salkida was well on his way to making himself available to the authorities on Monday when he was arrested, it appears. Which begs the question: why arrest someone who was on his way to turning himself in anyway? At this point in the prosecution of the war against Boko Haram, Salkida, Wakil and Bolori, should be treated as assets by the military. Salkida has put himself in harms way in the past while bringing to the publics attention the activities of the sect. Far from being a national hero, Salkida admittedly hasnt conducted himself properly on occasion. Hes run his mouth (sorry, fingers) in ways that could jeopardize the militarys operations against Boko Haram. There are times hes also sounded like a Boko Haram sympathizer. But with the level of information at his disposal and with his knowledge of the inner workings of the terrorist organization, Salkida should be courted by the military. As should all others who have been rescued by the army from the clutches of Boko Haram and who may have useful information about Boko Haram. Intelligence reports and not brute force, will be most required in winning the Boko Haram war and you get intelligence from people. It will be in Nigerias interest that Salkida is not unduly rough handled by the Army. In a statement signed by its operative, Tony Opuiyo, the DSS said two high-profile members of the sect were intercepted during a military operation in Kano State. The statement said: In response to the regrouping of Boko Haram elements in Kano state, the service in concert with the military, carried out coordinated operations in the state which led to the apprehension of two high profile members of the sect, namely; Ibrahim Ustaz Abubakar and Idris Audu (aka Aya). Audu is an IED specialist who was being groomed to penetrate security agencies in the country. Audu had already perfected plans to seek for recruitment into the next recruitment scheme of the Nigeria army, before his arrest. On 22 August, 2016, one Samuel Asuquo, a kidnap kingpin, was arrested by the service at Nasarawa Bakoko village in Cross River state, it said. Asuquo was the mastermind of the kidnap of three Australian staff of Lafarge Cement Company, for which his gang received ransom of 150m. Similarly, on 30 August, 2016, the trio of Bamaiyi Mustapha (aka Dan Borno), Aminu Isa and Hassan Shehu, members of a notorious kidnap gang operating around the Abuja-Kaduna axis, were arrested at Lafia, Nasarawa state." Buhari said We are a nation of great human and material resources especially the youth. Please seat down and reflect and remember what I said 30 years ago. We have no other nation like Nigeria, no matter where you go. We may as well remain and salvage it together , no matter where you go, you may divide the Sahara desert or Mediterranean and if you lucky and not killed by drought but when you get there the mere color of your skin will be a problem for you. I congratulate Mr Obaseki a seasoned person, i assure you and i recommend him to you so that you will continue to grow. You have got an incredible team and better hold tight and make sure they succeed.I assure you we are going to get out of this our economic doldrums and we are almost out of our insecuirty problems and we are going to make Nigeria great again. We are going to be very proud of our country and our size and our and resources will not be for nothing." This is contained in a statement by Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, in Abuja on Monday. "There are also programmes for affordable housing with mortgages which will transform thousands from tenant status to homeownership. He said that the Buhari-led administration had so far released N74 billion as part of capital allocations in the last three months. According to him, more of the capital allocations will soon be released to revitalise the economy. "Most of our road contractors had not been paid since 2012, many of them had sent their workers away adding to the unemployment problem. "This government has released capital allocations in the last three months that is more than the whole of 2015. "In 2015 Nigeria spent a paltry N19 billion on roads, in three months we have spent N74 billion and we are already releasing more, he said. Shehu, who was reacting to negative comments on the nations economy in some quarters, noted that the Federal Government had expended N26 billion in the transport sector in the last few months. He also revealed that the government would start a concession that would revive the nations rail system for freight. He expressed the hope that the movement of goods, particularly foodstuff through the rail system would reduce the cost of food items across market places in the country. "In the transport sector in 2015, government spent just N4.2 billion; we have spent N26 billion with more to follow. "We are starting a concession that will revive our old rail system for freight, whilst we build a new high speed rail system. "Moving heavy goods by rail will reduce our transport costs which will reduce food prices and will save our roads from damage from heavy loads. According to him, government will embrace the private sector through PPP, concessions and other collaborations to deliver services and infrastructure efficiently. He maintained that the government was working hard to do things right and do them in a manner that would endure. He said, "no government has ever considered the poor like this one. Under the current budget, the administration devoted N500 billion for social intervention programmes for those who need and deserve support. "Any process that will endure, must involve some pain but things will begin to improve. There is always a time lag between policy and effect. That is why the bad effects of past policies are manifesting now. "Similarly, the positive impact of the work being undertaken to fix Nigerias problems will soon begin to show and we will emerge from this period stronger, wiser and more prosperous. "There is hope for Nigeria, a hope that was previously clouded by corruption, greed and lack of focus. The organisation also debunked the reports that it wants to flood the market with rice that has Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), describing it as false and malicious. An excerpt of the statement signed by the groups Social Media Manager, Adedamola Adeniyi, and obtained from Daily Post, said the intent of this broadcasts is to bring into disrepute the hard earned reputation of Dangote and actualization of its vision of making Nigeria self-sufficient in rice production. Moreover, with the ever watchful eagle eyes of organizations such as NAFDAC, SON, CPC with mandate to ensure food safety, how can a big organisation like Dangote import and flood the market with poisonous rice? Adding that in 2014: Dangote signed $1billion agreement with FG or integrated rice production in Kebbi, Niger, Jigawa and Kwara. 2016, it Started a multi-billion naira Rice Outgrower Scheme over 8,000 hectares in Hadejia, Jigawa State 2016 it created over 10,000 jobs (Direct and indirect) to farmers who are an integral part of the Rice Outgrower Scheme. FARO 44 rice seeds distributed to farmers during the Outgrower Scheme was sourced from Africa Rice and certified by the National Agricultural Seeds Council. The first sign that Fani-Kayode had stepped into Never Never Land was when he tried to give a sinister meaning to Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg describing the Hausa language as a unique one. Kerry comes to the north and sees the Sultan of Sokoto, northern governors and Buhari. One week later, Facebook founder comes to Nigeria and says Hausa is a unique language which he has to be included on Facebook. Think Nigerians think, Fani-Kayode said on Wednesday, August 31, 2016. Before then, he had castigated US Secretary of State, John Kerry for visiting only northern leaders and hinted that the US was in a shady relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari and the north. Zuckerbergs innocent comment resulted in a lengthy narrative crafted by Fani-Kayode to insinuate that the north and some Western allies were conspiring to enslave Nigerians through the use of the Hausa language. There is a long-term game plan unfolding and a not-so-hidden agenda. Yet sadly it is only those that are discerning, insightful, incisive and historically-literate that can possibly grasp or see it, the former minister wrote in the article titled Language as a tool of conquest. It is points like this that those in our country that know no better and that believe that Hausa is just a "unique language" which should be spoken and adopted by all in our nation fail to comprehend. Such people fail to appreciate the fact that if you take a man's language and faith away and super-impose another on him, for whatever reason, that man loses his identity, his heritage, his culture and his history and he becomes absolutely nothing, he added. Fani-Kayode has also insinuated that the United Kingdom and the United States conspired to remove former presidentGoodluck Jonathan and put Buhari in office to be their puppet. Since July 29th 1966 that same group of people have effectively been running the affairs of this country from behind the scenes and they install and remove Presidents and Heads of State at will, he said via Facebook. They, in collusion with their foreign friends and partners which include the governments of the U.K. and the U.S., put Buhari in power and removed Jonathan last year, he added. The camels back was however broken when Fani-Kayode accused US President, Barack Obama, Secretary of State, John Kerry and his predecessor, Hilary Clinton of conniving to put Buhari in office to further the cause of radical Islam and also establish a demonic new world order which accepts gay rights and gay marriage. How can the same set of people support gay marriage and radical Islam? How does this conclusion even make sense? Fani-Kayode is right to be concerned about some issues in the country, but he needs to relax with the conspiracy theories. Maybe something happened in prison to amplify the former ministers imagination, or maybe he just has some extra time on his hands, but whatever the case may be, he needs to chill. Fani-Kayode is asking Nigerians to think deeply about Zuckerbergs comment, but it seems that hes the one whos doing a little too much thinking. Arising from a meeting with the current GMD of the NNPC, Maikanti Baru last week, the former bosses of the state run oil firm advised the government to upwardly review the pump price of petrol. They stated that the N145 per liter for the product was no longer sustainable, citing forex shortage, exchange rate and competition in the downstream sector. In his reaction, Sen Abdullahi said if the former NNPC bosses had been up to their responsibilities, Nigeria wouldn't be importing refined petrol today. "The NNPC as an institution was expected to be the live-wire of this nation. As we have all known, refineries that we have in Nigeria have not been functional because if they had been functional and if that institution had been up and doing in tandem with its peers in other countries that have similar resource endowment like ours under the directorship of these former GMDs, we wouldnt have been in this mess", the Senator said. Sen Abdullahi also warned the government against taking the proposal of the ex-NNPC GMDs on-board. All the problems we are having is as result of what all these people who have assembled now to be the wise men and to tell us what should be done, caused. "They do not have the moral standpoint to even advise us on what to do because they had a hand in it. "I cannot see how you can solve a problem under the same condition that created it. They are more or less acting as enemies of the people and even the government they are advising. As far as I am concerned, maybe they were sent to destroy this government and as far as I am concerned we would not allow them to do that. The Buhari-led government has since denied it is contemplating a fuel price hike. Minister of state for petroleum resources, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, told journalists at the State House on Monday after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, that "there'll be nothing" like a fuel price hike. Have you seen any memo to that effect? the Minister asked rhetorically. There is nothing like that, he said. Baru who accompanied Kachikwu to the meeting with the President, spoke in a similar vein. NNPC spokesperson, Mallam Garba-Deen Mohammed, had earlier told journalists that what the former oil chiefs put forward was merely an advice which the government could reject or adopt. This is contained in a statement issued by Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President in Abuja on Monday. Shehu said it was wrong for the government to purchase fertilisers worth N65 billion since 2014 and left the bill unpaid. He, however, said that the Federal Government had to pay off the debt so that the suppliers could begin to supply fertilisers again. The presidential aide attributed the current food crisis in the country to some of the unpopular policies of the past administrations. According to him, the current pain is due to the mismanagement of the past and that what Nigeria is currently experiencing was inevitable. He said the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration was simply being honest with the people instead of piling up debts and concealing the truth by pretending all was rosy. ``This government believes that Nigerians deserve to know the truth. People stole unbelievable amounts of money. The kind of money some of these ex-officials hold is itself a threat to the security of the state. ``Since it is not money earned, they feel no pain deploying just anyhow to thwart genuine and well-intentioned government efforts. ``Sadly, even that which was not stolen was wasted. Government coffers were left empty, with huge debts unpaid and unrecorded (this government is working to quantify the amount owed). ``Even the current high food prices can be traced to past deceit. For example, the previous government purchased fertilisers in 2014, worth N65 billion and left the bill unpaid. ``In 2015 the suppliers could not supply fertilisers which resulted in a low harvest, shortages and high food prices. ``This government had to pay off the debt so that the suppliers could begin to supply fertilisers again. Shehu expressed optimism that Nigeria had started witnessing another era of green revolution as Nigerians across the country were going back to the farms, from rice in Kebbi and Ebonyi to Soya and Sesame in Jigawa and Kano. The Commissioner for Agriculture in the state, Chief Uzo Azubuike, said this on Tuesday while declaring open a one-day 'Export Market Meet' in Umuahia, organised by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Smart Office in Aba. He said that the items would be distributed to cocoa farmers in the state at 50 per cent subsidised rate "to ensure a bumper and healthy harvest. "This will definitely present Abia better in the cocoa map of the nation," said the commissioner, who was represented by Mr Elem Okorie, a director in the ministry. He said that the state government had begun the "systematic rehabilitation and rejuvenation of moribund agricultural estates," such as cocoa, oil palm, rubber and cashew, abandoned by past administrations in the state. Azubuike said that Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu was committed toward repositioning the cocoa sector in line with national and international market demands through aggressive development of the product. He said that Abia, which ranked eighth among cocoa producing states in Nigeria, is endowed with good tropical climate and vast land for massive cocoa production. In his address, Mr Christian Elekwa, the Trade Promotion Advisor, NEPC Smart Office, Aba, said that the workshop was organised to sensitise stakeholders in the cocoa industry on the need to produce high quality products to meet the requisite standard for export. Elekwa said that the workshop became imperative in order to make cocoa products from Nigeria acceptable in the international market. He said that there had been rising concern over the integrity and quality of some raw agricultural and semi-processed products from Nigeria. He regretted that some countries in Europe and America had either placed outright ban or some restrictions on the importation of Nigerian products. He said that the workshop would create an opportunity for the council to interact with the stakeholders not only to produce high quality cocoa beans but also progress from exporting raw cocoa beans to processing them for export. "It will also afford the participants the opportunity to be exposed to good agricultural practices in line with international best practices, " Elekwa said. He said that NEPC had stepped up efforts to boost the nation's export from non-oil sector in line with the Federal Government's policy on diversification. The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Leye Oyebade, made this known at a news briefing at the command's headquarters in Umuahia on Monday. He vowed that the command would deal decisively with criminal acts in the state and warned criminals to engage in legitimate business or leave the state. The commissioner alleged that the suspected kidnappers abducted two relatives on Friday in Aba, while the victims were returning from a pharmaceutical shop. He said that the suspects took the victims to their hideout in Uratta, from where they demanded N2 million as ransom. He said that the police immediately trailed the suspects to their hideout where they rescued the victims and arrested two of the suspects while others escaped. Narrating their experience, one of the victims told newsmen that they were accosted on their way from a pharmacy at about 9 p.m. by the suspects at gunpoint. He said that they were blindfolded by the suspects and taken to their hideout. He said that they were asked to call their relations to bring N2 million ransom, adding that they rejected their offer of N500, 000. "They asked us to call our relations to bring N2 million ransom for them and rejected the N500, 000 offer we made and threatened to kill us," he said. The victim said "to our greatest surprise, a team of policemen came to the hideout on Sunday and rescued us." He thanked the police for their timely intervention saying, "I am now fully convinced that the Nigeria police are working". One of the suspects, who identified himself as Nwobilor and a mechanic apprentice in Ugwunagbo, near Aba, admitted committing the crime. Nwobilor said that he was invited "to watch over the victims" by the prime suspect, who was said to have escaped during the raid of the hideout. He said that last Friday's incident was his third experience and pleaded with the police for leniency. In a similar development, the police in Abia said a man based in Uyo, Akwa Ibom, had been arrested for allegedly buying a Toyota Highlander jeep reportedly stolen from the owner in Abuja. The vehicle with registration number ABC 384 SS was allegedly snatched from the owner at gunpoint at Gwarinpa, Abuja. The suspect, according to the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Leye Oyebade, was arrested at a police checkpoint at Umudike, on Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene Road, while he was driving the vehicle to Uyo. Oyebade said that the arrest followed a signal from Force Headquarters, Abuja, regarding the vehicle. The suspect, who claimed to be a farmer, said that he bought the car at N1.5 million at a hotel in Abuja, adding that he did not know that it was a stolen vehicle. Alhaji Aliyu Bashir, the Executive Secretary of the State Emergency Relief and Rehabilitation Agency (SERERA), disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano on Monday. Bashir said the agency had concluded arrangements for the disbursement of the money to the affected persons. We are waiting for them to provide us with their account number and as soon as that is done, we will commence the payment, he said. Bashir said the state government found it necessary to give immediate support to Warawa flood victims in view of the magnitude of the disaster. He disclosed that the agency had commenced verification of flood victims in nine other affected local government areas of the state. He said the affected local government areas include; Bebeji, Dawakin Kudu, Kiru, Shanono, Bagwai, Garun-Malam,Kano Municipal, Bichi and Takai. He said the exercise was necessary as it would enable the agency to ascertain the actual number of victims and houses affected by the disaster. According to him, officials of the agency have visited all the affected areas with a view to assessing the damage caused by the disaster. He explained that after the verification exercise, the agency would compile a comprehensive report on the disaster for onward submission to the state government and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for necessary assistance to the victims. Ezon said the NLC took the decision in good faith and to further avoid unnecessary crisis in the branch. He said that the former branch Chairman, Malam Murtala Usman, was removed from office by the state congress over qualification-related issues. The secretary-general, however, called on the acting chairman to show exemplary leadership during his acting period.Ezon also directed all concerned authorities to recognise the new leadership of the congress unconditionally. This is contained in a statement signed by its Director of Information, Commodore Christian Ezekobe, in Abuja. He said that on Aug. 29, a patrol team deployed by FOB BONNY raided an illegal refinery site at Boloba Creek in Bonny LGA of Rivers. "During the raid, the patrol team destroyed the illegal refinery which has several storage tanks loaded with unquantifiable amount of stolen crude oil. "In a similar operation on Aug. 31, the patrol team arrested a barge suspected to be involved in COT at Creek six in Bonny LGA, Rivers," it said. He explained that the barge was laden with yet to be quantified stolen crude oil. In a related development, Ezekobe said a Marine Tanker (MT) Team Tango had been arrested for conveying substances suspected to be dangerous cargoes. "The ship which was tracked down with Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) capability of the NN is presently under interrogation. The immediate appointment of 5000 staff into the has also been approved by the government, according to Leadership. Malami made the disclosure on Monday, September 5, 2016, during the recent Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) ministerial meeting on the Regional Action Plan to address illicit drug trafficking, organized crime and drug abuse in the sub-region. The world is currently divided in terms of drug control policies; there are countries where drug trafficking and abuse is punishable by death, others are advocating for legalization or decriminalization of certain drugs, Malami said. The ECOWAS Drug Action Plan outlines the position that the member states are advocating for. That is, to punish trafficking and abuse and at the same time offer treatment and rehabilitation to people who have drug disorders, he added. ALSO READ: NDLEA staff drown in river chasing drug baron The minister made the comments on Monday, September 5, 2016, while speaking to journalists in Awka, the Anambra State capital. Nigerians have positively changed their way of doing things for the better and have become more prudent and judicious in their spending pattern," he said. Its one after the other. After economic restructuring to reposition the economy of this country, the Buhari administration will embark on the political restructuring and will set the modalities for the exercise. Militancy and agitations are not the answer to resolving Nigerias myriads of problems, which the Buhari administration didnt create in the first place. What is required is for all to support this administration to meet its set goals for the development and transformation of all sections of the country, Ngige added. In a report by PM News, the militants on Monday, September 5, 2016 said the ceasefire declared by elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark, on behalf of militants was a big fat lie, another charade. This said call and the so-called ceasefire is all a job, just like the Ijaw-dominated, Clark convened Niger Delta stakeholders meeting in Effurun was, they both are meant to justify money they hope to obtain from government," the NDGJM stressed. The NDGJM further residents to vacate their homes as all marked facilities in the region have been rigged with explosives at strategic points, waiting to be detonated. In a statement by NDGJM spokesman, Aldo Agbalaja, the group said while it awaits the FG to yield to their demands, they are sending out vacation notices to residents because they do not want them to be casualties in the struggle. One more time, we are warning and at the same time appealing to residents around major oil and gas facilities across our region to please evacuate immediately. This warning has become necessary because of the fact that we do not wish any of our people, for whom we have taken up this crusade, to become casualties of our campaign. All the marked facilities in all the states have been rigged with explosives at strategic points, waiting to be detonated. We are only being slowed down because of the presence of those still living close by. This struggle will only cease when the adversarial Nigerian system yields to reason, the statement read in part. This is contained in a statement released to newsmen in Abuja by National Secretary of the party, Alhaji Mai Mala Buni. According to the statement, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should stop making insensitive comments about the economy as the government is conscious of the hardship its citizens are faced with. Buni said: ''In reacting to the orchestrated and insensitive comments by the PDP on the economy, the APC urges the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to remain focused in its bold bid to restore economic growth in the country. ''In spite of PDPs orchestrated and feeble attempts to blackmail the current administration and twist facts, the reality remains that the prevailing socio-economic hardship faced by Nigerians is a direct consequence of the mismanagement of the economy. "It also includes the unprecedented looting of the countrys commonwealth perpetrated under PDPs watch. ''The PDPs attempt to turn truth on its head is fraudulent, insensitive and an insult to Nigerians. ''For the umpteenth time, the PDP must own up to its transgression and apologize to Nigerians. ''Going forward, the urgent task before the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration is to restore the countrys battered economy back to health. "All legitimate and innovative means are being employed to achieve this in the quickest possible time. ''The APC assures Nigerians of the strong political will and commitment of Buharis administration to revive the economy and tackle the nations current challenges through suitable and well-thought economic policies, fiscal discipline and socio-political reforms.'' He said that among other strategic economic agenda planned by the government, diversification of the countrys economy was a priority. ''To this end, Buhari is aggressively formulating and implementing policies aimed at diversifying Nigerias economy from oil to other sectors such as agriculture, mining and manufacturing. ''The APC assures Nigerians that the administration will pull the country out of the present hardships. The APC also said that the hardship being faced by Nigerians is a direct consequence of the mismanagement of the economy by the PDP. The ruling partys comments were contained in a statement released by National Secretary, Alhaji Mai Mala Buni on Monday, September 5, 2016. The statement reads in part: In reacting to the orchestrated and insensitive comments by the PDP on the economy, the APC urges the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to remain focused in its bold bid to restore economic growth in the country. In spite of PDPs orchestrated and feeble attempts to blackmail the current administration and twist facts, the reality remains that the prevailing socio-economic hardship faced by Nigerians is a direct consequence of the mismanagement of the economy. It also includes the unprecedented looting of the countrys commonwealth perpetrated under PDPs watch. The PDPs attempt to turn truth on its head is fraudulent, insensitive and an insult to Nigerians. For the umpteenth time, the PDP must own up to its transgression and apologise to Nigerians. Going forward, the urgent task before the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration is to restore the countrys battered economy back to health. All legitimate and innovative means are being employed to achieve this in the quickest possible time. The PDP chieftain made the comments on Monday, September 5, 2016, while speaking in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital. With what we are witnessing today, it is evidently clear that President Buhari and APC have no economic programme for Nigerians. The APC bad policies and non-listening nature caused the current economic recession, Oguntuase said according to Vanguard. It is no longer news that the naira has stumbled to N420 per dollar. The petrol that was sold for N87 under Dr Goodluck Jonathan is now N145 per litre. Under APC government, prices of foods have gone up to the extent that people are dying in their numbers. Apart from increase in transport fare across Nigeria, air fare from Nigeria to London has increased from N250,000 to N400,000 while Nigeria to USA has increased from N350,000 to N600,000 and that is what is affecting the aviation industry. As we speak now, the economy is taking a catastrophic shape and Nigeria is under tension and suffocating economic situation which requires people of patriotic minds , who believe in the survival of this country to come together to restore our glory. The change Buharis government promised us has only manifested negatively in the rampaging herdsmen killing innocent Nigerians and the Niger Delta Avengers in the south south blowing up pipelines and the Independent People of Biafra(IPOB) crying for secession. I expect President Buhari to have been diplomatic enough like the late President YarAdua to resolve the Niger Delta Militancy. We are losing millions of dollars daily due to militancy in the Niger Delta region. Apart from this violent crisis, the IPOB is also crying for secession. Prior to the 2015 elections, President Buhari promised to wipe out Boko Haram in less than three months, but today, the insurgents are still killing people in Adamawa, Borno and other Northeast states. If this is not accepted, let President Buhari presented to Nigerians the abducted Chibok girls, whom he promised to retrieve from their captors in less than three months he assumes office. All these crises accounted for the economic problem we are facing in Nigeria and I can boldly say that Buharis approach in solving economic and security problems facing Nigeria is antiquated," he added. Ize-Iyamu is being probed for his alleged role in the distribution of N23 billion which was allegedly laundered by former Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke to fund the PDPs 2015 elections campaign. The PDP candidate was earlier questioned by the EFCC but was not detained leading to the assumption that he had been cleared of all wrongdoing. I can confirm to you that he (Ize-Iyamu) is still under investigation, EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren told Punch. Ize-Iyamu had earlier admitted that he handled about N700 million for the PDP in his position as the campaign director for the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation in Edo. Ms Alison Madueke is at the centre of the current anti-corruption drive and is alleged to have personally supervised the looting of about $6 billion from Nigerias coffers during her tenure. Since last year, the South Korean firm, the world's largest maker of smartphones, has brought forward the launch of its Galaxy S and Galaxy Note series models by roughly a month. For the June quarter, the strategy helped Samsung to its best profit in more than two years, but it is also putting strain on its supply chain and its manufacturing reputation. On Friday, two weeks after launch, Samsung recalled Galaxy Note 7 smartphones in 10 markets including South Korea and the United States after finding its batteries were prone to ignite, and halted sales of the 988,900 won ($891) device in those markets indefinitely. The recall looks set to hamstring a revival in Samsung's mobile business just as Apple gears up to launch its new iPhones this month. "Samsung might have over-exerted itself trying to pre-empt Apple, since everybody knows the iPhones launch in September," said Chang Sea-Jin, business professor at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and author of "Sony vs. Samsung", a history of the electronics giants. "It's an unfortunate event; it feels like Samsung rushed a bit, and it's possible that this led to suppliers also being hurried." Samsung said in a statement to Reuters it conducts "extensive preparation" for its products and will release them to the market "only after proper completion of the development process". The firm said on Friday it had identified a problem in the manufacturing process of a battery supplier it didn't name. "I am working to straighten out our quality control process," Samsung's mobile business chief Koh Dong-jin said then. The scale of the unprecedented recall, which some analysts forecast will cost Samsung nearly $5 billion in revenue this year, follows a separate supply-chain management issue that led to disappointing sales of the Galaxy S6 series last year. Samsung executives said production problems for the curved screens and metal casings used in the Galaxy S6 edge led to a supply shortage for the device, leaving the firm unable to capitalise on the critical acclaim the phone received, sapping earnings momentum. GETTING AHEAD Counterpoint analyst Jeff Fieldhack said Samsung stole the thunder from local rival LG Electronics' launch of the G5 smartphone this year by starting the sales of the Galaxy S7 smartphones a month earlier and backing them with an aggressive marketing campaign. "I believe they were trying to create a similar effect by beating Apple to market by (about) a month, too," he said. "Very often, lab times and testing periods are shrunk to expedite approval and time-to-market of key devices. It is possible all charging scenarios were not thoroughly tested." Samsung SDI, one of two makers of batteries for the Note 7 - the other has not been identified - said it had not received notice from Samsung Electronics regarding its batteries and declined to comment further, including whether its batteries were found to be faulty. The company declined to comment on a local media report that it had production difficulties and struggled to meet orders in time. While there are occasional reports of phones catching fire or burning users, recalls for such problems are rare. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that batteries in the Galaxy Note 7 can not be removed by the user - a design decision to make the phones slimmer and waterproof. A Samsung executive who declined to be named told Reuters before the recall announcement: "Our production engineers and managers are extremely experienced, and if you ask them to find a solution to adopt a design change, they'd promptly bring things under control. "But even that capability is under growing strain, as we try out new materials and everything is on a very tight schedule." Local brokerage Korea Investment cut its third-quarter operating profit forecast for Samsung by 1.1 trillion won to 7.1 trillion won due to the recall, though it said the event would not derail the broader rebound of its smartphone business. If haste contributed to the problem, it could now help Samsung limit the impact of the recall. Opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema had filed a petition in constitutional court last month, saying the Aug. 11 vote was rigged and Lungu's victory should be annulled. But he missed a Friday deadline to present evidence to back up his charge, and the top court ruled on Monday not to extend the time limit. Hichilema's UPND party said it rejected the ruling. "We wish to put it on record that we have not lost an election, neither have we lost the petition which was before the Constitutional Court," the party said in a statement. "We have rejected the court ruling in that the judgment was passed on an application from the respondents without allowing us to respond," it said, without outlining its next move. Lungu, who won 50.35 percent of the vote according to the official results, will take the oath of office on Tuesday next week, later than the original Aug. 23 date, cabinet secretary Roland Msiska said. Lungu has been the head of the ruling Patriotic Front since its leader, Michael Sata, died in 2014. He won the presidency the following year, defeating Hichilema in their first electoral confrontation. Their protests undermined Bongo's attempts to project stability following the election's violent aftermath, though few citizens in the capital Libreville appeared to heed his defeated rival Jean Ping's strike call as economic activity picked back up. Ping, a former African Union Commission chairman who declared himself Gabon's leader, said his fight was not over. "I ask you from today onward not to use violence but to resist by blocking the country's economy," he said in a statement to all Gabonese. "I propose to cease all activity and begin a general strike." At least six people were killed and more than 1,000 arrested in violence after Wednesday's announcement of a slim victory for Bongo. His family has run the oil-producing central African country - where the only refinery resumed operations on Monday - for half a century. An adviser to the interior minister told Reuters on Sunday that several dozen people had been released, but several Libreville residents said that they had not seen or heard from family members since the riots. Former colonial power France also expressed concern about the safety of several of its nationals whom, Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said in a statement, French authorities have not had news of in recent days. Home to around 14,000 French citizens and a military base with 450 French troops, Gabon is statistically one of Africa's richest countries with a GDP per capita of $10,000 a year. But oil wealth has flowed mostly to the elite, breeding widespread discontent. The Bongos have long relied on patronage to buy off dissent. But falling oil prices and production, dominated by Total and Shell, have led to budget cuts. WARY ATMOSPHERE The United States, European Union and France last week urged the government to release polling station results for greater transparency, and its refusal to do so on Monday led Justice Minister Seraphin Moundounga to resign. "In the absence of (a recount), the country has swung into violence," Moundounga, who also served as second vice-prime minister, told Radio France Internationale. "Peace is gravely threatened in our country." In the main cities, life showed signs of returning to normal. Traffic in Libreville resumed along the main boulevards as many people returned to work, though some stayed home for fear of renewed violence. "Jean Ping doesn't have to tell me (not to go to work). While the situation is sensitive I'll stay home," said Hortense Toulangoye, a state worker. Another employee said he had not heard about the strike. The internet was operational again, five days after it was shut down in an apparent bid by the government to quell unrest, but access to social media was still limited. The oil refinery in the economic capital Port Gentil resumed operations after a five-day outage because of the post-electoral violence, Sylvain Mayabi, secretary-general of the National Organization of Petrol Employees, told Reuters. Total owns a 43.8 percent stake in the refinery, which processes 21,000 barrels of oil per day. Gabon produces 200,000 barrels per day, according to the International Energy Agency, and its output is in decline. It rejoined OPEC in July after two decades. During more than four decades in power, late president Omar Bongo cultivated close relations with a succession of French presidents, but his son's ties to Paris have been more tenuous. WWE RAW REPORT: NEW FEUDS ESTABLISHED, A CELEBRATION LIKE NO OTHER, MATCHES FOR CLASH OF CHAMPIONS ANNOUNCED, A NOTE TAKER MAKES A STAND, AND MORE We begin with a look back at the events that took place at the end of Raw in the Universal Title Match when Triple H returned to Pedigree two of the last three men in the match to help Kevin Owens become the new Champion. We are in Kansas City, Missouri and your announcers are Michael Cole, Byron Saxton, and Corey Graves. We see Stephanie McMahon earlier tonight talking about the celebration for Kevin Owens. They need to over deliver. Mick Foley stops by and Stephanie hangs up. Mick says that Stephanie's husband made him look like a fool last week and she did nothing about it. Stephanie tells Mick that she will not apologize for what happened. She knew nothing about that. She was behind Seth Rollins. Mick and Stephanie argue over who is telling the truth. Mick talks about the first time he saw Stephanie after his Hell in a Cell match. He says that Stephanie has always been the girl with the shy smile. Why should he believe her. Stephanie says she was embarrassed as a leader and commissioner. She was embarrassed as a wife. She is dealing with a lot of different things. How does she represent herself in the boardroom or on Monday Night Raw. She had nothing to do with this. She did not respond because she did not know how. Look her in the eyes and tell her that she is not the girl with the shy smile. Mick says if he does not believe her that means she is a good liar and a bad person. Balloons fall from the rafters Stephanie McMahon brings out Kevin Owens for his celebration. Kevin talks about the reaction and he tells Stephanie and Mick this is amazing. It is exactly what he wanted. Stephanie says that Kevin does deserve it. Kevin says he does deserve it. More than anything, he deserves the title. In fact, last week when he won the title, the entire arena was chanting 'You Deserve It' and they were 100% right. Kevin says he does not deserve a crowd of idiots hijacking his moment. They are hijacking it again this week. You are trying to make it about yourselves. You are not great or special by chanting for him. Kevin says he is great and he is special. He says he knows he deserved this since he first set foot in this ring. Last week, he beat three superstars last week to become the champion. Triple H did give him one last little nudge, but he did 98% of the work. Triple H just made it right and put him where he belongs, at the top of the industry. Kevin says Monday Night Raw is now officially known as the Kevin Owens Show. Seth Rollins' music plays and he comes to the ring. Kevin wants to know what Seth is doing here and Seth tells Kevin it has nothing to do with. Seth wants to know why Stephanie is doing this to him. He put this company on his back and he got injured. He came back faster than anyone else and then this happened to him. Kevin says this is all about him because it is the Kevin Owens Show. Seth says Kevin is only a puppet right now and he tells him to shut up. Stephanie says she did not know anything about it and Seth calls bull crap. Mick defends Stephanie and Seth wants to know if he is in her pocket. Mick says he has Stephanie's back. Seth says Kevin has been Triple H's special project since he debuted in NXT. If you want to make Kevin Owens the face of the New Era, he will be the one to burn it down. You and your husband will be on your knees begging him. Kevin says that is a great story. Where was this passion these last few months. Ever since you came back from your little injury, the architect has only been designing blueprints for total failure. Seth punches Kevin and he kicks Owens to the floor. Seth knocks Owens off the apron. Stephanie tells Seth that he is indefinitely suspended. Mick tells Stephanie that Seth is not suspended. Mick says you are acting as if this is personal. This is Monday Night Raw. We do not hand out suspensions when someone is wronged. We hand out rematches. It was agreed that Mick would make the matches and he wants Stephanie to respect that. He has no love lost for Seth Rollins and he never really liked him, but he is talented. Mick is not putting that type of talent on the shelf. Seth Rollins will face Kevin Owens at Clash of the Champions. We are back and Stephanie tells Mick if she usurps her power again, she will not have a job. Mick says that he cares what people are saying. Kevin Owens stops by and he points out what Seth Rollins did all while Kevin is wearing a suit and he points out that Seth was given a title match. Mick says he is going to honor Kevin's hard work with a match against Sami Zayn. Chris Jericho stops by and he wants to know who the hell Mick is and how could he disrespect the longest reigning Universal Champion. Why are you rewarding Seth Rollins? Is he a Holy Foley mark? Stephanie says that she supports Mick's decision. Mick says the stupid idiot is putting Chris in a match against Seth Rollins. We see why Dana Brooke has a clipboard tonight and then we see her getting patted on the head by Charlotte. Match Number One: Bayley versus Charlotte (with Dana Brooke and clipboard) in a Non Title Match Bayley makes sure that Dana doesn't take her stuff before locking up. They lock up and Charlotte backs Bayley into the corner and Charlotte takes Bayley's head band and flicks it away. Charlotte with a waist lock take down. Bayley with a waist lock and Charlotte with an elbow and she pie faces Bayley. Bayley with punches but Charlotte with a wrist lock. Bayley with a reversal and Japanese arm drag or two. Charlotte with a knee and she sends Bayley into the turnbuckles. Charlotte sends Bayley into the turnbuckles, but she hugs up and Bayley sends Charlotte into the turnbuckles. Charlotte goes to the floor to regroup. Bayley goes to the floor and then she kicks Charlotte through the corner but Bayley is limping. Charlotte goes back to the floor. Charlotte knocks Bayley down We go to commercial. We are back and Charlotte with a figure four head scissors and she rolls Bayley around the ring. Charlotte gets a near fall. Bayley kicks Charlotte and hits a cross body for a near fall. Charlotte sends Bayley into the turnbuckles and then she drops her knee on the injured knee. Charlotte wrings the injured leg into the post. Bayley struggles to stay on her feet and Charlotte with a spinning toe hold but Bayley kicks Charlotte. Charlotte wtih a single leg crab on Bayley. Charlotte with a KneeDT after Bayley kicks Charlotte a few times. Charlotte tries for a slam but Bayley escapes but she collapses when she lands on the mat. Charlotte returns to the injured leg. Bayley with a rollup for a near fall. Charlotte with chops to Bayley. Bayley with forearms and she hits a corkscrew back elbow. Bayley with forearms and double sledges. Bayley with a hobbling shoulder into the corner and then she misses an elbow when Dana pulls Charlotte out of the way. Bayley knocks Dana off the apron. Charlotte with a rollup and Bayley kicks out and sends Charlotte at Dana and they bump heads. Bayley with a belly-to-belly suplex for the three count. Winner: Bayley We have a video package about the work that WWE is doing in conjunction with Connor's Cure regarding Pediatric Cancer. We go to commercial. We are back with a Cruiserweight video package with a focus on Gran Metalik, Jack Gallagher, and Akira Tozawa, Charlotte is yelling at Dana about her loss. She wants to know how hard her directions were. You were to take notes. The girl who shouldn't be on Raw just beat her. She says she was embarrassed by the Sesame Street Kid. Dana says she will make it up to Charlotte. Charlotte slaps Dana. Bo Dallas takes the mic and he says you reap what you sow, There is nowhere to go. Bo-Lieve in Bo. Match Number Two: Bo Dallas versus Kyle Roberts Bo with a spear and punches to Roberts. Bo with a cravate and knees. Bo with Roll The Dice for the three count. Winner: Bo Dallas Kevin and Chris are walking in the back. Chris says he is going to beat down Seth because Kevin is his best friend. He says that Kevin has a new suit and a nice haircut. Chris reminds Kevin he is the longest reigning Universal Champion. He will give Seth the Gift of Jericho. Chris wants a hug from Kevin and Kevin gives it to him. Kevin tells Chris to do IT. We go to commercial. Coverage continues on next page If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here! The Obama administration announced Tuesday that more than $600,000 will be awarded to Iowa organizations to help people shop for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Included among the groups awarded funds is Genesis Health System, which is being given $118,631 in grant funds to help people in Scott, Jackson and Clinton counties, according to a media release from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. In addition, a $79,181 grant was awarded to Genesis to use in Mercer and Rock Island counties, the agency said. Other groups in Iowa being awarded funds are Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, which is receiving a grant of $304,373 to serve 78 counties, including the Iowa Quad-City area. Visiting Nurse Services of Iowa also was awarded a grant of $180,891. It will be seeking to help people in 49 counties, including Clinton County. In all, $603,895 is being awarded in Iowa as part of the Affordable Care Act's Navigator program. The program trains individuals and organizations to help people looking for coverage options and information about financial assistance. "We are committed to making sure consumers have all the resources they need to find the right plan when open enrollment begins Nov. 1," said Kevin Counihan, chief executive of the Health Insurance Marketplace. He added that in-person assistance is critical to connecting people to the right health coverage. Federally-funded navigators aren't the only places where people can get help signing up for insurance. In the Quad-City area, some health care providers, including UnityPoint Trinity, also provide in-person assistance, as well as help over the phone. So do some local governments and insurance agents. East Moline police arrested an 18-year-old Davenport man late Tuesday after the Iowa State Patrol issued a warrant for his involvement in a crash that left a Valley Construction worker dead last week. Sebon Cordell Reese was wanted on a charge of homicide by vehicle-reckless driving and eluding. A team of four East Moline police officers arrested Reese without incident about 9:30 p.m. at an apartment complex near the intersection of 15th Street and 12th Avenue, Lt. Luke Blaser said. The department received a tip about Reeses whereabouts and transported the teenager to Rock Island County Jail where Blaser said he is expected to waive extradition to Iowa. He also is wanted on a probation violation in Scott County. Bond on the warrants has been set at $100,000 cash-only. About 10:10 a.m. Thursday, the Scott Emergency Communications Center received a report of a reckless driver traveling at a high rate of speed on northbound/eastbound U.S. 61, according to a Scott County Sheriff's Office news release. Deputy Gina Lieferman was in the area and saw the vehicle, a 2005 Mercury Grand Marquis, driving east at a high rate of speed. She tried to turn around and pull over the vehicle, according to the news release. The vehicle then entered the construction zone just east of Blue Grass and tried to turn off U.S. 61 at Coonhunters Road and struck Willie Nathaniel Holley, 62, of Rock Island, before coming to a stop off the pavement. Further investigation revealed that prior to the crash, Reese came upon vehicles also traveling east and attempted to pass them on the left in the median and lost control of the vehicle. Blue Grass Fire Department and Medic ambulance were immediately called to the scene of the crash. Holley was pronounced dead at Genesis Medical Center-East Rusholme Street, Davenport. Holley's memorial visitation is 2-5 p.m. Friday at the Colona American Legion, 312 Broadway St., Colona. Wheelan-Pressly Funeral Home, Milan, is assisting the family. Reese and his 1-year-old sister also were taken to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. A Rock Island man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for possessing a firearm as a felon. LeQuan M. Drummond, 25, pleaded guilty to the charge Friday in Rock Island County Court. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed additional charges of armed violence, armed habitual criminal and several traffic offenses. On March 17, Davenport police responded to a report of shots fired from a vehicle traveling south in the 1400 block of Ripley Street. A vehicle pursuit ensued before the car crashed in Moline while on the off-ramp of 52nd Avenue and the Milan Beltway, according to police. Drummond was arrested after a short foot pursuit. Drummond was paroled in November after serving four years and three months in an Illinois prison for aggravated battery with a firearm in Rock Island County. Tara Becker HAMPTON, Ill. Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, at a union picnic here on Monday, accused rival Donald Trump of having his products made overseas, stiffing contractors and being antagonistic toward unions. Clinton also reiterated her pledge to "say no" to trade deals such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which President Barack Obama has been pushing to get through Congress in the last months of his presidency. Clinton was the featured speaker at the 49th annual Salute to Labor picnic at Illiniwek Park here, the second consecutive year in which she made an appearance. The picnic is a major political event in the Quad-Cities. And while it is based in Illinois, a usually reliable Democratic state in presidential elections, it also draws activists from Iowa, where the contest between Clinton and Trump is fairly close, according to public opinion polls. "Everything he makes, he makes overseas," Clinton said of Trump, who has based much of his campaign on appealing to working class voters. The former secretary of state, on the heels of reports Monday that U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies are investigating whether Russia is seeking to interfere with U.S. elections, also sought to tie Trump to Russian leader Vladimir Putin. "He has basically endorsed Vladimir Putin," Clinton said. Clinton's appearance at the picnic capped a long day of Labor Day events for the Democratic nominee that also included a stop earlier in Cleveland. Clinton arrived here about an hour later than scheduled, and some in the crowd left before her remarks. The campaign said more than 3,000 people attended. Democratic Senate candidate Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois congresswoman and veteran who lost both legs in combat, joked as she tried to keep the crowd engaged before Clinton's arrival. "You've never seen a woman with no legs tap dance before." Clinton is leading Trump in most national polls, but she exhorted supporters to continue working until Nov. 8. She also said she would seek to unite the country, while calling Trump divisive. Earlier, in the cargo area of the Quad-City International Airport, Clinton landed in her new airplane that included the phrase, "Stronger Together." Officials who greeted the candidate as she left the plane were happy about the campaign stop. "I've always been impressed by Hillary Clinton," Thom Hart said. The chairman of the Scott County Democratic Party joined with Iowa State Rep. Phyllis Thede, a Democrat from Davenport, in officially greeting Clinton in Moline. Clinton visited with Hart and Thede for a short while before she left to speak at the picnic sponsored by Rock Island County Democrats. According to Hart, Clinton asked about campaign efforts and mentioned how it was important that she win Iowa, a swing state in the presidential election. Thede, who with Hart was invited by the campaign to greet the candidate, is proud that a woman is a candidate for president. Clinton also knows Iowa is an important state to win, she said. Labor Day is the traditional kickoff to the fall election season, and this year's picnic offered a powerful lineup of union presidents. The heads of the United Auto Workers union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the National Education Association, were on hand for the picnic. NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia, said that teacher's union would fight hard in the general election. "There's no reason to think anyone is going to take their foot off the gas now," she said. Dennis Williams, the UAW president and Lonnie Stephenson, the head of the IBEW, both Rock Island natives, also took part in the annual Labor Day parade in East Moline earlier in the in the day. In the crowd, Clinton drew applause for her remarks. Mary Wenstrom Bowen, of East Moline, said afterward she was "awesome." Before the event, Mike Cosgrove, of New Boston, Ill., said that he's a Clinton backer, too. "Look who she's running against," he said. Cosgrove said he backed Clinton through the primaries and definitely would vote for her in November. But he told a reporter to "check with me after she's elected," when asked whether he was enthusiastic about her. That was a question that wasn't difficult for his girlfriend to answer, though. Lucinda Puckett, also of New Boston, said she was excited about a Clinton presidency. "I think it's time for a woman, and Obamacare has done me well, and I want her to keep it in. And keep our Social Security strong, keep our education strong," Puckett said. She added that her circle of friends, "a bunch of women," were also excited about the former secretary of state winning the White House. On stage, the parade of speakers who preceded Clinton on a picturesque day on the riverfront took turns bashing Trump and Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, who is a perennial target at the Rock Island County Democrats' Salute to Labor picnic. Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, said that Trump is "the worst thing for America." The UAW's Williams called Trump a "scary individual." The Republicans had their own choice words for Clinton. Early in the day, Lindsay Jancek, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, called Clinton "the most dishonest presidential candidate we've seen in generations." Meanwhile, across the street from Illiniwek Park, demonstrators had a sign calling her a "national security risk." Deirdre Cox Baker contributed to this report. LAMOTTE, Iowa A 23-year-old LaMotte man was airlifted to University Hospitals, Iowa City, after he ran off a culvert on his all-terrain vehicle and crashed into a ditch. The accident happened at 9:04 p.m. Sunday at 300th Street. Jackson County Sheriff's Deputy Corey Kettmann said Paul Samples was on an ATV driving west on 300th Street. The deputy said Samples was attempting to navigate into a field south of the road. He traveled 43 feet before hitting a culvert and did not see the ditch. The ATV came to rest in the ditch. Samples was airlifted by Air Care to Iowa City. His condition was not available. Also Kettmann investigated a three-vehicle accident at 9:03 p.m. Saturday at U.S. 61 and County road E-17. One person suffered minor injuries and was taken to the hospital by a parent. Kettmann said Gregory Nauman, 56, of Dubuque was stopped at E-17 and looked at the southbound lanes of the highway and did not see anyone coming. Nauman pulled out and was hit by a vehicle driven by Ryan Gooch, 28, of LaMotte. The impact spun the Nauman vehicle around coming to rest on the highway. Gooch's vehicle was then hit by a vehicle driven by Wendy Jacobsen-McGarry, 54, of Davenport. The Gooch vehicle spun into the ditch. Naumann was charged with failure to yield on a left turn. Gooch was taken to Jackson County Regional Health Center by his father with minor injuries. Sheri Melvold 1. Hot and humid conditions return A good Tuesday to all. The Labor Day is holiday is in the books and its back to work and school for many of us. Topping the news summer has returned to the Quad-Cities. Here are the weather details from the National Weather Service. Today will be mostly sunny with a high near 92 degrees and heat-index values as high as 101. South winds will gust as high as 25 mph. Tonight scattered showers and thunderstorms are possible after 1 a.m. Skies will be partly cloudy with a low around 73 degrees. The chance of precipitation is 40 percent. Wednesday will bring a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Skies will be mostly cloudy with a high near 87 degrees with new rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. 2. Early dismissal today for some schools The hot and humid weather conditions along with dangerously high heat-index values are causing some area schools without air conditioning to dismiss classes early today. School districts dismissing classes early today include: Non-air conditioned schools in the Moline-Coal Valley School District, East Moline District #37, Rockridge (Ill.), and Mercer County District. 3. I-88 construction begins today Construction work on Interstate-88, west of Erie, Ill., is scheduled to begin today, according to Illinois transportation officials. G.M. Sipes Construction will make concrete pavement repairs to the three-mile section of I-88 from 122nd Avenue N/Fargo Road near the Rock Island/Whiteside County line to Sand Road. Traffic will be restricted to one lane in each direction while the contractor is removing and replacing sections of the pavement needing repairs. The project is expected to be completed by the end of September. 4. Road work update in Davenport Work is expected to begin today on Stage 5 of the Brady Street project. See map. The start date for the closure between 15th and 17th streets for water main repairs was delayed for completion of Stage 4 sewer repairs. Staff anticipates this work will begin today and may be completed by Saturday. Work on 14th Street between Brady and Main streets, including the intersection, will not be complete until Sept. 12. Work on Utica Ridge Road is expected to be completed by Friday. Work on 36th Street is nearing completion. The road is semi-open with lane reductions in some areas. The road is expected to be fully re-opened in two weeks. 5. Clinton chases labor vote in Q-C stop Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, at a union picnic here on Monday, accused rival Donald Trump of having his products made overseas, stiffing contractors and being antagonistic toward unions. Clinton was the featured speaker at the 49th annual Salute to Labor picnic at Illiniwek Park, the second consecutive year in which she made an appearance. Read more. 6. Fire being investigated near Oscar Mayer A Labor Day fire in the elevator mechanics at the top of the building used for storage at the Oscar Meyer plant is under investigation, Chief Paul Hartman of the Davenport Fire Department said. Firefighters received the emergency call about 1 p.m. Monday to the 1300 block of West Second Street, Hartman said. Crews fought the blaze for about two hours. Read more. Offensive linesmen hold and politicians lie. Political lies are necessary because blunt truth, as President Jimmy Carter discovered after his Malaise Speech, is not well-received by the public. People want rhetoric consistent with their comfort zone. Do not ask us to do more than pray and shop. Presidential whoppers are usually tolerated, even applauded. President Dwight Eisenhower was caught red-handed disowning the U-2 spy plane downed over U.S.S.R., but people rallied behind him. Anger was directed at the pilot for being captured alive. During the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Of course there was a lot to fear, but the reassuring sentiment was genius. People generally ignored President Ronald Reagans Iran-Contra deception. Considering the dire consequences of the Vietnam and Iraq wars, the fabricators got a pass. Veracity is not required for a crowd capable of believing President Obama was born in Kenya. Garnish the lies with patriotism, even if you avoided the draft, denigrated POWs, and hid your tax returns, religion, and three marriages and insults and foul language are OK. The fantasy blames problems on the usual suspects, such as the other political party, high taxes, regulations, too little military spending, too many Mexicans, unions, China, etc. Divisive cultural issues and climate change are seldom discussed. Bogus solutions are as simple, as building a wall, and as painless as another tax cut for the wealthy. Fortunately, even lying has a point of diminishing returns. Robert McKanna Bettendorf SPRINGFIELD Former Gov. Pat Quinn's news conference last week to announce his new plan for legislative redistricting reform raised some questions. First, is his idea, which would put the Illinois Supreme Court in charge of appointing an 11-member commission once a decade to draw new district boundaries, constitutional? Second, is he wading into one of the most contentious issues in Illinois politics at the moment as a step toward a comeback bid in 2018? Quinns announcement came just days after the high court blocked from the Nov. 8 ballot a referendum on amending the Illinois Constitution to take the General Assembly out of the redistricting process. In a 4-3 decision that split on party lines, the four justices elected as Democrats ruled that the proposal goes beyond whats allowed for petition-driven initiatives, which are limited to making structural and procedural changes to portions of the state constitution dealing with the Legislature. Quinn said he believes his proposal would be found constitutional because unlike the plan from the group Independent Maps, which included the state auditor general in its setup his only involves the Supreme Court, which has a role under the current process. In response to skeptics, Quinn points to his credentials as the only person to have led a voter initiative that succeeded in changing the Illinois Constitution: the 1980 cutback amendment that reduced the size of the General Assembly. I think people ought to pay attention to what Ive got to say, Quinn said in a telephone interview late last week. This is an area of law I know something about. As for his future plans, the former Democratic governor wouldnt say definitively whether hes ruled out attempting a rematch with first-term Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. Ive already run for office, Quinn said, adding that hes focused on the redistricting proposal and another referendum on term limits for the mayor of Chicago. Ill let the future take care of itself. Chris Mooney, director of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois, said its clear Quinn doesnt intend to continue keeping a low profile as he did during his first year out of office. If he wanted to not be in the public eye, he could easily do that, Mooney said. This is an extension of his long career as sort of Illinois political outsider slash gadfly, tilting at windmills of various types and sometimes finding one that he takes down. However, Mooney added: If the question is, Does he want to run for governor again? I have no idea. But clearly he wants to be involved; he wants to have an impact. This is his lifes work. Hes not going to go away and write his memoir, apparently. Kent Redfield, an emeritus professor of political science at the University of Illinois-Springfield, agreed that Quinn is clearly trying to remain in the spotlight. Now, to what end? Redfield said, offering two possible scenarios: an attempt to rebuild an organization to push for political reform or an effort to lay the groundwork for a future bid for public office. If its the latter, it seems doubtful that fellow Democrats would rally behind Quinn, Redfield said. I dont know that a lot of down-ballot Democrats would view him as an asset in terms of being at the top of the Democratic ticket, he said. SPEARFISH | Spearfish volunteer firefighter Nicholas Pappas was riding his motorcycle in June when he received a message about the Crow Peak Fire. Pappas, an environmental physical science and business major at Black Hills State University, helped fight the Crow Peak Fire during two night shifts and a day shift on the Fourth of July. I wanted to be part of the effort, Pappas said in a news release. I learned a lot from seeing how the incident command structure worked in a true emergency. During the night shifts on Crow Peak, Pappas and his team were tasked with structure protection. The firefighters were stationed on engines by Crow Creek and other areas where homes were in danger of fire damage. Pappas said the team also knocked on doors to inform the public and keep those living in the area updated on progress. During the day we helped pump the tank for the helicopters to get water out of our staging area. Tender-trucks pulled water from hydrants in town, and we had another staging area going to Iron Creek for water, said Pappas. Originally from New Jersey, Pappas applied to be part of the Spearfish Volunteer Department only a month after he relocated to the Black Hills. He had volunteered with emergency medical services in New Jersey and said he wanted fire experience. Volunteering with the Fire Department isnt only about going on the calls, Pappas said. From the training, to cooking for the pancake feed, to fighting the fire on Crow Peak, its about showing up and being part of the community. PIERRE | Noah Whitebird Sr. fought in World War II, saving many American lives. But he returned home to an America where he wasnt welcome, and where signs in businesses said that dogs and Indians werent allowed. A ceremony at the Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre honored Whitebird, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. His family was present Friday to present the state with some of his belongings, and chief among them was the medal he earned as a Code Talker. Gov. Dennis Daugaard explained the significance of the code talker medal. During World War I and World War II, hundreds of Navajo and Lakota contributed to the war effort by using their Native language to create a code the enemy never broke. South Dakota alone contributed 69 code talkers who spoke in Lakota, Dakota and Nakota, he said. "(They) spoke a language unknown to all but a few Indians in North America and were therefore selected to serve in an elite group known as code talkers," Daugaard said at the event, adding that this saved thousands of American lives. Their work was top secret, and it's only recently that their efforts were were recognized by historians, by the government and in popular culture. In 2008, Congress authorized code talker medals to the men who fulfilled this function in World War I and World War II, Daugaard said. Now that the medal has been donated to the museum, it will eventually be put on display, said Jay Vogt, director of the Cultural Heritage Center. "(We) pledge to take good care of it, and to use it to help educate South Dakotans as to the importance of the role of code talkers and service to country," he said. Steve Emery, the state Secretary of the Department of Tribal Relation and also a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, said the day was a way to honor Whitebird and others like him for their service a service that was hidden for far too long. "It does not belong in the shadows, and it should never be forgotten," Emery said. "It should be remembered, honored and understood for generations to come." Emery added that the state is working with the tribes to create a memorial to honor the code talkers. It will be placed at Capitol Lake, along with the other memorials, and will also help create light where there were once shadows, he said. Larry Zimmerman, the state Secretary of Veterans Affairs, called Whitebird a "hero" and added that 44,000 Native Americans total served during the two world wars in many different capacities. The memorial at Capitol Lake and the medal at the museum will help represent all of them. "Our children, and our children's children, are going to walk by that code talker memorial. They will come to this Cultural Heritage Center and see the medal, and they're going to realize that huge sacrifice that those gentlemen made," Zimmerman said. That service didn't stop with Noah Whitebird, Zimmerman added. His son, Francis Whitebird, served as a medic in Vietnam and was awarded the Purple Heart. Two of his grandchildren, Brendan and Colin Whitebird, served in Iraq. Francis Whitebird also spoke at the event. He opened his remarks by speaking in Lakota, and took special pride in the fact that few people in the audience knew what he had just said. "That is the language that helped win two wars," he said. "I know you don't understand diddly what I said and that's what it's supposed to do." But no matter how many lives Noah Whitebird had saved, he came home to signs prominently displayed in Rapid City that warned, "No dogs or Indians allowed." Francis Whitebird said that when he was young, he saw those signs, too. Still, Noah Whitebird was proud of his service. It's just he couldn't talk about it, Francis Whitebird said. "People ask us why do we defend this country, and I remind them that we were here first," he said. Then he took a joking swipe at the current political scene. "We had bad immigration law." For more than 50 years, the pine-studded grounds of Camp Bob Marshall have served as a summertime destination for thousands of South Dakota children. Canoes, campfires and crafts have filled the days for two generations at the 4-H summer camp located near Custer. But, despite assurances the camp is safe, recently proposed federal legislation has brought the camp's future into question. In July, a bill was introduced in Congress asking for a federal and state land swap to potentially create a new state park in Spearfish Canyon. A piece of that legislation also calls for a federal and state land swap to take place at Bismarck Lake, which is home to Camp Bob Marshall. The swap would take the lake out of the control of the U.S. Forest Service and put it inside Custer State Park boundaries and under management of the state. The 524-acre piece of land at Bismarck Lake is adjacent to Custer State Park's current boundaries, and roads leading to the lake pass through Custer State Park's land, forcing visitors to pay an entrance fee to use the lake. So far, the message from Al Nedved, South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks assistant parks director, has been clear: That as of now, there are no plans to change anything about Camp Bob Marshall if the land swap passes. "It's our intent to work with that camp and honor any contracts and anything with the Forest Service," he said. "Right now, there's no proposal to alter or change anything." The camp was issued a special use permit by the National Forest Service to allow it to serve as a 4-H camp until Dec. 31, 2028. Even with that long of a time frame, Nedved said he doesn't see GF&P moving on proposing a new function for the camp. "We would take a look at that and be willing to honor that," he said. "If we can renegotiate we might, but we haven't had any discussions." Camp manager Gary Holst walked the grounds in August, pointing out cabins and recreation buildings that were built by Civilian Conservation Corps crews in the late 1930s. Holst has been working at the camp for 23 years and his love for the site and its history is evident. He says he does the work, "because it is worth doing." Holst said the same families and groups and have been coming to the camp for generations. One group, the South Dakota Wildlife Federation Youth Conservation Camp, has been holding camp there every summer for 53 straight years. The fear that the camp could be changed after the state takes control weighs heavily on members of the ogranization. One group at the camp told Holst in August that if the bulldozers ever came, to let them know because they plan on laying down in front of them. Holst then added, "I think I will probably join them." U.S. Sen. John Thune introduced the land swap bill in the Senate with co-sponsorship by U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds. U.S. Rep. Kristi Noem introduced a companion bill in the House. But it was Gov. Dennis Daugaard who actually presented the land package to the delegation to be introduced. The governor was unable to speak about the issue, but the Journal spoke to a member of his staff. "Our plans for Camp Bob Marshall is to run it exactly the same way it is run now," Hunter Roberts, the policy adviser for Daugaard said in a phone interview. Roberts said the main reason Bismark Lake and Camp Bob Marshall were included in the land package sent to Congress is because visitors to the lake have to enter through Custer State Park. He says that has created confusion among campers as to which land they are really on, and caused some Forest Service campers to use facilities on state land. Roberts reiterated that the state will honor contracts that are already in place with the camp. "It's not like we are going to change things overnight," Roberts said. "We don't want to pull the rug out from anyone, but we do think we can come in, make some improvements and make it a seamless part of Custer State Park." One improvement Roberts pointed to was upgrading the sewer system at Camp Bob Marshall and the facilities at the Bismarck Lake Campground. Nedved said the next step is for the state to hire a consultant who will develop a master plan for Bismarck Lake, including Camp Bob Marshall, next month. "We have not had any direct discussions or proposals that would do anything different," Nedved said. "We want to do some master planning and give people a chance for public comment." Western Dakota 4-H Camp Association Board Member Brad Kiezer said he trusts the state will stand by its word and honor any deals currently in place with the Forest Service and the camp. "I have absolutely no reason to not believe in them," he said. "They've always been good to work with." RAPID CITY | Jose (Joseph) Eutimio Roybal passed away peacefully at home surrounded by his family on Sept. 4, 2016. He was 95. Born Sept. 3, 1921, in Sapello, NM, he was one of nine children born to Filiberto and Ana Maria Aragon Roybal. Like millions of his contemporaries who lived the harsh realities of the Great Depression and World War II, his life was one of hardship and sacrifice but also much happiness and joy. Most important to him were his Catholic faith, his family and his country, and his life was a testament to each of those passions. Roybal grew up in the Sangre de Christo Mountains of northern New Mexico on a small diversified farm in the village of San Ignacio. As a boy, he attended the rural school and did farm work, but he most enjoyed working cattle on horseback and fishing the mountain streams of the area. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, he was drafted and entered active military service the following summer. Roybal served more than four years in the U.S. Army, seeing action in the Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace and Central European campaigns. Among his notable experiences were taking part in the Omaha Beach landings of Operation Overlord in June 1944, parading down the Champs-Elysees of a newly liberated Paris a few months later, and fighting in the Battle of the Bulge in December of the same year. After returning to the U.S. at wars end, he married Mary Edith Solano on Feb. 2, 1948, in Rapid City; the couple had met while he was on leave before shipping out for Europe, and they corresponded throughout the war. Roybal initially worked with various construction companies in the Rapid City area before serving 34 years as a federal employee at Ellsworth Air Force Base. He was named the Civil Service Employee of the Year in 1964. Upon his retirement, he worked in part-time positions with Sears and the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. Roybal was preceded in death by his parents and six brothers and sisters. He is survived by his wife of 68 years, Mary, and their six children. This includes three daughters Maryann (Charlie Sykes), Spring Hope, NC; Abby (Mark McCaskey), Piedmont; and Sally (Rod Colhoff), Rapid City; and three sons Joe (Peggy) of Woodbury, MN; Desi (Eileen) of Georgetown, TX; and Fil (Laura) of Rapid City. In addition, they have 10 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. Other survivors include a sister, Cleo Noel, and a brother, Adolfo Roybal, both of Las Vegas, NM. A member of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, the Knights of Columbus, and Disabled American Veterans, Roybal received his 50-year membership pin from the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1273 in 2015. In addition, he volunteered for more than 20 years in providing military funeral honors for his fellow veterans at Black Hills National Cemetery. Visitation begins at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 7, at the Osheim & Schmidt Funeral Home in Rapid City, followed by a vigil with rosary recitation at 7 p.m. Christian funeral mass will be offered at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 8, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Burial, with military honors rendered by Rushmore VFW Post 1273 and the South Dakota Army National Guard, will be at 2:30 p.m. at Black Hills National Cemetery. In lieu of gifts, the family requests contributions to Hospice of the Hills, 224 Elk St., Rapid City, SD 57701. JFC ex-CEO Kekhman appeals ruling on his bankruptcy MOSCOW, September 6 (RAPSI) Ex-CEO of JFC Group Vladimir Kekhman has filed an appeal against a ruling of the St. Petersburg Commercial Court declaring him bankrupt, according to court records. The date of the appeal hearing has not been scheduled yet. Kekhman was declared bankrupt by court upon the application of Sberbank on July 28. Moreover, on July 21, a court in St. Petersburg dismissed a petition lodged Kekhman seeking the recognition of Londons High Courts judgment declaring him bankrupt. Kekhmans financial executive Mikhail Bologov, Russias Federal Tax Service, Sberbank, Rosbank, Promsvyazbank, Raiffeisenbank, UniCredit Bank, Aquamarine Company and Pulkovo Trade Company anre named as interested parties in the dispute. A Kekhmans representative claimed during the bankruptcy hearings that the former head of JFC had no obligations before Sberbank because he was already been declared bankrupt by The High Court of Justice of England in 2012 and Sberbank received its share from sales of Kekhmans property. A Sberbanks representative, on the other hand, claimed that the bank was not involved in the process and did not receive any compensation. According to the Sberbanks representative, the bank had rulings of several Russian courts on debt recovery from Kekhman. Nevertheless, the representative of Kekhman insisted that the ruling of The High Court of Justice of England had been recognized by Sberbank and was to be complied with in Russia. In its ruling, the court pointed out that in the absence of international treaties, entered into by the Russian Federation, decisions on bankruptcies taken in foreign jurisdictions were to be recognized in Russia only on the reciprocity basis unless otherwise stipulated by federal laws. At present, the court stressed, the Russian Federation was not a party in any international treaty on bankruptcy issues. Return of embezzlement case against Russian tycoon Polonsky to prosecutors upheld MOSCOW, September 6 (RAPSI, Yevgeniya Sokolova) The Moscow City Court on Tuesday upheld a lower courts decision to send a case against Russian businessman Sergei Polonsky, who stands charged with embezzling 2.6 billion rubles ($40 million), back to prosecutors for toughening indictment, RAPSI reports from the courtroom. The court rejected appeals filed both by prosecution and Polonskys defense. Prosecutors demanded to overturn the ruling because the conclusion that defendants had conspired to commit the crime was not proven. Defense lawyers in turn also insisted that the ruling was meritless and illegal as well as failed to meet the requirements of the Russian Federation Code of Criminal Procedure. Polonsky himself supported the appeals and objected to reclassification of charges against him from large scale embezzlement to embezzlement committed by an organized group. On August 8, the Presnensky District Court of Moscow returned the case against Polonsky and his alleged accomplices to prosecutors. Such decision was adopted in order to classify the defendants actions as a more serious crime, the courts spokesperson Anastasia Pylina told RAPSI. According to investigators, Polonsky, aided by Alexander Paperno, Head of the Mirax Group Finance Department and Alexei Pronyakin, CEO of Avanta company, have defrauded participants of shared construction apartment projects of 2.6 billion rubles ($40 million), thus committing a serious crime. Polonsky, who is the founder of Potok (formerly Mirax Group), a diversified corporation that has been involved in several large development projects, is deemed to cause damages in amount of 2.4 billion rubles (around $37 million) with regard to Kutuzov Mile and 256 million rubles ($3.9 million) with regard to Rublyovskaya Riviera development projects. Other projects Polonsky has been involved in include Federation Tower in the Moscow International Business Center, office buildings Mirax Plaza, Poklonnaya 11 and Admiral, condominium developments Mirax Park, Golden Keys 1 and 2, and the Well House. In May 2015, the Cambodian authorities, where Polonsky had been avoiding Russian prosecution, extradited him to Russia. If convicted, Polonsky could face up to ten years in prison. Polonsky has pleaded not guilty. Russian Supreme Court upholds sentence for man convicted of justifying terrorism MOSCOW, September 6 (RAPSI, Oleg Sivozhelezov) Russias Supreme Court has upheld a 2-year term in penal colony settlement given to Elvin Dzhavid oglu Shukyurzade for justifying terrorism online, RAPSI learnt in the courts press service on Tuesday. The sentence has taken effect. The Moscow District Military Court delivered guilty verdict to Shukyurzade in early July. The court found that the man had posted videos containing elements of justifying terrorist activity, incitement of hatred and animosity as well as violation of human dignity on grounds of nationality, religious beliefs and social class on his social network page. According to the court, he also pushed for terrorist activity. GLENDIVE, Mont. From the first seed in the ground to growing, harvesting, marketing, and more, the newest pulse crop receiving facility in eastern Montana wants to work with producers every step of the way.Were very excited about our new venture, but we want to do it right. Eventually, well be a full service facility, so we have brought an agronomist on board to work with producers on planting, growing and harvesting pulses, said John Piracha, president of ITC International Inc. (ITC).ITC has been an international trading company, based in Canada, for more than 20 years. It supplies products to more than 20 countries worldwide.The company has had significant experience with pulses, and is now expanding into Montana.They looked for an area in Montana that was not being fully serviced for pulse growers. The Glendive community fit that, and there are a lot of growers in the eastern Montana region that either grow pulses in their rotation or are open to growing pulses.Well be watching the market, and see how it goes, Piracha said. We want to be able to provide a good price for our growers, with premiums.Piracha said ITC is growing very slowly in three phases and is becoming an integral part of the community, as well. He moved to Glendive at the beginning of the summer and has been working with community leaders on building the facility throughout the summer.The first phase has started and is the initial operational stage with storing and shipping the pulses. They constructed bins and brought in contracted pulses, and are loading train cars to ship the pulses out.This summer, we contracted some acres, and are processing and shipping them out right now, Piracha said. ITC contracted some acres of red lentils, Richlea green lentils, Kabuli chickpeas and some new Desi chickpeas this summer.In the yard, they have 21 rail cars that they are busy loading with pulses and shipping them out.In the future, the pulse crops they contract for will expand.One of the crops ITC hopes to contract for is black gram, a pulse in demand in India. Dr. Chengci Chen, supervisor of Montana State University Eastern Ag Research Center, will grow it in research trials next year, to find out the best way for the crop to be grown in eastern Montana.Theres an opportunity here for producers to take some of that pulse market share and grow different types of pulses, he said.In the second phase, ITC will acquire a mobile cleaning unit, so they can clean the pulses, and acquire a unit that can bag pulses into retail packages. In the third phase, they will be adding value to the pulses.He has been working with Bruce Smith, MSU Extension agent in Dawson County, Chen and others at EARC, Montana Department of Agriculture, MidRivers Economic Development, BNSF, and other area businesses.The new facility will give producers more options in bringing their crops to the market. As Montana pulse crop acreage increases each year, this is a facility that will continue to grow, while creating opportunities for the eastern Montana producers and the Glendive community, said Treston Vermandel, Eastern Montana Business Development specialist with the state ag department.In 2011, Montana took the lead in U.S. pulse crop acreage and now leads the nation for dry pea and lentil production.More Montana producers are including peas, lentils, and chickpeas in their rotations as the number of elevators and processing plants increases throughout the state.Pulses are a versatile crop that Montana farmers can grow to promote biodiversity, improve soil health, and generate income from local and global markets, Vermandel said.Piracha said he looks forward to building relationships and creating opportunities for everyone involved with this project now and in the future. America must return to conservative principles of less government,reduced taxes, less spending and a balanced budget! Cut,cap and balance! China and Japan should boost dialogue and contact to "properly tackle the East China Sea issue" and jointly ensure peace and stability there, President Xi Jinping told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday. When the two met after the conclusion of the G20 Leaders Summit in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, on Monday evening, Xi noted that the two-way ties are "disturbed by complicated factors from time to time". Also, Xi said, "Japan should be cautious in words and actions with regard to the South China Sea issue and avoid posing a disturbance to the improvement of China-Japan ties." Abe said Japan is willing to build mutual trust with China, earnestly improve bilateral ties and maintain dialogue over relevant issues. Xi said the two sides should "reinforce a sense of duty and awareness of crisis", expand the positives in the ties and curb the negatives in order to ensure a steady thaw of ties. Strain clouded relations when Japan took a high-profile position on the South China Sea issue earlier this year. Tension has also lingered around China's Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea recently. Gao Hong, a senior researcher on Japan studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said, "Tokyo's sufficient sincerity and substantial actions are necessary" for a range of bilateral agenda items, including the building of two-way security mechanisms and free-trade agreement talks. "Flashy words make no sense and make no difference," Gao said. On two-way cooperation, Xi said both countries could boost macroeconomic policy coordination, pragmatic cooperation in various fields, grassroots friendship and local exchanges. Advanced regional cooperation and joint efforts in addressing global challenges should also be achieved, Xi said. Abe said that Japan hopes to boost cooperation with China in fields such as finance, trade and environment protection. Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday said that Education is the tool by which inter-ethnic and inter-community gaps can be bridged by bringing them at par. 'Through education we can make enlightened citizens and for the successful implementation of our schemes enlightened citizens can play a pioneering role. Need of the hour is to underline the importance of a teacher in our social life as the teacher plays a pivotal role in forging a society based on mutual trust, harmony and camaraderie through education,'Sonowal said. Speaking on the Celebrations of the 55th Teachers' Day at Srimanta Shankardeva Kalakshetra in Guwahati, the Assam CM said that through education administrative machinery can be made strong, responsive and corruption free and we are giving topmost priority to education and through education the much sought after change can be brought about in our State. Sonowal also emphasised on hard work, devotion and a value-based skill education which can boster positive changes in Assam. 'We need to build a society based on values, honesty, truthfulness and education is the only means which can steer us to a State of our dream. On the occasion of the 55th Teachers' Day today we need to take a pledge to make Assam an ideal State, a state which can place itself in the top five position in the country,'A Sonowal said. Underlying the importance of education, Sonowal said that our Government is taking several tangible steps for the development of education in our State. One of our priorities is skill based education and we are creating a separate department for the promotion of skill based education. Teachers can play an important role in auguring our dream State. 'On this occasion, I take this opportunity to greet the teachers and offer my heartfelt obeisance to their great service', Sonowal quipped. The Assam CM also acknowledged the role of 27 State level award winning teachers and expressed his gratitude to their selfless service to the State. He also called upon the teachers and students alike to emulate the life and works of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan a noted philosopher, educationist and statesman and work for welfare of the State. Minister of Education Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma while speaking on the occasion acknowledged the supreme role of the teachers and said that the State is really indebted to their role. Sarma urged upon the teachers to render their services dedicatedly so that Assam can take a giant leap in the field of education. The minister said that the State Government is all set to take steps to expedite the pension system of the teachers and added that a system would be in put in place very shortly to provide provisional pension to the teachers on the day of retirement. PWD Minister Parimal Suklabaidya, Principal Secretary, Education Paban Borthakur, Vice-Chancellor of Assam Science and Technology University Dr. P. K. Goswami, Vice Chancellor of Kumar Bhaskar Varma Sanskrit and Ancient Studies University Dr. Dipak Sharma, Secondary education Director Babulal Sarma, Elementary education Director Sanjib Bhuyan, teachers, students and a host of other dignitaries were present on the occasion. *(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)* Guwahati : Security forces on Monday arrested three persons who allegedly involved in child trafficking in Assam.* The Railway Protection Force (RPF) had arrested the persons at Rangia railway station, 50 km away from Guwahati. The security personnel also recovered five boys and seven girls from their clutches. Assam turned a hub of child trafficking as at least 1317 child trafficked from the state in last year. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) CHITWAN, Sept 6: Police confiscated a huge cache of hashish hidden in a truck (Na 3 Kha 6252) that was heading to Mugling from Dhading today morning. Police also held the driver Kumar Gole of Namtar VDC-9 in Makawanpur for investigation. A team from the Investigation Bureau of Mid Region and the Chitwan District Police Office acting on a tip off seized 282 kilograms of hashish packed in 282 different sacks, Superintendent of Police Basanta Kunwar. He said police were searching for the smugglers. Meanwhile, police arrested three persons with 25 kilograms of marijuana hidden in a passenger vehicle that was heading to Kathmandu from Birgunj. The arrestees have been identified as Jibaraj Bulan of Hetauda Municipality-28 in Makawanpur, Dipak Lama of Handikhola VDC and the vehicle driver Ishwor Aryal of Hetauda Municipality-29. RSS Kathmandu, Nepali: Nepali Congress has called its office bearer meeting to make an official decision on the restructuring of the local bodies on Tuesday. In the meeting organized at the party president Sher Bahadur Deubas Budanilkantha based resident, the leaders of the party will try to make an official view regarding the local bodies. The Nepali Congress has intensified its consultations considering the situation that parties have been sharply divided after the Local Bodies Restructuring Commission (LBRC) report that has proposed 565 local units. The Nepali Congress and the Madhes based parties have protested the report demanding that the number of local bodies should be doubled to deliver service effectively to the people. However, the main opposition party CPN-UML has been backing the LBRC proposal. Chitwan, Nepal: at least two persons died and two others sustained injuries when a truck met with the accident at Chumkhola along the Prithvi Highway in Chitwan district, on Tuesday morning. According to the police the ill-fated truck with registration number Na 3 Kha 9906, heading towards Narayangadh from Kathmandu, met with the accident at around 3:45 am on Tuesday. It is said that the truck had skidded off the road and plunged 50 metres down into the Trishuli River. The two victims had breathed their last on the spot. The injured have been sent to the Bharatpur-based College of Medical Sciences for treatment. Djukanovic said In order to gain the power the loyalty to the state is needed Prime Minister and President of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), Milo Djukanovic, said it was very important for the new parliament to consist of majority that supports European and Euro-Atlantic path of Montenegro, building society of the rule of law and its democratic development. He said that the problem of majority of the opposition was that it did not understand that at the present time not even in the Balkans the old policy matrices could be practiced. Some parts of the opposition today fight for the "ingenious invention" formulated in their slogans: "Either we or him(they)". Copying, loser trying to replicate some of the scenarios that have produced the change of government in the near or far environment ", he said for the Pobjeda. But, he added, they have only one problem. "To explain what did they exactly, both the Democratic Front and the Democrats, in that period in other formations, defended,for example, in Belgrade - Him !? And they were against democratic Serbia and democratic Montenegro who wanted and got changes ". "Now these same leaders of the opposition in Montenegro falsely claiming to be democrats and carriers of progress. Although then, as now, they were against Europe and against NATO. And what is the most difficult - against Montenegro, "Djukanovic said. According to him, they believe that this is a crucial moment for them, because they think the coincidence of interests with one of the great powers, which opposes NATO enlargement, would get them help. "These are all illusions. In order to win power in any country, one must prove fundamental loyalty to it. Willingness to think and work for its sake, " Djukanovic said, adding that most of the leaders of the opposition did not show none of it, but the desire to change the government at any cost, or to seize the power. Djukanovic, explaining DPS offer to the citizens of Montenegro, announced a package of concrete measures for the socially most vulnerable people. Will Howard starts at QB for K-State Will Howard started at quarterback for Kansas State on Saturday against Oklahoma State. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sept. 6, 2016 Contacts: Sarah Marquis, 949-222-2212 Scientists discover a new deep-reef Butterflyfish species in Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument Discovery highlights a wealth of previously unknown biodiversity Pete Basabes Butterflyfish (Prognathodes basabei Pyle and Kosaki 2016) at a depth of 180 feet off Pearl and Hermes Atoll, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Credit: Greg McFall/NOAA Scientists from the Bishop Museum and NOAA have published a description of a new species of butterflyfish from deep reefs of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The study was published today in the scientific journal ZooKeys. Butterflyfish are the glamour fish of the coral reefs, said Richard Pyle, Bishop Museum scientist and lead author on the publication. They are colorful, beautiful, and have been very well-studied worldwide. Finding a new species of butterflyfish is a rare event. Deep coral reefs at depths of 150 to 500 feet, also known as mesophotic coral ecosystems or the coral-reef twilight zone, are among the most poorly explored of all marine ecosystems. Deeper than most scuba divers can venture, and shallower than most submersible-based exploration, these reefs represent a new frontier for coral reef research. Discoveries such as this underscore how poorly explored and how little we know about our deep coral reefs, said Randall Kosaki, NOAA scientist and co-author of the study. Virtually every deep dive we do takes place on a reef that no human being has ever seen. Pete Basabes Butterflyfish (Prognathodes basabei Pyle and Kosaki 2016) at a depth of 220 feet off Pearl and Hermes Atoll, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Credit: Richard L. Pyle / Bishop Museum This species was first observed in video taken from manned submersibles more than 20 years ago, at depths as great as 600 feet. At the time, Pyle and University of Hawaii marine biologist E.H. Deetsie Chave recognized this as a potential new species. However, because of the extreme depths, it was many years before technical divers using advanced electronic closed-circuit rebreathers were able to collect and preserve specimens in a way that would allow proper scientific documentation as an undescribed species. Recently, the new butterflyfish has been encountered regularly on deep exploratory dives up to 330 feet on NOAA expeditions to Papahanaumokuakea. The description is based on these specimens from the NWHI. The new fish, Prognathodes basabei, is named after Pete Basabe, a veteran local diver from Kona who, over the years, has assisted with the collection of reef fishes for numerous scientific studies and educational displays. Basabe, an experienced deep diver himself, was instrumental in providing support for the dives that produced the first specimen of the fish that now bears his name. A group of three Pete Basabes Butterflyfish (Prognathodes basabei Pyle and Kosaki 2016) under a ledge at a depth of 300 feet off Pearl and Hermes Atoll, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Credit: Richard L. Pyle / Bishop Museum In addition to the specimens used for the published study, live specimens of the new butterflyfish were collected on a NOAA expedition to Papahanaumokuakea in June of this year. The fish are now on display at Bishop Museum in Honolulu and at the Mokupapapa Discovery Center in Hilo. An additional specimen is on display in the Deep Reef exhibit at the Waikiki Aquarium. President Obama announced on August 26 the expansion of Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument by from 139,797 square miles to 582,578 square miles, making it the largest marine protected area on Earth. This new discovery illustrates the conservation value of very large marine protected areas, said Kosaki. Not only do they protect the biodiversity that we already know about, they also protect the diversity weve yet to discover. And theres a lot left to discover. The article, Prognathodes basabei, a new species of butterflyfish (Perciformes: Chaetodontidae) from the Hawaiian Archipelago by Richard L. Pyle and Randall K. Kosaki, can be accessed online at http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.614.10200 NOAA's mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Join us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and our other social media channels. Papahanaumokuakea is cooperatively managed to ensure ecological integrity and achieve strong, long-term protection and perpetuation of Northwestern Hawaiian Island ecosystems, Native Hawaiian culture, and heritage resources for current and future generations. Three co-trustees - the Department of Commerce, Department of the Interior, and State of Hawaii - joined by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, protect this special place. Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument was inscribed as the first mixed (natural and cultural) UNESCO World Heritage Site in the United States in July 2010. For more information, please visit www.papahanaumokuakea.gov. First off, let me be frank: All I know about the work of Hungarian filmmaker Miklos Jancso I learned from this release. The name certainly rang a bell when I first heard about Private Vices, Public Virtues making its way to Blu-ray from Mondo Macabro, but it was more of a passing familiarity through years of browsing scholarly work on cinema than any kind of "a-ha" moment. So when this disc arrived in the mail, I thought it would be a great opportunity to familiarize myself with the work of a filmmaker who seems to have been revered among world cinema circles. It turns out that this is only partly the case after having spent a few hours with this release. Private Vices, Public Virtues is the story of the Crown Prince Rudolf of the Autro Hungarian Empire and the incident which, by virtue of its infamy, would ultimately lead to the end of the Empire and the beginning of World War I. According to the story, Rudolf was not exactly an engaged participant in the kind of rigid diplomacy that held together Europe at the end of the 19th century. In fact, he actively sought to undermine his own family's power in an attempt to destabilize the people and mechanisms of power around him. Living such an incredibly proscribed life as was required of a young man of royal blood was not in Rudolf's nature, and he in an effort to subvert that control, he attempted to challenge it at every turn. The boldest statement he made was in carrying out an illicit affair with the daughter of a diplomat, Baronness Mary Vetsera, while he was married to Princess Stephanie of Belgium, a union of political convenience. Private Vices, Public Virtues imagines an elaborate story around this affair and the mysterious circumstances that led to the deaths of Rudolf and his mistress, and it's a doozy. Jancso's version of the events is a salacious and frequently absurd one, but in fitting with both the rebellious spirit of Rudolf and the adventurous films of the mid-70s when the film was shot, it's done with tongue planted firmly in cheek and without regard for social mores. Jancso imagines a spectacular orgy at the Prince's estate in which a who's who of European nobility is to be drugged and photographed participarting in this Hedonistic twisting of bodies in a way that shows the ruling class to be little more than animals waiting for the permission to rut. As a result, the vast majority of the attendees, having been drugged, spend most of the party in various and increasing states of undress. Prince Rudolf himself (played by Lajos Balazsovits) runs around nude from the very beginning as he fornicates with everything from his mistress, to his brother, to several unfortunate bales of hay. Each member of the party is invited to submit to their baser urges in order to create the kind of scandal that Rudolf dreams of, thus condemning his family to infamy and freeing himself from the constraints of his station. However, eventually things turn sour, and his attitude becomes his undoing leaving his mistress and he dead, paving the way for the Great War. Private Vices, Public Virtues is one of many European films of the '70s that explored the nature of the aristocracy by comparing it to an unending orgy of flesh. There was also the work of Walerian Borowczyk, in particular The Beast with its story of a fading artistocratic family seeking to regain their power through a political union, and Blanche, a similar, but less gruesome story of love. These films showed no fear of using sexuality and eroticism to stand in for the carnality of power. In a way, even Jean Rollin's work on films like The Nude Vampire and Shiver of the Vampire use the vampire mythos to represent the powerful class and their absolute dominion over the workers of the world. The irony with Private Vice, Public Virtues is that Rudolf's scheme to undermine his own privilege would've been absolutely impossible without the power his class bestowed on him, and he seems somewhat unaware of this, though he's certainly more than happy to partake of the perks. I began this review with the statement that I don't think I know Jancso any better now than I did before seeing this film. That's largely due to the fact that the additional content available in teh set makes it fairly clear that Private Vices, Public Virtues was an abberation in his work. Most of Jancso's films seem to have been more clearly focused on the effects of war and/or the plight of the proletariat, however with Private Vices, Public Virtues, he turns his camera at the ruling classes and shows how their unabated abuse of power leads to a kind of tragedy. A line can certainly be drawn from one idea to the other, but this is more of an abstract connection than he seems to have become famous for. In any case, Private Vices, Public Virtues is my kind of farce, violent, sensual, and explicitly absurd. The Disc: Private Vices, Public Virtues comes to Blu-ray from Mondo Macabro in a brand new 2K transfer from the original camera negative. I was a bit wary of the quality in the first few moments as the opening credits rolled, but once they were over, the image smaps into crisp focus in a way that it has likely not been seen in forty years. Colors are exceptional and the image clarity is far beyond what I would've expected. The audio quality and background score are wonderful, as well. No A/V issues on this disc. The film is presently available directly from Mondo Macabro (link below) in an exclusive limited edition variation that includes a few extras that will not be available with the eventual retail version. The limited edition disc is what I was sent to review, and it is wonderful. First of all, common to all versions are a trio of disc based extras newly produced for Mondo Macabro's release. First up is an appreciation and tour of Jancso's filmography by Michael Brooke, an expert and evangelist of Eastern European cinema. This is roughly a half an hour of detailed discussion of Jancso's work and legacy, it's quite interesting. This is followed up by a pair of interviews with people who worked on the film. First up is writer Giovanna Gagliardo, who discusses working with Jancso on and off set, Gagliardo happened to be Jancso's wife at the time. The third interview is with actress Pamela Villoresi, who describes her time on set and seems to have largely fond memories of the shoot. The limited edition adds a couple of siginifcant extras that should be of interest to anyone who is thinking about grabbing this disc. First up, and most impressively, is a twelve page booklet containing an essay from new ScreenAnarchy contributor/former Diabolique Magazine Managing Editor Joe Yanick and former Diabolique Magazine Editor-in-Chief Max Weinberg. The essay is far reaching in terms of drawing together different threads of Jancso's career in relation to his work on Private Vices, Public Virtues, and is well worth checking out. The other bouns that comes with this limited edition is an exclusive slipcover with different art from the regular sleeve. I'm not much of a slipcover guy, but this one is nice, and slipcover fans will enjoy it. Private Vices, Public Virtues is an fascinating work that certainly deserves rediscovery in the same way that Borowczyk and Pasolini have gained a new audience now that time have proved their films to be classics. If you are on the fence about picking up the limited edition, be aware that the regular retail edition is still months from hitting store shelves and it will not have the booklet or slipcover. I'd head over to Mondo Macabro's online store now. I've used them several times to fill gaps in my MM collection and their shipping is reasonably priced and super fast. The timeline called the 80s was the most fantasizing entertaining time period that we in the 2010s must respect and be thankful because those fantasies still exist today. In early 80s came "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" "Terminator" "Transformers" etc. But all these were influent by Japanese culture, toys and movies from Japan. Also the Japanese anime movies became the new kid in the block buster marketing with movies from Hayao Miyazaki, "Nausicaa", "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Grave of the Fireflies". And the big hit was the movie series Gundam, with a genre of war in space, action in sci fi setting, and a striking story between the rivalry of Amuro Ray and Char Aznable. Chars Counter Attack is one the best of the series and focus on a conflict of greed, hate and revenge. Story: When the remaining of the Mobile Suit Gundam is discovered, Amuro Ray and Chars rivalry continue with a new all out war called "the 2nd Neo Zeon War", but this time, Char is not aiming for the Earth Federation but on the entire planet Earth and its population. Meanwhile two earthlings by the name of Bright Noah and Quess Paraya, enter a space shuttle that fly them to the battleship where Amuro is boarded. Bright Noah is the son of Amuros 2nd in command Hathaway Noah. Noah tells Hathaway that his mother and sister is remaining on planet Earth which concerns Hathaway, because recently a giant meteor created by Char is heading its way to Earth and the damage it can make is permanent destruction. Bright and Quess takes a break and heading for the forest in an instructed planet where they meet Char. char seduce Quess with words that fits her heart, and she quickly betray Bright and join forces with Char. Will Bright forget about Quess and continue fighting for saving Earth, or will he risk his own planet for the girl who betrayed him? Overall: the animation is different from the other Gundam series. In Char Counter Attack, the characters are more mature animated and more realistic look then the previous. The voice cast is well melted into their parts, specially Toru Furuya as Amuro Ray, and Shuichi Ikeda as Char. Some characters feels incomplete, for example Quess, it's never explained why she want to be with Char or why she is so mean as person, also Bright Noah is not well developed eather, he is just there as a love interest for Quess, and has no character development what's so ever. But the best part is the philosophy or the conflict in Chars mind, in the story he do all the bad things just because he lost a loved one and see Earth as a plague, like some dictatorship development, meanwhile Ray also lost somone but her choose more democratic development into life goes on, no need to hold a grudge against somone who wasn't there, and excellent world difference between good and bad. Also TM Network makes the best end credit music in history with the song Beyond The Time. Gundams Char Counter Attack is rewarded with an 8.5/10. Third Window Films in the UK is gearing up for their next couple of releases for the autumn season with Takeshi Kitano's A Scene at the Sea this week and Kids Return next month, but that is far from the end of their awesome slate for 2016. In December, Third Window will release an exclusive Blu-ray box set featuring the early films of Japanese filmmaker Toyoda Toshiaki. This box set will include three of Toyoda's first features in high definition for the first time. Here's the box set's synopsis as it was given to us when we announced it in June: One of our favourite directors from Japan is Toshiaki Toyoda, and we will first release a Blu-ray set which focuses on his earlier works of PORNOSTAR (known in the US by its home video title Tokyo Rampage), UNCHAIN & 9 SOULS. They will be packaged together in a limited set which will include new illustrated artwork, new audio commentaries by Tom Mes & Jasper Sharp, new interviews with cast and crew plus loads of extras from their original Japanese releases! We've been given an exclusive first look at the brand new trailer for this set as well as some additional package shots that we haven't seen before. Take a look at all of those new images and the exciting trailer below. Toshiaki Toyoda: The Early Years is scheduled for release this December in a limited edition of 2,000 units. Martial arts fans have been revelling in the last 24 hours while possibly spotting a peculiar photo collage or two online as of late featuring action stars Iko Uwais, Tony Jaa and Tiger Chen. Well, for those wondering and still stuck in mystery, you'll find that update via exclusive over at Film Combat Syndicate of the new 'Asian Expendables' themed thriller, Makeshift Sqaud, which is aiming to film early next year. The cast, is so far joined by actress Angelababy with Gary Mak (a.k.a. Alan Mak), whose credits include assistant directing films like The Grandmaster (2013) and Bodyguards And Assassins (2009), in the director's chair with locations tentatively set for China and Malaysia. Most other details and plot information are still pending and under wraps as the news has only broken this week, but comes amidst the electricity circulating over the prospects of all three male leads. Jaa, co-star of xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage opening in January, is currently set to star in the Asia-set action thriller, High Value Target with action star Jason Statham for hopeful director Rob Cohen, while Yuen Woo-Ping protege, Chen, stars in Zhang Xianfeng's Kung Fu Cyborg later this year. Uwais, who himself will also be plenty busy through next year, is lighting up the Midnight Madness section at TIFF this week with Mo Bros' actioner, Headshot. Paris premier fantastic festival LEtrange is kicking off on Wednesday and on top of a huge Competition Section comprised of 22 features theres a whole range of high profile events. Top of the must-watch list come three tantalising retrospectives from three very different filmmakers. Japanese new-wave provocateur Shohei Imamura and American video-nasty pioneer Frank Henenlotter both receive Special Focus while Polands controversial boundary-pusher Andrzej Zuawski is the recipient of a well-deserved homage. Andrzej Zuawski Returning to cinema after a fifteen-year hiatus, Andrzej Zuawski walked away with a Best Director Award at Locarno 2015 for Cosmos. Sadly passing away at the beginning of this year, the director left behind a body of work ripe for rediscovery. The son of a poet, Zuawski would study film in France before returning to his homeland to work under his hero Andrzej Wajda. With his work often proving too controversial for the Polish government he would spend his career moving around Europe, usually France, to make his films. The Third Part of the Night, The Devil, That Most Important Thing Love, On the Silver Globe, The Possession and Mad Love will all play at the festival. Shohei Imamura Coming up in Japanese cinemas golden age, a young Shohei Imamura would be inspired by Kurosawa Akira before going on to work as an assistant for such luminaries as Kobayashi Masaki and Ozu Yasujiro as he learnt his craft. Beginning his directorial career in 1958 with Stolen Desires, the filmmaker began telling stories set amidst the lower rungs of Japanese society; working girls, petty thugs and low-level yakuza he depicted would come to populate the majority of his films. Imamura would later set up his own production company to allow greater freedom and the opportunity to follow an increasingly experimental, documentary-like style. Stolen Desires, My Second Brother, Pigs and Battleships, The Insect Woman, Intentions of Murder, The Pornographers and Profound Desires of the Gods will all play LEtrange. Frank Henenlotter Exploitation maestro Frank Henenlotter developed a taste for the obscene by frequenting the grindhouse theatres of New York during a misspent youth. Inspired by the low-budget sex and horror filled features he witnessed, the filmmaker made his own in 1982; cult bad-taste midnight movie Basket Case. He continued into the 90's in a similar vein with the likes of Brain Damage and Frankenhooker along with two sequels to his debut classic. Henenlotter took a lengthy hiatus in order to found the Something Weird Video label, returning to film in 2008 with Bad Biology before shifting his focus to documentary in recent years. Early features Basket Case 1 & 2, Brain Damage, and Frankenhooker will all play in the directors retrospective. Head to Paris September 7th 18th to catch Imamura, Henenlotter and Zulawski in all their big-screen glory. Scroll through the gallery below for a taste of some of the festival picks. Uwe Boll, one of cinema's most provocative filmmakers, for all the right and wrong reasons you can think of, is bringing his Rampage series to a close with President Down. The final chapter of the controversial series is available today on VOD and DVD in the U.S. Bill Williamson (Brendan Fletcher) is back in the final chapter of the RAMPAGE trilogy. In the series' previous installment, he stated that we needed to kill the rich and rip Washington apart - and that's exactly what he's doing now doing. After assassinating the President of the United States, Williamson ignites the largest manhunt in American history. This act of domestic terrorism will change the country forever. We have an exclusive and explosive clip to share with you below. I guess depending what side of whatever admendment it is you Americans argue about down there this will either tickle your fancy or churn your guts. Have a look for youself. Should I be concerned that Fletcher is Canadian and this was filmed on our soil north of the 49? That makes for good cross border relations don't it? If you are currently a print subscriber but don't have an online account, select this option. You will need to use your 7 digit subscriber account number (with leading zeros) and your last name (in UPPERCASE). A cyclist opened fire on a man seated in a parked car in San Francisco this weekend, causing a chain reaction of destruction and injury. Police say that it all began at 8:50 p.m. Saturday, as a 26-year-old man sat in a car parked in a lot on the 700 block of Fulton Street, which is between Webster and Laguna Streets. Suddenly, according to the San Francisco Police Department a man in his late 20s approached the vehicle while riding a bicycle. The cyclist, police say, shot at the motorist and grazed him. The driver, attempting to escape the gunman, took off. But his flight was short-lived, as police say that he collided with another vehicle at Fell and Webster Streets. Fortunately, according to the SFPD, "no one was seriously injured" in the wreck, and the grazed driver was transported to San Francisco General Hospital in stable condition. During the fray, police say, the shooter was able to evade capture, as he "fled on his bicycle in an unknown direction." As of Tuesday morning, he had not been caught, and no arrests have been made in this case. SIOUX CITY | Hundreds of Siouxlanders spent their Labor Day afternoon enjoying free food, games and a little bit of politics at the annual Labor Day Picnic in Riverside Park. The event, held each year by the Northwest Iowa Central Labor Council, is a Labor Day tradition that dates back more than 70 years. "It's our day," said council president Rick Scott. "It's the union members' day. We created this holiday, and that's what makes it special for all of us." Political speakers Monday included Democrat Kim Weaver, who is running to represent Iowa's Fourth Congressional District, and Sue Dvorsky, a former chairwoman of the Iowa Democratic Party. Other events included a K-9 demonstration by the Woodbury County Sheriff's Office and a free photo booth. Ernie Colt, business representative for the Carpenters Union Local 948, which represents 21 counties in Northwest Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota, said the picnic is about families, not just the workers. "It's about bringing working people together and bringing families together," Colt said. "We all have a history behind us, and to bring everyone together to celebrate is what I come for." Colt said Local 948 currently has 225 members. While union membership in the building trades is down overall, he said, it remains important. "The major thing for us is a decent wage with benefits," Colt said. "We work with the contractors, we work with the end users, we try to work together now. It's not us against them." Iowa reported a slight decrease in union membership from 2014 to 2015, the most recent year with data available. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 138,000 Iowa workers, or 9.6 percent, belonged to a union in 2015. That number was down a full percentage point from the 156,000, or 10.7 percent, reported in 2014. During that time, Nebraska and South Dakota both saw slight increases. Union workers in Nebraska increased from 64,000 to 68,000, a rise from 7.3 to 7.7 percent. In South Dakota, union membership increased from 18,000 to 22,000, a rise from 4.9 to 5.9 percent. Overall, union membership in the U.S. numbered 14.8 million workers, or 11.1 percent, in 2015. The number showed nearly no change from 2014. Scott said Iowa compares well to other states and national totals, although he would like to see the numbers continue to rise, not drop. "The strength here in northwest Iowa is pretty good," Scott said. "I think in this area we're strong middle-class. We understand the importance of unions." National union numbers are overall down from 30 years ago. In 1983, the first year with comparable union data available, the union membership rate was 20.1 percent, or 17.7 million union workers. Jay Smith, an attorney for Smith and McElwain Law Offices in Sioux City, which represents the Northwest Iowa Labor Council and approximately 40 labor unions throughout Iowa, eastern Nebraska and southeastern South Dakota, said he believes strong labor unions are essential to a strong middle class. "It's democracy in the workplace," Smith said. "It gives workers a voice collectively to speak out. I think that's important." BLS data show median weekly earnings of non-union workers total $776 per week, while median weekly earnings for union members total $980. At 24.7 percent, the state of New York has the highest union membership rate, while South Carolina had the lowest at 2.1 percent. The U.S. Marshals Service Northern Iowa Fugitive Task Force is seeking the following person: * Travis McPeek, 35. McPeek is 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 200 pounds. He is wanted by the Iowa Department of Corrections for violation of his parole and by the Bon Homme County Sheriff's Office in South Dakota for aggravated assault on a police officer. McPeek has numerous tattoos on his chest and shoulders. Anyone with information can call the Northern Iowa Fugitive Task Force at (712) 252-0211, email siouxlands.mostwanted@usdoj.gov or text the keyword TEN99 and the tip to tip411 (847411). SIOUX CITY | Sioux City Police have located a boat that was believed to have been stolen from a Sioux City boat ramp after its owner died in a shooting last week. According to a post on the Sioux City Police Department's Facebook page, a boat that had belonged to 46-year-old Michael Hasson, the man who died during the Aug. 28 shooting at Sioux City's Chili's Grill & Bar, was taken from the Missouri River Boat Club in Riverside last week. Police asked the public for information regarding the boat. The post said police do not believe the act was random, but that the boat was targeted because Hasson is deceased. The boat was not a piece of evidence in their investigation into the shooting, police said. The department later updated its page to say that the boat had been accounted for. ELK POINT, S.D. | Rescue crews from South Dakota and Nebraska are continuing their search for the body of a man who went missing Sunday afternoon along the Missouri River. Tom Patterson, a 23-year-old Briar Cliff University student from Frostburg, Maryland, disappeared around 5:30 p.m. Sunday while swimming with a group of friends across the Missouri River near a boat ramp four miles southwest of Elk Point. Several crews assisted the Union County Sheriff's Office in an investigation of the areas downstream from the boat ramp Sunday evening but stopped the search around 9 p.m. Monday's search resumed at 7 a.m. and included the Union County Sheriff's Office, Yankton Search and Rescue, South Dakota Game Fish & Parks, Nebraska Game & Parks, Brookings Search and Rescue K9 units, and the Dixon County Sheriff's Office. The crews included four dogs and three site scan sonar units. Union County Sheriff Dan Limoges said Monday evening that the crews had found some "areas of interest" using sonar but were unable to send divers into the water because of the wind. "The river is very relentless, very unforgiving," Limoges said. "We will have them out tomorrow and will assess whether we'll put them in or not." Crews were to resume the search Tuesday morning. Limoges said the main area of the search includes a mile downstream from the boat ramp. Briar Cliff University confirmed Monday that Patterson was a student at the university and a member of the school's wrestling program. "It is with heavy hearts that we acknowledge the disappearance of current student and wrestler Tom Patterson," a statement from the university said. "The search is ongoing and our prayers continue to surround the situation and all involved. As a campus, we will be providing support to those coping in this difficult time." The university held a prayer vigil Monday evening at Our Lady of Grace Chapel on the university campus. Students and faculty packed the chapel to near capacity for the service. Patterson's parents were also in attendance. Limoges said he would warn others not to enter the river without life jackets, citing a similar search in August 2015 for a man who went missing while swimming with friends. SIOUX CITY | A Sioux City man found guilty of murder in July believes he was denied a fair trial and is seeking a new trial. Timothy Schroeder's attorney, public defender Jennifer Solberg, filed the motion for a new trial Friday, saying that Schroeder deserves one "to correct errors made by the court in all adverse rulings made against the defendant." The rulings include all pretrial motions and objections and rulings made during the trial. Solberg said those rulings denied Schroeder a fair trial. "The court should grant a new trial herein because the weight of the evidence is insufficient to sustain the verdicts of guilty," Solberg said in her motion. Solberg asked District Judge Jeffrey Neary, who presided over the trial, to either acquit Schroeder or grant him a new trial. A Woodbury County District Court jury found Schroeder, 31, guilty on July 22 of first-degree murder, going armed with intent and felon in possession of a firearm for the Jan. 9, 2015, shooting death of Dustin Wilder, 29, in his Sloan, Iowa, home. Schroeder's wife, Amanda Schroeder, testified at trial that the two gave Wilder a ride home from the Sloan Tap. Amanda Schroeder said she was in another room when she heard a gunshot from the kitchen. When she looked into the room, she said that she saw her husband holding a handgun and Wilder lying on the floor. Motions for new trials are often heard at sentencing, scheduled for Sept. 23 in Schroeder's case. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole. SIOUX CITY | A Sioux City man has pleaded not guilty to inappropriately touching a preteen girl several times during five-year period. Bryan Barnhart, 37, entered his written plea Friday in Woodbury County District Court to one count of second-degree sexual abuse. According to court documents, Barnhart babysat the girl from 2006-11, when she was ages 5-11. The girl reported to the Sioux City Police Department that Barnhart touched her inappropriately many times during that time. Barnhart admitted the allegations were true and also admitted to sexually abusing other children, court documents said. In accepting the invitation of President Enrique Pena Nieto to fly to Mexico City, the Donald was taking a major risk. Yet it was a bold and decisive move, and it paid off in what was the best day of Donald Trump's campaign. Standing beside Nieto, graciously complimenting him and speaking warmly of Mexico and its people, Trump looked like a president. And the Mexican president treated him like one, even as Trump restated the basic elements of his immigration policy, including the border wall. The gnashing of teeth up at The New York Times testifies to Trump's triumph: "Mr. Trump has spent his entire campaign painting Mexico as a nation of rapists, drug smugglers, and trade hustlers. ... But instead of chastising Mr. Trump, Mr. Pena Nieto treated him like a visiting head of state ... with side-by-side lecterns and words of deferential mush." As I wrote in August, Trump "must convince the nation ... he is an acceptable, indeed, a preferable alternative" to Hillary Clinton, whom the nation does not want. In Mexico City, Trump did that. He reassured voters who are leaning toward him that he can be president. As for those who are apprehensive about his temperament, they saw reassurance. For validation, one need not rely on supporters of Trump. Even Mexicans who loathe Trump are conceding his diplomatic coup. "Trump achieved his purpose," said journalism professor Carlos Bravo Regidor. "He looked serene, firm, presidential." Our "humiliation is now complete," tweeted an anchorman at Televisa. President Nieto's invitation to Trump "was the biggest stupidity in the history of the Mexican presidency," said academic Jesus Silva-Herzog. Not since Gen. Winfield Scott arrived for a visit in 1847 have Mexican elites been this upset with an American. Jorge Ramos of Univision almost required sedation. When Trump got back to the States, he affirmed that Mexico will be paying for the wall, even if "they don't know it yet." Indeed, back on American soil, in Phoenix, the Donald doubled down. Deportations will accelerate when he takes office, beginning with felons. Sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants will face U.S. sanctions. There will be no amnesty, no legalization, no path to citizenship for those who have broken into our country. All laws will be enforced. Trump's stance in Mexico City and Phoenix reveals that there is no turning back. The die is cast. He is betting the election on his belief that the American people prefer his stands to Clinton's call for amnesty. A core principle enunciated by Trump in Phoenix appears to be a guiding light behind his immigration policy. "Anyone who tells you that the core issue is the needs of those living here illegally has simply spent too much time Washington. ... There is only one core issue in the immigration debate, and that issue is the well-being of the American people. ... Nothing even comes a close second." The "well-being of the American people" may be the yardstick by which U.S. policies will be measured in a Trump presidency. This is also applicable to Trump's stand on trade and foreign policy. Do NAFTA, the WTO, MFN for China, the South Korea deal and TPP advance the "well-being of the American people"? Or do they serve more the interests of foreign regimes and corporate elites? Some $12 trillion in trade deficits since George H. W. Bush gives you the answer. Which of the military interventions and foreign wars from Serbia to Afghanistan to Iraq to Libya to Yemen to Syria served the "well-being of the American people"? Are the American people well served by commitments in perpetuity to 60- and 65-year-old treaties to wage war on Russia and China on behalf of scores of nations across Eurasia, most of which have been free riders on U.S. defense for decades? Trump's "core issue" might be called Americanism. Whatever the outcome of this election, these concerns are not going away. For they have arisen out of a deeply dissatisfied and angry electorate that is alienated from the elites of both parties. Indeed, alienation explains the endurance of Trump, despite his recent difficulties. Americans want change, and he alone offers it. In the last two weeks, Trump has seen a slow rise in the polls, matched by a perceptible decline in support for Clinton. The latest Rasmussen poll now has Trump at 40, with Clinton slipping to 39. This race is now Trump's to win or lose. For he alone brings a fresh perspective to policies that have stood stagnant under both parties. And Hillary Clinton? Whatever her attributes, she is uncharismatic, unexciting, greedy, wonkish, scripted and devious, an individual you can neither fully believe nor fully trust. Which is why the country seems to be looking, again, to Trump, to show them that they will not be making a big mistake if they elect him. If Donald Trump can continue to show America what he did in Mexico City, that he can be presidential, he may just become president. Many Nebraskans would describe themselves as being in favor of small government. But, as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for. You might get it. In Omaha small government has come to the suburbs in the form of dirt roads. The city does not have enough money to fix asphalt roads, so it has been dispatching crews to grind up the paving, leaving miles of dirt road in areas in which the homes are sometimes worth several hundred thousand dollars. "No letter, no notice. We just came home on a Tuesday, and our street was ground up," Joe Skradski told the Associated Press. "Since then, it's been nothing short of a nightmare," "the dentist said about his neighborhood, where a dozen $400,000-and-up houses now line a dirt path. Lincoln-area residents have no right to feel smug. Much the same thing is happening in rural Lancaster County. Recently, County Engineer Pam Dingman closed another three bridges when cumulative damage from storms washed away dirt from abutments, making them unsafe. One of those bridges is made of materials that are probably a century old, Dingman said. The county bought the bridge from the state in 1932 and moved it first to Emerald. In 1968 the county moved it to its spot between Waverly and Bluff roads, where it crossed Camp Creek. Erosion has widened the creek channel and the bridge is not long enough, which poses a challenge that Dingman has not yet solved. A new bridge would cost $1.2 million. In the other two cases the engineer is doing the same thing she did with bridges she had to close earlier. Shes putting in place a relatively inexpensive short-term fix at a price tag of $25,000 each. The dirt roads in Omaha and the road-closed signs in Lancaster County are a local manifestation of a national problem. Earlier this year the American Society of Civil Engineers said the nation needs to double its spending on roads, bridges and other infrastructure. Other infrastructure spending gaps, including for water, sewer, electricity, airports and ports, also are growing, the organization said. Judging from the size of our tax bills its hard to believe that government isnt big enough. But when it comes to infrastructure, theres no doubt that elected officials are thinking small. Unfortunately for the countrys long-term interests the anti-tax activists seem to be having their biggest success in choking off spending on roads, bridges, etc. Remember when anti-tax activist Grover Norquist said he wanted to reduce government to a size small enough to drag to the bathroom and drown in the bathtub? That wailing sound you hear from homeowners with dirt roads and rural residents with long detours due to closed roads might mean that Norquist has achieved his dream. Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star Small businesses in New Jersey worried about a potential increase in labor costs can breathe easy. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has vetoed a bill to raise the states minimum wage to $15 per hour. Concerns About Hiking the Minimum Wage in New Jersey Behind Veto Gov. Christie called the proposed $15 raise a really radical increase that would trigger an escalation of wages that will make doing business in New Jersey unaffordable. He also argued that small businesses would replace more employees by automated kiosks if the state increases its minimum wage. Had he signed the legislation, New Jersey would have become the third state after New York and California to adopt a $15 per hour minimum wage. Its worth noting that state voters had agreed to a previous wage hike in 2013 when it was raised to $8.25. In a statement about his veto, Christie cited that the legislature wants to increase the minimum wage by almost 80 percent only three years later. His decision has been backed by Michele Siekerka, president of the New Jersey Business & Industry Association who said the increase was too much, too fast. Had this bill been signed, it would not only have hurt the New Jersey economy, but it would have hurt the exact workers the proponents of this policy are trying to help, she said in a statement. But there are voices against the veto as well. Analilia Mejia, director of New Jersey Working Families Alliance, said the proposed increase in the minimum wage would have raised the pay of about 975,000 New Jersey workers. Him vetoing this is not shocking, Mejia told The New York Times. But she argued a higher minimum wage would increase prices and accelerate the automation of many jobs. She also added that low-wage workers would have more money to spend and increase the revenue of retailers and other businesses. Meanwhile in New York and California, the $15 wage increase has met with mixed response from small businesses. Gary Hu, owner of Check Maid Cleaning, a 50-employee residential cleaning business based in New York City told CNBC that increasing wages to $15 an hour has helped him retain cleaners. Brian Hibbs, owner of comic book and graphic novel store Comix Experience, on the other hand, told CBS news that the wage hike will hurt small businesses. I dont think this was thought through, he said. The cost of labor is so high. Its very, very difficult to run a profitable business at this point. The gravity of the existential threat we face from Islamic Jihad is truly of epic proportions. It is essentially a battle pitting free-civilized man against a totalitarian barbarian. What is at stake is the struggle for our very soul - namely who we are and what we represent. The lives that were sacrificed for individual rights and freedoms that we've come to cherish are being chiseled away from right under our noses by the stealth jihadists. And many of us are in denial and totally clueless. The left's appeasement and pandering to evil is nothing new. What makes their utopian delusions so infuriating and unpardonable is that it is not only they who will have to pay the consequences, and deservedly, so, they are thwarting and undermining our best efforts at resistance and are thus dragging us down in the process as well. By Peter Lancz,, the head of the Raoul Wallenberg World Campaign Against Racism. LEONARDTOWN, Md. Disclaimer: In the U.S.A., all persons accused of a crime by the State are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. See: so.md/presumed-innocence. Additionally, all of the information provided above is solely from the perspective of the respective law enforcement agency and does not provide any direct input from the accused or persons otherwise mentioned. You can find additional information about the case by searching the Maryland Judiciary Case Search Database using the accused's name and date of birth. The database is online at so.md/mdcasesearch . Persons named who have been found innocent or not guilty of all charges in the respective case, and/or have had the case ordered expunged by the court can have their name, age, and city redacted by following the process defined at so.md/expungeme. (Sept. 6, 2016)The Leonardtown Barrack of the Maryland State Police (MSP) today released the following incident and arrest reports.TRESPASSING: On Friday, August 26, Tpr. Opirhory responded to the Wal-Mart for a reported trespassing. Investigation revealed that, had trespassed on the property after receiving a court ordered notice not to trespass. She was placed under arrest and transported to the St. Mary's County Detention Center. She was held pending a bond review with the District Court Commissioner. (16-MSP-034707)ASSAULT: On Saturday, September 3, Tpr. Dunn and TFC B. Ditoto responded to the 45000 block of Church Road in Lexington Park for a reported assault. Investigation revealed that a, had assaulted a male victim. The juvenile was placed under arrest and transported to the Maryland State Police Leonardtown Barrack. He was charged with Assault Second Degree and released to a family member. (16-MSP-035923)DRUG ARREST, DUI: On Sunday, September 4, Tpr. Manning contacted, in the parking lot of the Maryland State Police Leonardtown Barrack. Mr. Dorsey was picking up a subject who had been arrested for DUI. Field sobriety was conducted, and Mr. Dorsey was placed under arrest for DUI. A search incident to arrest was conducted, and Tpr. Manning found suspected cocaine in Mr. Dorsey's pants pocket. He was charged with Possession of CDS: Cocaine, DUI, and other traffic offenses. Mr. Dorsey was transported to the St. Mary's County Detention Center and held pending a bond review with the District Court Commissioner. (16-MSP-036159)Eric Dwayne Dickerson, 44, of Leonardtown, on 8/25/2016 for Failure to Appear in CourtAnthony Gregory Dickens, Jr., 47, of Lexington Park, on 8/30/2015 for Failure to Appear in CourtMarco Morris Fenwick, 24, of Lexington Park, on 8/30/2016 for Failure to Pay a Deferred PaymentDeborah Ann Barnaby, 51, of Ridge, on 8/31/2016 for Failure to Appear in CourtHolly Renee Hauck, 40, of Lexington Park, on 9/1/2016 for Failure to Appear in CourtEduardo Romo Soledad, 22, of Lexington Park, on 9/1/2016 for Failure to Appear in CourtBrandi Sue Bolen, 24, of Leonardtown, on 9/2/2016 for Armed Robbery, Assault First Degree, Weapons Violations, and Failure to Appear in CourtJohn William Hall, 3rd, 65, of Bushwood, on 8/21/2016Crystal Marie Stewart, 35, of Lexington Park, on 8/27/2016Brian Edgar Ackerman, 49, of Great Mills, on 8/27/2016Jesse John Zagranis, 37, of Lakeland, FL, on 8/28/2016Marshall Delgado Butler, 45, of Bushwood, on 8/28/2016Paul Thomas Coup, 46, of Great Mills, on 8/29/2016Luis Antonio Pellot Fonseca, 41, of Hammond, LA, on 9/3/16Michelle Angela Dorsey, 26, of Lexington Park, on 9/4/2016Michael Paul Mcgowan, 26, of Mechanicsville, on 9/5/2016 (OF) Less than a month had passed since Ugandan police raided the countries fifth annual Pride celebration. In that month, advocates have stood up in hopes of changing the laws and public perception. But, the waters in Uganda for queer people are still dangerous. Officials have recently taken an 8-year-girl into custody on suspicion of lesbianism. Queer people in Uganda have no specific protections. Both male and female homosexual activity is illegal. Under the Penal Code, carnal knowledge against the order of nature between two males carries a potential penalty of life imprisonment. In November 2012, the speaker of the Parliament of Uganda promised to enact a revised anti-homosexuality bill, providing for harsher penalties against suspected LGBT people and anyone who fails to report them to authorities, including long-term imprisonment and the death penalty for what the law terms repeat offenders. Uganda, thankfully, voted down that measure, but current law still holds that anyone found engaging in sexual activities with members of the same sex could face life imprisonment. Jinja Police Child Family Protection, based in the eastern part of the country, states that they apprehended the girl because she was seeking romantic relationships with other girls her age. The girl was reported to have been seeking romantic relations with other girls her age. According to police, a neighbor spied on the young girl as she repeatedly lured friends to a farm near her house. Once there, the neighbor claims that she and her friends would engage in inappropriate behavior with one another. The neighbor reported her findings to police who then took the girl in for questioning. In their investigation, they determined that she had not only been acting out her lesbianism on the farm with friends, but also with classmates at school. Officials are now looking into the parents of the girl to see if they might have influenced her decision to engage in these illicit relationships. NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 5 September 2016. NASA Today: Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) Ingress and Sampling: Flight Engineer (FE)-6 Rubins ingressed the BEAM and collected the deployed Radiation Area Monitor (RAM) dosimeters and performed Microbial Air Sampler (MAS) and Surface Sample Kit (SSK) sampling. She also performed a thorough inspection of the walls and found no moisture. The crew also replaced all of the BEAM sensor extended life battery packs. The MAS and SSK samples as well as the RAM dosimeters will be packed for return on 46S and analyzed in Houston. Cardio Ox and Biochem Profile Collections: Rubins and FE-5 Onishi performed their Flight Day 60 (FD60) urine and blood collections and inserted them into Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI). The Biochemical Profile experiment tests blood and urine samples obtained from astronauts before, during, and after spaceflight. Specific proteins and chemicals in the samples are used as biomarkers, or indicators of health. Post-flight analysis yields a database of samples and test results, which scientists can use to study the effects of spaceflight on the body. The goal of Cardio Ox is to determine whether biological markers of oxidative and inflammatory stress are elevated during and after space flight and whether this results in an increased, long-term risk of atherosclerosis risk in astronauts. Marrow: Rubins collected breath and ambient air samples in support of the Canadian Space Agencys Marrow experiment. Marrow investigation looks at the effect of microgravity on the bone marrow. It is believed that microgravity, like long-duration bed rest on Earth, has a negative effect on the bone marrow and the blood cells that are produced in the marrow. The extent of this effect, and its recovery, are of interest to space research and healthcare providers on Earth. ISS Change of Command (COC): The entire crew discussed with Mission Control Center (MCC)-Houston and MCC-Moscow flight control teams their roles and responsibilities for the timeframe between the COC event and departure of 46S. Anatoly Ivanishin then assumed command of the ISS from Jeff Williams. Following the COC, the 47S crew became prime for emergency response. Post Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Tasks: The crew deconfigured the Airlock following last weeks EVA operations and prepared Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs) and equipment for long term stowage. They also performed EMU cooling loop maintenance on the EMUs used during the EVA (3003 and 3008). Crew Quarters (CQ) Port Cleaning: In preparation for his departure from the ISS tomorrow Williams cleaned his CQ, including the intake and exhaust ducts, fans and airflow sensors. All activities were completed unless otherwise noted. MARROW Air Samples HRF Sample Collection HRF MELFI Sample Insertion HRF Activation of Centrifuge and blood collection operator assistance HRF Blood Collection Operator HRF Refrigerated Centrifuge Configuration DOSETRK Data Entry HRF Refrigerated Centrifuge Configuration 2 MRF Flow HRF MELFI Sample Insertion Auxiliary Laptop Computer System Anti-Virus Data Update Crew Departure Prep Removal and handover of dosimeters to RS for stowage in Soyuz 720 Measuring Partial CO Pressure in RS using US portable CSA-CP device (Central Post SM panel 208) HRF Blood sample removal in preparation for cold stowage insertion HRF MELFI Sample Insertion MATRYOSHKA-R. Transfer of PADLE detectors and handover for Return / r/g 3286 MATRYOSHKA-R. Photos of Transfer / r/g 3290 Fine Motor Skills (FINEMOTR) Experiment Ops LBNP Exercise (CLOSEOUT) r/g 3296 HRF Refrigerated Centrifuge Closeout Ops HRF Sample Collection On MCC GO Dismantling ??? (??251??) and ROM from Soyuz720 ?? HRF MELFI Sample Insertion US items prepack for return on 46S HABIT Questionnaires Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) Recycle Tank Fill Part 3 CASKAD. Connecting Anabioz Incubator to ??? and Power Up / r/g 3293 WRM Condensate Collection Configuration Soyuz 731 Samsung Tablet Recharge, initiate HABIT Preparing for the experiment Stowage of BEAM Video Equipment Folding ARED Platform CASKAD. Starting Anabioz No. 2 Battery Charge / r/g 3293 Folding ARED Platform MRF Purge BEAM Ingress Crew Discretionary Event FENIKS. Removal and Transfer of Bioekologiya cases to Soyuz 720, disposal of empty Bioekologiya kits / r/g 3292 Air Lock Deconfig after EVA Moving Stowage back to the A/L after the EVA BEAM air sampling using ??-1? sampler r/g 3295 Environmental Health System (EHS), Radiation Area Monitors (RAM) Retrieve FAGEN. Removal and transfer of [MCK] Kits No.06 and No.07 from panel 328 to Soyuz 720 / r/g 3291 BIOPOLIMER. Hardware Removal from Exposure Location and Transfer to Soyuz / r/g 3294 Start EMU cooling loop scrub STRUKTURA Photography during deactivation / r/g 3289 STRUKTURA Deactivation of crystallization process / r/g 3288 Microbiology Surface Sampling in BEAM using SSK kit BAKTERIOFAG. Photograph and Dismantle BIOECOLOGIYA Container, transfer to Soyuz 720 / r/g 3287 STRUKTURA Transfer and stowage of Luch-2 Kit to Soyuz 720 / r/g 3288 IFM Port Crew Quarters (CQ) Cleaning Soyuz 720 Samsung Tablet Recharge, initiate Sanitary -Hygiene Status Monitoring r/g 3298 Soyuz 720 Payload Container Stowage Ops for return / r/g 3099 Soyuz 731 Samsung Tablet Recharge, terminate ??? Maintenance r/g 3300 EMU Cooling Loop Post Scrub Water Sample Microbial Air Sampler (MAS) Kit Sample Collection in BEAM EMU Cooling Loop Maintenance, EMU Reconfig Microbial Sample Collection / r/g 3297 Filling (separation) of ??? (???) for Elektron or ???-?? Transfer of MAS/SSK samples (from BEAM) to RS for stowage in Soyuz 720 HRF Sample Collection Replace BEAM Distributed Impact Detection System (DIDS) HRF MELFI Sample Insertion BEAM Cleanup and Egress Exercise Data Downlink via OCA ARED Footplate Unfold to Nominal Position IFM In Flight Maintenance (IFM) Port Crew Quarter (CQ) Cleaning Health Maintenance System (HMS) Profile of Mood States (POMS) Questionnaire HRF Sample Collection Water Transfer to Container via MRF, End Countermeasures System (CMS), Sprint Exercise, Optional HRF MELFI Sample Insertion EMU Cooling Loop Deconfig Soyuz 720 P/L Container Transfer Operations Report r/g 3099 MARROW Air Samples Soyuz 720 Samsung tablet recharge, terminate Signing ISS RS Handover Protocol / r/g 3285 Comm Check and Ops from Soyuz 720 via RGS Completed Task List Items MELFI1 retrieve 1 and 2 of 4 BMS sample complete 3 of 4 Manufacturing Device Print Removal, Clean, and Stow PFS Gas Delivery System Portable PFS Photography HRF PC1 and PC2 battery changeout Space Station Research Explorer (SSRE) iPad Application Update Ground Activities All activities were completed unless otherwise noted. Support for EMU Loop Scrub Safing for port CQ cleaning Three-Day Look Ahead: Tuesday, 09/06: Cardio Ox ultrasound, final HRF samples, 46S undock and landing Wednesday, 09/07: Crew Sleep Shift Thursday, 09/08: Express Rack 7 SSPCM R&R, EVA water conductivity test, ARED cable R&R, IMV flow measurement QUICK ISS Status Environmental Control Group: Component Status Elektron On Vozdukh Manual [???] 1 SM Air Conditioner System (SKV1) Off [???] 2 SM Air Conditioner System (SKV2) Off Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab Standby Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 Operate Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab Idle Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 Operate Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) Standby Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) Process Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab Off Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 Full Up NASA FISO Presentation: NASA Space Portal - A Framework for Space Exploration and Development in the 21st Century?. NASA Now available is the August 17, 2016 NASA Future In-Space Operations (FISO) telecon material. The speaker was Dan Rasky (NASA ARC) who discussed NASA Space Portal A Framework for Space Exploration and Development in the 21st Century? Dr. Rasky is an internationally recognized expert on advanced entry systems and thermal protection materials. He has developed his expertise working five years for the U.S. Air Force and more than 20 years for NASA. In the 1990s, he and his research colleagues at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., invented a heat-shield material called Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) that has subsequently been used on several NASA as well as private industry spacecraft. For this achievement, Rasky received the NASA Inventor of the Year Award for 2007 the first ever for NASA Ames. Listen to podcast of NASA Space Portal A Framework for Space Exploration and Development in the 21st Century? telecon: Download the MP3 File. Download the presentation (PDF). Thu, 27.10.22 - 11:04 The temperatures will fall in the Murcia Region but the weekend still promises to be warm and sunny Autumn has ye... Young journalist of Press Trust of India news agency, Pradipta Tapadar, said: I hope this workshop will help me in enhancing my multimedia skills and it would help me in diversifying my core communication skills. Yonhap journalist, Cho-rong Park, noted: I'm looking forward to learn how Sputnik uses video, info graphics, and social media. Yonhap News Agency also has multimedia department, and our aim is to converge them effectively. La Stampa young journalist, Giuseppe Bottero, said: It will be an important opportunity to share experiences with international colleagues and to know brilliant journalists. The project is part of the New Generation program of the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo). Sputnik is a news agency and radio network with multimedia news hubs in dozens of countries. Sputnik broadcasts through its websites in over 30 languages, as well as on analogue and digital radio, mobile apps, and social media. Sputnik newswires, available by subscription, 24/7 in English, Arabic, Spanish and Chinese. The overwhelming majority of the apostates availed themselves to a web page that was launched in mid-August which allows people to easily withdraw from the church. Interestingly, the unfortunate webpage was initially aimed to provide Norwegians with the opportunity to verify their status within the church and join. However, only 1,177 Norwegians used the site to join the congregation, while 24,653 used the webpage to "unsubscribe," the Church of Norway reported, obviously regretting its decision. Despite the alarmingly shrinking figures, Helga Haugland Byfuglien, the head of the Norwegian Bishops' Conference, declined to characterize the trend as a "mass exodus." "The number of withdrawals must be seen in relation to the large number of members of the Norwegian Church," Haugland Byfuglien told Norwegian national broadcaster NRK. MOSCOW (Sputnik) According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim visited the test-firing of ballistic rockets by artillery units of the Korean People's Army (KPA). The test was necessary to help prevent possible "US aggression," and Kim stressed the need to make more "miraculous achievements in stepping up the nuclear force," according to the agency. On Monday, the North Korean authorities fired three ballistic missiles from Hwangju county in the direction of the Sea of Japan, in what has become a routine occurrence in the past few months. In 2005, North Korea declared itself a nuclear power. So far, it has conducted four underground nuclear weapon tests in 2006, 2009, 2013 and 2016, raising concerns of both the neighboring states and the international community. TOKYO (Sputnik) On Monday, the Japanese Defense Ministry confirmed that the North Korean authorities had fired three ballistic missiles from Hwangju county in the direction of the Sea of Japan. Later, media reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had visited a missile launch test and emphasized the necessity to boost the country's nuclear force. "The ongoing development of North Korea's nuclear and missile programs is a clear violation of the UN Security Council resolutions. This is absolutely unacceptable. We intend to continue to cooperate closely with the United States and South Korea and call on the DPRK to refrain from provocative actions and to strictly observe UN resolutions," Suga told a press conference. He pledged to react to the missile launches through diplomatic channels as well, and to "do everything to protect the safety of our citizens." TOKYO (Sputnik) On Monday, the Japanese Defense Ministry said that the North Korean authorities had fired three ballistic missiles from Hwangju county in the direction of the Sea of Japan. Later, it was reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a missile launch test and stressed the necessity to boost the country's nuclear force. "Three ballistic missiles, which were fired from one location, reached simultaneously Japan's exclusive economic zone and fell into almost the same spot in the sea. Earlier [on August 24] a ballistic missile was launched from a submarine. All this shows progress in North Korea's missile technologies," Inada said. She also stressed that her country should react to the constantly repeated missile launches by North Korea. Japan should boost cooperation with the United States in missile defense in this context, she added. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The attackers launched the assault at 11 p.m. on Monday [18:30 GMT], detonating a car bomb outside the NGO building and then storming it, TOLO News reported. Police confirmed that one civilian was killed and six were wounded. "All those killed were poor people and bread winners of their families," said a witness of the bombing in Kabul https://t.co/672mTdW1UZ The New York Times (@nytimes) 5 2016 . On Monday, three blasts rocked the Afghan capital, killing at least 36 people and wounding some 40. The attack was reportedly perpetrated by the Taliban militant group. Afghanistan has been gripped by political, social and security-related instability for decades, as radical extremist organizations continue to stage attacks against civilian and military targets. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The United States will continue its presence in the East China and South China seas to the extent allowed by the international law allows, President Barack Obama said Tuesday. "America's treaty allies must know, our commitment to your defense is a solemn obligation that will never waiver. And across the region, including in the East and South China seas, United States will continue to fly and sail and operate wherever international law allows and support the right of all countries to do the same," Obama said at a press conference upon his official visit to Laos. China has territorial claims over Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, which are believed to be rich in oil and gas reserves. These claims run counter to those of the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam. We cannot operate inside Myanmar. If we have to neutralize the insurgents, we will have to seek the help of Myanmars Army. However, Myanmars Army does not have adequate sources to counter these insurgents on their own. They not only need intelligence support but also materialistic support. Therefore, the weapons India is giving to Myanmar will solve Indias purpose. The assistance is not aimed at arming Myanmar to fight against another country. Myanmar has high level relations with China. It also has good relations with its eastern neighbor Thailand, said Major General R K Arora (Retired), Chief Editor of the Indian Military Review. Sources revealed that Myanmars administration has very little presence in the areas where the militants are camping and though army patrol parties are sent to those areas from time to time, the ultras manage to shift to safer places. To deal with this problem, the Myanmar Government has started constructing permanent army bases in the vulnerable areas as well as in the areas bordering India to prevent the ultras from using the territory of the neighboring country. However, sources said that the construction of permanent army bases by Myanmar would take some time. In 2016 alone, civilian killing in Assam doubled compared to 2015. According to the South Asian Terrorism Portal, 19 civilians were killed in August alone by the NDFB-IKS group. KUBINKA (Moscow region) (Sputnik) The Pakistani armed forces are interested in Russian arms, including air defense systems and tanks, Maj. Gen. Naveed Ahmed, the director general of defense procurement for the country, told Sputnik on Tuesday. "Our army services are [showing] keen interest in different Russian products. We are looking for the air platform, for any sorts of helicopters; for the army we are looking for tanks, we are looking for anti-tanks weapon system and more importantly we are looking for the air defense system," Ahmed, who is leading the Pakistani delegation to the Army-2016 military expo, said. The military forum, which is taking place on September 6-11 in Kubinka, a western suburb of Moscow, brings together representatives from the Russian defense industry, research institutes, universities, as well as foreign companies. Over 800 Russian and foreign participants will mount some 7,000 exhibitions throughout the week. The forum's participants and guests will attend a number of conferences and round-table discussions to discuss the future development of military technology. Chinese President Xi Jinping presides over the opening ceremony of the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept 4, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] The ceremonies, handshakes, meetings and speeches, banquets and performances of this year's G20 Summit have now come to an end. In fact, they ended on Monday after the leaders of the world's 20 major economies met in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, and a long list of agreements were signed. But these were not the be-all and end-all of the 2016 G20, as it is likely to have a lasting legacy in international relations, with China leaving its stamp on the G20 as a mechanism to coordinate future actions by the world's leading economies. China's contribution to the 2016 G20 has been significant in two ways. First, China has demonstrated unswerving commitment to globalization, more specifically to defending free trade and cross-border investment and business cooperation, despite the fact that it can no longer easily increase its own exports by relying on low-cost labor, and that many processing operations formerly based in China have relocated elsewhere. Amid growing calls for protectionism worldwide, pessimism about the future, and fear of sharing opportunities with foreigners, China understands that it must set an example by working with other countries to defend the existing global market system. Just as President Xi Jinping told the delegates at the Business 20, a sideline session of the G20 Summit, on Saturday, rather than overturning the existing system, what China wants is to expand the global market system, to make it include more nations, more workers and more entrepreneurs. China has also cautioned against attempts to seek self-protection, and politically defined small-circle games, since they tend to rewrite the rules for the global system and worsen the problems plaguing the world economy. On Sunday, Xi again called on the G20 members to continue to promote the liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment. Second, China's contribution has also been significant in the way the G20's agenda has been aligned with the long-term goals and programs set out by the United Nations. China has contributed substantial content to affect this, including its efforts to nurture cooperation among the emerging market economies and inviting more leaders from developing nations to participate in the G20 process, as well as the proposal for a common e-commerce platform for small and medium-sized enterprises across the world. To brave the rough waters of the world economy and start a new journey for future global growth, the G20 should not only help the world coordinate efforts to deal with emergencies, as was its original purpose following the onset of the global financial crisis, it should also focus on long-term governance. It should address both the symptoms and root causes of the world's economic problems with real actions, so as to spread opportunities where there are few or none. In anti-globalization, anger and divisiveness hold sway. Globalization, on the other hand, requires people from different countries to exchange views, compare notes and learn from one another. However, the G20 members can do more than just talk. They can generate more trade and cross-border investment deals, showcase more innovations, provide more services, and extend help to more poor people and under-developed nations. In the process, the G20 can become more important by finding "a direction and a course for the world economy with a strategic vision", as Xi has urged. In this way it can help realize people's common aspirations for sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth. LONDON (Sputnik) On Monday, the polish ministers urgently arrived in London as they were concerned with recent attacks on Polish men. In August, a polish man died after three teenagers attacked a group of Poles in the city of Harlow, Essex. During the weekend, two more Poles were attacked in the same city. "We reminded the representatives of the British government that the Poles are very well integrated into British society and deserve respect. For decades, a large Polish community in the United Kingdom has not experienced any problems, but after a referendum some cases began to occur They pay taxes and deserve to be protected," Waszczykowski told reporters. On June 23, the United Kingdom held a referendum to determine whether or not the country should leave the European Union. According to the final results, 51.9 percent of voters, decided to support Brexit. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Police are negotiating with the Black Lives Matter protesters who have staged a demonstration blocking the runway at the London City Airport, the Scotland Yard said in a statement on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, the airport said that protesters were causing flight disruptions by occupying the runway. The Black Lives Matter said the protest was to "highlight the UK's environmental impact on the lives of black people locally and globally." "Officers are currently on scene and are negotiating with them. We are awaiting the arrival of specialist resources that are able to 'unlock' the protestors," the police statement reads. MOSCOW (Sputnik) According to data published by the UK-based Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), the government relies on "questionable" migration data in a bid to control migrant flows and by doing so it inflicts harm on the UK economy. Statistics from the International Passenger Survey (IPS) carried out by the Home Office every year, is said to show about 90,000 of non-EU migrants do not leave the country after finishing their studies. However Annual Population Surveys and Home Office visa data suggest that this number stands at 30,000-40,000. "The number of international students coming to the UK is falling, in part because of the Governments efforts to cut net migration to the tens of thousands Our research suggests that many of the students they are targeting may be phantom students who are no longer in the country," Marley Morris, a research fellow at IPPR, said as quoted by the institute on its website. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Two Be-200 amphibious aircraft to assist Portugal in battling forest fires, following the receipt of a request from Lisbon, arrived in Portugal on August 13. "The Emergencies Ministry's planes made a total of 122 water discharges with a total weight of almost 1,500 tonnes. As a result, 26 fires were extinguished, fire was prevented from spreading in the direction of three national parks and 13 settlements, which are populated by more than 68,000 people," the spokesperson said. The Beriev Be-200 is well suited to firefighting missions. It can take in up to 12.5 metric tons of water in the space of a few seconds while traveling over a body of water before dropping it on the flames. MOSCOW (Sputnik) About 100 people gathered late on Monday in the Forges-les-Bains commune of Essonne department in front of the center to protest the accommodation of 90 migrants there, planned for October. Lorry drivers, farmers and workers block traffic to demand closure of the Calais #refugee camp https://t.co/01BvihLimW via @AJEnglish Justice Forum (@Haki_Forum) 6 2016 . According to Europe1 radio station, police received a message about the fire at the building at around 2:30 a.m. local time (00:30 GMT) on Tuesday. The roof of the center reportedly caught flames. The law enforcement is investigating the causes of the fire, the radio reported. The interpreter, who allegedly spoke disparagingly of Arabs during an interview with Syrian asylum-seekers in Orebro, Sweden, was suspended from duty, Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported. The woman reportedly welcomed the tightening of the Swedish asylum laws and said that Arabs who come to Sweden are lying and exaggerating about their backgrounds and personal histories in order to make it easier to obtain asylum and welfare bonuses. The interpreter herself was reported to have a Christian Iraqi background. While tens of thousands of Christians have been enslaved by Daesh or forced to flee Northern Iraq and neighboring parts of Syria, they are commonly discriminated against by Muslim refugees. She had responded negatively to a journalist's lament regarding the stricter asylum laws. She explained that "many" Arabs who come to Sweden lie and exaggerate how bad they had it in their home countries in order to more easily obtain asylum. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Police received the phone call at 2:50 a.m. [12:50 GMT] with heavily armed police units arriving at the hotel shortly, Leipziger Volkszeitung reported. Police are blocking all hotel exits and searching cars parked outside. The hotel was not evacuated. Polizeineinsatz in #Leipzig Wir sichern zur Zeit Hotel #Furstenhof in der Innenstadt nach Drohanruf. Polizei Sachsen (@PolizeiSachsen) 6 2016 . In July, two lone-wolf attacks were carried out in the Bavarian cities of Ansbach and Wuerzburg, both claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group, which is banned in Germany and Russia as well as many other countries. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party sees an opportunity to influence the federal government's soft policy toward migrants by gaining more seats in the country's state parliaments, Markus Frohnmaier, the official spokesman for the AfD leader Frauke Petri, told Sputnik on Tuesday. On Sunday, the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania held state elections, with AfD winning 21 percent of the vote, knocking Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) party into third place with 19 percent. The left-leaning Social Democrats received 30 percent of the vote and will remain the state's ruling party. As observers and CDU members admitted after elections, the CDU's "bitter result" was directly linked to voters' dissatisfaction with Merkel's soft line on refugees. "The more seats AfD will gain in the state parliaments, the more possibilities we will have to influence the government, so that they change the direction of its policy [toward migrants]," Frohnmaier said. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The evacuation of the camp, housing hundreds of people in the 19th arrondissement of the capital, started early on Tuesday, LIndependent newspaper reported. The first bus with refugees reportedly left the site at 9.30 a. m. (07:30 GMT) under the supervision of the riot control forces. France will tear down the Calais 'Jungle' refugee camp that houses 7,000 https://t.co/bTEgTq3sSe pic.twitter.com/mHaQ3Gx3QA VICE News (@vicenews) 6 2016 . The evacuation comes as Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo earlier in the day reiterated her pledge to open the first legal refugee camp in the city soon. Since the start of 2015, French authorities carried out over 20 evacuations of makeshift migrant camps in Paris. At the same time, the associations involved in the reception of migrants have repeatedly called not to dismantle existing camps while no official accommodation is established to house the evicted refugees. MOSCOW (Sputnik) With success in the recent local elections in a northeastern state and very likely to gain ground in the city-state of Berlin in a couple of weeks, the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) is hopeful to lay a solid base for general elections in 2017 and become the second strongest political force in the future, the head of the AfD apparatus, Markus Frohnmaier, told Sputnik. On Sunday, AfD clinched almost 21 percent in its first bid for seats in the regional parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which includes Chancellor Angela Merkel's constituency. The party finished second to the Social Democrats on 30 percent and beat Merkel's party Christian Democrats into third place with just 19 percent. On September 18, Berlin will also held local elections with expectations running high for further gains by the AfD. "For me the question is not whether we will enter [the Berlin parliament], I wonder how strong we will be there. In the development of the political process in Germany, we can become the second strongest party in the country," Markus Frohnmaier, who also serves as spokesman for AfD leader Frauke Petri, said. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The relations between Russia and France are a determining factor on European and global politics, a report released by the foreign affairs committee of the Council of the Federation, the Russian parliament's lower chamber, said on Tuesday. "The climate in Europe and in the world on the whole depends on the extent of confidence in political dialogue between Russia and France However it should be acknowledged that the future of Russian-French relations directly depends on how independently France can act within Europe and on the international stage," the report reads. The report noted that Russian-French bilateral cooperation could trigger a detente between Moscow and the West and facilitate rapprochement between the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union. This election is unlikely to have any noticeable effect on the local government structure in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania as the Social Democratic Party once again came in first by securing nearly 31 percent of votes (as compared to AfDs 21.9 percent), ensuring that its local head Erwin Sellering retains his post of the regions minister president. Furthermore, its very likely that Sellering once again will create a coalition with CDU, providing the federal government with a comfortable majority in the local parliament, DW remarks. Nevertheless, the success of AfD during this election cannot be ignored or downplayed. While the party failed to pass the 5-percent barrier during the Bundestag election of 2013, in the following years it managed to score impressive results during state elections. AfD positions itself as a national-conservative party with a liberal economic program, but at the present time it also projects a powerful anti-Islamic message and vehemently opposes any attempts to allow migrants into the country. During the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania election, the party also managed to effectively drive out the far-right ultranationalist National Democratic Party from the local parliament, as a considerable number of NDP supporters chose to vote for AfD, the former failed to make it past the 5-percent barrier. Due to this development, NDP now has no representatives in any of Germanys state parliaments. However, it appears that AfD also managed to attract a considerable number of voters who previously favored the leftist movements, which can be interpreted as a sign of a 'shift to the right' among the German electorate, DW points out. And as Angela Merkels approval rating continues to sag, it remains to be seen whether the Chancellor will be able to reverse this trend or succumb to it. MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) Venezuelas opposition called on public in Caracas to join a 10-minute protest aimed to provide for signatures for a referendum to recall President Nicolas Maduro, executive secretary of the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) coalition, Jesus Torrealba said. "On September 7, there will be 10 minutes of protest for the people of Caracas to stand wherever they are, demanding 20% of the signatures to revoke Maduro. Caracas will mobilize support from the rest of the Venezuelans," Torrealba said during a press conference. The opposition has been trying to oust the Venezuelan leader for months amid widespread public discontent with Maduro's government and acute economic problems the country is facing. At the end of August, the Turkish authorities started building a new segment of a barrier wall along its southern border with Kobani (also spelled as Kobane) canton in northern Syria. The announced purpose behind the move is security protection as the Turkish government looks at the region with unease because of its control by the Syrian Kurdish militia known as the People's Protection Units (YPG). Kobani canton is the central of four cantons of de facto autonomous Federation of North Syria Rojava. Although officially remaining part of Aleppo Governorate, Kobani Canton was declared autonomous in January 2014, and since then has been administered by the interim government of the Kurdish Supreme Committee. RAMALLAH (Sputnik) Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, on a visit to Poland earlier in the day, said Israeli officials wanted to postpone his September 9 meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which was offered by Russian President Vladimir Putin. "We are grateful to the head of the Palestinian Authority Abbas for his agreement in principle with President Putins proposal. We continue to maintain contacts and to consult with both parties to reach an agreement on the form, content and date of the meeting," Bogdanov said. Palestines Ambassador to Russia Abdel Hafiz Nofal told Sputnik on Monday that Abbas and Netanyahu looked set to meet in Moscow, but the exact timing was not defined. KUBINKA (Moscow Region) (Sputnik) Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Minister of National Defense of Bolivia Reymi Ferreira signed an agreement on military cooperation on the sidelines of the Army-2016 military forum held in Kubinka near Moscow. "I hope that the signing of the agreement will be a good guarantee for our prospects of military cooperation. This document will provide a solid legal basis for further military, and I hope in the future, for military-technical cooperation," Shoigu said at the signing ceremony. Ferreira in his turn thanked Shoigu for the invitation to the international military-technical forum and conveyed "best regards" from President Evo Morales. He stressed that strengthening military cooperation was very important for Bolivia. KUBINKA (Moscow Region) (Sputnik) The Indian Armed Forces aim to purchase more BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles in years to come, a spokesman for the manufacturing firm BrahMos Aerospace Limited told Sputnik on the sidelines of the Army-2016 military forum on Tuesday. "Yes, definitely, there will be more BrahMos production in the Indian Armed Forces, BrahMos is a world-class weapons system and there is no equivalent in the world today. Speed, precision and power all exists in this system," Praveen Pathak said, when asked whether the army was expected to request more BrahMos missiles in the coming years. According to Pathak, there is a demand for the BrahMos missiles in many countries. KUBINKA (Sputnik) In August, Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan said that Tehran was expecting Moscow to fulfill its commitments on the deliveries of S-300 air defense systems within September, adding that the main part of the batch had arrived in Iran. "We have delivered half already, even more," Kozhin said. The $800-million Moscow-Tehran contract to deliver Russian-made S-300 air defense systems to Iran was signed in 2007. In 2011, Iran sued Russia in the Geneva Arbitration Court after Moscow suspended the contract in 2010, citing a UN Security Council resolution that placed an arms embargo on Tehran. MOSCOW, (Sputnik) The Mi-8AMTSh-VA Arctic military transport helicopter will be showcased at Army-2016 international military forum, Russian Helicopters holding said in a press release Tuesday. Mi-8AMTSh-VA is an adapted version of the Mi-8AMTSh helicopter in order to operate in sub-zero conditions. Among its main features is the presence of a unique oil and transmission units heating system, which allows the engine to start at temperatures as low as 76 Fahrenheit. "Technical solutions implemented in the Arctic helicopter Mi-8AMTSh-VA can be applied not only to Defense Ministry uses but also for civil projects. These helicopters might be of interest to companies whose activities are related to the Arctic and northern latitudes, particularly, oil and gas, exploration and transport companies," it was noted in the press release. "[Qatars Defense Ministry officials] are examining all kinds of weapons, getting acquainted with the hardware from which benefits can be acquired in the fight against terrorism, as well as in use by special forces," Al Mahmoud said. The envoy noted the high level of military cooperation Qatar enjoys with Russia, adding that "we are focused on its expansion." He added that a large group of the country's officials accompanied Attiyah during his visit to the military expo. The Army-2016 military forum organized by the Russian Defense Ministry kicked off earlier in the day and is due to last through Sunday. The forum is held in the military-themed Patriot Park near Moscow and in a number of locations in Russian military districts. KUBINKA (Moscow region) (Sputnik) The issue of counterterrorism cooperation is very high on the agenda of Russia and Pakistan, including numerous high-level exchanges on the issue, Maj. Gen. Naveed Ahmed, the director general of defense procurement for the country, told Sputnik on Tuesday. "Our cooperation in counterterrorism is very high on our agenda. There were very high level exchanges between two countries last year," Ahmed, who is leading the Pakistani delegation to the Army-2016 military expo, said. Last month, Russia's Southern Military District (SMD) said that the first Friendship-2016 Russian-Pakistani joint military exercise would kick off in Pakistan in September. The drills will take place between September 23 and October 10 at the Army High Altitude School in northern Pakistan's Rattu and at a special forces training center in Cherat. KUBINKA (Moscow Region) (Sputnik) The United States has lifted sanctions against Russias state arms exporter Rosobonexports Mi-17 helicopter maintenance contracts in Afghanistan, the firms deputy director told Sputnik on Tuesday. "On November 24, 2015, the United States lifted sanctions imposed on September 2 against Rosoboronexports maintenance contracts for Mi-17 helicopters in Afghanistan," Sergey Goreslavsky said at the Army-2016 military and technical forum near Moscow. He added that Washingtons decision could be extended beyond the two years it was imposed on. KUBINKA (Moscow Region) (Sputnik) Russia and India are yet to sign a contract on the delivery of S-400 Triumf missile systems as consultations are still ongoing, the state arms exporter Rosoboronexports deputy director told Sputnik on Tuesday. "The Indian Defense Ministry officials comments published by some Russian and Indian media of an already signed contract on the supply of S-400 Triumf are not true. These are only consultations so far, and there is no decision on the number, much less the value, of the possible contract," Sergey Goreslavsky said at the Army-2016 military and technical forum near Moscow. KUBINKA (Moscow Region) (Sputnik) Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport has issued a preliminary response to the Brazilian air forces purchase request for the Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft artillery systems and awaits an invitation for consultations, the firms deputy director told Sputnik on Tuesday. "On April 25, 2016, Russia handed over a preliminary answer to the Brazilian Air Force to the Request for Proposal (RFP) on the Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile system. We now expect an invitation for face-to-face talks," Sergey Goreslavsky said at the Army-2016 military and technical forum near Moscow. Goreslavsky noted that Brazils domestic affairs related to the impeachment of its suspended president have not impeded the course of the talks. The second World Nomad Games opened over the weekends on the shores of the alpine lake Issyk-Kul, situated near the Chinese border in Kyrgyzstan. The tournament promises to become a major international event in the country; they are designed to celebrate the nomadic heritage of the Central Asian nations. On Monday afternoon, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton blasted Russia for meddling in the US election in favor of her opponent Donald Trump citing credible reports allegedly linking Moscow with the DNC email dump by WikiLeaks and the hacking of voter files in Illinois and Arizona. "The fact that our intelligence professional are now studying this and taking it seriously raises some grave questions about potential Russian interference with our electoral process," said Clinton. "We are facing a very serious concern. Weve never had a foreign adversarial power be already involved in our electoral process Weve never had the nominee of one of our major parties urging the Russia to hack more." Despite the harsh words from the former Secretary of State there remains absolutely no evidence linking Russia to the document trove released by WikiLeaks that exposed a scheme by Clintons campaign in partnership with the DNC and select members of the mainstream media to spin false narratives about her primary opponent Bernie Sanders leaving some to feel the election was stolen. First, he says, a recent opinion poll revealed that a large majority of Russians want all of the Kurils chain to remain as part of Russia, and are not open to making any kind of compromise. Second, he refers to the recent interview of President Putin with Bloomberg where the Russian leader made it clear that Russia does not trade its territories. However, the author notes, even if the territorial talks come to nothing, Japan benefits out of improved relations with Russia that may open up economic opportunities and a favorable dimension to the regional power dynamic. Russia Winning Poker Game With US: Its Policy to Isolate Moscow Not Going Well The diplomat also points out that the main outcome of the summit between the two leaders has been, well, that they will meet again in December. The announcement is even more important due to the fact that the previously announced visit had been cancelled under US pressure. If in 2014 Tokyo had backtracked under US pressure on the invitation to Putin for a visit that year to Japan, there can be no doubt whatsoever that Abe will exercise strategic autonomy and host the Russian leader in December, he says. The annual G20 Summit wrapped up yesterday. It was the first of the meetings of the worlds twenty largest economies to be held in China, showcasing the countrys rapid growth in recent years. But as world leaders and central bank governors converged on China, where is the global economy heading? Can global discontent with free trade agreements be curbed? Are the largest proposed free trade deals the TPP and TTIP already dead? Can summits like the G20 do much to alleviate political tensions, from NATO's conflict with Russia to the war in Syria? The system, which will be supplied to the General Tadeusz Kosciuszko Military Academy of Land Forces (Wyzsza Szkola Oficerska Wojsk Ladowych) (WSOWL) in Wroclaw, Poland, can simulate a wide range of live fire engagements, including simulation various types of ammunition and an elaborate set of combat statuses, such as kill, injury, near miss or even artillery fire. The system blocks weapon of a "killed" fighter, disabling them from taking part in following action. The laser beam also transmits additional data to the sensor, such as name of the killer which is useful for after action analysis. TOKYO (Sputnik) Japanese Economy Minister and Minister for Economic Cooperation with Russia Hiroshige Seko said Tuesday he wanted to move forward on the track of bilateral cooperation. "I want to move forward rapidly, setting priorities," Seko told journalists, as quoted by Kyodo news agency. The position of Minister for Economic Cooperation with Russia was created right before the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Russia's Vladivostok, where Seko accompanied Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the forum. SAMARKAND (Sputnik) Uzbek authorities can count on Russia as a reliable friend and Moscow seeks to develop relations with Uzbekistan, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday. "Of course, we very much expect that what was started by President Islam Karimov will be continued. We will do everything to support this path of mutual development, support the Uzbek people, the Uzbek leadership. You can count on us fully, as on the most reliable friends," Putin said at a meeting with Uzbek Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Putin underlined that late President Karimov laid a "very strong foundation" for relations between the two countries and helped create a strategic partnership between Russia and Uzbekistan. TEHRAN (Sputnik) Irans Minister of Petroleum and the secretary-general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) discussed the details of the Russian-Saudi oil market stabilization agreement, an Iranian ministry source told RIA Novosti on Tuesday. Moscow and Riyadh signed the joint statement to step up cooperation in stabilizing the oil market and ensuring stable long-term investment in China on Monday. "In addition to oil prices and the possibilities of stabilizing production, [OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Sanusi] Barkindo and [Irans Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar] Zanganeh discussed the details of the Russian-Saudi agreement on oil," the source said. Two years later, we see the leading nations of the world, including the US, the UK, Germany, France and Turkey, signaling their readiness to develop a dialogue with Russia, according to him. "They know full well that any global problem related to the economy, security and terrorism can only be resolved with Russia's participation. This summit should be seen as another step, another signal that Russia remains a very important player in the global arena and that it's impossible to resolve pressing internationals issues without consulting Moscow," he said. He was echoed by Armen Oganesyan, chief editor of the international affairs magazine Mezhdunarodnaya Zhizhn, who said that in Hangzhou, "the G20 countries drew a thick line under all speculations about the necessity of isolating Russia." Touching upon the Putin-Obama meeting, Oganesyan suggested that despite Obama's desire to reach a consensus on the Syrian issue, he first and foremost sought to play up to Democratic Party voters ahead of the presidential elections in the US. Alexander Rahr, scientific director of the Russian-German Forum, for his part, said that the G20 countries "demonstrated a new level of communication and relations with Russia" during the Hangzhou summit. "They show more and more respect toward Russia, which underwent sanctions and is building relations with Europe. Everyone understands that it's irrelevant to return back to the Cold War era," he said. On Sunday, Putin met UK Prime Minister Theresa May on the sidelines of the G20 summit. ANKARA (Sputnik) According to the Sabah newspaper, Stoltenberg is expected in Turkey on September 8-9. There are currently no details on the program of the visit. It will be Stoltenberg's first visit to Turkey since the coup attempt in the country in July. On July 15, a military coup attempt took place in Turkey. It was suppressed the following day. Over 240 people were killed and an estimated 2,000 were wounded. Ankara has accused dissident Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who has lived in the US state of Pennsylvania since 1999, and his followers of playing a key role in the coup. Scimia contrasts the surge in sales with the rhetoric from Brussels, where the European Parliament has called for sanctions on arms sales to countries like China and Saudi Arabia. Nevertheless, the sales still go ahead. While the EU and the US have long banned the sale of arms to China, EU member states have continued to sell weapons there. "European countries systematically skirt the EU arms embargo on China, which Brussels imposed on Beijing in the wake of the crackdown on Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. China buys up components, dual-use goods and sub-systems designed and manufactured in Europe, seizing the relative technology." The EU may choose to pursue a similar tactic regarding Saudi Arabia, after the European Parliament voted in February for a Europe-wide arms embargo against the kingdom in response to its bombing campaign in Yemen. Immediately after the non-binding resolution was adopted, then-UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced the expansion of arms exports to Saudi Arabia. On Monday, Laetitia Sedou of the European Network Against Arms Trade sought to persuade the EU leaders that cutting support for the European arms industry might be a good way to foster more public support for the faltering EU project. "Subsidizing the arms industry is not the way the once-peaceful EU project will improve its popularity with Eurosceptic citizens. Instead, the EU should invest in jobs and research projects which contribute to the prevention of conflicts," the campaigner wrote on EurActiv, an EU-centered media platform. Last month the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) reported that Central and Eastern European countries have delivered $1.3 million in weapons to Middle Eastern countries, which were later diverted to Syrian and other armed groups accused of widespread human rights abuses and atrocities. "Countries selling arms to Saudi Arabia or the Middle East-North Africa region are not carrying out good risk assessments and, as a result, are in breach of EU and national law," EU parliament member Bodil Valero commented on the report. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Moscow and Paris have the same goals in the settlement of the Syrian conflict, namely to destroy the Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh) terrorist group and preserve a united, secular and democratic Syria, French Ambassador to Russia Jean-Maurice Ripert said Tuesday. "We have the same goals regarding Syria: to destroy IS and to ensure that the country is united, sovereign, secular and democratic," Ripert said in an address to the Russian upper house of parliament. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Spiegel Online magazine reported that around 26 million euros of the investment would go toward building a private airfield for German Tornado reconnaissance jets stationed at the base as well accommodation for soldiers, while the rest of the funding would be used to build a mobile command post for soldiers. This new budget plan appears to be a sign of reconciliation between the two countries after Ankara repeatedly blocked a group of German politicians from visiting the base in what was seen as a retaliatory move in response to a resolution passed by the German parliament to recognize the Armenian genocide, according to the news outlet. German Chancellor Angela Merkels spokesman said on Friday that resolution was "not legally binding." A workers compensation regulator is in the process of trying to sue a horse racing participant for seven figures, it has been reported. The regulator is claiming that the participant in question was the cause of significant injuries to another racing participant during an on-track accident that occurred six years ago. According to an article by the Herald Sun, a Down Under workers compensation regulator by the name of WorkCover has launched its lawsuit against jockey Mark Zahra. WorkCover has alleged that Zahras 'negligent' actions during an August 21, 2010 race at Mooney Valley Racecourse led to fellow rider Daniel Brereton being dismounted from his charge and suffering a litany of serious injuries. The Herald Sun piece states that WorkCover has filed suit against Zahra, who is a leading jock Down Under, in order to recoup the $1.4 million it has paid out to Brereton thus far and all costs for Brereton in the future. Zahra had pleaded guilty to careless riding charges after the incident those charges were brought forth by race stewards. WorkCover has taken the position that Zahra was the initial cause of interference that caused a chain reaction that resulted in Brereton being dismounted and injured. The article lists Breretons injuries as being a torn aorta, a fractured neck, six broken vertebrae, fractured teeth, facial injuries, a fractured clavicle (collar bone), serious internal head injuries, and partial paraplegia, which affected his bowels, bladder and sexual function. Brereton has also suffered serious impaired mobility from the accident, a hearing disturbance in one ear and psychological issues. Incidents like this make it just so clear how important it is to have, for all members in this profession, to have (Racing Australias public liability insurance) policy in place, Victorian Jockeys Association CEO Des OKeeffe has been quoted as saying. (With files from the Herald Sun) B Js Pleasure, 33, a top-producing broodmare for many years, has passed away, according to owner Robert Key. The daughter of Speedy Somolli-Matina Hanover raced for two years (1985 and 1986), won eight times in 32 starts and retired with earnings of $244,023. B Js Pleasure took a mark of 3,1:59.4f. But it was as a broodmare that she really made her mark. Her top foal was American Winner 3,1:52.3 ($1,302,451), the 1993 Hambletonian champion. She also produced Super Pleasure 3,1:58f ($827,238), BJs Mac 2,1:57.4 ($376,210) and Jonlin 2,1:57.2 ($252,836). B Js Pleasure was inducted as a broodmare into the Living Horse Hall of Fame in 2001. B Js Pleasure was owned by Key's American Winner Inc. Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the connections of B Js Pleasure. (USTA) Paul Weinrich, educator and horseman, passed away at home on Saturday, August 27, five days after his 79th birthday. The son of Phillip and Rae Weinrich, he grew up in Queens, N.Y. A graduate of New York Military Academy, Weinrich had a special interest in history and was an avid reader. He went on to Queens College and completed his graduate work at both Queens College and Brooklyn College. After earning his degree, he went on to teach in Orange County, then returned to New York City, where he was an elementary school teacher in Brooklyn. His true passion was always horses. He bought his first horse when he was a teenager, working on the Wertheim Farm in Livingston Manor. He loved training and teaching horses, taking exceptional care of them, preparing for harness races and having his horses compete in those races. He was a true friend and touched many lives. Weinrich is survived by his cousins, Gertrude and Ross Adams, Diana Thomson, and several other cousins; his very special friends, Vincent Vinnie Casale, Jackie Everett and Scott Moroz; and his adopted family, Marlene Wertheim, Sheryl Heather, Jason, Kathy, Sarah and Ethan Wertheim; as well as many friends and former students. Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Paul Weinrich. (USTA) Tom Riley of Roseneath, ON has been named the winner for the I Love Canadian Harness Racing Fan Clubs August Zoom Photography Challenge. The theme for August was Faces of Racing. Fans were asked to go behind the scenes and capture photos of grooms, owners, trainers and drivers. Toms photo is of his four-year-old son Lane Riley poulticing pacing mare Solid Queen. I took the photo at our farm in Roseneath a couple weeks ago when Lane was helping me. Lane loves to help with the horses and it was cute how he was being so careful putting the poultice on. The mare in the picture is Solid Queen, a six-year-old daughter of Riverboat King who is owned by Dwayne Soulliere of Belle River, Ont. Dwayne had bought the mare stateside a couple of months ago and has since been trained at Riley Racing Stable. We trained her back from injury and she just started back racing last week, Tom explained. Tom and his wife Amanda run Riley Racing Stable full time in Roseneath, Ont. with their two sons Lane and Blake. The couple is a third generation family in racing which would make their two boys the fourth generation. Both my family and my wife's family are very involved in the business. Family gatherings are usually all horse business and talk!" Lane Riley (left) and Blake Riley (right) with their miniature horse Runner. Lane Riley (left) and Blake Riley (right) with their miniature horse Runner. We would also like to thank our three other finalists: Photo #1: Fran Caron of Wasaga Beach, Ont. for her shot of Trainer Terri Stoke from T.S. Racing with Justashady Fantasy. Photo #2: Wayne Hubbard of Saint John, N.B, for his shot of caretaker Austin Tufts, giving his horse Milliondollarjewel a bubble bath after a morning workout at Exhibition Park Raceway. Photo #4: Tammy Webb of Fredericton, N.B, for her shot of Katie MacNeil and her horse Magical Alex getting ready on race day at Exhibition Park Raceway. Tom will receive a $50 prize package from the Fan Club for his winning photo! September will be the Fan Clubs last month for the Zoom Photography Challenge, so make sure to check the web for details coming soon! Er is iets heel griezeligs aan de gang in Nederland. Dat wij geleidelijk aan in een totalitaire 'democratie' wegzinken wordt steeds ... Anyone looking at 7-year-old Cameron Schmidt today would never guess he had been hit by a car only a week earlier. After oral surgery last week that reconstructed one of his front teeth, Cameron is good as new, back to playing with his toys and Halo trading cards at his Longview home, and ready to start second grade. Cameron and his father were going to Starbucks at the Triangle Mall on Aug. 27. A vehicle stopped to let Cameron pass in the parking lot as he was walking back to the car at about 2 p.m., but another driver of a Toyota Camry swerved past the stopped vehicle and hit the boy at about 10 mph, his father Michael Schmidt said. He was just laying there, said Schmidt, 43, who ran over to pick him up. Until he made a sound, it was scary. It felt like a long time until Cameron started to cry, Schmidt said. Thats when he knew the boy was OK. Cameron, about 4-foot-2, fell on his face and hit his knee on a speed bump. He said his knee was bruised purple, and the fall knocked out two of his front baby teeth. One of his front permanent teeth was jammed into his mouth a quarter of an inch and needed to be reconstructed to match his other front tooth. Dentists said the roots of his teeth seemed intact, but Cameron has another checkup scheduled for later this month. He will also need braces, Schmidt said. Schmidt said his dental insurance covered most of the costs, with the exception of a $1,700 bill from the ambulance ride that transported Cameron from the Triangle Mall to St. John Medical Center in Longview. The rest was covered as a crime victim. Schmidt is also waiting to see what the head and oral scans at Randall Childrens Hospital in Portland will cost him. Schmidt is a labor worker at JH Kelly, and his wife, Adrienne, works at Hart Cs Thai restaurant. Now, Schmidt is more concerned with the fate of the driver. He said he still hopes the driver will turn himself in. Its a lot better for him to turn himself in than to get caught by the police, Schmidt said. It was just an accident. Truly it was. The male driver had gotten out of his car, spoken to Schmidts friend who told him to pull over to the side and then drove off. Schmidt said the dark gray Camry is between a 2007 and 2011 model with a license plate that may begin with ARG based on an eyewitness account. The driver was about 5 feet 7 inches tall and had facial hair. Anyone who can help identify the hit-and-run driver should call Longview police at 360-442-5800 and ask to be transferred to Officer Michael Mainis desk or his voice mail. Mention case L16-5749. Editors note: Todays editorials appeared in The Walla-Walla Union Bulletin. Editorial content from other publications is provided to give readers a sampling of regional and national opinion and does not necessarily reflect positions endorsed by the Editorial Board of The Daily News. Washington states minimum wage, currently $9.47 an hour, is the eighth highest in the nation. The other top states, however, are within a few cents of Washington. Minimum wage workers in the Evergreen State are paid more than most in this country. The minimum wage should not be increased to the levels proposed in Initiative 1433. The initiative calls for the minimum wage to be increased to $11 in 2017, $11.50 in 2018, $12 in 2019 and $13.50 in 2020. It also requires employers to provide paid sick leave. The current minimum wage seems to be in line with the economy outside of the booming Seattle area. And Seattles minimum wage is already higher than the current state minimum. Seattle raised its minimum wage last year to $11 with it topping out at $15 an hour by 2017 for employers with 500 or more employees. Smaller employers in that city saw the minimum wage going to $10 last year. Those businesses wont see it hit $15 until 2021. This makes Seattles minimum wage the highest in the nation. But the rest of Washington state, the small cities and rural communities such as Walla Walla, College Place, Waitsburg and Dayton, would likely be hurt economically by such a dramatic jump in the minimum wage. We fear the result would be lost jobs and less hiring of young people entering the work force. The rest of the states economy outside of a few pockets has been flat. Trying to keep up with Seattle would be counter productive. The current minimum wage is among the nations highest because that is what the voters wanted. In 1998, citizens approved an initiative that boosted the minimum wage and then established annual cost-of-living adjustment based on urban (Seattle-area) consumer price index. Its been a positive that Washington has one of the highest minimum wages in the nation. It means those just starting out are getting a fair wage. Nevertheless, the marketplace the demand for workers juxtaposed with the cost of living has to be the major factor in setting wages. If government or voters through an initiative artificially inflate those wages too much or too fast it could have negative consequences. Seattle and other Puget Sound-area cities, such as Tacoma and SeaTac, have raised their minimum wage higher than the states. Fine. Thats what their citizens want and their economy can apparently handle it. But in the case of I-1433, which is on the Nov. 8 ballot, the proposed wage hike is too much for most of Washington state. We urge a no vote. I-732 isnt going to solve global warming The problems associated with global warming and pollution from fossil fuels arent going to be solved in Washington state. In reality, actions taken in the Evergreen State wont dent the overall impact of carbon emissions on the world. The issue has to be addressed at the national level with the intent of gaining a worldwide consensus. So, while the effort behind Initiative 732 is certainly heartfelt and well-meaning, it is nevertheless flawed and has the potential to hurt Washingtons economy. In addition, messing with the states sales tax rate could have unintended consequences. Writing law regarding environmental, economic and tax policy through the initiative process is a lousy idea. Such issues need the give and take of the legislative process to ensure all facets are considered. I-732 would impose a carbon emission tax on certain fossil fuels and fossil-fuel-generated electricity, reduce the sales tax by one percentage point, increase a low-income tax exemption and reduce some manufacturing taxes. The concept is to accelerate the shift from fossil fuels to clean energy such as solar, wind and hydropower. That theory might have some merit if Washington state and its economy were in a vacuum. Thats not the case. Industries will make decisions on staying in Washington or relocating to the state based on taxes. This will impact jobs and the overall economy. The measures effort to entice support by reducing the sales tax that will supposedly hopefully be offset by the carbon tax is concerning. Washington is wrestling with the state Supreme Court mandate to fully fund basic education. The budget hole is in the billions of dollars and Washington cant afford to have its tax base upended with the experiment. Sure, the Legislature has the power to fix flaws with a two-thirds majority in the first two years and a simple majority after that, but reaching a consensus on potential fixes wont be easy or quick. The sales tax should not be changed. Nor should other taxes be shifted or added. I-732 isnt a sound approach. It has the potential to cause more problems than it purports to solve. We urge a no vote. Aditya Madanapalle It's that time of the year again, the September Apple event. The event will be held against the backdrop of two important developments. There is a back tax demand by the European Commission for 13 billion Euros in unpaid taxes by Apple. There is a worldwide recall on Samsung's flagship, the Galaxy Note 7, following which Apple has apparently boosted the order volume of the components for the next iPhone. This might turn out to be a counterproductive move for Samsung, which was rushing to get the Note 7 out before the Apple event. There have been teases out for the secretive annual event, an icon for the AppleEvent hashtag, the first Twitter profile background update in years, and a banner that reads "See you on the 7th". The world is waiting for a new iPhone, and the date of the event has been taken by the media as confirmation that a new iPhone is going to be announced, and that it is going to be called the iPhone 7. Every year since the spectacular original iPhone launch, there is an expectation for a revolutionary new mobile device from Apple. There is probably going to be some disappointment on this front, because Apple has had a history of releasing thoroughly tried and tested technology. It has been a long running joke that Apple passes off last year's specifications and features on Androids as the latest and best in technology. However, the low number of devices available in the market at any time means application developers can try and test their offerings on every one of those devices. It is easier to make sure that an app is up and running on an iPhone, as against every Android variant in the market. This, along with Apple's approval process ensure that most applications run smoothly on whatever specifications are available. Apple delivers updates in a timely manner to its devices. This is so much of a problem that Google has had to shame manufacturers into continuing software support to devices already in the market. For an Apple user, this means that there is no worry about which sitting on an outdated phone. To continue to tap into a maximum number of audiences, iPhone app developers usually support as many devices as possible. This is particularly true for social gamers and mmorpgs. Although Apple expects their products to last 3 years, they can be used for much longer. My iPhone 3GS is still functional, and was actively used for more than five years. It was the smartphone with one of the the longest production runs. No Android device available in 2011 and released in 2009 would have lasted that long. (Also Read: Apple event: The best of iOS 10 and MacOS Sierra thatll force touch your heart this week) Although Apple users have the luxury of sitting out one or two years, there could be a problem. Apple may be moving from a two year tick-tock manufacturing cycle, to one that lasts three years. This means that there will be incremental updates every two years, with a major one every three years. This can disrupt the buying habits, for those who pick up a device every year or every other year. However, that may well be in line with expectations from Apple itself. Only 50 per cent of the users want to upgrade to a newer phone, which is fine as that means these customers are satisfied with their current devices, and will continue to make revenues for Apple over the content offerings in the store. Apple just does not work the way other companies do. They rarely talk about the future, one instance this year was when Tim Cook vowed that Apple will be in India for the next 1000 years. At this years F8 conference by Facebook, the Build conference by Microsoft, and the I/O conference by Google, these companies introduced new technologies that developers could use. They also showcased some of the things that they were working on, and which would be rolled out over the course of the year. By contrast, every single announcement at Apple's WWDC event, was something that the company had already worked on over the course of the previous year. Apple rarely draws attention to the innovations and technologies that are making their devices magical. When they do, it is something they are very picky about, something that has been perfected to a greater degree than other manufacturers, a tiny component that integrates more tightly with the software, and gives a better user experience. This is Jony Ive, an industrial designer who is the Chief Design Officer at Apple, introducing 3D touch on the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus. There are pressure sensors integrated into the backlight of the touchscreen display. The Taptic Engine is the show stealer here. A specification on a product will probably not list how many cycles the vibrator in the phone takes to reach peak output. However, Apple takes the pain and effort to make sure that the vibrator is the best possible. These are the kind of details that make their products revolutionary. While there are Android devices in the market with features similar to 3D Touch, there is no software support from Google yet, and the implementation has so far been left to the manufacturer. Over the course of 9 years, it has seemed that Jony Ive is slowly and steadily training iOS users into using the devices of the future. The introduction of the technologies makes sense and yet feels magical when it is packaged together in just the right way. On transitioning from feature phones to smartphones, a skeumorphic design was used for the UI to accessibility to functions such as the camera or YouTube more familiar to first time users. As a majority of users started getting familiar with smartphones, Ive moved on to a flat UI with layers in the interface, and 3D touch. Virtual glass replaced virtual canvas, but it happened at the right time, and for a reason, not just because it "looks better". Here is Ive explaining what goes into the making of an Apple device, from the documentary, Objectified. There is a right time to introduce "revolutionary" new features, and Apple is one of the best at doing it. The simplicity actually allows for quick and uncluttered functionality. From broadcast, to reporting to film, iPhones are the devices preferred for professional use by the media industry. It is not just hipsters and design professionals who have an affinity for these devices any more. There might be nothing "revolutionary" in this year's Apple event, but for Apple users, it is still an exciting day ahead. Sheldon Pinto Every year, a long list of leaks gives fans plenty of hints about what to expect from Apple's September event. The event year after year, sees the launch of Apple's newest iPhones and but unlike last year, many will also expect Apple to announce a new Apple Watch as well. Other goodies with every year's September event are the roll outs of Apple's operating system updates for its Mac, iPhone, Watch and TV. This year however, the rumours have gotten out of proportion and there have been leaks of one too many iPhone 7 models including an iPhone 6SE that recently leaked out a week ago. So what's what and what's not at this year's 7 September event? Let take a long hard look. iPhones in Piano Black While the world drooled at the thought a 'Space Black' iPhone and then got disappointed that it was just a distant dream. Well, its time to day dream again Apple fans, as a recent leak hints at the possibility of a 'Piano Black' and 'Dark Black' iPhones this year. https://twitter.com/the_malignant/status/772369664487911424 The Dark Black variant will replace the current Slate Grey option while the slick-looking Piano Black variant will be reserved for the high-capacity 256GB variants of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The news comes from a tipster Malignant who leaked out labels of the prototype devices, once again sparking rumours of a Space Black iPhone. With that said, Apple would have to change the metal used for building its iPhones as well. While the Dark Black coating can be easily achieved on the aluminium-bodied iPhones, Apple may need to switch to ceramic or steel to get a Space Black or Piano Black finish for the premium models, similar to what it did with its Watch models. Coming to the internals, the new iPhones will pack in a mandatory spec bump that should see an A10 chipset along with a speculated 3GB RAM. Other important details include the a home button with Force Touch capabilities would also mean an updated scanning technology from Sonavation, believed to be the only other company (apart from Qualcomm) that has developed ultrasonic fingerprint reading technologies. For now it is unclear as to what Apple plans to do with a Force Touch home button, but with Siri coming to third-party apps, a Force Touch home button could be used in a Google Now on Tap- like fashion to help Siri read up your screen without leaving an app. Because apart from this its hard to tell why anyone would need a Force Touch home button especially now that everyone's used to a clickable one. Apart from above expect the much-loved 3.5mm headphone jack to disappear. Apple may in all probability announce of a pair of Bluetooth earbuds. For a deeper analysis of the upcoming iPhone 7, including price tags, storage size, click here. As for the iPhone 6SE, we have only seen the packaging of the device, which also means that this could be fake. Apple is banking on a number of new features, which should make it good enough to stand up tall as an iPhone 7 even if all of them come packaged in a design similar to the iPhone 6. A less-dependent Apple Watch The next version of the Apple Watch so far has been a well-guarded secret. All we seen and heard come from analyst KGI analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo, who predicts that the Apple Watch 2 will not look any different from the current model. It will however pack in a better battery, and the new models (two in all) are expected to bring in better waterproofing and finally GPS. The first version would be a tiny upgrade with better processor and waterproofing while the new Watch 2 should pack in GPS, a barometer and a higher capacity battery. While the latter hints at an independent Watch, it may still be dependent on your iPhone, but not as much as it was in the past. Part of this speculation comes from watchOS betas that show apps running smoothly unlike on past versions of the software. Cellular connectivity is not expected to make it to the Apple Watch this year as well. Apple seems to have tried, but getting decent battery life seems to have been the main problem. iOS, macOS, watchOS get new features Coming to the other interesting bit that will make plenty of existing owners of Apple devices happy, is the software rollout. This time we have iOS 10, macOS and watchOS. With iOS, Siri will be the centre of all things mobile. Siri now being made available for third-party app developers, should be able to tap into every single app take commands for them as well. With iOS 10 onboard, users will be able to send a message to a WhatsApp contact using Siri or even book a cab using just their voice. Apart from Siri, iMessage also gets a big upgrade. iMessage is now a platform with its own little apps that will add to flavour to the messaging experience that until now was drab and boring. 3D Touch is more important than ever on iPhones, with plenty of new features including widgets that pop up from app icons and even the ability to interact with notifications right from your lock screen. Siri finally comes to Mac which means all of your Apple devices are now connected like never before. On macOS Sierra, Siri get even more powerful even though it's the first time the digital assistant meets desktops and laptops. By this we mean Siri will also be able to understand natural language or and conduct intelligent search queries. You could simply ask Siri to search for all the documents you worked on last month as a query, and itll display all the document files present in the Document folder. Impressed? Universal clipboard makes things even better. Simply put, it will allow you to copy an image from your iPhone and let you past it a document on your Mac! From what we have seen with developer betas so far, the Apple Watch is all geared up to make itself a lot more useful. Apart from the fact that you will be able to unlock your Mac using your Watch, watchOS 3 does bring in some much-needed upgrades. You will no longer need to fiddle around with the Carousel, as you can simply tap on the apps in your dock to access them. Even bigger is that watchOS now supports accessibility and will even support wheelchair workouts. Add to this plenty of speed improvements (even launching native and third-party apps) and the update will be worthwhile. tech2 News Staff A Vietnamese blog claims to have gotten its hands on a fully functional, 4.7-inch iPhone 7. The blog doesnt provide any images of the device and are only reporting from their alleged hands-on experience with the device. Assuming that the blog post is real and that Google Translate is up-to-scratch (Vietnamese translators are mighty hard to find), the blog appears to confirm the following: 60fps 4K recording The blog reports that the 4.7-inch iPhone 7 can record 4K video at 60fps. Current iPhones can only record 4K video at 30fps and 60fps is only available at the FHD resolution. The camera on the 4.7-inch iPhone is apparently a single camera system rather than the rumoured dual-camera system. The author adds that the LED flash might house 4 units, but hes not sure if there are 4 individual LEDs or hes seeing a reflection. Updated volume and home buttons The translation for this bit was very patchy, but our understanding of the Google Translated blog posts suggests that there is indeed a force touch home button on the iPhone 7. The writer reports that the button looks identical to the current home button, but that its sensitive to pressure. He adds that theres no feedback when using pressing down on the home button, but that it is the only way to access the home screen. He adds that the home button doesnt respond when swiped and that he would have liked some form of feedback. This is very different from current home-button-less Android phones like the OnePlus 3, which immediately respond to touch input. The volume buttons are apparently located on the chassis rather than in a concave frame, as on the current iPhone. Apple uses this design on the sixth generation iPod Touch. No 3.5mm headphone jack This last part has us very depressed and if true, means that Apple has actually gone ahead and ditched the venerable headphone jack. The author reports that his device does not host a 3.5mm jack. The author of the blog post claims to have no knowledge of the Plus model and cannot confirm whether it does indeed have a dual-camera setup or not. tech2 News Staff The European Commission (EC) had asked Apple to pay Ireland unpaid taxes of up to 13 billion Euros in what can be seen as a landmark ruling. The EC alleges that the firm received illegal state aid. The commission has found that Apple benefits from tax ruling that was granted by Ireland decades ago, which has helped the iPhone-maker save large sums of money. Officials claim that it is unlawful state aid under EU guidelines. This illegal deal or rather 'sweetheart deal' has apparently led to an increase in Apple's profits by two-thirds of its global profit, owing to the minimal tax they pay. However, Apple said that it would appeal against the ruling and that the US company's tax treatment was in line with Irish and European Union law. On the other hand, EC President Jean-Claude Juncker said that Apple's ruling is based on rules and facts. Read on, to know more about why the EU is calling out Apple. So, what happens if the EC's decision isn't overturned? Well, in that case, Ireland will have sit back and recalculate years of tax and Apple will have to shell out a huge sum of money. According to The Guradian, this may swell up Ireland's purse in the short term, but the place will no longer be loved by multinational companies. If numbers are to be believed, more than about 700 US companies lured by the lowest corporate tax rate in Western Europe have established branches in the country. This alone is responsible for about 1,40,000 jobs. Apple's CEO Tim Cook quickly penned down an open letter challenging the ruling by the EC. He wrote: The European Commission has launched an effort to rewrite Apples history in Europe, ignore Irelands tax laws and upend the international tax system in the process. The Commissions case is not about how much Apple pays in taxes, its about which government collects the money. It will have a profound and harmful effect on investment and job creation in Europe. You can read the complete letter here. Well, its not just Apple. The commission has been also looking at other companies that benefit from the unlawful state aid. Recently, tax concessions in Luxembourg and Netherlands involving Fiat and Starbucks respectively have also been found to be unlawful. "Starbucks Corp has been ordered to pay up to 30 million euros ($33 million) to the Dutch state, while Amazon.com Inc and McDonald's Corp are also under investigation by the Commission, the EU's executive arm," a Reuters report points out. On the other hand, the US feels that the country's firms are being targeted by the EC. According to Reuters, a US Treasury spokesperson also warned that the move will affect US investment in Europe. Many reports are out claiming the move is political. EU officials have said that of course the Apple tax case is political, just not politicised. Being political should not be confused with politicised, said a spokeswoman for EC chief Jean-Claude Juncker. For him, fighting tax avoidance had been a top priority since before he took over the EC position two years ago, she said. The drive towards fairer taxation is in President Junckers political guidelines, she said. At the same time, EC Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said firms had a responsibility to society to pay their taxes. Apple and the Irish government say Vestager is rewriting the iPhone makers quarter-century of history in Ireland. Apple denies that Dublin gave it tax breaks amounting to illegal state aid. You can read more about that here. Meanwhile, the govt is planning to circulate a Department of Finance document to all TDs just ahead of Dail debate on its decision to appeal the ruling by the EC that Ireland granted Apple illegal State aid worth up to 13bn. Dail will sit on Wednesday to debate the confidential, 150-page ruling. tech2 News Staff Cyanogen Inc, the commercial version of CyanogenMod or popularly known as CM is working with full throttle despite recent rumours of the company giving up on Cyanogen OS. The company took to its website to announce that it is rolling out Cortana for OnePlus One users in India. This development is partly because of Cyanogen Inc's partnership with Microsoft after the investment by Microsoft late last year. This partnership made Cyanogen work on a system level integration project called 'Mods.' The company has baked Cortana on a deeper level with the OS using the same 'Mod' framework where you don't need to use the touchscreen to give voice commands. "Hey Cortana" hot word or command will wake the device up, and you can command it to set alarms, toggle Wi-Fi and even take selfies. Cortana is Microsoft's take on a digital personal assistant in response to Google's personal assistant, Google Now. The company rolled out the support for Cortana with its first update in January which was gradually enabled for the wider group in the following Cyanogen 'Mod' 13.1 update. The latest update will need users to run Cyanogen 'Mod' 13.1 and the update will be automatically installed when the users are connected to Wi-Fi. Even though, Cyanogen Inc is criticised for its record on not following the contracts and turning its back on companies like OnePlus in the beginning with the entire exclusivity scandal in India. But their commitment towards existing users is commendable with continued updates even after two years. hidden Ahead of the World Suicide Prevention Day which falls on September 10, social networking giant Facebook has joined hands with support service Samaritans to launch a series of suicide prevention tools. Facebook will rely on its users to flag posts from friends or family which may be indicative of suicidal emotions or tendencies. "Posts of concern are then prioritised by Facebook moderators who can contact the relevant individual with help options and resources developed in association with Samaritans," Irish Times reported on Tuesday. The tools also prompt an option of reaching out to a friend or contacting a Samaritans volunteer. "People use Facebook to connect with friends and family, and that's why we're evolving the support, resources and advice available to people who are in distress and their concerned friends and family members," Julie de Bailliencourt, Facebook's European safety policy manager, was quoted as saying. Surrey-based Samaritans provides emotional support for people who are experiencing feelings of distress, despair or suicidal thoughts. This comes right after the police arrested a fugitive after tracking his Facebook as he was using the 'wanted' poster photos as his display image on the social networking website. IANS tech2 News Staff Apple is reportedly upping the order volume for iPhone 7 parts by 10 percent just before their iPhone event on 7 September. Taiwanese sources tell Digitimes that the larger order might indicate Apples increased confidence in the sale of the upcoming iPhone 7 devices. Previously, Apple had predicted that their sales would be about 60 percent of the sales of the previous iPhone in the second half of 2015 vs. the second half of 2016. The iPhone 6s sold around 30 million units a month in the second half of 2015. While it is most likely coincidence, some speculate that the recent recall of Samsungs Galaxy Note 7 devices might have something to do with Apples increasing confidence in the sale of their upcoming device. The 5.7-inch Galaxy Note 7 is, after all, a direct competitor to Apples 5.5-inch Plus model iPhones. On the strength of a leaked scheduling memo from AT&T, MacRumors expects the new iPhones to start shipping on 23 September. Evan Blass, a rather reliable source of leaked information on Apples devices, suggests that pre-orders for the upcoming iPhone 7 will begin on 9 September, 2 days after the launch event on 7 September. Bear in mind that these dates are only speculation as of now. If you want to learn more about what to expect at the Apple launch event tomorrow, head here. tech2 News Staff Huawei introduced the first two devices in a new Nova series of smartphones at the IFA in Berlin. The phones are 5 inch screens with curved surfaces, and have ergonomic builds meant for easy use with one hand. The phones are powered by a Snapdragon 625 processor processor. The Nova has a 3020 mAh battery, and the Nova Plus has a 3340 mAh battery. There are next generation 3D fingerprint sensors on both models. The phones will have 32GB ROM and and 3GB RAM. There are three colour options, Prestige Gold, Mystic Silver and Titanium Grey. Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group said Huawei recognizes that dynamic consumers demand a device that keeps up with their fast-paced lifestyle. Designed to bring new experiences to life with its incredible performance, stylish design and advanced camera features, the Huawei nova and Huawei nova plus devices are the perfect fit for a generation that lives their life on a smartphone The photography experience of Huawei devices is showcased on these phones. The Nova has a 12MP rear camera, whereas the Nova Plus has a 16MP rear camera. There is a fast auto-focus feature for quickly snapping accurate photos. Beauty Makeup 2.0 and Beautiful Skin 3.0 are cosmetic effects and skin smoothing filters that the camera can apply on images. Both phones have an 8MP selfie shooter. Recently, Huawei has launched the camera oriented P9 in India. The phones are expected to be available in 50 markets around the world from October. The Nova is priced at 399 (roughly Rs 29,600), and the Nova Plus is priced at 429 (roughly Rs 31,831). tech2 News Staff Bragi is integrating IBM Watson into the Dash smart wireless earphones as part of an effort to develop solutions for enterprises. The contextual engine from Bragi and the IoT platform from IBM Watson are the two key technologies that will allow for these new set of workplace tools. To start with there are six focus areas, worker safety, instructions, notifications, communications, optimisation and biometric identification. The Dash earphones are packed with 27 unique sensors. Nikolaj Hviid, CEO and founder of Bragi said, "Hearables will transform the way we work and have a tremendous impact on the business processes of the future. Packed with sensors, The Dash is uniquely equipped to realize the potential of truly contextual audible computing. We are very excited to tap IBMs industry leading cognitive computing capabilities through the Watson IoT platform as well as benefit from IBMs enormous experience in global innovation that touches peoples lives." Harriet Green, Global Head of IBM Watson, Internet of Things, said, "Users will increasingly talk to their devices and interact with their homes and workplaces in more natural, interactive and convenient ways. With Bragi we are looking at how this development can go even further with a powerful audio and sensory interface that fits inside the ear opening up a myriad of new opportunities for transforming the workplace." Bragi is one of the players in the niche segment of hearables, smart, interactive wireless earphones. The Dash earphone was developed after a successful Kickstarter project that raised US $3.3 million (roughly Rs 22 Crore). The Dash headphone can send sophisticated instructions to and from a tethered smartphone. The language translation and speech-to-text capabilities of the IBM Watson platform will be used to develop new ways workers can communicate and collaborate in an office environment. IBM and Bragi are also testing out tracking and interpreting gestures based on head movements. tech2 News Staff It's not the Z Play that we were expecting, but many will be happy that Motorola finally launched an update to the ageing Moto X Play called the Moto G Play at Rs 8,999. The smartphone will go on sale on Amazon on 6 September 2016, 10PM onwards and basically offers a quad-core chipset in a newer Moto G4 body with VoLTE that should hopefully find some buyers. Why? Well, it is because the Moto G Play does not even qualify as an update with it's Snapdragon 410 SoC. So what has Motorola India just launched? Well it's basically a toned down Moto X Play, as the real successor to the X Play is technically the Z Play that should hopefully arrive with the Motorola's new Moto Z Force and the Moto Z (along with support for their modular bits). At Rs 8,999 this budget Moto Play smartphone packs in a 5-inch HD display sporting a pixel density of 294ppi. Inside, we get a now ageing Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 chipset paired with 2GB RAM. You get 16GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot that accepts cards of up to 128GB in capacity. Coming to the imaging bits, the handset features an 8MP camera on the back and a 5MP unit up front. The handset features the usual radios including 4G bands (with support for VoLTE), Bluetooth 4.1 LE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4 GHz) A-GPS and a microUSB connector at the bottom. The handset is powered by Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, weighs in at 136gms and features a 2,800mAh battery that along with a 10W quick charger delivers a 5 hours of battery life with 15 minutes of charge. The handset will be available in black and white and features a dual sims (micro+ nano) setup. tech2 News Staff In an effort to safeguard its customers from any potential dangers, Oculus has put up a warning on the Gear VR page requesting users to get their Note 7 smartphones exchanged before using it with the Gear VR. Samsung launched the Galaxy Note 7 with a discounted price on the new Gear VR headset on pre-orders. Following reports of some exploding batteries, Samsung is recalling the Galaxy Note 7 devices. In the US, there is a product exchange program for the Note 7 where customers can wait for a week for a replacement with a replacement device, or opt for the Samsung Galaxy S7 or the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. Oculus is asking users to start pairing the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 devices only after getting a new device from the Samsung exchange program. Apart from the disclaimer on the product page of Gear VR on the Oculus site, Oculus has also sent out emails to customers with the same warning, according to a report in Sammobile. The devices recommended for use with the Gear VR are the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, the Galaxy S6, S6 Edge and S6 Edge +, and the previous iteration of the Galaxy Note, the Galaxy Note 5. Samsung makes the Gear VR headsets for use with its flagship smartphones in association with Facebook owned Oculus. LeEco is giving everything that it's got to pull consumers. Solid hardware, free content subscriptions and most of all, low pricing are some of the reasons why the company is said to be booming. It has only been a year or so since the company entered the Indian market and in a short while from smartphones, it has started selling its LED TV range. While Xiaomi is still struggling to bring its popular Mi TV to India, LeEco is already one step ahead. So is the new 55-inch 4K TV priced at Rs 60,000 from LeEco worth the money? Let's find out. Build and Design: 8/10 The company has done quite well in terms of design as the TV has striking looks, especially the unique yoga stand at the bottom. The bezel and the frame holding the panel is very minimal, something which you usually see on high-end LG or Samsung LED TVs. It feels quite solid and honestly it took some effort for me to move the whole unit all by myself. The stand is of course optional since a lot of people prefer mounting the TV on a wall. Nonetheless it is an excellent addition and gives the TV a premium look. While the stand and the main frame of the panel offer a brushed aluminum finish, the back is all plastic. The panel itself is quite thin which sounds good, but it probably left no choice for the company but to mount the speakers on the bottom, which I personally didnt like. More on audio later. The ports are placed at the back and on the right side. There is an extra USB port on the top for the webcam (sold separately) but it can be used for any other operation as well. Display: 7/10 The company hasnt confirmed what display panel it uses, but it looks pretty good. Colours look great although the black levels are not as good as a Samsung or an LG. Brightness is also somewhat low but compared to any TV in this price range, it is justified. It's quite commendable as to how LeEco has managed to squeeze in a 4K panel at this price range. However, there is a catch. The TV mostly runs on 1080p, so when you are scrolling through the UI and menu, it isn't UHD resolution. The actual resolution kicks in only when you play or stream a 4K video. On paper anyway. While I could play back 4K video via USB, there are currently no apps that support 4K on this TV. Le Vidi, LeEco's own video streaming app is expected to get the capability "soon." I like the fact that I'm getting a 4K-capable TV at this price, but when my only real source of 4K content is so restricted, one has to wonder why it's there in the first place. Hopefully, the fix is just a software update away. Another issue with the panel is the refresh rate. The TV has the capability to push 4K content at 30Hz, which is a bummer and will be a serious detriment to gaming at that resolution. Audio: 7/10 The company spoke about how the TV offers great sound thanks to Dolby Audio at the time of launch. However, the claims were a bit misleading. The X55 features two 10W speakers which sound good on paper, but the audio is quite flat; there's almost zero bass or depth. Having said that, the speakers are loud and can easily be used in large rooms without compromising on the volume. I suggest you use external speakers or a good home theater audio system to get a better experience. UI: 7.5/10 Since it's a smart TV, it runs on Android 5.0.1 Lollipop with the companys eUI layer on top. The interface is nice and peppy looking. The transitions and animations are smooth and everything seems to works great. This is probably one of the best things about the TV, it is responsive and fast, thanks to the quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM. Now there are a bunch of LED TVs in India that run on Android, some run on a full fledged version of Android, making it feel like a large tablet. On the other hand, Sony is the only brand in India that offers Googles own Android TV platform. The good thing about these is the access to the Google Play Store. The UI on the LeEco TV lacks Google services, which means limited app support. This was quite disappointing considering the hardware capability of the TV. There is an LeTV app store onboard, but the number of apps is quite limited. Apart from YouTube I couldn't find any useful video streaming app, not even Netflix. Features: 8.5/10 The company has really packed the X55 to its limits. The TV runs on a Cortex A17 quad-core processor with a quad-core Mali-T760 MP4 GPU for support. There is 8GB of internal storage and 2GB of RAM. In the connectivity department you get a variety of ports including 2x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0, 3x HDMI 2.0 ports, an SD Card slot, a Component Input (YPbPr), AV input, VGA input, PC Audio Line-in, RF input, Ethernet 10/100M, Audio out (earphone & coaxial combined), SPDIF(Optical) Audio Output, Bluetooth as well as Wi-Fi 2.4GHz and 5GHz support. Free services For those who dont know, LeEco is originally a content company. Sure it sells phones and TVs now, but it started off as one of Chinas biggest content providers. Even their business model revolves around content. When the company entered India it provided free content, including streaming and live content, on its smartphones. The same content package is made available on the new Super3 TV range. Sadly the content is disappointing. There are a handful of live TV channels that can be streamed via Le Live, but require a fast connection. Even so, the channels itself are in SD resolution. Then there is Le Vidi that offers a large library of movies courtesy Eros Now. If you are a Bollywood buff youll love the library. However, there is no Hollywood content here. I was expecting a lot of 4K content, but I didnt find a single movie. If you are selling a 4K television with a promise of large content subscription package to set yourself apart, then you need good content which includes 4K movies. But it seems LeEco was in a hurry to launch the TV and didn't focus on what the actual package consists of. Probably the only attractive offering here is the 4-year warranty on the panel, and the two-year warranty on the entire TV set. Conclusion As a stand alone UHD TV, the LeEco Super3 X55 is a marvel. I mean, who sells a quality 4K TV at Rs 60,000, right? The panel is not a benchmark setter, but at this price point it is probably the best that you can get. What really impressed me was the build quality and how fast the interface works. Of course there aren't a lot of apps, but it can be worked on. The biggest disappointment was the content as the company was quite vocal about providing the best package available on the market. LeEco really needs to pull up its socks and improve on its content if it really wants to sell its TV range by riding on the content horse. Find latest and upcoming tech gadgets online on Tech2 Gadgets. Get technology news, gadgets reviews & ratings. Popular gadgets including laptop, tablet and mobile specifications, features, prices, comparison. High School runners qualify for state cross country meet Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022, 1:58 p.m. - STATEWIDE -- Cross country regionals took place today across the area. The top three teams and top three individuals not on a qualifying team qualify for the state... Football playoffs eliminate area teams Friday, Oct. 28, 2022, 10:15 p.m. -- LAPEER COUNTY -- The high school football playoffs were short-lived for the three teams in our coverage area tonight. Lapeer lost to Clarkston 62-41 in Div. 1 at... High school football playoff pairings announced Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022, 7:20 p.m. -- AREAWIDE -- The high school football playoff pairings are being announced as you read this posting. In Div. 1, Reg. 2, Lapeer will play at Clarkston and Grand... Volleyball results from Thursday Friday, Oct. 7, 2022, 8:34 a.m. -- LAPEER COUNTY -- The Almont varsity volleyball team beat Madison Heights Lamphere and New Lothrop in a triple header at Almont Thursday. Dryden beat Bay City All Saints... Copyright 2021 New Nation. All Rights Reserved by thedailynewnation.com Miscreants dodge Gulshan police Staff Reporter : A five-hour raid to capture the members of an organised gang of thugs at a commercial building at Gulshan in the city went in vain as the miscreants dodging the law enforcers managed a good escape on Tuesday morning. The members of law enforcing agencies comprising Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police and elite force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) conducted the raid at China Building on Bir Uttam Mir Shaukat Ali Road in Gulshan-1 area after receiving information that a gang of militants or robbers stormed the multistoried building in the area to loot goods and valuables. Police officials said that the gang members made their escape by cutting grills from inside the building. Two bags have been found on the scene, but nothing suspicious was found inside them. According to security personnel, a few men carrying bags entered an electronic-goods showroom in the 2nd floor of the building earlier in the morning on Tuesday. The traders shut the all doors of the building and informed the police. Later the law enforcers arrived on the scene and launched a raid. The law enforcers condoned the building based on suspicion of entrance of militants or robbers but the operation ended in a much-ado-about-nothing. They only recovered 17 cell phones inside the two backpacks in the building. As the law enforcers began raiding, panic started running high among the people that deadly terror attack like July 1 at Holey Artisan Bakery could take place. As a result movement of all sorts of vehicles in the area, were restricted. Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Additional Commissioner Mohammed Maruf Hassan said the law enforcers cordoned the building as they obtained information that at least four youths equipped with firearms and backpacks stormed the LG-Butterfly showroom of China Building around 6:00am. "Armored cars and fire service vehicles were drafted into the cordon and personnel from police's SWAT unit and RAB were rushed to close it. But the cordon and search operation for five hours in the building (Holding - 51) yielded just two backpacks with some mobile phones in it," he said. We have got two bags and called in the bomb disposal unit to check on their contents, he said. When the bomb disposal unit did not find anything dangerous, the cordon was withdrawn, the ADC said, adding those who broke into a showroom in the building were possibly burglars or thieves. There were 17 cell phones inside the two backpacks, said Rafikul Islam, Assistant Commissioner of DMP's Gulshan Zone. RAB-1 Deputy Commanding Officer Major Shafiul Azom Siddiqui said that miscreants dodged them technically as they could not find anybody in the building. "However, MG Royal Securities Limited claimed that several lakh taka have been lost from their cash box," he said. Tanners want three more months time Kazi Zahidul Hasan : Leaders of leather industry have urged the government to give them three more months to relocate their factories from the capital's Hazaribagh area to Savar raising the issue of processing of rawhides of sacrificial animals. "We have sought the time for collection, preservation and processing of rawhides to be collected during Eid-ul-Azha," Shaheen Ahmed, Chairman of Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA) told The New Nation yesterday He said, "We have requested the government to allow us processing rawhides in our existing units at Hazaribagh, as the Leather Industrial Park in Savar is yet to get ready fully for processing rawhides." Tanners used to procure bulk quantity of rawhide and skin during the Eid-ul-Azha as the festival meets up more than 50 per cent of demand of raw hides for leather industries. "As the processing of rawhides of sacrificial animals would require three months time, shifting of our industrial units to Savar would be delayed," said Shaheen Ahmed. "We have already placed the issue to the Ministries concerned for their kind consideration," said the BTA leader adding that if they are not allowed to do so, it will leave a serious adverse impact on their business as well as leather and leather goods exports. When asked, Shaheen Ahmed said, "We are ready to shift our industrial units to Savar. A good number of factories have already been shifted there. More than 50 factories will also be shifted to Savar after the Eid". "We will able to relocate all the factories by December this year," he added. "We have sought three more months for relocating tanneries considering the interest of leather industry," Mohiuddin Ahmed Mahi, Chairman of Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leather Goods and Footwear Exporters' Association, told The New Nation yesterday. He said, the leather industry of Bangladesh largely depends on rawhide collected during Eid-ul-Azha. The industry would be affected if the tanners are not allowed to process rawhides of sacrificial animals at their existing units at Hazaribagh. "We have already discussed the issue with concerned Ministries. We requested them to consider our plea taking account into the overall situation of the industry," he added. Over the last one decade, the tanners had missed more than a dozen deadlines for shifting their factories to Savar Tannery Industrial Park. Even, they are yet to complete construction of their factory buildings there. The last deadline set by the government for relocation expired on March 31 this year. The tanneries in Hazaribagh area release thousands of litres of untreated waste and toxic chemicals to the Buriganga River everyday, causing damage to Dhaka's environment. SP Babul finally goes Babul Aktar Staff Reporter : A gazette notification of the Home Ministry has relieved the much-talked Police Superintendent Babul Aktar of the service, rejecting his appeal to withdraw his resignation letter. The gazette signed by Deputy Secretary Mohammad Ilias Hossain issued on Tuesday afternoon, said that Babul had been relieved in line with his resignation letter. But it did not say when Babul submitted the resignation letter. It also said that the order will come into effect immediately. According to the police, the police superintendent tendered his resignation days after his wife Mahmuda Khanam was stabbed and shot dead on June 5, while taking her son to his school bus in the GEC area of Chittagong city. On August 9, SP Babul sent an application to the senior secretary of home affairs ministry to rescind his signed resignation letter where he claimed that he was forced to sign the resignation letter. On June 26, Babul Akter was picked up from his in-laws' residence and takento the DB office in Dhaka for interrogation. Babul was questioned by three DIGs of the police for 15 hours. Police officials during the interrogation told Babul that they had all the information about his involvement in the murder. Babul had two options - either to go to jail or to resign from service. Babul chose to resign, said a source. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told the reporters that the honorable President took the decision in response to a prayer of Babul Akter." On June 5, three assailants stabbed and shot dead Mahmuda Khanam Mitu, wife of Superintendent of Police Babul Akter, when she was taking her son to his school bus stop at GEC intersection in Chittagong. Kidnapped in SA, ransom paid in BD Several gangs active: RAB nabs two along with Tk 30 lakh Sagar Biswas : Members of the Rapid Action Battalion [RAB] have arrested two active members of an international crime syndicate in Mirzapur for their alleged involvement in kidnapping a Bangladeshi expatriate businessman in South Africa. The elite force also recovered Tk 30 lakh from their possession, which was collected by them as ransom money, officials said on Tuesday. A Bangladeshi businessman Mahabubur Rahman, who has been doing business in South Africa for a long time, was kidnapped in South Africa a few days ago and Tk 70 lakh was demanded as ransom money from his family in Bangladesh for his freedom. The kidnappers threatened the family members to pay full amount of the demanded money to get back the captive alive, they said. Seeing no other way, the family members agreed to pay the money in installments. But the total arrangement was foiled when RAB came to know about the multi-million taka illegitimate deal. Finally, a team of RAB-12 arrested two members of the crime syndicate on Monday night from Mirzapur along with the first installment [TK 30 lakh ransom money]. "One Suruj Mia of Ajibpur area under Siddhirganj thana in Narayanganj district lodged a complaint on September 4 saying that his brother-in-law Mahabubur Rahman was kidnapped in South Africa. He [Suruj Mia] got a phone call on August 29 from an unknown person who demanded Tk 70 lakh for setting free the hostage alive," Company Commander of RAB -12 Mohiuddin Faruki said yesterday. "The family members agreed to pay Tk 30 lakh in the first phase. A RAB team, in the guise of family members, talked with the abductors in South Africa over telephone. The kidnappers asked them to go to Bamanhati adalatpara near Dhaka-Mirzapur bypass road," Mohiuddin Faruki further said. Suruj Mia went to the place as directed by kidnappers along with Tk 30 lakh. Two members of kidnapping gang were waiting there for receiving ransom money. Suruj Mia identified them saying a code number. Then RAB arrested the two criminals along with the money. Sources close to the RAB said that Monir Hossain, son of Kamal Hossain at Halpara village of Mirzapur and his accomplices abducted Mahabubur Rahman in South Africa. The abductors set the victim free on the street at Cape Town when RAB picked up Monir's father and his associate Ziaur Rahman in Bangladesh. During preliminary interrogation, the arrestees confessed to the RAB that they used to kidnap wealthy Bangladeshi nationals to get fat amount of ransom. At least ten persons have so far been kidnapped by the gang in the meantime where they earned several crores of taka. There are several incidents of kidnapping of Bangladeshi nationals in South Africa where ransoms were paid here in local currency. On February 4, a Bangladeshi businessman who was kidnapped in South Africa was freed after the arrest of a person in Dhaka and seizure of ransom money from him. Police sources said expatriate businessman Md Shahidullah's family paid Tk 5,00,000 in ransom after his abduction on January 2. The aggrieved family members filed a case over abduction on Jan 30 and police arrested Akbar Hossain, 29, from Jatrabarhi in connection with the incident. Criminal Investigation Department [CID] officials said the abducted businessman was then rescued with the help of South African police in Sasolburg after paying ransom money in Dhaka. The arrested person during interrogation admitted that his brother-in-law Rajib was involved in the abduction in South Africa. Several criminal groups are involved in abduction of Bangladeshi nationals abroad. Not only in South Africa, the kidnapping gangs are also active in Iran, Iraq, Dubai, Singapore, Malaysia and some other countries. Dhaka has started joint investigation with the related country to bust out the gangs, officials said. "We've got enough evidences about involvement of Bangladeshi people in each and every case of abduction. Besides, one or more persons of the migrated country are also involved in the incidents," CID Special Superintendent [organized crimes] Mirza Abdullah Hel Baki said. Another sensational abduction occurred on June 2 last year when criminals kidnapped an owner of a departmental store Mohammad Nafis, hailed from Bhasanchar village at Goagachhia union under Gazariathana in Munshiganj district, from his business firm in South Africa. The kidnappers demanded Tk 7 lakh as ransom for Nafis's release. The matter was informed foreign ministries of both countries. At the same time, a case was also filed with Lalbagh Police Station in this connection. The kidnappers asked the victim's family to deposit the money in the bank account of one Aleya. CID officials arrested Aleya when she went to the bank to withdraw the money. Later, the law enforcement agencies managed to nab all members of the criminal gang. According to Wikipedia, kidnapping is a common crime in South Africa, with over 4,100 in the 2013/2014 period, and a child going missing every five hours. Cattle fattening, smuggling continue Local farmers fear huge losses: Farm owners flattening cows for quick buck Trawler loaded with sacrificial animals coming from the country\'s different destinations to reach capital as well as other places ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha. This photo was taken from Padma River at Mawa point on Tuesday. Md Joynal Abedin Khan : The illegal entry of cows in the country from neighbouring countries, mainly India and Myanmar, is going on across the borders causing a serious concern for local farmers who have been raring up sacrificial animals for the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha. The smuggling of cows from India, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan is allegedly being done in liaison between the illegal traders and some unscrupulous cop personnel of the concerned countries, sources said. If the smuggling continued, the farmers feared that they would have to count heavy losses as their expenditure for rearing up cattle will be more than the sale price. According to Livestock Department, about 1.12 crore sacrificial animals are slaughtered during Eid-ul-Azha every year. Currently, the country has an estimated 1.05 crore cattle, while the stock of cattle was 1.03 crore last year. Besides, the cattle-fattening drugs are also widely being used in Pabna, Sirajganj, Kushtia, Chuadanga, Jhenidah, Nilphamari, Barisal, Faridpur, Manikganj and some other districts, it is alleged. Pabna and Sirajganj districts are known for dairy farming and cattle-fattening practices for decades. There are 13,480 dairy farms in Sirajganj alone. While visiting different villages in Bera, Santhia and Ataikula upazilas of Pabna, and Shahjadpur and Baghabari areas in Sirajganj, our local correspondents found that almost every household was using steroids, antibiotics and other chemicals for months in blatant violation of law. Everyone -- from cattle farm owners to landless farmers -- wanted to take full advantage of this. A study by Bangladesh Agriculture University found 70.6 per cent cattle farmers in Pabna, Mymensingh and Comilla used anabolic steroid as a growth hormone. Meanwhile, a mobile team led by Executive Magistrate Md Sarwar Alam of the Rapid Action Battalion fined and jailed at least six persons in different terms for stocking banned drugs dexamethasone, cyproheptadine and hydrochloride in the city's Mohammadpur area on Saturday. There are some cattle farms in the city's Mohammadpur area where livestock go through a fattening regime ahead of Eid-ul-Azha. Some farms claim that they fatten cows in a 'natural' way but most farms overdose cattle with vitamins and steroids available in the market. Abdul Daian, a poor farmer from Kalapara village in Sirajganj, bought a bull for Tk 26,000 four months ago. He then planned to fatten it up as much as possible, and make some quick bucks by selling it before the Eid-ul-Azha, Daian's wife Poli Khatun told The New Nation on Sunday. Like many of his neighbors, he started feeding the bull 'small white drugs', locally known as 'vitamins'. Soon, the bull gained weight substantially and buyers offered almost double the price he bought it with, she said. "This year, a total of 99,876 cows are being fattened in Sirajganj," said a livestock officer. According to farmers, a domestic cow's weight increase from 200gm to 300gm in a day while the number US-origine Brahmam cows weight increase 1kg to 1.5Kg. Md Likhon Mia, owner of a small medicine shop at Baghabari, said he sells 10 to 12 packets of steroid tablets every day. Shahidur Rahman, manager of a farm at TR-Bandh village in Shahjadpur, admitted that they were using the drugs, but claimed none of those were harmful. The Animal Feed Act 2010 prohibits the use of antibiotics, growth hormones, steroids or other harmful chemicals in animal feed. For violating this law, a person might face up to one year's imprisonment or up to Tk 50,000 in fine or both. "We ask farmers not to use harmful drugs. But some farmers want to fatten their animals faster," said Dr Humayun Kabir, scientific officer at the BLRI. "Steroid variants like Decason, Oradexon, Prednisolon, Betnenal, Cortan, Steron and Adam-33 are usually used as life-saving drugs for critical patients. But when fed to cattle, these drugs damage their heart, kidney and liver, and eventually cause death, he said. "If someone consumes the meat of cattle fattened with such drugs, it will surely have negative impact on his health. It may even cause cancer and kidney failure," said Abdus Samad, professor at Bangladesh Agricultural University. Sheuti in full-length and short films Sheikh Arif Bulbon : Popular model and TV actress Fariha Shams Sheuti most of the time stays outside the country. She lives in Kuwait with her husband. For this reason, she could not become regular in acting in Bangladesh. She has returned to Bangladesh from Kuwait in July. She herself informed this correspondent about her present works yesterday. Sheuti has already finished shooting of her acted first movie. She acted in Saiful Islam Mannus full-length a movie titled Putro recently. Ferdous worked as her co-actor in the movie. After Eid, she will also work in a short film under Tania Nurs direction. This film will be made to focus on the Sunderbans. While sharing her feelings to work in Saiful Islam Mannus movie Putro, Sheuti told this correspondent, For the first time, I worked under Mannu Bhais direction. Story of the movie is really touchy. For this reason, I worked in this movie cordially. It is my first acted movie so I have many expectations in this regard. Therefore, story of the short film is based on the Sunderbans so I have keen interest to act my level best in the movie. Sheuti also informed that on the occasion of coming Eid she has already finished shooting of a play titled Hoi Na Epitaf. Abul Hayat, Intekhab Dinar, Bijori Barkatullah, Mustafa Prokash, among others, acted with her in the play. This play will be aired in any satellite channel in Eid-ul-Azha. It is noted that Sheuti acted first TV play was Mostafa Sarwar Farookis 69. Later she worked in several good plays. She first performed as a model in a TV commercial of a product of Radhuni under Joyonto Rozarios direction. Later she also performed as model in TVCs of GrameenPhone, Robi, Ashiyan City, IFIC Bank, Bit Razor, etc. She last performed in a TVC of Robi Gold Coin. Sheuti mentioned that after taking part in shooting of a short film she will again return to Kuwait. She is mother of Shahir and Taisir. Only for familys attraction she has to stay in Kuwait in most of the time of the year. For this reason, she cannot work in Bangladeshs media regularly, she said. Merkel vows to `win back trust` after defeat to anti-migrant party AFP, Berlin : German Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed Monday to "win back trust" of voters angered by her open-door refugee policy, while admitting her share of responsibility for her conservatives' humiliating election loss to an anti-migrant party. "Everyone now needs to think about how we can win back trust-most of all, of course, myself," Merkel said, speaking on the sidelines of a G20 summit in China a day after the election drubbing in her home state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party clinched almost 21 percent in its first bid for seats in the regional parliament of the north-eastern ex-Communist state on Sunday, coming second and knocking Merkel's party into third place with just 19 percent. The AfD's rise mirrors success enjoyed by other anti-immigration parties across Europe, with France's Front National (FN) riding high in the polls and a far-right populist eyeing the presidency in Austria in elections on October 2. Merkel said she was "deeply dissatisfied with the outcome of the election," conceding that campaigning had been dominated by the influx of one million asylum seekers to Germany last year. While she insisted that opening the borders to a mass influx of refugees and migrants a year ago was the "right" decision, she said that, as chancellor and party chief, "of course I am also responsible". "I consider the fundamental decisions as right, but there is much to be done to win back trust and the topic of integration will play a huge role, as well as the repatriation of those who don't gain residency rights." AfD co-chief Beatrix von Storch, with her eyes on national elections next year, hailed the shock outcome as "the beginning of the end of the Merkel era", while Bild daily labelled the result as another "slap across the face" for the chancellor. US-China example should encourage others to ratifying Paris climate deal CHINA and the United States, which are responsible for 40 percent of the world's carbon emissions ratified on Saturday the Paris climate agreement to cut emissions and reduce global warming. At a time when no big industrial nation was taking steps to put the treaty into force, their action appears to be encouraging for others to follow the suit. Besides the two big powers, 26 countries out of 180, which signed the treaty, have so far ratified the accord and they are mostly small island nations accounting for only I percent of global emission. Most developed and developing nations are going slowly. It may come into effect following ratification of at least 55 countries whose total carbon emission will not be less than 55 percent of global emission. Paris climate deal has been adopted in last December 12 under a series of UN sponsored climate summits over the past several years to replace the Kyoto Agreement for reducing global warming. The new treaty is set to become effective from 2020 when developed countries will start providing US$ 100 billion in aid to developing countries for their adaptation and mitigation programmes. The funding will increase in subsequent years. Global media reported that the world's two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases made the landmark announcement at G-20 Summit in Hangzhou, China and US believe that their action will bring the necessary breakthrough to accelerate ratification process by other big polluters. The agreement made it binding that the rise in global temperature must be at 1.5 degree Celsius or at least below 2 degree Celsius compared to 1980 level. Bangladesh has signed the agreement but also going slow to ratify it at a time when some domestic factors like controversy over coal-fired Rampal Power Plant is agitating the nation. Ratifying Paris agreement may bring more pressure on the government to remove the power plants from the vicinity of Sundarbans, which appears to be under biggest threat from carbon emission and air and water pollution. When the global powers are winding up coal-fired power plants to protect environment our government is working to set up new coal-fired power plants to create more misgivings at home and in the international community. Even India is winding up most coal-fired power plants when it is working to developing new procedures how to adapt with climate friendly system in industrial production and mitigate threats to environment from growing air pollution and carbon emission. Speaking in G-20 Summit on Saturday, US President Barack Obama hoped the Paris agreement would ultimately prove to be a turning point for our planet to make it safe. In our view, the USA and China have shown their leadership and the Vision for a safer world. Other nations now must ratify it to put it into effect as soon as possible. NILPHAMARI: A day-long training course on \'Right to Information Act Issue\' organised by RDRS Bangladesh was held at its training centre in Nilphamari town on Monday. 10 lighter vessels fined in Ctg Port Chittagong Bureau : Mobile court of Chittagong Port fined 10 lighter vessels in port channel with Tk.1.13 lakh for unauthorized berthing in the channel and other offenses , port sources said Executive Magistrate of CPA Rokeya Parvin led the mobile court on Monday from morning upto evening . Port sources said these lighter vessels commit different offenses like lack of security equipments, overloading and unthorised berthing in port channel. Under Inland Shipping Act, these vessels were fined, sources added. Besides, outstanding taxes of Tk.40 thousand also recovered from a vessel MV Prince of Jalaluddin. The convicted vessels are- MV Istiaq, MV Kamal, MV Nusrat Islam, MV Sajjadul Hoque-2, MV Jahin, MV Bandav, MV Santa, MV Sagar MV Samira and MT Summit, sources said. Suspended Sylhet Mayor Ariful gets HC bail Staff Reporter : The High Court on Tuesday granted bail to suspended Sylhet City Corporation Mayor Ariful Haque Chowdhury in the former Finance Minister Shah AMS Kibria murder case. An HC bench comprising Justice Syed Muhammad Dastagir Husain and Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah passed the order disposing of a HC rule asking the government to explain as to why Ariful Haque Chowdhury should not be granted bail in the case. Barrister Mainul Hosein, Barrister Abdul Hakim Kafi and Md Nizam Uddin stood for the petitioner, while Deputy Attorney General Dr Mohammad Bashir Ullah represented the state. When contacted Ariful's lawyer Nizam Uddin said the HC granted him bail until the end of the trial in the case. The Deputy Attorney General said the court has already recorded testimony of 31 witnesses among 170. They will file an appeal against the HC order with the Supreme Court. Earlier on August 9, the High Court issued the rule. Barrister Hosein submitted that Mayor Ariful Haque Chowdhury was implicated in 2014 by second supplementary charge sheet for the offence committed in 2005 and without any evidence. Just because it is a sensational case it does not justify an innocent people's elected Mayor should suffer in jail. None of the witnesses mentioned his name. One forcible and vague confession was obtained, which was later retracted. That was also in respect of Grenade Case of Dhaka. Confessional statement of a co-accused is not no evidence about implication unless supported by an independent witness. Barrister Hosein further submitted it is misleading the HC Division rejected his bail petition. He cited that earlier the court granted bail to 8 persons accused in this case. The High Court Division on March 22 granted bail to Ariful for 15 days on the ground that his mother was ill, and asked him to surrender before the lower court on the expiry of the bail. After the expiry of the bail period, Ariful surrendered. He did not abuse bail. Five people, including Kibria, were killed and 70 others injured in a grenade attack on a public rally of local Awami League at Baidder Bazar in Sadar upazila of Habiganj district on January 27, 2005. After the incident, Awami League leader Abdul Mozid Khan filed two cases-one for murder and another under the Explosives Substances Act-with Habiganj Police Station the following day. The cases are being dragged on making the accused to suffer imprisonment indefinitely. The Undead Archives I have finally salvaged my pre-Blogger TDR archives and added them into Blogger. They are almost totally in the form of one giant post for each month. And the formatting strayed from the originals. Sorry. But historians everywhere can rejoice that this treasure trove of my thoughts is restored to the world. Beijing's Fangshan district launched tourism experiences based on local wine chateaus at the Beijing Wine Festival that kicked off on Sept 2.[Photo provided to China Daily] Beijing's Fangshan district launched tourism experiences based on local wine chateaus at the Beijing Wine Festival that kicked off on Sept 2. The event was joint efforts between the Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development and the Fangshan government and aimed to integrate local resources related to the wine industry. The capital has attracted many winery investors like Chateau Changyu-AFIP and Chateau Bolongbao. In 2012, 33 chateaux signed agreement with Fangshan. Until now 22 chateaux have been built, 13 of which have begun to produce wine. Standardization and normalization rules for the development of chateaux in Beijing are expected to be drawn up in future, officials said at the festival. The goal is to showcase Beijing's chateau culture and wine. Travel agencies signed agreements with local chateaux to boost chateau tourism at the event. An international wine competition will also be staged in the district in October. Related: Shenyang sunflowers in full blossom The sextoy market is growing quite rapidly in India right now. Although it is not a big trend, it is a hot topic on the internet as it is secretly expanding its market. In this article, we will focus on sextoy and introduce recommended sextoy for Indian beginners of sextoy by gender. India, the birthplace of the Kama Sutra, is very strict about sex. Also, premarital sex is basically not allowed. Therefore, there are many people who are sexually restricted. But what happens when you continue to be sexually restricted? Frustration may build up and you may end up taking your sexual stress out on your partner. If you are able to adopt sextoy in a timely manner, you can get rid of those problems. I want to have more exciting sex than Im having now. I want more variation in masturbation I want to get even stronger pleasure than I do on my own. If you have any of these problems, please stay with me until the end. What is sex toys for Indian? Sextoy, as the name implies, is a toy used during sex and masturbation. It is a generic term for vibrators, Egg-vibrators, Electric massagers, dildo, handcuffs and condoms. They are used to make regular sex more exciting or to make masturbation more pleasurable. Because sextoy is very stimulating, it can help you to get rid of the problems and frustrations of being in a rut of sex with your partner for a long time, or if you are unhappy with the lack of pleasure in sex with your partner. The ability to satisfy your desires with movement, texture, and size, which cannot be done by a normal human being, can help you to be satisfied with sex and, as a result, improve your relationship with your partner. It is also said to help improve sexual dysfunction (inability to get an erection or ejaculate) and difficulty in feeling during sex (insensitivity), which is attracting more attention than in the past. In recent years, the demand for sextoy has increased due to the spread of smartphones and the Internet and the increasing number of people using online shopping. Even those who are concerned about the appearance of sextoy (and find it difficult to purchase) can now easily obtain it by using mail order. In the case of online shopping, most of the stores have taken steps to ensure that the contents of the products delivered to you are not revealed, so you can purchase them without your family members knowing. Until a while ago, you had to go to the store where the adult goods were sold to buy them, so it was quite a hurdle to overcome. Also, many people may have an image that sextoy is somehow embarrassing to own. But nowadays, some of them are so stylish and cute that you cant believe they are sextoy at a glance. More and more people are using them for travel and outdoor use because they are not too bulky and are suitable for carrying around. Sextoy situation in India Before introducing the recommended sextoy for Indians, lets talk about one of the sextoy situations in India in recent years. In India, due to the high concentration of population, the following six cities have particularly high sales of sextoy in India. Mumbai Kolkata Bangalore Delhi Chennai Hyderabad These cities account for roughly 70 percent of sextoy sales in India. In the future, the percentage of sextoy use will gradually increase in other cities in India as well. If you never talk about sextoy publicly, that girl in your neighborhood might be a sextoy user too. If you are interested in sextoy, you dont have to suppress your desire for it. What are Sextoys for beginner? Among all sextoys, sextoy for beginners are vibrators, dildo, masturbators, Sex Lubricants, and condoms. Sex Lubricants and condoms, which are familiar to people who have had sex, are also a great beginners sextoy. I will explain the details of each toy later, but there are many sextoy products that are painful to use and can only be used after some anal expansion. I assume that the Indian readers of this article are people who have not had much experience with sextoy. If such people use professional sextoy suddenly, they are at risk of injury or trauma. Therefore, to introduce sextoy, you need to start with a beginners version and gradually become familiar with it. Advantages of using sextoy for Indians There are three advantages of using sextoy for Indians You can masturbate in a wide variety of ways. Can have stimulating sex Can develop new sexual zones If you try to masturbate with your own fingers or hands, it tends to be a pattern. However, with sextoy, you can easily masturbate in a variety of ways. You will definitely be fascinated by the attraction of new stimulation. Also, your daily sex life will be more exciting than ever. There are many things in sextoy that are visually stimulating and give you a strong and intense feeling of pleasure. This allows you to see your partners promiscuity in a way that you wouldnt normally see it. When you are in a relationship, sex with your partner may become a pattern, but it can also eliminate these problems. It can also lead to the development of new sexual zones (which is the training of sexual stimulation to allow you to feel orgasms). For more information on the development of new sexual zones, see the following articles [Women's Erogenous Zone]How to find and develop, 7 hidden sexual zones !![In India] In this issue, we will dissect the female erogenous zone! ..." Many of you may be like that. Men, in particular, shou... Thus, the use of sextoy can only be a good thing for the men and women of India. Sextoy for beginner men in India So, lets continue with the recommended goods for Indian sextoy beginners. For ease of understanding, we will introduce them by gender. Lets start with the men! The following five goods are recommended for novice Indian sextoy men Masturbator Cock rings Love Doll Sex Lubricants Toys for the prostate Lets check each one in detail. Masturbator The masturbator is a sextoy for men that elaborately reproduces a womans vagina, mouth, and anus, and is one of the most popular sextoy products. It is used by men to masturbate, and it is popular because it provides stronger stimulation and pleasure more easily than using hands. Most are made of good quality silicone, and their softness is something that cannot be achieved with ones own hands. They can provide stronger pleasure than a real womans vagina, so be careful not to overuse them. (You wont be able to have an orgasm in a womans vagina anymore.) Again Male masturbators are a wonderful toy. I do not need any favourite timing, bothersome bargaining. You do not have to worry too much. Revolutionize your masturbation time! ! ! Made in Japan is a wonderful kinky toy.#sextoysindia #SexToyIndia #Japanhttps://t.co/4k70QGzoTP pic.twitter.com/tRVdxTKPpa SEXToys India PR (@SextoysIndia) November 12, 2018 Some of them are disposable, while others can be washed and used over and over again, so its fun to buy a few to use depending on your mood. If you want to know more about masturbator, please click here Really pleasant male masturbation and how to do it Are you in a rut with your daily masturbation routine? I'm going to show you five ways men masturbate that you might ... [For Beginners] How to choose and use a male masturbator without fail Gentlemen.Have you ever used a masturbator? The person who sees this article is probably the one who has not experien... Cock Ring A cock ring is literally a ring-shaped sextoy that is worn on a mans penis. It maintains an erection by binding the penis with a ring of rubber and blocking blood flow. It is sometimes used as an accessory to be worn on the penis, and may be made of metal or plastic as well as rubber. In some cases, cock rings have parts or vibrators attached to them that stimulate the vagina, so they kill two birds with one stone, giving a woman pleasure while maintaining an erection. Cock rings are also sometimes used to treat erectile dysfunction. It can help with erectile dysfunction, where the penis doesnt get hard when you get an erection or doesnt last long when you try to insert it. Men who are prone to breakage or who are unsure of the hardness and size of their erections can use a cock ring to increase the size of their penis and maintain an erection for a longer period of time. Cock rings vary in price from around RS700 to over RS2000 with a vibrator function. Some of them do not fit your penis, so you should check the size of the cock ring before you buy. You should know the size of your partners or your own penis when it is erect. [Penis enlargement] What is a cock ring? Types and usage Cock rings can make your penis bigger and harder. It also makes sex with women more fulfilling and increases your sat... Love Doll Love dolls, also known as Dutchwives, are dolls with the appearance of a woman who can experience simulated sex. There are dolls that look like a woman, but they have no face and only have their breasts and lower torso cut off, and some dolls are so realistic that they can actually be mistaken for real women. Some expensive dolls can cost more than 1 million yen, and the quality of the doll is easily influenced by the price. The higher the price, the higher the quality of the doll will be, the closer it will be to the real woman, and the cheaper the doll will be, the less elaborate it will be, making it look like a real doll! Something is wrong! That is also true. You cant go wrong if you choose a balance between price and taste. There are stores that allow you to make custom-made love dolls, so you can create a girl of your choice. You can make a girl of your choice. You can start with inexpensive love dolls at first, and once you get used to it, you can try custom-made love dolls. If you want to know more about Love doll, please click here Thorough explanation of the charm of sex dolls! Have you ever heard of sex dolls that are used primarily for pseudo-sex purposes? It is a doll that is quite close to... Sex lubricants Sex lubricants are used as a substitute for lubricating fluid during sex or as a lubricant for men to use masturbator rules. It is not uncommon for women to have difficulty getting wet, depending on their physical condition, or to have difficulty getting wet due to their constitution. Forcing the penis into the vagina at such times can cause painful intercourse. There are various types of Sex Lubricants, some with a warming effect, some with a cooling effect, and some with a scent. Changing the Sex Lubricant used during play is recommended as a good sex accent. If you want to learn more about Sex Lubricants, click here. What is sex lubricant?Explain the difference and usage of each ingredient The word "sex toy" may seem like a hurdle to overcome, but lotion is actually one of the most familiar sex toys. Many... Toys for the Prostate Another sextoy for men is prostate toys. The most famous prostate toys include Enemagra, which was originally a prostate massager developed by an American urologist to treat an enlarged prostate line. Modern prostate toys are imitations of Enemagra that have spread as sextoy for men. Many people think of prostate toys as being used by gay men, but in fact they are often used by straight men. What is the prostate? The prostate is an organ found only in men. It is a walnut-sized organ located deep in the pelvis, just below the bladder, and its primary role is to protect and nourish sperm. You cannot touch the prostate gland from outside the body, but you can touch it by inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus. By inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus and touching the prostate and developing it, you can feel intense orgasms. Orgasms felt in the prostate are mainly dry orgasms, which are orgasms that do not involve ejaculation. (You can also feel orgasms with ejaculation through prostate stimulation.) The prostate is called the male G-spot, and dry orgasms can be much more intense than ejaculation. Therefore, men who are able to develop a prostate can become addicted to the pleasure. sextoy for beinner women in India The following are the recommended goods for Indian women who are new to sextoy. The following three are recommended for use by women who are new to sextoy. Vibrator. Dildo Electric Masserger Lets check out what each one is in detail. If you want to check out womens toys, click here. [BEST25]Sex Toys for Women in IndiaThat Can Help You Have an Orgasm There are many women who pretend to feel orgasm during sex. But don't worry, you don't have to pretend to feel orgasm... Vibrators A vibrator is a sextoy that vibrates with an Egg-Vibrator to provide stimulation and is often referred to simply as a vibrator. Some vibrate as well as rotate, and there are many variations of sextoy. It is quite a popular sextoy, and is well recognized by people who do not know much about sextoy. Its usage is similar to that of a massager, but it is more compact and easier to carry than a massager, and many of them look as cute as a lipstick or a macaroon, so they are popular among women. For a while, a famous influencer on twitter said, This is good! You may have heard of the topic of this article by introducing the recommended vibrators. Vibrators are great for women to use on their own, but they are also recommended for men who have difficulty satisfying women with sex. Since it is powered by electricity, it is far less tiring than moving your hands by yourself. This makes it easier to satisfy a woman with sex because you can caress her for longer than usual. Vibrators are mainly used on the female side, but they can also be used on men. When used on men, they are used to attack the nipples and glans, and in both cases it is recommended to wear a condom for hygiene reasons. Introducing how to use the vibrator, its purpose, and how to choose it! Vibrator uses the vibrations caused by the rotation of the motor to provide stimulation. It is one or two of the most... Dildo A dildo is a model sextoy made to mimic a male penis. It can be made of silicone, elastomer (think of it as a material similar to PVC), metal or glass. A dildo can be used by a man for his female partner during sex, or by a woman for masturbation to get pleasure from it. They are mainly inserted into women, but some can be used in the male anus as well. It is sometimes used synonymously with vibrators, but the vibrator is not the same thing as a vibrating device. A model of a penis that does not vibrate is a dildo. Some of them have suction cups that can be attached to the floor or wall so that you can enjoy realistic masturbation without using your hands. For fun, there is a dildo made in the shape of your partners penis. This one is also popular as a gift, and if youve been together for a long time and are having trouble finding a gift for your partner, you might want to pick one. To learn more about dildo, please click here. What is Dildo: Orgasms with Dildos for Men and Women A dildo is a model of a male organ that is used by women for masturbation and by men to stimulate the prostate gland. Th... Electric Masserger A Electric Masserger is a hand-held electric massager, also known as a handheld massager, and can usually be purchased at electronics stores. It was originally designed to relieve stiff shoulders and back pain, so the hurdle of buying one in a physical store is quite low. Many people may have seen or used it in some form or another, as it is often installed in leisure hotels. Such a massager is highly recommended for beginners because it is easy for women to get pleasure from it when they use it during masturbation. It is larger than Egg-Vibrator and vibrations are stronger than those of Egg-Vibrators and vibrators, so even just hitting the clitoris can give you a great deal of pleasure. For those women who have never had an orgasm during sex with their man, the massager may be a good way to get a feel for what it feels like to have an orgasm. It looks and feels like an electric massager, so you wont have to feel awkward if your roommate finds out. If you are in a rut of having sex with your partner, if you want to feel an orgasm through masturbation, or if you are thinking of using a sextoy, why dont you try it from a simple massager? To learn more about Electric Masserger, click here. What is a massager? Introducing types, selection methods, and usage Originally, the Magic-wand vibrator and the massage machine were sold as a home massage machine used for the back and th... How to choose a sextoy for Indian Now that weve covered the different types of sextoy, heres how to choose one. Especially if you are trying sextoy for the first time, pay attention to the following three points: Does the size fit you (the partner)? Does the size fit you (your partner)? Is the environment able to produce sound without problems? Price range First of all, the choice of size is quite important. Most sextoy are used against or inserted into the genitals, but the genitals are very delicate organs for both men and women. For this reason, using an inappropriate size may cause damage. Secondly, the environment should be able to produce sound without problems. Some sextoys not only wear, but also rotate and vibrate. Its easier to get pleasure from something that moves than something that doesnt, but the fact that it moves means that the internal rotors make some noise. If you live in a house with thin walls or if you have roommates, you may not be able to concentrate because of the noise, so it is best to choose one that is silent or has a low noise level. Especially in India, where many people live with their families, it is very important that you dont have to worry about sound when you use it. Finally, there is the price range. The price range of sextoy ranges widely, from around RS500 at the cheapest to RS10,000 or more at the highest. Its good to consider how much money you can afford and how much you want to buy. Do you want your family to not find out about sextoy? I live with my family and want to use sextoy without them finding out! If you are a man, you should buy a camouflage sextoy that does not look like a sextoy at first glance. For men, there are many masturbators that do not look like a sextoy, and for women, there are vibrators that only look like cosmetics. If you choose such a type, youll be safe in case your family members find out. How to buy sextoys in India The best way to purchase sextoy is through online shopping. For more information on how to purchase sextoy, please see the article below. Sextoy is one of them. Therefore, you can easily get sextoy in India by using online shopping. SexToysINDIA is a long established and stable sextoy store and you can have sextoy delivered to any place in India. They also offer cash on delivery, so those who are worried about shopping with a credit card do not have to worry. Of course, the latest security is in place, so your information will not be taken out when you use your credit card. To begin with, many people may be concerned about whether they are legally allowed to purchase sextoy. ikmAs it turns out, its not illegal. Right now, it is not open to the public because the Indian adult market is still in the development stage, but it will gradually spread from now on. Take advantage of sextoy and open the door to new pleasures and culture. Cautions for Indians using sextoy When using sextoy, keep the following three things in mind Keep sex toys clean Watch out for electrical leakage Beware of the heat generated by the body while using a sex toy As I mentioned earlier, many sextoy products are used for the delicate zone. Therefore, it is most important to keep the sextoy itself clean. It is very important to keep the sextoy itself clean, because if a slight scratch is created by friction, bacteria can enter and breed there. It is safe to wear a condom when using the masturbator, just in case. In addition, many sextoy devices are powered by a power source, so if they are not waterproof, there is a possibility of electric shock or malfunction due to wetness. Some may even develop heat during continuous use. If the fever becomes too much, you may get burned, so be careful. If you get a fever during use, stop driving the sextoy immediately and refrain from using it. You will enjoy sex more if you keep it safe and use it correctly. Summary What did you think? In this article, we have introduced the recommended sextoy for the beginners of sextoy in India. The sextoy market is growing rapidly in India and it will continue to grow steadily in the future. As India is a rather closed-minded country, it can be difficult to be open about ones sexual habits and values. However, being faithful to ones desires by properly dissolving ones sexual desire is very effective for ones physical and mental health. If this is your first time to learn about sextoy, or if you are interested in using sextoy, why not give it a try? Indian Sextoys for ur best! will introduce you to sextoy and other trivia about sextoy, sexuality, and sexuality for men and women. I want to read more! If you think its a great idea, please bookmark it. Dr. George Boulukos, Associate Professor at SIU's English Department I went with my family to Springfield this spring to visit a shrine to Illinois and American history, the Lincoln Museum. I was a bit startled when the docent responded to hearing that I was from Carbondale by saying my niece wanted to go to graduate school at SIUC but we told her with all the budget problems, shed be better off in Kentucky. Just last week, I met with a bright prospective Ph.D. student. She was enthusiastic about our program, but asked for reassurance that budget crisis wouldnt affect our admissions. All I could say is well have to wait and see. These anecdotes, unfortunately, are reflected in hard numbers. A recent report in the New York Times shows that Illinois has experienced the worst drain of any state on its public higher education system, losing a net figure of more than 14,000 students. And that was in 2014, before the current budget disaster. This might seem like a temporary problem but it leaves permanent damage behind. As the eventual outcome of the budget standoff is impossible to predict, intelligent planning becomes impossible. As students disappear to other states, the programs they would have pursued at an Illinois university begin to wither and die. Last year, both sides in Springfield agreed to fund K-12 before settling into a year-long standoff over the budget. A scant 25 percent higher education budget was passed at the last minute only when Chicago State University was about to close down permanently. Illinoiss elected leaders are right to protect K-12 education, but they are foolish not to realize the damage they are doing by exiling our best-educated young people across state borders. SIUC was founded in the 19th century as a teachers college, and it still provides an invaluable resource to the region by educating our future K-12 teachers. But as these students leave the state, the programs designed to teach them are being devastated by cuts. Serious damage is being done to the future of Southern Illinois, and specifically to K-12 education. We need our state leaders to fight to keep our best-educated citizens, including our future teachers, and not to drive them away. DU QUOIN A year ago, Mike Draege was in Daytona Beach, Florida, when he saw plastic balls big enough to hold an adult or a child as they attempted to stand up inside the balls, which were in a pool of water. The Tamaroa resident had the bright idea to buy a set of the Human Hamster Water Balls and related materials about $28,000 worth and try it out at the Du Quoin State Fair. The first few days with the Human Hamster Water Ball attraction were kind of slow, but interest in the name of customers willing to pay $10 per person to try and balance themselves in the ball picked up over the weekend. Early afternoon on Labor Day, there was a small group of children and adults huddled under the tent with the huge inflatable backyard-style swimming pool, with four, clear, big balls floating inside. Draege said he's hoping his idea is a good fit for the fair and that interest and customers pick up. He said hes averaged about 80 customers a day, for instance, getting about 120 on Sunday. He was among a handful of vendors at the 2016 Du Quoin State Fair who talked Monday about business at this year's fair, which was challenged by a daily entry fee of $2 per person. Fair officials said they would not have numbers on the attendance at this year's fair until sometime in the future. We are grateful for our loyal fairgoers, Tibretta Reiman, assistant state fair manager, said in a press statement. From our picnics to our grandstand, we saw great crowds throughout the duration of the Du Quoin State Fair. On several days our fairgoers even braved triple-digit heat indexes to enjoy this family-friendly tradition. This fair was the perfect way to end the summer in Southern Illinois. Vendors like George and Lynne Harris thought they saw fewer people, something they attribute in part to the $2 admittance fee. This is the fifth year that the Harrises have run Rolandos Pizza at the Roundhouse on the fairgrounds; the couple also owns the restaurant of the same name in Du Quoin. Were glad to be here, Lynne Harris said. But as far as that $2 fee Is it hurting the fair? Yes." One vendor said a combination of the $2 fee, students returning to school before Labor Day, making them less likely to attend the fair during its first days with their families; and last weeks hot temperatures impacted peoples decisions to attend the fair. Mid-day on Labor Day, though, saw families and couples and individuals out enjoying the last few hours of the fair, even as temperatures started to rise. Some young children stood in jet sprays set up around the park, while adults pushed strollers as they walked slowly into the spray mist formed from the fountains. The shade provided by the tent over at the Human Hamster Water Balls attraction was welcoming, as family and friends, like Jennifer Rash watching and squealing in laughter as her son, Aiden, 9, and daughter, Katelyne, 8, tried to get their balance watched family and friends flop, then roll, then create a splash as they searched for their water-ball pool legs. Watching from inside the pool and helping to rebalance balls in which the human-hamster had capsized was Draege's friend, Joe Chance. For $10, children and adults got to spend about seven minutes trying to walk or flopping inside the plastic balls. He was enjoying it, just not first-hand. "I haven't been in the ball," he said. "I just like the idea of trying to walk on water." WARE A manhunt in Union County concluded Tuesday morning after officers arrested 26-year-old Dejun D. Booker. The Union Sheriff's office confirmed that Booker had been apprehended Tuesday by police after a manhunt that started early Monday morning. According to a news release from the office, a plain-clothes officer spotted Booker on Tuesday morning near a residence on 1840 Morgan School Road in Jonesboro after escaping from the scene of a burglary at Revlon Tavern, east of Ware on Sunday night. Booker, alleged to be one of five suspects alleged to be involved with a burglary, escaped on foot as gunshots were heard in the vicinity. Union County Deputies and Cobden Police Department Officers, assisted by Illinois State Police Districts 22, 13, SWAT, and Air Operations, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Jackson County Sheriffs Department personnel set up a perimeter on Monday, temporarily shutting down Illinois 146 west from Illinois 127 North to Illinois 3. Booker is being held in Jackson County jail on two counts of armed violence and one count of burglary with a $500,000 bond. Jeffrey Hunter, 35; Christian Lowe, 21; and Toni McClellan of Indianapolis, along with Johnny A. Robinson, 35, of Greenville, Mississippi, were also detained in connection to the Sunday night burglary. CARBONDALE Southern Illinois Universitys fall 2016 enrollment is down 7.55 percent, according to Interim Chancellor Brad Colwell. The official enrollment number is 15,987, which is down from last fall's reported number of 17,292. SIU officials said Tuesday they werent surprised by the dip in enrollment. In fact, they knew it was coming. The decline was budgeted for, Colwell said. This is absolutely not a surprise to us. Officials said the loss of 1,305 students translates into about $6.5 million of loss revenue, but the university has already accounted for it in its prior $21 million reduction. These enrollment figures should not have an impact on the budget as it stands today, said Rae Goldsmith, chief marketing and communications officer. Colwell said the decline can be attributed to a small freshman class, and graduate enrollment is down because of a budget decision to decrease the number of assistantships. Numbers from SIU show a 23.69 percent drop in the number of freshman, and a 17 percent drop in sophomores which is the same number from last year. There are increases in the amount of juniors and seniors, which Colwell said is a bright spot because it shows the universitys retention efforts are working. There's also a drop in graduate students, 12 percent (431 students). Colwell said Tuesday that the university is looking to the future specifically the fall of 2017. He says the university is fully staffed in admission departments, and it is going to be sure to use its resources in the best interest of the students. Using market research to find out what students are looking for, and how the university is perceived, will be part of the efforts moving forward. Also, using social media effectively and marketing itself the best way to students. We cant do this by anecdote," he said, "we have to go by what is data driven." Terri Harfst, interim director of undergraduate admissions, said SIU needs to have a clear story, a strategy, and get more feet on the ground to continue to build relationships. She said the admissions department is increasing prospective students it is reaching out to, and expanding the number of high schools it is visiting. Analysis is being done on communication with prospective students so the how, when and what is effective. So far, Harfst said, the university has received more than 1,000 applications by for fall 2017, and it has accepted more than 400. This is the earliest the university has started working on admissions for the next year. Another challenge admissions has faced in the past is not enough staff, Harfst said. The department has hired eight admission coordinators, meaning more high schools in Illinois and border states will be visited. Also, the ability to build relationships with guidance counselors in high schools and juniors colleges will be possible. Colwell said the goal for fall 2017 is to stem the tide of any decrease in enrollment and increase the freshman class by 10 percent. He is aware of crime factors, and says that SIUs crime stats are right in line with any other campuses of its size. Some of the things happening in Carbondale are not unique to Carbondale, he said. Carbondale is just indicative to a much larger national trend. Although Colwell recognizes this years numbers are the lowest the university has seen in some time, he said the university did plan for it fiscally. It is a different time from the days of 25,000 students Colwell said reflecting back on when SIU had several associate degrees that it no longer offers. He said it is too early to talk about layoffs, saying that the university does need help from the state more than the stopgap budget passed in July provided. However, Colwell didnt want to blame the state for the enrollment numbers, saying SIU needed to own its enrollment. We need to do better, and we will. That, I promise you, he said. Just because we are down, doesnt mean we are out by any stretch. Goldsmith said SIU is aware of losing in-state students to out-of-state colleges. She also said it is aware that out-of-state students who would normally come to Illinois are not coming anymore. She said non-Illinois schools are using the budget impasse to recruit students, and other schools are using the crime perception of Carbondale to recruit against SIU. It is a challenge, she said. It is being used against us, even when it is not unique to us. She highlighted the doctoral research programs available to students which allows real-life experience before graduation. We just have to do a better job of making sure people are aware of that, she said. Colwell had a sense of optimism Tuesday, saying the university has a plan and it is going to execute. We have a plan that we feel good about, he said. Lisa Uzzle, who police say was shot to death late-summer 2014 before her body was burned inside her Williamson County home, was a beloved mother, friend and colleague. She was a 25-year-veteran of the U.S. Post Office in Marion where she served officially as the union steward and unofficially as the office prankster, known for pulling a fast one on unsuspecting colleagues and filling the room with laughter. But two years after she was found dead, there has been no justice served for Uzzle. With the two year anniversary of the death of my mother upon us, it opens the wounds that never really were healed, said her adult daughter Stephanie Uzzle. It forces my family and me to relive the horrible manner of her passing, and the gaping hole it has left in our lives. Lisa Uzzle, 53, left behind two children, Stephanie and Matthew. Matthew requires full-time care as he has a severe form of cerebral palsy and is non-mobile and non-verbal. On Monday, the eve of her death, Williamson County Sheriff Bennie Vick sent a short statement to media with a plea to the public asking anyone who has any information to come forward. This murder investigation has not been and will not be forgotten, Vick promised. We know there is a person or people who have information that will help solve this case, he said in a statement. This is still very much an active investigation. Its something we think about every day. Stephanie Uzzle said she and her brother are offering a $10,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of her killer, in addition to what Crimestoppers offers. We miss her voice, her laughter, her jokes and her very presence, Uzzle said of her mother. It hurts to know whoever is responsible for her death is still not held accountable, and is very capable of murdering someone else and causing the hurt and pain we feel again. We continue to hope and pray justice will be served, Uzzle continued in a message she sent The Southern Monday evening in response to the newspapers request for comment. I am pleading to whoever knows anything that can be beneficial in her investigation, come forward and speak with someone, even anonymously. Uzzles body was discovered on Sept. 6, 2014, at her ranch house on McGeesville Road in rural Williamson County. Uzzle said that one her mothers favorite pastimes was to sit on the porch of that house and enjoy the view of the 50-acre wooded property of rolling fields and forestland that stretch as far as the eye can see. She began building the house about five years prior to her death as her own personal sanctuary that provided a new beginning for her as she went through a divorce and started a new life, Stephanie Uzzle said this past year on the one-year anniversary of her mothers death. Firefighters discovered Uzzle inside her home on that 2014 day as they responded to a blaze that totaled the home. About a month later, Williamson County States Attorney Brandon Zanotti announced at a news conference that authorities had ruled her death a homicide. At the time, Zanotti said investigators found the fire and Uzzles death to be suspicious based on evidence found while sorting through debris at the scene. Further, a forensic pathologists report revealed that Uzzle did not die in the fire, but of multiple gunshot wounds prior to the fire. Zanotti said then that authorities believed the killing was premeditated. Uzzle said the family knows that they cannot bring back their loved one, but she said that a conviction would go a long way in providing closure to her children who have suffered immeasurably and other loved ones. Please, do what is right, she pleaded. Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact the Williamson County Sheriffs Office at 618-997-6541. People with information can also contact Williamson County Crimestoppers at 1-800-414-8477 (TIPS). Any information provided through Crimestoppers will remain completely anonymous. ACT scores improved for the Calhoun County Public Schools district this year, making it one of only three districts in South Carolina to see an increase. The districts average score jumped by 1.4 points in 2016. The other averages for T&D Region districts dropped anywhere from one to 2.2 points. The ACT assesses students readiness for college, but a new state law implemented in 2016 requires every high school junior to take the test whether or not they are preparing to study for a four-year degree. This increased the number of students taking the test and heavily impacted the scores, according to the S.C. Department of Education and some local educators. But in spite of almost double the number of students taking the test in 2016, Calhoun County High Schools average composite score rose from 16 in 2015 to 17.4 in 2016. The high school has consistently scored well on standardized tests for years. Principal Cynthia Johnson says the reason for its current success is that we just do what we continue to do every year and that is to focus on rigor, reading and math skills. Johnson said she believes the real deciding factor in students success is teaching them to accept responsibility for their own education. We empower them to take ownership of their education, she said. We share the (testing) data with them. They know their schools data and they know their individual data. If you want to empower students, you have to motivate them, she said. That is done by developing relationships with them. You have to know who youre teaching, Johnson said. Our teachers do an awesome job in knowing students and where they come from. Motivation doesnt happen overnight, she said. Thats something weve been working for many years. Its changing the culture, setting high expectations and pretty much having the mindset that failure is not an option. Addressing the needs of the whole child is another component in Calhouns success, Johnson said. Thats been my platform since I've been in this position the total package, she said. Everyone has bought into that including the teachers, custodians, cafeteria workers, parents, community, but most importantly the students. The district has a very high poverty level, but they never and we never allow that to serve as an excuse for not achieving excellence, Johnson said. Our students expect for us to provide them with an excellent education. Teamwork among all members of the school community contributes to students success, she said. The teachers caring for students doesnt stop when they graduate, she said. Theyre busy now collecting care packages to send to students who went on to college. But the high school and teachers couldnt succeed in their tasks without support from the district and the school board, she said. Nearly 70 percent of Calhoun County High Schools students go on to college, she said. Last year, they won almost $2 million in scholarships. Orangeburg Consolidated School District Fours average score dropped from 17.9 to 15.7 in 2016. This was heavily influenced by Branchville High Schools score. The school normally performs well on standardized tests, but dropped on the ACT from 21 in 2015 to 16.5 in 2016. In this case, the number of students taking the test jumped from 13 college-bound students in 2015 to 56 students from the general population taking the test in 2016, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Shirlan Jenkins said. The ACT provides data on how successful students are likely to be in English, math, reading and science, she said. Students who score 18 in English composition, 22 in reading and math and 23 in science can expect to earn a B or higher on those courses in college, she said. The ACT WorkKeys assessment is designed for students interested in careers in the military and other fields of work, she said. It provides data that shows them the areas of work where they are likely to be successful. Those results will be released on Sept. 19. Congressman Joe Wilson says he hasnt always been supportive of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, but he is now. "I believe his policies on taxes are very important and there is a very clear distinction by reducing taxes it creates jobs," Wilson said. "The other candidates propose to raise taxes and that will destroy jobs." The 2nd District representative says he agrees with his partys presidential candidate on a number of issues, including immigration and national security. Wilson spoke about Trump on Thursday, during a stop at Orangeburg Distributors as part of his annual tour of his district. He spoke approvingly of Trumps visit to Mexico last week to meet with President Enrique Pena Nieto. "I think he showed respect to the country of Mexico and to the people of Mexico, Wilson said. Trump has been criticized for comments about Mexican immigrants in the past. After his trip, Trump stood by his proposal to build a wall between Mexico and the United States in an attempt to curtail illegal immigration. Wilson agrees with the proposal. "A wall makes good neighbors. We know that," Wilson said. "Fences make good neighbors. There has been a destabilization in northern Mexico due to drug cartels operating there. By having a wall or fence would be very beneficial to the country of Mexico and to the people of Mexico." Trump has also said he would seek to deport illegal immigrants who are criminals. Wilson said as an attorney he has worked on immigration laws for years and he believes Trump's proposal is a wise idea. "Bringing in people to our country legally is very uplifting and it is a wonderful experience," Wilson said. "We need to differentiate between legal immigrants and illegal aliens. That is what he has done. I am very supportive obviously, all of us, of legal immigration, but it needs to be legal." With regards to national security, Wilson said he agrees with Trump that the Iranian nuclear deal should be reversed. "To me, the Iranian nuclear deal put everyone in America at risk by providing tens of billions of dollars to people who claim to kill Americans and kill Israelis. That is inconceivable. Mr. Trump would reverse that and indeed strengthen our national security," Wilson said. Wilson said he believes Trump can attract Hispanic and African-American voters, even though Clinton leads with both demographics. "He has tried," Wilson said. "The facts speak for themselves to where he would do a good job. The record level of unemployment needs to be addressed." During his tour of Orangeburg Distributors, Wilson expressed his amazement at the growth of the family-owned business. It was founded in 1964. Wilson noted he has a picture of Orangeburg Distributors President Murray Baroody in his Washington, D.C., office. The company stores beer in its climate-controlled facility and distributes to about 40 different suppliers. "We used to be Anheuser-Busch, but we have been fortunate to pick up a wide range of different products to give the consumer as many different choices as possible," Baroody said. The business, which has been on Sprinkle Avenue since 1977, has approximately 42,000 square feet of warehouse space. Baroody said the most popular product is Bud Light, which makes up more than 50 percent of its sales. The summer months see the highest beer sales. Wilson has been conducting his annual tour since he was first elected to the U.S. House in 2001. This November he will face two opponents: Democrat Arik Bjorn and Eddie McCain of the American Party. Wilson said his priorities for the upcoming legislative session are: national defense, ensuring veterans are cared for, job creation and defending religious liberty. He also called for an investigation into allegations Planned Parenthood sold fetal body parts. Wilson also offered his support for House Speaker Paul Ryan's "A Better Way" policy agenda. S.C. States Marcanikova 4th South Carolina State junior Marketa Marcanikova finished eighth overall and fourth among Division I women participants at Saturdays Carolina Challenge Cross Country meet hosted by the University of South Carolina at the Sandhill Recreational Center in Columbia. Marcanikova completed the 5K course in a time of 18:58.99, a personal best for her. Overall, S.C. State finished sixth in the seven-team Division I field with 173 points. Host USC won the womens team title with 29 points to best second-place Winthrop, which had 53 points. Other participants for S.C. State were senior Frantia Boudreaux (22.48.62), freshman Claudia Rocca (24.22.31), freshman Luiza Duarte (26:53.28) and senior Jacoy Hutto (31:00.06). Senior Michael Stackhouse was the top finisher for the S.C. State men in the individual competition with a time of 17:30.43, good enough for 36th place. Other Bulldog participants included sophomore James Williams (19:39.38), freshman Dyrell Kinloch (20:41.17) and freshman Kameron Hammond (23:18.93). The Bulldogs did not compete in the team competition. Both S.C. State teams return to action Friday at the Coastal Carolina XC Invitational, which gets underway at 6 p.m. in Conway. Hudson paces Panthers COLUMBIA -- The Claflin University mens cross country team had a solid performance as it opened the 2016 season at the Carolina Challenge. The meet, which was hosted by the University of South Carolina, was contested at the Sandhill REC 5K course in Columbia. Senior Chris Hudson showed marked improvement from a year ago, running a 19:13.75 to pace the Panthers. Junior Javan Francis ran a 22:48.05 while senior Trey Law crossed the finish line in 22:52.88 to round out the top three finishers for Claflin. Junior transfer Maliik Briggs ran a 23:13.81 and sophomore Daniel Montgomery clocked a 26:12.22 to close out the competitors for the Panthers. Claflin will return to competition on Sept. 17 when the Panthers travel to Rock Hill to participate in the Winthrop/Adidas Invitational. Miller leads Lady Panthers COLUMBIA -- The Claflin University womens cross country team showed improvement in its 2016 cross-country season opener at the Carolina Challenge. Junior Jamaica Miller was the first Lady Panthers runner to cross the finish line, running a 23:41.45. Senior Brandi Taylor ran a 25:27.51, while sophomore Ishawn Frances crossed the finish line in 26:12.47 to round out the top three finishers for Claflin. Freshman Faith McKie ran a 26:51.73 in her first-ever collegiate meet and senior Makayla Jackson ran a 27:11.38 to close out the competitors for the Lady Panthers. Claflin will return to competition on Sept. 17 in the Winthrop/Adidas Invitational. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's wife Sophie Gregoi and her daughter visit Hefang Street, Hangzhou's popular tourist attraction, on September 5, 2016. Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau bought a one-piece dress at Dolce & Gabbana on the first floor of Hangzhou Tower. [Photo/IC] By Trend The amendement made by Greek energy ministry that severely reduces DEFSAs leeway for network usage hikes and, by extension, the operators revenue potential, is an unprecedented move, Azerbaijans ambassador to Greece Rahman Mustafayev said in an interview to Greek weekly To Vima. But he noted, that even so, SOCAR remains interested in the DESFA deal, adding that he hopes the privatization can be swiftly completed. The operators market value has been reduced and the risk level has increased, which is why we expect specific moves from the Greek side in order to cover the damages caused, Mustafayev said. On Monday, president of SOCAR Rovnag Abdullayev told reporters that SOCAR is not going to abandon the purchase of a share in the Greek gas operator DESFA. We won the tender and were not going to abandon the deal [with DESFA], Abdullayev said. We dont talk about appealing to a court, but we will defend our interests till the end. The originally negotiated rules have been violated. We are now waiting for justification from the government of Greece. Under the new rules, DESFAs value should be twice cheaper, so we are in talks with the Greek government. SOCAR won a tender in 2013 on the purchase of a 66-percent stake in DESFA for 400 million euros. Earlier, Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Natig Aliyev said that the deal on SOCAR's purchasing the 66-percent share in Greece's DESFA will be completed after Italy's Snam purchases 17 percent of that share. Regarding Italys Snam, the company, just like SOCAR, is in talks with the Greek government regarding the situation, Abdullayev said. In July 2016, Greek Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change Panos Skourletis accused the European Commission of delaying the deal on selling a share in Greece's DESFA to SOCAR. Skourletis said that a number of conditions, set by the European Commission, greatly slowed the privatization process of the gas operator. In particular, the company will become a passive shareholder, not entitled to vote in the management of the company, as a result of decreasing SOCARs share in DESFA up to 49 percent. Greek MPs stressed that the problems with the privatization of DESFA may deprive the countrys economy of SOCARs huge capital injections. By Trend Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed an order providing funding for a major overhaul of multi-apartment residential buildings in the city of Masalli. Under the presidential order, three million manats were allocated from the 2016 state budget to Masalli District Executive Authority for the overhaul of 26 buildings in the city. Another meeting of the Turkmen Interdepartmental Commission on the Caspian Sea was held in Ashgabat, the Turkmen government said Sept. 6. According to the message, the draft agreements on trade and economic cooperation among the Caspian-littoral countries and the agreements on transport cooperation in the Caspian Sea were considered at the meeting. The Turkmen Interdepartmental Commission on the Caspian Sea includes the representatives of the State Enterprise for the Caspian Sea under the president of Turkmenistan, the foreign ministry, as well as oil and gas, transport and industrial sectors of the countrys economy, the message said. "At present, the mutual trade volumes of the regional countries are huge, the message said. But taking into account the great multifaceted reserves, it is possible to say that there are all opportunities to significantly increase the economic cooperation and bring it to a qualitatively new level." According to the message, the transport sector and the use of the potential of the Caspian Sea as a major communication hub of continental significance is another strategic direction. The issue is to establish new relations among the Caspian-littoral countries, the message said, citing Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. The territories of these countries are the natural geographic area, connecting Asia and Europe and ensuring the effective functioning of the transport, transit and trade corridors along the East-West and North-South routes. According to the message, the new agreement envisages the establishment of the Caspian regional transport and logistics center. Particular attention during the meeting was paid to the promotion of Ashgabats initiative on organizing the Caspian Economic Forum, the message said. According to the message, two draft protocols, which are being worked out by the Turkmen side, were also thoroughly considered. Those protocols will complement the Agreement on Security Cooperation in the Caspian Sea, signed at the third Caspian Summit held in Baku in 2010. Those documents will create a legal framework for cooperation among the competent agencies of neighboring countries in such fields as the fight against poaching and ensuring safety in navigation, the message said. Government ministers will discuss Egypts agreement with IMF, its impact on the countrys financial future and what it will mean for the average Egyptian at the upcoming Euromoney Egypt Conference in Cairo. The 21st edition of the summit will take place on September 19 and 20. The event will highlight reforms, social stability, currency and monetary policies, financing government deficit, the trade balance and much more. As the longest running conference in the Egyptian financial calendar, the onstage panels and discussions are the home of expert debate from both local and international speakers. We have an exciting line up of speakers and the conference comes at a pivotal time for Egypts economy. We have many questions to ask and we hope our debates and discussions will find some of the answers, said Victoria Behn, director of Middle East and Africa, Euromoney Conferences. I invite people to join in the debate and ask their questions in advance of the conference on Twitter #emEgypt. TradeArabia News Service The chief banking officer of Bank ABC, Ray Ferguson, will step down from his position at the Bahraini lender in early 2017, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters on Tuesday. Ferguson, hired from Standard Chartered in 2014, had been tasked with helping to formulate and implement a refreshed strategy at the bank which included expanding abroad and in wholesale banking, hiring new senior talent and optimising its capital base, the memo said. Bank ABC has undergone a number of changes during Ferguson's time, including a rebranding from Arab Banking Corporation last year as well as establishing a capital markets team. Among the people hired in the last three years include a new chief financial officer, and heads of compliance and treasury. In late 2015, Ray expressed "his wish to step down from his role with Bank ABC to return to Asia to pursue several interesting and exciting career opportunities, and to spend more time closer to his family," the memo said. "After discussions, Ray agreed to delay his plans and remain in his role for a further year" to help implement several strategic priorities and key executive hires, the memo continued, adding he would now leave early next year. Any changes to the bank's management structure as a consequence of Ferguson's departure would be decided upon and announced in due course. A spokesman for the bank confirmed the news when contacted by Reuters. - Reuters Orascom Construction, a leading player in the region, said its board of directors has approved a proposal to buy back up to one million shares, the company said. "The company proposes to purchase ordinary shares through an offer only to shareholders who hold their shares on the Egyptian Exchange," the company said in a statement. The purchase price will be determined by the board based on regulatory requirements after obtaining approval at an extraordinary general meeting, the statement said. The company said the plan was subject to shareholder and regulatory approval in the UAE and Egypt.-Reuters Abu Dhabi real estate developer Eagle Hills is in talks with Moroccan and international banks to finance half the costs of a project in Morocco's capital Rabat, the company's general manager Mohammed El Merini said on Tuesday. The Fairmont Residences project, which is under construction and is to be delivered in 2019, will be worth about $150 million, including construction costs, Merini told reporters. The project, with an area of 44,000 sq m, is to feature 184 hotel rooms and 79 residences. Reuters Equate Petrochemical Company, Kuwaits first international joint-venture in the sector, has rejected some recent social media posts and allegations as false accusations. The company said in statement that recently there have been statements, social media posts and text messages which included false allegations against the company and officials at the highest levels. Equate president and CEO Mohammad Husain said: It is clear that the initiators of these rumours are aiming at shaking the trust in the pillars of national economy by targeting one of Kuwaits most successful companies, to harm its international status, in addition to the reputation of its entire staff. Husain said: Through its board, executive management and all staff, Equate has and still maintains absolute transparency with all its employees and every official body. Equate is fully aligned with all laws and regulations in Kuwait as they are the basis of Equate's policies that ensure the integrity and professionalism of all conduct. Husain said: The initiators of these rumours did not approach or attempt to approach official legal and regulatory bodies. That alone proves the invalidity of these rumours, as well as the realisation of their baselessness and lack of evidence by the initiators. He noted: The company affirms that it will not disregard these false accusations. It will implement its legal rights to defend its reputation and status through pursuing all those involved in false claims and rumors before relevant authorities. - TradeArabia News Service Key city officials from municipalities across Saudi Arabia and solution providers from around the world will take part in the highly anticipated Municipality Excellence and Expansion Summit in Riyadh next month. Abdul Latif bin Abdul Malik bin Omar Al Shaikh, Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs (Momra), will provide the opening address at the summit, running on October 5 and 6. Organised by Naseba in partnership with Momra, the summit will gather Momras top leaders and project owners for networking and knowledge-sharing sessions designed to facilitate excellence in executing Saudi Arabias 2030 vision. The distinguished speakers who will be sharing their insights at the summit include Dr Aisha bin Bishr, director general of Smart Dubai, who will present a case study on Dubai, and Olof Zetterberg, CEO of Stockholm Business Region in Sweden, who will discuss practical strategies for benchmarking municipal excellence. Abdulrahman bin Abdulmohsen Al Mansour, deputy minister for municipal Affairs at Momra, will explore the concepts of sustainable development in modernising municipal services. Attendees will gain key insights into transforming municipalities through project information and performance management, delivered by Fahad bin Mohammed Al Jubair, Mayor of the Eastern Province. The summit will host seven Saudi mayors and their executive teams, which include more than 200 pre-screened project decision makers who are actively seeking products and services to support the kingdoms future development projects. Pre-qualified solution providers from around the globe will be presenting their solutions to these decision makers, in a focused environment designed to facilitate Momras future plans. The summit is happening at an exciting time of nation-wide transformation. With so much changing in the last 12 months in the kingdom, many in the industry are eager to work on the new vision for the country and bring not just their energy and passion, but a renewed focus on continuing the kingdoms growth and push for excellence over the next few years. Rapid progress is being made towards realising Saudi Arabias vision of a knowledge-based economy, said Jean Philippe, production director at Naseba. This summit provides unique access to the Saudi decision makers and officials leading this transformation, and we look forward to providing our continuous support to the kingdoms development with future editions of the summit. - TradeArabia News Service Saudi Aramco and its US refining joint-venture Motiva Enterprises lead the race to buy LyondellBasell Industries Houston refinery, according to three sources familiar with the matter. An announcement of the sale by Lyondell is expected this week, the sources said. Lyondell spokesman Michael Waldron declined on Monday to discuss a sale of the refinery. Reuters reported on Aug. 25 that Dutch chemical company Lyondell had retained Bank of America Merrill Lynch to help with a sale of the refinery. A company spokeswoman said in August, "the refinery may be more valuable as part of a larger refining system. We are exploring all options." Lyondell uses the Houston refinery to produce feedstocks for its chemical plants. The refinery can run a variety of cheaper high-sulfur crude oils. In the past few years it has been running a large amount of Canadian oil. The 263,776 barrel per day (bpd) Houston refinery was restoring production on Monday after an early Thursday morning power outage, the latest in a string of fires, shutdowns and power outages that have cut the plant's production throughout year. Saudi Aramco-Motiva emerged as the leading contender over the weekend, when Lyondell's management evaluated proposals from potential buyers, the sources said. Aramco-Motiva and Canada's Suncor Energy were exchanging proposals with Lyondell in the past few days, according to the sources. Little was heard about another potential buyer, Valero Energy Corp, the sources said. Saudi Aramco, Motiva, Suncor and Valero did not reply to messages seeking comment. The refinery has been valued at about $1.5 billion based on an average price between $5,000 and $6,000 per barrel of refining capacity in recent sales of US refineries. The Lyondell refinery is well known to Saudi Aramcos partner in Motiva, Royal Dutch Shell. Lyondell's refinery supplies dry gas to Shell's joint-venture refinery seven miles (11.25 km) east in Deer Park, Texas. Aramco and Shell announced plans in March to divide Motivas three refineries, distribution terminals and retail networks between them. Aramco is to keep the Motiva name. It was unclear if the Lyondell refinery will remain with the post-breakup Motiva once the split takes place on April 1, 2017. Negotiations on the final distribution of assets after the breakup were continuing as of last week, according to Motiva. Reuters Iran supports an oil price of $50-60 per barrel and any measure to stabilise the market, state TV quoted the country's oil minister as saying on Tuesday. "Iran wants a stable market and therefore any measure that helps the stabilisation of the oil market is supported by Iran," Bijan Zanganeh said after meeting Opec Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo in Tehran. Opec's third-largest producer, Iran has signalled willingness to support the possible revival of a global deal on freezing production levels only if fellow exporters recognise its right to regain market share lost as a result of sanctions. Under a deal reached with six major powers in 2015, international sanctions imposed on Iran ended in January in exchange for Tehran curbing its nuclear programme. Efforts by Opec and non-Opec oil exporters to reach an agreement on freezing output earlier this year foundered because Iran declined to participate. Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will meet on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum (IEF), which groups producers and consumers, in Algeria on September 26-28, during which they are expected to discuss a possible output freeze. Non-Opec member Russia is also expected to attend the IEF. Hit by global oversupply, oil prices collapsed to as low as $27 per barrel earlier this year from as high as $115 in mid-2014, but have since recovered to around $47. "We support oil prices between $50 and $60 per barrel," Zanganeh said. A senior Iranian official said on Monday Iran was ready to raise its output to 4 million barrels per day in a couple of months depending on market demand. Opec kingpin Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed on Monday to set up a task force to review oil market fundamentals and to recommend measures and actions that would secure market stability. - Reuters The Galleria on Al Maryah Island, Abu Dhabis luxury shopping and dining destination, unveils family friendly activities for shoppers over Eid Al Adha. All activities have been created to celebrate the joyous holiday, and can be enjoyed by everyone visiting The Galleria this holiday season. A live henna station will host residents of Abu Dhabi, creating traditional Emirati based designs and offering something different for those on their shopping experience. The Galleria also delights visitors with a falconry stand, showcasing the national bird of the UAE and giving an insight into the regions heritage. Children are encouraged to let their creativity show at the arts and craft area, with an array of painting, drawing and sand art on offer. Set in the impressive architecture of The Galleria, there is plenty of inspiration for the little ones to create a show-stopping piece of art, all based around the holiday. Visitors to the mall are also invited to admire the skill and craftsmanship of the resident calligrapher, who will create individual pieces for shoppers, all in line with the Eid Al Adha celebrations. A dedicated hospitality area will be showcasing traditional Arabic coffee and dates, available for all visitors, providing welcome refreshments following all the afternoons activities. The Gallerias multiple dining destinations will be offering an array of culinary delights, including Nolus, the Armani Cafe, Magnolia Bakery and the celebrated Arabic favourite Bateel. Charles Martinez, general manager of The Galleria on Al Maryah Island, Abu Dhabi comments: Community is at the heart of everything we do here at The Galleria, and it is our pleasure to celebrate Eid Al Adha with our guests and their families and friends visiting this long-weekend. We are thrilled to host such talented artists and falconry experts and are looking forward to sharing this experience with our family here on Al Maryah Island. The Galleria welcomes all families, shoppers and friends to come and celebrate the holiday and enter the spirit of Eid Al Adha. The Eid Al Adha celebrations will run from September 9th through to September 13, from 5pm 10pm. - TradeArabia News Service Turkish company TAV Havalimanlari Holding has started talks with Saudi Oger to purchase half of its 33.3 per cent stake in Tibah Airports Development Company, the operator of Madinah International Airport in Saudi Arabia. Madinah airport, which had served a record 5.8 million passengers last year, is being operated by Tibah Development since 2012 under a 25 year concession ending in 2037. Once the share purchase is done successfully upon getting necessary approvals from the stake holders, the TAV stake in Tibah Development will increase to 50 per cent. A major player in the Middle East region, TAV Airports said one of its subsidiaries TAV Operation Services recntly won the tender for the operating rights of the private passenger lounge at the New Terminal Building of Muscat in Oman. The company now operates 40 passenger lounges in eight countries across the globe. Primeclass, the brand of TAV Operation Services providing solutions for the passengers who are seeking comfort during their travels, has added Muscat in its service portfolio as the 20th airport. TAV said it had won the operating rights of the passenger lounge for 10 years by placing the highest bid amongst the seven companies that joined the tender.-TradeArabia News Service Ramacos $90 million investment in two Appalachian coal mines will not directly benefit the companys planned coal operation in Sheridan, said the Kentucky-based companys CEO. The company announced Tuesday it planned to open the new mines in West Virginia and Virginia. The metallurgical mines will produce coal for steel manufacturing. The financing of course will be used in the east for our metallurgic property, Randall Atkins said. But what (the financing) does do is provide a valuation for all operations, which has relevance because that basically puts us into a pretty strong position financially. The Brook Mine between Sheridan and Ranchester is yet to be approved, due in part to an ongoing debate between Ramaco, Lighthouse Resources Inc. and the Padlock Ranch. The crux of the debate is over property rights on the mix of state and private lands. Ramaco contends that a 1954 deed guarantees the company mineral rights. That argument is contested by Lighthouse, which claims surface rights from 1983. The ranch is seeking damages compensation for its property. Both the choice to open a new mining operation and the investment in the companys eastern mines are odd in a coal market overshadowed by three-decade-low prices and multiple bankruptcies. A lot of the major banks have come out and said that for new developments, they arent even going to lend to coal anymore, said Chiza Vitta, an analyst at Standard and Poors. However, the Ramaco investment does not appear to signal a shift in coals favor, he said. You have to reason, even the failed (coal) companies had investors, he said. They were either uncredible or didnt come through for whatever reason PE types that ultimately didnt stay in those markets. Analysts at S&P are projecting that metallurgical coal is going through a more typical commodity cycle than thermal coal. Powder River Basin coal is one of the better positioned thermal coals on the market, but that markets downturn may be a facing dynamic shift, Vitta said. The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality will hold another hearing on the issue of the Brook Mine in late September. Atkins, the companys CEO, expressed confidence that the permitting process would move forward rapidly. Follow energy reporter Heather Richards on Twitter @hroxaner JACKSON A body found in Grand Teton National Park is likely that of a Denver man who failed to return from a hike. Park rangers searching for 21-year-old Rene Dreiling by air spotted a body Sunday evening that matches his description. Dreiling was reported missing on Friday when he didn't show up for work. Dreiling was last seen on Wednesday and said he had planned to climb Table Mountain. Park spokeswoman Denise Germann says rangers spotted the body on the north side of Mount Owen, on a rocky cliff band beneath deep snow fields. She says rangers would recover the body as soon as conditions allowed. Dreiling was a summer employee of Grand Teton Lodge Co. VIENTIANE, Laos President Obama called off a planned meeting Tuesday with new Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, seeking distance from a U.S. allys leader during a diplomatic tour thats put Obama in close quarters with a cast of contentious world figures. Its unusual for one president to tell another what to say or not say, and much rarer to call the other a son of a bitch. Duterte managed to do both just before flying to Laos for a regional summit, warning Obama not to challenge him over extrajudicial killings in the Philippines. Clearly, hes a colorful guy, Obama said. What Ive instructed my team to do is talk to their Philippine counterparts to find out is this in fact a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations. Early Tuesday, National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said the meeting with Duterte was off. Duterte has been under intense global scrutiny over the more than 2,000 suspected drug dealers and users killed since he took office. Obama had said he planned to raise the issue in his first meeting with Duter- te, but the Philippine leader insisted he was only listening to his own countrys people. You must be respectful, Duterte said of Obama. Do not just throw questions. Using the Tagalog phrase for son of a bitch, he said, Putang ina I will swear at you in that forum. He made the comment to reporters in Manila. Eager to show he wouldnt yield, Obama said he would undoubtedly still bring up human rights and due-process concerns if and when the two do meet. The bizarre rift with the leader of a U.S. treaty ally was the most glaring example of how Obama has frequently found himself bound to foreign countries and leaders whose ties to the U.S. are critical, even if their values sharply diverge. In Hangzhou this week, Obamas first stop in Asia, he heaped praise on Chinese President Xi Jinping for hosting the Group of 20 economic summit in his country, an authoritarian state long accused of human-rights violations. His next stop was another one-party communist country with a dismal rights record: Laos, where mysterious disappearances have fueled concerns about a government crackdown. And sitting down with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Obama made no mention in public of the roughly 35,000 people Erdogans government detained following the summers failed coup. Instead, he worked to reassure the NATO ally the U.S. would help bring to justice whoever was responsible for plotting the coup. Obama also spent about 90 minutes Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, another leader whose fate seems intertwined with Obamas in all the wrong ways. On opposing sides of many global issues, the U.S. and Russia are nonetheless trying to broker a deal to address the Syrian civil war and perhaps even partner militarily there. President Putins less colorful, Obama said, comparing him with Duterte. But typically the tone of our meetings is candid, blunt, businesslike. Managing Duterte has become a worsening headache for Obama since the Filipino took office on June 30, pledging his foreign policy wouldnt be constricted by reliance on the U.S. Washington has tried largely to look the other way as Duterte has pursued closer relations with China, a marked shift for the Philippines considering recent tensions over Beijings aspirations in the South China Sea. A public break from the Philippines would put Obama in a tough position, given the Southeast Asian nations status as a longtime U.S. ally. The Obama administration has sought to compartmentalize by arguing that military and other cooperation wont be jeopardized, even if it detests the current Philippine leaders tone. Last month, Duterte said he didnt mind Secretary of State John Kerry but had a feud with his gay ambassador son of a bitch, Im annoyed with that guy. He applied the same moniker to an Australian missionary who was gang-raped and killed, and even to Pope Francis, even though the Philippines is a heavily Catholic nation. He later apologized. With a reputation as a tough-on-crime former mayor, Duterte has alarmed human-rights groups with his deadly campaign against drugs, which Duterte has described as a harsh war. He has said the battle doesnt amount to genocide, but has vowed to go to jail if needed to defend police and military members carrying out his orders. Near-simultaneous bombings claimed by the Islamic State group struck in and around strongholds of the Syrian government and Kurdish troops Monday, killing at least 48 people in a wave of attacks that came a day after the militants lost a vital link to the outside world along the Syrian-Turkish border. The IS-run Aamaq news agency said the attacks included six suicide bombings and one remotely detonated blast. Most targeted security forces. The Britain-based Observatory, which maintains a network of contacts in Syria, put the overall death toll at 53, although Syrian state TV said 48 were killed. Conflicting casualty figures are common in the 5-year-old Syria civil war. Jennifer Cafarella, a Syria expert with the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, said it was too soon to say if the attacks by the IS group were a reaction to its recent defeats along the border. But she cautioned that setbacks for IS can lead to a dangerous new phase by the group, which sometimes resorts to infiltration and spectacular attacks that exploit and widen rifts between populations, groups and security forces in both western and northern Syria, Turkeys recent intervention in the north has exposed major rifts and encouraged anti-Kurdish activity, Cafarella said in emails to The Associated Press. She said it was likely that as IS militants are pushed out of territory, they will increasingly target government and Kurdish areas. So its a dangerous possibility that were witnessing ISIS gear up for a campaign to expand westward into either or both regime and opposition territory as it loses to the anti-ISIS coalition, she said, using an acronym for the militant group. The territorial losses at the border were the biggest blow to the militant group that also has suffered a series of recent battlefield setbacks in Syria and Iraq. WAUKEGAN, Ill. Consider Waukegan and Stevenson, two Illinois school districts separated by 20 miles and an enormous financial gulf. Stevenson, mostly white, is flush with resources. The high school has five different spaces for theater performances, two gyms, an Olympic-size pool and an espresso bar. Meanwhile Waukegan, with its mostly minority student body, is struggling. At one school, the band is forced to practice in a hallway, and as many as 28 students share a single computer. Last year, Stevenson spent close to $18,800 per student. Waukegans expenditure? About $12,600. And the gap has only been getting wider here in the suburbs north of Chicago, and in many places across the nation. In the years following the 2008 financial crisis, school districts serving poor communities generally have been hit harder than more affluent districts, according to an Associated Press analysis of local, state and federal education spending. The result has been a worsening of Americas rich schools, poor schools divide and its racial divide, because many poor districts are also heavily minority. It also perpetuates the perception that the system is rigged in favor of the haves, at the expense of the have-nots . The AP found that aid to local districts from the federal government surged after the economic downturn, as part of the stimulus, but then receded. Schools were left to rely more on state funding that has not bounced back to pre-recession levels. And poorer districts that cannot draw on healthy property tax bases have been left in the lurch. The effects vary widely across the 50 states. Each has its own unique funding formula. For example, per-pupil spending in poorer Missouri districts fell behind richer districts in 2013 the first time in a well over decade. Most rich districts have seen a steady increase in revenue while poorer districts such as Louisiana RII, a predominantly white district 80 miles northwest of St. Louis have seen cuts since 2010. That rural district has started waiting longer to replace textbooks, and it will likely abandon initiatives to distribute new computers and to bring wireless internet into classrooms. Todd Smith, the superintendent, said the district will likely seek a tax increase or a bond sale because there isnt enough money for basic maintenance. We find ourselves more and more dipping into our reserves, Smith said. In Connecticuts largest city, Bridgeport, schools have struggled with cuts in state and federal grants, Superintendent Frances Rabinowitz said. And the gap widens between her district and neighboring, affluent Fairfield County towns with smaller class sizes and students with far fewer needs. The result? No aides for kindergarten classrooms, or guidance counselors for elementary schools. I feel like I am cutting the lifeblood of the system, said Rabinowitz, whose schools are more than 80 percent black or Hispanic. WASHINGTON Support for the Black Lives Matter movement has increased among young white adults, according to a poll that suggests a majority of white, black, Asian and Hispanic young adults now support the movement calling for accountability for police in the deaths of African-Americans. Fifty-one percent of white adults between the ages of 18 and 30 say in a GenForward poll they now strongly or somewhat support Black Lives Matter, a 10-point increase since June, while 42 percent said they do not support the movement. But most young whites also think the movements rhetoric encourages violence against the police, while the vast majority of young blacks say it does not. And young whites are more likely to consider violence against police a serious problem than say the same about the killings of African-Americans by police. Black, Hispanic and Asian youth already had expressed strong majority support for the Black Lives Matter movement in the June poll. Eighty-five percent of African-American young adults now say they support the protesters. Sixty-seven percent of Asian and 62 percent of Hispanic young adults agreed with that sentiment. The GenForward survey of adults age 18 to 30 is conducted by the Black Youth Project at the University of Chicago with the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The first-of-its-kind poll pays special attention to the voices of young adults of color, highlighting how race and ethnicity shape the opinions of a new generation. Sean Bradley, 26, of Clearwater, Florida, said watching several encounters between police and black suspects online helped cement his support for Black Lives Matter. As a white male, he said, he also has had run-ins with the police and witnessed officers trying to cover for what he considered illegal conduct by other officers. The August GenForward poll came after police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, fatally shot Alton Sterling and after police in a Minneapolis, Minnesota, suburb shot and killed Philando Castile. A building on the south side of Tucson formerly occupied by Raytheon Missile Systems has sold for $10.5 million. The 72,000-square-foot building at 3360 E. Hemisphere Loop, formerly known as Raytheons Building M10, was sold to 3360 E. Hemisphere Loop LLC, a Scottsdale-based investment group, said Lee & Associates, which brokered the deal. The seller was DCG IV LLC, a Seattle-based investment rm. Built in 2008, the single-tenant, two-story building sits on about 4.5 acres with about 5 acres of land available for expansion, Lee said. The building is a Department of Defense-approved facility and was built to suit Raytheon Missile Systems, the real-estate brokerage said. Other recent commercial real-estate transactions include: A man who had a hand in creating Saguaro National Park is remembered with a street named for him on Tucsons far east side. John E. Harrison Jr. was born to Rev. John E. and Mary Mollie (Walton) Harrison on Aug. 23, 1886, in Franklin, Tennessee. By 1892 the family was living in Pulaski, Tennessee, where his brother Walton McCord Harrison was born. The family also had an older daughter, Mary P. Harrison. In 1894, Harrisons family was in Texas, where his parents and aunt Sara Walton opened the San Antonio Female College. His father ran the college for many years. In 1917, Harrison was working as a farmer in Cotulla, Texas, southwest of San Antonio, but still listed his home address as the San Antonio Female College. He served in World War I and earned a Victory Medal for his duty. Around 1920, part of the Harrison family relocated to Arizona. John Sr. and Mollie moved to Phoenix while John Jr. came to Tucson. Harrison found residency at the YMCA and got an office job at the E.S. Peters car dealership before becoming a salesman, selling the latest models of Oakland, Cleveland and Chandler automobiles. By 1921, he was dealing in real estate in Tucson. He had land dealings in the old Drakes Addition, where the Student Recreation Center of the University of Arizona now sits. The following year, on February 6, Harrison wed Maude Pierce in Phoenix. A few months after the wedding the couple bought a seven-passenger Chandler automobile from E.S. Peters for $1,600. Its believed the marriage was short lived and ended in divorce. By 1928, Harrison was living in Wrightstown, Arizona, the namesake of Wrightstown Road and now a part of Greater Tucson. In 1929, Harrison and future partner Frank Peyton, among others, petitioned the Pima County Board of Supervisors to create a road on the far-east-side. Harrison Road was officially established in July 1929. A couple of years later Harrison presented his subdivision, Harrison Estates, to Pima County Supervisors for approval. Also in 1929, Homer Shantz, president of the University of Arizona, commissioned Harrison to purchase the rights on all tracts of land in a unique, natural area known for its thick stand of saguaro cactus, known then as the Tanque Verde Cactus Forest or University Cactus Forest. The purpose of the acquisition was to aid in the preservation of old saguaros, to use as a scientific preserve and lastly to be an astronomical observatory in an area not affected by artificial light. Harrison purchased 480 acres for the university and continued to get options from private land owners. In the meantime, in early 1932, Gen. Frank H. Hitchcock namesake of Gen. Hitchcock Highway and publisher of the Tucson Daily Citizen newspaper began pushing Washington to create a preserve for saguaros in Tucson. This lobbying resulted in the large group of saguaros originally called the Tanque Verde Cactus Forest becoming the Saguaro National Monument in 1933. Although it was a monument, much of the land was still in private hands. The original area included 640 acres bounded by Speedway, Broadway, Wentworth Road and Freeman Road the homestead of Henry and Jane Wentworth. Wentworth Road takes its name from the family and might be a memorial to rancher Henry Wentworth, who was murdered in 1928. Later, this area was removed from the boundaries of Saguaro National Monument, now called Saguaro National Park. In 1934, Harrison expressed his concern for Saguaro National Monument and its need for a full-time ranger likely to prevent damage or theft of saguaros. He offered his own services but no one seemed to have the authority to create the position. The following year a ranger was hired and would report on possibly the only time Observatory Hill, once planned as the location of the universitys new observatory telescope was used for astronomical purposes: Dr. Caroline E. Furness of Vassar (College), Dr. and Mrs. Edwin F. Carpenter and Mrs. J.D. Williams of the University of Arizona, all astronomers, held a weiner (sic) and marshmellow (sic) party on the summit of Observatory Hill, Friday evening, March 22, 1935. For a few more years Harrison worked under contract for the University of Arizona, obtaining options on land inside the monument that was in private hands. He was never able to sell the land for the university and, in turn, never earned his commission on the sale. In 1938, he turned over the land options to a firm in Phoenix and walked away from the project. Years later the land became the property of the federal government and is now Saguaro National Park East. In August 1944, Frank Peyton, a long-time probation officer, joined the newly reorganized Southern Securities Co., as secretary-treasurer, with Harrison as its president. The firm was developing the Mirasol Addition along Park Avenue from roughly 26th Street to 32nd Street. The intended clientele was believed to have been African-Americans soldiers returning from the war. In 1945, Harrison sold land very close to Harrison Estates to Tom C. Igo and its believed that, at one point, Igo acquired Harrisons old home at 9124 E. Speedway Blvd. Within two years, Hoffman Road became Igo Way. Harrison retired around 1951, and about that time he began doing his extensive family genealogy dating back to the 1700s. He may have been trying to find rumored family connections with Presidents Benjamin Harrison and William Henry Harrison. John Ellis Harrison Jr. died at his ranch at 12451 E. Speedway on Aug. 24, 1957. His sister Mary Bruhl had him buried in San Antonio. For Star subscribers: An ordinance requested by the Tucson City Council would ban "nonfunctional" grass in many new commercial and apartment developments. Another plan would phase out such grass in existing developments, but not homes. After months of study, the University of Arizona is proposing a ban on e-cigarettes on campus. The change to the schools smoking policy was prompted by recent research that shows the electronic nicotine delivery devices arent as harmless as once thought, said Allison Vaillancourt, the UAs human resources chief. The school initially included e-cigarettes in its 2014 ban on tobacco products, but backed off amid protests from students, employees and visitors and put together a review team to study the matter, Vaillancourt said The 10-person team, which included several UA medical professors, found most of the chemicals in e-cigarettes have not been tested for lung toxicity, so the vapors they produce could potentially be harmful to others. The teams report said theres no proof the devices help people quit smoking and said their use is a significant public health concern. Research shows college students who use the devices are more likely to engage is risky behaviors such as heavy drinking and marijuana use, and more likely to eventually smoke cigarettes, the report said. Eleven of the UAs 15 peer institutions have already banned e-cigarettes on campus, it said. The American Lung Association and American Heart Association support the ban, it added. The UA has set up a website http://tucne.ws/ck1 to gather feedback from the public and the UA community. The deadline for comments is Oct. 3. Hurricane Newton, which just got done drenching Cabo San Lucas, is making its way up the Gulf of California and could be headed for Tucson. The National Weather Service has issued a flash-flood watch through Wednesday evening. "We put the watch out because there's definitely an elevated risk of heavy rain," said Jim Meyer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Tucson office. Hurricane Newton is expected to make landfall southwest of Hermosillo, Sonora, about 245 miles south of Tucson, he said The moisture from the hurricane will bring strong thunder storms and possibly dust storms to Tucson today, he said. Tomorrow, what remains of Newton probably will cross into southeast Arizona, weakening rapidly as it does, but potentially bringing heavy rain and flash flooding, Meyer said. Near the Arizona-Sonora border, Newton will probably still be at tropical storm strength, Meyer said, with winds out of the east at 30-40 miles per hour. A felony arrest warrant was issued Monday for a second man in connection to an armed robbery and stabbing at Chariot Pizza Sept. 1. Robbery detectives obtained the warrant for David Ryan Howe, 35, according to a post on Tucson Police Department's Facebook page. Investigators said Howe is considered armed and dangerous, and should not be approached. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call 911. On Sept. 4, police arrested Alex Joseph Haider, 18, in the robbery and stabbing at the pizza restaurant at 3930 N. Flowing Wells Road. Haider was booked on suspicion of attempted armed robbery, aggravated robbery, aggravated assault with a weapon, kidnapping and an unrelated warrant. Officers responded to a call from Chariot just before 11 p.m. on Sept. 1, police said. They found a man, who worked at the restaurant, with stab wounds. He was taken by Tucson Fire Department paramedics to Banner-University Medical Center Tucson with non-life-threatening injuries. Another worker was treated on the scene for a substance that was sprayed into his eyes. The pizza restaurant was closed and the two employees were cleaning up when two men entered through an unlocked back door. One sprayed what appeared to be pepper spray in the face of one of the employees and chased the other one, police said. The second employee was stabbed multiple times and stomped on during a struggle, authorities said. Sonoita Rodeo Cindy Welling, right, and friends stand near the front of the chute during the Breakaway roping to keep the cattle running straight during the 101st Labor Day Rodeo at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds. The rodeo continues Monday, which is Military Appreciation Day, with the Junior Rodeo beginning at noon followed by final day of the main performance at 2 pm. Military personnel showing a valid military ID pay $5. Otherwise, admission is $15 adults, $5 for children 6-12 and younger children are free. As Malaysia cracks down on transgender Muslims, Dateline joins the countrys religious police as they carry out night-time raids and arrest people in the streets, finding a community living in fear. Malaysian woman Serafina is transgender and has identified as female her whole life. But she is forced by her government to carry an ID card saying she is a man. She is from Negeri Sembilan a state where it is a crime for a trans woman to even leave her house in womens clothes. Part of Malaysias Muslim trans community, she faces constant persecution from its religious police. The police dont really care about trans women, she tells reporter Marcel Theroux. They just shrug and say she-males. Malaysia has a dual justice system, with two sets of law; basic civil law, which applies to everyone in the country, and Islamic law, which applies to the countrys Muslim population and covers some of the most intimate aspects of their lives. Under Islamic law in Malaysia, Muslims can be prosecuted for close proximity offenses. Even simply being alone with someone youre not married to can mean up to 2 years in prison. Dateline joins a religious police squad in the capital Kuala Lumpur, whose job is to arrest people for transgressing the countrys Islamic laws. They go to hotels in the city and look through booking registers, scanning for Islamic names and checking if couples who book rooms together have marriage certificates. We suspect that they are going to do something immoral between them, a police officer called Akmal says. Obviously if they are not married well arrest them and bring them to our office for further investigation. A man obviously must be man. A woman must behave like a woman. We have to follow the divine laws and Sharia law. Despite Malaysias place as a modern economy, the country is becoming increasingly socially conservative. Several trans women tell Dateline that raids have become more frequent and that police are using cunning methods to catch people. 9:30pm Tuesday on SBS. President Xi Jinping greets British Prime Minister Theresa May during the G20 Summit in Hangzhou. [WU ZHIYI / CHINA DAILY] President Xi Jinping and British Prime Minister Theresa May vowed on Monday to continue pushing forward "golden-era relations", setting the tone for the bilateral ties in May's government. Meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders Summit in Hangzhou, Xi said the two countries should maintain high-level exchanges, strengthen strategic communication and comprehensive planning, and deepen understanding. He suggested Beijing and London push forward cooperation in sectors including investment, energy, infrastructure and emerging fields such as urbanization, high-tech and clean energy. He called on the two nations to discuss setting up a legal enforcement cooperation mechanism and to jointly fight corruption. "Both sides should boost mutual political trust, expand joint interests and properly handle differences," Xi said. It was May's first visit to China since she took office. She followed her predecessor David Cameron in using the term "golden-era relations" with China. After taking office,May suspended construction of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, the partly Chinese-funded nuclear project in southwest England. She said: "I've been clear that the decision about Hinkley will be taken later this month. Our relations with China are about more than Hinkley if you look at the investment from China in various other parts of the United Kingdom." Xi congratulated May on her inauguration as prime minister. As important members of international organizations such as the United Nations Security Council and the G20, enhanced cooperation between China and Britain will benefit not only people of the two nations but also global peace and development, Xi said. He asked the two nations to increase cooperation on key international issues and on frameworks such as the UN, G20 and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. May said in a media release: "Britain and China are in a golden era in developing bilateral ties. The two countries have broad fields for cooperation with huge potential." She said she expected to boost mutual understanding and trust with China and enhance cooperation in fields including trade, investment, finance, security and legal enforcement. Scientists are going to name a new species of fish in the name of the U.S. President Barack Obama. The fish has been found in Papahanaumokuakea marine National Monument, just off the coast of Hawaii, where millions of seabirds, endangered monk seals, endangered turtles, and over 7,000 species are living. However, the official name of the fish will not come into affectuntil later this year. This is being done as away of saying thank you to Obama for his efforts to protect marine environment in the Pacific region. Moreover, this is not the first time that a species has been named on the name of Obama; initially, scientists named the Orange Speckled Freshwater Darter commonly found in the Tennessee River as Etheostoma Obama in the year 2012. Expansion of Papahanaumokuakea Obama expanded Papahanaumokuakea; thereby, making the area, one of the largest areas of protected water on Earth. Obama has increased the size of Papahanaumokuakeato more than four times its original size to protect marine life habitats, reefs, and other such resources. The Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument was created in June 2006 having about 140,000 square miles of area. With the help of expansion, 442,781 square miles will be added to the monument; thereby, encompassing a total of 582,578 square miles of ocean waters having ten islands.Most of the monument is composed of pelagic as well as deepwater habitats having some of the most notable features such as seamounts, submerged banks, lagoons, and large coral reefs. About the fish The fish was discovered about 300 feet deep in the waters off Kure Atoll during a research trip on June, 2016. A marine biologist, Richard Pyle was underwater, when he saw a group of previously unknown fish. He took male specimen for further analysis, and female specimen was obtained a few weeks later by Brian Greene, who was a Bishop Museum affiliate. This newly found fish is the one known fish to live in Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument and has been fitted in the genus Tosanoides. It is a new species initially, the members of the genusTosanoides was only seen outside of Japanese water. The fish is maroon and gold in nature. Male of the fish has circular red spot ringed with blue on the dorsal fins. Scientists said that the particular coloration of the fish reminded them of the campaign logo of Obama. China and the United States showed leadership and commitment in tackling climate-change challenges as they formally committed to joining last years Paris Agreement on climate change on Saturday ahead of the G20 Summit. "China and the United States have expanded dialogue and achieved fruitful results in recent years to tackle global climate challenges, said President Xi Jinping, commenting on the two countries' efforts to advance climate-change initiatives since 2014, when the two countries submitted their respective emission goals for the Paris Agreement. Xi and US President Barack Obama submitted formal agreement documents to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. China pledged to peak carbon emissions by 2030, while the United States pledged to cut emissions by 28 percent by 2025 compared with the level in 2005. The formal commitment to the agreement by the two major countries, which together account for a large proportion of the worlds carbon dioxide emissions, sets a good example for other G20 members who signed the Paris Agreement to facilitate ratification, experts said. China and the US, as the world's two largest emitters, are "setting a powerful and positive example" helping to spur momentum toward the rapid entry into force of the agreement, said David Nabarro, the UN secretary-generals special adviser on sustainable development. "China's example demonstrates that a low-carbon and climate-resilient development is not only feasible but beneficial on many fronts, said Nabarro. The special adviser said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will be hosting an event on Sept 21 at the UN in New York to build on the strong momentum coming from the G20 Summit for ratification of the Paris Agreement. As China moves quickly to use more clean energy and scale up green technologies, Nabarro said China is also demonstrating strong resolve in tackling air pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels, and is promoting more sustainable urbanization. By 2050, one quarter of the worlds largest cities will be in China. "The way in which Chinese cities develop and address climate change may well serve as a model for the worlds cities in both developed and developing countries, he said. "Commitment and efforts being made by the two countries send strong signals to other G20 members to quicken the pace of their own legislative process, said Bai Yunwen, a climate and policy researcher at Greenovation Hub, a Beijing-based NGO. The G20 members are responsible for 75 percent of global emissions, and their energy-related greenhouse gas emissions increased by 56 percent from 1990 to 2013, according to a report released in late August by Climate Transparency, a nonprofit organization. Echoing Bais statement, Niklas Hoehne from Germanys New Climate Institute said that if G20 members were to rid themselves of their reliance on coal, this would have a significant bearing on their ability to both increase their climate pledges, and get their emission trajectories below 2 C. The Paris agreement, made in December last year, set goals to limit the rise of global temperatures below 2 C compared to the preindustrial levels. The agreement will only come into effect with the ratification of at least 55 parties that account for 55 percent of total emissions. Lin Boqiang, director at the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, said the formal commitment made by the two major emitters would help the agreement to come into force. "Global powers could take the chance provided by the G20 platform to enhance policy coordination and help the agreement to come into force at an earlier date, he said. China Minsheng buys Societe Generale's London HQ Updated: 2016-09-06 16:59 By CECILY LIU in London(chinadaily.com.cn) China Minsheng Investment Corp has bought the French bank Societe Generale's London headquarters office for 84.5 million pounds ($112.3 million). Friday's acquisition is the highest Chinese investment in London's property sector after Brexit. The deal was announced by SRE Group, a Hong Kong property group in which China Minsheng has a majority stake. The purchase comes as weaker sterling, caused by uncertainty over Britain's decision to leave the European Union, has generated significantly higher Chinese interest in London property, according to real estate agents and analysts. There has also been a growing trend in recent years of Chinese investors buying offices of large Western organizations, seeing these as stable income-generating investments. For example, insurance firm Ping'an bought the Lloyd's of London building in 2013 and Hainan Airlines purchased the Reuters building last year. China Minsheng Investment Corp is the country's largest private investment conglomerate. It is a joint venture by China Minsheng and Hana Bank of South Korea launched last year with a registered capital of 4.5 billion yuan ($680 million). China Minsheng, known as the private version of China Investment Corp the nation's sovereign investment fund is invested globally, with 50 billion yuan in registered capital. The group was launched by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce with 60 top Chinese companies from the private sector. Societe Generale's London headquarters is at 41 Tower Hill, next to the Tower Gateway Docklands Light Railway station. Its has floor space of 170,000 square feet. After the purchase, SRE Group will rent the property to Societe Generale until March 2020, with an annual rent of 5.96 million pounds. After Societe Generale moves out of the building, SRE Group will renovate it. Societe Generale will rent a 280,000 sq ft building in Canary Wharf after moving. Zhang Xueying, head of the China and Far East desk at the London-based law firm Sherrards Solicitors, said the investment by China Minsheng Investment Corp fits well with surging Chinese investment in London's property sector post-Brexit. "A few months after Brexit, I see Chinese investors regaining confidence in UK economic growth. I expect Chinese investment in the UK property market to increase, as they effectively receive a 10 to 15 percent discount from the weaker pound." Zhang said that immediately after Brexit some Chinese investors had put their activities on hold, but were now returning. "An increasing number of individuals and companies are realizing now is the best time to buy. They strongly believe in continued growth of the UK property market, despite uncertainties remaining over UK-EU negotiations," Zhang said. Shan Liew, founder of the London-based 88 Estate Agency, said the number of Chinese buyers of London property had also surged in recent months due to uncertainties over the Chinese stock market. In addition to weaker sterling, other attractive factors include London property experiencing a growing rental yield, and the sustained openness of this market supported by investor-friendly policies, Liew said. Frazer Fearnhead, CEO of The House Crowd, a UK property crowdfunding company, said another good reason for property investment by Chinese is that UK growth after Brexit could be supported by stronger links with emerging markets like China, and this would become an anchor for strong property prices. In addition to London, Fearnhead sees Manchester as a strong location for Chinese property investment, supported by an array of available opportunities and the city's good air links with China. Hainan Airlines launched a direct Manchester-Beijing service in June and Cathy Pacific launched a Manchester- Hong Kong flight in 2014. THAAD a threat to 'stability in region', Xi tells ROK leader Updated: 2016-09-06 08:01 By By Li Xiaokun in Hangzhou(China Daily) President Xi Jinping stressed to Republic of Korea President Park Geun-hye on Monday that Beijing objects to the deployment of an anti-missile system in the ROK, and he warned that careless handling of the issue would "aggravate conflicts". "Mishandling the issue is not conducive to strategic stability in the region, and could intensify conflicts," Xi told Park as they spoke on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou. China is ready to deepen cooperation with the ROK under multilateral frameworks, and to step up coordination on hot-spot issues, he said. Washington and Seoul jointly announced on July 8 that the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system will be deployed in the ROK in response to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's nuclear and missile threats. China and Russia expressed strong opposition to the system, whose radar would be able to monitor missiles in the two countries, saying its deployment would destabilize the balance of security in the region. Xi said China is committed to the denuclearization and stability of the Korean Peninsula and seeks to settle symptoms and root causes of the issue by "solving the concerns of the parties concerned in a comprehensive and balanced way" through the Six-Party Talks. "China expects to work with the ROK to maintain and further develop the hard-won ties, and China hopes both sides make efforts to expand positive facets of China-ROK cooperation and restrain negative factors," Xi said. "Both sides should respect each other's core interests and ensure that China-ROK ties advance in a stable and sustainable way." Park told Xi that Seoul will maintain close communication with China on these issues. She said her country attaches great importance to ties with China and is committed to pushing forward bilateral ties "based on mutual trust". Seoul's Korean Joongang Daily newspaper said on its website on Thursday that Park would try to ease tensions with Beijing over the THAAD issue during her China trip. Wang Junsheng, an Asia-Pacific studies researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said a deployment of the THAAD system would severely degrade the security situation on the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang has repeatedly launched missiles after the THAAD announcement, while the system will also hamper international cooperation, especially that between China and the US, on Peninsula affairs, he said. lixiaokun@chinadaily.com.cn Obama thanks Xi for summit Updated: 2016-09-06 08:01 By An Baijie in Hangzhou(China Daily) US leader says two countries will increase their cooperation US President Barack Obama said on Monday that his meeting with President Xi Jinping will help the two countries to "manage problems" and improve bilateral ties. The remark came two days after Obama and Xi met on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in the lakeside city of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. Noting that it was his eighth meeting with Xi, Obama told reporters at the hotel where he was staying that China and the United States have agreed to increase cooperation in areas including climate change, peacekeeping, development and cybersecurity. In his opening remarks, Obama expressed gratitude to Xi and the Chinese people for hosting the G20 summit in the "beautiful city" of Hangzhou. The US president said that compared with the situation of the economic crisis in 2008, the G20 members including the US and other countries have improved their economies. Obama also answered questions, including about his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, his upcoming visit to Laos and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. China's Foreign Ministry said that when Xi met with Obama he urged that both sides follow the principles of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, that they deepen mutual trust, and that they manage and control their differences in a constructive manner. Xi said China and the US have carried out fruitful cooperation under the G20 framework, and they have maintained close coordination and communication with regard to the preparation of the G20 Leaders Summit, according to the ministry. Ni Jianping, a senior researcher at the Shanghai Institute of American Studies, said the meeting between Xi and Obama will have positive effects on China-US cooperation in the field of global governance. The two countries' cooperation during the Summit on climate change issues will be an important diplomatic legacy of the Obama administration, Ni said. Xi and Obama jointly announced on Saturday, the eve of the summit, that they had agreed to join the Paris Agreement on climate change. "President Xi has emphasized many times that the common interests of China and the US are far larger than their disputes," Obama said, adding that the two countries have made practical progress in areas including anti-terrorism, nonproliferation, anti-piracy and anti-tobacco. Highlights of the consensus and outcomes reached during the meeting between President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama Commit to using all policy tools - monetary, fiscal and structural - to foster confidence and strengthen growth. Reaffirm that they will refrain from competitive devaluations and not target exchange rates for competitive purposes. Reaffirm that any realignment under the IMF's 15th General Review of Quotas is expected to result in increased shares for dynamic economies in line with their relative positions in the world economy, and thus likely in the share of emerging market and developing countries as a whole. Recognize the significant progress of the ongoing Bilateral Investment Treaty negotiations and recent exchange of the third revised and significantly improved negative list offers. The US reiterated its commitment to encouraging and facilitating exports of commercial high-tech items to China for civilian users and for civilian purposes. Launch consultation on the establishment of a dialogue mechanism between their joint staff departments. Conduct joint training and seminars on familiarization and utilization of the Rules of Behavior for Safety of Air and Maritime Encounters before the end of this year, when Chinese naval ships make a port of call in the US. To hold the third China-US High-Level Joint Dialogue on Cybercrime and Related Issues in Washington DC in December. Continue to deepen and strengthen law enforcement cooperation, including fugitive repatriation and criminal assets recovery. China expressed appreciation for the US' designation of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement as a terrorist group. Xinjiang electric supplier follows Belt and Road Updated: 2016-09-06 07:44 By Wu Yong in Shenyang and Mao Weihua in Urumqi(China Daily USA) Tebian carries out large projects in Central Asia, Africa, and the Middle East Tebian Electric Apparatus Stock Co Ltd, China's leading energy equipment producer, announced that construction of the iconic Angola backbone grid is to wind up in less than 10 months, helping the firm tap the prosperous international market in Central Asia and Africa. The $1.18 billion project, which was launched in 2013, is one of the biggest projects Chinese companies ever engaged in Africa, linking Angola's electrical facilities together and easing its power shortage, according to TBEA. TBEA, based in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, is a global manufacturer of high-performance transformers which started business 28 years ago. Thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative, it is seeking a greater share of the power infrastructure business in Central Asia and Africa. The company won the contract for the $500 million state grid construction project in Tajikistan and a $580 million north-south grid construction project in Kyrgyzstan. The latter is the largest energy deal so far between China and Kyrgyzstan. "We have a great geographic advantage because Xinjiang is at the core area of the Belt and Road Initiative. The neighboring countries share a similar culture with us and all of them are in great need of high-level electrical facilities," said Zhang Xin, chairman of TBEA. "We are honored to share our world-level technology and knowhow with them, benefiting both sides." A source from the company said that it has provided equipment and service for more than 60 countries, including Pakistan, Russia and India. In 2014, TBEA even helped set up an ultra-high voltage transformer research base and industrial park in Vadodara, India, at which 95 percent employees are locals. Contact the writers at wuyong@chinadaily.com.cn and maoweihua@chinadaily.com.cn Fang Wenyu contributed to this story. Workers from TBEA Shenyang Transformer Group Co assemble equipment in a plant in Shenyang, Liaoning province. Zhang Wenkui / For China Daily (China Daily USA 09/06/2016 page16) Alibaba shows how tech can boost inclusivity Updated: 2016-09-06 07:24 By Peter Fuhrman(China Daily) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Alibaba's chairman Jack Ma show lobsters from Canada at the headquarters of Alibaba Group in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, September 3, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] It has been 740 years since Hangzhou last reigned as the world's most important city. It was then the capital of the world's wealthiest and most developed nation, China, during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). This week Hangzhou has again been the center of the world's attention thanks to the G20 Summit. The world's spotlight falls on Hangzhou's most famous historical landmark, the West Lake, as well as its most famous local company, Alibaba, the world's largest e-commerce company. Alibaba's founder and chairman Jack Ma, is a Hangzhou native. He has boasted "Hangzhou has become the driving force of China's new economy," and suggested G20 visitors rise at 5 am to walk around the West Lake, to appreciate Hangzhou's scenery, ancient and modern. Alibaba has changed Hangzhou and changed China. But, to grasp the full extent of that change, world leaders should venture out from Hangzhou and visit some of China's smallest, poorest and most remote rural villages. Here Alibaba's impact is perhaps the most transformational. Alibaba has made a special effort to bring the benefits and convenience of online shopping to China's rural families, the 45 percent of China's population that still live on the land. Since Alibaba listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014, the company has announced plans to spend 10 billion yuan ($1.49 billion) to make it possible for people in over 100,000 Chinese villages for the first time to buy and sell on Alibaba's Taobao marketplace. It is impossible to overstate the importance of this effort. E-commerce now offers the fastest and most durable way to improve living standards in China's countryside. By getting online, farmers can shop more widely and buy more cheaply a vast range of products never before available in rural China. In addition, they can sell directly their farm products, both fresh and packaged, to tens of millions of customers living in cities across China. I'm one of those urban dwellers in China who does some of the food shopping from tiny rural family businesses on Taobao. Last week I bought dried chili peppers from Sichuan province, apple vinegar from Shanxi, goji berries from Qinghai and dried sweet potato chips from Shandong. Everything I buy from rural producers is great. But, the real enjoyment comes from knowing that, thanks to Alibaba, my money can go directly to the people working hard to build a better life for themselves and their families in rural China. This, in turn, helps narrow the income gap between rural and urban. Unlike the two big US e-commerce companies, Amazon and eBay, Alibaba takes no commission on purchases made on Taobao. This is what economists call "frictionless trade", where buyers and sellers can transact without any middlemen taking a cut. It is a dream of farmers worldwide, to sell products directly to customers and so earn more for their hard work. Online shopping in rural China is now growing much faster than in cities. Most exciting, we are still in the early days. In the future, farmers should be able to save significant amounts of money and improve harvests buying seeds, fertilizer and tools on Taobao and other websites. Haier and JD.com are also quickly expanding their rural e-commerce. Alibaba is paying for tens of thousands of "Village Taobao" centers across China. Here, farmers can get free help to buy and sell online. Nowhere else on the planet is e-commerce being as successfully introduced into the lives of small village farmers. The world should take note, and China should take pride. This year marks the first time China has hosted a G20 summit. The world leaders held detailed discussions on trade, fostering innovation and eradicating poverty. We should all wish them well. Meantime, Alibaba is busy actually putting such talk into action. Its efforts to spread e-commerce in China's countryside provide concrete proof of how tech innovation can be both inclusive and helpful to all of society. The author is chairman and CEO of China First Capital. ASEAN and related summits to focus on community building efforts, cooperation with China Updated: 2016-09-06 04:42 (Xinhua) VIENTIANE -- The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and related summits are scheduled here in the Lao capital on Tuesday, with the main theme of "Turning Vision into Reality for a Dynamic ASEAN Community." Community building efforts, ASEAN's cooperation with dialogue partners, as well as a commemorative summit of the 25th anniversary of ASEAN's dialogue relations with China will be on the agenda of the three-day meetings. According to the Foreign Ministry of Laos, which is holding the rotating ASEAN chairmanship, the meetings will include the 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits, ASEAN+1 Summits, the Summit on Commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations, ASEAN+3 (China, Japan, and South Korea) Summit, as well as the East Asia Summit. The 28th ASEAN Summit will discuss ASEAN Community building efforts, especially the implementation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025, while the 29th ASEAN Summit will focus on ASEAN's external relations and future direction as well as exchange of views on regional and international issues of common concern. The ASEAN+1 Summits and ASEAN+3 Summit will review cooperation between the ten-member bloc and its dialogue partners. The East Asia Summit, a forum of leaders from 18 countries (10 ASEAN members, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and the United States) will review and discuss future direction of cooperation as well as exchange views on regional and international issues. ASEAN, which groups Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, established at the end of 2015 the ASEAN Community which comprises the Political and Security Community, the Economic Community and the Socio-Cultural Community. Community building efforts, especially integration measures in specific fields, would be addressed by ASEAN leaders at the summits, according to Soukthavy Keola, a former counselor at the Lao Embassy in China. As for the hot regional issues that captured media attention in previous months, Soukthavy said a consensus had been reached during ASEAN foreign ministers' meetings and such topics were expected to be downplayed during the upcoming summits. As this year marks the 25th anniversary of the ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations, the two sides will hold a commemorative summit on Wednesday. Cooperation with China, ASEAN's most active cooperation partner, will take center stage then. China is the largest trading partner of ASEAN, while ASEAN is China's third largest trade partner. Trade volume between the two sides reached 209 billion U.S. dollars in the first half of 2016. Stronger cooperation between China and ASEAN will contribute to regional peace, growth and prosperity and benefits both sides, as well as the region as a whole, Director-General for ASEAN Cooperation of Indonesia Foreign Ministry Jose Antonio Morato Tavares told Xinhua prior to the summits. China, as the biggest market in terms of population in the world, brings a lot of opportunities for ASEAN economies, Tavares said. Apart from the economic sphere, people-to-people exchange has also become a bright spot in and an important part of the friendly cooperation between ASEAN and China, said Korn Dabbaransi, former deputy prime minister of Thailand. During commemoration of the 25th anniversary for dialogue relations, people-to-people exchanges would be suggested by the Chinese side as a new pillar for China-ASEAN cooperation, according to Liu Zhenmin, China's vice foreign minister. Cooperation between China and ASEAN in the past 25 years has yielded significant achievements in various fields. Bilateral cooperation has entered into a period of maturity and needs to be upgraded. The upcoming summits are expected to add new vigor to China-ASEAN cooperation. British parliament to debate second Brexit referendum petition Updated: 2016-09-06 09:03 (Xinhua) A Pro-Europe demonstrator waves a flag during a "March for Europe" protest against the Brexit vote result earlier in the year, in London, Britain, September 3, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] LONDON - British members of parliament on Monday will debate a public petition calling for a second Brexit referendum which has so far attracted more than 4.1 million signatures. According to the schedule on the British Parliament website, the three-hour-long debate among members of the House of Commons will start at 4:30 pm local time. The petition urges the government to implement a rule for another referendum since neither of the remain or leave vote in June's Brexit referendum won over 60 percent with a turnout less than 75 percent. The referendum saw the Leave campaign win by 52 percent to 48 percent with a turnout slightly over 71 percent. Over 30 million British voted. British Prime Minister Theresa May has said that the decision of Brexit must be respected and "Brexit means Brexit." According to the official response from British Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the Parliament petition website, the government believed that the European Union Referendum Act, which Britain complies with, does not set a threshold for the result or for minimum turnout in an referendum. "We must now prepare for the process to exit the EU and the government is committed to ensuring the best possible outcome for the British people in the negotiations," the office said. MPs are obliged to consider any petition which receives more than 100,000 signatures for debate in Parliament. Fight to save African elephant taking on new dimensions Updated: 2016-09-06 11:01 By Chris Davis(China Daily USA) The Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa is a coalition of US and African troops that emerged from the Operation Enduring Freedom response to the 9/11 terror attacks. Their original targets were radical extremists, but now because terror groups are reportedly crossing over into the business of wildlife poaching to raise funds, they've put themselves in the crosshairs of anti-poaching patrols as well. The endangered African elephant could benefit. In Tanzania alone, home of the legendary Serengeti and other wildlife edens, recent surveys have shown that elephant populations have declined by as much as 50 percent to 60 percent in just the past five years. The Center for Strategic and International Studies now confirms that violent extremist groups are actively bartering ivory for weapons and ammunition. The result is what US Air Force Staff Sgt Eric Summers describes as "compounding a conservation problem with an even larger security problem." To get after that problem head-on, Tanzanian park and game reserve rangers teamed up with the US Army's 403rd Civil Affairs Battalion (part of the Combined Joint Task Force) and the North Carolina National Guard for two months of anti-poaching training at Rungwa Game Reserve. "We are here for these two months to train Rungwa Park rangers in field craft to improve their ability to track, capture and arrest illegal poachers," said US Army Capt Michael Wilson, battilion team leader. "Tanzania has the second-highest concentration of African elephants on the continent. Their population has been halved in the past ten years. It's a crisis that not only affects East Africa - it affects the whole world." Rungwa Game Reserve game officer Domina Mgelwa said there had been a lot of incidents of poaching and learning from the US Army soldiers was beneficial to adapting to the criminals' methods. US soldiers, he said, "are more experienced in the field and they have more techniques which are important for us. Time changes and techniques change, so we need some new knowledge and techniques." Wilson said US soldiers taught rangers skills in first aid, acclimatization, tracking, intelligence, "a full spectrum of training activities." They also learned about small unit tactics, something Wilson said they were enthusiastic about learning. "I found the Tanzanian rangers to be extremely friendly, open-minded, hard working and willing to learn," Wilson said. "They came to class everyday ready to learn and - truth be told - we often took them outside of their comfort zone. They never complained, they did what we asked of them, and I think the benefit is that they will go away with skills and knowledge that will stay with them for their remaining time as rangers." Mgelwa acknowledged that the training was difficult but the rangers pulled together and as a result, built their confidence in protecting the reserve's remaining 44,000 elephants. Reserve senior game warden Moses Munya said he felt equipped now to fight the poachers, and that he could pass the skills on to other rangers who were not able to attend the training. "I like the military tactics," he said. "They have trained us how to crawl and different formations to reach the poachers' camp, or even capture poachers." Wilson believes the rangers will be more effective in hunting down poachers and "the statistics will eventually bear out that our actions here have had a positive impact." "The opportunity is great," Wilson said. "It's a noble endeavor to comehere and be able to have a positive impact on such an important issue. Every kid on the planet knows what an elephant is. I hope that every kid on the planet can eventually come to a plce like this as see an elephant living in the wild." A continent-wide survey of African elephants was just released last month by Vulcan Inc. It found that the rate of decline of savanna elephant populations is 8 percent per year, primarily due to poaching. And that rate has been accelerating. On Sept 24, the opening day of CITES CoP17, the world's biggest conference on the international wildlife trade, marches calling for an outright ban on ivory and rhino horn will be taking place in cities on six continents, including Beijing, Hong Kong, Washington, DC, New York and Los Angles, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires, Rome, Stockholm everywhere. Contact the writer at chrisdavis@chinadailyusa.com. Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Loading... Checking your browser before accessing the website. This process is automatic. Your browser will redirect to your requested content shortly. Please wait a few seconds. HCM CITY A fall in tea export value is putting pressure on the tea industry to enhance product quality to raise the value and price of tea products. The Viet Nam Industry and Trade Information Centre (VITIC) reported that Viet Nam is the fifth largest tea exporter in the world but the countrys tea export value is still modest since the price of Vietnamese tea is equivalent to only 60 or 70 per cent of world tea prices. In particular, in the first seven months of this year, the Vietnamese tea price dropped 6.6 per cent to US$1,160 per tonne. Statistics also showed that although tea exports increased nearly 5 per cent in volume to touch 69,000 tonnes, its export value dropped over 2 per cent in the first seven months of the year, compared with the same period last year. For instance, in the last seven months, the Vietnamese tea industrys exports to Pakistan, which is the Viet Nams biggest tea importer with a 33.7 per cent market export share, declined 11.1 per cent in value because the price was down 9.8 per cent over the same period last year. Experts from VITIC attributed the drop in tea export prices to low product quality, which made Vietnamese tea prices down. They said that quality was currently the greatest problem that the tea industry encountered, which could lead to a loss of export markets to competitors. There are many factors affecting Vietnamese tea quality, including a lack of management of pesticide use, outdated farming techniques and lack of co-ordination between plantations and processing and distribution. Another reason is that many tea processors did not have their own tea plantations so they have to collect tea materials from different sources, some of which do not have clear origins, and through many intermediaries. This has caused the quality of tea products to be inconsistent, and production costs to be high. A representative from the Viet Nam Tea Association, who declined to be named, said that there should be an organisation to monitor the use of pesticides and fertilisers in tea cultivation to ensure quality. To improve the situation, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao uc Phat once said that tea was among the most important agricultural exports of Viet Nam, adding that attention must be paid to developing tea cultivation, especially improving tea quality and ensuring food hygiene standards. Meanwhile, experts from the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the Government and enterprises should attach importance to the application of scientific and technological achievements to production and processing of tea products. They also stressed the need for the development of a Vietnamese tea brand together with the organisation of trade promotion activities was also indispensable for boosting tea exports. History Viet Nam has for a long time been known as one of the cradles of the global tea industry. When the French invaded Viet Nam, they paid special attention to tea plants with much research and many investigations into the quality of Vietnamese tea. During the French era in Viet Nam, they built cultivation research institutes in Phu Ho (Phu Tho), Bao Loc (Lam ong) and Pleiku (Gia Lai) and established a nursery containing 27 tea varieties and a tea production factory on a Phu Ho farm. By August 1945, there were 13,585 ha of tea plants around the country, producing 6,000 tonnes of dried tea, black tea, green tea and scented tea. Then, it was impossible for tea plants to develop until 1955, when the North was entirely liberated. At that time, green tea was the main product for domestic demand and export to China. The year 1956 marked the appearance of two tea factories in northern province of Phu Tho, each with a capacity of 25-35 tonnes of fresh buds per day and an electrical factory equipped with the most modern technology of the time. Tea factories were developed with the help of Russian technology. Dozens of experts were appointed to tea production units to study and many Russian scientists also came to Viet Nam. In 1957, 700 tonnes of black tea and 500 tonnes of green tea were exported to Russia. From 1955 to 1975, due to the effects of war, tea production did not undergo much improvement. However, in the North, the tea industry still expanded to 65,000 ha yielding 35,000 tonnes of dried tea, of which 18,000 tonnes were exported. By August 2015, the planted area of the whole country had reached 140,000 ha and the dried tea output was 180,000 or 190,000 tonnes, of which 75 or 80 per cent was exported. Vietnamese tea has found its way to more than 110 countries and territories. The main export earners include black tea, green tea, lotus fragrant tea, oolong tea and jasmine tea, which are mainly exported to Taiwan, China, the United States, Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia..VNS HA NOI The Vietnamese Representative Office of Hanjin Shipping Global, South Koreas giant container shipping company, announced that it would not accept any new booking of freight orders from August 31. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, bankruptcy of the Hanjin shipping line would possibly affect local businesses export and import shipping and receiving activities. The ministry recommended businesses to quickly complete procedures to receive imported goods at the ports and take them out of the Hanjin containers. With regard to export goods which were already inside the firms containers, the ministry asked businesses to get back the goods as soon as possible and contact their foreign partners to find ways to change to other shipping firms and to organise the goods booking schedule. Those batches of goods that had already been shipped, the businesses were told to keep in touch with the Hanjin representative office in Viet Nam to keep track of the itinerary and co-ordinate with their foreign partners to ensure the goods were received at the ports on time. The ministry, in co-ordination with the Ministry of Transport, said it would direct the ports to support businesses to ship and receive goods to avoid affecting the businesses schedule and traffic congestion at the sea ports. According to the Associated Press (AP), Hanjin, the worlds seventh-largest container shipping company, filed for bankruptcy protection on August 31 and stopped accepting new cargo. With its assets being frozen, ships from China to Canada were refused to offload or take aboard containers because there were no guarantees that tugboat pilots or stevedores would be paid. This also led to a rise in shipping rates and could also hurt some trucking firms with contracts to pick up goods from Hanjin ships. The South Korean giant represents nearly 8 per cent of the Trans-Pacific trade volume for the US market. While some retailers may already be hit with their merchandise for the holiday season getting delayed, experts say it is important for the issue to be resolved before the critical shipping month of October. Regarding the bankruptcy of Hanjin Tran Thanh Hai deputy head of Import-Export Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIC) said the ministry has worked with authorised agencies to assist Vietnamese exporters after Hanjin Shipping Global stops operations in Viet Nam. Hai said Hanjin accounted for 5 per cent of logistics market in Viet Nam. Therefore, industries with large volume of export such as garment, footwear, timber or fisheries would be affected by the bankruptcy. To solve this problem, the Ministry of Industry and Trade announced on its website for those who have to change their shippers. The ministry will work with Ministry of Transport and port authorities to offer inventive for containers influenced by the bankruptcy Nguyen Viet Hoa, CEO of Vietnam Container Corporation (Viconship) said the impact to Viconship was negligible. Hanjin just entered the Viconships Green Port for the last 3 to 4 months. Hoa said in the last four months, Hanjin maintained only one ship every week and made a contribution of around 3 per cent and 5 per cent of revenue. Currently, Hanjin owes a debt of about US$100,000 to Viconship. However, Viconship was holding 500 to 700 containers worth more than $1 million. o Van Minh, General Director of Gemadept JSC said his company did not suffer from the "incident" of Hanjin. At the moment, Gemadept did not work with this container shipping company. Many Japanese companies are exploring investment opportunities in the Vietnamese food market, which is expected to grow at around 5 per cent this year. Photo bizlive.vn HCM CITY Many Japanese companies are exploring investment opportunities in the Vietnamese food market, which is expected to grow at around 5 per cent this year. Takimoto Kogji, head of the Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro) in HCM City, said the number of Japanese firms coming to Viet Nam to study the market is constantly increasing. He told news.zing.vn that while past Japanese investors focused on manufacturing industries, current investors have turned their attention to the food and service sectors. A report from the Ministry of Industry and Trade said the food market grew at 5.1 per cent per year from 2011-16. This increase has sparked interest among foreign investors, especially the Japanese, who have opened retail chains and more than 500 restaurants in HCM City. In supermarkets, there are shelves dedicated to Japanese products. Besides, many retail shops have opened in HCM City to distribute Japanese foods. With the Trans-Pacific Partnership set to take effect soon, more Japanese companies are expected to come to take advantage of the privileges the agreement will confer on members. The Vietnamese market is hugely promising with its more than 90 million consumers and an increasing clamour for clean and safe food. A spokesperson for Tarami, a Japanese company that produces jelly, said he was very happy to see his companys products sold by many retailers like Aeon and Family Mart. His company targets exports of US$100,000 to Viet Nam in the first year and more in the coming years, he said. Takashi Igarashi, general director of Igarashi Seimen Company, which produces instant noodle, said Vietnamese consumers now prefer products which are good for their health. His company has introduced its products to Family Mart and Aeon and has received good feedback, he said. Kazuhiko Nemoto of a livestock association in Ibaraki Province said his company has three stores distributing beef in Viet Nam and plans to sell to supermarkets next. Kogji said Jetro has organised many events and programmes to link up Japanese and Vietnamese companies and provided information about the market, Vietnamese tastes and how to trade in Viet Nam to Japanese companies. It also helps Japanese companies quickly set up business and sell products in Viet Nam, he added. VNS HA NOI A workshop introducing the Irish food industry was held in Ha Noi on Monday, opening up opportunities for businesses of the two countries to seek investment and co-operation in this field, with a focus on sustainability, health and wellness. It showcased Irelands commitment to sustainable responsible agriculture and its know-how on the creation of a high value, safe and sustainable agri-food sector, and demonstrated Irelands eagerness in doing agri-business with Viet Nam. The workshop was addressed by the Irish Minister of State of Food, Forestry and Horticulture Andrew Doyle, who is leading an agri-food trade mission to Viet Nam on September 5-7 to advance Ireland-Viet Nam relations in agri-business. The delegation includes representatives of more than 20 Irish dairy and meat companies. Doyle said the workshop was aimed at expanding Irelands footprint in Viet Nam, a key target market for Irish agri-food exports. It would also serve as a key networking opportunity for Irish companies with major Vietnamese buyers, he added. Agri-food exports from Ireland to Viet Nam last year continued their steady growth, increasing from around 35 million in 2013 to almost 40 million in 2015, he said. Exports of Irish food comprised mostly of dairy food products, pig meat, beverages, seafood and prepared foods. 2016 is also looking to be a very positive year so far. This reflects the strong strategic partnerships being built between Vietnamese and Irish food companies, he said. He added that Ireland was willing to share with Viet Nam experience and technology in creating safe, sustainable and high-value farm produce. Deputy Head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Developments International Cooperation Department Chu Van Chuong said Viet Nam encouraged the participation of private businesses in the process of agricultural restructure, including those from other countries such as Ireland. The conference is followed by A Taste of Ireland Networking Event, where individual Irish food exporters and Vietnamese food buyers had an opportunity to share experiences on successfully conducting business between Ireland and Viet Nam. On the same day, Doyle met Vietnamese Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong to discuss measures to boost the two countries cooperation in agriculture. VNS Canadian Foreign Minister Stephane Dion has announced that his country will provide C$15 million ($11.6 million) to help small- and medium-sized enterprises in Viet Nam reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Photo laodongthudo.vn HA NOI Viet Nam wishes to enhance multi-faceted co-operation with Canada and further promote bilateral relations practically and effectively, said President Tran ai Quang. Quang made the statement yesterday while receiving Canadian Foreign Minister Stephane Dion, who is on an official visit to Viet Nam. Praising the recent development in bilateral ties across many fields, Quang spoke highly of Canadas commitment to continue offering Official Development Assistance to Viet Nam and to continue supporting Viet Nam in areas of Canadas strengths, such as poverty reduction, food safety and coping with climate change. He thanked Canada for its financial assistance worth US$11.6 million, which was announced during the Canadian diplomats visit, to help Viet Nam fight against climate change. The President said he wished the Canadian Parliament would soon approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), creating conditions to promote high-standard free trade in the region. He proposed that the two countries expand people-to-people exchanges and co-operation in the areas of national defence, security, crime prevention and control, and education and training, in addition to promoting political, economic, commercial and investment relations. President Quang hailed the results of talks held between Canadian Foreign Minister Dion and his Vietnamese counterpart, Pham Binh Minh, who doubles as Deputy Prime Minister. Dion briefed his host on the foreign policy of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to enhance co-operation and linkage with the Asia-Pacific region, ASEAN and Viet Nam. He conveyed the PMs invitation to President Quang to visit Canada, which Quang accepted. Both host and guest discussed measures to deal with disputes in the East Sea by peaceful solutions, abiding by international laws and practices. Foreign Ministers talks Earlier the same day, Canadian Foreign Minister Dion held talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Minh. The two sides agreed to focus on stepping up co-operation in the areas of economics, trade and investment, and development assistance in the time ahead. They said two-way trade increased by 20-25 per cent to over $4 billion in 2015. Canadas direct investment exceeded $5 billion a year. The two sides agreed to increase the exchange of delegations, especially at high-ranking levels, and enhance existing dialogue mechanisms, including the political dialogue at the deputy foreign minister level. They will strengthen co-ordination at regional and international forums, including the 2016-2020 Plan of Action to Implement the ASEAN-Canada Enhanced Partnership. Both exchanged views on the regional political and security situation, covering both traditional and non-traditional challenges. They also discussed the peaceful settlement of disputes in the East Sea with respect for legal and diplomatic processes, as well as international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS), in order to maintain peace, stability, security, and maritime and aviation freedom in the sea. Speaking at a press conference following the talks, Minh spoke highly of Canadas assistance, noting his hope that the country would continue to help Viet Nam access preferential loans of the World Banks International Development Association after 2017. Canadian aid Canadian Foreign Minister Stephane Dion has announced that his country will provide C$15 million ($11.6 million) to help small- and medium-sized enterprises in Viet Nam reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Viet Nam is one of the countries most and vulnerable to climate change, forcing the nation to face several challenges, for example severe salinisation in the Cuu Long (Mekong) delta region, he said in an interview yesterday afternoon. We can work together to help Viet Nam adapt to climate change, he said. If we dont treat climate change properly, the next generations will have to pay for it. Dion expressed his hope that Canada can support Viet Nam in tackling the impacts of climate change in a meeting with Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha yesterday morning. The Foreign Minister said he hoped for further information exchanges between the two Governments, particularly on Viet Nams plans on climate change, environmental protection and water resource management. Canada also showed interest in the Southeast Asian nations ratification and implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change, of which both are members, and its plan to use green energy and technology. Vietnamese environmental minister Ha suggested Canada continue supporting the Climate Change Response Support Programme in Viet Nam in 2016-2020 and aid Viet Nam in implementing the Intended Nationally Determined Contribution and the Paris agreement. VNS HA NOI Vietnamese President Tran ai Quang and his French counterpart, Francois Hollande, agreed on various measures to boost the countries relations during their talks in Ha Noi yesterday morning as part of the French Presidents State visit to Viet Nam. At the talks, the leaders shared the view that bilateral ties have been thriving across the board, stating their resolve to bolster the countries strategic partnership with a long-term co-operation vision so as to meet their common interests and concerns. They agreed to enhance all-level visits, especially at high levels, and bring into play co-ordination mechanisms in politics, economics, defence, science-technology, culture and education-training. They emphasised that economic partnership remained a priority in bilateral ties, and the countries needed to promote co-operation in key projects in infrastructure, energy, aviation, health care-pharmaceuticals, the environment, agriculture and food processing. President Hollande affirmed Frances commitment to continue providing ODA to Viet Nam. The countries will continue creating a favourable environment for their enterprises to co-operate, invest and do business. Viet Nam invited France to be the honorary guest at the 2017 Viet Nam International Food Industry Exhibition (Vietnam Foodexpo). The Presidents agreed to foster science-technology links, particularly in renewable energy and satellite application, while boosting cultural, tourism and educational ties. They will provide optimal conditions for Vietnamese students to study in France and help the Hanoi University of Science and Technology reach international standards. Viet Nam and France will reinforce defence co-operation, especially through military equipment procurement and mutual visits by naval ships. France will help Viet Nam with UN peace-keeping operations and work with Viet Nam to address traditional and non-traditional security issues. They also agreed to enhance co-ordination at multilateral forums like the UN, ASEAN-EU, Asia-Europe Meeting and the Francophone community. They will continue mutual support to promote Frances relations with Asia-Pacific countries and Viet Nams co-operation with the EU. Viet Nam highly values Frances role in the fight against climate change, particularly after the success of the 21st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 21) held in Paris last year. Both sides will tighten connections in coping with global challenges, including climate change. At the talks, the Presidents clarified the importance of maintaining peace and stability and promoting regional and international co-operation. They reiterated the commitment to ensuring free navigation and aviation, stressing the peaceful settlement of East Sea disputes through diplomatic and legal processes, and with respect to international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Regarding The Hague tribunals ruling on July 12, 2016, both sides affirmed the law-abiding principle at seas and oceans. They underlined the importance of fully implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), while supporting efforts to reach a Code of Conduct (COC) in the waters. At the end of the talks, Presidents Quang and Hollande witnessed the signing and exchange of many documents and co-operation agreements between the two governments, their ministries, agencies and businesses. At noon the same day, the Vietnamese leader hosted a banquet in honour of the French President. PM Phuc meets French President Also yesterday, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc had a meeting with the French President, during which he stated that the Vietnamese Government would continue its efforts to foster partnerships with France in all fields. Expressing his delight at the growth of the Viet Nam-France strategic partnership over the past years, the PM proposed that both sides focus on boosting co-operation in areas of Frances strengths, including infrastructure, advanced technology, energy, aerospace, health care and pharmaceuticals. Particularly, both sides should strengthen their cooperation in technology transfer and training in satellite manufacturing, an area that the two countries are pursuing together, he said. The two countries should also work more closely in sustainable development, such as technologies in environmental protection and green agriculture, he suggested, adding that Viet Nam encourages French enterprises to invest in green projects in Viet Nam. He also asked for Frances support during Viet Nams implementation of the Paris Climate Conference (COP 21) commitments. Viet Nam had risen from poverty to become a middle-income country, but it was still facing many challenges such as climate change, sea level rise, natural disasters, epidemics and environmental pollution, he said, calling on France to continue providing ODA to Viet Nam, especially in infrastructure, climate change and poverty reduction. The PM also suggested that the two sides further bolster their co-operation in trade and investment, towards the goal of doubling their two-way trade turnover from the modest US$4.2 billion in 2015. At the same time, both sides should also enhance co-operation in culture, education and people-to-people contacts, as well as strengthen ties among localities. PM Phuc shared Frances concern about terrorism and expressed sympathy to France over the great losses caused by terrorists. The Vietnamese Government leader asked that France support ASEANs stance in ensuring peace, stability, security and maritime and aviation safety and freedom in the East Sea. President Hollande affirmed that France is keen to beef up co-operation with Viet Nam in all fields, especially in politics, economics, trade, investment, and the response to climate change and rising sea levels. He said during this visit, he was being accompanied by many business leaders, who want to seek partnership and investment opportunities in Viet Nam, which demonstrated the interest of French businesses in developing ties with Viet Nam . Stressing that France always prioritised its economic partnership with Viet Nam , he requested that the country create favourable conditions for French investment. At the same time, France was also keen on enhancing bilateral co-operation in science-technology, technology transfer, education and training, agriculture and pharmaceuticals. He also underscored that his country would continue assisting Viet Nam in the fields of the countrys demand, including coping with climate change and sea level rise and environmental protection. VNS HA NOI Visiting French President Francois Hollande has suggested Ha Noi authorities step up the conservation of the Old Quarter for future generations. Taking a stroll from Ma May Street to Hang Bac Street in the Old Quarter yesterday, the President received a warm welcome from Hanoians and tourists. He was introduced to the history of the Old Quarter which was associated with the formation and development of Thang LongHa Noi, with traditional handicraft and trade guilds as unique features. Officials from the management board of the Old Quarter reiterated the determination of municipal authorities and Vietnamese Government to preserve the quarters distinctive architecture and culture. They also revealed the co-operation programmes between Ha Noi and Toulouse city in upgrading an ancient house in Ma May street and other facilities in the quarter. President Hollande showed his interest in the conservation of the Old Quarter in the context of it having a high population density. He was told that the issue is also challenging Ha Noi authorities as it requires no change to social structure of the quarter. The President also visited Kim Ngan temple which was upgraded in 2010 and serves as a place to observe local cultural and spiritual activities. Earlier, he met with Vietnamese students who studied in France. He met with Vietnamese leaders to seek to step up the ties between the two countries during his State visit to Viet Nam from September 5-7. Ha Nois Old Quarter, boasting a total area of 81 hectares, is located on ten wards of Hoan Kiem district: Hang Bac, Hang Buom, Hang Bo, Hang Bong, Hang Ma, Cua ong, Ly Thai To, ong Xuan, Hang Gai, and Hang ao. VNS HCM CITY A plan to build a flyover connecting Tan Son Nhat airport with Nguyen Van Troi and Hoang Van Thu streets has been submitted to the HCM City Department of Transport by an infrastructure joint venture. 319th Corporation, Eastern Mekong Construction-Production-Trade-Service Ltd, and ong A Infrastructure Joint Stock Company have suggested building it in Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) mode at a cost of VN3.5 trillion (US$157 million). The flyover will be over 5km long and 7.5 12.5m wide. The main portion of the flyover will run from Truong Son Street to the international and domestic terminals and the planned new international terminal, T3. After that, it will run over Thang Long and Phan Thuc Duyen streets and Hoang Van Thu Park before landing at the intersection of Hoang Van Thu and Nguyen Van Troi. The flyover will link up with another proposed flyover over Cong Hoa, Hoang Van Thu, Phan ang Luu and Phan Xich Long to Phu An bridge in Binh Thanh District, plans for which have been submitted by builder CII. T will cost an estimated cost VN10 trillion ($450 million). Tan Son Nhat Airport is expected to handle over 30 million passengers in 2016 while its designed capacity is only 25 million passengers. It faces a shortage of runways, aprons and terminals, causing many flights to wait to land and take off, causing massive losses and threatening safety. VNS A new project was launched yesterday to control HIV among young drug users in Viet Nam with funding from Expertise France, a French agency for international technical expertise. Photo tiengchuong.vn HA NOI A new project was launched yesterday to control HIV among young drug users in Viet Nam with funding from Expertise France, a French agency for international technical expertise. The project Saving the Future Innovative Strategies to Control HIV Infection among Young people who Use Drugs in Viet Nam was proposed and implemented by the Centre for Supporting Community Development Initiatives (SCDI). The three-year project received funding worth 860,000 euros (US$960,900). Khuat Thi Hai Oanh, executive director of SCDI, said that the project would start with a study to understand the background of young drug users and their social connections, the effects produced by drugs, and behaviour that might put them at risk of HIV. This information would help develop intervention strategies. The project will provide funding to community-based organisations to implement intervention programmes effective for young drug users in their locality, she said. The project is planned to work with networks of key populations and 20 community-based organisations in eight provinces and cities to reach at least 8,000 young drug users with services to help them avoid HIV infection. The eight localities include northern provinces of Hai Phong, Thai Binh, Quang Ninh and Ninh Binh; central province of Nghe An; and southern province of Khanh Hoa as well as Ha Noi and HCM City. Nghiem Vu Khai, deputy president of the Viet Nam Union of Sciences and Technology Associations (VUSTA), said, This is a compliment to a project supported by the Global Fund to address HIV among key populations that is being managed by VUSTA in 15 provinces. Drug use among young people was a concern for the Party, the National Assembly, the Government as well as society as a whole since it affects the economy, society, health and the next generation, he said. We hope that this project, besides preventing HIV infection, contributes to reducing harms associated with drug use and to increase social integration of young people, he said. VNS HA NOI Opening a flow of walking space and offering a new sense of tranquility, the newly-opened pedestrian areas around iconic Hoan Kiem (Returned Sword) Lake have aroused applause for many tourists and locals. On the first days of opening for public between September 1-4, hundreds of people flocked to the area to enjoy the walking space and a range of cultural, musical and arts performances. Nguyen Huu Tu, a resident of Hang Ngang Street said that he was interested in folk games, which were held along streets to preserve traditional values. He said the policy has created a comfortable and clean space for pedestrians to relax and be entertained at weekends. However, not all of the feedback has been positive. Nguyen inh Toan, resident in Cau Giay District, said that he had to pay VN30,000 (US$1.3), a fee ten times higher than the regulated level, to park his motorbike near the walking streets around the lake. He said he knew that the parking lots would likely be overloaded on the holiday, so he tried to find a licensed spot with hope that he would not be overcharged. He was unable. They (Parking operators) told me that the price was reasonable, and if I didnt agree with that price, I couldnt find a parking place around there, he said. Toan is not alone. Nguyen Khac Nam, from the Ba inh District, was offered a parking place at the price of VN50,000 ($2.1) at 10.30pm on Saturday night. Nam said he had no choice, as most parking places were full. Licensed parking lots refused to take motorbikes after 9.30pm. Although the citys Peoples Committee set up 78 parking lots for all types of vehicles around the lake, illegal parking lots, mostly run by locals, were created to meet the overload of licensed ones. Many lots at Hang Bac, inh Liet, Cau Go and Hang Gai streets have been seen overcharging tourists at costs between VN30,000-50,000 per vehicle. Some residents: end the daytime ban Many residents living in the walking streets complain the day-long ban on vehicles have caused inconvenience. Nguyen Thu Le, resident of the Cau Giay District, said she had to explain herself to six police before being allowed to drive to her grandmothers house at Le Thai To Street. I couldnt walk in and out all day, so I had to explain many times whenever I drove in and out. Its inconvenient, she said. Other residents with shops located in the walking area said it would be better to ban the vehicles from 5pm at weekends instead of the day-long ban, postulating that the number of pedestrians would reduce in the upcoming weeks. Therefore, they reason, there is no need to waste human resources on guarding these areas. Pham Thanh Tung, chief of office of Viet Nam Architecture Association, said that the walking streets should be friendly instead of causing inconvenience for locals. Pham Tuan Long, vice chairman of Hoan Kiem Districts Peoples Committee, said that the first four days of the walking streets were met with huge pedestrian crowds, resulting in shortcomings like inflated parking prices and bad hygiene. He said the authorised units had inspected and fined some illegal parking lots tens of millions of ong. The committee, he reports, will continue inspecting and crack down on illegal parking lots around the area. The committee also plans to require licensed parking lots to operate until midnight to serve tourists, he said. As planned, ong Xuan JSC will prepare electric cars to transport tourists from parking places to the walking streets, an improvement that would help resolve locals from these areas complaints, he added. The committee will continue collecting viewpoints from local residents and tourists in order to provide solutions for arising problems, he added. VNS HA NOI Roughly 22.5 million students, in cities and provinces all around Viet Nam, celebrated the start of the school year yesterday, returning as the country continues its struggle to reform the education system and boost economic growth. About 20.5 million are pupils in preschool, primary, secondary and high schools, while the remaining million-plus are students in universities and colleges. The Party and State leaders also participated in school opening ceremonies held nationwide, which included saluting the national flag, singing the national anthem and reading the letter from the President. President Tran ai Quang extended his best wishes to teachers and students nationwide at a ceremony at Ha Noi-Amsterdam High School for gifted students in the capital city. He emphasised the educational sectors accomplishments in the last academic year, such as an extended educational network, improved education quality, accelerated teaching method reforms and students outstanding results at national and international contests. The Ha Noi-Amsterdam High School leads Vietnamese performance at national and international competitions; one year, it won 33 international prizes and 79 national awards. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended a new school year ceremony at Ha Noi-based Nguyen inh Chieu Secondary School, whose over 1,700-person student body includes over 200 visually impaired students. He hailed the disabled students strong wills and the schools welcoming environment as a place for underprivileged students to study, play and make friends. National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan beat the inaugural drum to kick off the school year at Le Quy on High School in the southern province of Ba Ria- Vung Tau. At the ceremony, she called on the province to spend more on upgrading infrastructure, purchasing teaching tools and planting more trees. She also exhorted every teacher and student to uphold the schools traditions by pushing for a glistening future. In HCM City, around 1.5 million students of all grades began the new school year. The city Party Committee Secretary inh La Thang attended the opening ceremony together with more than 2,400 students at Luong The Vinh High School in District 1. Though the number of students has risen by 59,000 from last year, the city has ensured classrooms for all, according to the municipal Department of Education and Training. The city spent VN5.2 trillion (US$233 million) to build dozens of new schools, and more than 2,000 new classrooms are available this year. Another VN795 billion ($36 million) was spent on new teaching tools, IT equipment upgrades and laboratories for experiment and research. While attending a ceremony at Ba Vi Boarding High School in Ba Vi District, Ha Noi, Party Secretary Hoang Trung Hai emphasised that teachers and students should follow Uncle Hos teaching Vi loi ich muoi nam trong cay, vi loi ich tram nam trong nguoi (For the sake of ten years we must plant trees, for the sake of 100 years, we should cultivate people) in order to overcome difficulties and contribute to the educational cause of the city in general and the district in particular. Hai expressed his hope that the school will continue its traditions and efforts to meet the new conditions demand. Thousands of students in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai attended the the opening ceremony of the school year yesterday, a month after it suffered two consecutive storms. To provide the necessary conditions for teaching and learning in the new school year, Lao Cai authorities have mobilised all its resources and received support from individual and organisational volunteers. Phin Ngan Commune in Bat Xat District suffered the greatest losses, with three people dead and more missing. The only suspension bridge that allowed students and Dao ethnic people to cross the Ngoi ung stream was also swept away. Lucky for students, education staff and the 18 households of Dao ethnic minority people in Sung Hoang Village of Phin Ngan Commune, a new suspension bridge has been completed in time for the ceremony. The new bridge will make travel easier and safer. Villagers will send more students to schools Ly Ta May, a local resident told Viet Nam News Agency correspondents. The 2016-2017 academic year is the third year the sector has conducted the Governments action plan on fundamental renovation of the educational system. According to Phung Xuan Nha, Minister of Education and Training, improving the quality of education, with particular focus on morals, is one of the ministrys main emphases for the academic year More information on vocational guidance will be publicised so that colleges and universities can more easily determine the labour market for each sector, Nha said. The national high school examination and the Circular 30, which requires school teachers to give students comments based on performance, will both be revised, he said at a press conference on Sunday. Regarding the new model of learning and teaching, called the Viet Nam Escuela Nueva (VNEN), Nha said that the ministry will review the application and confront recent misunderstandings of the model . He added that it was not necessary for all localities to apply this model. The VNEN was designed to make students more engaged in class, with teachers serving as facilitators. It also aimed to make parents and other community members more involved in making learning relevant to children. Recently, after requests from some students and their teachers, several localities asked the ministry to suspend the application and multiplication of the teaching model. -- VNS HA NOI - A 40-seater passenger bus, traveling from the north-central province of Quang Binh to Ha Noi, was on Monday fined VN41.5 million (US$1,850) for overloading the vehicle. The bus driver did not have his driving licence. The driver, Nguyen Phi Son, 37, was fined VN17.5 million ($750) for carrying 52 people on the bus which had a capacity of only 40 people. Son tried to flee from the spot when the police ordered him to stop. The owner of the vehicle was fined VN24 million ($10,600). Previously, Sons driving licence was seized by the provinces police in connection with a traffic accident.VNS HA NOI Two people were killed and nine others were injured in a tragic bus accident which occurred earlier today on the Phap Van-Cau Gie highway. Tran Minh Thu, head of police unit No. 7 of the Department of Traffic Police, said the bus was travelling from Ninh Binh Province to Ha Noi when it suddenly overturned. It had earlier been raining heavily in the area. At 3.30am on the same day, a truck travelling from Ho Chi Minh City to Binh Thuan Province collided with a container truck in Xuan Loc District in ong Nai Province. The truck also hit a 16-seater bus moving in the opposite direction. One woman died on the spot and 10 bus passengers were injured. Also last night in Thai Hoa Township in Nghe An Province, a motorbike with three riders crashed into a 16-seater bus travelling in the opposite direction. All three on the bike died on the spot.VNS Nigeria partners Sudan on creative cultural business, digital economy The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said Nigeria will partner with the Republic of Sudan on Creative Cultural Business and Digital Economy. Mohammed stated this on Tuesday when he received the Ambassador of Sudan to Nigeria, Ibrahim Bushira Ali, who paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Abuja. The Minister said it was high time the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Republic of the Sudan changed the concept of economic co-operation and stop restricting economic co-operation to just buying of oil or selling of machineries. In his words: We should look today to a broader interpretation and meaning of cultural and economic relationship to bring the two countries together and create economic development. The two countries have excellent diplomatic and bilateral relations with cultural cooperation which can transcend into economic development and can create employment of youth and women not as symbol of friendship between the two countries but as basis for economic development. The Minister disclosed that the creative industry is one major area that Nigeria and Sudan can strengthen their relationship just as the Kannywood in the Northern part of Nigeria is making waves in Sudan. He stressed that Nigeria is ready to deepen the creative and cultural relations in film making and capacity building with Sudan as economy built on creativity and cultural economy engenders more understanding, more friendship and more money. Mohammed expressed the readiness of Nigeria to welcome and train Sudanese artistes on Children films and Animation. Earlier, Ali stated that Sudan is ready to work closely with Nigeria to deepen the economic relations between the two countries, noting that more than five million Nigerians are living in Sudan and have contributed significantly to the socio-economic development of Sudan. He expressed his readiness to work with the Ministry in the areas of economic development, cultural relations and capacity building in order to deepen the existing relations between the two countries. www.today.ng HA NOI Nearly 1,000 students of kindergarten, primary and secondary school have not yet begun attending classes in coastal central Ha Tinh Province, although schools officially reopened yesterday nation-wide. Ha Tinh is one of the four localities severely affected by the sea-environment pollution caused by Taiwanese company Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation. The children have been staying at home instead of going to school because their parents do not have enough money to pay the annual fees at the start of a new school year, Dan tri online newspaper reported. Nguyen Thi Huong, a mother of four, living in Ky Ha Commune, said fishermen in the area only had two jobs to earn a living one was catching fish, and the second was making sea salt. Since early April, when the sea water was contaminated and mass fish deaths were reported, the fishermen were left without jobs, she said. How can we cover our childrens school fees? she added. Another resident in the commune said he hoped the children would be exempt from paying every school fee. Tran Minh uc, principal of Ky Ha Primary School, said only 132 of 694 students were going to the school, so far. The school had sent teachers to the homes of the students to stimulate their families to send them to school but had failed, he said. We also have yet to collect any fee to encourage students to go to school, he added. Tran Minh ao, principal of Ky Ha Secondary School, said the government directed schools to exempt or reduce fees for students in the four localities affected by sea-environment pollution. However, no specific legal document had, until now, been sent to the locality, in this regard. At present, the school had yet to collect any fee, he added. For the short term, teachers had contributed a fund to support students to go to school. In the long term, other financial supporting activities would be undertaken, he said. Le Van Luyen, chairman of the Peoples Committee of Ky Ha Commune, said parents of nearly 1,000 students said they would allow their children to go to school when they received compensation for their loss due to sea pollution. The committee had reported the situation to higher authorised agencies to find a solution, he said. Meanwhile, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha said on August 31, as committed, Formosa had sent compensation to the tune of US$500 million to the government. The compensation is to be distributed among fishermen in the four localities of Quang Tri, Quang Binh, Ha Tinh and Thua Thien Hue this month. Previously, on June 30, Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung announced that Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation was responsible for large-scale fish deaths in the four localities. VNS HA NOI The recent resumption of salbutamol imports is to meet the demand for production of medicines containing the substance in hospitals nationwide. Truong Quoc Cuong, head of the Viet Nam Drug Administration under the Ministry of Health, gave this information while speaking to the Vietnam Plus online newspaper yesterday. Earlier, in August, the administration gave the green light to the Central Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company and the Vacopharm Joint Stock Company to import 50kg of salbutamol each to manufacture medicines. The decision has sparked public concerns because salbutamol was found to be illegally used in animal breeding in late 2015. The use of the substance in breeding has been banned in Viet Nam since a decade. It stimulates growth in animals and makes them lean. Cuong said when it was discovered that the substance was used in animal breeding, the health ministry ordered a suspension of the import of the substance nationwide. Following several months of cooperation with the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to correct the situation, the health ministry allowed the two companies to import the substance, he said. According to Cuong, drugs containing salbutamol, included in the list of essential medicines of Viet Nam (issued in December 2013) and the 19th WHO Model List of Essential Medicines (issued in April 2015), are widely used worldwide. Nebulised salbutamol and salbutamol tablets are particularly necessary to treat respiratory diseases, including asthma. Additionally, salbutamol is also used in obstetrics to control the pain of early labor and postpartum uterine involution. Meanwhile, statistics from the health ministry showed that Viet Nam currently has over five million people suffering from asthma and more than 1.3 million people with chronic lung disease. To strictly supervise the use of imported salbutamol, the drug administration had sent messages to the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Agriculture asking them to join hands, Cuong said. The two companies permitted to import salbutamol were ordered to periodically report to the health ministry on the quantity of salbutamol being used to produce medicines, he added. VNS Victoria Fu, professor of human development in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech, has been conferred the title of professor emerita by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors. The emerita title may be conferred on retired professors, associate professors, and administrative officers who are specially recommended to the board by Virginia Tech President Tim Sands. Nominated individuals who are approved by the board receive an emeritus certificate from the university. A member of the university community since 1972, Fu made significant contributions to early childhood education through her service on national advisory boards and panels, including those of Head Start, the Public Broadcasting Service, and several professional associations. She was also the principal investigator on grants and contracts supporting feasibility studies and program development and evaluation in early childhood education. In 2005, Fu received Virginia Techs Alumni Award for Excellence in International Education in recognition of her leadership in promoting the Reggio-Emilia approach to early childhood education in the United States. Fu taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses on child development and early childhood education, for which she received Virginia Techs William E. Wine Award for Excellence in Teaching. She advised numerous students on their masters degree theses and doctoral dissertations and helped prepare them for successful careers in both university and preschool education settings. Fu received her bachelors degree, masters degree, and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Pune-based is looking to tie up with private equity funds and foreign lenders after having announced setting up of a green fund last month. The ethanol technology provider is now focusing on second-generation ethanol production from agri-residue. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi said on Monday that Belarus and Kazakhstan have assured their support to Islamabads bid for membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a statement from the foreign office said. was expanding upon its relations with different countries, including Russian and central Asian states, it said, adding that the president of Belarus would also visit the country next month. The special assistant reiterated that Pakistan's application for the NSG is based on technical experience, capability and commitment to nuclear safety and security. The need for adopting a non-discriminatory and objective approach was also emphasised during the Belgium visit. Pakistan, which responded to India's membership bid with one of its own, has the backing of its close ally China. China is leading opposition to a push by the United States and other major powers for India to join the main club of countries controlling access to sensitive nuclear technology. Other countries opposing Indian membership of the NSG include New Zealand, Ireland, Turkey, South Africa and Austria, diplomats said. The 48-nation NSG aims to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons by restricting the sale of items that can be used to make those arms. Islamic State group fighters could flee to Egypt or Tunisia after being flushed from their former Libyan stronghold of Sirte, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned today. "We should begin to look seriously at the question of the spread of the terrorists once Sirte... (is) emptied of the terrorists," Le Drian told a defence conference in Paris. "They don't disappear. There's a new risk that appears," he said, adding: "Indirectly this will pose new risks for Tunisia and Egypt." He said it was a "shame, perhaps political reasons prevent it, that all the neighbouring states of Libya don't meet" over the issue. Backed by weeks of US air strikes, forces loyal to Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA) have recaptured nearly all of what had been the jihadists' main stronghold in north Africa. Pro-GNA forces launched a new attack on Saturday against IS in Sirte, saying yesterday it could take several days to gain full control of the city. rose 1.47% to Rs 1,046.20 on the BSE after the company said it has entered into a joint venture pact with Saudi Prerogative Company in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to conduct IT services for customers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Unequal Budget funding for the Yes vote wont give Australians equal say If you seek to ensure not all Australians get an equal say in the debate about an enshrined voice, then dont be surprised when millions of them cry foul about the integrity of the result. Industrial relations bill to create more strikes and less jobs 12:21 Shadow Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Michaelia Cash says the industrial relations bill introduced by the government on Thursday... Government advised energy price caps must be done by November: Clennell 03:56 Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell says the federal government has been warned it must act prior to November if it is to implement energy... New industrial relations bill has caused quite the storm 02:08 The industrial relations bill introduced on Thursday to push along multi-employer bargaining in an effort to lift wages has caused quite the... CEDAR FALLS Cedar Falls photographer Tim Dodd always looks for the best angle for a photograph. About four years ago he took to the air, using drones to shoot pictures. As a photographer youre always looking for a new perspective on things, Dodd said. What better way than to build a flying camera? Dodd rigged his drone to carry camera equipment with tinkering, experimenting and trial and error. Since then, technology has improved and camera-carrying drones have become more numerous. I went from building on my kitchen table to being able to buy something better in a handful of years, Dodd said. Its been fun to see how quickly things are changing. In May, the Iowa Department of Transportation said the number of manned aircraft registered with the FAA in Iowa 3,749 has been passed by the number of unmanned aircraft registered in Iowa 4,895. The FAA estimates there will be more than 600,000 drone aircraft operating in the U.S. within a year. Regulations governing drones havent evolved as quickly. Operators faced some restrictions on altitude and flying near airports but werent required to have a license to fly a drone. Last week, new Federal Aviation Administration rules went into effect governing commercial drone operations. The rules apply to drones more than 0.55 pounds and less than than 55 pounds. They require operators to: Keep drones within sight at all times. Refrain from flying drones over people not involved in their operation. Restrict drone flights from a half-hour before sunrise to a half-hour after sunset. Fly no faster than 100 mph. Fly no higher than 400 feet. Anyone 16 years or older can apply for a drone license. Previously, commercial drone operators needed a pilots license. Operators must now take a test to use commercial drones. The FAA also requires commercial drone operators to register the aircraft. Dodd said he understands and welcomes the regulations. Its going to make me feel more secure about what I do, Dodd said. For the last four years, I feel like Ive been tiptoeing around legally even though there was no regulation. The FAA did have guidelines regarding operating aircraft within a five-mile radius of a commercial airport. The FAA owns the airspace and operators of drones need to respect that, said Keith Kaspari, Waterloo Regional Airport director of aviation. Kaspari added operators can check on their location in relation to airports with a mobile app b4ufly. Dodd said he would contact the Waterloo Regional Airport and advise them when he would fly in that zone which includes downtown Cedar Falls and George Wyth State Park. Kaspari said the new regulations help airport and control tower personnel and drone operators. The changing technology created a unique circumstance for the FAA, he added. The FAA has had a challenge to really get a handle on this, whose going to operate drones, what are their intentions in operating it, Kaspari said. The applications of drone technology are broad, he added. Commercial uses include commercial photography and law enforcement, and farmers are increasing using drones to monitor crops and livestock. The applications are almost endless, Kaspari said. IOWA CITY -- Even though retired University of Iowa President Sally Mason does work for the firm that Iowas Board of Regents hired to help search for a new University of Northern Iowa leader, officials said she wont be involved in it. There would not be any chance she would play a role in that search, said Jamie Ferrare, founding managing principal at AGB Search in Washington, D.C. We see that as a potential conflict. Mason joined AGB Search as a consultant in 2015 after leaving the university, which she served as its 20th president from Aug. 1, 2007, to July 31, 2015. Ferrare said Mason has aimed her consulting work toward the overarching Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, of which AGB Search is a subsidiary. She has not been assigned to facilitate a search at AGB. She could in the future be involved in a search, Ferrare said. If theres an institution thats a good fit for her, then we would assign our consultants accordingly. AGB consultants James McCormick and Janice Fitzgerald are heading the search to replace former UNI President Bill Ruud, who left in July to lead the private Marietta College in Ohio. The Board of Regents has used Parker Executive Search to conduct its last three presidential searches those that netted Ruud in 2012, Iowa State University President Steve Leath in 2011, and Masons replacement at the UI of Bruce Harreld last year. Parker came under fire during last years UI search for, among several things, failing to note inaccuracies and discrepancies on Harrelds resume. The board in August announced it was going in a different direction for the UNI search and would be paying AGB Search $85,000 plus expenses to help find Ruuds replacement. McCormick and Fitzgerald participated in their first public meeting with the 21-member UNI search committee last week, outlining the process and timeline for advertising the post, recruiting applicants, whittling down the candidate pool and deciding on finalists. Ferrare said AGB has 34 consultants who occasionally network and collaborate when developing candidate pools. In that sense, he said, Mason could weigh in on the UNI search. She could be among the network contacted, he said. This is a unique situation where she was president of another university in the state of Iowa. She is well regarded at AGB, and if (McCormick and Fitzgerald) asked for her assistance, she might weigh in if she wants to. McCormick said that although AGB consultants cast a wide net in developing a candidate pool, they typically dont get involved in each others searches. We are doing it, he said. Thats clear. A subgroup of UNIs search committee spent the last few days continuing to meet with campus constituents and develop a draft advertisement. The Board of Regents at its meeting this week is expected to consider approving the duties of the search firm, the charge to the search committee and the proposed timeline. The board also will receive an update on the search, which is expected to officially launch Sept. 12 and wrap in early December. WATERLOO Hawkeye Community College is hosting several events in conjunction with National Suicide Prevention Week, including the return of the powerful Dont Let Them Walk Alone display Tuesday through Thursday. The display on the campus courtyard will feature 1,100 pairs of shoes, representing the 1,100 college students who die by suicide in the U.S. each year. Among the shoes will be 600 stories about suicide, depression and other mental health issues facing college students. Hawkeyes student life office will host crisis intervention specialist Travis Lloyd on Wednesday for a presentation titled Achieving Success Against All Odds. The event will begin at noon in the Brock Student Center on the main campus. Growing up, Lloyd experienced foster care, shelters and being institutionalized. He has the uncanny ability to relate to audiences while entertaining with hip-hop music and poetry. He also provides insights as a health care professional and adjunct instructor with more than a decade of experience in emergency departments and mental health services. Hawkeye is located at 1501 E. Orange Road. CEDAR FALLS The process for selecting the 11th University of Northern Iowa president will be more transparent than previous searches, said Iowa Regents board member and search committee co-chair Katie Mulholland. During one of what will be at least weekly visits to the UNI campus throughout the process, Mulholland listed several ways the search process would be more accessible and open than in the past . The transparency began with listening sessions. Weve never done as extensive listening sessions as weve done here, Mulholland said. She and committee members, as well as consultant firm AGB Search, met with more than 450 people representing a wide variety of interests on campus to gather input on what would be the qualities of the next president. The meetings began May 23, just days after then-UNI President Bill Ruud announced he would be leaving the university for a small liberal arts college in Ohio. They continued until Sept. 2, with an online survey. That includes 24 listening sessions held with search committee members on four different days on campus. It resulted in a one-page document that lists 21 qualifications for the universitys next president and an additional five preferences. Qualifications include: Values and promotes faculty and staff excellence; Champions the historic mission of the university, to prepare educators to teach; Has experience with policy and legislation and their impact on the university; Committed to developing and sustaining a diverse community and a culture of respecting others; and Possesses a strong academic background that can meet tenure in an academic department. That list of 21 will be winnowed to a handful that will be included in an advertisement for the position that is set to go live on Monday. The list also will be the defining guide for the Iowa Board of Regents as it makes its final decision, as well as a reference for the presidential search committee as they weigh the candidates. The listening sessions are just one response to three Democratic state senators who had expressed concern about the widely criticized search process for a new University of Iowa president, who was hired about a year ago. The senators, including Iowa State Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Waterloo, whose district includes UNI, asked that the process actually and fully involves the faculty and students in the spirit of shared governance. Danielson said he was encouraged by a letter the UNI presidential co-chairs sent out Tuesday explaining the process for the listening sessions. But he said it was more important to see what came from those sessions: the qualifications that should set the tone for what the regents expect of UNI in the long-term and what the search committee will seek in UNIs next leader. But Danielson noted neither the list of qualifications nor the letter were binding and he would continue to monitor the process throughout the selection to ensure it remains open and transparent. Though the listening sessions have concluded, in order to be able to post the advertisement for the UNI president, Mulholland said it doesnt mean the committee will stop listening. The regents dont make their decision until Dec. 6. Were not going to stop listening, Mulholland said. Mulholland said the fact the search process is more structured also will help lead to transparency, though the candidates wont be named until the three or four finalists are brought to campus following the Thanksgiving holiday. She said, for example, the structure includes sending the name of any possible recruits directly on to AGB Search so a more neutral party will look at those potential candidates. The University of Iowa search was criticized, and the regents are facing lawsuits, because some regents met privately with the ultimate University of Iowa presidential selection, Bruce Harreld, as part of recruiting him to apply. Mulholland said giving the names of any potential recruits to the search committee keeps the regents, and most of the search committee, from being directly involved in recruiting. The makeup and the involvement of the presidential search committee also is a change from past practices. Mulholland said the search committee is larger 21 members are involved, mostly from UNI faculty to make sure different elements of campus were well represented. The search committee also will have an opportunity to meet with the Iowa Board of Regents before it conducts its interview with the finalists and makes its selection. That will give the members, particularly the representatives of the university, a chance to advocate for the qualities of the candidate or candidates they see as the best fit. DES MOINES Gov. Terry Branstad on Tuesday defended the process whereby state regulators approved an underground oil pipeline being built across Iowa, calling it reasonable and fair even though he recognizes there are protesters and defiant landowners trying to halt the project. Branstad said he is not going to tell opponents what to do following last weeks arrests of pipeline protesters, but he told reporters at his weekly process I think the process has been reasonable and fair. Theyve exhausted all of their judicial remedies and theyve lost. I think we need to respect the process and the decision making thats been made. The governor also dismissed opponents criticism that he could have used executive powers to stop the project, saying his only role has been to appoint the three members of the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) who approved the pipeline permit and granted eminent domain powers to allow a Texas company to obtain easements from resistant landowners for fair-market compensation in condemnation proceedings for parcels in the projects path. Dakota Access, a Texas-based company, has begun placing some of the 346 miles of pipeline slated to cross 18 Iowa counties on a diagonal from northwest to southeast. The $3.8 billion project slated for completion yet this year will transport up to 570,000 barrels of crude oil daily from North Dakota's Bakken oil fields through Iowa to a distribution hub at Patoka, Ill. I did not take a position on it, Branstad said. He told reporters the IUB members were very thoughtful and very deliberative during a process that included hearings in each of the 18 affected Iowa counties and considerable research in making the decision that this was in the best interest to approve it. I dont always agree with the decisions that they (IUB members) make. But I respect the process and the decisions that theyve made, and I believe that its important that we not interfere with the rights of the workers that are building the pipeline, the governor said. I understand that youre never going to please everybody, but the vast majority of the landowners feel they were treated fairly and appropriately compensated for the use of their land, he added. Last week 30 people were arrested at a construction staging area as they protested the pipeline being built in Iowa. Also, a woman was arrested in Lee County for protesting the project and organizers say they expect more demonstrations to occur. A federal court hearing in slated next week on Dakota Access request for a restraining order to keep protesters away from construction zones. Branstad told reporters Tuesday that its important that people abide by the law and that they not endanger themselves or the workers that are working on the pipeline during protests. Branstad, who raised money for his 2014 re-election bid at a Texas event organized by former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, called it laughable that some protesters are claiming his lack of action against the project relates to financial ties to petroleum interests, saying theres probably nobody that Big Oil hates more than me. I am the strongest advocate for renewable energy and Iowa leads the country in renewable energy and I have consistently gone after big oil and the misinformation, the lies theyve told about ethanol throughout, he said. We want to continue to grow the share of our fuels that comes from renewables, but we dont expect that 100 percent of the motor fuel will be renewable. Former state Rep. Ed Fallon, who now leads a group helping to organize the protests, said he is surprised Branstad is not joining him on the side of landowners who believe it is an illegal use of eminent domain. The governor said Iowa has very restrictive laws regarding the use of eminent domain and most landowners have been very willing to sign voluntary easements to allow the pipeline to cross their property and are being very well compensated and theyll still be able to use the land once the pipeline is put in place. DES MOINES Nearly a decade after a national report showed Iowa had some of the highest rates of racial disparities in its jails and prisons, updated figures show the state has made slight improvements but still ranks among the worst in the U.S. The good news is racial disparity among Iowas inmates has improved since that first report. The numbers just havent improved enough to move Iowa out of the bottom few states in the nation. Iowa made modest gains in key metrics measured by The Sentencing Project, a national nonprofit organization that, according to its website, advocates for a fair and effective criminal justice system. Iowa has the fourth-most black inmates per capita in the country, according to The Sentencing Projects newest report, which was published this summer. That represents a slight improvement from the groups 2007 report, in which Iowa had the third-highest rate of black inmates per capita. In the new report, Iowa has the nations third-highest ratio of black-to-white inmates, a small improvement from 2007 when Iowa led the nation in the statistic. Only 3 of every 100 Iowans is black, but 1 of every 4 Iowa prisoners is black, according to the report. I think that the numbers indicate that its a systemic problem, that its not like theres just one issue, said Russell Lovell, a retired Drake University law school professor who works with the Iowa and Nebraska branch of the NAACP. You dont get the rankings that Iowa has without having broad-based, systemic issues. Im certainly confident that African-Americans in Iowa are not more crime-prone than they are in other states. I cant buy that argument. The good news is Iowas inmate disparity numbers did improve. The new report shows Iowa has 2,349 black prisoners for every 100,000 residents; thats a 44 percent decrease from the 4,200 per 100,000 in the 2007 report. Iowas ratio of black-to-white prisoners of 11.1 also is an improvement; thats down 18 percent from the nation-worst 13.6 in the 2007 report. Its good to see that we have scratched the surface, and we definitely believe it is a scratch, said Betty Andrews, president of the Iowa and Nebraska branch of the NAACP. But if we are scratching the surface, it is good to see those numbers moving in the right direction. That modest improvement comes as statewide attention has been paid to the issue in recent years. Since the 2007 report: Multiple advocacy groups have pitched solutions to and worked with state leaders. The Iowa Supreme Courts chief justice highlighted the issue in his past two annual addresses to the Iowa Legislature. Gov. Terry Branstad in 2015 convened a work group to develop recommendations. As Dr. (Martin Luther) King said, the arc of justice is long, but it bends toward justice, Andrews said. We are hoping were seeing the bending of that arc. The Sentencing Projects report lists possible contributors to racial disparities in jails and prisons: criminal justice policies and practices, human bias and structural disadvantages faced by minority populations. Iowa leaders have taken incremental steps to address the high racial disparity levels among inmates. The states nonpartisan legislative analysis agency produces minority impact reports for any legislation that could have an effect on minority communities. This year the state passed a package of criminal justice reforms that gives judges more sentencing flexibility for some low-level drug crimes and a measure that makes private the juvenile records of some nonviolent offenders. But lawmakers have not agreed to other recommendations from the governors work group and other advocates who suggest ways to diversify jury pools, banning employers from asking job applicants if they have been convicted of a felony and monitoring racial profiling by law enforcement officers. Lovell said racial profiling legislation is critical. He noted an NAACP study showed Iowa is one of 20 states without any racial profiling laws, and an American Civil Liberties Union study showed while whites and blacks use marijuana at roughly the same rate, blacks in Iowa are more than eight times more likely to be arrested for marijuana use than whites. That study is a really powerful indication, we believe, of the racial profiling here in Iowa, Lovell said. And thats where it starts: You get arrested and you get into the system. So, that legislation is really an important piece. Proponents of ban-the-box legislation to prevent employers from asking job seekers about their criminal history say it eliminates a significant hurdle for former prisoners trying to find employment. Studies show after a certain amount of time, the people who have committed a crime are no more likely than the general population to commit a crime, Andrews said. Here they are, 30 years later, 20 years later, and theyre still not able to get a job in the field they would like to be in. Lovell said the inability of released inmates to find a job can create a revolving door at jails and prisons. When ex-offenders come out, if they cant find work because no one will hire an ex-offender, then the likelihood of recidivism will increase, he said. Andrews said she and other advocates will continue to work with state leaders on these and other methods of reducing racial disparities in the states criminal justice system. She said education is important, as is continuing the conversation built in recent years. For example, in a few weeks the Des Moines branch of the NAACP will host the fourth annual Iowa Summit on Justice and Disparities. Her hope is with continued education and attention, the states criminal justice disparity numbers will continue to improve, perhaps even at a faster rate. Our goal is always to try to talk and help people and that includes our states highest officials understand the impact of maybe outdated practices and policies and legislation (that impacts) people of all colors, Andrews said. Because that gap is at a crisis level, and it just needs to be addressed. BOONE -- A La Porte City man was arrested early Monday after police say he stabbed another man during a fight at the Boone Speedway. Jeff Jason Davis, 47, of La Porte City was arrested and charged with assault with intent to inflict serious injury. He was taken to the Boone County Jail. According to the Boone Police Department, officers were called to the Boone Speedway, 1481 223rd Place, for a report of a victim with stab wounds at around 12:47 a.m. Monday. Scott Gregory Davis, 46, of Madrid, was found with multiple stab wounds to his abdomen, according to police. He was taken by ambulance to the Boone County Hospital and later to Mercy Hospital by air ambulance. His condition is unknown. Boone Police Commander John Sloter said they do not believe the two men were related. According to police, both Jeff Davis and Scott Davis were involved in a fight, and Jeff Davis produced a knife and allegedly stabbed Scott Davis. Jeff Davis' record includes mostly minor traffic violations. Novembers election in Iowa will be a milestone for women, regardless of who wins. For the first time in history, Iowa voters will have an opportunity to vote for women on every level of the state ballot. That information has been vigorously touted recently by the group 50-50 in 2020, an organization devoted to helping elect more Iowa women to office. Officials from the group have been heartened, first by the number of viable female candidates on both sides of the political aisle in 2014 and now by the number of female candidates this year. They should be. We look forward to the day when all candidates can stand on their own merits as individuals and not on their anatomical makeup. Theres no question a glass ceiling has existed in Iowa politics. Until 2014, when Republican Joni Ernst won a U.S. Senate seat, no woman in Iowa had won a federal race. Jean Lloyd-Jones, a former state senator from Iowa City and a co-founder of the group, called the number of 2016 female candidates another step on the path to equity for women in Iowa government. For nearly 100 years, since women in America got the right to vote, female candidates have been the exception, she said. But in November, not only will there be a woman running for president, Iowans will see a woman running for U.S. Senate, women running for U.S. House in two of the states four congressional districts and 58 women running for office in the Iowa House and Senate. The group said 65 women are on the ballot. Twenty-seven of the candidates are incumbents. The figures were compiled by 50-50 in 2020 and based on filings with the Iowa Secretary of States office. It includes 50 women running in Iowa House races, 11 for the Iowa Senate and four races for the U.S. Senate and House. The group was founded in 2010 and has a number of programs to further its goal such as holding training academies for women running for office. It says its the only bipartisan, issue-neutral group in the country working to elect women. Its an obvious assumption that to have more female office holders, you have to convince more women to get involved and get them on the ballot. Thats why we support this groups efforts. There have been other progressive moves as well. In 2009, Iowa became one of the first states to require gender balance on locally appointed boards and commissions. While there are some legitimate arguments both for and against such a requirement, it should have important benefits. Service on boards and commissions leads to important experience in government dealings, perhaps eventually leading members to seek office. The group says more progress is needed, and we agree. Fewer than a quarter of the states legislative seats are held by women. Then, as always, its up to voters, who we would hope would vote based on the merits of competency in leadership, character, integrity and transparency. Q: Who won the multi-million dollar Powerball recently? A: An announcement of the winner is pending, according to Lottery officials. Q: What is the address and phone number to contact Dollar Tree about starting a new store? A: Write to Dollar Tree Inc., 500 Volvo Parkway, Chesapeake, VA 23320, or call (757) 321-5000. Q: Have the salaries for the city of Waterloo employees been posted yet? A: They were published May 16. Q: At the corner of Bellaire and Ridgeway the sidewalk has been torn up for a couple of years. Very unsafe. I contacted the engineering department, but they havent done anything. What is my next step? A: Waterloo City Engineer Eric Thorson said the department acted on the concern immediately by contacting the utility company and its contractor to take care of the problem. The city has been pursuing them to act and was told the work would be done the week of Aug. 25. Q: What is happening at the renovation site of the old Hy-Vee in Cedar Falls? Wasnt it supposed to be turned into a Slumberland? A: As was reported in a Jan. 28 Courier article, Jon Davis of Slumberland said his project will be coordinated with the University Avenue reconstruction. The first phase, in front of College Square and Black Hawk Village, is anticipated to be completed before the holiday shopping season in November. Davis hinted at a store grand opening celebration early next year. Q: Has Waterloo Code Enforcement had any contact recently with the National Cattle Congress about the condition of the Waterloo Greyhound Park building? If not, why? A: City Attorney Dave Zellhoefer said the citys code enforcement operation is in constant negotiations with both the National Cattle Congress and the Sac and Fox tribe. The parties are in litigation involving the former dog track which affects title to the property. Q: Are they putting a turn lane on Hawkeye Road by Shaulis? A: Yes. Left-turn lanes and traffic signals are being installed at Iowa Highway 21 and Shaulis Road. The northbound turn lane from Shaulis to Iowa 21 will be a fifth lane. Q: How can we get the two-hour parking changed? If you keep feeding the meter after two hours you get a ticket. A: In Waterloo, parking rates and regulations are set by the Waterloo City Council. You could ask the council to change the ordinance, or if you are planning to park for more than two hours in downtown Waterloo, park in a lot or ramp where that limit does not apply. Q: With the leaf/branch drop-off site closing where do we take our leaves this fall? A: As the Courier reported, the Waterloo City Council will consider building a new leaf drop-off location. Otherwise, the Black Hawk County Landfill currently accepts yard waste for a fee. Questions are taken on a special Courier phone line at 234-3566. Questions are answered by Courier staff and staff at the Waterloo Public Library. Advertisement By The Associated Press Aug. 31, 2016 | WASHINGTON, DC By The Associated Press Aug. 31, 2016 | 04:08 PM | WASHINGTON, DC Retiring U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield says he will resign from office next week, triggering a special election that could give his successor a head start in Congress. The Republican congressman notified Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin with a letter on Monday. Whitfield's chief of staff Taylor Booth confirmed the letter and said Whitfield's resignation will be effective Sept. 6. First elected in 1994, Whitfield announced his retirement last year in the midst of a House Ethics Committee investigation. Bevin issued a press release thanking Whitfield for his many years of service, saying "he has served the people of Kentucky's first district admirably, and we wish him all the very best in the years ahead." Bevin said he will issue a proclamation declaring that the special election to fill the unexpired term will be held on the same date and time as the General Election - November 8. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell issued a statement, saying Whitfield served the people of Kentucky's First District with distinction, and fought hard for the people of western Kentucky, including those who worked at Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant and soldiers serving at Fort Campbell. McConnell said, "I am thankful for our many years of friendship, and Elaine and I extend every best wish to Ed, Connie and the entire Whitfield family in the years ahead." Former Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, the Republican Nominee for Whitfield's seat as First Congressional Congressman, also released a statement saying, "As his constituents, TJ and I have always admired his conservative values and steadfast support for the coal industry." Regarding the Special Election, Comer said he will seek the nomination for the unexpired term, and expects to be on the ballot twice on November 8 - once for the unexpired term and once for the full two year term. 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29 (1) May 11 (1) Jul 11 (1) Staying out of debt is easier said than done, I know. However, its something you can do, and its something you should be practicing everyday. As Christians, we are in this world, but we are "Cost of autologous stem cell transplant in Nepal is under $5000, and it is affordable. In contrast, it costs approximately $100,000 for a transplant in the US" Dr. Binay Shah, Binaytara Foundation BELLINGHAM, WA, September 06, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Through the support of the Binaytara Foundation (BTF), the first bone marrow transplant in a government hospital in Nepal was performed on August 14, 2016 at the Civil Service Hospital located in Kathmandu. The blood and marrow transplant center in Nepal will serve not only the population of Nepal but also patients from neighboring countries. BMT is a standard procedure for the treatment of blood cancers, genetic blood disorders such as sickle cell anemia or thalassemia, and diseases causing bone marrow failure such aplastic anemia. The procedure involves a multidisciplinary approach with the expertise and efforts of well trained physicians, nurses and allied healthcare professionals. The transplant recipient is an 18-year old man suffering from aggressive lymphoma. The patient received a high dose of chemotherapy followed by an autologous transplant with his own cells. The patient was successfully discharged after complete recovery. Dr. Bishesh Poudyal, chief of clinical hematology and bone marrow transplant at Civil Service Hospital stated, "Cost of autologous transplant in Nepal is approximately 5000 US Dollar, and it is affordable for many patients who are in need of transplant. A total of 8 patients are waiting for transplant." The idea of a BMT program in Nepal started when Dr. Damiano Rondelli (director of BMT at University of Illinois at Chicago) and Dr. Binay Shah, a Nepali-American oncologist and founder of Binaytara Foundation, visited the country in 2011. Upon meeting with local cancer physicians, it became clear that the development of a BMT center would help many Nepalese patients with blood disorders. BTF sponsored the training of the BMT team from Kathmandu, including two physicians and a nurse, at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Currently, BTF is supporting the training in clinical genetics at the University of Colombo (Sri Lanka) of another physician who is expected to join the BMT team at Civil Service Hospital in 2017. Binaytara Foundation (BTF) is an Illinois non-profit organization exempt from taxation pursuant to Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. BTF charitable projects include bone marrow transplant center, hospice program, cancer screening, medical research grants in resource-poor communities. For more information on BTF projects, visit www.binayfoundation.org. # # # Sep 6, 2016 | By Nick 3D printing is now breathing new life into the oceans of Dubai and Italy with a new breed of artificial reefs that provide more realistic levels of texture and detail. Sydney architect James Gardiner perfected the technique for making the artificial reefs from individual blocks. Together with David Lennons Reef Design Labs, he designed a series of low-cost reef units that can help combat the effects of reef erosion and protect the underwater environment. First he makes wax molds with what his company Laing ORourke claims is the worlds largest 3D printer assembly. Then he injected reformed sandstone material to create ornate, intricate and textured reef components. The 3D printing process allowed the team to create complex organic-structures that look far more natural than the alternative steel or concrete components. They also present far more usable surface area for coral regrowth. Biologist James Smith, from the University of New South Wales, told The Syndney Morning Herald: The designed reefs we typically deploy lack much surface texture, and we notice that the marine life that colonises these reef surfaces can sometimes fall off. This could be reduced with more complex surface textures. "The current prefab steel and concrete structures are likely to be the go-to for some time, but I would love to see some more innovation of surface textures of these prefab reefs. 3D printing may be a great way to explore this." These novel reef blocks come with integrated caves and tunnels. The material does not produce greenhouse gases like concrete and the variation means that the individual blocks look more natural in situ. That is good for the tourist industry, as reef tours through a sea of cubes and pyramids just arent the same. "Most artificial reefs use simple, cheap materials that are simplistic and homogenous. They are not well suited for their purpose," Dr Gardiner said. "Real reef assemblage is complex and multifunctional." The rough texture of his reef components, as well as the intricate structure and inherent porosity of the sandstone, give the coral and other underwater flora a solid anchor point so that they can take hold and start a new life in their new home. "What I loved and was excited about was that James' 3D printed reefs allowed for a more organic and natural structure," Mr Lennon said. "The complexity of structure in a reef relates to the species diversity. But these structures aren't just good for the fish and coral, the aesthetics of it are good as well." Reefs prevent the sea level from rising and form a haven for a vast number of species. They are disappearing at a frightening rate. Australias Great Barrier Reef boasted 50% coverage in the 1960s and that is down to 16% now. Storms, disease, bleaching and pollution have all played their part, but the coral eating crown of thorns starfish is the main reason why the worlds greatest reef is effectively dying. Anything we can do to encourage and foster reef growth, even though its artificial, will help to preserve the underwater biodiversity and prevent whole species dying out. So we love the concept from a conservation standpoint, but Laing ORourke isnt just interested in saving the Earth. It wants to revolutionize the construction industry. Australias largest privately owned construction solutions consultancy is about to reveal the worlds largest 3D printer and has worked on its patented FreeFAB wax technology could open up a wealth of new construction techniques. Its a relatively simple idea, creating custom wax molds for more organic, flowing designs and then producing large-scale buildings from individual building blocks. This gives architects and construction companies much more freedom when it comes to the initial design of a new building. Laing ORourke has made its name in bespoke design, creating the first circular building in the Middle East for Aldar Properties and taking the lead in the construction of Londons Canary Wharf as RORourke and son before the merger with John Laing PLC in 2001. Construction techniques that are often ruled out due to the costs involved, such as waffle design and curved panels, could become just as cost effective as basic construction techniques with this FreeFAB Technology. It comes with other benefits, too. "With 3D-printed architectural components we can incorporate aesthetic, structural, acoustic, thermal into a single design. It will bring meaningful change into the construction industry," Dr Gardiner said. "A process that would have taken days or weeks can be a two-hour process. And we recycle all our materials." So in the hands of a construction giant like Laing ORourke, 3D printing can help shape the houses, cities and seas of the future. Were looking forward to the official launch of the worlds biggest 3D printer, but you can see the fruits of its labor right now. Just go for a swim. Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: Sep 6, 2016 | By Benedict Steelmans, an engineering, design, and manufacturing firm based in Leicestershire, UK, has launched a Kickstarter campaign for LokBuild, a warp-free 3D printing surface for FDM 3D printers. The campaign has already surpassed its 4,000 goal. Many users of FDM 3D printers have endured long and sleepless nights over their print surfaces after trying and failing to cleanly remove prints from the build plate. Some stop-gap solutions exist to tackle surface problems, including kapton, hairspray, and blue builders tape, but 3D printing is supposed to be a smooth, seamless experiencenot a patched-up, print-and-hope ordeal. Steelmans, a British engineering specialist with locations around the world, is looking to eliminate FDM surface problems once and for all, and has introduced the LokBuild 3D printing surface as the solution. A durable sheet that sticks to the bed of a 3D printer, LokBuild bills itself as a high performance solution at an affordable price. The product comes in two different sizes that can be trimmed further to match the exact shape and size of a 3D printers build surface, and is made from uniquely textured sheets that attach easily thanks to a heat-resistant adhesive backing. The new 3D printing product is designed to completely replace blue masking tape, polyamide films, and other well-used surface solutions. According to Steelmans, LokBuild is able to prevent curling and warping, as it creates a strong bond between the 3D printed object and build surface. When a 3D print is finished, it can be easily removed with minimal effort, cutting out the need for endless scraping and forcing. Additionally, LokBuild has a durable finish that is effective at protecting the build plate. It is both heat-resistant and durable, and can be used over and over for hundreds of consecutive 3D prints using all kinds of filament. Being suitable for both ABS and PLA 3D printing, LokBuild is a versatile surface solution which can be left in place even when switching between materials on a regular basis. The product also works with more exotic materials such as HIPS, PET, ColorFabb XT, ColorFabb XT-Carbon Fibre, Woodfill, Bronzefill, Copperfill, Brassfill, flexible materials such as PolyFlex and Ninjaflex, and some Polycarbonate materials. Steelmans has highlighted other supposed benefits that can be had using LokBuild. These include easier nozzle height calibration, with LokBuild not requiring a high level of calibration accuracy and therefore reducing the chance of peeling away / warping (too far) or over-stickiness (too close). LokBuild is also purportedly easier to fit onto the build surface than other solutions. After 12 months of testing and development, including trials with numerous FDM 3D printers, Steelmans has finalized its LokBuild product. However, to bring the surface solution to market, the company has launched a Kickstarter campaign to secure early backing from 3D printing enthusiasts. The 4,000 ($5,370) campaign has already more than doubled its target funding with almost a month left to go, showing that the FDM 3D printing community has been looking for a product like LokBuild. Backers can secure an early bird single pack of the smaller (203 x 203 mm / 8 x 8) LokBuild surface for just $9, or the larger (305 x 305 mm / 12 x 12) for $14. Discounts apply for multipack orders, and Steelmans will begin shipping early bird orders in January 2017. Posted in 3D Printer Accessories Maybe you also like: mcs wrote at 9/8/2016 6:49:52 PM:Isn't this quite "similar" to BuildTak, which is already on the market? Great for us to have more options, but it's at least worth a mention.I.AM.Magic wrote at 9/7/2016 9:11:09 AM:What is always missing with those ads is a full usage of the build plate. I'd love to see how it handles the full 203 mm x 230 mm build plate with ABS especially the removal of said part ! Sep 6, 2016 | By Nick Researchers in the UK have recreated artefacts from the Mary Rose shipwreck, including human skills that could prove the efficacy of 3D printing as an archaeological tool. The team, made up of researchers from Oxford University, Swansea University and the Mary Rose Trust have joined forces to see how much they can ascertain about the ships crew, their lives and their general health from 3D printed digital reproductions of their bones. It wants to test the scientific potential of digital archaeology and see whether researchers really can study PLA models, rather than the original artefact. Modern museums around the world are starting to scan and digitize their collections. The potential benefits are obvious, as institutions can share data, compare various samples with software and print physical copies that mean priceless and historically significant pieces dont have to be transported. Now, though, the researchers want to know if this theory work as well in practice as it does in theory. "Lots of museums are digitizing collections, and a lot of the drive behind that is creating a digital copy of something," said Dr Richard Johnston, a materials scientist at the university. "We're going to challenge the research community to see if they can actually do osteological analysis. "Then we will take the results from around the world and try and compare those to a study that we did, where people looked at the real remains. Do you really need to hold the skull, or can you tell a lot from the digital one? There's the potential to speed up science dramatically, but this needs to happen first." Credit: SWANSEA UNIVERSITY The researchers have launched a public website to share their findings and present an interactive display of a carpenters skull. Theres a full Virtual Reality presentation online, too, at: Virtual Tudors This particular carpenter was in his 30s, had bad teeth, abscesses in his jaw and arthritis. He was suffering from a number of other conditions and his bones had started to fuse as age crept in. But this ailing craftsman who died in 1545 could change the modern world. The team took 120 separate photographs of his skull and have stitched them together with photogrammetry software to create a 3D model. From that, researchers even managed to create a facial reconstruction. The university will now supply copies of this skull and nine more to specialist consultants around the world. They will compare their findings and use this information to determine just how useful a 3D printed copy of a bone could be to the scientific research community, archaeology and even the medical profession. Clearly it is better to have the physical artefact at hand, as subtle surface textures and colors can give invaluable clues with regard to diseases and even lifestyles. They might not show up on a model, although that could change as technology advances. If the 3D printed models we can produce right now prove sufficient for clear research, though, then scientists and doctors can suddenly access experts around the world by e-mailing a file. That will be a huge step forward. The team didnt stop with the skulls, either. They have scanned a vast number of artefacts from the Mary Rose, including the carpenters tools, and they form part of the digital exhibit. The theory is that giving the public unprecedented access to these artefacts, albeit in digital form, will ignite their passion for the past and bring history to life. Its a workplace for the people on board, its a home and its a machine and its a warship and its also a moment in time, said Alex Hildred, head of research and curator of human remains at the Mary Rose Trust. The Mary Rose was King Henry VIIIs flagship and it went down in the Battle of the Solent in 1545. More than 500 people died when the ship down and there were just 35 survivors. The wreckage lay dormant on the ocean floor of the south coast of England, before a salvage crew brought it to the surface in 1982. Its an iconic piece of British history and now it and the bones of its crew are available to the world, all thanks to advances in 3D scanning and 3D printing. Posted in 3D Scanning Maybe you also like: Sep 6, 2016 GE (NYSE:GE), the worlds leading digital industrial company, today announced plans to acquire two suppliers of additive manufacturing equipment, Arcam AB and SLM Solutions Group AG for $1.4 billion. Both companies will report into David Joyce, President & CEO of GE Aviation. Joyce will lead the growth of these businesses in the additive manufacturing equipment and services industry. In addition, he will lead the integration effort and the GE Store initiative to drive additive manufacturing applications across GE. Molndal, Sweden based Arcam AB is inventor of the electron beam melting machine for metal-based additive manufacturing. It also produces advanced metal powders with customers in the aerospace and healthcare industries. Arcam generated $68 million in revenues in 2015 with approximately 285 employees. In addition to its Sweden site, Arcam operates AP&C, a metal powders operation in Canada, and DiSanto Technology, a medical additive manufacturing firm in Connecticut, as well as sales and application sites worldwide. GE is offering 285 Swedish crowns per share, or a total of 5.86 billion crowns ($685 million), for Arcam. The offer represents a premium of around 53 percent relative to Arcam's closing price on Monday. SLM Solutions Group, based in Lubeck, Germany, produces laser machines for metal-based additive manufacturing. Its customers are in the aerospace, energy, healthcare, and automotive industries. SLM generated $74 million in revenues in 2015 with 260 employees. In addition to its operations in Germany, SLM has sales and application sites worldwide. GE Aviation is offering shareholders EUR 38.00 in cash per share or a total of 683 million euros ($762 million), and SLM Solutions intends to support the envisaged takeover offer. If the takeover offer is successful, 31.5 % of the company's shares, which are currently held by existing shareholders, will be transferred to GE Aviation: The Chairman of the Supervisory Board Hans-Joachim Ihde currently holds around 24.1 % of the 17,980,867 SLM Solutions shares via Ceresio GmbH. Executive Board member Henner Schoneborn and his family currently hold shares of approximately 2.0 %. Further, Parcom Deutschland I GmbH & Co. KG holds approximately 5.4 % of the shares in SLM Solutions Group AG. Additive manufacturing is a key part of GEs evolution into a digital industrial company," said Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO of GE. "We are poised to not only benefit from this movement as a customer, but spearhead it as a leading supplier. Additive manufacturing will drive new levels of productivity for GE, our customers, including a wide array of additive manufacturing customers, and for the industrial world. GE has invested approximately $1.5 billion in manufacturing and additive technologies since 2010. The investment has enabled the company to develop additive applications across six GE businesses, create new services applications across the company, and earn 346 patents in powder metals alone. In addition, the additive manufacturing equipment will leverage Predix and be a part of our Brilliant Factory initiative. According to the company, Arcam and SLM will bolster GEs existing material science and additive manufacturing capabilities. GE expects to grow the new additive business to $1 billion by 2020 at attractive returns and also expects $3-5 billion of product cost-out across the company over the next ten years. We chose these two companies for a reason, said Joyce. We love the technologies and leadership of Arcam AB and SLM Solutions. They each bring two different, complementary additive technology modalities as individual anchors for a new GE additive equipment business to be plugged into GEs resources and experience as leading practitioners of additive manufacturing. Over time, we plan to extend the line of additive manufacturing equipment and products. The additive effort will utilize GEs global ecosystem, but be centered in Europe. GE will maintain the headquarters locations and key operating locations of Arcam and SLM, as well as retain their management teams and employees. These locations will collaborate with the broader GE additive ecosystem including the manufacturing and materials research center in Niskayuna, New York, and the additive design and production lab in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They will also complement the technologies brought on by other key acquisitions such as Morris Technologies and Rapid Quality Manufacturing. 3D printed components are typically lighter and more durable than traditionally-manufactured parts because they require less welding and machining. GE Aviation is using additive manufacturing to produce components in its most advanced military engines. It is also developing the Advanced Turboprop Engine (ATP) for a new Cessna aircraft with a significant portion of the entire engine produced using additive manufacturing. In July, GE Aviation introduced into airline service its first additive jet engine component complex fuel nozzle interiors with the LEAP jet engine. The LEAP engine is the new, best-selling engine from CFM International, a 50/50 joint company of GE and Safran Aircraft Engines of France. More than 11,000 LEAP engines are on order with up to 20 fuel nozzles in every engine, thus setting the stage for sustainably high and long-term additive production at GE Aviations Auburn, Alabama, manufacturing plant. Production will ramp up to more than 40,000 fuel nozzles using additive by 2020. Additive provides a new palette for engineers to create, said Joyce. We see value potential to reduce product cost and improve NPI spend. Ultimately, as we develop more productive machines, we can build additive manufacturing as a service for our customers. GE will host an investor call at 8:30AM ET to discuss these transactions. Posted in 3D Printer Company Maybe you also like: Luc Sante at The New York Review of Books: The first time I met Jean-Michel Basquiat was in the spring of 1979, at the Mudd Club. His hair was dyed orange and cut very short with a V-shaped widows peak in the front. He wore a lab coat and carried a briefcase. Going on a trip? I asked him. Always, he replied. He had a disquieting stare. He had probably taken fifty drugs that night, but it was clear there was a lot more to him than that. He was sleeping on the floors of a rotating set of NYU dorm rooms then. He had no money at all. He had recently stopped tagging as SAMO and had renamed himself MAN-MADE, although that wasnt a tag but a signature for things he made, T-shirts and collages and these color-Xerox postcards, which he sold for a buck or two. Eventually he sold one to Henry Geldzahler and one to Andy Warhol, and his name became currency. Before that, though, he was still writing on walls, but as a poet rather than a tagger. I wish I could remember more of his works than just the one someone photographed him writing on Lafayette Street near Houston: The whole livery line/ Bow like this with/ The big money all/ Crushed into these feet. more here. Robert Zaretsky at The American Scholar: Terrorism is as old as recorded history. Plutarch describes how ancient Spartans would ambush and kill a few enslaved helots every year to keep the rest in a state of terror. A few centuries later, according to Josephus, the Jewish Zealots earned the moniker sicarii, or dagger men, thanks to their practice of slitting the throats of Roman officials in crowded marketplaces. The dagger was also the weapon of choice for the Assassins, a medieval Shiite sect dedicated to the destruction of both the Sunnis and the Crusaders. For more than a millennium, a Hindu offshoot known as the Thuggees strangled unsuspected travelers as offerings to the goddess Kali. Fast forward to the modern age, when the French Revolution ushered in a century and a half of guillotines, gulags, and gas chambers. The defining trait of totalitarian states ever since, from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy to Communist Russia and China, has been the systematic and sustained use of terror to maintain power. Whether used by states that capitalize on violence and repression, or by stateless movements that monopolize the attention of our media and governments (and justify wars), terror remains the order of the day. Historians and sociologists, philosophers and political theorists have interpreted terrorism, adding a great deal to our knowledge, but less to our understanding. For the latter, perhaps we need to turn to novelists. more here. If you're already having withdrawals from your summer camping trip, fear not, fall is a great time to pitch a tent in the Bay Area. These nearby campsites are perfect to get your wilderness fix and take advantage of the incredible weather. Check out the list and start making plans! Camp at Rob Hill Campground Want to spend a night in the only campsite right in San Francisco? Rob Hill Campground is a hidden treasure, located at the Presidio's highest point above Baker Beach amid a beautiful eucalyptus grove. Learn more. Insider Tip: Head into the Inner Richmond (just south of the Presidio) after your camping trip and kill two birds with one stone for breakfast: Put your name in at Eats, then walk down the street for a Mexican mocha at Cumaica. Camping on Mount Tam Need an escape from SF but can't seem to find an available campground? Then head to Pantoll Campground in Mount Tamalpais State Park. If you get there early on Friday (or even better Thursday afternoon), you should be able to lock down one of these first-come, first-serve campgrounds. Learn more. Insider Tip: To see if the campground is filling up the day of, call ahead at (415) 388-2070. (Via thedesertecho) Redwoods Camping at Samuel P. Taylor State Park These West Marin campsites are often overlooked by fall campers. It does get busy during the summer, but take the rest of the year to explore the gorgeous state park. The main campground boasts more than 50 campsites with restrooms, hot showers, and piped drinking water. Learn more. Insider Tip: If you need to restock your supplies, head up to Pt. Reyes station (about a 15 minutes drive) which has Palace Markets and Cowgirl Creamery. (via parks.gov) Camp at Butano State Park Butano State Park definitely flies under the radar, but it's a local favorite for those who love quick escapes, small crowds, fun hikes, and beautiful redwoods. The park features miles of hiking trails, 21 drive-in campsites and 18 walk-in campsites. Learn more. Insider Tip: You're only 15 minutes from the coast so bring your beach chillin' supplies. Camp on Angel Island Thousands of years ago, this island was a fishing and hunting ground for the Miwok Native Americans. It has also been an outpost for the U.S. Army and a cattle ranch. Now, it's one of the closest places to escape from the hustle of San Francisco and set up camp. You will have to earn this epic campsite with a short (1 - 1.25 miles) hike in, but it's more than worth it. Learn more. Insider Tip: To get to and from Angel Island, you can either take the Blue and Gold Fleet ferry from SF or Oakland or the Angel Island Ferry. --- This post was originally published in October 2015. Istock A 16th birthday is rock n roll. It was like that when you turned 16 and is still true for kids today. A typical birthday card looks like this: a shiny new set of keys and smokin wheels peeling out and away from adolescence. The vast open road. Freedom. At 21, its a birthday candle in a pint glass filled with beer. New privileges abound with each passing year. Until you hit 50 A mere 29 years after your first legal drink, the cards you receive are looking grim. Heres a sample: remember that ill-advised sleeve tattoo you got during your misspent youth? Think how it looks to your doctor while you sit in his office complaining of incontinence. Rock n roll, indeed. If were to believe the greeting card industry, 50 seems to be the age when everything goes to the proverbial dogs and turning 40 is no picnic either. Because this is the digital age, you get to know about it with song. Sadly, the 19-year-old junior's encounter is all too common on college campuses. One in 5 female students has been assaulted, and just 12 percent of such attacks are reported to law enforcement, according to a White House Task Force report. Sexual assault encompasses a wide range of nonconsensual acts, such as fondling, sending naked pictures and forcible sex. And the attack is usually by an acquaintance met while drinking in a dorm room, off-campus apartment or local bar, or at a party. The recent heightened attention to sexual assault has made some parents fearful of sending daughters and sons off to college. We reached out to University of Michigan sociologist Elizabeth A. Armstrong to put the issue in perspective and offer some advice. A new study gives insight into treating anxiety disorders. Scientists determine that the key isn't simply lowering cortisol levels in the brain, it's lowering them in particular areas of the brain. NASA always seems to be working on something mind-blowing and certainly larger than life. These days, it's a mission for a spacecraft called Osiris-Rex. Ever wondered what ingredients were involved in the making of the solar system? This spacecraft aims to follow a 500 meter, carbon-rich asteroid holding the answers. Coffee is an essential component in many Americans' lives, but how much do you think about the origin of your precious roast? Not to put a damper on your beautiful, caffeinated morning but you can most likely thank slave labor for that latte. Wake me up when the election ends. I can almost smell musty pages and feel the buzzing yearning for knowledge from here. In an attempt to kill mosquitoes carrying Zika virus, an aerial pesticide sprayed in South Carolina killed millions of honeybees. The sweet creatures crawled from their hives to escape the poison but died just outside the entrance. It's bat season! Carlsbad Caverns National Park is home to hundreds of bats that head to Mexico when the weather gets chilly (so, right about now). Before you take a road trip to watch them pour out of the caves at dusk, here's some info about these little winged creatures. Would you run 8.8 miles to school every day while barefoot? This guy would (and did). Read about the importance of education to Uganda native James Arinaitwe, who gladly took the lengthy journey to learn in his youth. Northern State's defense sets record in win over MSU-Moorhead NSU picked up 254 of their 402 yards on the ground to improve to 6-3 on the year. Drilling Funds Follow Lost 5324 g/t Gold Assay From NZ Mine Perth, Sep 6, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - ASX listed Strategic Elements ( ASX:SOR ) will fund multiple drill holes beneath a forgotten high grade gold mine on the South Island of New Zealand, where last underground exploration intersected a vein grading 663.8 g/t over 0.75m across the full width of the quartz, including a select sample of 5324.5 g/t over 0.25m. A subsidiary of the Company has just been granted a Minerals Exploration Permit giving it the exclusive right to explore the area for gold for an initial period of 5 years. Triggering its interest in the area, the Company discovered an extensive set of records on the Aorangi Mine in the depths of Wellington Archives. These include previously unknown underground exploration assays of 663.8 g/t gold including 5324.5 g/t from a sample of selected specimens. Importantly, underground exploration also reported gold mineralisation continuing beneath the old mine. Managing Director Mr Charles Murphy said "The memory technology project we are backing remains our priority focus, however we raised the capital to drill at Golden Blocks some years ago and have patiently waited until the gold price rebounded to progress to the next stage of permits. The recent capital we raised is earmarked for our technology investments, however we do have capital available to back our exploration projects further. We will ultimately look for larger partners to take them over at the right valuation". "With interest in gold growing we have received a number approaches for the Golden Blocks project. However, Aorangi was a high grade, narrow vein gold mine where the gold was free milling. These types of projects are rare, especially those that have no modern exploration at all. If you are not willing to follow through with the initial drilling of something like Aorangi in this gold climate, you should roll over and take some other kind of job". Company Exploration The Company has previously under its Prospecting Permit mapped sections of the Golden Blocks area, located an extensive number of old workings, confirmed historical records and conducted sampling where access allowed. The newly granted Exploration Permit enables the Company to conduct drilling for the purpose of identifying mineral deposits or occurrences and evaluating the feasibility of Golden Blocks. An Access Agreement will be sought from the Department of Conservation (the landowner) and resource consents from the Tasman District Council so drilling can be completed. Four conceptual drill targets have been proposed to test below and down plunge of the historic workings as shown in Figure 1 (see link below). These holes are intended as an initial round of drilling with further drilling to occur based on data received. With reference to Figure 1: - PDH 1 is located near No.3 Level to intersect the unmined mineralised blocks shown in red. - PDH 2 is located 125m down plunge to the south from PDH 1 and 25 metres below Level 3. This hole will test for the continuation between the Level 3 and potential bottom of the mineralised shoot. - PDH 3 is located a further 125m down plunge and will test the mineralisation between Level 4 and the potential bottom of the mineralised shoot. - PDH 4 is located a further 125m down plunge and will test in the middle of the proposed mineralised shoot 50m down plunge from the historic Aorangi Mine. The Company has recently conducted orientation soil lines south of the Aorangi Mine successfully confirming modern soil sampling methods as an effective exploration technique in this terrain. Although not targeted at Aorangi, these soil samples still showed anomalous gold along strike (Figure 2, see link below). The success of the orientation soil lines has justified a more extensive soil sampling program to test for gold extensions both north and south of the Aorangi mine workings. This soil sampling program is expected to commence shortly. Records of Underground Exploration in 1931 Previously, accepted public record was that no attempt had been made to re-open the mine since it closed in 1914. However, over 1000 pages of archived records discovered by the Company included a little known effort to re-open the goldfield in 1932 by local company New Taitapu Gold Prospecting Company Ltd (NTC). NTC re-established the mine with 750m of crosscuts and levels re-conditioned and rails laid and the examination of over 1,800m of development work. A prospecting rise was developed in an ore block between No.3 and No. 2 levels with exceptionally high grade ore at the point marked on Figure 1. The reef at this point was 0.75m thick grading 663.8 g/t. Over the central 25cm of the reef, it was reported that the quartz was thickly impregnated with coarse gold and assayed 5,324g/t. The No.4 Level was flooded and was not entered. Importantly, the stone around the shoot was also said to be "exceptionally good". An extensive effort was made to validate the NTC results, with the Company successfully tracking the actual laboratory assay sheets from this underground work to the Thames School of Mines, now a mining museum in Thames, New Zealand. Prospecting by NTC in the area around the mine resulted in the discovery of a reef (No 1 Reef) located around 100m to the east of the Aorangi Mine (Figure 3, see link below). This reef strikes N-S for 500m and dips 45DEG to the west parallel to the Aorangi mine reef. The reef thickness varies from 1 to 6m. Sampling has proved the reef is gold bearing and further opening up is justified on the evidence already obtained. Archived records contained in the Wellington Archives also increase support for gold mineralisation to extend beneath the previously mined levels. Exploration in 1932 by NTC successfully tested for gold beneath No. 3 Level by sinking into the floor of the unmined level. They reported, "gold showing" in their workings. Unfortunately, despite their success, the financial environment of the time cruelled NTC's efforts to re-open the mine. For unknown reasons, records of their successful work were not lodged with the NZ government mining system. The land was eventually leased out for forestry until it was purchased by the crown in 1985. Reports Archived records also included a 1933 independent report from highly distinguished New Zealand geologist Dr James Park, a former Director of the Thames School of Mines, "From what I know of the past history of this mine and the undoubted favourable geological conditions there is, in my opinion, warrant for the belief that valuable ore shoots may be looked for in the deeper ground". Archived records also included a 1932 report from T.O. Bishop, former government Inspector of Mines, who inspected the mine multiple times in his official capacity. "I am of the opinion that the strength and continuity of the reef in the upper workings entirely justifies the expectation of it living to greater depths". He also confirmed that the last level mined (No. 4 Level), was accessed from No. 3 level and that "high grade ore was disclosed in both the shaft and the level". The Golden Blocks Project The project comprises a number of historic mines located at the contact between shale and sandstone lithology's with 85% of the gold production derived from a sheared shale unit called the Mine Bed. The Mine Bed appears to extend approximately 2.5km and was intermittently mined at Perry's Drive, Aorangi, Fault Adits, Golden Ridge and the New Find mines (Figure 2). To the north the Aorangi Mine Formation is unconformally overlain by relatively thin Cretaceous sediments and the Aorangi Mine Formation extends for at least another 3kms further to the south. The geology of the area is correlative with the Greenland Group of Westland which is the host for the economically extremely important Reefton Goldfield which produced over 2Moz of gold. The lithological content and structural style for both areas are very similar and fossils from the Aorangi Mine area and from near Reefton are of the same age and where effectively separated by the intrusion of the Karamea Batholith during Devonian times. Other parallel mineralised reefs lie on the contact between the Anthill Black Shale and Battery Member (Carrolls Drive and Reef No. 1 an unmined reef east of the Aorangi Mine) and between the Battery Member and the Jimmy Creek Quartzite (Morning Star and Old Golden Ridge mines). The No 2 reef identified in the Golden Blocks Mine Prospectus lies approximately 200m to the west of the Mine Bed near the Aorangi Mine and lines up with a historic mine in Sandhills Creek (Figure 2). Total gold production was 46koz with an average recovered grade of 36 g/t with the largest Aorangi mine producing 26koz between 1898 and 1914 when the mine closed due to shortages of labour with the outbreak of war. During the mine life 21kt of ore was processed and returned 27koz for an average recovered grade of 38.5g/t. Recovery was estimated at 65% indicating an insitu grade of 59.2g/t for the ore processed. The Mine Bed at the Aorangi was mined over 4 levels down to 130 metres below the surface (Figure 1). The reef was strong and well defined throughout the workings and had been developed for length of around 400m along the north-south strike. The reef average around 1m thick and dipped ~45DEG to the west with a shallow 20DEG south plunge to the mineralised shoot. As shown in Figure 1, the vertical extent of the mineralised shoot is estimated at 150m based on the top and bottom of the stopped (gold) and unstopped blocks (red). Importantly, the potential exists for other mineralised shoots along strike to the north and south. The reef consists of a series of lenticular quartz veins continuously connected and mined along 400m and was considered to have considerable vertical and lateral extensions (Bell 1907). In 1911 an inclined 5m by 5m shaft was sunk 30m from No 3 Level to No 4 level. The reef extended across the width of the shaft (0.30m thick on the south side and 0.75m on the north side) with 200oz's recovered during the shaft development. From the bottom of the shaft the Level 4 drive has been driven approximately 110m. Production records from Level 4 between 1911 to 1914 when the mine closed indicted the insitu grade of the ore processed was 66g/t based on a recovery of 65%. Records show that the reef continues in the faces both to the north and south where the mine closed. ASX Listed Strategic Elements Ltd The Company has a special registration from the Federal Government as a Pooled Development Fund enabling eligible shareholders to pay no capital gains tax when they sell their shares in ASX listed Strategic Elements ( ASX:SOR ). In return the Company must back only Australian SME's. To view tables and figures, please visit: http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/7NR0716L About Strategic Elements Ltd Strategic Elements (ASX:SOR) shares are listed on the Australian Stock Exchange under the code SOR. The Company is registered under the Pooled Development Program run by the Australian Federal Government to encourage investment into SMEs. To assist Pooled Development Funds to invest and raise capital, the Federal Government enables most shareholders in a Pooled Development Fund to make capital gains and receive dividends tax-free. ACAs library of educational tools help members improve their business practices. ACA also holds the most popular industry conferences and offers credentialing for collectors, attorneys, and more. ACAs Training Zone subscription gives agencies access to almost all of our education for one low cost. The International Integrated Reporting Council has appointed Richard Howitt, a member of the European Parliament as its next CEO, succeeding Paul Druckman. Howitt will become chief executive of the IIRC on Nov. 1, 2016 and step down from his role at the European Parliament, where he has been a member for 22 years. He has been the second-longest serving member of the European Parliament, representing the East of England. The United Kingdom's Brexit vote earlier this year to leave the European Union is likely to end its involvement in the European Parliament within the next few years. While in Parliament, he spearheaded the development of the European Unions non-financial information directive and has been rapporteur on corporate reporting-related issues, including social responsibility. As the lead member of the European Parliament on corporate responsibility, he has traveled to Asia, Africa and the Americas representing European interests on initiatives such as the UN Business and Human Rights Forum and the OECD Forum on Responsible Business Conduct. He has also been a voluntary IIRC Ambassador for the past five years, promoting integrated reporting in the policy and business communities. Europe has been my platform for influencing major international initiatives and processes for more than 20 years, bringing me into contact with businesses, investors, policymakers and other stakeholders internationally, Howitt said in a statement. It will be a great privilege to apply this experience in a truly international role and I am excited to be joining such a dynamic and effective team. The IIRC created the International Integrated Reporting Framework, which has been adopted by over 1,000 businesses globally. Howitts goal as CEO will be to implement the IIRC Boards newly approved strategic plan to embed integrated reporting principles within corporate governance practices worldwide. Richard Howitt is one of lifes change-makers, said American Institute of CPAs president and CEO and IIRC Board chairman Barry Melancon in a statement. He is a policymaker with a proven ability to get results. Richards appointment cements Paul Druckmans remarkable legacy, while ensuring the IIRC is well positioned to deliver the next phase of its strategy with an even greater level of impact and success. Sax has rebranded and launched a new website to commemorate its 60th anniversary and a split earlier this year from BST. The two firms joined forces in September 2013 when Sax Macy Fromm & Co. PC of Clifton, N.J., and Bollam, Sheedy, Torani, & Co. LLP of Albany, N.Y., agreed to merge (see Sax Macy Fromm and Bollam, Sheedy, Torani Merge). The combined firm, known as SaxBST, ranked 84th on Accounting Todays 2016 list of the Top 100 Firms, with $45.1 million in annual revenue. However, the two firms announced in May they would split to focus on their local geographies. At the end of the day we needed to concentrate on New Jersey, New York City, and the tristate area of New York City, Sax managing partner Joseph Damiano told Accounting Today. This really narrows our focus from a geographic standpoint. BST & Co. will focus on the Albany market, where its specialties include litigation support, governmental work with the New York state government, and nonprofits. Sax now has 150 employees and 22 partners, including 14 equity partners, in two offices in Clifton, N.J., and New York City. The firms revenue is approximately $32 million, according to Damiano. Before the split, the combined firm had about 235 employees, 20 equity partners and 18 non-equity partners. Damiano said the two firms had no problem fitting together culturally, but the geography was the hard part. We really just wanted to concentrate on our marketplace, he said. We were Sax Macy Fromm for 57 and a half years. Now to spread ourselves all the way out to Albany, I think it was better for us to concentrate on the tristate area, the New York City and Jersey locations. The demerged firm is celebrating its 60th anniversary and its independence by launching a new brand, a new website at www.saxllp.com and a new tagline, Direction That Moves Your Forward. The workforce is now made up of about 58 percent millennials, according to Damiano. We thought it was a great opportunity to celebrate that 60 years, he said. Were having a banner year in business development this year. Weve brought probably $2 million of new business since January 1 to the firm. We just want to continue down this path, and with the excitement of the new brand, the new logo and the new website. By Catherine J. Frompovich Research scientist Anthony Samsel has confirmed that glyphosate, a key active chemical in Monsantos herbicide Roundup, has been found in most vaccines! In this video, we hear Dr Samsel reciting his findings. https://www.youtube.com/embed/k33iFXHlOnY Additionally, Dr Samsel sent a letter to his Congressional Senator from New Hampshire wherein he gives Senator Shaheen permission to share his laboratory data on glyphosate-contaminated vaccines with all members of Congress and the public. What will Senator Shaheen do? Will she have the presence of conscience to do what U.S. Congressman Bill Posey of Florida did when, in July of 2015, he went before Congress to ask for a congressional investigation into the science, fraud and collusion regarding the MMR vaccineAutism connection found in African-American boys under three years of age, as exposed in 2014 by CDC epidemiologist William Thompson, PhD, one of the co-authors of the CDC report which eliminated that pertinent data and documentation from the CDCs published information? https://youtu.be/jGRjn_gIJw0? One of the most important biochemical reasons for getting to the bottom of the glyphosate fiasco being perpetrated upon U.S. and global citizens by the chemical and agricultural industries is that glyphosate is supposedly safe! Nothing is further from the scientific facts. Here is one specific reason: Glyphosates Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Diseases. Not only are humans exposed to glyphosate from numerous sources, e.g., herbicides, pesticides, sprays, GMO-crops/foods/ingredients in processed foods as RESIDUES, we now have confirmed scientific research and numerical data that glyphosate is present in VACCINES, which are injected into infants, toddlers, teens, and adults? Compounding the above science is the fact that no one at the U.S. CDC/FDA even is considering the most elemental scientific theorem: chemical interaction, e.g., vaccine ingredients and giving nine vaccines at one time! In high school chemistry arent students taught the importance of chemical interactions, especially when mixing several chemicals in a laboratory beaker? What can happen? An explosion! A similar chemical reaction occurs within the human body the largest living, working test tube on earth, however it causes adverse health effects, not an explosion. And yet those who should know how science and chemicals work synergistically continue to pollute the human organism with more and more toxins, including nanoparticles which also are in vaccines! As defense for the above statements I have made, I direct readers to the 2014 published article Major Pesticides Are More Toxic to Human Cells Than Their Declared Active Principles and whats stated in the Abstract: Pesticides are used throughout the world as mixtures called formulations. They contain adjuvants, which are often kept confidential and are called inerts by the manufacturing companies, plus a declared active principle, which is usually tested alone. We tested the toxicity of 9 pesticides, comparing active principles and their formulations, on three human cell lines (HepG2, HEK293, and JEG3). Glyphosate, isoproturon, fluroxypyr, pirimicarb, imidacloprid, acetamiprid, tebuconazole, epoxiconazole, and prochloraz constitute, respectively, the active principles of 3 major herbicides, 3 insecticides, and 3 fungicides. We measured mitochondrial activities, membrane degradations, and caspases 3/7 activities. Fungicides were the most toxic from concentrations 300600 times lower than agricultural dilutions, followed by herbicides and then insecticides, with very similar profiles in all cell types. Despite its relatively benign reputation, Roundup was among the most toxic herbicides and insecticides tested. Most importantly, 8 formulations out of 9 were up to one thousand times more toxic than their active principles. Our results challenge the relevance of the acceptable daily intake for pesticides because this norm is calculated from the toxicity of the active principle alone. Chronic tests on pesticides may not reflect relevant environmental exposures if only one ingredient of these mixtures is tested alone. Furthermore, glyphosate is known to promote endocrine disrupting effects after entering cells. [1] However, glyphosate can be only the tip of the iceberg because according to researchers investigating formulations as mixtures, Since pesticides are always used with adjuvants [the same as vaccines use adjuvants] that could change their toxicity, the necessity to assess their whole formulations as mixtures becomes obvious. [1] Although the above articles talk about pesticides, I think everyone regards pesticides as any chemical in that category as a bug killer or insect killer. Pesticides are a class of chemicals designed to kill pests (rodents, insects, or plants) that may affect agricultural crops or carry diseases like malaria and typhus. [2] [CJF emphasis] The fact that those chemicals are designed TO KILL indicates the harms they can do to any LIVING organism, regardless of exposure or dilution! There are some man-made chemicals that can be diluted to the ratio equivalent of a whiskey-shot-glass of chemical to a large swimming pool of water and still be deadly! Why there are so many toxic chemicals deliberately placed into vaccines defies my knowledge of science, medicine, nutrition, research, and human empathy on the part of those who are supposed to be protectors of health, the medical profession, i.e., doctors, nurses, researchers, and the pharmaceutical industry. Granted, there are some medical professionals who do not partake in the poisoning of children and expose the chemical horrors of vaccines but they are vilified, even some supposedly may have been offed for their expository work. Now we have more and definitive confirmation that glyphosate is in most vaccines that are given to infants and children. What more proof do we need for Congress, including the President of the USA if black lives matter, to demand and to perform an independent, thorough investigation (and/or criminal trial) with outside independent researchers testifying not Big Pharmas lackey scientists to get to the bottom of why so many children are being chemically abused legally too! and why humanitys future generations are being deprived of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Whats happened to the Nuremberg Code [3]? Everyone talks about and demands their human rights [4], however, the most fundamental of human rights, i.e., not being poisoned daily [air, water and food] or by mandatory vaccine injections , are not being addressed and guaranteed by anyone. Why? Shouldnt we make that a primary issue and right, especially in view of the CDCs proposed rule to forcefully place citizens into quarantine and receive vaccines i rregardless with the CDCs self-assumed rule making now that we know glyphosate is in vaccines? References: [1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23000283 [2] https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/substances/toxchemicallisting.asp?sysid=31 [3] https://history.nih.gov/research/downloads/nuremberg.pdf [4] http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues?gclid=CIvmse_Z-M4CFcYfhgodGT4JvA Image Credit Catherine J Frompovich (website) is a retired natural nutritionist who earned advanced degrees in Nutrition and Holistic Health Sciences, Certification in Orthomolecular Theory and Practice plus Paralegal Studies. Her work has been published in national and airline magazines since the early 1980s. Catherine authored numerous books on health issues along with co-authoring papers and monographs with physicians, nurses, and holistic healthcare professionals. She has been a consumer healthcare researcher 35 years and counting. Catherines latest book, published October 4, 2013, is Vaccination Voodoo, What YOU Dont Know About Vaccines, available on Amazon.com. Her 2012 book A Cancer Answer, Holistic BREAST Cancer Management, A Guide to Effective & Non-Toxic Treatments, is available on Amazon.com and as a Kindle eBook. Two of Catherines more recent books on Amazon.com are Our Chemical Lives And The Hijacking Of Our DNA, A Probe Into Whats Probably Making Us Sick (2009) and Lord, How Can I Make It Through Grieving My Loss, An Inspirational Guide Through the Grieving Process (2008) Catherines NEW book: Eat To Beat Disease, Foods Medicinal Qualities 2016 Catherine J Frompovich is now available What happens when Indias leading FM Network, RED FM, and Indias leading DJ Nucleya, collaborate? The result is an ultimate Bajate Raho jingle that is fresh, funky, and futuristic! Red FM 93.5, is all set to change the characteristic Bajate Raho sign-in tune through an exciting collaboration with DJ Nucleya a.k.a. Udyan Sagar, with the launch of a brand new Sau Taka Sexy Dhun for the radio station. Known popularly for his Bass Rani and more recently for his superhit music in Bollywood films, DJ Nucleya brings in a sense of edginess and his signature eclectic style to the Red FM jingle, while retaining the stations signature Bajate Raho attitude. While Red FM is regarded as Aaj ke zamaane ka radio station, Nucleya is the reigning youth music icon and together they bring a brand new feel to the stations existing tagline Bajaate Raho which will subsequently enhance the listening experience for the listeners. The leading radio network is also the radio partner to Nucleyas 10 city tour, promoting his new album Raja Baja the much awaited follow up to 2015's breakthrough album BASS Rani. The tour kick starts from Mumbai on 2nd September where the new jingle will be officially launched. Excited about the collaboration, Nisha Narayanan, COO Red FM commented, Red FM has always been a station of expression and targeted towards youth. It is imperative for the brand to keep evolving while keeping ahead of the trend Nucleya brings in a fresh new sound to music, and his popularity among youth us testament to the changing tastes in music, and the fact that niche is becoming more acceptable and more mass. We have worked closely with Nucleya on our new station jingle to infuse freshness and funkiness into our music. The jingle has been created with a lot of experimental music and we are confident the listeners will love it Commenting on the partnership, Nucleya said Radio is an enormously well-known medium within India by which a huge number of people tune into new music. It is so refreshing that a huge radio brand like Red FM is looking to keep up with Indias youth today by having me compose their new jingle. This jingle will be super fresh, current and relevant to todays youth with both uniquely Indian and distinctly electronic elements. We are also really excited on having Red FM as our official radio partners for the new album Raja Baja and the national tour across India. Red FM on board means more people will hear my music than ever before. It's just all about making the music accessible and this partnership with Red FM will help a long way towards that goal." Look forward to fruitful collaboration. DJ Nucleya started his musical journey towards the end of '90s when he co-founded Bandish Projekt. Since then, he has released 14 singles, studio albums and numerous collaborations. He has performed at numerous music festivals around the world including Glastonbury, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Lille 3000 and the Electron Festival. Before Nucleya, Sachin Jigar composed the jingle for the brand in 2014 and since then it has been ruling listeners hearts. Expands design envelope to substantially reduce product cost Enables productive new model for services cost and delivery Lead in design and manufacture of highly valued parts Enter a fast-growing industry where GE can build a competitive position Leverages GE Store: key strengths in materials, software, and product design GE (NYSE:GE), the worlds leading digital industrial company, today announced plans to acquire two suppliers of additive manufacturing equipment, Arcam AB and SLM Solutions Group AG for $1.4 billion. Both companies will report into David Joyce, President & CEO of GE Aviation. Joyce will lead the growth of these businesses in the additive manufacturing equipment and services industry. In addition, he will lead the integration effort and the GE Store initiative to drive additive manufacturing applications across GE. Additive manufacturing is a key part of GEs evolution into a digital industrial company. We are creating a more productive world with our innovative world-class machines, materials and software. We are poised to not only benefit from this movement as a customer, but spearhead it as a leading supplier, said Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO of GE. Additive manufacturing will drive new levels of productivity for GE, our customers, including a wide array of additive manufacturing customers, and for the industrial world. GE expects to grow the new additive business to $1 billion by 2020 at attractive returns and also expects $3-5 billion of product cost-out across the company over the next ten years. Arcam AB , based in Mlndal, Sweden, invented the electron beam melting machine for metal-based additive manufacturing, and also produces advanced metal powders. Its customers are in the aerospace and healthcare industries. Arcam generated $68 million in revenues in 2015 with approximately 285 employees. In addition to its Sweden site, Arcam operates AP&C, a metal powders operation in Canada, and DiSanto Technology, a medical additive manufacturing firm in Connecticut, as well as sales and application sites worldwide. , based in Mlndal, Sweden, invented the electron beam melting machine for metal-based additive manufacturing, and also produces advanced metal powders. Its customers are in the aerospace and healthcare industries. Arcam generated $68 million in revenues in 2015 with approximately 285 employees. In addition to its Sweden site, Arcam operates AP&C, a metal powders operation in Canada, and DiSanto Technology, a medical additive manufacturing firm in Connecticut, as well as sales and application sites worldwide. SLM Solutions Group, based in Lubeck, Germany, produces laser machines for metal-based additive manufacturing with customers in the aerospace, energy, healthcare, and automotive industries. SLM generated $74 million in revenues in 2015 with 260 employees. In addition to its operations in Germany, SLM has sales and application sites worldwide. Additive manufacturing fits GEs business model to lead in technologies that leverage systems integration, material science, services and digital productivity, said Joyce. It will benefit from the GE Store and our core engineering capability. Arcam and SLM will bolster GEs existing material science and additive manufacturing capabilities. GE has invested approximately $1.5 billion in manufacturing and additive technologies since 2010. The investment has enabled the company to develop additive applications across six GE businesses, create new services applications across the company, and earn 346 patents in powder metals alone. In addition, the additive manufacturing equipment will leverage Predix and be a part of our Brilliant Factory initiative. We chose these two companies for a reason, said Joyce. We love the technologies and leadership of Arcam AB and SLM Solutions. They each bring two different, complementary additive technology modalities as individual anchors for a new GE additive equipment business to be plugged into GEs resources and experience as leading practitioners of additive manufacturing. Over time, we plan to extend the line of additive manufacturing equipment and products. The additive effort will utilize GEs global ecosystem, but be centered in Europe. GE will maintain the headquarters locations and key operating locations of Arcam and SLM, as well as retain their management teams and employees. These locations will collaborate with the broader GE additive ecosystem including the manufacturing and materials research center in Niskayuna, New York, and the additive design and production lab in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They will also complement the technologies brought on by other key acquisitions such as Morris Technologies and Rapid Quality Manufacturing. Each acquisition is structured as a public tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of stock of each company. The closing of each public tender offer is subject to various conditions, including minimum acceptance thresholds and regulatory approvals. GE is in the process of making the necessary filings with authorities with respect to such tender offers, and, upon approval, the documents will be made publicly available. Additive manufacturing (also called 3D printing) involves taking digital designs from computer aided design (CAD) software, and laying horizontal cross-sections to manufacture the part. Additive components are typically lighter and more durable than traditionally-manufactured parts because they require less welding and machining. Because additive parts are essentially grown from the ground up, they generate far less scrap material. Freed of traditional manufacturing restrictions, additive manufacturing dramatically expands the design possibilities for engineers. Additive provides a new palette for engineers to create. Parts are also being designed in GE Power, Oil & Gas, Healthcare and across GEs services businesses, said Joyce. We see value potential to reduce product cost and improve NPI spend. Ultimately, as we develop more productive machines, we can build additive manufacturing as a service for our customers. In July, GE Aviation introduced into airline service its first additive jet engine component complex fuel nozzle interiors with the LEAP jet engine. The LEAP engine is the new, best-selling engine from CFM International, a 50/50 joint company of GE and Safran Aircraft Engines of France. More than 11,000 LEAP engines are on order with up to 20 fuel nozzles in every engine, thus setting the stage for sustainably high and long-term additive production at GE Aviations Auburn, Alabama, manufacturing plant. Production will ramp up to more than 40,000 fuel nozzles using additive by 2020. GE Aviation is also using additive manufacturing to produce components in its most advanced military engines. In the general aviation world, GE is developing the Advanced Turboprop Engine (ATP) for a new Cessna aircraft with a significant portion of the entire engine produced using additive manufacturing. GEs aspirations in additive fits our long-term business model. We have world-class industrial businesses that leverage systems integration, material sciences, services and Predix, said Immelt. We want all of our businesses to leverage the GE Store, promote digital differentiation, and drive productivity for GE and our customers. We are excited about the opportunity. GE will host an investor call at 8:30AM ET to discuss these transactions. To tune in and access additional documents visit www.ge.com/investor. About GE GE (NYSE: GE) is the worlds Digital Industrial Company, transforming industry with software-defined machines and solutions that are connected, responsive and predictive. GE is organized around a global exchange of knowledge, the "GE Store," through which each business shares and accesses the same technology, markets, structure and intellect. Each invention further fuels innovation and application across our industrial sectors. With people, services, technology and scale, GE delivers better outcomes for customers by speaking the language of industry. www.ge.com GE Aviation, an operating unit of GE, is a world-leading provider of jet engines, components and integrated systems for commercial and military aircraft. GE Aviation has a global service network to support these offerings. For more information, visit us at www.geaviation.com. Legend This communication is not an offer to purchase or a solicitation of an offer to sell shares of Arcam or SLM Solutions, as applicable. The solicitation and the offers to purchase shares of Arcam and SLM Solutions will be made pursuant to offer documents. Shareholders of Arcam and SLM Solutions are advised to read the relevant offer documents, as may be amended or supplemented from time to time, when they become available, before making any decision with respect to the offers to purchase because such documents will contain important information about the proposed offer to purchase transactions and the parties thereto. Investors and shareholders may obtain, when available, free copies of the offer documents, as may be amended or supplemented from time to time, at the website of GE Aviation at www.geaviation.com/additive. The distribution of this communication may, in some jurisdictions, be restricted. This communication may not be distributed in countries in which this would be illegal. It must not be distributed by third parties outside Sweden, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Member States of the European Union and the European Economic Area, and the United States. It is not being, and must not be, sent to shareholders with registered addresses in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Canada, New Zealand or South Africa. Banks, brokers, dealers and other nominees holding shares for persons in such countries must not forward this communication, or any related documents, to such persons. Forward-looking information This communication includes "forward-looking statements" that is, statements related to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address GE Groups expected future business and financial performance and financial condition, and often contain words such as expect, anticipate, intend, plan, believe, seek, "see, will, would, or target. Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain, and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond GE Groups control and all of which are based on GE Group management's current beliefs and expectations about future events. These forward-looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements may and often do differ materially from actual results. No assurance can be given that such future results will be achieved. These or other uncertainties may cause GE Groups actual future results to be materially different than those expressed in GE Groups forward-looking statements. GE Group does not undertake to update its forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions include, but are not limited to, satisfaction of the minimum acceptance condition for each offer, the ability of GE to obtain the requisite regulatory approvals required to complete the offers to purchase, the satisfaction of the other conditions to the consummation of the proposed transactions, the timing of completion of the proposed offers to purchase, and the impact of the announcement or consummation of the proposed transactions on the relationships of GE Group and Arcam or SLM Solutions, including with employees, suppliers and customers. In addition, there can be no assurance that the offers to purchase will result in the consummation of an acquisition of Arcam or SLM Solutions. These and other important factors, including those discussed under Risk Factors included in GE Groups Consolidated Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, may cause GE Group's actual events or results to differ materially from any future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this communication. Such forward-looking statements contained in this communication speak only as of the date of this communication. GE Group expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update these forward-looking statements contained in this communication to reflect any change in GE Groups expectations or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which such statements are based unless required to do so by applicable law. More detailed information about these and other factors is set forth in the Annual Report on Form 10-K which is available on the GE Group Investor Relations website at http://www.ge.com/investor and has also been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160905005631/en/ GE Media: Rick Kennedy, +1 513-607-0609 rick.l.kennedy@ge.com or Investors: Matt Cribbins, +1 617-443-3003 M.cribbins@ge.com WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new report from the Center for Immigration Studies demonstrates that low-skilled immigrants are replacing low-skilled native-born workers in the job market. The new study of actual hours worked per year (rather than simply participation in the labor market) does not answer the question of whether immigrants push natives out of the workforce. But it does demonstrate that as natives leave the workforce whether because of competition from immigrants, insufficient wages, overreliance on welfare, distaste for manual labor, or some other reason employers turn increasingly to immigrants. The Census Bureau's American Time Use Survey shows that labor-force dropout by men in their prime working years ages 25 to 54 has been especially severe among natives without a high school degree. "Native-born high school dropouts worked the equivalent of only 35 full-time weeks per year during the 2003-2015 period, while immigrant dropouts worked 49 equivalent weeks. Native-born dropouts saw their work time decline from 41 weeks in 2003-2005 to 32 weeks in 2012-2015," writes Jason Richwine, author of the study and an independent public policy analyst. Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center, said, "Low-skill American men have been dropping out of the labor force at the same time that low-skill immigrants are finding plenty of work. Whatever its other effects, mass immigration serves to paper over this serious social problem, reducing the incentive for employers and policymakers to explore and address its underlying causes. View the entire study at: http://cis.org/Immigrants-Replace-Low-Skill-Natives-in-the-Workforce Some of the findings of the study include: Among natives without a high school degree, the fraction who were neither working nor looking for work rose from 26 percent in 1994 to 35 percent in 2015. Over the same period, the fraction of their immigrant counterparts who were out of the labor force actually declined from 12 percent to 8 percent. Turning to hours spent working, native-born high school dropouts worked an average of 1,391 hours (the equivalent of about 35 full-time weeks) per year between 2003 and 2015, while immigrant dropouts worked 1,955 hours (or 49 full-time weeks) per year. Native-born dropouts have seen their work time decline from 41 equivalent full-time weeks in the 2003- 2005 period to 32 weeks in 2012-2015, while immigrant dropouts declined only from 52 weeks to 50 weeks. While natives fell from 56 percent of the nation's high school dropouts to 52 percent, their share of the labor performed by all dropouts declined much faster from 50 percent in the 2003-2005 period to 40 percent in 2012-2015. Among men with more than a high school degree, there are no significant differences in work time between immigrants and natives. Contact: Marguerite Telford 202-466-8185, mrt@cis.org Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120806/MM52838LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/immigrants-replacing-low-skill-us-born-workers-300322635.html SOURCE Center for Immigration Studies LONDON, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Raw milk vending machine consists of an automatic dispenser which dispenses 'raw milk' to a container/bottle after successful payment from the end-user. Some vending machines also provide container/bottle with the milk. Raw milk vending machine dispenses milk collected from cows, buffaloes, goats and sheep. The report provides both revenue and volume for each sub-geographic region. In terms of geographical regions, the report segments the Europe raw milk vending machine market into EU7, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Rest of Europe. EU7 is further segmented into the U.K., Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands, while CIS is divided into Russia and Rest of CIS. Majority of Western European countries follow strict regulations regarding the consumption and sale of raw milk whereas Eastern European countries primarily do not comply with any regulation. Considering this variation in regulations across countries, the report also includes analysis of regulatory environment in the Europe market. The raw milk is directly sold to customers at farm in countries such as France, Germany, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, Lithuania, Ireland and the U.K. Many dairy farmers produce traditional cheese, buttermilk, yogurt and chocolate from raw milk in their farms. The major countries that have adopted raw milk vending machine include Italy, France, Romania, Germany, the U.K., Slovakia, Slovenia and Czech Republic. The key reason for adoption of raw milk vending machine was due to the revisions in regulations of respective countries regarding raw milk sale. Furthermore, majority of end-users in these countries prefer drinking raw milk and consuming raw milk related products due to their nutritional benefits. Spain, Poland and Norway restrict the sale of raw milk due to reported cases of food poisoning. During the coming years, in order to help small farmers, these countries are anticipated to ease the regulations pertaining to the sale of raw milk through vending machines. Furthermore, the report analyzes the factors that drive and restrain the growth of the raw milk vending machine market for each sub-region. The report also discusses the prevailing market trends, prospective growth opportunities, and major strategies increasing the popularity of raw milk vending machines. Also provided is the market share analysis and competitive strategies adopted by key players in the Europe raw milk vending machine market. Furthermore, the report also provide market share analysis of key players for each sub-geographic region. Major business strategies adopted by key players, their market positioning, and product offerings have also been identified in the research report. The prominent manufacturers who offer raw milk vending machine in Europe include DF Italia S.R.L., Brunimat GmbH, Letina Inox D.O.O., Milk Automation S.R.O. and Risto Gbr. The raw milk vending machine market is segmented as below: Raw Milk Vending Machine Market By Geography EU7 (The UK, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, and The Netherlands) CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) Rest of Europe Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4042652/ About Reportbuyer Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers http://www.reportbuyer.com For more information: Sarah Smith Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com Email: query@reportbuyer.com Tel: +44 208 816 85 48 Website: www.reportbuyer.com To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/raw-milk-vending-machine-market---europe-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2016---2024-300323375.html SOURCE ReportBuyer Regional Industry Leaders to Foster Innovation, Collaboration and Learning Virginia Bio, the premier statewide non-profit association representing the life science industry in the Commonwealth of Virginia, today announced it will host a conference dedicated to celebrating women in the bioscience industry. The inaugural conference, Women Building Bio: The XX Factor, will be held on September 29 at the Inova Center for Personalized Health. Women Building Bio: The XX Factors mission is to connect thought leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists, academics, students and other women and men involved in bioscience to share their strategies for success around collaboration in research and commercialization; leadership development; and accelerating the contributions of women in the field. The event is open to all members of the bioscience community. "We are proud to host this inaugural event highlighting women who are building a new bioscience economy in our region, said Jennifer Siciliano, Vice President, Government Affairs for Inova. Im excited to learn about some of their ground-breaking work in the bioscience field, and hear practical strategies for achieving success. This conference is a perfect opportunity to reflect not only on whats been done by women in the industry, but where we are going as a collective community, said Peggy Agouris, Dean, College of Science, George Mason University. The speakers and panelists for the event include distinguished leaders from the BioHealth Capital region. The growing list of speakers includes Barbara Newhouse, President and CEO, The ALS Association; Congresswoman Barbara Comstock, Chair, Subcommittee on Science, Space and Technology; Lili Powell, Assistant Professor of Business Administration, University of Virginia, Darden School of Business; and Martin N. Davidson, Johnson and Higgins Professor of Business Administration, University of Virginia, Darden School of Business. "The Women Building Bio event is advancing the industry by promoting and celebrating women who are making an impact in the field of life sciences," said Barbara Newhouse, president and CEO of the ALS Association. "It is my pleasure to keynote this event and be aligned with an organization that is driving important conversations for our community members." The inaugural event has already gained major traction in the industry with premier sponsors including Inova, George Mason University and Darden Executive Education. We are extremely pleased with how the community has responded to the Women Building Bio Conference, said Jeffrey Gallagher, CEO of Virginia Bio. We are appreciative of the incredible support from our sponsors and committee members, and look forward to celebrating women in bioscience while discussing ways to accelerate their success in this region. For more information regarding event details, registration and fees, click here. WHERE: Inova Center for Personalized Health 3225 Gallows Road Fairfax, VA WHEN: Women Building Bio: The XX Factor Thursday, September 29 9:00 a.m. 5:00 p.m. Networking Reception Thursday, September 29 5:15 p.m. 7:00 p.m. WHO: Barbara Newhouse President and CEO The ALS Association About the Virginia Biotechnology Association Virginia Bio is the premier statewide non-profit trade association for life sciences, promoting the considerable scientific and economic impact of the life sciences industry in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Virginia Bio is an advocate for the biopharmaceutical and device industries among federal, state and local policy-makers. Virginia Bio is the official state affiliate of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), AdvaMed and the Medical Device Manufacturers Association (MDMA) and also collaborates closely with the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). To learn more, visit www.vabio.org. Sponsors for this event include: Inova, George Mason University, Darden Executive Education, Greenberg Traurig, PhRMA, Virginia Economic Development Partnership, Squire Patton Boggs, Pfizer, Xenith, Prince William County, HHMI Janelia Research Campus, Cherry Bekaert, George Washington University, AstraZeneca/MedImmune, Silverline Communications, Loudoun Virginia Economic Development, Virginia Biotechnology Research Park, Euclid, Polymer Solutions and James Madison University. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160906006305/en/ Silverline Communications Tori Montano, 202-765-2803 tori@teamsilverline.com WOUNDCHEK Laboratories announced today that WOUNDCHEK Protease Status, the worlds first point of care wound diagnostic for chronic wounds, has received market clearance from the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration. Intermed Medical Pty Ltd has been appointed as distributor for the product in Australia and New Zealand. WOUNDCHEK Protease Status, already available in Europe, Canada & South Africa, detects a chronic inflammatory response in the wound, as indicated by elevated human protease activity (EPA) and was developed to help guide treatment decisions to enable improved outcomes and more cost effective care. Protease activity is an essential part of wound healing. However, once out of control, and if left unchecked, proteases in wounds may cause sufficient damage. to impair healing and destroy normal tissue. (Wounds International Consensus The role of proteases in wound healing, 2011, pp1). Also currently in clinical trial is a new point of care test to detect when bacteria in the wound have become pathogenic, as indicated by bacterial protease activity (BPA). This test will help identify wounds in which bacteria may be delaying healing, which could assist clinicians in determining when interventions to reduce bacterial burden are indicated, particularly in chronic wounds with no obvious signs of infection. Jack Wilkens, CEO of WOUNDCHEK Laboratories, commented: We are delighted with the news that our first product has been cleared for sale in Australia and will be distributed by Intermed Medical Pty Ltd, a company with a strong track record in marketing innovative wound care products. Currently, the global cost of ineffective treatment is estimated to be $20-25 billion annually. Our vision is to provide clinicians with accurate, timely, actionable, and easy to access information, leading to improved therapeutic outcomes and more cost effective care through point of care wound diagnostics. - ENDS - View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160905005149/en/ WOUNDCHEK Laboratories Richard Collette richard.collette@woundchek.com Or Australia: Ben Darling at Intermed Medical ben.darling@intermedmedical.com.au or New Zealand: Ashley Witheford Intermed Medical ashley.witheford@intermed.co.nz Egyptian Member Of Parliament: Mutilate Yourselves, Egyptian Ladies, Because Egyptian Men Are Sexual Pussies From Egyptian Streets: "We are a population whose men suffer from sexual weakness, which is evident because Egypt is among the biggest consumers of sexual stimulants that only the weak will consume," Agina said. "If we stop FGM, we will need strong men and we don't have men of that sort." The parliamentarian, who hails from Daqahliya, said that it is therefore better for women to undergo FGM because it "reduces a woman's sexual appetite" and women should "stand by their men" in order for life to proceed smoothly. EMTs compete in annual AF wide rodeo Air Force emergency medical technicians gathered to compete in the 9th annual Air Force Medical Service EMT Rodeo at Cannon Air Force Base Aug. 24-27. The competition involved 24 EMT teams from across the Air Force, at both stateside and overseas installations, challenging one another for the title of the best of the best. Each team consisted of four Airmen who were scored collectively on their timeliness, technique and accurate decision making during multiple high-stress emergency scenarios both in-garrison and in a simulated deployed environment. The EMT Rodeo was designed to focus on those critical skills personified in our aerospace medical technicians, said Lt. Col. Derek Larbie, 27th Special Operations Aerospace Medicine Squadron commander and EMT Rodeo project officer. What began as a small base-wide competition among local Cannon AFB medics in 2007 steadily grew and in 2009, units from across the Air Force were invited to compete. In events like these, aspiring technicians prepare year-round for this Air Force-level competition, said Staff Sgt. Carol Hubbard, EMT Rodeo project NCOIC. Competitions such as these give our Airmen an opportunity to demonstrate their skills, while at the same time up-keeping their proficiency should they have to utilize their skills for a real-world situation at their home station. Some of the competition takes place at Melrose Air Force Range, an air-to-ground training site located 25 miles west of Cannon AFB and spans approximately 70,000 acres. In 2016, the EMT Rodeo planning committee increased the ranges role with a total of six scenarios, in a simulated deployed environment consisting of opposing forces, simulated smell of smoke grenades, ground-burst simulators, gunfire and more. The Rodeo demonstrated the importance of our Air Force medics and tested their capacity to deliver emergency medical treatment in a high-stress environment, with the overall expectation of enhancing emergency medical preparedness in theater and in-garrison, said Lt. Gen. Mark A. Ediger, Air Force surgeon general. For the first time in EMT Rodeo history, teams were airlifted to the range in a CV-22 Osprey from Cannon AFB, adding more realism and an opportunity for the EMTs to experience Air Force combat capabilities. At Cannon AFB, there were 17 scenarios medics had to navigate to demonstrate their skills. Every medic that participated in the competition garnered about half of their annual requirements toward their national registry certification and EMT licensure. After a grueling competition, the team from Eglin AFB, Florida, finished in first place, receiving a perfect score on the Commando Challenge -- a scenario testing the physical and mental limits of the team in a simulated deployed location. Second place went to the team from Offutt AFB, Nebraska, and third place when to the team from Shaw AFB, South Carolina. Through smoke, rubble -- How 9/11 affected Westover September 11, 2016, will mark the 15th anniversary of the largest terrorist attack on U.S. soil in history. For those old enough to remember, that day and the events that followed will be forever etched in their mind, like Pearl Harbor was for those alive in 1941. Military members and their families recalled a certain anxiety, waiting to see what would happen next. I was on my first deployment to Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, when I found out about the attacks on our nation, said Tech Sgt. Andrea Wieciech, 439th Airlift Wing Command Support Staff member. When the second plane hit, I went back to my room because I knew we were about to go into FPCON Delta and rest and sleep would soon be nonexistent. When the first plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan at 8:45 a.m. that Tuesday, first responders and those working in and around the building knew that tragedy had just struck, but they had no idea that a terrorist attack had taken place. As emergency responders began evacuating the first tower, they were hit with a second blow, literally. It had only been 18 minutes since the first plane flew into the 80th floor of the North Tower. The second plane flew into the 60th floor of the South Tower. An hour later, at 9:45 a.m., a third plane flew into the west side of the Pentagon. Twenty-five minutes after that, a fourth plane was brought down in a field in western Pennsylvania by passengers and airline crew members. Theories still abound as to where that jet was headed, whether the White House, Capitol building or the Camp David presidential retreat. Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives in the World Trade Centers that day, 189 at the Pentagon, and 45 onboard the aircraft that crashed in Pennsylvania. Of those, 343 were firefighters or paramedics, 125 were active-duty military personnel, 37 were Port Authority police officers, and 23 were New York police officers. Military bases, including Westover, were immediately put on lockdown, and the Force Protection level was raised to Delta, the highest security posture, here and abroad. Retired Maj. Gen. Martin Mazick, then commander, stood up Westovers Crisis Action Team and closed the base to all visitors the moment he realized America was being attacked. When I walked into my office that morning, my protocol officer and secretary told me that a plane had just hit the world trade center tower, he said. Moments later, the second plane hit and he knew it was no accident. Throughout the day, Westover and bases around the world continued to take increased security measures. The Massachusetts State police and Chicopee Police Department arrived with working dogs to help support our security forces at the main gate and perimeter, said Mazick. Volunteers from the 439th Maintenance Squadron stood guard at entry control points to the flight line, while other others checked IDs at building entrances. I couldnt have been more proud of how everyone came together. A Westover aircrew was in the air to help within hours of the attacks. The crew was at Travis AFB, California, on its first leg of a mission to Australia when they were re-tasked with transporting a rescue team and equipment to New York City. The aircrew delivered 72 search and rescue members --- including medical personnel, firefighters, chaplains and rescue dogs --- to McGuire AFB, N.J. They also transported their vehicles and nine pallets of equipment. More than 30,000 reserve and guard members were called to active duty as part of a post-9/11 mobilization order. When air strikes began in Afghanistan on October 18, 2001 and Operation Enduring Freedom was launched, nearly 1,000 members of the 439th AW were activated. Many of those members were deployed in the following months. The maintainers began a steady 90-day rotation to bases overseas, such as those in Germany and Spain. Stateside, members were operating in support of Operation Noble Eagle, a homeland defense mission. The 439th Security Forces Squadron was one of the hardest hit units within the wing. The squadron was tasked with diverse missions to support areas all over the world. Nine-eleven initiated a chain of events that brought the 439th SFS into the forefront of world-wide Air Base Defense, said CMSgt. Michael Grady, 439th SFS. Their officers, non-commissioned officers and airmen were presented with challenges and opportunities they never had to face before, he said. Although the 9/11 attacks were an act of terror against the United States, several positive things that came from it. As former president George W. Bush said, Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve. The city of Chicopee and surrounding communities rallied together to support our military members, here and abroad. The United Service Organizations helped bridge the outside community with the military members to provide them the support they needed. The community remembered Desert Storm and Desert Shield, said Mazick. Everyone wanted to support our troops. Friendlys Ice Cream even donated freezers full of ice cream, he said. It seemed like there wasnt an overpass, yard or business window that didnt have the American Flag proudly displayed. It reignited our patriotism and showed us how vulnerable we were, said TSgt. James Bitts, 439th Communication Squadron. It was a wake-up call as a nation. They woke a sleeping giant, he said. There was an enormous shift in military culture and recruitment as well. People were going to the recruiters office in droves. Every month, there were at least 20-25 prior service members who made the decision to re-enlist after being out for several years, said Mazick. People were returning to do their jobs and anxious to perform because the cause was worthwhile." I think it drastically changed the military culture, said Wieciech. It felt like the bond got stronger and everyone pulled together more than they had before, she said. Since 9/11, Westover has deployed more than 2,000 reservists in support of OEF, ONE, Iraqi Freedom, New Dawn, Resolute Support, and Freedoms Sentinel, according to base officials. Due to 9/11, increased Security and heightened vigilance is now part of our everyday life, whether it is increased physical security at our workplace, schools, highways, or airports, said Grady. Utah DOD agencies host annual meeting with American Indian tribes Utah Defense Department agencies hosted their annual face-to-face meeting at Bear River Bird Refuge in Brigham City Aug. 25-26 with American Indian tribes who claim ancestral and ongoing ties to lands managed by the DOD agencies. Primary hosts for this years meeting were the Utah National Guard and the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation. Hill Air Force Base, Dugway Proving Ground and Tooele Army Depot co-hosted the event. Attending were members of the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, the Crow Tribe, the Duckwater Shoshone Tribe, the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah and the Skull Valley Band of Goshute. A representative of the Shivwits Band, which is associated with the Paiutes, also attended, along with the Utah Department of Indian Affairs and the Utah State Historic Preservation Office. Federal agencies are required by law to consider the impact of all their activities and projects on cultural resources archaeology, architecture and other areas of past human activity on the lands they manage, said Anya Kitterman, Hill AFBs Cultural Resource Program manager. This means they must consult with those American Indian tribes who claim a traditional affiliation with lands managed by the agencies. The Air Force currently consults with 21 different tribes, spanning eight western states, who have ancestral and ongoing ties to Hill AFB-managed lands, including the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR), she said. We continually seek ways to improve and increase dialogue so that the tribes feel their voice is being heard. Kitterman said much of that consultation is done through mail, email and phone calls, but face-to-face meetings, such as the Annual American Indian Meeting and quarterly Utah tribal meetings, allow for more in-depth dialogue between tribal leaders and installation leadership. Hill AFB started the annual meetings 11 years ago, and over time, invited other DOD agencies in Utah to participate. This years meeting included discussions between DOD and tribal representatives about upcoming projects, site visits and protection of important tribal sites and areas. There was also a guided tour of petroglyphs in Box Elder County and workshops featuring American Indian crafts and food. The tribes were also provided information about a recent archaeological excavation on the UTTR that discovered evidence of a hearth used for cooking that dated to 12,300 years old. The tribes feel it is vital that we understand their culture and perspective so that we can fully protect and manage the resources they find so valuable and, in many cases, they may view as sacred, Kitterman said. The one-on-one conversations and storytelling help the military representatives gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for how the tribes view the world around them. Col. David Dunklee, the 75th Air Base Wing vice commander, represented Hill AFB and Col. Jennifer Hammerstedt, the installation commander, at his first annual meeting. He said it was an honor to participate where the Air Force had the opportunity to share our on-going efforts to preserve and care for the vast and valuable land entrusted to our care. Dunklee said the meeting helped to build stronger relationships and trust with the various nations represented. The key to its success is effective communication, he said. I left the meeting with a greater respect for the proud heritage of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation and the 20 other tribes having a connection to the Hill AFB mission. I echo Col. Hammerstedts commitment to strengthening the relationship in the future. Kitterman, who serves as Hill AFBs archaeologist, has been attending the annual meeting for three years now, which she said has helped her gain a great respect for the tribes. Many of them have had to fight from the brink of extinction to simply be recognized, she said. Yet, I have seen them continue to grow and maintain their culture. Their appreciation of the greater landscape and interconnectedness of the world around them has helped me become a better cultural resource manager and archaeologist by expanding my own perspective. I look forward to all of the meetings to come. Preeti Rathis father Amar Singh Rathi is pleased with the special womens court verdict convicting Ankur Lal Panwar held guilty of murdering Preeti by throwing acid on her in May 2013. He is expecting that the accused should be awarded death sentence for the offence. Rathi is also happy that finally justice has been done to his daughter as he has been fighting a legal battle. He said, It took 3 years for us to get justice but I am happy that it has been finally delivered. I hope he gets death sentence, he said. Special Judge A S Shende convicted Panwar under Sections 302(murder) and 326B (Voluntarily throwing acid) of the IPC and is likely to hear arguments on the quantum of sentence on Wednesday. Ankur was held guilty for the charges of murder, also for causing serious hurt to the victim. The prosecution had alleged that Panwar was unhappy after Preeti rejected his marriage proposal and had decided to relocate to Mumbai for joining Indian Navy as nurse. Special public prosecutor, Ujjwal Nikam said, The convict deserves nothing less than stringent punishment. After examining the call data records of Ankur and matching it with railway time table proved that he had travelled in the same train boarded by Preeti from Delhi. Rathi, who hailed from Delhi, had died of multiple organ failure after Panwar threw acid on her in May 2013. Police said acid was thrown on Rathi as Panwar was jealous of her career growth. Preeti had alighted from Garib Rath Express at Bandra Terminus on May 2, 2013. She was accompanied by her father, aunt and uncle. A person wearing a mask approached near Preeti and threw acid on her as she sustained severe injuries. Initially, Preeti was taken to Gurunanak hospital in Bandra later she was referred to Masina hospital in Byculla. Since the victim had swallowed some acid she sustained 12-15 per cent burns on her face, neck, arms and throat region. Subsequently she died of her injuries. The Mumbai police arrested Ankur Panwar, a neighbour of Rathi, in connection with the case. Both Preeti and Ankur had resided in the same colony in Narela, New Delhi. Despite doing hotel management course Panwar was unable to find a job. On the other hand, Preeti had successfully cleared the Armed Forces examinations. Ankurs father used to reprimand his son and praise Preeti for her achievements. Frustrated Ankur then decided to get rid of Preeti. On the other hand, Panwars mother Kailash said that her son had been falsely implicated and demanded a CBI inquiry into this case. We have been implicated just because we were poor. I want a CBI inquiry into the case, she said. St Aloysius College in Mangaluru ordered girl students to not mingle with boys, also banned on carrying cosmetics. The directive sparked a protest within the campus where over 250 students demanded an explanation for this sexist diktat. The matter came to lime light after an alumnus of St. Aloysius Pre-University College, Satshya Anna Tharien, made a blog post about the new set of rules the college has imposed on the girl students. The female staff of the college reportedly declared the new set of rules in a closed-door meeting which was attended only by female students. After the Pinjra Tod campaign by students from Delhi University to protest against gender discriminatory rules in colleges and hostels and a similar controversy at Christ College, it seems that St. Aloysius Pre-University College of Mangalore has decided to repeat the same mistakes. The guidelines imposed by the college didnt go down the throat of one of the students who took on to social media in order to expose and condemn the colleges rule-book. The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration to not take any action, till September 19, including the penalty against JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kanhaiya and seven others. Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva also asked the University to submit its response before the court on students petition against the finding of the appellate authority. Kanhaiya Kumar has moved the high court challenging the findings of the universitys appellate authority holding him guilty of indiscipline in connection with the controversial February 9 event on campus in which anti-India slogans were allegedly raised. The JNU appellate authority had imposed a fine on Kanhaiya Kumar and had asked him to file an undertaking stating that he will not participate in or be present at any illegal activity taking place on the JNU campus. Appearing for him, senior counsel Rebecca John told the high court that to asking him not to be present where illegal activity is going on is excessive. On Monday, the high court had given similar relief to Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, who were amongst the 21 students found guilty on indiscipline by the appellate authority, headed by the Vice Chancellor, which had upheld the decision of university`s High-Level Enquiry Committee (HLEC). The university had slapped the students with varied punishments ranging from rustication, hostel debarment to financial penalty on the basis of probe by the HLEC. While the appellate authority reduced the fine of some students, for Khalid and Bhattacharya, the punishment remained the same. Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray will lead a delegation of the family members of police personnel to meet Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday. The chief minister, who holds the Home portfolio, will be apprised of the problems being faced by the kin of cops, against the backdrop of growing incidents of attack on the men in khaki while discharging their duty. Mumbai police officers and their family members Met Uddhav ji at his home and requested him that government take serious cognisance of the problems they are facing, Thackeray stated in a release. It has thus been decided that Uddhav ji, along with police officials will meet the CM on September 7 and carve out a solution to their problems, it stated. The issue of safety of policemen has come on the anvil following the fatal attack on Traffic Police constable Vilas Shinde in suburban Khar last month, allegedly by an unruly biker. Shinde succumbed to head injuries last week at Lilavati Hospital. Fadnavis has been facing flak over deteriorating law and order situation in Maharashtra, with its ally Shiv Sena demanding a dedicated minister to handle the sensitive portfolio. Fadnavis, who visited Shindes residence at BDD chawl in Worli recently, faced angry reactions from the family members of the policemen who wanted him to do something to protect lives of police personnel while discharging duty. Last week, a delegation of family members of policemen called on Thackeray at Matoshree, his residence in suburban Bandra, to apprise him of the problems being faced by them and the men in Khaki. During the budget session in March, Fadnavis had informed the Legislative Assembly that a total of 202 cases of assault on policemen were registered in 2014 and 284 in 2015. Additional Chief Secretary (Home) K P Bakshi had told reporters last month that compared to Maharashtra, many smaller states have more number of policemen for population of per lakh. However, in Maharashtra that ratio has come down to 120 policemen per lakh from 162, due to freeze on new recruitment in the police force. This year alone, there have been three major cases of attack on policemen in the state. In February, a mob attacked police personnel at Pangaon in Latur. In the same month, a Sena activist from Thane was arrested for allegedly thrashing a woman traffic constable after she pulled him up for talking over phone while driving his SUV. In the latest incident on August 23, Shinde was hit on head allegedly by one of the two youths, following argument over not wearing helmet. This article originally appeared here Liz Caroli is a recently retired teacher with a newfound passion for photography, but looking at her photographs, you might think shes been shooting for a very long time. However, she bought her first real camera barely three years ago. She credits her rapidly Church Attacks: Love Alone Will Not Save Us In the north-eastern Syrian city of Al-Qamishli, nestled on the border with Turkey, Islamic fundamentalists bombed St. Charnel Church, an ancient site of worship for the Assyrian Orthodox Christians. On July 18, reported ARA News, gunmen detonated explosives inside the church. Activists point the finger of responsibility at ISIS. "We saw a huge fire and security forces arrived and extinguished the fire. But the church was completely destroyed, you can see only ashes here," remarked one eyewitness to the attack. The fate of the Middle East's remaining Christians -- often open to abuse and attack at any moment -- appears little these days in mainstream media news stories, which presently focus on terrorist outrages in Europe instead. Reporting has likewise been dominated, since 2015, by coverage of the continuing Muslim migration from Africa and Asia into Europe. Given the recent targeting of churches in several European nations, the omission is unfortunate. On December 31, as a precursor to an orgy of mass sexual assaults committed against German women, the Christmas congregants of Cologne cathedral were left terrorized by Muslim migrants. On February 15, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve was compelled to admit that attacks on Christian places of worship and cemeteries in France had leapt by 20% the previous year, with 810 recorded. On March 27, news emerged that the jihadist group responsible for the Brussels airport and metro train bombings during the same month, "was planning to massacre worshippers at Easter church service across Europe, including Britain." During April, Italian authorities made multiple arrests against a jihadist gang planning to attack both the Vatican and the Israeli embassy in Rome. On the night of June 25, the jihadist war cry of "Allahu Akbar" ["Allah is the Greatest"] was daubed over the statue of St. Petronius -- the city's patron saint -- in Bologna, Italy. On June 27, witnesses reported that a criminal yelling an "Allahu Akbar" desecrated St. Paul's Church in Malm The TEXUS 57 sounding rocket was successfully launched on the first launch attempt on 1 October at 08:26 local time (06:26 UTC) from the Esrange Space Centre in Sweden to enable microgravity experiments in space. What is behind this long-lasting programme and what is its contribution to scientific research? IATA has urged governments to sign up to a newly proposed aviation carbon offset agreement at ICAOs annual meeting later this month. IATA said the Carbon Offset and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) draft negotiating text, published earlier this month, broadly aligns with the aviation industrys call for a mandatory global carbon offset scheme. Instead of being mandatory from the start, however, the draft text defines a voluntary "pilot and implementation" period (2021-2027) after which participation would be mandatory for all eligible States (2027 onwards). IATA director general and chief executive Alexandre de Juniac said: I am optimistic that we are on the brink of a historic agreementa first for an industry sector at the global level. The aviation industry would have preferred a more ambitious timeline than is currently outlined in the draft text. However, what is most important is that the substance of the negotiating text will allow for meaningful management of aviations carbon footprint. Airlines support it and urge governments to agree when they meet at ICAO. There is really no reason for governments not to volunteer. Indeed, the US, China, Canada, Indonesia, Mexico, the Marshall Islands, and 44 European countries have already indicated their willingness to participate. Now is the time for other states to match their political leadership, by coming to the Assembly already committed to participate, even if the scheme is voluntary at the initial stage," said de Juniac. The offset scheme will allow airlines to buy carbon credits if they cannot meet emissions reduction targets through the use of technology or bio-fuels. The scheme is due to be debated at the ICAO Assembly taking place between September 27 and October 7. Share this story September 4, 2016 TEHRAN, Iran A war is going on in the Islamic Republic. The war of whistle-blowing was launched by hard-liners who disclosed the pay slips of some managers appointed by the administration of moderate President Hassan Rouhani. These leaks, were used to damage Rouhanis approval rating and instill the sense that Rouhani has reneged on his electoral promise of fighting corruption. It seems that the hard-liners have a new weapon to use against Rouhani over the eight remaining months of his current term in office. It is clear that along with hard-line figures, Friday prayer leaders are frequently reminding people of the pay stub scandals to foment pessimism about the moderate president. However, it appears that the hard-liners have received a response in kind, blunting their new weapon. The man at the center of it all is not a Reformist nor a moderate, but surprisingly one of the countrys most prominent conservative figures: Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. Ghalibaf has surfaced as a key target for Reformists who have been scouring the field for wrongdoings in the conservative camp. Fresh leaks allege that the Tehran mayors office has been selling homes in affluent districts of the Iranian capital below market prices. In fact, lots of residential properties have apparently been sold at a 50% discount to the mayors deputies and conservative members of the Tehran City Council. Ghalibaf, a former national police chief and two-time failed presidential candidate, is not a popular person among conservatives. However, when it comes to saving face, the entire conservative camp appears to be standing united in the face of the public backlash. Conservatives have been giving speeches, denying any corruption in the Tehran mayor's office and attributed the leaks described as lies to three sources. The first is the "seditionists." Conservative member of the Tehran City Council Parviz Sorouri has claimed that some of the leaders of the sedition are behind the propaganda against the Tehran municipality. In the view of conservatives, former Parliament Speaker Mehdi Karroubi, former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi and former President Mohammad Khatami are sedition leaders after their roles in the unrest following the 2009 presidential election. The second group is the opponents of a conservative-dominated Tehran City Council. Hossein Ghorbanzadeh, the managing editor of the Hamshahri newspaper, which is owned by the Tehran municipality, has opined that the disclosures are all lies aimed at influencing the results of the election for the Tehran City Council board of directors. Ghorbanzadeh said, The project was not effective, as all of the people on the board of directors and even the secretaries were re-elected. The last source is Rouhanis cultural adviser Hesamoddin Ashena. The Shafaf news site, whose editors are said to be appointed by Ghalibaf, has claimed that the recent attacks against the Tehran mayor are coming from a think thank headed by H.A., a not-so-veiled reference to Ashena. Apart from these points, Ghalibaf and his supporters may worry most about the May 2017 presidential election. They believe that the real motive for the public disclosure of alleged corruption linked to the Tehran mayor is a Reformist strategy to burn Ghalibafs chances ahead of the vote. Conservative Fars News reported, The name of Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has always been mentioned on the list of possible candidates for the presidential election by Reformists. The new key phrase of 'devolution of estates,' which has happened based on a legal process and under the monitoring of the inspection organization, has activated the governments attack group against the mayor. In the future, such attacks will soar by using new subjects. Prominent conservative political analyst Amir Mohebbian has argued, By [initiating] the issue of corruption in the municipality, the Reformists seek to get rid of one of their possible rivals. Hossein Qorbanzade, the secretary of Ghalibafs Progress and Justice Party, has stated, The attacks will intensify as we approach the presidential and city council elections. Farda News, a website with ties to Ghalibaf, has warned, The moderate-Reformist current is in need of preparations for next years elections. These anxieties appear to indicate that Ghalibaf may be envisioning a third shot at the presidency. In fact, recent statements and analysis in the media signal that conservatives, and especially Ghalibafs supporters, are uneasy with people becoming pessimistic about them ahead of the presidential vote. In a letter to the prosecutor general, Ghalibaf expressed his concern over the image of the Tehran municipality being tarnished by the leaks, saying, Public opinion has become pessimistic about urban management. When the hard-liners and the conservatives unleashed payslipgate, Rouhani and members of his administration did not deny it. At first, they asked for patience as they looked more closely into the matter. When the allegations were proven true, they came forward and apologized to the people and promised to eradicate corruption. Many of the implicated managers were removed and a circular was issued to prevent managers from receiving unconventional levels of compensation. In contrast, Ghalibaf has not only refused to acknowledge the reported corruption linked to his office, but filed lawsuits against the whistle-blowers. An order was issued to block Memari News, which was the first media outlet that disclosed the alleged corruption. In his letter to the prosecutor general, Ghalibaf asked for the judiciary to launch legal action against those who have targeted the reputation of people and prestige of the Tehran municipality. Ghalibaf and Rouhanis reactions to the corruption scandals are being compared on social media, especially the popular smartphone messaging app Telegram. Reformists are saying that the differences in the responses between the two politicians is the difference between a "lawyer" and a "colonel": The lawyer apologized to the people, while the colonel silenced the whistle-blowers. The use of these terms orginated in the televised debates ahead of the 2013 presidential vote, in which Rouhani forcefully exhorted that he was a lawyer and not a colonel, in reference to Ghalibaf. Whether Ghalibaf is really taking a third shot at the presidency or not, the latest corruption scandal has damaged both the colonels reputation and that of other conservatives ahead of the May 2017 vote. As such, they have a difficult path ahead if they decide to contest Rouhanis bid for a second term. Indeed, they no longer claim that Reformists and moderates who quickly confronted corruption within their camp are corrupt, in consideration of the reportedly bigger and unprecedented corruption within the conservative camp. September 6, 2016 The United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, took off his diplomatic gloves last week. The briefing he presented Aug. 29 to members of the UN Security Council was a biting moral and legal indictment of Israel. Mladenov accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government of conducting a de facto one-state policy between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. He complained that Israel was making a mockery of the July 1 report issued by the Middle East Quartet on Israel's systematic demolition of Palestinian homes and illegal construction of West Bank settlements and outposts. Mladenov stressed that there was no difference between Jewish settlements erected on state lands with the Israeli governments blessing and those built without permits on private Palestinian land. He equated a new construction plan in the Jewish settlement town of Kiryat Arba to an expansion of construction in Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. Netanyahus reaction was no less harsh. He adopted the approach of his rival-partner, HaBayit HaYehudi leader Naftali Bennett. Netanyahu does not apologize and no longer makes any effort to wrap his hawkish policy in dove feathers. The harsher the criticism of Israel, the more aggressive is his response. His brief reaction was crammed with demagoguery, lies and self-victimization. For example, he said Mladenovs absurd claim that Jewish construction in Jerusalem is illegal was like saying that American construction in Washington or French building in Paris are illegal. Pure demagoguery. Did the Americans or the French unilaterally annex to their capitals thousands of acres and people in complete contravention of UN resolutions? Is a Jewish-American who resides in the eastern part of Washington not entitled to register property in western Washington in his name? Is France signatory to an international agreement that commits it to discuss sovereignty over disputed Parisian districts? And what about the outposts and settlements flourishing in the heart of the West Bank? Are the towns of Kiryat Arba and Ariel also twin cities of Washington and Paris? Lest we forget: Netanyahu was a member of the restricted ministerial forum that decided in 2003 to adopt the US-initiated road map for Israeli-Palestinian peace that was subsequently accorded the status of a UN Security Council resolution. Resolution 1515 includes a commitment to an immediate and total halt of construction in the settlements and the dismantling of the outposts erected since 2001. Netanyahu reiterated for the umpteenth time the false claim that the obstacle to peace is Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people and the Jews historic right to their land. Let us remember that the PLO recognized UN Resolution 181 of November 1947 on the establishment of the Jewish state alongside an Arab state. Both Egypt and Jordan signed peace agreements with Israel without being obliged to recognize the historic Jewish connection to the Land of Israel. Nor was this demand raised in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations that resulted in the signing of the 1993 Oslo Accord. The prime minister even craftily stole from the Palestinians the victimhood reserved for nations under foreign military occupation and subjected to discriminatory agrarian policy. According to Netanyahu, The Palestinian demand that a future Palestinian state be ethnically cleansed of Jews is outrageous. The Quartets July report actually points to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the same territory where Netanyahu promised before the 2015 elections that a Palestinian state would never be established. According to the Quartets data, 70% of Israeli-controlled Area C (which comprises some 60% of the West Bank) have been unilaterally taken over for Israeli use. The report notes that the remaining 30% is inaccessible to the Palestinians, who require permission from the Israeli military to develop those lands and build on them. Such permits are almost never granted. On the other hand, demolition orders are doled out generously. The report further states that in the first four months of this year, Israel destroyed some 500 Palestinian structures, forcing some 800 people, most of them impoverished Bedouin farmers, to leave their homes. Netanyahu ridiculed Mladenovs claim that all the settlements violate international law that no legal acrobatics could get around. On Sept. 1, as luck or the calendar of the Supreme Court would have it, the top legal court in Jerusalem ruled that Israel was violating the laws it itself had legislated. The court ordered the evacuation of 17 structures in the outpost of Netiv Ha'Avot in the Etzion settlement bloc that were built without a license on private Palestinian land. In the ruling on the petition lodged by Palestinian landowners and the Peace Now organization, the Supreme Court justices rebuked the political echelon. They reminded the government that it was not empowered to legitimize ongoing illegality. But in 2016 Israel, the judicial branch like the political left, human rights organizations and, of course, the UN is not considered legitimate. Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Zeev Elkin wrote that the top court's judges had long ago lost the publics trust. Education Minister Naftali Bennett claimed that the Supreme Court was being exploited by radical left-wing entities to impose the policy of the minority on the majority. Netanyahu himself was silent. He is probably saving his ammunition of invectives for an informal UN Security Council Arria-Formula debate scheduled for next month on the situation in the Israeli-occupied territories. As far as hes concerned, the dogs can bark as loud as they like. After all, they dont dare bite. September 6, 2016 NAJAF, Iraq With the ongoing sectarian conflict in the Middle East, the tug-of-war to find regional alliances to support one sectarian axis over another continues. After Saudi Arabia established a Sunni alliance in December 2015, there are currently indications that Iran is working toward building a corresponding Shiite alliance. In his annual message addressed to pilgrims on Sept. 5, Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attacked the Saudi alliance and described the Saudi leaders as strife instigators in the region. He blamed them for the chaos and destruction across the Muslim world, naming Iraq, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen and Libya as affected areas. Iran had made an announcement about forming a Shiite liberation army to face Saudi and Israeli threats, as Iran believes the two countries are allies. On Aug. 18, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Ali Falaki, a commander of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) who spearheaded several operations in Syria, announced the formation of a Shiite liberation army including men of different nationalities Iraqis, Afghans and Lebanese, among others. He said that Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, will lead the army whose forces are currently fighting in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Soleimani hopes to open new fronts in other regions in the Middle East. Iraq is playing a key role in the formation of the Shiite alliance against Saudi Arabia. To seek Shiite support against Saudi Arabia, a high-ranking Houthi Yemeni delegation, including official Ansarullah spokesman Mohamed Abdel Salam, visited Iraq between Aug. 27 and Sept. 1. The delegation held intensive talks with Iraqi officials, and it met with Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who expressed his countrys firm refusal of Saudi military intervention in Yemen. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi later welcomed the delegation and said, Iraq has supported the Yemeni people since the beginning and objected to their oppression and to unjustified aggression on Yemen. Abadi revealed during the talks that Iraq sent aid to the Houthis during Saudi Arabias attacks on Yemen. The delegation also met with President Fuad Masum before leaving Iraq for Muscat. The delegation is also planning on visiting Lebanon and Iran as part of its regional tour. Meetings were also held with leaders and figures affiliated with Shiite militias under the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), such as the militant known as Abu Azrael. The visit was clearly sectarian, as the delegation did not meet with any Sunni Arabs, such as Iraqi parliament Speaker Salim al-Jabouri. The delegation was not interested in meeting with Sunni figures, and Sunni political leaders resented the meetings that negatively affected the friendly relations with Saudi Arabia. Iraqi Sunni forces condemned the Houthis visit. The Sunni Iraqi Forces Alliance issued a statement in the wake of the visit, criticizing Iraqi diplomacy for welcoming delegations of armed groups like the Houthis. The coalition claimed that such a step disrupts Iraqs Arab ties and exacerbates relations at a time when openness to the outside world and distance from the ruinous politics of axes are needed. This strategy is what pushed the world to consider Iraqs sovereignty marred by the stigma of subordination. The Houthis visit to Baghdad coincided with an official request on Aug. 28 from the Iraqi Foreign Ministry to the kingdom to replace Saudi Ambassador to Iraq Thamer al-Sabhan. The Foreign Ministrys spokesman Ahmad Jamal said that Sabhan meddled with Iraqs internal affairs and made provocative statements. The Sunni coalition responded to the decision, saying, The Iraqi governments decision surprised us. This is a dangerous precedent that diplomatic norms between civilized states have never witnessed. It reflects a deliberate attempt to undermine Saudi Arabias regional role. The coalition stated, Iraqi policies are slipping once again to the brink of unjustified disputes with Arab states, which have supported the Iraqi people in their security and humanitarian dilemma. Before Sabhans replacement was requested, he revealed a plot against him by Shiite militias. Although the Iraqi Foreign Ministry denied Sabhans allegations and called for caution in making statements, Aws al-Khafaji, the secretary-general of the Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas Brigades, said Aug. 23 during a television interview that the Saudi ambassador is wanted by his forces and they would honor his assassin. Along with these developments indicating the entrenchment of the Shiite coalition in the region, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem visited Baghdad unannounced along with a military and security delegation on Aug. 26. His Iraqi counterpart Jaafari welcomed him. Moallem also met with Abadi. The meetings might ensure security coordination between the two countries in fighting jihadi groups, some of which are backed by Saudi Arabia. It is noteworthy that many Iraqi fighters are fighting in Syria alongside other Shiite forces from Lebanon and Afghanistan, among others backed by Iran. Enlistment to participate in the battles has increased in Syria after the danger of the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq dwindled significantly. Several websites published news about the Yemeni delegations visit to the higher Shiite authority in Najaf, Ali al-Sistani. The news could have been spread by advocates of forming a comprehensive Shiite coalition to fight the Saudi threats in order to market for the Houthis or to attack Sistani for engaging in the political sectarian conflict in the region. But Al-Monitor found out from an official source in Sistanis office that the latter denied the news completely. Sistani is known for his moderation and for his calls for adopting the principle of national dialogue and equal citizenship for all instead of sectarianism in dealing with social and political crises. The above indications show that the region is headed toward entrenchment and expansion of sectarian alliances, which raises concerns that violence and conflict might keep spiraling out of control, even after the elimination of IS. September 4, 2016 BAGHDAD The idea of forming the Iraqi Supreme Strategic Policy Council has re-emerged nearly six years after first being put forward. Back then, the idea was part of what was called the Erbil Agreement in 2010, upon which the second government of Nouri al-Maliki was formed. However, political differences led the parliament to fail to form the council under the reasoning that there is no constitutional provision for it. There have been recent discussions between parliamentary blocs to prepare a draft law on the Strategic Policy Council, following the announcement by Maliki on Aug. 23 that an agreement has been made with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) to put the proposal back on the table. During the meeting with PUK leaders, Maliki said, We discussed what we had already discussed in the presence of President Fuad Masum regarding the formation of the Strategic Policy Council, which would bring together the leaders of the country and serve as an advisory board for the public institutions but not replace the constitutional institutions. Saadi Ahmad Bira, a member of the PUK's political bureau, said, The main aim of our visit is to participate in the [preliminary] meeting, which is supposed to produce a policy council with political powers able to issue decisions regarding strategic issues. The Strategic Policy Council is supposed to include the president of the republic, the prime minister and parliament speaker, in addition to the head of the judiciary and the leaders of parliamentary blocs. Its main mission is to draw the countrys national policies, discuss contentious issues and find solutions, although its recommendations are to remain advisory and not binding for the constitutional authorities. Practically speaking, the councils decisions are likely to be effective since its members are the countrys leaders and decision-makers. It is interesting that Malikis parliamentary bloc, the State of Law Coalition, is the party promoting the proposal of the strategic council, stressing the importance of its formation after having been the reason behind its disruption in previous parliamentary sessions. At that time, it was decided that Iyad Allawi, the head of the Iraqi List, would chair the council in 2010. Among the most contentious issues surrounding the previous policy council proposal was the requirement that ministers introduce draft laws to the council rather than present them before the Cabinet, 10 members of parliament or one of parliamentary committees. In an interview with Al-Monitor, parliament member for the State of the Law Coalition Iskandar Watout talked about the coalition's change in position regarding the council. The previous objections were not about the idea of the policy council but rather regarding the proposed legal basis for said council, which was not in line with the constitution on many levels, Watout said. He added, Today, there is an absolute need to form the council as the country has no unified foreign policy or vision [shared by all parties in the government]. Thus, the formation of said council, including the countrys leaders to discuss general issues on a regular basis, has become imperative. Watout said that the law was likely to pass despite the lack of a constitutional provision for it. There is no need for a constitutional text, as the government could propose to parliament the formation of the strategic policy council. Those who insist on the need for the constitutional text are trying to hinder the establishment of the council, he said. In contrast, the Kurdistan Democratic Party, headed by Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani, expressed some reservations on the formation of the council. Parliament member Abdul Kada Mohammed explained the party's point of view to Al-Monitor, saying, We accept the enactment of the law on the strategic council provided that such a council would be temporary for one electoral term without overstepping the powers of the existing state institutions. He added, The councils role ought to be advisory, providing advice and guidance to the Iraqi government, contributing to proposing laws to parliament that ought to be agreed and approved by the blocs leaders on the council. Head of the Sadrist movement Muqtada al-Sadr has not expressed optimism on the formation of the council. Commenting on a question by one of his followers on Aug. 16, Sadr said, Corrupt people produce nothing but corruption, while Ammar Hakim, the head of the Supreme Islamic Council, was the staunchest supporter of its formation. Parliament member for the Supreme Islamic Council Habib al-Tarfi told Al-Mada Press Aug. 28, The time has come to balance the executive and legislative powers and prevent them from mood swings. The draft law on the formation of the Strategic Policy Council is expected to pass, as most parliamentary blocs are now supporting the idea. In light of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadis inclination toward a technocratic government reshuffling under popular pressure and the increasing demands to put an end to the quota system, political parties (especially parliamentary blocs) have started losing their grip over the state through political deals and agreements as well as the quota system that has hampered the government since 2003. 2016-rzr-xp-turbo-eps-velocity-blue-pr.jpg 2016 RZR XP Turbo. ( ) Polaris has recalled its recreational off-highway vehicles for the third time this year. The Minnesota company said its 2016 Polaris RZR XP Turbo and RZR XP 4 Turbo models are under recall because the engines can overheat and the turbo system's drain tube can loosen, posing a fire hazard. Polaris is aware of 19 ROV-related fires, six of which resulted in burn injuries. A young child suffered severe burns and 15 acres of forest land were destroyed in Utah's American Fork Canyon during one of the fires, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. "Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled ROVs and contact Polaris to schedule a free repair," a statement reads on the CPSC website. "Consumers will receive an extended warranty on each repaired RZR Turbo and a discount towards the purchase of a new vehicle." The blue, gray, orange and red ROVs, which were manufactured in the U.S. and Mexico, were sold for $25,000 to $27,500 at Polaris dealers from August 2015 to July 2016. Click here to see if you have one of the products. In April, Polaris recalled 133,000 2013-16 RZR 900 and RZR 1000 vehicles after receiving more than 160 reports of fires, resulting in one death and 19 injuries. The company issued another recall in June for 43,000 2015-16 Polaris Ranger 570 ROVs for overheating and fire hazards. The powersports leader began making Polaris RANGER vehicles in early June and Slingshots at the beginning of July in Alabama. The plant, located on 7049 Greenbrier Parkway N.W. in a Huntsville-annexed portion of the county, had 423 workers in late July. A meat processing plant in Bakerhill is facing $76,734 in proposed penalties after an investigation prompted by a worker losing his fingertip. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated the Keystone Foods plant after a 65-year-old worker lost the tip of his left index finger while cleaning an overhead saw blade on March 7. The citations include: Unguarded platforms that pose a fall risk Unguarded saws and other machinery, which pose amputation risks Failing to have procedures to prevent machinery from starting while being cleaned Workers not wearing eye protection Propane tanks stored near the ammonia refrigeration Not including ammonia release procedure in the emergency action plan. Keystone Foods is based in West Chester, Pennsylvania and supplies fresh and frozen food products including poultry, beef, fish and pork. It has several operations in Alabama, including the Bakerhill processing plant, a hatchery in Eufala, a feed mill in Brundidge, its USA Proteins Headquarters in Huntville and a facility in Gadsden. Keystone has 15 business days from its receipt of the citations to comply or contest the findings. "Keystone Foods is exposing workers to numerous serious safety hazards and must be more proactive with assessing the workplace for deficiencies and taking action to correct them," Joseph Roesler, OSHA's area director in the Mobile Office, said in a press release. "This incident could have been prevented if management had followed OSHA standards." Click here to read the citations in full. This is the history of the arsenal period, part of a series on the Mount Vernon/Searcy Hospital site near Mobile. Click here for an introduction and timeline, along with a gallery of photos of the abandoned site. Mount Vernon Arsenal part of nation's first defense program In 1811, during the Creek Wars, the U.S. military established an encampment 3 miles inland of Fort Stoddert known as Mount Vernon Cantonment. This was the first official government use of a site that, more than 200 years later, is one of the most significant in Alabama, and perhaps the nation, according to Michael W. Panhorst, coordinator of Alabama's Places in Peril. Gen. Andrew Jackson, who had used the cantonment as a rendezvous point for the federal army during the Creek Wars, occupied the site during the War of 1812, according to a 1990s summary of the site's significance by Devereaux Bemis of the Mobile Historical Development Commission. In 1828, the government approved building 14 arsenals as part of the earliest organized effort to create a permanent defense program nationwide. Of the initial 14, only one other 1828 arsenal survives as a complex, the one at Kennebec, Maine. Of 34 extant structures at the abandoned Mount Vernon complex, at least 13 date to the 1830s. "This extensive historic site deserves protection, preservation and revitalization for the State of Alabama to capitalize on the immense value of this extraordinary place," Panhorst said in August in his summary for the Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation. The arsenals, used to manufacture and store arms and ammunition, were built using a horseshoe-shaped plan common in the military at the time but the Mount Vernon site plan was altered to accommodate a ravine through one side of the property. Inside the horseshoe was the area known as the parade grounds where military exercises and inspections were held. In 1830, the first construction began. The central building was a three-story brick structure with a five-story turret. more than a dozen other brick buildings were constructed along the edges of the horseshoe, including an armourer's shop, blacksmith, barracks, subaltern's quarters and more. The perimeter of the site was protected by a 12-foot high, 1-mile long brick wall that was completed ca. 1836. Because of the ravine, a retaining wall was also required. The perimeter and retaining walls survive today. In addition, an unusual wooden picket fence surrounded parts of the arsenal. It was a type used at that time for military posts made from thick, rounded vertical posts held by long horizontal posts. The few surviving panels are the only ones of their type known to exist today, Panhorst said. The Civil War and U.S. infantry On the eve of the Civil War, one week before Alabama seceded from the Union on Jan. 11, 1861, state militia units acting on orders from Gov. Barry Moore seized Mount Vernon Arsenal from its commander, Capt. Jesse L. Reno, who had only 17 men onsite at the time and was surprised by the attack. In March, the arsenal was turned over to the Confederacy, which used it through the end of the war, when it was returned to control of the U.S. government. The military used the site as barracks for the Second Regiment of U.S. Infantry from 1865-1894, when several more structures were added, including a kitchen and mess hall that is no longer standing, as well as white frame cottages for married soldiers and officers that still stand. A guardhouse and dispensary were incorporated into a larger building that became the administration building when the site became a hospital in 1902. During the time the infantry was based at the site, it was used as a prisoner of war camp. It became home to about 400 Chiricahua Apache natives who had been designated as prisoners of war but never charged with crimes. They would be held at the site from 1887-1894. The Apache era history of the Mount Vernon site will be posted on AL.com Wednesday, Sept. 7. Military significance Panhorst said he has spoken with Brent Leggs of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, who believes the arsenal site "may be a candidate to become one of the 50-60 National Treasures of the National Trust. That would qualify it for advice and assistance from National Trust staff and would certify Mount Vernon's significance on a national level." Currently, Alabama's only National Treasure site is the 1954 A.G. Gaston Motel in Birmingham. It was built to serve black patrons and is part of the Civil Rights District. Chambers County authorities are investigating the shooting death of a man Monday night. Authorities were called to a home in the 33000 block of U.S. 431 on a welfare check. There they found inside a residence the body of David Heard, 49, dead from "apparent gunshot wounds," authorities said in a release. Investigators say Heard lived alone at the residence, which is along a heavily traveled highway. They believe Heard was shot twice, and had been dead less than 12 hours. Heard's body has been transported to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences for an autopsy. The Randolph County Sheriff's Office and Roanoke Police assisted in the case. Anyone with information is asked to call Chambers County Investigations at (334) 864-4333. The firefighting unit in Afghanistan spends more time cleaning up after devastating blasts than extinguishing fires. Kabul, Afghanistan Abdul Aziz Oryakhil sat behind his desk in his office in Kabul. The events of the past few weeks in Afghanistan were nothing new to the 54-year-old firefighter. Sipping on his tea, he seems relaxed. His walkie-talkie crackles with a male voice delivering intermittent reports. The firefighter claims to have witnessed countless horrors in his lifetime perhaps more than anyone else in the country, he says during Afghanistans tumultuous past, beginning with the Soviet-Afghan war, through the Taliban era of the 1990s. But over the past two years Oryakhils units have been spending more time cleaning up after the devastating blasts that continue to rock the country than they have spent extinguishing fires. Blasts such as the one in Deh Mazang have become common since the withdrawal of international forces in 2014. As the security situation has deteriorated, this year the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan recorded the highest number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan since the agency began keeping track in 2009. In the first half of 2016 alone, more than 5,000 have been killed or maimed. As he sat down with Al Jazeera, Oryakhil calmly recalled the scene of Deh Mazang square after a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of young protesters most of them members of the Shia Hazara minority who had been protesting against the planned route of the TUTAP power line. He describes how, as the firefighters piled out of their trucks on that day on July 23, bodies could be seen lying on the ground some of them dead, others severely injured, crying out for help. The blast, which was later claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) had left 81 dead and over 230 wounded. READ MORE: Afghanistan Surge in civilian, children death tolls Oryakhail is the operational head of the general directorate of incidents in the fire department of Afghanistan and, according to his own account, has cleaned up thousands of blast sites during his 30-year-long firefighting career. On the edge of death With lives teetering on the edge of death, Oryakhail and his firefighters had no time to survey the scene. There were so many bodies lying on the ground that I didnt know which one to pick up first, Oryakhail says. Twenty-eight-year-old firefighter Ali Akbar described the horror he witnessed when he arrived on the scene. The square was filled with blood, he told Al Jazeera. There were people missing their hands and legs. Some of the bodies were in such bad condition that their remains had practically disintegrated. There was nothing left of them. But with time working against them, the team must push aside any fear, rage or sadness in these circumstances, and work to get the wounded to hospitals first attending to those who have a chance at survival. With just two ambulances available that day, Oryakhail says, they were forced to lay victims on top of each other to transport them. When those with hope of survival were taken to hospital, the firefighters returned to the blast scene to recover the bodies of those who did not survive the attack, to transport them to the hospital where they would be handed over to the doctors and taken to the morgue. After this, Oryakhail and his team return to the blast site one last time to remove the body parts, blood and other remains left scattered by the explosion over the square in a gruesome scene all too familiar to the crew. The bodies in the worst condition after an explosion are often those of the attackers themselves. They are torn into pieces, Ortakhail says matter-of-factly. Only rarely are we able to locate a body part that belongs to the attackers. When we do find some body part, it is sent to Afghan intelligence for investigation. WATCH: Afghanistan Medics under fire Witnesses to horror Oryakhail has witnessed some of the worst attacks, including the Shah Shaheed bombing in August 2015 that killed 15 and wounded more than 240 people. But the firefighters rarely speak in a way that hints at their emotional state. Even as he recounts the most disturbing scene he has witnessed, Oryakhil remains distant and his voice steady. Once there was a woman who had been beheaded by the blast. Her three-year-old son was still sitting beside her. He had survived, Oryakhail says. He pauses for a moment before continuing: The child was holding his mothers severed head, screaming her name, Mother, Mother His voice trails off. I have nothing but anger for these attackers, he says. What else can you feel when you see someone who has killed so many people? Dealing with the trauma Many firefighters who have worked in these blast sites have reported experiences parallel to symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). New recruits have an especially difficult time adjusting to the near-daily scenes they witness in the field. Sayed Jaffar Ahmadi, professor of psychology at Kabuls Kateb University, believes that the nature of work that these firefighters engage in can directly result in mental trauma. [Their work] is one of the most difficult jobs to handle psychologically, Ahmadi says. PTSD must be very common among the firefighters in Kabul, because there is no counselling available. Trouble sleeping, flashbacks of the traumatic event and nightmares, Ahmadi explains, are common. Sometimes, simply being reminded of the event can trigger these symptoms. In the firefighters case, their job itself can become a constant trigger. Because of this, Oryakhail hosts a regular support group for all the firefighters. We discuss the things that they face out there, Oryakhail explains. Though no mental health professional is present in these meetings, Oryakhail ensures that the firefighters have a secure environment to share their experiences. I try to encourage them. I tell them that sometimes, these things just happen. Even the veteran Oryakhail has trouble returning to work when the attacks strike too close to home. He describes a time when a bus carrying police cadets was targeted on the outskirts of Kabul by the Taliban last June, killing 27 people. He couldnt leave his house for two days, he says. The cadets were so young. They worked in the same field as me, Oryakhail says, shaking his head. Other firefighters have had similar experiences. Thirty-two-year-old Shafiullah Karimi remembers an attack on a foreign convoy in May 2013 particularly well. He describes in great detail haunting scenes from that day. I was trying to lift a victims body. He had been so badly burned by the blast that my hand went right through him. The experience left Karimi traumatised; he couldnt sleep or eat properly for a week, he remembers. Treatment services Although the Ministry of Public Health in Afghanistan has made the provision of mental health services one of its top priorities and much has improved over the years, there is a general lack of public awareness on the importance of dealing with trauma. According to the Ministrys spokesperson, Wahid Majrooh, the government has not allocated enough funds for mental health and there is still a stigma associated with psychological problems. Majrooh points out that the Ministry of Interior, under which the fire department operates, has its own military hospital where psychological counselling is provided. Nevertheless, there are no specific trauma counselling programmes available. None of the firefighters seem to be aware of this counselling, however, and very few of them seek professional help after traumatic experiences. I do think therapy is necessary for everyone who works here, says Ali Akbar, who has worked as a firefighter for 10 years. We witness terrible incidents on a daily basis. I study at the university, and we have a psychology lecturer there. I tell him about my problems, and it has helped me. According to Ahmadi, the most important thing is for the patients to be able to discuss what they have experienced. Firefighters can also be dealing with feelings of guilt, if they have not been able to rescue someone, for example, he explains. IN PICTURES: Inside a frontline hospital in Afghanistan Emotional numbing Despite the lack of professional mental health services, most of the firefighters seem to have adjusted to traumatic events and remain committed to their work. This is the situation our country is facing, unfortunately. It is our job to serve the people and I just have to tolerate the things I see, says Emam Khan, 37. He says he has never felt the need to seek out therapy, but he acknowledges that the job is not for everyone. There are many who have had to quit because the job proved to be too difficult. When we see that someone is not able to cope, we get him transferred to our security unit, Oryakhail explains. Ahmadi points out that becoming desensitised to traumatic events is also not a healthy sign. When a person detaches himself entirely from these things, the consequences will spill over to other areas of their lives, and their families will suffer. According to him, emotional numbing must be addressed as well. For the vast majority of the firefighters, being able to help others far outweighs the sacrifices they make. It doesnt matter to me whether it is a fire, an earthquake or a suicide attack, Karimi says. I only hope to save peoples lives. Though Oryakhail himself lost his left eye while trying to rescue people during an attack on an arms depot in the early 2000s, he has never considered quitting. This is my country. If I dont work for it, then who will? But the growing insecurity has made him more pessimistic, and he does not think things will improve in the near future. When I go to a bomb blast site and see human beings just lying there on the ground, I compare my country with other countries in the world; how other people are living in peace and how we are facing these things every day. It really hurts me, he says. As the attacks continue, more Afghans feel compelled to leave the country. But not Oryakhail. I will leave when I die, he says. Business has been booming since 2006, yet insiders and security experts warn that the industry is rife with corruption. Guadalajara, Mexico Having spent the morning rumbling through downtown Guadalajara in their impenetrable armoured van, the three Seguritec employees entrusted with collecting cash from local businesses stopped to receive one last payment. Two of them got out to collect the money, but upon returning to their vehicle they realised their colleague had fled with about $800,000 in local currency. It was an embarrassing setback for Seguritec , a private security firm with the slogan: Security and trust in transporting valuables. Its the first time weve had a problem of this kind, Rafael Torres, Seguritecs local representative, told Al Jazeera. The money belonged to our clients, who are mostly local banks, but it should be insured. Well be carrying out our own investigation and aiding the authorities however we can. Federal police caught the alleged culprit with suitcases full of cash just five days later, but the heist on July 29 added to the growing list of controversies involving Mexicos thriving private security industry. Business has been booming since Felipe Calderon, who was president at that time, declared war on organised crime in December 2006, yet insiders and security experts warn that the industry is rife with corruption and that its rapid growth risks exacerbating security inequality by encouraging authorities to neglect public security. There are currently 1,168 private security firms registered with Mexicos federal government, up from only 173 in 2005. The majority are located in Mexico City, the adjacent Mexico state, and western Jalisco state, which encompasses Guadalajara, Mexicos second largest city. Arnulfo Garibo Ramirez, president of the National Confederation of Private Security Firms, told Al Jazeera that there are another 8,000 to 10,000 unlicensed firms operating illegally in Mexico, with anywhere from 240,000 to 600,000 employees. A really dirty business Sitting outside a quiet Guadalajara cafe one sunny Saturday morning, the former private security professional Juan Castillo told Al Jazeera the boom is a by-product of the government offensive that caused the large cartels that specialised in transnational drug-trafficking to fragment into smaller gangs dedicated to more predatory crimes such as kidnapping, robbery and extortion. With Mexicos middle and upper classes increasingly affected [PDF] , the demand for private security skyrocketed. His dark eyes constantly scanning the perimeter for any unusual activity, Castillo, who asked that his name be changed to protect his identity, said the security industry is a really dirty business. With guards typically making only $300 a month, he said many supplement their income by stealing shipments of pharmaceuticals, electronics, alcohol, cigarettes or other goods that they are supposed to be protecting. Others make extra cash as cartel lookouts, Castillo added, while many criminal gangs even found their own security firms to disguise or partially legitimise their operations. Acquiring a licence for security guards to carry guns, for example, is a simple way of subverting Mexicos ban on firearms. READ MORE: Living in terror under Mexicos Knights Templar cartel Its very easy to get the permits through bribery. That way the cartels can legally arm their assassins, Castillo said. Its also very easy to launder money through security firms because the authorities never check how they spend their money or how many employees they really have. There is ample evidence to support Castillos claims. On August 16, Jaliscos attorney general, Eduardo Almaguer, announced that the head of a licensed security firm was working to protect Jesus Alfredo Guzman, son of the infamous jailed Sinaloa cartel boss, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman. The men were abducted by gunmen from the rival Jalisco New Generation cartel at a restaurant in the Pacific resort of Puerto Vallarta the previous morning and were reportedly released days later after negotiations between the two cartels. In March, Almaguers office shut down Segmex, an unlicensed security firm that the Jalisco cartel had been using as a front for recruitment. Promised a wage of about $160 a week, the applicants underwent weapons training using paintball guns at a remote ranch before being put to work selling drugs. Thirteen people were arrested when a police raid put an end to the operation. In another case, in 2013, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Sistemas Elite , a Guadalajara-based security firm with more than 150 employees, for laundering money and providing protection for the Beltran Leyva cartel. The now-defunct company was allegedly run by the cartels head of security, Arnoldo Villa Sanchez, who was arrested the following year. Common security measures There are also many law-abiding firms. Guadalajara native Enrique Cortes, who has run the regional operations of international technology companies such as Dell, Wipro and now Luxoft, told Al Jazeera they often use private security firms without any problems. In my previous job, we hired private security mostly for secure transport between the office and the airport, Cortes said. As for security for the office, we are tenants in a building, so we rely on their very good private security personnel. Yet not everyone can afford their own security detail. While many affluent families live in gated communities with shared 24-hour security, others attempt to protect their homes with barred windows or guard dogs. Guadalajara resident Miguel Solorzano told Al Jazeera that rising crime levels led him to buy a security gate, electric fencing and CCTV for his house. The number of robberies and assaults is getting out of control, he said. My brother and a friend of his were assaulted outside my house two months ago and both their cars were stolen. Solorzano believes the insecurity is a result of neglect by local authorities: There is very little street lighting in my neighbourhood at night. Ive complained to city hall but they dont do anything. Brian Phillips, a Mexico City-based researcher who specialises in security issues, told Al Jazeera that when the government sees more and more citizens using private security it becomes tempting to cut public security funding because they think they dont need to provide as much public security. Those who cannot afford private security risk being left unprotected, he warned. Phillips also said that there is much less accountability with private security, as well as concerns over the human rights of suspects caught by security guards. There is little oversight of their conduct, noted Antoine Perret, a research fellow at Columbia Law School, in a 2013 paper [PDF] , because Mexicos laws are not designed to confront possible human rights violations by non-state actors such as private security firms. This may be about to change. On August 29, Mexico Citys mayor, Miguel Angel Mancera, announced new regulations to standardise the training, certification, registration and insignia of every private bodyguard in the capital. The next day, National Security Commissioner Renato Sales proposed legislation to create new regulatory bodies and a database of all private security personnel in Mexico. In a recent press release, he said this would make the industry more effective and responsible . Security firms support police Salvador Caro, the head of Guadalajaras municipal police force, told Al Jazeera that he is working to ensure that people of all socioeconomic backgrounds are protected. In an interview at his office, the stern, 45-year-old former congressman revealed that upon taking charge last October, he encountered severe problems within the force, including corruption and infiltration by organised crime. Instead of patrolling the city streets, he found that more than 600 officers had been unlawfully assigned to protect local politicians, businessmen and others with no relation to public office. Caro said that he introduced intensive new training methods and stricter background checks to root out corruption, while reducing the number of officers on protective duty to fewer than 40. We reintegrated these officers so they could carry out the work theyre paid to do, which is to serve our citizens, Caro explained. To ensure that his limited resources are more fairly and efficiently utilised, he added: Weve divided the city into 41 sectors, and the number of police cars and officers deployed in each sector is now proportional to the level of crime, the level of risk, the circulation of valuable goods and the concentration of wealth there. Caro affirmed that the level of private security in any given area has no bearing on the number of police deployed there, but revealed that officers collaborate closely with the security firms that protect local banks, pharmacies and grocery store chains. Private security firms play a supporting role to us because, in many cases, theyre the ones who detain people who are robbing banks or businesses. Insecurity fuels vigilantism Unconvinced by the efforts of the authorities to combat crime, some of Mexicos most marginalised and vulnerable communities have formed vigilante groups in an effort to defend themselves in recent years, particularly in the rural western states of Michoacan and Guerrero. Raul Munoz, a 59-year-old environmental activist from El Salto a heavily polluted, crime-ridden industrial zone on Guadalajaras southeastern periphery told Al Jazeera that he and his neighbours have also begun to police their own community. FAULT LINES: Mexicos Disappeared Looking out over the factory-dotted scrubland, Munoz said that they had just begun discussing forming a vigilante group when their friend Martin Ruvalcaba, an outspoken local musician, was murdered by unidentified gunmen in February 2015. His death convinced them of the need to stand up to the criminals. Here, they steal kids mobile phones and drag girls into their vehicles, take them away and rape them, Munoz said. Everyone in the community recognised the need for us to organise ourselves and be alert against the abuses being committed. Equipped with low-calibre firearms that they keep hidden from view, Munoz and his companions now discreetly patrol their neighbourhoods at night and warn each other of any suspicious activity. The police are inefficient because they have no connection to society. People are afraid of them and dont respect them, he added. But were all neighbours, and were the ones affected by crime. We take care of each other. Follow Duncan Tucker on Twitter: @DuncanTucker Deepening political crisis could prove to be fertile ground for separatist sentiments to grow in Afghanistan. Davood Moradian is the director-general of the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies. The ongoing political crisis within the Afghan National Unity Government amid the countrys security and economic challenges recalls earlier warnings, notably from US intelligence and the UN, on the fragility of Afghanistans political stability. According to the agreement brokered by US Secretary of State John Kerry in September 2014, the Afghan government should have initiated a number of political and electoral reforms within two years. To date, there has been no meaningful step towards implementing these reforms. The failure to implement the agreement is depriving the Afghan government of its main source of authority and legitimacy. In the coming weeks, there will be growing pressure on the very existence of the government from multiple constituencies. For the first time since 2001, there are now political forces actively seeking to topple the Afghan government, in tandem with the Talibans decades-old ideological terror campaign. The current crisis is the result of early policy choices, institutional design and political games by Afghan elites and international actors. Averting an even nastier political crisis requires joint action by Afghan politicians and the international community. Multitude of challenges Afghanistan faces a multitude of challenges, chief among them socio-economic underdevelopment that requires long-term investment and efforts. However, political and electoral reforms depend on the political will and consensus of the political elites and their international partners. READ MORE: The end of Pakistans double-games in Afghanistan The implementation of the 2014 political agreement was conditional on three factors: President Ashraf Ghanis political will, chief executive Abdullah Abdullahs political skill and Washingtons commitment. Sadly, all three were lacking. Consistent with its past policies, Washington became complacent by failing to honour its role as the broker of the agreement and acquiescing to Ghani's fear-mongering strategy, disguised as reforms. by From the beginning, Ghani opted for the policy of invalidating the political agreement and focused instead on consolidating his position by creating a donor-friendly Ghilzai Pashtun administration. Abdullah was torn between Washingtons pressure to accommodate Ghani and demands from his restless Afghan constituencies to assert himself as the actual winner of the election and an equal partner in the government. Consistent with its past policies, Washington became complacent by failing to honour its role as the broker of the agreement and acquiescing to Ghanis fear-mongering strategy, disguised as reforms. However, and despite diminished public support and political trust, the implementation of the political agreement remains the best course of action to inject badly needed political pulses to a dying entity. To this end, there is a need for an annexed agreement to lay down a new and clear timeline and benchmarks for the implementation of the political agreement. The three main stakeholders (Ghani, Abdullah and Washington) should no longer conduct their business as usual. Washington is increasingly held responsible for tolerating Ghanis strategy of Delay, Negotiate, Promise, and Deceive. Washingtons bitter memories of working with Hamid Karzai does not justify its current fatalistic approach. For his part, Abdullah should be more forthcoming with both Washington and his political and electoral constituencies. The least bad option The 2014 political agreement aimed to address two interlinked crises: a contested presidential election and a disputed presidential system. The formation of the national unity government helped avert a major political crisis and was expected to initiate electoral and political reforms to address the structural crisis. READ MORE: Ashraf Ghani: A return to traditional Afghan governance The failure to hold meaningful national dialogue and carry out reforms has resulted in resurfacing the two crises. The Afghan government is threatened either by a sudden political collapse or a deepening political crisis. Already overwhelmed by mounting security and economic difficulties, the country cannot afford a political crisis. An interim arrangement tasked with maintaining political continuity and preparing the country for an early presidential election is the least bad option. To this end, a number of actors and assumptions should be challenged. Neither the former president nor the incumbent leadership possess the political capital, leverage and skill to steer the country from this political crisis. Washingtons failure to honour its role in implementing the political agreement and its preoccupation with its own presidential elections have weakened its hand in facilitating an acceptable resolution. The UN and other international organisations also lack the means, independence and authority to broker a new agreement. Existing actors and stakeholders need to be reinforced by new stakeholders. The UNs role needs to be significantly enhanced, particularly in monitoring and managing the forthcoming elections. However, to ensure the UNs neutrality and effectiveness, there is a need for a group of international wise men and women who can help facilitate and mediate contested political issues among Afghan elites. Gloomy warnings Foreign invasion /interference and inter-elite competition over power, identity and ideology have been Afghanistans two principal curses and drivers of its four-decade-old hybrid conflict. If the gloomy warnings prove correct, the country risks a return to intra-factional war or entering new territory: the de facto partitioning of the country. For the first time, there are signs of separatist sentiments among non-Pashtuns. by Unfortunately, there are reasons to fear both eventualities. There are already other precedents around the world that should awaken the complacent Afghans, such as the partition of Pakistan and emergence of Bangladesh following a contested election in 1970s. For the first time, there are signs of separatist sentiments among non-Pashtuns. Although they remain small and isolated, a deepening political crisis could prove to be fertile ground for such sentiments to grow, with external powers ready and willing to assist. Pakistans continued support to the Taliban manifests its decades-old strategy of seeking strategic depth in Afghanistan. Both managed instability and/or a de-facto partitioning of the country are preferable to Pakistan than a united, prosperous and independent Afghanistan. Talibans terror infrastructure, Kabuls bickering elites, and Washingtons double-think approach will be instrumental to Pakistans objectives. Unlike the divided Afghan elites, there is an abundance of sane and responsible voices among ordinary Afghans. The endorsement of the US-Afghanistan Bilateral Security Agreement by a consultative Loya Jirga, massive participation in national elections and an overwhelming support to the current constitutional order show the desire and determination of Afghans to have a functioning democratic constitutional order. The challenge for Afghanistan is to align the priorities of the Afghan elites and external powers with the Afghan peoples aspiration for peace, democracy and an inclusive political order. Davood Moradian is the director-general of the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies and former chief of programmes in President Hamid Karzais office and chief policy adviser to Afghanistans ministry of foreign affairs. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. Under siege you can survive death and killing and kidnapping dozens of times; but staying alive doesnt mean youre a hero, just that the killer was a coward, and that the Lord has protected you. Abdullah al-Khateeb, a Palestinian human rights activist from Syrias Yarmouk camp, wrote those lines while under siege in southern Damascus. His work documenting deteriorating conditions inside Yarmouk when international aid groups could no longer access the camp, and coordinating farming and mental health programmes to help residents survive the government-imposed siege has repeatedly made him a target. In March 2015, armed men attempted to kidnap Khateeb outside his house. The next month, fighters with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group reportedly stormed his home and threatened him. And just a few weeks ago, Khateeb survived an assassination attempt when two men on a motorcycle fired off several machine-gun rounds, hitting him once in the chest. ISILs local emir claimed responsibility for the attack, Khateeb said. Im fine, for one reason: I still believe in what I do, Khateeb told Al Jazeera. I work with what the revolution taught me. READ MORE: Palestinians in Syria desperately need Yarmouk truce Yarmouk still exists in name and place, but little of its old life remains. Just several thousand civilians of an original population of 200,000 remain inside, while some two-thirds of the camp has been destroyed. The worst of the siege in 2013 and 2014 strangled life inside the once-bustling Damascus suburb, killing more than 170 residents, and international organisations no longer deliver aid to the camp. Former Yarmouk residents say the ones left behind are mostly families and elderly people who are resigned to stay in Yarmouk until the end. Since the latest attempt on his life, Khateeb has continued his work documenting Yarmouks five-year story of war, siege and terror, even as he watched many of his friends and colleagues die or flee to Europe. He has been unable to leave Syria, trapped in his besieged neighbourhood and fearful of ISIL sleeper cells in the area. Near [Yarmouk], places like Yalda and Babila are under the control of the Free Syrian Army, so security tends to be much better But the Islamic State is constantly trying to destabilise those areas through bombings and assassinations, Khateeb said, noting that the presence of such cells poses one of the biggest risks were facing now, on top of the Syrian regime. The Palestinian League for Human Rights Syria (PLHR), a Sweden-based human rights organisation that Khateeb helped co-found in 2012, has called for him to be allowed to leave Syria for emergency medical treatment and safe haven, noting in a statement: We strongly believe that whoever is behind the attempted assassination will try again until Khateebs voice is silenced for good. Khateeb has been responsible for a range of human rights and relief projects in Yarmouk since the beginning of the 2011 uprising, including an urban farming project and psychosocial services for children affected by fighting in and around the camp. Khateeb has also trained young human rights defenders in besieged southern Damascus. With simple tools, he collected the stories of a camp that for two years saw the worst of the siege and starvation imposed by the Syrian government. by Thaer al-Sahli, Palestinian-Syrian poet and filmmaker Thaer al-Sahli, a Palestinian-Syrian poet and filmmaker who fled Yarmouk for the Netherlands in 2014, said Khateebs work to document the ongoing atrocities inside the camp has been invaluable. I remember Abdullah during the bombing of Tadamun in Yarmouk carrying packages of medicine over his shoulder, Sahli told Al Jazeera. [Later], he was compiling a visual archive of Yarmouk camp to be worked on in the future, to preserve the story of what happened in the camp, he said. With simple tools, he collected the stories of a camp that for two years saw the worst of the siege and starvation imposed by the Syrian government. Khateeb once wrote that oppression breeds extremism, said Erin Kilbride of the Dublin-based human rights organisation Front Line Defenders and it is this type of sentiment that has helped to make him a target. People who want to annihilate the fight for rights in Syria, and replace it with violent extremism, are seeking out and killing those still resisting oppression, Kilbride said. Q&A: Beyond Yarmouk, Palestinians in Syria need aid Khateeb is by no means the only human rights defender to be targeted in Yarmouk. Indeed, the list of activists and community leaders murdered in the camp grows each year, with the UK-based Action Group for Palestinians of Syria documenting 16 assassinations since 2012. More than 3,000 Palestinians have died at the hands of the Syrian government and armed groups since the uprising began in 2011, while hundreds more are missing or unaccounted for. In January 2013, Ghassan al-Shehabi, who ran a Yarmouk-based publishing house that produced material about the Palestinian right of return and other humanitarian issues, was killed by a government sniper as he drove his wife and two young daughters, and a shipment of bread for Yarmouk families, back into the camp. In October 2013, actor and writer Hassan Hassan, who trained young filmmakers and produced documentaries and satirical videos from Yarmouk, disappeared after being stopped at a government checkpoint. And in February 2015, activist Firas al-Naji who was a close friend of Khateebs and worked with the PLHR was shot in the head inside his home. No one claimed responsibility for his death. The list goes on. Im not optimistic for the future of Yarmouk, although I hope the situation improves for civilians who have paid the price because of their attachment to their land and identity, Khateeb said. But I have a great hope that the revolution will be long-term, not short-term. There is now a generation born or grown up in revolution that has learned about liberty and justice [They will be] more conscious and experienced, and able to change the reality of things in Syria towards a better society. Taliban claims responsibility for an attack on a building housing an international aid group in the Afghan capital. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for an attack on a building housing an international aid organisation in Afghanistans capital Kabul, which provoked a deadly firefight with security forces. The siege began late on Monday night with a suicide car bombing close to a building belonging to Pamlarena, part of the charity CARE International, which was then stormed by a group of armed men. In a statement to Al Jazeera late on Tuesday, the Taliban said its fighters had targeted a secret intelligence office of invaders, referring to foreign forces. Earlier on Tuesday, Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for the Afghan interior ministry, said police special forces had killed all three men involved in the overnight attack in the Shar-e Naw district of Kabul. The interior ministry initially said one civilian had been killed but a later statement said only the attackers died in the gun battle. In its statement, however, the Taliban said that five of its fighters were involved in the attack. The group also claimed that the building was being used by foreign forces to conduct attacks against it. Overnight attack Security forces blocked all roads leading to the Shar-e Naw neighbourhood throughout the operation to end the siege. Police special forces immediately reached the site of the attack and started rescuing people from the building, the interior ministry statement said in a statement. Forty-two people who were trapped were evacuated by the security forces. In a statement on Tuesday, CARE said that an armed group launched an attack on what is believed to have been an Afghan government compound located close to the Kabul office of CARE International. It said the incident continued through to the early morning, with damage sustained to the CARE compound. All CARE staff have been evacuated, are safe and are accounted for. The area being home to several guest houses, many foreigners and diplomats reside there. Amnesty International, the human-rights group, on Tuesday termed the attack a war crime. The attack by an armed group on the aid agency CARE International in Kabul is the deliberate targeting of civilians and constitutes a war crime, said Champa Patel, Amnesty Internationals South Asia director. The cardinal rule of international humanitarian law is that parties to an armed conflict must never deliberately attack civilians. The attack on Pamlarenas offices started several hours after a double suicide bombing near the Afghan defence ministry killed at least 35 people and wounded more than 100 others. An army general and two senior police commanders were among the dead, a defence ministry official said. Another official said that the deputy head of President Ashraf Ghanis personal protection force was among those killed. The Taliban later claimed responsibility for the attack on the defence ministry. Surging violence The Talibans ability to conduct coordinated deadly attacks in Kabul has increased pressure on Ghanis government, which has struggled to reassure the population that it can guarantee security. Two weeks ago, fighters attacked the American University in Kabul, killing 13 people. At least 80 people were killed by a suicide bomber who targeted a demonstration on July 23 in an attack claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group. Outside Kabul, the fighters have stepped up their military campaign, threatening Lashkar Gah, capital of the strategic southern province of Helmand, as well as Kunduz, the northern city they briefly took last year. Election observers say integrity of result has been compromised by clear anomaly in countrys Haut-Ogooue province. A European Union mission, which observed Gabons presidential poll, has raised questions over a disputed election result from a southeastern province, where President Ali Bongo won 95.46 percent of votes cast. An analysis of the number of non-voters as well as blank and disqualified votes reveals a clear anomaly in the final results in Haut-Ogooue, Mariya Gabriel, the head of the EU observation mission in Gabon, said in a statement on Tuesday. The integrity of the provisional results in this province is consequently compromised. Bongo, whose family has ruled Gabon for nearly half a century, was declared the winner of the August 27 election by a slender margin of fewer than 6,000 votes over his rival, Jean Ping. The opposition leader, however, has called the result fraudulent and demanded a recount. Post-election clashes between his supporters and security forces have resulted in the deaths of between 50 and 100 people, Ping said on Tuesday. The governments official casualty count stands at just three dead. In order to restore the confidence of Gabon, I reiterate my call that the Gabonese authorities publish the poll results by polling station in the country, in order to facilitate a possible claim, which remains the way to solve, in compliance with the law, the crisis of confidence in the results, Gabriel, of the EU mission, said. Gabons electoral commission members fiercely debated the count for Haut-Ogooue, the heartland of Bongos Teke ethnic group, which the opposition claims was inflated to give Bongo a victory. Thousands of protesters poured on to the streets of the capital Libreville, accusing the government of election fraud following the announcement of Bongos victory. About 800 people were arrested in the clashes with security forces and Gabons parliament was badly damaged by a fire set by protesters. Seraphin Moundounga, Gabons justice minister, resigned on Monday over the governments failure to organise a recount as pressure mounts of the questionable vote return. Having noticed that the government was not responding to concerns about the need for peace and for the consolidation of democracy, I decided to step down from my functions as a member of government, Moundounga told Radio France Internationale. This is the second time that Gabon has experienced unrest following a Bongo presidential victory. In 2009, Bongo was declared winner of the presidential election following the death of his father, Omar, who had ruled the tiny oil-rich state for 41 years. Bongos victory was also disputed that year and in the ensuing clashes several people were killed, buildings looted and the French consulate in the economic capital Port-Gentil was torched. Seraphin Moundounga resigns over governments failure to organise recount as President Bongos win touches off riots. Gabons justice minister has resigned in protest over the re-election of President Ali Bongo, which has prompted accusations of fraud and street riots that have killed at least six people. Bongo has claimed victory by a slender margin of around 6,000 votes, but opposition leader Jean Ping has called a general strike in response to what he says is a fraudulent re-election. Seraphin Moundounga resigned on Monday over the governments failure to organise a recount. Having noticed that the government was not responding to concerns about the need for peace and for the consolidation of democracy, I decided to step down from my functions as a member of government, Moundounga told Radio France Internationale. READ MORE: Gabon opposition leader demands a recount France had joined the EU and the US in calling for the results to be published according to each polling station but, until now, had stopped short of demanding a recount. Al Jazeeras Catherine Soi, reporting from the capital, Libreville, said that government officials tried to downplay Moundoungas resignation. They say that the former minister, of all people, should know that the law says that aggrieved party needs to go to the Constitutional Court, file a petition, and only the Constitutional Court can order a recount. Our correspondent added, however, that the resignation was very embarassing to the government and a significant blow to Bongo. This was a powerful minister who held a very powerful docket, Soi said. Ping, a veteran diplomat, called for the general strike to force the tyrant out. We cannot accept that our people will be killed like animals without reacting, Ping wrote on Facebook. I propose to cease all activity and begin a general strike. We must use all means of resistance to topple this tyrant and believe me, he is on the verge of falling. Post-election violence Pings appeal seems to have gone largely unheeded in the capital, Libreville, where banks and shops have reopened after being shut for days owing to post-election violence, and taxis have returned to the streets. The AFP news agency says post-election chaos has claimed at least six lives in Gabon, ruled by the Bongo family since 1967. Gabonese authorities, however, say the death toll stands at three, besides 105 wounded, and that some deaths were previously attributed incorrectly to the clashes. Around 800 people have been arrested in recent days in Libreville accused of looting. Meanwhile, a high-level African Union delegation, including heads of state, is ready to be dispatched to Libreville to help calm the situation, AU chairman and Chad President Idriss Deby said. Kofi Annan, the former UN chief, has been given a hostile welcome by local Buddhists in Myanmars western Rakhine state where he will investigate the religious conflict that has displaced tens of thousands of Muslim Rohingya people. Annan has been entrusted by Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Myanmars new government, with the task of finding ways to heal wounds in the bitterly divided and impoverished region. Hundreds turned out on Tuesday morning as Annan landed at Sittwe Airport to make clear that he was not welcome. Many booed and shouted No Kofi-led commission as his convoy left the state capital airport, holding signs reading No to foreigners biased intervention in our Rakhine States affairs. READ MORE: EU parliament condemns Myanmar persecution of Rohingya Annan, who has promised to be impartial in his approach to the conflict, is expected to meet Rakhine leaders as well as visit camps where tens of thousands of Rohingya languish in punishing poverty. However, the regions largest political group, the Arakan National Party, has already ruled out meeting Annan. Members of the nearly one-million-strong Rohingya community are largely denied citizenship and the government does not recognise them as an official ethnic minority. Their appalling living conditions, including heavy restrictions on movement, have led tens of thousands to flee, many via treacherous sea journey south towards Malaysia. Last week, Ban Ki-moon, the sitting UN chief, called on Myanmar to grant citizenship to the the group and respect their right to self-identify as Rohingya. However, the issue remains sensitive to local Buddhists. Rakhine, which borders Bangladesh, has been scarred since 2012 by bouts of communal violence between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and a minority Muslim population. More than 100 people have been killed the majority Muslims while tens of thousands of the stateless Rohingya group have spent the past four years trapped in displacement camps with limited access to health care and other basic services. Aung San Suu Kyi has dealt gingerly with the issue since coming to power in March, drawing criticism from rights groups, which have urged her to use her moral weight to alleviate the Rohingyas plight. Zeid Raad al-Hussein says rhetoric of populists such as Trump and Wilders can descend into colossal violence. The UN human rights chief has accused US presidential candidate Donald Trump and Dutch nationalist Geert Wilders, among others, of spreading humiliating racial and religious prejudice. Zeid Raad al-Hussein said on Monday that populist, demagogues and political fantasists like Wilders and Trump, as well as Nigel Farage in Britain and Marine Le Pen in France, were using fear tactics similar to those of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS and Daesh). Make no mistake, I certainly do not equate the actions of nationalist demagogues with those of Daesh, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said at a gala dinner organised by the Hague-based Peace, Justice and Security Foundation. But in its mode of communication, its use of half-truths and oversimplification, the propaganda of Daesh uses tactics similar to those of the populists. And both sides of this equation benefit from each other indeed would not expand in influence without each others actions, he added, calling for global action to lessen the influence of populist politics that could turn violent. WATCH: The Rise of Trump Zeid labelled Wilders March 2017 election platform, which calls for no Muslim immigrants, the closing of mosques and the banning of the Quran, as grotesque. In a tweet, Wilders called Zeid, the son of a Jordanian prince and Swedish-born mother, an idiot. The UN is grotesque, the Dutch right-wing politician responded. Lets get rid of these bureaucrats. Colossal violence Zeid said Wilders rhetoric could have terrible consequences. History has perhaps taught Mr Wilders and his ilk how effectively xenophobia and bigotry can be weaponised, Zeid said. The atmosphere will become thick with hate; at this point it can descend rapidly into colossal violence. Zeid said discrimination was accelerating in workplaces, children were being shamed and shunned for their ethnic and religious origins. They are not really European, Zeid said. Entire communities are being smeared with suspicion of collusion with terrorists. Zeids speech drew a standing ovation from the crowd at the gala. Rhetoric escalates between regional rivals Riyadh and Tehran over 2015 Hajj tragedy and this years pilgrimage. Saudi Arabias grand mufti has said Tehrans leaders are not Muslims, a day after Irans supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Saudi authorities of being responsible for the deaths of Muslims during last years deadly crush at the Hajj pilgrimage. The rhetoric from the regional rivals mostly Sunni Saudi Arabia and majority-Shia Iran comes as preparations are under way for the start of this years Hajj pilgrimage, and Islams holy festival of Eid al-Adha on Monday. In comments to the Makkah newspaper published on Tuesday, Saudi Arabias Grand Mufti Abdulaziz Al Sheikh was quoted as saying that Khameneis remarks blaming Riyadh for last years tragedy were not surprising because Iranians are descendants of Magi. Magi refers to Zoroastrians and those who worship fire. Predating Christianity and Islam, Zoroastrianism was the dominant religion in Persia before the Arab conquest. We must understand they are not Muslims, for they are the descendants of Majuws, and their enmity towards Muslims, especially the Sunnis, is very old, Saudis grand mufti said, according to the AP news agency. Khamenei, in remarks published on his website on Monday, started the verbal jousting, accusing Saudi Arabia of denying medical treatment to the victims of the 2015 Hajj crush. Heartless and murderous Saudis locked up the injured with the dead in containers instead of providing medical treatment and helping them or at least quenching their thirst. They murdered them, Khamenei wrote on his website, AP reported. Khamenei also urged Muslims around the world to reconsider Saudi Arabias custodianship and management of Islams holiest sites, including in Mecca where the Hajj is performed. Riyadh said 769 pilgrims were killed in the 2015 stampede and crush the highest Hajj death toll since a crush in 1990. However, counts of fatalities by countries who repatriated bodies showed that more than 2,000 people may have died in the crush, more than 400 of them Iranians, according to news agencies. Pilgrims need serenity Khaled Batarfi, senior columnist with the Saudi Gazette, told Al Jazeera that the rebuke to Saudi Arabia over last years tragedy contrasted with Irans health minister, who said during a visit to the country at the time of the accident that Saudi authorities had provided all needed medical assistance and care to victims of the crush, including Iranian pilgrims. Iran has long attempted to politicise the Hajj, Batarfi said, including political marches at the pilgrimage against the US, Israel and Jews that were not acceptable. This is a place where other pilgrims need serenity to feel at peace, he said, adding that citizens of more than 50 nations participate in the Hajj each year and keep politics out of it. Except the Iranians. They insist year after year on doing that, and every time they do that is a crisis happens, accidents happen, he said. In late May, Saudi Arabia and Iran failed to reach a deal on arrangements for Iranians to attend this years pilgrimage to Mecca, with officials from both countries trading accusations on who was to blame for the impasse. Late on Monday, Saudi state news agency SPA quoted the countrys Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef as saying that Iranian leaders were responsible for keeping their own people from the Hajj by attempting to politicise the pilgrimage. The Iranian authorities are the ones who dont want the Iranian pilgrims to come here for reasons concerning the Iranians themselves and in light of them seeking to politicise Hajj and turn it into rituals against Islams teachings and that compromise the safety of Hajj, the crown prince said, according to Reuters news agency. Tehran and Riyadh severed diplomatic relations in January after Saudi Arabia executed 47 terrorists, including a Shia religious leader and a convicted al-Qaeda leader, and angry Iranian crowds stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran. Activists say Syrian government forces dropped two barrel bombs loaded with chlorine gas in a rebel-held area of Aleppo. A suspected chlorine gas attack on an opposition-held neighbourhood in the Syrian city of Aleppo has caused at least one death and dozens of cases of suffocation, according to local activists and medical sources. A video obtained by Al Jazeera shows what activists say is the aftermath of an attack in the rebel-held al-Sukkari neighbourhood in eastern Aleppo. They say that the Syrian government used a helicopter to drop two barrel bombs loaded with gas on residents, killing at least one person and injuring more than 100. Rescue workers also said that Syrian government helicopters dropped suspected chlorine bombs on the neighbourhood on Tuesday. The Syrian Civil Defence and the Syrian American Medical Society posted videos and photos on social media showing children doused in water using oxygen masks to breathe. Another reported use of chlorine gas in besieged eastern #Aleppo City. Casualties include many children. pic.twitter.com/HTQ2jcL0kJ sams_usa (@sams_usa) September 6, 2016 The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks daily developments in the Syrian war, said more than 70 people in Sukkari were left choking and needed treatment after the dropping of barrel bombs by Syrian government helicopters. Activists on the ground are saying that victims that were rushed to the hospitals are experiencing breathing difficulties, Al Jazeeras Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from the Turkish city of Gaziantep near the Syria-Turkey border, said. They say that symptoms are the same that they have experienced in the past and this led them to believe that this is a chlorine gas attack. The opposition Aleppo Media Centre also charged on its Twitter account that Sukkari was the target of a chlorine attack. OPINION: We must not let chemical weapons to become the norm Last month, an inquiry by the UN and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons found that Syrian government forces were responsible for two toxic gas attacks in 2014 and 2015 involving the use of chlorine. The Syrian Civil Defence accused the government of another chlorine attack in August. The UN said they were investigating this allegation. Accusations by the opposition that the Syrian government dropped chlorine gas in a barrel bomb on Aleppo are likely to further increase tension in the city that is now besieged by government troops, Al Jazeeras Ahelbarra said. The UN said that they have been investigating reports of what they believed to be chlorine gas dropped on Aleppo; they say if those accusations are confirmed that would amount to war crimes. READ MORE: Calls for sanctions over chemical weapons Meanwhile, rebel factions launched a new offensive in Aleppo on Tuesday to regain some of the areas they have recently lost. Government forces put eastern Aleppo under siege on Sunday for a second time since July after advancing against rebels on the citys outskirts. The city has long been divided between government-held areas in the west and opposition-controlled neighbourhoods in the east. Last month, opposition forces managed to break the crippling blockade on several districts of Aleppo. The rebel push to break the siege in Aleppo failed in the past because of divisions among the different factions operating in the area and the growing Russian involvement in the Syrian conflict, said Al Jazeeras Ahelbarra. Many are now calling for a merger of all rebel factions for the purpose of taking over the city of Aleppo. READ MORE: ISILs Abu Mohamed al-Adnani dead in Syrias Aleppo Aleppo has been one of the areas hardest hit by escalating violence in recent months after a partial truce brokered by the United States and Russia in February crumbled. It is estimated that about 300,000 civilians are currently trapped in the city. US election kicks into high gear, with both candidates spending Labour Day in battleground state of Ohio. New York The public holiday that kick-starts the home stretch of frantic campaigning for the US presidential election was dominated by two familiar questions whether Donald Trump is stable enough, and whether Hillary Clinton is trustworthy enough, to run the country. Republican presidential nominee Trump and Clinton, his Democratic rival, both flew to the battleground state of Ohio on Monday for a Labour Day holiday that signals the start of two final months of handshaking and speech-making before the November 8 ballot. Trump met union members in Cleveland and attended a state fair, while Clinton, speaking with reporters before marching in a Labour Day parade, said the race had become a mad dash for the White House. Im more than ready, she added. Though she leads Trump in an average of polls by some four percentage points, Clinton was on the back foot again this weekend after the latest in a series of damaging revelations over her use of private email while serving as secretary of state. On Friday, the FBI released 58 pages of notes from a probe that ended with the agencys director James Comey declaring that Clinton and her staff had been extremely careless when handling classified information. On Monday, Trumps deputy campaign manager David Bossie decried Clintons terrible judgment, incompetence and dishonesty targeting one of the former first ladys crucial weaknesses in the eyes of voters. Referendum on Trump Trump still trails Clinton in many battleground states where the election is likely to be decided, but he has drawn close to her in others. The forecaster FiveThirtyEight gives Clinton a 72.3 percent chance of winning, against Trumps 27.7 percent. Trumps rebound from a series of self-inflicted blows has followed the hiring of new campaign managers. The coiffed property mogul is showing more discipline at rallies, reading from teleprompters rather than risking more off-the-cuff gaffes. But Trumps visit to a largely African-American church congregation in Detroit on Saturday highlighted how much work he still has to do with blacks, Latinos and other minority groups. Outside, scores of protesters chanted: No justice, no peace. OPINION: Fear of a black and brown America As the homestretch of the election begins, it is increasingly clear that it will be a referendum on Trump. Despite what his campaign says, they face an uphill battle, and it resembles Mount Everest, Jonathan Cristol, a scholar from the World Policy Institute think-tank, told Al Jazeera. Last week, Trumps campaign team celebrated a success after the New York businessman made a quick trip to Mexico, appearing side by side with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto after talks about Trumps wall-building and anti-immigrant policies. An immigration speech Trump gave after his trip to Mexico, however, drew criticism from some of his Hispanic supporters and several backers advising him on the issue decided to split from his campaign. Trump is hoping that he can do something similar to the UKs Brexit vote, where mobilising a populist fear of immigrants can build a cross-class alliance of white people at a time of deep economic insecurity, New York University scholar Arun Kundnani told Al Jazeera. It may work, but it looks like the demographics wont enable that to happen in the US like it did in Britain. This pivotal month of campaigning culminates in the first presidential debate on September 26 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. The televised face-off could be one of Trumps last chances to stop Clintons return to the White House. But it remains unclear how the brash insults he used to sideswipe rivals in the earlier Republican-only debates will translate into a one-on-one with Clinton, an experienced debater who can reel off policies and statistics. As preparations for the debates are well under way, critics say the entry rules are too tough. Candidates must average at least 15 percent support in national polls to win a spot on the stage a bar that will likely exclude such alternatives as the Libertarian Gary Johnson and the Green Partys Jill Stein. Jeff Cohen, an Ithaca College media scholar, said more candidates from across the political spectrum deserve a place on the presidential debate stage as voters are abandoning the major parties in ever-greater numbers. The two major party candidates are the least popular in recent US history and the two major parties have less support than at any time in modern history, Cohen told Al Jazeera. The US is the first modern democracy, and our presidential elections have become a sham, where were deciding who to vote against from two unpopular candidates. Turnout crucial In addition to her debating skills, Clinton has millions of dollars at her disposal to air television adverts and power a get-out-the-vote operation in toss-up states. She raised a combined $143m in August for her campaign and her party her best month of fundraising yet. She started September with more than $68m in her campaigns bank account to use against Trump, who has not yet released initial fundraising totals for August. The homestretch of the election is not going to be about changing the minds of voters in suburban Philadelphia, but about organisation and turnout. At this point, I doubt there are many people who are undecided about Trump, said Cristol. Trump knows this, which is way he has essentially called for a campaign of intimidation at polling places, and has started to question the legitimacy of the American system. Follow James Reinl on Twitter: @jamesreinl Turkish army says three of its soldiers were killed in an attack by ISIL near the town of al-Rai in northern Syria. Three Turkish soldiers have been killed and four wounded during clashes with ISIL fighters in northern Syria, according to Turkeys armed forces. The deaths are the first to be blamed on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group, also known as ISIS, since the launch of Turkeys cross-border operation two weeks ago. In a statement on Tuesday, the Turkish military said ISIL elements had targeted two of its tanks in a rocket attack near the Syrian town of al-Rai. IN PICTURES: Operation Euphrates Shield ends ISIL rule in Jarablus The army initially said that two of its troops had been killed, but later said another soldier had succumbed to his wounds. Two Ankara-backed Syrian fighters were killed and two wounded in clashes with ISIL in the same region, it said. Turkey first sent tanks across the border on August 24 as part of a two-pronged offensive against ISIL and Kurdish-led forces. Four days later, the Turkish army suffered its first fatality in northern Syria in a similar rocket attack blamed on Kurdish militia. The army said on Tuesday that the ISIL attack took place in the Wuquf village, south of al-Rai, where Turkish tanks opened a second front in their Syria operation at the weekend. The area is west of Jarablus near the Turkish border which was taken from ISIL by the Ankara-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) at the start of the operation. Meanwhile, Turkish media reported that Wuquf and Sadvi villages, both near al-Rai, were seized from ISIL by FSA fighters. READ MORE: ISIL driven out from Turkey-Syria border On Sunday, ISIL fighters were expelled from their last positions along the Turkish-Syrian border, depriving the group of a key crossing point for recruits and supplies. Turkey wants to establish a safe zone in the 91km area stretching from Jarablus to Azaz to the west. Our 91km border has been completely secured, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said during a televised speech on Sunday. All terrorist organisations have been repulsed and they have gone. READ MORE: Kurds and refugees behind Turkeys Syria offensive Dubbed Euphrates Shield, Turkeys operation, which involves tanks, fighter jets and special forces, is targeting both ISIL but also Syrian Kurdish forces that have been key to driving ISIL fighters out of other parts of the Syrian-Turkish border. The Kurdish YPG militia is a key partner of the US-led coalition against ISIL, and has recaptured large swaths of territory in Syria from the group. Yet, Ankara considers the YPG a terrorist group and has been alarmed by its expansion along the border, fearing the creation of a contiguous, semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Syria. A UK court has sentenced British cleric Anjem Choudary to five-and-a-half years in prison for inviting support for the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) group. Choudary, 49, was sentenced on Tuesday at Londons Old Bailey court, following an earlier conviction of using online lectures and messages to encourage support for ISIL, also known as ISIS. ISIL has been proscribed as a terrorist group in Britain since June 2014, making inviting support for the group a criminal offence punishable by up to 10 years in prison. London-born Choudary ran into trouble in 2014 after his name appeared on an oath declaring the legitimacy of the proclaimed Islamic Caliphate state. Choudary said the oath had been made without his knowledge. READ MORE: ISIL sympathisers say support is growing Supporters of the preacher and his co-defendant Mohammed Mizanur Rahman who received the same sentence shouted Allahu Akbar (God is great) from the public gallery as the judge announced his decision. The trial heard that the pair used speeches to urge support for ISIL after it declared a caliphate in the summer of 2014. Judge Timothy Holroyde said Choudary was calculating and dangerous and had shown no remorse. Dressed in a white robe, Choudary showed no emotion as the sentence was passed. Choudary is the former head in Britain of Islam4UK or al-Muhajiroun, a now banned group British police previously said that the group was suspected of being the driving force behind the 2005 London bombings, while Michael Adebolajo, one of the men who hacked to death British soldier Lee Rigby on a London street in 2013, had attended protests Choudary had organised. The influence of the group, which was co-founded by Syrian-born cleric Omar Bakri Muhammad and called for Islamic law in Britain, is said to extend far beyond the UK. Buildings destroyed and around 1,400 forced to evacuate as blazes break out in the southeastern province of Alicante. More than 1,000 residents and tourists have been forced from their homes, villas and hotels along one of Spains most popular tourist coastlines as wildfire rages around the eastern Costa Blanca resorts. Authorities believe that the three fires causing havoc may have been started deliberately on Sunday afternoon. Fuelled by the intense heat and strong winds, these fires quickly roared through the dry brush lands surrounding the resort. Buildings in the town of Javea and other areas up the coast from Benidorm have been destroyed. Emergency services, backed by aircraft and military units, fought the flames through Sunday night and for much of Monday and the fires are now largely under control. Jose Maria Angel, the head of the emergency Response and Security Agency, told reporters that aircraft were dropping water every four minutes. About 1,400 people were forced to seek shelter but many have now been able to return to their properties to survey the damage. Temperatures have been up about 40C and are expected to remain high in the coming days. The strong and gusty winds are expected to ease, however. A right-wing, anti-immigration party defeats Merkels CDU in her home state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is directly opposed to everything Chancellor Angela Merkel stands for. But AfD defeated Merkels party in regional elections in her home state. The chancellors popularity is at a five-year low. Shes faced strong criticism for whats seen as her open-door refugee policy. Now, a year before national elections, voters have expressed their disapproval at the ballot box. So, will Merkel change her policy? And whats the reaction in Europe? Presenter: Adrian Finighan Guests: Thorsten Benner Director of the Global Public Policy Institute. Michael Stuermer Chief correspondent for the German newspaper Die Welt. Uli Brueckner Lecturer at Stanford University and a specialist on European integration. The bodies of victims of the crowd crush are lined up and covered in plastic in the popular nightlife district of Itaewon on Saturday. [Jung Yeon-je/AFP] In the pouring rain Sunday afternoon, labor union members and supporters protested for increased wages and better working conditions. As a part of the inaugural Labor Day Parade, about 40 cars and two horse-filled trailers traveled down West University Avenue to Bo Diddley Community Plaza. Carly Breitbart Jill Dumas, a 39-year-old Gainesville resident, sells raffle tickets to festival attendees during the Labor Daze Fest on Sunday. The grand prize winner received up to $500 of their power bill paid for by Gainesville Regional Utilities. The parade, sponsored by the North Central Florida chapter of the American Postal Workers Union, spanned seven blocks before ending at the fifth annual Labor Daze Fest, a music festival organized by workers rights activists in Alachua County. Adrian Hayes-Santos, the Gainesville city commissioner for District 4, participated in the parade. He said it was vital for workers to have the right to unionize. Im here today supporting labor and working families who are the backbone of our community, he said. Last month, Hayes-Santos pushed to raise the citys living wage to $12.25 per hour for government employees, a move many parade-goers lauded as a step in the right direction. James Ingle, a 39-year-old Gainesville resident who helped organize the music festival, said one of the main causes the event promoted was for the 10 biggest employers in the county, including UF, to pay workers $15 per hour. Muriel Newman, 51, a member of the American Federation of Government Employees, led the cars down West University Avenue. She said the rain may have discouraged some residents from participating, but it couldnt stop her. Were still here in solidarity forever, she said. Its what we do. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now A new Mexican restaurant in Gainesville served burritos to its first 20 customers at about 1:30 p.m. Monday. Felipes Mexican Taqueria, a Mexican food chain, held the grand opening of its sixth location at 1209 W. University Ave. Its the second location in Florida. Felipes likes opening restaurants in college towns, said Justin Crooks, the vice president of operations, who spent the day making burritos and filling orders. Gainesville is a neat college town that has great, diverse people that are smart and savvy that know value and quality, Crooks said. The menu includes burritos, tacos and taco bowls, as well as frozen and top-shelf margaritas. Entree prices range from about $4 to about $8. Customers can add toppings and sauces to their meals. The new location will be open Sunday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to midnight. Crooks said the recipes originate from Oaxaca, Mexico, in the southern part of the country, where the founders, the Herrera family, are from. Leticia Sanchez, a 40-year-old Miami native, said she was visiting Gainesville when she tried the queso con carne paired with two top-shelf margaritas. She said it was phenomenal. The ambiance is laid-back and makes you feel at home, Sanchez said. Customer service is super friendly, she said. And the margaritas are strong. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now To this day, Im still amazed by the colorful range of responses that an approaching hurricane will bring forth from Floridians. Non-native residents frantically plan for the looming apocalypse by stocking up on nonperishables, flashlights and bottled water. Concerned parents beg their college kids to stay indoors, avoid power lines and charge their cellphones. The more responsible among us raise an invocation to President Fuchs for giving them an opportunity to binge season two of "Narcos" and shirk all social obligations. Then there are those who laugh in the face of natural selection and Uber surges by heading out to Gainesvilles finest bars for a night of soggy fun: We all know Midtown is hellish enough without the added natural disaster. But theres a reason hurricane parties have evolved in the southeast over the past few decades. Its a lot less fun to stay at home contemplating your own mortality and the omnipotence of Mother Nature than, say, drinking cheap gin and tonics and laughing at any storm under a Category 3. So when Midtown lost power Thursday night, chants of F--- Hermine echoing through its hallowed grounds ensued as everyone was pushed out the doors and into the pouring rain. Our blissful ignorance was cut short. Like many fellow Floridians, hurricanes evoke a combination of terrifying and laughable memories. I think of moving to South Florida in fourth grade and being immediately greeted by Hurricanes Charley, Ivan, Frances and Jeanne in the first two months. I think of reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by an electric lantern over the course of six days as we waited for the power to go back on. I think of my mother checking our new backyard after the storm, only to find every one of our beautiful, old trees ripped out of the ground. I think of my parents laughing off Hurricane Katrina right before it changed course and headed straight for Louisiana. Everyone who grew up in Florida has a special melange of storm-affiliated memories. For my fellow students, however, many of these memories took place when we were old enough to understand what was happening but also young enough for the storms to be tinged with that distinct variety of childlike terror. As Hermine loomed closer, I realized that if it ended up posing an actual threat, I would have no clue what to do. What if we lost power? Or our water shut off? Or we had no cell service? All of these anxieties were smoothed over when I called my mom, whose first and only tidbit of advice was, You should try to meet a cute boy at a hurricane party. So when I found myself walking home from a prematurely dark Midtown, my cheap umbrella braced against 50-mph winds and heavy rain, I began to deeply question my decision-making skills which should come as no surprise to you by now. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now The next morning, as we walked down our street to examine the minimal damage, my friends and I laughed about how careless we had been. Video of UF student Michael Cizek biking around campus while giving a satirical account of the wreckage was shared endlessly on social media. We joked and moved on, a response that was only possible due to Hermines tame nature. Just like the hurricane party itself, laughing in the face of potential danger without getting yourself killed is an integral step in preparing for any natural disaster. Besides, its a hell of a lot more fun than stocking up on candles and worrying at home alone. Marisa Papenfuss is a UF English senior. Her column appears on Tuesdays. Hello, dear readers. So, this is David, coming out of the closet to speak to you directly. For the past six months or so, Ive been your opinions editor, but this here is my last editorial for a while. Ill be exploring some other shenanigans. Actually, the National Security Agency got ahold of my writing and is threatening to hurt my family if I dont stop. Send help. Everything you know is a lie. Just kidding or maybe thats what they want you to think. Anyway, politics. Thats a thing. With me stepping down, I expect you frequent readers (hi, Mom and Dad) will want some age-old wisdom, the sacred pearls of knowledge passed from opinions editor to opinions editor since the dawn of time. Or not. I wouldnt call it wisdom. The only real difference between you and me is that youre allowed to walk away from news; I get to write about it every day. And you tend to see the same nonsense again and again when youre tied to the news cycle. Do any of you like the Red Hot Chili Peppers? I do. (I know that seemed completely random, but just wait. Itll make sense.) Some of you may know the band got its new guitarist, Josh Klinghoffer, around 2009 and later came out with the album Im With You. Everyone and their mothers will tell you how much better the groups former guitarist, John Frusciante, was, but keep in mind the only thing haters love more than hating is hopping on bandwagons. I could go on forever about the Chili Peppers, but what matters for us right now is this: Some of the greatest music from the Im With You era wasnt even showcased on the album. Instead, many of the real gems were buried in the later-released B-side album, Im Beside You. Get it? B-side. Beside. Take this as a lesson, dear readers. Dont settle for whats presented to you and judge everything and assume you know it all (Im With You). Humble yourself; dig deeper (Im Beside You). Theres always more going on behind the scenes than what you can account for. If all you did was watch the world through your toilet paper roll of choice, be it Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC, etc., youd think the 2016 election and Donald Trumps empty podium right before a major speech were the only things that ever mattered this year. The same way whoever the hell managed and produced Im With You obscured the reality of Josh Klinghoffer in the Chili Peppers, the current big media outlets have obscured and even falsely presented the political reality. Its not like bias is inherently evil. This entire piece is full of it: I think a lot of big media do people a disservice by withholding important stories and prioritizing sensationalism. Therefore, I want people to hunger for more accurate, transparent and in-depth news. Boom. Thats my agenda. Sue me. (Dont actually do that; I have no money.) And dont get me wrong: Im not saying these news outlets are illegitimate. I will say, however, they willfully misinform and misguide the public. And the ones who lose in the end are you and me. So, what should you do? Never settle for whats given to you. Read as many sources as you can, seek out independent media like The Intercept, Democracy Now! and The Young Turks, look to satire (John Oliver is king), and listen to what others have to say. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Stay hungry. Never be complacent with what you think you know. I leave you with this Jon Stewart quote: The best defense against bullshit is vigilance. So if you smell something, say something. 2005 .. English News Belt and Road initiative highlighted at G20 Summit Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 6 Septembre 2016 By Yu Yang, Shi Pengfei, Hu Zexi, Huang Fahong from the Peoples Daily Chinas "Belt and Road" initiative has become a major buzzword at the G20 Hangzhou Summit. Experts have stated that as a proposal aimed at boosting economic development, the initiative and the G20, as a mechanism specializing in economic governance, should be able to complement each other given their broad coverage. In a speech delivered at the B20 summit that opened Saturday, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to the world that China's development has benefited from the international community, and we are ready to provide more public goods to the international community. He further elaborated that I have proposed the initiative of building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road to share Chinas development opportunities with countries along the Belt and Road and achieve common prosperity. Hangzhou, the host city of this years G20 summit, is located at the intersection of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. In ancient times, it was thanks to these two routes counterparts that the city stayed connected to the outside world. Marco Polo, the well-known Italian merchant traveler, hailed the city as the finest and most splendid city in the world when he visited Hangzhou over 700 years ago. Via these routes, silk was exported worldwide as early as the Song Dynasty about 1,000 years ago, bringing fame to the picturesque city. Currently, the booming silk industry along the modern routes is still making great contributions to regional development. Data shows that Zhejiang Province's export value of textile machines in the first seven months of this year reached 2.84 billion yuan ($425 million), of which 2.42 billion yuan was contributed by countries along the Belt and Road. Given their broad coverage, the Belt and Road Initiative and the G20, with both their common ground and different emphases, are now carrying more weight in the global economy. The Belt and Road Initiative reaches out to more than 60 countries and regions whose total population reaches 4.4 billion and an economic aggregate of $21 trillion. The Belt and Road initiative focuses on the structural reform of the world economy, said Wan Zhe, a chief economist with the International Cooperation Center (ICC) of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), adding that instead of self-isolation, the initiative seeks to take advantage of countries ability to complement each other and work toward common development. While economic crisis often leads to seclusion, the proposal made by China is a signal to the world that a community of shared destinies in Eurasia and even the world can be established through deeper collaboration, she further pointed out. The global media is also paying close attention to the initiative. According to Deputy Editor-in-Chief Saad F. Al-Ejaiban of the Saudi Arabian newspaper Al Jazirah, locals are still discussing Xis January Saudi visit. Many are also saying that the initiative will able to tighten bilateral ties and promote the economic transformation of both countries. As of July, China had invested a total of $51.1 billion to countries along the Belt and Road. In 2015, the bilateral trade volume between China and these countries exceeded $1 trillion. In addition, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Silk Road Fund are sure to substantially accelerate global infrastructure construction. As infrastructure construction usually requires a large amount of capital, the Belt and Road Initiative, AIIB and other China-led programs will be able to facilitate the implementation of decisions reached at the G20 Summit by boosting the infrastructure construction of Belt and Road en-route countries, said Astrid Skala-Kuhmann, director of the Department of Emerging Economies-Global Partnerships under the German Corporation for International Cooperation. After the cooperation proposal was launched by China three years ago, over 100 countries and international organizations have joined the initiative, over 30 en-route nations have inked cooperation agreements with China and more than 20 states have launched international cooperation projects with China. With AIIB and the Silk Road Fund as examples, a series of representative projects have been launched. By pushing forward the Belt and Road initiative, establishing the AIIB and hosting the G20 Hangzhou Summit, China has provided a lot to the international community and contributed more to reform of global economic governance, Jonny Erling, reporter of Germany-based Die Welt commented. Dans la meme rubrique : < > China's FAST discovers largest atomic cloud in universe China to make greater contributions to human progress China willing to work with the international community to promote equality, mutual learning, dialogue, and inclusiveness among civilizations Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena) Hailing Jim Yong Kim as a competent World Bank chief, Chinese Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao pledged Chinas support to Kims reappointment as the banks president at a G20 press conference on Friday. "Kim is a qualified president who has played a constructive role in promoting cooperation between the World Bank and China," Zhu said. Given the tremendous efforts Kim has made in boosting global development and poverty alleviation, Zhu said the reappointment would be in line with the open, transparent and merit-based principles of the multilateral development institution. China, which is a significant shareholder of the World Bank, has forged an exceptional partnership with the bank through fruits reaped from long-term cooperation, Zhu noted. The Vice Finance Minister also pointed out that China accepted soft loans from the World Bank before, and is still using its hard loans, which has advanced the economic construction and reform of China. China will contribute to the World Banks lending window within its capacity, Zhu said. English News G20 financial work on right track: PBOC Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 6 Septembre 2016 G20 members agreed on a multi-pronged approach of using all policy tools-monetary, fiscal and structural-individually and collectively to support growth, and this marked a milestone in the G20s recent history of macroeconomic policy coordination. By Zhang Huizhong from Peoples Daily Beijing, China, 1st September - The Peoples Bank of China (PBC) held a news briefing on September 1 and introduced the outcomes of the G20s financial work. The briefing noted that China had worked closely with all G20 members towards an innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economy, and tremendous efforts have been made in the areas of macroeconomic policy coordination, innovative growth, more effective global economic and financial governance, and inclusive and interconnected development. The briefing, Finance Tracks Progress toward the G20 Hangzhou Summit, detailed the outcomes on the issues of strong, sustainable and balanced growth framework, international financial architecture, financial sector reforms, financial inclusion, and green finance. The briefing underlined G20s first time discussion on Green Finance this year. It was reported that a G20 Green Finance Study Group was established, and the study group had developed a G20 Green Finance Synthesis Report that clarified the definition, mandate and scope of green finance, identified challenges faced by green finance and provided voluntary options for countries to consider, which could provide support for the transition into a green and low-carbon growth model. Referring to the strong, sustainable and balanced growth framework, the briefing concluded that the G20 actively engaged in discussions on macroeconomic policy coordination, deepening the structural reform agenda, and promoting openness and inclusive growth, and reached consensus on many fronts. Documents will be issued this year include the Hangzhou Action Plan, the 2016 Accountability Assessment Report, and 2016 country growth strategies by members. It was reported in the briefing that G20 members agreed on a multi-pronged approach of using all policy tools-monetary, fiscal and structural-individually and collectively to support growth, and this marked a milestone in the G20s recent history of macroeconomic policy coordination. In addition, G20 members for the first time agreed to consult closely on exchange markets, so as to foster confidence and stabilize markets. As for the international financial architecture, it was said in the briefing that China resumed the International Financial Architecture Working Group (IFA WG) under its G20 presidency, and a report named the G20 Agenda towards a More Stable, More Resilient International Financial Architecture had been produced, summarizing recommendations to improve the international financial architecture in five areas such as examining the broader use of SDR, further strengthening the Global Financial Safety Net, improving debt restructuring processes, advancing the IMF quota and governance reform, and improving the monitoring and handling of capital flow. On financial sector reform, the briefing concluded that this years G20 focused on building an open and resilient financial system, summarizing elements of effective macro-prudential policies, developing robust financial market infrastructures and promoting financial inclusion. Dans la meme rubrique : < > China's FAST discovers largest atomic cloud in universe China to make greater contributions to human progress China willing to work with the international community to promote equality, mutual learning, dialogue, and inclusiveness among civilizations Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena) English News Hangzhou Summit to give fresh impetus to recovery, growth: Turkish Ambassador Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 6 Septembre 2016 China is already an important economic global actor. Through strengthening global economic governance architecture, the G20 has the potential to help China expand its role in global economic governance, Ersoy concluded. Provided by Peoples Daily Meng Xianglin from Peoples Daily As the premier global economic forum, the G20 should continue to demonstrate leadership against the challenges in the economy. The Hangzhou Summit will give fresh impetus to the worlds economic recovery and growth. Preparatory work is going smoothly, and I believe that the Hangzhou Summit will be a success, The Turkish Ambassador Ali Murat Ersoy said during an interview with the Peoples Daily. According to Esroy, although the G20 was created in response to the global financial crisis, it is also a reflection of the need to form a strong, representative group to deal with global governance issues. G20 is a major global economic governing platform with broad representation, reflecting demands of emerging markets and developing countries as well. Leaders of G20 members should focus on making the G20 more relevant to other parts of the world, such as low-income developing countries. Ersoy explained that the regular engagement of the G20 with non-government sectors is immensely important, such as business (B20), civil society (C20), labor (L20), think tanks (T20) and youth (Y20), and he is proud that the Women-20 (W20) was added to this list last year. The Antalya G20 Summit was centered on the 3 Is Inclusiveness, Implementation, and Investment. The Hangzhou Summit added innovation with its theme Toward an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy, steering the G20 mechanism to become a more effective forum for global governance of growth, trade and investment. Speaking on the theme of Hangzhou Summit, Ersoy said, The theme is very relevant. An innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economy cannot be built without the input of developing countries. Therefore, inclusiveness is immensely important. In fact, inclusiveness was one of the priorities of the Turkish Presidency which was very well received by G20 members and non-members alike last year. We are happy to see that China has chosen to keep inclusiveness as an important priority on the G20 agenda. However, inclusiveness needs to be supported by invigoration and innovation. Connectivity will be a critical part of the equation, [because] without sufficient infrastructure, [then] inclusiveness, invigoration and innovation cannot be universal. Ersoy said, We support the Chinese Presidencys proposal to focus on fiscal and monetary policy cooperation and coordination to respond to such risks. We also appreciate the focus on innovation, the new industrial revolution and the digital economy. These are all important topics that the G20 should be working on. The Chinese Presidency has attached special importance to trade and investment and introduced an ambitious trade and investment agenda as well, and set up a new Working Group on Trade and Investment. Chinas efforts concentrate on strengthening international trade growth and the multilateral trade system, which are in line with Turkeys interests. Speaking on bilateral relations, Ersoy said that both sides were working closely in many areas and that cooperation is deepening, as leaders of our two countries met twice last year and produced tangible results. As a follow-up to the G20 Antalya Summit, Turkey has a special interest in formulating action plans to implement the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The ambassador also stressed that, Bilateral trade between Turkey and China is around $27 billion. For years now, the trade balance has been in favor of China. Strengthening successful export policies and promoting exports from Turkey to China are among our priorities. Another remedy to this unbalanced trade is to increase direct investments from China to Turkey. He also mentioned tourism as an important medium to increase contact between people and said that Turkish Airlines is ready to increase its number of flight destinations to China. Speaking on Chinas global influence, Ersoy said, As China becomes more powerful, it is more and more active in international affairs. The Belt and Road is also an initiator of ideas that can be a driving power for the global economy and enhance connectivity. Chinas initiatives like the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank and the Silk Road Fund, along with its role within the BRICS and hosting the New Development Bank, indicate its capabilities as a key player in global economic issues. China is already an important economic global actor. Through strengthening global economic governance architecture, the G20 has the potential to help China expand its role in global economic governance, Ersoy concluded. Dans la meme rubrique : < > China's FAST discovers largest atomic cloud in universe China to make greater contributions to human progress China willing to work with the international community to promote equality, mutual learning, dialogue, and inclusiveness among civilizations Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena) Meta Financial Group in Sioux Falls, S.D., has promoted Cynthia Smith to chief operating officer. The $3 billion-asset company said Smith, its head of technology and operations, will succeed Ira Frericks, who is resigning on Sept. 9 to "to pursue other opportunities." Smith will be responsible for operations, product development, and technology and information management at the company and at its Metabank unit. Smith, who joined Meta in June 2015 as head of strategic initiatives, was promoted in November to oversee technology and operations. She was previously with Zions Bancorp. in Salt Lake City, where she was director of client contact services, customer channel management and bank card product and services. Smith "has been instrumental in Meta's recent growth and we are fortunate to have her on our leadership team," Tyler Haahr, Meta Financial's chairman and chief executive, said in a press release Tuesday. In August the company issued $75 million in debt as part of its growth-related plans that include potential acquisitions, investments in its bank and general corporate purposes. Conservative values are more conducive to lasting happiness; liberal values tend to engender fleeting pleasure. Liberals pursue happiness, but for conservatives it naturally ensues. Ever wonder why so many liberal Democrats are seething in discontent? Its because they are takers, not givers. Mounting research indicates that generosity, rather than selfishness, is more likely to produce lasting happiness, an elusive emotion for liberals who languish on the wrong side of the generosity gap. Supported by analysis of IRS tax data, theres plenty of evidence that states who voted for John McCain gave far more of their discretionary income to charity than states that voted for Obama. This phenomenon continued in 2012: the majority of states whose residents gave a greater percentage of their income to charity voted for Romney, while the states at the bottom of the generosity list voted for Obama. Conservatives are simply more generous than liberals, and it turns out that this generosity gap coincides with the happiness gap, which also favors conservatives. Indeed, a growing body of research indicates that once a persons basic needs are met, prosocial spending (like giving to charities) foments meaningful happiness compared to the shallow satisfaction wrought from liberally spending on self. Evidence that conservatives are generally happier than liberals is compelling. Pew Research Center in 2006 reported that conservative Republicans reported far higher rates of happiness than did liberal Democrats. This partisan happiness gap has endured for decades, and theres evidence that conservative values are the reason. Ever fretful, liberal malcontents postulate that happy conservatives are lacking in sympathy towards the needy, and are not burdened with social conscience. Frankly, thats nonsense concocted in a brainwashed liberal mindset riddled with confirmation bias. Actually, not only do conservatives give far more money, as a percentage of discretionary income, to charities than bleeding-heart liberals, but they also volunteer more -- much more. Arthur C. Brooks, esteemed president of the American Enterprise Institute and author of Who Really Cares, not only cites data (supported in numerous other studies) indicating that conservatives are more generous financially, but also more generous with their time. These higher levels of volunteerism are hardly indicative of the callous disregard for the downtrodden that secular progressives attribute to conservatives. Neither is the fact that conservatives also give more blood. Brooks estimates that if liberals and moderates gave blood at the rates of conservatives then the blood supply would increase about 45%. Notwithstanding the mental tightrope conjured by distraught liberals to straddle the happiness gap, profound happiness entwined with meaning and purpose are enmeshed in conservative values. Indeed, prosocial giving and volunteering are replete with social benefits for the givers as well as the recipients. Turns out that generosity is the good kind of selfishness, with happiness being the salutary by-product. Conversely, self-absorbed liberal secularists flounder from one existential crisis to another under the duress of absurdism. Preoccupied with the meaningless predicaments of their self-importance, they squander the impetus to help the less fortunate amongst us, surrendering responsibility for all forms of social welfare to an inefficient government. Core to modern liberalism is the preeminence of big government in redistributing wealth to fund all social services. The resultant labyrinth of bureaucracies pits groups against each other by dividing society into strata with varying degrees of subservience to distant administrators who capriciously divvy up societys resources. Rather than growing the pie for all, theirs is a zero-sum game in which the poor become entrapped in the self-perpetuating dependency maze. It contravenes human nature and eviscerates the happiness that accompanies personal responsibility. But helping others is deeply engrained in human nature, so its no surprise that conservative values tend to produce enduring happiness -- they are being true to themselves. Reinforcing the link between generosity and happiness, states that top the generosity list have higher rates of churchgoers. But liberals are less likely to be married or to be religious, both conditions which inherently challenge their emotional equanimity and threaten their prospects for substantial happiness. Another value that is deeply associated with happiness is freedom. Whereas money, at least when lavished on self, cant buy happiness, the freedom to make choices leads to a sense of well-being and happiness. Choices that liberal democrats want to deny you, preferring acquiescence to the whims of leviathan. Stifling political correctness and the pathos of victimhood are also eagerly embraced by liberals to the detriment of their happiness. Consider the precious little cupcakes whose delicate psyches cannot withstand the rigors of free speech. Instead of reveling in the joy and exhilaration of intellectual exploration on our nations campuses, students and professors tread in trepidation amongst their vacuous safe spaces, constantly fearful that free speech might bypass their trigger warning alerts. No wonder campuses are rife with depression and anxiety. According to our brilliant British (at time of the Declaration of Independence) founders, the pursuit of happiness is one of our unalienable rights. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has described what happiness meant to them: happiness meant that feeling of self-worth and dignity you acquire by contributing to your community and to its civic life. In a sense, happiness ensues from contributing to society, but profligate liberals would rather pursue happiness for self-gratification. Lasting happiness derives from reaching out to personally help others. Giving financially if possible; volunteering; giving blood; relishing personal responsibility and freedom; untethering the constraints of political correctness; commitment to marriage and spirituality these are conservative values from which happiness ensues. After lamenting the stinginess of liberals, the NY Times op-ed Bleeding Heart Tightwads notes that even well-heeled liberals give disproportionate amounts to well-endowed colleges or the arts, rather than organizations with direct ties to the impoverished. The author then exhorts fellow liberals to put your wallets where your hearts are. They already have! Their hearts -- and minds -- are as closed as their wallets. Their lack of giving conveniently justified by the exculpatory notion that governmental largesse will sustain the poor. For them, happiness is about instant gratification that often divides us, fraying the threads that weave E Pluribus Unum. Thats not the pursuit of happiness our brilliant British founders envisioned for the last best hope of earth. Back in the 19th century William Jennings Bryan spoke for working men everywhere when he declared: You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold! With the splendid timing characteristic of professional politicians everywhere he spoke in 1896 just before the Alaska gold rush flooded the financial system with gold and started a boom that ended only in the Crash of 1907. So the crown of thorns got lifted from the brow of labor, and when the market crashed J.P. Morgan got the richest men in America into a room to get the economy moving again. We should be so lucky. For in the age of Obama its not gold that is crucifying mankind; it is government. Look at this chart, fresh from governmentrevenue.com. Back in the bad old days of the crown of thorns at the turn of the 20th century, as you can see from the chart, the total revenue of all the governments in the U.S. was about 6-7 percent of GDP, and none of it was in income and payroll taxes. So when a working stiff went out to work he got paid approximately 100.00% of his wages. None of his wages went to the government. That blue section of the chart represents all government revenues except income taxes and social insurance taxes. Youll notice that it has about doubled since the heyday of the gold standard. Unfortunately, that is not the whole story. It is not even half of the story. Starting in 1913, the income earners of the United States have had to pay income tax. Right now individual income tax (the red band) is about 11% of GDP and corporate income tax (the green band) is about 2% of GDP. Then, starting in 1935, social insurance taxes like the FICA tax (thats the gray band) started to press down upon the brow of labor. That weight has increased steadily over the years to about 10% of GDP paid by the average working stiff. Notice something? The social insurance taxes, the ones pressing directly on the brow of labor, have gone up most since World War II. Corporate income tax has gone down, even with its 39% rate. Yay lobbyists! Now, it may be that Oliver Wendell Holmes was right to say that taxes are how we pay for civilization, but that was back in 1904. I wonder what the good justice would say now. I know what I think. I think that most likely you are getting all the civilization you are likely to get with taxes at 7% of GDP. The rest is just price gouging. The problem is that all that money, 35% of GDP, is not going for creative and innovative improvements to our way of life. It is going into spending on programs that havent changed in decades. The fact is that the 35% of GDP that the government collects and spends is the administered sector of the economy. It is a rigid system and is jealously guarded by its beneficiaries and their special interests and they want nothing to change. Youd think that big administered government programs must be the answer to all our problems. But the big story of the last 200 years is the Great Enrichment, and that has depended on bold persistent experimentation and innovation by businessmen. The only thing that government knows is force. The choice is simple. It is business innovation versus government administration. For example: the Obama years. In the innovation corner is the smartphone phenomenon that has just about put a smartphone into the hands of every American from the snarling 1% to the gentle-giant homeboy in the inner city. In the administration corner is Obamacare, a top-down administrative conceit that is wrecking health care as we know it. Innovation is a daily miracle that puts new wonders in the hands of workers and consumers. Administration is a crown of thorns that presses down daily on the brow of labor and delivers bankrupt entitlements, failing schools for the poor, and subsidies and crooked deals for political donors and crony capitalists. But wait, you say. A lot of those taxes are paid by the rich, and that is how it should be. The 1% pay about 20% of federal income tax. Very true. But the social insurance taxes are paid by ordinary workers. And the point about taxes is that you can never be sure who gets stuck with the bill. What if the income tax just lowers job growth? It is time to elect a president who will lift the crown of thorns off the brow of labor, cut taxes and spending, and celebrate innovation instead of the dead hand of system and administration and special favors for Clinton Foundation donors. Christopher Chantrill @chrischantrill runs the go-to site on US government finances, usgovernmentspending.com. Also see his American Manifesto and get his Road to the Middle Class. The election of Hillary Clinton would mean final defeat for American conservativism -- for at least a generation and almost certainly for much longer than that. The demographic changes certain to flow from eight more years of open borders, general amnesty, and distribution of the newly arrived statist voters to electorally vulnerable states would make the Lefts presidential victory this fall, for all practical purposes, permanent. And thats without considering the effect on the electorate of the increasingly intolerant and repressive educational and political environment, an environment that for eight more years would continue driving substantial segments of the populace, especially the vulnerable young, into the ever more mandatory belief systems of the Left. But dont worry: After Clintons election the elegant and witty columns of George Will, William Kristol and Jonah Goldberg, aided by the surpassing political skills of the Bush and Romney families, will save us all from both these calamities, and from all the other unnamed ones that Hillary and the Left will bring. Uh, maybe not. If Clinton prevails there will be no conservative (or Republican) president during the lifetime of any adult member of the feckless Republican royal families, or of Mr. Goldberg or the children of George Will or William Kristol. Their prediction that the presidency will be recovered in short order is a pipe dream. Over the medium term, twenty to twenty-five years, that recovery would approach demographic impossibility. Despite the inarguable magnitude of the coming Clinton/Left disaster, Republican/conservative turncoats, led by these and other members of what Peggy Noonan aptly terms the protected classes, are working for Clintons election. In unalloyed self-destructive irrationality, the support of Hillary Clinton by Never Trump commentators and Republican politicians is sui generis. Never before in American history have intellectual and political leaders of a major party deliberately attempted to open the gates of enduring power to an enemy sworn to their eradication. Are they moved by general snobbery, confusion caused by overwork, East Coast social pressure? Ive stopped trying to figure it out and stopped caring. But on a different level, on the level of their own personal careers and perceived short-term well-being, Im absolutely certain what they think: Well do fine under Clinton and the Left. Under Obama weve experienced all of what Clinton will bring and weve flourished. Under Clinton well do it again. Well continue speaking out, politely and carefully of course, and they wont touch us; we wont lose our jobs, our children wont be expelled, therell be no unpleasant changes in our expensive neighborhoods or our childrens toney private schools, well drink with the same refined people in our clubs and cocktail parties. Through it all, well continue making an excellent living as the articulate opposition to the wretchedness the Left will be imposing on the American working and middle classes. The little people, the unprotected people, will endure the downside -- low wages, high taxes, unsafe and decaying neighborhoods, destroyed public schools, and violent racial animosity. Well be the Lefts safe and well paid critics. What an appalling betrayal of the vast majority of Main Street voters who elected two Bush Presidents and made conservative intellectuals cushy lives possible! This is clear: Trumps defeat, if it occurs, will be the work of the NeverTrumps. The margin by which Trump now trails in national and battle ground polls is almost exactly equal to that small but significant segment of the Republican and conservative voter base -- some 20 - 25% -- thats still following the NeverTrumps off the cliff. Recent polling puts Trumps support among likely Republican voters at about 73% (Romney got 93% in 2012). So, if Trump falls, the NeverTrumps will be grinning beside the body -- like Brutus perhaps a bit nervously -- bloody knives in hand. But as the Clinton debacle unfolds, and their role in bringing it about is meticulously established, dissected and seared into memory, who will be their political friends? Perhaps more pertinently, where will they hide? Questions for a different essay. Victory by the execrable Clinton and the Left is still avoidable, but only if the usually overwhelming percentages of conservatives and Republicans unite behind their Partys candidate. 73% will not do, even with the new voters Trumps issue candor and personal bravery are bringing. The Republican and conservative voter base has got to be persuaded to ignore the suicidal advice of their failed former leaders and snobbish intellectuals, and come together behind a candidate who ever more clearly is solidly with them on almost all the great issues: immigration and borders, freedom of expression and religion, the role and composition of the federal judiciary, taxation and regulation, national security, and public safety. But if 20-25%% of the Republican core continues to follow the wrist slitting advice of the Never Trump crowd, the Left once again will be victorious --as in 1992, when Republican defections to Perot gave the presidency to Bill Clinton with a puny 43% of the vote. America thereafter would be permanently transformed into a new nation, molded by the Lefts dystopian dreams of multiculturalism, racial and ethnic balkanization, boiling hatred of black for white, open borders, and a government suffocated economy, a new nation whose populace would be increasingly beaten down by the dictates of governmentally mandated orthodoxies. Here -- of singular importance for any future chance of conservative governance in America -- is what we know is coming from Clinton and the Left: Intensification of the Democratic Party-sponsored third world invasion of the country. In this so far highly successful project, the Left has substituted millions of statist newcomer voters for the politically uncooperative Americans who shunned them in 1968, 1972, 1980, 1984, and 1988. But the Lefts revolutionary demographic transformation of America is not complete. A stubborn and significant core of patriots and traditionalists remains. It will be the primary task of the Clinton presidency to overwhelm this annoyingly tenacious opposition once and for all. The following states require only a modest infusion of statist newcomers to place them out of reach for any Republican or conservative presidential candidate not pledged to open borders and a huge welfare state: Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, Colorado and Arizona. When any five of these ten are gone its game over. Under Clinton, Illegals would continue moving north across Americas southern border in numbers sure to exceed those who came during Obamas presidency (a minimum of 2.5 million according to liberal leaning Pew Research and the Center for Migration Studies). In addition to the illegals, at least 1.5 million overwhelmingly third world legal immigrants will arrive annually (up from 1.1 million per year under Obama), nearly all impoverished and nearly all with expectations of government formed in their statist homelands. Added to the legal and illegal immigrants will be the sure-to-be-legalized 11-20 million illegals already here (again Pew and Homeland Security admit to 11.2 million illegals already in America, but the actual figure is unknowably higher). And if Clintons amnesty runs into Congressional opposition and she resorts to unconstitutional executive orders, this time therell be no help from the Supreme Court. The US Supreme Court will become a five vote rubber stamp for the Left immediately upon Clintons appointment of Justice Scalias replacement. That majority will be sustained or enlarged by whatever further vacancies come Clintons way. So, adding it all up, the number of new future statist client voters after Clinton will be in the neighborhood of 26-38 million: 11-20 million amnestied illegals; 12 million new, almost exclusively third world, statist voting legal immigrants; and another 4-6 million newly arrived illegals. With the full power of the federal executive branch in their hands, and no opposition from an increasingly partisan federal judiciary and Supreme Court, the re-empowered Left will move its newly chosen voters around as it chooses -- to the states where their voting presence will have the greatest effect. Have the Bush and Romney families -- and their intellectual enablers given all this even passing thought? How many of these new voters do Messrs. Kristol, Will and Goldberg expect to persuade with their erudition? Much more likely, what theyve focused on is whats always been their main concern: continued politically useless but personally remunerative occupation of the places of party power. Over the last 25 years, neither the intellectuals nor the Party leaders of the NeverTrump crowd has prevented, or even slowed, the Lefts march through our cultural institutions. And now, to round out their litany of failure, they urge us to give the Left permanent possession of the presidency and the federal judiciary. One last fatal give-away from the crowd thats already failed so grandly. I submit that Ronald Reagan, Americas most successful conservative president, and William Buckley, Americas most effective conservative intellectual, would be appalled by this selfish, self-destructive claque of clueless politicians and confused scribblers who are trying to lead America into the arms of the Left. Reagan and Buckley had the unfailingly good judgement to vigorously support the most conservative electable candidate. Especially where the US presidency was at stake. Barring calamity, the list of possible next American Presidents contains two names. There are no others. It would take Ronald Reagan or Bill Buckley all of a microsecond to give Trump their full support in this crucial election. It should be evident by now that the determined suicides within Republican Party and conservative leadership ranks cant be reached by reason. This is the time to simply ignore them. Doing so now will be good practice for the future. As for the rest of us, we can only work to ensure that, in the end, the overwhelming majority of Americas conservatives and Republicans are guided by what their greatest leaders would have done in these circumstances, and not by the willfully destructive, self-interested counsel of the snobs who are trying to hand America to the Left. In a Sunday New York Times article, oddly insensitive to the would-be socialists who comprise the Times readership, reporter Gardiner Harris fantasized about how much money Barack and Michelle might pocket from their post-White House memoirs. Publishers hope that Mr. Obamas writing ability could make his memoir not only profitable in its first years but perhaps for decades to come, gushed Harris, who compared Obamas literary talents to those of Theodore Roosevelt and Ulysses Grant. Unlike John F. Kennedy, whose authorship of Profiles in Courage has been questioned, Obamas literary skills, according to Harris, are widely accepted. To confirm that point, Harris cites a May 2008 article by the Timess Janny Scott headlined, The Story of Obama, Written by Obama. For years, Obama has encouraged this fiction. "I've written two books," he told a crowd of teachers in Virginia in July of 2008. The crowd applauded. "I actually wrote them myself," he added with a wink and a nod, and now the teachers exploded in laughter. They got the joke: Republicans were too stupid to write their books. No one much cared about Obamas second book, The Audacity of Hope, a policy brief written by committee and published in 2006. It was his 1995 memoir, Dreams from My Father, that emerged as the sacred text in the cult of Obama. There is no underestimating the importance of Dreams from My Father in the political rise of Barack Obama, New Yorker editor David Remnick would later write in his exhaustive look at Obamas life and career, The Bridge. The problem, of course, is that Obama did not write either of his books in any meaningful way. On October 9, 2008, American Thinker gave me my first extended opportunity to make the case that either Obama experienced a miraculous turnaround in his literary abilities -- his pre-Dreams work was sophomoric tripe -- or that he had major editorial help, up to and including a ghostwriter, specifically Bill Ayers. David Remnick could not control his elitist imp in discussing what happened next. Cashills assertions might well have remained a mere twinkling in the Webs farthest lunatic orbit had it not been for the fact that more powerful voices hoped to give his theory wider currency. None would be more powerful than that of Rush Limbaugh, a man who haunts the liberal imagination the way Kong did Skull Islands. On October 10 of 2008, Limbaugh played audio excerpts from Dreams and commented on them. The one that triggered my name was this, A steady attack on the White race, the constant recitation of black people's brutal experience in this country served as the ballast that could prevent the ideas of personal responsibility. Stop the tape, said Rush What is this? Ballast? He doesn't talk this way. You know, there are stories out there, he may not have written this book. Ballast was something of a give-away. Ayers, a former merchant seaman, liked nautical metaphors. So too, curiously, did Obama. I found in both Dreams and in Ayerss several works the following shared words: fog, mist, ships, sinking ships, seas, sails, boats, oceans, calms, captains, charts, first mates, floods, shores, storms, streams, wind, waves, waters, anchors, barges, horizons, harbor, bays, ports, panoramas, moorings, tides, currents, voyages (TP), narrower courses, uncertain courses, and things howling, wobbling, fluttering, sinking, leaking, cascading, swimming, knotted, ragged, tangled, boundless, uncharted, turbulent, and murky. Remnick had no use for evidence, and there was much more than the nautical. This may not have been Limbaughs most racist insinuation of the campaign. He cited others he liked less, but he concluded that our collective libel about Obamas memoir -- the denial of literacy, the denial of authorship -- had a particularly ugly pedigree. If asked, I would have traced the denial of authorship pedigree to an 1852 entry by an anonymous author in Chamberss Edinburgh Journal. Titled Who Wrote Shakespeare, the article opened a spanking new literary territory, and critics -- as diverse as Mark Twain, Sigmund Freud, and Helen Keller -- rushed in as though it were Oklahoma circa 1889. To this day, investigators continue to question Shakespeares authorship of the plays that bear his name, but not a one of them -- and there are thousands -- makes a case for Bacon or Oxford or whomever as convincingly as I had for Bill Ayers on Dreams by October 2008. If they ever do, it will be headline news. Happily for Obama, an ad hoc literary EEOC protects liberal authors of color, none more politically useful than the late Alex Haley. When Roots: The Saga of an American Family was first published in 1976, it sold millions of copies, won Haley a special nonfiction Pulitzer Prize, and has served as a progressive pedagogical cudgel for the last forty years. In fact, however, Haley had ripped off huge chunks of his book from a novel titled The African, written by a white guy, Harold Courlander. In 1978, Courlander sued Haley in a U.S. District Court in New York for copyright infringement. Midway through the trial, not wanting to attract undue attention, the judge counseled the dissembling Haley to settle with Courlander or face a perjury charge. Haley did just that to the tune of $650,000, or more than $2 million by todays standards. The literary world chose not to notice. In 1993 literary detective Philip Nobile thought he had busted Haleys fraud wide open in a deeply researched Village Voice expose. There was no Kunta Kinte, said Nobile bluntly, and he proved as much in compelling detail. Although the European media gave his research huge play, Nobile was either shunned or ignored in the United States. The Times had exactly this to say about Nobiles revelations: Two weeks ago, the charges about the authenticity of Roots and the integrity of Mr. Haley were raised anew in an investigative article by Philip Nobile in The Village Voice. Members of the Haley family have rebutted the accusations. The Times reported this in its Book Notes section on page 18. Although Remnick would take me to the progressive woodshed for my libel of Obama, he and those others who scolded me in 2008 never accepted the challenge to prove or disprove my theory. In that this remains something of a work in progress, I wrote in the October 9th article that sparked Limbaughs interest, I am willing to test my hypothesis against any standard of proof. To his credit, Remnick understood just how newsworthy that revelation should have been. This was a charge, he wrote of the fraud accusation, that if ever proved true, or believed to be true among enough voters, could have been the end of the candidacy. Four weeks before the election I was confident enough in my thesis to submit it to any test. If proved right, it would have undermined the foundational myth of Obama as genius, confirmed his intimate relationship with an unrepentant terrorist and, perhaps most damningly, established this still untested candidate as a liar of consequence. In short, it could have turned the election. I waited for some news operation with more resources and credibility to put my theory to the test. And I waited, and I waited, and I am still waiting. Jack Cashills newest book, TWA 800: The Crash, The Cover-Up, The Conspiracy, is available wherever you buy books. Someone tell me why we even bother with recognizable borders when illegal aliens can cross it with impunity and disappear? The president of the National Border Patrol Council, Local 2455 says that his agents are hampered by a lack of resources and that executive orders and "prosecutorial discretion" forces the agency to release 8 of 10 illegals they catch coming over the border and release them on to US territory. Breitbart: Border Patrol Agent Hector Garza, acting in his role as president of the National Border Patrol Council, Local 2455, appeared on Fox News Channel recently to discuss border security and the need for building a wall. Eight out of ten people that are caught entering our country illegally are not deported and are allowed to stay in the United States, Garza explained. Unfortunately for Border Patrol agents, we are trying to do our jobs as best we can with the very limited resources that we have. Garza expressed his frustration at the lack of resources made available to the agents charged with defending this nations borders. We do not have enough vehicles for our agents to patrol with, we do not get the manpower that we need. He continued by discussing the lack of proper infrastructure to safely do their jobs including communications equipment, tower cameras and weapons. Through executive orders and prosecutorial discretion Most of the people that we apprehend end up getting released into the country, he said while expressing his frustration. He explained that with the limited amount of manpower available, It is very difficult to adequately patrol the border. Keep in mind, Garza continued, if we dont have enough agents out there, there are going to be people who are going to get away and we dont know who those people are. The only people that we know who they are are the ones we are actually catching. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has pledged to secure the border with Mexico by building a wall and increasing the numbers of Border Patrol agents assigned to protect the border. The members of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) endorsed Trumps candidacy earlier this year, Breitbart Texas reported, because of his commitment to secure the border and to listen to the rank and file agents who work along the border every day. If there's one agency of the federal government that should get everything it needs to do its job, it's the border patrol. The deliberate withholding of support from this administration should amount to criminal negligence given the dangers from terrorists and other criminal elements. Beyond the dangers from people, there is the simple, direct matter of protecting our sovereignty. Other countrys' sovereignty can be found in castles, ancient battlefields, and historic icons. But we're too young a country for those symbols of sovereignty. All we really have that's ours are our borders. And if we won't recognize our own soverignty, why should any other country? At the very least, Trump will bring the right attitude about illegal immigration to the oval office if he's elected. For at least 21 years now, the U.N. and the IPCC have been ringmaster to a troupe of thousands. They perform at massive annual conferences held in exotic locations, serviced by top hotels and airlines, and funded largely, directly or indirectly, by reluctant taxpayers. An estimated 45,000 attendees, including 114 from the Australian government, achieved nothing useful at Copenhagen and just more green tape in Paris. Each of these climate-fests is preceded by numerous meetings of bureaucrats drafting and redrafting their wish lists. You may use this cartoon with acknowledgment to www.clexit.net. Now the U.N. Climateer-in-Chief, Ban Ki-moon, has jetted into the G20 summit in China to claim climate victory over climate skeptics. Is there no end to this energy-wasting climate tourism? If they believe that the science is settled, no more conferences are needed. These hypocrites lecture "pay your own way" people like us on energy conservation. Let's see them lead by example and do their chatting and scheming on the internet at their own cost. The 23-nation Clexit Coalition aims to stop all such tax-funded climate tourism. This will be discussed this week in London, at a conference where all costs are being met by the organizers and attendees. If only there were some way to blame Republicans, the media would be hammering the public with hysteria over the escalating carnage in Chicago. President Obamas adopted hometown has become a national embarrassment. It stands alone among major cities in escalating into war zone-level casualties. The Chicago Tribune reports: Nine men were killed and at least 22 other people were wounded in separate shootings over a 21-hour period Monday morning into Tuesday morning, Chicago police said. The most recent homicide left two people dead and three other people wounded in the Lawndale neighborhood on the city's West Side. The five were standing outside about 10:45 p.m. in the 2700 block of West Lexington Avenue when someone in a silver minivan opened fire toward the group on a sidewalk. A 22-year-old man was taken to Stroger Hospital and pronounced dead, and a 22-year-old man died at Mount Sinai Hospital. A 17-year-old boy was left in serious condition with a chest wound, a 20-year-old was left in serious condition with chest and arm wounds and a 16-year-old was left in critical condition with a chest wound. Another shooting left two people dead in Ogden Park as more than 100 people celebrated Labor Day there. Authorities were called to the shooting about 7:20 p.m., according to Chicago Fire Department Cmdr. Walter Schroeder. People celebrating a national holiday in a park! Life is no longer normal. The Tribune chronicles the other killings as well. It is depressing reading. Chicagoan Richard Baehr tells me that the neighborhoods where the shootings are concentrated have a population in the range of 80,000. The casualty rate in those neighborhoods should not be acceptable to any American. This is a scandal. And who is in charge? Rahm Emanuel, Obamas former chief of staff and part of the sinister Emanuel Brothers. There are opportunities here for Donald Trump to stress the ultimate civil right: the right to live. The shame of the BLM-endorsing Democrat nominee ought to be driven home for blacks, who constitute the overwhelming majority of victims. Deli ownerAhmed Alshami is being held on $2-million bond in Erie County New York on multiple charges of food stamp fraud and burglary. Hes accused of criminal possession of public benefit cards, misuse of food stamps and criminal use of a public benefit card for defrauding the welfare system. Alshamis little scheme consisted of buying food stamp cards (EBT cards) from people willing to sell them for cash, and would generally pay them half their worth. He would then use the food stamps to purchase items from big box stores for use in his store. He ran this scam between October, 2014, and March, 2016, making purchases that totaled a little over $3800. Ahmed in his store But he didnt stop there. In March of this year, Alshami allegedly burglarized an unoccupied rental property, stealing kitchen cabinets, a hot water tank, and baseboard heating units. And last year, Alshami posted a rant on his local communitys Facebook page, complete with an image of him flipping the finger while accusing locals of trying to shut down his store. He wrote: From the Davey & Ludington store owners The people who sit here and say they want the store shut down are the same people buying wraps to smoke weed We will stay open regardless of what you want Long stay the Arab stores We are gonna stay here and make this money! So try to shut us down. They're a family of charmers, all right. But keep in mind that in their culture (which is entitled to respect and deference according to the multi-culturalists), this behavior is fully justified. They are believers, and we are kufrs, by Allah's command subordinate to believers in all respects and not entitled to equal rights. Of course, Ahmed is entitled to the presumption of innocence. But his wife and daughter are already guilty of being anti-American immigrants who should not be here, but nevertheless are because we lack extreme vetting. Outside a Buffalo, New York courtroom where Alshami was arraigned on various charges, his burqua-clad wife looked into a television camera and asked defiantly, Are you happy now? F&*& you. F&*& America, while the couples daughter signaled her displeasure with the American legal system by extending the middle finger of each hand. Here is a Buffalo TV station account, including videotape: The Alshami family is a perfect illustration of the need for the extreme vetting Doanld Trump called for. Apparently, Hillary would rather let everyone in and sort them out after predictable anti-American misbehavior (and worse). President Obama emerged from a 90-minute meeting with Russian president Putin and announced there would be no retaliation for Russia's suspected hack of the DNC files and other political targets. I'm sure this pleases Putin, who is now suspected of creating a covert operation to destroy American democracy by hacking the upcoming election. Washington Times: Weve had problems with cyberintrusions from Russia in the past, from other countries in the past, Mr. Obama said. But he suggested that he didnt want to retaliate. Our goal is not to suddenly in the cyber arena duplicate a cycle of escalation that we saw when it comes to other arms races in the past, but rather to start instituting some norms so that everybodys acting responsibly, Mr. Obama said. What we cannot do is have a situation in which suddenly this becomes the wild, wild West, where countries that have significant cybercapacity start engaging in unhealthy competition or conflict through these means. U.S. officials said last week that election systems in Illinois and Arizona had been hacked and that Russia was most likely responsible. Russian hackers also have been blamed for intrusions into records of the Democratic National Committee and the House Democrats campaign organization. Earth to Obama: It's already the "wild, wild West" out there in cyberspace. Russia denies that it has carried out any cyberattacks in the U.S. Mr. Putin called the accusations against Russia by U.S. officials an attempt to distract the publics attention. At the state level, we certainly werent involved in this, Mr. Putin said. But the Russian leader said the release of information hacked from the DNC was a benefit. It doesnt really matter who hacked this data from Mrs. Clintons campaign headquarters, Mr. Putin said, referring to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, in an interview with Bloomberg News. The important thing is the content was given to the public. The hacking of the DNC material showed an apparent bias among top party officials against Mrs. Clintons top challenger for the presidential nomination, Sen. Bernard Sanders. Mr. Obama said cyberwarfare was a topic of conversation with President Putin, as it has been with other countries. But he said he didnt want to take part in a cyberspace arms race. Were going to have enough problems in the cyberspace with non-state actors who are engaging in theft and using the internet for all kinds of illicit practices, Mr. Obama said, adding that he pushed for foreign governments to adopt norms for online activity. Weve started to get some willingness on the part of countries to adopt these norms, but weve got to make sure were observing them. The president said the U.S. has the ability to wreak havoc on the internet if Washington so desired. Were moving into a new era here where a number of countries have significant capacities, he said. And, frankly, we got more capacity than anybody both offensively and defensively. Obama reminds me of former secretary of state Henry Stimson, who shut down the forerunner of the NSA in the 1920s because, as he put it, "gentlemen don't read other gentlemen's mail." Now he wants Russia and China to follow "norms" of behavior as if the deadly game of cyber-warfare could be regulated as Obama wants to regulate the coal or auto industry. Is he really this stupid? Or is he just naive? Obama thinks abjuring a tit-for-tat cyber-response makes us strong. In fact, it makes us and him look like weak sisters. Russia should be told in no uncertain terms that any attempt to hack our election will bring the wrath of God upon that country. In the wild, wild West, the good guys knew how to defend themselves. In Obama's world, cowering in the corner is standard operating procedure. Obama's adventures in diplomacy continued on his Asian trip. First he was disrespected in China when his hosts refused to roll out the red carpet for him. Then Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte angrily denounced the American leader for criticizing his murderous "war on drugs" that has left 2,400 people dead, referring to Obama as a "son of a b----." Obama promptly canceled a scheduled meeting with Duterte, which forced the Philippine government to issue a statement of regret. Reuters: The tiff between the two allies overshadowed the opening of a summit of East and Southeast Asian nations in Laos. It also soured Obama's last swing as president through a region he has tried to make a focus of U.S. foreign policy, a strategy widely seen as a response to China's economic and military muscle-flexing. He said in a speech as the summit got under way that his push to make the United States a key player in Asia-Pacific was not some "passing fad". However, diplomats say strains with longtime ally the Philippines could compound Washington's difficulties in forging a united front with Southeast Asian partners on the geostrategic jostle with Beijing over the South China Sea. Duterte has bristled repeatedly at criticism over his "war on drugs", which has killed about 2,400 people since he took office two months ago, and on Monday said it would be "rude" for Obama to raise the question of human rights when they met. Such a conversation, Duterte told reporters, would prompt him to curse at Obama, using a Filipino phrase "putang ina" which can mean "son of a [b----]" or "son of a whore". After Washington called off Tuesday's bilateral meeting between Obama and Duterte in response, the Philippines issued two statements expressing regret. "President Duterte explained that the press reports that President Obama would 'lecture' him on extrajudicial killings led to his strong comments, which in turn elicited concern," the Philippines government said in one statement. "He regrets that his remarks to the press have caused much controversy," it added. "He expressed his deep regard and affinity for President Obama and for the enduring partnership between our nations." The White House had earlier said Obama would not pull any punches on his concerns about human rights abuses in the Philippines, its treaty ally, when meeting Duterte. Instead of the Duterte meeting, Obama plans to hold talks with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, said Ned Price, spokesman for the White House National Security Council - a meeting where the response to North Korea's latest missile tests is expected to be on the agenda. A Philippines official who declined to be named said there would be no formal meeting rescheduled in Laos but a short 'pull-aside' conversation between the two presidents was still possible. Perhaps the most underreported phenomenon of the current election cycle is the impressive speed with which Donald Trump learns and changes his game when it comes to addressing crowds. I dont think it would be fair to call Andrew Malcolm a NeverTrump, but it would be fair to call him a skeptic toward all politicians in general, and toward Donald Trump in particular right now. For those who dont recognize his name, Malcolm is a veteran domestic and foreign correspondent who retired from the New York Times and joined Investors Business Daily and now writes for McClatchy. (Full disclosure: Andrew and I are on friendly terms and occasionally exchange frank views on the political scene.) Andrews new column today contains some interesting observations: What you, like many media, might miss is how much improved Trump is as a public speaker. A few months ago his rally speeches entertained the crowds and Trump himself. But as political messages, they were virtually incoherent. Read just a few paragraphs of this transcript I made of his Birmingham rally. Now, when Trump stays disciplined, he has numbered policy points, anecdotes, entertaining asides, all in conversational style. More importantly, the words hardliner Trump uttered in Phoenix brooked no compromise, by golly. There is only one core issue in the immigration debate, Trump declared, and that issue is the well-being of the American people. Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation. Everyone must leave and apply to return legally. But Trumps details could have come from Marco Rubio or other GOP competitors last fall that Trump derided as amnesty. And notice the wiggle word: subject. First, Trump would secure the border. Then, deport the bad guys. Fix our broken immigration system. And, hey, when all thats done years down the road, well discuss what to do with 11 million illegals. No real rush. Now, Trumps got video clips for firm ads and reasonable ads. At their debate in three weeks, Clinton will charge her opponent wants to sunder millions of Hispanic families. Trump can smile patiently, shake his head and suggest the Democrat deleted that memory too. Trump will reiterate for the national TV audience of some 60 million the reasonable points he made after a meeting with Mexicos president. That was a meeting on immigration, he can suggest, that Clinton the fundraiser was too busy to attend. To which I would add: I expect Trump to be highly solicitous during the debate in the event Hillary experiences some coughing fits, is unable to stand for the full two hours, or needs a break. Kind concern for her health is a double victory for him, suggesting a compassionate heart in his chest and a barely functioning habitus for Hill. I have no doubt that Andrew will contiunue to examine Trump skeptically and will let us know if he thinks this change is for real as he puts it. The buck cant find a place to stop. Obama should: Be embarrassed that this shakedown and padding of the Clinton Foundation occurred right under his nose. Be angry at Hillary Clinton for operating as secretary of state even though she admits she was incapacitated. Be outraged that the State Department circumvented the law, destroyed official communications. Be disgusted that the State Department was rife with ineptitude and gross negligence. Nope. Nothing. Harry Truman maintained that the buck stops here, right on his desk. Responsibility, that old concept once used even by Democrats. Obama has been held blameless in all the Hillary antics. Obama has not registered any consternation regarding the misdeeds and ineptitude. To do so would be to admit and invite a black spot on his legacy. But first one must recognize that there is indeed a spot, a step Obama refuses to acknowledge, nor does the mainstream media seem to press it. Someday the events will be called what they are, and the responsibilities placed where they deservedly belong. So the antics at Hillarys State Department can find company in the history books with the Treasury Department (IRS), Department of Justice (Holders Fast and Furious and Lynchs sycophantic relationship with the Clintons), Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense (F18 readiness status at 40%), and our disappearing Space Program that relies on the Russians to put an American in space. This would make a nice wing of the Obama Library, dont you think? For the last three decades, somebody has been secretly leaving strange, cryptic messages in dozens of cities all over the United States and South America. These messages are painted on rectangular linoleum tiles and embedded into the asphalt of the streets. The majority of the tiles carry the same message, or variation of the same, which is: TOYNBEE IDEA IN MOVIE `2001 RESURRECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPITER These tiles are referred to as Toynbee tiles due to their reference to the famous historian Arnold J. Toynbee. Other tiles carry political statements and tirades against society and culture, spelled out in a similar cryptic tone. So far hundred of tiles have been discovered, but the identity of its creator or the purpose of his or her agenda is unclear. Photo credit: shoehorn99/Flickr It is believed that the creator was inspired by Ray Bradburys science fiction story The Toynbee Convector, which alludes to an idea proposed by Arnold J. Toynbee that for humankind to survive, it must always aim to achieve far beyond what is practically possible in order to reach something barely within reach. Perhaps the creator wants to spread the message that humans should adopt Toynbee's idea and strive to colonize Jupiter. Such themes were touched upon in Stanley Kubricks classic movie 2001: A Space Odyssey about a manned mission to Jupiter, where the character of Dr. Dave Bowman undergoes accelerated aging, dies, and is reborn as a star child back on Earth. The first Toynbee tile appeared in the 1980s in Philadelphia, based on which it is believed that the anonymous artist is a resident of Philadelphia. Most of the tiles are confined in an area bounded by Kansas City, Missouri, in the west; Boston, Massachusetts, in the north; Washington, D.C, in the south; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the east. Exceptions include a couple of cities in South America such as Rio di Janeiro (Brazil), Santiago (Chile), and Buenos Aires (Argentina), but its difficult to say whether these far out tiles are original or made by copycats. Map showing the location of Toynbee Tiles. For a while, the primary suspect was a man identifying himself as James Morasco, although the name is quite likely a pseudonym. Morasco contacted various talk shows and newspapers in 1983 with his theory of colonizing Jupiter with the dead inhabitants of Earth, claiming to have come across the idea while reading a book by historian Arnold Toynbee. That "James Morasco" is indeed an alias was confirmed when the only James Morasco in Philadelphia died in 2003 without knowing anything about the tiles, while the messages continued to appear long after he was dead. In 2011, four Philadelphia residents made a documentary titled Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles, in which they presented a reclusive Philadelphia resident Severino "Sevy" Verna as a suspect. The movie claims that Verna placed the tiles through a hole in the floor of his car while broadcasting a message via short wave radio about his theories. The film makers believe that Verna was the man behind "James Morasco", although they fail to provide any hard evidence. The tiles are deployed by an ingenious method. They are wrapped in tar paper and placed on a busy street. As cars drive over the tiles, they are pressed into the road surface. Eventually, the tar paper wears away, exposing the message. Many tiles have since been destroyed in the course of regular road maintenance. Toynbee Tiles have achieved a cult status. There are now dozens of websites dedicated to the phenomenon, discussing theories, searching for answers and trying to unravel the mystery. In 2015, the Streets Department of Philadelphia declared Toynbee Tiles as street art and hinted at the possibility of saving a few, but only if there is a fast and affordable method for removing them. Photo credit: Steve Weinik Photo credit: Steve Weinik Photo credit: ccbarr/Flickr Photo credit: ccbarr/Flickr Photo credit: Kevin Riley/Flickr Photo credit: shoehorn99/Flickr Photo credit: Lord Jim/Flickr Photo credit: Matt/Flickr Sources: Wikipedia / Weird US / Cleveland.com / www.toynbeeidea.com In the Landi Kotal army cantonment area in present-day Pakistan, there is a banyan tree that is kept chained to the ground as if to prevent it from escaping. A board hanging from its branches read, in part: "I am under arrest." The story goes that in 1898, a British army officer named James Squid, under the influence of alcohol, thought that the tree was lurching towards him. Threatened by the tree, the officer ordered the mess sergeant to arrest it. The mess sergeant followed the officer's orders and chained the offending tree. More than a hundred years later, the tree is still in chains. Through this act, the British basically implied to the tribesmen that if they dared act against the Raj, they too would be punished in a similar fashion," a resident of the army cantonment told the Tribune. Photo credit: Shahbaz Butt/Dawn Locals suggest that the captive tree is an allegory of the draconian Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) laws, promulgated by the British during the colonial era specifically for the purpose of countering Pashtun opposition to the British rule. The law allowed the government to collectively punish tribes or families for the crimes committed by individuals within these groups. Surprisingly, the FCR law is still largely in place in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of northwestern Pakistan. The law denies residents of FATA the right to a fair trial by denying their rights to appeal, the right to legal representation and the right to present reasoned evidence. The law states that residents can be arrested without specifying the crime, and the federal government has the right to seize private property of the accused. FCR is basically a gross violation of basic human rights. In 2008, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan expressed his government's desire to repeal the FCR, but no progress has been made on overturning the regulation. In 2011, however, the FCR law underwent a few reforms where new concepts such as provision for bail, compensation for false prosecutions, immunity to women, children and elders, etc. were introduced. Related: The Tree That Owns Itself Sources: Tribune / Washington Post / Wikipedia The unlocked Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge models are apparently receiving their September security updates in Europe if reports coming out of The Netherlands are anything to go by. According to reports in the Dutch press, the incoming update carries the firmware version XXU1BPHJ, and has just started rolling out to factory-unlocked versions of the two premium Samsung devices. The update reportedly also brings along the all-new Gallery app that features facial recognition and was first seen on the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 last month. Meanwhile, Samsung is yet to release the official changelog for this update on its website, so the exact changes that are being rolled out as part of this latest update are yet to be detailed officially. One of the changes that users can expect is the patching up of the fourth and final Quadrooter vulnerability that was detailed last month at the Def Con security conference by the chief of mobile security at cyber security firm, Check Point, Mr. Adam Donenfeld. While three of the four vulnerabilities were already patched up by Google through its August security bulletin, the fourth and the final one was expected to be patched up this month, so it wouldnt be too big a stretch to imagine that Samsung is pushing that through with the latest update. In case youre in Europe and have yet to get a notification about the availability of the new update, you can check for it manually by heading over to the Settings menu, tapping on About Device, scrolling down to Software Update, before choosing Download Updates Manually. The Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 Edge are technically the newest Samsung flagships in the market currently, now that the Galaxy Note 7 has been recalled by the South Korean company following dozens of reports of exploding batteries. While the two devices remain strong performers in their own right having been launched just a few months earlier, Samsung Electronics is expected to take a big hit on its bottom line because of the Galaxy Note 7 recall. The company, however, says that only a tiny fraction of all its handsets are affected by the battery issue, so it remains to be seen how long the company takes before a safe version of the phone is reintroduced into the market. On Monday, European Drafting Commission published a draft of an initiative called Roaming Fair Use Policy which means that the EU is seemingly coming good on the 2015 promise to ban roaming charges by 2017. According to the published document, as of June 2017, all phone calls, SMS messages, and Internet usage abroad will be free of roaming charges for EU citizens on the territory of the European Union. Naturally, theres a catch to this upcoming law free roaming wont be unlimited. Namely, the European Commission plans to order carriers to allow free roaming to their customers for up to 90 days per year and no longer than 30 days at a time. The Commission decided on this clause in order to minimize the chances of citizens abusing the new law and simply purchasing cheaper SIM cards abroad in order to use them in their home countries. Regulators explained that these time frames will only count as long as users dont log onto their home networks for over 24 hours. So, one could be roaming for 30 days with no extra charges, return to his or her home country for a day, and then travel abroad again and enjoy 30 more days of free roaming. The Roaming fair use policy will also differentiate between travelers and semi-permanent foreign residents as the latter will likely be forced to buy local SIM cards while staying in another EU country. Other than that, the upcoming law will also further cap roaming charges which were already significantly cut this April. As of June 2017, even consumers who exceed their free roaming limits will pay no more than 0.04 cents per call minute, 0.01 per SMS, and 0.85 per MB of data usage. Apart from the call minute cap, these are all significant restrictions in comparison to those imposed on carriers last April. Advertisement Naturally, the upcoming law only imposes upper limits for roaming charges so its likely that operators will soon start offering even better deals in order to stay competitive on the market. The proposal is expected to be adopted on December 15th though all EU carriers will have a chance to comment on it in the meantime. Not unexpectedly, most Europeans are more than pleased with the upcoming changes given how even some American carriers have already started scrapping roaming charges in Europe so many believe it was high time Europe follows suit. Huawei had introduced two new smartphones during IFA in Berlin quite recently, the Huawei Nova and Nova Plus. These two devices are mid-range offerings by the company, and many people are wondering when will Huawei introduce their new flagship phablet, the Huawei Mate 9. The Mate 8 was announced back in November last year, and even though we knew its successor will not launch at IFA, some people were hoping that might happen. The Mate 9 has been leaking for months now, and yet another piece of info surfaced quite recently, read on. Several analysts have been discussing Huawei Mate 9s camera setup on Weibo (Chinese social network). Lihuai Bin Robin said that the Mate 9s camera will resemble the one that will be available on the iPhone 7 Plus, he expects it to sport OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) and analog zoom. Unlike the setup on the iPhone 7 Plus, however, one of Mate 9s camera lenses will capture color shots, while the other one will take monochrome pictures. Sun Changxu, also a Chinese analyst, mentioned something about double OIS capabilities, though he did not really elaborate on his input, so well have to wait for more info on that one. And last, but not least, Pan Jiutang also shared some info. Mr. Jiutang said that the Mate 9s cameras will be supplied by Leica, well, camera lenses will, just like they were for the Huawei P9 and P9 Plus earlier this year. Do keep in mind these are all rumors at this point, so take the given info with a grain of salt. The Huawei Mate 9 is expected to sport a 5.7-inch or 6-inch display (fullHD or QHD), 4GB of RAM (6GB RAM variant is a possibility) and multiple internal storage options. The phone will, allegedly, ship with the HiSilicon Kirin 960 processor, and Android 7.0 Nougat might ship out of the box with Huaweis Emotion UI (EMUI) 5 skin on top of it. The Mate 9 is also expected to ship with an all-metal build, and as already mentioned, two camera sensors will be placed on its back. That is more or less it, stay tuned for more info. Android 7.0 Nougat is fresh off the presses, having only released back on August 22. The new software is so fresh, in fact, that factory images have yet to hit some promised devices, such as Motorolas Nexus 6. Even the famously quick CyanogenMod community is still working on cranking out the updates, with a good number of supported devices still having not received CyanogenMod 14 yet. While the newest major Android update each year normally hits alongside its corresponding reference devices in the Nexus lineup in October, this year seems to be a year of firsts. The update came out ahead of the phones, and the phones wont be called Nexus phones. Things are still up in the air in regards to the name for a rumored Nexus 7 successor. According to a Tweet from LlabTooFeR, the main developer of the MaximusHD custom ROM, however, another first is in store; the release of the Pixel phones will coincide with the release of Nougats incremental update, and the phones will ship with Android 7.1. A post from Androguider a while back, powered by information from an alleged Google insider, made statements in line with LlabTooFeRs Tweet. The post said that the LG V20 would be the first widely available device to ship with Nougat, making this the first year that a manufacturer device beat a Nexus out the door with a new major update. This was corroborated in a way by a developer for the official Reddit app, whose app analytics pointed to a number of users on Android 7.1 Nougat, and 4 users on a mysterious Android O, which could be a build.prop file mockup by users or an innocent prank by a few Googlers. This would all make perfect sense, in light of the rollout for Nougat thus far. As the developer previews rolled on, Google collected more and more information on how their new OS was doing and what users wanted to see changed or fixed. Theoretically, the rollout could play out in much the same manner from the official release. Android 7.0 Nougat would eventually roll out to all current commercially viable devices, and the feedback from that would power development of an update that would mainly consist of bugfixes and small under-the-hood tweaks. This would be Android 7.1 Nougat, which could be thought of as the true first version of Nougat, much like Android 6.0.1 was the true first version of Marshmallow, though further incremental updates, like what was seen with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and its eventual push to Android 4.0.4, are definitely possible. According to LlabTooFeR, the current build number for Android 7.1 is NDE63B. One of the biggest complaints that many users have about T-Mobile is their network. Its mostly to do with coverage (even though the 700MHz spectrum theyve been buying lately has increased their coverage quite a bit), but also speeds in some areas. This is partly due to the fact that the Un-carrier is adding a ton of customers, which results in more congestion and slower speeds in busier areas. T-Mobile knows this and has steadily been working on their existing LTE network to make it faster, and add more capacity. Today, they put out a new press release detailing some of the new technology they are using, and also talk about Verizons latest announcement on LTE Advanced or LTE-A. T-Mobiles Chief Technology Officer, Neville Ray detailed in his post that T-Mobile is the first to introduce new technology that delivers a massive 2x speed boost to customers. This new technology is 44 MIMO. For those unaware, MIMO stands for multiple input, multiple output. And it doubles the data paths between a cell site and your smartphone. In laymans terms, what this means is that adding double the paths means double the speed than you had before. Ray also noted that this technology is already available 319 cities across the country. However, the catch here is that only users with the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge will be able to use 44 MIMO for now. Even then, those users wont be able to use it until a software update hits their device later this month. The Un-carrier is also launching 256 QAM for downloads and 64 QAM for uploads. Basically what this does is it increases the number of bits that are delivered per transmission. Giving customers even faster speeds. Ray notes that 256 QAM and 64 QAM are already live in about half of their network. But by the end of October, itll be available on every cell site across the nation. Again, this technology also only works with the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge. Advertisement Ray rounds out the press release noting that they have already launched seven LTE Advanced technologies and thats more than anyone else in the industry. Ray also makes note of Verizons recent announcement that they have made speeds 50% faster for their customers, and saying that their network is still slower than T-Mobiles 4G LTE network. T-Mobile is getting this information from crowdsourced reports from Ookla and OpenSignal. Elitist Black Lives Matter activists block London City Airport Snotty Black Lives Matter protesters have forced London City Airport runway to shut. Nine protestors have locked themselves together on the runway. Black Lives Matter UK says: Whilst at London City Airport a small elite is able to fly, in 2016 alone 3,176 migrants are known to have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean. Black people are the first to die, not the first to fly, in this racist climate crisis. We note, however, that the UK is willing to charter special flights to remove black people from the country based on their immigration status. The small elite are holidaymakers and fellow travellers of all colours who want to fly, often on low-cost airlines, to other places. No planes fly from City Airport to Africa. The even smaller elite are the nine know-alls who have adapted a US protest movement against police shootings of black citizens to be a rallying cry for all manner of ills. As Brendan says: Its key UK spokespeople are a postgraduate geography student and a black, British, queer, non-binary Muslim who goes by the pronoun they. Its not about inclusivity, equality and civil rights; its about exclusivity, creating a space for the righteous and self-absorbed to pose and meet like minds in. It wants to create racial division, dividing society into blacks (victims) and whites (guilty). Check your privilege, goes the command to whites. But they, like the blacks and everyone else, should spend more time checking their boarding passes and passports than being preached at by these un-radicals. Class and wealth matter. Progressive movements matter. The regressive and factional Black Lives Matter UK is all very cosy. Look: The UK is the biggest per-capita contributor to temperature change & among the least vulnerable to its affects. pic.twitter.com/Bb5SmKWyt6 #BlackLivesMatterUK (@ukblm) September 6, 2016 Anorak Posted: 6th, September 2016 | In: Reviews Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink (ANSA) - Rome, September 6 - State and anti-terror police on Tuesday arrested seven suspected members of the insurrectionist Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI) on charges of association with intent to commit terrorist acts. The seven are also accused of setting off three bombs - two that exploded on June 2, 2006, at a carabinieri police academy in the Piedmont town of Fossano, and one that went off on March 5, 2007, in Turin's Crocetta neighborhood. The devices had been timed to go off at intervals in order to harm first responders, police said. Also as part of today's operation, the bomb squad and canine units searched 30 individuals and 29 homes across nine Italian regions from North to South - namely Abruzzo, Campania, Emilia Romagna, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardy, Piedmont, Sardinia and Umbria. Another eight suspects were placed under investigation. The operation stems from a wide-ranging investigation sparked by an attack on Ansaldo Nucleare SpA nuclear power plant design company CEO Roberto Adinolfi, who was kneecapped in May 2012 by two members of FAI's so-called Olga Nucleus. In 2013, FAI anarchists Alfredo Cospito and Nicola Gai were sentenced to 10 years, eight months and nine years, four months respectively for that crime. ROME- At least 30,000 asylum seekers and refugees have found shelter in Christian communities in Italy, according to Migrantes Foundation director general Monsignor Perego. This compares to 22,000 people accommodated a year ago, when Pope Francis appealed to parishes across Europe to open their doors to migrants and refugees. At least 500 adults have been placed with families as a result of the Italian Caritas project 'Refugee in my home'. Dozens of female and male religious institutes have also adapted their residential accommodation to host refugees and asylum seekers, particularly minors and single women with children. It is hoped that the appeal by the pope might "continue to fuel the need of Christian communities to make 'concrete gestures' of welcome, despite an opposing wind fuelled by the populism and inflamed information on the issue of migrants and refugees that has invested Europe, weakening its democratic and supportive history," Msgr. Perego said. Religious parties in Israel oppose shopping on Shabbat Shops would only be open in three areas of Tel Aviv (ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, SEPTEMBER 6 - Religious parties in Israel are planning to launch a campaign against trading particularly in Tel Aviv on the Shabbat, local media report. The interior minister and leader of Shas, Aryeh Makhlouf Deri, is allegedly drawing up a proposal to ban work on Saturdays, including trading by food shops and kiosks. At the same time, Deri suggests the government refrain from intervening in local policy not to apply laws on Saturday labour in three specific itineraries in Tel Aviv and shops operating inside service stations. This means shops would only open in Jaffa and Tel Aviv ports and the Sarona shopping centre in the city centre. (ANSAmed). Spain in political limbo, passed one decree since December Impasse in govt formation, Rajoy handling current affairs (ANSAmed) - MADRID, SEPTEMBER 6 - Spain's parliament has been in a state of limbo for eight months and the work of the government of outgoing premier Mariano Rajoy is focused only on speeding up pressing issues. Following national elections on December 20 last year, the government has approved just one decree, the online daily El Confidencial reported. That extended a benefits scheme for long-term unemployed for another year. After a failed attempt by Rajoy to form another government last week, the country looks set to head to the polls again at the end of December, which will be its third election in a year. Facing increasing pressure from Brussels, the outgoing government is expected to approve a second decree law this month to modify the corporate tax regime so that they can reduce the 2016 deficit. (ANSAmed). 30,000 asylum seekers housed in religious communities 500 adults have found accommodation with Italian families (ANSAmed) - ROME, SEPTEMBER 6 - At least 30,000 asylum seekers and refugees have found shelter in Christian communities in Italy, according to Migrantes Foundation director general Monsignor Perego. This compares to 22,000 people accommodated a year ago, when Pope Francis appealed to parishes across Europe to open their doors to migrants and refugees. At least 500 adults have been placed with families as a result of the Italian Caritas project 'Refugee in my home'. Dozens of female and male religious institutes have also adapted their residential accommodation to host refugees and asylum seekers, particularly minors and single women with children. It is hoped that the appeal by the pope might "continue to fuel the need of Christian communities to make 'concrete gestures' of welcome, despite an opposing wind fuelled by the populism and inflamed information on the issue of migrants and refugees that has invested Europe, weakening its democratic and supportive history," Msgr. Perego said. ISIS: new version of groups magazine in English, Turkish Magazine called Rumiya, no explicit references to Rome (ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, SEPTEMBER 6 - Islamist extremist group ISIS has published a new version of their Dabiq magazine in English and in Turkish, after previously issuing the publication in French. The new version is called Rumiya, in reference to the term "Rum" used historically by Arab Muslims to refer to Byzantine people and later to "Westerners". There are no explicit references to Rome or to Christianity, but articles in a recently published edition include calls to kill non-Muslims in Europe and elsewhere. The text of the magazine clarifies that women and children should be spared, but that they can be caught as "slaves". It also focuses on Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, spokesman of the Islamic State who was recently killed in Syria, according to ISIS-affiliated media. (ANSAmed). CAIRO - The militia of Premier Fayez al-Sarraj advanced Tuesday on the besieged, exhausted city of Sirte in what could be the final stages of their fight against the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) fundamentalist group, which captured the city last year. The militia loyal to the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) earlier today posted pictures on Facebook showing a tank advancing on the city, militiamen aiming their machine guns from vantage points, the semi-abandoned port, and several destroyed buildings. With Sirte's recapture believed to be imminent, all eyes are on what will happen in the aftermath as Libya presently has two rival powers: the Tripoli-based GNA is recognized by the UN and the international community, while a rival parliament in the city of Tobruk is backed by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates and supports General Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army (LNA). Once ISIS has been defeated the priority will be to resume the dialogue between Tripoli and Tobruk, according to Tout sur l'Algerie (TSA) website. Tunisia: 3 arrested for alleged affiliation to Ansar Al Shar Two brothers arrested in Sidi Bouzid (ANSAmed) - TUNIS, SEPTEMBER 6 - Tunisian police have arrested three alleged affiliates of the Islamic terrorist organisation Ansar Al Sharia and its leader Kamel Zarrouk, who is believed to have been killed in Syria in 2015. The arrests were made in Doaur Hicher in the Manouba governorate near the capital. One of the suspects had returned from combat in Libya, the Tunisian news agency TAP reports, adding that the three were allegedly in contact with other terrorist groups in Syria and Libya. Separately, police arrested two brothers suspected of being in contact with a terrorist cell after searching their home in Sidi Bouzid. (ANSAmed) (ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS - Germany will take on the "humanitarian responsibility" for refugees and asylum seekers but those who do not have the right to stay in the country must leave, Chancellor Angela Merkel has said. Her comments came after her Christian Democrat party CDU lost to anti-migrant Alternative for Germany party (AfD) in regional elections in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania state on Sunday. At the CDU party congress in 2015 "we said that not even a country like Germany can receive such a large number of refugees each year," Merkel said. "We have much to do to restore trust," she added. "The issue of integration will play a major role, as will the repatriation of refugees without a permit of stay," Merkel said. Meanwhile the European Union said the outcome of Sunday's regional elections does not undermine migration policy. "Solidarity is the right presupposition, we need to make it work on the ground," European Commission spokesman Alexander Winterstein said. The relocation of asylum seekers across member states under an EU quota system is also continuing, internal affairs spokesperson Natasha Bertaud said. Meanwhile Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos called on interior ministers to "meet their obligations" in this respect. Less than 5% of asylum seekers due to be relocated from Italy and Greece by September 2017 have so far been transferred. TUNIS - The meeting of the commission of inter-Libyan political dialogue was due to resume in Tunis-Gammarth on Tuesday under the auspices of the UN in an attempt to resolve the crisis in Libya. Members of the council of the presidency, the governor of the Libyan central bank, international diplomats and the UN's special envoy for Libya, Martin Kobler, were expected to attend. The meeting was to focus on the latest developments in Libya and application of the agreement signed in Skhirat, Morocco, last December. The meeting of the commission of inter-Libyan political dialogue is intended to broaden consensus for the government of national unity and finalise the new cabinet in view of a new confidence vote in the House of Representatives in Tobruk. TEL AVIV - The Dutch government will help Israel construct a gas pipeline to increase supplies to Gaza, Israeli Premier Benyamin Netanyahu was quoted in media reports as saying. During a state visit to the Netherlands, Netanyahu explained that his government had decided to "increase the supply of energy and water to Gaza, including the preparation of a gas pipeline", according to the reports. (ANSAmed). NAPLES - Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini is set to open the 19th edition of the Mediterranean Exchange of Archaeological Tourism in the ancient city of Paestum in southern Italy on October 27. Franceschini will be a guest at the inaugural conference on the theme "A year of autonomous management of the Archaeological Museums of the South". For four days the area next to the Temple of Ceres, the National Archaeological Museum and the early Christian basilica will host dozens of meetings, and debates on the state of archaeological tourism in Italy and beyond. The Mediterranean area will take centre stage on the 28th during the conference "The Archaeological Museums of the Mediterranean for intercultural dialogue". This will be part of events planned in memory of the terror attack on Tunisia's Bardo Museum in March 2015. Organisers said in a statement that they wanted to commemorate the attack so that every citizen in the world, regardless of religious or political background, was aware that culture is a common good and represents national identity at the service of intercultural dialogue. On the 28th the presentation "Blue Helmets of the Sea" will focus on an organisation ready to intervene anywhere around the world for research and protection of archaeological heritage in the sea. The first day, the 27th, will include a reunion of local councillors for tourism in Italy. The Italian Culture Ministry will be a protagonist at the event, with meetings planned including one entitled "European policies for tourism and cultural heritage". Guests awaited at Paestum include prominent archaeologists and TV personalities, including the archaeologist Zahi Hawass, Walid Assad, the most recent director of antiquity and the museum at the ancient Palmyra site in Syria, and Mohamed Saleh, the most recent director of tourism for Palmyra. The joint initiative, called Intelak, will bring together selected entrepreneurs and students from across the UAE to participate in a travel, technology and aviation-focused Incubator. Four winning teams, who will be selected through a rigorous judging process, will be enrolled in the full Intelak Incubator training programme and receive AED 50,000 each to fund and further develop their ideas. The aviation industry is constantly changing and being technologically-advanced and innovative is the only way to stay ahead. Intelak is the ideal platform to inspire and work with young entrepreneurs to shape the future of travel through new and original ideas. At the Emirates Group, we are fully committed to redefine the travel experience as we continue to invest in the next generation of technology leaders in UAE, said Abdulaziz Al Ali, Emirates executive vice president, human resources. Living up to its meaning in Arabic taking off Intelak will support young entrepreneurs in their quest to become part of the innovative ecosystem in the UAE. Whether theyre university students or local start-up entrepreneurs, the programme will provide the winning teams with the necessary resources to be able to pave their own career path, develop their business ideas and turn theory into a practical reality. Rania Rostom, chief innovation officer for GE in the Middle East, North Africa & Turkey said: Innovation is at the heart of the UAEs development narrative, with the nations leadership focused on promoting an innovation-driven entrepreneurial ecosystem. Intelak serves the dual purpose of not only nurturing talent in the UAE, but also contributing to the growth of the aviation and travel sectors, both drivers of the national economy. As a long-term partner in the socio-economic progress of the country, GE has been driving a culture of localised innovation and fostering digital industrial entrepreneurship. Our partnership with the cofounders will set the platform for bringing bright new ideas to life. Francisco Salcedo, Etisalats senior vice president, Digital Solutions, said: We are pleased to be part of this strategic partnership with three prominent establishments such as Emirates, GE and Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority. The importance of this Incubator relies on three key factors; one is its novelty, as its one of the few incubators that focuses on aviation, travel and tourism technologies around the world. The second factor is having this Incubator programme backed by leaders in the technology, innovation and aviation industries, which enables local entrepreneurs to learn first-hand from our experts. And the third being its importance as a first step to create niche technology focused incubators that will help create new job and business opportunities and grow the local economy. The Incubator will be hosted at Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Centre (DTEC), DSOAs wholly owned technology incubational centre and the largest of its kind. Commenting on the partnership, Shahla Ahmed Abdul Razak, deputy CEO of Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority, said: We are pleased to host the new Incubator at the Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Centre, which we are confident will significantly contribute to the support of innovative youth, especially in the travel and aviation sectors. We are certain that Intelak will further encourage innovative young UAE national entrepreneurs to transform their ideas into reality, all the while contributing to the GDP of Dubai. She added: Choosing DTEC as the base of the Incubator is proof of the mutual goals we share with the Emirates Group, to back the future generation. Hence, leveraging the capabilities of DTEC as the largest technology incubator of its kind in the region, we will provide this project with all the support needed to ensure its sustained success. The Boeing 777-300 aircraft, registration A6-EMW, was destroyed following impact with the runway and subsequent fire. The Preliminary Report states that following an attempted go-around, the aircraft sank from a height of approximately 85 feet back onto the runway and slid along the runway for approximately 800 meters before coming to rest. All of the 300 passengers and crew evacuated the aircraft safely before a fire consumed the cabin. In accordance with international protocols of aircraft accident investigation, the Preliminary Report contains only factual information related to the accident and contains no analysis, or conclusions. The Final Report, which will be issued on conclusion of the investigation, will contain analysis of the facts, and conclusions. The analysis aims to identify the cause(s) and the factors that contributed to the accident. The investigation team is led by the AAIS investigator-in-charge (IIC) and comprises the Accredited Representatives of the States of Manufacture of the aircraft (United States) and the engine (United Kingdom). In addition, technical representatives of the Boeing Company, Rolls-Royce and Emirates have been assigned roles as Advisers to the IIC and the Accredited Representatives. Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, director general of the GCAA said: During the course of rescue and firefighting, an explosion occurred which resulted in the tragic death of a firefighter. We extend our deepest sympathy to the family of the deceased firefighter and at the same time we hope that the grief of the firefighters family is made more bearable by the knowledge that his courageous behavior helped to ensure the survival of all of the people on-board the flight. Ismaeil Al Hosani, assistant director general of the AAIS, added: The investigation team is continuing to examine the aircraft and flight data. Analysis of the data extracted from the flight recorders is ongoing to determine the aircraft and systems technical performance and crew control inputs and performance. In-depth analysis will be carried out to examine the operators policies and procedures for such flight conditions. Measured in freight tonne kilometers (FTKs), demand increased 5.0% in July 2016, compared to July 2015. This was the fastest pace in almost 18 months. Freight capacity measured in available freight tonne kilometers (AFTKs) increased by 5.2% year-on-year, outstripping demand and keeping yields under pressure. Despite the subdued global trade backdrop, carriers in the world's four biggest air cargo markets Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America and the Middle East - reported an increase in freight demand. The strongest growth occurred in Europe and the Middle East, with July demand up by 7.2% and 6.7% respectively, compared to the same period last year. Middle Eastern carriers saw air freight demand increase by 6.7% in July 2016 year-on-year. Capacity increased by 11%. The regions growth rate, while still strong, has eased to half the 14% recorded annually between 2012 and 2015. This is mainly attributable to slower freight growth between the Middle East and Asia. July was a positive month for air freightwhich is an all too rare occurrence. Despite that, we must recognize that we face some strong headwinds on fundamental aspects of the business. Global trade growth is sluggish and business confidence is weak. And the political rhetoric on both sides of the Atlantic is not encouraging for further trade liberalisation, said Alexandre de Juniac, IATAs Director General and CEO. Regional Performance Asia-Pacific airlines reported a 4.9% increase in demand for air cargo in July compared to last year. In particular, growth has been driven by strong increases in the large within Asia market in recent months, but the latest business surveys from the region paint a mixed picture. Capacity in the region expanded 2.7%. North American carriers saw freight volumes expand 4.1% in July 2016 compared to the same period last year, and capacity increase by 3.4%. International freight volumes (which grew 1.3% in July) continue to suffer from the strength of the US dollar which has kept the US export market under pressure. European airlines posted the largest increase in freight demand of all regions in July, 7.2% year-on-year. Capacity increased 3.8%. The positive European performance corresponds with an increase in export orders in Germany over the last few months. Europes freight volumes have now surpassed the level reached during the air freight rebound following the Global Financial Crisis. The only other region to achieve this is the Middle East. African carriers recorded a 6.8% decrease in year-on-year freight demand in July 2016 the largest decline in seven years. African airlines capacity surged by 31.3% on the back of long-haul expansion (from a small base). Qatar Airways Group chief executive, Akbar Al Baker said: We are honoured to be recognised as the Best for Business by the readers of Conde Nast Traveller. Such an accolade is a direct reflection of our passengers satisfaction in the service we provide and we remain committed to providing the very best experience to our guests throughout their journey. Qatar Airways continues to set the industry standard in airline travel with our modern fleet and extensive business and leisure destinations via Hamad International Airport, Doha. This week he cancelled two more of the A320neos - part of a deal for 80 jets which Al Baker previously warned could be in jeopardy due to engine cooling issues, while deferring delivery of the first three aircraft. Speaking at an event in Doha, Al Baker said Qatar Airways said that Airbus was struggling to keep up with deliveries of the long-haul A350 planes which, combined with the A320neo's problems, has left Qatar Airways at risk of posting a loss in the fiscal year that ends in March. Our relationship is very strained. Whats happening at Airbus with the deliveries is seriously affecting our growth, Al Baker said. At the Farnborough Air Show in July Al Baker warned that he was opening talks with Airbus main rival Boeing to at least fill a short-term gap of 30 narrow bodies. In the past Al Baker has challenged each of the manufacturers with threats to switch, in order to secure the best deal for his rapidly expanding airline. The reduction in oil prices has reduced demand which has seen some rival carriers cutting back but Al Baker insists that he needs the new aircraft to continue its growth strategy. The special plastic surfaces and metal parts of our Recaro aircraft seats offer very good protection from soiling, providing passengers with added safety and comfort, said Rene Dankwerth, member of the executive team and responsible for the department Research and Development. Dankwerth added: On request, we equip our seats with an easy-to-clean surface, that makes it even easier for airlines and the cleaning crew in an aircraft to keep the cabin and seats sanitary. Furthermore, thanks to the antimicrobial properties of the coating, germs disappear within a short time. With our aircraft seats, we want to support our airlines in presenting themselves as the perfect hosts for travellers. And this, of course, applies to all classes, whether economy, premium economy or business class seats from Recaro. YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Hovik Abrahamyan visited the site where the Radioisotope Generation and Molecular Diagnostics Center (RMDC) is being built, Armenpress was informed from the press service of the Government of Armenia. Note that the oncology excellence center investment project has three phases: molecular diagnostics and radiopharmaceutical production center, radiation therapy and chemotherapy center and a surgical center. The program is implemented by Global Medical Solutions Inc., which is one of the worlds leading companies in the field of nuclear medicine and diagnostic imaging services. During the tour, the Premier was briefed on the progress in construction of the radiopharmaceutical production and molecular diagnostics center. The Prime Minister was told that the process is in its final stage: installation of modern diagnostic equipment and external decoration. The design estimate for the radiation treatment center is already complete, and a tender is going to be announced in a month to pick out a contractor for the construction and purchase of equipment. Noting that the establishment of an international standards-compliant center is crucial to the prevention, early detection and treatment of cancer, the Premier instructed those responsible to be consistent in ensuring high quality and timely implementation of the project. Afterwards, a consultation was held in the Office of Government, attended by Chief of Government Staff Davit Haroutunyan, Minister of Healthcare Armen Muradyan, Deputy Minister of Healthcare Gagik Mirijanyan and Global Medical Solutions President and CEO Hayk Bakrjian, during which they discussed ongoing activities and future action. YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. Newly appointed Ambassador of Armenia to the State of Kuwait was received by Emir Sheikh Sabah Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on September 6 to deliver his credentials. As Armenpress was informed from the press service of MFA Armenia, greeting the guest and congratulating on the occasion of assuming the post, Emir Al-Sabah mentioned that he has a warm and respectful attitude towards the friendly Armenian people, some descendants of which live in Kuwait. Sheikh Sabah wished Ambassador Badeyan success in his mission. Expressing gratitude for the congratulations and the kind wishes, Ambassador Badeyan mentioned it is an honor for him to represent Armenia in Kuwait and assured that he will spare no efforts to deepen and expand the bilateral partnership. The Armenian Ambassador conveyed the warm wishes of the President of Armenia Serzh Sargayan to the Emir of Kuwait, who asked the Ambassador to convey his wishes to President Sargsyan. The sides touched upon a number of issues of bilateral agenda at the meeting. In that context Ambassador Badeyan thanked Emir Al-Sabah for the caring attitude to the Armenian community in Kuwait which is an important link between the two friendly states. When the clocks go back an hour this Sunday morning, reverting to Greenwich Mean Time, the iconic Summer uniforms of the British Armys ceremonial troops will switch back to Winter Order in perfect synchronicity. Best Business Products and Services Would you like to submit an article in the Business category or any of the sub-category below? Click here to submit your article. Would you like to have your product or service listed on this page? Contact us. Actor Keith David: There is a rhythm in this language that if you betray, you wont find the truth of. Its inherent in the language. [And his characters] are rich, full, incredible human beings and thinking human beings, colorful not only in their use of language but the way in which they think and communicate, both with each other and out in the world. After horrible failures such as Jersey Girl and Cop Out, Smith retreated from Hollywood not only because he had to, but because he could. His loyal fans, willing to follow him anywhere he commands, fund his work. What Smith knew was that the film is less important than the intellectual property and the fanbase that will gladly hand over their money for the right to own a piece of it. Other defense attorneys may have been more famous William Kunstler, for example but radical leftists of a certain age remember the late Leonard Weinglass with special feeling. On the back cover of Seth Tobocmans graphic biography Len, A Lawyer in History, the publishers description says (and I believe every word of it): In a field dominated by egomaniacs, Weinglass was known for his humility, his common touch, his ability to work collectively, his kindness, and his attention to detail. Not least, he was also known for his legal brilliance. Tom Hayden has described him as learned, funny, and the best damned trial lawyer I ever saw in a courtroom. It was Weinglass who persuaded an appellate court to overturn the convictions of the Chicago Seven. It was Weinglass who was brought in by Daniel Ellsbergs defense team in the Pentagon Papers trial to be chief counsel for Ellsbergs co-defendant Anthony Russo, and Weinglass who was instrumental in getting the charges against both of them espionage, theft, and conspiracy thrown out. It was Weinglass yet again who put the CIA on trial when University of Massachusett students were charged with trespass and disorderly conduct in a mass protest against CIA recruitment on the Amherst campus. Using a necessity defense, a strategy he devised with Abbie Hoffman, Weinglass exploited a Massachusetts law that made it legal to commit a crime to prevent a greater crime. He showed at trial that the protesters had broken the law only to prevent the CIAs greater crimes of murder, kidnapping, and torture. Weinglass put former CIA operatives and government officials on the witness stand and elicited sworn testimony about rogue CIA operations in Nicaragua and elsewhere that were not just violations of human rights. He demonstrated that, because theyd been kept secret from the Congress in violation of the Boland Amendment, they were illegal. The jurors all blue-collar conservatives, a majority of whom had voted for Ronald Reagan, found the protesters innocent. (Within days, coincidentally, the Iran-Contra scandal became news, revealing that Reagans minions led by Oliver North had secretly armed rightwing Nicaraguan death squads.) Weinglass, who died in 2011, took plenty of cases that other criminal defense attorneys wouldnt take. He once described the typical call that came to him: Youre the fifth attorney weve called. Many of those calls came from defendants most people have never heard of the black activist author Mumia Abu-Jamal , who has been incarcerated for the past 30 years, much of that time on Pennsylvanias Death Row; the Puerto Rican independence militant Juan E. Segarra Palmer ; Antonio Guererro of the Cuban Five ; the American Indian Movement organizers Paul Skyhorse and Richard Mohawk , as well as another Native American, Jimi Simmons Five years in the making, Len, A Lawyer in History, is a great educational tool because it dramatizes as well as narrates a complex story by streamlining the complications without sacrificing the details. Michael Steven Smith, who co-edited the book with Paul Buhle, writes in the introduction: Len was not a sixties radical. He was something more unusual: he was a fifties radical. He developed his values, his critical thinking and world view in a time when non-conforming was rare. Smith points out that Weinglass classified himself as a radical American who believed capitalism and democracy had become incompatible and that socialism if given the chance could remake society in a workable and democratic way: He saw his legal work as his contribution to the collective work of the movement. He didnt care a bit about making a fee. I want to spend my time defending people who have committed their time to progressive change. Thats the criteria. Now, that could be people in armed struggle, people in protest politics, people in confrontational politics, people in mass organizations, people in labor. Defending against the machinery of the state, as he put it, was his calling. Have a look at these spreads. They give a sense of the books graphic style. (Mouse over the images to read some of the narrative text in a pop-up caption. Click the images and/or the captions to enlarge the spreads.) WITNESS TO NEWARK Lens friend and law colleague Michael Krinsky considered him a modern Clarence Darrow. PROTEST WITHOUT PERMISSION He wasnt drawn to making money. He was drawn to defending justice. Daniel Ellsberg TRUTH OR TREASON Because the Ellsberg case was thrown out of court there was no decision as to whether it was legal for Ellsberg to release the Pentagon Papers. THEIR SECOND CHANCE He felt in many cases he was representing one person standing against the state. Daniel Ellsberg PUTTING THE CIA ON TRIAL This was his favorite case. But very little has been written about it. Seth Tobocman By: Dezan Shira & Associates The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has removed spot pricing requirements for Investment Precious Metals (IPMs) seeking GST exemptions. IPMs generally include bars, ingots, wafers, and other highly valued precious metals that can be traded on the international bullion market and are used as a form of investment. Outlined under Circular No:09/2016, issued on August 25th, the changes have taken effect as of September 1st. Understanding the Removal of Spot Pricing Under previous MAS guidelines, IPMs were required to base their pricing off of commodity spot prices in order to qualify for exemption from national GST. This assessed the value based entirely on the metal content and was criticized for overlooking the characteristics of individual pieces, which may have attracted additional value in foreign markets. With many metals following the downward trend in commodities in recent years, the value of IPMs often surpasses the value of the GST exemption threshold. Updated Guidance: Under revised guidelines, those trading in IPMs may set pricing independent of the spot price and retain access to GST exemptions. Qualifying for Exemptions : In addition to meeting Singapores existing standards, MAS guidance has emphasized that IPMs must be permitted to trade on the international bullion market in order to qualify for GST exemption. This has by default eliminated certain IPMs that have defects, preventing them from being traded. Implications for Investment With spot pricing requirements eliminated, it is likely that Singapores stature as a destination for IPM trading will increase as investors look for ways to diversify their portfolios. For additional information on qualifying for IPM GST exemptions or general assessments of Singapores tax environment, please email asean@dezshira.com or visit www.dezshira.com. About Us Asia Briefing Ltd. is a subsidiary of Dezan Shira & Associates. Dezan Shira is a specialist foreign direct investment practice, providing corporate establishment, business advisory, tax advisory and compliance, accounting, payroll, due diligence and financial review services to multinationals investing in China, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam, Singapore and the rest of ASEAN. For further information, please email asean@dezshira.com or visit www.dezshira.com. Stay up to date with the latest business and investment trends in Asia by subscribing to our complimentary update service featuring news, commentary and regulatory insight. Annual Audit and Compliance in ASEAN For the first issue of our ASEAN Briefing Magazine, we look at the different audit and compliance regulations of five of the main economies in ASEAN. We firstly focus on the accounting standards, filing processes, and requirements for Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. We then provide similar information on Singapore, and offer a closer examination of the city-states generous audit exemptions for small-and-medium sized enterprises. The Trans-Pacific Partnership and its Impact on Asian Markets The United States backed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) includes six Asian economies Australia, Brunei, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam, while Indonesia has expressed a keen willingness to join. However, the agreements potential impact will affect many others, not least of all China. In this issue of Asia Briefing magazine, we examine where the TPP agreement stands right now, look at the potential impact of the participating nations, as well as examine how it will affect Asian economies that have not been included. An Introduction to Tax Treaties Throughout Asia In this issue of Asia Briefing Magazine, we take a look at the various types of trade and tax treaties that exist between Asian nations. These include bilateral investment treaties, double tax treaties and free trade agreements all of which directly affect businesses operating in Asia. All the latest Ashbourne news. Ashbourne is an historic market town in Derbyshire. Situated on the southern edge of the Peak District, it is known as the 'Gateway to Dovedale' and the 'Gateway to the Peak District'. Ashbourne is famous for the annual Royal Shrovetide Football Match, which has been played since at least 1667, although its origins may date back centuries earlier. Ashbourne became a Fairtrade town in March 2005. The popular Tissington Trail, which follows the route of the former Ashbourne to Buxton railway, starts on the edge of town. Keep up to date with the latest news from the town by signing up for our newsletter. Manama (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Shiite activist Nabeel Rajab will remain in jail on court order, despite health problems. The authorities have rejected the demands of the defense, which asked for his release and acquittal of all charges. Sources inside the judiciary report that the trial date is scheduled for next month, around 6 October. The Shiite activist for human rights, already the beneficiary of a pardon last year for health reasons, was stopped three months ago and put on trial on charges of "insulting" the State institutions and Saudi Arabia in some post circulated on the net. 51 year old Rajab was present at the preliminary hearing, which took place yesterday, during which the court rejected the release request and ordered the case to trial. The Criminal Court also confirmed the remand awaiting sentencing, in spite of health problems for which the man had already been hospitalized in June. NGOs and human rights activists have launched an appeal to Bahrain authorities, to "immediately expedite the" trial of Rajab, who faces up to 15 years in prison "on charges that violate his right to free expression." Imprisoning Nabeel Rajab for criticism to the authorities, they add, is a sign of the "profound contempt" of the al-Khalifa family "for basic human rights." Others speak of "show trial". The activist was detained several times for organizing protests and publishing defamatory tweets against Sunni leaders of Bahrain, who are pushing for a new sentencing. In August of 2012, Nabil Rajab was in prison for three years for having provoked and participated in demonstrations against the government. Rajab, has guided many Shiite protests, originally from the village of Bani Jamra, near the capital Manama, against the power of Al Khalifa, calling for greater democracy and civil liberties. On June 6, 2012 the activist was arrested for insulting the Sunni community on the web. Bahrain is a Gulf monarchy ruled by a Sunni dynasty in a country where the majority of the population (at least 60-70%) is Shiite. These have been calling for constitutional changes and social and economic rights. In 2011 in the wake of the Arab Spring, there were riots that the king of Bahrain - ally of Washington and supported by Riyadh - defeated with armed troops sent by Saudi Arabia. by Pierre Balanian Syrian Regular forces, with the help of allies, continue to advance south of the city. Tunnels used by Islamic extremist groups to bring men and weapons have been neutralised. After ceasefire talks fail, fighting continues. Washington uses Kurds and Turks to protect its interests, waiting for the next president, whilst the Russians want to maximise their military successes. Aleppo (AsiaNews) Syrian regular forces continue to advance, with the support of their allies, south of Aleppo, where they have already retaken Talat Al Makale'e, Bardat, Zeyut and Al Mashrifa. Fighters of the so-called Al Fath Army, whose name is a throwback to the Omayyad invasions of the early Islamic expansion, have fled. Syrian troops yesterday also neutralised a series of underground tunnels dug by Islamic fighters and used for the passage of weapons, ammunition and men from the village of Madaya towards the plain of Zabani near Damascus. Syrian state television reported that the national flag was waving on the rooftops of the Military Academy buildings south of Aleppo, following fierce fighting with the Al Fath Army (aka, terrorist Al Nusra Front). This is the second time since the beginning of summer that militias were cut off in the south from any access to Turkey where their logistical support, weapons, ammunition and multinational mercenaries come from. The government troops victory in Aleppo has reshuffled the cards in the hands of the Syrian war players, especially President Barack Obama who went to the G20 summit certain of Turkish success in the north of the country. Obama called his meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, "constructive and fruitful," but it did not lead to a cease-fire, nor to US acceptance of Russian humanitarian aid to Aleppo. At a press conference, the two sides stated using diplomatic finesse that hey had entered into details, a task left to their respective foreign ministers, John Kerry and Sergei Lavrov. Meanwhile, according to information reported to AsiaNews from Syrian Kurdish sources in Beirut, Saudi attempts to ingratiate themselves with Kurds in Hassakah with money and weapons so as to get them to fight the Syrian regime have failed. Disappointed by the Americans, the Kurds sent a delegation to the Russian military base in Humeyin, near Tartus on the Syrian coast, to discuss some deals and an alliance. At the centre of the negotiations is Hassakah, which is 80 per cent controlled by the Kurds, as some Armenian residents in the city said after they were contacted by AsiaNews. Kurdish sources in Beirut are saying that US strategy is to hold back Syrian Kurds, with whom they share some interests, such as replacing the Turks in Syria with Kurds, to use in the fight against Russia in case Ankara changes position". This could be the basis for a Kurdish autonomous zone in northern Syria, as a first step towards Syrias partition, an idea opposed by Turks who sent their tanks into Syria on their own to abort any Syrian Kurdistan. President Erdogan has always rejected this possibility, as President Obama noted in an interview with US magazine The Atlantic in which he criticised the USs Turkish ally for this refusal. Erdogan, for his part, has always rejected the American request to invade Syria alone, demanding instead a joint NATO action. Russia, which has sought to benefit from Turkey's disappointment following the failed coup by putting pressure on the US and drawing Ankara towards Eurasia, knows very well that to get Turkey out of NATO the country needs a charismatic, historical and courageous leader. None of this matches with Erdogan, even though he might like to appear as one. A possible alliance between Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Russia announced right after after the coup has never gone beyond superficial good intentions. A deal on Syria before Eid al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice, on 12 September appears probable. This leaves Syria little hope to win the mother of all battles, that for Aleppo. In any event, the current confused US leadership will not lead to any substantial change. Middle East strategists agree that the ball will now go into the court of the next US administration after Novembers presidential election, and everything suggests that it will more belligerent and aggressive than Obamas. What is clear, however, is that the Russians want to score as many wins before the new occupant of the White House moves in, whom the Saudis hope to be Hillary Clinton, who is expected to become more involved militarily in the region. Until the presidential elections, what is certain is that Washington is preparing to remain for a long time present militarily in northern Syria where there are two air bases at Rumeylan at Ain Al Arab. Turkey is going for broke with its last card: a ground invasion that its allies would like to see, an obvious way to create a wedge between United States and the Kurds. Moscow, meanwhile, has opened its doors to Russian volunteers eager to fight in Syria for the glory of the country. Already a thousand new guerrillas have arrived in Tartus. According to well-informed sources, many of them have fought alongside the Syrians in the recent ground battle to the south of Aleppo. Having surrounded the pro-Turkish fighters in this part of the big city, the Syrian regime is now ready to reach Ramussah. Lower oil prices have reduced Arab countries clout in Japan. In the first seven months of 2016, bilateral trade reached US$ 1.4 billion. Japan is Israels fourth largest market in Asia. Analysts and experts see Tokyo changing its policy in the Middle East. Tel Aviv (AsiaNews/Agencies) Falling oil prices and renewed nuclear power production have downgraded the influence of Arab oil producing countries on Japanese leaders for whom an economic and commercial partnership with Israel is becoming increasingly interesting. Over the past two years, Japan and Israel have boosted business ties, signing a series of economic agreements following a visit by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Israel in 2015 and Benjamin Netanyahu's trip to Tokyo in 2014. For years, trade between the two was minimal--Japan was reluctant to upset its oil suppliers, many of whom belong to the Arab League, which has long backed a boycott of Israel. "Geopolitics is changing in the Middle East and as oil prices come down, strategically it's not as important," said Yoshimitsu Kobayashi, chairman of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings, when he led a delegation from Keizai Doyukai, the Japanese business lobby, to Israel in May. In his view, "Japan is changing its mind. Israel's successes in Internet, biotech, and automotive technologies are particularly attractive, Kobayashi noted. This is not to say Japan has given up on the Arab world. Bilateral trade in goods in the first seven months of 2016 rose to .4 billion (145 billion yen) from .1 billion, making Japan Israel's fourth-largest market in Asia. It is part of a growing shift in focus as Asia overtakes the United States to become Israel's largest trading partner after Europe. The turning point in relations between the two countries dates back to 2014. The deal that put Israel on Japan's business map was the 0 million acquisition of chat app Viber by Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten Inc. in 2014. Viber has a big user base in Asia and was approached by Rakuten while doing business there, said Michael Shmilov, Viber's chief operating officer. The biggest obstacle to closer ties, he said, is the lack of direct airline flights, something Israel wants to change. Net investment by Japanese firms in Israel, after subtracting Israeli investment in Japan, nearly doubled in 2015 to 5.2 billion yen, according to the Japan External Trade Organization, citing Bank of Japan data. In fact, "The last two years ... we've seen a great expansion of Japanese activities, said Avi Hasson, Israel's chief scientist. For Israel, Japan offers a large market and a source of capital at a time of growing calls by some activist groups in Europe and the United States for a boycott of Israel because of its policies towards the Palestinians. An area where Japan is a particularly attractive market is in defence and cyber security, a sector that faces restrictions when it comes to China. Health is another key area as Japan's aging population seeks affordable medication. by Sumon Corraya About 500 Hindus, Christians and Muslims flocked to the Christian community center in the capital. The commemoration of the saint took place on the eve of the canonization. Mother Teresa as an example and inspiration for young people, social workers, politicians. Dhaka (AsiaNews) - Hindus, Muslims and Christians in Bangladesh have attended a meeting in memory of Mother Teresa, reflecting the fact that the work of the Saint of Calcutta is recognized by the faithful of all religions as extraordinary. About 500 people gathered on September 3 in the Christian community center in Dhaka, the eve of Mother's canonization. Bikash Roy, Hindu, told AsiaNews: "Mother Teresa was the ideal mother for the whole world. She taught us how to love children, in a time when we were engaged in killing them in the womb. We thank Pope Francis for declaring her a saint". The program - the theme "Mother Teresa: remembrance, memory and joy" - was held on September 3, organized by "Magis Bangla", the youth movement of the Jesuit fathers. The hall was so crowded, that many were left standing. Fr. Pradeep Perez sj explains that the objective of the meeting is "to give young people the message of Mother Teresa, so that they know about her service and assimilate her teachings." Rasheda K Choudhury, a Muslim, a former government advisor and director of the Campaign for Popular Education, said that "we can not be like Mother Teresa. But if we want to, we can follow her teaching in doing small tasks. " Francis Atul Sarker, Executive Director of Caritas Bangladesh, adds: "The Mother was a true missionary. When in 1972 she came to Bangladesh after the war for independence, she was wearing a very simple sari and it was even darned. At that moment I realized how simple the life of a missionary should be, observing her respectful attitude, the style of humble life and work for the needy". Catholic activist, Sanjeeb Drong, points out that the Saint would say: "If you judge people, you will have no time to love them." The man, General Secretary of Bangladesh Indigenous People Forum, said: "She was the inspiration for my work as an operator for development." by Nina Achmatova The authorities denounce foreign funding of more than 4 million euro in two years. Director of the institute: "We expected it; an act of repressive, it is the end of independent surveys in Russia." The move comes less than two weeks before the general election. Moscow (AsiaNews) - The Russian Ministry of Justice has also included the independent research institute, the Levada Center in the list of organizations deemed "foreign agents". The Soviet style labeling, was introduced with a controversial law in 2012 to classify non-profit organizations, which deal with policy and are financed from abroad. Those on the list are regularly subject to very strict controls, so much so that some NGOs have decided to close. The request for initiating checks on the activities and funding of the Levada had arrived from the senator and leader of the Anti-Maidan movement, Dmitri Sablin, who says he is satisfied with the authorities decision. The searches were conducted at the Levada on August 12 to 31 last, during the period when the organization also conducted a survey that revealed a large decline of the ruling party United Russia: 31%, from 39% in July . But according to those in charge of the center, there is a direct connection between the two facts. The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federation Council (the Russian Senate), Kosachev, has announced that the Levada "received over 300 million rubles, in two years from foreign sources " (about 4.145 million euro). Many of these funds come, according to the Senator, from organizations in the United States, Great Britain, Norway, Lithuania and "other countries that have no love for Russia". "We will reduce the number of contracts with foreign customers in the hope to remove the status," said the deputy director of Levada, Aleksei Grazhdankin. The news comes less than two weeks before the elections for the renewal of the State Duma, planned on September 18. "The consequences of such a decision are devastating for us the institute's director Lev Gudkov told AFP. "This is necessary, in practice, political censorship and the impossibility of having independent surveys. It is the typical behavior of a repressive regime. " Levada is considered the most authoritative survey institute in the country and is the first, which began to carry out opinion surveys on a national level, since 1988. Now it can no longer deal with election polls. The center is named after the Russian sociologist Yuri Levada (1930-2006). The other polling organizations in the country are all state-controlled. Gudkov has been waiting for such a decision, but did not hide his "anger and frustration" in his interview to the newspaper Novaya Gazeta, stating that he will be appealing against the Ministry initiative, even in the knowledge "that we have not many possibilities" . Gudkov cirticized the law on foreign agents, which so far has already hit some 140 organizations, including Memorial that deals with human rights, and Golos that monitors the election processes. Moscow has always said that the new legislation aims to protect Russia from foreign attempts to influence its internal policy, but many accuse it if aiming to silence those who denounce the poll manipulation and other abuses. "The scope of the law is so broad that it can cover everything - said Gudkov - cough in the wrong way or look in the direction of some official, anything can be considered" political activity. Gudkov said he was convinced that behind the inclusion of Levada in the list of foreign agents is not via a direct presidential administration order. "It is a wind coming from the siloviki block (men from the security apparatus), responsible for all the repressive policy in the country. Certainly, this corrupt and mafia power group reacts very nervously to the publication of our data ", which records the public denunciation of political corruption. "When they launch their attack in the name of patriotism, evidently are covering up for what they have stolen " said Gudkov, citing the Russian satirist Saltykov-Shchedrin. Msgr. Basil Atahai, "simple but witty man", welcomed by the faithful and by members of the Episcopal Conference. The new bishop thanks the representatives of PIME, a bank in Taunggyi since 1968. Taunggyi (AsiaNews) - On Saturday, September 4, a large crowd of faithful greeted the new archbishop of Taunggyi, Msgr. Basil Athai. Almost all members of the Bishops' Conference of Myanmar attended the ceremony, including the Apostolic delegate, Msgr. Paul Tschang In-nam, who came from Thailand for the occasion. Priests from all over Myanmar, and in particular the diocese born from the work of PIME missionaries, were also present as was Fr. Maurizio Arioldi, delegate superior of the Institute in Thailand and Myanmar, for which Msgr. Basilio had words of sincere appreciation and gratitude. The prelate defined the PIME missionaries as "pioneers" who gave everything for the Church of northeast Myanmar. The Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions has been present in Taunggyi, capital of Shan state (north-east of the country), since 1868. Six dioceses were born from the priests' work which now counts a large number of Christians, communities and religious. Msgr. Balilio Athai, originally from Loikaw (Kayah State), is the second successor of Bishop Msgr. Gobbato (PIME), after Msgr. Mathias U Shwe, who resigned April 12, 2015 after leading the archdiocese for 26 years. Local Christians describe Msgr. Athai as "a simple and very discreet man, but at the same time witty and profound in his few words". The new archbishop inherits an extensive archdiocese at the local level, which counts 6,500 Catholics, 15 parishes and 40 priests. Taking the floor at the end of the celebration, the Apostolic Delegate Msgr. Tschang In-nam said that "the era of the first missionaries (Vismara, Colombo etc.) is over; it is now time to hand over the reigns to let others continue the work of the mission". Oris Divers Sixty-Five Watch The Watch Snob Weighs In On Mechanical Depth Gauge Watches And Annoying Rolex Fans The Watch Snob is now on Instagram. Follow him here. Oris Watches Dear Watch Snob, First, let me thank you for your frank and entertaining column. I am planning on purchasing my first mechanical watch, and as such I have been reading a lot of watch reviews. It seems as though many, if not most, of the reviewers writing at the moment have difficulty criticizing, or finding fault with the vast majority of the watches they write about. This is why I appreciate your willingness to give your unvarnished opinion. Never having been one to dive straight into the deep-end, I am instead looking to dip my toes into the luxury watch market, with the purchase of a more introductory watch. To that end I have become interested in the Swiss watch brand Oris. I like that they are independently owned, produce nothing but mechanical watches and have a long history of watchmaking. That being said, I am mindful of your repeated admonishments not to be hoodwinked by a good story and a savvy marketing department. In reading your previous columns, I found your discussion of mid-tier watches, where you assert that Oris, among others, drop identical movements into unimaginative assembly line cases, and completely lack innovation, passion and tradition. Since that was written, however, Oris does appear to have stepped up its game both in innovation and tradition. In the last couple of years Oris has brought out watches featuring both the first mechanical altimeter in a mechanical watch, and the first mechanical depth gauge. While I lack the depth of knowledge to truly judge how innovative these watches are, from what I read (with a grain of salt, see first paragraph) these watches do seem to be mechanically impressive. As for tradition, Oris has recently reintroduced their Divers Sixty-Five, a 50-year-old design pulled from their archives, which you yourself recommended to a reader last year. Bearing all that in mind, has your position on Oris softened? Also, aside from the 65 (which I am considering as my gateway drug into the world luxury watches), do any of Oris other watches appeal to you as a good first watch, noting that I am neither a serious enough diver to require a depth gauge, nor an aviator needing an altimeter. Oris is neither the first company with a mechanical depth gauge in a watch nor are they the first to place a mechanical altimeter in a watch. The earliest mechanical altimeter wristwatch that Im aware of is the quite famous Favre Leuba Bivouac, and IWC has been making mechanical depth gauge watches since 2000 when the Deep One came out. Oris makes honest enough watches but they have an unfortunate tendency to make things larger than they need to be that is to say, one gets the impression often, that their watches are big merely for the sake of being big and not because there is any deeper reason (not even good design). They have several interesting dive watch models (including quite a nice bronze one, for the money) and they offer value for the money, I suppose, but far too many of their watches are simply boring. Rolex Fans I really like the Rolex GMT Master II (vintage, blue/red). It ticks a lot of boxes: GMT, Pan Am heritage, auto, respectable size etc. So why haven't I pulled the trigger? Rolex fans. The online forums dedicated to the Crown are full of posts like "Your Rolex and your socks", "Your Rolex and your college degree". Then, there is post after post complaining about people noticing their Rolex, when it's obvious this is exactly what they are hoping for (a subset of this post is from people who don't own a Rolex yet but are scared of [praying for] this reaction.) Then there are the people who blindly tout the craftsmanship of Rolex over Patek or Lange (regardless if they have owned or even held these other brands. Finally, there is the near fetishizing of the brand to the point where you get the feeling they rub the Buddha to their SubC (ask Shamus). I mean this does not happen on other forums. IWC, Omega, even forums for high end brands don't seem to engender this attitude. It's quite off putting to be honest and makes me want to avoid the brand. What do you make of this phenomenon? Am I making too much of this? Youre not making too much of it if it actually bothers you and Ive addressed this issue many times in the past but I suppose given that I write about watches, there will inevitably come a point when I find myself repeating myself (on the subject of in-house movements, if nothing else). Yes, you see this is the problem with Rolex; they are the worlds most popular luxury wristwatch, (more or less) but they are also, often, purchased by men who want to impress people with their watch, or by the sort of men who buy all their shirts and jackets at Brooks Brothers, not because they are well made, but because it keeps them from having to think. If it were just a matter of not looking like a nouveau-riche idiot, one could ignore Rolex completely and go on with ones horological life. It would be a simple matter, but the problem is that they actually make quite good watches. There are really only two things you can do: either you decide that you dont like the company youll be keeping if you wear a Rolex, and you dont wear a Rolex; or you decide you dont care what other people think, and you enjoy an excellent watch. Ulysee Nardin Hello Watch Snob, What is your opinion on Ulysee Nardin watches? At one time, they fascinated me and over the years they have been responsible, directly or indirectly, for some of the best and worst watches of the last decade and a half. It is impossible to imagine modern watchmaking without such masterpieces as the Freak and the Trilogy of Time. Alas, though it gives me little pleasure to say so I feel their watches of the last few years have lacked imagination, but that, perhaps, is not their fault. The creation of such superlative watches as the ones Ive just mentioned requires a confluence of very special circumstances that probably should not be expected to endure indefinitely. It is hard to avoid feeling that since Dr. Ludwig Oechslin parted ways with the company, and Rolf Schnyder passed away, that they have lost the idiosyncratic fanaticism in pursuit of the truly original that characterized its earlier years (and overexposure to the Russian market didnt help them either). They are now in the hands of the Kering Group, which, unfortunately, shows no indication that it has any idea what to do with a watch brand (which bodes ill for Girard-Perregaux as well, it gives me no pleasure to say). Despite a funding increase which has led to the appointment of more judges to the bench, District Court delays to criminal cases is unlikely to ease until the next half of 2017, a judge has warned.According to a report from The Sydney Morning Herald, a senior judge has voiced the concern, pointing to the high proportion of defendants pleading guilty on or close to trial dates as a major problem.The publication noted that 2,042 criminal trials and 1,195 sentencing matters were pending in the court by the end of July, about twice the caseload at the end of 2010. No new criminal trial dates are available in the District Court until June next year, it said.The warning comes after the Baird government boosted the District Courts funding by millions last year which has led to the appointment of more judges to the bench.The funding increase was instituted after the NSW Law Reform Commission said last year that sheer volume will overwhelm the district court which was said to be in a state of crisis.However, the NSW Law Society said that although the extra money made available through a $59 million funding package is helpful, its still lacking.To reduce the backlog, more judges as well as encouraging early guilty pleas are needed said Law Society president Gary Ulman.Ulman, who is also a partner at MinterEllison , also questioned why the government, in a move to reduce District Court caseload, was transferring break and enter trials to the Local Court when the Local Court is already really stretched.Meanwhile, Sydney criminal law barrister Phillip Boulten, SC said the same support given to the police for investigations should be given to the justice system.Judge appointments are a great help but the court needs more judges to deal with this backlog, he said.However, calls for more support has not pleased Attorney-General Gabrielle Upton who said Sunday that the Law Society is being mean spirited and petty to criticise the extra funding they in fact called for.The extra funding led to the appointment of five extra judges, new public defenders, and extra resources for legal aid and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, as well as other initiatives such as targeted trial call-overs to bring parties together earlier, and to identify early guilty pleas, the publication quotes Upton saying.The Attorney-General said that the funding is already making a difference and will have an even greater effect in the coming months. Free newsletter Subscribe to our FREE newsletter service and well keep you up-to-date with the latest breaking news, cutting edge opinion, and expert analysis affecting both your business and the industry as whole. Please enter your email address below and click on Sign Up for daily newsletters from Australasian Lawyer. Law students from schools around the country are travelling to parts of Asia in an effort to increase their understanding of access to justice.For the first time, University of Queensland students travelled to Myanmar in partnership with BABSEACLE.Myanmar is in a transitional state, UQ Pro Bono Centre director and clinical legal education coordinator Monica Taylor told Australasian Lawyer.Its going through a big transition in terms of local peoples trust of former legal systems, the trust in the courts, the judiciary and those sorts of dispute resolution forums.Students work mainly to help local law students develop their capability in the English language, in relation to the law.[English] is the language of instruction for learning the law and obtaining a law degree, Taylor said.Even though its not the first language, that is how law is taught in that country and so building language proficiency is very important to helping them realise their potential as practitioners.The program isnt just benefitting local students but the interns as well. Beginning with a week of training in Yangon, the program covers interactive teaching methods, access to justice and promoting an ethical legal profession.From having relatively little knowledge of Myanmar, I now understand the barriers marginalised people face in accessing justice and I have been able to impart knowledge and solutions to the students at Taunggyi University, said UQ student Phoebe Kelly.Not only does the clinical legal education program allow the Burmese students to become pro-bono minded, it has the same effect on Australian students.BABSEACLE runs programs throughout the Asian region, but this was the first student program to Myanmar.Ive become interested in potentially working in development where I can combine my legal expertise with my interest in economics and politics, said UQ student Ashley Chandler. Updated Brio expected to feature cosmetic changes similar to those seen on facelifted Amaze compact sedan. Honda is set to give its competent but slow-selling hatchback, the Brio, a much-needed facelift with a launch likely to take place on October 4, 2016. The car for India will be similar to the updated version launched abroad earlier this year. Changes to the car will be merely cosmetic and in line with the new look that debuted on the revised Amaze compact sedan. Styling changes to the India-spec Brio are similar to the international model with a sportier-looking front bumper and a new grille. Inside, the dashboard is a new unit similar to the updated Amaze and the Honda BR-V with spy photos showing the updated car receiving a new audio system as well. Mechanically, the car will carry forward using the current 1.2-litre i-VTEC petrol motor paired to a five-speed manual gearbox as standard. It is yet to be seen if the new CVT gearbox from the Amaze replaces the current five-speed torque converter automatic gearbox. This will be the first major update to the Brio since its launch in India in 2011. The first lot of six GT-Rs have arrived at Mumbai airport; set for an October 2016 launch. The long-awaited Nissan GT-R has finally arrived on Indian shores. This spy photo is of one of the six GT-Rs that arrived at Mumbai airport last week for customs clearance. Since the GT-R is well above US$ 40,000 there is no requirement for a lengthy homologation process and it is expected to launch here sometime in October. Nissan has opened bookings for the GT-R and is accepting deposits of Rs 25 lakh for deliveries on a first-come, first-serve basis. The first GT-R customer will be actor John Abraham whose love for the Nissan supercar prompted him to become a brand ambassador for the Japanese company. According to sources, the first lot of GT-Rs have already been sold, despite the steep asking price of around Rs 2 crore. The car maker, however, has only one GT-R dealership in Delhi, which could limit pan-India sales. Prospective buyers will be flown to Delhi and given a demo at the Buddh International Circuit to acquaint themselves with the 570hp Godzilla. While the officials of the EU Commission have refused to disclose their findings, the Germans at Die Welt managed to talk to their sources within the institution, whp provided them with the figures presented above. No sanctioning plan has been devised so far for the corporation.Meanwhile, on the official side of things, Vera Jurova, the EU Consumer Commissioner, stated that Volkswagens emissions scandal is a pan-European challenge, and that her colleagues are currently investigated where two sets of rules that apply across the EU have been broken.The two sets of rules that apply across the European Union and that might have been broken in the process of Volkswagens emissions cheating scheme are called the Consumer Sales and Guarantees Directive, and the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive.The first forbids companies to use exaggerated environmental claims in sales pitches, while the other is almost self-explanatory.Vera Jurova, the European representative mentioned above, will meet with consumer associations this Thursday. A meeting with national protection agencies is also scheduled, on September 29, 2016, as well as an appointment with Volkswagen s representatives. Following these talks, the EU official should be able to propose a reasonable penalty for Volkswagen.At the same time, the German company should also have a presentation on the matter, along with a few propositions. While European customers will not get the benefits offered to their American counterparts, it would be nice for Volkswagen to provide some compensation to customers for their troubles. The nature of the said compensation does not have to be financial, if you ask us.It is worth noting that Vera Jurova is not the first EU representative to point the finger at Volkswagen for treating its American customers differently than the ones on its home continent. Elzbieta Bienkowska, the EU Industry Commissioner, has also asked the German corporation to reconsider its position on the matter. You might have heard by now that said satellite was meant to be used by Facebook to deliver high-speed internet in the sub-Saharan African region, a plan that now has to rely on a different kind of technology. Mark Zuckerberg was actually in Africa at the time of the explosion, and he lost no time to express his disappointment over the failed mission."As I'm here in Africa, I'm deeply disappointed to hear that SpaceX's launch failure destroyed our satellite that would have provided connectivity to so many entrepreneurs and everyone else across the continent," he said in a post of Facebook."Fortunately, we have developed other technologies like Aquila that will connect people as well. We remain committed to our mission of connecting everyone, and we will keep working until everyone has the opportunities this satellite would have provided."But SpaceX's biggest woes aren't linked to Zuckerberg's disappointment, but with the actions of Spacecom, the company that owned the satellite. It plans to sue both SpaceX and IAI (Israel Aerospace Industries), with the former being responsible for the launch of the satellite, and the latter for its manufacture.The cost of the whole mission is said to rise at around $285 million, but, according to Jerusalem Online , Spacecom intends to demand $205 million in compensation from various entities involved (including IAI)while also planning to sue SpaceX for $50 million. However, the company's deal with Facebook is likely to be terminated, which makes its comments about trying to find solutions for its customers and even being willing to buy another satellite to replace the one lost in the explosion somewhat confusing.But the $50 million are likely to look like spare change for SpaceX compared to the damage done by the explosion. With Falcon 9 rockets grounded for a while, the company failed to capitalize on the success of earlier missions with this incident coming at the worst possible moment: the first time SpaceX was going to re-use a flight-proven Falcon 9 rocket . It's a pretty deep hole to dig the company out of, but if there's one man who has the confidence to do it, then that's definitely Elon Musk. The end of the hot season has seen the Swede going all out, dropping the Agera XS in the US and the gold-plated Naraya in Europe. Sticking to the continent scheme, Koenigsegg has now introduced the Agera RSR over in Japan.We're dealing with a triumvirate here, as the three overly special editions are part of the overall 25-car production run for the Agera RS. For one thing, this means their middle section accommodated a twin-turbo 5.0-liter V8 delivering a neck-massaging 1,160 hp.The "Anime" part of the title above is no joke - the three Japanese aficionados who commissioned these hypercars wanted bespoke aero details. It all starts with the One:1's top-mount wing. And this isn't just here for the added visual drama, as Angelholm explains the feature improves the efficiency of the wing at high speed.Unlike One:1 owners, though, Agera RSR customers weren't OK with a fixed roof. Thus, the roof-mounted air scoop feeding that V8 with fresh air has been downsized. So these guys can enjoy the Rising Sun stereotype whenever they like."Specific input from clients was crucial to the design and specification of the Agera RSR, which were amongst the first Agera RS cars ordered and therefore pioneered aerodynamic solutions that were subsequently made available to other customized Agera RSs," the K brand's helm man said.All three cars feature custom touches, so, even if their owner decided to hold a Koenigsegg meet (remember the recent one in Europe), they won't hop into the wrong hypercar.P.S.: All the geography play makes us wonder how an Australia-savvy Koenigsegg would look like. And since Koenigsegg is currently rebuilding the Nurburgring-crashed One:1 with the aim of grabbing the Porsche 918 Spyder's record, we don't see why the German hybrid's top speed Outback run wouldn't be trolled too. But this time around, its not a BMW Art Car the artist had created. It is a BMW 7 Series , the full-size luxobarge with gesture control and other whatnots. In collaboration with BMW Individual Manufaktur, Esther Mahlangu had enhanced the interior of the 7er with bold, colorful design patterns.Commenting on the outlandish fruit of her labor, 81-year-old Esther Mahlangu declared: The patterns I have used on the BMW parts marry tradition to the essence of BMW. When BMW sent me the panels to paint, I could see the design in my head and I just wanted to get started!Mahlangu further explains that she had started by painting the small details first to get the feeling of the real wood trim. My heart was full of joy when BMW asked me again to paint for them, added the South African artist.Besides the Esther-designed trim, the rest of the interior is purely BMW . Fine-grain Merino leather, Individual leather on the steering wheel, Alcantara headliner, its business as usual. Under the hood, this unique BMW 7 Series is motivated by a turbocharged six-cylinder engine that runs on high-octane jungle juice and develops 326 horsepower and 450 Nm of torque.Because it is ECE registered, the one-of-a-kind BMW 740Li featured in the adjacent photo gallery and video can't be registered in the United States. On the upside, you can try your luck and make it your own via a silent sale . The highest bid automatically translates into ownership, with all proceeds from the auction benefitting the charitable art project The Art Room. His generous gesture was inspired by over three thousand nominations received online, where he and his wife learned about many families that are in dire need of a transportation solution.Mr. Schmitt first thought about giving away a car to someone in 2013, when he heard the story of an unfortunate family, and gave them a vehicle for free to have a way to get around.Since then, Jonathan Schmitt gave away a car every year, but 2016 was different. After careful monitoring of the nominations his body shop received on Facebook, where people referred to others in need of a vehicle, he decided to give away as many cars as he could. So he added up whatever he had around, and managed to prepare 11 cars to give away for free.The reporters at WTVF caught the story on Labor Day, when his employees were working out of their decision. Instead of taking a day off, the workers of the auto body repair shop named A+ Automotive Repair decided to give time and help put as many families back in a vehicle of their own.According to News Channel 5 , Mr. Schmitt usually gets the cars from impound, and then he asks his mechanics to fix them, so that another owner could drive them safely on public roads.Whenever needed, Schmitt donated parts for the vehicles, and then the hard work begins. The most difficult part we are referring to is choosing a family that most needs a car in its life.The A Plus Automotive Repair shop recently moved into a larger facility, which is located on Lebanon Road, Mt. Juliet, Tennessee . The operates on a peculiar schedule - 24 hours a day.Its owner said that there was a demand for this kind of service in the area, so that is why they had to hire more technicians, so that they can be able to fix more vehicles. The current President of Russia was not onboard, as he was attending the G20 Summit in China. However, his favorite chauffeur, a man whose name was not given to the press, died in the impact.The black BMW 7 Series was driving on the Kutuzovsky Avenue in Russias capital city, Moscow, when a Mercedes-Benz CLS struck it.As you can witness in the video below, the CLS was traveling at a high rate of speed, and had already lost control when it collided with the BMW 7 Series driven by the chauffeur with over 40 years of experience behind the wheel.The impact area was on the driver s side of the German limousine, and Russian media reports that the sole occupant, the chauffeur, was killed instantly.As The Daily Mail reports, there is no news regarding the driver of the Mercedes-Benz CLS. The same publication confirms that the 7 Series is registered to the Federation Council, which is Russias equivalent of Senate.The Kutuzovsky Avenue was subjected to a massive traffic jam, as the cleanup operation took multiple hours, and the Boulevard was closed immediately after the accident. The avenue in question is a major one in Moscow, and has eight lanes in total, four for each direction of travel.This accident goes to show that not even the most experienced drivers are totally safe from crashes, and serves as an example for those that believe that the seatbelt is not necessary at the speeds usually employed in the city. Unfortunately, impacts as violent as these are hard to survive for any human being, no matter how safe their cars are.Russias roads are no strangers to violent accidents , and this one shows the world that it could happen to anyone, no matter how powerful or experienced they were. Be sure to remind your acquaintances of that fact the next time they mention speeding in one of their stories. SUV The images in the gallery first appeared on Car News China , and they show the Volkswagenwithout any form of camouflage. It is believed that they were taken in a complex of the automaker, as the scenery behind the vehicle does not fit for a professional photo shoot eligible for promotional material.As usual with this kind of images, the author prefers to remain unknown, as the access to the German SUV is probably restricted, and taking photos of it is evidently prohibited.Regardless, here are a few pictures of the next SUV from Volkswagen, which will apparently be offered with either LED of halogen headlights, as a photo comparison shows.As you already know, Volkswagens new SUV might get two names , depending on the markets it will be sold, and the American version will have a different nameplate We also know that it will be a seven-seat model, but it will be available in five-seat configurations as well. It is essential to note that the version you observe in the photo gallery is meant for the Chinese market, and that it will also be built there.The German brand has a joint-venture named Shanghai-Volkswagen, which was started with local partners. According to the source quoted by Car News China, the SUV will be 5,039 mm long, 1,989 mm wide, and 1,773 mm tall. The wheelbase is reportedly 2,980 mm long. Its dimensions make it close to the old Audi Q7.In spite of its size, the big SUV from Volkswagen will be cheaper than an Audi Q7, and some say that it will be more affordable in China than the Touareg. The difference would come from the fact that the Touareg is imported, while the Teramont is made there, an element that brings lower prices for tax reasons. One of the perennial reasons given for order-to-delivery (OTD) delays is rail constraints. This has been an ongoing issue in the U.S., but, now, with the dramatic expansion of automotive production south of the border, rail constraints in Mexico will begin to play a greater role in fleet OTD discussions. When the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed in January 1994, it marked a new chapter in cross-border economic activity between the three signatories the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. As trade among the three countries has grown significantly, so too have concerns about transportation and infrastructure constraints that threaten to create logistics bottlenecks. Mexico Emerges as a Global Auto Export Hub In calendar-year 2015, Mexico exported nearly 2.9 million vehicles, with 70% of them shipped to the U.S. Although Mexico has been a major automotive exporter for decades, the recent growth of its automotive manufacturing base has been dramatic. For instance, in the past 15 years, Mexico catapulted from being the worlds 11th largest automotive manufacturer in 1995 to the seventh largest in 2016. In the last five years, there has been a series of rapid fire announcements by global OEMs to build greenfield assembly plants or expand existing operations. Currently, there are 11 global automotive manufacturers in Mexico, with many of them building brand-new manufacturing facilities. For example, Honda, Mazda, Audi, Nissan/Infiniti, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Toyota all have new plant investments underway in Mexico, and those OEMs with existing plants, such as Fiat-Chrysler, Ford, and GM, are investing heavily to expand their manufacturing footprint. In June 2016, BAIC, a unit of Beijing Automotive Group Co., began selling cars in the Mexican market, and said it too may set up a production facility in Mexico in 2017 to sell its products in both the local and export markets. With this expanded production volume coming online, the forecast is that automotive production in Mexico could reach 5 million units by 2020. Since Mexicos domestic retail market is relatively small with 900,000 units sold per year, the overwhelming majority of this new capacity will be earmarked for export. OEM investments in Mexico are pointing to higher volumes of exports to the U.S. and Canada, which are already at record levels. This growth has fleet logistics implications between the two countries, since many of these products are also popular in the U.S. fleet market. Currently, OEMs are experiencing rail capacity constraints exporting automotive product out of Mexico, along with rail infrastructure deficiencies, especially with rail lines going through cities. In addition, the increasing volume of locally assembled automotive exports promises to make railcar shortages in Mexico more frequent. Rail companies in Mexico, such as Ferromex and Kansas City Southern de Mexico (KCSM), have made significant investments in both railcars and infrastructure to secure capacity for future growth, but there is still much more to do. In reaction to emerging rail constraints, OEMs are looking at short-sea shipping as a viable supply chain solution to export vehicles. Approximately 80% of automotive exports are shipped by rail to the U.S. and Canada, with the remainder by sea. For example, Volkswagen sends roughly half of its Mexican exports by short sea from its long-time assembly plant in Puebla. More recently, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler, and Ford have increased their use of short-sea carriers. Spectre of Increased Rail Constraints Another factor contributing to Mexican rail congestion is the U.S. rail industrys migration to 286,000-pound gross rail load railcars, which are commonly referred to as GRL 286. Over the past 20 years, the majority of new railcars added to the revenue-earning fleet in the U.S. are the larger GRL 286 cars, which enable operational efficiencies since they can carry larger loads, thereby easing logistics congestion. The problem is that not all rail lines can support GRL 286 cars. In Mexico, the only GRL 286 lines are the lines are those going into New Mexico and Texas. With only three main lines serving Mexico that can support GRL 286 railcars, it creates bottlenecks resulting in rail congestion, with trains traveling, on average, as slow as 7 mph. In 2013, the Mexican government announced a $100-billion spending package aimed at building new rail lines and improving ports. Although Mexican rail companies are making significant capital expenditures, with nearly 50 percent of Mexicos rail lines below GRL 286, there is much more work that needs to be done. As Mexicos expanded auto production capacity comes on line, future discussion about OTD will need to take into account rail constraints issues that occur south of the U.S. border. Let me know what you think. [email protected] Map courtesy of Canadian Automotive Fleet Automotive retail sales in Canada hit a record of 1.94 million new vehicles sold in calendar-year 2015, an increase of 2.6% over 2014. This is the third consecutive year of record retail sales in Canada. Although the commercial fleet business is mature in Canada, fleet sales showed growth in calendar-year 2015, growing 2.8% over 2014-CY. Canada is primarily a service-based economy, largely driven by small local businesses. As in the U.S., the small fleet segment is the growth engine for fleet sales. For instance, the small business fleet segment in Canada experienced double-digit sales growth in 2015, which was up 18% year-over-year. In Canada, it is really the small local businesses that drive our economy. Actually, as the old saying goes up here, over 80% of the commercial customers buy fewer than 30 units per year. It is important to truly connect with customers at the local level with a commercially focused dealer network, said Peter Bagnall, director - fleet and commercial sales for General Motors of Canada. Diverse Fleet Market The strongest vocational segments for commercial fleet sales in Canada are energy and construction. However, with the global oversupply and decreased price of oil, companies in the Canadian energy sector have implemented deep spending reductions. Senior management at oil companies are placing intense pressure on fleet managers to control acquisition and operating expenses. However, cost containment pressures run throughout the Canadian fleet market. One way Canadian fleets have been looking to reduce acquisition and operating costs is by downsizing to a smaller truck segment. Canada is a net export nation with 75% of its exports going to the U.S., its largest trading partner. One factor strongly influencing the commercial fleet market is the foreign exchange rate of the Canadian dollar, which has declined against the U.S. dollar. This has positively impacted the Canadian economy, particularly provinces such as Ontario and Quebec, which have a strong manufacturing sector. The weaker Canadian dollar makes their exports less expensive in the U.S. Despite lower fuel prices in Canada, it is expected that there will be a growing trend for businesses and municipalities in certain parts of Canada to adopt green technologies. Canadian Economic Forecast Historically, overall fleet sales in Canada have always been tied to the robustness of the national economy. Overall improvements in sectors such as housing, construction, and infrastructure assisted in modestly growing overall fleet sales. Construction is playing a bigger role in the economic activity Canada is experiencing in Ontario and Quebec, which has stimulated commercial fleet sales. In addition, GM is expanding its business footprint in Canada with several new initiatives. First, GM Canada announced it would establish a separate Canadian headquarters office for its Cadillac brand in a new complex in downtown Toronto. This move parallels an earlier decision by General Motors to establish a separate headquarters office in the U.S. for its Cadillac brand in New York City. In another recent development, GM Canada purchased another site in Toronto to serve as the Canadian headquarters for its Maven car-sharing service. Photo of next-gen Discovery courtesy of Jaguar Land Rover. Jaguar Land Rover will debut its fifth-generation Land Rover Discovery luxury SUV on Sept. 28 ahead of the Paris Motor Show, the company has announced. The Land Rover Discovery, which has been sold in North America since the 1994 model-year, will arrive with a significantly different exterior look as a full-size seven-seat SUV that's available in two- and three-row configurations. The company has released an image of the vehicle. The new Discovery and Discovery Sport compact SUV will continue to offer seven-seat models. The Discovery Sport was introduced in 2014 under the Discovery sub-brand. (l-r) Jan Carlson, chairman, chief executive and president of Autoliv, with Hakan Samuelsson, president and CEO of Volvo Cars. Photo courtesy of Volvo Cars. Automotive safety systems supplier Autoliv and Volvo Cars have agreed to form a new jointly owned company to develop next-generation autonomous driving software. Once finalized, the joint venture will introduce a new player in the growing global market for autonomous driving software systems. The new company, still unnamed, will develop advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving (AD) systems for use in Volvo vehicles and for sale exclusively by Autoliv to all automakers globally. Both companies will share revenues, Volvo and Autoliv said in a released statement. The planned company, headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, is expected to have an initial workforce of around 200 people. Employees will come from both Volvo and Autoliv. This number will expand to more than 600 in the medium term, Volvo and Autoliv said. The company is set to start operations in early 2017. By combining our know-how and resources we will create a world leader in AD software development, said Hakan Samuelsson, president and CEO of Volvo Cars. This means we can introduce this exciting technology to our customers faster. Both Autoliv and Volvo Cars will provide intellectual property for their ADAS systems to the joint venture. Dennis Nobelius, managing director of Volvo Switzerland, is set to serve as CEO of the new joint venture. The non-binding letter of intent, however, is subject to further negotiations. Courtesy of Didi Chuxing website Didi Chuxing, a Chinese-based ride-hailing company, has launched its car rental service, according to a report by South China Morning Post. Didi will co-operate with car rental companies to rent out vehicles, the company told the South China Morning Post. Users can rent and pay for a vehicle through the Didi app two hours in advance, and Didi will then have a driver deliver the vehicle to the users location, says the report. Didis car rental service is in the testing stage in Shanghai and plans to expand to more cities by the first half of 2017, according to the report. Didi Car Rental is launched in response to the boom in Chinas short-term and tourist car rental market as the population goes through a lifestyle revolution, the company told the Post. Didi acquired all assets of Uber China in August. Click here for the full South China Morning Post. A map of Mex Rent A Car's affiliate locations. Photo courtesy of Mex Rent A Car. Mex Rent A Car now has 11 affiliate locations internationally, including Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, and St. Maarten. Mex Rent A Car is celebrating its newest affiliates around the world. The company now has 11 affiliate locations in several countries, including Canada (Toronto), the U.S. (San Diego, Orlando, Miami, Fort Lauderdale), Mexico (Tijuana, Hermosillo, Loreto, La Paz, Los Cabos, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Mexico City, Cancun, Cozumel), Dominican Republic (Punta Cana, Santo Domingo, Santiago), Costa Rica (San Jose, Liberia), and St. Maarten. We would like to thank all of our affiliates for the trust and great support they had putting into this program, said Jordi Rivero, chief product officer of Mex Rent A Car. Mex signed its first affiliate in St. Maarten in June 2015, according to the company. We are sure that with all the MEX connectivity, our affiliate program will gain strength and will increase our affiliates bookings/presence/revenue, said Rivero. Mex continues its expansion plan and is searching for new business partners, says the company. Najd Rent-a-Car, a UAE-based car rental company, has announced the opening of its second branch in Dubai, according to a report by Travel Daily News. The new location is based at the Atlantis on Palm Jumeirah Island; it aims to cater to in-house guests as well as tourists residing in other properties across the man-made island, according to the report. The company currently operates a fleet of over 100 vehicles, including luxury brands such as Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Range Rover, and Escalade. The opening of the second outlet of Najd Rent-a Car in Dubai is a very timely move because it addresses the growing demand for car rental services in the emirate, especially in the luxury segment, Omar Al Kasem, Najd Rent-a-Cars VIP operations manager, told Travel Daily News. We are confident that our new office at the Atlantis, The Palm will enable us to cater to visitors of the seven-star resort and other premier hotels on the island. We continuously strive to serve our customers better and will continue to add more luxury cars to our fleet as well as open up new branches in the near future. Click here for the full Travel Daily News report. International visitors traveling to Iceland from 2011 to 2015. Chart courtesy of Auto Europe. Today, Iceland can claim its spot as king of the hot destinations hill. Its steady progression up the tourism ladder makes it seem like something more than just a passing fad. According to a recent report from the official Tourist Board of Iceland, international tourism to the country was up 30% from 2014-2015 and has more than doubled in the past five years. A majority of these visitors came from the U.S. (20% of total), tailed closely by visitors from the U.K. (19% of total) and Germany (8% of total). Iceland has become popular as a destination thats unique from the typical European experience, and auto rentals have prevailed as the preferred way to travel about the country. In most tourist destinations, travelers are typically presented with a range of options in local transportation. While trains, taxis, buses, and even ferries all compete against car rental in countries like France and Italy, public transit is not nearly as established in Iceland. Having a private vehicle is a key factor in visiting many of Icelands most famous attractions, and the numbers seem to prove it. At Auto Europe, net bookings from the U.S. for vehicle rentals in Iceland grew 195% from 2011 to 2015 a trend that mirrors the 127% growth in international visitors traveling to Iceland during the same period. The need for car rentals in Iceland has been skyrocketing, and a look at Google Trends data confirms that more people are searching online for car rentals in Iceland than ever before. Interest in "Car Rental Iceland" queries from 2011 to 2016. Courtesy of Google Trends Graph. One of the more intriguing aspects of Icelands growing car rental market is the types of vehicles that are in demand. Most tourists visit Iceland to explore its landscape. While the Colosseum and Tuscan hillsides inspire travel to Italy, volcanoes and waterfalls draw travelers to Iceland. Touring these natural attractions involves driving on dirt and gravel roads where four-wheel-drive is required. At Auto Europe, weve observed that 4x4, SUVs, and campervan rentals have accounted for nearly 30% of total rental bookings in Iceland over the past five years (37% in 2015 alone). Here are some key takeaways on tourism and car rental in Iceland: Demand for auto rentals is rapidly increasing (195% growth over five years among destination Iceland bookings at Auto Europe). Travelers from the U.S. and U.K. make up the largest portion of incoming visitors (20% from the U.S. and 19% from the U.K.). Most U.S. travelers visit in the summer months while most U.K. travelers visit in the fall and winter months. 4x4 vehicles and camper vans are the most sought-after vehicle categories (making up 37% of all Iceland bookings in 2015 at Auto Europe). By Chris Slesarchik, SEO specialist at Auto Europe Stanford University based startup artificial inteligent group, Drive.ai wants to revolutionize the communication from car to car in the style of Whatsapp. The idea is to interact car to car using Emojis. Stanford University funded Drive.ai believes that blinkers as warning is not enough when changing lanes or suddenly stopping. It is not the first time someone's idea of a screen is raised to communicate with other drivers. The Mercedes-Benz F015 Luxury in Motion Concept already has its own LED screen to alert the driver behind that slow down or stop. The idea is that this system would project emojis through screens installed in front and rear of the car. With the intention to communicate, for example, if the car stopped because a pedestrian is crossing the street. Emojis will be sent in the rear warning the next car of the stop and possibly decreasing the risk of rear collision. The system does not send emoji automatically, the driver would be responsible for doing so. Drive.ai has not specified what emoji are those that will be available, or if the project is finally done. Simple smileys can be great Emojis but we one can also send a middle finger or a very angry emoji that can result to road rage attacks. What we do know is that the screen also serve to project text and play some sounds with an added infotainment system for the driver. And that Stanford University's Drive.ai made this exclusively for autonomous cars for security reasons. This is why the same group is also developing a technology that can turn conventional autos into self-driving cars. The state of California has already granted them permission to test the system in the streets, so it is still in development. Either way, the idea sounds great, the problem may be on how people will use it. If eventually, an angry driver projects an emoji to another car and an outbursts can begin. Japan sees the United Kingdom as "a portal to Europe," according to a government report discharged today. Now it needs to know regardless of whether this portal is closing. In the report, released today towards the beginning of the G20 meeting of leaders in Hangzhou, China, a Japanese government team conveyed a notice to the UK and the notion that it voted to leave. The 15-paged pdf file is titled 'Japan's Message to the United Kingdom and the European Union,' and clarified that Japanese companies want an explanation, and they want it quickly "Uncertainty is a major concern for an economy; it evokes a sense of anxiety, causing volatility in markets, and results in the contraction of trade, investment, and credit," the report's authors compose. "What Japanese businesses in Europe most wish to avoid is the situation in which that they are unable to discern clearly the way the BREXIT negotiations are going, only grasping the whole picture at the last minute." Japan has a ton of involvement in the Brexit game. Almost 50% of Japan's EU investment flowed into the UK in 2015, the report says. Nissan, a car company, has its European design and research divisions in the UK. Nomura, an investment bank, has its European HQ in London and other budgetary firms. Honda, Mitsubishi, and Daiwa all have operations in the country. The government message incorporates detailed requests from companies in the automotive, pharmaceutical, and banking sectors. They want to make certain that workers will remain available both now and in the future, that parts and completed cars won't be taxed twice, that skilled bankers will have flexibility, and that drugs regulation won't be destabilized. Theresa May, the new Prime Minister of the UK who came to power after the Brexit vote, will have a lot of problems to solve in her upcoming meetings. The 2016 Ford Focus RS is one of America's favorite sport compact with its exceptional driving, drifitng powers and the efficiency of its all-wheel-drive system. However, it seems that there are still room for improvements and tuners are upgrading the RS into a beast. No doubt the 2016 Ford Focus RS is already a cult object among tuners around the globe, with big names like Cobb Tuning and Mountune Performance already on the scene, Hennessey Performance Engineering, tuner company base on Texas, would not let this one pass and it seems that their 2016 Ford Focus RS is the best amongst all tuners. On their website, Hennessey explains the list of improvements they want for the 2016 Ford Focus RS: engine management, air induction, intercooler, exhaust, turbo, wheels, tires and more. This week, they posted the upgraded version on their Instagram account. Although the initial power promised was around 500 hp, the new kit HPE400 specialist automotive accessories increases the power to an impressive 405 hp and 576 Nm of torque. As you know, this is an increase of 55 hp and 106 Nm of torque compared to the original figures of the series. Although some people still hope to see the 2016 Ford Focus RS with the 500 hp one day. To achieve this feat, Hennessey Performance Engineering needs to reprogram the engine electronics, not all, but in depth that includes the installation of an air filter high flow and a new intermediate section in the exhaust with one throttle valve electronic control . This figures may seem great to some, however, everything indicates that there is much more room for enhancement since the upgraded 2016 Ford Focus RS have not seen a larger turbo or new lines of escape or internal components forged, nor many of the other things that appear in the list of improvements on the website. It's safe to assume that Hennessey may just be on the phase 1 of the upgrade and more will come soon. Working as an actor has also perks, especially those who are already famous in Hollywood. But same as in the United States, celebrities in Bollywood is also living luxuriously. Of course, one of the perks is having a lot of money which can buy any high-end cars. Earning more than 6-digits paycheck (in dollars) gives them the opportunity to purchase a great home with a wide parking space. And for that, a luxurious car must also be necessary. However, these 5 Bollywood celebrities have more than we could imagine. Let us check their expensive vehicles- courtesy of Silicon India. 1. King Khan- Obviously, the name really says something about this celebrity. Arish Ahmad Khan in real life, the 39-year-old Indian owns a Bugatti Veyron which costs around $1.7 million, according to Left Lane News. 2. Big B.- the Mumbai native, who was born as Amitabh Harivansh Rai Bachchan owns many properties because of being prominent in Bollywood. But aside from having luxurious properties, he is also a car lover. He owns a Rolls Royce Phantom, which is a gift. 3. Sanjay Dutt- According to Silicon India, the film actor was in jail for some time. But after that, he is living the "high life." He might also lucky when it comes to love life. His wife gave him a Bentley recently. Prior to that, Mrs. Dutt gave him a Rolls Royce Ghost. 4. Priyanka Chopra- the former beauty queen who is also known as Piggy Chops is also carving her name in Hollywood by leading the series "Quantico." But apart from that, this Indian actress is driving another Rolls Royce Ghost. Not to mention that she owns a Harley Davidson. 5. Parineeti Chopra- Priyanka's cousin is also a promising star in Bollywood. She recently bought a Jaguar XJL 2 as a gift for herself. The public has been waiting for Apple to say anything about the Apple car or the so-called "Project Titan." The project remains a secret, but there is a buzz that they will make an announcement on Sept. 7. Some of the anticipating loyal Apple users might have marked their calendars on the said date. As per Forbes, Apple will make an announcement for the special event at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco on Wednesday. It might be possible since the Cupertino-based company is known for surprising the audience with new products. But of course, aside from the "Project Titan," there are other things to consider, like the much-awaited arrival of the iPhone 7. On the other hand, Amigo Bulls noted that the Apple Car might be the product that has a huge potential and could provide a huge step up to the company. But aside from that, it is also known as one of the "best kept secret" products of Apple. Since the information about the "Project Titan" has been scarce, many are anticipating of its premium quality and high-end features. But what we know so far is that they are teaming up with a South Korean company to produce a "hollow battery." According to the South Korean outlet ET News, Apple is may be working on "cylindrical, hollow lithium-ion batteries." This could be designed especially for the upcoming autonomous vehicle. Meanwhile, according to BGR, Apple started this million-dollar project by hiring thousands of employees. That includes the pool of engineers and labor workers. Apple's Bob Mansfield lead the creative team behind the upcoming Apple Car product. On the other hand, Tim Cook recently celebrated his fifth anniversary as the CEO. Stay tuned for more updates regarding Apple car here at Auto World News. At least three crashes took place on the northern part of Interstate 15 from Carmel Mountain to Escondido on Tuesday night, and a California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer says street racing may have caused it. A number of motorists reported cars that appeared to be racing at around 8:45 p.m., CHP Officer Mary Bailey said. Officers quickly responded to two crashes close to Carmel Mountain Road and a third crash located on the off-ramp Via Rancho Parkway. The CHP was conducting an investigation about the number of cars that were involved in the collision, as well as the exact number of crashes that transpired. So far, there have been no reports of injuries, citations and arrests, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. Escondido Police Lt. Kevin Toth said that there were about a thousand to 1,500 vehicles coming from numerous clubs that that congregated Westfield North County mall on Via Rancho Parkway. However, the drivers there immediately spread out after officers from the Escondido Police Department made a broadcast announcement that vehicles needed to leave and that the malls would be closed. This isn't the only highway-related incident that happened just recently on the Interstate 15, as a motorcyclist lost his life last month after he tumbled onto a city street below from a freeway bridge in Escondido, according to ABC 10 News. The victim was splitting lanes in traffic on the southbound part of Interstate 15 close to state Route 78, and ended up clipping a car that was changing lanes before 7:30 a.m. on August 15. Another incident that took place near the interstate was a brush fire that darkened three dozen acres in the Deer Springs area in the same month. The cause of the brush fires was not determined, but there were no reports of damages in buildings or injuries, according to CBS 8 News. Icon will establish a production plant in the city of Tijuana, in Baja, Mexico, company spokesman Brian Manning told AVweb on Tuesday, confirming an online report published over the weekend at a Tijuana news site. The new facility will produce composite airframe components for the A5 assembly plant in Vacaville, California, Manning said. Its scheduled to open early next year. The new Tijuana facility is part of Icons revised business plan announced in May of this year, Manning said. That plan includes in-sourcing all composite manufacturing to optimize quality and cost, and will allow the company to significantly ramp up production in the coming months and years. According toEltijuanese.com, the new plant will employ more than 1,000 people and more than $150 million will be invested. Icon CEO Kirk Hawkins, who is expected to hold a news conference in Tijuana on Thursday, told AVweb all of Icons facilities in Tijuana will total over 300,000 square feet of new construction. Parts will be made on Icon tooling, by Icon processes, to Icon quality standards, in Icon facilities, Hawkins said.Icon put delivery plans on holdwhile the company works to develop its supply chain and finesse its production process. About 20 airplanes are in the works at Vacaville, which will be used for training at regional Icon Flight Centers. The Vacaville IFC opened this summer, a Florida IFC is set to open this fall, and a Texas IFC is slated to open in Q1 of 2017, Manning said. Hawkins added that 30 customers have now completed flight training in California, and said the 12th A5 was delivered to a customer. 6 September 2016 11:22 (UTC+04:00) The Armenian armed units violated ceasefire with Azerbaijan a total of 15 times throughout the day, Azerbaijan`s Defense Ministry reported on September 6. Along the contact line, Azerbaijani positions came under fire from Armenian positions situated near the Marzili, Garagashli villages in Agdam region, Horadiz, Ashagi Seyidahmadli and Garakhanbayli villages of the Fuzuli region, as well as nameless hills in Goranboy and Tartar regions. Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. Two decades of talks mediated by the OSCE MG group have failed to produce a breakthrough, and the renewed hostilities in April 2016, the worst since the ceasefire deal signed in 1994, were assessed as the result of inactivity of the international community. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 September 2016 14:59 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov The number of murders and suicides in the Armed Forces of Armenia has been revealed, while the figures are more than just horrifying. A total of 206 deaths were recorded in the Armenian troops from 2010 to 2015, while 48 of them were suicides and 43 murders, agency TransConflict stated. The material was prepared on the basis of available information in the website www.safesoldiers.am, the agency notes. The revealed statistics do not include the number of Armenian soldiers killed in skirmishes caused by Armenias violations of the ceasefire regime on the contact line between the Armenian and Azerbaijani troops. In percentage terms, these figures are equivalent to 23 and 21 percent respectively of the total number of non-combat losses in the last six years, the agency stated. Recently, the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Vanadzor Office (HCAV) reported that for the last 3 years, 114 of the total of 288 servicemen nearly 40 percent died in non-hostile circumstances. Meanwhile, the Armenian media continue to report about non-combat deaths in the Armenian army. A number of facts of death and injury as a result of violation of weapon usage rules were recorded in the Armenian army since early 2016, while the number of suicide attempts and suicides is also on rise. Human rights groups contend that most of Armenian army suicides are being covered up by army officers who often tamper with evidence of these crimes. Armenian media claims that negative cases in the army happen because of the corruption, spending finance for buying weapons and military equipments, as well as law material and social life conditions of officers. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 September 2016 10:28 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli A joint mission of the World Bank (WB) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) is visiting Azerbaijan on September 5-9 to update the indicators of the country in Doing Business report. During the mission visit, leading expert in advisory program for reforms within the framework of Doing Business, Private Sector Development Specialist Alessio Zanelli will make a presentation on The development of industrial sites, diversification and integration into the global value chain. The latest report of the WB and IFC Doing Business -2016 was released last year, and included 189 countries. Azerbaijan took 63rd place in the ranking with 67.8 points out of a possible 100, entering the top ten countries with the best conditions for starting a business. With 97.75 points, Azerbaijan placed seventh on this indicator, while in the last report, the country took 11th place. Azerbaijani ranking was formed from the following indicators: dealing with construction permits (114th against 138th), getting electricity (110th against 104th), protecting minority investors (36th against 54th), international trade 94 (93), payment of taxes 34 (33) and resolving insolvency (84th against 85th). The Doing Business project provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 189 economies and selected cities at the subnational and regional level. The project, launched in 2002, looks at domestic small and medium-size companies and measures the regulations applying to them through their life cycle. By gathering and analyzing comprehensive quantitative data to compare business regulation environments across economies and over time, Doing Business encourages economies to compete towards more efficient regulation; offers measurable benchmarks for reform; and serves as a resource for academics, journalists, private sector researchers and others interested in the business climate of each economy. -- Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 September 2016 12:09 (UTC+04:00) By Nigar Abbasova Disciplined taxpayers of Azerbaijan will get tax incentives, said Samira Mustafayeva, head of the administration on tax policy and strategic research at the Taxes Ministry, while addressing a meeting with the members of American Chamber of Commerce in Azerbaijan (AmCham). She mentioned that the issue is reflected in the presidential order on improvement of tax administration and approval of directions of reforms, to be held in the tax sphere of the country in 2016. AmCham earlier welcomed the presidential order, mentioning that a number of recommendations on improvement of tax administration and facilitation of business doing in the country, proposed by the chamber to the government of Azerbaijan in early 2016 were reflected in the order. Main directions of ongoing tax reforms will include improvement of the tax legislation, reduction of tax burden, extending rights of taxpayers, ensuring the participation of taxpayers in the tax audit, expansion of the scope of electronic tax audit, aiming to minimize direct contact between taxpayers and tax authorities, as well as implementation of Tax Free system not only in airports, but in other border checkpoints. Mustafayeva also said that special attention would be paid on VAT (value added tax) differentiation, introduction of stable taxation rates, preliminary determination of tax liabilities, preparation of the mechanism of social awareness, as well as expansion of Call-centre services. Being of great significance for the country, the tax reforms are expected to stipulate business doing in the country, particularly in the sphere of small and medium-sized entrepreneurship. Azerbaijan currently ranks 63 out of 189 countries, with 67.8 points out of a possible 100 in the World Banks ease of doing business index. -- Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 September 2016 15:11 (UTC+04:00) Beauty Azerbaijan 2016, as well as BIHE 2016 will take place on September 19 - 21 at Baku Expo Center. The 10th Anniversary Azerbaijan International Beauty and Aesthetic Medicine Exhibition, Beauty Azerbaijan brings together industry specialists, manufacturers and distributors of cosmetics, as well as end consumers of perfume and cosmetics from many countries. The countrys leading beauty industry event is officially supported by the Ministry of Healthcare of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijan Stomatological Association, the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs (Employers) Organisations of the Azerbaijan Republic (ASK) and the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO). The organisers of the exhibition are ITE Group and its partner Iteca Caspian. Every year, the Beauty Azerbaijan exhibition offers both local and foreign manufacturers and distributors in the health and beauty industries the opportunity to showcase their products. This year over 100 companies from Azerbaijan, Germany, Italy, Korea, Russia, Ukraine, and several other countries will participate in the exhibition. They will present professional cosmetics, a wide range of equipment for beauty salons, cosmetological equipment and others. Cosmetic companies from Italy will participate with a large group. Among the innovations of this year's exhibition will be salon accessories from Germany, Asian cosmetics from Japan and Korea, and others. For the first time at Beauty Azerbaijan 2016 companies from Thailand will present to visitors make-up, hair care, nail care, personal care and SPA products. Companies will hold presentations to demonstrate exclusive products, and body and hair care master classes at their stands. The 22nd Azerbaijan International Healthcare Exhibition, BIHE 2016, has served as a platform for establishing business contacts and exchanging experience between professionals from medical institutions, suppliers of modern medical equipment, pharmacists, and academics, increasing the efficiency of Azerbaijans healthcare system for 22 years. BIHE takes place with support from the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijan Stomatology Association, the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO), and the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs (Employers) Organisations of the Azerbaijan Republic (ASK). The organisers are Iteca Caspian and its partner ITE Group. This year, around 60% of exhibitors will be international companies. More than 100 companies from Azerbaijan, Germany, Belarus, China, Iran, Italy, Russia, Turkey, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine have confirmed their participation. As well as international manufacturers, exhibitors will include major local distributors of medical equipment that are partners to major global manufacturers. Local exhibitors will include Besan, Vitta, Labservis and others. This year, the exhibition will present medical and laboratory equipment, supplies, medicines, medical instruments and pharmaceutical equipment. Sector "Hospitals" will be planned for the first time at the exhibition. The Medical Tourism sector continues to develop. This year, over 20 clinics, sanatoriums, treatment centres and companies from Belarus, the Czech Republic, Germany, Latvia, Thailand and Turkey are expected to exhibit. As well as international clinics, sanatoriums and leisure centres, the exhibition will also feature tourism companies that organise trips for treatment abroad. This year, the Medical Tourism sector is supported by the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB). BIHE has therefore remained the leading healthcare event for professionals in the medical industry and is the best place to present innovations in medicine, methods of treatment and leading technologies. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 September 2016 17:27 (UTC+04:00) By Nigar Abbasova Azerbaijan, which seeks to diversify its economy, placed a huge emphasis on the development of its non-oil sector, and International Finance Corporation (IFC), is ready to render its assistance in this regards, said Aliya Azimova, IFCs country representative in Azerbaijan. The country has already entered a new post-oil era, and certain measures are being implemented in the country to stipulate for the development of non-oil and private sectors of the country. We will continue to render our support in this regard, she said. The head of the sector at the Presidential Administration, Elkhan Mikayilov in turn said that the country is engaged in the creation of a new economic model. The creation of the economic model will lead to the increase of competitiveness of our economy, which in turn will allow us to create new competitive enterprises and produce competitive products IFCs focus is on supporting the economic competitiveness agenda of the World Bank Group's Country Partnership Framework 2015-2020 for Azerbaijan, strengthening initiatives to increase access to finance for businesses and improve the business environment. A joint mission of the World Bank (WB) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) is visiting Azerbaijan on September 5-9 to update the indicators of the country in Doing Business report. The latest report of the WB and IFC Doing Business -2016 was released last year, and included 189 countries. Azerbaijan took 63rd place in the ranking with 67.8 points out of a possible 100. Azerbaijan became a member of IFC in 1995. -- Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 September 2016 13:17 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli Azerbaijans folk song "Sari Galin" has been performed at a ceremony to mark the 1000th jubilee of the French city of Cognac. The pearl of the Azerbaijani national music was performed by local "Choeur por Boala" ensemble. Sari Gelin is written in the literary genre known as bayati, which is one of the most popular forms of poetry in Azerbaijan. Bayati poetry is known for its reflective and introspective prose. Generally, Bayati poetry consists of lines of seven syllables written in a simple rhythm. Sar is a Azerbaijani adjective meaning "yellow". However, it can also mean "fair-skinned" or "blonde". The word gelin means someone who comes to the family (i.e. a bride), with its root in the Azerbaijani word gel (meaning "come"). An Azerbaijani delegation led by head of Tovuz District Executive Authority Tofig Zeynalov attended the event. A sister partnership agreement signed between Tovuz and Cognac came into effect in 2015. Zeynalov, addressing the event, hailed cooperation between the two cities as close. He also highlighted relations between Azerbaijan and France. An exhibition and concerts promoting Azerbaijan's culture and arts were organized in the French cities of Reims, Chalons-en-Champagne, Niort, Cognac and Romorantin-Lanthenay with support of First Lady of Azerbaijan, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva, he reminded. Then, Zeynalov presented a carpet to Cognac Mayor's Office. The guests of the event later viewed pavilions of nine cities that have sister city relations with Cognac. The pavilion of Tovuz featured national sweets, products of Tovuz-Baltiya wine making company, as well as publications of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. Cognac Mayor Michel Gourinchas and city officials visited the pavilion of Tovuz. Tovuz is located in the western part of Azerbaijan and is known as one of main and ancient Alban settlements. The region enjoys a peculiar nature. Mountainous areas are the main landscape of the region. Thick forests spread across most of the region's territory which is covered by various types of trees and shrubs. Winemaking is one of the popular fields of Tovuz industry. The history of wine production in Tovuz dates back to the 7th century and according to archaeological findings, which included vessels for wine storage and remains of tartaric acid, winemaking was common in the Tovuz and Ganja region during the early stages of social development. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 September 2016 17:36 (UTC+04:00) Baku will host Tourism Cases Forum, first ever event of this kind to be held in Azerbaijan on September 27. The forum to take place in Ramada Hotel Ganjlik, will be attended by national travel agencies, representatives of hotels and other representatives in tourism sphere. Forum is intended to gather experts specialized in the sphere of tourism and devoted to different topics related to the current tourism market, emphasizes its weaknesses, development perspectives and the ways of strengthening of internal/arrival tourism. The speakers majored in tourism industry will make a speech on the subject of survival of tour agencies in present conditions, ways of attracting local tourists to the hotels alongside with foreign visitors and deliver speech for those, who desire to set up their own business taking advantage of reduction in the interest to the oil industry. The main purpose of the event is to endorse the interest shown in tourism market subsequent to the latest changeovers taken place, to contribute to the elimination of weak sides of the market on the ground of discussion and give primary instructions in regards to avoidance of fraud towards tourists. Forum will be divided into two panels. We will start at 14:00 and finish 19:00. Ticket price 20 manats ($12). For more detailed information please visit our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/turizmkeysleriforumu/ Media partners of the event are Trend.az, Day.az, Milli.az, Azernews.az. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 September 2016 12:50 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov A report on the Illegal economic and other activities in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan has been circulated in the United Nations. The report developed by Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry has been disseminated in accordance with the paragraphs of the agenda of the UN General Assemblys 70th session on the Situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. The report was prepared basing on the information from Armenian sources, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministrys spokesman Hikmet Hajiyev told Trend on September 6. The document reflects the facts of illegal economic activities of Armenians, their resettlement in the occupied territories, plunder of natural resources of Nagorno-Karabakh, construction of infrastructure objects in the occupied territories, production of wine and spirits and other products, illegal activities in ICT and banking, destruction of cultural and historical monuments and so on. Facts presented in the report show that despite current efforts to find a political solution to the conflict, Armenia continues its policy of deception of the international community and the process of annexation of Azerbaijan's occupied territories. Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan laying territorial claims on its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 September 2016 17:52 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov Russia and France should work together to reduce the tension around the Nagorno-Karabakh, states the Russian Federation Councils report "Russia-France: the parliamentary vision for the future". The document was prepared by the international Committee, RIA Novosti reported. The atmosphere in Europe and the world largely depends on how the political dialogue between Russia and France is trust-based However, it should be recognized that the future of Russian-French relations themselves directly depends on how independently France will be able to behave in Europe and international arena," the report states. Russia and France along with the U.S. are the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group established to mediate between parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign State with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years. Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 September 2016 10:15 (UTC+04:00) By Nigar Abbasova A number of procedures related to the referendum on making amendments to Azerbaijans constitution will be completed on September 6. The receipt of documents for accreditation of the organizations intending to hold an exit poll in the voting will end today in accordance with the calendar plan approved by the Central Election Commission. Moreover, the Central Election Commission will complete the transfer of voting protocols to district election commissions on September 6. September 26, 2016 was set as the date for referendum on proposed changes to the constitution of Azerbaijan. In a bill recently sent to the Constitutional Court, President Ilham Aliyev proposed amendments to 29 Articles of Azerbaijans current constitution. The changes envisage extension of the presidential term from five to seven years, establishment of the first vice-president and vice-president positions in the country as well as abolishment of minimum age limit for presidential candidates, dissolution of parliament by the president. Final results of the Referendum will be announced till October 21. The last time changes to the Constitution were made seven years ago, following Constitutional referendum held in 2009. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 September 2016 10:51 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov Mayor of Astana Asset Isekeshev and Azerbaijani Energy Minister Natig Aliyev discussed Azerbaijan's participation in Astana EXPO 2017 in Baku on September 5. Issekeshev briefed the minister on the forthcoming exhibition and its infrastructure. He also invited Azerbaijani investors to participate in the work of a new Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC). The AIFC has a number of targets, including attraction of foreign investment, opening of the banking sector of Kazakhstan and ease doing business for insurance companies and Islamic finance institutions. It will attract world leaders in financial services, which in turn will promote best practices in Kazakhstan. Expo 2017 is an International Exposition scheduled to be held from June 10 to September 10, 2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan. The expo's official theme is "Future Energy", and it is designed to create a global debate between countries, nongovernmental organizations, companies and the general public on the crucial question: "How do we ensure safe and sustainable access to energy for everyone while reducing CO2 emissions?". Earlier, Asset Issekeshev held talks with Mayor of Baku, Hajibala Abutalybov, with whom discussed topical issues of mutual cooperation between the two capitals. Mayor of Astana invited Abutalybov to visit the Expo 2017. -- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 September 2016 11:49 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Azerbaijans Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has left for France to take part in the meeting of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry told Trend on September 6. The 1263rd meeting of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers will be held in Strasbourg on September 7. Azerbaijans foreign minister will make a speech and hold bilateral meetings during the meeting. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 September 2016 14:01 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov The 4th Congress of Azerbaijanis in Sweden (AKS), which brings together 32 Azerbaijani Diaspora organizations of the country, will be held in Sweden. The Congress will hear a report about the activity of the AKS, and the new composition of the organizations Board will be approved, Day.Az reported. The leadership of the Congress of Azerbaijanis in Sweden met with the representatives of the ruling Social Democratic party of Sweden and the members of the opposition Moderate party, who have the majority of seats in the municipality of Stockholm. During the discussions, the leading political factions stressed the need for further strengthening of the Azerbaijani Diaspora in the political life of Sweden. The Congress has made significant and important progress in expanding and accelerating the process of integration of Azerbaijanis into Swedish society. Through extensive interviews and written protests, AKS repeatedly prevented provocative publications of the Armenian lobby and Pro-Armenian politicians in the Swedish media. On the day of the 24th anniversary of Khojaly genocide, the Congress of Azerbaijanis in Sweden held a protest in front of the Armenian Embassy in Stockholm. In addition, passers-by were given leaflets in Swedish with detailed information about the Khojaly genocide. The deputies of the Swedish Parliament (Riksdag), members of the government and international organizations accredited to Sweden, were sent letters reflecting the realities of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The fruitful work of the Congress in this area was also stressed at the meeting with the Prime Minister of Sweden, where the representatives of AKS again brought up the subject of occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenian armed forces. Moreover, AKS sent an official protest letter to UNESCO about the appropriation of Azerbaijans cultural heritage by Armenians. The aim of the Congress is to report the truth about Azerbaijan, its history and culture to the Swedish society, as well as the development of relations between Azerbaijani communes of Sweden, strengthening their capacity and joint solution of arising problems. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 September 2016 17:11 (UTC+04:00) By Nigar Abbasova President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev paid a visit to the southern regions of the country on September 3. The head of state first arrived in the city of Masalli, where he laid flowers at a statue of the national leader Heydar Aliyev. The president also inaugurated the Flag Square and Azerbaijan State Symbols Museum, the construction of which was launched in 2014 and completed in 2016. Under the presidential order, 2 million manats ($1.2 million) was allocated for construction of the museum in 2013. The Flag Square occupies an area of 1.3 hectares. The flagpole here stands 62 meters in height. Green areas were created, and ornamental trees and flowers were planted at the square. The museum features exhibits reflecting state symbols of Azerbaijan. The president also attended the opening of ASAN hayat complex as part of his visit to Masalli. The president cut the ribbon symbolizing the inauguration of the complex. Addressing the ceremony, President Aliyev said that "ASAN xidmt", operating in the country for almost four years, has managed to gain sympathy of people within a short period of time. The president mentioned that it is planned to launch construction of 4 new centers in other regions of the country next year. The head of state said that the main objective of creating such center across the country is to provide modern community services in all regions of Azerbaijan, stressing that the creation of a center in Masalli demonstrates power and policy of the country, as only a strong state is able to implement such works. The four-story complex occupies an area of 4,246 square meters. ASAN xidmet center will provide 32 services of 10 public organizations for citizens. Ilham Aliyev then attended the ceremony to launch the drinking water supply system of Masalli. The president was informed that implementation of the project on the overhaul of the citys water supply and sewerage system was launched in 2012. President Aliyev pressed the button to launch the system.The project will provide citizens of Masalli and some other settlements with clear drinking water. The head of the state called the project historic, mentioning that water was one of the serious problems for Masalli in the past. The project provided for the installation of a water purification facility in the downstream pool of Vilashchay water reservoir, and the construction of a water reservoir with the capacity of 5,000 cubic meters. The president said that a number of infrastructural, social, industrial, and agricultural projects are currently underway in Masalli. Moreover, certain number of projects on gas supplying are under implementation in the region. The volume of gas supplies currently stands at 80 percent in Masalli, while the figure is expected to reach 90 percent in the short run. The head of state also spoke about the creation of an industrial zone in Masalli in an effort to support the entrepreneurial activity, to promote small and medium businesses engaged in industrial sphere, to provide sustainable development of non-oil industry as well as to open new jobs in the sphere. Later the president inaugurated the Childrens Arts School in Masalli. The construction of the two-story school cost 3.1 million manats. There are 14 classrooms, an auditorium, a canteen, a dance room, a library, and an architectural studio here. President Aliyev listened to performance of the schools choir troupe. The head of state then arrived in Bilasuvar district as part of his visit to the southern regions of the country. The president first laid flowers at a statue of National Leader Heydar Aliyev in the center of the city of Bilasuvar. President Aliyev also attended the opening of the Asgarabad-Mughan-Chayli highway after its reconstruction and repair of the 6 km-long highway. Then he viewed the Bilasuvar Central District Hospital after a major overhaul and reconstruction. The president said that some 600 medical institutions created and reconstructed in Azerbaijan for the past 13 years, which is a great achievement in the sphere of public health. The state provided considerable volume of funds for the implementation of projects as the social sphere is of top priority for the country. Following his visit to Bilasuvar, President Aliyev arrived in Salyan region. The head of state first laid flowers at a statue of the national leader Heydar Aliyev in the center of the city of Salyan. The president attended the opening ceremony of a new drinking water line in the city of Salyan and launched the new line, which takes water from the Shirvan-Mughan main water pipeline. Addressing the ceremony, the president said that residents of Salyan have already been provided with clean drinking water, which is one of the main factors that influence health of people. The country has already taken serious steps to clean water coming from the Kura River. He stated that the region possesses good opportunities for the further socio-economic development, while a number of infrastructural projects are being implemented in the region. The president attended the opening of the Museum of History and Local Lore and the opening of a new administrative building of the New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) district branch as part of his visit to Salyan. President Aliyev then attended the opening of a new bridge over Kur River which links Salyan`s Babazanan settlement with the city center. The head of state was informed about the technical indicators of the facility which is 201 metres in length, and 14.5 metres in width. As part of his visit to Salyan district, the president attended the opening of a 21.4-km-long section (from 31st km to 54.4km) of the Alat-Astara-Iran state border highway. President Aliyev viewed cotton fields in Salyan and met with cotton growers here. He gave relevant orders on the implementation of certain measures to develop rich traditions of cotton growing in the country. Cotton production in the country is expected to reach the level of 300,000 tons by 2017, while crop capacity of each hectare should be increased by 30 centners. The state provides funds for the acquisition of brand-new equipment and creation of new working places in the country. The regional development of Azerbaijan is one of the issues of top priority for the country as well as an important component of sustainable socio-economic development. Implementation of the tasks set forth in the state programs, as well as in the orders on the additional measures concerning the socio-economic development of the regions paved way for sustainable development of non-oil sector, improvement of the quality of public services and social infrastructure in regions, further improvement of the business environment, creation of new enterprises and jobs, and poverty reduction. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 September 2016 16:09 (UTC+04:00) By Gunay Hasanova Four organizations appealed to the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Azerbaijan to conduct Exit-poll during the referendum on the additions and changes to the Azerbaijani Constitution, scheduled for September 26. The commission reported that these organizations are the League of Protection of labor rights, Center for Aid and Independent Advice For Civil Society, Independent Research Center The ELS and Monitoring Center Rey. In the nearest future, the CEC will consider the registration of these organizations to conduct Exit poll. Under the calendar plan approved by the Central Election Commission regarding the referendum, the application deadline for the accreditation of organizations which intend to carry out Exit poll (citizens' survey procedure) in the voting is September 6. September 26, 2016, was set as the date for the referendum on proposed changes to the constitution of Azerbaijan. In a bill recently sent to the Constitutional Court, President Ilham Aliyev proposed amendments to 29 Articles of Azerbaijans current constitution. The changes envisage the extension of the presidential term from five to seven years, the establishment of the first vice-president and vice-president positions in the country as well as the abolishment of minimum age limit for presidential candidates, dissolution of parliament by the president. Final results of the Referendum will be announced until October 21. The last time changes to the Constitution were made seven years ago, following Constitutional referendum held in 2009. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 September 2016 16:30 (UTC+04:00) By Nigar Abbasova The Islamic Republic of Iran, the third-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is ready to support stabilization of the oil market. Irans Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said that Tehran backs any measures aimed at stabilizing the oil market, following a meeting with the OPECs new secretary-general Mohammed Barkindo, who has been trying to gain support for the plan of output freeze, Ria Novosti reported. The sides discussed recent developments that occurred in the black gold market as well as the issue of putting ceilings on oil production, which is expected to be high on agenda during the upcoming Algeria meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC states on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum. Iran, which is the fourth in the world for the volume of proven oil reserves, has long argued that it cannot freeze production while it is recovering from years of sanctions that have profoundly affected the country's energy sector, restrained its production and export of oil and gas. Nevertheless, most of experts say that the country will reach its pre-sanctions level in the short run. Announcement of the Iranian oil minister is now expected to positively influence oil prices. The price of the US Light crude oil increased $0.37 to stand at $45.35 on NYMEX, while Brent crude oil at the London ICE (InterContinental Exchange Futures) rose $0.09 to trade at $47.78 on September 6. The price of a barrel of Azeri Light crude oil increased $0.80 to stand at $47.91 on the world markets. Russia and Saudi Arabia, earlier agreed to take certain measures, with a view to stabilize the oil market, tackle weak prices and rein of oversupply, as well as maintain stability and provide sustainable level of long-term investment. The two oil giants made a joint statement within the framework of the running G 20 Hangzhou Summit prompting Brent to jump almost 5 percent. The situation in the oil market, which is currently focused on the Algeria meeting, is mainly determined by the constantly changing expectations on whether cartel members and other participants will be able to reach agreement. Hit by global oversupply, the prices fall from above $100 two years ago to below $30 earlier this year. -- Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 September 2016 10:11 (UTC+04:00) At least 30 PKK terrorists were killed in airstrikes carried out by Turkish jets in northern Iraq Sunday, the military announced Monday, Anadolu reported. According to a statement by the Turkish General Staff, warplanes carried out airstrikes in the country's Gara region, hitting two terrorist targets. The PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU -- resumed its decades-old armed campaign in July last year. Since then, more than 600 security personnel have been martyred and more than 7,000 PKK terrorists --killed. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 September 2016 11:40 (UTC+04:00) By Gunay Hasanova The militants of Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and Kurdish People's Defense Units (YPG) are leaving Syrias Manbij city, said Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He made the remarks at the meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama during the G20 summit in China, the Hurriyet newspaper reported citing a diplomatic source. The two leaders held a 45-minute long closed-door meeting with their delegations and held a brief press conference following the meeting, marking the first time they met face-to-face since the July 15 failed coup attempt. During the meeting, Erdogan pointed out that the Free Syrian Army units will be deployed to the territory of the liberated Syrian city. Erdogan stressed once again that there should be no distinction between good terrorists and bad ones. He noted that all terrorism is bad, further adding that the U.S. and Turkey must adopt a common attitude against terrorism. "Turkey's fight against all terror organizations including Daesh and YPG will continue with determination," he said. In turn, President Obama highlighted that Turkey should not bear the burden of refugees alone, and said that he wishes the strong partnership between Turkey and the U.S. continues. Turkey is the largest refugee hosting country, providing shelter to over three million Syrian refugees who fled the conflict. Moreover, Turkeys Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also met with the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during the G20 summit in China. During the meeting, the parties discussed the Syrian crisis, the situation in Syrias Manbij and Jarablus, as well as fighting the Islamic State (IS, aka ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) terrorist group. On August 24 morning, the Turkish Air Force with the support of the coalition aircrafts launched an operation to liberate the city of Jarabulus from the IS militants in northern Syria, near Aleppo city. The operation was carried out under the name Shield of the Euphrates. Jarabulus is located 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the Turkish-Syrian border. Syria has been suffering from an armed conflict since March 2011, which, according to the UN, has so far claimed over 500,000 lives. Militants from various armed groups are confronting the Syrian government troops. The Islamic State (IS, ISIL, ISIS or Daesh), the YPG and the PYD are the most active terrorist groups in Syria. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 September 2016 12:27 (UTC+04:00) By Nigar Abbasova Energy-rich Iran, which is engaged in recovering of its energy sector following the sanctions era, is now seeking to cooperate with foreign companies. Iran's Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (PGPIC), exporter of petrochemical products, needs investments worth some 6 billion ($ 6.69 billion), said Issa Mashayekhi, the managing director of PCCI (Petrochemical Commercial Company International), which is in charge of holding talks with international companies for financing petrochemical projects and attracting investments for PGPIC projects, SHANA agency reported. He said that PGPIC accounts for some 45 percent of export of Irans petrochemical products, while its export value is over 9 billion a year ($ 10.04 billion). Mashayekhi mentioned that the company is currently relying on domestic sources of investment. He said that assets of the company currently exceed $16 billion, adding that the company accounts for 11 percent of all assets of Irans stock market. International interest in relation to Iran has been growing since Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) reached a deal, lifting sanctions and allowing the country to regain its positions. Mashayekhi earlier said that European companies were keen on joining the petrochemical projects carried out by PGPIC, adding that implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) had been very influential in resumption of talks with international petrochemical heavyweights. The lifting of sanctions in January has set the stage for Iranian companies to boost petrochemical exports to European countries. The company signed an agreement worth $1 billion with Italian Maire Tecnimont engineering company in February 2016, to build refineries and petrochemical plants in Iran. Moreover, SHANA earlier reported that the companies from Japan and South Korea had voiced their interest to participate in Irans petrochemical projects and that they were expected to invest 520 million in form of Usance LC (Letter of credit). Being established in January 2008, PGPIC is mainly aimed at investment development and expansion of local and foreign partnerships. -- Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 September 2016 12:57 (UTC+04:00) By Gunay Hasanova Turkish side proposed to consider the possibility of gas supplies to Europe in the framework of Turkish Stream across the border with Greece, Gazprom head Alexei Miller said in an interview with TV channel Russia 24 in China at G20 summit, reports TASS. The Turkish side brought up the issues of gas supply through Turkish Stream to Europe, particularly in the direction of the Turkish-Greek border, he said, adding that they agreed to launch a research in this direction. After the August 9 meeting between the Turkish and Russian presidents, Turkey has confirmed that its ready to continue negotiations on the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project In addition, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak previously said the agreement on the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project envisions the construction of one pipeline leg by late 2019, with a possible expansion to two. The minister said Russia and Turkey agreed to set up a working group to implement the project aiming to bring Russian natural gas to Southern Europe via Turkey. Forecasting its construction timeline at second half of 2019, the minister added that an intergovernmental agreement on the Turkish Stream could be reached and signed by October. The construction of the Turkish Stream pipeline to deliver Russian gas to Turkey via the Black Sea was initially scheduled to begin in 2014 but was delayed after the failure to reach an intergovernmental agreement. Negotiations on the project were suspended after the downing of a Russian plane in Syria in November 2015. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 September 2016 13:02 (UTC+04:00) By Trend NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will pay a visit to Turkey on September 8-9, the Milligazete newspaper reported on September 6. Reportedly, Stoltenberg will hold a number of meetings in Ankara. This will be his first visit to Turkey after the military coup attempt in the country. On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246, excluding the coup plotters, and over 2,000 people were wounded. Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 September 2016 15:32 (UTC+04:00) By Gunay Hasanova Ashgabat hosted the next meeting of the interdepartmental commission of Turkmenistan on the Caspian Sea, the Turkmen government reported on September 6. The draft agreements on trade and economic cooperation between Caspian states and in the transport field were discussed at the meeting. The commission brought together representatives of the State Enterprise for the Caspian Sea under the President of Turkmenistan, the Foreign Ministry, as well as oil and gas, transport and industrial sectors of the local economy. Today the volume of mutual trade of the countries in the region are expressed in solid terms, however, given the huge multifaceted reserve, the region enjoys good opportunities to significantly increase the economic interaction and bring it to a qualitatively new level. The report also pointed to the transport sector and the use of the potential of the Caspian Sea as a major communications hub of continental significance as another strategic direction. Particular attention during the meeting was paid to the promotion of initiatives on the organization of official Ashgabat Caspian Economic Forum. Two draft protocols, developed by the Turkmen side, which will complement the Agreement on Security Cooperation in the Caspian Sea, signed at the third Caspian Summit held in 2010 in Baku were subject of detailed examination. These documents will create a legal framework for cooperation between the competent authorities of neighboring countries in fields such as the fight against poaching and ensure safety of navigation. The Caspian Sea is surrounded by the five coastal countries of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan. The Sea has a total surface area of 371,000 km, holding 78,200 cubic km of water. Besides this, it is also the 3rd-deepest lake in the-world. The deepest part of the lake is 1,025 m, and the lake has a length of 1,199 km at its longest span, with an average depth of 211 m. It receives water from the Volga, Ural and the Kura rivers and numerous other freshwater inputs, but has no outlet to the world's oceans. The Volga River, the largest in Europe, is the source of 80% of the Caspian's freshwater inflow. The Caspian Sea is home to about 141 fish species. The Caspian Sea states signed a Framework Convention for the Protection of Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea in November of 2003. Russia and Kazakhstan signed an agreement on the delimitation of the northern part of the Caspian Sea in order to exercise sovereign rights for subsoil use in July of 1998. The two countries signed a protocol to this agreement in May of 2002. Moreover, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan signed an agreement on the delimitation of the Caspian Seabed and a protocol to it on November 29, 2001 and Feb. 27, 2003, respectively. Additionally, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia signed an agreement on the delimitation of adjacent sections of the Caspian Sea on May 14, 2003. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 September 2016 15:48 (UTC+04:00) By Gunay Hasanova Ankara and NATO may discuss the closure of airspace in the north of Syria, on all territories liberated from the militants of Islamic State. The issue may be considered during the upcoming visit of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to Turkey on September 8-9, a source in the Turkish Armed Forces told Trend on September 6. The source said that Turkey earlier made a similar statement to NATO. Ankara and NATO will also discuss the details of the military operation "Shield of the Euphrates", carried out by the Turkish Armed Forces in the north of Syria. Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara suggested the United States and Russia to close the airspace in northern Syria . On August 24 morning, the Turkish Air Force with the support of the coalition aircraft launched an operation to liberate the city of Jarabulus from the IS militants in northern Syria, near Aleppo city. The operation was carried out under the name Shield of the Euphrates. Jarabulus is located 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the Turkish-Syrian border. Syria has been suffering from an armed conflict since March 2011, which, according to the UN, has so far claimed over 500,000 lives. Militants from various armed groups are confronting the Syrian government troops. The Islamic State (IS, ISIL, ISIS or Daesh), the YPG and the PYD are the most active terrorist groups in Syria. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Former Orange County sheriff's detective Chad Hogan formally pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to laundering money stolen from the U.S. Department of Urban Development. Hogan's plea agreement would send him to federal prison for one year and one day, avoiding the maximum 20-year sentence, according to his attorney Ryan Gertz. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the U.S. probation office completes its report. Court records state Hogan deposited more than 4,300 checks written on bank accounts held by Beverly Place, Cedarwood and Villa Main apartments located in the Port Arthur and Groves areas from March 2009 to August 2015, court records show. In total, Hogan helped conceal $187,000 of stolen federal money intended for housing assistance. Hogan deposited the checks in an account he had sole control over after receiving them from the property managers at Beverly Place apartments, according to a statement by the U.S. attorney's office. After depositing the checks, Hogan would give the apartment managers a portion of the checks in cash and keep a portion for himself, the statement said. The checks were payable to tenants of the three apartment complexes and written under the Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) utility assistance program. Tenants at the three apartment complexes were not aware they were receiving benefits. Apartment managers engaged in a scheme to sign tenants up for HUD utility assistance benefits, and then take the checks for themselves. "While Hogan was not involved directly with the scheme to defraud HUD, he deposited the fraudulently obtained checks an account he controlled ... keeping a portion of the proceeds for himself," the U.S. attorney statement said. "Hogan was aware the checks he was depositing represented the proceeds of unlawful activity." Hogan, 47, resigned from the Orange County sheriff's office in March. He started there in 2009 after leaving Port Arthur PD, where he worked for 18 years. BScott@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/BrandonKScott The Texas Supreme Court will decide whether an attorney whose colleague embezzled more than $1 million from a Beaumont church should stand trial for his involvement in the alleged cover-up. Leigh Parker was dismissed from a 2012 lawsuit related to Kip Lamb siphoning money from the church's trust fund, a decision that has been upheld on appeal. The Texas Supreme Court, however, announced Friday it would hear oral arguments in December to determine whether to overturn the 2014 dismissal. Six years ago, Parker and Lamb worked together on the defense of a sexual abuse lawsuit against a member at the First United Pentecostal Church of Beaumont, court records state. First United had been awarded more than $1.7 million from an insurance settlement related to property damage from Hurricane Rita. The church was left with about $1.1 million after fees, but with one of its members facing a lawsuit and fearful the money could be seized, former pastor Lonnie Treadway agreed with Lamb in 2008 to hide the money in the law firm's account, according to court documents. By 2009, the money was gone. Lamb pleaded guilty in 2013 to misuse of fiduciary funds and was sentenced to 15 years in prison after spending the money without the church's knowledge or consent, court records show. Parker hoped to finalize a lucrative deal for a water development project in west Africa to pay the money back, so he did not tell the church's current pastor, Johnathan Green, about his suspicions, according to court documents. Attorneys representing First United in the lawsuit accuse Parker of hiding the information for more than a year to protect his own interests before coming clean in October 2011 - with the Ghana deal still not closed - which prompted an investigation into Lamb. In a letter to Green, Parker said he did not investigate after Lamb nudged him to close the Ghana deal "because the firm needed to pay back the church," Parker's attorney, Jamie Matuska, wrote in a brief to the appeals court in Beaumont. That was the first time Parker realized the money could be missing, according to Matuska. "Parker did not investigate or immediately disclose suspicions to the Church," the brief stated. "However, Parker did eventually disclose to the Church that Lamb had spent the money." Parker encouraged Green to report the stolen money to the State Bar of Texas. He denies pocketing any of the $1.1 million, even though he was paid $10,000 per month by the Lamb firm, court documents stated. District Judge Gary Sanderson two years ago ruled in Parker's favor. The Ninth Court of Appeals in Beaumont has since upheld Sanderson's decision. The state's highest civil court scheduled oral arguments in the case Dec. 7 at 9 a.m. Claims against Lamb and Treadway are pending. BScott@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/BrandonKScott A proposed tax rate increase for Orange County that was necessary to balance a draft budget might not fully materialize when Commissioners Court considers it Sept. 13. "I voted for it, but I don't support it," said Precinct 2 Commissioner Barry Burton. Burton said commissioners face a deficit of $5.7 million if all of the next budget year's spending proposals were accepted, which is unlikely. In reality, the deficit is closer to $2.8 million, which he said Commissioners Court can whittle to about $700,000. "It gives us a safety net," Burton said of the proposed rate increase, which would take Orange County taxpayers to 60.3 cents per $100 of value from the current 54.4 cents per $100. It's an increase of 5.9 cents. On a $100,000 property, as long as the homestead exemption of $30,000 applies, it would amount to an increase in a taxpayer's bill to the county of about $42 per year, to $422 from the existing $380. County Judge Brint Carlton, who along with Precinct 4 Commissioner Jody Crump voted against the proposed rate increase, said he doesn't believe the county needs more revenue through property taxes. In the current budget, the property tax rate of 54.4 cents raised $29.1 million in revenue. Carlton said taxable value also is flat for the coming year, meaning that a comparable tax rate would not result in more revenue because property values are not higher. Carlton said the county will have about $1.5 million left over in budgeted but unspent money in this year's budget. He said $1 million can be used for necessary capital spending and $500,000 can go into the county's cash reserve to help rebuild it eight years after Hurricane Ike. The county will have about $6.5 million in its cash reserve, also known as fund balance, that carries over into the next budget year, beginning Oct. 1. "Our goal is to have 25 percent of annual expenditures in fund balance, or three months worth of spending," Carlton said, which is what the Texas Association of Counties recommends. Commissioners will have two public hearings on the proposed tax rate. The first is at 6 p.m. Tuesday and 9 a.m. Friday in Commissioners Court, 123 S. Sixth St., Orange. A vote on the tax rate for budget year 2017 is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sept. 13. Sheila Faske, Orange County Republican Party chair, is urging people to attend the public hearings. In a pamphlet Faske published in an email, she said: "Orange County Commissioners have passed, with a three to two vote, a proposed tax increase. Now Commissioners Court needs to hear from the boss, which is you, the Orange County taxpayer. This is where you stop money from leaving your pocket." DWallach@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/dwallach This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Side by side, they inch and munch along, hungry for what farmers grow and what people eat, an armed force in camouflage green, black and brown, capable of devouring entire pastures in a matter of days. They're armyworms and they're coming to a field near you. Allen Homann, Jefferson County AgriLife extension agent, said he has no intelligence of a current invasion, but farmers and ranchers better get their radar up. "I'm almost 100 percent sure they're already out in the field - or going to be out in the field - in heavy numbers," he said. Armyworms are the larvae of the armyworm moth. In the autumn and when the weather is wet, their brigades begin their relentless advance. They can feed for two to three weeks but really step it up in the last few days of their cycle before they become moths. "This is typical, but because we've seen widespread rains, it creates conditions that we see more armyworms," said Allen Knutson, entomologist with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. Armyworms seem to favor Bermuda grass but will rip into rice and other cereal grains like wheat and corn. Southeast Texas has plenty of rice, but little else in row crops. Females can drop about 2,000 eggs at a time and each year can produce four or five generations of the little slugs, which grow to an inch or more in maturity. They take their name from their behavior, according to the AgriLife website. They appear to march in ranks like soldiers as they consume and breed. Is the threat overblown? Rodney Dishman, owner of Dishman and Sons Farms in Beaumont, said armyworms have caused problems for his rice drop, but not this year. "I've always had more problems with them in the hot, dry weather," Dishman said. Beaumont has had a year's worth of rain so far in 2016 and it's only early September. Across a 30-year period, average annual rain is about 60 inches. This summer, the National Weather Service said Beaumont has had 28 inches, fifth-wettest on record. People aren't likely to see corpses of armyworms in their food supply. Rice is milled, which leaves only polished grain. Anything foreign to that will stick out. Armyworms that get into hay will get into cattle, but the that doesn't make it into the burger or the New York strip in the supermarket case. Knutson said farmers and ranchers should check their fields every three to four days for the next six weeks until temperatures drop. If discovered, spray fields with an insecticide as soon as they're found. "The challenge is to find the worms before they do the damage," he said. NKrebs@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/Natalie_Krebs This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Lloyd Arnold, an adviser at Lamar University's Small Business Development Center, said he feels safer now that he can carry his gun on campus. Arnold, who said he has been a concealed carry instructor for six years and has had a permit for 21 years, said he wasn't the only one in his department who felt that way. He said when he informed his co-workers of his decision, two women said they also felt safer. "If you carry on campus, you're part of the solution, not the problem," Arnold said. Last week, 15,000 Lamar University students shuffled back to fall classes with one big change: anyone with a concealed carry permit is now allowed to bring a gun to campus. On Aug. 1, Texas Senate Bill 11 took effect, allowing those with a permit to carry a concealed firearm on public college campuses anywhere except in designated "gun-free" zones. Since then, the Lamar University Police Department said its officers have tried to inform the campus community and assess the challenges that come with the policy. On Friday, Lamar police hosted an information session at the Richard L. Price auditorium for the public to outline the university's campus carry policy, approved by the Texas State University System Board of Regents in May. "I just want to put the information out to people and give them a chance to ask individual questions because it's the law now," said Cpl. Jarrod Samford. Samford, Police Chief Hector Flores and Officer Jeremiah Gunter outlined the new rules for about 40 people who attended. Most questions were about where a person can and cannot bring a gun. Prohibited places on campus include sporting events, government meetings, mental health counseling facilities, disciplinary hearing offices, Lamar University police department offices and a dorm for a residential honors program for high school students. Licensed carriers are allowed to brings guns into any other dorm, most classrooms and faculty offices. Samford said the department has no way of knowing how many people will be carrying guns on campus, but he thinks most will be faculty, staff or graduate students, as well as some upperclassmen. The legal age to obtain a concealed carry permit is 21, unless the person is on active duty with the military. That eliminates the majority of the Lamar campus because most are underage undergraduates. One woman asked if she could leave her gun locked in her office when she needed to enter a gun-free zone. Another man asked if he could designate his academic office as a gun-free zone. The answer to both was no. Officers told the woman she could lock her gun in her car. The other answer is definite - only police, the university president and Board of Regents can designate gun-free zones. Cassie Jenkins, a 19-year-old journalism major from Cleveland, asked if officers would patrol gun-free zones. Samford said they wouldn't, but an officer would always be nearby in case of an emergency. "We have more officers on campus than a small city," he said. But even though gun-free zones must have posted signs - in English and Spanish - enforcing the zones will be practically impossible for law enforcement, who are not allowed to ask if someone is carrying. "The way the law is written, you won't know until something happens," Gunter said. Officers encouraged people to report anyone to police they think are breaking the policy by open-carrying or bringing a gun to a gun-free zone, even if it's accidental. "If someone is concealed carrying, you shouldn't know," Samford said. Erin Tabor, associate director of the Disability Resource Center, said she feels safe on campus and wouldn't bring her handgun to work, but supports the new policy. "I think it's good that there's something in writing," she said. Jenkins, the journalism major, said she was covering the meeting for a news-gathering class. She said she's "not very big on guns" and the policy caused her some discomfort. After interviewing students and teachers, Jenkins said the rules raised her comfort level. Regardless, the idea of someone in her dorm with a gun is a source of unease. "What I don't know doesn't hurt me," she said. Samford said police will have another session next Friday and will schedule more sessions if there is further demand. NKrebs@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/natalie_krebs The New Hampshire insurance market will have one less option as the Maine-based Community Health Options declined to continue offering policies in 2017, Morning Consult reports. Here's what you should know. 1. The insurer made the decision to focus all of its attention to the state of Maine as it attempts to grow and scale its company. 2. CHO had high enrollment numbers and a correlating high claim rate. 3. Of its service base, 11,581 residents of New Hampshire will have to find new coverage in 2017. Of those 11,581, 1,400 received assistance through Medicaid. 4. New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayottee (R) said the state will now have only a single co-op offering plans throughout the state which "underscores 'the precariousness of this program.'" 5. Of the 23 co-ops the ACA created, 16 of them has discontinued coverage. More coding, billing and collections news: Taxpayers pay 71% of California's healthcare costs: 5 insights Pew Charitable Trusts: Medicaid claims nearly $0.17 of every state's revenue dollar: 5 thoughts KY Attorney General accuses Fresenius Medical Care Holdings of Medicaid fraud: 5 takeaways Kentucky's Attorney General Andy Beshear is suing Fresenius Medical Care Holdings because he believes the company put its patients at risk through the use of a blood screening product that has been shown to cause heart attacks, stroke or arrhythmia, WVTQ reports. Here's what you should know. 1. Fresenius Medical Care Holdings is the largest provider of dialysis and renal care products in the nation. 2. Mr. Beshear alleges the company of exposing its patients to unnecessary risk through the use of its GranuFlo product. "It's abundantly clear that, for several years, Fresenius withheld GranuFlo-related information from its own clinical staff and from the clinical staff of it's customers, many of them right here in Kentucky. Had the company been ethical and not profit-hungry, many of the heart attacks or deaths could have been prevented," he said. 3. The GranuFlo product had a recall issued for it by the FDA in 2012. http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/SafetyAlertsforHumanMedicalProducts/ucm305630.htm 4. A lawyer for Fresenius said the following: "GranuFlo and Naturalyte acid concentrates continue today to be market leaders, as they have been for many years. The FDA has never suggested that either product should be withdrawn from the market, that the product compositions should be changed in any way, or that the products are unsafe when used as directed and prescribed." 5. Mr. Beshear is seeking damages and civil penalties through his suit. If the state wins, the penalties would be returned to the state's Medicaid program. More news related to coding, billing and collections: Scott & White Health Plan leaves ACA: 4 thoughts Columnist: Can Congress be the ACA's savior? 3 steps Which family medicine providers are more likely to use telehealth? 5 things to know After Mylan faced criticism for significantly increasing EpiPen's price, the company executives launched a generic to the drug. However, many are wondering if this is enough to squash harsh criticism, according to MedPage Today. Here are five highlights: 1. In a statement posted on Mylan's website, company CEO Heather Bresch said the company understands the public's "deep frustration" with EpiPen's cost and therefore is launching the generic to give people access to a less costly alternative. 2. Timothy Holbrook, JD, a law professor at Atlanta-based Emory University told MedPage Today, Mylan's move to offer a generic is not unprecedented as many companies offer a generic in addition to a brand-name drug. However, Mr. Holbrook notes it is not typical for Mylan to develop a generic drug when there are not competing generics on the marketplace. He said, "It sounds like a good PR move it might be and it might be [a way to] head off other generics." 3. American Medical Association implored the pharmaceutical company to do everything in its power to lower the price. AMA President Andrew Gurman, MD, said the drug's high costs may deter people from purchasing the drug, even if it is needed. American Academy of Pediatrics voiced similar concerns, saying the company needs to act as soon as possible to make the drug affordable for families. 4. American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology applauded Mylan for offering the generic. AAAAI Executive Vice President Thomas Casale, MD, said in a statement, "We implore all parties involved with the manufacturing, approval and distribution of this alternative, as well as any other equivalent product in development, to make it available as soon as possible. Improving patient outcomes requires this shared commitment to patient access." 5. Congress is also weighing in, with House Energy and Commerce Committee Democratic members writing Ms. Bresch a letter seeking information as to why the company offered a generic product as opposed to lowering EpiPen's price. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) want to hold a hearing this month concerning Mylan's response. More articles on quality & infection control: Political views may impact perception of healthcare quality 5 highlights These 5 pharmaceutical company CEOs made a consolidated $145M+ in 2015 Physicians can dismiss families who don't vaccinate, but they must do it carefully: 5 key takeaways WalletHub analysts examined which states offered the best and worst healthcare, in terms of treatment and cost. They compared the 50 states and District of Columbia in terms of healthcare costs, access and outcomes. Within these three segments, the analysts used 29 metrics. These metrics included topics such as the cost of a medical visit; the number of hospital beds per capita; and the infant mortality rate. Here are the five states with the best healthcare: 1. Minnesota 2. Maryland 3. South Dakota 4. Iowa 5. Utah Here are the five states with the worst healthcare: 1. Alaska 2. Louisiana 3. Mississippi 4. Nevada 5. Arkansas View the full report here. Recent articles: Is distrust the center of the complex provider-administrator relationship? Former US Army officer Mark Hertling weighs in The regulatory battleground From non-competes to payer-provider disputes, what are ASCs up against in 2017? 2 AmSurg centers participate in ASC Quality Measures; SCA, Virtua Health partner with Bergen-Passaic Cataract Laser and Surgery Center & more 5 key updates on ASC companies Peggy Naleppa, MBA, DrM, is retiring from her role as president and CEO of Salisbury, Md.-based Peninsula Regional Health System and Peninsula Regional Medical Center, effective January 2018. Here are four notes: 1. With her retirement, Dr. Naleppa is ending a career in healthcare spanning 40 years. 2. She joined Peninsula Regional Medical Center in 2003 as executive vice president and COO. She was named president of the health system in 2008 and CEO in 2010. 3. She has served as president of Healthcare Financial Management Association's Maryland chapter and is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. 4. During her tenure at the helm of Peninsula Regional, she led a number of strategic projects, including a $100 million campus expansion and renovation project. From June 2015 to June 2016, as the rate of opioid overdoses nationwide continued to swell at record levels, the state of Illinois operated without a budget. State-funded behavioral health services suffered during the crisis. On June 30, Gov. Bruce Rauner signed a stopgap measure to fund state operations until the end of the year, but the cuts made to substance abuse services during the budget impasse forced group providers to close substance abuse programs and reduce care availability. The gaps in behavioral care created by the crisis will not be easily mended. Cook County Health & Hospitals System is the safety-net healthcare provider for the city of Chicago and suburban Cook County. During the budget crisis, the system and its CEO John Jay Shannon, MD, worked to expand behavioral health services in the vulnerable communities the system serves. Dr. John Jay Shannon, a graduate of Rush Medical College in Chicago and a native Illinoisan, recently spoke with Becker's about budget cuts, behavioral health services and the opioid epidemic. Question: What are the biggest challenges your hospital faces regarding the opioid epidemic? Has the Illinois budget crisis contributed to these challenges? Dr. John Jay Shannon: The biggest problems have been caused by a mismatch between the needs for services and their availability. Budget cuts have led to a decrease in funding for behavioral health programs. Our emergency departments in Chicago are caring for an ever increasing number of people presenting behavioral health problems. At our Stroger campus alone, we've seen our ED visits confounded by opioids: 14 percent of ED visits and 16 percent of inpatient visits are attributed to addiction. At our Provident campus, the number of those presenting for opioid abuse tripled from 2011 to 2014. The Chicago area has a significant problem with this. Q: How helpful do you think recent actions taken by the federal government will be in curbing the rates of opioid abuse? JJS: I think they are going to be helpful. Part of the challenge is that there was a significant pressure on providers to treat pain in the 1980s and 1990s, and now, the pendulum has probably swung too far to one side. Senator [Dick] Durbin (D-Ill.) is calling on the drug manufacturers to cap the amount of opioids produced each year. At the federal level, there's also been action to expand access to buprenorphine. A substantial grant [$2 million] from the Health Resources and Services Administration has aided the expansion of medication assisted treatment at Chicago community centers. These actions are helping fill the gaps in needed care. Q: What unique measures does CCHHS take to treat opioid addicted patients? JJS: We are working to build addiction treatment competence across our community based providers. Community centers are likely a more therapeutic place for these patients. In July, we opened a Community Triage Center on the Southside of Chicago. The center is staffed by behavioral health professionals 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This is a more appropriate setting to these patients than a jail or hospital emergency department. The center treats patients picked up by police for minor offenses. Patients can detox and setup with drug treatment service. It's uncommon that the first time in treatment is a success. Opioid addiction is marked by relapses. An addict who comes in near death and is brought back by naloxone is not feeling well. It's ideal if the individual has a partner in recovery. Q: How high is the demand for the anti-overdose drug naloxone at CCHHS campuses? JJS: Most people don't come in asking for it. These medications are most helpful when asked for by patients and patients' family members. The introduction to naloxone happens in [addiction] treatment. We make it available in our emergency departments. We don't use it as a silver bullet. It's more part of a package we hand off to the community. Q: What do you see as the national solution to this epidemic? JJS: It's going to take a lot of different things. We've got a significant charge to educate both the public and healthcare professionals about pain. We were taught in medical school if someone has pain and you give them narcotics, they won't get addicted. That's clearly incorrect. We need to develop safer treatments for pain. We've got a long way to go. We've got to destigmatize addiction problems so people come forward for treatment. We have to make sure community based services are available to people who need them. The relief of pain has to be treated seriously, but at the same time we could all benefit from different expectations regarding pain relief. I don't think it's going to be any one thing that brings this health crisis to a close. More articles on leadership and management: 4 tips for clinical leader When Jobs met Wozniak: partnerships as the catalyst for healthcare 3.0 What clinical variation means to a hospital's bottom line: 4 insights from the C-suite Eliminating clinical variation is critical not only to ensuring patients receive the safest, highest-quality care, but it is also an integral component of reducing the overall cost of healthcare on both the national and individual hospital level. "Clinical variation describes the different practices and services that permeate healthcare delivery today," Donna Hopkins, RN, vice president of national healthcare consulting firm Novia Strategies, said during a webinar hosted by Becker's Hospital Review. Clinical variation involves the overuse, underuse, different use and waste of healthcare practices and services with varying outcomes. The U.S. healthcare system is the most expensive in the world, according to the most recent data from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Total national healthcare expenditures account for 17.1 percent of the GDP, and that percentage is projected to rise to nearly 20 percent by 2020. Central to the healthcare industry's goal to contain costs is the need to redesign care delivery, including reducing clinical variation. "Reducing clinical variations means creating uniform clinical guidelines and order sets, reducing tests and procedures, eliminating care gaps and delivering true interdisciplinary care," said Ms. Hopkins. "In other words, reducing clinical variation means delivering the right care in the right venue at the right time and at the right costs." Other factors, including the increasing prevalence of bundled payments, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, the 30-day Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program and other quality-driven initiatives from CMS, as well as physician talent loss and staff shortages, compound the need to redesign care delivery to reduce clinical variation. Successful clinical variation reduction efforts generate a myriad of positive effects. They lead to higher engagement among physicians, optimized staffing, increased profitability, reduced costs and, most importantly, improved quality and safety, according to Ms. Hopkins. As the industry shifts from volume- to value-based reimbursement models, each of these benefits will be fundamental to thriving in the new healthcare era. During the webinar, Ms. Hopkins posed 10 questions to a panel of hospital and health system executives on how reducing clinical variation has positively affected their organizations' bottom line and how they partner with physicians to ensure related initiatives are a success. Here are four highlights from the webinar. 1. What was that aha moment when you realized you needed to address clinical variation? Steven Goldstein, CEO of Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, N.Y., said it wasn't so much an "aha moment" but a realization over time that the shift from volume- to value-based reimbursement models necessitated a transformation in the way providers approach care. "When you have commercial insurers and federal payers moving away from fee-for-service, something needs to change in the way you deliver care and manage patients' health," he said. In particular, Mr. Goldstein said reducing clinical variation within clinical redesign efforts is imperative for staying viable under risk-based payment models, and CMS' goal to link 50 percent of Medicare payments to value-based reimbursement models by 2018 has fueled the sense of urgency around such efforts. Patrice M. Weiss, MD, CMO of Roanoke, Va.-based Carilion Clinic and a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, said there was a distinct aha moment for her. Before she was CMO, Dr. Weiss served as chair of Carilion's department of OB-GYN. After the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommended in 2013 to refrain from inducing elective deliveries before 39 weeks of gestation, Dr. Weiss led a push to eliminate them at Carilion altogether. "We quickly became one of the lowest early induction rate hospitals," she said, noting her hospital's rate was less than 1 percent. "Then we received a letter from the state of Virginia that said a different Carilion hospital had a 17 percent early induction rate." Dr. Weiss said she realized then that reducing clinical variation means hospital executives must know the differences in practices between hospitals, even within one system. 2. What is the connection between clinical variation and an organization's performance both financially and in terms of quality and patient satisfaction? Shelly Hunter, CFO of Mercy Hospital Joplin (Mo.), described how clinical variation affects a hospital's finances. "If you have wide variation, you have less predictability in your finances, which leads to lower operating performance," she said. With standardized care, there are better outcomes for patients, fewer complications, lower rates of readmission and higher performance on other quality-based metrics that are tied to reimbursement. Importantly, as hospitals zero in on eliminating waste and duplicative services, standardized clinical pathways help reduce over-utilization of tests and labs. On the other hand, with high clinical variation and erratic utilization, it's much more difficult to accurately predict costs, according to Ms. Hunter. In addition to quality-based metrics, patient satisfaction scores measured by HCAHPS affect federal reimbursement to hospitals. Clinical variation has the potential to derail patient satisfaction because lack of standardized care can lead to medical errors, complications, increased length of stay and readmissions, among other issues. 3. How do you effectively partner with physicians to reduce clinical variation? "It is absolutely key that physicians are on board and engaged" with clinical variation reduction efforts, said Dr. Weiss. Achieving systemwide physician engagement requires identifying and naming physician champions to serve as leaders. A strong physician champion is clinically active, highly respected by their peers, enthusiastic about effecting positive change and a strong communicator. While hospital administrators might be inclined to turn to department chairs or the most productive physicians to serve as physician champions, these factors alone don't mean a provider will be a successful leader. At Carilion, a physician leadership academy targets up-and-coming leaders or those who have expressed a desire to head new initiatives to develop them into physician champions. Additionally, according to Dr. Weiss, physicians are included on all committees, usually serving as chair or co-chair. Placing physicians in these roles not only increases their level of engagement, but it also creates the opportunity to incorporate their clinical input and expertise. 4. How important are risk-adjusted analytics in engaging physicians and reducing variation? When it comes to engaging with physicians and getting them to change their behavior in clinical redesign efforts, it is important to remember that physicians are scientists; they are unlikely to change the way they practice medicine unless they see hard data on their performance and outcomes, according to Nancy Lakier, RN, CEO of Novia Strategies, a national healthcare consulting firm. "Once they look at the data, they will point to opportunities to improve themselves," said Ms. Lakier. "When physicians look at solid risk-adjusted data, and they don't feel that they are being told what to do but rather being supported with data, we find they very quickly use this information to improve the care they provide for their patients." Physician scorecards, which detail various metrics such as utilization, cost, LOS, outcomes and readmissions, show physicians how their performance stacks up compared to their peers, as well as national benchmarks. Faced with this data, physicians who need to improve will be intrinsically motivated to do so, and therefore more inclined to adhere to clinical redesign processes that reduce variation and standardize care. To view the webinar on YouTube, click here. To download the webinar slides, click here. Allina Health workers began their second strike of the summer on Labor Day, marking the latest development in a dispute between the Minneapolis-based system and its roughly 4,800 nurses, according to the Star Tribune. Here are eight things to know about the strike and the dispute. 1. The strike over health benefits, staffing and safety issues affects five Minnesota hospitals Abbott Northwestern Hospital and Phillips Eye Institute in Minneapolis, United Hospital in St. Paul, Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids and Unity Hospital in Fridley. 2. The strike began like the initial nurse strike in June with a bagpiper serenading the pickets at 7 a.m. Monday at Abbott Northwestern, according to the article. 3. However, the time frame for the two strikes is different. The first strike lasted seven days whereas the second strike is open-ended, meaning it will last until a deal is reached, according to the article. 4. Prior to the strike, the two sides had been close to reaching a deal. Allina and the Minnesota Nurses Association spent 22 hours negotiating Friday and early Saturday morning, according to the article. In fact, a spokesman for the union acknowledged to the Star Tribune he had started preparing a news release announcing an agreement had been reached. But the two sides were not able to finalize an agreement due to lingering questions about who pays for the nurses' health insurance, and who controls their health plans, the article states. 5. The cost and design of the nurses' union-backed health insurance has been a key sticking point in negotiations. Allina wanted to eliminate the nurses' four union-backed health plans, which include high premiums but low or no deductibles, and move the nurses to its corporate plans, reports the Star Tribune. The union wanted to protect those nurse-only plans. Allina has estimated that eliminating the nurses' four union-backed health plans would save the health system $10 million per year. 6. In their most recent offer, union negotiators agreed to phase out the union plans if they had authority over the cost and quality of the corporate plans, according to the Star Tribune. The union also wanted contract bonuses of at least $1,000 to compensate for losing their union health plans, the report states. Allina leaders contended the union was asking for too much control, and offered only $500 in contract bonuses, according to the article. 7. No further talks between Allina and the nurses are scheduled. 8. In the meantime, Allina has financially committed to a pool of 1,500 replacement nurses for as long as two weeks, according to the article. And given the uncertainty of the duration of the latest strike, some Allina nurses have also already applied for temporary nursing jobs elsewhere to make ends meet, the Star Tribune reports. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman launched an investigation Tuesday into EpiPen maker Mylan over antitrust concerns in its contracts with school systems, reported CNBC. A preliminary review of the contracts showed that Mylan may have added anti-competitive terms into its deals to sell the life-saving medication to schools, Mr. Schneiderman said. "Some of these schools were required to sign a contract agreeing not to purchase any products from Mylan's competitors for a period of 12 months conduct that can violate the antitrust laws when taken by a monopolist," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). Just hours before news of Mr. Schneiderman's investigation, Sen. Blumenthal called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether the Canonsburg, Pa.-based drugmaker violated federal antitrust laws to prevent any competition for EpiPens. Mylan's EpiPen4Schools program has donated 700,000 EpiPens to more than 65,000 schools and "continues to adhere to all applicable laws and regulations," the company said in a statement. "There are no purchase requirements for participation in the program, nor have there ever been to receive free EpiPen Auto-Injectors," Mylan said. "Previously, schools who wished to purchase EpiPen Auto-Injectors beyond those they were eligible to receive free under the program could elect to do so at a certain discount level with a limited purchase restriction, but such restriction no longer remains." More articles on supply chain: Clinton's plan to address price hikes on long-standing drugs: 4 points Mylan coupled executive pay with high profit targets: 7 things to know Novartis folds cell and gene therapy division, cuts 120 positions "It's a struggle for all hospitals. It's something we talk about nearly every day." Before UK HealthCare in Lexington started construction on a new patient tower at the University of Kentucky Albert B. Chandler Hospital, the health system took careful effort to ensure the new facility could accommodate the needs of its patients, said Bo Cofield, DrPH, vice president and chief clinical operations officer of UK HealthCare. With Kentucky ranking as the 12th most obese state in the U.S. with a 2014 adult obesity rate of 31.6 percent, those needs require bariatric accommodations. The 12-story pavilion, which officially opened in May 2011, has five patient floors in operation with 320 inpatient beds, along with an emergency department, surgery and operating suites, and three additional patient floors either in planning or construction phases. Every patient room is the same size and design, and each contains a ceiling-mounted lift, some of which extend into bathrooms to assist with patient transfers. Patients and family members will also find wider bariatric chairs in waiting areas throughout the facility. For equipment, UK HealthCare buys the highest rated tables its manufacturer can supply in terms of weight, in addition to larger stretchers, wider wheelchairs and CT and MRI machines with bigger entryways, said Dr. Cofield. UK Healthcare is not alone in its effort to expand access to treatment for obese patients. "It's a struggle for all hospitals," Dr. Cofield said. "It's something we talk about nearly everyday." There's no question America is in the midst of an obesity epidemic more than 78 million people in the U.S., or about one in three adults, are obese, according to the CDC. In 2013, the American Medical Association officially designated obesity as a disease, and as of 2008, the estimated annual medical cost of obesity was $147 billion, according to the CDC. To support an increasingly heavy patient population, hospitals across the country are making structural changes and buying new equipment to accommodate bariatric patients and their family members. "It's really ramped up in the last 10 years or so. Every facility has to address [obesity] now because it's so incredibly common," said Joan Suchomel, AIA, president of the American Institute of Architects Academy of Architecture for Health, who holds 30 years of experience in healthcare planning and design. "It's part of doing business. [Obese] patients are going to show up, and you have to be ready for them." While early approaches to bariatric design focused solely on patient rooms and bathrooms, health systems are now considering a patient's entire experience at the hospital from start to finish. Every doorway and hallway along a patient's path throughout the hospital must be wide enough to accommodate the patient, along with wider wheelchairs and larger hospital beds. Most hospital equipment accommodates patients of 300 pounds or less, said Don Selzer, MD, a general and bariatric surgeon at Indiana University Health in Indianapolis. For anyone heavier, different equipment, room features and direct patient care items like hospital gowns or blood pressure cuffs are necessary. "We have purchased two additional scales at our [bariatric surgery] office to accommodate obese patients," said Dr. Selzer. The standing scale, purchased 12 years ago, can hold patients up to 800 pounds and cost almost $1,000. The second scale, used to weigh patients in wheelchairs, cost approximately $3,500 and is five years old. A typical hospital scale costs about $150. Most hospitals today have CT scanners that can accommodate patients up to 450 pounds, with some offering machines rated up to 650 pounds with an 85 centimeter opening although these are less common, said Dr. Selzer. Since a large majority of hospitals in the U.S. have taken actions to accommodate obese patients, "it's less common to transfer patients to a different hospital because of their weight, with the exception of patients with exceptionally high body mass index values," he said. While direct patient care equipment for obese patients is crucial, accommodations must be considered for patients and family alike. "When you have a bariatric patient, there's a good chance their family members are obese," said Ms. Suchomel. In general waiting areas, 10-20 percent of seating should be offered in bariatric sizes for patients and their family members. That number goes up to 50 percent for cardiac and bariatric units, according to AIA guidelines. Normal waiting room chairs are about 20 inches wide and cost $50 to $200. Bariatric chairs measure about 30-40 inches wide and contain arms to offer easier movement, according to Ms. Suchomel. They usually cost anywhere from $200 to $1,000. "The core goal of bariatric care revolves around maintaining patient dignity," said Ms. Suchomel. Bariatric waiting room chairs are designed to look like love-seat versions of pre-existing chairs and scattered throughout the room to avoid the creation of "obesity-only" sections. Every renovation, retrofit and equipment accommodation aims to prevent a bariatric patient from feeling marginalized or treated differently because of their condition, said Suchomel. An inpatient room for bariatric patients also entails specific requirements, outlined by the Facility Guidelines Institute, a nonprofit organization that offers guidance on the planning, design, and construction of medical facilities in the U.S. A typical hospital bed, which usually costs up to $2,000, is about 35.5 inches wide and requires three feet of open space on all sides. A bariatric bed, ranging in price from $2,000 to $5,000, can expand to 40 or 50 inches wide and needs five feet of open space. A normal doorway has a 45.5 inch opening, which can prove difficult for fitting a larger bariatric bed through. At VA hospitals, all bariatric rooms have doors with double leafs that can open up to make more room for patients and equipment, said Ms. Suchomel. Patient bathrooms usually contain a wall-mounted toilet that makes it easier for hospital staff to clean underneath. However, these have a tendency to break off the wall if bearing excessive weight, so bariatric rooms are typically equipped with floor mounted toilets, some of which withstand up to 1,000 pounds, said Ms. Suchomel, although some wall mounted toilets do exist for heavier patients. To retrofit a bathroom for obese patients, a post must be installed under the toilet to provide extra support. Showers include larger grab bars and a hand-held showerhead so staff can help patients bathe, if need be. "Probably the biggest decision surrounding bariatric accommodation is the type and amount of lifts hospitals should install," said Ms. Suchomel. The first question to answer when discussing lifts is portable or ceiling? Portable lifts require 7 by 10.5 feet of space to operate, costing less than $500 for a manual lift and at least $2,000 for motorized portable lifts. Permanent ceiling lifts only need 5 by 10.5 feet, yet cost upwards of $5,000. While some hospitals hesitate to buy the costlier ceiling lifts, they can save valuable square footage in the construction of new bariatric rooms. If hospitals are looking to retrofit a room to accommodate obese patients, the process is more difficult and costly, says Ms. Suchomel. To install a permanent lift, the room's ceiling must be taken out and rebuilt to include the equipment. Nurses lift approximately 1.8 tons during an eight hour shift and 52 percent of them complain about chronic back pain. Since patients are getting heavier and heavier, lifts are more important than ever. Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente recently completed a project that put lifts in every single patient room in the intensive care units at all of its 381 hospital locations, said Ms. Suchomel. While both retrofitting and construction can rack up a hefty price tag, Ms. Suchomel said strategies exist to navigate a tight budget. For example, transverse lifts on rails can be installed in rooms, and the motors used to power them can be moved from room to room as necessary to save money by not purchasing all the motors all at once. More articles on supply chain: New York attorney general investigates Mylan over potential antitrust violations in school contracts Logistics, transportation jobs spike in August: 5 things to know What is the cost of discarding unused surgical supplies? To continue following the latest news and information for Bedfordshire and surrounding areas, simply enter your full postcode below An artist's impression of how the Storr Lochs Monster would have looked (PA/Todd Marshall) A predator that ruled the seas 170 million years ago has finally been unveiled by scientists half a century after it was discovered. The fossilised skeleton of the dolphin-like animal - named the Storr Lochs monster - was found on the Isle of Skye in 1966 by a local power station manager. It had been preserved in National Museums Scotland's storage facility for 50 years but a partnership between the museum, the University of Edinburgh and energy company SSE has now enabled the fossil to be extracted from the rock, creating a clearer picture of the dinosaur. Experts say the fossil is from the ichthyosaurs group and the reptile would have been around four metres in length with a pointed head and hundreds of cone-shaped teeth used to feed on fish and squid. It is said to be the most complete skeleton of a sea-living reptile from the dinosaurs age that has ever been found in Scotland. Palaeontologists hope it will help to reveal how ichthyosaurs evolved during the middle Jurassic period. Dr Steve Brusatte, from the University of Edinburgh's School of GeoSciences, said: "Ichthyosaurs like the Storr Lochs monster ruled the waves while dinosaurs thundered across the land. "Their bones are exceptionally rare in Scotland, which makes this specimen one of the crown jewels of Scottish fossils. "It's all thanks to the keen eye of an amateur collector that this remarkable fossil was ever found in the first place, which goes to show that you don't need an advanced degree to make huge scientific discoveries." Skye is one of the few places in the world where fossils from the middle Jurassic period can be found and it has been referred to as "Scotland's dinosaur island". Dr Nick Fraser, keeper of natural sciences at National Museums Scotland, said: "The Storrs Loch monster highlights the rich fossil heritage of Skye. "Collaborations between scientists at National Museums Scotland, the University of Edinburgh and elsewhere in the UK are beginning to shed new light on the middle Jurassic of Skye - a time when dinosaurs were dominant on land but mammals were also diversifying." The fossil was discovered on a beach near the SSE Storrs Loch power station by the facility's manager Norrie Gillies, who died in 2011 aged 93. Once analysis of the fossil is complete, it will go on display at a number of locations, including SSE's new visitor centre at the Pitlochry dam. Martin Pibworth, managing director wholesale SSE, said: "The fossil was found 50 years ago by Norrie Gillies who, like his son Allan, are both proud SSE company men and were determined it should receive the public attention it deserves. "SSE hopes this fossil will indeed prove to be a 'crown jewel' in Scotland's Jurassic history and thanks to the foresight of the Gillies family, enjoyed by generations to come." This week is National Migraine Week. According to the Migraine Trust, it is a "complex condition with a wide variety of symptoms". For many people the main feature is a painful headache. Other symptoms include disturbed vision, sensitivity to light, sound and smells, feeling sick and vomiting. (Stock image) It will likely be an issue for employers when 'migraine' is the reason for employee absence and whether this means the affected employee meets the statutory definition of a disabled person. This week is National Migraine Week. According to the Migraine Trust, it is a "complex condition with a wide variety of symptoms". For many people the main feature is a painful headache. Other symptoms include disturbed vision, sensitivity to light, sound and smells, feeling sick and vomiting. As per the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, a person is disabled if "he has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long term adverse impact on his ability to carry out normal day to day activities." Day to day activities, although not precisely defined, can include work-related activities. If the sufferer can establish that migraine has a substantial and long term adverse impact, this will likely mean that the employee is disabled and the employer may have a duty to take affirmative steps with regards: a. a policy, criterion, or practice in the workplace; b. adaptation of a physical feature in the workplace; and/or c. provision of an auxiliary aid to avoid any substantial disadvantage the employee may suffer in comparison with persons who are not disabled. Failure on the part of the employer to comply with this duty, if it arises, amounts to an unlawful act of discrimination. Common adjustments for those who suffer from migraines and are disabled can be: Allowing flexible working hours or working from home to make up for time missed Allowing for frequent breaks to avoid migraine trigger factors (e.g. working at a computer) Redeployment to a different role if migraine is affecting the current position Ensuring a work environment that is not conducive to migraine Providing an antiglare screen for the employee's PC. Another, frequently raised adjustment can be disregarding some or all absence related to the employee's disability when managing absence. The Court of Appeal in Griffiths v The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2015] EWCA Civ 1265 stated: "An employer is entitled to say, after a pattern of illness absence, that he should not be expected to have to accommodate the employee's absences any longer. There is nothing unreasonablein the employer being entitled to have regard to the whole of the employee's absence record when making that decision(However) the fact that some of the absence is disability related is still highly relevant to the question of whether disciplinary action is appropriate." (emphasis added) In the Griffiths case, the Court of Appeal determined that the initial Employment Tribunal was entitled to find that two proposed adjustments (being that a lengthy absence of 62 days not be treated as absence counting against the employee and that the employer's absence management policy be modified to allow the employee longer periods of absence in the future before subjecting the employee to the possibility of a sanction) were not steps that the employer could reasonably be expected to take because taking them would not remove the disadvantage suffered by the employee. Medical evidence was available which confirmed that the employee would likely have further periods of lengthy absence, so it was not reasonable to expect the employer to discount the 62 day period of absence in the circumstances. Whether it is reasonable for an employer to amend its absence management policy or disregard disability related absences will always depend on the facts of each case and legal advice should always be sought in this regard. Toni Fitzgerald-Gunn is a Solicitor in Worthingtons Commercial Solicitors, Belfast, where she specialises in Employment Law and can be contacted on 028 9043 4015 Belfast car parts maker Montupet's 7m deal with giant Jaguar Land Rover "could open up" further major deals in the coming years, after it fought off stiff competition from European rivals. And Alan Malcomson, engineering manager at Montupet - which employs around 600 staff here - says Brexit isn't slowing the burgeoning business down, and it doesn't have "any immediate concerns". "Its an important boost to us," he told the Belfast Telegraph. "The volume for this isn't that big, and is up to 100,000 (units) a year. "But it's an opportunity to get a foot in the door and will maybe open up more opportunities in future." The firm manufactures cast aluminium cylinder heads for petrol diesel engines used for car makers Ford, Peugeot, Citroen, Volvo, Fiat and Mazda. But it's now landed a deal to produce cylinder heads for one of the fastest growing car firms in the world - potentially worth tens of millions in future sales. Jaguar Land Rover has doubled its global sales, and sells half a million (vehicles) globally, so theres a big share to be had, Mr Malcomson said. In this particular case, we had been working on it for a few months. We get the initial inquiry, and then we get feasibility studies. We are the only UK-based manufacturer (doing this). There would be competition elsewhere in Europe, and sometimes eastern Europe. We are competing with lower cost base countries. Its important we work hard on our costs, to remain competitive. That has meant a lot of investment and flexibility in our workforce. But he said the company sees no immediate concern with the current business in terms of Brexit. When we are faced with the cost base we have, especially energy, we have to continue to work on finding new ideas to remain competitive. From the Brexit point of view, there are no immediate concerns. Montupet has operated in Northern Ireland since 1989, using the former home of car maker DeLorean. Last year, the company announced a new 140m contract for the Dunmurry plant. Earlier this year, Montupets French parent company was taken over by family-run Canadian firm Linamar. The Belfast plant continues to be one of the most profitable in the Montupet group. We are in a strong position, Mr Malcomson said. And he said, so far, big US customers, such as General Motors, had not expressed any concerns about Brexit. He said that while the initial deal with Jaguar Land Rover is for between 80,000 and 100,000 units, Montupet is in a good position to win bigger deals with the car giant when it begins building new lines of engines. Jaguar Land Rover is owned by Indian firm Tata Motors. Mr Malcomson said the order would secure around 40 jobs at the firm. Our main focus is focussing on quality, and continuing to work on our cost base, he said. And he also backed up urgent calls for a dedicated manufacturing strategy for Northern Ireland, in the wake of major job cuts in the sector here. It comes after Economy Minister Simon Hamilton denied claims of a manufacturing crisis here. Mr Malcomson said energy costs in Northern Ireland which are among the highest in Europe were also one of the key areas which needed to be targeted. Swiss Air is the first airline to fly Bombardiers CSeries planes Bombardier will deliver just half the number its flagship CSeries passenger jets this year due to engine delays. The wings and part of the fuselage are made in Belfast, where the Canadian-owned firm employs around 5,000 staff. But now the plane maker says it will only deliver seven aircraft this year, instead of 15, due to delays with engine maker Pratt & Whitney. Bombardier has said it has adjusted its CSeries delivery forecast from 15 to seven aircraft as a result of engine delivery delays by its supplier Pratt & Whitney. Fred Cromer, president of Bombardier commercial aircraft, said: We are very pleased with the performance of the CSeries during its entry-into-service with our launch customer SWISS, said The aircraft is meeting all expectations and clearly demonstrating that it is the best performing and most efficient aircraft in the 100- to 150-seat class. The C Series engine is performing very well in service. We are working very closely with Pratt & Whitney to quickly address this supplier ramp-up issue and to ensure we have a strong supplier base to support our long-term growth objectives, Mr Cromer said. We are very confident in our production ramp-up plan, including our ability to meet our production goal of 90 to 120 aircraft per year by 2020. Last month the manufacturer said it was bringing forward 95 planned redundancies. More than 700 staff are due to go this year, with 1,080 planned by 2017. Bombardier in east Belfast, along with other sites, produces a range of aircraft parts including the wings and fuselage of the flagship CSeries passenger jet. And last month the Belfast Telegraph revealed Bombardier is moving some of its operations away from Northern Ireland to cheaper countries including Mexico and Morocco. It confirmed the transfer of "certain activities" it said it was "unable to undertake competitively in Northern Ireland". It added while it had undertaken "major investment in Northern Ireland" over the years and will "continue to focus on high-value, high-complexity production", it must balance its costs with sites in Mexico and Morocco to "help to optimise our manufacturing footprint and ensure the future success of our business overall". Two Northern Ireland retail parks have gone on the market with a combined value of more than 9m. Laharna Retail Park in Larne is now on sale, with those selling the business looking for offers over 5.78m. The site opened in 2003, and features a number of tenants including Argos, New Look, Peacocks, B&M Bargains and Carphone Warehouse. The park is made up of a total of 10 retail units, along with a bingo hall. The park has a total of 191 car park spaces, with the entire site based across three acres. Meanwhile, Strabane Shopping Park is also now on sale and both are on the market through CBRE and Morgan Williams. The Strabane site, which was developed in 2006, is also fully let and includes businesses such as Argos, New Look, Peacocks and Menarys. The retail park is based over 23,317 sq ft and has 110 car park spaces, and is now on the market for offers over 3.29m. Its understood both retail sites are owned by UK investment fund Mansford. Strabane Retail Park and Laharna Retail Park had previously been owned by Co Tyrone pharmacist-turned-developer Peter Dolan, as part of his Jermon Ltd empire. Both were sold to London-based fund Mansford in 2011. The Strabane site was previously on sale at 3.8m, while Laharna was on the market for 6.15m. Jermon Ltd was founded in 1997 by Mr Dolan and wife Jacqueline. The company was landlord for a number of key retail and office properties in Belfast. These included the Scottish Mutual Building in Donegall Square South, HMV and TK Maxx in Donegall Arcade and Mothercare in Castle Place. The company also owned retail properties in Dungannon. Tom Keenan of Keenan Corporate Finance was appointed administrator to Jermon Limited by First Trust and other banks in 2011. Elsewhere, a number of large retail parks and shopping centres have changed hands here over the last 12 months. In January, the Belfast Telegraph revealed that Junction One and The Outlet were being sold in a deal worth 40m. At the end of last year, Bangor shopping centre Bloomfield was sold for 54.5m to London investment firm Ellandi and Tristan Capital Partners. Other deals included Fairhill in Ballymena, which went for more than 45m, while the Showgrounds Retail Park in Omagh was sold for 27m. Ellandi and Tristan Capital Partners also snapped up Enniskillens Erneside Shopping Centre last year. Banbridge-based Lotus Group and investment firm Tristan Capital Partners purchased Antrims Junction One and Banbridges The Outlet, with the deal finally going over the line in April. However, the retail parks were originally put on the market for around 60m. Both have faced their own problems over the years. Junction One was set up in 2004, boasting a range of big names. But its value has dropped significantly since then. Banbridges The Outlet was opened in 2007 at a cost of 70m and counts a number of big-name brands among its tenants, including Marks & Spencer. Meanwhile, just last month work began on the redevelopment of the Westwood Shopping Centre in west Belfast, which will see seven new retail units being built. The original mall is being demolished and replaced by open class one retail units. Technology start-ups from Northern Ireland will have the chance to compete for a place on a high profile entrepreneurship programme run by Prince Andrew. Shortlisted companies will deliver pitches at Hillsborough Castle later this month as part of the Duke of York's Pitch@Palace initiative. The scheme was launched in 2014 and has helped scores of new businesses to access investment, advice and mentoring. Some have gone on to huge global success, including London-based artificial intelligence specialist Magic Pony which was recently acquired by Twitter for a reported $150m (113m). In total, Pitch@Palace companies have created almost 350 jobs and reached 124m in turnover. Writing on the programme's website, the Duke of York said: "A more entrepreneurial economy and people with an enterprising culture will create jobs for our next generation workforce. Our prominence in science, technology and engineering is undisputed, creating valuable ideas and inventions to seed business of the future. "We also see across the educational landscape numerous projects aimed at building young people's entrepreneurial skills. More businesses can be created in the UK through a combination of these factors. A key task is to now ensure we do more to help these businesses to scale." Belfast company Pure Marine was one of the programme's winners in 2014. The firm, based at Catalyst Inc (formerly the Science Park), has developed a wave energy converter capable of generating competitively priced electricity. Earlier this year, its DUO technology was selected as one of only nine finalists for the US Department of Energy's wave energy prize competition. "Taking part in Pitch@Palace was a unique experience that opened up new opportunities and introductions to some of the biggest players in the global energy industry," said director Paul Brewster. "Our prize included a trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and I also was invited to join the Duke of York on a trip to Saudi Arabia which provided the opportunity to meet a number of influential investors." Three entrepreneurs will be selected from the Belfast event to attend Pitch@Palace Boot Camp with the potential to be selected, as one of 15 finalists, for the Pitch@Palace final at St James's Palace, London, in November. This year's theme is technology and the organisers are hoping to attract companies involved in biotech, cyber security, education, financial and consumer tech, data and analytics, and artificial intelligence. Alan Watts, director of Halo at Catalyst Inc, said: "We are delighted that Pitch@Palace on Tour will be taking place in Hillsborough Castle on September 29. While the funding is certainly central to Pitch@Palace, the access to top UK CEOs and influencers is what makes this experience unique. "Start-ups emerge with connections and prospects which undoubtedly add significant value to the company. "We know we have many world- leading technology start-ups in Northern Ireland and Pitch@Palace is a great opportunity that could catapult a business to the next level." The closing date for applications is on Friday. Applications can be submitted online at http://pitchatpalace.com @yvetteshapiro Jeremy Vine and Tina Daheley are the hosts of Crimewatch The BBC has defended Crimewatch's new format as "necessary" after viewers slammed the programme for using a historic real-life murder case as a "cliffhanger". Fans of the show expressed their disappointment as Monday night's episode ended on the retelling of the case of Melanie Road, who was raped and killed in 1984 at the age of 17. The case was reopened years later and, thanks to the advancements in DNA-testing techniques, the murderer was finally caught in 2015 and given a life sentence earlier this year. The episode finished with viewers being prompted to tune in next week to find out how the case was solved, which encouraged some to take to Twitter to compare the series to a "soap opera". A BBC spokesman told the Press Association: "Crimewatch worked closely with the police on this item which was made with the cooperation of Melanie Road's family. The story of Melanie's brutal murder and how detectives eventually caught her killer spanned decades, involving hundreds of police officers and multiple investigation teams. "To do full justice to Melanie's story it was necessary to tell it across two programmes." They added: "With Crimewatch now airing in a weekly format it was important to inform viewers that the conclusion of the case would be shown the following week. "How They Caught items are useful in reassuring viewers that despite all the crime featured on the programme, criminals are caught and justice is served." The BBC's long-running crime-solving programme aired with a revamped series which will be shown on a weekly basis for the first time, with Jeremy Vine and Tina Daheley as the hosts. Viewers took to Twitter to air their upset over the teaser-style ending ahead of next week's episode. One wrote on the social networking site: "Disgusted at #Crimewatch, a girl's rape and murder being treated like a soap opera cliffhanger, shame on you." Another added: "'Next week?' Since when did #Crimewatch become a soap opera? A cliffhanger about a real life case? Really?" One viewer described it as "disrespectful" adding that "it's a real show, it's not a TV drama!". Sir Terry Wogan, who died in January after a brief battle with cancer The BBC will broadcast tribute programmes to tie in with a special service being held at Westminster Abbey to honour Sir Terry Wogan. The programmes will look back at the life and career of the veteran Irish presenter, who died on January 31 aged 77, after a short battle with cancer. Sir Terry will be honoured with a special service of thanksgiving taking place at the famous church in central London on September 27, which marks the 50th anniversary of his first BBC radio broadcast. BBC director-general Tony Hall said: "Terry Wogan was one of the nation's most loved presenters. He had a unique and welcoming style combined with a mischievous sense of humour and his personality will shine through in these programmes." A total of 250 pairs of tickets for the event will be made available to the public via a ballot, which will be announced by Radio 2 host Chris Evans during his Breakfast Show on Tuesday. Registration for the ballot is via bbc.co.uk/radio2 and opens at 00:01 on Tuesday 6 September and closes at 19:00 on Thursday 8 September. BBC Radio 2 will broadcast live from the remembrance service between noon and 1pm. A special edition of the Jeremy Vine Show, which will see Vine reminiscing with listeners as they share their memories of Sir Terry, will air before and after the service from 11:30am to 2pm. Another special Radio 2 show, Thank You For Being My Friend - A Tribute to Terry Wogan, will broadcast on September 26 and 27, and will recall his career highlights, as well as original interviews with friends and colleagues. BBC One will air a BBC Studios production with the working title of Sir Terry Wogan Remembered: Fifty Years, which will be a journey through Sir Terry's impressive 50-year career. Head of BBC events for BBC studios Phil Dolling said: "Sir Terry Wogan is without doubt one of the most important broadcasters in the history of the BBC. His humour, his warmth and his ability to connect with his audience was second to none. "It is no exaggeration at all to describe Sir Terry's career as exceptional - he was the most popular man on television while at the same time being the most popular man on the radio. "In this programme we look back at his five decades with the BBC and talk to those people who knew him and loved him." Sir Terry became the presenting face of the Eurovision Song Contest in the UK, having first fronted the BBC's coverage in 1971. Dame Barbara Windsor has described herself as a "lucky little lady" as she was recognised for her decades of work in television. The stalwart of the small screen told of her surprise and gratitude on being awarded the outstanding contribution to television gong at the TV Choice awards. The former EastEnders star, who will turn 80 next year, joined a host of celebrities for the star-studded event in London on Monday evening. Describing the soap as a pivotal part of her lengthy career, she told the audience: "And then EastEnders came along. What a lucky little lady I was. And that was it. It was exactly what I wanted. I was so grateful. It's wonderful to walk along the street and have them go 'Hello Peggy, how are you?'" Her character Peggy Mitchell, who had been played by Dame Barbara since 1994, took her own life after being diagnosed with terminal cancer in scenes broadcast in May. She said: "Although Peggy may no longer be with us, she and the show will never leave my heart." ITV soap Emmerdale scooped the best soap award over EastEnders, Coronation Street and Hollyoaks for the first time. The swansong series of Downton Abbey was named best drama series, while best actor went to Tom Hiddleston for BBC One's The Night Manager. Hiddleston, who is currently filming Thor, sent a video message from Australia, and was joined by his co-stars Chris Hemsworth and Idris Elba as he made a thank-you speech to camera. He said: "I'm so sorry I can't be there tonight, I'm sure you all look lovely," before being interrupted by Hemsworth who joked that the award was for his former soap Home And Away, and Elba, who noted that his TV series Luther had not been nominated. During the evening, the stars at London's Dorchester hotel paid tribute to some of those who have died this year. This Morning presenter Phillip Schofield recalled the show's agony aunt as he collected the best daytime show prize. He said: "I want to dedicate this this year to Denise Robertson. This was actually one of her favourite nights out so she would have loved this." Picking up the award for best lifestyle show, Gogglebox stars Chris Steed and Stephen Webb remembered the show's narrator. "U nfortunately we've lost so many amazing TV personalities this year and we really wanted to dedicate this to one of our Gogglebox family - Caroline Aherne," they said. Happy Valley's leading lady Sarah Lancashire beat the likes of Downton Abbey's Laura Carmichael, Doctor Foster star Suranne Jones and Peaky Blinders star Helen McCrory to be named best actress. Doctor Foster triumphed in another category as it was named best new drama. Mary Berry collected the prize for best talent show for The Great British Bake Off. Steven Spielberg is filming Ready Player One in Birmingham The streets of Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter have been turned into a dystopian American city for Steven Spielberg's new film Ready Player One. The acclaimed Hollywood director has been photographed standing at the top of a ladder assessing shots on set whilst dressed in a quilted jacket and navy blue flat cap. The movie, based on Ernest Cline's novel of the same name, will star Oscar winner Mark Rylance opposite Simon Pegg and Bloodline star Ben Mendelsohn. It centres on a young outcast called Wade Watts, played by Mud star Tye Sheridan, who escapes from his daily life by logging on to a multi-player online game called The Oasis. Photographs of the set posted on Twitter show heavily graffiti-covered walls, streets lined with litter and damaged cars, as well as carefully concealed British phone boxes. The film is expected to be released in UK cinemas on March 30 2018. Filming of the blockbuster began in earnest after the Hollywood director's crew set up camp on a council car park. Warner Brothers lighting vans, numerous caravans and other support vehicles have been parked in and around the Ludgate Hill car park during the current filming run, which is scheduled to end on Saturday, and includes some dramatic c ar chases. Passer-by Wayne Brownhill likened the scenes being shot in the Second City to the Mad Max franchise. The Birmingham-born 48-year-old said: "It's amazing that it takes so many people and vehicles to make a film. "Apparently he (Spielberg) has been wearing a big coat and a hat so people don't recognise him. "I was surprised to see it but It's great for the city. And you know it's going to be a good film because it's a Steven Spielberg film." Mr Brownhill's wife, Catherine, added: "If Steven Spielberg asks if he can make a movie in Birmingham, you are not going to say no are you?" Veteran television journalist Jeremy Thompson has announced he will be retiring at the end of the year. After more than 40 years as a broadcast journalist and on-location reporter, he is now best known for anchoring the early evening programme on Sky News. Thompson confirmed the news via a post on his Twitter page, writing: " Just to let you know I'm retiring from @SkyNews at the end of the year. After 23 years at Sky & 50 years as a journo, time for a gap year!" During his decades-long career, Thompson has also worked for the BBC and ITV, before starting his tenure at Sky as a foreign correspondent in 1993. Thompson, 66, said of his departure: "As a few of you have been politely enquiring about my future plans, I thought it was a good time to let you know that I really am retiring from Sky News at the end of the year." He added, in an internal email sent around to his colleagues, that he feels it is time for him to step aside in order to make space for "burgeoning young talent on this channel". He added: "I've had a great run and I've been very proud to play a part in building Sky News into one of the great brands in television journalism." John Ryley, Head of Sky News, praised Thompson as " a master of his craft". "His career has been an extraordinary achievement that few journalists have equalled," Ryley added. "I have learned much from him; his deft handling of the most sensitive situations, his gut instinct for what the real story is, and his mass appeal to our viewers who trust him to bring them the latest news from wherever he happens to be in the world. "He leaves the strongest of legacies and I, along with all my colleagues at Sky, will miss him a great deal." During his career, Thompson has covered five US elections and will leave Sky News this year after his sixth. He has also covered nine British general elections, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Soham murders, the 2015 Paris attacks, the death of Nelson Mandela and the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius. Thompson has also received several major awards during his time as a TV reporter and anchor, including three Emmys from the US Academy of TV Arts and Sciences, three Baftas and the Royal Television Society award for Sky's coverage of the Kosovo conflict. James Bourke's mission was to force the highly dysfunctional Spanish royal family and its government to ally with British interests In 1807, an elegant stranger appeared at the Escorial, the vast palace outside Madrid that was home to the Spanish royal family. He claimed to be a wealthy 'man of sciences' who was looking for the restoration of an ancestral title. While out taking her daily constitutional, Queen Maria Luisa noticed this dashing young man driving past in his gilded carriage. The queen had a fondness for handsome men. She was already cheating on her husband King Charles IV with his prime minister, Manuel Godoy. And it wasn't long before she had welcomed the newcomer into her boudoir. What the queen didn't realise was that her new lover was not a wealthy French aristocrat but James Florence Bourke, an Irish spy working for the British government. "I was acquainted with the character of women in general, but particularly with hers," he boasted in a report to his London spymaster. "Consequently I was honoured with her personal society in the most private manner." Bourke's mission was to force the highly dysfunctional Spanish royal family and its government to ally with the British interest. He had already discovered from the French ambassador at the court that Napoleon was about to invade Spain. Within days of seducing the queen, Bourke realised that the real power at court was Godoy and set about trying to gain his confidence. Once he was alone with Godoy, he produced a note from a secret compartment in his snuff box which confirmed the French invasion. However, Godoy was a vain, corrupt man and refused to take the note. Bourke, revealing his true identity, threatened him with a pistol and "told him with some vehemence" that it would be in his interests to read it. The threat did the trick. Godoy persuaded his lover the queen, and her cuckolded husband, that it would be in their interests to work with the British. "From that moment I directed all the operations of the court," Bourke wrote. "I was presented to the queen and king as the savior of the crown." But just who was this 18th- century superspy? Born in Lorient in Brittany, France, on May 5, 1771, James Bourke was the son of Richard Bourke, a Jacobite refugee from Lacken in Co Mayo who had served in one of the French army's Irish regiments. James and his brother Jean-Raymond-Charles Bourke also joined the French army. While Jean-Raymond-Charles rose through the ranks to become a general under Napoleon - the name Bourke is inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris in recognition of his victories - James's career in the French army was over in 1793 when his regiment was captured by the British. Realising they had a valuable asset on their hands, the British turned Bourke into one of their agents. Bourke became adept at his trade. He had a natural facility for languages and employed many different personas to elicit information. On various occasions he passed himself off as a French philosophe, a Prussian officer and a sailor from Trieste. He enjoyed employing many of the methods that have become familiar thanks to the modern spy thriller. He used lemon juice to write invisible letters, made use of false compartments and was adept at concealing weapons. Much like a certain Ian Fleming character with the same initials, his powers of seduction were his most powerful weapon. He used them to good effect when the British sent him to South America to report on conditions in Buenos Aires. Before travelling to the city, he stopped off at Rio de Janeiro where the Portuguese royal family was living in exile. Having already seduced her mother Queen Maria Luisa, Bourke turned his attentions to Princess Carlota, the Spanish-born wife of the Portuguese prince regent who had ambitions to rule over her own South American empire. But she had a rival, Ana O'Gorman, the beautiful French wife of one of Bourke's old acquaintances, Thomas O'Gorman, a merchant from Ennis who was based in Buenos Aires. Ana was a beautiful woman who provoked scorn and jealousy in equal measure because of her scandalous affairs. Revolutionaries, diplomats, soldiers and spies mixed at glamorous parties. In 1805, she became acquainted with James Bourke. They soon became lovers. It is possible that Bourke persuaded Ana to work for the British government, which was desperate to wrest control of South America's lucrative markets from the Spanish in order to open them to British-manufactured goods. Four years later, Ana O'Gorman was the mistress of Santiago de Liniers, the viceroy of Buenos Aires. Liniers had become a hero in 1807 for thwarting two British invasions of the city. His rivals suggested that Ana exerted political influence over Liniers. It is indeed possible that Bourke had recruited Ana O'Gorman as a British spy. In Rio, Princess Carlota was fiercely jealous of Ana's influence and power. Bourke attempted to reassure her. "I acquainted with what I knew of said woman and that I would endeavour to remove her," he wrote. When Bourke arrived in Buenos Aires, he accused Liniers, a Frenchman, of working for Napoleon, and made insinuations about Ana. Liniers was furious and ordered Bourke out of Buenos Aires. Eventually Liniers, who was coming under pressure from both conservatives and liberals, gave way to a Spanish-appointed viceroy, but not before deporting his mistress to Brazil. Neither were Princess Carlota's ambitions achieved. In May 1810, the last Spanish viceroy was swept away and the path became clear for those seeking to achieve an independent Argentinian republic. Bourke retired in 1826, but as is often the case for those engaged in undercover work, his efforts went largely unrewarded and unrecognised. He died in Lorient, France, in 1841. Tim Fanning's book 'Paisanos: The Forgotten Irish who Changed the Face of Latin America' is published by Gill, at 24.99 New research has shown that charity work is good for your health. In Northern Ireland there are more than 250,000 volunteers freely putting in their time and effort to support local charities and organisations working with those most in need in our community. Now experts at Southampton and Birmingham universities have found that these selfless people will be healthier thanks to their good work. The results of the study, published in the medical journal BMJ Open, found that those who engaged in volunteering regularly appeared to experience higher levels of mental wellbeing than those who never volunteered. And the latest findings showed that it was people in middle age who benefited the most. The figures argue for more efforts to involve middle-aged and older people in volunteering-related activities. The report said: "Volunteering action might provide those groups with greater opportunities for beneficial activities and social contacts, which in turn may have protective effects on health status." Around one in five of the 5,000 participants in the study said they had volunteered. Women tended to volunteer more than men, and while almost one-quarter of those aged 60 to 74 said that they volunteered, this proportion dropped to 17% among the youngest age group. The positive link between volunteering and good mental health became apparent at around the age of 40 and continued up to the age of 80 and beyond. We talk to two local volunteers who explain why they give up their free time to help others and what they get out of it. Jaime Valente (39) is a sales administrator from Belfast who volunteers with Marie Curie. She is married to Peter (46), a cinema manager. Jaime set up a fundraising support group in memory of her late mum Muriel Campbell, who passed away at 72. Her mother had devoted her life to raising funds for Marie Curie and then was nursed by the charity when diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2008. She says: Volunteering has been part of my life as long as I can remember. Before I was born my mum was raising funds for Marie Curie. When I was a child I helped her put collection tins in shops and remember stopping in the middle of the road to pick up 1p my mum would tell me it all adds up. Sadly my mummy needed the help of the Marie Curie nurses in November 2008. She had been unwell for some time and the doctors did tests and biopsies then discovered she had cancer in her lungs. This spread to her liver and she only had a few weeks after the diagnosis. Marie Curie nurses cared for her at home. I was always aware of what Marie Curie nurses did but seeing it first hand how they cared for my mummy with such compassion and kindness, how they supported myself and my family. I knew I had to do something to continue on my mummys legacy of supporting Marie Curie. I wanted to help ensure others were able to access the end of life care my mummy had. Even though we were all there for mum the support from the nurses made all the difference. It meant that dad could have a good nights sleep and they also provided emotional support, helping us to prepare for what was going to happen. I called Marie Curie to see how I could help and at the time they were trying to set up local fundraising groups. I organised a meeting in our area in Newtownabbey, putting posters out, contacting the media and posting leaflets through doors and luckily I had a group of people turn up. We met in June 2009, and we decided to call it Muriels Marie Curie Fundraising Group even though I hadnt suggested that and they were strangers to me which was really lovely. We still have about 30 people in the group which is amazing and, to date, we have raised around 60,000, which for a working class area like ours is fantastic. The group meets once a month and organise events for the year ahead and also support the charitys flagship events such as Walk 10, which is this week, and the Daffodil Appeal. Most weeks I spend time organising or contacting people. Knowing that I am doing this in mummys memory and also being able to help people access the great care of Marie Curie is a good feeling. I am also a Marie Curie ambassador, collecting donations from outside organisations and groups and thanking them and speaking briefly about the charitys work. I spoke recently at Fundraising Groups Day at the hospice on how to set up a group and suggestions for fundraising and how to make it fun. Although it is quite poignant its also very rewarding knowing that you are doing something to help people when they most need it. You need to want to help to get a lot out of volunteering. If you dont enjoy it there is no point. When we are out doing collections you meet people who share their stories and it feels good to know that you are there for them. And its great to meet so many new people. When we started the group we were all strangers and now those people are my best friends who I know I could call on for anything. I do get a lot out of it and feel I am doing something worthwhile. Volunteering is good and it helps your own mental health as well as building confidence. You feel like you are doing good by giving something back to the community. Deciding to be become a volunteer for Marie Curie and setting up the fundraising group helped me after the passing of my mummy; it gave me a sense of something good to come out of a heartbreaking situation. You can find out more about Jaimes fundraising group at facebook.com/MurielsMarieCurieGroup/ Anne Dawson (41) is communications manager at Barnardos and volunteers for the charitys Parenting Matters Service. Anne, from Belfast, is married to Stephen McGrath (38) who works in public relations. She says: Working for Barnardos for the past eight years I have seen the work the charity does and was so impressed with it that I wanted to help. One of the services called Parenting Matters has a scheme called Family Matters which works with families of prisoners across Northern Ireland. I volunteered to help with this scheme at Maghaberry Prison about a year and a half ago. Once a month on a Saturday, the prisoners get an extended visit for four hours with their children and wives or partners. This gives them an opportunity to put into practice the parenting skills which they are taught on the course. I am one of the volunteers during this visit. The scheme is very child-focused. And research shows the more contact children have with their parents the better they will do. The dads do a six-month parenting course and put into practice what they have learned during a visit. As a volunteer I am there to help out by putting on activities, such as getting the dads and kids to create memory boxes and collages where the kids will say what their dads are good at and the dads put on what the kids are good at. There are also games and other activities, too. It is quality time for the families and I think the children and families really appreciate that as volunteers you are giving up your own time to spend with them rather than because you are getting paid. This helps give them a sense of self-worth. I really enjoy working directly with the families which is something I dont get with my job. It allows me to really see the work of the charity first-hand and the difference it makes to the lives of families. It is great to see the children coming in and getting so much out of it. We are helping these families to forge stronger bonds and it does feel really good to be part of that. I have also made some really nice friendships and met up with people outside the prison setting. It might sound bizarre but I really enjoy my Saturdays getting up and going to Maghaberry prison. You do feel that in a tiny way you are helping to make a difference and I think that is the same for most people who volunteer. I missed the last day of the recent six-month course and the families had cards for me, which I didnt expect and that was just so nice. Being a volunteer makes me happy and fulfilled and I feel Im contributing something. To be fulfilled is a nice feeling to have. In my job it also means I can look the other staff in the eye and be able to say I know what you do because I volunteer and I am part of Barnardos working with families and children. For more information about volunteering with Barnardos visit barnardos.org.uk or tel: 028 9067 2366 Why our writer does it By Frances Burscough: Im not surprised to learn that volunteering is good for your health. Ive certainly noticed a difference since I started volunteering in 2013 at the age of 50. Homelessness and poverty had always been a great concern but giving a couple of quid every so often didnt feel like enough. So my first venture into volunteering was to work in the kitchen at The Welcome Organisation which is a charity drop-in centre for the homeless in Belfast. On my first day there, I arrived just as lunch was being served to the days visitors, approximately 100 people of all ages and appearances, all of whom had that one thing in common they were vulnerable and in need of help. On the menu that day was hearty lentil soup with wholemeal granary bread followed by beef stew. It looked and smelled delicious and, as all of the food served had been donated by supermarkets, shops or individuals, it was also heartening to see. After I had been shown around the centre, had an interview with staff and filled in the application forms, I could then get on with what Id set out to do which was quite simply to roll up my sleeves and get stuck in. Since then I have handed out thousands of hot dinners, washed hundreds of thousands of pots and plates, peeled a veritable mountain of spuds and made gallons of tea and coffee. And thats just for the visitors. The Welcome also has a fleet of vans that go out at night and take food to those sleeping rough, so another of my jobs was to make sandwiches and packed lunches to be distributed by the outreach team. During my time at the shelter I met some really inspirational people and it has confirmed what I have always believed to be the truth. The same thing could have happened or could still happen to any one of us, had our lives taken another path. Being there and providing that service without any personal financial reward was for me the best part of all. It brought with it so many benefits the main one being the appreciation from the visitors when you hand them a steaming plate of hot food after theyve spent a night in the freezing cold. For me, though, the sense of doing something really worthwhile and making a difference to peoples lives in a practical way you just couldnt put a price or a value on that kind of job satisfaction. Reasons for volunteering Why should you volunteer? wanting to improve things or help other people supporting a cause thats really important to you meeting new people and having new experiences connecting with the community you live in building your knowledge, skills and experience if youre looking for a job wanting to make a difference to the world around you The Northern Ireland Volunteering Strategy defines volunteering as the commitment of time and energy, for the benefit of society and the community, the environment, or individuals outside (or in addition to) ones immediate family. It is unpaid and undertaken freely and by choice. Frank Ormsby, at his home in Belfast yesterday, has used his experiences of Parkinsons as the raw material for his latest batch of poems Frank Ormsby, at his home in Belfast yesterday, has used his experiences of Parkinsons as the raw material for his latest batch of poems The poet Frank Ormsby lives with hallucinations and with the prospect of the earth opening up and swallowing him. That is how he describes Parkinson's Disease in a pamphlet of new poems to be launched tomorrow night in Belfast at the famous No Alibis bookshop on Botanic Avenue. One poem includes the lines: 'Who is that girl I sense at my shoulder? Who is that dancing lazily/on my table until I look up?' He is surrounded by ghosts. They are no bother to him. He remarks on their lack of energy in one of the poems Hallucinations 3: 'They have the fearsome patience of invalids. Whatever it is they are waiting for, they will wait forever.' Frank was hospitalised seven years ago with heart failure and diagnosed with diabetes. So he has two afflictions to deal with. His response to Parkinson's in his poems is a mix of humour and horror. He says: "It is hard to beat humour as an instrument against disease or unhappiness. I suppose as a writer I have always had a strong sense of the absurd." You might think he would be deeply pained at having to live with hallucinations. In fact, he seems more bemused than bothered. He writes about taking these ghosts for a walk every day round the Waterworks on the Antrim Road, near where he lives. He wonders if the dogs there will sense their auras. He says: "I think that people just naturally have a certain disposition or temperament and I seem to have the kind of temperament that sets considerable store by jokes and what you call whimsy. I am very glad to have this approach to life. It certainly helps to make negative experience a lot more bearable." But the story is a sad and shocking one. "From time to time I would think of the limitations of having this temperament. In these poems there is a certain amount of humour but you could go through them and pull together an awareness of the darker side." But Frank says he is looking forward to the day Billy Connolly makes his Parkinson's the subject of a stage act. "I think there was always a part of me that wanted to be a stand-up comic." But is there not a danger that others who have Parkinson's might not appreciate this humour, might find it insensitive to their own experience? He admits: "I've got certain niggling doubts about that. I could imagine somebody who had Parkinson's say for 10 years or 20 years more than I have had it might listen sceptically to poems like these and say he knows nothing about it. "Ten years from now, if he survives, let's see if he's laughing then. "It's not as if I am putting myself forward as the laureate of Parkinson's but I am aware that it could seem like that, especially to someone who had suffered and really suffered for it for much longer than I have." People who haven't met Frank in recent years but maybe knew him as their teacher when he was head of English at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution will see that he has slowed down, that he speaks much more softly, and that his left arm twitches. He hasn't lost the whimsicality they will be familiar with but they might feel instinctively a bit more protective towards him. Parkinson's does not kill but it erodes a person progressively. And the damage shows. Yet he says: "Funnily enough, I wouldn't describe it as a bad time. That would seem to me to be an exaggeration. I think if I am going to have a bad time it is going to be in the future at some point. "At the moment, I suppose I have a tremor in my left arm, I have certainly got a lot clumsier when it comes to doing or undoing buttons or tying shoelaces or the ordinary little things that you do in the course of the day. I certainly got slower there. "Neither of the diseases - I'm talking about the diabetes and Parkinson's - that I have got involve pain, or at least they haven't so far. I suppose the real damage that they do is that they soften you up for heart attacks and strokes and so on, but it's about seven years since I have come out of hospital and in that time I haven't had a single day's illness. "So I suppose, I feel lucky because of that and maybe that is something that feeds the optimism." Poets often talk of their ideas coming to them rather than them going out looking for them. They don't sit down in the morning like a working journalist with a job to finish before lunch; though some journalists might think that some poets would be more productive if they did. Frank says: "I'm always surprised that there are certain subjects that almost put a pressure on you to write about them and there are other subjects that don't. In 2009, I spent three weeks in hospital with heart failure and I went home fully expecting to get a quarter of a book of poems out of this experience but, in fact, I never wrote about it at all. "Yet when it emerged that I had Parkinson's disease I found myself reading articles watching material about it on TV, discussing it with a few people I knew who were my age and writing this sequence of poems and they came quite quickly over about a month or so." A psychologist might ask at this point if the poems helped him cope, might assume they were therapeutic. "I suppose I had some kind of half idea (that they would help me to cope with Parkinson's) but only a half idea. "I think to sit down with some sort of intention to help yourself or of writing poems as a form of therapy I think would be detrimental to the poems themselves. "You'd end up with something forced, something jerry built, something that didn't come naturally or had no lightness of touch about it. As it turned out these poems did come fairly easily and I didn't allow myself to become too conscious of them as therapy but I have no doubt that they helped." In the poems he reflects on the changes in him. In Side Effects 2 he writes, 'Gone my teacherly gulder. The voice that broke at thirteen has again broken.' His former Inst pupils remember him as a teacher who could take charge of a class and be a commanding presence in it. Several senior figures in the Northern Ireland media have sat in front of him while he explained poetry to them. They include BBC NI's Stephen Nolan, the music writer Stuart Bailie and Peter Rainey, who is picture editor at the Belfast Telegraph. The new poems are already being used in Scotland to train nurses who will be working with patients with Parkinson's, for they bring to life the internal experience of the person you see shuffling and shaking, the arm twitching, the distracted look on the face. He says: "It all began with a poetry reading I did at the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh and two things happened as a result of that reading. One was that the two people who were on Mariscat Press, Hamish White and Diane Hendry, offered to do this pamphlet of the Parkinson's poems and one look at the beautiful pamphlets they had previously done and I was accepting the offer immediately. "The other, to me, surprising development was that a teaching nurse from the Queen Margaret University approached me. She was teaching a class about neurological diseases and she had the idea previously that she might be able to use poems as a teaching aid. It would be a way of stimulating interest and emphasising certain priorities." That nurse gave her class the poems "to read and discuss and to explore the various themes and apply them to their own work". She then challenged the student nurses to write poetry in response, using the Japanese haiku form that Frank writes a lot in himself, where each poem has only 17 syllables. How did that go down with students who were expecting a more practical and scientific education? Frank says: "I suddenly in the mail had 16 haiku poems arrive. And it was pleasingly evident that they had responded to the main points in the poems and I could suddenly realise how the poems might teach them something." The connection with the hospital is ongoing. "I am writing an essay about their responses to the poems. The essay may or may not be published in a journal of nursing research. All this was unexpected but exciting as well." Frank Ormsby will launch his new pamphlet The Parkinson's Poems at 7pm tomorrow night at No Alibis on Botanic Avenue. His next full collection will be published by Bloodaxe next year A simple blood test that can detect cancer before any symptoms are noticeable has been developed by researchers in a breakthrough that could save thousands of lives. The scientists, who unveiled the test at the British Science Festival in Swansea, compared the new test to a smoke detector, because it does not actually find cancer but changes to red blood cells that occur when cancer is present. Discovering cancer early is a key factor in successful treatment. If a tumour is caught in a single part of the body, there is a much better chance that it can be removed surgically. If the cancer has spread to other organs, the chance the patient will die is much higher. Because it is a simple blood test costing just 35, it could be used to monitor people with a high risk of getting the disease. Professor Gareth Jenkins, who led the study, said: The test can be likened to a cancer smoke detector because a smoke detector does not detect the presence of fire in our homes but its by-product smoke. This test detects cancer, by detecting the smoke mutated blood cells. The old adage of no smoke without fire also applies to no cancer without mutation, as mutation is the main driving force for cancer development. The researchers, from Swansea University Medical School, said the test could detect cancer before there are any noticeable symptoms. This could have huge potential, as early diagnosis is a key factor in survival rates, a statement issued about the research said. The test takes a few hours with standard laboratory equipment. The researchers worked on developing test over the past four years, studying 300 healthy people, patients with signs of pre-cancer and patients with the oesophageal form of the disease. The test detects mutations in proteins on the surface of red blood cells. In healthy people, the number of mutations of this type averages about five per million, but in cancer patients there can be 50 to 100 mutants per million. These mutations do not have a role in the development of cancer, with the researchers describing the effect as collateral damage caused by the disease. The benefit of the blood cell mutation is that it can be monitored in a simple, efficient, and non-invasive way, the statement said. Professor Jenkins said one of the reasons why oesophageal cancer was so deadly was that it was often diagnosed late. The average patient lives for about a year after diagnosis and just 15 per cent live for five years. There are some 7,000 cases a year in the UK and Professor Jenkins said those people would be pretty pleased to have had a test capable of detecting the disease at an early stage. Asked how significant the test would be if it worked for all cancers, he said: With any cancer, if it is caught early enough and surgically removed, that is the biggest impact you can have on the outcome of a cancer diagnosis. I would think it would have a massive effect. They are now beginning research to see if pancreatic cancers can be detected in the same way, and seeking funding to enable further work to be done. Professor Jenkins said they needed to find evidence that it would work for other cancers, but added it would be hard to imagine that it would not. It would be really difficult to think why it would only affect oesophageal cancer, he said. Dr Aine McCarthy, Cancer Research UKs senior science information officer, said: Finding new ways to detect cancer early especially cancers that are hard-to-treat like oesophageal cancer is vital to improve survival. "Thats why studies like this, which used blood samples to detect background DNA damage as a sign of cancer, are exciting because they could lead to more oesophageal cancers being diagnosed in the early stages. "But larger scale studies are needed to confirm the results and show the test is reliable before it can be used in the clinic. The number of trainee police officers caught up in the exam cheating scandal has risen to almost 80, it can be revealed. More than 20 of the shamed students have since graduated from the PSNI training college, the Policing Board has been informed. Recruitment has been suspended until at least December to allow for an independent review of the examination process and the culture within the policing college at Garnerville. Police bosses initially believed that 54 student officers had cheated in their police examinations by sharing questions ahead of assessment. They were all ordered to restart training as punishment. However, Chief Constable George Hamilton has now told the Policing Board that a total of 78 student officers have been "disciplined for involvement in impropriety at the Police College". He said that of these officers "22 have now graduated and 56 remain in training". "Any student officer who participated in capturing examination questions or had access to this material has received a written warning," Mr Hamilton continued. It is understood that some of those caught up in the cheating scandal had graduated before their level of involvement was uncovered. The scandal caused massive embarrassment to the PSNI. Some Policing Board members also accused the Chief Constable of being "too lenient" on the students. "Anyone caught cheating should have been sacked straight away. I know some would say that would be too harsh, but the whole thing has been very damaging to public confidence in the police," said Policing Board member Ross Hussey. "The Chief Constable has overall authority for the discipline of officers and we have to give him that authority. That doesn't mean we have to be happy with the decision. My own view is that they should have been dismissed. The public need to know these officers received a suitable reprimand. "I welcome the review that the Chief Constable has ordered and look forward to the findings," the UUP MLA added. Last week Mr Hamilton told a public meeting of the Policing Board he acknowledged that there was a practice within the Police College earlier this year "that gave us some cause for concern". He said that some students "went a step too far" when they attempted to memorise exam questions so they could share them with colleagues who had to resit the tests. "Some would say that was good team work. That to me doesn't hold any water," Mr Hamilton added. He said a five-week review was being carried out by the head of police training in Scotland and that the report would be presented to the board by the end of the month. The PSNI training which the students were caught cheating in is accredited by the Ulster University, which means student officers are both students of the Police College and the UU. A husband and wife have denied a string of charges linked to the murder of Co Antrim restaurant owner Wing Fu Cheung. The 65-year-old Chinese businessman, known as Nelson, was attacked alongside his wife Kan-Fung Cheung after their off-road vehicle was ambushed and forced off the road as they drove home to Ballymena on January 7 last year. Mr Cheung was then stabbed 17 times during a robbery and died as a result of his wounds. His wife, known as Wendy, also sustained knife wounds. Appearing at Belfast Crown Court yesterday were husband and wife Gary and Lisa Thompson, formerly of Cunningham Way in Antrim. Two men have already denied murdering Mr Cheung and wounding his wife. Portuguese national Virgilio Agusto Fernando Correia (33) from Randalstown, and 25-year-old Christopher David Menaul, from Antrim, are currently on remand awaiting trial. The Thompsons will join them for trial in the New Year, after they denied charges linked to the murder. Gary Thompson (33) pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Cheung, wounding Mrs Cheung and robbing Mrs Cheung of a handbag, iPad, iPhone, a purse containing 200, and credit cards. Charged with handling stolen goods, he pleaded "guilty to the mobile phone but not the bank card". When the same charge was put to 34-year-old Lisa Thompson, from Monroe Avenue in Lurgan, she replied "not guilty." The couple are also jointly charged with assisting offenders - knowing that Correia and Menaul had committed an offence and allowing them to use their home for refuge to remove clothing used during the incident and clean themselves. They were also charged with perverting the course of justice - namely threatening Correia to discourage him from talking to police. Both denied the two charges and were released on continuing bail. Emma McLaughlin (second from right) with brothers Rory and JR and sister Claire The 'miracle' daughter of brain tumour victim Emma McLaughlin will still grow up surrounded by a family's love, a brother of the Londonderry woman has said. Emma (37) died on August 29 after a long and arduous 14-year battle against the tumour during which time she underwent open brain surgery three times. The mother-of-one - known to her friends as Dizzy - was an inspiration to everyone who met her because of her warm personality and zest for life. But it is her family who will miss her most and who are determined her daughter Hope will always know how much her mother loved her. Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, Emma's brother John Ryan, known as JR, said: "We thought Emma was unstoppable. "She fought so hard to stay with us but last June she had an MRI scan which showed a number of tumours were in her brain and it was terminal. "Emma wanted everyone to know her story. She wanted to create awareness and inspire people who were in the same position as her and she felt she had so much more to do. "But when she got the results of her MRI scan in June, she knew her time was short. "Emma was particularly worried about Hope, her daughter - Hope is just two years older than Emma was when our mother Berna died. But she talked to her and to our sister Claire and between us all and Harry, Emma's partner, Hope will have all the love Emma never got to give her. "After Emma was first diagnosed in 2002 she had a lot of radiotherapy. She was told it would mean she would not be able to have children but her radiologist protected her ovaries and Hope was born a few years later so she is a real wee miracle. "Hope is so like her mammy it is incredible and she gave Emma all the strength she needed and drive to be well. "She is an incredible little person, an artist, a musician, with the spirit of her granny Berna, and her mammy. Emma will always be with us, through Hope." Emma was first diagnosed in 2002 when she was just 23 years old. She had returned to Derry after travelling the world, including a trip to Australia where she first met the man who would become her partner and Hope's father, Harry Harris. She had been feeling unwell for a number of months but one day it all came to a head and her father Pat rushed her to A&E. JR continued: "Emma travelled throughout Australia for a year and a half. She had the best experiences and met many beautiful friends, meeting up with Harry in his homeland. "Our daddy was so proud to collect his beautiful daughter from the bus station with bells on her ankles that jingled as she walked, radiating happiness. "Life was good for her but on her return to Derry after months and months of illness, her daddy carried her in his arms into A&E on a Halloween night in 2002 to be diagnosed with a very aggressive brain tumour. "Sadly daddy developed cancer shortly afterwards and died. At the time people often said he chose to go first and allowed Emma to stay. "Things were tough for Emma having to deal with extensive radiotherapy treatment and surgery without her mother and father. But we did everything we could and she had such a huge number of friends who loved her so she was surrounded by people who cared for her. "It was after her diagnosis that she wrote to Harry in Australia and he didn't just write back, he got on a plane and arrived in Derry. He has been at her side since. "Their love for each other as a family was a joy to everyone around them. Harry's patience and dedication to Emma was always so strong and beautiful. "Emma was a gift to us all, we have the opportunity to remember what she taught us and to use this to change and improve our lives and the lives of others around us. She lit up a path that those blessed to know her can follow." Belfast will have one less MP if changes to constituency boundaries are given the go-ahead Belfast is to lose an MP at the next election under proposed changes to Northern Ireland's constituencies. The city is being redrawn into three Westminster divisions of Belfast East, Belfast North West and Belfast South West, creating the prospect of an election dogfight between high profile nationalist and unionists politicians in the north and west. The proposals will see Northern Ireland left with 17 MPs as part of a UK wide shake-up to reduce numbers from 650 to 600 by the time of the next election in May 2020. Outside of Belfast, six new constituencies are being created, provisionally called Dalriada, Glenshane, North Tyrone, Upper Bann and Blackwater, West Antrim and West Down. Another eight would retain their names - East Antrim, Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Foyle, Newry and Armagh, North Down, South Antrim, South Down, and Strangford - but see slight changes to boundaries. Professor Peter Shirlow , Blair Chair and director of the Institute of Irish Studies in the University of Liverpool, said the boundary changes in north and west Belfast will lead to a fierce contest between Sinn Fein and the DUP in the next election. "It will almost certainly make the contest tighter," he said. "For every Protestant/unionist ward you are taking out you are only replacing half of them. You should see a narrowing of the vote." The proposals from the Northern Ireland constituency review are the first part of a wider redrawing of boundaries across the UK. Commissions for England and Wales are due to report on September 13 and the proposals for Scotland are due mid-October. The public will be given a chance to air their views on the changes before any revisions are published in early 2018 with the final proposals not due until October 2018. The Boundary Commission said a ll the proposed constituencies fall comfortably within the UK quota range of no fewer than 71,031 voters and no more than 78,507. It said the range in Northern Ireland's 17 proposed constituencies varies from 71,266 for Belfast North West to 74,741 in Strangford. Deputy chairman of the Commission, the Hon Madam Justice McBride urged people to engage with the review. "Maintaining public confidence in an open, transparent and accessible review process is an important part of the Commission's approach. Anyone with an interest in the review is encouraged to contribute to this consultation," she said. Four public hearings are planned during October in Ballymena, Omagh, Belfast and Portadown t o let voters have their say. A spokesman for the Democratic Unionist Party, whose MP Nigel Dodds holds the Westminster seat in Belfast North, said its advisers had begun pouring over the detail. "There are very significant changes here and we will have to study them and take a view over time where the party stands," he said. DUP insiders suggested the changes were much more dramatic than had been expected but that proposals undergo major changes during the review. Sinn Fein MLA Alex Maskey called for Stormont to be given the powers to determine election issues and also questioned why census data is not used instead of the electoral register from last December. "Clearly this is a substantial piece of work proposing significant changes and will require a detailed response," he said. A spokesman for the SDLP said: "We have received the suggested changes to constituency boundaries from the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland and the party will be examining these proposals in the time ahead." The house which came under attack A family have been left distraught after their home was at the centre of what is believed to be a racially-motivated gun attack. The house in Lurgan was targeted in the early hours of yesterday morning when a number of shots were fired at the property. Damage was caused to the front door and a living room window when the house in the Princes Street area of the town was attacked at approximately 2am. There were four people in the house at the time of the incident. Nobody was injured, but the occupants were left very badly shaken. While police are treating it as a hate crime, a local councillor suggested that it could be the result of a feud between a number of foreign nationals. Ulster Unionist councillor for the area, Colin McCusker, said he has been made aware it may be gang-related. He said: "I have been told it was over a feud between foreign nationals, but that has not been confirmed. "I want to condemn this attack unreservedly and ask that anyone who has information to bring it to the police," he added. "I don't at this stage understand the motivation as to why they would attack this family this way and hope that the police are able to bring a clear picture as to what motivated the crime and let us work towards eradicating this from the area." Detective Sergeant Colin Patterson appealed for information about the incident and asked anyone who witnessed any suspicious activity in the area to contact detectives at Lurgan. Sinn Fein councillor for the area, Liam Mackle, said the family have been left distraught by the shooting. "There is no place for guns in our society and no place for the kind of hatred that makes people think using guns is acceptable," he said. "Anyone with information about this attack should give it to the PSNI. The people of north Lurgan have been working hard as a community recently to deal with issues like anti-social behaviour. "They do not need these people bringing guns into the area and attacking family homes." Upper Bann DUP MLA Carla Lockhart described it as an "abhorrent attack". The Assembly member said: "An attack like this is worrying and upsetting, not least for those living in the house at the time. "Many within the community will be shocked by this hate crime. Incidents like this tarnish the good name of Lurgan and the people that live there." A painter covers up paint which was thrown at the Belfast Islamic Centre in south Belfast on Monday night. Picture by Jonathan Porter/Press Eye A painter covers up paint which was thrown at the Belfast Islamic Centre in south Belfast on Monday night. Picture by Jonathan Porter/Press Eye A painter covers up paint which was thrown at the Belfast Islamic Centre in south Belfast on Monday night. Picture by Jonathan Porter/Press Eye A paint attack on the Belfast Islamic Centre has been branded "disgusting". Red paint has been daubed on the door of the building in the Wellington Park area of Belfast. Police are treating the incident as a hate crime. It was reported to officers shortly after 11.35pm on Monday night. Alliance MLA Paula Bradshaw has urged those with information to contact police. She said: "This attack is disgusting Belfast Islamic Centre contributes much to the cultural life of South Belfast and beyond, and I utterly condemn those who carried this out, who are unrepresentative of the vast majority of people in the wider area. Those who take part in such hate-filled actions seek to drive a wedge between communities and heighten tensions, both racial and religious. They have no place in our society, and we must unite and stand steadfast in order to defeat them. If anyone has information about this attack, I would urge them to contact police immediately. Sinn Fein MLA Mairtin O Muilleoir added his condemnation to the attack. He said: "I have spoken to representatives in the centre and wish to put on the record my utter condemnation of this hate crime. These attacks are despicable and I appeal for anyone with information to contact the police." Chairman of Islamic Centre, Dr Saleem Tareen, said: "The only way we can deal with this is through communication. "We have to carry on with life these sort of things are saddening but they don't stop you from doing the things you do." Police are appealing for anyone who witnessed the incident or anyone who has any information that can assist with the investigation to contact police at Lisburn Road on 101 quoting reference number 235 of 06/09/16. Information can also be passed anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Sandy Cole of Broughgammon with TV and radio presenter Hardeep Singh Kohli at Belfast City Hall Northern Ireland food firms Broughgammon Farm and Pheasants' Hill Farm have made it to the finals of a leading UK food writer's top street eats. The British Street Food Awards were founded five years ago by writer Richard Johnston, whose passion for the quick and tasty led him on a mission to find the best of UK quality fast food. The culinary critic known for his work in the Sunday Times, the Guardian and BBC Radio 4, said that while he had eaten in several Michelin star restaurants, some of the best meals he had eaten had been from a van. "The best street food is cheap and fresh," he said. "Unlike a lot of restaurant food, which is expensive and left on a hot-plate until some sniffy waiter deigns to pick it up and bring it to your table. "And street food is all about offering the kind of food that the British people actually want to eat. Restaurants still seem to be hung up on some received notion of what constitutes 'good food'." The winner of the judge's wild card was Broughgammon Farm, which impressed with a kid offal and chorizo taco. The Ballycastle business consists of a farm shop and butchery specialising in goat meat. Richard Johnston described Broughgammon as "one inspirational place", and said he was impressed by the firm's ethos. "It's a farm with a mission, set up when the team saw that a majority of male kid goats born to the dairy industry were being put down at birth," he said. "It seemed such a waste of life - so they set out to rear the males for kid goat meat. They've since branched out into free-range rose veal and an on-site butchery." Pheasants' Hill Farm in Donwpatrick was also praised for its high-quality meat. The British Street Food Awards final will take place on September 17 and 18. Brexit would mean Northern Ireland leaves the EU while the Republic remains The Irish government is not underestimating anxiety in Northern Ireland about being taken out of the EU, a senior diplomat has said. Dan Mulhall, Ireland's ambassador to London, also called for the region to be "front and centre" of imminent negotiations between Downing Street and Brussels on Brexit. Appearing before a parliamentary committee in Westminster, Mr Mulhall said Northern Ireland was Dublin's "most acute" concern in relation to Britain's decision to leave the bloc. "The Irish Government does not underestimate the sense of disquiet now felt by many people in Northern Ireland at the prospect of the loss of their connection to the European Union," he said. Mr Mulhall told the House of Lords Select Committee on the EU that hard work was needed by all to avoid a hard border being erected between Northern Ireland and the rest of the island. "Any effort to control the free movement of people across the Irish border, or indeed between Britain and Ireland, would be very damaging and I trust that no one would want to contemplate such a step," he told the peers. "I hope and trust that the particular circumstances that apply in Northern Ireland will be front and centre when it comes to the working out of the UK's future relations with the EU." The senior diplomat told the parliamentary committee that Brexit will usher in a new era for relations between Britain and Ireland. "When the UK does leave the EU, Northern Ireland will be in the unique position whereby almost all of its residents are entitled to citizenship of an EU country, Ireland, and we must be alert to the particular circumstances those Irish and EU citizens," he added. A family barbecue has been held for Syrian refugees living in Northern Ireland. The event organised by the North West Migrants Forum took place on Benone beach. It was held as part of the Community and Refugee Encounter (CARE) project. The project coordinator said they had fears that the event would have been disrupted following the ongoing Burkini debate. Earlier this month a French court overturned a ban on burkinis issued in Cannes - the first in a series of bans on the swimwear this summer that set off a heated controversy at home and a wave of outrage abroad. The decision followed a ruling by a top French court regarding a similar ban in the Riviera town of Villeneuve-Loubet that set a legal precedent. The bans grew increasingly controversial as images circulated online of some Muslim women being ordered to remove body-concealing garments on French Riviera beaches. Read more: Read More Project coordinator Lilian Seeoni said: "We are delighted that the families had a fantastic time in Benone beach. The event was very well attended by members of the general public, migrants and all the Syrian families in Derry-Londonderry. "After very strong opinions expressed through our Facebook account and the ongoing Burkini debate, we were concerned that the event may be disrupted. "However we felt very relaxed and free to enjoy the Barbeque and the beautiful beach experience without any interference. "I would like to thank the Police for keeping us safe. We had two police officers who spent the whole day with us. they even let the children explore and play with their van. "The families were very grateful to have them there. They felt supported and that they belong. We hope that we will be able to organise another event next summer. " Cyber crime police have uncovered ammunition and drugs during a search of a Northern Ireland property. The items were found during the search of two properties in Newtownards. Police also arrested a 30-year-old man in south Belfast as part of the investigation into serious crime. Detective Chief Inspector Dougie Grant, from PSNI Cyber Crime Centre, said: The suspect is being questioned at a Belfast police station and our enquiries are continuing. The PSNI has commissioned a research project to find out why Catholics are not joining the force The PSNI has ordered a probe into why so few Catholics are applying to join the organisation amid serious concern over representation levels. Recent recruitment drives have struggled to attract new Catholic officers, despite campaigns targeted specifically at the nationalist/republican communities. Just 30% of those to apply to recent recruitment drives were from a Catholic background. And just over 20% of those to make it through onto the merit pool were Catholic. Consulting firm Deloitte has been tasked by the PSNI to carry out research into the reasons behind the reluctance of Catholics to sign up. Catholic police officers are a particular target for dissident republicans who have launched a number of attacks. In October, a police recruitment event at a Londonderry hotel was cancelled after dissident republicans planted a bomb at the property. Catholic police officer Ronan Kerr was killed in 2011 when a booby trap bomb exploded under his car and in 2010 Catholic police officer Peadar Heffron was seriously injured by a dissident republican bomb. Jude Helliker, head of human resources at the PSNI, said: "The PSNI has commissioned an independent research project into how we recruit under-represented groups applying for a career in the PSNI. "We are committed to ensuring that the composition of the Police Service of Northern Ireland is representative of the whole community. It is anticipated that the research will be completed in the autumn, and the findings will be presented to the Northern Ireland Policing Board in due course." There have been warnings that the controversial 50/50 policy may have to be reintroduced in a bid to ensure the organisation is properly representative. The 50-50 rule operated from 2001 to 2011. It was introduced as part of Patten and meant that half of all officers had to be Catholic. It was brought to an end in 2011 when the number of officers from a Catholic background rose from 8% to around 30%. Policing expert, Dr Jonny Byrne of the Ulster University said: "Representation is key to confidence in policing. We must do everything in our power to make sure the PSNI is fully representative of all communities in Northern Ireland. 50/50 was a necessary requirement here for policing reform. We maybe need to revisit that conversation around the reintroduction of 50/50. "There are a number of anecdotal reasons for the reluctance (of Catholics to join) such as the dissident threat against Catholic police officers and the legacy of the conflict. This study is an opportunity to look at what the stumbling blocks are and how to address them." The findings from the research into recruitment barriers are due to presented to the Policing Board in October and any recommended changes will be made ahead. Police figures show that Catholics are greatly under-represented at recruitment level, with just 30% of those applying during three recent recruitment drives from a nationalist/republican background. Figures also show that of 401 officers appointed from phase one of the recent recruitment campaign, 77 were Catholic, 319 Protestant and five undetermined. Between 20 and 25% of those to make it through to merit pools were Catholic. Liquid containing plutonium and uranium has been stored in thousands of plastic bottles for years, investigation finds Ulster Unionist MLA Harold McKee has called on the Sellafield Nuclear reprocessing plant to respond to claims made by the BBC Panorama programme, in order to restore public confidence. The BBC said the investigation was prompted by a former senior manager turned whistleblower who was worried about conditions at the site in Cumbria. It is alleged that parts of the nuclear facility regularly have too few staff to operate safely and that radioactive plutonium and uranium have been stored in plastic bottles. The South Down MLA said: "As someone who was born and bred in South Down, I am well aware of the relative proximity of Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant, which is sited literally just across the Irish Sea. "Last nights BBC Panorama programme raised a number of issues regarding safety at Sellafield, and like me, many viewers will have been concerned at the claims that were made. "It is obviously extremely important that facilities exist to deal with Nuclear waste, and it is vital that the public have complete confidence that this is carried out to the highest safety standards. "Sellafield must respond urgently to the claims that were made on BBC, and as someone who was elected to represent the people of South Down, I will be seeking answers urgently, in a bid to find out exactly what the situation is." The company which runs Sellafield has said the site is safe and has been improved with significant investment in recent years, the BBC reported. The whistleblower is reported to have told the programme his biggest fear was a fire in one of the nuclear waste silos or one of the processing plants. He told the programme: "If there is a fire there it could generate a plume of radiological waste that will go across Western Europe." Further allegations in the programme relate to staffing, with the whistleblower saying Sellafield often did not have enough people on duty to meet minimum safety levels. Responding to the BBC, the head of nuclear safety at Sellafield Dr Rex Strong denied that operating below these levels was dangerous. He said: "You make alternative arrangements, so the things that have to be done get done. Facilities are shut down if we're not able to operate them in the way that we want to. Expand Close Concerns have been raised about safety at Sellafield / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Concerns have been raised about safety at Sellafield "Safety is our priority, and we are managing a very complex site which has got a great deal of hazardous radioactive materials on it." 'Needlessly reckless to place a nuclear waste processing site on a geological fault line' SDLP South Down MP Margaret Ritchie said: "Panorama has done vital work in exposing the safety failures at Sellafield, including staff shortages and the storing of radioactive materials in degrading plastic bottles. I pay tribute to both the documentary makers and the whistle blowers who have exposed these dangers. "However, the risks exposed by Panorama are only the latest in a litany of hazards that have been clear since Sellafield was established as a nuclear waste processing site. "It has always been needlessly reckless to place a nuclear waste processing site on a geological fault line, and the indiscriminate discharge of radioactive material into the waters of the Irish Sea has damaged delicate marine ecosystems. That is why I and the SDLP have consistently opposed the transportation of nuclear waste to Sellafield by air, sea or land. "In light of these most recent revelations, we must see an acceleration of the nuclear decommissioning process and the establishment of secure, long-term containment strategy for the existing nuclear waste sitting in Sellafield. "The Government must also learn from these hazards and avoid worsening the situation with new nuclear developments at Moorside and Hinkley Point C. Nuclear waste is a toxic burden that lasts for generations and cannot ever be part of a truly sustainable electric grid." Read more Read More Sellafield said in a statement given to the BBC that plutonium and uranium samples are "kept securely" and that "to imply that such material is inappropriately managed is simply not true." Shadow energy secretary Barry Gardiner said: "These revelations about the safety practices at Sellafield must be addressed in detail immediately by the Secretary of State. It is simply unacceptable to breach safe staffing levels. "This puts the public at an unacceptable level of risk. Sellafield has been heavily criticised by the National Audit Office for its spiralling costs. Shockingly it appears that despite the vast amounts of public money spent there, its safety record is severely lacking. "It's deeply worrying that these breaches in safety have only come to light from an industry insider. The safety of our nuclear industry should not have to rely on whistleblowers. The Tory Government needs to answer why the inspection regime failed to pick up on this catalogue of failures. "The Government must carry out a thorough investigation into the safety practices at Sellafield. It must be able to ensure that the public is not being put in danger." BBC Panorama: Sellafield's Nuclear Safety Failings was broadcast on Monday night on BBC1 and is now available on iPlayer Northern Ireland's most senior judge has called on political leaders to agree on funding to get urgent progress on inquests from the Troubles. Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan said delays to the backlog of cases were 'hugely disappointing' and could lead to further devastation for grieving families. The judge told the opening of the region's new law term that if a deal was not done it could be decades before all the outstanding cases would be completed - a breach of legal requirements to have them heard in a reasonable time. Sir Declan noted that the NI Department of Justice has not revealed yet the full cost of dealing with the past. "Disappointingly, however, it now appears that a political resolution will be required on an overall legacy package before the resources required for legacy inquests will be released," he said. "It is impossible to see how the issue of legacy can be moved forward politically without progress having been made on the new legislation and in the absence of a clear assessment of the costs involved in implementing all of the elements of a legacy package. "The overall picture is, therefore, hugely disappointing." Dozens of the most highly disputed cases from the Troubles are awaiting inquests, decades after the killings took place. They span allegations of security force misinformation to frame the IRA for bombings, state collusion in loyalist murders, inept police investigations and IRA men shot dead by the army as part of a claimed policy of shooting to kill in which civilians died in the crossfire. Sir Declan has proposed a dedicated unit to hear cases over the next five years but that is dependent on getting the funds from the Government. In his address in Belfast, the Lord Chief Justice warned that coroners would only have resources to complete two more inquests this financial year and he called on ministers in the Stormont Executive and Westminster to act. "The coroner's courts will not be able to satisfy their legal obligation to deliver these inquests within a reasonable timeframe in the absence of the necessary resources," he said. "I do not want us to remain in that position since that would be yet another devastating blow to the families. "The judiciary will be facing up to its responsibilities but this is not a matter on which the judiciary alone can deliver. "I therefore call again on the local Executive and legislature, and on the UK Government, to play their part as a matter of urgency. We cannot move on while we remain under the shadow of the past. Nor should we. But time is not on our side." Victims' campaigners said there were 57 legacy inquests involving almost 100 killings. Mark Thompson, director of Relatives for Justice, which supports 40 families, accused the Secretary of State's office of playing politics with the issue. Human tragedy should be treated with compassion - that was the Ulster Unionist Party's response after one of its MLAs apologised over comments on social media in which she appeared to compare immigrants to dogs. The Stephen Nolan BBC radio programme reported how Jenny Palmer admitted the comments may have appeared racist but they were not her views and she was attempting a joke. The Lagan Valley representative made the remarks on Facebook. It came after one user made an offensive comment in relation to stopping illegal immigrants with another questioning why an MLA had not taken immigrants into their own home. The Nolan show reported that Jenny Palmer added: "I have two dogs, don't need anymore, thank you." She ended her post with the text speak "lol" meaning laugh out loud. When challenged by another user who said they were shocked by the comments she denied she was comparing refugees to dogs. "Not at all perhaps bad grammar, just no room at 18a for anymore visitors sorry you misunderstood and will try better," she responded. The post has since been deleted. In a statement to the Nolan show, Jenny Palmer said: "I would like first of all to apologise for any hurt that my careless words may have caused. These comments and actions do not reflect my own views. "My words, made in reply to a Facebook comment, were intended as a joking remark regarding the busy-ness of my own home. The intention was to imply that between myself, my husband, our dogs and my daughter, we would struggle to accommodate anyone else. This was meant as a simple joke. "However, as a later comment pointed out, my reply could easily have been misinterpreted as a racist or xenophobic comment. Particularly if taken without context or knowledge of my home. "As soon as I was made aware of the offensive nature of the comment, I rectified my actions. I would again stress that those words do not reflect my viewpoint whatsoever. My actions and comment were genuine mistakes. "While these actions were mistakes, I take responsibility for them. As an elected official, I must hold myself to higher standards. I apologise unambiguously and will endeavour to ensure that my social media activity is more carefully considered in future." The Ulster Unionist Party spokeswoman added: "We should respond to human tragedy with compassion. I would repeat what our party leader said in September 2015 that to ignore the refugee crisis would be to lose sight of our common humanity. The Ulster Unionist Party supports efforts to deliver a fair and workable solution to the ongoing refugee crisis being caused by terrorism and conflict in the Middle East. "This was reflected in our support for the Vulnerable Person Resettlement Scheme, and when the Government reached a compromise with Lord Dubs to resettle unaccompanied child refugees in the UK. Jenny Palmer MLA has apologised for her comments and accepts that they were wholly inappropriate. Travellers have complained about their accommodation, saying it is unhealthy The Human Rights Commission is to investigate Travellers' accommodation in Northern Ireland. A quarter have said their residences are unhealthy and many have concerns about safety. A lack of footpaths, public lighting, fire hydrants, play areas, plumbing, washing facilities, electricity and refuse management are among the issues described, according to the Commission. Chief commissioner Les Allamby said: "The Northern Ireland Executive and other public authorities are required by human rights law to fulfill the right to adequate housing and must ensure non-discrimination. "Examining these aspects in relation to Travellers' accommodation will be the principal focus of the Commission's investigation." The Housing Executive has outlined the need for appropriate accommodation for Travellers. The defaced door in the newly refurbished Crown Bar in Belfast Vandals have defaced the interior of Belfast's iconic Crown Bar. The word "Tout" was carved into the door of one of the bar's famous snugs. The incident, believed to have happened over the weekend, comes less than a year after the National Trust spent 300,000 restoring the Victorian-era landmark to its former glory. A spokesman for the bar said: "Unfortunately, it's not a tradition to leave a mark, it has caused damage and we will of course make sure the woodwork is restored. "All we ask is that our guests respect, enjoy and recognize the history of the building and treasure this unique pub as much as we do." Councillor Jim Rodgers condemned the vandalism as "deplorable" and "sickening". He said: "We have an increasing number of visitors and one of the places they go to is the Crown Bar. "It costs a lot of money to keep up to date, the last thing you need is this sort of behaviour. "It's an absolute disgrace and the individual or individuals who did this should be ashamed of themselves." Mr Rodgers urged publicans at the Crown Bar to be alert and keep an eye on their premises. He added: "It's one of the nicest establishments in Belfast and it's regularly visited by thousands." Anyone with information about the vandalism is urged to contact the PSNI on 101. An MLA has called for the police to act over an IRA recruitment poster in Londonderry. The PSNI, however, has said "no crime has been disclosed" and will not step in. The green white and orange sign featuring a masked gunman with the words, Unfinished Revolution, Unfinished Business Join the IRA was erected in the Bogside area of the city. DUP MLA Gary Middleton reported the incident to the police describing it as a hate crime against the unionist community. "It goes against the grain of having a shared, inclusive space and I see it as an attempt to drag young people into the past," said the Foyle MLA. "It serves no other purpose but to invoke hatred against unionists. "The IRA are not known for encouraging peace and for many in the community this sign will be deeply distressing, especially to those who lost loved ones at the hands of the IRA. "As a DUP representative I want both young and old of this city to live together in peace. We certainly will not tolerate any recruitment drive for a terrorist organisation and I will continue to liaise with police to get a favourable outcome. A police spokesman responded: "At this stage no crime has been disclosed therefore it has not been recorded as a hate crime." The incident comes just weeks after PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton expressed regret over the police's handling of a controversy around the erection of a poster celebrating notorious loyalist killer Billy wright. Infant removed from the Moses basket and strapped into a baby seat in the family car for the trip home (File photo) Jasmine Sands Sheehan and baby Isabella who died five days after birth A young mother has spoken of her shock after she was handed her dead newborn baby at a Dublin hospital so the infant could be strapped into a car seat for the trip back to Kerry. Jasmine Sands Sheehan said, with her partner Kevin, she was handed a special letter from hospital staff to explain to Gardai, if they were stopped on their trip back to Kerry, the precise circumstances of their little girl's death. Her baby, named Isabella, had died five days after birth and was brought out to the family's car from the Dublin hospital in a Moses basket. However, the infant was then removed from the Moses basket and strapped into a baby seat in the family car for the trip home. "We were shocked - it wasn't what we were expecting," Jazmine said. "We thought Isabella would travel home with us in the Moses basket." "Kevin and myself were so distraught all we wanted to do was get home. It was only afterwards we wondered about it." The young mother said she has no issue with hospital staff - and is simply grateful for the incredible care they showed Isabella in her brief battle for life. But Jazmine has now launched a campaign, in memory of baby Isabella, for all pregnant women to be specially screened for potential infant heart abnormalities during late stage pregnancy. "Isabella was born on May 23 and she weighed five pounds and one ounce," Jazmine said. "Everything was perfect. She screamed at birth, we had kisses and hugs and cuddles. Everything seemed fine." However, doctors became concerned over Isabella and she was transferred from Kerry to a Dublin hospital for specialist care. "She was diagnosed with a serious heart defect. The doctors (in Dublin) even consulted with doctors at Great Ormond Street in London." "But the London doctors were amazed that Isabella had even been born alive given the condition of her poor heart." "On the Thursday morning we were taken into a private room and told that there was nothing could be done for Isabella." "I had a notebook and pen ready for whatever treatment plan the doctors would advise. Unfortunately there was no plan, nothing could be done and we were going to lose her." "Her poor heart was too badly deformed." Isabella had hypo plastic left heart syndrome. This results in the left side of the heart being chronically underdeveloped and drastically impacting on the flow of blood through the heart. One of the last things that baby Isabella did before her death was to appear to smile at her devastated parents. "My ultimate goal, in Isabella's name, is to now have everybody who is expecting to be fully screened during their pregnancy," Jazmine said. "The heart is the vital organ in the body that every unborn child should be screened for possible defects or abnormalities with." Jazmine has now started a social media appeal and appeared on TV3 to garner support for her specialist screening plea. "The key thing is preparation. Parents deserve to know as early as possible if they face a potential situation like ours." "If we'd known a little earlier, we could have prepared ourselves and prepared our seven year old son, Keelan." "We would have been prepared for the fact that we weren't going to be bringing Isabella home they way we wanted to." "We never, in our worst moment, ever thought we would be bringing our little girl home dead and strapped into a baby seat in our car." Jazmine said the hardest thing she has ever endured was arriving home from Isabella's funeral to the sight of baby bottles ready by the kettle. "I don't want any other mother or father to go through what we have. That's why I believe every pregnant Irish mum deserves to have their baby exhaustively screened at key stages in their pregnancy." "I don't want anyone else to go through this. I want Isabella's legacy to be a screening programme that we can all be proud of," she said. Jazmine underwent routine screening during her pregnancy but it did not pick up the heart defect that Isabella had developed. For more information visit isabella-chdawareness.blogspot.co.uk Black Lives Matter UK of protesters after they stormed the runway at London City Airport. (Picture: Black Lives Matter) A Black Lives Matter protest which grounded flights at London City Airport has ended. The final two activists were arrested at around 11.25am, Scotland Yard said, nearly six hours after the nine-strong group occupied the single runway. The protesters were being held on suspicion of aggravated trespass, being unlawfully air-side and breaching airport by-laws, police said. An airport spokesman said: "We are preparing the airfield to resume operations as soon as possible." The demonstration resulted in all flights in and out of the airport being cancelled, delayed or diverted. Several emergency service vehicles were parked on the runway as attempts were made to clear the protesters. A man in black, who had attached himself to the top of a wooden structure, was surrounded by police officers and a set of aircraft steps was wheeled up to him in an apparent bid to get him down. Police boats could also be seen circling the dock surrounding the runway. Having attached a helmet to the man, police removed him from the top of the structure and on to the plane steps. After sitting briefly on the platform with a rope around him, he was taken down. A police van was seen driving down the runway, away from the scene. Passenger Casey Collins said customers were unaware of the protest until after 8am, and assumed the delays were related to IT glitches at Heathrow and Gatwick. The freelance management consultant, from Devizes in Wiltshire, was supposed to be on a 7.35am flight to Luxembourg. He told the Press Association: " We didn't know why we weren't being called to board - it just said the next information would be at 8am and that people were being encouraged to queue up at the info desk. "But the problem was that there were only two or three staff there and the queue was about 150 yards long, so it was impossible. "Pretty soon they realised they would have to do a queue-walk to inform everyone. People were behaving themselves, they know it was not the airport's fault, but for a time it was a bit chaotic." He said passengers were offered refunds for cancelled flights, while delayed passengers were also given refreshment vouchers. Fellow passenger Chanel de Kock said she was stuck for three-and-a-half hours upon arrival in London. She said: " I wish the airport would tighten their security as it's a bit worrying that people can access the runway so easily in the current state of our times, and also that the airport will be better at giving information to people at the airport. "It was absolute chaos and really badly handled by what I thought was my favourite airport." It is the latest demonstration involving the anti-racism activists, who brought traffic to a standstill outside Heathrow Airport - and carried out similar protests in cities around the country - in a co-ordinated day of action last month. The campaigners, whose international movement was set up following the killing of black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida four years ago, said Tuesday's action was taken "in order to highlight the UK's environmental impact on the lives of black people locally and globally". Black Lives Matter UK spokesman Jacob Oti, 22, said campaigners were "pleased" with the attention the protest achieved. He said: "I think this has highlighted important issues which people need to think about. "People need to understand that the effects of climate change are most felt by the people least responsible for them. "London City Airport has been given approval to expand its capacity, consigning the local community in Newham to further deterioration of their environment and health problems. At the same time 40% of Newham's population struggle to survive on 20,000 or less. "When black people in Britain are 28% more likely to be exposed to air pollution than their white counterparts, we know that environmental inequality is a racist crisis." He added: "As a commuter, I have sympathy for people today. But I think they need to have sympathy for the people affected by climate change." He declined to go into detail about how the protesters gained access to the site, but confirmed it was via the Thames. The runway was reopened at around 12pm. The first commercial flight after the runway reopened was a Flybe service to Edinburgh, which left shortly after 12.30pm. British Airways has apologised to passengers for delays after an IT glitch hit check-in systems. Angry travellers complained of hours queuing at airports in Europe and the US, while some passengers also experienced problems with online check-in. Responding to passengers on Twitter in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the airline wrote: "We apologise to our customers for the delay and we appreciate their patience as our IT teams work to resolve this issue." A BA spokeswoman later said the airline was " checking in normally across all of our airports", but added that the process at Heathrow and Gatwick would be "a bit slower than usual". Ewan Crawford, of Glasgow, who was waiting at Chicago O'Hare International Airport for a flight to Heathrow, tweeted: " Never a good sign when they deliver water to the gate! Waiting at ORD for @British_Airways 296. Worldwide computer outage apparently! Hmm." Matthew Walker, a nother passenger hoping to fly from the US to London, said he had been waiting for more than two hours to board his flight at Seattle Airport. The 29-year-old financial analyst, who lives in London but is originally from Australia, checked in online before arriving to catch his flight but said staff on the ground could not access their computer systems to see which passengers had gone through security. Speaking from the airport, he told the Press Association: "People were lining up, some had already checked in and got through security, but others, when this thing happened, whatever it is, were stuck in the check-in queue. "So they (the staff) have the problem that they didn't know who had already gone through the gate because all the systems literally just had a meltdown, basically." Magazine writer Stefano Andrean said: " I've waited an hour so far at Berlin airport check-in for Heathrow. No information from staff at all. Not acceptable." Chris Black, from London, described the BA check-in process in Polish capital Warsaw as "rubbish". Passengers at Heathrow Terminal 5 reported waits of about 45 minutes to check in. Elaine and Paul Barnett, who had come from Sheffield to travel to Sardinia, said the process had taken "longer than usual" and they had been required to give extra details once they reached the desk. "You really have to get here early and expect that it's busy," Ms Barnett said. Earlier problems appeared to have been smoothed out by early morning, with most queues moving. Patrick Darby, from Dulwich, south London, who was travelling to Russia, said: " There was a hold-up when nothing seemed to happen but that has eased up now." In July BA had to apologise after a glitch in its new check-in system caused delays. The airline began installing the system at airports across the world in October last year and the rollout was completed earlier this year. On the latest issues, BA said in a statement: " We are checking in customers at Heathrow and Gatwick Airport this morning as normal, although it may take longer than usual. "We would encourage customers to check in online before they reach the airport." A Royal Marine from Co Antrim has appeared in court charged with dissident republican-linked terror offences. Ciaran Maxwell (30), of Exminster, Devon, is accused of stashing explosives and weapons in purpose-built caches in England and Northern Ireland. He also allegedly compiled a library of terrorism documents, including instructions on how to make explosives and tactics used by terrorist organisations. Maxwell, who wore a grey tracksuit for the hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, is also charged with possessing articles in connection with use for fraud and possessing cannabis with intent to supply. Flanked by four plain-clothed officers in the dock, Maxwell, who is originally from Larne, pleaded not guilty to both charges, which will be tried in conjunction with the alleged terror offences at Crown Court. He was taken to a West Country police station in Somerset before being transferred to a London police station last Thursday and questioned on suspicion of being involved in the preparation for acts of terrorism under Section Five of the Terrorism Act. Property searches in Exminster are now complete, while searches at New Powderham Plantation in Devon will continue into next week. PSNI searches in Larne, meanwhile, are ongoing. In March, police uncovered a "significant terrorist hide" including bomb-making paraphernalia at Carnfunnock Country Park. In May, they uncovered a further collection of explosives and bomb parts at Capanagh Forest, close to Larne. Both discoveries were believed to be related to dissident republican groups. It is alleged that between January 1, 2011 and August 24, 2016, Maxwell manufactured explosive substances and constructed explosive devices. He is accused of carrying out research resulting in the creation of a library of documents likely to be useful to someone committing or preparing an act of terrorism - specifically information regarding "the manufacture of explosive substances, the construction of explosive devices and tactics used by terrorist organisations". Maxwell is also charged with getting an image of an adapted PSNI pass card and items of a police uniform. He was remanded in custody and will appear at the Old Bailey on September 19. Maxwell was arrested on August 24 by officers from the Metropolitan Police's counter-terrorism command, supported by Avon and Somerset and Devon and Cornwall Police. The investigation involved MI5, the PSNI, the South West Counter-Terrorism Unit and Scotland Yard. Northern Ireland hauliers are risking assault, fines and prosecution transporting goods to central Europe. One terrifying incident saw migrants ambush a Northern Ireland driver's lorry as he made his way back to the UK from Calais. And this week protests calling for the demolition of northern parts of the so-called 'Jungle' camp, brought the area to a standstill, blocking the main route into the French port. Seamus Leheny, head of policy for Northern Ireland at the Freight Transport Association, said several local hauliers were stuck at the port. "The Eurotunnel hasn't had an incident in several months, so with that route effectively stopped, migrants are becoming more and more desperate to get on to lorries," he said. "Because security is now so high within the dock, the only way for them to get in is on a lorry. Guys will climb up on top of the trailer with Stanley knives and cut into the material. "If lorry drivers are found to have a migrant on board they are charged with people trafficking and the fines are into the thousands - there's very much an attitude that you're guilty until proven otherwise." The attack on the Northern Ireland driver's lorry - which happened around three weeks ago - saw several men block the road and force their way on to the lorry, ripping the tarpaulin. The incident caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to the white goods carried and left the driver shaken. Blair International managing director Colin Taylor said it was not yet known if insurance would cover the cost and added that his staff were frequently repairing damage to the sides of the lorries. Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, he that said his firm could have up to 15 drivers in Europe at any one time. At the time of print, the company had five drivers waiting to board ferries at Dover and six in France. Mr Taylor said: "It's terrifying for the drivers. Some of them are afraid to go over now. They'll block the road and come running out from the sides of the road, bashing the sides of the lorry or hitting the windows of the cab with branches." Long-term immigration to the UK for study has fallen to the lowest estimated level since 2007 Students should be excluded from the Government's immigration target, according to a think-tank. The Institute for Public Policy Research said the number of students coming to the UK is falling in part because of efforts to cut net migration to the tens of thousands. It called for ministers to split the net migration target into individual components, such as workers and family migrants, and set aims for each flow. Students should be classed as temporary rather than permanent migrants, and should not be subject to a target, according to the IPPR. The think-tank also claimed data suggests the Government could be relying on an overestimate of the number of non-EU students who stay on in the UK after completing their studies to inform policy. Its report said: "This means that Government policy could be focused on driving out tens of thousands of people who may no longer be in the UK. The estimate the Government uses is not reliable enough to guide policy." Marley Morris, research fellow at the IPPR, said: "Our research suggests that many of the students they are targeting may be phantom students who are no longer in the country. "Following the Brexit vote the Government should be doing all it can to secure investment in the UK. "But its current self-destructive policy is deterring genuine international students and putting the billions they bring to the UK at real risk." The IPPR also recommended that the Government draw up a 10-year plan for expanding the international education sector, and appoint a minister for international education. Figures released last month showed that, in the year ending in March, long-term immigration to the UK for study fell to the lowest estimated level since 2007. A Home Office spokesman said: "We continue to welcome the brightest and best to our world-class institutions. "We are also committed to bringing net migration down to sustainable levels as soon as possible and are looking at all visa routes as part of that work." Universal Credit has been "turned around from the brink of disaster" and "may eventually work", according to a new report. The Government's flagship welfare reform policy which aims to replace a series of individual benefits with a single monthly payment has been widely criticised over its delayed roll out and cost. But a report from the Institute for Government (IFG) concludes that the programme is now on the right track. Universal Credit was savaged by the National Audit Office in 2013. It said the programme had suffered from weak management and poor governance. IFG senior research fellow Nicholas Timmins argues that it is now heading in the right direction. "It is far too soon to tell whether Universal Credit will finally do the business," he said. "There are elements of the policy that are still not entirely clear and others that may well need changing. "Huge challenges remain - not just taking on new claims but transferring the many millions on existing benefits and tax credits, including some of the most vulnerable on Employment and Support Allowance. Its generosity has repeatedly been cut. "But the lessons from how it has been turned around from the brink of disaster to something that may eventually work could prove valuable for other government projects. "And crucially, it now has a timetable that may finally prove realistic." Thousands of people are now receiving Universal Credit but the transfer of all existing benefits claimants on to the new system is not expected to be completed until 2022 - later than originally planned. Emma Norris, IFG programme director, said the Universal Credit programme "underlines the importance of thorough planning". She said: "It also demonstrates the importance of having enough capacity to deliver - when Universal Credit began, the Department for Work and Pensions had 12 other major change programmes on its books and staff numbers were being reduced. "And finally, it shows the importance of policy, operational and technical people working together from the very start. Policies can't be created in a vacuum." Minister for welfare reform Lord Freud said: "As this report acknowledges, the old welfare system was failing too many people. That's why we introduced Universal Credit - it's a transformational reform, which is fundamentally changing welfare for the better. "Universal Credit is helping people across the country to improve their lives and we're determined to ensure this positive momentum continues." Former Romanian prime minister Victor Ponta is being investigated for alleged financial improprieties connected to another political figure's 2012 visit to Bucharest - reported to be Tony Blair. Anti-corruption prosecutors did not identify the prominent visitor, but Sebastian Ghita - a businessman who was questioned by officials on Tuesday - told the Mediafax news agency that the probe focused on a visit by the former British prime minister. Prosecutors also questioned Mr Ponta on Tuesday. They are alleging he misused his authority as leader of the Social Democratic Party to persuade Mr Ghita to spend 220,000 euro (184,000) on Mr Blair's trip. In exchange, Mr Ponta allegedly promoted the businessman within the party to help him win a parliamentary seat. Mr Ponta and Mr Ghita both deny wrongdoing. Prosecutors' spokeswoman Livia Saplacan said that the foreign visitor is not being probed. AP The prosecutors said Mr Ponta arranged the visit so it looked like it was initiated and organised by non-political groups and that he benefited from press coverage of the visit. Mr Blair visited Romania in March 2012 and gave a keynote speech on the future of Europe. Mr Ponta is being probed on suspicion of using his authority to obtain money, goods or other improper benefits and being an accomplice to money laundering. Prosecutors put Mr Ponta under judicial control on Tuesday, meaning he has to report to prosecutors, needs to get permission to leave the country, cannot talk publicly about the probe or make public comments about prosecutors. AP Mr Blair's office said he was invited to the country by the Multimedia Foundation for Local Democracy and that the fee he received for the speech was passed in its entirety to charities. AP The ex-husband and father of a British woman killed in Pakistan should be tried on rape and murder charges, according to a police inquiry The ex-husband and father of a British woman killed in Pakistan should be tried on rape and murder charges, according to a police inquiry. The report, shared exclusively with The Associated Press, described the killing of Samia Shahid as "premeditated, cold-blooded murder". It accuses Mrs Shahid's father Muhammad Shahid of standing guard while her ex-husband, Choudhry Shakeel, raped her. The report said they then killed her together. The report also seeks the extradition of Mrs Shahid's mother and sister from the UK. Mrs Shahid, 28, from Bradford, was visiting family in July when she was found dead of what were initially assumed to be natural causes, and buried in a local cemetery in the village of Pandori in the country's eastern Punjab province. But a fresh inquiry was ordered by the Pakistan government after her husband Syed Mukhtar Kazam publicly accused her family of killing her because they opposed Mrs Shahid's decision to divorce her first husband in 2014 and marry him. Her father and ex-husband were arrested in Pakistan last month, but have not been formally charged. AP South Korean protesters march to oppose a deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence system, or THAAD, in Seoul (AP) North Korea has fired three medium-range missiles that travelled about 620 miles and landed near Japan in an apparent show of force timed to coincide with the G20 summit in China, South Korean officials said. North Korea has staged a series of recent missile tests with increasing range, part of a programme that aims to eventually build long-range nuclear missiles capable of striking the US mainland. Such tests are fairly common when international attention is turned to Northeast Asia, and this one came as world leaders gathered in eastern China for the G20 summit of advanced and emerging economies. China is North Korea's only major ally, but ties between the neighbours have frayed amid a string of North Korean nuclear and missile tests and what many outsiders see as other provocations in recent years. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the three ballistic missiles, all believed to be Rodongs, were launched from the western North Korean town of Hwangju and flew across the country before splashing into the sea. A Joint Chiefs of Staff statement described the launches as an "armed protest" meant to demonstrate North Korea's military capability on the occasion of the G20 summit and days before the North Korean government's 68th anniversary. In early August, another Rodong missile fired by North Korea also travelled about 1,000km, the longest-ever flight by that missile. All three missiles on Monday fell in Japan's exclusive economic zone, the 200-nautical-mile offshore area where a nation has sovereign rights for exploring and exploiting resources, according to Tokyo's Defence Ministry. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga called the launches a "serious threat" to Japanese security and said that Tokyo protested to North Korea via the Japanese Embassy in Beijing. The United States also condemned the launches, saying it was discussing with allies the proper response and plans to raise concerns at the UN. The US also plans to bring up the issue during the East Asia summit in Laos this week. President Barack Obama was to head to Laos on Monday evening. Before Monday's launch, South Korean president Park Geun-hye met her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit and criticised the North for what she called repeated missile provocations that are threatening to hurt Seoul-Beijing ties. Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe approached Ms Park during a coffee break at the G20 and agreed to cooperate closely, according to Japan's Foreign Ministry. The latest firing will not help the push by Mr Xi to get Ms Park to scrap the planned deployment of a powerful US anti-missile system in the South. During their meeting, Mr Xi warned Ms Park that "mishandling the issue is not conducive to strategic stability in the region, and could intensify disputes". China says the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD), system is meant to spy on China, while Seoul and Washington say the system is intended solely to defend against North Korea's missile threat. Last month, worries about the North's weapons programmes deepened after a missile from a North Korean submarine flew about 310 miles, the longest distance achieved by the North for such a weapon. Submarine-based missiles are harder to detect before launch than land-based ones like Rodongs. In June, after a string of failures, North Korea sent an intermediate Musudan missile more than 870 miles high in a test launch that outside analysts said showed progress in efforts to acquire the ability to strike US forces in the region. The UN Security Council in late August strongly condemned four North Korean ballistic missile launches in July and August. It called them "grave violations" of a ban on all ballistic missile activity. AP Hannah Gavios tried to flee the attacker and ended up running directly off a cliff (File photo) A teacher, from Queens in New York, is undergoing treatment for a severe spinal injury after plunging from a 150ft cliff while fleeing a sex attack in Thailand. Hannah Gavios, 23, who only arrived in Thailand the day previously, got lost on Railay Beach in the resort of Krabi. After losing touch with her friends, she asked a worker in a local tourist shop to help her find the hotel she was staying in. The local agreed to guide her on her journey, however he instead led her up a pitch black mountain in the jungle where he attempted to attack her. Gavios tried to flee the attacker, but instead ended up running directly off a cliff and plummeted to the ground below. Her attacker continued the monstrous attack as Gavios lay helpless at the bottom of the cliff. Gavios, who was on a short break from teaching English in Vietnam, was then left to suffer for several hours. The attacker then returned to the area with several others who brought the teacher to hospital. A relative told the New York Post that she is Gavios is partially paralysed from the waist down and it is not yet clear whether or not this injury is permanent. Gavios is now being treated at Bangkok Hospital in Phuket. Hillary Clinton speaks to members of the media on her campaign plane (AP) With Labour Day behind them, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are pushing ahead in top presidential battlegrounds in the South. Mr Trump, the Republican nominee, is set to campaign in Virginia and North Carolina on Tuesday, two critical states in his path to the presidency. Mrs Clinton, the Democrat candidate, is campaigning in Florida in search of an advantage in the nation's largest swing state. A Clinton victory in Florida would make it virtually impossible for Mr Trump to overcome her advantage in the race for 270 electoral votes. On Monday, in swing state Ohio, Mr Trump softened his stance on immigration while Mrs Clinton blasted Russia for suspected tampering in the US electoral process. In a rare news conference on board her new campaign plane, Mr Clinton said she is concerned about "credible reports about Russian government interference in our elections". "We are going to have to take those threats and attacks seriously," she told reporters travelling with her from Ohio to Illinois. Mrs Clinton's comments follow reports that the Russian government may have been involved in the hacking of Democratic National Committee emails just days before the party's national convention. The emails, later revealed by WikiLeaks, showed some DNC officials favouring Mrs Clinton over her primary opponent, Bernie Sanders - who has since endorsed Mrs Clinton for president. She said Russian President Vladimir Putin appears "quite satisfied with himself" and said Mr Trump "has generally parroted what is a Putin-Kremlin line". Meanwhile, Mr Trump extended a rare invitation to journalists to accompany him on his private plane from Cleveland to Youngstown, Ohio. The billionaire businessman appeared to shy away from his hard-line vow to block "amnesty" for immigrants in the country illegally. Any immigrants who want full citizenship must return to their countries of origin and get in line, he told reporters - but he would not rule out a pathway to legal status for the millions living in the US illegally, as he did in a long-awaited policy speech last week. "We're going to make that decision into the future," said Mr Trump. Mrs Clinton powered through a coughing fit at a Labour Day festival in a Cleveland park, sharply criticising Mr Trump's recent trip to Mexico as "an embarrassing international incident". Unwilling to allow Mr Trump to modify his immigration stances, she said his address later that night in Arizona amounted to a "doubling down on his absurd plan to send a deportation force to round up 16 million people". "He can try to fool voters into thinking somehow he's not as harsh and inhumane as he seems, but it's too late," said Mrs Clinton. The former secretary of state flatly said "No" when asked in an ABC News interview whether she would be willing to accept the Mexican president's invitation to visit the country, as Mr Trump did last week. "I'm going to continue to focus on what we're doing to create jobs here at home," she said. Earlier in the day, Mr Trump attacked Mrs Clinton's energy level, noting that she has not followed his aggressive travelling schedule and questioning whether she had the stamina to help bring jobs back to America. "She doesn't have the energy to bring 'em back. You need energy, man," Mr Trump told reporters. He added, "She didn't have the energy to go to Louisiana. And she didn't have the energy to go to Mexico." Mrs Clinton's 25-minute question-and-answer session was her first extensive availability with reporters since early December. Beyond Russia, she answered questions about the ongoing controversy surrounding her use of a private email server while secretary of state, which Mr Trump has used to cast doubt over her ability to protect classified information. "I take classification seriously," she said. While Labour Day has traditionally been the kick-off to the autumn campaign, both Mrs Clinton and Mr Trump have been locked in an intense back-and-forth throughout the summer. The start of full-fledged campaigning opens a pivotal month, culminating in the first presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York,. on September 26. Polls show Mr Trump trailing Mrs Clinton in a series of must-win battleground states, meaning the debates could be his best chance at reorienting the race. Mr Trump told reporters he does plan to take part in all three presidential debates, joking that only a "hurricane" or "natural disaster" would prevent him from attending. AP Two Turkish soldiers were killed and five were wounded in a missile attack by the Islamic State group in northern Syria, officials said. The casualties came after Turkish troops and allied Syrian rebels on Sunday expelled IS from the last strip of territory the militant group controlled along the Syrian-Turkish border, effectively sealing the extremists' self-styled caliphate off from the outside world. Turkey launched the incursion into Syria - the so-called Euphrates Shield operation - to back Syrian rebels in their fight to push IS out of the town of Jarablus and to limit the Syrian Kurdish forces' advance west of the Euphrates River. In a statement, Turkey's military said the militants fired rockets at Turkish tanks during clashes near the border area from where IS was expelled on Sunday. It said the wounded were evacuated by helicopters. Two Turkey-backed Syrian rebels were also killed and two wounded rebels were also evacuated. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were intense clashes on Tuesday between the Turkish-backed rebels and IS militants east of the town of al-Rai and surrounding villages. The territorial losses at the border were the biggest blow to the militant group, which has also suffered a series of recent battlefield setbacks elsewhere in Syria and in neighbouring Iraq. The two killed by IS were not Turkey's first casualties following the launch of the incursion, though they were the first fatalities at the hands of the militant group since the operation began. On the fifth day of the operation, a Turkish soldier was killed in clashes with Kurdish fighters in northern Syria. In July 2015, a Turkish soldier was killed after IS militants shot across the border into Turkey. Ankara conducted air strikes against IS inside Syria after that attack. AP Felix Reagan painted the victim's dog with purple paint, police say US man Felix Reagan has been accused of breaking into a Massachusetts home and painting a dog purple before making a getaway in a stolen car. Reagan forced opened a ground level window in the Martha's Vineyard property and then painted the victims dog with purple paint, police say. Officers responded to a report of a crashed stolen vehicle with the suspect fleeing from the scene on foot, according to Oak Bluffs Police Department. Approximately 5-10 minutes later, officers were dispatched to a residence after a report of a breaking and entering, the department added. Items were reported stolen and the victims dog had been painted with purple paint, Oak Bluffs Police Department said in a statement. A search of Reagans person revealed prescription pills, a drivers license and credit cards that were stolen from the victim of the break-in. Reagan also had purple paint on his pants which was consistent with the paint that was found on the dog from the Pinewood Lane break-in. The statement added: While in the police cruiser Reagan attempted to kick out the windows and kicked an Oak Bluffs Officer on two occasions. Reagan has been charged with breaking and entering in the daytime with the intent to commit a felony, cruelty to animals, larceny of a motor vehicle and related crimes. There are several reasons why a young man or woman might want to join the PSNI. It is a well paid and secure job by today's standards in Northern Ireland. It has a sense of adventure attached to it and officers rightly feel that they are contributing something valuable to their community. As we have read in recent times there are a number of reasons why it may not be as an attractive career to some as they first hoped - there are many challenges in the job; there is an inherent danger in dealing with criminals and some of the events that officers experience can be traumatic. But none of those drawbacks are specific to one side of the community; they apply right across the board. So, the question puzzling senior officers is why so few young Catholics are coming forward to join the PSNI. This is vastly different from the experience of a few years ago when the reform of the police service took place and Catholic representation on the force quickly rose from a miserly 8% to almost 30% by 2011 when the policy of 50/50 recruitment, introduced a decade earlier, was abandoned. At the time the PSNI presumed that the policy had run its course and that Catholic/nationalist acceptance of the new force was at a sufficient level to ensure that more young recruits from those areas would continue to come forward. But that clearly is not the case any longer. Of course there is one obvious deterrent, a fear factor engendered by the continuing dissident republican campaign. It is clear from the deaths of Catholic officers Stephen Carroll and Ronan Kerr and the serious injuries suffered by another Catholic Peadar Heffron that the dissidents specifically target officers from within their own community. In a small community like Northern Ireland it is easy for those determined to do so to identify police officers. Catholic officers may have to move away from their natural community in order to feel more secure and that upheaval may add to the deterrent effect. Yet it has to be acknowledged that the PSNI enjoys unprecedented cross-community support with many nationalists openly joining in social media discussions with officers. The force cannot be said to be a cold house for Catholics, so it will be interesting to see if consultants Deloitte can come up with compelling reasons why so few Catholics see the PSNI as a good career. The item in the Belfast Telegraph (Sept 1) on how the shell of the former Majestic cinema has been saved from demolition by a decision of the Windsor Baptist Church made welcome reading. It is another stage in the complex relations between the local churches and the film industry documented by Tom Hughes in "How Belfast Saw the Light, a Cinematic History". Hughes shows how, after initial acceptance, attitudes changed. The churches became prominent critics of film content and influence. Churchmen were vocal in attempts to prevent the showing of certain films in the city; they also opposed the building of some cinemas - including the Majestic. The Sandro, the Park and the Stadium were denounced as "darkened temples of sin". There is a fortuitous irony in the present situation, where a church is taking a positive step in preventing further loss of our already depleted cinematic and architectural heritage. P Close Ballymena Teresa Villiers holds (September 5) that when Brexit happens there must be a reasonable chance the land border between the United Kingdom and the Irish Republic can be kept open. But if not? Shouldn't politicians also be considering their response, rather than thinking it won't happen? The border being kept open ultimately depends on the European Union. And what if Brussels insists on ending the common travel area in these islands - a possible means of edging out the Republic, which it sees as a troublesome tax haven that siphons off money arising from commercial companies operating in the EU, but claiming the Republic as headquarters. If a hard border is insisted on, with no preferential treatment above other European citizens for the vast number of Irish Republic citizens living in England and Wales, what then? WA Miller Belfast Coffins are taken into St Marys Church in Castlerahan, Co Cavan, where the funeral of the Hawe family took place I'm sick of hearing how Alan Hawe was a fantastic father, loving husband and all round pillar of society. For God's sake, he used a hatchet and knives to murder his wife and kids. Had he black or brown skin, had he been on the dole and living in a housing estate when he butchered his family, he would have been instantly demonised. But Hawe had all the trappings of respectability. He was a person of prestige and influence in the local community. He was a school vice-principal, a stalwart of the GAA and Catholic Church. It's not every household that is privileged with a visit from the local priest on Christmas Day. And so the mainstream media - with a few honourable exceptions - have fawned over Alan Hawe in a way that I've not seen them do with other mass murderers. We have been treated to tales of his decency and kindness. He was most obliging, a great neighbour, you could rely on him at any time of the day or night to lend a helping hand, we have been endlessly informed. The eulogising reached such dizzy heights last weekend, that I wondered if Alan Hawe was being canonised along with Mother Teresa. You would think that after all the campaigns that Women's Aid, and others, have run that more journalists would have by now copped onto the fact that men who hurt women and children don't have 'domestic abuser' tattooed across their foreheads. Indeed, the opposite is usually the case. Those who harm women and children more often than not have all the trappings of respectability. They are masters at manipulation. They can present a very pleasant face to the external world. It is behind closed doors that their control freakery is played out. Outside the home, these brutes aren't aggressive. They don't pick on those their own size. Women's shelters are full of the victims of street angels and house devils. Perhaps it speaks volumes that so little is known of Clodagh Hawe. Even though Alan was a blow-in - he was from Kilkenny - and Clodagh was born locally, everybody in Ballyjamesduff was well acquainted with him, but she was the invisible woman. Few people seemed to have known much about her adult life. Indeed, it took the media several days to secure more than one blurry photograph. It's odd that a 39-year-old woman hadn't left more traces of her existence. We have been told time and time again that old Ireland is dead and buried. But the response to mass murder in a sleepy Cavan community shows that misogyny is alive and kicking. Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Clodagh Hawe Hawe children Ryan, Liam and Niall Coffins are taken into St Marys Church in Castlerahan, Co Cavan, where the funeral of the Hawe family took place PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Clodagh Hawe Had Alan Hawe murdered a teacher and three pupils in the school in which he taught, there would have been universal outrage. But because he butchered his own wife and kids in the family home, the great and the good tiptoe around his actions. In Irish society in 2016, women and children are still seen as chattels. There has been more focus on Alan Hawe's mental state than on his victims' lives. He wasn't well. He was under pressure at work. We shouldn't rush to judge him when we aren't aware of the torture he was going through. But there are thousands of people experiencing mental health problems across the country, and they don't go and annihilate their families. Indeed, the only risk to human life that they may pose is overwhelmingly to their own. Experiencing disappointment, despair, and depression - and not being able to cope with it - does not a murderer make. There is something altogether different in the mix here. Had Alan Hawe taken his own life, for whatever, reason, he would deserve our utmost sympathy. But he treated his wife and children as if they were possessions, to be destroyed at a time of his choosing. He viewed them as an extension of himself. He embodied a sense of entitlement. If he was to die, then they had to join him. That was the monstrously sick narcissism at play here. Using a hatchet and knives does not offer your victims a swift or gentle death. Media reports of the post mortems record that Clodagh suffered defensive injuries suggesting that she fought like a tigress to save her own and her children's lives. Six-year-old Ryan is also believed to have struggled valiantly to fight off his father. The torment in that house for the last living child - seeing what had happened to his mother and two brothers and knowing he was next - is unimaginable. There is nobody more vulnerable than a child tucked up in bed in their pyjamas. Yet this father - this loving father as he is described - viewed this tableau of innocence and was unperturbed. He looked at those wee boys, heard their cries, and saw their terrified and uncomprehending faces, and kept on killing them. It is this act - and not how accomplished an athlete Alan Hawe was or how many times he collected money after Mass - that should define him. He may have appeared to be an upstanding, exemplary citizen, but now we know what he harboured in his heart, we shouldn't be afraid to shove him off that pedestal. The predominant narrative is that Alan Hawe was a good man who had a bad day. For whatever reason, he just snapped. Those who challenge that narrative are attacked by the apologists for misogynist Ireland. Mind your own business, don't rush to judgement, move on, you don't know the whole story, let the family sort this one out, they say. Should we listen? Hell, no. That same attitude of sweeping evil away, or under the carpet, led to the decades of little children suffering the vilest sexual abuse. Silence costs lives. Of course, the family's sensitivities should be acknowledged but there is far, far more important issues at stake here. We need a full and frank discussion about Alan Hawe, and about men who murder family members. As Women's Aid has highlighted, Clodagh Hawe's death is not a rare occurrence. One in two women murdered in Ireland die at the hands of a partner or ex-partner. In most cases, the woman in the place she should be safest - her own home. All these serenades of sympathy for Alan Hawe are highly dangerous. Such mood music suggests to other violent men that they too will be understood and forgiven if they slaughter their wives and children. Even though it was apparently what the family wished, I still found it deeply unsettling that Alan was buried along with Clodagh and his children at the weekend. The murdered should not lie with their murderer. We instinctively know that isn't right. The ceremonial send off for Hawe himself was ill-advised. Even after hacking four people to death, he was still the grand fellow. That sends out a very wrong and worrying message to all the other Alan Hawes that we should know by now are out there. ein Google-Unternehmen Google-Dienste anzubieten und zu betreiben Ausfalle zu prufen und Manahmen gegen Spam, Betrug und Missbrauch zu ergreifen Daten zu Zielgruppeninteraktionen und Websitestatistiken zu erheben. Mit den gewonnenen Informationen mochten wir verstehen, wie unsere Dienste verwendet werden, und die Qualitat dieser Dienste verbessern. neue Dienste zu entwickeln und zu verbessern Werbung auszuliefern und ihre Wirkung zu messen personalisierte Inhalte anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen personalisierte Werbung anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen Wenn Sie Alle ablehnen auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies nicht fur diese zusatzlichen Zwecke. Nicht personalisierte Inhalte und Werbung werden u. a. von Inhalten, die Sie sich gerade ansehen, und Ihrem Standort beeinflusst (welche Werbung Sie sehen, basiert auf Ihrem ungefahren Standort). Personalisierte Inhalte und Werbung konnen auch Videoempfehlungen, eine individuelle YouTube-Startseite und individuelle Werbung enthalten, die auf fruheren Aktivitaten wie auf YouTube angesehenen Videos und Suchanfragen auf YouTube beruhen. Sofern relevant, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auerdem, um Inhalte und Werbung altersgerecht zu gestalten. Wir verwenden Cookies und Daten, umWenn Sie Alle akzeptieren auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auch, umWahlen Sie Weitere Optionen aus, um sich zusatzliche Informationen anzusehen, einschlielich Details zum Verwalten Ihrer Datenschutzeinstellungen. Sie konnen auch jederzeit g.co/privacytools besuchen. In those days there was no king in Israel; each one did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25 LEB). Our problems start with each person doing what is right in his or her own eyes. Justice, mercy, and reconciliation should not just be buzzwordsthey should be ideals we live by. We must live by Gods views of equality and the value of human life. Gods ways must be our ways. OUR WORLD IS UNSTABLE, BUT GOD IS STILL HERE Our world seems unstable. Each person seems to do what is right in his or her own eyes. But it is not as if our God has stopped talking. God is still enthroned in heavenwe just need to give him room in our lives here on earth. Sometimes it helps to take a step back and think about the God we serve. I think of what God said to Job: Where were you at the my laying the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you possess understanding. Who determined its measurement? Or who stretched the measuring line upon it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars were singing together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (>Job 38:47 LEB). If we serve a God who can establish the earth, what can he not do? Certainly this God can reconcile people. Certainly this God can establish justice, bring mercy, and teach us to walk humbly before him (Micah 6:8). Certainly this God can bring stability to our unstable world. EMPATHY IS THE START The beginning of reconciliation is the recognition that we do not truly understand where others are coming from. But that should not stop us from attempting to empathize. I regularly think of my experience as a child who could not speak correctlyand being discriminated against simply for my speech impediment. It helps me to feel a little bit of what my brothers and sisters living on the underside of power feel. It helps me empathize. Yet I also recognize that I still dont know what it is like to be someone else. I can empathize, but I shouldnt pretend to understand another persons full experiences. LOVE IS THE FINISH Truly loving other people demands action. When we witness people discriminated against, we must desire change and advocate for it, or we lack love. When we hear about people being needlessly killed, because of hatred, we must show love to fight the hatred. When we see the poverty in our worldand realize that we have the resources to alleviate itwe must act. If we ignore it, we show ourselves to lack love. No one has greater love than this: that someone lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13 LEB). And who should our friends be? And who should our neighbors be? The citizens of this earth, created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). We should love others to the point of being willing to give up our very lives for them. For Immediate Release, September 6, 2016 Contact: Jeff Miller, Aruna Prabhala, (510) 844-7122, aprabhala@biologicaldiversity.org Court Slaps Down Caltrans Highway Project in Pacifica Approval Violated Endangered Species Act, Relied on Inadequate Mitigation SAN FRANCISCO Following a legal challenge by conservation groups, a federal court has ruled that the California Department of Transportation violated the Endangered Species Act in approving a controversial project to widen Highway 1 in Pacifica, Calif. The Northern District court ruled Friday that Caltrans wrongly tried to use an already preserved parcel of land as mitigation for highway-widening impacts to endangered San Francisco garter snakes and threatened California red-legged frogs, and relied on other uncertain mitigation measures to supposedly offset environmental impacts from the proposed Calera Parkway Project. Caltrans must now reinitiate a formal consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding impacts and mitigations for endangered species. California red-legged frog photo courtesy Gary M. Fellers, USGS. Photos are available for media use. The court got it right: Caltrans failed to honestly evaluate the impacts of the project on endangered snakes and frogs, and got caught trying to use an already protected parcel of land as supposed mitigation, said Jeff Miller with the Center for Biological Diversity. Caltrans cant continue to ignore conservation and environmental-review laws. Were hoping the agency gets the message that the community doesnt want or need this wasteful and damaging highway-widening project. Pacificans for a Scenic Coast, Pacificans for Highway 1 Alternatives and the Center for Biological Diversity filed their challenge to the project in May 2015. The project would have more than doubled the width of the existing state Highway 1 for a 1.3-mile portion of the roadway in Pacifica at a projected cost of more than $50 million, while damaging wetlands, harming endangered species and their habitats, and sacrificing coastal views and archaeological sites. Background Highway 1 through Pacifica offers scenic vistas of the coast, the Pacific Ocean and the surrounding mountains. The highway-widening project would cross Calera Creek, which feeds ponds that are habitat for endangered frogs and snakes. Runoff from the project would discharge into Rockaway Creek, Calera Creek, Sanchez Creek and the Pacific Ocean. The project would affect five water bodies or wetlands; its southern portion is directly adjacent to the California Coastal Trail. At the projects north end, Highway 1 passes between the Golden Gate National Recreation Areas Mori Point to the west and Sweeney Ridge to the east. The court ruled that the environmental approval of the project by Caltrans is invalid because it violated the Endangered Species Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. The court noted that Caltrans reliance on a 5.14-acre parcel for mitigation that was already preserved resulted in a faulty Biological Opinion, which in turn resulted in an invalid approval of the project. The court also rejected Caltrans proposal to enhance endangered species habitat off-site of the project as a vague and speculative mitigation. The court ruled that the Fish and Wildlife Service also violated the Endangered Species Act and that Caltrans must reinitiate a formal consultation and obtain a new biological opinion from the federal wildlife agency. Caltrans Watch, a coalition of conservation and community organizations, is taking on irresponsible and damaging Caltrans highway-widening projects around the state. The coalition highlights the agencys wasteful spending, disregard of environmental regulations designed to protect natural resources, pervasive refusal to consider reasonable alternatives to massive highway projects, shoddy environmental review, lack of transparency, reliance on flawed data, disregard for public input, and a pattern of refusal to address local community concerns. The attorneys for the plaintiffs are Christopher Sproul of San Francisco, Brain Gaffney of Pacifica and Patricia Weisselberg of Mill Valley. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. Mewing is a TikTok trend that has blown up in the last few months. It is claimed that it can help shape your jawline as well as cure other ailments by actively pressing your tongue to the roof Jem's Birding & Ringing Exploits in the Eastern Province and elsewhere in Saudi Arabia Nigerian e-health solution Curacel Health has been selected to take part in Start-Up Chile's S Factory accelerator, aimed at supporting first-time female entrepreneurs. Image by 123RF Thirty startups from across the world have been selected to take part in the S Factory, which offers participants US$15,000 equity-free funding and a one-year working visa in Chile. The 12-week latest programme begins in October 3, and will see Nigerias Curacel Health take part. The startup will also have the chance to apply to Start-Up Chile Seed, which offers US$30,000 in funding to companies with at least a validated prototype. Curacel-Health is an electronic health information management system for clinics in developing countries. It is a web application that helps clinics transform their paper records into digital form, manage their records, appointments, patient communications, billing and reporting with an easy to use dashboard. Start-Up Chile has selected African startups into its programmes in the past, with Nigerian startup Beavly, an online marketplace that connects people eager to learn new skills with small and medium sized businesses willing to provide workplace training for a fee, accepted onto an accelerator programme earlier this year. The new test and treat anti-retroviral (ARV) guidelines, which will see all HIV-positive patients starting anti-retroviral treatment as soon as they are diagnosed, rather than waiting for their CD4 count to fall below 500, have been endorsed by the Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF). The minister of health announced national guidelines that are in line with the World Health Organisations protocols that means there must be compliance in the private as well as the public sector, starting from September 1, said Dr Rajesh Patel, head of benefit and risk at BHF. Patel pointed out: Our member schemes are not surprised by this decision. We knew that it would be implemented here it was just a matter of waiting for the government decision of when to begin. However, there could be a slight lag before the new protocols are fully implemented, he said. All new diagnoses will receive treatment immediately, but we will also need to go back into our records and find those patients whose CD4 counts are above 500. According to the old system they were not eligible for treatment, so we need to communicate with their doctors and start them on ARVs as soon as possible. While the medical schemes are happy to comply, there are some financial implications to which they will need to adapt. The principal officer of Medshield, Dr Stanley Moloabi, said that his board would be meeting to discuss how the new guidelines could be accommodated, given that the budgets are already set for the year. Obligated to supply PMBs We knew that the WHOs recommendations would be implemented when our government was ready to do so, and that HIV treatment is a prescribed minimum benefit (PMB), he said. We are obligated by the Medical Schemes Act to provide PMBs to all our members, but there is a financial implication. Remember our funds come from our members. We will always do what is right, but this announcement has given us very little time to plan from a budgeting perspective. Call for reduction in cost The new protocols could see sales of the treatment increasing by between 200-300%, said Patel. The economies of scale from potential sales of this magnitude should result in a discounting of the single exit price (SEP) by at least 30%, and by 50% in six to eight months time. The board has also called for a reduction in the cost of ARVs. The SEP plus dispensing fee of R650 per month is high and must be reduced to make access more affordable, Patel said. Dr Vuyo Gqola, executive: healthcare management at the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) pledged her support for the treatment guidelines. HIV/Aids is a national and global priority. Over the next week we will be updating our processes and systems to ensure that we are aligned with the national department of health guidelines, she said. Following the recent announcement by Nicola Mendelsohn that in five years time Facebook "will be definitely mobile, it will probably be all video. The questions being asked is, is video slowly killing text?" The best way to tell stories in this world, where so much information is coming at us, actually is video, added Mendelsohn, who heads up Facebooks operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. It conveys so much more information in a much quicker period. So the trend helps us to digest much more information. Although the adoption of livestreaming and video technology amongst South Africans is coming of age, it is still based on two factors content and cost, points out Anton Jacobsz, MD of value-added distributor, Networks Unlimited. Livestreaming is changing the way we interact with friends, news, music, sport and so much more from a social media site or any other internet site. However, not all sites are created equal when it comes to their inherent security measures and so, watching something live via your laptop, smartphone or any other connected device also poses security risks. Jacobsz highlights researchers from the University of KU Leuven in Belgium and Stony Brook University in the US, both of whom used one of their homegrown tools to identify and analyse livestreaming sites and found that there is a 50% chance the so-called overlay ads that accompany sites that offer free livestreaming of sporting events, concerts are malicious. The research, entitled Its Free for a Reason: Exploring the Ecosystem of Free Live Streaming Services, analysed more than 23,000 free streaming websites across 5,600 domain names, 50% of which ranked within the one million most popular websites in the world. The ads are often disguised as play buttons, which attempt to fool users into downloading software, often from recognisable brand names in the space, and claim it is necessary to download it in order to play the stream, continues Heidi Bleau, principal integrated marketing manager at RSA, the security division of EMC, a Networks Unlimited partner in the region. Half the ads contain malware She explains that the researchers then used their system to revisit these sites 850,000 times, analysing more than a terabyte of traffic. From those visits, they discovered that as many as half of the advertisements presented to users trying assiduously to avoid having to pay for pricey pay-per-view events were malicious. They exposed viewers to potential risks such as identity and data theft as well as financial scams. For those who arent aware (and even for those who are), many overlay adverts on livestreaming sports, fan, concerts and music downloads sites have fake close buttons or close buttons that move when a mouse hovers over them. Because of these adverts, many users are unknowingly exposed to malware. Further, clicking on any of these ads can prompt a direct (albeit unintended) download of unwanted software into your browser and PC that may audit and store your keystrokes or even spy on your activities, adds Bleau. Not surprisingly, say the researchers, a livestreams sponsors are often complicit in these frauds. These livestreaming websites are simply another vehicle used by fraudsters to deliver malware. In addition, great efforts are put in to ensure the design is almost identical to the actual free livestreaming sites, further tricking users into believing that this new site is merely an extension of the original one. Not even anti-virus or ad-blocker software extensions are enough to protect consumers, as the malware uploaded onto these sites has been purpose-built to try to defeat them. Whatever you choose to do, just realise that when you decide to binge on free livestreaming events in order to avoid paying for them, sooner or later you may wind up paying for it in an entirely unexpected way including identity, data or financial theft, warns Bleau. The writing may be on the wall for the scripted word, but livestreaming certainly brings a whole vocabulary of new terms to a site and calls for greater awareness about security and security measurements. The Marketing Corporate Social Investment South Africa (MCSISA), an independent digital content hub has been launched in Cape Town to highlight CSI initiatives being done by the public sector and organisations such as NGOs and NPOs and how communities are benefitting from these initiatives. rawpixel via 123RF In connecting communities and corporates to one another and vice versa, MCSISA is looking to help overcome the challenges of corruption, poverty, unemployment, education, housing and development, health, animal welfare and environmental issues that are undermining the sustained welfare of the country. South Africa is not alone in facing these challenges, but it is perhaps one of the first to launch a comprehensive initiative to focus attention on the other side of the coin that of the tangible good that is being done. Recognising that businesses have been a major contributor to the problems we currently all face - driven by profit that is often at the cost of people and the planet - the founders of MCSISA have created a niche opportunity that has far reaching consequences and broad appeal, says Glenda Mansfield, co-founder and marketing director for MCSISA. We cannot rely on government and a shrinking NGO sector to shift the change that is needed in South Africa. We are therefore calling on businesses and communities to collaborate and share the responsibility of growing self-managed communities. We all need to become agents for change if we wish to have a better future for ourselves and our children. The founders of MCSISA (Trevor Muller, Glenda Mansfield and Carlyle Robertson) have spent several years researching their offering, having per chance (or by design says Mansfield), worked on a marketing project that involved them engaging directly with disadvantaged communities. The resultant support they received from everyone concerned initiated the formalisation of the MCSISA concept and now content hub. They say good news doesnt sell, but we beg to differ. Prior to the official launch of the platform, we put out feelers to communities and corporates to request content for the portal and have been flooded with responses there is so much good news out there. Whats more, everyone we have spoken to would choose reading a good news story over being hit with a bad news headline first thing in the morning. MCSISA is tapping into a growing trend, mostly driven by millennial audiences, for the authentic. The new buying power wishes to engage with those brands that are real and that go beyond the talk of good, to the actual action of doing good and sustaining it. Through the portal, corporates will now be able to effectively promote their efforts through its various platforms (website, press office, social media, newsletter as well as a magazine that is on the cards for the beginning of 2017) to present their efforts towards change, while audiences can keep a watch on these brands to keep them on point. Adclick Africa is proud to announce that it will be taking part at the Small Business Expo to be held at the Ticketpro Dome from 8-10 September 2016. This follows the successful launch of its small business marketing services at Leaderex 2016. According to Thebe Reed Exhibitions, the organisers of the expo, this event is devoted to the development of small and medium enterprises, providing an invaluable platform for small businesses to market themselves and interact with prominent business leaders, corporate and investors. The Small Business Expo fits perfectly into our timing of rolling out our strategic, profitable yet cost-effective digital marketing packages to small and medium entrepreneurs in South Africa. We are confident that by engaging with other stakeholders in the entrepreneurship ecosystem we will be able to widen the business opportunities for our clients, said Adclick Africas CEO, Velly Bosega. Entrepreneurs visiting the Adclick Africa stand will not only get practical insights into the potential that digital marketing provides but their digital assets (websites and social media company pages) will be audited for free. A SWOT analysis for interested business owners will also be conducted to ascertain their needs. This is a practical element that will provide immense value to the SMMEs. The strategy behind this hand on approach is to elicit as much information as possible so that tailor-made solutions can be created and implemented. We do not believe in the one-size-fits-all approach to digital marketing as we are cognisant of the uniqueness of each business. Our solutions are designed to help businesses achieve their goals, said Velly. Adclick Africas SMME marketing services enable businesses to build brand awareness, generate leads, acquire new customers and retain the existing ones through the utilisation of digital technologies. The impact on the bottom line is guaranteed. The company is also working with some innovation hubs in and around Gauteng but there are plans already in place to connect with all the stakeholders in other provinces as well. Innovation hubs and other entrepreneur associations are free to contact Adclick Africa to discuss how their constituencies can benefit from the companys offerings. Judging by how well the SMME packages were received by business owners at Leaderex, the company is expecting the same level of enthusiastic response from entrepreneurs. For more information about the Adclick Africa SMME marketing services call the sales team on 011 704 2641 or email moc.acirfakcilcda@ofni. Digital advertising can be a tricky, fragmented landscape. However, if you plan on using the right figures, the biggest media research panel in South Africa, and the right tools, your next digital campaign can be a whole lot easier. Plan using the right digital figures In South Africa most local publishers are members of the IAB SA (Interactive Advertising Bureau http://iabsa.net/) All IAB SA publishers are measured using a single measurement provider called Effective Measure (http://effectivemeasure.com/) This means that they are all on a level playing field. Figures from one website are public and directly comparable to another website, which brings welcome consistency to an often fragmented digital landscape. Publishers often use multiple measurement providers and get many different metrics out of them. Even when metrics share a name, the underlying collection techniques and calculations are very different. In the worst cases the way a publisher implements their measurement can over- or understate their figures. With all this complexity, a uniform, an audited standard is crucial. If you only purchase advertising that has been verified by the ABC then it would be prudent to base your digital decisions based on the IAB SA and Effective Measure's figures. Plan using the biggest media research panel in South Africa Across all the IAB SA publishers, questions are asked to the general public at random. These create rich demographic profiles that help publishers understand their audiences and help marketers plan their campaigns. Currently, there are over 300,000 active profiles visiting IAB SA publisher sites each month. This is more than ten times the size of AMPS, with two-thirds of the user profiles using mobile devices. The full demographic pool is representative of the South African internet audience and hence an extremely powerful resource. Since there are so many of these demographic profiles, even smaller sites end up having enough data to provide stable results. In fact, websites with approximately 100,000 people visiting on a monthly basis usually have around one thousand respondents. That translates to a 3% margin of error, which is the research industry benchmark. This means you can get incredibly accurate planning data even on niche websites. If you need to know where your target audience is, which websites they like, and how regularly they go there, then this constantly evolving research has it all. Plan using the right tools When planning a campaign, there are a number of tools that you can use. The IAB SA, Effective Measure, and Telmar all worked together to convert complex digital metrics back to actual humans. If you want to plan using good old reach and frequency based on humans in the digital space, then Telmar has it. These figures also tie back to AMPS and will in future also tie back to the establishment survey. The benefit is that they are using the right data based on the largest research panel in a tool that is familiar in the market. The IAB SA and Effective Measure data are also going to be pushed into a number of other tools in the near future as well. There is also huge potential for multi-basing this data so that traditional channels can be compared to digital within the same plan. In conclusion While digital can be complicated, you have the power to make it simpler. The IAB SA are pushing to make digital as easy to plan as traditional channels. A number of excellent resources are already available and if anything is confusing, the team is available to help. Get in contact with the IAB SA here: ten.asbai@ofni The global automotive industry and many related facets of the business are changing rapidly as the digital revolution causes major disruption. This makes it essential for motor businesses to adapt or die. This message came through loud and clear at the biennial CAR Conference held at the Kyalami Grand Prix circuit as part of the South African Festival of Motoring last week, where the overall conference theme was 'Consumer Trends and Disruption: How SA automakers can drive the change required to adapt to a new future.' Mobility megatrends Martin Briggs, Frost and Sullivan (UK). The arrival of self-driving autonomous cars sooner rather than later was also a topic for many of the speakers. Martyn Briggs, an industry principal of Frost and Sullivan in the United Kingdom and one of the keynote speakers, presented on the topic 'Megatrends and the future of mobility', an area of the industry where he is an expert. His address was an ideal scene-setter for the intriguing series of presentations that followed. A lot of what Briggs told the delegates was admittedly about future developments but he also had plenty of facts and figures about what was happening right now in terms of ride sharing, car sharing and ride hailing apps as well as the increasing use of apps to assist in finding a parking space in congested cities. Briggs went on to explain how digital dealerships using small showrooms in shopping malls, with only one or two cars on display and doing business online, were proving increasingly successful in the UK. He predicted that this trend is expected to spread worldwide. He added that most people now know exactly which car they want to buy by the time they entered the relevant dealership and on average only visited the dealer only twice when doing the deal to buy a new car. Briggs said that car design is another aspect of the automotive world that is being influenced by the changing digital landscape and the manner in which more and more vehicles are being used these days. This is resulting in the so-called trifecta design proposition whereby traditional body styles like hatches, sedans, MPVs and SUVs are being crossed and morphed to make hybrid designs. Examples here are the Suzuki SX4 and Tesla Model X. Suzuki SX4 Catch the digital wave Shayne Mann, the managing director of Mann Made, a brand experience company, summed up the rapidly changing automotive landscape when he said: Technology is disrupting every industry worldwide and motor retail is not going to be spared. Disruption is coming - from online retail to driverless cars - and those who dont learn to innovate now will find themselves left behind. Mann, who has already been involved in developing virtual automotive showrooms for local dealer groups, offered sound advice and examples of how dealers can catch the wave and start innovating faster. He says that its time to reboot; it is not necessary to throw away the expertise and physical footprint offered by traditional dealerships, but rather to re-imagine their role in an uncertain (but exciting) future. Chris de Kock, the managing director of Wesbank, the countrys leading vehicle finance house and the main sponsor of the Festival of Motoring, continued in the same vein about the need for change. He said that the current linear process of buying a car - search, sell, finance, buy had to change as it was inefficient, did not offer a personalised experience and was expensive for the customer. De Kock said WesBank was mulling the various disruptive technologies that will deliver the desired experience to the customer. Options include platform business systems, blockchain, cloud computing and the internet of things. Call for change Dave Duarte, Treeshake. The need for change was reinforced by Dave Duarte, the founder of Treeshake, a consultancy dedicated to growing digital marketing capability, who also served as the master of ceremonies at the conference. He set the scene by explaining that the growth towards a digital world in South Africa was driven by the fact that the number of active website users in the country, which now numbered 18-million people, was already double the number of cars on South African roads. Other thought-provoking statistics that were put on the table by Duarte were that 45.9% of 1,000 people surveyed in SA would be willing to buy a car online and that only 17 people out of more than 4,000 interviewed in another survey said they were satisfied with the current car buying process; all the others wanted change. Duarte warned dealers that quick responses were necessary when dealing with potential buyers online. They are not prepared to wait long for feedback to queries. The founder of Treeshake also explained that buyers of new vehicles were using general websites such as Gumtree when buying a new vehicle and not only using these sites for buying used vehicles. This trend has resulted in many dealers now using Gumtree and similar online websites to advertise both new and used models. Delegates to the conference, which enjoyed backing from Gumtree, Tracker and Sasol, were certainly not left in any doubt that the digital world was the way to go if they still wanted to be in business in the future. The Glenlivet has launched Founder's Reserve in South Africa, the new unaged, entry-level whisky. The Glenlivet brand manager, Eugene Lenford, explains, With Founders Reserve we pay tribute to George Smith, who created the Original Single Malt that has set the standard in taste and quality since 1824. It brings it all back to the Original. With the global move away from aged whiskies, we believe the time is right to introduce an unaged entry-level single malt whisky that will capture the palate of discerning men who love fine whisky. Founders Reserve is available for sale at all major retailers nationwide. For more information, go to www.theglenlivet.co.za. The three-month education and mentoring programme, the Edcon Design Innovation Challenge, launches today, 6 September 2016 at 6.30pm at the Edgars store in Melrose Arch. Designers such as Shaldon from Naked Ape and Ephymol's Ephraim Molingoana, as well as media and bloggers will be in attendance. Wavebreak Media Ltd 123RF.com The challenge is open to final year, honours and masters fashion students in Gauteng to develop further their fashion, design and entrepreneurial skills through the learning platforms created by Edcon in partnership with Runway Productions. Edcon intends rolling out the challenge to the rest of the country, upon completion of the Gauteng pilot, which is taking place from January to April 2017. The selection panel for the challenge is made up of representatives from Edcon and the, fashion journalists, designers and The Fashion Agent. The prizes for the winning students include: Three months business and collection design training from specialists to fast forward their careers; A years business-to-business support; A show launching the collections of selected designers to the media, VIPs and celebrities; The opportunity to be selected to be part of the design team at Edcon. It is an integral part of Edcons transformation objectives and its overall strategy to develop talent and leverage its expertise to the benefit of fashion students and the retail industry at large. Elelwane Phahlana, GM for Transformation at Edcon said, The Edcon Design Innovation Challenge forms part of the transformation journey that Edcon, as South Africas largest non-food retailer, has undertaken to develop a pool of local talent with the necessary knowledge base and skills by bridging the gap between academic learning and industry. This initiative follows closely on the heels of the Edgars UNiTE Orange Day Campaign, also aimed at training women in shelters as seamstresses and introducing them to the basics of fashion and design. Lucilla Booyzen CEO Runway Productions added, The Edcon Design Innovation challenge will bridge these gaps. It will prepare the fashion students for the realities of the business of fashion, which will fast-forward their careers on every level. Fashion has the potential to bring forth changes that can have a huge impact on our economic and social life. A key element in the success of the creative fashion design industry of a country is its luxury, ready to wear clothing created by its designers. This creates both wealth and employment within the value chain, from which textile designer to the service sector can benefit. In the creative fashion industry, designers must invent their own work whilst at the same time building their own enterprise. It is important that they not only design and make clothes for important occasions, but also for everyday life. The initiatives main aim is to create a pool of talented young designers across the South African fashion industry. LONDON, UK: Marks and Spencer is to axe around 525 head office jobs and switch some 400 roles out of London to save costs, the British retail group announced Monday. Marks, whose recently-appointed chief executive Steve Rowe is seeking to turn around the company's struggling clothing division and grow its popular food offering, said the announcement was aimed at creating a "simpler and more effective organisation". He added in a statement that the changes "are absolutely necessary and will help us build a different type of M&S - one that can take bolder, pacier decisions, be more profitable and ultimately better serve our customers". The company said around 400 IT and logistics roles would be relocated north of its central London office. Today's technology is amazing. We control a special rover on Mars remotely from our planet, and can fly to the other side of the earth, (Hawaii, if you are interested,) within 24 hours. Devices capable of millions of calculations per second are strapped to our wrists, and 3D printing means that we can print various prototype models, food and even a whole house in a very brief time period. Im looking forward to buying my first self-driving car just as I retire, and I can pop a whole packed meal into my microwave to eat two minutes from now. (Well, maybe not everything about the new world of technology is that amazing.) But, with all our incredible advancements, there are still some businesses that seem to have been left in the Dark Ages. For example, it seems impossible for me to get a replacement credit card in less than around eight to ten days. Where's the customer service in that? I was sitting at a coffee shop at the end of a meeting with a client, and as I handed over my card to the waitress, she said it had been declined. I knew it wasnt because there wasnt any cash, so I was a bit worried about fraud, but, now embarrassed, I took out some cash and paid with that. In my mind I just knew what my business companion must have been thinking. Before the bank even had a chance to text me about this personal rejection, I called the number on the back of my card to find out if I should be in a desperate panic or just mildly stressed. A few minutes later the pleasant young man gave me a rather generic answer: Mr. Kalliatakis, Im afraid that your card has been blocked, and for your protection we will need to send you another one. I asked him to be more specific, but he muttered something incomprehensible, and then brightly reassured me that there would be no additional cost to me for a new card. I asked about the last few transactions, hoping that there wasnt any cash stolen, but nothing untoward seemed to have occurred. It was then that I realised two things: First, it wasnt my fault, and second, they had cocked up something something that was awkward for them but which, come hell or high water, Id never get to the bottom of. So now my card was cancelled and Id have to wait for a new one. I was, however, more relieved and grateful that it wasnt going to be a fight to prove theft from my account until he said it would take five to seven working days to get this sorted. I couldnt believe it! How difficult can it really be, after all? How complicated is the process of issuing a duplicate credit card to a customer who, because of a mistake the bank had obviously made, now had to be inconvenienced? And, even more irritating, using words like to safeguard your account, and for your protection is clearly a way of deflecting the blame by confusing the customer. Call me naive, but I really think that theres a death of common sense here. I know that there need to be rules and processes to take care of issues like this, but a sense of urgency and the ability to bypass the bureaucracy seems called for here. Clearly, they didnt have my best interests at heart in this sorry saga. Many people in my industry consulting and training travel a lot, and therefore there are an extravagant number of stories and case studies that are written about travelling - and flying in particular. Most of them are negative. We dont talk about air travel to show off how glamorous our work is. (On the contrary, I have now come to the point after 30 years in the consulting business where I just dread the thought of flying.) But flying is just another category of transport: my car takes me to clients and events near where I live, and airplanes take me to clients and events that are further away or even on the other side of the world. But when we write about our experiences of flying it is because airports and air travel are usually the stressful events - even when they go reasonably smoothly. In this astonishing world where engineers have created the miracle of jet travel, and clever programmers have prepared software that is the envy of many other industries, I have to conclude that airlines and airports are led and operated by staggeringly stupid people. Even airlines which boast about great customer care have a knack of screwing things up for passengers. One of the most successful and reputable is based in the global travel hub in the U.A.E. In my view, I am a loyal customer, although from their perspective they probably see me as one of the rats and mice. Checking-in at Heathrow recently at the end of a tiring 10-day trip, my baggage was way under the 30 kilogram limit. But I really wanted to take my sons bulky toys and wifes gifts in my carry-on luggage. I'm a good customer, and really asked as nicely as I could for them to do me a favour by allowing me to take them on board with my briefcase. The answer was No! I turned on the charm and begged, explaining who I was and waving my loyalty card about. They were even more emphatic. The supervisor threw out the Rules is rules defence, and was indifferent no, he was absurdly stubborn - to my needs, especially since I explained that my final destination was SA where were infamous for stealing desirable stuff from passengers suitcases. He folded his arms and gave me a glazed look. Now, if this policy was applied consistently to all passengers, I wouldn't mind too much, but as soon as I got on the plane, I saw literally dozens of people with two, even three really large luggage bags - over and above shopping from the duty-free shops. The hypocrisy of it all made me miserable for the next sixteen hours, and added to the stress I already felt about my familys presents. It confirmed that airlines and airports are run by really reckless policies and witless people. From three to six flights a year, they will be lucky to see me once more. What rules and policies does your business enforce that create frustration for your customers? The face of Port Elizabeth's inner city is set to undergo a drastic revamp, with plans to transform some old, rundown buildings into social housing projects. Nelson Mandela Bay human settlements political head Nqaba Bhanga. Image source: www.mype.co.za This was revealed by new Nelson Mandela Bay human settlements political head Nqaba Bhanga, as he outlined plans which he said would integrate communities. "We have already identified parcels of land in the metro, like in Walmer, Parsonsvlei, Mount Road and John Street in Uitenhage," Bhanga said. "We have to adapt the by-laws as some buildings are an eyesore. "We have to regenerate the city so that we can redevelop these buildings." Some of the planned social housing projects would be situated in Central, which he hoped would beautify the city and bring it back to its glory days. "Property developers left their dilapidated buildings which are now used by gangs," Bhanga said. "With by-laws, we will be able to find a way to enforce compliance that property owners should maintain their buildings. They should comply with the health and safety acts." To achieve this, the metro was already working on a problem buildings by-law. Bhanga said there was a need to raise the standard of living in Western Road by fixing the buildings and area around them. Bay mayor Athol Trollip said on Thursday, 1 September: "I think it's a disgrace that within spitting distance of City Hall there are problem buildings. "We are going to have social housing in the inner city. "We need to bring this inner city to life. We have seen that we can run social housing in this city and even win awards. "After 10 years of a DA-led multi-party government, the inner city is going to look completely different. "I am not naive to say it is going to look completely different in five years, but our objective is to move people closer to opportunities and to create opportunities. "Why should young people - first-time home owners - not live right here in some of these buildings? "Or demolish these buildings and build proper suburban social housing and rental stock?" Source: Herald It's happening. Millennials are steadily overtaking older staff as South Africa's largest representative generation of workers, introducing an entirely new mindset that businesses will have to master to recruit and retain the new workforce. In the US, Millennials are defined as people born between 1980 and 2000. South African Millennials or Afrillennials (as a Student Village study has named them) were born from 1990 onwards, and have been influenced by major local cultural, political and economic shifts. Afrillennials aged 16-26 currently make up almost 10% of all employed workers. By 2025, this group together with the new batch of young workers will add up to nearly 40% of the workforce. By 2030, the original group and their successors will make up about 75% of all staff. But Afrillennials have completely different needs and expectations of the workplace than previous generations, which will require new thinking to attract and integrate them. What Afrillennials really want Afrillennials grew up with TV, internet and cellphones. If theres a tech shortcut, theyll find it to work smarter. They also want a more flexible work environment, says Student Village. As the first born-free generation after Apartheid, Afrillennials are sensitive to social cohesion, the study says. Their openness to other cultures make them best positioned to create cultural harmony at work. Afrillennials want to be part of the solution and make a positive difference. Theyd also love to travel and work overseas, but most want to return home. Afrillennials value getting the right degree to land a high-paying job at a big, well-respected, global company, says Student Village. They want it all - rapid career growth, the best tech, perks and work-life balance - and they want it now. With parents that grew up in an expanding economy and gave their kids a lot, Afrillennials are also very ambitious. But the study finds theyre also scared to fail and are very risk averse when making big decisions. They need lots of mentorship and feedback. They feel weighed down by Ubuntu tax (contributing financially to their families) and they dream about financial independence. Theres a lot companies can offer Afrillennials. Many already have the right social initiatives in place, and as businesses move into Africa, there are more opportunities for international work and travel. But, this isnt always mentioned in recruitment advertising. Where HR goes wrong Companies still use a one-size-fits-all approach to recruitment and dont think enough about audience segmentation. While companies have put particular thought into graduate recruitment, they treat all other job seekers as the same. You have to segment your audiences according to demographics like age, motivation and values to understand their triggers and share the right message through the best channel. This is especially key with Afrillennials as theyre so different from preceding generations. The other big factor is how you integrate Afrillennials once they get to the workplace. Young workers will migrate to environments where they feel most comfortable. If they come up against old ways of treating staff, they wont stay. The two worlds need to come together; how are you reshaping the business at different levels to hold on to them? How to recruit and retain Afrillennials Instead of focusing career page messaging and job adverts on purely rational messaging, companies should engage Afrillennials via motivational triggers at an emotional level - the values of the business, what its contributing to society, and what exciting projects theyll get to action. The chance to be exposed to new things, develop and grow their networks is very important to Afrillennials. Google, AirBnB, Facebook and L'Oreal really get the emotional triggers right. Theyre also good at using more engaging kinds of media, like video testimonials. The work environment and how it operates is also important - how the office is laid out, what equipments available, what flexibility is available in working hours, and can they work remotely. The space should feel more like home with recreational areas, but have all the functionality of an office. Open plan is good as long as there are quiet spaces to get work done. Where to start the process Begin with your scarce skills areas. Get a few Afrillennial high-performers that fit your culture and conduct a profiling exercise with them by asking a lot of questions: What media do you consume; what influences your decisions; what kind of messages would attract you into a job; what keywords would you use in your search; what is it about a company that would most attract you? Once you understand them, it will be easier to create a recruitment advertisement that includes both the rational and emotional aspects that would appeal to an Afrillennial. Youll also be in a better position to select the most appropriate channels to reach them. Meeting of the minds Everyones still grappling with how different Afrillennials are, which can lead to a lot of tension in the workplace. If you take the time to understand Afrillennials and start working internally with some of the key messages, you can start moving towards this younger generation. Attracting the best Afrillennials in South Africas scarce skills market and integrating them is a priority since theyll make up such a big part of the future workforce. If you dont start now, youre going to run out of time to prepare. South African businesses must ensure they have a policy in place to deal with sexual harassment in the workplace and that this policy is effectively communicated and understood by all employees. This is according to Sisi Nxumalo, a professional speaker focusing on employment law, who was speaking at the SASLAW Women's Breakfast Seminar, held at the Cape Town offices of Bowmans law firm recently. Nxumalo told the audience how businesses could safeguard themselves against sexual harassment lawsuits. According to the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 Code of Good Practice: Sexual Harassment, employers must adopt a sexual harassment policy and they must ensure all employees are aware of this policy. Employers should also ensure that they create and maintain an environment where sexual harassment is never tolerated. These two steps eliminate the risk of an employer being held liable in sexual harassment cases, she noted. In early August, research conducted by the Trades Union Congress and the Everyday Sexism Project in the United Kingdom (UK) found that 52% of women in the UK alone had experienced unwanted behaviour at work including groping, sexual advances and inappropriate jokes. Nxumalo explained that South Africas Code of Good Practice for Sexual Harassment set out the practices that a workplace policy should include. If a company does not have a policy, then the Code of Good Practice becomes the guideline in cases where sexual harassment has occurred, she said. She explained that the sexual harassment policy should be tailored to the workplace so that differences in environments can be accommodated. An element of discretion was given to the employer as to how to proceed during a sexual harassment case, as each workplace is different, but employers should follow the Code of Good Practice as a general rule. Nxumalo commented that South Africas sexual harassment laws are informed by the Constitution, where gender equality and human dignity underline the country's legal framework. If sexual harassment has taken place, an employee usually reports this to HR or is directed to another relevant person to report the issue. Then an investigation should take place to ensure that sexual harassment has occurred. This first step should always be to ascertain the nature of the harassment and whether or not it took place, she explained. She said that in order to deal with the harassment, it was important to bear in mind the nature of the harassment. For instance, a graze on the shoulder that has made someone uncomfortable may be treated differently to a forced kiss in the elevator. A more serious charge might also involve investigations to gauge whether the company was dealing with a serial perpetrator and if disciplinary action should be taken. Broadly speaking, sexual harassment does affect women more than men, but men are also subject to sexual harassment. In addition, same-sex harassment must be taken as seriously as heterosexual harassment, she noted. In certain industries, particularly male dominated industries, sexual harassment is very rife. Thus it is difficult for victims of sexual harassment to come forward as they fear that this may be a career limiting move. According to the Bar Standards Board report, female barristers are not reporting harassment and discrimination over fears their careers will suffer nearly eight out of ten female barristers who have experienced sexual harassment chose not to report their experiences, she said. Nxumalo added that the purpose of the Employment Equity Act was to provide a fluid environment where equity in the workplace was expected and enforced. The law is there to protect all races and genders, and to ensure they have the same opportunities and rights in the workplace, including the right to work in an environment free from harassment, she concluded. Genesys, a provider of omnichannel customer experience and contact centre solutions, and Interactive Intelligence Group Inc., a provider of cloud and on-premise solutions for customer engagement, communications and collaboration, have announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Genesys will acquire Interactive Intelligence in a transaction valued at approximately $1.4 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Interactive Intelligence shareholders will receive $60.50 per share in cash, representing a premium of 36% to Interactive Intelligences unaffected closing stock price on 28 July 2016, the trading day prior to media reports that Interactive Intelligence was considering strategic alternatives, and a premium of 42% to the 30 calendar day average closing price prior to the unaffected closing price on 28 July 2016. Complementary product portfolios Genesys and Interactive Intelligence have developed capabilities with highly complementary product portfolios that serve adjacent market segments. It's hoped that the combined company will provide the broadest customer experience solutions for organisations of all sizes around the world. As a larger entity with increased scale, Genesys says it is committed to accelerate innovation in the customer experience market, with more than $1.3 billion in revenue and annual R&D spend approaching $200 million. Both cloud and on-premise product portfolios will continue to be supported and offered to the marketplace, with significant R&D investment across the full product portfolio. This is a milestone transaction that combines industry-leading expertise and capabilities to enable lasting customer relationships, accelerate innovation and drive growth, said Paul Segre, chief executive officer, Genesys. Our combined product portfolio will provide the broadest set of transformative customer experience solutions optimised for customers of all sizes and sophistication levels, available both in the cloud and on-premise. We will significantly invest across the entire Interactive Intelligence product portfolio ... in addition to the rich portfolio of products offered by Genesys today. Don Brown, chairman, president and chief executive officer, Interactive Intelligence said, I am confident that our agreement with Genesys, which follows a careful evaluation of strategic alternatives, provides Interactive Intelligence shareholders with immediate and significant value, and will deliver meaningful benefits to our customers, partners and employees. Customary closing conditions The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval and approval by Interactive Intelligence shareholders. The transaction has been unanimously approved by Interactive Intelligences board of directors and Genesys operating committee. Brown, who owns approximately 17% of Interactive Intelligence shares, has agreed to vote his shares in favour of the transaction. Genesys intends to fund the transaction through a combination of existing cash on hand and debt financing. The transaction is not contingent upon financing, with committed debt financing being provided by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Goldman Sachs and RBC Capital Markets. Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) recently hosted it's inaugural, 'The Great Gatsby' themed, Port of Durban Customer Awards at the Durban International Convention Centre, acknowledging outstanding terminal operators for their role in the success of South Africa's busiest commercial seaport. Representatives of the winners in the category of Best Safety Performer (from left to right) - Hoosen Ahmed and Paulo Franco of FPT (for Point Precinct), Jannie Roux of Bidfreight Port Operations (for Maydon Wharf Precinct), David Leisegang of Bidvest Tank Terminals (Island View Precinct) and Michelle Phillips representing Transnet Port Terminals Pier 1 (for Container Precinct), pictured with TNPA GM: Legal, Risk, Compliance and Regulatory, Sagree Chetty (far right). Licenced operators were adjudicated in the categories of Best Safety Performer, SHE Compliance, Transformation, Best Performing Terminal Operator, Best Performing Ship Repairer, as well as Best Performing Shipping Line and Most Improved Shipping Lines. Durban Port manager Moshe Motlohi said the new awards were important in recognising operators compliance with stringent operating standards set by the authority. The strength of our relationships with our licenced terminal operators is central to TNPAs role as a self-regulating authority that is mandated to execute operational oversight and monitor compliance in the ports, said Motlohi. To improve port efficiency through increased productivity and operations oversight TNPA has rolled out Terminal Operator Performance Standards (TOPS) across its ports over the past three years as part of its licencing conditions. The winners at the Port of Durban Customer Awards were: Best Safety Performer Award Recognising the highest standards of safety through adherence to reporting requirements as per licence, quality of reporting and implementation of corrective action. Winner (Container Precinct): Transnet Port Terminals Pier 1 Winner (Island View Precinct): Bidvest Tank Terminals Winner (Maydon Wharf Precinct): Bidfreight Port Operations Winner (Point Precinct): FPT SHE Compliance Award Recognising the highest safety, health and environmental standards judged on audit reports. Winner (Container Precinct): Transnet Port Terminals Pier 1 Winner (Island View Precinct): SAPREF Winner (Maydon Wharf Precinct): Bidfreight Port Operations Winner (Point Precinct): FPT Transformation Award Recognising the biggest transformation improvements and commitment to BBBEE, including skills development and gender equality. Winner: Veetech Oils now trading as Thebe Unico Best Performing Terminal Award Based on the volume growth percentage per licence. Unfortunately, no terminal had achieved a positive volume growth rate in the Container Precinct. Winner (Island View Precinct): Chevron Winner (Maydon Wharf Precinct): Grindrod Terminals Durban Shadwell Road Winner (Point Precinct): FPT Best Performing Ship Repairer Award Applicable to repairers based in the Bayhead Precinct, and judged in terms of safety record, investment, job creation, and skills development. Winner: Dormac Marine & Engineering Best Performing Shipping Line (based on volume growth as a percentage in two key sectors, Containers and Automotive) Winner - Containers: Maersk Line Winner - Automotive: Hoegh Autoliners Most Improved Shipping Line Based on volume growth as a percentage in two key sectors: Containers and Automotive Winner - Containers: CMA CGM Winner Automotive: K-Line Motlohi said the categorisation per precinct was in line with the ports new approach of segmenting specific areas of the port according to commodity and category of clients served. The Container Precinct handles containerised cargo predominantly at Durban Container Terminal Pier 1 and Pier 2, the Island View Precinct serves the liquid bulk sector, the Maydon Wharf Precinct handles dry bulk cargo and the Point Precinct caters for automotive and breakbulk cargo. He said Marine Operations Standards (MOPS) have also been issued at all ports. TNPAs next focus will be on the roll-out of Rail Operator Standards (ROPS) piloting at the Port of Durban as well as Hauler Operator Standards (HOPS). MOSCOW: Russia's biggest carmaker Avtovaz on Monday announced that it is looking to raise some $1.3 billion as it struggles to battle back from slumping sales amid the country's economic crisis. Avtovaz, which is majority-owned by the Renault-Nissan Alliance, said it would "consider a matter of an open subscription for shares" at an extraordinary shareholder meeting on 10 October. "This will become the first key step in the implementation of an overall recapitalisation plan of the company for approximately RUB85 billion ($1.3 billion)," the statement said. A first round of share sales worth 25 billion rubles is pencilled in to take place in December and Renault has said it is ready to stump up the cash. Hit hard by Russia's economic crisis, Avtovaz earlier this year was battling bankruptcy fears after its net losses almost tripled in 2015. That year the Russian car market slumped 36% as the impact international sanctions over Ukraine and the crash in oil prices saw the country mired in recession. Renault announced plans for a recapitalisation earlier this year, with Avtovaz saying it would further "optimise the workforce" as part of its "anti-crisis plan" to improve finances in 2016 after already switching all of its employees and management to a four-day week from February to August. The automaker has replaced Swedish executive Bo Andersson with French Renault executive Nicolas Maure as its top boss, after a drive to improve efficiency at Avtovaz's Soviet-era facilities and slashed thousands of jobs from the bloated workforce in 2014. Those measures did not yield any significant financial success, and the company made a loss of 620 million euros ($680 million) on the French carmaker's accounts last year. Despite signs of the Russian economy stabilising, the Association of European Businesses predicts that auto sales will drop more than 10% this year, a much worse outlook than the 5% drop that had been previously predicted. Source: AFP ArcelorMittal SA's new CEO, Wim de Klerk, says the company's new pricing policy for sales of flat steel products, agreed with the government, does not have precedent elsewhere in the world. "Not as far as we are aware. These pricing principles were developed in consultation with government in the best interest of the local steel industry," he says. This comes as SA's largest steel maker has finally acquiesced to long-standing government demands for regulated pricing and, therefore, a cap on earnings, amid a crisis in both the global and domestic steel industries. "This is the intended effect of the pricing principles," De Klerk told Business Day. "Pricing based on an import-weighted basket and a cap on ArcelorMittal SA's earnings will assist in ensuring that competitive pricing can be passed on to the downstream industry." ArcelorMittal SA has agreed to this as part of a holistic solution for the sustainability of the industry, and which will contribute to economic growth, says De Klerk. "We await final approval of the pricing principles from government." Despite the seeming warm sentiments, the about-turn by the company comes after agreeing to pay a R1.5bn fine for anti-competitive practices. Amid state pressure, ArcelorMittal SA has also undertaken to invest R4.6bn to increase efficiencies. This new pricing policy has been welcomed by the downstream metals industry in SA, and by the official opposition DA. "This is a progressive step in allowing for small business to compete in the sector and create jobs, where previously collusion and a cartel had compelled small steel businesses to shut doors and retrench workers," the DA says. ArcelorMittal SA has undertaken to limit for a period of five years its earnings before interest and tax margin to a cap of 10% for flat steel products sold in SA. However, it is not all a one-way street for the government. De Klerk says "holistic discussions about what is needed in these challenging times to preserve the industry" include the state providing its support for the designation of primary steel produced in SA for state infrastructure development projects, and settlement of competition issues. Of six matters pending before the Competition Commission, the company has admitted guilt in respect of two - in long steel, relating to allegations of price-fixing, allocating customers and sharing commercially sensitive information; and in scrap metal, relating to allegations of price fixing by the company as a consumer of scrap. The company says it has made no admission of guilt regarding an "excessive pricing complaint" against flat steel products, and that the Competition Commission has also made no finding in this regard. To this end, the supposed peace deal it has made with government involves several other factors. "The objective of the pricing principles is to ensure that once the steel industry recovers from its current challenges, the benefits of having a local primary steel manufacturer will result in benefits for the downstream industry and the economy generally," De Klerk says. "This means a price for steel into the future that allows ArcelorMittal SA to earn a reasonable margin from domestic sales, while being competitive and efficient - a fair price - while at the same time promoting benefits for the downstream industry." De Klerk wrote last week in Business Day that there was "scepticism within some sections of the government" about whether ArcelorMittal SA should receive protection from imports of Chinese-made steel. He said then that "to some extent, legacy issues had clouded our relations with the government in recent years", and that the process of negotiations with the state had "certainly re-emphasised for the company how important it is to have good relations with our stakeholders - and in this case, the government is both a regulator and a consumer of our product in state infrastructure projects". But while the government has imposed standard tariffs on imported steel, amid a global steel crisis and glut of product, it still has not implemented much more stringent safeguard remedies on steel imports that ArcelorMittal SA had asked for. The pricing deal also comes as SA's largest steel maker is still negotiating a long-delayed black economic empowerment deal. News on this is imminent. This follows an attempt by Gupta-related interests some years ago to take a R9bn "empowerment" stake in the company through an entity called Imperial Crown Trading. After long and bitter court sagas, the deal was ultimately dismissed by the Constitutional Court in 2013. Had it succeeded, it would be so far underwater now as to likely be irredeemable. ArcelorMittal SA's total market capitalisation now is barely R9bn, and not so long ago, was half that. The eventual capitulation on pricing by ArcelorMittal SA comes amid renewed uncertainty around the probity of Gupta-related companies and their dealings with the government. Source: Business Day Africa's first dredging simulator - a product of the ongoing collaboration between Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA), the Transnet Maritime School of Excellence (MSoE), Netherlands-based Royal IHC and its world-renowned Training Institute - has been launched in Durban. TNPA chief executive Richard Vallihu (2nd from left) accepts a token of appreciation from Royal IHC, flanked by Philip van den Broek (Royal IHC Project Manager), Berth-Jan de Keijzer (Royal IHC Manager of Supplier Development Programme), Transnet Group Chief HR Officer Nonkululeko Sishi and TNPA Head of Dredging Services, Carl Gabriel. - Stephen Railton The high-tech simulator based at the MSoEs Langeberg Road premises will aid in building dredging capability in South Africa. Dredging is specialised underwater excavation that helps to keep ports and harbours safe and navigable and is a critical aspect of port development. Catering for the needs of the Southern African port system Transnet anticipates that over the first three-year period, 50 students will complete training on the simulator as part of a holistic dredging training programme and could find work in Southern Africa or with international dredging contractors. TNPA chief executive, Richard Vallihu, said the simulator would enable TNPA to support ports in Southern Africa to develop marine skills and grow their economies. Through this acquisition, we can create jobs in line with the Governments Nine-Point Growth Plan. Among the key focus areas of TNPAs R56 billion-plus investments under the Transnet Market Demand Strategy (MDS) are creating capacity ahead of demand, maintenance upgrades, skills development and job creation. We are, therefore, striving to build our own capabilities by developing mission-critical skills that will help us to cater for the needs of the Southern African port system. Instead of sending staff overseas for dredging training we can now do this locally through the dredging school to be fully operational by 2017. A number of regional ports are also ramping up plans to expand port capacity including major dredging projects, so we would like to be in a position to provide human capacity for that as well in the near future, he said. Developing critical skills in a safe environment The multi-million Rand simulator mimics the control panel of an actual dredging vessel, complete with environmental simulation of weather conditions, sea states, and soil types. This provides realistic training situations while eliminating the risk of accidents, production losses, damage and injuries that could occur while training in real life. Simulation facilitators (left to right) Ebrahim Bayat, Thamsanqa Khanyile, Musa Ngubane and Vika Njoko demonstrate the equipments features at the Transnet Maritime School of Excellence in Durban. - Stephen Railton TNPA, the MSoE, and Royal IHC have packaged a special dredging training programme that incorporates 12 weeks of classroom theory, eight weeks of simulation training and six months of practical training onboard a real dredging vessel. The simulator will help to hone critical technical skills required for professions such as pipe operators, dredge masters, and dredging managers. The first intake of trainees - six pipe operators will commence training in January 2017. Port and dredging development Acquisition of the simulator emanated from Royal IHCs 25% supplier development contribution within the contract to build TNPAs Ilembe trailing suction hopper dredger. Ilembe was the fourth dredger built by Royal IHC as part of TNPA Dredging Services fleet replacement programme in excess of R2 billion. TNPA and Royal IHC had signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance regional port development, covering skills development, research and development, the exchange of technical maritime dredging expertise and dredging infrastructure development. Royal IHC provided bursaries and training to local South African training facilitators from the MSoE and TNPA Dredging Services. A special Dredging School is also in the pipeline. The company further ensured that major parts of the dredging installation of the Ilembe were manufactured locally. A combination workboat/hydrographic survey boat that accompanies the dredger on assignments was also built locally by Nautic Africa in Cape Town, involving sixty people in the production process. IHC Systems managing director, Rens Klootwijk, said: TNPA has set out a long-term vision to develop the South African dredging and manufacturing industries, raising levels of operational efficiency and improving the capabilities of those employed in these sectors. IHC is proud to contribute to making this vision a reality by launching our training simulator in Durban and by helping TNPA to set up South Africas first Dredging School. Built into every capital investment of the MDS, Transnets supplier development initiatives aim to create jobs, pass on expertise and develop skills in the local maritime industry ideals the South African government also aims to achieve with its Operation Phakisa programme which is designed to unlock the countrys Oceans Economy. The MDS now in its fourth year aims to enable the effective, efficient and economic functioning of an integrated port system with the infrastructure and capacity to promote economic growth and contribute to job creation. The large bull rhino was about a hundred metres away. The jeep carrying the darting team moved closer, there was a popping sound and the bull twitched and moved off with a dart clearly visible in his upper leg. Within two minutes he was down on his knees. The dehorning team approached quickly, attached blinkers to cover his eyes as a group of ranch hands held him down and attached a rope to his back leg. Things then happened quickly but with an assured and rapid routine. The vet monitored the rhinos vital signs it was sedated but not unconscious and not obviously alarmed or in any pain. The dehorners measured and recorded the circumference and height of the horn and calculated how much to remove. Dehorning is practised on many South African private reserves and is seen as a way of deterring poachers. Keith Somerville Once the measurements were done, a line was carefully drawn around the large front horns and the smaller rear ones leaving about four or five centimetres below the cut line to ensure growth would continue and there would be no damage to the horn bed where it joins the skull. A battery driven saw was then used to cut through the horn, which took little more than a minute. Someone sprayed cold water on to the horn to prevent over-heating and burn injuries. Then the horn was off. The team cleaned up the edges of the horn stump and gathered up any shaving or horn dust and sealed them in marked bags. The two horns were measured, weighed and marked with indelible ink. When a rhino is first dehorned DNA samples are taken for future identification. The main horn from the first rhino I saw dehorned weighed 565g, the smaller horn 67g and the shavings 45g. This would be worth an estimated US$40 000 in Vietnam and China, the main markets for poached ivory horn. Thats according to rhino owner John Hume and Kruger Park Chief Ranger Nicholus Funda, who gave me the latest estimates of horn prices. The horns and shavings from dehorned rhino are kept in a bank safe or secure depository. Dehorning is practised on many South African private reserves and is seen as a way of deterring poachers. It has even been used on some parks and conservancies in Zimbabwe and Namibia, according to a study on the effects of dehorning. Dehorning itself is not hugely controversial - what is, is whether the harvested horn should be sold. This will be debated, with vehement arguments on both sides, at the CITES conference in Johannesburg in September 2016. A ranch full of rhinos The dehornings I witnessed took place at a huge rhino ranch at Klerksdorp in South Africas North West province, belonging to the worlds most successful breeder of rhinos, John Hume. His 8,000 hectare property carries 1,405 rhinos, only 17 of which are black rhinos. He has successfully bred 951 rhinos over the last 25 years. South Africa has 18,796 white rhinos and 1,916 black rhinos. But 6,000 rhino have been poached in South Africa since 2016, Pelham Jones of the Private Rhino Owners Association of South Africa told me. According to the Kruger National Parks Nicholus Funda, different groups are involved, from poor Mozambican peasants to local South Africans to rogue professional hunters and even former vets and senior wildlife officials from the Kruger National Park. Humes ranch is not a national park or sanctuary but a massive breeding operation. He, and other private rhino breeders in South Africa, are dehorning their animals to deter poachers. Dehorning doesnt totally stop poaching as there is still a band of horn left which could be hacked off. But evidence from peer-reviewed studies has shown that dehorning, when widely advertised, does deter poachers. They will seek to find the most lucrative targets according to a study and will generally avoid farms and ranches with dehorning and good security. Even so, Hume has had attempted incursions by poachers. The horn grows back on the rhinos and Hume dehorns his every 18 months to two years. The same study of dehorning suggests there is no long-term impact of dehorning, as long as all rhinos in an area are dehorned. In the wild, there could be reduced ability of cows to defend calves from predators like hyenas and lions. Keith Somerville But on ranches, there is no obvious change in behaviour or health. When I saw the two dehornings there seemed to be no great trauma involved and the rhino were on their feet and walking away in less than 15 minutes. The horn is made of keratin, the same substance as hair and fingernails. Rhino horn has been used in Chinese traditional medicine for millennia and now is believed, erroneously, in Vietnam to cure both cancer and hangovers. It is chemically complex, containing large quantities of sulphur-containing amino acids, particularly cysteine, but also tyrosine, histidine, lysine, and arginine, and the salts calcium carbonate and calcium phosphate. The debate rages on There is currently a ban on the international trade in rhino horn. As a result the booming demand in China and Vietnam has created a huge and lucrative black market with horn fetching $60,000 a kg. Hume believes that rhinos in the wild will only be saved through a combination of good security and dehorning, at least on private ranches. A few national parks and reserves want to dehorn and there is a lobby for a regulated and closely monitored legal trade in rhino horn. This view is strongly opposed by many conservation and animal rights NGOs which means that this approach is unlikely to get sufficient support from governments to end the 39 year old CITES ban on trade. The issue will be debated at the CITES Conference in Johannesburg at the end of September, when Swaziland applies to be allowed to trade in rhino from legal stocks and natural mortality. But no change is remotely possible at this stage. Hume and a growing number of rhino breeders and conservationists who support dehorning and controlled trade have a mountain to climb to prove it can be done. What is clear, though, is that dehorning is a useful tool that can reduce the attraction of a rhino to poachers without any ill-effects for the rhino. A one-year contract which will supply 100MW of power to the Benin grid using add-on natural gas technology has been awarded to Aggreko In response to the public tender process, Aggrekos bid was the only one to include an ADDGAS option, which substitutes a large portion of diesel fuel with natural gas. By maximising available fuel types, Societe Beninoise d'Energie Electrique (SBEE) will be able to make significant savings over the duration of the contract as a result of this solution. The company will also installing specialist high-voltage equipment as part of its turn-key offering. GDP growth of 6% With an annual GDP growth of nearly 6% and a rapidly expanding industrial sector, power demands across Benin are increasing exponentially. In its role as the national power utility and system operator in Benin, SBEE is working to bring high-quality electricity to the countrys 10m inhabitants by increasing generation capacity and further developing transmission and distribution networks. Aggreko has previously supported the national grid at various intervals over the last 12 years, providing an interim solution to Benin helping to maintain economic growth in the country. We signed with Aggreko because Benin can count on its ability to mobilise within the contractual deadlines and on its experience as an operator, said Laurent Tossou, managing director of SBEE. Meeting the daily deficit The proposition considers Benins availability of gas, while also allowing production units to operate with diesel only. The additional production capacities will enable the Beninese government to fulfil a daily structural deficit ranging between 40-60MW per day for more than a year. The 100MW is expected to be mobilised by the end of the year, and this new project will bring the companys total generating capacity to 2,4GW across Africa. It will create more local jobs with the recruitment and training of a local workforce specialised in the power industry, a critical sector for the future development of the continent. The challenge of fragmented marketing Drivers of marketing success have changed dramatically over the last few years, with digital engagement and consumer power playing an increasingly important role. The marketing world of yesteryear was defined by one-way communication to drive brand-building and to get the message across. However, these traditional principles no longer apply and brands who refuse to adapt to todays digitally engaged environment risk being left behind. Not only has the marketing environment and the context within which success is created changed over time, markets also have become increasingly fragmented in terms of choice. Never before have consumers faced quite as much choice as they do today on shop shelves and in the virtual world; this trend of market fragmentation is likely to grow. So, what does it take to gain success in a market where choice is almost unending, and the benefit of being a big brand is diminished by a rich tail of niche offerings? There is no doubt that marketers have their jobs cut out for them. Winning requires precise marketing action The success of brands like Nike and Coke is built on a rich history and heritage which runs decades into our past. These brands have managed to weave themselves into the very essence of who we are by being part of our lives for years on end even pre-dating the digital era. However in todays fast-paced environment, marketers no longer have the luxury of time to build success. Consumers are frugal and demanding of instant gratification and will voice their opinion when brands refuse to meet their needs. Todays marketing environment is one where success is driven by integrated marketing at a pace that is unheard of before. Marketers need to be more sensitive to the spontaneous voice of the customer than ever before, crafting their messages not around the isolation of the boardroom table, but in collaboration with consumers who want to be heard and would like to see their individual requirements being met. Integrating marketing efforts around moments that matter is a crucial element of success. Ultimately marketers need to understand the context within which their brands will be used in a lot more detail than before we call these moments that matter. Fitting into these moments that matter requires a sense of authenticity and humble relevance on the brands behalf, to build up a perception that it is the brand that fits into the consumers life, and not the other way around. This is what will drive and define consumer centricity in the world of tomorrow. Marketing for moments that matter Understanding consumers in aggregate is no longer enough the sheer amount of choice now means that consumers use different brands for different needs, in different contexts, and in very specific moments. Truly successful marketing in this complicated landscape requires a nuanced understanding of the moments where brands already play a strong, organic role in consumers lives. Such new-age marketing is only possible through a granular understanding of consumers behavior as they go about their daily lives. It is about moving from an aggregated viewpoint to understanding what is important to the individual. If done well, this process will enlighten brands and allow them to tailor marketing efforts with newfound precision. The African Development Bank's (AfDB) special envoy on gender, Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, unveiled a new project within the Fashionomics initiative, launched last year under her leadership: a B2B website dedicated to fashion and textiles in Africa. Image by 123RF Whether in New York, London, Milan or Paris, the fashion runways all agree: African fabrics are inspiring more and more famous designers. Fashion is not just about design or inspiration. It's also a multi-million dollar industry that creates millions of jobs, including in textile and clothing manufacturing. In Africa, the fashion industry could generate 15.5 million in the next five years. Of course, that's a far cry from the 1.3 billion that it generates worldwide. The entire textile/clothing market is already worth more than 31 billion in Sub-Saharan Africa and accounts for the second largest number of jobs in developing countries, following agriculture. What's more, the vast majority of workers are women and young people. Based on these figures, the AfDB's Office of the Special Envoy on Gender launched the Fashionomics ("the economy of fashion") initiative during the Bank's 2015 Annual Meeting in Abidjan. This initiative will offer the Bank's support to micro, small and medium-sized businesses (MPME) in the fashion and textile industry in Africa (see report summary). The Bank has already invested 10 million in Madagascar, in the support project for investment promotion (PAPI), focused on MPME in these industries and in particular on women and young people. Studies: industry in Cote d'Ivoire and Ethiopia On Tuesday, August 23, 2016, in Abidjan, a new phase began with the presentation of the conclusions of two case studies, conducted in Cote d'Ivoire and Ethiopia, respectively, on the textile and fashion industry. Several creators and designers, well known in Cote d'Ivoire and beyond (Pathe'O, Nadia Druide, AngyBell, Ananine), responded to Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi's invitation, which was also extended to representatives of the Ivoirian Government, including Esther Kouassi, the director of the creative and cultural industries department in the Ministry of Culture and the French Language, and Diamande Moussa, representing the Ministry of Crafts and SMEs. Cote d'Ivoire and Ethiopia were chosen for this large benchmarking study for Fashionomics in Africa because the differences in their textile/clothing industries and markets illustrate the disparities and unique characteristics typical of the entire continent. One is the French version and is located in West Africa, the other uses English as its official language and is in East Africa; their fashion industries have not achieved the same level of sophistication; issues of access to technology affect both countries (internet, digital mobile telephony, smartphones, etc.) Available data and statistics were gathered, dozens of creators and participants in the value chain were interviewed in both countries, and detailed results were presented. A few statistics provide a snapshot of the sector in these two countries, and illustrate their differences. In Cote d'Ivoire, women own 80% of businesses in the industry and close to half of the entrepreneurs are under the age of 35. These are also mostly SMEs, since 65% have fewer than 10 employees. Only 33% work with local suppliers. In Ethiopia, a pioneer in the textile industry in the region with more than 40,000 employees in the country, salaries are three times lower than in Cote d'Ivoire, the cost of electricity remains low due to the availability of hydroelectricity, and inputs are affordably priced. This country, where 36% of the businesses in the industry have over 500 employees, exports its products primarily to the United States and the European Union. Most of all, it receives institutional support, while the Ivorian industry does not. In both Cote d'Ivoire and Ethiopia, a large percentage of the businesses in the industry are still young, mostly less than 10 years old (46% and 51%, respectively). The average growth in the Ethiopian textile/clothing industry has been at 51% over the past six years and 60,000 jobs have been created since the H&M chain began operations in the country in 2013, subcontracting part of its production. This illustrates the sector's potential and the boom it is experiencing. These findings are confirmed in several other Sub-Saharan African countries. For example, Mauritius, with over 250 businesses and US $761.3 million in revenue, is the leading clothing textile exporter in Sub-Saharan Africa. Another example is Lesotho, where the number of textile/clothing businesses has more than doubled since 1999. The sector, which represents 60% of the country's exports, employs 80% of the manufacturing labour. During the August 23 presentation, the Fashionomics team reported that, in total, the clothing textile industry could generate 400,000 jobs in Sub-Saharan Africa and exports could double in the next 10 years. However, this boom is just beginning. The 10 largest African exporters in the textile/clothing industry only represent 0.5% of worldwide textile production. And although Africa produces 10% of the world's cotton, "we have very few textile factories," Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi emphasised during the presentation. Without sufficient industrialisation, much of the fabric is imported from Asia. In Cote d'Ivoire, for example, inputs can represent up to 50% of the product's cost. In Ethiopia, the sector has been focused on basic products (T-shirts, polos, etc.) with low production costs. Only 5% of land that could be used for cotton production is cultivated in that country. The sector's challenges in Africa are many: problems with skills, financing that is difficult to obtain, expensive real estate, lack of value added, supplier locations, competitiveness, administrative burdens, insufficient infrastructure and production capacity, access to markets, marketing, online payment issues in a region where banks are scarce, and so on. How should these challenges be met to help the textile and fashion industry in Africa become part of the worldwide value chain? Answering this question is precisely why the AfDB launched Fashionomics: to focus on the value chain. The goal is to connect and strengthen each link in the chain, from producers and suppliers of primary materials, to manufacturers and distributers, and of course including investors. The sector must be developed to open up its potential for revenue and job creation. Each year, 13 million Africans enter the job market, on a continent where problems of unemployment and youth employment have become even more acute through a demographic boom. For its part, the textile industry requires intensive labour. The Fashionomics initiative fits in line with the bank's high five priorities, and with the new 2016-2025 strategy for youth employment in Africa (Jobs for Youth). Dedicated B2B platform The two case studies on Cote d'Ivoire and Ethiopia are just the start of a large-scale market study that will eventually include the entire continent. This initial feasibility study has led to the creation of an ambitious project: building a dedicated website, a networking platform for all the links in the value chain (designers, suppliers, brokers, distributors, as well as investors) and a place to share knowledge (data, tutorials, market opportunities, etc.) in the textile and fashion sector. The final objective: to help members of the industry develop and grow their plan/business. This website, presented on Tuesday, August 23, was named Fashionomics after the initiative from which it came and is operational and bilingual (French/English). Following a working session called by the Office of the Special Envoy on Gender for members of the industry on Wednesday, August 24, to provide more details on this online platform, several designers-entrepreneurs and others will test it across the continent as a part of Fashionomics. The plan is to finalise it in the coming months. ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has launched its newest product, the Africa 'Statistical Flash', which captures macro-economic and social data on the continent, giving member states and stakeholders an indication of where things stand in Africa on a monthly basis. ECA Monthly stats report Director, Oliver Chinganya, of the ECA's African Centre for Statistics, says the Flash is a one-stop shop document that will provide an understanding of what is going on in Africa at a glimpse. Areas covered include price levels, the consumer price index, population, life expectancy and related issues. He said the Flash will look at a different country of the 54-member States every month. First to be featured by the Africa Statistical Flash are the 13 fastest growing African economies which are the drivers of Africa's GDP, among them Ethiopia, Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda and Ghana. "We will be collecting, analysing and making inference from the data and producing the Flash in French and English on a monthly basis," said Chinganya. The African Centre for Statistics has as its core mandate, to collect and disseminate credible African data. According to Chinganya, if an investor or researcher picks up the Africa Statistical Flash, he or she "will quickly be able to form an opinion on whether the Continent is moving in the direction that is expected and be informed of the GDP growth rate for that period of time. The Flash provides information on livelihoods, life expectancy, mortality rates, trade and related issues and offers key trends that researchers can use to predict the future. Among other areas of comparative analysis, the Africa Statistical Flash will provide information on trade between Africa's sub-regions, for example Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) versus the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The ECA is using focal points in all the 54 member States to collect, analyse and package the data for dissemination through the Africa Statistical Flash. It is also informed by other quality data sources. "We have now populated about 80% of the database; we are still cleaning it up before we can share it with the public." "If we are going to be that one stop-shop for critical data on Africa, we need to have credible data that can be used not only by us but also our member States; together with our partners, we aim to create our African Statistics Database," said Chinganya of efforts by the ECA, the African Union and the African Development Bank to create a robust African Statistics Database. Established by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations (UN) in 1958 as one of the UN's five regional commissions, ECA's mandate is to promote the economic and social development of its member States, foster intra-regional integration, and promote international cooperation for Africa's development. Made up of 54 member States, and playing a dual role as a regional arm of the UN and as a key component of the African institutional landscape, ECA is well positioned to make unique contributions to address the Continents development challenges. Subscribe to daily business and company news across 19 industries SUBSCRIBE Ugandan startup MOBFIT has developed what it describes as robust GSM-supported agricultural supply chain software, able to directly connect smallholder rural farmers to buyers at a low cost via SMS and automated voice call technology. Image by 123RF Launched last year and already used by over 300 farmers and over 1,000 buyers, MOBFIT allows a farmer to simply send an SMS with information about their produce to a short code. The system then generates a unique identification number for them. MOBFIT then receives offers from buyers, identifies the highest prices for particular produce, and connects these buyers directly to the farmers. The system allows farmers to negotiate prices before harvest and get paid upon delivery, while buyers have time to plan and get their produce on harvest day. Founder Charles Batte grew up in Kamwokya, an impoverished slum in the Ugandan capital of Kampala, and started his own farm eight years ago. Here he witnessed firsthand the challenges faced by farmers, especially in reaching the market. MOBFIT is his solution. Interacting with community members excites me most, he tells Disrupt Africa. I am always in the field seated, for instance, with a 17-year-old single mother discussing how our programme can support her agricultural endeavours to financially sustain her family and feed her child. Creating such grassroots impact and seeing the human-centred design approach changing lives in my own community is what inspires me to keep going. Bootstrapped thus far, Batte has encouraged significant uptake of MOBFIT via direct marketing to farmers, households, hotels and restaurants, but he is currently talking to venture capitalists and impact investors to help finance the scale-up process. The startup is hoping to raise US$500,000. It is MOBFITs use of dumb technology that sets it aside from many of its competitors in the agricultural space. The majority of tech solutions currently available that connect farmers to the market are applications supported on smartphones, which most farmers do not have, or use the more expensive USSD technology, Batte says. We have identified that gap in this marketplace and decided to develop a solution that is supported on the most basic GSM mobile phone, which the majority of our rural farmers possess. This broadens MOBFITs addressable market, and ensures it reaches out to those farmers that are most affected by the problem. Our solution applies basic API technology that allows a farmer to interact directly with a platform providing an interface for buyers by simply sending an SMS to a designated short code number, Batte says. The system is configured to create an auto-display on the interface with support from a system administrator when a farmer requests it. We track farmer locations by GPS, which enables us to cluster produce based on communities, districts and regions. This means even a farmer that produces little benefits as our system encourages them to pool produce. MOBFIT is generating revenue from commissions on sales made through the platform, advertising, and subscription fees, while Batte has also won cash at a number of startup competitions to help with running costs. He is seeking funding, however, to scale to other countries. We are currently operating in Uganda and looking forward to extending to Kenya and Rwanda, he says. Got a question or tip? Contact us at bizmojoidaho@gmail.com. Looking at socials historic influence on TV viewing, DigitalSmiths point out that in Q1 2013 only about 18% of Americans said social influenced their viewing habits, but in Q2 2015 28% said social influenced their viewing. Other options that influence viewing include voice search (1 in 10 people use) and third party websites or apps (35% use). This trend is likely because of the growing TVE component those who watch Televion Everywhere. People are now watching broadcast programming from mobile devices, laptops, during commutes or while traveling for vacation. Adobe Digital Insights notes in their Q2 2016 report that TVE usage continues to grow, although their research shows that connected TVs are leading in that area with 44% of time spent. Despite the fact that television is embracing multiscreen, the living room TV set is how most viewers watch today, write the researchers. In an environment where consumers demand reliable, high-quality video experiences across screens, connected devices present a major opportunity for media companies to deliver premium viewing thats personalized to the individual. U Min Htet, deputy section head of the BBC Burmese Service, told KIC News that it was easy to get the views of the other organisations attending the Union Peace Conference, but that military delegates were reluctant to speak to the media at the conference, held from 31 August to 3 September in Naypyidaw,. He said: The military is an important group. We made various attempts to find out their views but we could not get them. This made it very difficult for us. If they could fix this there would be more transparency and freedom. Opinions about the military might improve if they could share their views. Ko Wai Moe, a reporter from U.S.-based the New York Times said: Its difficult to ask their opinions concerning the military. Freedom of press is the foundation of democracy. Both the organisers and the (military) officials still seem to lack knowledge about this. There are limitations to getting their views, he added. Veteran journalist U Soe Than Linn called on the military to give media representatives information relating to the conference. He also said that there was a need for detailed responses at the Union Peace Conference press conferences. Nai Hong Sar, the vice-chairman of the New Mon State Party (NMSP) said: The military must follows orders from above. They dont have many democratic rights. They cant speak freely. If their superiors dont give them the right to speak, they cant say anything. If you ask the spokesperson he might answer you. Media representatives are also upset that they were not allowed to hear State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyis thank you speech given on the last day of the conference. Over 200 media representatives from local and foreign media covered the event according to the Myanmar Press Council. The joint chairs on the last day of the conference were: army representative Lieutenant-General Yar Pyae representing the army; government representative Dr Tin Myo Win; parliament representative Daw Shila Nan Taung; ethnic armed organisation representative U Khun Myint Tun and political parties representative U Myint Soe. Ten organisations, including the Burmese military, presented papers to the conference expressing their views. According to the Conference Preparatory Joint Committee, the second meeting of the Union Peace Conference is due to be held in six months time. Translated by Thida Linn Edited in English by Mark inkey for BNI According to an official from the Shan militias News and Information Department, government forces have been increased in and around Tangyan and Mongyai townships in northern Shan State, and Kehsi and Monghsu townships in southern Shan State areas under SSPP/SSA control. He said that now both sides are now confronting each other, although no clashes have yet been reported. According to SSPP/SSA veteran Gen. Hso Ten, such hostilities have to halt before both sides can talk about peace. If fighting still goes on, he said, it is impossible to continue with the peace process. The announcement of a nationwide ceasefire should be made before any peace conference, he said. If they declare [a truce], we will too. SSPP/SSA, a member of the United Nationalities Federal Council which has to date declined to sign the nationwide ceasefire agreement, or NCA, has previously approved state-level and union-level ceasefire accords with the former Burmese government administration headed by President Thein Sein. However, it did not sign the NCA alongside eight other ethnic armies on October 15 last year. The NCA remains the blueprint for peace talks dubbed the 21st Century Panglong Conference by current de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi the first round of which wrapped up this weekend in the Burmese capital. On August 28, only three days before the Union Peace Conference began, a Burmese government unit under North Eastern Command launched an offensive against SSPP/SSA positions in Mong Gao tract of Tangyan Township, Lashio District. Min Zaw Oo, the director of the Union Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC), said that the JMC has a mandate to help mediate during times of hostilities between sides that are signatories to the NCA. However, he said, conflicts with non-signatory armed groups are difficult to resolve. Min Zaw Oo added: When this type of situation arises, at a lower level, they will not be able to resolve the problem. At the opening ceremony of the five-day peace conference, which kicked off on August 31, Burmas Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing said that every armed group has to follow the militarys stated Six-point Principles in the peace process. The Burmese militarys Six-point Principles are: to maintain a keen desire to reach eternal peace; to keep promises agreed to in peace deals; to avoid capitalizing on the peace agreement; to avoid placing a heavy burden on local people; to strictly abide by existing laws; and to march towards a democratic country in accordance with the 2008 Constitution. Mutton Chaap Recipe For Bakrid Mutton oi-Sowmya Shekar After a series of all the Hindu festivals, it's that time of the year to celebrate the second most important festival of the Muslims and that's Bakrid. Yes, Bakrid is a very important festival that is celebrated with zeal and zest across the world. This year, Bakrid falls on September 12th that is on a Monday, across India (though the dates at times can vary). Well, on this special day, you need to prepare some of the best recipes. Many non-vegetarian recipes are prepared, among which mutton chaap is one recipe that you have got to prepare for Bakrid. Mutton chaap tastes best when it is served with hot rotis and biryani. There are two ways in which you can prepare this recipe. You could either barbecue the coated mutton pieces or you can pressure cook them. However you'd like to prepare the mutton chaap, let us assure you it tastes really great and is worth a try! So, read on to know how to prepare the mutton chaap curry recipe for Bakrid. Serves - 4 Cooking time - 20 minutes Preparation time - 1 and a 1/2 hours Ingredients Mutton pieces - 500 g Onion paste - 3 teaspoons Ginger & garlic paste - 3 to 4 teaspoons Chilli flakes - 1 teaspoon Dhania (Coriander) Powder - 2 teaspoons Red Chilli Powder - 2 teaspoons Lemon Juice - 2 teaspoons Tomato Puree - 1 cup Curd - 1/2 cup Salt Procedure Take a large bowl, add the mutton pieces into it. To it add curd, red chilli powder, dhania powder and chilli flakes. Let it marinate for about 1 hour. After the mentioned time, take a pressure cooker, add some oil, onion paste, ginger and garlic paste and saute it well. Then, add the marinated mutton pieces, salt and lemon juice. Saute all the ingredients well and add water accordingly to make it into a gravy. Pressure cook it for 4 whistles. Open the lid after the mentioned time and serve it to your family members and friends on the occasion of Bakrid. This is a simple and rich recipe that you have to try for Bakrid. Prepare this recipe and let us know your feedback. GET THE BEST BOLDSKY STORIES! Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, September 6, 2016, 13:45 [IST] Four years ago, Coloradans voted to legalize marijuana for adults, and gave individual localities the opportunity to decide if they would allow retail marijuana shops. And, throughout the area, a revolt against retail marijuana sales smolders in a state awash in $1 billion of legal pot. PUEBLO WEST, Colo. Out here, in this unincorporated community of 30,000, there are miles of barren scrub-brush dotted with wild sunflowers. Low-slung houses sit on East Gun Powder Lane and North Cougar Drive. Theres a Walmart Supercenter, a Little Caesars, a Safeway with a small Starbucks tucked inside. But after local officials here welcomed the new industry, anti-marijuana activists in Pueblo County gathered enough signatures to force an unprecedented question on the November ballot: whether to terminate recreational marijuana sales and operations. Advertisement The Pueblo campaign comes just as Massachusetts and four other states are poised to vote on marijuana legalization Nov. 8. The debate in Colorado serves as a cautionary tale about the ambivalence of a community that has lived with legal marijuana and its myriad consequences, negative and positive. Backers of the Pueblo repeal effort say retail marijuana shops and farms have brought increased vagrancy, crime, and an undesirable reputation as the pot capital of southern Colorado. Supporters of the status quo say the new industry has helped revitalize an area that has long struggled economically. Repeal, they say, would cost more than a thousand jobs. It would be giving in to the retrograde impulses of prohibitionists. Possessing and using marijuana will remain legal in the county if voters back the measure. So will shops selling medical marijuana. But the facilities that are engaged in the recreational trade more than 100 dispensaries, cultivation facilities, and infused product manufacturers would have to shut down within a year. The ballot question will force voters here to balance an array of competing claims. Has life in the county changed for better or for worse since the first dispensary opened in early 2014? Has crime gone up or down? Are the increased economic activity, jobs, and tax revenue worth the cost? Advertisement And is it wise or even possible to put the marijuana genie back in the bottle? Los Suenos Farms is one of several marijuana-growing facilities that have sprung up in Pueblo County since legalization was approved statewide in Colorado in 2012. Mike Sweeney for The Boston Globe/Globe Freelance . . . Paula McPheeters, a budget manager at the local community college who is leading the ballot effort, says she got involved after an off-hand comment from one of her sons. As she tells it, she was driving with him down a main drag in West Pueblo. The fifth-grader, who had just finished a D.A.R.E anti-drug program at school, spotted a dispensary and asked why marijuana was being sold legally in their hometown. McPheeters didnt have a good answer. But when he asked what she was going to do about it, McPheeters, 45, said it was an epiphany moment. She started attending county commissioner meetings, opposing new marijuana facilities. A registered Republican, she expressed worry about rising crime and what she saw as a sharp uptick in homelessness. I dont mean your typical down-and-out guy in his 60s with a bottle, she said. Im talking 20-somethings. And thats what really struck me: What are they doing here? Paula McPheeters is a member of the Citizens For Healthy Pueblo. Mike Sweeney for The Boston Globe/Globe Freelance Pueblo County is split between the city of Pueblo (population: 109,000) and a sprawling rural area (population: 54,000). The majority of city voters cast ballots to legalize marijuana in 2012, but the majority of the rest of the county voted against it. Yet all of the recreational shops, grow operations, and marijuana product manufacturers ended up outside the city. Advertisement So, McPheeters says, she and her fellow residents who are most directly impacted by the industry want a direct say in whether it stays or goes. (The county and city will have separate repeal ballot measures, so the vote in one wont affect the vote in the other.) But at the heart of her argument is another factor: She doesnt like how legalization changed small things in her familys daily life. McPheeters bristles at the potent smell of marijuana when she drives past some of the cultivation facilities. She hates that her kids school is near several dispensaries. Shes frustrated by the full-page ads in the local paper with huge photos of buds and coupons for $1 joints with a purchase of $20 or more. We dont want our community identified by this anymore, McPheeters said. . . . County Commissioner Sal Pace, the chief opponent of the ballot effort, likes that his community is seen as a center for marijuana innovation. There are more than 1,300 Pueblo County jobs in the industry, according to its own count. And, Pace said, almost $4 million in annual tax revenue has gone to college scholarships, 4H and Future Farmers of America efforts, medical marijuana research at Colorado State University Pueblo, among other areas. Pace, a Democrat, notes that the county much poorer on average than Colorado as a whole is getting in on the ground floor of an industry that could go national in the years to come. Advertisement Its going to be legalized nationally no matter what, says Pueblo County Commissioner Sal Pace. Mike Sweeney for The Boston Globe/Globe Freelance Thats one thing opponents here in Pueblo dont understand, he said. Its going to be legalized nationally no matter what and they can be left behind if they want, but if they do it to our community its one more really hard attack on Pueblo, one more lost opportunity. Its like the steel mill closing again. Pace likes the idea, as he told Fortune magazine recently, of his home turf being like the Napa Valley of cannabis. What Pace doesnt like: the prospect of suddenly killing the progress that county has made. The ballot measure to roll back the recreational marijuana industry, he said, would have a huge and tragic impact on the economy. In an interview with the Globe over lunch at the Colorado State Fair, the sound of livestock braying in the background, Pace decried the referendum effort as driven by narrow-minded NIMBYism. But Pace, the father of three young children, dismissed the idea that the cannabis industry had fundamentally changed the feel of the community. And with predictions of a $20 billion legal marijuana industry nationwide by 2020, he had a question for the proponents of the ballot push: Why dont you want that free money? . . . Pueblo County Sheriff Kirk M. Taylor, who has been on the job for 10 years and in law enforcement for almost 30, doesnt think legalization has been without a cost, and he will definitely vote for the repeal. Advertisement Its almost the perfect storm, he said. Inviting the industry here brings with it the collateral issues that were seeing now in Pueblo. Whether it be increased emergency room visits, increasing crime, nuisance crimes. Serious crimes like murder, rape, and arson are actually down over the past 2 years, he said. But nuisance crimes such as simple assaults, harassment, vandalism are up. The media decides which narrative they want to perpetuate, Taylor said, chuckling. Taylor notes, however, there has been a proliferation of busts of black-market marijuana operations. The culprits are often from other states or countries and sometimes affiliated with cartels. None of the busts I have done within Pueblo County with these home-grows have been anything related to recreational marijuana except for the fact that they are here because we have become such a marijuana-friendly county. Its the only correlation or nexus you can draw between the two, he said. Predictions that legalization would kill the black market, Taylor noted, were false. Criminals from everywhere, he said, are attracted to Pueblo because they think it is a good place to grow cannabis. Just recently, Taylor said, he arrested more than 17 Cuban-Americans from Florida, two Russians, and an Argentinian. Theyre not coming for any other reason than to grow marijuana to take out of state, he said. Yet Mason Tvert, a key Colorado and national legalization advocate, said the idea of eliminating a legal, regulated market as a way to undermine the black market is logically unsound. He said the problem is not Colorados law, its the fact that other states dont have Colorados law. . . . With rain on the horizon, dozens of shoppers headed for the Safeway in Pueblo West one evening last week. Residents were split on whether to embrace the marijuana repeal and its not clear how the vote will shake out. Shannon McPherson, a social worker, said marijuana legalization has been bad for the whole Pueblo community. The 47-year-old, who works at a hospital, said we see a lot more homeless people we see a lot of people that have come without resources, that end up tapping our resources. Jason White, 44, owns a property management company and expressed frustration he has had to deal with marijuana-smoking squatters in some of his properties. Weve got more crime. Weve got more people on the street. Our hospitals are filled with people, he said. And what of the economic benefits? Its a net negative, he insisted. The extra revenue that comes in, all its doing is going to the overwhelmed homeless shelters, hospitals, and the police. Davis Dossantos, 43, said hes seen an uptick in vagrancy and panhandling since legalization. But, walking out of the grocery store, Dossantos said he would vote against the ballot initiative because, he indicated, people will still use marijuana but will probably not drive somewhere else to buy it legally. Youre not really tackling the issue, he said, shaking his head. Youre forcing the individuals to go back to the drug dealers, and the black market will flourish even more. Joshua Miller can be reached at joshua.miller@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jm_bos. SEOUL (AFP): North Korea fired three ballistic missiles off its east coast on Monday, Seoul said, a new show of force that comes as top world leaders meet at the G20 summit in China. The missiles were fired into the Sea of Japan (East Sea) from the North's Hwangju county at around 0300 GMT, a defense ministry spokesman said, more sabre-rattling that follows a submarine-launched ballistic missile test some two weeks ago. It is not known yet what type of missile was launched on Monday, the spokesman said, adding that South Korea's military was analysing the test. North Korea has staged a string of missile tests this year, with the most recent August 24 submarine-launched ballistic missile flying some 500 kilometres (300 miles) towards Japan. That launch, which was widely-condemned, marked what weapons analysts described as a clear step forward for North Korea's nuclear strike ambitions. Today's missile launch came hours after South Korean President Park Geun-Hye and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sideline of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou. China is the North's sole major ally and economic lifeline but ties have strained recently over the North's nuclear and missile tests that raised tension on the peninsula. The Government is not underestimating anxiety in Northern Ireland about being taken out of the EU, a senior diplomat has said. Dan Mulhall, Ireland's ambassador to London, also called for the North to be "front and centre" of imminent negotiations between Downing Street and Brussels on Brexit. Appearing before a parliamentary committee in Westminster, Mr Mulhall said the North was the Republic of Ireland's "most acute" concern in relation to Britain's decision to leave the bloc. "The Irish Government does not underestimate the sense of disquiet now felt by many people in Northern Ireland at the prospect of the loss of their connection to the European Union," he said. Mr Mulhall told the UK's House of Lords Select Committee on the EU that hard work was needed by all to avoid a hard border being erected between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. "Any effort to control the free movement of people across the Irish border, or indeed between Britain and Ireland, would be very damaging and I trust that no one would want to contemplate such a step," he told the peers. "I hope and trust that the particular circumstances that apply in Northern Ireland will be front and centre when it comes to the working out of the UK's future relations with the EU." The senior diplomat told the parliamentary committee that Brexit will usher in a new era for relations between Britain and the Republic. "When the UK does leave the EU, Northern Ireland will be in the unique position whereby almost all of its residents are entitled to citizenship of an EU country, Ireland, and we must be alert to the particular circumstances those Irish and EU citizens," he added. Update 3pm: The fall in QS World University Rankings for all except one Irish university is due to budget cuts, rising student numbers and high student-teacher ratios, according to the Union of Students in Ireland (USI). The USI said that State funding has been cut by a third from 1.4bn to 923m since 2008, and staff numbers have fallen from over 9,000 to below 8,000 while student numbers have increased by nearly 40,000 to more than 190,000. They also said that there has been a "huge rise" in temporary or contract work with a government-commissioned report by senior counsel Michael Cush finding that up to two-thirds of lecturing staff in some higher education institutions are not full-time or permanent. Annie Hoey, USI President, said: Student numbers have increased by 18% and the rise of zero-hour contracts to employ academic staff doesnt encourage or attract people to the profession. "This has a negative effect on the quality of the teaching, the quality of the learning and the quality of the institutions." USI proposed a 500 minimum reduction in fees, a 140m investment in higher education and a reinstatement of postgraduate grants in its pre-Budget submission. Ms Hoey said: "The reinstatement of the postgraduate grants will cost 53 million. "USIs proposal for the Government to reverse cuts to student grants made in the 2011 Budget and the 2012 Budget will cost 12.3m. The minimum reduction of the student contribution charge by 500 will cost 34m per 500." Update 9.30am: The education sector is starting to crack at the edges according to the Union of Students in Ireland. USI President Annie Hoey was speaking as new ranks showed all but one of our universities slipping down international rankings. The USIs pre-budget submission calls for a 140m investment in third level education. They are also looking for a 500 reduction in registration fees and a reversal of cuts to student grants. Ms Hoey said the education sector badly needed investment. The sector has been running at maximum capacity, she said. Budgets have been cut right, left and centre. Student numbers have increased by 18% and the student-teacher ratios are nearly going obscene. Obviously, the institutions themselves are really starting to crack at the edges. Trinity College Dublin Earlier: All of Ireland's universities, bar one, have slipped down the international rankings. The new rankings show that, while four Irish universities remain in the top 300, Trinity College Dublin (TCD) has barely stayed in the top 100 and University College Dublin (UCD) is down 22 places to 176th. Other than NUI Galway - the only one to make gains in the 2016 QS World University Rankings - all Irish universities have fallen substantially since 2009 due largely to funding and staff cuts. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) tops the QS rankings for a fifth successive year. In an unprecedented statement, the presidents of TCD and UCD are calling for the Government and opposition parties to implement the Cassells report. Published by Education Minister Richard Bruton in July, it said an extra 600m a year must be spent on higher education by 2021, rising to 1bn by 2030. The sector has seen annual State funding cut by one third from 1.4bn to 923m since 2008, and academic staff fall from over 9,000 to below 8,000. In the same period, third-level student numbers have increased by nearly 40,000 to over 190,000. However, no Government decision on how the funding gap should be bridged will be made until the Cassells report is debated by the Oireachtas Education Committee this autumn. TCD provost Patrick Prendergast and UCD president Andrew Deeks said the political system must now make the difficult choices needed to improve higher education funding and how it is distributed. A significant start has to be made in the forthcoming budget to signal that the Government is serious about investing in our young people and providing them with the skills needed to survive and thrive in an increasingly competitive global environment, they said. The future of the country depends on it. Among the biggest drop is University College Corks 50-place fall from 233 to 283rd, and now trailing NUI Galway. UCC was in the top 200 from 2010 to 2012, reaching 181st in 2011. Maynooth University is now ranked between 650 and 700, after being in the 550-600 banding a year ago and the top 450 in 2010. The QS World University Rankings show NUI Galway has moved up 22 places to 249th in the world. The chart of more than 4,000 third level institutions puts M.I.T. in Boston at number one, followed by Stanford and Harvard. NUIG president Dr Jim Browne said its international reach was being advanced by rising international student numbers, and collaborations with an array of industry partners, facilitated by high-calibre research and teaching. Dublin Institute of Technology is also included in the QS rankings, and it drops from the 601-650 band to the next lowest, 651-700. Michael Murphy, president of University College Cork, said the country no longer has the luxury to postpone political decisions on bridging the funding shortfall to the sector. The genie is out of the bottle, despite our efforts to put a brave face on it. The realities are now coming out in repeated ranking outcomes, said Dr Murphy. UCC was 181st in the QS rankings in 2011 but Dr Murphy said the loss of 12% of senior science and medical academics has had a big impact because of the importance attached in rankings to research. This article first appeared in the Read More: Pat Hickey is due to speak with police in Rio later today. The former President of the Olympic council of Ireland is one of two Irish men being investigated in connection with alleged ticket touting at the summer games. He was released from jail last week and is due to speak with officers today. It is expected his case will be handed over to the courts later this week. It comes as Kevin Mallon refused to answer police questions in Rio yesterday. Both men deny they've done anything wrong. Reporter Matt Sandy in Rio said police had previously questioned Kevin Mallon, and something in their subsequent investigations let them to wish to re-question him, but he refused to answer questions. A water protester, who shouted abuse at President Michael D Higgins and called him a parasite midget, has been spared a jail sentence, writes Tom Tuite. Father-of-three Derek Byrne (36), from Streamville Rd, Kilbarrack, Dublin, was fined 300 by Judge Bryan Smyth at Dublin District Court on Tuesday. Security guard Byrne was found guilty of engaging in threatening, abusive and insulting words or behaviour with intent to provoke a breach of the peace or being reckless as to whether a breach of the peace may be occasioned. The abuse was directed at the President during a protest outside Colaiste Eoin secondary school at Cappagh Road in Finglas in Dublin on January 23 last year. The president and his wife Sabina had been visiting Colaiste Eoin as part of its fiftieth anniversary celebrations. The protest was organised through Facebook because the president had signed the Water Services Bill into law. About 40 people turned up outside the school shortly before 10am. Garda Chief Superintendent John Quirke said many of them had their faces covered with hats and scarves. He said that when the President's cavalcade arrived protesters tried to block his car and a generally nasty atmosphere developed. The Chief Supt. said he was punched by someone. He agreed with defence counsel Prionsias O Maolchalain BL that he did not see Derek Byrne shoving or attacking anyone. He said Byrne had a megaphone and was wearing a GMC Sierra jacket . Garda Sergeant Peter Hayde told Judge Smyth that protesters were trying to impede the President's car. Abuse was shouted and the President was called a traitor. Gda Sgt Hayde said Byrne was shouting midget and parasite and profanities were directed at Sabina Higgins by protesters. Gda Sgt Hayde said he found the words to be threatening and insulting. Mrs Higgins was called a slut while children were present but there was no suggestions Byrne was responsible for that comment. Just over an hour later, when the entourage was departing, Byrne began running along side the President's car and shouting in the window. Gda Sgt Hayde said that he went down on the ground while tackling another protester. He said Derek Byrne started to abuse him and called him a fucking prick. He alleged Byrne was roaring at me. Video clips from the protest were later uploaded to Youtube, the court heard. Some clips were played in court and men and woman could be seen confronting gardai. In the clips, there was also chanting of traitor, little midget parasite, fucking scumbag and shame, shame, shame when the President arrived. Some were also chanting no way we won't pay. Gardai were taunted about having their wages cut. It was put to the garda that words like parasite were part of political discourse but Gda Sgt Hayde said Byrne made references to gardai and they were called clowns and glow-sticks . The sergeant also alleged Byrne called him a fucking pig. Garda Inspector Aidan Flanagan told the court that protesters had placards and banners and some of them tried to get around the President's car and to block it entering the school. He said he heard Derek Byrne shout abuse at the President and call him a fucking parasite, little fucking midget. This continued for some time, said Inspector Flanagan. When they were leaving people had to be restrained form blocking the car, he said. Garda Mary Kilcommons said she and her colleagues were outnumbered by the protesters. She said Byrne was using a megaphone to call gardai corrupt and puppets protecting a parasite . She alleged that Byrne said ye gardai get allowances for socks and uniforms. She said there were only two women gardai present at this stage. She alleged he said to them: I suppose you female guards get an allowance for being on the rags and he said he was told by another protester that he had overstepped the mark. The defence put it to her that he did not make that comment but she said he did and if I was going to make up something I would make up something better than that, I've been called many things in the job but that has never been said to me. She said that one woman attacked her and another woman threatened to batter her. As this happened Byrne was pointing his camera shouting at her, she told the court. The President's aide de camp Commandant Louise Conlon gave evidence in the trial. She travelled in the same car as him and was sitting in the front passenger seat. She said that when they arrived abuse was shouted towards him and Sabina Higgins was called a slut. She could hear the chanting outside as the President gave a speech in the school. She said that when they departed the car became engulfed, adding I was concerned something is going to happen. Prosecution solicitor Michael Durkan argued that the situation was a powder keg. Defence counsel Prionsias O Maolchalain BL argued that his client apologised in the media for comments he made about the president. He said Byrne was involved in water protest movement and trying to protect communities from the hardship of austerity. He said some of the comments were clearly tongue in cheek and not made in an aggressive manner and his client was motivated by public spiritedness. He regrets the comments and a conviction could jeopardise his job, counsel said. The offence can carry a three-month jail sentence. Judge Smyth noted Byrne is working as a security guard, is supporting a family and has no prior criminal convictions. He said he was satisfied there was sufficient evidence to convict Byrne fined him 300. Co-defendant Anna Clarke (35) from St Donagh's Road, Donaghmede, Dublin but now living in England, was facing the same charge but was not present for the hearing. Judge Smyth dismissed her charge on the grounds that the evidence of her identification was not sufficient. British Airways has apologised to passengers for delays after an IT glitch hit check-in systems. Angry travellers complained of hours queuing at airports in Europe and the US, while some passengers also experienced problems with online check-in. Responding to passengers on Twitter in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the airline wrote: "We apologise to our customers for the delay and we appreciate their patience as our IT teams work to resolve this issue." A BA spokeswoman later said the airline was "checking in normally across all of our airports", but added that the process at Heathrow and Gatwick would be "a bit slower than usual". Ewan Crawford, of Glasgow, who was waiting at Chicago O'Hare International Airport for a flight to Heathrow, tweeted: "Never a good sign when they deliver water to the gate! Waiting at ORD for @British_Airways 296. Worldwide computer outage apparently! Hmm." Matthew Walker, another passenger hoping to fly from the US to London, said he had been waiting for more than two hours to board his flight at Seattle Airport. The 29-year-old financial analyst, who lives in London but is originally from Australia, checked in online before arriving to catch his flight but said staff on the ground could not access their computer systems to see which passengers had gone through security. Speaking from the airport, he told the Press Association: "People were lining up, some had already checked in and got through security, but others, when this thing happened, whatever it is, were stuck in the check-in queue. "So they (the staff) have the problem that they didn't know who had already gone through the gate because all the systems literally just had a meltdown, basically." Magazine writer Stefano Andrean said: "I've waited an hour so far at Berlin airport check-in for Heathrow. No information from staff at all. Not acceptable." Chris Black, from London, described the BA check-in process in Polish capital Warsaw as "rubbish". Passengers at Heathrow Terminal 5 reported waits of about 45 minutes to check in. Elaine and Paul Barnett, who had come from Sheffield to travel to Sardinia, said the process had taken "longer than usual" and they had been required to give extra details once they reached the desk. "You really have to get here early and expect that it's busy," Ms Barnett said. Earlier problems appeared to have been smoothed out by early morning, with most queues moving. Patrick Darby, from Dulwich, south London, who was travelling to Russia, said: "There was a hold-up when nothing seemed to happen but that has eased up now." In July BA had to apologise after a glitch in its new check-in system caused delays. The airline began installing the system at airports across the world in October last year and the rollout was completed earlier this year. On the latest issues, BA said in a statement: "We are checking in customers at Heathrow and Gatwick Airport this morning as normal, although it may take longer than usual. "We would encourage customers to check in online before they reach the airport." A blockade of the main motorway into Calais by lorries, police, union members, shopkeepers and farmers demanding the Jungle migrant camp be demolished has come to an end. Eurotunnel said the protest on the A16 had dispersed and traffic would be back to normal on Tuesday. A Eurotunnel spokesman told the Press Association: "Eurotunnel services have been operating normally all day. Some freight traffic was held back but, due to a lot of discussion and forward planning before the protest, most had been diverted and came at the weekend or last week." Eurotunnel informed customers that its passenger service was running to schedule and they could use the A16 to reach the terminal. Trucks, vans and tractors had made their way to the junction at the entrance to the Eurotunnel on Monday morning. They said they would refuse to budge until the French government takes action over the migrant crisis, but it is understood they agreed to end the protest following concessions from the government, according to the Eurotunnel spokesman. The blockades were being lifted after the region's leading state official said the huge makeshift camp would be dismantled and funds made available for struggling businesses, Associated Press reported. Representatives of farmers, truckers and merchants came away from a meeting with the state representative of the region, Fabienne Buccio, with a new commitment - but no date - that the camp would be completely dismantled "in a single step". Mr Buccio also said a special fund to help businesses in need would be activated and more than 230 extra security staff brought in, bringing the total to over 2,000. However the hauliers threatened to stage fresh protests and keep blocking the A16 if the migrant camp is not dismantled. Ahead of the protest, police were forced to set up roadblocks to prevent vehicles from entering the motorway. British holidaymakers were left to find back road routes to the shuttle and ferry terminals. Antoine Ravisse, president of the Grand Rassemblement du Calaisis, a coalition of businesses, said the campaigners want assurances from the French government that the roads in Calais will be made safe again. "It's unacceptable that today in France you can't travel without fear and without the certainty that you won't be attacked," he said. A member of Co-ordination Rurale, which had a convoy of 23 tractors taking part in the action, said French farmers are being badly affected by the migrant camp. He said fields surrounding the area are full of rubbish and human excrement, fences have been torn down and crops trampled. "We are in the blockade with the lorry drivers, it is us who are suffering as well," he added. "The camp must go. They cannot get to England so why are they allowed to stay here?" Despite efforts to reduce numbers by dismantling the slum's southern section earlier this year, up to 9,000 migrants from countries including Sudan, Syria and Eritrea are living there in squalor. A "small army" of men stabbed a 17-year-old to death after "hunting him down" at a teenage party that was advertised on Instagram. Che Labistide-Wellington, a college student from Kensal Green, was knifed in the heart at the 16th birthday celebration in Kenton, north London. One of his 16-year-old friends, who cannot be named because of his age, was also stabbed multiple times. The pair were attacked by a group of 17, several armed with knives, in a feud between neighbouring estates in north-west London, a court heard. Seven of the group are on trial for murder and wounding at the Old Bailey, central London. Che Labastide-Wellington. Despite all the guests being searched before admission, one of the defendant's brothers took a machete with him in his rucksack, the court was told. Prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC said that a flyer for the event was posted on Instagram, which meant that "inevitably a number of people who had not been invited got to hear about it". He told the jury that a "small army" of youths descended on the gathering to "sort out" the victim, who was outside in the street. Mr Aylett said: "Once the defendants' group had arrived... they immediately attacked as a group - surrounding Che and his friends. "As Che and his friends tried to escape, the defendants' group - as a group - hunted them down." Che, who was apparently carrying a blade himself, was knifed once in the chest and collapsed in a nearby alleyway on November 7 2015. He was pronounced dead at the scene by 1.30am. The second victim was chased down and stabbed six times in the back, side, arm and leg. He was taken to hospital and given six units of blood, which saved his life. In a cruel twist of fate, Che's mother Carlene Wellington gave birth to another son less than 24 hours before he was killed. "She sent Che a photograph of his new brother on Saturday. It was arranged that Che would visit his mother and the baby the following day, Sunday," Mr Aylett said. "Instead, in the early hours of Sunday, Carlene found out that her son Che had been killed." Calvin Tudor, 22, of Willesden, Walker Sesay, 18, of Wembley, Rimmel Williams, 18, of Willesden, Marlon Tudor, 23, of Neasden, Omar Afrah, 22, of Wembley, Ibrahim Mansaray, 18, of Acton, and Olamilekan Onafowokan, 23, of Wembley, are all charged with murder by joint enterprise and wounding. A 15-year-old from Willesden, who cannot be named, faces a charge of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm. Keith Vaz is to quit as chairman of the influential House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee in the UK after he was embroiled in rent boy revelations. Announcing his resignation, the British Labour MP said: "Those who hold others to account must themselves be accountable." Mr Vaz's statement had been circulated to media under an embargo until later on Tuesday but it was widely reported on social media. Mr Vaz said: "It is in the best interest of the Home Affairs Select Committee that its important work can be conducted without any distractions whatsoever. "I am genuinely sorry that recent events make it impossible for this to happen if I remain chair. "I have always been passionate about select committees, having served as either chair or member for half of my time in Parliament. The integrity of the select committee system matters to me. "Those who hold others to account must themselves be accountable." He insisted he was "immeasurably proud" of the work the committee has undertaken over the last nine years, adding that he is "privileged to have been the longest serving chair of this committee". Mr Vaz said: "This work has included the publication of 120 reports, hearing evidence from ministers 113 times, and hearing from a total of 1,379 witnesses." He said the decision to resign and stand aside immediately from the committee's business was "my decision, and mine alone" and "my first consideration has been the effect of recent events on my family". Mr Vaz has recommended that, in the interim, Conservative MP Tim Loughton should chair proceedings. He said: "After speaking to the House authorities, I will formally tender my resignation to Mr Speaker so that it coincides with the timetable for the election of other committee chairs, such as the Brexit Committee, Culture, Media and Sport, and Science and Technology, so that the elections can take place together." He thanked fellow committee members past and present "for their tremendous support", as well as Commons and committee clerks. Update 3.25pm: Sinn Fein MEP Matt Carthy has called for the closure of the Sellafield nuclear plant in England. Shocking revelations by the BBC's Panorama programme last night showed dangerous, radioactive material stored in degrading plastic bottles. It also revealed that there is a lack of workers on the site on Britains Cumbria coast, and major risks of a major radioactive fire with devastating consequences right across western Europe. Mr Carthy said: Sellafield, which is a dirty word in Ireland, a nuclear free country, is now a threat to all of Europe. It must be closed and there should be a halt to the construction of any further nuclear power plants near the Irish Sea. The east coast of Ireland, particularly counties Louth and Meath, would be very directly threatened by any accident or fire at Sellafield. There has already been a long list of contamination incidents at Sellafield which is a grave threat to the health of citizens, not just in Britain itself but in Ireland and other European countries. Clearly the Irish Government must confront their British counterparts on this issue. Sellafield must be closed and we need to see concerted political action, especially by the Irish Government but also at a European level to this end. I intend to raise the Sellafield issue, and in particular the latest disturbing revelations, with EU Environment Commissione, Karmenu Vellaat the earliest opportunity. Earlier: Sellafield nuclear site is not a danger to the public, the British Government has insisted after a whistleblower warned of a string of safety concerns. The UK's Business minister Nick Hurd told MPs there the safety regulator is already aware of fears raised in a BBC Panorama programme and that "important progress has been made". The BBC said its investigation was prompted by a former senior manager turned whistleblower who was worried about conditions at the site in Cumbria. Answering an urgent question, Mr Hurd told the British House of Commons: "In relation to Sellafield, I can assure the House there is no safety risk to site staff or the public and it is wrong to suggest otherwise." He added: "The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) is satisfied, and has confirmed again this morning, that Sellafield is safe. "The regulation of these facilities is the ONR's top priority, with a team of around 50 inspectors deployed. The ONR requires the site to continuously improve. "The ONR has confirmed that none of the issues raised in the Panorama programme are new. "The ONR operates transparently. The issues facing Sellafield have been reported to Parliament in the ONR's annual report and accounts where the ONR concluded that important progress has been made." In Monday's Panorama show it was alleged that parts of the nuclear facility regularly have too few staff to operate safely and that radioactive plutonium and uranium have been stored in plastic bottles. The whistleblower is reported to have told the programme his biggest fear was a fire breaking out in one of the nuclear waste silos or one of the processing plants. The head of nuclear safety at Sellafield, Dr Rex Strong, told the BBC the site is safe and has been improved with significant investment in recent years. Labour MP Jamie Reed, who described himself as a "third generation Sellafield worker", urged the regulator to respond to the allegations on a "point-by-point basis". The Copeland MP said the site is a "national asset" and the British Government should commit to longer-term financing of it. Raising the urgent question, Mr Reed said: "Viability and accountability for the work undertaken there should be welcomed, I would like to see more of it and I would like to see this done in a robust and responsible way." Mr Hurd said Sellafield is "uniquely challenging" as the site of the UK's earliest nuclear programmes, when there was no plan for disposing of nuclear waste. He insisted that the regulator is "doing their job and progress is being made". Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte has expressed regret over his "son of a whore" remark while referring to Barack Obama. In a statement read out by his spokesman, Mr Duterte said his "strong comments" to certain questions by a reporter "elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the US president". Mr Duterte made the remarks on Monday before flying to Laos, where he will attend a regional summit. He had been scheduled to meet Mr Obama separately, but that meeting was called off by the Obama administration. "Clearly, he's a colourful guy," Mr Obama said. "What I've instructed my team to do is talk to their Philippine counterparts to find out is this in fact a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations." National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said the meeting with Mr Duterte was off. Mr Duterte has been under intense global scrutiny over the more than 2,000 suspected drug dealers and users killed since he took office. Mr Obama had said he planned to raise the issue in his first meeting with Mr Duterte, but the Philippines leader insisted he was only listening to his own country's people. "You must be respectful," Mr Duterte said of Mr Obama. "Do not just throw questions." Using the Tagalog phrase for "son of a whore", he said: "Putang ina I will swear at you in that forum." He made the comment to reporters in Davao City. Eager to show he would not yield, Mr Obama said he would "undoubtedly" still bring up human rights and due process concerns "if and when" the two meet. Syrian government aircraft have dropped suspected chlorine bombs on a crowded neighbourhood in Aleppo, injuring dozens, according to rescue workers in the contested city. Ibrahem Alhaj, a member of the Syria Civil Defence first responders team, said he got to the scene of the suspected gas attack shortly after a helicopter dropped barrels containing what he said were four chlorine cylinders. The United Nations Security Council has strongly condemned North Korea's latest ballistic missile launches and threatened "further significant measures" if the country refuses to stop its nuclear and missile tests. The UN's most powerful body agreed to the tough statement hours after a closed-door emergency meeting to discuss the three launches which landed near Japan. The council expressed serious concern that North Korea carried out the launches "in flagrant disregard" of its demands. It called for stepped-up implementation of sanctions against North Korea. The United States, Japan and South Korea earlier called on the Security Council to speak out. US Ambassador Samantha Power said: "The Security Council must remain unequivocal and united in condemnation of these tests and we must take action to enforce the words we put on paper - to enforce our resolutions." North Korea launched the missiles while China was hosting the Group of 20 economic summit, she said, once again showing the North's "blatant disregard" for UN sanctions and its international obligations "and its willingness to provoke and to threaten the international community with impunity". Ms Power said North Korea has carried out 22 missile launches so far this year and the latest hit "within 300 kilometres of Japan's coast". With each test, she said, North Korea demonstrates further advancement of its ballistic missile programme whose aim, according to the country's leader Kim Jong Un, is "to arm the systems with nuclear weapons". Japan's UN Ambassador Koro Bessho said he was encouraged that in the council meeting "there was a much stronger show of unity" and all members "condemned the launches in very strong terms". South Korea's deputy UN ambassador Hahn Choong Hee said the international community should be united in sending a "clear and unequivocal message to North Korea that if they continue to provoke and violate their international commitments and sanctions, they will face much stronger and insurmountable and significant counter-measures from the international community". PARIS: Iranians took to the streets around the country again on Friday to protest against the killings of youths in ... The air cargo markets deceleration this year had a greater impact on third-quarter cargo revenues at American Airlines than its primary rivals, Delta and United Airlines. But the best revenue quarter in company history and a $483 million profit painted a positive financial picture that could be replicated in the final quarter thanks to resilient [] LONDON: Rishi Sunak will on Wednesday face off against opposition lawmakers for the first time as British prime... James May fined just minutes after taking collection of a new motorbike Gunnersbury Avenue north of Chiswick Roundabout. Picture: Google Street View Related Links Gunnersbury Avenue Roadworks to Overrun Highlighting Speed Dangers On Gunnersbury Avenue ActonW3.com, ChiswickW4.com BrentfordTW8.com and EalingToday.co.uk Participate Comment on this story on the forum Former Top Gear presenter James May has been fined after exceeding the speed limit on the North Circular Road. He was fined on his first ride on his new motorbike which he had just collected from Chiswick Honda on Power Road. The man nicknamed Captain Slow by his colleagues only had time to drive round Chiswick Roundabout and turn up Gunnersbury Avenue when he was caught by a traffic camera. The stretch of road normally has a 40 mph speed limit but is temporarily operating at 30 mph due to roadworks in the area. A significant number of motorists have been fined for speeding in the area with many complaining the change in allowed speed has been inadequately signed. He admitted that the incident was a bit shameful and has decided to go on a speed awareness course rather than take the extra three points on his licence. He incurred the fine last month but has only recently admitted how short a time after purchasing the bike it had taken him to break the speed limit. The Honda garage is a short walk away from the studios where the new motoring show The Grand Tour is being produced with James May appearing once again with Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond. It is due to be release on Amazon Prime in the autumn. Speeding conviction update. Bit shameful, really. It's a fair cop, I'll come quietly. pic.twitter.com/7ZmHzIHKMj James May (@MrJamesMay) September 5, 2016 September 6, 2016 A fare war between airlines on international routes has led to Australian travellers paying just over $1000 for flights on the so-called kangaroo route to London. The record low fares to the United Kingdom and other top overseas destinations for Australians are the result of airlines boosting capacity on international routes more than 9 per cent over the past year, outpacing the level of demand from travellers. In turn, an increase in the number of empty seats on planes has forced airlines to lower fares in the hope of stimulating demand. The largest fall in prices over the past year has been to popular destinations such as London, Los Angeles, Phuket and New York. Queensland Nickel's former chief financial officer is still doing work for Clive Palmer's companies and has been in touch with Mr Palmer's nephew, who liquidators want to question over the company's collapse. Daren Wolfe has told the Federal Court in Brisbane that he's spoken Mr Palmer's nephew Queensland Nickel's sole appointed director, Clive Mensink three times in the past three or four months, most recently a few weeks ago. The former chief financial officer of Queensland Nickel told court the company's sole appointed director, Clive Mensink, was in Britain. Mr Wolfe said Mr Mensink was in the UK at that time. But he did not say when he might return to Australia, where liquidators want to ask him about his management of the nickel company before it went into voluntary administration in January, leading to the loss of almost 800 jobs. Australian tax advisers and their wealthy clients with links to the Panama Papers could be hit with criminal charges following raids this week, Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan says. All up 1000 entities, involving hundreds of taxpayers - many of which include high-wealth individuals and their lawyers and accountants - are under investigation by the Australian Taxation Office. The ATO raids this week come after AUSTRAC identified suspicious cross-border movement of funds between Australia and other countries involving $2.5 billion linked to over 1000 Australian entities identified in the Panama Papers. The papers, released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in April - listed more than 200,000 secret offshore entities and named hundreds of wealthy clients of Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. A legal stoush between Uber and the Australian Taxation Office could challenge the way rideshare drivers are classified as workers under Australian law. A submission to a NSW inquiry into the ride-sharing industry says the case, currently before the Federal Court, could help determine whether Uber drivers are classified as 'employees' or 'contractors" under the law - particularly in regards to workplace compensation. Uber took the ATO to court last year in an attempt to overturn guidance that all rideshare drivers must register for GST. But a submission by workplace insurance giant Suncorp says paying tax is a hallmark of being an independent contractor, and an Uber victory could therefore challenge this classification. For a man many believe to be highly intelligent, Senator Dastyari shows incredibly bad judgment. But what has not been properly examined yet is the full scope of his involvement with Chinese donors, and some of his questions in Senate Estimates hearings. Consider his performance on the 27th May, 2014 when he asked a series of highly injudicious questions about national security. First of all, he publicly probed security arrangements concerning the Prime Minister's close protection detail, and who was responsible for advising on security at particular functions. He persisted in asking questions on this in spite of being told by officials that was not something that should be canvassed in public. In this day and age, that in itself shows very poor judgement. For Senator Dastyari that was merely a warm up for his main game, which was an extraordinary series of questions about intimate details concerning Australia's national security arrangements. For example, he wanted to know how the Associate Secretary for National Security and International Policy in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet liaised between the Prime Minister and the Department of Foreign Affairs. The Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory started controversially with one of the commissioners seeking to clear the air of the politics surrounding its establishment. Commissioner Mick Gooda told the first public sitting on Tuesday that there had been speculation he would not bring an impartial mind to some aspects of the royal commission's terms of reference. Sex behind bars: Royal Commission told of rioting inmates sex romp. "I wish to assure those people and the community that I will look only at the evidence and other information given to the commission and that nothing extraneous will affect the conclusions I reach with my co-commissioner (Margaret White)," he said. The commission's daunting task in conducting an inquiry that will require evidence from many young witnesses and the co-operation of Territory Aborigines was underscored by Commissioner Gooda's announcement that two senior Aboriginal people, one based in Alice Springs and the other in Darwin, had been appointed to ensure the community was generally aware of the work and to make young persons feel safe and secure if and when they told their stories. Rail commuters using Brisbane's Fortitude Valley train station should pray it does not rain heavily this summer because no work is underway to stop repeated flash flooding over the Valley's train tracks. This is despite a consultant's report recommending remedial work start in September 2016 to stop a repeat of flash flooding over rail tracks causing delays to hundreds of trains for thousands of hours in November 2014 and May 2015 at Fortitude Valley, Central and Bowen Hill stations. The Opposition immediately questioned if some of the $67 million announced for the Central Station upgrade on Monday could be "better spent". Both Queensland Rail and Brisbane City Council have baulked at the recommendation from Jacobs to do the work at night over between 30 and 45 weeks; or by completely closing the Fortitude Valley train station for four weeks from September 2016. Police have arrested three people, but are still hunting the driver of a stolen BMW which rammed a police car in Melbourne's north. It is the fifth time an allegedly stolen vehicle has rammed a police car in less than a week, including in Tullamarine where an officer shot and killed a man on Friday. Police were called when three men were seen trying to steal a black BMW near the intersection of Brunswick and Cramer streets in Coburg about 11.10am on Tuesday. Two of the men fled on foot when police arrived, while a third jumped into the BMW and rammed the officers' car. The driver side-swiped another car before heading north on Sussex Street. The BMW crashed into a tree at the intersection of Sussex and Boundary streets in Pascoe Vale, before the driver ran off. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau eloquently explained quantum computing in a video that went viral, and now the brightest Victorian students will study the growing field in a program with NASA. The Education Department has been in secret talks with NASA about the cutting-edge technology, which could transform the world. Year 9 students from Ringwood secondary college (left to right) Pyper Ross, Cody Wake and Mark Reynolds at ScienceWorks. Credit:Joe Armao Under a new agreement with the Andrews government, the US space agency is providing advice and feedback on a "world first" quantum computing program for high-achieving year 10 students. Ringwood Secondary College year 9 student Mark Reynolds wants to become a particle physicist and is looking forward to signing up to the program next year. A cousin of teenager Elijah Doughty has been fined $1000 and ordered to pay $500 in compensation for the role he played in an out-of-control riot outside Kalgoorlie Magistrates Court on August 31. Elijah was killed after a 55-year-old man, charged with his manslaughter, allegedly ran over him in a Nissan Navara while the 14-year-old was riding a stolen scooter linked to the man. One of a number of police cars smashed in the Kalgoorlie riots. Credit:John Wibberley/ABC Elijah's cousin, Johnathon Tucker, was one of around 300 people protesting against the teens death on Tuesday, when things turned violent. He pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal damage on Wednesday and was sentenced on Monday. Gabina VOA is designed to be an infotainment youth radio show broadcasting to Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Amharic language. The show brings varied perspectives on issues concerning young people in the Horn of Africa region. Gabina in the Amharic language is a front row taxi ridesymbolic of the shows content as a fun ride that takes audiences from point A to point B. Gabina VOAs main goal is Enlightening young people, introducing them to cutting-edge technological innovations, exposing them to new processes and ideas so they can be productive, informed and self-governing citizens. Bangkok: A four-year-old girl hugging her father on the back of a motorcycle while being taken to buy popcorn is among the latest victims of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte's shoot-on-sight crackdown on drug pushers in the Philippines that has left 2400 people dead since July 1. News of the shooting death of Althea Barbon by police in Guihulngan City on Negros Island came as Duterte clashed with US President Barack Obama, calling him the "son of a whore". Obama responded by cancelling a meeting with Duterte on the sidelines of a three-day summit of 18 world leaders, including Malcolm Turnbull, in Laos, which began on Tuesday. Duterte, 71, was swept into office at May elections promising a violent end to the nation's drug epidemic and often calls his critics "sons of bitches" or "sons of whores". Latest News Lendi Group settles $33.6 billion in FY22 Ambitious target of a deal a day for brokers APRA announces new appointments The prudential regulator has a new chair, deputy chair, and members A former Aussie Home Loans broker has been handed a good behaviour bond after being convicted of on 18 charges involving the submission of false or misleading information to banks.Madhvan Nair was convicted of the charges in Downing Centre Local Court last week after previously admitting to providing documents in support of 18 loan applications to Westpac Banking Corporation, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group and National Australia Bank knowing that they contained false or misleading information.The 18 loan applications ranged in value from $10,000 to $490,875.On 5 July, Nair pleaded guilty to 18 charges under the the National Consumer Credit Protection Act.An investigation by the Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC) found that Nair submitted the 18 false applications between September 2012 and June 2014. Of the 18 loan applications,12 were approved and disbursed, totalling $3,256,684.The applications contained documents which purported to be from the applicant's employer. Those documents were false and in most instances, the loan applicant had never worked for the particular employer.The 18 loan applications ranged in value from $10,000 to $490,875.Nair received a total financial benefit of $10,083.49 as a result of the approved loan applications, including $7,583.49 in commission and cash payments of $2,500 from two of the loan applicants upon approval of their loan applications.For each and all eighteen charges, Nair was convicted and released upon entering into a recognizance in the amount of $1,000 on the condition that he is of good behaviour for three years.In sentencing Nair, Magistrate Atkinson described the offences as serious, however factors such as Nairs ill-health, along with his guilty plea and cooperation with ASIC helped him escape prison time.In a statement, Aussie Home Loans said it welcomed the decision."Aussie fully cooperated with ASIC in its investigation, including providing ASIC with results of detailed internal investigations as well as loan files, supporting documentation and other evidence to assist ASIC in its prosecution," the statement said."Aussie has a zero tolerance policy to any infringements and believes it has one of the most stringent compliance processes and policies in the industry. Aussie proactively and voluntarily reports any terminated brokers to ASIC and to lenders as part of its governance activity." As'ad's Bio As'ad AbuKhalil, born March 16, 1960. From Tyre, Lebanon, grew up in Beirut. Received his BA and MA from American University of Beirut in pol sc. Came to US in 1983 and received his PhD in comparative government from Georgetown University. Taught at Tufts University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Colorado College, and Randolph-Macon Woman's College. Served as a Scholar-in-Residence at Middle East Institute in Washington DC. He served as free-lance Middle East consultant for NBC News and ABC News, an experience that only served to increase his disdain for maintream US media. He is now professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus. His favorite food is fried eggplants. Phillies are World Series bound! How to watch, plus the full schedule latest news October 3, 2022 Dee Gambit Hundreds if not thousands of new and returning TV shows and movies are released every month your options of what to watch are endless. Variety, they say is ... Roswells Johnson named 2016 Buffalo Niagara Executive of the Year BUFFALO, N.Y. Candace S. Johnson, PhD, president and CEO of Roswell Park Cancer Institute, has been named the 2016 Buffalo Niagara Executive of the Year by the University at Buffalo School of Management. The award will be presented at the 67th Annual School of Management Alumni Association Awards Banquet beginning at 5 p.m. on Nov. 1, at the Statler Hotel, 107 Delaware Ave., Buffalo. Johnson, who also serves as the Wallace Family Chair in Translational Research and professor of oncology in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the Buffalo-based cancer center and professor of pharmaceutical sciences at UB, was selected by a vote of past honorees and the alumni associations board of directors, who cited her innovative and collaborative leadership and commitment to Western New York. Founded in 1898, Roswell Park provides care to nearly 34,000 patients annually and employs more than 3,200 team members whose mission is to understand, prevent and cure cancer. It is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in Upstate New York. In 2015, Johnson became Roswell Parks 15th CEO and the first woman to hold that post. She is credited with re-energizing the organization. Under her strategic vision, Roswell Park is focused on bringing the worlds best physicians and scientists to Western New York. Johnson is known for her results-oriented leadership style, which can be seen in the groundbreaking innovations and compassionate patient care delivered by the Roswell Park team. From 2008 to 2015, Johnson led Roswell Parks research activities as deputy director. She also served as chair of Roswell Parks Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics for more than a decade, where she facilitated the seamless bench-to-bedside development and delivery of promising new cancer therapies. Highlights of her tenure in that role include the renewal of Roswell Parks Cancer Center Support Grant funding from the National Cancer Institute and designation of its core grant application as Outstanding in 2015, and her leadership role in the establishment of two new hallmark programs at Roswell Park: the Center for Immunotherapy in 2009 and the Center for Personalized Medicine in 2013. Prior to joining the Roswell Park faculty in 2002, Johnson served as deputy director of basic research at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and professor of pharmacology and medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Johnson is a member of the National Institutes of Health Reviewers Reserve and the boards of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and the Association of American Cancer Institute, as well as several other professional and scientific societies. In Western New York, she serves on the boards of the Catholic Health System, Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Buffalo Niagara Partnership, Buffalo Translational Consortium and OmniSeq LLC, as well as the Daemen College community advisory board and the Sacred Heart Academy STEM advisory board. Established in 1949, the Buffalo Niagara Executive of the Year award is presented annually to an individual who resides in or has a major impact on the region, and whose career has been distinguished by executive success and civic leadership. Recent honorees include Jody Lomeo, CEO of both Kaleida Health and the Great Lakes Health System of Western New York; William Gisel Jr., president and CEO of Rich Products; and Christopher Koch, CEO of New Era Cap. For information about the awards banquet, contact the School of Managements Office of Alumni Engagement and External Relations at mgt-alumni@buffalo.edu or 716-645-3224. Campus News UB Art Galleries to present work of Lydia Okumura UB REPORTER STAFF The UB Art Galleries will present the first solo museum exhibition of Brazilian-born artist Lydia Okumura in the United States Sept. 8 through Jan. 7 in both the UB Art Gallery in the Center for the Arts and the UB Anderson Gallery. Lydia Okumura: Situation is a survey of Okumuras career from 1971 through today, showcasing her dynamic installations, indoor and outdoor sculptures, and works on paper. During the exhibition, Okumura also will create a new work for the UB Art Gallery titled Diagonal Light. The exhibitions opening reception will take place from 5-8 p.m. Sept. 8 in the UB Art Gallery; a reception in the UB Anderson Gallery from noon to 1 p.m. on Sept. 10 will feature a conversation between the artist and Rachel Adams, senior curator of exhibitions for the UB Art Galleries and curator of this exhibition. Recognized widely in Brazil for her spatially engaging work, Okumura is not as well-known in the U.S., her adopted country. Her work actively challenges viewers to question their perception of space through sculptures, installations and works on paper that blur the line between two and three dimensions. Using such simple materials as string, glass and paint, she balances line, plane and shadow, and continues to explore the realms of geometric abstraction through re-imaginations of both past installations and new work. The $2.5 billion software solutions provider is gearing up its presence in the country and soon will foray into the government sector with its products, said senior officials. With huge technology dependent programmes being implemented by the government like Digital India, Make in India and others, the company sees huge growth opportunity. India's biggest coal company CIL is in "deep consultation" with Bangladesh to export the dry fuel, Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said on Tuesday. The development comes in the backdrop of a sharp decline in demand for coal as well as with an inventory of over 80 million tonnes (MT) of the fuel at the pitheads and power plants. "We are already into it and they (CIL) are in very deep consultations with Bangladesh for exporting it," he told reporters on the sidelines of an event here. Exports to Bangladesh would also aid CIL in increasing sales as India in July inked a landmark deal with Bangladesh to construct a 1,320 mw coal fired power plant, the biggest project under bilateral cooperation. On the decline in offtake and volumes, he said as of March 31, there was an inventory of over 80 MT both at the pitheads and power plants. "Where would they stock the coal. We had more than 80 MT. Now if your entire production in 500 odd MT and you have 80 MT of stocks, you will have to look at it and that is why CIL did not produce more. Second reason is that in August there were unusual rains, which impacted mining. "I don't think it is an issue as they (CIL) will catch up as there is exposed coal available and can meet the requirements," he added. On coal production target, Swarup said the ministry is working towards achieving the coal production target of one billion tonnes and will decide on reviewing this after 2-3 years. The government has not scrapped this target. The government has set a production target of 598 MT for CIL for the ongoing financial year. The miner is eyeing to double its production to 1 billion tonnes by 2020. When asked about subdued demand, he said the government does not make plans keeping in view the present situation. Explaining further, he said: "We plan for the future. Our power plants are working at a plant load factor (PLF) of 62 per cent, but in the future we believe this PLF will go to 70 per cent and that is the time when we will have more demand. "Also additional capacity will be added. So there is no logic in bringing down coal production. What will we do if there is demand in the future." Another point is that with UDAY, the financial position of the state discoms will improve and this will also have a positive impact on coal demand, Swarup said. Owing to hefty dividend payout in the past three financial years, backed by frozen coal prices, Coal India faced a 30 per cent decline in its net worth between 2012 and 2016. During the tenure of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA-2) government, the company had paid Rs 38,150 crore as dividend. In FY16, the payout was Rs 30,381 crore. India test flew its homegrown light utility helicopter for the first time, giving a boost to its military plane maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd's bid to win large orders from its armed forces for the chopper. The LUH, which is being designed to replace the ageing Chetak helicopters of the armed forces, flew for around 15 minutes on Tuesday. HAL chief test pilot Wing Commander Unni Pillai and test pilot Anil Bhambhani flew the chopper over the HAL airport to test basic parameters, an HAL spokesperson confirmed. State-owned Indian Oil Corporation might hold 50 per cent in a refinery being planned on the west coast if Saudi Arabia and Kuwait do not take up the offer of an equity stake. FMCG major foods plans to bring new products that are health-friendly and has already started research and development work at its life science center in Bengaluru. "Going forward we will focus a lot on the health sector. We were the first to introduce a complete maida free and sugar and artificial sugar free biscuit in the market. We are working on product innovation in that space going further," said V L Rajesh, divisional chief executive, limited, Food division. Following Bharti Airtel and Vodafone, has also reached out to dealers, explaining how its network is better than Reliance Jios and that the tariffs announced by Jio are more propaganda than bona fide. In a bid to expedite Rosnefts acquisition of 49 per cent stake in Essar Oil, the legal teams of the Ruias of Essar Group and Russian oil major Rosneft are meeting later this week to sort out issues raised by Indian banks on the impact of US sanctions on Russian . Drug major has announced initiation of a phased transfer of manufacturing and marketing rights of 14 brands, it acquired from Swiss drug firm Novartis in Japan, earlier this year for $293 million. "These 14 prescription brands acquired by the company earlier this year will be transferred from Novartis Pharma K K To Sun Pharma's subsidiary in Japan beginning October 2016," said in a statement on Tuesday. The company said it has signed a strategic distribution alliance with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation for these 14 prescription brands. "Following the transfer of manufacturing and marketing rights to Sun Pharma's subsidiary in Japan, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation will market and distribute all the 14 brands as well as provide information on their proper use to healthcare professionals," the company added. Isao Muramatsu, President and Representative Director, Japan Ltd, said: "We have the opportunity to leverage Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation's specialised expertise to create a strong business foundation for us in Japan. Sun Pharma will focus on expanding its sales channels in Japan's pharmaceutical market while continuing to ensure a stable supply of medicines and healthcare information". In March, Sun Pharma forayed into Japanese prescription market by acquiring 14 brands from Novartis for $293 million (over Rs 1,940 crore). Under the terms of the agreements, Novartis was to continue distributing these brands, for a certain period, pending transfer of all marketing authorisations to Sun Pharma's subsidiary. The 14 brands have combined annualised revenues of around $160 million and address medical conditions across several therapeutic areas. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India's largest IT services provider, announced on Tuesday that the Mississippi, Rhode Island and Maine (MRM) Consortium has gone live with the developed Unemployment Insurance (UI) Application for Benefits. Mississippi began implementation of the UI solution prior to the formation of the consortium, while the states of Maine and Rhode Island plan to adopt the solution in the near future. Mississippi's Unemployment Insurance program helps unemployed individuals throughout the state by providing monetary benefits to those who have involuntarily lost their jobs, while they look for new employment opportunities. Unlock 30+ premium stories daily hand-picked by our editors, across devices on browser and app. Full access to our intuitive epaper - clip, save, share articles from any device; newspaper archives from 2006. Curated newsletters on markets, personal finance, policy & politics, start-ups, technology, and more. Pick your 5 favourite companies, get a daily email with all news updates on them. 26 years of website archives. Curfew was on Tuesday lifted from entire Srinagar city following improvement in the situation even as the death toll in the clashes between security forces and protestors climbed to 72 with a youth succumbing to injuries. Musaib Nagoo, who was injured during clashes between protestors and security forces on Sunday in Sopore town of Baramulla district, succumbed to injuries at a hospital here last night, a police official said. With this death, the toll in the ongoing unrest has reached to 72 while more than 10,000 others have been injured. Although authorities lifted curfew from the seven police station areas of the city after two days, normal activities remained suspended due to a separatist sponsored strike. Curfew has been lifted from entire Srinagar city and so no area in is under curfew on Tuesday, a police spokesman said. He said curfew was lifted following improvement in the situation. The spokesman, however, said restrictions on the assembly of people would remain in forces across the Valley to maintain law and order. Shops, business establishments and petrol pumps continued to remain shut during day time.They only open in the evening when the separatists have announced relaxation in the strike for some days of the week. Schools, colleges and other educational institutions also continued to remain closed. However, the attendance in government offices and banks has showed signs of improvement since the past few days, officials said. Public transport continued to be off the roads. The separatists, who are spearheading the ongoing agitation, have extended the shutdown programme till September 8. As part of their weekly protest programme, they have called for peaceful protests by women today, while announcing a 12-hour relaxation in the strike from 6 p.m. Tuesday. The decision at the highest level in the government to defer ratifying the could become a headache for the country on the climate change front. The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration to not take any action, till September 19, including the penalty against JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kanhaiya and seven others. Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva also asked the University to submit its response before the court on students' petition against the finding of the appellate authority. has moved the high court challenging the findings of the university's appellate authority holding him guilty of indiscipline in connection with the controversial February 9 event on campus in which "anti-India" slogans were allegedly raised. The JNU appellate authority had imposed a fine on and had asked him to file an undertaking stating that he will not participate in or be present at any illegal activity taking place on the JNU campus. Appearing for him, senior counsel Rebecca John told the high court that to asking him not to be present where illegal activity is going on is "excessive". On Monday, the high court had given similar relief to Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, who were amongst the 21 students found guilty on indiscipline by the appellate authority, headed by the Vice Chancellor, which had upheld the decision of university's High-Level Enquiry Committee (HLEC). The university had slapped the students with varied punishments ranging from rustication, hostel debarment to financial penalty on the basis of probe by the HLEC. While the appellate authority reduced the fine of some students, for Khalid and Bhattacharya, the punishment remained the same. Dan Crawford | September 5, 2016 5:47 pm by Mike Kimel Labor, Immigration, and Democrats of Today v. Democrats of 1989 Lifted from comments I made to this post: In 1989 plus or minus a year, I went to see Cesar Chavez speak. Its been a long time, but I have two memories of the event. The first is that every time the word Armenian was mentioned, activists throughout the hall would blow on whistles. There were (are?) a number of prominent of Armenian families among growers of various crops in California. Additionally, George Deukmejian (of Armenian background) was then governor. The second thing that stuck out was how much Chavez and the mostly Hispanic crowd was against immigration. And when Chavez spoke of immigration, he meant (and I could be wrong, but I think he spelled it out) illegal immigrants who would come to California to work as farm laborers. Chavez and his supporters understood that more farm workers meant more competition and less pay for Chavez and his supporters. I never went to a speech by Deukmejian or any of the growers, but I imagine they understood how the supply and demand for farm labor works too. I suspect Chavez and his largely Hispanic supporters that day would have strongly supported the construction of the Great Wall of Trump had it been suggested at the time. I also imagine every one of them would have taken issue with being described as race baiters. Instead, Chavez was arguing, essentially, that the first priority of the country should be to the people currently there, and that with few exceptions, the decision of whether to allow someone else to enjoy the privilege of coming to the country should be predicated more on the pros and cons to those already there. That is to say, the position Donald Trump has now on immigration from Mexico and Central America is the position Cesar Chavez held in 1989 (plus or minus a year). And, of course, the one thing Democrats keep telling us Trumps immigration policies is that they are bad. Racist too. The notion that people currently in the US should have some say in who else gets to come to the US seems to be an unfathomable evil. So where are Democrats now? Fastforward, and we have this Dept of Justice news release dated Sept 1 which is confusing me: Justice Department Partners with Mexico to Combat Employment Discrimination The Justice Department and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the United Mexican States established a formal partnership today to protect workers from discrimination based on citizenship, immigration status and national origin. Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division, and Mexican Ambassador Carlos Sada signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the embassy and its consulates, and the divisions Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC). As part of the MOU, OSC and the Mexican government will collaborate to educate workers about their employment rights and provide them with the resources needed to protect those rights. The MOU also seeks to promote training for employers on their obligations under the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which prohibits employment discrimination based on citizenship, immigration status and national origin. Specifically, the MOU provides that: OSC will train Mexican consular staff on the anti-discrimination provision of the INA, participate in events organized by Mexican consulates to educate workers and employers and distribute educational materials to the embassy and its consulates. The embassy will establish a system for referring discrimination claims from the embassy and consulates to OSC. The Mexican government plays a vital role in helping the Justice Department ensure workers know about their rights and the protections the law provides, said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Gupta. Mexico has taken a leading role in Labor Rights Week, ensuring that workers in Mexico and throughout the world know about their rights in the workplace and where to access help and support. I thank our Mexican counterparts for their collaborative partnership in our shared mission to empower workers and combat discrimination. In the last year, the department has also established formal partnerships with Ecuador and El Salvador to empower and educate work-authorized individuals from those nations. OSC is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA. Among other things, this law prohibits citizenship, immigration status and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing or recruitment or referral for a fee; discrimination in the employment eligibility verification process; retaliation and intimidation. In addition to its enforcement work, OSC educates the public on its rights and responsibilities under the INAs anti-discrimination provision. For more information about protections against employment discrimination under immigration laws, call OSCs worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); call OSCs employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); sign up for a free webinar; email osccrt@usdoj.govEmail links icon; or visit OSCs website. Mexico MOU The part that confuses me is the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which prohibits employment discrimination based on citizenship, immigration status and national origin. Every job I have ever had, barring consulting gigs, has required me to provide evidence that I can legally work in the US, which amounts to either being a US citizen or having the right sort of visa or green card. Put another way, during my working life, the law of the land had always specifically involved employment discrimination based on citizenship, immigration status and national origin. Has that gone by the wayside? And if so, has it only gone by the wayside for Mexican citizens? The document did state: [i]n the last year, the department has also established formal partnerships with Ecuador and El Salvador to empower and educate work-authorized individuals from those nations. Or is the work-authorized bit just, well, so 2015? Is this an attempt to move the goalpost on policy or simply to inform us of what has quietly become policy? Or perhaps it is just unclear (deliberately or otherwise) writing from some minion at Justice? How one interprets this press release is very different now than it would have been even last year, much less, say, in 2006 or 1996. Immigration policy is changing fast, but not in a direction that, on aggregate, is good for people who currently make up the US workforce. Over the last decade India has made the US its biggest arms suppliers, contracting for $14-15 billion (Rs 93,000-100,000 crore) worth of American weaponry. Yet many US platforms bought have turned out to be less than cutting-edge, after New Delhis unwillingness to sign what Washington labels a foundational agreement the Communications Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) has forced the replacement of closely-guarded radio, communications security and navigation kits with lower-grade, commercially-available equipment. Union Minister will lead a session at the crucial meeting of regional committee of South East Asian region in Colombo tomorrow to carry forward the benefits of among various nations. Nadda, is presently attending the 69th session of the Regional Committee of South-East Region at Colombo, will be joined by ministers of several countries. "Union Minister will be leading the session at the 69th session of the WHO Regional Committee of South-East Region at Colombo tomorrow. "Carrying forward the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Minister will join the health ministers of several countries tomorrow in the Yoga session. This will carry the message of the benefits of yoga across various countries," an official statement said. While attending the meeting, Nadda has highlighted the vision of the government in the area of universal healthcare and its roadmap for achieving the sustainable development goals. Nadda has highlighted the myriad achievements of the Health Ministry including Mission Indradhanush, MNTE and Yaws-free status of India in the various sessions at the meet. According to reports, this is the first time that such a session is being organised by the agency during its annual regional meeting. The General Assembly had in 2014 adopted an India-led resolution, supported by over 175 member-states, declaring June 21 as 'International Day of Yoga', recognising that "Yoga provides a holistic approach to health and well-being" after Prime Minister proposed for adoption of international yoga day. The first International Day of Yoga was observed world over on June 21, 2015. India had set two new Guinness World Records for Yoga with 35,985 participants performing asanas at one venue and as many as 84 nationalities joining in the official observation of International Yoga Day. A youth was killed on Tuesday in fresh clashes between protestors and security forces in Anantnag district, taking the death toll in the ongoing unrest in Kashmir to 73 even as normal life remained disrupted for the 60th consecutive day. Naseer Ahmad Mir was killed in the security forces' action to chase away a large number of protesters in Seer Hamdan area of south Kashmir, even as several other persons, including a woman, sustained injuries, a police official said. He said the injured woman has been referred to a hospital here in a critical condition. Last night, a youth, injured during similar clashes in Sopore area on Sunday, succumbed at a hospital here. Musaib Nagoo was injured during clashes between protesters and security forces on Sunday in Sopore town of Baramulla district. With these deaths, the toll in ongoing unrest has gone up to 73. Normal life continued to remain affected in the Valley for the 60th straight day following violence in the wake of the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in July, even as curfew was lifted from entire Srinagar following improvement in the situation. Although authorities lifted curfew from seven police station areas of the city after two days, normal activities remained suspended due to a separatist sponsored strike. Curfew has been lifted from entire Srinagar city and so no area in Kashmir is under curfew today, a police spokesman said. He said curfew was lifted following improvement in the situation. The spokesman, however, said restrictions on the assembly of people would remain in force across the Valley to maintain law and order. Shops, business establishments and petrol pumps continued to remain shut during day time. They only open in the evening when the separatists have announced relaxation in the strike for some days of the week. Schools, colleges and other educational institutions also continued to remain closed. However, the attendance in government offices and banks has showed signs of improvement since the past few days, officials said. Public transport continued to be off the roads. The separatists, who are spearheading the ongoing agitation, have extended the shutdown programme till September 8. As part of their weekly protest programme, they have called for peaceful protests by women on Tuesday, while announcing a 12-hour relaxation in the strike from 6 pm. The Indian government said on Tuesday that no decision had been made on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Pakistan to attend the Saarc Summit in November. "Decisions and announcements of such nature are not made so far in advance," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted. His comments came a day after India's High Commissioner to Pakistan, Gautam Bambawale, told a meeting in Karachi that Modi was looking forward to visiting Islamabad in November to attend the Saarc Summit. A delegation of Muslim clerics, who met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh here on Tuesday, said the members of the all-party delegation that went to Kashmir should have followed his instructions and not tried to meet the Hurriyat members. "We met the Home Minister on Tuesday. It was a good meeting. We talked about the Kashmir issue. We can say it with confidence that our Home Minister will solve the matter. Some people, met the separatists.they should not have done that. They should have followed Rajnath Singh's instructions," Maulana Ansar Raza, the chairman of Garib Nawaz Foundation, told the media. Raza said talks should be held with those who raise slogans of 'Hindustan Zindabad'. "Why talk to the Hurriyat people who raise 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans? Talks should be held with those who raise slogans of 'Hindustan Zindabad'. All the imams of the Dargahs of India should form a delegation under Rajnath Singh and visit Kashmir and talk about the Sufism Bill.then this problem will get solved," he added. Maulana Raza said Kashmir was a part of India and it would remain so. On Sunday, Kashmiri separatists refused to talk to the members of the all-party delegation, as they went to meet them as part of efforts to end the two-month-long unrest in the Valley following Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani's killing. Repelling the notion that the all-party delegation visit to Jammu and Kashmir was a "failure", the Home Minister had yesterday said the delegation will now meet in Delhi to chalk out an action plan for the government on measures that it needed to take in future in Jammu and Kashmir. The delegation was in Srinagar on Sunday and had visited Jammu before returning to Delhi. Before winding up the visit, the Home Minister sent out a clear message to separatists, asserting that Jammu and Kashmir will always remain an integral part of India. He, however, said as far as talks are concerned, doors are open to everyone, who want peace and normalcy. Divulging details of the meeting in Jammu, the Home Minister said, "As many as 200 people comprising 18 delegations interacted with the all-party delegation. They expressed their concern over the situation in Kashmir and were of the opinion that the problems in the Valley should be resolved at the earliest. Besides, they also merited the attention of the all-party delegation towards the problems of the Jammu region. In a sharp attack on Pakistan at the here, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said "one single nation" in South Asia is spreading "agents of terror" as he asserted that those who sponsor the menace must be sanctioned and isolated, not rewarded. "Indeed one single nation in South Asia is spreading these agents of terror in countries of our region," Prime Minister Modi said in an apparent reference to Pakistan. "We expect the international community to speak and act in unity, and to respond with urgency to fight this menace. Those who sponsor and support terrorism must be isolated and sanctioned, not rewarded," Modi said in his intervention during the concluding session of the meeting of the world's 20 strong economies. The Prime Minister said India appreciates the G20's initiative on combating the financing of terrorism and asserted that all countries should meet the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards. "Growing forces of violence and terror pose a fundamental challenge. There are some nations that use it as an instrument of state policy. India has a policy of zero tolerance to terrorism. Because anything less than that is not enough," Modi said. "For us a terrorist is a terrorist," he asserted. Modi's remarks came a day after India called on other BRICS members to intensify joint efforts to combat terrorism. Modi, in an apparent reference to Pakistan, had yesterday demanded "coordinated actions" by the grouping to "isolate supporters and sponsors of terror". The Prime Minister, in his address to the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) Leaders Meeting here, had said "terrorists in South Asia, or anywhere for that matter, do not own banks or weapons factories". "Clearly, someone funds and arms them and BRICS must intensify joint efforts not just to fight terror but to coordinate actions to isolate those who are supporters and sponsors of terror," he had said, without naming Pakistan. But the reference was clearly aimed at Islamabad a close ally of China. Modi's comments at G20 come against the backdrop of escalating war of words between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the continuing unrest in the Kashmir Valley that broke out on July 8 after Hizbul commander Burhan Wani was killed by security forces. There was cross-border firing of UBGL rounds on forward Indian posts in Sabzina belt of Poonch district during early morning yesterday, an Army official said. Troops guarding the border fired back resulting in brief exchanges, he said adding there was no loss of life or damage to property in the firing. This is the 10th ceasefire violation by Pakistan along the Indo-Pak border this year and the third this month. On May 12, Pakistani troops resorted to small arms firing along the on the Indian post Kobra in Sabzian belt of Poonch district around 1100 hours. On May 4, Pakistani troops targeted Indian forward posts by opening fire in Nangitikri belt along the Line of Control (LOC) in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir. They fired around 300 rounds. A total of 105 ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir have taken place since 2010. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Defence Minister A K Antony said on April 26 that 44 cases of ceasefire violations along the in Jammu and Kashmir were registered in 2010. While there were 51 cases in 2011. Two army personnel and one BSF soldier died in these violations in 2010, he said. Prime Minister Modi on Tuesday wished the followers of Jain religion on the last day of 'Paryushan Parva', sending the message of unity and harmony. Michhami Dukkadam. May the spirit of forgiveness & compassion enhance the spirit of harmony & togetherness in our society. (@narendramodi) September 6, 2016 Paryushan Parva is a major festival of Jains which lasts for seven days culminating in 'Samvatsari Parvi'. On this day, Jains greet each other by saying "Michhami Dukkadam" and observe a whole-day fast. 'Michhami Dukkadam' is an ancient phrase from Prakrit language, which is uttered by one seeking forgiveness for any ill-will or bad deeds and offering a renewal of relationship. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looking forward to visit Pakistan in November to attend the Summit, India's High Commissioner said in comments published on Tuesday. Gautam Bambawale also told an event here on Monday that while India and Pakistan must certainly discuss the entire range of issues, they must keep their focus on economy which he described as a "low-hanging fruit". "I can't say about the future but as of today Prime Minister Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the summit in November," the Dawn quoted Bambawale as saying at an interactive session of the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations. His comments came amid reports that Modi might keep away from the Summit in view of the rising tensions between India and Pakistan, particularly over Jammu and Kashmir. Bambawale said that it was India's desire to see a Pakistan which was moderate, prosperous and stable and at peace with itself, its neighbours as well as the rest of the world. He admitted that trust and confidence was lacking in relations between New Delhi and Islamabad. The road to normalisation of Pakistan-India relations, he said, lay through greater trade and business, the roadmap for which was prepared by the two governments in 2012. The total trade between the two countries was worth just $2.5 billion a year while its potential was of $20 billion, the Dawn quoted him as saying. The Indian envoy said that even when tensions were high between the two countries, there had been contacts at the operational level. Over the past month and a half, there had been "cordial interactions" between Pakistani and Indian border forces. Bambawale referred to Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's and Modi's visits to Islamabad and Lahore respectively in December last year. But on January 2 this year, terrorists who India says came from Pakistan attacked the Pathankot Indian Air Force base. He said the Indian government had been saying: "Let's work together to get to the bottom of terrorism which was a headache not only for Pakistan but for India and the world." In an obvious reference to the Kashmir dispute, Bambawale said the two countries should not be talking on just one issue, rather on all issues. He said India had taken a stand in the 1960s and 70s that New Delhi and Beijing must talk on the boundary problem before moving on to other issues. But this was reversed in 1988. Today China was one of India's largest trading partners, he pointed out. Asked about "Indian atrocities" in Jammu and Kashmir, the High Commissioner said Indians were as concerned about the people of Kashmir as anyone else in the world. But issue of Jammu and Kashmir was domestic and "you should focus on your problems", he added. Bambawale said the problem with China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was that it went through Pakistani Kashmir whose ownership is disputed by Islamabad and New Delhi. He also mentioned how Pakistan had refused consular access to alleged RAW agent Kulbhushan Jadhav, arrested in Pakistan, while India gave consular access to a Pakistani terrorist, Bahadur Ali. "We have offered Pakistani authorities full consular access to him," he said in reply to a question about Indian involvement in Balochistan. DMK President M Karunanidhi on Tuesday asked the Tamil Nadu government to spell out its next course of action after the apex court ordered Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water from the Cauvery river. In a statement issued here, the former Chief Minister wondered whether the Tamil Nadu government would convene an all-party meeting to discuss the issue and also take an all-party delegation to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The DMK leader said the release of 15,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu over the next 10 days is insufficient for the crops in his state. Karunanidhi's statement comes in the wake of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's media comments on calling an all-party meeting after the apex court order. PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss condemned the Karnataka government for allegedly not releasing the water despite the Supreme Court order, and said Siddaramaiah is indulging in "delaying tactics". Ramadoss said the setting up of the Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulatory Authority was a permanent solution to the problem. He urged the central and state governments to ensure the safety of Tamils living in Karnataka. After two consecutive droughts, India received normal rainfall - two per cent less than the 100-year average - by the end of August 2016, but within that normality, more than a third of the country is short of rain, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD) data. Portability in finance, cheaper water supply, flexible rules and quality power are top on wish list of Micro, Small and Medium scale industries of Madhya Pradesh ahead of exclusive session of Global Investors Summit-V (GIS-V). Bhopal will host the exclusive session as a part of the GIS-V, on 1 October this year. The GIS-V will be organized on 22-23 October, 2016, in Indore. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is official partner of the state government in hosting the event. Faced with a sharp decline in meal and other value-added products exports over the past few years, Indias ministry of commerce and industry has decided to send a six-member delegation to major importing countries to understand importers problems. The government on Tuesday signed an agreement with Chile to expand the existing (PTA), offering more than 10 times the number of existing tariff lines, which are open to concessional rates of trade. The government on Tuesday signed an agreement with to expand the existing India Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA), offering more than 10 times the number of existing tariff lines which are open to concessional rates of trade. In line with the vision of Shri Narendra Modi, Honble Prime Minister of India to eradicate Leprosy from India, Shri J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare reviewed the National Leprosy Eradication Programme and pursuant to that, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched the biggest Leprosy Case Detection Campaign (LCDC) in the country on 5th September 2016 across 149 districts of 19 states/UTs. This fortnight-long campaign will cover 1656 blocks/urban areas of these districts and screen a total of 32 crore people for leprosy. For this purpose, 297604 teams comprising of one lady ASHA worker and one male volunteer each would visit every house in their allotted area and screen all the family members for leprosy. . . The states and UTs covered in this campaign are Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Delhi and Lakshadweep. The districts having a prevalence rate of more than one case per 10,000 population in any of the last three years have been included in this campaign. . . The Leprosy Case Detection Campaign is a unique initiative of its kind in the world where each and every member of the targeted population will be examined by the search team constituted of one male and one female volunteer at household level. House to house visits will be done by the search team as per the micro plan prepared for the local area to detect hidden and undetected leprosy cases. The objective of the campaign is the early detection of leprosy in affected persons so that they can be saved from physical disability and deformity by providing them timely treatment and thus also halting the transmission of disease at the community level. . . The first LCDC was launched during March-April 2016 in 50 districts of 7 states namely Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh wherein a population of about 6.8 crores was covered. During this campaign 65427 suspected cases were identified out of which 4120 were later confirmed . . . Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Shri Prakash Javadekar felicitated students at the 6th convocation of Jagatguru Rambhadracharya Handicapped University at Chitrakoot in Uttar Pradesh today. On the occasion, Union Minister reiterated that Government of India under the leadership of Honorable Prime Minister remains committed to strive for Accessible India (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan). He mentioned that to allow free access to information, Government has kept books for specially abled out of the purview of Copyright Act. He also mentioned that Ministry of HRD is working on enhancing scholarship for specially abled students. Minister also said that a committee of experts shall review of curriculum which is a crucial component of education of specially abled students. . . Also, Union Minister said that at present, as many as 128 EOCs are functioning in various universities. It may be added that to make Colleges and Universities more responsive to the needs and constraints of the disadvantaged social groups, the UGC has financed Institutions to establish Equal Opportunity Cells to oversee the effective implementation of policies and programmes for disadvantaged groups and to provide guidance and counseling in academic, financial, social and other matters. One time grant of Rs.2.00 lakhs for establishing the office of Equal Opportunity Cells will be provided. . . Union Minister appreciated the work in field of education for specially abled children by Shri Rambhadracharya, to whom Government of India in recognition of his services has conferred PadmaVibhushan. He assured that Ministry of HRD will consider the proposal of Jagatguru Rambhadracharya Handicapped University to make it a central university to further improve education for specially abled students. This university has set exemplary ideal where around 5000 specially abled students have been educated, successfully employed and empowered. He also expressed also gratitude towards teachers who shouldered responsibility to teach specially abled children. . . Tariq Fatemi, Special Assistant to the Pakistan Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, has said that Belarus and Kazakhstan have assured to support Islamabad's bid for membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Stating that Pakistan is expanding its relations with different countries including Russian and central Asian states, Fatemi said that Belarusan President Alexander Lukashenko would also visit Pakistan next month, reports Dawn. He reiterated that Pakistan's application for the is based on technical experience, capability and commitment to nuclear safety and security. On the Kashmir issue, he said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will raise the issue at the United Nations General Assembly session. Even India has been in the bid to join the main club of countries controlling access to sensitive nuclear technology with push by the United States (US) and other major power. However, China has opposed the move and backs Pakistan. Answers Africa is one of a kind platform created for Africans both locally and in the diaspora and those seeking for more in-depth information about Africa. We have always focused on creating the highest quality informational contents right from the beginning. We share the most relevant information on the latest and trending news, events, people, and places in Africa. We produce contents across various categories including Politics, People, Love and Romance, Nature, Entertainment, Technology and pretty much everything else that Africans may find relevant. We aim to answer the most relevant questions about Africa in areas of entertainment, famous people, emerging technologies while we also engage with various distribution capabilities to connect with Africans in need of information who rely on our website to keep in touch with the world that is changing so fast. These are some of the articles you may be interested in reading: 10 Famous TV Personalities Born In Ethiopia Ethiopia is a country best known for its fast athletes like Dibaba and Bekele, breathtaking models like Liya Kebede and of course Haile Selassie but there are also famous TV personalities who are doing a great job in entertainment and pushing the country to civilization. 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Kalekye Mumo Biography, Boyfriend and Salary Kalekye Mumo has been described as someone who is as vibrant as she is beautiful, a Kenyan radio queen, TV host and media personality, movie actress, Musician, businesswoman, and fashionista but what else is there to know about this Kenyan icon, Kalekye Mumo and her co-host Shaffie Weru have been among the most listened to radio presenters ... Julie Gichuru Bio Age, Husband & Children In Africa, women have a long history of bringing under control obstacles to keep their heads above the water. So, it comes as no surprise whenever African women are recognized and decorated across the continent and globe for performing brilliantly well in their various fields of endeavor. In Kenya for instance, a list of national ... Jeff Koinange Biography All About His Age, Wife Shaila Koinange & Family Jeff Koinange is a well-known Kenyan journalist. He currently hosts Jeff Koinange Live on KTN. 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Dismantling and disrupting terror networks and their safe havens inside Pakistan should be on the agenda of the next US President, a former top CIA analyst on Tuesday said, accusing the Pakistani Army of "patronising" terrorism in "other parts of the world". President Barack Obama's decision to use drones to kill Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor "deep inside Pakistan" should be a pointer in this regard, said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analysts and now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, a top American think-tank, at a panel discussion on Afghanistan. "Pakistan today is a unique country. It is a victim of terrorism. Unfortunately, the Pakistani Army today is a patron of terrorism in other parts of the world in particular in its immediate neighbourhood of Afghanistan," Riedel said. In his hard-hitting remarks on Pakistan, Riedel, who was one of the key architects of Obama's Af-Pak policy during his first term, called for an offensive strategy against terrorist networks and this includes hitting out at terrorist groups inside Pakistan. "The next President should consider striking inside Pakistan like the one against Mullah Mansoor and against other terrorist groups inside Pakistan. We should try to disrupt and dismantle the terrorist safe havens and networks and their capabilities inside Pakistan," Riedel said in his remarks at the panel discussion. "Through its action, the new US Administration should tell the terrorist networks and its supporters that it is not going to be business as usual," he said. Riedel also called for trying to stop Taliban's fund raising activities in the Gulf states. He said the Pakistani passport of Mullah Mansoor showed that he travelled to Dubai 18 times and "this was for fund raising activities". "What was the purpose of his 18 trips to Dubai -- raising funds from sympathetic groups in the Gulf states. We are not going to stop 100 per cent, but we should make it difficult for Taliban to raise funds in the Gulf states," he said. Riedel said Pakistan today has a "thriving free press, not necessarily a responsible free press." "We have also seen a transition from one democratic government to other democratic government. This is a milestone," he said. "Our capability in Afghanistan has been largely defensive in the last 15 years," he said, adding that this makes things difficult because of the continued safe havens in Pakistan and "active patronage support" from the Pakistani government. Gen (retd) John Allen said the situation on the ground in Afghanistan is more challenging today. "Situation on the ground in Afghanistan is challenging today. The situation has become more challenging and perhaps worsening. But this is not something which is beyond the capacity of the Afghan forces. I have confidence that the Afghan National Security Forces can pull it at this point of time," he said. "We have seen resurgence in Afghan Taliban activities in the country. The challenges that we face going ahead is the stabilising of the number of US troops and providing air support to the Afghan troops. Securing the district. A more number of districts have gone to the Taliban," Allen said. Addressing the panel discussion, Allen recommended increasing US air support to the Afghan forces and stabilising American troops in the country. Noting that the security situation in Afghanistan is worsening, Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute said the Afghan government today is cut out from the large parts of the country. The difficult security situation in the country is not only because of the Taliban and the ISIS, but also due to crimes like kidnapping in Afghanistan. "This has impounded a deep sense of insecurity and fear in everyday life," she said. "We are at a moment of interesting and challenging situation in Afghanistan," Falbab-Brown said. Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton today said his Republican rival Donald Trump has created an "embarrassing incident" by visiting Mexico and this proves that he is temperamentally unfit to be America's commander-in-chief. "In just a few hours he managed to turn his trip to Mexico into an embarrassing incident. He even got into a Twitter war with the President of Mexico and then he delivered his most hate-filled hard lined speech yet, doubling down on his absurd plans to send a deportation force to round up 16 million people to deport them. You can't make this stuff up can you," she said. "When you see what he has said and done in this campaign. When you see that he can't even go to a foreign country without getting into a public feud with the president, I think the answer is clear. Donald Trump does not have the temperament to be our commander-in-chief." Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has been highly critical of Mexico. He has called for a wall to be built on the border that would be paid for by Mexico. Trump said at a joint news conference with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto that they did not discuss who would pay for the wall. Pena Nieto later on Twitter said that he made it clear Mexico would not pay for the wall. "He came out saying one thing and the Mexican president contradicted him almost immediately," Clinton told ABC News in an interview in an apparent reference to the contradictory statements between Trump and Nieto after their meeting last week. "He didn't raise it, so he did choke. He didn't know how to even communicate effectively with a head of state. And I think that's a pretty clear outcome from that trip," Clinton said and described Trump's visit as unfortunate. Clinton's vice presidential running mate Tim Kaine also joined the interview. Kaine said it is "impossible to believe" that funding for the wall was not discussed. He characterised this as a "rookie mistake" by the Republican nominee. "You shouldn't leave the safety of America and our diplomacy in the hands of a rookie who, on his one visit with a foreign leader, has already created kind of an embarrassment for us," Kaine said according to the excerpts of the interview. Clinton replied in negative when asked if she plans to travel to Mexico City. "I'm going to continue to focus on what we're doing to create jobs here at home, what we're doing to make sure Americans have the best possible opportunities in the future," she said. today said that her husband Bill Clinton should be able to continue his foundation work until after the November election, a remark slammed by the rival Trump campaign which alleged that the Democratic presidential nominee operates in a permanent ethical blind spot. Bill, who founded Clinton Foundation after he stepped down from the US presidency to carry out charity and humanitarian work globally, is the head of the foundation. Of late the Hillary's political rivals have been alleging the Clinton Foundation of undue influence on the State Department when she served as the Secretary of State in the first term of the Obama Administration. The allegations have been denied by both of them. "I don't think there are conflicts of interest," Hillary told ABC in an interview, according to the excerpts released on Monday. "I'm very proud of the work that the Clinton Foundation has done. It's a world-renowned charity because of the work that my husband started and many, many people helped him with. ... He started this great work. He has made it his life's work, after the presidency. And he has said, if I am so fortunate enough to be elected, he will not be involved. And I think that is appropriate," she said. During the interview, she said that while at the State Department she was not influenced by anybody. "I feel very good about the work of the foundation. I feel very good about my service as secretary of state. No decision I ever made was influenced by anybody. What I made a decision based on was what was good for the United States, what was good for our values, our interests, and our security. And the State Department has confirmed there's no evidence of any such influence at all," she said. "All of these questions about the Clinton Foundation, I am more than happy to answer," she said. However, the rival Trump Campaign alleged that by saying this Hillary has announced that the Clinton Foundation will continue with its corruption if she is elected as the president of the country. "The fact believes it is appropriate for her husband to remain on the board of the Clinton Foundation if she is elected is proof that she operates in a permanent ethical blind spot and lacks the judgement to be president. This would present an unacceptable and unprecedented conflict of interest which would compromise her presidency beyond repair," Jason Miller, senior communication advisor to the Trump Campaign. "That's why the country's leading newspapers, ethicists, and even top Democrats are calling on the Clintons to separate from the Clinton Foundation or to even shut it down. "Given the repeated examples of Clinton Foundation donors and officials receiving access and favours from Hillary Clinton's State Department, what she is proposing is to essentially plant a giant 'for sale' sign on the White House lawn," Miller said. Explosions and gunfire rang out on Tuesday during an hours-long attack on a charity, the latest assault in a wave of violence in the Afghan capital that killed at least 25 people and wounded dozens. The assault on a charity called Pamlarena began on Monday with a massive explosion, just hours after a brazen Taliban double bombing near the defence ministry an attack apparently aimed at inflicting mass casualties. A plume of smoke rose over the upscale neighbourhood of Shar-e Naw after the raid on the charity, which means "care" in Pashto. Sporadic blasts and gunfire followed during the government's clearance operation today. A spokeswoman for CARE said the charity could not immediately confirm if it had been the target of the attack. "Forty-two people including 10 foreigners were rescued" after the attack, interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on Twitter, confirming at least one fatality. "All three assailants were gunned down by security forces." Authorities had earlier put the number of attackers at two. No militant group has so far claimed responsibility for the raid on the charity, but it comes as the Taliban ramp up their nationwide offencive against the US-backed government. The attack on the charity had been preceded by twin Taliban blasts that killed at least 24 people during the city's rush hour Monday, including high-level officials, and left 91 wounded. The second of the two explosions struck just as soldiers, policemen and civilians hurried to help the victims of the first blast, which occurred on a bridge near the ministry. Ambulances rushed to the scene, littered with disfigured bodies and charred debris. But there were so many bodies that some had to be taken to hospitals in car boots and the back of police pickup trucks. Firemen raced to retrieve some bodies thrown into the River by the intensity of the first blast on the bridge. Health ministry spokesman Waheed Majroh said the casualties from the double bombing could rise still further as some of the wounded battled for their lives in hospital. "The enemies of Afghanistan have lost their ability to fight the security and defence forces of the country," President Ashraf Ghani said on Monday, condemning the twin blasts. "That is why they are attacking highways, cities, mosques, schools and common people." Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter the defence ministry was the object of the first attack, while police were targeted in the second. Afghanistan's Ministry of Interior (MoI) on Tuesday said that the target of Monday night's bombing in Kabul city appears to have been a charity by the name of CARE (Pamlarana). MoI spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said the organisation was targeted in a bombing and attackers then entered the building in Shar-e-Naw, reports Tolo News. He added the security forces were combing the building for the gunmen but it was not known how many of them holed inside. Sediqqi confirmed that at least one civilian was killed and one other was wounded. Monday night at 11 pm, the attack started off with a heavy explosion, which was thought to have been a car bomb. Later, gunfire took place throughout the night. On Monday afternoon, twin explosions outside the Ministry of Defence killed over 30 people and wounded dozens more. The first blast took place at the gate of the ministry, followed by a suicide bomber, who targeted the first responders to the scene of the initial explosion. A number of high ranking police and military officials were killed in the incident. Malaysian police, which arrested five persons allegedly linked to the LTTE for assaulting the Sri Lankan envoy here, has warned of action against sympathisers of the banned group. "I want to remind these groups that they are supporting a group which is banned by the United Nations. We, as a UN signatory country, can take action against them (supporters)," Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar told reporters on Monday. The attack on High Commissioner (ambassador) Ibrahim Sahib Ansar left him with minor injuries. Khalid said police were also probing local groups who had protested to identify their links to the LTTE and warned that they could be probed under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma). When asked whether the group in the attack was affiliated with the LTTE, Khalid said they were showing signs of sympathising with the LTTE and police were investigating their links to the group. He said police have identified all of the attackers and have arrested five people aged between 27 and 56 who were from Ipoh, Dengkil and Kuala Lumpur, the Star said. Khalid said police were now tracking four more suspects involved in the attack. "We regret the incident had happened," he said. Sri Lanka's Foreign Ministry in a statement condemned the attack on its High Commissioner. The High Commission is coordinating with law enforcement authorities in and other relevant local authorities to identify perpetrators and assist with investigations, it said. It was reported that the High Commissioner was assaulted at the airport after sending off Daya Gamage, the country's Primary Industries Minister, who was in for the Conference of Asian Political Parties. Former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who ordered the bloody military assault which ended the LTTE's separatist campaign in 2009, also attended the conference. A Moroccan man arrested in Brussels in July is being held in Austria, suspected of having links to the jihadist cell responsible for the Paris attacks last November, a spokesman for the Belgian federal prosecutor told AFP on Monday. The suspect, Abid Tabaouni, was detained under a European arrest warrant from Austria after he had fled from Salzburg and was handed back to Austrian authorities last month. The Belgian prosecutor's spokesman Thierry Werts, said that the handover was done quickly as "we confirmed that he did not have any ties to our country nor it appears to any of our cases." The Salzburg prosecutor's spokesman Robert Holzleitner also confirmed to AFP that Tabaouni has been held in Austria since August 25 and is suspected of belonging to a terrorist organisation. Tabaouni is believed to have ties to the two alleged members of the Islamic State (IS) group, Algerian Adel Haddadi and Pakistani Mohamad Usman, who were arrested in Austria last December and handed over to French authorities in July as part of the investigation into the Paris attacks. Investigators believe Haddadi and Usman, who face terror charges in France, travelled to the Greek island of Leros on October 3 on the same boat full of refugees as two men who took part in the November 13 attacks in France that left 130 people dead. But Haddadi and Usman were detained by Greek authorities for 25 days because they had fake Syrian passports. Once released, they followed the main migrant trail and made it to Salzburg in western Austria at the end of November after the Paris attacks. Austrian police then arrested the two in December at a migrant centre a few hours after French authorities informed them the men could be in the country. After his arrest, Haddadi told investigators that he had wanted to go to France to "carry out a mission," according to a statement seen by AFP. A source close to the investigation said that Haddadi "was meant to take part in the Paris killings with his travelling companions." US channel CNN reported, citing investigation documents, that Tabaouni was allegedly linked to the four men who had traveled as supposed refugees through Leros and that he also was probably meant to take part in an attack. Following US President move to cancel a meeting after Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte called him a "son of a w***e", the latter said he regrets his earlier comments, adding, it "came across as a personal attack." Duterte, in a statement, said that both sides have agreed to move the meeting to a later date. "We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions," CNN quoted Duterte as saying. The US President cancelled the meeting with his Philippine counterpart after the latter appeared to call him a "son of a w***e". Duterte also warned Obama to keep off the subject of extrajudicial killings in his country's brutal drug war when they were due to meet on Tuesday at a regional summit in Laos, reports the Guardian. Responding to question about how he intended to explain the extrajudicial killings to the US President, before boarding a plane to Laos for the Association of South-east Asian Nations summit (ASEAN), he said, "You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a w***e, I will curse you in that forum." "We will be wallowing in the mud like pigs if you do that to me," he added. Reports suggest that after the comments reached the Obama camp, he initially asked his staff to find out whether holding the meeting as scheduled would be useful. "Clearly, he's a colourful guy," Obama said. "What I've instructed my team to do is talk to their Philippine counterparts to find out is this in fact a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations." Early today, National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said the meeting with Duterte was off. Duterte has been under intense global scrutiny over the more than 2,000 suspected drug dealers and users killed since he took office. Obama had said he planned to raise the issue in his first meeting with Duterte, but the Philippine leader insisted he was only listening to his own country's people. "You must be respectful," Duterte said of Obama. "Do not just throw questions." Using the Tagalog phrase for "son of a b***h," he said, "Putang ina I will swear at you in that forum." He made the comment to reporters in Manilla. Eager to show he wouldn't yield, Obama said he would "undoubtedly" still bring up human rights and due process concerns "if and when" the two do meet. The bizarre rift with the leader of a US treaty ally was the most glaring example of how Obama has frequently found himself bound to foreign countries and leaders whose ties to the US are critical even if their values sharply diverge. In Hangzhou this week, Obama's first stop in Asia, he heaped praise on Chinese President Xi Jinping for hosting the Group of 20 economic summit in his country, an authoritarian state long accused of human rights violations. His next stop was another one-party communist country with a dismal rights record: Laos, where mysterious disappearances have fuelled concerns about a government crackdown. And sitting down with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Obama made no mention in public of the roughly 35,000 people Erdogan's government detained following the summer's failed coup in Turkey. Instead, he worked to reassure the NATO ally the US would help bring to justice whoever was responsible for plotting the coup. Obama also spent about 90 minutes yesterday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, another leader whose fate seems intertwined with Obama's in all the wrong ways. On opposing sides of many global issues, the US and Russia are nonetheless trying to broker a deal to address the Syrian civil war and perhaps even partner militarily there. However, hours later a White House spokesman said that a decision has been made to cancel the meeting. Poland's foreign minister has called on Britain to protect Poles living in the UK, during an urgent visit to London following a spate of attacks against migrants. Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski flew to London along with Home Affairs Minister Mariusz Blaszczak after two Poles were attacked over the weekend, an incident which followed the murder of a fellow Pole in August. Speaking after a joint meeting with British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson and Interior Minister Amber Rudd, Waszczykowski said such attacks were a recent phenomena. "We reminded the representatives of the UK government that Polish migrants integrated very well with British society... they deserve respect," he told journalists at the Polish embassy. "Over decades the big Polish community in the UK has not suffered any problems, but after the referendum campaign some incidents started to happen," Waszczykowski added. The June 23 vote for Britain to leave the European Union saw a spike in the number of attacks against foreigners. The National Police Chiefs' Council said more than than 3,000 incidents were reported to police in England, Wales and Northern Ireland between June 16 and 30 an increase of 42 percent from the same period last year. Waszczykowski said immigration had been used as a "weapon" in the campaign against EU membership, calling on British authorities to safeguard the rights of Polish migrants. "They are paying taxes, they deserve to be protected," he said. is the most common foreign country of birth for people living in Britain, according to figures released last month by the Office for National Statistics. An estimated 831,000 Polish-born people lived in Britain in 2015 a more than 13-fold increase on the 69,000 residents in 2004, when joined the EU and its nationals gained the right to live and work in Britain. The Polish embassy said it intervened in 15 serious hate crime incidents in recent weeks, including an arson attack on a Polish family's home and physical assault. During the bilateral meeting, the Polish delegation suggested increasing contact with Poland's police force and introducing educational programmes about integrating migrants in the UK. The ministers' visit to London came a day after two Poles were attacked outside a pub in Harlow, northeast of London, at around 3:30 am (0230 GMT) on Sunday. The assault followed the killing of factory worker Arek Jozwik in the same town on August 27. Speaking alongside Waszczykowski on Monday, Poland's home affairs minister said the government wanted to make sure there was an effective investigation into the killing. "I expressed my surprise that the six youngsters that had been arrested in connection with the incident have been released," said Blaszczak, referring to the meeting with the British ministers. Thailand's health authorities have stepped up surveillance on the spread of after two women in Bangkok were found to have been infected with the deadly virus. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) said that from January 1 to September 4 this year there were eight virus cases in the capital, including two cases of pregnant women. One of the woman has already given birth to a healthy baby who has no symptoms of the virus so far. However, authorities said they will continue to monitor the baby's health and conduct regular blood and urine tests. Another infected woman is in her 18th week of pregnancy and her condition is being closely monitored by health authorities, according to Benjasai Keeyapat, the BMA's spokesperson. The BMA's immediate actions are to eradicate the sources of the mosquitoes that carry the virus and build an effective monitoring and reporting network. During the four-month period, Benjasai said there were two groups of infected persons in Bangkok. One group included people who reside in Bangkok but have recently travelled to provinces where there have been cases of infection. The second group included six infected provincial residents who earlier came to Bangkok but returned to normal health, The Nation newspaper reported. Benjasai said the BMA has increased its public information campaigns to advise Bangkok residents of the virus and its potential danger to pregnant women as their babies could suffer from microcephaly, a congenital condition associated with incomplete brain development. Thailand has reported a total of 97 Zika virus cases since the start of this year, with infected persons found in 16 provinces. Four provinces, namely Chiang Mai, Chanthaburi, Phetchabun and Bung Kan, are being closely monitored, it said. A third massive explosion shook central Monday night, hours after a Taliban double bombing killed at least 24 people and left 91 wounded, in another day of carnage in the Afghan capital. Authorities said they were trying to pin down the location of the third blast and there was no immediate claim of responsibility from any militant group. It jolted the capital just hours after high-level officials, including an army general, were killed in the twin blasts near the defence ministry, as the Taliban ramp up their nationwide offencive against the US-backed government. A suicide bomber struck the area just minutes after the first explosion, in an assault apparently aimed at inflicting mass casualties as officials left the ministry after work. "The first explosion occurred on a bridge near the defence ministry. The second struck just as soldiers, policemen and civilians hurried to help the victims," defence ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish told AFP. Ambulances rushed to the scene, littered with disfigured bodies and charred debris. But there were so many bodies that some had to be taken to hospitals in car boots and the back of police pickup trucks. Firemen, meanwhile, raced to retrieve some bodies thrown into the River by the intensity of the first blast on the bridge. Health ministry spokesman Waheed Majroh said the attack left 24 people dead and 91 wounded, some of them seriously, adding the casualties could rise still further. The Italian-run Emergency Hospital in Kabul, which was overwhelmed with wounded patients, tweeted that four people died on arrival. The interior ministry initially said the attack was carried out by two suicide bombers on foot. But officials later said the first bomb was detonated remotely while the second was triggered by a suicide bomber. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter that the defence ministry was the object of the first attack, while police were targeted in the second. President Ashraf Ghani strongly condemned the carnage and offered condolences to the families of the victims. "The enemies of Afghanistan have lost their ability to fight the security and defence forces of the country," Ghani said in a statement. "That is why they are attacking highways, cities, mosques, schools and common people." The attack took place more than a week after 16 people were killed when militants stormed the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul, in a nearly 10-hour raid that prompted anguished pleas for help from trapped students. Explosions and gunfire rocked the campus in that attack, which came just weeks after two university professors an American and an Australian were kidnapped at gunpoint near the school. Their whereabouts are still unknown and no group so far has publicly claimed responsibility for the abductions. The uptick in violence in the capital comes as the Taliban escalate nationwide attacks, underscoring the worsening security situation since NATO forces ended their combat mission at the end of 2014. Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang and visiting French President Francois Hollande said here on Tuesday that economic cooperation continues to be a prioritised pillar in the bilateral relations. The agreement came during their talks held in Vietnam's capital Hanoi on Tuesday where Hollande is paying a visit from Monday to Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported. The two countries will highlight cooperation in key projects of infrastructure, energy, aviation, medical-pharmaceutical sector, environment, agriculture and food processing. Hollande is also scheduled to give a speech at the Vietnam National University and attend a state banquet in the capital before he departs later at night for Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam. After the talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of a series of cooperation documents related to mutual legal assistance, personnel training, agriculture, climate change, among others. On Tuesday, Vietnamese air carriers signed deals with French aircraft manufacturer Airbus for 40 planes worth $6.5 billion, Efe news reported. France is Vietnam's fifth-largest trade partner in Europe, with two-way trade reaching $4.2 billion in 2015, and is also the third largest European investor in the Southeast Asian country. Vietnamese air carriers on Tuesday signed deals with French aircraft manufacturer Airbus for 40 planes worth $6.5 billion. Low-cost airline JetStar Pacific, a subsidiary of Airlines, signed a $1 billion deal for 10 Airbus A320 jets, while VietJet placed orders for 20 aircraft for $2.39 billion. Airlines also signed a letter of intent to buy 10 Airbus A350 planes for $3 billion, EFE news reported. Airbus President and Chief Executive Officer Fabrice Bregier said at the signing ceremony that by 2020 the manufacturer would double the number of job opportunities for local skilled workers, making the firm's most important Southeast Asian partner. The deals were announced on the first day of French President Francois Hollande's two-day visit to the country, where he will hold talks on Tuesday with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan. Hollande is also scheduled to give a speech at the Vietnam National University and attend a state banquet in the capital before he departs later at night for Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam. He is set to meet Dinh La Thang, secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, on Wednesday. France is Vietnam's fifth-largest trade partner in Europe, with two-way trade reaching $4.2 billion in 2015, and is also the third largest European investor in the Southeast Asian country. Near-simultaneous bombings claimed by the group struck in and around strongholds of the Syrian government and Kurdish troops today, killing at least 48 people in a wave of attacks that came a day after the militants lost a vital link to the outside world along the Syrian-Turkish border. The IS-run Aamaq news agency said the attacks included six suicide bombings and one remotely detonated blast. Most targeted security forces. The Britain-based Observatory, which maintains a network of contacts in Syria, put the overall death toll at 53, although Syrian state TV said 48 were killed. Conflicting casualty figures are common in the 5-year-old Syria civil war. Jennifer Cafarella, a Syria expert with the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, said it was too soon to say if the attacks by the IS group were a reaction to its recent defeats along the border. But she cautioned that setbacks for IS can lead to "a dangerous new phase" by the group, which sometimes resorts to "infiltration and spectacular attacks that exploit and widen rifts" between populations, groups and security forces in both western and northern Syria. Turkey's recent intervention in the north has exposed major rifts and encouraged anti-Kurdish activity, Cafarella said in emails to The Associated Press. She said it was likely that as IS militants are pushed out of territory, they will increasingly target government and Kurdish areas. "So it's a dangerous possibility that we're witnessing ISIS gear up for a campaign to expand westward into either or both regime and opposition territory as it loses to the anti-ISIS coalition," she said, using an acronym for the militant group. The territorial losses at the border were the biggest blow to the militant group that also has suffered a series of recent battlefield setbacks in Syria and Iraq. Syrian rebels, backed by Turkish warplanes and tanks, continued to push IS fighters out of the border strip today, securing their hold on an area seized a day earlier. In Hangzhou, China, meanwhile, President Barack Obama said the US and Russia have not given up on negotiations to halt the bloodshed in Syria, but acknowledged that "gaps of trust" exist between the rival powers. Significant sticking points remain in negotiations over creating a US-Russian military partnership focusing firepower on "common enemies" in Syria, Obama said. He acknowledged that a meeting today with Russian President Vladimir Putin did not yield a breakthrough. Afghanistan's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Abdullah Abdullah on Tuesday applauded the country's Crisis Response Unit (CRU) and Afghan security forces for their efforts in ending the overnight siege on the CARE building in Shar-e-Naw in Kabul city. Four insurgents, including a suicide bomber, had launched an attack on the NGO building last night and ended the siege 11 hours later. Abdullah took to twitter conveying his message. "I acknowledge our security forces who showed courage and bravery in the face of terror. Their actions saved countless lives," he tweeted. He even went to say that Afghans are fighting a war against terrorists who are trained, advised, supported and instructed in the neighborhood. "I strongly condemn the heinous attack by coward terrorists in Shar-e-Naw Kabul. This was an act against religion, human faith and humanity," he said. He stated that while Afghanistan seeks beneficial relationships with neighbors, the country wouldn't turn a blind eye to blatant support of terrorist activities. "Afghan government will have clear words with those financing and promoting the killing of Afghans under the name of Talib, Haqqani and Daesh," he said. He said the Afghan Government will hold the perpetrators accountable. Warning the insurgent groups, he said. "Terrorists and those that choose to support and harbor terrorist organizations should note the resilience of our people." At least 42 people, including 10 foreigners, were rescued from houses in the immediate vicinity of the NGO's building, the Tolo News earlier reported. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In wake of the ongoing protests against the Supreme Court's order asking Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery water per day to help the distressed farmers of Tamil Nadu, state Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar today declares that schools and colleges would remain closed in Mandya for the next two days. Shivakumar told the media that high alert has been issued in all areas, including Bangalore, as a precautionary measure, adding the paramilitary forces would be called in only if the law and order situation deteriorates. "The Home minister has taken note of the ongoing protests. As a precautionary measure, we had a meeting today and I took permission from the Chief Minister that tomorrow and day after tomorrow, we'll close the colleges and schools in Mandya," he added. Several activists and lawyers today staged protests in Mandya against the apex court's order. The activists of Jai Karnataka outfit vandalized the Public Works Department (PWD) office here during their protest. The protestors are of the view that the court's directive would put Karnataka under pressure as the state is already facing deficient rainfall. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah earlier in the day called for an all-party meeting to discuss the Cauvery river water issue. The Supreme Court has directed the Karnataka Government to release 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery water per day to Tamil Nadu for the next 10 days to ameliorate the plight of farmers. The apex court also directed Tamil Nadu to approach the supervisory committee within three days for the release of Cauvery water as per the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal's (CWDT). The apex also asked the committee to decide on Tamil Nadu's plea in ten days. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Central Government on Tuesday launched the biggest Leprosy case detection campaign in the country. The Health Ministry, in a release, said, 32 crore people, across 19 states and union territories, will be screened under the campaign. The objective is to detect the disease early so that those affected can be saved from physical deformity. The ministry said, the districts, having a prevalence rate of more than one case per 10,000 population in the last three years, have been included in the campaign. Around three lakh teams will visit every house in their allotted area and screen all the family members for leprosy. To eradicate Leprosy from the country, Union Health Minister JP Nadda yesterday reviewed the Leprosy Eradication Programme. The states and UTs to be covered in this campaign include Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep. During the campaign, around 65,000 suspected cases were identified out of which nearly 4,000 were later confirmed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Kashmiri activist Sushil Pandit on Tuesday warned the Centre post the visit of the all-party delegation to Kashmir and said the separatists move not to indulge in dialogue clearly indicates that they are acting on the orders received from Islamabad. Accusing the Hurriyat of indulging in politics, Pandit said they are least concerned about the ongoing violence in the valley due to which several innocent people are losing their lives. He said the Hurriyat feels that the situation on ground where there is total breakdown of the state machinery and law and order and a complete chaos means that the situation favors them and they shouldn't talk. "There are strict instructions from Pakistan. Pakistan feels that through Hurriyat they will be able to bend India's will and resolve," he added. The Kashmiri activist was also critical of the all-party delegation while emphasizing that they did not allot the same time to all stakeholders during the dialogue process. "The decision of the all-party delegation to visit Jammu was taken in haste. It was not a pre-decided move.The delegation stayed there (in Jammu) only for two hours and the Kashmiri Pandits were given just eight minutes to put forth their views," said Pandit. "So, this clearly indicates a mindset which is least concerned about issues and if they continue in the same manner it will be a great loss for the nation," he added. The Kashmiri activist's reaction came as Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the visit of the all-party delegation to Kashmir. Singh had earlier said that the delegation had very good interactions with individuals and groups and that it would meet in Delhi and discuss the future action plan. Before winding up the visit, the Home Minister also sent out a clear message to separatists, asserting that Jammu and Kashmir will always remain an integral part of India. He, however, said doors are open to everyone as far as talks are concerned. Kashmir has been on the boil since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Journalist Shafik Rehman walked out of Kashimpur jail in Gazipur, after five months into arrest in a case for his alleged attempts to abduct and murder Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's son Sajeeb Wazed Joy. Rehman's personal assistant Sajib Onasis confirmed his release this afternoon, reports the Daily Star. Onasis's added that Rehman is expected to get admitted to Birdem hospital for treatment as he is suffering from various complications including high blood pressure and diabetes. He was on August 31 granted bail by the Supreme Court for three months or until the charge sheet of the case is submitted. The apex court said in its order that his bail will expire if police submit the charge sheet before three months. The Appellate Division of a five-member bench headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha passed the order after hearing Rehman's appeal petition seeking bail in the case. The High Court had on June 7, rejected Rehman's petition in the same case. Rehman, the former editor of the daily Jaijaidin, filed the appeal with the apex court challenging High Court's judgment. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Afghan Crisis Response Unit (CRU) members on Tuesday gunned down all insurgents that had been holed up in CARE NGO's building in Shar-e-Naw overnight in Kabul. At least 42 people were rescued, including 10 foreigners from houses in the immediate vicinity of the NGO's building, reports the Tolo News. The Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi confirmed that three gunmen were killed in total. The insurgents on Monday night launched their attack on the NGO. The attack first started with a car bomb that ripped through the city and the gunmen then reportedly stormed the building. The police have confirmed that at least one civilian was killed and six were wounded in the attack. Following the attack, the roads into the city were closed to all traffic since last night. The bombing was the third in Kabul yesterday after twin explosions outside the Ministry of Defence killed at least 35 people and wounded dozens more. An initial explosive device was detonated at the gate of the ministry. Once first responders had arrived at the scene, a suicide bomber then detonated his explosives. Among the dead were a number of high-ranking police and military officials. CARE first established its mission in Afghanistan in 1961 and suspended activities after the Russian invasion of 1979. In 1989, it resumed activities in from a new base in Peshawar, Pakistan, and delivered assistance to Afghanistan from across the border until 2002 when it moved its main office back to Kabul. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Priyanka Chopra surpassed the heights of hotness in her recent Magazine shoot for GQ. For the candid shoot, PeeCee goes bare-backed in one picture, and in the other she unbuttons and let the cleavage do the talking. After conquering the west with her American action thriller 'Quantico,' the 34-year-old actress is all set for her upcoming season 2 of it. The show will premiere on September 25. The actress will also make her Hollywood movie debut with action comedy flick 'Baywatch', alongside Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron. The movie will release in May 2017. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Global icon Priyanka Chopra recently opened up on the difficulties of being born as a girl and professed the importance of education to battle the hardships and hypocrite mindset women face ever since they are born. To celebrate Teachers' Day, the 34-year-old actress posted a video yesterday, which starts with a question, "Is it easy being born a girl in India?" The one-minute video shows her saying, "It's very very difficult to be a girl in India, since the time we are born we are not valued enough as compared to the boys, We are told that a girl is 'paraya dhan' (belong to others). If a family doesn't have a son than when somebody dies they don't get heaven." In the heartfelt video, the 'Quantico' star reminisced the importance of teachers, especially in the lives of the girls. "Having a tough weapon like a degree or an education makes you so much more equipped to deal with everything, it just makes you so much stronger," added the Desi girl in the video. "We rise because of our teachers," the video read. It also carried a famous quote by Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, which read, "True teachers are those who help us think for ourselves." It is to mention that Teachers' Day is celebrated on the birth anniversary of India's second President Dr. Radhakrishnan. Along with the brief clip, she tweeted, "Happy Teachers Day. Every girl deserves an education & together, we can make it happen @GirlRisingIndia #IAmGirlRising." On a related note, Priyanka serves as an ambassador for Girl Rising, the campaign to improve girls' education globally, and Girl Up, a United Nations foundation. She was also appointed as a National Ambassador to UNICEF for children's rights in 2010. On the work front, PeeCee is all set to have the premiere of the second season of her American thriller television series 'Quantico' on September 25. She will also make her Hollywood debut next year in 'Baywatch,' alongside Zac Efron, Dwayne Johnson. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi today launched his poll-campaign for the much important 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls with a 2,500 km-long 'Kisan Yatra' from agriculture-dominated Rudrapur belt of the state. The 'Deoria to Dilli yatra', which started from Panchlari Kritpura village, was marked by a door-to-door campaign of collecting 'Kisan Mangpatras' (charters of farmers demands), one-to-one interaction with farmers through Khaat (cot) Sabhas, a concept similar to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Chai par Charcha' during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, and roadside meetings. "Door to door campaign begins from vill Pachladi. Met farmers, &collected Kisan Maang Patras outlining their demands," Gandhi's office said in a tweet. "Kisan Maang Patras being signed in Rudrapur," he added. Trailed by the SPG, the Congress vice-president landed in Panchlari village by a chopper and began moving into rural households. Rahul Gandhi had earlier said his mahayatra is a campaign to help secure rights of the poor, farmers and labourers in government resources. "My Yatra from Deoria to Delhi starting September 6 - is a campaign to secure the rights of the poor, farmers and labourers in government resources," Gandhi had said on twitter. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress Vice- President on Tuesday reached out to the farming community while cornering the Centre and Samajwadi Party Government for not addressing their concerns despite making tall claims. Gandhi, who began his 2500 km-long 'Kisan Yatra' as efforts to reach out to the people of Uttar Pradesh which goes to polls next year, promised loan waiver and reduction in power tariff by 50 per cent if the Congress is voted to power in the 2017 assembly polls. "When we were in power, we developed many schemes to help the poor. We introduced MGNREGA, waived off their loans and what not. We have set out on this yatra so as to highlight the condition of farmers," he said "When Modi ji came here, he promised a lot to the farmers. But since he formed the government, he has completely forgotten his promises. Why don't you waive the farmers' debts? We will through this yatra tell Modi ji about the worries of the farmers," he added. Continuing his tirade against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gandhi alleged that the former was more concerned about industrialists. "We are not asking you to stop helping them. We are only saying do something for the farmers as well. I asked Modi ji as to why there is so much difference in farmers' rate and market rate, but I didn't get a reply," he added. Gandhi also used the occasion to target the Samajwadi Party and alleged that the state government was ignoring the plight of the labourers. "There were 17 sugar mills in Deoria district, but today all are shut. Who is responsible for it? We don't have a government in Delhi or in UP, but we will listen to the farmers," he said. The 'Deoria to Dilli yatra', which started from Panchlari Kritpura village, was marked by a door-to-door campaign of collecting 'Kisan Mangpatras' (charters of farmers demands), one-to-one interaction with farmers through Khaat (cot) Sabhas, a concept similar to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Chai par Charcha' during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, and roadside meetings. "Door to door campaign begins from vill Pachladi. Met farmers, collected Kisan Maang Patras outlining their demands," Gandhi's office said in a tweet. "Kisan Maang Patras being signed in Rudrapur," the tweet added. The Congress vice-president had earlier said his yatra is aimed at helping the poor, farmers and labourers secure their rights. "My Yatra from Deoria to Delhi starting September 6 - is a campaign to secure the rights of the poor, farmers and labourers in government resources," Gandhi tweeted earlier. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who led the all-party delegation to Jammu and Kashmir to assess the situation, today briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the two-day visit to the Valley. "Briefed the Prime Minister on All Party Delegation's visit to J&K and also apprised him of the situation in the state," said Singh in a tweet. Repelling the notion that the all-party delegation visit to Jammu and Kashmir was a "failure", the Home Minister had yesterday said the delegation will now meet in Delhi to chalk out an action plan for the government on measures that it needed to take in future in Jammu and Kashmir. "Now, this all-party delegation will meet in Delhi, where we will derive a result from the talks that we held with various stakeholders, and will chalk out an action plan for the government on measures that it should take in future in Jammu and Kashmir," said Singh, while addressing a press conference before their departure to Delhi. The delegation was in Srinagar on Sunday and had visited Jammu before returning to Delhi. Before winding up the visit, the Home Minister sent out a clear message to separatists, asserting that Jammu and Kashmir will always remain an integral part of India. He, however, said as far as talks are concerned, doors are open to everyone, who want peace and normalcy. Divulging detail of the meeting in Jammu, the Home Minister said, "As many as 200 people comprising 18 delegations interacted with the all-party delegation. They expressed their concerns over the situation in Kashmir and were of the opinion that the problems in the Valley should be resolved at the earliest. Besides, they also merited the attention of the all-party delegation towards the problems of the Jammu region. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the plea contending that the top court-appointed oversight committee, headed by former Chief Justice RM Lodha, was going beyond its mandate of monitoring the work of the Medical Council of India (MCI). The petition was filed by Vyapam whistleblower Anand Rai, who alleged that the committee overshot MCI and the Health Ministry's disapproval of hundreds of applications made by medical colleges without conducting any "fresh" inspection or assessment. The apex court has asked the petitioner to give representation to Justice Lodha committee itself. The constitution bench of the Supreme Court led, by Justice Anil R. Dave, in a judgment in May 2016, had set up a three-member committee, headed by Justice Lodha, to oversee the functioning of the MCI for at least a year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) New Delhi [India], September 6 (ANI) On the 51st day of externally instigated rioting in the Kashmir Valley, curfew was partially lifted, but the flare-ups have continued. When the All Party Delegation visited Srinagar, protests continued across Kashmir. Over 250 people have been injured in the clashes in several parts of Kashmir. Seventy people were reported dead and thousands injured as on September 2 since the violence started following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8. Since July 8, there have been 22 attacks including one on the Army, 16 on Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) Police and five on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). There have been 48 incidents, including 41 attacks on police stations (burnt or ransacked), one on the Army, three on CRPF and three against J&K Police. Senior CRPF sources disclosed that from July 8 to August 31 there have been 872 incidents of stone-pelting which wounded 2,094 CRPF personnel. Apart from the much mentioned shotgun short-range cartridge, the CRPF had to resort to use plastic and rubber pellets as well as tear-smoke shells and tear-smoke grenades, many of which were picked quickly and lobbed back by mobsters at the CRPF personnel. Of the casualties mentioned, 122 were grievously injured. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has been trying hard to change the political discourse. Since she first lashed out at the separatists on May 31, she has made many statements on the general theme of instigation of the public. On August 22, she said that the Kashmir unrest was 'pre-planned' and only handful were involved in keeping the Valley on the boil. 95 percent people were peace-loving and children were being used as a shield by "vested interests" while attacking camps and posts of the security forces. As a result, innocent kids have become casualties. She also conveyed a message to those raising "pro-azadi" slogans that they should see the condition of Muslims in Islamic countries like Pakistan, Syria, Turkey and Afghanistan even though these nations have "freedom". On August 27, she said that the situation in Kashmir has been bad since 2008. "The UPA government had ignored the situation after the 2008 unrest. PM Modi is trying to resolve the situation," she said. Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh for taking initiatives to start a dialogue with Pakistan, she said, "PM Modi reached out to Pakistan, went to Lahore, but then Pathankot happened. Home Minister Rajnath Singh also went to Islamabad. Unfortunately, Pakistan has repeatedly given up chances to talk and resolve the issue of violence in Kashmir." "As a mother, I am pained to see that kids are being told to go out and stone police stations. Will stone-pelting solve the issue?" She added, recalling that she had urged the separatists to come and talk but there has been no response. All Party Hurriyat Conference-Geelani (APHC-G) chairman S.A.S. Geelani on the other hand said that Mufti had "lost her mental balance after gaining power". On July 16, Geelani wrote a letter to several international bodies and heads of state in several countries outlining six measures that the Indian Government should take for return of normalcy in the valley: acceptance of Kashmir's disputed status along with right to self-determination, demilitarization of the valley, repealing of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and the Public Safety Act, release of all political prisoners in Kashmir along with restoration of their right to political activity, allowance to all international human rights and humanitarian organisations for working in the state and ensuring "free political space" to all parties in the state. On August 23, APHC-M chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq sent a letter to Pope Francis, Dalai Lama , Imam Kaba, Shankrachrya and ambassadors of various countries in New Delhi, UN, EU and OIC on the situation in J&K, peppered with some lies and twisted facts. His statement was, "Hurriyat is the leadership of Kashmir and there should be an unconditional dialogue ... the precondition of 'within the ambit of the Indian Constitution' will not lead to a solution." When the all-party delegation members Sitaram Yechury, Sharad Yadav, Assadudin Owaisi, D. Raja, Rajgopal Narayan and Fayaz Mir arrived at Geelani's Hyderpora residence where he is "house-detained", he refused to open the door and a group of people appeared at the site yelling slogans like "Go India, Go Back" and "We want freedom." The MPs feeling embarrassed rushed into their bulletproof vehicles, which had to move slowly as these protesters walked in front of them. Hurriyat (M) chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, under detention at Chashmashahi sub jail, refused to talk to Assadudin Owaisi, who came out within a minute or two. Sitaram Yechury, Sharad Yadav and the other two members of the delegation reached Humhama sub jail to meet JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik and DFP chief Shabir Shah. But Malik refused to talk to them. A member of the all-party delegation said it was in their "personal capacity" that these six MPs tried to meet the separatists as the state and central governments did not have any meeting with separatists in their agenda and neither had the six MPs discussed any such intention with the rest of the delegation. The Investigation Agency (NIA) is reportedly examining about 22 bank accounts in south Kashmir that received unaccounted money and had withdrawals coinciding with the current unrest in the valley to probe into possible links of the account holders with Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) or its cadres, Kashmiri separatists and terror financiers based in Pakistan. Central agencies have reportedly identified 400 local leaders fuelling protests and shared their names with the state police for an immediate crackdown, including detention under the Public Safety Act. Intelligence officials said the list included over-ground workers of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and other terrorist outfits besides local-level functionaries of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat (TeH), the APHC-G and Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI). "Separatists" is too mild a term for referring to outright traitors and in fact agents of Pakistan, who have for at least three decades been receiving large undisclosed amounts of funds from Pakistan for motivating/recruiting Kashmiri youth to join Pakistan-supported terrorist groups, purging Kashmir valley of over 4,00,000 Kashmiri Pandits, organizing protests/breakdowns/'bandhs'/closure of schools /inflammatory seditious speeches at mosques/waving of Pakistani flags/aiding and abetting Pakistani terrorists for attacks or by having them sheltered In recent years, they have ensured for their Pakistani mentors that Kashmir valley remains on the boil, prevent progress and prosperity of good tourist seasons or allowing entrepreneurs from establishing businesses to benefit Kashmiris and radicalizing public. Yet, ironically, they enjoy various benefits from the government and house arrests/detentions have not prevented them from issuing various calls for bandhs/shutdowns paralyzing life in the valley. Even at the cost of being repetitive, it is reiterated that no talks or peace measures in Kashmir will succeed until the separatists and their entire network are removed. [The views expressed in the above article are of defence analyst Lt Col (Retd.) Anil Bhat]. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Like millions of people nation-wide, Bollywood actress Shraddha Kapoor also seems to be enchanted by the letter Amitabh Bachchan recently penned for all the granddaughters, especially addressing to his own- Aaradhya and Navya Naveli. "This is just wonderful sir. So thoughtful, encouraging & inspiring. A letter that every girl/woman/boy/man must read!", tweeted the 29-year-old actress. Telugu actor Allu Sirish too expressed his feelings in a tweet, which read, "Big B's short, heart touching letter to his grand daughters. Beautiful. Do read!" The 73-year-old Shahenshah of Bollywood, after posting a heartfelt letter also expressed gratitude towards those who commended his efforts. " #ABletter .. my letter to my grand daughters .. so humbled to receive all your responses .. !! Thank you !!," he tweeted. Filled with wisdom, advice and life lessons, the 'TE3N' actor in his letter, spoke about the challenges women face in the society and the possibly best ways to deal with them. He even emphasised on women empowerment, vouching for self-made decisions. On a related note, Big-B's upcoming court-room drama 'PINK' too revolves around a similar storyline, where the title stands for 'women empowerment.' Based on the lives of three girl facing humiliation due to their gender, the movie features Tapsee Panu, Kirti Kulhari and Andrea Tariand. Produced by Shoojit Sircar and directed by national award winning filmmaker Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, the movie will hit the cinemas on September 16. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Taking potshots at Rahul Gandhi over his 2,500 km-long 'Kisan Yatra', Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader on Tuesday said the Congress vice-president has more knowledge about the night clubs in Europe as compared to the condition of farmers in India. Swamy told ANI that the media should not bother about Gandhi as he is not a serious politician. "Rahul Gandhi does not know what the farmers' problems are. He only knows where the night clubs in Europe are, particularly in France and London. He goes there most of the time and then on occasion he takes a plane and comes here and does a padyatra and then again goes away. He is not a serious politician.you should not bother about him," he added. Gandhi earlier on Tuesday reached out to the farming community while cornering the Centre and the Samajwadi Party Government for not addressing their concerns despite making tall claims. He promised loan waiver and reduction in power tariff by 50 per cent if the Congress is voted to power in the 2017 assembly polls. Continuing his tirade against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gandhi alleged that the former was more concerned about industrialists. Gandhi also used the occasion to target the Samajwadi Party and alleged that the state government was ignoring the plight of the labourers. The UK has appointed an ambassador to Iran for the first time since 2011, restoring diplomatic relations. The decision comes nearly five years after Iranians invaded the British Embassy and one year after the British Embassy reopened in Tehran, which reflects gradual thawing of relations in the wake of the Iranian nuclear agreement. Nicholas Hopton, a Middle East specialist, was appointed UK charge d' affairs in Tehran in December, and his role was upgraded to ambassador, reports the Guardian. Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary on Monday said, "This is an important moment in the relationship between UK and Iran." "The upgrade in diplomatic relations gives us the opportunity to develop our discussions on a range of issues, including our consular cases about which I am deeply concerned, and which I have raised with foreign minister [Javad] Zarif," he added. Meanwhile, a key figure in the Iranian nuclear negotiating team, Hamid Baeidinejad, has been appointed the Iranian ambassador to the UK. Reports suggest that the move came as British Airways restored direct flights to Tehran six days a week and British banks continued to increase operations. Iran downgraded its relations with the UK in November 2011 when stronger sanctions were imposed. A group of students had also attacked the UK embassy compound in Tehran, damaging property and driving the embassy staff away. United Nations human rights chief Zeid Raad al-Hussein in a scathing attack on populist politicians, including United States Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump and Dutch leader Geert Wilders, said that they had similarities to the ideology espoused by the Islamic State group. Speaking at the inauguration of the Peace, Justice and Security Foundation in The Hague, Hussein said that he was a Muslim whose role was "to defend and promote the human rights of each individual, everywhere", reports the Guardian. "And I am angry too. Because of Mr Wilders's lies and half-truths, manipulations and peddling of fear," he said. Hussein said that he worked as a peacekeeper in the Balkans for 20 years, adding the cruelty he witnessed during the conflict "flowed from this same factory of deceit, bigotry and ethnic nationalism". In August, Wilders's Freedom party (PVV) launched its campaign platform ahead of March elections vowing to "close mosques, Islamic schools and ban the Qur'an" if elected. The PVV also vowed to reverse the "Islamisation" of the Netherlands by closing borders, shutting asylum-seeker centres, banning immigrants from Muslim countries and stopping Muslim women wearing headscarves. Zeid strongly criticised the PVV's proposals and said Wilders had much in common with Trump, who is known for his anti-Muslim rhetoric, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the French National Front leader Marine Le Pen and the leading Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage. Urging the people to speak out and "draw the line", he asked: "Are we going to continue to stand by and watch this banalisation of bigotry?" Reacting to Zeid's speech, Wilders said the Jordanian prince was "an utter fool". "Another good reason to get rid of the UN. Islam and freedom are incompatible whatever this Jordanian bureaucrat says," said Wilders. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday filed chargesheet against LIC agent Anand Chauhan in a money laundering case involving Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and others. A Delhi court earlier on August 20 dismissed Chauhan's bail petition. Chauhan was arrested on July 9 in Chandigarh by the Enforcement Directorate after he did not cooperate with the agency. Chauhan was arrested under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), as he was instrumental in investing Rs. five crores in LIC polices in the name of the Chief Minister's family members including his wife and children. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The World Organization on Tuesday emphasised on need of enhancing and expanding quality life-saving interventions to all mothers, newborns and children across South-East Asia Region to end maternal, newborn and child deaths. Regional Director for South-East Asia Region, Poonam Khetrapal Singh said, "Countries within the South-East Asia Region have made remarkable progress in the area of maternal and child in recent years." Adding, "Between 1990 and 2015 child mortality was reduced by 64 per cent, while maternal mortality was reduced by 69 per cent as compared to the global average of 52 per cent and 44 per cent respectively. However, much remains to be done to ensure equitable access to quality services and further reduce preventable deaths." Despite the impressive decline in maternal and child mortality, the Region could not meet Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 to reduce maternal mortality by 75 per cent and child mortality by 67 per cent. Countries can make immediate gains by expanding workforce and training more skilled birth attendants. At present, the density of health care providers in the Region is 12.5 per 10 000 population, which is far less than the recommended minimum of 44.5 per 10 000 population. "Efforts to achieve universal health coverage by expanding access to quality services will also prove vital to ending preventable maternal, newborn and child mortality. Robust and effective maternal, perinatal and newborn death surveillance and response will further strengthen accountability mechanisms and improve quality of care," said Poonam at the sixty-ninth Regional Committee meeting of WHO South-East Asia Region. The Region-wide initiative to accelerate progress towards ending preventable maternal and child mortality comes in the wake of the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals and the adoption of the Global Strategy for Women's, Children's and Adolescents' Health (2016-2030). The key objectives of the Global Strategy are 'Survive, Thrive and Transform', which reflect aspirations to end preventable mortality, as well as to avert illnesses, ensure wellbeing, and promote a productive and empowered future. Pledging to achieve outstanding Millennium Development Goals related to maternal and child health, health ministers of the 11 Member States resolved to ensure sustained efforts to bring the maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100 000 live births, under- five mortality to 25 per 1000 live births and the neonatal mortality rate to below 12 per 100 live births by 2030. The Regional Committee meeting taking place in Colombo, Sri Lanka is WHO South-East Asia Region's highest decision-making body, where health priorities, challenges and opportunities for the Region for the next twelve months are discussed and decided upon. Water security in Asia and Pacific has progressed overall in the past 5 years, but major challenges remain, including overexploited groundwater, demand from rising populations, and climate variability, according to a new report from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The new edition of the Asian Water Development Outlook (AWDO 2016) released at World Water Week in Stockholm provides a snapshot of the water security status of 48 of the region's countries, using latest data sets. According to these, the number of countries assessed as water insecure has dropped to 29, compared to 38 (out of 49 countries) identified in the previous issue of the report in 2013. Asia and Pacific remains the world's most vulnerable region to water insecurity and cannot sustain its recent economic growth without addressing this issue, said ADB Vice-President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development Bambang Susantono, who led the launch in Stockholm. Meeting the region's socioeconomic challenges and achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 on water will require bridging the gap in provision of water services between rich and poor in urban areas, and between rural and urban areas. The report cites that in Asia and the Pacific, 1.7 billion people lack access to basic sanitation. Recent estimates suggest that by 2050, 3.4 billion people could be living in water-stressed areas in Asia and the Pacific while water demand will increase by 55%. AWDO 2016 assesses water security in 5 key dimensionsnamely household access, economic viability, urban services, restoring rivers and ecosystems, and resilience to water-related disasters. Advanced economies such as Australia, Japan and New Zealand consistently lead the way, followed by countries in East Asialed by the People's Republic of China (PRC), which has taken the biggest stride to improve water security since the AWDO 2013 edition. On household access to piped potable water and improved sanitation, the water security score in Asia and the Pacific on a 20-point scale ranges from 4.5 for South Asia to 20.0 for the advanced economies. All parts of the region improved their performance by about 2 points since 2013, except for the Pacific islands. But although the rural-urban gap has been reduced in some countries (such as Armenia and Thailand), the report says major disparities remain between rural and urban areas and between rich and poor on services and infrastructure for piped water supply and sanitation. South Asian countries particularly need to make considerable efforts to improve their performance in this dimension. The second key dimension, economic water security, provides an assessment of the productive use of water to sustain economic growth in food production, industry and energy. Most of the change since 2013 has been positive with advanced countries again showing the highest scores and Pacific islands lagging. But there remains room for improvement across the region. Countries that merit strengthening current conditions are concentrated in Central Asia. On No. 3, urban water security, East Asia has shown positive progress while South and Southeast Asia still have some way to go, particularly Myanmar, Pakistan, and the Philippines. Nearly half of the economies have piped water supply levels higher than 85% but less than 50% of the urban population have access to improved sanitation. In many areas, the majority of wastewater is discharged to the environment having received little to no treatment. The report says significant investment and leadership is needed to reliably meet the water needs of cities. The fourth key dimension describes how well a country is able to manage its river basins and sustain ecosystem services. This shows a wide range of results, with the Pacific islands scoring highly due to good river health and advanced economies doing well due to strong governance. Declining river health is most evident in Bangladesh, the lower Yangtze River Basin of the PRC, Nepal, and Mekong Delta in Viet Nam, the report says. For the fifth key dimension, resilience to water-related disasters, advanced economies show the strongest performance while much of the rest of Asia and the Pacific has been weak. Between 1995 and 2015, there were some 2,495 water-related disasters striking Asia, killing 332,000 people and affecting a further 3.7 billion. South Asia showed the lowest resilience score, but several other countries showed strong improvement since 2013. These included Pakistan; the Philippines; and Taipei,China. The report concludes that the relationship between water security and the economy can be a virtuousor a viciouscircle. There is a strong relationship between water management and the economy, and investments in good water management can be considered as a longer term payback for increased growth and poverty reduction, the publication says. Water-related investments can increase economic productivity and growth, while economic growth provides the resources to invest in institutions and capital-intensive water infrastructure. AWDO 2016 is produced by ADB in partnership with the Asia Pacific Water Forum and three specialist agenciesAsia Pacific Center for Water Security at Tsinghua University, International Water Management Institute, and International Water Centre. Key contributions have also been made by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Plans to pay off entire debt amounting Rs 900 crore Atlanta announced that the Company including its subsidiaries has been awarded more than Rs 1600 crore in arbitration awards, which are pending adjudication at different stages. In terms of the policy cleared by the Cabinet on Arbritration awards, Atlanta Group will be entitled for 75% of the above amount of Rs 1600 crore i.e. approximately Rs 1200 crore. Atlanta including its subsidiaries has a total debt of Rs 900 crore. This debt of Rs 900 crore includes debt for two operational BOT projects having concessional period up to 2026 and 2029. Atlanta Group proposes to pay off the entire debt amounting to Rs 900 crore and become debt free Company during the current financial year. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rs.1.24 lakh cr investment approved to improve basic urban infrastructure Speedy implementation of new urban missions launched last year has resulted in the Ministry of Urban Development spending 70% of Plan Funds for 2016-17 during the last five months of the current financial year. This was revealed during a review of progress under different missions taken by the Minister of Urban Development Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu. Under the initiative of Credit Rating of urban local bodies, 85 cities have launched the process and the same has been completed in respect of 12. Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has got A- - rating (positive credit worthy). All these 85 cities would be given credit rating by March next year. Pune and Ahmedabad are in advanced stage of going for municipal bonds. The Minister has directed the officials to follow up with States and ULBs on a regular basis to ensure that all ULBs get credit rating at the earliest which is necessary to float municipal bonds for mobilizing resources. As a part of handholding the States and Urban Local Bodies for speedy execution of projects under new initiatives, the Ministry of Urban Development has identified substantial sources of resources from various domestic and multi-lateral lending agencies. This includes ; Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank- US $ 5 billion, Asian Development Bank- US $ 1 billion, Japanese International Cooperation Agency- US $ 500 million, BRICS Bank- US $ 500 million per city, AFD-Euro 100-200 million. HUDCO is likely to support Smart City Mission with Rs.10,000 cr. The Minister was informed that in addition to 68 projects that were launched in 14 smart cities in June this year, another 134 projects have been identified of which 114 projects are under bidding. While the first batch of all 20 smart cities have set up Special Purpose Vehicles, the 13 cities identified under Fast Track Competition would do so by the end of this month. Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu expressed satisfaction over the Ministry approving an investment of Rs.1.24 lakh crore for improving basic urban infrastructure. This includes Rs.78,000 cr investment under Smart City Plans of 33 cities and another Rs.45,935 cr under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). Shri Naidu noted that reforms introduced like involvement of States and ULBs in conceptualization of new urban missions, autonomy to States in formulation of projects, their appraisal and approval, competition based selection of cities etc., have begun to yield positive results in the form of speedy clearance of investments. The Minister directed the concerned officials to take necessary measures jointly with States and ULBs to promote conversion of municipal solid waste into compost. As against Plan allocation of Rs.21,000 for 2016-17, the Ministry of Urban Development has incurred an expenditure of Rs.14,725 cr till August this year. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) I don't know how many young women come to this blog or how many are parents of teenage or young adult women, but here are some safety tips from Kelsey's Army: T I P S 1. Trust your instincts - If something feels wrong then something probably is wrong.2. Know your surroundings - know who and what is around you.3. Always have a plan for where you would go and what you would do if a situation arises.4. Be willing to make a scene in order to be noticed.5. Let someone know where you are going and when you will be back.Remember the acronym TIPS:ake Chargenform others of your whereaboutsrepare for any situationurvival Mentality (role play situations so you will respond should they happen)For more information, go to Kelsey's Army Freight tonne kilometers (FTKs) demand increased at fastest pace in almost 18 months of 5.0% in July 2016 The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for global air freight markets in July 2016 showing robust growth in demand. Measured in freight tonne kilometers (FTKs), demand increased 5.0% in July 2016, compared to July 2015. This was the fastest pace in almost 18 months. Freight capacity measured in available freight tonne kilometers (AFTKs) increased by 5.2% year-on-year, outstripping demand and keeping yields under pressure. Despite the subdued global trade backdrop, carriers in the world's four biggest air cargo markets - Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America and the Middle East - reported an increase in freight demand. The strongest growth occurred in Europe and the Middle East, with July demand up by 7.2% and 6.7% respectively, compared to the same period last year. "July was a positive month for air freight - which is an all too rare occurrence. Despite that, we must recognize that we face some strong headwinds on fundamental aspects of the business. Global trade growth is sluggish and business confidence is weak. And the political rhetoric on both sides of the Atlantic is not encouraging for further trade liberalization," said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA's Director General and CEO. Regional Performance Asia-Pacific airlines reported a 4.9% increase in demand for air cargo in July compared to last year. In particular, growth has been driven by strong increases in the large 'within Asia' market in recent months, but the latest business surveys from the region paint a mixed picture. Capacity in the region expanded 2.7%. North American carriers saw freight volumes expand 4.1% in July 2016 compared to the same period last year, and capacity increase by 3.4%. International freight volumes (which grew 1.3% in July) continue to suffer from the strength of the US dollar which has kept the US export market under pressure. European airlines posted the largest increase in freight demand of all regions in July, 7.2% year-on-year. Capacity increased 3.8%. The positive European performance corresponds with an increase in export orders in Germany over the last few months. Europe's freight volumes have now surpassed the level reached during the air freight rebound following the Global Financial Crisis. The only other region to achieve this is the Middle East. Middle Eastern carriers saw air freight demand increase by 6.7% in July 2016 year-on-year. Capacity increased by 11%. The region's growth rate, while still strong, has eased to half the 14% recorded annually between 2012 and 2015. This is mainly attributable to slower freight growth between the Middle East and Asia. Latin American airlines saw demand contract by 5.6% in July 2016 compared to the same period last year and capacity increase by 10.1%. The region continues to be blighted by weak economic and political conditions, particularly in the region's largest economy, Brazil. African carriers recorded a 6.8% decrease in year-on-year freight demand in July 2016 - the largest decline in seven years. African airlines' capacity surged by 31.3% on the back of long-haul expansion (from a small base). Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) NIDHI (National Initiative for Development and Harnessing Innovations), an umbrella program is pioneered by the Department of Science & Technology(DST), Government of India, for nurturing ideas and innovations (knowledge-based and technology-driven) into successful startups. In order to realize the Prime Minister's ambitious Initiative on Startup India, DST aims to bring both speed and scale to transform the Startup Ecosystem in the country and has committed 500 crores to implement these new programs in next few years. This was announced by the Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, while addressing the media in New Delhi today. NIDHI focuses on building a seamless and innovation driven entrepreneurial ecosystem especially by channelizing youth towards it and thereby bringing in the positive impact on the socio-economic development of the country. The program aims to provide technological solutions not only to the pressing needs of the society but also targets to create new avenues for wealth and job creation. NIDHI, by design connects and strengthens all the links of the innovation chain from scouting to sustaining to securing to scaling to showcasing, because a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. The key stakeholders of NIDHI includes various departments and ministries of the central government, state governments, academic and R & D institutions, mentors, financial institutions, angel investors, venture capitalists, industry champions and private sectors. NIDHI strongly addresses the new national aspirations by massively scaling up DST's experience of three decades in promoting innovative startups. There are 8 components of NIDHI that support each stage of a budding startup from idea to market. The first component PRAYAS (Promoting and Accelerating Young and Aspiring Innovators & Startups), launched on 2nd September, 2016, aims to support innovators to build prototypes of their ideas by providing a grant up to Rs.10 lakhs and an access to Fabrication Laboratory (Fab Lab). The final component is the Seed Support System which provides up to One Crore rupees per start-up and is implemented through Technology Business Incubators. During the current financial year with a view to drive the innovation and startup centric new initiatives in a scaled up manner for its wider outreach across the country, a 450% increase in allocation (Rs. 180 crores) has been made in the Department's budget. So far, DST has established more than 100 Technology Business Incubators in academic and R & D institutions of repute. These institutions include IITs, IIMs, NITs and other institutions. Each of these incubator is focused on a Technology Domain and all of these combined together house more than 2000 startups currently and offer a total incubation space of approximately 7 lakh square feet. The Minister, also mentioned that various successful and high growth stories in affordable health care, diagnostics, applications of unmanned aerial vehicles, renewable energy, service oriented online platforms, payment gateways etc. have emerged out of these incubators. In the recently concluded National Expert Advisory Committee Meeting on 3rd September, 2016, proposal to establish 6 Centers of Excellence were decided, at SINE- IIT Bombay, Venture Center-NCL Pune, CIIE-IIM Ahmedabad etc.,14 Technology Business Incubators which include IIT Patna and Mizoram University etc. Ten more Incubators to be supplemented with Seed Support Systems for startups include Startup Oasis-Jaipur, Amrita TBI -Kollam, Venture Center, NCL -Pune etc. establishing a Research Park at IIT Gandhinagar . In addition, a variety of other new programs including a fellowship program for Entrepreneurs i.e. Entrepreneurs in Residence, scaling up of startups through accelerator program and women empowerment through entrepreneurship. Apart from setting the ground ready for the prospective startups in an enabling an environment of Incubators, DST has also partnered with large corporates like Intel, Lockheed Martin, Texas Instruments and Boeing to initiate variety of technology driven and innovation based programs to promote startups. Further, DST has also partnered with Department of Higher Education, MHRD to establish Research Parks and Startup Centers in various academic institutions of national importance. Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that Indian youth is highly talented and innovative and through NIDHI we would like to ignite the spark and help the youth to succeed and make India a preferred Startup Nation in near future. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) HCC fell 3.23% to Rs 34.40 at 14:26 IST on BSE on profit booking after a recent rally. Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 301.40 points, or 1.06%, to 28,833.51. On BSE, so far 43.72 lakh shares were traded in the counter, compared with average daily volume of 15.49 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 37.95 so far during the day, which is also a 52-week high for the counter. The stock hit a low of Rs 34.15 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 16.60 on 12 February 2016. The stock had outperformed the market over the past 30 days till 2 September 2016, rising 56.61% compared with 2.95% rise in the Sensex. The scrip had also outperformed the market in past one quarter, rising 91.13% as against Sensex's 6.29% rise. The small-cap company has equity capital of Rs 77.92 crore. Face value per share is Re 1. Shares of HCC rose 54.90% in three trading sessions to settle at Rs 35.55 on Friday, 2 September 2016, from its close of Rs 22.95 on 30 August 2016. Recent gains were triggered by fresh initiatives by the government to revive the construction sector. The company announced after market hours on 31 August 2016, that the Union Cabinet's latest decision requiring the government agencies to pay 75% of arbitral awards will result in HCC's debt being reduced by half. HCC has arbitration awards for over Rs 3200 crore and with the latest cabinet decision, the company will get 75% of this amount immediately. HCCL also has claims worth around Rs 5,000 crore are in arbitration process. The cabinet decision will further help HCC to secure these awards within a duration of 12 months. HCC's chairman and managing director said that the company will immediately be able to reduce its debt by almost half. The debt burden will reduce further within the next 12 to 24 months. With this, HCC will be able to participate in country's infrastructure development in a much bigger way. HCC currently has standalone debt of Rs 4900 crore. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 31 August 2016 approved a series of initiatives to revive the construction sector. As per the new initiatives, CCEA allowed contractors to move to the new speedier arbitration process, approved release of 75% of the amount in dispute against margin free bank guarantee and provided for a conciliation board comprising of independent subject experts in order to ensure speedy disposal of pending or new cases. Net profit of HCC rose 17.5% to Rs 10.88 crore on 1.7% rise in net sales to Rs 899.32 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015. HCC is into infrastructure development in transportation, power and water segments. HCC is developing a planned hill city named Lavasa near Pune in Maharashtra. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Infosys rose 1.47% to Rs 1,046.20 at 9:17 IST on BSE after the company said it has entered into a joint venture pact with Saudi Prerogative Company in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to conduct IT services for customers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 2 September 2016. The stock market was closed yesterday, 5 September 2016, on account of Ganesh Chaturthi. Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 246.14 points or 0.86% at 28,778.25. On BSE, so far 5,726 shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 3.03 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 1,048.90 and a low of Rs 1,035 so far during the day. The stock had hit a record high of Rs 1,278 on 3 June 2016. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 1,009.20 on 22 August 2016. The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 2 September 2016, sliding 4.91% compared with Sensex's 1.97% rise. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, declining 18.19% as against Sensex's 6.29% rise. The large-cap company has equity capital of Rs 1148.47 crore. Face value per share is Rs 5. Infosys holds 70% while the rest 30% will he held by Saudi Prerogative Company (SPC) in the joint venture (JV). Infosys' 70% in this JV is at a cash investment of $312,671 (SAR 1,172,501) by the company in the equity share capital of the proposed JV company. The agreement is subject to the approval of Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA). On a consolidated basis, Infosys' net profit fell 4.5% to Rs 3436 crore on 1.4% growth in revenue to Rs 16782 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q4 March 2016. The results are as per International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Infosys is one of the leading information technology outsourcing services providers. The company provides business consulting, information technology and outsourcing services. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Infosys announced that it has entered into a joint venture (JV) agreement with Saudi Prerogative Company (SPC) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to conduct IT services for customers located in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Infosys holds 70% while the rest 30% will he held by SPC in this JV. Infosys' 70% in this JV is at a cash investment of $312,671 (SAR 1,172,501) by the company in the equity share capital of the proposed JV company. The agreement is subject to the approval of Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA). The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 2 September 2016. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (Sun Pharma) announced the initiation of a phased transfer of manufacturing & marketing rights in Japan for the 14 long-listed/established prescription brands acquired from Novartis. These 14 prescription brands acquired by the company earlier this year will be transferred from Novartis Pharma K.K. to Sun Pharma's subsidiary in Japan beginning October 2016. Sun Pharma has also signed a strategic distribution alliance with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation for these 14 prescription brands. Under this alliance, following the transfer of manufacturing & marketing rights to Sun Pharma's subsidiary in Japan, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation will market and distribute all the 14 brands as well as provide information on their proper use to healthcare professionals. The announcement was made before market hours today, 6 September 2016. Isao Muramatsu, President & Representative Director, Sun Pharma Japan said that through this alliance the company has the opportunity to leverage Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation's specialized expertise to create a strong business foundation for Sun Pharma in Japan. Sun Pharma will focus on expanding its sales channels in Japan's pharmaceutical market while continuing to ensure a stable supply of medicines and healthcare information, Muramatsu said. Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL) after market hours on Friday, 2 September 2016 announced that it has launched Bupropion HCI extended-release tablets, USP (SR) in 100mg, 150mg and 200mg, a therapeutic equivalent generic version of Wellbutrin SR (bupropion HCI) sustained-release tablets in the United States market approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA). The Wellbutrin SR brand and generic had US sales of about $109.6 million for the recent twelve months ended July 2016 according to IMS Health data. DRL's Bupropion SR tablets are available in 100mg, 150mg and 200mg, in bottle count sizes of 60, 100 and 500. Reliance Industries (RIL) after market hours on Friday, 2 September 2016, announced that the company's telecom arm Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) has intimated the Department of Telecommunications (DOT), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the security agencies regarding the commencement of its wireless telecommunication services in all 22 service areas from 5 September 2016. The company has also filed the tariff plans for wireless services with TRAI. With these steps, the company has fulfilled all the requirements of Unified License for commencement of services, RIL said in a statement. It may be recalled that Jio had earlier announced its tariff plans under the Jio Welcome Offer. HDFC announced that it has closed the third issue of rupee denominated bonds to overseas investors, aggregating up to Rs 1000 crore. The yield to investor from the bonds is 7.5% per annum payable semi-annually. Maturity date for these bonds is 9 January 2020. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 2 September 2016. Maruti Suzuki India (Maruti) announced that its total production rose 3.25% to 1.27 lakh units in August 2016 over August 2015. The announcement was made yesterday, 5 September 2016. The market was closed on that day on account of Ganesh Chaturthi. Hindalco Industries turns ex-dividend today, 6 September 2016, for final dividend of Rs 1 per share for the year ended 31 March 2016. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jubilant FoodWorks slumped 8.63% to Rs 1,078.30 at 12:59 IST on BSE after net profit declined 31.1% to Rs 19 crore on 6.7% growth in net sales to Rs 608.76 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015. The result was announced on Saturday, 3 September 2016. The stock market was closed yesterday, 5 September 2016 on account of Ganesh Chaturthi. Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 311.09 points or 1.09% at 28,843.20. On BSE, so far 1.53 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 44,498 shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 1,122.65 and a low of Rs 1,065 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 896.65 on 12 February 2016. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 1,689.30 on 6 October 2015. The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 2 September 2016, sliding 7.62% compared with Sensex's 1.97% rise. The scrip had, however, outperformed the market in past one quarter, surging 15.95% as against Sensex's 6.29% rise. The mid-cap company has equity capital of Rs 65.84 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10. Jubilant FoodWorks' Chairman Shyam S. Bhartia and Co-Chairman Hari S. Bhartia said that a contrained consumption environment had an effect on the company's overall performance in Q1 June 2016. The management expects Q2 September 2016 to see improved performance and positive same store growth. In its outlook, Jubilant FoodWorks said that the company has a target of around 130-140 new Domino's Pizza and around 15 new Dunkin' Donuts restaurants for the current financial year (FY 2017) of which it had successfully opened 36 Domino's Pizza and 8 Dunkin' Donuts restaurants so far. Jubilant FoodWorks' board of directors at its meeting held on 3 September 2016, appointed Sachin Sharma as the new President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the company with immediate effect. Sharma will head the Finance & Accounts, Secretarial & Legal functions. Jubilant FoodWorks and its subsidiary operates Domino's Pizza brand with the exclusive rights for India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It operates 1,062 Domino's Pizza restaurants across 248 cities (as of 3 September 2016). The company launched Dunkin' Donuts in India in April 2012 in Delhi. The company has 73 Dunkin' Donuts restaurants across 23 cities in India (as of 3 September 2016). Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Key benchmark indices saw a gap-up opening, as trading resumed after a local holiday, on positive Asian stocks. At 9:21 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 222.10 points or 0.78% at 28,754.21. The Nifty 50 index was currently up 57.35 points or 0.65% at 8,867. The stock markets had remained closed yesterday, 5 September 2016 on account of Ganesh Chaturthi holiday. In overseas stock markets, Asian shares were trading higher as prospects for a US interest-rate increase this month remained subdued. US markets were closed yesterday, 5 September 2016 for Labour Day holiday. Meanwhile, the Group of 20 major economies (G20) wrapped up their annual summit, held in Hangzhou, China, yesterday, 5 September 2016 with a stronger commitment to coordinate policies to support growth and promote trade liberalization. Closer home, the market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was strong. On BSE, 1,106 shares rose and 304 shares declined. A total of 67 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 0.65%. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 0.57%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex. Meanwhile, Urjit Patel assumed charge as the 24th governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), succeeding Raghuram Rajan whose three-year controversy-ridden tenure ended on Sunday, 4 September 2016. Patel has assumed charge effective from Sunday after serving as deputy governor since January 2013, RBI said. Infosys rose 1.39% after the company announced that it has entered into a joint venture (JV) agreement with Saudi Prerogative Company (SPC) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to conduct IT services for customers located in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Infosys holds 70% while the rest 30% will he held by SPC in this JV. Infosys' 70% in this JV is at a cash investment of $312,671 (SAR 1,172,501) by the company in the equity share capital of the proposed JV company. The agreement is subject to the approval of Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA). The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 2 September 2016. Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 0.54% after the company market hours on Friday, 2 September 2016, announced that its telecom arm Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) has intimated the Department of Telecommunications (DOT), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the security agencies regarding the commencement of its wireless telecommunication services in all 22 service areas from 5 September 2016. The company has also filed the tariff plans for wireless services with TRAI. With these steps, the company has fulfilled all the requirements of Unified License for commencement of services, RIL said in a statement. It may be recalled that Jio had earlier announced its tariff plans under the Jio Welcome Offer. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (Sun Pharma) rose 0.59% after the company announced the initiation of a phased transfer of manufacturing & marketing rights in Japan for the 14 long-listed/established prescription brands acquired from Novartis. These 14 prescription brands acquired by the company earlier this year will be transferred from Novartis Pharma K.K. to Sun Pharma's subsidiary in Japan beginning October 2016. Sun Pharma has also signed a strategic distribution alliance with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation for these 14 prescription brands. Under this alliance, following the transfer of manufacturing & marketing rights to Sun Pharma's subsidiary in Japan, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation will market and distribute all the 14 brands as well as provide information on their proper use to healthcare professionals. The announcement was made before market hours today, 6 September 2016. Isao Muramatsu, President & Representative Director, Sun Pharma Japan said that through this alliance the company has the opportunity to leverage Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation's specialized expertise to create a strong business foundation for Sun Pharma in Japan. Sun Pharma will focus on expanding its sales channels in Japan's pharmaceutical market while continuing to ensure a stable supply of medicines and healthcare information, Muramatsu said. Maruti Suzuki India (Maruti) gained 1.5% after the company announced that its total production rose 3.25% to 1.27 lakh units in August 2016 over August 2015. The announcement was made yesterday, 5 September 2016. The market was closed on that day on account of Ganesh Chaturthi. Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL) rose 0.43% after market hours on Friday, 2 September 2016 announced that it has launched Bupropion HCI extended-release tablets, USP (SR) in 100mg, 150mg and 200mg, a therapeutic equivalent generic version of Wellbutrin SR (bupropion HCI) sustained-release tablets in the United States market approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA). The Wellbutrin SR brand and generic had US sales of about $109.6 million for the recent twelve months ended July 2016 according to IMS Health data. DRL's Bupropion SR tablets are available in 100mg, 150mg and 200mg, in bottle count sizes of 60, 100 and 500. HDFC rose 1.03% after the company announced that it has closed the third issue of rupee denominated bonds to overseas investors, aggregating up to Rs 1000 crore. The yield to investor from the bonds is 7.5% per annum payable semi-annually. Maturity date for these bonds is 9 January 2020. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 2 September 2016. Hindalco Industries rose 0.38% to Rs 157.95. The stock turned ex-dividend today, 6 September 2016, for final dividend of Rs 1 per share for the year ended 31 March 2016. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Sushri Uma Bharti has said that Rs. 77000 crore will be raised during the nest four year from the market for speedy implementation of 99 prioritized projects under Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) throughout the country. She was speaking at the signing ceremony of Memorandum of Agreement between Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and NABARD for providing central assistance to 99 prioritized irrigation projects under PMKSY in New Delhi today. The Minister said 56 AIBP projects will cover all most all drought prone districts of 18 States of country. She expressed the hope that with regular monitoring the speedy implementation the Government would be able to complete all the 99 projects well ahead of the schedule. Union Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Dr. Sanjeev Balyan, Vice chairman of NITI Ayog Dr. Arvind Panagariya, Shri T. Harish Rao, Water Resources Minister of Telengana, Shri Brijmohan Agrawal, Water Resources Minister of Chhattisgarh, Shri Girish Mahajan, Water Resources Minister of Maharashtra and Shri Shashi Shekhar, Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation also addressed the gathering. The Union Cabinet on July 27, 2016 had approved the Establishment of Mission for completion of 99 prioritized projects and its funding arrangement through NABARD. Central Government launched the Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) in the year 1996-97 to provide Central Assistance to major/medium irrigation projects in the country, with the objective to accelerate implementation of such projects which were beyond resource capability of the States or were in advanced stage of completion. Priority was given to those projects which were started in Pre-Fifth and Fifth Plan period and also to those which were benefiting Tribal and Drought Prone Areas. From the year 1999-2000 onwards, Central Loan Assistance under AIBP was also extended to minor surface irrigation projects (SMI) of special category States (N. E. States & Hill States of H. P., Sikkim, J&K, Uttaranchal and projects benefiting KBK districts of Orissa). Since its inception, 297 Irrigation / Multi Purpose Projects have been included for funding under AIBP. Out of this 143 projects have been completed and five projects were foreclosed. An irrigation potential of 24.39 Lakh ha has been created through these projects. The cumulative Central Loan Assistance / Grant provided to States under AIBP to all of above project still 31.3.2015 was Rs. 67539.52 crore. Twenty five States got benefited from the programme. During 2015-16, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) was launched with an aim to enhance physical access of water on farm and expand cultivable area under assured irrigation, improve on farm water use efficiency, introduce sustainable water conservation practices etc. Major and medium irrigation/multipurpose irrigation projects are being funded under PMKSY-AIBP and Repair, Renovation and Restoration (RRR) of Water Bodies, Surface Minor Irrigation (SMI) projects and Command Area Development & Water Management (CADWM) projects are being funded under PMKSY-Har Khet Ko Pani (HKKP). During 2015-16, Central Assistance of Rs. 2327.82 crore was released for projects under AIBP and CA of Rs. 1905.81 crore was released for projects under CADWM, SMI and RRR of water bodies together. Total CA of Rs 4233.63 crore was released during 2015-16 for PMKSY (AIBP+HKKP) The issues related to implementation of projects under PMKSY-HKKP including prioritization of projects were deliberated in the Committee headed by Shri Brijmohan Agrawal, Minister (Water Resources) of Chhattisgarh. As per the information supplied by concerned States to the Committee, 99 projects have been identified for completion upto 2019-20. 23 projects (Priority-I) have been identified to be completed by 2016-17 and another 31 projects (Priority-II) have been identified to be completed by 2017-18. The balance 45 projects (Priority-III) have been identified to be completed by December 2019. One of the major reasons for the projects to remain incomplete was inadequate provision of funds by the concerned State Governments. As a result, large amount of funds spent on these projects were locked up and the benefits envisaged at the time of formulation of the projects could not be achieved. This was a cause for concern and initiative was required at the national level to remedy the situation. Total funds required for completion of all the 99 identified projects have been estimated at Rs.77595 crore (Rs.48546 crore for project works and Rs.29049 crore for CAD works) with estimated CA of Rs.31342 crore. Likely potential utilization through these projects is estimated to be 76.03 lakh hectare (Lakh ha). An outlay of about Rs.11060 crore is indicated to be available from 2015-16 to 2019-20 (as per approved outlay) out of which an amount of Rs. 2327.82 crore has been released to MMI projects. Balance of Rs. 8732.18 crore may be available through budgetary support. However, the requirement of funds to complete the 99 projects is much more than the provision. The Finance Minister in his budget speech during 2016 has announced for creation of dedicated Long Term Irrigation Fund (LTIF) in NABARD with an initial corpus of about Rs. 20,000 Crore and an amount of Rs.12517 crore has been provided as budgetary resources and market borrowings during 2016-17. Keeping in view of the budgetary constraints, it has been decided to borrow Central share/Assistance (CA) from NABARD as per year-wise requirements which could be paid back in 15 years' time keeping a grace period of 3 years. Further, the proposal envisages that the State Governments, if required, may borrow funds from NABARD for the State Share. The scheme at the Central level has been approved with projects to be completed in a mission mode and a Mission has been established with Additional Secretary/Special Secretary in the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation as the Mission Director. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As many as 2,234 people contracted the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) after receiving blood transfusions in hospitals between October 2014 and March 2016, according to data released by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), but the government told Parliament it did not know of these infections. The information was made available by NACO when it replied to a right-to-information (RTI) request filed by activist Chetan Kothari earlier this year. "No," was the reply the Ministry of Health -- NACO's parent organisation -- gave on August 16, 2016, to a question from Congress member of Parliament and former minister Jyotiraditya Scindia asking if the government was aware that "a large number" of people nationwide had been infected with HIV while getting blood transfusion. "The limitations of available testing methods while screening blood units for HIV in blood banks as a result of which possibility of HIV transmission during blood transfusion cannot be completely ruled out," the ministry said in its reply. India fell 9 per cent short of its blood requirement in 2015-16, IndiaSpend reported September 3, with prosperity dictating availability; Bihar, for instance, was 84 per cent short of its blood requirements and Chhattisgarh 66 per cent short, while Chandigarh was over-supplied nine times and Delhi three times. NACO disputes the reliability of the data it released, claiming that it "refers to information on self-reported transmission of HIV", and is "not corroborated by any scientific means to confirm that transmission is indeed due to blood transfusion". Blood transfusion is deemed "as an acceptable way of getting infected, rather than others showing bad lifestyles", said Zarin Bharucha, pathologist and chairperson of Federation of Bombay Blood Banks. Only South Africa and Nigeria have more HIV patients than India, where more than two million people are infected, according to a 2015 NACO report. Despite a 5 per cent decline in the number of patients testing positive for HIV since 2007, 86,000 new infections and 68,000 AIDS-related deaths are reported every year. Up to 95 per cent of India's HIV transmissions are caused by unprotected sex, according to a December 2015 answer to the Lok Sabha. Blood transfusions account for 0.1 per cent of HIV infections, according to data released in the Lok Sabha reply, but based on NACO figures, it would account for 1.7 per cent. Either way, the number of HIV infections through blood transfusions should be zero: the US reported its last such case in 2008, the UK 2005 and Canada 1985. It is mandatory for hospitals to screen donors and donated blood for what are called transfusion-transmitted infections, such as HIV, hepatitis B and C, and malaria. That isn't always done, and when it is, the chances of ruling out HIV-positive blood are not 100 per cent. There is a window between the contraction of the virus and the production of anti-HIV antibodies in the blood that leads to the virus being undetected by tests. This period varies depending on the sensitivity and specificity of the test. "The blood transmission mainly occurs in this period," said Bharucha. "Most of the (blood) banks use recent testing to shorten the window period, but these tests are expensive, so they are not used in many government-run hospitals." Introduced in 2001, the nuclear acid amplification test has reduced the length of time HIV might be undetected to between seven and nine days, from two weeks and some months previously. Some states lack adequate HIV-testing facilities. In Jharkhand, 17 of the 24 districts did not have test facilities, according to a 2015 India Today report. There are an estimated 19,800 integrated counselling and testing centres (ICTCs) nationwide, an increase of 4,194 over the last three years. There should be at least one ICTC in every district, according to National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) rules. The inconsistency in government funding for the NACP has not helped: The government slashed funding in 2014-2015 by 26 per cent compared to the previous two years, then increased it over the last two years by 31 per cent. The NACP budget for 2016-17 is still 3 per cent less than it was in 2012-2013. The lack of testing facilities leads hospital staff to rely on what is called "pre-donation history", an account of donations made by a donor. "Relying on pre-donation history means if donors do not give personal history correctly, their blood is at risk," said Bharucha. In a country where being HIV positive is still considered a social stigma -- infected people tend to hide the fact -- not testing blood and donors is a gamble, as is the practice of using what are called "replacement donors". Hospitals short of blood often ask a patient's family to find a donor. "Not everyone has a donor available, so they might land up getting a paid donor," said Bharucha. Even if paid blood donations are forbidden (the Supreme Court banned them in 1996), they still take place, increasing the chances of patients getting blood that is HIV positive. "Awareness is the key to tackle this issue," says Bharucha. "Communities should be aware of the danger of this practice." (06.09.2016 - In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, non-profit, public interest journalism platform. Silvio Grocchetti is a multimedia journalist and has a BA degree from Napier University, Edinburgh. The views expressed are those of IndiaSpend. Feedback at respond@indiaspend.org) --IANS/IndiaSpend bim/sac (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As many as 88 retired US military generals and officials on Tuesday issued an open letter to bolster Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, praising his position on national security. "For the past eight years, America's armed forces have been subjected to a series of ill-considered and debilitating budget cuts, policy choices and combat operations that have left the superb men and women in uniform less capable of performing their vital missions in the future than we require them to be," Xinhua news agency quoted the letter as saying. "For this reason, we support and his commitment to rebuild our military, to secure our borders, to defeat our Islamic supremacist adversaries and restore law and order domestically," it announced. "The 2016 election affords the American people an urgently needed opportunity to make a long-overdue course correction in our national security posture and policy," said the military figures in the letter. In response, the Trump campaign called the endorsements a "great honour" in a statement. "Under my administration, we will end the weak foreign policy of the last eight years, rebuild our military, give our troops clear rules of engagement and take care of our veterans when they come home," Trump claimed. The letter comes days after a flow of endorsements from national intelligence, military figures and Republican national security experts for Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, who was the former Secretary of State during President Barack Obama's first term. Recent polls show that the race between Trump and Clinton is tightening in the final push ahead of the general election in November. YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is expressing regret after his obscenity-laden rant against President Barack Obama prompted the White House to cancel planned bilateral talks between the two leaders, CNN reported. Duterte, who cursed Obama as a "son of a bitch" Monday, said in a statement through his spokesman that he regretted "it came across as a personal attack on the US President." "We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions," the statement released on Tuesday read. White House officials previously said Obama would confront Duterte about his country's handling of drug dealers, including extrajudicial killings, which are government executions without the benefit of judicial proceedings. "Who does he think he is? I am no American puppet. I am the president of a sovereign country and I am not answerable to anyone except the Filipino people," Duterte scoffed in a speech Monday. "Son of a bitch, I will swear at you." Obama has worked hard to develop the Philippines' partnership with the US and as a regional counterbalance to China. He's visited the country twice in his second term, and announced on a stop there in November the return of a US military presence at a critical naval base on the South China Sea. But Duterte's derogatory comments and a spike in extrajudicial killings of suspected drug dealers put the relationship in stormier waters. Obama and Duterte had been set to meet in Laos this week, where Obama is attending a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders. The statement from Duterte's spokesman said the "meeting has been mutually agreed upon to be moved to a later date." Obama instead will meet on Tuesday with President Park Geun-hye of South Korea. In his speech Monday, Duterte also blamed the United States for causing the unrest on the southern Philippines island of Mindanao. "As a matter of fact, we inherited this problem from the United States," he said. "Why? Because they invaded this country and made us their subjugated people. Everybody has a terrible record of extrajudicial killing. Why make an issue about fighting crime?" He added: "Look at the human rights of America along that line. The way they treat the migrants there." Obama indicated Monday he was wary of meeting with Duterte, suggesting the bombast could prevent making substantial progress between the two nations. "I always want to make sure if I'm having a meeting that it's productive and we're getting something done," Obama said during a news conference. "If and when we have a meeting, this is something that is going to be brought up," Obama said, referring to the Philippines' controversial record of combating drug crime since Duterte took office earlier this year. Later, on Monday afternoon, the White House announced the meeting was canceled. West Bengal Governor K N Tripathi, also a known poet, on Tuesday embarked on a visit to Britain to participate in and preside over a conference of poets. According to a Raj Bhavan communique, Tripathi will preside over the "Virat Kavi Sammelan" beginning Wednesday with the venues spread over the cities of Liverpool, Slough, Nottingham and Southhall, London. During the visit, Tripathi will also attend, along with other poets, a reception to be given by the Indian High Commission, London. He slated to return on September 12. A widely-acclaimed poet, Tripathi has in the past attended several such poetry symposiums across the globe. So far six compendiums of his Hindi poems have been published. --IANS and/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) German Finance Minister Wolfgang Shauble announced Tuesday that spending on internal security and defence would increase significantly in the next few years. Shauble argued that terror threats and public fear are intensifying because of international instability. He said internal and external security measures were being raised as Germany and Europe experience times of change amid growing safety concerns, Efe news reported. The German defence budget is to increase by $1.9 billion in 2017 and by $11.2 billion in 2020 while the security budget is to increase by $2.5 billion in 2020. Schauble recognised that international military operations have not always been successful, but considered that the current situation could not end without any military interventions. He said he would begin studying a progressive integration of armed forces within the European Union. The decision comes after Germany suffered two terror attacks in July, in which 10 persons were killed and dozens injured. --IANS vgu/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor Brad Pitt made a solo visit to Croatia to meet business partners and discuss a possible $1.5 billion real estate project on the Adriatic coast. After arriving at the Zadar Airport, the 52-year-old actor took a small boat cruise along a 50-mile stretch of coastline near Biograd and Sibenik, roughly an hour up the coast from Split, reports people.com. Pitt, who stayed overnight in Sibenik's recently opened waterside Dogusevom Hotel, visited the town's St. James Cathedral before embarking on a walking tour with 10 others around the proposed project site in Zablace. The group included internationally known architect Nikola Basic, who created Zadar's celebrated Sea Organ quay design -- a giant sculpture that plays music created by sea waves passing through resonant tubes beneath its large marble steps. The proposed project by Pitt, calls for both land and an existing marina site to be transformed into a resort that features a flagship luxury hotel, shops and villas. Schools and a clinic are also included in the plan, which will incorporate a permanent community population of 2,500. The overall cost of the development is estimated to be over $1.5 billion. --IANS sug/ks (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor Chevy Chase has checked into a rehab centre in Minnesota for treatment of an alcohol problem. Chase is an in-patient at Hazelden Addiction Treatment Center, his representative told people.com. The 72-year-old checked himself in for an alcohol-related issue which his representative calls a "tune-up", adding that the actor "wants to be the best that he can be". According to reports, he previously received addiction treatment at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California, in the 1980s. Chase's latest project "Dog Years", in which he stars alongside Burt Reynolds, is currently being filmed. Another upcoming project "The Christmas Apprentice" has already been wrapped. --IANS sas/nv/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) State miner Coal India Ltd (CIL) is engaged in intense consultations with Bangladesh to export coal to the neighbouring country, the government said on Tuesday. "We are already into it and they (CIL) are in very deep consultations with Bangladesh for exporting it," Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said inaugurating a coal summit here organised by the India Energy Forum. He said the development comes against the backdrop of a sharp decline in domestic demand for coal, as well as with an inventory of over 80 million tonnes (MT) of the fuel at Coal India pitheads and at power plants. "Where would they stock the coal? We had more than 80 MT. Now if your entire production in 500 odd MT and you have 80 MT of stocks, you will have to look at it and that is why CIL did not produce more. Second reason is that in August there were unusual rains, which impacted mining," he said. Exports to Bangladesh would also help CIL in increasing sales in the context of a deal signed in July by India with Bangladesh to construct a 1,320 MW coal-fired power plant - the biggest project under bilateral cooperation, the secretary added. On the coal production target, Swarup said the government has not scrapped its target for CIL to produce 1 billion tonnes by 2020, and will decide on reviewing it after 2-3 years. Asked about subdued demand, he said: "We plan for the future. Our power plants are working at a plant load factor (PLF) of 62 per cent, but in the future we believe this PLF will go to 70 per cent and that is the time when we will have more demand. "Also additional capacity will be added. So there is no logic in bringing down coal production. What will we do if there is demand in the future?" Swarup also said the central government's Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) debt restructuring scheme for power distribution companies will help improve the financial position of state discoms, which will also have a positive impact on coal demand. Twenty Indian states and one union territory have given in-principle approval and 16 have already signed up for the scheme, which envisages taking over 75 per cent of discoms' cumulative debt. States would issue loans against the debt at prevailing market rates. The balance 25 per cent would be issued as sovereign backed bonds by discoms. The scheme also envisages access to cheaper coal. --IANS bc/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress and the Janata Dal (United) on Tuesday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party led central government over expenditure of Rs 3.5 crore incurred by 23 ministers in refurbishing their respective offices and termed the expense as wasteful. Reacting to a news report, based on RTI queries and published in the Economic Times, the leaders of the two parties asked the government about reasons for spending public money in this manner. "Considering that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken about wasteful expenditure, it is surprising that some of his ministers are indulging in renovating their offices at the cost of taxpayers' money," Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi told IANS. "We would want to know what was the reason behind using these amount of funds for the sake of renovations," she asked. The report said that for 23 ministers, the total expenditure on office renovation in this government's first two years has been nearly Rs 3.5 crore. Those who spent the most are Smriti Irani, Chaudhary Birender Singh, Rajyavardhan Rathore, Upendra Kushwaha, Ram Shankar Katheria, J P Nadda, Sanwarlal Jat and Jitendra Singh. When Irani was Human Resource and Development (HRD) Minister, Rs 1.16 crore was spent on renovation of her office and two junior Ministers over Rs 70 lakh for Irani's office and over Rs 40 lakh for the offices of the two Ministers of State. In the last cabinet reshuffle, Irani was dropped from the HRD ministry and shifted to the Textiles ministry. Chaturvedi said that it was also in the news how these Ministers, when they were holding some other responsibilities, have gone for renovation of their office. "So every time a minister occupies some chair does that mean that overall renovation and an overhaul of office needs to be done. This is something that needs to be answered by these respective ministers for spending this kind of amount to renovate their offices," she said. JD (U) leader Bashistha Narain Singh questioned the need of "misusing" taxpayer's money lavishly. "Question is that you have no respect for the the government funds which is the taxpayers money and you are misusing this for your personal hobbies," he told IANS. Singh said that misuse of taxpayers money was not a justice to the people. "The ministers who have spent such huge amount on the renovations of their offices shows that they believe in decoration from the taxpayers money," he said, adding that a minister must refrain from such expenditures. The BJP, however, refrained from commenting on the report published by the daily. "I have not seen the report so I can't comment," BJP spokesperson Bizay Sonkar Shastri told IANS. According to the paper, top four ministers Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar have not spent a paisa on office improvement. While former Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptullah did not spend anything on renovation, her then junior minister, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, spent over Rs 14 lakh, it added. However, as per department of expenditure guidelines, Rs 2 lakh can be spent on furniture and furnishings and Rs 1 lakh on electrical appliances in minister's office at his residence. The limit is higher in the minister's office in the secretariat with Rs 6.5 lakh on furniture and furnishings and Rs 1.5 lakh on air conditioners and electrical appliances. There is no limit on expenditure if a new office is being constructed. More than three years after a Delhi nurse, Preeti Rathi, died following an acid attack, a Special Women's Court on Tuesday convicted her obsessed neighbour Ankur Narayanlal Panwar for murder. Additional Sessions Judge A.S. Shende found Panwar, 27, guilty of murder and causing grievous hurt by throwing acid under the Indian Penal Code. "The convict had a one-sided love for the victim. He even asked her not to travel to Mumbai and the girl had rejected his marriage proposal," Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told the media after the verdict. "Out of jealousy, the convict attacked her with acid, which he purchased from New Delhi," Nikam said. The arguments on the quantum of the sentence will be taken up on Wednesday. A resident of Narela in New Delhi, Rathi, 23, was attacked by acid thrown at her by Panwar shortly after she alighted from the Garib Rath Express train at Bandra terminus on the morning of May 2, 2013. She succumbed to severe acid burns on June 1 that year. --IANS qn/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The issue of West Bengal is likely to be discussed at the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) Central Committee meeting in New Delhi on September 17-19, a party leader said in Agartala on Tuesday. "The Central Committee meeting in New Delhi is likely to discuss the issue. The Tripura state committee of the party can not make any comment on the issue before the media as the Politburo of the CPI-M has made a statement," said CPI-M Central Committee member Bijan Dhar. Replying to a question on the issue, he said: "The CPI-M West Bengal state Secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra also made a statement on the issue. We (Tripura CPI-M unit) have no right to comment before the media on the issue of another state." The Supreme Court recently struck down the acquisition of 997.11 acres of land by the then CPI-M-led Left Front government in Bengal's Singur in Hooghly district for setting up the small car factory of the Tata Motors. Following the judgement, the CPI-M politburo said, "The acquisition process had to be undertaken under the 1894 Land Acquisition Act, which was the only legal instrument available at that time. This was an Act which did not protect the interests of the farmers adequately." On land acquisition, the CPI-M had earlier acknowledged in its Central Committee review report of the 2011 assembly elections that the administrative and political mistakes in this regard proved costly. The Bangladesh Police on Tuesday cordoned off a multi-storey building at Dhaka's upmarket Gulshan area, after reports that some youths forcibly entered a showroom here. Additional Commissioner Md Shahabuddin Qureshi told reporters here that the police cordoned off the multi-storey building on information that three suspicious persons carrying bags entered the building forcibly, Xinhua news agency reported. "We're not sure yet whether they are thieves or militants," he said. It was not clear from the initial reports whether the young persons had entered the NCC Bank branch or some other business establishment by force. An official told bdnews24.com from the spot that the situation was not yet clear. An employee at mobile phone operator here said the suspects entered the NCC Bank branch by force around 9.00 a.m. Gulshan police station Inspector Salahuddin said the youths entered the LG showroom and not the bank. Hundreds of policemen stood guarding the building from where two bags have been recovered. "Our bomb disposal experts will examine the bags," Salahuddin said, adding that "after which we can analyse the situation". Armoured vehicles and fire service trucks were also rushed to the spot. Security has been tightened in the diplomatic area after militants attacked a Spanish cafe in Dhaka on July 1 that left 22 people, mostly foreigners, dead. --IANS ss/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bollywood actor Sidharth Malhotra, who was touring the US for the Dream Team dance tour, has been showered with praises by the show's promoter. Star Promotions, the promoter in Houston, US, were overjoyed to witness the crowd enjoying "Kapoor & Sons" star's performance. "On a personal level I can say that Sidharth is a very genuine, down-to-earth and cooperative individual as were all the others! I can personally say that I would grab every opportunity to work with Sidharth and be honoured to work with him in the future," Rajender Singh of Star Promotions said in a statement. Singh added that Sidharth is "a very polished and an energetic actor". Sidharth along with filmmaker Karan Johar, rapper Badshah, actors Varun Dhawan, Parineeti Chopra, Aditya Roy Kapur, Alia Bhatt and Katrina Kaif started the tour with Houston as the first pitch stop followed by other cities across the US. --IANS dc/nv/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. While on a working visit to Argentina, the Armenian delegation led by Deputy Speaker of Armenian Parliament, head of Armenia-Argentina parliamentary friendship group Eduard Sharmazanov, including also National Assembly MPs Sukias Avetisyan and Mikayel Manukyan, held a meeting with Argentine State Secretary for Human Rights Claudio Avruj on September 5, press service of the Parliament informed Armenpress. The sides attached importance to the establishment of strong ties in the bilateral relations. They emphasized that it is necessary to utilize the entire potential for reaching notable results. Eduard Sharmazanov introduced Claudio Avruj the situation in the South Caucasus stating that Armenia is an advocate of stability and peace in the region. The Armenian Deputy Parliament Speaker said Turkey not only continues its denial policy on the Armenian Genocide, but it also keeps Armenia in illegal blockade for over two decades. Only our united fight against the Turkish denial policy can prevent the future genocides. The international recognition of the Armenian Genocide is nothing more than a struggle for the protection of the universal values, he said. Eduard Sharmazanov also touched upon the topic of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict stating that the NKRs independence is an established fact. He highlighted that compared to khanate Azerbaijan a democratic state is being established in Nagorno Karabakh. He said Turkey and Azerbaijan are the major threats for regional security. At the end of the meeting Eduard Sharmazanov spoke about the Azerbaijani anti-Armenian policy stating that there are many anti-Armenian manifestations in that country. The Deputy Speaker of the Parliament also condemned Azerbaijans policy of cultural genocide. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday expressed regret over his obscene remarks for US President Barack Obama in which he called the latter "son of a whore". Duterte in a statement said his comments "came across as a personal attack on the US President", Xinhua news agency reported. He made the remarks on Monday before flying to Laos, where he was to meet Obama on the sideline of the Asean and East Asia Summits, EFE news reported. However, the White House cancelled the bilateral meeting after Duterte tore into Obama with an obscenity. The Philippines leader in Tuesday's statement said he feels deep regard and an affinity with Obama, and emphasised that he looked forward at irioning out differences with the US. He said that his government's primary intention is to chalk out an "independent foreign policy" while promoting closer ties with all nations, especially the US, a long-standing ally. The Philippine leader's statement came after he hit out at Obama and other countries for criticising his controversial war on drugs, terming it an internal matter. Duterte was criticised on several occasions for his anti-drug campaign in which 929 persons died in police operations and 1,507 others in extra-judicial killings between July 1 and August 31. "You must be respectful, do not just throw questions. Putang ina ('son of a bitch' in Tagalog) I will swear at you in that forum," Duterte said on Monday while referring to Obama. He also said Philippines was no longer a US colony and he was answerable only to the Philippine people. The cancellation of what was going to be the first Obama-Duterte meeting has dealt a significant blow to diplomatic relations between the two countries. --IANS ss/py/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Positive global cues and healthy inflow of foreign funds pushed the Indian equity markets higher on Tuesday. Both the key indices touched their 52-week high in almost 18 months and closed the day's trade in the green with gains of over 1.5 per cent each. The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) surged by 133.35 points, or 1.51 per cent, to 8,943 points -- crossing the 8,900-point level for the first time since March 5, 2015. The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 28,631.27 points, closed at 28,978.02 points -- up 445.91 points, or 1.56 per cent, from the previous close at 28,532.11 points. The Sensex touched a high of 29,013.40 points and a low of 28,631.27 points during the intra-day trade. The BSE market breadth was tilted in favour of the bulls -- with 1,619 advances and 1,146 declines. On Friday last week, the key indices had closed with substantial gains due to buying support. The barometer index had gained 108.63 points, or 0.38 per cent, while the NSE Nifty edged up by 35 points or 0.40 per cent. The Indian markets were closed on Monday on account of Ganesh Chaturthi. Initially on Tuesday, the benchmark indices opened on a higher note following positive global cues. In addition, investors' risk-taking appetite increased after a dismal US non-farm payrolls data which was released on last Friday. The data has reduced the potential for a September rate-hike. The US data for last month showed that the economy created 151,000 jobs, against 275,000 jobs in July. A US rate hike could potentially lead to a massive pull-back of foreign funds from emerging economies like India. It is also expected to dent business margins as access to capital from the US will become expensive. Besides, healthy inflow of foreign funds, follow-up buying from last week's strong close and a firm rupee supported the positive sentiment. The Indian rupee strengthened by 30 paise to 66.53 against a US dollar from its previous close of 66.83 to a greenback on last Friday. "The equity markets have touched new highs of the year since March 2015," Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services told IANS. "The global markets were largely positive on lower chances of a US rate hike. Moreover, healthy inflow of foreign funds gave a positive momentum to the domestic markets." According to Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, the CNX Nifty traded firm, tracking positive global cues. "CNX Nifty traded firm throughout the session and held on to its initial gains in the second half of the session as well," Desai said. "Banking and pharma sector stocks traded with firm sentiments while auto and FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) stocks also traded firm. Aviation stocks failed to recover tracking firm sentiments in crude oil prices." He pointed out that while most oil and gas stocks faced resistance at higher levels due to lack of buying interest from traders, sugar stocks traded with mix sentiments on short covering. "USD/INR futures failed to recover in second half of the session which supported firm sentiments in Nifty," he added. In terms of investments, provisional data with the exchanges showed that the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased stocks worth Rs 1,438.72 crore, whereas the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) divested scrips worth Rs 268.21 crore. Sector-wise, healthy buying was witnessed in all the 19 sub-indices of the BSE, led by stocks of banking, automobile and consumer durables. The S&P BSE banking index augmented by 675.97 points, followed by the automobile index, which rose by 631.26 points, and the consumer durables index gained 367.26 points. Major Sensex gainers during Tuesday's trade were: Tata Motors, up 7.19 per cent at Rs 598.35; Axis Bank, up 6.14 per cent at Rs 635.95; ICICI Bank, up 4.25 per cent at Rs 272.45; Tata Steel, up 3.25 per cent at Rs 385.85; and Asian Paints, up 2.97 per cent at Rs 1,200.70. Major Sensex losers were: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), down 1.17 per cent at Rs 2,484.05; Coal India, down 1.11 per cent at Rs 328.80; Wipro, down 0.11 per cent at Rs 482.80; and ITC, down 0.04 per cent at Rs 262.35. --IANS ppg-rv/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Filmmaker N. Lingusami, popular for helming Tamil films such as "Run", "Sandakozhi" and "Anjaan", says he finds solace in poetry as it helps his creative juices to flow from time to time. "I've always treated filmmaking and writing poetry on par. At any given point of time, it's through poetry I judge my creative state of mind. I find solace in poetry, and if I can write a few lines whenever I desire, the process helps me to be creatively affluent," Lingusami told IANS. Lingu Poems, his first book (in Tamil), which also feature illustrations by him, was released earlier this year. His style of writing is inspired by haiku poems, a traditional, short form of Japanese poetry, which consist of a maximum of three lines. "Fascination for haiku poems started from a very young age. My first haiku poem was written in 1991, and it was even published in a Tamil magazine. Since then, I've written about 100 poems and they've all been featured in my book," he said, adding he enjoys the process of writing poems. "I never force myself to write. I write when I'm travelling, and sometimes even while I'm writing a script, I take a break to write a poem. I also like to read haiku poems written by others. Over the last two decades, I've come across around 1000 poems and I know each one by heart," he added. Lingusami now plans to release his book in multiple languages. "It has already been translated into English by two-time Sahitya Akademi award-winning writer Sirpi Balasubramaniam. We're in talks with a couple of publishing houses and we're hoping to ink a deal soon. In Telugu, I plan to approach writer-filmmaker Trivikram, and I also want to release it in Malayalam and Hindi," he said. Currently busy with the pre-production work of his film "Sandakozhi 2", he hopes to visit the memorial of Matsuo Basho, popular Japanese poet who introduced haiku style of writing to the world. --IANS hp/nv/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Argentine President Mauricio Macri described the in the Chinese city of Hangzhou as "impressive and huge". "This is my first summit and I received a very gracious welcome, I felt very comfortable," Macri told a local radio station here on Monday, reported Xinhua news agency. "The organisation is impressive. What they have done is huge." He said that the G20 bloc had provided "an absolute opening for Argentina". "In 2018, we will have the honour of hosting the G20," he added. According to Macri, China, Argentina and Germany (the 2017 host) held meetings to discuss themes for the G20's present and future agendas. The was held on September 4 and 5 in Hangzhou. Veteran anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare on Tuesday said he was "very anguished and hurt" by the antics of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's cabinet ministers. He said while some of Kejriwal's colleagues were in jail, some others are indulging in fraudulent activities, referring to the recent upheavals in the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi. "I am sad and deeply hurt to see all this. The high expectations I had from Kejriwal are over now," Hazare told the media at his native village Ralegan-Siddhi here. He was responding to questions on the arrest of sacked AAP minister Sandeep Kumar, 36, in a sex scandal after a woman accused him rape. Hazare pointed out that when Kejriwal worked with him in the Indian Against Corruption (IAC) movement in 2011, he had written a book on 'Gram Swaraj'. "Can we call this Gram Swaraj?" he asked. The veteran social leader said he had warned Kejriwal of such possibilities (of controversies) long back, asking how he would ascertain the character of the people joining his party. "He had no answer. But I can experience it now. I reiterate what I have said before that be it any party or the leader, it is important to verify their antecedents and ensure they have a clean character," Hazare said. Hazare earlier told a news channel in an interview that his dream about his one-time protege and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal bringing about a positive change in the political system lay "shattered". "It is my misfortune that the dream of change which I saw in Arvind (Kejriwal) has been shattered now," "I am deeply saddened by whatever has happened in Arvind's party," he added. Hazare said his hopes have been dashed and he would never support the AAP again. --IANS qn/tsb/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The government's latest policy package to revive and boost the cash-strapped construction and realty sector by putting in place a mechanism to release funds that are stuck in arbitration is a significant move for the industry and the economy. Under the new norms, 75 percent of the amount against guarantee will be released in cases where a given award has been contested by government authorities. This is a big relief for the sector that has around Rs 1 lakh crore under arbitration. The notable, related reform measure -- granting permanent residency status to foreign investors aimed at facilitating greater investment -- will further bolster liquidity. The government's stimulus reflects its priority to the construction sector and is quite justified, considering that it contributes eight percent to the GDP and generates huge employment to revitalise the economy. That's precisely why Prime Minister Narendra Modi has gone on record as saying that the three-year period (2011-12 to 2013-14) of stagnation, with large number of stalled projects, had badly hit the economy. The new policy is aimed at reducing the debt and meeting working capital requirements to revive stalled projects and start new ones. It has come as a big breather for construction companies, reflected in the immediate spurt in their stock prices. The positive impact can be gauged from the fact that big construction companies like HCC will be able to reduce their debt by half as revealed by its Chairman Ajit Gulabchand. Industry experts like Sushil Mittal, Chairman of the Association of Certified Realtors of India, are also upbeat about the policy decision, saying that it is a win-win situation for infrastructure companies, financial institutions and the government. The new policy measures are perfectly in line with the government's policy to push infrastructure and boost economic activity. As private investments are not forthcoming, the government is banking on public investment, with a spending target of Rs 7 lakh crore. Even in the national budget, the focus has been on infrastructure, as the total value of stalled projects stood at seven percent of GDP. The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) put stalled projects at Rs 11.36 lakh crore, with projects worth Rs 70,000 crore under arbitration. The government has an uphill task ahead to build 100 smart cities and 60 million new houses under its flagship 'Housing for All' programme. And the key to achieving all this is the good financial health of the construction and realty sector. Anuj Puri, Chairman of global real estate advisory JLL India, believes that at a time when we are focusing on infrastructure creation and real estate boosting, the government's twin measures of providing continuous liquidity and switching over to the globally accepted EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction) mode of contracts, promising higher degree of certainty in relation to cost and time, will result in infrastructure capacity-building by giving a fillip to private participation and investment. Today, the biggest bane of the construction and realty sector is debt-ridden developers. That's why the whole focus of the new policy is to de-stress the developers while at the same time helping financial institutions to recover their loans on time to control bad debts so that they are in a position to not only restructure loans of stressed players but also offer them loans for new projects. Industry statistics show that banks have an exposure of about 45 percent to the construction sector. The total loan outstanding of the real estate sector is Rs 9.60 lakh crore with 1.6 percent bad loans, amounting to Rs 16,000 crore. According to premier rating agency, Crisil, the debt of real estate developers for residential projects shot up to Rs 61,000 crore in 2014-15. It estimates that top real estate companies face the challenge of paying about Rs 30,000 crore of borrowings maturing in the immediate future. It is in this backdrop that private equity entities have come to the rescue of developers of stressed projects. Piramal has recently funded Rs 15,000 crore to over half a dozen developers and has a target of disbursing Rs 1,500 crore of credit to realty companies every month. Big global private equities like KKR, Blackstone and Altico are also extending credit to stressed developers to finish stalled projects. That's also the reason why the Department of Financial Services under the Finance Ministry, and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), have announced the need for a one-time scheme to address stressed bank loans in the real estate sector. The new policy prescription also opens up opportunities for realty companies and developers to partner with construction companies and contractors to take up infrastructure projects like roads and highways. In a recent conference of Naredco (National Council of Real Estate Developers), Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had also suggested that real estate developers facing a slowdown should leverage massive opportunities of undertaking roads and highways projects by partnering with established infrastructure players. In conclusion, the government's new progressive policy has a healthy prescription of short-term to long-term measures to revive the construction sector, especially as, going forward, it also seeks to bring changes in the bid documents and propose model contracts, besides focusing on greater conciliation to boost the sector. (06.09.2016 Vinod Behl is editor, Realty Plus, a leading real estate monthly. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at vbehl2008@gmail.com) --IANS vinod/ap/vm/sac (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indian multinational ITC Foods on Tuesday announced entering the coffee beverage segment with the launch of two flavours made of Indian and Latin American beans. "To the discerning consumers, our Sunbean Gourmet Coffee in two flavours offers a blend of Indian and international bean varietals," said V.L. Rajesh, Divisional Chief Executive, ITC Foods. The Nicamalai flavour is a fruity sweet aromatic blend of beans from Nicaragua and Anamalai hills in Tamil Nadu, while Panagari flavour is a fragrant variety with strong aroma from Panamanian beans and Arabica beans from Baba Budangiri hills in Karnataka's Chikkamagaluru district. Baba Budangiri is popularly considered to be the birthplace of coffee in India where Baba Budan, a legendary holy saint, planted the first coffee seeds that he had brought from Yemen. "We will launch the special coffee beverage in our other luxury hotels across the country during this month," said Rajesh. Consumers can also buy roasted coffee beans at Rs 800 for 200 grammes packet from the company's food and beverages outlets in its hotels. "Our aim is to create a premium gourmet coffee experience for discerning consumers. We have achieved this by blending chosen beans from across the world with the best in our country," added Rajesh. ITC's Foods business also exports its products to North America, Africa, Middle East and Australia. --IANS fb/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Four terrorists and a civilian were killed here on Tuesday after an 11-hour gun battle that began overnight following three huge blasts that left 35 to 43 people dead, officials said. The two back-to-back explosions and then a third blast on Monday near the Defence Ministry also wounded over 90 people in the upscale Shahr-i-Naw neighbourhood of Kabul. The Interior Ministry put the Monday death toll at 35 but Afghan media said as many as 43 may have died. The dead included a suicide bomber and several Defence Ministry officials. Soon after the third explosion, the three remaining terrorists engaged security forces in a fierce gun battle that ended only on Tuesday morning, security officials said. Security sources said the third blast was caused by a vehicle packed with explosives. The Interior Ministry said the target of Monday night's bombing in Kabul appeared to have been a charity, CARE (Pamlarana). "One terrorist was killed after detonating a car bomb near Pamlarana, an NGO office building, late Monday and three attackers were killed by security forces during a counter-attack which ended Tuesday morning," the ministry said in a statement. Special Forces immediately launched an operation and rescued 42 civilians, including 10 foreigners, stuck in the area. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the audacious attack. President Ashraf Ghani condemned the incident and said Afghanistan's enemies -- an official terminology for Pakistan -- have again showed that they were against Kabul's development. The White House strongly condemned the attack and voiced its support for "a more secure, stable and prosperous Afghanistan". Pakistan too condemned the killings. "We extend our profound condolences to the government and the people of Afghanistan and the families of those who lost their loved ones in this brutal terrorist attack," it said. --IANS ahm/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Karnataka government will sponsor 25 start-ups to showcase their products and services at the 'India Gadgetz Expo' (IGE 2016) in this tech hub from October 5-7 to promote the start-ups ecosystem. "The Information Technology and Biotech Department as well as the Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (Keonics) will sponsor 25 stalls at the consumer technology exhibition to encourage registered start-ups to display their products and services," IGE founder Sanjeev Kumar said in a statement on Tuesday. Keonics was set up in 1976 to promote the growth of the electronics industry in the state with sectoral and academia participation. The National Small Industries Cooperation will also sponsor 15 stalls under the marketing assistance scheme to showcase technologies and innovations and promote the ecosystem for start-ups. To be held at the state-run Karnataka Trade Promotion Organisation at Whitefield in the city's eastern IT corridor, the expo will also deliberate on Digital India, smart cities and start-ups. The panel discussions on innovative technologies and futuristic products will dominate the thematic conferences. Diverse topics such as new-age marketing, vehicle technology, gaming, consumer tech marketing, device start-ups, trends in wearables and women leaders in the field will be taken up during the expo. "The demand for consumer technology is growing, with metros accounting for a major chunk of consumption, while non-metros and tier-2 and tier-3 markets are far behind," asserted Kumar. The government's pro-active initiatives such as Digital India, smart cities and Make in India will spur local manufacturing and strengthen the consumer technology industry. The event will see participation by global firms, including Oppo, Intex, Creative and Epson and brand launches by some of them. Motorola Mobility India head Amit Boni, Gionee India Chief Executive Arvind R. Vohra and global consulting firm KPMG's advisory services partner Akhilesh Tuteja will participate in the brainstorming sessions on emerging technologies and solutions. --IANS fb/tsb/sac (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. The German Spiegel news magazines publication which said the German Government is going to distance itself from the Bundestag resolution on the Armenian Genocide, became a topic of discussion within the German political circles. The publication has already been officially denied by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as by Secretary General of the Christian-Democratic party (CDU) of Germany Peter Tauber. Chairman of the German-Armenian forum, Bundestag CDU MP Albert Weiler, who was recently in Armenia on a working visit, gave a comment over this issue to Armenpress. The German MP stated: In Armenia I was conveyed the great satisfaction of the Armenian people towards Germany. In this regard, Spiegels publication is just unacceptable. Such false publication burdens the tense relations of Germany and Turkey, as well as Armenia and Turkey. I expect serious and proper explanation from this leading German news agency. I think such hasty statements especially over such sensitive issue as the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire are contrary to any ethics and dishonorable. Flights at London City Airport were suspended Tuesday after protesters took the runway, according to airport officials. Activists from the international group "Black Lives Matter UK" claimed responsibility for the disruption at the airport, Efe news reported. The activists tweeted, "At London City Airport a small elite is able to fly, in 2016 alone 3,176 migrants have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean #Shutdown." According to the police, nine protesters managed to make their way onto the tarmac after sailing across the Royal Docks in a boat and locked themselves together on the runway, the daily Mirror reported. The group formed about four years ago after the fatal shooting of African-American teenaged Trayvon Martin in the US has been staging anti-racism protests. The airport apologised to passengers for the disruption and said that flights due to land have been diverted and services would resume as soon as possible. London City Airport is popular with bankers and business people due to its close proximity to the capital's financial district. An estimated 4.3 million passengers used the airport last year. --IANS vgu/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is on a visit to Germany, will hold a series of meetings and address an interactive session on Wednesday in Munich scouting for investment for her state. Banerjee, who is leading a business delegation comprising several industrialists from West Bengal, arrived in Germany on Monday after participating in the canonisation of Mother Teresa at the Vatican. The chief minister is also expected to hold a meet with representatives from German auto giant BMW during her Munich visit. West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra and Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee, who too are in Germany, invited German investors and industrialists to the third edition of the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS), scheduled to be held in Kolkata on January 20. Students from Mexico come to India to learn different kinds of skills ranging from information technology (IT) to yoga and even how to play the tabla, said the Mexican envoy to India. Ambassador Melba Pria also said Mexico is interested in signing up for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India and the process towards that has just begun. "Around 100 Mexican students come to India for their education. Students come here to study IT, yoga and other courses. Recently one student wanted to study tabla," Pria told IANS on the sidelines of the media meet here. She was here to inaugurate the Honorary Consulate of Mexico which will serve a liaison with the business community in this part of the country and also cater to the increasing number of Mexicans visiting southern India. According to Pria, yoga is very popular in Mexico and there are several yoga training centres there. On the FTA she said a high level group has decided to list around 500 items first and then later increase their number. Pria said the bilateral trade between Mexico and India stands at around $7 billion. She said for the first time, Mexico has overtaken Brazil as the top destination of India's exports to Latin America. Exports to Mexico were $2.8 billion in 2015-16. Accoriding to Pria Mexico is the largest Latin American investor in India with over $800 million invested in 13 Mexican companies while around 60 Indian companies have invested over $2 billion in Mexico. Queried about Indian tourists visiting Mexico she said last year around 55,000 Indians visiting Mexico in 2015 while around 12,000 Mexicans visited India. "Indians with US visa can visit Mexico," she added. Ramkumar Varadarajan has been appointed as Honorary Consul of Mexico with jurisdiction through the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. --IANS vj/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looking forward to visit Pakistan in November to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Summit, according to India's High Commissioner in Islamabad. But New Delhi said on Tuesday that no decision had been made yet. "Decisions and announcements of such nature are not made so far in advance," India's External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted. Swarup's remarks came a day after the High Commissioner, Gautam Bambawale, told an event in Karachi on Monday that the visit was possible despite tense ties. "I can't say about the future but as of today Prime Minister Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the Saarc summit in November," the Dawn quoted Bambawale as saying at an interactive session of the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations. He also said while India and Pakistan must certainly discuss the entire range of issues, they must keep their focus on economy which he described as a low-hanging fruit. His comments came amid reports that Modi might keep away from the Saarc Summit in view of the rising tensions between India and Pakistan, particularly over Jammu and Kashmir. Bambawale said it was India's desire to see a Pakistan which was moderate, prosperous and stable and at peace with itself, its neighbours as well as the rest of the world. He admitted that trust and confidence was lacking in relations between New Delhi and Islamabad. The road to normalization of Pakistan-India relations, he said, lay through greater trade and business, the roadmap for which was prepared by the two governments in 2012. The total trade between the two countries was worth just $2.5 billion a year while its potential was of $20 billion, the Dawn quoted him as saying. The Indian envoy said even when tensions were high between the two countries, there had been contacts at the operational level. Over the past month and a half, there had been cordial interactions between Pakistani and Indian border forces. Bambawale referred to Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's and Modi's visits to Islamabad and Lahore respectively in December last year. But on January 2 this year, terrorists who India says came from Pakistan attacked the Pathankot Indian Air Force base. He said the Indian government had been saying, "Let's work together to get to the bottom of terrorism which was a headache not only for Pakistan but for India and the world." In an obvious reference to the Kashmir dispute, Bambawale said the two countries should not be talking on just one issue, rather on all issues. He said India had taken a stand in the 1960s and 70s that New Delhi and Beijing must talk on the boundary problem before moving on to other issues. But this was reversed in 1988. Today China was one of India's largest trading partners, he pointed out. Asked about Indian atrocities in Jammu and Kashmir, the High Commissioner said Indians were as concerned about the people of Kashmir as anyone else in the world. But issue of Jammu and Kashmir was domestic and you should focus on your problems, he replied. Bambawale said the problem with China-Pakistan Economic Corridor was that it went through Pakistani Kashmir whose ownership is disputed by Islamabad and New Delhi. He also mentioned how Pakistan had refused consular access to alleged RAW agent Kulbhushan Jadhav, arrested in Pakistan, while India gave consular access to a Pakistani terrorist, Bahadur Ali. "We have offered Pakistani authorities full consular access to him," he said in reply to a question about Indian involvement in Balochistan. London-based Institute of Masters of Wine (IMW) on Tuesday announced Sonal Holland, Mumbai-based wine professional, as the worlds first Master of Wine from India. The IMW is a professional body with an unsurpassed international reputation. Masters of Wine (MWs) hold the most respected title in the world of wine. Since 1953, a total of 391 men and women have passed the institute's exams to become Masters of Wine. There are currently 341 Masters of Wine today, working in 25 countries. The announcement was made via a statement. MWs have proved their understanding of all aspects of wine by passing the Master of Wine Examination, recognised worldwide for its rigour and high standards. The Master of Wine (MW) examination is designed to test the breadth and depth of a candidate's theoretical knowledge and practical blind tasting skills covering all aspects in the art, science and business of wine. The standard of the exam remains as rigorous today as it was in 1953, with astonishingly low pass rates. A certified wine educator, broadcaster, judge and wine consultant, Holland used to be Director of National Sales for a multi-national Fortune 500 company. While in her corporate career, Holland began to see the opportunities that existed for the then nascent Indian wine industry and made a strategic shift in her career to explore this further. "I never wanted to pretend that I knew what I was talking about, and wanted to back it up with credentials and qualifications," said Holland. She added: "Whilst it has been a long and arduous journey in pursuit of the title, I am so proud to be India's first Master of Wine. And to be given this title as a woman in a traditionally male-dominated industry makes it even more special." Holland has a Sonal Holland Wine Academy which offers certified WSET wine courses and consultancy to leading hotels and the trade. More recently, she launched SoHo Wine Club which specialises in bringing its members an expertly curated collection of wines from around the world, coupled with hosting tutored tastings and exclusive wine experiences. Talking about the wine industry in India, Sonal said: "Indian wines are being increasingly appreciated globally, and both Indian and international wines are seeing a larger presence within our country. I am determined to make sure India remains top of mind in wine conversations around the world." Becoming a Master of Wine means entry into the world's best wine community. MW's are often asked to judge wine competitions all around the world, to lecture at wine courses, to lead wine tastings, and to sample and assess some of the world's finest wine cellars. --IANS sug/nv/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A number of senior IAS officials, including joint secretaries, on Tuesday called on Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh regarding the suspension of a colleague G.K. Dwivedi over the renewal of FCRA licence of controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik's NGO. Sources said the officials told the minister that such action against a senior officer, who was handling several key projects of the Modi government, would have a "demoralising" effect on the bureaucracy. Four Home Ministry officials were suspended on September 1 for their alleged "lapses" in renewing the FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulations Act) licence of Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) run by Naik. Rajnath was said to be displeased after the mandatory FCRA licence of IRF was renewed by the Foreigners Cell of the Home Ministry. "During the day, Dwivedi separately met the Home Minister and presented his case. Our meeting with Rajnath Singh was cordial. He gave a patient hearing and assured that the matter raised by us will be looked into," a source later said. Ministry sources said the online route for the issuance of licences was utilised by the NGO on August 19 even as a probe was on against Naik. Naik's Peace TV and his speeches have come under the scanner of the central security agencies for allegedly propagating radical views, especially in the aftermath of the July 1 Dhaka terror siege that left 22 people dead. According to security agencies, Zakir Naik through the Peace TV had reportedly promoted radical Islamist views. During Tuesday's meeting, the officers maintained that Dwivedi, who was serving as Joint Secretary (Foreigners Cell) in the Home Ministry, should not be punished for the alleged lapses of his juniors. Last week, a few officials met Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and registered their protest against the suspension of Dwivedi. Sources said suspended IAS officer Dwivedi has been working on a number of pet projects of the Narendra Modi government, offering long-term visas and citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs and other minorities of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. He also worked on the merger of Person of Indian Origin (PIO) card scheme with the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card scheme. In July, Bangladesh's Ministry of Information cancelled the downlink permission to Naik's Peace TV. The controversial Islamic orator is also banned in Malaysia, Britain and Canada. Earlier in the day, former Union Home Secretary G.K. Pillai backed four Home Ministry officials suspended over the FCRA licence to Naik's NGO. "I don't know the details of the case but the suspension is not called for. Such actions generally demoralise people," Pillai told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on border security here. He said if such actions are taken, the bureaucracy will stop taking any decisions. Pillai admitted that Naik's is a high-profile case but went onto add: "From my experience, I can state that the Home Secretary should be in a position to defend his officials in such cases." --IANS nd/tsb/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India's northeast region neighbouring Bangladesh and Myanmar is in the high prevalence zone of different types of cancer and the disease can be prevented by adjusting lifestyle and food habits, say experts. Cancer experts from India and other countries, assembled here for the 10th International Cancer Screening Network (ICSN) meeting, opine that while lifestyle diseases like diabetes and blood pressure are not curable, most cancers can be healed if detected early. "The northeast region, Bangladesh and Myanmar are in the high prevalence area of different types of cancer. The cancers' predominance in the region can be preventable to a large extent by changing lifestyle and food habits," said G.K. Rath, head of the Bhim Rao Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital (BRAIRCH) affiliated to AIIMS. He said: "The northeast region has the highest incidence of cancer with 40 per cent of the disease being related to tobacco followed by consumption of fast food, smoked and red meat and alcohol. Physical inactivity and consuming excess calories can also be blamed for incidence of cancer." Rath said the country is facing a surge in non-communicable diseases as compared to communicable diseases unlike the past. "Communicable diseases, which are fatal, have been controlled by medical attention." "Cancer is among the top three causes of death in the country with an average of 14 lakh cancer cases diagnosed every year. However, 80 per cent of this disease is curable, if detected and attended early, with 60 per cent of cancer preventable and 70 per cent detectable," Rath said. Cancer experts, scientist and doctors from the US, the Netherlands, Denmark, France, Switzerland and Bangladesh, besides from various parts of India, are taking part in the three-day ICSN meeting, which commenced on Monday. Ravi Mehrotra, director of the National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research, said: "If 39 cases of cancer per thousand people are found in rural Maharashtra, the ratio in the northeastern region is about 170 per thousand people. The northeastern region is the highest cancer-prone zone in the country. Besides, adjacent Bangladesh and Myanmar are also in the high prevalence zone of various types of cancers." He said the mortality rate depends on the type of cancer. "Cancer screening using modern methodologies could reduce 80 per cent cancer burden in cervical cancer, 50 per cent in gastrointestinal cancer and 25 per cent in breast cancer." "Oral, tongue, lung, breast, cervical, esophageal and gall bladder cancers are highest in the northeastern states where people are traditionally habituated to consumption of various types of tobacco, smoked meat, betel-nut, alcohol and unprocessed items. Lack of adequate knowledge about the bad effects of these intoxicants has further swelled the incidence of cancer," Mehrotra said. Ted Trimble, director of the US-based Center for Global Health under National Cancer Institute, said: "We are working in research and information dissemination activities for the past many years. We are keen to share our experience with the experts and doctors dealing with cancer-related activities." Rengaswamy Sankaranarayanan, Special Advisor on Cancer Control and Head of the Early Detection and Prevention Section at the France-based International Agency for Research on Cancer, said that earlier incidence of cervical cancer was very high among Indian women but now breast cancer has become the No.1 cancer. "As people in northeast India consume less fruits, vegetables and foods with high protein, they suffer from increasing number of cancer. If we are serious about avoiding cancer, we should go for lifestyle change and altering the food habits," Sankaranarayanan added. According to a latest report of the ICMR under its National Cancer Registry Programme, Aizawl district of Mizoram and Papum Pare district in Arunachal Pradesh are the two districts in the northeastern region with the highest age-adjusted cancer incidence rate in the country. --IANS sc/pgh/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday launched the 'Gas4India' campaign that is aimed at promoting the use of natural gas in the country and said the country "will move towards a gas-based economy". "The country is moving towards a gas-based economy, and it is working to increase the share of gas in the country's energy basket from the present 6.5 per cent," he said, launching the website, Twitter handle, Facebook page and theme song of the campaign. "Gas4India is a unified cross-country, multimedia, multi-event campaign to communicate the national, social, economic and ecological benefits of using natural gas as the fuel of choice to every citizen," the petroleum ministry said regarding the campaign. The campaign includes social engagement via Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, LinkedIn, and its official blogsite, as well as hyper local, offline events to directly connect with consumers through discussions, workshops and cultural events, it said. "Besides the move to enhance gas production, the government is promoting a nation-wide gas grid and setting up gas infrastructure," Pradhan said. He said that state-run gas utility GAIL has already finished the tendering process for a gas grid and actual process of laying pipelines will begin soon. "Government is going to take steps to harness synthetic gas from coal-bed methane, and also promote bio-CNG (compressed natural gas) and bio-PNG (piped natural gas)," he added. The minister noted that three new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals are also coming up in the country. "India has entered into long term contracts and acquired assets abroad to ensure unhindered supply of gas at reasonable prices," he said. Earlier on Tuesday, Pradhan met here with senior officials and representatives from 20 major cities to discuss maters related to PNG, the ministry said. "The issues of road cutting fee, uniform tax for PNG and provisioning of PNG infrastructure for upcoming smart cities were discussed," the statement added. --IANS bc/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the visit of an all-party team to Jammu and Kashmir and the situation in the Kashmir Valley. "Briefed the Prime Minister on All Party Delegation's visit to J&K and also apprised him (about) the situation in the state," Rajnath Singh tweeted later. Rajnath Singh, who led the all-party delegation, on Monday hit out at Kashmiri separatist leaders who refused to talk to some MPs from the team, saying their conduct defied the spirit of "Kashmiriyat". The all-party delegation visited the state nearly two months after a bloody unrest erupted in the aftermath of the July 8 killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. At least 75 persons have been killed and over 12,000 injured in the weeks of the turmoil, the deadliest Kashmir has seen in six years. --IANS bns/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Despite reports claiming that a Start-up Deadpool is an Indian reality, with as many as 800 new tech ventures closing shop or on death row in the past 3-4 years, the government contends it is only a lean phase and far from a bust. "I don't see any bust or any such thing. Start-ups are in various fields, like healthcare, etc. Maybe the dotcom phase is not doing well right now. There is no bust, only a lean phase," Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion Joint Secretary Shailendra Singh told IANS. Data analytics firm Tracxn Technologies had recently compiled a list of close to 800 technology start-ups founded post-2011 that have failed or are shutting operations. The list is similar to the one created by a website called F**ked Company after the internet bust of the early 2000s. The site itself was a take-off on a magazine called Fast Company and compiled a list of dotcom failures that came to be known as the Dotcom Deadpool. On the Tracxn list -- what could be called a Start-up Deadpool -- for example, is online grocery store PepperTap, with $51.2-million funding, which has confirmed it is shutting down core operations, while start-ups like BeStylish, a fashion accessory online store, with $10 million funding, is already down and out. "To make any detailed statement on the reasons for failure of these start-ups, we need to study the report. We will be talking to Tracxn this month to find out about the basis of the report, the reasons for failure, and analyse," Singh said. Talking about the likely reason for the failure of these start-ups, he said it could be their inability to scale up during a global slowdown. "All start-ups need to be scaled up. In the global slowdown -- seeing the grim market situation -- the scaling up is not possible. But it is not a cause of worry as these are cyclical changes. But it (failure of 800 start-ups) is only a small story," he said. Tracxn, the Bengaluru-based firm, also says that the failure to scale up is one of the likely reasons for the shutdowns, as in the case of e-commerce and food technology start-ups that face a surge in digital marketing expenses due to increased competition. "But they (the start-ups) failed to scale up due to standardisation or funding issues. Bigger players like Flipkart, PayTM, Snapdeal offer a better variety and price due to their scales and the amount of funding," a Tracxn spokesperson told IANS. "Replicating the foreign model without indigenisation, focusing on customer acquisition without becoming self-sustainable and 'me-too' syndrome of copying a popular format has led to many failures of startups," says Amit Jindal, Partner, Felix Advisory. "The Start-up Deadpool though is a reality but not a cause of worry," added Nikhil Donde, Managing Director of consultancy firm Protiviti India. "Experiementation and innovativeness are the keys to success for any start-up. The start-ups which failed (did so) either due to lack of funding, faulty business model or were mistimed against the market demand," Donde told IANS. On being asked if funding could be one of the reasons of failure, Industry Ministry's Singh said, "No, funding is not an issue. Funds are constantly coming in through angel funding and venture funding. Government is also making available about Rs 2,500 crore funds every year for start-ups. In fact, it will be difficult for start-ups to absorb all the funds." According to research firm Preqin, $8.9 billion investments in 2015 were made in India via venture funds. But so far in 2016, only $3.2 billion has been invested in start-ups by venture capitalists. "The funding surely saw a slight slowdown. For instance, in the first half of 2015 $2.9 billion was invested, while in first half of 2016 only $2.1 billion was invested. But the overall funding scene is not as grave. The early-stage activity has notably increased with many more micro funds and angels stepping up," Tracxn co-founder Neha Singh told IANS. Overall, it looks healthy for the eco-system because more number of companies are getting launching capital, but with more later-stage investors being cautious, it is forcing companies to rethink about getting their economics right early on in a more sustainable manner, she said. Confident that the Indian start-ups story is still intact, Singh said: "We are regularly interacting with start-ups. There is a big boost to start-ups. We have to provide the right ecosystem for the start-ups, a common platform and hand-holding." The silver lining for the failed start-up teams is that corporates are looking at hiring of experienced entrepreneurial teams. "Most founders of deadpooled companies have people with strong hands-on experience in knowing what works and doesn't in a practice area or market. Failure is no longer a taboo, and the entrepreneurial mindset is highly valued among investors and corporates," Tracxn said. (Meghna Mittal can be reached at meghna.m@ians.in) --IANS mm/ap/sac (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. On September 7, in accordance with the arrangement reached with the leadership of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the OSCE Mission will conduct a planned monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan in the Omar pass, press service of the NKR MFA informed Armenpress. From the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring will be conducted by Field Assistant of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Gennadie Petrica (Moldova) and Personal Assistant to the Personal Representative of the CiO Simon Tiller (Great Britain). The NKR authorities have expressed their readiness to assist in conducting the monitoring and to ensure the security of the OSCE Mission members. Two judges were on Tuesday asked to leave a panel that picks the Nobel prize for medicine in a scandal surrounding an Italian transplant surgeon. The decision to drop Harriet Wallberg and Anders Hamsten came after the Swedish government sacked the entire board of Sweden's prestigious Karolinska Institute, where the scientist worked, the BBC reported. The two judges who lost their positions on the Nobel panel have both served as heads of the Karolinska Institute, and were among several individuals suspected of ignoring warnings about the Italian windpipe scientist. Stem-cell surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, who denies any wrongdoing, faces numerous accusations of scientific fraud and misconduct resulting in the death of two patients and being investigated on suspicion of gross criminal negligence. The case has come as a severe blow to the institute. In a report on the case on Monday, a former Swedish judge said he had "never seen such negative references" and questioned why the surgeon had been initially hired and then had his contract extended. "Confidence in the two principals is so seriously damaged that it has been exhausted," panel's secretary Thomas Perlmann told Sweden's TT news agency. "The damage is so great, and of such a character, that we will ask them to resign from the Nobel Assembly." The 50-member Nobel panel is due to announce the winner of the annual prize in October. --IANS lok/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor Tom Holland, who will be seen playing the title role in upcoming highly-anticipated film "Spider-Man: Homecoming", says he has around 20 costumes of Spider-Man because he keeps ripping them off on the film set. Holland shared insights about his costume during an interview with radio channel Seacrest Studio Atlanta in Egleston Children's Hospital, reports aceshowbiz.com. "I break them quite a lot because I have to do a lot of stunts and flips and stuff, so they rip," Holland said. "So, I think, we have 20 suits, I think, that we alternate. This is, actually, what we would call a beauty suit, which means it's 'picture ready'. And then we have a stunt suit, which isn't as nice as this one," added the actor, who dressed as Spider-Man upon his visit to the hospital. Talking about his role, Holland said: "Spider-Man has always been a huge part of my life. I loved the movies, I loved the comics, and I always just wanted to be Spider-Man. I could never have imagined that this would become a reality, and then to be here today and meet all you guys is such a privilege." Directed by Jon Watts, "Spider-Man: Homecoming" will release on July 7, next year. --IANS sas/nv/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor-filmmaker Stanley Tucci has confirmed that he will reprise his role as Joshua Joyce in Michael Bays "Transformers: The Last Knight". Tucci confirmed his part in the upcoming film while receiving a career tribute in Deauville, France, over the weekend, reports variety.com. He said that Joyce, the anti-hero of "Transformers: Age of Extinction", will be back in the next installment of the franchise which has just started shooting with Mark Wahlberg, Laura Haddock and Anthony Hopkins. While receiving the honour, Tucci took the stage and addressed the terror attacks that have shaken France and the US. "We're living through very difficult times in France, in America and in the world right now and cinema is something that can bring us all together and bring some positivity to life," Tucci said. --IANS sas/nv/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Describing India as a favoured market, Turkish Airlines' Chairman of the Board and Executive Committee Ilker Ayci said on Tuesday that the company is keen on expanding its operations to various parts in India like Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. "India is a market that is close to our heart. But unfortunately we have a problem of getting permission to fly. We want to fly to Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. We are right now flying to Delhi and Mumbai," Ayci told reporters on the sidelines of a press meet at the headquarters of the national carrier. Turkish Airlines started operations in India in 2004 with Delhi. It now has seven flights from Delhi and Mumbai in a week. Trying to allay fears in the minds of the people post the military coup attempt that took place in middle of July, Ayci said: "I want to make it clear how safe people are here. Our foreign exchange, capital markets and the economy are making great progress. We are continuing all our operations despite all the things that had happened." In the attempted coup at least 90 people were killed in capital Ankara, while the number of injured were around 1,150. He flayed the coup attempt and also condemned the attack on media at that time. Addressing media from 18 countries including India, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, China, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan, Ayci said it is important to allay fears from the minds of people to build brotherhood and solidarity which will lead to commercial investments and tourism. The airline operates in Asia & Pacific region, Europe, North America, Middle East, Africa and Latin America. It gets most of its traffic from Asia & Pacific region. It touches around 116 countries and 294 destinations, including 243 international destinations. "The Asian market is very important for us. All of us have relatives in Asia. Keeping that in mind we are introducing new cabin crews who can speak languages like Korean, Chinese and Japanese," said Ayci. Saying that passengers are not their clients but guests Ayci said Turkey was a "centre of living together". (Aparajita Gupta is in Istanbul at the invitation of Turkish Airlines. She can be reached at aparajita.g@ians.in) --IANS ag/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Just 60 comments from close friends in a month -- two comments per day -- can impact your feelings of well-being and satisfaction with life just as much as getting married or having a baby, suggests new research. What really makes people feel good is when those they know and care about write personalised posts or comments. Passively reading posts or one-click feedback such as "likes" do not make much of a difference, the findings showed. "It turns out that when you talk with a little more depth on Facebook to people you already like, you feel better," said one of the researchers Robert Kraut, Professor at Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. "That also happens when people talk in person," Kraut noted. The study, published by the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, was based on 1,910 Facebook users from 91 countries who were recruited with Facebook ads. Each agreed to take a monthly survey for three months. By considering mood and behaviour over time, the study revealed that Facebook interactions with friends predicted improvements in such measures of well-being as satisfaction with life, happiness, loneliness and depression. "We're not talking about anything that's particularly labor-intensive," Moira Burke, a research scientist at Facebook who earned a PhD. in human-computer interaction at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, said. "This can be a comment that's just a sentence or two. The important thing is that someone such as a close friend takes the time to personalise it. The content may be uplifting, and the mere act of communication reminds recipients of the meaningful relationships in their lives," Burke noted. The findings run counter to many previous studies based on user surveys, which often have shown that time spent on social media is associated with a greater likelihood of loneliness and depression. "You're left to wonder -- is it that unhappy people are using social media, or is social media affecting happiness?" Kraut said. The new study was able to resolve this "chicken-or-egg" dilemma by using Facebook logs to examine counts of participants' actual Facebook activity over a period of months. The new findings suggests that people who are feeling down may indeed spend more time on social media, but they choose to do so because they have learned it makes them feel better, Burke said. "They're reminded of the people they care about in their lives," Burke noted. --IANS gb/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two Maoists have been killed in a shootout with the CRPF during a search operation launched by the paramilitary force in Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, an official said on Friday. The shootout took place around 11.23 p.m. on Thursday between the Maoists and a joint team of the 22 Battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Jharkhand Police. The Maoists opened fire on the security team when it was searching the thick forested area of Donai Khurd, CRPF Deputy Inspector General M. Dinakaran told IANS. The CRPF team recovered two dead bodies and seized one AK-47, one Insas rifle and 200 live cartridges from the spot after the operation. Search operations were still on, Dinakaran said. Similar operations were also carried out in the forests of Pidmel, Pollampalli, Sukma in Chattisgarh. Around 12.30 a.m. on Friday in another shootout a CRPF constable suffered bullet injury during the searches in Sukma, the officer said. The officer said the constable was evacuated by a chopper and admitted in a hospital in Raipur. His condition was reportedly stable. --IANS rak/in (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday filed a chargesheet against Life Insurance Corporation agent Anand Chauhan in the disproportionate assets case registered against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. The chargesheet was filed in the court of Special Judge Vinod Kumar, who fixed September 7 for consideration of the matter. The ED told the court that further investigation regarding the role of Virbhadra Singh and his wife is continuing and it may file a supplementary chargesheet later in the case. Chauhan is accused of laundering the alleged disproportionate assets acquired by Virbhadra Singh as Union Steel Minister. Chauhan is accused of investing Virbhadra Singh's "tainted" money of Rs 5.14 crore in LIC policies purchased in Virbhadra's name and those of his family members, including wife Pratibha Singh, the ED said in its chargesheet. The ED arrested Chauhan on July 8 from Chandigarh under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). His was the first arrest made by the ED in the money laundering case against the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is also probing the case. The CBI reportedly found that Virbhadra Singh had accumulated assets worth Rs 6.03 crore in his name and in the name of his family members, which were disproportionate to his known sources of income, during his tenure as the Union Steel Minister from 2009 to 2011. --IANS akk/tsb/dg (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a bid to attract flyers, passenger carrier Vistara on Tuesday announced an all-inclusive one-way fares starting at Rs 949. According to the airline, the offer will be applicable on tickets booked between September 6-10 for travel between September 12-30. "This is a limited inventory/ limited period sale for the last phase of low season and a wonderful opportunity for people to try the 'new feeling' as Vistara does not announce too many sales," a Vistara spokesperson was quoted as saying in a statement. "The sale requires a six-day advance purchase." Vistara's new scheme follows AirAsia India's "Big Sale!" offer. According to industry observers, other airlines might soon start to offer discounted fares to lure passengers in the lean travel season. Sharat Dhall, President of Yatra.com said: "Airfares over the past couple of months have been at their lowest as compared to the previous few years. Between today and last week, two of the newest entrants in the airline industry, Vistara and Air Asia, have announced their sales." "We are expecting that other carriers are likely to join the sale as well." Airlines offer these kinds of special fares not just to stimulate demand, but also to increase load factors during the lean seasons: The periods between January-March and July-September. --IANS ppg-rv/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday wondered what the Congress did for the welfare of farmers during its 55 years of rule. The BJP's attack came just hours after Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi at a rally in Deoria district of Uttar Pradesh targeted the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for ignoring the plight of farmers. "When they were in power, they could not understand the pain of farmers for half a century. Now suddenly they have woken up to the plight of farmers when they are out of power," spokesman Sudhanshu Trivedi said. According to Trivedi, the central government has taken a number of steps for the welfare of farmers, including curbing the black marketing of urea and instituting the Fasal Bima Yojana to provide them cover for any crop loss. "There is a huge difference between their thinking and our thinking," he said. "I may remind you that the United Progressive Alliance government had signed a few agreements at the World Trade Organisation which were against the interests of our farmers. Our government revered them despite international pressure and criticism." "Those who could not feel the pain of farmers for half a century, now speaking for farmers is ridiculous," he said. Ajit Balakrishnan's article, "What does it take to produce world-dominating companies?" (September 6), is right in making a strong case for the government's proactive intervention in promoting world-class . YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. A petition has been initiated in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe over returning Turkey to the status of a country under monitoring, member of the Armenian delegation to PACE Samvel Farmanyan writes on Facebook, reports Armenpress. A petition is launched in the session of the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights in ParisTurkey must be returned to its former status as a counter under monitoring due to the massive human rights violations in that country, Farmanyan writes. "Every man has a crazy hobby," said U Thiri Thein Than, an automotive engineer from Yangon who also has a home in Tokyo. "For me, it's cars and watches." For years Thiri Thein Than, 40, has done his higher-end shopping overseas. But in March, he visited a boutique that the Swiss watch company Franck Muller had just opened in the upscale Sedona Hotel overlooking Yangon's Inya Lake - the company's 44th location worldwide, and Myanmar's first monobrand luxury watch store. India's judicial appointments process has been the focus of a long struggle between the executive and the judiciary. But it is clear that neither of these institutions is monolithic in their opinions. In particular, not every senior judge is happy with the process of appointments in senior judiciary as it stands. Justice Chelameshwar, a member of the collegium, recently refused to attend its meetings, protesting that nothing there was recorded. The judge wrote to Chief Justice T S Thakur asking instead that the opinions of his fellow members of the collegium be sent to him "by circulation", which, in effect, would force their views to be recorded on paper. Justice Chelameshwar has never hidden his doubts about the collegium process. But other senior judges seem to agree to an extent with his views. Recently, the former Chief Justice of India, R M Lodha, said as much, and he was a stout defender of the existing system of appointments when he was in office. Home Minister Rajnath Singh will on Tuesday brief Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the situation in after the two-day visit of an all party delegation to Jammu and . Singh is expected to brief Modi on the assessment of the ground situation of the state by the all party delegation which visited Srinagar and Jammu on September 4 and 5, official sources said. While the Prime Minister has returned to the capital last night after his visit to Vietnam and China, the Home Minister too had come back from Jammu and last evening. Sources said that the members of the all party delegation is likely to meet here tomorrow to discuss their findings during the two-day visit and chalk out future plans for Jammu and Kashmir. The all-party delegation seeking to end turbulence in Kashmir concluded its two-day visit yesterday with no breakthrough. Unhappy at the stubborn refusal of Hurriyat leaders to meet some MPs who had literally knocked at their doors in Srinagar, Singh had said that their conduct was against democracy, humanity or even 'Kashmiriyat' (Kashmiri ethos). As many as 95 cases of offences like theft, chain snatching and others were detected and nearly 12 people arrested in this regard during the last one week by Thane Crime Branch, police said today. Besides, goods and stolen items, including gold jewellery, motorbikes, elephant tusks worth about Rs 67 lakh were seized during the massive operation carried out by the Crime Branch. The arrested persons were from places like Goa, Karnataka, Raigadh, Thane and Pune, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Parag Manere told reporters here today. Last week, three persons identified as - Sandesh Maladkar (31), Babu Shettiar (28), and Vinod Bankari (26) - were held from separate places of Panvel, Kalwa, Shahpur. Stolen booty including 51 motorcycles worth nearly Rs 20 lakh was recovered from them, the senior official said. In the second major detection, police arrested four persons in connection with as many as 19 chain snatching cases from Rabodi, Kasarwadavali, Shil Diaghar, Vartak Nagar and Naupada localities. Stolen chains weighing 288 gms worth Rs 5.56 lakhs was seized from them. The arrested were Javed Jaffri, Jitendra Kothari, Abujahar Bagar Lai Hussain, Haider Irani. In a separate operation, Gairesh Kerkar from Wangani was held from Thane. He was involved in 22 cases of chain snatching and gold worth 275 gms valuing Rs 6.10 lakh was seized from him. Police also arrested one Hujju Jaffari (21) from Madgaon in Goa with the help of Goa police. Gold chain of 190 gms worth Rs 3.52 lakh was recovered. He was involved in as many as 11 cases of chain snatching. In Kawla, two persons were held last week with rare, sand boa snake weighing 740 gms and 39 inches, valuing around Rs 30 lakh. They were identified as Vikas Vaikar (29) and Umesh Adimuni (20), Manere said. One Birjesh Singh from Thane was also nabbed with elephant tusk valuing at around Rs 2 lakh, police added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Vice Admiral A R Karve today stressed upon the importance of maritime domain in national security after inaugurating the 29th Naval Higher Command Course (NHCC) at the Naval War College (NWC) at INS Mandovi here. Addressing the course participants and PhD candidates, Karve said that cooperation between friendly navies was essential to tackle emerging maritime threats in the Indian Ocean region. The Admiral emphasised the need for continued higher learning of the theory and practice of war and said that "war is not extinct, however long the peace interlude may be." The Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Naval Command reminded the participants that the college provided them with a unique learning experience. He strongly encouraged them towards 'continued scholarship' with the ultimate aim of finding optimal solutions to problems that confront us in the maritime domain. Karve released the annual edition of the 'China Compendium' on this occasion. The publication is a collection of essays contributed by students of the 'Chinese Maritime Studies and Research Group' of the Naval War College. "This event was unique as it included international officers of the First Regional Maritime Security Course (RMSC), which was kicked off three weeks ago. The event also marked the commencement for the second batch of PhD students of the NWC," a naval spokesman said in a release here. He said the duration of this iteration of the NHCC has been increased from 32 to 37 weeks. "A total of 38 officers of the rank of Captain from the Navy, Colonel from the Army, Group Captain from the Air Force and Commandant from the Coast Guard are participating," the spokesman added. "In addition, the five international participants of the RMSC have also been co-opted into the programme for the first eight weeks. During the course, participants carry out research on subjects of operational importance to the Navy, as also work towards their dissertation for the award of MPhil Degree in Defence and Strategic Studies," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Delhi Police today dismissed three personnel of its elite Special Cell for allegedly extorting over Rs 11 lakh from a commission agent whose diamond jewellery worth Rs 2 crore was recently stolen in east Delhi. Special Cell inspector Rahul Singh, sub-inspector Nirbhay Rana and constable Ravinder were dismissed today after it was found that they had taken money from the commission agent, said a senior police officer. The commission agent Vijay Gupta carrying diamond jewellery worth Rs 2 crore in his car had fallen prey to theft at Preet Vihar area in east Delhi on August 31. The dismissed cops had allegedly extorted over Rs 11 lakh from Gupta claiming that the theft case was solved and diamond jewelleries were recovered by them, said the officer. East district police recently held two persons including a juvenile in connection with the theft and recovered the stolen jewellery. Accused Vinay was arrested from Madangir area in south Delhi by a team of officials of Preet Vihar police station. His juvenile accomplice was also held in connection with the theft and stolen diamonds worth Rs 2 crore recovered, DCP (East) Rishi Pal had said. The jewellery was stolen from Gupta who worked as a commission agent for gems and jewel traders near Karkari More red light while he was getting a flat tyre fixed. A team of Special Cell including the dismissed cops had helped east district police in solving the case and recovery of the jewellery, said the officer. The complainant, though, didn't make any allegations against the trio for extorting money from him but in an inquiry conducted by Special Cell they were found guilty of extorting money to the tune of Rs 11 lakh, said the officer. Within a day of the inquiry, the personnel were dismissed, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nagaland observed 52nd anniversary of Indo-Naga Ceasefire Day, also known as Peace Day signed between the then leaders Naga National Council and Government of India in 1964. "The ceasefire of September 6, 1964 is not the beginning of our political aspiration ... It is just an interim relief and in itself is not final," said Reverend Zelhou Keyho, general secretary of Nagaland Baptist Church Council, the apex body of churches in the state which had taken the intiative of the casefire, during a function held to commemorate the day at Chedema Peace Camp here. "Cease fire is not only to stop the hostility between two warring enemies and not only to save us from the terror of hunting each other, but to give us hope to stand on an equal footing with the force and give us a platform to dialogue and negotiate for our rights," he said. Calling upon the Naga people to intrspect, he asked them to come together without playing indulging in politics of division and unitedly speak to the Centre to listen to their aspirations. It was on this day in 1964 that NNC and the Government of India agreed to end armed conflict and signed ceasefire with the initiative of Nagaland Peace Mission constituted by NBCC, which comprised of former Assam Chief Minister Bimala Prasad Chaliha, socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan and a clergyman from England, Reverend Michael Scott. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Seven persons have been arrested and three juveniles detained for killing a man and stabbing three others in a clash over a parking space in central Delhi's Paharganj area, police said today. The accused identified as -- Prince, Akshay, Tarush, Amit Naik, Himanshu, Danish and Montu were arrested yesterday from Idgah Park, DCP (Central) Parmaditya said. The incident took place after Prince, Himanshu and one juvenile were assaulted by some others near a juice selling outlet in Arambagh after the trio tried to park their motorbike in front of it on September 2, he said. Sunil Dass, owner of a rickshaw garage at Arambagh and his friends had a fight with Prince and his friends who later came back to take revenge. Prince and his accomplices felt humiliated and returned with their friends on scooters with knives and canes to settle scores with Dass and his friends, the DCP said. During the clash, Prince and his friends stabbed Ajay, Rahul, Vinod and Bablu and fled from the spot. Bablu succumbed to injuries at Lady Hardinge Medical College, Parmaditya said. Since the area where the incident happened didn't have CCTV cameras, police didn't have any video footage as evidence. Bablu's friends who survived the attack described the accused and based of their description, a search was conducted in the area, he said. Police received tip-off about the involvement of Amit Naik and his friends in the crime and that they will be meeting at Idgah Park. A trap was laid and the accused were apprehended, caught, he added. The vehicles and the knife used in the crime have been seized. There are two-three others who had accompanied Naik and Prince and a hunt is on to nab them, Paramaditya said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. Political scientist Sergey Minasyan says there will not be a serious progress in the negotiation process over the Nagorno Karabakh issue in the near future. It is difficult to expect any serious progress since the sides, first of all, the Armenian one, will not go to unilateral concessions definitely. The Azerbaijani side as well doesnt want to make progress on the issue which is important for the Armenian side, that is at least clear definition of mechanisms for the formation of Nagorno Karabakhs status. Perhaps there will be a process which will include meetings with new formats, which may contribute to the short-term maintenance of the ceasefire regime, but it will not lead to rapid negotiation developments, he said, Armenpress reported. Referring to the upcoming interior political developments in Armenia, in particular, the election campaign, Sergey Minasyan said at this moment perhaps neither the leadership nor the opposition have made final decisions on acting with a clear format in the election campaign. Keeping that pause after the July events, the authorities, in fact, managed to reach the point that the interior political developments were intensified, but this time already in the form of election preparations, which will be relatively safe for the authorities until April next year. Of course, new political alliances, forces may be formed, why not, some old structures may try their relevance, he stated. He said the July events showed that there is a need of opposition force. Seven Indian institutes have been listed in the top 400 educational institutions in the world by a UK survey which saw Cambridge slipping out of the top three global universities for the first time. According to 'QS World University Rankings 2016' survey, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) hold on to the top spot, followed by two other American universities - Stanford at second position and Harvard at third position. Indian universities continue to lag behind in the global top 200, with Indian Institute of Science dropping five notches to 152 from 147 last year and Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi at 185 from 179 in 2015, the survey said, Other Indian universities that make the cut within the top 400 on the list are the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) -- Bombay (219), Madras (249), Kanpur (302), Kharagpur (313) and Roorkee (399). "This year's rankings imply that levels of investment are determining who progresses and who regresses. Institutions in countries that provide high levels of targeted funding, whether from endowments or from the public purse, are rising," said Ben Sowter, head of research at QS. Cambridge University has fallen out of the global top three for the first time in the latest university rankings released. Cambridge, which was ranked a joint third with Harvard last year, slips to fourth with British competitor Oxford retaining its sixth rank. Experts believe the exact post-Brexit impact on UK universities will become clearer next year as bulk of the research for this year's rankings was conducted before Britain voted to leave the European Union (EU) on June 23. London's mayor Sadiq Khan said: "Boasting more of the globe's top universities and welcoming the most international students, London is the higher education capital of the world and I want to make sure it stays that way." The rankings include 916 universities from 81 countries, with 33 countries featured in the Top 200. The US dominate, with 48 institutions, ahead of the UK (30), Netherlands (12), Germany (11), Canada, Australia (9), Japan (8), China (7), France, Sweden and Hong Kong (5). The 'QS World University Rankings' are based on four categories: research, teaching, employability and internationalisation. The methodology consists of six indicators: academic reputation (40 per cent), employer reputation (10 per cent), faculty student ratio (20 per cent), citations per faculty (20 per cent), international students (5 per cent), and international faculty (5 per cent). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The process of credit rating of urban local bodies (ULBs) has begun in 85 cities and 12 have completed the process which will help them float municipal bonds for mobilising resources, the government said today. Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, during a review meeting of various schemes, also directed the officials to follow up with states and ULBs to ensure all ULBs get credit rating at the earliest, a release by the Urban Development ministry said. "Under the initiative of credit rating of ULBs, 85 cities have launched the process and the same has been completed in respect of 12. Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) have got A- - rating (positive credit worthy). All these 85 cities would be given credit rating by March next year," the statement said. It also said the Urban Development Ministry has spent 70 per cent of plan funds for 2016-17, indicating a speedy implementation of new urban missions launched last year. As against plan allocation of Rs 21,000 crore for 2016-17, the ministry has incurred an expenditure of Rs 14,725 crore till August. As part of handholding the states and the ULBs for speedy execution of projects, the ministry has identified sources of resources from various domestic and multi-lateral lending agencies, including Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (USD 5 billion), ADB (USD 1 billion), JICA (USD 500 million), BRICS Bank (USD 500 million per city), and AFD (Euro 100-200 million), it said. HUDCO is also likely to support Smart City Mission with Rs 10,000 crore, it added. Naidu has expressed satisfaction over the ministry approving an investment of Rs 1.24 lakh crore for improving basic urban infrastructure, including Rs 78,000 crore under Smart City plans of 33 cities and another Rs 45,935 crore under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jittery over the delay in getting the police permission for the maiden rally of AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal in Surat next month, the Gujarat unit of the party today sought intervention of Governor O P Kohli, even as it accused the state government of "muzzling" the voice of "dissent" over fear of losing power. In a memorandum submitted to the Governor, AAP said the BJP-led state government is not granting them permission "out of fear of losing their ground ahead of Assembly polls." AAP MLA Gulab Singh, also the party in-charge for Gujarat, alleged that despite repeated requests and follow-ups, police have not granted permission for the Delhi Chief Minister's rally in Surat, which AAP wants to hold on October 16. "Gujarat government has been muzzling all the voices of dissent since long. Our Constitution has given us the right to peacefully protest against wrong decisions of any government. But, BJP government here has taken away that right from people, as they are afraid of losing power. "Since last one year, BJP government has tried hard to stop all our public programmes by not granting permission. It also happened with Patels, OBCs and dalit agitators. How can democracy function if government snatches people's right to raise their voice? This is totally against the spirit of Constitution," stated the memorandum. AAP claimed it had sought permission from Surat police for Kejriwal's rally almost a fortnight back. "Even after 15 days have passed, police has neither granted us permission, nor has given us any clear reason for holding back the permission. October 16 is approaching fast and we need time for preparations. If we will be denied permission, it will be an absolute injustice to a political party as well as a huge blow to democracy," Singh stated. Requesting Governor Kohli's intervention, AAP said, "This government has forgot all the democratic values for their political interests. We urge you to request them to fulfil their duties and obey these values. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both said today they were willing to meet to relaunch peace efforts, but no date was set and they traded blame for stalled talks. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been seeking to arrange a meeting between the two in Moscow in a bid to restart peace efforts that have been at a standstill for more than two years. But disagreements over the conditions for such talks have derailed previous efforts, and Netanyahu again called for a meeting without preconditions. Abbas did not speak of what his conditions would be for such a meeting if any, but Palestinian leaders have previously spoken of three issues. They include a halt to Israeli settlement building, the release of prisoners and a deadline for the end of the occupation of the West Bank. The Palestinian president, speaking during a visit to Warsaw, said a meeting had been proposed for Friday but an aide to Netanyahu suggested delaying this, leading to it being called off. "Netanyahu's representative proposed to delay this meeting to a later date. So the meeting will not happen," Abbas said at a joint press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda. "But I am ready and I declare again that I will go to any meeting." Netanyahu, speaking during a visit to The Hague, said he was "ready to meet Abu Mazen (Abbas) at any time directly and without preconditions". "The real question is whether Abu Mazen is willing to meet us without preconditions and we are hearing conflicting reports on that," he said. Putin's Middle East envoy has held talks with both Netanyahu and Palestinian leaders in recent days. Today after talks in Palestinian political capital Ramallah, he said efforts would continue to work towards a future meeting. "We are very thankful that Abu Mazen accepted in principle the Russian initiative proposed by President Putin," Mikhail Bogdanov said. "We'll continue our efforts, discussions and contacts with the two parties about the form, contents and dates of the meeting." Peace efforts have been at a standstill since a US-led initiative collapsed in April 2014. The last substantial public meeting between Abbas and Netanyahu is thought to have been in 2010, although there have been unconfirmed reports of secret meetings since then. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) National carrier Air India's flight operations was back to normal today after the airline's chief Ashwani Lohani "assured" the narrow-body pilots of addressing all their pending issues, including pay parity, by next month during a meeting with them here this evening. In the last two days, Air India's domestic flight services were partially affected after a section of ICPA members decided not to report for duty in protest against pending issues related to salary and allowances, besides alleged denial of weekly-offs. Following this, Lohani had yesterday warned of "exemplary disciplinary action" against employees "sabotaging" the progress of the national carrier. The airline management even sacked one contractual pilot for "not reporting" for duty and issued show-cause notice to five other pilots. "The CMD during the meeting assured us of addressing all our pending issues including removing anomalies in the pay structure by next month and duly providing mandatory weekly offs in printed schedules. So we have also decided to fully cooperate with him," Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) General Secretary T Praveen Keerthi told PTI after the meeting. "By October, we expect all our issues to be resolved," he added. ICPA represents around 750 pilots of the narrow-body planes fleet in Air India, most of whom are from the erstwhile Indian Airlines. The pilots' body had yesterday warned of the situation turning worse If there was no "definite time-bound assurance" on resolving the issues by today. In a stern message to employees, Lohani had said such acts (of disrupting flight services) were "just not acceptable" and shall not be tolerated under any circumstances. "Recently, there have been delays/cancellations of flights due to indiscipline by a small section of pilots. Such acts, not only result in revenue loss but also cause inconvenience to passengers, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Police have booked the mother of the main accused in the attack on senior BJP leader Brijpal Teotia last month. Superintendent of Police (rural) Rakesh Pandey said Satbiri, mother of the main accused, Manish, has been booked under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC for planning the attack on Teotia "to avenge her husband's murder". A group of armed gunmen had on August 11 opened fire on Teotia's vehicle, seriously injuring him and five of his associates, when they were on their way back from a function. So far, eight persons have been arrested in connection with the case. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has sought a "ferocious commitment" from French President Francois Hollande over data security after the leak of confidential information on the Indian Scorpene submarines made by a French firm which has also won a 50 billion dollar Australian submarines contract. Over 22,000 pages of secret data on the capabilities of six highly-advanced submarines being built for the Indian Navy in Mumbai in collaboration with French defence company DCNS were leaked. The data leak reportedly happened overseas. Earlier this year DCNS won the contract for the 50 billion dollar deal to build Australia's new fleet of submarines. Turnbull said the leak had no direct security implications for Australia, because the submarine DCNS will build for Australia - the Shortfin Barracuda - is "completely different" to the Scorpene. "Of course it's a different submarine to the one that we are going to build in collaboration with the French, but it is absolutely critical to continue to maintain the highest level of security." Following the embarrassing document leaks on the Submarines for Indian navy, Turnbull asked the French President on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou to ensure there was a "ferocious commitment to the data security", ABC reported. The report said Hollande said that the leak from French company DCNS was unacceptable. "Yes, we've already raised these issues with the French. And the President and we've had a brief discussion about it already, and we will be addressing it in more detail," Turnbull said. "Maintaining absolute maximum security, total security on information of this kind is critical.The leaks of the material relating to Scorpene submarine are very, very regrettable," he said yesterday. Turnbull emphasisedtheimportance of data security andthe twoleaders noted the significance of the defence relationship between the two countries. Turnbull saidthe most damaging vulnerability in computer systems was "warmware",company or government insiders, the source of the leak. TheFrench company DCNS has been awardedthe USD 50 billion submarine project for Australia. Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne this morning said he was confident the Scorpene leak had no security implications for Australia. "This is a very old set of documents, they're not top secret, they bear no relation at all to the submarines we will be building with the French," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A car bomb exploded near a hospital in central Baghdad, killing at least seven people, police said. The blast which took place late on Monday, was also near the site of a July bombing that killed more than 300 people, in the worst single bomb attack to ever hit the Iraqi capital. An explosives-laden van exploded in Baghdad's Karrada neighbourhood a little before midnight (2100 GMT), setting several nearby shops on fire, police said. A police colonel reported an initial toll of seven killed and at least 15 wounded for the blast, which went off near Abdel Majid hospital. The figures were confirmed by interior ministry sources. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing but all such attacks recently have been claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group. German pharmaceuticals and crop science major Bayer has yet again sweetened its offer to acquire US-based biotechnology firm Monsanto by over 2 per cent, taking the value to over USD 65 billion. Confirming that it is in "advanced negotiations" with Monsanto concerning a proposed transaction, Bayer said: "While key terms and conditions have not yet been agreed, Bayer would be prepared to provide a transaction consideration of USD 127.50 per Monsanto share only in connection with a negotiated transaction." In July, Monsanto had rejected Bayer's offer of USD 125 per share at a total value of USD 65 billion, up from a previous offer of USD 122 per share. Reacting to the new offer, Monsanto said it has received a updated non-binding offer for a potential acquisition by Bayer in cash. "Monsanto is continuing these conversations as it evaluates this proposal, as well as proposals from other parties and other strategic alternatives to enable its Board of Directors to determine if a transaction in the best interest of its shareholders can be realised." Monsanto further said there is no assurance that any transaction will be entered into or consummated, or on what terms. Bayer in a statement today said there can be no assurance that the parties will enter into an agreement. The proposed transaction would be subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions. The key conditions of a definitive transaction agreement must be approved by the Supervisory Board of Bayer AG, the company added. The German firm is looking at the combination with Monsanto to create a global leader in the agricultural industry by combining complementary skills with minimal geographic overlap. While it has a leading position in crop protection, Monsanto is extremely strong in seeds and traits, it said. In India, Monsanto has dropped plan to launch next generation GM cotton seed. It has withdrawn application seeking approval for the next generation genetically modified (GM) cotton seeds in India because of regulatory uncertainties. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The West Bengal government today urged the Damodar Valley Corporation not to release more water to prevent flooding of a number of south Bengal districts, which witnessed heavy rains over the last two days. "A very heavy rainfall was witnessed over the last two days. Also, the DVC authorities released 24,000 cusecs of water yesterday and 44,000 cusecs today. We have cautioned them against releasing more water. It may inundate a vast area in a number of south Bengal districts," state Irrigation Minister Rajib Banerjee said. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has also expressed her annoyance over DVC releasing more water despite being requested by the state government not to do so. "The CM, who is now in Germany, is very concerned about the situation following torrential rain over the last two days. On her advice, I have written a strongly-worded letter to the DVC authorities, asking them not to release more water and wait until the water level reaches the extreme danger mark," the Irrigation Minister said. The DVC authorities could not be contacted for their comment in this regard. Though rains in major parts of West Bengal have abated, it is still pouring heavily in Jharkhand. A huge volume of water, released by the DVC over the past few days, has flooded several villages in Burdwan, Howrah and Hooghly districts. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. The PACE Bureau session was held in Paris on September 5. Deputy Speaker of Armenian Parliament, Chairman of the Armenian delegation to PACE, PACE Bureau member Hermine Naghdalyan participated in the session, Deputy Speakers administration informed Armenpress. Issues related to the events in various European states, first of all, in Turkey, the military coup attempt and the subsequent events were on the discussion agenda. PACE President said the political figures must bear a special responsibility for defending their citizens in their societies rejecting terrorism, inter-ethnic tensions, and etc. PACE President attached importance to the strengthening of the process of democratic institutions in Turkey and urged to strictly follow the interior legal procedures and the standards of the Council of Europe. The visits of PACE President Pedro Agramunt and Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland to Turkey and the works and statements made there were discussed in detail at the session. Jagland said although Turkey has been deviated from the European Convention on Human Rights, the Convention continues to be used under the control of the European Court of Human Rights. Issues related to PACE President Pedro Agramunts visit to Russia, his meetings with the Russian high-ranking officials were discussed. One of the issues of the session agenda was the implementation of the 13rd point of The situation in Kosovo and the role of the Council of Europe resolution which proposes a new cooperation format with the delegation of Kosovo. During the session Armenian Deputy Speaker of Parliament Hermine Naghdalyan exchanged views with the Council of Europe Secretary General, the Presidents of the Committees, as well as with representatives of several states. Government bonds (G-Secs) prices rebounded smartly following fresh buying support from banks and corporates, and the overnight call money rates also turned higher owing to good demand from borrowing banks amid tight liquidity in the banking system. The 7.59 per cent government security maturing in 2026 gained to Rs 103.3125 from Rs 103.16 previously, while its yield eased to 7.10 per cent from 7.12 per cent. The 6.97 per cent government security maturing in 2026 spurts to Rs 100.3500 from Rs 100.0350, while its yield moved down to 6.92 per cent from 6.97 per cent. The 7.59 per cent government security maturing in 2029 rose to Rs 103.69 from Rs 103.58, while its yield softened to 7.14 per cent from 7.15 per cent. The 7.61 per cent government security maturing in 2030, the 7.88 per cent government security maturing in 2030 and the 7.68 per cent government security maturing in 2023 were also quoted higher to Rs 104.62, Rs 106.34 and Rs 103.32, respectively. The overnight call money rates finished higher at 6.55 per cent from last Friday's level of 6.20 per cent. It resumed higher at 6.50 per cent and moved in a range of 6.60 per cent and 6.05 per cent. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF), purchased securities worth Rs 32.60 billion in a 8-bids at the overnight repo auction at a fixed rate of 6.50 per cent as on today, while it sold securities worth Rs 35.04 billion from 16-bids at the overnight reverse repo auction at a fixed rate of 6.00 per cent as on September 5. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today that ties with Beijing had entered a new era following a charm offensive which saw 56 business deals signed. Speaking in Hong Kong following a week-long trip to China, where he met President Xi Jinping and attended the Group of 20 summit in Hangzhou, Trudeau said the "hot and cold" nature of relations with Beijing was over and that ties had been "revitalised". Trudeau said his trip had been about more than signing the deals, which he said were worth more than CAD$ 1.2 billion (USD 929 million). "We needed to renew and deepen the relationship between the people of Canada and people of China for the long term and I think it's safe to say we have accomplished just that," Trudeau said at a business lunch in Hong Kong, calling for a "solid framework of engagement" to enhance commercial opportunities. Canada said last month it would apply to join the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Trudeau said he had also raised contentious subjects, including issues of rule of law and corruption, but did not say how China had responded. Asked about how a major Hong Kong election -- which saw politicians advocating a break from China become lawmakers Monday -- would affect relations he said Canada would work with "whoever gets elected and forms government in foreign jurisdictions". Trudeau also met Hong Kong's richest tycoon Li Ka-shing, posting a picture of himself with the billionaire on Twitter, and the city's leader Leung Chun-ying. Earlier Tuesday, Trudeau honoured those who died in World War II at a city cemetery. Hong Kong fell to the Japanese after 18 days of desperate fighting in 1941. About 290 Canadians were among the roughly 2,100 allied troops killed in the battle. Hundreds of survivors endured years of abuse and starvation as prisoners of war, leading to more than 260 additional Canadian deaths. "We remember the sacrifice and service of so many who stood and fell for our shared values, so far from home," Trudeau wrote in the guest book, seen by an AFP reporter. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Agitated farmers and activists belonging to pro-Kannada outfits today blocked Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway as protests intensified in the wake of the Supreme Court directive to the state to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. Mandya district, the nucleus of Cauvery politics, saw a bandh with protesters holding road blockades and dharnas at several places, as hundreds of security personnel, including Central forces, were deployed in the Cauvery belt to maintain law and order. Prohibitory orders have been clamped around Krishnarajasagar Dam and entry of visitors to it prohibited till September nine, as the hotted up after the Supreme Court direction to Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for the next 10 days to address the plight of the farmers there. Protesters also mobbed and ransacked several government offices in Mandya forcing their shut down, while attendance at government offices remained thin, police said. The Supreme Court's direction on Monday triggered an immediate backlash with the farmers' body spearheading the stir, calling for a bandh on Tuesday in Mandya district. Shops, hotels and other commercial establishments and theatres and hotels remained shut and schools and colleges declared a holiday in the district where state run and private buses are also not plying. Protests are also being held in Mysuru and Hassan districts, fed by the Cauvery, demanding that Karnataka should not release water. Venting their anger, protesters burnt effigy of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa at several places. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is holding a meeting of senior Ministers, legal experts and officials, has also invited legislature floor leaders and MPs later today to discuss the further course of action. Meanwhile, the government appealed to people not to resort to agitation and to maintain calm. "My appeal to the public is that don't resort to agitation...And keep calm and we will make all efforts to protect the interest of the farmers," Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra told reporters in Bengaluru. Jayachandra said people should maintain calm as it is an order by the Supreme Court and the government needs to go before the Cauvery supervisory committee and convince it. "My appeal is be calm, and don't spoil any government property or anything because it is a Supreme Court order. We have to go before the Supervisory Committee and we want to try to convince (it) also," the Minister said. Former Chief Minister and State BJP President B S Yeddiyurappa asked the government to file a petition countering the Supreme Court order. In Mandya city, Kannada Rakshna Vedike outfit activists held a bike rally and burnt the effigy of Jayalalitha. G Madegowda, President of Cauvery Hita Rakshana Samithi, the body spearheading the agitation, criticised the chief minister and irrigation minister for their "irresponsible" behaviour over the Cauvery issue. He also called the district MLAs to resign enmasse to protest against the "injustice. Complying with the Supreme Court direction, Karnataka government today decided to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu despite "severe hardships", as protests in the wake of the court order intensified with the highway between Bengaluru and Mysuru blocked by farmers. "Despite severe hardships faced by the government of Karnataka, the state will release water as directed by the Supreme Court," Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told reporters tonight after nearly a three-hour long all-party meeting convened by him here. He also said the state would approach the Supreme Court with a modification petition explaining the its difficulties in implementing its order, directing release of 15,000 cusecs per day to Tamil Nadu for next ten days, and seeking change in it and also move the Cauvery Supervisory Committee. The Chief Minister said it would be "difficult" for a Constitution-bound state to defy the Supreme Court order or to refuse release of water. "With a heavy heart", it has been decided to provide water to Tamil Nadu even though the state itself was facing a "very severe distress" year, he said. Seeking to assuage the feelings of protesting farmers in the Cauvery heartland of Mandya and other districts in the basin, he said all efforts would be made to provide drinking water to Bengaluru and other places as also for crops. He appealed to farmers to maintain peace and tranquility and not to cause any damage to public property. In Mandya, agitated farmers and activists belonging to pro-Kannada outfits blocked Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway as protests intensified in the wake of the apex court directive to the state to release Cauvery water. Mandya district, the nucleus of Cauvery politics, saw a bandh with protesters holding road blockades and dharnas at several places, as hundreds of security personnel, including Central forces, were deployed in the Cauvery belt to maintain law and order. Prohibitory orders have been clamped around the Krishnarajasagar Dam and entry of visitors to it prohibited till September 9, as the Cauvery row hotted up after yesterday's Supreme Court directive on a petition by Tamil Nadu government. The court has directed Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water for the next 10 days to address the plight of the farmers in Tamil Nadu. Protesters also mobbed and ransacked several government offices in Mandya forcing their shut down, while attendance at government offices remained thin, police said. The court order triggered an immediate backlash with the farmers' body, spearheading the stir, calling for a bandh today in Mandya district. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bengaluru Tamil Sangam leaders today met Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara and sought protection for Tamils living in the state amid protests by farmers and various pro-Kannada outfits against the Supreme Court direction to release Cauvery water for Tamil Nadu. "We met Home Minister Parameshwara and sought protection for Tamils living across the state, including at sensitive places such as Bengaluru, Mysuru, Chamrajnagar, Mandya and Kolar gold fields," Sangam president G Damodaran said in a statementhere. Earlier, Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister TBJayachandra had urged the people to maintain calm and not damagegovernment property as the state government was taking steps toaddress the issue. The Sangam leaders reiterated their stand of supporting the Karnataka government's decision in the vexed Cauvery issuefrom the very beginning. Parameshwara has assured "full protection" for Tamils living in the state and said security was provided to the places where the community had a considerable presence, Damodaran said. The Cauvery row heated up after the Supreme Court yesterday directedKarnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu forthe next 10 days to address the plight of the farmers there. The apex court's direction triggered an immediate backlash with farmers' associations spearheading a protest and calling for a bandh today at Mandya district. In 1991, Bengaluru and Mysuru had witnessed anti-Tamil violence which had forced hundreds of Tamils from southern Karnataka to flee in a matter of weeks. Eighteen people were killed in the violence during the Cauvery turmoil then. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor Chevy Chase has checked himself into rehab for alcohol-related issue. The National Lampoon's "Vacation" star is an in-patient at Hazelden Addiction Treatment Center in Minnesota, a representative for the actor told People magazine. Chase checked himself in for an alcohol-related issue which his representative calls a "tune-up," adding that the actor "wants to be the best that he can be." The 72-year-old star has previously been to addiction treatment. The actor is currently filming "Dog Years" with Burt Reynolds. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A group of over 75 devotees from Mumbai, Delhi and suburban Bhayandar offered prayers at the famous Lord Ganesh temple in Sawai Madhopur district in Rajasthan. As many as 60 devotees from Mumbai and neighbouring Bhayandar and 15 pilgrims from Delhi converged at Ranthambore Fort temple in Sawai Madhopur and jointly offered prayers to the elephant-headed deity on September 4 to mark the 10-day Ganesh Chaturthi festival. Devotees under the banner of Jai Ganesh Mitra Mandal in Mumbai have been visiting the place for the past 24 years as part of the annual pilgrimage, said Pramod Harlalka, one of the devotees of the group. Built in 1299 AD, the temple is about 12 kms from Sawai Madhopur and is visited by thousands of visitors during the festive from across India and abroad. Explaining the significance of the temple, Harlalka, said, "It is the only Ganesha idol in the world in which the deity has three eyes, thus, called as 'trinetra' Ganesha. It is the most famous and oldest temple of Lord Ganesha in Rajasthan." He claimed that Lord Ganesh of Ranthambhore has a lore that if a homeless devotee visits the place, his wish to own a house is surely fulfilled there. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump for the White House has tightened with two months to go before Election Day, as a series of new polls shows them essentially in a dead heat. Trump has edged ahead of Clinton in a new CNN/ORC poll, at 45 per cent to 43 per cent among likely voters, while an NBC poll of registered voters meanwhile shows Clinton's lead holding at six percentage points -- 48 per cent to 42 per cent. And another survey, this one by The Washington Post looking at all 50 states, shows Clinton with a solid lead in terms of electoral college votes, and even strength in some traditional Republican strongholds. The various polls show how close the race is looking to November 8, and makes the battle for the so-called swing states all the more important. Clinton was headed to Florida today to appear at a voter registration event, while the billionaire real estate mogul was due in Virginia for a town hall meeting and in North Carolina for an evening campaign rally. "Thank you! #AmericaFirst," Trump tweeted with the new CNN poll results. The candidates have less than three weeks to go before the first of three scheduled presidential debates -- expected to be the most watched moments of what so far has been a raucous campaign. After hinting last month that he might not participate in all of them, Trump told reporters he was on board. "I expect to do all three," he said. The candidates yesterday used Labour Day -- the traditional launch of the home stretch of the presidential campaign -- to push their arguments that they would be best for working-class Americans. But the Republican flagbearer's unorthodox White House bid, including his campaign's apparent imperviousness to criticism about his harsh rhetoric, assures a tight contest for the next two months. "I'm not taking anybody, anywhere for granted," Clinton told a crowd of more than 1,000 at a picnic in Cleveland. "I'm ready. I'm more than ready," she said of the intense battle ahead as she attempts to become the first female US commander in chief. Clinton, 68, debuted her new campaign plane -- with the slogan "Stronger Together" emblazoned on the side -- and brought the press corps aboard her jet for the first time. Under extensive criticism from her rival and journalists for not holding a full press conference in nine months, she answered questions for more than 22 minutes on several topics, including tensions with Russia over accusations of cyber-espionage. Clinton expressed "grave" concern about reports that Russia has been interfering in the US electoral process through invasive cyber attacks on the Democratic Party and an apparent attack on voter registration systems in Arizona. And she implied Moscow was trying to help get the 70-year-old Trump elected. "I think it's quite intriguing that this activity has happened around the time Trump became the nominee," she said. (Reopens FGN 6) Trump's schedule announced yesterday includes multiple stops in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia. His vice presidential nominee will address rallies in Michigan, Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Minnesota and Pennsylvania. Obama would continue with his election blitz by addressing rallies in New Hampshire, Michigan, and Florida. Clinton's meetings are scheduled in Ohio, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Michigan, while her husband Bill, a former US president, would seek vote for her in Michigan. Chelsea, Clinton's daughter, has as many as five meetings scheduled in Philadelphia, while the Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine has meetings scheduled in North Carolina, Virginia and Wisconsin. Senator Bernie Sanders, who lost to Clinton during the Democratic primaries, too has been campaigning extensively. Over the next two days, he is scheduled to address meetings in Arizona and Nevada. Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to hold rallies in Florida and Pennsylvania. Trump may not have Clinton's celebrities, but he has relied on his family for public support at times. However, the electoral college might present a different picture, given the nature of presidential elections. Lee M Miringoff, director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, said: "Although Clinton and Trump are separated by the slimmest of margins, the Electoral College can present a very different picture. Close popular votes can, but do not necessarily, translate into tight battles for 270 electoral votes," he said. The ruling Congress in Uttarakhand will seek answers from the centre for allegedly meting out step-motherly treatment to the hill state and inflicting on it the "wound of defection", during its 'Satat Vikas Sankalpa Yatra' starting September 10. During the first phase of the Yatra being launched from Haridwar, the party will "seek explanation" from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly belying his pre-poll promises at an event titled "Answer Modi-answer BJP" besides highlighting the state government's people-friendly policies. Originally the Yatra was conceived as a march to create awareness among people about the state government's people-friendly policies and decisions taken by it in the poll-bound state, Pradesh Congress' chief spokesman Mathuradutt Joshi said. But the yatra will now simultaneously conduct "Answer Modi-answer BJP" seeking an explanation from the PM and the Centre for their "step-motherly treatment" of the hill state, for the blot of defection on its face and for their "broken pre-poll promises" like depositing Rs 15 lakh in everyone's account, paying a pension of Rs 25 lakh, controlling price rise and providing employment to two crore youths, he said. The modification in the agenda of the yatra has been effected at the suggestion of Chief Minister Harish Rawat who wants the campaign to not only highlight the state government's achievements but also "expose the conspiracy" hatched by the Centre to destabilise the elected state government by engineering defections in the party and posing hurdles in development of the state by non-allocation of funds, Joshi said. A day after the launch of the yatra, the state unit of Mahila Congress will hold a rally-cum-demosntration against price rise in Dehradun to be followed by a rally in Bajpur over the plight of farmers in the country, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A brothel at the red light area at G B Road here has been ordered to be immediately shut down by a Delhi court which sentenced a 36-year-old woman to three- year imprisonment for possessing the prostitution house. The court awarded the jail term to Delhi resident Kanchi Tamang after holding her guilty under Section 3 (punishment for keeping a brothel or allowing premises to be used as a brothel) of the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act. "Accused has been convicted for offence under section 3 of ITP Act and it is also established that she was having possession of the brothel G B Road, Delhi. "Accordingly, in view of section 18(2) (magistrate's power to order closure of brothel and eviction of offenders) of ITP Act, it is hereby directed that the brothel be sealed with immediate effect," Additional Sessions Judge Ramesh Kumar-II said, while directing that a copy of its order be sent to SHO of Kamla Market Police Station for necessary action. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on the woman. The court, however, acquitted another woman, a native of Nepal, of various charges under the ITP Act saying police has not produced any document to prove that she was running prostitution racket or procuring any person for prostitution. The case came to light when police received an information in December 2014, that three girls have escaped from a brothel at G B Road. The victims were found later and sent for counselling. One of the girls told the police that she met a woman at a railway station and became friendly with her. Later she fell in love with the woman's brother and got married to him. She alleged the man brought her to Delhi and established physical relations with her and took her to the brothel where she was forced to have sex with customers. She said she met two other girls in the brothel who were also cheated and brought here. Therafter, the three girls decided to escape. They took an auto and narrated their ordeal to the driver who called police for their help. During trial, the accused denied the evidence against them and claimed they were falsely implicated in the case. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharyan doesnt have serious expectations from the upcoming meeting of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs in Moscow. The Deputy FM said the progress is not achieved in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement process due to a simple reason: from the sides Azerbaijan grossly violates even the agreements reached around the negotiation table. It is more than 20 years we are in this process. Regular meetings are being held, but all you know that Azerbaijan violated even the agreements which were reached around the table. The vivid evidence of this are the meetings held in Vienna and St. Petersburg during which an agreement was reached to maintain stability in the line of contact, but in reality, Azerbaijan, in fact, is violating the agreements, Kocharyan said, reports Armenpress. He said they will hold a regular discussion over this issue. To the question, are there any expectations from the upcoming meeting, Shavarsh Kocharyan stated: What kind of expectations the talk is about when we are in the same process for more than 20 years. There can be an expectation only when Azerbaijan will change its destructive approach. It is logical: as long as they fire and make provocations, it is impossible to reach progress in the negotiations over the settlement. The journalists also asked the Deputy FM about the ban of political scientist Stepan Grigoryan on entering Russia. It is the right of every state to take steps without any explanation, it comes from the Vienna Convention, but this case is unusual since this is the first time such thing happens in Armenia-Russia relations, thats why we have applied to the Russian Foreign Ministry and wait for respective actions, he said. Speaking about the military mutual assistance agreement between Armenia and the NKR the Deputy FM said: The draft is ready, but the decision must be made by the leaderships of Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia. Two members of a criminal gang operating in India and Nepal have been arrested for allegedly making threat calls to blow up a school in southern Nepal's Rautahat district if they were not paid 50 lakh rupees. Munna Kumar Yadav, 27, and Awadh Lal Mahato, 39, had threated to kill Ravishankar Yadav, the principal of Nemdhari Basudev Higher Secondary School in the district, and blow up the school if their demand was not met, police said. The duo made the threat calls and sent texts using different SIM cards and claimed that they were members of a gang operating in Nepal and India, they said. The principal received the first threat call on August 21 for five million Nepalese rupees (Rs 31 lakh). He was asked not to discuss the episode with anyone, or he would be killed. Police said the suspects were arrested on August 30 after a thorough investigation. Later, they were presented before the Rautahat District Court and remanded into custody. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi government will soon send clarifications to the Centre on minimum wages which advocates strict provisions against those employers not following the proposed law in the national capital. The central government had sought some clarifications on some clauses of the proposed Minimum Wages Amendment Bill 2015. Labour Minister Gopal Rai said his department has prepared replies which have been sent to Delhi government's Law Department for its observation and thereafter, clarifications will be sent to the Centre. The minister said the Centre has raised concerns over some points in the proposal which include widening the ambit of people who can register complaint against his or her employer for violation. According to Rai, as per the existing rule, individual or a trade union only can register complaint if there is any violation of the law. "In the Minimum Wages Amendment Bill 2015 tabled in Assembly in December last year, we proposed to widen the ambit and allow even NGOs and social organisations working for the welfare of labourers to file the same against employers," the Labour Minister said. The proposed law also favours to increase punishment from existing jail term up to six months to jail up to three years. Thereafter, the AAP dispensation had sent it to Centre for its approval. Last month too, the government had proposed to revise the minimum wages in the capital by about 50 per cent. "In Amendment Bill, government has proposed to increase monetary punishment from Rs 500 to up to 20,000. Centre has also sought clarification over proposal to replace the phrase 'appropriate government' with the Government of National Capital of Delhi," a senior government official said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rajasthan Congress president Sachin Pilot today accused the state government of failing to control crime and said it was an "irony" that crime against women was on the rise despite Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje being a woman. "As per the figures released by the central government, Rajasthan is ranked fourth in cases of atrocities against Dalits and women and rape. "Chief Minister and Home Minister have completely failed in controlling crime. Law-and-order situation is not good even in Jhalawar from where the chief minister hails," he told reporters in Churu. "It is an irony that chief minister of the state is a woman but crime against women is on the rise,"he said. The PCC chief and former union minister also held the Raje government responsible for alleged starvation deaths in Udaipur and said the government has failed to provide basic amenities to people. He also targeted Raje over her claim of providing jobs to nine lakh people in Rajasthan. "If the claims made by the CM recently is true, the government should release the figures. The government should also present actual figures of the education sector and investment made in the state," he said. "BJP has lost confidence of people and the party workers are not satisfied. The public is looking at Congress with a hope," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Delhi High Court today directed New Delhi Municipal Council not to any take "precipitative action" against the iconic Taj Mansingh Hotel while allowing Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL), which runs the luxury property, to "strengthen" its appeal against a single judge order. The High Court also chided IHCL for their "urgency" in appealing against the single judge order, saying India was "not a banana republic" and the NDMC would not have seized a functioning hotel. Yesterday, the single judge had dismissed the suit by the current operator, Tata group's IHCL, to renew its licence and upheld NDMC's decision to go for auction. Subsequently, IHCL filed an appeal before the division bench against the order of the single judge. During a brief hearing on the appeal, a bench of justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Pratibha Rani observed "what was the great urgency" to file an appeal having "half baked grounds." "Don't show anxiety. They (authorities concerned) are not going to come as of now. Heavens are not going to fall if you would have waited for some more time. "Take your time and first try to digest the judgement of the single judge. It is a running hotel. Can they (NDMC) come and seize it? Has the country become a banana republic," the bench observed orally. "We expect your (IHCL) people to strengthen it. By Friday you give your crystallised grounds. They will have to go to you and give you notice before any action is taken. They are not going to do it overnight. The estate officer and the NDMC people are here, nothing will happen. They are reasonable people," the court said. "You (NDMC) are not going to take any precipitative action," the bench told the counsel for NDMC, to which they agreed. The court fixed the matter for further hearing on September 15. The property, owned by NDMC, was given to IHCL on a lease for 33 years, which had ended in 2011. The company was given nine temporary extensions since then on various grounds with three of them being in the last year itself. NDMC had in January this year said it was in the process of assessing the assets of the hotel in preparation for its much-delayed auction. IHCL had approached the high court seeking a decree of permanent injunction restraining the NDMC from interfering in any manner with the possession, right to operate, run and maintain the hotel at the prime location in Lutyen's Delhi. IHCL had sought a direction restraining the NDMC from conducting an auction to running the hotel. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pressure mounted on President Ali Bongo of Gabon today over a disputed election win after EU observers reported a "clear anomaly" in the vote and former colonial power France and his ex-justice minister urged a recount. Bongo claimed victory in the August 27 poll by a wafer-thin margin of some 6,000 votes. But a European Union delegation deployed in Gabon to monitor the vote said there was a flaw in voting in Haut-Ogooue province, the incumbent's fiefdom. "An analysis of the number of non-voters as well as blank and disqualified votes reveals a clear anomaly in the final results in Haut-Ogooue," the observers said in a statement. Turnout in Haut-Ogooue, one of Gabon's nine provinces, exceeded 99 percent, and 95 percent voted for Bongo, according to official figures. Even after the vote result in the other provinces had been settled, electoral commission members fiercely debated the count for Haut-Ogooue, the heartland of Bongo's Teke ethnic group, before the incumbent was declared the winner on Wednesday. "There needs to be a clear electoral process," French Prime Minister Manuel Valls told radio station RTL on today, saying there were "some doubts". "It would be wise to do a recount." France, the EU and the United States had already called for the results to be published according to each polling station, but until now had stopped short of demanding a recount. The move came just hours after Justice Minister Seraphin Moundounga, who is also a deputy prime minister, resigned late yesterday, demanding "a recount of the votes, polling station by polling station, and registry by registry". Bongo's defeated rival Jean Ping, a veteran diplomat who has held a top African Union job, yesterday called for a general strike to oust "the tyrant." But his appeal appeared to go largely unheeded in the capital Libreville today like the previous day when banks and shops re-opened after being shuttered due to post-election violence. Communications minister and government spokesman Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze called demands for a recount a "plot" and accused foreigners of trying to manipulate the results. He said an Ivorian national had been arrested in Ping's headquarters yesterday, adding: "We are not saying that Ivory Coast is involved but some highly-placed Ivorians are." According to an AFP count, post-election chaos has claimed at least seven lives in the oil-rich central African nation, ruled by the Bongo family since 1967. Gabonese authorities, however, said yesterday the toll was three killed and 105 wounded, with the government saying some deaths had previously been incorrectly attributed to the clashes. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Congress leader and ex-MP Jagmeet Singh Brar today announced that he will extend "unconditional" support to AAP in Punjab after forming an "issue-based alliance" with the party. Describing AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal as "messiah on the country's political landscape", he said his front 'Lokhit Abhiyan' will give unconditional support to the party in the state. "This is an alliance on Punjab's issues with AAP. There is no condition from my side whatsoever like position or anything. The only issue is that Punjab's vote should not be divided," Brar, who was expelled from Congress in April, he said. Workers of Lokhit Abhiyan will support the AAP in order to defeat Congress and SAD-BJP combine in coming Punjab polls, he said. The former MP clarified that it was an alliance and he was not joining AAP. Asked whether he will contest Punjab polls, Brar said he would leave the decision to the leadership of AAP. "Whatever decision AAP takes regarding elections, that will be obeyed," he said. Speaking on this occasion, AAP's in-charge of Punjab affairs Sanjay Singh said traditionally, political parties enter into alliance and take decision on seat sharing, position etc. "But in this case, this alliance is based on issues and it is not a political alliance. It is an issue-based alliance," he said, adding that their main motive is to "save Punjab". "In past few days, there was talk about fourth front. People also tried to contact him (Brar) in connection with fourth front but he wanted to fight against Badals, corruption, drug issue and for farmers' interest," the AAP leader said. Praising Brar, Singh said he was one of the tallest leaders in Punjab and had been a member of Congress Working Committee and had even once defeated Sukhbir Badal in Lok Sabha elections. "He has always worked for poor and raised voice in support of youth," Singh said. On this occasion, AAP's co-incharge of Punjab Jarnail Singh, Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann, party's Punjab Convenor Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi, Head of legal cell Himmat Singh Shergill were also present. Brar was expelled from Congress on April 11 for his statements against the interests of the organisation. After the party's defeat in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, he had suggested that Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi go on a sabbatical to introspect on the reasons for the party's worst performance in the elections. Brar, after his expulsion from Congress, attacked the ruling Badals and Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh terming them "traitors of Punjab". The former Lok Sabha MP from Faridkot in Punjab had defeated Sukhbir Badal in 1999. Badal had won the same constituency defeating Brar in 2004. Brar had also created a flutter in January when he praised Arvind Kejriwal's show at Muktsar, insisting that there was never such a "huge rally" in the poll-bound state. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A farm worker was abducted by three persons over a suspected illicit affair at Bhaneda village under Niwari police station here, police said today. The police have not ruled out the possibility of an old enmity in connection with the incident. According to Niwari SHO Sanjay Tyagi, agricultural labourer Yograj (27) and a boy, Jitendra, were irrigating the fields last night when three men arrived at the spot, thrashed both of them and abducted Yograj. On being alerted, police reached the spot and launched a hunt, he said, adding that the fields and forests in the area were being combed by the force but till last reports came in, there was no breakthrough. The SHO said Yograj's younger brother Naresh has told the police that a youth of the same village, Rahul, along with two of his accomplices, had abducted his brother20 days ago due to an old enmity. Naresh has told the police that Rahul had a strong suspicion that Yograj had an illicit relationship with his wife. Police are raiding all the possible hideouts of Rahul, said the SHO, adding that a case of kidnapping has been registered. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two farmers from Kukdol village walked 15 kms along with their four ailing bulls to reach district collectorate seeking help for treatment of the bovines. Anar Singh and Dhyan Singh entered the collectorate when a public grievance redressal camp was on. The people standing in queues were surprised to see the bulls among them, so was Tehsildar Ashish Khare who was hearing the public grievances in absence of Collector AK Singh. The farmers told Khare that they took the bulls to district veterinary hospital this morning but the doctors there asked them to buy medicine and injections from private drug shops. The farmers claimed that doctors showed them door when they expressed their inability to buy the costly medicines. After hearing them, Khare directed deputy Director, Animal Husbandry, to contact the doctors at the veterinary hospital over mobile phone and ensure that bulls are treated. After the farmers reached the hospital, the bulls were treated by doctors. Khare told PTI that he has ordered a probe into the refusal by vets to treat the bovines. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Fintech start-up Trupay today said it has started offering mobile payment services under the Unified Payment Interface (UPI). "United Payment Interface goes live on Trupay. It is among the first private sector companies in the country, apart from banks, to offer a mobile payment application based on UPI," the company said in a release. It is also one of the first few companies in the country to offer Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) based real time mobile payments solution for cash on delivery payments with their mobile app Trupay, the company said. Trupay enables users to send and receive money from their bank accounts with only a phone number. Currently, customers of 21 banks will be able to make payments on Trupay. They will need to create a UPI payment ID on Trupay to make transactions. Users will just need to select a mobile number on Trupay, add amount and pay, it said. The UPI-based mechanism removes intermediaries in a payment process and payments are direct bank to bank and instant. "This will be a big boon for merchants since it will significantly reduce the transaction cost and merchants will receive payments in real time," the company said. Founded by IIM graduates Rahul Gochhwal, Vivek Lohcheb and Narender Kumar, Trupay started in 2015. The company is funded by Japanese fund M&S Partners and Aqualyng Holdings Singapore. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Congress MP from Gujarat Jagdish Thakor today resigned from all party positions owing to his differences with the party's state leadership. However, Thakor will remain in the party as he has not resigned as a worker. Thakor, who represented Patan seat from 2009 to 2014 in Lok Sabha, sent the resignation letter to Gujarat Congress chief Bharatsinh Solanki and Leader of Opposition in Gujarat Assembly Shankersinh Vaghela. "I have resigned from all the posts (that) I was holding in Congress. However, I have not resigned as party worker. I have conveyed my decision to Solanki and Vaghela through a letter containing reasons behind my decision," Thakor told PTI but refused to share the contents of the letter. However, he openly expressed his displeasure about the functioning of the party in Gujarat. "When Solanki and Vaghela came to meet me after getting my resignation, I refused to meet them. I clearly told them that I cannot work with them in the current situation," said Thakor, hinting at rift between him and the state party leadership. Thakor was a member of party's co-ordination committee and is considered as a soft-spoken leader having clout on Thakor community, a decisive vote bank in north Gujarat. Though he was a sitting MP, Thakor stayed away from contesting 2014 Lok Sabha polls and worked for the Congress. Sources in the Congress claimed that Thakor was unhappy with the party leadership over some booth and ward level appointments in north Gujarat ahead of 2017 polls. "Thakor was unhappy because he was not kept in loop while appointing some local leaders in north Gujarat as part of party's pre-poll exercise. He felt sidelined and ignored. He might be upset because the party did not select his supporters as potential candidates for 2017 polls," a Congress leader said. Apart from dealing with illegal liquor sale, Thakor wants the state government to come up with clear policies regarding better employment opportunities for locals in industries and also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of turning his back on the unemployment issue affecting Gujarat's youth. "Around 60 lakh youths are unemployed in Gujarat. Though Tata Motors was given benefits worth Rs 40,000 crores to set up their Nano plant, Tata is not ready to give jobs to local youths. Maruti and Honda plants are also operational, but, they are not ready to give jobs to locals. This is not acceptable," claimed Thakor. "OSS Ekta Manch has sent at least 10 lakh postcards to the PMO on unemployment and requested the PM to address this issue. But, there was no response from the PM. Now, we will not wait further. If the state government does not come up with a clear policy by today evening in this regard, then we will uproot this government," said Thakor. The OBC leader demanded a Rs 5,000 crore yearly package for uplifting the Thakor community and added that such packages should also be given to other backward communities. Dalit leader Jignesh Mewani was also present at Thakor's rally to extend his community's support. Though the OSS Ekta Manch was created to counter the Hardik Patel-led Patel quota agitation for the inclusion of Patels in the OBC community for reservation rights, Hardik has extended his support to Thakor on the de-addiction issue. YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. Newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Greece to Armenia Nafsika Nancy Eva Vraila presented her credentials to President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan on September 6, press service of the Presidential administration informed Armenpress. The Armenian President congratulated the Ambassador on her new post and wished her success. Serzh Sargsyan attached importance to the works of diplomatic representations on the development of inter-state relations. He said there are great expectations from the Armenian Ambassador to Greece and the Ambassador of Greece to Armenia in terms of more strengthening these relations with new initiatives and giving a new dynamics to them. The sides stressed to intensify the works of the inter-governmental commission, to deepen cooperation in a number of mutually beneficial fields in parallel with the political dialogue. The Armenian President and the Greek Ambassador gave a significant role to the parliamentary diplomacy over the development of relations of two friendly states. The Greek Ambassador conveyed Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos warm greetings to the Armenian President and Pavlopoulos readiness to accept President Sargsyans invitation to arrive in Armenia on a mutual visit. The Greek Ambassador said people in Athens remember with pleasure the Armenian Presidents official visit to Greece in the beginning of the year which boosted the inter-state relations. The opportunities and the existing huge potential to develop the Armenian-Greek mutual cooperation in bilateral, as well as multilateral formats were touched upon at the meeting. Four members of a fake insurance policy gang who allegedly duped over 500 people to the tune of over Rs 3 crore from different cities in North India, have been arrested, police said today. The four suspected frauds were arrested by the city Police in connection with a case registered in north west Delhi. Retired CPWD official Gaj Singh had filed a complaint at Ashok Vihar Police station on August 31 alleging he had been duped of Rs 34.25 lakh by unknown callers who persuaded him to invest in various lucrative insurance schemes. Ravi Kant Maurya was arrested from Azadpur area and later, on his instance Naseem Akhtar, Manish Tiwari, and Mohammad Bilal were nabbed, DCP (north west) Vijay Singh said. The gang had not only duped Singh but many other people as they had previously worked at call centres for insurance agencies in Noida and were versed with the nitty-gritty of the sector, said the officer. "The bank account details so far revealed that they had so far cheated approximately 500 gullible people to the tune of Rs 3 crore. They used to call around 100 people per day across the country including 33 cities in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Maharashta, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka," the DCP said. Police recovered a Chevrolet Cruiz car used by Bilal, nine mobile phones, two hand-written diaries with customer details, two bank passbooks, four cheque books, fake voting, PAN and and debit cards. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor-filmmaker James Franco says the prospect of Republican presidential nominee Donal Trump becoming US' next president is "scary". 38-year-old Franco, however, dismissed the importance of an actor's political views on a reality TV star running for president, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Franco was present in Deauville, France where his film "In Dubious Battle", also directed and produced by him, was screened. The film is about the labor movement for fruit workers in California during the 1930s. It won over the hearts of the audience in Deauville, where the film received a warm welcome and feted Franco following its mixed reception in Venice. He was welcomed on stage by French actress Ana Girardot, who recited a poem in the spirit of Franco's creative experimentation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress will provide free treatment to cancer patients in Punjab if voted to power, state party chief Amarinder Singh today said. The Lok Sabha MP from Amritsar said hundreds of families in the Malwa region have been devastated by the disease due to loss of life and huge expenses incurred on its treatment. Speaking to people in Kotkapura Assembly segment during 'Halke vich Captain' (Captain in constituency) programme here, the PCC chief also said that his government would also try to find a long-term solution to this problem. "It is a double whammy for the families as on the one hand they lose their near and dear ones and on the other hand they are financially broke as cancer treatment is very expensive," he said, adding that treatment of cancer patients will be the state's responsibility. Amarinder, who held a similar programme in Bhatinda, also said that the Congress government will own up the entire loan amount on farmers, whether of the cooperative banks, public sector banks or the arhatiyas (the commission agents). "We will pay each penny on behalf of the farmers to every debtor," he said. When asked how a cash-starved state can waive the loans, he said, the government needs to have a will. "I know how to generate resources. I have done it in the past," he said, adding that the party had taken all aspects into consideration, including financial condition of the state, before announcing the waiver of loans. On the allegation of corruption by the family of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, he said, he will ensure a time bound inquiry and probe so the corrupts are punished. The PCC president accused Badal government of the "financial mismanagement" due to which it has not been able to get the cash credit limit, saying it will only lead to harassment of farmers, who expressed their concerns that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) might not purchase their paddy crop. He also consented to a suggestion that the economically weaker people of the society from the general category should also be extended the benefit of welfare schemes like free power up to 300 units and Shagun schemes. Meanwhile, addressing the programme in Bhatinda, he said reports of Badal family seeking extra security cover, more than the Z-plus that it was already getting, shows that they are afraid of public wrath. "I have always been saying that the way they treated Punjab and the Punjabis, they will have to run for their life. They have already accepted and admitted it today by asking for extra security from the Centre," he said. Suggesting that instead of seeking extra security cover for himself, son Sukhbir Badal and his brother-in-law Bikram Singh Majithia, Parkash Singh Badal should better ask for forgiveness from the Punjabis. Replying to a question on the rebellion in Aam Aadmi Party, he said, he had never considered the party to be a serious challenger so rebellion or no rebellion did not matter for him or the Congress. "But yes, I am extremely happy over the way the Punjabis have tried to assert their authority within the party," he said, adding that self-respecting Punjabis cannot and will not allow any aliens to rule them. During the interaction, people mostly complained about discrimination in development, welfare schemes and registration of false cases against the Congress workers. He said that cancellation of false cases will be his top priority. Besides, he will also ensure that those who have lodged false cases are punished, including police officials and Akali Jathedars. Amarinder said after Congress forms government, it will not resort to any discrimination in development and take care of everyone, not just its own party workers. On the complainants about sub-standard wheat being provided in the 'aata-daal' scheme, the PCC chief said, his government will not only ensure quality wheat and pulses but also provide tea and sugar to the poor, besides free electricity up to 300 units. An administrative court on the French island of Corsica today refused to lift a burkini ban that was introduced following a mass brawl on a beach, saying it was justified on public order grounds. France's highest administrative court last month suspended bans brought in by around 30 towns, ruling that the measure was permitted only if wearing the Islamic full-body swimsuit was likely to cause a public disturbance. Nice, Cannes and several other towns on France's Mediterranean coast have lifted bans following the Council of State's ruling. But the mayor of the Corsican village of Sisco brought in his ban after a confrontation between Moroccans and local residents in mid-August, which was reportedly sparked when someone took a photograph of a woman swimming in the sea wearing a veil. More than 100 police officers had to intervene to break up the fight. The court in Corsica ruled that the ban should be maintained because "strong emotions persist". "The presence on a beach in Sisco of a woman wearing a swimming costume of the type targeted (by the ban)... Could cause risks to public order which it is the town hall's duty to prevent," the court in Bastia said, dismissing a challenge from the Human Rights League. Sisco's mayor Ange-Pierre Vivoni said the ruling was "a relief for me and local people". He has told AFP that he brought in the ban because he "risked having deaths on my hands". The tensions between the local community and Muslims in Corsica were demonstrated yesterday when two Muslim mothers wearing headscarves were accosted and prevented from entering a nursery school by two other parents. The burkini bans have sparked outrage abroad, but opinion polls in France show they have the support of a majority of the public. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The world's first recipient of a face transplant, Frenchwoman Isabelle Dinoire, died in April "after a long illness", a French hospital said today. The hospital in Amiens, northern France, confirmed the death of "Mrs D., the first patient in the world to receive a face transplant in an operation carried out by Professor (Bernard) Devauchelle and his teams on November 27, 2005." The hospital said her death had been kept quiet to protect her family's privacy. Le Figaro newspaper reported that Dinoire's body had rejected the transplant last year "and she had lost part of the use of her lips". The drugs that she had to take to prevent her body from rejecting the transplant left her vulnerable to cancer, and two cancers had developed, the report said. At the age of 38, Dinoire received a triangular-shaped graft, comprising the nose, lips and chin from a brain-dead donor, to replace parts of her face that had been mauled by a dog. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Anti-GM activists today accused GEAC, the country's biotech regulator, of undertaking a "meaningless" process, after a risk assessment report of genetically modified mustard was put into public domain which claimed that it did not pose any risk to biodiversity or agro-ecosystem. Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) had constituted a sub-committee of scientific experts to examine the biosafety data on GM mustard. After the committee examined it, the report was placed on the Environment Ministry's website yesterday inviting comments from stakeholders within a period of 30 days before the biotech regulator took a decision. "The sub-committee is of the opinion that both the genetically engineered parents, varuna bn3.6 and EH2 modbs 2.99 and the hybrid DMH-11 are substantially equivalent to non-GE parents and conventional mustard and its consumption is safe for human and animal health. "With regard to the environment, the sub-committee concluded that the environmental release for parental lines for hybrid DMH11 may not pose any risk to biodiversity and the agro-ecosystem as the GE material under review have been demonstrated to have no or negligible effect on non-target organisms," the report stated. The Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants (CGMCP) of Delhi University had applied for GEAC's approval for environmental release of hybrid DMH-11 for the development of new generation hybrids. "From the toxicity and allergenicity studies, it was concluded that GE Mustard, the parental lines and hybrid DMH-11 does not raise any public health or safety concerns for human beings and animals with respect to overall nutritional characteristics," the report said. Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) shot off a letter to the Environment Ministry Additional Secretary Amita Prasad, demanding that the full biosafety data be put into the public domain if the ministry wants to make the process scientific. "We write to you now to demand that the full biosafety data be put out into the public domain immediately if this feedback process has to be a meaningful and scientific process. "Further, at least 90 days time should be given for feedback from public. We also demand that you look into all feedback that is provided and not try and curtail it to formats that are conveniently created to keep out important questions and queries," Kavitha Kuruganti from ASHA said. In the letter, Kavitha said the note inviting comments on "the proposal on authorisation of environmental release of GE mustard" tells her that there is already a proposal to authorise and that superficial and "meaningless" processes are being run by GEAC on the pretext of seeking public feedback. "This is a mockery of the processes that GEAC has run, which also involved great efforts from our side to assist you with the safety assessment, and also reveals once again how the regulators have functioned unscientifically and high- handedly right from the beginning in the discharge of their duties," she said in the letter. The letter said only the assessment of food and environmental safety document was put out, which is not the same as the biosafety dossier and does not have details of the study protocols or data generated, on which feedback is being sought. "The data should have been put out for independent scientific scrutiny. However, this was not done," letter said. She said while feedback is being sought only in a prescribed format, only one document with its own conclusions is being put out in the form of Assessment of Food and Environmental Safety (AFES) document while the most important details are kept out of public access. "After forcing citizens to come all the way to Delhi in case they want to participate in these feedback processes, only 30 days' time is being given for feedback. What is the rationale for this?" the letter asked. The Environment Ministry, however, said the sub-committee has examined the dossier on food safety, environmental safety, compliance and has prepared AFES document for environmental release of GE Mustard. "The document prepared by the sub-committee is hereby placed on the website for comments by stakeholders and general public for a period of 30 days. The comments received will be reviewed by the sub-committee and GEAC prior to taking appropriate decision," the ministry said. Scientists have identified the genetic mutations behind a rare, unnamed neurological disorder that was identified among siblings in two families from Pakistan and Oman. The researchers also replicated the mutation identified in the gene GPT2 in lab cultures and mouse models to understand how the altered DNA cause the disease. "This is a clear, new neurogenetic disorder due to mutations in GPT2," said Eric Morrow, associate professor at the Brown University in the US. "In addition to the relevance this has to the diagnosis of developmental disorders, and potentially therapeutics, it is also a window into how the brain develops and how the brain functions," Morrow said. The gene GPT2 is expressed in the nucleus of cells, but the enzyme it generates appears vital to metabolic pathways in the mitochondria, organelles which provide energy and biosynthetic building blocks to cells, researchers said. The consequences of the mutations appear to be in leaving developing brains without biosynthetic abilities to grow properly, and to deficits in metabolites that could help prevent degeneration. Moreover, the G in the gene name stands for glutamate, an important neurotransmitter that governs how brain cells, or neurons, connect and interact. "To find a glutamate metabolising enzyme that is associated with a brain disease is an opportunity to understand how that neurotransmitter might work or be modulated," Morrow said. The team began the investigation more than five years ago when they were studying two families in Pakistan and Oman with children whose symptoms included below-normal postnatal brain growth, intellectual disability and progressively worsening motor problems. The children, 14 in all across the two large families, typically were able to walk by age three, yet a majority lost that ability later as motor control diminished in their legs, as a condition called spastic paraplegia emerged. Spastic paraplegia is generally considered to involve a neurodegenerative cause, Morrow said. The team traced a genetic mutation to chromosome 16, and they were able to find two specific mutations in GPT2. They created models in which the mutations were induced in human cells and also in mice. Like the children with GPT2 mutations, developing mice with the mutations also showed reduced neural and brain growth. In the human cells they saw that mutations led to reduced enzyme activity. They also determined that the protein locates in the mitochondria. The research was published in the journal PNAS. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Taliban militants attacked an international charity in Kabul today during an hours-long assault labelled a "war crime" by Amnesty, as the capital reeled from a wave of violence that killed at least 41 and wounded dozens. The assault on CARE International began late yesterday with a massive car bombing, just hours after the Taliban carried out a brazen double bombing near the defence ministry. A plume of smoke rose over the upscale neighbourhood of Shar-e Naw after the raid on the charity, located next to the office of Afghanistan's former intelligence chief Rahmatullah Nabil. It remains unclear which compound was the intended target of the attack, which left piles of rubble and shards of glass strewn across the area. "An armed group launched an attack on what is believed to have been an Afghan government compound located close to the Kabul office of CARE," the charity said, adding its staff had been safely evacuated. "The incident continued through early Tuesday morning with damages sustained to the CARE compound." The interior ministry said 42 people including 10 foreigners were rescued. It added that six people had been wounded in the attack, which ended Tuesday morning when Afghan forces gunned down all three attackers. The Taliban, who are stepping up their nationwide offensive, described the target as a foreign intelligence centre in Shar-e Naw "disguised as a guest house". The attack on CARE International "is the deliberate targeting of civilians and constitutes a war crime", Amnesty International said, calling for an independent probe to bring the perpetrators to justice. The assault had been preceded by twin Taliban blasts that killed at least 41 people during rush hour on Monday, including high-level officials, and left 110 wounded. The rise in casualties was announced today by the health ministry, which had earlier put the death toll at 24 with 91 wounded. The second of the two explosions struck just as soldiers, policemen and civilians hurried to help the victims of the first blast. High-level defence officials were among those killed, including a young police commander -- and compounding the tragedy, his mother also died when she heard of his death. "Ahmad's mother died of a heart attack after hearing of her son's martyrdom," former deputy interior minister Ayub Salangi tweeted. "She lost two other sons before him." Ambulances were overwhelmed by the carnage outside the defence ministry Monday. There were so many disfigured bodies that some had to be taken to hospitals in car boots and the back of police trucks. Firemen raced to retrieve some bodies thrown into the Kabul River by the force of the blast. The violence, strongly condemned by President Ashraf Ghani, came more than a week after 16 people were killed when militants stormed the American University in Kabul. Earlier in August two professors from the university, an American and an Australian, were kidnapped at gunpoint near the campus. Their whereabouts are still unknown and no group has publicly claimed responsibility for the abductions. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Government has started a probe into alleged dumping of a chemical, used in the coating industry, from Saudi Arabia to recommend an import duty on the compound with a view to protecting the domestic players. Andhra Petrochemicals has filed the application before the Directorate General of Anti Dumping & Allied Duties (DGAD) for initiation of anti-dumping duty investigation into imports of 'Normal Butanol' originating in or exported from Saudi Arabia. The DGAD has found "sufficient prima facie evidence" of dumping of the chemical from the Arab country. "The authority hereby initiates an investigation into the alleged dumping, and consequent injury to the domestic industry ... To determine the existence, degree and effect of any alleged dumping and to recommend the amount of anti- dumping duty, which if levied, would be adequate to remove the injury to the domestic industry," the DGAD said in a notification. The period of investigation covers April 2015 to March 2016. However, the injury investigation period will also cover the period between 2012 and 2015. While the DGAD, under the commerce ministry, investigates and recommends the duty, the Finance Ministry imposes the levy. Countries start anti-dumping probes to determine whether their domestic industries have been hurt because of below-cost imports. As a counter measure, they impose duties under the multilateral regime of WTO. The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trade practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers vis-a- vis foreign producers and exporters. India has already imposed anti-dumping duty on several products to tackle cheap imports from some countries, including China. According to a WTO report, India, Brazil and the US were leading initiators of anti-dumping investigations in 2015. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court today rejected a plea alleging that the apex court-appointed oversight panel headed by former Chief Justice of India R M Lodha had overshot MCI and Health Ministry's disapprovals and allowed several medical colleges to admit students. A bench comprising Justices A R Dave and L Nageswara Rao trashed the contention that the panel had gone beyond its mandate of monitoring the work of Medical Council of India (MCI) and given its nod to over 100 medical colleges to start admissions without assessing their facilities. The apex court asked Anand Rai, a doctor who had filed the PIL, to give a representation to Justice Lodha panel instead. Rai, who claims to be a whistle blower in the Vyapam scam, today had a tough time in the packed courtroom when the bench quizzed him to ascertin his bonafide as the petitioner. "Don't get emotional. We just want to verify certain things," the bench said when Rai broke down in the courtroom. The bench, after perusing the plea on the last date of hearing, told Rai's counsel it wanted to ask some questions. Senior advocate Parag Tripathi, appearing for Rai, referred to the role of his client in taking up causes of public interest including the Vyapam scam, and said he was guided by the interest to ensure quality medical education. "My learned Brother (Justice Rao) wants to know something from Mr Rai," Justice Dave said. As the lawyer continued, the bench interneved saying "we just wanted to know the interest of the petitioner if you (lawyer) can allow him (Rai) to come forward and answer. If he can tell us something directly, then I don't understand what is the harm." The bench then asked him whether Rai knew about the directions passed by the oversight panel in one of its orders. Rai, in his PIL, has accused the three-member oversight committee of over-stepping its given job of monitoring the work of Medical Council of India. Earlier, a Constitution Bench had invoked extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution while ordering the setting up of the three-member oversight panel to oversee the functioning of the MCI for at least a year. The verdict had endorsed a Parliamentary Standing Committee report that medical education and profession in the country was at its "lowest ebb" and suffering from "total system failure" due to corruption. Besides former CJI Lodha, the panel comprised Professor Shiv Sareen (Director, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences) and former CAG Vinod Rai. The plea alleged that the panel had overshot MCI and the Health Ministry's disapproval of hundreds of applications made by medical colleges without conducting any "fresh" inspection or assessment. It claimed that the panel, in August, granted recognition and allowed colleges to increase student intake and even extended the time schedule for colleges to remove deficiencies based on which MCI had recommended disapproval of their applications. "The impugned decisions of Respondent No 3 (Lodha Committee) have the effect of compromising the standards in medical education and training in India and shall have an adverse influence on the career interests of students undertaking the undergraduate and post-graduate courses in the field of health and medicine," it said. The petition said MCI had processed several proposals from medical colleges - varying from establishment of new medical colleges to renewal of permissions to increase in seats to grant of recognition to medicine courses for 2016-17. Of this around 150 proposals for new undergraduate courses and 118 for super-specialty courses for 2016-17 were disapproved by the ministry on the recommendations of MCI after independent verifications had found several deficiencies in the colleges. The petition said the Committee, on August 12 and 13, approved a "majority" of applications by medical colleges seeking renewal of permission for 2016-17, grant of recognition for undergraduate courses and increase in intake for 2016-17. YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. While on a working visit to Argentina, the Armenian delegation led by Deputy Speaker of Armenian Parliament, head of Armenia-Argentina parliamentary friendship group Eduard Sharmazanov, including also National Assembly MPs Sukias Avetisyan and Mikayel Manukyan, held a meeting with Argentine MFAs Undersecretary of State, Ambassador Gustavo Rodolfo Zlauvinen, press service of the Parliament informed Armenpress. The sides said the bilateral relations are dynamically developing through a multilateral format. They attached importance to the further expansion and strengthening of economic ties, and said holding business forums can contribute to this process. Eduard Sharmazanov expressed satisfaction that the legislative, executive and judicial authorities of Argentina have recognized and condemned the Armenian Genocide. He said by condemning the Genocide Argentina reaffirmed its indisputable fact of being a democratic country. The regional issues were covered during the talk. The Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement process was also discussed at the meeting. Eduard Sharmazanov said there is no progress in the negotiations due to Azerbaijans unconstructive stance. He said as long as the agreements reached in Vienna and St. Petersburg summits are not implemented, it is difficult to expect any progress in the negotiation process. Gustavo Rodolfo Zlauvinen said in his turn Argentina supports the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Greenpeace India today questioned the Centre's decision to sustain an "obsolete and polluting" coal industry, saying renewable energy holds the potential to meet the energy needs through clean options. Noting that a large role in worsening global climate change, Greenpeace India asked the power sector to think beyond coal and stop sustaining the momentum to prop up a "dying industry". "It is time we create new momentum for the future, instead of sustaining the momentum to prop up a dying industry. The sector needs to evolve if we have to keep pace with development. "The Prime Minister has committed the country to ambitious renewable energy targets through the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) leading up to the Paris Agreement, and we should be focusing energy on how to meet these: that is future-friendly thinking, not this blinkered approach to continuing the coal glut at all costs," Greenpeace India campaigner, Sunil Dahiya said. He said that due to coal-based power plants, more than a million hectares of forests are threatened, including tiger, elephant and leopard habitat while human elephant conflict is on the rise as close to 50 per cent of the human casualty happen in Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. "According to Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal, we are already coal and power surplus. The government must therefore channelise their efforts into developing India's renewable energy potential instead of furthering new coal-based power. "This is the only way to ensure a clean and constant supply of power without damaging public health and destroying forests, community livelihoods and wildlife. This is also critical in order to meet India's commitments on combating global climate change," Dahiya told reporters during an event organised in parellel to seminar on Coal, hosted by the Power Ministry. A Greenpeace India finance briefing for investors said that coal companies have already incurred losses to the tune of Rs 2,400 crore due to shortage of water. Noting there were health impacts due to this, the NGO said that 85,000-1,10,000 premature deaths have taken place due to air pollution while 625 million people have respiratory symptons, 8.4 million have chest discomforts and 170,000 have chronic bronchitis. (Reopens DES11) Greenpeace also said that the government was yet to come out with a transparent inviolate policy to protect rich forest areas from being cut down for mining coal. The NGO said, through an RTI query, it had discovered that 417 out of 825 coal blocks fall on rivers, and mining these would endanger the country's fresh water sources and supply. Greenpeace India's report 'Trashing Tigerland' also highlighted the threat posed by coal mining to more than a million hectares of forests, which include habitats of tigers, elephants and a whole host of other endangered species. Another report 'Out of Sight' highlighted the hazardous levels of air pollution caused by thermal power plants in Delhi and other parts of northern India. "Expanding the coal sector in India is an exercise in futility and will have massive detrimental effects on a huge cross section of society--from forest communities and farmers, to urban dwellers and power brokers in boardrooms," said Dahiya. He asked the Power Ministry to focus on achieving the renewable energy targets and work towards fulfilling India's commitment towards the Paris Agreement. "The organisation also called on the Environment Ministry to take swift action, stop giving more clearances to coal mines and thermal power plants, identify inviolate forests and implement strict emission standards for air pollution by existing power plants," it said. UK companies should invest in India's food sector which is booming with increasing income and changing consumer preferences, Minister for food processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal said today. The minister, who arrived in London on a three-day visit, was addressing a roundtable titled "Food Processing in India: Collaborative Opportunities" organised by the Indian High Commission here and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). "With increasing disposable income and changing consumer preferences in India, retail and e-commerce are booming in the food segment and this is where the opportunity lies," Badal told potential investors, which included large UK retailers, specialty foods businesses, e-retailers and beverage manufacturers. "Over the past two years, the government of India has taken a number of policy decisions to spur vibrant growth in the food processing segment. With such a progressive policy outlook, we willoffer full support towards new collaborations and greater investment," she said. Senior representatives from firms like Sainsbury, Holland & Barret, Diageo, Ty-Phoo Tea, British Agri Food Consortium, Food and Drink Federation, Whittard of Chelsea, and Food and Drink Exporters Association were among those who participated in the roundtable. The minister also has one-to-one meetings with senior leadership of Sainsbury plc, Tesco plc and Marks & Spencer plc and will be meeting senior leadership of Partridges, McCormick & Company, Waitrose, Holland and Barrett International, Morrisons and Harrods over the next two days to discuss trade and investment prospects into India. The Indian government recently allowed 100 per cent FDI through the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) route in marketing of food products produced and manufactured in India. "This path-breaking initiative has opened up vast opportunities for international companies to invest in India in the food processing supply and marketing chain. "Additionally, attractive incentives have been established by central and state governments to include capital subsidies, tax rebates, and reduced custom and excise duties. Increasing focus is also being given to supply-chain related infrastructure, such as cold storage, abattoirs and food parks," an official statement said. Badal is accompanied on her UK tour by J P Meena, special secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries; Hardeep Singh, PS to Minister of Food Processing; and Piruz Khambatt, co-chairman, CII National Committee on Food Processing Industries, and chairman and managing director, Rasna Private Limited. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Haryana Agriculture University will cooperate with Sudan in setting up agricultural universities in the African nation. An assurance in this regard was given to a delegation from Sudan by the Vice-Chancellor K P Singh, an official release said. A 3-member Sudanese delegation was here at HAU today to understand the university, its administrative setup, teaching and research infrastructure. The delegation that was led by Yousif Fadlalla, Chairman of the Supreme Committee on Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and also included Ali Elsayed Ali Omer, Assistant to Chairman, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and Ashraf Izzeldin Abdalla, Associate Professor of Al Zaein Al Azhari University of Sudan. Leader of the Sudanese delegation said India was an agriculture dominated country and agricultural universities here have significantly contributed in boosting its agricultural production. He further said that the government of Sudan was also keen to establish agricultural universities in the country, and the leading Indian agriculture varsities like HAU might be helpful to them. Earlier also, HAU had been cooperating with countries like Swaziland and Mozambique in boosting their farm production. The HAU Vice-Chancellor said since agro-climatic and soil conditions of some parts of Sudan were akin to Haryana, the collaboration would be beneficial to Sudan. He said the university is all out to extend cooperation to friendly developing nations in their agricultural development. In the meeting, the delegation also sought information on governance, curriculum development, student admission process at the university and its joint collaboration model. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Delhi High Court today restrained Britannia Industries Ltd from using the wrapper of its 'Nutri Choice Digestive Zero' biscuits in its present form, saying it was "deceptively similar" to the packaging of ITC's Sunfeast 'Farmlite Digestive All Good' biscuits. The court asked Britannia to adopt a "distinctively different" packaging from the one currently used by ITC for its biscuit as such "deception" could confuse the consumers. The court's order came on a plea filed by ITC Ltd seeking to restrain Britannia from violating its rights in packaging/ trade dress of 'Sunfeast Farmlite Digestive-All Good' biscuits by allegedly using a deceptively and confusingly similar trade dress for 'Nutri Choice Digestive Zero' biscuits. "The court is satisfied that the impugned packaging for Nutri Choice Digestive Zero Biscuits launched by Britannia is deceptively similar to the packaging of ITC's Sunfeast Farmlite Digestive All Good biscuits and such deception is likely to confuse the consumers of such biscuits, even the discerning health conscious ones, into thinking that Britannia's biscuits are that of ITC's," Justice S Muralidhar said. "An interim injunction is, accordingly, issued restraining Britannia from using the impugned packaging get- up/wrapper for its Nutri Choice Digestive Zero biscuits in the present form during the pendency of this suit,"the court said. The court also granted four weeks to Britannia to phase out the existing stocks of 'Nutri Choice Zero Digestive' biscuits with the present packaging. However, the court said it would be open to Britannia adopting the packaging it uses for the product internationally or, while retaining the yellow colour, it could substitute the blue colour in the packaging with any other distinctive colour other than variants of blue. ITC Ltd, through senior advocate Pratibha M Singh, had sought an interim injunction to restrain Britannia from continuing to use the packaging for its biscuit. Britannia, while refuting the allegations, had countered ITC's submissions saying being the market leader, it did not need to adopt anyone's packaging. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) National Award-winning Bengali director Kaushik Ganguly says many Bollywood producers have approached him for collaborations and he is looking at venturing into Hindi films in the next two years. Ganguly is one of the finest filmmakers of contemporary Bengali cinema thanks to his films like "Shabdo", "Arekti Premer Golpo", "Chotoder Chobi", "Laptop" and "Apur Panchali", all dealing with unusual subjects and themes. It is natural that big Bollywood producers would want to invest in his works, and the director-writer says he is equally eager to bring stories to the Hindi film viewers. "There are producers who are connecting with me and asking for two-three stories. They will be given because we have a solid bank of story ideas. We have fantastic Bengali films and they need to go national. People are in touch with me and they are very sincere. "I am eager to come to Hindi film audience and connect to them. There are lovely subjects waiting for them and it will be done within two years," Ganguly told PTI on the sidelines of BRICS film festival here. Bengal, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have been churning out quality films in the recent past, so much so, that Hindi filmmakers have come forward to either back, adapt or promote these movies. Ganguly is hopeful about this trend and feels with time, Indian cinema will become more inclusive. "It (inclusiveness) has already started. We have a large heritage of Bengali stories which were taken by Hindi filmmakers in the past. Like the works of Bimal Roy, Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Shakti Samanta... Today, Mahesh Bhatt is backing a film of Srijit Mukherji." The director says besides great stories, the fact that shooting in Kolkata is quite cheap also attracts filmmakers to make movies there. "Shooting a film in Kolkata is much cheaper. Films like 'Piku' and 'Kahaani' have been shot there. It cuts down on the budget to a large extent and we have new ideas. Ganguly, however, believes the subjects and their treatment that suit the sensibility of Bengali audience might not resonate with other viewers. Citing the example of Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan's "Taare Zameen Par", the director says had it been made in Bengal it would have been far more serious. "We have to keep one thing in mind that subjects suitable for Bengal may not be suitable for Indian audience. Their approach towards serious issues is different. "If you give the subject of 'Taare Zameen Par' to a Bengali filmmaker he/she would make a different film. There is a critical demarcation here. We would make a very deep and serious film on that issue, while the Hindi version was emotional and entertaining. Same goes for '3 Idiots' or 'Vicky Donor. Their approach is very national." Ganguly is all for inclusiveness and hence he objects to the term 'regional' for non-Hindi films. The filmmaker says every film made in the country is an Indian movie at the end of the day so they should not be categorised. "I object to the concept of regional films. Films cannot be regional. Like athletes, you don't call them regional, you call them Indian athletes. So, all these films are Indian films. We should get the honour of National films." The director further says that the government should bring in a centralised distribution system to promote and screen non-Hindi films across the country so that they reach a wider audience. "All movies have subtitles so, government should circulate these films everywhere. For that, we need centralised body and distribution system where we can submit our films. "If they think these films are eligible for screenings they can take it and pay the producers to acquire them. If they start such a system, it will be good for so-called regional films. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who led an MPs' delegation to trouble-hit Jammu and Kashmir, today discussed the issue with BJP president Amit Shah, after which it emerged that some "announcement" will be made tomorrow after an all-party meeting here. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Minister of State for PMO Jitendra Singh and BJP general secretary Ram Madhav were also present in the hour-long meeting which also deliberated on the issues to be discussed at the meeting tomorrow of the members of the delegation which visited Srinagar and Jammu on September 4 and 5. "After the all-party delegation's visit, we met today and discussed future course of action in Jammu and Kashmir. Government will make announcement after tomorrow's meeting," Madhav told reporters after the meeting at the Home Minister's residence. Asked whether the central government was planning some tough action against the Kashmiri separatists, Madhav said "all proposals will be put before all party delegation for discussions tomorrow". The cycle of violence continued in Kashmir Valley where so far 73 people lost their lives in clashes between stone pelters and security forces and life remained disrupted for 60th day due to separatist-sponsored strike. Unrest in Kashmir Valley started ever since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani on July 8. Singh had described their visit as positive but he lashed out at the separatists for their refusal to meet some MPs. Unhappy at the stubborn refusal of Hurriyat leaders to meet some MPs who had literally knocked at their doors in Srinagar on Sunday, Singh had said that their conduct was against democracy, humanity or even 'Kashmiriyat' (Kashmiri ethos). Singh led the delegation of 26 MPs from 20 parties which stayed overnight in Srinagar before stopping over in Jammu this afternoon. After spending a few hours in Jammu, it returned to Delhi. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a bid to express commitment towards sanitation, citizens formed a 30 km long human chain in Belsand sub-division in Bihar's Sitamarhi district today and took a pledge to make the sub-division defecation free by October 2. As part of a display of community commitment, citizens of all 16 panchayats in two blocks of Belsand and Parsauni, participated to form the human chain with 30,000 participants. School children, Anganwadi workers, health workers, women from Self Help Groups and government officials joined hands to fulfil the commitment. The programme was part of the Swach Bharat Abhiyan. Sheohar Lok Sabha member Rama Devi, Sitamarhi District Magistrate Rajesh Roshan, besides officials of UNICEF, which is providing technical assistance in toilet construction in each household, participated in the event. Rama Devi said in her address that everybody has to contribute for creation of a society sans open defecation. DM Rajesh Roshan said sanitation was another big struggle after freedom movement. The DM said toilet construction formed part of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's seven resolves, which the state government has adopted as policy of governance. "Our aim is to make the entire Belsand sub-division open defecation free by October 2," Roshan said. UNICEF sanitation expert Praveen said it would require around 24,000 toilets constructed in the next 25 days to achieve the target of making Belsand open defecation free. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hurricane Newton pummeled Mexico's northwestern resort of Los Cabos today, uprooting trees and blowing away tin roofs as thousands of tourists and locals hunkered down. The powerful storm packed 145 kilometer per hour winds when it made landfall before dawn at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, two years after Hurricane Odile ravaged the region. The US National Hurricane Center said in its latest bulletin that Newton was "battering Baja California Sur (state) with strong winds and heavy rains." But there were no immediate reports of deaths, national civil protection coordinator Luis Felipe Puente wrote on Twitter. While all highways were accessible, Puente urged "the population not to leave their homes if it is not necessary." "The winds are very strong," Los Cabos civil protection director Marco Antonio Vazquez told AFP by telephone, adding that power was out before dawn. "For now the damage includes a lot of branches, a lot of fallen plants, many trees," Vazquez said, adding that he also saw telephone cables as well as tin roofs from poorer neighborhoods on the streets. Vazquez said some hotel windows were reportedly shattered but that authorities were still assessing the possible damage. Some 14,000 tourists are in Los Cabos and about 1,000 elsewhere in the region. Some 1,500 people took refuge in shelters in Los Cabos, Vazquez said. Authorities opened shelters with capacity for 16,000 people across the state. Local airports closed late yesterday while small boats were barred from using the ports, with a storm surge expected to hit low-lying areas. Schools were shut down. North of Los Cabos in the Baja California Sur capital of La Paz, locals put tape on shop windows and filled their cars with gasoline as the hurricane approached. As it moved across the peninsula, Newton's top winds decreased to 130 kilometers per hour. The US hurricane center's latest advisory placed Newton 80 kilometers west of La Paz at 1500 GMT. It had made landfall just eight kilometers from the beach town of Cabo San Lucas. Los Cabos, famed for its beaches and nightlife, was pummeled in September 2014 by Hurricane Odile which left six people dead and caused $1 billion in damage. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A flying officer of Indian Air Force has been granted anticipatory bail in a rape case lodged by his ex-lover, with a Delhi court saying there was no apprehension that he will hamper the investigation as he was not posted in the national capital. Additional Sessions Judge Shail Jain gave the relief to the defence officer after noting that there was no allegation that he had ever threatened or forced the woman to establish physical relations with him. "Even during the arguments before the court, prosecutrix had admitted that she considered the accused to be her husband and only thereafter the relationship was established between them. "Considering the fact that applicant-accused is a Flying Officer (Indian Air Force) working at Air Force Pune, there are no chances of his evading the process of law or interfering in the administration of justice or to threaten the witnesses as he is not posted in Delhi," the court said. The judge said it was a fit case for admitting the man to anticipatory bail and granted the relief on furnishing of a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and two sureties of like amount. The prosecution opposed the bail plea saying the man established physical relations with the woman from September 2013 to January 2016 by giving a false impression that she was married to him. Advocate Pradeep Rana, who appeared for the man, sought anticipatory bail for the officer on the ground that the relationship between the parties continued for nearly three years during which they stayed in different hotels. He argued that it was nowhere mentioned in the FIR, registered at Tilak Nagar Police Station in west Delhi, that the man established physical relations with the woman by forcing or pressurising her. The counsel said the accused was a flying officer in IAF and there were no chances of his absconding or tampering with the evidence. The prosecution said the man and the woman met through social networking website and fell in love, but when their families got to know that they belonged to same village and community, they refused to accept their marriage. The man claimed they had mutually decided to end their relationship but when the woman came to know that the man's parents were looking for a matrimonial match for him, she could not accept it and lodged an FIR with the police. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) IL&FS Engineering and Construction Company Ltd today said it has won a Rs 173 crore contract from Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), for laying and construction of pipeline along with associated works. The works pertain to Kochi-Koottanad-Bangalore-Mangalore Pipeline Project Phase-II in Kerala. "The total length of the 30-inch pipeline is 91 Km. The value of the contract is Rs 173.13 crore (plus service tax), and is to be mechanically completed in 24 months," the company said in a statement. IL&FS Engineering Services is already executing an EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contract for GAIL for laying and construction of pipeline along with associated works for Pipeline Replacement Project in Gujarat region, it said. The statement said that the company is also currently executing an EPC contract for Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL), Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, for laying of pipeline from Land Fall Point (LFP), Mangalore Port to Mangalore/Padur Cavern via Intermediate Valve Station (IVS) for storage of crude oil. IL&FS Engineering Services is an infrastructure development, construction and project management company with nearly three decades of experience in executing landmark projects. The company executes projects under various domains such as Buildings & Structures, Roads, Railways, Irrigation, Power, Ports, and Oil & Gas. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. More students will be able to attend a quality school this year thanks to an effort undertaken by the U.S. Embassy in Armenia to renovate Kindergarten #59 in the Davitashen district of Yerevan, the US Embassy in Armenia informed Armenpress. The school recently completed a $285,000 renovation which was funded by the U.S. Embassys Office of Defense Cooperation. Since 2009, the Embassy, through the U.S. militarys European Commands Humanitarian Assistance Program, has provided more than $5 million dollars to fund 26 renovation projects in Armenia. Children deserve a safe, welcoming school building. And I think with this renovation, the children of kindergarten #59 have that, said Charge d Affaires Rafik Mansour, during the ribbon cutting for the school on Tuesday, September 6. He was joined by Deputy Mayor of Yerevan Aram Sukiasyan, leaders from the Davitashen District. Several classrooms and restrooms in the kindergarten that were previously unuseable were renovated through the project, which was managed by the U.S. Corps of Engineers and completed by CESCO construction. Thanks to the project, the school was able to eliminate its waiting list of about 100 students and provide quality education to an increased number of students. Im glad to be here today and the U.S. embassy is proud to have done this project. Because it is this generation, these children that will continue the strides we are seeing in Armenia, who will take an improved Armenia and make it even better, Charge d Affaires Mansour said. And they will be better equipped to do so thanks to the education they will get, starting here in this beautiful renovated building. India is planning to sign a film co-production agreement with Russia and South Africa, Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu today said as he stressed on the need for cinema to address issues like terrorism and help in spreading peace. The Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting, who was speaking at the closing ceremony of the first BRICS Film Festival, also proposed a special section for filmmakers from BRICS nations at India International Film Festival (IFFI). "India is doing co-production with Brazil and China. We are considering signing a co-production agreement with Russia and South Africa. I propose for special a BRICS section to be a part of the India International Film Festival. I hope this will provide a great platform and forum for the filmmakers of BRICS countries to work together, come together and act together," he said. He said terrorism is a big challenge the world is facing right now and the emerging young talent in cinema should focus on highlighting this issue as well as other socially relevant topics. "We have challenges like terrorism which has no religion. Terrorism is the enemy of humanity. So, through cinema I hope that we convey the right message to people. The entire world should come together to condemn such heinous crime because the terror is becoming a big problem across the globe. Earlier it was limited to the sub continent but now it's spreading worldwide. "With the knowledge, talent and technology one should think of ideas of improving the standard of cinema. Enlightenment of the people is major issue, be it family values, religion, culture, be it need of social harmony or be it for peace, cinema should always contain such elements...," he said. He also invited the BRICS nations to come and explore the possibilities of student exchange. Highlighting the cultural and natural heritage of India, Naidu said that the country can be an ideal location for shooting films. "India offers varieties of locale for shooting films. In addition to this India is home to one of the biggest film industries. We have nature's beauty and also accountability in the people of India, who work together for the best results." He also reminded the filmmaker about the single window clearance facility at the National Film Development Corporation, which can make their shooting experience in the country easy and memorable. Naidu also asked delegates from BRICS nations to focus more on co-productions and raise the level of filmmaking. The five-day-long BRICS film festival screened movies from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The festival that opened with the screening of "Veeram, had Chinese superstar Jackie Chan-starrer "Skiptrace" as the closing film. China will host the next edition of the festival. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India's borders need much larger investment and attention, Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra said today as he batted for "smart border management" for people living along these areas. Speaking at a conference on 'Homeland Security, Smart Border Management' organised by FICCI here, he said such management was required for a state like Jammu and Kashmir which faces proxy war and infiltration attempts round the year. "In the state where I am working, infiltration attempts are made throughout the year..Across the high and snow-clad mountains, across the planes, riverbeds and nallahs," he said. Stating that India's borders needed more attention and investment, Vohra maintained border management was no longer a general problem. "One needs special forces to tackle highly-trained terrorists," he said. He said owing to the nature of threats Jammu and Kashmir has faced in the last three decades particularly infiltrations, proxy wars, insurgencies and militancies supported from across the borders, it was not possible to deal with sectoral violence only through internal and external security. Vohra said maintenance of public order in the hinterland was an extremely important component of border guarding. "If you have insurgency, militancy and a proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir, or terrorism which can strike at any time from anywhere..That infringes our border guarding," he said. The Governor said since 2012, there have been four 'successful' fidayeen attacks sponsored by Pakistan against the Army and police at places like Kathua and Sambha in the Valley. "We have deficiencies along the borders...The nature of communication we have, the nature of facilities, equipment and gadgetries," he said while drawing references to the suicide attacks at Dina nagar police station and IAF base in Pathankot. "Therefore, we need to take into account smart border management. It is important to take care of the people living along the borders and behind the borders. Their welfare, needs and problems need to be attended to. A dissatisfied border community does not contribute to the border force or border management," he said. Vohra maintained that looking after the people living in forward areas goes a long way. "Such people provide very strong support to the Army and the border security forces in terms of supplying information, logistical support etc," he said. People think that securing borders is the responsibility of the Union government but the responsibility rests with everyone living in the forward areas, the Governor added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The revenue growth of Indian IT exports this financial year is likely to be slower than industry body Nasscom's projection of 10-12 per cent, according to industry veteran T V Mohandas Pai. "The figures could be lower than what Nasscom has said. But it's still (expected to) be good figures. They forecast 10 to 12 per cent, I would say 9 to 10 per cent is something that could be more reasonable because we already have seen in the first quarter some companies not meeting numbers...Second quarter, some companies going quiet. So, 9 to 10 per cent is reasonable," the former Board member at Infosys told PTI. A clear picture would emerge after companies announce results for the September quarter, which is generally good for them. "Europe is beginning to look better. Brexit has hurt the UK. America... We have to see what happens. Some industries are going quiet. So, we need some time, it's too premature to say anything. In 30 days, we will have a clear picture," he added. "We have to wait to know the real impact of Brexit.It's too premature how companies are going to react. See what's happening is all business in the UK has come down by 10 per cent in rupees because of currency impact. And (the) UK is about 15 per cent of India's exports. So, 15 per cent (10 per cent of 15 per cent) means, it will come down by 1.5 per cent (currency impact). Australian currency is appreciating. We do not know how Euro will behave in the next three months. So, we have to wait. It's too uncertain to take a call," he said. On what Indian IT companies have to do to improve operational efficiency and cost-cutting, the Chairman of venture capital fund Aarin Capital Partners, and Manipal Global Education, said the sector has to automate and become more productive but added that they are already doing that. "They have to get into the consolidation mode, buy up smaller companies... Because the industry is consolidating and they must become cost-efficient which is not difficult. I think they are all doing that, people know it, they have been through ups and downs for the last 20 years. It's a mature industry. They have got good management. You have to give them some time," Pai said. He denied suggestions that the IT services industry is witnessing retrenchment of employees, and stated that it's a "normal attrition". Pai, a former Chief Financial Officer and HR head at Infosys, termed as "very normal" the increasing number of start-ups shutting shop. India and Thailand today agreed to work together for the benefit of farmers, traders and manufacturers in the area of tuber crops like tapioca. The matter along with others was discussed between Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare S S Ahluwalia and a delegation headed by Thai Vice Minister of Commerce Winichi Chaemchaeng here. Thai delegates have suggested that cooperation in the field of agriculture, particularly of tapioca - processing, value addition etc offers tremendous potential, the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement. In the meeting, Indian side explained the progress India made in development of varieties of cassava, quality of planting materials and value addition. The two trade between the countries stood at USD 8.49 billion in 2015-16. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indonesian cigarettes worth Rs 2.2 crore were today seized by Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials from a container at a terminal here. Acting on a tip-off, the officials checked the container that had arrived from Dubai and found the banned cigarettes worth Rs 2.2 crore. The container was offloaded from a ship that had arrived here yesterday from Dubai, DRI officials said. An investigation has been launched to trace the person in the Kochi address given in the container, officials said. A probe is on to nab those behind the cigarette smuggling racket, they added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A car bomb ripped through a bustling commercial area of central Baghdad overnight, killing at least 12 civilians, Iraqi officials said on Tuesday. Shortly after the attack, the Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the bombing in a statement posted online. The explosives-laden pick-up truck was left in a parking lot in the Shiite-dominated district of Karradah, near a hospital and shops, a police officer said. Up to 28 people were wounded and at least 15 cars were damaged, he said. A medical official confirmed the casualty figures. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to release the information. Early this morning, mourners held a funeral procession for some of the dead. Men carried coffins wrapped in Iraqi flags as women wailed and pounded their chests in grief. At the scene of the bombing, shocked residents examined the blood-stained pavement and the damage to nearby shops. The IS group issued a statement saying the suicide attack targeted Shiites. The Associated Press could not verify the authenticity of the statement, but it was posted on militant websites commonly used by the extremists. Karradah is a major commercial area of the capital. Its streets are lined with clothing and jewelry stores, restaurants and cafes. The area is usually packed with shoppers, especially ahead of next week's Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, or the Festival of Sacrifice, which marks the end of the annual Hajj pilgrimage. In early July, an IS-claimed bombing killed nearly 300 people in Karradah as Iraqis were preparing for the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. The Karradah disaster put the Iraqi government under pressure to improve security in the capital and to rein in corruption. Monday's attack came nearly two weeks after authorities reopened the sealed off part of Karradah, where the July bombing took place, in an attempt to restore normalcy to the district. Days after the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal asked the concerned states to resolve the water dispute amicably, Karnataka ChiefMinister Siddaramaiah has written to his Goa and Maharashtra counterparts offering to host the first round of discussions. "...On behalf of the riparian state of Karnataka, it would be my pleasure to host the first round of talks. I sincerely hope you would, in the true spirit of co-operation and collaboration, agree to your state participating in the talks," Siddaramaiah said in a letter to Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar. "I, therefore, request you to instruct your state's chief secretary to interact with my state's chief secretary in finalising the date of meeting in this month of September, 2016," the letter, released to the media said. A similar letter was written to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis inviting him for talks over the issue, the Chief Minister's Office said. The Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal had last weekasked Chief Ministers of Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra toresolve the water dispute amicably by holding discussions. Karnataka government, which has locked horns with the neighbouring Goa on the larger issue of sharing Mahadayi River water between both the states, had petitioned the tribunal seeking the release of 7.56 tmcft of water for the Kalasa-Banduri Nala project. The tribunal's July 27 interim order after hearing arguments from Karnataka and Goa had rejected the state's plea citing various grounds, includingecological damage that the project may cause. Challenging this, the state government has filed aSpecial Leave Petition before the Supreme Court. Following the interim order, tension had gripped most parts of northern Karnataka as protests turned violent on July 28 during which government offices were attacked and public property was damaged. Also, a state-wide bandh was observed on July 30. The Kalasa-Banduri Nala (diversion) project, which will utilise 7.56 tmcft of water from the inter-state Mahadayi river, is being undertaken by Karnataka to improve drinking water supply to the twin cities of Hubballi-Dharwad and the districts of Belagavi and Gadag. It involves building barrages across Kalasa and Banduri, tributaries of Mahadayi River, to divert 7.56 tmc to Malaprabha river which fulfils the drinking water needs of the twin cities. Karnataka has for long been advocating for out of court settlement of the issue. Siddaramaiah had led an all party delegation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention. Earlier, Goa government had rejected Karnataka's attempt for the out of court settlement statingthat the people of the state felt it was more prudent to settle the dispute through the Tribunal. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a snub, Karachi Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday cancelled an event of Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale at the last minute apparently over his remarks on Monday on Pakistan's interference in Kashmir. "Bambawale, who is on his first visit to Karachi after assuming charge in January this year, was told about the cancellation just half an hour before the event, invite for which was received and accepted by him a couple of weeks ago", sources told PTI. The organisers did not give a reason immediately for the cancellation. However, the Indian officials feel that Bambawale's comments on Monday on Pakistan's interference in Kashmir which was India's internal matter rattled the Pakistani authorities in Karachi, prompting a cancellation. "This is very disrespectful on the part of the organisers," officials asserted. On Monday, during an interactive session organised by the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations, Bambawale had taken a swipe at Pakistan over its interference in Kashmir, saying people living in glass houses should not be throwing stones at others. "There are problems in both India and Pakistan and you (Pakistan) should focus on resolving your problems before looking into the problems of other countries," he had said. Union Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale today lashed out at the separatists for refusing to talk to the all party delegation in Jammu and Kashmir, describing their approach as "not good". "Kashmir, which is an integral part of the country, will not run on the directives of Pakistan and will remain an integral part of India," Athawale told reporters after he, along with Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot and Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das launched the 'Sugmya Bharat' (Accessible India) campaign here. "There is no question of freedom of Kashmir, which became an integral part of India following Independence from the British rule," he said. Referring to the refusal of separatist leaders to meet the all party delegation led by Home Minister Rajnath Singh recently, Athawale said such an approach was "not good". "It is not wrong to understand the feelings of separatists," Athawale said replying to question about some members of the delegation deciding to meet them. However, he said it was not proper on the part of the separatists to return the delegation empty handed. "No political party of the country supports separatist activities in the Kashmir Valley," Athawale said adding, no one would believe if they talk of Kashmir's Azadi (freedom). "Development of Kashmir and employment can be demanded, but no one will talk of separation from India," he said. "The people of Kashmir will have to think it seriously that Pakistan is pitching our youths against our Army and police," he added. Despite terrorist activities in the Valley, he said the turn out in elections was 70 to 75 per cent, indicating people's faith in the democratic system. The MoS emphasised the need for development of Jammu and Kashmir for the betterment of the people of the state. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actors Katrina Kaif and Sidharth Malhotra were offloaded by Air India officials from their scheduled flight to Mumbai after they delayed their boarding and allegedly indulged in promoting their upcoming movie at Indira Gandhi International Airport's terminal area with fans. Officials said the incident was reported late last night after both the actors reached the airport and got their boarding passes to fly to Mumbai in the Air India flight number AI-317. Post the security check, the duo were seen mingling with fans in the duty-free area of the airport to promote their upcoming film "Baar Baar Dekho", the officials said. They said both the actors were asked by airport officials to board the flight scheduled for 9:40 PM but they kept delaying the flight. Finally, sources said, the airline decided to offload them at about 10:45 PM as other passengers complained about the delay in departure. However, Air India officials said the Bollywood actors were not deplaned, as they were issued boarding passes but "they chose not to travel as part of their own decision". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs that on September 6 the USD exchange rate was 474.71 AMD which is a decrease of 0.04 drams compared to the previous day. Armenpress reports that the Euro decreased by 0.04 drams forming 529.97 drams. British pound increased by 0.38 drams forming 633.17 drams, Russian ruble remained the same 7.33 drams on September 6. The prices for precious metals are as follows: the price for silver per gram is 297 AMD, gold-20,243.12 AMD, and platinum-16,254.33 AMD. Aam Aadmi Party National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal today met senior party leaders after his return from the Vatican City, in the wake of allegations of "exploitation of women" in return of ticket in Punjab, levelled by AAP's Delhi MLA Devinder Sehrawat. However, no decision was taken on the fate of Bijwasan MLA Devinder Sehrawat in the meeting, party sources said. The Delhi Chief Minister also took a stock of the situation of party affairs in Punjab, which is hit by rebellion after the sacking of its Punjab convenor Sucha Singh Chhotepur, the sources said. Kejriwal is also expected to play a greater role in ticket distribution, following the allegations by Sehrawat and discontent within the party cadre in Punjab over ticket distribution. The AAP chief who will leave for Punjab on September 8. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un called on his military to continue building up Pyongyang's nuclear force after issuing orders for the latest test-firing of ballistic missiles, the North's state media said on Tuesday. test-fired three missiles into the sea on Monday, Seoul said, in a new show of force as world leaders met for the G20 summit in China. "He stressed the need to continue making miraculous achievements in bolstering up the nuclear force one after another in this historic year," the official KCNA news agency said. Kim was guiding a fire drill of his military aimed at checking the "capabilities of the units" and the accuracy of the "improved ballistic rockets deployed for action," it added. Describing the combat performance of the rockets as "perfect", KCNA said Kim expressed "great satisfaction over the successful successive firing drill of ballistic rockets". South Korea's defence ministry said the missiles were speculated to be Rodong missiles with a range of 1,000 kilometres (620 miles), and that they were fired without navigational warning to Japan. "North Korea's ballistic missile launch is a direct violation of UN Security Council resolutions, aimed at showing off its nuclear and missile capabilities during the G20 summit," a ministry spokesman said in a statement. The defence ministry in Tokyo said the three missiles were estimated to have fallen into Japan's maritime Exclusive Economic Zone. "The ministry expresses serious concern over the missile launches as they pose a grave threat to Japan's national security," a ministry statement said. The United States and Japan lodged a protest against yesterday's test-firing and requested a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York. The 15-member body will convene on Tuesday and discuss whether the council will consider a response to the latest missile launches. has conducted a series of missile tests this year in defiance of UN sanctions imposed after its fourth nuclear test in January. Last month, it fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile from the northeastern port of Sinpo. That missile flew 500 kilometres towards Japan, far exceeding the range of the North's previous sub-launched missiles. Leader Kim Jong-Un described the August test as the "greatest success" and said it put the US mainland within striking range. The launch was widely condemned by the US and other major powers, but analysts saw it as a clear step forward for North Korea's nuclear strike ambitions. Protest marches by the activists of Kerala Students Union and Youth Congress against the hike in fees in private medical colleges in Kerala turned violent for the second day today. The march taken out by KSU activists in front of the state secretariat turned violent after they clashed with police following which water canon was used to drive them away. Congress MLAs--Shafi Parambil, Hibi Eden and former MLA PC Vishnunath led the march to the Secretariat. In Malappuram, police chased away Youth Congress workers who scaled the walls of the Collectorate and tried to gain access to the Collector's chamber, police said. Fifteen activists were arrested and three of them suffered injuries. Two policemen were also injured. Yesterday, activists of Youth Congress marched to the Secretariat in protest against the agreement reached recently between the government and Private Medical College Association in Kerala, on issues including hike in fees, had also turned violent. In the agreement, it had been decided to charge Rs 2.50 lakh per year for 30 per cent seats, and in 50 per cent seats between Rs 8.5 lakh to Rs 11 lakh. In the remaining 20 per cent seats the fees will be Rs 25,000 for students from Below Poverty Line families. Opposition parties had alleged that the government had succumbed to the demands of the association. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sri Lankan Tamil MP Chinnathambi Yogeswaran today suggested construction of a Hindu temple at Katchatheevu ceded by India to Sri Lanka under an agreement in 1974. Tamil outfits would also be urged to take up the issue, he told reporters here. The islet has a church where devotees from both Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu offer prayers during the annual festival in February. Yogeswaran, on a visit here, said compared to the Rajapaksha government the present Sirisena government was better in rehabilitating Tamils and also in treating them. But it should further improve, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Union Health Ministry has launched a massive 2 week campaign aimed at eradicating in 149 endemic districts across 20 states where the prevalence rate of the disease is more than one case per 10,000 population. The ' Case Detection Campaign' (LCDC) launched on Monday will cover 1,656 blocks of these districts and screen a total of 32 crore people for . A total of 297,604 teams comprising one female ASHA worker and one male volunteer each would visit every house in their allotted area and screen all the family members for leprosy. The states which the LCDC will cover are Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Delhi and Lakshadweep. "The districts having a prevalence rate of more than one case per 10,000 population in any of the last three years have been included in this campaign," an official statement said. The campaign has been launched in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to eradicate Leprosy from India following which Health Minister J P Nadda reviewed the National Leprosy Eradication Programme and asked for the launch of the campaign. "House to house visits will be done by the search teams according to the micro plan prepared for the local area to detect hidden and undetected leprosy cases," the statement said. "The objective of the campaign is the early detection of leprosy in affected persons so that they can be saved from physical disability and deformity by providing them timely treatment and thus also halting the transmission of disease at the community level," it said. The first LCDC was launched during March-April in 50 districts of the seven states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh where a population of about 6.8 crore was covered. A total of 65,427 suspected cases were identified out of which 4,120 were later confirmed during the campaign, the statement added. A Pakistani LeT bombmaker with a bent for an un-Islamic hobby of accessing porn was part of the team of militants who set out to execute the deadly Paris attacks but could not reach in time to make it even more catastrophic, according to a media report. The November 14 series of coordinated attacks by suicide bombers and gunmen, the deadliest inflicted on France since World War II, were a "slimmed-down version of an even more ambitious plan" to hit other European countries and following them up with strikes in several locations, a senior European counter-terrorism official told CNN. Muhammad Usman, a suspected bombmaker for the Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, had set out from the capital of the self-declared ISIS caliphate in Raqqa, Syria, six weeks before the Paris attacks along with Algerian-born Adel Haddadi, the report said, citing investigation documents. The duo were part of a team of four militants, of whom the other two operatives later blew themselves up outside the national stadium in Paris, killing nearly 130 people. The team posed as Syrian refugees, blending in with thousands fleeing the war-torn country and made the treacherous crossing from Izmir, Turkey, into Greece in a boat filled with dozens of refugees but were intercepted by the Greek Navy. The two who would go on to strike the Paris stadium passed through Greece - though Greek officials declined to explain how - and started moving across Europe toward their target in France while Haddadi and Usman's fake Syrian passports were discovered and they were arrested. They were held for nearly a month, according to investigators, who believe that the delay was "significant as they did not have a chance to become part of the Paris attacks". They were only released in late October following which they immediately contacted their ISIS handler, Abu Ahmad, who arranged for someone to wire them 2,000 euros and the pair continued along the refugee route. And as they travelled north, Usman was preoccupied with a strikingly un-Islamic hobby - using his phone to peruse almost two dozen X-rated sites, including "sexxx lahur" and "Pakistani Lahore college girls ... ImakeSex." The documents - which are some 90,000 pages most of them in French and include a trove of interrogations, investigative findings and data pulled from cell phones, shedding new light on the highly organised branch of the external operations wing of the sophisticated ISIS network known as the Amn al-Kharji - also show that Usman spoke only Urdu, while Haddadi spoke mostly Arabic. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Police in the British capital today announced plans to trial the use of head-gear on suspects to prevent them from spitting on the forces, attracting criticism from rights groups who said a "spit hood" is "primitive, cruel and degrading". The so-called spit guards will be used by all Metropolitan Police units in cases of police custody across London as a pilot scheme starting next month. The devices, which are designed as mesh masks, will not be used on the streets as they are considered a "use of force". "A pilot scheme has been approved for the use of 'spit guards' in all 32 MPS custody units from October 2016. These guards will only be used in a custody situation," a Met Police spokesperson said. "They are considered a 'use of force' and so officers are being trained to ensure that their use is proportionate and necessary in the circumstances. The use of this protective equipment is necessary to meet the duty of care owed to officers when a detainee spits at or attempts to bite them," he said. No decision has been taken over whether the "spit guards" will be used outside custody if the trial is successful. Research by The Guardian found that a minority of forces in England and Wales - nine of the 35 that responded to a Freedom of Information request by the newspaper - use the hoods. The second and third biggest forces, West Midlands and Greater Manchester police, do not use them. UK's Police Federation has backed the move, arguing that spitting leaves officers at risk of contracting hepatitis. "I'd rather take a punch to the face than be spat at. We do not deal with the most savoury people. Hepatitis is prevalent within the drug abuse community. I don't see it as a use of force, it is a health and safety issue," said Che Donald, the federation's health and safety lead. However, human rights groups have expressed their concern over the move. "A spit hood is a primitive, cruel and degrading tool that inspires fear and anguish. We have seen many cases where the police use them unnecessarily and without justification, including on children and disabled people," said a spokesperson for human rights group Liberty. "Police have the power to use force against citizens when they have to - using handcuffs, arm restraints, leg restraints, pepper spray, batons. The suggestion that officers need to be able to cover people's faces and heads is as far-fetched as it is frightening," she said. Amnesty International added: "Spit hoods can restrict breathing, create disorientation and can be dangerous and extremely distressing... Serious questions must be asked as to whether these restraints which have been criticised for breaching human rights guidelines should actually have a role in modern British policing. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A person has been arrested for allegedly impersonating as a police officer and extorting Rs 1,15,000 from a man on the pretext of implicating him in a cheating case in East Delhi, police said today. The accused Sushil Kumar was arrested yesterday after the victim Bhanu Pratap raised an alarm, said DCP (East) Rishi Pal Singh. Pratap, who works as a policy agent, was called by the accused near Kashmere Gate monastery on the pretext of providing him good business, added the officer. "Sushil made Pratap board a car and they were later joined by the former's friends. They abducted Pratap and snatched his mobile phones," said the officer adding that one of the accused introduced himself as a sub-inspector and threatened to implicate Pratap in a cheating case if he didn't pay them Rs 1,15,000. They took Pratap to two ATMs and forced him to withdraw Rs 45,000 and Rs 20,000 respectively. After the limit on his ATM cards was exhausted, they forced him to transfer Rs 50,000 to their account through netbanking, said the officer. They took him to a jewellery shop to buy a gold ring of Rs 47,000 but there the complainant raised an alarm, leading to Sushil being arrested. However, his accomplices managed to flee from the spot, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 30-year-old man was beaten to death by his younger brother in Kalyan town here over a dispute during the Ganesh festivities, police said today. The incident took place yesterday when a quarrel broke out between Jay Sunil Kondalkar and Jignesh Kondalkar (25) over some monetary issue, they said. Sunil died during the scuffle following which Jignesh was charged with murder by Kolsewadi police at Kalyan, they said. Jignesh was also injured and has been hospitalised, Police PRO Sukhada Narkar said. The duo who were living without their family and used to quarrel over money often and were alcoholics, police said. Sunil was part of a band troupe which performs at functions during festivals. Yesterday, when he returned home after such a function, Jignesh, an auto driver demanded some money which Sunil refused to give. This led to a verbal duel and Jignesh attacked him with a rod leaving him seriously injured. He was immediately rushed to Sion Hospital, where he died while undergoing treatment. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. There is a positive dynamics in the health condition of 2-year-old Hovhannes Manukyan who fell down from the balcony of the 4th floor a few days ago in Gyumri, the Healthcare Ministry informed Armenpress. Head of intensive care unit of Saint Mary medical center of Yerevan Anna Chobanyan said the child has already started to eat, he is smiling and recognizes his relatives. It is likely that the child tomorrow will be transferred from the intensive care unit to the hospital ward. A 30-year-old man from east Delhi has died of cerebral at a hospital here, in what could be the first fatality due to this vector-borne disease in the national capital in the past five years. Praveen Sharma, a resident of Mandawali, died at Safdarjung Hospital Sunday evening after suffering multi- organ failure triggered by malarial complications. "He was brought to our hospital in a very bad shape and was already suffering from cerebral . He died of multi-organ failure and other complications," Medical Superintendent of Safdarjung Hospital A K Rai today said. Praveen was brought to Safdarjung Hospital from Max Hospital in Patparganj area in east Delhi where he was admitted on August 28 after being diagnosed with malaria, a family member said. The victim's cousin, Rajan Sharma, alleged that "Praveen was admitted to Max Hospital with 102-degree fever but later the temperature shot up to 107 degrees, after which he was put on ventilator and his condition worsened. But the hospital authorities did not tell us his condition. We were not updated on his condition." Max Hospital authorities, however, denied the charge, and in a statement, claimed, "During the time of admitting, he (Praveen) was suffering from high temperature with chills, vomiting, difficulty in breathing and came in an unconscious state. "Upon examination by emergency doctors, he was diagnosed as suffering from cerebral and sepsis. The patient was immediately intubated and put on ventilator support." The hospital further said Praveen's condition was "monitored closely by leading experts" and he was provided "treatment as per standard protocols". "The family was also timely informed about his critical condition," it said, and further claimed the patient was discharged from Max Hospital on September 2, after his attendants "insisted on shifting" him to another hospital. Patparganj area falls under the Assembly constituency of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. "People are busy doing politics, but common man is suffering from dengue, chikungunya and malaria. AAP boasts of mohalla clinics and BJP-ruled MCD has failed to combat the situation," Rajan alleged. According to website of National Vector-Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), no death has occurred due to malaria in Delhi in five years from 2012 till July. At least 19 malaria cases have been reported in Delhi this season till September 3, according to civic bodies. "Praveen was married three years ago and is survived by his wife and one-and-a-half-year-old daughter. He was a very good student in school days and once had even interacted with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as a student," he said. An Australian man has raised thousands of dollars to bring back the dog he found abandoned on the streets in Greece after his online appeal for money went viral and donations from across the world poured in. Jacob Welsh, 20, from Geelong in Victoria, raised the money on a popular crowd funding website to bring the dog, which he named Chance, back to Australia. After failing to find a home for the dog in Greece, Welsh launched a crowdfunding page GoFundMe to pay for her flights, vaccinations and quarantine. He had set up a 3000 dollars target which crossed within two days and reached 5334 Australian dollars, 9news.Com.Au reported. Welsh said he and the dog became inseparable after he found her "lying in a pile of smashed glass by a busy road" "I gave her a little pat and ever since then she has followed me wherever I go," he wrote in a Facebook post on yesterday. Welsh said he then snuck her into his apartment and tried to find her a home ahead of his return to Australia, but no one wanted to take her. "The sad reality of her going back on the streets is becoming more and more real as my time left in Greece comes to an end," he wrote. He then came up with an idea to bring her home with him. "Australia's laws are very strict with this kind of thing but I have done the research and it is possible, just very expensive. If you can spare a few dollars, Chance and I would really appreciate it," Welsh wrote. More than 13,000 people reacted to his post, and it was shared more than 3000 times. Welsh has since taken to Facebook to thank his supporters. "She will not spend another night on the street thanks to all the help we've received!" he wrote. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Meghalaya government today decided to adopt a resolution for ratifying the Constitution (122nd Amendment) (GST) Bill, 2014 in the upcoming Assembly session to begin from September 9. Addressing reporters after a cabinet meeting held here, Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said "We have decided to introduce the resolution for consideration of the House." He said the country was in transition to a new form of value added tax. Replying to a query on its implication for a small state like Meghalaya, the CM said the stand of the state government was it does not foresee any drop in revenue realisation and in such event, the state would be compensated. "This was taken up at the level of consultation and an acceptable format will come up," he said. The Rajya Sabha had recently passed the Constitution (122nd Amendment) (GST) Bill, 2014 to introduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Mexico is exploring possibilities of signing a Free Trade Agreement with India to boost trade ties between the two countries, a Mexican Envoy said here today. "We are working on some sort of agreement like the FTA. You should know the Free Trade Agreement with Japan was our very first. We are very excited to have a FTA (with India).", Ambassador of Mexico to India, Melba Pria told reporters. The Ambassador is on a visit to inaugurate the third Consular Office here and appointing Ramkumar Vardarajan as the Honorary Consul General. Stating that a "high-level" delegation from Mexico discussed the signing of a trade agreement with India during its visit couple of months ago, she said, "in that high level meeting about 500 goods were identified in the first place for signing the agreement." "Trade with India has grown up over 400 per cent since 2004. It was around USD 7 billion last year. Major sectors are oil, information technology, automobile and autoparts," she said. On the number of tourists visiting Mexico from India, she said it was around 55,000 last year as several people after visiting couple of cities in the US visit a Mexican city. "One-third of the visitor are business travellers," she said adding that pharmaceuticals, autoparts and Information Technology sectors were "growing" very rapidly on trade. To a query she said there were 60 Indian companies operating in Mexico while it was 13 Mexican companies having presence in India. Mexico is the largest Latin American investor in India with over USD 800 million invested, she said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping have agreed to make efforts to put India-China ties in the "right direction" and to "respect and accommodate" each other's concerns to avoid "impedance" relations, a top Chinese diplomat said today. Modi and Xi met here on the sidelines of the G20 summit on September 4 amid differences over raft of issues. "They agreed that efforts shall be made to orientate the development of China-India relations in the right direction," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a written reply to PTI today about how China viewed the meeting. "The two sides also agreed to respect and accommodate each other's concerns and properly handle sensitive issues to avoid their impedance to the normal development of bilateral relations," Hua said in response to a question. In the bilateral meeting with Xi, Modi raised India's concerns over the USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) being laid through PoK and told Xi that "to ensure durable ties and their steady development, it is of paramount importance that we respect each other's aspirations, concerns and strategic interests". Their meeting took place in the backdrop of steady decline in the relations over China's technical hold in UN over banning Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar and Beijing stalling India's bid to gain members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) besides CPEC. Hua said the two leaders agreed to "enhance strategic communication, foster synergies between the development strategies of the two countries, expand exchanges and cooperation in various fields so as to further China-India strategic cooperative partnership". After meeting Modi, Xi had said that "China is willing to work with India to maintain their hard-won sound relations and further advance cooperation". "China and India should respect and care for each other on issues of major concern, and handle differences in a constructive way," Xi was quoted by state-run Xinhua agency as saying. Commenting on Modi-Xi meeting, Hu Shisheng, Director of theChina Institutes of Contemporary International Relations affiliated to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said India-China ties faced serious tensions over issues relating to Pakistan. He said Pakistan has become a visible negative factor in India-China relations. "This may also be due to India's rapidly increasing relations with the US and Japan. Chinese scholars apprehend that the Cold War my come again. We should prevent that," he said and called for enhanced talks between the two countries. (Reopens FGN 17) On the issues like CPEC and terrorism emanating from Pakistan's soil, Hu said that India and China should hold free and frank discussions to find solutions. As part of the major country relations, the US and China have currently over 90 dialogue mechanism at Vice Ministerial level and 170 at the Director General level to discuss a host of contentious issue, he said, adding that compared to that India-China have only about 35. Modi and Xi are constantly meeting and set to meet again in Goa during BRICSsummit next month and at the UN General Assembly. Meetings between officials can help the two leaders to set right policy, Hu said. Asked how he interpret Xi's comments that"China is willing to work with India", Hu said India and China went through hard times in improving relations over the years. The process to normalise relations after 1962 hostilities took so many years. Even after that border face offs continued and differences prevailed on a host of issues, Hu said. "He (Xi) means that we are surfing through trouble waters" and wants to step up communication to iron out differences, Hu added. Nine-year-old Prathamesh Shirodkar and Disha Mahale, aged 8 from Mumbai won the 'Champion' trophy along with cash and other rewards in the 15th National UCMAS Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Competition. "Abacus has proved to be excellent sport for brain, and the winners have brought lot of pride to their respective cities and training centres by demonstrating highest level of mathematic skills with the help of hand and eye calculation," Chandrakant Mishra, Director of CBS Education said in a statement issued here today. Over 5,000 exams were conducted on that single day with students from 25 states participating and over 1,600 trophies were distributed on that day besides all the participants also receiving a participation trophy, he said. He said at the competition, which tested speed and accuracy in arithmetic, the UCMAS students had eight minutes to solve as many as 200 maths questions depending on the students' level, using only an abacus or mental arithmetic. Also honoured were Parth Poddar, Sanskar Gupta, and Syam Sundar who had become World Champions at the recently concluded 6th Global Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Competition of WAAMA (World Association of Abacus and Mental Arithmetic) held at Hong Kong, said the statement. The event was hosted by UCMAS India at Jaipur, Rajasthan on August 27, followed by an awards ceremony on August 28. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Carrying emotional scars of the riots three years ago, hundreds of internal refugees in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts are battling "poor health and sanitation" conditions and "unscrupulous" real estate developers, who are preying on their misfortune, an NGO claimed today. The city-based NGO has come with a report describing the conditions in the resettlement colonies three years after the communal violence in western Uttar Pradesh that claimed over 60 lives and displaced 40,000 people. Titled 'Living Apart: Communal Violence and Forced Displacement in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli', it claims there are "65 refugee colonies, 28 in Muzaffarnagar and 37 in Shamli, housing 29,328 residents". "Mostly self-settled, these colonies are very poorly provisioned without even elementary public services, and the internally-displaced persons lack basic entitlements, like drinking water and sanitation," says Harsh Mander of Aman Biradari. At a press conference here, Mander and one of the co- authors Akram Akhtar Chaudhary, released the report of their survey conducted by Aman Biradari and Afkar India. The report, in English and Hindi, would be officially released tomorrow in Lucknow and in Delhi on September 8, to mark the third anniversary of the Muzaffarnagar riots which started on September 7, 2013. "We wanted to understand the situation after the riots. So, we went there and saw the living conditions, and it was hellish. The survey was conducted in the last six months and we found that the government hasn't done anything substantial to alleviate their suffering," he alleged. Chaudhary, describing the situation in the refugee colonies, said, "people are dying of malaria and snake-bites." "In 2015-16 malaria has claimed lives of six children. Two children have died of snake bites. And, sanitation condition is appalling, while for accessing drinking water people are struggling," he claimed. "Meanwhile, seizing the opportunity to make windfall profits, local big farmers and real estate developers sold plots in hastily laid out colonies in Muslim majority villages, at exorbitant rates to displaced persons. "And, now many people, who have give money to developers, have been cheated by them," he alleged. Mander says, the confidence of survivors to return to homes was "further shaken" because of the "very low numbers" of arrests and convictions of the men accused of murder, rape, arson and looting. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Telangana government today said National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has agreed to extend a loan of Rs 7000 crore for 11 irrigation projects in the state. According to a statement issued by the government, T Harish Rao minister for Irrigation today met Union Ministers Uma Bharti, Nitin Gadkari, Radha Mohan and Nirmala Sitharaman in Delhi and apprised them of the issues related to the respective ministries. "NABARD has agreed to finance Rs 7000 crore for 11 ongoingirrigation projects. I sincerely thank the Central government for extending loan through NABARD, Harish Rao said in the statement. The loan is part of the Memorandum of Agreement signed between Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and NABARD for providing central assistance to 99 prioritised irrigation projects under Prime Minister Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY). The minister also raised with Bharti the state's water disputes with neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Communalism, cow vigilantism, casteism, superstition and Assam's perennial flood problems are some of the issues to be highlighted by various theatre groups at an upcoming inter-state drama festival here. The seven-day long 10th Annual Inter-State Brajanath Sharma Memorial Drama Festival, to be held during September 10-16, will have eight shows of seven plays by six different groups. It is being organised by Guwahati-based renowned amateur theatre group Samahar Natya Gosthee. As a special focus, this time two student groups -- 'Jumbish Arts' from Jawaharlal Nehru University and 'Saanko' from Gauhati University -- have been invited with their plays, Drama Festival Committee's President Lalit Sarma told a press conference here. "During the last nine years, this festival has become a very important and landmark cultural event of the state. Now, it is a big responsibility on our shoulder to make it a grand success every year," he added. 'Saanko' will present 'Mahajagya', written by eminent theatre personality Sitanath Lahkar and directed by Debashis Saikia, Sarma said. Written on the backdrop of the then prevailing situation before demolition of the Babri Masjid in the country, the play talks about the fragile communal fabric of the society and showcases how the ruling class, irrespective of religious orientations, exploits peoples' sentiment for their benefits by disturbing peace and unity in the society. 'Jumbish Arts' will perform 'Gaurakh Dhandha', written and directed by Satish Mukhtalif and based on Harishankar Parsai's satires. The play attempts to build a dialogue on various social issues and create space for social harmony. Another important play will be by the organiser 'Samahar', which will perform the maiden show of 'Charbak', written and directed by Sitanath Lahkar. The play is based on the character of Charbak, who denied existence of soul and its so-called assimilation with the 'supreme being' after death. "The royal drama beautifully presents arguments of both sides, believing and not believing the existence of soul. It also raises the burning issue of caste and untouchability that still prevail in our society," Sarma said. 'Pinak' from Barpeta will present its production 'Junj', which on the world's largest river island Majuli's worsening condition every year due to severe flood, showcasing how common people survive the floods. This famous play on flood problem is written by Sitanath Lahkar and directed by Utpal Kumar Das. Organiser 'Samahar' will perform another play 'Jugasandhi', written and directed by Sitanath Lahkar. This play is based on a traditional folk dance, Ojapali, which is fading into oblivion nowadays. Written by Rajeeb Lochan Bora and directed by Gunamoni Boruah, Tinsukia's Kakopathar-based 'Rongduli Sanskritik Kendra' will enact 'Dhulia Oja'. The musical play, telling the story of an 'Oja' of Bihu Dhol and peoples' rising apathy towards this art form, raises the pertinent question of survivability of such folk art practices. STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 5, ARTSAKHPRESS: That's according to a joint statement signed Monday by Russia's Energy Minister Alexander Novak and Saudi Arabia's Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid A. Al-Falih, TASS reported. In the statement, the ministers recognized "the current challenges in the supply side of the global oil market, including major contraction of capital investments in oil extraction on a global scale, particularly in exploration, as well as mass deferrals of investment projects, which made the market, as a whole, more volatile and therefore unsustainable to both producers and consumers in the long term," as well as "an imperative to mitigate excessive volatility harmful to global economic stability and growth." "In this regard, the ministers noted that constructive dialogue and close cooperation among major oil producing countries is crucial to oil market stability to ensure sustainable levels of investment for the long term. Therefore, the ministers agreed to act jointly or with other producers," the statement said. Also, "the ministers agreed to continue consultations on market conditions by establishing a joint monitoring task force to continuously review the oil market fundamentals and recommend measures and joint actions aimed at securing oil market stability and predictability," the document said. According to the statement, the first working group meeting will be held in October. The energy ministers of the two countries will meet in October in Algeria, and in November in Vienna. Tropical Storm Newton has grown into a as it rushed toward Mexico's popular northwest resorts of Los Cabos, two years after powerful Odile wreaked havoc in the region. The US National Centre (NHC) warned that "preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion" in parts of the Baja California peninsula and that Newton would make landfall on Tuesday. The Mexican government issued warnings for the west coast of the state of Baja California Sur as well as Cabo San Lucas in its southern tip, a favoured destination of American tourists. The Miami-based centre said the eye of the storm was located about 215 miles (350 kilometres) southeast of Cabo San Lucas, with top winds of 75 miles per hour. It was moving northwestward at 16 miles per hour. The hurricane is expected to be near or over the southern tip of the peninsula on Tuesday, US forecasters said. Newton was expected to pick up more steam before making landfall. "Winds are expected to first reach tropical storm strength by late tonight, making outside preparations difficult or dangerous," the NHC said in a 2100 GMT bulletin. The storm is expected to produce as much as 10 inches (25 centimetres) of rain in several Pacific coast states, which could trigger life-threatening flash floods and mudslides, the centre said. A "dangerous" storm surge was expected to cause significant coastal flooding, it added. Los Cabos was pummeled in September 2014 by Hurricane Odile, which left six people dead and millions of dollars in damage. The weather system already caused damage in the south over the weekend before it became a tropical storm, with heavy rains blamed for three deaths in the southern state of Chiapas. Floods and landslides damaged or affected some 70 homes and schools and trapped around 200 people in Acapulco, the resort in the southwestern state of Guerrero. Torrential rains that began Saturday morning caused 33 landslides on highways in Guerrero. Heavy rainfall trapped around 200 people in their housing complex, prompting air evacuations by police, marines and the army. While western Mexico was getting hammered with precipitation, the United States was spared the worst when Tropical Storm Hermine crashed ashore in Florida a hurricane at the time before moving out to sea. The hurricane centre warned that the post-tropical cyclone would cause a storm surge and tide that could flood normally dry areas in the northeastern United States. The Government has no intention of interfering in the functioning of Prasar Bharati and would create an enabling environment for better working of the public broadcaster, Information and Broadcasting minister Venkaiah Naidu said today. According to official sources, Naidu said this in a meeting where he took a detailed presentation on the issues and challenges being faced by the Prasar Bharati. "The Minister said the Government has the highest regard for the Board of Prasar Bharti and has no intention of interfering in the functioning of the Corporation and on the contrary would only like to create an enabling environment for better functioning of Prasar Bharati," an official said. Naidu assured Prasar Bharati that its efforts to overcome various bottlenecks would be adequately supported by the I&B Ministry. The I&B minister also expressed concern that many cable operators have not been carrying the mandatory Doordarshan channels on their networks and suggested setting up of suitable monitoring mechanisms. Minister of State for I&B Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Prasar Bharati Chairman A Surya Prakash, CEO Jawhar Sircar and members of the board that runs the public broadcaster also attended the 90 minute long presentation. It is learnt that after Sircar made the presentation, Naidu urged officials of the I&B Ministry and Prasar Bharati to resolve various issues like shortage of manpower and resources at the earliest as per the provisions of the Prasar Bharati Act. Naidu also stressed on the need to improve the content and quality of production so as to increase the viewership. Sources said that Naidu in the meeting also mentioned that some unwanted speculative reports had appeared in the media about Prasar Bharati. He emphasised that due processes would be followed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A top aide of President Barack Obama said today he will meet with the wife of a missing Laotian activist, whose case has been repeatedly highlighted by human rights groups as an example of authoritarian excesses of Laos' one-party Communist government. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters he will meet with Shui Meng Ng on Thursday while Obama is visiting Laos. The president arrived yesterday to attend a regional summit. Human rights activists were hoping that Obama would speak about Ng's husband, Sombath Somphone, who was picked up apparently by security forces on December 15, 2012. He has not been seen since. Obama has not mentioned him so far in his public remarks, but Rhodes said that "we care very deeply about her case and her husband, and we believe she deserves to know what happened to her husband." He said he also met Ng during a recent visit to Laos, and planned to stay in "regular contact" with her. Rhodes said the Laotian government has told the US the same thing it tells Sombath's wife - that it's looking into his disappearance. "Oftentimes, they indicate that they do not know, and that there's an ongoing investigation," Rhodes said. He said that typically, Obama addresses human rights issues with foreign leaders more broadly, and lets his staff raise specific cases with their counterparts. Sombath's disappearance was captured on a traffic video camera, in which he is seen being stopped at a police outpost in Vientiane and asked to step out of his Jeep, according to Amnesty International. Within a few minutes a man on a motorcycle arrives, drives away Sombath's vehicle, and a pickup truck takes Sombath away with armed people on a motorcycle leading the way. The passenger on the motorcycle fires a gunshot into the air, Amnesty International said. The human rights group said it believes the authorities are either directly responsible for his disappearance, or have simply failed to take steps to find out what happened to him. "President Obama and world leaders gathering in Laos need to demand answers and accountability from their Lao government hosts on the case of disappeared NGO leader Sombath Somphone. The message has to be clear that the cover up has to end, Sombath needs to be found, and that no other outcome is acceptable," Phil Robertson, deputy director for Asia at Human Rights Watch, said today. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President called off a planned meeting on Tuesday with new Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, seeking distance from a US ally's leader during a diplomatic tour that's put Obama in close quarters with a cast of contentious world figures. It's unusual for one president to tell another what to say or not say, and much rarer to call the other a "son of a bitch." Duterte managed to do both just before flying to Laos for a regional summit, warning Obama not to challenge him over extrajudicial killings in the Philippines. "Clearly, he's a colourful guy," Obama said. "What I've instructed my team to do is talk to their Philippine counterparts to find out is this in fact a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations." Early today, National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said the meeting with Duterte was off. Duterte has been under intense global scrutiny over the more than 2,000 suspected drug dealers and users killed since he took office. Obama had said he planned to raise the issue in his first meeting with Duterte, but the Philippine leader insisted he was only listening to his own country's people. "You must be respectful," Duterte said of Obama. "Do not just throw questions." Using the Tagalog phrase for "son of a bitch," he said, "Putang ina I will swear at you in that forum." He made the comment to reporters in Manilla. Eager to show he wouldn't yield, Obama said he would "undoubtedly" still bring up human rights and due process concerns "if and when" the two do meet. The bizarre rift with the leader of a US treaty ally was the most glaring example of how Obama has frequently found himself bound to foreign countries and leaders whose ties to the US are critical even if their values sharply diverge. In Hangzhou this week, Obama's first stop in Asia, he heaped praise on Chinese President Xi Jinping for hosting the Group of 20 economic summit in his country, an authoritarian state long accused of human rights violations. His next stop was another one-party communist country with a dismal rights record: Laos, where mysterious disappearances have fuelled concerns about a government crackdown. And sitting down with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Obama made no mention in public of the roughly 35,000 people Erdogan's government detained following the summer's failed coup in Turkey. Instead, he worked to reassure the NATO ally the US would help bring to justice whoever was responsible for plotting the coup. Obama also spent about 90 minutes yesterday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, another leader whose fate seems intertwined with Obama's in all the wrong ways. On opposing sides of many global issues, the US and Russia are nonetheless trying to broker a deal to address the Syrian civil war and perhaps even partner militarily there. US President warned North Korea's government on Tuesday that provocative weapons tests would deepen the country's isolation. "Today I'll be meeting with (South Korean) President Park (Geun-hye) to reaffirm our unbreakable alliance and to insist that the community remains united so that North Korea understands its provocations will only continue to deepen its isolation," Obama said at a regional leaders' summit in Laos. North Korea yesterday test-fired three ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan, a new show of force as Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other world leaders met at the G20 summit in China. North Korea has conducted a series of missile tests this year in defiance of UN sanctions imposed after its fourth nuclear test in January. The UN Security Council was due to meet on Tuesday to discuss the latest missile test, which attracted condemnation from Japan and the United States. Obama and Park were due to meet on Tuesday afternoon in the Lao capital of Vientiane on the sidelines of a gathering of regional leaders hosted by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. A Pakistani court today lifted the ban on the controversial movie "Maalik" that annoyed the government for projecting politicians in poor light and glorifying the military. The Sindh High Court declared the federal government's ban on film "Maalik" illegal and said it could be screened in the country. The nationwide ban was imposed on "Maalik" by the government on April 8. At the time of the ban, the film had been running in cinema houses for two weeks and doing good business. The film focused on the corrupt practices and abuse of power by politicians. The film made by Ashir Azeem also highlighted the role of the military and security agencies against the corrupt system. Azeem had challenged the ban in court saying only the censor board could take such an action. 'Maalik' shows the struggle of a man in Pakistan's elite Special Forces whose life gets entangled with politics. Extensive military hardware were used in the film including multiple helicopters MI-17 and MI-35 Gunships, T-55 Tanks and C-130 Hercules aircraft. Pakistan's Special Forces has provided extensive support including advanced weapons, ammunition and training to the cast and crew. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) People living in glass houses should not be throwing stones at others, the Indian envoy in Pakistan has said as he described Kashmir as an internal matter of India. Answering questions on the Kashmir issue and the recent statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Balochistan, Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan Gautam Bambawale said there are problems in both India and Pakistan. He said people living in glass houses should not be throwing stones at others. Calling Kashmir an internal matter of India, he said, "There are problems in both India and Pakistan and you [Pakistan] should focus on resolving your problems before looking into the problems of other countries." About the statement made by Modi, the envoy said, "The Prime Minister, in his August 15 independence day speech, only referred to the letters he had received." Bambawale was speaking at an interactive session organised by the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations yesterday. He said the Indian government had been saying: "Let's work together to get to the bottom of terrorism which is a headache not only for Pakistan, but for India and the world." Bombawale said the two countries should not be talking on just one issue, but on all issues. When asked whether Modi will visit Pakistan to attend the SAARC regional summit in November, Bambawale said, "Prime Minister Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the SAARC summit". He said that even while tensions were high between the two nations, there had been contacts at the operational level, The Dawn reported. Over the past one-and-a-half month, there had been "cordial" interactions between Pakistani and Indian border forces. Several meetings of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) had also been held. Bambawale also called for greater trade ties between Pakistan and India and said political issues will take time to resolve. He said that Pakistan should also grant India the Most-Favoured Nation status. "There should be more participation in trade fairs and more Pakistani trade delegations should visit India," he added. "There is no option but to do it step by step," he said. The Indian envoy said the road to normalisation of ties between the two countries lies through greater trade and business. The roadmap in this regard was prepared by the two governments in 2012 could be unveiled soon. The total trade between the two countries was worth just USD 2.5 billion a year, whereas its potential was of USD 20 billion, he said. "There is a great potential that needs to be tapped." According to reports in the leading Pakistani newspapers, he said that political issues take time to resolve but the two countries can take up smaller matters and move forward. Bambawale pointed out that India had boundary issues with China but decided to build on other relationships and today China is one of India's biggest trade partners. "We should start by grabbing the low hanging fruit." When asked about Kulbushan Yadav, the alleged RAW agent arrested in Balochistan earlier this year, Bambawale said New Delhi has been very clear on the matter. "After the arrest was made we said he [Yadav] was an Indian national but does not work for any government organisation," he said. "We asked for consular access to Yadav, but our request was turned down by Pakistan. "We have arrested in Jammu and Kashmir a Pakistani, Bahadur Ali, who has confessed that he received training of terrorism in Pakistan. We have offered Pakistani authorities full consular access to him," he said. On the question that India was trying to sabotage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said India will not derail any process that is for the betterment of Pakistan. He said India wanted a prosperous and stable Pakistan. The way forward for the two countries is to move in a direction where mutual trust could be increased because it is something which had been lacking for the past several years, he said. Bambawale also said he knew that the visa process for Pakistanis to visit India was intricate. However, about 100,000 people had applied and 90,000 had been awarded the visas last year. People-to-people relations must go on, he said. The Pakistani police are recommending that the ex-husband and the father of a British woman who was killed while on a family visit to Pakistan be tried on rape and murder charges, according to a report. The report, shared exclusively with The Associated Press and followed a weeks-long police inquiry, describes the killing of 28-year-old Samia Shahid as a "premeditated, cold-blooded murder." The case is suspected to be the latest reported incident of so-called "honor killings." Nearly 1,000 women are murdered in Pakistan each year for violating conservative norms on love, marriage and public behaviour. Shahid's father and ex-husband were arrested last month but have not been formally charged. The 28-year-old beautician of Pakistani origin was found dead in July in eastern Pakistan where her family buried her after declaring that she had died of a heart attack. Shahid's second husband, Mukhtar Kazim, had raised the alarm, which resulted in the arrests and the subsequent inquiry. Kazim claims his wife was lured back by her family to visit Pakistan under the pretext of her father's illness. The father and the ex-husband appeared in a court yesterday in the eastern Pakistani city of Jhelum, after the police investigation was completed, and were ordered held for 14 days pending charges and trial. The Pakistani police report concluded that Shahid was strangled to death. It says that Shahid's father, Muhammad Shahid, stood guard while her ex-husband, Muhammad Shakeel, raped her. After that, they killed her together. The report also is seeking the extradition of Shahid's mother, Imtiaz Bibi, and sister Madiha Shahid from the UK, both British nationals. Police Deputy Inspector General Abu Bakar Khuda Bux, the chief investigator in the case, said the evidence was strong. Forensic and DNA tests confirmed the rape by the ex-husband, who apparently had never accepted that Shahid divorced him, he said. "The result indicated a perfect match, thereby establishing that the victim was raped by accused Shakeel before she was murdered," the report said. Shahid married her first husband in February 2012 but stayed only briefly in Pakistan before returning to England where she obtained a divorce two years later. After that, she married her second husband and moved with him to Dubai where Kazim works. In 2015, the report said, Kazim said there were indications that he and his wife could be reconciled with her parents and family. Earlier this summer, Shahid's mother and younger sister got her to agree to come for a week-long visit to Pakistan, claiming her father was gravely ill, but Kazim reported that his wife was apprehensive about the trip. The police inquiry found that Shahid had sent a text message to one of her friends, saying: "Pray I come back alive." During her trip, the family and the ex-husband unsuccessfully tried to persuade Shahid to leave Kazim, the police report says. A day before her scheduled flight back to Dubai they went ahead with their plan to kill her, the report says and describes the killing in great detail, including that it was her husband who strangled Shahid with her scarf while the father held her legs. Shahid's case surfaced less than two weeks after taboo-defying Pakistani social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch was strangled by her brother for posting racy photographs that were deemed shameful in Pakistan. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte expressed regret today over his "son of a bitch" remark while referring to President Barack Obama, in a rare display of contrition by a politician whose wide arc of profanities has unabashedly targeted world figures including the pope and the UN chief. In a statement read out by his spokesman, Duterte said that while his "strong comments" in response to certain questions by a reporter "elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the US president." Duterte had made the intemperate remarks Monday before flying to Laos, where he is attending a regional summit. He had been scheduled to meet Obama separately, but Obama indicated he had second thoughts. Today, Duterte said both sides mutually agreed to postpone the meeting. Even though Duterte's latest comment does not amount to an apology, the expression of regret is unusual for the tough-talking former mayor, who is unapologetic about his manner of speech and liberally peppers his casual statements with profanities such as "son of a bitch" and "son of a whore." But perhaps Duterte's aides realized it would be unwise to take on the most powerful official in the world, and there would be a price to pay for insulting the president of the United States. The US is one of the Philippines' largest trading partners and a key security ally in its fight against terrorism in the country's south. Manila also needs Washington's help in dealing with a more assertive China in the disputed South China Sea. Duterte likely had realised his folly by the time he arrived in the Laotian capital of Vientiane last night. Speaking to reporters here, he said, "I do not want to quarrel with the most powerful country on the planet," but immediately took his typical combative approach by saying: "Washington has been so liberal about criticising human rights, human rights and human rights." He said if the White House had problems with him, it could have sent him a diplomatic note and let him respond. "There's a protocol for that," Duterte said. "You just cannot shoot a statement against the president of any country." But by Tuesday, he had done a complete U-turn in the tone of his statement. "We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions, and working in mutually responsible ways for both countries," the statement said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) On the eve of his visit to Laos to attend ASEAN and East Asia Summits, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tonight said India wishes to enhance physical and digital connectivity with the South East Asian nations and leverage the modern interconnected world for the mutual benefit. "ASEAN is a key partner for our 'Act East' policy, which is vital for the economic development of our Northeastern region, he said in a statement ahead of his two-day visit that begins tomorrow. In Vientiane, the capital of Laos, Modi will attend the 14th ASEAN-India Summit and the 11th East Asia Summit. "Our strategic partnership with ASEAN is also important for safeguarding and promoting our security interests and countering traditional and non-traditional security challenges in the region," he wrote in a Facebook post. He added that East Asia Summit is the premier forum for discussions on the challenges and opportunities before the Asia Pacific region. Noting that India's ties with the countries of South East Asia are "truly historic", he said, "our engagement and approach can be best encapsulated in just one word - connectivity." "We wish to enhance our physical and digital connectivity; to see greater people to people links; to strengthen our institutional linkages; and, to leverage the modern interconnected world for the mutual benefit of all our people," the Prime Minister said. During the visit, he said he will also have the opportunity to interact with the leaders of participating countries to discuss bilateral issues of mutual concern. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After the four-day intensive fighting along the Line of Contact in April, the Nagorno-Karabakh army has considerably enriched its arsenal to hit back possible attacks by the adversary, the countrys defense minister in a televised interview on Sunday, Tert.am reports. September 5, 2016, 16:36 Nagorno-Karabakh army technically efficient to hit back adversary - minister STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 5, ARTSAKHPRESS: Speaking at the recent weekly broadcast R-Evolution (aired by Armenia TV), Levon Mnatsakanyan gave his assurances over their militarys capability to resist any offensive. He the Ministry fulfilled its tasks to the full during the fighting. Heaven forbid, if operations of the kind resume, the Defense Ministry will be capable of fulfilling the tasks set. I have said on one occasion that apart from defensive operations, there are also other kinds of operations that will force the adversary to give up its plans. I give my assurances that the Defense Army has enough power and means to fulfill any task, he added. Elaborating further, the minister added that the Armenian side possesses the required quantity of offensive weapons and anti-drone vehicles to fire back Azerbaijan when necessary. Our capacity and potential will allow us to have a technical military progress in the armed forces and the Defense Army also in future, Mnatsakanyan said. Maritime security, terrorism, economic and socio-cultural cooperation will be on the agenda of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 14th ASEAN-India Summit and the 11th East Asia Summit here in the Laotian capital. Bilateral meetings with fellow world leaders to discuss key issues are also included in the schedule of Prime Minister Modi, who arrives here tomorrow to attend the two Summits - both of which are scheduled for Thursday. The Summits will be attended by Heads of State/Government of the 10 ASEAN and 18 East Asia Summit Participating Countries respectively. At the East Asia Summit, leaders will discuss matters of regional and international interests including maritime security, terrorism, non-proliferation and migration. The Summit comes at a time when China is flexing its muscle to tighten its grip over the disputed South China Sea. China is involved in a raging dispute with the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei over ownership of territory in the SCS, a busy waterway through which India's 50 per cent trade passes. China has also objected in the past to India's Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) undertaking exploration at the invitation of Vietnam in the SCS, which is believed to be rich in undersea deposits of oil and gas. India and the US have been calling for freedom of passage in the international waters, much to the discomfort to Beijing, whose claim over SCS was recently struck down by an international tribunal in favour of the Philippines. On the sidelines of the Summits, the prime minister will also hold bilateral meetings with several world leaders. India's engagement with the ASEAN and wider Asia-Pacific region has acquired further momentum following the enunciation of the Act-East Policy by Modi at the 12th ASEAN-India Summit and 9th East Asia Summit in Myanmar in November 2014. 2017 will mark 25 years of India's dialogue partnership with ASEAN, and several commemorative activities will also be announced by Modi to celebrate the occasion. ASEAN is a strategic partner of India since 2012. India and ASEAN have 30 dialogue mechanisms which meet regularly, including a Summit and 7 Ministerial meetings in Foreign Affairs, Commerce, Tourism, Agriculture, Environment, Renewable Energy and Telecommunications. Trade between India and ASEAN stood at USD 65.04 billion in 2015-16 and comprises 10.12 per cent of India's total trade with the world. The ASEAN-India economic integration process has got a fillip with the creation of the ASEAN-India Free Trade Area in July 2015, following the entry of the ASEAN-India Trade in Services and Investment Agreements. The East Asia Summit is an exclusive club of leaders-led forum in the Asia-Pacific. Since its inception in 2005, it has played a significant role in the strategic, geopolitical and economic evolution of East Asia. Apart from the 10 ASEAN member states, East Asia Summit includes India, China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Russia. India is a founding member of the East Asia Summit. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Delhi Police conducted raids at brothels in GB Road here. After the Crime Branch arrested a couple and six others for running the biggest trafficking and prostitution racket in the area last week,the district police conducted raids at various brothels last evening, police sources said. Delhi Police Crime Branch had slapped the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against those who were arrested, the first such case in GB Road. It was revealed that the girls who were pushed into prostitution were kept in bad state. They were starved,locked in while their family members kept searching for them,Ravindra Yadav,joint commissioner of police (Crime), had said. Currently the Crime Branch is making efforts to find places apart from GB Road from where the racket was being operated from, said a senior police officer. In this regard,they recovered a car,three licenced weapons that were used to threaten girls. The police also found a hostel in Okhla from where the racket was being run,added the officer. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Leaders of various political parties in Jammu and Kashmir must come forward and give their support to bring normalcy in the Valley, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad appealed today. He asserted that the Modi-led NDA government will do everything possible to restore peace in the Kashmir region. Alleging that Pakistan was trying to create unrest, Prasad said,"The NDA government will not let Pakistan sponsor or promote terrorism grow in the region. It will crush any attempts made by it." Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has been touring the affected region. He is trying to hold talks with various stakeholders and come up with a solution to end the turbulence in Kashmir, he said. Taking potshot at Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi's 2500 km Kisan Yatra from Deoria in UP to Delhi, he said Rahul Gandhi should know that the country is changing under NDA and he should give up reading speeches written by others. He advised Gandhi to take his own decisions and not depend on policy makers in his party (Congress). "Gandhi, in his yatra is "crying" that the NDA has done nothing for betterment of farmers. He must remember that the NDA has come up with the Fasal Bima Yojana (crop insurance scheme) and the Soil Health Card among others," he said. Commenting on thePresident's and the PM's call to hold Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections together, he appealed the Election Commission to be proactive and have every party's consensus on the matter. Prasad dedicated Wi-Fi services to five villages in Varanasi and launched schemes under Digital India. He addressed village entrepreneurs of Common Services Centres here in BHU's Swatantrata Bhavan. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A postman has been booked for selling an entire day's mails to a newspaper vendor instead of delivering them to citizens, police said today. Postman Vasant Dunda Vishe from Mugaon of Sahapur sold four bags containing mails of September 3 to a newspaper vendor Suleman Hamid Ullah Khan of Shenva, also from the same taluka, said Sachin Saste, API Khinavali police station. The duo has been booked under sections 406, 409 and 34 of the IPC and also section 52 of the Indian Postal Act of 1898, the officer said. While Khan has been arrested, an enquiry launched by the postal department against the accused is also on, he said. The department started the enquiry after people complained of non receipt of their mails. The bags containing the mails were of Katemanivali post office of Kalyan. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A special women's court here today convicted 26-year-old Ankur Lal Panwar of murdering Delhi native Preeti Rathi in 2013 by throwing acid at her after he allegedly grew jealous of the nurse who had come to Mumbai to pursue a career in a defence hospital. Special judge A S Shende convicted Panwar under Sections 302 (murder) and 326 B (Voluntarily throwing acid) of the IPC. The court is likely to hear arguments on the quantum of sentence tomorrow. Rathi, then 24, had died of multiple organ failure after Panwar threw acid on her on May 2, 2013 at the Bandra railway station here. Rathi, who had come to Mumbai join as nurse in a defence hospital, succumbed to her injuries at a private hospital here on June 1, 2013. Panwar was Rathi's neighbour in Bhakra Beas Management Board Colony in Delhi. Mumbai police filed a 1332-page charge sheet against Panwar in April 2014 and also submitted a list of 98 witnesses after he was arrested from the national capital in January. As per the charge sheet, Panwar, a hotel management graduate, threw concentrated sulfuric acid on Preeti at Bandra station here, as he was jealous of her career growth. According to police, Rathi had secured a nursing job with the Ministry of Defence at the INHS Ashvini Hospital. Also, Panwar's parents often told him about his failure to get a job despite completing his education and would praise Preeti, who landed the job at the Navy hospital in Colaba. Panwar wanted to disfigure her face so as to destroy her career. He procured the acid on April 2 and boarded the same train taken by Preeti and her family to Mumbai. Outside the court today, Panwar's mother Kailash demanded a CBI inquiry claiming her son had been falsely implicated. "We have been implicated just because we are poor. I want a CBI inquiry into the case," she said. Rathi's father Amar Singh Rathi hoped Panwar would get capital punishment. "It took three years for us to get justice but I am happy that it has been finally delivered. I hope he gets death sentence," he said. Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said 37 witnesses had been examined in the case, including 11 doctors and five eyewitnesses. Panwar allegedly flung the bottle of acid on Preeti when she got down from Garib Rath Express at the Bandra Terminus and took the same train back home. The gruesome incident had set the local police on a wild goose chase as Panwar had covered his face at the time of the attack. The Railway Police, which initially probed the case, had arrested another neighbour of Rathi, Pawankumar Gahalon, but set him free as there was no evidence against him. Later, based on a Bombay High Court direction, the case was handed over to Mumbai Crime Branch, whose investigation led to Panwar and arrested him. "I myself gave an affidavit for Gahalon to the police saying that he has nothing to do with the crime after I was convinced that he had no role in the crime," Rathi's father said today. He said after Panwar's arrest, he had gone to the Crime Branch where the accused confessed about the whole incident. An 81-year-old prominent Bangladeshi-British editor was today released on bail on medical grounds, nearly five months after his arrest for allegedly plotting the murder of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's son. Shafik Rehman, a former editor of vernacular daily 'Jay Jay Din', was arrested from his Dhaka residence on April 16 in the case filed in August last year. He was arrested in a case filed in connection with his alleged involvement in a plot to abduct and murder Hasina's son Sajeeb Wazed Joy. Detectives claim to have found some confidential documents regarding Joy from Rehman's residence. Rehman, a former speechwriter for Khaleda Zia, the main opposition leader and the premier's arch rival, was released from Kashimpur jail on health grounds, days after the Supreme Court granted him bail. "He needs intensive care. We will admit him to Ibrahim Cardiac Hospital in Shahbagh," said Sajib Onafis, Rehman's family friend. His bail will expire in three months or when police submit an investigation report, Dhaka Tribune reported. On August 16, The Independent published a report quoting Rehman's son Shumit as saying he did not expect his father to live to "see the year out". The report said that both Rehman and his wife were becoming physically ill because of the stress of his detention. Noted for his satirical columns, Rehman will have to surrender his passport precluding any possibility of foreign travel during his bail. On July 17, the Supreme Court allowed the journalist to file an appeal against the High Court order that rejected his bail petition in the case. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Delhi Youth Congress activists today staged a demonstration outside Aam Aadmi Party office here to protest against AAP leader Ashutosh's controversial remarks against Mahatma Gandhi and other leaders of the nation. The protest is against the "senseless and illegitimate remarks" made by Ashutosh with regard to the father of the nation, former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, socialist stalwart Ram Manohar Lohia, among others, said Delhi Youth Congress president Amit Malik. "Ashutosh cannot repent his grave mistake by over-reacting and seeking cover under the garb of freedom of expression, rather he should pay a visit to Rajghat and seek forgiveness from that great person who sacrificed his life for this country," Malik said. Scores of Youth Congress protesters raised slogans against AAP and its spokesperson Ashutosh as they marched on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg from Congress office to AAP office on the same road. The protesters distributed autobiographies of Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru at AAP office as a symbolic protest against Ashutosh's remarks in a controversial blog in which he supported expelled party MLA Sandeep Kumar, who has been arrested on rape charge, drawing parallels with Gandhi and Nehru, among others. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) : Chief Minister V Narayanasamy today announced that the monsoon session of the assembly will be held in Karaikal as per the request of members of various political parties. Replying to members' views on the departments, including Legislature, Police, Medical, Information and Publicity and Elections in the Assembly today, he welcomedthe plea by members, including Geetha Anandan (DMK) representing Neravy T R Pattinam in Karaikal and the opposition AIADMK legislator A Anbalagan to hold the monsoon session in Karaikal. After getting the nod of the Speaker V Vaithilingam, he announced amidst thumping of desks by members that the session (October or November) would be held in Karaikal. Narayanasamy said that government had sought sought Rs 500 crores for the new premises of the Assembly from the Centre. The government was also considering a proposal to hike the monthly pension now paid at Rs 10,000 to each former legislator of Puducherry to Rs 35,000, he said. He claimed that tradersand business community now have security to carry on businesses,consequent to steps taken to protect them, compared to the past, when they were threatened by anti social elements and rowdy elements. Narayanasamy said government had set a target of Rs 1,600 crore as revenue 2016-17 fiscal under commercial tax. Steps were taken to realise as much as Rs 269 crore due as arrearsunder sales taxfrom petrol and diesel dealers and liquor dealers in the Union Territory, he said. A new industrial policy would be unveiled soon Modernisation of police had been given priority and they would be extended ration and risk allowances. As cyber cell in the police called for special attention, police officers attached to the cell would be trained in Chennai and New Delhi, Narayanasamy said. He said administrative reforms would be introduced soon to prevent red tapism. Sufficient fundshad been earmarked by the Centre for e governance, which would be implemented soon. Health and Tourism Minister Malladi Krishnan who gave replies relating to his departments said the now defunct airport here would be revived by operating flight services from Puducherry to Bangalore and from here to Tirupati. (Rao told PTI that government would soon decide the flight operator as many concerns had expressed interest to operate services). He said he would persuade Tourism Ministry officials at Delhi tomorrow to release Rs 200 crore for development project projects here, though though Rs 85 crore had already been available for tourism development projects here. He said government would soon purchasefour state of the art ambulances,each costing Rs 46 lakh. Each of the four regions of Puducherry,Karaikal Mahe and Yanam would get one vehicle, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Russian President Vladimir Putin today laid roses at the grave of late Uzbek leader Islam Karimov, whose death last week after 27 years in charge sparked fears of instability in the Central Asian nation. Footage broadcast by Russian state television showed Putin kneeling at Karimov's flower-covered grave in the historic city of Samarkand after he made a detour to ex-Soviet Uzbekistan on his way home from the G20 summit in China. Putin also held talks with Uzbek Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev, in a further sign that he is the frontrunner to replace Karimov, who was announced dead at 78 on Friday after a stroke with no clear successor. Long lambasted by rights groups for brutally crushing dissent, Karimov portrayed himself as a bulwark against radical Islam on the border of Afghanistan and played off Russia, the West and China against each other. But the Russian leader praised Karimov for maintaining "stability" and said Russia would "do everything to support the Uzbek people and the Uzbek leadership." "You can count on us fully, as you can on your most faithful friends," Putin said, according to Interfax agency. Mirziyoyev -- a Karimov loyalist known as a tough-guy enforcer -- told Putin that Uzbekistan's ties with Russia were "completely strategic" and that Tashkent would look to "continue to develop" them, Interfax said. "Your visit today says a lot and we are very grateful to you," Mirziyoyev told Putin, calling it the "shoulder of a real friend" during a "difficult time". Footage also showed Putin greeting Karimov's black-clad widow Tatyana and younger daughter Lola inside a marble-lined hall before bowing his head in front of a large portrait of the deceased president. Karimov was one of the Communist Party bosses who managed to cling to power after the collapse of the Soviet Union, crushing Islamist groups at home as he imposed his iron-fisted rule. During his time at the helm, he kept the cotton-rich nation of 32 million balanced between Moscow and the West, at one stage hosting a US base for its operation in neighbouring Afghanistan. Analysts say that Moscow is keen to see an orderly transfer of power in the impoverished country given fears of the threat from jihadists close to its southern flank and could be hoping to exert more influence over Uzbekistan. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Opposition DMK in Tamil Nadu today said the quantum of water release as directed by Supreme Court from Cauvery River was "not enough" and urged the AIADMK government to spell out its next course of action in this issue involving neighbouring Karnataka. "The Supreme Court order directing 15,000 cusecs for 10 days is certainly not enough for samba crops," DMK President M Karunanidhi said in response to the apex court's order yesterday. In its interim order on Tamil Nadu's plea seeking 50.52 tmc feet of Cauvery water from Karnataka to save 40,000 acres of samba crops, the court had asked the upper riparian state to release 15,000 cusecs daily for the next 10 days to its neighbour. The court had also directed Tamil Nadu to approach the Supervisory Committee within three days for release of Cauvery water as per Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal's final order. Various farmers' bodies in the state have voiced concern over the quantum and demanded that the state government move a review petition in the apex court, seeking additional water, Karunanidhi said. "According to the Supreme Court order, only 13 tmc feet of water will be available for Tamil Nadu. But 200 tmc feet of water is required to cover the entire cultivation of 25 lakh acres," he said in a statement. Soon after the court order, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had announced convening an all-party meeting today while the Tamil Nadu government has "not clarified" what it proposed to do next, he said. "Everybody knows that the 13 tmc feet water as directed by the Supreme Court is not at all enough. What are they (government) going to decide on that? Will they file a review petition as sought by farmers' bodies or get a strong order from Centre on constituting of the Cauvery Management Board and the Cauvery Regulatory Committee?," Karunanidhi asked. "Will they get an order for securing at least 50 tmc feet of water from Karnataka or will they lead an all-party delegation to the Prime Minister to exert pressure" on the matter? he asked. Everybody was "keen" to know the response of the AIADMK government, he added. On the apex court also directing Tamil Nadu to approach the Supervisory Committee, Karunanidhi said it had "no authority nor any legal recognition." "This committee has no authority to control any state. This committee itself is a futile effort and we have already said this," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An Armenian delegation led by Vice-Speaker of Armenias Parliament Eduard Sharmazanov, who were on a working visit to Argentine, had a meeting on Monday with Argentine State Secretary for Human Rights Claudio Avruj, Tert.am reports. September 6, 2016, 12:28 In contrast to the Azerbaijani khanate, Nagorno-Karabakh is building a democratic state Eduard Sharmazanov STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 6, ARTSAKHPRESS: The sides highlighted establishments of strong bilateral contacts and a need to fully use the available potential to achieve tangible results. Mr Sharmazanov informed Mr Avruj of the current situation in the South Caucasus and stressed Armenia is a champion of regional peace and stability. Turkey not only continues its policy of denying the Armenian Genocide, but has also for two decades been blockading Armenian in defiance of international law. It is only by means of our joint struggle against Turkeys policy of denial that can prevent new genocides. International recognition of the Armenian Genocide is nothing but a struggle for protection of panhuman values, Mr Sharmazanov said. Speaking of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Mr Sharmazanor pointed out that independent Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh] is an accomplished fact. In contrast to the Azerbaijani khanate, Nagorno-Karabakh is building a democratic state. It is Turkey and Azerbaijan that are major threats to regional security. Mr Sharmazanov also spoke Azerbaijans anti-Armenian policy, with numerous manifestations of xenophobia. He also condemned Azerbaijan-committed cultural genocide, with the destruction of the Juga cemetery in Nakhichevan being glaring evidence thereof. Kick-starting his 2500 km-long Kisan Yatra in a bid to capture power in the politically important state of UP, Congress Vice-President today met farmers, promising loan waiver and reduction in power tariff by 50 per cent if voted to power in the 2017 Assembly polls. The 'Deoria to Dilli yatra' is part of the Congress campaign to end its 27-year exile from power in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress leader reached here around 10.45 am by chopper and started knocking at the doors of farmers. In a tweet, Gandhi requested the people to join Congress in this 'yatra' as he and his party are fighting for the rights of farmers, labourers and the poor. "Door to door campaign begins from village Pachladi. Met farmers, & collected Kisan Maang Patras outlining their demands," he said in another tweet. Accompanied by party colleague and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, the 46-year-old Congress leader visited houses of farmers and collected 'Kisan Mangpatras' (charters of farmers demands) and interacted with them one-to-one as part of his "Khaat Sabha". "..Rahul ji came here and listened to us patiently. He collected details of my outstanding loan and also noted down my mobile number. He assured me that if Congress comes to power in the state, then his party will waive off farmers' loans and slash power tariff by 50 per cent," Om Prakash Singh, a farmer, told PTI. The Gandhi scion also spoke to "our family members, especially children and asked about their studies and future plans," another farmer said. However, chaos was reported at the sabha. See the video here. A 59-year-old Rajasthan government engineer posted at Jodhpur House here was today booked for raping a minor girl at his official residence. The accused serving as an executive engineer with PWD of Rajasthan government allegedly raped the girl at his official accommodation behind Jodhpur House last evening, said a senior police officer. The accused lived alone at his house in Delhi while his family stayed back in Rajasthan. The victim, a domestic maid who has alleged that she was raped by the official at his residence on Monday evening narrated the whole incident to her cousin. Later, she was taken to Tughlaq Road police station by her brother to file a case against the accused. She was sent for medical examination by the police and investigation was taken up. No arrest has been made so far, added the officer. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Gujarat Information Commission has asked the state government to release its inquiry report on the killing of three Dalit youths in police firing at Thangadh in Surendranagar district in 2012. The Commission rejected the government's contention that the report cannot be released before it is submitted to the state Assembly. In its order, Information Commissioner V S Gadhvi said the release of the report, before its submission to the Assembly, does not breach the privilege of the House in any way. Gadhvi asked the government to take immediate steps on the release of the report and provide the same to the applicant. The application to this effect was moved by Dalit activist Kirit Rathod who is associated with city-based NGO Navsarjan Trust. Though the Commission passed this order on August 22, it was obtained by Rathod on September 3. The youths were allegedly killed on the intervening night of September 22-23, 2012 when police opened fire on a group of Dalits that had laid a siege to police station in Thangadh. They were protesting against the "police atrocity" following a clash between Dalits and Bharwad community members during the famed Tarnetar festival earlier that year. Then Chief Minister Narendra Modi had set up a one-man inquiry panel of then Principal Secretary (Social Justice and Empowerment) Sanjay Prasad to probe the killings. Meanwhile, Rathod alleged that the inquiry report, which was submitted to the state government in May 2013, was not made public because of indictment of some senior IPS officers whom the government wanted to shield. "We had filed an RTI application in June 2013 seeking a copy of the report. However, state Home Department refused it on the ground that its Special Branch which has the report is exempted from the purview of the RTI," Rathod said today. He claimed that first appeal made to the Information Commission was not heard upon, prompting him to go in for the second appeal. "We argued before the Commission that the matter pertains to human rights violation, and therefore the report cannot be held back by government. The IC then passed an interim order on November 7 last year asking Home Department to share whatever was possible from the report," Rathod said. However, Home Department did not share any part of the report on the grounds that it can cause a law and order problem and that releasing it is akin to the breach of privilege of Assembly since MLAs had sought tabling of the report in the House. The Department stated that it will share the report only after it is tabled in Assembly, prompting Rathod to move the Information Commission seeking final order on the matter. Nigerian intelligence agents have detained a journalist off an aircraft arriving from Dubai, over alleged links to Boko Haram and purported knowledge of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls, Nigerian media and a security agent reported. Sahara Reporters, an online site, quoted a passenger who was seated next to Ahmad Salkida as saying the Nigerian journalist was nervous on the flight and told her he expected to be arrested by Nigeria's intelligence agency, which knew his flight details because the Nigerian Embassy had denied him a passport and issued only an emergency travel document. The passenger said he was detained at the door of the aircraft after it landed in Abuja, the capital, from Dubai, where he lives in the United Arab Emirates, according to Sahara Reporters. A security agent at the airport confirmed that agents of the Department of State Security detained Salkida. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not supposed to talk to reporters. Nigeria's army spokesman Col Sani Kukasheka Usman declared Salkida a wanted man last month after the journalist posted online a video sent to him by Boko Haram. Usman did not immediately respond to requests for comment last night. It showed about 50 of 218 missing students kidnapped in April 2014 from northeastern Chibok town, with one girl begging the government to agree to a prisoner swap with detained Boko Haram leaders. The video included a masked Boko Haram fighter saying the government could use as an intermediary the journalist that the extremist group trusts. Salkida said then that he knew nothing of the whereabouts of the so-called "Chibok girls." Salkida, who was born in northeastern Borno state where Boko Haram began its Islamic uprising in 2009, has reported extensively on the extremist group as well as on Nigerian military abuses and corruption. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor Gaurav Arora says last year's reports claiming he dated "Dilwale" actress Kriti Sanon bothered him a lot as the speculation took away from the hardwork he was putting in, professionally. Even before he made his debut with "Love Games" earlier this year, Gaurav was in for his link-up with Kriti. The actor says the duo modelled together in their early days which made people speculate of an apparent relationship. "It was being written about again and again. Somewhere the constant speculation really did hurt, that I've done so much and now I am being talked about with regards to Kriti, or some other girl. We modelled together. That's how people think there was something going on," Gaurav told PTI. The 26-year-old actor says while he knew Kriti professionally, today he is not in touch with the "Heropanti" star as both of them are busy with their films. "Right now I am not even touch with her. I don't remember the last time I spoke to her. I got busy with my films, she must be busy with her stuff. There is no truth to any of these rumours at all." Gaurav feels while the speculations about love life might be flattering to some, he personally does not encourage it as it takes away from the efforts he put in to reach the industry. "I've just done two films and have had three link-up speculations so far. But the bad side is, it took me 10 years to get my first film. I've gone through a lot of hardwork, rejections. "When the film is coming up and people start talking about these things, it takes away from your hardwork. Personally, I don't like it because the attention shifts on your personal life." The actor will be next seen in "Raaz Reboot". The film is the fourth instalment in the "Raaz" horror-franchise. Directed by Vikram Bhatt, it also stars Emraan Hashmi and Kriti Kharbanda. "Raaz Reboot" is scheduled to release on September 16. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Russia today threatened to slap an extra criminal charge on a blogger who already faces up to five years in jail for filming himself playing Pokemon Go in a church. Ruslan Sokolovsky from the Urals city of Yekaterinburg has been charged with offending religious believers and inciting hatred, over a YouTube video that has been viewed more than one million times. Investigators today announced that a search of his home and office had turned up a "spy pen" for making covert recordings, for which he could face a further four-year jail term. The 21-year-old video blogger has been remanded in custody for two months and is appealing against his arrest. He filmed himself in Yekaterinburg's Church on the Blood, built on the spot where in 1918 the Bolsheviks shot the last tsar and his family. In the video posted on August 11, he zaps Pokemons on a smartphone in front of the altar and swears as well as comparing Jesus to a Pokemon. The case is making waves in Russia and has prompted comparisons with Pussy Riot punks, whose 2012 performance in a Moscow church led to two-year jail terms. Investigators have applied the harshest possible legal definition of Sokolovsky's actions using new tough legislation brought in after the Pussy Riot performance, which shocked many in the predominantly Orthodox Christian country. The Russian Orthodox Church is a powerful voice and is closely linked to the state authorities even while nominally separate, with clerics involved in education and the military. Blogger Sokolovsky, who creates videos voicing his atheist views and publishes a magazine called "Nothing Sacred", has refused to give testimony, citing his constitutional right, investigators said. Pro-Kremlin media has seized on the case. "A scandal is blowing up that has the potential to become a second Pussy Riot case," wrote Life website, saying Sokolovsky was "jeering at faith." Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Vladimir Legoida wrote on Facebook that Sokolovsky "was no chance passer-by" but "works in the style of Charlie Hebdo - that is deliberate provocation," referring to the French satirical weekly that has run cartoons of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed. Amnesty International has appealed for Russia to immediately release Sokolovsky, calling the charges against him "farcical." Several senior officials also called for Sokolovsky's release. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The personal secretary of sacked Delhi minister Sandeep Kumar was today questioned again by police in connection with the rape case filed against the latter. Sandeep, who is embroiled in a 'sex tape' scandal, has alleged that his personal secretary Praveen Kumar was "blackmailing" him and "threatening to destroy his public image". Police suspect that the "objectionable" video, which showed Sandeep in a compromising position with a woman, was leaked by Praveen. Praveen was yesterday detained by police for questioning from the Delhi Secretariat and was let off late last night. He was called again today. While Sandeep has claimed he was innocent and alleged that Praveen had "tried to blackmail" him, police have not been able to find strong clues pointing toward Praveen's role in the matter. Praveen has not been arrested as there is no incriminating evidence against him, said a senior police officer. Police are also concerned about the video going viral on the social media. "Since the victim has filed a rape case against the accused, police are worried about a possible threat to her," the officer said. Police may seek help from the Cyber Cell of the Economic Offences Wing to halt the spread of the video. The officer said: "The priority is finding the device which was used for making the video. After the device is seized, it will be sent for forensic examination along with the CD. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Communist Party of India (Marxist) veteran V S Achuthanandan on Tuesday appealed to the Centre to stop the proposed merger of the State Bank of Travancore (SBT) with banking behemoth State Bank of India (SBI). Taking into account views and wishes of the people of Kerala and the resolution adopted by the state assembly, the Union government must give up the merger plans and allow SBT to grow independently, he said at the inauguration of a 'Peoples Assembly', comprising customers, employees and shareholders under the auspices of 'Save SBT Forum' in Thiruvananthapuram. The Centre should rescind moves to merge SBT with SBI, the former chief minister said. Achuthanandan said SBT had played a pioneering role in the state's development in every sphere of productive activity like agriculture, small industry, trade and business and its role was commendable. "Mergers will lead to closure of branches thus curtailing services to the common people and loss of employment opportunities," he said. Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president V M Sudheeran and Save SBT Forum chairman Panniyan Ravindran, among others were present during the event. The assembly later adopted a resolution appealing to the central government to scrap SBT- merger in the interests of all stakeholders and the resolution adopted by the assembly. Britain's longest serving Indian- origin Labour MP Keith Vaz today resigned from his post as chair of the influential House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee in the wake of being embroiled in a sex scandal. The 59-year-old influential lawmaker has served as chair of the committee for over nine years but told its members at a meeting today he was "genuinely sorry" over recent events but added that "those who hold others to account must themselves be accountable". "It is in the best interest of the Home Affairs Select Committee that its important work can be conducted without any distractions whatsoever. I am genuinely sorry that recent events make it impossible for this to happen if I remain chair," he said in a statement. "Those who hold others to account must themselves be accountable... Itold the committee today of my decision to stand aside immediately from committee business, and my intention to resign. This is my decision, and mine alone, and my first consideration has been the effect of recent events on my family," Vaz said. His resignation follows allegations published by the 'Sunday Mirror' tabloid that the married, father of two, had met two male prostitutes from eastern Europe at his London flat last month. The high-profile politician is also alleged to have told the escorts to bring the party drug known as "poppers" and is also quoted as discussing the possibility of paying for cocaine at a future meeting, but added that he would not take the drug himself. Vaz has recommended that Tim Loughton MP, a senior Conservative party member, chair the committee's proceedings before a formal election of a new chair can take place. "After speaking to the House authorities, I will formally tender my resignation to Mr Speaker so that it coincides with the timetable for the election of other committee chairs, such as the Brexit Committee; Culture, Media and Sport; and Science and Technology, so that the elections can take place together," the statement said. He still faces the prospect of a possible investigation by the House of Commons' watchdog over the tabloid allegations after he was referred to the UK's Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Kathryn Hudson, by Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen yesterday. Vaz - who was born to Goan parents in Aden, Yemen, in 1956 and went on to study law at Cambridge University - has been Labour party MP from Leicester East since 1987 and served as minister for Europe in former prime minister Tony Blair's cabinet, becoming the first Indian-origin minister to occupy a senior cabinet portfolio at the time. The Labour party, meanwhile, seems to be standing by Vaz, with party leader Jeremy Corbyn indicating there is no need for him to stand down from the party. Corbyn said: "Well, he hasn't committed any crime that I know of. As far as I'm aware it is a private matter, and I will obviously be talking to Keith. (Reopens FGN18) British Prime Minister Theresa May told reporters on the sidelines of the G20 summit in China yesterday that voters must be able to have "confidence" in their politicians, adding: "What Keith does is for Keith, and any decisions he wishes to make are for him". Bridgen, who represents North West Leicestershire constituency which neighbours Vaz's Leicester East constituency, has since received a letter from law firm Howard Kennedy accusing him of "maliciously spreading false and highly defamatory scuttlebutt" about Vaz. Vaz, the long-serving lawmaker, was one of the most influential members of the House of Commons through his work on a committee that deals with law and order issues. His sister, Valerie Vaz, is also a sitting Labour MP from Walsall South and his wife, Maria Fernandes, is a practising lawyer. Two days after AAP MLA Devinder Sehrawat alleged party leaders in Punjab were "exploiting" women in return for tickets to fight Assembly polls, a letter from his father to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today surfaced on social media in which he said his son had in past suffered a "nervous breakdown" and is "mentally ill". The letter, dated February 8, was circulated on Twitter by AAP volunteers. The Delhi legislator's father, Ram Prakash, said Sehrawat would demand money from him, and if he failed to meet his demand, he would threaten him with a revolver. "He (Sehrawat) has a revolver which he has on several occasions pointed at me...I request you to help me as he is mentally ill and can be very dangerous at times," he said. "When he was in Army and had gone to Jabalpur for some course in 2005, he started practising black magic there. During his learning of black magic, he suffered a nervous breakdown and was airlifted to Delhi by his brothers and was treated at VIMHANS hospital," he said in the letter. Ram Prakash remained unavailable for comments despite several attempts to reach him. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A petition has been initiated in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe over returning Turkey to the status of a country under monitoring, member of the Armenian delegation to PACE Samvel Farmanyan writes on Facebook. September 6, 2016, 13:11 Petition against Turkey initiated in PACE BJP today said separatists in Kashmir were fighting a "proxy war" against India with the help of "imported terrorists" and funding from Pakistan in the name of "so called azadi" even as it blamed the neighbouring country for sponsoring the present unrest in the Valley. "The separatist elements in the Valley are fighting a proxy war against India with the help of imported terrorists and funding from Pakistan with nefarious designs and for the cause of so-called azadi (freedom movement)," BJP state spokesman Balbir Ram Rattan said here. He said it was unfortunate that separatists were "misguiding the youth" and using them as "human shields" in confrontation against the security forces. "In this way, in a pre-planned manner, the attempt is being made to highlight the Kashmir issue in the world at the cost of the lives of young boys. The so called Kashmir problem is, in fact, a problem in Kashmir where the majority of the people, who want peace and tranquillity, are forced to bear the brunt of the situation created by Pakistan with the help of its stooges operating in the Valley," Rattan said. He alleged that problem in Kashmir was a result of wrong policies by successive governments' at the Centre post independence, which, according to him, always tried to "pamper the separatists and politicians with vested interests and ignoring the interests of common masses". "The elite-class in the Valley has always tried to create the unrest and turmoil on one pretext or the other while following a policy of separatism- bringing in unending vortex of violence, instability, and destruction with peace becoming a casualty," he alleged. "Whatever the state is facing today was the creation of faulty approach to deal with the separatists and politicians with vested interests who should have been curbed from the very beginning," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Taking separatist leaders head-on, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today accused them of instigating the children in the Valley to engage in violence while making sure their own studied abroad or outside the state. "My colleagues have this (fear) that I may say something. But, I have always spoken truth. The way a mother slaps her child when he tries to touch a hot kangri (firepot), I will do the same to save my people. "I will be angry, I will speak truth and warn them not to use children as a shield (during street protests)," Mehbooba told a gathering at an official event, invoking motherhood that is devoted to the welfare of the child. She exuded confidence that the Valley will come out of the "misery" as her intentions were noble. "Majority of the people want an honourable solution to the issue. Nobody wants violence except for those who don't have to face impact of this violence as their own children are studying outside the Valley. "They ask the children to fight bullets, pellets and teargas, but themselves fear a policeman," she said. Taking on the separatists, she said they were "exploiting" children in the Valley only after having made sure that their studied outside. She, however, hoped the situation would get back to normal. "Time will not remain like this always, but wounds will be there on the hearts of the children which these people have inflicted. Today, people will find my words bitter, but they will later understand what I said because I saw many people roaming the streets at night provoking children to join the protests. "God is witness, that their (the separatists') own children study in Malaysia, Dubai, Bangalore and Rajasthan. If a single child of these people has been injured in the protests in these days, I am ready to quit politics," she said at the function organised to distribute LED bulbs under the Centre's 'UJALA' scheme. The function was organized by Union Power Ministry, State Power Development Department and Energy Efficiency Services Limited - a joint-venture of PSUs under the Ministry of Power. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senior Congress leader and former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today presented the "Pandit Kamlapati Tripathi Rashtriya Patrakarita Samman" to journalists here at Nagri-natak mandali auditorium. Dikshit presented the first "Rashtriya Patrakarita Samman" with a cash reward of rupees one lakh to former chairman of Prasar Bharti Mrinal Pandey, who is presently a senior editor of a leading Hindi daily. Dikshit also gave away award to 10 local scribes here. The senior Congress leader hailed the contribution of the Tripathi, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Railway minister on the occasion of "111th Pandit Kamlapati Tripathi Jayanti Samaroh" organised bythe 'Kamlapati Tripathi foundation' in the city. Dikshit said that Panditji was a fine politician as well as a journalist. He began his career while working as a journalist in several Hindi newspapers. His contribution to the society are immemorial. She said, he was one of the leading member who advocated for including journalism as a course in graduate and post graduate level. He had even written books on journalism and contributed a lot in this field. Foundation chairman and a senior congress leader Rajeshpati Tripathi appealed to journalists to carry forward the journalistic legacy of Kamlapatiji for the betterment of the society. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The largest domestic shipliner, Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), today said it has held discussions for reviving the joint venture with Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL). It said the discussions were held post lifting of the sanctions against the Islamic nation. "SCI and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), shareholders in the JV, have held discussions about feasibility of revival of operations by the JV, in view of lifting of the sanctions imposed on Iran," it said in a regulatory filing to BSE today. The four-decade old JV has been lying dormant. SCI said, "Pursuant to the joint comprehensive plan of action agreement between Iran and 5+1 group of countries, sanctions imposed on Iran were lifted in December 2015." Following the agreement, the UN and the EU have lifted the sanctions imposed on Iran. "The US has also relaxed the secondary sanctions, but the primary sanctions still remain in force," it said. Earlier, SCI after a four-year hiatus has decided to resume sailing to Iran to ferry transport crude oil from the Persian Gulf nation for state refiners. The premier shipping line, which owns and operates around one-third of the Indian tonnage and services both national and international trades, stopped sailing to Iran in 2012 as insurance cover for oil and cargo could not be obtained in the wake of sanctions targeting Iran's nuclear programme. After lifting of sanctions in January, International Group of Protection and Indemnity (P&I) Clubs, which insures the tanker market, has been able to obtain cover from some markets, an official said. The largest domestic shipliner has a fleet of 69 vessels of which 17 are bulk carriers, 16 crude oil tankers and 14 product tankers and is planning expansion of its fleet. A parliamentary panel has recently recommended that SCI buy fuel-efficient ships, replacing the old stock. "If the international market situations are viable, they may go for purchasing new fuel-efficient vessels in place of the old ones," the parliamentary standing committee on transport, headed by MP Kanwar Deep Singh, has said. SCI was established in 1961 through amalgamation of Eastern Shipping Corporation and Western Shipping Corporation. It owns and operates around one-third of the Indian tonnage and has operating interests in practically all areas of the shipping business and servicing. Apart from being the largest shipping company in India, SCI exclusively operates in break-bulk, international container, liquid/dry bulk, offshore and passenger services. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Supreme Court today gave a stern message to Supertech asking it to return money to investors saying it was not concerned whether the real estate major "sinks or dies", a direction which may soothe ruffled feathers of hassled home buyers waiting endlessly for their dream homes. "Either you (Supertech) sink or die, we are not concerned. You will have to pay back the money to home buyers. We are least bothered about the financial status," a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Adarsh Kumar Goel said when it was pointed out that some builders have said they had no funds to pay back the home buyers. The apex court directed Supertech to pay 10 per cent per month of the invested amount from January 5, 2015 to 17 home buyers, who are before the court, within four weeks. It said the real estate firm has to clear the arrears to the home buyers in four weeks, which can be adjusted and asked Supertech to furnish a chart of payments made to 17 of them on the next date of hearing. Senior advocate Rajeev Dhawan, appearing for Supertech, said the apex court "cannot act like a banker" and has to follow principle of equality. "Not all home buyers are against us and some of them have even supported the firm and filed an appeal against the High Court order," he said, adding "there is a difference between Unitech's case and us. They did not have a building while we have a building and funds invested with us have been used for construction of structure." He said a total of 628 people had approached the company, of whom 274 have sought alternate arrangements, 74 asked for re-investment and 108 have sought refund. To this, the bench asked why Supertech was not giving back the money to all the investors. Dhawan said there was a court order saying only those who have applied on time will get the money back and it was paying back the money to them. Counsels for home buyers refuted Supertech's claim and said they were not getting the money on time. The apex court also asked the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) to submit its report by October 25, after inspecting Supertech's Emerald Towers to ascertain whether the two 40-storey buildings were built in green area in violation of the sanctioned plan. On July 27, the court had asked NBCC to visit the site of twin tower and submit a report on alleged violations. It had observed that the home buyers should not be made to suffer on account of ongoing litigation and their money should be refunded if they want them. Earlier, it had directed the company to deposit Rs five crore in its Registry as part of refund to homebuyers for the project in which Allahabad High Court had ordered demolition of the twin towers. The Allahabad High Court had on April 11, 2014 ordered demolition of the two 40-storey residential twin towers -- Apex and Ceyane -- in Noida and directed Supertech to refund money to homebuyers with 14 per cent interest in three months. The two towers have 857 apartments, of which about 600 flats have already been sold. The apex court had on February 16 last year directed Supertech to refund money to the flat owners, saying, "Developers can't take investors for a ride." Earlier, it had directed Supertech to give back money to flat owners who had sought refund of their investments, after the towers were directed to be demolished by the Allahabad High Court. Holding that flat owners cannot be forced to remain in limbo and wait indefinitely due to litigation, the bench had also directed the company to pay compound interest at the rate of 14 per cent per annum to allottees by end of October 2014. (REOPEN LGD 21) Meanwhile, Supertech in a statement said :"Few allottees of our Apex and Ceyane Towers who were taking Return on Investment (ROI) from us, went to Hon'ble Supreme Court seeking refund of their investment. "The Hon'ble Supreme Court directed the company vide its order today to continue their ROI till main matter is decided, and further directed to clear if any ROI payment is pending, within four weeks," it added. Russian conglomerate Sistema plans to expedite its pace of investment in India start-ups and expects to exhaust its USD 50-million Asia fund by first half of 2017, of which about one-third has been used till date. "Sistema Asia Fund (SAF) has been operational for last 9 months now and we have already identified the key areas to focus on. We have made two investments so far. The aim is to close one deal per quarter and look at closing anywhere between 4-6 deals in a year," Vsevolod Rozanov, Senior Vice-President and Group CFO, Sistema JSFC, told PTI in an interview. Sistema JSFC started investment in India in 2008 and is the first private conglomerate from Russia to invest in the Indian telecom sector by acquiring 73.7 percent stake in Shyam Telelink, a fixed-line and CDMA mobile service provider operating in Rajasthan. Subsequently, Sistema joined hands with the Russian Federation and the Shyam Group of India to set up Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd (SSTL) in which it invested over USD 4 billion. The company is now in the process of merging its mobile services business with Reliance Communications, but plans to step up investment in growing Indian start-up eco-system. "The focus of Asia fund is only India. There is a lot of opportunity that we are seeing here. We expect the first tranche of USD 50 million (Rs 340 crore) to be fully utilised by the first half of next year, post which we will evaluate the situation and allocate more funds for SAF," Rozanov said. He visited Bengaluru last week to meet and identify potential start-ups where the company could invest. "The Sistema group is in good financial shape at the moment and hence, there is no financial restriction for funding. The group has significantly reduced its debt and significantly increased the dividend flow from its daughter companies. At this stage, we are focusing on technology and consumer Internet segment," Rozanov said. Sistema is looking to invest in technology and niche consumer-centric segments. "We will not restrict ourselves from taking a different approach. It will depend on case to case. We have reviewed 45-50 cases so far," Rozanov said. The Russian conglomerate did not have a pleasant regulatory experience in its Indian telecom business, but it has not faced any issue in working with start-ups in the country, he clarified. On its telecom business merger with RCom, Rozanov said the decision has been taken to benefit both the companies and the process has been smooth. "The merger is alignment of interest of both the parties. We don't see any issue in the merger. We definitely will stay invested in telecom business. The whole focus is to close the deal," Rozanov said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Four Italians and two nationals of Kosovo died in a plane crash near Macedonia's capital Skopje, officials said. They were aboard a twin-engine German-registered Piper Seneca which crashed near the village of Kojle yesterday, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Skopje, the head of the national public security bureau, Mitko Chavkov, told reporters. "They departed from the airport Treviso in Italy with destination in Pristina," the capital of Kosovo, Chavkov said. "They intended to land in Skopje for refuelling." Chavkov confirmed the nationalities of the fatalities, which were also disclosed separately to AFP by police. The causes of the crash are being investigated. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An Australian expert on Shakespeare claims the bard did not invent many of the words and phrases attributed to him, saying the anomaly is due to the Oxford English Dictionary "bias" towards "famous" literary examples. Noting examples such as "it was Greek to me" and "wild goose chase", Dr David McInnis from Melbourne University, said online searches of old texts had helped to uncover pre- Shakespeare uses for many words and phrases that are frequently credited to him. "Did Shakespeare really invent all these words and phrases?" he wrote in an article for the university's online magazine. "The short answer is no. His audiences had to understand at least the gist of what he meant, so his words were mostly in circulation already or were logical combinations of pre- existing concepts." McInnis, a lecturer in Shakespeare studies, said the Oxford English Dictionary contains more than 33,000 quotations from Shakespeare, including about 1,500 listed as the first evidence of a word's existence. A further 7,500 are listed as the first evidence of a particular usage or meaning. "But the Oxford English Dictionary is biased," he was quoted as saying by The Telegraph. "Especially in the early days, it preferred literary examples, and famous ones at that. The Complete Works of Shakespeare was frequently raided for early examples of word use, even though words or phrases might have been used earlier, by less famous or less literary people." According to McInnis, the phrase "it's Greek to me" is often thought to derive from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, which is believed to have been written in 1599. But internet- based resources have helped to uncover at least one earlier use. "Now, thanks to digital resources like Early English Books Online, we can search for the phrase 'Greek to me' and easily find examples that predate Shakespeare," McInnis said. "Fellow playwright Robert Greene's The Scottish History of James the Fourth was printed in 1598 but possibly written as early as 1590. In it, a lord asks a lady if she'll love him, and she replies ambiguously: "I cannot hate." He presses the point ...At which point she pretends not to understand him at all: "Tis Greek to me, my Lord" is her final reply." Likewise, the phrase "wild goose chase" has been shown to pre-date Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: it apparently appears at least six times in a 1593 book about horsemanship by the English poet Gervase Markham. However, McInnis noted that Shakespeare sometimes appears to have refashioned existing phrases - such as "the better part of valour is discretion" - to make them "concise and catchy". And, in other cases, such as "to make an ass of oneself", Shakespeare "seems to have genuinely invented [it]", McInnis wrote. "So did Shakespeare really invent all those words?" he asked. "No, not really. He invented some; more usually he came up with the most memorable combinations or uses; and frequently we can find earlier uses that the Oxford English Dictionary simply hasn't cited yet," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Drug major Sun Pharma today said it has entered into an alliance with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation for distribution of 14 brands that it acquired from Swiss drug firm Novartis in Japan earlier this year for USD 293 million. The company said it has initiated a phased transfer of manufacturing and marketing rights of the 14 prescription brands. "Through this alliance, we have the opportunity to leverage Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation's specialised expertise to create a strong business foundation for us in Japan," Sun Pharma Japan President and Representative Director Isao Muramatsu said in a statement. Sun Pharma will focus on expanding its sales channels in Japan's pharmaceutical market while continuing to ensure a stable supply of medicines and healthcare information, he added. The company said the brands will be transferred from Novartis Pharma KK to Sun Pharma's subsidiary in Japan, starting October 2016. "Following the transfer of manufacturing and marketing rights to Sun Pharma's subsidiary in Japan, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation will market and distribute all the 14 brands as well as provide information on their proper use to healthcare professionals," the company added. In March, Sun Pharma forayed into Japanese prescription market by acquiring 14 brands from Novartis for USD 293 million (over Rs 1,940 crore). Under the terms of the agreements, Novartis was to continue distributing these brands, for a certain period, pending transfer of all marketing authorisations to Sun Pharma's subsidiary. The 14 brands have combined annualised revenues of around USD 160 million and address medical conditions across several therapeutic areas. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi today hit out at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for not vacating a bungalow which was alloted to him as a former CM, despite shifting to his official accommodation recently. "Kumar has recently moved to his official residence at 1, Anne Marg, but he is yet to vacate another bungalow allotted to him in his capacity as ex-Chief Minister about two years ago," he told reporters on the sidelines of the weekly Janata Durbar at his residence. Propriety demands that the Chief Minister must not keep two official accommodations at the same time and Kumar should vacate the bungalow at 7, Circular Road at the earlier after moving to the official residence recently, Sushil said. The senior BJP leader also charged Kumar with wasteful expenditure worth crores of rupees on renovation and installation of high-tech communication network at his 7, Ciruclar Road residence. The former deputy chief minister assailed Kumar for adopting double standards on maintenance and renovation of houses allotted to former CMs and alleged that in contrast to huge expenditure for renovation and upkeep of the bungalow in possession of Kumar as ex-CM, no worthwhile amount has been spent on maintenance of official residences of other ex-CMs. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 6, ARTSAKHPRESS-ARMENPRESS: Deputy Speaker of Armenian Parliament, Chairman of the Armenian delegation to PACE, PACE Bureau member Hermine Naghdalyan participated in the session, Deputy Speakers administration informed. Issues related to the events in various European states, first of all, in Turkey, the military coup attempt and the subsequent events were on the discussion agenda. PACE President said the political figures must bear a special responsibility for defending their citizens in their societies rejecting terrorism, inter-ethnic tensions, and etc. PACE President attached importance to the strengthening of the process of democratic institutions in Turkey and urged to strictly follow the interior legal procedures and the standards of the Council of Europe. The visits of PACE President Pedro Agramunt and Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland to Turkey and the works and statements made there were discussed in detail at the session. Jagland said although Turkey has been deviated from the European Convention on Human Rights, the Convention continues to be used under the control of the European Court of Human Rights. Issues related to PACE President Pedro Agramunts visit to Russia, his meetings with the Russian high-ranking officials were discussed. One of the issues of the session agenda was the implementation of the 13rd point of The situation in Kosovo and the role of the Council of Europe resolution which proposes a new cooperation format with the delegation of Kosovo. During the session Armenian Deputy Speaker of Parliament Hermine Naghdalyan exchanged views with the Council of Europe Secretary General, the Presidents of the Committees, as well as with representatives of several states. Merchant bankers managing sale of government stake in Axis Bank, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and ITC held through SUUTI can enter into a competing transaction with a private company provided they notify The Specified Undertaking of UTI (SUUTI), as and when they enter into any conflict of interest situation. However, for that phase, the bankers will not be considered for managing the sale in these three companies. Earlier, the merchant bankers were not permitted to enter into any competing transaction for entire three years for which they are being hired and hence, the bankers had approached the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management for a change in the clause. Consequently, DIPAM has loosened the rules for merchant bankers that would manage the sale of minority stake of the government in Group A companies Axis Bank, L&T and ITC. "As and when the merchant bankers get into the conflict of interest related to any one of the Group A companies, they have to notify SUUTI and will not be considered for selection for a particular transaction," SUUTI said in a clarification to merchant bankers. The merchant banker will also need to notify SUUTI as and when they are out of the conflict situation, it added. A complete stake sale in the three Group A companies could fetch the exchequer about Rs 64,000 crore based on today's closing price. SUUTI will also notify the select merchant bankers at a particular point in time of its intent to launch a transaction. "During this period, the notified merchant bankers would be barred from getting into conflicting transactions," it added. The government holds 11.53 per cent in Axis Bank, 11.17 per cent in ITC and 8.16 per cent in Larsen & Toubro. SUUTI will also notify closure of the transaction after which the barred merchant bankers will be eligible to regain ranking provided they are out of the conflict situation. "The operating guidelines regarding communication between SUUTI and the merchant banker in this regard will be worked out with the appointed merchant bankers," SUUTI said. SUUTI will appoint six merchant bankers on its panel. As many as 14 foreign and domestic merchant bankers had evinced interest in managing SUUTI stake sale, but wanted the conflict of interest clause removed. Hence, the government held a fresh pre-bid meeting on August 27 to clarify their issues. The merchant bankers will have to submit their bids by September 6. SUUTI, an offshoot of the erstwhile investment firm Unit Trust of India, has investments in 43 listed and 8 unlisted firms. The companies in which SUUTI holds stake have been classified into three groups. Group A includes its holding in blue-chip ITC, L&T and Axis Bank. Group B includes the eight unlisted firms in which SUUTI owns 100 per cent stake. Group C consists of 40 listed firms held by SUUTI. UN investigators today said aerial bombardment by Syrian forces and their ally Russia were mostly to blame for swelling numbers of civilian casualties in Syria's devastating conflict. The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria criticised all parties in the bloody war over a clear increase in "indiscriminate attacks on civilians," citing attacks on medical workers and facilities, blocked humanitarian convoys, enforced disappearances and summary executions. Investigator Vitit Muntarbhorn told reporters that aerial bombardments by "pro-government forces ... Cause the most civilian casualties and damage to the civilian infrastructure, particularly in Idlib and Aleppo." When asked to clarify who exactly the "pro-government forces" referred to, commission chief Paulo Sergio Pinheiro said "the forces that are in the air are Russian and Syrian forces." The upsurge in violence in Syria since late March is especially regrettable, the investigators added, since it came after a ceasefire agreed in February offered a brief "glimmer of hope" to civilians who have endured five-and-a-half years of civil war. "The cessation of hostilities agreement brought a welcome respite for civilians that lasted all too briefly," the commission said in its 12th report, covering the period from January 10 to July 20 this year. The team emphasised the need to restore the ceasefire, insisting that "the sense of hope engendered earlier this year must be revitalised." The report was published after US President Barack Obama and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held talks on Syria on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in China this week, which were described as "productive". But the two powers failed to produce an expected deal to ease the violence in Syria, where more than 290,000 people have been killed and more than half the population displaced since March 2011. The UN commission has repeatedly accused the various sides of a wide range of war crimes and in some cases crimes against humanity. Today's report charged that "unlawful killings, including deaths in detention, and summary executions remain a hallmark of this blood-soaked conflict." And for people detained especially by government forces, torture and sexual abuse appear to be the norm. "It is extremely rare to find an individual who has been detained by the government who has not suffered severe torture," it said. The commission voiced particular concern over the growing number of attacks on hospitals and medical workers over the past six months, pointing to the dire impact on access to desperately needed medical care in many places. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A teacher was today booked for allegedly raping a 16-year-old Dalit girl after assuring her good grades in Class X board exams, police said. Visnagar police of Mehsana district lodged an FIR on the basis of the complaint filed by the girl, who accused her tuition teacher Rajesh Patel of repeatedly raping her for several months when she was in X standard last year. "Patel teaches in the same school near Visnagar where the girl studies in Standard XI right now. When she was in 10th standard, she used take tuitions from Patel at his home. The girl alleged that Patel first asked for her photo and then forced her to be friends with him," said Visnagar taluka police inspector P K Rana. In the FIR, the girl alleged that she was raped for almost 10-12 times by Patel last year. "The girl alleged that Patel trapped her by promising her good marks in the previous year's board exam. Since the girl is a Dalit and a minor, we have lodged a case under rape as well as under various sections of POCSO Act," said Rana, adding Patel is yet to be arrested. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Union Textile Ministry is considering policy intervention, both long-term and short- term, to address the issues impeding the growth of the jute industry upon which the economy of West Bengal is highly dependent. "We are trying to find out what can be done through long-term policy intervention to promote the sector. Separate brainstorming sessions will be held with mill owners and farmers," Textile Secretary Rashmi Verma informed after a meeting of the jute industry stakeholders chaired by Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani. The government would also try to devise solutions for short-term issues affecting the sector after further detailed meetings, she said. The meeting was attended by the Indian Jute Mills Association, jute balers' association, trade unions, farmers body and other stakeholders. Verma said that jute mills raised issues like intense competition and cheap Bangladeshi import while jute balers said they were receiving late payments from mills and in turn farmers' compensation was also being delayed. Trinamool Rajya Sabhya MP Sukehndu Sekhar Roy, who was also present at the meeting, said that under no circumstances the mandatory Jute Packaging Act should be diluted as livelihood of lakhs of people was associated with it. "I have also asked the Centre to take a balanced approach, so that mills are not closed in the name of disciplinary action," he said. "The Jute Commissioner office has taken action against 11 jute mills on divergent issues of violation of the jute control order. We are not against any action but have said that government should also look into the fact that mills do not get closed," Roy said. Citing an instance, Roy said that the North Brook Mill remained closed and some 4,000 workers were rendered jobless. Roy further praised Union Minister, saying she (Irani) is very positive-minded and is sensitive towards the jute workers' plight. Later during the day, Verma held a Jute Board meeting and reviewed the status of the textile sector in the eastern states. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As agitations intensified in Karnataka in the wake of the Supreme Court order to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, political parties in Tamil Nadu today demanded that the Siddaramaiah government comply with the directive, even as inter-state bus services were hit for the second day. Tamil Manila Congress chief G K Vasan urged Karnataka government to immediately release 15 TMC feet of Cauvery water for irrigation. Speaking to reporters in Tiruchirappalli, he said Karnataka should not "enact the drama of farmers agitation to deny water to Tamil Nadu." He demanded that Chief Minister Jayalalithaa lead an all party delegation to Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "We urge the government to lead a delegation to Delhi. But the Chief Minister is indifferent", he alleged. PMK chief Ramadoss told reporters in Cuddalore district that Karnataka should comply with apex court orders and not go to the extent of a former Chief Minister of that State, who had to apologise in the Supreme Court after water was not released in accordance with its verdict years ago. P Ayyakannu, National South Indian Rivers Inter-Linking Farmers Association said water supply for at least 80 days should be ensured to save the samba crop. "Tamil Nadu Government should move the apex court seeking action against Karnataka as it has not complied with its orders and Cauvery Tribunal Award," he told PTI. DMK President M Karunanidhi had earlier in the day said that "the Supreme Court order directing 15,000 cusecs for 10 days is certainly not enough for samba crops." For the second day today, bus and truck services between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were affected. Bus services to various destinations in Karnataka originating from Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Salem, Erode, Tirupur and Coimbatore Districts were stopped in towns, including Hosur, Sathyamangalam and Bannari bordering Karnataka. However, some Karnataka State Transport Corporation buses were operated from Tamil Nadu. Also, private cars, vans and taxis and trucks with Karnataka registration were operated. Huge crowds could be seen in all the few buses that were operated. Truck operators in Erode district suspended booking of goods to Karnataka from Monday night. Meanwhile, a top Tamil Nadu police official in Chennai said adequate police personnel have been deployed in Tamil Nadu-Karnataka borders. To a question on bus services being hit, he said, "passengers were stranded nowhere," adding that movement of vehicles was being coordinated by police. "Our SPs in bordering areas (with Karnataka) are in touch with their counterparts," he told (REOPENS MDS15) VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan in a statement said the quantum of water ordered by the court was 'too low' though it had recognised the right of Tamil Nadu. He also cautioned against regional fanatism on river issues. Veteran Congress leader Kumari Anandhan said the Prime Minister should take steps to nationalise rivers. Medical technology firm Trivitron Healthcare's arm Labsystems Diagnostics has entered into an alliance with Japan-based Shimadzu Corporation for clinical diagnostics in the area of newborn screening. The companies will cooperate to leverage Labsystems' reagent technology and Shimadzu's instrumentation to detect disorders in newborns rapidly and more precisely, Trivitron Healthcare said in a statement. Shimadzu and Labsystems Diagnostics will create a winning combination improving access and affordability for newborn screening solutions across the globe, Trivitron Group of Companies Chairman & MD GSK Velu said. "Right now, we are looking at the US, Europe and Japan for this," Velu told PTI. Newborn screening is a preventive pediatric screening service to assess the occurrence of genetic metabolic disorders, the statement said. "The agreement between Shimadzu Corporation and Labsystems Diagnostics will help to change the way in newborn screening programmes," Shimadzu Corporation Analytical & Measuring Instruments Division General Manager, Shuzo Maruyama said, adding that it can be made better by expanding the screening capability with detailed analytics and actionable data, thereby providing a new solution for faster, confident diagnosis. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tropical Storm Newton gained strength as it threatened to pummel Mexico's popular resort of Los Cabos with hurricane force after wreaking havoc on the southwest coast. Newton was "still strengthening" and packing maximum sustained winds of 65 miles (105 kilometers) per hour as the system churned toward the northwestern Baja California peninsula, a favoured destination of American tourists, the US National Hurricane Center said. Newton is expected to grow into a hurricane at landfall in the state of Baja California Sur today, it added. The Mexican government issued a hurricane warning for parts of the state. For the Baja California peninsula, "winds are expected to first reach tropical storm strength by late tonight, making outside preparations difficult or dangerous," the Miami-based NHC said in a 1500 GMT bulletin. "Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion." The center's 1800 GMT advisory put the storm at 440 kilometers south of Baja's Cabo San Lucas beach destination. Newton was moving northwest at 24 kilometers per hour and causing tropical storm conditions in Manzanillo and other coastal areas. The storm is expected to produce as much as 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain in several Pacific coast states, which could trigger life-threatening flash floods and mudslides, the center said. The weather system has already caused damage in the southwestern state of Guerrero, including its resort of Acapulco, over the weekend before becoming a tropical storm. Floods and landslides damaged or affected some 70 homes and schools and trapped around 200 people in Acapulco, the authorities said earlier Sunday. Torrential rains that began Saturday morning caused 33 landslides on highways in Guerrero. The downpour also caused a road to collapse in central Acapulco, sending two cars falling downward and injuring at least three passengers, the authorities said. Heavy rainfall trapped around 200 people in their housing complex, prompting air evacuations by police, marines and the army. While western Mexico was getting hammered with precipitation, the United States was spared the worst when Tropical Storm Hermine crashed ashore in Florida -- a hurricane at the time -- before moving out to sea. The hurricane center warned that the post-tropical cyclone would cause a storm surge and tide that could flood normally dry areas in the northeastern United States. Located some 320 kilometers southeast of the eastern tip of New York's Long Island, Hermine packed sustained winds of 110 kilometers per hour and was expected to remain near hurricane strength yesterday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump today slammed Chinese officials for not providing President Barack Obama a red carpet stairway on his arrival for the G20 summit. Trump, who has been very critical of Obama's foreign policies, also criticised the Philippines President for his abusive remarks against the US President. "China wouldn't provide a red carpet stairway from Air Force One and then Philippines President calls Obama 'the son of a whore'. Terrible!" Trump tweeted this morning. When Obama arrived for the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China over the weekend, he was not provided with a staircase to exit his plane. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two members of the assembly that awards the Nobel prize for medicine are to quit for failing to heed warnings about a major ethics scandal, the panel said today. The secretary of the Nobel Assembly, Thomas Perlmann, said Harriet Wallberg and Anders Hamsten were being asked to step down. "The crisis of trust is such... That we are going to ask them to leave the Nobel Assembly," he told the Swedish agency TT. The pair are former rectors of the Karolinska Institute (KI), Sweden's top medical university, where the scandal coincided with their spells in office. The affair centres on Italian surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, who in 2011 soared to fame for inserting the first synthetic trachea, or windpipe. It was a plastic structure seeded with the patient's own stem cells, immature cells that grow into specialised cells of the body's organs. Hired as a visiting professor at Karolinska in 2010, Macchiarini performed three of these operations in Stockholm and five others around the world. His work was initially hailed as a game-changer for transplant medicine. But two patients died and a third was left severely ill. Allegations ensued that the risky procedure had been carried out on at least one individual who had not been life-threateningly ill. Swedish police are carrying out an investigation for manslaughter. Macchiarini is also suspected of lying about his scientific research and his past experience with prestigious medical research centres. KI dismissed Macchiarini on March 23 and announced the break in an exceptionally blunt statement. "It is impossible for KI to continue to have any cooperation with Paolo Macchiarini. He has acted in a way that has had very tragic consequences for the people affected and their families. His conduct has seriously damaged confidence in KI," it said. An article in the Swedish medical journal Lakartidningen described the case as an "ethical Chernobyl" for KI. Wallberg's reputation has been tarnished for hiring Macchiarini while Hamsten, her successor as KI's rector, has been accused of failing to grasp the scale of the problem as it unfolded. Hamsten resigned from KI in February, and the general secretary of the Nobel Assembly, Urban Lendahl, also stepped down from his post. The institute's board has largely been replaced. Today's announcement came less than a month before the start of the Nobel season, which kicks off this year on October 3, with the medicine award first on the list. The medicine award is determined by an independent assembly of 50 professors at the KI on the basis of a list of candidates drafted by a five-member panel. Neither Wallberg nor Hamsten have taken part in the work for the 2016 award, Perlmann said. The two are being asked to step down as, under the statutes of the Nobel Assembly, they cannot technically be fired. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray will lead a delegation of the family members of police personnel to meet Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis here tomorrow. The chief minister, who holds the Home portfolio, will be apprised of the problems being faced by the kin of cops, against the backdrop of growing incidents of attack on the men in khaki while discharging their duty. "Mumbai police officers and their family members met Uddhav ji at his home and requested him that government take serious cognisance of the problems they are facing," Thackeray stated in a release. "It has thus been decided that Uddhav ji, along with police officials will meet the CM on September 7 and carve out a solution to their problems," it stated. The issue of safety of policemen has come on the anvil following the fatal attack on Traffic Police constable Vilas Shinde in suburban Khar last month, allegedly by an unruly biker. Shinde succumbed to head injuries last week at Lilavati Hospital. Fadnavis has been facing flak over "deteriorating" law and order situation in Maharashtra, with its ally Shiv Sena demanding a dedicated minister to handle the sensitive portfolio. Fadnavis, who visited Shinde's residence at BDD chawl in Worli recently, faced angry reactions from the family members of the policemen who wanted him to do something to protect lives of police personnel while discharging duty. Last week, a delegation of family members of policemen called on Thackeray at 'Matoshree', his residence in suburban Bandra, to apprise him of the problems being faced by them and the men in Khaki. During the budget session in March, Fadnavis had informed the Legislative Assembly that a total of 202 cases of assault on policemen were registered in 2014 and 284 in 2015. Additional Chief Secretary (Home) K P Bakshi had told reporters last month that "compared to Maharashtra, many smaller states have more number of policemen for population of per lakh. However, in Maharashtra that ratio has come down to 120 policemen per lakh from 162, due to freeze on new recruitment in the police force." This year alone, there have been three major cases of attack on policemen in the state. In February, a mob attacked police personnel at Pangaon in Latur. In the same month, a Sena activist from Thane was arrested for allegedly thrashing a woman traffic constable after she pulled him up for talking over phone while driving his SUV. In the latest incident on August 23, Shinde was hit on head allegedly by one of the two youths, following argument over not wearing helmet. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nagorno-Karabakh will not cede an inch of land to Azerbaijan should a new war erupt, a former member of the countrys National Assembly has said, commenting on the recently elaborated mutual assistance pact between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. September 6, 2016, 17:11 Ex-Karabakh lawmaker rules out regions return STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 6, ARTSAKHPRESS: A war may erupt at any moment, even tomorrow, so we must be ready for that, Nelson Minasyan told Tert.am. In comments to reporters at the National Assembly earlier today, a deputy foreign minister of Armenia, Shavarsh Kocjaryan, said that the document is now completed and ready for signing. Asked whether the deal will help modernize the weaponry in Armenias arsenal, Minasyan refrained from any comments. Any information about arms is a military secret, so nobody knows what specific weaponry is available. The former lawmaker added that the war, if it ever breaks out, will target Azerbaijans border. We do not intend to cede an inch of land. The entire Armenian nation is consolidated and ready to sacrifice itself for our future, he added. Anjem Choudary, a "dangerous" Pakistani-origin radical Islamic preacher in the UK, was today jailed for five-and-a-half years by a British court for encouraging support for the dreaded ISIS terror group. Choudary, 49, was convicted at the Old Bailey court in London in July and a judge today ruled that the "calculating and dangerous" man should be locked up behind bars. The preacher, who had backed the ISIS in an oath of allegiance published online, was imprisoned alongside his 33-year-old aide Mohammed Rahman, also sentenced to five years and six months in prison. Choudary's barrister Mark Summers had argued that his client regretted breaking the law andurged Justice Holroyde not to sentence him on the basis of his 20 years of notoriety, nor on claims he had indoctrinated "a generation of people to commit direct acts of terrorism". However, the judge concluded a custodial sentence was a given even as his supporters shouted "Allahu Akbar" from the public gallery at Old Bailey court. "You are free to hold your views but Parliament has made it an offence to invite support for a proscribed organisation. The reason is obvious. A terrorist organisation with the support of many will be stronger than that with the support of a few. You referred happily to the prospect of the ISIS flag flying over 10 Downing Street and the White House," the judge told Choudary. The trial heard that the preacher, viewed by British security services as a key force in radicalising young Muslims, had been the "mouthpiece" of Omar Bakri Mohammed, currently in jail in Lebanon, and Mohammed Fachry, the head of the banned group in Indonesia. Commander Dean Haydon, head of Scotland Yard's counter- terrorism command, said after his conviction had become public last month: "These men have stayed just within the law for many years, but there is no-one within the counter-terrorism world that has any doubts of the influence that they have had, the hate they have spread and the people that they have encouraged to join terrorist organisations. "Over and over again we have seen people on trial for the most serious offences who have attended lectures or speeches given by these men. The oath of allegiance was a turning point for the police - at last we had the evidence that they had stepped over the line and we could prove they supported ISIS." AmongChoudary's followers was one of the five attackers who stormed a cafe in Bangladesh capital Dhaka in July and killed 22 people, including an Indian girl. All the attackers were killed by security forces. Also, among his many UK followers is Indian-origin ISIS fighter Siddhartha Dhar, dubbed as 'Jihadi Sid' by the UK media, believed to be among the senior commanders of the ISIS. The British Hindu, who converted to Islam and now goes by the name Abu Rumaysah, had skipped police bail in the UK to travel to Syria with his wife and young children in 2014. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) UK-based radical Islamic preacher Anjem Choudary was today jailed for five-and-a-half years by a British court which convicted him of encouraging support for the Islamic State terrorist group. Choudary, 49, was convicted at the Old Bailey court in London in July and a judge today ruled that the "calculating and dangerous" man should be locked up behind bars. The preacher, who had backed the ISIS in an oath of allegiance published online, was imprisoned alongside his 33-year-old aide Mohammed Rahman, also sentenced to five years and six months in prison. Choudary's barrister Mark Summers had argued that his client regretted breaking the law andurged Justice Holroyde not to sentence him on the basis of his 20 years of notoriety, nor on claims he had indoctrinated "a generation of people to commit direct acts of terrorism". "Choudary has done his best to stay within the law, acting on the boundaries of it maybe, but determined to stay within the law. He has had time to reflect, and on reflection would have done things differently had he known the boundaries of the law. He is determined not to cross those boundaries in the future," Summers said. However, the judge concluded a custodial sentence was a given even as his supporters shouted "Allahu Akbar" from the public gallery at Old Bailey court. "You are free to hold your views but Parliament has made it an offence to invite support for a proscribed organisation. The reason is obvious. A terrorist organisation with the support of many will be stronger than that with the support of a few. You referred happily to the prospect of the ISIS flag flying over 10 Downing Street and the White House," the judge told Choudary. The trial heard that the preacher, viewed by British security services as a key force in radicalising young Muslims, had been the "mouthpiece" of Omar Bakri Mohammed, currently in jail in Lebanon, and Mohammed Fachry, the head of the banned group in Indonesia. Commander Dean Haydon, head of Scotland Yard's counter- terrorism command, said after his conviction had become public last month: "These men have stayed just within the law for many years, but there is no-one within the counter-terrorism world that has any doubts of the influence that they have had, the hate they have spread and the people that they have encouraged to join terrorist organisations. "Over and over again we have seen people on trial for the most serious offences who have attended lectures or speeches given by these men. The oath of allegiance was a turning point for the police - at last we had the evidence that they had stepped over the line and we could prove they supported ISIS." AmongChoudary's many UK followers is Indian-origin ISIS fighter Siddhartha Dhar, dubbed as 'Jihadi Sid' by the UK media, believed to be among the senior commanders of the ISIS. The British Hindu, who converted to Islam and now goes by the name Abu Rumaysah, had skipped police bail in the UK to travel to Syria with his wife and young children in 2014. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The UN health agency is changing its advice to travelers returning from areas facing a Zika virus outbreak, saying both men and women should now practice safe sex or abstinence for six months. The World Health Organization's guidance applies to all travelers, whether or not they show symptoms of the virus. The organization's previous guidance in early June was for only men without symptoms to use condoms or abstain from sex for eight weeks after returning from areas with epidemics. The disease is mostly transmitted by mosquitoes but can also be spread via sex. Officials had previously tracked cases of men spreading Zika through sex and in July, American scientists reported the first case of a woman infecting a male partner via sex. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that men and women should consider using condoms or not having sex for at least eight weeks after returning from a Zika-hit country, if they have shown no symptoms of the disease. The agency said it is currently reviewing the latest scientific information on Zika and may update its guidance later. Most people who catch Zika only experience mild symptoms like fever and a rash, but in a small proportion of pregnant women, the virus can also cause brain and other neurological problems in babies. WHO says men and women living in areas with ongoing Zika epidemics should make an "informed choice about whether and when to become pregnant." Last week, WHO declared that the continued spread of Zika it has now infected more than 70 countries and territories remains a global health emergency. Since the virus arrived in Singapore about two weeks ago, it has sickened nearly 300 people. WHO said it was still unsure what percentage of Zika-infected women will give birth to a brain-damaged infant, calling the risk "relatively low but significant. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The United States have asked North Korea to refrain from provocative actions as it strongly condemned the latter's launch of three ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan, even as G20 Summit in China was underway. "These launches, which have become far too common in the past several months, violate multiple UN Security Council Resolutions explicitly prohibiting North Korea's launches using ballistic missile technology," the State Department Spokesman John Kirby said. "North Korea's development of its UN-proscribed nuclear and ballistic missile programs threatens the United States; our allies, Japan and the Republic of Korea; and our partners in the region. "Today's reckless launches by North Korea threaten civil aviation and maritime commerce in the region," he alleged. Kirby said the US will raise its concerns at the UN about the threat posed to international security by these programs. "We will also do so in other fora-including the upcoming East Asia Summit-to bolster international resolve to hold the DPRK accountable for its provocative actions. Our commitment to the defense of our allies in the face of these threats remains ironclad," he added. "We call on North Korea to refrain from actions and rhetoric that further raise tensions in the region and to focus instead on taking concrete steps toward fulfilling its international obligations and commitments," Kirby said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The chairman of NIMS university B S Tomar was today arrested by Jharkhand police in a rape case. Tomar was picked up by a team of Ranchi police from his house and was produced before a local court for transit remand. A case against Tomar was lodged by a girl on February 6, 2015 in Chutia police station of Ranchi. A team of Ranchi police led by inspector B K Bharti came to Jaipur and informed the local police station and later arrested him. "A local court had issued warrant against Tomar some time back. Following a tip off that Tomar is present in Jaipur, a team was sent to Jaipur and he was arrested today. He was produced before a local court of Jaipur where the magistrate gave three-day transit remand," Ranchi city SP Kaushal Kishore said over phone. He said that the team has left for Ranchi with Tomar. The case was registered under sections 376 (rape), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354-A (sexual harassment) and 354-B (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe), 511 (attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC, police said. National Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (NIMS) is a self-financed university in Jaipur district. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Mining conglomerate Vedanta Resources today said its shareholders have approved the merger of group firms Vedanta Ltd and Cairn India. "Vedanta Resources announces that at its General Meeting held today, September 6, the resolution put to shareholders in relation to the proposed merger of Vedanta Ltd and Cairn India was duly passed on a poll," it said in a regulatory filing. The development brings the firm led by billionaire Anil Agarwal a step closer to salvage merger of the cash-rich oil firm with its debt-laden parent Vedanta Ltd. However, the real test for Agarwal is on September 12, when Cairn India has called a shareholders' meeting to seek approval for the company's takeover by its parent under a revised all-share deal. That apart, Vedanta Ltd will also hold a meeting of its shareholders, secured and unsecured creditors on September 8 to seek their approval for the merger of Cairn India. To save the deal, the Agarwal-led group in July sweetened the deal by offering three additional preference shares in hope of winning over minority shareholders like LIC. Through the merger, Agarwal is looking to create India's largest diversified natural resources firm, which could compete with BHP Billiton and Vale SA. In the revised offer, Vedanta will give minority shareholders of Cairn India one equity share and four redeemable-preference shares with a face value of Rs 10 each. The preference shares will carry a coupon of 7.5 per cent and tenure of 18 months. Vedanta is said to be wanting to use Rs 23,290 crore cash lying with Cairn to pay off part of its Rs 77,952 crore debt. It had in May rolled over a controversial USD 1.25-billion loan taken from Cairn India in July 2014. For the merger to go through, half of the minority shareholders, who together make up for 40 per cent of the Cairn equity, have to approve the deal. State-owned LIC holds 9.06 per cent in Cairn India while the company's former promoter Cairn Energy Plc of the UK has 9.82 per cent interest. The deal will go through if LIC votes in favour of the deal, a source said. Post-merger, London-listed parent Vedanta Resources Plc's holding in Vedanta will drop to 50.1 per cent from 62.9 per cent. Cairn India's minority shareholders will own 20.2 per cent and Vedanta minority shareholders 29.7 per cent in the merged entity. In June last year, Vedanta had offered shareholders of Cairn India one ordinary share and 7.5 per cent redeemable preference share with a face value of Rs 10 each. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The upper depths of the oceans of the Earth have warmed significantly over the last 20 years causing an increase in the number of severe hurricanes, storm surges, loss of ice and change in global weather patterns, according to a new report. The report which was presentedat the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Hawaii yesterdayhas found the upper depths of the world's oceans have warmed significantly since 1995. A chapter of the study, led by Professor Grant Bigg and Professor Edward Hanna from the University of Sheffield's Department of Geography, has disclosed how this increase in sea temperatures has changed global weather patterns. The scientistshave shown that the rise in ocean temperatures has caused an increase in the number of severe hurricanes and typhoons, such as Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005, and Typhoon Haiyan, which caused massive destruction in the Philippines in 2013. Hurricanes have even been observed in the South Atlantic for the first time since satellite records began in the 1970s. The area was traditionally viewed as an unlikely region for hurricane formation because of its cooler sea surface temperatures, however in 2004 conditions were more favourable than normal due to warmer ocean temperatures, spawning Hurricane Catarina off the coast of Brazil. The report also shows that warmer seas have resulted in a significant loss of ice in the Arctic region. The atmosphere in the polar regions has warmed at about twice the average rate of global warming with Arctic coasts experiencing a rise in the occurrence of storm surges. This increase in storm surges can have a detrimental effect on fragile ecosystems in the area, such as low relief tundra, underlain by permafrost, according to the report. Warmer oceans have also caused a distinct change in El Nino events - the warmer currents associated with the cycle have now been observed towards the central Pacific rather than the west, according to the Sheffield scientists. Professor Grant Bigg, from the University's Department of Geography, said: "Many people may associate warmer seas with the pleasant weather conditions they're used to experiencing while on holiday, but the fact of the matter is that an increase in sea temperatures is having a huge impact on the world's weather. "Our study has shown that severe hurricanes, storm surges, melting ice in the Arctic region and changes to El Nino are all being caused by sea temperatures rising across the planet. These are all things that can have a devastating impact on the way we live our lives," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi today left for the United Kingdom to take part in and preside over a conference of poets, 'Virat Kabi Sammelan', a Raj Bhawan release said today. Tripathi, during his seven-day stay in the UK, will be part of the conference spread over the four cities of Liverpool, Slough, Nottingham and South Hall, London, it added. Tripathi, who left for the UK in the morning, will also attend, along with other poets, a reception to be hosted by the Indian High Commission, London, the release said. Tripathi, a well known author and poet, has published several books, including two anthologies, 'Manonukriti' and 'Aayu Pankh'. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The West Bengal delegation that visited Munich had a "productive meeting" with the German auto major BMW, State Finance Minister Amit Mitra today said. "It was a productive meeting. We told BMW that all options are open for them to invest in Bengal," Mitra, who is in the delegation, said after meeting senior level management of the company in Munich. He said BMW made presentations on electric cars and electric cycles. "We will take the talks forward," he said. The Finance Minister informed the car major of the infrastructure development in the state and said Bengal wants to create a sustained relationship with BMW, official sources here said. The minister was accompanied by Chief Secretary Basudeb Banerjee, state Finance Secretary H K Dwivedi among others. Mitra invited his counterpart in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia to Bengal Global Business Summit, 2017. The dealership has been uniquely designed in a modern urban layout that represents the MINI Lifestyle. The dealership features a three car display along with an aftersales and service facility, MINI Lifestyle and Accessories as well as attractive finance and insurance options through MINI Financial Services. MINI has established five authorized dealership in India - Bird Automotive (Delhi NCR), Infinity Cars (Mumbai), Navnit Motors (Bangalore), KUN Exclusive (Chennai) and KUN Exclusive (Hyderabad). BMW Group India With its three brands, BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce, the BMW Group has its sight set firmly on the premium sector of the Indian automobile market. Along with automobiles and motorcycles, the BMW Group's activities in India comprises of financial services for its premium clientele. Till date, BMW Group has invested 11.3 billion Indian Rupees (EUR 167 million) in its subsidiaries in India. BMW India -INR 4.9 billion (EUR 69 million) and BMW Financial Services India - INR 6.4 billion (EUR 98 million). BMW India is a 100% subsidiary of the BMW Group and is headquartered in Gurgaon (National Capital Region). The wide range of BMW activities in India include a manufacturing plant in Chennai, a parts warehouse in Mumbai, a training centre in Gurgaon NCR and development of a dealer organisation across major metropolitan centres of the country. BMW Plant Chennai started operations on 29 March 2007. The BMW Plant Chennai locally produces the BMW 1 Series, the BMW 3 Series, the BMW 3 Series Gran Turismo, the BMW 5 Series, the BMW 7 Series, the BMW X1, the BMW X3 and the BMW X5. BMW dealerships also display the BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe, the BMW X6, the BMW Z4, the BMW M3 Sedan, the BMW M4 Coupe, the BMW M5 Sedan, the BMW M6 Gran Coupe, the BMW X5 M, the BMW X6 M and BMW i8 which are available in the country as Completely Built-up Units. The total number of employees at BMW Group India is over 650. More than 1,200 additional jobs have been created in the dealer and service network. BMW India is the pioneer in bringing luxurious dealerships to India. BMW India has set a decisive course by setting up BMW dealerships of international standards across the country. BMW India has also set very high standards in service quality and customer care. Currently, BMW India has 41 sales outlets in the Indian market. BMW India offers 'BMW Premium Selection' with the finest range of pre-owned BMW vehicles that are carefully selected and comprehensively examined for quality. BMW Premium Selection vehicles can be ordered through exclusive BMW Premium Selection dealerships at 13 locations in the Indian market. BMW i stand for visionary electric cars and mobility services, inspiring design and a new understanding of premium that is strongly defined by sustainability. BMW i8, plug-in hybrid sports car, is available at four BMW i dealerships as a Completely Built-up Unit (CBU). MINI has successfully established itself as a premium small car brand in India. Presently, the MINI model range in India includes the MINI 3-door, MINI 5-door, MINI Convertible, MINI Countryman and the MINI Clubman. MINI has established five exclusive dealerships in India. The International Purchasing Office (IPO) established in Gurgaon identifies and assesses potential suppliers for BMW, MINI and BMW Motorcycles taking into account BMW Group's requirements for quality, technology and logistics. The IPO strongly focuses on increasing the sourcing of production material (components) as well as IT and engineering services from India to the BMW Group international production network. Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik today sought to know from Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav the reason behind SP MLA Ziauddin Rizvi, who was appointed as minister in June, not taking the oath of office and secrecy till date. In a letter to Yadav, the Governor asked for the reasons why Rizvi who was appointed as a minister during cabinet expansion in June, has not taken oath, a release from the Raj Bhawan said. Except Rizvi, four other ministers were administered oath of office and secrecy on June 27 at a function in Raj Bhawan. Rizwi could not take oath at that time as he was out of the country. Citing a similar case, Naik also wanted to know as to why Sriprakash Singh, who was appointed a member of Uttar Pradesh Nagarpalika Vittiya Sansadhan Vikas Board in July, had not been administered oath of office. Three of the four members of the board were sworn-in on July 14. Singh who was present in the function could not take oath due to unavoidable circumstances, the release added. Naik also drew the Chief Minister's attention to the fact that the tenure of Board's chairman, Kapil Dev, has come to an end in July and asked him to take necessary action for making the new appointment at the earliest. In this connection, letters had earlier been written to the Chief Minister on July 29 and August 16, the release said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Azerbaijan plans to include Belgian lawmakers on its blacklist. September 6, 2016, 17:23 Azerbaijan MFA plans to include Belgian lawmakers on its blacklist" STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 6, ARTSAKHPRESS: Hikmet Haciyev, head of the press service of Azerbaijan MFA, informed about the above-said commenting on some Belgian deputies recent visit to Nagorno-Karabakh, according to Haqqin.az news agency of Azerbaijan. This refers to the visit to Karabakh by Els van Hoof, a member of the Chamber of Representatives of Belgium and Chairperson of the Belgium-Armenia Friendship Group; and Georges Dallemagne, a member of the Chamber of Representatives of Belgium. This blacklist, which steadily grows, comprises all foreigners that have visited Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh). It includes numerous politicians, lawmakers, and cultural figures. A woman and her two teenage daughters attempted suicide by consuming pesticide today on the premises of district court here for their alleged "harassment" by a policeman. "After they consumed pesticide, the women identified as Nasrin Gulzar (33) and her two daughters, Najnin (16) and Sirin (14) were rushed to Rajkot Civil Hospital, where their condition is stated to be normal," said Pradhyuman Nagar police station inspector R Y Raval. Nasrin, a resident of Dhoraji town in the district, alleged that a policeman from Rajkot had been harassing her family and that her husband was booked under false charges. "She said the policeman would drop in at her residence anytime and harass her and her daughters," Raval said, adding that he would record the statement of the women once their medical treatment is completed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The option to work from home is one of the growing trends of the modern professional life around the world but a new UK study published today warns it may not be as productive in all cases. The study, by the London School of Economics (LSE), said the benefits of working from home disappeared over time for employees and companies if it was a full-time arrangement. "This study provides a glimpse into a future where flexible working could become business as usual. Whereas once people saw it as a favour and felt the need to reciprocate and give back more to the organisation, in this future they will not," Esther Canonico, from the LSE's department of management, told 'The Times'. Her research discovered that too much home-working means that employees become just as unproductive as those in the office, with staff growing disgruntled about having to pay for extra for bills and missing out on office gossip. As employees stop regarding working from home as a discretionary benefit or privilege, they start behaving accordingly and revert to "bad habits". "The study showed that some homeworking employees feel resentful that employers don't pay utility bills or cover stationery costs, for example. Some managers feel homeworkers take advantage of the situation. If the company expects homeworkers to be a lot more productive or workers expect employers to give them a lot of flexibility and not have to reciprocate in kind, one or both are likely to be disappointed," Canonico said. Those at home every day also become "socially and professionally isolated", increasingly feeling out of touch, losing confidence in their skills and no longer able to "accurately interpret and use information". Emails can be misinterpreted, whereas the signals are usually clear in a face-to-face meeting, the study found. The research, conducted among 500 staff and managers, is among the first to measure the impact of working from home over a long period. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A four-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a 19-year-old youth following which the accused was arrested from the Kalyan township, police said today. The incident occurred in wee hours yesterday, when Gunjesh Tiwari picked up the child sleeping near her mother in Kailasnagar locality and raped her nearby, police PRO Sukhada Narkar said. Tiwari is a distant relative of the girl's mother, police said, adding he sells garments for living. The girl's mother lodged a complaint with the police, who arrested Tiwari yesterday itself after going through the CCTV footage in the area. He has been booked for rape and under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The cycle of violence continued in Kashmir with a youth getting killed today in a clash between stone pelters and security forces in Anantnag even as curfew was lifted from entire Srinagar district but life remained disrupted for 60th day due to separatist-sponsored strike. Naseer Ahmad Mir was killed in the action by security forces who were chasing away a large number of protestors in Seer Hamdan area of Anantnag in south Kashmir. Several others, including a woman, sustained injuries in the action by security forces, a police official said. He said the injured woman has been referred to a hospital here in a critical condition. Last night, a youth Musaib Nagoo, injured during similar clashes in Sopore on Sunday, succumbed at a hospital here. With these deaths, the toll in ongoing unrest has gone up to 73. Earlier, authorities lifted curfew from seven police station areas of Srinagar after two days, making the entire district curfew-free. A police spokesman said the curfew was lifted following improvement in the situation. However, normal activities remained suspended due to a separatist-sponsored strike. Shops, business establishments and petrol pumps remained shut during the day time. They only open in the evening when the separatists have announced relaxation in the strike for some days of the week. Public transport continued to be off the roads and schools, colleges and other educational institutions also continued to remain closed. However, the attendance in government offices and banks has showed signs of improvement since the past few days, officials said. The separatists, who are spearheading the ongoing unrest, have extended the shutdown programme till September 8. The police spokesman, however, said restrictions on the assembly of people would remain in forces across the Valley to maintain law and order. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In the past two years and more, Chinese brands have swamped the Indian smartphone market. Xiaomi, OnePlus, Vivo, Oppo, Gionee and LeEco are among those that have used a slew of low key and low cost methods to launch and build their brands in the country. Some have used invitation-only online launches while others have set up fan clubs and contests. Some have associated with big ticket events such as the IPL while using data-based targeted online promotions to create a buzz around their brands. Commercial Feature is a Business Standard Digital Marketing Initiative. The Editorial/Content team at Business Standard has not contributed to writing or editing these articles. For further information, please write to assist@bsmail.in Cannabis remains illegal federally, but it is now recreationally legal for all adults in 18 states. Currently, 39 states have legalized the use of marijuana for medical use. Employers are responding to the change in laws in various ways, establishing related workplace policies for employees to follow. This article is for business owners and managers looking to develop or change their marijuana policies for the workplace, or employees hoping to understand their employers potential policies. Although cannabis remains a federally illegal substance, the number of states that permit its use is growing rapidly. Currently, 18 states (plus Washington, D.C.) have marijuana laws in place that permit the cultivation, possession and use of marijuana for all adults, while 39 states have legalized some form of a medical marijuana program. These policy developments have created a new challenge for employers that maintain drug testing policies either as part of the employee onboarding process or a periodic condition of employment. Naturally, employers have a financial interest in ensuring that employees are not coming to work intoxicated, but cannabis use off the clock would result in a failed drug test as well. Employers are responding to these shifting laws in a variety of ways some much more strict than others. How cannabis laws have changed In two decades, cannabis legalization has gone from a fringe issue to a national discussion. In the 1990s, only five states plus Washington, D.C., had marijuana laws permitting medical use. That number gradually crept up to eight states plus D.C. after the turn of the 21st century, yet legalized adult-use cannabis (often referred to as recreational marijuana) remained unheard of. It wasnt until 2012, when Colorado voters passed Amendment 64, that adult-use cannabis was legalized for the first time. Since then, 17 other states plus D.C. have joined the fold, adopting adult-use legalization laws of their own. Most recently, states on the East Coast have adopted legalization measures, including Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey. In the same time frame, the number of states in which residents can obtain a medical marijuana card has grown to 39. While cannabis remains an illegal substance under the Controlled Substances Act, the federal government has largely taken a states-first approach to regulating the cannabis industry that was born as a result of the changing laws. However, there are cannabis reform bills circulating on Capitol Hill now, including the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, which would federally legalize cannabis. Did you know?: Cannabis is one of the fastest-growing industries in the U.S. and could reach $30 billion in market value by 2025. Cannabis legalization and workplace drug policies These rapid changes have left many employers in a precarious position. Many employers maintain zero-tolerance policies on using drugs (including marijuana) in and outside the workplace and, naturally, dont want their employees showing up to work intoxicated. The legality of cannabis is not the issue; certainly, employees drinking on the job is grounds for termination in any company, despite alcohols legal status. However, determining whether employees and job applicants are using cannabis on the job or on their own time is more difficult, said Matt C. Pinsker, a former adjunct professor of homeland security and criminal justice at the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs of Virginia Commonwealth University. For employers, a key issue involving marijuana is not legalization, but workplace safety, said Pinsker, who is also a criminal defense attorney. The problem for employers is that impairment, because of marijuana, is usually much more difficult to detect and test for than alcohol. Unlike alcohol, it is very difficult for employers to determine if a positive drug test for marijuana is the result of drug usage during work or on non-work hours, so it is logistically simpler to just have an outright ban. But, in some cases, state law makes workplace drug policy more complicated than a simple blanket ban on marijuana use. Adult-use cannabis vs. medical cannabis There is a significant distinction between adult-use cannabis, a leisurely activity of choice, and medical cannabis, which is prescribed as a medicine to patients who use a medical marijuana card to get cannabis for a variety of conditions outlined under state laws. Some states bring that distinction into the workplace, and it can impact employers drug policies. Employers must understand their rights and duties when it comes to drug testing, because state laws are evolving, said David Reischer, attorney and CEO of LegalAdvice.com. Marijuana is still federally illegal, and employers generally are allowed to have a drug-free workplace and to enforce zero-tolerance policies. However, its critical that you, as a small business owner, know whether any of your employees are medical marijuana patients and if your states laws protect their usage of cannabis in the workplace or against the failure of employer-mandated drug tests, Reischer added. A company needs to be careful when disciplining medical marijuana users, said Reischer. Several states have specific laws protecting medical cannabis patients from employment discrimination. Typically, employers can require drug testing before employment and at random times, so long as there is no discrimination against medical marijuana users [who] are legally allowed cannabis for medicinal reasons. Further muddying workplace drug policies is the question of employee morale. Many employees argue that legal usage of cannabis off the clock should not be grounds for their termination if they fail an employer drug test. Employers need to keep in mind the attitude of their workforce when making disciplinary decisions related to drug testing. How employers are responding How are employers responding to the change in laws and attitudes? Some employers are maintaining tight restrictions and zero-tolerance policies, even for off-the-clock cannabis consumption. Others are relaxing their policies and disciplining employees for failed drug tests only when its clear their productivity has been negatively impacted. Some employers even allow employees to openly consume cannabis on the clock. Maintaining zero-tolerance drug policies According to Derek Riedle, owner of cannabis lifestyle company Civilized, the ongoing federal prohibition of cannabis has prompted many employers to maintain strict workplace drug policies, sometimes even for medical cannabis patients. Were seeing more and more employers revisit their workplace rules around cannabis, but because it remains illegal at a federal level in the U.S., most companies still have a zero-tolerance policy, Riedle said. Its more common to see employers loosen up their regulations for patients with a valid medical cannabis card, but even that is not guaranteed. Tying enforcement of company drug policy to job performance In his cannabis lifestyle company, Riedle permits employees to periodically step away for a consumption break, especially if it prompts a burst of creativity. Other employers, however, have concerns surrounding cannabis consumption as it relates to employee productivity and have enforced their policies accordingly. As an employer, I have no plans to relax any drug policies in and around my work environment as we move forward in this new era of cannabis tolerance and legality, said Abtin Hashemian, owner of a Los Angeles-based Subway franchise. [Against] the backdrop of legalization in California, Ive had to terminate employment for several of our employees due to performance-related issues stemming from cannabis intoxication while on the clock. Hashemian said his franchises high-performance and results-oriented culture is important to him, so he feels obligated to act when productivity is impacted. However, Hashemian added that he is certain many well-performing employees consume cannabis off the clock and that he is ultimately indifferent to it as long as their work remains up to par. When it comes to medical patients, he added, employers should always consult with an attorney to determine the best approach. Tip: Are you a small business owner looking to develop your own policies for your employees? Learn how to create an employee handbook from scratch and what a disciplinary action policy should entail. How marijuana use can impact job safety The conversation around marijuana in the workplace takes a completely different shape in occupations with a higher likelihood of on-the-job employee injuries. According to a study in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, there may be a statistical correlation with marijuana use and an increased likelihood of workplace accidents. This risk is amplified for workers whose jobs involve driving vehicles especially public transit drivers as several studies have correlated marijuana intoxication with impaired driving ability. The risk often associated with marijuana use and job safety have informed workers compensation laws in several states. In Wisconsin, for example, if an employee is injured in the workplace while intoxicated under any controlled substance, including marijuana, then the employer can reduce the workers comp indemnity benefits by 15%, with a maximum allowed reduction of $15,000. In Michigan, workplace injuries sustained by employees while intoxicated arent covered by workers comp at all. Although marijuana in the workplace can be concerning for safety-sensitive positions, it may safeguard against workers comp claims in other occupations. According to a study published in the journal Health Economics, states with medical marijuana programs saw a 7% decrease in workers comp claims. This drop may stem from medical marijuana treating many of the same illnesses and symptoms that employees use workers comp claims to address. Key takeaway: Using marijuana can impact your job safety, even though its legal in a number of states. Especially if you are an at-will employee, youll want to be careful and read up on your companys and states policies. Trial-and-error period of changing cannabis laws The states are often referred to as laboratories of democracy, and weve seen this type of trial-and-error approach in cannabis legalization as each state builds on the experiences of its forerunners. As cannabis legalization becomes normalized and more widespread, employers will have to experiment with different approaches that suit their industry, brand and workplace culture. Much as with other workplace policies, there is no right or wrong answer. The best approach will be different for each company; its ultimately whichever arrangement ensures workplace safety, productivity and high employee morale. As the cannabis legalization debate moves from the states to the halls of Congress, workplace drug policy on cannabis is something more employers should think about. Adam Uzialko and David Cotriss contributed to the writing and reporting in this article. Source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article. Budget airline AirAsia India has announced discount offers on advanced fares, with all-inclusive tickets starting Rs 599. Bookings for AirAsia's offer will be open till September 11 and is applicable on travel between February 6, 2017 and October 28, 2017. ALSO READ: Reliance Jio craze means waiting 2 months for a free sim The Rs 599 offer is applicable on Guwahati-Imphal route. Under this AirAsia offer, tickets on Bengaluru-Kochi route are priced from Rs 899, Bengaluru-Goa Rs 1,099, Bengaluru-Visakhapatnam Rs 1,199, Bengaluru-New Delhi Rs 2,299 and Bengaluru-Pune Rs 1,299. AirAsia India did not disclose the number of seats available under the offer. AirAsia India is a joint venture between the Tata Group and Malaysia's AirAsia Berhad. AirAsia has also announced discounts on many overseas routes connected by its group airlines. For example, flyers can enjoy fares starting Rs 3,399 on Kochi- Kuala Lumpur route on advance bookings. AirAsia India, which began operations two years ago, narrowed its loss to Rs 20.36 crore in the three months ended June, as compared to Rs 44 crore loss in the same quarter of the previous year. Its revenue surged 73 per cent to Rs 189 crore in the June quarter. AirAsia India chief executive Amar Abrol last month said the airline is looking to expand further and that it would be investing significant sums of money in the future. India's biggest coal company CIL is in "deep consultation" with Bangladesh to export the dry fuel, Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said. The development comes in the backdrop of a sharp decline in demand for coal as well as with an inventory of over 80 million tonne (MT) of the fuel at the pitheads and power plants. "We are already into it and they (CIL) are in very deep consultations with Bangladesh for exporting it," he said on the sidelines of an event in New Delhi. Exports to Bangladesh would also aid CIL in increasing sales as India in July inked a landmark deal with Bangladesh to construct a 1,320-mw coal fired power plant, the biggest project under bilateral cooperation. On the decline in offtake and volumes, he said as of March 31, there was an inventory of over 80 MT both at the pitheads and power plants. "Where would they stock the coal. We had more than 80 MT. Now if your entire production in 500 odd MT and you have 80 MT of stocks, you will have to look at it and that is why CIL did not produce more. Second reason is that in August there were unusual rains, which impacted mining. I don't think it is an issue as they (CIL) will catch up as there is exposed coal available and can meet the requirements," he added. On coal production target, Swarup said the ministry is working towards achieving the coal production target of one billion tonnes and will decide on reviewing this after 2-3 years. The government has not scrapped this target. The government has set a production target of 598 MT for CIL for the ongoing fiscal. The miner is eyeing to double its production to 1 billion tonnes by 2020. When asked about subdued demand, he said the government does not make plans keeping in view the present situation. Explaining further, he said: "We plan for the future. Our power plants are working at a plant load factor (PLF) of 62 per cent, but in the future we believe this PLF will go to 70 per cent and that is the time when we will have more demand. "Also additional capacity will be added. So there is no logic in bringing down coal production. What will we do if there is demand in the future." Another point is that with UDAY, the financial position of the state discoms will improve and this will also have a positive impact on coal demand, Swarup said. Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio has captured the imagination of the Indians of all ages and long queues can be seen outside Reliance Jio stores, just to collect sim cards the company is offering for free. The cost effective data and call services have not only lured the common man but it seems Bollywood diva Priyanka Chopra also could not resist the temptation of a cheap sim. A Reliance Jio application form which seems to be of Priyanka Chopra has been doing the rounds on WhatsApp, Twitter and other social media platforms. The form which has gone viral, shows her duly signed picture with other details required to apply for the sim. While there is no confirmation from the actor on the Jio connection form, she is busy shooting for her ABC TV series Quantico in New York. On September 2, the actor greeted the Ambani family in the following manner. Congratulations Nita,Mukesh & the entire team on the launch of #JioDigitalLife. Your vision will be truly transformational for the country. PRIYANKA (@priyankachopra) September 2, 2016 Storming his way into the telecom industry, India's richest man Mukesh Ambani has announced free voice calls and free national roaming along with rock-bottom data prices on his new Reliance Jio network made its debut on September 5. Ambani has taken competition head-on by announcing free services on Jio for four months beginning September 5. Voice calling will be free on Jio phones for life and post December 31, 10 data plans will be offered starting at Rs 19 a day for occasional users, Rs 149 a month for low data users and Rs 4,999 a month for heavy data users. The Tata Group on Monday approached a London court seeking annulment of an exparte order obtained by NTT DoCoMo which requires the Indian company to pay USD 1.17 billion to the Japanese firm. "Tata Sons has today filed an application to set aside an ex-parte order obtained by NTT DoCoMo from London's Commercial Court on July 25th, 2016," Tata Sons said in a statement. DoCoMo had approached London's Commercial Court seeking enforcement of London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) award against the Tatas for breach of contractual obligations pertaining to a shareholders' dispute in Tata Teleservices. Sources said that following the ex-parte order from London's Commercial Court in July, Tata Sons were granted some time to file their application to set aside the ex-parte order. The London Court of International Arbitration in June had ordered Tata Sons to pay DoCoMo USD 1.17 billion in compensation for breaching an agreement in the Indian JV. Tata Sons' position is that it is not permitted to pay the sum claimed by DoCoMo pursuant to the award, since regulatory approval by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which is necessary for performance of the award, has been denied, Tata Sons statement said. In absence of such approval, enforcement of the award would be unlawful under applicable Indian law and contrary to public policy, the statement added. Tata Sons further said it has always been committed to honouring its contractual obligations within the framework of Indian law. In recent weeks, the company has been disappointed with the lack of cooperation from DoCoMo in arriving at an amicable resolution by jointly engaging with the Indian Government and the Regulator on the issue, Tata Sons said. Alleging that DoCoMo has been confusing its intent to pay with what is legally payable by the Indian company, Tata Sons said its intent is to pay but within the confines of the law. Tata Sons noted that DoCoMo had also earlier initiated enforcement proceedings in India, the place of residence and where the substantial assets of Tata Sons are located....Tata Sons had deposited on July 30, the entire amount of USD 1.17 billion claimed by DoCoMo with the Court Registrar, High Court of Delhi, and has also filed its objections, Tata Sons added. NTT DoCoMo in November 2008 acquired 26.5 per cent stake in Tata Teleservices for about Rs 12,740 crore (at Rs 117 per share). This was as per a understanding that in case it exits the venture within five years, it will be paid a minimum 50 per cent of the acquisition price. DoCoMo in April 2014 decided to exit the joint venture that struggled to grow subscribers quickly. It sought Rs 58 per share or Rs 7,200 crore from the Tatas. But the Indian Group offered Rs 23.34 a share in line with RBI guidelines that states that an international firm can only exit its investment at a valuation not exceeding that arrived at on the basis of return on equity. The White House cancelled the meeting of the US President Barack Obama with his Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte after the latter used obscene language against him. "President Obama will not be holding a bilateral meeting with President Duterte of the Philippines this afternoon," said Ned Price spokesman of the National Security Council, White House. "Instead, he will meet with President Park of the Republic of Korea this afternoon, September 6th," Price said in a brief statement. The White House decision in this regard came after the newly elected President of Philippines accused Obama and used an obscene language against him an unprecedented accusation against a US President. "Who does he think he is? I am no American puppet. I am the president of a sovereign country and I am not answerable to anyone except the Filipino people. Son of a bitch, I will swear at you," Duterte said in Philippines on Monday. His remarks came after the White House officials said Obama in his meeting with him in Laos on Tuesday would confront about his country's human rights record of handling drug traffickers. Earlier in the day Obama indicated that his scheduled meeting with Duterte might not go forward. "I always want to make sure if I'm having a meeting that it's productive and we're getting something done. If and when we have a meeting, this is something that is going to be brought up," Obama told reporters at a news conference in China. Business degrees are among the most sought after degrees. With the growing demand in the job market of many business sectors, many would agree that studying business would be an investment in one's future career. Whether you are prepared to pursue an undergraduate degree or looking to obtain an MBA, selecting the right business school will play a significant role in building the most of your business education. There are various things to take into consideration in choosing the best business school for you. Here are some suggestions that a candidate must keep in mind, prior to applying in a business school. Inspiring faculty A credible business school will make sure to recruit the most competent and brilliant teachers and researchers from across the globe. Most of the top business schools have a high percentage of global teaching staff, wherein their vast experience will have the understanding and familiarity to successfully build aspiring business leaders. The method of teaching will not only be theoretical based, enthusiastic faculty will give emphasis on the practical view point by creating exercises for the application of theory to the real issues in the business world today. The faculty members' connections in the industry will assist students in internships and other career opportunities, because what better way to learn than through experience! If you are interested in working in a particular field or industry,relations of the faculty and the school to that specific industry should be an important factor to be taken into consideration, as this could give you a head start, for the day after your graduation day. Know yourself Your MBA application is crucial as that gives you the opportunity to make your case with the admission committees of various schools to show that you are a perfect fit for their school. To do this, you are required to replicate on paper - who you are individually, resourcefully and academically. This feature in the business school application process is often unnoticed but is one of the most fundamental steps for success. There are many questions that can ascertain one to do that -What makes that one quality unique to you that make you stand out from other applicants? How have you impacted the world, and how will you keep on doing so? What makes you an efficient leader? Since top business schools are swamped with applications each year, an important deciding factor for admissions committees are as follows: 1. Why prospective students want an MBA (and why they require it to be done that very year). 2. Do you want an MBA to break into a new career (that forms on your preceding experience)? 3. Do you want to start a company? 4. Do you want to progress within your business in order to constrain larger value? The more tangible detail you can present, the more convincing you get to the superior admissions officers to recognize your base for pursuing an MBA, and the more liable it is for you to get selected. Fellow students Most business degree programs have a load of group assignments, hence you will be using a substantial amount of time working with and even learning from your fellow students. This will help to learn to work as a part of a team and to develop leadership skills. A lot can be learnt from your fellow students, as there is a great possibility that they will be your colleagues, partners or constant contender in the future. Business graduates frequently look for employment or mentorship with former students of their discipline. An excellent question to pose is: What type of scholar does this school attract? That can help you know the kind of alumnae you will be interacting with and whether or not you desire to be a part of it. Expert help You are going to burn up a good amount of money on your MBA course when you consider both tuition and living costs as well as the break costs of not working for two years. So before applying its better to spend a few thousand rupees to hire a consultant or proper MBA admissions professional, who can significantly boost your chances to being accepted to the school of your dream. Be cautious if a firm does not release school-by-school success rates, denies to present references, or has been in business for less than 5 years, they are all significant red flags. The most trustworthy advisers will give importance of working with you before you start outlining your essays. These consultants firmly limit the number of clients per analyst, and work with students even for international Bschools. Statistics show that almost 40 per cent of students today use an admissions consultant; so you may truly be at a considerable disadvantage if you do not. If you begin the business school submission process early and work constantly over the next several months, you will have an added advantage to crack even the cutthroat application. Businesses have a number of areas to concentrate on. It is imperative for you to select a school that has the subjects and majors that will help you in delivering not only through the business degree program but for the future also. For instance, if you are looking to initiate a business of your own, you can look for a school that present a concrete base of business courses and at the same time allows you to concentrate in entrepreneurship. Flexibility A course in a B-school will take up most of your day. Flexibility is significant for students who have other commitment and responsibilities at home or maybe a part-time job. If you are one of those candidates, then you should consider business schools that present programs with these flexibilities say for example distance learning programs, weekend classes etc. Working students should also look into things that whether the company you are working for will be willing to subsidize your studies. There are many companies who support their employees distance learning, since a flexible course will allow them to stay with the company and apply what they learn. When applying to business schools outside India, it is natural to question the weightage of the degree in the country you hope to work in. Fortunately, top business corporations and companies across the world recognize a wide range of international degrees. In order to make sure your degree is acknowledged, take a look at the selected school's website about what qualifications they accept. If still uncertain, contact the school directly. Reputation An indicator of a school's status is its overall ranking amongst business schools. Most ranking lists take into consideration superiority of programmes, faculty, research work done, student services and career support. However, you should think about what matters most to you when it comes to a school's status. The writer is the programme director of PGDM at IMS Noida. In association with Mail Today Bureau With the Centre focusing more on developing alternative fuel economy, India will soon stop importing petroleum products, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said today. "We are going to develop this country where our import of petroleum will be zero. We are promoting alternative fuel like ethanol, methanol, bio-CNG...this will boost the rural and agriculture centre and create huge employment," Road Transport and Highways Minister said. Despite low prices globally, India at present is incurring a massive Rs 4.5 lakh crore on crude imports which was earlier Rs 7.5 lakh crore, Gadkari said addressing a conference on methanol economy organised by Niti Aayog today. India is one of the fastest growing economy in the world. At present, it is "golden opportunity" to cash on its agriculture, bamboo, surplus coal and power. "The time has come to diversify agriculture," the minister asserted stating that it has the potential to change the entire rural economy at a time when more than 10,000 farmers in Vidarbha region had committed suicide. "The socio-economic situation is not good, agriculture is facing acute problems. This alternative fuel economy is going to change socio-economic picture of agriculture and rural economy. This is time for the country to plan the way by which we can save the life of people in rural and agriculture sectors.. We can make ethanol from biomass that is cotton straw, wheat straw, rice straw and bagasse. Even from municipal waste we can make ethanol," the minister said. Stressing on "waste to wealth", he said manufacturing ethanol and biogas from waste could result in savings to the tune of Rs 5 lakh crore annually. The minister said ethanol is generated from biomass in Europe. One tonne of rice straw can get 400 litres of ethanol.In North East, bamboo could be used for making ethanol, he said. He added it will eliminate pollution too as farmers in states like Haryana burnt wheat straw which caused pollution. Besides municipal waste and waste of vegetables and fruits could be used in manufacturing bio-fuel. He stressed the need for use of science, technology, entrepreneurship and research and also said Niti Aayog is taking initiatives in this regard. "We have finalised standard norms for bio-diesel, bio-CNG and ethanol and electricity," Gadkari said adding the bureaucracy also needed to fast track decisions. Taking a jibe at bureaucracy, the minister said somewhere there is a need to expedite the entire decision-making process. "If there is a will, there is a way if there is no will there is no way. There will only be committees, discussions and research groups," Gadkari added. The minister also stressed on the need to generate methane from coalblocks and said some of the companies who were alloted the blocks were not doing anything which is not fair. . Country's richest man Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio is the latest telecom flavor everyone wants to savour. The services like unlimited free voice calls and 1GB data at Rs 50 are too tempting to not give it a shot. On top of it, 'free welcome offer' for good four months is simply an icing on the Jio cake. However, it is only prudent to take with a pinch of salt whatever is offered free or at ridiculously cheaper prices. So, before you ditch your current telecom operator to switch to RJio, here are a few details you should know about Ambani's telecom venture: Reliance Jio is yet to garner enough interconnection points with other telecom operators for seamless voice call experience. At the 42nd Annual General Meeting of Reliance Industries on September 01, Ambani urged Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular to not misuse their market power by creating unfair hurdles. "The incumbent operators have a legal obligation to provide points of interconnect," he said. Legally binding it might be, the telcos are unlikely to fulfill their obligation smoothly. Therefore, RJio's voice calls might be free, but may often disconnect due to poor connectivity. Rs 50 per GB data 'effective' rate not actual RJio's cheapest plan of Rs 19, which gives 100 MB data for a day, translates to around Rs 190 per GB. The second, Rs 149 pack, offers only 300MB data, which comes in at around Rs 450 per GB. Even RJio's apparently most popular plan of Rs 499 offers 4GB data at a little over Rs 100 per GB. It is only after you add 8GB extra that RJio will offer on Wi-Fi hotspots, that the value will come down to Rs 40 per GB. But here's the catch: This plan (also others) has been smartly bundled with Wi-Fi packages and would only work on RJio's Wi-Fi hotspots, which are still rolling out. ALSO READ: Want to switch to RJio, but retain your old number? Here's how to do it Good as second sim RJio's voice and data packages are definitely cheaper than peers, but we suggest you to test it as your second sim for now. RJio will face the real test of providing decent network connectivity and fast data speed after its commercial launch next year in January, because the more people come on board, the poorer the network quality may turn out to be. Paying a premium for good quality makes sense, but no point there is to avail low quality even at dirt cheap prices. ALSO READ: Day 1 as RBI Governor: 5 challenges ahead for the new RBI Governor Urjit Patel Bank of Ireland is launching a new advertising campaign to replace its well-known Rachel and Steve campaign. The new campaign has been developed following extensive customer research and depicts the journey that consumers undertake when buying a home. The campaign is being rolled out in parallel with a new Cashback PLUS Mortgage offer which offers Bank of Ireland current account customers who are buying their first home, moving home or switching their mortgage to Bank of Ireland, 2% cashback on their mortgage at drawdown, along with an extra 1% cashback five years later (subject to customers meeting the conditions of their mortgage). The new campaign has been developed by advertising agency Cawley Nea and will feature three different TV ads. The campaign includes TV, outdoor advertising, radio, digital and social media. Director of Customer Analytics, Insights and Marketing at Bank of Ireland, Kelvin Gillen says, "To the backdrop of music track Dont Stop Believin by 1980s rockers Journey, our new campaign portrays customers at different stages of the home-buying journey saving a deposit, searching for the perfect property, and settling in and managing repayments." He added, "The overall message of the campaign is to keep up the belief that the journey towards home ownership can be navigated. Over the past year we have spoken to a wide cross section of customers and they have told us about their personal journeys. We understand the challenges that prospective homeowners are facing and we have developed a range of new offerings to help make things a little easier, including our new Cashback PLUS product." Source: www.businessworld.ie About us Clarence Rappleyea, who served as minority leader of the New York State Assembly and represented the southern portion of Cayuga County for much of his time in Albany, died Sunday. He was 82. A Republican, Rappleyea represented the 122nd Assembly District from 1973 to 1995. From 1983 to 1995, he served as minority leader. He departed the Assembly in June 1995 to chair the New York Power Authority. He held that post from July 1995 to Jan. 31, 2001. The New York Power Authority's headquarters in White Plains was named in Rappleyea's honor. Current Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb paid tribute to Rappleyea, whose nickname was "Rapp." "For more than two decades, he served the Empire State with distinction, establishing himself as one of Albany's true giants through his intellect, integrity and character," Kolb, R-Canandaigua, said. "During 12 years as leader of the Assembly Republican Conference, he governed based on principle rather than petty politics. He worked with all parties to create a better New York, and carried himself with an intelligent, selfless grace that every elected representative should emulate." State Sen. Michael Nozzolio served with Rappleyea in the state Assembly from 1983 to 1992. He noted that they shared representation of Cayuga County. Nozzolio's district included Auburn and towns in the northern half of the county, while Rappleyea's district covered the southern end of the county. Nozzolio, R-Fayette, said it was an honor to serve with Rappleyea. "'Rapp' Rappleyea worked tirelessly on the issues he believed in, and all New Yorkers benefited from his advocacy," he said. "We will miss him." Funeral arrangements for Rappleyea are pending. As late-campaign rhetoric gets overheated, voters should remain wary Be on the lookout for misleading ads, stump speeches and text messages from campaigns in the final countdown to the Nov. 8 elections. SHARE By Krista M. Torralva of the Caller-Times Five of six men accused of having gang ties and involvement in drug sales lost their bids for bail and will remain jailed until their trials. Family members cried and hugged as U.S. Magistrate Judge B. Janice Ellington denied bail for Roman Jose Zapata II, Gilberto Garcia, Eusebio Castillo, Rogelio Ramirez and Bruce Lee Cisneros. "I love y'all. I'll give you a call," Ramirez said to his family sitting in the front pew of the courtroom gallery while U.S. Marshals led him away. Three hours and a nearly empty courtroom later, defense lawyer Scott Ellison took his turn petitioning the judge to set a bail amount for Doroteo Gonzales III. Ellison was hired Monday night by Gonzales' family. Gonzales was among 19 people indicted Aug. 24 in a 6-count South Texas gang and drug case. All but one of the accused were arrested in a raid last week. The indictment accuses 14 of them of violating the Racketeer Influence Corrupt Organization statute, commonly called RICO. Gonzales was not indicted on the racketeering count and FBI agent Nicolas Kucera testified Gonzales is not a documented gang member. However, the agent testified, Gonzales' name was mentioned during a gang member's phone call to Roman Jose Zapata II about a plan to assault an inmate at the San Patricio County Jail. Gonzales was in that jail during the call on an unrelated charge. Ellison said his client didn't know about conversations about an assault in the jail and the FBI agent testified he wasn't aware an assault occurred. Gonzales is charged with conspiring to distribute methamphetamine stemming from a 2014 search of Zapata's Sinton home, according to testimony. Zapata also is charged in that count and the racketeering count and was denied bail. Ellison argued Gonzales was at the wrong place at the wrong time in 2014 but wasn't involved in drug sales and didn't possess methamphetamine. Gonzales' mother testified he lives in her home with his wife, their three children, and his grandparents. The family moved in together after his father died in January 2015 in a trucking wreck. Ellington set Gonzales' bail at $50,000. The indictment describes leaders and extortionists discussing prospective gang members and punishment of members or rival gangs. It also accuses several people of selling and obtaining drugs including cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin. One man got a new phone at least once a month with different area codes and falsifying names for the phone plans, the FBI agent testified. Another, Gilberto Garcia, of Corpus Christi, has a pending murder charge in state court. He is scheduled to stand trial Sept. 20 in the 2014 shooting death of Gregorio Gonzales Lucio behind the Corpus Christi Trade Center. Garcia was out of county jail on bail but will remain in federal custody, Ellington ruled. Twitter: @CallerKMT A firefighting crew which included a Cayuga County man has returned after helping battle a 180,300-acre wildfire in Idaho. The team of 20 New Yorkers was sent to contain the Boise National Forest Pioneer wildfire. The crew, including Kraig Senter of Auburn, spent two weeks out west battling the blaze. Senter, who has worked as a forester for New York State Electric and Gas, has volunteered his time before to fight wildfires in the western U.S. Last year, he was part of the New York team that headed to California to help battle three wildfires. Along with Senter, the New York unit included state Department of Environmental Conservation forest rangers and other agency employees. According to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office, the 20-member crew joined 42 teams from other states to fight the fires. Officials say the fires are still burning and advancing, but are less active. The New York's crew role in the effort involved creating control lines to contain the fire and clear materials from the path of the fires. The terrain was rough and temperatures were close to 90 degrees every day. "New Yorkers help their neighbors in their time of need and these brave men and women selflessly put their lives on the line and proudly upheld this state's great tradition," Cuomo said in a statement. "I am proud of their courage and professionalism displayed by these great New Yorkers during this mission and I am thankful for their safe return." The firefighting team flew to Manchester, New Hampshire Sunday and stayed overnight there before traveling by bus to New York. The group returned to the state Monday. New York has been sending firefighting crews to battle western wildfires since 1979. The state typically sends one or two teams each year. The administrative and travel costs are paid for by the U.S. Forest Service or reimbursed to the state. Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up to our free email newsletter to receive the latest breaking news and daily roundups Parents and teachers got together for a celebratory breakfast after a new international school opened its doors for the first time. Landmark International School is now officially up and running in Fulbourn and its first intake of nearly 50 pupils has moved in for the start of the new academic year. Staff and parents vowed to set up the new school after Cambridge International School (CIS) announced in September last year that its founder Harriet Sturdy would be leaving. They eventually settled on the Old Rectory in Fulbourn and spent the summer holiday equipping its classrooms and giving the building a fresh new look. Mary Greer, one of Landmark's co-founders, said she was delighted" to be welcoming the new school community at yesterday's celebratory breakfast. She told the News: Creating the school has been an exciting and challenging journey. Since locating a suitable building for the school last autumn we have recruited nearly 50 pupils and an amazing team of experienced teachers, many of whom have worked with us for many years. The faith and commitment both families and staff have demonstrated to our school vision has been truly heart-warming. We are also delighted by the helpful attitude the Fulbourn community has shown towards the school and we are committed to contributing positively to the village." (Image: Keith Jones) The school will accept international pupils aged from 6 to 16 and will teach traditional subjects alongside a number of foreign languages such as Mandarin. Other subjects such as media studies, computer science, Latin and classical civilisation will also be on offer. Headteacher Paula Elliott said: We have been fortunate in recruiting a fabulous team of teaching professionals, many of whom have worked together for many years. "The entire team of staff is committed to an ethos where everyone is valued, all have a say and both pupils and staff feel part of a happy and caring community." You can follow Landmark's progress on Twitter by search for the school's handle @LandmarkCambs. The House of Representatives passed legislation Tuesday that would require the National Park Service to study whether Fort Ontario and the Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter Museum in Oswego should be added to the national park system. The bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. John Katko passed by voice vote. It advanced to the House floor for consideration after being approved by the House Committee on Natural Resources in June. Katko, R-Camillus, has been pushing for national park status for Fort Ontario, which was a military installation during the French and Indian War, Revolutionary War and War of 1812. Near the end of World War II, the site was used to house nearly 1,000 refugees from Europe, most of whom were Holocaust survivors. In 1953, Fort Ontario became a state historic site. Katko called the fort "a historic gem in our community." "Like so many in our community, I am incredibly proud to have this piece of history in our backyard, and I'm grateful for the local champions who have worked tirelessly to preserve the site," he said in a statement. "I'm honored to have this bill pass the House and I urge my colleagues in the Senate to take up the bill that Senator Gillibrand has introduced so that we can get this important, bipartisan measure to the president's desk." Gillibrand, D-N.Y., introduced her bill in March. The Senate measure is cosponsored by U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, New York's senior senator. On the House side, Katko teamed with U.S. Rep. Richard Hanna, whose district includes the eastern portion of Oswego County. U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter, a Democrat, signed on as a cosponsor. If the bill is approved by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama, the National Park Service will conduct a special resource study to determine whether it should be added to the national park system. The study is a requirement for any site that's considered for the designation. The National Park Service has already said it will conduct a different survey a reconnaissance study of Fort Ontario to determine whether it meets the criteria to become a national park. That survey will begin next year. Local officials are hopeful that Fort Ontario and the Safe Haven will be recognized and officially added to the national park system. "The honor that this will bring to the long list of souls pre-dating the founding of the United States is immeasurable," said Jeffrey Grimshaw, who represents the Fort Ontario National Landmark Committee. "The recognition of the value the refugee population contributed to the development of Oswego will be memorialized for generations to come." | BY Ricki Green | Creative technology agency DT has launched a category defining, world-class website redesign for one of the countrys premier universities, Deakin. The redesign aims to highlight Deakins focus on being a digital leader in its field and its longstanding record for use of cutting-edge technology. DTs CEO Brian Vella said the new website is the result of months of research, testing and design work to produce a simple and contemporary design to accommodate multiple requirements. Says Vella: We really wanted to produce a website that would make complex decisions easier through excellent information design. This was all about helping people research as a community, instead of leaving them to evaluate options alone. Weve used immersive, emotive content that should appeal to and accommodate the diverse needs of a universitys public-facing audience. DTs team benchmarked against the best global experiences in the world, not just the best university websites, to come up with its strategy. Matt Edge, director of digital marketing at Deakin, said the university had engaged DT as a result of wanting to achieve its LIVE the future strategic vision of driving the digital frontier, by delivering a category defining public-facing website. Founded upon deep audience-centric insight, Deakin wanted to create a meaningful experience for the broad audiences who visit their site. Says Edge: Deakin aims to build the jobs of the future, using the opportunities of the digital age to widen access to education and make a difference to the communities it serves. It is vital that we have a website that reflects these aims, as well as our focus on and promise to advance learning, ideas, value and experience over the next five years leading up to 2020. We are thrilled with the result, which we feel reflects the true brand values of our university while providing a source of contact that goes well beyond just information provision. The public-facing website redesign work was won by DT through a series of competitive pitches to a multitude of Deakin stakeholders. DT was engaged to undertake two main components: firstly, a future vision of what the Deakin website could be and what it could represent. And secondly, the visual design of the website itself. In addition to the website redesign, DT began working with the broader marketing division on content strategy, content production and campaign development. Work began in 2015, when DT undertook user research to gain insights about Deakins broad range of public-facing audiences. Says Tracy Brown, experience design strategy director: The insights fed into an Experience Vision, formulating measurable principles for an exceptional experience to ensure DT could articulate what category defining really meant and hold the site accountable to best-in-class. Throughout the design process there was ongoing validation with potential users of the site. Deakins stakeholders were engaged through showcases every fortnight, keeping them up to date with the progress made in the design, content and build of the site. DT developed and executed a range of components of the platform, including: experience strategy, user research, experience design (UX and visual), art direction, content strategy and content writing. Brown said an ambitious client vision meant that as designers they needed to think less traditionally, resulting in a particularly unique platform. Says Brown: We introduced black and white photography as a contrasting element to Deakins vibrant colour palette. Immediately the black and white lends an editorial and mature sensibility to staff and student testimonials, while at the same time makes for dramatic introductions to product pages. It is a clear stand out from competitor websites. Additionally an extensive IA was made manageable for users through a fully responsive left hand side menu that allows users to navigate in a linear and progressive manner. We also introduced a mosaic pattern to start and end pages in an engaging and unexpected way. This pattern is an element that will become distinctly Deakin over time. The new site can be viewed at www.deakin.edu.au. Agency: DT Tracy Brown Experience Design Strategy Director Nicki Wright Lead Experience Design Director Nick Crawford Senior Experience Designer Nick Taras Senior Content Strategist & Writer Ladoo | BY Ricki Green | The Sphere Agency, Melbourne, Australia, has been appointed by La Kaffa International to develop the global style guide and reposition the Chatime brand worldwide. La Kaffa International is a massively successful, publicly-listed Taiwanese company that has established five major brands around the world, including Chatime the worlds leading bubble tea brand. Chatime operates over 1,000 outlets around the globe and across almost 80 cities. The appointment will see Sphere, Melbourne become responsible for repositioning the Chatime brand and develop its worldwide content platform, as it seeks to aggressively expand over the next five years, with bold plans to increase the appeal of the brand to a western audience. Says Henry Wang, global chairman, La Kaffa: Chatime has enjoyed an excellent period of growth across Asia and the Pacific, and we have exciting plans to expand our reach into new markets and make Chatime the truly international drink. We believe that Chatime can be for the East what Starbucks has been to the West, and Spheres experience in building food and hospitality franchises will play a pivotal role in taking us to that next level. | BY Ricki Green | Proving eyewear doesnt hide us from the world and instead reveals our unique inner style, OPSM has launched a new brand campaign via Marcel Sydney, that reflects the distinctive style of regular everyday people. The campaign spotlights Australians who have an innate sense of style and self. These images are married to the voice over of philosopher, author and social activist, Dr Cornel West, whose personal discourse on style adds a spirited tempo to the campaign. The commercial, directed by The Pool Collectives Simon Harsent, signals an emphasis on OPSMs eyewear to match the Australian eyecare and eyewear brands already trusted optometry credentials. Says Scott Huebscher, executive creative director of Marcel Sydney: The way Simon brilliantly captures people in his portraiture made him an obvious choice to direct this ad. And Dr. Cornel Wests thoughts on style was the perfect way to complement the pictures. Says Jee Moon, vice president of marketing, OPSM: Style is not just something that is found in the extraordinary and unreal settings of runways or magazines; style is found in the very real people we encounter everyday. So in sharing these stories, we hope to reveal something interesting and unique about our brand. The campaign runs nationally on broadcast, online and across social. Client: OPSM Agency: Marcel Sydney Production Company: The Pool Collective Director: Simon Harsent EP/MD: Cameron Gray Photographer: Simon Harsent Producer: Eloise Hastings DOP: Ross Giardina Production Designer: Tess Strelein Post Production: Heckler Tuesday, September 6, 2016 at 2:23AM Did you love the Nexus 7 as much as we did? There might be something similar heading our way next month. Tipster Evan Blass a.k.a. @evleaks has revealed there supposedly will be a new 7-inch Android tablet coming out before the end of the year, which will be made by Huawei and will come built with 4GB of RAM. There havent been that much information about this new tablet but clues such as Huawei taking out a trademark for a Huawei 7P earlier in the year might point us to this collaboration happening again. The Nexus 6P was considered a hit among tech journalists. And if the two team up again, were hoping they create another stellar device. Source: The Verge It is the final days of the Earth exhibition at Belconnen Arts Centre, in which 15 Canberra artists interpret the role of the planet and how it sustains them. The exhibition is on at 118 Emu Bank, Belconnen until this Sunday. GEDDES Laura and Tom Drachenberg and their children Heidi and Tristan walked through the New York State Fair's main gate at around 10 a.m. Monday and were pulled aside. Fair officials informed the Manlius family that they had just broken the fair's attendance record of 1,011,248, which was set in 2001. The Drachenbergs were invited to attend a ceremony Monday featuring Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney and other local and state officials. Cuomo visited the fair Monday to celebrate the new attendance record, which now stands at 1,117,630. 2016 New York State Fair Attendance Day 2016 2015 Record Thursday 68,292 62,136 74,385 (2000) Friday 75,970 81,020 92,782 (2001) Saturday 105,501 88,177 115,324 (2010) Sunday 84,868 77,147 105,894 (2002) Monday 82,082 68,827 85,711 (2011) Tuesday 78,548 58,029 102,098 (1972) Wednesday 63,465 57,576 112,774 (1974) Thursday 90,036 66,447 90,036 (2016) Friday 111,390 71,345 111,390 (2016) Saturday 121,164 93,576 121,164 (2016) Sunday 117,717 101,695 119,726 (1985) Monday 118,597 82,172 122,870 (2014) Total 1,117,630 908,147 1,117,630 (2016) At the conclusion of the ceremony, the Drachenbergs were invited to join the governor for another surprise: They received prizes for being the record-breaking attendees. The family's prize pack included four lifetime passes to the fair, wristbands for unlimited rides on the midway, food vouchers and two tickets to a 2017 Lakeview Amphitheater concert. They also received a gift basket with New York-made beverages and food products and a blue and orange stuffed gorilla with "Syracuse" on its chest. Tom Drachenberg said the family was surprised to learn they were the record-setting attendees after passing through the main gate. "It was a very exciting and completely unexpected experience, but certainly quite an honor to be recognized as the family that broke the record," he said. The fair concluded Monday with a crowd of 118,597. The only Chevy Court concert of the day, legendary band Chicago, played before an estimated audience of 31,200. After the concert, a fireworks display brought the fair to a close. The French company has confirmed the reports in a statement to the Wall Street Journal, saying that it is conducting feasibility studies into buying a stake in MCI, which is owned by Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI). We are conducting feasibility studies to understand and assess whats possible in this complex environment, particularly with regards to certain economic sanctions that apply to Iran, a spokesman for Orange told the newspaper. MCI is the largest mobile operator in Iran, with 50 million contract customers and 17 million on prepay. According to the industrys trade association, the GSMA, the company runs only 2G services. Irancell, which is controlled by South Africas MTN, has 3G services. Orange is looking at the political implications of investing in Iran, the company told the Wall Street Journal, given the fact that the country is still emerging from sanctions following the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), an international agreement that has started to relax trade rules. Like many other international operators, Orange has been considering opportunities in the Iranian market subsequent to the implementation of the JCPOA, the company told the newspaper. Orange told Reuters: We anticipate that these discussions will be concluded within a few months. ELBRIDGE The warm temperature and the sunny sky may have made Tuesday feel more like another day of summer vacation, but the yellow school buses and the excited or nervous young children brought a reminder that it was, in fact, the first day of the school year for many students in the Cayuga County area. That included those attending Elbridge Elementary, where parents, teachers and staff heralded the moment for their children as they gathered on the sidewalk in front of the school's main entrance to await the buses and the arrival of the kindergarten through fourth-grade students. "It's exciting to have the kids back," Principal R.J. Hartwell said after he finished greeting the new and returning students as the school day began. "It's kind of lonely here without them. It's exciting to have the parents come back and share in all the newness in the school year." Among the newness at J-E, he said, is a new report card system that allows parents to become more connected with their children's progress and what they are learning in school. There is also a new Positive Behavior Integration and Supports initiative that Elbridge Elementary calls SOAR Safety first, Offer respect, Acts of kindness and Responsibility and teamwork. A new instructional program called Mastery Connect allows parents and teachers alike to see what students are learning and doing in the classroom and how they measure up to the standards. "We're really working to be excellent in all that we do through those initiatives and through teamwork and collaboration," Hartwell said. Watching the Jordan-Elbridge school district's youngest learners come into his building, the principal said, makes him reminisce back to his own first days of school as a student. "There's a little bit of uncertainty trying to get back in a routine," Hartwell said. "Just like the kids, the adults are tired out at the end of the day." Once students and teachers alike adjust to being back in school, the principal said his goal is reinforce the school's mission statement of providing a safe environment and a place where everyone can learn. At Jordan-Elbridge High School, Principal David Zehner sees the seniors marking their last first day of school, along with the freshmen, sophomores and juniors working their way up the high school ladder. "Our kids are really great," he said. "It's fun to see them come in and be excited about some of the classes that they're taking. Not everything is required anymore, so they're getting to take some electives and they enjoy that." He noted seven high school students started their school year early and will spend their mornings taking classes at Onondaga Community College. "They're actually hoping to get their associate's degrees by the time they graduate from high school," Zehner said. As far as the principal's goals this year, he said increasing graduation rates tops the list. "That's always No. 1, to increase all of our scores a little bit," Zehner said. "Mostly, for every kid to enjoy school. ... They generally all see very positive about the year, about making this a good year for themselves." [Your Business Name] Contact Info Phone: Fax: Email: Web: CAPITOLHILLCUBANS.COM Business Overview Geographic Area Line of Business Brands We Carry Products and Services Discounts Offered Additional Information Business Hours Timezone We Accept Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact. Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here. Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing. You are our people. You Care. We Care2. More than ever before, Indians are going abroad for higher studies. To take just one indicator, while the number of international students taking the GRE exam grew 11% in 2014-15, that rate for Indian students was 20%. Income is rising, and so are young people's aspirations. And with so many students wanting to study abroad, many of them being the first in their family to do so, there is a growing need for reliable information and competent guidance. Just being able to afford to study abroad is no reason to enroll in a course. It is true that information about higher studies abroad is available more easily today than it was, say, 20 years ago. However, fake information is also more easily available, and sometimes it is hard to tell it apart from the real one. Thus, unfortunately, we sometimes see stories of innocent students getting deported because they were bound either for a fraudulent university, or enrolled in a genuine university based on fudged applications that did not reflect their actual abilities. Here are some common basic mistakes that lead to such tragedies. 1. Not doing your own research It seems daunting to identify a school and program when there are literally thousands of options. Use a good college search engine. Read up about accreditation. If the country you want to study in offers student services in your city, use them as much as possible. Check out the Facebook pages of programs you are interested in. Ask questions. Remember, basic research skills are crucial to your success as an international student, so you may as well practice! When you have done your homework, you will have identified a few programs that you are excited about. Not only that, your own fraud alert will go off when you see something that looks too good to be true! 2. Believing money is a shortcut to everything Many people start calculating how much they can pay or borrow, even before they have identified a course that they are excited about. Just being able to afford to study abroad is no reason to enroll in a course. The important thing is to first find something you really want to do, and then work on your budget. 3. To think that you would breeze through your course once you are in In India, we tend to cram before exams, and take it easy through the rest of the year. Exams are important, but this approach will not get you very far in a system that places a high value on individual participation, lab and library research, original and independent writing, frequent assignments, and continuous assessment. Be prepared to work hard throughout the term. And for this reason, choose to study what you are excited about - signing up for something you don't really care about is a guarantee of misery. Expensive misery. 4. Relying excessively on rankings and reputation Rankings give an idea of the overall quality of the institution, but not of a particular program or specialization. This is especially true at the post-graduate level, where you should look to work with faculty members whose academic interests align with yours. You should be quick to find out if there are enough experienced and tenured faculty members, and relevant course offerings in your specialization to see you through a master's or PhD. 5. Not knowing who you are and what you want At both undergraduate and graduate levels, it is important to be honest with yourself, and the school you are applying to, about why you fit into their program. For example, as an aspiring undergrad, you may not even be sure what you want to major in, but you should be able to articulate your strengths, weaknesses and interests, and your application, especially the personal essay, must come off as authentic. Young Indians are in an unprecedented and exciting situation, with access to the best of global education and the opportunities of economic growth at home. The rewards of studying abroad are better than ever. Tips: Application procedure to study MBA abroad Preparation tips to succeed in GRE Expert guidance to interpret GRE scores Currently, the Chinese automotive market is the biggest one in the world, with the country being the number 1 car producer and consumer. But to protect its own industry, Chinas government has imposed restrictions on foreign ownership of local companies. Basically, any foreign car maker that wants to open a plant in China has to do it through a partnership (or joint venture) with a domestic company of which it cant own more than 50%. Moreover, at the end of the cooperation, the Chinese automaker can use its partners know-how, gaining technological and operational expertise. However, Xu Shaoshi, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, recently said the government is looking into lifting the policy (which is in effect since 1994), but Chinese automakers urge for the foreign ownership cap to remain for at least another five to eight years. This is to ensure the Chinese companies will be ready for what the competition will throw at them, with CAAM (China Association Of Automobile Manufacturers) saying that local companies are too weak to compete with the likes of GM and VW. Bloomberg reports that Ye Shengji, deputy secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said in an interview on Saturday in Tianjin that the government can lift the embargo gradually on different parts of the industry according to their maturity. For example, the motorcycle industry will see the cap dissolved in one or two years, followed by the commercial vehicles in three to four years. While removing the caps is something that cant be stopped, it should happen in a gradual and orderly manner and not all at one go. If you open up fully now to foreign companies, those domestic brands and privately owned automakers wont survive because the entire supply chain will be in foreign hands, Shengji said. PHOTO GALLERY Auto burglary Flagstaff police halted an auto burglary in progress outside the north Bashas' on Wednesday around 12:30 p.m. According to the police report, a man walking on a trail behind Bashas' heard a loud thump and looked down to find a man half inside a black Toyota Highlander. The front drivers side window was broken and the man's legs were still hanging outside the car. The witness called police, who arrived shortly to find the man still inside the car with blood on his hands. Officers arrested the man largely without incident. Isaac John Tsinnie was arrested on charges of third-degree auto burglary and booked into the Coconino County Detention Facility. Residential burglary There was a residential burglary in the Switzer Canyon area on Wednesday around 10:30 p.m. According to the police report, officers responded to a call from a woman who was pet-sitting a residence on the 900 block of Switzer Canyon Drive. The woman left the house around 7 p.m. the night before and came back the next morning to find the house ransacked. The woman was positive she had locked the doors and windows to the house. Drawers were opened and items were strewn about the house. According to discussions between one of the homeowners, who was in Texas, and police, the items that were stolen included a Surface computer, a laptop, two monitors, a TV and a camera. A neighbor of the same apartment complex who was outside the night before said he saw a younger male carrying a TV from the area of the residence. The neighbor followed the young man and watched him walk south toward the parking lot of the YMCA, where the man met up with another man on a bike. The two continued to walk south beyond the YMCA. The case has been closed and all leads exhausted. No arrests have been made. Fraudulent schemes An improperly loaded debit card may have been a part of a fraudulent scheme. According to the police report a woman called who has an employee who works at Mr. Payday at the Shell station at 1311 East Butler Ave. The woman said the employee told her she had loaded $3,500 on two debit cards after receiving a request to do so by phone. The reporting party said employees are only supposed to load money on debit cards if they receive cash in person, which this employee did not. The employee later called her boss, the reporting party, to tell her about the transaction, saying she knew she had made a mistake. When the reporting party tried to freeze the funds on the debit card, though, $3,639.82 had already been spent. The case is still being investigated. Charged with DUI Andres Rodriguez, 21 of 3400 Lake Mary Road was arrested by the Flagstaff Police Department on DUI charges at 2:12 a.m. Friday City and county residents who want to report a crime but wish to remain anonymous may call Silent Witness at 774-6111 or (877) 29-CRIME. Rewards of up to $2,000 are given for information that leads to an arrest. The former head of Bentley and Bugatti, Wolfgang Schreiber, is suing Volkswagen for hundreds of millions of euros in royalties regarding the marques DSG, dual-clutch transmission. Between 1996 and 2003, Schreiber headed up Volkswagens transmission development department and played a pivotal role in bringing its famed DSG gearbox to the market. He is named in numerous patents for the technology and in some, is even named as the inventor. German magazine Der Spiegal reports that this entitles Schreiber to significant royalties from the Volkswagen Group, a figure thought to be well into the nine digit range. Its reported that VW offered Schreiber some 20 million euros ($22 million) in compensation for his part in the development of the DSG but apparently, that offer was rejected. Since being launched in 2003, Volkswagens DSG gearbox has been used in over 4 million vehicles and across the various automakers owned by the conglomerate. PHOTO GALLERY At the beginning of June, Mazzanti Automobili dropped the veils off the new Evantra Millecavalli, and now the Italians have released the first footage of the hypercar. Set against a dark background and covered in a lot of smoke, this is the first example out of just 25 that the automaker will produce, described by the companys founder, Luca Mazzanti, as an emotional experience that interested all the people that come across this process, the client at first. The automaker continues to keep the pricing details a secret for now, but since the regular Evantra can be had from 665,000 ($885,200), its safe to say that the Millecavalli will be significantly more expensive. Tipping the scales at 1,300 kg (2,866 lbs), the most powerful street-legal vehicle to come out of the European country is powered by a 7.2-liter bi-turbo V8 engine, which has been massaged to deliver 1,000 HP and 1,200 Nm (885 lb-ft) of torque. Channeled to the rear axle through a 6-speed sequential gearbox, the output allows the hypercar to cover the 0 to 60 mph (96 km/h) sprint in just 2.7 seconds and to go all the way up to an impressive top speed of 250 mph (402 km/h). The carbon-ceramic brakes, which have been specifically developed for Mazzanti Automobili, will completely stop the Millecavalli from 186 mph (300 km/h) in 7 seconds. PHOTO GALLERY VIDEO Just days after the official presentation of the Skoda Kodiaq in Berlin and a new report states that the SUV will gain a more powerful diesel mill. Discussing the subject with the companys Board Member for Research and Development Christian Struber, AutoExpress says that the most powerful diesel model of the Kodiaq series will debut sometime next year. I have been driving such a car only last week, and it was fantastic. From an engineering perspective, of course we want to give the Kodiaq even more performance, and weve been working on this. Now we must wait for the business case, Struber said, who explained that it was a diesel when asked about the nature of the powertrain. Word on the street has it that the most powerful variant of the Skoda SUV will get the twin-turbodiesel engine from the European Volkswagen Passat, a four-cylinder mill with 240 PS (237 HP), which will top the most potent version the Kodiaq currently has to offer a 2.0-liter TDI with 190 PS (187 HP). Sportline and rugged Scout versions could also join the Skoda Kodiaq lineup, according to the companys CEO, Bernhard Maier, while the rumormill is also talking about vRS model with a higher-output 2.0 TSI. Rendering courtesy of X-Tomi PHOTO GALLERY Due to legal issues, you wont see anything remotely reminiscent of Top Gear in Clarkson, Hammond and Mays new show on Amazon. That means TGs format that we have grown accustomed to wont be used outside the BBC, with Clarkson & Co. staying clear of everything associated with Top Gear. That includes the Stig, The News segment, or even a test track. In a recent interview for the Edinburgh International Television Festival, Andy Wilman (The Grand Tour producer and Clarksons lifelong friend) stated that legal discussions became hilarious, with lawyers wondering if the Beeb will sue if James May will use his oh cock catchphrase. But heres where it gets interesting (and silly), as Wilman explained how these discussions got funnier and funnier: We went to Namibia to make a big film. The lawyers got out a film we had done [for Top Gear] in Botswana. The lawyers go through everything and they said, Theres a scene in [Top Gear] where youre in the middle of the Okavango and you go, This scenery is beautiful, so watch that you dont do that. The show will still have a vehicle leaderboard showing various performance stats, but the handwritten lap-times will be a touchy (and banned) subject. Scheduled to be released on a weekly basis, The Grand Tour will debut in the latter half of 2016. PHOTO GALLERY VIDEO via The Telegraph Photo: Facebook - Penticton Okanagan Rotary - Ivan McLellan receives the award. The Penticton Okanagan Rotary Club has launched a series of awards honouring Penticton citizens who, through community service as volunteers, supporters, or contributors, exemplify the Rotary motto, 'service above self'. These awards are known as "unsung citizen" Paul Harris Awards, named after the founder of the Rotary organization, and will be awarded every few months. In June, the club presented its first such award to Ivan McLellan. The club is now calling upon the public to nominate citizens worthy of recognition for selfless contributions to the community. If you know of a person deserving such recognition, please submit a nomination in writing either to Penticton Okanagan Rotary Club, Box 1084, Penticton, BC V2A 6J9, or by email to: [email protected] . The next award is planned for this fall, so nominations, no longer than two pages, should be received by Sept. 30, 2016. When submitting a nomination, please include your name and contact information, and if possible the name and contact information of a secondary nominator. Photo: Getty Images Two kayakers are recovering today after they were rescued off Okanagan Lake Sunday afternoon. Penticton Fire captain Blaine Dionne says crews were called for two kayakers in distress at 3:51 p.m. Both the Penticton and Naramata fire departments attended. The kayakers were safely pulled from the water and their kayaks were recovered. The specific condition of the two rescued is unknown. Photo: Skylar noe-vack A toddler was taken to hospital after a rollover crash Monday evening in Penticton. The crash happened at about 6 p.m. on Highway 97. The vehicle ended up on its roof. A witness says a family of three was taken to hospital, including a young boy. Traffic was down to one lane southbound while the crash was being investigated. Photo: Contributed Canadian diplomats will be pushing for the adoption of border legislation as the current U.S. Congress convenes for its final few months of business. The embassy in Washington wants U.S. lawmakers to deal with border reforms before a new president and Congress are sworn in next January. At issue are pilot projects announced by President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, where travellers would clear customs in-land in order to lighten traffic at the actual border. Implementing legislation needs to be passed in both countries to begin the experiment, which will seek to replicate for land travel the preclearance system that already exists for travellers to the U.S. in major Canadian airports. Ambassador David MacNaughton said this is the kind of issue with bipartisan support that could get through Congress in the midst of a heated campaign season. But that's only if lawmakers remember it the issue isn't exactly top of mind in the current U.S. political debate. Funding for Zika research, the appointment of a Supreme Court justice, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal are some of the high-profile issues facing U.S. lawmakers, who returned from the summer break Tuesday. "We will be working with the proponents in Congress and in the administration ... to get (preclearance) done," MacNaughton said in a recent interview. The overall plan is to extend the early-customs system that has existed for years at large Canadian airports applying it not only to new airports in downtown Toronto and Quebec City but also to land travel for the first time, starting with the Montreal train station and the Rocky Mountaineer west-coast rail line. It's part of the long-term goal of achieving faster border-crossing for different types of passenger and commercial transport. First the countries must pass legislation that would spell out the rights and responsibilities of customs officers operating on their soil. "Airport preclearance has existed for many years but the original setup did not envision land, rail and marine entry nor the complexities of a post 9-11 world," said Laura Dawson of the Canada Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. "The new legislation is essential for establishing a clear legal framework." Photo: The Canadian Press When Justin Trudeau raised concerns directly with China's political elite about their human-rights record, he says he also acknowledged that Canada isn't perfect. The prime minister shared more details Tuesday about his high-level talks last week with Beijing, sessions that included face time with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang. Trudeau told a business luncheon in Hong Kong that he brought up his concerns in those meetings, ranging from consular cases, rule of law, governance and corruption. "(I) talked about the challenges, but also talked about the fact that Canada is not immune to criticisms on human rights, either," he said during an on-stage interview during the event, hosted by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. "The perspective that a lot of countries have is, 'Well, you know, foreign countries or foreign observers shouldn't be criticizing what are internal matters to us.'" He said he pointed out how a United Nations rapporteur put out a "scathing report" a few years ago on Canada's treatment of Indigenous Peoples, of missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls and other challenges. Trudeau's Hong Kong event came on the last day of his eight-day official visit to China, a trip that also included stops in Beijiing, Shanghai and Hangzhou for the Group of 20 leaders' summit. His primary goal of the visit was to strengthen commercial ties with the Chinese regime. He repeated his argument Tuesday that Ottawa's connection to China was "hot and cold" when the Conservatives were in power. With Canada struggling through an extended period of weak growth, the government sees expanding the relationship with China the world's second-largest economy as a key to helping the economy. But getting tighter with China poses challenges at home. Trudeau has had to address widespread concerns about the Chinese regime's handling of human rights. Photo: Google Maps Natural Resources Canada has confirmed a magnitude 3.8 earthquake shook an area southeast of Yorkton, Sask., at 4:40 a.m. Monday. Some people near the epicentre have reported on the Earthquakes Canada website that they felt weak to light shaking from the earthquake. No damage has been reported. Michal Kolaj, seismologist at Natural Resources Canada, says the impact of the earthquake was minor due to its shallow depth. Researchers will now work to determine what caused it and hope anyone in the area who might have felt the tremor will contact Earthquakes Canada through its website. "You might experience some light shaking," Kolaj said. "We wouldnt expect anything serious some people would be able to sleep through it." In the past seven years the region has experienced seven different earthquakes the largest reached a magnitude of 3.7 in 2013. Photo: Twitter The federal government is investing $93.7 million over seven years in an ocean research project involving three universities in Atlantic Canada. Treasury Board President Scott Brison will make the announcement in Halifax today, saying Dalhousie University will be the headquarters for the Ocean Frontier Institute. A source says Dalhousie will partner with Memorial University in Newfoundland and Labrador and the University of P.E.I., along with eight international institutes. The funding is being made through the Canada First Research Excellence Fund, as well as $125 million from provincial governments and partners. That includes a donation of $25 million from Nova Scotia businessman John Risley, making the $219-million investment one of the largest in the ocean science sector. The institute will focus on researching ocean and ecosystem change, such as acidification, and developing innovations related to sustainable fisheries and aquaculture. Photo: Getty Images For those who suffer from debilitating migraines, a solution may be around the corner. And Okanagan Clinical Trials is looking to test the new drug on people around Kelowna. The clinical trials company is conducting a 10 to 12-month study, testing the new investigational drug. The drug will be administered once a month, to people between the ages of 19 and 65 who suffer from episodic or chronic migraine headaches. Many people suffer from debilitating migraine headaches and we are always looking for promising medications to help them," said Dr. Sally Godsell, investigator for Okanagan Clinical Trials. Kelowna is one of six locations across Canada where the study is being conducted. In total, 825 episodic migraine sufferers and 825 chronic migraine sufferers are needed for the study. Those interested in participating in the study will need to undergo a screening to determine their eligibility. The clinic can be reached at 250-862-8141. Photo: The Canadian Press A lawsuit that begins today in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver has the potential to fundamentally change the way Canadians access health care. Dr. Brian Day, who operates a private surgical centre in Vancouver, is challenging B.C.'s ban on Canadians buying private insurance for medically necessary services already covered by medicare. Day alleges the restriction violates the constitutional rights of patients by forcing them to endure lengthy wait times, even as their health problems worsen. British Columbia's Ministry of Health, a defendant in the case, isn't commenting while the matter is before the courts, but has said its priority is to uphold the Medicare Protection Act and the benefits it safeguards. Adam Lynes-Ford of the B.C. Health Coalition, one of the interveners in the case, says a core Canadian value ensures patients have access to medical care based on need, not on ability to pay, but this case could derail that concept. The lawsuit, described by University of Ottawa law professor Colleen Flood, as one of the biggest constitutional cases "perhaps ever," is scheduled to continue for at least six months. "This is about making medicare better," says Day, arguing that opening the door for private insurance will ease pressure on the public system, freeing up resources that will cut wait times and boost quality of care for everyone, whether publicly or privately insured. "Every time you allow the Canada Health Act to be chipped away at, it's chipping away at some fundamental Canadian values," says Ian Culbert of the Canadian Public Health Association. He says he worries a victory for Day could introduce a hybrid public-private model of medicare, which he believes will lower the quality of care for those who can't afford private health insurance. Photo: The Canadian Press Quadruple Olympic medallist Penny Oleksiak returns to school in Toronto on Tuesday. Star swimmer Penny Oleksiak says her first day back at a Toronto high school has allowed her to get back to a normal life after winning four medals at the Rio Olympics several weeks ago. The 16-year-old is entering grade 11 at Monarch Park Collegiate and says she wasn't too excited to return to school, but says she's happy to see her friends. Oleksiak became the toast of Canada's Rio Olympic squad, culminating with her carrying the country's flag at the closing ceremonies. School officials say they were strategizing about how to best deal with a bona fide celebrity who is still just a teenager and say they are doing their best to treat her as a regular student. Principal Cynthia Abernethy says they've posted some of the media articles about Oleksiak's accomplishments near the school's entrance and will likely acknowledge her feats at an upcoming assembly, but will otherwise focus on school life. Oleksiak says she's looking forward to science classes and is glad she doesn't have any upcoming arts classes. Photo: The Canadian Press CMHC president and CEO Evan Siddall says the Crown corporation is looking to craft a path forward on housing for the federal government that makes the best use of available government funds to maximize social and economic outcomes for Canadians. He says officials at CMHC will be wading through mountains of information in the coming weeks to craft policy recommendations that will be privately passed along to the federal government. The CMHC only plans to make public by Nov. 22 the results of what the corporation hears during its ongoing consultations. The "Let's Talk Housing" consultations started in earnest in June with the launch of an online portal. Consultations will shift into high gear this week in Ottawa as CMHC convenes housing experts for three days of roundtable discussions on how to make housing affordable and increase the supply of social housing and rental units, among other topics. Photo: The Canadian Press A group of Montreal taxi drivers is taking the city to court over the right to wear black jeans on the job. Drivers say they will file a motion in court in the coming days seeking to annul a new dress code bylaw, which requires them to wear long, black pants and look clean and proper. Drivers say inspectors have been handing out $174 fines to anyone caught wearing black jeans. Mouhcine El Meliani, a cabbie who is one of the plaintiffs, says city taxi inspectors are arrogant and violating the bylaw. Montreal taxi bureau spokeswoman Marie-Helene Giguere wouldn't comment on the specific case but said drivers are able to to go to municipal court to appeal any tickets they receive. Photo: The Canadian Press Veteran anchor Peter Mansbridge's departure from "The National" is ushering in "the next phase" of CBC's flagship news program, the public broadcaster's editor-in-chief said Tuesday. In a letter to staff, Jennifer McGuire said that she will personally oversee "a process to build on its strengths and position it for ongoing success" over the course of the next year. "The news industry is undergoing fundamental changes but the bedrock values of quality, integrity and depth that Peter stands for will always be with us," McGuire said a day after Mansbridge announced plans to step down July 1. But just because Mansbridge is resigning as anchor and chief correspondent doesn't mean he's leaving CBC entirely. "Peter will continue to have a role with CBC. We will have more to say about that in the future," McGuire said. The venerable newsman had been hinting for years at plans to retire from the news desk before his 70th birthday, and made it official with an announcement on the Labour Day broadcast. "This next year will mark 30 years since I was named chief correspondent and anchor of 'The National' ... a position that's an honour and a privilege to occupy," Mansbridge said in his distinctive baritone. "It's been an amazing time to help chronicle our history, but Ive decided that this year will be my last one." The time is right to start refreshing CBC's national hallmark, said several media observers, noting in part that "The National" is routinely trounced in the ratings by the private rivals "CTV National News with Lisa LaFlamme" and "Global National with Dawna Friesen." Mansbridge's departure also comes at a time when the very notion of having a news anchor seems increasingly irrelevant, said Janice Neil, the chair of the school of journalism at Ryerson University. She noted that digital media has transformed the way news is delivered and consumed, with the evening news no longer considered "by-appointment television." "The role of the anchor is no longer the voice of authority, it is not the voice of God, and certainly no longer only a male job," said Neil. Neil said this is a chance for the CBC to try something new, suggesting that could include "a younger, hipper chief correspondent" and possibly multiple anchors. Among the potential Mansbridge successors are established CBC anchors Ian Hanomansing, Diana Swain and Wendy Mesley. Neil also pointed out that CBC has a history of pulling talent from the regions, suggesting Vancouver's Andrew Chang could also be in the running. The norm Doing the math Central to learning (TNS) If the power were to go out in schools across the region, not a lot would get done in today's classrooms.From the devices students work on to the way teachers present material, record grades and keep parents informed -- everything is done on computer. From Westport to Milford and Bridgeport to Seymour, a one computer-to-one student ratio -- or close to it -- is becoming the norm."It's not a normal day if you go into a classroom and don't see a Smart Board in use," Trumbull Schools Superintendent Gary Cialfi said.David St. Germain, the supervisor of media and instructional technology in Milford, agreed."I think it would be difficult to teach without it," St. Germain said. "Somethings, sure, but this is what people are using in real life. Kids need to be able to use these tools."While budgets are being cut in other places, funds spent on technology equipment, staff and training are either holding fairly steady or even increasing, according to a review of many local school budgets for 2016-17.That mirrors what is happening nationwide. A national study out in 2015 by a group called EdNET Insight, found spending on educational technology is continuing to rise despite budget cuts in other areas. The increase is not just for equipment and support but also teacher training. Not all of it comes from general budget.In Connecticut, two waves of state grants totaling $34.9 million gave districts funding to bolster their supply of computers and Internet bandwidth.The upgrade was necessary to give the state standardized test -- which is computerized -- to 234,000 students within a short period of timeBeyond that, Commissioner of Education Dianna Wentzell said the technology prepares youngster for the future.Wentzell was teaching in 2002 when chalk boards were first giving way to interactive whiteboards."I had some initial anxiety about it," Wentzell said. But she realized it made learning more fun.Many say that what matters most about technology is not the kind being used, but rather having teachers who know how to use it. As such, dollars also get poured into training.Even in cash-strapped Bridgeport, close to $2 million will be spent on technology from its operating budget this school year. Another $705,000 will be spent from several state and competitive grants, according to Marlene Siegel, the district's finance director.On top of that, Bridgeport is getting about $1.6 million in 2016-17 from the federal E-rate program to cover fiber technology and internet access. The year before that it got $2.5 million through the E-rate program.The district of some 21,000 students will have about 14,000 Chromebooks --small, lightweight laptops put out by Google -- this fall. Most Chromebooks come 30 to a chargeable cart. On top of that, there are said to be 8,000 tablets, laptops and desktop computers, for nearly a one to one ratio.Erik Haakonsen, chief technology officer in Bridgeport, said the district is also moving to increase speed, reliability and access by increasing computer data storage capacity tenfold, adding more than 1,400 additional wireless access points and replacing 500 switches that allow computers to talk to the internet."We need a solid foundation. Something people can count on every day," Haakonsen said.St. Germain, of Milford, agreed."If its not reliable, the staff wont use it," St. Germain said.Ansonia, a school district of about 2,200 students, acquired 7 new carts over the summer, giving it an inventory of 1,800 Chromebooks.Shelton has about 1,100 desktops, 1,000 laptops, 1,500 Chromebooks and 600 Chromeboxes, Daniel DeVito, director of technology in Shelton said.In the Easton, Redding, Region 9 school districts have Smart Boards in every classroom, and carts of Chromebooks in each elementary school that teachers share, Thomas McMorran, superintendent of all three districts, said."About 2 or 3 percent of each year's budget goes to maintaining the technology," McMorran said.In Trumbull, Monroe and a number of other districts, there is a Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD) practice that allows students to bring smartphones or tablets from home with teacher permission for more in-depth learning experience."Every day," Jill Silvestro, a second grade teacher at Fawn Hill Elementary School said of her use of her classroom Smart Board. "I rely on it and the kids do too."She is not sure what she would do if it stopped working. The blackboard on the opposite side of her classroom is used as a bulletin board to post student work.Jessica Warnken, a third grade teacher at Hooker School in Bridgeport, said if she is doing a unit on Helen Keller, she can follow up the lesson of the blind and death American author and political activist by showing a video of her on her Smart Board screen."For research, for science projects, writing, we use it every day," Warnken said.Bridgeport also has students reading books, thousands of them, on a software program called myON."The initial drive was for testing," Vincent Pastore, Ansonia director of technology, said of the Chromebook infusion. "But the more teachers use them, the more uses they have found for them."Ansonia is among districts that is starting to convert all their documents to a Google Docs system, because it is interactive, and free.With it, students can turn in assignments, teachers can grade online, and give parents access so they know how their child is doing.Parents like Ava Sokolovic, of Bridgeport, meanwhile, say technology is useful, but should not replace textbooks."Texts and online resources must coexist," she said, adding what she really would like to see is technology integrated throughout the curriculum especially in the area of science."No microscope? There's an app for that," Sokolovic said. "No frogs to dissect? There's an app for that, too." An incident is under investigation in Beatrice after a report came in on Saturday night that a female juvenile was approached, struck and had money taken from her wallet by another female juvenile. According to Beatrice Police Captain Gerald Lamkin, the perpetrator was with two individuals, 18-year-old Noah Marshal and 19-year-old Dylan Binnick, when she approached the victim on the street. After a brief altercation, the perpetrator struck the victim before stealing a small amount out of her wallet, Lamkin said. The victim then went to friends house and reported the crime, Lamkin said. The suspected female, Marshall and Binnick are all from Beatrice, along with the victim, and though no charges have been filed, the incident is still under investigation, Lamkin said. Later in the weekend, the Geary County Sheriffs Department in Kansas reported that Binnick was shot and wounded by a Sheriffs deputy in a separate incident, according to the Sheriffs Departments Facebook page. Sheriff Tony Wolf said that Binnick was transported by Life Star to Stormont Vail Hospital in Topeka where his condition was listed as stable, with no surgery required. He was shot in the right side of the chest. Deputies were responding to a possible vehicle accident when they made contact with two male subjects and one female who were walking in the area around 6:30 Sunday morning. They met the subjects in the roadway, got out, started to do some investigation on the accident that occurred, Wolf stated in the Facebook post. One of the individuals (Binnick) was very apprehensive about giving up any identification or anything. He finally gave up his identification and drew a gun out of his waistband on the Deputy. The Deputy then drew his weapon and shot the individual in what was described as a very threatening situation. The other two subjects were identified as Marshall and a 16-year-old juvenile female from Beatrice, who the Geary County Sheriffs Office soon learned were suspects in recently reported felony crimes. Marshall and the juvenile female were arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault and other counts. Though the two incidents have no relation to one another, the initial report of the incident from the Geary County Sheriffs Offices revealed a reported stolen vehicle from Beatrice with ties to the three subjects, according to the post. takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride through the back streets and dockland markets of Auckland where nothing is as it seems.Glimpses at the familiar landscapes of Grey Lynn and Ponsonby will delight, but all the while the reader is left wondering did this really happen or is it just a great novel! Ian McGibbon was formerly General Editor (War History) at the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. He has published extensively on New Zealands war history, including the two-volume official history of New Zealands involvement in the Korean War and the official history of combat operations in the Vietnam War. He edited the Oxford Companion to New Zealand Military History (2000) and is the author of battlefield guides to both the Western Front and Gallipoli. He was New Zealands representative on the tri-nation historical and archaeological survey of the Anzac battlefield at Gallipoli 2009-2014. Since 1981 he has edited the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs journal New Zealand International Review. He was made an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to historical research in 1997. In light of continued developments, primarily since 2008, there exists in these United States a Legal System which operates on a proved Two Tiered approach to justice rendered, which primarily benefits Democratic Elites and Woke Ideological Virtue Signalers, representing their co-dependent wards, to the expressed exclusion of normal hardworking American citizens: What is your suggestion in remedying this widespread injustice and, if not corrected, its existential outcome for our Constitutional Republic? Complete overhaul of the Department of Justice and their enforcers - the FBI - to reflect a far more honest justice system to keep patriots remaining calm. Disband the FBI, and request that congress investigate all unethical and non patriotic practices to partially right the wrongs of a distrusted and politically weaponized "Department of Justice." Press Release: Contact: McCrory Communications McCrory Communications govpress@nc.gov Raleigh, N.C. As Tropical Storm Hermine moves quickly through North Carolina, Governor Pat McCrory is reminding the public not to let its guard down just yet. The governor has instructed state Emergency Management Director Mike Sprayberry to work with the counties to provide state support if needed, assess any potential damages and monitor river levels.said Governor McCrory.The latest forecast shows that Hermine is located 60 miles west-northwest from Cape Hatteras and is expected to be off of the North Carolina coast later today. Showers will linger throughout the day with additional accumulations of 1 to 3 inches of rain through Monday morning. A tropical storm warning remains in effect for areas north of Ocracoke Inlet. Tropical storm force winds remain possible for the Outer Banks area today.Emergency Management officials are closely monitoring river gauges for potential flooding especially along the northeast Cape Fear River near Chinquapin and Burgaw, along the Scuppernong River near Columbia, the Pungo River near Belhaven and the Oriental area.The risk of strong rip currents, high seas and beach erosion along the coast will continue through the holiday weekend.North Carolina Department of Transportation officials reported that a few secondary roads are closed due to flooding including: NC 53 near Jacksonville, NC 210 at Topsail Beach near Casha Road and NC 133 in Boiling Spring Lakes near Funston Road. Officials will be out later today assessing any potential damage to roads and bridges. Motorists should be on alert this weekend for ponding on low-lying roadways and slippery roads throughout the state.Overnight state troopers received 145 calls for assistance in the eastern part of the state. Highway Patrol officials reported the number of crashes last night was about half of what they typically respond to on a Friday night.More than 30,800 power outages were reported across the state as of 10 a.m. with all but about 2,000 of those in eastern North Carolina. Utility companies have surged extra resources to the east and are working to restore power as quickly as possible.Governor McCrory issued a State of Emergency declaration on Thursday for 33 eastern counties to facilitate the movement of any needed resources to respond to, and recover from, the storm. He also issued an executive order that waives certain truck restrictions on weight and hours of service in order to facilitate quicker storm response.For the latest information on the weather, stay tuned to local media and listen for updates from the National Weather Service. Follow on social media using #HermineNC . Information is also available at www.ReadyNC.org and on the free ReadyNC mobile app. Video: Doctor Drew was fired from CNN, which sold out to the Clintons and their puppets, for talking in an interview about Hillary Clinton's health problems and her brain damage; all proving yet again that censorship exists when it comes to the Clintons in certain bought-out news organizations. - Friedrich NietzscheThe Democratic Party's presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton boasted during a campaign speech last month that during her reign as President Barack Obama's secretary of state "didn't lose a single person" in Libya. Her problem is most Americans know her statement is not true - "perhaps it was an intentional lie by a pathological liar with a long record of being caught fabricating facts," according to a number of counterterrorism police and military experts.Police commanders who spoke to Conservative Base claim that what the former Secretary of State suffers from is simply "Convenient Disremembering," as described by a well-respected psychiatrist.Dr. William Beaty in 1998 described Pathological Dishonesty Disease as beingClinton made the comment on MSNBC while defending her actions in pushing for the overthrow of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi which created a the war-torn nation with terrorist groups and militias tearing their own country apart.Clinton said."The truth is that four brave Americans were killed by Muslim terrorists during a 13-hour battle in Benghazi while Obama slept and Clinton couldn't be found. Her statement is just one in a long history of lies over the last three decades. In fact, she was fired from her job with the congressional committee investigating President Richard M. Nixon and the Watergate burglary after it was discovered she was distorting the facts," said former police anti-terrorism commander Jacob "Big Jake" Greer.Greer said.he added.Much of Clinton's interview with the FBI - which is described in an 11-page summary - appears to have consisted of FBI agents showing Clinton specific email exchanges that they determined included classified content and asking her to comment. Repeatedly, Clinton said she could not remember the specific exchange. She also claimed she trusted her staff at the State Department to know how to handle classified material and they would not email her material they believe should not be sent.During the Democratic Presidential Debate, Hillary Clinton said that the parents of the victims killed during what's being called the Battle of Benghazi are "absolutely wrong" to have called her a liar. She claimed that she gave the deceased's loved ones the information that she had at hand, although evidence presented to House lawmakers revealed Clinton knew it was a terrorist attack when the battle occurred in Libya on Sept. 11, 2012.The woman Clinton spoke of the most was Mrs. Patricia Smith, the mother of Benghazi victim Sean Smith. Mrs. Smith appearing on Fox News Channel told Megyn Kelly that Hillary Clinton's testimony before the House Select Committee on Benghazi - led by Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy - revealed that "Clinton is a liar!"Smith noted that the House lawmakers produced an email that Clinton wrote on the night of the terrorist attack about the U.S. diplomatic mission, telling her daughter and others that an "al Qaida-like group" had attacked the U.S. compound.Smith stated that the email refutes the White House talking points that an anti-Islam video caused the attack, which Clinton, President Barack Obama, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and others had told her as she stood by her son's casket.Smith stated.Smith also alleged that each time she attempts to obtain information regarding her own son's death, she is turned away by Clinton and Obama minions who tell her that she's not entitled to such information because she isn't a "member of the immediate family."she said with tears in her eyes and anger in her voice.said former U.S. Marine and police investigator Charles Beltrane.Beltrane added.But Hillary's own email correspondence revealed that from very beginning of the bloody incident, Clinton had two different stories about what caused the Benghazi terrorist attack.With Clinton at the helm, the State Department released a phony narrative that helped Obama and Clinton, politically. They told the American people the attack was the result of an anti-Muslim Internet video that angered the Islamic world. Meanwhile, they privately said that the Benghazi battle was motivated by an organized Islamic terrorism group. Another Charter School Funding Victory On Friday, the N.C. Supreme Court affirmed an N.C. Appeals Court decision in the case of. The appellate courts agreed that the Cleveland County Schools underfunded these public charter schools by over $54,000 in 2010.Under current law, school districts are required to provide charter schools a share of funds deposited in their local "current expense" fund. The local current expense fund includes local, state, and federal dollars that are to be used for the benefit of the general school population. On the other hand, districts are not required to share "restricted" funds and may deposit them in a "special revenue fund" or "Fund 8."Attorneys for the charter schools argued that the district incorrectly placed certain sources of revenue in Fund 8, thereby making funds that would be legally owed to charter schools out of their reach. School district counsel contended that charter schools were not entitled to certain Fund 8 dollars because they were designated to serve a specific student population or earmarked for personnel, programming, or infrastructure needs in the district.To resolve this disagreement, the courts had to consider the definition of "restricted" funding and determine whether the Cleveland County School officials had dollars in their Fund 8 that did not meet that definition.For the courts, "restricted" funding is not simply sources of revenue labeled "restricted." If that were the case, the term would have little meaning. The courts defined restricted funds as "those funds which have been designated by the donor for some specific program or purpose, rather than for the general K-12 population of the local school system." It is a reasonable definition that necessarily takes the origin, purpose, and use of the funds, not just an arbitrary label, into account.The courts considered nine types of funding - tuition/fees; indirect costs; Medicaid reimbursement; E-Rate; Juvenile Crime Prevention Council; Dropout Prevention Grant; ROTC; WorkForce Investment Act; and Gear Up Grant. A majority of the three-judge Appeals Court panel concluded charter schools were entitled to a share of each. Judges John Tyson and J. Douglas McCullough found that none of the nine types met the definition of restricted funding.In a separate opinion, Judge Wanda Bryant agreed that seven of the nine sources were not restricted but indirect costs and E-Rate were. She reasoned that the general student population did not benefit from funding received to cover the costs incurred in the administration of a grant. Judges Tyson and McCullough observed that indirect costs and other dollars used to cover "general overhead" expenses were not restricted or designated for a specific purpose.According to Judge Bryant, E-Rate funds, a federal reimbursement for telecommunications and Internet access, were restricted because "funds originated from the federal government for very specific technological purposes and that the funds were used for those specific purposes." The majority wrote that telecommunications and Internet services are used by the students and employees of the district generally, so they were not restricted.Admittedly, the typical North Carolinian likely has little interest in how school districts designate public school funding or how the courts rule in such matters. But they do care about fairness. For districts to withhold thousands of dollars owed to charter schools is unfair to schools that, on average, make due with less than their district school counterparts.According to NC Department of Public Instruction data, the statewide average total expenditure for charter schools during the 2014-15 school year was $8,080 per student. The average district school spent $8,784 per student to cover operating expenses and an estimated $451 per student for capital expenses last year. Unlike school districts, charter schools do not receive state or local capital funding or county-funded debt service payments on their behalf.But it is not just a matter of how much public schools spend. It is how they spend it.In this way, school districts and public charter schools are no different than the typical business or household. Each must make the most productive use of limited resources. As a state, we must rethink how taxpayer dollars are distributed to public schools, whether they be district or charter schools. After all, funding institutions is not the same as investing in children. If we shifted our focus from the former to the latter, our education system would look much different and arguably work much better than it does today. Press Release: William Acre of Pinetown has received the John & Geneva Morgan Endowment Scholarship. Acre, 32, attended Elizabeth High School and is working toward an Associate Degree in Nursing. Husband of Claribel Acre and father of two, he plans to work at Vidant Beaufort Hospital in the surgical intensive care unit. Acre is currently employed at Vidant Beaufort Hospital.Justin Allender of Washington has received the James Franklin & Hannah Roberson Bagwell Endowment Scholarship. Allender, 36, attended Cape Hatteras Secondary School and is working toward an Associate in Applied Science. He is the son of Beth Allender of Washington, husband of Sarah Allender and father of two. He plans to return to the Outer Banks and work from home so he can take care of his family. He currently works as a contractor.Shieka Benthall of Williamston has received the Tayloe's Hospital Pharmacy Scholarship. Benthall, 21, attended Riverside High School and is a practical nursing student. Daughter of Sandra and Raynard Benthall of Williamston, she plans to work at Vidant Beaufort Hospital or for the Veteran's Administration.Christopher Bright of Williamston has received the State Employees Credit Union Scholarship. Bright, 27, attended Southside High School and is an electrical engineering student. Son of Gary and Sondra Bright of Chocowinity, he also holds a machinist certificate from BCCC. He plans to work locally in a state or government job. Bright currently works with the NC Department of Transportation.Elizabeth Cobb of Williamston has received the Community Endowment Scholarship. Cobb, 24, attended Bear Grass High School and is a medical office administration student. She is the daughter of Mike Leggett and the late Dorothy Leggett of Bear Grass, wife of Daniel Cobb and a mother of two. She plans to work in a medical office.Sierra Hansley of Washington has received the Sam Taylor Scholarship. Hansley, 24, attended Washington High School and is pursuing an Associate Degree in Nursing. Daughter of Helen Weatherington of Washington and wife of Lonnie Hansley, she plans to work at Vidant Beaufort Hospital to give back to her community. She is currently employed at Vidant Beaufort Hospital as a nurse aide II.Katelyn Kornegay of Vanceboro has received the Jarl & Grey Bowers Endowment Scholarship. Kornegay, 18, attended Washington High School and is pursuing an Associate in Arts. Daughter of Edward and Glenda Kornegay, she plans to transfer to a four-year university to study a foreign language.Rahaeem Shelton of Chocowinity has received the James Franklin & Hannah Roberson Bagwell Endowment Scholarship. Shelton, 20, attended Southside High School and is pursuing an Associate of Arts. He plans to pursue a four-year degree.Cynthia Tatum Stanley of Belhaven has received the Robert Farish Endowment Scholarship. Stanley, 57, attended Aurora High School and is a business administration student. She is the daughter of Ella Mae and Charles, Sr., Tatum, widow of Gregory Stanley and mother of three. She plans to earn a bachelor's degree.Sara Woods of Washington has received the Washington Rotary Club Scholarship. Woods, 28, attended Woods Christian Academy and is working toward an Associate Degree in Nursing. She plans to work at Vidant Beaufort Hospital in pediatrics and eventually in the neonatal intensive care unit. Marmosets and tamarins, along with other members of the Callitrichidae monkey family, would be a banned exotic species under a proposal being considered by the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission. The commission is holding a public hearing on the matter on Sept. 27 at 6 p.m. at the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks headquarters in Helena. All written public comment on the issue must be submitted by Sept. 30. The reason behind the proposed rule change is that callitrichids are potentially unpredictable and can be aggressive. Consequently the animals require specialized handling and housing techniques. Comments should be submitted to: Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Attn: Beth Giddings, P.O. Box 200701, Helena, Montana, 59620-0701; or e-mail fwpexotics@mt.gov. For more information on the proposed rule change, go to: http://fwp.mt.gov/news/publicNotices/rules/pn_0214.html. Among the many new faces on campus this year, one freshman in particular has been quick to make an impact on campus and a difference in the community. At the age of 18, Bailey Hufstetler was elected as Spring City Commissioner and in doing so, became the youngest public office holder in Tennessee history. Mr. Hufstetler, a Politics and Government major and Class of 2016 Rhea County High School graduate, took office on Sept. 1, just 10 days after attending his first college class. Some of his daily responsibilities include: signing checks, approving budgets, and responding to citizen complaints. What really convinced me to run for this office was that I wanted to show young people that we can make a difference, Mr. Hufstetler said. One of my goals is to get more young people involved in local government and voting. It was tough running at such a young age, however once the community saw what I stood for, they became confident in having a young person involved. When not in class, you can often find Mr. Hufstetler working in the Admissions Office as the Campus Visit coordinator assistant, a job he started over the summer. He also volunteers at the Tennessee Valley Theatre and the non-profit corporation Angels and Heroes a child abuse prevention organization he founded while still in high school. Bailey represents a generation of young Americans who can choose to make a difference, said Joshua Hood, director of Admissions. Serving in public office is a great way to enact positive change in ones community, and Im proud of Bailey for pursuing this position at such a young age. Bailey has already proven himself to be an invaluable asset to our team. Im excited to see all the opportunities God brings his way as a student at Bryan College. When asked how he manages juggling his wide array of responsibilities, Mr. Hufstetler replied, with a lot of praying and a lot of organization. After graduating from Bryan, Mr. Hufstetler has his sights set on going to law school and pursuing a career as an attorney. He also hopes to continue his career in politics and run for other public offices along the way. I think that Bryan College will help me achieve my goals by preparing me not only academically, but also spiritually, Mr. Hufstetler said. By helping me develop a more in-tune relationship with God, I can use that to help guide me with decisions I make as I sit on the governing body of the city. Every October, Georgias mountains turn to a vibrant blanket of red and gold as the leaves begin to change. To help leaf peepers find the best spots for fall color, Georgias State Parks will offer an online Leaf Watch travel planner in October and November, found at www.GeorgiaStateParks.org/Leaf Watch . Leaf Watch is filled with top trails and overlooks, mountain cabins and campsites, fall events and hiking tips. Shutterbugs are encouraged to share their favorite shots on the Georgia State Parks Facebook page and Instagram, tagging #GaLeafWatch and #GaStateParks. Rangers will post updates on how fall color is progressing in their parks. Some of Georgias top state parks for leaf watching include those in the mountains, such as Black Rock Mountain, Cloudland Canyon, Fort Mountain, Tallulah Gorge and Vogel. While F.D. Roosevelt is south of Atlanta, its higher elevation means autumn colors are often vibrant. For late-season getaways, visitors may want to explore parks further south, such as George L. Smith. The southern Georgia parks can offer pretty color after the last mountain leaves have fallen. Georgia State Parks offer a variety of accommodations where leaf peepers can stay in the heart of autumn scenery. Guests can choose from cabins, campsites and yurts a glamping option that is like a combination tent-cabin. Accommodations may be reserved 13 months in advance, and many fill up on October weekends. Guests are encouraged to make plans as early as possible or visit during weekdays. Reservations can be made by calling 1-800-864-7275 or at GeorgiaStateParks.org/reservat ions . Park rangers have planned numerous events throughout October, including guided hikes and paddles, fall festivals, and Halloween hayrides and campground trick-or-treating. A list of events can be found at GeorgiaStateParks.org/events. I am a political essayist, cultural critic, educator, and host of the podcast known as "The Chauncey DeVega Show" I have been a guest on the BBC, National Public Radio, Ring of Fire Radio, Ed Schultz, Sirius XM's Make it Plain, Joshua Holland's Alternet Radio Hour, the Thom Hartmann radio show, the Burt Cohen show, and Our Common Ground. I have also been interviewed on the RT Network and Free Speech TV. I am a contributing writer for Salon and Alternet. My writing has also been featured by Newsweek, The New York Daily News, Raw Story, The Huffington Post, and the Daily Kos. My work has also been referenced by MSNBC, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Atlantic, The Christian Science Monitor, the Associated Press, Chicago Sun-Times, Raw Story, The Washington Spectator, Media Matters, The Gothamist, Fader, XOJane, The National Memo, The Root, Detroit Free Press, San Diego Free Press, the Global Post, The Lost Angeles Blade as well as online magazines and publications such as Slate, The Week, The New Republic, Buzzfeed, Counterpunch, Truth-Out, Pacific Standard, Common Dreams, The Daily Beast, The Washington Times, The Nation, RogerEbert.com, Ebony, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. Fox News, Breitbart, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Juan Williams, Herman Cain, Alex Jones, World Net Daily, Twitchy, the Free Republic, the National Review, NewsBusters, the Media Research Council, Project 21, and Weasel Zippers have made it known that they do not like me very much. If you spend your days dreaming of getting away to the perfect foreign country, then youre not alone millions of Americans every year are buying tickets to go to countries across the world for a vacation theyll never forget. While some countries are noted for their love of foreigners and vacationers alike, there are certain places that arent quite as friendly. Even if theres a killer price on a beautiful location, youll want to know the ins and outs of your chosen vacation spot before you book your flight you never know what scary situations you can find yourself in if you dont do your research first. Here are the top five places to avoid. 1. Turkey Istanbul, the most populated city in Turkey, may seem like the perfect destination due to its beauty and architecture, but the U.S. Department of State warns against any travel in the region, particularly in southeastern Turkey. Lately, Turkey has been experiencing a number of terrorist threats, which has resulted in increased military activity. These terrorist groups before have specifically targeted U.S. tourists, and extremists also tend to target large sporting events, open markets, and public venues, which are places youll most likely want to go when vacationing. Even U.S. government officials are experiencing travel restrictions in Turkey. Try a different country instead, and steer clear from this one for now. 2. Egypt Seeing the pyramids, reefs, and ruins are all part of the perfect Egypt experience, but this dream destination might sound better in your head than it is in reality. SafeTravel explains Egypt is currently considered a high-risk country for tourists, particularly near the border of Libya. There is a heavy threat of terrorism and kidnapping close to this area, with armed groups present near the border as well. As for other popular areas in Egypt, such as Cairo, these areas are also considered high-risk for vacationers. The political situation in Egypt is causing civil unrest and heavy terrorist threats, particularly to areas where there are a lot of foreigners present, so travel is heavily cautioned. There have also been several attacks recently in areas where tourism is high that have included explosions, attacks near the popular pyramids, and firearm attacks near government buildings. Hotel bars, restaurants, and resort areas are also deemed unsafe at this time. If you do find yourself in Egypt, be sure to avoid any protests and large public gatherings. These situations may escalate into violence. If you can stay away, its probably the best choice right now. 3. Mexico You can find tons of all-inclusive vacations in the beautiful country of Mexico, but you may want to save this spot for another year. As of now, travelers should avoid many areas in Mexico, such as Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, San Luis Potosi, and Tamaulipas, says USA Today. There are high rates of violence near Mexicos northern border states because of the narcotic trade as well, so be wary if youre planning on going to popular areas like Tijuana. If youre traveling to Mexico by car, highway robbery and carjacking are big concerns for tourists. If you have a newer or larger vehicle with a U.S. license plate, then you may be targeted dark SUVs are particularly vulnerable. If youre traveling around Mexico by taxi, then always get in a sitio taxi, as the government regulates them. Other taxi services exist, but you dont want to take the chance of getting into a dangerous situation. Robbery, assault, and pickpocketing are all common crimes that happen throughout Mexico as well, especially if youre a tourist, so travel in groups and stay aware of your surroundings at all times. 4. Syria Syria is rich with history, beautiful ruins, and castles that would make for a beautiful Middle Eastern vacation, but at this time and for the foreseeable future, its best to stay away. Lonely Planet explains that in 2011, the Syrian civil war began, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths and mass exiles. While Syrians themselves have paid the biggest price for the conflict, Westerners in the area, such as journalists, and aid workers, have also been publicly kidnapped and executed. More recently, the U.S. Department of State updated their warning to reflect just how dangerous things have become. One part of the warning reads: No part of Syria is safe from violence. Dont plan to travel to this country any time soon. 5. Honduras When it comes to a beautiful, tropical climate in Central America, its hard to beat Honduras. However, due to the high crime rates and the outrageous homicide rate outlined by the U.S. Department of State, youll be better off skipping this dangerous country. Throughout Honduras, criminal activity is critically high. For tourists, this means kidnapping, crime, and violence may occur during their stay. Because the Honduran government doesnt have the resources to prosecute cases and thoroughly investigate crimes, a lot of things fly under the radar, including murder. Honduras has one of the highest homicide rates worldwide, and most of these cases go unresolved. Highway assaults and carjackings are also commonplace in Honduras in both highly populated and remote areas of the country. Some criminals will even go as far as to create roadblocks or checkpoint areas to convince people theyre with the police. Drug trafficking is not uncommon either, and criminals will resort to violence to carry out their activities. If you are planning a trip to Honduras with a reputable travel agency and youre staying at a hotel resort, you should still be extremely cautious and aware of your surroundings, particularly at night. If youre on a cruise ship that stops on the shores of Honduras, you should still exercise caution, even if youre with a good company. Researchers have taken their inspiration from nature to teach materials to form new electrical pathways. They say the finding could eventually lead to new electronic devices. Scientists in Durham Universitys School of Engineering & Computing Sciences trained tiny carbon nanotubes, suspended in a liquid crystal solution, to reorganise into new networks in order to solve a simple problem - sorting data into two categories. Creating new electrical circuits When varying electrical voltages were applied to the material using a computer programme, the tiny nanotubes changed position to create new electrical circuits and increase the materials ability to solve the task. Although at an early stage the researchers hope their findings, published in Scientific Reports , could be used to help understand complicated information that normal computers can find difficult. For example, the new materials could be used to help find hidden patterns of symptoms associated with disease, or even predict the next emoji you might want to use. Currently silicon based transistors are used to process information in electronics, but new alternatives are being sought as they reach the limits of how small they can be made. Inspired by nature The Durham team took their lead from nature where living organisms evolve to perform complex tasks. Research co-author Professor Michael Petty , in the School of Engineering and Computing Sciences, said: Living organisms have evolved in nature to perform complex tasks with remarkable ease. The human brain and central nervous system are both excellent examples. Our research aims to explore similar evolution methods to create information processing devices. In this case we took a random, disordered material and trained it to produce a desired output by applying voltages to it to change its electrical properties. When the correct signals are applied the material can be trained or evolved to perform a useful function. Complementary technology Professor Petty said that although he could not see the type of material developed in the research competing with high-speed silicon in the immediate future, it could be a complementary technology. He added: This is an emerging interdisciplinary field of research, bringing together electronics, materials science and computer science. Although in its early stage, the concept has been proven that, using natural evolution, materials can be trained to mimic electronic circuits without the need to design the material structure in a specific way. Legal services are now provided by the YWCA for the women living in its shelter, the only dedicated domestic violence shelter in Billings. Since 2005, Billings has never had a year with fewer than 491 incidents of domestic violence and never more than 20 beds for the women and families. The number of domestic attacks reached as high as 655 in 2013. The organization helps victims of domestic attacks, like the one inflicted by Aaron Leo Ludwig. Ludwig was given a five year suspended sentence after attacking the same woman three separate times, according to court documents. The two have a child together. In January, the YWCA expanded its free services with Legal Service Coordinator Fawn Reed. YWCA Director of Programs Erin Lambert pushed for a grant to fund the position. Reed will help women navigate the complex world of civil litigation. Orders of protection, parenting plans and divorce filings are some of the typical casework Reed sees. "Orders of protection can help women get back to work and leave the shelter without the fear their abuser will be somewhere waiting to harass them," Reed said. For example, one recent victim got an order of protection to keep her safe from 36-year-old Donald Jarvis Brumfield, who choked the woman only a few hours after she bailed him out of jail, according to court records. Reed can help women to understand their employment rights, including helping them get time off work while they transition out of a violent home. When women leave the Gateway House shelter, Reed can still help them with landlord-tenant issues and make sure they understand their rights as a renter. I dont mind if they have all their kids, tearing up my office, Reed said. Her office is just across the street from where the women are sheltered. Women living in Gateway House already have access to counseling, child care and preschool education and a case manager to help them plan for their life after Gateway. Now, case managers can work in conjunction with Reed and the women don't need to worry about trying to apply for a lawyer through Montana Legal Services. "They have a major logjam," Lambert said. The women also get the support of the staff at the YWCA, an invaluable resource for them. "Having a team of people, having that many people say I believe you," Lambert said. "It helps them to trust." Court records detail an attack by William Louis Bartlett, 38, who assaulted the same woman twice in six months and was sentenced on his fourth conviction for partner or family member assault in April. YWCA CEO Merry Lee Olson said abusive partners threaten their victims with the loss of their children, with economic loss and with the simple fear that they can't make it without their violent partner. "A women believed it was OK to be drugged or raped by her husband because she was his wife," Olson said. The majority of the women who use the YWCA services are impoverished and over 50 percent of the population are Native American. These are not women who typically call the police, Lambert said. Some are women who just took and opportunity to run. Others might want to report their violent partners, but fear law enforcement. "A woman might have a warrant out for something like, driving without insurance," Reed said. "I can call the police and say, OK, what needs to happen to get this taken care of?" Still, Reed won't pressure women to report their abusers. The women who come to Gateway House often never report their abuse, and while Lambert said the YWCA hopes to support more women who report their husbands, the YWCA is not there to tell the women how to live their lives. The shelter has some requirements for check-in and making sure those who live there don't leave for extended periods. But it isn't jail and it isn't a group home. Women can leave to visit relatives and are not required to participate in counseling. "They have the right to self-determination," Olson said. "The women make their own choices." At most, women can spend about 12 weeks at the shelter. But this is temporary housing and women leaving violent homes often need more. Many of these women do not have a rental history, do not have credit and their job history is not consistent. The YWCA tried to get funding from the state in 2015 through a tax credit, but was not selected. The Montana Board of Housing is again reviewing the Gateway Vista project for Low Income Housing Tax Credit funding for 2017. Gateway Vista would get women further along the path of getting a job, finding a house and moving through their legal entanglements. The longer they stay somewhere safe, the better the chance they won't return to their abuser, Lambert said. The YWCA is now in the process of raising the $4.5 million develop the Gateway Vista apartments, after the program donated its own land to the project. The YWCA is still waiting to hear back on a grant that would fund paralegals to help Reed. Last month, Uber made a surprise announcement: The company would let Uber customers hail self-driving cars on the streets of Pittsburgh. Mayor William Peduto shares his thoughts on what this test means for the citizens of Pittsburgh - and for the long-struggling Rust Belt city's role in the future of the global economy. Pittsburgh will be the first U.S. city to have commuters riding in self-driving cars. How did it happen? [Uber chief executive] Travis Kalanick reached out about a year ago. I had fought for them in Harrisburg - on regulations that would have stopped them from operating. When we had our first meeting, he referenced the Pittsburgh Project. 'What's that?' I asked. 'Do you know about the Manhattan Project?' he said. 'At Uber, we call this the Pittsburgh Project - the goal is to build an autonomous vehicle center in Pittsburgh.' Well, that piqued my interest. The conversation quickly led to Uber setting up a headquarters in Pittsburgh, and by the end of the year, they employed over 200 people. They employ over 500 now. Then what happened? We agreed with them about six months ago to let them take autonomous vehicles onto our streets. We're also working with them to expand their operations and research facilities. What was the agreement? Do they assume all the risk if there's an accident? There is no formal agreement. They are permitted under existing state law to operate the vehicles with a licensed human driver. We required that Uber coordinate with the traffic division of our police bureau to ensure public safety. They assume all the risk. Why is Pittsburgh a good place for this experiment? Pittsburgh has challenging topography, different types of weather and bridges. That makes it an interesting place to test. It's a small city, so you can do things here; it doesn't get bogged down in red tape. We have world-class talent in robotics. We created the first doctorate in robotics, at Carnegie Mellon. There is another thing too: Pittsburgh has a history not only in innovation but also in building things. All the parallel research - the parts that would be needed to create autonomous vehicles, like cybersecurity research for vehicles, is being done here. We have over a century of advanced manufacturing. Uber has been a job creator in Pittsburgh by providing work for drivers. Now, the city is poised to become a leader in building a technology that could make those jobs obsolete. Does that concern you? It's not a question of whether there will be a change in jobs. The question is where a new industry will be born. There are cities that are becoming the new industrial hubs. Pittsburgh is one of the only cities that has traffic signals that can learn. The technology of autonomous vehicles is where the world is moving. Airlines, worldwide shipping - it's all gone autonomous. If we tried to stop time and did not want to be a leader in an industry that will forever change transportation over the next decade, we would be losing this opportunity to another city. Mobility, and especially urban mobility, is moving to shared, electrical and autonomous. These aren't trends. But people are upset. Kalanick has said he hopes to replace all of Uber's human drivers with technology. Five years ago, Uber didn't exist. We would hope to replace drivers lost with advanced manufacturing jobs. Everything from the sensors in vehicles to the automotive add-ons that will be required. The thing that makes Uber unique in this is that, unlike Google or even Volvo, Uber is partnering with automotive manufacturers - and the manufacturing component is something Pittsburgh can seize upon. We know how to build things. Still, there could be blowback. Let me tell you where I'm coming from. I'm 51. I have never seen my city grow. I saw it go through economic depression. When I graduated high school, the unemployment rate was about 19 percent - higher than it was in the Great Depression. I watched my family move away and my friends move away. And I worked for so many politicians whose campaigns were predicated on bringing the mills back. But at the same time, people were planting seeds. People like Dick Cyert of Carnegie Mellon, who made one of the first robotics and supercomputer centers. Our overnight success story, which took 30 years of suffering to get to, is that new industries will replace the old steel mills. This is showing how a Rust Belt city that everyone considered dead has come back. Is there an application for self-driving cars in public transit? This is a last-mile and a first-mile technology. Think about someone who is elderly who lives a mile away from the bus stop. This is a way to get to the bus stop. Or if the bus drops them off far from the doctor's office, they can get a ride to the doctors office. This is something we'll be able to think about addressing. We need a healthy public transit system combined with an automated ride-share system. This is coming quickly. Like all of a sudden - boom, driverless cars! How can that be? Over the last nine months, working with these companies and people, I now can see how this technology is moving rapidly. Have you taken a ride in a self-driving car? The day they announced, [Kalanick] picked me up from work and took me home. There is a person in the car. Their hands are on the wheel, feet are off the pedals. There's another person staring at the computer screen. When the car doesn't recognize something, a light turns on and the driver has control of the vehicle. It was very smooth. There was no time I was fearful. I'm more worried when I'm the road with an 18-year-old kid, or when I see someone drive and play Pokemon Go. A lot of people are scared of self-driving cars. Have you talked to Kalanick about that? I had dinner with him one night. One person at the table was the guy who created Google Maps, and the other person is the reason you don't see the fail whale on Twitter anymore. I asked them, 'Do you know a lot of people are worried about this? About cars without humans? That it's causing people anxiety to think they are driving down the street and the car next to them won't have anybody driving?' It's a foreign thought. And they said, you know, people should be worried about things like genetic engineering - how DNA could be tampered with. That went into a conversation about a South Korean operation where you can clone animals. I looked it up - it's true, there is a doctor in South Korea that does that. It started an interesting conversation. It sounds like they were sidestepping the issue. You hear other technology executives talk in these grandiose terms about making the world better. You don't hear that much from Uber. I tell [Kalanick], the model has to be beyond libertarian. Your factory is the public's right of way - your factory is owned by the people. They've already proven they can be a successful company. But can they make it a successful company for all? Travis knows where I stand on that. This city was built on the backs of people like my grandfather, who worked in a steel mill his entire life. And we didn't make steel, we made the middle class. When you talk about what happens to the drivers and the safety of people, those have to become the forefront of this conversation. [Kalanick] agreed to talk about that. Members of soon-to-be-shuttered Land of Lincoln Health will be able to seek cash from the insurer's estate, the Illinois Department of Insurance has confirmed. Whether those members will actually wring any money out of the estate, however, is unclear. Advertisement The insurer, which is on the state's Obamacare exchange, will cease coverage at the end of this month following financial woes, forcing its 49,000 members to find health coverage elsewhere. What's more, the money members with individual policies have already paid toward deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums won't count with their new insurers in some cases costing members thousands of additional dollars this year. The state said it offered other insurers still on the exchange "potential recoupment options" through the Land of Lincoln estate if they agreed to waive deductibles for Land of Lincoln members switching to them in October. All the insurers declined, the department said. Advertisement However, the department has confirmed that Land of Lincoln members who have to pay additional money in deductibles and out-of-pocket maximum payments with their new insurers, may file claims. It's too early to say how successful policyholders will be in recovering funds from the estate, Michael Batkins, a Department of Insurance spokesman, said in an email. Reimbursement will partly depend on whether Land of Lincoln has any luck recovering more than $70 million the insurer says it's owed by the federal government, he said. Insurers were supposed to receive "risk corridor" payments from the federal government to help offset their losses in the early years of Obamacare. But Congress passed spending bills that kept insurers from receiving the level of payments they expected. For 2014, insurers asked for $2.87 billion in payments but only got $362 million. Land of Lincoln sued the federal government in June to get that money, as have a number of other insurers across the country. Tim Casey, a partner at law firm Drinker Biddle & Reath in Chicago who focuses on corporate restructuring, said it's hard to determine how successful any claims filed against Land of Lincoln might be. The state placed the insurer into a status known as "rehabilitation" in July, and under that status, policyholders would likely be fourth among nine groups in line to recover money from the insurer, Casey said. Ahead of policyholders would likely be the Department of Insurance seeking to recoup the costs of handling Land of Lincoln's case; creditors and lenders; and employees. Even if there is money left for policyholders to recover, it could take years to get it, Casey said. Separately, the department confirmed it has received reports of providers turning away Land of Lincoln members. The department said those providers were contacted and ultimately accepted the patients. Providers are allowed to say they're not taking new patients, but they can't stop serving Land of Lincoln members just because of the policies they carry. Policyholders should email the Office of the Special Deputy or call Land of Lincoln if that happens before the end of the month. Advertisement Details about how the state is handling Land of Lincoln's shutdown emerged during a meeting last month between the Insurance Department and three Land of Lincoln members who run a Facebook group. One of those members, Miranda Wilgus, of North Chicago, said the group requested a meeting partly because of a lack of information about the matter. Anne Melissa Dowling, the Insurance Department's acting director, and half a dozen other officials met with the three Land of Lincoln members for an hour and a half Aug. 19 to answer questions. The members took comprehensive notes of that meeting, which they then posted in the Facebook group, which has more than 180 members. The Department of Insurance confirmed the accuracy of those notes to the Tribune. Wilgus said she hasn't personally lost any deductible or out-of-pocket max money this year, but she began looking for answers partly because Land of Lincoln's downfall frustrated her as a continued supporter of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Land of Lincoln is a so-called co-op, a nonprofit insurer created under the health care law to create competition on the individual insurance exchange. Co-ops across the country have been collapsing under financial strain. Many Land of Lincoln members have felt frustrated in recent months, not only at having their deductibles re-set, but also at the prospect of having to again shop for insurance and oftentimes pay higher premiums for the last three months of the year. Paul Uhl, a self-employed graphic designer in Evanston and Land of Lincoln member, has been surprised there aren't more checks and balances to prevent situations like this. Advertisement "I don't know who to really go after," Uhl said. "I think the state of Illinois is complicit in this. I think the federal government is complicit in this. I think the insured are held to a much higher standard than the insurance industry." lschencker@chicagotribune.com Twitter @lschencker When Dr. Kishin Ramani decided to sell his six-bedroom, Georgian-style home on a half-acre lot in Hinsdale three years ago, it never occurred to him that he'd be resigned to accepting far less than he paid when he bought the home in 2005. Ramani was immediately drawn to the home, built in 2003, because "it was gorgeous and airy, with the highest ceilings I'd seen." A recent appraisal said it is worth $2.5 million. But after years on the market, and dropping the price three times to $1.99 million, he says he is ready to take a $600,000 loss on the home because he has little choice. Advertisement He needs to move soon into a new home he had built in Oak Brook for his wife, Dr. Suman Kaur, his two children and his parents, and he has no interest in keeping two homes. Now, as he digests the loss he must take, he notices other homeowners nearby going through the same shock with homes known as McMansions. One neighbor recently marked his home down $750,000 to $1.95 million. Advertisement "There is nothing in the overall housing data that says the housing market is this bad," said Ramani's real estate agent, Linda Feinstein of Re/Max Signature Homes. But while smaller, lower-priced homes have often recovered significantly from the housing crash that started in 2007, McMansions are slower to come back, she said. The McMansion style, built between 2001 and 2007 and averaging 3,000 to 5,000 square feet, lacks the appeal with today's buyers compared to old vintage homes or large freshly built homes. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 7 Popular from 2001 to 2007, the derisively named McMansions, the giant homes often built on small lots, have lost their appeal for today's homebuyers. (HANDOUT) The realization is especially hard on homeowners trying to sell because when they bought the giant homes in the early 2000s, they thought of them as great investments, Feinstein said. Then, the idea was that bigger was better because prices presumably would keep going up. Now, housing analysts say the day of the McMansion has come and gone. An analysis just completed by Trulia shows that the amount buyers are willing to pay for McMansions over other homes has fallen 26 percent in just four years. As homes in general have been regaining value, McMansions have been losing appeal in comparison to others as the giants of the pre-crash years have aged. The trend in the Chicago area has been similar to the national averages. Trulia economist Ralph McLaughlin notes that just four years ago, when most McMansions weren't yet 10 years old, people were willing to pay a higher premium to get the large houses than they are willing to pay now. This year in Chicago, buyers have been willing to pay only a 118.9 percent premium for a McMansion compared with what they will pay for a non-McMansion. In other words, McMansions, which should be more expensive because they are large, are selling for slightly more than two times the average non-McMansion. But in 2012, people were willing to spend far more for McMansions. Then, the premium was 145.5 percent over the typical non-McMansion. Nationally, the premiums have dropped from 138 percent in 2012 to 117 percent recently. The declines have been extreme in some Florida markets, where premiums have plunged more than 80 percent in areas such as Fort Lauderdale. Advertisement The median price of a McMansion in the Chicago area was $598,000 in 2007, McLaughlin said. This year, it has been $485,000. The median price of non-McMansions has been $222,000, according to Trulia. As McMansions were being built in the early 2000s, some observers questioned whether the homes named after the generic, mass-produced approach of fast food would remain desirable. They were criticized for being ostentatious and cheaply built. They were often stuffed onto suburban lots that seemed too small, where the main structure appeared to be dominated by the three-car garage. Targeted at Generation X in their homebuying prime as they raised families, many of the buyers in their 30s and early 40s lost the homes in foreclosure as values plunged. Now, McLaughlin said, there are few buyers for the pricey homes in part because of a change in demographics. Gen Xers have been scarred psychologically and financially from the crash in their home values, short sales and foreclosures, he said. With tarnished credit scores, many who lost homes can't afford to buy again. Meanwhile, millennials are not marrying and having families at the rate of previous generations, loans are tough to get, and renting in cities is more popular with single affluent 20-somethings than buying large suburban homes. Baby boomers tend to downsize rather than replace family homes with McMansions, McLaughlin said. Still, people seeking size want homes that are built new rather than the dated McMansions that appealed to early 2000s tastes, said Tim Schiller, an @properties real estate agent who sells in Elmhurst. Advertisement "People 35 to 45 with two careers and 1.2 kids want bigger, bigger, bigger," he said. "But they want dark floors, gray walls and white kitchen cabinets," which are in contrast to the McMansion style. For clients trying to sell McMansions, he tries to persuade them first to redo the floors and cabinets as well as the paint. Then, he said, they sell at higher prices. Such an overhaul, however, can approach $100,000. And redoing floors is hard to do when people live in the homes. It's tough for a person to stomach making such expensive changes when they still appear new, Feinstein said. "A lot have beautiful cherry floors that were in vogue when built, but buyers now want floors darker or a rich brown." Generally, buyers will pay 20 percent more for a new home than an older home, even when the older home is just five to 10 years old, McLaughlin said. It isn't just McMansions that are getting snubbed by homebuyers now. While low-priced homes are in demand and in short supply on the market, luxury homes built years before McMansions also are selling slowly, and sellers are being forced to cut their asking prices. In the Chicago area, Re/Max research found that for homes and condos on the market for more than $1 million, prices dropped 9 percent during the first three months of this year. The homes were not moving quickly despite brisk sales in the $200,000 to $300,000 range. Sellers had them on the market on average 155 days before arriving at a deal with a buyer. Last year it took 118 days. Advertisement gmarksjarvis@chicagotribune.com Twitter @gailmarksjarvis Kunal Kapoor, left, will become new chief executive at Morningstar, replacing billionaire founder Joe Mansueto, right. (Morningstar) Morningstar says Kunal Kapoor, its 41-year-old president, will become the new chief executive at the Chicago-based investment research firm on Jan. 1, 2017, replacing billionaire founder Joe Mansueto. Kapoor, who joined Morningstar as a data analyst in 1997 and has been president since October 2015, also will join Morningstar's board of directors at the start of next year. Advertisement Mansueto, who started the company in 1984 and who is the current CEO, will become executive chairman effective Jan. 1, and will continue to serve as board chairman. "As I turn 60, I'm ready to transition to an executive chairman role," Mansueto said in a news release. "I'll still be very involved with Morningstar, but my role will focus more on strategy, capital allocation, advising Kunal and our senior team, and leading our board of directors." Advertisement He said he has "given this change a lot of thought over the past year, and I'm looking forward to having a more flexible schedule and more time to think about investing and technology." Forbes estimates Mansueto's net worth at $2.3 billion, ranking him 854th among the world's billionaires. He and his wife, Rika, joined The Giving Pledge in 2010, led by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, pledging to donate at least half their wealth to charity during their lifetimes or upon death. Already, their names adorn a University of Chicago glass-domed library designed by Helmut Jahn. To limit the number of inside directors at the publicly traded company, Don Phillips, Morningstar managing director, has voluntarily opted to step down from the board effective Dec. 31. byerak@chicagotribune.com Twitter @beckyyerak A Joliet construction contractor with a history of safety citations and lots of government work was fined more than $100,000 for putting workers at risk of trench cave-ins. P.T. Ferro Construction Co., which has been in business since 1964, was issued one willful and two serious safety citations by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Advertisement It is the seventh time in 40 years that the company has been cited for endangering workers, OSHA said in a news release. The newest citations, issued Aug. 30, stem from a June inspection at a site in south suburban Lansing where workers were excavating utility lines 7 feet deep. Advertisement OSHA said Ferro allowed its employees to work in the trench without cave-in protection and a means to exit the trench quickly in case of a collapse. According to the agency, dozens of workers die and hundreds are injured each year when trench walls collapse and bury them in soil and rock that sometimes weigh several thousand pounds. Inspectors also "determined a competent person was aware of the hazardous conditions but still allowed the worker to enter the trench," OSHA said. OSHA requires protective systems on trenches deeper than 5 feet and that soil and other materials remain at least 2 feet from the edge of trench. The agency proposed penalties of $104,756. Ferro has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, contest the findings or request an informal meeting with OSHA's area director. Ferro's website says it is an Illinois Department of Transportation prequalified general contractor, and lists six current projects with city and county governments valued at a total of $20 million. A Ferro representative could not be reached for comment. aelejalderuiz@chicagotribune.com Don Bacigalupi was under contract to buy the east Lincoln Park mansion when Lucus Museum officials announced they were abandoning plans to build in Chicago. (Provided) Don Bacigalupi, the founding president of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, has placed a four-level, 7,600-square-foot mansion in east Lincoln Park back on the market for $2.995 million, just a little over two months after buying it for $2.725 million. Earlier this year, when filmmaker George Lucas and the museum's board still had intended to locate the Lucas Museum in Chicago, Bacigalupi went under contract to purchase the six-bedroom mansion. After months of wrangling with the Friends of the Parks nonprofit group over two proposed lakefront sites for the museum, Lucas and the museum's board announced June 24 that they would no longer consider Chicago a potential site. Reports say Lucas' new plan is to locate the museum on an island in San Francisco Bay. Advertisement At that point, Bacigalupi had scheduled a closing date for the Lincoln Park mansion for just six days later, on June 30. He went ahead with his commitment to close on the mansion and after doing some light work on it, relisted it this week. The higher asking price reflects both the recent work Bacigalupi did and the inclusion of some remodeling plans he had ordered, listing agent Katherine Malkin of Baird & Warner told Elite Street. "He cleaned it up and had some carpet work done," Malkin said. "We also have all the plans from (Chicago architect) Dirk Denison for the remodel (Bacigalupi) was planning." Advertisement Built in 1880, the mansion had been run-down when Chicago lawyer and philanthropist Irving Stenn purchased it in the 1960s. After buying it, Stenn tapped noted architect Harry Weese to design a full-fledged renovation, along with an addition to the rear. Stenn sold the mansion in June to Bacigalupi. Features in the mansion include five full baths, two half baths, original stained glass windows, pocket doors and fireplaces all of which have been restored as well as white gallery-style walls, custom recessed channel track art lighting, oak floors and oversized windows. The mansion also has two decks, a passenger elevator and an attached two-car garage, all on a very large lot for Lincoln Park, which measures 50 feet by 130 feet. "It's a spectacular lot," Malkin said. "It's too bad (for Bacigalupi) that (he) can't be here and live in it, but that's the way it is." Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 16 (VHT Studios) Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 5 Billionaire Ken Griffin, Illinois richest man, paid $58.75 million in November for the top four floors in the Near North condominium building at 9 W. Walton St., known as No. 9 Walton. This photo shows a rendering of the lobby. (JDL Development / E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune (inset)) The ITT Technical Institute in Arlington Heights on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. The 50-year-old educational institute has four Illinois locations. It is shutting down all of its facilities immediately. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune) TT Technical Institute is ceasing operations at its more than 130 campuses nationwide after the Department of Education cut off access to federal financial aid for new students. The immediate closures by for-profit ITT Educational Services will end the fall quarter before it starts for 40,000 students, and will leave more than 8,000 employees without a job, the Carmel, Ind.-based company said Tuesday. Advertisement It also raises questions about everything from outstanding student loans to finding a new school. Secretary of Education John King Jr. addressed those issues in a blog post Tuesday. "If you are currently or were recently enrolled at ITT, you may be eligible to have your federal student loans for your program at ITT discharged," King said. "Your federal loan debt will be wiped away and you will have the option of restarting your education somewhere new." Advertisement King said ITT students interested in continuing their educations may be able to transfer their credits to another school. But he said doing so may limit their ability to have their outstanding federal loans discharged. There are four ITT Tech campuses in Illinois: Arlington Heights, Oak Brook, Orland Park and Springfield. Last month, the Department of Education banned ITT Educational Services from enrolling new students using federal financial aid funds after it was determined the company was "not in compliance" with accreditation criteria. It also announced stepped-up financial oversight of ITT, building on measures put in place in 2014 due to "significant concerns" about the school's organization and "financial viability." On Tuesday afternoon, ITT Technical Institute's recently renovated offices in Arlington Heights were shuttered, with employees from neighboring businesses in the office park saying ITT's suite had been dark and locked since Friday. "I was over there as one of the graduation speakers a couple of years ago, and they had recently remodeled the facility, which looked really nice," Arlington Heights Mayor Thomas Hayes said in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon. "It's unfortunate, and it sounds like they've closed all their locations, not only Arlington Heights." Hayes said the village would not have had any special oversight over the business, unless they had required a zoning variance. Jennifer Bakrins, an Arlington Heights therapist whose office is located in the same building as the ITT facility, said she was sympathetic to the school's students. "The school just went through a big undertaking, remodeling the building," she said. "They even made a student lounge with a college atmosphere. A traditional college isn't for everyone, and this place offered vocational training, so it's real shame." Advertisement In a statement Tuesday, ITT said the federal sanctions were made "with a complete disregard by the U.S. Department of Education for due process," forcing the decision to close its doors after 50 years. "We reached this decision only after having exhausted the exploration of alternatives, including transfer of the schools to a nonprofit or public institution." the company said. Citing increased financial risk, the Department of Education told ITT on Aug. 25 the company needed to increase its $94 million surety requirement to more than $247 million, which represented 40 percent of the federal financial aid received by its schools last year. The increased surety was protection in the event that ITT would "close or terminate classes" before the end of an academic period, the Education Department said. ITT had 10 days to make a $153 million payment, but chose instead to shut down operations. "We had no intention prior to the receipt of the most recent sanctions of closing down despite the challenging regulatory environment that now threatens all proprietary higher education," ITT said Tuesday. Advertisement Launched in 1966 with ITT's acquisition of Educational Services and its three technical schools, the company ramped up offerings and locations, and went public in 1994. In recent years, ITT Tech offered degrees in six areas of study: information technology, electronics technology, drafting and design, business, criminal justice and nursing. The schools had about 4,100 full-time and 4,300 part-time instructors at the end of 2015, according to financial filings. ITT Educational Services generated net income of $23.3 million on nearly $850 million in revenue last year. While there are several open federal and state investigations into ITT campuses, the Department of Education actions were based on operational and financial risk, not on a finding that the schools defrauded students. If those investigations do show evidence of fraud, ITT students may be eligible for relief, according to a recent blog post by Ted Mitchell, undersecretary of education. In its most recent annual report, ITT said 73 percent of its employable graduates in 2014 found work by April 2015 in positions that required the "direct or indirect use of skills" taught in their education programs. Whether the closure will affect the value of that degree, or the employment opportunities of its graduates, remains an open question. Mitchell offered ITT alumni some reassurances in his blog post. "You completed your degree at an operational and accredited institution," Mitchell said. "Nobody can take away your credentials or the skills you gained." Advertisement Pioneer Press reporter Karen Ann Cullotta contributed to this story. rchannick@chicagotribune.com Twitter @RobertChannick The fast-growing chain of HopCat craft-beer bars is generally known for two things: a lot of space and a lot of taps. The Chicago installment, which opened Saturday in a former Italian restaurant in Lincoln Park, won't disappoint on either front. Across three rooms and 8,500 square feet, beer will flow from a whopping 130 draft lines one of the highest totals in the area. Advertisement However, Chicago's HopCat will include one feature that the other nine locations do not: a whole lot of funk. (And no, I'm not talking about beer made with brettanomyces yeast.) Inspired by a scene in Quentin Tarantino's 1997 movie "Jackie Brown," HopCat founder Mark Sellers decided to make his most recent bar an homage to the 1970s. Advertisement "I just thought it would be fun," Sellers said. "I'm a huge fan of '70s soul music, and I grew up in the '70s though I wasn't old enough to go to bars then." Now firmly into drinking age, Sellers is making up for lost time with orange light that glows from the HopCat ceiling, custom-made velvet paintings of '70s-era musicians (Dylan, Neil and Iggy, among them) and gleaming red Naugahyde booths in which Jackie herself would likely feel right at home. Settle in for a long day of tasting. There are a whopping 130 taps here, with almost half pouring local beer. (Kristan Lieb / Chicago Tribune) Whether craft beer would have been her favored drink is another matter, but it will be in abundance at HopCat. The 130 drafts are the same number HopCat pours at its locations in Madison, Wis., Detroit and Louisville, Ky. And, as at other HopCats, 40 to 50 percent of the Chicago taps will pour locally made beers. Handles on display a week before opening included both larger and smaller local brewers, such as Moody Tongue, Solemn Oath, Pollyanna, Around the Bend, Burnt City, Revolution and Cahoots. Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. > "People like choice," Sellers said. "It's one of the main reasons craft beer has exploded." HopCat's surge has mirrored the industry's, growing from one well regarded bar in Grand Rapids, Mich., in 2008 to 10 locations across seven states. Sellers said he made enough money as an investment manager in Chicago to retire just before his 40th birthday, and he opened the first HopCat simply as "a bar where I would want to hang out." He never intended to open another bar, he said, but the business was far more successful than he imagined. His retirement hobby was transformed into a second career. Sellers lived in Chicago from 1997 until 2007, which made a location here all but inevitable once the business began to grow. There's one local beer you won't see at his long-awaited Chicago bar, though. A HopCat policy forbids serving beers made at breweries owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev or MillerCoors. Because ABI bought Goose Island in 2011, HopCat won't serve beer from Chicago's oldest and best-known brewery, even when Bourbon County season arrives in late November. Advertisement "It's nothing against Goose Island specifically, but they don't need our help, and they don't need our exposure," Sellers said. "One part of our business model is to partner with breweries get to know them, do tap takeovers with them. We don't just consider them vendors of ours, but partners to the extent that that's possible." Hopcat, 2577 N. Clark St., 312-257-2599, www.hopcat.com/chicago jbnoel@chicagotribune.com Twitter @joshbnoel A friend recently texted from the liquor store, asking, "What in the heck is Escubac and how do I drink it?" Drawn to the handsome bottle and contemporary geometric label, she wondered how this new "French apero" as the distiller describes it would drink. Always up for a tasting, we purchased a bottle and dove in. The pale yellow liquor (colored, we learned, with saffron threads) entered the glass without the syrupy trails that show up in most sweet, traditional liqueurs. Its aroma showed bright and herbal, warm with citrus and spice notes but not hot with alcohol. On its own, it reminded us of Galliano, perhaps, or Strega, two old-time examples of Italian herbal digestifs. Advertisement Escubac, however, stands apart from the pack of dusty bottles on the dessert cart. It is lower in alcohol; at 34 percent by volume, it's lighter than old-school liqueurs. Its sweetness is derived from sugar, raisins and vanilla, adding a delicate richness that screams to be served before dinner as an aperitif. Distilled with caraway and cardamom among its botanicals, Escubac acts as a natural stand-in for gin in cocktail recipes its herby spice makes a great gin and tonic, especially when a lemon wedge replaces a lime. Escubac is the first liqueur from a new distiller in Great Britain called Sweetdram, founded by Daniel Fisher, a former senior vice president at New York's Astor Wines and Spirits, and Andrew Macleod Smith, an engineer-cum-distiller they met at the University of Edinburgh when the two were studying for their master's degrees in brewing and distilling. They created Sweetdram to produce "modern distilled spirits," for "the conscious drinkers of today, who demand quality, story and innovation over cost, convenience and an empty, manufactured narrative." In other words, to make new drinks they want to drink. Advertisement To create their first spirit, says Fisher, "we sifted through old distilling manuals and found this style, which originated in the 1700s as Usquebaugh a spicy, yellow British cordial and was later adopted by the French. However, instead of simply reviving a defunct recipe verbatim, we used it as a reference then completely re-imagined it for today." They headed into their East London workshop, where they macerate, distill and blend herbs and spices to create the liqueurs they imagine, spirits that are less traditional than most and much less sweet. Escubac, though dreamed up and developed in England, is actually distilled in France at Distillerie Combier, the home of a triple sec and other elegant fruit liqueurs, in Saumur, in the Loire Valley. Combier houses rare antique copper pot stills from the early 1800s that "play a key role in the complexity and aromatic quality of Escubac," says Fisher. After 18 months in the workshop, the formula was ready for the French distillery, and the elegant result landed in the U.S. late last year. Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. > To try it, sub it for gin in a G&T, or try Sweetdram's elegant version of the Martinez, which subs Escubac for the traditional Old Tom Gin. Escubac Martinez 2 ounces Escubac 1/2 ounce sweet vermouth 2 barspoons dry vermouth Advertisement 1 barspoon maraschino liqueur Stir ingredients over ice; double strain into a chilled coupe. Finish with an orange twist. Oregon folk band Blind Pilot used to tour on bicycles, mostly back when frontman Israel Nebeker and drummer Ryan Dobrowski were performing as a two-piece. They traveled the Pacific coast between Vancouver and San Diego, their instruments attached to the backs of their bikes. The tours were attention-grabbing, occasionally depressing (one tour ended early when their bikes were stolen) and life-changing. "I was totally energized," Nebeker recalls. "I'd be exhausted physically, then I'd get onstage and it was almost helpful. It helped with nerves and everything." Blind Pilot released two well-received full-length albums before taking a five-year break, during which time Nebeker's father died of cancer and his 13-year relationship ended. Both events are chronicled on the new album by the group, now a six-piece, "And Then Like Lions." It's a moving chronicle of grief and loss that's not as depressing as it sounds (though it is pretty close). Advertisement In a phone interview before the band's sold-out show at Thalia Hall on Friday night, Nebeker talked about making the album and surviving the events leading up to it. The following is an edited and condensed version of that conversation: Q: How has the reaction to the album been so far? Advertisement A: The live shows, the reaction's been pretty great. It feels pretty different. This album, the songs seem to hit crowds in different ways. I'm proud about that. Q: Talking about grief makes people uncomfortable. Are you noticing that fans feel that way? A: I think that's such a big part of our culture. You're not meant to burden people with talking openly about loss or grief or hard things that you're going through. It's an unspoken taboo. It's hard to say if that's (only) in my mind when I'm singing these songs: "Am I making people uncomfortable?" I have to keep reminding myself that that's what I'm hoping to do, make a space that's inviting. And I do that by being OK with it myself. I can talk about this, it's not the end of the world. Q: So, you make the album, and it's cathartic, then there's this second stage, where you have to sing these songs every night and talk to strangers like me about your grief. Are there times when you're like, "I'm in a good place today. I don't want to go back there and think about that"? A: You're right, it was cathartic, but I'm finding that putting it into a larger (world), it's helpful to me. It's a reminder. So on the days that you're talking about, when I'm like, "I don't want to think about that stuff," it's actually good for me to think about that stuff and be holding it in a way where it's facing it straight on. It's better days that you can look really at them fully and completely and bring all of yourself to them. Q: Do you look at your earlier albums and think, "I was such a baby. I didn't know anything about anything"? A: (Laughs) No way. No. I think I was just a different person in a different time, but I was still searching for deeper meaning, I was still writing from a similar place. I hear those two albums, and I couldn't make either of those albums now, so I kind of have to have respect for that guy that did. Q: Did your dad have a chance to hear any of it before he died? Advertisement A: Yeah. The song "Seeing is Believing" I wrote for him, because he was kind of struggling to have hope when he was sick. There's a few songs I got to share with him when he was still alive, which was pretty great. Most of the songs were completed after his death. Q: You also wrote a lot of those songs about a relationship that ended. Did you ever get any feedback from (your ex) about those songs? A: No, I never did. That relationship ended three years ago now, and those were some of the first songs. She might not even know that they're about her. Q: Do you look at this album as ultimately a hopeful album that just takes a while to get there? A: I definitely do. To invite somebody into this conversation is a bit challenging, but I think it's ultimately encouraging, to give the statement that this stuff is actually not so scary. There's a lot of beauty and important things to be gleaned by talking about death, or loss, or the kind of things that we all go through. Allison Stewart is a freelancer. Advertisement onthetow@chicagotribune.com Twitter @chitribent When: 8 p.m. Friday Where: Thalia Hall, 1807 S. Allport St. Tickets: Sold out; www.thaliahallchicago.com MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR Portrait of Elbio Barilari, right, and Gustavo Leone (cq all), artistic directors of the Chicago Latino Music Festival, seen here at Leone's home in Chicago on Monday, Sept. 5, 2016. For Heard & Scene column. (Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune) (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune) Critic Virgil Thomson's famous dictum about the way to write American music "All you have to do is be an American and write any kind of music you wish" applies just as easily to Latino music. Indeed, there are as many types of Latino musical composition as there are Latino composers. This is particularly true today, when musical style knows no clear ethnic or national identity, and labels are far too confining. The fact remains that there's an amazingly rich, diverse body of classical works by Latino composers of some five centuries that's deserving of much wider exposure than it normally receives from America's mainstream concert presenters. Advertisement And that's where the annual Chicago Latino Music festivals come in. Each year, these festivals, produced by Chicago's International Latino Cultural Center, celebrate a broad spectrum of such music, from the Baroque era to the present, at venues across the city, performed by some of Chicago's leading musicians and ensembles, along with international artists. The mission, organizers explain, is as much about community involvement as it is about cultural enlightenment. Advertisement "Our idea is not to create a ghetto of Latin American music, but, rather, to show the continuity of Latino music across the centuries," says the Uruguayan-born Chicago composer, educator and radio host Elbio Barilari, the festival's co-artistic director. MOST READ ENTERTANMENT NEWS AT THIS HOUR In a city where Latinos account for about 30 percent of the population, "we feel it's vital to expose people to that music and make Chicago's Latino community feel proud of our musical treasures," he adds. Barilari and his colleague and co-artistic director, the Argentina-born Chicago composer and educator Gustavo Leone, have put together another thoughtfully eclectic array of concerts for the 11th Chicago Latino Music Festival, beginning Thursday night with a sold-out concert at the Instituto Cervantes of Chicago by Duo Belcorde, a violin and guitar ensemble. The 2016 edition will comprise 14 concerts, half of them free events 10 fewer performances than were given during last year's 10th anniversary celebration. The cutback was quite intentional on the directors' part, Leone explains. "We reduced the number of concerts with the intention of focusing rather more on our mission and also to be able to promote each concert a bit better," Leone says of this year's festival, which runs to Dec. 1. Presenting a panorama of styles spanning more than 400 years of Latin American and Spanish music remains the focus ranging from music from the Spanish colonial period in the New World, to classical string quartets from the 20th and 21st centuries, to solo guitar works, to contemporary works for acoustical instruments and electronics. Performers include the Avalon, KAIA and Cuarteto Q-Arte string quartets; Mexico's Centro Mexicano para la Musica y las Artes Sonoras; Chicago Arts Orchestra; University of Illinois Orchestra; and classical guitarists Pablo Sainz Villegas and Adam Neiman. Advertisement "The partnerships we have with various ensembles and venues in the city, and the fact that many people are contributing to the festivals, are, we believe, changing the perception of classical Latin American music in Chicago," says Barilari, who hosts "Fiesta," a nationally syndicated program of Latin American music on WFMT-FM 98.7. This year's festival partners include the Ear Taxi Festival, Harold Washington Library, Studebaker Theater, Old Town School of Folk Music, Ravinia Festival and Art Institute of Chicago. Perhaps the most distinctive highlight is a cultural exchange with Colombia, funded by a $50,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation. As part of the exchange, new string quartets were commissioned from Leone and Colombian composer Blas Atehurtua. Both works will be premiered by the Avalon and Cuarteto Q-Arte groups in Colombia, under auspices of the Latino Music Festival, before being performed in Chicago. So well established are the Chicago Latino Music festivals that recruiting prospective musicians is never a problem more than 60 applications were received from would-be participants this year. Nor is it a problem devising programs sufficiently varied as to keep each year's event fresh, says Barilari. Some 50 percent of the festival audience is Latino, the rest non-Latino concertgoers, he reports. Although the U.S. has other festivals that include Latin American classical music, none is as extensive, wide-ranging or fully professional as Chicago's, according to the directors. Under Barilari and Leone, past Chicago Latino Music festivals have included up to 70 different works by Chicago-based Latino composers, and many more by other U.S. Latino composers. Major funding comes from the Joyce Foundation, which this year awarded the not-for-profit $75,000, part of a three-year grant. Advertisement Thanks to the Chicago Latino Music Festival now entering its second decade a genuine community need is being filled, and Latin American classical music is enjoying a presence in the cultural life of Chicago as never before. For further information, go to www.latinomusicfest.org. Highlights of the 11th Chicago Latino Music Festival KAIA String Quartet. The festival's ensemble-in-residence performs works for string quartet by Argentina-born composers Alberto Ginastera, Astor Piazzolla and Gustavo Leone (his 2015 String Quartet, world premiere). 6:30 p.m. Oct. 6, Pritzker Auditorium, Harold Washington Library, 400 S. State St.; free. Chicago Arts Orchestra. Artistic director and conductor Javier Jose Mendoza leads the ensemble in seldom-performed classical works from 18th-century Latin America. 7:30 p.m. Oct. 15, Studebaker Theater, Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Ave.; $35 patron, $25 general, $15 students and seniors; www.studebakertheater.com. "San Ignacio." From the Jesuit missions of Bolivia in the 17th and 18th centuries comes this discovery, a baroque opera on a sacred subject, with anonymous music and text, presented in an edition by Piotr Nawrot and conducted by Emanuele Andrizzi. 2 p.m. Nov. 6, Fullerton Hall, Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave.; $10 donation at the door. Advertisement Avalon String Quartet and Cuarteto Q-Arte. The Chicago ensemble shares a program of festival commissions with one of Colombia's leading string quartets, part of a Chicago-Colombia cultural exchange. The program holds the U.S. premiere of Colombian composer Blas Atehortua's String Quartet No. 6, Leone's Quartet No. 4 and Osvaldo Golijov's "Last Round." 2 p.m. Nov. 13, Fullerton Hall, Art Institute of Chicago. 111 S. Michigan Ave.; free with paid museum entry. "Don Quixote's Piano," with Mauricio Nader, piano, and Welz Kauffman, narrator. The Mexican pianist and Ravinia Festival president collaborate in works from several centuries and cultures tied to the 400th anniversary of Spanish novelist Miguel Cervantes. 6:30 p.m. Nov. 17, Pritzker Auditorium, Harold Washington Library, 400 S. State St.; and 8:30 p.m. Nov. 19, Bennett Gordon Hall, Ravinia, Lake Cook and Green Bay roads, Highland Park; free at library; $10 at Ravinia ($45 dinner and concert); www.ravinia.org. "Havana-Chicago Connections," with Victor Alexander. The festival concludes with the Cuban-born, Chicago-based dancer performing his own choreography to contemporary and traditional Cuban music, including pieces by Leone and Barilari, in their world premiere. 7 p.m. Dec. 1, Studebaker Theater, Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Ave.; $30 general, $25 students, seniors and Latino Cultural Center members; www.studebakertheater.com. Sharps and flats For its 11th concert season, the Chicago-based new music collective Ensemble Dal Niente will present multiple world premieres alongside works by emerging and established composers. The 2016-17 season will include major projects with composers George Lewis and Enno Poppe in addition to commissions from composers Julio Zuniga, LJ White, Murat Colak, Joshua Fineberg and others. There also will be performances of large-scale works previously written for the ensemble by Greg Saunier, Katie Young, Raphael Cendo, Natacha Diels and others. Stas Venglevski will perform works for bayan (chromatic accordion). Advertisement For further information, go to www.dalniente.com. The musical estate of Italian conductor Claudio Abbado is to reside in Berlin, where he served as chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic from 1989 to 2002. The donation to the Berlin State Library will include an extensive collection of scores, handwritten notes, videos, musicological literature and letters. Abbado, who died in 2014, was principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1982-85 and was considered the heir apparent to Georg Solti, before Berlin made him an offer he could not refuse. The Fondazione Claudio Abbado was established by the conductor's heirs to preserve his musical legacy and donate it to an institution that would guarantee its archiving and availability on a permanent basis. John von Rhein is a Tribune critic. jvonrhein@chicagotribune.com Advertisement Twitter @jvonrhein Watch the latest movie trailers. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox) Reporting from New York City In the two years since David Muir took over as anchor of "ABC World News Tonight," he's done town hall specials with President Obama and Pope Francis (the latter requiring hours of lessons in conversational Spanish) and moderated primary debates with both the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates. He's done his evening newscast from San Bernardino; Orlando, Fla.; Paris; and Brussels to report on terrorist attacks, and Dallas, where five policemen were shot dead in July. There are Fridays when Muir signs off and then heads to far-flung locations to do enterprise reporting, such as an upcoming series following the journeys of Syrian refugees to the U.S. Advertisement While much of the country is enjoying Labor Day barbecues, Muir is in Ohio, where he will conduct an exclusive interview with the Democratic presidential ticket of Hillary Clinton and Sen. Tim Kaine that will air across ABC News programs starting Tuesday. If he's overcompensating to counter any notion that the network evening newscast is at risk of becoming a dinosaur in today's media environment where information is available anytime on multiple devices his strategy appears to be working. With around 8.5 million viewers a night, "ABC World News Tonight" has its largest audience since the 2006-07 season, a time when Oprah Winfrey's syndicated talk show was still a potent lead-in on many of the network's affiliates. It's running about 3% behind the ratings leader "NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt." Advertisement The peripatetic and always camera-ready Muir, 42, recently spent some time in his office at ABC News headquarters in Manhattan reflecting on his second anniversary in the job. Here are some excerpts from the conversation. You took over "ABC World News Tonight" from Diane Sawyer, who was already a big star when she became anchor. What was the biggest difference for you coming in? I'm just a kid from Syracuse, N.Y., and I still feel that way. I'm the kid who wrote the letter to the local newsman when I was 13 years old and became an intern who was grateful I could ride in the back of the news cruiser. I was grateful then and I'm still grateful when I walk every single night to that news desk. Is there any particular stamp you've put on the program since you've taken it over? I have always felt if I could not be the reporter I was before I got this job, that people who got to know me through the reporting I've done would wonder, "What happened to this guy?" Last weekend after the [Aug. 19] broadcast, we flew to Amman, Jordan. We've been following Syrian refugees in America for more than a year now. We've been all over this country and we went there to see their starting point, and the cultural orientation class they take to see what they learn about America. Then we took a red-eye back on a Monday. I hope that, over time, people will see that thirst and hunger for curiosity is truly what drives me. It fuels me. I hope they see it in this newscast every night. You've spent a week doing double duty on "Good Morning America" this summer. Do you ever see yourself doing that show every day? You never say never. But I love doing "World News Tonight" and I hope to be doing it for a long time. A lot of old timers from ABC News criticize "World News Tonight" for spending too much time on the weather. Why is it a story that deserves the time you give it? Advertisement I'll point out that last night "NBC Nightly News" led with the weather and we did not. That's not even a criticism of them. In most cases when we talk about weather it affects people's lives. We had the flood-ravaged South. We had tornadoes outside of Indianapolis in the last 24 hours. I'm proud of our team. I stand by our reportingWhen you're standing in those places with utter devastation surrounding you, try telling those families that reporting it wasn't important. You pointed out how much traveling you've done in two years and a lot of those trips have been to cover terror attacks and mass shootings. Is there a danger of getting desensitized to these events because there have been so many of them? I do worry about that. There are moments along the way when I feel it that concern as to whether people are grasping the full amount of human toll here. We were standing in front of that nightclub in Orlando; there are so many young people who were gone in an instant. We were interviewing the friends who survived. Fifty lives lost in a matter of minutes. And I did think the next night, and the next night and the next night - that even though we were continuing to do reporting on that story how are we moving on so quickly with so much loss of life? It felt so wrong. Breaking news situations often require all three anchors get on planes and take off for the same location. What's the relationship like between the three of you? Lester Holt and I have a shared background in that we spent many years doing the weekend evening news broadcasts. Those teams are much smaller and much more intimate. So I think we have an unspoken bond in that way. But I have a certain amount of respect for both ["NBC Nightly News" and "CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley."] Given that we're in the tightest race with "NBC Nightly News" in over a decade is a sign we have both upped our game. I believe it benefits the viewer. What is the best piece of advice you've received since taking the anchor chair? Advertisement When I first got the job, [the late ABC News anchor] Peter Jennings' wife Kayce came in and she was carrying a little package for me. I won't say what was in the package, but I will say it was deeply personal and extraordinarily kind of her. Was it something that belonged to him? Yes. We had dinner together not long after, and she said that one of the things she would talk about with Peter often is that -- you can't do it all. MORE FROM ENTERTAINMENT Brian Williams will get a late-night news program on MSNBC in September Chris Wallace will be the first presidential debate moderator from Fox News Advertisement Despite TV ratings drop, NBC says the Rio Games was still a financial success Montana and Wyoming tribes now have a new tool for collecting, tracking and analyzing health information. In mid-August the Rocky Mountain Tribal Epidemiology Center, part of the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council, brought in a trainer from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to teach tribal health officials how to use software to track population health data. The tribes can develop their own surveys and analyze the data collected by them, said Jordan Vandjelovic, an RMTEC epidemiologist who helped bring in the CDC official. Members from Montana's Blackfeet, Crow, Northern Cheyenne and Fort Belknap reservations and Wyoming's Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes attended the five-day training. They learned how to use a free program called Epi Info 7, billed as an easy-to-use system of creating and analyzing data. Pharah Morgan, RMTEC epidemiologist, said it's the same free training and program the CDC provides to foreign countries in need of public health assistance and described it as "the standard for health authorities." While the CDC didn't respond to an interview request for this story, its website says it has a wide range of uses, including outbreak investigations, developing disease surveillance systems, analysis and reporting of larger data groups and educating the public and officials on epidemiology and public health. "It provides for easy data entry form and database construction, a customized data entry experience, and data analyses with epidemiologic statistics, maps, and graphs for public health professionals who may lack an information technology background," according to the CDC's website. Vandejlovic said he envisions tribes tracking diseases and other health issues. For example, they might use it to develop a quick survey on seat belt use, import it to a mobile device and then send a representative out with the survey to determine seat belt usage in a particular area. Or, he said, they might use it to gather information on the availability of healthy meals in a specific area and cross that with the prevalence of chronic disease there. "It can be very, very basic," he said. "Or it can be a lot more in-depth." In the fall of 2015 Vandjelovic was working on a needs assessment for an injury prevention grant and, through that research, learned that tribal communities didn't have much in the way of health data management. Soon after, Morgan was working on a tribal behavioral health survey and what their needs were, and she saw the same trend: "It was not knowing how to use the data, how to analyze it," she said. A supervisor recommended the CDC program. She reached out, eventually getting approval for the August educational session. The training, held at Rocky Mountain College, focused on everything from getting the program set up on a computer to mapping, entering data and creating surveys. The use of such technology is minimal within many tribal offices in the region, Vandjelovic said, so the training also covered the basics of the technology's use and installation. Morgan said that the training helps to fulfill one of the RMTEC's and tribal leaders council's goals of helping to expand and improve development of public health services, systems and epidemiological data. "This is the first time our organization has done something for the tribes in this capacity," she said. "They can understand their data a lot faster now." Smoking weed is often seen as an indulgence reserved for the young and the reckless: kids get high, in the popular imagination, but by and large their parents don't. The research, released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that only 7.4 percent of Americans aged 12 to 17 years old smoked marijuana regularly in 2014, a 10 percent decline since 2002. But 8 percent of 35 to 44 year olds used marijuana regularly in 2014, surpassing use among teens for the first time since at least 2002. (Survey data prior to that year aren't directly comparable, as the methodology changed.) Advertisement And it's not just middle-aged folks who are indulging more often. Since 2002, regular marijuana use among Americans age 45 to 54 has jumped by nearly 50 percent. Among those ages 55 to 64, it's jumped by a whopping 455 percent (no, that's not a typo). And among seniors, age 65+, monthly marijuana use is up 333 percent since 2002. Advertisement "During the last 13 years, marijuana use (i.e., past-month marijuana use) has steadily increased in the United States, particularly among people aged 26 years or older," said report author Alejandro Azofeifa in an email. "Older groups had a significant increase of marijuana use in the past month." To put it another way: If trends continue like this, marijuana use among 50- and even 60-somethings could be higher than use among teens in a few years. Much of the debate around marijuana legalization focuses on the drug's potentially negative effects on teens: "what about the children?" as the common refrain goes. This makes a certain amount of sense, since the still-developing minds of adolescents and young adults are most susceptible to the potential long-term harms of heavy marijuana use. But the federal survey numbers on marijuana use suggest that voters considering whether to legalize pot should be asking themselves a different question: "what about grandpa?" There are several factors that could explain rising marijuana use rates among the middle-age-and-up crowd. The first is the growing prevalence of medical marijuana, which is now allowed in 25 states and Washington, D.C. Older Americans are increasingly turning to medical pot to treat some of the common ailments of old age, like sleeplessness, aches and arthritis pain. Research shows, for instance, that Medicare prescriptions for a number of common drug types -- painkillers chief among them -- are falling in states that allow medical marijuana. This suggests that a significant number of seniors in those states are opting for pot over more traditional medications. Another explanation: Aging Boomers seem to be taking advantage of loosening restrictions on marijuana use -- particularly in states where the drug is fully legalized -- to relive some of the recreational indulgences of their youth. National survey data bears this out: the Boomer generation were big supporters of legalization in the 1970s. But as they got jobs, had kids and settled down in the 1980s, their support for legalization plummeted. It began to rebound in the 1990s, and as of 2013, half of Boomers supported legalization. The marijuana industry is taking note of these shifts, and in places like Colorado and Washington companies are actively marketing toward aging Boomers looking to give weed another chance. Roughly one quarter of marijuana purchasers in Washington state, for instance, are over the age of 40. Advertisement So while supporters and opponents of marijuana legalization in California and elsewhere tussle over the impacts of legalization on children, these numbers suggest that legalization would bring the biggest changes to the lives of kids' parents -- and their grandparents, too. RELATED STORIES: More U.S. adults are using pot, but experts worry about their perceptions of risks Pot habit early in life may alter brain, study suggests Opioid users missing out on addiction-fighting drug Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 13 In 1987, Mayor Harold Washington ordered the design of a new central library. The breathtaking Winter Garden on the ninth floor is a quiet locale, perfect for logging some hours. (Stevegeer/iStock) Chicago fashion designer Maria Pinto, a favorite of first lady Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey, will be celebrated for her achievements with a retrospective at the Water Tower. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune) She was already a favorite of first lady Michelle Obama and daytime TV queen Oprah Winfrey. Now Chicago designer Maria Pinto can claim another impressive feat: surviving 25 years in the cutthroat fashion business. Advertisement Pinto who outfitted Obama for some of her most memorable public appearances, including the turquoise dress the first lady wore for her speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2008, and the purple sheath dress Obama wore when she exchanged a so-called "terrorist fist bump" with the president the night he claimed the nomination is being honored with a retrospective exhibition that opens at the Water Tower on Saturday. "It doesn't feel that long, it's been so fast," said the vivacious Pinto, who turns 60 in January, and named her latest label, M2057, for the year she turns 100. "My mother just turned 100 and I fully expect to still be working when I am that age, too," she joked during a recent interview at her West Loop boutique. Advertisement Pinto's long career has had its ups and downs: She closed her Michigan Avenue eveningwear business following the economic downturn in 2002 and after a bookkeeper embezzled thousands of dollars. But continuing support from Oprah who used her clothes in makeover shows, and is a client, herself and from Obama helped the Chinatown- and Palatine-raised Pinto bounce back with a new luxury line, and in 2013 she used a Kickstarter campaign to launch her ready-to-wear label. Celebrities including Natalie Portman and Mick Jagger, who popped into the store and bought a woman's scarf that he later wore onstage, have been spotted in her clothes. Costume-design gigs at the Joffrey Ballet also raised her profile, as did a previous exhibition at the Field Museum, where she curated a show that juxtaposed her designs with artifacts from the museum's collection, including an Inuit raincoat made from seal intestine. "It didn't smell at all, and I would wear it, if I could, if I wouldn't be stalked by some conservator," she said. "It was so beautiful I can't even tell you!" Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Such opportunities might not have come about without the backing of the first lady, whose patronage "was a milestone for me," Pinto said. Though customers do not come into her store saying, "Make me look like Michelle," she said, "People really respect that she wears the collection beautifully and that has helped me." Obama, who has described Pinto as "a wonderful friend and a truly good person," has been a client since 2004, when she came to Pinto's store to be fitted for a suit she wore for her husband's swearing-in as a U.S. senator. These days, Pinto knows the busy Obama's measurements well enough to help her without fittings, though previous visits of the presidential fleet of vehicles, complete with Secret Service agents, left her neighbors in a swirl, she said. Pinto said of the celebrities she had yet to dress, actresses Tilda Swinton and Alicia Vikander were style icons she admires. But asked if she was interested in working with Melania Trump, she smiled and bit her tongue. Advertisement "No comment!" she said. kjanssen@chicagotribune.com Twitter @kimjnews Labor Day marked the beginning of the real political season. Until then, we were watching the warmup act. God help us now that the curtain has gone up. Advertisement In the next 60-plus days, you can bet that each of the presidential candidates will be putting on their best performance in hopes of getting a rave review on Election Day. Now that our minds have turned away from planning vacations and keeping the kids busy while they're out of school, many Americans are starting to think seriously about whom they want to lead the country for the next four years. Advertisement We're still waiting for the juicy stuff, like TV debates, the October Surprise and that period close to the end when a candidate or a running mate remember Sarah Palin? has a complete meltdown. At least, that's how it usually happens. This race, however, has been quite unusual. Unlike previous elections, this one has kept us engaged from the very beginning. We have been entranced by the performances of the major characters. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to political style, but they do have one curious thing in common. Both have a natural ability to infuriate us. If the previews are any indication, we're in for a lot more accusations, name-calling, character attacks and downright nastiness in the weeks to come. Hillary-haters will dig deep and find more vitriol for her than they knew they had inside. And Trump, no doubt, will supply his bashers with an endless flow of toxic material to sling back at him. Anyone who hasn't chosen a side by now most likely isn't going to. They either plan to sit this one out or vote for a candidate from a third party, which never in the history of America has won a presidential election and virtually has no chance of doing so this time around. In this crazy race, though, it isn't clear whether Democrats or Republicans would benefit more from that. A friend with whom I often engage in heated political debates told me recently that he never pays attention to polls until after Labor Day. Those postconvention bumps don't mean a thing; they're just folks hyped up on partisan hot air letting off steam. And in a puff, it's gone. While Clinton has maintained a comfortable lead in the polls thus far, Trump supporters are hoping the margins will tighten as the campaign enters the final stretch. Advertisement Sometimes a candidate who appears to be heading toward a landslide can get knocked off course. It hasn't happened lately, but in 1948, President Harry Truman pulled a fast one on Thomas Dewey and won re-election. There's still a lot of unsettled dust hovering over Clinton regarding the private email server she used during her tenure as secretary of state, too. Just when she thinks she's seen the last of it, somebody lifts a foot and kicks it up again. And who knows what secrets about the Clinton Foundation are still simmering on the back burner? For all we know, WikiLeaks is preparing to serve us another platter in October. Of course, Trump isn't protected against an unexpected setback in the final weeks of the campaign either. There's a lot we don't know about his personal finances and business dealings. Some media outlets are even suing to get access to his sealed divorce papers detailing his split with Ivana Trump. I'm not willing to place any bets that Trump will come out of the three debates looking presidential. According to reports, he plans to wing it while Clinton is preparing like a bookworm on steroids. We all know what that means. When Trump has nothing substantive to say, he starts picking fights over body parts. For the sake of the country, we should all hope that Clinton doesn't take the bait. Advertisement There also are reports that Clinton is stockpiling a heap of intel to throw at Trump to get him riled up during the debates. She apparently plans to pick away at his insecurities to the point that he might stomp off the stage and admit that he never wanted the job in the first place. Clinton, meanwhile, will finally be forced to say something definitive about those emails. Some wary voters might be willing to forgive her for the email fiasco, but she won't know until she asks them. Her toughest task, though, could be convincing a large number of Americans that she is someone they should like. Contrary to what they might have seen and heard in the past, she needs people to believe that she is a politician who doesn't lie, that she is completely honest, above board on every issue and nearly flawless. Trump already has started to try and present himself as a softer, gentler candidate. Last month, he threw out what appeared to be an apology, though he never actually said he was sorry. We don't know for sure what he was talking about, but we assumed it was regarding his vile attacks on Mexicans and Muslims. When he had the chance to sit down with President Enrique Pena Nieto in Mexico and demand that his country pay for the wall Trump has been touting, he didn't even mention money. That's the story Trump is telling, at least. So this week, a new phase of the general election began. While Clinton was trekking off to Labor Day parades in Pittsburgh and Cleveland and on to a "Salute to Labor" event in Hampton, Ill., Trump got a head start in Detroit on Saturday. Advertisement In his first appearance before a predominantly African-American audience, he told the congregation at Great Faith Ministries that he was there to listen. Then he stepped away from the podium without taking questions. dglanton@chicagotribune.com Twitter @dahleeng When Western Illinois University cut its African-American studies major this summer, enrollment and graduation numbers were dismal. Thirteen students had picked it as their primary field of study in the 2015-16 school year, and three students had graduated with a bachelor of arts in the discipline in 2016, according to university data. Western's numbers aren't unusual among Illinois' public universities. Just a handful of students earn degrees in black studies each year, according to state education data. But in an era of uncertain state funding for higher education, scrutiny of low-enrollment degree programs is intensifying. Some black studies professors fear an increased focus on the numbers could be calamitous for a discipline they believe is already underfunded and shunned. Advertisement The conversation could have implications for other degree programs that perennially draw small enrollments. Some experts say academia shouldn't be a popularity contest, and letting numbers decide what programs are offered means that some long-revered disciplines such as philosophy could lose a place in the ivory tower along with newer offerings like African-American studies and women's history. "Since African-American studies has been formed, there's always been a battle to remain alive," said Kelly Harris, associate professor and coordinator of African-American studies at Chicago State University. "It's not just an African-American studies fight. The humanities and social sciences all feel like we're under attack in this environment where universities tend to have a business mentality in the ways they look at higher education now." Advertisement Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 6 Kelly Harris, an associate professor of African-American studies at Chicago State University, holds a lecture there on Sept. 2, 2016. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune) Illinois' public universities award tens of thousands of four-year degrees each year. Barely two dozen are in African-American studies. Illinois Board of Higher Education figures show 14 students at public colleges and universities received a bachelor's in the field in the entire state in 2014, the most recent year for which information is available. Sixty students had declared it as their major that year. The landscape hasn't changed much over the past 20 years. The most prolific year for the major was in 2012, when 21 students graduated with the degree and 68 picked it as their major. Some years logged only a single-digit number of graduates. Then, in 2015, the Illinois Board of Higher Education began requiring the 12 state public universities to submit summaries on changes to academic degree programs, and what plans they had for programs that graduate relatively few students. In that first report, IBHE defined adequate performance as granting at least 12 degrees per school for an associate's program, at least six for a bachelor's, at least five for a master's, and at least one for a doctoral program over a five-year average. Based on that criteria, five schools listed their four-year programs in African-American studies also known as Africana studies at some schools as "low-producing" between 2009 and 2013. Dr. Kelly Harris, an associate professor of African-American studies at Chicago State University, is seen here Sept.2, 2016. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune) University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign granted eight degrees total over those five years. UIC awarded 25. Both programs were put under review by administration, according to the report. Fifteen Chicago State students graduated with degrees in that five-year period. Eastern Illinois awarded nine degrees in its bachelor's in Africana studies, an average of fewer than two each year. Chicago State planned to revamp its program to boost enrollment. Advertisement Western went a step further. In June, its board of trustees approved cutting the bachelor of arts option. It will continue to offer general education black studies courses and a minor degree program, which has had much stronger enrollment. Western also closed its four-year programs in women's studies, religious studies and philosophy, saying it was important for the school to gauge the economic viability of its curriculum. IBHE spokeswoman Candace Mueller said reviewing enrollment and graduation figures is just one way to evaluate a program and is not meant to be the only metric for deciding whether a program needs to be restructured. Eastern Illinois, for example, is planning no immediate changes to its African-American studies program. "Given the growing diversity of our student body and our state, it remains an important component of EIU's program inventory," university leaders wrote in the report. Student Nature Lawrence, 29, left, listens to a lecture by Dr. Kelly Harris, a professor of African-American studies at Chicago State University on Friday, Sept.2, 2016. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune). (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune) But Mueller said state education leaders are striving to graduate more people from college 60 percent of the Illinois workforce by 2025 so it is critical to determine if academic departments are on track to reach that goal. "We support the vital work of streamlining and modernizing what public universities offer," Mueller said. "One indicator that a program needs attention is the number of students choosing that major. If that number is low, it is useful to explore why. Sometimes, the university is best in the long run eliminating that program. Sometimes it needs reconfiguring to bring it up to date." Advertisement African-American studies professors say the conversation is especially hard to stomach given their discipline's history of existing in the margins. The field grew out of the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the demand for greater representation of blacks in academia, experts say. Black students at San Francisco State University mobilized in the late '60s to, among other things, establish a black studies division with its own chair, faculty and staff, and the ability to grant a bachelor's degree in the field. The department, the first of its kind nationally, launched in 1968, according to a 2012 article in the Journal of Pan African Studies. A 2013 study from U. of I. showed 361 colleges and universities in the United States had formal academic units devoted to black studies. Around 1,000 more offered courses in the field. Dr. Kelly Harris, an associate professor of African-American studies at Chicago State University, holds a lecture on Sept.2, 2016. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune) But its origins in social activism during a virulent time for race relations meant the field was not always embraced, experts said. "Black studies (departments) across this country were not put on college campuses because faculty saw the inherent validity of the discipline," said Joseph A. Brown, Africana studies professor at SIU. "They were put there because of community agitation and student unrest. So they've always been under a political scrutiny that history and sociology haven't been under. These programs, in the minds of many people, don't belong on college campuses anyway." Advertisement Several professors and department chairs say the discipline suffers because it is not integrated into students' core curriculum in the way other subjects are. Said another way, AAS is not always thought important enough to teach to a general population of students, thereby limiting its reach and ability to attract potential majors. "Higher education, particularly state schools, are being pushed to demonstrate a kind of economic value," said Jane Rhodes, UIC chair of African-American studies. "In my point of view, that's deeply anti-intellectual and that flies against the face of what a college education is supposed to do. I think universities have failed to demonstrate to students why these disciplines and fields ... that are not obvious career paths are vital, intellectual and experiential pursuits." There are some signs of change. Undergraduate students at U. of I. are required to take two courses, one that focuses on Western culture, to meet the general education cultural studies requirement. Starting in fall 2018, students will be required to take three classes, including a Western culture course and one focused on U.S. minority culture. U. of I.'s Committee on Race and Ethnicity spearheaded that proposal, which was approved in May. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Ronald William Bailey, the African-American studies chair and head of that committee, said a key component to the new requirement is encouraging professors to creatively integrate minority culture studies into lessons in other subjects. "Oftentimes we don't take opportunities to cross disciplinary lines," Bailey said. "I think there's deep knowledge about this on our campuses and this provided us an opportunity to mobilize that broad social concern, but with a very high-powered academic and intellectual approach." Advertisement The field as a whole is not on its last leg, by any means. African-American studies divisions are prestigious and flourishing at many private schools. For years, the Ivy League schools have poured funding into their departments and waged high-profile battles to recruit the most esteemed black scholars. But in places where black studies programs are disintegrating, professors say that trend discredits the field and makes it harder to prove their worth in higher education. "It's a slippery slope" taking away a major, Harris said. "It reinforces for people that it's not a serious thing because you can't get a degree in it, you can't major in it. People see it almost like a remedial-type class. That's not where we want to go at all." drhodes@chicagotribune.com Twitter @rhodes_dawn A member of the Chicago Police Department looks around the scene of a shooting in the 3300 block of West Flournoy Street on Sept. 5, 2016, in the Homan Square neighborhood. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune) As he walked through his Austin neighborhood this Labor Day weekend in search of volunteers, Cornell Smith said only one elderly woman had agreed to help pick up trash and pass out fliers urging a peaceful holiday. Still, Smith said he wasn't deterred. Advertisement "Somebody got to do something," said Smith, 27. "I got tired of hearing about it and talking about it and decided maybe that somebody should be me." Smith was one of many activists who took part in about two dozen Community Peace Surge events in eight high-crime neighborhoods on the city's South and West sides over the long holiday weekend, when violence historically spikes. Advertisement The weekend began without a single recorded homicide from late Friday afternoon through Saturday. But violence early Sunday evening through Monday brought the tally closer to past Labor Day weekends. The oldest of the victims was an 80-year-old man who was discovered early Monday after being shot in the face following a dispute on the porch of the South Shore senior home where he lived. Hours later, a fatal shooting in the Englewood neighborhood involved a three-hour SWAT team response after the gunman fled to a nearby building. By Monday evening at least 13 people were dead and another 46 wounded, according to Tribune data. Last Labor Day weekend nine people were killed and another 46 were wounded. The uptick in shootings in the weekend's final hours mirrored the end of the Fourth of July. Sixty-six people were shot five fatally over that weekend, with gunfire in the final hours of the holiday making up half the entire weekend's bloodshed. Police attribute the 11th-hour surge to retaliatory acts, often involving gangs, after a weekend of parties and tense encounters. Though the union for rank-and-file officers urged members not to work overtime shifts this Labor Day weekend, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the department had enough patrol division volunteers to staff "several hundred" extra officers each day and ensure increased police presence in high-crime neighborhoods. "We got the numbers that we needed," Guglielmi said of staffing. "We certainly ensured we had officers where we knew we would see some potential conflict." Guglielmi said police made dozens of arrests in targeted gang raids over the weekend. Police on Saturday announced the arrests of nearly 80 people on drug- and gun-related charges. Guglielmi said more than the majority of those arrested were convicted felons. He said information on additional arrests will be made public later this week. Advertisement Homicides in Chicago this year have risen to levels not seen since the 1990s, when killings peaked at more than 900 annually, the Tribune has reported. The 90 homicides in August tied for the most the city had seen in a single month since June 1996. In the worst previous month July 1993 99 people were slain. At the two-thirds mark for the year, homicides in the city are approaching 500. Last year's total, according to police data, was 481. The last year with comparable numbers through the first eight months, 1996, ended with 704 homicides. Homicides and shootings in Chicago continue to far outpace both New York and Los Angeles, both bigger cities. According to official statistics through late August, the most recent publicly available, New York and Los Angeles had a combined 409 homicides, well below Chicago's total. The violence has come at a time of upheaval for the Chicago Police Department following the release late last year of a video showing the fatal shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald by a white officer. Many major U.S. cities saw a sharp increase in homicide rates last year, said Richard Rosenfeld, a professor of criminology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. What makes Chicago stand out, according to Rosenfeld, is that the spike in homicides has continued. "Most of the cities that showed huge increases in 2015 have come back down," Rosenfeld said. "But Chicago has continued more or less nonstop since late 2015. That puts Chicago in a category by itself and makes it important, regarding what might be happening." Advertisement Rosenfeld said it's important to note that the continued uptick in Chicago violence has coincided with the release of the McDonald shooting dashcam video late last year. He said the police response, as evidenced in a decrease in street stops, and public distrust in law enforcement are likely key contributing factors in the city's pattern of increased city violence. "When people become less trustful of police, they tend to withdraw and take matters into their own hands, which would lead to more retaliatory shootings," Rosenfeld said. At a Monday news conference, about 11 hours before the Labor Day weekend came to an end, several activists who organized and took part in the community peace surge events said they viewed their efforts as a success. They called upon city, state and federal leaders to invest in the poorest of communities and challenged residents to continue to get involved. "We no longer desire to be termed 'Chi-raq.' We want our city to be a city of peace," volunteer Jeffrey Muhammad said. "It's not the arresting of young black men that will bring us peace. It's the bringing in of resources and equitable distribution in terms of education, employment and land that will bring peace. This community is tired of murder, tired of crime and tired of black-on-black hatred of one another." Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > The activists also urged members of the public to help ensure children get to school safely Tuesday as Chicago Public Schools resumes classes. Erica Person, one of those taking part in the peace efforts, said she moved a couple of years ago to Kane County from the Englewood neighborhood where she grew up to give her three children, ages 11, 9 and 5, a better education and more security. Advertisement She joined Smith and others Monday in calling for change in a city she loves, but no longer chooses to call home. Her oldest child, Makiya, said she understands why her mother moved the family. "Because there's a lot of shootings and kids are getting hurt and are afraid of getting shot," the child said. Police investigate the scene of a fatal shooting in Ogden Park that left two people dead on Labor Day. Sept. 5, 2016. (WGN-TV) (Chicago Tribune) Chicago Tribune's Rosemary Regina Sobol, Deanese Williams-Harris, Peter Nickeas, Elvia Malagon, Jeremy Gorner and Alexandra Chachkevitch contributed. cmgutowski@chicagotribune.com Twitter @christygutowsk1 Democratic Rep. Jack Franks, who is running for McHenry County Board chairman, complained that board members were improperly claiming pensions despite not working the required 1,000 hours a year. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune) A controversy that arose in McHenry County has led to a new law that abolishes pensions for future county board members statewide. Current county board members will have to document their work hours and reach a county-specific minimum to qualify for a public pension. Advertisement The changes mean taxpayers might save a significant chunk of the $10 million or so spent each year on county board member pensions in Illinois. The new limits received bipartisan support but were prompted by a political fight in conservative McHenry County that pitted Democratic state Rep. Jack Franks against mostly Republican board members. Advertisement Franks, who is running for county board chairman in November against Republican board member Michael Walkup, got pension fund officials to investigate whether McHenry board members were improperly claiming the pensions despite not working the required 1,000 hours a year. Eighteen of the 24 board members signed affidavits saying that they had worked enough hours to qualify. But when pension fund Executive Director Louis Kosiba asked to verify their claims, board members said they could not go back and document all their hours, noting that much of their work occurs outside of official settings, reading documents and talking to constituents. As a result, Kosiba last week said his investigation was "inconclusive." But by then, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner had signed the new pension measure into law. In general, county board members are required to work at least 600 or 1,000 hours each year, varying by the county, to qualify for the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund pension. The retirement fund guidelines stated that a 1,000-hour limit equal to about 20 hours a week would make it "highly unusual" for any county board members to qualify. Franks objected that county board members were trying to get a full-time taxpayer benefit for part-time work. "We need to protect local taxpayers from having their money siphoned off by elected officials who are gaming the system," he said. In response, McHenry County board members voted to opt out of the pension plan entirely starting Dec. 1. However, members who are already vested will be able to begin receiving their pensions immediately thereafter. Advertisement Critics countered that Franks also qualifies for a much more lucrative pension as a state representative. McHenry County board Chairman Joe Gottemoller said the issue initially arose there because union members were looking for a way to retaliate against the board for supporting Rauner's agenda. He maintained that he easily works more than 1,000 hours a year, citing for example a 450-page zoning code he spent months helping to write. While most board members do not serve to get the pension, he said, the ban on new pensions will likely keep out some qualified candidates. The law also sparked debate in Will County, where board member Tom Weigel, a Republican from New Lenox, called for going to court to challenge the legality of singling out county board members among elected officials. But the county's legal counsel said the law appeared to be constitutional. Statewide, less than half of the 102 county boards participate in the pension; Cook County is among those that do not. In the participating counties, 927 board members are eligible for pensions, with many also qualifying through other, full-time municipal jobs. County board members make up less than 1 percent of the overall pension plan, which serves about 3,000 units of government and pays more than 100,000 annuitants, according to IMRF officials. Most members contribute 4.5 percent of their salary, and can make up to 75 percent of their final salary, plus 3 percent annual increases for life. The average recipient gets about $1,800 a month. In DuPage County, 10 board members participate in the pension plan. Republican Peter DiCianni, who is running for Congress in the 8th District against Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi, said he qualified for the pension, first as mayor of Elmhurst, then as a county board member, and considers it insurance for a daughter who has special needs. Advertisement "If you talk to my constituents and you ask who's the hardest working commissioner on the DuPage County board, they're going to say Pete DiCianni," he said. "They're not going to be nitpicking how much I make or if I'm in the pension or if I get insurance." In Kane County, where 22 of 24 members participate in the pension plan, board Chairman Chris Lauzen said he gets a pension for his service in the state Senate but does not take the county pension. Nevertheless, he said, the measure would save money on every newly elected board member, adding, "I'm always in favor of saving money." Chicago Tribune's Duaa Eldeib contributed. rmccoppin@chicagotribune.com Twitter @RobertMcCoppin Another controversy over locker room access for a transgender student is brewing after a local school board member took to Facebook about the matter Monday. Elgin-based School District U-46 board member Jeanette Ward wrote that Tuesday marks the first day that transgender students will be able to use the locker room of their gender identity "at the same time as other students." Advertisement Ward wrote that the district "has opted not to inform parents or the community at large of this change. I am informing you." She ended her short post by encouraging anyone who had concerns to contact district administration. Reached by phone Tuesday, Ward said she believed that the issue was too important for the community to be kept in the dark. She said though the change affects one middle school student, it may not end there. Advertisement "I'm concerned that this is being implemented without communication to the parents and the community at large," she said. "This creates a precedent." Tony Sanders, the district's chief executive officer, said U-46's diverse population has included transgender students for years, and school officials have worked successfully with those students and their families. Up until now, transgender students typically have asked to change in a nurse's office or use a staff bathroom, he said. This marks the first time a transgender student has requested access to a locker room matching the student's gender identity, he said. School officials worked with the transgender student on the request, which came after the school year started, to allow the student access to the locker room starting Tuesday. The student will use a private changing stall, and the locker room will be supervised by an adult, he said. Sanders said also that any student who doesn't feel safe in a locker room or bathroom should contact the principal of the school to address concerns and possibly find an alternative. "We're here to serve the needs of every individual student who comes through our doors, which by law we're required to do, and it's the right thing to do," said Sanders, who added the district was in compliance with federal guidelines from of the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. In a separate post on Twitter, Ward wrote: "This should've been brought to the board for deliberation before this kind of practice change was made." Sanders said he called all board members to inform them of the development, but said he did not feel the need to bring it up for a board vote because the district already has a policy in place that states the district will not discriminate against students based on gender identity. Sanders also posted two statements on Facebook. In the second post Tuesday, he said: "Did we notify families? No, we did not. Why? Because it would be a violation of state and federal laws that protect students from the release of personal information. For the same reason, we do not tell parents if their child is in a locker room with a gay or lesbian student, or a student with autism, or a student with a bacterial infection." Advertisement He added in his online statement: "I also must address several social media comments about how we are opening our doors to allow sexual predators to self-identify as transgender in order to gain access to students. Nothing could be further from the truth. We would not allow just anyone into a student locker room or restroom. To suggest otherwise is fear mongering." Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > In December, a district official told the Tribune that the district had not had problems related to transgender locker room and bathroom access. Ward, who said she opposes locker room access for transgender students primarily for safety reasons, has made headlines before since she was elected to the board last year. An online petition that called for her resignation earlier this year criticized her views on "minorities, the LGBTQ community, and public education." That appeal was met with a dueling petition that backed Ward's "right to free speech in expressing her beliefs and thoughts." Ward also objected to expanding the district's dual language curriculum for Spanish-speaking students and voted against spending district money on textbooks and resources that she said were written from a "pervasive politically left bias." School districts nationwide continue to grapple with issues of transgender and privacy rights. Federal guidance by the Department of Education has conflicted with some court rulings, the most recent of which came down last month from a Texas judge who temporarily blocked transgender students from being allowed to use the school bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice. It remains unclear if or how that ruling will affect Illinois districts. Locally, Palatine-based Township High School District 211 granted a transgender student use of the girls locker room late last year after federal authorities found the district in violation of Title IX, the federal law that bans sex discrimination in schools. The district is now being sued by a group of students and parents who allege the district trampled students' privacy rights. Advertisement deldeib@chicagotribune.com Twitter @deldeib Wells Community Academy High School welcomes students back for the first day of classes on Sept. 6, 2016. Amid back-to-school celebrations, three honors students were surprised by being picked up at their homes in sports cars. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune) (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune) A list of familiar pressures confront Chicago Public Schools as more than 300,000 students return to classrooms Tuesday. For the second September in a row, there's no accord on a teachers' contract, and the Chicago Teachers Union is pushing the possibility of a strike as early as next month. School budgets are typically tight, and officials again are counting on money from Springfield to prevent another round of cuts. Advertisement The prospect of an October strike is only one of the challenges faced by Mayor Rahm Emanuel's school district. Despite new sources of tax revenue and cuts to school budgets and other spending reductions, CPS was still forced to balance its budget on the promise of $215 million in state money that's contingent on a broad pension reform pact in Springfield. For its part, CTU is working to build public support for a walkout while continuing to push aldermen to approve more money for schools. Advertisement Principal Rita Raichoudhuri welcomes parents and students to freshman orientation at Wells High School on Aug. 30, 2016, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune) "It's going to be a heck of a fall," CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey told union members during a teleconference last week. Last year, the district passed a budget that counted on a $500 million bailout from Springfield that never arrived, leading to cuts that forced principals to refigure their spending plans in the middle of the school year. All that is weighing on principals as they prepare for the day-to-day rigors of another school year. "We're always wondering whether or not there's going to be adjustments to our budgets throughout the school year. That's the largest uncertainty for us, given ongoing contract negotiations and some of these one-time agreements from the state." said Nate Pietrini, principal of the Hawthorne Scholastic Academy, a magnet elementary school in Lakeview. "During these times where you have financial challenges and the possibilities of strikes, it creates additional challenges to culture and climate that just can't be avoided." At a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new annex at Walter Payton College Prep on Monday, Emanuel touted the latest CPS graduation rate of 73.5 percent, which the district says is a historic high. "We have to guarantee one thing for parents: quality," Emanuel said. At the same event, CPS CEO Forrest Claypool said the two sides in teacher contract talks "are at the table every day." The CTU's governing body meets this week and the union plans to take a second strike authorization vote. The district's troubled finances are sure to be a factor during negotiations. Fitch Ratings agency last week reiterated its gloomy take on the district's "strained, structurally imbalanced" operations that continue to rely on short-term borrowing, have limited reserves and are "poorly positioned to absorb even a mild economic downturn." Advertisement Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 14 Parents, students and teachers attend freshman orientation Aug. 30, 2016, at Wells Community Academy High School in the East Ukrainian Village neighborhood. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) Standard & Poors also expressed "major concerns" about the district's "extremely weak" cash position, while warning it could downgrade CPS debt absent a "credible and sustainable long-term solution to its financial pressures." Schools officials argue the district's latest budget crunch means CTU must accept a contract that fits within the bounds of a January proposal. An agreement will hinge on whether both sides can find consensus on cost of living raises, the future of the pension pickup and other benefits. The district says it will continue to work under the framework of a four-year proposal that included modest pay increases, including the resumption of experience-based raises. The deal also included higher health care costs and gradually eliminating the district's practice of picking up the bulk of teachers' required pension contributions. The union's bargaining team rejected that offer in January CTU leadership has told members the union wants a shorter-term deal that preserves the pension pickup while paying annual, across the board pay raises of two percent in years two and three plus "step and lane" raises awarded based on experience and education. The union also says it will fight any increased health care costs. According to the union, the two sides are about $300 million apart. "It's quite a ways from what the board is offering," Sharkey told members. Advertisement Robert Bruno, a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's School of Labor & Employment Relations, said the district's remaining budget challenges have left it "insisting on some level of concession, wage concession, on the part of the teachers." "Obviously on the pension pickup, the school district doesn't see that as a wage concession. The union does," Bruno said. "If that item is still essential if the district's still insisting that teachers give something back and make what they call their contribution to solving this fiscal challenge then it's hard to see how the union avoids a strike." To help pay for a deal, the union is pushing for more money for schools. Specifically, the CTU has backed a proposed city ordinance that would channel more surplus money from tax-increment financing districts to the district's coffers. The union also wants higher taxes, even as city property owners continue to feel the pain of tax hikes Emanuel and the City Council passed to pay for schools and shore up faltering city pension funds. "The starting point is that we wish to avoid a strike, that's something that's true both for parents and our members and for the city at large," Sharkey told the Tribune last week. "A strike is eminently avoidable if the mayor and the City Council do the right thing." "If he really wants labor peace," Sharkey said of Emanuel, "he's going to have to come up with more revenue to fund the schools, and he's got a pool of revenue available for that. He just needs the political will." Advertisement The budget the city's school board approved in August estimates $32.5 million of TIF surplus money will be available this year, a steep reduction from what the district said was a greater-than-expected surplus last year. The union's fight for more of the TIF surplus money has regularly played out in public. "The mayor has continued to commit to us to provide as much TIF surplus financing as possible," said Ron DeNard, the district's top financial officer, during a school board budget hearing last month. "The TIF surplus is a one-time revenue source, and that amount changes year to year. I think we all can agree that this is not a true fix to our budget issues, and we need to focus on our effort to make sure that the state is fully funding, equitably, our education," he said. The district says the official surplus amount it will receive for this year is still to be determined. The union has now begun outlining a deadline for talks to conclude amid that debate, telling members to be prepared to strike in October if a contract agreement cannot be reached. "I think that we've shown that we're listening to teachers," Janice Jackson, the district's chief education officer, said to reporters last week . Advertisement "Anytime a student isn't in the classroom, for one day or an extended period of time, that worries me as a chief education officer. That worries me, and it makes me wonder 'How is this going to impact student achievement?'" she said. "I'm hopeful that we'll be able to reach some type of resolution because of, you know, all the factors that are in play. But it is one of those things that we have to wait and see how things are going to work out." Teachers are scheduled to receive their first full paychecks on Sept. 30, according to the district, leaving union members more financially equipped to endure a strike in October. Union members in a vote last December overwhelmingly authorized leaders to call a strike. But CTU leaders said a new vote would be called in an effort to avoid a possible legal challenge if a strike is called. State law requires at least 75 percent of total membership authorize a strike. "It would actually be a signal that time is running out," Bruno said. "It's not as if the union ever demobilized, but once they get everybody back in classrooms and buildings their outreach can become even more extensive. It can also serve as another mechanism for mobilizing members." In the meantime, Sharkey said the union would prepare to make a case to parents and the general public, while conducting a "temperature check" of its members and organizing its forces. "We're going to protect the schools against cuts, that's the message to the public," Sharkey said. "We want to protect our membership from cuts to compensation, and we want to protect the schools from cuts." Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > If the union does strike, Bruno said, it will have to make an argument that is embraced by the larger working class community that has children in CPS. Advertisement To do otherwise, he said, risks being perceived as "pursuing narrower institutional interests that might very well serve the purposes of union members" but not advancing public education and advocating for the community. School principals, Pietrini among them, will have to wait for an answer. "There's going to be things that you can't run away from, but you can pick one thing in your life, one thing about this job that you can stay positive about and run towards," he said. "That's the way we're going to keep working until the culture and climate changes." Tribune reporter Diane Rado contributed. jjperez@tribpub.com Twitter @PerezJr The public battle over a new contract was the principal topic for leaders of Chicago Public Schools and the teachers union on the district's first day of classes. City and union leaders staged competing appearances for television cameras at schools Tuesday, as private bargaining between the sides intensifies amid talk of a strike as early as October. Advertisement "We have a very generous proposal on the table, a generous raise for teachers who deserve as much as we can give them given the difficult finances the district faces," district CEO Forrest Claypool said, following an appearance with Mayor Rahm Emanuel and 14th Ward Ald. Ed Burke at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new annex at Edwards Elementary on the Southwest Side. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 25 Mayor Rahm Emanuel visits a digital learning classroom at Brunson Elementary School where student Amya Rice, 10, a fifth grader works on a computer on Sept. 7, 2016. Mayor Emanuel visited the school to talk about digital diplomas and summer learning initiatives. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune) "We're hoping they'll say 'yes' to a raise," Claypool said. Advertisement The union, however, has argued that not all of its members would see a net pay increase over the life of a contract that CPS proposed last winter. A Chicago Teachers Union bargaining team rejected the offer, according to the union. CTU President Karen Lewis wouldn't predict whether there will be a teachers strike this school year but said the union and district have a long way to go in negotiations to replace a contract that expired in June 2015. "We're not that close yet," Lewis said outside King College Prep after greeting students arriving for the first day of school. "We always tell our members to prepare (for a strike). There is that chance, but I can't give you odds. I don't have a crystal ball." Lewis did not elaborate on which issues are sticking points. Union leaders have told members they plan to hold another strike authorization vote. Students are greeted by D'Angelo Dereef, dean of students, on the first day of school at Al Raby High School on Sept. 6, 2016. (Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune) Despite characterizing the contract talks as "affable," Lewis nonetheless had some pointed criticism for Claypool. "The only time there's acrimony is when Forrest Claypool gets on TV and starts talking madness," Lewis said. She also attacked Claypool for saying that the union's demand that the district continue to pick up 7 percent of the teachers' pension requirement was out of whack with other districts in the state. "He's lying," Lewis said. "There are some districts that pick up as much as 10 percent. Forrest Claypool, bless his heart, doesn't know that much about what's going on everywhere else." Advertisement Lewis alluded to Claypool's previous tenure as head of the Chicago Transit Authority in her ongoing critique of his job as schools chief. "He's good for trains and buses, maybe, but not so good for human beings and certainly not good for kids," she said. Principal Beulah McLoyd greets students going back to class Sept. 6, 2016, at Dyett High School for the Arts. Community activist Jitu Brown was there to meet the students and give them school supplies. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune) An agreement will hinge on whether the two sides can find consensus on cost-of-living raises and other benefits. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > "The talks will intensify this week," Claypool said. "And we're going to be there every single day that the teachers union is willing to talk. ... I think we have the opportunity to come to a deal." Claypool said Lewis' comments didn't affect the chemistry at the bargaining table. "A deal is going to be reached based on the economic package, and also the quality-of-life issues that I think we've thoroughly addressed that the teacher's union has asked for years and that we've offered," Claypool said. Advertisement Lewis said the next few weeks would be critical for negotiations, as leadership gets a better idea of what struggles teachers are experiencing in the classroom in the midst of the district's budget crunch. "These are complicated issues that will ultimately be solved," Lewis said. cdrhodes@chicagotribune.com jjperez@chicagotribune.com Two years ago, the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled that a controversial education law was unconstitutional. Senate File 104 had stripped former Superintendent Cindy Hill of many of her powers, bitterly dividing Republicans in the process. On one side were mostly members of the GOP establishment, who felt the law was necessary to address what they saw as problems within the Department of Education. On the other side were Republicans who considered SF104 an overreach that thwarted the will of the voters. Although the case was long ago put to rest, members of the two camps continue to engage in other fights. Gov. Matt Mead and many lawmakers who supported SF104 have been the subject of lawsuits and an ethics complaint filed by people who opposed the so-called Hill Bill named after the educator, whose tenure was marked by contention and controversy. Hill filed a defamation suit earlier this year against state Rep. Tim Stubson of Casper. Stubson said the lawsuits are changing the political climate in Cheyenne. There definitely seems to be a pattern of conduct of politics through litigation, he said. What their motivation is I dont know. But it muddies the waters and makes Wyoming politics a lot uglier than it used to be. In an interview Tuesday, Mead said the court fights may dissuade potential candidates from seeking a seat in the Legislature. Hill didnt respond to questions about the recent legal and ethics complaints except to say, in a text message, that she didnt want to try the defamation case in the media. The Star-Tribune also left a phone message and sent a text message asking for her response to comments by Mead and Stubson that the complaints are having a chilling effect on Wyoming politics. She did not respond. Jennifer Young of Goshen County is one of four Wyoming residents to file the ethics complaint. She also worked to overturn SF104 at the ballot box. Young dismissed the notion that her concerns about Mead and other legislative leaders have anything to do with the past. How could this have anything to do with Cindy Hill? she said. They did something wrong. Defamation case On Feb. 22, Hill sued Stubson, a fellow Republican, over comments he made on Facebook regarding Hills performance as state superintendent while answering a question about SF104. Stubson at the time was running for the U.S. House and made the comments on his candidate page. The court case is ongoing. Stubson said that the spate of complaints is affecting government, with elected officials looking over their shoulder waiting until the next lawsuit is going to drop. If you look at the lawsuit against me and there were threatened lawsuits before the one filed against me that said, Dont talk about Senate File 104, Stubson said. When you have people talking about matters of public interest, that cant help but chill public discussion. Obviously thats a piece of legislation people felt strongly about and needed to talk about. Hill sent a statement to the Star-Tribune about the matter: In regards to Stubson, which I am involved with, I will not try this case in the media, Im a private citizen. Capitol suit Less than a month after the defamation suit, Rep. Gerald Gay of Casper and a Uinta County resident sued Mead, Stubson and other members of legislative leadership over the Wyoming Capitol reconstruction project. The plaintiffs opposed SF104 and the attorney representing them is Drake Hill, Cindy Hills husband. That case, too, is ongoing. Mead said Gay never visited with him about the suit before filing it. He didnt know Gay felt so passionately that the contracts on the Capitol reconstruction project are unconstitutional. Mead said hes attended dozens of public meetings over the years and never saw Gay or the Uinta County resident in attendance. Gay, who opposed SF104, said he did object to the project the way lawmakers are most effective: by sponsoring legislation in the 2016 session. Had Matt Mead mentioned to you that I brought legislation thats the exact wording of the lawsuit? he said. And Republican leadership failed to run my bill? Gay sponsored two House resolutions that would have called for an investigation into Capitol reconstruction contracts and potential conflicts of interest. Legislative records show both resolutions died after neither was presented for debate. Gay said he wouldnt need to sue his colleagues most of the people named in the suit are fellow Republicans if his bill had been heard, or had they followed the law. You wouldnt want to be a member of the Legislature and doing duties assigned to the executive branch, which is a major part of the lawsuit, he said. Ethics complaint The ethics complaint states that Sen. Eli Bebout voted for the Abandoned Mine Land program, which paid his company $27 million in recent years. The complaint questioned Mead, Bebout and other Senate leaders because Bebout hasnt abstained from voting. It called for an investigation. The researcher who compiled all the contract information concerning Bebouts company is Kevin Lewis, who was a senior member of Hills leadership team when she was superintendent. For the ethics complaint, Lewis requested the copies of the companys contracts with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. The Star-Tribune sent a message to Lewis but he did not reply. A legislative committee recently dismissed the complaints request for an investigation. Young, one of the four people who made the ethics complaint, spearheaded the movement to repeal SF104 on the ballot. She said she was not surprised that lawmakers didnt want to pursue an investigation. This is not over. Thats what you can say, she told the Star-Tribune. Bebout is happy the request for an investigation has been dismissed. He said that throughout his years in the House and Senate, hes always been transparent about his business dealings with the state. He voted for the Abandoned Mine Land bill but said he thats no guarantee that his company would win the bid for mine reclamation work. When youre in politics and its a political season and you choose to run for office, in my case Ive been around for a while, there seems to be a target on my back, he said. But Im proud of my service to Wyoming in the House and the Senate. Long-term effect? Mead, who defeated Hill in the 2014 gubernatorial primary, said he worries that the ongoing litigation is dissuading people from running for office. I think the legislators are frustrated that they give their time and effort and are trying to do the right things, and when disagreements in policy end in litigation, I dont think its helpful to the state or the process, he said. There will be agreements or disagreements. To run to the courthouse every time there is, I think it sends a chilling effect for people who are considering being in the legislature. While most of the fighting has been among Republicans, a small number of Democrats have been named in actions. Rep. Mary Throne, as leader of the Democrats in the House, was sued over Capitol reconstruction. She was a sponsor of SF104. The day in early March when lawmakers were served with the suit, a process server in the House wrote a note to Throne, asking to speak to her but not indicating she was being sued. A legislative aide gave the note to the Cheyenne representative, who walked to the lobby to meet with the person who wanted to talk. Being served a complaint in the lobby of the House as I was is not a fun experience, Ill just say that, she said. I love the Legislature and I love serving people of Wyoming. I love policy and finding solutions for the state, but at some point when your name keeps showing up on a complaint, it begins to lose some of its allure. After another violent holiday weekend, Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said Tuesday his department is doing all it can to combat violence rooted in "impoverished neighborhoods" where "people without hope do these kinds of things." "It's not a police issue, it's a society issue," Johnson told reporters outside police headquarters after a long weekend that saw 65 people shot, 13 of them fatally. "Impoverished neighborhoods, people without hope do these kinds of things," he said. "You show me a man that doesn't have hope, I'll show you one that's willing to pick up a gun and do anything with it. "Those are the issues that's driving this violence. CPD is doing its job," he continued. Chicago officially surpassed the homicide toll for all of last year, reaching over 500 in total. By speaking to members of the community, the Tribune will continue coverage of this grim milestone. (Chicago Tribune) Johnson pointed to increases in gun arrests this year over last year -- and more than 6,000 illegal gun recoveries so far in 2016 -- as evidence that officers are out on the streets working. But he acknowledged that the fallout from last year's release of the Laquan McDonald video, and the amplified distrust between the police and African-American community, doesn't make it easy for his officers. "Of course, they're human. They're people," Johnson said. "So of course, nobody wants to be the next viral video. These officers have families to take care of too." The weekend had begun relatively quietly. But the violence spiked on the last day, with 31 shot between 6 a.m. Monday and 3 a.m. Tuesday. Nine of the fatal shootings occurred over that period. Advertisement Among those shot was a woman who is nine months pregnant and was wounded in the abdomen on the same block where someone had been killed less than 20 hours earlier. No information on the baby was available. A man she was standing near was left in critical condition in the same shooting around 3:30 p.m. in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 41 A member of the Chicago Police Department looks around the scene of a shooting in the 3300 block of West Flournoy Street on Sept. 5, 2016, in the Homan Square neighborhood. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune) Farther south, a retired pastor from East Chicago, Ind. was shot to death outside a senior housing complex in the South Shore neighborhood around 6:30 a.m. Monday. Police say the man was found dead, shot in the face outside the Senior Suites of Rainbow Beach near 77th and Exchange around 6:30 a.m. Monday. Residents identified the man as Allen H. Smith and said they heard him arguing with another man before shots were fired. Police said they took into custody another resident of the home. No charges had been filed. Advertisement The Labor Day weekend was the deadliest of the three holiday weekends this summer. The Memorial Day weekend saw 69 shot, six of them fatally, and the Fourth of July weekend recorded 66 shot, five of them fatal. A 44-year-old man was fatally shot in the Back of the Yards neighborhood along the 4500 block of South Hermitage Avenue on Sept. 5, 2016. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune) (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune) Early Monday morning, it appeared Chicago had a chance of ending a holiday weekend with fewer than four dozen people shot, which would have made it one of the least violent weekends of the summer. The uptick in shootings in this weekend's final hours mirrored the end of the Fourth of July. Gunfire in the final hours of that holiday made up half the entire weekend's bloodshed. Police attributed the 11th-hour surge to retaliatory acts, often involving gangs, after a weekend of parties and tense encounters. Homicides in Chicago this year have risen to levels not seen since the 1990s, when killings peaked at more than 900 annually. The 92 homicides in August was the most the city had seen in a single month since July 1993 when 99 people were slain. Through 5 a.m. Tuesday, the city recorded 488 homicides, marking a 47 percent increase from 331 for the same year-earlier period and exceeding the 481 for the entire 2015, according to official Police Department statistics. The number of shooting victims has topped 2,930, approaching the 2,988 total for all of last year, according to a Tribune analysis. Even at 488 homicides, the Police Department's statistics do not include killings on area expressways, police-involved shootings, other justifiable homicides or death investigations that could later be reclassified as homicides. The Tribune's own database, which primarily uses the Cook County medical examiner's office to determine whether to count a death as a homicide, put the total number of killings at 512 as of early Tuesday. Homicides and shootings in Chicago continue to far outpace both New York and Los Angeles, both bigger cities. According to official statistics through late August, the most recent publicly available, New York and Los Angeles had a combined 409 homicides, well below Chicago's total. Tribune reporter Christy Gutowski contributed. A new Illinois law targeting new drivers mandates that all driver's education classes include a section on what to do during a police traffic stop. Above, a Sacramento, Calif., officer talks to a driver in 2012. (Rich Pedroncelli / AP) A new Illinois law aims to help drivers answer the timely question of what to do if stopped by police. The measure comes amid heightened tension in Chicago and across the nation over how traffic stops can go terribly wrong and in the worst cases turn deadly. Advertisement Targeting the newest and youngest drivers, the law mandates that all driver's education classes include a section on what to do during a traffic stop. State Sen. Julie Morrison, D-Deerfield, was a co-sponsor of the bill that sailed through the Illinois legislature and was signed into law last month by Gov. Bruce Rauner. She said it is more about common sense than innovation. Advertisement "Being pulled over by an officer is really stressful," she said. "I think it's really important, especially in this time that we're in, that kids and new drivers learn what is expected when they are stopped by an officer, how to respond correctly, to be respectful, and hopefully that will make the encounter as least problematic as possible. I'm hoping it protects both the officer and the driver from things escalating." The lesson may be familiar to some of the 109,000 students statewide who are currently enrolled in a driver's education program at a public high school, according to the Illinois secretary of state's office. A section titled "Being Pulled Over by Law Enforcement" is part of the Illinois Rules of the Road handbook, which is published by the office. Driver's education teachers in public schools are required to teach the Rules of the Road, though Morrison and others found that it wasn't always happening. Jim Archambeau, a driver's education teacher in Chicago Public Schools, said he's taught the lesson in his classes for years, each time accompanied by a visit from a police officer. He said he hopes the law will bring uniformity to what he deems an important lesson for novice drivers. "The police officers tell the students what they like to see: 'Hands on the wheel, window down, no sudden movements,' " he said. "When they ask for your license and registration, they like that you tell them where you're going to get it from: 'It's in my pocket. It's in my glove box. It's above my visor.' " Archambeau, who serves as president-elect of the Illinois High School and College Driver Education Association, said a video that addresses the topic also would be helpful in the classroom. The new law goes a step further by expanding the requirement to private driving schools, said Dave Druker, spokesman for the Secretary of State Jesse White's office, which regulates the private driving schools. More than 40,000 people are enrolled in private driver's education, Druker said. White's office is tasked with updating the curriculum that tackles how drivers should act during a traffic stop. Those guidelines will then be worked into an updated Rules of the Road handbook, which will be published in 2017, when the law is due to go into effect, Druker said. The secretary of state's office will seek input from the Illinois State Police, he added. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > "I think this can be a very positive thing," Druker said. "It's something Secretary White believes in very strongly." Advertisement Despite its timing, the law wasn't introduced in response to police shootings stemming from escalating traffic stops, said state Rep. Frances Ann Hurley, D-Chicago, who filed the bill in February. "It was just to teach everybody the same thing," Hurley said. "It's an education bill. We want everybody to know what they're supposed to do when they get pulled over by police. If it helps somewhere down the line, that's wonderful." David Shapiro, an attorney with the MacArthur Justice Center at Northwestern University, said he was appalled that the new law doesn't include the rights of the new drivers, many of whom are minors. The responsibility is now on parents to educate themselves on those rights and talk to their children about them, he said. "I think it's a frightening bill for anyone who has kids who drive a car because it doesn't say anything about the kids' constitutional rights during a traffic stop," Shapiro said. "Kids are the most vulnerable to getting pulled into the criminal justice system by overzealous police officers, and traffic stops are one of the main points of contact for pulling people in." deldeib@chicagotribune.com Twitter @deldeib A man suspected of robbing a bank in Glendale Heights on Tuesday morning is also suspected in five other bank robberies since June, including one last week in Oakbrook Terrace, authorities said. The FBI is investigating a robbery that occurred about 10:40 a.m. at a Chase Bank at 2150 Bloomingdale Road in the western suburb, according to FBI spokesman Garrett Croon. Advertisement Authorities believe the person who held up that bank is responsible for five other recent bank robberies, including early Friday afternoon at West Suburban Bank, 17W754 22nd St. in Oakbrook Terrace. The others were June 22 at a US Bank in Berkeley, Aug. 5 at a PNC Bank in Clarendon Hills, Aug. 13 at a Chase Bank in Hoffman Estates and Aug. 23 at a BMO Harris Bank in Addison, according to authorities. Robbery suspect of Chase Bank in Glendale Heights. (Bandit Tracker / Handout ) The suspect was described by authorities Tuesday as a black man in his late 20s or early 30s, about 5 foot 4 to 5 foot 6, wearing a black hat and a dark gray T-shirt with lettering on it. A surveillance photo indicates the hat may have a Blackhawks logo and the shirt has lettering that reads "My kids think I'm gold" or something similar to that. Advertisement The robbery was described as a "nontakeover" type, meaning that few people, if any, beyond the suspect and teller were aware the incident was taking place. No weapon was shown. Anyone with information should call the Chicago office of the FBI at (312) 421-6700. Allen Smith was a retired Baptist minister who spent a lot of his time at a South Shore senior home discussing and sometimes arguing the fine points of Scripture with Ted Merchant, a fellow resident starting his own ministry. Early Monday morning, the two were on the back patio of the Senior Suites of Rainbow Beach for their regular late-night talk about Bible passages when the 67-year-old Merchant pulled a gun and shot the 80-year-old Smith twice in the head, according to police and other residents. He died on the scene. Merchant fled in a motorized scooter, then got into a black Lincoln Town Car in the parking lot of the assisted living center at 2804 E. 77th St., according to police. That's where officers found him five hours later and arrested him around 6 a.m. Merchant was charged with first-degree murder and ordered held on $500,000 bond. Police did not say what prompted the shooting, but said it was caught by a surveillance camera. Three people identified Merchant as the shooter, prosecutors said. Residents said Smith was retired from the First Baptist Church in East Chicago and had moved into the assisted living center at 2804 E. 77th Place about a year ago. Merchant is retired from the real estate business and has a son and daughter and seven grandchildren, his attorney said in court. He had been at the center for about six years and would often hold services in the community room because there was no chapel. He ran a ministry called Straight Gate, residents said. The two were often seen on the back patio discussing religion, according to Dorothy Hull, 76, a retired auditor for the Bank of America in Chicago. "They'd be out there all the time," she said. "They'd talk about Bible passages and ideas about God. They always had little arguments going on about things like that." But Hull said she had no idea why Merchant would shoot Smith. "It was very surprising," she said. "I just can't get over it because he had a church in the community room every Sunday morning. He was retired too, but he had this church going on. I just couldn't believe he did that." Smith grew up in Indiana, graduated from Yale Divinity School and helped start a church in Connecticut before joining the First Baptist Church as senior pastor. He never married and didn't have any children. "He was a very nice person, very outgoing, very friendly,'' Hull said. "He would do things for you, like go to the store or whatever." He had a car and would also pick meals up from a restaurant and bring them back to Rainbow. Hull called Smith her friend and bingo partner. "He'd win pretty good," she said. The management would not allow them to play for money but would give residents cleaning products if they won. Hull laughed. "At least we didn't have to buy it ourselves.'' Ann Harding, 76, said Merchant tried to get fellow residents to join his ministry. "I don't know his religion, I just know he usually has a few people downstairs for prayers and whatever. He does it for the building,'' Harding said. "He goes around to different apartments to try and get people for a congregation. "He was a nice man, you know, when he came to the door," she said. William Hilliard, 75, a retired social worker who lives on the same floor as the suspect, said Merchant called himself a reverend and pastor and was trying to "get his ministry off the ground." Hilliard described him as "soft spoken" and "not aggressive," though he would stand up for his beliefs. "We did have face-to-face talks pertaining to religion, and he had his beliefs, and I challenged him on some things and he challenged me on those," Hilliard said. "I criticized it, and I let him know. That's the relationship we had. He was trying to get his ministry off the ground. I went to some of his meetings. "He and I bumped heads as far as Scripture is concerned," Hilliard said. Hilliard was not aware that Merchant had a gun. He didn't know there was a shooting until he saw news trucks and police come to his building. "I'm not shocked that much. I'm not a person that is shocked easily," he said. "I am surprised. This is Chicago and this is the South Side of Chicago, but it is the Southeast Side of Chicago. There's a lot of good stuff that is going on the Southeast Side." Chicago police officers in the 10th and 11th districts responded to three shootings which occured in the span of an hour late on Sept. 5, 2016. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune) (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune) Two hours had passed since two boys were shot on the Far North Side in Rogers Park late Monday, and the city hadn't seen a shooting during that period. The day was busy. South Side districts logged shootings and homicides and chases over a few hours Monday as the night wore on, but a temporary quiet took hold. Advertisement Then, about 10:45 p.m., someone called in the sound of gunfire near California Avenue and Lexington Street, on the West Side. "Five shots heard," the dispatcher said. "Anonymous calling. One call. Nothing further." Advertisement A minute later, another call, this time saying one person had been shot. A minute later, more calls. Members of the Chicago Police Department search a vehicle involved in a shooting in the 3300 block of West Douglas Boulevard while it is parked outside Mount Sinai Hospital on Sept. 6, 2016. Two men were shot and drove themselves to the hospital. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune) "You guys be careful. We're getting a lot of calls from over there. Fifteen to 20 shots, rapid fire." As officers made it to Lexington, the young men shot were dropped off at Mount Sinai Hospital, all bleeding from gunshot wounds suffered on Lexington. Police found one victim on Lexington, and paramedics took him to Stroger Hospital, where he died. Another man taken to Mount Sinai Hospital died. They were the last two people killed during a holiday weekend that saw almost half of its victims shot during a 21-hour period between Monday and Tuesday mornings. Officers were still trying to figure out how many people had been shot on Lexington when evidence technicians at the Homan Square station a few blocks away called in the sound of gunfire. A couple of minutes later, the neighborhood was calling it in. Police in the Ogden District happened upon two gunshot victims who had stopped their car on Douglas Boulevard before taking off and driving to Mount Sinai Hospital. A third person injured in that shooting walked into Stroger Hospital. A vehicle involved in a shooting in the 3300 block of West Douglas Boulevard is wrapped with police tape outside of Mount Sinai Hospital on Sept. 5, 2016. Two men were shot and drove themselves to the hospital. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune) Officers followed the car to Mount Sinai Hospital and told their dispatcher they had the driver of the car. It still wasn't clear where they had been shot. Advertisement "You wanna hear some more bad news? Units in 11, citywide, shots fired, people shot, 3320 on Flournoy. Says three gunshots were fired. Says two people are shot out in the front. 11th District," said a Chicago police dispatcher. Officers near Lexington who hadn't made it there some just passing by turned on sirens and started heading west. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > "You wanna start heading there toward 3328 on Flournoy? I'm getting multiple, multiple tickets out there," the dispatcher said. "Five gunshots, a female shot in the car, 3315 Flournoy black Camaro with people all shot up. Multiple tickets of person shot again in 11th District, zone 10 radio." Officers lingering on the edge of the Lexington scene walked fast back to their cars and turned on sirens, sped down side streets, bounced the under sides of their squad cars against speed bumps and rolled stop signs until they clogged the streets surrounding the 3300 block of Flournoy, where two more people had been shot. An evidence marker is placed inside vehicle involved in a shooting in the 3300 block of West Douglas Boulevard while it is parked outside Mount Sinai Hospital on Sept. 6, 2016. Two men were shot and drove themselves to the hospital. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune) Some in a crowd yelled as a man was lifted from a car and set on a gurney, awake and alert and holding his phone up with two hands as paramedics moved him to the ambulance. The woman shot and removed from the car before him is in critical condition. Families gathered at Mount Sinai Hospital looking for updates on their loved ones wounded in the three shootings. Advertisement The emergency room became packed in a matter of minutes, and to keep a sense of order a nurse poked her head out every few minutes looking for the relatives of one victim. Everyone had to wait outside. The car carrying two victims that police had spotted on Douglas was surrounded by police tape and had a bullet hole in its front window. After about an hour, officers cut the tape and someone moved it from near the emergency room entrance and parked it up the street. A security guard at the University of Maryland was shot early Tuesday near its College Park campus during a possible commercial armed robbery, university police said. At least one suspect was still at large, they said. Officials said the security guard was shot in the arm and taken to an area hospital, where he is in critical condition. The incident happened around 2 a.m. near the University College campus, which is near the large campus for mostly undergraduate students at the University of Maryland College Park. UMUC has a hotel and conference center, which is used for meetings and some of its graduate and night classes. Chief David B. Mitchell of the University of Maryland police department, said at a morning news conference that it is believed the two men went into the facility and stole some safes. Some of the safes, which police said were portable, were found tossed across the street. Mitchell said it is not immediately clear how the two men got into the facility. He said the security guard was not armed at the time of the incident. He described the guard as a "tremendous fellow," whom the department knows. The guard's name wasn't released but Mitchell said he had worked at the facility for some time. "We pray for his recovery," Mitchell said. Mitchell said the inn and conference center is a "busy place" with lots of people staying there and doing business and work at the university. Police said one of the suspects was caught. A second man, who may still be armed with a gun, is described as weighing between 180 and 200 pounds. He was wearing a full face mask at the time of the incident. Police said they may have video surveillance from area cameras that show the second suspect. They were working to locate and release those at some point Tuesday. Orlando Health and Florida Hospital will not bill survivors of the Pulse nightclub massacre for out-of-pocket medical expenses, officials announced Wednesday. (Orlando Sentinel) The last Pulse survivor who remained in the hospital since being admitted after the June 12 shooting has been released, according to Orlando Health. The health system announced the news in a tweet on Tuesday afternoon: "As of today, Orlando Regional Medical Center reports that all 35 Pulse victims who were patients at ORMC have been discharged." Advertisement Dr. Joshua Corsa, who was working the night of the shooting, vowed to continue to wear his blood-stained shoes until the last patient was released. "They've become a part of me," he told the Orlando Sentinel a few days after the shooting. "It's in me. I feel like I have to carry that reminder with me as long as [those patients] are still under my care." Advertisement After the shooting, he covered his shoes with protective booties when he wore them. But he began wearing the shoes less often, and he decided to stop wearing them altogether, even before the last patient was discharged, hospital officials said. "Due to persistent and inappropriate derision from some individuals, Dr. Corsa stopped wearing the shoes several weeks ago," Orlando Health said in a statement on Tuesday. Orlando Health did not elaborate. Of the 44 shooting victims who were taken to ORMC on the morning of the Pulse shooting, nine died shortly after arrival. Two days after the shooting, 27 victims of the Pulse shooting remained at ORMC, and six were in critical condition. Hospital officials would not release further details about the last patient released, saying that they were "adhering to the patient's wishes." ' The patient had remained in critical condition from June 12 until Aug. 17, when the patient was upgraded to guarded condition. WASHINGTON Lawmakers returning to Washington after a seven-week break picked up right where they left off feuding about legislation to battle the mosquito-borne Zika virus and deadlocked over the defense budget. A tightening presidential race and pitched warfare for control of the Senate this November promise to overshadow whatever Congress accomplishes in an election-shortened September session which, for now, looks like little more than a temporary government-wide spending bill to prevent a shutdown at month's end, possibly linked to money to battle Zika. In its first vote Tuesday, Senate Democrats for the third time blocked a $1.1 billion Zika funding package and an accompanying Veterans Administration spending bill over restrictions on Planned Parenthood. They then voted to prevent the Senate from turning to a $576 billion Pentagon spending measure. "It's hard to explain why despite their own calls for funding Senate Democrats decided to block a bill that could help keep pregnant women and babies safer from Zika," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "It's also hard to explain why despite the array of terror attacks we've seen across the world Senate Democrats decided to block a bill that could help keep the American people safer from threats." Democrats oppose the Zika measure as it bars Planned Parenthood clinics in Zika-suffering Puerto Rico from receiving new money to treat the disease and curb its spread. The legislation also would ease, over the objections of environmentalists, permitting requirements for pesticide spraying to kill the mosquitoes that can spread the virus. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Republicans had "loaded it up with poison pill riders to assuage the hard right." Republicans added those provisions to the measure in June, along with spending cuts to help pay for the Zika bill, saying they are reasonable priorities that reflect their control of the House and Senate. The Zika threat hasn't gripped the public as Ebola did two years ago, but pressure is building as dozens of mosquito-transmitted Zika cases have been confirmed in the political battleground state of Florida since lawmakers left Washington in July. Advertisement President Obama urges Congress to work in a "bi-partisan way to fully fund the countrys response to the Zika virus when lawmakers return from summer recess. Aug. 27, 2016. (White House) (White House/Internet - Fair Use) The defense bill, meanwhile, is caught in a furious battle sparked by a Republican move to use emergency war funds to try to artificially increase the basic Pentagon budget by $16 billion next year. The Obama administration and its Democratic allies on Capitol Hill are dead set against the idea, which breaks with a hard-won budget deal that's less than a year old; they say that if Republicans want more money for defense, domestic programs will have to receive an equal boost. The defense battle won't be resolved until after Election Day, but Tuesday's vote on Zika should send the warring parties back to the drawing board, and it appears likely that the provision targeting Planned Parenthood and perhaps the underlying $95 million worth of social services grants will have to be dropped from the measure. "We're going to work through these issues and I'm sure we'll have a successful outcome to make sure just that the trains are running on time," House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told hometown radio host Stan Milam of AM 1380 in Janesville on Tuesday. On the Zika virus, which has spread over the summer and is linked to birth defects, Ryan said, "I do believe we'll find some kind of resolution." For his part, Ryan has to navigate some tricky waters on the underlying stopgap spending bill, known in Washington-speak as a continuing resolution. Some conservatives want to block any post-election session and are pressing for a continuing resolution that keeps the government open until March or so. But President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats are dead set against the idea they want a full-year spending agreement completed this year and Ryan said he wants to keep negotiating on the full-year spending bills through the fall. Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 House Democrat, said Tuesday that an extension of current spending "should be in my view be passed as soon as possible, it should go to sometime in December" and budget work should be finished by the end of the year. As the inauguration of the next president looms in January, a multi-year restoration of the iconic Capitol Dome is nearing completion, and the Rotunda reopened for visitors on Tuesday, free of scaffolding and safety netting that prevented visitors from a full view of its artwork. Politically, Republicans are pressing for additional investigations of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton over her emails. House conservatives are determined to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, saying he stonewalled and impeded congressional investigations into IRS targeting of conservative organizations. Koskinen wasn't commissioner at the time. Advertisement Associated Press Sen. Elizabeth Warren gives a presentation on the American economy and the middle class to a packed auditorium and additional overflow room at Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield, Mass., on Aug. 27, 2016. (Stephanie Zollshan / The Berkshire Eagle) A slew of big-name Democratic surrogates are preparing to hit the campaign trail for Hillary Clinton beginning this week, launching the campaign's final sprint before Election Day. First lady Michelle Obama and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts will return to the campaign trail for Clinton for the first time since the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July. And a host of others, including such celebrities as actors Tony Goldwyn and Don Cheadle and Broadway star Audra McDonald, will participate in events for Clinton. Advertisement The show of surrogate muscle comes after a months of relatively low-key campaigning from Clinton and her supporters. Much of Clinton's time in the past several weeks was spent raising millions at high-dollar fundraisers. On Monday, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont campaigned for Clinton for the first time since the convention, appearing in New Hampshire. And Vice President Joe Biden returned to the campaign trail for several events on Clinton's behalf last week. Advertisement Warren will hold her first event Thursday in Philadelphia. Michelle Obama will hold her event for Clinton on Sept. 16 in Northern Virginia. And the campaign previously announced that President Barack Obama will return to the campaign trail for Clinton on Sept. 13. "Now that we are past Labor Day, Democratic leaders are kicking it into high gear to make the case that Hillary Clinton has the ability to do the job of commander in chief and president on day one," Clinton spokesman Jesse Ferguson said. "She appreciates their support. Many of these people know what it takes to do this job and see Hillary Clinton as the only candidate with the experience, qualifications and temperament needed. "Not only does Donald Trump not have the support of any living former president of the United States or even the most recent GOP nominee for president, but many other prominent Republicans are conveniently absent from campaigning for him because they share the growing doubts about his candidacy," Ferguson added. The roster of surrogates includes some who made their national debuts on the DNC stage. Anastasia Somoza, a disability-rights activist who spoke at the convention, will head out on the campaign trail this week. And later this month the "Mothers of the Movement," a group of African American women whose children were killed in gun violence or in encounters with police, will stump for Clinton. Chelsea Clinton will return to the campaign trail this week, and Bill Clinton will continue his multi-state campaigning on his wife's behalf. Among the others campaigning for Clinton this week: Planned Parenthood Action Fund's Cecile Richards, Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, former Texas state senator Wendy Davis and NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue. Phyllis Schlafly, a conservative activist, lawyer and author who is credited with almost single-handedly stopping the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and who helped move the Republican Party toward the right on family and religious issues, died Monday at her home in St. Louis. She was 92. Her daughter, Anne Cori, said Schlafly had been ill with cancer for some time. Advertisement A champion of traditional, stay-at-home roles for women, Schlafly opposed the ERA because she believed it would open the door to gay marriage, abortion, the military draft for women, co-ed bathrooms and the end of labor laws that barred women from dangerous workplaces. The brief amendment ("Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex") was anti-family and anti-American, she said. Equality, she added, would be a step down for most women who are "extremely well-treated" by society and laws. Advertisement She was almost too late to stop its passage: By early 1972, when she first published her objections, the proposed constitutional amendment had just passed Congress, and 30 of the needed 38 state legislatures had ratified it. Schlafly, an experienced anti-communist Republican Party activist, quickly organized the opposition. The effort began operating under the name "Stop ERA" and later became a national organization called the Eagle Forum, which Schlafly dubbed an alternative to women's liberation. In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision on Roe v. Wade, legalizing abortion. Suddenly, a huge constituency of conservative, family-oriented churchgoers were energized to engage in politics. Binding together fundamentalists, evangelicals, Catholics, Mormons and Orthodox Jews, Schlafly realized that she could direct a movement of people who believed the family and traditional values were under attack. A best-selling author, radio commentator and an excellent debater, she barnstormed the country, speaking before clubs, church organizations and 30 state legislatures. By the time the deadline for passage of the ERA arrived in 1982, 15 states rejected it and five other states rescinded their ratifications. It fell three states short of passage. Schlafly staged a festive burial party at Washington's Shoreham Hotel and told a crowded news conference that the ERA "is dead for now and forever in this century" and said the nation could now enter "a new era of harmony between women and men." Just as her public life didn't begin with the ERA, it didn't end with its defeat. The battle over the ERA helped launch the family values, anti-abortion movement in the United States, and Schlafly continued to be one of its standard-bearers, as well as supporting causes such as opposition to illegal immigrants, federal judicial activism, ballots in languages other than English, the Title IX rules that required equal treatment of girls and boys in sports, and "privacy-invading questions" on the census. Secretaries, stewardesses and other women fighting for wages of comparable worth were simply "envious," Schlafly said, of the wages paid to janitors and truck drivers. Always quotable, her opinions could outrage and provoke members of the establishment from her own political party as well. When President Ronald Reagan's surgeon general, C. Everett Koop, tried to introduce AIDS education to public school curricula in the 1980s, Schlafly likened it to "the teaching of safe sodomy." She called sex education "a principal cause of teenage pregnancy." Reagan-appointed Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy also ran afoul of Schlafly in 2005, when his opinion questioning capital punishment for juveniles seemed to her to be grounds for impeachment. She said during the 2010 Conservative Political Action Committee convention in Washington, D.C., that no woman, including former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, was yet ready to be president. Advertisement Schlafly was an attorney who built her own media empire, writing or editing 20 books. She published a monthly newsletter, The Phyllis Schlafly Report, wrote a syndicated newspaper column, produced radio commentaries and anchored a radio talk show. She also was a regular lecturer on the college circuit. Schlafly was the subject of two biographies, Carol Felsenthal's "The Sweetheart of the Silent Majority" (1981) and Donald Critchlow's "Phyllis Schlafly and Grassroots Conservatism" (2006). Reagan appointed her to the Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, and Ladies Home Journal named her one of the 100 most important women of the 20th century. In 2008, as an indication of her continuing relevance and her ability to stir up emotions, hundreds of students protested when her alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis, granted her an honorary diploma. She also cheered Palin's selection as a vice-presidential candidate on the 2008 Republican ticket, describing her as "an exemplar of all that is good and true." Well-spoken, self-assured, dressed like an affluent homemaker, "with a hairdo like a treble clef," as Ginia Bellafante of the New York Times said in 2006, Schlafly drove feminists nuts. A woman's most important job is to be a wife and mother, Schlafly repeatedly said, even as she employed a full-time housekeeper to care for her six children. She said she was never away from home overnight and often took her infants with her on speaking engagements. Decades later, in 1992, her home state of Illinois named her its Mother of the Year. "I'd like to thank my husband, Fred, for letting me be here today," she told a crowd of 11,000 at a pro-family gathering in 1977. "I like to say that because it irritates the women's libbers more than anything." Advertisement In 1981, speaking at a Senate Labor Committee hearing on sexual harassment in the workplace, Schlafly said that "men hardly ever ask sexual favors of women from whom the certain answer is 'No.' Virtuous women are seldom accosted by unwelcome sexual propositions or familiarities, obscene talk or profane language." She never shrank from battle,agreeing countless times to debate well-known feminists such as Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and Eleanor Smeal. In one such face-off, at Illinois State University in 1973, the often-volatile Friedan called Schlafly a traitor to her sex and said she'd like to burn her at the stake. Four years later, after Schlafly implied that all the women at the 1977 women's conference in Houston were gay, Steinem, one of the few feminists who could match her quotes, retorted, "If we're all lesbians, where are we getting all these unborn babies to kill?" Born Phyllis McAlpin Stewart on Aug. 15, 1924, in St. Louis, she was the daughter of a librarian who supported the family of four when her father could not find work during the Depression. She attended two years of college at Maryville College of the Sacred Heart, but the school was not rigorous enough for her, she later said, so she paid her way through Washington University by working 48 hours a week in a World War II ordnance plant, firing machine guns to test the ammunition. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and then earned a master's degree in political science in 1945 from Radcliffe College, Harvard University's sister school for women. She headed to Washington for a year to do research for several members of Congress for what is now the American Enterprise Institute, then went back to St. Louis to work on a congressman's re-election campaign and to be a research director at two local banks. She said she was "saved from the life as a working girl" by marrying wealthy lawyer Fred Schlafly in 1949. She quit her job and became a community volunteer and Republican Party activist. In the early 1950s, she did research for Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the Wisconsin Republican who railed against Communist infiltration into the U.S. government. Advertisement She won the Republican nomination for Congress from Alton, Illinois, on her first try in 1952, presenting herself as a housewife, but lost in the general election to the incumbent. She was a delegate to the 1956 Republican National Convention, and in 1960 she tried again for Congress, this time as a write-in candidate. At the 1960 Republican National Convention, she helped lead a revolt of conservatives against an anti-segregation and anti-discrimination plank of the party's platform. She and her husband also founded the Cardinal Mindszenty Foundation to alert the world to the dangers of communism. She published pamphlets that compiled right-wing essays and in 1962 became a radio commentator on a program carried by 18 stations. The atom bomb, she said, was "a marvelous gift given to our country by a wise God." An enthusiastic supporter of Barry Goldwater, the Republican nominee for president in 1964, Schlafly wrote her first book, "A Choice Not an Echo," attacking the elite, East Coast kingmakers of the party who ignored the grass-roots conservatives who were Goldwater's base. She published it herself as a mail-order paperback, and it sold more than 3 million copies before Election Day. The success inspired her to write a series of books about national defense, in partnership with retired Navy Adm. Chester Ward. One accused Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara and presidential advisers McGeorge Bundy and Walt Rostow of deliberately weakening the U.S. military so that Russians could overwhelm the United States. Another, written by herself, contends that communists instigated the urban riots in 1967. She also rose in the ranks of the National Federation of Republican Women, becoming first vice president. She was in line to rise to president, but Goldwater's loss to Lyndon B. Johnson in the presidential race brought a resurgence in the party's liberal wing, and Schlafly was outmaneuvered for leadership of the group. She founded The Eagles Are Flying, a separate group for her supporters in the National Federation of Republican Women, as well as a trust fund for conservative candidates and her own newsletter. In 1970, she tried a third time to win election to Congress but lost again to an incumbent. Advertisement Her decision to enter law school in the early 1970s was temporarily halted by the objections of her husband, although he had encouraged all their children to go to law school. Her husband changed his mind two weeks later, and she graduated from Washington University's law school in 1978. After the death of her husband of 44 years, in 1993, she moved from their longtime home near Alton to Ladue, Missouri, a St. Louis suburb. Survivors include six children: Cori, of St. Louis; John Schlafly, who came out as gay in 1992, and lives in Alton, Illinois; Bruce Schlafly of St. Louis; Roger Schlafly of Santa Cruz, California; Liza Forshaw, of St. Louis; and Andrew Schlafly, of Far Hills, New Jersey, who started Conservapedia in 2006 as a reaction against perceived liberal bias in Wikipedia; 16 grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. Her opposition to the ERA developed only after a friend invited her to speak about the proposed constitutional amendment to a Darien, Connecticut, book club in early 1972. Until them she said later, she was unaware of the then-50-year-old proposal. At first, she recalled, "I don't even know what side I'm on . . . I figured ERA was something between innocuous and mildly helpful." GEORGETOWN, Guyana Sleepy Guyana has long been one of the hemisphere's poorest places, a sparsely populated nation on South America's northern shoulder that relies heavily on exports of sugar, rice and gold. But these days, there's a surge of excitement about an anticipated windfall from major oil-and-gas deposits found in the deep seabed 120 miles (193 kilometers) off the coast as well as worries about the disruptions and conflicts it might bring. Hopes are high that fuel siphoned in a few years' time from more three miles (more than 5 kilometers) below the sea's surface might be an antidote to entrenched poverty and underdevelopment in the country of 750,000 people. "We will have billions in foreign reserves and our population is going to swell big time," miner Cosmos Santo said from a park bench in the seaside capital of narrow streets and mostly low-rise, wooden buildings. The U.S. Geological Survey had long estimated that offshore Guyana was rich in gas and oil. Now U.S.-based ExxonMobil has announced a "world-class oil discovery" off Guyana after drilling a well that struck oil-bearing sandstone with an estimated 800 million to 1.4 billion oil equivalent barrels. Exxon and partner Hess Corp. haven't yet announced development or investment plans, which could be complicated by low current oil prices and a dispute with neighboring Venezuela. But Guyanese authorities are racing to set up rules and plans to administer the hoped-for new industry while avoiding what is known as the "resource curse." In places like Congo and Nigeria, oil or mineral wealth has fueled conflict instead of development. Guyana only has to look at Venezuela next door to see what can go haywire with an oil-dependent state. South America's biggest energy producer has been in economic freefall since the 2014 crash in prices for the oil that funds nearly all the spending of its socialist government. Guyana's presidential spokesman, Mark Archer, said the administration is determined to avoid the mistakes of Venezuela and other energy-rich nations that have run into hard times. "The plan is not to spend wildly like a drunken sailor but to put in a wealth fund for future generations and ensure we do not neglect agriculture," Archer said. Norway and the U.S. Energy Department are advising Guyana on setting up such a fund as well as a regulatory framework for the industry, Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman says. Some of the hoped-for riches would go toward building a 350-mile (565-kilometer) jungle road from the capital to northeastern Brazil, opening up Guyana's rugged, mineral-rich interior. Households would get free cooking gas and cheap gasoline. Guyana's small military would get new aircraft to protect the offshore fields and borders, to provide some "comfort to Exxon and other investors," Archer said. "We must be able to protect our investment," he said. Protection may be necessary because the offshore discoveries have reignited a decades-old territorial dispute between Guyana and far-larger Venezuela. Venezuela has for decades claimed two-thirds of Guyana's territory as its own, arguing that the gold-rich region west of the Essequibo River and the resulting maritime zone where Exxon's find lies was stolen from it by an 1899 agreement with Britain and its then-colony. Venezuela's navy briefly detained a ship carrying five American oil workers in 2013. They were conducting a seismic survey under a Guyana concession at the time. Guyana says it wants the International Court of Justice to settle the border dispute with Venezuela, though the case has not yet reached the court. Diego Moya-Ocampos, analyst with the London-based consulting firm IHS Global Insight, said he believes Venezuela's claim of sovereignty will pose a "major complication" to recovering oil and minerals. Venezuela's government could opt to ban companies operating in Guyana from working in Venezuela's vast oil fields, he said. "We expect strong rhetoric in the coming months. Nevertheless, (Venezuela) is highly unlikely to initiate an armed conflict out of concern over losing support from the English-speaking Caribbean countries," Moya-Ocampos said in an email. Meanwhile, Guyana Geology and Mines Commissioner Newell Dennison said his agency is on "a frenzied mission" to train local petroleum engineers, geologists and lawyers. Exxon officials have told lawmakers that they plan to have supertankers pull up alongside rigs and cart away fuel pumped from the seabed because the wells are too far from the coast to run pipelines. People in Guyana appear to be excited about the prospects, though some are wary. "If mismanaged, we will remain as we are and like the others which have oil and mismanaged it," said Brenda Oudkerk as she took a break from dishing out plates of rice and spicy chicken at her open-air cafe in the capital. With nine weeks until Election Day, Donald Trump is within striking distance in the Upper Midwest, but Hillary Clinton's strength in many battlegrounds and some traditional Republican strongholds gives her a big electoral college advantage, according to a 50-state Washington Post-SurveyMonkey poll. The survey of all 50 states is the largest sample ever undertaken by The Post, which joined with SurveyMonkey and its online polling resources to produce the results. The state-by-state numbers are based on responses from more than 74,000 registered voters during the period of Aug. 9 to Sept. 1. The individual state samples vary in size from about 550 to more than 5,000, allowing greater opportunities than typical surveys to look at different groups within the population and compare them from state to state. Advertisement The massive survey highlights a critical weakness in Trump's candidacy -- an unprecedented deficit for a Republican among college-educated white voters, especially women. White college graduates have been loyal Republican voters in recent elections, but Trump is behind Clinton with this group across much of the country, including in some solidly red states. The 50-state findings come at a time when the average national margin between Clinton and Trump has narrowed. What once was a Clinton lead nationally of eight to 10 points shortly after the party conventions ended a month ago is now about four points, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average. A number of battleground states also have tightened, according to surveys released from other organizations in recent days. Advertisement The Post-SurveyMonkey results are consistent with many of those findings, but not in all cases. Trump's support in the Midwest, where the electorates are generally older and whiter, appears stronger and offers the possibility of gains in places Democrats carried recently. He has small edges in two expected battlegrounds -- Ohio and Iowa -- and is close in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, each of which Democrats have won in six consecutive elections. At the same time, however, Trump is struggling in places Republicans have won consistently and that he must hold to have any hope of winning. These states include Arizona and Georgia, as well as Texas -- the biggest surprise in the 50-state results. The Texas results, which are based on a sample of more than 5,000 people, show a dead heat, with Clinton ahead by one percentage point. Clinton also leads by fewer than four points in Colorado, Florida and is tied with Trump in North Carolina. In Colorado, other polls have shown a larger Clinton lead. In Mississippi, Trump's lead is just two points, though it's doubtful that the GOP nominee is in much danger there. In a two-way competition between the major-party candidates, Clinton leads by four points or more in 20 states plus the District of Columbia. Together they add up to 244 electoral votes, 26 shy of the 270 needed to win. Trump leads by at least four points in 20 states as well, but those add up to just 126 electoral votes. In the 10 remaining states, which hold 168 electoral votes, neither candidate has a lead of four percentage points or better. A series of four-way ballot tests that include Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein project a somewhat narrower Clinton advantage, with more states showing margins of fewer than four points between the two major-party candidates. But even here, at the Labor Day weekend turn toward the Nov. 8 balloting, the pressure is on Trump to make up even more ground than he has in recent weeks if he hopes to win the White House. The poll finds Johnson is poised to garner significant support. He is currently receiving at least 15 percent support in 15 states. The libertarian's support peaks at 25 percent in New Mexico, where he served two terms as governor. He is only four points shy of Trump's 29 percent standing there. His support in Utah is 23 percent, and in Colorado and Iowa it is 16 percent. Stein has less support in the poll, peaking at 10 percent in Vermont and receiving at least 7 percent support in 10 states. Overall, the results reflect Trump's strategy of maximizing support in older, whiter Midwestern states where his anti-free-trade message and appeals to national identity generally find more fertile ground. Advertisement But his struggles elsewhere, including places that have long supported Republicans, illustrate the challenges of that strategy in more diverse states where his stances on immigration and some other positions have turned off Democrats, independents and many Republicans. To win the election, Trump must quickly consolidate the Republican vote. With prominent Republicans declaring they will not support Trump and some even announcing they will back Clinton, this represents a major challenge for the GOP nominee. In the Post-SurveyMonkey poll, Clinton is winning 90 percent or more of the Democratic vote in 32 states, while Trump is at or above that level in just 13. As expected, the Clinton-Trump contest has split the electorate along racial lines. Their bases of support are mirror images: On average, Clinton does 31 points better among nonwhite voters than whites, and Trump does 31 points better among white voters than nonwhites. The electorate is also divided along lines of gender and education, in many cases to a greater extent than in recent elections. Averaging across all 50 states, Clinton does 14 points better among women than men, and Trump does 16 points better among men than women. Clinton is winning among women in 34 states, and she's close in six others. Trump leads among men in 38 states, is tied in six and trails in the other six. It is among college-educated voters, however, where Trump faces his biggest hurdle. In 2012, white voters with college degrees supported Republican nominee Mitt Romney over President Barack Obama by 56-42 percent. Romney won with 59 percent among white men with college degrees and with 52 percent among white women with college degrees. So far in this campaign, Clinton has dramatically changed that equation. Among white college graduates, Clinton leads Trump in 31 of the 50 states, and the two are about even in six others. Trump leads among college-educated whites in just 13 states, all safe Republican states in recent elections. Advertisement Across 49 states where the poll interviewed at least 100 white college-educated women, Clinton leads Trump with this group in 38 states and by double-digit margins in 37. Averaging across all states, Clinton leads by 23 points among white women with college degrees. Trump's base among white voters without a college degree remains strong and substantial. He leads Clinton in 43 of the 50 states, and the two are roughly even in five others. She leads among white voters without a college degree in just one state: Vermont. Overall, Clinton does 19 points better among white college graduates than whites without degrees while Trump does 18 points better among whites without degrees than whites with college educations, on average. Trump's challenge in the states that remain close will be to produce significant turnout among white, non-college voters to offset those Clinton margins, but it's far from clear that there are enough of them to be decisive. Absent that, the GOP nominee must find a way to appeal to these college-educated voters during the final weeks of the campaign. Trump's strength across some of the states in the Midwest is one potential bright spot for the Republican nominee. Clinton's biggest lead among the contested states in that region is in Pennsylvania, where her margin is just four points. In Wisconsin and Michigan, she leads by a nominal two points, while Trump leads by four points in Iowa and three points in Ohio. Recent polls by other organizations have indicated that Wisconsin has tightened over the past month. A recent Suffolk University poll in Michigan shows Clinton leading by seven points, and the RealClearPolitics average in Ohio shows Clinton ahead by three points. Overall, among the quintet of Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and Pennsylvania, Michigan has been the Democrats' most reliable of the group, always one of the 15 best-performing Democratic states over the past five elections. Advertisement The Rocky Mountain West is another area of fierce competition. The Post-SurveyMonkey poll shows Colorado closer than other polls there, with Clinton leading by just two points and the race tied when Johnson and Stein are included. Meanwhile, Clinton and Trump are roughly even in Arizona. In Nevada, Clinton enjoys a lead of five points in head-to-head competition with Trump but by just three points in a four-way test. Of all the states, Texas provided the most unexpected result. The Lone Star State has been a conservative Republican bastion for the past four decades. In 2012, President Obama lost the state by 16 points. For Democrats, it has been among the 10 to 15 worst-performing states in the past four elections. The Post-SurveyMonkey poll of Texas shows a dead heat with Clinton at 46 percent and Trump at 45 percent. Democrats have long claimed that changing demographics would make the state competitive in national elections, but probably not for several more cycles. A comparison of the current survey with the 2008 Texas exit poll (there was no exit poll there in 2012) points to reasons the race appears close right now. Trump is performing worse than 2008 GOP nominee John McCain among both whites and Hispanics, while Clinton is doing slightly better than Obama. Among men, Trump is doing slightly worse than McCain did eight years ago. The bigger difference is among women. McCain won a narrow majority of women in Texas while Trump is currently below 40 percent. That's not to say Texas is turning blue in 2016. Given its history, it probably will back Trump in November and possibly by a comfortable margin. But at this stage, the fact that it is close at all is one more surprise in a surprising year. A police officer looks around the scene of a shooting in the 3300 block of West Flournoy Street on Sept. 5, 2016, in the Homan Square neighborhood of Chicago. A man and woman were both shot inside a parked car and were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune) Chicago has reached a crisis point for gun violence. Voices from various public officials have recently suggested that the solution is to increase the penalty for gun possession. They suggest that a "war on guns" needs to be launched, with longer prison terms providing victory. They are sadly mistaken. In 1971, President Richard Nixon perceived a crisis in the rising use of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other mind-altering substances. He declared a "war on drugs," which was dramatically expanded in the 1980s by President Ronald Reagan. Penalties for drug possession and delivery were increased. The result was not a decrease in drug usage, however, but rather the demonization and incarceration of an entire generation of mostly young African-American and Latino men. Most responsible people now recognize that the war on drugs was a failure. Advertisement Chicago officially surpassed the homicide toll for all of last year, reaching over 500 in total. By speaking to members of the community, the Tribune will continue coverage of this grim milestone. (Chicago Tribune) A war on guns that focuses solely on punishment sounds like an easy fix, but it will fail just as did the war on drugs. Increasing prison terms while failing to address the causes of gun violence will serve only to, once again, demonize and incarcerate another generation of mostly young African-American and Latino men. An old adage states that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Following the same failed path will have the same failed results. In Illinois, killing someone with a firearm carries a minimum 45 years in prison, with no possible early release. A 20-year-old convicted of shooting someone to death will see freedom, at the earliest, when he is 65. This minimum 45-year punishment has been in effect since 2000. Did it prevent 90 people from being killed in August? Did it stop the nearly 500 homicides so far this year? Advertisement Possession of a firearm by a felon carries a sentence of up to seven years in prison. Depending on the felon's criminal background, the penalty after conviction can increase to either 14 or 30 years in prison. Have these prison terms prevented the nearly 3,000 shootings in Chicago this year? Some suggest that mandatory prison terms are needed in order to strip judges of discretion at sentencing. But locking up everyone without consideration of his or her background or the facts of each case is fundamentally unfair. Discretion is necessary, since every person is different, as are the facts underlying every charged offense. Serving time in prison, in fact, often exacerbates the problem. Instead of rehabilitating, it often hardens individuals and sets them further back when they re-enter society. Despite the inflammatory rhetoric, no one grows up wanting to shoot or kill. People from distressed communities have often endured horrific trauma in their lives, and make bad choices. Increasing minimum sentences will not stop violence; it will merely incarcerate one generation while another generation steps up and continues the violence. Punishment occurs after the fact, after the violence has happened. The solution that all parties should be seeking is how to reduce or prevent the violence from ever occurring. Gun violence stems from inadequate education, lack of economic opportunity, an unstable home environment, mental health problems, untreated anger, segregation, lack of recreational outlets and poverty. It affects families, friends and communities. First, we need more police on the street. It may sound odd for the public defender to advocate for more officers, but we need a more proactive police force that prevents crime, rather than a reactive police force that merely responds to it. Having more police in our communities who are trained to relate and thoughtfully interact with youth when there is no trouble will ease the tension that often arises when police appear only to make an arrest. New York has 600 officers per 100,000 residents, while Chicago has only 400 officers per 100,000. With more officers, there will be more time to build bonds with the communities they serve. Trust and cooperation will be re-established. Second, linking at-risk youth with neighborhood groups, such as CeaseFire, as well as treatment facilities for those with mental health or addiction issues, will give them an alternative to violence. Job prospects and treatment will give young men for they are mostly young men the chance to see opportunity for themselves instead of a cycle of violence. Young people cannot be what they cannot see; let them see that they can become professionals, artists, tradesmen and steady family men, and they will become that. Involving at-risk youth with mentors, treatment facilities, faith-based groups, community centers, job training and police-involved programs will show that they are not being written off as potential criminals with only a bleak future of incarceration. The standard response whenever there is violence is to call for harsher sentences and more prisons. It never has and never will solve the problem. Time and again we seem to find money for punishment but never find it for supporting the communities in need. Advertisement A culture where there is no hope for employment and family is self-destructive. We see the results on the street every day. Advocating only punishment for those who see no hope will solve nothing. We need to collaborate and help our youth gain vision and hope, not pigeonhole entire classes or generations of people to prison. I ask only that we see everyone at risk as someone deserving of dignity, to give him or her a chance before the violent act is taken, before the gun is picked up. We will not stop violence by launching a punitive war on guns and locking up another generation of young men; we will stop it through thoughtful action, assistance and recognition that something better can be achieved. Amy P. Campanelli is the public defender for Cook County. The prediction was supposed to sound ominous. But to many listeners, it just sounded delicious. "My culture is a very dominant culture, and it's imposing and it's causing problems," warned Marco Gutierrez, founder of Latinos for Trump, in a recent MSNBC interview. "If you don't do something about it, you're going to have taco trucks on every corner." Advertisement In the days that followed, this culinary Cassandra was widely mocked, memed and hashtagged. How silly and self-loathing must Gutierrez be, the Twitterverse asked, to fear-monger with flautas, to boogeyman with burritos, to alarm with empanadas? After all, any idiot knows that Americans across the political spectrum love Mexican (or at least Tex-Mex) food. Even Donald Trump has featured taco-based cuisine in his political propaganda. Advertisement Yet I understand why Gutierrez might have expected his warning of Mexican culture creep to seem scary. In recent years, there has been a subtle shift, on both left and right, away from the idealization of the melting pot the United States' long tradition of mixing and matching from the many cultures and ethnicities that migrate to our shores. Instead, both liberals and conservatives have increasingly advocated a version of cultural autarky: You stick to the traditions of your ancestry, I'll stick to mine, and we'll all be better off. Maybe some rare exceptions can be grandfathered in, among them tacos (and, presumably, bagels). But for the most part, the goal seems to be to maintain clear, pristine ethnic boundaries, for foods, languages, clothing and other traditions. The motivations for this evolving preference differ depending on the political faction you're talking about, of course. Those on the far left increasingly avoid engagement with other cultures' traditions because they worry about "cultural appropriation," or exoticizing or exploiting another people's heritage. For the far right, this avoidance is based on fear of an invasive foreign influence, one that might contaminate true "American values." The rationales may be different, but the trigger can be the same. Take, for example, yoga. On the left, there is a recurring debate about whether practicing yoga in the West is a crass and offensive commercialization of another culture's sacred tradition. Last year, a college famously canceled a yoga class for students with disabilities due to concerns that the practice was taken from a culture that "experienced oppression, cultural genocide and diasporas due to colonialism and western supremacy." The story earned lots of public derision, especially on the right. Advertisement But several months later, a similar yoga controversy, this time stoked by conservatives, went viral. Parents of children at a Georgia public elementary school were upset that their kids were being taught "yoga and other mindfulness practices," because they believed the lessons promoted a "Far East mystical religion." The school apologized. Recent years have produced similar brouhahas about whether serving sushi, or wearing kimonos, sombreros or hijabs, amounts to oppression, invasion or even just benign appreciation of other cultures' traditions and innovations. Many on the far left seem to prefer a vision of pluralism in which different cultures never borrow from one another, regardless of intentions. In this view, white people who wear braids, buy turquoise jewelry, don saris or sing along with rap lyrics are exhibiting both bad taste and bad faith. Many on the far right likewise yearn for their own "safe space" for American values, or at least a specifically Christian-Anglophone version of those values. That means an insular country where everyone says "Merry Christmas" rather than the inclusive "Happy Holidays," no automated phone system ever says "para espanol, oprima dos" and non-Western clothing styles are not just discouraged but outlawed. In fact, in the wake of the recent French burkini debate, a YouGov survey found that 4 in 10 Republicans would support a U.S. law banning Muslim-style body-and-face veils. For centuries, humankind considered the peaceful exchange of ideas, goods and customs a source of progress, a means of (quite literally) "spicing up" life. Many of the traditions that we today associate with specific ethnicities are themselves borrowed from elsewhere, thanks to centuries of trade. The potato, that staple of Irish cuisine, was originally brought to the Emerald Isle from South America, for example. Which makes this recent creep of cultural isolationism both concerning and confusing. Perhaps that scare-mongering Trump surrogate could be forgiven for not realizing that, just as potatoes eventually became Irishized, many Americans already regard tacos as fully Americanized. Here's hoping that this bit of confusion and inadvertent comedy slows the impulse to separate the ingredients of the American melting pot into its many parts. Advertisement Washington Post Writers Group Catherine Rampell is an opinion columnist at The Washington Post. crampell@washpost.com Twitter @crampell Lockers and books in a hall way at Wells Community Academy High School in Chicago on Friday, Sept. 2, 2016. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune) Chicago Public Schools delivered good news on Labor Day the fruits, you could say, of many people's spirited labor: The district reported that its five-year graduation rate surged to a record high of 73.5 percent. That's up from 69.9 percent last year. And up an astonishing 16 percentage points since 2011 (when, not coincidentally, Mayor Rahm Emanuel took office). Advertisement No, 73.5 isn't 100. But we're talking about a district that, in 1999, said a pathetic 47 percent of its students had graduated from high school within five years of entering. In other words, a CPS student was just as likely to leave as to earn a diploma. We hope those days, humiliating for Chicago and disastrous for thousands of young people, are long gone, never to return. If the new figures hold up to scrutiny remember, CPS got caught exaggerating graduation rates in 2015 then students, parents, teachers and district officials deserve to take a long, deep bow. Advertisement CPS' graduation trajectory looks to be headed in the right direction up. Across the city. For many subsets of students. And for all types of schools. That's right. The latest figures show that neighborhood high schools improved five-year graduation rates by 4.6 points, to 73.1 percent. That's a bigger boost than that of their charter peers, which eked out a 0.8 percent gain, to 78.2 percent. Could that neighborhood school improvement be the result of sharp competition for students from quality charter schools? We think so. That's why we oppose any government or district cap on charter expansion. Another reason for the improvement: CPS is growing increasingly adept at keeping freshmen on track to graduation. The district's early warning system helps pinpoint students who are struggling. The intervention aims to give freshmen the academic help they need so they don't fall so far behind that they can't catch up. High school graduation, however, is only the end of the beginning. CPS also is sending more students to college. Some 42 percent of CPS graduates enrolled in a four-year college or university in 2014, according to the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. That's up from a dismal 33 percent in 2006. The CPS college enrollment figure now approaches the national average of 44 percent. The challenge now is to help more CPS graduates earn college diplomas. Study after study shows and common experience corroborates that those who complete college have a better chance at snagging good jobs, leading to successful careers and happy lives. Bear with us now through a paragraph long on numbers but also on encouraging news: As we reported earlier this year, the U. of C. calculated that in 2006 only eight of every 100 CPS freshmen would earn a four-year diploma within 10 years of starting high school. The most recent figures: 16 of 100 CPS ninth-graders who start college immediately after high school will notch a four-year degree within 10 years of starting high school. In other words, CPS is improving its production of college-ready high school grads. But the district still falls short of the national average 22 of 100 high school freshmen earn college degrees in that time frame. Advertisement Good news at CPS is always tempered with "Yes, but ..." No difference with graduation rates. The most glaring shortcoming is that the achievement gap for some minority students remains tenaciously unacceptably large. For instance: African-American males in CPS still register the lowest five-year graduation rate, at 57.4 percent. That rate is rising, but there's a lot of work to be done. A new crop of seniors, a new crop of freshmen started school this week. All with dreams to pursue and academic hurdles to clear. This year, every year, there is no greater challenge than to push those graduation rates ever higher. Students, teachers, parents, the number to beat is 73.5 percent. You can do it. Join the discussion on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Board and on Facebook. No, little voter, you cannot term-limit the Illinois lawmakers who've ruined this state's finances; the politicians don't want that. Nor can you stop legislative leaders from gerrymandering their members' district maps; the Illinois Supreme Court says that injustice is OK. But if the pols of both parties won't let you do something good for you, they will let you do something good for them and their friends: They want you to enshrine in the Illinois Constitution a perpetual payday for their loyal donors in road-building and organized labor. You could say they've all got this thing this proposed amendment and for them it's ... golden! Advertisement The stated aim of the amendment it'll be on your Nov. 8 ballot is to prevent state and local governments from using transportation revenue for non-transportation purposes. Sounds fine, to a point. But the diabolical effect is that contractors, and the unions whose members they employ, would have constitutionally guaranteed dibs on future billions of state and local revenue dollars. That is, they'd have dibs on tax collections so that some future Illinois an Illinois where finances are even more disastrous than today's couldn't circumvent this amendment even in a natural catastrophe or other crisis. This amendment would, for example, wall off road dollars from any emergency uses for basic human needs. You've seen how rigidly the constitution's pension protection clause forbids public pension reforms? Well, the pavement protection clause would be just as rigid. Advertisement Budgeting for bridges doesn't belong in a constitution. It's a key but routine goal that governors, members of the General Assembly and local governing bodies can enforce on their own without making the Illinois Constitution a playpen for some verrry special interests. You'll hear lots about this proposal via the advertising its supporters are lavishly funding. And you can tell from all their public-relations sweet talk just how frantic they are to perfume this pig: The legislators who voted to put this on the ballot that is, the overwhelming majority of Republicans and Democrats should have called it "The Illinois Crony Protection Amendment of 2016." Instead they came up with "Safe Roads Constitutional Amendment." Are the backers accurately labeled "Contractors and Unions Determined to Get Ours First"? No, instead they're the noble-sounding "Citizens to Protect Transportation Funding." And is their motto the brutally honest "We got this sucker on the ballot because we own the Capitol"? No, they're crooning the almost patriotic "Put Illinois' Transportation Money in a Lock Box (sic) and Keep Illinois Safe." Gosh, who opposes keeping Illinois safe? Who wants dangerous roads? Nobody. But that's no excuse for cluttering up a constitution that has to serve not only today's priorities but future priorities that may be very different. The backers complain that transportation revenue at times has been diverted to other purposes. Yes, but only because the elected representatives of the people decided that was necessary. Or, at least as likely, because they have no self-control overspending. And the only way to bring discipline to Illinois governments is to chisel it into the constitution? This amendment was so well-greased in Springfield that some politicians think it's sure to succeed. But it requires 60 percent support to pass, so there's a chance other groups that rely on sparse state dollars will be able kill it maybe educators, human services providers, groups that fight for disadvantaged citizens or university officials who someday may need emergency funding. If for no other reason, all of us should vote against this amendment because of the legislators' self-serving behavior: Lawmakers won't put on the ballot an amendment to reform redistricting. They won't impose term limits on themselves. Yet they'll happily stick on the ballot an enormous favor for the road-builders and unions that donate to their campaigns. Advertisement Here's a better idea: Let's not stop with transportation. Let's put every dollar of state spending into the Illinois Constitution and then eliminate all 177 legislators. Once we've perpetually frozen budgeting into an amendment, we won't need them. Join the discussion on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Board and on Facebook. The era of sexual harassment against women in the workplace did not end Tuesday. But the resolution of former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson's lawsuit provides a high-profile warning to the powerful and predatory: Don't be so certain you'll be able to brush off an accusation or slink away with your reputation intact in exchange for writing a check. That message is the big news in Carlson's settlement of her suit against dethroned TV titan Roger Ailes. Yes, the Fox News chairman, who played a role in propagating the modern conservative movement, was ousted from his position, as he should have been. And, yes, Carlson got a huge check to end the litigation: a reported $20 million. But what we also hope resonates is the public apology Carlson received, which cited her talent and professionalism, and then acknowledged that at Fox exemplary ability didn't guarantee equal treatment. Carlson still got harassed by the boss. Advertisement What parent company 21st Century Fox wrote: During her tenure at Fox News, Gretchen exhibited the highest standards of journalism and professionalism. She developed a loyal audience and was a daily source of information for many Americans. We are proud that she was part of the Fox News team. We sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect and dignity that she and all of our colleagues deserve. Advertisement The statement provided no details, not even Ailes' name, another shortcoming typical of the way corporations historically have confronted these allegations. They'd prefer to take minimal action to end a crisis than rip off the bandage and examine cultural rot. Frequently, settlements of these types avoid apologies or acknowledgment of wrongdoing. Which is why Fox's apology stands out: This is a major media organization with profound influence on the country's political and cultural climate and it acknowledges wrongdoing. Fox said Carlson, like other women at the network, deserved to be treated with respect and dignity. She just wasn't. Much of what we know comes from the lawsuit Carlson filed against Ailes. Carlson alleged that when she complained to Ailes about the hostile and sexist atmosphere on the set of the show "Fox & Friends," Ailes called her a "man hater" and advised her to "get along with the boys." In his own polluted mind, that advice to "get along" apparently involved Ailes. Carlson alleged in the suit that he ogled her and said at one point, "I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago and then you'd be good and better and I'd be good and better." In retaliation against Carlson for her complaints, the suit alleges, Ailes took away important interview assignments and reduced her airtime. That Carlson dared to file a lawsuit at all may be the most significant step toward stopping workplace harassment. Her decision to take on a powerful boss led to complaints by other female employees at Fox of Ailes' predatory behavior, which he has denied. Carlson thanked "all the brave women" who came forward to tell their own stories or supported her. There were reports Tuesday, attributed to unnamed sources, that at least two other female employees reached settlements with Fox. Those settlements reportedly followed statements the women made to a New York law firm investigating the accusations against Ailes. If there is more action the network needs to take, we hope Fox does it. What actions would guarantee that all employees are treated equally, and that sexual harassment in particular won't be tolerated? There are none. But time the passing of new generations into authority helps because ultimately that's how cultures change. Short of that, it's important to see that offenders are held accountable and that bad behavior, especially by powerful figures, is loudly and publicly rebuked. Rest in peace, Phyllis Schlafly. I respected her for her leadership skills, even when she campaigned against almost all of the causes that I supported. I also was often bewildered by her contradictions. In that I was not alone. Schlafly, who died Monday at 92 in her home in St. Louis, was the quintessential anti-feminist leader in the 1970s, yet she lived a life that embodied in many ways the feminist dream. Advertisement She was a proud wife and mother but also a lawyer who built her own media empire, wrote or edited 20 books, published a monthly newsletter, wrote a syndicated newspaper column (a colleague!), produced radio commentaries, anchored a radio talk show and maintained stardom on the college lecture circuit. To me she was the anti-feminist feminist. She founded the Eagle Forum, a potent social-conservative group, denounced feminism as promoting "power for the female left" and called "oppression by the patriarchy," among other feminist arguments, a "ridiculous idea." Advertisement Yet, she maintained the view that a woman's most important job was to be a wife and mother even as she publicly thanked her wealthy lawyer husband, Fred Schlafly, who died in 1993, for saving her from "the life of a working girl." Instead he enabled her activism by employing a full-time housekeeper to help them to raise their six children. Nice. Hypocritical? Of course, she believed in equal pay for equal work, she said. But she opposed the government "intrusion," in her view, that the Equal Rights Amendment would bring including, she argued, the drafting of women into the military. False as I believe that argument to be, I cannot deny that Schlafly's rallying of opposition to the ERA in 1972 until it died a decade later was a breathtaking demonstration of how much power one determined woman can leverage against a major cause and win. The ERA merely declared that "equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." Schlafly's campaign killed that seemingly innocuous amendment by linking it in the public mind to coed bathrooms, gay rights and the draft. But as a politically aware African-American kid, I felt Schlafly's influence as early as 1960. She was one of the "moral conservatives" whom I saw on TV in full revolt at the Grand Old Party's convention against a civil rights plank that called for "aggressive action" against segregation and discrimination. I saw access to jobs, housing, education, lunch counters and not the least important to 12-year-old me amusement parks hanging in the balance of that debate. Much of today's conservative GOP began in that year's ideological conflict between the party's moderates and right wing. Four years later, Lyndon Johnson's Civil Rights Act of 1964 would be enacted with the crucial help of moderate Republican votes against southern Democratic segregationist opponents. But Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona voted against it on the same states' rights principles that Schlafly held, and Schlafly loved him for it. Advertisement She also achieved national fame that year with her first book, the self-published "A Choice Not An Echo," which attacked the GOP's eastern liberal Rockefeller elites for ignoring Goldwater's grass-roots heartland conservatives. It sold more than 3 million copies. Goldwater won the GOP presidential nomination that year but lost in a November landslide. A liberal resurgence virtually exiled Schlafly and her allies from power in the party. But she wasn't done yet. Her Eagle Forum and its allies staged a comeback that led to the election in 1980 of another veteran of Goldwater's movement, Ronald Reagan. If much of this factional infighting sounds familiar, children, think of Donald Trump, whom Schlafly endorsed, as today's leader of grass-roots conservatives against today's GOP establishment. The last time I saw Schlafly speak, she was rallying the Conservative Political Action Conference after Mitt Romney's 2012 defeat. The GOP establishment's "autopsy" after that loss called for more outreach to minorities, moderates, women and the young. Schlafly scoffed at that. As delegates roared their approval, she called for them to knock on more doors and rally GOP conservatives who had stayed home. That sounded like folly to me in light of population changes. But it turned out to be Trump's path to the nomination. Whether it takes him all the way to the White House or not, I expect Phyllis Schlafly's influence to shake up our nation's political scene for years to come. Advertisement Clarence Page, a member of the Tribune Editorial Board, blogs at www.chicagotribune.com/pagespage. cpage@chicagotribune.com Twitter @cptime Zachary Ryan Womelsdorf, 33, of Eagle Grove, Iowa, was charged with aggravated assault related to a bar fight in Watford City late last month. Watford City Police responded at 11:30 p.m. Aug. 27 to a report of a fight at a Main Street bar. Upon arrival, officers found a man lying unconscious on the floor and bleeding from the nose. The victim, Robert Villalobos, 47, of Watford City, was taken to the McKenzie County Hospital and treated for his injuries. The suspect, later identified as Womelsdorf, had left the scene prior to the arrival of law enforcement. Womelsdorf was taken into custody without incident on Sept. 2. Anybody that has more information about this incident can contact the Watford City Police at 701-842-2280. Hub city funds, redistribution of sales taxes and the draw-down of reserve funds will keep property taxes level and spending down under Mandan's 2017 preliminary budget to be considered tonight by city commissioners. The meeting begins at 5 p.m. at Mandan City Hall. The final budget hearing is slated for 6 p.m. Oct. 4. The tight budget allows for no new city jobs and no pay increases, City Administrator Jim Neubauer said. Vacant or unfilled positions will be reviewed and filled based on need, but police and fire departments will be kept fully staffed, he said. The Mandan City Budget and Finance Committee is recommending $4.7 million from property tax revenue toward a total spending of $30.1 million. Though property tax revenue is budgeted at $198,000 more, much of the additional revenue will come from a new construction base being added to the tax rolls and from the end of property tax exemptions, he said. Total spending will be about $928,000 less than the 2016 budget. The city's general fund is facing a $686,000 reduction in state aid sales tax distribution and $396,000 less in state highway gas tax distribution for 2017. Plans are to offset this by transferring $500,000 in hub city funds to the general fund. An additional $170,000 will come from the 1 percent city sales tax fund, $170,000 from the BNSF settlement fund and $50,000 from the water and sewer utility fund. The general fund will absorb the difference. The proposed budget would cut the levy by nearly 7.5 mills, dropping to almost 59 mills compared to 66 last year. The owner of a home valued at $250,000 value and an average valuation increase of 13 percent would see no increase in city property taxes. This excludes special assessments for approved projects, such as street paving and reconstruction. About $4.2 million is expected in hub city funding. Those state funds are designated for cities with a population of 12,500 or more where oil- and gas-related employment is at least 1 percent. Mandan has oil and gas employment of about 8 percent. Of the hub city funding, $1.3 million will be designated to public works facilities, $500,000 will be transferred to the general fund, $53,000 will be used to purchase a patrol car for the police department and $10,000 will be used to purchase a mower for the cemetery. Remaining funds will be set aside for expenditures relating to the impact of the oil and gas industries on the city. A north side fire station project has been delayed due to staffing concerns. Sales tax buy-down The Mandan City Commission remains focused on lowering property taxes by fostering retail business growth. The budget committees recommendation for 2017 is to contribute 57 percent of projected sales tax revenue to property tax buy-downs. A policy of 50 percent was adopted in 2013 after contributions of 40 percent in 2012 and years prior. The total sales tax contribution to the general fund budget for 2017 is pegged at $1.3 million. Lowering mills to offset value increases The taxable valuation of Mandan property is estimated at $80.4 million in 2016, up from $68.4 million in 2015. There was a 13 percent increase in the total value of residential property. The increase to the total value of commercial property was 31 percent. For more information, call 701-667-3213. Mandan's full budget document will be posted at www.cityofmandan.com. Despite a clash on Saturday between opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline project and private security officers hired for protection along the construction route, protesters say theyre still optimistic the project can be stopped by continued opposition and through the courts. Hundreds milled around the protest camps near the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reservation on a cool Monday, contrasting the gloomy weather with continued prayers, mingling with each other and enjoying donated food being cooked. With the weather beginning to change and a ruling coming by Friday on an injunction sought by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., pipeline opponents see their actions as just beginning. I think this has essentially become ground zero for the climate (change) fight, Bill Kitchen of Johnstown, N.Y., said. What happens if the courts rule in the companys favor? Youve got all these people that arent ready to give up and get out. Kitchen, who works part-time for the Portland, Maine-based Biodiversity Research Institute and also participates in environmental activism, said the growing visibility of the protests will only help the cause. If completed on schedule before the end of the year, the Dakota Access Pipeline would transport up to 450,000 barrels per day of Bakken crude with a future maximum capacity of 570,000 barrels per day. The project originates in North Dakota and ends in Illinois. The pipeline has an overall cost of $3.78 billion. A section of the pipeline will be bored under the Missouri River and run less than a mile from the tribes reservation boundary. Tribal leaders and groups have been staging protests over the pipeline for more than a month, citing concerns over potential contamination of the Missouri River if the pipeline were to rupture. Concerns over disturbing cultural sites have also loomed large. Kitchen said the protest is an extension of the Keystone XL fight; the pipeline took years of review and required a State Department review because it would have crossed the U.S. and Canadian border. The project was eventually shelved. They need to take this right to Obamas doorstep, Kitchen said, adding hes optimistic the pipeline wont be completely built. He believes Saturdays clash between approximately 300 protesters and 14 private security officers at a work site shouldnt be a stain on the protest effort. Tribal officials said cultural sites had been recently discovered in an area where Dakota Access, LLC, a partner of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, had begun work on Saturday. This prompted a march by protesters, who confronted and assaulted several security officers, according to a Morton County Sheriffs Department release. Three security officers were injured. No arrests have yet been made but the incident is under investigation. To go plowing through those sites its not going to look good for the company, Kitchen said. Tonya Hertel, of Mobridge, S.D., agreed. I feel that the federal judge made the right decision by waiting, Hertel said, adding that it allowed both sides to be fairly heard before weighing in. We feel were going to win this. Hertel had arrived to visit the camp and drop off donations to the protesters including clothing. She says shes tried to visit at least once a week to provide whatever might be useful for the hundreds that are camping out from dozens of tribes from across the country as they settle in for the long haul. She declined to speculate on whether or not the court will rule in their favor this week and how protesters might react. I think the tribes are doing a great job, Hertel said. I feel people are hearing us. The University of Mary is reporting success with its year-round campus, a program which allows students to complete a bachelors degree in as little as 2.5 years. Year-round classes allow undergraduates to study for eight consecutive semesters. The program is not a fast-track or accelerated degree option, but allows students to utilize two summer semesters to speed completion. Last fall, the University of Mary enrolled 112 students in its first full year of the year-round campus. Those students just completed their third semester. The University of Mary is listening, Monsignor James Shea said. The growing sentiment nationwide is that a college education is too costly, takes too long to complete and no longer provides a healthy return on investment. Those traditional options at the University of Mary remain intact and as excellent as before. But all the evidence tells us that yesterdays model will not be the norm of the future. In fact, what we are doing with year-round campus is establishing the new norm. Michael McMahon, assistant vice president for enrollment services, said in a press release student enrollment at the university continues to trend upward. Board President Richard McCloud, of United Tribes Technical College and Chairman of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, condemned any action to boycott the upcoming powwow in his opening remarks at the 20th annual United Tribes Tribal Leaders Summit. "We believe that energy and effort are misplaced in trying to punish the city of Bismarck with a boycott of the powwow," McCloud said. "The powwow is not sponsored by the city. This is a United Tribes Technical College event a tribal event by and for Native people. And United Tribes would be the one hurt if we failed to gather and celebrate our strengths as a people." McCloud reaffirmed that the summit and International Powwow will not be canceled or moved. "The Tribal Leaders Summit offers an immediate and appropriate opportunity to improve understanding about tribal points of view on a wide range of issues, including those raised by the oil pipeline, the legal actions by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and the brave and prayerful resistance conducted by those at the encampment along the Cannonball River," he said. At the Bismarck Event Center at 6:15 tonight, summit participants will receive an update on the pipeline and the camp from Standing Rock Tribal leaders. "We hope you will agree that the 2016 Summit and Powwow theme that was selected months ago is exactly whats needed at this time: Empowerment Through Unity. Please join us for the Summit and Powwow. Let us all resolve to be unified," McCloud said. Thousands of Greeks and foreign visitors danced from Aug. 31 to Sept. 4 to the rhythms of folk music from across the world during the Earthdancers international traditional dance and music Festival. Organized for the fifth year in Athens, the festival which aims to bring people closer through this form of art, featured more than 300 dancers from Greece, Brazil, Indonesia, Argentina, Serbia, Paraguay, Georgia, Costa Rica and Hungary who performed in various theaters. More than 2,000 dancers from 45 countries have participated in the annual event since its establishment, Panagiotis Bitakos, President of the Organization Committee, told Xinhua. The 2015 edition was cancelled due to the capital controls imposed last summer in Greece, as the country was at the brink of financial meltdown. The seven-year debt crisis has affected all aspects of life, including the staging of culture events. Although the capital controls are still in force, Greeks have adapted to the new normal and seek refuge in culture. For Bitakos, one of the founders of the Earthdancers initiative, tradition is a strong anchor keeping the ship secure amidst the tempest. Through traditional music and dance he believes that people can acknowledge the beauty of each culture and learn to respect each other, live in peace and cooperate. "The message we want to send the world is that culture connects, tradition links people. All these ensembles from all these countries manage to tear down walls and borders," he said. Through the event which started with a parade of dancers wearing colorful costumes in front of the Greek parliament, the organizers aim to present and promote the different cultural identities and build roads of communication among people. The Earthdancers festival is a private sector initiative launched by three former dancers in the Dora Stratou dance theater, a public benefit institution, which is regarded as the living museum of Greek traditional music and dance, since 1953. Dance has always played an important role in the life of Greeks. According to ancient Greek philosopher Plato, dance, of all the arts, is the one that most influences the soul. Almost every dance has a story to tell and according to scholars there are some 10,000 traditional dances that come from all regions across Greece and continue to be passed from generation to generation. Kostas Papadellis, member of an Athens-based dance troupe, who has performed across Greece and abroad, is optimistic about the future, pointing to the increasing number of young people who are learning Greek traditional dances and maintaining Greece's cultural heritage, he told Xinhua. "Tradition brings us closer and the feeling is amazing. We see that traditions, similar or different, between nations are a bridge connecting us, showing that we can find the way to do things through cooperation," he noted. "It is great. I like it very much," Diu, a non professional Argentinean dancer who visited Greece for first time to perform, said. He was laconic with words, but showed his enthusiasm clearly through the dance, like his professional fellow dancer from Indonesia who shared his joy about the event. "It is really nice. You can see another culture from another country," she said, calling on spectators to follow dancers on a trip across the globe through traditional music and dances. On a chilly, wet day in early winter of 2008, leaders of the world's 20 major economies gathered at the height of the global financial crisis in downtown Washington. An air of anxiety hung over the U.S. National Building Museum, the meeting venue, as the crisis had pushed the global financial system to the brink of systemic meltdown, and the developed economies at the eye of the storm were out of solutions. Emerging economies were called in for reinforcement to salvage a global economy on the ropes. It was the first time these countries sat at the table for top-level design of the global economic governance system. "We are in this together, we'll come through this together," said then U.S. President George W. Bush, who chaired the summit, calling for "a serious global response" to rein in the turmoil. Eight years later, on a balmy day in early autumn, leaders of the Group of 20 (G20) major economies descended upon eastern China's Hangzhou, an ancient city renowned for its picturesque West Lake and home to a flourishing digital economy. It is the first time for China to host such an eye-catching gathering with focus on global governance. The timing of the summit is even more appropriate as the world economy struggles at another crucial moment. The fragile global recovery is groping for new growth drivers, financial supervision is riddled with loopholes, protectionism is growing, an anti-globalization wave is rising, and the Western-centric international cooperation mechanisms don't work well. After helping pull the world economy through the crisis, the G20 mechanism has produced much more talk than action, as the world economy set off on a bumpy road of recovery. Most developed economies have been holding tight to the "master key" of monetary easing to stimulate the economy, but have accomplished little in painful but necessary structural reforms. Over the period, China has taken bold steps to transform its economy at the price of slower growth. These endeavors have been especially strong since 2012, when the Communist Party of China's 18th National Congress saw Xi Jinping take the helm of the ruling party. To address the acute challenges of uneven, uncoordinated and unsustainable development, China has implemented a vision of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development, making the Chinese economy a rarely bright spot in the global economy. The weak world economy and problematic global governance system are thirsty for China's wisdom and ideas to solve the conundrum. It is fitting that the G20 summit has come to Hangzhou, China. The G20 summit has come to the right country at the right time, the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations said in a recent symposium report. The Chinese economy's "new normal" of slower but higher-quality growth has much to offer to a world economy mired in the "new mediocre." The country, which has lifted more than 700 million people out of poverty in less than four decades, might provide answers for building an inclusive global economy. China, as the single largest contributor and stabilizer of the world economy, has prescribed a remedy: to build an innovative, open, interconnected and inclusive world economy. Merely relying on fiscal and monetary policies doesn't work, and innovation holds the key to a fresh round of growth and prosperity, all G20 members drew the conclusion on Monday. For the G20, which risked becoming less relevant, President Xi called upon all members to "make the G20 group an action team instead of a talk shop." The bloc, which includes developed and emerging economies, represents 90 percent of the world's economy and two-thirds of the global population. It is the premier forum for global economic cooperation. The Hangzhou summit has made a point of pushing the group to transform from a crisis response mechanism focused on short-term policies to one of long-term governance that shapes medium- to long-term policies. Seeking harmony and coexistence is in the genes of the Chinese nation and represents the essence of Eastern Civilization. China has turned to this wisdom, injecting new vitality into the sinking global governance system. Global governance should be about participation and benefits for all. Instead of seeking dominance or winner-takes-all results, it should encourage the sharing of interests and win-win prospects, Xi said. The Chinese president called for global economic governance to increase the representation and voice of emerging markets and developing countries, and to ensure that all countries have equal rights, equal opportunities, and equal rules to follow in international economic cooperation. To make economic globalization more inclusive, the Hangzhou summit has, for the first time, put the issue of development front and center in the global macro policy framework. The first action plan has been formulated for implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. For the first time, cooperation is in place to support Africa and the least developed countries in their industrialization. In Hangzhou, President Xi and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama handed over their instruments of joining the Paris Agreement on climate change separately to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday. At the summit, all G20 members agreed to take the lead in implementing the Paris Agreement. In a city described by the Venetian traveller Marco Polo some 800 years ago as most noble and magnificent city in the world, not only has the G20 obtained an opportunity for rebirth, but the world and mankind have arrived at a new starting point. Alibaba founder and chairman Jack Ma proposed the establishment of an Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) at the Boao Forum for Asia in March 2016. [Xinhua] The proposal to create an Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) -- which was submitted by Jack Ma, executive chairman of Alibaba and chairman of the B20 SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) Development Taskforce -- has drawn widespread public attention following the B20 summit, which was a part of the G20 summit held on Sept 4 and 5 in Hangzhou. Initiated and strongly advocated by Ma, the eWTP aims at providing worldwide SMEs with a barrier-free online platform, helping them bypass complex regulations and protectionist trade policies and gain more benefits from global economic development. "It's the perfect time to make the proposal," said He Jun, one of the drafters of the B20 2016 Policy Recommendations to the G20 and an associate researcher of the Institute of Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. With global economic growth slowing down after 2008, trade barriers have been put up in some countries and made it difficult for SMEs to exploit market potentials. "As an online platform for international trade, the eWTP will be more open and transparent, providing cross-border e-commerce with more efficient solutions and a better environment," he said. His view was echoed by Zhao Yue, a researcher at the China Institute of Open Economy. Zhao believed protectionism is gaining ground due to sluggish world trade growth. The eWTP will inject more energy into SMEs, help remove trade barriers and restore normal international trade order, he said. The proposal was also welcomed in business circles. "We hope the proposal on eWTP can come true," said Dr. Jonathan Choi Koon-shum, chairman of the Hong Kong-based Sunwah Group. "The cross-border trade platform will make information more open and transparent and make resources effectively connected. It will be extremely helpful to SMEs in developing countries," he said. The eWTP is the brainchild of China's e-commerce guru Jack Ma, who urged governments worldwide to provide preferential policies to SMEs in the e-commerce field, including 24-hour custom service and tax incentives. Ma advocated the idea at the Boao Forum in March and proposed it to G20 member countries at the recently concluded Hangzhou G20 summit. Seventy lawmakers have been elected to the sixth Legislative Council (LegCo) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), according to Hong Kong's Electoral Affairs Commission Monday evening. The election was held on Sunday, when more than 2.2 million eligible voters casted their ballots at hundreds of polling stations with a turnout rate of 58 percent. Both the total amount of voters and the turnout rate are the highest in the LegCo election since 1997. Hong Kong's Legislative Council has 70 seats, with 35 returned by geographical constituencies through direct elections, and the other 35 by functional constituencies. The geographical constituencies include Hong Kong Island, Kowloon West, Kowloon East, New Territories West and New Territories East, where 213 candidates contested 35 seats. For the functional constituency election, there are 55 validly nominated candidates (excluding candidates of the District Council (second) functional constituency), and 43 of them ran for 18 seats in the functional constituencies. The remaining 12 candidates in 10 functional constituencies returned to the LegCo uncontested. In addition, 21 candidates contested five seats in the District Council (second) functional constituency, commonly known as the "super seats." There were nearly 3.78 million Hong Kong residents registered as eligible voters for the election of the sixth term LegCo, with an increase of about 310,000 voters from the last LegCo election in 2012. Among all the 70 newly-elected LegCo seats, the pro-establishment camp won 41 seats, accounting for about 60 percent of the total. The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) won 12 seats and continues to be the biggest political organ within the LegCo. The LegCo is the legislative body of the Hong Kong SAR. Each term of office of a legislator is four years, except for the first term when it was set to be two years. The fifth term of LegCo began on Oct. 1, 2012 and will end on Sept. 30, 2016. The term of office of the newly-elected sixth LegCo members will begin on Oct. 1. Before nomination for the election, Hong Kong's Electoral Affairs Commission demanded that all the candidates must endorse a statement promising to support the Hong Kong Basic Law and be loyal to the Hong Kong SAR. The mainland underscored its "resolute opposition" against any form of "Hong Kong independence" activities inside or outside of the special administrative region's (SAR) Legislative Council (LegCo), according to an official statement on Monday. The statement, issued by the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, noted that certain organizations and candidates were publicly advocating for "Hong Kong independence," capitalizing on the exposure afforded to them because of the election for the sixth-term LegCo of the Hong Kong SAR. The statement reiterated that "Hong Kong independence" was against the Constitution of China, the Basic Law and relevant laws of the Hong Kong SAR, that it was a threat to China's sovereignty and security, damaged the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong, and was counter to the fundamental interests of Hong Kong citizens. "We firmly support the Hong Kong SAR government to mete out penalties according to law," the statement said. The election for the sixth-term LegCo of the Hong Kong SAR was held on Sunday. The elected members are expected to fulfill their duties according to the Basic Law and relevant laws of Hong Kong, and to implement the "one country, two systems" principle, in an effort to protect the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong, according to the statement. The term of office of the newly-elected sixth-term LegCo members will begin on Oct. 1, 2016. China's State Forestry Administration (SFA) said Monday that it was too early to downgrade the giant panda's conservation status after an international group reclassified it from an "endangered" to "vulnerable" species. An undated photo of a wild giant panda. [Photo provided by WWF China/chinadaily.com.cn] The International Union for Conservation of Nature announced the change in a report, after reviewing the results of conservation efforts that have boosted the panda's population. Insisting that the pandas remain classed as endangered, the SFA stressed that there are still threats to the animal's survival. The wild giant panda population is fragmented into 33 isolated groups, with some having fewer than 10 animals, which limits the gene pool for reproduction. Meanwhile, climate change is predicted to wipe out more than one third of the panda's bamboo habitat, a situation that will only be exacerbated by insufficient funding and technical support. "If we downgrade their conservation status and our protection work is reduced, our achievements would be quickly forgotten," the administration noted. Over the years, China has implemented a series of environmental initiatives, including the establishment of nature reserves, to increase the giant panda population. At the end of 2015, China had 1,864 giant pandas in the wild, increasing from about 1,100 in 2000, and there were 422 in captivity, according to the SFA. China on Monday published details of seven criminal cases uncovered during a crackdown on online pornography and piracy to protect minors. The National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications in February launched a campaign against the production, sale and distribution of illegal publications and online content that could affect juveniles. In one case, police in Xuzhou city, Jiangsu Province, shut down a profit-making child pornography website. The investigation showed the website used cloud storage services to provide more than 15,000 obscene videos and 31,000 pornographic pictures to its 7,771 registered members. Another case in Huangshi city, Hubei Province, saw police seize a man surnamed Hong and confiscate more than 16,000 copies of unlicensed publications intended for students. Hong had sold publications with a total value of 5 million yuan (747,686 U.S. dollars) since 2011. In other cases, police busted the illegal printing and sale of pirated books for children. Production and storage sites and illegal bookstores were closed and suspects involved were arrested. WILLISTON Kathryn R. Rathert, 74, Williston, went to be with her Heavenly Father Sept. 3, 2016, from complications due to a brain tumor at the Bethel Lutheran Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Williston. Services will be celebrated at 10 a.m. CDT Thursday, Sept. 8, at New Hope Wesleyan Church, Williston. The Rev. Mike Skor will officiate and interment will follow at 2:30 p.m. MDT at Greenwood Cemetery, Wolf Point, Mont. Friends may call at the Everson Coughlin Funeral Home, Williston, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday and for the hour preceding the funeral at the church on Thursday. Kathryn R. Rathert is the daughter of Howard and Bernice Jorgenson, born in 1942 in Morris, Minn. She attended St. Olaf College in Minnesota, where she met Fred Rathert. The two were married in Morris in 1961 and transferred to the University of Montana, Missoula, where she received a degree in education. After completing their education, Kathy and Fred moved to Williston to raise their three daughters: Kristin Woodward (Michael), and their daughter Elizabeth, Bismarck; Karin Daniel (Darrin), and their three sons, Jakob, Theo and Viggo, Longmont, Colo.; and Gretchen Morse (Chris), and their two sons, Josiah and Zechariah, Presque Isle, Me. In 1995, Kathy received an LPN degree from the University of North Dakota and went on to work as an administrator for New Public District No. 8. Kathy was an active member of the Williston community and her church community. She was passionate about animal welfare. While a young mom, she ran and spent a term as a member of the Williston Park Board, with the intent of shutting down the local zoo, because of inhumane conditions. She volunteered for local elections and for years helped with the First Lutheran Church Lutefisk Dinner. Along with her husband Fred, Kathy spent time over the past several years doing repairs and cleaning up housing and facility ground for the Medora Foundation. She and Fred led Bible studies in prisons through Kogudus Renewal Ministry and at the Black Gold man camp near Williston. She combined her love of travel and service when she journeyed to Tel Dor, Israel, in 1992 for an archaeological dig, and in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, she traveled to New Orleans to help with the cleanup. Never too old for adventure, she went with members of New Hope to Kyrgystan in 2012 at the age of 70 to build a playground. Kathy was always ready with a plate of cookies for a school event or a casserole for a family in need. During the recent oil boom when housing was difficult to find, she opened her home and fed two volunteers working on the new addition to the New Hope Wesleyan Church for several months. Kathy loved fishing (she was a member of the Whopper Club!), traveling, reading, playing bridge, drinking coffee with friends, spending time with her grandchildren and pets. She will be remembered for her generous spirit, deep faith, and warm heart. Kathy is survived by her husband, Fred, her three daughters, Kristin, Karin and Gretchen and their husbands as well as six grandchildren; and two brothers, Charles and Paul. She will be greatly missed. She was preceded in death by her parents, Howard and Bernice. Friends may visit www.eversoncoughlin.com to share remembrances of Kathy or leave condolences for her family. Flash The governments of Mexico and China have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on aquaculture, in order to deepen technical, scientific and commercial know-how in the field, according to the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture. The agreement was signed during the visit of a Chinese delegation to Mexico. Mario Aguilar Sanchez, the national commissioner for aquaculture and fishing, said this deal would lead to the exchange of personnel and the sharing of information on freshwater aquaculture, sanitary standards, and the conservation of fishery resources, the Ministry announced on Sunday. The note said this agreement would also lead to the development of genetic improvements, the prevention and eradication of diseases, aquaculture production methods, equipment and processing and the development of rural aquaculture. The Chinese delegation, led by Zheng Zhiling, the vice president of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences (CAFS), visited the northern state of Sinaloa to research private and public aquaculture initiatives. This region of Mexico is one of Latin America's leading centers for shrimp farming and the delegation learned from examples of extensive, semi-intensive and hyper-intensive fisheries, larva laboratories and the training of human resources. Aguilar Sanchez added that China's experience in fisheries has been a reference for Mexico, especially in terms of public policies and in the successful increase of seafood consumption by its population. This influence, he said, has helped Mexico reach annual growth of 14 percent in the aquaculture sector, more than double the global average of 6 percent, according to the Food and Agriculture organization. Flash Top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un has guided the test-firing of ballistic rockets by the strategic force, the official news agency KCNA reported Tuesday. Taking part in the test-firing drill were Hwasong artillery units of the strategic force of the Korean People's Army, who are tasked with hitting the U.S. military bases in the Pacific, the state media said. The drill was aimed to reexamine the flight security and guided accuracy of the improved ballistic rockets deployed for action and to assess and inspect capabilities of the units for action, it noted. The state media described the test-firing as "perfect" and said the drill has proved that the strategic force of the military is "capable of mounting a preemptive attack on the enemies any time and from any place." Kim, who was satisfied with the test result, instructed to make more achievements in bolstering nuclear force and to bring the military deterrent on a higher lever through development of nuclear arsenal. The state media did not give the date and place of the test-firing drill. South Korean defense ministry has said that the DPRK on Monday fired three ballistic missiles into its eastern waters at about 12:14 p.m. Seoul time near Hwangju county in North Hwanghae province. The missile launches came less than two weeks after Pyongyang test-fired a ballistic missile from a submarine off its east coastal town of Sinpo, where a submarine base is known to be located, on Aug. 24. The submarine-launched ballistic missile flew some 500 km eastward, falling inside Japan's air defense identification zone for the first time. The submarine-launched ballistic missile test was conducted in an apparent show of force toward the annual U.S.-South Korea military drills, codenamed Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG), which had run from Aug. 22 to Sept. 2. Flash At least three people were killed and 11 others wounded on Monday in a car bomb attack at a crowded neighborhood in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, a police source told Xinhua. The attack occurred late on Monday night when a booby-trapped car detonated near a hospital at a busy thoroughfare in Karrada neighborhood in southern central Baghdad, the source said on condition of anonymity. The blast destroyed several nearby shops and many stalls, along with destroying several civilian cars, the source said. Iraqi security forces sealed off the area and blocked the roads leading to the scene, while ambulances and police vehicles evacuated the killed and wounded people to the city hospitals, the source added. In early July, Karrada was the scene of massive bombing that killed and wounded hundreds of people and huge fires in several nearby commercial buildings. Iraq has witnessed worsening violence since the Islamic State (IS) group took control of parts of its northern and western regions in June 2014. Terrorist acts, violence and armed conflicts killed 691 Iraqis and wounded 1,016 others in August across Iraq, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq said on Thursday. Many blame the current chronic instability, cycle of violence, and the emergence of extremist groups, such as the IS, on the United State, who invaded and occupied Iraq in March 2003. British Prime Minister Theresa May attends a press conference during the G20 summit held in the Chinese city of Hangzhou on Monday. [Photo by Zhang Lulu/China.org.cn] British Prime Minister Theresa May pledged on Monday that she will build on the "golden era" of ties between China and the UK, which she said go beyond the controversial Hinkley Point nuclear power project. In July, May delayed a decision on whether or not to give the go-ahead to the 18 billion (US$23 billion) Hinkley Point C project, which was to be partially funded by a Chinese company. At a press conference during the G20 summit held in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, May said that relations between China and the UK are "about more than Hinkley." "If you look at the investment that is from China in various other parts of the United Kingdom infrastructure and so forth in the UK -- we have built a global strategic partnership with China. I've been clear we will be continuing that global strategic partnership with China," she said during her first trip to China. The Hinkley project was agreed upon by former UK Prime Minister David Cameron during what he called a "golden era" of ties between the two countries, but it has been put under review since May took office two months ago. May said the final decision would be made later this month. May is keen to assuage the fallout of Brexit at her debut at the G20 summit. She said she had talked to leaders from India, Mexico, South Korea and Singapore, which are "willing to open trade agreements with the UK." She said she also talked to Japanese Prime Minister Shino Abe and that they'll be "working together to ensure [they] can maintain and build on relations," after Japan issued a warning about the Brexit impact on Japanese firms in the UK. Flash The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and related summits are scheduled in the Lao capital Vientiane on Tuesday, with the main theme of "Turning Vision into Reality for a Dynamic ASEAN Community." Community building efforts, ASEAN's cooperation with dialogue partners, as well as a commemorative summit of the 25th anniversary of ASEAN's dialogue relations with China will be on the agenda of the three-day meetings. According to the Foreign Ministry of Laos, which is holding the rotating ASEAN chairmanship, the meetings will include the 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits, ASEAN+1 Summits, the Summit on Commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations, ASEAN+3 (China, Japan, and South Korea) Summit, as well as the East Asia Summit. The 28th ASEAN Summit will discuss ASEAN Community building efforts, especially the implementation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025, while the 29th ASEAN Summit will focus on ASEAN's external relations and future direction as well as exchange of views on regional and international issues of common concern. The ASEAN+1 Summits and ASEAN+3 Summit will review cooperation between the ten-member bloc and its dialogue partners. The East Asia Summit, a forum of leaders from 18 countries (10 ASEAN members, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and the United States) will review and discuss future direction of cooperation as well as exchange views on regional and international issues. ASEAN, which groups Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, established at the end of 2015 the ASEAN Community which comprises the Political and Security Community, the Economic Community and the Socio-Cultural Community. Community building efforts, especially integration measures in specific fields, would be addressed by ASEAN leaders at the summits, according to Soukthavy Keola, a former counselor at the Lao Embassy in China. As for the hot regional issues that captured media attention in previous months, Soukthavy said a consensus had been reached during ASEAN foreign ministers' meetings and such topics were expected to be downplayed during the upcoming summits. As this year marks the 25th anniversary of the ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations, the two sides will hold a commemorative summit on Wednesday. Cooperation with China, ASEAN's most active cooperation partner, will take center stage then. China is the largest trading partner of ASEAN, while ASEAN is China's third largest trade partner. Trade volume between the two sides reached 209 billion U.S. dollars in the first half of 2016. Stronger cooperation between China and ASEAN will contribute to regional peace, growth and prosperity and benefits both sides, as well as the region as a whole, Director-General for ASEAN Cooperation of Indonesia Foreign Ministry Jose Antonio Morato Tavares told Xinhua prior to the summits. China, as the biggest market in terms of population in the world, brings a lot of opportunities for ASEAN economies, Tavares said. Apart from the economic sphere, people-to-people exchange has also become a bright spot in and an important part of the friendly cooperation between ASEAN and China, said Korn Dabbaransi, former deputy prime minister of Thailand. During commemoration of the 25th anniversary for dialogue relations, people-to-people exchanges would be suggested by the Chinese side as a new pillar for China-ASEAN cooperation, according to Liu Zhenmin, China's vice foreign minister. Cooperation between China and ASEAN in the past 25 years has yielded significant achievements in various fields. Bilateral cooperation has entered into a period of maturity and needs to be upgraded. The upcoming summits are expected to add new vigor to China-ASEAN cooperation. Flash U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, discussed the Syria and Ukraine issues at a meeting in Hangzhou Monday on the sidelines of the 11th Group of 20 summit. The meeting, which lasted more than an hour, was "longer than planned, "Russian media quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying. The two leaders discussed Syria and Ukraine before moving on to a one-on-one talk, Peskov said, noting that the meeting went well. Putin said at a press conference after the meeting that he and Obama had "some alignment" of positions and an understanding of what they could do to de-escalate the situation in Syria. It can be said that Russia-U.S. efforts in fighting terrorist organizations, including those in Syria, would be significantly improved and intensified, he added. Both countries are interested in fighting terrorism, Putin said, adding that "the U.S. president is absolutely sincere in striving for a resolution of the Syrian conflict." Meanwhile, Obama called the meeting "constructive" but not "conclusive." "Typically the tones of our meetings are candid, blunt, business-like and this one was no different," he said at a separate press conference following the meeting. However, he said that given the gaps of trust that exist, that's a tough negotiation. "We haven't yet closed the gaps in a way where we think it would actually work," Obama said. Earlier Monday, a senior Obama administration official was quoted as saying that the two presidents failed to force a breakthrough in negotiations over a cease-fire in Syria, but have agreed to keep up negotiations. The two leaders directed their top diplomats to return to talks quickly, likely later this week, the official said. The United States and Russia have been trying to reach a deal over the Syria crisis. Obama said Sunday that the two sides still have "grave differences," but there is still possibility "to make some progress." U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who met in this eastern Chinese city on Sunday for Syria talks, launched a fresh round of negotiations on Monday morning, but ended without agreement, U.S. media reported. Flash German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday said she was "very unhappy" with the outcome of the election result in the northern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Merkel also acknowledged some responsibility for the poor performance of her party during the election, German news television N-TV reported. As chancellor and party leader,"I am also responsible," she was quoted as saying in a statement on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in China's Hangzhou. Federal policy issues, particularly the refugee policy, had overridden everything else there, said the Chancellor. Therefore, Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) can "not harvest" the fruits of their good work in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. At the same time she defended her policy by saying "I think the fundamental decisions, as we have made it so far, are right." According to Merkel, many people do not have enough confidence in Merkel's Union party to address the difficult issues. The Union party is a bloc of CDU and its Bavarian sister party Christian Social Union (CSU).It was now important to regain that trust, she said. In the state election in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on Sunday, the CDU had only become the third strongest political force, achieving the worst result in their history in the state. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) won the election, while Germany's anti-migration party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) came in second. FARGO -- Bob Morlock finds himself driving farther afield to tend his scattered beehives. He travels a circuit of several counties in southeastern North Dakota and Minnesota. The reason for his far-flung bee colonies: Because of changes in farming, its getting more difficult to find suitable locations near fields with blossoming plants that provide pollen and nectar for his bees. Instead of hay or alfalfa, more farmers are growing crops such as corn and soybeans, which are pesticide-intensive and dont blossom. Beekeepers blame the loss of conservation acres on a lapsed federal program and the biofuels boom, where corn and soybeans are turned into ethanol or biodiesel. The farmers are just doing what they have to do, said Morlock, who is based in Casselton and keeps more than 200 bee yards, or apiaries. Agriculture has changed. Nobody raises cattle anymore. Morlock isnt alone in bemoaning the changing agricultural landscape and how it affects honey production and crop pollination. Researchers with the U.S. Geological Services Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center near Jamestown have documented the increasing problems beekeepers in North Dakota and South Dakota -- which together support more than 40 percent of the nations commercial honey bee colonies -- face in finding suitable locations for their apiaries. The scientists found that suitable locations in the region are decreasing, and crops beekeepers strive to avoid -- such as corn and soybeans -- are becoming more common in areas with high densities of bee yards. Habitat is everything, said Clint Otto, lead researcher for the study, which will be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. And good habitat for bees is in serious decline, his team found. Researchers documented a continual increase in biofuels crops totaling almost 3 million acres from 2006 to 2014 around apiaries, mainly in the Prairie Pothole region of the Dakotas. The loss of bee habitat accelerated in 2007, Otto said, when a federal renewable fuel standard was set, providing a significant boost to the biofuels industry and increasing the demand for corn and soybeans. Besides a decrease in honey production, the loss of good apiary areas has major implications for the nations food supply, Otto said. Thats because many of the bee colonies based in the Dakotas are taken to California or other warm states in the winter, where they are important crop pollinators. Insect pollinators are critically important for maintaining global food production and ecosystem health, and U.S. insect pollination services have an estimated annual value of $15 billion, Otto said. It takes a staggering number of bee colonies to do the job. Pollinating crops, including almonds, in Californias Central Valley requires 1.5 million to 2 million bee colonies. So a loss of bee habitat in the Northern Plains can have far-reaching effects, Otto said. So far, Ottos team has studied how beekeepers have responded to encroachment on bee habitat. More research needs to be done to determine whether bee health has been adversely affected. The science isnt there yet, he said. This is a potential alarming trend that we need to investigate further. One of Ottos colleagues, Matthew Smart, has investigated the effect of land use on bee health. The more cultivated land in agricultural monoculture, the less healthy bees are at the end of summer, a weakened condition that persists into winter and beyond. This is a societal concern, Otto said. For decades, wildlife biologists and ecologists have documented the importance of prairie, and the resulting loss of wildlife when habitat disappears. Otto, a biologist who began his career studying wildlife, now is applying some of the methods for studying wildlife habitat to pollinators. By one estimate, one of every three bites of food is attributed to insect pollinators. We very much need these pollinators, Otto said. We need them healthy. In his corner of southeastern North Dakota and Minnesota, Morlock has seen more changes from the loss of conservation land than from an increase in corn and soybeans from the drive for biofuels. Hes seen a lot of changes in his 40-plus years of keeping bees. Its just the changing times, he said. MORTON COUNTY More than 100 protesters gathered at a Dakota Access Pipeline construction site Tuesday where two people bound themselves to bulldozers and Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was meeting with pipeline opponents. A woman and a man attached themselves to equipment east of State Highway 6 using the same type of casting material used by demonstrators last week. The gathering began about 10 a.m. Tuesday northwest of the main pipeline protest site. About 75 people remained by 12:30 p.m. Witnesses said pipeline construction workers were in the area when protesters arrived but are no longer working in the area. Stein leaned on the blade of a bulldozer as she talked to those gathered at the site. Im not here for a photo op. For me, this work began long before the campaign, said Stein, noting she was arrested in the fight to stop Keystone XL. Protesters grilled Stein on what policy changes she would make to improve conditions for Native Americans. At one point, a protester said Wheres Obama? and she replied Exactly, where is Obama? Law enforcement monitored the situation from the top of a hill but was not working to cut the protesters free, as they did last week during a similar demonstration. MINNEAPOLIS -- Danny Heinrich, the man who led authorities to the remains of Jacob Wetterling, admitted in U.S. District Court Tuesday, Sept. 6, that he abducted and killed the 11-year-old boy some 27 years ago. Heinrich described during a court hearing what happened the night of Oct. 22, 1989, the last night Jacob was seen alive. Asked whether he abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered Jacob, Heinrich said: Yes, I did. The 53-year-old Annandale, Minn., man made the admission after pleading guilty to one federal count of receiving child pornography that could send him to prison for 20 years. He will not be charged in Jacobs death due to a plea deal made with prosecutors and agreed to by the Wetterling family. He recalled handcuffing the young boy and putting him in the backseat of his car after he stopped the 11-year-old at gunpoint as he rode his bike home along a rural road in St. Joseph, Minn., with his brother and best friend. What did I do wrong, he said Jacob asked him, before crying and begging Heinrich to take him home. I said, dont cry,' Heinrich said. He later told the court how he impulsively shot and killed the 11-year-old with a revolver in a panic after he said he saw a police car drive by without any lights on. He used a Bobcat to dig a grave and bury him. He took the machine from a nearby construction company. When he returned to the grave site a year later, Heinrich said he could see Jacobs red jacket. He took the coat and Jacobs remains and reburied them across the highway, Heinrich said. Jacobs mother, Patty Wetterling, sobbed as Heinrich recounted the details of the night that has for so long remained a mystery. Heinrich had been charged with 25 counts of possessing and receiving child pornography; he pleaded not guilty to those charges in February and was set to go to trial in October. Heinrich last year was named as a person of interest in the Jacobs abduction. The 11-year-old St. Joseph boy was taken from his bicycle on a rural road near his house while he, his brother, and his best friend were riding home after renting a movie. He was never seen again. Heinrich has not been charged in that case. But last summer authorities searched his house for ties to the boys disappearance. Heinrich had been under increasing scrutiny as authorities have revisited Jacobs abduction and investigated a string of sexual assaults on preteen and teen boys near Paynesville in the mid- to late 1980s. Jacob was taken less than a mile from his home in St. Joseph, which is about 20 miles from Paynesville. Heinrich lived in Paynesville with his father at the time of the abduction. Retested DNA evidence last year linked Heinrich to the 1989 kidnapping and sexual assault of Jared Scheierl in Cold Spring, nine months before Jacobs abduction. The Pioneer Press typically doesnt identify victims of sexual assault, but Scheierl has spoken publicly for years about his case. Authorities have long suspected a link between Jared and Jacobs cases, leading them to circle back to Heinrich. Heinrich also admitted in court Tuesday to abducting and sexually assaulting Scheierl. Last week Heinrich led a team of FBI agents and state and county investigators to a pasture near Paynesville where Wetterlings skeletal remains were buried, according to a source with direct knowledge of the search. Investigators revisited the site again Friday for crime-scene purposes. China Aviation Daily | Sep. 06, 2016 Starting today, Austrian Airlines is serving another destination in Asia. Austria's red-white-red flag carrier operates a Boeing 777 to Hong Kong up to five times a week. "As a result, we are now offering flights to Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong, the three biggest cities in Greater China", explains Austrian Airlines Chief Commercial Officer Andreas Otto. "Following the successful expansion of our flight offering to North America, we are now focusing on Greater China. In spite of the latest reports about an economic downturn, growth forecasts still predict promising economic expansion for Greater China in the coming years. For this reason, especially for large cities such as Shanghai and Hong Kong, we foresee an interesting potential for Austrian Airlines in its role as the air traffic backbone for industry and tourism in Austria", he adds. Also Norbert Kettner, director of Vienna Tourist Board, comments on the new flights: "Direct flights are one of the driving forces behind the growth of bednights - the new flight from Hong Kong by Austrian Airlines, our most important strategic partner, will help boost an already strong influx of guests from China to new levels." Longhaul Aircraft Boeing 777 with Special Branding For its inaugural flight to Hong Kong Austrian Airlines specially branded a Boeing 777 with the registration OE-LPD. With the lettering "Servus Hong Kong" Austrian Airlines welcomes the new destination in its route network. In order to pay respect, the lettering is also shown in traditional Chinese characters combined with Hong Kong's flag. The flag represents a stylized, white, five-petal Bauhinia-blossom, a flower that specifically originated in Hong Kong. In Winter 23 Weekly Non-Stop Flights to Asia In total, Austrian Airlines will offer up to 23 weekly non-stop flights to Asia in the upcoming winter flight schedule. The airline will operate daily flights to Bangkok, and up to four flights per week to Shanghai and Hong Kong with a Boeing 777. Austrian Airlines will operate a Boeing 767 up to five times each week for flights to Beijing, the capital city of the People's Republic of China. In addition, it will fly passengers to Colombo and Male as tourist destinations in the winter flight schedule 2016/17 starting in October 2016. Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, will be served once a week, whereas two weekly flights with a Boeing 767 will be operated to the Maldives. Austrian Airlines will offer flights to Hong Kong throughout the entire year. The duration of flights from Vienna to Hong Kong at a distance of more than 8,700 km is about 11 hours 25 minutes. Tickets from Vienna to Hong Kong are available starting at EUR 599 for round-trip flights, including taxes and fees. Tickets can be booked online at www.austrian.com, by phone at +43 (0) 5 1766 1000 or in a travel agency. Flights Vienna-Hong Kong-Vienna as of September 5, 2016: Vienna-Hong Kong: OS067, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays: 5:50 p.m.-11:25 a.m. (next day) Hong Kong-Vienna: OS068, Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays: 12:55 p.m.-7:25 p.m. A couple look at a display window of a Uniqlo store in the Causeway Bay district of Hong Kong, China, on June 19. The clothing company sees a potential for 3,000 Uniqlo stores in China, and $48 billion in worldwide sales by 2020. [Photo/Agencies] Fast Retailing Co's casual-clothing chain looks for growth outside Japan as parent's profits flag Casual-clothing chain Uniqlo is taking its biggest chance in Southeast Asia. The unit of Fast Retailing Co is opening a store on Singapore's iconic Orchard Road that will have 2,700 square meters of shopping space on three floors. The store will be Uniqlo's largest in the region as the brand looks for growth outside Japan to revive flagging profits at its parent. Fast Retailing is busy opening stores in the US, London and across Asia to help reduce its dependency on a home market where Japanese household spending is falling. Billionaire Chairman Tadashi Yanai Thursday reiterated plans to generate 5 trillion yen ($48 billion) in sales by 2020 to keep Fast Retailing competitive with Hennes & Mauritz AB and Zara-owner Inditex SA. Low prices are now key in that equation. "Keeping the low prices every day is important. That will be critically important given this environment," said Yanai at a briefing in Singapore ahead of the store's debut. In May, he reversed the company's earlier attempt to hike prices that resulted in slumping sales. "We also aspire to provide truly great clothing at the lowest possible prices." This will be the 25th store in Singapore for Asia's largest clothing retailer, bringing its Southeast Asian presence to about 130 outlets. The 67-year-old Yanai, Japan's richest man with a net worth of $18.3 billion, called the opening of the flagship store an opportunity. He sees markets in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations - the ASEAN region - possibly contributing to 30 percent of Uniqlo's international sales in five years. "Southeast Asia expansion will help Yanai achieve his 5 trillion-yen sales target," said Dairo Murata, an analyst at JPMorgan Securities Japan Co. "But to achieve that goal in three years will be difficult." Uniqlo last September opened a six-story China flagship store in central Shanghai, and Yanai reiterated plans to open 100 stores a year in China on its way to a potential 3,000. The brand's Southeast Asia presence includes about 30 stores each in Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. A female customer browses merchandise at the Fast Retailing Co flagship Uniqlo store in Shanghai. [Photo/Agencies] That overseas expansion has made Fast Retailing more vulnerable to a strengthening yen, which prompted a cut to its full-year net income forecast in July. Yanai said the exchange rate's effect on the company's bottom line is a problem, "and the impact can not be underestimated". Yet, recent signs of recovery in the Uniqlo business lifted Fast Retailing's shares 8.7 percent in August, paring the year-to-date slump in the stock to 16 percent. Shares dropped 1.1 percent to 35,940 yen in Tokyo trading Thursday while the country's benchmark index advanced. Fast Retailing's operating income for the third quarter that ended in May rose 19 percent from a year ago as sales in Japan and overseas improved. To keep up with the increasing popularity of e-commerce, Uniqlo will revamp its logistics and distribution, Yanai said on Thursday. There are also opportunities for expansion in the US, particularly on the West Coast since it is seen as an extension of Asia, he said. "Japanese businesses, including ours, need to transform the way we do business," he said. While Fast Retailing will expand in the US, with plans to open four new stores this year, it's still struggling with a lack of brand awareness, especially in the suburbs, said Hiroshi Taki, chief executive officer of Uniqlo in the US. Fast Retailing has sustained losses in the US, where it has 44 stores. But it plans to double its marketing spending by opening pop-up stores in New York and using billboards, social-media influencers and local ambassadors to drum up interest in the brand, Taki said in an interview at a renovated store in SoHo, New York. It also plans to expand its e-commerce business, especially through mobile phones, to make the business account for as much as 30 percent of its total US sales in two to three years, he said. "Not many people have purchased our products, although they know about our brand, Uniqlo, so we are making a marketing effort to let people know," Taki said through an interpreter. "We will focus on New York City first. With that success in New York City, we can succeed anywhere else." Bloomberg Ding Xuedong, chairman and CEO of China Investment Corporation. [Photo provided to China Daily] China Investment Corporation is expected to become the world's largest sovereign wealth fund in two years with assets totaling $1 trillion under management by that time, according to its chairman. "We have laid solid foundations in the past nine years, and we will stick to our original aim of becoming a world leading and respectable sovereign wealth fund," Ding Xuedong, chairman and CEO of China Investment Corporation, told Economy & Nation Weekly. China Investment Corporation had assets totaling more than $810 billion under management by the end of 2015, and its annualized growth rate of State-owned capital reached 15.3 percent since CIC's inception, according to CIC's financial report of 2015. "CIC's assets under management will exceed $1 trillion in two years based on this growth," said Ding. Niu Huayong, dean of the Business School at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said it is within expectations that China Investment Corporation will grow into the world's largest sovereign wealth fund. "China Investment Corporation has done a great job and an important reason is that their leaders of the sovereign wealth fund are ambitious," said Niu. Li Shuguang, a law professor at China University of Political Science and Law, said different from other countries, the amount of China's State-owned capital is very huge and the nation's sovereign wealth fund is very strong. "As the global economy remains volatile, CIC is also transforming its strategy, investment areas and corporate governance," said Li. Li suggested that with stronger investment capability, CIC can even further diversify its investment portfolio. Ding said CIC will pay attention to alternative investments, referring to investments in asset classes other than stocks, bonds and cash, in the future and set up a sustainable development mechanism to prevent risks. Previously, CIC mainly invested in public equity and fixed income. CIC's financial report for 2015 showed that due to volatilities in international financial markets and foreign exchange losses triggered by an appreciating US dollar, CIC's overseas investments generated a dollar-denominated net return of-2.96 percent in 2015 and a net cumulative annualized return of 4.58 percent since CIC's inception. "We are diversifying our investment," said Ding. "CIC is increasing investments in alternative investment including private equity, hedge funds, real estate and infrastructure to achieve steady investment returns and seek opportunities in emerging industries." Ding said it is cooperating with excellent private equity investors to co-invest and to strengthen its capabilities in direct investment. CIC is also expanding real estate investment in developed countries, after setting up an independent real estate investment department in 2015 which made nine deals last year. Li Xiang contributed to this story. Yadea Technology Group Co Ltd, the major producer of electric-bikes and electric-scooters in China, launched its Z3 e-scooter model in Beijing in late August, targeting high-end e-scooter consumers across the world. The company said it would export the model to 66 countries, including the United States and Germany. "Z3 will be warmly welcomed in the European market", said Marco Schuler, CEO of SXT Scooters, a German scooter importer and distributor. According to Schuler, high-end scooters equipped with lithium battery and smart functions are popular in Europe, and Yadea's products have advantages in design, quality and after-sales services. He said the number of e-scooters in the European market had increased significantly in the past couple of years. He predicted a bright market potential as the cost of gasoline continued to grow in Europe. The Z3 is able to run 120 kilometers on a single charge. It also has some smart functions such as mobile phone application controlled start, lock, and energy consumption display. Listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, Yadea's global expansion strategy is making and selling high-end products through its sales and distribution network across the world. It entered the US market in 2011, and Germany in 2012, and built a factory in Vietnam in 2014. Customers hardly can be found in the sales center at Vanke Mid Town. [Photo by Tang Huapai/for chinadaily.com.cn] Shenyang released new destocking polices to encourage new graduates to buy houses with their parents' housing accumulating funds. According to the regulation, students graduating from universities and colleges within eight years can use their parents' money to buy their own apartments. A source close to local government explained that it aims to help ease new graduates' financial burdens and enable them to make a down payment. However, it aroused hot debate about the real estate downturn in the industrial base that's suffered an economic setback since last year. According to an analysis by Cric, the real estate inventory in Shenyang was 28.74 million sq m by the end of 2015, ranking it among the top 29 key cities in China. It will take 20 months to destock. "It is understandable that local government is under pressure. But I prefer to purchase a home through my own efforts," said Li Fangfang, a senior at Shenyang Normal University. A source close to the market disclosed that Vanke, New World Land and Hang Lung have hardly met their sales targets in recent years. The companies could not be reached for comment. Chinese PresidentXi Jinpingattends a press conference after the 11th summit of the Group of 20 (G20) major economies in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 5, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] HANGZHOU - The 11th summit of the Group of 20 (G20) major economies concluded here on Monday, reaching extensive consensus on pursuing innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economic growth. "Held at a critical time for world economic growth and the transformation of G20, the Hangzhou summit attracted wide attention from the whole world and carried high expectations," Xi said at a press conference after the summit concluded. From Sunday to Monday, leaders of G20 members, guest countries and international organizations exchanged views on topics including more effective global economic and financial governance, robust international trade and investment, inclusive and interconnected development. They also discussed prominent issues affecting the world economy, including climate change, refugee, anti-terrorism financing and global public health. Xi said at the closing meeting that leaders attending the summit decided to point the way and set the course for the world economy. "Facing current risks and challenges in the world economy, we will continue to reinforce macro policy communication and coordination," Xi said. "We are determined to break a new path for growth to inject new dynamism into the world economy," Xi said, adding that a G20 Blueprint on Innovative Growth was unanimously adopted at the summit. The leaders were also determined to improve global economic and financial governance to enhance the resilience of the world economy, and to revitalize international trade and investment as the key engines of growth and build an open world economy, the president said. Consensus was also made to promote inclusive and interconnected development, so that G20 cooperation will deliver benefits to the whole world, according to Xi. A communique was adopted at the summit, clarifying the development direction, targets and measures of G20 cooperation, while the Hangzhou Consensus was reached on facilitating world economic growth through long-term, comprehensive, open, innovative and inclusive measures, according to Xi. HANGZHOU - President Xi Jinping told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday that China and Japan should "put aside disruptions" and bring their relations back on the normal track as soon as possible. In their meeting held after a two-day G20 summit in the lakeside city of Hangzhou, Xi said China and Japan are important and close neighbors to each other. Long-term healthy and stable development of bilateral ties is thus conducive to the benefits of people from both countries and to regional peace and stability, Xi said. He said currently Sino-Japanese ties are still "troubled by complications at times." The two countries should put aside such disruptions and propel bilateral relations back on the track of normal development as soon as possible. According to the Chinese president, China's basic standpoint to improve its relations with Japan has not changed. He said bilateral ties have now entered a key phase, where "no progress means regression." "Both sides should bolster their sense of responsibility and crisis awareness, and work to build on the positive elements of bilateral ties while putting a lid on negative ones, in order to ensure stable improvement of relations," Xi said. They should also make the most of the 45th anniversary of normalization of Sino-Japanese ties, to be marked in 2017, and the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between China and Japan the year after, to push forward Sino-Japanese ties, he said. Representatives from Boston Consulting Group attended the Business 20 (B20) Summit in Hangzhou and listened to President Xi's speech at Saturday's opening ceremony. David He, a partner in the Boston Consulting Group, says: "President Xi's speech conveyed three key messages: First, the speech concluded China's success in the last three decades, which was built on innovation, openness, hard work and sharing; this spirit will continue to pay off in the next three decades. Second, the speech reinforced confidence in the Chinese economy. Lack of confidence has resulted in many issues, but through our persistence in innovation, coordination, greenness, openness and sharing, the confidence can be restored. Third, the speech reflected China's sense of responsibility in the global economy. President Xi has proposed innovation, openness, connectedness and inclusiveness as the key words for the global economy in the hope that this Chinese wisdom can also benefit the world. In addition, I was most impressed by President Xi's determination on deepening the supply side structural reform, to better coordinate between market and government, and to truly foster innovation." Editor Note: As the G20 global leaders gather in Hangzhou, capital of China's Zhejiang province, exploring the solutions for a robust and sustained global economic growth and fairer international governance regime, European opinion leaders and academic experts have kept a close watch on what messages President Xi Jinping is delivering at the first ever G20 gathering organized by China. The following are the points they shared with China Daily journalist Fu Jing based in Brussels. Chinese President Xi Jinping presides over the opening ceremony of the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 4, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] Christos Vlachos, managing partner of Athens-based Silky Finance, an independent financial adviser I am impressed by President Xi's call: "We should strengthen coordination in macro-economic policies, reduce negative impacts and resolve the imbalance in systems and differences in standards. We should also increase investment in infrastructure to ensure all parties could be beneficiaries of global growth." And I think what President Xi stressed goes in tandem with the Belt and Road initiative dating back to 2013. Boudewijn Poldermans: Connect Global Capital Business, a Rotterdam-based Consultancy, which has a strong and extensive business relationship with China During his speech President Xi has stressed the importance of the link between business and social development and how China has realized rapid poverty reduction. He has indicated how China has developed from an aid recipient country into the world's second largest economy now able to assist other economies by making financial resources available. Xi stressed the need for more concrete steps and a sustainable, open and equitable approach to achieve more long term global economic growth and develop "win-win" strategies. The world is now looking at China to see what leadership role China will assume in the global economy David Laurier, CEO of environmental analyzer and integrated solutions provider AppliTek in Belgium President Xi has sent a very strong message that goes beyond respect and courtesy. During his speech, Xi has sent clear messages on his thoughts of global trends and China's development strategy. It is evident that China is open-minded in helping shape a win-win and sharing global economy by injecting green and sustainable impetus Dennis Pamlin, founder of Sweden-based consultancy the 21st Century Frontiers With the current political development, especially in the US presidential election, it is very much welcome that China focused on an open economy. It would be good if this process would focus the need on an open economy in the context of the great challenges we face. Last year the world agreed to radically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, address the global financial challenges and established the sustainable development goals where global inequity was an important part. This would help clarify the urgency for an economy that is built on global collaboration rather than protectionism. Shada Islam, Policy Director of Brussels-based think tank Friends of Europe As one of the world's largest economies, China has a pivotal role to play in steering the global conversation and ensuring coordinated international action on issues related to world Trade. A commitment by China to open and free trade is therefore highly significant especially at a time when political and public support for free trade is on the wane. Fredrik Erixon, Director of the Brussels-based European Centre for International Political Economy in Brussels It is critical that world leaders act to revert the trend of creeping protectionism in the world economy. Trade and investment are two engines of growth, and with the slowing growth of trade and investment, there has been a direct effect on economic growth, which this years will surprise us on the negative side. Tony Payne, director of the University of Sheffield's Political Economy Research Institute China is quite right to restate the case for an open global economy at the G20 summit in Hangzhou. Normally, this is one of the truisms that world leaders reiterate as a matter of routine, but at the moment it has extra meaning and significance because of the rising tide of populist politics that has emerged of late in parts of Europe and in the United States itself, which has been the most consistent advocate of openness since 1945. At the heart of that populism is a demand for national protectionism, as illustrated in its most threatening manifestation in Donald Trump's 'America First' rhetoric. America First unavoidably means the global order second. China cannot say it openly for all of the normal diplomatic reasons, but it badly need Hillary Clinton, not Donald Trump, to turn up at the next G20 summit! China is exceptionally well placed to make that case and lead the global order in that direction. Duncan Freeman,Senior Research Fellow, Brussels Academy for China and European Studies The open global economy has been weakened in recent years by crisis and the failure of globalisation to benefit all its participants, and also the incapacity of governments to sustain the relevance of institutions like the WTO. It is important that President Xi has committed China to an open global economy, but maintaining the system requires the commitment of all governments.China's reform and open in has been a key factor in the creation of the open global economy over the past three decades. Peng leads foreign visitors to activity promoting awareness of HIV, campus prevention efforts China's first lady, Peng Liyuan, called for a redoubling of international efforts against HIV/AIDS on Monday in Hangzhou, the host city of the G20 Leaders Summit. As the World Health Organization's goodwill ambassador for tuberculosis and HIV, Peng led a group of officials' spouses to Zhejiang University for an anti-AIDS activity. "I have provided support and have been engaged in activities to popularize the prevention of AIDS in colleges," Peng said. "Such activities have been held at many Chinese universities and have borne great fruit so far." Spouses from Argentina, Indonesia, Laos, Mexico, Turkey, Singapore and Thailand attended the activity with Peng. They watched a video about fighting AIDS and listened to a speech about how the campus is working to prevent the disease. University students shared their understanding about prevention and expressed their determination to stop AIDS. Two teenagers affected by AIDS told their stories and shared their hopes for the future. The visiting women put red ribbonsthe HIV/AIDS awareness symbolon a signature board to signify they were "hand-in-hand for improving AIDS prevention and control". Several athletes who participated in Rio Olympic Games, including swimmers Sun Yang and Fu Yuanhui, also attended the activity and volunteered to fight AIDS. Peng's engagement in anti-AIDS efforts dates to 10 years ago, when she helped children affected by HIV/AIDS and promoted prevention messages. On July 29, when a summer camp was launched at the Forbidden City in Beijing, Peng called for more social support for affected children. She said during the Love in the Sunshine China-Africa Children Summer Camp: "Along with healthy children, those suffering or affected by AIDS are the world's future; and regardless of their HIV status, nationality or color, they deserve care, support and a happy childhood." In December, Peng participated in another anti-AIDS advocacy event in Johannesburg, South Africa. On Monday, she invited wives of leaders participating in the G20 Summit in Hangzhou to visit the China Academy of Art to learn about Chinese culture through handwriting, silk and the academy's history. All the guests tried Chinese calligraphy during the visit and showed interest in the silk clothing on display. China and the United States should speed up negotiations to resolve thorny issues in areas such as national treatment in government procurement in order to reach a bilateral investment treaty, experts said on Monday. Their comments came after the Ministry of Commerce announced on Sunday that treaty negotiations had made significant progress. "China and the US should complete BIT negotiations before November's US presidential election to prevent potential political intervention," said Li Guanghui, vice-president of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation in Beijing. Li said this could be challenging, as the presidential election campaign may create a tendency among candidates running for office to blame US economic problems on other countries. A bilateral investment treaty, or BIT, is an agreement signed between two countries or regions pertaining to cross-border investment. It assures foreign investors of nondiscriminatory treatment and protection against unwarranted expropriation. "The road ahead is still very tough," said Zhang Jianping, director of the International Economic Cooperation Institute at the National Development and Reform Commission. "The validation of the BIT can help both Chinese and US companies operate businesses in each other's markets independently in the long term, instead of looking for local partners to form joint ventures," Zhang said. He said this would give investors more flexibility to control their finances and make investment decisions. China and the US held their 28th round of BIT talks in Beijing in August and have continued consultations to this week. Both sides exchanged new "negative list" offers, seeking to establish nondiscriminatory, transparent and open investment through negotiations, ministry spokesman Sun Jiwen said on Sunday. They conducted in-depth talks on remaining issues in the text of the agreement and reached a consensus on important issues, Sun said. Both sides will continue intensive talks to advance negotiations and work to reach a mutually beneficial agreement, Sun said. Negotiations began in 2008 to increase mutual investment. International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde walks to the podium before a news conference at the G20 Summit news center on Monday. [Photo/China Daily] The International Monetary Fund is exploring ways to broaden the use of its Special Drawing Rights after the leaders of the G20 reached a consensus on the matter at the G20 Summit in Hangzhou to enhance the resilience of the international financial system, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said on Monday. "The IMF was really encouraged by the determination of China to use the SDR as a yardstick to measure reserves and as a currency for bond issuance," Lagarde told reporters at a news conference after the conclusion of the summit. The call for greater use of SDR, a synthetic reserve currency administrated by the IMF, has been strongly backed by China as the country has been working to lift the global profile of its currency. The yuan will be officially included in the IMF's currency basket on Oct 1. Lagarde vowed that the IMF will continue to expand the representation of emerging and developing economies in the organization as it needs to serve the entire membership. The IMF chief also reiterated that the Chinese currency meets the criteria for the inclusion in the SDR as the Chinese monetary authority has made "constructive progress" by making its monetary policy more market-determined. Experts said that the expansion of the use of the SDR will help improve the stability of the global financial system and the inclusion of the Chinese currency will in turn empower the influence of the SDR in international markets. "The yuan's inclusion in the SDR will, to some extent, increase the influence of the SDR and enable it to play a greater role in the international financial markets," said E Zhihuan, an academic committee member at the International Monetary Institute of Renmin University of China. The World Bank issued a landmark bond denominated in the IMF's SDRs in the Chinese interbank market last week. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said earlier that issuance of SDR bonds in China would support the G20's objective of expanding the use of the SDR, which has been listed as one of the G20's key financial tasks. At Monday's news conference, Lagarde also said that the G20 leaders have endorsed several initiatives to support stability and resilience of the international financial architecture, which included the support for further strengthening of the global financial safety net with an adequately financed IMF equipped with a more effective tool kit. "Global financial governance has been a big topic. After the January surge in market volatility, cooperation between countries has improved greatly and the G20 has been a suitable venue to cement the ties in that regard," said Hong Hao, chief strategist at BOCOM International Holdings in Hong Kong. Chen Yingqun contributed to this story. Quotes from Christine Largarde, IMF managing director , Reuters "A first priority is a coordinated effort to raise growth. The G20 agreed that this will require making full use of all policy leversmonetary, fiscal, and structuralindividually and collectively. The G20 also agreed to identify and prioritize reforms that provide the biggest growth impulse for each country, which is an area where the IMF is actively engaged. Pushing back against protectionism and pushing forward with free and fair trade is a vital component of this growth agenda." "A second priority is a commitment that growth must be more widely shared. Again, countries should deploy proven tools to reduce excessive inequality and raise economic prospects, particularly for low-income groups and workers affected by rapid technological changefor example, through skills training and investments in education and health. We need increased growth, but it must be better balanced, more sustainable, and inclusive so as to benefit all people." "On the low-growth trap, we take the very strong view that policymakers have to act upon the current situation, they have to use all positive tools and levers in order to respond to that risk, which is why I said monetary policy where possible, but where stretched too thin, use fiscal policy in order to stimulate demand, which we are short on at the moment." Leadership shown by G20 members on tackling climate-change challenges will promote sustainable development and speed up ratification of the Paris Agreement, experts said. "G20 members should take the lead to help bring the Paris Agreement on Climate Change into force as soon as possible," said President Xi Jinping at a media conference on Monday, after the two-day G20 Summit. Xi's comments came after G20 members reached consensus on a number of key issues facing the world. Tackling climate change has been a hot-button issue for both developed and developing economies. Domestic steps taken by major G20 economies, including China and the United States, have set a good example for others to follow, said Bai Yunwen, a climate and policy researcher at Greenovation Hub, a Beijing-based nongovernmental organization. Before the summit, the Paris Agreement was reaffirmed by Xi and US President Barack Obama, bringing the number of parties that have sworn by it to 26 that produce 39 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. "I fall the G20 members agree to follow the steps taken by the two economies (China and the US), the agreement would come into force by year-end for sure," said Bai. Fifty-five parties, accounting for 55 percent of global carbon emissions, need to ratify the agreement for it to take effect. G20 members account for around 80 percent of the emissions, according to data from Climate Transparency. In the meantime, greater participation and commitment of G20 members would mobilize investments into green industries and promote the development of climate finance, said Ma Jun, chief economist of the research bureau of the People's Bank of China. To suggest ways to build infrastructure needed to promote green financing, which is part of the efforts being made to tackle climate-change challenges, a leading group on green finance has submitted a report. The report clarifies the definition and scope of green financing, identifies challenges and provides voluntary options for countries to support the transition into a green and low-carbon growth model, Ma said. Xu Nan, a policy analyst at the Climate and Energy Finance Research Center at the Central University of Finance and Economics, said any efforts by G20 members to bring about sooner ratification of the Paris Agreement, would send a positive signal to investors. That, in turn, would help attract more investment into green industries, thus contributing to the development of climate finance, Xu said. Turkey's first lady Emine Erdogan (left) visits the Arts and Crafts Shop in Hangzhou on Sept 4, 2016. [Photo/Getty Images] Many foreign leaders and entourage members attending the G20 Summit managed to squeeze some free time into their busy schedules for shopping and communicating with local artists, adding some light moments to their trips. Located in the center of the city, Hangzhou Tower, one of the top shopping malls, received groups of leaders from Russia, Thailand and Turkey, as well as the first lady of Canada, to shop or dine over the past three days. Wang Rong, a saleswoman at Luolai Home Textile Co, one of China's top bedding brands, said she served a Russian group of five people on Sunday. "The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, was not here, which was a pity," she said. "I feel really honored that the president's team chose our products." Wang, who has worked at Luolai for five years, said she is confident in China-made products and believes sales will continue to rise. Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau, wife of Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, went to Dolce & Gabbana on the first floor in Hangzhou Tower and bought a one-piece dress. She brought her daughter, who checked out some nightgowns. In addition to shopping, other forms of cultural communication are in evidence at the G20. Wu Xiaoli, a Hangzhou craftswoman who made sculptures of G20 leaders using dough modeling, a traditional art form in China, was surprised to meet Emine Erdogan, Turkey's first lady. Wu said Erdogan, who was accompanied by Turkish diplomats, reporters and other staff members, was fascinated by the miniatures, particularly the one of the Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "The first lady asked the interpreter to tell me that there is an identical sculpture of the president in his office and the president likes it a lot," Wu said. Wu and 30-plus peers spent half a year creating a set of sculptures of G20 leaderscalled World Peace Dreamto celebrate Hangzhou's hosting of the G20 Summit. The set caught the attention of both the domestic and international press before and during the summit. Wu said: "When Mrs Erdogan learned that both sculptures were made by me and my team, she warmly hugged me three times, saying that she was really glad to see me." Argentine guests cycle alongside West Lake. [Photo provided to China Daily] Foreign leaders get some exercise Argentine President Mauricio Macri and first lady, Juliana Awada, cycled by the side of West Lake on Monday morning. The couple feasted their eyes on scenery such as the Broken Bridge and Zhongshan Park during a tour lasting about half an hour. Macri and first lady are the highest-level foreigners to have experienced the public bicycle system of Hangzhou. Besides its scenery, Hangzhou also attracts foreign leaders attending the G20 Summit with its cuisine. Grandma's House, a famous restaurant chain in Hangzhou, has become a top choice. Thailand's delegation went to the restaurant twice during the summit and the delegation from Turkey also chose this restaurant. The two key media conferences addressed by President Xi Jinping in China in the last two years that I attended have seen a lot of changes, indeed. His address to the media after the conclusion of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders' Meeting in November 2014 in Beijing was dominated by television crews. Live video feeds of broadcasters stood out. But on Monday, his media conference at 11th G20 Leaders Summit in East China's Hangzhou saw print media journalists and online media or news websites' reporters making faster moves. This can be attributed to the boom in live streaming technology on the internet in the past year. For viewers, livewebcasts are now just a click away. What's more, they can be accessed on mobile phones. Unsurprisingly, multimedia journalists were everywhere, trying to engross their viewers, who were presumably consuming G20-related content on hand-held devices. This produced some interesting moments. When a presenter of China Central Television was introducing the venue to a national audience, several cyber journalists representing national or local newspaper groups simply parked themselves near the presenter. That's all they had to do to livestream the event. Their headsets comprising earphones and microphones, which were plugged into their camera-equipped, internet-ready handsets, were enough to beam the event live to their respective audiences. Technology now makes live broadcasts simple. It is no longer just for the privileged few but a dream come true for many. Live streaming is attracting growing public attention, particularly in China, besides increasing revenue for those involved, and helping transform traditional media outlets. Mobile live casting symbolizes the ongoing technology revolution and innovation that have been shaping the Chinese economy in the last two years. Now with a swipe or scan of QR or quick-response code using a mobile phone, buying fast food at a KFC restaurant or paying for stamps and souvenirs at the G20 summit press center is possible. As world leaders, tycoons, corporate icons and officials converged on Hangzhou, it became increasingly clear that there is no escape for anyone from technology, especially of the hand-held variety. This was best exemplified by Robin Li, CEO of Chinese internet search engine Baidu, who grabbed a quick moment with Argentine President Mauricio Macri for a selfie at the B20 summit. Head of think tank says China's lead in such issues as climate should be carried forward China's contributions during its time as the rotating chair of the G20helping to improve global sustainable infrastructure, green financing and international developmentare impressive and should be carried forward by Germany when it takes the group's reins next year, according to the head of a prominent German think tank. Dirk Messner, director of the German Development Institute, said China has brought new dimensions to the G20 platform, which he said has "traditionally" focused on global growth and the reform of economic governance since the first meeting was held in Washington at the height of the financial crisis in late 2008. He said he believed that China and Germany could use the 2016-17 rotation to help to speed up changes needed to restructure the global economy toward more sustainability. For Messner, the first priority is sustainable infrastructure. He said the global economy is still in trouble, and to improve growth nearly all countries are focusing on infrastructure investment, which he called crucial. He said the next 20 years will see the biggest investment ever in infrastructure, and most of it will be in urban areas. "Putting investment trends into the context of the climate agreement and the 2030 global sustainability development goals of the United Nations is very important," he said, and would provide much of the dynamism for the global economy. In this area, Messner said China is leading the way because it will be investing a lot at home and along the Belt and Road Initiative routes, while European countries and the United States are renewing their urban and energy infrastructure. He said that pushing the infrastructure projects into new, sustainable and carbon-free development is very important, and that China has already done much in recent years. China, Messner said, interestingly ties the green dimension with financial market reform, which is about reducing speculation, improving transparency and stabilizing the market. Messner said China, the first G20 chair since the Paris climate summit, is showing the way forward. "My understanding is that China is currently linking the traditional G20 agendafinancial markets and growthinto Paris and the 2030 agenda," he said. "This is the third thing I think Germany could follow up." President Xi Jinping addresses the media on Monday after the G20 Summit ended in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. Feng Yongbin / China Daily Leaders of major economies reached consensus during the G20 Summit on seeking workable solutions for global growth and development, a consensus that one analyst described as having China's "distinctive stamp". In his concluding remarks, President Xi Jinping said summit participants reached "important consensus" on such G20 tasks as strengthening policy coordination, breaking a new path for growth, achieving more efficient and effective global economic and financial governance, boosting international trade and investment and enhancing anti-graft efforts. Besides tackling regular challenges, such as promoting innovation to provide new engines for global economic growth, world leaders at the summit, which ended on Monday in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, emphasized inclusive growth and development of less-developed countries. Xi called this progress "groundbreaking". "For the first time, we have given priority to development in the global macro-policy framework," a move that will "help reduce inequality and imbalance in global development, deliver tangible benefits to people of the developing world, make important progress toward realizing the (United Nations') Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and contribute to the common development of mankind", the president said. Su Ge, president of the China Institute of International Studies, said the consensus shows that China, as the host and a developing country, has played a significant role in contributing its ideas to global governance. "It has the distinctive stamp of China, although the outcomes result from contributions of all G20 members and international institutions," Su said, adding that the summit was not a Chinese solo or duet, but rather a symphony. He said the outcomes of the G20 Summit reflect the direction of the G20 reform in serving the common interests of developed and developing countries. "The rise of the G20 comes from the failure of traditional organizations, such as the IMF and the World Bank, in handling global economic and financial crises," said Zhu Jiejin, a researcher of global governance studies at Fudan University in Shanghai. "The G20 mechanism is quite flexible, and since the world economic situation often changes, flexibility is the biggest advantage of the G20 in handling crisis," Zhu said. Analysts said the summit reflects a change of China's role in global governance from a participator to a lead reformer. "China has given the prescription that the world economies should not form small interest groups, but should use the G20 as a common governance platform to step toward a community of common destiny," said Wei Jianguo, vice-president of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges. Contact the writer at zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn Xin Zhiming in Hangzhou contributed to this story. HANGZHOU, China -- US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, discussed the Syria and Ukraine issues at a meeting here Monday on the sidelines of the 11th Group of 20 summit. The meeting, which lasted more than an hour, was "longer than planned, "Russian media quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying. The two leaders discussed Syria and Ukraine before moving on to a one-on-one talk, Peskov said, noting that the meeting went well. Putin said at a press conference after the meeting that he and Obama had "some alignment" of positions and an understanding of what they could do to de-escalate the situation in Syria. It can be said that Russia-US efforts in fighting terrorist organizations, including those in Syria, would be significantly improved and intensified, he added. Both countries are interested in fighting terrorism, Putin said, adding that "the US president is absolutely sincere in striving for a resolution of the Syrian conflict." Meanwhile, Obama called the meeting "constructive" but not "conclusive." "Typically the tones of our meetings are candid, blunt, business-like and this one was no different," he said at a separate press conference following the meeting. However, he said that given the gaps of trust that exist, that's a tough negotiation. "We haven't yet closed the gaps in a way where we think it would actually work," Obama said. Earlier Monday, a senior Obama administration official was quoted as saying that the two presidents failed to force a breakthrough in negotiations over a cease-fire in Syria, but have agreed to keep up negotiations. The two leaders directed their top diplomats to return to talks quickly, likely later this week, the official said. The United States and Russia have been trying to reach a deal over the Syria crisis. Obama said Sunday that the two sides still have "grave differences," but there is still possibility "to make some progress." US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who met in this eastern Chinese city on Sunday for Syria talks, launched a fresh round of negotiations on Monday morning, but ended without agreement, US media reported. Tech tycoons at the business forum on Saturday that preceded the G20 Leaders Summit in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, hailed the keynote speech by President Xi Jinping, which emphasized innovation, saying the direction, combined with current practices in China, could solve the global challenge of growth. Xi sent a clear message in the speech that pillars of the virtual economydata, artificial intelligence and other internet-powered technologiesshould be used to drive real growth, as they have become increasingly important in China's economy. Sun Pishu, chairman of Inspur Group Co, China's largest server maker, said the world economy has not fully recovered from the 2008 financial crisis because the third industrial revolution, using electronics and information technology to automate production, has lost momentum. "It is high time to further the development of the fourth industrial revolution, characterized by data, and innovate the development models to drive new growth," he said. In his keynote speech at the opening of the B20 Summit, Xi said that scientific and technological innovation are the keys to development. "We will pursue an innovation-driven development strategy to create stronger growth drivers," he said. Robin Li, chief executive officer of Baidu Inc, which operates China's largest online search engine, said innovation is not only the powerhouse of China's economy in the new normal economy but also the key driver for a new global economy. "Internet-powered technology and industry is about to take off, and artificial intelligence will bring revolutionary changes to how people live and the way they produce," Li said. "Companies and governments around the world must seize the opportunity to deepen their collaboration in platforms, resources, talent and policies," he said. The government has underscored the importance of innovation, introducing various policies to encourage information consumption and guide the development of smart manufacturing. It has lowered the threshold of support for individuals setting up their own businesses to become part of the massive innovation wave. China, has for the first time joined the world's top 25 most innovative economies, which had been dominated by developed economies, according to a report released in August by Cornell University, INSEAD business school and the World Intellectual Property Organization. Chen Yingqun contributed to this story. Gift packages with silk shawls and handbags were presented to female leaders and first ladies attending the G20 Summit in Hangzhou on Sunday and Monday. Provided By Zhejiang Cathaya International Co Hangzhou has trusted in its nearly 5,000 year history with silk for its decorations at the G20 Summit. From finishing touches on meeting rooms to bedding, night gowns, invitation letters and banquet menus, the fabric has been a recurrent theme and important element in the event. Female leaders and first ladies attending the summit were presented a gift package with silk scarves, shawls or handbags - even the gift box itself was made of silk. Tu Hongyan, chairwoman of WensliGroup, one of the companies that helped prepare this summit's gifts, headed a team of 30 top designers and more than 100 technical craftsmen for the task. Wensli prepared two patterns of silk scarves for the G20 Summit, Tu said, and each pattern was produced in two forms: one of pure silk and the other an equal mixture of silk and cashmere. Li Minxia, a silk designer from Wensli Group, said the gifts will be in pairs, such as two scarves, or a scarf along with a silk handbag, and each gift package will be unique. Wang Pengcheng, deputy general manager of brand operation center at Zhejiang Cathaya International Co, said Cathaya prepared 16 packages of silk gifts for female guests at the G20 Summit. According to Wang, their silk items made specifically for the summit are a double-tassel shawl, a pink Ru-Yi pattern shawl, a pink handbag, a black handbag and two types of purple handbags. All of the items will be in Chinese style. The black silk handbag will be paired with a silk product from another business, and the pink handbag will be paired with the pink shawl. "Each handbag is covered in silk and has sheepskin inside and leather cording, which is a combination of Chinese and Western culture," he said. Wang said the black silk handbag uses China's national flower, the peony, as a key element, but changes the traditional color red to black, and that black peony is embroidered into a three-dimensional form. "It take three days for a craftsman to embroider the black peony, and another two days to complete the handmade part - including embroidering the black zircons and agates - for one black silk handbag," said Wang. The silk covers of the handbags are waterproof, oil proof and stain resistant. Water rolls off them, just like what happens on the lotus leaf, Wang added. Cathaya also designed a square box for their gifts. Covered with sweet-scented osmanthus patterned silk in light beige, Wang said the blossom is Hangzhou's city flower. Chinese PresidentXi Jinping's wife Peng Liyuan and spouses of leaders attending G20 summit write calligraphy during a visit to China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 5, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] HANGZHOU - Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, invited the wives of leaders attending the G20 summit to visit the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou City on Monday. The visitors watched exhibitions of celadon art and Chinese calligraphy and paintings. Peng invited the guests to write the Chinese character "he" together. The character carries the meanings of "peace" and "harmony", she said. They took a group photo in front of a traditional Chinese painting featuring the scenic West Lake. When enjoying a Chinese silk clothes exhibition, Peng explained that Hangzhou has a reputation of being a "capital of silk" and its silk products were transported overseas through the ancient Silk Road. France has always been an important strategic partner to China no matter how global situations change, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Monday. China is happy to see a prosperous and stable EU, and it will not change the policy of supporting European integration, he said, adding that China will continue to deepen pragmatic cooperation with the EU. Xi made the remarks while meeting with French President Francois Hollande after a two-day G20 summit in Hangzhou. China is willing to work with France to deepen pragmatic cooperation in various areas, enhance people-to-people exchanges and strengthen communication and coordination in international affairs, he said. The Chinese president spoke highly of France's support for the summit, which has yielded rich results. The quality and level of bilateral relations have been elevated comprehensively in recent years, which have brought about benefits to the people of both sides, Xi said. Xi pointed out that China and the European Union have extensive common interests. China expects France to play a greater role in promoting the healthy development of China-EU ties, he added. Hollande congratulated China on the achievements at the G20 Hangzhou summit, especially the consensus on boosting world economic growth and trade, and tackling climate change. France pays high attention to its relations with China, and is willing to promote cooperation with China in agriculture, food, nuclear power, tourism, environment as well as international and regional hot spot issues, Hollande said. BEIJING - Facing the lingering global economic slump, the world's 20 major economies ushered in a new opportunity for economic recovery Monday when they concluded a summit in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou. After their two-day meeting, which bears the theme of "Toward an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy," leaders of the Group of 20 (G20) adopted a communique, clarifying the development direction, targets and measures of the group's cooperation. They reached consensus on facilitating world economic growth through long-term, comprehensive, open, innovative and inclusive measures. Furthermore, the summit, for the first time ever, put the issue of development at the front and center of the global macro policy framework, constituted an action plan to facilitate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and supported the industrialization of African countries and least developed countries collectively. As the Hangzhou Summit pointed the direction and charted the future course for the sluggish world economy, G20 members should make concerted efforts to implement their consensus in real earnest. Just as Chinese President Xi Jinping put it, due to current economic risks and challenges, it is paramount to maintain a peaceful and stable international environment. "We are confident that, through joint efforts of all parties, we can bring the world economy back to a strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth track," Xi told reporters after the conclusion of the summit. Since the outbreak of the global financial crisis eight years ago, the economic recovery remains slow and fragile. The current global economic growth environment is mediocre, featuring rising unemployment, soaring debt, sluggish trade and investment, and turbulent financial and commodity markets. In the face of weak demand, overcapacity, tendency towards protectionism, lack of confidence, market volatility and multiple political uncertainties, governments are eager to find a new way of stimulating growth. As G20 members represent over 85 percent of the world economy and two-thirds of the global population, they are expected to play a leading role in giving a much-needed boost to the global growth. Following the Hangzhou Summit, the most urgent task facing G20 members is to achieve a steady economic recover and guard against economic crises caused by accumulated financial risks. China, as the world's second largest economy and host of the summit, has put forward a solution to the lackluster global economy, which calls for an end to unsustainable growth, presses ahead with structural reform, and encourages innovation and entrepreneurship. While addressing the opening ceremony of the annual summit, Xi urged G20 leaders to prescribe remedies for the sluggish world economy to embark on a road of robust, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth. The world has also pinned high hopes on China's perspective and experience in steering the G20 toward a more balanced power-sharing model and a more constructive path for the global economy. Experts agree that the ultimate solution to most of the urgent problems needs to bring major industrialized economies as well as emerging markets together and foster closer cooperation among them. For the world's major developed economies, they should curb rising protectionism and dismantle anti-trade measures as economic isolationism is not a solution to sluggish growth. In order to build an inclusive, rule-based and open world economy, protectionism must be prevented from eroding the foundation for a faster and healthier economic recovery. As an old Chinese saying goes, "empty talks would lead the country astray, and hard work can rejuvenate the nation." By the same token, the G20 members should work with concrete actions but no empty talks to carry out their consensus and strengthen partnership, so as to get through the global economic hardships. Two flower children take a photo with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his wife after they presented flowers to them at Xiaoshan Airport in Hangzhou, capital city of East China's Zhejiang province, September 2, 2016. [Photo/IC] The G20 Summit was held in Hangzhou, the capital of East China's Zhejiang province, from September 4 to 5. Fourteen students from the Qing Lan primary school in Hangzhou were elected to present flowers to world leaders upon their arrival. Each of the flower children with sixth-graders and had undergone language and etiquette training before the event, the principle of Qing Lan primary school said in an interview with ic.eastday.com. Jack Ma (L), executive chairman of Alibaba Group and Roberto Azevedo, director-general of the WTO. [Photo/provided to chinadaily.com.cn] The World Trade Organization is considering leveraging the power of e-commerce to help small and medium-sized enterprises to trade as its director-general applauded an initiative raised today by Alibaba Group's Jack Ma. Roberto Azevedo, director-general of the WTO, said he is looking forward to teaming up with Ma, the executive chairman of Alibaba, to use e-commerce to help more SMEs benefit from trading across the world. The idea of using a digital platform to do facility trading for SMEs is envisioned by Ma in a proposed international organization called Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP), which is included in the official communique of the G20 summit held Sept 4 and 5 in Hangzhou, home of Alibaba's headquarters. Azevedo said leaders around the world are calling for action to make trade the core engine driving the global economy. He said that trade must be more inclusive, involving more people doing trade and allowing more people to benefit from trade - which means that trade must serve the needs of SMEs. "The G20 leaders have acknowledged the importance of freer, more inclusive and innovation-driven trade to extend the benefits of globalization to those that have been left behind in the current model," Ma said in a statement. "The eWTP will benefit small and medium-sized businesses and consumers. It is about the people, not big business." Conceived as complementary to the WTO, the eWTP would be set up as an international organization. Its overall goal would be to make it easier for SMEs to take part in global trade via e-commerce by simplifying regulations, lowering barriers to entry to new markets and providing small businesses with easier access to financing. Consensus in Hangzhou must become policy, say economic leaders and experts The G20 Leaders Summit in Hangzhou has injected fresh spirit into the effort to address the challenges of the global economy, and the next task for the leaders is to ensure the implementation of the Hangzhou consensus, economic leaders and experts said. The summit, which concluded on Monday, released a statement in which the leaders agreed on a series of action plans to implement their growth strategies covering a wide range of policy areas. In the statement, the leaders pledged to work together to pursue innovation-driven growth, to improve productivity, trade and investment, and to reduce overcapacity in the steel sector, which it says is a global problem requiring an effort by all. The leaders also promised to unleash growth potential by supporting a digital economy, enhancing structural reforms, improving the resilience of the global financial system and promoting inclusive growth on the basis of mutual benefit. Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, urged the leaders to deliver actions, saying that President Xi Jinpings remarks that action matters more than declaration served as an inspiration at the summit. "We met against the backdrop of a global landscape characterized by major economic and technological shifts, and by growth that has been too low for too long and which has benefited too few," the IMF chief said. "The conclusions should not only be thought about but also be implemented," Lagarde said, adding that the Hangzhou consensus showed the G20 leaders determination to address the challenges they face with forceful policy actions. Angel Gurria, secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, said China should be congratulated for placing innovation at the heart of the G20 presidency. "It is important to not just repair the problems of the past but to lay the foundations for future growth growth that will to a large extent be driven by new ideas and technologies," he said. While the 2014 G20 commitment set the goal of raising global GDP by an additional 2 percent by 2018, Gurria said that measures implemented so far will only add around 1 percent. "We are only halfway there," he said, calling for full implementation of the G20 countries growth commitments. During the summit, President Xi also called for transformation of the G20 from a mechanism of crisis response to one of long-term governance. Analysts said Xis proposals revealed Chinas growing contribution to and influence on global economic governance. Jia Jinjing, a researcher with the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies of Renmin University of China, said the summit reflects a change of Chinas role in global governance from a participator to a lead reformer. "China has brought many new inputs to global governance, such as promoting innovation, structural reform and strengthening development and cooperation among the developed and developing countries, which breaks new ground for achieving global development goals," Jia said. David He, a partner of Boston Consulting Group, said Xis speech at the Hangzhou summit underscored Chinas responsibilities in the global economy. "President Xi has proposed innovation, openness, connectedness and inclusiveness as the key words for global economy, hoping this Chinese wisdom could also benefit the world," he said. "In addition, I was most impressed by his determination to deepen supply-side structural reform, to better coordinate between market and government, and to truly foster innovation," he added. Zhang Yunbi and Chen Yingqun contributed to this story. lixiang@chinadaily.com.cn An undated photo of a wild giant panda. [Photo provided by WWF China/chinadaily.com.cn] BEIJING - China's State Forestry Administration (SFA) said Monday that it was too early to downgrade the giant panda's conservation status after an international group reclassified it from an "endangered" to "vulnerable" species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature announced the change in a report, after reviewing the results of conservation efforts that have boosted the panda's population. Insisting that the pandas remain classed as endangered, the SFA stressed that there are still threats to the animal's survival. The wild giant panda population is fragmented into 33 isolated groups, with some having fewer than 10 animals, which limits the gene pool for reproduction. Meanwhile, climate change is predicted to wipe out more than one third of the panda's bamboo habitat, a situation that will only be exacerbated by insufficient funding and technical support. "If we downgrade their conservation status and our protection work is reduced, our achievements would be quickly forgotten," the administration noted. Over the years, China has implemented a series of environmental initiatives, including the establishment of nature reserves, to increase the giant panda population. At the end of 2015, China had 1,864 giant pandas in the wild, increasing from about 1,100 in 2000, and there were 422 in captivity, according to the SFA. British Prime Minister Theresa May brushed aside uncertainties about relations between Beijing and London on Monday, saying the "golden-era relations will continue". May made the remark to reporters on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. She then headed for a one-on-one meeting with President Xi Jinping. By using the term "golden-era relations", May echoed her predecessor, David Cameron, who stepped down earlier this year after the United Kingdom's referendum on European Union membership. "It will be an opportunity to discuss how we can take forward the golden-era relations between our two countries and build a strong economic and global partnership that works in the interests of both," she said of the coming meeting. "This is my first visit to China, and I would like to thank the Chinese government and the people of Hangzhou for welcoming us here and hosting a magnificent summit in the city," she added. "I've been clear that the decision about Hinkley will be taken later this month. Our relationship with China is about more than Hinkley, if you look at the investment from China in various other parts of the United Kingdom," May said. After taking office, May halted the construction of Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, a partly Chinese-funded project in southwest England. Asked about the decision to delay the plant, London Mayor Jeffrey Mountevans told Xinhua News Agency that the city wants to see the issue resolved rapidly because it is keen on partnerships with Chinese businesses. In their meeting, both Xi and May vowed to boost "mutual understanding and trust". They agreed to enhance cooperation in fields including trade, investment, finance and legal enforcement. THAAD a threat to 'stability in region', Xi tells ROK leader By By Li Xiaokun in Hangzhou (China Daily) Updated: 2016-09-06 08:01 President Xi Jinping stressed to Republic of Korea President Park Geun-hye on Monday that Beijing objects to the deployment of an anti-missile system in the ROK, and he warned that careless handling of the issue would "aggravate conflicts". "Mishandling the issue is not conducive to strategic stability in the region, and could intensify conflicts," Xi told Park as they spoke on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou. China is ready to deepen cooperation with the ROK under multilateral frameworks, and to step up coordination on hot-spot issues, he said. Washington and Seoul jointly announced on July 8 that the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system will be deployed in the ROK in response to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's nuclear and missile threats. China and Russia expressed strong opposition to the system, whose radar would be able to monitor missiles in the two countries, saying its deployment would destabilize the balance of security in the region. Xi said China is committed to the denuclearization and stability of the Korean Peninsula and seeks to settle symptoms and root causes of the issue by "solving the concerns of the parties concerned in a comprehensive and balanced way" through the Six-Party Talks. "China expects to work with the ROK to maintain and further develop the hard-won ties, and China hopes both sides make efforts to expand positive facets of China-ROK cooperation and restrain negative factors," Xi said. "Both sides should respect each other's core interests and ensure that China-ROK ties advance in a stable and sustainable way." Park told Xi that Seoul will maintain close communication with China on these issues. She said her country attaches great importance to ties with China and is committed to pushing forward bilateral ties "based on mutual trust". Seoul's Korean Joongang Daily newspaper said on its website on Thursday that Park would try to ease tensions with Beijing over the THAAD issue during her China trip. Wang Junsheng, an Asia-Pacific studies researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said a deployment of the THAAD system would severely degrade the security situation on the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang has repeatedly launched missiles after the THAAD announcement, while the system will also hamper international cooperation, especially that between China and the US, on Peninsula affairs, he said. lixiaokun@chinadaily.com.cn (China Daily 09/06/2016 page2) US leader says two countries will increase their cooperation US President Barack Obama said on Monday that his meeting with President Xi Jinping will help the two countries to "manage problems" and improve bilateral ties. The remark came two days after Obama and Xi met on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in the lakeside city of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. Noting that it was his eighth meeting with Xi, Obama told reporters at the hotel where he was staying that China and the United States have agreed to increase cooperation in areas including climate change, peacekeeping, development and cybersecurity. In his opening remarks, Obama expressed gratitude to Xi and the Chinese people for hosting the G20 summit in the "beautiful city" of Hangzhou. The US president said that compared with the situation of the economic crisis in 2008, the G20 members including the US and other countries have improved their economies. Obama also answered questions, including about his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, his upcoming visit to Laos and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. China's Foreign Ministry said that when Xi met with Obama he urged that both sides follow the principles of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, that they deepen mutual trust, and that they manage and control their differences in a constructive manner. Xi said China and the US have carried out fruitful cooperation under the G20 framework, and they have maintained close coordination and communication with regard to the preparation of the G20 Leaders Summit, according to the ministry. Ni Jianping, a senior researcher at the Shanghai Institute of American Studies, said the meeting between Xi and Obama will have positive effects on China-US cooperation in the field of global governance. The two countries' cooperation during the Summit on climate change issues will be an important diplomatic legacy of the Obama administration, Ni said. Xi and Obama jointly announced on Saturday, the eve of the summit, that they had agreed to join the Paris Agreement on climate change. "President Xi has emphasized many times that the common interests of China and the US are far larger than their disputes," Obama said, adding that the two countries have made practical progress in areas including anti-terrorism, nonproliferation, anti-piracy and anti-tobacco. Highlights of the consensus and outcomes reached during the meeting between President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama Commit to using all policy tools - monetary, fiscal and structural - to foster confidence and strengthen growth. Reaffirm that they will refrain from competitive devaluations and not target exchange rates for competitive purposes. Reaffirm that any realignment under the IMF's 15th General Review of Quotas is expected to result in increased shares for dynamic economies in line with their relative positions in the world economy, and thus likely in the share of emerging market and developing countries as a whole. Recognize the significant progress of the ongoing Bilateral Investment Treaty negotiations and recent exchange of the third revised and significantly improved negative list offers. The US reiterated its commitment to encouraging and facilitating exports of commercial high-tech items to China for civilian users and for civilian purposes. Launch consultation on the establishment of a dialogue mechanism between their joint staff departments. Conduct joint training and seminars on familiarization and utilization of the Rules of Behavior for Safety of Air and Maritime Encounters before the end of this year, when Chinese naval ships make a port of call in the US. To hold the third China-US High-Level Joint Dialogue on Cybercrime and Related Issues in Washington DC in December. Continue to deepen and strengthen law enforcement cooperation, including fugitive repatriation and criminal assets recovery. China expressed appreciation for the US' designation of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement as a terrorist group. Two giant pandas play around in the wild. WWF Downgrade from 'endangered' doesn't mean the iconic species is no longer at risk, experts say China's furry national icon has been downgraded from "endangered" to "vulnerable" on the global list of species at risk of extinction. But experts in China warn that the good news for the giant panda could be short-lived and may require an even greater conservation investment. The International Union for Conservation of Nature announced the downgrade on Monday in Hawaii. It said that evidence from a series of national surveys indicates that the previous population decline has been reversed. The union's Red List is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of species, which are classified into nine groups. Endangered means "high risk of extinction in the wild" while vulnerable means "high risk of endangerment in the wild". The State Forestry Administration said in an official statement: "It is too early to say that the giant panda is no longer endangered." China's fourth panda census, the results of which were released in 2015 by the administration, showed 1,864 wild pandas worldwide as of the end of 2013. That compares with 1,596 wild pandas worldwide in the third census carried out from 2000 to 2002. But 24 of the 33 groups of wild pandas found in the fourth census - whose results were released in February last year - are endangered, with some groups having fewer than 30 pandas. Eighteen groups have fewer than 10 pandas each and are in severe danger of extinction. It is predicted that a warming planet will wipe out more than one-third of the panda's bamboo habitat in the next 80 years, the administration quoted the union as saying. "Based on the current situation, we think it would cause irreversible damage to pandas and their habitat, and reverse the gains made during the last two decades, if we downgrade the protection level," the statement said. Zhang Hemin, chief of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Wenchuan county, Sichuan province, agreed. "More than 80 percent of the world's wild pandas are scattered in Sichuan. Their habitat in the province is very vulnerable, since Sichuan is prone to earthquakes," Zhang said. Zhang Zhihe, chief of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Sichuan, said wild pandas survive solely along the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in six mountain ranges in China. "With most valleys in their ranges inhabited by humans, many panda populations are isolated in narrow belts of bamboo no more than 1,000 to 2,000 meters in width," he said. "So their actual geographical range is much smaller than generally depicted on maps." Lo Sze-ping, CEO of conservation group WWF China, said after decades of work, it is clear that only a broad approach will be able to secure the long-term survival of China's giant pandas and their unique habitat. Professors, students and distinguished guests celebrate the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Sino-British College, the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn] The Sino-British College, a joint venture between the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology and nine UK universities, all members of the Northern Consortium UK, celebrated its 10th anniversary at the weekend. SBC is the only higher education institution in Shanghai that brings together a Shanghai university with nine others from the UK, offering pathways to the UK universities and providing a vast choice in terms of institutions and programs for students to continue their studies, mainly related to majors in business, and science and technology. SBC said its vision is to be renowned as an international hub and center of excellence, attracting students and faculty from all over the world, with a reputation for developing socially responsible and innovative leaders capable of operating in different cultural settings. SBC principal John Wilson said the college has an ambitious growth plan. "Our 2025 vision includes establishing a postgraduate portfolio, constructing two research centers, one focusing on enterprise and innovation and the other on cross-cultural leadership, and achieving a step change in our international student profile," he said. The college has 1,600 students, including about 100 from 30 foreign countries and regions. It also has nearly 80 foreign professors and teachers recruited from around the world. A policeman checks Moutai at a restaurant. [Photo/Zhengzhou Evening News] Police in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan Province, have arrested 21 suspects, including 14 waiters at a local restaurant, for substituting their customers' genuine Moutai liquor with counterfeit versions, Zhengzhou Evening News reported. On August 15, a restaurant owner surnamed Li tipped off police about the theft. For two months, waiters had been replacing expensive Moutai liquor that customers had brought to the restaurant, as well as that stored in the restaurant's warehouse. Local police said 14 of the restaurant's 15 waiters were involved in the case, while the famed distilled Chinese liquor was worth approximately 650,000 yuan ($97,224). According to Wang, a waiter at the restaurant, the stolen Moutai was resold for 450 yuan a bottle. Three of the waiters, surnamed Dong, Liu and Chen, had bought cars and property with money made from the thefts. Even after they were arrested, their bank cards continued to see large amounts of money come in, the paper reported. All suspects have pleaded guilty and further investigations are underway. Chen Jianbin. [Photo provided to China Daily] Chen Jianbin, who won two major awards at the Taipei Golden Horse Awards in 2014, returns to small screen. On a recent Beijing event, the 46-year-old actor unveiled the backdrop of his latest TV series, Chinese-style Relationship. Revolving on the Chinese recognition of guanxi, or networking, the 36-episode series explores the different ways of thinking between the West and East, through the perspectives from a middle-aged official and an overseas-educated designer. The series will run on Beijing Satellite TV from Sept 8, with two episodes every night. Chen said the script impressed him, for it applies a dark-humor narration to examine the middle-age crisis and ordinary people's struggles. Chen won the best actor and best new director awards at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival for his directorial debut, A Fool, in which he plays the protagonist. Related: 'A love for Separation': mid-August treat for Chinese audiences Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a keynote speech at the Business 20 (B20) summit in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 3, 2016. [Xinhua/Ma Zhancheng] This years G20 summit is being held in an environment experiencing a sluggish economic period and people around the world are watching this with eagerness and hope. Apart from looking at the new growth drivers, leaders around the world are also interested in developing a sustainable growth agenda and to some extent see Chinas rapid growth with awe and interest. President Xi delivered his keynote at the B20 meeting on Saturday. He started his speech on a personal note talking about his work in Hangzhou and the development of the region from humble beginnings, bringing in a personal touch to international business and diplomacy. His speech was full of enthusiasm and hope; of clear blue skies and lakes and rivers with clean, clear waters. He talked about Chinas success in achieving tremendous growth outcomes despite the challenges of starting as a poor nation with a population of over 1.3 billion and turning into the second largest economy in the world. Path to success for China may not have been easy but they have achieved this with perseverance, resolve and dedication. Some may argue China has pursued path of economic growth at the cost of environment. This growth in China has not been even. It has been focused on economic outcomes. China has more than 6 per cent of its people living in extreme poverty. Recently China has shifted its growth focus to be equitable and inclusive and has implemented policies that are aimed at alleviation of poverty and had some success in this regard. His speech had all key elements included that were expected in his speech such as balancing of social and market model, continuing with its efforts in globalization, achieving common prosperity, deepen reforms etc. President Xi presented Chinas strategies to provide impetus for future economic growth such as; innovation driven development strategy to provide stronger and new growth drivers, green development, promoting equity and further opening to achieve greater mutual benefit. A Pro-Europe demonstrator waves a flag during a "March for Europe" protest against the Brexit vote result earlier in the year, in London, Britain, September 3, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] LONDON - British members of parliament on Monday will debate a public petition calling for a second Brexit referendum which has so far attracted more than 4.1 million signatures. According to the schedule on the British Parliament website, the three-hour-long debate among members of the House of Commons will start at 4:30 pm local time. The petition urges the government to implement a rule for another referendum since neither of the remain or leave vote in June's Brexit referendum won over 60 percent with a turnout less than 75 percent. The referendum saw the Leave campaign win by 52 percent to 48 percent with a turnout slightly over 71 percent. Over 30 million British voted. British Prime Minister Theresa May has said that the decision of Brexit must be respected and "Brexit means Brexit." According to the official response from British Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the Parliament petition website, the government believed that the European Union Referendum Act, which Britain complies with, does not set a threshold for the result or for minimum turnout in an referendum. "We must now prepare for the process to exit the EU and the government is committed to ensuring the best possible outcome for the British people in the negotiations," the office said. MPs are obliged to consider any petition which receives more than 100,000 signatures for debate in Parliament. PYONGYANG - Top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un has guided the test-firing of ballistic rockets by the strategic force, the official news agency KCNA reported Tuesday. Taking part in the test-firing drill were Hwasong artillery units of the strategic force of the Korean People's Army, who are tasked with hitting the US military bases in the Pacific, the state media said. The drill was aimed to reexamine the flight security and guided accuracy of the improved ballistic rockets deployed for action and to assess and inspect capabilities of the units for action, it noted. The state media described the test-firing as "perfect" and said the drill has proved that the strategic force of the military is "capable of mounting a preemptive attack on the enemies any time and from any place." Kim, who was satisfied with the test result, instructed to make more achievements in bolstering nuclear force and to bring the military deterrent on a higher lever through development of nuclear arsenal. The state media did not give the date and place of the test-firing drill. South Korean defense ministry has said that the DPRK on Monday fired three ballistic missiles into its eastern waters at about 12:14 pm Seoul time near Hwangju county in North Hwanghae province. The missile launches came less than two weeks after Pyongyang test-fired a ballistic missile from a submarine off its east coastal town of Sinpo, where a submarine base is known to be located, on Aug 24. The submarine-launched ballistic missile flew some 500 km eastward, falling inside Japan's air defense identification zone for the first time. The submarine-launched ballistic missile test was conducted in an apparent show of force toward the annual US-South Korea military drills, codenamed Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG), which had run from Aug 22 to Sept 2. German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends the opening ceremony of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China, September 4, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday said she was "very unhappy" with the outcome of the election result in the northern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Merkel also acknowledged some responsibility for the poor performance of her party during the election, German news television N-TV reported. As chancellor and party leader, "I am also responsible," she was quoted as saying in a statement on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in China's Hangzhou. Federal policy issues, particularly the refugee policy, had overridden everything else there, said the Chancellor. Therefore, Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) can "not harvest" the fruits of their good work in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. At the same time she defended her policy by saying "I think the fundamental decisions, as we have made it so far, are right." According to Merkel, many people do not have enough confidence in Merkel's Union party to address the difficult issues. The Union party is a bloc of CDU and its Bavarian sister party Christian Social Union (CSU).It was now important to regain that trust, she said. In the state election in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on Sunday, the CDU had only become the third strongest political force, achieving the worst result in their history in the state. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) won the election, while Germany's anti-migration party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) came in second. Demonstrators hold signs at a rally of the Chinese community to raise awareness about recent attacks in Paris, France, September 4, 2016.[Photo/Agencies] PARIS - Thousands of Chinese living in France marched Sunday in Paris to protest against insecurity and crimes targeting Chinese after a Chinese textile designer died after being attacked last month in Paris suburbs. Police data showed about 15,000 people attended the rally on Sunday, the largest gathering of Chinese community since 2012. Wearing white T-shirts, protesters waved French flags and chanted "Security for all"," Freedom, equality, fraternity and security." The wave of protests came after 49-year-old Zhang Chaolin died last month after five days in a coma. He had been mugged in the northern Paris suburb of Aubervilliers by three men who stole his bag. "The Chinese community does not talk much. It is very discreet and here people have finally decided to say something ... The message at this protest is that all communities feel concerned," Veronique Yang,said a Sino-French journalist, adding: "we are citizens with full French citizenship." Stephane Cheng, a French of Chinese origin said the reason for the rally was "to put pressure on the government so that our demands will better been taken into account." "People need to feel protected by the French government when they come to France, and for us, it is still not enough," he added. Caroline Zhang, a Chinese student who has lived in Paris for three years, does not dare to go out at night. "I am not reassured to go out because I have friends who are being robbed..." she said. "The Chinese have reputation for carrying a lot of cash on them. But, we are targeted for nothing," she said. In Sunday's peaceful protest, many French people joined Chinese protesters to express solidarity with them. John Pergouret, manager of Saphir Eurasia Promotion agency, said: "I have a network on WeChat where many Chinese tourists I work with were attacked. They feel insecure and I'm demonstrating along with the Chinese community because we are all concerned." Zhang Wenhui, a veteran of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, unveils the monument to Norman Bethune at Chengdu's Jianchuan Museum, in Southwest China's Sichuan province, on April 15, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] Chinese and Canadian art institutions will co-create a musical, "Bethune", to commemorate Canadian doctor Norman Bethune, a household name in China who devoted his life to healing people of this land during war, according to a report at xinhuanet.com on September 2. Chinese musical writer Yu Rongjun will join Canadian director Brian Hill and composer Neil Bartram for the musical creation, according to an agreement signed by the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre and the Canada Sheridan College Musical Theater in Shanghai. Chinese artists will launch an art collection tour and a workshop in Canada next year and release the Chinese version of the musical in 2018, while later releasing the English version on a North America tour in 2019. "Bethune stayed in North China's Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Hebei province after arrived at China in 1937," Yu said. Those regions are famous for their folk music and songs, and we are looking for Chinese composers to work with Canadian composers for musicals with both international and Chinese elements." The musical will present both international war scenes and Chinese style music on the stage, Yu says. "From Canada to Spain to China, Bethune experienced a lot through his short but brilliant life. He must have looked for some kind of spirit, and the spirit has supported him travelling from a peaceful and plentiful land to a war-ridden place far away from home. The spirit also supported him to adapt to the enormous change in his life and finally devoted his life to the people of another country. This kind of spirit is rare and precious at any time and in any place," Yu said. As a member of the Canadian Communist Party, Bethune went to China as head of a medical team to help with the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in 1937. The doctor set up a mobile hospital in Yan'an, a center of the Chinese revolution, and helped save the lives of thousands. Recently, 14 ministries and commissios including National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) and Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) have jointly issued "National Action Plan for Containment of Bacterial Resistance (2016~2020)" to cope with increasingly severe antibiotic resistance problems in China, decrease irrational use of antibacterial drugs, and strengthen the construction of system for the application of antibacterial drugs and the control of bacterial resistance. This Plan definitely specifies that strategies and measures for comprehensive control will be implementednationwide in many domains to enhance monitoring in each link of antibacterial drugs from research & development, production, circulation, application to environmental protection, to reinforce publicity and education activities and international communication and cooperation and to cope with the challenge of risks brought by bacterial resistance. This Plan also presents nine main measures for the containment of bacterial resistance, including to take advantages of combination prevention and control to perform responsibilities of each department, to enhance antibacterial related R&Defforts, to reinforce the management of supply and supporting of antibacterial drugs, to strengthen the construction of system for the application of antibacterial drugs and the control of bacterial resistance, to improve monitoring system for the application of antibacterial drugs and the control of bacterial resistance, to increase the ability of professional staff to prevent and control bacterial resistance, to enhance the prevention and control of environmental pollution owing to antibacterial drugs, to augment publicity and education in the public and to develop extensive international communication and cooperation. In order to promote Sino-French cooperation in nosocomial infection and bacterial resistance, NHFPC (former Ministry of Health of PRC)and French Fondation MerieuxsponsoredCooperative Project for Nosocomial Infection Control (HAI Project 2008~2010) in 2008, mainly for conducting activities to study clinical etiological diagnosis and epidemiology of drug resistance bacteria (especially MRSA) and to controlclinical interventions and risk factors. Based upon nineGrade 3comprehensive hospitalsnationwide powerful in nosocomial infection control and clinical laboratory including Peking Union Medical College Hospital and China-Japan Friendship Hospital, a lot of work was done in the implementation of nosocomial infection control and etiological diagnosis, baseline investigation and prevention & control interventions of infections owing to multidrug-resistant bacteria, the formulation and implementation of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), the staff training and other aspects, having achieved great success. Following this HAI project, Fondation Merieux and Chinese Medical Association (CMA) jointly sponsored CARE project (China Against Drug Resistance) in 2013. In that November, the president of French Fondation Merieux Mr. Alain Merieuxsigned the strategic collaboration MOU of CARE project in Beijing with the vice-president of CMA Mr. Liu Yanfei. Meanwhile, Mr. Chen Zhu, Vice-Chairperson of The National People's Congress (NPC) of the PRC and president of CMA at that time attended and witnessed the signing ceremony together with numerous experts and scholars from scientific research and health domains. This project was a new strategy after the HAI Project for Nosocomial Infection Control (2008~2010). This collaboration will continue to promote Sino-French cooperation and communication in health field, share experiences and techniques in the rational use of antibiotics between two countries,and further improve scientific and standardized level of China's antibacterial drugs. In November 2013, the president of Fondation Merieux Mr. Alain Merieux signed the strategic collaboration MOU of CARE in Beijing with Mr. Liu Yanfei, vice-president of CMA. In December 2015, CARE project was launched formally. Meanwhile, Mr. Christophe Longuet,the medical director of Fondation Merieux, andAcademicianLi Lanjuan, the chief physician of the First Affiliated Hospital of Medical School of Zhejiang University anddirector of State Key Laboratory for Infectious Diseases Diagnosis and Treatment (SKLID)and vice-president of CMA, signed Strategic Collaboration MOU on the behalf of Fondation Merieux, andthe First Affiliated Hospital of Medical School of Zhejiang University together with Zhejiang University International Hospital respectively. This project is aiming to improve the rational use of antibacterial drugs in China, increase the level of nosocomial infection control and apply advanced international achievements in the rational use of antibacterial drugs and the monitoring of bacterial resistance in China. In December 2015, Mr. Christophe Longuet, the medical director of Fondation Merieux, and academician Li Lanjuan, thedirector of SKLID and vice-president of CMA, signed Strategic Collaboration MOU on the behalf of Fondation Merieux and The First Affiliated Hospital of Medical School of Zhejiang University together with Zhejiang University International Hospital respectively. Concrete work of CARE was planned as a whole by SKLID of Zhejiang University. Under the leadership of Academician Li Lanjuan, the deputy director of SKLIDProf. Xiao Yonghong will lead the project team to work together in monitoring drug resistance, training staffs, carrying out seminars, establishing supervising system and mechanism for the rational use of antibacterial drugs and the nosocomial infection control, formulating Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the rational use of antibacterial drugs and the nosocomial infection control, etc. Prof. Xiao Yonghong indicated in the interview that both doctors and patients have misunderstandings in antibiotics, and that the more you eat antibiotics, the greater the risk of developing AMR. Therefore, a long-term proposal is needed for China to cope with challenges brought by bacterial resistance and the available monitoring of bacterial resistance needs to be further developed. In addition, Prof. Xiao indicate this G20 Leaders Summit in Hangzhou include a session on fighting AMR through global cooperation. The effort must start within each country. With G20 Summit being held in Hangzhou, concrete work of CARE Project will be carried out formally in the First Affiliated Hospital of Medical School of Zhejiang University. VIENTIANE - Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's upcoming tour to Laos will significantly enhance relations between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China-Laos comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, Chinese ambassador to Laos said on Monday. During his stay in Laos on Sept 6-9, Li will attend the 11th East Asia Summit in Vientiane and pay an official visit to Laos. Guan Huabing, Chinese ambassador to Laos, told Xinhua in a recent interview that since this year marks the 55th anniversary of the establishment of China-Laos diplomatic ties and the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the China-ASEAN dialogue relationship, Li's visit is expected to push forward regional integration in East Asia. Prior to his official visit to Laos, the Chinese premier will arrive at Vientiane on Tuesday to attend the 19th China-ASEAN Summit to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the China-ASEAN dialogue relationship, the 19th ASEAN Plus Three (China, South Korea and Japan) Summit and the 11th East Asia Summit. Guan said that as neighbors with close culture relations, intervolving interests and common destiny, China and ASEAN in the past 25 years have developed their dialogue relationship into the most dynamic one among all dialogue relationships of ASEAN. According to Guan, Li will review achievements reached between China and ASEAN with leaders from the 10-nation bloc, summarize constructive experience and raise a series of new Chinese initiatives so as to develop new pillars for bilateral ties, and to take the 25th anniversary of the China-ASEAN dialogue relationship as an opportunity to upgrade China-ASEAN ties and push East Asian cooperation to a new high. China and Laos, linked by rivers and mountains, have enjoyed a long history of friendship and are "good neighbors, good friends, good comrades and good partners," said Guan Since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries 55 years ago, the development of China-Laos relations has withstood tests and scored substantial progress featuring deepened comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, closer high-level exchanges and fruitful achievements from pragmatic cooperation in all sectors, thus benefiting the peoples of the two countries, he said. Guan noted that the highly compatible strategies between China's initiative on the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (the Belt and Road initiative) and Laos' strategy of turning itself from a "landlocked" country into a "land-linked" country will expand the space for further deepening cooperation between the two sides. According to the ambassador, China has now become Laos' largest source of foreign investment, largest donor country and the second largest trading partner. The last year witnessed the laying of the cornerstone for the China-Laos railway, the launch of a communication satellite "LaoSat-1" developed for Laos by China, record high trade volume and deeper cooperation in defense, security, people to people exchanges between the two sides. The two countries have also enjoyed close cooperation on international and regional affairs and worked together to make positive contributions to maintaining peace, stability and development in the region. Guan said China believes that Laos, which took over the rotating chair of ASEAN immediately after the establishment of the ASEAN Community on Dec. 31, 2015, will play an important role in boosting regional cooperation and maintaining regional peace and stability. China will continue to fully support Laos' role as ASEAN's chair for 2016, he added. Lao President Bounnhang Vorachit visited China in May shortly after he was elected president of Laos in April and became general secretary of the Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party in January. During the visit, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Bounnhang stressed the importance of building an unshakable community of common destiny between the two sides, drawing a blueprint for the development of ties between the two countries and the Communist Party of China and the Lao People's Revolutionary Party. Guan said that during his upcoming visit to Laos, Li will exchange views with Lao leaders on further deepening the China-Laos comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, pushing forward the implementation of the Belt and Road initiative, and boosting cooperation in various fields. Leaders from the two sides will also witness the signing of a series of cooperation documents. The visit will inject robust driving force into the deepening of bilateral relations, he added. Drinking water from the same river and having destinies intertwined, peoples of the two countries hope that the traditional friendship between China and Laos will be injected with new vigor in the new era, and bring about more benefits for all, he said. VIENTIANE - Senior Officials from across South-East Asia met in the Lao capital Vientiane Monday ahead of the arrival of regional and world leaders for the Association of Southeast Asian Nation's (ASEAN) 28th and 29th Summits, East Asia Summit and related meetings from Tuesday to Thursday. The agenda of Monday's Senior Officials Preparatory Meeting (Prep-SOM) included discussion of final arrangements and draft documents ahead of the start of regional summits that involve participation of leaders of the 10-member bloc as well as those of dialogue partners. Meanwhile, ministers of foreign affairs as well as commerce, trade and economic matters from South-East Asia are also meeting in the capital for related meetings including the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit 2016 being held from Monday to Wednesday due to be opened by Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith Monday afternoon. The meetings come as heads of state and government from the 10-member bloc are set to arrive in Vientiane Tuesday morning ahead of the commencement of the 28th ASEAN Summit Tuesday Afternoon. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will be joined by leaders of fellow ASEAN dialogue partners including Australia, India, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States. Premier Li will also meet ASEAN state leaders including host chair Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith in marking 25 years of dialogue partner relations at the 19th ASEAN China Summit as well as joining leaders of fellow dialog partner nations at the multilateral 11th East Asia Summit. The ASEAN summits and related meetings are also seen as notable for the participation of US President Barack Obama, marking the first visit of a US leader to Laos. A view of the Patuxai, Victory Gate or Gate of Triumph in Vientiane, Laos on Sept 3, 2016. [Photo/IC] VIENTIANE - Heads of state and government of the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gather in Vientiane from Tuesday to Thursday for their 28th and 29th summits with the theme "Turning Vision into Reality for a Dynamic ASEAN Community". ASEAN, a regional bloc comprising 10 southeast Asian nations, aims to promote intergovernmental cooperation and facilitate economic integration among its members. It was originally established in August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The group has now expanded to include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. ASEAN has a combined population of approximately 625 million people, accounting for 8.8 percent of the world's total. In 2015, the bloc's combined nominal GDP had grown to more than $2.8 trillion. At its 27th summit in Kuala Lumpur in November 2015, ASEAN announced that the ASEAN Community would be established on Dec. 31, 2015. It was a historic development and an important milestone in the envolvement of the regional bloc since its foundation. The ASEAN Community has three pillars: the Political-Security Community, the Economic Community and the Socio-Cultural Community. ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together, which was endorsed at the 27th summit, charts the path for the ASEAN Community building over the next 10 years. It is a forward looking roadmap that articulates ASEAN goals and aspirations to realize further consolidation, integration and stronger cohesiveness as a community. ASEAN is working toward a community that is "politically cohesive, economically integrated, and socially responsible". VIENTIANE - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) opened its 28th and 29th summits here Tuesday in the Lao capital, with the theme of "Turning Vision into Reality for a Dynamic ASEAN Community". At the opening ceremony, Thongloun Sisoulith, Lao prime minister and ASEAN's rotating chair, called on member states to make sustained and concerted efforts in implementing the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the three Community Blueprints so as to advance ASEAN Community. "In this spirit, the Lao PDR has adopted the theme 'Turning Vision into Reality for a Dynamic ASEAN Community' for its 2016 ASEAN Chairmanship," he said, adding that his country has identified eight priorities covering the three pillars of the ASEAN Community. Thongloun said the eight priorities will be translated into various frameworks and documents, such as Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025, Initiative for ASEAN Integration Work Plan III and ASEAN Trade Facilitation Framework. ASEAN, the sixth largest economy in the world, has become a region of peace and stability, providing favorable conditions for sustainable regional economic development, he noted. Following the opening ceremony, the 28th and 29th ASEAN summits will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. As for the related leaders' meetings scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, namely the ASEAN+1 Summits, Summit on Commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations, ASEAN+3 (China, Japan and South Korea) Summit, and the East Asia Summit, ASEAN member countries will discuss cooperation with their dialogue partners. Speaking at the opening ceremony, Thongloun also mentioned that while ASEAN has continued to strengthen its internal cooperation, the bloc will strive to expand relations with its external partners. Is it possible to be both a Christian and a libertarian? In a forthcoming book, Called to Freedom: Why You Can Be Christian & Libertarian, six Christian libertarians offer an emphatic, yes, exploring key tensions and challenging a range common critiques (whether from conservative Christians or secular libertarians). The project is currently seeking funds via Indiegogo, where you can donate or pre-order your copy. Having already discussed the topic on numerous occasions with two of the books authors Jacqueline Isaacs and Elise Daniel I asked them a few questions about their latest endeavor, the overarching ideas, and what they hope to achieve. How did you become libertarian Christians? ED: I grew up in a Christian, conservative home. Because of my upbringing, I always assumed Christians were also conservatives. Growing up, I didnt know much about libertarians, other than that they wanted to legalize drugs, so I thought there was at least some sort of moral gap between Christians and libertarians. I grew stronger in both my faith and political convictions in college. I studied economics and attended an economics seminar on free markets. It was there that I was first introduced to Austrian economists like Ludwig Von Mises and Friedrich Hayek. For the first time, I was thinking about economics from a classical liberal framework, and it made a lot of sense to me. During the seminar, I had conversations with students and professors who called themselves libertarian and realized some of my assumptions like that libertarians were all moral relativists were false. I came out of that week with serious doubts about the role of liberty in modern conservatism and more respect for the libertarian perspective. JI: I also grew up as a Christian in a conservative home. I viewed politics as a web of distinct issues, and being pro-life and anti-taxes just seemed to make me a conservative. It wasnt until I was in high school that I began to understand holistic political philosophies and libertarianism, specifically by reading books like The Law by Frederic Bastiat. I realized that caring about things like free markets and low taxes and the dignity of life didnt make me a conservative; I cared about those things because of a worldview that valued freedom and that worldview was informed by my Christian faith. How do you define liberty more broadly, as Christians? JI: As Christians, we believe we were created in Gods image, but now exist in a fallen, sinful state where we are not free to express Gods image fully. However, Christ has offered us redemption, through which we are reconciled to him and can again do his work to help restore the world and bring about his Kingdom. We unpack this more in the book and we use this framework of creation fall redemption restoration to discuss our political philosophy. Liberty, understood through this story, is our gift through Christ to overcome our sin and again show Gods image to the world around us. This is why Paul speaks of being free, but using his freedom to be a servant to others. (1 Cor 9:19, Galatians 5:13) Our co-author, Jason Hughey, gives a broad definition of libertarianism in his chapter, but the important thing about this book is that the six authors represent a wide range of libertarian thought, just as we do a wide range of theological traditions. We dont all agree on every minute policy issue, but we all agree that liberty is the highest political end. Lord Acton famously said, liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. We use the word liberty in the same manner as he did. We want people, all of us imperfect image-bearers of God, to be able to create value in society, engage actively in community, and bring glory to God unhindered by the government. How does that view of liberty lead to or connect with political liberty as advanced by libertarianism? JI: Our broad view of liberty connects to this libertarian political philosophy by keeping some perspective on what a political philosophy is and is not. We hold worldviews, informed by our Christian faith, that promote liberty. A libertarian political philosophy is an application of that worldview onto the political sphere. In a way, our libertarian political philosophy is a sub-category of our great worldview, but not the totality of it. We see other Christian worldviews, such as ones with a strong justice focus, holding liberal political philosophies. We also see non-Christian worldviews that can hold libertarian political philosophies, such as Objectivism. One of the main points of our book comes from this idea: we are all Christians first and then libertarians. Given that prioritization Christians first, libertarians second do you see any tensions between the two? ED: It was at the same economics seminar I mentioned earlier that I also first encountered a strong tension between Christianity and libertarianism. During our discussion groups, one student told me I couldnt be both a libertarian and a Christian because libertarianism was rational and faith in God was not. On another occasion, a student made a case for self-ownership over state ownership, mocking the possibility of God as the owner of mankind. I received foul looks from a philosophy professor when I told him I appreciated the teachings of Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas. While I didnt expect the group of students to be overwhelmingly Christian, I didnt expect to be met with such hostility either. What may have disturbed me the most, though, was the general support for Ayn Rands moral philosophy, which promotes selfishness as a virtue and self-sacrifice as a vice. I realized later that I could still be a libertarian without accepting Rands bizarre moral philosophy, but all of these experiences made me question whether or not my faith was truly compatible with libertarianism since I felt like the only Christian in the room. So how do you address that? One critique of libertarianism is that its too individualistic to square with the sacrificial and communal obligations of Christianity. How does your view of Christian libertarianism frame the individual in relation to community? JI: This is one of the biggest arguments that I hear from conservative Christians, and its important to all of us that we address this concern. As libertarian Christians, we believe that Christians need to take on more responsibility as individuals, families, and communities. Freedom requires more of us, not less of us. The free society that we dream of requires that we are radically involved in our communities. Again, as imperfect image-bearers of God, we are charged with imitating Him in our world. The way I like to frame this, and how I say it in the book is, God created everything out of nothing, and we can create economic value out of scarcity. God redeems us from our sins, and we work towards redeeming others from poverty, ignorance, and disease. God respects our freedom, even to reject Him, and we respect the freedom of others in our society. Given that many conservative Christians see liberty as a central part of what theyre conserving (at least in the American political system), where does libertarianism diverge from conservative principles and priorities? JI: Earlier, and throughout the book, we talk about experiencing a tension between our faith and political liberty. I argue in my chapter that this tension is a result of the fall. While we were made to exist in perfect relationship with God and in perfect liberty, we are no longer able to do so because of the fall. Experiencing this tension is not wrong, it is a fact of our fallen lives, which is a major theme of our book. While this may be an oversimplification, when traditional Christian values and individual liberty come into tension in our political conversations, conservatives tend to default towards protecting our values and morals, while libertarians will default towards protecting liberty. This is another example where we say liberty requires more of us, not less of us. We believe that Christians should aim to protect or conserve both our values and liberty. Why did you all decide to write this book? What do you hope for it to accomplish? ED: We all met in 2012 in a young professionals book club in the D.C. area that focused on the intersection of Christianity and economic freedom. We read books like Defending the Free Market by Father Sirico, A Humane Economy by Wilhelm Ropke, even a book by Jim Wallis about the financial crisis (that one was opposition research). The group members ranged from conservative to libertarian, igniting a dynamic conversation about the compatibility of political liberty with Christianity. When I was offered an opportunity to fill a panel at the International Students for Liberty Conference in 2014, I wanted to bring this very conversation about the role of faith and political liberty to a libertarian conference, so I threw out an open invitation to the book club and the authors of the book are the five panelists who joined me. We called ourselves The Jesus Panel and it drew more attention than we expected every seat was filled and dozens of students stood packed in the back of the room. After our presentation, we talked to several students, both Christians and non-Christians, who thanked us for being there. Some of them reminded me of myself when I was at that first seminar, wondering if I was the only Christian among so many agnostic libertarians. The students inspired us to get our ideas down on paper so that the next time we speak with a someone caught in the middle between Christianity and libertarianism, we can hand them a tool that will help them articulate their beliefs and remind them they arent alone in wrestling with these ideas. On top of that, I hope this book helps change the perception of libertarians in Christian circles. I believe the success of the liberty movement in drawing in conservatives hinges on welcoming and embracing the Christian faith. For more on Called to Freedom, see the Indiegogo page. Acton Institute Director of Programs Paul Bonicelli walked a few blocks down the road here in Grand Rapids, Michigan this morning for an in-studio interview with host Justin Barclay on WOOD Radios West Michigan Live. Paul is a recent addition to Actons staff and does a fine job of introducing himself, and also provides a preview of Actons upcoming fall events calendar. You can listen to the full interview via the audio player below. AFP Misleads Again, This Time About World Vision | Main | NYT's Peter Baker: Word Choices and Attitudes September 06, 2016 New York Times Covers Anti-Coptic Violence Admirably Rod Nordland speaking at the National Press Club earlier this year. (YouTube screenshot.) The New York Times offered its readers some excellent reporting about anti-Christian violence in Egypt. In a piece by Rod Nordland published on Sept. 4, 2016, the Times recounts the ongoing violence against Coptic Christians in Egypt and details the varying responses that this violence elicits from different parts of the Coptic Orthodox Church. The article, titled Egypts Christians Say They Are at a Breaking Point? also provides details about how the Sisi regime in Egypt is trying to manage the public relations crisis anti-Christian violence presents to the government. The article opens with a quote from Imam Mahmoud Gomaa, a Muslim cleric who has been appointed to keep the peace? in upper Egypt, the scene of regular acts of anti-Christian violence perpetrated by mobs of angry Muslims. Everything is good,? he said. Then, Nordland reports about how Bishop Makarios said just a few hours later? that he has nothing to do with Mahmoud Gomaa.? Its a brutal counterpoint to of Gomaas dissembling. The stark difference in viewpoints between Gomaa and Makarios sets the tone for the rest of the article, which reports that Christians in upper Egypt have suffered violence and humiliation at the hands of local mobs. Houses have been burned, Copts attacked on the streets and hate graffiti written on the walls of some churches,? Nordland reports adding that the turning point came in May when an older Christian woman was stripped naked by a mob? A few paragraphs later, Nordland returns to Imam Gomaa. No one has been killed,? the imam reports. No one has been wounded. Theres no conflict. The problem is really with the journalists writing about it.? Nordland also reports that perpetrators of anti-Christian violence in Egypt are oftentimes released without punishment and quotes Bishop Makarios as he details how Copts are oftentimes intimidated into accepting non-judicial settlements by civil society institutions that are ostensibly formed to reconcile communal differences.? Nordlands ability to produce such an effective and clear-eyed piece about Islamist violence against Christians may be rooted in his experience reporting and writing The Lovers: Afghanistan's Romeo and Juliet, the True Story of How They Defied Their Families and Escaped an Honor Killing published earlier this year by Ecco. This book tells the true story of two young Afghanis from different Muslim sects who got married over the objections of their families, objections that were rooted in part, in Islamic law. Hopefully Nordlands article will have a salutary effect on public officials inside and outside of Egypt, prompting them to take the steps necessary to protect Coptic Christians in the land of their birth. Posted by dvz at September 6, 2016 02:44 PM Guidelines for posting This is a moderated blog. We will not post comments that include racism, bigotry, threats, or factually inaccurate material. Post a comment ISIS forces young boys, age 12-14, to end lives as suicide bombers 06 September, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , | NEW YORK (Christian Examiner) The United Nations is "deeply worried" that Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East have begun recruiting child soldiers for front line fighting and suicide missions. The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Iraq said in a statement the terror group is targeting young people in at least one of the region's "displacement camps" and the children all boys are being transported to areas for active combat, many of them against their wills. "Involving children in fighting is totally unacceptable," Lise Grande, the humanitarian coordinator for Iraq said in the press release. "We are deeply concerned by the reports that this is happening." While Grande insisted that international humanitarian law prohibits military or paramilitary forces from using minors in hostilities and deploying military units to civilian areas, ISIS has shown no compunction for obeying any laws other than those prescribed in the Quran. Still, Grande said there is "nothing more important than ensuring the safety of civilians during the conflict." She said the battle to retake Mosul in northern Iraq could start again soon and place the lives of thousands of civilians at risk. ISIS is likely to use the civilians as a buffer in the fighting. "Under no circumstances can civilians be used as human shields," Grande said. "This violates all the principles of humanity." But they can be used and they are being used. They are also being used to conduct suicide operations. In two incidents in August, children were forced to participate in suicide bombings perpetrated by ISIS. Only one of them at a wedding in Turkey was successful. The child, thought to be age 12 to 14, was used to kill 51 people in a Kurdish area close to the Syrian border. The Kurds have been actively engaged in fighting ISIS along the Syrian border. In the second instance, a boy age 12 or 13 was stopped by police in Kirkuk, Iraq, shortly after another suicide bomb had gone off at an area mosque. The boy wept as police removed and disarmed his explosive vest in the Huzairan neighborhood of the Kurdish city. The boy was said to be from Mosul, where ISIS still has a strong foothold. "The boy claimed during interrogation that he had been kidnapped by masked men who put the explosives on him and sent him to the area," an intelligence officer in Kirkuk told reporters. A Christian village in Iraq has been liberated by Assyrian Christian forces after being under ISIS control for two years. ChristianToday.com reports that the village of Badaneh, which has been called a traditionally Christian village, was liberated from ISIS control by the Nineveh Plain Protection Units (NPU). "Liberation of Badanah village in #Khazer axis by NPU warriors with the support of international coalition by airstrikes, heavy and middle weapons" said a statement from the NPU. Although many celebrated the liberation of Badaneh, there has been controversy over whether Christian military forces such as the NPU should exist. Some allege that such forces are not truly Christian, and the real Christians in the region have either been driven from their homes by the conflict or are living in poverty and facing persecution. "There are no 'Christian militias', but only politicized groups and simple people who are in desperate need of a salary," stated Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako. "The remaining Christians in Iraq are only the poor and those belonging to the middle class, and among them, there are 100,000 displaced people." However, the Assyrian Confederation of Europe has said that the NPU is officially recognized and supported by the Iraqi government. Photo courtesy: Thinkstockphotos.com Publication date: September 6, 2016 Evangelist Rev. Franklin Graham has been touring the country on his Decision America Tour and urging Christians to pray for the nation. Recently, Graham reminded Christians via Facebook that this November election is the most critical in our lifetime. Graham added that so much hangs in the balance in the 2016 presidential election. Although Graham has not endorsed a candidate and has said in the past that he doesnt place his hope either in the Democratic or Republican party, he went on to urge Christians to prayerfully consider which candidates policies most closely aligns with biblical values. In his Facebook post Graham also linked to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Associations website where each party's platform is laid out in detail so that readers can analyze which candidate is the best choice. Graham has also acknowledged, according to The Christian Post, that neither candidate may be ideal, but he still encouraged Christians to exercise their voting rights. "You're just going to have to ask yourself which of the two [presumptive nominees] do you think we as Christians will at least have a voice with? he stated. Graham has been all over the country on his Decision America Tour. He was recently in Boston, Massachusetts. He will end the tour in October stopping in Richmond, Virginia, and lastly, Raleigh, North Carolina. Publication date: September 6, 2016 She may have worked in the gutters of Kolkata but she is considered one of the most influential women in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. Mother Teresa, who died in 1997 at age 87, was declared a saint at the Vatican on Sunday (Sept. 4) after dedicating her life to helping the poorest of the poor in the slums of India, and winning a Nobel Peace Prize and international renown for her efforts. More than 100,000 people and 15 official delegations attended the canonization Mass for the diminutive, Albanian-born nun in St. Peters Square amid some of the tightest security ever seen at the Vatican. At a press conference on Friday, Sister Mary Prema Pierick, superior general of the Missionaries of Charity order that Mother Teresa founded, reminisced about how her predecessor touched their lives. I was impressed by the energy and leadership she demonstrated, she told reporters at the Vatican press office. We all wanted to be close to her. Pierick said the late nuns charity, tolerance and discipline inspired the nuns who worked with her. She was always our mother and also our teacher, she said. Her poverty was very simple. She shared what all the sisters had, nothing extra. Mother Teresa was born Agnese Gonxha Bojaxhiu of Albanian parents in Skopje in 1910 in what is now Macedonia. She became a nun at 16 and moved to India in 1929, creating her own order of nuns in 1950. The order has since set up hundreds of shelters for the poor and needy around the world. So great was her fame for service and sanctity that Saint John Paul II, a friend of Mother Teresas and pope at the time of her death, waived the usual five-year waiting period and opened her cause for sainthood just two years after her death. John Paul then beatified her the second step toward formal recognition as a saint in 2003. But her formula for success in holiness was simple, said the Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk, a priest of the Missionaries of Charity Fathers who campaigned for her canonization: She was always ready to show mercy and forgiveness to others. (Kolodiejchuk also quipped that Mother Teresa could turn out to be the patron saint of frequent flyers given all the traveling she did as she was much in demand after she won the Nobel Prize.) The Catholic Church has more than 10,000 saints, many of whom had to wait centuries before their elevation. Mother Teresa is a saint for everyone, for the poor and the rich and for our time, devastated by so much violence and aridity of heart, Kolodiejchuk told reporters at Fridays news conference. A few miles from the Vatican, and days before the Mass, pilgrims were lining up to collect free tickets for the canonization from the nuns of Mother Teresas order. One of them, Hiromi Josepha Kudo of Japan, said Mother Teresa inspired her to convert to Catholicism and she traveled with her mother from Tokyo to attend the canonization. We met her in 1988. She was instrumental in our baptism, she told RNS. She was like our godmother, really like a mother. Every Christmas we used to go to Kolkata to see her. The nun was also a controversial figure to some. Her critics accused her of romanticizing poverty and they questioned the quality of care in her homes and clinics. In 1991 the British medical journal the Lancet visited a home she ran for the dying in Kolkata and claimed untrained caregivers failed to recognize how some patients could have been cured. She has been credited with two miracles, both involving the healing of sick people. One of them, Marcilio Andrino of Brazil, unexpectedly recovered from a severe brain infection in 2008. He and his wife Fernanda, are in Rome to attend the canonization, which is considered a highlight of Pope Francis Holy Year of Mercy. Josephine McKenna covers the Vatican for RNS. Courtesy: Religion News Service Photo: Members of Mother Teresa's order, the Missionaries of Charity, and artist Chas Fagan, gather after the unveiling of an official canonization portrait of Mother Teresa at the John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, on September 1, 2016. Photo courtesy: REUTERS/Gary Cameron Publication date: September 6, 2016 A recent study released by Centers for Disease Control found that gay and bisexual teenagers were more vulnerable to bullying and being involved in abusive dating relationships, and were more likely to consume alcohol and drugs. The CDC interviewed about 15,624 teens from 9th to 12th grades in 125 public as well as private schools. A Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) was developed by CDC to track health-related behaviors in teens including drug, alcohol and tobacco use, sexual behaviors, and violent and risky behaviors. About 89 percent of the students identified as heterosexuals, 2 percent as gay or lesbian, and another six percent as bisexuals. Some 3 percent of the students were not sure about their sexual identity. According to the report, students who have had same-sex or bisexual relationships were more likely to consume alcohol and drugs. About 75.3 percent of the gay and bisexual students admitted to having had at least one drink in their lifetime, as compared to 62.5 percent of heterosexual students. Some 24.5 percent of LGB students had drunk alcohol before the age of 13, while only 16.3% of heterosexual students conceded to that. Gay and bisexual teens were also two to three times more likely than their heterosexual counterparts to have used a range of drugs including hallucinogens, cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, and steroids without a doctor's prescription. Gay and bisexual students were also more likely to have had sexual intercourse than heterosexual students. About 50.8 percent of the gay and bisexual teens answered affirmatively to having had sexual intercourse as compared to 40.9 percent of the heterosexual students. More LGB students (7.3 percent) than heterosexual ones (3.4 percent) had sexual intercourse before the age of 13. Homosexual and bisexual teens (17.8 percent) were three times more likely than their heterosexual classmates (5.4 percent) to have been physically forced in sexual intercourse. LGB students (17.5 percent) were also twice as likely than heterosexual ones (8.3 percent) to have had encountered physical abuse while dating during the past 12 months. A slightly higher number of LGB students (18.9 percent) as compared to heterosexual teens (16.0 percent) admitted to having carried weapons at high school. But, LGB students (10.0 percent) were twice as likely than heterosexual students (5.1 percent) to have experienced being threatened by a weapon at school premises. Suicidal thoughts were seen to be considerably high among the homosexual and bisexual teens. About 42.8 percent of the gay and bisexual students had seriously contemplated suicide, compared to 14.8 percent heterosexual teens who did so. As many as 38.2 percent of the gay and bisexual students had made plans to attempt suicide, while only 11.9 percent of the heterosexual students had done so. The school attributed the high-risk behaviour of LGB teens to "stigma and discrimination" which needed to be alleviated by "creating and sustaining positive school environments which are associated with less suicide ideation and fewer suicide attempts, lower prevalence of substance use, and fewer school absences among sexual minority students." However, according to Log Cabin Republicans President Gregory T. Angelo, education and enculturation of youths in schools cannot guarantee a clean behavior from the students. "A plurality - or even a majority - of support for the LGBT community by young Americans does not mean the next generation is devoid of homophobia or incapable of bullying and violence against their LGBT peers," he told The Stream. Professor Robert Lopez, President of the International Children's Rights Institute and a self-described bisexual, said that the unwelcoming environment cannot alone explain the high instances of relationship and substance abuse among the LGB students. "For instance, gay teens report high rates of being beaten up by their significant others, of being forced to have sex against their will by people they are dating - which would imply that in the gay dating pool there are just a lot more uncharitable behaviors in general. It is simply impossible that all these outcomes are the result of homophobia," Lopez said. "We are hearing the usual and predictable responses from LGBT activists who say that homophobia's rampant and more needs to be done for LGBT youth," he continued. "This is a questionable reading of the surveys considering that LGBT activists have had decades of support and overwhelming political sympathy from these younger generations of students, plus so much discipline is carried against any students who do homophobic things, it would seem utterly implausible that there's a massive wave of anti-LGBT violence that we are only now discovering." Angelo told The Federalist that the education authorities need to shed new light on the problem of high-risk behavior among the gay and bisexual students. "We need to look at new approaches to harm reduction in the LGBT community to lower rates of drug use and other unhealthy activities," he said. Hurricane Hermine moved away from the East Coast on Sunday and was downgraded to a tropical storm, but it appeared to have gained strength again causing high waves along the coast. Weather experts have warned that it could again be upgraded to hurricane, even as beaches remained closed amidst storm warnings. However, the hurricane is expected to hover over the sea before it again weakens by Tuesday. Rip current threats were issued for the coastline of New York, even though it appeared to have weakened and tropical storm warnings for the city were cancelled. The storm is expected to move towards Atlantic Canada but may weaken before reaching there, sparing the eastern provinces of heavy tropical wind and rainstorms. "It probably won't have any impact for winds and minimal impacts for rain. We should be reasonably safe," said Canadian meteorologist Doug Mercer. As of 11 PM EST on Monday, Hermine was at about 120 miles east of Long Islands, according to National Weather Service. The hurricane's top speed by late Monday evening was 65 mph, as it moved at an average speed of 12 mph towards the northeast. Two people have died in the storm. One of them was driving a 18-wheeler truck which was toppled by the hurricane. The other person died when a tree fell on him. Video footages and images of the flooding showed streets drowned in several feet of water in some counties, while at many other places people were seen cleaning up their homes and businesses after the storm subsided. In many areas, felled trees were being removed to clear the neighborhoods and roads. Millions of people along the eastern coast are affected by the tropical storm. Widespread damage and power outages were reported from parts of Florida, which was the first state to be hit by Hermine. Pasco County residents were ordered to evacuate the residential area because of rapidly rising water in the Anclote River. County emergency services said that the river may pass into a major flood stage. Governor Rick Scott toured the affected areas in Florida including Levy, Taylor, and Pasco counties on the Gulf Coast and surveyed the damage caused by the flooding from the tropical storm. Over 200,000 people in the state were left without power when the storm hit the state. Scott said that the government was working to restore electricity at the earliest. 'I want everybody to have their power. I want them to be able to take a hot shower,' he said. By Sunday evening, power was back in most of the homes, but about 5,300 residents were still without electricity. Another of the governor's priority was to empty the streets of the flood water, he said, as he feared that it could spread mosquito-borne diseases including Zika. "We have to get rid of standing water," Scott was quoted as saying by CBS. "That's the most important thing we can do now and after this storm hits." Other states of Georgia, Carolinas, and Virginia also faced massive power outages and infrastructure damages from flooding. Robert Stearns to Sing at St Patrick's Cathedral for 9/11 Memorial Service Contact: Stephen Jenks, NEW YORK, Sept. 6, 2016 / This solemn assembly will be marked by prayers offered by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, and will include the St. Patrick's Choir and the NY Symphonic Brass. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio will address the gathering along with the FDNY Commissioner, Daniel Nigro and Chief of Department, James Leonard. The Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) will coordinate this service, honoring the 343 members killed on September 11, 2001 and the 127 members who have died since then due to illnesses related to their work in the rescue and recovery effort at the World Trade Center. When asked about his participation at this national event, Stearns shared, "It is a tremendous privilege, and without question, the most honoring and humbling gathering I could ever take part in." Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, Exec. VP of the New York Board of Rabbis, commented, "Robert Stearns is an inspirational leader and a trusted friend to many in the NYC community. It is fitting that his beautiful gift of music will be part of this historic commemoration." This musical performance follows up Stearns' debut at Carnegie Hall in April 2013, where he was a soloist alongside the legendary Sandi Patty and Larnelle Harris. The event will be live streamed at Share Tweet Contact: Stephen Jenks, Eagles' Wings , 716-759-1058NEW YORK, Sept. 6, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- Robert Stearns, renowned musician and inspirational communicator, has been invited as the guest soloist at the St. Patrick's Cathedral on Saturday, September 10, for a service commemorating the 15th anniversary of 9/11.This solemn assembly will be marked by prayers offered by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, and will include the St. Patrick's Choir and the NY Symphonic Brass. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio will address the gathering along with the FDNY Commissioner, Daniel Nigro and Chief of Department, James Leonard.The Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) will coordinate this service, honoring the 343 members killed on September 11, 2001 and the 127 members who have died since then due to illnesses related to their work in the rescue and recovery effort at the World Trade Center.When asked about his participation at this national event, Stearns shared, "It is a tremendous privilege, and without question, the most honoring and humbling gathering I could ever take part in." Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, Exec. VP of the New York Board of Rabbis, commented, "Robert Stearns is an inspirational leader and a trusted friend to many in the NYC community. It is fitting that his beautiful gift of music will be part of this historic commemoration." This musical performance follows up Stearns' debut at Carnegie Hall in April 2013, where he was a soloist alongside the legendary Sandi Patty and Larnelle Harris.The event will be live streamed at www.saintpatrickscathedral.org/live beginning at 3:00pm EDT. For more information on the FDNY 9/11 Memorial Service, please visit www.facebook.com/FDNY Combating a Cultural Movement Toward Narcissism LOVELAND, Colo., Sept. 6, 2016 / The just released Jesus-Centered line of resources, from Lifetree and Group Publishing, helps shift a person's perspective from self-focus toward a deeper focus on Jesus. Additions to the already popular Jesus-Centered line include two devotionals, a small-group Bible study, journals, a coloring book, and two new cover colors of the award-winning Jesus-Centered Bible. Rick Lawrence, author and the general editor of the Jesus-Centered Bible, explained that the new releases zig precisely where popular influencers in culture are telling people to zag. "It's common to hear prominent figures advise people to be mindful of themselves first. Their own thoughts, their own life," Lawrence said. "These new resources help people pay a ridiculous amount of attention to Jesus instead." Highlighting the new releases is Drawn In, an interactive devotional encouraging users to doodle, design, and complete on-page experiences connecting them to Jesus. Also releasing is Center Your Life on Jesus, a 40-day devotional focusing on questions Jesus asked his followers, including "Who do you say I am?" and "Do you believe I can do this?" The Jesus-Centered line launched in September 2015 with the release of the Jesus-Centered Bible, a recent winner of the "Best Devotional/Study Bible" award at the 2016 International Christian Retailing show. Cover options include Turquoise, Charcoal, Hardcover, and the newly released Cranberry and Saddle options. The new line of Jesus-Centered resources is now available, and can be found on Lifetree is a division of Group Publishing. Lifetree is an inter-denominational organization whose mission is to connect people with Jesus and each other. Images and interviews are available upon request. Share Tweet Contact: Becky Hodges, Marketing Manager, Group Publishing, 970-292-4245; MyLifetree.com LOVELAND, Colo., Sept. 6, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- A new line of resources is challenging a current cultural trend by encouraging users to focus less on themselves.The just released Jesus-Centered line of resources, from Lifetree and Group Publishing, helps shift a person's perspective from self-focus toward a deeper focus on Jesus.Additions to the already popular Jesus-Centered line include two devotionals, a small-group Bible study, journals, a coloring book, and two new cover colors of the award-winning Jesus-Centered Bible.Rick Lawrence, author and the general editor of the Jesus-Centered Bible, explained that the new releases zig precisely where popular influencers in culture are telling people to zag."It's common to hear prominent figures advise people to be mindful of themselves first. Their own thoughts, their own life," Lawrence said. "These new resources help people pay a ridiculous amount of attention to Jesus instead."Highlighting the new releases is Drawn In, an interactive devotional encouraging users to doodle, design, and complete on-page experiences connecting them to Jesus.Also releasing is Center Your Life on Jesus, a 40-day devotional focusing on questions Jesus asked his followers, including "Who do you say I am?" and "Do you believe I can do this?"The Jesus-Centered line launched in September 2015 with the release of the Jesus-Centered Bible, a recent winner of the "Best Devotional/Study Bible" award at the 2016 International Christian Retailing show. Cover options include Turquoise, Charcoal, Hardcover, and the newly released Cranberry and Saddle options.The new line of Jesus-Centered resources is now available, and can be found on MyLifetree.com Lifetree is a division of Group Publishing. Lifetree is an inter-denominational organization whose mission is to connect people with Jesus and each other.Images and interviews are available upon request. home US Michele Bachmann: Republicans will never win again if Hillary Clinton wins in 2016 Former congresswoman and Donald Trump's current adviser Michele Bachmann warned Republicans that if Hillary Clinton wins the presidential race in November, no Republican will ever win the elections again. In an interview with CBN's David Brody of "The Brody File," Bachmann expressed her utmost belief. "Well I don't want to be melodramatic but I do want to be truthful. And I believe without the shadow of a doubt, this is the last election. This is it. This is the last election and the reason why I say that David is it's because it's a math problem," Bachmann said. Bachmann explained that the demographics of the United States will change if Clinton steps into office because the Democratic presidentiable will "grant wholesale amnesty to people from the Third World." Bachmann said the real number of illegal immigrants is 30 to 40 million and not 11 million as Clinton claimed. Trump's adviser added that people need to look at the statistics of U.S. voters versus the people that Obama and Clinton want to bring in the country. Current U.S. voters have one last chance in November to choose a president with godly moral principles, according to Bachmann. She then revealed her view on the Democratic plan. "What Hillary Clinton's ultimate goal is, is to secure her reelection... She will have a wholesale amnesty so that Republicans will never again have a chance at winning Florida, or Texas. If we can't win Florida or Texas it's game over," Bachmann said. She also explained that she was not judging Clinton spiritually but is against all that Clinton stands for. Bachmann described Trump as coarse and crude but asked people to instead focus on how he will champion religious liberty. She initially did not support Trump but in another interview, she explained that she now believed God chose him to be the party's candidate and that he will win the elections. home US Donald Trump & Hillary Clinton turn focus to Ohio as race for the White House enters final two months Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton opened a final two-month sprint to the Nov. 8 election on Monday with the Republican presidential nominee suddenly looking stronger as he and his Democratic rival took their bitter fight to Ohio. Both Trump and Clinton made overtures to a news media that each candidate sees as often hostile to them, talking to reporters on their private planes. Clinton's session with reporters was her first news conference since last December. After eating a gyro at a diner in the Cleveland area, Trump rallied thousands of cheering supporters at a county fair in Canfield, and Clinton visited a brewery in Cleveland. For a time, their planes were parked about 200 yards apart at the Cleveland airport, a sign of Ohio's importance in the election. Ohio is considered one of four swing states - those that are not clearly in the Democratic or Republican camp - that could prove decisive in the Electoral College vote that will ultimately determine the winner. The other swing states are Florida, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Trump was buoyed by more polls showing him in a competitive position. The latest Reuters-Ipsos poll showed Trump with 40 percent support vs 39 percent for Clinton, effectively ending Clinton's bump up in the polls after the Democratic nominating convention. Other polls showed Clinton's lead had shrunk. "I think we've had a great month," Trump said. Clinton remained in a strong position to win the White House race, but Trump and his team cited his growing strength in opinion polls nationally and in several states where the election is likely to be decided to argue that his message is breaking through to voters. Clinton, who emerged into the public eye after days of raising money from wealthy donors behind closed doors, said she always knew the race would be close. "We're just going as hard and fast as we possibly can to be organised for turning out the vote, because we've always thought this was going to be hard, and that's why, you know, I'm not worried, I'm just working," she said. Trump, shaking his fist triumphantly, plunged into a crowd at the Mahoning County Fair where supporters had built a replica of the wall that the Republican nominee has pledged to build along the U.S.-Mexico border. "This has been an unbelievable reception!" Trump said after manoeuvring through a crowd of people who shouted his name, against a backdrop of food stands offering fare ranging from chicken on a stick to Italian sausages, fudge and fresh corn. Inviting reporters onto his plane for the first time since accepting the Republican presidential nomination, Trump said his focus going forward will be on how to create jobs for middle-class Americans. He has spent most of the past two weeks trying to clarify his position on illegal immigration, first flirting with a softening, then reinforcing his hardline approach, and then, on his plane, saying undocumented people might ultimately get on a path to a legal status once border enforcement steps are taken. "I'm all about the jobs now," he said, saying his position on the immigration issue was now well known. He also pledged to participate in all three televised presidential debates, ending speculation that he might sit out one or more if he was not happy with the format. His first face-off with Clinton is at Hofstra University in New York state on Sept. 26. Clinton made her stop at a brewery in Cleveland before heading to a nearby Labor Day parade and rally, where she tested a new jab at her opponent: "Friends don't let friends vote for Trump." The Labor Day holiday traditionally kicks off the last stretch of campaigning ahead of the November election. Speaking to reporters on her new campaign plane, she took credit for Trump's overture to the news media. Clinton, buffeted by controversy over her use of a private email server as U.S. secretary of state, has been criticized by Republicans and the news media for months for failing to hold a news conference. "I heard now that we've got this great plane, that Donald Trump actually invited his press on his plane where I'm told he even answered a few questions," said Clinton. TRUMP'S REBOUND Trump's rebound from a series of self-inflicted wounds follows the hiring of a new campaign management team, and the Republican nominee is showing more discipline on the stump. Trump has been helped by what his campaign said was a positive week last week, highlighted by a quick trip to Mexico, appearing side by side with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, and a visit to a black church in Detroit. But an immigration speech that Trump gave following his trip to Mexico drew criticism from some of his Hispanic supporters, and several backers advising him on the issue decided to part ways with his campaign. Trump aide Jason Miller said rising poll numbers showed that the campaign was moving in the right direction. "The trend lines are the important thing to point to," Miller told Reuters. "The problem that Clinton has is there is no positive information flow for her campaign." Clinton, who was President Barack Obama's first-term secretary of state, appeared at few public campaign events during the latter half of August, instead raising funds at high-dollar events in the East Coast vacation spots of Martha's Vineyard and the Hamptons, and with celebrities in Los Angeles and high-tech leaders in Silicon Valley. Clinton's campaign announced that it had raised $143 million in August for her presidential bid and the Democratic Party. Clinton is again on the defensive over her use of a private email server and possible conflicts of interest with her family foundation while secretary of state, which have caused unease for some voters. But experts still see the Democratic nominee as the odds-on favourite to win the presidency. home World 14 married gay clergy demand full inclusion for LGBT clergy after breaching Church rules Fourteen gay Church of England (C of E) clergy members urged bishops for "full inclusion" of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) ministers after going against the Church's statute on celibacy. Same-sex marriage is forbidden for the C of E. Such a union results in the revocation of their license as priests. The gay clergy reportedly sent a letter to the bishops, saying that it was time to acknowledge the diverse beliefs existing in the Church regarding LGBTs. It was signed by 14 individuals from the clergy and eight members of the congregation who have married their same sex partners. However, some withheld their names for privacy. The letter to the Church bishops stated: "As you meet to discuss we seek from you a clear lead that offers a way forward to greater inclusion that will enable those parishes that wish to do so to celebrate the love that we have found in our wives and husbands. We hope for an outcome that will enable those who wish to do so to publicly celebrate where we see God at work in the lives of our congregations without fear and in openness." It was released in time for the House of Bishops meeting this month. Discussion of the meeting will include the Church's plans to take on the issue after holding private diocese consultations across the country for almost two years. The letter was initiated by the vicar of St. Mary with All Souls, Kilburn and St. James, Rev. Andrew Foreshew-Cain. Foreshew-Cain married his partner in June 2014 and received an "informal rebuke." Foreshew-Cain said in an interview with Christian Today: "The letter calls for the bishops to take a bold move towards greater recognition and unconditional inclusion for LGBTI members of the Church. Copies of the letter were posted today to all the bishops." home World God will not let Nigerian leaders have peace until they rescue kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls, says pastor A pastor from Nigeria condemned the nation's leaders for not taking action to rescue the Chibok girls who were abducted in 2014. Chinedu Ezekwesili declared at a prayer service that God will take away the peace from the leaders until the schoolgirls are set free. Ezekwesili, the husband of the co-convener of the #BringBackOurGirls coalition, stated that Nigerian leaders are not concerned about the Chibok girls because their children are not among those abducted. He suggested that the Chibok girls were kidnapped because of the lack of government response to the terrorist attack at the Federal Government College of Bun Yadi. The attack was carried out in February 2014 and resulted in the death of 59 students. "Boko Haram took the girls because the government did nothing to address the killing of the students at Buni Yadi. We had a Commander-in-Chief and number one citizen in (Goodluck) Jonathan, but he did nothing," the pastor said. "We have religious leaders, we have bishops, we have imams, we have general overseers, but they kept quiet and did nothing. Today (Sunday) is 874 days since the abduction, is it not shocking that the money meant for use in fighting the terrorists was shared, blood money?" he asked. Last month, Boko Haram released a video showing some of the abducted schoolgirls. The group demanded the release of its fighters in exchange for the girls. The group also showed footage of dead girls who they claimed to have died in air strikes. Boko Haram insisted that the girls would only be released once its demands have been met. The Coalition Against Terrorism and Extremism (CATE) organized a protest last week and asked the federal government not to engage in any negotiations with Boko Haram. home Faith Jewish leaders unhappy with Donald Trump being presented with Jewish shawl during Detroit visit Jews were not happy when Donald Trump was presented with the Jewish prayer shawl during his visit to a Detroit church last Saturday. The shawl, also known as the tallit, was given to Trump by Bishop Wayne Jackson. He was scheduled to do an interview with the Republican presidential candidate. Jackson, the pastor of Great Faith Ministries, reportedly described his presentation of the shawl as an anointing. "This is an anointing and the anointing is the power of God. When woman who had the issue of blood said that 'I only touch the hem of Jesus' garment and was made whole' nothing else could help her but the power of God," said the pastor. Rabbi Ron Kronish, a senior advisor for the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel, told Haaretz that the presentation distorted the meaning of the prayer shawl, adding that the object has no miraculous significance in Judaism. "I would hope that Mr. Trump would not misappropriate this ritual object for his travels, but with this megalomania almost anything is possible," Kronish remarked. Seth Farber, an American-born rabbi in Israel, expressed his concern about emphasis on miracles during the presentation. "When any religion's holy objects are mobilized for political purposes - that makes me very uncomfortable," he said to Haaretz. Jackson also presented Trump with the Jewish Heritage Study Bible and encouraged him to read it when he encounters difficulties. "When things seem like it's almost impossible, you read Mark 9:23, 'If one canst believe, all things are possible,'" he said. Trump's visit was an attempt to reach out to African-Americans, a voting bloc that is ambivalent about his candidacy. A group of protesters gathered outside the church to express their objections. According to the Detroit Free Press, Jackson received many calls from people who were concerned about Trump's visit to the church prior to the meeting. The pastor dismissed rumors that he was paid off. Jackson also sparked controversy when he and four other ministers brought George W. Bush to Detroit during his candidacy. home World Pastor, running for president, vows he won't turn Liberia into a Christian state Sen. Prince Y. Johnson declared that he will not be involved in anything that would turn Liberia into a Christian state. Johnson, the leader of the Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction, insisted that all religious groups should be free to practice their religion without any prohibition. "There shall be no Christian State or Islamic State established in this country. We are one people and we have co-existed for the past 200 years plus to now. Let no one or group of people put knife between our unity and peace," he proclaimed while speaking at his party headquarters in Monrovia. Johnson is a Christian who is known to preach as a pastor every Sunday. He recently announced his plan to run for the president of Liberia in the 2017 elections. A portion of the nation's Christian population is reportedly campaigning to make Liberia a Christian state. The proposition became controversial even among Christian leaders. Bishop Jonathan B.B. Hart, the head of the Liberia Council of Churches, denounced the proposal to Christianize Liberia and said that the nation should remain secular. Liberian Muslims reportedly threatened to engage in civil disobedience if the proposition is passed. Johnson recently proposed a controversial bill that seeks to declare two national holidays for Muslims. Several pastors criticized the bill as "harmful" and claimed that it violated the constitution. The senator also declared that his administration will not accept gay rights. "Liberia is not Sodom and Gomorrah! We will not accept that here," he said. Johnson once led the rebel group Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL) which was notorious for committing hideous crimes. The INPFL was known for torturing and killing President Samuel Doe in 1990. Johnson stated that he still regrets t that Liberians once had to fight each other, referring to the Liberian civil war. home Faith American teens very active in volunteering for church & ministries, homeless outreach, education - Barna poll A new study conducted by Barna suggests that a majority of teens are highly engaged in youth ministries and volunteer projects. The findings show that 68 percent of teens volunteer their time to church services and programs at least once every few months. The survey was conducted among parents of teenagers, senior pastors and youth pastors of Protestant churches. Among the volunteers, 17 percent of teens do it once a week. 25 percent volunteer at least once a month while 25 percent do it once every few months. 32 percent volunteer less often than others. Church and ministry ranks the highest, at 42 percent, among the programs that teens involve themselves in. Feeding the hungry and helping the homeless comes second at 35 percent. Education ranks third at 31 percent followed by environmental programs at 28 percent. When parents and pastors were asked about the most important goal of a mission trip, loving and serving others ranks first. 74 percent of pastors and 56 percent of parents say it is the most important. Being the hands and feet of Jesus comes second with 56 percent for pastors and 40 percent for parents. On the importance of sharing the gospel, 69 percent of youth pastors consider it very important. 23 percent say that it is somewhat important. Only 8 percent think that it is not very important. 81 percent of youth pastors say that a follow-up to a mission trip is important to teenagers. A majority of parents believe that mission trips have a long-lasting effect on their adolescent children. 74 percent say that the trips made a lasting impression. 24 percent think the trips probably made an impression while only 2 percent believe that it has no effect. The poll was conducted in partnership with Youth Specialties and YouthWorks. Youth Specialties provides trainings, seminars and conventions for youth ministry workers. YouthWorks organizes mission trips for students and adult leaders across North America every summer. home Entertainment New HBO miniseries 'The Young Pope' stars Jude Law as blasphemous, smoking pontiff Jude Law stars as an unconventional and irreverent pope in the new HBO miniseries, "The Young Pope." The ten-episode show written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino tells the story of Lenny Belardo, the 47-year-old American who has been elected as Pope Pius XIII. The first episode premiered at the Venice Film Festival this week and the series is expected to air on HBO later this year. At the opening of the recently released trailer, Belardo makes the claim: "I don't have any sins to confess. I'm a contradiction. I'm god." The official website describes Law's character as "complex" and "conflicted." There is reportedly a scene where Belardo confesses that he does not believe in God. He then asked a confessor to tell him the sins of the other cardinals. A film critic from the Telegraph compared the new series to Netflix's series about political intrigue, "House of Cards." The critic described the show as "a mezzopiano frenzy of bickering and backstabbing in the Catholic Church's impenetrable nerve center that might have easily been called House of Cardinals." Meanwhile a reviewer from The Hollywood Reporter complimented the series for its aesthetics: "Working with top Italian technicians, Sorrentino presents a majestic and slightly creepy Vatican City, whose marbled halls and stunning statues and architecture acquire a sense of timeless beauty in Luca Bigazzi's lighting and Ludovica Ferrario's production design." Diane Keaton plays the role of Sister Mary, Belardo's chief counselor. Other members of the cast include James Cromwell, Silvio Orlando, Javier Camara and Cecile de France. "The Young Pope" was produced by HBO in cooperation with Sky, Canal+ and Wildside. This is not the first television series that portrays the papacy in a bad light. Canal+ produced a television series in 2011 titled "Borgia: Faith and Fear." The series depicts Pope Alexander VI as a ruthless pope whose reign is remembered as the most notorious period in the history of the Catholic Church. home World Normandy church where priest was killed to reopen in October The Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray Church in France, where Fr. Jacques Hamel was killed last July, is set to open again this October. Eric de la Bourdonnaye, the communications director of the Archdiocese of Rouen, announced that liturgical services will once again be held at the church on Sunday, Oct. 2, after a purification ceremony. The ceremony is required before sacraments can be performed at the church because the Catholics view the murder as a desecration. The objects deposited at the church gates in tribute to Hamel will be put in a memorial site. Hamel had served as a priest for more than 50 years. His funeral was attended by thousands of people including high-ranking authorities and locals who got married and had their children baptized in this church. Hamel's sister, Roselyne, revealed that he was the sole survivor of a firefight at an oasis during his stint with the army. The event may have prompted Hamel to enter the priesthood. In his last letter published in June, he spoke about taking care of the world and praying for a peaceful coexistence. "May we, in these moments, hear God's invitation to take care of this world, to make of it, there where we live, a warmer world, one more humane and more fraternal," Hamel wrote. "A time of meeting with family, friends: A moment to take the time to experience something together. A moment to be considerate of others whoever they may be," he added. "Also a time of prayer: Thoughtful about that which is happening in our world at this moment. Let us pray for those who have most need of it, for peace, for a better coexistence with each other," Hamel continued. Churches in Britain were advised to put guards at their doors after the attack in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. Nick Tolson of the National Churchwatch also advised churches to install security cameras and personal alarms. It was reported last week that the attack on a Catholic priest in Indonesia was inspired by the murder of Hamel. home US LGBT activist group looks to shame Christian campuses; releases list of schools it deems the 'absolute worst' Campus Pride, a gender activist group, released a list of campuses that it deemed the "absolute worst" for LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual and queer) students. The national list included 102 campuses that the group claims to have gender-discriminatory policies and practices. The "shame list" was first published in December 2015. It initially included 57 campuses that had received or applied for Title IX exemption. Title IX prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation in education programs that receive federal financial assistance. Some educational institutions, such as religious organizations, were permitted to apply for exemptions. Campus Pride claimed that some campuses that apply for Title IX exemptions do so in private. "Ultimately these campuses are dangerous for vulnerable LGBTQ youth and others. All families and youth deserve to know this information a and so do corporations who do business with these campuses a from those who hire and recruit, vendors who contract food service, sell books, make donations and in any other way provide goods or services to a college or university," said Shane Windmeyer, executive director of Campus Pride. Campus Pride usually releases an annual "best of the best" list of college campuses that it deems to be LGBTQ-friendly. Many of the schools that are on the list appear to be religious schools. Some of the schools included in the list are Arlington Baptist College, Asbury Theological Seminary, Biola University, Brigham Young University, Central Christian College of the Bible, Indiana Wesleyan University, Maranatha Baptist University, Trinity Law School, Virginia Baptist College and Westminster Seminary California. Windmeyer pushed schools to put policies that may affect LGBTQ students in their brochures. "If your values and religious belief system include bigotry or discrimination toward any group of people, put it on your Admission brochure. Otherwise Campus Pride will do it for you," Windmeyer concluded. Campus Pride also urged students who attend schools included on the list to consider filing a complaint against their campus to the U.S. Department of Education. home World Rock and roll vicar in London plans to open his church as a concert venue Father Tom Plant, the vicar of St. Michael's Church in Camden, London has applied for a liquor license for his church. Plant hopes to convert the church into a venue for gigs. He plans to set up a bar and a stage with lights and sounds. He assures that the 19th century church is not going to be ruined by those who will attend the gigs. "We're not precious about the floor a St. Michael's is a glorious place but it is faded glory," he said. When asked about the liquor license, he replied that the church is "not a place to come and get drunk, but we're not a church that shies away from alcohol." "We believe Jesus turned water into wine for a reason," he added. Locals are worried that the church will become a venue for alcoholic drinks instead of a place of worship. Plant, however, said that he is more likely to invite smaller acts, including poets and solo artists, because heavy metal would "not work acoustically" at the church. Garry Cunningham, one of the locals, expressed his approval for the vicar's plans. "The church is looking forward rather than backwards, and I applaud the new vicar for that," he said. The vicar hopes to hold gigs at the church four nights a week. He is currently awaiting the result of his application for a liquor license from the Camden Council. The vicar's church was not the first to be turned into a venue for drinking alcohol. Business Insider reported that several churches in England have been sold and turned into pubs due to the decline of religion in the country. The Church of England has strict rules on selling and converting churches but conversions still happen despite the regulations. Other churches were reportedly transformed into a circus school, a supermarket, a library and a Sikh temple. home World Syrian refugees find hope in Jesus Christ Amid the hardship of life in Turkish refugee camps, displaced Syrians are finding hope by discovering Jesus through the help of concerned Christians. Turkey reportedly has the highest number of Syrian refugees among Middle East countries that have opened their doors to help them escape from their war-stricken homeland. The number hits nearly three million refugees. A lot of them still battle for their lives in government-run camps. The failed coup in Turkey last July has averted the government's attention to the country's current political crisis and public interest in the refugees' plight has waned, according to Christian Aid Mission. This is the main reason why ministries have doubled their efforts in providing basic necessities like water, feminine hygiene products, medicine and vitamins to 3,500 people. The camps, located in the southern part of Turkey, are visited by ministry workers bimonthly. The ministry recently witnessed a difference in the refugees' spiritual vocabulary. The director of a ministry based in area said, "In Turkey, Muslims say the words, Hazreti Isa to express that Jesus was a prophet - they have in mind the meaning, 'Prophet Jesus. But now the refugees are saying 'Jesus Christ' like us, instead of Prophet Jesus. Praise God that seeds are beginning to take root. In every tent, when we talk about Jesus, we are seeing this change when we translate." According to the ministry director the children help them as translators for the older refugees. They also reportedly translate prayers. "The children are learning Turkish very fast and are helping their families. They are also helping us. When we arrive in the trucks at the tent camps, they yell to everyone, 'The Christian helpers have come!' They are helping people line up so we can distribute things orderly and effectively," he added. To help alleviate the trauma a lot of the children have suffered after seeing so much violence, the ministry gave out biblical coloring books and promised a piece of chocolate as a prize to any child who would finish reading a book. The children were said to have responded enthusiastically. home US Donald Trump tells African-American church in Detroit: I'm here to listen and learn For the first time as a candidate, Republican presidential bet Donald Trump spoke at an African-American church in Detroit last Saturday and said he was there to listen and learn from them. Trump visited Great Faith International Ministries Church in Detroit, Michigan as part of his plan to reach out to significant Democratic alliances. His 20-minute message focused on unity and bringing back economic prosperity to the community. Trump said African-Americans have been America's conscience for centuries and that the community's faith is one of the greatest gifts of God to the state. He also pointed out that America was missing out when the tremendous potential of talented black men is not utilized. He also said that black churches are foundations of the Christian faith and the civil rights movement. He enjoined the congregation to help him bring back the prosperity to cities, saying that he wants to help rebuild Detroit and make its economy the "envy of the world." Furthermore, Trump spoke about a strongly divided nation. He explained, "We talk past each other and not to each other. And those who seek office do not do enough to step into the community and learn what's going on. I'm here today to learn, so that we can together remedy injustice in any form, and so that we can also remedy economics so that the African-American community can benefit economically through jobs and income and so many other different ways." Trump also said that the Democrats have failed U.S. residents especially African-Americans, citing that current problems are caused by Clinton-backed regulations. He said that a vote for Clinton is a vote for the prolongation of poverty, criminality and lost opportunities. Assyrian forces liberate Christian village controlled by ISIS for two years A Christian militia says it has liberated an Assyrian village in northern Iraq, after two years under jihadist control. The Nineveh Plain Protection Units (NPU) claimed on Saturday that ISIS militants had been driven out of Badaneh, a "traditionally Christian vilage" south of Mosul on September 1. "Liberation of Badanah village in #Khazer axis by NPU warriors with the support of international coalition by airstrikes, heavy and middle weapons" said a statement from the NPU. It posted videos and photos to its Facebook page, apparently showing the village being taken back under control by the NPU. Badanah was initially taken by ISIS in June 2014, when it overran the Nineveh Plain and took a number of towns, cities and villages, including Mosul once considered the heartland of Iraq's Christian's population. But though Assyrian Christians are among a number of religious minorities who have suffered immensely under Islamic State, there has been some disagreement within the Assyrian community as to whether so-called 'Christian militias' should exist at all. Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako said in May that supporting Christian forces would be "a bad idea". "There are no 'Christian militias', but only politicized groups and simple people who are in desperate need of a salary," he said. "The remaining Christians in Iraq are only the poor and those belonging to the middle class, and among them, there are 100,000 displaced people." The Assyrian Confederation of Europe (ACE), however, said it was concerned by Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako's comments. "There is broad agreement between Assyrian organisations in Iraq and the diaspora that Assyrians must actively participate in the military campaign to liberate the Nineveh Plain and secure the area after the liberation," ACE said. "The Nineveh Plain Protection Units (NPU), which is tasked with that mandate, is officially recognised and supported by the Iraqi government." Catholic Church seeks to help refugees living in squalor in Calais Refugees living in squalor in the 'Jungle' refugee camp on the edge of Calais will now be given clothing and other vital belongings under a new initiative by a French Catholic charity. Secours Catholique, the social action arm of the Catholic Church in France, on Tuesday announced that asylum seekers would be hosted in a new building in Calais. "For us, it's about having the ability to receive our migrant friends in a different setting, in town, in a more dignified way," said Vincent de Connick, manager of Secours Catholique in the Calais region. He said the new building would enable refugees and migrants to get new clothes and items like bicycles, blankets and sleeping bags "where they can have a choice, without needing to queue and with a different type of welcome... which is not possible in the Jungle". More than 9,000 refugees and migrants are living in the Calais camp, according to the latest census conducted by charities Help Refugees and L'Auberge des Migrants. At least 800 of these are unaccompanied children, many of whom have made the perilous journey from countries such as Syria, Pakistan and Afghanistan without any family. De Connick previously told Christian Today that "there is no dignity" for those living in the camp. "It's not a normal life," he said. Today, he urged people to give generously to the new centre in Calais. "We need donations in quantities because there are 9,000 people and we are short of everything!" he said. Donations can be delivered on Monday and Wednesday afternoons at 47 rue de Moscou in Calais, or financial contributions can be made through CSAN's website. Labour peer Lord Alf Dubs this weekend accused the British government of failing young refugees living in the Calais camp. Having himself fled Nazi Germany as a refugee in 1939, Lord Dubs said he was "disappointed and angry" with Prime Minister Theresa May's government during a visit to the 'Jungle'. "This is no life for young people, this is no existence," he said."The refugee issue is a major one, refugee children should be dealt with properly under the terms of the immigration act, and we should pressure the government to get on with it. That's the government's obligation and we should push them to doing it." Arkansas has a statute that prohibits: use a telephone for the purpose of offering any goods or services for sale, or for conveying information regarding any goods or services for the purpose of soliciting the sale or purchase of the goods of services, or for soliciting information, gathering data, or for any other purpose in connection with a political campaign when the use involves an automated system for the selection and dialing of telephone numbers and the playing of recorded messages when a message is completed to the call number. Ark. Code Ann. 5-63-204. Plaintiff is a political consultant who engages in political communications, including using automated calls. Along with his entity (Conquest), he challenged the statutory restriction on the use of automated dialers for political polling. The parties agreed that the statute was a content-based restriction and was thus subject to strict scrutiny. The state was required to articulate a compelling interest. It came up with two privacy and one safety-based concerns. The privacy rationales were: protecting the privacy of the home from unwanted calls and protecting recipients from repeated, unwanted intrusions. The safety concern was to prevent phone lines from being tied up and thereby jamming emergency calls. The court says these concerns are perhaps substantial but not compelling. Even if compelling, the statute still fails because it is not narrowly tailored. The state could not explain why calls other than those targeted by the statutecommercial and polling callswould not present the same privacy and safety concerns. The statute contains several glaring omissions, including charitable calls and debt collection calls, and all the state could say was that it did not receive any appreciable quantity of complaints regarding these types of calls. The court rejects this argument, as well as the states related argument that political and charitable solicitations are subject to other regulations (implying that regulation of those types of robocalls is unnecessary). Finally, the court also notes that the state failed to explain why other less restrictive meanssuch as restrictions on calls made during certain times of day, or a do-not call listwere insufficient. Plaintiffs pointed to statutes in other states that employed these types of restrictions, and the state could not explain why those approaches would not work. __ This was a poorly drafted statute. Even assuming political and commercial calls warrant special (disfavored) treatment, I cant think of why polling in particular should be prohibited while other types of political calls may not be covered by the statute. This is at least the second time a court has invalidated a selective robocall statute. Cahaly v. Larosa, a Fourth Circuit case, struck down South Carolinas robocall statute. Both rely on Reed v. Town of Gilbert, which did not seem like a blockbuster case at the time but has certainly turned into one. In the course of blogging spam cases, Im pretty sure I have said at least on one occasion that First Amendment challenges against spam statutes are a bust. Statutes restricting text, email, and fax have all been challenged on First Amendment grounds with little success. (See the links below for some examples). This case makes me wonder whether First Amendment challenges to anti-spam laws are worth revisiting. There are two key differences between the statute at issue here and spam statutes: (1) CAN-SPAM does not impose criminal liability for merely transmitting accurate messages (its criminal provisions are narrower); and (2) CAN-SPAM only applies to commercial messages. On the other hand, the TCPA, along with various exemptions, has resulted in much more of a patchwork of content-based distinctions. And at least two lawsuits are challenging the constitutionality of the TCPA based on this. (See The TCPA As Great Uniter? Democrats and Tea Party Republicans Join Forces, File Suit Seeking To Have The TCPA Declared Unconstitutional.). It will be interesting to see how these challenges pan out. Case citation: Gresham v. Rutledge, 16-cv-00241 (D. Ark. July 27, 2016) Related posts: Virginia v. Jaynes This time Really is the End Still Standing? Catching up On the Jaynes Case Court Rejects First Amendment Challenge to CAN-SPAM Indictment US V. Smallwood Court Finds That SMS Spam Messages are Subject to the TCPA and Rejects First Amendment Defense Abbas v. Selling Source, LLC Another Court Finds That TCPA Applies to Text Messages Lozano v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. Christian pastors facing death sentence in Sudan allowed family visits The families of the pastors on trial and facing the death sentence in Sudan have been allowed to visit them in prison. Prosecutors of Pastors Hassan Abduraheem, Kuwa Shamal and Darfuri student Abdulmonem Abdumawla have been demanding the harshest possible penalties which could mean capital punishment on some of the charges against them. The are accused of at least seven crimes, including waging war against the state and spying. Petr Jasek, a Czech aid worker, is also on trial. The case against Abduraheem and Abdumawla appears to revolve around a request for assistance with medical costs from a young Darfuri man who was injured during a demonstration. "His friend Mr Abdumawla began collecting funds towards his medical expenses from various organisations and individuals. Through a colleague, Mr Abdumawla was put in contact with Reverend Abduraheem, who donated money towards Mr Omer's treatment. The case against Reverend Shamal appears to be related to his friendship with Reverend Abduraheem and his senior position in the Sudan Church of Christ," reported Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). The charges are of intelligence activities and providing material support for rebels in the war-torn country. Open Doors reported that the prosecutors have demanded the harshest possible punishment for the pastors, whch could mean a death sentence. CSW's chief executive Mervyn Thomas said: "These men have committed no crime. Rev Abduraheem and Mr Abdumawla responded with compassion to a request for medical assistance and Rev Shamal's only connection to this case is his friendship with Rev Abduraheem and his senior position as a church leader. "We urge the government to end the harassment and targeting of religious and ethnic minorities by the security services, as has clearly occurred in this case, and to uphold the civil rights of all Sudanese citizens. "While commending the decision to allow these men to receive visits from their families and legal representatives, we call on the government to ensure this access continues for the duration of the trial in keeping with fair trial principles." Video of a hymn-singing protest outside the courtroom in Khartoum, Sudan posted on Facebook by Youeel Ibrahim. Church condemns rumours Patriarch was accomplice to failed coup The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople has condemned "false allegations" that its head was an accomplice in Turkey's failed coup on July 15. A spokesperson criticised the rumours in an interview with Fides. Sources close to the Patriarchate told the news agency that the allegations may have been "planned to embarrass" the head of the Church. Patriarch Bartholomew I has been explicitly accused of being involved in the attempted coup by Turkish media. He had left Istanbul on one of the last flights out of the city, just hours before rebels captured Ataturk Airport, leading to suspicion that he had been forewarned of the coup. Church officials insisted the timing was a "pure coincidence", and that the Patriarch only learned of the revolt once he had landed in Slovenia. He was among a number of religious leaders to condemn the violence soon after it happened. "We as the religious representatives of Jewish, Christian and Muslim citizens, together with our communities, are in a deep state of sorrow because of the terror incidents that have disrupted peace in our beautiful country and the world and have that have caused unbearable pain by taking the lives of many loved ones of our citizens," a joint statement read. "Terror and violence wherever and whoever they come from can never be defended and regarded as legitimate. Killing one person is like killing the entire humanity and is absolutely not accepted by believers." In the wake of the attempted coup, Turkey's President Erodogan fired hundreds of religious officials on suspected "terrorism" charged. The move was part of a wider purge of those deemed to be opposed to the conservative Islamic leader. More than 50,000 people in total have been rounded up, sacked, or arrested in the wake of the coup. Former hostage Terry Waite: 'We are in a Third World War' Former hostage Terry Waite has warned that the world is engaged in a Third World War. He called for understanding of why young people become Islamic extremists and warned that there is "grave danger" of community conflict as a result of the influx of refugees fleeing to Europe. Waite, speaking to Christian Today, said: "The situation today is rather like we've entered a new Third World War." He said it was very different from the First and Second World Wars. "But at any given moment, in any part of the world, there can be a violent explosion which kills, maims, innocent people. And that can happen anywhere." Waite was marking the launch of a new edition of his book, Taken on Trust, which was first published 25 years ago. The book tells the story of his 1,763 days as a hostage in Beirut, of which four years were in solitary confinement. Waite had been sent to Beirut as the envoy of the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie. Waite warns in a new final chapter to his book of the dangers of the "mass migration" of people "fleeing in terror" from the war zones and completely changing the face of Europe. He writes: "The influx into Europe of men, women and children seeking refuge from the conflict raging in their home countries is already having serious consequences for the countries to which they flee. When the numbers seeking refuge become too large, no country, however well-intentioned it may be, will be able to manage the situation without being in grave danger of community conflict." He told Christian Today that the conflict causing the refugee crisis is a "global problem". "It has to be seen in that context, and has to be seen as a Third World War." Waite, who now attends Quaker as well as Church of England services, also said he is alarmed by how hostage-taking has continued and has become "more brutal". After his release in November 1991, Waite founded the support and advice organisation Hostage UK. He said the sufferings he experienced were nothing compared to what is suffered by hostages today. He asked: "Why is it and how is it that many young Muslims are being attracted to an extreme form, which is a perversion in my view, of Islam? It's virtually a death cult." He described visting the mother of the hostage Ken Bigley in Liverpool. Bigley was kidnapped in Iraq, held hostage and then beheaded. Videos of his murder in 2004 were posted on the internet. Bigley's mother told Waite how dreadful it was to lose a son in such circumstances, but said also that it was equally dreadful for all the mothers in the Middle East losing their sons in the conflict. Waite said this was an example of applying the gospel to her situation. "We don't always behave in a humane way to one another," he said, but the gospel emphasises a common humanity. "One of our duties as Christians is to love our neighbour as ourselves. That's one of the very clear commands." He said that in order to stop the ongoing violence, it was necessary to understand extremists. He told a chilling story of a proud Muslim father at a conference who showed a picture of his young son, aged about 12. The father played a video, which showed the boy exploding. Waite said the father presumbably believed the child "would gain instant access to whatever paradise awaited him". He said the incident taught him a lot. "It taught me that what you believe, radically affects the way you behave." The problems in the Middle East are complicated, Waite added, by nations such as Russia fighting out their own political battles, and the first step must be to work out why it is happening. He said one cause was the creation of the Middle Eastern states by colonial powers, leading to countries that were held together by dictatorships. Referring to Iraq, Waite said: "If you remove a dictator by force, you unleash forces you can't control." God's Not Dead III? New film explores atheist conversion Actor Kevin Sorbo, whose 2014 film God's Not Dead was the surprise hit of the year, is hoping his next venture is just as successful. God's Not Dead and its successor God's Not Dead II were shot on tiny budgets and made huge returns, the first taking $60 million on an outlay of $2 million and the second, released only this year, $20 million from a $5 million spend. The films played on the alleged conflict between people of faith and godless institutions that seek to ridicule and undermine them. Sorbo has just wrapped up filming in Birmingham Alabama, on a third faith film, Let There Be Light, co-written with producer Dan Gordon by his wife Sam, also an actress. The new film is build around a famous atheist who converts to Christianity after a near-death experience. Sam Sorbo told AL.com: "The idea hit me, I wonder what would happen if the world's greatest atheist had a come-to-Jesus moment?" Reflecting on God's Not Dead, she said that "nobody in their right mind" would have predicted its success. "It was a surprise to understand the amount of support a good faith-based movie can garner. The flyover states have long been disregarded. We know people vote with their pocketbooks. That movie was a really great movie. Kevin's performance was so important. You hate him, then you feel sorry for him, then you love him. His performance was so important and memorable." She spoke of an encounter Kevin Sorbo had with a woman who had seen the film: "At the airport, a woman came up to Kevin and said, 'Are you the star of God's Not Dead? He said, 'I am.' She said, 'That movie changed my life. I was a Muslim, but I just became a Christian. I just got baptised with my daughter.' That got to me. We need to be making those kind of films." Let There Be Light scheduled for release in December 2017. Israeli Trump supporters open campaign office in West Bank Israeli supporters of US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump have opened a campaign office in the occupied West Bank, saying they hope to get as many American expatriates as possible to cast an absentee ballot for their candidate. There are about 300,000 US citizens in Israel, according to the non-profit group Republican Overseas Israel, which opened the office in the Jewish settlement Karnei Shomron on Monday. It estimates as many as 80,000 of them live in the West Bank, though it is not clear how many are eligible voters. A poll of Jewish Israelis conducted in May found 40 per cent of respondents backed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and 31 per cent supported Trump. However, Republicans are traditionally seen as more reliable supporters of Israel than Democrats, and right-wing Jewish settlers in Palestinian territory are likely to prefer a Republican in the White House. The initiative has no official ties to the Trump campaign or the Republican National Committee (RNC), and the Israeli group opened the West Bank office, and a handful of others throughout Israel, with its own funds, said co-chairman Marc Zell. "We are however in close coordination with the Trump campaign and RNC to the extent that it's feasible," said Zell. Trump has made improved relations between the US and Israel increasingly strained under the presidency of Barack Obama, who has made no secret of his frustration with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu one of his key policies. He has rejected last year's nuclear deal with Iran, which saw Netanyahu controversially use an address to the US Congress to warn against it, and called for a ban on Muslims entering the US. Israel captured the West Bank, land where Palestinians hope to establish an independent state, in the 1967 Middle East war. Most countries view Israeli settlements built there as illegal and an obstacle for peace. Additional reporting by Reuters. Money left by bishop after death will be used to support child abuse victims Money received from the estate of an Australian Roman Catholic bishop is going to be given to victims of abuse. Ronald Mulkearns, who was the Bishop of Ballarat until 1997, died in April, leaving an estate of over two million dollars. He left his house and other funds to the Church. Mulkearns was accused of being slow to respond to incidents of abuse in his diocese, while there were also reports that he moved priests from post to post rather than reporting them to the authorities. Just before his death, he apologised when appearing before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The current Bishop, Paul Bird, says he intends to use the money to compensate those who've been victims of abuse. "Whatever the diocese of Ballarat receives from Bishop Mulkearns' estate, I intend to set aside for the assistance to victims of abuse... This will continue the support that the diocese has given to abuse victims over many years," he said. The depth of the abuse scandal in the Ballarat area has shocked Australian churchgoers. Meanwhile, Victoria police said last month that they haven't ruled out the possibility of charging the most senior Church figure in the country Cardinal George Pell. Nigeria: Families of missing Chibok schoolgirls to receive trauma counselling Victims of Boko Haram's reign of terror in northern Nigeria will be supported by a new trauma centre opened by persecution charity Open Doors. The charity has been supporting the parents of more than 200 Christian girls who were abducted by Boko Haram in April 2014 with food, medical care and trauma counselling. This work will now be extended through a new trauma centre, which will be the first of its kind in northern Nigeria. Up to 30 people suffering from trauma will live at the centre at at time, usually for around six weeks, where they will receive professional help and support. Professionals will also equip church leaders in how best to support church members who are struggling. The building of the trauma centre follows a trip to northern Nigeria by Open Doors UK and Ireland president Eddie Lyle. Along with a team, he delivered messages of support from Christians around the world to parents of the missing Chibok girls. "Meeting four of the fathers of the Chibok girls encapsulated for me the agony of this tragic incident. Jonah, one of the fathers, asked me how he can stop his wife from screaming at night because of the sense of loss. She's missing her daughter and doesn't know how to live life again. 'What would Jesus do Brother Eddie?' he asked. There are no easy answers to that most searching question, beyond the fact that God grieves with his suffering family," Lyle said. "We made a solemn pledge to speak for these dignified but vulnerable people. I know God does answer prayer and I pray this cruel injustice will soon be righted." Pastor Isaac (name has been changed) is one Nigerian church leader who could benefit from training at the new centre. On Christmas Day last year, he found out that he was on a list of people to be targeted by Boko Haram. A few days later, militants went house-to-house killing people in his village, but miraculously, he and his family were spared. The next week, not one of his 500-member church arrived for Sunday worship. "As a shepherd, as a pastor, we don't take pleasure in burying our members. I've seen orphans in the church and widows in the church. Whenever we see them, we feel bad, because we need to take care of them and we have no resources," pastor Isaac said. "Persecution will never separate us from the love of God. We have made up our mind to serve God, and nothing will stop us. We have made up our mind to die for Jesus." "No Bible college could ever prepare someone to face a situation like this," Lyle said. "My hope and prayer is that this new centre will help Isaac and others like him to acquire the skills they need to care for themselves and those they are called to serve." In August, Boko Haram posted a video on Youtube showing dozens of the Chibok shoolgirls. One of the girls said that "some" of her fellow pupils had been killed in military airstrikes while "about 40" had been married. Some 15,000 people have been killed and more than two million displaced since Boko Haram's uprising in 2009. Nun who was sole survivor of deadly Yemen care home attack wants to stay where she is to keep serving the poor Imagine being in a war-torn foreign land, where you are very much at risk, and where some of your colleagues met their death. Will you choose to stay or leave? The lone survivor of March 4 attack that killed four sisters from the Missionaries of Charity made the unexpected decision: stay in Yemen where she almost got died. Sister Sally from the Missionaries of Charity escaped death last March when two gunmen attacked the care home centre run by her missionary group. Four of her colleagues - Sr. Anselm, Sr. Judith, Sr. Marguerite, and Sr. Reginette - were however not as lucky. They perished along with 16 other victims, including volunteers from Ethiopia and Yemen. Speaking to the Catholic News Agency, Sister Sally shared that she and the other sisters were given the option to exit Yemen, but their care for the poor was too strong for them to leave. "In the midst of this dangerous situation, our dearest Sr. Prema, MC, general superior, called us from Calcutta and spoke to us individually. She gave us a choice to remain or leave the place," the Catholic nun shared. "All of us had one answer: 'we choose to stay, to live or die with our poor," she added. Sister Sally's courage is rooted in her faith as she shared that she leaves her fate every day to God through prayer. "With our hearts filled with greater love and enthusiasm, we begged God to continue using our nothingness to make the Church present in the world of today, through the mission entrusted to us by our Mother Teresa, even amid dangerous surroundings," she said. She also constantly prays for inspiration for her charity work. "With the help of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, cause of our joy, we continue seeking the poorest of poor and bringing them God's own tender affection, through our humble words of love, little works of peace, given at the cost of our lives," Sister Sally said. Please don't leave, Middle East church leaders beg Christians Christians living in the Palestinian territories and elsewhere in the Middle East will this week be urged not to flee from the region as persecution intensifies. Church leaders who will meet beside the Dead Sea are expected to urge Palestinians in particular to stay put despite the severity of the challenges they face. Father Issa Misleh, of Jerusalem's Orthodox Church, and spokesman for the Middle East Council of Churches, told The Jordan Times that if Christians left the Middle East as a result of the growing terrorism, the outlook will be dire for the territories. "This would be the end of the Palestinian cause." The eleventh session of the council, which opens today, is expected to conclude with a message of "stay" to Palestinians but also to other Christians in the region. The council, which represents Evangelical, Anglican, Orthodox and Catholic Christians of the Middle East, will also discuss relations between the different Christian churches and between Christians and Muslims. "We want to embody the values we have been talking of," said Misleh. The Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, has stood down as head of the council and a new president will be elected. Numbers of Christians in the region have plummeted since the rise of Islamic State and the terrible executions, tortures, rapes and other horrors that the hundreds of thousands of IS victims have been subjected to. There are now just 40,000 Christians remaining among the 4.5 million people who live in the Palestinian Territories, listed at 24 on the Open Doors persecution watch list. Open Doors says: "Christians are squeezed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, their ethnicity causing many restrictions from the Israeli side and their religion putting them in a minority position within the Palestinian community. The territories are effectively under different governments. "The West Bank's ruling Fatah party is formally based on secular principles, and Christians enjoy several rights. Though Christians are largely tolerated by Islamist Hamas, the rights of Christians are neither upheld nor protected in Gaza. Apart from this discrimination, Christians face threats from radical Islamic vigilante groups. The total number of Christians has been decreasing in both areas over time due to emigration and lower birth rates. A ray of hope is the small but growing number of converts from Islam to Christianity." Police charge man with murder of Christian father who tried to retrieve daughter from forced marriage A man in Pakistan has been charged with the murder of the father of a 14-year-old Christian girl who was kidnapped, raped and forced into Islamic marriage. Mehwish Masih, who is herself still missing, had to leave school early because her parents could no longer afford the fees. She went into domestic service and did not return home from her new employer's house. A few days later the family received a letter stating that she had willingly converted to Islam and was now married. The family was denied access to Mehwish. Her father Tanveer Masih sold his home and hired a lawyer to try to get his daughter back. On 31 May he was shot dead after agreeing to meet someone who had told him he could retrieve his daughter if he dropped the legal action. One man has been charged with murder and is expected to appear soon at Faisalabad High Court. A futher man is still being sought by police. The family is being helped by the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA), which has moved them to a safe home and is helping with legal costs, food and education. "Taking them away from the threats of the relatives of the accused has helped galvanise the family for the necessary court hearings they will have to attend. We will also protect them as much as possible from abuse and threats during those hearings and will be with them at all hearing dates. BPCA have been providing biblically based counselling and general advice," a spokesman said. Najma Tanveer, widow of Tanveer Masih, said: "We were hopeless and destitute but God has delivered us. I have lost my husband Tanveer but thank God that I know he is safe in His presence. The cruel men that destroyed our lives will have to answer before God one day but even before then, I believe they will be punished here on earth too. I want my daughter Mehwish back so desperately, she should be in my arms that I can protect and comfort her. Please ask Christians to pray for her safety and return." The BPCA said credit should be given to the government of Pakistan, for tightening up security measures and ensuring proper police investigation into this and other cases. "It must be said however that no judicial process can bring back the father of this beleaguered family, nor will it ever remove the traumatic memories that will have scarred Mehwish for life. This progress in reactive care for minority citizens is also far from ubiquitous and our success will be linked to the profile we have attained. Nevertheless some progress is better then none." Kanwal Amar, an officer of the BPCA, said: "Helping victims like Najma Tanveer and her daughters has been a blessing to our group. The loss of a daughter/sister was a bitter pill to swallow coupled with the murder of their family patriarch their situation was one of complete despair. "Their painful story is one that condemns Pakistani society for the vulnerability of their minorities. Christian girls are targets for sexual predators that too often surface within the Muslim majority, buoyed by a culture of impunity through limp and uncaring statutory authorities and the insouciance of peers and colleagues." Wilson Chowdhry, chairman of the association, said: "International pressure is starting to bring change and the current government is fashioning processes that in decades to come may result in a fairer Pakistan. The main challenge they will face is how to remove societal hatred for minorities. "The longer they take to amend existing bias in the national curriculum of Pakistan, the more the hatred towards minorities that is inculcated from school age is allowed to fester and will continue to espouse polarisation. This simply creates a sense of worthlessness of minority communities." Connie Moran petition.jpg This photo shows a handful of the signatures on a petition being circulated by Ocean Springs Mayor Connie Moran seeking to change the city's form of government from mayor-aldermen to mayor-city council, including the signatures of Moran and her husband, Jack Rosen. (Facebook photo) OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- Roughly a month after local residents formed a group and launched a petition drive to change the city's form of government, Ocean Springs Mayor Connie Moran has initiated her own petition drive to introduce a third option to the mix. Moran announced the petition last week on her Facebook page. The petition seeks to change the city's form of government from its current mayor-alderman form to the mayor-council form. Moran's move comes in the wake of an effort by a group calling itself Citizens for Ocean Springs to change the form of government to the city manager-council form. The primary difference between the three options is the role of the mayor. In both the current mayor-aldermen government and the mayor-council form Moran is espousing, the mayor is a full-time employee and the city's chief executive officer. In the city manager form, however, the mayor becomes a part-time employee and becomes a voting member of the city council. The job of Mayor of Ocean Springs currently pays $84,657 per year. Should the city manager form of government be adopted, the mayor's salary would likely drop to the level of the board members -- a little more than $20,000 per year. A message left for Moran seeking comment was not returned by Tuesday afternoon, but in her Facebook post Moran urged residents to join her push to change the city's government. "Do you want an elected mayor running your city and accountable to YOU the citizens?" she wrote. "Or a hired gun with pink slips who answers to a few board members? For representation, please let me know and sign this petition to vote for a mayor/council form of government." In the city manager form of government, the city manager is hired by a majority vote of the city council to run the day-to-day business of the city, to include the hiring and firing of rank-and-file city employees. In the mayor-council form -- sometimes referred to as the "strong mayor" form -- the mayor takes on the role of hiring and firing employees and department heads, with the council's only involvement being ratification of those decision. "I don't know what her plan is," said businessman George Conwill, chairman of the Citizens for Ocean Springs group. "I think she's using her own petition to draw headlines. All I know is we're going ahead with our plan." Conwill said his group will meet again Wednesday night to count signatures received on their petitions and discuss future plans. In order for a change in government to go to a city-wide referendum, 10 percent of the registered voters of Ocean Springs must sign the petition. City Clerk Shelly Ferguson said Tuesday there are approximately 11,500 registered voters in the city, meaning for a petition to result in a referendum, it would need to contain 1,150 signatures. Once those signatures are acquired and verified by the city clerk, the board of aldermen is required to set the election for no more than 60 days later. If both petitions were to garner the necessary signatures, the one turned in to the city clerk's office first would go to a referendum, then the second. They would not appear on the same ballot unless submitted to the clerk's office on the very same day. Tanzania: One dead, two seriously injured in attack on Christian university One person has been shot dead and two others seriously injured in an attack at a Christian university in Tanzania. The attack at midnight on September 2 saw armed men set fire to the campus at the Sebastian Kolowa Memorial University, World Watch Monitor reports. The university is owned by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, and named after the first African bishop of the North Eastern Diocese. According to its website, it recognises and professes "the human value and dignity of all society members, including people with disabilities, and whereby everyone is able to learn and live in harmony with God, fellow human beings and all creation." Witnesses told local media that the assailants were heard discussing how to kill students before setting fire to the campus on Friday, and that it had been suggested they break in and massacre them. The attackers poured petrol and set student accommodation alight, forcing students to flee into a nearby forest. "In the room next to us we heard a group of people banging on the door, demanding it be opened," a student who witnessed the attack told Capital TV. "We thought it was something normal, until they came and broke down our door. Then we realised that it was not. As I wanted to get out, they told us not to and took a can of petrol and poured it on the floor and told each other to light it." One security guard was killed, shot dead by the assailants, and two others were seriously injured. A number of people are suffering minor injuries related to smoke inhalation. The university is close to the Kenyan border. In April last year, more than 150 people, mostly students, died when al Shabaab militants attacked Garissa University in north-eastern Kenya. Survivors spoke of merciless executions by the attackers, who stalked classrooms and dormitories hunting for non-Muslim students. Witnesses reported that gunmen singled out Christians for point-blank executions during a 13-hour killing spree. Some survivors were forced to pretend they were dead by covering themselves in blood. The Mayflower sailed today in 1620: 10 facts about the Pilgrim Fathers On this day in 1620, a voyage began that was to become a key part of the story of the founding of modern America. The Pilgrim Fathers left Plymouth, on England's South Devon coast, aboard a merchant ship named the Mayflower, and headed for the New World. But who were they, why did they go and what happened when they got there? 1. They weren't all saints But many of them were. The Pilgrims were among the English Protestants who had separated from the Church of England, which they believed was corrupt and idolatrous. Some of them became Baptists and Congregationalists. A group from Scrooby in Nottinghamshire settled in Leyden, Holland, where they found religious freedom, but decided to make a new life on the other side of the Atlantic. They called themselves 'saints', not pilgrims, and their group of about 40 was part of a larger group of 102 Mayflower passengers in all. 2. It was a hard time to be a Nonconformist Religion was strictly controlled in England. You were fined for missing official Church of England services a shilling for each Sunday and holy day, about 17 today. If you conducted unofficial services you could be fined even more or imprisoned. Loyalty to the Church was seen as part of your loyalty to the state. ome of the early Separatists were executed. One Scrooby member, William Bradford, wrote later that "some were taken & clapt up in prison, others had their houses besett & watcht night and day, & hardly escaped their hands; and ye most were faine to flie & leave their howses & habitations, and the means of their livelehood". 3. They didn't leave Holland to seek religious liberty One of the myths around the Pilgrim Fathers is that they went to America to be free to worship as they wanted. But Holland was very relaxed about religion. A far bigger problem was that its merchants guilds controlled the professions and it was hard for foreigners to make a living. Also the easygoing atmosphere extended to morality, and the Separatists worried about their young people. 4. It wasn't all plain sailing They managed to get permission from the King to establish a colony somewhere between the Chesapeake Bay and the mouth of the Hudson River. The Pilgrims and chartered two vessels, the Mayflower and the Speedwell, an old ship that had fought against the Spanish Armada. The Speedwell sprang a leak and only got as far as Plymouth, so the Mayflower departed alone, leaving around 20 passengers behind. 5. It was a horrible journey Because of the delay caused by the Speedwell springing a leak, the crossing took place during the storm season. Many passengers were seasick. One young man not one of the Pilgrims was swept overboard and drowned. Bradford wrote that it served him right, for he was a "proud and very profane yonge man". 6. It got worse after they landed They came ashore at Cape Cod, technically outside the area they had been allocated. To make their settlement as legitimate as possible they created the famous Mayflower Compact in which they swore allegiance to the King and promised to create a "civil Body Politick" governed by "just and equal laws". During the first winter, which they spent living aboard the ship, half the passengers and crew died of hunger and disease, including scurvy. 7. Their first building was a hospital They explored up and down the coast, having one or two brushes with the native peoples, and eventually settled on a site vacated by the Wampanoag people after a smallpox outbreak; the disease was introduced by European traders. They were dreadfully weakened, but completed the first house in January 1621. It immediately became a hospital, and by the end of February another 31 Pilgrims had died. 8. They might all have died if they hadn't been helped An English-speaking Pawtuxtet man named Samoset brokered an alliance with the local Wampanoag people, who taught them how to grow vegetables and hunt animals. 9. They invented Thanksgiving Not strictly true, as there were plenty of thanksgiving traditions around already, including among English settlers in Maine and Virginia. But the three-day Thanksgiving festival at the end of their first summer is the ancestor of the modern American tradition though for the Pilgrims it was a purely religious thanksgiving to God, while it is now a secular occasion. 10. They probably didn't land at Plymouth Rock This is the traditional site and a tourist landmark, but William Bradford, who recorded the whole story, never mentions it. Follow Mark Woods on Twitter: @RevMarkWoods Top Anglican official backs Bishop of Grantham over sexuality The Bishop of Grantham, Rt Rev Nicholas Chamberlain, has received high-level support from the most senior official in the Anglican communion after controversy erupted over his sexuality. Chamberlain has been backed by Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon, the secretary general of the Anglican Communion, who said in a statement: "It is clear that Bishop Nicholas has abided by the guidelines set down by the Church. In fact, his lifestyle would make him acceptable to serve the church at any time in its history. I reject the suggestion that his appointment is an 'error'. "I do recognise that this is a sensitive area for many people whatever their convictions. It is also a difficult time for Bishop Nicholas with revelations about his private life being made public in such a dramatic way, against his will, by anonymous sources that seem to be out to make trouble." He added: "The Anglican Communion is a worldwide family and, like any family, we don't agree on everything. But we are committed to working together on difficult issues. I want to reassure the Communion of my commitment to what was set out at the Lambeth conference in 1998 that human sexuality finds it full expression in marriage between a man and woman. But all baptised, faithful and believing people are loved by God and full members of the body of Christ regardless of their sexual orientation. The Anglican Communion has never made sexual orientation a condition of eligibility to hold office within the church and I reject the suggestion that it has." Chamberlain was consecrated as suffragan Bishop of Grantham in November 2015 and everyone involved in the ceremony was aware of his sexuality. He became the first bishop to declare publicly that he is gay after being told by a Sunday newspaper that it would reveal his sexuality. He is in a long-term but celibate relationship. The Archbishop of Canterbury said in a statement last week: "I am and have been fully aware of Bishop Nick's long-term, committed relationship. His appointment as bishop of Grantham was made on the basis of his skills and calling to serve the church in the diocese of Lincoln. He lives within the bishops' guidelines and his sexuality is completely irrelevant to his office." In a letter to parishes in his Lincoln diocese, Chamberlain's senior bishop Rt Rev Christopher Lowson said: "I am satisfied now, as I was at the time of his appointment, that Bishop Nicholas fully understands, and lives by, the House of Bishops' guidance on issues in human sexuality. For me, and for those who assisted in his appointment, the fact that Bishop Nicholas is gay is not, and has never been, a determining factor." However, Chamberlain was trenchantly attacked by the conservative GAFCON Anglican grouping, which declared his appointment a "major error". It said: "We remain opposed to the guidelines for clergy and Bishops, permitting them to be in same sex relationships as long as they publicly declare that the relationship is not sexual. This creates confusion in terms of the Church's teaching on the nature of sex and marriage, and it is not modelling a helpful way to live, given the reality of our humanity, and temptation to sexual sin. "This news story will be seen by many orthodox Anglicans as yet more evidence that the clear biblical teaching in the Church of England on sin and salvation, human personhood, singleness, sex and marriage is being eroded and conformed to the values of secular society." Why Christians will always have enemies It can be overly simplistic to do a word search on the Bible and simply presume that because a word appears fairly often, it's an important one. A quick search reveals 44 mentions of boats, 10 mentions of pomegranates and 37 mentions of horses none of which seem to me to be indispensible biblical themes. However, a search can still be instructive. So I decided to find out how many times the word 'enemy' features in scripture. 'Enemies' seems to be a common theme in our news cycle right now. Trump verses Clinton (and their supporters), Assad verses Syrian rebels, Sunni verses Shia Muslims, Brexiteers verses Remainers and so on... There are 112 references to enemies in the New International Version, 96 in the NRSV and 106 in the King James. A few of these references refer to Satan that ominous presence in both Old and New Testaments. Yet many of them refer to either generic or specific human enemies. In Esther 3:10 we read, "So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews." The Psalms are rammed with references to enemies, such as this from Psalm 64:1, "Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; preserve my life from the dread enemy." Into the Gospels, Jesus doesn't shy away from speaking about enemies. In the Sermon on the Mount, he says, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." What are we to make of this? Should Christians who are loving, forgiving and showing grace shouldn't have any enemies? Scripture seems to suggest so. In fact, it even seems that we may well have enemies because we are Christians. Take another section of that famous sermon. In the Beatitudes Jesus says, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." In other words, we should expect that as we live the Christian life, we are going to make enemies. Any true Christian witness is going to disrupt the world as it is, to discomfort those with power and those who stand to lose from a kingdom where God has "scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts... brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate... filled the hungry with good things and the rich... sent away empty." That kind of Kingdom will always make enemies. The first Christians declared that Jesus was Lord, which was a repudiation of the Roman belief that Caesar was divine. Some were put to death for this insurrectionist cocktail of treason and heresy. This pattern has been repeated throughout history. Martin Luther King was killed because his enemies couldn't cope with the tide of justice he was creating. Kayla Mueller, a Christian aid worker who selflessly ran toward the carnage in Syria was killed because her actions and her faith had made ISIS her enemy. Shahbaz Bhatti, a minister in the Pakistani government was gunned down in cold blood because of his fearless protection of his fellow Christians and other persecuted minorities. The list could go on... These are just the paradigm examples, but most of us will have our own stories to tell from normal life about having enemies simply by living as Christians. It may be your refusal to go along with a scam at work, your desire to challenge unjust treatment of a friend or colleague, or simply not joining in with a bullying and victimising culture. Jesus didn't say, "If you have enemies, love them and pray for them." Instead He simply presumed that we would have them "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you". To be a Christian means we will have enemies. Having said that, it's important that we don't seek enemies out and create them where they don't really exist. Last week I wrote a piece about Donald Trump. Some of the comments after the piece was posted made for interesting reading for me: "Hope the stones you are throwing don't come back on you." "I can't believe how stupid you are." "you are a Bible-iliterate [sic] leftist moron" "Are you sure you a Christian Andy? Spouting that many lies at one setting [sic] is kind of suspect you know" "Another idiotic article by the guy that doesn't even know why Jesus was crucified" "Love the comments. The writer might think twice before posting an article like that again." I'd become an enemy to some of these posters because of one article I'd written. To my knowledge I've never met any of them. Yet they seemed to know all about my motivations and my theology. I suspect some of the hatred for Hillary Clinton was being transferred to me (even though the piece didn't advocate voting for Hillary). Clinton has become the ultimate enemy for many on the right of politics and sadly for many Christians. Why have we created an enemy like this? Even if we disagree with her politics, surely we need to engage constructively, rather than spewing vitriol? Even if she is an enemy, Jesus' words above are enough to make it clear that we must love her. The same goes for those who have made Donald Trump. Even if he is our enemy, even if we feel he is divisive and dangerous, we're commanded to pray for him. Having enemies is a good sign of living the Christian life. But there will be enough of them in our lives without seeking new ones out and especially without sitting at a laptop and making enemies of people we've never even met. Follow Andy Walton on Twitter @waltonandy With nine weeks until Election Day, Donald Trump is within striking distance in the Upper Midwest, but Hillary Clinton's strength in many battlegrounds and some traditional Republican strongholds gives her a big electoral college advantage, according to a 50-state Washington Post-SurveyMonkey poll. The survey of all 50 states is the largest sample ever undertaken by The Post, which joined with SurveyMonkey and its online polling resources to produce the results. The state-by-state numbers are based on responses from more than 74,000 registered voters during the period of Aug. 9 to Sept. 1. The individual state samples vary in size from about 550 to more than 5,000, allowing greater opportunities than typical surveys to look at different groups within the population and compare them from state to state. The massive survey highlights a critical weakness in Trump's candidacy - an unprecedented deficit for a Republican among college-educated white voters, especially women. White college graduates have been loyal Republican voters in recent elections, but Trump is behind Clinton with this group across much of the country, including in some solidly red states. The 50-state findings come at a time when the average national margin between Clinton and Trump has narrowed. What once was a Clinton lead nationally of eight to 10 points shortly after the party conventions ended a month ago is now about four points, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average. A number of battleground states also have tightened, according to surveys released from other organizations in recent days. The Post-SurveyMonkey results are consistent with many of those findings, but not in all cases. Trump's support in the Midwest, where the electorates are generally older and whiter, appears stronger and offers the possibility of gains in places Democrats carried recently. He has small edges in two expected battlegrounds - Ohio and Iowa - and is close in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, each of which Democrats have won in six consecutive elections. At the same time, however, Trump is struggling in places Republicans have won consistently and that he must hold to have any hope of winning. These states include Arizona and Georgia, as well as Texas - the biggest surprise in the 50-state results. The Texas results, which are based on a sample of more than 5,000 people, show a dead heat, with Clinton ahead by one percentage point. Clinton also leads by fewer than four points in Colorado, Florida and is tied with Trump in North Carolina. In Colorado, other polls have shown a larger Clinton lead. In Mississippi, Trump's lead is just two points, though it's doubtful that the GOP nominee is in much danger there. In a two-way competition between the major-party candidates, Clinton leads by four points or more in 20 states plus the District of Columbia. Together they add up to 244 electoral votes, 26 shy of the 270 needed to win. Trump leads by at least four points in 20 states as well, but those add up to just 126 electoral votes. In the 10 remaining states, which hold 168 electoral votes, neither candidate has a lead of four percentage points or better. Video: It's a long road to the White House, so The Washington Post polled all 50 states to find out what each candidate needs to do to get there. (Peter Stevenson, Julio Negron, Zoeann Murphy/The Washington Post) A series of four-way ballot tests that include Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein project a somewhat narrower Clinton advantage, with more states showing margins of fewer than four points between the two major-party candidates. But even here, at the Labor Day weekend turn toward the Nov. 8 balloting, the pressure is on Trump to make up even more ground than he has in recent weeks if he hopes to win the White House. The poll finds Johnson is poised to garner significant support. He is currently receiving at least 15 percent support in 15 states. The libertarian's support peaks at 25 percent in New Mexico, where he served two terms as governor. He is only four points shy of Trump's 29 percent standing there. His support in Utah is 23 percent, and in Colorado and Iowa it is 16 percent. Stein has less support in the poll, peaking at 10 percent in Vermont and receiving at least 7 percent support in 10 states. Overall, the results reflect Trump's strategy of maximizing support in older, whiter Midwestern states where his anti-free-trade message and appeals to national identity generally find more fertile ground. But his struggles elsewhere, including places that have long supported Republicans, illustrate the challenges of that strategy in more diverse states where his stances on immigration and some other positions have turned off Democrats, independents and many Republicans. To win the election, Trump must quickly consolidate the Republican vote. With prominent Republicans declaring they will not support Trump and some even announcing they will back Clinton, this represents a major challenge for the GOP nominee. In the Post-SurveyMonkey poll, Clinton is winning 90 percent or more of the Democratic vote in 32 states, while Trump is at or above that level in just 13. As expected, the Clinton-Trump contest has split the electorate along racial lines. Their bases of support are mirror images: On average, Clinton does 31 points better among nonwhite voters than whites, and Trump does 31 points better among white voters than nonwhites. The electorate is also divided along lines of gender and education, in many cases to a greater extent than in recent elections. Averaging across all 50 states, Clinton does 14 points better among women than men, and Trump does 16 points better among men than women. Clinton is winning among women in 34 states, and she's close in six others. Trump leads among men in 38 states, is tied in six and trails in the other six. It is among college-educated voters, however, where Trump faces his biggest hurdle. In 2012, white voters with college degrees supported Republican nominee Mitt Romney over President Barack Obama by 56-42 percent. Romney won with 59 percent among white men with college degrees and with 52 percent among white women with college degrees. So far in this campaign, Clinton has dramatically changed that equation. Among white college graduates, Clinton leads Trump in 31 of the 50 states, and the two are about even in six others. Trump leads among college-educated whites in just 13 states, all safe Republican states in recent elections. Across 49 states where the poll interviewed at least 100 white college-educated women, Clinton leads Trump with this group in 38 states and by double-digit margins in 37. Averaging across all states, Clinton leads by 23 points among white women with college degrees. Trump's base among white voters without a college degree remains strong and substantial. He leads Clinton in 43 of the 50 states, and the two are roughly even in five others. She leads among white voters without a college degree in just one state: Vermont. Overall, Clinton does 19 points better among white college graduates than whites without degrees while Trump does 18 points better among whites without degrees than whites with college educations, on average. Trump's challenge in the states that remain close will be to produce significant turnout among white, non-college voters to offset those Clinton margins, but it's far from clear that there are enough of them to be decisive. Absent that, the GOP nominee must find a way to appeal to these college-educated voters during the final weeks of the campaign. Trump's strength across some of the states in the Midwest is one potential bright spot for the Republican nominee. Clinton's biggest lead among the contested states in that region is in Pennsylvania, where her margin is just four points. In Wisconsin and Michigan, she leads by a nominal two points, while Trump leads by four points in Iowa and three points in Ohio. Recent polls by other organizations have indicated that Wisconsin has tightened over the past month. A recent Suffolk University poll in Michigan shows Clinton leading by seven points, and the RealClearPolitics average in Ohio shows Clinton ahead by three points. Overall, among the quintet of Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and Pennsylvania, Michigan has been the Democrats' most reliable of the group, always one of the 15 best-performing Democratic states over the past five elections. The Rocky Mountain West is another area of fierce competition. The Post-SurveyMonkey poll shows Colorado closer than other polls there, with Clinton leading by just two points and the race tied when Johnson and Stein are included. Meanwhile, Clinton and Trump are roughly even in Arizona. In Nevada, Clinton enjoys a lead of five points in head-to-head competition with Trump but by just three points in a four-way test. Of all the states, Texas provided the most unexpected result. The Lone Star State has been a conservative Republican bastion for the past four decades. In 2012, President Obama lost the state by 16 points. For Democrats, it has been among the 10 to 15 worst-performing states in the past four elections. The Post-SurveyMonkey poll of Texas shows a dead heat with Clinton at 46 percent and Trump at 45 percent. Democrats have long claimed that changing demographics would make the state competitive in national elections, but probably not for several more cycles. A comparison of the current survey with the 2008 Texas exit poll (there was no exit poll there in 2012) points to reasons the race appears close right now. Trump is performing worse than 2008 GOP nominee John McCain among both whites and Hispanics, while Clinton is doing slightly better than Obama. Among men, Trump is doing slightly worse than McCain did eight years ago. The bigger difference is among women. McCain won a narrow majority of women in Texas while Trump is currently below 40 percent. That's not to say Texas is turning blue in 2016. Given its history, it probably will back Trump in November and possibly by a comfortable margin. But at this stage, the fact that it is close at all is one more surprise in a surprising year. --- The Washington Post's Emily Guskin contributed to this report. The San Francisco 49ers released tight end Bruce Miller after he was arrested early Monday morning following an incident at a Fisherman's Wharf hotel. San Francisco police confirmed reports that Miller was arrested early Monday morning on aggravated assault and elder abuse charges stemming from an incident at the Marriott Hotel at Columbus Ave. and Bay Street. Police responded to reports of an intoxicated man who tried to enter a room that wasn't his. Miller allegedly assaulted a 29-year-old man and the man's 70-year-old father, who tried to come to his son's aid. The father and son were taken to a hospital for treatment. Miller was later arrested at a hotel across the street. He was charged with aggravated assault, elder abuse, threats, and battery. The 49ers tweeted that they had released Miller on Monday afternoon. In March 2015, Miller was arrested after an incident in which he was accused of shoving his ex-fiancee and destroying her cell phone during an argument in Santa Clara. Miller pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace and was required to attend a 16-week anti-domestic-violence counseling course. At the time, Tyrone Wilson, a Santa Clara County deputy district attorney with the family violence unit, said was satisfied that Miller was taking steps to address his "underlying anger issues." When he returned to the team in June 2015, Miller, who had no prior arrests, was asked how his arrest altered how some of the public perceives him. "That was very tough," Miller said. "That was another thing I had to learn is people are going to think what they are going to think. The people that know me, I didn't have to explain myself one time, so that was positive." In March 2015, Miller became the seventh member of the 49ers arrested since 2012. Before Sunday, a member of the team hadn't been arrested since outside linebacker Aldon Smith was arrested in July 2015. Smith was subsequently released. PASCAGOULA, Mississippi -- A 13-year Ingalls Shipbuilding employee is featured in the latest ad campaign launched by the shipyard's parent company, Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII). Naval architect Dianna Genton is serving as the company's latest "brand ambassador" in a series of print and online ads, as well as a company video, comprising the "Shape of Freedom" advertising campaign. "I take pride in being a naval architect and representing Ingalls Shipbuilding," said Genton, a native of Fort Myers, Fla. "We are building huge, complex systems that protect our country." During her Ingalls career, Genton has worked on the construction and delivery of amphibious assault ships, amphibious transport dock ships and destroyers for the U.S. Navy, as well as National Security Cutters for the U.S. Coast Guard. See Genton's Shape of Freedom ad Genton is the second Pascagoula employee to be featured in an HII campaign. Project engineer W.T. Williams was featured in the Shape of Freedom campaign when it debuted in May. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The end of Labor Day weekend marks the official, unofficial end of summer. With the kids back in school, the work routine in place and no more major holidays for a couple months, it is no surprise that this is the time of year hardly anyone looks forward to. RELATED: Back to school memes that perfectly sum up the struggle However, just because life is about to get a little more boring doesn't mean Houston spent the last big weekend moping around. In fact, there were quite a few events around the city that perfectly punctuated the end of summer. Take a look through the gallery above to see how Houstonians spent their Labor Day weekend. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate September 7 marks the day the New York Post Office building opened in 1914. On it is inscribed the following: "Neither snow nor rain not heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." That's not, as is commonly thought, the official motto of the U.S. Postal Service, but it might as well be. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate It appears that the next foodie condiment to get its moment in the sun could be white barbecue sauce. Hailing from Alabama, white sauce is best used on chicken but weve seen it paired with pork. As barbecue mavens look for new challenges, it's white sauce that appears to be catching on with adventurous cooks. RELATED: The Woodlands BBQ Festival set for Sept. 25 Even Pearland barbecue hero Ronnie Killen was posting about it on his personal Facebook page this week, writing that he was working on perfecting his own take on the sauce that Big Bob Gibsons in Decatur, Ala., made famous nearly a century ago. Killen posted photos of his experiments so dont be surprised if it shows up at Killens BBQ in the near future. Most recipes for the tangy sauce are rather simple, featuring mayonnaise, vinegar, salt, pepper, and cayenne for taste. Gibsons included corn syrup. RELATED: Taste the barbecue Houston is famous for Some recipes call for white horseradish to kick things up a notch, while others tack on sugar or lemon juice in the special mix. Check out our handy how-to video (above) from the folks at Delish on how to make the stuff. Don't lick your screen. The end result is usually incredibly juicy and flavorful chicken with a somewhat messy coating. The sauce can be used as a base on grilled or barbecued chicken towards the end of the cook or as a decadent dipping sauce if you just need to abuse your arteries, like we do. One of the more prominent places it can be found in our area is at the Redneck Country Club in Stafford from Chef Jess DeSham Timmons non-traditional Southern kitchen. RELATED: Up your barbecue game with these recipes "I use Alabama White Sauce on our fried chicken wings rather than the traditional hot sauce you normally see on wings. Big Bob Gibson's original recipe isn't very spicy, so to give the wings the heat that our guests are looking for, I add Tabasco mash to mine," Timmons says. Tabasco mash is the pulp from what is left after the plant strains the liquid from the aged hot sauce just prior to bottling it. "I also use Steen's sugar cane vinegar in my sauce rather than cider vinegar, so I suppose we should rename it to Louisiana White Sauce now that I think about it," she laughs. Other local variations on the Alabama staple can be found at The Halal Guys and Jones Fried Chicken. Michael Ciaglo/Houston Chronicle DALLAS Texas House District 113 represented by Republican Rep. Cindy Burkett spans eight cities, including some of the county's largest, like Dallas and Garland, and smallest, like Sunnyvale, which Burkett calls home. It's also one of the county's most ethnically diverse districts. According to the 2010 census, almost 50 percent of the district is either African American or Hispanic. While the area leans slightly Republican, Burkett bested her Democratic opponent Milton Whitley by almost 20 points two years ago when Gov. Greg Abbott won by roughly the same margin. But this presidential year poses an opportunity for Democrats seeking potential swing seats like this one. JACKSON, Mississippi -- The Mississippi Highway Patrol says one person died and 57 were injured in crashes on state and federal highways during the long Labor Day weekend. The death happened Monday in Noxubee County, when a pickup truck ran off Mississippi Highway 14 and hit a tree. The passenger, 50-year-old Tommie L. Harris of Columbus, was tossed out of the vehicle and killed. An investigation continues. The Highway Patrol's Labor Day weekend reporting period started at 6 p.m. Friday and ended at midnight Monday. A patrol news release says 170 crashes were investigated, with 41 of those crashes occurring in Mississippi's six southernmost counties. Troopers statewide made 175 DUI arrests. A worker was rushed to the hospital after an incident near a plant in Channelview. The person was working at Energy Investment Fund, a cogeneration facility, or power plant, near the LyondellBasell petrochemical plant off Sheldon Road, officials said. When workers approached the islands with food and water, the water-averse chimps waded into the ocean and desperately reached for the nourishment and gulped down cups of water. Photo by Carol Guzy/For The HSUS 888 shares EDITORS NOTE: GOOD NEWS! The HSUS and the New York Blood Center have announced an agreement to provide long-term sanctuary for the Liberian chimpanzees. READ THE UPDATE Last week, the insurance giant MetLife said it was ending its support for the New York Blood Center until the company resolves its dispute with The HSUS and other groups over the medical charitys abandonment of more than 60 chimpanzees on a set of remote estuary islands in Liberia. It was just months ago that Citibank, after learning the facts of the case, took a similar action, disassociating itself from NYBC and then donating $50,000 to The HSUS to be used to care for the chimps. NYBC is a major medical charity, and for more than 30 years it used chimps in experiments to develop a number of vaccines and drugs. More than a decade ago, it stopped the experiments, and it retired the chimps. In 2005, Dr. Fred Prince, speaking on its behalf, said that NYBC recognizes its responsibility to provide an endowment to fund the Sanctuary for the lifetime care of the chimpanzees. Thats why it was a shock to me and others at The HSUS when a National Institutes of Health scientist, responding to a separate public health crisis in Liberia, alerted us and others in March of last year that NYBC had cut off funding for chimp care and effectively left the animals to starve and die of dehydration. When the NIH scientist alerted us, we responded immediately, making arrangements for food for the free-roaming chimps and fixing the system that provided fresh water for them (the islands on which they live are surrounded by undrinkable brackish water). When the workers approached the islands with fruits and other foods and water, the water-averse chimps waded into the ocean and desperately reached for and grabbed the nourishment and gulped down cups of water. Weve been caring for them ever since, at a cost to us of tens of thousands a month. The Today show did an extensive piece on the controversy yesterday, but there are other details that did not get reported, and its important that they are on the record: NYBC made millions from these chimps. NYBC seeks credit for the fact that it cared for these chimps for a few years, but the fact is that they stopped doing so by leaving the animals to starve to death. The cruelty and irresponsibility of such an act is unspeakable, and the fact that they honored their obligation and word before that is certainly no defense or justification. NYBC has more than $400 million in assets and $300 million in annual revenue. This is not a struggling charity, and proportionately, this is a minor obligation for the organization. It can certainly pay a few hundred thousand dollars per year to fulfill its responsibility to provide lifetime care for animals it subjected to invasive experiments and years of life in small concrete cages. We asked NYBC to help us build a modest facility on the islands to allow health care inspections to be administered safely. NYBC refused. Not only did NYBC subject these chimps to invasive experiments and cage confinement for years on end, it obtained them from the disreputable trade in chimpanzees in West Africa. Almost certainly, NYBC bought chimps from hunters. Typically the hunters shoot the mothers and then grab the orphans and sell them to research operations like NYBC, or they are collectibles and a separate profit center for people involved in the bush meat trade. During the course of its operations in Liberia, NYBC put more than 400 chimps through invasive experiments. Today only 63 remain, a proportionately modest burden to bear for a company of its size, and one that created the need for this care in the first place. A sizable segment of the public may tolerate and accept the use of animals in research, but it expects that the institutions using them will ensure a high degree of care during and after their use. NYBC has broken that compact. So many of the caretakers of the chimps, many of whom worked for NYBC, despite their own meager living standards and the travails they faced, provided food and water for the animals even after NYBC stopped paying them and until The HSUS stepped in to provide steady support. To think of their sacrifices, and their humane instincts, and to compare them with the actions of the NYBC leadership, is a most unflattering contrast. The HSUS hired a large number of these devoted employees to continue caring for the chimps. Recently, the NYBC offered very modest annual payments to us for care of the chimps. Those payments would have covered less than five percent of the projected lifetime cost of care for the chimps. When the NYBC is ready, well entertain a serious offer one that is commensurate with its original responsibility to deal with a problem of its own making, and consistent with the social contract that surrounds the use of animals in an advanced society. Until then, well not only care for the chimps, but well call out NYBCs behavior in a public way. Their conduct is not worthy of a medical charity. Medical charities aim to heal and to help, but this action is so inconsistent with the ultimate mission and purpose of an organization designed to save life. It can do better, and it must do better. Michael Lakey moved to Texas after his reputation was ruined in Hayden, Ala. A mugshot tabloid called Just Busted had published his booking photo with the caption "sexual assault of a child under 12 years old," according to The Guardian. In reality, Lakey had been arrested for expired license plates, but the $1 magazine crafted by a graphic designer had mistakenly labeled him a child molester. Lakey, who has four foster children and a 1-year-old granddaughter, said that social workers attempted to remove the children from his house. A Blount County officer had to confirm that Lakey was not a child molester. That didn't stop people in Hayden from confronting him and his late wife. "A few days after the magazine article came out my wife started receiving (anonymous) threatening phone calls from people telling her I was gonna get what I had coming to me and if she knew what was good for her she would pack her and the kids up and leave, that (I was going to) get beat up or killed," Lakey told that publication. Lakey moved to Texas following his wife's death. He sued Just Busted for defamation and was awarded a five-figure sum, the Guardian reports. We like to think that schools strive to be better than they were before, year after year. But that doesn't seem to be the case for all school districts around Houston. Using data from SchoolDigger.com, housing website trulia.com found which local schools have improved the least since 2011. That is to say, these districts' rankings continue to slip when compared to other districts in the area. Houston-area transportation officials are getting into the groove, and reducing road noise along Interstate 10 with an upcoming project. Following a successful test on Loop 610 between Interstate 10 and Ella, five cities and the Texas Department of Transportation will cooperate for a $12.4 million project to cut longitudinal grooves into the pavement to reduce I-10 road noise west of Loop 610. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ITT Educational Services said Tuesday it's abruptly closing all of its 130 ITT Technical Institutes nationwide, including three Houston campuses and 10 in Texas. The local campuses, which a combined enrollment of 1,638 students, are located at 2950 S. Gessner and 15651 North Freeway in Houston and 1001 Magnolia Ave., Webster. The Houston west campus dates to June 1983 and moved to the present Gessner site in December 1994. The north Houston campus followed in 1985 has been at North Freeway since December 2007. The south Houston campus opened in June 1995 and has been at Magnolia Avenue site since September 2006. The Gessner campus, occupying the first floor of an office building, was very quiet Tuesday morning. A few students walked into the building, only to find ITT Tech office doors locked and many of the classrooms empty. "There's nobody to even talk to," said Philip Dean, 24, who would have started his third quarter studying electrical engineering this fall. Dean, who moved his family from Huntsville last March to take classes at ITT Tech, said the degree would have "opened up so many doors." "I would have expected in an emergency like this someone would be here," Dean said. In late August, ITT Tech was banned from taking on new students who use federal financial aid by the U.S. Department of Education. Currently, there are more than 40,000 students enrolled nationally in 38 states. It is the nation's fifth-largest for-profit college chain, reporting $850 million in revenue last year. The chain of tech schools had been the subject of state and federal investigations focusing on its recruiting and accounting practices. On Tuesday, the school issued the following statement. "It is with profound regret that we must report that ITT Educational Services, Inc. will discontinue academic operations at all of its ITT Technical Institutes permanently after approximately 50 years of continuous service. With what we believe is a complete disregard by the U.S. Department of Education for due process to the company, hundreds of thousands of current students and alumni and more than 8,000 employees will be negatively affected." RELATED: ITT Tech banned from taking new students with federal aid The federal government had been looking at the chain of schools since 2014. ITT has also been ordered to pay $152 million to the department within 30 days to cover student refunds and other liabilities in case the company closes. The chain, based in Indiana, is still paying another $44 million demanded by the department in June for the same reason. ITT added that some 8,000 people lose their jobs because of the federal decision. "Effective today, the company has eliminated the positions of the overwhelming majority of our more than 8,000 employees. Our focus and priority with our remaining staff is on helping the tens of thousands of unexpectedly displaced students with their records and future educational options," ITT said in a statement. This month, a group that accredits ITT found that the chain failed to meet several basic standards and was unlikely to comply in the future. There are 130 ITT campuses in 38 states, including ten in the state of Texas. Last year, ITT enrolled 45,000 students and reported $850 million in revenue. ITT was defiant in the release, defending its decades of work and the amount of people that it served over the years. "We had no intention prior to the receipt of the most recent sanctions of closing down despite the challenging regulatory environment that now threatens all proprietary higher education. We have also always worked tirelessly to ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, and to uphold our ethic of continuous improvement. When we have received inquiries from regulators, we have always been responsive and cooperative. Despite our ongoing service to this nation's employers, local communities and underserved students, these federal actions will result in the closure of the ITT Technical Institutes without any opportunity to pursue our right to due process. These unwarranted actions, taken without proving a single allegation, are a "lawless execution," as noted by a recent editorial in The Wall Street Journal. We were not provided with a hearing or an appeal. Alternatives that we strongly believe would have better served students, employees, and taxpayers were rejected. The damage done to our students and employees, as well as to our shareholders and the American taxpayers, is irrevocable." Under the Obama administration the Education Department has led a crackdown on for-profit colleges that have misled students or failed to deliver the results they promised. What this means for current students or those who are currently in the process of enrolling remains to be seen. On Tuesday calls to the three Houston-area locations were not immediately returned. The Associated Press contributed to this report This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Take a look at how 2015's new laws have worked out one year after they went into effect in the gallery above. Lawmakers push all sorts of measures during a legislative session with a variety of intentions. Gov. Greg Abbott signed about 1,200 bills into law last year, many with an effective date of Sept. 1, 2015 a year ago Thursday. How are those laws working so far? It depends. LOOKING BACK: Texas laws that took effect after the 2015 legislative session Lawmakers pushed hard last year on border crime and human trafficking. While it is still early in the anti-trafficking law's life span, a national group has shown a rise in the number of calls received and cases of human trafficking verified. The National Human Trafficking Resource Center, a clearing house for data about the crime, reported receiving 1,024 calls as of June 30, and 307 cases. In 2015, when the law was only in effect for three months, the center reported 1,731 calls and 433 cases. In 2014, when no statewide crackdown was in effect, the center reported 1,876 calls and 452 cases for the year. RELATED: Abbott put border security, ethics, education on fast track By making it a felony to harbor or shield someone from detection, the intent of the law was to crack down on people who help immigrants skirt border patrol. The attorney general added a human trafficking division to prosecute violators, and all human trafficking violations were bumped from state jail felonies to higher offenses. U.S. District Judge David Ezra blocked enforcement of the harboring and shielding law in April, finding parts of it legally questionable. A suit brought by three people and backed by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund is pending. SECURITY: DPS proposes $1 billion to further beef up border crackdown Shannon Edmonds, governmental relations director for the Texas District and County Attorneys Association in Austin, said as long as the injunction is in place, prosecutors can't do much under the law. "That is something we thought could have an impact ... but it is all in limbo now," Edmonds said. Other aspects of the push to tighten the border are progressing. While the Texas Department of Public Safety is still purchasing some items, it is hiring 250 new recruits to send to border counties. As of September, 203 new officers had been brought on board, according to the department. EDUCATION: Abbott names new regents at UT, A&M, Tech A handful of bills were aimed at making life easier for Texans who fight America's wars. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission founded a grant program to fund community-based mental health programs for veterans disturbed by their combat experience abroad. The commission gave out four grants in May aimed at assisting veterans across Texas. The grants came about through a bill pushed by state Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, which provided $20 million of state funds to be matched with local and private funds for mental health support for veterans and their families. The first grants, totaling $885,000, went to creating a web portal for veterans along with a new case management and resource directory, a mental health program in Dallas and Fort Bliss and to centers in the Texas Panhandle to close gaps in mental health services. SPEAKING OUT: Vets give Houston VA earful at town hall meeting "Not all wounds are visible, and the needs for our fighting men and women and their families are priority obligations for Texas," Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Charles Smith said in a statement. "These programs will help those whose suffering continues after the fighting ends." The Governor's Office will offer to match funds put forth by universities to recruit Nobel laureates and members of the national academies of sciences, engineering or medicine. However Texas schools cannot use the state money to recruit talent from other Texas schools. The "Governor's University Research Initiative" is the successor to the Texas Emerging Technology Fund. RELATED: Texas schools snubbed on Forbes' list of top 25 universities So far, 10 of the nation's top researchers are headed to Texas universities, lured by $34 million in new state grants aimed at attracting the best professors. The grant program, the Governor's University Research Initiative, offers matching grants of up to $5 million to researchers who come to the state. The money can be used to buy equipment and build research facilities. The 10 researchers - members of the prestigious national academies in the U.S. and the Royal Society in the U.K. - are coming to the University of Houston, Texas A&M University and the University of Texas. READ MORE: Sugar Land student receives scholarship from foundation The program is aimed at boosting innovative work at the state's universities. "This strategic investment in higher education will further elevate future generations of students and faculty at Texas universities while spearheading new breakthroughs in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine, all of which are crucial to the long-term success of the Texas economy," Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement in July. While bigger-name professors were being lured, state aid to college students began shrinking, starting with the fall semester in 2015. No new money was awarded through the state's B-On-Time loan program. DEEP POCKETS: Three of the highest paid university presidents nationally are from Texas That program allowed students to take loans that would be forgiven if they graduated college in four years with at least a B average. In 2013, the state spent about $53 million forgiving those loans. Any students who were approved for the program before September 2015 will continue to receive funds through their college tenure. The impact of the cuts is still playing out on campus. At the University of Texas in Austin, enrollment actually went up slightly from 26,215, in spring 2015, to 26,537, in the spring of 2016. That's down, though, from fall 2015, when the school enrolled 39,619 undergraduate students. Texas A&M enrolled 46,575 undegraduate students in the spring of 2016. That's slightly down from the 49,545 students in the fall of 2015, but up from the 44,622 in the spring of 2015. READ MORE: How much do Texas private college presidents earn? The University of Houston saw 42,738 enroll in fall 2015 an increase of almost 2,000 students over the fall 2014. UT-Austin expects to see more effects of the cuts in the future, when students will have to rely more on zero-interest loans from the state and federal government as well as find other outlets to borrow money. "It was a valuable financial resource for students, and averaged $4-6 million year in support for UT students," said Joey Williams, spokesman for the school. "Current students who are already using it are grandfathered in, so the impact isn't going to be felt by those already using it." READ MORE: Report: Texas public universities are 'dropout factories' Joseph Petitbone, vice president for Academic Services at Texas A&M, said the cuts haven't impacted enrollment. "Texas A&M University, the portion of funds that was going to support the BOT Loan program were redirected into other financial aid programs, so students with financial need continued to benefit from aid programs," Petitbone said. A state commission has identified a procedural delay in how Waller County processes indigent defendants' requests for attorneys. Following an intensive review of the county's methods for assigning counsel to the poor, the Texas Indigent Defense Commission found that magistrate judges were not handling requests for attorneys in the same way and that not all magistrates were providing defendants with "reasonable assistance" in completing the necessary paperwork at their hearings, according to a recently released report. As such, the report continues, too many felony and misdemeanor cases were being processed more slowly than legally required. Improperly processing requests is common to a number of counties in Texas, said Joel Lieurance, a senior policy analyst with the commission, who worked on the report. "Nothing in Waller that was there was something that was unique to them," he said Tuesday. "I think they're generally people that are trying to do the right thing." Commission staff spent four days in both March and May in Waller County, looking through court documents and sitting in on court proceedings. The finalized commission report was dated Aug. 29. The county is required to respond in 60 days, with the option of an additional 60-day extension, Lieurance said, while the commission aims to schedule follow-ups within two years. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner on Tuesday called on the Texas State Board of Education to reject a controversial textbook on Mexican heritage that the board is considering for use during the 2017 school year. In a letter to the board, Turner said he has read portions of the Momentum Instruction, LLC tome, titled "Mexican American Heritage," as well as reviews by subject matter experts. "In short, I find this textbook to be offensive," Turner said in a prepared statement. "The purpose of instructional material is not to undermine our educational system, to push an ideological agenda or to disseminate inaccuracies, stereotypes and errors about our collective history." The mayor's office cited an excerpt from the text, which contrasted "driven" industrialists with Mexican laborers, whom the text states were "not reared to put in a full day's work so vigorously." "It is unbelievable that such a hateful stereotype appears in a textbook for Texas students. Politicized, prejudicial, erroneous textbooks must not be used as instructional materials for students," Turner said. "Reject this purported textbook, and offer one that is scholarly, historical and accurate to educate all students about our nation's rich history." History professors and advocates have called the textbook offensive and have said they identified at least three errors per page in the 500-page work. A committee convened by a state board of education trustee identified at least 68 factual errors in the book. The book is the sole Mexican-American history text up for approval before the Texas Board of Education this year after the state approved courses in the subject. The state received no other proposed texts. Just over half of Texas' 5 million public school students are Latino. The company that published the book, Momentum Instruction, is headed by former State Board of Education member Cynthia Dunbar, who has condemned public education as "tyrannical" and a "tool of perversion" and opposed teaching students about the separation of church and state. In a late July interview, Dunbar said, "the last thing in the world that we want this book to do is to promote any kind of negative impression of Mexican-Americans." NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) A United Airlines flight has made an emergency landing in Nashville, Tennessee, after an apparently intoxicated passenger caused a disturbance. An arrest affidavit from Metro Nashville Police says the passenger, Mohammed Nasser Aldoseri, told officers he had eight drinks before boarding Monday's flight from Cincinnati to Houston. The pilot diverted the flight after police say Aldoseri broke one of the plane's bathroom doors, threw up in a sink and then starting speaking loudly in Arabic. -- THE RACE TODAY: A new 50-state poll shows why Clinton holds advantage over Trump, by The Washington PostsDan Balz and Scott Clement With nine weeks until Election Day, Donald Trump is within striking distance in the Upper Midwest, but Hillary Clinton's strength in many battlegrounds and some traditional Republican strongholds gives her a big electoral college advantage, according to a 50-state Washington Post-SurveyMonkey poll. The survey of all 50 states is the largest sample ever undertaken by The Post, which joined with SurveyMonkey and its online polling resources to produce the results. The state-by-state numbers are based on responses from more than 74,000 registered voters during the period of Aug. 9 to Sept. 1. The individual state samples vary in size from about 550 to more than 5,000, allowing greater opportunities than typical surveys to look at different groups within the population and compare them from state to state. At the same time, however, Trump is struggling in places Republicans have won consistently and that he must hold to have any hope of winning. These states include Arizona and Georgia, as well as Texas - the biggest surprise in the 50-state results. The Texas results, which are based on a sample of more than 5,000 people, show a dead heat, with Clinton ahead by one percentage point. >> Analysis: Texas Elections Have Begun, by The Texas Tribunes Ross Ramsey -- Are big Texas counties going easier on post? An American-Statesman analysis shows those practices are resulting in a spike of marijuana dismissals in Harris, Dallas, Bexar, Travis and Tarrant counties. In each of the five counties, the rate of dismissal has risen since 2011, including dramatically in some places, per the Statesmans Tony Plohetski. >> Capitol update, per Scott Braddock: Joe Householder leaves Linebarger for Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Lizzette Gonzalez Reynolds to work for Jeb!, and Moritz back on the Capitol Beat -- Congress is back, but dont expect much, by The Texas Tribunes Abby Livingston. The U.S. Congress returns to Washington Tuesday to take a stab at four weeks of legislating before lawmakers hustle home for the final campaign stretch before the November election. Expect modest results. At first blush, the only must-pass task is the budget, as a Sept. 30 deadline to fund the continued operations of the federal government looms over Capitol Hill. -- Facing tighter budgets, Texas officials ready to consider prison cuts, by the Statesmans Philip Jankowski. With the number of inmates housed by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice down nearly 10,000 after diversion programs were ramped up several years ago, closing some prisons seems like a logical way to meet the 4 percent budget cuts that Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Joe Straus have asked of nearly all state departments. CAPITOL DAYBOOK - No Meetings SPEED READ Obama cancels meeting after new Philippine president calls him a 'son of a bitch,' Dallas Morning News Perry takes the stage again, San Antonio Express-News Clinton, Kaine release new campaign book, AP House panel asks prosecutor to probe deleted Clinton emails, AP Obama meets with Laotian president, AP From remote stronghold, Haiti fugitive seeks political power, AP Far-right activist, author Phyllis Schlafly dies at 92, AP Rally marks 50th anniversary of farm workers protest, Houston Chronicle Asian American business boom mirrors fast-growing community, Austin American-Statesman Tomlinson: electric, self-driving, flying taxis are the future, Houston Chronicle RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE -- Trump, Clinton turn to battleground states in the South, by APs Steve Peoples and Ken Thomas. Trump, the Republican nominee, is set to campaign in Virginia and North Carolina on Tuesday, two critical states in his path to the presidency. Clinton, the Democrat, is campaigning in Florida in search of an advantage in the nation's largest swing state. A Clinton victory in Florida would make it virtually impossible for Trump to overcome her advantage in the race for 270 electoral votes. >> Clinton blasts Russia, Trump softens immigration stance, AP -- Trump will debate Clinton: Donald Trump announced Monday that he will participate in all three presidential debates, ending weeks of speculation about whether he would face off against the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton. -- MEANWHILE, Trump: People dont care about my tax returns Per Politico: Members of the media are the only people concerned about seeing Donald Trump's tax returns, according to the Republican nominee. As far as my taxes are concerned, the only one that cares is the press, I will tell you, Trump said in an interview Monday with ABC's David Muir that aired Tuesday on "Good Morning America. And even the press, I tell you, it's not a big deal. The summers final Live on the Waterfront concert was held Wednesday evening at Prince Arthurs Landing. The popular series in Thunder Bay has completed nine weekly shows that began on July 13. Wednesdays concert was unique as it was held one hour later in the evening to mesh with the 10 p. : I was thinking about your appeal to the Ohio state supreme court. There was one thing that was overlooked in your court and in your jury trial. You were told by Ms. Bowman and later by Dean Irwin (?) with two different messages. Since the appeal court had stated that the situation was like a child talking to one parent without informing the parent what the other parent had said (See the decision by the appeal court), I was thinking that maybe you could argue that you were told with two different messages. Ms. Bowman asked that you get permission in order to stay. Then Dean sent a letter which did state as the final decision. I was not sure why you did not understand that. However, for your argument, you could argue that because of extreme emotional distress, and recent DV, you were not able to make the best judgement which resulted in your inquiring the Dean about whether you could still stay after obtaining the permission. I think in this case, it was like a child being told of two different things by two different parents. I believe this is related to having come from a different culture. If you have a lawyer, make sure you explain this to him. I am not sure if it is too late for you to submit additional arguments to the supreme court. You could try to submit supplemental materials to the court and see if they would accept. Court usually prefers to see additional evidence. This could be some additional evidence. You should up-play your lack of cultural understanding, and your language barriers. You should down-play your intelligence. Not the other way around. In fact, Americans are smarter than we think and we are more stupid to them than we think. So let it be. My two cents. You should ask for a consult from a law firm which usually costs 100 dollars for the first hour. You can consult several before making the last decision. You can look up on the internet on how to prepare for cultural defenses. If the supreme court rejects your appeal, are you sure you could appeal to the federal supreme court? Since CT is a state offense, the Federal courts would not take these cases. Lastly, i think your writing format in preparing for the cases is off. You could look up to see what the proper legal format should be. Maybe libraries can help you. Weve told you over and over again: education is not a front-burner issue in the 2016 presidential campaign. And with the Every Student Succeeds Act on the books, many folks believe the next president simply wont be in a position to put a significant stamp on federal K-12 policy. But is that sentiment right? We talked to two education policy wonks about that question. One, Chad Aldeman of Bellwether Education Partners, said its not. The other, Texas attorney and No Child Left Behind Act architect Sandy Kress, said there may be some truth to itbut hes not sure what difference that will ultimately make. Vague, But Big, Fights? First and foremost, Aldeman argues, ESSA itself isnt crystal clear on key issues. He cited the prominent provision that requires academic indicators to count for much more than the indicator of school quality in state accountability systems. The Education Department shied away from suggesting or requiring any numbers related to that language. ESSA is not exactly a clear law. It relies on vague terms Its a Rorschach test for what people think it means, he told us. (Aldeman made this and other points in a Bellwether blog post last month.) Aldeman also argued that when it comes to approving state plans, its going to be hard to track how the U.S. Department of Education handles each one. Federal officials have a lot of sway in those sorts of negotiations and agreements that typically dont get a ton of attention. The next leaders of the department, for example, have the power to appoint peer reviewers who will go over the plans and correspond with states about them. The the peer reviewers will have a significant amount of influence over what gets approved. Aldemans point: Who knows what beliefs and ideas those reviewers will bring to the table thats different from those in Congress or the Obama administration? It may not be flashy, but that process could create a notable shift in what states are able to get approved under ESSA, he said. Its amazing all the stuff that goes into it, said Aldeman, who used to work in the Obama Education Department, of reviewing states proposals on these thorny issues. Kress, on the other hand, is of two minds about this sort of thing. He doesnt deny there might be some big fights over behind-the-scenes issues, and that ESSA is in fact a vague law. But he also thinks the chances are pretty good that the general trajectory for ESSA has already been set, and Republican lawmakers in Congress mostly made sure of it. The conservative footprint is probably going to be the winner, Kress said. We Take It Back One area where the next presidents Education Department could make a big impact? Rescinding some aspects of Obama-era ESSA regulations involving accountability and spending, assuming things now on the proposed are finalized by the time the adminstration leaves office, Aldeman said. The single summative rating [requirement] is definitely one of the ones that I would wonder about, he said. Another potential victim of a never mind that approach by the next administration? Anything that resembles the controversial per-pupil spending plan floated by the department in ESSA negotiations this past spring. Kress said that, generally, if Democrat Hillary Clinton wins the White House, he could see some easing of regulations that the two national teachers unions (both big Clinton backers) dont like. But a President Donald Trump, on the other hand, probably wouldnt care too much about this sort of political quid pro quo and would let states and locals steer the ship. Handoff or Fumble? Then theres the lack of recent precedent for this sort of transition. Aldeman pointed out that the two previous reauthorizations of federal education law, the Improving Americas Schools Act and the No Child Left Behind Act, were both passed relatively early in the respective presidential administrations. IASA was passed in 1994, the second year of President Bill Clintons time in office, and the same goes for NCLB, which President George W. Bush signed in 2002. By contrast, as weve previously written, there will be an ESSA handoff between Obamas Education Department and the next administration early next year. And Mike Petrilli of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute expressed concerns that that handoff could turn into a fumble, damaging or derailing the transition to ESSA . Aside from the potential to strengthen or weaken that transition, however, there are possibilities for the next administration to put its own touches on how the law will work. So unlike the previous two versions of the federal education law, ESSA will have fingerprints from both the Obama administration and the next president on it. How many will come from the latter? IASA and NCLB dont really provide any precedent. Least-Impactful Administration? And Kress also pointed out something you may have forgotten: The authorization period for ESSA only lasts four years. So technically, by the beginning of 2020, were supposed to have a reauthorization of federal education law. (By then, how popular will the #FixESSA hashtag be on Twitterassuming Twitter is still around?) Now, if current political trends in Washington continue, the chance of getting a new federal education law by 2020 seems pretty smallespecially if you consider that Congress was about eight years overdue in reauthorizing the law and replacing No Child Left Behind with ESSA. Kress said that the next president might at least start making a reauthorization push. And if the next president gets re-elected in 2020, that could provide good momentum for reauthorization heading into that presidents second term. On the other hand, theres money. A Hillary Clinton as president, for example, might want to push for bigger appropriations for a variety of education programs, only to get stiff-armed by Congress if Republicans control one or both chambers. At the end of the day, Kress foresees education taking a backseat, or even getting put in the trunk, during the next administration. I think this is going to be the least-impactful administration, going back decades, regardless of who wins, he said. Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . Q&A: Angela Williams Helping the Post Office reinvent itself after scandal is just the latest HR challenge for Angela Williams and she wouldnt have it any other way, she tells Katie Jacobs Cross-posted from EdWeek Market Brief . The disruptions in online assessments that roiled Montana, Nevada, and North Dakota in the spring of 2015 appear to have had both negative and positive effects on individual students test scores, according to a new analysis . While some students scores appeared to have been hurt by logout interruptions, evidence suggests others may have actually benefited from temporarily getting booted out of the system, a conclusion the authors of the report base on statistical modeling. The independent analysis released Friday was conducted by the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment , a research and consulting nonprofit hired by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, the group that sponsored the exams. The report also suggests the impact of the logout interruptions varied greatly by school and district. The vast majority of districts in Montana and North Dakota, for instance, had zero students forced to cope with a logout interruption, but in some school systems in those states, 100 percent of students ran into problems. But authors Joseph Martineau and Nathan Dadey also said their review was hamstrung by vendors testing systems only collecting data on one type of interruptionstudents getting kicked out due to server failureand not other problems. That means the review only examines a portion of the total interruptions schools faced. Tamp Down the Panic The report also points to what the authors see as a major flaw in how test vendors and public officials think about online testing. Today, industry and education officials assume that computer-based testing will work relatively flawlessly, without interruptions, despite the vicissitudes and complexities associated with Internet service providers, routers, and district infrastructure, the report says. But the evidence suggests that policymakers and vendors should reverse their thinking and go into online testing periods expecting that interruptions will occur, the authors say. Doing so would compel states and vendors to take a systemic approach to fixing problems quickly and communicating immediately with schools. And it would tamp down the panic, Martineau said in an interview. There needs to be a faster, more coordinated response that carries from the vendor all the way down to the student, he added. As things now stand, interruptions have potentially dire implications for states because they dont have the ability to respond and make fixes immediately, the report argues. To date, both states and their vendors have treated interruptions as abnormalities, rather than eventualities, the authors write, leading to ad-hoc responses. The Impact of the Interruptions The testing disruptions in Montana, Nevada, and North Dakota deeply angered state officials, who complained about lost instructional time and the overall confusion created among teachers and students. Nevada Attorney General Adam Paul Laxalt later recouped $1.8 million in penalties from Smarter Balanced, and $1.3 million from the states testing vendor at the time, Measured Progress, as a result of the interruptions. After the breakdowns, Measured Progress officials said their work was hindered by another vendor, the American Institutes for Research, failing to deliver source code in time to test the system adequately. The AIR, which disputed that claim, had developed an open-source test delivery system for the exam. The Center for Assessments analysis looked at the testing interruptions in all three states. Among its conclusions: Students likely appear to have experienced both positive and negative effects on their test scores, as a result of the interruptions. (The authors methods, which rely on creating a comparison with a matched peer group of students, dont allow for a definite cause-and-effect link between interruptions and test scores.) There were some indications that the breakdowns had a relatively large effect on limited-English-proficient students scores. But the sample-size of students in that category was small, limiting the results. A relatively small portion of students across states dealt with testing interruptionswith the highest number being 6 percent for any combination of subject, grade, or state. The average percentage of students who coped with interruptions was smallerabout 3 percent, Martineau said. But the authors dont know the extent to which other breakdowns added to those totals, because they could not collect that data. Participation in the test suffered because of the interruptions The portion of students with valid scores at the district level fell by between 6 percent and 16 percent across subjects, grades, and states, compared with baselines from the previous three years. Vendors testing systems should be required to collect and document more data about the nature of interruptions, the authors recommend. They also call for the creation of independently operating databases, on independent servers, to help gather this information. While it might seem obvious why a students test score could be negatively affected by a test interruption, the fact that other students may have benefited from the disruption shouldnt be a shocker, Martineau said. The testing glitches may have given some students time to think about the nature of the questions, take a break, and refocus, Martineau speculated. Othersif they were highly motivated, might have even tried to go to an outside source and look up answers, he said. Improving the System Despite public worries about test interruptions, the report is a reminder that students are more resilient than we give them credit for, he said. Smarter Balanced will look at the reports recommendations and talk with member states about the possibility of amending contracts with test vendors to take in that advice, said Tony Alpert, the executive director of the consortium. But he also argued that Smarter Balanced states have already progressed beyond the setbacks that played out during the 2014-15 academic year. This years round of state tests were overwhelmingly problem-free, he said. The goal of the report was not to identify any source of blame, but to improve the system, Alpert said. Were really moving on. Its back-to-school time. In my town, the first day was last Thursday. In New York City, classes start this week. If youre a parent, you know what it meansthe return of long faces and high anxiety about homework, due dates, and report cards. Navigating the choppy seas of childhood has never been easy. These days, however, there is a new shark in the water: social media. Keeping up with the latest gadgets, apps, and social networks is now just as urgent as staying current with the latest fashions, hairstyles, and sneaker brands. Its become all-consuming. Last month, a prominent addiction specialist caused a stir when he compared screen time for kids with digital heroin. We now know that those iPads, smartphones and Xboxes are a form of digital drug, wrote Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, executive director of The Dunes East Hampton, a high-end residential-rehabilitation facility on Long Island. Recent brain imaging research is showing that they affect the brains frontal cortexwhich controls executive functioning, including impulse controlin exactly the same way that cocaine does. A 2010 study of University of Maryland students found that giving up their devices for 24 hours produced cravings identical to those experienced by drug addicts going through withdrawal. Researchers have linked social-media use with a host of typical teenage woes, including low self-esteem, anxiety, and depression. The pressure of responding to texts and instant messages causes sleeplessness in teens. Its hard to ace an exam when youve been up all night staring at a screen, wondering why your friends arent writing you back. Moms and dads are often just as hooked on their handhelds. How can we force our kids to disconnect without seeming like hypocrites? Heres how it works at my house. My 12-year-old daughter has a smart phoneshe inherited it when I switched service providersbut its not connected to e-mail or social media. She uses it only for listening to music, taking pictures of her baby brother, and checking the weather. She doesnt even know what Instagram is. I doubt there are many seventh-graders who can say the same. My wife and I use a variety of strategies to keep our children in the digital dark. For starters: we homeschool. We have our reasonsunrelated to our concerns about social mediabut homeschooling relieves much of the stress that kids suffer trying to keep up with the likes, shares, and faves of their friends. People feel that when they get a lot of likes it means that theyre pretty and popular, and that makes them feel better, one 15-year-old told CNN. Parents of public school students have told me that the pressure to look good on social mediaespecially for girlsis brutal. Is there anyone who thinks that this is good for kids? Id rather eat nails than put my daughter through it. Homeschooling isnt for everyone. But you dont have to pull your children out of school to give themand yourselfsome peace of mind. Shielding children from social-media anxiety and digital depression starts with just saying no to Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and the rest. My daughter knows what some of these services are, but shes not allowed to use them, and it will be years before that changes. Some of her friends have accountsyes, homeschooled kids have friendsbut my wife and I see no conceivable upside to throwing her to the lions of the online jungle. No American kid can expect to linger forever in the bliss of Internet ignorance. But as a parent, if I can delay the day of reckoning, why wouldnt I do it? Its not as if shes going to have trouble catching up. This is Facebook were talking about, not physics. Theres one surefire way to avoid the new disease of digital depression as your kids head back to school: log them out. Photo by Wavebreakmedia/iStock Besnia Joins Great American Insurance Group as Divisional Vice President Cincinnati-based Great American Insurance Group named Kerry Besnia divisional vice president within Great Americans Property and Casualty Group. In his new role, Besnia will be focused on developing new distribution sources while utilizing his extensive underwriting background to uncover business opportunities. Besnia has over 30 years of industry experience, most recently serving in management roles for Chubb Insurance Group. Navigators Announces Global Claims Leadership Changes The Navigators Group, Inc. announced a restructured leadership team for its global claims organization, effective September 1, 2016. Glen Bronstein has been promoted to the newly created role of global chief claims officer. He joined Navigators to lead the U.S. claims organization in May 2013 and has held the role since. Bronstein will now have oversight responsibility for the global claims organization, encompassing the claims operations of the Companys three global underwriting segments. Prior to joining Navigators, he worked at American International Group for 19 years where he served in a variety of executive positions. In the U.S. Insurance segment, Marina Barg has been promoted to chief claims officer for U.S. Insurance, succeeding Bronstein. Barg joined Navigators in January 2014 as the leader of the U.S. casualty claims unit, overseeing the claims of the largest U.S. underwriting division. Within the International Insurance segment, Ruth Roberts continues to be the chief claims officer for claims arising out of the Companys London Market business. Roberts has been with Navigators since 2011. In addition in the International Segment, Michael Phipps joined Navigators on August 22, 2016 as claims manager for Navigators International Insurance Company, the Companys recently authorized U.K. domiciled insurance company. Phipps previously worked at Chubb in a variety of claims management roles in the United Kingdom, Australia and Asia. He is based in London. Mangold Promoted to Brentwood Services Administrators CFO Brentwood Services Administrators Inc. (BSA), headquartered in Brentwood, Tenn., promoted Collette Mangold to the position of chief financial officer, according to Jeff Pettus, president and chief executive officer. In her new position, Mangold oversees all internal accounting functions, as well as the preparation of statutory financial statements and accounting for several insurance clients. Mangold joined BSA in May 2008 as controller, and has over 20 years of experience in the insurance industry. Prior to joining Brentwood Services Administrators, she was the controller for the workers compensation division of a large, publicly traded health insurance company. Endurance Names Sparro CEO of US Insurance Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:ENH), a Bermuda-based specialty provider of property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, announced that Christopher Sparro will join the company on September 12, 2016 as executive vice president and chief executive officer of U.S. Insurance. He will be based in the companys New York City office, reporting to Jack Kuhn, chief executive officer of Global Insurance. With more than twenty-five years of experience, Sparro will be responsible for continuing to build the companys U.S. product portfolio which currently offers a broad range of professional, casualty, property and specialty covers. He was most recently president of Financial Lines for the Americas Region at AIG, where he built an extensive network of wholesale and retail distribution partners across the U.S. Sparro joined AIG in 1990 and held several senior positions, including president of both the Middle Market and Corporate Divisions of Management Liability for National Union, zonal executive of the Greater New York Region, president of WorldSource, chief operating officer of the Americas and, most recently, president of Financial Lines for the Americas Region of AIG. Critics of the embattled airbag manufacturer Takata Corp. said last weeks deadly explosion of a truck carrying parts to its Mexican factory underscores questions about the safety of the chemical compound at the center of the largest automotive recall in U.S. history. Senators Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said the National Transportation Safety Board should look into the Aug. 22 explosion, which killed one and injured four others on U.S. Highway 277 between Del Rio, Texas and Eagle Pass, Texas. The truck was carrying 14,000 cylinders of ammonium nitrate, the propellant linked to deadly airbag failures. The incident raises questions about the inherent instability of ammonium nitrate, they said. We already know Takata has endangered millions behind the wheel, Democrats Markey and Blumenthal said in a statement Wednesday. The recent tragedy in Texas raises questions about how many millions more are in harms way because of Takatas practices transporting its hazardous product. The Texas explosion created a blast crater and blew out windows in houses two miles away. A woman in a nearby house killed by the explosion had to be identified by teeth found at the site. Ammonium Nitrate On Wednesday, the NTSB said it had requested shipping and other documents in connection with the Texas explosion, which it said was caused after the truck failed to negotiate a curve and crashed into a house. Initial indicators are that the materials were packaged properly, NTSB spokesman Eric Weiss said in an e-mail. If the review of documents and other information shows cause to investigate, the NTSB will do so. The safety board also will assist if Texas state officials investigating the crash ask for help, Weiss said. The Texas incident recalled a series of explosions at a TRW Inc. airbag inflator plant in the 1980s and 1990s that involved a different chemical compound, said Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, a Washington watchdog group. The Takata blast raises serious questions about the safety of transporting ammonium nitrate by truck across the country as tens of millions of recalled airbags are replaced, he said. This incident shows theres a need to get completely away from ammonium nitrate, Ditlow said. Takatas choice of ammonium nitrate was one of the biggest engineering mistakes in automotive history. Why are they still using it? Complex Recall Almost 70 million Takata airbag inflators are scheduled for replacement between now and 2019, the largest and most complex auto-safety recall in U.S. history. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has identified a combination of time, exposure to moisture and fluctuating high temperatures as the highest risks in making ammonium nitrate unstable. When Takata inflators have exploded with too much force, drivers have been killed by shrapnel. Many of the replacement Takata inflators also rely on ammonium nitrate, which other airbag manufacturers have avoided using due to safety questions. NHTSA concluded that airbags with the compound were safe if they also used a drying agent. All ammonium nitrate inflators without a drying agent are either being recalled or will be recalled in the future, NHTSA spokesman Bryan Thomas said. Takata has been banned from entering into new contracts to produce that kind of airbag inflator, he said. The ammonium nitrate inflators that incorporate a drying agent are under study, and Takata has until 2019 to demonstrate theyre safe. If not, those airbags will also be recalled and phased out, Thomas said. Track Record Some of the replacement inflators in the current recalls will eventually be recalled a second time when a permanent fix is designed, Thomas said. The temporary replacement inflators are deemed safe for the time being because it takes years for ammonium nitrate to degrade enough to present a risk, he said. Takata has a terrible track record of cutting corners to put profits before safety and lying to federal regulators, the senators said. Markey and Blumenthal asked Takata to recall all vehicles with ammonium nitrate-based airbags in August 2015 and have repeatedly expressed concern about the pace of the national airbag recall. Takata spokesman Jared Levy declined to comment. The Tokyo-based company has said it followed safety procedures that met or exceeded regulatory requirements, and it doesnt expect the accident to affect its ability to meet commitments made to customers. Manufacturing History Takatas history of flawed manufacturing of airbag inflators goes back decades and has been well-documented, said Sean Kane, president of Safety Research and Strategies Inc., a Rehoboth, Massachusetts-based firm that works on product-liability lawsuits. Youve got a company that couldnt make them right even under the best circumstances, Kane said. All of a sudden, now that theyre under the gun, were expecting them to build them perfectly and ship them perfectly? The U.S. Transportation Department said Monday it was looking at whether the trucking company Takata contracted to carry its airbag chemicals complied with federal safety regulations, including how the cargo was handled and packaged, and the route the truck took. The Texas Department of Public Safety is investigating the explosion, said spokesman Lieutenant Juan Hernandez. Theres no specific timetable to complete the investigation. So far, the department hasnt found any hazardous-materials violations, he said. Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. The August downpours that dumped more than 30 inches of rain in two days on parts of Louisiana have left as many as 100,000 cars and trucks damaged and thats only counting insured vehicles. The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), says claims reporting and vehicle recovery efforts that were initially slowed by the large scale flooding are now in full swing and, according to the states Division of Motor Vehicles, the numbers are much higher than originally expected. Based on the extensive vehicle losses following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Louisiana enacted strong measures to help protect unsuspecting consumers from buying a flood-damaged vehicle. Once an insured vehicle has been determined by the insurer to have been flood damaged it is towed to one of the auction facilities and processed with a new title that indicates it has been water damaged. In Louisiana, during an emergency like the recent flooding, the severity of flood water damage may require a Certificate of Destruction. In that case, the vehicle has to be crushed, or sold to a company that will dismantle it for parts and destroy what remains. The vehicle identification number (VIN) is entered into the states records, NICBs VINCheck, and the National Motor Vehicle Title Identification System (NMVTIS) so that the consumers can check a vehicle history before purchasing a used car or truck. Flooded vehicles that did not have insurance coverage are a major concern as they are frequently cleaned up to hide the damage and then sold to unsuspecting consumers with no indication of a problem. The number of uninsured vehicles that were flood damaged may be even more than the number of insured vehicles since many owners choose to drop their policys comprehensive coverage as the vehicle ages. Its buyer beware, said Commissioner of Motor Vehicles Karen St. Germaine, who warns those in the market for a used car both in state and across the country to do their homework before putting any money on the line. Tips for consumers and adjusters: Look for water stains, mildew, sand or silt under the carpet, floor mats, and dashboard, and in the wheel well where the spare is stored. Look for fogging inside the headlights and taillights. Do a smell test. A heavy aroma of cleaners and disinfectants is a sign that someones trying to mask a mold or odor problem. Get a vehicle history report. Check a trusted database service. Check NICBs free VINCheck database and the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles site. There are also reliable services that charge a small fee for history reports. Have a trusted mechanic inspect the cars mechanical and electrical components, and systems that contain fluids, for water contamination. Source: NICB After tumultuous eight hurricanes in two years between 2004 and 2005, we havent seen a hurricane in Florida for over 10 years. Has the state learned from those storms? Are the insurance companies ready? What about the independent adjusting companies, do they have enough qualified adjusting resources to fulfill their contractual commitments? How about the reinsurers, are they ready? Many of you have participated in meetings between insurers and reinsurers in London and Bermuda and have observed the normal due diligence relative to catastrophe (CAT) readiness. CAT readiness is validated through inquiry relative to the insurers management team, operations, financial stability, growth strategy, Probable Maximum Loss (PML) projections etc. Those meetings usually do scrutinize operational information, undoubtedly due to the level of detail required and/or the ability to verify information. Consider the following: the last hurricane hit Florida in 2005; there are many small, new property insurers with no CAT experience. Many of the new insurers have outsourced most (if not all) of their operational functions (such as claims & policy administration services, accounting & reporting, customer service centers, etc.) to third-party vendors because they dont want to initially build an expensive operational infrastructure. The insurers, both new companies and those experienced insurers, have conducted very little due diligence on their vendors qualified resource capacity and capability and none have been tested throughout the last 10 years. Consequently, insurers dont KNOW how much capacity their vendors can actually deliver to them. The insurers are counting on the fact that their contracted vendors will come through for them post-CAT because they are holding signed contracts indicating their commitment. The vendors, who also have been untested for 10 years in Florida, recognize the reliance on the same resources with multiple commitments. Everyone needs to think about the fact that individual adjusters will sign up with more than one vendor, as they cannot rely on being selected by a single vendor for full time non-CAT work. Given that everyone from the adjuster to the reinsurer is unsure of their position should an event occur, all vendors, insurers and reinsurers are crossing their fingers that there will be enough qualified adjusters in the market when a sizable CAT occurs. Recognizing that as vendors gear up to respond to an event, they will select the best adjusters for their best clients. This is the first level of differentiation between insurers. It is in everyones best interest to understand how the insurers monitor their vendors and the response process. We must recognize that the adjusters have a choice as to who to work for and the vendors have choices as to where to put their best adjusters or how to distribute their resources. In addition, once the work begins, many insurers increase their willingness to pay higher fees to good adjusters to ensure their continued commitment to the insurers CAT response. Furthermore, if an adjusting firm has an unhealthy reputation for delayed payment to their adjusters, it could impact their ability to attract more qualified adjusters and the same principle applies if an insurer has a reputation of delayed payment to the adjusting firms. With such complex issues apparent to vendors, insurers and reinsurers and with so many variables, this subject needs a great deal more consideration by all. This affects how vendors get paid and meet their obligations, and magnifies the differences in the total claim payments that individual insurers and reinsurers make after a CAT event. There must be some basic fundamental questions that any insurer and reinsurer should ask. Do you have an achievable and tested CAT Plan? Does it include the detailed operational elements essential to vendor management? Who is the executive over the claims or CAT operations and what is the background and experience? Are there skilled personnel who have handled the logistics of a major event? If the operations are outsourced, do the vendors have an achievable and tested CAT plan? What are the details of their contract? Do you know to whom else vendors are committed and the extent to which they are committed? Is the vendors resource growing or shrinking? If the vendor is adding adjusters, what type of adjusters does the vendor contract? Are the adjusters being assigned with non-CAT work to assure their loyalty for an event? What is the insurers 100-year probable maximum loss (PML); how does that translate into how many claims and specific types of claim i.e., personal lines, commercial lines, flood etc.? These skill sets are different and will have a very different effect on how a claim is estimated for payment. A CAT test properly done is one way for vendors and insurers to evaluate their ability to handle an event. In the 2004 and 2005 hurricane events, the adjuster pool was inadequate and there were not enough commercial adjusters. Therefore, inadequately prepared adjusters were assigned to large commercial losses. Floridas multiple storm experience clearly reflected the effect of those commercial claims in dispute with inadequate payment and some were inordinately overpaid. The problem of inadequate resources is exacerbated by the fact that Florida does not have a Single Adjuster Program; two adjusters will be assigned to a single claim with flood damage. Flood claims usually generate high percentage of dispute because of what caused the loss wind or water? Any vendor, insurer or reinsurer for Florida needs to anticipate that this will continue to be a problem for any wind event with flooding. Insurers need to provide significant capability information in order to distinguish themselves effectively for their reinsurers. By the same token, outsourced vendors need to help the insurers address the resource issues, as their operations are critical to the insurers success. With the drop in reinsurance costs, insurers are increasing the amount of coverage transferred for events. As reinsurers balance writing more business to increase investor returns, they will become more sensitive to the overall total claim payment risk. Reinsurers should know the differences between good and average clients CAT claim management capabilities that would directly impact their profit margins. By the same token, insurers who have credible CAT experience and addressed the vendor issue properly with thorough due diligence should demand and expect to get the best pricing from the reinsurers. All the players vendors, insurers and reinsurers should have established benchmarks so everyone is clear on their performance expectations. These operational aspects should impact the price of reinsurance. All aspects of CAT claim management should be tested and all scenarios considered. If Floridas experience in 2004 and 2005 tells us anything, we did not assess this aspect of the risk adjustment process then and we have yet to do it now. This inherent risk can be measured and managed; after all, we are all in the risk management business. Yong Gilroy, founder and president of Jacksonville-based Gilroy Consulting, has over 29 years of insurance industry experience working for Crawford & Company, State Farm Insurance and The Home Depot. Most recently he was chief insurance officer for Citizens Property Insurance Corporation and chief operating officer for Bankers Insurance Group. He can be reached at (904) 347-0502. A former College Board official who had a lead role in designing the new SATand then became an ardent critic of the processhas become part of an FBI investigation into possible security breaches in the college-entrance exam. Documents outlining his role appear to have been put under court seal. Manuel Alfaro, who was the executive director of assessment design and development at the College Board when he was fired in February 2015, wrote in a post on his LinkedIn account on Aug. 27 that the FBI searched his Maryland home the previous day and seized computer equipment. The search came after months of public accusations by Alfaro on LinkedIn and Twitter that the College Board skipped important steps in the process in developing items for the new SAT, resulting in a test that was not up to industry standard. The College Board has strongly denied Alfaros claims, calling them baseless. The news agency Reuters, which has been running a multi-part series based on its investigation into systematic cheating on the SAT and ACT, reported that the FBI raid was part of an investigation into computer intrusion and theft against an unidentified victim corporation involving confidential or proprietary information, including tests, test forms, and internal emails. In part five of its series, published Aug. 3, Reuters revealed that it had obtained about 400 unpublished questions from the newly redesigned SAT, which debuted in March. Reuters said it got the items from a person with access to material for upcoming versions of the redesigned exam. Education Week emailed the Baltimore field office of the FBI to obtain the affidavit and other documents supporting the search warrant for Alfaros home. Within three minutes, that inquiry was relayed to the Washington field office. Katherine Zackel, a spokeswoman for that office, said in an email that she couldnt comment, and added that she didnt think Education Week would find anything in court records, either. Without referring specifically to the Alfaro case, she said that prosecutors or judges sometimes put affidavitswhich detail law enforcement officers reasons for a searchunder court seal for operational necessity, the safety of individuals, or the privacy of individuals pending court decisions, or other factors. Questions Raised About SAT Design Process Alfaro, who also worked as a senior test developer for the American Institutes for Research, has been trying in several ways to draw attention to his claims of an allegedly poor SAT test-design process at the College Board. He started a White House petition on We the People that has gotten 218 signatures. He calls on the federal government to investigate the College Board, but provides no detail for his claim that the SAT is a sham. Details for his allegations have appeared in a string of public posts on LinkedIn , and on his Twitter feed, where he goes by the handle @SATInsider . Across those postings, Alfaros central argument is that the College Board often skipped an important part of the test design: review by an external panel at two key points in the process. The College Boards publicly posted process (below, and on page 200 of this document) calls for outside review before items are field-tested, and again, before they are put into final, operational test forms. (In test design, it isnt uncommon for items to be revised after field-testing.) Alfaro says that sometimes items werent reviewed by the external panel until they were already assembled into final test forms. He also contends, in a LinkedIn post May 20, that many test items are extensively revised/rewritten at the latest stage, once theyre undergoing final review in operational test forms. This, he says, is contrary to College Board representations that operational items are revised only rarely. In one late-stage review, Alfaro writes in a June 9 LinkedIn post , the feedback from the committee was scathing, with one member writing an 11-page missive to the College Board saying the items were the worst items he had ever seen, Alfaro contended. The post does not provide the identity of that committee member, or link to the letter he allegedly sent the College Board. He also argues that the College Board is misrepresenting its test to seven states that use it as their federally required accountability test when it claims that it designed the exam according to industry standard and its own publicly stated process. States use public funds to buy tests they use for accountability. In a post on LinkedIn Aug. 28, Alfaro tries to get the attention of residents of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, and New Hampshire, urging them to force state officials to investigate fraud by the College Board. He says he wrote letters May 7 to top officials in their states to inform them about his experiences with the SAT design, and offered to meet with state investigators, but his offers were not accepted, nor was he asked to supply more information. Instead, Alfaro got a letter from a law firm representing the College Board on May 10, saying it was looking into his allegations, he wrote on LinkedIn. He declined to meet with those lawyers, and aims instead to try to prove his case to the state departments of education, or to the College Boards board of trustees, but has not found an open door to do so, Alfaro wrote. Reuters sent inquiries to the seven states departments of education, it said in its Aug. 26 story . Four didnt respond, and New Hampshire declined comment. Michigan spokesman Bill DeSessa said the state decided not to investigate Alfaros claims after it checked with the College Board. Connecticut education department spokeswoman Kelly Donnelly told Reuters the state wouldnt be taking any action because it decided Alfaros claims were replete with hyperbole, but scant on actual facts. College Board spokesman Zach Goldberg told Reuters after the FBI search at Alfaros home that the College Board is pleased that this crime is being pursued aggressively. In an email to EdWeek, Goldberg said that Alfaro is trying to create a story about the development of the new SAT that is completely at odds with reality. In redesigning the SAT, the College Board has made an unprecedented commitment to transparency and has published our test specifications, which include the test development process. Any claims that counter the published information are patently false. The New York-based company has reached out privately to Mr. Alfaro to address his claims, Goldberg said, but he has declined to engage with us to discuss his concerns. Instead, he has communicated with online posts built on false assertions. Goldberg declined to detail the reasons for Alfaros departure from the College Board, citing the ongoing FBI investigation. Photo credit: Getty Images KENT, Ohio - This is a big week for Dexter Davis, the Cleveland Museum of Art security guard who leads a double life as one of Northeast Ohio's most respected visual artists. On Thursday, from 5 to 8 p.m., Kent State University's Center for the Visual Arts Gallery, 325 Terrace Drive, Kent, will hold an opening reception for a retrospective exhibition on Davis' work. The show, which opened Saturday, remains on view through Friday, Oct. 7. Organized by William Busta, the longtime Cleveland-based art dealer who closed his latest gallery a year ago, the show is accompanied by a 90-page catalog written by Case Western Reserve University art historian Henry Adams. The book and the exhibition chart the life of Davis, who grew up in a poor, working-class family in the Cleveland neighborhood of Hough, and whose work is described by Adams as "very much about what it's like to grow up as an African-American, in a very tough neighborhood and in utter poverty." Adams also writes that Davis' work, with its "images of masks and trees with spirits and the body outlines of people who have been murdered," is "also very much about a cultural inheritance" from Africa that feels intrinsic, not "just as a sort of garment on the surface." Adams calls the African-ness of Davis's work "a wellspring of healing and consolation." Born in 1965, Davis received a bachelor of fine arts degree from the Cleveland Institute of Art, and has had his work collected by the Cleveland Clinic, the Cleveland Museum of Art and Progressive Corp. His work has been exhibited widely throughout the region. "Though rooted in suffering," Davis' work is "also without exception hopeful," Adams writes. EUCLID, Ohio -- A Euclid man accused of egging a former neighbor's house more than 100 times has been sentenced to 18 months of probation. Jason E. Kozan, 31, was also ordered to pay a $1,000 fine during his sentencing hearing Tuesday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, records show. Judge Carolyn B. Friedland handed down the sentence five days after Kozan pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of inducing panic. Defense attorney Anthony J. Bondra was not immediately available for comment Tuesday afternoon. Kozan was originally charged with vandalism, menacing by stalking and aggravated menacing in incidents that happened from May 20, 2014 to April 30, 2015, according to court records. Investigators did not say what motivated the eggings of Albert Clemens, Sr.'s house on Wilmore Avenue. They largely ceased after Kozan moved out of the neighborhood, police said earlier this year. The Euclid Police Department conducted a lengthy investigation that included undercover stakeouts and neighborhood canvassing. Detectives even sent eggshells to a crime lab for testing. Brook Park company Neubert Painting painted the house for free in May. Eggs had damaged much of the existing paint. If you would like to comment on this story, please visit Tuesday's crime and courts comments section. MENTOR, Ohio -- A Mentor psychic convinced clients to pay approximately $1.5 million in cash, jewelry, gift cards and cars, according to court records. Gina B. Miller, 41, faces more the two-dozen charges of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, theft, telecommunications fraud and securing writings by deception in an indictment handed up Tuesday by a Lake County grand jury. Miller -- who has been released from custody after posting $150,000 bond -- faces up to 34 years in prison if convicted of all charges, the Lake County Prosecutor's Office said in a news release. Her attorney, Jim McDonnell, said she will plead not guilty and that she is "looking forward to her day in court." Lake County Prosecutor Charles Coulson declined to comment on the indictment but said the Mentor Police Department spent approximately a year and a half investigating. The charges are related to incidents that happened from Aug. 1, 2001 to Sept. 16, 2015 at Gina's Psychic Studio in Mentor. Detectives learned that Miller convinced clients that various types of harm would come to them or their families if they did not provide her with cash, jewelry, gift cards, and other forms of payment, the Mentor Police Department said last year. Those forms of payment included Rolex watches, a diamond ring, Frigidaire appliances, a kitchen table with four chairs, a 40-inch television, nine cellphones, an Apple iPad, Louis Vuitton and Chanel handbags, a neon sign and a disco ball, records show. Several clients even leased expensive cars for Miller, police said. The grand jury handed up its indictment nearly a year after Miller was arraigned in Mentor Municipal Court. If you would like to comment on this story, please visit Tuesday's crime and courts comments section. By Lovey Cooper The vast majority of the nations school districts struggle with students who are chronically absent, but the problem is especially concentrated in school systems that serve large numbers of poor students, a new analysis of federal data has found. While nine out of 10 school districts experience some level of chronic absenteeism, around half of the 6.5 million students who were chronically absent in the 2013-14 school year are enrolled in just 4 percent of the nations districts, according to researchers Robert Balfanz and Hedy N. Chang. Their analysisPreventing Missed Opportunity builds on nationwide chronic absenteeism data that was released in June by the U.S. Department of Educations office for civil rights , which found that about 13 percent of all U.S. students missed three or more weeks of school in 2013-14. At least 89 percent of public schools reported some degree of chronic absenteeismstudents who missed three or more weeks of school. But among the 4 percent of districts where the problem was most severe, Balfanz and Chang identified some that are more affluent and suburban. They singled out Montgomery County, Md., and Fairfax County, Va., two large, suburban Washington districts with high overall academic achievement that have experienced a significant influx of low-income students in recent years. Both districts ranked among the top 15 in the nation in the total number of chronically absent students, though their percentages of chronically absent students are near the national average, according to the analysis. Whats clear from our analysis is that chronic absenteeism follows poverty wherever it is found in significant concentrations, said Balfanz, a Johns Hopkins University researcher who leads the Everyone Graduates Center, in a press release. Chronic absence, Chang explained in a phone call with reporters, was defined by the researchers as when students miss so many days of school, for any reasonexcused or unexcusedthat it directly results in poor student outcomes. Until recently, many districts only measured unexcused absences and average daily attendance. All the best instruction in schools does not make a difference if students are not there to benefit from it, said Chang, the director of Attendance Works who has extensively studied how missing school impacts students. Chronic absenteeism is an early indicator of all sorts of academic risks, starting as early as preschool and kindergarten, Chang said. In the early grades, students who are chronically absent have lower reading and math achievement. By middle and high school, chronic absence can be used as a clear warning sign for potential dropouts. Balfanz said that his arm of the research team is most interested in the characteristics of the locations that result in the highest number of instances and percentages of chronic absences. He stresses that the phenomenon of chronic absence is both widespread and highly concentrated. You have to hold these two concepts in your mind, he said. Solving the Problem of Chronic Absenteeism In June, when the Education Department first released the civil rights data collection , it included the first-ever analysis of attendance in nearly every public school nationwide. It found that for black, Latino, American Indian, and multiracial high school students, roughly 20 percent or more were chronically missing from class. For Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander high school students, 25 percent or more missed at least 15 days of school. At the high school level, 18 percent of all students and 20 percent of English-language learners are chronically absent, the data showed. Tackling the problem will take a multi-pronged, tailored approach, Balfanz said. More affluent school systems could be poised to better combat the issue right away than districts with fewer resources, the researchers suggested. In more isolated rural areas, as well as in districts serving disadvantaged urban neighborhoods, intergenerational poverty and a web of challenges that are impediments to students getting to school consistently pose a more daunting challenge for policymakers and education leaders. We need a very different set of strategies for these districts, Balfanz said. Regardless, knowing where this is happening allows policymakers to formulate more individualized community-based, multi-sector approaches, Chang said. The researchers hope to take advantage of the new federal K-12 lawthe Every Student Succeeds Act as a way to help individual states come up with smaller-scale solutions and ultimately employ chronic absence as a measure of school quality. Related reading on school attendance and poverty: David Hespe, New Jerseys education commissioner, announced his resignation Friday after a little over two years on the job, according to a statement from his office. Kimberley Harrington, the states assistant commissioner and chief academic officer, will take over the department in the interim, Republican Gov. Chris Christie said in a statement. New Jersey has had five education commissioners in seven years. Hespe led the state through its rewriting of its common core standards, new teacher and principal evaluations, and returning some measures of decision-making to state-run urban districts. He also expanded the states charter sector and oversaw the implementation of online PARCC testing . The commissioner before Hespe, Chris Cerf, resigned in 2014 to take a chief executive job at Amplify, a digital learning company then headed by former New York City schools chancellor Joel Klein. Cerf returned to the New Jersey education scene a little over a year later as the state-appointed superintendent in charge of Newark public schools. Hespe doesnt appear to have a new job lined up yet, according to NJ.com . The average tenure of state superintendents has dramatically dropped in recent years after several faced backlash over new state standards, school accountability, and teacher evaluations. Dont miss another State EdWatch post. Sign up here to get news alerts in your email inbox. And make sure to follow @StateEdWatch on Twitter for the latest news from state K-12 policy and politics. Chipotle Workers File Class Action Lawsuit for Unpaid Wages 2016 has been a year to forget for Chipotle. From criminal charges stemming from multiple E. coli outbreaks to illegal Twitter policies, the popular burrito chain has been making the news for all the wrong reasons. And when it rains, it pours. Almost 10,000 current and former Chipotle employees are now suing the company, claiming they were forced to work unpaid hours off the clock. So here's our latest in the ongoing series: Don't Do What Chipotle Did. On the Job, Off the Clock Although the plaintiff workers are many, the claim is essentially the same: "Chipotle routinely requires hourly-paid restaurant employees to punch out, and then continue working until they are given permission to leave." According to the lawsuit, employees from Colorado to Florida were forced to clock out at a certain time, then required to work off the clock for longer hours to complete tasks and meet budget goals. CNNMoney has the story of Briana Alexander who worked at a Miami Chipotle: Alexander says she was forced to stay late numerous times at her store. If the workers weren't done by midnight or 12:30am, they were clocked out but told to keep working until the job was finished, even though they were no longer getting paid. Alexander also claims she worked 12-hour shifts on some days, but was clocked out after her shift time ended even though she actually continued to work on busy days. And the off-the-clock policy allegedly continues. Felipe Ricardo told CNNMoney about his employment in Danbury, Connecticut this summer, "I only worked nights because I have a full-time job during the day. Normally the schedule says you end at 11:30pm, but it's almost impossible to get out at 11:30pm." In Court, Out of Excuses Chipotle, for its part, denies the allegations. Employees are generally required to end their shifts between 11 p.m. and midnight, and the chain says its computer system automatically logs employees out at 12:30 a.m. in most locations. Managers are supposed to adjust workers' hours for time put in after that, but employees claim that isn't happening. And while Chipotle may try to argue this is a case of a few isolated incidents, the joined plaintiffs to the case so far come from just about every state in which the company operates. It's another black mark for Chipotle and one their reputation could ill afford. Make sure you avoid the same by adhering to federal, state, and local wage and hour laws. Need help? Call an experienced employment attorney in your area. Related Resources: Asian shares traded mixed as investors digested the Reserve Bank of Australia's decision to keep cash rates unchanged at 1.5 percent. Australia's ASX 200 finished down 0.29 percent, or 15.981 points, at 5,413.6, weighed by a 0.49 percent drop in the heavily-weighed financials sub-index. Australia's energy sector bucked the trend to trade up 0.14 percent, along with the materials sector which was up 0.3 percent. The Reverse Bank of Australia (RBA) in a statement cited reasons such as continued growth, low inflation and mixed labor market data as contributing factors to hold interest rates steady. There were also mentions of the prolonged period of low commodity prices keeping Australia's terms of trade lower than they have been in recent years and of the rising housing prices. Japan's closed up 0.26 percent, or 44.35 points, at 17,081.98; Across the Korean strait, the Kospi ended up 0.31 percent, or 6.45 points, at 2,066.53. Chinese mainland markets were higher, with the composite finishing up 0.63 percent, or 19.353 points, at 3,091.448 and the Shenzhen composite closing up 1.491 percent, or 30.088 points, at 2,048.19. In Hong Kong, the was up 0.43 percent at 3:13 p.m. local time. Vernon Wiley | Getty Images Line shares traded up 1.12 percent, having risen by more than 3 percent earlier Tuesday, after the popular Japanese popular messaging app launched a low-priced mobile phone service called Line Mobile on Monday, offering a basic data plan for as little as 500 yen ($4.80) per month. South Korea's government reached the decision to provide Hanjin Shipping with up to 100 billion won ($91 million) of long-term, low-interest funding, Reuters said, citing Yonhap. The troubled container shipper also announced Tuesday that it would raise 100 billion won on its own to fund the unloading of cargo, 40 percent of which of which would be raised from its chairman's private funds, Reuters added. Hanjin's shares soared 29.91 percent on Tuesday. Hanjin Shipping, also South Korea's largest shipping company, had filed for court receivership last Wednesday after its creditors pulled funding support. U.S. markets were shut for the Labor Day public holiday on Monday. "With U.S. markets closed yesterday, trade was primarily driven by Europe and the post-Brexit U.K. economic data ...[which] has consistently beat market consensus expectations as many different data sets seem to be recovering after the initial shock directly after the Brexit vote," Angus Nicholson, market analyst at IG, wrote in a Tuesday note of European trade. The U.K's Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) jumped to 52.9 in August from July's seven-year low at 47.4, showing resilience in the services industry. Data last week from the U.K.'s manufacturing and construction sectors in August also strengthened. Meanwhile, Russia and Saudi Arabia confirmed they had agreed to cooperate to stabilize the oil market and limit output, although experts largely dismissed the statement from the two major oil producers as "lip service." Crude oil prices initially jumped on the news, but pared gains later during Europe's session; U.S. crude futures touched highs of $46.53, while Brent futures hit a session high of $49.40, a peak since August 30, Reuters reported. Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed on Monday to cooperate in world oil markets, prompting Brent crude to jump almost 5 percent only for it to pare gains after Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said there was no need to freeze output for now. Oil prices fell 2 percent on Tuesday, falling further from the previous session's one-week high on receding hopes for an agreement between the world's top two producers to freeze output to tackle a global supply glut. On Tuesday, Brent crude was trading 27 cents lower at $47.36 a barrel. U.S. crude for October, which did not settle on Monday due to the Labor Day holiday, was at $44.91, up 47 cents or 1.06 percent. While the Saudi minister played down the prospect of imminent action, his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak said he was open to ideas on what cut-off period to use if countries chose to freeze output and said even production cuts could be considered. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC producers, like Russia, will hold informal talks in Algeria on Sept. 26-28. Many in the market are sceptical a deal will happen. "It seems like we've found a new trading range in the $40s now and the market is very sensitive to any stories about the possibility of a production freeze," said Gene McGillian, a senior analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. On Tuesday, OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo met Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh in Tehran. After the meeting, Zanganeh said he would support any measure to stabilize crude prices at around $50-$60 a barrel. Oil prices are half their level of mid-2014, hurting producing nations' income. OPEC and Russia tried earlier this year to curb the glut by seeking an output freeze, but the deal collapsed in April due to tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran. A deal with Iran may be a "headwind" for a greater production deal, according to Morgan Stanley analysts, especially with Iran ramping up output. "Iran's condition appears to be that OPEC must agree to allow Iran to return to its historical OPEC export quota and pre-sanction production levels - a difficult ask," they wrote in a note. "Even if successful, an OPEC freeze would likely be a short term positive but a medium term negative for oil price." In the U.S. market, traders said that the market was supported by Genscape data reporting a draw of some 700,000 barrels of crude last week at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for U.S. crude futures. Passengers took to Twitter to complain about the delays, which were reported at various airports including Phoenix, Atlanta, Seattle and San Francisco. Multiple British Airways flights were delayed at a number of U.S. airports late on Monday due to a glitch in the airline's check-in system. "Our IT teams are working as hard as they can to quickly fix a problem with our check-in system," the British flagship carrier said statement. "This has affected a number of our airports. We are sorry for the delays some customers are experiencing as they check-in for their flights." In a letter that was given to waiting passengers at San Francisco and posted on Twitter, the airline said it was unable to ascertain when systems would be functional again, adding that it was resorting to a "manual fallback option." In an email to CNBC, British Airways did not confirm whether the delays were limited to the U.S. On Twitter, one individual complained of a delayed flight at Vancouver, Canada. what is this garbage Really unhappy with @British_Airways "The system is down" & can't checkin! Not encouraging before flying home #ba @British_Airways Been waiting 2 hours over your down systems and NOW they decide to go manual... BA0048 Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. Jorge Guajardo, Mexico 's former ambassador to China went on record about how he thinks China's treatment of Obama was a deliberate snub. Heated remarks were exchanged between the two sides and the episode exploded in the media, with some commentators reading it as a deliberate snub that reflected current tensions in bilateral relations. Arriving for the G-20 leaders summit in China on Saturday, Obama was forced to leave his Air Force One jet though a back exit, while Chinese officials refused to allow reporters and photographers beyond a cordon, preventing them from witnessing his arrival. Obama himself played down the incident, saying on Sunday that he wouldn't "overcrank the significance" of tensions at the airport because the size of the U.S. presidential entourage placed considerable security demands on foreign hosts. And on Sunday, an anonymous Chinese official told the South China Morning Post that it was in fact Washington's decision to have Obama disembark Air Force One via his own stairway. But the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency then helped prolong the furore by posting a short-lived "Classy as always China" tweet on its Twitter account on Monday about the episode. Questioned on the issue at the Chinese foreign affairs ministry's regular press conference on Monday, ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying hit back, calling the incident a "small episode" and blaming the "highly unprofessional" U.S. media for "making an issue out of it." "They fabricated news and added wild guesses to it without getting to the bottom of this issue," she said. "This would only consolidate the impression that some western media are arrogant and big-headed." China had tried its best to meet the requirements of all G-20 delegations, including those of the U.S., she added. "However, all the large-scale international conferences and multilateral activities have routine practices and corresponding procedures to follow," Hua noted. "As the host country, we will provide as much convenience and service as possible to the media while ensuring the safety and order of all the activities. "Meanwhile, visiting countries should respect and conform to such practices and arrangements," she said. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. There are the big corporate names that might take another close look at Twitter, such as Google (there's an unusual scenario one source mentioned in which it becomes part of some Alphabet media spinoff), Apple and even media mogul Rupert Murdoch, either via 21st Century Fox or News Corp. Other possible bidders include private equity firms that may want to take the company private, where it can solve some of its issues out of the public eye. That's no surprise, since Twitter has been the subject of numerous takeover and acquisition rumors over the last few months, each one sending the stock up as investors hold out hope that Twitter will find a buyer. The social communication company's board of directors is set to meet this Thursday in San Francisco and there are plenty of things to discuss. That includes, said sources, its fate as a standalone company. While Twitter's leaders have long maintained that they want it to remain independent, the idea of a sale became more plausible after recent comments from co-founder and board member Evan Williams, who had also been the company's CEO before being replaced by Dick Costolo in 2010. (Costolo was later replaced by co-founder Jack Dorsey, who had previously been replaced by Williams). If it sounds like a soap opera, Williams upped the ante. Speaking to Bloomberg last week, he said that Twitter needs to "consider the right options" when it comes to its future as an independent company. While the comment would seem benign from most board members, it didn't stop Twitter stock from jumping almost six percent on his remarks. But finding a buyer won't be easy, given the Twitter's estimated cost. Using the same multiple LinkedIn got from Microsoft in its recent $26 billion acquisition deal, a Twitter buyer would have to fork over about $18 billion. That's a steep price tag for a company that has had persistent issues with growth and also one that is still losing money each quarter. Twitter is trying to improve its performance, and exploring numerous ways to cut costs, according to sources. One option, of course, would be yet another round of layoffs, similar to the 8 percent staff reduction it made last October. Some employees are worried about this, multiple sources said. But such cuts might be inevitable. Twitter is considered to be too bloated still it had 3,860 employees as of June 30 and paid out $168 million in stock-based compensation last quarter alone, an amount equal to roughly 28 percent of its quarterly revenue. (Facebook's stock-based compensation was just 12.5 percent of its Q2 revenue, in comparison.) Those close to the company have long believed that another round of layoffs would make sense, and could make Twitter more appealing to a potential buyer. The company will also consider what to do with certain parts of its business that don't directly impact its bottom line and the stock price. That could include units like MoPub or Vine or Fabric. Trimming these teams or even selling off these smaller businesses would make Twitter leaner and more focused, and ultimately, more appealing to a possible suitor. There are other possibilities besides a sale, though, like a noisy activist making a big stock purchase to start manipulating things from the outside. It was rumored in early August that current investors Steve Ballmer, the former Microsoft CEO who owns the Los Angeles Clippers, and Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal might make a run at buying larger stakes in the company. That hasn't happened yet, but the duo already owns a combined 9 percent of Twitter. More likely is a hedge fund activist stirring the pot and making public complaints about the company, which could focus on still-thorny issues such as Dorsey's second CEO job at Square. Which brings us back to Thursday and Twitter's board meeting. Whatever the company decides to do should probably happen quickly. It's been more than a year since Dorsey first took over as interim CEO for Costolo, and Twitter has failed to generate any kind of positive momentum since. While there are a number of promising product initiatives, such as its live video efforts, they have been routinely overshadowed by Twitter's pernicious issues around safety and tools to combat abuse. The recent attack on "Saturday Night Live" star Leslie Jones is just the latest in a string of eruptions that has plagued the service. Twitter's anonymous nature means that its abuse issues are in some ways baked into the product itself if you have an internet platform that allows open commenting from anonymous users, abuse is sure to follow. It's a problem that both Facebook and Snapchat don't have thanks to their structure. Add that to the Twitter board's growing list of issues. Microscopic magnetic particles from air pollution have been discovered in human brains, according to a study published on Monday. Analysis of brain tissue from 37 people aged between three and 92 and from Mexico City and Manchester was undertaken, with researchers finding "abundant" magnetite nanoparticles, according to a news release from Lancaster University, whose researchers led the project. The findings are significant because researchers believe the magnetic particles they found could potentially be a cause of Alzheimer's disease. Magnetite which is toxic has been linked to the production of free radicals in the brains of humans, the university said, which are in turn linked with diseases such as Alzheimer's. "The particles we found are strikingly similar to the magnetite nanospheres that are abundant in the airborne pollution found in urban settings, especially next to busy roads, and which are formed by combustion or frictional heating from vehicle engines or brakes," Barbara Maher, from the Lancaster Environment Center, said in a statement. "Our results indicate that magnetite nanoparticles in the atmosphere can enter the human brain, where they might pose a risk to human health, including conditions such as Alzheimer's disease," Maher went on to add. The findings of the study, which involved researchers from Oxford, Glasgow, Manchester and Mexico City, were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. David Allsop, a leading Alzheimer's researcher from Lancaster University's Faculty of Health and Medicine, said the study had opened up "a whole new avenue for research into a possible environmental risk factor for a range of different brain diseases." According to the Alzheimer's Society, the total cost of dementia to the U.K. is 26 billion a year. "Magnetite, a form of iron oxide, has previously been seen in amyloid plaques in the brains of people who have died with Alzheimer's disease," Clare Walton, research manager at the Alzheimer's Society, said in a statement. "This magnetite is generally thought to come from iron found naturally in the brain and there is no strong evidence to suggest that it causes Alzheimer's disease or makes it worse," she added. Walton went on to explain that while the study offered convincing evidence that magnetite from air pollution could get in to the brain, it did not "tell us what effect this has on brain health or conditions such as Alzheimer's disease." "The causes of dementia are complex and so far there hasn't been enough research to say whether living in cities and polluted areas raises the risk of dementia. Further work in this area is important, but until we have more information people should not be unduly worried." Exposure to outdoor air pollution is linked to roughly 40,000 deaths every year in the U.K., according to a recent report. The report, a joint effort between the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) and the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), said air pollution had been linked to wide range of diseases, from cancer to asthma, heart disease and diabetes and that damage would be inflicted "across a lifetime, from a baby's first weeks in the womb all the way through to the years of older age." Can I Modify Spousal Support While Going Back to School? The short answer to this question is a resounding: Maybe? Most states allow a party paying or receiving spousal support (or alimony) to ask the court for a modification based upon changed circumstances. Going back to school is certainly a changed circumstance. But whether or not spousal support will be changed is addressed on a case by case basis, with the court relying on whether it would be reasonable to do so. The purpose of spousal support is to allow a spouse to maintain the same standard of living they became accustomed to during the marriage for a reasonable period of time and/or until the spouse can become self-sufficient. That reasonable period of time, in California, for example, is half the duration of the marriage, give or take a few units of measurement depending on individualized considerations such as education, earning capacity and child custody. The Factors Considered by the Courts in Ordering a Modification It is important to note that the court will usually abide by a settlement agreement entered into by the parties. It is not uncommon for settlement agreements relating to spousal support to have specific provisions regarding when and if the support can be modified. In the absence of an agreement, the court will look to several different specific factors to decide whether your request for an increase in what you receive, or decrease in what you must pay, is reasonable. Specifically, in California, the courts will want to know: Did an involuntary change in employment necessitate this decision? Are you voluntarily leaving a job to go back to school? What earning capacity are you giving up to go to school? How long is the program you are enrolling in? What is the anticipated cost of enrolling? What is the anticipated benefit of completing the program? How will children from the marriage be impacted? Based on the answers to the above and additional questions that assess reasonableness, a court will essentially conduct a cost/benefit analysis and consider the long-term implications versus the short-term implications. What Is Actually Reasonable? If the school program is tailored to assist a non-self-sufficient spouse in becoming self-sufficient, it is more likely the court will find the request reasonable. A business, professional or paraprofessional program will be seen as more reasonable than an arts program. If the paying spouse is seeking a decrease in support, the court will look to whether the benefit for both parties and their children (if any) over the long-term outweighs the short-term cost to the receiving spouse and children. Courts want a long-term solution so that alimony becomes unnecessary, but judges are hesitant to allow modifications if the short-term impact is too severe. Related Resources: watch now With a declining stock, and general negative sentiment against the company, Apple needs to get its mojo back. But lukewarm expectations ahead of Wednesday's product launch in San Francisco where CEO Tim Cook is expected to introduce the iPhone 7, among other things could help push the stock higher in coming months, say analysts. Apple's fortunes have become so closely tied to iPhone sales expected to decline 12 percent in the September quarter when compared with sales in the September 2015 quarter, according to Factset data and investors remain concerned about a lack of innovation. "There has been no shortage of gloom and doom around Apple over the past several months, similar to the summer of 2013," said Drexel Hamilton analyst Brian White. The stock is trading around $108, down about 4 percent from this time last year. Meanwhile the S&P 500 Index is up 12 percent over the same time period. Apple has become the Jason Bourne of tech, said White. The company is being chased by everyone, from the FBI demanding help unlocking an iPhone, to the Chinese shutting down Apple's books and movies, to European regulators demanding back-taxes and investors looking to short the stock. Apple's stock, profits and sales likely bottomed in the second quarter of fiscal year 2016 and Wednesday's event could mark a turning point, he said. With such low expectations leading into Apple's big product unveil, the introduction of even a modest upgrade like better iPhone battery life could drive the stock higher, said Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. A customer counts cash to pay for two iPhone 6 smartphones during the sales launch at the Apple Inc. store in New York. Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Images The iPhone 7 is expected to have an updated design, with the biggest change likely to be the removal of the headphone jack. Apple is expected to ship the device with Lightning headphones and a dongle adapter to connect old headphones to the Lightning port, according to a report from Pacific Crest analyst Andy Hargreaves on Aug. 31. Other expectations for the iPhone 7: Tweaked antenna lines, a new black color, new cameras including a dual lens camera for the iPhone 7 Plus, a doubling in storage capacity of the entry level device to 32G, and an increase in storage capacity to 256G for the most expensive device. The iPhone 7 is likely to go on sale on Sept. 16, a week earlier than the new iPhone was made available last year, which should help Sept. quarter sales. The dual lens camera for the iPhone 7 Plus, which would enable higher quality photos, and greater storage capacity should persuade some consumers to buy new phones, said analysts. A "healthy upgrade" is all Apple really needs to unveil to persuade investors that declining growth had more to do with tough comparisons with the iPhone 6 than competition, said White. "It is going to be a solid upgrade, high quality product that will return the iPhone and Apple to growth in 2017," said White. Apple also caught a lucky break with Samsung announcing it would halt shipments of the new Galaxy Note 7 device. Analysts had expected Samsung to sell well over 10 million Galaxy Note 7 devices in the second half of this year, which should bode well for Apple's iPhone 7 Plus given it is similarly expected to feature a dual camera, said White. "The timing could not be more propitious for Apple," he said. It all adds up to a return to growth for Apple's iPhone starting in the second quarter of fiscal year 2017, when the people who bought iPhone 6 devices are ready to upgrade their phones, said White. In general, analysts expect Apple to return to growth in fiscal year 2017, bolstered by a possible "super cycle" driven by the 10 year anniversary iPhone 8. Apple is also expected to introduce updates to Apple Watch, including new strap designs and the addition of native GPS and better wifi capability, noted Hargreaves. GPS is a key feature of many fitness trackers, which are the most in-demand features of wrist-worn wearables, and therefore has the potential to drive growth, he wrote. Pacific Crest expects Apple Watch sales to decline 5 percent to 9.7 million in fiscal year 2017. The addition of GPS if it proves attractive enough to consumers could be enough to renew growth, wrote Hargreaves. That said, Apple will likely need to roll out a less expensive low-end smartwatch to capitalize on the opportunity in fitness wearables. Apple will likely introduce new Beats products and wireless Bluetooth earphones called "AirPods," according to MacRumors. Apple's MacBooks and iPad product lines are also due to be updated, likely on Wednesday or at an event later this fall. Customers shop at an Apple store in New York City. Getty Images If you want to order gluten-free food at The White Moose Cafe in Dublin, Ireland, you'd better be prepared to provide a doctor's note that is, if you take the owner's recent social media posts seriously. "This morning a girl asked us if we did gluten-free pancakes and when we asked her if she was a coeliac, she didn't even know what the word meant and then proceeded to order regular, gluten-rich pancakes anyway," the cafe wrote in a Facebook post Saturday. "From now on, guests who demand gluten-free food are required to produce a doctor's note which states that you suffer from coeliac disease." The statement caused an uproar on Facebook and Twitter . In a clear warning to rising pro-independence forces in Hong Kong, Beijing highlighted its "resolute opposition" to the movement as several young radicals won seats in the weekend's legislative council (LegCo) elections. The election of the pro-independence candidates and "localists" - who put the interests of Hong Kong above those of the mainland - was unprecedented in a Hong Kong political system that has traditionally been dominated by pro-Beijing and pro-democracy factions, highlighting the disaffection Hong Kongers feel toward Beijing. China pledged a "One Country, Two Systems" policy in Hong Kong after its handover from the U.K. in 1997, a stance some say is fast eroding amid tightening control of political and civil liberties in the city. In a statement from China's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, that was reported by the state-run Xinhua news agency on Monday, the mainland government highlighted that campaigning for Hong Kong's independence was against the constitution of China and the laws of Hong Kong. The pro-independence movement is a threat to China's sovereignty and security, will damage the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong, and is counter to the fundamental interests of Hong Kong citizens, added Xinhua, citing the office's statement. Among the localists who will take office on October 1 is 23-year-old Umbrella Movement student leader Nathan Law. Law will be the youngest legislator in the 70-seat house, which includes 40 pro-establishment and 22 pro-democracy seats. Together, the opposition will make up more than a one-third veto bloc in the first major election since the 2014 protests. The weekend's polls were the first elections since the Umbrella Movement protests of 2014, which were triggered by proposed changes to Hong Kong's electoral system, under which China planned to screen all nominees in the first direct election of the city's leader. In the summer of 2012, CNBC anchor Bill Griffeth took a simple DNA test, and the results changed his life. The veteran journalist has been an avid amateur genealogist since 2003 and serves on the board of the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston. He and his wife have traveled through parts of Europe and the U.S. visiting places where their ancestors lived, and he wrote a book about his travels, "By Faith Alone: One Family's Epic Journey Through 400 Years of American Protestantism." So when a cousin asked Bill to take a DNA test to help with his own genealogical research, he was happy to help out. The results that came back were not at all what was expected. Shockingly, they suggested that Bill's father was not his father. Chaos ensued. Bill's new book, "The Stranger in My Genes," is the story about that DNA test's troubling impact on his life and his family, chronicling Bill's search for his biological father and his real identity. The following excerpt from the book tells how the story began, right in the CNBC newsroom. David Kennedy started TrustedSec with the vision of building a world-class information security consulting company. Prior to TrustedSec, Kennedy was a chief security officer for Diebold Incorporated, a Fortune 1000 company located in over 80 countries with over 18,000 employees. David developed a global security program that tackled all aspects of information security. David is considered a thought leader in the security field and has presented at over 300 conferences worldwide. David is also the founder of DerbyCon, a large-scale information security conference. Kennedy is the author of "Metasploit: The Penetration Tester's Guide," which was ranked No. 1 on Amazon in security for over a year. He was also one of the founding members of the "Penetration Testing Execution Standard." PTES is the industry-leading standard and guideline for how penetration tests should be performed and the methodologies to be used. Kennedy has been privileged to speak at some of the nation's largest cybersecurity conferences and meetings, including Black Hat, Defcon, RSA, ShmooCon, DerbyCon, INFOSEC World, ISACA, ISSA, Infragard, United Security Summit, INFOSEC Summit, Hack3rCon, BSIDES and more. Kennedy is also the creator of several widely popular open-source tools, including "The Social-Engineer Toolkit," Artillery and Fast-Track. He has also released several zero-day exploits and focuses on security research. Kennedy has more than 13 years of security experience, including eight focused specifically on security consulting. Prior to the private sector, he worked for the National Security Agency and the United States Marines in cyberwarfare and forensics analysis activities. He was instrumental in Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he developed a multimillion-dollar classified system aimed at identifying potentially harmful insurgents and worked in a top-secret environment for several years. The newspaper also reported that Trump's foundation listed the donation as intended for a charity with a different albeit similar name to Bondi's political group. News of the fine levied after an ethics group complained that the donation had not been disclosed to tax officials was first reported by The Washington Post. A Trump Organization spokesman told the Post the candidate reimbursed the foundation for the fine. The Republican candidate's press secretary confirmed to NBC News that Trump paid a $2,500 fine over the donation to a campaign group linked to AG Pam Bondi. Donald Trump dismissed allegations of impropriety on Monday, saying his foundation's $25,000 donation to Florida's attorney general had nothing to do with her office mulling an investigation into Trump University. Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks confirmed to NBC News that Trump had paid the fine but dismissed the incident as "minor." "This was a minor issue that was brought to the attention of the Foundation and addressed immediately," Hicks said in a statement. The $25,000 donation came from the tax-exempt Donald J. Trump Foundation in 2013 at about the time Bondi's offie was considering whether to investigate fraud allegations against Trump University, the Associated Press reported earlier this year. Bondi, who has endorsed Trump, did not open a case against the tycoon, citing insufficient grounds to proceed. The AP's report said Bondi had solicited the donation from Trump's foundation. However, Trump on Monday insisted he "never spoke to her about that at all." "I've just known Pam Bondi for years," he added. "I have a lot of respect for her." News of the IRS fine came amid ongoing controversy around the Clinton Foundation tied to Trump's opponent. The Clinton Foundation has come under fire in recent weeks amid questions over whether donors sought access to Hillary Clinton during her time as Secretary of State. No evidence of any illegal activity or clear impropriety has been found, but the developments spurred by the release of Hillary Clinton's emails have provided fodder for Republicans to attack the Democratic presidential candidate. When asked about the Trump foundation's IRS fine, Hillary Clinton said she was "quite taken aback." "There's so many things that are questionable about that and the IRS certainly though so and said it was illegal and fined Trump for that set of facts," she told reporters Monday. Bill Clinton also noted the controversy on Monday by contrasting his foundation to Trump's. The Clinton foundation "gotten the top ratings from every one of these rating agenciesand all we've done is save lives and create jobs all across America and all across the world," compared to the IRS fine, he told a campaign event. Despite a rally in oil prices Monday as Russia and Saudi Arabia announced they would work together to "stabilize" markets, experts have been largely skeptical of the move. However, several commodity analysts have said it is important not to dismiss the deal and that this "baby step" could actually be more important than it looks. "We see Monday's announcement of a Russia-Saudi energy cooperation agreement as meaningful, despite the lack of a formal production freeze at the G-20 summit," Helima Croft, global head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, said in a note Tuesday co-authored with commodity strategists Michael Tran and Christopher Louney. watch now "We believe that it is another indication of the duress that sovereign oil producers are enduring and raises the likelihood of collective action at the informal OPEC meeting later this month if prices trend lower and a recovery appears to grow increasingly elusive." Oil prices rose by up to 5 percent ahead of Saudi Arabia and Russia signing a joint statement committing to monitor the market and make recommendations on stabilizing prices. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak described the moment as "historic" but experts largely dismissed the statement, which did not mention any plans to freeze crude production, from the producers as "lip service." Symbolic action Oil prices have seen a steady decline since mid-2014 on the back of a glut in global supply and the failure of demand to keep pace. Major oil producer group OPEC refused in November 2014 to cut production in order to support prices, putting pressure not only on their own members but non-OPEC producers around the world, especially those in the U.S. with higher production costs. There have been several "false dawns" for oil markets in which OPEC has signaled that it could be ready to freeze production levels (already at record highs) but those expectations have come to nothing at previous OPEC meetings hence analyst skepticism over the latest announcement by Russia and Saudi Arabia. Croft noted that RBC Capital Markets took the view "that potential joint action discussion is a symbolic attempt to shore up sentiment since there is little else to lose given that most countries are already producing flat out." "Although cooperative action taken by the cartel and other key producers may prove to be more of an optics play than physically actionable, at a minimum, it alters sentiment, puts a floor into the market, and reminds the market of OPEC's capacity to cooperate. It would also prove that the prolific pronouncements of the cartel's demise are premature," Croft said. Baby steps Durex sent social media alight when it announced it would release an eggplant-flavored condom. The condom maker announced Monday the new flavor in a tweet complete with an eggplant emoji. For those that don't know, the eggplant emoji is used in messages to refer to a male's private parts, because why else would you need an emoji like this? Durex followed up with another tweet for confused Brits wondering what an eggplant is. TWEET But it was all a hoax. Durex isn't really bringing out a savory condom flavor. Instead, the tweet was part of the company's campaign to get a condom emoji introduced in a bid to get young people to talk about safe sex. In November, Durex launched a campaign calling for the "world's first official safe sex condom emojis". "Emojis are a crucial part of how young couples connect and research suggests that the creation of official safe sex emojis are vital to inserting messages around protection into their sexual conversations," Durex said in a press release at the time. Pumpjack for oil in the Permian Basin area. Spencer Platt | Getty Images EOG Resources said on Tuesday it would buy privately held Yates Petroleum for $2.5 billion in stock and cash, in the latest move by a U.S. energy company to acquire acreage in the Permian Basin, one of the country's most cost-effective oil fields. EOG 's shares rose more than 6.5 percent to close at $94.83 a share Tuesday as analysts said the deal was inexpensive for EOG. The buyout, which had been under negotiations for months, follows a string of Permian land purchases in the past year by companies that include Pioneer Natural Resources and WPX Energy . watch now The Permian is the largest U.S. oil field, with 189 of the country's 481 total active rigs in early August, according to the latest data from energy services firm Baker Hughes. With the Permian acquisition, EOG would shift its focus away from the Eagle Ford shale, a more expensive Texas field that had helped the company grow into the largest onshore oil producer in the contiguous United States during the past decade. Much of the Permian acreage is near EOG's existing well locations and pipeline infrastructure, boosting its appeal. "This deal really isn't about getting bigger. It's about getting better," EOG Chief Executive Bill Thomas told investors on a Tuesday conference call after announcing the acquisition. European stocks seesawed in trade on Tuesday as oil prices slipped and poor U.S. service sector data pushed many markets down. The pan-European STOXX 600 closed down more than 0.3 percent. US data in focus Disappointing U.S. service sector growth hit European trading in the afternoon. The Institute of Supply Management (ISM) Non-Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, an indicator of service sector growth, came in under expectations. The August reading was 51.4, lower than the forecast reading of 55. "When you see the ISM non-manufacturing number dropping like this, it shakes the floor on which traders are building the hopes that the Fed could increase the interest rate," said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets U.K., in a note. "A few more readings like this, and you can say goodbye to an interest rate hike." The FTSE100 fell almost 0.8 percent, while French CAC40 index ended 0.2 percent lower, despite being higher earlier in the day. The German DAX manged to stay up, rising just 0.1 percent, partly thanks to progress in merger talks between Bayer and Monsanto. Bayer sweetens Monsanto offer In European corporate news, German drugmaker Bayer is hoping that a sweetened takeover offer will win over U.S. seed producer Monsanto, putting more than $65 billion on the table in a bid to buy the agro-chemical firm. Bayer said it was in advanced talks with its rival and would be prepared to offer $127.50 per Monsanto share from its previous offer price of $125 per share only in connection with a negotiated deal, Reuters reported. Bayer shares reversed losses to trade higher. Easyjet shares closed higher after it reported that the number of passengers using its service in August was 7.5 million versus 7.1 million a year ago. Deutsche Telekom denied a report by German newspaper Handelsblatt that it is considering restructuring which could include thousands of job cuts, calling the story "nonsense". Shares were higher. Aegon shares fell 2 percent after it announced that its chief financial officer, Darryl Button, is stepping down and returning to the U.S. after 17 years with the Dutch financial services company. Aegon said the selection process for his successor has begun. Ingenico shares tanked nearly 14 percent after the French company cut its 2016 targets. US markets open lower U.S. stocks opened lower following the disappointing PMI data. Market watchers questioned whether or not the economy was ready for a September interest rate rise. "The data, in combination with weak manufacturing data and a slowdown in jobs growth would suggest the U.S. economy is ill-equipped for a rate hike in September," said Jasper Lawler, market analyst, CMC Markets, in a note. "Until Fed speakers confirm that they are interpreting the U.S. economic slowdown in August as a reason to tread carefully in tightening monetary policy, U.S. stocks could come under pressure." The dollar was also hit by the data. The currency fell more than 1 percent against the yen , while euro and sterling climbed 0.7 percent and 0.9 percent respectively against the greenback, M&A activity boosts stocks Trans actress and activist Jen Richardswhose show Her Story was recently nominated for an Emmyhas been engaging in some important dialogue about representation recently. Specifically she's focused on Hollywood's insistence on casting cis (i.e. non-trans) actors in trans parts. Though it happens frequently (think Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club), Richards' most recent comments were specifically inspired by the upcoming indie movie Anything, which stars Matt Bomer as a transgender sex worker. Richards tweeted out a long thread on the topic, including these tweets: It will result in violence against trans women. And that is not hyperbole, I mean it literally. Cis men playing trans women leads to death. Jen Richards (@SmartAssJen) August 28, 2016 Straight men are attracted to trans women. They always have been, always will be. We are some of the most popular sex workers. It's a fact. Jen Richards (@SmartAssJen) August 28, 2016 Let's be more direct: They have sex with us, worry that makes them gay, then reassert their masculinity through violence aimed at us. Jen Richards (@SmartAssJen) August 28, 2016 Because culture as a whole still thinks trans women are "really" men. Decades of showing us that way in shows. It's been internalized. Jen Richards (@SmartAssJen) August 28, 2016 When Jared Leto plays Rayon and accepts his Oscar with a full beard, the world see's that being a trans women is just a man performing. Jen Richards (@SmartAssJen) August 28, 2016 And that is going to lead to violence. Not to me, likely, but to girls already most at risk. Any cis men who do this have bloody hands. Jen Richards (@SmartAssJen) August 28, 2016 I'm a filmmaker. I hold the freedom of art sacred, but I also recognize its power as a responsibility. We shape perception, we are culpable. Jen Richards (@SmartAssJen) August 28, 2016 Richards took issue with both Bomer and Mark Ruffalo, who is an executive producer on Anything. You will exacerbate the cultural belief that trans women are really men, which is the root of violence against us. @MarkRuffalo @MattBomer Jen Richards (@SmartAssJen) August 28, 2016 As backlash against the film increased, Ruffalo himself got involved in the conversation: To the Trans community. I hear you. It's wrenching to you see you in this pain. I am glad we are having this conversation. It's time. Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) August 31, 2016 In all honesty I suggested Matt for the role after the profound experience I had with him while making "The Normal Heart". Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) August 31, 2016 @Vodstok The movie is already shot and Matt poured his heart and soul into this part. Please have a little compassion. We are all learning. Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) August 31, 2016 Join me in my journey of getting woke to the Transgender Experience. Beautiful moving and deeply human. https://t.co/eqVurkaVv0 Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) September 2, 2016 Richards tweeted support for Ruffalo's openness: Thank you @MarkRuffalo, this means a lot. I would love to talk to you about it, and how to move forward positively. https://t.co/tYOHdlHn2W Jen Richards (@SmartAssJen) August 31, 2016 And she later uploaded this 13-minute video in which she thoughtfully explains the entire situation and invites Ruffalo to continue the conversation with her: For more on the topic, you can read a Hollywood Reporter op-ed from director of GLAAD's Transgender Media Program Nick Adams called "Matt Bomer and Men Who Play Transgender Women Send a 'Toxic and Dangerous' Message." And to support a series in which trans actors play trans roles, you can watch Her Story right here. The money came from a Trump family foundation in apparent violation of rules surrounding political activities by charities. A political group backing Bondi's re-election, called And Justice for All, reported receiving the check Sept. 17, 2013 four days after Bondi's office publicly announced she was considering joining a New York state probe of Trump University's activities, according to a 2013 report in the Orlando Sentinel. The new disclosure from Attorney General Pam Bondi's spokesman to The Associated Press on Monday provides additional details around the unusual circumstances of Trump's $25,000 donation to Bondi. Florida's attorney general personally solicited a political contribution from Donald Trump around the same time her office deliberated joining an investigation of alleged fraud at Trump University and its affiliates. Bondi declined repeated requests for an interview on Monday, referring all questions to Marc Reichelderfer, a political consultant who worked for her most re-election effort. Reichelderfer told AP that Bondi spoke with Trump "several weeks" before her office publicly announced it was deliberating whether to join a lawsuit proposed by New York's Democratic attorney general. Reichelfelder said that Bondi was unaware of dozens of consumer complaints received by her office about Trump's real-estate seminars at the time she requested the donation. "The process took at least several weeks, from the time they spoke to the time they received the contribution," Reichelderfer told AP. The timing of the donation by Trump is notable because the now presumptive Republican presidential nominee has said he expects and receives favors from politicians to whom he gives money. "When I want something I get it," Trump said at an Iowa rally in January. "When I call, they kiss my ass. It's true." In addition to the money given by his foundation, Trump himself has donated $253,500 since in Florida since 1999, most of it going to Republican candidates, the state party or political committees affiliated with GOP officials. His daughter, Ivanka Trump, also gave a $500 check to Bondi a week before her father's money came in, as well as another $25,000 to the Republican Party of Florida the following year. The AP reviewed thousands of pages of records related to consumer complaints about Trump University and its affiliates filed with Bondi's office. The documents previously obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, which first reported Trump's donation to Bondi reveal a new reservoir of unhappy Trump University customers, despite recent claims from the presumptive GOP presidential nominee that the students of his real estate seminar company were overwhelmingly satisfied. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and a separate federal class action civil lawsuit in California allege that Trump University which was largely owned by Trump himself defrauded consumers by as much as $35,000 each with promises of a real estate investing education that they either did not receive or found to be worthless. All told, more than 20 people requested help from the Florida attorney general's office in obtaining refunds from Trump University and affiliates, with Bondi's predecessor receiving numerous other complaints about the seminar company Trump partnered with. Many of the Trump-related consumers alleged that they paid money for training materials and personalized instruction which were never delivered. "I was laid off work for the first time in my life and really need this money to support my family," wrote one of the many people seeking help, adding that he had been promised a refund but never received it. "$1,400 is so much money for my family." The documents complicate prior claims by Bondi's office that she received only one consumer complaint about Trump University at the time that she decided not to join the New York investigation. Bondi's office said that its statement about receiving only a single complaint was accurate at the time because most of the complaints dealt with the Trump Institute, a separate corporate entity from Trump University, and were made before she took office at the start of 2011. The Trump Institute was licensed by Trump to run his seminars, however, with Trump keeping a share of the profits, according to depositions in the Trump University case. In internal emails, Bondi's own staff appeared to lump Trump University and the Trump Institute together as New York's lawsuit has done. Bondi was not the only GOP attorney general to shy away from suing Trump. The Associated Press first reported last week that then-Texas Attorney Greg Abbott received $35,000 from Trump, three years after his office in 2010 dropped a proposed lawsuit over Trump U. Following AP's report, former Texas Deputy Chief of Consumer Protection John Owens said the case had been dropped for political reasons. He also made public a detailed internal summary of what he called his staff's strong case against Trump. A spokesman for Abbott, now the Texas governor, said the case was dropped after Trump's organization agreed to stop offering his namesake real-estate seminars in the state. Within months, Trump University was out of business nationwide. By choosing not to pursue Trump in court, the GOP attorneys general left the unhappy students in their states on their own to try to get refunds from the celebrity businessman. Both Bondi and Abbott have now endorsed Trump for president. Dana Neely | Getty Images German health care group Fresenius is buying Spain's biggest private hospital chain Quironsalud for 5.8 billion euros ($6.4 bln), including assumed debt, in its biggest takeover ever. The deal, announced late on Monday, will cement Fresenius's position as Europe's largest private hospital operator, adding Quironsalud's 2.5 billion euros of sales expected for 2016 to roughly 5.8 billion at Fresenius's Germany-based hospitals business Helios. It is the first deal under Fresenius's new CEO Stephan Sturm, who has signaled that acquisitions would be a hallmark of his leadership. Shares in Fresenius jumped almost 6 percent on the news to a nine-month high of 70 euros in early trade on Tuesday. Quironsalud, which runs hospitals and outpatient centres in Madrid, Barcelona and other Spanish cities, is being sold by buyout firm CVC Capital Partners and by members of the group's management board. Fresenius, with businesses ranging from kidney dialysis and tube feeding equipment to running hospitals, said in a statement that it had agreed the deal, which would boost its 2017 earnings per share. It has a history of large takeovers, leaning mainly on debt from lenders who favor the group's steady earnings stream, which is largely immune to the overall business cycle. Fresenius said it would issue 400 million euros worth of new shares to Quironsalud CEO and founder Victor Madera, who will remain in charge of the business and also play a role in the combined group. The rest of the takeover price will be debt-financed. Acquiring the Spanish company would lead to pre-tax synergies of approximately 50 million euros a year over the medium term without meaningful implementation expenses, Fresenius said. UBS analyst Ian Douglas-Pennant said that while the price, valuing Quironsalud at 2.3 times expected 2017 sales, seemed fair, Fresenius was becoming increasingly complex and difficult to manage. US tells Philippines President to show some respect 10:31 AM ET Wed, 7 Sept 2016 | 00:40 Monday's diplomatic dustup between the U.S. and the Philippines was over almost before it began, after newly elected Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte quickly apologized for calling President Barack Obama a "son of a b***h." A quick look at the trade and investment relationship between the two countries shows why Duterte was quick to try to mend fences. The comment prompted Washington to call off a bilateral meeting during the president's tour of the region. Duterte was reacting to press reports "that President Obama would 'lecture' him on extrajudicial killings," which "led to his strong comments, which in turn elicited concern," the Philippines government said in a statement. "[President Duterte] regrets that his remarks to the press have caused much controversy," the statement said. "He expressed his deep regard and affinity for President Obama and for the enduring partnership between our nations." The relationship between the two countries, which began in 1898 when Spain ceded the Philippines to the U.S. after the Spanish-American War, includes strong military ties. After World War II, the commonwealth became independent. Since then, the U.S. has maintained a military presence that has become strategically important in recent years as China has pursued a more aggressive military stance in the region. The U.S. is also one of the biggest investors in the Philippines, with some $731 million in direct investment flowing into the country last year, much of it invested in the country's manufacturing sectors. U.S. semiconductor giant Intel is to acquire Movidius, a company that creates so-called "computer vision" chips which will play a key role in technologies from virtual reality (VR) to driverless cars, the company announced Tuesday. Movidius makes processors that use artificial intelligence to assess the world around them. The company is already working with Chinese dronemaker DJI with its tech implemented in the Phantom 4 unmanned aircraft, giving it the ability to sense and avoid obstacles in real time and hover in a fixed position without the need for a GPS signal. The technology could be critical in a number of emerging areas where the need to have human-like vision is necessary such as autonomous cars. Intel makes a depth-sensing camera called RealSense. The ability to understand depth allows a machine to see the world in three dimensions. And this is where Intel sees Movidius as the perfect fit. Its capabilities alongside Intel's RealSense cameras could open up a number of new applications and make the U.S. giant a player in these emerging sectors. Federal health regulators on Tuesday said they plan to screen at least some people who apply for Obamacare health insurance coverage on HealthCare.gov during so-called special enrollment periods in 2017 to verify their eligibility first. At the same time, those regulators revealed that a new confirmation process implemented earlier this year which required people to provide documentation to confirm their eligibility for special enrollments has led to a nearly 15 percent drop in the number of such sign-ups compared to the same period last year. Special enrollment periods are supposed to be open to people who experience a so-called qualifying life event, such as divorce, job loss, birth of a child or relocation, or other limited circumstances. In the past, they also have been open for people who only during tax season learned they faced a tax penalty for failing to have some form of health coverage. Special enrollments occur outside of open enrollment, which for 2017 plans will run from Nov. 1 until Jan. 31, 2017. Most people are barred from obtaining individual health plan coverage outside of open enrollment. The planned pilot program, dubbed a "pre-enrollment verification process," would apply to customers of HealthCare.gov, the federal Obamacare marketplace that sells individual health plans to residents of 38 states. The verification process would require them to be prospectively approved for special enrollment based on information they submit. The program is just the latest effort by the federal government to clamp down on abuse of special enrollment periods, "We are committed to making sure that special enrollment periods are available to those who are eligible for them, and equally committed to avoiding any misuse or abuse of special enrollment periods," the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in a "frequently asked questions" sheet Tuesday. Insurers have complained that some Obamacare customers are bouncing in and out of insurance coverage during the year. Those people, insurers say, avoid enrolling in a health plan until they find themselves needing medical services. They then sign up, obtain the needed health care with their plan picking up most of the cost of it, and then drop the coverage afterward. The practice, insurers have contended, has hurt their plans' financial performance, because they are not getting enough premiums from customers to cover their health-care costs. Five years ago Christopher Robinson's $1.6 million house in New Zealand burned down. He was 400km away when it happened. The house was insured by IAG, which has not paid Mr. Robinson because it says he started the fired using a chain-reaction machine that was controlled by a remote computer. From The Independent: IAG's fire investigators believe Mr Robinson set the fire himself from remote. Sifting through the remains of the home, they found an Acer desktop computer which, forensic tests showed, had been remotely accessed on the night of the fire. They also found the burned-out remains of two printers, which were connected to the Acer, and tell-tale burn marks to suggest the fire had involved the use of an accelerant such as petrol. The investigators' theory, according to Stuff, is that Mr Robinson used his Macbook Pro in Hamilton to log in to the Acer remotely. The Acer then (according to the theory) sent a command to the printer, which pulled through a piece of paper, which pulled a piece of string, which was attached to a switch. The switch would then turn on a 12V battery, heating an element that would light a match, setting alight a flammable liquid and, finally, bringing down the whole house. Tyle Tan just finished another Saturday tuition class at JC Economics. It's a sunny afternoon in Singapore's upmarket Bukit Timah district, but the lights in the makeshift classroom glow a fluorescent white above dozens of empty school tables and chairs. The buzz of the shopping center outside can be heard through the sliding door. "I was underperforming in school and it was hard to follow the school system and the notes," the 18-year-old admits. "My parents, being Asians, want me to be competitive and they suggested I take tuition classes. I thought it makes sense, so of course I obliged," he laughs. Tan has been taking tuition classes for the past two years and his crucial exams are just a few months away. He has ambitions to study law at one of Singapore's top universities, but he knows he needs straight As to be considered. "With exams coming nearer, it's harder and harder to meet up with friends when you're using most of the time to study," he says. "The pressure is certainly there with everyone wanting to do well." The one-man band Enter Anthony Fok, one of the best-known faces of Singapore's booming private tuition scene. Just three years after he founded JC Economics, his one-man operation is bringing in more than $1 million dollars a year. "That's for total revenue per year," he tells CNBC outside his shop-front-cum-classroom, which is covered in clippings from his press appearances. "When I started in the year 2013, there were only about three to four students. It was a very small class size and I knew the students personally. Soon the word of mouth grew and now I teach about 200 to 300 students a year." Fok is part of an elite group of Singaporean "super tutors," who charge top dollar for top grades. And parents are more than willing to pay, in the hope of giving their teenager a leg up in the city-state's highly competitive education system. "Do those polls mean Trump's minority outreach is working, despite the chorus of derision? The answer is yes, but not in the two-dimensional/direct way many think." And make no mistake, the guarded and even sheepish nature of a great deal of Trump's support is real. The experts at the vaunted 538.com have recently noticed that Trump polls much better in surveys taken by computerized "robocalls" and in online surveys compared to his numbers in surveys taken by human pollsters on the phone or in person. 538 says it isn't able to explain why this is, but it's really not a mystery. The reason is a lot of Trump voters are embarrassed to say they're supporting him in public. They either live in a neighborhood, work in a profession, or belong to an ethnic group where public attacks on "The Donald" are so prominent that his supporters need to think twice about coming out of the Trump closet. This is a reality the depths of which the poll dichotomy is just scratching the surface. That's the audience Trump is really reaching out to in his restructured and refocused campaign. His direct audience at his outreach events is not really the primary focus. Trump isn't exactly breaking major new ground with this strategy. Ronald Reagan famously visited a devastated neighborhood in the South Bronx in 1980, a place where he wasn't going to get any votes and he was indeed heckled during that campaign visit. But lots of voters saw Reagan looking like he cared about people who weren't going to ever vote for him, and it made it easier for those non-Bronx residents to consider voting for him. Reagan never did get many African American voters in either of his general election presidential campaigns, but he did get a massive share of lower income Democrats and everyone else who liked what they saw that day in 1980 in the Bronx. Trump also gets another benefit from his outreach and softer tone: he dilutes the 24/7 drumbeat from the Clinton campaign and much of the news media where he's portrayed as a hateful and dangerous maniac. The Clinton campaign is hoping it will be able to at least come close to matching the massive African American turnout that tipped the election for Barack Obama in 2012 and 2008. Clinton could have made an effort to do that by choosing an African American to be her running mate, but instead her campaign is clearly looking to use the fear factor to encourage minority turnout instead. There's a double trap associated with that strategy. First, negative campaigning can be very effective in helping a candidate win an election but it almost always results in reduced turnout. If Clinton wants African Americans, Millennials, and the other groups who turned out in much higher than traditional numbers for Obama to come out for her this time, negative campaigning probably won't work. Second, all Trump has to do is continue not looking like a dangerous racist to introduce just enough doubt in the fear-mongering Clinton mantra. And that's just what he's done over the last three weeks or so. The polls say it's working. Once again, the Trump campaign and its messaging have exceeded expectations by going after a new and unexpected target audience. And that audience isn't minority voters or any other block of traditional Democrats. It's the traditional Republicans and right-leaning moderates who never really wanted to vote for Hillary Clinton and are just looking for a way out of an embarrassing predicament. If Trump's campaign schedule and messages continue on this path, they'll get one. Donald Trump said again on Tuesday that the Islamic State has "taken over" oil supplies in Libya, though the terror group appears never to have controlled the country's oil nor had the ability to profit from it. The GOP presidential candidate at a Virginia Beach town hall on Tuesday implied, as he has said overtly in the past, that ISIS is funding itself with vast oil wealth from Libya. Trump praised the value and quality of Libyan crude oil generally before saying it's controlled by the murderous, self-proclaimed caliphate. "You know who's got a lot of that oil right now? ISIS," he said of Libya's crude oil supplies. "ISIS now is all over Libya, and they've taken over the oil." ISIS has attacked oil fields in the North African country, but a number of experts who follow the terror group have pointed out that it does not have the ability to operate the handful of refineries that exist there. Militants claiming loyalty to ISIS were focused on disrupting Libya's oil operations, rather than trying to run them. "They wanted to disrupt it, destroy it, not to run it," said Matthew Bey, an energy analyst at geopolitical risk firm Stratfor. "They had control of fields around (the city of) Sirte for a while, but they have since been mostly pushed from that area, and never had control of any upstream activity," much less ports. David Mack, a scholar at the Middle East Institute and former U.S. ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and deputy assistant secretary of state for Near East Affairs, concurred with Bey's assessment. "They never controlled any oil exports or sales from Libyan production," Mack said. "It's possible that they were in a position to extort money from some Libyan militia who had control over oil wells, but that would have only been indirect." When it comes to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, former Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher does not relish the thought of voting for either the Republican or the Democratic presidential nominee. In an interview Tuesday on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street," Fisher said, "It's sort of a choice between quicksand and a bullet in the head." Fisher wouldn't say which candidate he considered the "quicksand" and which one he considered the "bullet." "I'm not going to tell you. You guess for yourself," he said. "I don't think I have much of a choice here," he added, jokingly saying, "I'm supporting Alfred E. Neuman," referring to the fictitious mascot of Mad magazine. Fisher, known for his contrarian and often provocative views, was head of the Dallas Fed for a decade before retiring in 2015. Donald Trump Carlo Allegri | Reuters Donald Trump has promised to roll back regulations and unleash an energy revolution in America but economists have their doubts about the plan. The Republican presidential candidate says he will boost America's economic output, create millions of new jobs, and put coal miners back to work. But the windfalls Trump toutsoriginate from a report commissioned by a nonprofit with ties to the energy industry and whose findings rely on a forecasting model that often overstates the benefits of increased drilling, according to economists who have researched the U.S. shale oil and gas revolution. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Immigration and trade have dominated much of the policy conversation this campaign season, but the next president will take office at a crucial time for the energy industry. America's revolution in high-tech oil production has been sidetracked by and has contributed to a two-year crude price rout that has bankrupted dozens of domestic energy companies. While outlining his economic blueprint last month, Trump said that lifting restrictions on oil and gas would increase GDP by more than $127 billion, add about 500,000 jobs, and increase wages by $30 billion each year over over the next seven years. Those figures come from the Institute for Energy Research, a nonprofit that advocates for a free-market approach to energy. It typically casts fossil fuels as the most economic form of energy generation, promotes research that says green energy jobs are unsustainable, and claims there is an "enormous volume of sensationalized, simplistic and often plain wrong information" on climate change. This is not academic research and would never see the light of day in an academic journal. Thomas Kinnaman Bucknell University Economics Department chair The IER is affiliated with the American Energy Alliance, one of a number of groups funded by a network of donors who have been marshaled to action by prominent conservatives Charles and David Koch. The brothers' Koch Industries and its subsidiaries explore for and produce oil and natural gas; market coal; and operate or own 4,000 miles of oil, fuel, and chemical pipelines. The Koch brothers have not endorsed or supported Trump. The IER study does not actually attribute the gains to a lifting of restrictions, as Trump indicated, but to opening all federal lands to oil, gas, and coal leasing. It is currently barred or temporarily blocked in some parts of the U.S. lower 48, the outer continental shelf, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The problem with Trump's data To be sure, America's shale oil and gas revolution has transformed sleepy hamlets like Williston, North Dakota, into boomtowns and made millionaires of many landowners. But economists say measuring drilling's impact on GDP, wages, and jobs is not as easy as Trump suggests. The IER report uses a method of forecasting called the input-output model, which is frequently used by consultants and government agencies to make projections about the effects of economic activity. But a number of economists say that model is not well-suited to predicting how more drilling will produce windfalls in other sectors, and academics are skeptical of the method because the results, or outputs, rely so heavily on the assumptions, or inputs. "This is not academic research and would never see the light of day in an academic journal. The pioneering research ... from years ago is rarely employed any more by economists," said Thomas Kinnaman, chair of the Economics Department at Bucknell University, who reviewed the IER report for CNBC. Kinnaman said the technical assumptions used throughout the study are not "egregious," but he noted that the paper makes no attempt to weigh the environmental and social costs of opening federal lands against the benefits. Joseph R. Mason, the author of the IER study and professor of banking at Louisiana State University, acknowledged that input-output models are not published in academic journals "because economics has moved on" from the method developed by Wassily Leontief, for which he won a Nobel Prize in economics in 1973. But he said it is still a useful tool, and one that is widely utilized by the government in a wealth of economic impact studies. Further, input-output forecasts are not designed to create absolute, measurable results in the real world, Mason said. As such, they should not be compared against studies conducted after the actual activity takes place, he noted. Same assumptions, different world Peter Maniloff, assistant professor of economics at the Colorado School of Mines, said the IER study is based on a questionable assumption. "The IER report assumes that policy restrictions are the major factor holding back coal, oil, and gas production," but it has more to do with straightforward economics, he said. "Domestic oil drilling on available land has dropped by three-quarters since 2014 due to low prices." U.S. drillers have slashed capital spending and laid off tens of thousands of workers to survive an oil price collapse brought on by massive oversupply. A chief contributor was surging U.S. production over the last decade as wildcatters harnessed the power of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, a method of releasing oil and gas from shale rock by pummeling it with water, minerals, and chemicals. More drilling would delay re-balance and an ultimate price recovery, keeping the pressure on beaten-down American producers. Mason counters that oil prices are expected to eventually recover, and it makes sense to lease federal lands ahead of that rebound. watch now The IER report makes similar assumptions about coal production that discount the effects of regular economic factors, according to Maniloff. "Coal production and prices have been soft due to pressure from cheap natural gas and soft international demand," he told CNBC in an email. But IER Director of Communications Chris Warren said one cannot ignore the effect of government forces on energy. Congressional research shows oil and gas production on federal lands has lagged output on state and private property, he noted. Indeed, oil and gas drillers often complain that it takes too long to get approval to drill on federal lands and too few auctions for leases have been held. Further, the Environmental Protection Agency's Mercury and Air Toxics Standard and its carbon dioxide regulations have put pressure on coal miners, Warren said. The U.S. Energy Information Administration does ascribe part of the effect of coal-fired power plant retirements to the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rules, but concurs with Maniloff that the chief culprit in reduced coal consumption is that it can't compete with cheap and abundant natural gas. Energy's spillover effects Shoppers with their Urban Outfitters shopping bags in Soho in New York Abercrombie & Fitch is out, and Urban Outfitters is in. With teenagers' preferences changing as often as their Snapchat filters, Jefferies analyst Randal Konik on Tuesday similarly swapped one teen retailer for another on the firm's franchise stock pick list. Abercrombie's turnaround took another step back during the second quarter, after showing signs of a nascent recovery last year. Meanwhile, Urban Outfitters generated record revenue and profit during the three-month period, topping Wall Street's forecasts for sales, earnings and gross margin. Shares of Urban Outfitters are up roughly 15 percent since it reported those results last month, but Konik says they have more room to run. "Urban Outfitters has been ahead of the curve on the 'retro' trend through (often exclusive) partnerships with brands that saw their 'hey days' in the 90s including Adidas , Calvin Klein , Fila, Wrangler, & Tommy Hilfiger," Konik told investors in a note. "With [roughly] 90 percent of the apparel mix exclusive to Urban Outfitters, we think Urban has set itself apart from its peers," the note said. Konik placed a $45 price target on the stock. It was trading near $36 in early trading, having dipped slightly. Konik has long argued that the apparel sector is due for a rebound, as spending on hard goods (including automobiles) shows signs of a slowdown. Part of his thesis rests on what he considers appealing new fashions, including fresh takes on bomber jackets and denim. Others have said the category will benefit from cleaner inventory levels, which should reduce the need for steep discounts, along with more seasonable temperatures. Last year's warm winter left many retailers with too many coats and scarves on the shelves, eroding their margins. Still, Urban's recovery faces internal challenges. In particular, the company has struggled to get all three of its brands Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie and Free People firing all at once. In the latest quarter, comparable sales at the higher-priced Anthropologie label fell 3 percent, while Free People's were flat. The Urban Outfitters label generated 5 percent comparable-sales growth. Jefferies still has a "buy" rating on Abercrombie & Fitch, but said the benefits from a stronger fashion cycle will be offset by tourism headwinds. American Eagle has likewise seen a resurgence, due to the success of its aerie and denim lines. Teen retailers have been working to reinvent themselves over the past few years, after losing business to fast-fashion companies including H&M . "But actually I am not sure that he is more willing to have Trump than Hillary Clinton , because Hillary Clinton he knows how to deal with." "Putin didn't create Trump. He may be using this as a possibility, because Trump really wants to be friends with Putin. Putin is a former KGB man, why wouldn't he use this or even pretend that he uses it as an opportunity," she said in an interview with CNBC's " Closing Bell ." Russian President Vladimir Putin may be taking advantage of an opportunity in U.S. politics, but he may not necessarily want Donald Trump in the White House, international affairs professor Nina Khrushcheva said Tuesday. Trump is another story, said Khrushcheva, also an associate dean at The New School. "With Trump, tomorrow they will argue over who is taller and more important and what not and then all this wonderful 'we are going to be such a great relationship with Russia' actually will end up in the Cuban missile crisis." Russia has been accused of hacking Democratic National Committee emails in an attempt to influence the election. Last week, Putin called the cyberattack a public service but denied Russia was involved. "The important thing is the content that was given to the public," he said in an interview with Bloomberg published Friday. Khrushcheva said the accusations have made the "frozen peace" between the two nations "more dangerous." And she doesn't know if the U.S. even wants to fix the relationship, because she believes Russia is a convenient punching bag. "In some ways, whatever Putin and Russia's problems are, the United States wants to have Russia as such a wonderfully convenient big, scary enemy, because it serves purposes of many, many layers of American society." CNBC's Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report. Last week, August's ISM manufacturing data came in at a stunning 49.4, the lowest since January. The two reports bookend Friday's disappointing employment report , where job growth fell to a slower pace of 150,000, 30,000 fewer than expected. Fed funds futures immediately reduced odds sharply of a September rate hike. They had been around 35 percent for September, but fell closer to 25 percent after ISM non-manufacturing report, according to Jefferies. July's ISM was 55.5 and economists had expected a reading of 55. Below 50 is a sing of contraction. Stocks lost ground and Treasury yields immediately fell, as investors jumped into the safety of bonds. Bond prices move inversely to yield. The 2-year yield, the one most sensitive to the Fed, tumbled to 0.74 percent from 0.79 percent. The ISM non-manufacturing index fell to 51.4, the lowest level since February, 2010. The index reports on a much broader swath of the economy than the manufacturing report, and therefore is more concerning if it is signaling a new trend in weakness. The services sector represents about 70 percent of the U.S. economy. After a plunge in manufacturing activity, the much bigger services sector showed a surprise, massive slowdown in growth in August, raising new warnings on the economy. John Briggs, head of strategy at RBS, said the softness could be related to the worry about Brexit, the U.K. vote earlier in the summer to leave the European Union, and therefore, may be fleeting. "We were always in the position of thinking the Fed doesn't go until December. This just hammers it home. The last two times (that) ISM fell below 52 percent, it was preceding a recession," said Briggs. He said the indicator, which is relatively new compared with the ISM manufacturing survey, fell below 52 in both 2001 and again in early 2008. Amherst Pierpont economist Stephen Stanley said the services sector data may not be signaling anything beyond a temporarily soft spot, but it would discourage the Fed from hiking in September. "...the new orders and production components were both between 51 and 52, also the worst results since early 2010. The employment figure slipped by less than a point to 50.7. The text of the report notes that most comments from respondents point to a slowing in business, though none of the individual comments that were included in the report seem consistent with much more than a summer lull," Stanley wrote in a note. He said it remains to be seen how serious the ISM weakness becomes. "I am inclined to view it as more of a one-off than a rolling over of activity, but for those Fed officials who are having a difficult time deciding what to do at this month's meeting, all of the major August data out so far (auto sales, payrolls, both ISMs) have been noticeably weaker than expected. I'm not terribly worried about the fate of the economy, but I do feel even more comfortable today than I did a week ago calling for no Fed move in September," Stanley noted. Tom Simons, chief money market economist at Jefferies, also said it could be just a one-month weak period but it's too soon to say. "The thing that really stinks is this week is so light on data, there's not really anything to change the tone," he said. Simons also noted that Tuesday's other data, the August Fed Labor Market Condition Index (LMCI) fell by 0.7 points, its seventh decline in eight months. Fed speakers will be the big events, starting with San Francisco Fed President John Williams Tuesday evening. The next big data reports are Sept. 15 when retail sales and Producer Price Index are reported, as well as regional Fed surveys. The Consumer Price Index is reported Sept. 16. Chicago is known for its iconic, Italian-inspired deep-dish pizza. But now to meet a new customer base's taste, one of the city's most famous sellers, Gino's East, is trying something new: Mexican food. Amid a flurry of new entrants to the deep-dish space, Noah Himmel, the man at the helm of the 50-year-old Gino's East brand, is looking to differentiate from the pack. Noah Himmel, vice president of Ginos East Mary Stevens | CNBC With the help of family friend turned Gino's operator Jos Saldana, Himmel successfully opened a Mexico City location last year. The move inspired him to reimport the Mexican-fusion menu complete with carnitas and al pastor to connect with Chicago's predominantly Mexican neighborhood of Pilsen. "We came up with some amazing dishes that really hit the palate in Mexico City, but also had the strong Chicago, Italian roots of pizza," Himmel says. Jos Saldana, director of Ginos East Mexico, speaks with patrons at Ginos East Pilsen in Chicago. Mary Stevens | CNBC Out went Italian sausage; in came Mexican chorizo. Mozzarella was replaced by Oaxaca cheese in the caprese salad. Carnitas, spit-roasted al pastor and cactus became the new pizza toppings. "As I tell you these ingredients, they're probably not making sense to you," Saldana says with a grin. "But when you see how these elements work with each other, both from a flavor and texture perspective, then you understand what I'm talking about." Ginos East worked with a chef in Mexico City to develop a menu combining traditional Chicago favorites with Mexican cuisine. Mary Stevens | CNBC The success speaks for itself. After one year in Mexico City, the restaurant is already in the black, according to Saldana, who says plans to expand across Mexico are already underway. "Every brand that goes global has to understand that they have to be able to blend with the market," Saldana says. "Being in Mexico has challenged the brand to become more creative." It also sparked an idea as the duo headed back to the competition of Chicago fresh off of perfecting the Mexican-inspired menu. Deep-dish: A Mexican export Hispanics have long been an underserved market in the U.S., despite being one of the fastest-growing ethnic groups. Ginos East opened the Mexico City location of the deep-dish pizzeria in early 2015. Source: Gino's East "For too long marketing to Hispanics wasn't done in a substantive or effective way," says Mike Valdes-Fauli, CEO of Pinta, a multicultural marketing firm. "Phase one was ignorance, either by ignoring it or assuming Hispanics lacked the buying power up until the 1980 census when Hispanics hit 6 percent of the population and people started to take stock." Now, Hispanics are the nation's largest ethnic minority, accounting for nearly 18 percent of the U.S. population and $1.3 trillion in buying power. That's a 167 percent jump since 2000, compared to the 82 percent growth rate for all U.S. consumers, according to University of Georgia's Selig Center for Economic Growth. As a Mexican descendent himself, Saldana was well-aware of the potential a Gino's Mexican-inspired menu could carry in Chicago, home to the nation's fifth-largest Hispanic concentration. Source: CNBC "When you're trying to differentiate yourself, you're trying to always find as a business where's that next niche? Where is that opportunity?" Saldana says. For Gino's, that opportunity existed in Pilsen, a predominantly Mexican neighborhood. The term "gentrification" is thrown around a lot in Pilsen, where the Mexican bakeries and cultural centers are being pushed out by a new wave of development. Pilsen rents increased about 25 percent faster in recent years compared to the rest of Chicago, according to University of Illinois at Chicago's Voorhees Center. That much has the community on edge. When Himmel started thinking about opening a new storefront in Pilsen, he wanted to be thoughtful about his approach. Other new entrants to the neighborhood, like independent coffee shop Bow Truss, were met with a wave of resistance. The chain was hit twice by vandals. Spray painted on a Chicago flag was a clear message: "White people out of Pilsen." Graffiti on another door read, "Pilsen is not for sale." "Pilsen is not for sale" has become a rallying cry for some in the community, as seen on this Pilsen sign post. Source: CNBC Luz Chavez, co-manager at Cultura in Pilsen, which hosted free and affordable events highlighting Latino culture from 2013 up until last month when her rent was increased 48 percent, says the way Bow Truss entered the neighborhood may have made it a target. "They came in saying Pilsen doesn't have any coffee shops, which it does," she says. Of course, Pilsen also had other deep-dish locations when Gino's looked to move in just none serving cactus. Chavez calls the way Gino's entered the neighborhood "a different approach." For starters, Himmel and Saldana recruited Pilsen resident Maria Gonzalez, 23, to manage the restaurant when it launched in April. The restaurant's decor was made to match many of the colorful murals that make Pilsen what it is, and bottles of tequila and mescal line the bar. Maria Gonzalez, general manager of Ginos East Pilsen Mary Stevens | CNBC "I think that's what's made me more passionate about it, just knowing that they took that risk to go to Mexico City and work with a chef," says Gonzalez, whose mother immigrated to Chicago from Mexico when she was 7 years old. "It's not just pulled pork and they throw it on a pizza and call it carnitas. It's real." Four months in, Himmel hopes the idea continues to click with the community. "I'm not trying to take traditional Mexican dishes and Americanize them," he says. "I'm trying to take what's traditional about Mexico and traditional about the United States and put them together in a way where they work together and not try and force an adaptation of one to the other." A fellow in Adelaide, Australia was arrested for several traffic offenses including using a modified (and magic-markered) frying pan as a steering wheel. From the South Australia Police: Further checks revealed the car was unregistered and uninsured and had recently been defected and the defect label had been removed. The 32-year-old from Adelaide was charged with driving unregistered, uninsured, drive contrary to defect, remove defect label, alter number plate and breach of bail. He has been bailed to appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on 11 October. The Eid el-Kabir is fast approaching and several Ram sellers in Kaduna and its metropolis have expressed heavy regrets about the low sale recorded a few days away from the Eid el-Kabir festival. Most ram sellers stands which include Zango, Bachama road and Rigasa markets in Kaduna metropolis saw the presence of many rams that remain unsold for days. Alhaji Rabo Mohammad, who sells his rams at Bachama Road market, told newsmen that the ram sellers had never had it so bad. Mohammad, who came from Sokoto with rams, said he sold only 5 out of the 50 rams he brought to Kaduna two weeks ago. The economic situation has contributed to the low patronage and is affecting even our pockets. There is still hope, as the festival is one week from now, we pray to make some sales before then. Returning the animals to Sokoto will be a great loss to me because of the expenses involved, he said. Mohammad said prices of the animals ranged from N25,000 to N120,000. Another ram dealer, Baballe Yaro, also blamed current economic recession as the main factor responsible for the low sales recorded so far. The present economic meltdown has now become a threat not only to ram sellers but also to entire business activities in Nigeria. The Federal Government should do something urgently to address the suffering of the masses. Although people want to buy rams for the festival, they cannot afford to due to the prevailing economic situation in the country, he said. Yaro believed that the price may eventually crash as many traders would not want to return back with the animals. According to him, some of the traders bought the rams from Niger Republic, Sokoto, Zamfara and Katsina States. But there is hope since we have one week before the celebration if all civil servants will have their salaries before Sallah, Yaro said. September 6, 2016 Duane Graveline, a medical doctor who was among NASA's first scientist-astronauts, but who resigned after just six months for "personal reasons," died on Monday (Sept. 5). He was 85. Graveline, who went by the nickname "Doc," died following a short illness at a hospital near his home in Merritt Island, Florida, according to a source close to his family. Named in June 1965 as a member of NASA's fourth group of astronauts, Graveline joined five other scientists Owen Garriott, Ed Gibson, Joe Kerwin, Curt Michel and Harrison Schmitt as the space agency's first trainees recruited for their academic backgrounds, rather than flight experience. But Graveline had only reported for supersonic jet training, before he was out of the astronaut corps. "Duane Graveline, one of the nation's scientist-astronauts, is the first to resign before making a space flight," reported the Associated Press in an article published on August 18, 1965. "[NASA] announced that Dr. Graveline had resigned for personal reasons. It said [Graveline] would remain with the Manned Spacecraft Center [Johnson Space Center] as a medical doctor." 'Didn't need a scandal' Just the month earlier, Graveline's first wife, Carole Jane, filed for divorce, accusing him of "ungovernable outbursts of temper," according to the AP report. The charge was at odds with NASA's carefully- crafted image of its astronauts being clean-cut, all-American men. NASA portrait of scientist-astronaut Duane E. Graveline. (NASA) "The program didn't need a scandal," stated Deke Slayton, who as the director of flight crew operations oversaw all of the activities of NASA's astronaut office. "A messy divorce meant a quick ticket back to wherever you came from." "Not because we were trying to enforce morality which was impossible, anyway, but because it would detract from the job," said Slayton in his autobiography, "Deke!" written with Michael Cassutt. Graveline, who remained silent on the motivations behind his former wife's actions, understood NASA's decision. "I had no problem with NASA's reaction," stated Graveline, as quoted by authors David Shayler and Colin Burgess in "NASA's Scientists-Astronauts." "My divorce publicity was anything but appropriate for a newly-appointed astronaut." Still, it meant that he would never have even the possibility of flying to the moon, a prospect that Graveline spoke of with desire when interviewed soon after his selection as an astronaut. Duane E. Graveline at the June 1965 press conference announcing his selection as a scientist-astronaut. (NASA/Retro Space Images) "My resignation was the hardest decision of my life," stated Graveline decades later. "For every time an Apollo mission occurred, I was pulled more deeply into self-doubt." Three months after leaving the astronaut corps, Graveline resigned from NASA and opened a family medical practice in Burlington, Vermont. 'Sputnik started it for me' Born on March 2, 1931, Duane Edgar Graveline earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Vermont in June 1951 and his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Vermont College of Medicine in June 1955. Graveline then entered the U.S. Air Force Medical Service and interned at Walter Reed Army Hospital from July 1955 through June 1956. In February 1957, he was granted the aeronautical rating of flight surgeon. Eight months later, as he worked toward a Master's degree in public health at Johns Hopkins, Graveline was inspired by the launch of the world's first artificial satellite. "All things are supposed to have a beginning, and I guess Sputnik started it for me," recalled Graveline, as quoted by Shayler and Burgess. "From that moment on, I did my best to guide my path towards space." U.S. Air Force portrait of Duane E. Graveline. (spacedoc.com) In July 1960, after completing his residency, Graveline was assigned to the Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, as a research scientist with special interest in prolonged weightlessness deconditioning and countermeasures. "Using both bed rest and water immersion, I explored the use of various countermeasures to prevent zero-g [gravity] deconditioning including ... extremity tourniquets and lower body negative pressure device, the prototype of which was conceived by me," Graveline wrote on spacedoc.com, his website. "The LBNP device was flown on Skylab, Mir and shuttle flights and remains in current use." Graveline continued his research and directed an analysis team on Soviet bioastronautics at Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, beginning in July 1962. "I broke out the unique Soviet telemetry link for continuous monitoring of cosmonaut heart and respiratory rates used during their entire Vostok and Voskhod series," described Graveline. "On one memorable afternoon while on the Pacific Ocean- located tracking ship Rose Knot Victor, the NASA tracking system [was] able to follow the biomedical progress of the Soviet's Voskhod 2 mission," he recalled, referencing the March 1965 flight that included the world's first spacewalk by cosmonaut Alexei Leonov. Graveline also worked as an early NASA flight controller. "I was appointed as one of the medical monitors for NASA spaceflights with deployment for every mission from the flight of Enos, through Mercury and most of Gemini before my own selection as one of NASA's scientist astronauts." 'Surly Bonds' Portrait of Dr. Duane Edgar "Doc" Graveline. (spacedoc.com) In the years that followed his November 1965 resignation, Graveline briefly returned to NASA to support the first four space shuttle missions as director of medical operations at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After a six-month leave, he returned to his practice in Vermont, where he continued to work until his retirement from clinical medicine in 1994 at the age of 63. A prolific author, Graveline wrote 15 books, including two memoirs about his time with the space program, a number of science fiction novels and three books about his medical research into statin drugs. He was also the author of 15 professional publications and reports on weightlessness countermeasures and biological deconditioning. Graveline had four daughters with his first wife, Carole. He is survived by his second wife, Suzanne Gamache. It turns out that asking a piece of software to decide which websites should be censored and which ones are legitimate has some problems, which I think comes as a surprise to all of us. But it's true! Warner Brothers is one of many companies that uses software robots to compile lists of pirate websites, which are then turned over to search engines, hosting providers and other online services, accompanied with a legal demand that these sites be removed, on pain of legal retribution. Warner Brothers is also one of many companies that make dumb, risible mistakes when it draws up this million-URL censorship demands. But Warner Brothers does have the distinction of being one of the few companies sloppy enough to repeatedly demand the removal of its own site. With help from its anti-piracy partner Vobile, Warner asked Google to censor several of its own URLs from the search engine. The screenshot below, taken from the following DMCA notice, lists the official Warner page of the 2008 Batman movie The Dark Knight among various reported pirate links. The same notice also lists another Warnerbros.com URL for the sci-fi classic The Matrix. Again, Vobile asks Google to remove this link from search results, acting on behalf of the Hollywood studio. The apparent 'self-censorship' is not a one-off mistake either. A few days earlier, a similar DMCA takedown notice targeted Warner's website, claiming that the official page for The Lucky One is infringing Warner's copyrights. Warner Bros. Flags Its Own Website as a Piracy Portal [Ernesto/Torrentfreak] (via /.) Yesterday, Paul Krugman wrote that he expects Hillary Clinton will get "Gored" by press innuendo over the next few weeks. Today, The Washington Post's Paul Weldman wonders why "plain facts about Trump's corruption aren't covered much: "you'd think that a story about one party's nominee giving a large contribution to a state attorney general who promptly shut down an inquiry into that nominee's scam "university" would be enormous news. But we continue to hear almost nothing about what happened between Donald Trump and Florida attorney general Pam Bondi." He then embarks on a tour of millionaire presidential candidate Donald Trump's acts of naked corruption: Trump's casino bankruptcies , which left investors holding the bag while he skedaddled with their money Trump's habit of refusing to pay contractors who had done work for him, many of whom are struggling small businesses Trump University , which includes not only the people who got scammed and the Florida investigation, but also a similar story from Texas where the investigation into Trump U was quashed. The Trump Institute, another get-rich-quick scheme in which Trump allowed a couple of grifters to use his name to bilk people out of their money The Trump Network, a multi-level marketing venture (a.k.a. pyramid scheme) that involved customers mailing in a urine sample which would be analyzed to produce for them a specially formulated package of multivitamins Trump Model Management, which reportedly had foreign models lie to customs officials and work in the U.S. illegally, and kept them in squalid conditions while they earned almost nothing for the work they did Trump's employment of foreign guest workers at his resorts, which involves a claim that he can't find Americans to do the work Trump's use of hundreds of undocumented workers from Poland in the 1980s, who were paid a pittance for their illegal work Trump's history of being charged with housing discrimination Trump's connections to mafia figures involved in New York construction The time Trump paid the Federal Trade Commission $750,000 over charges that he violated anti-trust laws when trying to take over a rival casino company The fact that Trump is now being advised by Roger Ailes, who was forced out as Fox News chief when dozens of women came forward to charge him with sexual harassment. According to the allegations, Ailes's behavior was positively monstrous; as just one indicator, his abusive and predatory actions toward women were so well-known and so loathsome that in 1968 the morally upstanding folks in the Nixon administration refused to allow him to work there despite his key role in getting Nixon elected. 1. The difference between Trump and Clinton is that Clinton bleeds when they hit her. 2. The news media loves a horse race. Writing about Trump's corruption long ago hit the law of diminishing returns, because everyone knows he's corrupt and his supporters like it. It is news to no-one. Clinton, however, is cleanbut her supporters waver at the thought of dirt. For all we talk about new outlets with a strong ideological bent, the plain truth is that the topical focus is defined by mainstream media. Trump could say and do almost anything at all without being taken out their picture, whereas the frame they place around Clinton is fitted perfectly to her sins and an impervious image of what a woman must do to earn their respect (for starters: smile at them). Trump's going to win because false equivalence makes nothing meaningful, and the sheer witlessness of the media men asking the questions makes nothing matter. The same old morons on Cable TV and east-coast editorial pages will tell the same old stories, and it'll be easier to cast Clinton in them than Trump, before whom they will always stay quiet while the mouth runs. Typhoid and swans: it all comes from the same place. Types of obituaries The Missourian publishes two types of obituaries family obituaries and life stories. A family obituary is the version submitted by a funeral home or family. Please see the submission form for details on cost and deadlines. Family obituaries A life story is a closer look at a person's life and involves a reporter contacting family and friends. Life stories are based on newsworthiness and consent of the family. Life stories. Ragtag furthers big-screen mission through A Community Thrives Ragtag Film Society took home $12,000 in grant money, which will further its day-to-day and big-screen mission. Columbus Arts Festival 2022 Patron Party Arts backers and community leaders gathered June 10, 2022, for the Columbus Arts Festivals Patron Party, which raised more than $34,000. SHARE Business Q&A with Kevin McKenzie By Kevin McKenzie of The Commercial Appeal As a registered nurse working in the new adult epilepsy monitoring unit at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis, Connie Prudhomme is well aware of the benefits it will provide. Prudhommes son, Michael Anderson, was diagnosed with epilepsy in the mid-1990s. Until Baptists unit opened in mid-August, a trip to Nashville was required to find epilepsy monitoring in Tennessee. So we ended up going to Vanderbilt, going to Nashville, which is hard in terms of taking time off work, hotel stay, extra food, Prudhomme said. Getting care out of town four hours away is a hardship. At the new Memphis facility, patients are weaned from medications, have sensors placed on their scalp and are monitored continuously by camera, by technicians watching computer screens for electrical brain activity and by nurses at a station signaled by alarms. For three to seven days, patients wait in their beds or sit in bedside chairs waiting for seizures that can be recorded and mapped. Dr. Pawan Rawal, a neurologist with Baptist Medical Group recruited to lead a comprehensive epilepsy program, said that epilepsy monitoring units are considered the gold standard of epilepsy care. Still, national studies have shown that people may delay that step for as much as a decade, in part because no unit is available, Rawal said. He said an estimated one in 10 people in Tennessee will have a seizure at some point in their lives. So we are hoping that with this unit up and running, we can shorten the time period for people in Memphis and surrounding areas, he said. Le Bonheur Childrens Hospital is home to a neuroscience institute that is nationally recognized for providing care for children with neurological problems, including seizures and strokes. Rawal, 32, graduated from medical school in India and developed his specialty with a residency at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a fellowship at Vanderbilt University. Hes also a University of Tennessee Health Science Center assistant professor of neurology. Baptists new unit is giving UTHSC medical school students the kind of experience that triggered his interest as a resident in Alabama, he said. Rawal evaluates patients at an epilepsy clinic on the hospitals campus to determine whether they should check in to the 4-bed epilepsy monitoring unit. National guidelines recommend that every patient who has two or more medications for seizures, or where they have seizures but are not sure of what part of the brain they are rooted in, should be evaluated at a monitoring unit as quickly as possible, he said. Family members are encouraged to provide support while education, social work and other support are provided, said Julie Horn, nursing neurosciences and stroke coordinator. Really our goal is to monitor the patients to keep them safe while they are here in our care, to keep them occupied, Horn said. Rawal said its important to have a comprehensive epilepsy center that can provide care from the first seizure to refractory, or uncontrolled seizures. Medication can control seizures for two of every three patients who seek care, he said. Medical devices that use electrical energy to stimulate the brain or surgery are options for others. Prudhomme said that her son, now 31, has had surgery to remove part of the right temporal lobe of his brain that wasnt successful. More medications and a nerve stimulation device known as a pacemaker for the brain, followed. Hes doing better now than he used to, but as a mother trying to figure out where there is help, with my experience there is not a lot of help offered it was give more medicine, give more medicine, Prudhomme said. An emergency room nurse at the hospital of 18 years, she said she wanted to be part of Baptists epilepsy monitoring unit when the opportunity arose. Her son, she said, is also a volunteer there. SHARE By Tom Charlier of The Commercial Appeal Shelby County health officials Tuesday confirmed that a third person has died from heat-related causes this summer. In announcing the death, the Health Department provided no details on the victim or circumstances. Officials did, however, stress the importance of residents keeping hydrated and remaining in air-conditioned homes and buildings as much as possible. The death toll compares to a total of six heat-related fatalities reported in 2015. Memphis endured its fourth-hottest summer on record during the three-month period of June through August, according to the National Weather Service. September 6, 2016 - The air conditioning is out at Shelby County Juvenile Court, located at 616 Adams Ave., for the second time in less than two weeks. (Yalonda M. James/The Commercial Appeal) By Katie Fretland of The Commercial Appeal Air conditioning is out at Shelby County Juvenile Court, for the second time in less than two weeks, as temperatures outside were projected to reach the low 90s on Tuesday. Affected locations included part of the juvenile detention area, as well as some courtrooms and offices. When you walk in that room, its like they turned an oven on, said 39-year-old Antonio Washington outside courtroom 4 beside his 15-year-old son. Fans were cooling the first-floor hallway Tuesday inside the courthouse at 616 Adams. A request for a Commercial Appeal reporter and photographer to visit the juvenile detention area was denied by the Shelby County Sheriffs Office, which runs the detention facility. Staff was busy working to get the AC working and setting up a holding area, said sheriffs spokesman Earle Farrell. The juveniles housed in this area are spending the day in other parts of the detention area, including Hope Academy, the Shelby County school that operates within Juvenile Court, which is not affected by the outage, according to a statement from the court. At the court building, 60-year-old Howard Williams said it was hot in a courtroom, but that the hallways were cool. The question is what are you doing to get it fixed? he said. Sometimes it takes a minute to find out what the problem is. Even if you know what the problem is you sometimes have to order the parts. Sometimes you might have to replace the whole system. The problem is partially due to an old HVAC system that needs custom-made coils, according to the court, and the coils should be delivered and installed this week. Shelby County Support Services division and the countys HVAC vendor have been working since early this morning to correct the problem ... the court said Tuesday. Meanwhile, fans and portable HVAC units continue to be set up in the affected areas until all air-conditioning systems are working again. Bottled water also is being distributed to the affected courtrooms. There was also a problem with the air conditioning last month that affected seven courtrooms and some judicial offices, but support staff and the courts HVAC vendor restored it. In August 2012, the air conditioning went out inside the detention center. After temperatures climbed into the 80s at night, officials were forced to transport nearly 50 teens to nearby adult jail at the Criminal Justice Center at 201 Poplar. The youths were held in a separate area. The Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County is under federal monitoring following an investigation by the Department of Justice. In a 2012 report, the DOJ found discrimination against African-American children, unsafe conditions of confinement and failures to provide due process to youth appearing for proceedings. Earlier this year, David Roush, the consultant monitoring the detention facility, wrote a report that contained allegations of youths being disciplined in 23-hour, locked-room confinement with handcuffing and shackling during the single out-of-room hour, which the detention chief, Kirk Fields, disputed. Michael Leiber, who has examined racial disparities in the Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County, wrote in a separate report in June that being black increases the chance of detention and decreases the chance of receiving a non-judicial outcome in comparison to similar whites. Juvenile Court Judge Dan Michael said in a July interview that the court has done a tremendous amount of work the last four years in diverting children from the system, including children diverted into community programs. A community engagement meeting is planned from 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the Community Rooms at the Hickory Ridge Mall. September 6, 2016 Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings pulls a smoking pipe out of a peanut butter jar during a City Council committee meeting while demonstrating what some small-scale means in real terms regarding marijuana. Rallings opposes a City Council proposal to loosen penalties for small-scale marijuana possession. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal) SHARE September 6, 2016 Memphis City Councilwoman Jamita Swearengen passes a bag of marijuana to fellow Councilman Berlin Boyd as Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings talks during a City Council committee meeting where Rallings tried to demonstrate what small-scale means in real terms regarding marijuana. Rallings opposes a City Council proposal to loosen penalties for small-scale marijuana possession. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal) By Ryan Poe and Joey Garrison, USA TODAY NETWORK Tennessee Memphis City Council members would solve a problem that doesn't exist if they approve an ordinance decriminalizing some marijuana possession, Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich said Tuesday. Prosecutions of marijuana charges almost always involve other charges, often gun-related, Weirich told council members in committee. She said her office prosecuted about 300 marijuana-only cases last year and such prosecutions have decreased in recent years. The idea that people are sitting in jail because they were caught with a small amount of marijuana is "false," she said. "It's a very, very, very small piece of the docket and the cases we handle on a daily basis," she said. The Memphis pot ordinance received the first of three readings Tuesday, putting it on track for a final vote as early as Oct. 4. The ordinance, sponsored by council member Berlin Boyd, would let officers choose to charge people 18 and older for possession of a half-ounce or less or marijuana under a city ordinance punishable with a $50 fine or community service instead of under the state's criminal law. Tennessee law states that people caught with one-half ounce of marijuana or less face a misdemeanor charge punishable by up to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine. Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings, also present for the meeting, said he and Nashville Chief of Police Steve Anderson have communicated almost daily about similar ordinances wending their way through each city's legislative process. Rallings and Anderson expressed similar concerns to council members Tuesday in Memphis and Nashville, questioning whether a half-ounce of marijuana was too much to be considered "casual" possession. In an email to Metro Nashville council members, Anderson said one-half ounce of marijuana is a greater quantity than some people realize enough, he said, to create 50 marijuana cigarettes, commonly called "joints." "This amount of the drug has the ability to produce a high level of intoxication multiple times to many persons," Anderson wrote. Rallings made his point regarding the amount allowed under the proposed ordinance by passing out bags of pot to council members in Tuesday's committee meeting, leading council member Worth Morgan to quip "Everyone keep your hands above the table." Anderson recommends the "small amount" limit on the local legislation be reduced to 1/32 of an ounce, or approximately one to two "joints" and "certainly no more than one-sixteenth of an ounce." Rallings said he hopes the council will wait to see if and how Nashville implements a similar ordinance. Anderson, like Rallings, initially opposed the ordinance, but both have since moderated their opposition, and Anderson even said in an email to council members that he was "neutral" on the topic after changes to the Nashville ordinance. Both ordinances originally said violators "shall" be issued a citation for a civil penalty of $50, but were tweaked Tuesday to clarify officers have the discretion whether to issue a civil citation. But Rallings said he has deeper philosophical issues with decriminalizing marijuana as well. "I'm still concerned about the message we're sending the kids," he said. Responding to Weirich and Rallings, Boyd defended the ordinance as protecting people especially younger people from criminal records that could follow them through their lives. "What I'm saying to young people is, if you make a mistake, you have an opportunity not to have a black eye," he said. He pointed out many people and organizations including the NAACP, ACLU, Memphis-based Just City, and the state legislative black caucus support the ordinance as a way to reduce the disproportionately high marijuana arrest rates in the African-American community. The Nashville ordinance received the second of three council votes Tuesday night. Supporters have argued the ordinances would simply create a "local parallel ordinance" to the state law, likening the decriminalization measure to Metro's law for littering, which has less severe penalties. "I think the jury has been out on stop-and-frisk, so why in the world would we even think about that," Memphis Police Director Mike Rallings said of the controversial police tactic used in some cities. He spoke Tuesday at City Hall after a public safety committee meeting. (Brad Vest/The Commercial Appeal File) By Yolanda Jones of The Commercial Appeal Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings adamantly denied Tuesday that his department is exploring the "stop-and-frisk" tactic of policing in the city. However, when asked about that tactic during a podcast with The Commercial Appeal last week, Rallings indicated it was an option to be considered. Stop-and-frisk gives officers authority to stop people they consider suspicious and frisk them for weapons or contraband. It was popularized as a tool to combat crime in New York City. "I have talked to New York on a number of occasions. So we're going to look at all of it," Rallings said during the podcast. "I think that New York also learned that there was a lot of scrutiny for stop-and-frisk, so we want to avoid the scrutiny." On Tuesday, however, Rallings made it clear that the tactic was not under consideration here. "I think the jury has been out on stop-and-frisk, so why in the world would we even think about that?" Rallings said Tuesday at City Hall after a public safety committee meeting. "There is no discussion on stop-and-frisk, so whoever started that I think that it is maybe a little reckless." Keith Norman, pastor at First Baptist-Broad, said he heard about the possibility of that tactic late last week, then reached out to Rallings and Mayor Jim Strickland to express his opposition. "My immediate reaction to it was that this was not a good strategy for us to build our crime-reduction efforts around ... without building the complement (of officers) and providing additional training," Norman said. Norman said he doesn't believe the tactic is effective at reducing crime. "Whenever you have a majority population and a theory or even factual data that suggests that that population contributes more to the crime, it is going to raise the number of contacts that take place with law enforcement and minorities of all color," he said. "To arbitrarily stop people based on a profile is not an effective measure for fighting crime." In July, the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission hired former New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and his consulting firm to help craft a new Operation Safe Community plan with a particular focus on combating violent crime. Rallings said Tuesday that the Kelly hire doesn't mean the department is going to adopt stop-and-frisk. During Kelly's tenure in New York, the number of such encounters soared over the last decade. "That particular company is like many we have brought in," Rallings said. "Again, I say let them finish their study. I applaud the crime commission for being concerned about crime in Memphis. But again, I don't believe in throwing the baby out with the bath water." He added, "I've been to Chicago, Washington, D.C., New York and we've talked every single time about crime in the United States and I will continue to talk to those police chiefs from across the country, but that does not mean we are going to blanketly adopt any particular tactic, especially something as controversial as stop-and-frisk." Major police departments from New York to Chicago have come under fire for using stop-and-frisk because critics said it unfairly targets minorities. In 2013, a federal judge ruled that New York's police department's stop-and-frisk tactics violated the constitutional rights of minorities in New York and ordered a federal monitor to oversee the practice. Staff reporter Jody Callahan contributed to this story. Looking at the world through the eyes of the Web March 20, 2014 - Bruce Spaniel has been homeless for roughly eight years since losing his construction job in 2006. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal) SHARE By Ryan Poe of The Commercial Appeal An ordinance restricting the times and places where panhandling is allowed will go to Memphis City Council with a positive recommendation. The council's Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee voted to recommend the ordinance, which would expand the 7 p.m. to 8 a.m. ban on panhandling to between 5 p.m. and 10 a.m. The ordinance would also require panhandlers to stay at least 25 feet from intersections with lights, construction zones, bridges and interstate entrance and exit ramps. Council member Philip Spinosa is sponsoring the ordinance, which will receive the first of three readings Sept. 20 before a final vote as early as Oct. 18. By Ryan Poe of The Commercial Appeal Memphis City Council members would be solving a problem that doesn't exist if they approve an ordinance to decriminalize some marijuana possession, Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich said Tuesday. Weirich, speaking at a council committee meeting, said the vast majority of marijuana charges are in connection with other charges most often gun-related. She said her office only prosecuted about 300 cases involving marijuana last year that didn't also include other charges. "It's a very, very, very small piece of the docket and the cases we handle on a daily basis," she said. Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings, also present for the meeting, said the ordinance leaves some questions like a definition of casual possession unanswered. He said he hopes the council will wait to see if and how Nashville implements a similar ordinance. Rallings said he and Nashville Chief of Police Steve Anderson are discussing the proposed ordinances on an almost daily basis. "I'm still concerned about the message we're sending the kids," Rallings said. But the ordinance's sponsor, council member Berlin Boyd, defended the ordinance as protecting people especially younger people from criminal records that could follow them through their lives. "What I'm saying to young people is, if you make a mistake, you have an opportunity not to have a black eye," he said. He pointed out that many people and organizations including the NAACP, ACLU, Memphis-based Just City, and the state legislative black caucus support the ordinance as a way to reduce the disproportionately high marijuana arrest rates in the African American community. FILE - In this Oct. 10, 2015, file photo, a man wears a "Black Lives Matter" hoodie as he stands on the lawn of the Capitol building in Washington during a rally to mark the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March. A new poll shows a majority of American young adults, including white youth, support the Black Lives Matter movement. The support from young white adults is an increase from the beginning of the summer and the first time in the poll a majority of black, white, Hispanic and Asian young adults expressed support for the Black Lives Matter movement. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File) SHARE By Jesse J. Holland And Emily Swanson, Associated Press WASHINGTON Support for the Black Lives Matter movement has increased among young white adults, according to a poll that suggests a majority of white, black, Asian and Hispanic young adults now support the movement calling for accountability for police in the deaths of African-Americans. Fifty-one percent of white adults between the ages of 18 and 30 say in a GenForward poll they now strongly or somewhat support Black Lives Matter, a 10-point increase since June, while 42 percent said they do not support the movement. But most young whites also think the movement's rhetoric encourages violence against the police, while the vast majority of young blacks say it does not. And young whites are more likely to consider violence against police a serious problem than say the same about the killings of African-Americans by police. Black, Hispanic and Asian youth already had expressed strong majority support for the Black Lives Matter movement in the June poll. Eighty-five percent of African-American young adults now say they support the protesters. Sixty-seven percent of Asian and 62 percent of Hispanic young adults agreed with that sentiment. The GenForward survey of adults age 18 to 30 is conducted by the Black Youth Project at the University of Chicago with the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The first-of-its-kind poll pays special attention to the voices of young adults of color, highlighting how race and ethnicity shape the opinions of a new generation. Sean Bradley, 26, of Clearwater, Florida, said watching several encounters between police and black suspects online helped cement his support for Black Lives Matter. As a white male, he said, he also has had run-ins with the police and witnessed officers trying to cover for what he considered illegal conduct by other officers. "The fact is that the police target blacks and they discriminate against blacks," Bradley said. "Because of how they've treated blacks over the years, of course they (blacks) don't trust them (police) and I know for a fact that some of the things the police do are illegal. I would be upset as well." The Black Lives Matter movement emerged in 2012 after Florida neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman was acquitted in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager, Trayvon Martin. It gathered strength in ensuing years following the deaths of other black men at the hands of police in New York, South Carolina, Baltimore and elsewhere. The August GenForward poll came after police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, fatally shot Alton Sterling after pinning him to the ground, and after Philando Castile was shot and killed by a white police officer during a traffic stop in a suburb of Minneapolis. Asked specifically about recent killings of black people by the police, 72 percent of African-American young people, 61 percent of Asian-Americans, 51 percent of Latinos and 40 percent of whites said they consider those killings part of a larger pattern, rather than isolated. But young blacks are much more likely than young whites to call killings of black people by the police a very or extremely serious problem, 91 percent to 43 percent. Sixty-three percent of young whites think that violence against police is a serious problem, similar to the 60 percent of young African-Americans who say so. And 66 percent of whites also said that they believe that Black Lives Matter's rhetoric encourages violence against police, compared with 43 percent of Asian-Americans, 42 percent of Hispanics, and 19 percent of African-Americans who said so. Enrollment at the University of Memphis is on the rise. (Yalonda M. James/The Commercial Appeal) SHARE By The Commercial Appeal University of Memphis' overall enrollment is up about 3 percent at the start of this school year one of only two colleges under the state Board of Regents to show an increase at the opening of the fall semester, according to university President David Rudd. In a recent email to faculty and staff, Rudd highlighted statistics reflecting a 1 percent increase in undergraduate students, and a 4.7 percent increase in graduate program enrollment a figure Rudd characterized as "remarkable." "The positive trajectory is likely the result of several factors," Rudd wrote to the faculty, "including our 250-mile radius tuition reduction program, more effective marketing and, most importantly your hard work." Rudd, in a meeting with a Memphis City Council committee Tuesday, told city officials that this fall was the first time total university numbers had grown since 2009. According to the table in Rudd's correspondence, undergraduate enrollment as of Aug. 24 was 16,204, slightly more than last year's 16,047. The number of graduate students increased from 3,924 last year to 4,110. Rudd said in the email that the school's freshman class is at 2,747 students this year compared to 2,013 last year, and called the 36 percent growth rate "stunning." Of the six schools under the Board of Regents, the only other to increase enrollment was Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, according to Rudd's email. In addition to the U of M and Austin Peay, East Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech fall under the oversight of the Board of Regents. Total enrollment at TBR colleges fell by 1.9 percent for undergraduates and 1.2 percent for graduate students, according to Rudd's email. The success of businesses on Collierville's Town Square means parking is at a premium in the area. (John Stamm/Special to The Commercial Appeal) SHARE By John Stamm, Special to The Commercial Appeal Two restaurants are expected to open this month and a third early next year. Building plans are approved for another. Stores may stay open later. It's going to get busier in Collierville's Town Square, and parking close to storefronts, businesses and restaurants will be harder to find. No problem, says Town Planner Jaime Groce. "Parking is a good problem to have," he says. "That means people are really patronizing the place." Owner Mac Edwards hopes to open Brooks Pharm2Fork, 120 E. Mulberry, in late September. At 148 North, N. Main and Natchez, serving should start "around Sept. 24," says owner Brian Thurmond. A Scottish pub is due to open in January on N. Main by the park. The town has signed off on blueprints for a restaurant next door with work to begin once a tenant is signed. Some business owners are concerned. Sharron Thomas of Sass It Up Boutique, 112 N. Main, says the park area is "space-trapped," and believes many patrons "have it in their minds that they won't have to walk." Pat Mitchell of Mitchell's Barber Shop and Son, 143 N. Main, lost some close-by parking when the building across the street was converted to 148 North, which will offer parking. She supports growth, but wonders, "We're building all these buildings, but where is the parking?" Groce asserts there is parking. It's just not utilized, especially the square's three free parking lots. A town study determined there will be 728 public spaces, including on streets, or one per 149 square feet, once building projects are complete. Calculations are based on a five-minute walk covering a quarter-mile distance. Groce says town officials studied adding a garage, but won't until the 244 spaces on the public lots are used more. The locations are Washington near North Main, Walnut and North Rowlett, and at Tom Brooks Park on Walnut. The 32-space parking lot at the Morton Museum, 196 N. Main, also is available. "I think everyone wants that coveted spot by the front door," says Groce, "but sometimes when we go to Target or a shopping center, we have to park kind of far out." In fact, the town's data show the lots aren't much farther from the square than the distance from the back of the parking area to the front doors at Kroger on Byhalia. For example, Brooks Pharm2Fork is 500 feet from the Tom Brooks Park lot and 550 feet from Washington. At Kroger, Groce says it's 300-400 feet from the doors to the farthest point. Groce says part of the Town Square's charm is its walkability, and he believes it will be like Overton Square. "When you go there, you know going in that I'm going to park in this one spot and then I'm going to walk to the spots I really want to go to," he says. Laura Todd of the Main Street Collierville support organization likes it that way. "You want your downtown to be a walkable community," she says. "There's something special happening here." SHARE Michael Vanelli Middleton, Tenn. Nice to see The Commercial Appeal place canonization of St. Mother Teresa on the front page (St. Teresa once walked among us, Sept. 4 article). However, the writer never mentioned her staunch pro-life stand and her many commentaries about why she believed the taking the life of an innocent unborn is the greatest poverty. But then again this newspaper consistently endorses pro abortion politicians. SHARE By Jennifer Rubin Donald Trump's harsh speech in Arizona last week on immigration convinced many in the anti-immigrant camp that he was committed to deporting all of those here illegally. No softening! Ann Coulter was in ecstasy. So were the anti-immigrant spinners who delight in peddling phony stats. It, however, was evident Sunday that Trump was trying to have it both ways sound like he was reasonable ("softening") and keep on his side both the alt-right and the so-called respectable right-wing, which wants 11 million people thrown out of the country one way or another. Trump comes to the dead end that all opponents of "amnesty" do because their stance is intellectually dishonest. On the one hand, they say no amnesty, no legalization, and everyone out. On the other, they don't have the nerve to say they are going to kick out grandmothers and little children, college students and hard-working adults who have been here most of their lives. It's one or the other, folks. Trump is trying as phony immigration hard-line critics of any attainable immigration reform do to disguise the fundamental contradiction at the heart of his election swindle. He is either going to throw out Granny or he is for some form of legalization; "amnesty," as they like to say. Martha Raddatz plugged away trying to pin down Trump campaign chief Kellyanne Conway. Around and around they went, with Conway finally settling on this non-answer: "He will rescind all those executive amnesties and try to work with the Congress. And so at least he's trying to solve a problem. And he has said he wants to work with law enforcement and immigration officials to actually see what we have left after everything else is done." Raddatz later confessed, "And hard as we try, we can't get that single yes or no answer." It is at least evident to voters that these people are ducking and struggling. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie tried to evade a definitive answer: "Donald Trump is going to get rid of very early on, the two to three million criminals that are here illegally in this country. That will be priority number one. And once we get remove those two to three million from the country, return them to their countries of origin because of their criminal conduct, then I think what Donald Trump wants to do is take a deep breath, and look at where we are in the country then, and find out find a humane way to deal with those who remain." Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani insisted Trump was only talking about criminal illegal immigrants. Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence tied himself in knots trying to avoid answering Chuck Todd's questions: CHUCK TODD: Why can't you definitively say what's going to happen to these folks? Because he used to definitively say it. He said there would be everybody has to leave. Even if quickly. Everybody has to leave. And now there's some muddiness to this. I don't know how it is just unclear to me. Can you clear this up? GOV. MIKE PENCE: Well, that may be the way you see it. Looking at this, some 10,000 people in Arizona last week, it wasn't the way they see it. As I travel across this country campaigning with Donald Trump and for Donald Trump, I think people hear him loud and clear. And he's been completely consistent on this point. He put TODD: No he on this no he's not . . . he has not been consistent on this issue of what to do with the 11 to 15 million. PENCE: Well, but there are people in different circumstances in that category. There are people who are criminal aliens in this country. And I think everyone in this country understands that people who are here TODD: And I assume you mean violent crimes. PENCE: Well, people who are here, who their first act in this country was a violation of the law, but have gone on to criminal activity in America, we want them out. We want them out quickly. Donald Trump has made it very clear that a priority of our administration will be removing criminal aliens.. . . TODD: There was a whole bunch of Latino leaders that there's quite a few of them have backed away from supporting your ticket because they didn't like what they heard on Wednesday because they were told one thing and they felt misled. One of them even said they felt misled. And one of the major issues has to do with what about this issue of deportations. . . . PENCE: The media's focus (is) on the 11 million or whatever that number is. He was focused on the more than 300 million people who are citizens of this country and are here legally in this country, and driving policies in immigration that will work for them, work for the future of our nation. . . . TODD: Is it fair to say that you're not going to answer this question about the 11 to 15 million? I say just you, but the campaign. You're going to leave this as an open question throughout the rest of this campaign? PENCE: I think Donald Trump's been completely consistent. And I think he did answer the question. TODD: And is it an open question, the other I mean but he hasn't when it comes to because on one hand, he said deportation force, everybody has to leave. I mean he said it, "Everybody has to leave, we've got to have borders." Now he's saying he's open to doing something different with whoever remains, which would be about half. PENCE: Well, I think we really don't know what that number is or who that is until we do all of the things in the ten-point plan that Donald Trump TODD: How do you incentivize them to come out of the shadows if you don't tell them what the penalty will be? Pence didn't answer that question or say what would become of the "dreamers." Trump's immigration plan consists of venomous rhetoric and smoke and mirrors. He wants to rile up his disgruntled white, less-educated audience but not offend college-educated whites and minorities who abhor the notion of forcible deportation and family break-ups. He cannot be both unhinged and reasonable, spitting venom and seeking to assuage those who refuse to demonize immigrants. He's trapped, so he and his spinners lie and evade hard questions. The Clinton campaign sounded frustrated, putting out a statement that warned about wordplay. "What we saw today is Mike Pence and Trump's top campaign officials attempt to mislead voters about their mass deportation policy by using soft words to describe harsh tactics one of the oldest tricks in the book," said campaign manager Robby Mook in a written statement. "Immigrant families know the meanings of 'humane' and 'fair' and can see straight through their cynical ploys. Trump's message to immigrant families is clear: everyone must go." He need not fear. Most everyone, except his core believers, has figured out his noxious game. Anti-immigrant Republicans are getting a good look at how their dream plan (mass deportation) plays out: It's indefensible unless you say it is just one more type of "amnesty." The price of xenophobia is that thoughtful and decent people reject you. Jennifer Rubin writes the Right Turn blog for the Washington Post. SHARE By Paul Waldman In the heat of a presidential campaign, you'd think a story about one party's nominee giving a large contribution to a state attorney general who promptly shut down an inquiry into that nominee's scam "university" would be enormous news. But we continue to hear almost nothing about what happened between Donald Trump and Florida attorney general Pam Bondi. I raised this issue last week, but it's worth an update as well as some contextualization. The story re-emerged last week when the Washington Post's David Fahrenthold reported that Trump paid a penalty to the IRS after his foundation made an illegal contribution to Bondi's PAC. While the Trump organization characterizes that as a bureaucratic oversight, the basic facts are that Bondi's office had received multiple complaints from Floridians who said they were cheated by Trump University; while they were looking into it and considering whether to join a lawsuit over Trump University filed by the attorney general of New York state, Bondi called Trump and asked him for a $25,000 donation; shortly after getting the check, Bondi's office dropped the inquiry. At this point we should note that everything here may be completely innocent. Perhaps Bondi didn't realize her office was looking into Trump University. Perhaps the fact that Trump's foundation made the contribution (which, to repeat, is illegal) was just a mix-up. Perhaps when Trump reimbursed the foundation from his personal account, he didn't realize that's not how the law works (the foundation would have to get its money back from Bondi's PAC; he could then make a personal donation if he wanted). Perhaps Bondi's decision not to pursue the case against Trump was perfectly reasonable. But here's the thing: We don't know the answers to those questions, because almost nobody seems to be pursuing them. For instance, there was only one mention of this story on any of the five Sunday shows, when John Dickerson asked Chris Christie about it on " Face the Nation" (Christie took great umbrage: "I can't believe, John, that anyone would insult Pam Bondi that way"). And the comparison with stories about Hillary Clinton's emails or the Clinton Foundation is extremely instructive. Whenever we get some new development in any of those Clinton stories, you see blanket coverage every cable network, every network news program, every newspaper investigates it at length. And even when the new information serves to exonerate Clinton rather than implicate her in wrongdoing, the coverage still emphasizes that the whole thing just "raises questions" about her integrity. The big difference is that there are an enormous number of reporters who get assigned to write stories about those issues regarding Clinton. The story of something like the Clinton Foundation gets stretched out over months and months with repeated tellings, always with the insistence that questions are being raised and the implication that shady things are going on, even if there isn't any evidence at a particular moment to support that idea. When it comes to Trump, we've seen a very different pattern. Here's what happens: A story about some kind of corrupt dealing emerges, usually from the dogged efforts of one or a few journalists; it gets discussed for a couple of days; and then it disappears. Someone might mention it now and again, but the news organizations don't assign a squad of reporters to look into every aspect of it, so no new facts are brought to light and no new stories get written. The result of this process is that because of all that repeated examination of Clinton's affairs, people become convinced that she must be corrupt to the core. It's not that there isn't plenty of negative coverage of Trump, because of course there is, but it's focused mostly on the crazy things he says on any given day. But the truth is that you'd have to work incredibly hard to find a politician who has the kind of history of corruption, double-dealing and fraud Donald Trump has. The number of stories that could potentially deserve hundreds and hundreds of articles is staggering. Here's a partial list: Trump's casino bankruptcies, which left investors holding the bag while he skedaddled with their money Trump's habit of refusing to pay contractors who had done work for him, many of whom are struggling small businesses Trump University, which includes not only the people who got scammed and the Florida investigation, but also a similar story from Texas, where the investigation into Trump U was quashed. The Trump Institute, another get-rich-quick scheme in which Trump allowed a couple of grifters to use his name to bilk people out of their money The Trump Network, a multilevel marketing venture (aka pyramid scheme) that involved customers mailing in a urine sample that would be analyzed to produce for them a specially formulated package of multivitamins Trump Model Management, which reportedly had foreign models lie to customs officials and work in the U.S. illegally, and kept them in squalid conditions while they earned almost nothing for the work they did Trump's employment of foreign guest workers at his resorts, which involves a claim that he can't find Americans to do the work Trump's use of hundreds of undocumented workers from Poland in the 1980s, who were paid a pittance for their illegal work Trump's history of being charged with housing discrimination Trump's connections to mafia figures involved in New York construction The time Trump paid the Federal Trade Commission $750,000 over charges that he violated anti-trust laws when trying to take over a rival casino company The fact that Trump is now being advised by Roger Ailes, who was forced out as Fox News chief when dozens of women came forward to charge him with sexual harassment. According to the allegations, Ailes' behavior was positively monstrous; as just one indicator, his abusive and predatory actions toward women were so well-known and so loathsome that in 1968 the morally upstanding folks in the Nixon administration refused to allow him to work there despite his key role in getting Nixon elected. And that last one is happening right now. To repeat, the point is not that these stories have never been covered, because they have. The point is that they get covered briefly, then everyone in the media moves on. If any of these kinds of stories involved Clinton, news organizations would rush to assign multiple reporters to them, those reporters would start asking questions, and we'd learn more about all of them. That's important, because we may have reached a point where the frames around the candidates are locked in: Trump is supposedly the crazy/bigoted one, and Clinton is supposedly the corrupt one. Once we decide that those are the appropriate lenses through which the two candidates are to be viewed, it shapes the decisions the media make every day about which stories are important to pursue. And it means that to a great extent, for all the controversy he has caused and all the unflattering stories in the press about him, Trump is still being let off the hook. Paul Waldman, a senior writer for the America Prospect, contributes to the Plum Line blog at the Washington Post, where this first appeared. Living Gospel Equality Now: Loving in the Heart of God: Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests When all else fails, some people play the desperate its for the children card. This time it is Microsoft, desperate for people to use its Edge browser. One of the changes Microsoft tossed into the Windows 10 Anniversary Update is for the children; blocking some third-party browsers by default is supposedly meant to keep kids safer. Although Edge is one of the most unpopular browsers, according to NetMarketShare, usage by desktop users has inched from 3.07 percent in January to 5.16 percent in August. Internet Explorer usage has steadily declined during 2016, sliding from 43.82 percent usage in January to 27.38 percent in August. Conversely, Chrome desktop usage has grown from 35.05 percent in January to 53.97 percent in August. The combined use of Edge and IE in August (32.54 percent) was less than Chromes usage at the start of 2016. As Computerworld previously reported, If losses continue at the rate of the last eight months, IE + Edge will slide under the 25% bar by the end of the year. Microsoft has tried various tactics to encourage the use of Edge; Microsoft Rewards, which was formerly called Bing Rewards, is the most recent. Windows 10 users can earn reward points for every hour of active browsing up to 30 hours per month, but users must let Microsoft track their browsing and must have Bing set as the Edge browsers default search engine. When Microsoft rolled out the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, it included changes to Microsoft Family settings which some might consider to be another tactic to encourage the use of its browsers. The changes are supposedly about safer web browsing, according to the family features FAQ. Microsoft Family, known as Family Safety before Windows 10, allows parents to set up screen time limits and to see kids weekly activity. Microsoft also decided that kids can see only age-appropriate content in the Windows Store. Additionally, parents using Microsoft Family website blocking can be immediately notified when kids attempt to surf to a blocked website. Basically if parents didnt include a site on the allowed list, it will be blocked. And, for the childrens sake of course, Microsoft decided to block some third-party browsers by default. Under safer web browsing, Microsofts FAQ states: Most commonly used browsers don't have web filtering. To keep your children safer, we'll automatically block these browsers on their devices. You can always choose to allow your child to use other browsers. Notice that Microsoft didnt name any specific browser competitors, but analysis by NetMarketShare shows Safari and others as the only browsers with less desktop usage than Edge. In other words, it seems like the popular browsers Chrome and Firefox would be considered among the most commonly used browsers. Even more aggravating, Microsoft enabled browser blocking by default. Nice try, Redmond, but its doubtful the for the children card and automatic browser blocking will result in any significant usage boost to either Edge or IE. Parents using Microsoft Family can opt to whitelist browsers; keeping your kids safe online is one thing, but forcing them to use a wretched browser just seems to be mean. U.S. President Barack Obama said his country has had problems with cyber intrusions from Russia and other countries in the past, but aims to establish some norms of behavior rather than let the issue escalate as happened in arms races in the past. Obamas statement on the sidelines of the G20 summit in China, after he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, did not refer specifically to a recent hack of the Democratic National Committee of the Democratic Party that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing. Politically embarrassing emails from the breach were leaked ahead of the convention of the party, with many security experts holding that the hack had the backing of Russian intelligence services. Whistleblowing website WikiLeaks released the emails but did not disclose their source. The U.S. government hasnt blamed Russia for the incident. U.S. authorities are also said to be investigating the hack of another Democratic Party organization, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The FBI has also reportedly warned election officials across the country to take measures to secure their computer systems, after foreign attackers were found to have hacked two state election databases in Illinois and Arizona. I am not going to comment on specific investigations that are still live and active, but I'll tell you that we had problems with cyber intrusions from Russia in the past, from other countries in the past," Obama told reporters, according to news outlets. The president described moving into a new era where a number of countries have significant cyber capacities, and frankly we have got more capacity than anybody both offensively and defensively, he said in an apparent warning to the Russians. He said the goal of the U.S. was not to duplicate in cyberspace a cycle of escalation akin to other arms races in the past, but to start instituting some norms" so that everybody is acting responsibly. Obama said there are going to be enough problems in cyberspace with "non-state actors" using the Internet for theft and other illegal purposes, which creates the need for protecting critical infrastructure and securing financial systems. "What we cannot do is have a situation in which, certainly, this becomes the wild, wild West, where countries that have significant cyber capacity start engaging in unhealthy competition or conflict through these means," Obama said. He said he had discussed the topic of cybersecurity norms with Putin and earlier with some other countries, and is already seeing some willingness from a lot of countries to adopt the rules, though it will have to be seen whether they are following them. Three years may not seem like that long in the grand scheme of things, but in the tech space, it can be a lifetime. That is why people are getting all excited about rumors that Google is working with Huawei to build a 7-in. tablet, the successor to the Nexus 7, which was released in 2013. So what do we know about the new smartphone? In IT Blogwatch, we jump on the Android bandwagon. What has been released about this new device so far? John Dye gives us the background: It doesnt have a name yet...all we know is that prolific leaker...Evan Blass has tweeted that Google will be releasing a Huawei-built 7-inch tablet, with 4GB RAM before the end of the year. ... Blass has a...track record for accurate leaks...so although this is technically a rumor...its origin gives us a lot of faith. That is not a whole lot to go on. Surely there must be more details to share. Well, yeah. Leave it to the Android community to do some digging. Vinay Patel uncovered some more info: As far as Nexus 7 2016 tablet specs...are concerned, the...tablet is said to come powered by NVIDIA's Tegra X1 processing chip and pack Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB of RAM, [and]...128GB internal storage that can be...expanded up to 2TB. Not bad. But is it really going to be called the Nexus 7 2016? Or could there be another name making the rounds? Michael H. thinks he knows: With Google being involved we would normally assume this would be a new Nexus 7, but...Huawei did register a trademark on the name Huawei 7P earlier this year, which could be connected. ... Of course, the real question...is whether users even want or need 7-inch tablets anymore. With phones routinely pushing the 6-inch mark...adding that extra inch, but losing phone service isn't the best value proposition. When should we know for sure about this tablet? Alexandra Vaidos has an idea: Google is...working on two upcoming smartphones...the Pixel and Pixel XL...Google will...likely launch the...Pixel phones first and then...the ...7-inch tablet or it could...unveil the three devices during the same event. ... Google is expected to hold an event on October 4, during which it will announce the two Pixel phones, a Daydream VR headset and maybe the new Google tablet, which will surely come with more powerful specs compared to its predecessor. And the tweet that started it all? Surely there was more to it then we saw up top. Yeah, not so much. Google's Huawei-built 7-inch tablet, with 4GB RAM, on track for release before the end of the year. Intelligence and law enforcement agencies are reportedly investigating whether Russia has launched a broad, covert operation to disrupt the U.S. elections in November. Officials believe that Russia appears to be attempting to spread disinformation and hack into U.S. political systems in an effort to undermine confidence in the upcoming election, according to a report in the Washington Post. Investigators do not have "definitive" proof of a Russian operation, but there is "significant concern," the Post quoted an anonymous senior intelligence official as saying. Russian efforts targeting elections haven't singled out the U.S. but are part of a global campaign, according to an anonymous source cited by the Post. [ For more, see Hacking the Election: Myths and Realities ] The report of an investigation comes after the Democratic National Committee reported a data breach in June. WikiLeaks later published about 19,000 DNC emails. The FBI is investigating the breach, and officials have pointed to Russia as the source of the attack. Russia has denied involvement. James Clapper, U.S. director of national intelligence, is reportedly in charge of the new investigation. Representatives of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Justice didn't immediately respond to a request for comments on the report. In late August, Senator Harry Reid, the Senate minority leader and a Nevada Democrat, asked the FBI to investigate potential Russian election hacking efforts. Russian election interference "is more extensive than is widely known and may include the intent to falsify official election results," Reid wrote in a letter to the FBI. Also in late August, the FBI issued a warning that hackers had breached state election systems in Arizona and Illinois. Im a Linux guy, but I kind of like Windows 10. However, its luster has been wearing thin. First, there was Cortanas eavesdropping. Then there was the insanely buggy Windows 10 Anniversary Update. Adding insult to injury, Microsoft now force-feeds us updates and gives us only 10 days to roll them back. But, thought I, I could still run Windows 7, my favorite Microsoft operating system, when I needed to run Windows. Wrong! I should have seen the handwriting on the wall. Back in January 2016, Microsoft announced that it would support new Intel Skylake-powered PC with Windows 7 and 8.1 only until July 2017. Just 18 months of support for a PC thats likely to be used for over four years? I dont think so. After much screaming by customers, Microsoft backed off on that plan.Windows 7 support will now expire on Skylake-powered PCs on Jan. 14, 2020, with support for Windows 8.1 ending on Jan. 10, 2023. But, with a new generation of AMD and Intel chips, Microsoft is doing it again only more so! The boys from Redmond wont support Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, for those who care on Intels forthcoming Kaby Lake or AMDs Zen chips. Only Windows 10 will be supported on the next generation of CPUs. Bad enough that I had to fight to keep Windows 10 off my Windows 7 PCs; now I cant install it on new processors! Not fair, Microsoft, not fair at all. Microsoft told AMD, Intel and Qualcomm, with its 8996 CPU, to support only Windows 10. As an Intel spokesperson said, We are committed to working with Microsoft and our ecosystem partners to help ensure a smooth transition given these changes to Microsofts Windows support policy. Specifically, No, Intel will not be updating Win 7/8 drivers for 7th Gen Intel Core per Microsofts support policy change. What does that really mean? Will Windows 7 run on Kaby Lake processors? It should. The x86 instruction set has a long history, and Intel isnt going to change what isnt broken. That said, Windows 7 on newer processors might be glitchy. I dont want to find that out after spending a grand for a brand-new, top-of-the-line computer. Or it could be that Windows 7 will run fine, albeit without support, except for new Kaby Lake features such as 4K graphics support. But what does Microsoft mean exactly by not supporting it? Will I be unable to patch my Windows 7 Kaby Lake PC? Who knows? I dont. And neither does anyone else. Color me annoyed. I get why Microsoft wants to do this. Officially, it wants everyone singing Kumbaya around its more manageable, more secure, more everything-wonderful Windows 10. The real truth is that, free upgrades and all, Microsoft hasnt been able to hit its goal of 1 billion Windows 10 users by 2018. Windows 10 has been adopted faster than any other version of Windows to date, but thats not what Microsoft wanted. So, instead of trying more carrots say, offering free upgrades again Microsoft is resorting to the stick: You will run Windows 10 on new machines or nothing. Thanks, Microsoft. Thanks a lot. This just makes me glad that Im a desktop Linux user. Linux, you see, will support the newest chips. Chromebook users can also look forward to running the fastest chips. Windows 7 and 8.1 users? Not so much. Makers of the controversial Brave browser last week began testing a payment system that ultimately will be used to compensate websites when their revenue-generating ads are blocked, then replaced by Brave with its own. Brendan Eich, CEO and president of Brave Software -- and for a short stint in 2014, CEO of Mozilla -- announced the Bitcoin-based payment system last week. "We've heard from many people who say that they are tired of the current ad-tech ecosystem that clogs their web pages and data connections with annoying ads and tracking pixels and scripts, and that they would be happy to go ad-free if they could instead funnel their support directly to the websites they visit," wrote Eich in a post to a company blog. Dubbed Brave Payments, the system is baked into the Brave browser and relies on Bitcoins, the digital currency. Users must fund their "wallets" with their own Bitcoin or through a partnership with Coinbase, deposit up to $5 a month in the wallet from a debit or credit card. Users also designate which sites are to be on their pay list. Website publishers are paid monthly from each user's wallet, with the proceeds divvied up based on the number of pages visited and the time spent on each site, said Brave in an FAQ. Brave takes a 5% cut of each wallet. Eich implied that Brave Payments would also be used to dispense funds collected in the future from its own ads. "This is just the first step along a path that should offer users a revenue share for their attention, if they so choose, where that share will come back to the user's Brave wallet," Eich said. Brave, which Eich introduced in January, based its business model on blocking web page ads and site-tracking techniques. Brave will scrub sites of most of their ads and all tracking, then replace those ads with its own. The latter will be targeted not at individuals but at the anonymous aggregate of the browser's user base. If enough people gravitate to the browser, Brave will share its ad revenue with users and content publishers, with approximately 55% going to the latter. The ad-blocking got the attention of newspaper publishers, who in May filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), alleging that Brave and others violated federal law prohibiting deceptive practices and those barring unfair competition. The newspapers objected specifically to the idea that a micro-payment system -- like Brave Payments, although the complaint did not name it -- was a suitable replacement for existing ad revenue. "These services claim that publishers are not harmed by the blocking of their advertising because of these supposed payment systems. But these claims are, in fact, entirely unsubstantiated, given that these ad-blockers destroy millions of dollars in advertising value (and support for free content) and that their owners have made no showing that any payments they may offer to publishers could offset the funds lost to blocked advertising," the complaint to the FTC read. Google has released another large monthly batch of security patches for Android, this time fixing 55 vulnerabilities, eight of which are rated critical. The novelty of this release is that the fixes are split into three different "security patch levels" -- date strings that indicate to users how up-to-date their devices are. While this could make it easier for device manufacturers to integrate patches applicable to their devices, it could lead to confusion among regular users. Since August 2015 Google has released security updates for Android according to a monthly schedule. This was intended to add some predictability to Android patches and indeed, some device makers committed to monthly security updates as well. Google shares its upcoming patches with vendors in advance and then releases firmware updates for its own Nexus devices -- usually on the first Monday of each month -- along with an accompanying security bulletin. After a couple of days, the patches are also released to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and become public. Every security bulletin used to have its own security patch level. This is expressed as a date string in Android's settings under "About phone" and indicates that the firmware contains all Android security patches up to that date. However, in July Google introduced two patch levels for the same monthly bulletin: one for Android flaws affecting all devices and one for flaws in drivers for certain hardware components. The argument was that this allowed device manufacturers to integrate only one set of patches for some devices that didn't have the hardware components affected by the second set of flaws. This month, though, there are three patch level strings: 2016-09-01, 2016-09-05 and 2016-09-06. The 2016-09-01 security patch level covers fixes for 25 flaws in various components of the Android OS. Two of the flaws, in LibUtils and Mediaserver, are rated critical and can be exploited through specially crafted files to achieve remote code execution. The 2016-09-05 patch level covers fixes for 28 vulnerabilities in device-specific system drivers from Qualcomm, Synaptics, Broadcom, Nvidia, but also in the kernel security, networking, netfilter and sound subsystems, as well as the kernel ext4 file system, networking driver, ASN.1 decoder and USB driver. Five of these flaws are rated critical and could lead to a permanent compromise that could require reflashing the device. The 2016-09-06 patch level covers two vulnerabilities, a critical one in the kernel shared memory subsystem and a highly rated one in the Qualcomm networking component. Google's explanation for this third patch level is that the two issues it covers were discovered after its partners were already informed about most of the other flaws. It's worth noting that the patch levels are complementary. The 2016-09-06 level also includes the fixes in the other two patch levels, while 2016-09-05 includes the fixes in 2016-09-01. However, according to Google, 2016-09-05 may also include "a subset of fixes associated with the September 6, 2016 security patch level." This only adds to the confusion. For example, after the latest update, if your device shows a security patch level of September 6, 2016 then it has all applicable patches, but if it shows September 5, 2016, it may or may not include the two fixes in the 2016-09-06 patch level. AT&T and Qualcomm said Tuesday they will be testing drones on commercial 4G LTE wireless networks. The companies want to test how drones can operate safely and more securely on commercial 4G LTE and upcoming 5G networks, they said in a joint statement. Trials begin later in September at Qualcomm's San Diego campus. Researchers said the goal is to help enable future drone operations, including when regulations evolve to allow drones to fly beyond an operator's line of sight. With that capability, a drone could be used for deliveries of packages and other goods, as well as for remote inspections and explorations. A drone, for example, could assess damage in a hurricane or windstorm, but would probably need to fly well beyond of the vision of an operator. To deliver packages or conduct inspections and searches will require a highly secure and reliable wireless connection, something that LTE has the potential to provide. LTE connections could deliver flight plans wirelessly to drones and track their location and adjust flight routes in near real-time. "Solving the connectivity challenges of complex flight operations is an essential first step in enabling how drones will work in the future," Chris Penrose, senior vice president of Internet of Things Solutions at AT&T, said in a statement. Qualcomm will use its Snapdragon Flight drone software and chip development platform for control and navigation. The chip is already in use in some commercially available drones. It allows high fidelity sensor processing, autonomous visual navigation and 4k video. Qualcomm CTO Matt Grob is expected to discuss the LTE-based drone test during a keynote at CTIA Super Mobility in Las Vegas on Thursday. AT&T said at CES in January that it was collaborating with another major player, Intel, on drone research. The effort with Qualcomm is new. In July, AT&T said it wants to use drones to inspect its 65,000 cellular transmission towers nationwide. The carrier also opened the door to using drones on tethers as flying cellular transmission points that could boost wireless capacity where needed -- at crowded sporting events, or to supplement a cellular tower damaged by a storm or other disaster. Apple last week proudly rolled out some new capabilities for Siri, which will presumably take effect with iOS 10s rollout on Wednesday (Sept. 7). The changes address one of my long-sought capabilities, which is to make getting a ride a lot easier. Alas, it demands more specificity than would be optimal. Apples announcement promised transportation ease but didnt quite deliver it. From Apple: You can ask Siri to call a friend or colleague or book a ride to wherever you need to be. With SiriKit, developers are creating unique ways to let users interact with apps, making everyday tasks even easier. But the commands are quite specific, as in Get me a Lyft to SFO or Hey, Siri. Take me home in an UberX. The ability to engage in similar interactions with MyTaxi, a European e-hailing app for cabs, is also promised. This, however, sidesteps using Siri to make the best recommendations, which is what I hoped for. OK, so lets say youre in a city youre unfamiliar with. You want a ride to the airport. You may not particularly care whether its Lyft, Uber, a taxi or something else. The goal is to have Siri see where the nearest car from any participating service is and to offer you those options, along with prices. Something such as, The nearest vehicle is from Lyft and it can get to you in five minutes and the second nearest is a taxicab, which can get to you in 14 minutes. But Lyft will cost you $9 more. What would you like to do? The problem with dictating the service needed is that the consumer presumably doesnt have enough information to make that decision. If Siri is truly trying to be the central point of data for consumers, this should be the way data is presented. This reminds me of the frustrating way many retailers handle online store search. I have often needed a particular item. I say that I want to drive to a local store, and the system then forces me to choose a particular store. It then more often than not says the item isnt in stock. I try another store and, again, no results are returned. Why cant it offer to search all stores for the desired item and then report back the nearest store that has the item? Then let the consumer decide what to do. Thats the challenge here. In a new location, I may not know which service has the most cars and particularly the most cars in the section of town that Im in. And I almost certainly will have no idea how the local pricing differs from each service. This is where Siri could excel. Its quite possible that business interests are blocking this for example, Uber or Lyft might have demanded a system where they would be less likely to lose business to each other. By forcing consumers to identify the service as query limiter, it sharply reduces poaching. But thats in the interests of the ride services, not consumers. At this point, it is unclear whether the taxi option only referenced here for Europe, though there are certainly U.S. taxi-hailing services such as Hailo, Curb and Juno includes payment integration. The best part about Uber is the ability to get in and out of the vehicle with no payment effort. If coordinated by Siri, could hailed taxis be similarly convenient? If the cab accepts ApplePay which an increasing number do why not complete the payment prior to getting in the cab? Come on, Siri. Let me say, Get me to LaGuardia Airport and then you do the work to let me make the best choice. Featured Post MNN: 'Mohawk Mothers -- Excavation Stops and Injunction Starts' Post navigation Previous MOHAWK MOTHERS: EXCAVATION STOPS & INJUNCTION STARTS Posted on October 28, 2022 Mohawk Nation News https:/... White Mesa Ute Spiritual March to Shut Down Uranium Mill Mohawk Warrior Society Book Launch Lakota Jean Roach: The True Story of Leonard Peltier Justice for Dad: Taylor Dewey Shares the Harsh Road to Justice Justice Dept Files Lawsuit Against Rapid City Hotel Western Shoshone Ian Zabarte Speaks on Radiation Archive Search This Blog About Censored News Censored News is published by Brenda Norrell. Since 2006, Censored News has received more than 20 million pageviews. As a collective of writers, photographers and broadcasters, we publish news of Indigenous Peoples and human rights. Contact publisher Brenda Norrell: brendanorrell@gmail.com From the publisher Censored News is published by Brenda Norrell, a journalist in Indian country for 40 years. Norrell created Censored News after she was censored and terminated as a staff reporter at Indian Country Today in 2006. She began as a reporter at Navajo Times during the 18 years that she lived on the Navajo Nation. She was a stringer for AP and USA Today and later traveled with the Zapatistas through Mexico. She has been blacklisted by all the mainstream media for 14 years. Contact brendanorrell@gmail.com Translate Labours position on the EU wasnt immensely clear during the referendum. Now that the country has voted to Leave, unfortunately there are some signs that its position on Brexit remains rather muddy. Yesterdays statement by David Davis gave an opportunity to examine precisely how the Opposition intends to play the issue. Emily Thornberry, his shadow, chose to focus on demanding that the Commons vote before the triggering of Article 50 something the Brexit Secretary recognised as an attempt to block the process of leaving the EU. Or as he put it: What she is trying to wrap up in a pseudo-democratic masquerade is the most anti-democratic proposal I have heard for some time. She wants to deny the will of the British people. It was no great surprise to hear Labours front bench advocating the denial of that democratic will after all, they spent years opposing the very idea of giving the people a democratic say on our EU membership at all. More interesting were the signs that the position doesnt command the full support of Labour MPs. While some of the Opposition backbenches loyally rallied behind Thornberry to demand their chance to obstruct the triggering of Article 50, several asked questions of Davis which implicitly or explicitly acknowledged that the Leave vote must now be implemented. Here are a few examples: Chris Leslie: Jean-Claude Juncker said this weekend that he did not like the idea of our negotiating trade arrangements, but would it not leave us in limbo if we could not do so? It is essential that we have the ability to get on with building these new relationships now. Hilary Benn: Does the Secretary of State agree that it would be a good idea to try to find some way of maintaining a form of co-operation on foreign policy after we leave the European Union, because even after exit we will still very much be part of Europe Emma Reynolds: I campaigned for the UK to remain in the EU, but I accept the outcome of the referendum and the views of the majority of my constituents. Derek Twigg: A significant reason why my constituency voted to leave was immigration and free movement of labour, so may I ask the Secretary of State whether, at the end of this process, under no circumstances will free movement of labour be allowed? Kevan Jones: I agree with the right hon. Gentleman that the British people made a decision on 23 June and we should respect it. I will certainly not be arguing for another referendum. We now need to make the best of the negotiations. Robert Flello: The people of Stoke-on-Trent voted overwhelmingly to leave the European Union. I will therefore work tirelessly and do everything I can to make sure that we make the best efforts for and get the best deal from that exit. It cant be easy for those who supported Remain to acknowledge their defeat in this way, but it is the right thing to do. The vast majority of Remain voters are also adjusting to reality and accepting the result, rather than marching to demand that it be overturned. That Thornberry is not, and has made it Labours official policy, is a sign of her poor judgement. She and Corbyn may feel that their seats would be secure even if they obstruct the will of the people, but evidently various of her colleagues can see the writing on the wall for the Labour Party if it does so. After all, quite a lot of their constituencies voted heavily to Leave, and their traditional vote is already quite hacked off. Given that the majority of Labour MPs are already in open revolt over numerous other topics, its unlikely that they will keep this disagreement to themselves. It seems that yet another split is emerging on the Opposition benches. Christopher Howarth is a senior researcher working in the House of Commons. Prior to this he worked for Open Europe, as a Conservative Foreign Affairs Adviser and senior researcher to a Shadow Europe Minister. While in the UK a dwindling band of those unreconciled to the inevitability of Brexit marched on Parliament and were promptly lost amongst tourist crowds, in Brussels there is still a strong belief that the UK will never actually leave the EU. This is a dangerous belief as it may lead to the conclusion that a refusal to negotiate will lead to a change of heart in the UK, a Parliamentary vote, a second referendum and ultimately Bremain. This would be a costly misjudgement, Brexit would still go ahead, but without negotiation it could lead to a needless disruption of UK/EU trade and good will. That is why the Prime Minister is right to reiterate that Brexit means Brexit. The message is beginning to get through in the EU capitals. So, accepting the inevitability of the end point, how do we get there? Our way or the Article 50 way? Legally there are a number of ways to leave the EU. The UK is bound to the EU in international law by way of Treaty. The most obvious route to leave the Treaty is the one prescribed in the Treaty itself Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. This prescribes a two year period between notification and leaving. The advantage is certainty, but it may take time. There are however other ways to leave. The second way to leave is by using the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties to withdraw immediately and without negotiation. The Vienna Convention (Article 62) allows a state to withdraw from a Treaty if there has been a fundamental change of circumstances. In this case the Brexit vote and the issues that arise from it could well allow the UK to argue it can unilaterally end its participation, so avoiding the Article 50 route. The third way to leave the EU is by parliamentary vote. The UK, unlike some other states, is a dualist country where international treaties do not form part of the domestic law. Parliamentary sovereignty would allow MPs to repeal the 1972 Act without going through and external procedure. As acting outside of the EU Treaties without good cause would be unprecedented and legally complicated, for the moment lets assume that the UK will go down the Article 50 Route. Does the UK Parliament get a vote on Article 50? Article 50 sets out that the withdrawing state shall notify the European Council in line with its constitutional requirements. In the UK the power to make (and unmake) Treaties has long been a Royal Prerogative exercised by the Prime Minister. It is true that treaties that require domestic law changes need domestic legislation and thus parliamentary approval, but activating Article 50 does not. There is an ongoing legal challenge by the law firm Mishcon de Reya that seeks to claim that Article 50 would cut across Parliaments right to repeal legislation (i.e the 1972 EC Act) and so could not be exercised by the Prime Minister alone but that is a far-fetched idea and will fail. There will not be a parliamentary vote before Article 50 is triggered and no UK or EU Court could injunct the Prime Minister from notifying the Council. Will Parliament get any other votes on Brexit? While Parliament will not vote on triggering Article 50 it will have to vote on a number of other issues. Prior to Brexit, the Government may wish to place existing EU laws into UK law, or at least have the legislation passed and ready if not in force, and EU citizens already within the UK will need legislation to secure their rights. The Government may also wish to repeal the 1972 European Communities Act, although in case of opposition even that may not be strictly necessary as after a legal Brexit the Treaties to which the Act gives force will not bind the UK, making the Act as relevant in the UK as say placing the US/Mexican border treaty into UK law. What Parliament will certainly vote on will be on any new UK/EU free trade agreement, but by then voting it down will not derail Brexit, just UK/EU trade. Given how little actual legislation is required, the chances of unreconciled EUphiles rebels mounting Parliamentary rebellions in the Commons or Lords are dramatically reduced. How long will the Article 50 exit process take? Article 50 specifies a period of two years for negotiations. Agreement could be reached before that, it could also be extended (with agreement) but if there is no agreement then the UK leaves at the end of the two year period. The length of time the process will take will depend on what the two sides are willing to negotiate and agree. If the UK is seeking a complex, all-encompassing UK/EU agreement then two years will be a very short time frame. Although, to reverse Parkinsons law, the length of time needed for trade negotiations are capable of contraction as well as expansion to fit the time available. (Interestingly, in an emergency the EU took less than two months from conception to implementation to agree a tariff waiver for Ukraine.) If the UK decides to seek an agreement more akin to those the EU has negotiated with Canada and South Korea, then given the UK already has implemented 100 per cent of EU law, the time needed to agree should be easily able to fit the two year window. However, there are those within the EU that state they do not wish to a negotiate trade with the UK at all until it has left the EU and certainly not before the Article 50 process has started. If such an inflexible attitude is taken the UK may conclude there is little point in waiting for the full two years under Article 50 to fail to agree comparatively minor matters such as final budgetary issues, EU staff pensions and agencies etc. At that point the UK may seek to speed up the process by legislating domestically or resorting to the Vienna Convention to speed up the process and move onto the trade negotiations, but there is no sign that will be necessary. Is Article 50 reversible? There is a legal view, expressed by former EU legal adviser Jean-Claude Piris, that once the UK has embarked upon Article 50 it could at any point withdraw its intention and stop the clock running. Whether all the EU27 would accept the legality of a UK u-turn is debatable, but even the possibility of a reversal could create a danger for the UKs negotiations. If the EU27 believe that the UK will at some point change its mind or hold a second referendum on the outcome of the negotiations then there would be no incentive for them to conclude a mutually beneficial agreement something advocates of such a policy, like Labour leadership contender Owen Smith, must be fully aware. Who is in charge of the process: the FCO, the Brexit Department, the Prime Minister, or the Department for International Trade? It is the Prime Minister who initiates the Article 50 process but there will be a whole range of UK departments and parliamentary procedures involved. We will have a Brexit department and select committee, an International Trade Department and committee and the FCO. In addition all existing departments will have to develop policy and identify UK interests for the EU and non-EU trade negotiations. Many of the policies are interlocking so co-ordination will be vital. On the EU side responsibility is again split: the member states have the lead role in negotiations but the Commission and European Parliament will also get a say. Does Scotland have to give consent to Brexit? Although the SNP administration is seeking to make political capital out of Brexit there is little they can do beyond sounding indignant. It is true legislative consent motions are required in some circumstances, but not for Brexit for the simple reason there will be no relevant legislation on Article 50. Although s.29 of the Scotland Act binds Scotland to obey EU law, it does not guarantee EU laws existence Brexit will if anything give more power to Holyrood, not less. How many sets of negotiations will there be? There are a number of separate negotiations which the UK will have to undertake during the process of leaving the EU. Here are the main ones: 1. The formal exit from the EU. This would involve minor issues such as final EU budgetary contributions and shares of EU assets, unwinding UK membership of EU agencies, pensions for UK EU civil servants. The expectation is that this negotiation would have to be done under Article 50 (if that route is taken), and if no agreement is reached within the two years then there will be no agreement. In fact if the EU is insisting on a large final budgetary contribution no agreement may not be a bad outcome, making this part of the negotiation relatively simple. 2. A new UK/EU agreement. This is the most important negotiation and complicated negotiation as it will govern the UKs trade and with the EU going forward. This could be agreed as one package or as a series of individual chapters over a period of time. The nature of this agreement will be the main topic of discussion during the Brexit process. It is probable the formal exit and trade agreements will be negotiated together. The wording of Article 50 is ambiguous, it states that in the exit negotiations should take into account the future relationship between the EU and the departing state. It is also the case that the EU is bound by other articles to conclude agreements with its neighbours. That should be interpreted as allowing trade negotiations if the partners wished to and as we know the ECJ is a political court. However some within the EU machine are keen to argue that Article 50 can only settle the legalities of EU exit and that only once the UK has left can a trade negotiation be started. This seems unlikely to happen for strong political and economic reasons. The UK would have little interest to agree an exit deal that does not include at least a basic trade agreement and agreements on pressing issues such as aviation and data protection. If the EU does not wish to engage in trade negotiations then there would be a gap which would cause economic dislocation for both sides. It seems highly probable both sides would wish to avoid this circumstance and that negotiations will lead to an agreement in place ready to go once the UK has left. 3. Additional UK/EU agreements on other areas? It is quite possible that the main UK/EU trade agreement on issues such as tariffs and mutual recognition of regulations will not cover other sensitive areas such as Crime and Policing cooperation and potentially Defence and other Foreign policy cooperation. These could well be agreed in a series of separate bilateral agreements negotiated concurrently with the main agreement. 4. Full membership of the WTO. In order to strike WTO-compliant trade agreements the UK will have to become a fully functioning member. The UK is a member of the WTO, but as a member of the EU it does not have its own schedule of tariffs registered at the organisation. Other WTO states would have to agree, but this should be comparatively easy if the UK seeks to continue with the EUs schedule of tariffs. The UK could always decide to reduce them later; increasing them is more problematic. 5. A further EEA renegotiation? It would seem unlikely that the UK would wish to remain in the EEA. As David Cameron explained in the referendum campaign, it has many of the disadvantages of the EU without any influence. It also appears that the Prime Minister has ruled out this option, intimating a unique bespoke deal. However, were the UK minded to join the EEA it seems unlikely we would accept it as it is, designed as an EU anteroom for Norway and Switzerland. If we did seek to adapt aspects of this agreement, it would involve negotiations with the EU and the other EEA states. 6. New non-EU free trade agreements. The EU has a number of its own non-EU free trade agreements and some that are in process or concluded awaiting ratification (i.e Canada). The UK will want to strike its own deals with these states, to avoid gaps, and conclude new agreements with others (Australia seems to be the first out of the traps). While a member of the EU, the UK cannot sign or implement new agreements but there is nothing to prevent all the preliminary work being done. This would also help ensure actors within the EU conclude that Brexit is inevitable. Although this looks like a long list of actions, the basic agreement with the EU is not complex. The UK currently trades without tariffs and has identical regulation, a starting point unmatched in any other trade negotiation. As long as the EU27 know that Brexit is inevitable and negotiations start in earnest, there should be a seamless transition. In this sense, the Prime Minister is right to reiterate that Brexit does indeed mean Brexit. James Frayne is Director of communications agency Public First and author of Meet the People, a guide to moving public opinion. The focus of this column is Theresa Mays conservatism for ordinary working people. Issue Creating a welfare system with popular public support through the introduction of a significant contributory element. Background The Conservatives have struggled to defeat weak Labour leaders because of their inability to lock down the countrys most important voting bloc: the C1/C2 group of voters that make up half the electorate in most of Englands marginals. Despite these voters slowly moving Tory since Labour lurched left post-Blair, the Party has overlooked them outside elections. These C1/C2 voters the just about managing classes I covered in detail for Policy Exchange a year ago, and whose cause Theresa May has taken up are attracted by two types of policies: those that appeal to their values of family and fairness; and those that make their lives easier. This reflects their material position: on average, they are net zero when it comes to interactions with the state, getting out what they put in. What they get comes in the form of services schools, hospitals etc not money (benefits). These voters are currently also net zero in terms of income and expenditure they are not in debt but cannot save. This explains why they care deeply about welfare. Hard-working and stretched, they think the system is unfair and that too many people get too much money, having paid too little in. They are largely right: we have evolved a welfare system where, broadly speaking, people get the same support regardless of how much they contribute. As the Tories look to build a mainstream majority, further welfare reform should be a major feature of this Parliament. What next? We need a proper contributory welfare system, but how should it be done? Regardless of logistical complexity, people need fair warning. This means a three step process. The first step is simple and can happen soon: now that we are about to leave the EU, we can make it clear that new arrivals will not have access to benefits until they have worked for, say, five years. It will not save vast amounts but it is a useful, principled first step. As explained in a 2014 Policy Exchange paper, the next step would be the introduction of a new set of personal accounts dubbed MyFund which would see some of todays NICs diverted into new individual funds that would then replace JSA . Clearly, people that could not work would be guaranteed an income they could live on along the same lines as now. But those that had contributed more would be able to draw down more funds than they currently can through JSA because their fund was greater and to use their fund more flexibility. For example, people would also be able to draw down funds for things like re-training. Crucially, MyFund would belong to the individual. Any money not used over the course of a working life would be rolled into the individuals pension. The third step would be, as Policy Exchanges document explains, an extension of the MyFund concept into other areas of welfare: for example, sickness benefits, social care and even mortgage payment support. The idea would be to ensure that the contributory principle was reflected throughout the welfare system. Such a process would be logistically complex and politically controversial. But it would be the right policy for the country and, executed correctly, would be one that would appeal directly to those C1/C2 voters that ultimately decide who stays in Number Ten. Our first Cabinet League table finding since Theresa May became Prime Minister, published last month, was best read as a sigh of relief by Party members that the EU referendum was over and a sign of hope for more harmonious times. There is a slight drift down in most ratings this month, as readers come to terms with the reality of the new Government but not enough of one to trouble the scorers, with one notable exception. Philip Hammond is down a full 20 points from 72 per cent to 52 per cent. That first finding was probably a bit of a best of British luck vote, and the fall is best explained by the Chancellors well-reported stress on a Brexit settlement as close to single market membership as can be found. This is not a view that most of our Party members survey respondents share. He was second in the table, and is now seventh. Boris Johnson is up to second place, from 62 points last month to 67 points now. Priti Patels score is up slightly from 50 per cent to 53 per cent, and she rises slightly from eighth place to sixth. Most other Cabinet members are down slightly, but changes either way also margin of error stuff. Supporters of Brexit are not guaranteed healthy ratings. Andrea Leadsom continues to languish in the bottom part of the table. SUBSCRIBE Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates straight in your inbox. A NEW route is being considered which would take the proposed 5.6 billion Central Railway line and its freight trains away from the High Wycombe area. Consultants have been commissioned by the South East England Development Agency (Seeda) to draw up an alternative line for the southern end of the north-south route. This would go east of London, not west. Its report should be ready in about three months. The decision to reconsider the Central Railway route was taken after a meeting of county council leaders and officers at Gerrards Cross a few weeks ago. It was hosted by David Shakespeare, leader of Buckinghamshire County Council and chairman of the South East Regional Assembly, and Seeda chairman Allan Willett. They realised they must support the strategy of getting heavy freight traffic off roads and on to rail, but if they were not to have a route they didn't like they would have to come up with their own. The current proposed route travels through the middle of Buckinghamshire and along the Chiltern Line through Haddenham, Princes Risborough and High Wycombe. The proposal created an outcry from people along this part of the line, who say they gain no immediate benefit, only noise. After the Gerrards Cross meeting, Cllr Shakespeare told the Free Press the feedback he had from it was that the line went round the wrong side of London. It should go through Milton Keynes and via the area known as Thames Gateway a growth area. Regional assembly leaders in the north of England are in favour of the Central Railway project with only the south-east region against it. Central Railway wants the Government to introduce another bill in the Commons. People would give evidence at the committee stage and there would be no need for two or three years of planning inquiries. Chris Williams, the council's chief officer, said there was lots of pressure for the scheme from northern regions. "They get lots of benefits from it, which is the opposite of the south, which gets disbenefits," he said. County councillor David Rowlands, vice-chairman of a consortium of county councillors looking at public transport, said he had discussed the idea with members. "I am pleased that Seeda has commissioned W S Atkins to review the route," he said. But he said leaders in the north wanted it to go west of London so that there would be good links to the M25 and the motorways to the west of the country. A Central Railway spokesman said: "Central Railway has undertaken extensive engineering studies using international consultants, and the route to the west of London emerged as our preferred route." News / National by Stephen Jakes JUSTICE Chinembiri Bhunu has convicted three MDC-T officials for the murder of a Zimbabwe Republic Police Inspector Petros Mutedzi.Tungamirai Madzokere, Last Maengahama and Yvonne Musarurwa were convicted of murder with actual intent while Phineas Nhatarikwa, was found guilty of being an accessory to evade justice for ferrying the accused persons from the crime scene. The four were remanded in custody pending sentencing on Thursday 8 September 2016.Lazarus Maengahama, Edwin Muingiri and Paul Rukanda were however acquitted.The 7 were part of the 29 Glenview residents who were arrested in 2011 and charged with contravening section 47 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.The State claims that on 29 May 2011, the Glenview residents chanted MDC-T party slogans denouncing police officers while throwing stones and empty beer bottles at them and that their actions resulted in the death of Inspector Mutedza.During the last hearing in 2014, the Glenview residents' lawyers led by Beatrice Mtetwa presented the court with video evidence of one of the accused persons, Last Maengahama who was among congregants at United Family International Church on the day the crime was committed but the State prosecutor insisted that he was present at the scene of the crime.The other 22 residents were discharged - found not guilty - at the close of the State case in 2013, while one of the MDC-T activist Rebecca Mafikeni succumbed to ill health while detained at Chikurubi Prison in Harare. News / National by Staff reporter A church service for the late Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) Marketing Manager, Belinda Mutinhiri, who died in a car accident in Harare on Saturday, was held today at Nyaradzo funeral parlour in Harare where friends and relatives paid their last respects.Speaking on the sidelines of the church service, the Minister of Sport and Recreation, Makhosini Hlongwane, who was representing his tourism and hospitality industry counterpart, Walter Mzembi, said Belinda's death was a sad loss to the tourism industry as well as Zimbabwe at large.Family spokesperson, Cain Muzuva said the family has been robbed of a heroine and the void left by the late was difficult to fill.Colleagues described Belinda as a hard worker, adding that her leadership qualities will forever be cherished.Belinda died on Saturday morning when the car she was driving veered off the road and overturned along Borrowdale road in the capital.Belinda was the daughter of the Minister of Mashonaland East Minister of Provincial Affairs, Retired Brigadier General Ambrose Mutinhiri.Mourners are gathered at number 33 Pendenis Drive in Mt Pleasant, Harare.She will be buried on Wednesday at Glen Forest Cemetery in Harare. News / National by Staff reporter Police have castigated sponsors and perpetrators of violence describing them as selfish and misguided criminals.The country has of late been rocked by violent protests characterised by looting and destruction of private property.Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Deputy Commissioner General - Human Resources Levy Sibanda, who represented Commissioner General Dr. Augustine Chihuri during the briefing and debriefing of Darfur and Liberia contingents at the police general headquarters in Harare, lambasted the sponsors and perpetrators of violence.He said Zimbabweans should not be fooled by outsiders who want to destabilise the country, adding that there is no country that takes kindly disorder and the rule of the jungle as a way of life."Police have a constitutional duty to protect the lives of the people and property of Zimbabweans," said Deputy Commissioner General Sibanda.The occasion saw the sending off of nine officers to Darfur in Sudan on peace keeping duties under the banner of the United Nations and the welcoming home of an officer from the tour of duty in Liberia. Opinion / Sometimes people meet their destiny by the route the chose to avoid it. The Police banned the PDP the other day to avoid the country sliding into anarchy and civil war."Serious threats have been received from various pressure groups through social media inciting people to declare a full war in Zimbabwe starting on September 2," said the officer commanding Bulawayo West district police, Chief Superintendent Mthokozisi Manzini Moyo in the statement to PDP."The law enforcement agency claimed "dissidents" were planning to destroy all police properties, set roadblock equipment on fire, blow up all government vehicles and buildings and attack all members of the prison services as well as release all prisoners from jail," reported Nehanda radio.The regime, with its no-regime-change mantra has denied the people a meaningful say in the governance of the country; they have seen the economy sink like a stone in the lake but failed to get Zanu PF to do something about is because they have no vote.The economy has sunk so deep 90% of the populous are out of work and living in poverty, basic services like education and health have all but collapsed, etc. There is no sign that Zanu PF has even notice the plight of the people and/or that the ruling elite care, if they have noticed. Given the tragic human suffering we see all round the country, it is clear that the political chaos and economic meltdown cannot be allowed to continue; the question is how can the madness be stop.By stifling debate, democratic competition, free and fair elections, peaceful demonstrations and all other peaceful means Zanu PF has made it impossible for the nation to have peaceful and orderly change. Since the present situation is not sustainable there is only one other way to bring about change - street protests or worse - civil war.So Chief Superintendent Mthokozisi Manzini Moyo, by banning all peaceful demonstrations, beating protesters and choking them with tear-gas; you have chosen the route with a predetermined destiny - more violence and civil war. You cannot have you cake and eat it too, not even a tyrant can do that!-------------Nomusa Garikai Nauru Fathers Day hijack The National Justice Project has condemned Immigration Minister Peter Dutton for organising a squad of police to forcibly remove refugee children and their family from Papua New Guinea where they had been seeking medical treatment. George Newhouse, the Principal Solicitor at the NJP, said that the family were from Iran and arrived on Christmas Island in September 2013 and were then transferred to Nauru. As Australian families gather to celebrate Fathers Day we should remember what our government is doing to other fathers and to other families. This case is just one more shameful episode in this governments treatment of those who seek our protection, he said. The National Justice Project has been working with Doctors for Refugees to secure proper medical care and treatment for this family for months in the face of the Australian governments stubborn refusal to act. Mr Newhouse added, We are talking about a 12-year-old child who broke his arm more than a year ago. He was operated on but is in dire need of post-operative care and rehabilitation. His hand and arm are becoming deformed as he grows. His sister is 11 and developed a range of mental health issues and severe skin diseases due to the conditions on Nauru. Both these children need intensive and urgent medical care. All their father is asking for on this Fathers Day is the same medical care and attention that any father would seek for his kids. Doctors for Refugees have advised that the risks to the family members have been identified and known to the Department of Immigration for at many months. The Department has failed to act and the situation is now urgent. Ian Rintoul, from the Refugee Action Coalition, was recently met the family in Port Moresby said, The boys arm needed corrective surgery months ago. He already suffers pain in his arm and has considerable loss of movement in his wrist and fingers. The treatment of this family confirms that the prevailing culture of mistreatment graphically revealed in the leaked Nauru files goes right to the top of the Immigration department. Newhouse said that Instead of caring for them they were arbitrarily arrested by the PNG Police yesterday and forcibly returned to Nauru where their medical conditions cannot be properly treated. The law states Peter Dutton owes this family a duty of care. He is clearly in breach of that duty, and we intend to act, said Mr Newhouse. The National Justice Project is a not-for-profit legal organisation. We combine strategic legal action with effective advocacy to advance human rights and social justice in Australia and in the Pacific Region. www.justice.org.au Opinion / Columnist A policy is a declaration of an intention. For every country to have a direction there is need for clarity on policy and governance issues. No investor is willing to part or partner with any meaningful funds without clarity on policy matters. One of the weakest point that Zimbabwean Government has is policy clarification. There is no policy consistency. For example President Mugabe made an announcement at heroes' acre, he made it clear that Zimbabwe does not need any help from the west yet at the same time Patrick Chinamasa the current Minister of Finance was in London to beg for funds and aid. How do you draw the line on the current impasse. Policy gives the direction of were the country is going and at the same time, you use policies to assess or evaluate the performance of an institution. We have a serious challenge as a country in terms of policy issues, we don't have a clear framework. Currently the environment is not conducive for investment. We use policies for guidance and performance measures. These are rules, tools and techniques applied on governance matters.EMPOWERMENT LAWSMinisters from the same Government issued conflicting statements regarding the indigenisation law and the outside world was watching. How do we do business when we don't have a clear position regarding investments and other issues. Zhuwao and Chinamasa clashed regarding empowerment laws and investors were not sure what was happening and these are some of the issues that affect our beloved nation. We cannot ask foreign companies to cede 51% of their hard working earnings and there are a lot of questions surrounding the 51% issue because you want to partner someone without anything and you just bring your hands yet someone bought machinery for the company and buildings and you simply come and grab what is there, that is not empowerment. At least 30% in the form of capital is better and we reserve at least 10% for community development such as infrastructure development, assisting orphans and building hospitals, clinics etc. this issue of grabbing foreign companies in the name of empowerment is ill-advised and ill-timed at the time when the country is need of Foreign Direct Investment and aid. If you look at our situation today it is because of some of the bad governance on the part of our Government. According to Muzamhindo as a Development analyst the Government of Zimbabwe must re-visit the empowerment Law and revise the thresholds downwards to 28-30% ownership versus 70% for the foreigners, in other words locals should cheap in with 30% in the form of capital injection and machinery or employment issues. Foreigners must have a certain percentage of employing locals eg 30% in every department in order to improve the formal sector.GOVERNMENT MUST SET UP A THINK TANKMost of the Government ministers we have in the cabinet have no ideas on policy matters since they are political appointees it is advisable that before policies are implemented there is need for a local think to go through them first even at the same time think tanks should be responsible for crafting policies that bring investments in the country. Ministers must stop uttering destructive political statements because it will come and haunt the nation and affect ordinary Zimbabweans. For example how do we expect to lure investors when ministers from the same government issuing conflicting statements and insulting each other in public, and who will be safe in such a country?RESPECT PROPERTY RIGHTThe Zimbabwean Government must respect property rights as enshrined in our new constitution. What investors want before they put meaningful investment they want assurance and safety of their properties before they bring their money. Ministers must stop issuing threats to local farmers who contradicted with the ruling party s stance on governance matters or anyone who differs with their political ideologies. We expect political leadership in this country to be mature when dealing with property issues. They must respect investor s sproperties.LAND POLICYThe recent announcements by Dr Mombeshora the minister of lands that Government has opened up for those who are willing to partner with white farmers for agro based products and farming. My question as a development analyst is that how then do you make announcements, were is that written? Recently the same minister was telling farmers to stop partnering with white farmers and he even told a gathering that those farmers found doing that will risk losing their farms. So who in his mind will bring capital when there is no consistency on policy matters. There must be a think tank responsible for that and at the same time there must be a bill or an act of parliament to protect investors. Imagine someone pouring 500 million in agro based company and tomorrow morning you are told that you do not own anything and that will be a risk. There is need to be clarity. The way Zimbabwean Government conducted their land invasions was ill timed. In fact there is no production or Agriculture to talk about in Zimbabwe because most of these farmers they are lying idle and most people have resorted to hunting yet in the past 60% of the GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT came from Agriculture. What has gone wrong? Zimbabwe must conduct a serious LAND AUDIT and despite their social standing or position in society everyone who has more than one farm should hand over the other ones to the state. Land should be set aside for commercial purpose. It's an embarrassment on our part that Zimbabwean Government is busy importing grain from Zambia from the same farmers whom they chased away. The idea of giving land was good but the way it was done totally bad. This land distribution programme should start afresh and give land to those who deserve it. Our food security position is not good and Zimbabwe will risk going back to SADC AGENDA.FOREIGN POLICY AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSWe need to come up with a clear foreign policy that will attract investors. Our image as a country is not good honestly who will do business with Zimbabwe when police and other Law enforce agents are busy beating innocent civilians and you expect foreign aid? I don't think so. As a development analyst I think it's high time the Government must act careful in terms of the way they handle citizens of this country. We need also to come up with a clear documentation on how we do business with foreigners and how they protect their assets as well. Eg Chinese they don't do banking with local institutions, they siphon everything, they bring their own materials, labour and everything so that means as a country we have actually lost billions of dollars to these Chinese which stands clear that there is someone benefitting from this sheganisms.IMPORT BANThis move was ill timed and ill advised. I have several question as an analyst regarding this import ban issue. Someone is standing to benefit. Who owns those local companies? I think all citizens have a right to buy from wherever he/she wants. Who owns those companies? Informal sector is standing at 96% and most of these people had resorted to cross border trading and at the same time the Government without proper consultations they have already put import restrictions so how do they expect ordinary people to make a living? Something has gone wrong somewhere? Instead of apologising to the nation or resort to proper consultations they issue radical political statements that are so damaging.ALIGNMENT OF LAWSThere are more than 400 Laws which needs to be aligned to the new constitution. How do we attract investments when we do not respect on own country laws? For example the current impasse between Local Government Minister and the mayor of Harare is badly timed. Investors have tactfully employed the wait and see approach. The local Government bill is there to target individuals and have no national interest. Politicians, Government officials, MPS, Senators, Councillors, parastatal bosses must respect the rule of Law despite political affiliations.ADVISE TO THE GOVERNMENT OF ZIMBABWEIt is my humble submission to the Government of Zimbabwe that you need to sit down and come up with a clear road map for this country so that it will have a sustainable development. Currently the country is on auto movement we do not even know which the direction this country is going. Government must cut its expenditure right now the co-Vice President of Zimbabwe is staying in a five star hotel when majority of its citizens are suffering, such a greedy and unexpected move will not benefit the country in any way. We have more than 60 000 ghost workers on the pay roll in the name of youth officers, and those people must be removed. We don't even need youth officers in this country particularly when the unemployment rate has reached unprecedented levels.--------------Tinashe E Muzamhindo writes in his personal capacity as a Development Analyst and he is also the Director of Centre for Zimbabwe Development responsible for policy research and community Development. Currently he is completing his second masters in Development Studies at University of Lusaka Zambia. He can be contacted at centreforzimdevelopment@gmail.com or tinamuzala@gmail.com or greatorminds@gmail.com. He is also a motivational speaker and an expert in Capacity Development and institutional building. We are fighting a monster, but we will win CANNON BALL, NORTH DAKOTA: The rallying cry of the Oceti Sakowin (Camp of the Seven Council Fires): We are fighting a monster, but we will win, rang out from a speaker on my second day at the main Dakota Access pipeline protest encampment. We were reminded that we have been victorious, so far, in that we have done what we set out to do: We have stopped construction. Others stated: We are going to win. The world is watching us. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and its supporters are fighting to stop the US$3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline from crossing Indian treaty lands. The pipeline that is slated to carry 470,000 to 570,000 barrels of crude oil per day for Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners is planned to cross the Missouri River, a stones throw from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota, an existential threat to the water system upon which so many people depend. The August 27 march to the main gate of the construction site was even bigger than the day before, with a motorcade following to transport the elders. The horse riders accompanying the march actually rode onto the construction site and positioned themselves on a hill overlooking the area to the cheers and war cries of the protesters. (The protesters are also called defenders and water protectors, terms which I will use periodically in this column.) The camp is so well organised that efforts are in place for the home schooling of the children at the protest sites. There are reportedly almost 200 children in the encampments. The commitment of the protectors is truly inspiring. Some have sold all their belongings just to get to the protests. The encampment is run like a small town. There are tipis and camping tents everywhere. Three meals are served daily. Security and medical staff are readily available as needed. The spirit of harmony and cooperation in the encampment is uplifting. For example, the young people coming by the tipis and tents ask the families at the campfires: Do you need wood or water? A Native lady who I talked to in casual conversation said Ive never seen so many happy Indians at one time. An elder said: The cooking and feeding never stops. Yesterday on the march new call-and-response protest cries arose: White, Black, Yellow, Red, without water we are all dead and When the people are under attack the response came: We fight back. After the march, the afternoon was filled with speakers, from tribal elders to those from other tribes in support of the Standing Rock Sioux. The elders spoke in Sioux and English. The comments ranged from today is a great day at the camp, a gathering of all the nations. We wish the outcome is peaceful. We fight to protect Mother and water is sacred. When one nation is attacked, then we are all attacked. This is a time to take a stand, we are the protectors of our culture and our way of life. It was also mentioned that President Obama visited Standing Rock in 2014 doing photo-ops with the children. Many wondered: where is Obama now? One speaker said Obama was all talk and no action. His sentiments were understandable. There are so many now at the encampment that it is now in the top 20 of North Dakota communities in terms of population. I think this is the greatest gathering, and the most significant movement, of American Indian people and nations in decades. I shall continue to report on a daily basis from the encampments. Peoples World Continue Reading Below Advertisement Easy solution: Nothing goes on the plane, and everybody's naked all the time. Why does that matter? Well, cleaning staff like Bob were usually the last ones on the plane before it was sealed and passengers were admitted. So if they wanted to plant something on it -- like, say, a bomb -- there aren't that many obstacles between them and the plane. Thankfully, up until now, the worst way airport employees abused their freedom was by ... smuggling a shitload of guns and ammo (including AK-47s) across the U.S. But really, what's the worst that could have happened? "Often, especially with the smaller planes," Bob explains, "we would have complete access to the cockpit ... once I pressed a button on it, and suddenly the whole dashboard came alive, and the plane started making sounds as it was about to take off! I freaked out and turned it off, if I knew how to fly a plane, I could probably hijack one. It wasn't like there are turnkeys or something for it." Matus Duda / iStock Continue Reading Below Advertisement Professional curiosity -- good. "What's that doooo?" -- less good. Okay, but he'd never even have gotten that far if he hadn't passed a rigorous screening process, right? "The background check only takes into account actual criminal charges," says Bob. "Some juvenile or civil charges could be ignored. For example, a co-worker of mine has been arrested for bringing a knife and some pills to school, but since he was 17 at the time, that charge was not accounted for during the background check, and he got the job. Therefore, people get security clearance and admittance to the back of the airport while having some drug possession, domestic disorder, and other charges." Sussex News Story Saved You can find this story in My Bookmarks. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Opinion / Columnist At the just ended ZAPU's 8th Peoples Congress in Bulawayo, a first in African politics was scored when President Dumiso Dabengwa announced to the highest decision making body of the party, his intention to retire from both active politics and ZAPU Presidency. President Dabengwa indicated that he will be eighty years old just a year before ZAPU's next Congress in 2020, and as such, advised the Mother Party to identify cadres to first stand as presidential candidate in 2018 and as party president come 2020 Congress.As alluded to above, this is a first and only recorded incident of astute and responsible leadership by an African leader and politician. It has never happened anywhere in this continent that a sitting party president, announces their retirement date just hours after being re-elected to the office.It is not cowardice as one state media publication put it when their headline screamed, "Dabengwa chickens out of 2018". Instead of attacking and insulting President Dabengwa, the Chronicle editorial team should instead revisit the calls of leadership renewal from the days he was still in Zanu-PF which was a result of the Unity Accord of 1987 which itself came as a result of the notorious Gukurahundi Genocide on ZAPU supporters in the Midlands and Matabeleland by Robert Mugabe and his ZANU party.Dabengwa has lived to his long held dream of seeing responsible leadership that is punctuated by clear programs of leadership renewal wherever he is.We remember President Dabengwa, when he was Politburo member in Zanu-PF, advising Zanu-PF of the need to renew its leadership after it had become crystal clear that Robert Mugabe as Zanu-PF leader had a challenge being accepted fully by the international community following his brutal rule and economic mismanagement. Also, the locals, who made up the electorate, had shifted allegiance to the MDC, the opposition party at the time.Dabengwa, in this debate, came up with the solution to the problem Zanu-PF faced and the solution was leadership renewal, especially the presidency. President Dabengwa, in his wisdom, suggested that the party identifies a young leader who would be acceptable across board, both locally and internationally.Zanu-PF took Dr Dabengwa's wise council and settled for Dr Simba Makoni as their next presidential candidate. Mugabe and Zanu-PF seemed set for the noble move that could have saved the now fragmented party from the successionist politics that currently grips it as numerous factions, from Zvipfukuto, Gamatox, G40 to Lacoste angle themselves to take over from the now old and ailing Mugabe.Deliberations were made to the effect Makoni was going to be introduced to the country's provinces by selected political leaders in respective regions of Zimbabwe. Dr Dabengwa was to introduce the Zanu-PF new blood in Bulawayo and Matabeleland provinces, with Former army commander Vitals Gava Zvinavashe doing the same in Masvingo and Manicaland areas. Former army commander Solomon Mujuru was to introduce Dr Simba Makoni as the next Zanu-PF presidential candidate in Harare and surrounding provinces in Mashonaland areas.It looked like a done deal and Zanu-PF was headed for renewal thanks to the visionary and responsible council from Dr Dumiso Dabengwa.This was before one of Zanu-PF annual conferences, if memory still serves me well, the one at Mutare, and Mugabe and his hangers on were to surprise all and sundry when they chanted, "Mugabe chete-chete", making a sharp u turn from the understanding that the conference was going to elect a presidential candidate for Zanu-PF for the 2008 general election.. The renewal agenda by the party crumbled and Zanu-PF was stuck with old Robert Mugabe who was unpopular both internally and outside. New ideas were perceived rebellion if not treason and the likes of Dabengwa, Mujuru and Makoni were all of a sudden labeled by party members who benefited and still benefit from elderly Mugabe's continued leadership of the party.It is in the public domain as to the decision Dr Dabengwa, Dr Makoni took after these embarrassing chain of events. Efforts to have renewal from within Zanu-PF continued up to the point Dr Makoni blundered and announced his presidential candidacy before election time and he was subsequently fired from Zanu-PF.This led to the birth of Mavambo Kusile Dawn, a spirited effort to give renewed leadership a chance in Zanu-PF.Dr Dabengwa did not join Mavambo Kusile but assisted in the campaign by Dr Makoni for the 2008 presidential elections where he got over 8% of the total presidential vote, denying the despotic Robert Mugabe and perceived neo-imperialist puppet Morgan Tsvangirai outright victories, forcing a presidential run off-itself becoming a monumental farce. Next after the run off was the GNU which was as a result of disputed results which dented Mugabe's legitimacy.The above is one of the evident cases to show what kind of a leader ZAPU has in the form of President Dabengwa. He is on record calling for recognition and utilization of young leaders, through his now popular phrase, "sokudingakala amajongosi". True to his call for amajongosi, ZAPU, under his leadership has become the first political party to introduce and implement a youth quota in its top leadership structures across board. Today we have the likes of Future Msebele, Cakes Vundla, Ndodana Moyo, Desmond Ncube, and Iphithule Maphosa as notable youths in Dabengwa led National Executive Council. It has never happened before anywhere in Zimbabwe and Africa. It only takes bold, visionary leadership to pull off such a noble idea of building for the future.Come to President Dabengwa's announcement of his retirement dates. It has also never happened before and it is a first for Africa. The ZAPU President has lived to his word for constant leadership renewal in the body politic.Africa and Zimbabwe in general and Zanu-PF in particular should pluck a leaf and take free responsible leadership lessons from ZAPU and Dr Dabengwa. Instead of the state media in Zimbabwe demonizing Dr Dabengwa for his announcement, they should cascade the good news to every Zimbabwean and African citizen and help make our continent a better place where leaders are considerate of the future generations; where leaders serve the people and their needs rather than serving their egos and greed.Had Zanu-PF followed Dr Dabengwa's advice, the party would not have found itself in the mess it currently is drowning in. Had Robert Mugabe listened to Dr Dabengwa's wisdom, he would be enjoying retirement at his advanced age with his grandson in peace and tranquility, far away from public anger that has resulted in endless protests that sometimes turn violent. Mugabe would be free of the insults that fly in his direction day in and day out.President Dabengwa has simply displayed how leaders of political parties should handle themselves in respect of constitutions that govern their respective parties.ZAPU constitution allows for two terms in office as president. Dr Dabengwa is serving his second and final one. At the next Congress in 2020, the President will have turned 80 in 2019 and 80 has always been his target for retirement, hence his decision not to contest the presidency in 2018. Because Dr Dabengwa is conscious of the future and its needs, he suggested the party identifies a presidential candidate for the coming general elections. If anything, this decision should be commended and adopted by all well meaning Zimbabweans, for the country is in deep crisis owing to refusal by Mugabe and Zanu-PF to renew leadership.We at ZAPU commend the President's decision and we celebrate his display of good responsible leadership. We will forever cherish and follow his wisdom and ability to abide by the party constitution. President Dabengwa has, once again, become umqali wesiziba-as we refer in our isiNdebele to the one who dares the system and does the unthinkable to some African political leaders.Instead of demonizing him and ZAPU, the world should actually emulate us.Iphithule Thembani kaMaphosa is ZAPU Deputy National Spokesperson.Contactable on: iphithule.thembani.kamaphosa@gmail.comzapuinfor@gmail.comwww.zapu-24.com Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Recall Could Cost Company Billions Trending News: 'Heartbreaking' Galaxy Note 7 Recall Could Cost Samsung Billions Why Is This Important? Because having a phone that won't explode really isn't much to ask. Long Story Short Samsung says the cost of its decision to recall 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 smartphones because of an exploding battery issue represents a heartbreaking amount," which some analysts estimate at between $1 billion and $5 billion. Long Story Everything was coming up roses for Samsung, but in the space of a few weeks, the roses have wilted dismally and lost much of their enticing fragrance. Now, for Note 7 customers and especially for Samsung itself, its all about the thorns. The South Korean company says the cost of a massive recall announced Friday represents a heartbreaking amount." Samsung is recalling 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 smartphones because of a battery defect. Some of the phones have caught fire and exploded during charging. The cost of the recall according to analysts is expected to range from between $1 billion to $5 billion. That, of course, does not take into account potentially drastic cost to the companys reputation. Samsungs flagship phone, the Galaxy S7, had helped push shares last month to record levels. Critical praise for the Note 7 and sales of the device, which were approaching 2 million units, have gone up in smoke. Credit Suisse estimates Samsung Electronics was making $600 (US) in revenue off each Note 7 sold, plus $108 in operating profit. The recall slams the brakes on Note 7 sales in ten countries around the world. Still, Samsung insists battery explosions have nothing to do with the phone design itself, the problem is strictly with the lithium-ion battery cell. In fact, Note 7s sold in China are not being recalled since they rely on batteries made by Amperex Technology Ltd of Hong Kong. Phones with batteries made by Samsung SDI, on the other hand, are on their way out of the palms, pockets and purses of customers, heading back into stores for free exchanges. Since the recall announcement, shares in Samsung SDI have dropped, and continued sagging yesterday. Some analysts think the trend toward fast-charging may be to blame. Rapid-charging handsets rely on high-charge voltage to get devices back up to power in a matter of minutes. While some observers expect Samsung to take an irreparable beating in the smartphone market over the coming months, others, like analyst Peter Yu of BNP Paribas, believe the company will get through this. The company may sell a few million less phones, but it didnt lose its brand image from the global recall, and thats what matters in the long run, he said. IDC analyst Bryan Ma agrees. Itll hit them this quarter obviously, but if its something they immediately address and immediately turn around, then there wont be a long-term impact. Samsung has been steadily building its reputation for innovation back up, after several difficult legal disputes with Apple. Analysts admit news of the Samsung recall likely has Apple gleefully clicking its heels. Following reports of design issues with the iPhone6 and iPhone 6 Plus, anticipation for tomorrows iPhone 7 unveiling has barely been lukewarm, and the latest sales of Apple phones have been depressed. Apple has said that while Samsung SDI is on its list of 2016 suppliers, iPhones do not use the same type of battery cell as the Note 7. Many market observers suspect Apple is holding back juicy technological improvements in its devices until the release of a tenth anniversary iPhone 8. If thats true, and if Samsung gets past this exploding battery issue with resolve, next years smartphone market could see the two giants neck-in-neck. Own The Conversation Ask The Big Question Is Samsungs brand integrity intact with its quick action, or is the massive recall of Note 7 smartphones more likely to batter the Samsung brand beyond repair? Disrupt Your Feed The difficult lesson for Samsung is release it right, before releasing it first Drop This Fact Samsung isnt just smartphones its televisions, air conditioners, microwave ovens, refrigerators, networking supplies, semiconductors and more, with more than 320,000 employees. 16 years and counting of talking about whatever catches my fancy. Mostly comics, books, and movies, but there can always be surprises. Carnival Corporation has signed a memorandum of agreement with Meyer Werft and Meyer Turku to deliver three cruise ships that will be fully powered by Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). Carnival Corporation said two of the new LNG-powered ships are designated for Carnival Cruise Line, and will be built by Meyer Turku at its shipyard in Turku, Finland, with delivery dates expected in 2020 and 2022. The new ship for P&O Cruises UK will be built by Meyer Werft at its shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, with an expected delivery date in 2020. In conjunction with the order, the delivery dates for the new builds for Germany-based AIDA Cruises and Italy-based Costa Cruises for 2020 "will shift to 2021 to allow the company to more effectively allocate measured capacity growth across its 10 global cruise brands in more markets throughout the world," said a statement. In total, the company now has agreements in place to build seven LNG-powered cruise ships across four of its 10 global cruise brands in coming years. As previously announced, the first of these ships is expected to be in service for AIDA Cruises and Costa Cruises in 2019. "We are proud to be at the forefront of introducing LNG-powered ships to the cruise industry, working with our partners to achieve shipbuilding breakthroughs like this that will help us produce the most efficient and sustainable ships we have ever built," said Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corporation & plc. "This is also an important step in our fleet enhancement plan that enables us to execute on our long-term strategy of measured capacity growth over time, while delivering innovative new ships that further elevate our already great guest experience. Every time we launch a new ship, we have a new opportunity to create excitement and show consumers why cruising is a great vacation at an exceptional value, especially for those who typically consider land-based vacations." Whisper a secret in someone's ear, not to be repeated. Intimacy and private relationships are basic human rights. Society has gone digital -- and the modern form of whispering to each other is text messaging... except that, it really isn't. Mark Cuban -- who needs no introduction -- recently told Business Insider, "There's somebody trying to hack you, your email, your company, your credit card company, and everything that you're attached to... and at some point it's going to come out." We asked Cuban directly about the risks of text messaging, and he shared, "When you hit send on a text, email, DM or even a snap, you no longer own that message. The recipient owns it. But you are responsible for the message and its use, even if it's used grossly out of context." The remedy? Cuban's Dust app (formerly known as Cyber Dust) aims to bring messaging privacy to the masses. "With Dust, no message touches storage," says Cuban. "Once it is deleted it can not be recovered. Ever." Cuban informs there's a completely new version coming out shortly -- with a change from Cyber Dust to the shortened Dust moniker. "Dust's protection will become increasingly important as our digital footprints expand -- which is why I use Dust for important business communications and in most cases a replacement for text and DMs" he adds. The billionaire entrepreneur is hardly a newcomer to sizing market opportunities and capitalizing on them. Microsoft reports that by 2020 4 billion people will be online twice the number that are online now. Dust has grown its user base from a couple-hundred-thousand to more than 2 million. Given Cuban's propensity for winning in business, it wouldn't be be a surprise to see Dust add a couple of zeroes to the end of its user base figures by 2020. Relationships are never easy, particularly because many of us struggle with trust. In cybersecurity, especially for application developers, trusting your product in the hands of a researcher can be a bit unnerving. When most people enter into a relationship, it is with the hope that the other party will appreciate their strengths, not identify their weaknesses. When application developers engage with researchers, though, they are hiring a virtual stranger to seek out their imperfections. On rare occasions, the hiring company and the researcher develop a professional appreciation for one another that extends beyond a single assignment. Such was the case for Aruba Networks. In talking about a major vulnerability found in Aruba's ClearPass policy manager, Aruba's senior director of security architecture, Jon Green and Duarte Silva, researcher at Bugcrowd, also offered an inside look into the researcher / application owner relationship. [ ALSO ON CSO: How (and why) to start a bug bounty program ] In many ways, Bugcrowd has become the Match.com for developers and researchers. Companies looking to find a trusted researcher sign up through Bugcrowd just as researchers looking for work create their own profiles. In this way, the platform assuages the developer's anxieties around trust because there is some degree of a vetting process that researchers go through. "There are different categories of researchers in the platform," said Green, who has had some cross site scripting vulnerabilities identified by other researchers. "Others have found things that needed to be fixed but were kind of minor, less important. Duarte found some that were actually of high risk that would allow a malicious attacker to fully compromise an Aruba appliance," Green said. Because Duarte put a lot of effort in and came up with something really good, he impressed Green who said he would encourage those others to get up to that level. When a researcher finds a vulnerability, it's reported through the platform and somebody at Bugcrowd does triage. "They look to see if a researcher hasn't provided enough information so that by the it ends up with me, it's been validated," Green said. As it is in the dating world, not everyone registered on the platform is looking for a long-term relationship. "For some its a side job. Some dont want to be known, and there are others that only want to be known by nickname," Green said. Another aspect of trust that is super important to developers is disclosure, and researchers sign an NDA that they wont disclose outside of Bugcrowd channels so that developers can go through the proper vulnerability release process. Green said, "We have a fairly standard process. We do triage based on severity. In most cases we are able to slot things into our standard release cycle. With open SSL, vulnerabilities are well published, and we dont have a choice of how long we can wait, but we patch, test, and get it out as fast as we can." The standard time frame for researchers to be able to publicly discuss their findings is 60 days after the company's advisory, but Duarte said, "Even though there is the 60 days, as a researcher and trying to be professional, I always ask permission before I disclose." [ ALSO: Why bug bounty hunters love the thrill of the chase ] While researchers can remain anonymous, developers often want to know with whom they have engaged, particularly in a case like this. "The real reason we like to know who someone is, is really for credit purposes. Do you want credit for this to build up your reputation in the community?" Green said. Unlike some researchers, Duarte also discloses his identity. "I share because Ive been working on this for a while," he said. So what is it about Aruba that has such appeal for Duarte? What is it about a developer that makes a researcher want to spend so much time working with them? "Its a personal taste," said Duarte. "I did work for others, but Aruba was the turning point because I was successful in terms of finding critical vulnerabilities, but in this specific bug bounty, I had a lot of communication between myself, Bugcrowd ,and Aruba. That had value." Green said, "Its like tango. You have to have two to dance. You have to have an application owner that complies with what it says. The researcher is given scope and rules to follow, he should follow those rules. If they are followed usually the communication is always good." Companies that engage in a bug bounty program are usually welcoming and willing to engage. Those that dont can sometimes be really hostile toward researchers when they try to reveal a vulnerability. Some companies just aren't ready to engage. As with any other online relationship building platform, "Once you have signed up, it puts that out publicly that the developer is willing to work with researchers, and they tend to have a good relationship," Green said. Intelligence and law enforcement agencies are reportedly investigating whether Russia has launched a broad, covert operation to disrupt the U.S. elections in November. Officials believe that Russia appears to be attempting to spread disinformation and hack into U.S. political systems in an effort to undermine confidence in the upcoming election, according to a report in the Washington Post. Investigators do not have "definitive" proof of a Russian operation, but there is "significant concern," the Post quoted an anonymous senior intelligence official as saying. Russian efforts targeting elections haven't singled out the U.S. but are part of a global campaign, according to an anonymous source cited by the Post. The report of an investigation comes after the Democratic National Committee reported a data breach in June. WikiLeaks later published about 19,000 DNC emails. The FBI is investigating the breach, and officials have pointed to Russia as the source of the attack. Russia has denied involvement. James Clapper, U.S. director of national intelligence, is reportedly in charge of the new investigation. Representatives of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Justice didn't immediately respond to a request for comments on the report. In late August, Senator Harry Reid, the Senate minority leader and a Nevada Democrat, asked the FBI to investigate potential Russian election hacking efforts. Russian election interference "is more extensive than is widely known and may include the intent to falsify official election results," Reid wrote in a letter to the FBI. Also in late August, the FBI issued a warning that hackers had breached state election systems in Arizona and Illinois. The Federal Bureau of Investigations disclosure earlier this month that foreign hackers had infiltrated voter registration systems in Illinois and Arizona came as no surprise to some cybersecurity experts. Given where cybercrime has gone, its not too surprising to think about how information risks might manifest themselves during the election season to cause some level of either potential disruption, change in voting, or even just political fodder to add the hype cycle, says Malcolm Harkins, chief security and trust officer at network security firm Cylance. Growing concern that hackers sponsored by Russia or other countries may be attempting to disrupt the presidential election is certainly not far-fetched, given the recent data breach at the Democratic National Committee headquarters. In fact, hacking an election is shockingly easy, according to a report by the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology, a cybersecurity think tank. In most cases, electronic voting systems are nothing but bare-bone, decade old computer systems that lack even rudimentary endpoint security, according to the report. Security vulnerabilities are discussed every four years, but little attention is given to the problem. Its time for a complete overhaul in the electoral process cyber, technical and physical security, the report concludes. Earlier this month the FBI reported its most recent findings to election officials across the country and urged them to take new steps to enhance the security of their computer systems. Illinois Board of Elections officials report that information from almost 200,000 voters were hacked beginning June 23. The breach was discovered two weeks later. No files were erased or modified, nor were voting history information or digital signature images captured, officials said. Hackers did, however, have access to voters drivers license numbers and the last four digits of Social Security numbers. In Arizona, the attack affected fewer voter files, and officials said last week that no data was removed in the attack. While voter databases are separate from voting systems, cybersecurity pros say the voter database hack speaks to a larger vulnerability. "A hack of state election systems raises the stakes in this battle and is a dangerous sign that traditional defenses aren't cutting it, says Paul Hooper, CEO of Gigamon. These systems must be impenetrable to hackers so that we have complete trust come this fall. Election systems remain vulnerable, in part, because the system depends on federal, state, and local authorities, who each possess their own systems, software, hardware, and security protocols. Finding the vulnerabilities The FBI reported that hackers identified an SQL injection vulnerability and used SQLmap to target the Illinois voter registration website and gain access to data. Seven suspicious IP addresses were used by the hackers, and election boards were urged to check for similar activity to their logs. In these cases, they were attacked through old Web application vulnerabilities, says Alex Heid, chief research officer at Security Scorecard. Web apps that were written in the early to mid-2000s and are still online and often still have the vulnerabilities that were carried over from that era. States that have an online portal for any type of registration will want to make sure their web apps are up to current [security] standards. Ray Rothrock, CEO of RedSeal, suggests that those vulnerable assets should be taken offline. Nobody says that the computer in Town Hall needs to be on an internet, he says. Just as outdated IRS systems have already been compromised, You cant keep patching old systems for security, you actually have to architect something and think about it strategically, Rothrock says. The government has offered to help states protect its voter databases and election systems by dispersing, on request, federal cyber security experts could scan for vulnerabilities in voting systems and provide other resources to help protect them. I dont think that will necessarily help things, Heid says. If the government is doing an assessment on themselves theres always the risk of a small group of individuals in the program, even with legitimate intentions, to cause issues. The lesser of two evils: confidentiality or integrity/availability Harkins believes that election security risks go far beyond the recent voter database attacks and end-point security solutions. The confidentiality of your vote is important, but its not going to change the election. Integrity and availability risk [however] could alter the outcome of an election, Harkins says, and not by manipulating votes, but by influencing the ability to vote. For instance, in municipalities with voter databases and no paper backup, cyber thieves possibly could cryptolock files and hold voting rights for Bitcoin ransom, he says. There are simpler ways to disrupt voting at the height of election day, Harkins adds. Cutting power to a school where electronic voting is taking place, and without paper backup, could halt voting for hours, and many voters would turn away. There is also the threat of tampering with electronic voting machines themselves. Georgia, Delaware, Louisiana, South Carolina and New Jersey use electronic voting machines that leave no way to audit results after the fact, according to the ICIT report. Swing states, such as Pennsylvania and Virginia, do not rely on machines that generate a paper trail. According to Verified Voting, which advocates for transparency of voting machines, 47 of Pennsylvanias 67 counties rely on digital voting machines without a verifiable paper auditing trail. You would have to harden those systems from intrusions or attacks that would affect the availability of the system, then you would have to look at the redundancy of those systems, Harkins says. The integrity of votes must also be examined. Does the name a voter chooses on the ballot match the paper print-out? Does it match the electronic version stored in the voting machine? Even the voting controversies in the Florida election recount of 2000 had rules, processes and oversight of paper voting, Harkins says. Remember the hanging chads? Whats the logical equivalent of that for digital voting? Optics vs. reality The optics of the voter database breaches may be worse than the hacks themselves, says Dimitri Sirota, CEO of BigID. Today, a foreign agent can't completely alter elections because of how the vote count is fragmented across states and polls, he says. However, they can certainly subvert confidence in the election. In fact, the discoveries may be a deliberate attempt to get discovered, he adds. Illinois has perhaps the simplest solution for diverting future election hacking. The states voting machines arent connected to the internet, said Ken Menzel, general counsel for the elections board, in a television interview. By keeping that system off the internet, you go a long way to protect it from internet hackers. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate STAMFORD A new city health director with experience studying infectious disease that took office late last month made her first public address on Tuesday, coming on the heels of the governors news conference here on mosquito-borne illness. Dr. Jennifer Calder, an epidemiologist from New York City who is also a trained veterinarian, was hired in June to head a department of nearly 100 city employees, including school nurses, health and environmental inspectors and outreach workers. The Stamford Health Department, Calder, said at an event Tuesday announcing her arrival, has traditionally been an active member of the community and a leader in public health. Calder is replacing Darien health director David Knopf, whom the city hired in January while it searched for a replacement for Anne Fountain, who left the public sector after serving as Stamfords health director for six years. The new health director will be paid around $140,000 a year. Calder made her first public appearance last Wednesday at a news conference led by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy in Stamford on the Zika and West Nile viruses, two mosquito-borne diseases that concern city and state officials. While Zika cannot be transmitted locally 61 Connecticut residents contracted it traveling abroad West Nile is spread in Connecticut through mosquito bite. The government program that traps and tests mosquitoes, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, has identified a majority of the states West Nile-carrying mosquitoes in Stamford. Like Zika, West Nile can cause flu-like symptoms, mostly in the elderly and infants. But West Nile does not pose the same risk for child-bearing women as Zika, which is linked to microcephaly, a birth defect that causes infants to be born with abnormally small heads. To keep the insects at bay, the city has sprayed larvicide in mosquito-prone areas, said Ted Jankowski, director of public safety, health and welfare to whom Calder reports. The city has also distributed information about Zika at city schools, he said, and canvassed certain areas to spread the word about prevention. Zika is not going to mysteriously appear here, Jankowski said. It comes here when a mosquito bites someone and they bring it here. Calder did not discuss public health issues during her address. She told the group gathered at the Stamford Government Center that shes meeting people and getting to know the city. I look forward to working with the entire Stamford community to make it safer, she said. Mayor David Martin said Calder was chosen from a pool of 40 applicants. Jennifer understands the challenges confronting the city of Stamford and the health department, Martin said. Calder is a faculty member at New York Medical College and Columbia Universitys Mailman School of Public Health. She holds degrees from St. Istvan Universitys Faculty of Veterinary Science in Budapest, Hungary; Columbia Universitys Mailman School of Public Health in New York City; and the University of Floridas College of Veterinary Medicine. Im confident that as director of health, Jankowski said, Dr. Calder will provide leadership and focused direction for the department to ensure the health and safety of all Stamford residents. eskalka@scni.com The state Supreme Court on Tuesday morning overturned a narcotics conviction, ruling that two Bridgeport cops later sentenced for beating up and kicking a man during a viral-video encounter in a city park, violated an African-American mans constitutional rights during a confrontation in a fast-food restaurants parking lot. Associate Supreme Court Justice Andrew J. McDonald said that a Bridgeport Superior Court judge erred when he improperly denied a motion by attorneys for Michael Edmonds to suppress the heroin seized by Officers Elson Morales and Joseph Lawlor, during the January, 28, 2011 arrest in a Subway restaurant near the intersection of Madison and Capitol avenues. The University of Connecticut Health Center recently compiled data on where occupational illnesses, such as in the cases of workers' compensation, are highest in the state and which types of illnesses are the most common. In Connecticut, it seems most cases come from the eastern half of the state, with Farmington, Norwich, and Groton being the highest reported areas. In southwestern Connecticut, most reporting rates were low with the exception of Stratford, where a rate of 54.82 cases per 10,000 workers was enough to place it among the state's top ten towns. MILFORD - A woman suspected to shoplifting $119 worth of merchandise from Bobs Clothing Store on Cherry Street is also accused of hitting and biting a security guard. Officer Joseph Dempsey said the incident happened on Friday around 2:30 p.m. Quaneisha Jordan, 26, of Laurie Place in Waterbury was accused of shoplifting the goods by a security guard. Cuba declares State Mourning for death of Uzbekistan President Submitted by: Juana Local Personalities Politics and Government 09 / 05 / 2016 The Cuban Council of State has declared official mourning for the death of the President of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov. During the state mourning, established from 06:00 to 12:00 September 5, the Cuban Flag will be hosted at half-mast in all public and military facilities. These real PA creatures could become cryptids if we don't save them Check it out: Fun things to do this weekend in Lake County entertainment There is a scene at the beginning of almost everybodys favourite film, The Dam Busters. One evening in 1942 a little car draws up outside the home of Barnes Wallis, from which steps a familiar fatherly figure who has been summoned to inspect the throat of a child and the well-being of her scientist dad. It is the family doctor, of course. They gossip, share a cup of tea. He helps to close the black-out curtains before pottering back to his Surrey surgery. This little incident might as well depict a trip to Mars, so alien it is to the relationship between the medical profession and the British people three-quarters of a century later. Today, one needs to be half-dead to receive a home visit from most local GPs. Decent practitioners, of whom there are many, were as appalled as the rest of us by the prospect of junior doctors five-day strikes, the first of which was due to take place next week Patients are wildly unlikely to have any social relationship with their doctor, one in three of whom was born outside this country. And if a great-grandchild of Barnes Wallis ails in 2016, they may be rushed to hospital past pickets waving Corbyn for PM placards, only to find all the doctors on strike. I exaggerate, of course. Decent practitioners, of whom there are many, were as appalled as the rest of us by the prospect of junior doctors five-day strikes, the first of which was due to take place next week. Niall Dickson, chief executive of the General Medical Council, wrote to the BMA, urging against the industrial action, and his intervention must have influenced last nights belated postponement. Yet we are still scheduled to witness perhaps fall victim to the most serious industrial action in the medical professions history, a programme of sustained strikes which NHS chiefs say will prompt 100,000 cancelled operations, and inevitably also some deaths. The strike leaders justify their actions with precisely the same sententious claptrap that the RMT union excuses rail stoppages: they say they are motivated by concern for the welfare of their passengers or, in this case, patients. Nobody is expected to believe a word of this. Junior doctors plan to strike because they want more cash, especially for working at weekends. Their leaders on the BMA Junior Doctors Committee which has now become a sinister and highly politicised body are almost all Labour supporters, several of them avowed Corbynistas active in the Lefts Momentum movement. Sundeep Grewal, a GP registrar, put up a post on his Facebook page which describes Jeremy Hunt (pictured in four-letter terms They, paradoxically, are not much interested in money, though they recognise that it is the only rallying cry that will stir their membership to down stethoscopes. Their objective is to smash the career of Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, and to drive a stake into the heart of the Tory Government. The Left knows it has scant chance of securing power through conventional politics, of winning a general election any time soon. But its strategists see the NHS as the soft underbelly of government. The public is obsessed with its welfare: any threat to health services frightens the life out of voters. Thus, doctors leaders calculated that blame for paralysing hospitals in five-day strikes would fall not on themselves, where it belongs, but instead on the Tories. The only real hope of getting these strikes cancelled instead of merely postponed is that voters see through these clumsy indeed, deadly tactics, and tell would-be striking doctors exactly what they think of them. How have we come to this pass, that men and women whose profession has for so long commanded such deserved respect should behave so ruthlessly? We should admit, as no minister dares, that the NHS is chronically sick. As the cost and sophistication of medical treatments soar, it is becoming unaffordable to provide unlimited care, free at the point of use. Poor and wasteful administration saps morale and squanders scarce resources. Rational debate about health is stifled by the almost sacred mantra that the NHS is part of Britains birthright, and has made us the ever longer-lived society we are today. In truth, of course, most of the rightful credit belongs to drugs companies driven by private profit, which develop the miracle cures the health service merely delivers to us. But we should also acknowledge that parts of the NHS work marvellously well. My family has access to a rural GP surgery that of Ramsbury in Wiltshire which is widely regarded as one of the best in the land. My wife has recently been staying with a friend in a South London hospice where the staff are humbling in their sympathy and sensitivity. Some big hospitals are exemplary, as I can testify after seeing a heart patient treated by the Great Western in Swindon. Many big city facilities, however, are tragically inadequate: they groan under the strain of over-burdened A&Es, constantly changing doctors, abusive patients, and demoralised staff. If I were Jeremy Hunt, or for that matter the Fairy Queen, I would not begin to know how to raise standards without radical funding changes, such as will surely be forced upon Britain within a generation. There is also a wider issue, manifested in all public services including teaching and the police. Once upon a time in the Barnes Wallis era, if you like almost all those who worked in them saw themselves as fulfilling a duty to the public. Most of the public, in its turn, rewarded them with gratitude and respect. Today, police, teachers and doctors professional bodies have become intensely politicised. One junior doctors representative, Andrew Collier, stood for election on a platform which explicitly pledged to make the BMA a real trades union. But the best doctors, teachers and policemen are too busy doctoring, teaching and policing to involve themselves in the ruthless, dirty politics of their respective organisations. Thus the Left, which cares not a fig about professional standards and everything about mobilising troops for the class struggle, seizes the reins almost unopposed. Who wants to attend meetings of the Junior Doctors Committee, where arguments often apparently descend into obscenities? One activist, Sundeep Grewal, a GP registrar, put up a post on his Facebook page which describes Jeremy Hunt in four-letter terms. That such a person could be a doctor seems almost as disturbing as his ascent to strike-making power. More than a decade ago, U.S. academic Philip Bobbitt published a weighty book on our new world entitled The Shield Of Achilles. In this he argued that the nation state is giving way to what he calls the market state, in which traditional ideas of patriotism, loyalty and social responsibility are supplanted by a harsh selfishness, in which profit and personal advantage are the only drivers. In a procession of recent news stories about Apples global tax avoidance, the declining willingness of Western nations to fund their armed forces, and now the shameful conduct of the junior doctors, we see vivid examples of the market state in action. Everybody merely wants money or factional power. Stuff social responsibility, far less patriotism. There was a glimmer of good news in the announcement that next weeks action, at least, has been called off pending further talks. But we would be foolish to see this as surrender as opposed to re-entrenchment for battles ahead. The only hope of bringing the doctors leadership to bay is the display of our disgust, to force upon them realisation that the public rejects their claims and abhors their excesses. With her real-life aristocratic credentials and links to royalty, it's no wonder she was considered perfectly placed to play the role of an heiress in Poldark. Actress and model Gabriella Wilde, 27, dubbed the 'unofficial stepsister' of Prince Harry's ex-girlfriend Cressida Bonas, is already winning a new legion of admirers after making her debut in the hit show. Fans have taken to Twitter to express their admiration for the actress, with one even declaring she's the woman he'd like to make his wife. Scroll down for video Actress and model Gabriella Wilde, 27, dubbed the 'unofficial stepsister' of Prince Harry's ex-girlfriend Cressida Bonas, is already winning a new legion of admirers after making her debut in Poldark Joe_standing tweeted: 'I think Gabriella Wilde is the women I'd like to marry', while admirer _affiqzainal said: 'I don't have a thing for blondes but Gabriella Wilde happened.' JVPianoman praised her for looking 'absolutely stunning' and for 'fantastic acting'. while Maikanarien said she loved her after the first episode. Hampshire-born Gabriella plays Caroline Penvenen, the niece of wealthy landowner Ray Penvenen who catches the eye of aspiring MP Unwin Trevaunance. She's already caught viewers' attention thanks to the adorable pug who was constantly by her side in Sunday's episode. Poldark is Gabriella's first big TV role. She previously starred in films such as Endless Love with Alex Pettyfer (pictured) Caroline Peneven's cute pet pug was used to conceal her pregnancy as Gabriella told producers she was expecting her second child two days after being cast in the role Actress and model Gabriella Wilde, 26, the 'unofficial stepsister' of Prince Harry's ex-girlfriend Cressida Bonas, is set to win a legion of fans thanks to her role as a scheming heiress in the new season of Poldark Although the dog features in Winston Graham's original novels, its inclusion became crucial as it was needed to disguise Gabriella's ever-increasing baby bump. She told producers she was pregnant with her second child two days after she was cast in the role. While her part in the hit period drama is sure to catapult the actress further into the limelight, she's certainly well known already in high society circles. An entry on her IMDB page gives an insight into the distinguished lineage of the girl born Gabriella Zanna Vanessa Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe. 'Paternal granddaughter of the 2nd Baronet Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe and a descendant of Charles II, King of England, Ireland and Scotland, in turn twice great-great-great grandson of Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII, and of Joan the Mad, sister of Catherine of Aragon,' it reads. Her royal links also extend to the present day, as she's described herself as an 'unofficial' step-sister to Cressida Bonas, who dated Prince Harry for two years. Cressida's mother was previously married to Gabriella's father and the pair, pictured at the 2016 Serpentine summer party, are said to be best friends and 'unofficial stepsisters' Gabriella is pictured with Lady Mary Gaye Curzon, mother of Cressida Bonas, who was previously married to her father John between 1977 and 1985. The couple had three children who are half siblings of both Gabriella and Cressida Gabriella Wilde and Alan Powell at the Mappin & Webb flagship boutique grand opening in London in June 2016 The stunning blonde is married to musician Alan Powall, an ex-Malborough College boy and son of a QC. The couple share a young son Sasha Blue and Gabriella is pregnant with their second child Gabriella's father John Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe married Cressida's mother Lady Mary Gaye Curzon in 1977 at Kensington registry office. They had three children: Georgiana, now a 34-year-old sculptress; Isabella, 33, now married to Sir Richard Branson's son Sam; and Jacobi, 29, a PR who is a good friend of the Duke of Cambridge. Their relationship, however, broke down after nine years, and Lady Mary Gaye began an affair with old Harrovian businessman, Jeffrey Bonas, who is Cressida's father. The rising star juggles modelling, acting and motherhood Gabriella in a romantic scene from her film Endless Love with heartthrob Alex Pettyfer Gabriella shares half siblings with Cressida Bonas, the ex-girlfriend of Prince Harry. Cressida's mother Lady Mary Gaye Curzon was previously married the Gabriella's father John Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe Gabriella Wilde attends the private view for the 'David Bowie Is' exhibition at the V&A in London in 2013 Lady in red! The blonde stunned in a scarlet gown at the premiere of The Three Musketeers Meanwhile, Gabriella's father remarried Vanessa Mary Theresa Hubbard, a former model who sat for David Bailey. Gabriella has previously said of her relationship with Cressida: 'There are just two months between Cressida and me, and although we're not officially stepsisters, she was my best friend when we were little and we grew up together, so she kind of is anyway.' Growing up in Hampshire, she attended the prestigious all-girls school Heathfield, in Ascot, Berkshire, but ended up being suspended for smuggling in vodka. She then transferred to the equally well respected St Swithun's in Winchester. Gabriella pictured on set with Hugh Skinner, who plays landowner Unwin Trevaunance who dreams of becoming an MP only so that Caroline with agree to marry him She's no stranger to a period costume: Gabriella has starred in an adaptation of The Three Musketeers Although she's now primarily an actress, Gabriella first found fame as a model with the help of some impeccable family connections. When she was 14, the legendary fashion editor and muse Isabella Blow - who was a family friend - dressed her in colourful couture gowns for fashion shoots. She then met Naomi Campbell at a dinner party who whisked her off to a bathroom to take her first Polaroids, which resulted in Gabriella being signed to the supermodel's agency. Gabriella played Jade Butterfield (left) in a remake of the Franco Zeffirelli film Endless Love - a part originally depicted by Brooke Shields - alongside fellow British actor Alex Pettyfer (right) Gabriella dropped out of school aged 17 to pursue her modelling career, appearing in shoots for Vogue and Abercrombie & Fitch. However, she quit after just three months, saying that she didn't feel a sense of achievement. She returned to education to study fine art and pursue her childhood dream of being a painter, but soon after she was asked to read for a bit part in a film and discovered that she really loved acting. 'I have sisters who act, and I'd always seen it as their thing,' she explained in an interview with W magazine. I was never in the school plays like them - I wanted to be a painter,' she recalled. The actress won a part in the 2011 film version of the Three Musketeers alongside Matthew MacFayden (left) an Luke Evans (right) 'When I agreed to the audition, I didn't tell anyone. It sounds bizarre, but I felt liberated after I really loved it, like I'd finally found something I enjoyed.' As she began to carve out a career as an actress, Gabriella dropped the Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe and adopted the stage name Wilde. It was suggested by her agent as they browsed her bookshelves and spotted the plays of Oscar Wilde. Gabriella won roles in the remake Endless Love, playing a privileged girl who falls in love with a working-class boy - a role originally portrayed by Brooke Shields in Franco Zeffirellis 1981 version of the film. The Burberry model won a place in the front row thanks to her modelling campaign for the brand She's also starred in The Three Musketeers, and St Trinian's II, as well as acting in the remake of the horror classic Carrie she appeared in a 2010 episode of Dr Who as a vampire. Despite focusing on her acting career, she's still landed some prestigious modelling jobs, including campaigns for Burberry. And in the past, she's been keen to distance herself from her aristocratic and royal links. 'It's a little strange when part of your family is in the public eye and you're being put into a box that you're not necessarily in,' she told the society bible Tatler. 'That's when it starts to feel a bit odd. When you're being told who you are, but it's incorrect.' Although she left modelling behind to pursue her acting career Gabriella still starred in a Burberry ad in 2012 Indeed, she declared herself baffled at being named the second-most-eligible girl in Britain by the magazine in 2007, alongside her sister Isabella who is also an actress. The pair were described as 'quite possibly the glossiest, silkiest duo youll ever meet'. However, she's never been able to quite shake off that high society image and was even linked to Prince Harry before he embarked on a relationship with Cressida. After the Prince split from long-term love Chelsy Davy, Gabriella's name cropped up as a potential love interest. It was reported that the royal was a 'huge fan' of the actress and was said to be battling to win the blonde's affections back in 2012. The actress is a favourite of society bible Tatler, but she's been keen to distance herself from her royal and aristocratic links However, she was wary of taking things further as she didn't want to become another Kate Middleton. The following year Gabriella became engaged to boyfriend Alan Powall, an ex-Malborough college boy and son of a QC, who is one half of the electropop duo Pale. They put their wedding on hold when Gabriella fell pregnant with their son Sasha Blue, but went on to wed in Liguria, Italy in September 2014. Speaking about the challenges of concealing her second pregnancy during filming, executive producer Damian Timmer said it was essential to keep her stomach covered by her arm as she carried her dog. The mother-of-one was linked to Prince Harry back in 2012, before he dated her 'unofficial half sister' Cressida Bonas. She married her partner Alan Powall in Italy in September 2014 Speaking at a screening of the episode at the British Film Institute, Timmer explained: 'Caroline has to come in with such power and make such a splash, and that's hard. It was a bit like casting Scarlett O'Hara. 'We looked and looked and looked, and then discovered Gabriella and offered it to her. And then two days later we discovered she was pregnant. 'We persuaded ourselves that we could work around it, which we did, and Gabriella was amazing at coping with our manic schedule and her growing bump.' The blonde beauty has starred in films such as Endless Love and The Three Musketeers, but Poldark is her first major TV role Debbie Horsfield, the award-winning writer of the adaptation, added: 'It is very well disguised.' Gabriella's character is described as 'a complete minx: rich, beautiful and clever' who delights in tormenting people. But underneath it all she has a good heart. Landowner Unwin Trevaunance, played by Hugh Skinner, immediately falls for her and sets his sights on becoming on an MP, just to get Caroline to agree to marry him. At the she same time she also catches the eye of Dr Dwight Enys, played by Luke Norris. Gabriella said: 'Her interest is originally piqued by Dr Enys because he is the one man who doesnt fall at her feet and try to impress her. 'He is quite rude to her and thats the first time anyone has stood up to her usual games. The cards she holds dont necessarily work with him. Crown Princess Mary has shed a tear at an event to honour the Danish Military in Copenhagen. The 44-year-old attended the country's Flag Flying day ceremony on Monday along with her husband, Crown Prince Frederick. The event is attended by many members of Denmark's armed forces and is held to commemorate countrymen and women who have lost their lives fighting for the country. Emotional day: Crown Princess Mary appeared to shed a tear during the Danish Flag Flying Day ceremony Lest we forget: Mary attended the event alongside her husband Crown Prince Frederik The powerful event seemed to have an impact on both Mary and Fred, who looked extremely solemn during the ceremony. The princess even appeared to wipe away a tear on multiple occasions, both during the church service and the ceremony outside to raise the flag. The couple also laid a wreath during the event to commemorate their country's deployed armed forces after the flag was raised. Pin-up style: The brunette opted for a 1940s inspired outfit of a printed skirt, belted jacket and nude heels Paying their respects: The day commemorates Danish armed forces who are deployed and have lost their lives Whilst Fred wore his military uniform, Mary looked stunning as usual in a two piece ensemble. The brunette wore a patterned pencil skirt with a belted jacket, nude heels and a matching clutch. She finished the outfit with a nude pillbox hat by Susanne Juul, one of her favourites that she has worn on multiple other occasions. Sad: Mary appeared to shed another tear during the church service Mingling: Mary smiled as she chatted with Chief of Defence General Peter Bartram Mary, who looked almost like a 1940s pin-up in her classic outfit, smiled as she arrived at the event before getting emotional later. She chatted with military personnel at the event, including the Danish Chief of Defence, General Peter Bartram, who was dressed in traditional camouflage fatigues. Many couples on Channel 7's 'Australia's Cheapest Weddings' have sparked controversy after sharing their elaborate and often wacky weddings. But Monday night's bride, Sini, was completely aware of the attention people gave her in everyday life and was proud of the wedding she and her now husband Stuart shared. Sini, a Finnish pinup model and tattoo artist, met her farmer husband in Thailand 12 months before their wedding and moved to Singleton, New South Wales, to live with him on his remote farm. Scroll down for video Centre of attention: Australia's Cheapest Weddings bride and Finnish pinup model, Sini, was completely aware of how much she stood out in everyday life Happy couple: The tattoo artist met her husband in Thailand 12 months before their wedding and moved to Singleton, New South Wales, to live with him on a farm Final wine as a single lady: The striking tattooed model and her husband decided to spend as little money as possible and married in a courthouse ahead of an elaborate party The striking tattooed model and her husband decided to spend as little money as possible and married in a courthouse ahead of an elaborate party. 'I got divorced this year, then I went to Thailand to have some time by myself and I met Stuart in Thailand and now we are getting married,' Sini said. 'Its just my life, I live fast... we are getting married really cheap because why bother putting all of that money for one day [sic].' Deal breaker: Prior to the wedding, Sini made Stuart shave off his 'ginger' hair as it 'clashed' with her red locks 'I'm going to turn heads today': On their big day, Sini arrived to meet her husband in a racy white wedding jumpsuit style dress with thigh high splits All eyes on her: 'I have a really weird wedding dress,' she said Prior to the wedding, Sini made Stuart shave off his 'ginger' hair as it 'clashed' with her bright red locks. The determined bride sat her husband down and shaved off his hair - the big shave a condition of their marriage. On their big day, Sini walked through the small country town to meet her husband in a racy white wedding jumpsuit style dress with thigh high splits. 'I'm going to turn a couple of heads today. I have a really weird wedding dress,' she said. 'People are usually paying attention to me': But Sini wasn't bothered by the extra attention and her husband couldn't wipe the smile from his face when he saw her Happily married: The coal mine mechanic and his model wife married in the courthouse 'And people are usually paying attention to me.' But Sini wasn't bothered by the extra attention and her husband couldn't wipe the smile from his face when he saw her. The coal mine mechanic and his model wife married in the courthouse before Sini changed into a more classic gown for another wedding ceremony in front of family and friends. She arrived on a quad bike and met her husband before changing again into a figure-hugging leopard print dress for the reception. Chic: Sini changed into a more classic gown for another wedding in front of family and friends 'I live fast': The dynamic bride arrived to her the second part of her wedding on a quad bike I do... again: The couple had a makeshift ceremony in front of family and friends Held on a neighbour's farm and catered for and decorated by friends, the reception cost them just $400. The couple couldn't have been happier with their day and had no regrets - the smitten pair sharing moving speeches with each other throughout the night. Both of them took to Facebook ahead of the show airing to share their thoughts on the whole experience. Stunning: Held on a neighbour's farm and catered and decorated by friends, the reception cost them just $400 Third outfit: Sini changed into a leopard print number for the fourth part of the wedding and gave a moving speech to her new husband 'So it has begun. This will be very interesting judging by the adds... So we signed up for 'banking on love' and they rename it 'Australia's cheapest weddings' [sic],' Stuart wrote, who later said producers were 'quite kind' to them. 'Ahhhhhhhhh well... What's the worst thing that could happen???' Sini described their day as 'an awesome party.' It seems a ring on his finger was not enough of a commitment for Married At First Sight groom Keller. The 26-year-old mechanical fitter ensured the love for his wife-of-five-days Nicole was eternal by getting a meaningful tattoo in her honour. Its a lion morphing in to a girl. The lion symbolises me and Nicole is the girl, he said. Scroll down for video Ouch! Married At First Sight groom Keller, 26, showed his love for his new wife Nicole by getting a tattoo on his leg Showing his love: Keller grimaced in pain as Nicole watched on Cryptic inking: Its a lion morphing in to a girl. The lion symbolises me and Nicole is the girl,' Keller explained Im 100 per cent committed to making this work between me and Nicole, he continued. And I wanted her to understand and see that she means the world to me already and its a strange thing for me to realise because Im never like this at all. A clearly smitten Nicole said it would be hard to not fall in love with the ex-Navy officer. In it for the long haul: Im 100 per cent committed to making this work between me and Nicole, Keller said Falling for each other: Keller moved into Nicole's Gold Coast apartment, arriving at her doorstep with a large bunch of pink lilies She went along to the tattoo parlour to support her husbands new inking, and smiled as a clearly in-pain Keller pulled faces on the table. He was super excited to get it done, dancing around the house like a little girl, she said. And then when he was getting it done he was crying like a little girl. Sweet gesture: 'I wanted her to understand and see that she means the world to me already and its a strange thing for me to realise, because Im never like this at all,' Keller said Cute: Nicole stuck a photo of herself and Keller up on the wall of her apartment before he moved in As Keller swore and grimaced at the pain, an ever-supportive Nicole leaned in for a kiss. Keller has numerous tattoos and has designs on his chest, arms, neck and legs. He even admitted he has a small tattoo of a love heart on his penis. The tattoo came after the pair moved in to Nicoles Gold Coast apartment to start their life together as a married couple. On the same page: While on their honeymoon Keller brought up the subject of having children, something Nicole has always wished for Well suited: The more I get to know him the more I find we have in common, Nicole said Nicole and Keller enjoyed a romantic honeymoon in the Cook Islands, and are seemingly smitten with one another. While on their honeymoon Keller brought up the subject of having children, something Nicole has always wished for. Keller agreed, telling Nicole his family has looked after children in foster care for the past 12 years. The pair have initially adjusted to living with each other well. Mummy blogger Constance Hall has written a heartfelt post urging people to understand that children's behaviour isn't a reflection on their parents. The mother-of-four, from Perth, wrote on her Facebook page that three of her children are very gentle but one is different. 'I have a violent child,' Ms Hall said. 'Rumi is a f***ing little monster.' Scroll down for video 'I have a violent child': Mummy blogger Constance Hall (left) has said that her two-year-old son Rumi (right) is violent Controversial: In a Facebook post Ms Hall said that we shouldn't blame the parents of violent children She recounted that earlier on Tuesday, when she wrote the piece, that she caught her two-year-old son Rumi attacking some of her other children. 'Today I turned my back for a split second and he had backed Snow into a corner and was kicking and hitting her with meth head force.' 'I pulled him away and hugged Snow, Rumi went on to kick Arlo. He lashes out, it's just who he is.' 'Meth head force': The blogger said that she found Rumi kicking and hitting two of her other children 'He lashes out, it's just who he is': Ms Hall said that all of her other children are very gentle but Rumi isn't Ms Hall urged people to not judge parents if their child is violent, or assume that the kid has learnt the behaviour from a violent home. 'Please don't jump to conclusions that a child's behaviour is a reflection of a parent's abilities to care for them. Some of us just got a weird one,' she wrote. She recommended that instead of punishing violent children, we should be caring for them more. Popular: The post received more than 10,000 likes in only three hours after Ms Hall posted it 'Extra kindness and extra kisses': She said that violent children should never be punished with violence 'You MUST give them the extreme opposite. Don't ever punish with violence or condone it in anyway,' she said. 'Extra snuggles, extra kindness and extra kisses and with a bit of love you won't have a psychopath on your hands.' An obese model who is paid by men to eat wants to pile on a further 300lbs (21 stone) to become the world's fattest woman and be completely immobile. Monica Riley, 27, from Fort Worth, Texas, already tips the scales at 700lb (50 stone) but dreams of being too tat to move and is working towards hitting 1,000lb so that she feels like a 'queen'. Her feeder boyfriend Sid Riley, 25, whose surname she has taken despite not being married, spends his days cooking Monica meals and even feeding her 3,500 calorie shakes lavished with double cream through a funnel. Scroll down for video Monica Riley consumes 8,000 calories a day in her quest to become the world's fattest woman The 27-year-old is helped in her goal by boyfriend Sid, who spends his days cooking for her He then rolls her over when her 91-inch stomach is full. Among the things Monica - a model on Super Sized Big Beautiful Woman websites - is looking forward to about being immobile to is getting a bed with a built-in toilet which Sid will need to empty. Monica said: 'The plan is to reach 1000 lbs and become immobile. I would feel like a queen because Sid would be waiting on me hand and foot and hes excited about it too. 'Its a sexual fantasy for us and we talk about it a lot. He already has to help me get off the sofa and get me out of bed. 'If I lay down after a big dinner he has to help me roll over because my belly is too full for me to roll - its a big turn-on for both of us.' Sid will also feed Monica a weight gain shake lavished with double cream and milk which totals 3,500 calories alone Monica already struggles to get around but dreams of being completely immobile one day One of the things Monica says she is looking forward to is getting a bed with a built in toilet which Sid will have to empty Despite their controversial plans, the Monica and Sid are trying for a baby and have endured two miscarriages so far. She said: 'We do plan to have children theres nothing to stop me raising a child from my bedroom. 'We would get a nanny in to help around the house and take the baby out and about. Monica makes a living by modeling for websites showing larger women and gets paid by 'feeder men' to eat for them Monica already weighs 700 lbs but is striving to be 1,000 lbs to be the world's fattest woman The model, pictured here on her 17th birthday, has always been larger but decided to embrace her figure two years ago after opting out of weight loss surgery 'Theres nothing to stop us raising a child. Some people might think its selfish but Im confident we would be good parents.' Monica had been overweight all of her life and just two years ago she was preparing for bariatric surgery after an ex-boyfriend urged her to shed the pounds. But at the last minute she pulled out of the operation and decided to embrace her figure instead. Monica (far right) is pictured here with her family when she was a child struggling with weight Her mother Terri is gravely concerned about the health implications of Monica's quest And since meeting average-built Sid online four months ago, Monica has gained almost 55 lbs (four stone) by gorging on 8,000 calories every day. Monica said: 'The bigger I get the sexier I feel. I love my big soft belly and stuffing myself with food really turns me on. 'Sid loves to cook for me and hand-feed me and Ive achieved so much since we got together. He feeds me around the clock and I never have to get up to do anything.' Monica gets paid by men online to send photos and videos of her eating, with boyfriend Sid photographing her She has thousands of followers on her online accounts, which are filled with photos of her showing off her size 38 figure Before Monica met Sid, her step brother (left) photographed her for her online audience On an average day, Monica will eat six biscuits, six sausages in a bread roll, a big bowl of sugary cereal, two weight gain shakes, four McChicken sandwiches, four double cheeseburgers, a large portion of French fries, 30 chicken nuggets, macaroni cheese, Taco Bell treats and a gallon of ice cream. Monica hopes to get to a size where she will be unable to do anything for herself requiring Sid to clean her, feed her and change her by the time she is 32. The couple have run into criticism for their intentions, especially from Monicas mother Terri, but they wont be deterred in their efforts. Monica often wears racy lingerie in the photos she posts online On an average day, Monica will eat six biscuits, six sausages in a bread roll, a big bowl of cereal, two weight gain shakes, four McChicken sandwiches, four double cheeseburgers, French fries, 30 chicken nuggets, macaroni cheese, Taco Bell treats and a gallon of ice cream A previous boyfriend had encouraged her to lose weight and she was booked in for surgery before deciding to embrace her figure Monica said: 'My mom doesnt understand it at all and she says Im killing myself. 'I understand her concerns but its my life and gaining weight makes me happy. 'I do worry a little bit about losing my independence but I know Sid loves taking care of me and would never let me suffer.' Sid, who is 6ft 2in and 220 lbs, is also defensive against any criticism and insists he is simply helping Monica achieve her dreams. Since then she has been working hard to pile on the pounds to achieve her dream weight Her mother Terri is concerned but said she will support her daughter if 'it makes her happy' Regardless of the health risks of being morbidly obese, Monica and Sid are charging full steam ahead with their mammoth quest Sid said: 'There is a misconception that feederism and immobility is about control but thats not the case. 'If Monica wanted to stop I would accept her decision without question. 'I wouldnt see caring for Monica as a chore at all. 'I love her and I love doing things for her caring for her would be a dream come true.' To assist Monica with her weight-gain, Sid prepares a special shake for her to drink through a funnel. Monica (bottom left) is pictured here in her early teens with her family, including mother Terri who is worried about her daughter's size Sid often has to roll Monica over when her tummy is full and is looking forward to her being totally reliant on him when she is bed bound Monica spends her days sitting on the sofa and eating to achieve her weight gain goal The shake consists of ten Pop Tarts, heavy-duty cream, ice cream, milk and weight-gain power, totalling 3,500 calories. Monica said: 'The funnel feeding is what I really look forward to. I find it to be a very sexual experience and I know Sid likes it too. 'I have 20,000 online fans and they love to watch the funnel feeding its a big hit.' And regardless of the health risks of being morbidly obese, Monica and Sid are charging full steam ahead with their mammoth quest. News of Prince Harry's upcoming tour of the Caribbean has sent female fans into a frenzy on social media. Kensington Palace announced yesterday on Instagram and Twitter that the 31-year-old royal would be visiting the region this autumn on a whistle-stop tour including Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, and Grenada. The post, which clocked up more than 31,000 comments in a matter of hours, was inundated with comments from female fans - with some vowing to plan their holidays around the royal's tour itinerary. Kensington Palace announced on Instagram and Twitter that the 31-year-old royal would be visiting the region this autumn on a whistle-stop tour including Barbados and Grenada Taking to Instagram, bethlynnhoskins wrote: 'As I stated on Twitter my bags are packed & I'm ready to accompany him.' Fellow Harry enthusiast stacefacekiller tagged a friend, writing: 'Shall we meet him out there?' while allysonmarek wrote: 'Does he need a plus 1?' Mlunda39 added: 'Time for a vacation' and Lovelois2 wrote: 'Must follow him to each and every island.' Others offered to be his holiday companion, asking to 'hitch a ride', with Pipdoyle29 writing: 'If he needs a mate to go with him just let me know.' One enthusiastic Instagrammer, annabradders, wrote: 'It's destiny!!!!!!! Better get wedding dress shopping!' Margey2 wrote: 'THE ISLAND IS DEFINITELY SMALL ENOUGH TO FIND HIM.' While hannahlillyc told her friend: 'Change of holiday plan - we're going to all of the above.' Other followers commented on the accompanying photograph of a bearded Harry, with valestatrumpet gushing: 'Love Harry' and hayley.leah commenting: 'Rugged manly Haz.' Dzamandzan joked: 'I need some ginger ale' and chicavasquez said: 'Bae looking good.' Fellow fan beesyed wrote: 'Find out the dates; I'll be there!' Aoife_maria_mcevoy wrote: 'Handsome Prince Harry has a lot to look forward to as always! SOunds like such a beautiful tour of duties, a little piece of paradise for you to enjoy. A x' Harry on a previous visit to Barbados in 2010. He was at a Haiti benefit concert in Farley Hill national park when he left the VIP section of the venue to wow the audience on stage Prince Harry takes to the stage during a fundraising concert for Haiti during his January 2010 trip to Barbados. He will return to the isle this autumn during a tour of the Caribbean Scottnga commented: 'I never dreamed he'd turn out more handsome than his brother but he did!' While Mshuezo1825 gushed: 'Omg! Can i marry you!! #bluelove you are soooooooo handsome!' Harry will also visit Guyana, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines on his seven-leg tour. The royal has planned his trip to coincide with the 50th Anniversary of Independence for Barbados, the 50th Anniversary of Independence for Guyana, and the 35th Anniversary of Independence for Antigua and Barbuda. A man who was named the 'worst contestant ever' after his disastrous appearance on The Chase has seen the funny side of the abuse. Ciaran, from Leeds, was blasted by viewers of the hit game show after he ended up failing to answer a single question correctly in the final chase. But the primary school teaching assistant has become the toast of his friends who tweeted saying they were 'laughing so much about the outrage' Ciaran had caused - and he declared he had '#nomates' after going on the show. Scroll down for video Contestant Ciaran, pictured above, is a primary school teaching assistant from Leeds, who had an awful cash builder round and ended up failing to answer a single question correctly in the final chase Ciaran had told Bradley Walsh that he was going to study a masters in business in Denver, US, next year and wanted to use the money he won to put towards it. Yet his performance in the show wouldn't inspired university admissions officers with much confidence. One particularly amusing moment was when Bradley Walsh asked the question: 'Officially what colour was the champion race horse Desert Orchid?' Ciaran obviously felt under pressure with the time constraint and hurriedly answered: 'Green'. It was in fact grey. He realised the silliness of his answer straight away and viewers enjoyed seeing Bradley attempt to keep a straight face as the round continued. When the time was up, Ciaran quickly interjected and jokingly said: 'Ever seen a green horse Bradley?' to which Bradley replied: 'Ciaran, I nearly lost it there.' Having only been able to get 2,000 in the cash builder round, he must have been feeling particularly vulnerable because he opted to take the minus 15,000 offer when he faced The Chase, Paul Sinha. This decision immediately caused waves on social media. Anna Morey tweeted saying: 'Ciaran on The Chase literally worst contestant ever!!!!! Walking face palm. Team secretly fuming.' Others agreed, with Rhys Lennon tweeting: 'Ciaran how you going to do such a sinful thing. -15,000, you're going straight to hell for this.' The comments didn't let up. Bradley Walsh, pictured above, had to hold back his laughter after Ciaran said that the colour of a horse was 'green' His fellow contestants and Ciaran left The Chase with no cash prize Stacey said: 'I don't want them to win simply because I don't think Ciaran deserves a penny!' Lee Millett realised his day was going far better than Ciaran's, tweeting: 'Ciaran thinks horses are green, takes minus 15k, loses and now the whole country hates him. And I thought I had a bad day!!!!' Another tweeted sarcastically: 'Great contribution Ciaran take 15k off the team and don't answer a question' and another bluntly said: 'If Ciaran was my child, I'd disown him. Yes, it's that serious.' Olly Hammond joined in saying: 'A victory for justice that Ciaran took nothing home after taking the minus off, absolute scum of the earth'. A particularly unhappy viewer tweeted saying: 'A lad took minus 15k on The Chase earlier today. There's a floor reserved in hell for people who take the minus offer on The Chase.' Ciaran's friend Isabelle tweeted: 'Can't believe I was just laughing so much about the outrage Ciaran has caused on the chase that I missed my bus stop #thechase #thatsmyfriend' After the show aired and the backlash against Ciaran began, his friends joined in and laughed about the reaction he was receiving. Yona Knight-Wisdom said: 'Got to say congrats to my best friend, Ciaran, who today became the worst ever contestant on The Chase. He's actually a smart guy!' with laughing-face emojis. Isabelle said: 'Can't believe I was just laughing so much about the outrage Ciaran has caused on the chase that I missed my bus stop #thechase #thatsmyfriend' Ciaran even tweeted himself, saying sarcastically: 'I'm glad you enjoyed fans #nomates' He then simply said: '#haters'. The last time the character of Matthew Williams was seen on screen in Cold Feet, he was a bouncing baby boy just a few months old. Fast forward 13 years and television has a strange way of moving on. Actor Cel Spellman, 21, has taken on the role of troubled Matthew - now somehow 15 in the show - and can already boast a career that includes interviewing global pop stars and hosting his own radio show. Ceallach 'Cel' Spellman appeared in last night's episode as Matthew, who watched his father, Adam (James Nesbitt), wed new bride Angela (Karen David). Scroll down for video All grown up: Cel Spellman may be 21 in real life but the actor is donning a school uniform to play 15-year-old Matthew Williams in the news series of Cold Feet One to watch: The handsome star has already appeared on screens as a child actor and still appears on Radio 1 as a DJ Manchester-born Spellman, who attended the Sylvia Young Stage School, is known to a legion of teenagers as a Radio One DJ. His acting career is clearly flourishing but it his DJ job that has seen him hanging out with the hottest bands and Miss Vogue named him as one of their 50 'fittest boys' earlier this year. The publication cooed: 'Did you ever see a cuter freckle-filled face?' Modestly, Spellman responded on Twitter, saying: 'Don't know who I've paid to blag this one. I'll take it though.' His Twitter bio includes a quote from Alice in Wonderland about how 'all the best are mad' and his Instagram account is strewn with images of him with famous faces including Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber. Manchester City fan Spellman is a new addition to Cold Feet, joining the re-formed cast including James Nesbitt, John Thomson, Hermione Norris, Robert Bathurst and Fay Ripley. After the show aired last night, Spellman took to Twitter to say: 'So there it is! Hope you all enjoyed the start of and that we did it justice. It was a privilege to be a part of something so special.' 'Freckle-filled' beauty: Miss Vogue named Spellman on its top 50 fittest boys list this year, alongside 1D star Harry Styles Spellman's presenting gig has seen him rub shoulders with Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber The character of Matthew struggles to come to terms with his father's new life and teenage angst is something Spellman is more than familiar with. He revealed to the Sunday People earlier this month that his time spent at Sylvia Young Theatre School in London was a lonely one marred by bullying. The DJ moved to the capital at just 13 on a scholarship and suffered torments at the hands of older boys. He's got Cold Feet! Last night saw Matthew appearing forlorn as his father Adam prepared to marry new bride Angela The Manchester-born star has been speaking out about his own teenage years including being bullied by older boys at the Sylvia Young Theatre School when he was just 13 He revealed he was once force-fed toothpaste until he vomited and kept his misery a secret until he decided to get help. Spellman said: 'There would be days of dread. Then there were some great nights when everything was fine. 'Like Matthew, I preferred to deal with problems on my own, but there comes a breaking point.' Earlier this year, Lancashire mum Michelle Hughes revealed how her baby son was picked to star in one of the biggest television scenes of the last twenty years... and how he's now a strapping 13-year-old budding triathlete. Mum-of-two Hughes' youngest son Jacob, then just 8 months old, was chosen to play gorgeous brown-eyed baby Matthew in the funeral scenes in Cold Feet. The original Matthew Williams - a few child actors played the baby in Cold Feet with Jacob Hughes pictured here during Rachel's funeral scene back in 2003 Michelle - now 42 - was taken aback when an assistant director from the show called her in 2002 to ask if Jacob would be willing to star in the show, and particularly in the most important scene of the programme's successful five-year run, when key character Rachel Bradley (played by Helen Baxendale) was killed in a car crash. The first day at school provides the perfect photo opportunity for proud parents to capture a landmark moment in their little ones' lives. Mothers and fathers around the world have been snapping their children's eager grins as they set off to the classroom for the first time. However, some more honest parents are making sure to share a different side of their kids' watershed moment with hilarious photos that contrast children as they set off for school to afterwards when they look, quite frankly, exhausted. Parents have shared the hilarious photos of their children before their first day at school (left) and afterwards (right) The series of amusing photos submitted to Bored Panda by Imgur users as well as their readers, shows the contrast in the children's expression before and after their first day at school. Perhaps the most famous comparison comes from Kelly OBrien, of Canton, Ohio, whose photos of her daughter Franky Meyer following her first day went viral. In the first image Franky looks pristine in her new school outfit, beaming at the camera. In many of the pictures the kids start off looking optimistic (left) before it all ends in tears by the end of the day (right) This photo may seem out of place in the collection at first but on closer inspection the girl's brother can be seen having a tantrum and wailing in the background A mother shares a photograph of her son beaming at the camera while clutching a lunch box on his first day (left) but on his second day he seems less enthused But Kelly captured a second photo of her daughter looking somewhat more frazzled as she left the school bus on her way home which she shared on Imgur where it received over a million views. It wasn't long before other parents followed suit, posting the aftermath of their offspring's first day. In another Imgur submission a mother shares a photograph of her son beaming at the camera while clutching a transformers lunch box on his first day. Imgur user Agitator shared a hilarious photograph of their daughter captioning it: 'Our daughter is NOT OK with going back to school' Lying face down proved a popular position for returning students as it is seen adopted here Following a long day of learning this little one looks a little dazed and confused compared to her first photo In the next photo which shows the same boy on the second day, he can be seen looking thoroughly miserable and dragging his backpack on the floor. Imgur user Agitator shared a hilarious photograph of their daughter captioning it: 'Our daughter is NOT OK with going back to school'. In the photo the unhappy customer is lying face down on the carpet refusing to move, a popular position for returning students as it is seen adopted in several other photos. The first day of term sees this young girl eager to get going (left) but by day two it seems she has had quite enough (right) The parents of these siblings were likely thrilled with this adorable picture of the pair as they headed off to school But in a photo taken at dinner time looks as though the pair have lost their pizzazz Perhaps the most famous comparison comes from Kelly OBrien, of Canton, Ohio, whose photos of her daughter Franky Meyer (pictured left and right) following her first day went viral Reddit member xMudxCrabx provided a slightly different take on the trend when they shared a photo of their beaming daughter ahead of school. It may seem out of place in the collection of photos but on closer inspection her brother can be seen having a tantrum and wailing in the background. How did YOUR child get on at school? If you've taken a funny before and after photo of their first day we want to here from you! Email us at Femail@mailonline.co.uk This young school girl appears a little to be a little wrung out after he big day at school There's no denying that this young boy was not a fan of his first day of Kindergarten Lauren Bush Lauren celebrated her five-year wedding anniversary with husband David Lauren this weekend by returning to the very spot where they said 'I do'. The couple flew to Colorado for Labor Day, enjoying some time on the Double R L ranch, which is owned by David's dad Ralph Lauren. But while they became a new family of two that day in 2011, this time they were a family of three, as 32-year-old Lauren and her 44-year-old hubby brought their adorable son James along for the trip. Scroll down for video Family getaway: Lauren Bush Lauren spent Labor Day weekend in Colorado with her husband and their son, James Hey, cowboy! She and her husband David Lauren, 44, shared several pictures of their nine-month-old boy on Instagram Fits right in! They made sure the little guy dressed the part, and David jokingly called him 'Baby Crockett King of the Wild Frontier' Revisited: The couple celebrated their five-year wedding anniversary on David's dad's enormous ranch the same spot they got married On Saturday, Lauren shared a picture of Dylan and nine-month-old James sporting matching cowboy hates and plaid shirts. James even wore a mini sheriff's badge to really play up the theme. 'My two cowboy loves at the rodeo,' the proud mom wrote on Instagram. On Sunday, marking their fifth anniversary, both Lauren and David shared a string of photos to commemorate the happy occasion. 'Happy anniversary to my One @davidlauren,' Lauren wrote, accompanying a photo of the family of three dressed casually and standing out in the grass on the ranch. 'I feel so blessed to have married you 5 years high up in the Rockie Mountains! I love you and our baby boy to the moon and back! [sic]' That's huge: They enjoyed some time on the 17,000-acre family property Bliss: Both wrote loving words for the other and happily celebrated the big day Looking back: Lauren, pictured hiking with James, said she feels 'blessed' to have married her husband there David publicly poured on the love, too, sharing a smiling photo of his wife cradling their son in the sunshine, as well as another close-up of the little boy dressed in a fringed sweater, fringed booties, and a fur cap. 'Meet Baby Crockett King of the Wild Frontier and our sweet companion as we celebrate our 5th anniversary,' he wrote. Finally, they both wished followers a happy Labor Day with relaxed pictures of themselves with James and a guitar in the background. The happy family seems to have arrived in the Rockies before the long weekend, as Lauren also uploaded a picture of herself hiking with James on her back earlier in the week. Romantic: The couple tied the knot in 2011 after meeting at the Met Gala in 2004 Family time: For Fourth of July weekend, the family traveled to Kennebunkport, Maine so James could meet his great-grandfather, George H. W. Bush, for the first time In July, the threesome took another trip to Kennebunkport, Maine to celebrate Independence Day and introduce James to his great-grandpa, former President George H. W. Bush, for the first time. 'Family time in Maine and James getting to meet his Great Gampy and Ganny,' Lauren captioned an image of her family posed with her grandfather. After a busy day of engagements Prince Charles seemed eager to tuck into a piece of cake at the reception celebrating 500 years of Royal Mail on Tuesday. The Prince of Wales, 67, beamed as he wielded an impressive cake knife intended to cut a red and gold gateau made in tribute of the postal service celebrations. He was joined by his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, 69, who joined him on cutting the cake at the anniversary held at Merchant Taylor's Hall in London. Prince Charles and Camilla attended the reception of the 500th anniversary of the Royal Mail on Tuesday afternoon The cake was decorated with a regal red crown reminiscent of the logo and with icing post boxes surrounding the hexagonal sponge. The event today commemorates 500 years since Henry VIII knighted Brian Tuke, the first Master of the Posts, in 1516. The royal couple looked elegant for the occasion dressed in navy with Camilla's cobalt silk dress complimenting her husband's blue pin striped suit. The cake was decorated with a regal red crown reminiscent of the logo and with icing post boxes surrounding the hexagonal sponge The royal beamed as he wielded an impressive cake knife intended to cut a red and gold gateau made in tribute of the postal service celebrations While at the event the Prince of Wales hopped on board a 1933 BSA 500cc motorbike used for delivering telegrams, much to the delight of onlookers who wasted no time snapping a picture. The couple later unveiled a green Penfold postbox, named after its original designer J W Penfold, to commemorate the occasion. The pair then met with long serving postal workers who stood in front of a display of the Queen's 90th birthday commemorative stamps, in which Prince Charles features. While at the event the Prince of Wales hopped on board a 1933 BSA 500cc motorbike used for delivering telegrams This was much to the delight of onlookers who wasted no time snapping a picture It's been a busy day for the Prince of Wales following a busy morning sowing seeds in London's Green Park. The Prince joined a host of school children to scatter yellow rattle flower seeds for a wildflower meadow named in honour of the Queen. As he strolled through the park close to his home, Clarence House, Charles was spotted by a pair of surprised joggers, who did a double take when they recognised the well-known royal. The couple later unveiled a green Penfold postbox, named after its original designer J W Penfold Charles and Camilla were given a tour of some of the stamps featuring the royal family throughout history The pair then met with long serving postal workers who stood in front of a display of the Queen's 90th birthday commemorative stamps He began the Coronation Meadows campaign in 2013 as a tribute to his mother to mark 60 years since she was crowned. The project has created a new meadow in every county in the UK and the Queen's Meadow in Green Park is the 90th Coronation Meadow - and also marks the monarch's 90th birthday this year. Over 97 per cent of the country's wildflower meadows have been lost since the Second World War - amounting to nearly 7.5 million acres. Earlier today Prince Charles joined a host of school children to scatter seeds in Green Park The group scattered yellow rattle flower seeds for a wildflower meadow named in honour of the Queen Charles, who is patron of the three charities running the project - The Rare Breeds Survival Trust, The Wildlife Trusts and Plantlife - joined local school pupils to sow the seeds, and met shire horses being used to harrow the ground. Rachel de Thame, Plantlife's vice president, called for the public to continue creating new meadows. 'The 90th meadow in London is just the beginning. As he strolled through the park close to his home, Clarence House, Charles was spotted by a pair of surprised joggers The pair took a double take upon realising that it was the world famous royal 'We want to see the meadows revival reach every community and really start to restore the colour and diversity to our countryside,' she said. 'And it's not just about the flowers - wonderful meadow plants like ragged-Robin, lady's mantle, burnet saxifrage and eyebright - but the wildlife they sustain. 'From bees collecting nectar from buttercups to goldfinches feasting on knapweed seeds and common blue butterfly caterpillars eating bird's-foot-trefoil leaves, if we all do our bit to bring wild flowers back - as I've started to do in my own meadow at home - we have a chance to help nature re-build its fragile balance and regain its full glory.' As the company's chief content officer, Joanna will be overseeing both Hearst's US and international titles ready to do something else' Joanna, who has been editor-in-chief of the magazine since 2012, said she is ' Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief Joanna Coles is leaving the magazine and moving up the corporate ladder to become Hearst's first chief content officer. Although she has only been at the helm of the popular women's magazine for four years, the 54-year-old admitted that she was 'definitely ready to do something else'. 'I love Cosmo, but I gave it everything I had,' she told the New York Times. 'I just didnt have another sex position in me.' Moving on: Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief Joanna Coles is leaving the magazine to take on a new role at Hearst Bigger role: The 54-year-old, who is pictured flipping through the March 2016 issue of Cosmo, has been named Hearst's first chief content officer Hearst announced the news on Tuesday morning, and the company is slated to name her replacement later this afternoon. The move came about after David Carey, the president of Hearst magazines, suggested during a lunch meeting that Joanna should take on a bigger role in the company. Joanna joined Hearst in 2006 as the editor-in-chief of Marie Claire, and during her time at the magazine, she helped forge a partnership between the publication and the popular design competition series Project Runway. After moving over to Cosmo, she went on to facilitate a mutually beneficial collaboration between the magazine and Snapchat, and according to Hearst the Cosmopolitan Snapchat channel gets six million visitors a day. On the go: Joanna took to Twitter after the announcement to say that she and her treadmill desk are 'on the move' Famous faces: Joanna is pictured taking a selfie with Kylie Jenner during the reality star's visit to Hearst Tower in April David told the New York Times that Hearst has formed many similar partnership over the years, but he noticed that more and more companies that are looking to work with the publisher are actually reaching out to Joanna first. 'Ive watched Joanna lead Cosmo, and the whole time, I thought she could make an even bigger impact,' he said. As Hearst's chief content officer, Joanna will be working with editors and overseeing the company's magazines both nationally and internationally. The editor will also be helping Hearst extend its company's brands by looking for new business opportunities and partnerships that include television and live events. Dedicated: Joanna, who is pictured speaking on stage at The Cannes Lions festival in June, said she has given Cosmo everything she had Life of an editor: 'I just didnt have another sex position in me,' Joanna admitted after the announcement. She is pictured getting a 'special delivery' while at work Joanna said she already has two projects in the works with other Hearst brands and is 'really excited to do a bigger job'. However, she believes she leaving Cosmopolitan in a good place. According to the Magazine Media 360 Brand Audience, Cosmopolitan reached nearly 34 million people in July across all of its platforms, including digital and video. After the announcement, Joanna took to Twitter on Tuesday to share a link to her interview with the New York Times, writing: 'Some news: Me and my treadmill desk are on the move.' In addition to her new role at Hearst, Joanna is helping to produce an E! reality series about young Cosmopolitan employees, which she will occasionally appear in. She is also working on the production of a scripted series inspired by her life for the ABC network Freeform and is writing a new book about 'sex and intimacy in the digital age'. Kylie Jenner has something extra special to celebrate this New York Fashion Week, however, it's unclear if her brother-in-law Kanye West will be on board. The 19-year-old reality star was named one of the stars of Alexander Wang's new fall 2016 campaign just a few hours before she touched down in the Big Apple on Tuesday. Kylie was revealed to be a member of the 'Wang Squad' when the brand shared a Polaroid-style photo of her Instagram, using the hashtag #WANGF16. New gig: Kylie Jenner has been named one of the new faces of Alexander Wang's fall 2016 campaign Power couple: The 19-year-old's boyfriend Tyga is also featured in the upcoming ads The designer launched the #WangSquad campaign last spring, and this season he has tapped 23 celebrities including Kylie to be featured in his upcoming ads. In the photo shared by the designer, Kylie is wearing black hooded sweatshirt and minimal make-up, and it looks like the star is mixing a little business with pleasure. Kylie, who walked in her brother-in-law Kanye West's Yeezy Season 2 fashion show last September during New York Fashion Week, was left off the catwalk when he showed his Yeezy Season 3 duds in February. Touch down: Kylie took to Instagram after the news was revealed to show a picture of herself landing in New York for fashion week. The star recently dyed her hair platinum Famous faces: The designer took to Instagram on Tuesday to reveal all 23 members of this season's 'Wang Squad', which includes actress Zoe Kravitz Although it is unclear why Kylie was passed over, the rapper admitted in February after the show that he was blindsided by his sister-in-law secretly signing a deal with Puma, a direct competitor to his fashion and footwear line with Adidas. However, it appears that Kylie has no problem scoring modeling gigs of her own. Kylie's boyfriend Tyga is also one of the stars of the illustrious line-up, which features actress Zoe Kravitz and models Anna Ewers, Binx Walton, Hanne Gaby, Issa Lish, Lexi Boling, Yana Bovenistier, and Alice Metza. The upcoming campaign was undoubtedly musically inspired, as rappers A$AP Ferg, Vince Staples, and Big Sean have all been dubbed members of the Wang Squad. Musically inclined: Singer Alice Glass is just one of the many musicians featured in the campaign Star-studded: Music producer Skrillex and singer Tinashe are also featured in the line-up for the campaign, which is 'coming soon' Music producers Metro Boomin and Skrillex, Tinashe are also featured in the music-heavy line-up that includes artists M, Alice Glass, Black Atlass and RL Grime. The campaign is said to be 'coming soon', and a teaser video featuring the cast is set to A$AP Ferg's song Strive. And while Kylie's 20-year-old sister Kendall may be the family's resident supermodel, it is possible that it was actually Tyga who helped get her the gig. Cut: Kylie walked the runway for her brother-in-law Kanye West last September (L), but she was left out of his Yeezy Season 3 show in February and attended it with Tyga (R) The rapper told Harper's Bazaar that he has close ties with Wang, calling him a 'great guy'. 'He's always invited me front row to shows, and I performed at a few of his after-parties, so we built that relationship for the last two and a half, three years,' he explained. 'So for him to actually put me in a campaign, I was really honored. 'I'm excited to see how it comes out because I didn't look at the photos on set; I like to just live in the moment and do what I do and let him and his people put their touch on it. It's gonna be a lot of video. There's a video piece to it as well that we shot.' Kylie, who just dyed her hair platinum blonde, will most likely be showing off her new 'do alongside Tyga at Alexander Wang's spring 2017 show on Saturday evening. No hard feelings: Although it's unclear why she was passed over, Kanye admitted in February that he was blindsided by her signing a secret deal with Puma Out and about: Kylie and Tyga sat front row at Alexander Wang's fall 2016 show in February Back in February, the couple sat front row at the designer's fall 2016 show, and now they are two of the campaign's most famous faces. The modeling gig is the biggest one Kylie has landed since she starred alongside Kendall in a sultry Balmain campaign last summer. After sharing Wang's Instagram photo of her, she returned to social media a couple hours later to post a snapshot of herself walking down the stairs of a plane. In the picture, Kylie's newly dyed hair is on display, and she looks relaxed in a baggy orange sweatshirt. 'NY,' she captioned the image. In honor of his second wedding anniversary, actor Neil Patrick Harris has paid tribute to his husband David Burtka. The How I Met Your Mother star, 43, and his husband, fellow actor David Burtka, 41, were hitched two years ago today in Italy in a star-studded event after having dated for ten years. To celebrate the milestone, Neil took to Instagram to share a touching image from the ceremony, showing the couple about to kiss in front of a fireworks display. Scroll down for video Two years on: Neil Patrick Harris celebrated two years of marriage to husband David Burtka with a sweet Instagram post on Tuesday All love: In the social media post, the How I Met Your Mother star called marrying David the 'Best. Decision. Ever' Dapper dudes: Neil and fellow actor David wed in Italy in 2014 after ten years of dating But what is even more heartwarming about the post is that the image was taken as a screenshot of Neil's own phone, showing that he keeps the photo as his wallpaper. 'Two years ago, [David] and I got hitched. Best. Decision. Ever,' the actor wrote along with the picture, adding hashtags using the words 'grateful', 'screenshot' and 'wallpaper'. The moment captured in the image was taken during the 2014 celebration when the newlyweds had their first dance to Kelly Clarkson's A Moment Like This. During the song, a beautiful fireworks display was set off. The couple were also treated to a performance by none other than Elton John. Going strong: The pair had their first dance to Kelly Clarkson's A Moment Like This, which included a fireworks display Making a toast: The couple were also treated to a performance by Elton John at their wedding Doting dads: The couple are parents to five-year-old twins Harper (right) and Gideon (left) The pair certainly seem to be the perfect couple, with frequent trips together and ever-adorable posts online featuring their children, five-year-old twins Harper and Gideon, who will be starting kindergarten this year. The anniversary tribute echoes one that Neil posted to the social media site last year, celebrating one year on since their wedding. 'One year ago today I had the pleasure of marrying David Burtka,' he wrote at the time. 'I'm so happy that I did - he's a truly wonderful man. Here's to many more laughs and adventures..!' All smiles: Last year, Neil shared this photo from their wedding day, praising his husband as a 'truly wonderful man' Sharing the love: The couple love to shared images online of their beautiful family With that, he shared another image of the pair at the wedding: a heartwarming photo of the handsome husbands laughing together. Neil can be seen holding onto a microphone in the shot, in which he looks sharply dressed in a fitted white button down with a black vest and bow tie, likely part of his custom Tom Ford ensemble for the wedding. He's looking up at the sky and laughing hysterically, as David leans in and holds onto his arm while doing the same. Dessert lovers are getting all gooey for the latest sweet treat to hit Sydney's streets. Just make sure to bring a friend, or three, when you attempt to tackle this deep fried dessert as big as a pumpkin. The heart-stopping dish weighs a whopping 1 kilogram and consists of a ball of Nutella ice cream coated in bread crumbs and smothered in caramel sauce. Scroll down for video Decadent: The 1kg ball of Nutella ice cream is coated, deep fried and covered in caramel sauce Pushing boundaries: Piccolo Me founder Roy El Hachem wanted to see how far he could take the dessert The extravagant dessert is currently being served at the Piccolo Me cafe in Sydney's CBD. Picollo Me founder Roy El Hachem said the 'Fried Maltella' dessert is all about pushing boundaries. 'We always had a smaller fried ice cream ball available but I always like to push my own personal boundaries and see how far I can take things,' he said. 'I got given the name "Roy Wonka" by a few bloggers a couple of years back when I first started dishing out weird creations.' Challenge: Daily Mail Australia reporter Steve Trask gamely took up the challenge of finishing the dessert Defeated: After steadily scoffing the dessert for just under an hour, reporter Steve Trask had to admit defeat Cafe manager Jess Bailey said the dish takes three to four hours of dedicated preparation before it is served up to peckish customers. That includes blending the ice cream, rolling it into a ball, coating it, cooking it and cooling it down. Jess said the dish is so big many customers have struggled to finish it. 'It's a ball of ice cream as big as your face,' she said. Roy added: 'My biggest shame is when I tried it and failed to finish it. I have not slept well since that day.' The dessert costs customers $30 - including a giveaway hat - and is only available at Piccolo Me on Sydney's Castlereagh Street. Told that she had cancer, Karen Lomas quite naturally wanted to know where it had started. Did she have breast cancer, or perhaps lung cancer? The trouble was doctors could not tell her, because Karen, 52, is one of the many thousands in this country who develop cancer of unknown primary (CUP) each year. To put it simply it means the cancer has no obvious starting point instead it appears as a secondary cancer, most commonly found in the liver, lungs and bones. Because they cant identify the type of cancer the CUP originated from, it can be hard for doctors to tailor the correct treatment hence only 16 per cent of those diagnosed with CUP are alive after a year. Because they cant identify the type of cancer the CUP originated from, it can be hard for doctors to tailor the correct treatment In fact although few people have heard of it, according to the latest available figures CUP causes more than 10,000 deaths in the UK each year, making it the fifth biggest cause of cancer death. Karen, a mental health occupational therapist from Cambridgeshire, first noticed something was wrong in late 2012 when a small swelling developed on the right-hand side of her neck. To begin with she thought nothing of it. But a couple of months later, I caught sight of it in the mirror and realised it was quite prominent, she says. I had no pain, but I thought Id better get it checked out. Her GP was concerned enough to arrange a swift referral and in January 2013 she underwent a mammogram, ultrasound, CT scan and a biopsy of the lump. Two days later, they confirmed that the swelling in my neck was a secondary cancer in the lymph nodes there, but that further tests would be needed to find out where it had originated. Secondary cancers (or metastases) occur when cancer cells spread from their original site and lodge elsewhere in the body. Using blood tests and by studying cells under a microscope, doctors can tell whether the cells match the tissue in which theyre found or if theyve travelled from elsewhere. They are still the same type of cancer, no matter where the new tumour is growing so, for example, breast cancer cells that form secondary tumours in the liver are still classed as breast cancer. Karen, a mental health occupational therapist from Cambridgeshire, first noticed something was wrong in late 2012 when a small swelling developed on the right-hand side of her neck Although I was obviously worried about the cancer diagnosis, I wasnt overly concerned that they didnt yet know what type of cancer it was, says Karen. I just assumed that more tests would reveal it so that I could start treatment. Karen went back for a battery of further tests in an effort to track down the original site of the cancer, including a thyroid ultrasound as it was the nearest organ, another biopsy and a full-body MRI and a PET scan, which uses small amounts of radioactive drugs to trace cancer cells activity. But the original source was nowhere to be found. Thats when the first mention of cancer of unknown primary (CUP) was made, says Karen. I was filled with disbelief that, even after having every part of my body scanned, they couldnt find where the cancer had started or come from. Karen Lomas I was filled with disbelief that, even after having every part of my body scanned, they couldnt find where the cancer had started or come from. A CUP diagnosis is given when, despite rigorous tests, the primary tumour that led to secondary cancers still cant be found with certainty. You can identify, say, breast cancer cells in the lung as they match the biopsy from the site of origin, says Dr Harpreet Wasan, a Consultant and Reader in Medical Oncology at Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College London. In the case of CUP, we have only a single biopsy from the organ that has the secondary cancer and nothing to compare it with. It is still not known for sure why the primary tumour cant be found in these cases, but there are several theories. It may be that the initial starting collection of cancer cells are tiny (and so undetectable by any scans) and spread quickly around the body, rather than growing locally first into a tumour or lump before spreading, says Dr Wasan. Karen says she was 'filled with disbelief' after the diagnosis. She has had cancer twice and battled it with chemo and radiotherapy Another theory is that the initial tumour grows so fast, it cant maintain its nutritional needs where it starts and so has to migrate to get nutrients to survive, making its origin hard to trace. CUP can occur in people of any age but is most common in the over 75s. All cancers have specific treatment programmes such as chemotherapy, but when you dont know what type of cancer it is, you cant tailor a treatment. So doctors end up using a chemotherapy that has a wide application, and can be used to treat a number of different cancers. In addition to this, secondary cancers are always hard to cure, even when we know where they originated, as they are generally more aggressive and eventually unresponsive to treatment, says Dr Wasan. Dr Wasan, with the help of CUP teams throughout the UK, has just completed a nationwide trial, examining outcomes on patients to assess which chemotherapy drugs are most effective, and is trying to identify the best test for finding where the cancer started, such as genetic profiling of the tumour. Another issue for those with CUP is that whereas there are specific medical staff or support staff for breast cancer, say, or prostate cancer for CUP often there isnt. All cancers have specific treatment programmes such as chemotherapy, but when doctors dont know what type of cancer it is, they use a chemotherapy that has a wide application Theres a woeful lack of specialists to help people cope with the concept of the unknown diagnosis, says Dr Wasan. Guidelines from The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) say that every hospital with a cancer unit should have a CUP team, including a CUP specialist nurse. However, Dr Wasan says this is not always the case. Its a distressing and confusing diagnosis and patients need clear explanations and specialist support to understand that this condition is relatively common, he says. The condition also has few survivors or champions to fundraise for more research, so its a neglected area, he adds. When Karen began her first round of treatment there was little in the way of specialist help available. Aside, from my doctor, the charity (Jos Friends, the only designated charity for CUP) was my only source of help and information, she says. I didnt have a specialist nurse, as I didnt fall into any cancer category. She was started on a broad range chemotherapy called ECX. I had to start treatment as the cancer in my neck was growing, says Karen. Illustration of lymphocytes attacking a cancer cell. One issue for those with CUP is that there often isn't any specific hospital staff or support staff to treat the condition Twenty sessions of daily radiotherapy followed and it seemed to have done the job. It had destroyed the lump and I appeared to be clear of cancer everywhere else, says Karen. I had scans of my torso every three months to be sure. But in June 2015, Karen started vomiting. Her GP suspected a stomach bug and gave her rehydration drinks, but when she was still vomiting two days later, she was sent to A&E. A chest X-ray and ECG (a test to measure the electrical activity of the heart) showed that she had pericardial effusion (a build-up of fluid around her heart) and she was taken into hospital to have it drained off through a tube in her chest. I felt instantly better when the fluid was drained off, says Karen. However, the fluid was sent off for testing and it came back showing that it was cancerous and had been caused by a secondary cancer in the lymph nodes. 'I was told that I would need more chemo urgently. We have small amounts of fluid in many body systems, such as around the heart and lungs, acting as a lubricant explains Dr Wasan. But cancer can clog up the system the fluid cant flow freely anymore and builds up. A routine scan in April showed that the cancer has come back again, and this time, it appeared in her stomach as a small tumour. Karen is now in her third round of chemotherapy Karens chemotherapy was much harder this time round. I was sick a lot and developed terrible blisters on my feet so I couldnt walk. I was off work for over three months, having never taken a sick day in 20 years. The treatment worked again there was no sign of cancer anywhere in her body and Karen returned to work in January this year. But a routine scan in April showed that the cancer had come back yet. This time, it appeared in her stomach as a small tumour. Ive had more tests and biopsies on this latest recurrence and its still not revealing where its originally from, she says. Karen is now in her third round of chemotherapy. Im past caring where the cancer has come from these days Im now more concerned with being treated successfully and managing my symptoms. 'The doctors have been amazing, but more research needs to be done the diagnosis is not only hard on the patient but also on the doctors because they want to be able to treat you as best they can. A new procedure can help patients avoid open surgery to fix an artery before it ruptures. Frank Garvin, 79, from Beckenham in Kent, who runs an aerial and communications company, underwent the treatment, as he tells OONA MASHTA. THE PATIENT During a routine appointment in November 2011, an ultrasound scan showed that I had an aortic aneurysm. I had never heard of these before and even asked the nurse if this was a good or a bad thing. She explained it was a swelling which occurs when the wall of the aorta the main vessel taking blood from the heart to the body weakens. The scan showed it was 3.5 cm wide, so she said I needed close monitoring as if it got bigger, there was a chance it would burst and this could be fatal. Frank Garvin, 79, from Beckenham in Kent, discovered he had an aortic aneurysm during a routine doctor's appointment in 2011 Eventually I would need surgery and I wasnt looking forward to that. I was so surprised it happened to me because other than slightly high blood pressure (which was controlled by medication), I had no other health issues, hadnt got any symptoms and was relatively healthy weight (12 st and 5 ft 9). I went back to my GP, who referred me to Lewisham Hospital, where I had ultrasound scans every six months to monitor the aneurysm. Scans showed that the aneurysm was growing in size and by November 2015 it measured 5.9 cm. Doctors said this meant there was a risk it could burst soon, so referred me to specialist surgeons at St Thomass in London for surgery before it ruptured. I was really worried and my wife Rosalinde and I had some sleepless nights thinking about surgery and how the aneurysm could burst at any time. I met my surgeon Said Abisi in December and he said my aneurysm was positioned higher up in the abdomen than most are. This meant traditional keyhole surgery to strengthen the aorta wall with a special tube (a stent) wasnt an option because there were lots of smaller blood vessels near the swelling and inserting a stent could block blood supply to the major organs. Fixing my type of aneurysm would usually involve open surgery to cut through the swelling and replace the swollen tissue with a special fabric patch, called a graft. But he then mentioned that there was a new type of keyhole surgery to insert a tailor-made stent to fix complex aneurysms like mine. This would be made of a special material that had holes in it and would be designed specifically for the shape of my aorta. Francis is one of the first patients to undergo the new procedure which involves inserting a tailor-made stent to fix his complex aneurysm This was immediately my preference as it was less risky, so I agreed to try it. Mr Abisi took scans to get a detailed picture of what my aorta looked like and used them to design a stent. This was then sent off to an Australia company to be constructed and I was told it would take at least six weeks for it to come back. It felt like I was waiting with a time bomb inside me. I finally had the operation in April. I was given a general anaesthetic and woke up six hours later in intensive care where I stayed for two days. I didnt suffer too much pain or discomfort afterwards although I did have some pretty impressive bruising on the tops of my legs where they had inserted the stents. I now have annual checks to check it is all still in place and so far all is well. Its great not to worry about it anymore, Im incredibly lucky to have had a keyhole option and the graft specifically made for me. THE SURGEON Said Abisi is a consultant vascular surgeon at Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust. An aortic aneurysm is a swelling of the aorta, the main blood vessel that leads from the left side of the heart pumping oxygenated blood around the body. The swelling happens when the wall of the aorta weakens, making the tissue slacker and more prone to bulging. Its not known exactly what causes this weakening but being male, smoking, high blood pressure and getting older are risk factors. Nine per cent of men over 65 will have an aortic aneurysm. An aortic aneurysm is a swelling of the aorta, the main blood vessel that leads from the left side of the heart pumping oxygenated blood around the body If an aortic aneurysm bursts, it causes major bleeding which can be fatal. About 6,000 people die from an aortic aneurysm each year. In most cases, an aneurysm doesnt cause symptoms so patients are unaware of it until it bursts, which is why it is often referred to as the silent killer. They are mostly picked up by routine screening which is offered to men over 65. Most aortic aneurysms grow at a rate of 2mm per year, but they all need to be monitored because once they get to about 5.9cm there is a real risk of rupturing and patients need surgery. Aneurysms can occur along the whole length of the aorta. The majority occur below the level of the kidneys and can be treated with conventional keyhole procedures. This involves inserting a straight tube, known as a stent, inside the weakened part of the aorta, so that the wall is strengthened and blood can continue to flow. Twenty per cent of cases occur higher up in the abdomen which is what Frank Garvin had. In this part of the aorta there are branches to the kidneys, intestines, spleen and liver and repairing this area requires a complex procedure because there is an extensive network of blood vessels - the standard straight stent would not work as it would block off these branches. Patients ideally need a stent with holes in it, known as fenestrations, so that blood will still reach these organs but in the past these have not been available because the exact position of the holes depends on the individual patients anatomy. Instead, we have had to perform surgery. The operation involves cutting through the stomach to reach the aneurysm and then remove the enlarged section of the aortas wall and sewing a piece of fabric into its position, staying away from the branches. Now up to 95 per cent of patients with complex aortic aneurysms can be treated through keyhole surgery using a special tailor-made stent, also called an endograft But this is risky, invasive and has a longer recovery time about three months compared to keyhole surgery which is about three weeks. And the majority of patients are not fit enough to withstand this open surgery so are rejected for treatment. Now up to 95 per cent of patients with complex aortic aneurysms can be treated through keyhole surgery using a special tailor-made stent, also called an endograft. First we take a detailed CT scan to examine the aorta and develop a 3D image of all its branches. We use this image to produce a design for a stent tailored for patients with precisely positioned openings (fenestrations) to fit all the tiny branches of the aorta. This design is sent to a company in Australia which manufactures the stents, which takes roughly six weeks. SYMPTOMS OF AN ABDOMINAL AORTIC ANEURYSM In most cases, an unruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) will cause no symptoms, unless it becomes particularly large. Symptoms of an unruptured AAA may include persistent back- and abdominal pain Symptoms of an unruptured AAA may include: A pulsating feeling in your stomach (abdomen), usually near your belly button, that's usually only noticeable when you touch it Persistent back pain Persistent abdominal pain If you have any of the symptoms above, you should see your GP as soon as possible. Advertisement The stent arrives in a collapsed structure so it can be inserted through a tiny incision and then folds out when its in place. They are made of a mixture of nickel titanium, stainless steel and fabric and are designed not to move or change shape once in position. Each patients stent may be made of several small parts because the aneurysm can have a complex shape. Patients are put under a general anaesthetic and 8mm incisions are made in the groin, one for each part of the graft, which are each inserted on the end of a separate tube and fed into the site of the aneurysm. Once each part is in place, the surgeon slots them together to form a tube along the length of the aneurysm. We use a special scan which fuses together live X-ray images and the previous CT scans (known as image fusion technique) to improve precision and prevent errors. Patients need annual scans to make sure the graft doesnt move, and 10 per cent need an additional procedure to fine tune the position, but this is minor and can be done as a day case. This cutting edge procedure means more patients are treated regardless of how extensive their aneurysms could be, preventing death. Patients who are turned down for conventional treatment because of unstable aneurysms or poor health now have a safer option. Any dog lover will tell you their Bichon Frise or St Bernard makes them smile. But the NHS is also increasingly turning to animals to help relieve a number of medical conditions, from anxiety to Alzheimers. And its not just dogs. Here in Britain, skunks are being used to calm schizophrenia patients, snakes are helping those with bipolar disorder and chinchillas are prompting memories in people with dementia. Called animal assisted therapy (AAT), qualified trainers take animals into hospital wards and care homes to interact with patients. Just last week, a study of 643 parents by the Centres for Disease Control in the U.S. reported that children with pet dogs had a decreased probability of childhood anxiety Just last week, a study of 643 parents by the Centres for Disease Control in the U.S. reported that children with pet dogs had a decreased probability of childhood anxiety. And in 2013, a study in the journal American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry found that ten weeks of animal assisted therapy, using dogs halted the progression of depression, agitation and aggression in dementia patients living in a care home. Ten years ago, NICE recognised it as a suitable intervention for dementia patients, but highlighted that more research was needed. Only now is it becoming a mainstream therapy, says Dale Preece Kelly, who runs Critter Assisted Therapy in Worcestershire and works in the NHS and private psychiatric hospitals. He says animals have a remarkable ability to calm even the most traumatised patients, helping them talk about their feelings more than they do in conventional therapy. This may be because they are less likely to feel judged, says Penelope Johnson, a chartered psychologist from the University of Sunderland, who is researching the benefits of equine therapy where patients interact with horses. Patients, especially with mental health issues, often feel they can form a relationship with an animal that is more honest because they do not fear they are being categorised as someone with a mental health problem, she says. Different animals are suited to different conditions. People with bipolar disorder where patients experience extreme depressive lows and manic highs are often drawn to snakes, according to Dale Preece Kelly, who runs Critter Assisted Therapy in Worcestershire Patients with paranoid schizophrenia often like skunks because they are the same size and shape as a cat but will not jump immediately off your lap and further damage your self-esteem, says Dale Preece Kelly. They can stroke them which releases endorphins and distracts schizophrenia patients from the voices in their head. And patients need not worry about their famously unpleasant smell, which they only release when they fear they will die, he says. They just smell like cats and are very clean. Meanwhile, horses may be suitable for conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. Patients with paranoid schizophrenia often like skunks, Dale Preece Kelly says This is because they are large, flighty animals who will run away from aggressive and overly anxious behaviour, explains Dr Johnson. They are intuitive and read human body language, so if you are calm, they are calm, too that forces patients to think about their behaviour and relax. Rabbits, rats and guinea pigs are among the visitors to mental health wards at Tameside General Hospital, Ashton-under-Lyne and Birch Hill Hospital, Rochdale. The patients we work with often cant cope with a huge amount of stimulation, so animal therapy, because its such a calm activity, is great, says Sharon Hall, a trained mental health nurse, who runs Noahs ART, an ATT company based in Manchester. Lizards, snakes and tortoises can be seen crawling the grounds of private psychiatric hospitals in Birmingham. People with bipolar disorder where patients experience extreme depressive lows and manic highs are often drawn to snakes, says Dale Preece Kelly. They have a massaging effect as they slither over you, he says. Its three-fold because you feel the cold of its skin, its weight which can be 20kg if its boa constrictor and the movement itself. That provides the sense of thrill that manic patients often crave. Dementia patients have different requirements. Lizards, snakes and tortoises can be seen crawling the grounds of private psychiatric hospitals in Birmingham. Dementia patients tend to favour ferrets and tortoises Because they are older, dementia patients love ferrets and tortoises because those animals were very popular pets in the Fifties and Sixties and bring back childhood memories, he says. They also like chinchillas, which sometimes remind them they had a wonderful chinchilla fur coat or that they worked for someone who did. I once met a man who suddenly remembered he used to be a taxidermist when he saw my Irish wolfhound. He told me he used to keep a camel in a freezer at home. Dr Johnson says its difficult to pinpoint exactly why this type of therapy works, but says the handler plays a role, too. The animal is a conduit for connecting people and it becomes a very social interaction, he says. Pets give people a reason for living something to care for and talk to. Children given antibiotics before the age of two are more likely to develop eczema in later life, experts have found. Studies on almost 400,000 people found that giving the drugs to infants increased their chance of developing the painful skin allergy by up to 41 per cent, and their risk of hay fever by up to 56 per cent. Researchers think that giving babies antibiotics so early kills off the natural bacteria in their gut, so their immune system never gets used to dealing with germs. Doctors are desperate to reduce the use of antibiotics among children, particularly in cases where they are never needed in the first place (stock image) Studies on almost 400,000 people found that giving the drugs to infants increased their chance of developing the painful skin allergy (stock image) It means that when exposed to relatively harmless foreign substances such as pollen, their immune system over-reacts, sparking an allergic reaction. The scientists, who will present their data today at the European Respiratory Society congress in London, compiled the results of 22 studies. They found the increased risk of eczema ranged from 15 to 41 per cent depending on the type of study analysed, rising to 14 to 56 per cent for hay fever. The risk of both allergies went up if the babies had been treated with two courses, rather than a single course, said Dr Fariba Ahmadizar, of Utrecht University in the Netherlands. However, last night doctors said children should still take antibiotics when needed. Prescriptions data for children is not routinely recorded by the NHS, but experts estimate that the average child in the UK has taken ten courses of antibiotics by the age of 16 more than one every two years. Children given antibiotics before the age of two are more likely to develop eczema in later life, experts have found (stock image) Doctors are desperate to reduce the use of antibiotics among children, particularly in cases where they are never needed in the first place. As well as increasing the risk of allergies, evidence suggests overuse of the drugs also increases the risk of type 1 diabetes and of obesity. But experts are most concerned that overprescription of the drugs is creating a breed of untreatable superbugs. Antibiotic resistance occurs when germs adapt and find ways to survive the effects of medicines. The more that the bugs are exposed to the drugs, the quicker they evolve. A major study led by Bristol University last year found that 48 per cent of youngsters in Britain with a common bladder complaint were carrying germs resistant to Ampicillin, a go-to drug used for a variety of illnesses. Professor Dame Sally Davies, Englands chief medical officer, last year said parents should stop asking GPs for antibiotics for their children. Ovarian cancer rates among British women have dropped by more than a fifth in a decade, a major study has found. Experts say the 22 per cent fall is down to rising use of the contraceptive Pill which protects against ovarian cancer and declining use of HRT, thought to increase the risk. Ovarian cancer is the sixth most common form of the disease among British women, with almost 7,300 cases diagnosed each year and 4,128 deaths. Ovarian cancer rates among British women have dropped by more than a fifth in a decade, a major study has found (file photo) But incidence of the disease is falling, according to experts from the University of Milan, who led the global study. They said ovarian cancer rates in the UK fell from 7.51 per 100,000 women in 2002 to 5.86 per 100,000 in 2012 a drop of 22 per cent. The researchers said falling use of HRT to cope with the menopause, increasing use of the Pill, and a better detection rate and treatments had all combined to drive down cancer deaths. The scientists, who compared ovarian cancer statistics across the world, found Britain had shown one of the steepest declines in rates. This, they said, was because more women in the UK had previously used HRT than in most other countries. Use of the therapy plummeted after two major studies, published in 2002 and 2003, reported that it increased the risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer and heart problems. In the UK, the number of women taking the drugs halved from two million to one million, and many doctors simply stopped prescribing the treatment. Researcher Dr Eva Negri, whose work is published in the Annals of Oncology journal, said: Women in countries such as Germany, the UK and the USA were more likely to use hormone replacement therapy to manage menopausal symptoms than in some other countries. The use of HRT declined after the report from the Womens Health Initiative in 2002 highlighted the increased risk of cardiovascular disease, as well as breast and ovarian cancer, and so this may also help to explain the fall in death rates among middle-aged and older women in these countries. The menopause, which women commonly undergo in their late 40s and early 50s, can cause depression, hot flushes, headaches and night sweats. In the long term it can also lead to bone disease and memory loss. HRT tackles these symptoms by replacing the female sex hormones, oestrogen and progestogen, as the body stops producing them. Ovarian cancer is the sixth most common form of the disease among British women, with almost 7,300 cases diagnosed each year and 4,128 deaths (file photo) But while the drugs can transform the lives of many women, they also raise the risk of cancer meaning that a small number will develop the disease who would otherwise not have. This is because some forms of cancer, including ovarian, are driven by hormones. In contrast to HRT, the Pill works by suppressing the hormones that naturally stimulate the ovaries, reducing cancer risk. Although the drop in ovarian cancer rates in Britain was more than double the average 10 per cent fall seen across Europe, the UK still has a higher incidence than the rest of the EU. On average all 28 EU countries, including the UK, have an ovarian cancer rate of 5.19 per 100,000. GPs' chief says doctors should not be made to carry out dental work Toothache is costing GPs more than 26million a year as patients avoid the increasing cost of seeing NHS dentists, it was claimed last night. An estimated 600,000 GP appointments are made each year by patients seeking dental care, according to a study of 280,000 GP consultations for tooth problems. Doctors have warned that such visits have led to increased waiting times for those who need genuine medical treatment, saying that they are in no position to treat the majority of dental problems. Those seeking NHS dentistry must now pay between 19.70 and 233.70 but a decade ago it was 15.50 to 189. Fees will increase by another 5 per cent next year. Patients must cover 26 per cent of NHS dentistry costs up from 19 per cent a decade ago. Current trends suggest it will take just 15 years before patients pay for most of their treatment. According to dentists, the rise in costs are due to 170million cuts to NHS dentistry since 2010. Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen, from the British Dental Association, studied the figures for GP consultations and warned that dentists were being used as unofficial tax collectors. He told The Times: Ministers insist the NHS will remain free at the point of use, but keep ramping up Englands dental charges. Increasingly they look like a tax on health. These inflated charges are pushing those who cant pay towards overstretched GPs. Royal College of GPs chairman Maureen Baker said doctors should not be put in a position where they have to deal with dental problems Maureen Baker, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said: GPs are in no position and shouldnt be put in a position to treat patients with dental problems. Nigel Carter, chief executive of the Oral Health Foundation, warned of the health hazards for those who delay seeking dental treatment for financial reasons. He said: We have had cases of some people resorting to sacrificing money which they need to pay for food and bills, in order to pay for dental treatment. This simply must not be allowed to continue. The longer we leave between dental visits, the likelihood of developing tooth decay increases. This is also a major barrier for the early diagnosis of mouth cancer. A Department of Health spokesman said: Raising dental charges is always a difficult decision, but this money is reinvested into the NHS budget. The number of people accessing dental treatment is increasing, with 93 per cent who tried to get an NHS dentist appointment in the last two years being successful. Meanwhile, up to a quarter of Englands pharmacies have had a reprieve from closure caused by the cutting of their annual funding by 170million or 6 per cent due to begin next month. As many as 3,000 out of 11,674 chemists were expecting to shut as a result of the savings. Officials admitted they did not know which would close, prompting fears that some people might be left with no local pharmacy. But ministers have promised to reconsider the cuts after a campaign to save high street chemists gained two million signatures. A twin almost choked to death because of a birthmark which grew over half of his face and was obstructing his airway. Twins Ethan and Ahren Masters were born looking identical but, within weeks, Ethan, developed an angry red lump across his face. His mother Amanda Masters, 35, was even accused of burning her young son, with cruel strangers calling him a 'monster.' Terrifyingly, his birthmark was also spreading across his windpipe, eventually leaving just a 1mm gap for air to get through. His parents from Eastbourne, East Sussex, faced the agonising decision over whether to allow surgeons to operate or trial a new therapy involving beta blockers. Incredibly, within weeks of using the drugs - more typically prescribed for angina, heart failure and high blood pressure, the birthmark started to shrink. Now both healthy seven-year-olds, it is difficult to tell the twins apart again. The birthmark spread across Ethan Masters' face and his windpipe, causing him difficulties breathing and leaving his parents with an agonising decision over his treatment Now seven, there is barely any sign of the birthmark after Ethan was treated with beta blockers When they first got together, stay-at-home-mother Ms Masters and her partner immigration worker Spencer Davis, 40, weren't sure if they wanted children, but they were thrilled when, to their surprise, she became pregnant. 'I couldn't believe how happy I was,' she said. 'I ran down the stairs screaming, holding the pregnancy test in my hand. It was a brilliant feeling. 'Everything was falling into place.' During their 12 week scan they got another shock they were expecting twins. For months, the pregnancy ticked along as normal. But then, at 37 weeks, Ms Masters could no longer feel her usually busy babies moving inside her and was rushed to Eastbourne District General Hospital. After a 27 hour labour, the boys were born via a Caesarean section on April 2, 2009. Ethan weighed 6lb 7oz and Ahren weighed 7lb. At first, it was Ahren who the doctors were worried about, as his heartbeat had stopped before the birth. He was taken into a specialist unit at Eastbourne District General Hospital, away from his brother, and monitored for the next five days. He was even given oxygen for 24 hours until stable. Ethan and his brother Ahren pictured when they were just a day old, before the dangerous birthmark on Ethan's face grew Mother Amanda Masters gives Ethan a cuddle after he was born shortly before twin Ahren When he was a month old, Ethan's parents noticed he had started to develop pink patches over his face but were told it was simply a birthmark and there was no need to worry The twins were identical when they were born but within weeks Ethan had developed an angry birthmark which spread over his face Ethan and Ahren, pictured on holiday this year, are now difficult to tell apart again Once home, the family hoped for the happy and tiring times every new parent expects. But after a month, Ms Masters noticed Ethan's face started to get pink patches on it, like he was blushing. She took him to the GP, but they reassured her that it was a birthmark and nothing more. 'But I knew it was wasn't nothing,' she said. 'The birthmark kept getting bigger. At its largest it covered half of his face. 'Within weeks, the right side of his face, ear canal and the inside of his mouth was covered in a bright red lump. 'Usually strangers coo over your new babies, but people would be shocked when they looked at Ethan, it was devastating. Mother Amanda Masters says she cannot believe the difference to Ethan after he started taking the Propranolol four times a day The beta blockers reduced the birthmark leaving Ethan with minimal scarring to his face 'He was wheezing and didn't seem right for a newborn baby.' In time, the birthmark got worse and worse until eventually, he started struggling to breathe, with his mouth so badly covered that he could barely breastfeed. By then two months old, he was taken back to Eastbourne General Hospital before being referred to Evelina Children's Hospital in central London. There, surgeons discovered the birthmark was also growing on his windpipe, blocking his airway. 'I couldn't' believe Ethan's birthmark was choking him. The lack of oxygen meant he'd turn blue and nurses rushed to help him breathe,' she said. Doctors said Ethan's inability to breathe without oxygen could kill him and his family were given a choice he could trial a new treatment or undergo surgery. His family chose medication and incredibly, within two weeks of taking the beta blocker Propranolol four times a day, the birthmark had shrunk. Within a month, the youngster was back home with his twin. 'I couldn't believe how quickly his angry red mark disappeared. 'I cried when I saw the difference and still can't believe it when I see the shocking photos of him now,' she said. A toddler has had her heart stapled to her ribs in cutting edge surgery to stop the organ moving in her chest. Gabriella Stearne was born without a left lung - which can cause her heart to move out of place - and also has two rare heart conditions. Doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) doctors carried out the pioneering surgery by securing her heart to her rib cage. She has also been fitted her with a prosthetic lung to aid her breathing. The 15-month-old now faces operations every six months as she grows to keep on top of her complex medical needs. Gabriella Stearne was born without a left lung and also has two heart conditions which have made the first 15 months of her life a battle for survival The tiny baby ventilated by a tracheotomy after also being diagnosed with bronchomalacia Parents Amie Jarvis, 27, and partner Tom Stearne, 29, discovered she would be born with birth defects five months into the pregnancy after a scan showed abnormalities. She was diagnosed with the congenital disorder scimitar syndrome and the structural abnormality, Tetralogy of Fallot, placing huge strain on her heart. Gabriella also had to be constantly ventilated via a tube inserted into her windpipe, after also being diagnosed with bronchomalacia. This is caused by weak cartilage in the walls of the bronchial tubes which meant they need to be supported to stay open. Doctors originally hoped Gabriella could be supported from her home in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. But by September last year when she was four month's old, her health deteriorated when she began having seizures which caused her to stop breathing. She was taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn, Norfolk, before being transferred to the London hospital for the cutting-edge treatment. 'A specialist team from Great Ormond Street came and put her in an induced coma and took her back to the London hospital,' said Ms Jarvis. Mother Amy Jarvis has a cuddle with Gabriella who was born with a number of health problems Gabriella has had several surgeries in her short life after being born with a number of rare conditions and missing her left lung She was put on a ventilator and had to be constantly ventilated via a tube inserted into her windpipe, after also being diagnosed with bronchomalacia 'She was in Cardiac Intensive Care Unit where she has had numerous operations. 'She had her heart repaired and stapled to her chest bones so it doesn't move about. 'She has also had a prosthetic lung inserted. This is to support her as she grows and to stop her other organs moving around.' Since being in the hospital since last September, Gabriella's health has slowly improved. On Monday she returned to her family home she shares with her two older sisters, Alexis, eight and Imogen, three. The couple said they were amazed by her progress. 'Even five years ago they wouldn't have been able to do what they have done for her', said Ms Jarvis. Gabriella beams at father Tom Stearne after one of her operations at Great Ormond Street 'It's because all the things she has are rare by themselves but together they're unheard of. 'I don't want to say she has been a bit of a guinea pig but she has because of all the different things that she has had done. 'It's amazing what the doctors and nurses have done and we're forever indebted to them.' Mr Stearne, a lorry driver, said: 'It is lovely. After a year in Great Ormond Street it is brilliant to be finally going home.' Dr Colin Wallis, consultant in respiratory paediatrics, at Great Ormond Street Hospital said: 'Surgery and treatment like this involves cutting edge techniques and multidisciplinary teams from right across Great Ormond Street Hospital, who work together to deliver this expertise.' Now the family is desperately trying to raise 5,000 to buy a people carrier needed to transport Gabriella and all of her medical equipment. A simple blood test that can detect cancer before symptoms even start is been being hailed as a major breakthrough which could save thousands of lives. Likened by scientists to a smoke detector, the test works by detecting changes to red blood cells that occur when cancer is present, rather than the cancer itself. Costing roughly the same as a standard blood test, it is hoped it could one-day be used to monitor people deemed at high risk of getting the disease. The test detects mutations in proteins on the surface of red blood cells, which are seen as 'collateral damage of cancer' rather than the cancer itself (file image) Early detection boosts the chances of survival in most cancer cases with treatments most effective at targeting the cancer before it spreads. Scientists believe the discovery, which was unveiled at the British Science Festival in Swansea, could save thousands of lives a year. It was developed after researchers at Swansea University Medical School studied 300 healthy people, patients with signs of pre-cancer and those with oesophageal cancer. The test, which only takes a few hours using standard laboratory equipment, detects mutations in proteins on the surface of red blood cells. Whereas in healthy patients, the average number of mutations is about five per million, in cancer patients there can be 50 to 100 mutants per million. While they do not have a role in the development of cancer, it is seen as 'collateral damage' produced in circulating blood cells as a by-product of a cancer developing internally. Scientists said the test provides a non-invasive way to monitor high risk patients. Professor Gareth Jenkins, who led the study, said: 'The test can be likened to a ''cancer smoke detector'' because a smoke detector does not detect the presence of fire in our homes but its by-product, smoke. 'This test detects cancer, by detecting the 'smoke' mutated blood cells. 'The old adage of no smoke without fire also applies to ''no cancer without mutation'', as mutation is the main driving force for cancer development.' The 35 blood test takes just a few hours in a laboratory setting and acts like a 'smoke detector' in terms of picking up signs of cancer, rather than the cancer itself Oesophageal cancer, which the test looked at, has particularly poor survival rates as it is often diagnosed late with the average patient only living around a year after diagnosis. Professor Jenkins said the test would have a 'massive effect' if it worked on all types of cancer - and that there were 'high hopes' it will. 'With any cancer, if it is caught early enough and surgically removed, that is the biggest impact you can have on the outcome of a cancer diagnosis,' he said. Research is now under way to establish if pancreatic cancer can be traced in the same way. 'It would be really difficult to think why it would only affect oesophageal cancer,' he said. Dr Aine McCarthy, Cancer Research UK's senior science information officer, said finding new ways to detect cancer early is vital to improve survival rates. 'Studies like this, which used blood samples to detect background DNA damage as a sign of cancer, are exciting because they could lead to more oesophageal cancers being diagnosed in the early stages. An India Today investigation has revealed how government-run ambulance services are teetering on the edge of collapse in most parts of the country. Although they are a largely under-reported part of the nations faltering healthcare system, India's ambulance fleets are compromising patient safety due to sub-standard equipment, unhygienic vehicles and poor response times. India Todays reality-check of patient transportation follows the heart-wrenching story of a tribal man in Odisha trekking 10 kilometres with his wifes body wrapped in a sheet on his shoulder while his 12-year-old daughter walked alongside, crying. Scroll down for video... Ambulance graveyard? An India Today investigation has revealed how the government-run ambulance service is teetering on the edge of a collapse in most parts of the country Similarly, in Uttar Pradesh last week, a father was seen running to a hospital in Kanpur, carrying his son on his shoulders. The boys arm dangled limply as the man walked into the healthcare centre, and unfortunately the boy was declared dead on arrival. India's ambulance fleets are compromising patient safety due to sub-standard equipment, unhygienic vehicles, and poor response times (file picture) India Today's investigation confirmed that India's ambulances are not available to the country's poor when they need them most. During this investigation, a number of operational failures were found across the nation. At Akola in Maharashtra, the crew filmed a hospital van transporting medical supplies instead of patients. In Pune, the service was also found to be in a shambles. Forget trained paramedics - the city's ambulance service had no basic life-saving devices in its vehicles. Most of the vans were broken, with worn-out stretchers. India Todays team also saw an ambulance ferrying school-children in the city. An emergency-vehicle operator in Pune told India Today: Three out of five ambulances are not in a working condition. The other two have no equipment or even oxygen tanks." India Today's investigation confirmed that India's ambulances are not available to the country's poor when they need them most (file picture) The condition of government ambulances was found to be equally pathetic in northern India. In Chandauli, Uttar Pradesh, vehicles under the national ambulance service were in a state of disrepair. Parked outside a healthcare facility, an ambulance had its light and siren pulled out from the van's roof. Outside a government hospital at Muzaffarpur in Bihar, a young patient with an injured foot had to drag himself out while ambulances stood idle alongside. The driver revealed his vehicle had run out of fuel several days ago. There's no fuel. We have ordered it. But there's no response, he claimed. In the national capital, the seat of Indian power, private vans labelled as ambulances queued outside government hospitals. But they carry very little healthcare equipment on board, and no emergency apparatus. The condition of the Delhi governments fleet was no better with paramedics admitting that their ambulances had inadequate first-aid and oxygen supplies. Arvind Kejriwal will be away from the national Capital for nearly a fortnight for throat surgery, and to take stock of AAPs preparations in poll-bound Punjab. He will undergo the surgery on September 13 to cure his chronic cough problem, and will then recuperate there for 10 days. Before leaving for Bengaluru, the CM will embark on a four-day visit to Punjab starting from September 8. He will meet party leaders and address a public gathering in Punjab. Thereafter, he will leave for Bengaluru on September 12 and undergo surgery the next day. He is expected to come back on September 22, said a senior government official. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will shortly have surgery for a chronic coughing problem In his absence, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia will look after the chief ministerial works. Sisodia is also expected to visit Goa tomorrow, where the Aam Aadmi Party is gearing up for Assembly elections next year. Last month, Kejriwal attended a 10-day Vipassana Session at a meditation centre between August 2 and 11 in Dharmasala, Himachal Pradesh. He had no access to newspapers, television or the phone during the session. Putting controversial televangelist Zakir Naiks Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) on a watch list would have spared the Narendra Modi governments blushes. But instead, a controversy is swirling after four officials were suspended over the renewal of the organisations foreign funding licence. The Centre sat on a recommendation to put the IRF under the prior reference category that would prevent it from receiving overseas donations without getting clearance from the home ministry. Islamic preacher Zakir Naiks NGO was put under scrutiny for allegedly inspiring Muslim youths to join terrorism, but no action was taken Sources say there are differing views in the government over the suspension of joint secretary GK Dwivedi, who was overseeing the functioning of foreign-funded NGOs registered under FCRA. The Department of Personnel Training (DoPT) responsible for administrative functioning of IAS officers had expressed reservations and wanted a notice to be served to Dwivedi but the home ministry pressed for immediate action, said a government official. Naiks organisation has come under the scanner amid fears that his hardline views could radicalise vulnerable people. It has been alleged that some of the gunmen who launched a deadly attack on a cafe in Bangladesh about two months ago were influenced by his sermons. The home ministry has ordered an inquiry into the circumstances under which the IRFs Foreigners Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) licence was renewed after it expired last month. Dwivedi himself recommended putting IRF in the prior reference category, but no action was taken. Several lapses in dealing with the foundations file were also reported between 2013 and 2015, while disciplinary action was advised against four officers. A decision was taken to put Naiks NGO under scrutiny for inspiring Muslim youths to follow radical Islam and indulge in terror activities, but there was no action on it and it could not be implemented, sources said. As of now there are close to 20 bodies in this category. The US-based Ford Foundation was also put on a watch list last year, but was taken off it a few months ago. Sources said the home ministry swung into action only after the Dhaka attack, even though counter-terror agencies had flagged the controversial Islamic preacher. Terror investigators had pointed out that in several cases attackers had revealed in their interrogation that Naiks views inspired them to follow the path of extremism. Bangladesh banned the IRF after a probe into the Dhaka siege, during which 20 people were killed, indicated that the preacher had influenced the killers. It was only after an IRF spokesperson in Mumbai made a statement about the renewal of the licence that action was taken against the home ministry officials. Following reports from Dhaka, Dwivedi, who was in-charge of FCRA, sought reports from the Intelligence Bureau and various state governments before sending a questionnaire to the foundation on August 8. He had also raised the issue of an anomaly in the online renewal system put in place earlier this year to cut out any human interface. The software did not red flag NGOs under scrutiny, and a list had to be maintained manually, leaving gaps in the system. Currently there are close to 700 NGOs in the list, sources said. This was shared with the National Informatics Centre (NIC) responsible for setting up e-governance platforms, but the problem could not be rectified. As the national capital continues to battle spiralling cases of dengue and chikungunya, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) launched 12 mobile fever clinics on Monday that will offer free treatment and medicine. Each mobile clinic carries necessary supplies like paracetamol and other medicines to treat fever. Besides this, a team of a doctor and a nurse will travel in them. The SDMC has four zones - Central, South, West and Najafgarh - and three medium-sized vans will cover each region. Each mobile clinic will carry supplies of paracetamol and other medicines to treat fever. (Pictured: Dengue patients at an Allahabad hospital) In view of the rising cases of dengue, chikungunya, and viral fever, we realised it is important to reach out to people and take medical help to their doorsteps. Treatment and medicines will be offered free of cost, SDMC leader Ashish Sood said. These will run till the end of dengue season. We may think of making those permanent, he said. The rising number of dengue and chikungunya cases has resulted in a slanging match between the three BJP-ruled municipal corporations and the AAP government in Delhi. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain alleged last week that MCDs are doing nothing to combat the vector-borne disease or clean the city. According to a municipal report released on Monday, 560 cases of chikungunya have been reported in the national capital till September 3. Safdarjung Hospital alone had reported nearly 250 cases till August 29. Signs have finally emerged that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra may actively participate in her party's poll campaign across Uttar Pradesh. So far, the daughter of Congress President Sonia Gandhi has canvassed mainly in the family constituencies of Rae Bareli and Amethi. However, posters put up at Rudrapur in Deoria district advertising a rally led by her brother and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi signalled a bigger role for her in the ongoing campaign. Significantly, they carried her image alongside those of Sonia and Rahul. Posters put up for Rahul Gandhis rally signalled a bigger role for Priyanka in the ongoing campaign, which carried her image alongside Sonia's and Rahul's Highly-placed sources in the Congress confirmed to India Today that the party high command has allowed supporters to use her image in posters and banners across the state. The permission is not without conditions, though. Local MLA Akhilesh Pratap described the phenomenon as an outcome of Priyanka Gandhi Vadras growing popularity. But the decision to participate in party campaigning lies only with her, he added. According to party sources, Priyanka's campaign pictures have to be smaller than her brothers. Party workers are not allowed to use her image alone in any election material, the sources said. Congress partymen have been told Priyanka's campaign pictures have to be smaller than her brother's The whole idea is to project Rahul Gandhi as the Congress face, with his mother and sister rallying around him in support, a senior leader explained. Insiders say Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has been involved in party affairs largely behind the scenes. Through posters, Congress activists have often demanded that she take an active role. But until now, her banners have mostly appeared in Rae Bareli and Amethi. If sources in the Congress are to be believed, poll strategist Prashant Kishor is the one who managed to persuade Priyanka Gandhi to campaign vigorously for the party candidate during the UP elections. She will hit the campaign trail across the state closer to the elections. He has also got the leadership to make a significant break from normal practice by announcing a chief ministerial candidate six months ahead of the Assembly elections. Kishor has managed to put together a team with important players such as Raj Babbar, Pramod Tewari, Sanjay Singh, and Salman Khursheed given important roles. Delhi has reported its first malaria death in five years after a 30-year-old man died on Tuesday. Praveen Sharma, a resident of Mandawali died at Safdarjung Hospital after suffering multi-organ failure, triggered by malarial complications. The death marks a surge in malaria cases reported in Delhi between September 1 to September 3 this year, with only one reported case during the same period last year compared to nine in the same period during 2016. Delhi has reported its first malaria death in five years after a 30-year-old man died at Safdarjung Hospital after being bitten by a mosquito (file pic) The threat of malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that typically causes fever, fatigue, vomiting, and headaches. In 2015, there were 214 million cases of malaria worldwide resulting in an estimated 438,000 deaths, 90% of which occurred in Africa. Methods used to prevent malaria include medications, mosquito elimination and the prevention of bites. There is currently no vaccine. Advertisement Dr Sanjeev Bagai, director, Manipal hospital, Dwarka told Mail Today: The cases of the vector-borne disease are much higher this year as compared to the previous year. "The incidents of dengue, chikungunya and malaria come in a proper cycle. Like last year, the cases of dengue were on the higher side, and this year the cases of chikungunya and malaria are on the higher side". According to the data provided by National Vector-Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), there were no malaria deaths in Delhi over the five year period from 2012 till July 2016. The death marks a sharp rise in reported cases compared to the same period last year (file pic) Dr RK Singal, Principal Consultant & Director in Internal Medicine Department, BLK Super Speciality Hospital told Mail Today: Mosquito-borne diseases like dengue, malaria, chikungunya are being reported in large numbers. "Rain water can also lead to other health issues like skin infections, typhoid, jaundice, malaria, and stomach pain. As the weather changes, chances of water infection are high. "The common symptoms of monsoon diseases are high temperature, cough, cold, headache, throat infection and stomach infection. With the Holy Quran in one hand and the tricolour in the other - a group of prominent Sufi clerics have proposed to take out an Aman Yatra in the troubled Kashmir valley. On Tuesday, twenty one prominent Muslim clerics met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and proposed to talk to their brothers in the Kashmir valley. Why talk to those who say Pakistan Zindabad? We should talk to those who want peace and prosperity in the valley. We are in touch with them. They want a way out of this Pakistan sponsored strife, Maulana Ansar Raza, chairman of the Gharib Nawaz Foundation, managing Delhis Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah told India Today after meeting the Home Minister. A delegation of National Conference led by former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah (centre left) in a meeting of the All Party delegation The proposed group for the Aman Yatra comprises clerics from Dargah Ajmer Sharif, Bareilly Sharif of Haji Ali in Mumbai and Hazrat Nizamuddin in New Delhi, among others. The group has sought clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and has also expressed a desire to meet J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, National Conference Chief Omar Abdullah and all stakeholders of peace who believe in the Indian Constitution. The clerics however disagreed with the All Party delegations initiative to meet the Hurriyat leaders. What is the point of meeting those who say Pakistan zindabad? We should only engage with those who believe in the Indian constitution and in Kashmiriyat. "It is wrong to encourage pro-Pakistan elements in the Hurriyat, a delegate who didnt want to be named told India Today. J&K Unrest: Security personnel patrolling a deserted street after curfew was re-imposed following fresh clashes in Srinagar Rajnath Singh heard the clerics and spoke of the existing situation on ground. We told him we are not scared of the guns or bombs in the valley. We have the Holy Quran in one hand and the tricolour in the other. "The Aman Yatra (peace march) will pass through prominent areas of the valley and not be restricted to Srinagar. "We will have regular and detailed interaction with the youth and the parents, teachers, civil society. We all want peace, Maulana Ansar Raza added. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh with Governor of Jammu and Kashmir N. N. Vohra in a meeting in Srinagar Clerics have also criticised the use of loud speakers to compel women and children to come out and protest. The clerics also hit out at Syed Ali Shah Geelani for seeking a connection with Pakistan saying Islam links Kashmir to Pakistan. Open ended counterparts also tended to return more over three years Investment trust advocates have long championed their lower investing costs, compared with their open-ended fund rivals. But new research suggests this commonly held adage is no longer correct. In cases where investment houses have similar closed and open-ended mandates, it seems the latter are more likely to be cheaper for investors. Investment research firm Tilney Bestinvest identified 47 pairs of open-ended funds (OEICs) and investment trusts with similar mandates run by the same teams. More cash in the bank: Trusts tended to cost more and return less than similar OEICs It found that in 53 per cent of cases, the ongoing charges on the open-ended funds were lower than those payable on the investment trust. Perhaps more significantly, the research also discovered that in the past three years, open-ended funds outperformed their closed-ended counterparts 60.5 per cent of the time, on a total return basis. But the investment trust industry responded by stating that it is over the longer-term where investment trusts really shine and pointing out that their closed structure means managers don't have to become 'forced sellers' if investors pull cash. The research showed that over five years, the investment trusts featured beat their similar funds in almost 64 per cent of cases. What's happening with investing fees? It's not that investment trusts have become more expensive to invest in, more that open-ended funds have become cheaper in recent years. That's largely due to the Retail Distribution Review, which from January 2013 banned advisers and platforms from taking commission on the funds that they sell. Until then a fund's typical 1.5 per cent annual management charge could be divided as 0.75 per cent to the fund manager, 0.25 per cent to the platform and 0.5 per cent to the adviser. DIY investing platforms selling funds with no advice could pick up 0.75 per cent, although many began to rebate some or all of this cut. Advisers were never able to charge commission on investment trusts, meaning they were usually cheaper to invest in. Since the commission ban, the same fund could now have switched to a management charge of 0.75 per cent, with investing platforms charging separately for their service. Where advisers are used they also add a fee for their work, although this is now typically charged as a flat fee or percentage of money invested. Jason Hollands, managing director of Tilney Bestinvest, said that while many assumed the RDR would level the playing field for investment trusts, it hasn't worked out that way. He says: 'In the run up to RDR many saw the removal of commission from open-ended funds as a one-way opportunity for the investment company industry to seize a bigger share of the market. 'In reality, the reforms have also made funds more competitive on costs, posing a new competitive threat.' But investors need to consider more than just a trust or fund's fees, they must weigh up their DIY investing platform's costs too. In some cases the combination of the two can make funds more expensive, whereas in others they are cheaper. Investment trusts usually incur dealing charges of between 5 and 12.50, while some open-ended funds can be bought and sold for free on some investment platforms that carry a percentage of money invested charge. > Read our full guide to DIY investing platforms and charges Is it time for more investment trusts to cut fees? Hollands urged investment boards to regain their competitive edge by lowering fees. 'One way trust boards can clearly and practically demonstrate the benefits of this governance structure is to show they are acutely alive to the changing fee landscape and be prepared to drive down the fund managers' fees where they are no longer competitive compared to open ended funds as well as their investment trust peers.' The boards of two trusts managed by Baillie Gifford recently announced management fee reductions, in order to take advantage of economies of scale and 'remain competitive'. The Baillie Gifford Japan Trust and the Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust both introduced a lower charge of 0.55 per cent on the assets they hold over 250million. James Budden, director of retail marketing and distribution at Baillie Gifford, said: 'The investment trust industry has to take the initiative if it wants to compete in the new world of transparency and clarity of costs for investors. There is an opportunity for the boards of trusts and managers to work together to grow assets under management and drive down fees for the end investor.' We shine over the long-term, say investment trusts Ian Sayers is chief executive of the Association of Investment Companies, the trade body for the investment trust industry. He argues that it is over the long term that investment trusts really shine. 'It is worth pointing out the data doesn't focus on the longer term. The average investment company is currently outperforming the average unit trust over three, five and 10 years, but it is over the latter where the difference is particularly strong theres a thirty three percentage point difference. 'This long-term performance advantage is in part due to the closed-ended structure, which means that there are a fixed number of shares in issue, so managers do not have to become 'forced sellers' to meet redemptions during periods of volatility: they can take a long-term view of the market.' He adds that investment trust boards are aware of the need to make themselves more competitive. 'Charges have come down in the open-ended sector over the last few years, and investment companies have been reducing their fees - a win-win for investors. Since 2013, 30 per cent of the industry have changed their fees to benefit their shareholders. 'These changes have been implemented by investment company boards to help investment companies compete with open-ended funds post RDR and charges are something investment company boards are keeping under close scrutiny.' Rainy day respite: Investment trusts can hold money back to pay out dividends in the future Don't write off investment trusts just yet It's not all bad news for investment trust investors. In keeping with Sayers' comments, the research found that on a five year basis, investment trusts outperformed OEICs with similar mandates in 63.9 per cent of cases. What's more, all of the investment trusts in the table above are currently trading on a discount. Unlike open-ended funds, the shares in closed-ended funds can trade at a premium or a discount to their intrinsic value. If investors buy the shares at a discount that then narrows, they can benefit from the increased share price - although the figure can also widen out. Investment trusts also offer other features that their closed-ended counterparts don't, such as their suitability for investing in relatively illiquid assets. Unlike OEICS, trusts do not have to sell underlying holdings to meet redemptions if their investors want to exit - a particular advantage if their asset class is sentiment-driven or suffers from lagging valuations, like property. Trusts can also use gearing, a facility that allows them to borrow extra finance to increase their exposure to the market, in the hope of enhancing returns. Gearing boosts the trust's performance in a rising market but exacerbates any losses in a falling market. Investment trusts can also keep some money aside for a rainy day, so that if they want to maintain a dividend that their underlying investments fail to cover, they can make up the difference by paying out reserves. Finally, unlike OEICs, investment trusts are listed companies, meaning they come with an independent board which makes important decisions about the trust. Arguably, the board could be more closely aligned with the needs of end-investors than a large asset manager running an open-ended fund. Thousands of BHS customers have had their personal details sold to a company in Qatar, the Mail can reveal. Al Mana Group, a giant conglomerate run by Wissam Al Mana, who is married to popstar Janet Jackson, bought the records of customers who had used the website or had given their details in store promotions at the chain which collapsed last month. The sale was part of a deal by the Qataris to buy the BHS International brand, its website and some foreign stores from the administrators, wrapping up retailer's assets. Betrayed: Thousands of BHS customers have had their personal details sold to a company in Qatar Yesterday, customers told how they had received an email from BHS saying that any personal information they had given the store was now owned by a firm called BHS International Limited. This was only founded after the collapse of BHS and is owned by the Al Mana Group. One told the Mail: 'I had no idea I'd given my personal information to BHS and I can't believe it's been sold to a company that I've never heard and is based in Qatar.' BHS was sold by tycoon Sir Philip Green for 1 in 2015 to thrice-bankrupt former racing driver Dominic Chappell, who had no retail experience. TAXMAN CHASES CHAPPELL Former BHS boss Dominic Chappell (left) is being chased by the taxman for unpaid bills. HM Revenue & Customs filed a petition with the high court to wind up Swiss Rock Limited, Chappell's personal business that was paid at least 1.6million by BHS as part of his controversial acquisition of the retailer. A creditors' meeting was due to be held on Monday at the London offices of insolvency experts David Rubin & Partners. Chappell said he would not comment on the case. An HMRC spokesman said it 'does not comment on identifiable cases'. Bad trading drove the High Street retailer into administration this year, costing 11,000 jobs and threatening the income of 20,000 pensioners. Regulators are currently involved in talks with Green over how much he will pay to fund the BHS pension scheme. Meanwhile, administrators Duff & Phelps have been tasked with finding buyers for BHS's assets. Al Mana Group came forward in June to buy a share for an undisclosed sum. It already ran some of BHS's overseas shops under a franchise agreement and agreed in June to buy more than 70 international shops as well as its website. At the time, Al Mana said it was committed to developing the online presence of the brand, and expanding into new territories. The new company BHS International UK Limited lists two former BHS chiefs as directors David Anderson, former international director at BHS, and Harry Carver, former head of tax and treasury at BHS. It plans to relaunch BHS's website. A message on it currently says it has been bought by new investors. At the time of the sale, the Al Mana Group said: 'On June 30, 2016 the BHS brand including worldwide IP, the international franchising business and all domain names have been purchased by the Qatari based conglomerate Al Mana. The group's vast expertise, global reach and experience in retail will benefit this new acquisition into a steady and profitable operation.' However, selling customer details has proved controversial, with consumers wary of receiving unwanted mail and concerns over who has access to their data. These customers included in the BHS list are likely to be anyone who has ever shopped online at BHS, or signed up to promotional emails. Those on the list can be contacted by post, email, text messages, telephone with 'products or services' which the new company feels 'may interest' customers, yesterday's email said. After the story went viral, the city apologized and A two-year-old girl received a fine for $75 after the Washington D.C. Department of Public Works after said city workers found an envelope with her name on it in an alley way. Public works employees for the envelope and Harper Westover, two, received the citation on September 2, as did her mother, attorney Theresa Westover. 'Just because you find a piece of mail on the ground, obviously doesn't mean that person was the one that put it there,' Chuck Westover, Harpers father, told WTVR. Scroll down for video Harper Westover (pictured holding citation), two, was fined $75 for littering after public works employees found an envelope with her name on it in an alley way. Theresa (left) and Chuck (right) Westover said the envelope likely fell out of a garbage bag but the city refused to cancel the citation Chuck posted about the citation on Facebook with the hashtag '#FreeHarper' and the notice went viral. The Westovers said the envelope likely fell out of a garbage bag, but city officials said that still counts as littering. 'There obviously needs to be some common sense layered into the system somewhere. 'The ironic thing is that we talk to her all the time about picking up her trash,' Theresa said. After local and national news outlets began covering the story the city decided to drop the fine Theresa called the Department of Public Works and spoke to the inspector that had written the report, telling them they had fined a two-year-old child. However they refused to tear up the ticket. 'She told me that Harper's name had been found on a piece of mail that was on the ground in the alley and basically implying she was not going to rescind the ticket,' Theresa told WJLA. Andre Lee, a Department of Public Works spokesperson, apologized to the family and told them they wouldn't have to pay After speaking to the Department of Public Workss communications director, Theresa was told she'd need to provide a copy of Harper's birth certificate. But once local and national news outlets began to cover the story the department cleared Harper of any wrongdoing. Andre Lee, a Department of Public Works spokesperson, apologized to the family and told them they wouldn't have to pay. The grief-stricken family of Tara Costigan have told in court of the pain they have endured since her horrific murder. Ms Costigan, 28, was killed with an axe by her ex-boyfriend Marcus Rappel in February last year after she sought an interim domestic violence order against him and just one week after she gave birth to their daughter - Ms Costigan's third child. Rappel, 41, pleaded guilty to her murder, and Ms Costigan's aunt, Maria Costigan, told a sentencing hearing at the ACT Supreme Court in Canberra how this 'one act of rage' had 'changed everything' for the family, the Canberra Times reports. Scroll down for video Ms Costigan had given birth to her and Rappel's daughter just a week before she was murdered (Ms Costigan pictured with their baby daughter and her two older sons) 'You were the love of her life Marcus. She adored you. Would have done anything for you. You took advantage of her beautiful nature and you tortured her,' she said. 'Your filthy, jealous temper has destroyed more than one life, it has created an avalanche of destruction for many, many people.' She also spoke of the enormous toll the murder had taken on Tara Costigan's two young sons. 'Imagine your protective mother being murdered with an axe by a raging, out-of-control monster, then watching her die right in front of your eyes,' she said. 'They have a life sentence.' Tara Costigan, 28, was killed in February last year by Marcus Rappel at her Canberra home in February last year (Ms Costigan and Rappel pictured together) Rappel also took to the stand and said that the break-up sent him into despair. He denied he planned the murder, saying he bought the axe to chop up their furniture not to harm Ms Costigan with. 'I'm so sorry and I tell Tara that every day,' he said. 'I just lose it, I went like a zombie. I'd been dumped and I'd just lost my family.' It has so far been a harrowing ordeal for the Costigan family members who wailed in court last month as the triple-0 call her sister made after the attack was played. Her sister Rikki Schmidt (pictured) made the triple-0 call when Rappel murdered Ms Costigan The harrowing triple-0 call her sister Rikki Schmidt made was played in the ACT Supreme Court as the family cried, Canberra Times reported. Ms Schmidt was also injured in the February 28 attack last year at Ms Costigan's Calwell home in south Canberra. In the triple-0 call, Ms Schmidt can be heard pleading the operator to hurry up when he asked what had happened. 'My sister's ex-boyfriend came into the house with an axe.' Rappel has pleaded guilty to the violent death of Ms Costigan. He denied he planned the murder and bought axe to cut up their furniture Ms Costigan is pictured with her two young sons while she was pregnant with her third child - whom she gave birth to just a week before she was murdered When the operator asked for more details about her injuries, Ms Schmidt frantically screamed: 'She's got an axe wound on her neck.' He again asked for more details, to which she said: 'No I don't she's hardly breathing,' audio played by ABC revealed. 'She's going to die, can you please hurry up.' Family at the home at the time of the attack held a towel to her neck in an attempt to stem the bleeding. Keith Vaz, pictured leaving home for the Commons today, has resigned as chair MPs said Keith Vaz had finally done the 'right thing' today after he quit over the rent boy scandal. The MP said 'those who hold others to account must themselves accountable' as he announced he is stepping down as chair of the Home Affairs committee. He is now facing a battle to keep his place on Labour's ruling NEC, with party leader Jeremy Corbyn saying his future would be discussed at the next meeting. Mr Vaz was thought to be trying to cling on to his prestigious committee role by standing aside temporarily. But he eventually bowed to days of pressure this afternoon. He did not take part in the Home Affairs committee's scheduled session today, informing members of his decision to quit in a private meeting beforehand. 'It is in the best interests of the Home Affairs Select Committee that its important work can be conducted without any distractions whatsoever,' Mr Vaz said in a statement. 'I am very sorry that recent events make it impossible for this to happen if I remain chair.' Members of the committee had been threatening an unprecedented vote of no confidence after Mr Vaz he was caught allegedly paying rent boys for sex and offering to buy drugs. Prime Minister Theresa May also effectively suggested the ex-minister should resign when she insisted that people wanted 'confidence in their politicians'. At a press conference called by the remaining committee members this afternoon, Tory MP Tim Loughton paid tribute to Mr Vaz for putting its work first. Mr Loughton, who will be filling in as chairman until a new election is held for next month, said all the members had praised Mr Vaz's work when he informed them of his departure earlier. 'Notwithstanding the nature of the press stories all members of the Home Affairs Select Committee across all the parties paid very fulsome tributes to the work that Keith has done.' Scroll down for video Mr Vaz will be stepping down entirely from the committee, and is writing a letter to the Speaker to notify him, Mr Loughton said. Labour's Chuka Umunna is favourite to take over from Mr Vaz, but declined to confirm that he will stand for the job. The committee was straight back to business this afternoon, taking evidence from immigration minister Robert Goodwill. Tory MP Andrew Bridgen, who has lodged complaints about Mr Vaz with the parliamentary sleaze watchdog, police and charity commission, said he was 'not fit to be an MP'. 'Keith Vaz has belatedly done today what he should have done on Sunday,' he told MailOnline. 'In dragging out his resignation as chair of the committee he has brought both himself, parliament and other parliamentarians into disrepute.' Asked whether Mr Vaz should remain a member of Labours ruling National Executive Committee, Mr Corbyn said: The NEC will be discussing that next week when Keith attends the meeting. Keith will be there as I understand it, he is an elected member of the NEC and whatever decision is made on his future will obviously be partly made by him but at the moment were waiting news on this. Time to step aside: Sources have said that it would be 'absolutely impossible' for the former minister to continue in a role that monitors crime, migration, sexual exploitation and drugs policy. Pictured, Mr Vaz with one of the Eastern European escorts Business as usual: The 59-year-old Labour politician, seen standing, even made an appearance on the Commons benches, asking a question about Britons fighting for Islamic State In his resignation statement Mr Vaz said that 'those who hold others to account must themselves be accountable'. If Mr Vaz had refused to step down, the other ten members of the committee were considering 'going nuclear' and triggering a no confidence motion in an attempt to force him out. The vote would not have been binding as the Commons as a whole elects chairmen but it would be hugely symbolic. Almost the only political figure to speak in support of Mr Vaz was Ken Livingstone - who took to the airwaves to insist there would be no problem with him chairing an inquiry into prostitution. Mr Vaz has faced a series of controversies during his career, but managed to cling on to his seat. He was one of a handful of MPs to publicly defend Greville Janner against allegations of sex abuse, and in 2009 he was criticised over expenses spent on his Westminster flat when his family home was just 12 miles away. Tory MP Tim Loughton, centre, gives a press conference after Mr Vaz announced his departure. He is flanked by committee members including Chuka Ummuna, left, who is favourite to take over He has also been investigated by the parliamentary commissioner for standards, though the inquiry ran into a wall when Mr Vaz who denied wrongdoing refused to co-operate, and most complaints were not upheld. And in 2012 Scotland Yard revealed that funds believed to have been 'of a suspicious nature' were paid into accounts either in Mr Vaz's name or linked to him. He denied wrongdoing and said any money passing through his accounts was the proceeds of property deals. Yesterday Mr Vaz was clearly trying to give the impression that, far from losing his grip as committee chairman, it was business as usual. He brazenly returned to work in the Commons little more than a day after becoming embroiled in the sex and drugs scandal, appearing in the chamber to ask Home Secretary Amber Rudd a question about terrorism. His question about the case of Siddhartha Dhar, a terror suspect who fled Britain to fight with Islamic State in Syria while on police bail, was greeted with a stony silence. He later spoke in a debate about the war in Yemen. Labour MP Chuka Umunna, a committee member, said members would 'collectively come to a view' on Mr Vaz's position. HERE IS THE FULL STATEMENT RELEASED BY KEITH VAZ 'It is in the best interest of the Home Affairs Select Committee that its important work can be conducted without any distractions whatsoever. 'I am genuinely sorry that recent events make it impossible for this to happen if I remain Chair. I have always been passionate about Select Committees, having served as either Chair or Member for half of my time in Parliament. 'The integrity of the Select Committee system matters to me. Those who hold others to account, must themselves be accountable. 'I am immeasurably proud of the work the Committee has undertaken over the last nine years, and I am privileged to have been the longest serving Chair of this Committee. 'This work has included the publication of 120 reports, hearing evidence from Ministers 113 times, and hearing from a total of 1379 witnesses. I am very pleased that so many Members of the Committee have gone onto high office and Ministerial positions. 'I told the Committee today of my decision to stand aside immediately from Committee business, and my intention to resign. 'This is my decision, and mine alone, and my first consideration has been the effect of recent events on my family. I have recommended that in the interim, Tim Loughton MP, the senior Conservative member, should Chair proceedings. 'After speaking to the House authorities, I will formally tender my resignation to Mr Speaker so that it coincides with the timetable for the election of other Committee Chairs, such as the Brexit Committee, Culture, Media and Sport, and Science and Technology, so that the elections can take place together. 'I would like to thank my fellow members of the Committee, past and present, for their tremendous support. I would also like to thank the Clerks of the House for the amazing work they have done to strengthen the Select Committee system, we are not quite on par with the United States, but we are getting there. 'They are a vital body for the scrutiny of government. I would like to particularly thank my two Clerks, Tom Healey and Carol Oxborough.' Advertisement Family's 4million property empire The Vaz family own a 4million property empire comprising at least six homes and offices, it can be revealed. The extraordinary value of the portfolio dwarfs Keith Vaz's MP salary. Mr Vaz, 59, and his wife, Maria Fernandes, 57, live in a 2.2million five-bedroom detached house, and have bought and sold a string of properties since the 1980s. The MP's latest acquisition was the 'sex flat' in which he met the rent boys, near his marital home in Edgware, north London. 'Sex Flat': This is the block of luxury flats where Keith Vaz allegedly met two male escorts He put down 387,500 in cash more than four times his 89,951 salary as a senior backbench MP to buy the two-bedroom apartment in June. Yesterday more questions were asked about how he could afford it. Mr Vaz had explained the purchase by saying he had taken out a 'personal loan' to fund the sale. This loan would be repaid, he claimed, by selling a house in Leicester which he inherited from his mother. Mr Vaz had bought that house in 1989, which his mother then bought off him and subsequently bequeathed back to him. Mr Vaz is now the registered sole owner of the house which is rented out to a family. His lawyer, Mark Stephens said the property was worth in excess of 200,000 which means there is still a significant shortfall in funding Mr Vaz's 'sex flat' purchase. It would leave him 187,500 short of being able to repay his loan. Asked how he was funding the remainder a sum which is still double his MP's salary Mr Stephens said Mr Vaz would keep it on as an outstanding loan from Accord Mortgages. Beyond his London family home and the 'sex flat', the other properties owned by Mr Vaz and his wife are the house bequeathed to him in Leicester and the home next door which he uses as a constituency office. Dressed in a blue silk shirt and tailored trousers, she could have passed for a City worker on her lunch break. But the woman, firmly gripping her gold iPhone in an exclusive area of West London was in fact none other than the former Prime Ministers wife. Although she only left Downing Street in June, Samantha Cameron, 45, did not even turn heads as she wandered past luxury boutiques on the Fulham Road. The woman, firmly gripping her gold iPhone in an exclusive area of West London was in fact none other than the former Prime Ministers wife Although she only left Downing Street in June, Samantha Cameron, 45, did not even turn heads as she wandered past luxury boutiques on the Fulham Road Despite her husbands high-profile former position, she appeared to be unaccompanied, with no security details in sight. Wearing high black heels, dark lipstick and gold earrings, Mrs Cameron proved that although she has left Number 10, she has not lost her love for fashion. She was clutching an elegant navy blue handbag with a gold zip as she made her way through the well-heeled area and her dolphin tattoo could be seen poking out the side of her shoe. Former prime minister David Cameron arrives at the Houses of Parliament yesterday Mr Cameron, who announced his resignation as PM in June, is pictured in London yesterday Conservative politician Mr Cameron served as the UK's prime minister from 2010 to 2016 Mrs Cameron, who has long been praised for her sharp dress sense, was until recently a creative consultant for luxury stationery brand Smythson. In July, it was reported that she had plans to set up her own fashion label with her former aide and family friend Isabel Spearman. 'This fella could go to an auction in Toorak and buy a house,' he said He found a stranger's invoice on Monday and was shocked by the balance A man was blown away when he found a stranger had managed to save almost $3 million after he sneakily looked at their discarded bank account receipt at the ATM. 3AW Radio host John Burns owned up to being a 'peeker' on Wednesday morning when he told his listeners he'd found another person's bank receipt in his pocket. He stumbled upon the invoice when he was withdrawing cash from a Melbourne ATM and said he couldn't throw it away after noticing the owner had withdrawn $500, leaving a staggering balance of $2,958,514.73. Scroll down for video John Burns was blown away when he found a stranger had managed to save almost $3 million after he sneakily looked at their discarded bank account receipt (pictured) at the ATM 'I must have taken this out of the ATM when I was using it so I get my own receipt but I couldn't help looking at it and I thought this is amazing - I'll put it in my pocket,' he said on Tuesday. 'He or she is only 41 and a half grand off that balance being three million dollar,' his co-host Ross Stevenson replied. The pair discussed how the mystery millionaire managed to accrue such an impressive nest egg, and the possible investments they could make with it. 'This person could go down to Lamborghini Melbourne and buy six Aventador's for cash,' Burns said. Burns (right) revealed he likes to 'peek' at other's discarded bank account statements while his co-host Ross Stevenson (left) said he would not 'This fella could go to an auction in Toorak and buy a house, for cash,' he added. Stevenson questioned if the account owner was being irresponsible by leaving sensitive information laying around given it could tempt an 'opportunistic person' to strike. 'Why would you not get the receipt?' he asked. 'Would you not be concerned that there is a possibility the person behind you is an opportunistic person[they could think] 'this person has 2.9 million I'm going to go and get em and get me some of that two million',' he added. Stevenson questioned if the account owner was being irresponsible by leaving sensitive information laying around given it could tempt an 'opportunistic person' to strike He also suggested the person may be proud of their stellar savings and were hoping to impress the next bank customer with their balance. Keith Vaz (Lab, Leicester E) came purring into the Commons yesterday soon after Parliament reopened for business. You or I, if depicted by a national Sunday newspaper cavorting with male prostitutes amid recorded chat of drugs and implausible aliases, might seek the nearest bucket of sand in which to plunge our heads. Not so the viscous Vaz. He did not get where he is today by succumbing to an undue or even basic sense of shame, thank you very much. Water off a ducks oily back, dear hearts. And so he came waddling into the House just after 2.30pm, for all the world as though it was just another quiet Monday afternoon in early September. So breezy. So bare-faced. Viscous: Keith Vaz, centre, enters the House of Commons yesterday Astonishing? The untutored might think so. The voters of Britain, certainly Leicester, might automatically assume that the disgraced Vaz would find it impossible to carry on as usual. Those of us who have watched Vaz over the years were less surprised. He is a modern-day Captain Brazen. He does not do self-doubt. The House did not like it. His arrival caused a stir of unease, a shifting, dare one say, of buttocks. Mr Vaz plonked himself down in a little knot of Labour backbenchers. A couple of them gulped. One was Stephen Pound (Lab, Ealing N), an admirable Roman Catholic who takes his faith undiluted. I cannot say for sure what went through Mr Pounds mind as Vaz straightened his tie and then placed his plump and sticky fingers in his own lap but I imagine Mr Pound felt a faint queasiness around the gills, as can occur when a man has snaffled a bad prawn. Nor did Jenny Chapman (Lab, Darlington) look too joyful as she and Scunthorpes Nic Dakin both of them from the honourable end of the Parliamentary Labour Party found themselves having to make conversation with the buttery star of the Sunday Mirrors revolting front page. Perfunctory conversation was made. No more than that. What on earth can one say to a bloke in such circumstances? Oh, hello, Vaz, had a good break? Been away? Get up to anything interesting? No shame: The 59-year-old Labour politician, seen standing, even made an appearance on the Commons benches, asking a question about Britons fighting for Islamic State Home Office Questions was unfolding. Mr Vaz rose to ask Home Secretary Amber Rudd about some detailed matter touching on anti-terrorism. The House fell utterly silent after Speaker Bercow saw fit to call Vaz. It was one of those silences so complete, they scream at you. Miss Rudd answered the question without appetite. Later we had a discussion about unrest in the Yemen, Foreign Office Minister Tobias Ellwood using the event quite properly to make an apology for an earlier error made by the Foreign Office regarding Saudi Arabian arms deals. Once again, Mr Vaz was to be seen on his feet, oozing importance. Once again, his friend Bercow invited him to take the floor. Captain Brazen: Keith Vaz plonked himself down in a little knot of Labour backbenchers Vaz thanked the comparatively youthful Mr Ellwood for correcting the record. His tone was that of a cardinal imparting benediction to a penitent. But hang on. This is a man who, if the tapes are correct, has hired rough trade and bragged about having unprotected sex. How can he possibly possess the moral authority to pose as an elder of our legislature? The Commons is damaged by such association. And did it help these serious matters of anti- terrorism and Gulf violence that the politician mentioning them is embroiled in allegations of the most unseemly depravity? Having coughed up his few words, the Right Hon Member made for the door. As he left he vouchsafed a few bon mots to Richard Burden (Lab, Northfield) and Robert Flello (Lab, Stoke S). They watched him depart. Once he was out of sight, they laughed, Mr Burdens eyebrows all a-wriggle. Hillary and Bill Clinton slammed Donald Trump Monday for 'creating a diplomatic incident' and 'damaging America' with last week's meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. After the meeting, which took place in Mexico Wednesday, Trump told press that he and Nieto had not discussed his long-promised plan to make Mexico pay for a wall between itself and the USA. 'He didn't raise it, so he did choke. He didn't know how to even communicate effectively with a head of state. And I think that's a pretty clear outcome from that trip,' Hillary Clinton told ABC Monday. 'Incident': Hillary Clinton (pictured at a Cleveland, Ohio rally Monday) says Donald Trump's visit to Mexico last week caused a 'diplomatic incident' 'Choked': Clinton says Trump 'choked' when he - by his own admission - didn't bring up his proposed wall during his meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto (left) 'Damaging': Bill Clinton (pictured campaigning in Detroit Monday) said Trump 'damaged America' when he told supporters on returning to US that he would make Nieto pay for the wall Clinton repeated her remarks in Illinois on Monday evening, saying: 'He couldn't even bring himself to tell the president of Mexico one of his very few policy demands.' And Bill Clinton, who was campaigning for his wife in Detroit, was similarly disparaging about Trump - particularly his rally in Arizona immediately after the Mexico visit, in which he once again promised to make Mexico pay for the wall. 'I've had that job,' the former president said, according to ABC. '(Trump's visit) damaged America and every serious country in the world. 'You cannot be the leader of a country, go down and be nice to people and then come home and dump on them for your own political benefit.' In his own press flight, Trump sounded less certain about his plan to repatriate all 11million undocumented immigrants than he had when announcing it last Wednesday. When asked by ABC whether some might be able to stay, Trump said: 'It could be, but whats going to happen is if youre going to be a citizen, youre going to leave and you're going to have to come back.' And if they don't want to become citizens, he said, 'they have to make a determination what happens when the border is secure.' 'So youre open to them staying here undocumented?' Trump was asked. 'Im going to make a decision, or somebody will,' he replied, 'Whether its me or somebody else because by that time well have a secure border, well have a wall.' Uncertain: Trump sounded less certain about his plans to repatriate all 11m undocumented immigrants Monday, when he said that some may be left in the country even if his wall goes up The Clintons weren't the only ones getting digs in at Trump for his Mexico visit. Senator Tim Kaine, who was also taking part in the ABC interview with Hillary Clinton, also criticized the Republican candidate. He said: 'If you're gonna cave when you're with an ally, and Mexico's an ally, what are you gonna do when you're with an adversary?' 'You shouldn't leave the safety of America and our diplomacy in the hands of a rookie who, on his one visit with a foreign leader, has already created kind of an international embarrassment for us,' he continued. 'Caving': Senator Tim Kaine (pictured center), who was with Clinton during the interview (pictured) said if Trump 'caved in' with an ally, he couldn't be trusted to stand up to an enemy The Clintons' remarks take at face value Trump's claim that he did not discuss his proposed wall with Nieto. But Nieto himself denied Trump's claim on Twitter after their meeting, saying in Spanish: 'At the beginning of the conversation with Donald Trump I made it clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall.' Hillary Clinton also told ABC that she would not accept Nieto's invitation to visit Mexico herself, saying she would rather focus on the US. David Davis last night flatly rejected anti-democratic demands for a second EU referendum or for MPs to hold a vote allowing them to block the referendum result. The Cabinet minister for Brexit told MPs the public had delivered its instructions to Parliament and pro-Remain MPs must get over it. A string of senior Labour MPs, along with some senior Tories such as former education secretary Nicky Morgan, have demanded that MPs should have a vote to ratify Brexit. David Davis last night flatly rejected anti-democratic demands for a second EU referendum or for MPs to hold a vote allowing them to block the referendum result This would allow the pro-Remain majority in the Commons to delay or even block Brexit. But David Davis last night flatly rejected anti-democratic demands for a second EU referendum or for MPs to hold a vote allowing them to block the referendum result. He said it amounted to an attempt to deny the wishes of more than 17million Brexit voters, adding: Up with that we will not put. His comments the strongest by any minister came as MPs debated a public petition urging a new referendum on Britains membership of the EU. The internet petition which was given extensive coverage by the BBC in the days immediately after the vote to leave the EU on June 23 attracted four million signatures. Labour MP David Lammy said the public had been lied to and a further vote on the Brexit deal was the only way out of the constitutional crisis. But ex-Tory minister John Penrose said any attempt to bypass the Leave vote would be corrosive to public trust. He added: We have been given our marching orders. Brexit must mean Brexit. It is up to every red-blooded democrat to accept the verdict... and pull together to deliver it. David Davis last night flatly rejected anti-democratic demands for a second EU referendum or for MPs to hold a vote allowing them to block the referendum result During lengthy discussions on Brexit at Westminster, Michael Gove, the sacked justice secretary and leading Brexit campaigner, said there had been a record increase in the service and manufacturing industries, which shows that all those who voted to leave the EU know a darn sight more about economics than the soi-disant experts. Former Cabinet minister Peter Lilley urged the Government to get Britain out as soon as possible. He said that the two-year notice period which is triggered by the UK invoking Article 50 was a maximum period of time and it could leave far earlier if it wanted. Mr Davis said that Britain was not seeking to delay Brexit or frustrate the wishes of the public, but extricating the UK from EU law was proving a complex problem. Brexit was about getting the best deal with something that is unique rather than an off-the-shelf solution. Mr Davis also said withdrawal from the EU is not about making the best of a bad job and pledged to secure a national consensus. Stressing his determination to deliver Brexit as soon as possible, he said his desire to return to the backbenches is overwhelming and he wants to close down his department as soon as he can. But Pro-EU MPs said Mr Davis had not given enough detail in his statement on how Brexit would work. Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said: David Davis told us nothing. He read out a few dates in his diary, but anyone looking for Britains post-Brexit strategy would have looked in vain. No trade deals, no allies, no plan. Yesterday, a poll for BBC Radio 5 live, conducted by the polling firm ComRes, suggested that 62 per cent of the 1,032 British adults canvassed are positive about Britains future post-Brexit. A separate survey for former Tory Party treasurer Lord Ashcroft found that six in ten of the British public believe the economy will do well over the next year, despite drastic warnings of a recession if Britain left the EU. Parts of the WA coast were closed after A surfer who was knocked off his board by a great white shark has praised his brother for saving his life. After the attack, which took place in Western Australia's south-west on Monday, Fraser Penman took to social media to share the terrifying encounter. In what he described as the 'scariest moment of my life', Mr Penman said he was shocked to walk away intact 'with nothing but a smashed board'. Fraser Penman (pictured) said the attack was the scariest moment of his life In the post shared to his Facebook page, Mr Penman said he hoped it would be the only time he crossed paths with the predator. 'Encountered my first & last shark attack today down at Carparks Injis!' he said. 'Scariest moment of my life'. Fraser Penman with his surfboard, which was left ripped by the shark Surf Lifesaving WA tweeted to say there was a possibility the shark was a great white The attack at popular surfing spot Injidup beach in Yallingup, happened not far from where 25-year-old Matthias Bache went missing after cliff diving in March. In Mr Penman's Facebook post, he thanked his younger brother, Logan, who he said put his own life on the line to save him. 'The biggest thank you to my little brother Logan for instantly paddling across yelling 'punch it!' and throwing me his board saving my life,' he said. 'That takes a hell of a lot of courage and so much love.' Fraser Penman said he owes his life to his brother Logan Penman (pictured) In the touching tribute to his brother, Mr Penman said he was 'truly lucky' to have him. While it was unconfirmed if the shark Mr Penman encountered was a great white, Surf Lifesaving WA tweeted to say there was a possibility it was. 'Shark sighted 15:51hrs 05/09 Injidup Beach, south of Yallingup' tweeted Surf Life Saving WA 'Shark sighted, a shark possibly a Great White has charged surfers in the water, no injuries.' Onlookers told WA Today Mr Penman was not alone in the water, and there was a mad rush to the beach when people realised what had happened. Vinnie Poller said he was about to head into the water when he noticed people scrambling back out. 'I wasn't in the water when it happened, I was just checking it when I saw everyone paddling in and the guy's board broken up on the beach as he came ashore,' he said. 'It all looked pretty scary in the moment. Fraser Penman (left) with Australian professional surfer Taj Burrow (right) 'I don't know the guy and it's crazy that no one was hurt, but you just have to be thankful to walk away from things like that, and he seemed okay though.' Mr Poller said the sheer damage the shark did to Mr Penman's surfboard made him 'think twice' about going back in the water. There were up to 61 sightings of sharks recorded off the west coast between June 6 and August 25 this year 'But you have just got to accept that they are part of the ocean and we can't really do much about that,' he said. In a photo posted online after the attack, it showed a makeshift sign warning other beach-goers. 'No joke. Shark attack. Big and aggressive,' it read. Fraser Penman took to Facebook to share his terrifying encounter with the shark Just south of the attack at Injidup beach in Yallingup, another shark was spotted a mere 50 metres from the shore. Monday's shark attack was just the latest in a string of shark sightings off the coast of Western Australia in recent weeks. There were up to 61 sightings of sharks recorded off the west coast between June 6 and August 25 this year, prompting the Department of Fisheries to close a stretch of the coastline. Injidup beach in Yallingup, where the shark attack happened not far from the shore The department called it 'an unprecedented number of sightings over a sustained period of time and in a small stretch of water'. Master escapologist: Keith Vaz, pictured leaving his home in London yesterday Keith Vaz is a wily and slippery politician who has triumphantly navigated his way through a succession of scandals only to emerge with an even broader grin on his self-satisfied face. Now the Sunday Mirror has made what appear to be cast-iron allegations that the married Labour magnifico paid two male escorts for sex, this master escapologist would seem to have his work cut out if he is to survive his latest embarrassment. Nonetheless, the Houdini of modern politics is attempting to turn the tables by putting the paper in the dock, where most fair-minded people would say he should be standing. After the Sunday Mirrors revelations, Vaz pompously declared that it was deeply troubling that a national newspaper should have paid individuals who have acted in this way. Note he failed to specify the exact nature of the newspapers supposedly heinous behaviour. He simply sought to smear it in general terms in the hope that public opinion will regard him as a casualty of tabloid dirty tricks, even though no evidence has been produced that there were any. His approach may be working. On Sunday, BBC1s News At Ten introduced the story in this manner: One of Labours most high-profile MPs, Keith Vaz, has criticised a national newspaper after it publicised claims that he hired male escorts. How cock-a-hoop Vaz must have been. The BBC inverted the story by first shining the spotlight not on Vaz but on the Sunday Mirror, which had publicised claims. The implication was the newspaper had a case to answer for choosing to circulate unsubstantiated allegations. There was surely a more honest way of presenting this story. The Sunday Mirror has produced extensive evidence that the Labour chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee paid two male Eastern European prostitutes for sex. And although Vaz has criticised the paper, he has not denied its story is true. Business as usual: The 59-year-old Labour politician, seen standing, even made an appearance on the Commons benches, asking a question about Britons fighting for Islamic State Over the coming days, I expect the sinuous MP to cultivate the notion that he is a hapless victim of Press intrusion into his private life. He hopes, following the phone-hacking scandal and the Leveson Inquiry into Press ethics, that public opinion will side with him against the supposedly rapacious tabloids. A tragic picture of St Keith the martyr will be assiduously assembled by his supporters in the Commons and the media. We will be offered an image of a wronged man who was blamelessly pursing his private tastes with two consenting adults. Before this orgy of self-righteousness gets much further, let me examine the allegations against Vaz in more detail, and explain why I believe the Sunday Mirror (a Labour-supporting title with no political animus against Vaz) was serving the public interest by exposing him. Intimate: Keith Vaz with one of the Eastern European escorts at his 390,000 London flat I am taking on trust that throughout its investigations the Sunday Mirror acted entirely lawfully, and in accordance with the Press code of conduct. At the very centre of this story is the issue of whether the Press has any business to write about the aberrational sexual behaviour of public figures. Jeremy Corbyn has already produced the usual argument that what such people get up to in private should be their own affair so long as it is legal. But is this really true? Imagine that Keith Vaz, or any other politician for that matter, used male prostitutes all the time. Even Jeremy Corbyn might concede that in such a case it was permissible to run a story. In other words, the legality of an act need be no defence against publication. It is a matter of judgment where you draw the line. Of course, politicians have a right to a private life, but they are not quite in the position of almost everyone else by virtue of the enormous power they can wield In my opinion, the Sunday Mirror had every right to put Vazs alleged payment to two male escorts (and the suggestion he had used others) into the public domain. It is obviously significant that the MP is married, and a professed heterosexual. Its also undeniable that paying young men for sex is a form of exploitation. The newspaper correctly judged that even in an age of ever increasing sexual licence, most people will be shocked by Mr Vazs reported conduct. If he did not know that it would be widely considered reprehensible, he would not have bothered to conceal it. Of course, politicians have a right to a private life, but they are not quite in the position of almost everyone else by virtue of the enormous power they can wield. If their private behaviour diverges in a dysfunctional way from their carefully contrived public personae, I want to be told. Stoney-faced: Keith Vaz pictured leaving his home in London with wife Maria yesterday Moreover, there are special considerations in this instance which further vindicate the Sunday Mirrors story. Vaz was recorded asking the East Europeans to bring poppers sex-enhancing drugs to a liaison, and admitted to having taken some himself. Vaz has argued in the Commons against banning these drugs, and they were later removed from a list of substances outlawed by a new Bill. Had he used poppers when he spoke in their partial defence, and, if so, shouldnt he have said so? His Commons committee is carrying out an inquiry into prostitution, focusing on whether the balance in the burden of criminality should shift to those who pay for sex rather than sell it. I suppose Vazs bizarre experiences might afford him special insights, but until now they have remained undisclosed, and he can hardly have been an even-handed chairman. Vaz in the past has also deplored the use of cocaine. And yet, according to the Sunday Mirror, he offered to buy some for one East European prostitute, though he said he did not want any of the drug himself. Isnt this a disturbing contradiction? Vaz has blustered and evaded his way through previous scandals, and faced with accusations of sexual misconduct he now resorts to well-tried techniques For my money, the Sunday Mirror would have been justified in running its story even without these additional damning details since he is a powerful man who, by the by, holds others to account in the most overbearing way in his Commons committee. As it is, I cant see any decent argument against publication as long, I repeat, as the Sunday Mirror behaved lawfully and Mr Vazs slurs against the paper, and his attempt to paint himself as a victim, are breathtaking. Yesterday afternoon, the MP attempted to brazen it out, asking a question in the Commons in his most lordly manner about Britons going off to fight for Syria as though nothing had happened. Meanwhile, his lawyers have sent a letter to Tory MP, Andrew Bridgen one of Vazs most outspoken critics over the past couple of days, and previously accusing him of spreading false and highly defamatory scuttlebutt about him. They had the gall to threaten to sue him if this shabby behaviour continues. Shabby behaviour! I can think of one MP who is guilty of that and worse. Vaz really is shameless. He has blustered and evaded his way through previous scandals, and faced with accusations of sexual misconduct he now resorts to well-tried techniques. Its time he was finally dealt with. He wont voluntarily fall on his sword. If the members of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee wish to retain public respect, they must give this sleazy old rogue the heave-ho. The electors of Leicester East can then decide what to do with him. Conservative Australian commentator Andrew Bolt has been rendered speechless by right-wing American political pundit Ann Coulter. Coulter, a right-wing supporter of Donald Trump, appeared on The Bolt Report on Monday evening to discuss the American political race. During the interview she called the father of fallen soldier Captain Humayun Khan a 'snarling Muslim', after his impassioned speech at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia last month. Ann Coulter (right) appeared on Andrew Bolt's The Bolt Report on Sky News on Monday night During the interview she called the father of fallen soldier Captain Humayun Khan a 'snarling Muslim' Towards the end of the interview Bolt asked Coulter about Trump's criticism of Khan's parents and their heated address earlier this year. The billionaire businessmen went after the couple publicly, even claiming Khan's father Khizr Khan had done all the talking because his mother 'wasn't allowed'. KHIZR KHAN'S SPEECH Father of Captain Humayun Khan, Khizr Khan, spoke at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia last month. During a fiery speech he attacked Donald Trump, saying that if it was up to the billionaire, his son never would have been American or served in the military. After Khan's speech, Trump attacked the family once again claiming Khan had done all the talking because his mother 'wasn't allowed'. Advertisement 'That still leaves the case of the Muslim parents of the soldier who died, I just don't think you criticise the parents, any parents of a soldier who died in battle,' Bolt said. 'No I totally disagree... No I totally disagree on that one,' Coulter replied. She went on to explain that there was a 'method to his (Trump's) madness' and accused the media of launching an 'endless attack on Trump'. 'I don't know America very well if they want to listen to a snarling Muslim lecture them and tell us we're not allowed to have opinions on important public policy issues unless we had a son die in Iraq,' Coulter said. A usually vocal Bolt was left speechless by her response. Coulter defended Donald Trump, who criticised the Khan family After Mr Khan's speech Trump said hat the soldiers father had delivered the entire speech because his mother was not 'allowed' to speak In July, Pakistan-born Khizr Khan made headlines after he fiercely attacked Trump at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia. He said that if it was up to Trump, his son never would have been American or served in the military. Khan said that Hillary Clinton, by contrast, 'called my son the best of America.' Her sister sadly died in the 6.2-magnitude earthquake that hit central Italy Youngster was one of the last people to be pulled out alive from the rubble Rescue dog found Giorgia in rubble in town of Pescara del Tronto A rescue dog who saved a girl from the rubble in the aftermath of the Italian earthquake has received a special audience with the Pope. Pope Francis met Leo the black Labrador at the Vatican, along with his police handlers and other volunteers who helped rescue survivors. He bent down to pet the hero dog, who rescued a four-year-old girl called Giorgia in the town of Pescara del Tronto, central Italy. Pope Francis met Leo the black Labrador at the Vatican, along with his police handlers and other volunteers who helped rescue survivors During the meeting, Leo even put out his paw, allowing the Pope to shake it. The Pope also took time to speak to police officers Matteo Palladinetti and Liborio Desimone, who gave him a police cap as a gift. Giorgia was one of the last people to be pulled alive from the rubble following the earthquake. Her sister Guilia, nine, was sadly found dead but is believed to have saved Giorgia by lying on top of her. Massimo Caico, the firefighter who pulled the girls out, told Italy's La Repubblica newspaper that the position of the older girl's body apparently created a pocket of air that allowed Giorgia to survive. He recounted how a black Labrador, Leo, first gave a sign that he smelled something. He bent down to pet the hero dog, who rescued a four-year-old girl called Giorgia in the town of Pescara del Tronto, central Italy The Pope also took time to speak to police officers Matteo Palladinetti and Liborio Desimone, who gave him a police cap as a gift Rescuers began digging, finding at first a doll and then Giulia's body. Then he saw the ground nearby moving 'in the rhythm of what could be breathing.' 'Maybe they hugged each other in their sleep or in fear, and the body of Giulia saved Giorgia,' Caico told the newspaper. The death toll from the 6.2-magnitude earthquake which hit Umbria, Lazio and Marche in central Italy at the end of last week has now risen to 295. The towns of Amatrice, Accumoli and Pescara del Tronto were the worst hit. The death toll from the 6.2-magnitude earthquake which hit Umbria, Lazio and Marche in central Italy at the end of last week has now risen to 295 Hillary Clinton says it's 'appropriate' that her husband will forsake their family foundation if she's elected. The White House hopeful refused to say whether their daughter Chelsea should follow suit. 'We'll reach that if I'm elected,' she told reporters traveling with her Monday. The former secretary of state has been accused by Donald Trump and Republicans of performing favors as a cabinet member for Clinton Foundation donors as part of a 'pay-for-play scheme.' Hillary Clinton (pictured talking to reporters on her plane Monday) says it's 'appropriate' that her husband will forsake their family foundation if she's elected A report published by the Associated Press at the end of August based on a partial release of her schedule found that half her meetings with non-government officials were with individuals who had given large sums to her husband's charity. Bill Clinton has said he'll step down from the foundation's board and remove his first name and that of his wife and daughter from the organization's masthead if Hillary wins in November. Chelsea Clinton will stay on. The Clinton Foundation will no longer take donations from foreign governments or corporations and, regardless of whether Hillary seizes the highest elected office in America, will cease holding the annual Clinton Global Initiative conference. 'I'm very proud of the work that the Clinton Foundation has done,' she told ABC News today in an exclusive interview. The Democratic presidential candidate said the charity, founded in 2001 after Bill's final year in office, is her husband's 'life's work, after the presidency.' 'And he has said, if I am so fortunate enough to be elected, he will not be involved. And I think that is appropriate.' The White House hopeful (pictured with running mate Tim Kaine during a Labor Day rally) refused to say whether their daughter Chelsea should follow suit Bill Clinton (pictured marching with union members in Detroit Monday) has said he'll step down from the foundation's board if Hillary wins in November She insisted in the joint interview with running mate Tim Kaine that she didn't do anything wrong as secretary of state. 'I don't think there are conflicts of interest,' she said. 'I know that that's what has been alleged and never proven. But nevertheless, I take it seriously.' She reiterated her pride in the 'world-renowned' foundation later, during a media availability with reporters riding her campaign plane and defended the organization from Trump's assaults. 'A lot of what's been said is just not founded in fact,' she stated. The foundation will be making 'significant' changes should she win the national election, Clinton added. A British mother confessed to killing her five-month-old son after a heated row with her husband in the South of France, prosecutors alleged yesterday. The 42-year-old accountant is suspected of smothering the baby, named only as Daniel, as he and his older brother slept beside her on the final day of their week-long holiday. It is claimed she admitted the killing to police, saying she was exhausted and submerged by feelings of powerlessness. The 42-year-old accountant is suspected of smothering the baby, named only as Daniel, as he and his older brother slept at the home pictured A man, believed to be Daniels father, was yesterday accompanied by officers as he left the gite where the tragedy happened on Saturday morning (Saint-Pee-sur-Nivelle pictured) The mother had been behaving erratically during the holiday in Saint-Pee-sur-Nivelle, ten miles from Biarritz in south-west France, prosecutors said. On the eve of the death she allegedly drove off with Daniel in the familys BMW estate for several hours after a row with her husband. The woman, who has not been named, was admitted to a psychiatric hospital as French police continued to investigate. A man, believed to be Daniels father, was yesterday accompanied by officers as he left the gite where the tragedy happened on Saturday morning. It is thought he had been packing for the drive back to the familys home in the London suburbs when he heard their two-year-old son, Ben, shouting from the bedroom where he had been sleeping with his mother and younger brother. His wife emerged moments later without saying what had happened but when he went to check on the children he found Daniels lifeless body in the bed. He rushed to see the gites owner who immediately called the emergency services, but the baby was pronounced dead at the scene. After a coroner gave the cause of death as suffocation, police were brought in and arrested the mother. Prosecutor Marc Mariee, who is leading the investigation, told reporters the mother was suspected of smothering the baby with her own hands. He also claimed she had been behaving in a way that drew attention to herself during the holiday. On one occasion during a day trip she had driven off with the children and left her husband at a lake, he said. The parents had an argument in the gite on the night before they were due to leave, and the woman is said to have driven off again for three hours with Daniel. The woman, who has not been named, was admitted to a psychiatric hospital as French police continued to investigate The following day her husband found Daniels body as he was packing, said Mr Mariee. The mother told officers she had smothered Daniel. She said she was submerged by feelings of powerlessness that led her to this act. She said she was exhausted. The woman was later seen by a psychiatrist who described her as very disturbed, the prosecutor added. Daniels body has been moved to Bordeaux where an autopsy is expected to be carried out this week. Mr Mariee said the mother, who was the family breadwinner, had previously been treated for depression in hospital in the UK. She had no known history of violence. The family were staying in a half-timbered gite on the edge of Saint-Pee-sur-Nivelle, a village in the Basque province of Labourd. It has a beach at a nearby lake as well as trails for walkers and mountain bikers. The gites owner, who lives on the ground floor, said the family had appeared pleasant and happy apart from the row on the eve of Daniels death, adding: They seemed like a perfectly normal couple to me. On the final night there were raised voices and she drove off with the baby for several hours. Advertisement Standing firm: Keith Vaz appeared to smirk as he left his London mansion today as new tapes recorded during his alleged liaison with rent boys emerged Keith Vaz demanded rent boys treat him 'like a b****' and ordered the prostitutes around as he took control of a late night sex party at his flat, new tapes revealed today. The Labour MP was also recorded asking the sex workers detailed questions about sex-enhancing drugs called 'poppers' and asked them: 'Let me see what you do. How do you do it?' Today Mr Vaz smiled as he left his north London mansion with his political career on the brink. Minutes later he quit as chairman of an influential House of Commons committee - but resisted calls to leave Westminster altogether over the rent boy scandal. The Labour MP said: 'Those who hold others to account must themselves be accountable'. New recordings released today cast doubt over claims that the politician was drugged and set up during his liaison with rent boys on August 27. In one exchange the married father of two, who had told the escorts he was a washing machine salesman called Jim, complained one of the prostitutes 'treats me like a b****'. When the sex worker replied: 'You don't know what it means to be treated like a b****', Mr Vaz then said: 'Show me... show me.' He then told one of the male prostitutes 'show me how he's your b****' and when he declined the Leicester East MP urged again: 'Go on'. When one male prostitute was late for the liaison Mr Vaz told another rent boy: 'I'm just going to have to f*** you', according to the Daily Mirror. And in a series of questions about the use of poppers Mr Vaz said: What do you do? Open it, show me how it works, because I've never tried it before. Let me see what you do. How do you do it?'. A rent boy also told him he was drunk and the powerful MP said: 'Good'. Intimate: Keith Vaz with one of the Eastern European escorts at his 390,000 flat in north London, 10 minutes from his family home, as new recordings reveal he took control KEITH VAZ ON BEING 'TREATED LIKE A 'B****' The Daily Mirror has printed a new transcript of Keith Vaz's chats with two male escorts. Keith Vaz (KV): He treats me like a b****. Escort 1 (E) : Like a b****? KV: Mmm. E: You don't know what it means to be treated like a b****. KV: Show me. Show me. E: I don't know how to treat someone like a b**** KV: No. E: But I know how to be (trails off)- KV: Show me how he's your b****. E: A b****? Escort 2: Show you? KV: Mmm. Escort 2: Not today. KV: Go on. Advertisement The new recordings will increase pressure on the MP as it also emerged: Mr Vaz threatened to sue Tory MP Andrew Bridgen, who reported him to the police, Charity Commission and the Commons sleaze watchdog; The PM declared that the public must have confidence in politicians; He has now quit as chairman of one of Parliament's most powerful committees but will continue as an MP. He said: 'Those who hold others to account must themselves be accountable' Mr Vaz's brother-in-law told the Mail the MP had dinner with relatives hours before his alleged sex session; More questions have emerged about how the purchase of Mr Vaz's 'sex flat' was funded. Keith Vaz had been in contact with rent boys for several weeks before he was exposed for paying young men for sex, it emerged last night. The disgraced Labour MP now facing a parliamentary sleaze inquiry had regular friendly text communications with the male prostitutes during the summer. Today new details have emerged as the man who allegedly paid the two male prostitutes a 150 'deposit' for Mr Vaz was named as Daniel Dimitru Dragusin. He told The Daily Mirror that the money did not come from an account linked to the MP's diabetes charity, Silver Star. There is no suggestion he knew the money was going to rent boys. On one LinkedIn profile last night Mr Dragusin, of Harrow, north London, described himself as Silver Star Diabetes' 'London coordinator'. Another LinkedIn profile which appeared to be for the same Mr Dragusin said he had been a 'parliamentary assistant' for Labour since May 2010. The Sunday Mirror initially reported money was paid into an account used by one of the escorts by a man linked to the charity. Silver Star has brought in law firm Carter Ruck, which denied its client made any inappropriate payments. Mr Vaz also denies the allegation. Relaxed: Mr Vaz is covertly filmed on his sofa during the alleged encounter on August 27 just ten minutes from his family home Deal: The MP's text exchange with the escorts - Mr Vaz's alleged messages are in grey Mr Vaz had initially apologised to his wife and children for the 'hurt and distress' caused after he was allegedly filmed meeting two rent boys at his flat on August 27, pretending to be a washing machine salesman called Jim. Shameless: Keith Vaz forces a smile while leaving his home in north London today The MP had also indicated he would step down as chairman of the home affairs committee, after texts allegedly showed he asked the Eastern European sex workers to bring poppers sex-enhancing drugs to a liaison. He has now criticised the tactics used by the Sunday Mirror, suggesting he was entrapped. But it has become clear that he met the men on at least one occasion before they contacted the newspaper and he had been exchanging text messages with them frequently before the August 27 meeting. Both men approached the newspaper after one recognised Mr Vaz on TV and claimed to have been previously paid for their services. The August 27 encounter was filmed by the men, not the newspaper, before details were published last Sunday. Despite this, the MP shamelessly went on the attack again yesterday, with Mr Bridgen receiving a letter from Mr Vaz's lawyers warning him he may be sued. The legal letter said: 'You have been maliciously spreading false and highly defamatory scuttlebutt about him.' A source close to Mr Bridgen said the letter from lawyers Howard Kennedy had been 'an attempt to close down any further investigation and suppress information'. Silver Star, a diabetes charity set up by Mr Vaz, has brought in law firm Carter Ruck, which denied its client made any inappropriate payments. The Sunday Mirror had claimed money was paid into an account used by one of the escorts by a man linked to the charity. Mr Vaz also denies the allegation. Vaz is pictured with Daniel Dimitru Dragusin at Parliament. Mr Dragusin, who claims to be a 'parliamentary assistant' is said to have paid a 'deposit' to the two male prostitutes. There is no suggestion he knew the money was going to rent boys. 'LABOUR AIDE' WHO PAID 150 DEPOSITS The man who allegedly paid two male prostitutes a 150 'deposit' for MP Keith Vaz was last night named as Daniel Dimitru Dragusin. He told The Daily Mirror that the money did not come from an account linked to the MP's diabetes charity. It was initially reported by the Sunday Mirror that one payment for the liaison came from a man linked to Silver Star Diabetes, the charity Mr Vaz launched in 2007. Mr Dragusin, originally from Bucharest, Romania, said the cash paid to a bank account nominated by the two rent boys with the reference 'painting work' came from his own. There is no suggestion he knew the money was going to rent boys. On one LinkedIn profile last night Mr Dragusin, of Harrow, north London, described himself as Silver Star Diabetes' 'London coordinator'. Another LinkedIn profile which appeared to be for the same Mr Dragusin said he had been a 'parliamentary assistant' for Labour since May 2010. He had posted a social media photograph of himself with Mr Vaz in 2011 from the Commons terrace, The Mirror reported. Silver Star yesterday said no charity money was used to pay prostitutes. On August 24 the two prostitutes received 150 from Mr Dragusin's account, 24 hours after Mr Vaz agreed to pay the money for a night with the men, it was reported. Mr Dragusin denied all knowledge of the payments when approached at his home.But when he was told his name was on the account that made one payment he said: 'Yes but what is linked to charity? My account is not linked to the charity.' Advertisement Asked about the scandal yesterday, Theresa May said: 'I have always been clear throughout my political career that what is important for people is that they feel that they are able to have confidence in their politicians. 'That is what I think we all have a duty to provide for those who elect us.' Mr Vaz met the escorts at a flat he owns near his North London family home, according to the Sunday Mirror. Last night his brother-in-law revealed the shamed MP had a family dinner in Leicester hours before stripping off with rent boys and requesting sex without a condom. Pedro Fernandes, the brother of the MP's wife, said his sister would be horrified. He said: 'She will be shocked and find it difficult to believe this because it's so out of character. 'We have tried contacting her by phone, but there is no answer. I always thought that Vaz and my sister had a happy marriage. He has always been dedicated to his work and he is always busy. 'He isn't what you'd call a party animal at all. He normally never drinks maybe a couple of sips of wine and he never takes drugs. That's why I think it could be made up.' The Labour MP had been at the family get-together on August 27 with his wife and teenage daughter, before he left at around 9.30pm and made his way back to London alone going to the sex flat. Meanwhile, experts backed the newspaper exposure of Mr Vaz's use of male escorts. Media commentator Roy Greenslade said there had been a clear public interest. The Prime Minister yesterday took a swipe at Keith Vaz as the scandal-hit politician broke cover for the first time since he was exposed for paying rent boys for sex. Addressing the lurid allegations from the G20 summit in China, Theresa May said 'people look for confidence in their politicians' and that it is the duty of MPs 'to provide for those who elect us'. Mr Vaz, 59, was today told he is 'not fit' for office as 1,850 joined a Facebook group calling on him to quit immediately. But in the face of hostile criticism it was business as usual for the Leicester East MP, who headed straight to Parliament to address his fellow MPs. The Labour politician looked tired as he left his north London home with his wife of 23 years Maria Fernandes, who appears to be standing by her husband despite the alleged sex scandal. He later appeared in the Commons to ask a question about Britons going off to fight for ISIS in Syria. One observer on Twitter said: 'Vaz was speaking in the Commons as if nothing's happened'. And fighting back further the shamed MP threatened libel action against a Tory MP who called on him to resign and urged police to investigate him. There was complete silence from MPs as he spoke to the Commons and congratulated Amber Rudd on being appointed Home Secretary, with some claiming he may still try to remain Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee. Speaking in a calm voice with no hint of the scandal that has embroiled him. He referred to the case of Siddhartha Dhar, who was alleged to have appeared in a propaganda video released by ISIS after fleeing Britain in 2014 despite having been arrested six times. Breaking cover: Keith Vaz leaves his London home yesterday with wife Maria Fernandes, right, who appears to be standing by her husband Back to work: Keith Vaz walked into the Commons this afternoon, pictured, and sat in his usual seat as he refused to quit Business as usual: Mr Vaz asked a question about passports in a show of defiance to critics who want him to resign 'I'm just going to have to f*** you': The amazing transcript reveals Keith Vaz's 'night of debauchery with two male prostitutes' The Daily Mirror today released more audio and transcripts linked to Keith Vaz's alleged use of rent boys. The newspaper has released them to refute claims Mr Vaz was set up or drugged. The newspaper, which broke the sex scandal on Sunday, also argues it shows the MP took charge of the liaison. Encounter: MP Keith Vaz, who told the men he was a washing machine salesman called Jim, leaves his north London flat after the alleged sexual rendezvous. Transcripts released today by the Mirror reveal more of what was discussed On the tardy rent boy Keith Vaz (KV): He's not going to come, you know that. Escort 1: He will f****** come, otherwise I will kill him. KV: He's not gonna come. He's an hour late, and he's going to catch a plane at eight. [Slurping noise] KV: We're going to have to just f*** each other. Escort 1: What? KV: I'm just going to have to f*** you. On being treated like a 'b****' Keith Vaz (KV): He treats me like a b****. Escort 1 (E) : Like a b****? KV: Mmm. E: You don't know what it means to be treated like a b****. KV: Show me. Show me. E: I don't know how to treat someone like a b**** KV: No. E: But I know how to be (trails off)- KV: Show me how he's your b****. E: A b****? Escort 2: Show you? KV: Mmm. Escort 2: Not today. KV: Go on. On getting drunk Escort 1: You got me a little drunk, you know that? KV: Good. We want to [inaudible] for the third time tonight [Sound of jangling belt buckes] KV: Is he drunk? Escort 2: No, it's not like I'm drunk. Escort 1: I'm drunk On poppers Escort 1: Do you like poppers? KV: Mmm. Escort 1: No? KV: I do a little, but it's [inaudible] because you're being f***** up the [inaudible]. Escort 1: But again, you can just **** more. KV: Yeah. Escort 2: Why did you tell us to bring them, then? Goodbyes and seeing the men again KV: You've got your stuff? Got everything you need to take with you? Escort 1: Yes, we do KV: If you see [unnamed escort] can you give him a hit on the face? Escort 2: Haha, with a d***. KV: Right, ok, I'll see you soon. 'Sex Flat': This is the block of luxury flats where Keith Vaz allegedly met two male escorts on August 27 this year Keith Vaz QUITS home affairs committee chairman job over prostitute scandal, saying: 'Those who hold others to account must themselves be accountable' Gone: Keith Vaz, pictured leaving home for the Commons today, has resigned as chair Keith Vaz has quit his prestigious role as chairman of the Home Affairs Committee after bowing to pressure from MPs. The Labour MP said 'those who hold others to account must themselves accountable' as he announced his departure. Mr Vaz was thought to be trying to cling on by standing aside temporarily, but has now resigned altogether. 'It is in the best interests of the Home Affairs Select Committee that its important work can be conducted without any distractions whatsoever. 'I am very sorry that recent events make it impossible for this to happen if I remain chair.' Members of the committee had been threatening an unprecedented vote of no confidence after Mr Vaz he was caught allegedly paying rent boys for sex and offering to buy drugs. Prime Minister Theresa May also effectively suggested the ex-minister should resign when she insisted that people wanted confidence in their politicians. Mr Vaz, who has survived a string of political controversies, had faced a crunch meeting with the powerful cross-party committee later. The committee is due to questions immigration minister Robert Goodwill this afternoon. One senior member of the panel said last night: I suspect he [Mr Vaz] thinks he can bluff it out and step aside for a few weeks or months or however long it takes to blow over. I think that is hugely optimistic and members of the committee will suggest otherwise. If he thinks he can chair some of the session, everyone will think that is completely untenable. It would overshadow everything we are doing. He has been like a cat with nine lives but this is of a different order. Sources told the Daily Mail that it would be absolutely impossible for the former minister to continue in a role that monitors crime, migration, sexual exploitation and drugs policy. If he refused to step down, the other ten members of the committee were considering going nuclear and triggering a no confidence motion in an attempt to force him out. Given Parliament elects select committee chairmen, this is not binding but it would be hugely symbolic. Fellow Labour MP Chuka Ummuna is favourite to take his place. Mr Vaz has faced a series of controversies during his career, but managed to cling on to his seat. He was one of a handful of MPs to publicly defend Greville Janner against allegations of sex abuse, and in 2009 he was criticised over expenses spent on his Westminster flat when his family home was just 12 miles away. A Georgia woman who was accused of shooting and killing her daughter-in-law in June was indicted by a Cobb County grand jury on Thursday. Jenna Wall, 35, was found dead inside her home on June 23 shortly after her mother-in-law, Elizabeth Wall arrived at the victim's home with her grandsons, aged seven and eight. Authorities said Elizabeth Wall, 63, told the boys to wait outside in a pickup truck when she entered the home, WSB-TV reported. Georgia woman, Elizabeth Wall (left), who was accused of shooting and killing her daughter-in-law, Jenna Wall (right) was indicted by a Cobb County grand jury Jenna Wall (pictured), 35, was found dead inside her home on June 23 shortly after her mother-in-law, Elizabeth Wall arrived at the victim's home with her grandsons, aged seven and eight The victim's estranged husband and the boys' father, Jerrod Wall, received a call from his mother telling him to come and get his sons, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. When he arrived, he found her sitting in the living room holding a gun and his estranged wife dead in the kitchen. Elizabeth Wall was arrested the same day and police believe she shot Jenn Wall (pictured) four times Elizabeth Wall was arrested the same day and police believe she shot her daughter-in-law four times. Wall was reportedly indicted on charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, possession of firearm during commission of a felony, and two counts of cruelty to children in the third degree, according to the Journal. In July, police said at a probable cause hearing that Wall researched shootings and bought a gun about two months before the murder, the Journal reported. According to WSB-TV, neighbors say that the teacher lived at the home with her parents because she was going through a divorce. The couple had been married for 12 years. Police have not released a motive for the shooting yet, but believe that it was domestic in nature. The victim's estranged husband and the boys' father, Jerrod Wall (pictured) found his mother sitting in the living room holding a gun and his estranged wife dead in the kitchen Wall (right) was reportedly indicted on charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, possession of firearm during commission of a felony, and two counts of cruelty to children in the third degree Documents obtained by WGCL show that the former couple who were married on July 17, 2004 had been separated for a year as they were in the middle of a contentious divorce. The teacher filed for divorce first, but in a counter-petition filed by Jerrod Wall, he claims that she was involved in an extra-marital affair with a former boyfriend from high school. In the documents, he claimed that his estranged wife disclosed to him that she was having the affair after she filed for divorce. The mother-of-two and her former high school boyfriend started communicating via social media in 2013 before meeting up in 2014. Jerrod Wall claimed in the divorce petition that the she would speak to the man between 15 to 20 times a day while she was at work or at home with the family. He alleged that the kindergarten teacher created specific accounts to communicate with him in an effort to conceal the affair, and that she had sex with him inside the home they shared. Jerrod and Jenna Wall (pictured with their children) were in the midst of a divorce at the time of her death. Neighbors said the victim was living with her parents because of the divorce Jenna Wall filed for divorce first, but in a counter-petition filed by Jerrod Wall, he claims that she was involved in an extra-marital affair with a former boyfriend from high school. Pictured is the crime scene The victim taught kindergarten at Kemp Elementary School in Cobb County. A school website says she was a graduate of Harrison High in Kennesaw, Georgia, and the University of Georgia. The home where Jenna Hall was shot is pictured Jerrod Wall, who is an investigator at the Paulding District Attorney's Office, claims that she exposed their children to at least one of her romantic meetings with the man. In addition, he claims that she would not allow him to spend time with their two children and filed for permanent custody of the boys. But he claimed that she was financially and emotionally unstable and wouldn't be able to care for the children, the documents state. The victim taught kindergarten at Kemp Elementary School in Cobb County. The family of an Aboriginal woman who died in police custody are demanding answers after a report revealed she had no illegal drugs or alcohol in her system. Rebecca Maher, 36, was found dead in a Maitland police cell in the NSW Hunter region less than six hours after being picked up in Cessnock on July 19 by police who believed she was drunk. Her mother Debbie said it took police almost six hours to inform her Ms Maher had died. 'She would normally be brought home or I'd get a phone call and go and pick her up. This time it didn't happen, we didn't get that phone call,' Ms Maher told ABC's 7.30 on Monday. The family of Aboriginal woman Rebecca Maher (pictured) have demanded answers after a report reveals she had no illegal drugs or alcohol in her system 'I sat near the window looking at the front door, waiting for her to come home'. Debbie said she saw a report she claims shows her daughter had not consumed illegal drugs or alcohol. She now wants to know what kind of medical attention Ms Maher was given before she was found dead. 'I asked [police] straight away, was there medical staff brought in to her? Was she assessed? And they said 'no',' she said. Her mother Debbie (pictured) said it took police almost six hours to inform her Ms Maher had died Ms Maher, 36, was found dead in a cell at Maitland police station (pictured), in the NSW's Hunter Valley, about 6am on July 19 less than six hours after she had been taken into custody The Aboriginal Legal Service NSW has called for an independent investigation into the death saying police failed to alert them to Ms Maher's incarceration, as required by changes introduced following the Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody. ALS say it was eventually notified a month after Ms Maher's death, and it believes she could have been saved if police had followed protocol and notified them. Phyllis Schlafly, the conservative activist who helped defeat the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and founded the Eagle Forum political group, has died. She was 92. Schlafly died of cancer Monday afternoon at her home in St Louis, surrounded by her family, her son John Schlafly said. Funeral arrangements are pending. She rose to national attention in 1964 with her self-published book, A Choice Not an Echo, that became a manifesto for the far right. The book, which sold three million copies, chronicled the history of the Republican National Convention. It is credited for helping conservative Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona earn the GOP nomination in 1964. Scroll down for video Conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, 92, died on Monday afternoon at her home in St Louis. She is pictured in March endorsing Donald Trump at a rally before he begins speaking Schlafly helped defeat the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution, which would have outlawed gender discrimination. She is pictured in 1976 next to women opposed to the ERA Schlafly later helped defeat the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution, which would have outlawed gender discrimination. She graduated from college while working overnight at a factory during World War II and her newspaper column appeared in dozens of newspapers. Schlafly remained politically active into her 90s and was at every Republican convention since 1952. She attended this year's convention as a Donald Trump delegate. Yet she told The Associated Press in 2007 that her greatest legacy was perhaps the Eagle Forum. She founded the movement in 1972 in suburban St Louis, where she lived. Donald Trump (pictured with Schlafly at a rally in St Louis in March) praised heer as 'a patriot, a champion for women and a symbol of strength' after the news of her death Monday Schlafly (pictured at the Republican National Convention in July this year) went to every convention since 1952. She attended this year's event as a Trump delegate The Eagle Forum, which Schlafly (pictured in 2007) founded in 1972, is against efforts it says are pushed by radical feminists The ultraconservative group has chapters in several states and claims 80,000 members. 'I've taught literally millions of people how to participate in self-government,' Schlafly said. 'I think I've built a wonderful organization of volunteers, mostly women but some men, willing to spend their time to get good laws and good politicians.' The Eagle Forum pushes for low taxes, a strong military and English-only education. The group is against efforts it says are pushed by radical feminists or encroach on US sovereignty, such as guest-worker visas, according to its website. The website describes the Equal Rights Amendment as having had a 'hidden agenda of tax-funded abortions and same-sex marriages'. The group said in statement on its website announcing Schlafly's death that her 'focus from her earliest days until her final ones was protecting the family, which she understood as the building block of life'. As momentum grew in the 1970s for the Equal Rights Amendment, Schlafly became its most outspoken critic and was vilified by its supporters. She had a pie smashed into her face and pig's blood thrown on her, and feminist Betty Friedan once told Schlafly: 'I'd like to burn you at the stake.' The Eagle Forum website describes the Equal Rights Amendment as having had a 'hidden agenda of tax-funded abortions and same-sex marriages'. Pictured, Schlafly leads a group of protesters as the legislature considers the amendment As momentum grew in the 1970s for the Equal Rights Amendment, Schlafly (pictured demonstrating in front of the White House) became its most outspoken critic Schlafly (pictured in 1975) had a pie smashed into her face and pig's blood thrown on her, and feminist Betty Friedan once told Schlafly: 'I'd like to burn you at the stake' The Eagle Forum, which Schlafly founded, is against efforts it says encroach on US sovereignty, such as guest-worker visas. She is pictured in 2006 at a hearing on immigration Schlafly was criticized in a 1970s Doonesbury comic a framed copy of which hung on her office wall. 'What I am defending is the real rights of women,' Schlafly said at the time. 'A woman should have the right to be in the home as a wife and mother.' Thirty-five states ratified the amendment, three short of the necessary 38. Schlafly said amendment supporters couldn't prove it was needed. 'They were never able to show women would get any benefit out of it,' she told the AP in 2007. 'It [the US Constitution] is already sex-neutral. Women already have all the rights that men have.' Saint Louis University history professor Donald Critchlow, who profiled Schlafly in a 2005 book, said the defeat of the amendment revived conservatism and helped pave the way for Ronald Reagan's election in 1980. 'What the ERA [defeat] did was show the right, and especially Reagan strategists, that a new constituency could be tapped to revitalize the right. It allowed the right to take over the party,' Critchlow told the AP shortly after his book was written. Schlafly was born on August 15, 1924, and grew up in Depression-era St Louis. Her parents were Republican but not politically involved. Her own activism was born partly out of convenience. With the country involved in World War II during her college years, Schlafly worked the graveyard shift at the St Louis Ordnance Plant. Her job included testing ammunition by firing machine guns. She would get off work at 8 am, attend morning classes, then sleep in the middle of the day before doing it all over again. With the country involved in World War II during her college years, Schlafly (pictured kissing her husband Fred in 1981) worked the graveyard shift at the St Louis Ordnance Plant Her own activism was born partly out of convenience. Schlafly (pictured in 2013) chose political science as her major because it fit her schedule Schlafly (pictured at home during her years as an opponent to the Equal Rights Amendment) received an honorary degree at Washington University's commencement in 2008 Trump said he was 'honored to spend time with her'. Schlafly (pictured at a Trump rally in March) co-authored a book called The Conservative Case for Trump, to be released Tuesday The schedule limited her options for a major. 'In order to pick classes to fit my schedule I picked political science,' Schlafly said in 2007. She graduated from Washington University in 1944, when she was 19. Her first taste of real politics came at age 22, when she guided the 1946 campaign of Republican congressional candidate Claude Bakewell, helping him to a major win. In 1952, with her young family living in nearby Alton, Illinois, Schlafly's husband, attorney John Schlafly Jr, was approached about running for Congress. He declined, but she ran and narrowly lost in a predominantly Democratic district. She also ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1970. Schlafly earned a master's degree in government from Harvard in 1945. She enrolled in Washington University School of Law in 1976, and at age 51, graduated 27th in a class of 204. Schlafly received an honorary degree at Washington University's commencement in 2008. Some students and faculty silently protested by getting up from their seats and turning their backs to the stage, but Schlafly called it 'a happy day', adding: I'm just sorry for those who tried to rain on a happy day.' Schlafly was an outspoken opponent of same-sex marriage, abortion rights and loosening US border restrictions. Citing Schlafly's views about homosexuals, women and immigrants, protesters said she went against the most fundamental principles for which the university stood. Citing her views about homosexuals, women and immigrants, protesters at the commencement said Schlafly (pictured in 2010) went against the university's principles Schlafly (pictured sorting mail in her office in 1975) remained active in conservative politics well into her later years, during which she kept writing her column Trump called Schlafly (pictured in 2007) a 'conservative icon who led millions to action' and 'reshaped the conservative movement' after her death was announced Monday Schlafly remained active in conservative politics well into her later years, during which she kept writing her column that appeared in 100 newspapers. She also did radio commentaries on more than 460 stations and published a monthly newsletter. She endorsed Trump in early March and introduced the then-GOP front-runner at a St Louis rally. Trump praised Schlafly as 'a patriot, a champion for women and a symbol of strength' after the news of her death Monday. He called her 'a conservative icon who led millions to action, reshaped the conservative movement and fearlessly battled globalism and the "kingmakers" on behalf of America's workers and families'. Trump said in a statement released Monday night: 'She fought every day right to the end for America First.' She co-authored a book called The Conservative Case for Trump, to be released Tuesday. Trump said he was 'honored to spend time with her'. Rio Tinto has been named in a U.S. lawsuit claiming talcum powder linked to ovarian cancer came from mines run by its U.S. subsidiary. The lawsuit was lodged in Louisiana by four women who are suffering from ovarian cancer and the husband of a woman who died against Johnson & Johnson and Rio Tinto's U.S. subsidiary. The women had used the healthcare giant's baby powder and Shower to Shower products for 'feminine hygiene purposes', The Age reported. Rio Tinto has been named in a U.S. law suit as it is claimed talcum powder linked to ovarian cancer came from its mines They were diagnosed with ovarian cancer over the period of four years from 2011 to 2015. Luzenac America, the company behind the talc which made up Johnson's baby powder and was formerly owned by US-based Rio Tinto Minerals Inc, is also being sued. Rio Tinto, Johnson & Johnson and Luzenac America 'failed to inform its customers and end users of its products of a known catastrophic health hazard associated with the use of its products', the lawsuit claims. 'All of the defendants have been aware for nearly 40 years of independent scientific studies linking the use of their products to the increased risk of ovarian cancer in women when used in the perineal area,' court documents obtained by The Age said. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Rio Tinto for comment. A Johnson & Johnson spokeswoman told The Age the multinational would 'continue to defend the safety of Johnson's Baby Powder'. 'Multiple scientific and regulatory reviews have determined that talc is safe for use in cosmetic products and the labelling on Johnson's Baby Powder is appropriate,' she said. The lawsuit was lodged in Louisiana by four women who are suffering from ovarian cancer and the husband of a woman who died after suing Johnson's baby powder This latest case follows juries awarding ovarian cancer victims who blamed Johnson & Johnson talcum powder for their illness tens of millions of dollars in compensation. A St. Louis jury ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $55 million to a South Dakota survivor of the disease in May. In February, another St. Louis jury awarded $72 million to relatives of an Alabama woman who died of ovarian cancer. They were among several hundred lawsuits claiming that regularly applying products like Johnson's Baby Powder and Shower to Shower to the genitals can cause the often-lethal cancer. Both cases were handled by the Onder Law Firm, based in suburban St. Louis, one of the firms with advertisements running across the U.S. that urge cancer victims to come forward. A fifth suspect has been arrested in the shooting death of Governor Andrew Cuomo's aide last year at New York's J'Ouvert festival. Carey Gabay, 43, a Harvard-educated lawyer, was caught in crossfire during the Caribbean celebration in September 2015. Authorities said shooting had broken out between rival gangs, and Gabay was walking on the street with his brother and some friends when he was hit. Kenny Bazile, 31, the fifth suspect in the case, was arrested Thursday in Palm Desert, California. Scroll down for video Carey Gabay (left), 43, a Harvard-educated lawyer, died after getting caught in crossfire during the J'Ouvert festival in September 2015. Kenny Bazile (right), 31, the fifth suspect in the case, was arrested Thursday in Palm Desert, California Authorities believe Bazile fired shots during the gang-related gunbattle in which Gabay was fatally struck. Bazile will be extradited to New York because authorities charge him. Earlier this year, Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson announced the indictments of 21-year-old Tyshawn Crawford and 24-year-old Keith Luncheon, both of Brooklyn. Also indicted was 24-year-old Micah Alleyne, of Queens. He was arrested in May. They were indicted on a number of charges in the death of Carey Gabay, including murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Each of them faces up to 25 years in prison. Earlier this year, the Brooklyn DA announced the indictments of 21-year-old Tyshawn Crawford (upper right) and 24-year-old Keith Luncheon (bottom left), both of Brooklyn. Also indicted was 24-year-old Micah Alleyne (upper left), of Queens. Stanley Elianor (bottom right), 25, was indicted in October on weapons possession charges A fifth man, 25-year-old Stanley Elianor, was indicted in October on weapons possession charges. He faces up to 15 years in prison. Bazile's arrest came a year after Gabay's death. After the shooting, Gabay was immediately placed in a medically induced coma. But eight days after the shooting, doctors declared him brain dead. Gabay, the son of Jamaican immigrants, had graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School. He served as an assistant counsel for Cuomo starting in 2011 and was appointed first deputy counsel for New York's economic development agency in 2015. Following Gabay's shooting death, authorities tried to ramp up security for this year's festival. But two people, a female college student and a Bronx teenager, were shot dead at the West Indian carnival Monday. They were identified as St John's University student Tiarah Poyau, 22, and Tyreke Borel, 17. Two people were shot during the J'Ouvert celebrations in Brooklyn: Tiarah Poyau, 22, (left) and Tyreke Borel, 17 (right) Crime scene investigators with the New York Police Department work at the scene where multiple people were killed and others injured in a shooting during Brooklyn's J'ouvert Borel, of the Bronx, was shot in the chest about 3:50 am near Empire Boulevard and Flatbush Avenue. He was taken to the hospital, where he died. A 72-year-old woman was shot in the hand and the arm at the same location and was taken to a hospital in stable condition, police said. About 25 minutes later, Poyau was shot in the face just a block away, police said. She died at the hospital. Poyau was an aspiring accountant and was interning at top-five firm PwC in New York, according to her LinkedIn profile. Organizers say the early morning festivities that led to what is now J'Ouvert started in the 1980s. Pictured left and right are attendees at this year's festival A 23-year-old woman was also stabbed in the area, but police said she refused medical attention. Organizers say the early morning festivities that led to what is now J'Ouvert started in the 1980s. The tradition originated in the Caribbean and is celebrated in several North American cities with West Indian communities, including Boston and Toronto. The name, J'Ouvert, means daybreak, put together from the French words 'jour' ('day') and 'ouvert' ('open'). A six-month old baby has been making waves after becoming the world's youngest wakeboarder. Parker 'Parks' Bryant may not be able to walk yet, but footage from Runaway Bay on the Gold Coast shows the toddler can hold his own behind the handlebars of a wakeboard. The fearless tot is believed to have grabbed the world's youngest wakeboarder record from US infant Zyla St Onge, who was only 17 days his senior. Scroll down for video Carving it up! Parker Bryants has become the world's youngest wakeboarder While the clip shows Parker's maiden voyage, the baby has been training for the big day almost since birth. Ski boat and wakeboard dealer Nautique Central's Gold Coast branch manager, Sam Greenland, told Daily Mail Australia Parker was in his element in the water. 'He was loving it. He always laughing and having a whale a ball as soon as he got going,' Mr Greenland told Daily Mail Australia. He said Parker cruised about 500 metres along the bay's calm waters with his parents Timothy and Karin Bryants, from Singleton in NSW. Mr Bryant told Daily Mail Australia Parker has been power-boating since he was just two-weeks old. 'He just lights up whenever he takes to the water, so we figured we would give him a crack.' Making waves! The six-month-old is believed to be the world's youngest wakeboarder Parker's parents have been teaching him balance and how to grip on tight from his backyard pool in Singleton The baby was named after US wakeboarder Parks Bonifay, who became the world's youngest waterskiier when he was six months and 29 days old 'We've been teaching him balance and how to grip on tight from his backyard pool, so he knew exactly what he was doing,' he said. The vision shows the smiling baby gripping on tightly to the learner board as he carves it up. Parker wore a life jacket and elastic shoes to ensure he was safe if he became separated from the boat - but Mr Bryant admitted they still held safety concerns. Mr Greenalnd said the youngest boarder he's taken out was four making Parker's talents all the more staggering. He said Parks was named after US wakeboarder Parks Bonifay, who became the world's youngest waterskiier when he was six months and 29 days old. Some children are being sent to school with a packed lunch made up of a pasty, Wotsits, a chocolate bar and sugary squash. Details have been revealed in a new study which found that 98 per cent of packed lunches served up by parents are unhealthy. The common collection of crisps, snacks, sugary drinks and sweets means they do not meet minimum nutrition standards set for school canteens. Some lunches found in the study of primary schools by academics from Leeds University met none of the official standards. Details have been revealed in a new study which found that 98 per cent of packed lunches served up by parents are unhealthy One of these included a pasty, a packet of Wotsits, a chocolate bar and a blackcurrant squash. Another was made up of a chocolate roll, a packet of Hula Hoops and blackcurrant squash. The study found that just 1.6per cent of children receive a packed lunch that could be considered healthy, which is little better than similar research 10 years ago. Some 52per cent of lunchboxes contained too many sweets, such as chocolate bars and Haribos, and 60per cent too many savoury items like crisps. Just 17per cent of the lunches contained any kind of vegetables or salad. The study found 46per cent of packs contained sugar sweetened drinks, which was an improvement on the 61per cent when the study was last conducted in 2006. Despite some improvements over the past ten years, few packed lunches met the minimum standards for energy, protein, vitamin A, iron or zinc. This is most likely due to the lack of fresh salad and vegetables and un-processed meat or fish. Sandwiches were in 83per cent of lunch packs. White bread dominated, ahead of tortilla wraps, but very few were made with healthy wholemeal. Ham was the dominant filling, but some parents went for jam or marmite. Crisps were in 60per cent of packs, fruit in 57per cent and confectionary, such as chocolate biscuits and cakes, were in 52per cent. The studys lead researcher, Dr Charlotte Evans, who is a Nutritional Epidemiologist, said the Government and schools need to take action against junk food lunchboxes. The studys lead researcher, Dr Charlotte Evans, who is a Nutritional Epidemiologist, said the Government and schools need to take action against junk food lunchboxes. I hope the results of the study are an eye-opener, highlighting that more stringent policies need to be introduced if we want to see real change in the nutritional value of childrens packed lunches, she said. New policies for schools, food manufacturers and retailers are needed, which will require strong support from government and stakeholders if progress is to be made. Sharon Hodgson MP, who is chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for School Food, said: The research highlights the need for more action to be taken on food put in childrens packed lunches, something which the School Food APPG has recently called for. Despite positive moves with regards to the food provided as part of a school meal, food brought in by children in their packed lunches is lagging behind. Therefore we need more action to be taken if we want to see positive changes occur. The food brand Flora funded the research and is involved in a push to encourage families to improve the health of lunchbox food. It has distributed 631,000 lunchboxes to retailers throughout the UK containing easy-to-make plant-based recipes alongside Flora spread. Flora has also compiled a healthy kids section on their website offering tips to parents to help even the fussiest eaters. The companys James Brennan said: We want to see that policies are implemented to enable standards to be met, and we wish to do so by working alongside Government, raising wider awareness of the issue, and by giving busy parents a helping hand. Parents were served up fake cocaine and pretended to rack up lines of the drug with disposable razor blades at primary school's Las Vegas-themed fundraiser ball. Politicians, parents and high-ranking professionals mingled together at the event, but defended themselves against outrage by claiming it was all 'good, clean fun.' Teachers from the school are also believed to have posed for photos pretending to cut up and snort the fake cocaine, which was placed in the bathrooms. The annual fundraising ball took place at Auckland's Northcote Primary School on September 3, and was described on the school's Facebook page as 'infamous'. Parents were served fake cocaine (pictured) at an Auckland primary school's Las Vegas-themed fundraiser Politicians, parents and high-ranking professionals mingled together at the event (pictured) A number of teachers from the school reportedly posed for photos pretending to snort the fake cocaine, using provided razor blades to make lines of the imitation drug School board chair Andrew Fox told the NZ Herald that the school regretted its decision to use fake cocaine as a prop. 'It was a satirical Las Vegas theme and yes there was a prop that was made to look like cocaine.' 'In hindsight, we agree this wasn't appropriate.' The 'cocaine' in question was in fact icing sugar, which was poured into piles to imitate the illegal stimulant and placed on mirrors alongside razors. New Zealand Health Minister Jonathon Coleman, who attended the event and has kids at the school, said he didn't notice any parents 'using' the fake cocaine. 'I was there all night. And frankly, I didn't even know that this prop was there. 'So call me naive, but look, the school and no one there is condoning drug use. This is a massive beat-up.' Board chair Andrew Fox said the school had since regretted its decision to use fake cocaine as a prop Lisa Joe, one of many parents who attended the fundraiser, said the inclusion of fake cocaine was an 'unfortunate incident' in an 'otherwise fabulous evening.' 'From my perspective, as a parent, it's unfortunate that it's happened but it has happened, and we've got to move on,' Ms Joe told stuff.co.nz. 'We all had a fabulous night on Saturday ... it was good, clean fun and were tremendously proud of our school and parent committee that raised $28,000 for the school.' Daily Mail Australia has contacted local politician Lindsay Waugh, who also attended the ball, for comment. The two-year-old was found unharmed inside the car two A two-year-old boy was mistakenly kidnapped in a botched car theft on Father's Day after his dad accidentally left his keys in the ignition while the boy was in the back seat. Dave Gleeson was standing in the driveway of a friend's house in Sebastopol near Ballarat at around 5.45pm on Sunday when two opportunistic thieves stole his Toyota without realising his two-year-old son, Tyge, was strapped into the back seat. The criminals did not get far, taking only twenty minutes to dump the blue utility truck in the driveway of a Parkgate Lane property just two kilometres away. Scroll down for video Two-year-old Tyge became an unwilling participant in a twenty minute joyride after his father left the keys in the ignition and two thieves drove off with his utility truck Mr Gleeson said the Father's Day ordeal may have taken only minutes to resolve, but it felt like hours before he was reunited with his son. 'Those 20 minutes felt like three hours,' Mr Gleeson told Nine News. 'I was literally gone for a couple of minutes, I was in shock,' he added. Mr Gleeson (pictured) said the Father's Day ordeal may have taken only minutes to resolve, but it felt like hours before he was reunited with his son. The criminals did not get far, taking only twenty minutes to dump the blue utility truck in the driveway of a Parkgate Lane property around two kilometres away Mr Gleeson was in the driveway of a friend's house (pictured) when the two thieves struck Detective Sergeant Steven Howard said the boy was unharmed and that the 'opportunistic' thieves likely made off with the truck before realising he was inside. 'We couldn't get too much out of the two-year-old boy, but he did happen to say that there was two people involved,' he told Nine News. 'He referred to one of them sitting mummy's seat and the other one sitting in daddy's seat.' 'We couldn't get too much out of the two-year-old boy, but he did happen to say that there was two people involved,' Detective Sergeant Steven Howard said Mr Gleeson said he was delivering a window to a friend at the time of the theft, adding that he only took his eyes off the car for a moment while he carried it down the driveway. 'You just can't leave you kids or your keys in the car because it will happen,' he warned. Donald Trump blasted Hillary Clinton Monday for allegedly being too tired to campaign properly. His remarks came during a pair of dueling Labor Day press conferences that he and Clinton held simultaneously on their separate private jets. 'She didnt have energy to go to Louisiana and she didnt have the energy to go to Mexico,' Trump said, when asked about last Wednesday's controversial visit to the Central American country. Scroll down for video 'Low energy': Donald Trump said Monday Hillary Clinton 'didn't have the energy' to visit Mexico or Louisiana like he did and doesn't have the 'stamina' to 'bring jobs back' to the US 'Destruction': Trump also blamed the NAFTA bill, signed in by Bill Clinton, for destroying jobs in the US, and said that he now wants to focus on jobs over immigration He continued: 'She should have gone to Louisiana and she should have gone to Mexico. She still hasnt gone to Louisiana and she didnt have energy or drive to Mexico.' Trump was referring to both last Wednesday's meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and his visit to flood-stricken Louisiana in mid-August. He told press after the Nieto meeting that he hadn't discussed his plan to make Mexico pay for a wall separating it from the US - something Hillary Clinton criticized him for Monday. Clinton's supposed lack of energy came up again when Trump was asked about his message to her for Labor Day. 'Bring back jobs, which she cant,' he said. 'She doesnt have clue. Number one she doesnt have a clue, number two she doesnt have the energy to bring them back. 'She doesnt have the energy or stamina to bring them back.' Clinton has been fighting rumors that she is badly ill, and battled a persistent cough during her speech in Ohio, which later flared up before reporters on the plane. She reminded them: One thing you know from my doctor's letter is I have seasonal allergies.' 'Allegies': His remarks came the same day that Hillary Clinton suffered a coughing fit, which she attributed to 'seasonal allergies' Trump was also asked about his stance on immigration, which he said hadn't changed; that America has 'gotta stop the drugs, we gotta stop criminality, get rid of the bad (immigrants), and a lot of them are bad.' And last Wednesday he unequivocally said that all 11million of the USA's undocumented immigrants would be made to leave the country. But when pressed by ABC after Monday's flight, Trump seemed less certain about whether all undocumented immigrants would be deported. When asked whether some might be able to stay, Trump said: 'It could be, but whats going to happen is if youre going to be a citizen, youre going to leave and you're going to have to come back.' And if they don't want to become citizens, he said, 'they have to make a determination what happens when the border is secure.' 'So youre open to them staying here undocumented?' Trump was asked. 'Im going to make a decision, or somebody will,' he replied, 'Whether its me or somebody else because by that time well have a secure border, well have a wall.' During the press event, Trump also accused the NAFTA bill, spearheaded by George HW Bush but signed in by Bill Clinton, of destroying 'the manufacturing and jobs in this country,' and complained about Hillary Clinton's support of the TPP. Despite his remarks on immigration, Trump said he was making a conscious pivot in his campaign towards focusing on job creation, which he assured the reporters he's 'going to be best at.' 'Everybody knows where I stand on immigration now; I am so about jobs,' he said. 'I see whats happening in Pennsylvania, I see whats happening in Ohio and they are getting so wiped out. ' In an interview with ABC Monday, Clinton said that she would not visit Mexico prior to election day, saying she would rather focus on the US. 'I'm going to continue to focus on what we're doing to create jobs here at home, what we're doing to make sure Americans have the best possible opportunities in the future,' she said. Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin took sides on the topics of cyber-crime and Syria during an intense, 90-minute-long 'pull-aside' meeting at the G20 summit in China Monday. The pair had been photographed locked in a 'death stare' during the meeting, which occurred apart from the main discussions. The US President later explained he had been raising the issue of cyber attacks on America by Russian attackers, and the need to create rules to regulate how countries use the internet. He also likened the internet to a weapon, emphasizing the US's offensive and defensive military might as he explained their discussion. 'What we cannot do is have a situation in which this suddenly becomes the wild, wild West, where countries that have significant cyber capacity start engaging in unhealthy competition or conflict through these means,' he explained to press later on. He added that 'wisely, I think, we've put in place some norms when it comes to using other weapons.' Scroll down for video Tense: Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama failed to agree on a solution to the Syrian civil war The pair have also been talking about the civil war in Syria - but Obama admitted no solution had been found yet. Washington and Moscow support opposing sides in the bloody five-year conflict, which has left 300,000 people dead and forced millions to flee. The two leaders discussed Syria at closed multilateral meetings but could not reach a deal to ease fighting in the war-torn region. But in their final face-to-face meeting before Obama leaves office in January next year, he and Putin agreed to keep up negotiations over a cease-fire agreement. Speaking today Obama said the pair had a 'candid, blunt, business like meeting.' It comes as Syrian government troops - backed by Russia - resumed their siege of the city of Aleppo. Stand off: Obama expressed skepticism that Russia would keep to its side of the agreement A deal to provide aid to Aleppo's ravaged civilians and at least partially stop Russian and Syrian bombardments had looked likely on Sunday, before talks collapsed. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov had been trying to broker a deal for weeks that would curb the violence between Assad's government forces and rebel forces backed by the US. The agreement hinged on the two sides agreeing to closer militarily coordination against extremist groups operating in Syria. But Obama expressed skepticism that Russia would hold to its agreement and talks were overtaken by developments on the ground. Unofficial meeting: They have agreed to keep up negotiations over a cease-fire agreement Summit: Putin also met Secretary of State John Kerry on the sidelines of the G20 State media said Syrian government troops had taken an area south of Aleppo, severing the last opposition-held route into its eastern neighbourhoods. He said today: 'We are back in a situation where Assad is bombing without impunity and strengthening Nusra's position to recruit people for terrorism and that's a dangerous dynamic. 'We want to have productive discussions that would allow us both to focus on our common enemies like ISIS but there are gaps of trust and we haven't yet closed the gap. 'We will keep working at it over the next several days. The faster we can provide relief the better off we will be and we can have a serious conversation about this involving all the parties who are involved in Syria.' Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he had urged world powers at a G20 meeting to set up a 'safe zone' in Syria where there would be no fighting and which could help stem migrant flows from the Arab nation. Speaking in China, Erdogan said he had repeated a proposal for a 'no-fly zone' in Syria during his talks with Putin and Obama. Claims: Obama later described the meeting as 'blunt' during a press conference Leader: Putin was meeting Obama for the last time before the latter leaves office Away from Syria, Obama also discussed Ukraine and said until the Minsk Agreement was implemented the US would not pull down their sanctions with Russia. He said it was important for both sides over the next few weeks to seize the opportunity to finalize the agreement. The president said he expressed concerns about cyber security issues with Mr Putin, but would not detail the discussions. The meeting came as it emerged US intelligence officials are probing claims that Russia could be trying to influence the result of the American presidential election. Director of national intelligence James R. Clapper Jr is spearheading the investigation, it was reported today. A 'paranoid' father who encouraged his family to flee their hometown sparking an interstate man hunt and has apologised for the 'hurt and concern' he caused during the five-day ordeal, which saw his youngest daughter charged with theft. Mark Tromp encouraged his family - including wife Jacoba, 53, son Mitchell, 25, and daughter's Riana, 29, and Ella, 22 - to leave their farm in Silvan, east of Melbourne, on Monday when he became overwhelmed with fear their lives were in danger. The 51-year-old was found wandering the streets near Wangaratta Airport five days later, after becoming separated from the rest of his family, but did not reveal the circumstances that led to the bizarre road trip when he spoke out on Tuesday. Scroll down for video It took five days to locate all members of the Tromp family, who aside from Mitchell were affected by a mental illness that caused them to fear for their lives (Pictured from left to right: Riana, Mark, Jacoba, Mitchell and Ella) 'In recent days my family has been through a difficult period,' he said in a statement. 'We will soon be reunited together, I hope that we will begin to make sense of our ordeal and return to a normal life.' He acknowledged the 'burden' he had placed on his friends, family and police who spent almost a week scouring Victoria and New South Wales for the missing family. 'On behalf of our family, I express our deep gratitude to Victoria and New South Wales Police, as well as the health care professionals who have looked after our physical and mental well-being.' He said the family are recovering from a mental illness and were receiving 'appropriate assistance'. This comes after Ella Tromp, 22, was charged with theft of a motor vehicle and possessing the proceeds of a crime after she and Riana allegedly stole a ute and abandoned their 'delusional' parents last Tuesday. Ella Tromp (left), 22, has been charged with stealing a car after her 'paranoid' father Mark (right) encouraged her family to flee their Victorian home MARK TROMP'S FULL STATEMENT 'In recent days my family has been through a difficult period. We will soon be reunited together, I hope that we will begin to make sense of our ordeal and return to a normal life. I am conscious of the burden these events have placed upon our extended family, friends and the community resources devoted to our aid. Without reservation, I apologise for the hurt and concern caused by these events. On behalf of our family, I express our deep gratitude to Victoria and New South Wales Police, as well as the health care professionals who have looked after our physical and mental well-being. More than anything, my family and I need time to recover and receive appropriate assistance, including mental health services. To this end, we request the media organisations respect our request for privacy.' Advertisement The pair were allegedly travelling from the Jenolan Caves, in the NSW central tablelands, in a car neither of them owned a day after severe paranoia drove the family of five to pack their bags and flee their Victorian home. Ella allegedly drove the stolen utility truck back to their redcurrant farm in Victoria after separating from her older sister in Goulburn, according to police. Riana, who was found in a catatonic state hiding in the back of a utility truck, also faced charges however they were dismissed under section 33 of the Mental Health Act of NSW. Mitchell, 25, was the first to abandon the trip once reaching Kelso, near Bathurst, a day after his mobile phone was hurled from the family's station wagon amid the height of their paranoia. He took public transport back home via Sydney while his family continued their journey. Mother Jacoba was found in a dazed state on Thursday and taken to a hospital in Yass to be treated for 'stress related' illnesses. Riana and Jacoba are now being treated in a mental health facility in Goulburn for a stress related illness. Riana Tromp (left) and her mother Jacoba (right) are being treated in a mental health facility in Goulburn Mark Tromp (right) was picked up by police on Saturday night and flipped the bird at media when he was released from custody Mark Tromp's father George said: 'There's no sinister, no cult, no one else involved, that's why this is such a puzzle. 'I can understand why everyone is so intrigued. One day we'll know.' Mitchell Tromp was the first to leave the family during the strange trip Mark, who is currently staying with his brother Ken, flipped the bird to waiting media when he was released from police custody. Before Mark was found his family told the media they believed their father was still in Victoria after a series of break-ins in Milawa, a small town south-east of Wangaratta, Sydney Morning Herald reported. The Tromps caused concern after it was discovered left their home without their mobile phones, credit cards or passports. Mark was reportedly paranoid that someone was going to kill them, but police have said the family were never in danger. Mitchell Tromp and his sister Ella have returned to their home at Silvan, where they addressed media on Sunday morning THE TROMP FAMILY'S OFF-GRID VACATION Monday, August 29 The Tromp family abandon their redcurrant farm in Victoria and flee the town in their family station wagon without any bank cards or mobile phones. Son Mitchell, 25, is found to have a mobile phone and it is thrown from the vehicle east of Melbourne. Tuesday, August 30 Mitchell becomes concerned with his parent's 'delusional' behaviour and leaves the family trip at Bathurst before boarding public transport home. Mark, 51, his wife Jacoba, 53, and their two daughters Ella, 22, and Riana, 29, continue travelling to the Jenolan Caves. Ella and Riana allegedly steal a utility truck and leave their parents in Goulburn. The sisters become separated in the regional town and Riana is found in a catatonic state hiding in the back of a local man's utility truck. The 29-year-old was taken to hospital and treated for a stress-related illness. Ella started travelling back to the family home in the stolen vehicle. Police visit the family farm after the couple are reported missing. Wednesday, August 31 Ella and Mitchell arrive home separately and are met by police. Officers spot the family station wagon in Victoria's north-east and a man, believed to be Mark, flees the vehicle and runs into a nearby park but is not found. Thursday, September 1 Jacoba is found 'dazed and confused' in Yass after separating from her husband. She was taken to a local hospital to be treated for a stress-related illness. Mitchell reveals his parents were paranoid and afraid when he abandoned the trip. Friday, September 2 Jacoba was transferred to Goulburn hospital where Riana is undergoing treatment. Saturday, September 3 Mark was found wandering the streets near the Wangaratta airport in 'good health' and was taken into police custody. Advertisement The couple's three children went with them until realising their parents were 'delusional'. Speaking to media on Friday, Mitchell said he couldn't explain the family's paranoia. 'I've never seen anything like it. It's really hard to explain or put a word on it but they were just fearing for their lives and then they decided to flee,' Mitchell said. Mitchell and Ella Tromp addressed media on Sunday after their whole family had been accounted for Mark Tromp (pictured) fled fearing people were out to hurt him and his family Mitchell and Ella said they couldn't comment on what caused their panicked road trip as police were investigating But t he reason could be a shared delusional schizophrenia, The Goulburn Post reported. The newspaper claimed a police circular shown to them suggested the family had been diagnosed with the mental illness. And the Herald Sun earlier speculated it could have been a condition known as folie a deux. The condition almost always occurs in tight-knit families between partners and siblings who could be otherwise socially isolated. People affected by the condition fall into a cycle of reinforcing each other's paranoid delusions. They tight-knit group worked together on the family farm and had unbreakable friendships. Two of the three adult children live with their parents. Ella was bailed to appear at Ringwood Magistrates Court in April, 2017. 'He thinks people are after him. He's not in a good state of mind,' Mitchell said of his father New York City police officers are looking for four men accused of stealing at least 1,200 ice cream tubs and bars. Authorities released surveillance images of the suspects Friday, hoping the public can help track them down. The men targeted stores such as Duane Reade, Rite Aid and CVS in Manhattan and favored Ben & Jerry's, Haagen-Dazs and Talenti products, authorities said. They believe the suspects, who are thought to be in their 20s, are committing the chilling crime in order to resell the ice cream to stores such as delis and bodegas for a quarter of the original price. Scroll down for video New York City investigators are looking for four men accused of stealing at least 1,200 bars and cartons of ice cream in Manhattan. Two of them are pictured above Authorities believe the suspects (two are pictured), who are thought to be in their 20s, are committing the chilling crime in order to resell the ice cream The suspects have stolen about 1,249 bars or cartons of ice cream since November over the course of 11 thefts, police officers believe. 'They transport it in freezer bags with dry ice or those frozen packs. You're traveling to sell it,' Deputy Chief Joseph V Dowling, of the grand larceny division, told the New York Times. In just one day in January, 256 pints of ice cream were stolen in three separate instances, including 100 pints of Talenti and 100 of Haagen-Dazs, according to authorities. The ice cream situation got so dire in New York City earlier this month that Gristedes chain owner John Catsimatidis offered a $5,000 reward hoping to catch thieves accused of stealing Haagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry' from one of his stories in Chelsea. Those thieves have since been caught. Gristedes has stopped arranging pints of Haagen-Dazs ice cream in stacks to avoid future thefts, Catsimatidis told the New York Times. Some CVS locations have also taken action against potential ice cream thieves. One of them now has an alarm on its ice cream cooler. Other stores have equipped their coolers with locks, which employees can open when customers request it. The 31-year-old last made contact with her family and friends on Monday the highway in Midgegooroo National Park, Perth Her car was found off The search for Perth woman Katrina Elizabeth Hall, 31, ended in tragedy with her body found in Midgegooroo National Park a day after she went missing. A search was organised when the 31-year-old woman's car was found abandoned on a dirt track off Brookton Highway in Karragullen on Monday, which is 45km south east of Perth. The body was found late Tuesday morning when SES and police searched the bushland in Perth Hills, where the car was located. Katrina Hall last made contact with her family and friends on Monday. Katrina Elizabeth Hall's body was found on Tuesday morning in Midgegooroo National Park Katrina Elizabeth Hall's car was found on a dirt track on Brookton Highway at Karragullen Police are not treating her death as suspicious. Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14. Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467. People forget that there are real risks involved, say experts More Americans than ever believe that marijuana poses little to no risk to their health - just as scientists are discovering it's more dangerous than they previously believed, a report said. From 2002-2014, the number of Americans who think that smoking marijuana once or twice a week poses a 'great risk' dropped from one half to one third, according to an article in Lancet Psychiatry. That runs counter to scientific research about pot, said Dr Wilson Compton, lead author of the study, which looked at the views of more than 500,000 US adults. 'If anything, science has shown an increasing risk that we weren't as aware of years ago,' said Compton, deputy director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Feeling green: More Americans than ever believe that marijuana poses little or no risk of harm - but the danger is real, say scientists (pictured: cannabis dispensary in Boulder, Colorado) Reefer madness: The number of users in the US has increased from 21.9million to 31.9million between 2004 and 2014, according to a Lancet Psychiatry study of more than 500,000 adults Other research has increasingly linked marijuana use to mental impairment, and early, heavy use by people with certain genes to increased risk of developing psychosis, Compton noted. And the government survey also says that more are using marijuana - and using it more often: 13 per cent, or 31.9million, up from ten per cent, or 21.9million. Relaxed attitudes towards pot use have occurred in line with the loosening of laws around the drug. Dozens of states now allow medical marijuana and four states have recently legalized pot for recreational use. That has led to a misunderstanding by the public that marijuana is completely harmless, Roger A Roffman, a professor emeritus at University of Washington, School of Social Work told ABC News. 'The drum is beating and has been now for a number of years to remove criminal penalties for possession and make it legal to be grown and sold to adults,' he said. 'With that movement comes some claims that marijuana is not dangerous enough to justify there being severe criminal penalties. 'For many people who hear these claims the message translates to them that "there is nothing to worry about."' Herbal medicine: The relaxed attitude is likely informed by states passing medical marijuana laws, experts say, and people not understanding that the drug can still be dangerous Dr Patrick Fehling, an addiction psychiatrist at the University of Colorado Hospital Center for Dependency Addiction and Rehabilitation, said the growing amount of research into marijuana is 'indicating potential for harm.' 'There is a very big difference between recreational use and "addictional" use,' Fehling said. He elaborated that 'signs of addiction include tolerance and withdrawal, loss of control around your use, and consequences and problems in your life around your use.' Some highlights of the report, which compared 2002 to 2014: About 1 in 8 adults said they used marijuana in the past year, up from 1 in 10. The number of marijuana users grew to about 32 million. Daily use doubled, to 3.5 per cent or about 8.4 million U.S. adults Changes in marijuana use and perception began to really climb in 2006-2007. No increase was seen in reported marijuana use disorders, like impaired memory, difficulty thinking and withdrawal symptoms like cravings, sleeplessness and depression. The lack of an increase in reported disorders is surprising as law enforcement officials say marijuana is more potent than in the past, wrote Australian researcher Wayne Hall in an editorial in the journal. Okay tokey: Although usage has increased, reported disorders haven't - that's baffled researchers, who say the dangers of weed are still being discovered by scientists More use should mean more reports of marijuana-related disorders. Another U.S. survey did find such an increase in recent years, Hall noted. 'I agree that this is a puzzle,' and needs to be researched further, Compton said. Marijuana use remains illegal under federal law, with 25 states and the District of Columbia having medical marijuana laws. And starting in 2014, Colorado and Washington began allowing recreational sales. Alaska and Oregon now also allow sales without a doctor's note. Hall said it's likely those changes will increase the use of marijuana and perhaps reports of disorders. The study didn't report on kids, only those 18 and older. But research drawn from another large survey has shown marijuana use among high school students has been falling. Over two decades, it dropped from 25 per cent to about 22 per cent. Why are fewer kids using pot at a time more and more adults are? There could be a lag. Youths have said in surveys that it seemed to be getting harder in the last decade to get marijuana. But that may change as more states legalize the drug, more adults use it, and if teens get into less trouble if caught with the drug, experts said. Advertisement A tiny blog designed by one couple to keep their friends and family up to date on their life in Australia has evolved into a social media sensation with over 120,000 fans around the world. When Nikki Dale and Duncan Atack started Streets of Perth in July 2014, their intention was to showcase street art in their hometown while supporting local artists. Two years on, the project has grown into a community resource for artists and art-lovers alike, encouraging people to look around the city in which they live. Streets of Perth is a 'passion project' started by one couple in 2014. Pictured is an artwork by Straker from 2016 Nikki Dale and Duncan Atack started the Facebook page to keep their friends and family up to date on their life in Australia Two years on the project has grown into a community resource for artists and art-lovers alike. Seen here is a piece in Subiaco by artist Wellshaken from last year Guido van Helten painted the above artwork in West Perth in 2015, and it appears on the Streets of Perth map This artwork in Mount Lawley by Paul Deej incorporates the natural environment around it 'I think the combination of Duncan taking a really spectacular photo and then me writing the story behind it is what worked for us,' Ms Dale told Daily Mail Australia. She revealed it all began when her partner - who has a keen eye for a photography - came home from a walk with some incredible images of street art in a local laneway. 'From that it kind of opened my eyes and I said to Duncan we need to do something with this.' Since then, the pair have made it their mission to document as many street and urban art pieces in their area as possible, sometimes visiting one painting up to ten times in order to get the perfect shot. 'We started with a few posts a day, but because I like researching stories behind the piece it took quite a long time,' Ms Dale revealed. 'What we did eventually was take it down to three or four a week so we could speak to the artists and get the back stories.' Nikki Dale said the project began when her partner came home from a walk with some incredible images of street art in a local laneway. Above is a piece by RONE in Bunbury WAONE painted the artwork of a man walking through the forest (left) in Northbridge in 2015, while Ian Mutch created the one of a child diving into the ocean (right) in 2014 in Perth Ms Dale and Mr Atack have made it their mission to document as many street and urban art pieces in their area as possible, such as this piece by Sarsar in Lederville in 2015 Alexis Diaz created this huge piece in 2014 (left), while ALEX FACE painted their artwork in 2015 'We started with a few posts a day, but because I like researching stories behind the piece it took quite a long time,' Ms Dale revealed Perth artist Ayres is seen here working on his piece After starting the page with just a handful of family and friends, including some of Ms Dale's relatives in the UK, in just nine months Streets of Perth had over 50,000 likes on Facebook. Their business has been completely drive by social media, and reflect the fact that Australia and New Zealand have the highest social media traffic to websites in the Asia-Pacific, according to new research from Adobe. The Best of the Best study also revealed that more and more people are accessing content from their mobile phones alone, while desktop traffic decreased in Australia and New Zealand across all industries. 'Australia and New Zealand digital brands are leading Asia Pacific in social media traffic indicating that brands are ramping up investment in what is still a relatively immature marketing function and having a real impact on business success,' Tamara Gaffney, Principal Analyst at Adobe Digital Insights said. Just nine months after it was launched Streets of Perth had over 50,000 followers, who were enthralled by artworks such as this 2014 piece y Robert Jenkins in Mount Lawley ArtByDestroy painted the piece on the left in Mount Lawley in 2014, while Amok Island created the image of a grasshopper in Freemantle in 2015 People use the map to seek out pieces of urban artwork, like this couple did for their wedding photographs In Mount Lawley Daek William painted this firefighter, and Mr Atack managed to capture the real thing in the photo with the artwork Rob Jenkins is seen here working on his 2014 piece in Mount Lawley In 2015 in Subiaco, Jerome Davenport turned this building in to an explosion of colour Fieldey painted this piece on the side of a building in Victoria Park in 2015 'All countries we measured saw a shift towards smartphone browsing for the third year in a row but Australia and New Zealand-based consumers are moving off desktop faster than most other smartphone-centric countries. Although Streets of Perth is not a full-time project for Ms Dale and Mr Atack yet, they hope that their growing audience will allow them to take it on soon. 'It's a passion project that I'd love to do full time,' Ms Dale said. 'But at this stage because we both have full-time jobs it's just keeping the blog going. 'We do consider it a small business, but when we've got the time we'd like to do some guided street art tours and talk to a publisher about doing a coffee table book,' she added. ELK's 2015 piece in Northbridge towers over cars below Fieldey is seen here working on another of her artworks, an impressive eagle In 2014 Anya Brock painted this tribal piece in Perth's city centre A male only barber shop in Sydney is facing backlash for not allowing women to wait inside because it can make some men feel uncomfortable. Hawleywood's Barbershop at Newtown in Sydney's inner west is being criticised on social media after a woman was told to wait outside for her boyfriend while he got a haircut. 'My friend was saying he was at Hawleywoods barber shop in Newtown on the weekend and when a guy came in for a cut,' musician Kelly Jeanious posted on Facebook. Hawleywood's Barbershop at Newtown in Sydney's inner west is being criticised on social media after a woman was told to wait outside for her boyfriend while he got a haircut 'He was told his girlfriend could not wait cause it is a men's only space. Okay get it fair enough... but then the guy proceeded to talk about the inequalities of men for the next half an hour and how unfair Fernwood gym is.' The barbershop, which has been running with its male only policy for about five years, is used to defending its male only policy and claims they are not discriminating against women by not allowing them in the shop. 'Hawleywood's Barbershop and shave parlour is a traditional men's barber shop, catering to the grooming needs of men,' the business said on its Facebook page. They claim some of the customers feel 'uncomfortable' receiving some services, including removal of nasal and ear hair, in a salon that it targeted towards women. Musician Kelly Jeanious posted on Facebook saying a friend was told his girlfriend had to wait outside while he got a haircut at Hawleywood's Barbershop 'What Hawleywoods is doing here is no different to a number of existing businesses targeted to women only catering to there (sic) needs and insecurities that exclude men for there personal comfort, confidence and privacy. 'Businesses and places include Fernwood, Curves, Coogee ladies pool to name a few. We do not exclude women in order to discriminate against them, as transexuals are able to receive services from us in any stage of transition.' Some are slamming them on social media for their 'ridiculous' policy. 'Yeah my guy mate went in, and his wife came to meet/pick him up and she was told she had to wait outside #getoveryourselves,' one person wrote. 'What's with all these dudes being so obsessed about not being able to go to a female only gym? If that's your only defense to a ridiculous barber shop policy, you gotta do better than that.' Others were quick to defend the barber shop. 'There are hundreds of female only businesses and noone bats an eye.. Anyone dares to try and have anything male only and it's the end of the world,' one person wrote. Obama has now opted to meet the South Korean President instead The death toll is set to rise even further as his war on drugs continues More than 2,000 people have been killed since he took office in May Duterte had earlier warned Obama not to ask about extrajudicial killings during a planned meeting in Laos or 'I will swear at you' Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte said he regrets his 'son of a bitch' comment toward President Barack Obama Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has expressed regret over his 'son of a bitch' remark while referring to President Barack Obama. In a statement read out by his spokesman on Tuesday, Duterte said his 'strong comments' to certain questions by a reporter 'elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the US president'. Duterte, dubbed 'The Punisher' had earlier warned Obama not to ask about extrajudicial killings during a planned meeting in Laos or 'I will swear at you'. Scroll down for video Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte expressed regret over his 'son of a bitch' remark while referring to President Barack Obama. Duterte is pictured arriving at the Wattay International Airport in Vientiane for the 28th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit President Barack Obama on Monday became the first sitting US president to step foot in the isolated Southeast Asian nation of Laos. Obama and Duterte were supposed to have a private meeting but after Duterte's remark Obama indicated that he was having second thoughts He made the remarks Monday before flying to Laos, where he will attend a regional summit. Duterte had been scheduled to meet Obama separately. But Obama indicated that he was having second thoughts about that meeting. He said both sides mutually agreed to postpone the meeting. Even though Duterte's latest comment does not amount to an apology, the expression of regret is a rare instance when the tough-talking former mayor has expressed contrition for his remarks that often slide into profanity. 'We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions, and working in mutually responsible ways for both countries,' the statement said. The flap over Duterte's remarks started when a reporter asked him how he intends to explain the extrajudicial killings of drug dealers to Obama. More than 2,000 suspected drug pushers and users have been killed since Duterte launched a war on drugs after taking office on June 30. In his typical foul-mouthed style, Duterte responded: 'I am a president of a sovereign state and we have long ceased to be a colony. 'I do not have any master except the Filipino people, nobody but nobody. You must be respectful. Do not just throw questions. More than 2,000 suspected drug dealers and users have been killed since President Rodrigo Duterte launched a war on drugs after taking office on June 30 this year (pictured a man's dead body after police reported drugs being sold in the area) Policemen investigate at a crime scene where a body lies dead on the ground after authorities received a message from a concerned citizen of the existence of a drug den in the area 'Putang ina I will swear at you in that forum,' he said, using the Tagalog phrase for 'son of a bitch'. Duterte has also cursed the pope and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. 'Who is he (Obama) to confront me?' Duterte said, adding the Philippines had not received an apology from the US for misdeeds committed during its colonization of the Philippines. He pointed to the killing of Muslim Moros more than a century ago during a US pacification campaign in the southern Philippines, blaming the wounds of the past as 'the reason why (the south) continues to boil' with separatist insurgencies. Last week, Duterte said he was ready to defend his bloody crackdown on illegal drugs, which has sparked concern from the US and other countries. Duterte said he would demand that Obama allow him to first explain the context of his crackdown before engaging the US president in a discussion of the deaths. Obama had indicated earlier that he was going to bring the issue up, saying he would address the need to approach the drug trafficking war in a 'way that is consistent with basic international norms'. But Duterte warned that he is a leader of a sovereign country and is answerable only to the Filipino people. Now Ned Price, a National Security Council spokesman, said: 'President Obama will not be holding a bilateral meeting with President Duterte of the Philippines this afternoon. 'Instead, he will meet with President Park of the Republic of Korea this afternoon, September 6th.' The mother of a suspected drug user who was killed by police in an operation in Manila breaks down in tears Last week, the number of people killed since July 1 reached 2,400: about 900 died in police operations, and the rest are 'deaths under investigation'. A boy's devastated father is overcome with grief as authorities remove his son's body Duterte has also made it clear he will take no lecture on human rights from Obama, when in the United States he alleged 'black people are being shot even if they are already lying down'. Last week, the number of people killed since July 1 reached 2,400: about 900 died in police operations, and the rest are 'deaths under investigation', a term human rights activists say is a euphemism for vigilante and extrajudicial killings. Duterte has been unapologetic in his war on drugs, telling a news conference on Monday that 'plenty will be killed' in his campaign. Philippine police SWAT personnel take position as they serve a search warrant to a resident in relation to drugs at an informal settler house in Pasig City, suburban Manila on September 5 Duterte has been unapologetic in his war on drugs, telling a news conference on Monday that 'plenty will be killed' in his campaign 'Until the (last) drug manufacturer is killed we will continue,' Duterte said before leaving for the regional summit in Laos. Duterte won elections in May and immediately promised a law-and-order crackdown on drugs. 'These sons of w****s are destroying our children. I warn you, don't go into that, even if you're a policeman, because I will really kill you,' the president told an audience during a speech in the country's capital, Manila. Duterte made it clear he would pardon police if they were charged with human rights violations for carrying out his merciless orders. Nearly 60,000 Filipino drug addicts surrendered themselves last month to the government after Duterte urged citizens to 'go ahead and kill' drug dealers and users. Australians have entered the 'golden era of travel' after a slump in flight bookings caused agencies to slash the price of airfares in a bid to drum up new business. Flights to London have dropped 23 per cent in the last year, meaning you can fly from Sydney return for just over $1,000, while travellers Los Angeles bound will only need to fork out $939 for the 12,000 kilometre journey. The price of flights reached a record low after airlines chasing market share on the popular international routes upped the number of seats available, exceeding demand for flights in Australia, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. Flights to London have dropped 23 per cent in the last year, meaning you can fly from Sydney return for just over $1,000 Travellers Los Angeles bound will only need to fork out $939 for the 12,000 kilometre journey 'In short, there are more seats, but there are also more empty seats. This creates pricing pressure,' Flight Centre spokesman Haydn Long said. According to reports, statistics show the number of seats increased by four per cent from June last year however airlines have experienced around a one per cent drop in sales across the same period. The average price of international flights has fallen four per cent in the last six months however flying to some popular tourist destinations, like Thailand, has halved. Flights to Bali have bottomed out at $442, while Australians holidaying in Bangkok or Singapore will only set them back $405 and $438 respectively. Statistics show the number of seats increased by four per cent from June last year however airlines have experienced around a one per cent drop in sales across the same period Flights to Phuket (pictured) have bottomed out at $373, while Australians holidaying in Bangkok or Singapore will only set them back $405 and $438 respectively An Australian would have paid around $1,328 to reach New York in 2014 but will only pay $1,119 during the 'golden era of travel' AUSTRALIANS BENEFIT FROM RECORD LOW AIRFARES London 2014 - $1,538 2015 - $1,358 2016 - $1,043 New York 2014- $1,328 2015 - $1,349 2016 - $1,119 Phuket 2014 - $893 2015 - $714 2016 - $373 Bali 2014- $757 2015 - $535 2016 - $442 Los Angeles 2014 - $1,208 2015 - $1,069 2016 - $939 Hawaii 2014 - $981 2015 - $ 854 2016 - $875 Bangkok 2014 - $802 2015 - $513 2016 - $405 Singapore 2014 - $845 2015 - $456 2016 - $438 Source: Flight Centre *Based on fares purchased in September Advertisement According to Flight Centre, an Australian should be able to afford a return economy flight to London in one week today Barack Obama today said the US has a 'moral obligation' to clear the bombs dropped during the Vietnam War that are still littering the fields of Laos. Making the first visit to the nation as a sitting president, Obama said too few Americans are aware of the United States' covert bombing campaign in the south Asian country. As he addressed an audience of more than 1,000 students, business people and officials, the President said: 'Given our history here, I believe the United States has a moral obligation to help Laos heal. 'As a result of that conflict many people fled or were driven from their homes. At the time America did not acknowledge its role.' Scroll down for video Laotian President Bounnhang Vorachit and President Barack Obama toast during an official state luncheon at the Presidential Palace in Vientiane, Laos For nine years, the US dropped more than 270million bombs in Laos during the so-called 'Secret War'. The bombings were part of a CIA-run, secret operation aimed at destroying the North Vietnamese supply routes along the Ho Chi Minh trail and wiping out its communist allies. They also left a trail of devastation in the country, which US planes used as a dumping ground for bombs when their original target was unavailable and planes could not land with explosives. As Obama acknowledged 'we dropped more in Laos than on Germany and Japan, combined, in all of World War Two.' He called the campaign and its aftermath reminders that 'whatever the cause, whatever our intentions, war inflicts a terrible toll'. Making the first visit to the nation as a sitting president, Obama said too few Americans are aware of the United States' covert bombing campaign in the south Asian country During the Vietnam war, the US dropped more than 270 million cluster munitions over Laos. Many of these failed to detonate and remained on the ground as death traps One-third of the bombs failed to explode and across the country, more than 20,000 people have been killed or injured by bombs since the war, many of them children. As a first sign of a new relationship with Laos, Obama pledged to address the legacy of war. He announced he would double spending for un-exploded ordnance, committing $90million over the three years. The US has contributed $100million to the effort in the last 20 years, as annual deaths have fallen from more than 300 to fewer than 50, the White House said. The Lao government said it would increase efforts to recover remains and account for Americans missing since the Vietnam War. Obama met with Lao president Bounnhang Vorachit, where he toasted to a relationship he said would mean 'greater progress and opportunity for the people of Laos'. Unexploded ordnance - dropped over Laos during the Vietnam war - is still injuring and killing its people (pictured: Toui Bounmy Sidavong, 43, holds a bomb in the village of Ban Napia in the Xieng Khouang province) For Obama, the visit serves as a capstone to his long-term effort to bolster relations with south-east Asian countries long overlooked by the US. It is part of Obama's efforts to shift US diplomatic and military resources away from the Middle East and into Asia to counter China's dominance in the region. Obama's project - dubbed his Asia 'pivot' - has yielded uneven results, as conflict in the Middle East has continued to demand attention and China has bristled at what it views as meddling in its backyard. With just four months left in office and eyeing his legacy, Obama used the moment to reassert his aims. He said: 'The United States is more deeply engaged across the Asia-Pacific than we have been in decades. 'Our position is stronger and we've sent a clear message that as a Pacific nation, we are here to stay and [American interest] is not a passing fad.' He added: 'We believe that bigger nations should not dictate to smaller nations and that all nations should play by the same rules.' For Obama, the visit serves as a capstone to his long-term effort to bolster relations with south-east Asian countries long overlooked by the US Elsewhere the White House called off a planned meeting with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, after the 'colorful' new leader referred to Obama as a 'son of a bitch.' Duterte, who had been expecting Obama to criticize his deadly, extrajudicial crackdown on drug dealers, later said he regretted the personal attack on the president. In a statement read out Tuesday by his spokesman, Duterte said his 'strong comments' to certain questions by a reporter 'elicited concern and distress.' 'We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions, and working in mutually responsible ways for both countries,' the statement said. Obama also said the US will work with allies to toughen sanctions on North Korea after further ballistic missile launches on Monday. His comments came after a meeting with President Park Guen-hye of South Korea today. The embattled Senator faced media in Sydney on Labor frontbencher Sam Dastyari has apologised for asking a company linked to the Chinese government to pay a personal travel debt but has rejected claims he was involved in a 'cash for comment' arrangement. Dastyari is under pressure over the payment of a $1,670.82 bill incurred by his office by Chinese company, Top Education Institute and making public comments about the South China Sea contrary to Labor's position on the dispute. Labor frontbencher Sam Dastyari (pictured) has apologised for asking a company linked to the Chinese government to pay a personal debt Labor Senator Sam Dastyari fronts the media in Sydney on Tuesday- He faced questions about a $1670 bill paid by a company with links to the Chinese Government Sam Dastyari apologised for asking a Chinese company to pay a personal debt 'I completely reject an assertion or implication that any of my comments or decisions have been influenced by anything other than the national interest,' he said in Sydney on Tuesday. The Coalition said Dastyari allowed the payment to influence his comments on China and has called for him to resign. 'I haven't offered and I haven't been asked (to resign),' Dastyari said. 'I've been counselled very strongly by the Labor leader and I'm sorry. 'I should have made the payment myself, I didn't - I'm in the wrong.' When asked why he chose Top Education Institute to pay his debt he explained: 'Top Education is a firm that I knew in Sydney. (But) it would have been inappropriate, regardless of who I had asked.' 'I acted first and thought later. The lesson for me out of this is to stop, think and actually reflect first before acting.' Mr Dastyari has rejected claims he was involved in a 'cash for comment' arrangement The Coalition said Dastyari (pictured) allowed the payment to influence his comments on China and has called for him to resign They often undercut local outlets and can bypass customs regulations Warehouses dedicated to supplying 'Daigou' have emerged in Sydney Many have turned to the Australian market to source genuine goods Warehouses and health stores have sprouted up across Sydney to ship baby formula, vitamins and Weetbix to Chinese buyers who don't trust locally made products. Small stores littered across the city's south are shipping up to 100 boxes to Chinese customers a day, bypassing local customers regulations. But larger warehouses are exporting as many as 500 orders to China each day. Warehouses and health stores (pictured) have sprouted up across Sydney to ship baby formula, vitamins and Weetbix to Chinese buyers who don't trust locally made products The shopfronts cater to 'Daigou', Australian-based personal shoppers for Chinese customers who often undercut regular pharmacies or supermarkets. Many of the 40,000 daigou in Australia initially got into the business to help their friends or family buy genuine goods after counterfeit baby formula caused two deaths and injured 300,000 in 2013. The biggest daigou realised they could make a business out of the demand and post a container a week to rake in a $1 million annual income, the Daily Telegraph reported.. A shopkeeper from Nature Healthy, in Kingsford, a suburb in Sydney's east, ships around 100 orders to China every day. A shopkeeper from Nature Healthy, in Kingsford, a suburb in Sydney's east, ships around 100 orders to China every day Many of the 40,000 daigou in Australia initially got into the business to help their friends or family buy genuine goods after counterfeit baby formula caused two deaths in 2013 Shopkeeper Sylvia told Daily Mail Australia baby formula and health products for children and the elderly were the most popular products Shopkeeper Sylvia told Daily Mail Australia baby formula and health products for children and the elderly were the most popular products. 'For their safety, parents prefer to choose foreign milk,' Sylvia said. She said customers in China fear they can not trust local products and are willing to pay double for Australian baby formula. Shelves in the stores in Kingsford, Marrickville, Burwood, Ashfield and Regents Park - scattered in Sydney's east and Inner West, are lined with certified Australian-made items. She said customers in China fear they can not trust local products and are willing to pay double for Australian baby formula Shelves in the stores in Kingsford, Marrickville, Burwood, Ashfield and Regents Park - scattered in Sydney's east and Inner West, are lined with certified Australian-made items Swisse vitimans (pictured) have proven to be a popular product for Daigou purchasing for Chinese consumers Tasmanian honey features on the jam packed shelves, while shoes and bags have also proven to be popular. Stacks of boxes plastered in postage slips sit in the corner of the stores waiting to be shipped. Sylvia said her business had been running for between four and five years, but that it had slowed down this year after a slump in the Chinese economy. Stacks of boxes plastered in postage slips sit in the corner of the stores waiting to be shipped 'For their safety, parents prefer to choose foreign milk,' Sylvia told Daily Mail Australia She said she sourced the products from Chemist Warehouse and other distributors. Another shopkeeper at a small Kingsford store that also caters to daigou said Swisse vitamins were in highest demand. The store, one of six in Sydney using the same name, also ships about 100 orders daily. A woman has revealed the mystical moment she stumbled upon a set of huge dinosaur footprints while collecting seashells with her daughter on the beach. Bindi Lee Porth was walking along Broome's Cable Beach at sunset on Sunday afternoon when she felt an 'overwhelming sense of energy' under her right foot. 'I was walking and there was a clear patch as I put my foot down - the only way I can explain it is this overwhelming sense of energy,' she told Daily Mail Australia. 'I slowly lifted my foot up and saw a bit of an indent. I pushed the sand away and it revealed a full dent of a beautiful footprint.' Bindi Lee Porth accidentally discovered a set of 130-million-year-old dinosaur footprints Ms Porth was collecting seashells with her daughter along Broome's Cable Beach at sunset on Sunday afternoon when she felt an 'overwhelming sense of energy' under her right foot Ms Porth knew she had discovered something special, but had no idea she was standing in the fossilised footprints of a carnivorous dinosaur that had roamed the earth roughly 130 million years ago. 'Its literally right down in front of a very popular restaurant, hundreds of people walk on there every day,' she said. 'Ive walked along there countless times now, but because of all the shifting (ocean) tides, it's finally been revealed to us, it's just lucky I was right there.' 'If it wasnt for the fact I felt this overwhelming energy I would have kept walking and not even noticed them - obviously I was destined to find them.' The footprints were hidden underneath deep layers of sand, which eventually washed away following a set of shifting ocean tides Renowned Queensland paleontologist Steven Salisbury said the footprints were impressive in their clarity but had been discovered by indigenous Australians centuries earlier Paleontologist Steven Salisbury from the University of Queensland has spent years researching the dinosaur footprints across Western Australia's Kimberley region. Dr Salisbury said that while the footprints were impressive in their clarity, they were not a new find and had in fact been acknowledged by indigenous Australians centuries earlier. 'This is not a new discovery, these tracks have been known for a while, theyve just been buried in sand for the last 20 or 30 years,' he told Daily Mail Australia. He said that while it was difficult to identify the exact type of dinosaur, it could be narrowed down to a 'medium-sized theropod dinosaur.' 'It would probably be around two metres tall (and) about four to five metres long from head to tail. A two-legged meat-eating dinosaur - not quite as big as the Tyrannosaurus Rex.' People interested in learning more about the rich history of dinosaurs existing along the Broome coastline can head to the Dinosaur Coast Management Group. This is the moment Keith Vaz walked through a hotel lobby with a young man and walked towards its bedrooms two years ago. The married MP, 59, arrived at the Washington Mayfair in central London on June 4 2014 at 8.51pm with the mystery companion. The men then nod and walk towards the hotel bar - before later separately heading towards the rooms of the hotel. What happens next is not on CCTV. CCTV: MP Keith Vaz arrived at the Washington Mayfair in central London on June 4 2014 at 8.51pm with the mystery companion, shown here on CCTV Companions: The men then nod and walk towards the hotel bar - before later separately heading towards the rooms of the hotel (pictured). What happens next is not on CCTV The young man, dressed in skinny jeans and a tight jumper, leaves the hotel 31 minutes later. Witness: Staff at the hotel said Keith Vaz would often arrive at very short notice - and would use rooms to 'wash' Mr Vaz then walks out of the hotel, carrying a bag, around 20 minutes after that. One hotel worker told The Sun the father of two would often arrive at short notice and sometimes with young men. He said: 'Keith Vaz would often arrive at very short notice. 'Sometimes there were other young men with him. 'There were a number of times when he didn't stay the whole night. He would stay for just a few hours before checking out'. According to The Sun a receipt from that night shows the MP has a dinner of lemon sole washed down with J&B whisky and a bottle of still water, costing 54.95. The paperwork reportedly has the note 'As per Mr J. Sanger' at the bottom, a reference to Indian multi-millionaire Joginder Sanger, who owns the hotel. The Sun claims that Mr Vaz was not always charged for the rooms, and staff claim they were told that the MP used them to 'wash'. Exit: The unnamed young man leaves around 20 minutes before Mr Vaz left the Mayfair hotel Two years on Mr Vaz, has been accused of paying rent boys for sex in a flat ten minutes from his family home. New tapes published today revealed Keith Vaz demanded rent boys treated him 'like a b****' and ordered the prostitutes into sexual positions as he took control of a late night sex party. The Labour MP was also recorded asking the sex workers detailed questions about sex-enhancing drugs called 'poppers' and asked them: 'Let me see what you do. How do you do it?' The new recordings cast doubt over claims that the politician was drugged and set up during his liaison with rent boys on August 27. In one exchange the married father of two complained one of the prostitutes 'treats me like a b****'. When the sex worker replied: 'You don't know what it means to be treated like a b****', Mr Vaz then said: 'Show me... show me.' Today new details have emerged as the man who allegedly paid the two male prostitutes a 150 'deposit' for Mr Vaz was named as Daniel Dimitru Dragusin. Intimate: Keith Vaz with one of the Eastern European escorts at his 390,000 flat in north London, 10 minutes from his family home Relaxed: Mr Vaz is covertly filmed on his sofa during the alleged encounter involving two Eastern European sex workers Deal: The MP's x-rated text message exchange with the escorts - Mr Vaz's alleged texts are in grey He told The Daily Mirror that the money did not come from an account linked to the MP's diabetes charity, Silver Star. There is no suggestion he knew the money was going to rent boys. On one LinkedIn profile last night Mr Dragusin, of Harrow, north London, described himself as Silver Star Diabetes' 'London coordinator'. Another LinkedIn profile which appeared to be for the same Mr Dragusin said he had been a 'parliamentary assistant' for Labour since May 2010. The Sunday Mirror initially reported money was paid into an account used by one of the escorts by a man linked to the charity. The owners of a convenience store in regional Queensland have been forced to take more drastic measures than most, to ensure their customers hang up the phone before being served. When a Lucky 7 store in Andergrove, a locality in the Mackay region, got fed up with distracted customers, it made the decision to hang a sign telling them they would not be served if they were talking on their mobile phone. Employee Shelby Stubbs said hanging the phone up should be 'just common courtesy' but after five-and-a-half years in the job it appeared not everyone agreed. Employees point to the sign in order to get the attention of distracted customers on the phone Ms Stubbs said she was 'constantly' having to point out the sign to customers who did not seem to get the message. 'I think it's becoming socially acceptable not to have a conversation with the person behind the counter,' she told the Daily Mercury. 'Sometimes I'll ask someone how they are, and they'll just reply saying 'JPS Golds' the type of cigarette they wanted.' The convenience store employee said most customers hung up the phone and apologised when she pointed to the sign, but said some were not so understanding. Staff at the Lucky 7 in the Mackay region said most people hung up the phone without complaining, but others 'gave a bit of attitude' She said some 'gave a bit of attitude' and others did not hang up at all and 'just put it on speaker phone'. Employee of three months Sonya McLeod told Daily Mail Australia she was forced to point to the sign 'probably three or four times last week alone'. 'If you don't get off your phone, you don't get served,' she said. 'I think it is pure common courtesy if you expect good customer service. The Lucky 7 convenience store is in Andergrove, in the Mackey region (pictured) 'Some get offended but the majority kind of ignore it completely.' Ms McLeod said children and teens were surprisingly well behaved and respected the sign. 'Kids are quite polite, but maybe I just look scary, I don't know,' she said. 'I'd say the (worst offenders) are probably from about mid-20s and up.' The Lucky 7 maintains the view 'if you don't get off your phone, you don't get served' While she believed the sign shouldn't be needed in the first place, Ms McLeod said times were changing and people were more attached to their phones than ever. 'It seems to be the new culture now days,' she said. Fresco's Quality Meats in Glenella, also in the Mackay region, boasted a similar sign. Fallen electronics retailer Dick Smith had stockpiled twelve years of AA batteries before its collapse in January, the NSW Supreme Court has heard. Former Dick Smith company secretary and head of investor relations, David Cooke, appeared at court on Monday morning where it heard the retailer had millions of dollars worth of excess stock. In October 2015, inventory levels showed Dick Smith had 141 months' supply of Dick Smith branded AA batteries and 131 months' supply of Dick Smith AAA batteries. Dick Smith collapsed in January this year owing $400 million to creditors. Fallen electronics retailer Dick Smith had stockpiled twelve years of AA batteries before its collapse in January, the NSW Supreme Court has heard The court heard that there was a 'spike' in company inventory which was valued to about $350 million in late 2014 and early 2015, according to former non-executive director Lorna Raine, Sydney Morning Herald reports. The Sydney court also heard that Mr Cooke asked the company's chief executive, chief finance officer and the head of its private label about the overstocked products, and was told it was tied to a marketing drive in the lead up to Christmas. Mr Cooke was also asked about an ASX announcement from February 2015 on the company's first-half results, which said its balance sheet remained strong and 'inventory was tightly managed throughout the half'. Asked to clarify what he meant in writing the statement, Mr Cooke replied, 'That inventory was very well controlled during the half'. Mr Cooke was also asked about Dick Smith store network expansion between July and December 2014, with a financial report from that time suggesting same-store sales had fallen 7 per cent compared with the previous year. 'What were you told as to why new stores were being opened?' Mr Giles asked. 'That there were attractive locations for new stores,' Mr Cooke replied. 'Anything else?' Mr Giles put to the witness. 'Not that I can recollect.' In October 2015, inventory levels showed Dick Smith had 141 months' supply of Dick Smith branded AA batteries and 131 months' supply of Dick Smith AAA batteries The court heard that there was a 'spike' in company inventory which was valued to about $350 million in late 2014 and early 2015 Mr Cooke is among the first of 10 former senior executives and board members of Dick Smith Holdings to appear at the examination. Former non-executive director Lorna Raine is the next to give evidence. Cambridge is now fourth behind three top American Cambridge University has dropped out of the top three of global league tables for the first time in over decade, it has been revealed today. The elite institution slipped to fourth place in the QS World University Rankings as researchers warn of 'storm clouds gathering' over UK higher education. Cambridge is beaten by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford and Harvard in the United States. This is the first time the university has not featured in the top three international ratings since 2005. Cambridge University (pictured) has dropped out of the top three in a global education rating for the first time since 2005. It was beaten by MIT, Stanford and Harvard in the United States Asked for a comment on dropping down the rankings, a Cambridge spokesman replied: 'The QS World University Rankings reflect the fact that the University of Cambridge is among a small group of the most respected and influential higher education institutions in the world.' They declined to comment further. Oxford, UCL and Imperial College London remain within the top ten institutions in the world, but 38 of the UK's 48 top 400 universities have dropped down the rankings this year. Imperial has slipped from eighth place last year to ninth; Kings College London (KCL) from joint nineteenth to 21st; the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) from 35th to joint 37th place; Bristol from 37th 41st and Warwick from 48th to joint 51st. Of the 48 UK universities in the top 400, only six (12 per cent) have risen, such as Manchester up from 33rd position to 29th and Edinburgh, up from 21st to nineteenth. This compares to 78 US universities, of which 47 per cent have risen. Seventy-four Asian universities also feature in the top 400 and 68 per cent have increased positions. The study shows that the UK retains its status as the world's second best higher education nation, with the same number of top 400, top 100 and top 50 universities as 2015/16's installment. The United States is stretching its lead in the global rankings. Harvard, pictured, is third in the world behind Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford But the United States is 'stretching its lead' and Asian institutions are also making inroads. The rankings are based on data including staff to student ratios, research quality and numbers of international students and academics. These are combined with the views of up to 75,000 academies and around 38,000 employers about the reputation of institutions. Seventy-three per cent of the UK's top 400 universities saw a drop in both academic and employer reputation levels. Fifty-eight experienced a fall in international faculty numbers. Ben Sowter, head of research at QS Quacquarelli Symonds, a global higher education think-tank which compiles the rankings, says a combination of 'uncertainty and long-term issues' have impacted negatively on the UK's performance. He pointed to a reduced level of real terms government funding for research in higher education. China, in comparison, continues to receive 'generous' state funding. Mr Sowter said: 'Uncertainty over research funding, immigration rules and the ability to hire and retain the top young talent from around the world seems to be damaging the reputation of the UK's higher education sector.' A spokesman for Universities UK, said: 'The UK has more universities in the top-400 than any other country, other than the US. 'We achieve this against intense international competition, with major competitors such as China investing heavily in their universities. 'It is a real achievement that the UK remains the second strongest university system in the world, despite spending less on higher education than other OECD countries.' TOP 10 UNIVERSITIES 2016 1. MIT (US) 2. Stanford (US) 3. Harvard (US) 4. Cambridge (UK) 5. Caltech (US) 6. Oxford (UK) 7. UCL (UK) 8. ETH Zurich (Switzerland) 9. Imperial College (UK) 10. Chicago (US) Advertisement 2015 RANKINGS 1st Joint 3rd 2nd Joint 3rd 5th 6th 7th 9th 8th 10th Advertisement BEST UK OUTSIDE TOP 10 19. Edinburgh 21. King's College London 29. Manchester 37. London School of Economics 41. Bristol Advertisement An aircraft engine has fallen from the side of a heavy-vehicle trailer and onto the road, causing major traffic congestion in Sydney's south. Emergency services were called to Arncliffe about 9:30am on Tuesday, where the seven-tonne General Electric CF6 plane engine had fallen from the side of a heavy-vehicle trailer and onto the road. It fell from the vehicle during an 'emergency stop' while it was being transported by Northrop Grumman Integrated Defence Services for the Royal Australian Air Force, the Department of Defence said in a statement. The aircraft engine fell from a trailer onto the road on Tuesday morning in Arncliffe, south Sydney The engine weighed seven tonnes and caused traffic chaos after falling onto the road The spare engine is used in the Air Force KC-30 Multi-Role Tanker Transport aircraft (pictured) The spare engine is used in the Air Force KC-30 Multi-Role Tanker Transport aircraft. CF6 engines are also certified to power 13 types of aircraft, including Boeing 747-400s, 767s, A300s and A310s, according to General Electric Aviation. Police say the driver allegedly used restraints for a 900kg load when the engine weighed more than seven times the amount. The road was blocked for two hours while the machine was salvaged with the help of a passing crane. 'Incident such as these can lead to serious crashes and it's lucky other motorists weren't injured or even killed,' Assistant Commissioner John Hartley said. The 51-year-old driver is due to appear at Sutherland Local Court in November. Northrop Grumman Integrated Defence Services, which was transporting the engine and is the defence department's KC30 support contractor, is inspecting it for damage. The driver of the truck carrying the engine will appear in court in November A stock image of an General Electric CF6 plane engine A man is alleged to have rigged up a printer to torch his mansion from more than 260 miles away. Chris Robinson, 68, is fighting insurance investigators over a 1.6million payout after they claim he set up a device which allowed his printer to be remotely used to ignite matches inside the Bay of Islands home in New Zealand. The Brit and his wife were in Hamilton, 264 miles away, when he is alleged to have sent a command to a self-destructing device that gutted their home. Chris Robinson, 68, is fighting insurance investigators over a 1.6million payout after they claim he set up a device which allowed his printer to be remotely used to ignite matches inside the Bay of Islands home (pictured) in New Zealand The Brit and his wife were in Hamilton, 264 miles away, when he is alleged to have sent a command to a self-destructing device that gutted their home Insurance Australia Group Limited told a court how Mr Robinson is said to have used his laptop to log into his home PC and accessed the printer Insurance Australia Group Limited told a court that Mr Robinson used his laptop to log into his home PC and accessed the printer, according to The Times. They said a wire was connected to a piece of paper which, when printed, acted as a lever to trigger a switch. The switch sent an electrical current through a group of matches placed near flammable material. As the wire heated, the matches were ignited. The subsequent fire ripped through the luxury home and also destroyed Mr Robinson's Mercedes back in 2011. Earlier this year, a Whangarei jury found him guilty of blackmailing a lawyer from the insurance firm, which sponsors the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team. Mr Robinson sent emails to insurers demanding a settlement and threats he would sell his story to the press, according to the New Zealand Herald. In 1993, he was also convicted of blackmail while living in England for collecting donations for non-existent charity for terrorism victims. Insurance investigators claimed to have discovered remote access software or Mr Robinson's laptop and showed a video to the court of how it could have been used to start the blaze. They also recovered his home computer, which they claim holds evidence it was tapped into by a laptop similar to the one the 68-year-old had taken with him to Hamilton on the night of the fire. Mr Robinson was charged with arson and falsifying an insurance claim, but was acquitted last year because no evidence was presented of a command being sent from the laptop. Details have only recently emerged after reporting restrictions were lifted on the case. Mr Robinson has insisted he would continue to pursue his payout from the insurers, denying he ever started the fire. Mr Robinson has insisted he would continue to pursue his payout from the insurers, denying he ever started the fire British Mr Robinson moved to New Zealand in 2005 with his wife. The mansion they bought in 11 years ago was destroyed by the fire when the couple were behind on their mortgage payments. They had travelled south to Waikato in their second car on the night of the fire - September 9, 2011. 'Walter Mitty' fraudsters who concoct fake stories about heroic military acts could be put behind bars if a new law is passed. A private members bill will be discussed in Parliament today over whether a British version of America's Stolen Valour Act should come into force. The conmen, known as 'Walts' in reference to James Thurber's fictional character who daydreams about army adventures, could face up to six months in jail if MPs vote through the bill. Michael Brain, dubbed the 'cash card Casanova' posed online as a former Royal Marine and defrauded vulnerable women who had suffered bereavement or domestic abuse out of more than 40,000. Some British civilians try to use the stories to blag veteran charities for their own economic gain. A panel of experts will head to Westminster today to try and get the act passed, according to The Times. Conman: Unscrupulous Peter Wall, 30, spun Rebecca Kew 'a web of lies' about his past in order to get her to buy things for him Ex-RAF officer Dr Hugh Milroy, who is now chief executive of Veteran Aid, told the newspaper: 'I have been speaking out for this for many years, often as a lone voice.' He added: 'It is hardly surprising that people with low self-esteem, who want to set themselves apart from others, decide to embellish or even invent acts of bravery.' The tactic has also been used in the UK by several people who have gone on to commit other crimes - they would now be criminals even if they did not make any financial gain. Just this week Michael Brain, dubbed the 'cash card Casanova' posed online as a former Royal Marine and defrauded vulnerable women who had suffered bereavement or domestic abuse out of more than 40,000. Stewart Fenton, 38, sat begging in the street while holding two cardboard signs claiming he had served in the 7th Parachute Regiment of the Royal Horse Artillery (pictured here while begging in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset) He claimed he had suffered burns following an explosion while serving on the frontline, when in reality he suffered the injury from a gas canister while staying in a caravan. Stewart Fenton was convicted in March of raking in 5,000 cash from kind-hearted members of the public by posing as a homeless ex-Paratrooper. Another example is Peter Wall, who claimed to be an Army captain who had won the Military Cross in Afghanistan and swindled Rebecca Kew out of almost 3,000. Lindt siege gunman Man Haron Monis cradled his head in his hands and simulated chest pains when he was told of his former wife's death, a trial has heard. The new footage, which was played in the Supreme Court murder trial of Amirah Droudis, shows Monis being interviewed at a Sydney hospital by two police officers on the night of April 21, 2013. Taking a moment to process the tragic news, a baffled Monis then collapsed back against his bed when he was told of the death of his ex-wife after she was allegedly murdered by his then partner Ms Droudis, who has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors alleged Monis convinced Ms Droudis to brutally murder his ex-wife, who was stabbed before being set alight at a Werrington unit block. Scroll down for video Lindt siege gunman Man Haron Monis (pictured) cradled his head in his hands and simulated chest pains when he was told of his former wife's death, a trial has heard Prosecutors also alleged that at the same time, Monis carried out an elaborate alibi for himself where he staged a car accident outside a police station. During the day, he allegedly filmed himself spending the day at a swimming pool and enjoying a picnic with friends before the crash. He was rushed to Nepean Hospital for treatment, during which two police officers visited his hospital room to break the news about the death of his ex-wife. 'Man, I inform you your former partner... is dead,' the officer said, in which Monis responded: 'What do you mean?' 'I'm afraid she passed away. She's died earlier this afternoon.' Taking a moment to process the news, a baffled Monis then collapsed back against his bed Monis appeared shock as he leaned forward, starring at the ground in an apparent grief Accused Amirah Droudis (pictured) who allegedly murdered Monis' ex-wife pleads not guilty Monis then questioned police whether they may have mistaken someone else for his ex-wife, in which detectives confirmed her death. 'Maybe someone else, maybe someone else,' Monis said as he leaned forward, starring at the ground in an apparent grief. The officer responded: 'I'm afraid not.' 'That's not possible such a thing, it's someone else,' Monis continued. The Crown alleged Monis pretended he was shocked over the death, placing his head into his hands before requesting for a glass of water. When detectives pressed him about his whereabouts on the day of the alleged murder, Monis proceeded to lie down on his bed The Crown alleged Monis pretended he was shocked over the death of his ex-wife When detectives pressed him about his whereabouts on the day of the alleged murder, Monis proceeded to lie down on his bed, during which he complained about having chest pains. The video also shows an audio of Monis taking a phone call but had refused to disclosed who he was speaking to when the officer asked him. The Crown alleged the phone call was allegedly from Ms Droudis who was on her way to visit him in hospital but Monis warned her that he was with police. 'Just two detectives has come here and they said that... they said that she has died,' Monis said in the video. Terror experts have slammed the five-and-a-half-year sentence handed to Britain's most notorious hate preacher Anjem Choudary. The cleric was found guilty of encouraging support for ISIS and urging his followers to join the terror group in a series of incendiary lectures on YouTube. His supporters shouted 'Allahu Akbar', meaning 'God is great', today as his sentence was announced in an Old Bailey courtroom. But there was anger this afternoon that the sentence means Choudary - who will be entitled to automatic release after serving half of his term - could be back on the streets within two and a half years. Fears have been raised that Choudary may now attempt to radicalise fellow prisoners. He could be sent to Belmarsh maximum security prison in south east London which is home to a number of convicted terrorists and has been called a 'jihadi training camp'. Anjem Choudary has been jailed for encouraging support for terror group ISIS in online talks The judge described Choudary (left) as 'calculating' and Rahman (right) as a 'hothead' Professor Anthony Glees, a security expert at Buckingham University, called for the government to force a review of the jail term. Prof Glees said: 'In my view the sentence is far too lenient, mocks justice and will horrify the families of those whose loved ones followed his call to fight for Daesh [ISIS]. WHY WASN'T CHOUDARY GIVEN A LONGER TERM? 'Inviting support for a proscribed organisation' is an offence under the Terrorism Act 2000, which states that the maximum sentence for the offence is 10 years. The judge in the Choudary case has previously said there are very few previous cases for him to base the sentence on and he instead weighed up the seriousness of the crime. Mr Justice Holroyde said factors he considered which reduced the term from the maximum were the lack of a direct incitement to violence and the period the men had spent on bail. He said: 'I must sentence you on the basis that any link between your words and the actions of others is an indirect one, and that your offences are therefore not the most serious examples of their kind.' Advertisement 'This is a highly dangerous, sinister and wicked person from whom we have a right to be protected for a very long time. Once again an English court has delivered a soft verdict which is no deterrent. 'He'll be out in two-and-half years and there's no reason to believe prison can reform him or make him see how appalling his recruitment of young Brits had been.' Dr Alan Mendoza, executive director of anti-extremism think-tank The Henry Jackson Society, said: 'It's a little surprising that Anjem Choudary received a relatively light sentence given that since 1999, 10 per cent of those jailed for Islamist terrorist crimes had personal contact with him, and at least 23 per cent were connected to his banned group al-Muhajiroun. 'It would surely have made sense for the extent of his influence to be taken into account.' Nick Lowles, spokesman for anti-terror campaign group Hope Not Hate, added: Too many people have under-estimated how dangerous Choudary is. He is the single most dangerous extremist to have operated in the UK for the last 20 years and we should celebrate his imprisonment. Haras Rafiq, from counter-extremism group the Quilliam Foundation, told the Evening Standard: 'He has got five-and-a-half years for 15 years of radicalising youngsters in Britain and beyond towards jihadist terrorism. This is a sad indictment of the current state of our legislation.' Judge Mr Justice Holroyde said the pair had influence over impressionable people at a crucial time when Muslims were looking for guidance on how to respond to the rise of ISIS. He told Choudary: 'You did nothing to condemn any aspect of what ISIS was doing at the time. In that way you indirectly encouraged violent terrorist activity.' Despite his ideas spawning a generation of home-grown terrorists and enraging the British public, Choudary had previously thwarted authorities by managing to stay on the right side of the law. But a pledge of allegiance posted online provided a turning point for police who swooped to arrest British-born Choudary and his deputy Mohammed Mizanur Rahman. Rahman, who was described as a 'hothead' by the judge, was also given a sentence of five years and six months today. The maximum possible jail term they could have faced was 10 years. Choudary has already served 140 days behind bars. Choudary's years of evading justice began to come undone at a protest in which the crowd held signs reading: 'Islamic State Is Solution' at the bottom, with the first letter of each word in bold to spell ISIS LIVING ON BENEFITS IS ALLOWED UNDER SHARIA, SAYS PREACHER'S LAWYER Both Choudary and his deputy, Rahman, lived on benefits despite preaching against the government. The issue was raised today when the judge asked Rahman's lawyer: ' Is it not an anathema to be funded by the liberal democracy he so despises?' Rahman's barrister, Jo Sidhu said: 'Shariah created a welfare state and the concept of living on welfare is something Mr Rahman has always believed in.' Advertisement The judge said both men were 'dangerous' and had shown no remorse for what they had done. Choudarys barrister even tried to argue that he should receive a shorter sentence because of the likelihood that he will spend much of it in solitary to prevent him radicalising other inmates. Mark Summers QC claimed that such treatment would have psychologically profound negative effects but he was slapped down by judge Mr Justice Holroyde, who told Choudary: It would not be right to reduce your sentence because of the possibility that your own behaviour may cause the Prison Service to deal with you in a particular way. Their trial heard Choudary swore an oath of allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in an East London pub after the so-called 'caliphate' was declared in the Middle East. He and his deputy then pressed upon Muslims their supposed obligation to 'make hijrah', meaning to travel to ISIS-occupied lands, the court heard. Choudary, now 49, rose to notoriety as the mouthpiece of Omar Bakri Mohammed - a Syrian extremist who founded the banned extremist group al-Muhajiroun (ALM). Choudary courted publicity by voicing controversial views on Sharia law, while building up a following of thousands through social media, demonstrations and lectures around the world. Choudary's deputy, Mohammed Rahman (pictured, left, after his arrest and, right, at a rally last year) was also jailed for five and a half years for the same offence ISIS SYMPATHISER SAYS THE JAILING OF CHOUDARY IS NOT FAIR A known ISIS supporter in the Middle East has bemoaned the jailing on Choudary, a number of whose followers have joined the terror group. Writing in Arabic, the supporter said: 'They imprison the monotheists who support the caliphate while [clerics who support al Qaeda] are free in the streets and bars of London!' Advertisement In one speech in March 2013, Choudary, from Ilford, north-east London, set out his ambitions for the Muslim faith to 'dominate the whole world'. He said: 'Next time when your child is at school and the teacher says, "What do you want when you grow up? What is your ambition?", they should say,"To dominate the whole world by Islam, including Britain - that is my ambition".' His supporters included Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, the murderers of Fusilier Lee Rigby, and suspected ISIS executioner Siddhartha Dhar. Shortly after the announcement of the caliphate, Choudary held a meeting with his closest aides at a curry house in Mile End Road in east London to discuss it. Before accepting it was legitimate, he also consulted his 'spiritual guide', Bakri Mohammed, currently in jail in Lebanon, and Mohammed Fachry, the head of ALM in Indonesia. Choudary pictured with an image of Buckingham Palace imagined as a mosque 'HE MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO SPREAD HATE IN JAIL' Fears have been raised that Choudary may now attempt to radicalise fellow prisoners. Choudary could be sent to Belmarsh maximum security prison in south east London which is home to a number of convicted terrorists. Dr Moshe Kantor, President of the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation, called for controls to stop him influencing others. He said: 'We must ensure we maintain momentum and commit to combating radicalism with tougher legislation. 'Today's result is a positive step in fighting extremism, but it is essential that Choudary is not able to continue to radicalise others while in prison and we must address the broader risks of radicalisation within the prison system.' Advertisement On July 7, 2014, the trio's names appeared alongside Rahman's on the oath posted on the internet, which stated the Muhajiroun had 'affirmed' the legitimacy of the 'proclaimed Islamic Caliphate State'. The defendants followed up by posting on YouTube a series of lectures on the caliphate, which Choudary promoted to more than 32,000 Twitter followers. The married father-of-five denied encouraging his followers to back the terror group and insisted the oath had been made without his knowledge. He said of the pledge: 'It is completely unnecessary. For the rest of the Muslims it is obedience from the heart.' Despite protesting his innocence, he continued to express extreme views, refusing to denounce the execution of journalist James Foley by so-called Jihadi John, aka Mohammed Emwazi, in Syria in 2014. He told the jury: 'If you took an objective view, there are circumstances where someone could be punished.' Choudary, pictured in a file photo, smiled as his sentence was announced today Following the convictions, Commander Dean Haydon, head of Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command, said: 'These men have stayed just within the law for many years. 'But there is no-one within the counter-terrorism world that has any doubts of the influence that they have had, the hate they have spread and the people that they have encouraged to join terrorist organisations.' Commander Haydon added: 'Over and over again we have seen people on trial for the most serious offences who have attended lectures or speeches given by these men. 'The oath of allegiance was a turning point for the police - at last we had the evidence that they had stepped over the line and we could prove they supported Isis.' Choudary's conviction was also welcomed by leading British Muslims, who condemned his 'evil' and 'hateful' views. Families of some of the 1,113 victims of 9/11 whose remains have never been identified have spoken about their agony at still not being able to bury their loved ones. Fifteen years since two hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City, the remains of 40 per cent of the 2,753 who died at the site are still missing. Sally Regenhard, whose son Christian Regenhard - a probationary firefighter - was killed on September 11, 2001, described the feeling of not having his remains as a pain in your heart that you constantly live with. Ms Regenhard is upset that her sons unidentified remains are likely stored at a repository underneath the World Trade Center site. After 9/11 photographs of missing people were plastered on walls around the World Trade Center but to this day more than 1,000 victims remain unidentified The unidentified remains of people killed in the twin-towers were brought to the site of the attack in May 2014. The bone fragments were transferred in 7,930 plastic envelopes from a forensic laboratory to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum after hope that they could be identified diminished. Many grieving family members believe that the remains should instead be honored with a memorial above ground. The room has no sanctity, no religiosity, no atmosphere or respect like an interfaith chapel would, Ms Regenhard told NBC. New York City firefighter Scott Kopytko (left), 32, died while rushing to the aid of those trapped in the World Trade Center. Michael Patrick Iken (right) died aged 37 while working on the 84th floor of tower two at the World Trade Center. Katherine Wolf (left), died in the north tower. Firefighter George Cain (right) aged 35 is also believed to be buried among the unidentified remains FDNY Battalion Chief Orio Palmer (left) and Christian Regenhard (right) - a probationary firefighter - were died helping others at the World Trade Center The fact that families of missing victims can only create empty memorials for their loved ones means many feel theres an unreality about whats happened. Monica Iken-Murphy's husband Michael Patrick Iken died aged 37 while working on the 84th floor of tower two at the World Trade Center. She goes to the site where he died because it's where he took his last breath. 'That was the only place I felt connected with Michael. Others feel the same way; they have no other place to go,' she told NBC. Ms Iken-Murphy previously told of the last time she saw her husband. Relatives of 9/11 stage a protest, as unidentified remains of some of the victims in the attacks are escorted to a repository at Ground Zero in New York on May 10, 2014 I was half asleep, you came to kiss me goodbye. You said, I love you. Have a nice day. And those words soothed me back to sleep, she said. He later phoned her and told her to turn on the news and reassured her he was safe. But those were the last words she heard from him. Russell Mercer's stepson, New York City firefighter Scott Kopytko, 32, died while rushing to the aid of those trapped in the World Trade Center. Just three years earlier he'd left his job as a commodities trader in the South Tower to become a firefighter. Mr Mercer told NBC although the family has set up a memorial stone in Queens for Mr Kopytko they still feel like he's missing. Firefighters make their way through the rubble of the World Trade Center in 2001 after two hijacked planes flew into the landmark skyscrapers Sacred: In a space between the two Twin Tower footprints at bedrock, visitors see a wall behind which the Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York operates and maintains a repository for the unidentified remains and a small work space 'I'm talking to the wind, that's who I'm talking to. There's nothing there,' Mr Mercer said. After the deadly terrorist attack thousands of missing persons posters went up across New York City. Families brought along copies of their loved ones' pictures, fingerprints, dental records and other proofs of identity but some 1,113 victims remain unidentified. It's not just remains that f amilies of the victims of the September 11 attacks are still waiting to receive. They are also holding out hope for having their loved ones' possessions and personal items returned 15 years later. New York City officials have held on to more than 3,500 items found in the rubble of the World Trade Center. Relatives say the inability to receive these items has prolonged heartbreak. Families are now begging the NYPD to let next-of-kin see the items so they can reclaim them, the New York Post reported. Families who lost relatives in the September 11, 2001 attacks are begging the city to release items to them from their loved ones (stock image of IDs found in the wreckage) New York City officials have held on to more than 3,500 items found in the rubble of the World Trade Center (stock image of IDs found in the wreckage) 'It's outrageous because the items belong to us not them. 'They should set up a system so that families can identify the property, instead of just putting it away and forgetting about it,' Debby Jenkins, whose older brother Joseph Jenkins, 47, an office relocation manager, was killed in Tower 2, told The Post. The city initially tried to come up with a way to return the items. In 2004, the NYPD asked relatives to fill out forms describing the items they were looking for and staff would attempt to match the description. The program lasted six months and shut down in June 2005. NYPD does not intend to release images of the items due to its fear of false claims, but in 1995, after the Oklahoma City bombing, officers laid out recovered items for families to claim and never had reports of fraud or mistakes. Retired NYPD sergeant Will Sekzer is still hoping to recover his son Jason's $22,000 Rolex. He has suggested setting up a website for the items. Sekzer tried to retrieve the Rolex showing the NYPD a photo, receipt and serial number. It was all for nothing though as he still hasn't retrieved the watch. Sekzer says a private website that lists each item with a photo could be the solution to the problem. 'A lot of people have given up hope of ever recovering anything belonging to a lost loved one. The items are kept at NYPD's One Police Plaza headquarters in plastic bar coded bags (stock image items recovered from the world trade center held in the National September 11 Memorial Museum) The items retrieved from Ground Zero were found in debris sifted at Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island and retrieved from medical examiner's morgues (stock image of IDs found in the wreckage) 'This web site might help them recover an item lost on that terrible day and bring some comfort to the family,' he said. The items retrieved from Ground Zero were found in debris sifted at Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island and retrieved from medical examiner's morgues. So far the NYPD has returned 87 per cent of the items found to their rightful owners, but the 13 per cent remaining still have open wounds. 'It has always been our goal to return as much property from the 9/11 disaster as possible,' Deputy Chief Jack Trabitz, who was chief of the NYPD property bureau for more than 12 years, told The Post. But the efforts to return items have stalled during the last three years as DNA identifications have begun to dry up. That means nearly 3,500 invoices for missing items like jewelry, wallets, keys, clothing and knicknacks are still pending. Advertisement Tens of thousands of ships have passed through Tower Bridge since it first opened more than 120 years ago, but few would have caught the eye as much as this extraordinary 225million bombproof superyacht. The distinctive white Motor Yacht A- owned by Russian tycoon Andrey Melnichenko was spotted sailing up the River Thames in London on a wet and windy Saturday afternoon. The 390ft vessel, which is one of the worlds 25 largest superyachts, features three swimming pools, including one with a glass floor, luxurious cabins and an unconventional design described as an upside down hull. And the boat, which launched eight years ago and was reported in April to have gone on the market, was photographed mooring alongside D-Day bombardment vessel HMS Belfast having sailed up the Thames. Someone mooring a boat of a similar tonnage in this area of London could pay at least 2,000 a day, although the total price could end up being much more if certain extra facilities such as terminal halls are requested. Scroll down for video Opened up: This striking luxury boat known simply as Motor Yacht A has sailed up the River Thames and under Tower Bridge at the weekend. The 390ft vessel, which is one of the worlds 25 largest superyachts, features three swimming pools, including one with a glass floor, luxurious cabins and an unconventional design described as an upside down hull Compared: The 225million Motor Yacht A was photographed mooring alongside HMS Belfast having sailed on a wet and windy Saturday afternoon. The yacht boasts an opulent lounge with floor-to-ceiling windows, wood and leather furniture, and a spacious owners cabin that is larger than most London flats - and is said to have bomb-proof glass and a rotating bed Grand arrival: Motor Yacht A pulls up next to the historic warship HMS Belfast, which spent 33 days in Normandy and fired more than 5,000 shells during the Second World War. HMS Belfast is is one of only three remaining vessels from the bombardment fleet which supported the D-Day landings in June 1944 - the others being the USS Laffey and USS Texas Striking design: There are seven luxurious cabins for up to 14 guests and accommodation for 42 crew members - and over the years it has been spotted in places such as Honolulu, Malibu, Monaco, Puerto Rico, Turkey and Thailand Powered by two diesel engines, the yacht has a top speed of 23 knots (26.4mph) and a cruising speed of 19.5 knots (22.4mph) Quite a sight: Three spa pools with current-generating technology are spread throughout the yacht, and one has a glass floor that passengers can look into from the lower deck. Motor Yacht A launched eight years ago The yacht, which was reported in April to have gone on the market, was built by leading shipyard Blohm + Voss in Hamburg Any ships wanting to travel through an open Tower Bridge must book a bridge lift at least 24 hours in advance, but it is free - as it was in 1894, when staff were on the lookout 24 hours a day for any boat wishing to pass through. Billionaire industrialist Mr Melnichenko, who has made his vast fortune with investments in coal, fertilisers and banking, was said to have put Motor Yacht A up for sale replacing it with the grander Sailing Yacht A. Mr Melnichenko, 44, who is said to have a net worth of more than 8.5billion, lives a glamorous, jet-setting lifestyle with his 39-year-old wife Aleksandra, a former model and pop star from Serbia. His yacht boasts an opulent lounge with floor-to-ceiling windows, wood and leather furniture, and a spacious owners cabin that is larger than most London flats - and is said to have bomb-proof glass and a rotating bed. Three spa pools with current-generating technology are spread throughout the yacht, and one has a glass floor that passengers can look into from the lower deck, according to the Yacht Harbour database. There are seven luxurious cabins for up to 14 guests and accommodation for 42 crew members. Over the years it has been spotted in places such as Honolulu, Malibu, Monaco, Puerto Rico, Turkey and Thailand. Powered by two diesel engines, the yacht has a top speed of 23 knots (26.4mph) and a cruising speed of 19.5 knots (22.4mph), with a range of 6,500 nautical miles. Lights: The 225million boat (file image) was designed by Frenchman Philippe Starck, a renowned contemporary designer Aerial view: The yacht's helipad and some of its three spa pools with current-generating technology are seen from above Stunning luxury: The superyacht, which has been likened to both a battleship and a submarine, contains two 30ft speedboats There's always a bigger boat: A yacht is dwarfed by Motor Yacht A while it is harboured in Bergen, Norway, in June 2009 It was built by leading shipyard Blohm + Voss in Hamburg, Germany, and designed by Frenchman Philippe Starck, a renowned contemporary designer who is responsible for the look of Melnichenkos new toy, Sailing Yacht A. Billionaire industrialist: Andrey Melnichenko (left), 44, who is said to have a net worth of more than 8.5billion, lives a glamorous, jet-setting lifestyle with his 39-year-old wife Aleksandra (right), a former model and pop star from Serbia In addition to two massive yachts, Mr Melnichenko owners a customised Boeing 737 private jet, a villa in the French Riviera, a penthouse in New York and a sprawling estate near Ascot, England. Speaking when the yacht was rumoured to be up for sale, Dimitri Semenikhin, founder of Yacht Harbour, said: Motor Yacht A is a unique boat in terms of its design and there is quite literally nothing like it on the market. If they were to find a buyer who would fall in love with the design, the price could go as far up as $300million (225million). It will, however, be a tough sell at such a price as the design is very polarising. He told MailOnline at the time: I've seen Motor Yacht A quite a few times in Monaco. It's extremely noticeable anywhere it goes, you can always find people snapping shots of it or pointing to it from the shore. When you pass close to it, you do realise how huge and tall it is. The first open deck is also very high which makes it feel very secure. With the behemoth Sailing Yacht A, the oligarch decided it was time to upgrade to a new, custom-built vessel that offers more space and the latest in luxury and technology. It is said to have cost as much as 337million to build. The eight-deck vessel has masts that are nearly 330ft tall, eclipsing the height of London's Elizabeth Tower, which houses the Great Bell known as Big Ben, plus an underwater lounge with thick glass. It also boasts a digital control system that has a touch sensitive sheet of black glass, allowing the crew to raise and lower the sails and anchor with the swipe of their fingers. A Pulse nightclub shooting survivor has said she has to imagine she was a witness rather than a victim to help her move on from the worst mass shooting in American history. Patience Carter, 20, from Philadelphia, had been in Orlando for less than 24 hours when she visited Pulse nightclub with her friends Tiara Parker and Akyra Murray. They were dancing and celebrating Murray's academic accomplishments when Omar Mateen fired shots in the club. Patience Carter, 20, was among the 53 people who were wounded during the June 12 shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando. She broke down after recounting the attack in vivid detail She was one of the 53 people left wounded after the shooting on June 12, which left 50 dead including the gunman. In a 911 call shortly after the shooting began, Mateen swore allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Miss Carter and Miss Murray ran out of Pulse once they heard gunfire, but went back into the club to look for Miss Parker. She hid in a bathroom and when Mateen started shooting, Jason Josaphat, a stranger, shielded her from gunfire. Miss Carter and Miss Parker had non-lethal injuries, but Mr Josaphat and Miss Murray did not survive. Carter uploaded this Instagram post yesterday saying 'I'm happy to be back at school, working towards my degree and continuing to build my career' Akyra Murray, pictured, was a stand-out player for her high school basketball team and had recently signed a letter of intent to play at Mercyhurst University when she was shot dead 'Each day is a struggle', she told NBC News. 'Each day is an up and down emotional roller coaster, just remembering the faces of people that are no longer here. 'Dancing with that person, to watching that person bleed, that's a huge impact, changes your life forever. 'Witnessing certain things that you never sort you'd never seen out of a movie, it changes you, it really does. 'I try to look at the situation from a third person point of view as opposed to somebody who went through it and survived it because the thoughts and images are heavy. If you look at it as a reporter or someone telling a story it's easier to cope that way.' The group of friends had only visited Pulse club as it was one of the first that came up on Google and there was a cheap entrance fee. She added: 'The energy was so warm. It was a great place to be. It didn't matter if it was a gay nightclub or not, we were there to have fun. 'We went from having the time of our lives to having the worst night of our lives in a matter of minutes. The guilt of being alive is heavy.' Carter, pictured in Florida Hospital after the shooting, said 'each day is a struggle' Miss Carter's recovery has been long, but she has made progress. After being shot in both of her legs, a bullet shattered her femur bone and she was unable to walk. Last month, her doctor allowed her to get off crutches and she is now walking unaided. She said: 'I just feel so much stronger now and that helps me emotionally to see that I am getting through this and I'm going to be OK.' Following the shooting, Miss Carter was accused by conspiracy theorists of being a 'crisis actor' for Fox 29, where she interned at the time. Responding to that she wrote in an Instagram post: 'It's your outrageous insensitivity that makes me want to heal even faster, and grow even stronger.' Miss Carter has now enrolled at classes at New York University where she is studying media and cultural communications. Hate preacher Anjem Choudary spent years chiding the West, calling for Sharia law in Britain and even claiming he wanted to move to ISIS-occupied Syria. But, as a photo which emerged today shows, the notorious cleric was happy to enjoy the lifestyle provided by living in the UK. The picture, taken while Choudary was on bail ahead of his terror trial, shows him purchasing a McDonald's meal. Choudary faces a lengthy jail term when he is sentenced today for encouraging support for terror group ISIS. A photo has emerged of Anjem Choudary enjoying a McDonald's meal while on bail The photo of Choudary at McDonald's is understood to have been taken at the Watford Gap service station in April, weeks before he went on trial for inciting support for ISIS. It is believed he used the Northamptonshire service station on the way to a meeting in the Midlands. An onlooker said: 'Considering he hates everything about the West, and is also meant to only eat at halal places, he is clearly a hypocrite. 'I had heard of this guy before and I was a bit surprised given what he preaches so I took a picture of it. 'I live in Luton and he is often there preaching and I have seen him numerous times. 'There was a couple of people that also recognised him. He had a disagreement with someone there, but I don't know what they were saying.' Choudary has previously praised food chains which serve halal food, that which is acceptable to eat under Muslim rules. McDonald's does not offer halal food, previously stating that it 'would require significant changes to our kitchen procedures and supply chain'. Choudary faces jail today after he and his deputy were found guilty of inciting support for ISIS McDonald's food is not the only advantage of living in Britain which Choudary has enjoyed, and the father-of-five raked in more than 25,000-a-year in benefits. He also received 15,600 a year in housing benefit to keep him in a 320,000 house in Leytonstone, East London. In 2013, he was secretly recorded urging his followers to also sponge off UK taxpayers by claiming what he called 'Jihadseeker's allowance'. While at university, before he turned to radical Islam, he was also known as a heavy drinker who took drugs. Choudary has repeatedly provoked the British public with a series of stunts in which his followers burned remembrance poppies and disrupted Armistice Day events. During his university days, Choudary was known as a drinker who took drugs and look at porn He also called for Buckingham Palace to be turned into a mosque and paraded a picture of his vision which was made by a man now fighting for ISIS. But despite his sermons inspiring a generation of home-grown terrorists, he managed to evade arrest but citing free speech laws. However, he was snared by police after pledging allegiance to ISIS and calling on his followers to travel to the so-called 'caliphate' in Syria. Sarah Patel, six, is being hailed 'the bravest little girl in the country' after confronting an axe-wielding attacker and leading a person to safety during an armed robbery. Her father Suhail's Auckland, New Zealand electronics store was being ransacked by six people on Monday afternoon. CCTV footage reveals the moment Sarah, fleeing, trips and falls, then grabs the man wielding an axe. Sarah Patel confronted a man armed with an axe at her father's electronics store After confronting the man, she then led another person to safety Taken aback, the man, who was standing over one of her father's employees, pauses. Sarah then runs off, before being seen leading another person to safety outside the store. Mr Patel told TVNZ his daughter was 'very brave'. 'I'm proud of her, definitely. Suhail Patel and daughter Sarah, who has been hailed as the bravest girl in New Zealand for her actions 'I think she thought they were trying to hit [the employee] she maybe thought she could help.' He said Sarah was shocked by the ordeal but was getting better. 'She did an amazing job - we only found out after watching the CCTV footage.' Sarah said she was trying to save her father's employee and that she wasn't scared by the ordeal. The Patels pursued the six alleged robbers who fled in a stolen car. Police then apprehended five of them, all boys aged 16, according to Stuff.co.nz. Another was still at large. Police said all five arrested would be charged with aggravated robbery, injuring with intent, and breaching bail. The vehicle's driver would be charged with unlawfully taking a motor vehicle, reckless driving and aggravated failing to stop, it was reported. Sarah's brave actions came when a group of six people ransacked her father's business PC Steven Walters, 47 (pictured outside Stafford Crown Court), who was based at Sutton Coldfield police station, has been told he will 'almost inevitably' be jailed after sexually assaulting two women while on duty A serving police officer is facing jail today after admitting two sex attacks against women while he was on duty. PC Steven Walters, 47, has been told he will 'almost inevitably' be jailed after admitting sexually assaulting one victim in February 2015 and another in April. The father, who is currently suspended from his job, admitted two counts of sexual assault on the first day of his trial at Stafford Crown Court this week. The officer, who was based at Sutton Coldfield police station in Birmingham, West Midlands, was warned by a judge that a prison sentence was 'almost inevitable'. Walters had denied all the charges against him during a previous hearing at Birmingham Magistrates' Court. No details of the offences were given in court but the Crown Prosecution Service accepted both pleas and did not proceed with a third allegation of misconduct in public office because they said it was not in the public interest. Harpreet Sandhu, defending, said his client accepted that a custodial sentence would follow and asked for the case to be adjourned for a pre-sentence report. In adjourning the case until September 29, Judge Paul Glenn said: 'I will adjourn the case for a pre-sentence report. 'A custodial sentence is all but inevitable but I need to know more about you before passing sentence.' Walters was charged in February following an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). After reviewing the evidence gathered by the IPCC the Crown Prosecution Service authorised the charges against Walters. The IPCC began an investigation after a referral from the force which had received a complaint from one of the officer's victims. Derrick Campbell, IPCC Commissioner, said: 'Walters completely abused his position of trust and targeted vulnerable victims of crime for sexual purposes. 'I would like to praise the courage and bravery of the women who came forward to give evidence against him and hope that they can now move on with their lives in the knowledge that justice has been done. 'Such unprofessional and disgraceful conduct cannot go unchallenged and I hope that today's outcome reinforces the message that officers who behave in such a way will be exposed and brought before the courts where appropriate.' Walters, who is currently suspended from his job, admitted two counts of sexual assault on the first day of his trial at Stafford Crown Court (pictured) and will be sentenced later this month Deputy Chief Constable Louisa Rolfe, of West Midlands Police, apologised on behalf of the force and said Walters had breached trust in 'such an abhorrent way'. She sad: 'PC Steven Walters worked as part of our 24-7 response unit officers that the public rely upon in their hour of need. 'He has admitted abusing his position by sexually assaulting two women he encountered while on duty. I am sorry that an officer working for West Midlands Police has exploited the trust placed in him by two women when they deserved respect and support. 'PC Walters is currently suspended from duty and he will now face an internal misconduct hearing. 'We expect the highest standards of professionalism from all officers and police staff. Serving and protecting the public is paramount and it is vital that our communities have trust and confidence in everything that we do. 'To breach this trust in such an abhorrent way is totally unacceptable. The parents of a dead girl watched in horror as a community nurse had sex on her clothes in a room they had preserved as a memorial, a tribunal heard. Melissa Dye had been housesitting for the child's foster parents and was caught in the act on their CCTV, the Nursing and Midwifery Council heard. The parents were forced to watch her having sex in real time after logging in to the cameras remotely. 'All of the happy memories we had in that room have been sullied by her actions,' the dead child's mother told the hearing. 'We would sit in the room cuddling her items, with the memories of her and it was comforting. 'Why would anyone have sex in a child's room on top of their possessions?' Dye admits she had sex with a soldier on the disabled girls bed - a special water mattress she needed due to her fragile bones. However, she denies the mother's allegation that it happened on top of the child's possessions. The nurse told the tribunal the man named John, a soldier she met online, invited himself over when she was housesitting. She said she regrets the sex session now but was caught up in a moment of passion.' Community nurse Melissa Dye (pictured) admits having sex in a dead little girl's room, but denies the allegation from the child's mother that it was on top of her possessions. She is the subject of a Nursing and Midwifery Council tribunal being held in London Dye first started caring for the child, who suffered from a neurological disorder, while working for the Chestnut Tree House Hospice in Poling, Sussex. She later began making house calls to the family home in Hampshire. Matthew Cassells, for the NMC, told the hearing: ''Mr A and Mrs A supported Chestnut Tree House Hospital, and Child A came into their care and support in November 2011. 'She had a neurological disorder, meaning her bones were very fragile, with an increased risk of fractures. 'Chestnut Tree House provided support and care for these children.' Mr Cassells told the hearing Dye had been assigned to care for Child A. She was involved with the family for one and a half years and would look after the child in a special room her foster family built when she was too sick to play outside. It featured soft walls and lighting and toys. The foster mother told the hearing: 'My daughter was extremely fragile and could fracture a bone just by rolling over. Because of this my husband and I saved up to make a sensory room. 'We were really excited about this special space. It was the only way to play again as a family, and make happy memories.' Mr Cassells said Dye left her role with Chestnut Tree House for another hospital in April last year, and Child A died shortly after. Melissa Dye first met the sick youngster when giving her palliative care at Chestnut Tree House hospice in Sussex (pictured) After the girl's death, her foster parents turned the room into a memorial for her, the tribunal heard. 'They laid out her clothes, the last toys she played with, and they found comfort in her room, and from smelling the clothes that had her scent,' said Mr Cassells. After Dye heard about the death, she offered support to the family and told them to go on holiday for a while, offering to house sit for them in June 2015. The foster mother said: 'We were very emotional and feeling completely bereft. 'We took her offer because we were leaving our pets, our home and our child's memories in safe hands.' But when they were away a neighbour texted them about an intruder in the house. When Dye did not reply to a text message, the foster mother remotely logged in to the camera system that had been installed to help care for child A. She said: 'I logged into the CCTV access system and to my shock and horror saw she was in the sensory room having sex, lying on top of my daughter's things.' Saying that Dye had 'sullied' the happy memories they have of the room, where they sought comfort after their daughter's death, the foster mother added: 'She knew what that room meant to us. 'I thought we could trust her, but she's not the person I thought she was.' Mr Cassells said of Dye: 'She has since set a text message saying "I'm sorry to have betrayed your trust". She also left a letter for them repeating the sentiment.' Mr Cassells told the hearing the events had caused significant repercussions for the family. He said: 'They disinfected all her possessions, meaning they could no longer smell her scent. 'They also had a chaplain restore the sanctity of the room after, in Mrs A's words, it had been 'desecrated'. The real names of the child and her parents have not been stated during the hearing, which is taking place before a three-person panel at the NMC headquarters in Aldwych, London. The panel wished to see the CCTV footage, but were told it is no longer available because the hard drive filled up and recorded over it. Dye told the tribunal that after the soldier invited himself over, she had sex with him in a variety of positions in the sensory room, finishing up on the girls water bed. John is a guy I was sort of dating at the time, she explained. We met internet dating, hes in the army.' She said of him coming to the house: I knew the mother didnt like strangers in the house but he wasnt going to be alone in the home. We never discussed me not having visitors. One thing led to another, we started kissing and it went from that. She added: We started kissing in the sitting room, and we progressed to the bedroom. 'We just ended up in the sensory room not really thinking about it, I suppose because its a bigger room. We had ended up on the water bed. Dye told the hearing she regretted her actions, that she hadnt been thinking, and she didn't know the CCTV cameras were switched on. I feel terrible and really ashamed, and Im upset that I let them down,' she said. I was caught up in a moment of passion. The allegation against Dye is that she failed to maintain professional boundaries and behaved inappropriately by engaging in sexual intercourse in the soft play area of the dead child's room. Her fitness to practise is therefore alleged to be impaired. Dye denies failing to maintain professional boundaries, saying she was not working at the house at the time of incident and was there as a friend. A cunning burglar breaking into a home took no chances of being caught - by disabling all the cameras as he carried out his crime. The criminal broke into the home in Forest Hill, Victoria, Australia, on August 20. The hooded burglar then made his way around the living room by wriggling across the floor to disable the cameras. A cunning burglar breaking into a home took no chances of being caught - by disabling all the cameras as he carried out his crime The hooded burglar made his way around the living room by wriggling across the floor to disable the cameras However, he missed a second security camera which picked up images of the burglary. Valuables and cash were stolen from the home and Whitehorse Criminal Investigation Unit have yet to catch the criminal, The Herald Sun reported. They have released CCTV images of two men they are looking for in conjunction with the burglary. However, he missed a second security camera which picked up images of the burglary Valuables and cash were stolen from the home and Whitehorse Criminal Investigation Unit have yet to catch the criminal The first man is white and in his 40s with an unshaved face. A female backpacker has described the horrific moment she broke her back in a 150ft fall down a cliff while fleeing a sex attacker in Thailand. Hannah Gavios, 23, from Bayside in New York, got lost on pitch-black Railay Beach in the resort of Krabi and went into a local tourist shop asking for help back to her hotel at a nearby bay on Thursday. A local worker offered to show her the way but instead led her into the jungle where they started climbing up a hilly path. Ms Gavios, who was still tired after arriving in Thailand just the day before, innocently followed him before realizing she was in danger. 'I really thought I was going to die,' she said. Hannah Gavios, 23, from New York, has told how she was attacked by a local man in Thailand Ms Gavios was eventually rescued after falling down the cliff by locals who raised the alarm Rescue workers carefully carried Ms Gavios down the remainder of the cliff on a stretcher 'It was dark around 11pm and the only way to get back to my accommodation was by crossing the cliffs. 'I went inside a tourist shop and asked for help back to my hotel. They said it was dangerous to do at night so they told me to follow one of their workers. 'I didn't get the best feeling about him but I was tired and wanted to get home. I'd been travelling for 16 hours so I guess I wasn't feeling myself,' Ms Gavios said. She recalled how she followed him up a trail and kept asking 'is this the right way?'. 'While we were walking he grabbed me and was holding me down and trying to take off my clothes. Ms Gavios, who was visiting Thailand on a break from teaching English in Vietnam, has bravely waived her anonymity surrounding the attack Ms Gavios's attacker - a Thai local named as Apai Ruengvorn, 28 - has reportedly admitted to the crime The 23-year-old got lost on pitch-black Railay Beach in the resort of Krabi and went into a local tourist shop asking for help back to her hotel 'I started punching him in the face and beating him up and biting off his ear. I was biting his ear so hard it almost came off. His ear was half torn off,' Ms Gavios said. 'He was in pain and asked me to stop, so we shook hands and he stopped but I was still nervous and he was still trying to harass me so there was no choice but to run. 'I started walking back to where I came from. Once there was distance between us I started running.' She fled but blindly ran off the edge of a cliff edge in the darkness. 'It was pitch black and before I knew it I was in mid air falling off a cliff. I was honestly thinking I wouldn't survive,' she said. Apai Ruengvorn (pictured) was made to reenact the assault by Thai police The attacker reportedly has no job but often offers to act as a guide for tourists 'I hit my head a few times and landed with a big bump. I was screaming in pain. It was the most painful thing ever. 'I felt like a total vegetable. I felt completely vulnerable. I couldn't move anything.' Ms Gavios - who has waived her anonymity - fractured her spine and smashed her head on the way down before she landed crippled at the bottom of the cliff. To her terror her attacker - a Thai local named as Apai Ruengvorn, 28 - scrambled after her and sexually molested her as she lay helpless. 'He heard me screaming and moaning and he came down and climbed down the mountain and starting crying and praying. The 23-year-old American tourist was not located until daybreak on Friday when the search team found her lying on a rock 15 metres down the 45-metre deep cliff Ms Gavios fell from the Railay cliff while she was trying to get back to her resort at Ao Tonsai bay She was transported to hospital on the nearby island of Phuket on Friday The English teacher fractured her spine and smashed her head after falling down the cliff Railay Beach is only accessible by water and a water ambulance was sent to rescue her The area is hugely popular with British and American tourists who visit it for its beautiful beaches and dramatic cliffs 'He was feeling very guilty. I was begging him to call for help. He got on the phone and started calling and I thought somebody was coming but nobody came. 'I was stuck with this crazy person. I was in the woods in the bushes with wild snakes crawling on me while he was still continuing to harass me. 'He got on top of me. He took of his pants and masturbated on me. 'He didn't rape me but he did everything else. I really thought I was going to die. 'I honestly didn't know what to do. I just had to remain calm. whenever I screamed he was choking me so I had to try to keep cool and stay friendly with him. 'As soon as it got lighter I started calling for help. He kept saying "no police no police",' Ms Gavios said. After a couple of hours Ruengvorn left but then returned later with other people who raised the alarm and Ms Gavios was rescued and taken to hospital. She is now being treated at Bangkok Hospital in Phuket and Ms Gavios's parents have flown from their New York home to be at her bedside. A local man offered to show Ms Gavios back to her hotel but instead led her into the jungle Ms Gavios, pictured here with children in Vietnam, says she's 'taking one day at a time' after the attack Hannah Gavios, 23, got lost on pitch-black Railay Beach in the resort of Krabi and went into a local tourist shop asking for help back to her hotel Thai police Lt Songpol Bunchai confirmed Ms Gavios's story and added that a man has been charged with committing obscene behavior toward another person and causing serious injury Ms Gavios' father is pictured here arriving at Phuket airport after hearing about his daughter's attack Ruengvorn has admitted the sickening attack last Thursday evening and is now facing several years behind bars. Ms Gavios said: 'I'm taking one day at a time. But I'm really glad my legs aren't broken. I want to stay in Asia and return to teaching in Vietnam. 'The police have told me that the man will stay in prison for between five and ten years.' Ms Gavios is a former graphic design student at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. During her travels in South East Asia, Ms Gavios is believed to have spent time teaching English in Chiang Mai, Thailand, as well as Lao Cai Province in Vietnam. According to her Facebook page she began working at Globe Education Link as an English teacher on August 7 but had been in the region for a few months before visiting countries popular with backpackers such as Laos. Pictures in local media show Ruengvorn staging a crime re-enactment pointing to the spot where Ms Gavios fell. He was been charged with committing obscene behavior toward another person and causing serious injury. Lt Songpol Bunchai confirmed Ms Gavios's story and added: 'The suspect admitted that he became aroused and tried to molest the woman. The Ministry of Defence has been accused of a 'serious' security blunder after it emerged the names of thousands of serving military personnel are listed online. The Government website and the sites of Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force all contain various versions of the list, collectively detailing names and ranks of tens of thousands of military personnel. It was revealed today a list dating from 2015 includes 20,000 personnel - many of whom will still be serving in the Armed Forces - is on the Government website. Lists of serving Armed Forces personnel are published on the Government website but it was claimed today this is a 'serious' security blunder (file picture) MailOnline also found lists for all three services from 2013 which detail more than 30,000 people, while up to date lists of senior staff are published by the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. Members of the Armed Forces are advised by their officers and the Ministry of Defence not to wear uniforms off base and to be careful what they post on social media. Reservist Major Chris Green, who has now left the forces but is detailed on the 2015 list, told The Times publication of the names was a gift for ISIS terrorists. He said: 'This is a serious security threat when Isis and other groups are looking to target individuals.' Mr Green, who has recently published a book which identifies him as a solider, added: 'It is actually a pretty terrifying error. 'They are putting national security at risk in many ways.' Officials at the Ministry of Defence were today understood to be considering deleting the current lists of service personnel from the Government website. Lists of personnel have been published in hard copy for decades and are an historical resource for people tracing family histories. Armed Forces personnel have been advised since 2013 to be careful about what they share online The policy includes warnings to be 'extra careful' about identifying themselves as being members of the military Senior officers - ranked at one star and above - are generally considered to be in the public domain once they are appointed as their ranks are announced in the London Gazette. But more junior personnel are advised not to include details of their military service on social media profiles to avoid attracting attention. The dangers to service personnel were laid bare in 2013 with the brutal murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby on the streets of London. In July, a Royal Air Force serviceman was the target of an attempted abduction near RAF Marham in Norfolk. Kamran Ahmed, 27, was jailed for ten years for raping a 12-year-old girl then claiming that 'the devil got him' A newly married husband who raped a 12-year-old girl and claimed 'the devil got him' as he confessed to his wife has been jailed for ten years. Pakistani national Kamran Ahmed, 27, had been in the UK less than six months after marrying a British woman when he had sex with the schoolgirl, pulling off her clothes and telling her 'I have to do this'. Ahmed had previously told the girl she was pretty, touched her indecently and tried to kiss her before forcibly raping her, prosecutor Tom Storey told Bradford Crown Court. Afterwards, he said that no one would believe a child over an adult if she told someone, forcing her to carry the shame alone, which the court heard had a dramatic impact on her school work. She was too ashamed and embarrassed to tell her Muslim family but eventually confessed to her teacher that she had been assaulted 'in a dirty way,' the court heard. Ahmed, from Thornbury, Bradford, West Yorkshire, later confessed the crime to his British wife, saying 'the devil had got to him,' Mr Storey said. He was jailed for ten years after he pleaded guilty on the day of the trial and will be deported after serving his prison sentence, the Recorder of Bradford, Judge Roger Thomas QC, told him. Mitigating, Mohammed Ramzan, said his client had also destroyed his own life. 'The case has had a devastating effect and he is extremely ashamed of his conduct and what he has done,' he said. 'He will be deported back to Pakistan after serving his sentence and he will take the shame with him.' He was jailed for ten years at Bradford Crown Court (pictured, stock image) after he pleaded guilty on the day of the trial and will be deported after serving his prison sentence Mr Ramzan conceded that the girl will carry the 'torture' with her for the rest of her life. Judge Thomas said: 'She was unable to take advantage of counselling because it was too painful and difficult to speak about what had happened, even in such a private setting.' He told Ahmed: 'It is impossible to think that the effects of your crime on her will somehow dissipate in any substantial way. 'One fears that her future years will be very badly affected by what you did to her.' Ahmed must sign the sex offenders' register indefinitely. A luxury German hotel popular with celebrities is at the centre of a terror alert this morning after staff received a bomb threat overnight. Guests at Hotel Fuerstenhof in Leipzig in eastern Germany were evacuated as armed police moved in to check rooms for explosive devices. Officers say the night porter at the hotel, whose previous guests have included the rock bands AC/DC and Kiss, received an anonymous call from someone using 'broken German' with the bomb threat. Armed police descended on the Hotel Fuerstenhof after staff received a bomb threat in the early hours of the morning Guest at Hotel Fuerstenhof (pictured) in Leipzig in eastern Germany, were evacuated as armed police moved in to check rooms for explosive devices A luxury German hotel popular with celebrities is at the centre of a terror alert this morning after staff received a bomb threat overnight. Police are pictured at the scene Social media pictures from the scene show police with sniffer dogs examining the area and checking under cars. There are also images of police with machine guns standing next to a neighbouring church. The area surrounding the hotel has been closed off while investigations continue today. Police spokesman Alexander Bertram said the upscale Fuerstenhof hotel received an anonymous phone call around 2.50am local time today. The area surrounding the hotel has been closed off while investigations continue today (file picture of German police) Officers say the night porter at the hotel (file picture), whose previous guests have included the rock bands AC/DC and Kiss, received an anonymous call from someone using 'broken German' with the bomb threat An initial search did not turn up anything suspicious. Police officers have been stationed in front of all hotel entrances. Bertram says the anonymous caller talked about a 'terror attack'. He would not give any further details during an ongoing operation. Germany has been on edge since two attacks this summer claimed by ISIS in which multiple people were injured and both assailants died. In an axe rampage on a train in Wuerzburg, the 17-year-old attacker was shot dead by police after injuring five people. A suicide bombing in Ansbach saw 15 people injured after a failed Syrian asylum-seeker detonated an explosive device outside a music festival, killing himself. Germany was also left reeling after a mass shooting in Munich in July in which 18-year-old Ali David Sonboly gunned down nine people outside a shopping centre. Pressure is mounting on the British Medical Association (BMA) to cancel plans for three weeks of junior doctor strikes later this year after public support for the walk-outs plummeted. A poll today found 48 per cent of the public oppose the planned five-day strikes in October, November and December, with just 34 per cent in favour. It shows the public is turning against junior doctors over the bitter dispute with the Government over the proposed new contract, with 42 per cent saying doctors are right to strike - down from 53 per cent in April. A poll today found 48 per cent of the public oppose the planned five-day strikes in October, November and December, with just 34 per cent in favour Now 38 per cent of the public believe strike action from junior doctors is unjustified - up from 29 per cent in April. The YouGov poll of 1,600 for The Times also shows fewer people blaming the Government for the increasingly bitter dispute. In April 52 per cent of the public blamed Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, but that has fallen to 42 per cent now. The BMA yesterday called off its plan for a five-day strike next week amid fears over patient safety. The crippling walk out, which had been due to begin on Monday, was to be the first of a new wave of strikes over controversial new contracts. In April 52 per cent of the public blamed Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt (pictured arriving for today's Cabinet meeting in Downing Street) but that has fallen to 42 per cent now But the doctors union has yet to call off the remaining three weeks of strikes planned for later this year. The Government insists the revised deals are crucial to deliver a seven day NHS service but junior doctors rejected a settlement brokered in the spring. The decision to announce new strikes last week prompted claims the junior doctors were being 'militant' in the dispute, which centres on rates of pay for Saturday shifts. WHEN ARE THE JUNIOR DOCTORS DUE TO BE ON STRIKE? Junior doctors last week announced a new string of strikes ahead of a controversial employment contract being imposed upon them in October. With some health professionals suggesting millions of people could face disruption as a result, we answer a few questions about patient cancellations. When are the walkouts due to take place? There are still three sets of walkouts currently scheduled over coming months, the first on October 5, 6, 7, 10 and 11, followed by November 14 to 18 and December 5 and 9. How badly will services be affected? The British Medical Association (BMA) has announced the strikes will see a 'full withdrawal of labour' which will lead to considerable disruption and other medical staff having to attempt to plug the holes in the workforce. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt estimated some 100,000 operations would be cancelled and more than one million appointments. NHS Providers, which represents NHS leaders, estimated it would be closer to half a million cancelled operations and four million appointments. What should I do if I'm concerned about a cancelled hospital appointment or operation? The Patients Association has advised contacting your local hospital's admissions clerk to see if you're affected - and how badly. It added that quick answers should not be expected, as many places will still be attempting to piece together their contingency plans following the announcement of industrial action by the BMA. How long would I have to wait for my appointment or operation to be rescheduled? According to NHS guidelines, these should be rearranged within 28 days of being cancelled. But, given the scale of strike action and the number of appointments which face cancellation, the Patients Association warned this could take longer. Advertisement Ellen McCourt, the chairwoman of the junior doctors committee at the BMA, today rejected that charge but announced next week's strike would not go ahead. She said: 'We have to listen to our colleagues when they tell us that they need more time to keep patients safe. 'We have also listened to the concerns of working doctors, patient groups and the public. 'Thousands of you have been in touch, your level of anger over the Secretary of State's imposed contract remains high, but at the same time you want to keep your patients safe during industrial action. 'The BMA is therefore suspending the industrial action planned for the week of 12 September. The remaining programme of industrial action stays in place.' Downing Street welcomed news of the suspension of the walkout. A Number 10 spokesman said: 'The Government's position has been that we didn't want the strike to take place. The BMA, as we have repeatedly said, should be putting patients first and not playing politics. 'It is extremely good news for patients that this strike has been suspended. We would urge junior doctors to suspend all other planned strikes.' Ms McCourt vowed the rest of the planned strike action - due to resume in October - will go ahead if Mr Hunt refuses to make concessions. She said: [Mr Hunt] continues to ignore our request to stop the imposition. 'He continues to force upon junior doctors a contract that discriminates against carers, parents, doctors with disabilities and women, a contract that devalues our time and a contract that disincentives careers in our most struggling specialities. 'He continues to strive towards an uncosted, unfunded, unstaffed extended seven day service. He continues to disregard the concerns junior doctors have about staffing shortages and patient safety.' Earlier today, health leaders warned junior doctors who go on strike for more than two weeks could face competency assessments. Prolonged industrial action could lead to a 'loss of training experience', according to the body which oversees education and training within the health workforce in England. Health Education England (HEE) has said that if any trainee misses out on more than two weeks of training - or work days - then they could be red-flagged by the General Medical Council (GMC). The decision to announce new strikes last week prompted claims the junior doctors were being 'militant' in the dispute, which centres on rates of pay for Saturday shifts This could lead to an assessment of their training progression, HEE said. Professor Terence Stephenson, chairman of the General Medical Council, said: 'Last week, on behalf of a number of organisations, we asked the BMA to consider moving the start date of their industrial action. 'We are therefore pleased that they have agreed to do so. This delay will give hospitals and other providers more time to plan for reduced medical cover, thereby reducing the impact and potential harm to patients.' A Department of Health spokesman said: 'The public will be relieved that the BMA has decided to call off the first phase of these unprecedented strikes, so this is welcome news. 'But if the BMA were really serious about patient safety, they would immediately cancel their remaining plans for industrial action which, as the GMC says, will only cause patients to suffer.' North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has warned a nuclear attack can be carried out 'at any time' and urged his troops to continue their 'miraculous achievements'. The country's ruler attended test firing of ballistic rockets by the Korean People's Army (KPA) and the state-run media reported Kim 'stressed the need to continue making miraculous achievements in bolstering up the nuclear force'. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the artillery units 'demonstrated before the world their military might as a strong service capable of mounting a pre-emptive attack on the enemies any time and from any place', following the launches on Monday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has warned a nuclear attack can be carried out 'at any time' and urged his troops to continue their 'miraculous achievements' The country's ruler attended test firing of ballistic rockets by the Korean People's Army (KPA) and the state-run media reported Kim 'stressed the need to continue making miraculous achievements in bolstering up the nuclear force' As he stressed the need to bolster North Korea's nuclear force, Kim Jong-un watched as three mid-range missiles were launched towards Japan in an apparent show of force as leaders from 20 major economies were in a summit in China, according to the Korean Times The launch also came four days before the 68th anniversary of the establishment of the North Korean regime and Kim has already marked the historic year with the country's test of a hydrogen bomb The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the artillery units 'demonstrated before the world their military might as a strong service capable of mounting a pre-emptive attack on the enemies any time and from any place', following the launches on Monday As he stressed the need to bolster North Korea's nuclear force, Kim Jong-un watched as three mid-range missiles were launched towards Japan in an apparent show of force as leaders from 20 major economies were in a summit in China, according to the Korean Times. The launch also came four days before the 68th anniversary of the establishment of the North Korean regime and Kim has already marked the historic year with the country's test of a hydrogen bomb. Since he took office in late 2011, Kim has sanctioned test fires of more than 30 ballistic missiles, including some which have the potential to fly as far as the U.S. territory of Guam. In late August, the North test fired a missile from a submarine that flew about 500 kilometers, the longest flight by such a missile launched by the country as it continues to seek missiles capable of hitting targets on the U.S. mainland. Officers kicked and punched Obed DeLeon in Taco Bell store in Chicago After nearly a decade an Illinois appeals court upheld decision to fire them were thrown out by a judge and they stayed serving Obed DeLeon was kicked and punch in a taco joint in Chicago Two off-duty police officers have finally been fired more than a decade after they were caught on camera beating up an innocent man in a taco joint. Five years after the incident in March 2006, Jason Orsa and Brian Murphy were sacked by the Chicago Police Board which decided they started the fight. But their dismissals were thrown out by a Cook County judge in 2012, and they remained in the force until an Illinois appeals court upheld the board's original decision to fire them last month. Orsa, Murphy, and fellow officer Daniel McNamara were eating at the Taco Burrito King of Harlem Avenue after visiting a nearby bar, the Chicago Tribune reported. Obed 'OJ' DeLeon, now 32, walked in to get food for his pregnant fiancee and complained that a vehicle was obstructing the entrance to the parking lot. Video shows Murphy approaching DeLeon and pointing his police-issue semi-automatic pistol at his head, before pushing him against a wall. Murphy approached DeLeon and pointing his police-issue semi-automatic pistol at his head, before pushing him against a wall. Arrow shows where fight started Orsa and McNamara, as well as their friend who had served in Iraq, joined in and DeLeon was punched and kicked (see top left of image) Orsa and McNamara, as well as their friend who had served in Iraq, joined in and DeLeon was punched and kicked. Witness Joseph Mularczyk, 36, said it was outrageous the officers had been able to continue serving after the incident. He claimed this proved complaints against the police were 'covered up'. 'This is the reason why the general public has issues with police officers,' he told the Chicago Tribune. Orsa and Murphy still have the option of appealing to the Illinois Supreme Court against the recent verdict. Other customers in the taco restaurant look over their shoulders at the scuffle The fight moves into the other corner of the restaurant. The three officers alleged that DeLeon shouted he was a 'cop killer', but there is no camera audio to back this claim up There was not enough evidence against McNamara to prove he was complicit in the beating. The three officers originally told investigators that DeLeon, who had gang tattoos, had said he was a 'cop killer'. There was no audio on the surveillance cameras in the restaurant to back this claim up. Officers in Chicago have been accused of using excessive force several times in the past. Last month, footage was released showing police 'executing' an 18-year-old unarmed black teenager during a car theft investigation. DeLeon's shirt was ripped off during the struggle, exposing his gang tattoos The Taco Burrito King on Harlem Avenue, Chicago, where the beating took place Paul O'Neal, 18, was shot in the back by police on July 28 during a stolen vehicle investigation on Chicago's South Shore, as he ran away from the responding officers. And in May, lawyers of a pastor who is suing Chicago police for excessive force released dashcam footage of her being pepper sprayed and beaten by officers during a traffic stop. At least one cop was seen standing by laughing. Reverend Catherine Brown said she was 'treated like an animal' and feared for her life during the encounter in May 2013. Keith Vaz is facing fresh questions about his wealth after it emerged he pays staff out of his own pocket and put his kids through private school. The Labour grandee has also managed to build up a 4million property empire with his wife, despite the couple seemingly having a relatively modest income. The staffing arrangement was revealed in response to a consultation by the MP pay and expenses watchdog earlier this year. In a letter to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa), Mr Vaz complained that chairmen of committees were not getting enough support to carry out their work. 'At present, chairs are having to use members of their parliamentary staff to assist them with their committee work. Labour MP Keith Vaz has been facing questions about his wealth after the prostitutes scandal 'I use part of my salary to fund this additional member of staff.' Mr Vaz's total salary as an MP and Commons committee chairman is some 90,000 a year - although that will now drop by around 15,000 after he announced his resignation. His wife, Maria Fernandes, runs a legal firm, with reports suggesting she earns in the region of 60,000 a year. But the couple have apparently managed to send their two children to private schools in Hertfordshire with annual fees totalling 35,000. The family has also built up a 4million property empire comprising at least six homes and offices. Mr Vaz, 59, and his wife, 57, live in a 2.2million five-bedroom detached house, and have bought and sold a string of properties since the 1980s. The MPs latest acquisition was the sex flat in which he met the rent boys, near his marital home in Edgware, north London. He put down 387,500 in cash more than four times his 89,951 salary as a senior backbench MP to buy the two-bedroom apartment in June. Mr Vaz had explained the purchase by saying he had taken out a personal loan to fund the sale. This loan would be repaid, he claimed, by selling a house in Leicester which he inherited from his mother. Mr Vaz had bought that house in 1989, which his mother then bought off him and subsequently bequeathed back to him. Mr Vaz is now the registered sole owner of the house which is rented out to a family. 'Sex Flat': This is the block of luxury flats where Keith Vaz allegedly met two male escorts Mr Vaz and wife Maria Fernandes, pictured leaving their home in Edgware yesterday, have built up a 4million property empire His lawyer, Mark Stephens said the property was worth in excess of 200,000 which means there is still a significant shortfall in funding Mr Vazs sex flat purchase. It would leave him 187,500 short of being able to repay his loan. Asked how he was funding the remainder a sum which is still double his MPs salary Mr Stephens said Mr Vaz would keep it on as an outstanding loan from Accord Mortgages. Beyond his London family home and the sex flat, the other properties owned by Mr Vaz and his wife are the house bequeathed to him in Leicester and the home next door which he uses as a constituency office. There is another London flat too, from which he derives more than 10,000 a year in rental income. The sixth property is an office in north-west London, where his wife runs her business as a solicitor. She paid 485,000 for the office in 2010, with the help of a Lloyds Bank mortgage. In 2012 Scotland Yard revealed that funds believed to have been of a suspicious nature were paid into accounts either in Mr Vazs name or linked to him. He denied wrongdoing and said any money passing through his accounts was the proceeds of property deals. Mr Vaz was back in action in the House of Commons yesterday despite the scandal that has been engulfing him One of the two American Staffie dogs that mauled an elderly woman had been impounded after being declared a 'menacing' animal, it has been claimed. New details have emerged that the American Staffordshire Bull Terrier involved in the latest ambush was seized in February over another attack, 7 News reported. However, Zeus was 'stolen' just three days after being held at a pound - and he reappeared in the hands of owner Miichaela-Louise Platt, who claimed she was unaware of the allegations. On Tuesday, the young Sydney owner told Daily Mail Australia Zeus had been her pet dog for about a year while Roxy was welcomed into her home since December. This comes after 81-year-old Josephine was on an afternoon walk in Sydney's west on Monday when she was savagely attacked by the two dogs on her street. Scroll down for videos Miichaela-Louise Platt (pictured holding her phone with an image of herself with her pet dog Zeus) said she felt sick when she saw the 81-year-old lady's injuries following the attack Quick-thinking neighbour Nigel Kerr (pictured) rushed to the woman's aid, leaving him with cuts to his face, arms and legs following the horrific attack on Monday Her quick-thinking neighbour Nigel Kerr rushed to the woman's aid, leaving him with bloodied cuts to his face, arms and legs when he intervened the horrific attack. 'If I had gotten there a second later, she would've been dead,' Mr Kerr told 7 News as the woman remains in hospital in a serious condition. 'She had no fight left in her.' Roxy and Zeus had been chained up but somehow escaped from their backyard as Ms Platt revealed how she felt sick when she saw the victim's injuries. The young woman had popped out to McDonald's for 20 minutes when she returned home to find police cars lining her street in Wentworthville. The young Sydney woman (pictured) playing with the American Staffordshire Bull Terrier The bloodstain remains on the side of the road after the woman was savagely attacked Mr Kerr showing his bandaged leg after he was also mauled by the dogs when he intervened Roxy and Zeus had been chained up but somehow escaped from their backyard and attacked the elderly woman on the street. Ms Platt said she was unsure how they managed to get out of their chains and through the gate, but believed a person may have let them loose and spooked her dogs. She said police had shown her an image of the elderly woman's injuries when she arrived at the scene which made her 'feel sick'. Ms Platt told Daily Mail Australia she would be 'heartbroken ... if that was my nan'. A spokesperson for Westmead Hospital told Daily Mail Australia she remained in a serious but stable condition on Tuesday night. Four others, two men and two women, also had to be treated by paramedics when they rushed to the woman's aid. An 81-year-old woman has been hospitalised after two out-of-control dogs attacked her on the street. Pictured is one of the four people who stepped in to save her They had always been playful dogs but reiterated her condolences for those injured, she said Ms Platt said it was completely out of character for Roxy and Zeus, who also live with young children, to act aggressively. They had always been playful dogs, she said, but reiterated her condolences for those injured. 'Us as a family, we all feel bad,' Ms Platt said. 'There's no apology we could give to make it up to the lady and people involved - and the community.' The dogs have been surrendered to Blacktown Pound. The owner had just popped out to McDonald's when her dogs managed to escape their home The two Staffordshire Bull Terriers responsible for the attack were taken in to the Blacktown pound by Blacktown City Council It is currently unclear if one or both of the animals will be destroyed as a result of the incident She said she would be 'sad' to lose them, and would visit them later in the week before they are put down. 'I was trying to listen out to them last night because I'm used to the sound of them running up the back stairs,' she said, adding it was disconcerting not to hear them. Frewin has been jailed for three years without parole after the 2015 attack Her three children can be heard Chilling footage shows a man armed with knives and high on ice rampaging through his ex-partners home while she is barricaded in the bedroom with her children. Sonia Gates said she had expected to die after her ex-husband Daniel Frewin entered her home and began destroying the property, throwing chairs and attempting to kick down the bedroom door where she was hiding. I was screaming, I was petrified, the mother-of-three told A Current Affair. Sonia Gates (pictured) said she had expected to die after her ex-husband Daniel Frewin went on an ice-fuelled rampage in her home Frewin manages to break open a security screen at the Banora Point home in New South Wales, 7News reports. A distressing emergency call recording shows just how terrified Sonia and her three children were in the 2015 incident. Barely able to breathe, Sonia tells the 000 operator that Frewin was destroying the house. Hes coming in, hes hitting the wall, she whispers. Suddenly loud banging can be heard on the call and the children start screaming and crying as Frewen attempts to break down the door. Hes got a knife, Sonia tells the operator. The footage shows Frewin shirtless with a large kitchen knife in each hand, pacing through the property he has destroyed. At other points in the footage he can be seen standing eerily still in the centre of the room and lighting up a cigarette before he is apprehended by police. Frewin, shirtless and armed with knifes, is seen throwing chairs and attempting to break down the bedroom door where Sonia and her three children were barricaded Sonia believes the terrifying video from that night helped her case against Frewin, who has been jailed for three years without parole Sonia left Frewin after years of violence and controlling behaviour and took out Apprehended Violence Orders (AVOs), but that didnt stop her ex-partner from breaking into her home. Sonia believes the terrifying video from that night helped her case against Frewin, who has been jailed for three years without parole. Without that, he would be out and I would be dead. A fine issued by 'bully-boy authorities' to parents who took their student son - who has a 96 per cent attendance record - on holiday has been thrown out by magistrates. Richard and Tania Davey have hit back following their 'educational' trip to Malta in autumn last year, meaning their son missed five days of secondary school. They were hauled before the courts after the council issued them with a 120 fine, which they refused to pay. Richard, 44, and Tanya pleaded not guilty to a charge of failing to ensure the regular attendance of their child at school. Richard Davey (pictured) and wife Tania have hit back after their 'educational' trip to Malta, meaning their son missed five days of school The Daveys took the stance to stop parents from being pushed around by what he claims are 'bully-boy authorities'. Magistrates in Swindon, Wiltshire, ruled there was no case to answer. IT worker Richard said: 'It was a big gamble to take. If I had paid the penalty fine that's an admission of guilt and I don't think I had done anything wrong. 'I am strong advocate of education and every child should have the opportunity to succeed at school. 'However, I believe that a family life is more important and unwarranted intrusions by the state or a local authority are not appreciated. 'There are good families up and down this country that are being chased by over-zealous councils which must stop.' The Daveys claimed they shouldn't have been punished because their son's attendance was otherwise exemplary - for the period of September to April it stood at almost 96 per cent. The High Court has said parents would not break the law if their child's attendance over the rest of the academic year was sufficiently 'regular'. Richard added: 'I do my best to get holidays booked in school holidays but unfortunately we all work and just because the school is off it doesn't mean the rest of us are going to be off. 'I did think long and hard about this, and what I did do was speak to the school and ask for the time off. I followed their processes. 'I gave them the application form in June for the holiday in October. They didn't respond to me. I chased it four times. 'The local authorities are more-or-less saying to you that you're committing a criminal offence but if you give us 60 per child, per parent, we will turn a blind eye. 'That goes against what the government is saying about there being a persistent problem with children being out of school during term time. 'To be told by the magistrates that there was no case to answer was a relief obviously. If it had gone the other way I would have had a criminal record.' Magistrates in Swindon, Wiltshire, ruled there was no case to answer, much to the couple's relief During the week-long holiday to Malta, Mr Davey said the family spent time exploring local landmarks and taking in the country's culture, not lazing about on the beach. Richard, of Swindon, said his son was set work to do during the week-off by his teacher. He also had to complete an essay about it which would be handed in when he returned. A spokesman for Swindon Borough Council said: 'The government's intention when the regulations were introduced was to stop parents taking children out of school on holiday without the school's permission, because it affected their learning and chances of educational success. 'We have taken cases to court in Swindon for no other reason than the educational interests of the children concerned. 'What is clear in Mr Davey's case is that the headteacher had not given written permission for the absence, and that is the only authorisation that is valid. The plane vanished on route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur in March 2014 The items will be sent to Malaysia for examination Three new pieces of aircraft were found on Mozambique authorities on Monday exhibited three new pieces of aircraft which included the first coloured chunk found in the search for the missing flight MH370. The parts were picked up late last month by a South African hotelier off the waters of Mozambique's southern province of Inhambane. The largest item is a triangular shaped piece which is red and white on one side and metallic on the other. The parts of the plane have the hallmarks of a Malaysian Airlines jet. Here Joao de Abreu, president of Mozambique Civil Aviation Authority presents the piece The piece of debris is suspected to be from the missing the plane. It bares the red and white pattern synonymous with Malaysia Airlines The remains will be sent to Malaysia for further examination in the coming weeks. How the plane fell into the sea is still unknown Joao de Abreu, director of Mozambique's aviation authority said it was the first time a suspected coloured piece of the plane had been found. At a news conference, he said the piece could be 'an aileron, a flap,(or) an elevator.' On the inside, 'we can see a label which will make it much easier to identify which aircraft it belongs to,' he said. The other two pieces are smaller and were picked up by the son of a European Union diplomat near the southern resort of Xai Xai and handed to the authorities last month, he said, giving no further details. The items will be sent to Malaysia for examination. Malaysia Airlines jet MH370 vanished in March 2014 with 239 people onboard as it was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Australia, which is leading the search, has determined that the five pieces of debris examined so far -- found in Mozambique, South Africa and Mauritius -- almost certainly came from the plane. The first debris linked to MH370 -- a two-metre-long (almost seven-foot) wing part known as a flaperon -- washed up on the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion a year ago. The discoveries were made in August but the pieces were revealed to the public on Monday. The plane vanished in 2014 and only a small number of parts have been found in the Indian Ocean since Ill fated: Just four months after the MH370 vanished a Malaysia Airlines flight on route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam was shot down over Ukraine by a missile The flaperon, from a wing, that was found on La Reunion could bare clues as to where the plane fell, and pointers to the crucial black box, due to the barnacles growing on the piece of debris. Australian National University's Professor Patrick De Deckker was given part of a barnacle shell from one of the plane's flaperons to study and found it had started growing warm waters. He told Daily Mail Australia the majority of its growing life occurred in colder waters, likely at the latitude of Perth. This is the terrifying moment a mob boss was killed by a hitman who opened fire on his car in daylight. The dramatic shooting happened in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi and was caught on CCTV cameras. The footage shows a hitman approaching mafia boss Soso Djokhadze, 37, and his lawyer, Zakariya Chibukhashvili, 34, who are in a car. Footage captured the terrifying moment a mob boss was killed by a hitman who opened fire on his car in daylight The dramatic shooting happened in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi and was caught on CCTV cameras The footage shows a hitman approaching mafia boss Soso Djokhadze, 37, and his lawyer, Zakariya Chibukhashvili, 34, who are in a car The hitman then suddenly starts to shoot at the people inside the vehicle. The driver tries to speed away but apparently panics and crashes into another car before the attacker circles the vehicle and carries on shooting. According to local media, the hitman wounded the lawyer and shot Soso Djokhadze dead. Lawyer Zakariya Chibukhashvili was taken to hospital in a serious condition. The hitman is said to have fled only when he ran out of bullets. CCTV images show the hitman circling the black car and repeatedly shooting at the mob boss The driver tries to speed away but apparently panics and crashes into another car. The hitman is said to have fled only when he ran out of bullets A suspect, named as Badri Natobadze in reports, was later arrested, along with the firearm used to commit the murder, according to reports, and was charged with premeditated murder and the illegal possession of a firearm. Natobadze has not admitted to carrying out the double murder and has reportedly refused to cooperate with police. Police in Connecticut have seized 600 marijuana plants worth than $1 million from the backyard of a home day care center. The marijuana plants, about 6 to 10 feet tall, were enclosed by a recently installed wooden fence in the backyard of the home, according to Sgt. David Tammaro. Once processed, the plants could have an estimated street value of more than $1 million, Tammaro said. Police in New Haven, Connecticut, seized 600 marijuana plants (pictured) from the backyard of a home day care facility Cops say the street value of the plants is more than $1 million once processed and distributed Officials found the plants during a routine inspection Friday at 159 Norfolk Street, West Haven. The home has been registered to Rosalee Miller as a day care facility for six children since 1995, Fox 61 reported. A spokeswoman for the state Office of Early Childhood said the day care center's license was suspended following an inspection by West Haven City Housing, which tipped off cops in the first place. But the action was unrelated to the police investigation, the official added. No arrests have been made and it remains unclear if Miller is a suspect. Neighbors said a quiet couple lived at the house and were shocked at the discovery. 'I should have smelled that,' neighbor Robson Antoine told Fox 61. 'That's crazy. I didn't expect that. And they have a daycare? Not good.' The marijuana plants were enclosed by a recently installed wooden fence in the backyard of the home (pictured) The home (pictured) has been registered as a day care facility for six children since 1995 Greg Smith, who has lived on Norfolk Street for 10 years, said he also suspected nothing. 'This is a pretty quiet street we're all working families, and our kids went to school together,' he told the New Haven Register. 'It's just not heard of on this street.' 'It's a shock to us all, and if you're running a day care, it's the last thing you should be doing,' Smith added to the Register. Aboriginal teen Elijah Doughty (pictured) was killed after he was allegedly struck by a car The cousin of Aboriginal teenager Elijah Doughty has been fined $1,000 and ordered to pay compensation following the racial riots that erupted outside a courthouse. Johnathon Tucker, 18, was among the hundreds of angry protesters who clashed with police outside Kalgoorlie Magistrates Court in Western Australia last week. The violent riot sparked after a 55-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged with manslaughter following the schoolboy's death. Police prosecutors told court Mr Tucker smashed the windscreen of a police car after he jumped on the bonnet during the riots on August 30, WA Today reported. Scroll down for video Police prosecutors told court Mr Tucker smashed the windscreen of a police car after he jumped on the bonnet during the riots (pictured one of five damaged police car) Mr Tucker, who pleaded guilty to a criminal damage offence, was fined and ordered to pay $500 compensation over his role in the riots. The young man was one of several people charged over the out-of-control incident. The peaceful protest over the death of Elijah quickly turned violent, with up to 300 people smashing windows with rocks and bottles. During the violent clash, 12 police officers were injured, five police cars were damaged and the windows of the courthouse were smashed in. The riot comes following the death of Elijah, who was killed after he was allegedly struck by a truck while riding a motorbike. The owner of the vehicle is linked to the motorbike the boy was riding. The peaceful protest over the death of Elijah quickly turned violent, with up to 300 people smashing windows of the courthouse (left) with rocks and bottles A delegation of British peers and priests faced condemnation today after Syrian president Bashar al-Assad shared a picture of their meeting in Damascus. Assad - who has faced demands from the West to quit after he gassed civilians - posted the photograph on Twitter after meeting with the group. Involved in the meeting were crossbench peers Baroness Cox and Lord Hylton and Reverend Michael Nazir-Ali and vicar Andrew Ashdown. In a tweet on the official Syrian Presidency Twitter account, President Bashar al-Assad (pictured centre) was pictured with the UK delegation in Damascus The tweet said: 'President Assad receives members of Britain in both the Lords and Commons, clerics and academics.' Despite the reference to the House of Commons in the message, no MPs are present in the picture. The group was condemned by a Lib Dem peer for the 'shameful' decision to grant Assad a photo op while Labour John Woodcock also slammed the move. The delegation - which was thought to be raising persecution of Christians - was accused of 'appeasement' by an academic. Assad has faced fresh condemnation in recent days as a siege on rebel-held Aleppo was renewed and Russia resumed air strikes. Liberal Democrat equalities spokeswoman Baroness Hussein-Ece said: 'Sitting down to talks with a mass murderer, barrel bombing & dropping chemical weapons on civilians. Shameful.' Mr Woodcock told the Telegraph: 'It is shocking to see a British parliamentarian giving international pariah al-Assad a photo opportunity to distract from the brutal and ongoing slaughter he is perpetrating on Syrian families. 'Whatever good intentions this British delegation has will fail; their presence at this man's side can only strengthen him as his campaign of terror continues.' Liberal Democrat Baroness Hussein-Ece said the meeting and photo opportunity with the president were 'shameful' Academic HA Hellyer said the delegation was guilty of 'appeasement' toward Assad Academic HA Hellyer said: 'The members of the 'UK Delegation' that met with Bashar al-Assad over the last few days. This is appeasement. 'Common thread in the background of many of the so-called 'UK Delegation' to Bashar al-Assad: a concern for Christians in the Arab world. 'It is a concern we should all have: Christians are an integral part of the Arab world and their rights should always be maintained. Ken Livingstone came out in defence of Keith Vaz today - just hours before the Labour MP quit as chair of the Home Affairs committee over allegations of romps with rent boys. The former London Mayor hailed Mr Vaz as a 'good campaigner on a whole range of issues about social justice' and said he should not be forced to stand down from the committee even if the allegations were true. Mr Livingstone also could not resist reigniting the controversy over his previous claims that Hitler supported Zionism - which have led to him being suspended from the Labour Party. Scroll down for video Ken Livingstone (pictured outside his north west London home this morning) defended Keith Vaz and said he should not be forced to quit as chair of the Home Affairs Committee after allegations he paid rent boys for sex and drugs Mr Vaz finally bowed to pressure today by standing down, amid threats from colleagues to stage a vote of no confidence if he tried to cling on. One senior member of the panel said of the Leicester East MP last night: I suspect he [Mr Vaz] thinks he can bluff it out and step aside for a few weeks or months or however long it takes to blow over. I think that is hugely optimistic and members of the committee will suggest otherwise. If he thinks he can chair some of the session, everyone will think that is completely untenable. It would overshadow everything we are doing. He has been like a cat with nine lives but this is of a different order. But Mr Livingstone insisted Mr Vaz should stay, insisting prostitution was widespread in society and he said the allegations should not stop him continuing his work as chair of the Home Affairs committee, which is due to question immigration minister Robert Goodwill. 'I think someone's private life should be private,' Mr Livingstone told the BBC this morning. 'Let's see what turns out to be true. I could spend the next half hour recounting to you all the stories you've seen about me in the press that turned out not to be true. Keith Vaz (pictured his home this morning) is expected to step down as chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee today 'What I find particularly ridiculous about this is I can recall being at Labour party conferences and watching a journalist there going up to their hotel room with prostitutes they picked up from the street. 'All across our society there are people who pay for sex I don't approve of that, I don't do it myself but I don't think it's illegal.' Mr Livingstone added: 'I don't think the fact that if it turns out to be true and he has paid for sex that that prevents him from actually prevents him from actually conducting an inquiry into prostitution and the problems of prostitution. 'The problems of prostitution and what happens to the poor prostitutes, not so much their clients. 'Let's see what turns out to be true about all of this. I've known Keith Vaz for it must be 40 years. He's been a good campaigner on a whole range of issues about social justice. 'In all that time I never recall him talking about sex or anything like that or drugs. He was always focussed on what he could do to actually make life better for his constituents or the wider community.' Keith Vaz (pictured in the Commons yesterday) has been accused of hypocrisy for allegedly paying for rent boys while conducting an inquiry into prostitution Mr Livingstone also used his media appearance this morning to repeat his view that Hitler supported Zionism. He has repeatedly refused to apologise for the controversial comments, which he first made when defending Labour MP Naz Shah in April this year. His remarks caused widespread outrage and led to his suspension from the Labour party. He said: 'I think they keep putting if off because the simple fact is I've got so much evidence that says what I was saying was true. An Atlanta landlord was showing a house to a prospective renter on Labor Day when he made a gruesome discovery in the enclosed patio - a dead body. Homeowner Salvatore DiMauro says he was going through the rooms on Monday morning with a prospective tenant and his family when he made the grisly find behind the southwest Atlanta house at 666 Quaker Street. Police say the victim, described as a young African-American man, had been shot dead. Scroll down for video Grisly discovery: Homeowner Salvatore DiMauro was showing this house in southwest Atlanta to a prospective tenant when he found a dead body in the enclosed porch Resting place: The victim had been shot dead inside this patio Sunday night DiMauro told Fox 5 his would-be tenant pointed to the stranger lying motionless in the backyard patio as the landlord was showing him around the property. DiMauro initially thought the young black man lying motionless on his property was asleep 'I thought he was sleeping and I said, "Hey, get up,"' said DiMaruo. 'But then the guy told me, "He's dead."' Next-door neighbor Linda Seabrook said she heard two gunshots at around 11:30pm on Sunday night, but mistakenly thought her cat had knocked something over and went back to sleep. The homicide took place at house number 666 on Quaker Street, but DiMauro says as a practicing Catholic, he does not believe in superstitions that many people associate with '666.' Commonly known as the 'mark of the beast', '666' is used to invoke Satan or the Antichrist. The landlord told 11Alive his prospective renters were looking to move out of their current neighborhood in the wake of a recent shooting there. Video courtesy of 11Alive Atlanta police were investigating to determine how the man ended up on DiMauro's porch in the first place Mark of the beast: The killing took place at house number 666, but DiMauro says as a practicing Catholic, he does not believe in superstitions As of Tuesday morning, the victim of the homicide has not been publicly named, pending the notification of his next of kin. Donald Trump says Hillary Clinton's the choker, not him, and 'she would have a total failure' if she went to Mexico to meet with the country's president. 'I don't choke, she chokes,' he said in an interview with ABC News, turning Clinton's argument back around at her. Trump based the criticism on the 'deals she's made.' 'She's responsible for so many bad things that have happened to our country, including the signing by her husband of NAFTA, which has drained our country of its jobs,' he contended. He did not seem to be referring to the actual choking incident Clinton had in Ohio on Monday that prevented her from landing a punch and she attributed to an 'allergic reaction' to the Republican White House candidate. Donald Trump says Hillary Clinton's the choker, not him, and 'she would have a total failure' if she went to Mexico to meet with the country's president 'Incident': Hillary Clinton (pictured at a Cleveland, Ohio rally Monday) says Donald Trump's visit to Mexico last week caused a 'diplomatic incident' CHOKER: Clinton says Trump 'choked' when he - by his own admission - didn't bring up his proposed wall during his meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto (left) 'Damaging': Bill Clinton (pictured campaigning in Detroit Monday) said Trump 'damaged America' when he told supporters on returning to US that he would make Nieto pay for the wall Hillary and Bill Clinton slammed Donald Trump Monday for 'creating a diplomatic incident' and 'damaging America' with last week's meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. After the meeting, which took place in Mexico on Wednesday, Trump told press that he and Nieto had not discussed his long-promised plan to make Mexico pay for a wall between itself and the USA. Nieto says they did, and he told Trump his country wouldn't pay for the wall. Clinton seized on the spat at campaign events Labor Day weekend. She told ABC, 'He didn't raise it, so he did choke. He didn't know how to even communicate effectively with a head of state. And I think that's a pretty clear outcome from that trip,' Clinton repeated her remarks in Illinois at an event Monday evening, saying: 'He couldn't even bring himself to tell the president of Mexico one of his very few policy demands.' Bill Clinton, who was campaigning for his wife in Detroit, was similarly disparaging. 'I've had that job,' the former president said, according to ABC. '(Trump's visit) damaged America and every serious country in the world. 'You cannot be the leader of a country, go down and be nice to people and then come home and dump on them for your own political benefit.' Hillary Clinton told ABC that she would not accept Nieto's invitation to visit Mexico herself. She said she would rather focus on the US. Trump also repeated his charge that Clinton doesn't look presidential. 'I just don't think she has a presidential look and you need a presidential look,' he said. Trump on Monday reprised his assault on Clinton's fitness for office, saying she doesn't 'look presidential.' Her running mate insinuated that the insult was sexist because Trump added the word 'fellas' to the end of his statement. Clinton said she'd let the pundits opine on the matter. ABC's David Muir asked Trump to clarify the remark in the interview, and the GOP White House candidate said, 'Well I just don't think she has a presidential look....You have to get the job done. 'I think if she went to Mexico she would have a total failure; we'd have a big success.' He said later, 'I've been given A pluses for the job I did in Mexico. And the fact is Mexico will pay for the wall.' Trump said he an Nieto agreed that the wall wouldn't be discussed. 'But they know my stance.' 'See who wins in the end. We'll win. 100 percent. They're gonna pay for the wall,' he asserted. Uncertain: Trump sounded less certain about his plans to repatriate all 11m undocumented immigrants Monday, when he said that some may be left in the country even if his wall goes up Trump sounded less certain about his plan to repatriate 11 million undocumented immigrants. When asked by ABC whether some might be able to stay, Trump said: 'It could be, but whats going to happen is if youre going to be a citizen, youre going to leave and you're going to have to come back.' And if they don't want to become citizens, he said, 'they have to make a determination what happens when the border is secure.' 'So youre open to them staying here undocumented?' ABC's David Muir asked. 'Im going to make a decision, or somebody will,' he replied, 'Whether its me or somebody else because by that time well have a secure border, well have a wall.' Virginia Senator Tim Kaine said in on the ABC interview, which he sat in on with Hillary Clinton, that Trump's behavior toward Neito was revealing. 'If you're gonna cave when you're with an ally, and Mexico's an ally, what are you gonna do when you're with an adversary?' The Democratic vice presidential candidate said, 'You shouldn't leave the safety of America and our diplomacy in the hands of a rookie who, on his one visit with a foreign leader, has already created kind of an international embarrassment for us.' 'Caving': Senator Tim Kaine (pictured center), who was with Clinton during the interview (pictured) said if Trump 'caved in' with an ally, he couldn't be trusted to stand up to an enemy my kids are seeing this' Sent them to victim's boyfriend and sister and a child services worker Norris, a married mother, had then taken photos of the Belinda Kay Norris (pictured on her arrest) was charged with invasive visual recording A Texas woman has been charged with taking a photo of her passed out half-naked roommate - and sending it to her friends and family. Belinda Kay Norris, 55, of Fort Worth, could face up to two years in jail after she was charged with invasive visual recording last week, court records show. The victim, who had been staying with Norris for a few weeks, told police that she had been taking medication for her sciatic nerve problem on July 31, the Star-Telegram reports. But noted that, at the time, she was struggling to control her insulin levels as she is diabetic. She then took a shower and returned to her room, closed the door and began getting dressed, according to the affidavit. But after she put on her shirt, she suddenly felt 'weak in the knees' and collapsed face down on the bed, with her knees on the floor, according to the police report. The 45-year-old woman woke several hours later to a text from her sister who told her that she'd received a text from Norris of the victim lying slumped over the bed, naked from the waist down. The victim, who had been staying with Norris at her Fort Worth home (pictured) said she passed out then woke to a text from her sister saying Norris had sent out half-naked pictures of her The photograph was accompanied by text which read: 'This is (the victim) passed out. Door wide open and my kids are seeing this.' A Child Protective Services worker and the roommate's boyfriend also told police they had received the naked picture text. The boyfriend said he became very concerned after receiving the photo of his passed out girlfriend as he feared she could have been suffering from a medical emergency. He called Norris and begged her to help the victim but said that the 55-year-old refused to help her or even cover her up, according to the report. Fort Worth Detective Kerry Adcock said Norris (left and right) a married mother, admitted to taking and distributing the photograph of her half-naked roommate She allegedly told him the woman's condition ' was just because of the prescription pills the victim had taken.' Fort Worth Detective Kerry Adcock said Norris, a married mother, admitted to taking and distributing the photograph of her half-naked roommate. She told police she took the snap because 'she was having problems with the victim', Adcock wrote in the affidavit. Norris, a former Walmart employee, was arrested on August 19 but posted the $1,500 bail. A boyfriend has admitted beating his mother-of-three girlfriend and slicing her throat after he was kicked out of their family home, police say. Joshua Salyers, 29, has been charged with murder after Barbara Dailey was brutally attacked inside her Muskegon, Michigan, house while she was home alone, and her neighbors were at a picnic on Sunday. The 22-year-old's body was covered in bruises and had a cut across her throat. Cops were responding to a 911 from a man, believed to be Salyers, saying his girlfriend had been attacked by someone else. Joshua Salyers, 29, (right) has been charged with murder after mother-of-three Barbara Dailey, 22, (center) was brutally attacked inside her Muskegon, Michigan, house while she was home alone. She is pictured with Salyers on the beach with her three children Dailey's (left) body was covered in bruises and had a cut across her throat. Cops were responding to a 911 from a man, believed to be Salyers (right with Dailey), saying his girlfriend had been attacked by someone else When police arrived, they found Dailey with cuts and a blunt force trauma to the head. Salyers was also at the scene. She was taken to hospital but died a short time later from her injuries. Salyers later admitted that he caused her deadly injuries, and was arrested. Dailey's friend, Doug Carlson, told WZZM 13: 'She had a bad relationship with a bad dude, and he is not allowed here. 'Two nights ago, he came by my house and asked if he could visit her, and I told him, "No."' Neighbor Kevin Sanders told the station he has surveillance cameras on every corner of his home, and spotted Salyers trying to get into the house. It is not known if Salyers is the father of the children. He is behind bars and is set to be arraigned on Tuesday, September 6. When police arrived, they found Dailey with cuts and a blunt force trauma to the head. Salyers was also at the scene Theresa May has moved to distance herself from David Davis's claim that it is 'very improbable' Britain will stay in the single market. Downing Street made clear the Brexit Secretary had been 'setting out his view' rather than describing government policy. The Prime Minister will be 'ambitious' and seek the 'best deal possible' for the UK as we negotiate terms with the EU, according to her official spokeswoman. Liam Fox, Boris Johnson and David Davis (pictured left to right) looks to be getting on well as they leave 10 Downing Street after a Cabinet meeting today. The trio are having to share Chevening, the grace-and-favour home traditionally used by the Foreign Secretary But the signs of tensions did not seem to have affected Mr Davis's mood as he left No10 after a Cabinet meeting. He shared a joke with Boris Johnson and Liam Fox - who make up the so-called 'Three Brexiteers' - before they went their separate ways. Mr Davis used his first Commons statement since joining the Cabinet yesterday to reiterate that curbing mass immigration will be a red line in the looming talks. Challenged on whether the Government would try to stay in the single market, he said all options were being looked at. But he added: If a requirement of membership is giving up control of our borders, I think that makes it very improbable. The remark went beyond Mrs May's stance at the G20 in China yesterday, when she would only say: I want a system where the Government is able to decide who comes into the country. Thats what the British people want. The premier has ruled out introducing an Australian points-based migration system - an idea that was supported by senior Brexiteers including Boris Johnson during the referendum campaign. She said it would be less effective than other restrictions, with sources telling the Daily Mail EU nationals could be blocked from coming to the UK without already having a good job lined up. The trio have been branded the 'Three Brexiteers' after campaigning for Leave during the referendum and then joining Theresa May's government Theresa May (pictured arriving for yesterday's press conference at the G20 in China) has moved to distance herself from David Davis's claim that it is 'very improbable' Britain will stay in the single market Asked about Mr Davis's comments today, the PM's spokeswoman repeatedly avoided endorsing them and stressed that it was 'not always the right approach to put all your cards on the table'. 'He is setting out his view that it is improbable,' the spokeswoman said. 'The Prime Minister's view is that we should be ambitious and go after the best deal that we can.' She added: 'Saying something is probable or improbable I don't think is necessarily a policy.' Immigration was not discussed at a Cabinet meeting this morning, which focused on the NHS in the wake of the junior doctors' strike being cancelled. A least three police officers have been filmed conducting what appears to be a violent arrest of a man who'd been kicked out of a bar. The officers appear to be chasing, then punching and kicking someone in the video, which was filmed in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley. A large group of people stand about watching the violent incident. Spectators watch on as those who are allegedly police officers participate in the incident At the start of the video, the officers appear to be pursuing somebody The altercation is believed to have occurred late on Saturday or early Sunday, according to 9 News. It was reported that the man allegedly being attacked by police had been kicking out of a nearby venue before the incident. Queensland police are investigating the incident. The Queensland Police Service will examine the video and all circumstances leading up to the incident depicted,' a statement said. Events leading up to those shown in the video are not clear. Anyone with a complaint about police actions has been urged to contact authorities including the Crime and Corruption Commission. Theresa May's Cabinet is split over plans for new grammar schools, an accidentally revealed memo has exposed. The document, photographed being carried uncovered into No 10 yesterday, reveals Education Secretary Justine Greening wants a consultation to present new grammar schools as an 'option' only to be pursued after existing selective schools are reformed. Mrs May is thought to be planning a wave of brand new grammar schools as part of her social mobility agenda, reversing a ban on creating new selective schools that was imposed in 1998 by Tony Blair. The memo, written by the senior civil servant at the Department for Education, admits it is not clear whether Mrs May would back an initial reform programme. Theresa May, seen today leaving Downing Street for PMQs, is thought determined to pursue a new wave of grammar schools But Jonathan Slater, the department's permanent secretary, warned it could be the only way to get a change to the law on grammar schools through Parliament. A significant minority of Conservative MPs would be likely to oppose a new wave of grammar schools and further problems would be likely in the House of Lords. Labour seized on the revelations as letting the 'cat out of the bag' about Mrs May's plans for a new wave of grammar schools amid a row over whether the new Prime Minister will reverse a ban on new selective schools imposed by Tony Blair. Mr Slater's memo, who is also thought to have been the official who was carrying the documents, insists the plans to reform the 163 existing grammar schools first are 'reasonable'. USE A FOLDER! THE LATEST ACCIDENTAL LEAK OF OFFICIAL PAPERS IN FULL The memo leaked today reads: 'The con doc says we will open new grammars, albeit that they would have to follow various conditions. 'The SoS's clear position is that this should be presented in the con doc as an option and only to be pursued once we have worked with existing grammars to show how they can be expanded and reformed in ways which avoid disadvantaging those who don't get in. 'I simply don't know what the PM thinks of this, but it sounds reasonable to me and I simply can't see any way of persuading the Lords to vote for selection on any other basis.' Advertisement Following the release of the image, the Mrs May's spokeswoman said: Both the Prime Minister and the Education Secretary have spoken in recent weeks what our approach is, which is building a country that works for everyone, not just the privileged few. Thats why we are looking at a range of options to make sure that children can access a school that lets them rise as far as their talents will take them and well set out policies in due course. Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner said: 'The cat is out of the bag: behind closed doors the Tories are planning a return to the bad old days of grammars, ignoring all the evidence which has told us time and again that they do not aid social mobility. 'As Michael Wilshaw said yesterday, with every grammar school you open you create three more secondary moderns with it. 'It's a policy which reveals the truth of this Tory Government: caring only for the few at the expense of the majority. An unnamed official was photographed walking into No 10 today with papers revealing the Government plans a consultation document saying 'we will open new grammars' and present it as an 'option' to follow the expansion and reform of existing selective schools 'The Tories have overseen a school places crisis, the highest rate of teachers leaving the profession in a decade and over half a million pupils in super-sized classes. 'These issues should be her priority, not harking back to a golden-age that never existed. The official carried the exposed papers into No 10 during today's Cabinet meeting 'Labour is committed to an education system for everyone, not just a select few.' Mrs May backed the expansion of a grammar school in her own Maidenhead constituency while she was Home Secretary. It was reported after she entered No 10 she would end the existing ban on new selective schools. But in her first major TV interview since becoming PM on Sunday, Mrs May refused to be drawn on whether she would push through a new wave of grammar schools. Opening new grammar schools would be politically highly controversial and there is sufficient resistance amongst Tory MPs to make passing new laws in the Commons a challenge. Education Secretary Justine Greening, pictured arriving for Cabinet today, was known to be considering schools policy for the new government but today's document revealed new details JUST 163 GRAMMARS ARE LEFT IN ENGLAND AFTER BLAIR'S BAN Grammar schools select their pupils via an exam set for primary pupils at age 11. Only those who pass the test are allowed in with everyone else left scrambling for other places. The schools are generally seen as better for academically-minded students but were criticised for decades for fuelling social divides. Grammar schools were almost completely wiped out by the New Labour government of Tony Blair. Mr Blair banned the creation of any new grammar schools and there was a continued shift toward comprehensive education including pupils of all abilities. There are now just 163 grammars left in England, Tory activists have long called for Mr Blairs 1998 ban to be overturned. Advertisement Asked three times by the BBC's Andrew Marr whether she would back new grammar schools, Mrs May said: 'What I'd like to see Andrew is ensuring an education system, regardless of where people are, regardless of the school they're going to, that is ensuring they're getting the quality of education that enables them to take on those opportunities. 'Because when I talk about a country that works for everyone it's about ensuring that whatever people's talents are, it's about how far people's talents can take them.' The memo leaked today reads: 'The con doc says we will open new grammars, albeit that they would have to follow various conditions. 'The SoS's clear position is that this should be presented in the con doc as an option and only to be pursued once we have worked with existing grammars to show how they can be expanded and reformed in ways which avoid disadvantaging those who don't get in. 'I simply don't know what the PM thinks of this, but it sounds reasonable to me and I simply can't see any way of persuading the Lords to vote for selection on any other basis.' Theresa May refused to be drawn on her grammar school policy during a TV interview on Sunday, pictured A string of Government plans and secrets have been revealed on Downing Street in recent years. In January, an event on Syrian refugees due to take place in Davos involving the Queen of Jordan was exposed to photographers. Perhaps the most famous example of all was Cabinet Office Minister Oliver Letwin being photographed disposing of papers in St James Park. It was reported last year a new sign had been put up just inside the famous No 10 door warning people Downing Street was a 'public highway' frequently inhabited by press photographers. As recently as last year, a 'sensitive' document about the possible privatisation of Channel 4 was snapped as an unnamed official arrived in Downing Street. The revelation of the document caused embarrassment for the Government after ministers have repeatedly denied it is being considered, makes the case for 'extracting greater public value' from the channel 'focusing on privatisation options in particular.' Revealing the latest gaffe, photographer Steve Back - who has repeatedly snapped secret documents over the years - said: 'I've lost count of the times I have told people to get folders in No10, this seen this morning as Cabinet underway.' The Republican chairman of the House committee investigating Hillary Clinton's email practices asked a federal prosecutor Tuesday to determine whether she and others working with her played a role in the deletion of thousands of her emails by a Colorado technology firm overseeing her private computer server in 2015. The written request by Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, and obtained by The Associated Press, is based on recent revelations from the FBI, which decided not to press for criminal charges after its own yearlong investigation. Hillary Clinton dismissed the the call for a new investigation today as she fielded questions from reporters on her campaign. She lumped in the charges with other 'conspiracy theories' about her emails that have been concocted by Republicans. A House Republican committee chairman wants federal prosecutors to investigate whether Hillary Clinton had a role in the destruction of emails by a private firm that managed her server in 2005 House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah asked a federal prosecutor to determine whether Hillary Clinton and others working with her played a role in the deletion of thousands of her emails by a Colorado technology firm overseeing her private computer server in 2015 Clinton and her longtime aide and lawyer, Cheryl Mills, told FBI investigators during questioning that they had no knowledge of the technology company's deletions. Those occurred separately from the email deletions overseen by the former secretary of state's legal team last year before she turned over 33,000 work-related messages to the State Department. The FBI's recently released summaries of its investigation did not offer any evidence contradicting their statements. In a separate letter also obtained by the AP, Chaffetz the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman warned the Denver-based tech firm, Platte River Networks, that one of its engineers who deleted Clinton's electronic files last year could face federal charges of obstructing evidence for erasing the material. That's because the congressional inquiry into the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans were killed, had issued a formal order to preserve such records. The moves by the GOP led-House committee amount to new political complications for Clinton's presidential campaign, which was spared a legal ordeal in July when FBI Director James Comey upbraided Clinton for careless email practices but declined to seek criminal charges after the bureau's investigation. But the sparse evidence laid out in Chaffetz' letters highlighting a March 2015 phone discussion between the tech firm and Clinton lawyers that FBI agents were unable to detail also shows the uphill climb the committee faces in turning up any significant new information beyond what the FBI already learned in its inquiry. 'You know the FBI resolved all of this. The report answered all the questions. The findings included debunking his latest conspiracy theories, Clinton said today. Clinton said shes likely created so many jobs in the conspiracy theory machine factory. Honestly they never quit. They keep coming back. Here's another one, she stated. It's been debunked. If that's how they want to spend their time instead of looking to address the problems of the American people, that's their choice. As president, Clinton said she will 'get down to business and couldnt speak to whether Republicans, whom she said she believes she will work well with, will continue to assassinate her character. Clinton and her attorney Cheryl Mills told the FBI they had no knowledge of the destruction of emails by the firm operating the server Clinton spoke to the press aboard her plane on Monday but took heat for not holding a formal press conference for the previous period of more than 270 days amid questions about her emails FBI Director James Comey did not reccommend an indictment of Clinton after an investigation, but the FBI's inquiry brought out new information about the destruction of emails The new requests follow a similar attempt last month by Republican-led committees in the House and Senate to prod new information from the Denver firm as the presidential race between Clinton and Republican candidate Donald Trump enters its critical final months. Despite Comey's insistence that he made the right call in declining to ask for criminal charges in Clinton's handling of her private emails, Trump and GOP allies have urged the appointment of an independent prosecutor an unlikely prospect so late in the election. 'The bottom line is these documents were destroyed and they were records under subpoena,' Chaffetz told the AP in a brief interview. Chaffetz said, 'Secretary Clinton has fought this every step of the way. The election should not slow down this probe.' Clinton's campaign spokesman also dismissed Chaffetz's outline of the email deletions as a 'conspiracy theory' debunked by the FBI investigation. Republican Donald Trump continues to make hay out of 'Crooked Hillary's' email scandal and efforts by the House GOP will help keep it in the news 'This is yet another example of the congressman abusing his office by wasting further taxpayer resources on partisan attacks,' Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said Tuesday. Platte River Networks and its lawyer were not immediately available for comment. Chaffetz's letter to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Channing Phillips, comes nearly two months after the House committee similarly asked the same prosecutor to determine whether Clinton committed perjury and made false statements in testimony to congressional committees. The new referral, which aims to again involve the FBI, asked the Justice Department to 'investigate and determine whether Secretary Clinton or her employees and contractors violated statutes that prohibit destruction of records, obstruction of congressional inquiries and concealment or cover up of evidence material to a congressional investigation.' In his letter to Platte River Networks, the firm used by Clinton to manage her private server after she left the State Department, Chaffetz said that FBI revelations about the deleted data 'raises questions to whether the PRN engineer violated federal statutes that prohibit destruction of evidence and obstruction of a congressional investigation.' Chaffetz wants the feds to determine whether Clinton and others working with her played a role in the deletion of thousands of her emails by Platte River Networks Chaffetz demanded more information about the 2015 deletion and the firm's contacts with Clinton's lawyers. He also questioned in the letter whether the mass email deletions by the unidentified Platte River engineer, which came at about the same time as a conference call with Clinton's legal team, might have been "instructed" by Clinton through her lawyers. Comey said last July that he had no basis to find that the deletions of Clinton's emails were aimed at concealing evidence. The FBI said Mills had instructed the Platte River engineer in December 2014 to delete all emails from the server older than 60 days old. But the engineer apparently forgot to delete the files and didn't realize his mistake until March 2015, the FBI said. That was three weeks after Clinton's email revelation and the House Benghazi committee's order that Clinton and her tech consultants retain all of her email records. According to the FBI files, the engineer told agents that 'he believed he had an "oh (expletive)" moment,' and deleted the archived emails sometime during the last week of March 2015. The FBI report said the engineer used a program called BleachBit to delete the files in ways thought to make them unrecoverable. The report said that the engineer 'was aware of the existence of the (Benghazi committee) preservation request and the fact that it meant he should not disturb Clinton's email data on the PRN server.' Clinton said Monday she wouldn't know anything about that. The FBI said Platte River personnel had a conference call with Mills and David Kendall, Clinton's longtime personal lawyer, in late March 2015. FBI agents found a Platte River 'work ticket' for such a call on March 31, but they reported that the company's attorney advised the unnamed engineer 'not to comment on the conversation with Kendall based on the assertion of attorney-client privilege.' Chaffetz said he will seek to examine the work ticket and questioned how the engineer could refuse to talk to the FBI agents about the conference call if the only lawyers involved were Clinton's. Former headmaster: Nicholas Wollaston, 48, was confronted by members of Internet Interceptors in Greenhithe, Kent A former headmaster targeted by vigilante paedophile hunters has been arrested on suspicion of grooming. Nicholas Wollaston, 48, was confronted by Internet Interceptors members in Greenhithe, Kent, after allegedly arranging to meet a 15-year-old boy for sex. Wollaston - who was head of a school and nursery from 2006 to 2013, and now works as a researcher at University College London - is said to have refused to leave his car when vigilantes blocked it in and waited for police. In a filmed exchange published on YouTube, the teacher is only heard speaking during his arrest. He was previously deputy head teacher at several schools in South London, including Chipstead Valley Primary School in Coulsdon between 2001 and 2005. He later became head at High View Primary School in Wallington before taking over at Selsdon Primary School and Nursery in South Croydon in 2006. Studies: Nicholas Wollaston, who works as a researcher at University College London (file picture), has been arrested by Kent Police on suspicion of grooming Wollaston is also believed to have worked as a school inspector and currently researches strategies used to prepare pupils for Key Stage Two maths tests. A spokesman for Internet Interceptors claimed the groups target tried to run over their team members, who they claim needed hospital treatment. Kent Police confirmed that the former head teacher had been arrested on suspicion of grooming and has now been bailed until next year. Officers said a minor collision involving a car and a pedestrian was also reported at the scene prior to the arrival of police, but no serious injuries were reported. Police arrested a man on suspicion of grooming on Courtyard Mews in Greenhithe (file image) A force spokesman said: At 10.25pm on August 30 officers attended Courtyard Mews in Greenhithe and arrested a 48-year-old man on suspicion of grooming. He has been released on bail pending further enquiries until a date in February 2017. A spokesman for University College London said: We are aware of the allegation and are investigating further. We will take appropriate action as necessary and co-operate with any police enquiries. Also announced Tuesday that Ailes supporter Greta Van Sustern is leaving the network, and will be replaced by Brit Hume immediately Company has also settled with two other women, according to Vanity Fair Just hours after it was announced that Fox News would be paying $20million to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit with Gretchen Carlson, the former network anchor hired a major celebrity publicist to craft her second career. Carlson has hired Cindi Berger of PMK*BNC to handle all aspects of her personal public relations, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The company told HR that the next phase in Carlson's career will 'include a television presence, penning a book, speaking engagements and philanthropy'. Berger has previously represented Lena Dunham, Barbara Walters, Robert Redford and Rosie O'Donnell. Scroll down for video Fox News has reportedly agreed to pay $20million to settle a lawsuit from Gretchen Carlson (left) against the network's former CEO and president Roger Ailes (right) Earlier on Tuesday, 21st Century Fox issued a public apology to Carlson and promised to pay her $20million to set a lawsuit against disgraced former network president Roger Ailes. FULL STATEMENT FROM 21ST CENTURY FOX AND GRETCHEN CARLSON'S RESPONSE 21st Century Fox is pleased to announce that it has settled Gretchen Carlsons lawsuit. During her tenure at Fox News, Gretchen exhibited the highest standards of journalism and professionalism. She developed a loyal audience and was a daily source of information for many Americans. We are proud that she was part of the Fox News team. We sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect and dignity that she and all of our colleagues deserve. Ms Carlson issued the following statement: I am gratified that 21st Century Fox took decisive action after I filed my Complaint. Im ready to move on to the next chapter of my life in which I will redouble my efforts to empower women in the workplace. I want to thank all the brave women who came forward to tell their own stories and the many people across the country who embraced and supported me in their #StandWithGretchen. All women deserve a dignified and respectful workplace in which talent, hard work and loyalty are recognized, revered and rewarded. Advertisement 'We sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect that she and all our colleagues deserve,' the statement from 21st Century Fox, Fox News' parent company, reads. Carlson claimed in the lawsuit that Ailes cancelled her show when she rebuffed his sexual advances. Ailes says he will not be paying any portion of the settlement. Now a source has told CNN Money that Fox made payouts to a 'handful' of women over alleged harassment by Ailes. The insider added that the payouts were 'substantially' smaller than the one made to Carlson, but did not reveal the exact number or their total value. More than 20 women spoke with the lawyers about inappropriate behavior by Ailes with some retaining legal counsel, CNN reports. The network is eager to get the lawsuit behind them as the presidential race enters enters its final stretch, and it seeks to resign major anchors' contracts, including Megyn Kelly. Carlson issued a public statement through 21st Century Fox, saying she was 'gratified' with the 'decisive action' on Ailes. 'Im ready to move on to the next chapter of my life in which I will redouble my efforts to empower women in the workplace,' she said. In exchange, Carlson has agreed to drop the lawsuit against Ailes and will not bring up any new suits against the company or any of its employees. Carlson voluntarily dropped the lawsuit against her former boss in a new court filing, Reuters confirmed. It was also announced on Tuesday that Ailes-supporter Greta Van Sustern is leaving the network. Her hour-long spot on the network will be filled by Brit Hume, Fox News senior political analyst. Like many anchors at the network, Van Sustern had a clause in her contract allowing her to renegotiate her contract if Ailes left the network. She decided to exercise that right, and when the negotiations deadlocked, she decided to leave. Just one day before the news of the settlement was announced, Carlson posted pictures to Twitter of her vacation to Croatia 'Fox has not felt like home to me for a few years and I took advantage of the clause in my contract which allows me to leave now,' Van Sustern said in a statement. Fox News is settling the lawsuit on behalf of Ailes, just two months after the longtime CEO and president of the network was forced to resign in the wake of the allegations. New York Magazine reported that Ailes agreed to pay part of the settlement, but that report was later shot down by Ailes' lawyer who said he 'did not contribute'. The company has also reached settlements with two other women with regards to Ailes, according to Vanity Fair. The decision to settle with Carlson comes just days after New York Magazine published a story by Sherman, in which it was reported that Carlson had been secretly recording her conversations with Ailes since 2014. Now that the she has settled, it's likely those recordings will never see the light of day. Ailes' supporter Greta Van Sustern (left) is reportedly leaving the network, and will be replaced in her one hour spot by Brit Hume (right) GRETA VAN SUSTEREN'S STATEMENT ON FOX NEWS EXIT Yes, I have left the Fox News Channel. On Thursday night, I made my decision and informed Fox News of my decision that I was leaving Fox News Channel per my contract. Fox has not felt like home to me for a few years and I took advantage of the clause in my contract which allows me to leave now. The clause had a time limitation, meaning I could not wait. I love my staff, I love my colleagues, and I love the crews. That is the hardest part of this decision as they are wonderful people. And most of all? I love the viewers -- even the ones who have gotten mad at me over the years and taken swipes. I hope to continue my career in broadcasting. Advertisement After Carlson went public with her claims against Ailes in July, several other women spoke to outside lawyers hired by Fox News with similar stories of sexual harassment. Carlson, who is currently on vacation in Croatia, co-anchored Fox & Friends for seven years before she left to anchor her own one-hour program for the network. That show, The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson, was cancelled this year. She tweeted on July 6 that she was no longer with the network, and that day she filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Ailes. Russian media has revealed that a head-on crash in which a man was killed involved Vladimir Putin's official black BMW. However the Russian President was not in the car at the time when it was struck head-on by another vehicle which crossed over from the opposite side of the road. CCTV images of the footage taken on Kutuzovsky Avenue in the Russian capital Moscow show how the Mercedes collided head-on with the presidential BMW. Russian media has revealed that a head-on crash in which a man was killed involved Vladimir Putin's official black BMW CCTV images of the footage taken on Kutuzovsky Avenue in the Russian capital Moscow show how the Mercedes collided head-on with the presidential BMW Russian media said that the car was being driven by Putin's favourite official driver, and that he was killed instantly, but that the President was not in the vehicle at the time. The car is officially registered as belonging to the Federation Council, also known as the Russian Senate or Upper Chamber of Parliament. Medics arrived at the scene and said that the presidential driver had been killed on the spot, while the Mercedes driver who was travelling alone has been taken to hospital in a critical condition. Russian media said that the car was being driven by Putin's favourite official driver, and that he was killed instantly The driver who was killed was not named, although it was reported that he had notched up more than 40 years of driving experience as an official driver The driver who was killed was not named, although it was reported that he had notched up more than 40 years of driving experience as an official driver. Police have only confirmed that they are investigating, without giving any further details. They said her family hopes she will soon be on her feet and out of hospital Her friends also posted an update on a web page set up to raise funds In the short video, she smiles and says: 'Thank you. I love you all' She has only recently started to talk, but insists she is getting better Kim woke up more than a month later and faced a long recovery Kayla Canedo, 19, Brittany Feldman, 20, Christina Semeria, 19, and Halle Scott, 19 all died in the wreck Agnes Kim, 21, was left in a coma after the crash in Georgia on April 27 The only survivor of a horrific car crash that killed four University of Georgia sorority girls has said she is getting better. Agnes Kim released a short video from her hospital bed in Atlanta to thank her supporters just four months after the wreck that left her friends and classmates dead. The 21-year-old was critically injured in the crash along Georgia State Route 15 on April 27 after her white Toyota Camry drifted into another lane and hit another car. Her friends and fellow students Kayla Canedo, 19; Brittany Feldman, 20; Christina Semeria, 19; and Halle Scott, 19, were all killed. Kim was left in a coma and woke up more than a month later. Since then she has been recovering from her traumatic injuries and only recently started talking. In the footage of Kim posted on a YouCaring page, she smiled as she told people she is getting better. Agnes Kim, 21, (left and right) was critically injured in the crash along Georgia State Route 15 on April 27 after her white Toyota Camry drifted into another lane and hit another car She said: 'Hello, my name is Agnes. Thank you for praying for me. I am getting better. Thank you. I love you all.' Her friends, who set up the page to help cover her medical bills, then gave an update on her progress. On Monday, they wrote: 'We hope everyone is having a wonderful Labor Day weekend. Thank y'all so much for continuing to pray for Agnes and her family--know that they really appreciate all the support they've been getting the past four months. 'As of yesterday, we have received word that Agnes started talking! This is a huge step in her recovery, and her family hopes that she'll be on her feet and out of Shepherd (the hospital in Atlanta) soon. 'It has been truly humbling to see how many prayers and how much support has been flooding the Kims' way, and we're amazed to see how the Lord has been faithful in hearing our petitions. 'As Agnes' condition continues to improve, please continue praying for her transition out of Shepherd and beyond.' Kayla Canedo (left) and Christina Semeria (right) were killed in a crash along with two other University of Georgia students in April Halle Scott (left) and Brittany Feldman (right) also died in the crash around along Georgia State Route 15 Read Troopers said they do not suspect alcohol was a factor in the crash. Pictured from left, Brittany Feldman, Kayla Canedo and Christina Semeria Kim and her friends had been heading north in her Camry when it veered into the southbound lanes and was struck on the passenger side by a blue Chevrolet Cobalt, a Georgia State Patrol said in a preliminary report. It is not known why the Camry drifted into the other lane, however, the State Patrol said troopers don't suspect that alcohol played a role in the crash. The crash occurred near the Hot Thomas Barbeque restaurant, just outside Watkinsville 11Alive reported at the time. The driver of the other vehicle, Abby Short, 27, of Demorest, Georgia, was taken to a hospital but released a short time later. The five University of Georgia students were in a Toyota Camry (pictured) that ended up in a ditch on Georgia State Route 15 just outside Watkinsville Their car hit a blue Chevrolet Cobalt (above) after they veered onto the wrong side of the road Short, an EMT for Athens, was released from the hospital at around 6am on Thursday morning, her fiance told Grady Newsource. 'She was on the Bluetooth in the car with her mom when the wreck happened,' he told the student-produced newscast.' The heartbreaking 911 call she made moments after the two-car accident was released in April. 'The car swerved in front of me and I couldn't stop,' she can be heard telling the 911 dispatcher. 'I'm just hurting a lot. I'm sorry.' In the call, Short, who was leaving her job at National EMS in Athens when the accident happened, sounded frantic and shaken up as she speaks with the 911 dispatcher. 'I've been in accident,' Short can be heard saying at the beginning of the call. 'I'm on 15, I don't know where I am.' Her friends, who set up the page to help cover her medical bills, then gave an update on her progress, saying her family hope she will soon be on her feet and able to leave hospital The 911 dispatcher asks her if she sees anything around her or a business, to which Short replies no and that she just got on the highway. 'Where am I at? I'm on 15. I'm in a lot of pain ma'am. I'm sorry,' Short tells the dispatcher frantically. The dispatcher tells her that she's going to send an ambulance, but she needs a location. Short tells her that another car pulled in front of her and her ankle and 'belly' hurts. The dispatcher realizes that she knows Short personally and tries to reassure her to stay calm and still throughout the nearly seven minute recording until the call ends as help arrived. Michelle Obama is to hit the campaign trail in support of Hillary Clinton, hoping to give the Democrat's chances a much-needed boost in the crucial final months before the election. CNN reported Tuesday that the First Lady will attend an event in northern Virginia on September 16. Clinton's people will be hoping that Obama can inject some energy into their campaign, and do some heavy lifting in swing state Virginia as the race enters its final stages. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Michelle will campaign for Hillary in northern Virginia - a swing state which has voted Democrat in the two previous presidential elections - on September 16, according to CNN Clinton's lead in the polls has slipped and she is now two points behind Trump in the CNN/ORC poll Obama was much praised for her rousing speech at the Democratic National Convention. That helped Clinton emerge from the DNC with a strong lead in the polls. But that lead has vanished and a poll on Tuesday showed Trump ahead. The CNN/ORC poll put Trump at 45 per cent and Clinton at 43 - the latest in a string of surveys showing the Donald is gaining momentum. Clinton had held an 8 point lead over Trump in early August, after the party conventions. But she is now just 3.3 points ahead, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average. The CNN/ORC result is bad timing for Clinton since it comes immediately after Labor Day weekend. The holiday is seen as a watershed moment in presidential elections as campaigns go into overdrive after that date - so polls then are seen as giving whoever is ahead at that point a crucial psychological advantage. Obama at a back-to-school event in Washington last week, where she appeared onstage with comedian Seth Meyers Obama and Clinton pictured sharing a joke in 2010. Obama came out in support of the Democrat at the DNC, saying 'I'm with her' Obama came out unequivocally in support of the Democrat in her July speech at the DNC, declaring 'I'm with her'. She touted Clinton as someone who would leave the country in a better place for younger generations. 'Hillary has spent decades doing the relentless, thankless work to actually make a difference in their lives, advocating for kids with disabilities as a young lawyer, fighting for childrens health care as first lady, and for quality child care in the Senate,' she said. A couple lured the woman's ex-partner to a car park on the promise of buying drugs from him then hired two people to set him on fire, a court has heard. Kerry Leanne Ross and Ben Corey Woodhardt, both 29, appeared in Adelaide District Court on Tuesday facing charges of causing harm with aggravated intent, reported the ABC. The pair have denied the charges against them. Scroll down for video Kerry Leanne Ross (right) and Ben Corey Woodhardt, (left) both 29, appeared in Adelaide District Court on Tuesday facing charges of causing harm with aggravated intent The court heard Ms Ross arranged for the victim to meet at a car park at Elizabeth North in November 2013. Ms Ross allegedly told the victim she was looking to buy drugs from him to 'get ripped' and 'have fun just like old times' reported Adelaide Now. The jury heard while Mr Ross' former partner and his friend were sitting in their car about 2.30am they were approached by Ms Ross and Mr Woodhardt before two hooded figures emerged. The hooded figures allegedly squirted a flammable liquid into the car over the pair and set them on fire. Prosecutor Matthew Boisseau said the pair suffered serious burns, with one victim reportedly saying he saw a 'ball of fire' coming at his face. Angry emails are alleged to have been exchanged between the couple and Ms Ross's ex-partner in the lead-up to the incident. The couple have been accused of luring the woman's ex-partner to a car park on the promise of buying drugs from him, where they allegedly set him and a friend on fire Mr Woodhardt allegedly emailed his partner's former boyfriend before the attack, warning him to 'stay the f*** away from Kerry'. He is also said to have asked the man why his Facebook profile picture still featured Ms Ross. Mr Boisseau told the court that after the first attempt to lure the victim to the car park failed, Mr Woodhardt had texted another man. In the Adelaide Magistrate's Court (pictured) Prosecutor Prosecutor Matthew Boisseau said the ex-partner and his friend pair suffered serious burns, with one victim reportedly saying he saw a 'ball of fire' coming at his face The man allegedly texted Mr Woodhardt back with the response: 'Good night to hurt some f***er real hard. What time?' After the offenders allegedly fled the carpark the two victims are said to have put out the flames by rolling on the ground, before they flagged down an passing ambulance. The court heard Ms Ross' ex-partner was in an induced coma for four days with serious burns while his friend had less serious head injuries but had a slow and painful recovery. It is supposed to be the happiest day of a young bride's life. But Michelle Howard's joy quickly turned to heartbreak after her police detective father Tim Buchanan suffered a fatal heart attack during the father-daughter dance. Buchanan, 54, his wife Jeni, and their other children, had traveled from the U.S. to San Jose in Costa Rica to watch Michelle marry her fiance Lius Diego Granera on September 3. Michelle Howard's (pictured left with new husband Luis Diego Granera) dream Costa Rica wedding turned into a nightmare after her police detective father Tim Buchanan (right) suffered a fatal heart attack during the father-daughter dance Buchanan (pictured with his daughter Michele Howard previously) had flown into Costa Rica with his family to attend the wedding Jeni Buchanan, a wedding photographer, shared a photograph of her and her husband sharing a kiss at their daughter's wedding moments before he died. 'You never know when the last time will be the last time! ' she posted alongside the picture on Facebook the following day. 'Little did I know just a few hours later we would lose him.' The picture was accompanied by a touching message to the beloved husband and father. ' Tim came into my life at a time when I was broken to the core and held me up and built me into a strong person. Over the years we raised four amazing children, cared for my little brothers when they needed us the most and had even had the honor of a beautiful grandchild. 'He was the most beautiful soul I have ever known and I will never be the same without him.' A GoFundMe page has been set up for the family, who are still in Costa Rica as they try to make arrangements to bring Tim Buchanan home to South Carolina. It has already raised more than $11,000. Jeni Buchanan, a wedding photographer, (pictured with her husband in Costa Rica for the wedding) was devastated by the loss Buchanan (third from left) is pictured with the family in Costa Rica including Michele (second from right) and his son-in-law Luis (third from right) Family friend Jenn Lewis, who set up the page, said the couple had been very excited to travel to Costa Rica for their daughter's wedding before the family suffered an 'unimaginable loss'. 'During the wedding, after the father-daughter dance, Tim had a heart attack. Sadly, he didn't survive it. 'I can't even imagine the shock and pain that Jeni and her family are experiencing right now. Our hearts are broken for Jeni and their entire family.' Lewis added that she had been 'overwhelmed with the outpouring of love and support for Jeni and their family' after passing the halfway mark of their $20,000 goal in just 24 hours. 'Thank you for being there for Jeni when she needs it most,' she added. Buchanan served with the York County Sheriff's Office in Rock Hill, South Carolina for almost two decades. The forensics investigator had just been promoted to detective in the division in February. 'All of our hearts are saddened about the loss of this great law enforcement officer,' Sheriff Bruce Bryant said. 'Tim dedicated almost 19 years to this profession as an outstanding deputy, forensics investigator and most recently detective in computer crimes. His talents will be sorely missed.' Buchanan's daughter and her husband-to-be met back in 2013 when Howard, an environmental science graduate, studied abroad in Costa Rica for her last semester of college. She stayed with a Costa Rican family which was where she met future husband Luis Diego. Buchanan (pictured with Michele) served with the York County Sheriff's Office in Rock Hill, South Carolina for almost two decades The Buchanans renewed their wedding vows in Paris in 2014 - on their 20th anniversary The couple were living together in the Central American country but planned to return to the states after their wedding to start a new life in Seattle, Washington. But not before they held a small celebration of their vows back in Howard's home town of Rock Hill, South Carolina - something her father never got the chance to see. Tim Buchanan leaves behind his wife Jeni, mother Clara - who also flew to Costa Rica for the wedding, and his four children. Facebook has been flooded with tributes to the 'kind' and 'patient soul' who died so unexpectedly. 'Absolutely gut wrenching,' wrote Mandie Thomas Miller to his widow. 'All I know is what I saw in your pictures together, and that was unconditional and beautiful love. Hugs, love, and light. The newlyweds (left and right) had met back in 2013 when Howard, an environmental science graduate, studied abroad in Costa Rica for her last semester of college The couple were living together in the Central American country but planned to return to the states after their wedding to start a new life in Seattle, Washington Susan Jackson Kelly also mentioned the special bond the married couple shared. 'I'm just so so sorry,' she wrote to Jeni. 'The way you loved each other unconditionally was an example to all of us, even just via Facebook. Praying for you!!' Friends of Tim described him as a 'great man and a good friend.' His cousin Ruth Trissel added: 'Tim was a very kind, patient and gentle soul. Cherish and hold on to all the great memories you made. Last year a pig with similar features was found in Nanning, China It is unclear if the piglet survived or where the footage was taken Baffling footage has emerged online showing a 'mutant piglet' with a human like face and a penis on its forehead. In the bizarre video, that has been shared widely on Chinese social media, a yawning pig like creature is held aloft by a man. The animal can be seen grasping for breath and looks in a distressed state throughout the clip. The man in the video proceeds to squeeze some skin, that is in the same mold as a penis, protruding from the pig's forehead. Many on social media have begun speculating on the causes of the pig's deformities although it still remains unknown when and where the video originated. Some say the problems were caused by environmental pollution. Pigs got deformation, while human beings got cancer, said a user of the China's My Drivers webpage. Another said the animal is living proof of pig reincarnation. Cute? A man holds the deformed pig for the cameras. The animal looked distressed and short of breath throughout the footage It has the body shape of a normal piglet but the face differs starkly. It is unknown where the animal is from and how the deformities were caused A pig with very similar features to this one was found in China last year although it died soon after it was rejected by its mother. The animal's owner hoped to make money by charging visitors to see the pig Last year photos were published online of another 'mutant pig' with a human like face and floppy skin in the shape of penis on its forehead however that animal died meaning the one sweeping social media this week is a new case. A farmer in the town of Yanan, Nanning, China claimed he received a number of cash offers for his deformed creature however the animal died after it was rejected by its mother and refused to be bottle fed, according to the Mirror. The creature was one of the last to be born in a litter of 19 said farmer Tao Liu. 'It was a large litter, and the mutant was one of the last of 19 piglets to be born,' said farmer Tao said of his pig. 'All the others were normal, just this one was really bizarre.' Tao admitted he wanted to put the pig on show for visitors and was disappointed it died as he 'could have got more money for it than for the rest of the family put together based on what people were offering me on the phone.' 'I was one of a dozen people who went there to see the piglet, and it really did have human face and exactly like he said, a penis growing out of its forehead,' said eyewitness Wu Kung. Three 18-year-old Afghan migrants have been jailed for gang-raping another teenage boy living in the same Austrian asylum centre. They were sentenced in the Austrian city of Salzburg to terms in jail ranging from two to three-and-a-half years each. The court heard how they used intimidation to force their victim to perform sex acts with each of them in March. The three 18-year-olds were sentenced in the Austrian city of Salzburg to terms in jail ranging from two to three-and-a-half years each All four, the three attackers and their victim, were living in the same asylum centre in the town of Tennengau in the state of Salzburg at the time of the incident. The sexual abuse took place in a cave just outside the facility after the three threatened they would kill the boy with a sharp piece of glass unless he went with them. The Afghan victim eventually reported the incident to the police. During the trial, the defendants claimed that the sex acts were carried out with the teenager's consent. The first of the defendants justified his actions in front of the court by claiming the Afghan boy wanted 10 euros per person to carry out the acts. One of the defendants said: 'We were drunk. I had some homosexual experiences before. When the offer came, I was immediately attracted to it.' A Republican candidate for a seat on a New Jersey town council dropped out of the race Tuesday after he was publicly accused of telling a female reporter on social media that he hoped she would get raped by a Syrian refugee. Olivia Nuzzi, a political reporter for The Daily Beast, claims the rape comment came from a Facebook account associated with Michael Krawitz, who until this afternoon was running for office in West Deptford Township, and who allegedly has been harassing her on social media since 2014. The West Deptford GOP said Krawitz sent them a brief handwritten note saying he was no longer seeking the post. The letter, scrawled on a piece of blue paper, read: 'I am officially withdrawing as a candidate for the Republican Party in the election on November 8, 2016 for West Deptford Township committee.' Trolling scandal: Michael Krawitz (left), a GOP candidate for a local office in New Jersey, has been accused of telling Daily Beast reporter Olivia Nuzzi (right) on Facebook that he wished she would get raped by a Syrian refugee He's out: Krawitz bowed out of the race this afternoon by sending this handwritten note to the West Deptford GOP Online abuse exposed: Nuzzi shared on Twitter screengrabs of the foul-mouthed comments that a Facebook user by the name Mike Krawitz posted on her timeline The WDGOP, which initially put out a statement alleging that Krawitz's account has been hacked - only on Twitter, not on Facebook where the obscene comment originally appeared - reversed course this afternoon and called for the candidate to get out of the race after labeling his rhetoric 'repulsive' and 'demeaning.' In a second statement to Philly.com, the party said in part that 'through the day, our leadership reviewed all the facts surrounding this matter and we cannot find any reasonable reason to believe Mr. Krawitz's account was hacked in anyway.' The statement goes on to say that 'for a candidate to use such despicable language toward an individual, let alone a female, is completely unacceptable of anyone representing our Party.' It all started on Monday when Nuzzi shared on Facebook a Daily Beast article written by her colleague Brandy Zadrozny that recounted how Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made out with his ex-wife Marla Maples as she delivered their daughter, reported Politico. FULL STATEMENT FROM OLIVIA NUZZI 'Reporters, particularly female reporters, are frequently subject to harassment from internet trolls. It strikes me as unprecedented that such a troll be given the legitimacy that comes with a spot on the ballot as a Republican, the minor nature of the position he is seeking notwithstanding. 'I've been covering Donald Trump since before he formally launched his candidacy and, given that, I've been on the receiving end of a lot of colorful hate mail. However, I've never had a candidate for public office essentially call for my rape or assault before. 'I do believe in free speech, and so in my view, it's up to the Republican Party of West Deptford and the voters to decide if they want this man representing them. I have faith that most voters in New Jersey and around the country disapprove of hateful rhetoric of this nature. 'As a reporter, bullying of this kind from would-be politicians makes you fear for your First Amendment rights. As an American and a woman, it makes you fear for the state of our country and the safety of half the population that inhabits it.' Source: ABC Action News Advertisement Nuzzi's status update praising Zadrozny's reporting drew more than a dozen comments, including some foul-mouthed remarks littered with superfluous periods from a user named Mike Krawitz. One post read: 'F***. You. Olivia, I. Hope. Somebody. Rapes. You. Today. :).' A minute later, the user fired off another comment that read: 'Hope. You. Get. Raped. By. A. Syrian. Refugee. :).' After Krawitz's obscene posts vanished from Nuzzi's timeline, the reporter shared screengrabs of the rape comments on her Twitter page, pointing out that their alleged author is a Republican who is running for a seat on the Democrat-controlled West Deptford Township committee. The West Deptford GOP responded to the controversy surrounding Krawitz by putting out a statement on its Facebook page, but later deleted it. The executive board of the WDGOP does not condone any repulsive, threatening, or demeaning rhetoric in any social media form or otherwise, read the statement. We are in the process of contacting Twitter for confirmation that someone hacked his account and posted his facebook thumbnail on the hacked twitter entry. Ms Nuzzi accused the WDGOP of 'spreading misinformation' and noted that the 'harassment' occurred on Facebook, and that Krawitz has been hounding her for more than a year. Krawitz, who is a Donald Trump supporter, allegedly attacked Nuzzi after she shared a link to a Daily Beast article about the GOP presidential candidate and his ex-wife Marla Maple Pattern: The West Deptford GOP has claimed that Krawitz's account may have been hacked, but Nuzzi stated on Twitter that he has been harassing her for more than a year In a bid to prove that Krawitz was not the victim of a hacker, Ms Nuzzi shared a screenshot of another offensive post associated with his account from August 10 that read: 'How's. The. Gun. Crime. In. Democrat. Chicago. Olivia. You. Ugly. Stupid. C***. :).' In December 2015, the same user reportedly attacked Nuzzi in yet another Facebook post, saying Stupid Olivia, go back up Obamas. A**. :)', according to Philly.com. Blame game: Krawitz, 41, suggested that his political rivals in New Jersey were trying to smear him Krawtiz, 41, who describes himself as a Trump supporter, told Philly.com said he has no interest in The Daily Beast because it s A Democratic organization,' and suggested that his political rivals in New Jersey may have hacked into his account to smear him. Krawitz also said he has reached out to Facebook to get to the bottom of this matter, claiming that some of his existing friends on the social media site have been getting new friend requests from his account. But Ms Nuzzi says she is convinced that Krawitz is the one responsible for harassing her online, not some mystery hacker. Nuzzi released a statement to ABC Action News that read in part: 'As a reporter, bullying of this kind from would-be politicians makes you fear for your First Amendment rights. The captain of ill-fated MH370 was messaging a married woman about a 'personal matter' just two days before the plane vanished. Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah had developed a relationship with Fatima Pardi and although it had 'cooled' in the weeks before the flight disappeared between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing in March 2014, had become like a father to her three children. Ms Pardi, 35, a former kindergarten teacher, declined to reveal to The Australian what the pair talked about in their final Whatsapp conversation, but said it was personal - and private. Missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah had sent married woman Fatima Pardi a 'personal, private' WhatsApp message two days before the flight disappeared 'Since the incident, I have refused all interviews because I have been afraid that what I say will be misinterpreted, and that it will hurt Captain Zaharie's family's feelings. 'Of course there was gossip, people will always talk whether you're good or you're bad. People think I am the "other woman",' she said. Their relationship had become less friendly in the weeks before MH370's disappearance. They weren't having an affair, she said. Ms Pardi had been questioned four times by those investigating the flight, which vanished with 239 people on board, The Australian reported. MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014 while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board The piece of debris is suspected to be from the missing the plane. It bares the red and white pattern synonymous with Malaysia Airlines On Monday, Mozambique authorities exhibited three new pieces of aircraft which included the first coloured chunk found in the search for the missing flight MH370. The parts were picked up late last month by a South African hotelier off the waters of Mozambique's southern province of Inhambane. The largest item is a triangular shaped piece which is red and white on one side and metallic on the other. Joao de Abreu, director of Mozambique's aviation authority said it was the first time a suspected coloured piece of the plane had been found. The items will be sent to Malaysia for examination. French gendarmes and police inspect a large piece of plane debris which was found on the beach in Saint-Andre, on the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, France And last week, scientific analysis of barnacles from a piece of missing flight MH370's wing helped provide clues as to where it may have floated on ocean currents after disappearing. The flaperon was found on La Reunion Island in July 2015. Australian National University's Professor Patrick De Deckker was given part of a barnacle shell from the debris to study and found it had started growing warm waters. He told Daily Mail Australia the majority of its growing life occurred in colder waters, likely at the latitude of Perth or lower and during the final stages of its life, it grew again in warmer waters. He told the Courier Mail: 'my findings are consistent with the current search area and the drift modelling done by the CSIRO [Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation]'. The search for the missing plane, a Boeing 777, is set to shift to a 120,000 square kilometre area of the Southern Indian Ocean which Professor De Deckker identified as where barnacles grew for an extensive period of time. He did add his findings weren't definitive. A patrol vessel of Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency searches for flight MH370 This is the horrifying moment a jealous aunt threw her newborn nephew off a third floor balcony at an Indian hospital - but miracuously the infant survived. Sarita Yadav said a 'voice in her head' told her to throw the boy out of a 30ft window while he was being treated for septicaemia at a private hospital in Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh in northern India. Yadav and her husband Satish, had taken the baby to the hospital after he fell ill, as his mother was too weak and needed his father's care. Scroll down for video CCTV footage from the hospital in India shows Sarita Yadav take the newborn baby out on to the balcony The aunt then walks through a doorway and throws the baby out of the window, but the infant survives The woman then walks back to the hospital room carrying towels rather than her newborn nephew Footage captured on the CCTV camera installed in the hospital shows the horrifying moment Yadav walked out of the room with the newborn in her arms before throwing him off the balcony. The brazen woman is then seeing grabbing the towel and walking back to the room pretending she is carrying the baby. Speaking to Indian reporters, she said: 'It just came to my mind and so I flung him off the balcony. I do not know why I did it. A voice told me to do it and I followed it. Mr Yadav, who was the guardian of the child and his uncle, could not find the baby anywhere and called police. The baby suffered minor injuries and is under observation in the intensive care unit at the hospital Yadav later told reporters in India that voices in her head had told her to thrown the baby off the balcony He said: "I had woken up my sister-in-law at around 3.30 am to feed the baby. I washed the bottle and she fed him. 'Then we slept but when I woke up again at 5.30 am to check the baby, he was missing. I asked her where the baby was but she said she does not know. 'I immediately raised an alarm and called the ward boy. We searched for him everywhere but could not find him. One of the ward workers, Pankaj Katiyar, pictured, rescued the child from the iron grille after he heard his cries 'I had just called the police when a ward boy informed of us of hearing the baby's cry. The baby was lying on the iron grille.' One of the ward workers, Pankaj Katiyar, rescued the child after he heard his cries. While the baby suffered minor injuries and is under observation in the Intensive Care Unit, the ward boy suffered a broken leg. California State University, Los Angeles, has become the latest college to offer segregated housing for black students to provide them with a 'safe space'. The public school set up the separate living arrangements after the university's Black Student Union said African Americans on campus were subjected to 'frequent racist attacks', 'racially insensitive remarks' and 'microaggressions'. The group gave university officials a set of demands, including new accommodation. '[It] would provide a cheaper alternative housing solution for Black students. This space would also serve as a safe space for Black CSLA students to congregate, connect, and learn from each other,' a letter to senior staff said. The university then announced they would be opening the Halisi Scholars Black Living-Learning Community, named after the activist and former professor of Pan African Studies at the school, Dr. C.R.D. Halisi. California State University, Los Angeles, has become the latest college to offer segregated housing for black students to provide them with a 'safe space' (file picture) Cal State LA joins UConn, UC Davis and Berkeley in offering segregated housing. The public university has 192 furnished apartments in a residential complex on campus, and the Halisi community will be located there, the College Fix reported. Robert Lopez, a spokesman for the university, told the website the Halisi Scholars Black Living-Learning Community 'focuses on academic excellence and learning experiences that are inclusive and non-discriminatory'. It joins other themed living-learning communities already housed there, Lopez added. He would not say where the new community will be based or what sort of rooms they will be offered. The school set up the separate living arrangements after the university's Black Student Union said African Americans on campus were subjected to 'frequent racist attacks'. The group wrote this message on Instagram with a picture of DR Halisi to celebrate the announcement In a post on Instagram, the Cal State LA Black Students Union wrote: 'Exciting news is transpiring! 'In honor of the late Dr. CRD Halisi, we have finally launched our Black student housing that we demanded from President Covino back in November. 'The Halisi Scholars Black Living Learning Community is intended for the students on our campus that identify as Black/African American. 'This recent achievement is long overdue, but well deserved!' Daniel Green is accused of raping a woman in a City of London office block where he and friends went after a night out A woman allegedly raped by a stockbroker after a cocaine and champagne-fuelled party wept today as she insisted she did not consent to sex. Daniel Green, 26, is said to have forced himself on the woman, who is in her 20s, after a night out in the City of London. Green and his colleagues brought the alleged victim and a friend back to their StratX headquarters in an office block near Monument for a party, the court has heard. Green is accused of ripping off her clothes in the early hours of 16 May last year, as she tried to sleep in the office after missing her last train home. She was questioned by Green's barrister today and told the court that there was no conversation between them before he raped her. Green's lawyer James Riley said: 'He kissed you and you kissed him back.' The alleged victim replied: 'Absolutely not, I was asleep under the desk.' Mr Riley said: 'The reason you moved on to the floor and you moved on to your front was so it was easier to take your trousers down. What happened was consensual sex.' 'Absolutely not, what happened was rape,' she replied. She added: 'I burst into tears, I had said no several times, there was a struggle,' she said. She said Green had stopped when he saw her crying and she got up and left. She added: 'I was completely distraught, I was crying, I was shaking - I was pretty much focused on what had just happened to me. The woman says she was raped after she went to an office block in Abchurch Lane in the City Breaking down in tears she said: 'I absolutely didn't consent to sex with Daniel, it was rape and I was trying to get away. 'I didn't shout out for someone to come and help me, my focus was in trying to get away.' She estimated the whole incident lasted about a minute-and-a-half, and said Green had been making sexual noises during that time. The court also heard from a friend of the alleged victim, who phoned police after speaking to her friend following the attack. She said: 'It was 6:54am when the phone rang. She was not making sense, she was crying and she was struggling to talk. 'I thought that someone had raped her, and that was what I understood had happened.' The Old Bailey trial today heard from the alleged victim and her friend who phoned 999 The court has heard the group had been drinking and taking cocaine. The alleged victim said she had drunk three glasses of red wine, taken three pinches of cocaine and one line of cocaine while out in the City. Green was arrested after leaving the office. He gave a prepared statement denying the alleged rape and made a similar statement in November last year. She reportedly quit after becoming 'troubled' by the network's culture Veteran Fox News anchor Greta van Susteren is leaving the network after more than 14 years, saying in a statement the network has not felt like home for 'a few years'. Van Susteren, who hosted shows for the network across different time-slots since 2002, will be replaced by senior political analyst Brit Hume immediately on On the Record, Fox News said announced on Tuesday. The network's co-presidents Jack Abernethy and Bill Shine said in a statement: 'We are grateful for Greta's many contributions over the years and wish her continued success.' Scroll down for video Veteran Fox News anchor Greta van Susteren is leaving the network after more than 14 years The statement went on to describe Hume, who will be at the helm of the show until the end of the election, as 'the ideal choice to host a nightly political program'. The news came after Fox paid $20million to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by former host Gretchen Carlson against Roger Ailes, the Fox News chairman who resigned as a result of the legal action. It has also emerged that Fox made payouts to a 'handful' of other women over alleged sexual harassment by Ailes, according to sources who spoke to CNN Money. The payments were 'substantially' smaller than the one made to Carlson, the source said, though it is not known exactly how many were made or their total value. More than 20 women reportedly spoke with the lawyers about inappropriate behavior by Ailes, and an unknown number retained legal counsel. There is at least one ongoing case against Ailes by former host Andrea Tantaros, who filed suit against the network last month. Fox has strongly denied wrongdoing in that case, saying Tantaros 'is not a victim; she is an opportunist.' Van Susteren (left, during an interview with Hillary Clinton in 2014) will be replaced by senior political analyst Brit Hume immediately as host of On the Record Van Susteren herself spoke about her departure on Tuesday shortly before noon, explaining her exit. 'Yes, I have left the Fox News Channel,' it read. 'On Thursday night, I made my decision and informed Fox News of my decision that I was leaving Fox News Channel per my contract. GRETA VAN SUSTEREN'S STATEMENT ON FOX NEWS EXIT Yes, I have left the Fox News Channel. On Thursday night, I made my decision and informed Fox News of my decision that I was leaving Fox News Channel per my contract. Fox has not felt like home to me for a few years and I took advantage of the clause in my contract which allows me to leave now. The clause had a time limitation, meaning I could not wait. I love my staff, I love my colleagues, and I love the crews. That is the hardest part of this decision as they are wonderful people. And most of all? I love the viewers -- even the ones who have gotten mad at me over the years and taken swipes. I hope to continue my career in broadcasting. Advertisement 'Fox has not felt like home to me for a few years and I took advantage of the clause in my contract which allows me to leave now. 'The clause had a time limitation, meaning I could not wait. I love my staff, I love my colleagues, and I love the crews. That is the hardest part of this decision as they are wonderful people. 'And most of all? I love the viewers -- even the ones who have gotten mad at me over the years and taken swipes. 'I hope to continue my career in broadcasting.' There have been various reports about the reasons behind Van Susteren's abrupt departure, with Variety saying it is the result of a 'financial disagreement.' A Fox News report says the host tried to renegotiate her contract with the network after disgraced former president Richard Ailes left the network, however they were deadlocked so van Susteren decided to depart. However, sources close to the situation told New York Magazine the hasty exit was due to van Susteren becoming 'troubled by the culture' Ailes created at the network. CNN anchor Anderson Cooper was one of the first to wish van Susteren well going forward. In a statement about van Susteren's (pictured) departure, the network said: 'We are grateful for Greta's many contributions over the years and wish her continued success' CNN anchor Anderson Cooper was one of the first to wish van Susteren well going forward 'I wish greta the best in whatever she does next. she is a great talent and a really good person,' Cooper tweeted. She then replied: 'Anderson, thank you..means a lot to me.' 'Stunning news about Greta, our treasured colleague & one of nicest people in news business,' Fox News contributor Geraldo Rivera tweeted. 'Geraldo, I will miss you,' van Susteren replied. The anchor also replied to a fan who asked where they would be able to watch her in future, saying: 'Where will you find me? I don't know....I hope some place. I have not contacted any other networks to see if they might be interested.' Van Susteren was most recently host of On the Record. She resigned on September 1 The longtime anchor joked on Twitter last month after she was given a script with her name spelled incorrectly The 62-year-old's departure was announced on Tuesday morning, the same day it was revealed Fox News will pay $20 million and issued a public apology to settle former Fox & Friends co-host Gretchen Carlson's lawsuit against Ailes. 'We sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect that she and all our colleagues deserve,' the statement from 21st Century Fox read. Carlson issued a public statement through 21st Century Fox, saying she was 'gratified' with the 'decisive action' on Ailes. 'Im ready to move on to the next chapter of my life in which I will redouble my efforts to empower women in the workplace,' she said. Britt Hume (pictured) has been named as van Susteren's replacement and will host On the Record until the end of the election FULL STATEMENT FROM FOX NEWS ON GRETA VAN SUSTEREN'S DEPARTURE FOX News Channel's (FNC) senior political analyst Brit Hume will take over as anchor of On the Record (7PM/ET) starting Tuesday, September 6th and running through the election, announced the network's co-presidents Jack Abernethy and Bill Shine. Current host Greta Van Susteren will depart the network after 14 years. In making the announcement, Abernethy and Shine said in a joint statement, 'As one of the best political analysts in the industry, Brit is the ideal choice to host a nightly political program while the most dynamic and captivating election in recent history unfolds. Having Brit at the helm of this show will enable FOX News to continue on track to have its highest-rated year ever as the network dominates the cable news landscape.' Commenting on Van Susteren's departure, Abernethy and Shine jointly said, 'We are grateful for Greta's many contributions over the years and wish her continued success.' Hume added, 'I am happy to take on this assignment for the balance of this extraordinary election. My FOX News colleagues have set a high standard for political coverage which I'll do my best to uphold. I'm honored to be asked.' As FNC's senior political analyst, Hume has provided in-depth coverage and analysis of all major political events and covered every presidential election since assuming the role in 2008. Previously serving as the anchor of Special Report, Hume stepped down in December 2008 after more than 10 years anchoring the program. Under his leadership, Special Report was the highest-rated political program on cable television. In this capacity, Hume also served as the Washington managing editor and was responsible for overseeing news content for FOX News' Washington bureau. He also anchored all network coverage for every presidential election from 1996-2008. Before joining FOX News in 1996, Hume was with ABC News for 23 years, serving as chief White House correspondent from 1989 through 1996. During his tenure, he contributed to World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, Nightline and This Week, as well as various specials for the news division. Hume joined ABC in 1973 as a consultant for the network's documentary division, moving on to the role of Washington correspondent in 1976, and later Capitol Hill correspondent and reported on Congress until 1988. Earlier, Hume reported for United Press International, beginning his career as a newspaper reporter with The Hartford Times and the Baltimore Evening Sun. He has received numerous honors and awards, including the 2003 Sol Taishoff Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism from the National Press Foundation and a 1991 Emmy Award for his coverage of the Gulf War. The author of two books 'Inside Story' and 'Death and the Mines,' Hume was named 'The Best in the Business' by the American Journalism Review for his extensive news coverage of the White House. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as well as political and business news. A top five cable network, FNC has been the most-watched news channel in the country for more than 14 years and according to a Suffolk University/USA Today poll, is the most trusted television news source in the country. Owned by 21st Century Fox, FNC is available in more than 90 million homes and dominates the cable news landscape, routinely notching the top ten programs in the genre. Advertisement In exchange, Carlson has agreed to drop the lawsuit against Ailes and will not bring up any new suits against the company or any of its employees. The announcement of van Susteren's departure comes after the former host stood by comments she made about the ex-Fox News CEO in an interview shortly after he was hit with a sexual harassment lawsuit, but denied ever defending the man. 'I did not defend Roger Ailes nor did I condemn him. I just stated what I knew or did not know. Period,' said Van Susteren in a statement posted to her personal website. Van Susteren's departure was announced on the same day it was revealed Fox News will pay $20 million to settle former Fox & Friends co-host Gretchen Carlson's (pictured) lawsuit against Roger Ailes Van Susteren had denied knowing anything about the allegations made against Ailes, but sided with her former boss after claims were made by colleagues However, Van Susteren had earlier discredited Carlson's claims in an interview with People. 'People come to me because I've been there so long,' said Van Susteren, speaking less than 24 hours after Carlson's lawsuit was filed in a New Jersey court. 'That's why this doesn't have any ring of truth to me. I would have heard it. People don't keep things silent.' Van Susteren also described Carlson as 'a disgruntled employee' and said that after seeing that Carlson's show had been cancelled she, as a lawyer, 'thought she got angry.' 'That's why this doesn't have any ring of truth to me. I would have heard it. People don't keep things silent,' van Susteren said of the allegations against Roger Ailes (pictured) She then added: 'I deal with Roger Ailes often. I've often been alone with Roger Ailes in his office over the course of 15 years and I've never seen anything like what I'm reading about in the papers and the magazine.' Later in the interview Van Susteren paint Carlson as ungrateful, saying 'most people, man or woman, would give anything to have had the air time [Carlson] had on Fox & Friends.' Van Susteren closed out the interview by saying: 'If Roger Ailes were how he's described, there's no way I would've stuck around. I don't feel like putting up with that stuff and I wouldn't.' Her replacement as host of On the Record has also tweeted his support of Ailes in recent months. A UN human rights chief has branded Nigel Farage and Donald Trump 'demagogues' and compared them to the ISIS terror group. Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said the pair - together with other politicians such as Geert Wilders and Marine le Pen - shared with ISIS a desire to roll back progress to an imagined past. The Human Rights High Commissioner lashed out at 'racists' who are confused by his background as a white-skinned Muslim with a European mother and Arab father. UN Human Rights High Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein has compared ISIS to a string of populist politicians including Nigel Farage and Donald Trump The inflammatory speech was aimed primarily at controversial Dutch politician Mr Wilders who he attacked for a 'grotesque manifesto'. Mr Zeid said: 'What Mr Wilders shares in common with Mr Trump, Mr Orban, Mr Zeman, Mr Hofer, Mr Fico, Madame le Pen, Mr Farage, he also shares with Daesh (ISIS). 'All seek in varying degrees to recover a past, halcyon and so pure in form, where sunlit fields are settled by peoples united by ethnicity or religion living peacefully in isolation, pilots of their fate, free of crime, foreign influence and war. 'A past that most certainly, in reality, did not exist anywhere, ever. Europe's past, as we all know, was for centuries anything but that.' Mr Zeid branded the desire to recover a 'supposedly perfect past' a 'fiction' and said those who pursue it are 'cheats'. In the speech at the Hague, he insisted he was not comparing the actions of populist politicians with the 'monstrous, sickening' activities of the terror group. But he added: 'In its mode of communication, its use of half-truths and oversimplification, the propaganda of Da'esh (ISIS) uses tactics similar to those of the populists. 'And both sides of this equation benefit from each other indeed would not expand in influence without each others' actions.' Nigel Farage and Donald Trump both featured in Mr Zeid's blast at 'demagogues' who share a desire of ISIS to roll back progress and take the world back to a 'fictional' past Reacting to Mr Zeid's speech, Mr Wilders told AFP the Jordanian prince was 'an utter fool'. 'Another good reason to get rid of the UN,' he said and repeated a call for the world to 'de-Islamise'. He added: 'Islam and freedom are incompatible whatever this Jordanian bureaucrat says.' Joe Biden says Hillary Clinton can remedy her trust gap with voters by letting her guard down more often and showing 'some passion.' 'My advice to Hillary always is, just open up, let them see your heart a little more. Because she has the heart,' the vice president told CNN's Jeff Zeleny during an interview that aired on the network. Biden said, 'My advice to her: The best way to remedy it is, talk about what you care about and talk about it with some passion. And people will see through it.' The VP also said Clinton needs to be 'crystal clear' about the Clinton Foundation's future plans. Joe Biden says Hillary Clinton can remedy her trust gap with voters by letting her guard down more often and showing 'some passion' Biden campaigned on Monday for Clinton in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at a Labor Day event. He's seen here shaking Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine's hand at the start of a parade Yesterday the Democratic presidential candidate said she believes it is 'appropriate' for her husband Bill to step down from the foundation if she's elected, as he's said he would. She was demure on whether their daughter Chelsea should also break off from the family charity that Bill began post-presidency. The White House hopeful said the foundation would be announcing significant changes in the event that she wins in November and declined to provide additional insight. Biden revealed in the CNN interview that Clinton will have more of a role in the decision-making process than she let on, though. 'Well, I think shesmy understanding is she is going to make a final judgment about what theyre going to do with the Foundation and just lay it all out and this is whats going to happen from this point on, this is who I am, this is what were going to do and theyre going to be good,' he said. He said the expectation of transparency when it comes to the foundation has been a 'moving target. 'I'm absolutely confident she is doing it by the book, and I think she is going to figure out what she's going to say crystal clear to the American people about what the relationship between the family and the foundation will be from this point forward,' he said. Biden campaigned on Monday for Clinton in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at a Labor Day event. He was in Ohio for her last week, as well. Dearman has pleaded not guilty to two counts of kidnapping and six counts of murder a tip the house would be torched; they had already finished collecting evidence A home in Alabama where five people were massacred with an ax and gunshots has mysteriously burned. Investigators had gotten a tip that the Citronelle home would be torched and then it went up in flames Sunday morning, Mobile County sheriff's officials said. Derrick Dearman, 27, of Leakesville, Mississippi, is accused of killing five people, including a pregnant woman, in the home on August 20 while high on drugs. Scroll down for video Gone: This Citronelle, Alabama, home where five people were massacred last month was burned to ashes Sunday Suspect: Derrick Dearman (pictured left and right), 27, of Mississippi, is accused of killing five people, including a pregnant woman, on August 20 Killed were Shannon Melissa Randall, 35, Justin Kaleb Reed, 23, Joseph Adam Turner, 26, Robert Lee Brown, 26, and Chelsea Marie Reed, 22, who was five months pregnant. He then kidnapped his ex-girlfriend, Laneta Lester, and a 3-month-old infant Lester grabbed from the house, authorities have said. An email sent to the sheriff's department had tipped off detectives that the house on Jim Platt Road would be burned, Mobile County sheriff's spokeswoman Lori Myles said. Investigators had already finished collecting evidence of the killings at the home before it burned at around 8am, she said. No one knows how the blaze started, Citronelle Mayor J. Albert 'Al' McDonald tells Al.com. He also said it's unclear whether it was arson. 'Nobody knows who did it or how it happened,' he told the news site. Parents: Victims Shannon Randall and Turner are survived by four children and two grandchildren Massacred: Also killed were Chelsea and Justin Reed, pictured together left, who were expecting their first child together, a boy. Victim Robert Lee Brown (right) leaves behind his only son Waylon Police Chief Matthew Dyess told the station WSFA he is 'fairly' certain that the home was set alight by a family member of one of the victims. Dearman has been held in jail since shortly after the killings, and he has pleaded not guilty to two counts of kidnapping and six counts of murder one for each adult killed and one for the pregnant woman's unborn child. Lester had moved into the home shortly before the killings to escape her abusive relationship with Dearman, sheriff's officials have said. She was awakened by the sound of a gunshot and watched her ex-boyfriend kill the other five adult occupants of the home: three men and two women, according to search warrant affidavits. Dearman told investigators that he had parked in the woods nearby and injected himself with methamphetamine 'ice' just before the killings, court records show. Dearman (left) allegedly kidnapped his ex-girlfriend Laneta Lester (pictured right) and a 3-month-old infant Recently released search warrant affidavits also revealed new details of how Lester said she and the infant managed to escape after Dearman drove them to Mississippi. Lester told detectives that Dearman had threatened to kill her if she tried to escape the house. He found the keys to her brother's car and forced her and her brother's infant into the vehicle, she told investigators. Dearman drove to a truck stop and bought cigarettes, and also made other stops before reaching his father's house in the Leakesville, Mississippi area, where his father told him he was going to take him to turn him into authorities, the search warrant affidavits show. Roy Blackman, 73, was beaten to death at his countryside home before burglars fled with a safe containing up to 250,000, a court has heard A pensioner was stripped naked and beaten to death at his countryside home before burglars fled with a safe containing up to 250,0000 in cash, a court has heard. Roy Blackman, 73, a bird breeder and garage owner, was punched, kicked and stamped on by raiders after they broke into his rural property in Biddenden, Kent, in the middle of the night in March. It is alleged that Mr Blackman was attacked when he interrupted the burglars as they ransacked the house, searching for valuables. The widower, who lived alone with his Jack Russell terrier, Bonzo, tried to defend himself but suffered a brain haemorrhage. He was found dead by his daughter Nicola - covered in injuries - the following day. Beside his naked body were his clothes which had been cut from his body and soaked in water. Blood was also splattered on walls, floors and worktops and the bungalow had been comprehensively ransacked. Mark Love, 37, is now standing trial accused of his murder. The defendant is also charged with beating up George Digweed, a champion clay pigeon marksman, after breaking into his property while he was having dinner with his wife at his home in Northiam, Kent. Opening the trial today, prosecutor Simon Taylor told Maidstone Crown Court that William Smith, a man who was later shot dead by police, was also part of the alleged gang involved in both crimes. He told the court that, less than 24 hours after Mr Blackman was brutally beaten to death, Love and Smith went on a flash and lavish cash spending spree at the Ashford Designer Outlet in Kent. He said: 'Mark Love was involved in both of them. Serious violence was used against the occupants. There is one key difference between the allegations. 'Tragically violence in the second offence led to the death of the occupant, Roy Blackman, a 73-year-old widower beaten to death in his own home. It is alleged that Mr Blackman was attacked when he interrupted the burglars as they ransacked the house, searching for valuables. The widower, who lived alone with his Jack Russell terrier, Bonzo, tried to defend himself but suffered a brain haemorrhage 'Mercifully the victims of the earlier burglary didn't suffer such an extreme fate, although significant injuries were sustained by the male occupant.' A jury of seven men and five women were told that DNA from both Love and Smith, 36, was found at the scene of both crimes. Love's DNA was found on a glove and debris under a fish tank and on a tap in the bathroom of Mr Blackman's house. Smith's DNA was on a cleaning bottle found in the lounge after the two burglars are suspected to have run a bath in an attempt to destroy scientific evidence. Police are pictured outside Mr Blackman's house in Biddenden, Kent, after his death in March this year Mr Taylor added: 'It may well have been, had he been alive, William Smith would have been in the dock alongside Love.' The court was told how Mr Blackman is believed to have disturbed the burglars while they were scouring the property. Otherwise, he rarely went upstairs because of the poor condition of his knees, they jury heard. Mr Taylor said police found clothes near his body which had been cut from him and were soaking wet and that there were 'concerted efforts' made by the gang to clean the place up. The court was told that the interior of a white Astra van, discovered at a lock-up at a farm in Frittenden, Kent, was sodden with dirty water as if it had been submerged in a lake. The stolen safe had not been recovered. In the first burglary, the court was told Mr Digweed was struck over the head with a weapon which provides an insight to how Blackman was treated by his intruders.. Mr Taylor said: 'This is important because it provides an insight into what Mr Blackman must have gone through at the hands of his intruders and also what they were intending to do when they entered Mr Blackman's property.' Love of Staplehurst denies murder and aggravated burglary A wheelchair-bound retired clergyman is suspected of gunning down a fellow preacher at a Chicago senior living complex on Labor Day over a long-simmering religious dispute. The victim, identified by those who knew him as the Rev. Allen H. Smith, 80, was found shot to death at the Senior Suites of Rainbow Beach in the South Shore part of Chicago early Monday morning. The unnamed suspect in the killing, who gets around in a motorized wheelchair, shot the victim once in the face, then rolled up to him and fired several more rounds, according to investigators. Scroll down for video Crime scene: Retired Rev. Allen H. Smith, 80, was found fatally shot in the face Monday outside the Senior Suites of Rainbow Beach in the South Shore part of Chicago Allen was discovered lying unconscious in the 2800 block of East 77th Place at around 6.30am. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Neighbors told CBS Chicago Allen and the alleged gunman frequently clashed over religious matters, though they were also on friendly terms with one another. The two retired clerics were overhead arguing at around 1am Monday, and then gunshots rang out, reported the station WGN. Residents at the Senior Suits of Rainbow Beach say Allen had been living in the building for about a decade and would often conduct prayer services in the housing complex. Police have apprehended the elderly suspect in the killing, but so far no charges have been filed against him and he has not been named. Smith was among 13 people who were shot to death in Chicago over the Labor Day weekend. More than 50 others were wounded. Retirement community: Residents at the Senior Suits of Rainbow Beach say Allen had been living in the building for about a decade According to his biography published by the Northwest Indiana Times 15 years ago, Smith had earned his Master of divinity degree from Yale University and had served as a senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Gary, Indiana, until his retirement in 1994. He then threw himself out of the vehicle as it was travelling at 40mph Told him they were leaving but he grew A man has died after he jumped from a moving pickup truck - after his friends apparently grew frustrated at having to wait for his tattoo to be completed. The incident happened along West State Road 40 in Pierson, Florida, on Saturday night. Investigators said the 34-year-old man, identified as Bryan Robinson, was with two co-workers from Marion County on a fishing trip getting tattoos. The men had apparently got impatient at having to wait for their friend's tattoos - which took longer than expected - to be finished and so they told him they were leaving. The incident happened along West State Road 40 in Pierson, Florida, on Saturday night (file picture) He became upset but left with them anyway, Fox 8 News reported. On the drive back he grew increasingly frustrated and so opened the door and jumped out. The truck was travelling at 40mph when he flung himself out the vehicle. The driver of the truck pulled over and he and the other co-worker searched for the man but with no luck. After searching for about half an hour, they called the sheriffs office, authorities said. They searched for Robinson but were only able to find him on Sunday morning when a helicopter crew spotted his body on the shoulder of the road. A U.S. Navy coastal patrol ship was forced to changed course after being harassed by fast-attack craft from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, officials say. The Iranian vessel came within 100 yards of the U.S. boat in the central Gulf on Sunday, U.S. Defense Department officials said. It is at least the fourth such incident in less than a month as defense officials have warned such confrontations have doubled since last year. The USS Firebolt was forced to change course after an Iranian Navy patrol boat came within 100 yards of it on Sunday despite repeated warnings It comes after the USS Nitze fired flares at Iranian patrol boats after the approached at speed and in an 'unsafe and unprofessional' manner, officials said That is despite the Iranian nuclear deal and billions of dollars handed over to Iran in withheld sanction cash. Authorities are concerned that reckless actions by Iranian vessels could lead to mistakes and potentially spark a conflict. Years of mutual animosity eased when Washington lifted sanctions on Tehran in January after a deal to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions. But serious differences still remain over Iran's ballistic missile program, and over conflicts in Syria and Iraq. Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said the Iranian vessel sailed directly in front of the USS Firebolt, forcing the 174ft U.S. ship to change course. The incident began when seven Iranian ships 'harassed' the Firebolt, Davis said. Authorities say confrontations between Iranian and American naval vessels in the Persian Gulf have doubled since last year despite the nuclear deal Officials say the Nitze made repeated attempted to contact the approaching Iranian vessels but received no response A U.S. Defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the interaction was 'unsafe and unprofessional due to lack of communications and the close-range harassing maneuvering,' adding that uncovered and manned weapons were seen on the Iranian vessel. The U.S. ship tried to communicate with the Iranian ship by radio three times but received no response. The U.S. official said there have been 31 similar interactions with Iranian ships this year, almost double the amount from the same period last year. 'We don't see this type of unsafe and unprofessional activity from any other nation,' the defense official added. In late August, a U.S. Navy patrol craft fired warning shots toward an Iranian fast-attack vessel that approached two U.S. ships. The USS Squall was also forced to take evasive action and fired warning shots at Iranian vessels that approached at high speed, officials said The confrontations are taking place in a narrow band of international water that runs between Iran on one side and the United Arab Emirates on the other At the time, Iran's defense minister said Iranian vessels were just doing their job. Last week, the head of U.S. Central Command, General Joseph Votel, said unsafe maneuvers in the Gulf were part of the Iranian regime trying to exert its influence in the region. Kenneth Pollack, a former top CIA and White House official, said that one or two incidents could have been explained 'as being the work of an over-zealous commander' within Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. But the number of such incidents in recent weeks make it 'very hard for me to believe these are not sanctioned by higher authority' within Iran, said Pollack, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Police have released CCTV images of potential witnesses after a man was murdered reportedly because he spoke in Polish. Arkadiusz Jozwik, 37, was beaten up by a group of thugs outside shops in The Stow, Essex, at around 11.35pm on August 27. The gang, made up of boys and girls, are understood to have hurled abuse before launching the 'brutal attack', leaving the victim and another man unconscious. Police have released CCTV images of potential witnesses after a man was murdered reportedly because he spoke in Polish Arkadiusz Jozwik, 37, was beaten up by a group of thugs outside shops in The Stow, Essex, at around 11.35pm on August 27. Pictured, still images from the CCTV footage Police reportedly told Mr Jozwik's family that he had been attacked 'for speaking the Polish language'. The much-loved factory worker, who moved to the UK four years ago, suffered head injuries and was taken to the Princess Alexandra Hospital. He was later transferred to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, where he died two days later. A 43-year-old man from Harlow, Essex, was taken to the Princess Alexandra Hospital with suspected fractures to his hands and bruising to his stomach. He has since been discharged from hospital. During the course of police enquiries, a third man, aged 40, was also found to have been assaulted. Six teenagers were arrested and released on police bail as part of a murder inquiry. Detective Chief Inspector Martin Pasmore, of Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said: 'Arek Jozwik was a hard working family man who lost his life in a most tragic and brutal way, and my thoughts are very much with his family and friends as they grieve his loss. The gang, made up of boys and girls, are understood to have hurled abuse men before launching the 'brutal attack', leaving the victim and another man unconscious. Pictured above, images from the CCTV footage Police reportedly told Mr Jozwik's family that he had been attacked 'for speaking the Polish language'. Pictured above, further potential witnesses being sought by police Arek Jozwik, above, died after he was attacked by a gang of boys and girls in Essex 'My team and I are doing everything we can to establish exactly what happened and bring those responsible to justice. 'We are investigating his murder as a hate crime but there are other lines of enquiry that we need to look at and the information you can give us could be vital.' Last week, Poland's Ambassador to the UK Arkady Rzegocki visited the scene of the fatal attack, describing the killing as a 'a very important tragedy'. He added his staff has had to deal with '15 or 16 such situations' since the June referendum. 'It is a very important tragedy and we have to work together on this issue,' said Mr Rzegocki. Detective Chief Inspector Pasmore said that CCTV from the area shows Mr Jozwik going with two friends to the TGF Pizza takeaway at about 11.10pm where he ordered a pizza. 'They then went outside and spoke with a group of youths as well as other passers-by for up to about twenty minutes,' he said. 'However it can be seen that the atmosphere then changed and there was a verbal argument. 'It is during this altercation that Arek receives a single punch to the face, causing him to fall backwards and bang his head on the ground. 'There followed a short scuffle between Arek's friends and a few other people, before the suspects leave the scene. 'I know there were numerous people in The Stow, many of whom will have witnessed the incident and would have been shocked by what they saw.' The much-loved factory worker, who moved to the UK four years ago, suffered head injuries and was taken to the Princess Alexandra Hospital. Pictured, more potential witnesses A 43-year-old man from Harlow, Essex, was taken to the Princess Alexandra Hospital with suspected fractures to his hands and bruising to his stomach. Shown above, further images from the CCTV During the course of police enquiries, a third man, aged 40, was also found to have been assaulted. Above, more potential witnesses being sought by police Detectives again appealed to anyone with information to come forward, in particular a man wearing shorts who was talking to the victims beside a large flower bed. 'I am appealing for anyone who was in the area between 10pm and midnight that Saturday to please come forward,' said Det. Ch. Insp. Pasmore. 'I am also appealing for the members of the group present at the time of the incident to come forward and give me their account of what happened. 'I believe they and others could hold vital evidence that will help establish what it was that led to Arek's tragic death.' Chief Superintendent Sean O'Callaghan, of Essex Police, added: 'Harlow is a strong and resilient community and we are working with residents, the Polish community and community leaders to listen to, and address, your concerns. 'We do not tolerate hate crime. Whether it's an incident that takes place online or in the street, it's important to let us know about hate crime to give us a chance to investigate and prosecute offenders and to ensure that victims and the wider community are protected. Six teenagers were arrested and released on police bail as part of a murder inquiry. Above, further images from the CCTV released by police Detective Chief Inspector Martin Pasmore, of Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said: 'Arek Jozwik was a hard working family man who lost his life in a most tragic and brutal way'. Pictured, more potential witnesses police would like to speak to 'We can't deal with the problem unless it is reported to us so we need anyone experiencing hate crime or knows someone who is to tell us about it. We will take action and we will do our best to help you. 'We also know that local people have expressed concerns about anti-social behaviour in The Stow. 'Over the last few months we have responded to those concerns by increasing patrols and gathering information and evidence. 'Local patrols have been increased again in light of these recent events, and we have also put in place a dispersal order giving us further powers to make people leave The Stow if they are causing harassment, alarm or distress. 'We have also been working with Harlow Council to address wider issues of anti-social behaviour including talking with residents and young people congregating in the area and gathering intelligence to identify the culprits. 'You have recently been telling us about further incidents and I continue to urge people who are experiencing these issues to please continue to report them to us or Harlow Council.' When Mel Gibson unveiled his upcoming World War II drama about the first conscientious objector to be awarded a Medal of Honor, he had five words to describe the soldier: 'Real heroes don't wear Spandex.' Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge tells the true story of Seventh Day Adventist Desmond Doss, who enlists in the Army determined to save lives on the front line as a medic, but refuses to carry a gun on moral grounds. Doss, who died in 2006, was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry Truman in 1945 for single handedly saving the lives of more than 75 of his comrades during the Battle of Okinawa. In Hacksaw Ridge, Doss is played by actor Andrew Garfield, who rose to fame for his role in The Amazing Spider-Man Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge tells the true story of World War II medic and Seventh Day Adventist Desmond Doss, who was awarded a Medal of Honor in 1945 (pictured) In April 1942, Doss was 23 years old and working at a shipyard when he was called to the draft. But after conscientiously objecting on religious grounds, Doss enlisted as a medic determined to save lives on the front line, but refusing to carry a gun on moral grounds During the battle, the 1st Battalion was assaulted on top of a towering 400-foot cliff, which the film's title is named after - Hacksaw Ridge. The US soldiers scaled the escarpment only to be met by Japanese machine gun fire and flamethrowers. As others retreated, Doss - a Private First Class medic played by Andrew Garfield in the film - refused to seek cover and instead took care of the wounded. One by one, he carried men to the edge of the cliff and lowered them down - on a rope-supported litter he had devised - into friendly hands. Doss, a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, grew up in Lynchburg, Virginia. When he was a child, his father purchased a framed poster of the Ten Commandments one of which always stood out to him: 'Thou shalt not kill.' 'I wondered, how in the world could a brother do such a thing? It put a horror in my heart of just killing, and as a result I took it personally: "Desmond, if you love me, you won't kill,"' he once told Larry Smith in Beyond Glory, an oral history of Medal of Honor winners. Doss grew up in a small town on the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, where he saw his drunk father abuse his mother. Hacksaw Ridge shows an incident from his childhood, in which Doss got into a fight with his brother and hit him in the head with a brick. The event left him full of sorrow. Soon after, Doss became a pacifist and found a growing interest in medicine, though he did not have the education background to pursue the topic. In April 1942, Doss was 23 and working at a shipyard when he was called to the draft. He was given conscientious objector status after declining to bear arms due to religious principles. He then enlisted as a medic. Doss saved the lives of more than 75 of his comrades who were stranded on a cliff - called Hacksaw Ridge - in the Battle of Okinawa (pictured) He chose to become a medic in order to adhere to both the Sixth and Fourth Commandment - honoring the Sabbath. Though Seventh-day Adventists consider Saturday the Sabbath, Doss believed he could serve as a medic seven days a week, claiming that 'Christ healed on the Sabbath'. 'I felt like it was an honor to serve God and country,' he told the Richmond Times-Dispatch in 1998. 'I didn't want to be known as a draft dodger, but I sure didn't know what I was getting into.' Just before going into active duty in August 1942, Doss married his girlfriend, Dorothy, a nurse. Doss faced harassment from other soldiers while training in the states, due to his devotion to prayer, refusal to handle weapons and eat meat and his observation of the Sabbath. At one point, according to the New York Times, an officer tried to have him discharged on the ground of mental illness. Doss's pacifism causes him to be threatened with a court martial, but the issue is resolved and he heads to war. He first went overseas with the 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division in 1944, where he served as a combat medic in Guam and at Leyte in the Philippines, where he received a Bronze Star, which is awarded for heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. He then took part in the Battle of Okinawa in the Spring of 1945. It was on Saturday, May 5 - his Sabbath - when Doss and the troops he was accompanied scaled Hacksaw Ridge. He lowered stranded injured soldiers off the cliff with a rope-supported litter he had devised using knots he had learned as a child and used a tree stump as an anchor. Doss married his girlfriend, Dorothy, in August 1942, just before going into active duty. He first went overseas with the 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division in 1944, where he served as a combat medic in Guam and at Leyte in the Philippines Doss (pictured with his Medal of Honor in 1966) faced harassment from other soldiers while training in the states, due to his devotion to prayer, refusal to handle weapons and eat meat and his observation of the Sabbath. After every wounded man was lowered to safety below, Doss came down from the ridge uninjured. While he's credited for saving more than 75 soldiers, he later said that the number was likely closer to 50. Just over two weeks later, on May 21, Doss was injured in the legs by a grenade explosion during a night attack when he remained in exposed territory to give aid to others. According to his Medal of Honor citation, he cared for his own injuries rather than call another aid man from cover. He waited five hours until two of his comrades could reach him and carry him to cover. The three men were then caught in an enemy tank attack, and when Doss saw a more critically injured man nearby, he crawled off his litter and directed the litter bearers to give attention to the other man. But while waiting for the litter bearers to return, he was struck again and fractured his arm. He created a splint out of a rifle stock and crawled 300 yards to the aid station. On October 12, 1945, Truman presented Doss with a Medal of Honor for his actions in Okinawa. 'Through his outstanding bravery and unflinching determination in the face of desperately dangerous conditions Pfc. Doss saved the lives of many soldiers,' his Medal of Honor citation read. 'His name became a symbol throughout the 77th Infantry Division for outstanding gallantry far above and beyond the call of duty.' Because of his ailments, he was unable to find steady work and instead devoted himself to his religion and worked with youth groups. In the 1950s, Doss and his wife, Dorothy, then moved to Georgia, where he built a home and they raised their son, Desmond Jr Doss died, aged 86, in March 2006, after suffering a respiratory ailment. He was buried in the Chattanooga National Cemetery in Tennessee For the next five years, Doss was in and out of hospitals being treated for his wounds. He also lost a lung to tuberculosis. Because of his ailments, he was unable to find steady work and instead devoted himself to his religion. He worked with young people in church-sponsored programs in Georgia and Alabama. In the 1950s, Doss and his wife, Dorothy, then moved to Lookout Mountain in northwestern Georgia, where he built a home and they raised their son, Desmond Jr, according to the Library of Virginia. Dorothy died in a car accident in 1991, and Doss went on to marry Frances May Duman, a widow with three adult children, in 1993. Doss died, aged 86, in March 2006, after suffering a respiratory ailment. He was buried in the Chattanooga National Cemetery in Tennessee. Garfield, the actor playing Doss in the upcoming film after shooting to fame with the movie The Amazing Spider-Man, said Doss was much more inspiring than the web-weaving hero, whose Spandex costumes prompted Gibson's jibe. 'The fact that this man, who is built as skinnily as I am, dragged men across the most rugged terrain under gun fire, sniper fire, the possibility of motors and shells, and then lowered them down a 75-foot escarpment... that's like when you hear about mothers who lift trucks off babies,' said Garfield. 'He had a knowing in his heart and core that he wasn't supposed to take a man's life, but wanted to serve something greater than himself, and found his personal genius path to do that,' he added. Hacksaw Ridge will be released in theaters on November 4. A screening at the Venice Film Festival last week ended with a standing ovation. Based on reviews published thus far, Gibson's portrayal of Doss's story is gruesome, but appears to follow Doss's real life sincerely. Hacksaw Ridge will be released in theaters on November 4. Garfield applauded Doss's character as he prepared for the role Leigh Sales has grilled Acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce over his political donations he received from billionaire Gina Rinehart three years ago. The ABC 7.30 host pressed Mr Joyce about how Ms Rinehart's $50,000 donation to his election campaign was any different to embattled Labor senator Sam Dastyari, who asked a Chinese company to foot his travel expenses. Mr Joyce was quick to point out that Mr Dastyari had taken the money for himself while the donation he received in 2013 went towards a political party. 'The money goes to a political campaign, a party, it is auditable,' Mr Joyce said. Scroll down for video Leigh Sales (left) has grilled Acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce (right) over his political donations he received from billionaire Gina Rinehart three years ago 'What we have here is a direct cash payment to an individual by an entity closely associated with the Chinese Government and at the same time, so there's definitely correlation - a substantive change to a policy, not even the policy of the Labor Party. It's the policy of Sam Dastyari. Mr Shorten has to explain this,' Mr Joyce continued. Billionaire Gina Rinehart donated $50,000 to Mr Joyce's election campaign in 2013 Mr Dastyari has been at the centre of a controversy after he admitted to accepting $1,670 from Chinese company Top Education Institute to foot his travel bill. When Ms Sales repeatedly asked about the donation made by one of the richest women in Australia, Mr Joyce claimed other parties received campaign funds as well in an attempt to avoid answering the question. 'What do you think that you have to give her in response? Is it access? Why does she give that money? What does she expect?,' Ms Sales asked. 'I'm asking you what you, do you think you have to take phone calls from people or attend functions? What do you think you have to do?' Mr Joyce then responded: 'To be honest, Ms Rinehart, I haven't had to give anything. They are strongly of the conservative side of politics. 'There's no doubt about it. They support the conservative side of politics. They're Australian. It goes via a political party. It's auditable.' This comes after Mr Dastyari refused to step aside over 'cash for comment' allegations, insisting the opposition leader has not requested his resignation. Mr Joyce pictured with Ms Rinehart in 2014 - a year after she donated to his federal campaign When the ABC 730 host repeatedly asked about the donation, Mr Joyce claimed other parties received campaign funds as well in an attempt to avoid answering the question Labor leader Bill Shorten is standing by Senator Dastyari (pictured) despite mounting pressure for his head over the $1,600 payment But while admitting he made a mistake asking a Chinese company linked to Beijing to pay off a personal travel debt, Senator Dastyari denies it influenced his stance on the dispute in the South China Sea. Labor leader Bill Shorten is standing by Senator Dastyari despite mounting pressure for his head over the $1,600 payment and reports he said Australia should remain neutral and respect China in the territory dispute. The shadow minister, and manager of Labor's business in the Senate, won't admit he presented a contrary view to government and Labor policy at a media conference. 'I support the Labor Party position on the issue of the South China Sea,' he declared at his first press conference on the matter in Sydney on Tuesday. 'If there is an instance in which I have misspoken or been misquoted, then that is wrong.' Mr Shorten has 'very strongly' counselled the Labor senator, who played down his request for payment as a rushed decision made without consideration. Pressed on why he chose the company Top Education to foot the bill, the senator said it was 'a firm that I knew in Sydney'. 'It would have been inappropriate, regardless of who I had asked.' Acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce speaks during a news conference in Brisbane on Monday Despite increasing pressure to resign, Senator Dastyari, who was recently promoted to the outer shadow ministry, is standing firm Despite increasing pressure to resign, Senator Dastyari, who was recently promoted to the outer shadow ministry, is standing firm. 'I haven't offered and I haven't been asked,' he said. Earlier, the opposition leader backed his 33-year-old NSW senator, declaring he deserved a second chance because he was a 'bright young man'. Senator Dastyari's senior roles didn't stop Mr Shorten playing down his rank on Tuesday, repeatedly referring to him as a 'junior senator'. 'I've spoken to him severely and I've made it crystal clear that this behaviour is not the behaviour I expect in the future from him,' Mr Shorten told reporters in Melbourne on Tuesday. 'I am prepared, however, to give him a second chance.' The saga has reignited the debate about banning foreign donations, with conservative senators Cory Bernardi and Eric Abetz joining Labor calls for reform. bound for Houston had to stop in Nashville A plane was forced to make an emergency landing after a drunk college student broke down a toilet door, threw up and then started shouting in Arabic. Mohammed Nasser Aldoseri was arrested after his behavior meant United Express flight 3550 from Cincinnati to Houston had to divert to Nashville on Monday night. Police say the 26-year-old Texas Southern University student was unsteady on his feet and slurring his words after downing eight Lemon Drop shooters before boarding. Mohammed Nasser Aldoseri was arrested after his drunken behavior forced a flight from Cincinatti to Houston to make an emergency landing in Nashville. He allegedly broke down a bathroom door, threw up and then started shouting in Arabic When police got to him in Nashville, he was passed out in his seat, WKRN reported. Aldoseri is facing charges of Public Intoxication and Disorderly Conduct. The United flight continued to Houston after a brief delay in Nashville. He is being held on $3,000 bond at the Hill Detention Center, according to FOX 19. Shakespeare didn't come up with most of the famous phrases in his plays but was credited with them because of a fault with the Oxford English dictionary, a leading scholar claims. Phrases such as 'it's all Greek to me' from Julius Ceaser have long been considered the original work of the bard, but Dr David McInnis says internet searches reveal usage of the phrase before the play was written. Mr McInnis, a lecturer in Shakespeare Studies in Australia, argues that it is actually the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) that has attributed the phrases to Shakespeare, but it is 'biased'. Shakespeare (left) didn't come up with most of the famous phrases in his plays but was credited with them because of a fault with the Oxford English dictionary, according to scholar Dr David McInnis (right), from the University of Melbourne He explains how the OED contains quotations when defining words, and when looking for these, it 'preferred literary examples, and famous ones at that'. 'The Complete Works of Shakespeare was frequently raided for early examples of word use, even though words or phrases might have been used earlier, by less famous or less literary people,' he writes in the University of Melbourne magazine. As a result, there are more than 33,000 Shakespeare quotations in the OED, including 1,500 listed as the first time a word was used, and 7,500 examples of it being the first evidence of usage. However, it is now apparent that the phrases had been used earlier in some cases, such as 'its' all Greek to me,' which appears in playwright Robert Greene's The Scottish History of James The Fourth before in Julius Ceaser. FAMOUS BARD PHRASES THAT APPEARED EARLIER 'Its' all Greek to me,' which appears in playwright Robert Greene's The Scottish History of James The Fourth before in Julius Ceaser. 'A wild goose chase,' is credited as first appearing in Romeo and Juliet by the OED, but it had appeared at least six times in English poet Gervase Markham's book about horsemanship a few years earlier in 1593. 'Eaten out of house and home' is thought to first appear in Henry IV part two, written in the 1590s, but examples from as early as 1578 have been found. 'Without rhyme or reason' was thought to come from As You Like it but earlier versions can be traced back to the 1400s. Advertisement 'A wild goose chase,' is credited as first appearing in Romeo and Juliet by the OED, but it had appeared at least six times in English poet Gervase Markham's book about horsemanship a few years earlier in 1593. 'Eaten out of house and home' is thought to first appear in Henry IV part two, written in the 1590s, but examples from as early as 1578 have been found. However, Shakespeare is thought to have made them more 'concise' and 'catchy', which he did with 'the better part of valour is discretion', from Henry IV, part I. He did still invent most of his famous quotations, including 'to make an ass of oneself', however, he would have risked alienating his audience if he had invented too many phrases and words. 'His audiences had to understand at least the gist of what he meant, so his words were mostly in circulation already or were logical combinations of pre-existing concepts,' writes Dr McInnis. Krissoni Henderson, 31, told Noor Alneaimi she was 'Satan', it is alleged A Muslim bodyguard called a woman a 'prostitute' and threatened to 'blow her up' because she was wearing skinny jeans, a court heard. Krissoni Henderson, 31, told Noor Alneaimi she was 'Satan' and called her a 'slut' before ordering her to take off her jeans while she was listening to a Christian preacher in Birmingham city centre on July 4, prosecutors claim. The victim, who was also a Muslim, said she was reduced to tears following the ten-minute tirade which attracted a crowd of 60 people and one man asked her: 'How much do you charge for the night?' Henderson and several others allegedly hurled pro-ISIS abuse at Ms Alneaimi, 38, which left her 'absolutely petrified'. Police arrived in New Street at around 5.30pm and questioned Henderson but he was allowed to walk free from the scene. The bodyguard, who is currently unemployed, was arrested at his home in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter the following day and charged with causing intentional harassment, alarm or distress and using racially aggravated insulting words or behaviour. Henderson, of Brook Street, went on trial at Birmingham Magistrates' Court today and appeared in the dock wearing a skin-tight baby blue sweatshirt, brown trousers and a dark blue waistcoat. Scroll down for video Henderson, 31, with his Danielle arriving at Birmingham Magistrates court today where he is charged with public order offences for allegedly shouting verbal abuse Henderson put on this black robe outside Birmingham Magistrates' Court and denied being an 'Islamic preacher' During the hearing he paced around the dock and shook his head and at one point he turned his back on proceedings to pray. Prosecutor Simon Brownsey told the court: 'It's the Crown's case that at the hands of Mr Henderson this woman was the victim of religious and offensive words, including calling her a kafir - a derogatory term for a non-believer. '(He also said) he would follow her home and blow her up. At the time he wasn't known to her and she has expressed concerns about seeing him again because of the threat. 'She was listening to a Christian preacher on New Street and the defendant was also present. He targeted Noor Alneaimi by observing she was wearing tight jeans and told her to take them off. 'He told her she was Satan, she was the devil, she was a slut, she was a prostitute. He said: "Take off your tight jeans or you're going to burn in hell, kafir. I'm going to follow you home and blow up your house." Henderson accepts he was there but argues he didn't use these words or engage in this behaviour, Mr Brownsey added. Giving evidence from behind a screen, student Ms Alneaimi told the court: 'I was walking down the street when I heard a Christian preacher. I found it quite interesting so I stopped to listen. Henderson accepts he was there but argues he didn't use these words or engage in this behaviour, Mr Brownsey, prosecuting, said The bodyguard, who is currently unemployed, was arrested at his home in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter the following day Krissoni Henderson leaves Birmingham Magistrates' Court, as the Islamic street preacher threatened to blow up a Muslim woman's house, the court heard 'I'm a Muslim and I have respect for all religions. All of a sudden I could hear the defendant shout abusive language to passers by. 'He started calling females on the street prostitutes, predominantly white women, calling them sluts. One woman started crying and ran off. 'Then he started hurling abuse at me. He said: "Look at your tight jeans. You are a kafir'. I was dressed in Western clothes so I don't think he thought I was a Muslim." 'He kept saying: 'Satan, Satan, Satan' and it started drawing attention. 'I moved away because I was becoming frightened. But something inside me said: "No, I'm going to go and confront him." 'I said to him: 'Excuse me, why would you say those horrible things to me?' 'A female with him lunged at me but he said: "Leave it, leave it" and started raising his voice even louder. 'I stuck my middle finger up at him and told him I was going to report him to the authorities. He said: "They can't do nothing. I will come to your house and blow up you and blow up your house"'. 'I started shaking. I had just had double eye surgery. A group of men started sniggering and one of them said 'oi oi, darling' and asked how much I charged for the night. I started to cry because my image had been tarnished.' 'Then he started shouting: 'Long live Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi' - the leader of ISIS. Then a group of seven men in black robes with beards came over to me openly told me they supported Anjem Choudary and ISIS. They said: 'What are you going to do about it?' Now the High Court will rule whether sensitive police files can be released Hearing was to look at death of Russian tycoon Alexander Perepilichnyy The inquest over Alexander Perepilichnyy's death has been delayed again A coroner has blasted Government 'nonsense' after an inquest into the death of a Russian whistleblower, claimed to be the victim of an assassination attempt, was delayed for six months amid accusations of a cover-up. The Government was asked to provide further evidence over sensitive police documents surrounding the death of Alexander Perepilichnyy in order for the High Court to rule on whether they should be withheld from the inquest on the grounds of national security. The inquest was due to be held almost four years after the Russian father-of-two collapsed and died while running near his 3million St George's Hill estate in Weybridge, Surrey, in November 2012. Today it was pushed back to March next year after a Government barrister said a minister had decided Surrey Coroner, Richard Travers, could not see the three police files. Melanie Cumberland told Woking Coroners' Court a letter from the Government stated an application to the High Court should instead be made over their disclosure. The coroner's legal representative, Peter Skelton QC, said correspondence with the Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office had 'neither confirmed nor denied' the presence of third party involvement or threats made to the 44-year-old Russian's life. An earlier inquest pre-hearing was told that Russian interpol linked Mr Perepilichnyy to organised money laundering in 2007 and 2009 before he fled to the UK and became a whistleblower for the Swiss authorities. Russian whistle blower 'linked to money laundering by Interpol' was found dead in 'possible assassination' near his Surrey mansion (pictured) The tycoon had revealed information in an investigation into a 140 million Russian money-laundering scheme in Swiss bank accounts when he was found dead near his home. The pre-inquest hearing was told the authorities were investigating the alleged complicity of corrupt Russian officials in a multi-million pound fraud of Hermitage Capital Management. The information received from Mr Perepilichnyy was described as 'explosive' by a representative for the company, Ms Henrietta Hill. Police ruled out foul play at the time of his death and refused to comment on any links he may have had with British spies after he collapsed while jogging outside his home. Forensic tests over a natural death came back negative, however and it was later revealed at a later pre-inquest hearing that the man had been known to the service and had been linked to money laundering crimes. Other hearings were told that Mr Perepilichnyy took out several multi-million pounds life insurance policies, including one which only became active eight days before his death, with Legal & General. Police ruled out foul play at the time of his death (near home pictured) and refused to comment on any links he may have had with British spies Mr Travers said: 'I would like to say that I am enormously frustrated. I have done my level best to keep the hearing date of September. 'I know that Ms Perepilichnyy, through her counsel on previous occasions, has sought to press me in any way we can, that we should keep it because of the pressures, quite naturally being brought upon her and her family. 'I am now placed in a position where I have really no choice, no choice but to vacate that hearing date and in effect, as the Government wants me to, to go to the High Court which I did not regard as necessary. Ms Cumberland, representing the Government at the hearing, admitted there may have been a 'lack of understanding' but she said the Government's correspondence to the coroner had been 'co-operative.' However, the coroner stormed: 'Why did they prepare a ministerial certificate that I cannot look at? It just seems to me to be a complete nonsense.' He added the minister could have disclosed the documents because 'it was always an option for the Government to go to the High Court to challenge my findings.' Dijon Basu, representing Surrey Police, said he found the months of Government intervention with the inquest case 'astonishing.' The hearing was told the Government had given the coroner a 'confidential gist' over the sensitive documents but Mr Travers had asked for further evidence in the form of a 'ministerial certificate.' It was heard that producing that document was a straight forward process. The next date in the inquest saga will take place in March next year at Surrey Coroner's Court Bob Moxon Browne QC, representing Legal and General, said: 'You cannot see the reasons why the interested parties cannot see the gist, that is truly an Alice in Wonderland position.' He said his client was 'appalled by this turn of events' and asked if the inquest could go ahead. Mr Browne added 500 million was moved from a bank account concerning the case the day before Mr Perepilichnyy was 'poisoned'. Mr Browne had previously named Russian lawyer Andrei Pavlov as a 'candidate for the killing' and told the inquest: 'He is someone who, for reasons of his own, may be quite keen to give evidence but not to come to the United Kingdom.' Henrietta Hill, for Hermitage Capital Management, argued against holding the inquest and said the information which was sought by the coroner concerned threats to the life to Mr Perepilichnyy, third party involvement in his death and a list of named individuals. She added the application to the High Court and hearing over the disclosure would also take up to three days of court time. Robin Roberts has recounted to 'Sully' star Tom Hanks how she thought the 'Miracle on the Hudson' landing seven years ago was another terrorist attack on New York. The 'Good Morning America' anchor was at home when she spotted US Airways Flight 1549 as it headed to the Hudson River on January 15, 2009. 'Into the Hudson River....a US air... oh my gosh,' a shocked Roberts is heard in a recording of the 911 call, which was the second to report the low-flying plane. Scroll down for video 'Good Morning America' anchor Robin Roberts told 'Sully' star Tom Hanks she thought the 'Miracle on the Hudson' landing seven years ago was another terrorist attack on New York Hanks stars as hero captain Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger in Clint Eastwood's biopic of the incident, when the US Airways Flight 1549 landed on the Hudson River on January 15, 2009 'You saw a commercial airline plane flying low over the skyline of Manhattan, so what did you think?' asked Hanks, who stars as hero captain Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger in Clint Eastwood's biopic of the incident. 'I thought: 9/11 all over again,' Roberts told him as they discussed the movie on 'Good Morning America.' Hanks, 60, replied: 'Look what happened instead. I think the amazing thing about the movie and what Sully did is what was avoided. 'New York City and America did not need to see another wrecked plane.' US Airways Flight 1549 landed on the Hudson River on January 15, 2009, as it headed to Charlotte, North Carolina The aircraft went into the emergency landing after it struck a flock of Canada geese three minutes into the flight The 'Miracle on the Hudson' incident is being pictured on 'Sully,' which stars Tom Hanks (left) as hero captain Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger (right) There were 155 passengers aboard the Charlotte-bound US Airways Flight 1549. The first sign of trouble appeared minutes after take off from LaGuardia Airport, as the plane began to shake. The aircraft had struck a flock of Canada geese three minutes into the flight. Both engines quickly lost power as the plane neared the George Washington Bridge. The wreckage of the US Airways airplane that crashed in the Hudson River emerges out of the river as emergency crew workers attempt to hoist it with a crane The movie shows Sullenberger and co-pilot Jeff Skiles, played by Aaron Eckhart in 'Suly,' as they tried to land at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport but were too far There were 155 passengers aboard the Charlotte-bound US Airways Flight 1549. Only minor injuries were reported Sullenberger and co-pilot Jeff Skiles, played by Aaron Eckhart in 'Suly,' at first tried to land at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport but they were too far. The pilots aimed for the only runaway they could see the Hudson River and safely landed. Ukraine's president has warned that a full-scale invasion from Russia could be on the horizon - with Europe powerless to fight the Kremlin's 'aggression'. Petro Poroshenko made the statement at the opening of the country's September parliament session today. He warned that with Europe's internal strength being tested by the migration crisis and terrorist attacks, elections across the continent could see governments come to power which are more willing to compromise with Russia. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko fears that Europe will not stand up to Russian 'aggression', and that a full-scale invasion could be on the horizon Poroshenko said: 'Ukraine will continue to need strong international support in the fight against Russian aggression. 'But securing this support is becoming increasingly difficult for our diplomats due to different objective and subjective factors.' Leaders in Ukraine are worried about losing support in the standoff with Russia over the annexation of Crimea in 2014. A Russian flag flies in the foreground as armed men in uniform block a Ukrainian military base near the village of Perevalne, 20 km south of Simferopol, Ukraine, in March 2014 Ukraine will continue to need strong international support in the fight against Russian aggression. But securing this support is becoming increasingly difficult for our diplomats due to different objective and subjective factors. Petro Poroshenko The ongoing conflict in the Donbass region between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists has killed more than 9,500 people in the last two years. The Ukrainian president said that although the country is safer than it was a year ago, a full-scale invasion from Russia could not be ruled out. Poroshenko said: 'Over the course of the next year, political forces could come to power as a result of elections in several European countries that may not be extremist, but are inclined to compromise with the Kremlin. Pro-Russian protesters clash with activists supporting the territorial integrity of Ukraine in 2014 'Europe still speaks with one voice, but there are also countries where the Russian accent is already too audible.' The European Union is split over whether to continue putting sanctions on Russia that have taken an economic toll on both sides. Ukrainian lawmakers have previously voiced fears that the rise of populist sentiment Tensions between Ukraine and Russia spiked in August after Russia accused Ukraine of planning attacks in Crimea. Tensions are high after Russia accused Ukraine of planning attacks in Crimea 'Nazi sympathisers' targeted a terrified manager at a refugee drop-in centre by pouring battery acid into her apartment block, and posting a firework into her workplace in northwest Germany. Karen Larisch, who manages the centre in the rural town of Gustrow, has been branded a 'traitor' in sinister graffiti, and has been abused online and on the phone because of her work. She says neo-Nazis in the town, which is in the former East Germany, have left her 'so afraid'. Karen Larisch said Neo-Nazis poured battery acid into her apartment block, and posted a firework into the refugee centre where she is a manager A handful of the million migrants to be taken in by the German government are now living in Gustrow, which is in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state. Larisch told Sky News: 'Sometimes I could cry. 'It's very hard. They say it would be nice if the refugees raped you, that refugees are bad people.' Larisch has been singled out for abuse in this sinister graffiti, which says she 'stinks' And she stated: 'There are guys they hate me and every time they see me in this town they are not nice to me, so I'm afraid.' As Larisch spoke to the camera, two men she described as Nazi sympathisers appeared, and she called police. The men soon cycled off, describing her as a 'hysterical woman' and saying they were in a 'free town'. A firework was posted through the letterbox at the drop-in centre for refugees in Gustrow Two men, who Larisch described as Neo-Nazis, were filmed as she spoke about her ordeal on camera Sometimes I could cry. It's very hard. They say it would be nice if the refugees raped you, that refugees are bad people. Karen Larisch Despite the initimidation, Larisch said she will continue her work supporting refugees. Annual crime statistics revealed that violent far-right crime rose by more than 40 per cent in the past year, with 1,485 reported in 12 months, compared to 1,029 the previous year. Anti-immigrant sentiment is rising in Germany, with nationalist group the Alternative for Germany party (AfD) defeating Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in a state election at the weekend. The AfD was formed three years ago but has gained in momentum. Frauke Petry, leader of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany Party (AfD) has called for greater border controls after victory at the polls on Sunday Party leader Frauke Petry told CNN after Sunday's election: 'The CDU is falling apart, but not only up there. 'We see that in many regions of Germany where the CDU bases, the party bases, don't agree with Merkel's policy anymore. 'We want that the German government closes German borders to illegal migration... We don't want a new border in Germany. Angela Merkel's CDU party was defeated in state elections on Sunday, with immigration one of the key issues in the contest 'But we need controlled borders. We need a change of legislation on a German level, but also an EU level, to avoid illegal migration.' The former Manchester United steward accused of murdering an imam because of his 'ISIS beliefs' was friends with Alan Henning, who was killed by the jihadists in Syria. Mohammed Syeedy, 21, allegedly murdered Manchester religious leader Jalal Uddin, 71, in an ISIS-inspired attack because he did not like his 'black magic'. Mr Uddin, a well-respected imam who was dubbed 'Voldermort' by ISIS, was battered to death in February this year in a children's park as he walked home after prayers at his mosque in Rochdale. However, it emerged today that the older brother of the defendant was 'a close friend' of Mr Henning, who was murdered by Jihadi John, broadcast on YouTube in 2015, after being kidnapped on an aid convoy in 2013. Mohammed Hussain Syeedy (left), who is accused of murdering Jalal Uddin (right) in an ISIS-motivated attack, today told jurors he was a former Manchester United club steward The former Manchester United steward accused of murdering an imam because of his 'ISIS beliefs' was friends with Alan Henning (pictured), who was killed by the jihadists in Syria It emerged today that the older brother of the defendant was 'a close friend' of Mr Henning, who was murdered by Jihadi John, broadcast on YouTube in 2015, after being kidnapped on an aid convoy in 2013 Defending Icah Peat QC showed Manchester Crown Court an image of Mr Henning raising his finger towards the sky in a gesture which is now associated with ISIS. They were then shown another image of Mr Henning with the defendant's older brother, who went on the Al Fatiha aid convoy to Syria together in 2013 on the Rochdale to Syria aid convoy. Syeedy went on a similar trip in 2013, but did not attend this one. He told the court: 'They were part of a convoy with Al Fatiha and in 2013 they went on the convoy together. 'I also knew Gadget (Mr Henning) through charitable events which I also participated in. My older brother was really close to Gadget. 'He was not a Muslim. He was helping the people of Syria. Unfortunately he was killed by ISIS members. 'If Alan Henning was raising his finger pledging allegiance to ISIS I don't think ISIS would have killed him.' Syeedy with a banner that reads 'Rochdale 2 Syria' and standing with friends who are allegedly performing an ISIS salute. They wear robes with daggers and AK-47s on Mr Peat then asked: 'When you learned about what ISIS had done to the person you knew, a person that you were friends with and had met at a variety of events, when you found out what ISIS had done to this person what did you feel? He replied: 'I was really really upset. The fact that a person of his calibre who is not only not a Muslim, he was helping the people of Syria even though he never even participated in Christmas which was his celebration, he gave up that celebration. 'The fact that ISIS murdered him was a complete shock to me. I felt disgusted that ISIS could do this to such a person. Photographs show Syeedy posting with a flag of the Shahada - the Muslim profession of faith - which is draped over road signs (shown above) 'There is nothing to indicate that I have ever pledged an allegiance to ISIS - that organisation has nothing to do with me. 'My actions over so many years of helping the community show this. I have never ever shown anger or aggression or violence towards anybody. 'No one can say I'm a bad person because its not in my character. Not a single person has come up here saying "Syeedy is this Syeedy is that", so to say that I am part of an organisation that I don't agree with shocks me.' This comes after Syeedy was questioned regarding images of him on his phone of him doing the same gesture, pointing to the sky and posing with an ISIS flag. A photograph found on Mohammed Hussain Syeedy's mobile phone shows him posing with a flag in Rochdale and performing what prosecutors claim is an 'ISIS-salute' The prosecution claim Syeedy and Mohammed Abudul Kadir, 24, carried out the killing because the duo did not like Ruqya, a traditional Islamic healing which the imam practised. The form of healing - which ISIS extremists believe should be punished with death -involves amulets, known as Taweez, which are said to bring good fortune. According to prosecutors, the pair and their associates carried out secret surveillance to establish where the imam was living before raiding the mosque where he kept his books of 'spells' and launching the late-night attack. Yesterday, taking the stand for the first time, Syeedy told the court that he could not have carried out the killing because he was against ISIS and did not like 'innocent people dying'. 'I do not support ISIS. I don't support any of their ideologies or the ways or words of their actions,' he said. 'I think what the things they are doing is absolutely wrong. I do not agree with what ISIS are doing around the world.' He added that, although he did not agree with Ruqya, he sees it as God's job to hand out 'punishment'. The trial continues. 'Covertly recorded' video shows Rochdale imam 'being stalked by his murderer who trailed him for six months before killing him with a hammer outside his mosque' Video has today emerged of Jalal Uddin allegedly being stalked by his murderer who trailed him for six months before killing him with a hammer outside his mosque. On September 6 last year 'covertly-recorded' footage of Jalal Uddin was sent to the murder suspect's phone. Who filmed it is not clear. The footage, which shows Mr Uddin in a white head scarf talking warmly to a friend, was shown to the jury. Video has today emerged of Jalal Uddin allegedly being stalked by his murderer who trailed him for six months before killing him with a hammer outside his mosque Unaware he is being watched, the well-liked Mr Uddin talks to a Rochdale resident. He pats him on the shoulder and walks down the street as the unnamed man gets into his car. Unaware he is being watched, the well-liked Mr Uddin talks to a Rochdale resident Prosecutor Paul Greaney told Manchester Crown Court: 'It is plain, therefore, that the antagonism towards Jalal Uddin was starting to boil up, for no better reason than that he practised what was, in reality a form of healing of which the group and ISIS disapproved. 'That the defendant was an integral part of this is demonstrated by the fact that he had possession of the footage and engaged in the messages, as we have seen.' The men were said to have started their surveillance of Mr Uddin in August last year - six months before the murder - believing he was practising 'magic' ISIS extremists believe should be punished with death. A man was arrested for allegedly bulldozing his neighbor's house in a dispute that has spiraled out of control, police said. Edgar Dallas McLellan, 57, was arrested after his backhoe was spotted demolishing Higdon's home in Drummonds, Tennessee, according to the Tipton County Sheriff's Office. Just hours before, John Higdon, 48, was arrested for reckless endangerment after he admitted to firing several shots in the woods near his house because he saw people wearing camouflaged suits lurking around. Edgar Dallas McLellan, 57, (left) was arrested after his backhoe was spotted demolishing Higdon's home in Drummonds, Tennessee. Just hours before, John Higdon, 48, (right) was arrested for reckless endangerment after he admitted to firing several shots into the woods On Friday, deputies received reports that shots had been fired multiple times in the 700 block of Grimes Road (pictured, Higdon's destroyed house) Upon questioning, Higdon admitted to shooting his gun into the woods several times after he saw people in camouflage suits hiding and running around When a second complaint came in at 11pm that night reporting shots had been fired into the woods, Higdon was arrested for reckless endangerment On Friday, deputies received reports that shots had been fired multiple times in the 700 block of Grimes Road. Upon questioning, Higdon admitted to shooting his gun into the woods several times after he saw people in camouflage suits hiding and running around. Deputies searched the area, but did not find anyone that matched his description. The incident came after Higdon reported that five people he believed to be his neighbor's employees were shining a light into his home, according to the sheriff's office. When a second complaint came in at 11pm that night reporting shots had been fired into the woods, deputies returned to arrest Higdon for reckless endangerment. Three hours later at 2.15am on Saturday, another neighbor told the sheriff's office an orange backhoe was demolishing Higdon's home at 771 Grimes Road. Three hours later at 2.15am on Tuesday, another neighbor told the sheriff's office an orange backhoe was demolishing Higdon's home at 771 Grimes Road Detectives found McLellan, who lives down the road at 729 Grimes Road, owned the backhoe which had debris from Higdon's home still lodged in it (pictured, a truck at the property was also damaged) Detectives found McLellan, who lives down the road at 729 Grimes Road, owned the backhoe which had debris from Higdon's home still lodged in it. The 57-year-old has been arrested for aggravated criminal trespassing and felony vandalism. While the sheriff's office called it a 'neighbor's dispute' that had escalated, Sammy Higdon, who lives with his brother John, didn't understand why the house was destroyed. 'Don't know why. Never had beef with him. No explanation,' he told WMC. 'This man over here decides to come over here at 2 o'clock in the morning with a dozer and starts pushing the house down.' John added: 'He run the tractor through both bedrooms where the bed sits...I still don't know what to believe.' Both John Higdon and McLellan have been freed on bond as an investigation continues. The 57-year-old has been arrested for aggravated criminal trespassing and felony vandalism Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump hammered the latest revelations about the Clinton email scandal including that a private company worker destroyed Clinton emails using special software after revelations that Clinton was maintaining a private server. Appearing in Virginia Beach, where he tailored his appeal to veterans and military members, Trump brought up the 13 mobile devices Clinton was revealed to have maintained as well as the recent disclosure from FBI interviews that an aide destroyed devices with a hammer when they went out of use. 'Thirteen phones, iPhones, whatever they were just banging the heck out of them,' Trump told a crowd of several hundred in a performing arts center. 'How about the acid wash of the emails? How about the 33,ooo missing emails that were acid washed, they're acid washed. Rudy was telling me nobody does it because it's such an expensive process,' he said, referencing former New York mayor and advisor Rudy Giuliani. Scroll down for video Republican Donald Trump said Clinton 'acid washed' emails a reference to a private security firm employee who told the FBI that 'Bleachbit' software was used to destroy information Trump was referring to the statement in FBI documents that shed new details on the destruction of emails that had been on Clinton's private server. Then he joked: 'These emails had to do with the wedding. I give that five and the other thing was the yoga classes.' The line was a reference to an early Clinton campaign statement that the deleted emails were personal in nature. 'This is a very sad time, I'm telling you, for justice in this country,' Trump said. On Friday, it was revealed that a Platte River Networks employee suffered an 'Oh sh**' moment after failing to follow through on a December directive to destroy archived emails following media reports about Clinton's server. The employee told the FBI they 'deleted the Clinton archive mailbox from the PRN server and used BleachBit to delete' exported files, according to the FBI report. As part of the document dump, it was revealed an FBI agent's notes that an employee destroyed Clinton's blackberry devices and other mobile phones that went out of use by 'breaking them in half or hitting them with a hammer.' On Monday, the Associated Press reported that Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah was asking a federal prosector to probe whether Clinton was involved with the deletion of emails by the Denver-based firm. Donald Trump takes the stage with his daughter Ivanka during a campaign town hall meeting in Virginia Beach NOW FLYNN GETS TO DO THE INTERVIEW: Trump was interviewed by retired Army Lieutenant General Mike Flynn, who was on Trump's own short list to be vice president Those emails are in fact different from the 33,000 emails Clinton's own attorney's handed over to the State Department after it was revealed she used her own private system and not a government account. Then Trump teed off on the timing of the latest document dump on the Friday that kicked off Labor Day weekend.The interview takes place on July Fourth weekend with no taping no tape recorder no nothing. 'How about I guess it was July 4th weekend,' he said, referencing Clinton's weekend FBI interview. 'With no taping, no tape recorder no nothing.' 'And then the information that they wanted was released on Friday before labor Day weekend, Friday afternoon, so everyone's away.' 'This is a very very sad situation that's going on here. I've never seen it like this. We're like a Third World country. Never seen anything like it. But on November 8th, we will cure this problem,' Trump promised. Trump also spoke about foreign policy, the military, and veterans. The event was set up like a 'town hall,' but the man doing the interviewing was Lt. General Mike Flynn, who Trump considered as his running mate. 'We have to knock out ISIS. We have to knock 'em out good,' Trump said. The candidate said Russian President Vladimir Putin 'laughs' at Hillary Clinton. 'Putin looks at her and he laughs. Putin looks at Hillary Clinton and he smiles. Boy would he like to see her. That would be easy. Every decision she's made has been a loser.' On Monday, Clinton once again went after Trump for a series of favorable comments about Putin. Trump also spoke about his immigration plans, saying a 'small percentage' of immigrants were bad but that it wasn't an acceptable risk. Trump spoke in a military town to a crowd filled with veterans 'We all have big hearts we just can't let these people into our country until we find out what's going on,' Trump said Trump said of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hillary Clinton: 'Putin looks at her and he laughs' 'We all have big hearts we just can't let these people into our country until we find out what's going on,' Trump said. 'We're allowing people to come here and we don't know do they turn on us? Are a small percentage of them bad? Because if a small percent is bad that's not acceptable. We can't take the risk. Just a small percentage could do such damage,' said. 'By the way, you have illegal immigrants, I hate to say this in this room you have illegal immigrants that she wants and he wants treated better than veterans,' Trump told the crowd. Trump returned to the 'ransom' payment the U.S. made just as Iranian-held captives were released. 'Who ever heard of $400 million in cash different denominations, different countries who even has the power to authorize something like this?' Trump asked. He said the Obama administration had 'created what will be a world power' in Iran. Asked about whether he favored 'regime change' in Syria, Trump returned to the subject of the deal negotiated by the Obama administration and international powers over Iran's nuclear program. 'Four years ago they were dying, they were gasping for air. All we had to do is let them sit for a while, double up your sanctions,' he said about the already-sanctioned regime. 'They didn't have anything going. And now they're a power,' Trump said. Trump hailed a new CNN poll that has him leading Clinton. 'I know that for a fact because people that didn't call me yesterday, they're calling me today it's the way life works.' He told the military-heavy crowd: 'The females veterans have been like the forgotten people.' 'We are going to do procedures that they've never done. We are going to help the female veterans. They have not been helped they've been left behind,' he said. Trump spoke in Virginia Beach, a military town that one speaker, Major General Bert Mizusawa, called the 'most lethal and powerful' assemblage of military forces in the world. It is center of military power on the East Coast, and includes the naval station at Norfolk, Naval Air Station Oceana, Fort Eustis, Langley Air Force Base, plus critical command facilities and special operations. After the interview with Flynn, Trump met with military spouses, mostly wives. Earlier Tuesday, the Trump campaign released the names of 88 retired military figures who endorsed the candidate. Mizusawa, a bronze star recipient who advises Trump hailed the leader as 'a thoughtful careful and exceptionally perceptive individual who understands the dangers of the world and is willing to do what is necessary to defeat them.' He also brought up Clinton's email scandal and said the nation needed 'a strong, faithful and energetic leader in the White House' following repeated questioning by Trump of Clinton's stamina. The Sandler performing arts venue in Virginia Beach was packed with dozens of veterans, as well as military family members. Trump was backed during the conversation by a group of military veterans and family members. He trumpeted the release of a letter from 88 retired generals and other military members. 'These are our fighting generals, and there's actually a lot more to come,' Trump said. The letter states: 'The 2016 election affords the American people an urgently needed opportunity to make a long overdue course correction in our national security posture and policy.' Airport officials in Amsterdam were stunned when thermal images revealed 259 live animals stuffed into suitcases! The strange haul included protected lizards, turtles and snakes which had travelled all the way from Mexico without light, food or air. Amazingly, only ten of the creatures died during the long journey in the hand luggage of three passengers. The animals were found in the hand luggage of three passengers who arrived in Amsterdam from Mexico and who, according to customs officers, were acting in a suspicious manner Customs officers discovered the unauthorised animals inside the passengers' hand luggage The trio, all Spanish, were passing through Amsterdam airport en route from Mexico back to Spain. Customs officials scanned their luggage after becoming suspicious about their behaviour. The creatures included 14 chuckwallas, large lizards found primarily in the arid regions of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. They can live for more than 25 years. Similar to an iguana, they protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. The three men face prosecution for flouting the Flora and Fauna Act and animal cruelty. "Transporting such animals in suitcases would have seriously affected their well-being," said a spokesman for the Dutch food and consumer watchdog NVWA. The illegal stash was said to be worth around 60,000 on the black market. An Uber driver has been arrested after he was spotted lurking outside the home where he dropped two women off about an hour earlier after a night out. Christopher Cuccorillo, 40, was arrested shortly after 5am on Sunday after driving two women back to their apartment in St Petersberg, Florida. Police say Cuccorillo was spotted 'prowling' outside the complex an hour later, according to documents published by the Smoking Gun. Uber driver Christopher Cuccorillo (pictured) has been arrested after he was spotted lurking outside the home where he dropped two women off earlier in the night A witness who called the cops said they heard the 40-year-old 'tampering with the rear window' of an apartment and attempting to get inside the condo building. They added he then walked back and forth across an area at the back of the building. After he was busted and police arrived on the scene, Cuccorillo said he was 'checking on' the two women he had dropped off, adding they had asked him to do so. While being questioned, his story 'changed several times', making the officer more suspicious. Cuccorillo, 40, was arrested shortly after 5am on Sunday after driving two women back to their apartment in St Petersberg, Florida A criminal complaint filed against the driver details the allegations about his 'prowling' behavior on Sunday morning Police say Cuccorillo was spotted 'prowling' outside the apartment complex (pictured) more than an hour later When they then spoke to one of the women the 40-year-old driver had given a lift home, she said they did not ask him to keep an eye on them. He was then arrested for loitering and prowling. A manual, written by a St John's College student in 1893, provided useful tips for worried students. Pictured, Cuthbert Holthouse proudly clutching a giant wooden spoon in 1909 Most male undergraduates today will not need advice about how to approach members of the opposite sex. But Victorian freshers were assisted with a handy guide about what to expect when they started their studies at Cambridge University in the 19th century. A manual, written by a St John's College student in 1893, provided useful tips for worried students attempting to adjust to life away from home for the first time. Advice included never speaking to girls without an introduction and not playing the piano all day 'however accomplished you may be'. The guide features in a collection going on public display at St John's College as part of Open Cambridge 2016. Arthur John Story penned the booklet to assist new arrivals with tips on how to be cool, how not to annoy neighbours and how to avoid getting into trouble. It urges students to make tea for visitors and suggests not walking the streets four abreast 'as if you were part-proprietor of the town'. Other pearls of wisdom included 'don't, if you are in lodgings, get too familiar with your landlady's daughter, as she is probably more clever than you'. Scroll down for video The booklet adds: 'Don't attempt to keep every brand of wine under the sun. Most Undergrads cannot distinguish "Bordeaux" from "Burgundy" if served in a decanter.' It also advises male undergraduates against taking a girl home from the tobacconist's or confectioner's. Arthur John Story penned the booklet to assist new arrivals with tips on how to be cool, how not to annoy neighbours and how to avoid getting into trouble 'You gain nobody's respect by so doing, and the girl's only notion is to encourage a good customer,' the guide says. Other highlights of the display include the diary of Abraham de la Pryme, who kept a record of his time as an undergraduate at St John's in the 1690s. Pryme talks of pranks as an essential part of student life and describes an event where some students tricked the local people of Cambridge into thinking that a house was haunted. After causing mass hysteria, a passer-by was quick to publicly debunk the students' stunt, shouting: 'Fy, Fy! Go home for shame!' The guide features in a collection going on public display at St John's College as part of Open Cambridge 2016 Unfortunately for the students, the 'passer-by' happened to be Sir Isaac Newton, widely recognised as one of the most influential scientists of all time. The exhibition features newspaper clippings about more modern college escapades, such as when a group of engineering students suspended a car from the Bridge of Sighs at St John's in 1963. It took the college maintenance team six hours to free the car and remove it via punt. Photographs of St John's student Cuthbert Holthouse proudly clutching a giant wooden spoon in 1909 will also be displayed. The exhibition documents the arrival of the first international students in the 19th century and the admission of women as fully fledged members of the college in the 20th century The spoon was a trophy traditionally awarded to the maths student who came bottom of his class, and was a highly sought-after prize until the practice was abolished in the early part of the 20th century. Holthouse's spoon, the last to be awarded, is now displayed at the college. The exhibition documents the arrival of the first international students in the 19th century and the admission of women as fully fledged members of the college in the 20th century. It opens this Friday from 2-4.30pm and on Saturday from 2-5pm in the Old Library at St John's. Entrance is free. Two middle school students have been hospitalized after a bus full of kids crashed into a Louisiana canal. Students at T.H. Harris Middle School, in Jefferson Parish, were on their way to a track meet this afternoon when the bus driver lost control after making a U-turn and swerved off road. The school bus plummeted down the banks of the canal and landed nose first in the water at around 1.45pm on Tuesday, according to Nola.com. Two middle school students have been hospitalized after a bus full of kids crashed into a Louisiana canal (pictured) The school bus plummeted down the banks of the canal and landed nose first in the water at around 1.45pm on Tuesday Students who were on the bus talk with police officers after the crash East Bank Consolidated Fire Department rushed to their aid and the 34 children aboard, plus the driver, were rescued through the back of the bus. Despite the crash, only two students sustained injury and were taken to hospital, including one girl who hurt her foot or ankle. Students said they were being transported to a track meet at East Jefferson High School. Rick Herbert, of Metairie, said he was driving behind the bus when he saw the crash. Students at T.H. Harris Middle School, in Jefferson Parish, were on their way home this afternoon when the bus driver lost control after making a U-turn and swerved off road The school bus plummeted down the banks of the canal and landed nose first in the water at around 1.45pm on Tuesday The T.H. Harris Middle School students were on the way to a track meet when the crash occured 'I'm telling you, that bus flew up in the air and just kept going down into the canal,' Herbert told Nola. He said that as he and other motorists rushed down the canal banks, they could hear the screams from children trapped inside. Herbert said he opened the front door of the bus to help some of the children and the driver escape. Student Deantea Varmall, 11, was sitting near the back of the bus when she heard a loud noise, and 'we had fell in the ditch.' She said someone helped her leave the bus through the back, emergency door. Col. John Fortunato, spokesman for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, declined to comment to reporters. A woman who was startled by a mouse in her car jumped out and helplessly watched as her SUV rolled straight into the ocean. The woman was leaving Swantner Park in Corpus Christi, Texas, around 10.30am on Monday when she felt a mouse brush against her leg. She managed to escape the rodent, but accidentally threw her car into gear in the process, which sent it rolling into bay before it was overtaken by the water. A woman who was startled by a mouse in her car jumped out and helplessly watched as her SUV rolled straight into the ocean (pictured, the SUV in Corpus Christi Bay) She was leaving Swantner Park in Corpus Christi, Texas, around 10.30am on Monday when she felt a mouse brush against her leg She managed to escape the rodent, but accidentally threw her car into gear in the process, which sent it rolling into bay before it was overtaken by the water The SUV was seen about 20 feet from shore, with the roof still visible as waves lapped at the windshield. The unnamed woman was very embarrassed by the accident, but managed to escape unscathed, Corpus Christi police officer Carl Knapick said. Knapick was understanding, and told KRISTV: 'Cars end up in the bay for different reasons, this is just another one. 'Why do they happen? You know usually someone is distracted or something happens in their car. 'Next thing you know, the car rolls off into the water since we're so close to the water at the edge of the park.' Devastated listeners of The Archers have reacted to hearing Helen claim Rob raped her 'over and over again'. The fictional domestic abuse trial in the popular BBC radio soap opera has prompted charities to call for more support for real-life victims of domestic abuse. Tonight's episode saw Helen Titchener reveal her side of the story as she stands trial for stabbing her abusive husband Rob. And it had its five million listeners feeling emotional by it all. The fictional domestic abuse trial in the popular BBC radio soap opera has prompted charities to call for more support for real-life victims of domestic abuse Millions of fans have been gripped since Helen - played by actress Louiza Patikas - stabbed her abusive husband four months ago Speaking from the witness box, Helen said: 'Rob, he was determined to have a baby. I told him I wasn't ready but he wouldn't listen. The first time he plied me with wine he held me down by my wrists. 'I told myself, he was my husband, it should be fine, but it wasn't fine, was it. 'Mum, dad, I'm so sorry. Rob raped me. Not just once. It happened over and over again.' People took to Twitter to reveal their emotions after the episode. John Martin wrote: 'Listened to The archers (sic) for 30 years first time I'm in tears at end of episode.' Paul Trueman said: '"Mummy" calls my 6-year-old, "The Archers has just made daddy cry again".' And Claire simply remarked: 'Crying in my kitchen.' It is a trial which has sparked a fundraising campaign, a social media hashtag and a debate on prison reform. 'If Helen had access to specialist domestic abuse support in Ambridge (the fictional village where the character lives) perhaps she would not be on trial now,' Polly Neate, chief executive of Women's Aid England said in a statement. Women's Aid, a domestic violence charity, warned the British government's plans to cap housing benefits as part of welfare reform would have disastrous consequences for women's refuges. 'If domestic abuse refuges are not exempted from the cap on housing benefit, almost nine out of every 10 refuges in England and Wales will have to significantly reduce their current level of provision,' Sian Hawkins, a spokeswoman for Women's Aid, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. 'Seven in 10 will be forced to close.' The Archers, the world's longest-running radio soap opera, has brought much needed attention to the issue of domestic violence, Hawkins said. Over months, the BBC drama has documented Rob's emotional, physical and sexual abuse of Helen. In February, as the storyline intensified, calls to a helpline run by Women's Aid and Refuge - a charity providing support to women and children fleeing domestic violence - rose by almost a fifth compared with the same month in 2015. Archers favourite Helen Titchener will stand trial for the attempted murder of her husband Rob in the latest installment of a saga that has kept listeners on the edge of their seats An online 'Helen Titchener Rescue Fund', set up to raise money for Refuge, has so far raised more than 135,000. According to the charity this could fund nearly 3,000 nights at a refuge for a woman and her children. Helen's story reflects the reality of many victims, said Sandra Horley, chief executive of Refuge, urging the public to support survivors of domestic violence. 'When Helen stabbed Rob, she clearly felt that her life - and the life of her child - was under threat from an aggressive man,' she said in a statement. 'Listeners have heard Rob alternate between charm and abuse, subjecting Helen to years of psychological torture as well as physical violence.' Former justice minister Michael Gove said in May Helen's plight reinforced the case for reform of women's prisons. Actor Ewan McGregor, BBC presenters Jenni Murray and Sara Cox, and Member of Parliament Jess Phillips are among those who tweeted their support to Helen and real-life domestic abuse victims under the hashtag #FreeHelen. Elsie (picture) was punched in the face whilst her family shopped in a Tesco supermarket Police have arrested a man after a newborn baby was punched in the face at random in the middle of a Tesco supermarket. Five-day-old Elsie Duckers, who weighs 6lbs 12oz, was tucked up in her pram when she was approached by a man who overheard family friends saying: 'Come and have a look at this beautiful baby.' As the baby's horrified mother looked on in shock, the thug suddenly struck Elsie to the head before recoiling when the infant burst into tears. He then claimed he thought the baby was not real and was a toy. The infant was treated in Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester for seven hours after the punch. Elsie's mother Amy Duckers, 27, spoke out about the attack which occurred as she was shopping at Tesco's Baguley store in Greater Manchester with the baby, daughter Libby, seven, and partner Lewis Temple, 24. Mrs Duckers, who works as a carer, said: 'The punch was that hard you could heard the connection as this man hit Elsie.' 'I just can't believe it - especially as it was on a five-day-old baby. It was the first time I'd taken Elsie out since she was born. Now I'm just too frightened to take her out again. 'My seven-year-old was there and saw everything, and she was just screaming. She thought he'd killed the baby. I don't want anyone to touch Elsie ever again. I literally can't get my head around why someone would do this.' Mrs Duckers and her family were shopping this evening when they saw a neighbour who worked there. Amy Duckers (pictured) whose newborn baby Elsie (pictured right with sister Libby) was punched in the face in a supermarket Police have arrested a man after a newborn baby was punched in the face at random in the middle of a Tesco supermarket (pictured) Amy (pictured) said she is scared now to take Elsie out of the house after the attack Trouble began when the neighbour called over a friend who had been shopping with her husband - and as she did so the man rushed over and inexplicably punched Elsie in the face. Amy said: 'I was pushing Elsie, then five-days-old, around in a small Tesco trolley. It was my first trip out with her, so I was a little nervous, but we weren't far from home. 'We'd just finished our shopping when I spotted my neighbour who had just finished her shift. Lewis had just left to get some coffee, so I pulled in to the top of the aisle so I didn't get in anybody's way. 'That was when Julie spotted one of her friends, who was doing some shopping with her husband. She called the couple over, saying "Come and have a look at this beautiful baby!" But it was then that the husband rushed across very quickly and hit little Elsie in the face. 'He left her with a huge red mark and we at first were just stunned. He then began denying anything had happened, despite the crying children and visible imprint on Elsie's face and I just went hysterical, asking what he just did, why he hurt my baby.' Elsie was rushed to Wythenshawe Hospital at around 9pm yesterday, and was kept in until 4am this morning. Greater Manchester Police said: 'A man has been arrested on suspicion of assaulting a baby. 'Police were called shortly before 6.45pm to a supermarket on Altrincham Road in Baguley on Monday to reports of a child having been hit. It is not clear what caused the massive brawl to erupt on ship Fight between passengers broke out on Carnival Glory cruise ship A massive brawl broke out on a cruise ship travelling around the Caribbean. Shocking footage shows the huge fight that erupted between passengers on the Carnival Glory cruise ship, which left Miami on Saturday. The person recording the video can be heard to be shouting: 'Oh my God, no! Stop!' Shocking footage shows the huge fight that erupted between passengers on the Carnival Glory cruise ship, which left Miami on Saturday Around half a dozen people can be seen exchanging blows in the clip, with other passengers seemingly trying to break up the fight. At one point in the brawl, a man wearing a blue T-shirt is pushed to the ground. Later on in the video, the men can be seen wrestling on the floor of the cruise ship. A security guard tries to intervene, but fails to break up the fight. Later on in the video, the men can be seen wrestling on the floor. The person recording the footage is heard shouting: 'Oh my God, no! Stop!' It is not clear what caused the fight to erupt. The Carnival Glory cruise ship is sailing around the Caribbean for eight days, stopping off at the Half Moon Cay, Bahamas, and the Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic. Clinton came under fire for failing to prevent the 2012 terrorist attack A top aide to Hillary Clinton fed questions to a senator before a crucial hearing about her role in the Benghazi terrorist attack, freshly-released emails show. The 2013 message from Clinton's communications advisor Philippe Reines says that the team 'wired it' so that Democratic senator Robert Menendez would ask about two topics Clinton wanted to answer - which he duly did. 'We wired it that Menendez would provide an opportunity to address two topics we needed to debunk (her actions/whereabouts on 9/11, and these email (sic) from Chris Stevens about moving locations),' the email says. The email refers to Clinton's first hearing on the attack, which occurred in 2012 when Islamic militants attacked the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. Clinton campaigning on Tuesday. The newly-released emails show that her team apparently fed questions to a senator during her first hearing on the Benghazi terrorist attack Clinton defended herself at the 2013 hearing Menendez was indicted last year on unrelated corruption charges Clinton was then serving as secretary of state and came under fire for failing to prevent the attack, which claimed the lives of four Americans, including ambassador Chris Stevens. Clinton was then serving as secretary of state and came under fire for failing to prevent the attack. The email refers to Clinton's first hearing on the attack, which occurred in 2012 when Islamic militants attacked the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya The email, dated the day of the hearing on January 23, 2013, was sent to 'Diane Reynolds' - an alias of Chelsea Clinton - who replied saying 'I really appreciate the update'. At the hearing itself, Menendez asked about both topics cited in the email in his first questions of the day. He asked for Clinton's 'insights on the decision-making process regarding the location of the Mission' and also asked about 'what actions were you and your staff taking the night of September 11 and into September 12?' Clinton said in reply that 'Chris was committed to not only being in Benghazi but to the location', referring to Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was killed in the attack. Clinton's communications advisor Philippe Reines says in the email that his team had 'wired it' so that Clinton would answer questions she wanted during the hearing Of her actions on the night of the attack, she said: 'I was notified of the attack shortly after 4:00 p.m. 'Over the following hours, we were in continuous meetings and conversations both within the department with our team in Tripoli, with the interagency and internationally.' In the email Reines also said of Clinton: 'Very strong opening. She got very emotional when talking about the families.' The series of messages were released to Citizens United, which obtained them as part of its ongoing Freedom of Information Act request lodged with the State Department for emails from Hillary Clinton's closest aides and Chelsea Clinton. 'This email chain provides a rare behind the scenes look at which Benghazi-related issues the Clinton camp had concerns about going into Secretary Clinton's January 2013 testimony on Capitol Hill, and what they had apparently plotted out beforehand with a Democrat committee member to deal with those concerns,' Citizens United said in a statement. 'Citizens United will continue to release all new Benghazi emails we receive through our FOIA lawsuits as they come in - the American people have a right to know the full picture.' A 20-year-old suspect has been arrested in the fatal shooting of a college student during a a carnival celebrating Caribbean culture held before dawn each Labor Day. Reginald Moise, 20 of Brooklyn, was taken into custody in connection with the death of Tiarah Poyau, a 22-year-old student at St Johns University, police said. Moise, who has five prior sealed arrests, apparently made statements that implicated himself to two people. Scroll down for videos Reginald Moise, 20 of Brooklyn, was arrested in connection with the Labor Day fatal shooting of 22--year-old Tiarah Poyau (left). Bronx teenager Tyreke Borel, 17, (right) was also killed Moise, who has five prior sealed arrests, apparently made statements that implicated himself in the shooting (pictured) to two people The bloodshed (pictured) happened during a a carnival celebrating Caribbean culture held before dawn each Labor Day Poyau, an aspiring accountant, was killed some 30 minutes after the fatal shooting of Tyreke Borel, 17. Borel, of the Bronx, was shot in the chest about 3:50am near Empire Boulevard and Flatbush Avenue. He was taken to the hospital, where he died. A 72-year-old woman was shot in the hand and the arm at the same location and was taken to a hospital in stable condition, police said. Poyau was shot just a block away, police said. She died at the hospital. Tiarah Poyau, 22, was a St John's University student who aspired to a career as an accountant Poyau was an aspiring accountant and was interning at top-five firm PwC in New York, according to her LinkedIn profile. Online, Poyau talked about her drive to become an accomplished professional as well as her passion for traveling. This year, the JOuvert parade cemented its reputation for violence and bloodshed. The shootings came amid unprecedented precautions taken by police to ensure safety a year after Governor Andrew Cuomo's aide was killed by a stray bullet at the early-morning celebration. In a news conference on Monday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said that 'all options are on the table' when answering questions concerning the future of J'Ouvert and if it might be canceled following the two tragic deaths, the New York Post reported. 'Im not going to go into detail until we do a full review. 'Were going to look at the whole situation with the NYPD and community,' de Blasio added. City Councilman Brad Lander said that it's 'pretty clear that big changes are needed'. 'Im open to canceling it next year,' he added. Poyau, 22, gushed on Facebook about her travel to Europe and her drive to become an accomplished professional About 25 minutes later, a 22-year-old woman was shot in the head just a block away People on a parade float play music during J'Ouvert, ahead of the annual West Indian-American Carnival Day Parade in Brooklyn A man holds up a fake rifle during J'Ouvert, ahead of the annual West Indian-American Parade Police say they're investigating whether the shootings are related. No arrests have been made on Borel's shooting. A 23-year-old woman was also stabbed in the area, but police said she refused medical attention. The NYPD had planned to double the number of officers patrolling the neighborhood where a procession of steel drums and costumed revelers was set to kick off at 4am for J'Ouvert. The tradition originated in the Caribbean and is celebrated in several North American cities with West Indian communities, including Boston and Toronto. The name, J'Ouvert, means daybreak, put together from the French words 'jour' and 'Ouvert' Police arrived at the scene where Poyau and Borel were gunned down Monday celebrating Caribbean culture in the hours before the city's annual West Indian Day Parade The department also added 42 new security cameras to watch over an estimated 250,000 revelers and illuminated this year's celebration with 200 light towers. For the first time, organizers of the parade were required to get a permit. Police, in conjunction with community groups, also distributed fliers with a blunt message. Borel was shot in the chest at around 3.50am Monday in Brooklyn during J'Ouvert, the New York Police Department said The bloodshed came amid unprecedented precautions taken by police to ensure safety at an event routinely marred by violence Leaflets were released reading: 'This community will no longer tolerate this violence. Do not shoot anyone. Do not stab anyone' The changes come a year after Carey Gabay, a 43-year-old lawyer who had worked for Gov Andrew Cuomo 'This community will no longer tolerate this violence. Do not shoot anyone. Do not stab anyone,' the leaflets said. The changes come a year after Cuomo's aide Carey Gabay, 43, was shot in the head as two street gangs exchanged gunshots during J'Ouvert festivities. He was immediately placed in a medically induced coma but eight days after the shooting, doctors declared him brain dead. Gabay was a lawyer who had worked for Cuomo and was deputy counsel of the state's economic development agency. Earlier the same morning, a Bronx man, Denentro Josiah, was stabbed to death during festivities. In 2014, a man was fatally shot and two people wounded during the celebration. Organizers say the early morning festivities that led to what is now J'Ouvert started in the 1980s. The tradition originated in the Caribbean and is celebrated in several North American cities with West Indian communities, including Boston and Toronto. The name, J'Ouvert, means daybreak, put together from the French words 'jour' and 'Ouvert.' A deaf high school student in Nebraska says he feels unsafe returning to school after a group of bullies stole his backpack and emptied the contents into a toilet. Alex Hernandez, who attends Burke High School in Omaha, said he left his bag on a table while he went to get food during lunch last Wednesday. Two male students then stole the backpack and dumped his tablet, school supplies, homework and debit card in a toilet, KMTV reported. Bullying victim: Alex Hernandez said he left his bag on a table while he went to get food during lunch last Wednesday, when it was stolen and dumped in a toilet at Burke High School Shocking treatment: This is a photo of the contents of Hernandez's bag, which was emptied into a toilet by two male students 'Those students think it's okay to bully a deaf student, but it's not. It's not okay to bully someone who is disabled, deaf or hard of hearing,' Hernandez told the station. 'Or anyone for that matter.' The school determined who the bullies were after security reviewed camera footage and saw who stole the bag from the table. Hernandez, who has been deaf since he was one-year-old, says he has experienced plenty of bullying over the years, mostly due to his hearing aids and the scars near his ears. However he feels this is the first time he has ever felt unsafe about returning to school. He is now looking at transferring. 'This just got out of hand. There's too much bullying, too much drama, too much fighting, it's just not nice,' he told KMTV. 'It's not okay to bully someone who is disabled': Alex has been deaf since he was one. He wears hearing aids and has scars behind his ears Of particular concern was that an English paper he had been working on was in his bag and was ruined when it was emptied into the toilet. 'I was very upset because I know I work really hard on my project and homework because I just want to make my mom to be happy and know that I did a good job on the homework,' he said. According to Hernandez's mother, the school told her that one of the students involved had been suspended, while the other remained under investigation. The mother said she hopes to speak to the boys' parents. Officials at Burke High School in Omaha said the incident is under investigation Omaha Public Schools said the incident remained under investigation. 'We take these kind of situations very seriously,' the statement said. 'Due to student privacy laws, we are unable to provide specific details regarding the situation, but we do want to assure you that we are working with all parties involved. A Texas man accused of shooting two 13-year-old girls as they walked home from school has told police he planned the murders with the devil. Kody Lott, 20, allegedly shot and killed Lauren Landavazo, 13, on Friday - firing at her with a .22 caliber rifle he stole from his stepfather - and wounded friend Makayla Smith, also 13. Now police say Lott has confessed to the attack, saying he was annoyed about not having a girlfriend and had spoken to the devil. Scroll down for video Kody Lott, 20 (left), has admitted fatally shooting Lauren Landavazo, 13, (right), and her 13-year-old friend Makayla Smith, according to police Police say Lott plotted the attack because he was attracted to Landavazo but was annoyed that she had a boyfriend and angry that he could not get a girlfriend Lott was also attracted to Landavazo, but was angry that she had a boyfriend, according to an affidavit obtained by the Wichita Falls Times Record News. Police say he had watched the two girls walk home from school several times before hatching a plot to kill them both. On the day in question, officers say Lott drove to his stepfather's house, took the rifle, and then lay in wait for the girls to pass. After watching them cross in front of a window, Lott followed them to a nearby alley in his SUV before shooting them, cops said. Lott shot Landavazo first, then fired at Smith 'a couple of times', and then went back to shooting Landavazo, the affidavit claims. Forensic reports say that 15 shell casings were found at the scene, all of which came from the .22 caliber rifle. Medical officers say Landavazo was shot 14 times. Police also say Lott was annoyed when the attack was described as 'senseless' in the media, insisting that it had been carefully planned. The girls were found in an alleyway off the 5100 block of Kingston Drive and were rushed to hospital where Landavazo later died. Lott also allegedly told police that he planned his attack with the devil, and was annoyed at the media for calling the killing 'senseless' (Landavazo pictured left and right) Smith was shot at least once as she walked home from school alongside Landavazo, police said, but was treated and is now in stable condition Smith underwent surgery but survived her injuries and is said to be in a stable condition. The suspect was on the run for two days before police stopped a car matching a description of the shooter's on Sunday. Lott was initially arrested for possessing a prohibited weapon but allegedly confessed to the shooting while in jail. Police say Lott had initially dumped the rifle in a nearby field, but returned to pick it up on Saturday because he was afraid his stepfather would find it was missing. The 20-year-old suspected shooter's Facebook page reveals a fascination with conspiracy theories and has several references to the Illuminati. He is currently being held on charges of murder, aggravated assault and possession of a prohibited weapon. His bail is set at $4 million. Both of the girls were students at McNeil Middle School. Superintendent Michael Kurt released a statement saying the district was 'saddened by this senseless act of violence.' Lauren Landavazo (pictured with her mother, right|) and Makayla Smith, both 13, were shot on Friday afternoon as they walked home from school in Wichita Falls, police said Landavazo pictured above with her mother, Bianka, who lashed out at the killer on Facebook before Lott was arrested, saying he will 'pay the price' for his crimes He also said thoughts and prayers were with those involved. 'Please know that the district is coordinating efforts to provide grief counselors for students,' the statement said. 'As soon as we have more information about those resources, we will pass that along to you.' Before Lott's arrest, Ladavazo's mother wrote a powerful message for her daughter's murderer. 'To the MURDERER !!!!!! This beautiful girl was our miracle baby that you just taken away from us,' Bianka Landavazo wrote. 'You will be found, you will pay the price for shooting her down in cold blood!! The bans prompted protests across the world France's highest administrative court has ruled against prohibiting the burkini Mayor Ange-Pierre Vivoni said there was a 'risk of people dying' without the ban The ruling comes after a brawl on the French A court on a French island has ruled that burkinis can be banned on its beaches - in spite of a ruling last month that it violated women's rights to wear what they want. The court in the French Mediterranean resort of Corsica upheld a ban on the full-length Islamic beachwear, which was issued by the local mayor. The new ruling, made by a judge in the town of Bastia, said the burkini is banned in the coastal resort of Sisco because it had disrupted public order. Scroll down for video The ban came into place in Corsica following reports of a brawl which started because a woman was wearing a burkini on the beach Controversial bans in coastal towns across France had seen women forced to remove their burkini Socialist mayor Ange-Pierre Vivoni said there was a 'risk of people dying' if the ban was not in place. He issued the ban following a brawl which saw three Moroccan residents fight with locals, in a brawl believed to have started because people were taking pictures of a woman wearing a burkini. The judge, who has not been publicly named, said: 'Given the events of 13 August, the presence of a woman wearing a swimsuit covered by the ban of 16 August in certain circumstances can generate an averse risk to public order which is up to the mayor to prevent.' Local mayor Ange-Pierre Vivoni said lives would be put at risk if the ban on the burkini was lifted The burkini has sparked controversy in France, and the country's highest administrative court has said banning the full-length swimwear is against the law He said 'emotion had not declined' since the incident. It comes after hatchets and harpoons were thrown in the beach brawl that broke out after a tourist was seen taking pictures of women wearing burkinis in Corsica. France's Council of State court has previously warned that the ban illegally violated the basic freedom of women to wear what they wanted. France's highest court said the burkini could only be banned if there was a proven risk of disruption to public order But it said a ban could be imposed if there was a 'proven risk of disruptions to public order'. Following the ruling, Vivoni said there was a 'risk of people dying' without the ban. He said the ruling was a 'relief for me and my fellow residents and even, I believe, for the whole of Corsica'. The judge in Corsica ruled that the burkini poses a risk to public safety, and allowed the ban to remain in place A court in Corsica has upheld a ban on the burkini following a fracas alleged to have started after people took pictures of a woman wearing one The mayor said he is 'not against anyone' and said 'everyone could live in Sisco'. The first ban was introduced by the Mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, on August 12. It was brought in, the local council said, to prohibit 'beachwear ostentatiously showing a religious affiliation while France and places of religious significance are the targets of terror attacks'. The idyllic creek where the fight is due to have happened because a group of youngsters were photographing a woman wearing a burkini After the move in Cannes, a string of French resort towns introduced similar bans, sparking protests across the world. Veterans of the Battle of Britain had tea with the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, with one describing it as one of 'the privileges of the year'. The royal couple listened to daring stories of missions flown and near crashes from the former fighter pilots, with the prince sharing his own tales of flying and shooting targets when he was at RAF Cranwell as a young man. Survivors of the Battle of Britain in 1940 are known as The Few and there are now just 14 left alive - aged between 94 and 100. Scroll down for video Prince Charles, Patron of The Battle of Britain Fighter Association, shares a joke with guests including Fight Officer Ken Wilkinson (left) (from left) Veterans Sq Ld Dick Summer, Sq Ld Tim Elkington, Fl Off Ken Wilkinson and Sq Ld Geoffrey Wellum, chat together during the reception The Duchess of Cornwall talks with Squadron Leader Geoffrey Wellum during the reception Four of the remaining veterans dined at Clarence House with widows and other members of The Battle of Britain Fighter Association (Charles with Wing Commanders Dick Summers (left) and Tim Elkington) Charles said: 'What I can't bear is The Few keep getting fewer and fewer.' Four of the remaining veterans dined at Clarence House with widows and other members of The Battle of Britain Fighter Association, of which Charles has been patron since 2003. Former squadron leader Geoffrey Wellum, 95, who joined the RAF at 17 just after the 'cloistered existence of boarding school', described the day he 'should have died' when his Spitfire was shot. He said: 'It's not about medals or about the "thank yous" we get, it's about remembering everybody who fought, not just the survivors. That's all we ask. 'This day is one of the privileges of the year.' Charles read Mr Wellum's best-selling war book First Light last week and told him it was 'extraordinary'. Wing Commander Tim Elkington, 95, said it was 'brilliant' the royal couple could find time to host them. Spitfire Ale, a bespoke brew, was served after tea, having been launched in 1990 to raise funds for RAF charities. Prince Charles meets Sq Leader Geoffrey Wellum, 95. The heir to the throne spoke to Geoffrey about his best-selling war book 'First Light' The Duchess entertained the former airman and heard their Battle of Britain tales The veterans pictured with the Duchess enjoyed an afternoon tea at Clarence House Supermarine Spitfires of No 610 Squadron, based at Biggin Hill, Kent, flying in three 'vic' formations, on July 24, 1940 The Battle of Britain (July 10 - October 31, 1940) is commemorated every September THE GLORIOUS FEW WHO STOOD BETWEEN UK AND NAZI DOMINATION They fought the most important battle this country ever faced and their victory saved Britain from the tyranny of Nazi Germany. The heroes of the Battle of Britain repelled Hitlers Luftwaffe in the summer of 1940, although only a few of them are still alive. At the time were in their late teens or early 20s when they took to the skies in Spitfires and Hurricanes from July to October 1940. Others flew in Blenheims, Beaufighters and Defiants, becoming the aces of the Battle, shooting down plane after plane. During the Battle, Sir Winston Churchill said: The gratitude of every home in our island, in our empire, and indeed throughout the world, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the world war by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. When it was over, 544 RAF pilots and aircrew were dead and had made the ultimate sacrifice to keep generations of Britons safe. Advertisement The Battle of Britain (July 10 - October 31, 1940) is commemorated every September, with the lasting sacrifice remembered in Churchill's celebrated line: 'Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.' Almost half of the 3,000 airmen who fought in the history-defining episode died. It saw pilots under RAF command fight the advancing Luftwaffe and stopped the Nazis gaining the air superiority which was key to the planned German invasion. Earlier in the day, Charles was spotted by a pair of surprised joggers in Green Park who did a double take when they recognised him. He had been scattering seeds with schoolchildren to start a new grassland as part of his Coronation Meadows campaign in tribute to his mother to mark 60 years since she was crowned. The project, started in 2013, has created a new meadow in every county in the UK and the Queen's Meadow in Green Park is the 90th Coronation Meadow - and also marks the monarch's 90th birthday this year. Samia Shahid, from Bradford, was killed in Pakistan in July The ex-husband and father of a British woman who died in Pakistan in a suspected honour killing should be tried on rape and murder charges, say police. Samia Shahid, 28, pictured, from Bradford, died in northern Punjab in July. A Pakistani police report describes her killing as premeditated, cold-blooded murder. It claims her father, Chaudhry Shahid, stood guard while her ex-husband, Choudhry Shakeel, raped her. It says they then killed her together. Police want Miss Shahids mother and sister to return from the UK for questioning. For nearly 20 years, Anjem Choudary thought he was untouchable. The Islamic hate preacher stood on street corners with a microphone spewing out vile anti-British propaganda condemning Western lifestyles and promising that Islamic flags would soon fly over Downing Street. He called for the Queen to wear a burka, drunks to receive 40 lashes, and told his increasingly fanatical Muslim disciples some just children that it was their duty to claim State benefits (or jihadseekers allowance, as he called it) to impoverish this country. As TV cameras rolled (for Choudary is a media savvy self-publicist), few took much notice of the youngsters among the baying mob. Indoctrinated: A girl in a burka at a Choudary rally at Central London Mosque in front of placards reading: Muslims will destroy the crusade and establish the Islamic State But they were there: a girl, no more than seven, with a blue burka covering all but her dark eyes; a boy, not much older than her, waving a poster saying UK democracy is hell; a baby held in the arms of a shouting, pro-Choudary female protester who, herself, was obscured behind black flowing robes. The most shocking film footage shows a bewildered toddler being wheeled in a pushchair alongside a violent demonstration in multi-cultural Brick Lane, East London, where Choudary was calling for Sharia law in Britain and a ban on the sale of alcohol at local shops and takeaways. Warped the minds of youngsters: Choudary Following his sentencing yesterday to five-and-a-half years in jail for drumming up support for Islamic State, the full extent of Choudarys proselytising of the young is becoming clear. Not content with brainwashing adults, he thought nothing of using his evil words to radicalise children, too. A boy of five who fell under his spell began to shout shame in Arabic whenever he saw a woman in Western clothes and not covered by a burka. This childs brother, aged 13, expressed terrible views supporting the Charlie Hebdo terror attacks in Paris, saying the killers were following the laws of Islam. Their nine-year-old sister confided that she was dreaming of Syria because that is where all the Muslims live . . . and England has been bad for Muslims. These are just some of the chilling remarks made by three radicalised British-born children to their teachers, social workers and police after their mother was jailed for trying to abduct them to join Islamic State in Syria. The childrens alarming views have been revealed in family court documents. The truth is that 49-year-old Choudary warped the minds of innocent youngsters over two decades, inspiring many of them, as teenagers and young adults, to slip away and join Islamic State on the battlefields of Syria and Iraq. In a ruling on the three childrens future care, a family court judge, Mr Justice Newton, said their mother was intimately connected to hate preachers one of whom was Choudary and her children had been exposed to their fanatical hate speech and copied them. He explained that the mother whom we cannot name to protect her childrens identities, but will call Mrs X took her children to scores of Islamic roadshows between October 2011 and May 2014 at different public places around London, where they stood alongside Choudary and many other political extremists. There, according to the judgment, these children held hands with his radical followers who had either been involved in racial violence, helped to raise money on UK streets and mosques to incite terrorism or were actively preparing for terrorist acts. Chilling influence: Choudary has links to hundreds of British jihadis many of whom, undoubtedly, were once children who attended his rallies and are now terrorists with IS If the judges analysis is not disturbing enough, the police have revealed that Choudary has links to hundreds of British jihadis many of whom, undoubtedly, were once children who attended his rallies and are now terrorists with IS. Meanwhile, security expert and Buckingham University professor Anthony Glees says: Hes an extremely dangerous man. Virtually everybody who has gone off to fight for IS has been associated with him. Between 300 and 600 of them are there as a direct result of his brainwashing. Research by the Henry Jackson Society, a UK-based think-tank on security, shows that almost a quarter of Islamic-linked terror offenders in the UK since 1999 have been inspired by Choudary or his close associates. Before Choudary was convicted unanimously by a jury last month (news for once he took silently with his arms crossed across his chest), he promised that if he was jailed he would 'radicalise everyone in prison' Remarkably, it says one in ten had a personal relationship with him. And this is the man who was sometimes given a platform to spout his views by the BBC. Investigations by the British authorities into the backgrounds of Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, convicted of the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in 2013, revealed the young killers regularly showed up at Choudarys rallies, and also that the pair used a South London Islamic centre to indoctrinate Muslim children by showing them horrific videos of the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers. As for the three young siblings talked about by the judge, they are the nephews and niece of a Choudary acolyte who escaped Britain and fled to Syria while under investigation for encouraging terrorism. But the troubling connection between Choudary and the trio of radicalised children does not end there. Their mother, the now jailed Mrs X, is a prominent lieutenant according to the judge of Choudarys wife Rubana Akhtar, who is under investigation by Scotland Yard over a womens social clique suspected of supporting IS. Investigations by the British authorities into the backgrounds of Michael Adebolajo (left) and Michael Adebowale (right), convicted of the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in 2013, revealed the young killers regularly showed up at Choudarys rallies At one clandestine meeting of the group in East London, filmed during a Channel 4 investigation into IS, Mrs Choudary can be heard spouting anti-Western propaganda for two hours in front of 20 mothers and their children. In another covertly filmed meeting, she told a group believed to have included babies and toddlers that the good days have already begun because the Islamic State was thriving in the Middle East. She is recorded accusing filthy Jews of killing innocent Muslim women and children, and condemning the West for fighting against IS. The judge described Mrs Choudarys circle as a clandestine group of the Islamic sisterhood, organising talks and coffee mornings at private homes, mosques and rented rooms throughout London. Twisting young minds: Choudary He added: But lest this might be likened to something akin to the Womens Institute, nothing could be further from the truth. These were highly organised, focused women organising attendance at extreme demonstrations. The events, he said, included a Burn America Flag Day outside the U.S. Embassy in London and a meeting beside the walls of Belmarsh Prison to raise money for the legal defence of the hook-handed extremist cleric Abu Hamza. He was infamous for his blood-curdling anti-British speeches at Finsbury Park Mosque in North London, and was eventually sentenced to life for terrorism offences in the U.S. A similar Burn America Flag Day protest organised by Choudarys supporters was attended by Abase Hussen, the father of a 15-year-old schoolgirl who fled to Syria to become an IS jihadi bride with two of her London school friends. Mr Hussen has admitted taking his daughter Amira at the impressionable age of 13 to two equally unpalatable rallies where Choudary played a key role. The Mail has discovered that Mrs Choudarys friend Mrs X, now 33 and a mother of four, even took three of her children to an Islamic event attended by 17-year-old Brustholm Ziamani, a London teenager radicalised by Choudary in just 12 weeks after the two met at Camberwell Mosque. Two years later, Ziamani still in his teens was found guilty of plotting to behead a soldier with a hammer and a knife. The feckless teenager and former Christian had been brainwashed by Choudary at his secret headquarters in the basement of a halal sweet shop in Londons East End. From this hideaway, owned by his friends, Choudary spread his vile ideology to tens of thousands of adults and children, through Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp and Twitter. On Twitter alone, he had 32,000 followers. Incongruously, it was from the sweet shop that Choudary sent out internet invitations to his never-ending pavement protests and rallies. At one such gathering I went to where (as a woman) I was put at the back of the hall with a group of his female attendees in burkas I sat next to a girl who appeared no more than ten years old. Wearing long dark robes, she had been brought by her veil-covered mother to the meeting in East London. The little girl helped me to a curry during the break (telling me it might be too spicy for my palate). She later clapped with excitement as Choudary spoke of his plans to turn the UK into an Islamic utopia run under Sharia law. The preachers favourite tenet at the time was: The whole world one day will be under the Sharia, including Hackney and Walthamstow and Moscow and New York. We have a very bright future, my dear Muslims. How the small girl, and other children in the audience, lapped up his words. Just how seriously father-of-five Choudary et al took their task of polluting the minds of innocent youngsters became clear last year when counter-terrorism police raided an illegal Islamic school in East London, which has since been closed by the Government. The Siddeeq Academy in Tower Hamlets was run in a private house by Mizanur Rahman, a 33-year-old friend of Choudary, who stood alongside him in the Old Bailey dock in the recent trial, and was also found guilty of building support for IS in Britain. Rahman was sentenced in 2007 to six years in prison for inciting murder and Islamic terrorism in demonstrations (often attended by Choudary) outside the Danish Embassy in London. At Mizanur Rahmans unregistered school, children as young as five were taught an inappropriate curriculum heavily loaded with Islamic scriptures in overcrowded corridors and hallways. This, of course, is the ideal education in Anjem Choudarys view. In one incendiary speech a few years ago, he opined: Next time your child is at school and the teacher asks: What is your ambition? they should say: To dominate the whole world by Islam, including Britain, that is my ambition. Before Choudary was convicted unanimously by a jury last month (news for once he took silently with his arms crossed across his chest), he promised that if he was jailed he would radicalise everyone in prison. It is some consolation that none of the inmates who cross his path will be impressionable children. They, at least, are now out of his cynical grasp. The grandson of Carlton AFL great Laurie Kerr bit off part of his tongue after he was arrested for allegedly murdering his mother. Stephen Patrick Bailey was found nearly naked and running into traffic by police who were called to Kensington in Melbourne's north-west on October 7 last year after receiving reports about the bizarre scene. They found the ex-VFL player on a median strip in his underwear, the Melbourne Magistrates' Court was told on Tuesday. Scroll down for video Stephen Patrick Bailey bit off part of his tongue when taken into custody after he allegedly murdered his mother First Constable Nicholas Graham said Bailey looked disoriented and after his arrest, he was rambling, saying: 'There's cameras everywhere, people are watching us.' Senior Constable Curtis Williams said Bailey was talking to himself and tried to bash his head on the asphalt. The 35-year-old was taken to Thomas Embling psychiatric hospital by paramedic Michelle Brown, who said he was mumbling 'about being (Greek philosopher) Aristotle'. Bailey has been charged with murdering Penny Bailey, 59 , in Mont Albert North on October 5. The body of the mother of three was found near Mullum Mullum Creek in Donvale. Bailey was a regular customer at a Balwyn coffee shop managed by Lisa Himburg, she told the court. The body of Penny Bailey, 59 was found near Mullum Mullum Creek in Donvale Bailey was found nearly naked and running into traffic by police who were called to Kensington in Melbourne's north-west on October 7 Investigators search bushland in Melbourne for evidence He visited the establishment in a dishevelled state shortly after his mother's alleged murder, the court heard. Ms Himburg said Bailey was usually 'very methodical' - always sitting at the same tables, ordering the same drinks, reading a book and then paying with cash. But on this day, an 'out of sorts' Bailey stared into space, sat at a different table, and picked at the food he'd ordered. 'His mind was definitely somewhere else,' Ms Himburg said. 'Something wasn't quite right.' Police released CCTV images of Bailey after the disappearance of his mum Police found the ex-VFL player on a median strip in his underwear CCTV images show Bailey walking through the streets of Melbourne The waitress didn't feel comfortable talking with Bailey and contacted investigators soon after the incident because she saw news reports that police were looking for him. Bailey's uncle and Penny Bailey's brother, Greg Kerr, said Bailey had previously spoken to him about religion, philosophy and 'the need for a new world order'. 'I took him to be a young man in search of his direction in life and his identity,' he said. Mr Kerr, who also employed Bailey at his vineyard, said he felt betrayed by Bailey's alleged crime. Ross Kemp has met Mongolian Nazis as part of his new TV series. The latest season of his show Ross Kemp: Extreme World has taken him to the Far East, where he spoke to people who were celebrating Adolf Hitler's birthday. And the former Eastenders actor said he could see parallels between their racist nationalism and the rhetoric surrounding Donald Trump's campaign for the US presidency, as well as the rise in reports of racial abuse after the referendum in the UK. The latest season of his show Ross Kemp: Extreme World has taken him to the Far East, where he spoke to people who were celebrating Adolf Hitler's birthday He said: 'Because of the internet there has been a big growth in the populism of people like Trump because it's very simple, it's "We don't like you, we are going to build a wall and that is going to keep you out and solve all our problems".' 'In the past, politics was more complex than that but there has been an oversimplification of what is going on and I think Nazism is pretty simple in its basic points. There are parallels to be drawn between that. 'We were drawing comparisons in the simplistic way people can gain support now, especially through the internet, with simple, obvious statements.' Kemp, 52, is about to start filming the next series of the show, which will take him to another dangerous part of the world. He said: 'I'm scared about what I'm doing next but to not be scared breeds complacency. 'All the places I've said I wouldn't go to I've been to. Where we are going next, some people go and come out but some don't.' But that won't stop him getting close to the action. He added: 'I'm not a dry reporter, we are down there saying 'oh f***, that was close'. 'There aren't many current affairs documentary series at the moment so I'm thankful I'm in a rare position to have lasted this long. 'We are talking about doing something else but I am loath to leave it.' Ross Kemp at a Kurdish cemetary in Kobane in northern Syria during the filming of Ross Kemp: Extreme World Kemp revealed the financial pressure Brexit has put on his ability to make documentaries. The actor has established himself as a BAFTA-winning investigative journalist since he left the soap, travelling around the world to report on ISIS in Syria, the British Army in Afghanistan and gangs in Los Angeles. However, he said the plummeting pound could force him to cut shoots short. He said: 'It has cost me in my pocket. With my company we travel around the world, the pound has devalued so it has had an economic effect on how long we can stay on the ground. 'We haven't had to cut shoots short yet but we will have to if the pound stays where it is. 'If money that was worth $12 is now worth $11, you can work it out.' Ross Kemp in Mozambique during the filming of Ross Kemp: Extreme World. The EastEnders star has revealed the financial pressure Brexit has put on his ability to make documentaries He added: 'How is (Theresa May) going to implement Article 50? Legally she can't. 'All the clever brains in Europe are smirking at us, laughing at us behind our backs because implementing it isn't that easy. 'It was designed so it's virtually impossible to untangle yourself from it. 'I think it was ill-thought out, the entire referendum. From both sides they didn't tell the truth and I think a lot of people were confused about what they are voting for and I think a lot of people saw it as a protest vote but it wasn't. 'It wasn't a by-election in Swindon, it was "do you leave the EU after 40 years?"' In his new series Kemp also visits Colombia, Kurdistan, Mozambique and the US-Mexico border. Residents of a rural Idaho town are fighting to stop a camp for children with cancer from purchasing property in the area, due to fears it would increase traffic. Camp Rainbow Gold announced in August they planned to purchase the $3.75million property in the neighborhood of Triumph for its first-ever permanent campsite. Directors of the camp said the grounds in the Sawtooth Mountains were nearly perfect, located just 10 miles away from the hospital but with plenty of land to offer the children freedom. Residents of the rural neighborhood of Triumph in Idaho are fighting to stop a camp for children with cancer from purchasing property in the area, fearing it would increase traffic Camp Rainbow Gold (pictured in a current site) announced in August they planned to purchase the $3.75million property in the neighborhood for its first-ever permanent campsite A permanent location would also allow Camp Rainbow Gold, which currently leases land on two campgrounds near Ketchum, to specifically design cabins and other structures for the property and increase the length of time children can stay. Elizabeth Lizberg, the camp's executive director, said it would allow the children to get around easily and 'make them realize they're just like every other kid'. 'There's no camp in Idaho designed for medical children,' she told the Idaho Mountain Express. 'That's huge.' There seemed to be only more good news for the camp when partial property owners Rich and Nancy Robbins offered to donate their portion of land to Camp Rainbow Gold, worth $1.76million of the property's price tag. And yet many residents of Triumph believe the camp, whose activities would mainly run from May to October, would be throwing the neighborhood 'under the bus'. Dozens voiced their opposition at a community meeting last week, sighting concerns about sewage and the effect wildfires in the area could have on the children. But many made it clear that an increase in traffic was the issue they were worried about most. And when camp directors laid out the plans for 22 months of construction, which would include 14 cabins and 11 other camp buildings, there was only more opposition. Directors of the camp said the grounds in the Sawtooth Mountains (pictured) were nearly perfect, located just 10 miles away from the hospital Lizberg said a permanent location would not increase the amount of campers attending Rainbow Gold, approximately 80 per camp, as the nearby hospital can only accommodate so many potential patients at once. And camp board members argued that the property was a beautiful escape for the kids in an area where the camp has had a major donor base in the past, according to the Idaho Mountain Express. But some donors at the meeting have already threatened to pull their support if the camp's board goes through with purchasing the East Fork location. 'To hear that people want us to leave, that's hard to hear,' Lizberg said. The decision is ultimately up to the Blaine County Planning and Zoning Commission and Lizberg said the camp will continue to move forward with its permit application. But Lizberg said Camp Rainbow Gold was shocked and saddened by the neighborhood's response. 'After years of generous support in the Wood River Valley, we are disappointed at how this project is being perceived.' she said. 'Comments were made that are hurtful to the children and families we serve and the mission we fulfill.' Sir Philip Green's prize 100million super yacht was tagged the 'BHS Destroyer' in a comedy stunt. TV star Lee Nelson managed to get up close to Sir Philip's Lionheart floating home and attach the sign from a propelled dinghy in Monaco. The comedian and his team sneaked up to the imposing ship after none of Lionheart's 28-strong crew spotted the approaching craft. Scroll down for video Sir Philip Green's Lionheart super yacht was dubbed the 'BHS Destroyer' in a stunt Comedian Lee Nelson (pictured second left) organised the stunt with his team Nelson tweeted: 'Good of Sir Philip Green to rename his 100m yacht to something more appropriate. I was glad to help.' Sir Philip sold BHS to the former racing driver, Dominic Chappell, for 1 in March 2015. The doomed department store closed its final stores last month after years of decline, ending 88 years of one of Britain's best known names. Meanwhile, Sir Philip was enjoying a five-week extravaganza around southern Europe on Lionheart. He started out in the Greek islands, visiting Corfu, Skopelos, Skiathos, Mykonos, Poros and Hydra. TV star Lee Nelson managed to get up close to Sir Philip's Lionheart floating home and attach the sign from a propelled dinghy in Monaco Sir Philip was criticised for his role at BHS over the years in damning report published by MPs Around 11,000 people lost their jobs in the BHS collapse and as many as 22,000 pensions could be affected. Sir Philip was criticised for his role at BHS over the years in damning report published by MPs last month. He is being investigated by regulators probing BHS' 571million pension deficit. Police are on the hunt for a serial flasher who exposed himself to at least two women walking along a trail in Melbourne's outer north-east last month A serial flasher with messy dark hair and wearing a high-visibility fluoro-yellow work top has been terrifying women in Melbourne's outer north-east. Victorian Police are now on the hunt for a tradesman they believe is responsible for at least two incidents of 'wilful and obscene' exposures last month. The first alleged encounter took place along the Warburton Trail, Lilydale, on Sunday morning on August 21. Police were told the man pulled down his pants and exposed himself to a woman passing by. A week later, on Sunday 28 August, it's believed the man performed the same perverted routine to a female cyclist passing by. He was within two metres of her when he dropped his pants, also along the Warburton Trail, but further down the track near the Mount Evelyn skate park. Police believe the flasher is a tradesman who was wearing a fluoro yellow work top and dark blue work pants (similar to those pictured) Police were told the attacks took place on Sunday 21 and Sunday 28 August, along different parts of the Warburton Trail in Lilydale (pictured) Police have released a digital composite image of a man they believe may be able to assist with their enquiries. He is described as approximately 175cm tall, with dark hair and appeared unshaven. Anyone with any information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or to submit confidential report at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au For most of us computers are source of stress as we get error messages, spinning beach balls and random crashes blighting our use of them. But they could soon help us cope better in stressful or emotionally difficult situations by providing a few words of support. Researchers are developing an algorithm that aims to offer praise and reassurance just when people need it. Computers are more often a source of stress, but they could soon be offering emotional support and words of encouragement to their users. Scientists have developed an algorithm to provide praise and reassurance when people need it (stock picture of stressed worker) USING COMPUTERS CAN CAUSE DEPRESSION Using a computer for long periods of your day can damage your mental health, according to one of the biggest studies into the hazards of modern office work practices. In a three-year survey of 25,000 workers, many complained of feeling depressed, anxious and reluctant to get up for work in the mornings if they spent their days using computers. They were also plagued by broken sleep and reported problems getting along with fellow employees. The study by researchers at Chiba University in Japan, concluded that bosses should limit the time their staff spend on computers. The results, published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, showed one in four staff spent at least five hours a day at their terminal. Experts say working alone at a computer for hours on end could lead to a sense of isolation, even in a busy office. The researchers behind the study said that computer use should be limited to less than five hours a day. Advertisement They have been studying which messages of support can be most effective when, for example, someone is recovering from an injury or is having a stressful day. They hope that eventually the AI system will be able to detect when people are reaching a low point and offer them some words of encouragement to help pick them up. Professor Judith Masthoff, an expert in e-health at Aberdeen University, hopes the system could help to combat some of the early stages of mental health problems. Speaking to New Scientist, she said: Theres a lot of need for emotional support at the moment. We have increased rates of mental health issues. I would like people to have their own guardian angel that could support them emotionally throughout the day. The system would build on the development of chatbots that use artificial intelligence to respond to people over social media or online messaging forums. Some firms are already using chatbots to engage with customers for simple problems. But Professor Masthoffs software could help to talk down emotionally distressed customers or tackle the angry ones before they speak to a real person. She believes, however, the system may find more use as a sort of informal care that can help support us during our everyday lives at stressful times. Computer algorithms could detect when someone is struggling from the way they interact with their smartphone or computer perhaps by looking for keywords in messages or even at the way they type. Professor Masthoffs team, however, are looking at how the computer system would then respond once signs of distress have been detected. In a series of experiments, they looked at the type of emotional support people gave to students with different types of personalities and test scores. They have also examined the responses participants might give to help support an individual who is suffering from high levels of stress in different situations. By combining these results they have developed an algorithm that could offer feedback that may help someone in a difficult situation. They stipulated that the system generate messages that contained two emotional support statements. The algorithm could provide messages of support such as 'take your time', 'be glad you can help' and 'you are doing a great job' when it detects that users are struggling. Researchers believe it may help to tackle the early stages of mental health issues In one example, a stressed first aider struggling to help a patient would be told: I know how you feel but this will be over soon. You will get through this. Other messages included statements like: Take your time, Be glad that you can help and you are doing a great job. The key, however, will be ensuring the statements are generated at the right time and in the right context to ensure they dont seem empty. Writing in the journal International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, Professor Masthoff and her colleagues said that portraying the computer system as a peer or a superior at work could help to boost the effectiveness of the statements. Chinese smartphone firm Alcatel has launched a virtual reality headset that works without a smartphone. While rivals like the Samsung Gear VR require a mobile phone and the HTC Vive is designed to work with a computer, the Alcatel Vision is completely independent. Alcatel's device features built-in smartphone hardware, including an eight-core processor, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage along with Bluetooth and LTE connectivity. The Alcatel Vision headset is much bulkier than many of its rivals because it works independently of a smartphone so all of the processing technology is built in SNAPCHAT SMART GLASSES Snapchat recently joined the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), hinting that it could be working on its first physical device. Membership of the group will enable Snapchat to develop products using the popular wireless technology. The technology could be used to connect a rumoured augmented reality headset to the user's Snapchat mobile app. Advertisement The headset also packs a range of sensors including an accelorometer and proximity sensor. Instead of relying on a smartphone screen, the Vision is equipped with a pair of tiny 3.8-inch AMOLED screens with a 1,080 x 1,200-pixel resolution. 'It can be worn comfortably for 2-3 hours, with or without glasses, allowing plenty of time for a child to take a VR tour of a museum or for watching a movie,' said Alcatel in a statement. The 3,000 mAH battery is located on a pad that fits around the back of the head, making the design decidedly chunky. The Vision will be available in China by the end of the year and is expected to land in the US in early 2017, though a UK launch date has yet to be confirmed. The company also introduced the Alcatel 360 - a 360-degree video camera available in two versions, a rectangular model, about half the size of a credit card, and a ball-shaped one, about the size of a coin. 'VR is the next big computing platform and will reshape the way we experience the world,' said Nicolas Zibell General Manager of International Business and President of Alcatel parent company TCL Communication. 'That's why we're jumping in feet first. Our new mobile VR device and 360-degree camera are for those who believe that technology can change the world - and they want to be part of that change.' Alcatel also unveiled two 360-video cameras to coincide with the launch of its virtual reality headset Vision headset However, the rumoured 450 ($600) price tag could put potential buyers off. Users can get a Samsung Gear VR headset, plus a compatible phone, for a similar price. Those on a budget can already use cheap smartphone-based VR headsets such as the Google Cardboard, while those who want a more sophisticated product may lean towards established brands like Oculus. The Facebook-owned firm recently warned Samsung Galaxy Note 7 owners not to use the device with the Gear VR headset, which is made by Oculus. The Note 7 was recalled by Samsung following reports of the oversized smartphone's batteries exploding. Oculus urged users to wait for their replacement device before trying it out with the headset. Hyperloop, the radical technology which transports passengers at close to the speed of sound, could be heading for the UK. The UK government has shown its interest in concept, which could link cities in the north of England and cut the journey time to London to a matter of minutes. Both of the firms competing to build the futuristic transportation network Hyperloop One have reportedly held conversations with the government and private firms regarding bringing the concept to the UK. Scroll down for video The UK has shown interest in bringing Elon Musk's Hyperloop network to the UK. One of the firms racing to make the concept a reality says it could link the cities of the north, and could enable passengers to travel from London to Manchester in just 18 minutes Details of the discussions emerged as part of an extensive report from Wired, in which firms and the governments own Innovate UK showed interest in the technology. The brainchild of billionaire and head of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk, Hyperloop will use magnetic train-like pods to shuttle passengers and freight around a network of tubes at close to the speed of sound. While the technology is still largely at the concept stage, early tests have been carried out on the propulsion technology, which could ultimately transport passengers at 760 miles per hour (1,220 kph). According to Wired, talks with UK firms centred on the potential for a Hyperloop system linking Manchester to Liverpool, which would overcome existing transport issues linking the two cities, creating a true northern powerhouse. While the technology is still largely at the concept stage, early tests have been carried out on the propulsion technology, which could ultimately transport passengers at 760 miles per hour (1,220 kph) The head of Hyperloop One said travelling at such high speeds could enable passengers and freight to make the journey from London to Manchester in 18 minutes (pictured) WHAT IS HYPERLOOP? Hyperloop is a proposed method of travel that would transport people at 745mph (1,200km/h) between distant locations. It was unveiled by Elon Musk in 2013, who said it could take passengers the 380 miles (610km) from LA to San Francisco in 30 minutes - half the time it takes a plane. It is essentially a long tube that has had the air removed to create a vacuum. The tube is suspended off the ground to protect against weather and earthquakes. Passengers would sit in either individual or group pods, which would then be accelerated with magnets. The superfast Hyperloop transportation system, CGI pictured, was dreamed up by Elon Musk in 2013 and it might be coming to Europe Advertisement Hyperloop waas unveiled by Elon Musk in 2013, who said it could take passengers the 380 miles (610km) from LA to San Francisco in 30 minutes - half the time it takes a plane But the head of Los Angeles-based Hyperloop One, Alan James, said the system could be a better bet than the proposed High Speed 2 rail network, which plans to link northern cities to Birmingham and London. The futuristic tube network would dramatically cut the 163-mile journey from London to Manchester, with passengers travelling between the two cities in just 18 minutes. Mr James told Wired: 'Hyperloop could connect all the great cities of the English north not just to London, but to each other ... making Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, effectively a single city, for instance.' The second firm racing to make the concept a reality - Hyperloop Transportation Technologies - has also reportedly made inroads intot the UK, discussing the potential for a 50 million ($67m) investment through the government's investment agency, Innovate UK. A spokesperson for Innovate UK confirmed that the agency had been in talks regarding Hyperloop. They added: 'Its very early stages, but it is an exciting technology and were following it with interest.' The brainchild of billionaire and head of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk, Hyperloop will use magnetic train-like pods to shuttle passengers and freight around a network of tubes at close to the speed of sound While the initial talks are hopeful, the technology is still a number of years away. In addition, such huge infrastructure projects would require input from national and local government as well as the treasury, before getting the green light. But the UK is not the only European target for the network. In July, Hyperloop One released details of a feasibility proposal which would link Sweden with neighbouring Finland. The proposal outlined how passengers could make the 310-mile trip (500 km) from Stockholm to Helsinki in just 28 minutes. Other European proposals include a network connecting Bratislava in Slovakia to Vienna and Budapest. Earlier this year, researchers working on the project unveiled the system of magnets used to drive the pods. Tests in the Nevada desert showed how the system could accelerate pods along a track. A test sled reached speeds of 116 mph along a track, but engineers still have a long way to go before reaching the 760 mph speeds needed to achieve the promised travel times. September has not been a good month for launching satellites. Reports have emerged that the Chinese government may be covering up a failed rocket launch which resulted in the loss of a cutting edge spy satellite. The rocket, which launched from Shanxi on Thursday, is thought to have failed to get its cargo an advanced earth observation satellite into orbit. There are social media reports of a police search carried out to find debris strewn across the neighbouring Shaanxi province. The reports follow in the wake of last weeks SpaceX disaster, in which Elon Musks firm lost an Israeli communications satellite when its Falcon 9 rocket exploded on the launch pad. Scroll down for video Reports have emerged that the Chinese government may be covering up a failed rocket launch which resulted in the loss of a cutting edge spy satellite. Pictured is one of China's Long March 4 rockets launching from Wenchang in China's Hainan province DID CHINA LOSE A SPY SAT? Last Thursday at 2.55am local time, China's space agency launched a Gaofen-10 satellite into orbit. It is believed a third-stage rocket failure meant the Long March 7 rocket it was travelling on didn't have enough thrust to get it into orbit. Reports later circulated on social media of a launch 'failure', with images of debris in Shaanxi provice, under the flight path. Official news outlets have not covered further news of the launch or the state of the satellite, which experts believe could be indirect confirmation by the Chinese state of mission failure. Advertisement According to the South China Morning Post, the Gaofen-10 satellite was part of a network which would provide 24-hour intelligence gathering capabilities for military and civilian users by 2020, with sufficient coverage to spy on any spot on the planet. Despite a successful launch aboard a Long March 4 rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, it plummeted back to Earth minutes later, reportedly due to a fault with the boosters of the rockets third stage. Chinese language website Chinaspaceflight.com reports a 6-metre wide piece of the rockets satellite fairing the covering which protects the payload but it is jettisoned after leaving Earths lower atmosphere was recovered from Shaanxi after it fell to Earth. Images circulated on Chinese social media platform Weibo posted by user Shaanxizhan, showing the fairing as well as the first stage of the rocket, were subsequently taken down by authorities. Images emerged on Chinese social media platform Weibo, reportedly showing debris from the launch strewn across a town in Shaanxi province (pictured), but were later removed The debris, which was found by police in Shaanxi looks to show the discarded stages of the Long March rocket (pictured) as well as parts of the fairing, which protected the satellite during the launch process The South China Morning Post reports that coverage of the launch has been absent from official news outlets. Experts believe this indicates indirect confirmation by the state of mission failure, it adds. Chinese citizens took to Weibo to comment on the apparent failure, reported the Wall Street Journal. One user commented: 'We can accept success and withstand failure. The Chinese peoples psychological endurance isnt as fragile as you think.' Another added: 'Can the news media show some professionalism, or can the propaganda departments be more frank?' The reported loss of the Chinese Gaofen-10 satellite follows in the wake of a loss from SpaceX last week. The AMOS-6 satellite was aboard a Falcon 9 rocket which exploded during a test fire in Florida last week, destroying the rocket and its cargo (pictured left to right) China's space agency, a branch of the military, has historically been secretive about its missions and longer term goals. Earlier this year the Chinese space agency launched technology aimed at tackling the growing problem of space trash in orbit around the Earth, raising concerns the technology could be used to take out Western communications satellites if needed. The government has cited the safety record of its Long March rockets. This incident is the first failure since the loss of the CBERS 03 satellite, a joint venture between China and Brazil, which was lost after its carrier, a Chang Zheng rocket, failed in 2013. Advertisement Hidden within a scrap of woodland on the edge of a Scottish housing estate is one of Europe's most important artworks. Buried to protect it from vandals, a slab of rock etched with Stone Age carvings is perhaps one the UK's most neglected prehistoric sites. Yet now, nearly 50 years since it was buried, the 5,000-year-old Cochno Stone is to be re-excavated to allow archaeologists to study it. Archaeologists are re-excavating a stone slab (pictured) that has some of the UK's most important rock art etched into its surface. Known as the Cochno stone, it was buried in 1965 by archaeologists to protect it from vandals WHAT ARE CUP AND RINGS Cup and ring marks are a form of prehistoric art found widely through out the world. They consist of a round indentation the cup surrounded by a series of concentric circles that look like ripples on water. The symbols date back to the Neolithic and early Bronze Age but some examples have been found to date from the Iron Age. Some of the carvings have been found on boulders and outcrops overlooking major routes, hunting grounds or water-holes which has led to suggestions they are perhaps used to mark these spots. Others have suggested they could be a mark of territorial ownership. Later examples have been found in association with burial or ceremonial sites, suggesting they may have a sacred importance. Advertisement The stone, which measures 42 feet (13m) by 26 feet (8m), is covered in around 90 grooved spirals and indentations known as cup and rings. The petroglyphs also include a ringed cross and a pair of four toed feet. Researchers are now using cutting edge 3D imaging technology to record the ancient artwork to allow them to study it in more detail. Dr Kenny Brophy, an urban archaeologist at the University of Glasgow who is leading the excavation, said it could help to shed new light on the markings and who made them. He said: 'This is the biggest and I would argue one of the most important Neolithic art panels in Europe. 'The cup and ring marks are extensive but the site just happens to be in the middle of an urban housing scheme in Clydebank. 'It was last fully open to the elements and the public up until 1965. 'Sadly as it was neglected it was also being damaged through vandalism and people just traipsing all over it. 'It has been well recorded for archaeological purposes but we now feel the time, and the technology, is right to unearth it and see what new elements we can learn about its history and the people who created it.' The excavation team will gather high resolution images of the surface of the stone using the same technology used to image Tutankhamun's tomb, revealing evidence of a new chamber. Once complete the stone will be reburied to keep it safe from harm. The huge 42 feet long stone slab was first discovered in 1887. It features around 90 cup and ball marks carved into its surface. the pictures above show the marks highlighted using white paint The meaning of the cup and ring markings in the Cochno Stone (pictured) is still something of a mystery but they appear regularly in Neolithic artworks across Europe Archaeologists are using high resolution scanning and imaging (pictured) to record the markings on the stone slab before reburying it under the soil to keep it preserved for the future Discovered in 1887 by the Reverand James Harvey on a section of farmland near Clydebank in West Dunbartonshire, the Cochno Stone caused a sensation when it was unearthed. It began to suffer vandalism, however, after the local council built the Faifley housing estate on the neighbouring land. Archaeologists feared the ancient rock carvings would be destroyed as people walked over the rock and added their own carvings to it. The Cochno Stone sits on the outskirts of a the Fairfley council housing estate in West Dunbartonshire. When it was discovered, the area was largely fields, but urban development has left it next to a busy urban park Archaeologists chose to rebury the stone slab in 1965 after people were found to be walking all over it (pictured) and even vandalising it, damaging the important historic artwork In 1965 archaeologist Ludovic Maclellan Mann decided to bury it under several feet of soil to protect it from further damage. The new project will aim to use the high resolution images to unpick which of the carvings were caused by vandals before it was buried and which belong to the original. Little is known about what cup and ring symbolise, but they are found in many rock art sites around Europe. Sadly visitors to the rock slab damaged it before it was reburied by carving their names (pictured) and other markings into the slab, potentially damaging the ancient rock carvings etched into its surface Archaeologists studied the markings at the time they were uncovered, but it is hoped new imaging techniques will reveal new insights into how, when and even who made the markings Scientists believe the carvings (pictured) were made in around 3,000 BC but their meaning is lost in history Some experts believe they may have been an ancient form of writing or recording events or perhaps a unit of measure. Others have suggested they may be artworks that symbolise life and death. It is possible the Cochno stone was used in ancient Stone Age ceremonies. Ferdinand Saumarez Smith, from the Factum Foundation for Digital Technology in Conservation, which is carrying out the imaging, said the images will also be used to create a replica of the stone slab that will go on display. The current excavation work (pictured) promises to preserve the rock face in a digital form so it can be studied in more detail without risking damage. A replica will also be produced to go on public display The Cochno Stone (pictured in the 1960s left) measures 26 feet wide by 42 feet long, making it one of the most significant Neolithic artworks in the country. Alongside the cup and ring marks were crosses in circles and what look like feet (right) He said: 'Factum Foundation captured the world's attention through its 3D scanning work that led to the discovery of evidence of a new chamber in the tomb of Tutankhamun. 'With the Cochno Stone, we are going to use similar recording methods to bring the world's attention to Scotland's equally important, mysterious and beautiful heritage. 'The Cochno Stone was taken away from the people of Clydebank in 1965 because of vandalism. 'We are going to show how digital technology can be used to resurrect this lost monument and give it back to the people it belongs to, because we believe that if we trust people, they will look after it.' The rock was originally found on a piece of farmland and was surrounded by a low rock wall to protect it (pictured), but this did not stop it from being damaged. Eventually archaeologists decided to rebury it under several feet of soil The carvings also include some feet with four toes (marked with white paint in the above picture from the 1960s) The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has been hailed as the 'most expensive weapon in history, costing $400bn. Now, it is finally set for its first mission - following over a decade of delays. The Marines will begin moving 16 F-35Bs to Iwakuni Air Station in Japan early next year, it has been revealed. Scroll down for video The jets will deploy as part of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 in early 2017, a Marine spokeswoman said. The Pentagon's director of testing recently warned it is 'not on a path toward success but instead on a path toward failing to deliver' the plane's full combat capabilities on time, according to Bloomberg. BATTLE READY? The software on the F-35 is being constantly upgraded. In 2017, its 3F software will be rolled out, which will give the the aircraft its full war-fighting capability, including the ability to launch certain types of weapons such as the Small Diameter Bomb. Other 3F changes, like improved pilot interfaces and displays, will make the plane easier to operate. Advertisement The Marines be the first force to deploy the Lockheed Martin jet aboard the USS Wasp next year, and will deploy a second contingent soon after, aboard the USS Essex. 'We will learn from that, and see what capabilities we need to further develop,' said Marine Lt. Gen. Robert Walsh, the commanding general of the Marines' Combat Development Command, according toDefense One. 'A lot of it's going to be the school of hard knocks.' The jets will deploy as part of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 in early 2017, a Marine spokeswoman said. At year's end, six of that squadron's planes will attach to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. Following over a decade of de and with a price tag of $400 billion for 2,457 planes, the fifth-generation fighter has been plagued with issues. But it appeared the tide had finally turned earlier this year when the U.S. Air Force has declared an initial squadron of Lockheed Martin Corp F-35A fighter jets ready for combat. Now, the Pentagon's director of operational testing has poured cold water on the announcement, slamming the planes readiness. Michael Gilmore, stated the F-35 is 'actually not on a path toward success but instead on a path toward failing to deliver' the plane's full combat capabilities on time, according to Bloomberg. Gilmore also said the plane is 'running out of time and money' to address deficiencies The Marines be the first force to deploy the Lockheed Martin jet aboard the USS Wasp (pictured) next year, and will deploy a second contingent soon after, aboard the USS Essex. 'Achieving full combat capability with the Joint Strike Fighter is at substantial risk' of not occurring before development is supposed to end and realistic combat testing begins, he said of the F-35. The U.S. Air Force has declared an initial squadron of Lockheed Martin Corp F-35A fighter jets ready for combat, marking a major milestone for a program that has faced cost overruns and delays. However, the most complex software capabilities 'are just being added' and new problems requiring fixes and verification testing 'continue to be discovered at a substantial rate,' Gilmore wrote to Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James; General David Goldfein, the service's chief of staff; and Frank Kendall, the Pentagon's acquisitions chief. The action is another achievement for the $379 billion program, the Pentagon's largest weapons project. The Air Force's decision follows one by the U.S. Marine Corps in July 2015 declaring a first squadron of F-35s ready for combat. 'The U.S. Air Force decision to make the 15 F-35As ... combat ready sends a simple and powerful message to America's friends and foes alike - the F-35 can do its mission,' the program's chief, Air Force Lieutenant General Chris Bogdan, said in a statement. Dan Grazier, a fellow of the Project On Government Oversight, said, however, 'This is nothing but a public relations stunt.' The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has been hailed as the 'most expensive weapon in history.' But despite a price tag of $400 billion for 2,457 planes, the fifth-generation fighter has been plagued with issues. Pictured is a F-35B aircraft prepares for a landing at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona. Now, a new report says the craft could finally be battle ready later this year. He added that it would not be possible to know if the F-35 jets were ready for combat until after initial operational testing. 'The program is not doing everything they wanted it to do ... But they're at a point now where it is stabilizing and so it is progress,' said Todd Harrison, a defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Officials say the F-35 will give the U.S. military the ability to detect enemy aircraft and other threats far beyond current ranges, allowing the jets to strike targets and disappear long before they are detected. The U.S. Air Force plans to buy a total of 1,763 F-35A conventional takeoff and landing jets in coming years and will operate the largest F-35 fleet in the world. Air Force General Herbert Carlisle, commander of Air Combat Command, said work to upgrade the jet would continue in areas such as software, making the displays more intuitive and boosting the ability to share information between aircraft. HOW DOES IT COMPARE WITH ITS 1970S PREDECESSOR, THE F-16 JET? F-35 Role: Stealth multirole fighter First flight: December 15, 2006 Unit cost (not including engine): F-35A - $98million F-35B - $104million F-35C - $116million Number built: 115 (as of November 2014) Length: 15.67m Wingspan: 10.7m Height: 4.33m Max speed (F-35A): 1,930kph Armament: One of the most highly-anticipated features of the F-35 armament is the Small Diameter Bomb II (SBD II).The bomb is able to guide towards its target using laser, imaging infrared or radar homing. It can hit moving or stationary targets in any weather, or at night, with unprecedented reliability and accuracy. The 'super weapon' is predicted to be the most versatile air-to-ground munition in the Pentagon's air combat inventory. The cost per SDB II is said to be around $250,000 and the US military plans on buying as many as 17,000 of them. F-16 Role: Multirole fighter First flight: January 20, 1974 Unit cost: F-16A/B - $14.6million F-16C/D - $18.8million Number built: 4,540+ Length: 15.06m Wingspan: 9.96m Height: 4.88m Max speed (F-16C): 2,120kph Combat history: The F-16 has served in the Air Forces of 26 nations, including the U.S., Israel, Egypt, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway. During Operation Desert Storm, the 1991 assault on Iraq, F-16s flew over 13,000 operations, more than any other Coalition aircraft. The U.S. has employed the F-16 in operations over the Balkans, Afghanistan and Libya. At its production peak in 1987, the F-16 team in Fort Worth was also making history, by producing 30 F-16s in just 30 days. Thanks to frequent upgrades improving and incorporating new technologies into the cockpit, avionics, sensors and weapons, the aircraft has become more reliable over its 40 years. Advertisement The aircraft could provide basic air support at this point but did not have everything the final version would, such as an infrared pointer, Carlisle said, adding that he would try to get the jets deployed to Europe and the Pacific within 18 months. Lockheed is building three models of the F-35 Lightning II for the U.S. military and 10 countries that have already ordered the jets: Britain, Australia, Norway, Italy, Turkey, Denmark, the Netherlands, Israel, South Korea and Japan. The Pentagon's F-35 program office said it remained in negotiations with Lockheed over long-delayed contracts for the next two batches of F-35 jets, deals worth about $15 billion. 'We're seeking a fair deal for the F-35 enterprise and industry,' said F-35 program spokesman Joe DellaVedova. The program, launched in 2001, has made strides in recent years after huge cost overruns and technical problems that sent the project's cost up nearly 70 percent. Problems with the fighter jet included issues with the radar software and increased risk of neck injury to lower-weight pilots when they ejected from the aircraft. Last year researchers revealed the hugely delayed and over budget project has finally fired its first shots in the air. The F-35A Lightning II completed the first three airborne gunfire bursts from its internal Gun Airborne Unit (GAU)-22/A 25mm Gatling gun system during a California test flight on October 30th Industry and U.S. defense officials say they are working hard to continue driving down the cost of the new warplanes to $85 million per plane by 2019, as well as the cost of operating them. Senator John McCain, the Republican chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said he welcomed the announcement but made clear he intended to keep a close eye on the hugely expensive program. With a price tag of $400 billion for 2,457 planes, the fifth-generation fighter could finally be battle ready later this year, a new report claims. 'The Senate Armed Services Committee will continue to exercise rigorous oversight of the Joint Strike Fighter program's long-delayed System Development and Demonstration phase as well as the start of the operational test and evaluation phase,' McCain said in a statement. To become battle ready, at least a dozen individual F-35 must demonstrate their ability to drop bombs and shoot down other planes. Each jet must be upgraded to a specific software package, and plugged into the complex logistics cloud that manages maintenance. Workers can be seen on the moving line and forward fuselage assembly areas for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter at Lockheed Martin Corp's factory located in Fort Worth, Texas ALIS: THE 'BRAINS' OF THE F35 The problem is with what the Department of Defense officials call the 'brains' of plane, also known as the Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS). It is designed to support operations, mission planning and to spot any maintenance issues with the vehicle. It also allows pilots to plan missions and look back at their their performance. ALIS receives Health Reporting Codes via a radio frequency downlink while the F-35 is still in flight; this enables the pre-positioning of parts and qualified maintainers so that when the aircraft lands, downtime is minimised. Advertisement The F-35 project office had previously set an Aug. 1 target date. The project has been plagued with delays. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's record on cost, schedule and performance has been a scandal and a tragedy, Senator John McCain told senior Pentagon officials earlier this year. McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the aircraft's development schedule has stretched to 15 years, deliveries of the F-35 have been delayed, and costs have skyrocketed. 'It's been a scandal and the cost overruns have been disgraceful,' McCain said. Most recently, problems with its logistics software system grounded the entire fleet. The issue is with what the Department of Defense officials call the 'brains' of plane, also known as the Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS). A Government Accountability Office report says a failure 'could take the entire fleet offline' because there is no backup system. The report also says a lack of testing done of the software will mean it's not ready for its deployment by the Air Force in August and the Navy in 2018. The 'brains' of the F35 are one of three major components, with the other two being the engine and airframe. CNN points out that the software runs on ground computers rather than operating on the plane itself. It is designed to support operations, mission planning and to spot any maintenance issues with the vehicle. 'Program officials said that if ALIS is not fully functional, the F-35 could not be operated as frequently as intended,' the report said. 'But a DoD commissioned plan found that schedule slippage and functionality problems with ALIS could lead to $20-100 billion in additional costs.' So far, the software has been so flawed that maintenance crews have had to resort labour-intensive alternatives. According to National Interest, in one instance maintainers had to manually burn data onto CDs and to send the massive files across a civilian WiFi network. One major problem, the report said, is that the F-35 data produced goes through a single main operating unit which has no back up. 'The F-35 is still in development, and this is the time when technical challenges are expected,' Lt. Genernal Chris Bogdon told CNN. 'However, we believe the combined government and industry team will resolve current issues and future discoveries,' he said. Lead defense contractor for the plane, Lockheed Martin, insists development of the logistics software is on schedule. a new report says problems with its logistics software system could ground the entire fleet. The problem is with what the Department of Defense officials call the 'brains' of plane, also known as the Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) 'As ALIS development continues, our focus is on the warfighter and delivering the most effective, efficient fleet management system to sustain the F-35 over the next five decades of operations,' said Sharon Parsley, a spokeswoman for Lockheed Martin. 'The recommendations by the GAO are in line with the actions already underway in preparation for full-rate production and worldwide sustainment.' As well as this month's report, a recent Pentagon report has revealed a massive list of potentially lethal bugs still facing the jet. Pictured is the F-35A, which recently completed its first aerial gun test This isn't the only problem to plague the program. Last month, it has emerged the jets complex radar system has a problem - it keeps crashing. The software glitch that interferes with the ability of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter's AN/APG-81 AESA radar working in flight. This poses the greatest threat to delaying US Air Force (USAF) plans to declare its jets operationally deployable, a top service official told Janes. Major General Jeffrey Harrigian, director of the air force's F-35 integration office at the Pentagon, described the problem as 'radar stability - the radar's ability to stay up and running'. 'What would happen is they'd get a signal that says either a radar degrade or a radar fail -something that would force us to restart the radar,' Maj Gen Harrigian said Another Pentagon report revealed a massive list of potentially lethal bugs still facing the jet. It also found problems with the computer software, including 'in fusion, electronic warfare, and weapons employment result[ing] in ambiguous threat displays, limited ability to respond to threats, and a requirement for off-board sources to provide accurate coordinates for precision attack.' Last year researchers revealed the hugely delayed and over budget project has finally fired its first shots in the air. The F-35A Lightning II completed the first three airborne gunfire bursts from its internal Gun Airborne Unit (GAU)-22/A 25mm Gatling gun system during a California test flight on October 30th. The F-35 also has a smart parts system to ensure everything is working within its limits, and can warn when parts need to be replaced. However, the computerized maintenance management System, or CMMS, 'incorrectly authorizes older/inappropriate replacement parts.' the report said. THE EJECTOR SEAT THAT COULD KILL Pilots under 136 pounds aren't allowed to fly any F-35 variant. Pilots under 165 pounds have a 1-in-4 chance of death and 100 percent chance of serious neck injury upon ejecting, according to the testing office. 'The testing showed that the ejection seat rotates backwards after ejection. This results in the pilot's neck becoming extended, as the head moves behind the shoulders in a 'chin up' position. When the parachute inflates and begins to extract the pilot from the seat (with great force), a 'whiplash' action occurs. The rotation of the seat and resulting extension of the neck are greater for lighter weight pilots,' the report states. Sophisticated: Footage from ground testing of the F-35A stealth jet at Edwards Air Force Base in California, shows the awesome firepower of the four-barrel Gatling gun embedded in the left wing Advertisement It also fails to detect if it's been flying too fast and 'randomly prevented user logins' into its computerised control system. In the first live firing test, three bursts of one 30 rounds and two 60 rounds each were fired from the aircraft's four-barrel, 25-millimeter Gatling gun. In integrating the weapon into the stealthy F 35A airframe, the gun must be kept hidden behind closed doors to reduce its radar cross section until the trigger is pulled. 'The successful aerial gun test sortie was a culmination of several years' planning, which intensified in the first half of 2015 at the Edwards F-35 Integrated Test Force (ITF) Flight Test Squadron with a team of Air Force, Lockheed Martin, Pratt & Whitney, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman personnel,' said Mike Glass, Edwards ITF flight test director. 'The results of this testing will be used in future blocks of testing, where the accuracy and mission effectiveness capabilities will be evaluated.' The 25mm gun is embedded in the F-35A's left wing and is designed to be integrated in a way to maintain the F-35's very low observable criteria. It will provide pilots with the ability to engage air-to-ground and air-to-air targets. 'At the end of the program's system development and demonstration phase in 2017, the F-35 will have an operational gun. Physicists have predicted the existence of a new fundamental particle that could help to solve the mystery of dark matter. Known as the Madala boson, the newly proposed particle has many similarities to the Higgs boson but unlike the latter, its thought to interact with the elusive dark matter which makes up roughly 27 percent of the universe. The researchers in South Africa analyzed data from multiple experiments conducted at the Large Hadron Collider, and found that key features and peculiarities associated with the Madala hypothesis corroborated across the reports. Known as the Madala boson, the newly proposed particle shares many similarities with the Higgs boson but unlike the latter, its thought to interact with the elusive dark matter which makes up roughly 27 percent of the universe. The LCH is pictured WHAT IS DARK MATTER? Dark matter makes up roughly 27 per cent of the Universe, and is invisible because it does not reflect light. It cannot be seen directly with telescopes, but astronomers know it to be out there because of the gravitational effects it has on the matter we can see. The European Space Agency says: 'Shine a torch in a completely dark room, and you will see only what the torch illuminates. 'That does not mean that the room around you does not exist. 'Similarly we know dark matter exists but have never observed it directly.' Scientists are fairly sure it exists and is crucial to the universe, but they do not know what it looks like or where to find it. Dark matter is thought to be the gravitational 'glue' that holds the galaxies together, while just 5 per cent the Universe consists of known material such as atoms and subatomic particles. Advertisement Scientists with the High Energy Physics Group (HEP) at the University of Witwatersrand formulated their initial hypothesis based on CERN experiments in 2012, when the Higgs boson was discovered. The researchers collaborated with scientists in India and Sweden, and when the experiment at the LHC was repeated in 2015 and 2016, the team found the findings lined up with those which had triggered their hypothesis. The Madala boson hypothesis describes an entirely new boson and field that interacts with dark matter. Physics today is at a crossroads similar to the times of Einstein and the fathers of Quantum Mechanics, says Professor Bruce Mellado, team leader of the HEP group at Wits. Classical physics failed to explain a number of phenomena and, as a result, it needed to be revolutionized with new concepts, such as relativity and quantum physics, leading to the creation of what we know now as modern physics. While the Standard Model of Physics was completed with the 2012 discovery of the Higgs boson, it does not account for certain phenomena, including dark matter. But, the researchers say this new particle could help to explain the mysterious origins of this matter. The news comes just weeks researchers announced that they may have spotted a previously unknown subatomic particle that could be evidence of a fifth fundamental force of nature. Theoretical physicists at the University of California say their find, dubbed the 'X Boson' could 'completely change our understanding of the universe' if confirmed. When the experiment at the LHC was repeated in 2015 and 2016, the team found the findings lined up with those which had triggered their hypothesis. On left, CMS proton-proton collisions are shown. The CMS detector is pictured on right THE STANDARD MODEL OF PARTICLE PHYSICS The Standard Model says everything in the universe is made from the most basic building blocks called fundamental particles, that are governed by four forces: gravity, electromagnetic, weak nuclear and strong nuclear. The forces work over different ranges and have different strengths. This new particle, if it exists, would not fit into the description given by the Standard Model and so would lead to a whole new area of particle physics. Some have suggested it might even lead to the discovery of a fifth fundamental force. This development was exciting because the Standard Model has left some questions unanswered for years, so scientists are keen to break free of it and find new theories. It can't explain gravity, for example, because it is incompatible with our best explanation of how gravity works - general relativity, nor does it explain dark matter particles. The quantum theory used to describe the small particles in the world, and the general theory of relativity used to describe the larger objects world, are also difficult to reconcile. Nobody has managed to make the two mathematically compatible in the context of the Standard Model. According to the Big Bang theory, matter and antimatter were created in equal amounts at the start of the universe and so they should have annihilated each other totally in the first second or so of the universe's existence. This means the cosmos should be full of light and little else. But because it isn't there must have been a subtle difference in the physics of matter and anti-matter that has left the universe with a surplus of matter and that makes up the stars we see, the planet we live on and ourselves. But the observations seen so far are not enough to confirm the existence of a particle. Advertisement The research, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, analysed a mid-2015 study by experimental nuclear physicists at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences who were searching for 'dark photons,' particles that would signify unseen dark matter, which physicists say makes up about 85 percent of the universe's mass. The Hungarians' work uncovered a radioactive decay anomaly that points to the existence of a light particle just 30 times heavier than an electron. 'The experimentalists weren't able to claim that it was a new force,' said Jonathan Feng, professor of physics & astronomy at UCI. 'They simply saw an excess of events that indicated a new particle, but it was not clear to them whether it was a matter particle or a force-carrying particle.' The UCI group studied the Hungarian researchers' data as well as all other previous experiments in this area and showed that the evidence strongly disfavors both matter particles and dark photons. They proposed a new theory, however, that synthesizes all existing data and determined that the discovery could indicate a fifth fundamental force. New research, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, analysed a mid-2015 study by experimental physicists in Hungary searching for 'dark photons' 'If true, it's revolutionary,' said Jonathan Feng, professor of physics & astronomy at UCI. 'For decades, we've known of four fundamental forces: gravitation, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces. 'If confirmed by further experiments, this discovery of a possible fifth force would completely change our understanding of the universe, with consequences for the unification of forces and dark matter.' Their initial analysis was published in late April on the public arXiv online server, and a follow-up paper amplifying the conclusions of the first work was released in August on the same website. The UCI work demonstrates that instead of being a dark photon, the particle may be a 'protophobic X boson.' While the normal electric force acts on electrons and protons, this newfound boson interacts only with electrons and neutrons and at an extremely limited range. Analysis co-author Timothy Tait, professor of physics & astronomy, said, 'There's no other boson that we've observed that has this same characteristic. Sometimes we also just call it the 'X boson,' where 'X' means unknown.' as soon as possible Uber says they want to Uber famously poached a third of Carnegie Mellon Universitys robotics lab staff in 2015 in a bid to fulfill their mission for self-driving taxis. Although the ride-sharing giant is among the many who believe driverless cars are just around the corner, the head of the universitys robotics lab thinks otherwise. Herman Herman, named the group's new director after it was gutted, believes companies are 'technically' not ready because they still need engineers the in car - and says a true self driving service is 'not even close'. Scroll down for video Uber poached a third of Carnegie Mellon Universitys robotics lab staff in 2015. Although the ride-sharing giant is among the many big players in the industry who believe driverless cars are just around the corner, the head of the universitys robotics lab thinks otherwise. Pictured is a concept drawing of Uber's self-driving cars TRUTH ABOUT DRIVERLESS Herman Herman was named the new director of Carnegie Mellon Universitys robotics lab after Uber took a third of the staff to its own researcher lab in 2015. Herman told Motherboard that Uber may be talking about self-driving cars, but the firm is no where near the reality. With autonomous cars, you see these videos from Google and Uber showing a car driving around, but people have not taken it past 80 percent, Herman told Jordan Pearson with Motherboard. Its one of those problems where its easy to get to the first 80 percent, but its incredibly difficult to solve the last 20 percent. For you or me to buy a car that can drive autonomously from point A to point Bits not even close. Source: Motherboard Advertisement With autonomous cars, you see these videos from Google and Uber showing a car driving around, but people have not taken it past 80 percent, Herman told Jordan Pearsonat Motherboard. Its one of those problems where its easy to get to the first 80 percent, but its incredibly difficult to solve the last 20 percent. For you or me to buy a car that can drive autonomously from point A to point Bits not even close. There are fundamental problems that need to be solved. Herman stepped up as head of the lab after more than 40 of the 100 scientists, including the director, were taken to a new location by Uber to working on a fleet of driverless taxis, reports Motherboard. Prior to Uber cleaning house, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) was well-known for its work with autonomous research. In February 2015, the two struck a deal to focus on mapping and safety technologies to support Ubers ride-sharing mission. However, it only took three months before the California firm left the university in crisis by taking a third of its staff. The robotics lab's funding was cut in half by the end of 2015, but recently Uber passed along a check for $5.5 million that could either be as a thank you or sorry. For you or me to buy a car that can drive autonomously from point A to point Bits not even close,' said Herman. 'There are fundamental problems that need to be solved. Prior to Uber cleaning house, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) was well-known for its work with autonomous research UBER TO REPLACE HUMAN DRIVERS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE Uber says the self-driving Volvo XC90 cars will have human backup drivers to begin with, but the move will surely worry the country's 327,000 Uber drivers who will eventually be replaced by autonomous vehicles. Uber co-founder and chief executive officer Travis Kalanick has said that the company's goal is to replace human drivers with driverless vehicles as 'quickly as possible'. The $300million Volvo deal will provide SUVs to Uber and see vehicles outfitted with cameras, lasers and sensors to help them navigate the city's streets. An unspecified number of autonomous Ford Fusions will also pick up passengers. The Volvo has 22 camera lenses, a laser on the roof and laser sensors at the corners. Its cameras, sensors and laser can see more than 100 meters in all directions. Advertisement Herman told Pearson that the robotics lab bounced back since the failed partnership and now has 115 scientists working for the department. They had plenty of projects that were minimally affected, he said, but the group did have to cancel two projects they were working on. Although Herman and his team were affected by the Ubers controversial move, the ridesharing firm seems to be moving along with their plans. This year, Ubers souped up autonomous Ford cars were seen through around the streets of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, CMUs headquarters. And most recently, the firm announced a partnership with Volvo. In February 2015, the two struck a deal to focus on mapping and safety technologies to support Ubers ride-sharing mission. However, it only took three months before the California firm left the university in a crisis by taking a third of its staffUber says it will also start hauling passengers with self-driving Volvo CX90 cars. But the company said they will also have back-up drivers THE RACE TO SELF DRIVING CARS: UBER'S COMPETITION One of Google's self driving prototype 'bubble' cars Google's self-driving car In 2009, Google started the self-driving car project. The testing fleet includes both modified Lexus SUVs and new prototype vehicles that are designed from the ground up to be fully self-driving. Google's prototype two-seater 'bubble' cars have buttons to begin and end the drive, but no other controls. An on-board computer uses data from sensors, including radar, a laser and cameras, to make turns and negotiate its way around pedestrians and other vehicles. Under the vision unveiled by Google, passengers might set their destination by typing it into a map or using commands. Apple's iCar A concept video reveals ideas for a futuristic-looking Apple car, with a wide dashboard display and smart capabilities. The video from ConceptsiPhone boasts that the 2020 vehicle design is 'more than a car,' with connectivity to other Apple devices. The concept by Luca Wrede shows a build that mirrors the minimalist design common to Apple products. A wraparound dashboard screen shows speed, traffic predictions, and answers calls. The vehicle can pull up Apple Maps, Safari, and Siri, which are indicated all on the interactive dashboard. The concept car can even connect to the Apple Watch. LEECo's LeSEE China's LeEco has unveiled an electric autonomous vehicle that it says will surpass Tesla's Model S in 'all aspects of performance'. Dubbed LeSEE, the sleek pearly white sedan has memory foam seats, Knight Rider-style voice activation, an automatic driving mode and a steering wheel that folds toward the dash when the car is set to autopilot. This futuristic concept car was engineered to be a 'smart', 'connected' and 'automated self-driving car' and the firm hopes it will set the stage for a fleet of autonomous taxis. Although Uber's competitor Lyft stated it is dabbling in self-driving taxis, it won't have anything to show for it until next year. The program will use Chevrolet Bolt electric taxis and 'included customers in a yet-to-be disclosed city' General Motors & Lyft's autonomous Taxis General Motors announced a $500 million investment in Lyft earlier this year as a joint effort to develop a fleet of self-driving taxis. Although the idea seemed like a distant dream, the duo has announced plans for a testing program on public roads by 2017. The program will use Chevrolet Bolt electric taxis and 'include real customers in a yet-to-be disclosed city'. In addition to the testing program, Lyft is working on a new app that will be used for the autonomous cars. The app is still a prototype, but will list the option for an autonomous car and there is a GM OnStar assistant to answer questions or report issues while you're en route to your destination. Advertisement Uber says the self-driving Volvo XC90 cars will have human backup drivers to begin with, but the ultimate goal is to replace human drivers with driverless vehicles as 'quickly as possible', said Uber co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick. This will involve Uber adding its own self-developed autonomous driving systems to the Volvo base vehicle. Volvo will use the same base vehicle for the next stage of its own autonomous car strategy, which will involve fully autonomous driving. Technically, Im not sure if its ready, explained Herman. They still have to have engineers in the car. So, for technical reasons, its not there. It has been dubbed the quantum enigma machine - and has been used for a groundbreaking new form of unbreakable encrypted messaging for the first time. The researchers proved a message could be sent with a key thats shorter than the message itself, breaking the conditions defined decades ago by the father of information theory, Claude Shannon. This encryption method, known as quantum data locking, could one day make for super-secure systems in which it is virtually impossible for a third party to obtain and translate the message. Using a device dubbed the quantum enigma machine, researchers have demonstrated a new form of unbreakable encrypted messaging for the first time. In an example explaining how this system works, a hypothetical Alice is sending an encrypted message to Bob, with Eve being the third party HOW IT WORKS The work also taps into the fundamental uncertainty of quantum measurements, which states that the more we know about one property of a particle, the less we know about another. Based on this, six bits of classical information were securely locked using just one bit of an encryption key. If a hypotherical 'Alice' uses the machine to send a message to 'Bob,' it to generates photons, which move through space and into a spatial light modulator (SLM) that alters the properties of each individual photon. Doing this allows the message to be encoded in a way that can be focused to unique points, while also distorting the shapes of the photons into random patterns. Both Alice and Bob known the keys, so Bob can use his SLM to translate the altered properties back into distinct elements of the message. Advertisement The researchers from the University of Rochester describe the device which has made this method possible in a paper published in the journal Physical Review A. Called the quantum enigma machine, it is named for the encryption devices used by Germany during World War II. Unbreakable encrypted messages currently rely on three conditions established by Claude Shannon: the key is random, used only once, and is at least as long as the message itself. But, recent advancements have highlighted ways to develop secure encryption systems with quantum data locking, which uses photons to carry messages. Explained in a 2013 paper by Seth Lloyd, a professor of quantum information at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, photon waves can be altered in many more ways than binary systems. Among the possibilities, the angle of tilt can be changed, wavelength can be adjusted, and the size of amplitude can be modified. Based on these properties, the researcher proposed that the quantum key can be shorter than the message itself. The new device developed by the University of Rochester researchers puts this theory to work, ultimately aiming to prevent a third party from gaining access to and translating an encrypted message. In an example explaining how this system works, a hypothetical Alice is sending an encrypted message to Bob, with Eve being the third party. Alice uses the machine to generate photons, which move through space and into a spatial light modulator (SLM) that alters the properties of each individual photon. Doing this allows the message to be encoded in a way that can be focused to unique points, while also distorting the shapes of the photons into random patterns. Both Alice and Bob known the keys, so Bob can use his SLM to translate the altered properties back into distinct elements of the message. This encryption method, known as quantum data locking, could one day make for super-secure systems in which it is virtually impossible for a third party to obtain and translate the message But without the keys, Eve could not do this. The work also taps into the fundamental uncertainty of quantum measurements, which states that the more we know about one property of a particle, the less we know about another. Based on this, six bits of classical information were securely locked using just one bit of an encryption key. The work marks a huge step in both encryption and quantum data locking. While our device is not 100 percent secure, due to photon loss, it does show that data locking in message encryption is far more than a theory, says Daniel Lum, a graduate student in physics. Researchers in China have simultaneously published a paper on the topic. Its highly unlikely that our free-space implementation will be useful through atmospheric conditions,' Lum says. they were the only people on the Firefly operated flight A couple from North Yorkshire were unexpectedly treated to a private flight after realising they were the only two passengers on the plane. Carrie Fisher and her partner Kyle McNicol, both from York, were travelling from Krabi, Thailand, to Penang in Malaysia when they made the surprising discovery. Deciding to take full advantage of their situation, the couple decided to seat hop around the plane and even experiment with some quirky dance moves down the gangway. Scroll down for video Carrie Fisher and her partner Kyle McNicol, both from York, were travelling from Krabi, Thailand, to Penang in Malaysia They turned out to be the only ones boarding the Firefly operated flight on September 2 They decided to take advantage of their situation and try out all the seats on the plane The couple, who are both 28, were left confused when the check-in desk told them that it was a special day. Even staff checking their passports for the flight, operated by Malaysian airline Firelfy, were laughing and saying 'just you two'. It was only when the couple noticed that no one else was getting on the bus to board the flight that they realised they were getting taken to their own private plane. Fisher, who left her job to travel for a year, said: 'I was shocked, and a little nervous. 'Kyle was really happy about it, it was something he'd hoped would happen. Fisher said the could were told they could take any seat and could even run up and down 'We were told that it was a special day when we handed our bags over. Everyone from the check in staff to immigration were laughing their heads off at us. 'Even when we arrived at Penang border control knew who we were. 'The cabin crew felt just as awkward as we did to start with, it was the first time that it happened to them too. 'We asked where we could sit and were told we could sit anywhere, run up and down just don't jump, which is why Kyle broke into his signature move, the slug. 'We were even treated to a complimentary stuffed aeroplane.' The couple are currently still in Penang but have already planned their next stops. They have been posting updates on their blog titled 'A guy, a girl and the world' and have already visited destinations like Japan, China and Vietnam. The couple are currently still in Penang but have already planned their next stops. Above, McNicol in one of the seats The couple (left) plans to continue travelling though Fisher noted that she was surprised when no one helped her carry her bags (right) when they arrived Posting about the VIP experience once they arrived in George Town, Carrie wrote: 'The next hour and 10 minutes passed quickly, we spent the time seat hopping and Kyle has now added to his facial injuries by doing the slug. 'For those that don't know he basically just slides along the floor with his bum on the air. 'Stepping off the plane in Penang the ground staff all started laughing at us too, and another lady escorted us to immigration, where again they laughed and asked us about our solo flight. They are not shy about flaunting their pouts in social media snaps. So Sophie Monk, Delta Goodrem and Mallory Jansen have decided to put their lips to good use by starring in a charity campaign. The Australian celebrities puckered up in a photo shoot ahead of Pink Hope's Bright Lipstick Day - which encourages people to speak about their family health history. Scroll down for video Pucker up: Sophie Monk flaunted her best pout when she posed for Pink Hope's Bright Lipstick Day charity campaign Sophie showcased her natural beauty in minimal make-up - but added a slick of pink lipstick for impact in the campaign images shot by Carlotta Moye. Mallory gazed into the camera with a sultry look in her shots for the charity campaign. She teamed up with Pink Hope to promote conversations about ovarian and breast cancer among Australians. Promoting conversations: Actress Mallory Jansen gazed into the camera with a sultry look in her shots for the charity campaign Stunning: Delta Goodrem is among the celebrities lending their pout to the charity's cause Speaking about why she chose to collaborate with the organisation, the 27-year-old actress said: 'Pink Hope is a fantastic organization promoting female empowerment through a supportive community. Us girls need to look out for each other.' Adding that she's 'always believed in women supporting other women,' the Melbourne-born beauty said she's thrilled to be involved with a charity 'that empowers, supports and educates women'. A host of celebrity guests, including Natalie Bassingthwaighte, Anna Heinrich, Zoe Marshall and Erin Holland will turn out for the annual launch. Celebrity ambassadors: Home And Away actress Charlotte Best showed off her flawless complexion as she posed for the campaign Meanwhile, Mallory's own personal anecdote highlights the importance of pink hope's core message. Speaking about her own family's health scares, the Galavant star said: 'My mum has had a number of scares with breast and ovarian cancer over the last few years. 'Sadly she chose not to tell anybody about what she was going through at the time, as she didn't want anyone to worry about her. Star-studded event: Tuesday's launch will see Carissa Walford (pictured) join Pink Hope founder Krystal Barter in greeting a host of other celebrities 'I wish she had spoken out, especially to me as I would have accompanied her to every appointment and procedure.' The auburn-haired beauty concluded: 'Women need to be more open about their health, especially to friends and family members, as we all need support and encouragement in tough and uncertain times.' Radio host Jackie 'O' Henderson may have had an on-air feud on Monday with disgruntled hairdresser Carole Haddad after refusing her styling years ago. But the two women put their bitterness behind them and made up on Tuesday, with Carole joining the Kyle and Jackie O show as a mystery guest. Explaining the feud, she revealed that she had been battling cancer in 2008 when Jackie, whom she had earlier slammed as a 'diva', apparently snubbed her services. Scroll down for video All is forgiven: Radio host Jackie 'O' Henderson (seen right) apologised to disgruntled hairdresser Carole Haddad (left) after an on-the-phone row where she branded her a 'diva' 'As a woman I thought you would be just a little bit more sensitive,' she said. 'And at the time, I'm going through cancer and there's no excuses for anything but for me, I really do feel that as women, you could be a little bit more sensitive and communicate with hair and makeup,' she said. At the time she was appearing on Channel Ten to host Big Brother with Kyle Sandilands. Putting it to bed: Jackie (above with co-host Kyle Sandilands) insisted she meant no harm when she turned down the woman's services eight years ago Explanation: Carole revealed on Tuesday she had been battling cancer at the time Mother-of-one Jackie claims she wanted to do her own hair and makeup but that Carole never got the message and was left waiting. Jackie apologised, explaining that she had merely wanted to do her own styling. Channel Ten's Stephen Tate further appeared on the show on Tuesday and admitted that there as a ' bit of a miscommunication' on their behalf. The women eventually made up after Jackie clarified that she never thought Carole wasn't good enough to attend to her. Standing her ground: Carole Haddad is seen here in a shot shared to social media. The mother-of-one said she was battling cancer at the time of the apparent snub in 2008 Back in the day: Kyle and Jackie O were hosting Big Brother Australia at the time. They are seen above on the show in 2008 Jackie apologised, saying: 'As I said before Carole, if I've offended you in any way because that happened, I apologise.' They hugged and Carole joked: 'Is there a metal detector to check her out?' On Monday the pair had it out over the phone live on air, after Carole claimed to have been turned down by her in a scathing local newspaper article. Carole labelled Jackie as 'rude' and 'a diva' for not telling her she wasn't showing up to their appointment, while Jackie slammed her saying it was 'embarrassing' for a hairdresser to complain about clients. Making amends! Jackie apologised, saying: 'As I said before Carole, if I've offended you in any way because that happened, I apologise' Controversy: Jackie was branded a 'diva' by Carole who complained she 'rudely' turned down treatment during a work trip to Brisbane In an article in The Courier Mail, Carole had earlier said: ' With most high-profile ladies, they need their hair done at the drop of a hat. 'Whilst the majority of my celebrity clients are lovely and humble, one person was a diva. 'Everyone is lovely except for Jackie O. I'm glad I don't have to do her hair regularly.' A hair-raising rant: Brisbane hairdresser Carole (pictured here with Carla Zampatti) claimed that Jackie 'O' is 'the black widow of the TV stations' Despite the feud, things are going well for Kyle and Jackie O with the pair regularly dominating the radio ratings. In June, Kyle was named Radio Today's Most Influential Man On-Air this year, taking out the top 20. Just weeks prior, Jackie nabbed the top spot as the most successful female on radio. The pair first started working together in 1999. James Franco continued the Deauville festivities at the French premiere of his directorial effort, In Dubious Battle, on Monday. The 38-year-old Oscar nominee looked dapper as ever on the red carpet while suited in his black tuxedo and necktie. The Sausage Party star sported curly locks and full mustache for his role as twin brothers Vincent & Frankie Martino in HBO's upcoming seventies-set series The Deuce. Scroll down for video Sharp-dressed man: James Franco continued the Deauville festivities at the French premiere of his directorial effort, In Dubious Battle, on Monday The prolific Mr. Franco - who boasts degrees from UCLA, Columbia, and NYU - wasted no time charming French actress Ana Girardot. James made sure to pose with the Valentino-clad 28-year-old as well as his In Dubious Battle producer Lady Monika Bacardi at the French festival. Also joining the Golden Globe winner was Italian producer Andrea Iervolino, his co-star Vince Jolivette, and his producer Scott Reed. Noticeably missing from the fanfare was Franco's Spring Breakers co-star Selena Gomez, who plays Lisa London in the Depression-era drama. Suited and booted: The 38-year-old Oscar nominee looked dapper as ever on the red carpet while suited in his black tuxedo and necktie Committed: The Sausage Party star sported curly locks and full mustache for his role as twin brothers Vincent & Frankie Martino in HBO's upcoming seventies-set series The Deuce Enchante! The prolific Mr. Franco - who boasts degrees from UCLA, Columbia, and NYU - wasted no time charming French actress Ana Girardot All-American: James made sure to pose with the Valentino-clad 28-year-old (L) as well as his In Dubious Battle producer Lady Monika Bacardi (R) at the French festival Group shot: Also joining the Golden Globe winner was Italian producer Andrea Iervolino (M), his co-star Vince Jolivette (2-R), and his producer Scott Reed (R) On August 30 - the 24-year-old pop star confirmed to People that she was taking a career break to battle Lupus, which causes her 'anxiety, panic attacks, and depression.' James produced, directed, and stars as labor party activist Mac McLeod in In Dubious Battle about California apple pickers striking against landowners. The ensemble flick - based on John Steinbeck's 1936 novel - also features Robert Duvall, Bryan Cranston, and Ed Harris. MIA: Noticeably missing from the fanfare was Franco's Spring Breakers co-star Selena Gomez, who plays Lisa London in the Depression-era drama Sorry! On August 30 - the 24-year-old pop star confirmed to People that she was taking a career break to battle Lupus, which causes her 'anxiety, panic attacks, and depression' Strike! James produced, directed, and stars as labor party activist Mac McLeod in In Dubious Battle about California apple pickers striking against landowners Period drama: The ensemble flick - based on John Steinbeck's 1936 novel - also features Robert Duvall, Bryan Cranston, and Ed Harris The Little Prince actor also received a career homage on Monday as well as his very own private beach cabin at Deauville's Promenade des Planches. 'I'm not running for president and I don't know how to fix it but certainly there is a working class and middle class in America that's left behind and it's not a good thing. Hopefully this film can shine a light on this issue,' Franco said at Monday's press conference - according to Variety. 'I've not been politically active in my life but as a public figure there are certain things that I can raise awareness on and send a message to younger people - raise attention on voting for instance.' Congrats! The Little Prince actor also received a career homage on Monday as well as his very own private beach cabin at Deauville's Promenade des Planches Franco said at Monday's press conference: 'I've not been politically active in my life but as a public figure there are certain things that I can raise awareness on and send a message to younger people - raise attention on voting for instance' Hitting US theaters September 23! The California native will next play Mitch in the critically-acclaimed fraternity hazing drama Goat alongside Nick Jonas (L) and Ben Schnetzer The California native will next play Mitch in the critically-acclaimed fraternity hazing drama Goat - hitting US theaters September 23 - alongside Nick Jonas and Ben Schnetzer. Also spotted brightening up the red carpet Monday was Sing Street star Lucy Boynton in a plunging nude floral column gown. The Manhattan-born, London-raised 22-year-old sported a romantic plaited updo and full make-up for the glitzy premiere. English rose: Also spotted brightening up the red carpet Monday was Sing Street star Lucy Boynton in a plunging nude floral column gown She has one of the most desirable figures in the world. And Jessica Gomes, 30, was not shy about showing it off when she posed for a racy photo shoot in Byron Bay, NSW, on Tuesday. The Australian model offered fans a glimpse of her sexy lingerie and endless pins when her black billowing maxi dress came undone in a racy behind-the-scenes snap. Scroll down for video Lingerie and legs: Australian model Jessica Gomes, 30, donned a billowing black maxi dress and lacy bra for Collective Hub's cover shoot She was seen standing on a wooden balcony, with a beautiful view of the Byron Bay countryside in the background. The top half of the her dress was left opened, showing off her cleavage in a sexy, lace bra the model was sporting. Jessica captioned the picture, 'P A N D A // Behind the scenes snap from @collectivehub on stands now.' Cover girl: The stunning Jessica Gomes graced the cover of the latest Collective Hub. The shoot was shot in Byron Bay, NSW, Australia In-demand Australian make-up artist Max Made was hired for the shoot. He opted to keep Jessica's complexion looking as natural as possible. Her hair was also left natural, with a slight wave. On Monday, the brunette beauty posted a photo of the Collective Hub's cover, which she appears on. In it, Jessica is wearing the same black lacy bra and flowing maxi dress that she wore in the photo posted on Tuesday. She captioned the picture, 'OUT NOW // I talk business, becoming an entrepreneur, growing up, film making, embracing change & facing your fears!' Home and away: In-demand Australian model Jessica Gomes has been frequently flying to and from the USA and Australia for work. In late August, she shot in Malibu with fellow Australian Margaret Zhang The 30-year-old model has been constantly travelling back and forth from the USA to Australia lately. In early August, Jessica was in Australia to visit her hometown of Perth and also to walk in the David Jones Spring Summer launch, which took place in Sydney. She then traveled back to the USA to spend time with her godson, fellow model Nicole Trunfio's son Zion in Los Angeles. The nation watched her romance with TOWIE's Lewis Bloor blossom on Celebrity Big Brother. And Marnie Simpson has opened up about their romance- and sex life, as well as her recent health scare, in a very honest interview. Speaking to Ok! magazine the 23-year-old Geordie Shore star described the 26-year-old reality star as having a 'massive w****'. Scroll down for video That's a little TMI: Marnie Simpson has talked about her bedroom antics with new beau Lewis Bloor, calling him a 10/10 in a new interview after they fell in love on CBB We had our first proper date last Monday and it was amazing. We had the best time ever. We went bowling, she said. The Geordie Shore star described Lewis as a ten out of ten in the bedroom and added: Everybody wants to know about mine and Lewis sex life. Its really funny. 'Hes got a massive w***y and everybody wants to know what its like! Cheeky! Speaking to Ok! magazine the 23-year-old Geordie Shore star described the 26-year-old reality star as having a 'massive w****' Speaking about having a long distance relationship, she revealed: Im thinking of buying a house. I dont know whether that will be in Newcastle or London, but Ive got a lot of thinking to do. 'I relished living with Lewis for four weeks and if I was ever to move in with him I would be a very lucky girl. And opening about her dash to the hospital two days after leaving Celebrity Big Brother she explained: I was just really run down and exhausted. Honeymoon period: We had our first proper date last Monday and it was amazing. We had the best time ever. We went bowling, she said Naughty: The Geordie Shore star described Lewis as a ten out of ten in the bedroom and added: Everybody wants to know about mine and Lewis sex life. Its really funny' 'I went straight from Geordie Shore to Celebrity Big Brother. I had agonising stomach pains and headaches. I had just landed back at Heathrow from doing a PA in Belfast. To read the full interview buy this week's Ok! out now The star, who was told she had a urine infection and exhaustion, added: Im just generally run down. I know what I need to do. 'I need to have a rest and Im on a proper detox. Lewis is going to look after me. Lewis recently spoke to new! magazine about the possibility of marriage. Despite admitting he has slowed the pace of their relationship down outside of the house, he admitted he would be 'lucky' to marry Marnie. Asked if he could see tying the knot, Lewis admitted: 'I would be a very lucky man. The reason I've been such a jerk [in the past] is because I've never met someone who has really kept me on my toes.' She can barely grasp his head. But Dwayne Johnson still saw fit to lecture his nine-month-old daughter on the virtues of hard work to mark Labor Day. The 44-year-old shared an adorable pic of Jasmine flashing her impossibly blue eyes from atop her daddy's shoulders. Good talk: Dwayne Johnson lectured his nine-month-old daughter Jasmine on the virtues of hard work to mark Labor Day 'Its Labor Day,' the pro wrestler-turned-actor declared in the Instagram caption. 'One of my favorite holidays as we celebrate the blue collar American worker and their contributions to our country thru labor and sweat. 'In the spirit of Labor Day, I had an amazing philosophical conversation w/ my baby girl about the value of hard work and how respect is given when it's earned. 'I told her, "Baby girl when you grow up, you get out there and dent the universe thru hard work and sweat. And always make sure you do it in a positive way with class, dignity and respect". Little Jasmine didn't seem to think too much of her dad's sentiments, as she responded by immediately 'poo'ing on me'. Mom: The Rock's girlfriend of nine years Lauren Hashian gave birth to Jasmine in December last year (pictured in July at Ballers season 2 premiere) 'In this moment as she plays her favorite game, "Drum time on daddy's big head",' he added. 'It was a good talk.' The Rock's girlfriend of nine years Lauren Hashian gave birth to Jasmine in December last year. He also has a 16-year-old daughter - Simone - with his ex-wife Dany Garcia, to whom he was married from 1997 to 2007. Proud dad: He also has a 16-year-old daughter - Simone - with his ex-wife Dany Garcia, to whom he was married from 1997 to 2007 Last week the action star posted a first look at his character in the upcoming movie Jumanji: 'the smoldering Dr Bravestone'. The sequel to the 1995 film starring the late Robin Williams started shooting this summer in Hawaii, according to Deadline.com. In an earlier post, Johnson assured fans that this version would 'honor' the original, and that it was a 'continuation of the awesome Jumanji adventure 20 years later', not a remake or reboot. They recently sent tongues wagging with their joint naked selfie. And Megan McKenna and Pete Wicks made a bold fashion statement as they attended the TV Choice Awards in London on Monday. TOWIE stars Megan, 23, and her 26-year-old boyfriend turned heads in their ensembles. Scroll down for video Turning heads: Megan McKenna and Pete Wicks made a bold fashion statement as they attended the TV Choice Awards in London on Monday Megan showed off her long lithe legs in a satin mini dress with an intricate halterneck. Cinched in a the waist with a delicate chain-detail belt, the LBD showed off her toned midriff. Teaming it with a satin-collared blazer and strappy black sandals, the brunette beauty put on an impressive display. Power couple:TOWIE stars Megan, 23, and her 26-year-old boyfriend turned heads in their ensembles Leggy: Megan showed off her long lithe legs in a satin mini dress with an intricate halterneck And she ensured she was immaculately groomed, wearing her hair in a bouffant slicked back style. Going for statement lashes and perfectly contoured make-up, the reality star looked flawless. And proud boyfriend Pete looked dapper in a three-piece green checked suit. Completing his ensemble with a crisp white shirt and black tie, he wore his hair in a sleek man bun. Later the couple posted a snap on Instagram, alongside TOWIE co-stars Chloe Sims and Danielle Armstrong. Crew: Later the couple posted a snap on Instagram, alongside TOWIE co-stars Chloe Sims and Danielle Armstrong Curves: Cinched in a the waist with a delicate chain-detail belt, the LBD showed off her toned midriff And on Sunday Megan flashed the flesh as she uploaded a naked snap of herself and her Pete. The reality star posted the racy image to Instagram ahead as the couple ran a bath together, with Megan covering her modesty with her arms and legs. Pete, also not too shy, stood behind her, allowing his girlfriend's body to cover his intimate areas as she sat in front of him. Making a splash: Megan posted a NAKED Instagram picture of herself and Pete ahead of bath time on Sunday It was Pete who took the snap on his phone, with Megan sharing the image and no doubt delighting their fans. She captioned the image with a simple bath emoji. Megan is no doubt keen to spend some time relaxing as she was partying in Magaluf the week before. Barcelona baby! The couple looked to be enjoying their time away, and headed out for a romantic meal after their antics in the bathroom 'When bae comes back with roses': It seems that Pete was determined to make the night a romantic one, as he gifted his beloved with a bouquet of roses However, she didn't look at all worse for wear as she headed out to a meeting in Camden last Thursday afternoon. She looked stylish in an off-the-shoulder blue top and tight black jeans teamed with a pair of high heeled black boots. The top served to show off her holiday tan, while she looked in cheerful spirits after her break away. Blue beauty: Megan looked stylish in an off-the-shoulder blue top and tight black jeans teamed with a pair of high heeled black boots last Thursday A lacy black choker and perfectly applied eye make-up completed the look, while the star's hair was tied into a practical top knot. 'Up & ready for Towie meetings today... Then onto something very exciting this afternoon! Which I can tell u very soon.....' she tweeted somewhat cryptically. Just a day earlier, Megan was partying the day away during a VIP appearance at a packed party in Magaluf. They're fans: Megan and Pete recently attended FriendsFest in Haggerston Park together on August 23 Sweet: The couple looked rather in love when they were pictured filming scenes for ITVBe reality show at the start of last month While she had the time of her life on Wednesday, a few hours later it was a different story as Megan was caught up in flight delays as she headed home to the UK that night. 'Fuminggggggg ellllllllll my flight is delayed 2 hourssssssssss noooooooo,' she told her Twitter followers. And later she added: 'How am I delayed another half hour on top of the 2 hours... F**k sake and I have to be in a meeting tomorrow morning in London! I HATE Liberty takers.' Megan finally made it back to the UK, tweeting in the early hours: 'How have I just landed. literally gonna get home the time I woke up for the airport this morning. Wow.' The CBB star joined the cast of the Essex-based reality shows earlier this year, finding love with hunky co-star Pete Wicks. She's the unofficial poster girl for body-acceptance. And this, coupled with her down-to-earth nature, makes Robyn Lawley the perfect celebrity to front charity Pink Hope. The 27-year-old flaunted her stunning curves in a flirty white frock with plunging neckline, as she helped launch the charity's Bright Pink Lipstick Day in Sydney on Tuesday. Scroll down for video Sultry! Robyn Lawley, 27, flaunted her stunning curves in a flirty white frock while attending Pink Hope's Bright Pink Lipstick Day in Sydney on Tuesday Highlighting her enviable figure in a white frock with plunging neckline, Robyn happily posed for photos in front of a stunning floral backdrop. The gown's thin straps drew attention to her delicate decolletage, while cleverly placed draping just under the bust, accentuated her slender waist. Allowing her glossy locks to fall over one shoulder, the Pantene ambassador kept in theme with the event, opting for a bright pink lip, defined brows and lashings of mascara. Stylish: Highlighting her enviable figure in a white frock with plunging neckline, Robyn happily posed for photos in front of a stunning floral backdrop Beauty: The brunette stunner kept in theme with the event, opting for a bright pink lip, defined brows and lashings of mascara For charity: The star used her profile to drive the campaign's mission of having lifesaving conversations of the risk of cancer in families Jetsetter: The trip sees Robyn return to home soil, having relocated to the US with partner Everest Schmidt and their one-year-old daughter Ripley Also joining Robyn at the star-studded event were Natalie Bassingthwaighte, Carissa Walford, Anna Heinrich and Erin Holland. The stars used their profile to drive the campaign's mission of having lifesaving conversations of the risk of cancer in families. The trip sees Robyn return to home soil, having relocated to the US with partner Everest Schmidt and their one-year-old daughter Ripley. Svelte: The 188cm-tall glamazon opened up to Daily Mail Australia earlier this year, about adjusting to her post-baby body Adjusting: 'My body isn't the same and while some people are like ''Oh no, it is'', it really is quite different,' she explained The 188cm-tall glamazon opened up to Daily Mail Australia earlier this year, about adjusting to her post-baby body. 'My body isn't the same and while some people are like ''Oh no, it is'', it really is quite different,' she explained. 'It's a body I am getting used to in terms of modelling. She added: 'I'm not Miranda Kerr unfortunately, so my body still needs some help and I just need to work out for a few more months'. As the old friends were reunited on ITVs Cold Feet last night after 13 years, one familiar face was conspicuous by her absence. Producers failed to persuade Helen Baxendale, whose character Rachel died in a car crash, to return to the comedy drama as a ghost. Scriptwriter Mike Bullen admits: She said: Thanks, but no thanks. Its a c**p part. She made the right decision. Cold Feet producers failed to persuade Helen Baxendale (left), whose character Rachel died in a car crash, to return to the comedy drama as a ghost (right, the cast of the show) Reunited: Robert Bathurst, John Thompson, Hermione Norris, James Nesbitt and Fay Ripley in Sunday night's Cold Feet Yesterday, Helen, 46, was seen walking in the rain near her home in Richmond, South- West London, wearing a patterned blue dress, hoodie and anorak. The star, who played Ross Gellers partner in Friends, has spurned lucrative acting offers so she can focus on her family. New love: With Rachel long gone, Adam (Nesbitt) was seen marrying new love Angela Older but wiser? The cast all returned aside from Baxendale She lives with director David Williams and their children, Nell Marmalade, 17, Eric Mustard, 14, and Vincent Mash, nine. Ive had my taste of huge fame and it was OK, but Im an actress, not a celebrity, Helen has said. I was working constantly and feeling so guilty that I wasnt at home. I have absolutely no regrets. What HAS happened to Trinny? Given her boyfriend Charles Saatchis reputation with women, Trinny Woodalls friends might be alarmed by this image the TV presenter has shared online. Happily, they have no need to fret, as Trinnys face is not wrapped in bandages, but simply a 19.99 moisture-boosting mask she uses to revitalise her skin. Former TV host Trinny Woodall posted a photo online of her face covered in a moisture-boosting mask she uses to revitalise her skin Former What Not To Wear host Trinny, 52, has been courted by Saatchi, 73, since the moneybags art collector divorced domestic goddess Nigella Lawson in 2013. They split after he was pictured with his hand around her throat. Nigella later accused him of intimate terrorism towards her during their marriage. HIS campaigning for Labour has been so unsuccessful that some people claim hes cursed, but cross-dressing comedian Eddie Izzard is confident hell soon be elected to high office. I am definitely running for either Mayor of London or even a Member of Parliament in the next five years, the 54-year-old tells me. Without a shadow of doubt. Lets hope no one pinches his pink beret if hes elected. When a thief stole Izzards bright headwear at a pro-EU march on Saturday, six police officers sprang to his rescue. Poldark's Aidan: BBC banned me from having fun Being a body beautiful can be awfully tiresome. Poldark star Aidan Turner, who stripped off within minutes of the second series starting on Sunday, says the BBC has banned him from outdoor pursuits in case he injures himself. Id like to say I go surfing, but Im not really allowed to do a lot of things, reveals the 33-year-old. They want to keep me fit and relatively healthy. Poldark star Aidan Turner, says the BBC has banned him from outdoor pursuits in case he injures himself Cream teas and horse riding when Im not on set is a bit of a faux pas. Its prohibited. Who knew cream teas could be so dangerous? It is the highest-grossing musical film of all time, but Mamma Mia! looks likely to lose one of its stars, Julie Walters, when a sequel is finally made. Im not sure it is good to repeat things, the Bafta-winner, who played Rosie in the 2008 film, tells me. I have heard there has been talk of a spin-off film for Mamma Mia! but for the younger characters not an old thing like me! 70,000 people have been celebrating Burning Man in the desert this past week. 18-year-old Bella Thorne took to Snapchat to share some photos from her time at the festival on Monday. The usually red-headed actress swapped her strawberry blonde locks for a silky pink wig. Outlandish: 18-year-old Bella Thorne took to Snapchat to share some photos from her time at Burning Man The Shake It Up! actress looked sultry as she lay on the bed with her bob wig and pouted for the camera. She also went for a Kylie Jenner matte style lipstick, accentuating her plump pout. Bella showed off her flawless skin and long eye lashes as she gazed into the camera. New look: The usually red-headed actress swapped her strawberry blonde locks for a silky pink wig Famous friends: Bella pictured here with actor Tyler Posey (L) Looking good: The Shake It Up! actress looked sultry as she lay on the bed with her bob wig and pouted for the camera She is wearing a very revealing black and multi-coloured floral halterneck romper. Bella added a pair of thigh high pink fishnet stockings to her bizarre look. The young actress wasn't the only celebrity celebrating at the iconic festival. Paris Hilton was also in attendance. The 35-year-old hotel heiress posed in an outlandish, comicbook outfit, which is the norm at this event, encouraging creativity and individuality. Smile: Bella flashed her pearly whites for one of her Snapchats Iconic: Burning Man takes place in the middle of the barren Black Rock Desert of Nevada Out there: She is wearing a very revealing black and multi-coloured floral halterneck romper Paris went for the golden goddess look, flashing her taut tummy and toned legs in a gold bra embellished with strings of gold beads and a gold mini-skirt. Burning Man takes place in the middle of the barren Black Rock Desert of Nevada. Crazy: The festival wrapped on Labor Day after five days of creative madness Electric: The festival lasted over a week Founded in 1986, the 'experiential and radical' Burning Man festival takes place every summer. It wrapped on Labor Day after five days of creative madness, with the last formal event, the burning of a massive temple built out of scrap wood, lighting up the night sky on Sunday. Another famous face: Paris went for the golden goddess look, flashing her taut tummy and toned legs in a gold bra embellished with strings of gold beads and a gold mini-skirt She was crowned Miss Universe Australia in 2015. But Monika Radulovic sported a different type of crown as she stepped out for the launch of Pink Hope's Bright Lipstick Day in Sydney on Tuesday. Cutting a slender figure, the 25-year-old wore a delicate floral headpiece featuring tiny pink flowers and bright pink lipstick fitting for the function. Scroll down for video Flower girl: Former Miss Universe Australia Monika Radulovic stunned as she stepped out for a Pink Hope charity launch in Sydney on Tuesday Monika's brunette locks were worn out and styled in loose waves that framed her angular face. With her bushy brows groomed to perfection, the former beauty pageant winner's dimples were on display as she flashed her beaming smile. The Sydney-based stunner completed her look with a pair of peep-toe ankle boots and a thin gold bangle worn on her left wrist. Beauty queen: The Miss Universe Australia 2015 winner looked ethereal in a blue and white dress, which she teamed with a floral headpiece Pretty in pink: Pink Hope ambassador Carissa Walford stunned in a lacey ensemble for the event Monika was among a bevvy of beauties at this morning's charity event, promoting conversations about ovarian and breast cancer among Australians. Actress Mallory Jansen flew from the US to join the cast of ambassadors attending the soiree, including Home And Away's Charlotte Best, TV presenter Carissa Walford and Natalie Bassingthwaighte. Monika was crowned winner of the Miss Universe Australia competition in 2015 after coming fourth in 2014. Guests: The Bachelor's Anna Heinrich put on a leggy display in a red plunging dress as she stepped out Visiting: US-based actress Mallory Jansen flew in especially for the event, having teamed up with the charity to promote women's health The Bosnian-born beauty is currently engaged to artist Alesandro Ljubicic and recently spoke to Daily Mail Australia about the couple's upcoming nuptials. Admitting her busy schedule has hindered the planning process, Monika said: 'We're still thinking 2018 and that's honestly as far as we've got.' 'So we've got plenty of time to hash out the details, but we're both so busy.' Ronan Farrow on Tuesday met his niece Evangeline for the first time, less than 24 hours after his sister Dylan gave birth to the bouncing baby girl. Ronan and Dylan's mother, actress Mia Farrow, shared a photo of the proud 28-year-old uncle cradling the newborn tenderly in his arms in his sister's hospital room. Farrow's tweet that accompanied the image read: 'Uncle Ronan with Dylan's baby, Evangeline.' The NBC reporter later re-posted the image on his own Instagram account with the caption 'Uncle x12,' referring to the fact that Evangeline is his 12th niece. Proud uncle: Ronan Farrow is posing with his newborn niece Evangeline on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after sister Dylan gave birth to her Welcome: Mia Farrow shared a photo of her newest granddaughter on Monday, just three hours old Mia Farrow, 71, announced the birth of her latest granddaughter on Monday by posting a photo of a swaddled baby Evangeline, just three hours old, lying in a hospital bassinet. 'Welcome to my beautiful little grand-daughter, Evangeline born 3 hours ago to Dylan Farrow and her husband, Dana,' she tweeted with the sweet snap of the peacefully sleeping tot. The actress's 31-year-old daughter debuted her baby bump earlier this year while attending the Time 100 Gala in New York City with her mother. Last month Mia shared a rare snap of the expecting couple, declaring the baby due 'any day now'. Dylan has largely avoided the cameras for the past two years ever since giving an interview accusing her adoptive father Woody Allen of sexually abusing her as a child. Dylan, who changed her name to Malone as an adult, broke her silence in the November 2013 issue of Vanity Fair, alleging that Allen molested her when she was just seven, telling her it was their 'secret'. Coming soon: Her daughter, 31-year-old Dylan debuted her baby bump earlier this year while attending the Time 100 Gala in New York City She told her mother Mia in August 1992 that her father had been inappropriate with her in the attic and kissed her, claims that have been denied by Allen. Dylan said the alleged abuse made her feel that she was a 'bad kid' and that she told her mother because she was 'cracking' and wanted Allen to stop. She said in the interview; 'Theres a lot I dont remember, but what happened in the attic I remember. I remember what I was wearing and what I wasnt wearing.' When asked if it happened on multiple occasions, Dylan said; 'That was isolated. The rest was just everyday weirdness - the weird routine I thought was normal.' She called her fears of her father 'crippling' and said: 'Im scared of him, his image. Nobody wants to think this legendary filmmaker is my worst nightmare. Thats what scares me, when I picture things chasing me or happeningI think its him after me. Its hard to explain how terrifying that is.' Dylan also revealed said she once went into a 'fit of vomiting' after seeing a boy in her school wearing a shirt featuring her father. The case was dropped in 1993 but custody of Dylan was awarded to her mother and Allen was denied visitation with his daughter. Baby on board: Mia recently shared a photo of her heavily pregnant daughter Dylan and her husband Dylan did not take the stand, and said in the interview; 'I have never been asked to testify. If I could talk to the seven-year-old Dylan, I would tell her to be brave, to testify.' Following the molestation case, Mia moved her children from New York to Connecticut. Things got bad again for Dylan however following the death of her adopted sister Tam in 2000 from a heart condition, causing her to sink into a deep depression. She started cutting herself and made a 'halfhearted' attempt at suicide, admitting: 'Im not proud of it. It was very hard for me to cope. My mom was my rock, and Ronan was my best friend.' Then, things got much worse for Dylan she said when she was contacted by her estranged father. The first time was in 2004, she said, when he sent her a letter saying that because she was now legally an adult he wanted to have a conversation and 'set the record straight about what your mother has told you.' He signed off on the note; 'Love, your father.' Family affair: Allen lost custody of Dylan when she was still a child, and went on to marry her step-sister Soon-Yi Previn, who was 35 years his junior (Mia and Woody with Dylan and Ronan in 1988) Allen tried once again three years later, when she was a senior year at college, she said. Dylan said at that time Allen sent her a package of pictures of the pair together, writing that Soon-Yi missed her and he wanted her to meet his new adopted daughters. She credits her husband with helping her through the difficult times, and said of the information technology specialist: 'Hes the best thing that ever happened to me. I would not be functioning without him.' Shortly after her interview with Vanity Fair Dylan also penned an open letter in the New York Times about her father, which Allen responded too in a rare public statement to deny the allegations being made by his daughter. Farrow and Allen's adopted son Moses, who is closest to Dylan in age and estranged from most of his siblings and his mother, also sided with the award-winning director and said that the abuse never occurred. They're currently enjoying the last of the summer on the West Coast of the USA. So it was little surprise to see Formula One heiresses Tamara Ecclestone and Petra Stunt making the most of the Labor Day celebration in Los Angeles on Monday. Heading out to the idyllic surrounds of Malibu, the two sisters - daughters of F1 supremo Bernie - treated their daughters to a fun-filled day at the town's fair. Scroll down for video Dun in the sun! F1 heiresses Tamara Ecclestone and Petra Stunt were making the most of the Labor Day celebration in Los Angeles on Monday - treating their daughters to a day out Heading out to enjoy and all-American day of fun in the famous coastal region of LA, the two sisters treated their little girls to a day at the fair. Strolling around the fair ground pushing their two young daughters along in their pushchairs, the Ecclestone girls looked just like any other family. Tamara, the eldest of Bernie's two daughters with ex-wife Slavica, rocked a relaxed bohemian look as she enjoyed a day out with her two-year-old daughter Sophia. A real sister act: Heading out to the idyllic surrounds of Malibu, the two sisters - daughters of F1 supremo Bernie - treated their daughters to a fun-filled day at the town's fair They see you strolling: Heading out to enjoy and all-American day of fun in the famous coastal region of LA, the two sisters treated their little girls to a day at the fair The 32-year-old heiress, who is married to former city banker Jay Rutland, wore a floral sundress which featured red and pink detailing along the neckline. The beauty salon owner added a denim jacket to her look, to keep any hint of a cold breeze at bay. The doting mother, who is never far from Sophia's side, wore her hair long brown locks tied up into an elaborate bun. Doting mother: Strolling around the fair ground pushing their two young daughters along in their pushchairs, the Ecclestone girls looked just like any other family Boho chic: Tamara, the eldest of Bernie's two daughters with ex-wife Slavica, rocked a relaxed bohemian look as she enjoyed a day out with her two-year-old daughter Sophia Casually does itThe 32-year-old heiress, who is married to former city banker Jay Rutland, wore a floral sundress, denim jacket and white trainers Being on a fun-filled outing with two toddlers Tamara kept her look clutter-free, donning a pair of aviator sunglasses. Her sister Petra, 27, was equally dressed down for their day out and teamed a black vest with a pair of skinny ripped jeans and whit trainers. The mother-of-three, who was treating her eldest child, Lavinia, three, to a day out with her aunt and cousin cut a relaxed figure. On-duty mummy: Her sister Petra, 27, was equally dressed down for their day out and teamed a black vest with a pair of skinny ripped jeans and white trainers Her mini me: The mother-of-three, who was treating her eldest child, Lavinia, three, to a day out with her aunt and cousin cut a relaxed figure The blonde beauty, who is married to high-flying businessman James Stunt, wore her shock of blonde hair pushed back off of her face. Petra added a sunglasses and a cursory few pieces of jewellery to her look. The sisters look right at home as they treated their daughters to some fun in the sun, lavishing attention on them as they played fair games and ran around at the fair. Never one to shy away from sharing a memorable moment with her fans, Tamara uploaded a sweet snap of Sophia in a fairground car to her Instagram account. She captioned the sweet image with a single love heart emoji, making her feeling about the day clear to her 230,000 followers. Beyonce Knowles postponed her Formation World Tour stop scheduled for this Wednesday in New Jersey to October 7 due to doctor's 'strict orders for vocal rest.' The MetLife Stadium released an official statement Monday assuring fans that their tickets will be honored on the later date, otherwise refunds can be provided. The pop diva's health woes came the day after she celebrated her 35th birthday (in signature slay way) with an epic weekend of privilege and political intrigue. Scroll down for video On the mend! Beyonce Knowles postponed her Formation World Tour stop scheduled for this Wednesday in New Jersey to October 7 due to doctor's 'strict orders for vocal rest' (pictured August 28) 'Best wishes!' The MetLife Stadium released an official statement Monday assuring fans that their tickets will be honored on the later date, otherwise refunds can be provided 'I just want to say thank you to everyone for all the beautiful and thoughtful birthday wishes!' the 20-time Grammy winner - who boasts 163.1M followers - wrote on Sunday. 'I am so fortunate to have the love and support of my family, my friends, and my hive. We've grown up together and you guys continue to inspire and motivate me everyday. 'I'm so grateful for every challenge, every smile, every tear, every discovery, every sacrifice, every triumph, every stretch mark, every kiss, every scar. I strive to make you proud.I love YOOOUUUU!!! B.' Queen Bey and her husband of eight years, Jay Z, attended his fest Made in America in Philadelphia where she got shout-outs from Coldplay's Chris Martin and Chance the Rapper. Not perfect: The pop diva's health woes came the day after she celebrated her 35th birthday (in signature slay way) with an epic weekend of privilege and political intrigue (pictured August 28) The 20-time Grammy winner - who boasts 163.1M followers - wrote on Sunday: 'I just want to say thank you to everyone for all the beautiful and thoughtful birthday wishes!' Birthday girl! Queen Bey and her husband of eight years, Jay Z, attended his fest Made in America in Philadelphia where she got shout-outs from Coldplay's Chris Martin and Chance the Rapper Earlier at the music festival, the Sorry songstress chatted up former President Bill Clinton, who was there to register voters. The official campaign photographer for Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton made sure to snap a pic of the powerful pair in the VIP tent. Beyonce has yet to endorse a candidate, even after attending the 68-year-old former First Lady's fundraiser in May of last year. 'Monica Lewinsky-ed all on my gown': Earlier at the music festival, the Sorry songstress chatted up former President Bill Clinton, who was there to register voters 'Happy bday Bey!' The official campaign photographer for Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton made sure to snap a pic of the powerful pair in the VIP tent 'Say youll Bey on Team #Hillary2016!' Beyonce has yet to endorse a candidate, even after attending the 68-year-old former First Lady's fundraiser in May of last year Jet setter: Knowles kicked off her special weekend alongside four-year-old daughter Blue Ivy with a quick visit to Manhattan then Camp David to hang out with (most of) the Obamas Knowles kicked off her special weekend alongside four-year-old daughter Blue Ivy with a quick visit to Manhattan then Camp David to hang out with (most of) the Obamas. Sunday also marked the premiere of the Ivy Park designer's Hold Up music video co-directed with Jonas Akerlund from her one-hour 'visual album' Lemonade. Beyonce will resume the remainder of her 52-date Formation World Tour (as scheduled) beginning this Saturday at The Dome at America's Center in St. Louis. Amassed 3.9M views! Sunday also marked the premiere of the Ivy Park designer's Hold Up music video co-directed with Jonas Akerlund from her one-hour 'visual album' Lemonade She oozes sex appeal on screen. And once again Margot Robbie sizzles in a steamy new television advert for Calvin Klein's Deep Euphoria fragrance. The 26-year-old actress stuns in a variety of eye-catching ensembles, including a plunging silk dress as she slips between the sheets with shirtless male models. Scroll down for video Steamy! Australian actress Margot Robbie sizzles in a new television advert for Calvin Klein's Deep Euphoria fragrance The Wolf Of Wall Street star can be seen reclining in a dream-like state, resting against a model's bare chest while he is clad in tight gold leather pants. She has her blonde locks tied up off her face into a low bun, showing off her flawless visage and chiseled cheekbones. The former Neighbours star wears natural looking makeup including light foundation and lashings of mascara with a deep pink lip. Sitting pretty: The 26-year-old actress stuns in a variety of eye-catching ensembles, including a plunging silk dress Her dress is a white and blue floral design that perfectly suits her complexion. The advert begins with Margot appearing to fall asleep on a lounge before dreaming she is in bed with the models after they all attend a party at a warehouse. At the end of the clip, she wakes up before she can be heard whispering the name of the perfume. Getting close: The advert begins with Margot appearing to fall asleep on a lounge before dreaming she is in bed with the models after they all attend a party at a warehouse Margot was announced as the newest face of the brand earlier this year, and it marks her first fragrance campaign. The new fragrance is in stores this month. Margot previously said of the campaign: 'Im thrilled to be the face of Deep Euphoria Calvin Klein. This is my first advertising campaign and I am honored it is with Calvin Klein, an iconic brand I have known and loved for so many years,' the star said. First gig: Margot was announced as the newest face of the brand earlier this year, and it marks her first fragrance campaign Making her mark: Margot - who hails from Queensland's Dalby - is known for films including The Legend of Tarzan, Focus and Suicide Squad (seen here in The Wolf Of Wall Street) Margot - who hails from Queensland's Dalby - has starred in films such as The Legend of Tarzan, Focus and Suicide Squad. The blonde bombshell - who is currently dating Tom Ackerley - has recently enjoyed time in Japan. She posed up for a fun Instagram snap with an adorable hedgehog at a hedgehog cafe and also made Mochi in a video. She was hotly tipped to become the next Bachelorette before finding love with entrepreneur Jake Meah. And Lana Jeavons-Fellows appeared happier than ever as she stepped out for the Pink Hope charity event in Sydney on Tuesday. The Bachelor favourite showed off some skin but kept things elegant in a lacy grey dress. Scroll down for video Racy in lace! Former Bachelor star Lana Jeavons-Fellows looked elegant as she arrived at charity event Pink Hope She was also still rocking her tan from a recent holiday to Bali as she arrived at Hotel Palisade to do her bit for a good cause. The 28-year-old finished off her look with a brown leather bag baring her initials LJF. Breast and ovarian cancer charity Pink Hope held a star-studded launch party for its Bright Pink Lipstick Day fundraiser. Good cause: The 28-year-old was happy to carry pink balloons to raise awareness for the good cause And nobody appeared to show their support for the cause more than Channel V personality Carissa Walford and lifestyle blogger Caroline Groth. The pair both came to the event decked out in the colour pink, sporting pink hair, lipstick, and clothing. Other celebrities at the event included The Bachelor's Anna Heinrich, actress Natalie Bassingthwaighte, and model Tegan Martin. Brand Lana: The beauty sported a bag baring her initials LJF for the event Smile! Lana appeared to be enjoying her time at the charity ball as she chatted with fellow guests Lana recently revealed that things are going so well between her and new boyfriend Jake that they have already talked babies and marriage. The loved-up twosome met before Lana appeared on The Bachelor last year, but parted ways when Jake temporarily relocated to London for business. The couple have now been together for seven months, despite Lana's repeated hints that she could be the next Bachelorette. Lana recently joined fellow reality TV stars like Lydia Schiavello and Louise Pillidge by launching her own beauty and lifestyle blog. Pretty in pink: Breast and ovarian cancer charity Pink Hope launched its Bright Pink Lipstick Day fundraiser on Tuesday Since the launch of Netflix in Australia early last year, Foxtel has felt increasing pressure to compete. But it looks to have a winner on its hands with the commissioning of a six-part series, based on iconic 1975 film Picnic At Hanging Rock. The new major drama, which is set to air next year, will revisit the memorable story about the disappearance of three school girls and their governess on a trip to the bush. Iconic: Foxtel has commissioned a six-part series, to air next year, based on the iconic 1975 film Picnic At Hanging Rock The premium series is just one of the many local commissions Foxtel has in store for 2017. The orinigal movie garnered critical acclaim due to its compelling storyline. Viewers were left hooked as three girls disappeared during a picnic at Hanging Rock in Victoria, on Valentine's Day, back in 1990. The film also detailed the subsequent effect this had on the local community. Compelling: The new major drama, which is set to air next year, will revisit the memorable story about the disappearance of three school girls and their governess on a trip to the bush More to come: The premium series is just one of the many local commissions Foxtel has in store for 2017 Thrilling TV: Viewers were left hooked as three girls disappeared during a picnic at Hanging Rock in Victoria, on Valentine's Day, back in 1990 Chain reaction: The film also detailed the subsequent effect this had on the local community Pre-production for the series is already underway, however no details have emerged yet as to who will star as the lead roles. The commission follows the success of drama The Kettering Incident, airing on Foxtel's Showcase channel. The lead role taken on by established actress Elizabeth Debicki, sees Dr. Anna Macy return to her home of Kettering. Head start: Renowned Australian actress Jacki Weaver, 69, had a short role in the film as character Minnie, that launched her career A case of a missing girl brings painful memories to the surface for Anna, and as she discovers more facts about the girl, realises disturbing secrets that are not only part of the town's history, but also her own. Starring Offspring's Matthew Le Nevez, the series also helped launch the career of newcomer Tilda Cobham-Hervey. The 22-year-old was a little known name back in 2014 when she starred in a Myer commercial. Since then the Adelaide-born actress has become the small screen's 'it' girl. Following suit: The commission follows the success of drama The Kettering Incident, airing on Foxtel's Showcase channel, which stars Elizabeth Debicki as the lead She's known for her bizarre fashion sense and questionable ensembles while her on/off 'fiance' typically opts for laid-back looks. And Miley Cyrus didn't disappoint when she stepped out for dinner with Liam Hemsworth, 26, at Nobu in Malibu on Monday. The 23-year-old songstress made sure to stand out from the crowd in a tie-dyed one piece with heart-shaped sunglasses and plastic see-through purse. Opposites attract! Liam Hemsworth, 26, and Miley Cyrus, 23, went with completely different looks when they stepped out in Malibu on Monday The Wrecking Ball hit-maker donned a sky blue off-the-shoulder skintight one piece from Frankies Bikinis which showcased her svelte figure. Her long slender stems were on display in a pair of light wash barely there ripped denim cutoffs. She swept her platinum blonde locks up into a high bun and featured her flawless complexion with minimal make-up. Daytime date: The Wrecking Ball hit-maker enjoyed dinner with her on/off 'fiance' at hotspot Nobu Leggy blonde: Miley donned a sky blue off-the-shoulder Frankies Bikinis one piece and barely there cutoffs which showcased her slender stems Not shy: Miley was clearly not afraid of taking centre stage while out with her low-key lover A vintage jean jacket with several studs and colourful pins draped around the Golden Globe nominee's shoulders. The hunky Australian actor opted for comfort in a basic white tee with khaki shorts and Vans slip-ons. The brother of Hollywood hottie Chris Hemsworth kept his piercing blue eyes concealed behind tortoise shell shades. Miley and Liam were joined by a small group of friends as one of the former Hannah Montana star's gal pals was dressed equally eccentric in a bright yellow frock with pom pom earrings. Great jeans: A vintage denim jacket with several studs and colourful pins draped around the Golden Globe nominee's shoulders Showstopper! The songstress made sure to stand out from the crowd in a pair of heart-shaped sunglasses and plastic see-through purse Laid-back look: The hunky Australian actor opted for comfort in a basic white tee with khaki shorts and Vans slip-ons The Hunger Games star's outing comes amid rumours that Liam's fiancee Miley Cyrus, 23, had cancelled their planned honeymoon to Bora Bora. The pair called off their year-long engagement in 2013 but reconciled last year. According to UsWeekly, the controversial hit-maker had organised the pair's trip to the idyllic French Polynesian Island, but suddenly changed her mind at the last minute. There were also rumours that Miley and Liam planned to wed in the autumn, but People revealed last week that the couple are in no rush. Social gathering: Miley and Liam were joined by a small group of friends If you didn't know Rob Lowe was videotaped having sex with a 16-year-old girl, you sure do now. The 52-year-old subjected himself to a brutal Roast on Comedy Central on Monday night. But while his infamous sex-tape scandal got plenty of airing, it was one of his roasters Ann Coulter who took the brunt of the abuse on the night. Scroll down for video Lowe blows: Rob Lowe subjected himself to a brutal Roast on Comedy Central on Monday night Along with the Trump backer, Jimmy Carr, Pete Davidson, Nikki Glaser, Jewel, Ralph Macchio, Peyton Manning, Rob Riggle and Jeff Ross made up the motley crew of abusers who took turn taking to the stage to burn Lowe - and each other - while David Spade served as host. 'Our younger audience might not know who Rob Lowe is. So kids, this is who your mom thinks about when shes f*cking your dad,' he opened with some light jabs on the Grinder star's legendary good looks. 'Some people don't think Rob Lowe has had any plastic surgery,' he continued. 'Those same people wonder if Caitlyn Jenner has had plastic surgery.' And it barely took a minute for Spade to bring up Lowe's infamous 1988 encounter with the teen. Taking aim: Jimmy Carr, Pete Davidson, Nikki Glaser, Jewel, Ralph Macchio, Peyton Manning, Rob Riggle, Ann Coulter and Jeff Ross made up the motley crew of abusers who took turn taking to the stage to burn Lowe - and each other - while David Spade served as host On loop: Rob's infamous 1988 sex tape with a 16-year-old girl got plenty of airing 'Rob starred in Austin Powers two 16 years ago. Can you believe that? 16? Or as Rob calls it, "18". 'He's been clean and sober 26 years,' he went on. 'For comparison, if sobriety was a baby, he would have f*cked it ten years ago. 'Rob has been called a comeback kid... sorry I read that wrong, he came on a kid's back.' Pete Davidson was first up first to roast Rob, or as he claimed doctors described him 'Gonorrhea patient zero'. Infectious: Pete Davidson was first up first to roast Rob, or as he claimed doctors described him 'Gonorrhea patient zero'. Grim: 'Rob has two beautiful kids here,' he pointed out. 'They're not his children, they're just guaranteed in his contract.' Primary target: Like everyone else up there, Davidson saved his most pointed barbs for Ann Coulter 'Rob has two beautiful kids here,' he pointed out. 'They're not his children, they're just guaranteed in his contract.' Jewel then took to the stage with her guitar, revealing she refused to kiss him when she was cast opposite him in Lion's Den, before hilariously explaining in song why to the tune of her You Were Meant For Me 'Rob you are such a whore / you completely forgot we hooked up before / You showed me your penis / when I was just 16-ish / Back in 1988 / I was the girl on your sex tape. History: Jewel then took to the stage with her guitar, revealing she refused to kiss him when she was cast opposite him in Lion's Den Sing it: She then hilariously explaining in song why to the tune of her You Were Meant For Me 'Maybe you missed my name / because you were high on so much cocaine / Out of all your films / I'm the best thing you were ever in.' Jimmy Carr kept up the theme, describing Lowe as like a Ken Doll, in that he's plastic, and often the first thing teenage girls insert into their vagina. 'Underage girls he made sex tapes with thought they were safe,' he jibed. 'They knew no-one would ever watch a movie starring Rob Lowe.' Before turning her attention to Lowe, Nikki Glaser threw a few jabs at Jewel - or as she likes to call her 'Trailer Swift'. New lyrics: 'Rob you are such a whore / you completely forgot we hooked up before / You showed me your penis / when I was just 16-ish / Back in 1988 / I was the girl on your sex tape,' she sang Brought it: 'Maybe you missed my name / because you were high on so much cocaine / Out of all your films / I'm the best thing you were ever in', she finished Smack: The singer finally relented and kissed him in the end 'I don't wanna bad mouth you. God already did that,' she said, making fun of her teeth. 'They're like the Spice Girls, each a different colour, all doing their own thing.' But she soon switched her sights to Lowe, admitting she quite fancied him. 'He defies age... restrictions,' she giggled. 'You look like youre sculpted. You put the statue in statutory rape. 'I had such a crush on you when I was a little girl... If only I'd known that was when I had my best shot.' Usual tone: Jimmy Carr kept up the theme, describing Lowe as like a Ken Doll, in that he's plastic, and often the first thing teenage girls insert into their vagina Shocked: 'Underage girls he made sex tapes with thought they were safe,' he jibed. 'They knew no-one would ever watch a movie starring Rob Lowe.' But while it was Rob Lowe's name in the title, everyone on the dais saved most of their bile for Coulter, who at more than one stage looked like she was regretting her decision to take part. Pete Davison - who David Spade asked to clarify if he was black or white so Ann Coulter could decide if she hates him - was the first to lay in. 'Ann Coulter describes herself as a polemicist most,' he mused. 'Most people call her a c*nt. Meow: Before turning her attention to Lowe, Nikki Glaser threw a few jabs at Jewel - or as she likes to call her 'Trailer Swift'. Ouch: 'I don't wanna bad mouth you. God already did that,' she said, making fun of her teeth. 'They're like the Spice Girls, each a different colour, all doing their own thing.' 'Last year had Martha Stewart who sells sheets. Now we have Ann Coulter who cuts eye-holes in them.' Rob Riggle pointed out the only reason she was there was because someone had uttered 'Beetlejuice' three times, while Payton Manning conceded he was 'not the only athlete up here... Anne Coulter won the Kentucky derby'. 'Without Fuhrer ado' Nikki Glaser also turned her ire on 'real life supervillain' Horseplay: Payton Manning conceded he was 'not the only athlete up here... Anne Coulter won the Kentucky derby'. Summoned: Rob Riggle pointed out the only reason she was there was because someone had uttered 'Beetlejuice' three times 'She's written 11 books; 12 if you count Mein Kampf,' she joked. 'I'd ask what it's like to sleep at night but I imagine it's upside down in a 101 Dalmatian robe. 'The only person you will ever make happy is the Mexican who digs your grave,' she concluded. Taking a deep breath before starting on her, Jimmy Carr described her as 'one of the most repugnant, hateful hatchet-faced b*tches alive'. 'But its not too late to change, Ann,' he added. 'You could kill yourself.' Karate kid: Ralph Macchio was the most humble roaster, turning most of the jibes on himself Lowe places: He laughed at Lowe for only being able to book Ralph Macchio He also claimed she looked so much like a transgender truckstop whore that he seen Jeff Ross run to an ATM before the show, and that her p*ssy is old and dry, it is now writing cartoons for the New Yorker. But it was sweet-voiced Jewel who spat the most venom at Coulter. 'As a feminist I don't agree with everything being said up here,' she started. 'But as someone who hates Anne Coulter I'm delighted. Uncomfortable: While it was Rob Lowe's name in the title, everyone on the dais saved most of their bile for Coulter, who at more than one stage looked like she was regretting her decision to take part Making fun of Jeff Ross's Prince costume, she joked he was going to 'party like its 1999; Anne is going to vote like its 1899'. 'Ann you do look great though, youre almost as thin as Donald Trumps chance at winning the election.' She then joked she had been in the queue behind Coulter at Chipotle where she ordered something to go: the entire kitchen staff 'Gay men love Ann Coutler,' she finished. 'Its because two minutes into hearing her speak, they remember why they hate pussy.' Truth: To boos and hisses from the audience, Ann finally took to the podium, and opened with her funniest line: 'Welcome to the Ann Coulter Roast with Rob Lowe,' she grimaced Shameless: Half-joking she was only there to promote her book In Trump We Trust - which she took out and placed in front of her - the political commentator faced the impossible task of winning over the hostile audience. It was then time for the host to introduce Coulter herself. 'She seems stiff, but she gets wild in the sheets,' Spade claimed. 'Just ask the Klan' 'It looks like you're having a good time - haven't seen you laugh this hard since Treyvon Martin got shot,' he told her. To boos and hisses from the audience, Ann finally took to the podium, and opened with her funniest line: 'Welcome to the Ann Coulter Roast with Rob Lowe,' she grimaced. Cold: The camera panned across the silent audience as most of her gags fell excruciatingly flat - with maria Shriver and Patrick Schwarzenegger looking particularly unimpressed Half-joking she was only there to promote her book In Trump We Trust - which she took out and placed in front of her - the political commentator faced the impossible task of winning over the hostile audience. Doing little to fend off the racist tag, she claimed 'I'm hoping to persuade you all to vote for Trump, especially you David, so I can prove the media is lying when they say Trump won't get the vote of a single spade.' With the camera panning across the silent audience as most of her gags fell excruciatingly flat, it was Jeff Ross who had the world's easiest gig of following her. Shooting fish: It fell to Jeff Ross to attempt world's easiest comedy gig of following her Zing: 'You wrote 11 books but you couldn't write a single joke?' he asked. 'How do i roast somebody from Hell? B*tch.' 'You wrote 11 books but you couldn't write a single joke?' He asked. 'How do i roast somebody from Hell? B*tch.' He described her annoying voice as akin to 'fingernails on a chalkboard in an inner city school you wanna de-fund 'Anne is against gay marriage. What's the thinking? if i cant get a husband they shouldn't either?' Last but not least: Finally it was the man of the hour-and-a-half's turn for a rebuttal, as Lowe took to the stage to thank everyone for 'trying to get under his flawless skin'.... but even he couldn't help taking a swing Prey becomes predator: 'A lot of people have asked why Ann Coulter is here. Because the right-to-lifers wanted everyone to see what an abortion looks like up close,' he said, before pretending to end his 26-year sobriety with a bottle of Jack Daniels Finally it was the man of the hour-and-a-half's turn for a rebuttal, as Lowe took to the stage to thank everyone for 'trying to get under his flawless skin'.... but even he couldn't help taking a swing. 'A lot of people have asked why Ann Coulter is here. Because the right-to-lifers wanted everyone to see what an abortion looks like up close,' he said. 'Ann, after your set tonight, we've all witnessed the first bombing that you can't blame on a Muslim.' Drops mic: 'Ann, after your set tonight, we've all witnessed the first bombing that you can't blame on a Muslim.' Like many models, she was discovered at a young age while shopping on the street in Amsterdam. And on Monday, Romee Strijd took over the streets once again as she put her breathtaking figure on display in New York City on Monday. The Victoria's Secret model - who was recently crowned an Angel in 2015 - turned heads in a long statement skirt which was printed with colourful birds. Scroll down for video Head-turner: Romee Strijd was spotted in a long, chiffon statement skirt in New York City on Monday as she put her long and lean figure on display The 21-year-old Dutch beauty has been occupied with a number of VS photo shoots during her travel in The Big Apple. And she was still in her zone as she gracefully strutted the roads while wearing a navy blue collared shirt, with no bra underneath, that was adorned with a seafoam green hem. She paired the shirt with a flowing, swan-printed chiffon skirt, elongating her 5ft10in body. Beauty: The 21-year-old Dutch model wore a blue and seafoam green shirt paired with a navy blue, swan-printed skirt as she strutted the streets Flawless: Wearing only a touch of make-up, the natural beauty accessorized with big silver hoops and black-and-beige wedge heels The blonde beauty allowed for her locks to flow in the breeze as she looked radiant in only a small touch of make-up. Telling Elle magazine in an earlier interview: 'I try to wear as little makeup as possible on the days I'm not working. I just moisturize it the whole day and don't go too crazy with my skin. Like, leave it alone!' Romee accessorized her outfit with large thick silver hoops and black-and-beige closed-toe wedges. The stunning model has been preparing for the iconic New York Fashion week, which is set to launch Wednesday, September 7th, posting on Instagram: 'Happy fashionweek.' Angelic: The VS model - who was crowned an Angel in 2015 has modeled for brands including Vogue, Marie Claire and Harper's Bazaar; here she is pictured last week preparing for this week's New York Fashion Week What an item! Romee has been dating business consultant Laurens van Leeuwen for two years; here they are pictured last month Romee - who has been dating business consultant Laurens van Leeuwen for two years - has been featured in big brand editorials including Vogue, Marie Claire, Elle and Harper's Bazaar. The DNA-managed model has also walked the runway for designers such as Badgley Mischka, Burberry, Alexander McQueen, Marchesa and Prada. Telling Victoria's Secret of her 2015 Angel contract: 'The angel always inspired me, so I look forward to inspiring young girls to be the best version of themselves.' Playful: The 5ft10in beauty displayed her silly side during a photo shoot for Victoria's Secret on Sunday in The Big Apple Stunner: Romee showed off her gorgeous flowing blonde tresses Like a mermaid: She showed off her blonde beach wavy hair and green velvet suit Stunner: Romee gazed into the camera as she strutted down the road The Rolling Stones exhibition has been wowing audiences in London. And now the iconic band are bringing Exhibitionism to Australia, with the retrospective set to open in Sydney in November 2018. The event celebrates the careers of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Ronnie Wood and past members. Iconic: The Rolling Stones are bringing their retrospective exhibition to Sydney, giving fans a chance to glimpse rare memorabilia from the group's 50-year career 'We've been thinking about this for quite a long time but we wanted it to be just right and on a large scale,' said Mick. 'It's not going to be like walking into a museum. It's going to be an event, an experience. It's about a sense of The Rolling Stones it's something we want people to go away talking about it.' Keith added: 'While this is about The Rolling Stones, it's not necessarily only just about us. 'It's also about all the paraphernalia and technology associated with a group like us, and it's this, as well as the instruments that have passed through our hands over the years, that should make the exhibition unforgettable.' They got what they wanted! The Rolling Stones have enjoyed huge success over the years and become one of the most influential bands of all time Exhibitionism will be held at Sydney's brand new International Convention Centre, which is due to open later this year. It contains over 500 original items from the band's 50-year journey, spanning fashion, art, film and recordings in an interactive format. Fans can expect to see cherished instruments, onstage outfits, valuable works of art, handwritten lyric books and personal diaries, as well as unseen recordings. Exhibitionism Down Under: The event will be held at Sydney's new International Convention Centre and Mick Jagger promised fans it will be an 'experience' A new film will also give fans the chance to look back at the high points of the band's career. Key collaborators who helped make the band so influential feature in the show, including Andy Warhol and John Pasche, who designed the band's famous tongue logo. It also includes pieces from fashion designers Ossie Clark and Alexander McQueen, artist Shepard Fairey and film director Martin Scorsese. Audiences can even see the cassette player on which Keith famously sketched out the idea for (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction and Mick Jagger's lyric book which features the hand-written words for 'Miss You', 'Hey Negrita' and 'Worried About You'. Changing faces: The band has had various lineups through its history She's been posting envy-inducing photos ever since she's been in Mexico. And now it seems we might be seeing even more pictures from Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's trip as she's currently stuck in Mexico due to Hurricane Newton. The lingerie model took to Instagram to share her thoughts and concerns on the matter on Monday. Alert! Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is currently stuck in Mexico due to Hurricane Newton Apparently the hurricane is heading for the Pacific coast. In a video she took of her friend, her friend said of the hurricane: '215 miles southeast of Cabo San Lucas and grinding towards the coast.' In another clip Rosie says: 'So we're wondering how many days we're going get stuck in cabo for. S***. The struggle is real.' Knight in shining armour: Unfortunately her beau Jason Statham isn't with her Getting the info: The lingerie model took to Instagram to share her thoughts and concerns on the matter Stuck! In another clip Rosie says: 'So we're wondering how many days we're going get stuck in cabo for. S***. The struggle is real' She then took a photo and wrote across it: 'Where's my transporter when I need him?' Rosie is then seen talking to someone who works at the hotel and asks him how dangerous it is: 'What category is this?' He simply responds: 'Not even one'. Getting worried: Rosie is then seen talking to someone who works at the hotel and asks him how dangerous it is: 'What category is this?' Spitting image! The 29-year-old model then starts joking around with her friend: 'Is that the shape of the hurricane? Like an avocado?' The 29-year-old model then starts joking around with her friend: 'Is that the shape of the hurricane? Like an avocado?' The blonde beauty looked as though she was trying to make light of the situation. No doubt the lingerie model will enjoy spending a few more days in Mexico since she has been documenting her trip every day for her 6m followers. She is a self-confessed disciple of Hillary Clinton. And Chloe Grace Moretz used the old politician's trick of appearing to bury the hatchet while simultaneously landing it in an opponent's back as she reignited her feud with Kim Kardashian. The Neighbours 2 actress, who slated the reality television personality's behaviour back in March, insisted she did not want to give her 'the attention' while at the same time standing by her harsh statements about the E favourite. Scroll down for video Burying the hatchet in her rival: Chloe Grace Moretz reignited her old feud with Kim Kardashian on Monday The 19-year-old told the Hollywood Reporter: 'I think I gave my attention to people who dont deserve my attention. 'In some ways I think I regret giving them the attention, (though) I dont regret what I said.' The pair got into a bitter spat in social media after Chloe poured scorn Kanye West's 35-year-old wife after she posted a racy naked snap on Instagram, piling on from a much more amusing earlier verbal assault from noted wit Bette Midler. She tweeted: ''@KimKardashian I truly hope you realize how important setting goals are for young women, teaching them we have so much more to offer than... our bodies.' Bare faced cheek: Chloe was fuming after the brassy reality television personality posted a nude picture on Instagram This outraged her classy rival, who hit back with: 'let's all welcome @ChloeGMoretz to twitter, since no one knows who she is. your nylon cover is cute boo.' Looking back now, Chloe, who spoke at the Democratic National Convention in July, says she wishes she followed the wisdom of her idol Hillary Clinton. The shameless name-dropper said: 'I realised that being the most opinionated and loud person in the room is not always the most impactful. I learned that from Hillary. "Its great to be feisty," those were her exact words. But sometimes the smartest way to get into the psyche of people is to be the quietest person in the room. Pow: Chloe drew first blood by blasting the Mrs Kanye West on Twitter Wham: But Kim hit back back mocking the Neighbours star's level of fame 'Let everyone else bicker and throw their words around and then you come in with the quiet voice and that will be the most impactful.' Sage words indeed from the canny old warhorse. Meanwhile Chloe, who also boasted she plans to 'slow down' her acting career, is on the lookout for a new lover. She reportedly split with Brooklyn Beckham last week, with reports alleging she was being 'too clingy'. Master and disciple: Shameless name-dropper Chloe boasted about the wisdom she had learned from Hillary Clinton Kyle Sandilands' girlfriend Imogen Anthony recently enjoyed the iconic Burning Man festival in the Nevada Black Rock Desert in the US. And after going topless at the event, things were a little more low-key on Tuesday, when she danced to her 'morning jam.' The fashion designer, 25, took to Instagram to share a video of herself dancing in her T-shirt and underwear to Alanis Morissette's 1995 hit, 'Hand In My Pocket.' Scroll down for video Busting a move: Kyle Sandilands' girlfriend Imogen Anthony was seen on Instagram dancing in her T-shirt and underwear to Alanis Morissette's 1995 hit, 'Hand In My Pocket' on Tuesday With her hair in loose tousled curls, Imogen mucks around in front of the camera, shaking her hair and pouting for the camera. She can be seen pulling up her black T-shirt to reveal her black underwear as she dances around. The model appears to be wearing minimal makeup but has her pout completed with lip liner and lipstick, that gives her a very 90s vibe. Topless: Imogen Anthony certainly dared to bare while at the Burning Man festival over the weekend Over the weekend, Imogen joined a handful of celebrities heading to Burning Man festival and went topless in one clip shared to Instagram. She concealed her modesty with her hands placed across her chest, while simply wearing a pair of skimpy black briefs, layered with a shredded skirt. 'TOPS OFF - LIBERTYYYY!! You can walk around nude if you want too, I love it! (sic),' Imogen captioned the snap. Flashing the flesh: Taking to Instagram, the 25-year-old girlfriend of shock jock Kyle Sandilands shared a video in which she danced about at Nevada Black Rock Desert while going topless In the video she smiled for the camera, saying: 'Where else can you do this? Nowhere. Burning Man, Burning Man'. Imogen has made a habit of stripping down for the popular festival over the weekend. Hours earlier she was dressed in a skimpy black bikini with an elaborate beaded skirt detail. She's not shy: The model concealed her modesty with her hands placed across her chest The beading detail was also attached to the tiny triangle top, and draped down her trim torso, making noise when the model shook. Asking boyfriend of five years, radio shock jock Kyle Sandilands, to film her, the model was seen dancing provocatively for the camera, with not much around her except decorated RV's. Imogen accessorised her bikini with a black feather mohawk headdress attached to a hat which featured a mosaic of mirrors. She added a bandana around her mouth to keep the dust out, and finished off the revealing outfit with a pair of sensible walking boots. Good company: Imogen has been enjoying the festival with boyfriend Kyle Sandilands Dancing up a storm: Hours earlier Imogen swapped her racy cutout black bodysuit for an elaborate beaded bikini She's the stunner who has been modelling since age 14. And Samantha Harris is still a natural in front of the camera as she models a capsule collection curated by herself for Westfield Carindale. Teaming up with the shopping mall, where she was first discovered over a decade ago, the 26-year-old beauty stuns as she shows off her svelte figure in next season's hottest looks. Scroll down for video Shining bright! Samantha Harris stunned in a collection of designer fashions curated by herself for Westfield Carindale Choosing pieces from iconic Australian labels including sass & bide, By Johnny, Kookai and Bec and Bridge, the Tweed Heads-born beauty showed off her own personal style and flair in the campaign. In one shot, Samantha, who won the Girlfriend Model Search at the Queensland mall in 2004, dazzled in a bright orange off-the-shoulder top and a mullet skirt. She teamed the billowy outfit with a pair of strappy nude heels that accentuated her slender pins. Stunning: The 26-year-old dazzled in a black bell-sleeved top and gold pleated skirt for one of the campaign images Dressed to impress: Samantha showed off her slender curves in a black dress with a plunging neckline Another snap showed the towering model make a bold fashion statement with a black bell-sleeved top and gold pleated skirt. Samantha smouldered in shimmery gold eyeshadow and a coat of lip gloss that highlighted her signature pout. Her balayage brunette locks were worn in glamourous waves with a middle part to frame her slim face. Versatile: The brunette beauty slipped into a few more casual looks later in the shoot As well as an elegant black dress with a plunging neckline, the Priceline ambassador slipped into more casual outfits later in the shoot. She was seen rocking a pair of cropped white jeans and a stripey top with chic leather slip-on shoes at one point. The engaged star wore her hair pinned back into a large bun for the more laid-back ensembles. Gorgeous: Samantha was discovered at the Girlfriend Model Search in 2004 at Westfield Carindale when she was just 14 In May, the David Jones ambassador reunited with her husband-to-be Luke Hunt, who had been serving a two-year jail sentence for dangerous driving causing death. The couple confirmed in June that their wedding will still go ahead months after Luke's release. 'Things are going very slowly, but surely,' she previously told The Daily Telegraph adding that she's thrilled to have Luke home. She had an epic meltdown on Monday night's episode of Zumbo's Just Desserts when her raspberry pudding did not go to plan. And competition favourite Ali King let the pressure get to her once again on Tuesday when she tried to re-create Adriano Zumbo's igloo dessert in the elimination round. But despite 'losing control' when she started to fall behind in the task, she was saved by the judges after Zumbo declared her ice-cream was 'probably better than his.' Scroll down for video Close call: Ali King was saved in the Zumbo's Just Desserts elimination round despite having another major meltdown After tasting the winter-themed dessert, complete with a miniature penguin, Zumbo told Ali: 'The igloo was smooth and shiny. 'Your penguin was spot on. The ice cream was full of flavour, it was delicious, probably better than mine.' Rachel Khoo with her fellow judge, saying: 'Your presentation was spot on. It was almost the same as Zumbo. You pulled off an amazing dessert.' Big fan: Judge Adriano Zumbo declared that Ali's ice-cream was better than his Tough challenge: Ali and Ami had to re-create Zumbo's igloo dessert (pictured) Ali scored five more points than Amie in the final round, meaning that the 24-year-old admin assistant was sent home. 'I came into this competition as a cake maker and I've left a dessert maker,' Amie said as she left the competition. Earlier in the elimination round, Ali was seen panicking when she realised she was a few steps behind Amie. Stress: Ali was seen panicking when she realised she was a few steps behind Amie Melting under the pressure: 'I'm starting to stress about falling behind... f***' she said Mistake: She then voiced her concerns that she had overworked her crumble so it formed one dough 'I'm starting to stress about falling behind... f***' she said. 'I can feel myself losing control. I'm overcome with anxiety.' She then voiced her concerns that she had overworked her crumble so it formed one dough. 'I've overworked it, I cannot believe this is happening,' she said. 'I'm panicking, it's formed one dough.' Eliminated: Ali scored five more points than Amie (pictured) in the final round, meaning that the 24-year-old admin assistant was sent home Sent home: 'I came into this competition as a cake maker and I've left a dessert maker,' Amie said as she left the competition Ali managed to pull herself together and presented the dish which was scored 17 out of 20 - the highest score in the Zumbo pressure test so far. Fellow contestant Irene was awarded dessert of the day during the first task. She presented the judges with a chili chocolate tart after the competitors were tasked to create a fire-inspired dessert. Kate and Ali also went head-to-head in the battle of the bombe alaska. Impressive: Irene was awarded dessert of the day during the first task The show is no stranger to creating drama through the magic of TV. And it looks like The Bachelor has been caught out faking scenes as part of the Tough Mudder-style challenge in last week's episode. Eagle-eyed viewers noticed that the remaining women competing for Richie Strahan's heart suddenly had muddy faces in their post-date interviews, despite previously being hosed down. Scroll down for video Dirty secret! The Bachelor producers stepped in to make the love hopefuls including Olena Khamula dirty again after they'd already cleaned up from the muddy date Clear as mud: The mystery surrounding the contestants suddenly appearing dirty again was solved by host Osher Gunsberg The girls also swam through a pool of ice cold water at the end of the challenge and came out looking relatively clean. So viewers were confused to see the likes of Olena Khamula covered in mud once again as they reflected on the group date. It turns out that producers stepped in to cover them in mud once again, perhaps to make the interviews look more dramatic on camera. Host Osher Gunsberg confirmed that execs altered the scenes and that all the women agreed to be covered in mud again. Tough love: The girls weren't afraid to get down and dirty as they battled for Richie's attention Helping hand: Ever the gentleman, Richie helped the girls clean up using a bottle of water, but little did he know the show's execs would soon be covering them in mud once again 'In typical television style, when it came to doing their interviews, they had to cover themselves in mud all over again,' he confessed. But the slight interference from producers didn't ruin the mood for Richie who was blown away with Olena's performance on the date. The Ukrainian-born beauty challenged him to a mud race, which included the duo crawling on all fours to avoid the barb wire above their heads. And Richie was surprised to lose to the petite model. Getting close: Richie kept a keen eye on Ukrainian born beauty Olena throughout the group date and admitted he was blown away with her performance 'I thought I had this, but she went across that mud like a lizard running over the Gibson Desert,' he joked. 'Like, I don't even know if her palms even touched the mud. Olena just looked like a worm on speed.' After the race, Richie helped pour a bottle of water on her pretty face to remove the mud before producers stepped in to put it back on. He was caught red-handed last year, after trying to deceive fans by sharing a stock photo of Cristal champagne to his Instagram page. And now, controversial Bachelorette star Michael Turnbull has attempted to redeem himself by uploading a photo of another pricey bottle of booze on Sunday - this time with hand placed squarely in the centre of the image. In the photo, Michael appears to be indulging in a bottle of Penfolds Grange Hermitage bin 95, vintage 1976, which retails for around AUD $1390. Scroll down for video Bottoms up! Michael Turnbull has attempted to redeem himself by uploading a photo of another pricey bottle of booze on Sunday - this time with hand placed squarely in the centre of the image He also made sure to include his tattooed arm in the picture so as prove that the photo was real. Next to the photo, which was uploaded on Sunday, Michael simply wrote: 'Cheers' alongside the wine glass emoji. It comes after a series of embarrassing beverage-related faux pas committed by Michael. It comes after a series of embarrassing beverage-related faux pas committed by Michael. Last year, Daily Mail Australia revealed a photo of $1,000 worth of Cristal he shared on Instagram was in fact an picture taken from the internet. Michael captioned the photo 'Good times' and added the hash tags, 'Party', 'Champagne' and 'Drinks.' However, a quick Google reverse image search proved it was actually a Getty stock photo taken in California in 2011. At a 'party', Michael? Last year, Daily Mail Australia revealed a photo of $1,000 worth of Cristal he shared on Instagram was in fact an picture taken from the internet Fast forward to late last month, Michael once again raised eyebrows when he revealed to his fans the inside of his 'wine cellar' on A Current Affair, which featured a number of cheaper wines and brews - and notably no Cristal. Rummaging through the bottom of a messy cupboard, Michael explained: 'I don't stock (Cristal) in my cupboard, but I enjoy it with my parents.' 'This is my little wine cupboard,' he said, introducing his linen closet. 'Don't mind my Christmas decorations. I've got some Mumm, it's not the most expensive champagne. I've got some Pinot Noir, big Noir fan. Mumm costs around $48, significantly less than Cristal which retails at over $250. No Cristal? Fast forward to late last month, Michael once again raised eyebrows when he revealed to his fans the inside of his 'wine cellar' on A Current Affair They spent the weekend at the Burning Man festival in Black Rock Desert in Nevada. And just a day after returning from the gathering, Kyle Sandilands and girlfriend Imogen Anthony returned to their busy, yet luxury, lives in West Hollywood. The 25-year-old model took to social media on Monday to share a video of herself and the radio star smoking cigarettes while attempting to rap. Scroll down for video No stopping them: Imogen Anthony shared a video of herself and boyfriend Kyle Sandilands smoking cigarettes while attempting to rap on Monday evening In the short 30 second clip, the couple - who have been dating for four years - cruised around the west coast of America in a luxury vehicle. The drive comes just days after Imogen called for Australia to follow California's lead by decriminalising cannabis. The up-and-coming fashion designer wrote on Instagram over the weekend: 'I'm telling you here and now, if you're too high and your reactions speed isn't on point, YOU AIN'T DRIVING! Calling out: The drive comes just days after Imogen called for Australia to follow California's lead by decriminalising cannabis Reasoning: She wrote on Instagram: 'I'm telling you here and now, if you're too high and your reactions speed isn't on point, YOU AIN'T DRIVING!' 'You'll find any way around it, call a mate, call an uber, call a taxi, f*** you will WALK if you have to, but if you're too whacked, you're too whacked. Simple. 'I'm not saying accidents can't and won't happen if someone is driving under the influence of weed, but the risk is much lower.' Imogen continued to write: 'I love an alcoholic beverage, but I know my limits and know when enough is enough, like a responsible human. 'It's the same for weed, diazepam (Valium) or any prescription that has a strong enough chemical substance to knock you out is potentially dangerous. Topless: During her time at the annual festival, Imogen shared numerous video and pictures in which she danced while going topless Flashing the flesh: In the video, shared to social media, she smiled saying: 'Where else can you do this? Nowhere. Burning Man, Burning Man' 'You could go and harm yourself if you wanted too, no issues, whereas no matter how much marijuana someone has (remember you don't always have to smoke it) you can't kill yourself instantly from it.' During her time at the annual festival, Imogen shared numerous video and pictures in which she danced while topless. 'TOPS OFF - LIBERTYYYY!! You can walk around nude if you want too, I love it! (sic),' Imogen captioned the snap. In the video she smiled for the camera, saying: 'Where else can you do this? Nowhere. Burning Man, Burning Man.' He attended a court hearing in Melbourne, Victoria by himself on Monday. And on Tuesday, Geoffrey Edelsten hit out at reports that he was a 'tired old man' representing himself during an ongoing financial dispute and that he was bankrupt. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, the 73-year-old medical entrepreneur said he was 'there as an observer' and he isn't bankrupt because the case was discharged in 2015. Scroll down for video Speaking out: Geoffrey Edelsten hit out at reports that he was a 'tired old man' representing himself during an ongoing financial court case, while claiming he's not bankrupt on Tuesday 'I am not bankrupt and I do not owe anyone anything. I was discharged in 2015,' he said. His statement comes two years after he declared himself bankrupt to a court in Ohio. At the time, it was reported Geoffrey owed more than 30 creditors in Australia, the US, the Dominican Republic and Singapore Setting the record straight: The 73-year-old said he was 'there as an observer' and he isn't bankrupt because the case was discharged in 2015 Geoffrey continued to tell Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday: 'I was not a lonely figure at all. I was in a court room where there was one representative for each of the parties who were being represented there. 'I was there as an observer and I was not forced to represent myself. I was invited to be an observer of the proceedings and what was decided by the court for when the real hearing will be.' Geoffrey also confirmed that he will be representing himself during the proceedings next month because he has 'a masters of laws degree and can practice law.' Him and himself: He also confirm he will be representing himself during the proceedings next month because he has 'a masters of laws degree and can practice law' 'I am not working with a lawyerI am best known for medical but I can practice law and I have represented myself in a federal court before,' he said. The latest court matter relates to $1 million being held in an NAB trust fund by Geoffreys former lawyers, which the US Bankruptcy Court is fighting to recover. Geoffrey told Daily Mail Australia, 'It is a fight over money that was owned by me but is now controlled by NAB,' and hes trying to keep the case in Australia and not in America. The matter will return to Melbourne's Federal Court on October 25. Back to the courts: Geoffrey has also revealed he will be appealing his 1990 conviction of soliciting a hitman to commit an assault While he continues his financial battle in court, Geoffrey has also revealed he will be appealing his 1990 conviction of soliciting a hitman to commit an assault. 'Two judges have written reports saying the judge misdirected the jury and it should be overturned, so I am applying for that to happen,' he revealed. 'It was based on nonsense, it was based around a conversation between me and my then-fiancee, [Leanne Nesbitt] to reassure her that no one was going to do anything to hurt her. 'It was never a patient of mine, it was just someone after money.' Just last month revealed that she was bisexual. And Bella Thorne is determined to keeps fans guessing over her current relationship status, after posting a racy snap showing her locking lips with her 'soulmate' Bella Pendergast. However, according to TMZ, Bella is insisting that the pair not an item and are just friends who like to kiss. Scroll down for video Just good friends? Bella Thorne keeps fans guessing over her relationship status, after posting a racy snap locking lips with her 'soulmate' Bella Pendergast after coming out as bisexual Reinforcing her insistence that they are not together romantically, it appears that the friend in question is currently in a serious relationship with fellow UC Davis student Bram Kolber. It's been a tumultuous month for Bella, who broke up with her English actor boyfriend, Greg Sulkin, 24, following a series of small fights that finally led to the end of the relationship. Keeping things amicable following the split, the 24-year-old actor has kept the Sherman Oaks home the pair purchased together earlier this year. Wearing her heart on her trousers: Bella, pictured earlier this year, is insisting that she and her friend not an item and are just pals who like to kiss However Bella will keep their two cats, Siamese Louis and Scottish Fold Lola. Appearing philosophical about the demise of their 15-month partnership, Bella discussed the split on social media, telling one follower: 'Things just didn't end up working the way we had hoped. But I'll always love the bub'. To another who expressed their sadness, she wrote: 'Me too sweets. He helped me through such a rough time I couldn't be more thankful for him'. Former couple: Bella broke up with her English actor boyfriend, Greg Sulkin, 24, following a series of small fights that finally led to the end of the relationship Soon after the split, The My Own Worst Enemy actress took to social media to make a further revelation, responding to a Twitter user who asked, 'are you bisexual?' Making no bones about her reply, she gave the simple reply: 'Yes.' The message immediately received the support of ans including Ariel Winter who retweeted the conversation. 'I love you guys': The actress took to Twitter to send a heartfelt thanks to her nearly 6.4 million followers for their support Three hours after the announcement, Bella received the support of many of her fans via Twitter, with one writing: '@bellathorne is one of the coolest girls in Hollywood imo. This chick is constantly real af'. Another message read: 'Keep breakin them social conventions bb'. The Wizards Of Waverly Place actress quoted the Tweet and responded, 'Will do baby'. Mary Berry made a triumphant exit from Londons Dorchester Hotel on Monday evening after The Great British Bake Off was named Best Talent Show at the 2016 TV Choice Awards. Unable to contain her delight, the veteran presenter, 81, gripped the coveted award in both hands as she climbed into the rear of a waiting car shortly after the annual presentation. In the absence of co-presenter Paul Hollywood, Mary was on hand to personally collect the honour on behalf of the hugely successful BBC show. Scroll down for video and full list of winners Over the moon: Mary Berry made a triumphant exit from Londons Dorchester Hotel on Monday evening after The Great British Bake Off was named Best Talent Show at the 2016 TV Choice Awards The Great British Bake Off saw off stiff competition on the night, beating ITV juggernaut Britains Got Talent, Strictly Come Dancing and The X Factor. Mary was also nominated in her own right for Mary Berrys Foolproof Cooking, but the BBC2 series lost out in the category for Best Food Show, losing to Channel 4s Sunday Brunch. The chef glowed in a silver floor-length shift dress, decorated with stripes of glistening sequins at the top. Remaining classy as ever, she draped some chunky pewter beads around her neck. Pleased: Unable to contain her delight, the veteran presenter, 81, gripped the coveted award in both hands as she climbed into the rear of a waiting car shortly after the annual presentation The baking doyenne has previously been spotted pulling an array of weird and wonderful expressions in the last two episodes of the programme. Last week it was banker Selasi Gbormittahs Scotch Bonnet flavoured biscuits that caused her to recoil in disgust and though she withheld judgment on Kate Barmbys lavender and bergamot bake, she bit her lip in clear apprehension over the unusual pairing of flavours. The first episode of this years contest, which drew a record 10million viewers, also saw the long-serving judge struggle to disguise her true feelings about the amateur bakers offerings. Classy: The chef glowed in a silver floor-length shift dress, decorated with stripes of glistening sequins at the top Incoming: Mary was on hand to represent the long running show on Monday evening Upon being presented with Michael Georgious Matcha tea cake, Miss Berry picked up a spoonful of the fluorescent green cake mix and sniffed it sceptically. The moment the finished product passed her lips she scowled, expressing her disdain for the grassy flavour, as she described it. And the grandmother of five could not conceal her utter bafflement when university worker Rav Bansal told her he would be using a fruit called a yuzu in his drizzle cake. Viewers have taken to social media in their droves to comment on the flexibly-faced judge, with Emma Beaumont Tweeting during last weeks episode: Im already loving all of Mary Berrys facial expressions while Nic Perrott said: Mary Berry REALLY needs to work on her poker face! Her expressions on #GBBO have been so funny today! Last years Bake Off champion Nadiya Hussain was also famed for her expressive reactions, with her perfectly groomed eyebrows often furrowed or raised in response to a comment in the Bake Off tent. Success: In the absence of co-presenter Paul Hollywood, Mary was on hand to personally collect the honour on behalf of the hugely successful BBC show. WINNERS & NOMINATIONS FOR THE TV CHOICE AWARDS Best Drama Series Nominated: Downton Abbey ITV Winner Happy Valley BBC1 Line Of Duty BBC2 Peaky Blinders BBC2 Best Daytime Show Nominated: The Chase ITV Loose Women ITV Pointless BBC1 This Morning ITV Winner Best International Show Nominated: The Big Bang Theory E4 Game Of Thrones Sky Atlantic Winner Outlander Amazon Prime Video The Walking Dead Fox Best Comedy Nominated: Benidorm ITV Birds Of A Feather ITV Winner Russell Howard's Good News BBC2 Stella Sky1 Best actor Nominations: Peter Capaldi (Dr Who) Jim Carter (Downton Abbey) Tom Hiddleston (The Night Manager) Winner Cillian Murphy (Peaky Blinders) Best soap newcomer Nominations: Gemma Atkinson, Carly Hope (Emmerdale) Riley Carter Millington, Kyle Slater (EastEnders) Isobel Steele, Liv Flaherty (Emmerdale) Shayne Ward, Aidan Connor (Coronation Street) Winner Best New Drama Nominated: Doctor Foster BBC1 Winner Marcella ITV The Night Manager BBC1 War & Peace BBC1 Best Entertainment Show Nominated: 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown C4 Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway ITV Winner Celebrity Juice ITV2, The Graham Norton Show BBC1 Best Reality Show Nominated: Bear Grylls: Mission Survive ITV Celebrity Big Brother C5, I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! ITV Winner The Only Way Is Essex ITVBe Best Lifestyle Show Nominated: Antiques Roadshow BBC1 DIY SOS: The Big Build BBC1 Gogglebox C4 Winner Tattoo Fixers E4 Best soap actress Nominations: Paula Lane, Kylie Platt (Coronation Street) Jennifer Metcalfe, Mercedes McQueen (Hollyoaks) Lucy Pargeter, Chas Dingle (Emmerdale) Lacey Turner, Stacey Fowler (EastEnders) Winner Best Soap Nominated: Coronation Street ITV EastEnders BBC1 Emmerdale ITV Winner Hollyoaks C4 Advertisement With her bright pink button-down dress and tumbling brunette locks, Keira Knightley was pretty as a picture as she strolled through Heathrow airport on Tuesday. The 31-year-old actress looked in stark contrast to husband James Righton who was decked out in a black shirt, matching jeans and shoes. Sporting a pair of sunglasses, a pair of strappy sandals and a light brown bag over one shoulder, the star clutched her passport ahead of a flight to New York City. Scroll down for video Pretty in pink: Keira Knightley and husband James Righton strolled through Heathrow airport en route to New York City on Tuesday Husband and wife, who married in 2013, clutched their passports, with James wheeling a carry-on case and holding a folded up garment inside a clothes protector. There was no sign of the couple's one-year-old daughter Edie as they made their way through the terminal. Keira's hair meanwhile, looked long and lustrous, despite her recent admission that she had resorted to wearing wigs after colouring her hair for various roles. Flying solo: There was no sign of the couple's one-year-old daughter Edie as they made their way through the terminal. Intricate: Keira's summery frock featured a cut out design at the sleeves Speaking to InStyle magazine she explained: 'I have dyed my hair virtually every colour imaginable, for different films. 'It got so bad that my hair literally began to fall out of my head. 'So for the past five years Ive used wigs, which is the greatest thing thats ever happened to my hair.' However, the star explained that becoming a mother had helped revive her limp locks. Adjustment: Keira ensured her shades were in place to keep her appearance relatively low ley Happy couple: The duo have been married for more than three years Dressed for summer: Keira's warm weather ensemble was perfect for the New York heat Keira revealed that since Edie's birth last year, her hair has been far thicker and curlier, even resulting in some accidental dreadlocks. Luckily for Keira, her latest role in movie Collateral Beauty doesn't seem like it will require a wig. The American comedy-drama tells the story of an advertising executive, played by Will Smith, who falls into a deep depression following a personal tragedy. New role: It's recently been announced that Keira will play the Sugar Plum Fairy in a live-action version of The Nutcracker Her next role will reportedly see the Oscar-nominated actress star as the Sugar Plum Fairy in a new Disney live-action version of The Nutcracker. Variety reports that the British beauty has signed up for the film alongside Morgan Freeman and American ballerina Misty Copeland. She is set to tie the knot with the founder of Snapchat. So it is to be expected that Miranda Kerr uses the wildly popular photography app to keep in touch with her beau through the week. The Australian beauty, 33, sat down with The Project's Tommy Little on Tuesday to speak about her relationship with 26-year-old entrepreneur Evan, telling him that she is still in the honeymoon phase of her relationship. Scroll down for video. Now that's brand loyalty! Miranda Kerr revealed to The Project on Tuesday that she uses Evan's app Snapchat to contact him multiple times a day 'I still get butterflies', gushed the smitten mother-of-one during the interview, which took place beside the pool of her lavish LA mansion. When quizzed about whether the pair use Evan's app Snapchat to keep in touch, Miranda enthusiastically responded: 'Yep, multiple times. Every day.' She also made sure to show off her weighty engagement ring for the camera. Loved up: 'I still get butterflies', gushed the smitten mother-of-one during the interview, which took place beside the pool of her lavish LA mansion Flashing her rock: She also made sure to show off her weighty engagement ring for the camera The former Victoria's Secret angel and Evan announced their engagement in July this year. Naturally, Miranda took to social media to announce the happy news, uploading a Snapchat cartoon image depicting Evan proposing to Miranda. At the time, a spokesperson for the Snapchat CEO told DailyMail.com exclusively: 'They are extremely happy.' Set to wed: The former Victoria's Secret angel and Evan announced their engagement in July this year Miranda - who was previously married to actor Orlando Bloom for three years - recently bought a house with Evan. Forbes has valued Spiegel - who founded Snapchat while he was still at Stanford - at $2.1billion, making him one of the youngest self-made billionaires in the world. Miranda and Evan stepped out in public together as a couple in June 2015 after first meeting at a Louis Vuitton dinner in New York City in 2014. They are known to enjoy a tipple together. But This Morning hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield took things to new levels on Tuesday as they downed shots following their victorious stint at the TV Choice Awards the previous night. The 35-year-old stunner was feeling cheeky as she joined her colleague and best pal, 54, in downing a small glass of Italian liquor Limoncello during a segment led by guest hosts Vicky Pattison and Ferne McCann. After the festivities of the previous night, Holly was quick to inform viewers that she and Phillip were very well-behaved and deserve to be applauded for how fresh they look. Yet it seemed the party was living on as the show shot to Italy where Ferne and Vicky visited a farm were lemon-based booze Limoncello is made and Holly and Phil were invited to taste the lemons used to make the alcohol. As the party-loving reality stars enjoyed the spoils of their location, the screen shot back to the studio, where Holly and Phil opted to get in the spirit of things. Glugging it! This Morning hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield took things to new levels on Tuesday as they downed shots following their victorious stint at the TV Choice Awards the previous night Fresh! After the festivities of the previous night, Holly was quick to inform viewers that she and Phillip were very well-behaved and deserve to be applauded for how fresh they loo Sharper than ever: The duo drank a shot of the sweet drink after biting into lemons to assess the sweetness of the drink next to the sharp citrus taste The duo drank a shot of the sweet drink after biting into lemons to assess the sweetness of the drink next to the sharp citrus taste. The happy pair were also raising a glass to their victory, as Holly said: 'We want to say a huge thank you for voting for us at last nights TV Choice Awards, we were lucky enough to win Best Daytime Show, so thank you very much.' Celebrations: The happy pair were also raising a glass to their victory, as Holly said: 'We want to say a huge thank you for voting for us at last nights TV Choice Awards, we were lucky enough to win Best Daytime Show, so thank you very much' Ouch! Holly and Phil are known to enjoy a tipple together Not a fan? Both Holly and Phil grimaced at the citrus treat Phillip revealed they had raised a glass to the show's late agony aunt, Denise Robertson, who died in March: 'It was a great night. And we dedicated it to our Denise Robertson because it was her favourite award ceremony.' 'She loved going to the TV Choice Awards so it was only right and proper that we toasted her with a tiny tequila We were very well behaved, just look at how well behaved we are now!' The well behaved reference comes after the duo came into work in January in last night's clothes following the National TV Awards. Happy to be back: Holly looked in good spirits despite a late night at Monday's TV Choice Awards Cooking with the Hairy Bikers: It was business as usual for the presenters who watched a cookery demonstration with Si King and Dave Myers Promotion time: They also chatted to Bridget Jones creator Helen Fielding Action packed: Location, Location Location;s Kirstie Allsopp took a turn on the sofa on Tuesday's show The night before the booze-soaked show, Holly arrived solo at The Dorchester Hotel for the annual awards, where she and Phil were rewarded for all their hard work on This Morning, when the show scooped The Best Daytime show award later on in the evening. Though they faced steep competition from Loose Women, The Chase and Pointless. Earlier on in the day This Morning viewers flooded social media with praise for the return of Holly and her co-star Phillip Schofield. Sassy and chic: Hours before the show, Holly pulled out a sassy sartorial look for her arrival at Monday's TV Choice Awards Flirty fashion: Hitting the red carpet at the Dorchester Hotel in Mayfair, she flaunted her tanned and toned legs, thanks to her flirty white mini dress A hint of skin: Arriving solo at the event, Holly flashed a hint of cleavage thanks to the thigh-grazing dress' dipping neckline - though she obscured her decolletage with a long silk scarf Adding a pair of towering black stilettos to the mix, the Brighton-born star ensured her pins were firmly in the limelight. But they weren't expecting the gorgeous new addition to the ITV family, when Holly and Phil welcomed a fluffy new Labradoodle. The 10-week-old Guide Dog puppy - who is the half sister of resident This Morning puppy Clover - was named Luna by viewers and seemed to help brighten the back to school and end of summer woes. 'Holly and Phil are back on This Morning and everything is right with the world,' said one Twitter user. 'Cannot explain how happy I am,' said another, while one fan added: 'I've missed Holly and Phillip so much.' NOMINATIONS FOR THE TV CHOICE AWARDS Best Drama Series Nominated: Downton Abbey ITV Happy Valley BBC1 Line Of Duty BBC2 Peaky Blinders BBC2 Best Daytime Show Nominated: The Chase ITV Loose Women ITV Pointless BBC1 This Morning ITV Best International Show Nominated: The Big Bang Theory E4 Game Of Thrones Sky Atlantic Outlander Amazon Prime Video The Walking Dead Fox Best Comedy Nominated: Benidorm ITV Birds Of A Feather ITV Russell Howard's Good News BBC2 Stella Sky1 Best actor Nominations: Peter Capaldi (Dr Who) Jim Carter (Downton Abbey) Tom Hiddleston (The Night Manager) Cillian Murphy (Peaky Blinders) Best soap newcomer Nominations: Gemma Atkinson, Carly Hope (Emmerdale) Riley Carter Millington, Kyle Slater (EastEnders) Isobel Steele, Liv Flaherty (Emmerdale) Shayne Ward, Aidan Connor (Coronation Street) Best New Drama Nominated: Doctor Foster BBC1 Marcella ITV The Night Manager BBC1 War & Peace BBC1 Best Entertainment Show Nominated: 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown C4 Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway ITV Celebrity Juice ITV2, The Graham Norton Show BBC1 Best Reality Show Nominated: Bear Grylls: Mission Survive ITV Celebrity Big Brother C5, I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! ITV The Only Way Is Essex ITVBe Best Lifestyle Show Nominated: Antiques Roadshow BBC1 DIY SOS: The Big Build BBC1 Gogglebox C4 Tattoo Fixers E4 Best soap actress Nominations: Paula Lane, Kylie Platt (Coronation Street) Jennifer Metcalfe, Mercedes McQueen (Hollyoaks) Lucy Pargeter, Chas Dingle (Emmerdale) Lacey Turner, Stacey Fowler (EastEnders) Best Soap Nominated: Coronation Street ITV EastEnders BBC1 Emmerdale ITV Hollyoaks C4 Advertisement They're back! Holly Willoughby (right) and Phillip Schofield (left) were back on This Morning on Monday and the viewers couldn't have been more pleased A new addition: They weren't the only ones taking the limelight though, as the duo welcomed a 10-week-old Guide Dog puppy called Luna So cute: Luna took an instant liking to Holly that morning Affectionate: Holly even suggested that they name the dog 'Licky' Giddy: Viewers were absolutely delighted to start September with Holly and Phil It seemed like some viewers were deliberately tuning back in to the breakfast show, to mark the return of the on-screen double act, who have been on holiday for seven weeks. 'Lowkey glad Holly and Phillip are back...' said one fan. 'Can get my daily TM fix again' Like reuniting with old friends, another said: 'Turning over to This Morning just because Holly and Phillip are back! Happy girl :) Missed you guys!' This week will see children all over the UK returning to school and Holly and Phil appeared to be offering a little light relief for the big occasion. Checking on her priorities, one viewer said: 'I squealed so loud at Holly and Phil back on This Morning that Dad thought I'd got some news about Third Year #proirities' Making friends: Presenter Rylan Clarke got straight in with the selfies Too cute: Luna is the half sister of resident puppy Clover A new name: The Labradoodle puppy was named by the ITV audience Another lamented: 'My youngest starts college tomorrow.. thankfully I have Holly and Phil to help pass the time @thismorning' And while others couldn't make it into the classroom, Holly and Phil were a nice surprise for the morning. 'So glad Holly and Phil are back on @thismorning making my sick day so much better.' Holly and Phil were on top form, too, sharing giggles over little Luna, shirtless celebrity chef Gino D'Acampo and their summer holiday memories. Missed them: Twitter was flooded with positive responses from the viewers On top form: The duo were closer than ever after a summer spent actually together Jokers: The duo have not actually been spending their summer apart, it seems 'The highlight of my day is when Holly and Phil fall about in fits of laughter on This Morning,' said one enthusiastic viewer. After all, the duo have barely been apart all summer, having accompanied their individual families on a joint holiday. At the start of the show, Holly said to Phil: 'I know you've had a good summer - I spent most it with you.' In August, Holly and Phil paid tribute to lovebirds Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston when they shared a playful photograph in 'I [HEART] P.S' and 'I [HEART] H.W' T-shirts. 'They were a present from Martin, our editor. It was our little nod to Taylor Swift and we thought we'd recreate that moment.' Also on the show: Rylan Clark was also back, this time with X Factor actor Ottavio and Bradley One big happy family: The pair introduced their 'new baby' on the show They recently split after spending much of the summer in each other's company. So perhaps it was no surprise that Brooklyn Beckham is keeping himself busy following his break up with actress Chloe Moretz. The 17-year-old son of David and Victoria headed to a skate park in London at the weekend where he showed off his skills on a skateboard. Scroll down for video Skateboarding prowess: Brooklyn Beckham was taking his mind off his split from Chloe Moretz on Saturday at a skateboarding park in London Sporting a black helmet, T-shirt and loose fitting trousers, the teen completed a series of impressive leaps in the air. And Brooklyn, who has spent much of the past few months in Los Angeles where his parents own a house, seemed totally immersed in his activity. News of the break up initially surfaced at the end of August when Page Six revealed the romance was over. Brooklyn and Chloe spent much of the summer together, attending premieres and high-profile events as a couple, as well as gushing over their romance on social media. In the air: Brooklyn showed off his sporting skills at the indoor arena Great leaps forward: Brooklyn seemed totally immersed in his activity Chloe confirmed the couple had reignited their relationship during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live in early May. She told host Andy Cohen: 'We're in a relationship. It's fine. It's no biggie. 'And I think that, you know, the more I don't make it mysterious, the more that people don't care. So yes, we're in a relationship.' Happier times: Brooklyn and Chloe Moretz, pictured together back in July, before the split The young couple had openly expressed their sadness at being apart from each other - with Brooklyn based in the UK with his family, and Chloe in Los Angeles. 'My boyfriend is a huge support,' she told Elle.com recently. 'I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't need a man for anything. 'But when I'm feeling bad about myself, he's like, "Stop. Look at what you say in interviews. Look at what you stand for. 'Listen to your own words, because you're as beautiful as you say you are"!' Kim Kardashian is always breaking new fashion ground, but her latest attempt at being a vanguard was extra transparent. When heading out in New York City on Tuesday morning, the 35-year-old Keeping Up With The Kardashians star modeled an unusual pair of plastic kinky boots that were see-through from toe to thigh. The designer is husband Kanye West as the shoes are YEEZY from season four. The E! icon also flashed a very sheer pale blue bra that exposed one of her nipples when her jacket opened. Scroll down for video A new look: Kim Kardashian modeled a pair of plastic kinky boots as she stepped out in New York City on Tuesday morning Check it out! The E! icon also flashed a very sheer pale blue bra that exposed one of her nipples Did she want everyone to see her chest? It appeared as if the Complex cover girl pulled the Pablo jacket back to expose herself on purpose The mother-of-two covered up most of her body with West's oversized light denim jacket that read Pablo on the back. Underneath, the E! queen had on a sheer light blue bra that exposed too much. At one point it appeared as if the Complex cover girl pulled the Pablo jacket back to expose herself. No top, no problem: The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star left her shirt at home Or maybe she was just trying to pull the jacket in. Either way, the jacket did have buttons, which she clearly opted not to use, making herself wide open for a wardrobe malfunction. The former Playboy model also had on a pair of cut-off light denim shorts. The YEEZY boots were likely made of Perspex (a brand of acrylic material). A Lucite heel looked far from comfortable and, indeed, the beauty did appear a bit out of sorts while leaving a building with the assistance of a bodyguard. Easy does it, honey: The former Playboy model also flashed her massive diamond ring from her rapper spouse as she kept her head down Great for the rain: The 35-year-old's unusual YEEZY footwear had a Lucite heel and Perspex material on the legs. Perspex is a material made out of acrylic But are they comfortable? The TV icon looked a bit uneasy in these heels Around the Dash Doll's neck was a choker that read Saint. And in her hand the daughter of Kris Jenner, 60, carried what looked to be a dead white cat, but it must have been a clutch purse or one of daughter North's toys. The item had a tail that could pass for a cat's tail. The accessory brought back memories of the cat that Kim had in 2012 for a short period of time: a little white kitten named Mercy that reportedly died from a sudden cancer-like virus. The reality star had the feline for only a few weeks. So 1980s: The mother-of-two covered up most of her body with West's oversized light denim jacket that had an acid wash that was popular three decades ago Fans! Kim drew a crowd that included autograph seekers; on her left is her driver He not only made her shoes, he also made her jacket! On the back of the denim wonder read Pablo, which is the name of West's new album Kim wore her long raven locks down and her makeup was expertly done with bronzed cheeks and beige eye shadow. It looked as if she was headed out to a meeting or fitting, and the sister of Kourtney, Khloe, Kendall and Kylie seemed to be in a rush. The night before Kim made quite the splash in a silver long-sleeved, high-collared dress by Vetements that hugged her curves as she went off to Kanye's NYC concert where she met up with best friend Jonathan Cheban. North wore a matching dress with her hair up and black sneakers on. Wonder Woman would be jealous: The siren's shoes had a nude zipper up the back She likes the trend: Mrs West has worn see-through short boots before, but this looks to be the first time she has worn see-through thigh-high boots Proud: Kim was happy to flash her flat tummy now she's reached her goal weight after welcoming her son Saint in December Kim shared a Snapchat video from inside the concert where she was dancing and having fun with Cheban, a former publicist who has also appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in the UK. Also on Monday Kim shared a very sexy image where she was opening her legs as she modeled a silver one-piece swimsuit. The doll was reclined on a pile of silver string. The Selfish author shared the image on Twitter, which she said was taken by famed photographers Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott. Perfect for another use: Kim could always wear these on Halloween if she wanted to dress up like Barbarella or a go-go dancer from the future Double the trouble: The fashion icon has been shooting plenty of editorials, like her fall one for Harper's Bazaar with West A walk on the wild side: The stunner is always changing up her look and has said that her husband has a big say in what she wears Does it purr? in her hand the daughter of Kris Jenner, 60, carried what looked to be a dead white cat, but it must have been a clutch purse or one of daughter North's toys Meow: The cat purse brought back memories of her dead feline Mercy from 2012 Kim has been in New York City for several days as Kanye takes care of business. She also took a short trip to Toronto with her family. Also this month Kim has been in the spotlight for helping Rob Kardashian get along better with his soon-to-be-wife (and soon-to-be baby mama) Blac Chyna, 28. On Sunday's episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, the looker helped the black sheep get over his issues so he could stop fighting with the former stripper. Hope they're watertight! The star was accompanied by pal Jonathan Cheban as it started to rain in New York Sterling moment: The night before Kim wore a silver dress by Vetements to Kanye's NYC concert with best friend Jonathan Cheban Two cute: North wore a matching dress with her hair up and black sneakers on Her longtime pals: The star posed with Cheban and Simon Huck back stage Kim had called Chyna to offer support. '[Chyna's] like, "I just need someone to talk to, because it's really hard to deal with him." She's like, "I just want someone that's motivated and will get up and do something." I also said, like, don't give him false hope if you don't, like, wanna be with him,' said Kim. Rob told Kim and Khloe that he had it under control, though: 'It takes either one person to man up ... obviously that's gonna have to be me. But at the same time, I'm not gonna argue with a female ... My plan is not to have a kid with somebody and not be with the person, that's just bizarre to me.' Rob & Chyna debuts on September 11 on E! Daniel Craig has reportedly been offered a staggering $150million to shoot two more James Bond movies. The 48-year-old British hunk, who has played the super sleuth since 2006, has yet to confirm his departure from the role yet famously said he would rather 'slash his wrists' than reprise the part. Sources tell Radar Online that Sony bosses are desperate to keep Daniel in the picture for a further two films, in order to 'phase in a younger long-term successor'. Scroll down for video In the making: Daniel Craig has reportedly been offered a staggering $150million to shoot two more James Bond movies Murmurs have been circulating Hollywood for some time suggesting Daniel's replacement is imminent, with many insiders tipping the likes of Idris Elba or Tom Hiddleston to nab the iconic role. Yet insiders claim Sony are determined to keep the first blond Bond in the role following his four turns as the spy in Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008), Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015). Bosses are so pleased with his 'genius' take on Bond that they are desperate to keep him in the role: ' Everyone knows how much executives adore him, and the idea of losing him at such a crucial time in the franchise isnt an option as far as all the studio honchos are concerned. 'Daniels the key for a seamless, safe transition as far as Sony and Bond bosses are concerned, and theyre prepared to pay a kings ransom to make it happen.' Back for Bond? The 48-year-old British hunk, who has played the super sleuth since 2006, has yet to confirm his departure from the role yet famously said he would rather 'slash his wrists' than reprise the part in action: Mummers have been circulating Hollywood for sometime suggesting Daniel's replacement is imminent, with many insiders tipping the likes of Idris Elba or Tom Hiddleston to nab the iconic role The whopping sum is said to be an incentive to lure Daniel back to the role for a further two movies: ' Then they will shoot two more films, which will be made virtually back-to-back.' In May sources told MailOnline that Daniel has thrown in the towel despite cash offerings: ' Daniel is done pure and simple he told top brass at MGM after. They threw huge amounts of money at him, but it just wasnt what he wanted.' MailOnline has contacted a representative for Daniel and Sony for comment. Away from his Bond duties, last week Daniel was unrecognisable as he turned into a bad guy himself while shooting scenes for Logan Lucky in Atlanta, Georgia - sporting a peroxide blond buzz cut with heavily inked skin. Back to back: The whopping sum is said to be an incentive to lure Daniel back to the role for a further two movies: ' Then they will shoot two more films, which will be made virtually back-to-back' No way! In May sources told MailOnline that Daniel has thrown in the towel despite cash offerings: ' Daniel is done pure and simple he told top brass at MGM after. They threw huge amounts of money at him, but it just wasnt what he wanted' The hunk is playing a prisoner in the forthcoming star-studded flick as he wore a monochrome striped uniform while shooting scenes opposite Star Wars' Adam Driver, 32. Daniel has seized a starring role in the forthcoming Steve Soderbergh movie, for which the iconic moviemaker came out of retirement, where he joins a phenomenal cast littered with an array of Hollywood's biggest talents. He announced his split from longtime love Diane Kruger last month. And actor Joshua Jackson was spotted enjoying some alone time as he went for a solo surf in The Hamptons, New York over the Labor Day weekend. The 38-year-old appeared right at home as he caught some waves. Hang ten: Actor Joshua Jackson looked relaxed as he went surfing in The Hamptons over the Labor Day weekend The Fringe star wore a dark wet suit as he carefully balanced on his board, and then later hit the beach and toweled off. Joshua and German actress Diane surprised fans when they announced the end of their 10-year relationship in July. 'Diane Kruger and Josh Jackson have decided to separate and remain friends,' they said in a statement to People. Careful: The Affair star looked focused as he caught some waves The duo began dating in 2006 after Diane split from her ex-husband, French director Guillaume Canet. They were married for five years. While Joshua has been in The Hamptons, his ex Diane has been busy promoting her new film The Infiltrator at the Deauville American Film Festival in France. The 40-year-old wore a sheer floral gown covered with velvet hearts as she attended the festival's opening night last week. Meanwhile, surf-loving star Joshua is also set to bring attention to the plight of dying coral reefs on upcoming climate change series Years Of Living Dangerously. Newly-single: The 38-year-old split from actress Diane Kruger last month, after 10 years together The National Geographic series follows the Dawson's Creek favorite and other celebrities around the world as they study the impact of climate change. The actor traveled to Australia's The Great Barrier Reef to film the show, which airs in October. In the series trailer, he's worriedly seen asking experts: 'Should I have kids?' Glam: Diane wore a sheer gown covered in velvet hearts at the Deauville American Film Festival in France last week Joshua's show The Affair will also return this fall for season three, with the action taking place after a three-year time jump. The Emmy-winning drama will introduce a new character and perspective, with French actress Irene Jacob joining the cast as a love interest for Dominic West's Noah, Variety reported. The Affair returns to Showtime on November 20. After tying the knot with his long-term partner Joanne Mas this weekend, Danny Dyer was looking forward to a blissful honeymoon in Italy. But the couple's holiday got off to a bad start when he almost missed his flight due to Black Lives Matter protests at London City airport on Tuesday. The EastEnders actor, 39, and his wife, 37, - who married in central London on Saturday - were delayed by the chaos which saw activists storm the runway with banners reading 'climate change is racist.' Scroll down for video Close call: Danny Dyer's honeymoon with wife Joanne Mas got off to a bad start when he almost missed his flight due to Black Lives Matter protests at London City airport on Tuesday But luckily the pair made their flight in the nick of time, thanks to some help from airport staff, particularly one attendant, who Dyer named on Twitter. Danny posted a pictured of himself with the attendant, writing a personal message that read: 'Thank u Liam and #LondonCityAir for looking after me and my wife while there was murders on the runway #honeymoon (sic).' London City Airport replied to him: '@MrDDyer Excellent, apologies for all the disruption this morning, we hope you have a great trip!' Though they were destined for Italy, Danny and his long-term partner are said to have held Spanish-style nuptials this weekend. Last gasp: luckily the pair made their flight, thanks to some help from airport staff, particularly one attendant called Liam It is thought to have taken place at five-star Chewton Glen Hotel, which is set across a sprawling 130 acres in the heart of the Hampshire countryside, is on the cusp of New Forest and a stones throw away from the beach. On the morning of the wedding, the couple's eldest daughter Dani, 19, shared an image of her mum in a bridal dressing gown that simply said: 'Bride' Danny and Joanne have two other children - Arty, two, and Sunnie, eight - and finally decided to tie the knot after almost 24 years together. Excited: Their daughter Danni shared a sweet snap of her mum getting ready for her big day The mayhem of their airport ordeal began at 5.40am when nine protesters chained themselves to a tripod in the middle of the tarmac to 'highlight the UK's environmental impact on the lives of black people', cancelling dozens of flights and delaying several more. The incident triggered huge security concerns amid reports the demonstrators managed to get airside by sailing a blow-up dinghy across the Royal Docks. Despite the serious breach to the airport's perimeters, police spent several hours 'negotiating' with those responsible as they waited for 'specialist resources' to unlock them, causing chaos for passengers. Tense: Despite the serious breach to the airport's perimeters, police spent several hours 'negotiating' with those responsible Activists: It was only after six hours that all the protesters were successfully removed from the site and taken into police custody It was only after six hours that all the protesters were successfully removed from the site and taken into police custody. The demonstrators are part of the British wing of a campaign set up in the US to protest about black Americans being shot by police - although the original branch of the group has never campaigned about climate change. After arriving on the site, the group released a statement saying black people are '28 per cent more likely to suffer air pollution' and that the airport was allowing a 'wealthy elite' to fly around the world while migrants are drowning in the Mediterranean. Roxanne Pallett hasn't bid farewell to her summer wardrobe just yet. The actress was seemingly squeezing out every last drop of sun, when she rocked a tiny Spanish-style co-ord in Manchester on Monday. Roxanne, 33, showed off her enviable abs as she matched a crop top to shorts, simultaneously drawing attention to her recent fitness injury. Scroll down for video Clinging onto summer: Roxanne Pallett looked summery in a Spanish-style co-ord on Monday afternoon in Manchester, as she headed to a photoshoot The former Emmerdale star was sporting a slightly unsightly medical sock on her left leg after suffering a slight sprain during a recent workout. Roxanne appeared to have sustained the injury to her calf, though a source close to the star confirmed that was already on the mend. It was certainly business as usual when the pretty brunette was seen heading to a photoshoot. Slight injury: She wore a medical sock on her left leg, following a slight sprain at the gym Sensibly, she chose flat footwear, arriving at The Lowry Hotel in barely-there summer sandals. Her sleeves were billowing but her neckline was low and tied at her bust in a fabric knot. Roxanne was relying on her natural beauty, ahead of the afternoon shoot, and pushed her cute cropped hair do back with her sunglasses to reveal a make-up free complexion. Lately, Roxanne has been busy balancing multiple film, TV and screen projects. She left the soap character Jo Sugden behind in Emmerdale after three years in 2008. More recently, she has been filming horror flick Habit for 2017 and she is also currently starring in a theatre production called Some Girls at Park Theatre in London. She's been playing the troubled character of Yerma in the eponymous theatre production. But Billie Piper looked miles away from her onstage alter-ego as she stepped out looking casual in London's West End on Tuesday. The 33-year-old actress seemed to go make-up free as she rocked a white lace dress and quirky two-tone boots. Scroll down for video Monochrome maven: Billie Piper, 33, seemed to go make-up free as she rocked a white lace dress and quirky two-tone boots in London's West End on Tuesday The mother-of-two showed off her toned pins in the thigh-skimming dress, which featured edgy black panels across the bodice. Keeping the look laid-back, she tied a black denim jacket around her waist and wore a black backpack. Billie, who is married to actor Laurence Fox, wore her flaxen-hued locks in relaxed curls that gently framed her face and blew about in the wind. Laid-back look: The mother-of-two tied a black denim jacket around her waist and wore a black backpack Rocking some edgy square-framed glasses, the Swindon-born star seemed to eschew make-up to let her natural complexion shine. Meanwhile, Billie has recently turned her acting abilities to the theatre, and plays Yerma - a woman driven wild by her desire to have a child. The production runs from July 28 to September 24 and has already sold out at the Young Vic Theatre. Backstage: Billie shared a selfie as she got ready before heading onstage for the theatre production Yerma 'Bils and Lils': Billie shared a sweet snap with fellow actress Lily James Clearly overjoyed with the positive reaction Billie took to social media to express her gratitude. She wrote on Twitter: 'Thanks so much to everyone for all your kind words. Really overwhelming. 'Hope you're all enjoying #Yerma xx' Do it in denim: The actress showed off her flair for fashion in denim dungarees and a striped T-shirt She's just finished packing on the PDA with her beau Nathan Massey in sun-soaked Portugal after they were crowned the winners of Love Island. And Cara De La Hoyde paraded her newly topped up tan as she arrived at the Walkers Crisp Sarnie Club launch event in London on Tuesday. The 25-year-old reality star stunned in a white silk skirt dress which allowed her to flaunt her honed legs as she strutted forth. Scroll down for video White hot: Cara De La Hoyde, 25, paraded her post-holiday glow as she arrived Walkers Crisp Sarnie Club launch event in London on Tuesday She boosted her height in strappy white heels which displayed her matching pedicure. And while she was mostly donned a bikini in the ITV2 series where she coveted a50,000 prize fund - Cara injected a smart element to her attire with the long sleeves and a collared neckline. The sizzling star's natural beauty was highlighted as she scraped her brunette tresses into a high top knot with a few flyaways framing her chiselled face. Proving there was no hard feelings, Cara was joined by Love Island runners-up, Olivia Buckland and Alex Bowen at the crisps flavour launch. Pins on parade: The Love Island winner stunned in a white silk skirt dress which allowed her to flaunt her honed legs as she strutted forth in towering strappy heels All eyes on her: The sizzling star's natural beauty was highlighted as she scraped her brunette tresses in to a high top knot with a few flyaways framing her chiselled face The blonde star looked incredible in a sleeveless structured dress with military gold buttons which she teamed with sexy thigh high beige boots. And while her other half Alex looked handsome in a white top, black jeans and leather jacket, Nathan, 24, was nowhere to be seen. But Cara needn't worry seeing as they recently decided to move in together in Essex. Speaking to the Daily Star, Cara revealed: 'It was Nathans idea for me to move to Essex and for us to get a place together. 'Its been a different way of starting a relationship but now we have the time to get to know each other properly. Glam pals: Proving there was no hard feelings, Cara was joined by Love Island runners-up, Olivia Buckland who oozed sex appeal in thigh high beige heels Hunk: Alex Bowen also looked handsome in a white top, black jeans and leather jacket 'And we both think well be together forever, and have the whole marriage and kids thing.' Moving in together may come as a surprise after the pair explained on ITV's Lorraine that they would be taking 'baby steps' shortly after the show ended. Speaking exclusively to MailOnline after their win, the pair revealed they had been enjoying some time apart in order to make their reunions 'precious'. Nathan explained: 'Cara trusts me and I trust her. 'It's gonna be times when we're gonna be busy and we understand that and it shows we spent six weeks together, we spent 24 hours with each other a day. It shows how strong we are.' Getting serious: Cara just enjoyed a holiday with her beau Nathan Massey, 24, in Portugal and are now planning on moving in together in Essex Cara added: 'Time apart is an important thing. We need time to do Nathan and do Cara. 'I think it will make things still fresh. Then we can miss each other, want to spend time with each other and the time will be precious. 'Obviously it's not a normal environment when sometimes you're living with 15 people in a house for 24 hours a day and it's not normal to meet someone and be with them 24 hours a day.' Congrats: Cara and Nathan were crowned the winners of ITV2's Love Island where they coveted a 50,000 prize fund She and partner Ryan Gosling welcomed their second child in April. And actress Eva Mendes showed off her post-baby figure as she attended a photo shoot in New York City on Monday. The 42-year-old looked stylish as she was spotted leaving the location in Manhattan. Casual look: Actress Eva Mendes, who gave birth to daughter Amada in April, was stylish as she left a photo shoot in Manhattan on Monday The Hitch actress wore a white-and-black tank top with slim black capris as she headed to an SUV under the watchful eye of a bodyguard. She added an unbuttoned, red checked shirt, and wore black sandals with a chunky heel. Eva, who also runs her own cosmetics line Circa Beauty, added large sunglasses and carried a light brown leather handbag. Chic: The 42-year-old wore large sunglasses and left her brunette hair down Busy day: The actress added slim capris and black slides as she strolled to her SUV The actress and Ryan, 35, surprised fans when they welcomed daughter Amada Lee in April, after keeping the pregnancy under wraps. The very private couple, who began dating in 2012 after meeting on the set of their drama The Place Beyond The Pines, are also parents to daughter Esmeralda Amada, who turns two next week. Eva gave birth to Amada less than two week after the death of her older brother Carlos, and told Latina magazine she relied on family to help her through the emotional time. In the spotlight: Eva wore a checked red shirt over a stripped tank while out in New York 'Losing my brother brought our family closer, and we were already close to begin with,' she said. ' And then they were there for me when Amada was born. We had a funeral service for (Carlos) and that same week I had the baby. 'So it was really, really intense and obviously beyond heartbreaking, but also kind of beautiful,' the Miami-born star said. She's reinvented herself as a fashionista since her Made In Chelsea days. So Millie Mackintosh naturally took pride of place on the front row at the Nicholas Oakwell Couture AW16 show at Claridge's Hotel in London on Tuesday. The 26-year-old beauty was dressed to impress in a smart grey suit by the designer himself, power dressing to perfection for the event. Scroll down for video Glamorous: Millie Mackintosh naturally took pride of place on the front row at the Nicholas Oakwell Couture AW16 show at Claridge's Hotel in London on Tuesday Millie looked incredible in the silk number, which boasted pretty white floral embroidery on the sleeves and running down the legs. The high-waisted trousers, paired with a simple cream top, served to accentuate her slim waist and the floor-skimming cut gave the illusion of never-ending legs. The striking brunette posed up a storm alongside a model elephant at the runway show, pulling out all her best poses. Silk sensation: Millie looked incredible in the tailored number, which boasted pretty white floral embroidery on the sleeves and running down the legs Strike a pose: The high-waisted trousers, paired with a simple cream top, served to accentuate her slim waist Fashion pals: Millie posed alongside Rosie Fortescue's lookalike sister Lily Millie was joined by a host of fashion-loving stars at the event including MIC's Mark-Francis Vandelli. The Quality Street heiress enthused on social media: Well done @nicholasoakwellcouture what a stunning show, also such a treat to wear this suit thank you'. The star was enjoying a rare outing without her boyfriend Hugo Taylor, who she has been inseparable from in recent months. Fashionable friends: Millie was joined by a host of fashion-loving stars at the event including MIC's Mark-Francis Vandelli Friends in high places: Mark was joined by Emma McQuiston, Viscountess Weymouth Posing: Hofit Golan and Jackie St Clair both opted for elegant, all-black ensembles Pop of colour: Jackie's added a bold touch to her attire with rainbow hued shoes Millie confirmed her romance with Hugo, who she previously dated during her stint on MIC in 2011, shortly after her divorce and the duo have been inseparable ever since. The fitness fan and Professor Green, real name Stephen Manderson, had their two and a half year marriage dissolved in just 30 seconds, following the announcement of their separation three months earlier. They were granted a decree nisi at Central London Family Court with Millie citing 'unreasonable behaviour' as the reason for their split. Looking good: Yasmin Mills was also dressed to impress in a Nicholas Oakwell number as she posed with Maddie Mills Edgy vibes: Xenia Tchoumi (L) opted for a black lace number while Lady Alice Manners (R) sported a leather jumpsuit Nude delight: Lady Kitty Spencer looked the picture of elegance in a cream dress Just days later, Hugo and Millie went public with their romance, sharing a public kiss during a trip to Monaco. Having soared to fame in 2011 alongside Millie on the E4 reality show, sunglasses designer Hugo bowed out of the spotlight to a degree, yet his resurrected romance has hurtled him back into the limelight. The pair were first romantically linked again in March after they were spotted looking cosy at the British Polo Day in Dubai - five weeks after Millie announced her impending divorce. The wealthy reality stars originally dated for six months in 2011, but Millie dumped Hugo after finding out he had cheated with her best pal Rosie Fortescue. Here she comes! Millie turned heads as she left the fashion show in style, displaying her coordinating silver accessories Natural look: The Quality Street heiress opted for minimal make-up save for silver eye shadow Dressed to impress: Guests put on a strong sartorial display for the occasion Emma Stone arrived back in Los Angeles on Monday after a triumphant turn at the Venice Film Festival. The 27-year-old actress was spotted at LAX dressed for comfort in a green cardigan, white shirt, high waist blue jeans and boots. The star is fresh from a European trip to promote her new movie musical La La Land, which also stars Ryan Gosling and was directed by Damien Chazelle. Touching down in La La Land: Emma Stone was spotted at LAX on Monday She attended the premiere and the film earned rave reviews and a standing ovation. Tom Hanks recently declared himself a huge fan of the movie, adding that he thinks Hollywood is 'doomed' if people don't like it. The Oscar-winning actor was recently promoting his own new movie Sully at the Telluride Film Festival when he interrupted the Q & A to extol the virtues of the film. He said: 'This is not a movie that falls into some sort of trend. I think it is going to be a test of the broader national audience, because it has none of the things that major studios want. Toast of the town: The actress' film La La Land was a hit at the Venice Film Festival 'Pre-awareness is a big thing they want, which is why a lot of remakes are going on. ['La La Land'] is not a sequel, nobody knows who the characters are...But if the audience doesn't go and embrace something as wonderful as this then we are all doomed.' The 60-year-old actor admits he is impressed the project got made because it is so different to anything else around and he is thankful studio bosses ignored trends to green light the movie. He said: 'I like to think we approach movies the same way we approach being members of the audience in that you just want to see something you have never seen before. It's funny. 'Who saw 'La La Land' yesterday? Bright star: Emma attended La La Land's premiere in Venice last week. The film earned rave reviews and a standing ovation 'When you see something that is brand new, that you can't imagine, and you think 'Well thank God this landed', because I think a movie like 'La La Land' would be anethema to studios. Number one, it is a musical and no one knows the songs... 'We all understand the business aspects of it. It's cruel and it's backbreaking and take-no-prisoners. But there's always that chance where the audience sees something that is brand new, that they never expected, and embraces it, and celebrates it. 'We might be in the luxurious position that we can say we don't have to pay attention to the trends, but there are other people whose parking spaces with their names on them are paid to follow these trends. Average retail gasoline prices in Chattanooga have fallen 2.9 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $1.99 per gallon on Monday, according to GasBuddy's daily survey of 170 gas outlets in Chattanooga. This compares with the national average that has fallen 2.9 cents per gallon in the last week to $2.19 per gallon, according to gasoline price website GasBuddy.com. Including the change in gas prices in Chattanooga during the past week, prices on Monday were 6.0 cents per gallon higher than the same day one year ago and are 21.9 cents per gallon higher than a month ago. According to GasBuddy historical data, gasoline prices on Sept. 6 in Chattanooga have ranged widely over the last five years: $1.93 in 2015, $3.14 in 2014, $3.32 in 2013, $3.59 in 2012 and $3.49 in 2011. Areas nearby Chattanooga and their current gas price climate: Knoxville- $1.97, down 1 cent per gallon from last week's $1.98. State of Tennessee- $2.01, down 2.8 cents per gallon from last week's $2.04. Huntsville- $1.96, flat from last week's $1.96. With the summer driving season now behind us, what we see ahead looks terrific for motorists," said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy. "Demand decreases for gasoline will accelerate as we progress toward autumn, and combined with the return of winter gasoline next week Friday , gasoline prices will track lower more often than the opposite. The only possible wrench could be a major hurricane that takes aim for the Gulf of Mexico, where many oil rigs and refiners are located, or a sudden cut in oil output from OPEC." "As we approach election season, I also fully expect that some politician will seek to take credit for the likely decline in gasoline price as the election looms, which is utter nonsense," Mr. DeHaan added. "Just four states- South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi and New Jersey currently enjoy a state average under $2 per gallon, but by Halloween that number could quadruple." She's famously made history in 2013 by becoming the first ever black British aristocrat. So there was no better soiree for the Emma McQuiston to attend than Nicholas Oakwell's Couture show at Claridge's Hotel, on Tuesday. Arriving at the world-famous London landmark for the designer's Autumn/Winter show, the 30-year-old Viscountess of Weymouth dazzled in a daring white jumpsuit. Scroll down for video Stunning: There was no better soiree for the Emma McQuiston to attend than Nicholas Oakwell's Couture show at Claridge's Hotel, on Tuesday Arriving at the hotel, situated in the heart of Mayfair, the Nigerian-born beauty made a suitably stylish arrival in her shimmering sequined jumpsuit. Channeling a chic and racy, yet also restrained, look, Emma donned a retro-inspired white jumpsuit. The Viscountess flashed a fashionable amount of flesh thanks to the one-piece's plunging neckline - though the cut ensured her modesty remained firmly in-tact. Glittering: Arriving at the world-famous London landmark for the designer's Autumn/Winter show, the 30-year-old Viscountess of Weymout dazzled in a daring white jumpsuit. The sleevless number featured an eye-catcing glittering stitch, as well as a retro flared leg. She rounded off her look with a pair of complementary cream stilettos, which ensured the trailing legs floated just above the floor. Keeping her look simple and chic, the aristocrat wore a smattering of jewellery. Chic and stylish: Arriving at the hotel, situated in the heart of Mayfair, the Nigerian-born beauty made a suitably stylish arrival in her shimmering sequined jumpsuit Famous friends: Channeling a chic and racy, yet also restrained, look, Emma donned a retro-inspired white jumpsuit Emma wore her lustrous chestnut tresses around her shoulders, while she opted for a natural palette of make-up. Joining the likes of Millie Mackintosh and Made In Chelsea's Mark-Francis Vandelli at the soiree she was certainly in good company Emma shot to fame in 2014 when she married Ceawlin Thynn, Viscount Weymouth, the second child of Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath and his wife, Anna Gael Gyarmathy. The much-anticipated second season of Narcos was released on Netflix on Friday. But fans who have already binge-watched every episode need not worry - more of the drug cartel drama is on the way. Netflix has just announced that is has renewed the series for two more seasons, with season three coming to the streaming site next year. Scroll down for video 'The blow must go on': Netflix announced on Tuesday that it has renewed Narcos for two more seasons Steamy: The second season started off in a very steamy manner, with a sex scene between Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura) and his wife Tata (Paulina Gaitan) after just 10 minutes The show is based on the story of Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar (played by Wagner Moura), who was 44 when he was shot dead in Medellin in December 1993. And while the second season told the story of Pablo's death, Netflix wants fans to know that the series is far from done. The company shared a video to Twitter on Tuesday which shows Wagner's Pablo fading out, as the words 'the blow must go on' appear across the screen. The camera then fades in to reveal Damian Alcazar in character as Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, one of the former leaders of the Cali Cartel. Raunchy: Season two contained plenty of raunchy moments, as well as depicting the death of the Colombian drug kingpin 'You didn't think the story died with Pablo, did you? #Narcos Season 3, 2017,' Netflix tweeted along with the video. While the second season of the show went out, quite literally, with a bang as it depicted Pablo's shooting, its first episode couldn't have been steamier. Just 10 minutes in, Pablo was shown in a racy clinch with his wife Tata Escobar (played by Paulina Gaitan) after escaping from prison. The same episode included a raunchy sex scene with a prostitute. Back next year: Netflix released a video on Twitter on Tuesday to confirm the show has been renewed It's his story now: The camera fades in to reveal Damian Alcazar in character as Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, one of the former leaders of the Cali Cartel While Narcos has been a huge hit with fans, Pablo's son Sebastian Marroquin has accused the show of being littered with errors. He told Mirror Online that the show wrongly accuses his father of murdering a Colombian guerilla fighter, Ivan Marino Ospina, stating: 'This isn't real. He wasn't killed by Pablo Escobar.' Marroquin - who changed his name after his father's death and has tried to distance himself from him - added that Netflix also were wrong to suggest Escobar trafficked drugs to Europe. Not impressed: While Narcos has been a huge hit with fans, Pablo's son Sebastian Marroquin has accused the show of being littered with errors Inaccurate: Marroquin defended his mother, saying she was not an accomplice to Escobar, as the series claims His Medellin cartel was at one point exporting 80 per cent of the US's illegal drugs and was making an estimated $60million a day. 'He didn't need to [sell drugs to Europe] - why would he go so far if they could sell drugs so close?' Marroquin said. 'There was a deficit of drug dealers at that time, there weren't enough drugs to satisfy the Americans. They never tired of buying them. Everything my father sent they bought in seconds.' Marroquin also defended his mother, saying she was not an accomplice to Escobar, as the series claims. She's a fashion darling who has fronted endless campaigns this year. And Bella Hadid proved her It girl status once more as she picked up the Model of the Year gong at the GQ Men of the Year Awards on Tuesday night. The shocked 19-year-old model, who stunned in a champagne-hued Bardot gown, claimed she was 'having a heart attack a little bit' as she scooped the award at The Tate Modern in London. Scroll down for video Go for gold: Bella Hadid, 19, stunned in a champagne-hued Bardot gown at the GQ Men of the Year Awards on Tuesday night Collecting the accolade, the brunette beauty said: 'This is crazy. I've worked really hard it's crazy to be recognised.' She then made a touching tribute to her mother Yolanda Foster, who was diagnosed with the debilitating condition Lyme disease in 2012. Bella, who attended the event with Yolanda, said: 'This is the first time my mum has been out of bed in four years and got her hair and make up done and I'm so happy she's here.' Flashing some leg: The teenager showed off some serious skin as she arrived at the lavish awards Captivating: Bella used her model background to ensure everyone's attention was on her In the nude: The understated colour scheme perfectly offset the teenager's bronzed complexion Elegant: The young model looked divine in her off the shoulder dress on Tuesday evening Winner: Bella scooped the Model of the Year gong at the awards Overjoyed: She couldn't help but smile as she showed off the award backstage Model of the moment: Bella walked for Chanel, Givenchy and Miu Miu at Paris Fashion Week earlier this year Emotional: The shocked model exclaimed that she thought she was 'having a heart attack a little bit' as she collected her award onstage Time to shine: Bella Hadid struck a pose alongside Casey Neistat and Anthony Jousha Lyme disease is an infection caused by bacteria spread by the bite of an infected deer tick. Symptoms include pain in the muscles or joints, fever, malaise, and chronic fatigue. No definitive treatment or cure for the illness has been found - and last year Yolanda revealed that Bella and her younger brother Anwar also have the condition. Bella stunned in a bias-cut gown at the event which was sponsored by Patron Tequila Cocktails. The design showed plenty of cleavage thanks to a plunging off-the-shoulder neckline. Three's a crowd: Bella made an emotional tribute to her mother Yolanda, who was diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2012 Sad news: No definitive treatment or cure for the illness has been found - and last year Yolanda revealed that Bella and her younger brother Anwar also have the condition Family affair: Bella got a kiss from her former model mother Yolanda Foster Pucker up! The bond between mother and daughter was clearly strong Making quite the exit: The stunning pair made their way offstage after Bella received the award Copping an eyeful, Bella? The model's eyes flicked downwards for one brief but telling second Good looking pair: Bella was presented the award by model Ashley Graham, who joked that she almost had a nip slip onstage Perfect pout: Ever the professional, Bella reverted back to her sultry stare after the initial excitement The creation featured a racy thigh-high split which flaunted her endless legs, lengthened further thanks to a pair of nude satin barely there heels. She wore her hair in dead straight sleek lengths styled using Remington products. Her stylist worked the sensational look by using the Keratin Radiance Dryer. She accentuated her piercing green eyes with lashings of mascara and an iridescent shimmer. Hair today, gone tomorrow: Her glossy raven tresses were styled in a poker-straight cut that fell in a severe middle-parting around her striking features Legs for days: The model flouted the 'legs or cleavage' rule with panache as she posed in the racy number at The Tate Modern in London Simply stylish: The creation featured a racy thigh-high split which flaunted her endless legs, lengthened further with a pair of nude satin barely there heels Natural beauty: She accentuated her piercing green eyes with lashings of mascara and an iridescent shimmer Centre of attention: She showed off her statement gown on the red carpet as her mum waited patiently at the side Good-looking pair: Firm friends Bella and Lewis perfected their pouts on the night Keeping good company: The brunette beauty mingled with racing driver Lewis Hamilton and her mother Yolanda Her rosebud pout was given the plumping touch thanks to a slick of berry lipgloss and she highlighted her achingly sharp cheekbones with a dash of shimmer. Keeping accessories to a minimum, the younger sister of supermodel Gigi Hadid opted for a 90s style diamond choker and a bedazzled ring. Bella appeared to be attending the awards alone, as her beau, 26-year-old rapper The Weeknd was nowhere to be seen. The musician recently appeared on the cover of the fall/winter issue of VMAN magazine, looking moody in a bomber jacket and hood. Stanley Tucci is hosting the 19th annual GQ Men of the Year Awards when it officially launches in Central London on Tuesday evening. Double trouble: Bella mingled with fellow model Kelly Rohrbach, who rocked a floral bandeau dress with an asymmetric hemline Pearly whites: Kelly, the ex-girlfriend of Leonardo di Caprio, flashed a grin as she posed with her pal Model proportions: The genetically blessed duo worked their angles to perfection Strike a pose: The stunning models wasted no time showing off their best Zoolander faces Gal pals: Bella and model Ashley Graham shared a laugh on the red carpet Couple of troublemakers: The giggly pair shared a warm hug as they greeted each other Bling: The younger sister of supermodel Gigi Hadid opted for a 90s style diamond choker and a bedazzled ring The American actor will follow 2015 compere Samuel L. Jackson at Tate Moderns lavish Turbine Hall, where acclaimed contemporary art will make way for the cream of showbiz albeit for one night only. Held annually, the event has proved to be a huge draws for an eclectic mix of A-list actors, musicians, models and designers. Following its inception in 1998 the ceremony has grown in size and stature, providing a glamorous backdrop for a host of local and international stars, amongst them Tom Hanks, Eddie Redmayne, Daniel Craig and Kim Kardashian. Last years winners included Rolling Stone Keith Richards, who claimed the Legend award, James Corden, who walked away with the TV Personality prize and Icon award winner Lionel Richie. Eyes front: Bella offered a peek at her ample cleavage as she mounted the steps to the event Cutting a chic figure: Bella turned some serious heads as she headed into The Tate Modern In her genes: The striking beauty seemed to take after her Dutch-American mother and former supermodel Yolanda Foster Where's the beau? Bella's boyfriend The Weeknd was nowhere to be seen Grand exit: Bella proved to an eye-catching sight as she left the GQ Men of the Year Awards The simple things: The American model accessorized tastefully, opting for a single choker necklace and a selection of rings Hard to miss: The rising catwalk queen flashed a hint of her tanned skin thanks to the wraparound number's fitted cut, while a thigh-high slash in the gown ensured that her endless legs also took a share of the limelight Finishing touches: She rounded her look off with a pair of complementary strappy heels Tucci, who will launch proceedings on Tuesday evening, recently told GQ that hes already selected his evening wear a sharp three-piece suit. I like wearing a suit just to wear a suit it doesnt have to be a special occasion, he said. Its a great experience even having done it for nearly 30 years. And in show business youre fitted all the time so it comes naturally. 'When you work with a great tailor, you work with a great designer its really a wonderful collaboration. And Im an easy client, Im easy, Im easy; picky but easy. Ready for his close-up: Bella's boyfriend The Weeknd appeared on the cover of VMAN's fall/winter issue Smouldering: The 26-year-old rapper was noticeably absent from the awards She's the world's most sought after plus-size model. And Ashley Graham certainly put her killer curves to work as she graced the red carpet at the GQ Men of the Year Awards 2016 at the Tate Modern in London on Tuesday night. The 28-year-old stunner put on an extremely busty display in a plunging racy black Tadashi Shoji dress which boasted a thigh-high split. Scroll down for video Sex kitten: Ashley Graham, 28, put on an eye-popping display as she graced the red carpet at the GQ Men of the Year Awards 2016 at the Tate Modern in London Covering her ample assets, the lace detailing just about shielded her modesty before cinching in her enviable waist. The rest of the slinky garment flaunted her statuesque 5 ft 9 in frame with the daringly high split which allowed her to strike a fierce pose with her glistening pins. And boosting her height further were a pair of strappy black heels which exhibited her matching black pedicure, while she kept the temptress feel alive with a choker. Temptress: The stunner put on an extremely busty display in a plunging racy black Tadashi Shoji number which boasted a thigh-high split Striking: The rest of the slinky garment flaunted her statuesque 5 ft 9 in frame with the daringly high split which allowed her strike a fierce pose with her glistening pins All eyes on her: Covering her ample assets, the lace detailing just about shielded her modesty before cinching in her waist Successful: It wasn't difficult to see why Ashley has become one of the world's most sought after plus-size model Her teased hair which fell out from a heavy backcomb allowed Ashley to work her striking chiselled features. And she looked in great spirits as she was joined by her model pal Bella Hadid who ravished in a sexy nude number, while her brunette locks were slicked straight to perfection. Staley Tucci will host the 19th annual GQ Men of the Year Awards when it officially launches in Central London on Tuesday evening. Good looking pair: Bella was presented the award by model Ashley Graham, who joked that she almost had a nip slip onstage Copping an eyeful, Bella? The model's eyes flicked downwards for one brief but telling second Making quite the exit: The stunning pair made their way offstage after Bella received the award Standing tall: Boosting her height further were a pair of strappy black heels which exhibited her matching black pedicure Glam pal: Ashley was joined by Bella Hadid, 19, who ravished in a sexy nude number, while her brunette locks were slicked straight to perfection Strike a pose: The stunning models wasted no time showing off their best Zoolander faces Three's a crowd: Bella made an emotional tribute to her mother Yolanda, who was diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2012 The American actor will follow 2015 compere Samuel L. Jackson at Tate Moderns lavish Turbine Hall, where acclaimed contemporary art will make way for the cream of showbiz albeit for one night only. Held annually, the event has proved to be a huge draws for an eclectic mix of A-list actors, musicians, models and designers. Following its inception in 1998 the ceremony has grown in size and stature, providing a glamorous backdrop for a host of local and international stars, amongst them Tom Hanks, Eddie Redmayne, Daniel Craig and Kim Kardashian. Mane attraction: Ashley's teased hair which fell out from a heavy backcomb allowed Ashley to work her striking chiselled features Star turn-out: Staley Tucci will host the 19th annual GQ Men of the Year Awards Stealing the show: All eyes were on Ashley as she sauntered into the venue From strength to strength: Ashley is also set to join Rita Ora on the judging panel of the new series of America's Next Top Model Last years winners included Rolling Stone Keith Richards, who claimed the Legend award, James Corden, who walked away with the TV Personality prize and Icon award winner Lionel Richie. There were also awards for Hollywood star Paul Rudd, who walked as the nights Leading Man, while male model David Gandy justifiably won the award for Hugo Most Stylish Man. Elsewhere Game Of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke was awarded the prestigious Woman prize. But first...: Knowing she looked glamorous, Ashley decided to capture herself in a selfie Bevy of beauties: Ashley was also joined by model by Winnie Harlow who wore Dsquared2 and Kelly Rohrbach who made a statement in a floral white lace dress Having a blast: The stunner seemed in her element as she mingled with her pals during the event She pulled out all the stops to attend the GQ Men Of The Year Awards 2016 at London's Tate Modern on Tuesday night. But modern-day feminist Amy Schumer made the perfect funny speech when she received the Woman Of The Year accolade at the star-studded event. The 35-year-old took to the stage in her beautiful black one-shoulder dress and joked: 'Finally we are celebrating men.' Also at the event the blonde made her red carpet debut with beau of nearly one year, Ben Hanisch. Scroll down for video Side by side: Amy Schumer made her red carpet debut with boyfriend Ben Hanisch at the GQ Men Of The Year Awards 2016 at London's Tate Modern on Tuesday night 'Finally, we are celebrating MALES!' Schumer poked fun of the GQ Men Of The Year Awards She added: 'I thought I was Model Of The Year so my speech doesn't make sense. 'This is my second awards show in London. The first time a video went viral of me at the Glamour Awards saying I'm 160 pounds and I can still catch a d**k. 'This time I'll just say thank you. Next year won't be so good for me. I'll be outside begging to come in. It's so different here. You say the C-word like it's no big deal, I love it.' Simple: The 35-year-old Emmy winner opted for a simple yet sophisticated ensemble for the star-studded event, donning a classic LBD Amy looked the picture of elegance in her above the knee number, which was given a fashionable twist thanks to its one-shoulder neckline. She completed her attire with a simple black clutch bag and a pair of classic black heels. The American comedienne wore her blonde locks pulled back in a bun and opted for a nude lip and heavy black kohl lining her eyes. Amy was accompanied by her boyfriend Hanisch at the event, and the pair looked loved-up as they posed together. The star recently spilled some candid details about her romance with the 29-year-old furniture designer, with whom she went public in January. The Trainwreck star joked she was 'the laziest' person in bed during an interview on the Stern Show. Classic look: Amy looked the picture of elegance in her above the knee number, which was given a fashionable twist thanks to its one-shoulder neckline 'When it comes to sex, I lay there like I'm going to get a CAT scan so I'm not pleasing anyone,' Schumer joked. The Golden Globe nominee and The Last Workshop owner have decided to delay all discussion of having children for two years. 'It's just, like, then you have to take care of them, the kids,' the funnywoman said. Slicked back: The American comedienne wore her blonde locks pulled back in a bun and opted for a nude lip and heavy black kohl lining her eyes 'I don't even have a plant! I can't. I'm not going to water that.' Staley Tucci has been chosen to host the 19th annual GQ Men of the Year Awards. The American actor will follow 2015 compere Samuel L. Jackson at Tate Moderns lavish Turbine Hall, where acclaimed contemporary art will make way for the cream of showbiz albeit for one night only. Held annually, the event has proved to be a huge draws for an eclectic mix of A-list actors, musicians, models and designers. Following its inception in 1998 the ceremony has grown in size and stature, providing a glamorous backdrop for a host of local and international stars, among them Tom Hanks, Eddie Redmayne, Daniel Craig and Kim Kardashian. Glamorous: Held annually, the GQ Men Of The Year Awards has proved to be a huge draws for an eclectic mix of A-list actors, musicians, models and designers He's been tasked with hosting the 19th annual GQ Men of the Year Awards. So Stanley Tucci, 55, ensured he would look just as dapper as the recipients as he donned a tailored navy suit for the bash. Joined by his glamorous wife Felicity Blunt, 35, the pair made for a handsome couple as they walked the red carpet at the Tate Modern on Tuesday. Scroll down for video Man of the hour! GQ Awards host Stanley Tucci ensured he would look just as dapper as the recipients as he joined glamorous wife Felicity Blunt at the bash in London on Tuesday Clad in a V-neck feather adorned dress, Felicity - the sister of BAFTA-nominated actress Emily Blunt - wowed in the stylish and unique ensemble which flattered her slender frame. Clinging to her enviable physique, the gown also featured a split at the back, offering another glimpse at her lean legs, which were elongated by a pair of black court heels. Adding to the glamour, Felicity wore her golden locks in a chic chignon bun that framed her pretty face. Blue-tiful: Clad in a V-neck feather adorned dress, Felicity wowed in her stylish and unique ensemble which flattered her slender frame whilst Stanley also dazzled in blue Stanley ensured he wouldn't be dwarfed in his wife's style shadow, however, after planning his suave ensemble way in advance. Speaking to GQ ahead of the awards ceremony, he explained there was no other other choice in his mind than a sharp three-piece suit. I like wearing a suit just to wear a suit it doesnt have to be a special occasion, he said. Suited and booted: Stanley donned a fitted navy suit for the awards bash, which he revealed he had picked out way in advance with the help of a great tailor and designer He continued: Its a great experience even having done it for nearly 30 years. And in show business youre fitted all the time so it comes naturally. 'When you work with a great tailor, you work with a great designer its really a wonderful collaboration.' But he insisted he was no diva, adding: 'Im an easy client, Im easy, Im easy; picky but easy. Snap happy: The American actor seemed in great spirits as he posed for snaps with fans The American actor is following in footsteps of 2015 compere Samuel L. Jackson at Tate Moderns lavish Turbine Hall, where acclaimed contemporary art will make way for the cream of showbiz albeit for one night only. Held annually, the event has proved to be a huge draws for an eclectic mix of A-list actors, musicians, models and designers. Following its inception in 1998 the ceremony has grown in size and stature, providing a glamorous backdrop for a host of local and international stars, amongst them Tom Hanks, Eddie Redmayne, Daniel Craig and Kim Kardashian. Cute couple: Stanley and Felicity weren't the only glamorous couple on the red carpet, as Ricky Gervais also made an appearance with dazzling partner Jane Fallon He is one of Australia's leading Hollywood stars, with films like The Great Gatsby, Exodus: Gods and Kings and Animal Kingdom under his belt. But on Monday, Joel Edgerton proved he's still down to earth, not too posh to grocery shop as he picked up some goods from a supermarket. Cutting a stylish figure, the 42-year-old wore a pair of jeans with a light blue jacket and cap as he joined a male pal for the day. Scroll down for video He's just like us! Australian actor Joel Edgerton blended in with the crowd as he went grocery shopping in Los Angeles on Sunday Joel - who hails from Sydney's Blacktown - teamed the look with a white T-shirt and brown lace-up boots. Around his neck, he layered a handful of necklaces and had a striped navy and white scarf on. He carried a yellow envelope, which he appeared to use as a wallet, stuffing some cash back into. Relaxed: Cutting a stylish figure, Joel wore a pair of jeans with a light blue jacket and cap Joel looked relaxed on the day and was spotted walking out in the parking lot as his friend pushed their trolley. Early last month, it was reported by Deadline that Joel was in 'early talks' to appear in the Frances Lawrence-directed spy thriller Red Sparrow alongside Jennifer Lawrence. According to his IMDb page, he is set to take the role. It is set to hit theaters in November 2017. It comes after he received almost unanimous praise from critics for his latest film Loving. New role? Early last month, it was reported by Deadline that Joel was in 'early talks' to appear in the Frances Lawrence-directed spy thriller Red Sparrow alongside Jennifer Lawrence Leading man: It comes after he received almost unanimous praise from critics for his latest film Loving (seen in Cannes in May) Late last year, the Hollywood actor revealed that he wasn't deemed attractive enough to star in the heavily beach-centric Australian soaps at the beginning of his career in the late 90's. He told the UK's Telegraph: 'I just wasn't that pretty, to be honest! They didn't want me on a surfboard'. 'And back then I was a little bit judgmental about the soapy stuff. I was working happily in the theatre', he explained. 'But I was losing the occasional really cool job to actors who'd been in those shows, because they sold tickets and I didn't.' She and husband Nick Lachey just announced that they are expecting baby number three. But on Tuesday, it was all about son Camden, as Vanessa Lachey took their eldest child out for breakfast. The 35-year-old expectant mother looked radiant in white as she and the three-year-old were seen leaving Sweet Butter Kitchen in Sherman Oaks, California. Doting: Vanessa Lachey was spotted grabbing breakfast with her eldest child, son Camden, on Tuesday, after announcing that she and husband Nick were expecting baby number three Vanessa wore a breezy, layered white top with lace embellishments, teamed with a pair of distressed, light wash jeans. The mom-to-be accessorized with a stylish, wide-brimmed hat, keeping comfortable in strappy sandals. She hid her eyes behind a pair of over-sized, round-framed sunglasses, and carried a large, nude suede bag. Can't hide their smiles! Three-year-old Camden also looked thrilled for the bonding time with mom, as he showed off a big grin as they left the restaurant Radiant: Vanessa looked lovely in a breezy, layered white top which she teamed with ripped jeans and strappy sandals As she left the restaurant, Vanessa was spotted lovingly holding onto son Camden's hand, at times looking down at him with a smile. The little boy wore a black T-shirt which read 'One love,' along with jeans, and patterned sneakers. The outing is the first Vanessa has been seen since taking to Instagram on Friday to announce the family's good news. Laid-back: The Truth Be Told actress wore her long, brunette tresses pulled back into a sophisticated side braid Big news: Last week Vanessa and husband Nick took to Instagram to reveal that they were expecting baby number three The celebrity couple - who already share son Camden and 19-month-old daughter Brooklyn - posted a photo of themselves and their children in front of their newly-acquired family home. Written on top of the photo was: 'We got a new crib. Now we need a new CRIB!' as well as 'Newest Lachey arriving Spring 2017.' He has been holding down the fort the past week while his estranged wife attended the Telluride Film Festival. But Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner reunited on Tuesday as they made sure their three children got off to school safely as the fall semester kicked off. The married duo - who announced their intention to divorce last year - were pictured outside the school gates in their Brentwood neighbourhood. Committed co-parents: Ben Affleck reunited with his estranged wife Jennifer Garner on Tuesday to see their three children off on their first day of school for the fall semester The 44-year-old actor looked a little weary and sported a checked shirt with jeans. Jennifer on the other hand looked ready for another workout in cropped leggings and a cropped sporty jacket. The actors share three children - Samuel, four, Violet, 10, and Seraphina, seven. Early start: The 44-year-old actor teamed jeans with a checked shirt for the morning school run while Jennifer looked sporty in her workout gear The duo, who share Samuel, four, Violet, 10, and Seraphina, seven, were pictured outside the gates of their children's school in Brentwood. Jen was in Colorado over the weekend promoting her indie movie Wakefield in which she stars opposite Bryan Cranston. The Breaking Bad star plays Howard Wakefield, a man who suffers a nervous breakdown that causes him to leave his wife, played by Jennifer, and his children to live in an attic for several months. Staying close: The duo announced their intention to divorce last year after 10 years of marriage Fit mum: The 44-year-old actress looked great in her workout gear and some funky blue trainers A smile: While walking in the parking lot the A lister seemed to perk up a bit Mom's the word: Jennifer was later seen with her daughters The co-stars will most likely be heading up to the Toronto Film Festival on September 13 for its premiere of Wakefield. Ben has had a busy couple of weeks too, the actor has been away shooting Justice League in the UK but was back for daddy duties while Jennifer headed to Telluride. Ben and Jen split in June 2015 after 10 years of marriage and have been committed to co-parenting their three young children. Nearly 500 students from Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy, Orchard Knob Middle, and The Howard schools will board The Choice Bus thanks to collaboration between State Farm and The Mattie C. Stewart Foundation. Students will receive a firsthand look at what education can bring at least $1 million over a persons lifetime if they graduate from college. The half-prison cell, half-classroom converted school bus, which visually portrays two different life perspectives, will visit students Tuesday and Wednesday this week. The bus is one of six tools created by The Mattie C. Stewart Foundation devoted to helping reduce the dropout rate in the United States. Since 2008, The Choice Bus has visited more than 2,000,000 students in 21 states. The bus tour schedule includes: Tuesday: Orchard Knob Middle School 500 N. Highland Park Ave. Chattanooga, TN 37404 7:15-11 a.m. Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy 1802 Bailey Ave. Chattanooga, TN 37404 12:05-2:45 p.m. Wednesday: The Howard School 2500 Market St. Chattanooga, TN 37408 9:25 a.m.-3:35 p.m. When students board The Choice Bus, they get to experience what life is actually like from two different points of view. It helps students dig deep into thinking about their futures based on the decisions they will make. Connecting education to future lifetime earning potential and career goals is what we strive to encourage, said Sherri Stewart, executive director of The Mattie C. Stewart Foundation. Through a grant provided by State Farm, The Choice Bus visits schools along with the Learn2Earn Booklet and the InsideOut Toolkit. Learn2Earn, a financial literacy curriculum, was created by the foundation to help educators teach students about the importance of understanding the world of finance, such as budgeting, taxes, credit cards, loans, etc. The InsideOut Toolkit consists of a Teachers Guide, a Stay in School Pledge Card and the InsideOut documentary a 26-minute DVD that exposes the true-life story of prison inmates and the long-term consequences that dropping out of school has caused. The documentary and companion Teachers Guide have been used in classrooms and community centers in 49 states and Canada and viewed by an estimated 15,000,000 students, parents and community leaders. The Choice Bus has impacted thousands of lives, said Judy McConkey, State Farm Insurance public affairs specialist. It has been an honor to be proud partners with The Mattie C. Stewart Foundation and see a difference in the way our schools and communities feel about education. We believe that students now understand that their futures are based on the consequences of every decision they make. State Farm and MCSF have teamed up for the last four years to bring The Choice Bus to Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Mississippi, New York, South Carolina, Texas and additional State Farm territories. "State Farm is determined to strive higher in all areas of helping students to stay connected to education and helping to build more education-focused environments," officials said. Dr. Shelley Stewart, founder and president of The Mattie C. Stewart Foundation, said, We are proud to work with State Farm to spread the message of education to Tennessee. Illustrating to students the uncut vision of what poor choices leads to can help them think about their actions. Our mission is to continue spreading the power of education to our youth across the nation. To learn more about The Mattie C. Stewart Foundation and The Choice Bus, visit www.mattiecstewart.org. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2013 just weeks before he had successful surgery for prostate cancer. And Billy Connolly looked happy and healthy as he thanked his stunning wife Pamela Stephenson after picking up the Inspiration gong at the GQ Men of the Year Awards 2016 at the Tate Modern, in London, on Tuesday evening. 'Without my lovely wife and daughters, nothing means anything,' the 73-year-old comedian revealed on stage as he paid tribute to his Scottish heritage with tartan trousers which were embedded with lyrics. Scroll down for video Looking on form! Billy Connolly, 73, looked happy and healthy as he arrived with his stunning wife Pamela at the GQ Men of the Year Awards 2016 at London's Tate Modern on Tuesday He also stated: 'It's very moving. It's evenings like this that makes me think all those lonely years weren't wasted.' And while he was one of the winners of the night, he also made sure to standout in a sea of male talent on the fashion front with his cream waistcoat which boasted red and blue block colours. A black suede blazer complete with a brown lining kept him warm, while a long eye-catching bow-tie fell down his front. His long blonde locks and black-rimmed specs framed his face and made him look much younger than his years. And obviously one half of a glamorous duo, the actor was joined by his wife Pamela who dazzled in a glittering floor-length navy gown. Owes it to her: He thanked his wife Pamela after picking up the Inspiration gong stating 'without my lovely wife and daughter, nothing means anything' 'It's very moving': He couldn't contain his pride as he took to the stage the give his speech Missing home? The comedian paid tribute to his Scottish heritage with tartan trousers which were embedded with lyrics, while completing the rest of his look with a kooky waistcoat and blazer Stylish: A black suede blazer with a brown lining kept him warm, while a long eye-catching bow-tie fell down his front With a matching shawl slung casually off her shoulders and an embellished clutch, the blonde stunner looked in high spirits. It has been a testing time for the couple over the last few years with Billy admitting earlier this year that his condition leaves him prone to black moods when he thinks about how bad the symptoms of his condition could get. Admitting that he battled with suicidal thoughts after his diagnosis, he told The Mirror: 'I think: "Well this is forever, this isn't going to get better, it's going to get worse." 'But then I try and change my mind and I try and meditate and move away from it sideways. Trendy: Making sure to standout in a sea of male talent, the talented star's cream waistcoat boasted red and blue block colours Gorgeous: The actor was joined by his wife Pamela who dazzled in a glittering floor-length navy gown Like fine wine! Billy's long blonde locks and black-rimmed specs framed his face and made him look much younger than his years Difficult time: Billy admitted earlier this year that his condition leaves him prone to black moods when he thinks about how bad the symptoms of his condition could get He added: 'I'm okay at the moment but it comes and goes. Sometimes I have trouble getting out of bed and I walk sort of strangely. I have started to drool as well, that's a nice thing. That's going to make me really attractive.' The star is swapping New York for the sunnier climes of the West Coast in an effort to enjoy a more outdoor lifestyle and better weather. However, the comic admitted he hadn't ruled a move back home, stating: 'I've been a moving target for a long, long time. It suits me lovely, but recently I've been thinking about moving back to Britain. 'I don't know why but it's been calling on me. I just feel this tug, it keeps coming into my mind. I thought about Brighton a lot.' Changing location: The star's move away from New York to the sunnier climes of the West Coast recently is also said to be an effort to enjoy a more outdoor lifestyle and better weather Pals: Billy was joined by Sir Michael Parkinson after receiving his award Deserving: Fashion designer Stella McCartney congratulated the stylish star on his big win She was GQ's cover girl for their July issue. So Kelly Rohrbach was naturally in attendance at the GQ Men of the Year Awards, 2016 held at The Tate Modern in London on Tuesday evening, turning heads in an elegant floral dress. Leonardo DiCaprio's ex, who is set to bring Baywatch back to our screens in 2017, looked lovely in a strapless, white lace number with a delicate rose pattern. Scroll down for video Floral fancy: Kelly Rohrbach was naturally in attendance at the GQ Men of the Year Awards, 2016 held at The Tate Modern in London on Tuesday evening, turning heads in an elegant floral dress The fairytale inspired number was completed with a black beaded sash cinching in her tiny waist. The mullet hemline highlighted her toned and tanned legs, which she set off with strappy heels. Kelly looked effortlessly beautiful for the awards show, wearing her blonde locks down in natural waves and highlighting her pretty features with natural rosy make-up. Red carpet glamour: The fairytale inspired number was completed with a black sash cinching in her tiny waist The stunner discussed her illustrious career as a swimsuit model in her cover interview with GQ magazine. Discussing posing in very little for photoshoots, Kelly told the publication: 'That doesn't intimidate me at all. 'I don't feel any shyness. In the summer I'm always walking around in a bathing suit and I never wear shoes. Making an entrance: Leonardo DiCaprio's ex, who is set to bring Baywatch back to our screens in 2017, certainly knows how to make an impact 'I'm very "one love" so that doesn't bother me. I think that's the California girl in me.' Kelly has branched out into acting in recent times, appearing in Woody Allen's Cafe Society, which hits US theaters July 29 and UK theaters September 2. Rohrbach will also play lifeguard C.J. Parker in Paramount Pictures' Baywatch remake - due out next year - alongside Zac Efron, Dwayne Johnson, Pamela Anderson, and David Hasselhoff. Leading lady: Kelly has branched out into acting in recent times, appearing in Woody Allen's Cafe Society Apple event has world watching for new iPhone Apple is expected to unveil a new iPhone and maybe even a second-generation smartwatch at a special event in San Francisco on Wednesday. The rumor mill has been grinding away with talk of iPhone 7 models that will boast faster chips, more sophisticated cameras, and improved software while doing away with jacks for plugging in wired headphones. To assuage users accustomed to wired headphones, Apple could roll out accessories that include an adaptor that plugs into a remaining port. Apple has maintained a rhythm of introducing updated iPhone models on an annual basis, timing introductions to coincide with the year-end holiday shopping season Philippe Huguen (AFP/File) The event would also be a chance to showcase wireless headphones, perhaps some from Beats, which Apple bought two years ago in a deal valued at $3 billion. In the Apple's usual enigmatic style, it provided little more that the date, time and place to the invitation-only gathering. Apple has maintained a rhythm of introducing updated iPhone models on an annual basis, timing introductions to coincide with the year-end holiday shopping season. In July, the company announced the sale of its billionth iPhone, a milestone for the company as it seeks to keep momentum in a competitive smartphone market. Apple reported a drop in iPhone sales in the second quarter of this year, a second straight drop after uninterrupted growth since its introduction in 2007. South Korean consumer electronics giant LG is set to show off a new premium V20 smartphone in San Francisco the evening before the Apple event. The V20 will be the first to ship with a new Nougat version of Google-backed Android operating software. Meanwhile, leading smartphone maker Samsung has announced it will recall its latest flagship smartphone after faulty batteries caused some Galaxy Note 7 "phablets" to explode while charging, in a massive blow to the South Korean electronics giant's reputation. - Apple Watch time? - California-based Apple could also use the event to showcase updates to other products, such as its smartwatch and laptop computers. Speculation regarding an Apple Watch 2 was fueled in part by the fact that the original hardware has not been updated since it debuted in April of last year. Improved iPhone and smartwatch models would be arriving just as Apple is set to roll out a new version of the mobile operating system. The event on Wednesday will come as Apple squares off with the European Union over a multibillion-dollar bill. Analysts told AFP that Apple was in position to fend off the blow from the EU demand that the iPhone maker pay a record 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) in back taxes in Ireland. "It's total political crap," Cook told the Irish Independent newspaper, of European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager's assertion that the company had paid a tax rate of 0.005 percent on its European profits in 2014. The commission ruled that Apple had received favorable tax terms that amounted to state aid -- illegal under its rules. Apple expects to repatriate billions of dollars of global profits to the United States next year, Cook told Irish national broadcaster RTE without providing specific figures. The ease with which the company could write a check to pay the gargantuan bill was seen as potentially coming back to bite Apple by giving the impression it is greedily avoiding doing right by the public coffers. According to its most recent earnings report, Apple had $231.5 billion in cash plus marketable securities at the end of June. Of that total, $214.8 billion, or 93 percent, was said to be outside the United States, Apple's chief financial officer Luca Maestri said on an earnings call. Apple has vowed to fight the tax bill. - New hit needed - Apple's real issue is the lack of a blockbuster announcement along the lines of those that ignited markets and rocketed the company to glory under the leadership of late co-founder Steve Jobs, according to analysts. "Apple is a company that lived hit to hit: the iPod, iPhone, iPad," said independent Silicon Valley analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group. "Without those successive hits, it is struggling. While it has plenty of cash, it has stopped being a market maker." Analysts and Apple fans have been eagerly waiting for Cook to take a page from Jobs's playbook and enthrall the world with a must-have "one more thing." Apple iPhones have been at the heart of the company's money-making machine for years, while reported investments in self-driving cars and virtual reality have yet to result in transformative new products. With iPhone sales and profits sliding, Apple in July highlighted growth in sales of apps, music and cloud services. Apple is moving into new areas such as Apple TV and streaming music, which could produce more stable revenues. A protestor dressed as Snow White (C) demonstrates outside the parliament buildings in Dublin in support of the EU ruling to take 13 billion euros ($15 billion) in taxes from Apple on September 2, 2016 Paul Faith (AFP) Obama cancels Duterte showdown at Asia summit after 'whore' jibe US President Barack Obama cancelled a meeting with foul-mouthed Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday at a regional summit where tensions over China's growing territorial ambitions are also set to flare. The pair were due to meet in the Lao capital of Vientiane at a gathering organised by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, an annual event meant to foster harmony but which often highlights regional rows. This year's edition was launched with a spectacular fallout between the United States and the Philippines, longtime allies that have seen relations plunge under a barrage of insults from Duterte since he came to office on June 30. US President Barack Obama walks through an honor guard upon arrival at Wattay International Airport in Vientiane, Laos, on September 5, 2016 Saul Loeb (AFP) Obama's aides announced before dawn on Tuesday that his planned meeting later in the day with Duterte had been called off. "President Obama will not be holding a bilateral meeting with President Duterte of the Philippines this afternoon," National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in Washington. This came after Duterte launched a tirade at Obama on Monday as he warned he would not be lectured by the US president over concerns about a brutal war on crime in the Philippines that has claimed more than 2,400 lives. "You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum," Duterte told reporters when asked about his message for Obama. Duterte had previously also branded the US ambassador to Manila a "son of a whore", a term the acid-tongued former prosecutor commonly uses, and criticised the US over its own track record of police killings. - Crucial time - The setback in relations between the United States and the Philippines comes at a crucial time in the region, with China seeking to cement control over the contested South China Sea. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have competing claims to the strategically vital waters, but have watched China expand its presence by building artificial islands in key locations. An international tribunal ruled in July that China's claims to the waters -- through which $5 trillion in global shipping trade passes -- had no legal basis. The verdict was widely seen as a sweeping victory for the Philippines, which filed the suit under the previous administration of Benigno Aquino. But China has vowed to ignore the ruling. And Duterte has sought to heal relations with China rather than inflame them by pressing the tribunal's ruling. Under Aquino, the Philippines had forged closer military ties with the United States to deal with the China threat. But Duterte has cast doubt on that strategy. Obama's aides had previously said he wanted to discuss the South China Sea issue with Duterte in Laos. Nevertheless, the South China Sea issue is expected to once again be discussed at the three days of meetings hosted by ASEAN, which will be attended by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. The gathering will see the 10 ASEAN members meet by themselves, then with leaders from the US, China Japan, South Korea and China. Other leaders to come for an East Asia summit on Thursday include from Australia, India and New Zealand. Obama's time in Laos will be the final trip to Asia of his eight-year presidency, during which he has sought to refocus American military, political and economic resources on the region. It is also the first visit by a sitting US president to Laos, which the United States secretly carpet bombed for nearly a decade in the Vietnam War, killing tens of thousands of people. In one of the last acts of his so-called "pivot" to Asia, Obama is expected to announce greater help in clearing the bombs. "Symbolically, it is important... at the outset, as we're trying to build trust, a lot of work can be done around war legacy issues," Obama said before arriving in Laos late Monday from China where he attended the G20 summit. "For the Lao, that involves dealing with unexploded ordnance, which is still plaguing big chunks of the countryside. We should help." Obama will travel to the ancient capital of Luang Prabang on Wednesday, visiting a historic temple and meeting with students at a university growing up in a tightly controlled communist nation. The US and the Philippines have seen relations plunge under a barrage of insults from Rodrigo Duterte since he came to office on June 30 Noel Celis (AFP) Security personnel wait for the arrival of Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak's private aircraft at the Wattay International Airport in Vientiane, on September 5, 2016 Noel Celis (AFP) Controversial 'gene drive' research sparking ethical debate Scientific techniques that can wipe out invasive species or alter mosquitoes' ability to carry disease are pushing ahead, raising concerns about the ethics of permanently changing the natural world, experts say. This fast-moving field of science -- which involves changing the biology of creatures by interfering with their DNA -- is increasingly being debated not only for human health purposes, but also in conservation circles. Perhaps the most controversial type of research is known as a "gene drive," which ensures that a certain trait is passed down from parent to offspring. It eventually leads to genetic changes throughout the entire species. The Oxitec mosquito developed by Intrexon is not technically a "gene drive," but cuts down on the population of mosquitoes by introducing altered males whose offspring cannot survive Nelson Almeida (AFP/File) Projects being considered include one to release altered mice on islands that will only bear male offspring, ensuring an end to future generations, scientists said at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress. Another idea is to save endangered birds on the Hawaiian islands by releasing altered mosquitoes that cannot carry avian malaria. The Oxitec mosquito developed by Intrexon is not technically a "gene drive," but cuts down on the population of mosquitoes by introducing altered males whose offspring cannot survive. Proponents of gene drive technology say it eliminates the need for polluting pesticides, and could offer a more effective remedy against invasive species than any tool on hand. But opponents fear the impacts of permanently altering life forms on Earth and its unknown -- and likely irreversible -- impact on creatures and ecosystems. - 'Behind closed doors' - Kevin Esvelt, an assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is among the first scientists to propose using gene-editing, or CRISPR technology, to alter species. He is also one of the most cautious voices on its potential uses. "As a scientist who worked on it, I am particularly concerned because we scientists are ultimately morally responsible for all the consequences of our work," Esvelt said at a panel discussion at the IUCN meeting in Honolulu. "It should be a requirement that no one gets to build a gene drive or any technology designed to alter the shared environment in a laboratory without making their proposals public first," he said. "If something goes wrong in the laboratory, it can affect people outside the laboratory," Esvelt added. "That means if you do it behind closed doors -- as is traditional in science -- then you are not giving people a voice in a decision that might affect them." He also said the current regulatory environment is "all based around release. And not really stringent enough, frankly, if you ask me." - Quick action - But others at the same panel called for quick action to preserve imperiled species before they disappear forever due to invasive species and diseases. "One of the scariest things of working in conservation in Hawaii is there is no way to save these birds from malaria," said Chris Farmer, Hawaii program director of the American Bird Conservancy. A total of 38 forest birds in Hawaii have gone extinct already due in large part to avian diseases, and 21 of the remaining 32 species are at risk, experts say. By not exploring new technologies, "we are choosing to let these species go extinct," Farmer said. Another speaker on the panel, Anthony James, professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at the University of California Irvine School of Medicine, said time is of the essence. "You have heard the urgency in the voices of my colleagues here worried about the birds and the trees," he said. "One of the key things that is going to be important for this technology is the ability to get these genes out in a very rapid way in the population." - Call for caution - According to Floyd Reed, a scientist at the University of Hawaii who is working on a project to alter Culex mosquitoes which transmit avian malaria to birds, gene drive technologies are incredibly diverse. Some could theoretically spread from a single small release and genetically transform an entire species, he told AFP via email. "These should be treated extremely cautiously. And there are other types of population modification genetic technology that are safer, geographically self limiting, and reversible." At the ongoing IUCN World Conservation Congress, a meeting of environmentalists and heads of state from around the world that runs from September 1-10 and has drawn some 9,000 heads of state and environmentalists to Hawaii, members adopted a motion to refrain "from supporting or endorsing research, including field trials, into the use of gene drives for conservation or other purposes" until a rapid assessment is completed by 2020. However, the motion is non-binding, and does not prevent anyone from pursuing research. British primatologist Jane Goodall and dozens of other environmentalists and scientists have signed an open letter expressing concern about the use of gene drives in military, agriculture and conservation. The letter calls for a halt to all proposals for the use of gene drive technologies "given the obvious dangers of irretrievably releasing genocidal genes into the natural world." British primatologist Jane Goodall and scientists have signed an open letter expressing concern about the use of gene drives in military, agriculture and conservation Kerry Sheridan (AFP/File) A total of 38 forest birds in Hawaii have become extinct already due in large part to avian diseases Robyn Beck (AFP/File) US conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly dies at 92 Phyllis Schlafly, the US conservative icon and grass-roots activist for traditional family roles who led the successful campaign against the Equal Rights Amendment, died on Monday. She was 92. "Today, Phyllis Schlafly passed away in the presence of her family at her home in St. Louis, Missouri," the Eagle Forum, the conservative interest group she founded, said in a statement posted on its website. A deeply polarizing figure for decades, the constitutional lawyer campaigned against communism, abortion rights and, most famously, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which died after it was already passed by both houses of Congress in 1972 and ratified by 35 of the required 38 states. Phyllis Schlafly, president of the Eagle Forum, greets supporters during the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, on July 19, 2016 Chip Somodevilla (Getty/AFP/File) "Phyllis Schlafly is a conservative icon who led millions to action, reshaped the conservative movement, and fearlessly battled globalism and the 'kingmakers' on behalf of America's workers and families," Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump -- whom she had endorsed -- said in a statement Monday night. The Eagle Forum called Schlafly an "iconic American leader whose love for America was surpassed only by her love of God and her family" whose focus "from her earliest days until her final ones was protecting the family, which she understood as the building block of life." Schlafly's critics liked to point out that being editor of a monthly newsletter, author of more than 20 books and a regular public speaker didn't exactly fit the self-described housewife's stated view that women's roles were as full-time mothers and wives. The Radcliffe graduate who married a member of a wealthy Illinois family came to prominence in the 1960s with her self-published book "A Choice, Not an Echo," supporting the presidential campaign of senator Barry Goldwater, who helped lay the future foundations of an increasingly hardline Republican Party. -- 'Make the liberals mad' -- Schlafly's campaign against the ERA -- which would have expanded women's rights by outlawing gender-based distinctions in federal and state laws -- pitted her against Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and other feminist icons. "First of all, I want to thank my husband, Fred, for letting me come," she liked to announce at anti-ERA rallies. "I always like to say that, because it makes the liberals so mad." She argued the ERA would end women's privileges, including dependent benefits under Social Security, separate public bathrooms and exemption from the draft. "Since the women are the ones who bear the babies and there's nothing we can do about that," she argued in 1973, "our laws and customs then make it the financial obligation of the husband to provide the support." During one debate, Friedan said Schlafly should be burned at the stake for betraying her sex. The ERA died in 1982. Along the way, Schlafly helped lay the groundwork for a grassroots conservative movement that grew in opposition to the cultural changes of the 1960s and came into its own with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, mobilizing many thousands of volunteers. Schlafly's latest book, "The Conservative Case for Trump," with co-authors Ed Martin and Brett Decker, is set to be released on Tuesday, The Washington Times reported. She is survived by six children, 16 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Speed king Murray storms into US Open quarter-finals Second seed and 2012 champion Andy Murray crushed Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 to reach a sixth US Open quarter-final, clocking up a personal fast serve record in the process. The 29-year-old reigning Wimbledon and Olympic champion stormed to an impressive seventh win in 10 meetings against the 22nd-seeded Dimitrov. From the moment Murray broke for a 3-1 lead in the first set, on the back of a lung-busting 32-shot rally, the outcome of the Arthur Ashe Stadium clash was never in doubt. Andy Murray stormed to an impressive seventh win in 10 meetings against the 22nd-seeded Grigor Dimitrov Don Emmert (AFP) For good measure, Murray sent down his fastest ever serve of 141mph (226.9 km/h) at the end of a set where he allowed Dimitrov just five points on his service. "I once hit a 145mph serve in San Jose but they recalibrated the machine the next day so it didn't count. Tonight was the first time I have gone above 140," said the 29-year-old. "It was lucky and I doubt I'll ever do it again." Dimitrov broke only once in the match in the fourth game of the second set but it was a brief respite as Murray quickly reclaimed it before taking 10 of the next 12 games to seal the rout. Dimitrov committed 43 unforced errors as Murray set up a last-eight clash with Japanese sixth seed Kei Nishikori, the 2014 runner-up who downed 37-year-old Ivo Karlovic 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4). Karlovic fired 21 aces in the contest but Nishikori's 44 winners and a miserly seven unforced errors proved the key. "It's never easy facing someone serving like Ivo, never easy to return those kind of serves," said Nishikori. "But I tried to stay down. I have been returning well, so that also helped today. I think I played one of the best matches -- serve, return, groundstrokes." - Del Potro moves on - Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 champion, became the lowest ranked player in 25 years to reach the quarter-finals. The 142nd-ranked del Potro was leading eighth-seeded Dominic Thiem 6-3, 3-2 when the Austrian retired with a right knee injury. Del Potro will face fellow Grand Slam title winner Stan Wawrinka for a semi-final spot. Wawrinka, a former Australian and French Open champion, reached a fourth successive quarter-final in New York with a hard-fought 6-4, 6-1, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3 win over Illya Marchenko, the world number 63 from Ukraine. Del Potro is playing just his second Grand Slam event since the 2014 Australian Open. Earlier this year, he was on the brink of retirement after undergoing three wrist surgeries. "You never want to win a match like this. I wish Dominic a quick recovery as he has a great future," said 27-year-old del Potro, the lowest-ranked man in the last-eight since Jimmy Connors, at 174, went all the way to semi-finals in 1991. The 23-year-old Thiem had needed five sets to beat Australia's John Millman in the first round and four to get past Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain in the last 32. "I couldn't bend my knee too much in the last three days so I was handicapped a little bit," said Thiem playing his 70th match of the year. Should del Potro make the semi-finals he would be the lowest-ranked man to do so at a Grand Slam since 237th-ranked Vladimir Voltchkov at Wimbledon in 2000. No man ranked as low as del Potro has ever made the final of a major. Having saved a match point in an epic triumph over Dan Evans in the last round, Wawrinka, a semi-finalist in 2013 and 2015, cruised through the first two sets against Marchenko. The Ukrainian, who arrived in New York on a seven-match losing streak, battled back from 2-4 and 3-5 down in the third set to force a tiebreaker. He was a break to the good at 2-1 in the fourth before Wawrinka, reinvigorated by a violent racquet smash courtside, recovered to win five of the next six games. "It was tough to lose that third set but I am looking at the big picture," said 31-year-old Wawrinka, whose 49 winners helped offset his 41 unforced errors. The first two quarter-finals take place on Tuesday when defending champion Novak Djokovic faces France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Lucas Pouille, the conqueror of Rafael Nadal, tackles French compatriot Gael Monfils. Kei Nishikori downed 37-year-old Ivo Karlovic 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) Jewel Samad (AFP) Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 champion, is the lowest ranked player in 25 years to reach the quarter-finals Kena Betancur (AFP) In Syria's Homs, war-ravaged ancient market slowly reemerges In the heart of the Syrian city of Homs, workers clear rubble and clean the blackened walls of the war-ravaged old market in a bid to restore its former glory. Much of Homs lay in ruins when its Old City was recaptured from rebels by government troops in 2014 after a two-year siege and near-daily bombardment. Now a UN-backed project is trying to restore the ancient souk, or market, in the central city, dubbed the "capital of the revolution" because of the enormous anti-regime protests that erupted there five years ago. Members of the United Nations Development Programme work in a damaged alley of the ancient market in the heart of the mostly government-controlled Syrian city of Homs Louai Beshara (AFP) Near Clock Square, where the frontline ran during the fighting, engineers inspect leaking pipes with electrical wires dangling overhead. Built in the 13th century under the Ayyubid dynasty founded by legendary Muslim ruler Saladin, the market was further developed during the Mamluk era and Ottoman rule. It was seized by rebels in 2012, and retaken by the army in 2014, under a deal which saw opposition forces quit Homs and calm return to most of the city. "The armed men used it as a transit point more than a battlefield, which is why the souk isn't more badly damaged," an official from the local governorate told AFP. Homs's souk is similar to the famed ancient markets of Damascus and Aleppo, though much smaller, with around 1,000 shops, according to Maamoum Abdulkarim, director of Syria's antiquities department. It is just one of many historic sites in Syria that have been damaged or destroyed in the conflict that has killed more than 290,000 people and displaced over half the population. - A 'Champs-Elysees' - The majority of the souk's shops are abandoned for now, with some missing locks or doors, while the walls of others have been blackened by fire or pockmarked by shrapnel or bullets. "Forty years ago, it was the equivalent of the Champs-Elysees for a small town. You could find everyone there. It was where you found all those who specialised... in wood, copper, silver, fabric merchants, perfume sellers," recalled Anis Nacrour, the former EU representative in Damascus, who is originally from Homs. "In the evening, coming back from school, we'd pass through just to breathe the air, especially as there were excellent sweet shops and delicious fresh fruit juice stands," Nacrour told AFP. "We'd go in a group or with family to see and be seen," the French diplomat said. Now though, some of the market's alleyways are blocked with rubble, and in others weeds are pushing up through the destroyed pavement. Ghassan Jansiz, a 44-year-old architect, is supervising the work being undertaken by the United Nations Development Programme, and estimates the project will take around two years. He says there are four steps involved: "Cleaning, documentation, renovation and reconstruction." "We're still in the first stage," he told AFP. "Removing the rubble is a dangerous process. We've found bombs and explosives," he explained. "We are trying to restore the souk to how it was 100 years ago, and the cost is expected to be several hundred thousand dollars." At the moment, around 70 people are working on the project, which envisions the installation of four main gates, the restoration of 200 shops, and the documentation of the history of the site. - 'A real challenge' - Some businesses have already reopened, eager to resume trade in the ancient market. "I just got my 200th customer" since reopening, said chocolate seller Abdel Salam Salqini with a smile, as he piled up his wares. "I reopened in April and you can't imagine my delight when I saw my old clients coming back from Beirut, Damascus and Tartus," he told AFP. "They came when they heard I was back in business," added Salqini, who inherited the chocolate shop from his father. "I used to have 11 employees, but now it's just me," he said, admitting that he was only seeing two or three customers a day. "Every holiday, I would come to town to buy chocolate from him," said one customer, Um Mamoum, greeting Salqini warmly. "But I hadn't done so since the beginning of the war." Abdulkarim hopes to see the souk fully restored. "This is an important project for a town that has had a key role from Roman times through to the Ottoman era," he said. "Saving the souk of Homs will be a real challenge." Homs market in the Old City is just one of many historic sites in Syria that have been damaged or destroyed in the conflict that has killed more than 290,000 people and displaced over half the population Louai Beshara (AFP) The majority of the shops in Hom's old market are abandoned, with some missing locks or doors, while the walls of others have been blackened by fire or pockmarked by shrapnel or bullets Louai Beshara (AFP) Toronto film festival looks back at US politics The race for the Oscars intensifies this week at the Toronto film festival, where a spotlight will be shined on American politics, youth radicalization, racism, feminism and alien arrivals. Nearly 400 feature and short films from 83 countries will be screened at the 41st Toronto International Film Festival, the largest such event in North America, which opens Thursday and runs through September 18. The event is crucial for Oscar-conscious studios and distributors, attracting hundreds of filmmakers and actors to the red carpet in Canada's largest city. Emma Stone arrives for the screening of "La La Land" at the Venice Film Festival Filippo Monteforte (AFP/File) In past years, films such as "12 Years a Slave", "The King's Speech" and "Slumdog Millionaire" went on from winning the Toronto festival's audience prize for best picture to take the top honor at the Oscars. Last year, audience favorite "Spotlight" beat all predictions to win best picture at the Academy Awards, while Brie Larson -- who is back again this year in "Free Fire" and "The Headhunter's Calling" -- received a nod for her performance in "Room", which also screened here first. "I don't think anyone last year thought that 'Spotlight' would go all the way to best picture or that 'Room' would break out and become the kind of phenomena that it did," said festival co-director Piers Handling. Films being positioned for accolades this year include the new Denis Villeneuve sci-fi movie "Arrival", and Oliver Stone's "Snowden" about former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden's massive 2013 leak revealing the extent of government snooping on private data. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone's performances as a jazz musician and an aspiring actress who fall in love in the bewitching musical "La La Land", which opened the Venice film festival before coming to Toronto, has also stirred up a frenzy. "American Pastoral", which looks back at the ideal American family torn apart by upheavals of the 1960s, and the true story of a boy separated from his family who searches for home 25 years later in Garth Davis's "Lion" are also generating tremendous buzz. The cast of "American Pastoral", which marks Ewan McGregor's directorial debut, includes Jennifer Connelly and Dakota Fanning. "These films are getting serious attention and we'll see how that shakes down in the coming months," Handling commented. - American politics trending - Several directors this year looked back through history for lessons that may still be relevant. Historical political figures, notably, have been brought back to life on the silver screen, such as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis played by Natalie Portman in "Jackie", and former US president Lyndon B. Johnson in "LBJ". As US President Barack Obama's term draws to a close, the film "Barry" reflects on his college days in New York. "I don't know if it's coincidental, with this year's presidential election, that people are looking back," said Handling. "But there's tremendous interest in dealing with historic subjects, trying to understand what these moments in history meant and in some way tie them in to the present." The festival's opening film, a remake of the 1960 Western "The Magnificent Seven", starring Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Lee Byung-hun and Peter Sarsgaard, "is an interesting metaphor for what's going on in American right now," Handling told AFP. "Westerns have always spoken directly to what is going on in present day America even though it's dealing with its history," he explained. "This one certainly speaks to contemporary America. "It's about a community under duress, under extreme pressure, and the people that come together to defend this community are representative of American society. It's an obvious metaphor for what America is going through these days." Similarly, true stories "Loving" and "A United Kingdom", about an African royal who marries an Englishwoman, offer insights into current American race relations. "Loving", which chronicles the battle to abolish a Virginia ban on interracial marriage, premiered at Cannes before coming to Toronto and is also in the Oscar running. Ripped from the headlines, youth radicalization features in several films from Canada, Europe and Africa, including "Nocturama", "Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves", "Layla M.", "Heaven Will Wait" and "Foreign Body". Heeding a call from women in Hollywood, the Toronto film festival this year is also promoting more female directors and "female stories". Almost 30 percent of the films on offer were made by women, and several more "deal with subject through the eyes of women," said Handling. They include "Handmaiden", "Queen of Katwe", "Elle", "Toni Erdmann", "Lady Macbeth", "Anatomy of Violence" and "Strange Weather". Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton's "Loving" premiered at Cannes before coming to Toronto and is also in the Oscar running Valery Hache (AFP/File) "American Pastoral" was Ewan McGregor's directorial debut Mark Ralston (AFP/File) Bomb at Thai school kills three including four-year-old A four-year-old girl and her father were among three people killed Tuesday when a bomb hidden in a motorcycle's fuel tank exploded outside a school in Thailand's insurgency-plagued south. The device went off as pupils and teachers filed into the school in the Tak Bai district of Narathiwat province for the start of the day. Two of the dead were father and daughter, local police detective Noppdol Kingthong told AFP, adding that the bomb was set off by radio control as the pair neared the school gate. A child's backpack lies on the ground as a bomb squad inspects the site of a blast outside a school in Tak Bai district in the southern Thai province of Narathiwat on September 6, 2016 suspected to have been carried out by separatist militants Madaree Tohlala (AFP) A 23-year-old man later died in hospital and around a dozen other adults were being treated for injuries, according to a hospital worker who said the dead were Muslim. Ethnic Malay insurgents in the kingdom's so-called "Deep South" have for years targeted schools and teachers, which are seen as symbols of Thai state power in the culturally distinct Muslim-majority region. More than 6,500 people -- the majority of them civilian -- have been killed by rebels and Thailand's Buddhist-majority security forces since 2004. Debris from the blast was strewn across the area while an abandoned child's school bag lay on the road, according to an AFP journalist at the scene. UNICEF's Thailand representative Thomas Davin said the agency was "shocked and saddened" by the bombing. "No children nor any caretakers or education professionals should live or learn under fear of such attacks," he said in a statement. - 'Aimed to kill' - Police and soldiers routinely accompany teachers and children to and from schools in the region's most dangerous "red zones". Dozens of teachers have been killed by rebels, some in front of pupils. The rebels appear to have returned to attacking "soft" civilian targets in recent weeks, following several months in which violence was aimed at security officials. The bomb "aimed to kill... indiscriminately as shown by the four-year-old victim", Colonel Pramote Prom-in, spokesman for the Thai army in the south, said in a statement. The under-reported conflict in the southernmost provinces hit the headlines last month after rare bomb attacks in tourist hotspots inside the kingdom killed four people and wounded dozens, including foreigners. Those blasts carried the hallmarks of the southern rebels, who never claim their attacks. But Thai authorities have played down any possible expansion of the southern conflict, which has remained highly localised for more than a decade. That is despite the identification of five suspects for the tourist attacks -- all Muslim men from the south, several of whom have a record of involvement in the insurgency. On Friday the Thai junta held talks with a group that claims to represent the political aims of the shadowy rebels. The aim is to prepare the ground for formal peace talks, which stalled following Thailand's 2014 coup. But it is unclear if rebel representatives at the table have full authority over their foot soldiers. The military is also widely distrusted by Malay Muslims in the south. Rights groups says years of abuses by security forces including extrajudicial killings, have eroded faith in the Thai state. More than 6,500 people -- the majority civilian -- have been killed by rebels and Thai security forces since 2004 in near-daily bombings and shootings in the southernmost provinces bordering Malaysia Madaree Tohlala (AFP/File) To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service in 2016 and to encourage the public to Find Your Park, the Friends of Moccasin Bend announce the 11th Annual Fall Lecture Series. This years lecture series takes place at The Camp House on Monday evening at 6:30 pm, and its first speaker will be a former director and first female director of the NPS, Fran Mainella. The lecture is entitled, The 100th Birthday of Americas Best Idea from the Perspective of the First Woman Director of the NPS. Dr. Stephen Miller, a Sewanee music Professor presents, The Sounds of Music in Cades Cove: Nature, National Parks, and Shape-note singing on Oct. 3, and then local historian, Sam D. Elliot presents, Ten Little Known Facts About the Civil War in Chattanooga on Nov. 14. Moccasin Bend was added to the National Park Service in 2003, and the Centennial of the service presents an opportunity to connect with and create the next generation of park visitors, stewards, and advocates from the Chattanooga community and surrounding region. Michael Wurzel, executive director of the Friends, says, Chattanooga is fortunate to have such a strong National Park Service presence in our community. Most people dont even know Chattanooga is surrounded by National Park lands, so come out to the lecture series and learn more about why these places are nationally significant and why they deserve the gold standard for preservation by the best possible entity, the National Park Service. Obama cancels Duterte showdown over 'whore' slur US President Barack Obama cancelled a meeting at a regional summit on Tuesday with foul-mouthed Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte after being branded a "son of a whore". The pair had been due to meet in the Lao capital of Vientiane at a gathering organised by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, an annual event meant to foster harmony but which often highlights regional rows. This year's edition was launched with a spectacular fallout between the United States and the Philippines, longtime allies that have seen relations plunge under a barrage of insults from Duterte since he came to office on June 30. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (left) listens to his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in the Laos capital Vientiane, on September 6, 2016 Roslan Rahman (AFP) Obama's aides announced that his planned meeting with Duterte on Tuesday afternoon had been called off following a fresh tirade by the Filipino leader the previous day. Shortly before flying to Vientiane, Duterte warned he would not be lectured by Obama over a war on drug crime in the Philippines that has claimed nearly 3,000 lives in just over two months -- an average of 44 a day. "You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum," Duterte told reporters when asked about his message for Obama. Duterte, who has quickly earned a global reputation for his acid tongue, then used typically colourful language to describe their planned meeting if rights issues came up. "We will be wallowing in the mud like pigs if you do that to me," he said. - 'Wallowing' - Duterte had previously also branded the US ambassador to Manila a "gay son of a whore", and sought to taint the reputation of Pope Francis's mother in similar fashion. Duterte was elected to office in a landslide this year after pledging to kill 100,000 people in an unprecedented war on crime. When faced with criticism from the United Nations over an apparent spate of extrajudicial killings in his crime war, he responded with what has become familiar abuse. "Maybe we'll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations. If you are that disrespectful, son of a whore, then I will just leave you," he said last month. Following the Obama backlash on Tuesday, Duterte struck a rare moment of contrition, albeit qualified. "While the immediate cause was my strong comments to certain press questions that elicited concern and distress, we also regret that it came across as a personal attack on the US President," he said in a statement. The United States also sought to ensure there was no enduring fall-out with one of its most important allies in Asia and former colony. Top Obama aide Ben Rhodes told reporters in Laos on Tuesday evening the broader relationship with the Philippines "has been and remains rock-solid". He also said Obama would likely hold an informal discussion with Duterte in Laos on Wednesday or Thursday, though formal talks remained off the table. The setback in US-Philippine relations comes at a crucial time in the region, with China seeking to cement control over the contested South China Sea. - Crucial time - The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have competing claims to parts of the sea, but have watched China expand its presence by building artificial islands in key locations. An international tribunal ruled in July that China's claims to the waters -- through which $5 trillion in global shipping trade passes -- had no legal basis. The verdict was widely seen as a sweeping victory for the Philippines, which filed the suit under the previous administration of Benigno Aquino. But China has vowed to ignore the ruling. The South China Sea issue is expected once again to be discussed at the three days of meetings hosted by ASEAN, which will be attended by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. Leaders of Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, New Zealand and Russia will also be in Vientiane. Laos is the final Asian visit of Obama's eight-year presidency, during which he has sought to refocus American military, political and economic resources on the region. It is also the first visit by a sitting US president to Laos, which the United States secretly carpet-bombed for nearly a decade in the Vietnam War, killing or injuring tens of thousands of people. Obama on Wednesday announced greater help in clearing the bombs, saying it was a "moral obligation". US President Barack Obama cancelled talks with his Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte after being branded a "son of a whore" Saul Loeb, Manman Dejeto (AFP) Barack Obama became the first US president to visit Laos whilst in office Noel Celis (AFP) Global charity attacked in deadly wave of Kabul violence Taliban militants attacked an international charity in Kabul Tuesday during an hours-long assault labelled a "war crime" by Amnesty, as the capital reeled from a wave of violence that killed at least 41 and wounded dozens. The assault on CARE International began late Monday with a massive car bombing, just hours after the Taliban carried out a brazen double bombing near the defence ministry. A plume of smoke rose over the upscale neighbourhood of Shar-e Naw after the raid on the charity, located next to the office of Afghanistan's former intelligence chief Rahmatullah Nabil. Security personnel usher members of the media away outside the CARE International charity's compound at Shar-e-Naw in Kabul following a car bomb blast on September 6, 2016 Wakil Kohsar (AFP) It remains unclear which compound was the intended target of the attack, which left piles of rubble and shards of glass strewn across the area. "An armed group launched an attack on what is believed to have been an Afghan government compound located close to the Kabul office of CARE," the charity said, adding its staff had been safely evacuated. "The incident continued through early Tuesday morning with damages sustained to the CARE compound." The interior ministry said 42 people including 10 foreigners were rescued. It added that six people had been wounded in the attack, which ended Tuesday morning when Afghan forces gunned down all three attackers. The Taliban, who are stepping up their nationwide offensive, described the target as a foreign intelligence centre in Shar-e Naw "disguised as a guest house". The attack on CARE International "is the deliberate targeting of civilians and constitutes a war crime", Amnesty International said, calling for an independent probe to bring the perpetrators to justice. The assault had been preceded by twin Taliban blasts that killed at least 41 people during rush hour on Monday, including high-level officials, and left 110 wounded. The rise in casualties was announced on Tuesday by the health ministry, which had earlier put the death toll at 24 with 91 wounded. The second of the two explosions struck just as soldiers, policemen and civilians hurried to help the victims of the first blast. - Double tragedy - High-level defence officials were among those killed, including a young police commander -- and compounding the tragedy, his mother also died when she heard of his death. "Ahmad's mother died of a heart attack after hearing of her son's martyrdom," former deputy interior minister Ayub Salangi tweeted. "She lost two other sons before him." Ambulances were overwhelmed by the carnage outside the defence ministry Monday. There were so many disfigured bodies that some had to be taken to hospitals in car boots and the back of police trucks. Firemen raced to retrieve some bodies thrown into the Kabul River by the force of the blast. The violence, strongly condemned by President Ashraf Ghani, came more than a week after 16 people were killed when militants stormed the American University in Kabul. Earlier in August two professors from the university, an American and an Australian, were kidnapped at gunpoint near the campus. Their whereabouts are still unknown and no group has publicly claimed responsibility for the abductions. The uptick in violence in the capital comes as the Taliban escalate nationwide attacks, underscoring the worsening security situation and the heavy price paid by civilians since NATO forces ended their combat mission at the end of 2014. Afghan forces backed by US troops are trying to head off a potential Taliban takeover of Lashkar Gah, the capital of the southern opium-rich province of Helmand. The Taliban have also recently closed in on Kunduz -- the northern city they briefly seized last year in their biggest military victory since the 2001 US invasion -- leaving Afghan forces stretched on multiple fronts. Map of Kabul showing areas of suicide bombings, explosions and gunfire Tuesday Jonathan JACOBSEN (AFP) Residents look out of the broken windows of a building near the site of a car bomb blast that targeted the CARE International compound at Shar-e-Naw in Kabul on September 6, 2016 Wakil Kohsar (AFP) Smoke rises from a building during an attack on a charity in Kabul on September 6, 2016 Wakil Kohsar (AFP) Myanmar Buddhists jeer ex-UN chief on peace mission Hundreds of Buddhists jeered former UN chief Kofi Annan as he arrived in Myanmar's troubled Rakhine state Tuesday to examine a bitter religious conflict that has displaced tens of thousands of Muslim Rohingya. Annan has been tasked by the de facto leader of Myanmar's new government, Aung San Suu Kyi, to head a commission charged with finding ways to heal wounds in the poor western state. But in a sign of the passions surrounding the issue, protesters turned out as he landed in the state capital Sittwe. Demonstrators chant "Kofi Annan go away, go away" as the vehicle carrying former UN secretary general Kofi Annan drives through Sittwe, Myanmar on September 6, 2016 Romeo Gacad (AFP) Many booed and shouted "No Kofi-led commission" into loudspeakers as they swarmed around his convoy, carrying signs that read, "No to foreigners' biased intervention in our Rakhine State's affairs". "We want decisions to be made by our own people. I don't want foreigners to make decisions, that is why I am peacefully protesting here," May Phyu told AFP. Rakhine, which borders Bangladesh, has been scarred since 2012 by bouts of communal violence between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and the minority Rohingya Muslim population. Their plight threatens to poison democratic gains in the former army-run country and has damaged Suu Kyi's reputation as a defender of the downtrodden. More than 100 people have been killed -- the majority of them Muslims -- while tens of thousands of the stateless Rohingya have spent the past four years trapped in bleak displacement camps with limited access to health care and other basic services. The Rohingya are despised by hardline Buddhists, who say they have no right to citizenship and label them "Bengalis", shorthand for illegal immigrants. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, has disappointed rights groups who accuse her of failing directly to address the plight of the Rohingya in a sop to Buddhist nationalist sentiment. Last month she asked Annan to lead the advisory commission on solving the state's troubles. - Listen first - The envoy, who has vowed to be impartial, met local Rakhine leaders and civil society groups in Sittwe shortly after his arrival. Recognising the highly-charged nature of the divisions in the state, he said his advisory commission would listen to all sides. "This first visit is an opportunity to listen and learn from you, the local people," he said, as protesters continued to chant slogans outside the building where he made his brief remarks. The Ghanaian diplomat is also expected to meet Muslim leaders and visit a camp where tens of thousands of Rohingya languish in poverty. But the region's largest political group, the Arakan National Party, has ruled out meeting the former UN secretary-general and mounted a push in parliament on Tuesday to disband the commission. "We do not need to rely on any foreigner," U U Hla Saw, a lower house MP from Rakhine, told lawmakers Tuesday. The near one-million-strong Rohingya are largely denied citizenship and the government does not recognise them as an official ethnic minority. Their appalling living conditions, including severe restrictions on movement, have pushed tens of thousands of them to flee, many via treacherous sea journey south towards Malaysia. "We want him to come," said Hla Kyaw, a Rohingya man from The Chaung, a village outside Sittwe where many displaced Muslim families live in tents. "If he comes, we will raise the issue of our citizenship status and our plight of staying in IDP (internally displaced persons) camps for four years," he added. Last week sitting UN chief Ban Ki-Moon called on Myanmar to grant citizenship to the group and respect their right to self-identify as Rohingya. But that question of identity remains incendiary for Buddhist hardliners. Myanmar ethnic minorities Adrian LEUNG (AFP) Myanmar protestors in Sittwe rally against the involvement of former UN secretary general Kofi Annan in talks on finding a solution to the problem of stateless Rohingya Muslims Romeo Gacad (AFP) China warns new Hong Kong lawmakers not to back independence Beijing has warned new Hong Kong lawmakers not to back independence for the semi-autonomous city after young anti-China activists won seats for the first time in key weekend elections. Sunday's vote saw activists pushing for more autonomy from Beijing secure a crucial foothold in the city's Legislative Council (LegCo), as fears grow that China is tightening its grip. It was the first major poll since pro-democracy rallies in 2014 failed to win concessions on political reform from Beijing. Supporters of Nathan Law put up flags in Causeway bay following his win in the Legislative Council election in Hong Kong on September 5, 2016 Isaac Lawrence (AFP) Some student protest leaders were among those winning seats in the landmark vote. Five candidates advocating independence or self-determination for Hong Kong are to sit in the 70-seat assembly. In a statement late Monday, China said that it would not tolerate any talk of independence "inside or outside" the legislature. "We firmly oppose any activity relating to Hong Kong independence in any form, inside or outside the Legislative Council, and firmly support the Hong Kong government to impose punishment in accordance with the law," state news agency Xinhua cited a spokesperson of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council -- China's cabinet -- as saying. The vote saw the highest turnout since Hong Kong was handed back to China by Britain in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" deal that protected the city's freedoms for 50 years. Fears that Beijing interference is now threatening those liberties in a range of areas, from politics to education and media, have sparked the birth of the independence movement. It has been slammed by authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing as illegal and unconstitutional. - 'Separatist ideas' - The Hong Kong edition of the state-owned China Daily warned Tuesday that wins by activists could mean "separatist ideas" emerge in LegCo. In a separate column in the newspaper, a China-based academic said there could be legal challenges to lawmakers advocating independence, citing a law under which a candidate or group of voters can lodge a petition against an elected member they believe is ineligible or has acted "illegally". Lawmakers will take up their seats on October 1 and will have to swear an oath to uphold the Basic Law -- Hong Kong's mini-constitution, which describes the city as part of China. It is not yet clear what may happen if they then advocate independence as a possibility for Hong Kong in the legislature. Political analyst Chung Kim-wah of Polytechnic University said the government would need to be wary of exacerbating divisions in society by freezing out those pushing for more autonomy, known as "localists". "Localists got 20 percent of the total votes, including ones that were not voted in. They represent part of society. The government cannot just hastily disqualify them," he told AFP. However, the government has already taken steps to deter the pro-independence camp. It introduced a controversial new form before the LegCo election which required candidates to verify they understood Hong Kong was an "inalienable part of China". Many refused to sign it. The most strident independence activists were banned from standing, causing widespread outrage. Hong Kong's unpopular leader Leung Chun-ying, seen by critics as a stooge of Beijing, said Tuesday that all lawmakers must abide by the Basic Law. However, he added that he wanted to cooperate with all legislators. "(I) hope we can all work for society together," Leung told reporters. Anti-establishment parties increased their share of the legislature, taking 30 of 70 seats. It is almost impossible for them to take a majority, as 30 seats are appointed by special interest groups that tend to be pro-Beijing. Supporters celebrate the win of a Civic Passion party's candidate in the Legislative Council elections in Hong Kong, on September 5, 2016 Anthony Wallace (AFP) Duterte diplomacy: Philippine leader's global insults Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte expressed regret Tuesday that his comments branding US leader Barack Obama a "son of a whore" came across as a personal attack. The insult on Monday was the latest offensive comment to raise questions about Duterte's diplomatic skills, leading Obama to cancel a planned meeting with him at a regional summit in Laos. Here are 10 of his most undiplomatic remarks from before and after his landslide election victory this year: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (pictured) expressed regret on September 6, 2016, that his comments branding US leader Barack Obama a 'son of a whore' came across as a personal attack Ted Aljibe (AFP/File) - Respect me, son of a whore - "You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum." Duterte, who has launched a war on crime that has claimed more than 2,400 lives, warns Obama not to raise human rights issues with him in Laos. - 'Gay' envoy - "I'm fighting with (US Secretary of State John Kerry's) ambassador. His gay ambassador, the son of a whore. He pissed me off." -- Duterte in an August speech smarting over US Ambassador to Manila Philip Goldberg's criticism of his comment about wanting to rape a "beautiful" Australian missionary. - 'Fuck you, UN' - "Fuck you, UN, you can't even solve the Middle East carnage... couldn't even lift a finger in Africa... shut up, all of you." -- Duterte in a June press conference, a seemingly unprovoked attack on the world body. - UN pullout - "Maybe well just have to decide to separate from the United Nations. If you are that disrespectful, son of a whore, then I will just leave you." -- Duterte in an August news briefing after a UN human rights expert said orders in his anti-crime crackdown violated international law. He later said he was just joking. - 'Inutile' Ban - "Ban Ki-moon, he should write to me so that I will tell him: 'You did nothing. People are being massacred by the thousands. You can't stop (the war) in Turkey, Syria.' So one useless, inutile body." -- Duterte in an August press conference railing against the UN chief after Ban denounced his apparent endorsement of extrajudicial killings. - Jet ski policy - "I will go there on my own with a jet ski, bringing with me a flag and a pole and once I disembark, I will plant the flag on the runway and tell the Chinese authorities, 'Kill me!'" -- Duterte in a February campaign speech explaining how he would handle Manila's row with Beijing over the South China Sea. He has since adopted a more cautious tone. - Suicide, genocide, upside - "That's the invention of a woman who wants to commit suicide. You can think of genocide, suicide or what, side by side, upper side, whatever, what if upper side or even upside?" -- Duterte launches a rambling verbal assault on Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on summary executions, after she accused him of violating international law with his statements seen as inciting people to kill. - Burning Singapore flag - "I burned the flag of Singapore. I said: 'Fuck you ... You are a garrison pretending to be a country.'" -- Duterte in a November speech, recalling how in 1995 he burned a Singapore flag to protest at the execution of a Filipina maid in the city-state. - Arab culture - "You are not a warrior if you do that. We are not Arabs. That is not our culture. We are all Malay." -- Duterte in an August speech condemning how Philippine Islamic militants supposedly mutilated the bodies of slain soldiers. - Pope, go home - "It took us five hours to get from the hotel to the airport. I asked who was coming. They said it was the Pope. I wanted to call him: 'Pope, son of a whore, go home. Don't visit anymore.'" Pizza Hut accused over expired ingredients in Indonesia US chain Pizza Hut's Indonesian operation on Tuesday insisted its restaurants were safe after it was accused of using ingredients up to six months past their expiry date. The allegations about Pizza Hut and Pizza Hut Delivery in the country, which are run by local company Sarimelati Kencana, were made in a joint investigation by a magazine and the BBC's Indonesia service. The restaurant chain, which has more than 300 outlets in the archipelago, was accused of using ingredients including puff pastry, vegetable sausage and carbonara sauce when it knew they were past their expiry date. US chain Pizza Hut has more than 300 outlets in Indonesia Eric Piermont (AFP/File) Expiry dates were extended for between one and six months, the investigation alleged, citing company documents. The practice had been going on for years with the knowledge of top management, it said. The investigation also accused Japanese noodle chain Marugame Udon of using ingredients past their expiry date at its handful of outlets in Indonesia. Both Pizza Hut and Marugame Udon have denied the allegations. Pizza Hut said Tuesday that some of its restaurants on Indonesia's most populous island of Java had been inspected thoroughly and health authorities found that they met hygiene and sanitation standards. Stephen J. McCarthy, president director of Sarimelati Kencana, also defended Pizza Hut, saying he was proud of the outlets' kitchens. "They're the cleanest Pizza Hut in the world. If somebody wants to visit our kitchens, you give me a call, I will personally take you," he said at the weekend. "We have a great reputation in Indonesia, we expect that not to change and only to get better." No one is reported to have fallen ill due to eating the expired ingredients at either Pizza Hut or Marugame. Pizza Hut has been operating for 32 years in Indonesia and employs more than 13,000 workers. French PM suggests recount of Gabon election results French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Tuesday a recount should be held of the votes in Gabon's disputed presidential election. France, the former colonial power, has already joined the European Union and the United States in calling for the results from Ali Bongo's wafer-thin 6,000-vote victory to be published. "There needs to be a clear electoral process," Valls told French radio station RTL. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls says a recount of the Gabon election results "would be wise", but that the safety of French nationals was his first priority Bertrand Guay (AFP) "There are arguments and some doubts. European observers in the country have already made criticisms on the basis of objectives. It would be wise to do a recount." In the midst of violence that has flared since the result was announced, Valls said his first priority was ensuring the safety of the 15,000 French nationals who live in the central African country. "Our priority now is the safety of the 15,000 French people who live and work in Gabon," Valls said. The prime minister also called on the Gabonese authorities to establish the whereabouts of around 15 French nationals who have been missing since the violence began. "It's true that we have no news of around 15 French citizens, who are in many cases French-Gabonese bi-nationals. "We ask the Gabonese authorities that everything be done to find them. "We hope to have information on them as soon as possible." South Korea hosts arms show after N. Korea missile tests South Korea put its latest high-tech weaponry on show Tuesday as tensions rise in the region following Pyongyang's test-firing of three missiles this week. North Korea fired the mid-range missiles on Monday, triggering condemnation from the US and Japan while winning praise from leader Kim Jong-Un who hailed their performance as "perfect". Pyongyang has conducted a fourth nuclear test and a series of missile tests this year in defiance of UN sanctions, prompting Seoul to announce plans to deploy a US anti-missile system to counter such threats. A South Korean K2 tank fires during a live fire demo for a media preview of the Defense Expo Korea 2016, at the Seungjin Fire Training Field in Pocheon, on September 6 Jung Yeon-Je (AFP) The biennial DX Korea exhibition organised by the South Korean government in Seoul involves around 250 companies, many of them local. Korean arms manufacturers displayed the K9 self-propelled howitzer, the Surion helicopter, the K2 main battle tank and other military equipment during a press preview. Exhibitors also staged a live-fire show at a shooting range outside Pocheon city near the border with North Korea to display their artillery, mechanised infantry fighting vehicles and missiles. Potential buyers from 25 countries have been invited to the exhibition which will run from Wednesday until Saturday, organisers said. Apart from South Korean companies, 80 foreign firms from the US, Germany and Israel are also taking part in the exhibition. South Korea's arms exports fell from $3.6 billion in 2014 to $3.4 billion last year. Dubai's DP World to manage Somaliland port Dubai-based ports operator DP World has won a concession to manage a port at Berbera in the breakaway republic of Somaliland for 30 years, in an investment of up to $442 million. "DP World will set up a joint venture with 65 percent control together with the government of Somaliland to manage and invest in the Port of Berbera," the company said in a statement. The concession includes an automatic 10-year extension for the management and development of the port. One of the world's largest port operators, DP World runs 77 marine and inland terminals across six continents, including Dubai's Jebel Ali port, the largest in the Middle East Nasser Younes (AFP/File) The port "opens a new point of access to the Red Sea and will complement DP World's existing port at Djibouti in the Horn of Africa," the company said. The project offers an opportunity for the development of Somaliland, which is not recognised by the international community despite 25 years of de facto independence from the rest of war-torn Somalia. The investment will include a first phase of a quay and yard extension, DP World said, adding that work will start a year after terms and conditions of the agreement are met. On the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden, Berbera offers an African base at the entrance to the Red Sea and the gateway to the Suez canal. The investment "will attract more shipping lines to East Africa and its modernisation will act as a catalyst for the growth of the country and the region's economy," DP World chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said. "Berbera will contribute to our continued growth in the developing markets of Africa in the years ahead," he added. Somaliland offers another route into neighbouring, landlocked Ethiopia, with a growing market of 96 million inhabitants. Expanding the Berbera port could help bypass the congested port of Djibouti. An agreement signed in March with Ethiopia forecasts that almost a third of the country's cargo traffic might be funnelled through Berbera. Serena hits her stride in time for US Open quarter-finals The US Open quarter-finals kick off on Tuesday with Serena Williams saying she's just getting warmed up -- an ominous assessment for the other seven women with eyes on the prize. "She's coming, she hasn't quite come out yet, though," the world number one said of herself. Williams went missing in action after Wimbledon in large part because of a sore right shoulder. That seems astonishing since she has reached the last eight in New York without dropping a set or indeed even dropping her serve. Serena Williams in action against Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova at the US Open on September 5, 2016 Eduardo Munoz Alvarez (AFP) "I just feel like I'm going out there doing what I need to do," she said. "I'm not overplaying, I'm not underplaying. I'm just trying to play my way into this tournament." She has played her way into a quarter-final against fifth-seeded Romanian Simona Halep, who has won just one of their eight career matches. Williams said that record was not necessarily a guide to the challenge Halep would pose. "To me it doesn't really matter who I play because I have to expect they're going to play the match of their life," she said. "That's how I go into these matches now." They will headline women's action on Wednesday, when Ana Konjuh and Karolina Pliskova meet in a battle of first-time Grand Slam quarter-finalists. Konjuh, an 18-year-old ranked 92nd in the world, shocked fourth-ranked Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-4 to reach the last eight. She avenged a second-round loss at Wimbledon in which she held three match points against the Pole. Pliskova, the 10th seed, defeated sixth-seeded Venus Williams 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3). On Tuesday, world number two Angelique Kerber -- who toppled Williams in the Australian Open final and who has a chance to end the American's reign atop the world rankings here -- takes on Roberta Vinci. The seventh-seeded Italian stunned Williams in the semi-finals last year before falling to compatriot Flavia Pennetta in the final. Tuesday's other quarter-final sees Caroline Wozniacki, derailed this year by an ankle injury that sent her career into a tailspin, taking on Latvian Anastasija Sevastova, back and on the best Grand Slam run of her career after quitting the sport three years ago. Wozniacki, a former world number one, is back in the last eight of a Slam for the first time since her second runner-up finish in New York in 2014. She won't be taking Sevastova lightly, despite the fact that the Latvian's previous best run in a major was to the fourth round of the 2011 Australian Open. "She's a tough player," Wozniacki said. "She has a lot of grit and good hands. It's not going to be an easy one, but I'm excited just to have another shot." Building on the American heritage of Chautauqua, Chattanooga State presents the Chautauqua Series, Thursdays at 4 p.m. in the Kolwyck Library Mobile Classroom beginning Sept. 15. The series is free and open to the public. "In 1874, people gathered on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in New York State to celebrate the first Chautauqua and to enjoy speakers, teachers, musicians, and specialists who entertained and educated members of the community. Following this tradition, Humanities and Fine Arts faculty members have brought together distinguished professors and practitioners who will offer members of the community a deeper glimpse into specialized topics in the field of Humanities," officials said. Included in the 2016-17 series: Sept. 15: There Once Was a Queen Named Califia: The Myth That Became California. Join Dr. Katheryn Thompson as she explores the legend of Califia, how that legend led to the name of California, and the mythic aspect of the heros journey. Oct. 20: How the Scots Invented the Modern World. Dr. Scott Douglass will take participants on a fascinating journey through Scottish history, ranging far beyond the kilt, the bagpipes, and the Loch Ness Monster to encompass capitalism, the Declaration of Independence, and the world's most famous secret agent. Nov. 17: Redfacing: Media and the Stereotyping of Native American Cultures. Join Dr. Jason Huddleston for a discussion of the way media stereotypes and disparages Native American culture, with an emphasis on moving towards an accurate understanding of Native Americans. Feb. 16, 2017: Who Do You Think You Are? Finding Your Lost Family. Dr. Brian Hale and Michele Hough, lab manager of the Andrews Writing Center, invite you to explore how Ancestry.com helped her family to learn about their historical background. Whereas history can be abstract, tracing family lineage with tools like Ancestry provides a concrete understanding of the relevance of the past, evoking a vivid recreation of history. March 23, 2017: Guys and Games: What Video Games Tell Us About Learning to be a Man. Join Dr. Eric Niemi for discussions of what men learn when playing video games, and how that learning develops their masculinity. The discussion will also include how the development of this gendered identity affects their relationships with others, including women. April 20, 2017: Down the Rabbit Hole with a Master Tortoise: Lewis Carroll as Professor. Join Professor Madonna Kemp for a close analysis of Lewis Carrolls work, Alice in Wonderland, which reveals that the man who put on the white kid gloves was actually an astute rhetorician who was teaching children (and eventually the masses) how signification occurs, or is impeded. For more information about the Chautauqua Series, email keri.lamb@chattanoogastate.edu or call Dr. Keri Lamb at 423-697-2546. UN Council condemns North Korea missile tests The UN Security Council on Tuesday issued a strong condemnation of North Korea's latest missile tests and threatened to take "further significant measures" against Pyongyang. North Korea test-fired three ballistic missiles Monday as world powers gathered for a G20 meeting in China, with leader Kim Jong-Un hailing the tests as "perfect," and US President Barack Obama warning it would only up the pressure. "These launches are in grave violation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's international obligations and UN Security Council resolutions," the 15-member Council said in a statement. The fire drill of ballistic rockets by Hwasong artillery units of the KPA Strategic Force at an undisclosed location in North Korea It called on North Korea to "refrain from further actions, including nuclear tests, in violation of the relevant Security Council resolutions and comply fully with its obligations under these resolutions." The council said it would "continue to closely monitor the situation and take further significant measures" if merited and called on all sides to work to reduce tensions. The document was adopted unanimously, including by Pyongyang's only ally China. Earlier, the envoys from Japan, South Korea and the United States appeared before the press together to slam North Korea's missile program. "With each test, each violation of UN Security Council resolutions -- and there have been 22 of them so far this year -- the DPRK demonstrates further advancement of its ballistic program," US envoy Samantha Power said. "The Security Council must remain unequivocal and united in its condemnation of these tests." UN resolutions bar North Korea from any use of ballistic missile technology. Pyongyang has nevertheless conducted a fourth nuclear test and a series of missile tests this year in defiance of UN sanctions, prompting South Korea to announce plans to deploy a US anti-missile system to counter such threats. North Korea has been hit by five sets of UN sanctions since it first tested a nuclear device in 2006. - Provocations - Earlier Tuesday, Obama held talks with South Korean counterpart Park Geun-hye on the sidelines of a regional summit in Laos. "North Korea needs to know that provocations will only invite more pressure and further deepen its isolation," he told reporters after meeting Park in Vientiane. Park described the launches as a "reckless provocation (that) will lead North Korea down the path of self-destruction." But despite the global chorus of disapproval and tough sanctions, Pyongyang is unrepentant -- continuing to ignore the international community's calls for a halt to its weapons program. - 'Bolster nuclear force' - The North's KCNA news agency said Kim personally oversaw Monday's missile firing, which he "appreciated as perfect." "He stressed the need to continue making miraculous achievements in bolstering up the nuclear force one after another in this historic year," the report added. The North's top newspaper Rodong Sinmun carried nine photos of the test, including one of a beaming Kim standing in front of a map surrounded by smiling officials. South Korea's defense ministry said the tests were of Rodong missiles with a range of 1,000 kilometers (620 miles). It said they had been fired over the Sea of Japan (East Sea) without warning. The Rodong is a scaled-up Scud variant with a maximum range of around 1,300 kilometers, bringing most of Japan within range. Melissa Hanham, an expert on North Korea's weapons program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California, said it was difficult to determine so far if there had been any technical progress. "The most obvious difference from the last test is the change in warhead," Hanham said. Last month, North Korea fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile from the northeastern port of Sinpo. That flew 500 kilometers towards Japan, far exceeding the range of the country's previous sub-launched missiles. Kim described the August test as the "greatest success" and said it put the US mainland within striking range. But the UN Security Council said it regretted that Pyongyang was "diverting resources to the pursuit of ballistic missiles while... citizens have great unmet needs." The launch was widely condemned by the US and other major powers, but analysts saw it as a clear step forward for North Korea's nuclear strike ambitions. A proven submarine-launched ballistic missile system would allow deployment far beyond the Korean peninsula and a "second-strike" capability in the event of an attack on the North's military bases. After his meeting with Park, Obama said if North Korea committed to denuclearization then the "opportunities for us to dialogue with them are there." But he added that Pyongyang's current behavior made that impossible. North Korea missile launch -, - (AFP Graphic) Obama says US is 'here to stay' in Asia Barack Obama, on his final visit to Asia as US president, insisted Tuesday renewed American engagement with the region would endure after he left the White House. "America's interest in the Asia-Pacific is not new. It's not a passing fad. It reflects fundamental national interests," he said in a speech in the Lao capital of Vientiane. The US president is making his 11th and last trip to the Asia-Pacific, seeking to cement a "pivot" to the region that has been a hallmark of his eight-year administration. Barack Obama says renewed American engagement with Asia will endure after he leaves the White House Saul Loeb (AFP) During his speech in Laos, Obama took time to summarise that policy, which has often been distracted by protracted violence and instability in the Middle East. "As president, a key priority of my foreign policy has been to deepen our engagement with the nations and peoples of the Asia-Pacific," he told delgates, adding that he remained "confident" the new engagement would last. Obama trumpeted increased military cooperation with countries such as the Philippines, Singapore and India, as well as a push for greater trade with the region, and vowed this would continue. "We are here to stay. In good times and bad, you can count on the United States of America," Obama said. Obama also addressed concerns in China, which has watched the US pivot with suspicion while pursuing its own increasingly muscular foreign policy in the region. "The United States and China are engaged across more areas than ever before," Obama told delegates. He added that Washington "welcomes the rise of a China that is peaceful, stable and prosperous and a responsible player in global affairs because we belive that will benefit all of us". But he also reiterated his steadfast support for access to disputed waters in the region which China claims as its own. EU observers report 'anomaly' in Gabon vote Pressure mounted on President Ali Bongo of Gabon on Tuesday over a disputed election win after EU observers reported a "clear anomaly" in the vote and former colonial power France and his ex-justice minister urged a recount. Bongo claimed victory in the August 27 poll by a wafer-thin margin of some 6,000 votes. But a European Union delegation deployed in Gabon to monitor the vote said there was a flaw in voting in Haut-Ogooue province, the incumbent's fiefdom. Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba arrives to cast his vote at a polling station in Libreville Marco Longari (AFP/File) "An analysis of the number of non-voters as well as blank and disqualified votes reveals a clear anomaly in the final results in Haut-Ogooue," the observers said in a statement. Turnout in Haut-Ogooue, one of Gabon's nine provinces, exceeded 99 percent, and 95 percent voted for Bongo, according to official figures. Even after the vote result in the other provinces had been settled, electoral commission members fiercely debated the count for Haut-Ogooue, the heartland of Bongo's Teke ethnic group, before the incumbent was declared the winner on Wednesday. "There needs to be a clear electoral process," French Prime Minister Manuel Valls told radio station RTL on Tuesday, saying there were "some doubts". "It would be wise to do a recount." France, the EU and the United States had already called for the results to be published according to each polling station, but until now had stopped short of demanding a recount. The move came just hours after Justice Minister Seraphin Moundounga, who is also a deputy prime minister, resigned late Monday, demanding "a recount of the votes, polling station by polling station, and registry by registry". Bongo's defeated rival Jean Ping, a veteran diplomat who has held a top African Union job, on Monday called for a general strike to oust "the tyrant." But his appeal appeared to go largely unheeded in the capital Libreville on Tuesday like the previous day when banks and shops re-opened after being shuttered due to post-election violence. - 'Foreigners involved' - Communications minister and government spokesman Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze called demands for a recount a "plot" and accused foreigners of trying to manipulate the results. He said an Ivorian national had been arrested in Ping's headquarters on Monday, adding: "We are not saying that Ivory Coast is involved but some highly-placed Ivorians are." According to an AFP count, post-election chaos has claimed at least seven lives in the oil-rich central African nation, ruled by the Bongo family since 1967. Gabonese authorities, however, said Monday the toll was three killed and 105 wounded, with the government saying some deaths had previously been incorrectly attributed to the clashes. Valls on Tuesday also called on the Gabonese authorities to establish the whereabouts of around 15 French nationals who have been missing since the violence began. "We have no news of around 15 French citizens, who are in many cases French-Gabonese dual nationals. We ask the Gabonese authorities that everything be done to find them," he said Gabon's foreign ministry confirmed the authorities had arrested some Franco-Gabonese nationals, saying the justice ministry would answer any questions from concerned families. But it also said dual nationals living in Gabon would be subject to Gabonese laws. - 800 arrests - Some 800 people have been arrested in recent days in the capital, with the authorities accusing them of looting, while lawyers say they are being held in "deplorable" conditions. Several prisoners told AFP they had been beaten, denied food and water or questioned harshly by authorities. "There were no toilets. We slept in our pee," said a man who asked that his name be given as Matthieu to protect his identity. Meanwhile, a high-level African Union delegation including heads of state is ready to be dispatched to Libreville to help calm the situation, AU chairman and Chad President Idriss Deby said. UN chief Ban Ki-moon spoke to both Bongo and Ping on Sunday and "deplored the loss of life", a UN statement said, adding that he "called for an immediate end to all acts of violence." Gabon had previously enjoyed relative political stability, with French support underpinning Omar Bongo's 41-year rule. After the elder Bongo died in June 2009, his son Ali won an election but opposition media claimed he had essentially been installed by France. Gabon, a country roughly the size of Britain but with a population of 1.8 million, has only known three presidents since it ceased to be a French colony in 1960. One third of its population lives in poverty, even though the country boasts one of Africa's highest per capita incomes -- $8,300 annually -- thanks to oil revenue. Presidential elections in Gabon: national results and by region Alain Bommenel, Paz Pizarro, Jonathan Jacobsen (AFP) Bullet holes in the window of a guard post on the gate of Gabon's opposition leader Jean Ping's headquarters in Libreville Marco Longari (AFP) Relatives gather outside the Palais de Justice (law courts) in Libreville waiting for news of those who were arrested following post-election chaos Steve Jordan (AFP) US 'morally obliged' to heal Laos war wounds: Obama President Barack Obama pledged Tuesday to dramatically increase US efforts to clear millions of bombs secretly dropped on tiny Laos by American planes a generation ago, saying the clean-up was a "moral obligation". Laos became the world's most-bombed country per capita from 1964 to 1973 as Washington launched a secret CIA-led war to cut supplies flowing to communist fighters during the Vietnam War. Much of the country is still littered with ordnance, including millions of cluster munition "bomblets" that maim and kill to this day. Laos became the world's most-bombed country per capita from 1964 to 1973 as Washington launched a secret CIA-led war to cut supplies flowing to communist fighters during the Vietnam War Hoang Ding Nam (AFP/File) The issue has long dogged relations between the United States and Laos, a cloistered and impoverished communist nation. But both sides have moved closer in recent years and Obama's visit -- the first by a US president to Laos -- is being hailed as a landmark opportunity to reset ties. On the first day of his two-day trip, Obama announced $90 million for Laos over the next three years to address the impact caused by unexploded ordnance. "Given our history here I believe the United States has a moral obligation to help Laos heal," Obama told a crowd of delegates, including communist party leaders, students and monks, during a speech in the capital Vientiane. The figure dwarfs Washington's previous commitments to Laos -- in the last 20 years it had given a total of $100 million. But it mirrors what happened in Vietnam as ties warmed between the two former foes during the early 2000s. As in Vietnam Obama stopped short of issuing any kind of apology for American military action, but recognised the suffering it had caused all sides. "The remnants of war continue to shatter lives here in Laos," he said, adding many Americans were still unaware of their country's secret carpet bombing of the country. "Over the years thousands of Laotians have been killed or injured. Farmers tending their fields, children playing. The wounds, a missing leg or arm, last a lifetime." - Ageing revolutionaries - Obama's visit is laden with historic symbolism given the two countries' bellicose pasts. Earlier in the day, under pouring rain, the first US president to hail from the post-Vietnam war generation met his Laos counterpart Bounnhang Vorachith -- a former revolutionary of the communist Pathet Lao movement that successfully faced down his predecessors' bombing campaigns. Bounnhang, 78, was anointed the country's top leader earlier this year. Laos' ageing communist leadership has ruled with an iron fist since 1975, tolerating little dissent and only gradually opening the country to outsiders. The nation has had one of Asia's fastest growth rates over the last decade, but critics say little has trickled down to the rural poor majority. As it did in Vietnam, Washington has also been pushing the Laos authorities for help in locating the remains of missing servicemen. The White House said the remains of 273 personnel have been located and identified from the Laos war years but 301 Americans are still listed as missing. More than two million tonnes of bombs were dropped by the United States on Laos. About 30 percent did not explode, including an estimated 80 million cluster munition "bomblets". Some 50,000 people were killed or injured by bombs between the start of the war and 2008, according to Laos government data. Bomb clearances and education campaigns have since reduced the casualty rate to around 40 people a year. But only one percent of contaminated land has so far been restored. During his speech Obama singled out Channapha Khamvongsa, a Laos-American campaigner whose group Legacies of War has long lobbied Washington to spend more on bomb clearances. She said she was "thrilled" by the donation. "This is a major step forward to healing the wounds of war and increasing cooperation between the US and Lao PDR," she told AFP. US President Barack Obama speaks at the Lao National Cultural Hall in Vientiane on September 6, 2016 Noel Celis (AFP) Fourth body found in rubble of Israel building collapse Israeli rescuers pulled two more bodies from the rubble of a collapsed Tel Aviv building site Tuesday, bringing the death toll to four as searches continued, the army said. "Rescue forces have extracted an additional body," an army statement said, with three more construction workers still believed to be missing. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP that "500 police rescuers, army and firefighters are hard at work trying to find the missing." Israeli rescue workers gather at the site of a a building collapse in the Ramat Hahayal neighbourhood of Tel Aviv on September 5, 2016 Gil Cohen-Magen (AFP/File) "There is no time limit for searches that are concentrated in four areas of the site," he added. He said an investigation had been opened to determine responsibility for Monday's accident, but had no details yet. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the site Monday night to inspect the search operations. "There are still people trapped; we are making every effort and are not giving up on anyone. We will reach them all," he said in a statement. The circumstances of the collapse, which occurred in the Tel Aviv's Ramat Hahayal high-tech neighbourhood, remain unclear. Israeli media reported the accident occurred when a floor collapsed during the construction of a four-storey underground parking, with a shopping centre eventually planned to be built on top. The Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper recalled an article from three years ago in which the leader of the Danya Cebus company which built the car park allegedly said they had decided not to use a construction engineer to supervise the work, instead making do with an architect. The Maariv daily denounced what it described as safety failings at construction sites, saying 230 people had been killed on them in Israel in the past five years. Israel has seen a high number of construction accidents in comparison to the developed world. Haaretz newspaper reported in May that 480 people were killed in construction accidents between 2000 and 2015, citing a survey placing Israel third from the bottom in a list that included the United States and 20 European nations. Prominent Bangladesh editor released from jail A prominent Bangladeshi magazine editor was released from jail Tuesday nearly five months after his arrest on charges of plotting to kill the premier's son, a case that sparked fears of a press crackdown. Shafik Rehman, 81, who is also a British citizen and a former speechwriter for the main opposition leader and the premier's arch rival, was released days after the Supreme Court granted him bail. "He is very weak. He has been suffering from heart and other ailments," his wife, Taleya Rehman, said after his release from Kashimpur prison outside Dhaka. Bangladeshi magazine editor Shafik Rehman (centre), who was arrested on charges of plotting to kill the premier's son, was released days after the Supreme Court granted him bail - (AFP/File) "We are taking him to Birdem hospital in Dhaka where he will be treated," she told AFP. Police arrested Rehman from his home in April on conspiracy charges of plotting to murder Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, who lives in the United States. Police said they had found evidence linking the editor to the plot, claims his family and supporters reject. Rehman was the third pro-opposition editor to have been arrested by authorities including on charges of sedition, triggering repeated calls from rights groups for their release. Journalists have also been detained under provisions of a controversial defamation law which critics say gives the government free reign to quash dissent. Concerns over freedom of speech are also rising in Muslim-majority Bangladesh following a spate of gruesome killings of secular bloggers and liberal activists by Islamic extremists. Rehman was a long-time editor of Jai Jai Din, a mass-circulation Bengali daily. He now edits a popular Bengali monthly magazine called Mouchake Dhil. More recently, he became the convenor of the international affairs committee of opposition leader Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and headed a pro-opposition think-tank named G-9. The government launched a major crackdown last year against activists from the BNP and its Islamist allies following a transport blockade that left scores dead in a failed bid to force Hasina to resign. The Supreme Court last Thursday granted Rehman bail for three months or until police submitted a charge sheet against him, his lawyer, M Asaduzzaman, said. "We're hoping the bail will be extended," Asaduzzaman told AFP, adding that Rehman's passport had been seized. Philippines' President Duterte vows to eat militants Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has vowed to personally tear apart and eat Abu Sayyaf Islamic militants, in a bloodthirsty vow of revenge for deadly attacks. "They will pay. When the time comes, I will eat you in front of people," Duterte told an audience of Filipinos late on Monday night while in Laos for a regional summit. "If you make me mad, in all honesty, I will eat you alive, raw." Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte speaks during a press conference in Davao City on September 5, 2016 Manman Dejeto (AFP) Duterte often hurls abusive insults at critics and is waging a brutal war on crime in which nearly 3,000 people have been killed since he took office on June 30. His aides often urge reporters against taking Duterte's comments literally, cautioning that the 71-year-old former lawyer speaks in a crude language of the people. During the election campaign earlier this year Duterte attracted widespread criticism for saying he had wanted to rape a "beautiful" Australian missionary who had been sexually assaulted and murdered in a Philippine prison riot. Duterte, 71, also claimed to keep two mistresses in cheap boarding houses who he took to short-stay hotels for sexual encounters. Duterte on Monday offered a particularly vivid description of how he would like to eat Abu Sayyaf militants, who killed 15 soldiers last month and are accused of a bombing in his home city last week that claimed 14 lives. "I will really carve your torso open. Give me vinegar and salt and I will eat you. I'm not kidding," Duterte said, according to an official video of his speech posted on Tuesday. "These guys are beyond redemption." The Abu Sayyaf are a small band of Islamic militants based on remote southern islands of the mainly Catholic Philippines and are listed by the United States as a terrorist organisation. They are notorious for kidnapping foreigners to extract ransoms, and this year beheaded two Canadian hostages. Duterte also on Monday caused a major diplomatic rift with the United States after branding President Barack Obama a "son of a whore" who would wallow like a pig. Duterte made the remarks in response to comments by Obama's aides that the US president would raise concerns about the Philippine war on crime when the pair met in Laos. No meeting with Israel PM Netanyahu in Moscow: Abbas Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Tuesday that an aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had suggested delaying a proposed meeting between the two leaders in Moscow on Friday. "Netanyahu's representative proposed to delay this meeting to a later date. So the meeting will not happen," Abbas said at a joint press conference in Warsaw with Polish President Andrzej Duda. "But I am ready and I declare again that I will go to any meeting." Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas has bee in power since 2005 Ashraf Shazly (AFP/File) Abbas had agreed to a Russian proposal to meet Netanyahu as part of a new peace push, a Palestinian official said Monday in Ramallah. Netanyahu said he was open to such a meeting together with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which Abbas said had been scheduled for September 9. But the Palestinians have questioned Israel's commitment to the initiative, and disagreements have derailed previous attempts to arrange talks. Abbas said international help to end the conflict was crucial. "The peace process has stalled because of the Israeli government's position and we now need the political and economic help of the United States and the European Union, especially to rebuild our infrastructure," he said. During talks with Duda, the two discussed "the creation of a special Polish-Palestinian industrial zone in the Palestinian territories," he said. The Palestinian leader also said he expected "a second round of talks this year" hosted by France, which is aimed at pulling together an international conference to reboot Middle East peace talks by the year's end. Abbas's office has previously said the Palestinians are ready to participate in any peace initiative aimed at a "comprehensive and fair solution". But Palestinian leaders also say years of negotiations with the Israelis have not ended the occupation of the West Bank, and they have more recently pursued an international strategy. They say an Abbas-Netanyahu meeting would lead nowhere without a freeze on Israeli settlement building, the release of Palestinian prisoners and a deadline for an end to the occupation. Peace efforts have been at a standstill since a US-led initiative collapsed in April 2014. Four Nigerian troops drown in capsize: military, locals Four Nigerian troops drowned after their boat capsized during operations to combat rebels in the oil-producing south, the military said on Tuesday. The boat turned over on Monday at about 10:00 am (0900 GMT) in the Brass area of Bayelsa state, which has seen multiple attacks on oil and gas installations since the start of the year. The military last month launched an operation, named "Crocodile Smile", against the militants, whose activities have hit crude production and led to high seas piracy in the Gulf of Guinea. The Nigerian military launched an operation against militants whose activities have hit crude production in the south Pous Utomi Ekpei (AFP/File) A local man in the Brass area, who gave his name only as Etta, said: "The boat that capsized was conveying a new batch of soldiers to the waterfront. "I was going to dispose of refuse at the waterfront and I saw uniformed soldiers struggling to rescue their colleagues in a capsized boat. "When the confusion subsided, four soldiers were found to be missing with their rifles and other military gear. Some others that were rescued had their rifles missing and were struggling out of the water." The Bayelsa state chairman of Nigeria's Maritime Union, Lloyd Sese, and an official with the local authorities in Brass both confirmed the incident. Myanmar's Suu Kyi to visit US next week Myanmar's newly installed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi will meet President Barack Obama in the United States next week, a senior White House official said Tuesday. Plans for a visit had been announced in July but no date had been given. "She'll be visiting Washington and meeting with the president on September 15," deputy US national security advisor Ben Rhodes told reporters in Laos, where Obama is on a two-day visit. Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi arrives in Vientiane for the ASEAN summit on September 6, 2016 Ye Aung Thu (AFP) During a speech earlier in the day, Obama said he looked forward to welcoming Suu Kyi "as we stand with the people of Myanmar in their journey towards pluralism and peace". The invitation reinforces Suu Kyi's primacy on the international stage as the real head of a government which she is technically barred from leading. Despite winning a landslide in last November's elections, which ended decades of brutal military rule, the Nobel laureate is banned by a junta-era constitution from becoming president. Instead she has taken the role of foreign minister and created a new position for herself as state counsellor. She has also appointed a longtime friend and ally, Htin Kyaw, to be a proxy president. Obama and Suu Kyi first met in 2012 shortly after the veteran dissident was released from house arrest, where she had spent much of the last two decades under junta rule. He also met Suu Kyi during a visit to Myanmar in 2014, when he criticised the ban on her assuming the presidency. Myanmar's peaceful transition from military to civilian rule has been hailed in a world where such transitions seem rare. But the military, which spent decades brutalising the population and enriching itself, remains enormously influential. Officers are still guaranteed a quarter of legislative seats, giving them a veto on constitutional change, while the military retains control of the crucial home, border and defence ministries. It also controls huge business conglomerates, with some key army-linked figures still under US sanctions. There have been suggestions Washington may lift some of those sanctions during Suu Kyi's visit, something which rights groups have balked at. "US sanctions are focused on the Burmese generals and their cronies in order to encourage democratic reforms," said John Sifton, from Human Rights Watch. "They shouldn't be fully lifted until the democratic transition is irreversible." Rhodes said Washington was determined to improve Myanmar's prospects by helping it trade with the world. Special presentation made to Mrs. Evelyn Robinson Hardin, Charter Member of the Chattanooga Alumnae Chapter. Also pictured are Mrs. Hardins daughter, Sandra Clark, Alexia Phinizey and Joyce Smith, 75th Anniversary chairs. Pictured left to right - Alexia Phinizey, 75th Anniversary chair, Representative Brenda Gilmore, Valara Sample, Chattanooga Alumnae Chapter president, and Joyce Smith, 75th Anniversary chair Chattanooga Alumnae Chapter leadership past and present - seated Valara Sample, Chapter president, and Evelyn Hardin, charter member. Standing - Charlaine Price, Carol ONeal, Barbara Thomas, Edna Varner, Christine Hicks, Zebedee Williams, Jewel Cousin, Debra Greene, Frankie Anderson, Wanda Gocher-Johnson, Willie Hubbard, M.D., Alexia Phinizey, Linda Elligan, Lucrecia Ramsey, Saundra Adams, and Angelnetta Ulmer, past presidents. Previous Next The Chattanooga Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. celebrated 75 years as a chapter with a weekend of activities August 12-14. Beginning on Friday, Aug. 12, a night gathering entitled Deltas through the Decades was held at the Car Barn for members of the sorority. On Saturday, Aug. 13, a White Diamond Anniversary Luncheon was held at the Embassy Suites Hotel-Hamilton Place with more than 230 people in attendance. The Honorable Representative Brenda Gilmore was the keynote speaker for the event. Rep. Gilmore is a former Metro Council woman and is presently a State Representative- District #54, in the Tennessee General Assembly and resides in Nashville. Soror Evelyn Robinson Hardin was recognized as the only surviving charter member of the Chattanooga Alumnae Chapter. In addition, achievements of past presidents of the Chattanooga Alumnae Chapter in attendance were highlighted during the program. The weekend culminated with members attending Sunday morning worship service at Bethlehem-Wiley United Methodist Church. "The Chattanooga Alumnae Chapter sincerely appreciates the public support received throughout the years," officials said. Canadian pipeline giant Enbridge buys US rival Spectra for $28 bn Canadian pipeline operator Enbridge will buy US rival Spectra Energy in a Can$37 billion (US$28 billion) deal that creates North America's largest energy infrastructure firm, the companies announced Tuesday. The all-stock deal will create a network of more than 86,000 kilometers (54,000 miles) of oil and gas pipelines serving most of Canada and the United States, with the exception of the US Southwest and California markets. The combined company, which will be based in Calgary in western Canada, would have annual revenues of more than Can$40 billion and earnings before interest and taxes of just under Can$6 billion, based on figures through June 30. Executives of Fortune 500 firm Spectra Energy applaud as and New York Stock Exchange Chairman John Thain (C) rings the bell on the year's first day of trading on January 3, 2007 Timothy A. Clary (AFP/File) Shareholders of Calgary-based Enbridge will own approximately 57 percent of the merged company. Spectra shareholders will receive 0.984 shares in the merged company for each share of Spectra they own. That values Spectra shares at US$40.33, an 11.5 percent premium to the last closing, according to the companies. Spectra shares jumped 11 percent in morning trading in New York following the merger announcement, to US$40.05. Enbridge shares were up 3.6 percent on the Toronto exchange at Can$55.16. "This combination brings together two highly complementary platforms to create North America's largest energy infrastructure company," Enbridge said in a statement. Enbridge's network of oil and gas pipelines stretch between the oil sands region of Alberta province and Canadian and US refineries. The company, which employs some 11,000 people, also produces electricity and owns interests in wind farms. Houston-based Spectra Energy owns oil and gas pipelines stretching more than 21,000 miles (33,800 kilometers) and has a large gas storage capacity. Notably the company serves key markets in the eastern United States, including New York and Miami, where Enbridge has no presence. "Over the last two years, we've been focused on identifying opportunities that would extend and diversify our asset base and sources of growth beyond 2019," said Enbridge chief executive Al Monaco, who will also lead the combined company. "We are accomplishing that goal by combining with the premier natural gas infrastructure company to create a true North American and global energy infrastructure leader." Spectra Energy CEO Greg Ebel will become chairman of the combined company, which will operate under the Enbridge banner. Protester killed in fresh Indian Kashmir clashes A protester died from pellet gun injuries during fresh clashes with security forces Tuesday in Indian Kashmir, a hospital official said, a day after the government said it would replace the weapons. The 21-year-old man was killed during clashes in Anantnag district southeast of the main city of Srinagar, in which police said scores were injured. There have been weeks of deadly unrest in the region. Kashmiri Muslim protestors throw stones at Indian security forces in Srinagar on August 29, 2016 Sajjad Hussain (AFP/File) "Naseer had a zero degree pellet injury near his heart. That means he was shot from very close range," an unnamed medical superintendent at Seer Hamdan hospital in Anantnag told AFP of the victim. Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday police and troops would use chilli-based shells instead of ones filled with birdshot to quell the unrest after hundreds of civilians sustained serious eye injuries in the clashes. The government has been coming under growing pressure over the level of casualties in Kashmir during the protests against Indian rule, which broke out after the death of a popular rebel leader on July 8 in a gunbattle with soldiers. More than 70 civilians have been killed and thousands injured in the worst violence to hit the Muslim-majority territory since 2010. The metal pellets or birdshot fired from the pump-action shotguns rarely result in deaths, but can often blind victims if the fragments hit them in the eye. Authorities lifted a curfew in most parts of the territory late last month, but schools, shops and many banks remain closed while residents struggle with a communications blackout. Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the two gained independence from British rule in 1947. Both claim the territory in full. Several rebel groups have for decades fought Indian soldiers -- currently numbering around 500,000 -- deployed in the territory. They demand independence for the region or its merger with Pakistan. Djokovic seeks 10th US Open semi-final in row against Tsonga Novak Djokovic targets a 10th successive semi-final appearance at the US Open on Tuesday when he faces longtime rival Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, one of three Frenchmen in the last eight. World number one Djokovic, the champion in New York in 2011 and 2015, has hardly broken sweat in the first four rounds. He needed four sets to beat Jerzy Janowicz in his first match before he enjoyed a walkover in the second, an injury-enforced retirement in the third followed by a brutal dismantling of Britain's Kyle Edmund in the last-16. Novak Djokovic is targeting a third US Open title Don Emmert (AFP/File) In Tuesday's other men's quarter-final, Lucas Pouille, who knocked out 14-time major winner Rafael Nadal in five sets on Sunday, faces French compatriot Gael Monfils. The women's quarter-finals also start Tuesday with world number two Angelique Kerber facing last year's runner-up Roberta Vinci and two-time finalist Caroline Wozniacki up against surprise packet Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia. Djokovic, looking for his third major of 2016, boasts a remarkable record in New York. As well as his two titles, the 29-year-old was runner-up in 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2013. He was a semi-finalist in 2005, 2006 and 2014. The Serb also boasts a 15-6 winning record against ninth seed Tsonga, a run stretching back to their first meeting in the 2008 Australian Open final. "I'm feeling very good. I didn't have much time on the court overall before the fourth round," said Djokovic who came into the tournament suffering from a wrist injury while also needing treatment on his upper right arm in the first and fourth rounds. "Considering I had some struggles before the tournament, I feel great at this moment physically; mentally as well I'm motivated. "So coming into the second week of a Grand Slam quarter-finals feeling good, it's exactly where I want to be." Monfils beat Pouille in their only meeting -- in five sets in the first round of the Australian Open in 2015. But 22-year-old Pouille is now Grand Slam hardened having made a maiden Slam quarter-final at Wimbledon before stunning Nadal. Monfils, who turned 30 on September 1, is in his third quarter-final in New York. In his last appearance at this stage in 2014, he squandered a two sets lead against Roger Federer. Meanwhile, Australian Open champion Kerber, a semi-finalist at the US Open in 2011, takes on 33-year-old Vinci. They are tied at two wins apiece. Kerber, who can depose Serena Williams as world number one by the end of the tournament, has yet to drop a set at the tournament. But she won't underestimate Vinci, who stunned Serena in the semi-finals last year. Wozniacki, a former world number one and runner-up in 2009 and 2014, has already put out top ten seeds Svetlana Kuznetsova and Madison Keys on her way to the quarter-finals. Now ranked 74, the popular Dane faces unlikely quarter-finalist Sevastova who was so depressed about the state of her game back in 2013 that she retired. Her decision to return has been richly rewarded with a shock victory over French Open champion Garbine Muguruza in the second round. France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga stands in the way of a place in the US Open semi-finals for world number one Novak Djokovic Saudi top cleric says Iranians 'not Muslims' Saudi Arabia's top cleric said Iranians are "not Muslims", after Iran's supreme leader launched a fresh tirade over the kingdom's handling of the hajj pilgrimage, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. "We must understand these are not Muslims, they are children of Magi and their hostility towards Muslims is an old one. Especially with the people of Sunna," Grand Mufti Abdulaziz al-Sheikh told Makkah daily, referring to pre-Islamic beliefs in Iran and to the Sunnis who make up the main branch of Islam. The grand mufti's comments came a day after Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the Muslim world should challenge Saudi management of Islam's two holiest sites in Mecca and Medina. Saudi Arabia's ruling family are the custodians of Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina Khaled Desouki (AFP/File) The verbal sparring, ahead of the annual hajj which this year starts on Saturday, follows months of tension between Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia and its Shiite regional rival Iran. "Because of Saudi rulers' oppressive behaviour towards God's guests, the world of Islam must fundamentally reconsider the management of the two holy places and the issue of hajj," Khamenei wrote on his website. He reserved some of his harshest words for Riyadh's response to last year's hajj stampede which killed 2,297 pilgrims, according to a toll compiled from foreign officials. Iran said its nationals accounted for 464 of the dead. Khamenei said the Saudis did not prosecute those at fault for the stampede, accused them of showing no remorse and said Riyadh had "refused to allow an international Islamic fact-finding committee". After reviewing security forces assigned to protect the hajj, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef said later Monday that the kingdom had "spared no effort to provide state-of-the-art services for the safety, comfort and security of all pilgrims". For the first time in almost three decades, Iranians will not participate in this year's pilgrimage to Mecca after talks on logistics and security fell apart. Riyadh said Tehran had made "unacceptable" demands, including the right to organise demonstrations "that would cause chaos". Prince Mohammed reiterated those concerns. He charged that Iran was making "efforts to politicise hajj and convert it into an occasion to violate the teachings of Islam, through shouting slogans and disturbing the security of pilgrims". Sheikh said such efforts would fail "because all Muslims trust what the (Saudi) government is doing" in providing services for pilgrims and with its work to improve facilities at the holy sites. Saudi Arabia says Iranian pilgrims are still welcome if they travel from other countries. Riyadh and Tehran are at odds over a raft of regional issues, notably the conflicts in Syria and Yemen in which they support opposing sides. Riyadh severed diplomatic relations with Tehran in January after protesters attacked its embassy and a consulate in Iran after the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia. Iran was fiercely critical of the Saudi response to a deadly stampede during last year's hajj, which killed some 2,300 foreign pilgrims, including an estimated 464 Iranians Kyrgyzstan blames Chinese embassy attack on Uighur jihadists Authorities in Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday blamed Uighur jihadists in Syria for masterminding a suicide attack against the Chinese embassy in the Central Asian country. A van exploded after ramming through a gate at China's diplomatic outpost in Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek on August 30, killing the driver and injuring three local embassy employees. The Kyrgyz national security committee said in a statement that investigations had shown the "instigators" were "Uighur terrorist groups acting in Syria", pointing the finger of blame at radicals from the mostly Muslim Chinese minority. Police officers gather outside the Chinese embassy in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek on August 30, 2016 following a suicide bombing Vyacheslav Oseledko (AFP/File) The alleged suicide bomber was an ethnic Uighur with a passport from ex-Soviet Tajikistan who was a member of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) group in Syria, the statement said. Five suspects accused of involvement in the attack have been arrested and four more suspected of being in Turkey have been put on the wanted list, the authorities said. Xinjiang -- the homeland of China's 10 million Uighurs, just over the border from Kyrgyzstan -- is sporadically hit by deadly violence. China has accused what it says are exiled Uighur separatist groups such as the ETIM of being behind attacks in the volatile region. Chinese authorities have also accused scores of Uighurs who have fled the country of attempting to train with extremists in Syria and eventually return to Xinjiang to wage jihad. But many experts doubt the existence of ETIM, pointing out that although China frequently blames the group for radicalising Uighurs, it has yet to provide any evidence that outside organisations were involved in attacks. Impoverished majority-Muslim Kyrgyzstan has a history of political instability and battling Islamist extremism. Chinese officials in the country have previously been targeted in attacks blamed on Uighur radicals. Authorities say the country faces the threat of attacks by the Islamic State group after some 500 Kyrgyz left to fight for the jihadists in Iraq and Syria. One of the three suicide bombers who carried out a deadly attack blamed on IS at the international airport in the Turkish city Istanbul in June was reported to be from Kyrgyzstan. Three Turkish soldiers killed in IS attack in Syria Three Turkish soldiers were killed and four wounded on Tuesday in a rocket attack by Islamic State (IS) militants in northern Syria, in the first deadly attack on Ankara's armed forces to be blamed on the jihadists in Turkey's cross-border incursion. Turkey launched an unprecedented operation inside Syria on August 24. Dubbed Euphrates Shield, it backs pro-Ankara opposition fighters in the goal of rooting out IS jihadists and Kurdish militia from the border area. A senior Turkish official said two soldiers were killed on the spot and five injured in the attack by IS. Turkish troops drive their tanks on a road near the Syrian village of al-Waqf and some 3km south of al-Rai, the small border town with Turkey Nazeer al-Khatib (AFP/File) One of the wounded soldiers later died in hospital despite all attempts to save his life, lifting the death toll to three, an army statement quoted by NTV television said. The fatalities are the first of the Turkish operation inside Syria to be blamed on IS and Ankara's biggest single loss of life in the offensive to date. Turkey had blamed the death of one soldier on August 28 in a similar attack on Kurdish militia. The army said in the statement carried by NTV television that the deaths came in a rocket attack on two Turkish tanks. The army said the attack took place in the village of Wuquf south of Al-Rai, where Turkish tanks opened a second front in their Syria operation at the weekend. The area is west of Jarabulus near the Turkish border which was retaken by pro-Ankara rebels at the start of the operation from jihadists. Turkish television showed pictures of military helicopters flying across the border to take the wounded for treatment in Turkey. Separately, two pro-Ankara Syrian fighters were killed and two others wounded in clashes in the same region, the army statement added. - 'IS cleared from border' - Turkey has so far hailed its operation as a success and IS jihadists were at the weekend expelled from their last positions along the Turkish-Syrian border, depriving the group of a key transit point for recruits and supplies. Turkey wants to establish a safe zone in the 98-kilometre (61-mile) area stretching from Jarabulus to Azaz to the west. The government says this has been completely secured in the weekend's operation. The army also said on Tuesday "44 targets were struck 153 times with precision by Firtina howitzers in a region identified as belonging to terrorists," adding that coalition warplanes also launched air raids on IS positions. Syrian rebels, backed by coalition forces, retook two villages near Al-Rai, it added. "The operation is continuing in the region." Until now there had been few reports of clashes between Turkey or its allied fighters with IS. But there had been indications of intense fighting with the Kurdish Peoples' Protection Units (YPG) militia. The YPG is a key partner of the US-led coalition against IS, and has recaptured large swathes of territory in Syria from the extremist group. But NATO member Turkey, an active participant of the anti-IS coalition, considers the YPG a "terrorist" group and has been alarmed by its expansion along the border, fearing the creation of a contiguous, semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Syria. The Turkish presidency said earlier it hoped for a truce in northern Syria between opposition fighters and the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in a week, after talks between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and world leaders at the G20 in China. Erdogan's spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, revealed that the Turkish leader had met separately a second time with Russian and US counterparts Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama before leaving the G20 meeting in Hangzhou. Turkey and Russia have been on opposite sides of Syria's five-and-a-half-year civil war, with Moscow backing Assad and Ankara supporting the opposition against him. However, there have been signs of a rapprochement, with Kalin saying Putin had told Erdogan he fully supported the Turkish operation. Turkish troops drive their anti-mine Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) past shepherds on September 4, 2016 on a road near the Syrian village of Tuwairan Nazeer al-Khatib (AFP/File) Cannibals terrorise Venice with US horror 'Bad Batch' Ana Lily Amirpour brought a cannibal love story starring Jim Carrey and Keanu Reeves to the Venice film festival Tuesday with "Bad Batch", a savage fairytale which the up-and-coming director compared to an orgasm. The hotly anticipated follow-up to Amirpour's Iranian vampire western "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night" (2014) tells the tale of a young girl who wanders a desert wasteland in a futuristic United States. The film stars Britain's Suki Waterhouse (of "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies"), as Arlen, a misfit who is cast out into the desert, where she is captured by a community of cannibals and eaten bit by bit, kept alive to ensure her flesh stays fresh as one by one her limbs get the chop. Director Ana Lily Amirpour promotes "The Bad Batch" presented in competition at the 73rd Venice Film Festival on September 6, 2016 Filippo Monteforte (AFP) Salvation not only from the cooking pot but the nightmarish society may lie with cannibal Miami Man (Jason Momoa of "Game of Thrones" fame), whose child Miel (Jayda Fink) Arlen takes under her wing. Stars Keanu Reeves and Jim Carrey have smaller but key roles as a commune leader and hermit in the story, which critics read as a cautionary tale for today's American society. "At a time when presidential candidate Donald Trump is advocating the construction of a physical wall to protect the national purity of the American population," the story of exiling undesirables to a fenced-off wasteland "doesn't sound all that dystopian," Variety magazine said. Amirpour told the world's oldest film festival, where the flick is competing for the prized Golden Lion, that the "action-adventure fairytale" was "a love letter" to America. - Jim Carrey 'the hermit' - She said she had been influenced by Robert Zemeckis's 1984 action adventure "Romancing the Stone", as well as the Westerns she used to watch with her father. In researching the film, she spent a year getting to know a community of people who live "off the grid" in the desert in California in a place called "Slab City", and said most of the extras used had been locals. Former model Waterhouse, 24, said she had been drawn to the role from the very first moment, but playing it had felt "like I was an orange being peeled. I was absolutely terrified and stayed terrified throughout". Amirpour said she had had no qualms about presenting slapstick master Carrey, famed for films such as "Ace Ventura" (1994) and Bruce Almighty (2003), with a non-speaking role as "I feel like in a way he is the hermit". "The hermit is so important. He's the soul, the kindness in this harsh environment" in the film, she said. "He's also the homeless man you ignore on every street corner. I feel like it's the same thing with Carrey: being that famous, no-one really sees who you are". - 'Like having sex' - Amirpour, who also cited "The NeverEnding Story" and "Princess Bride" as among her influences, said she identifies with all the characters in her blood-splattered offering and sees it as an exploration of self. "I'm just trying to figure out who I am. It's this huge, massive thing, figuring out who you are. You have to constantly strip it back down to its basic elements. "You have to devastate your reality and everything you know, how you understand the system that you exist it, to be able to evaluate yourself," she said. As well as self-analysis, there was also an element of self-pleasure to the film, she said, particularly in the choice of the soundtrack, which is dominated by Brooklyn electro duo Darkside. "Explaining how I picked the music would be like explaining how I have sex. It's very hard to explain, it just feels right and turns me on so much and then I'm just coming all over place," she said. 'Dozens choke' in Syria Aleppo after barrel bomb attacks Dozens of people had to be treated for breathing problems in the Syrian battlefront city of Aleppo after regime helicopters dropped barrel bombs on a rebel-held district Tuesday, a monitor said. In addition, rebel gunfire killed five people in Azamiyeh, a government-controlled area in Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The bombs that left more than 70 people choking and in need of treatment were dropped from helicopters on the Sukkari neighbourhood, the Britain-based monitor said, adding most were civilians. Syrians suffering from breathing difficulties are treated at a make-shift hospital in Aleppo after regime helicopters dropped barrel bombs on the rebel-held Sukkari neighbourhood of the northern Syrian city on September 6, 2016 Thaer Mohammed (AFP) The opposition Aleppo Media Centre charged on its Twitter account that Sukkari was the target of a chlorine attack. Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman was unable to confirm the claim but said that no one was killed in the strikes. A Sukkari resident told AFP a "very strong smell" filled the neighbourhood after it was hit by a barrel bomb and that he and others had difficulty breathing. Both sides in Syria's complex war have traded accusations of attacks against civilians and use of unconventional weapons including chlorine and mustard gas. Last month, an investigative panel set up by the UN Security Council said in a report that President Bashar al-Assad's forces had carried out at least two chemical attacks, one in 2014 and another in 2015. But Syria's ally Russia said it had "very serious questions" about the report while the Syrian envoy to the world body, Bashar Jaafari, rejected the findings. Dutch to help build Gaza gas pipeline: Israeli PM The Netherlands will help Israel boost energy and water supplies to Gaza including by building a gas pipeline, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday. "We want to help the population of Gaza and the first step is to improve the supply of energy and water... including laying a gas pipeline," Netanyahu said during a two-day visit to The Netherlands. After talks with his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte, Netanyahu said his cabinet had already made a decision to lay the pipeline "and I appreciate your help in realising this project." Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (R) and his counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel give a press conference in The Hague on September 6, 2016 Stringer (ANP/AFP) Rutte said his country had already invested in a feasibility study for a gas pipeline from Israel to the impoverished Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip. The Netherlands would also facilitate expert meetings between Dutch, Israeli and Palestinian officials focusing on energy and water, he told a joint press conference. "The aim of these meetings is to improve the Palestinian economy, but equally it provides for a more fertile ground for political negotiations between the two parties," added Rutte. "I realise it's not going to be easy, but we need to keep on moving," he stressed. Netanyahu was also asked about the postponement of a long-anticipated meeting with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, which Abbas had said was planned to be held in Moscow on Friday. Abbas earlier Tuesday announced that Netanyahu had suggested delaying the Russian-backed gathering. Netanyahu said he had no problem meeting Abbas in "Holland or in Moscow" as long as there were no preconditions set for the meeting by the Palestinian side. "The real question is whether Abu Mazen (Abbas) is willing to meet us without preconditions and we are hearing conflicting reports on that," Netanyahu said, speaking in Hebrew. "If Abu Mazen agrees to meet me directly without preconditions, I am willing at any time, as I have said for seven years, and if he accepts, that meeting will take place," he said. Peace efforts have been at a standstill since a US-led initiative collapsed in April 2014. The last substantial public meeting between Abbas and Netanyahu is thought to have been in 2010, though there have been unconfirmed reports of secret meetings since then. Egypt approves new minister after wheat scandal The Egyptian parliament voted on Tuesday to approve the appointment of a former military officer as supply minister, after his predecessor quit amid a corruption scandal over wheat imports. Lawmakers backed by a two-thirds majority President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's nomination of Major General Mohammed Ali al-Sheikh, said the parliament's official website. Sheikh, 64, held several high profile military positions until he presided over two commissions procuring supplies and logistics for the armed forces. Egypt's former supply minister, Khaled Hanafy resigned after reportedly being found politically responsible for wheat deals that cost Egypt tens of millions of dollars Khaled Desouki (AFP/File) His predecessor Khaled Hanafy announced his resignation on August 25 after reportedly being found politically responsible for wheat deals that cost Egypt tens of millions of dollars. Suppliers were found to have sold cheaper imported wheat as locally produced in order to obtain state subsidies and inflate the annual harvest, costing the government about $55 million. The probe comes as the government seeks to cut public spending in Egypt, the world's largest importer of wheat. More than five years after its 2011 uprising -- partly fuelled by economic disparities -- that swept away veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak, the country is still reeling from the fallout. In mid-August, Egypt signed with the International Monetary Fund a preliminary agreement for a $12 billion loan spread over three years, which still needs approval from the IMF's board. Andrew Bird Talks Old Chicago Haunts And New 'Pop' By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 6, 2016 5:49PM Photo by Addie Juell Andrew Bird made his name coming up through the Chicago music scene over 15 years ago, playing small Wicker Park and Logan Square clubs. So it's been a joy for us to watch him graduate from that scene to playing large venuesoften pushing the boundaries of live pop performancesand commanding spaces as large as Millennium Park, where Bird plays on Wednesday, Sept. 7. Bird is touring behind his new album, Are You Serious, which continues to merge Bird's more esoteric interests with radio-ready hooks. On the more pop side of things, the LP features a high-profile collaboration with Fiona Apple on the slow burning single "Left Handed Kisses." But we prefer the portions of the album that give Bird center stage and cater to his strengthsand we don't simply mean music that features his dextrous whistling and virtuosic violin playing. "Capsized" opens the album with an insistent funk beat backed by distorted organ; and Bird slips into the vocal equivalent of a velour suit to deliver one of the sexiest songs about break-up we've heard in a long time. (Don't believe that's the subject matter? We've got the word from Bird that it is.) And "Puma" is one of the least likely Summer Strut songs we've heard in a long timebut we dare you not to ride atop its chorus and walk down the street in anything less than a hip-shakin' gait. Lyrically, for a man known to stuff verses and choruses with a backbreaking number of syllables, Are You Serious is relatively straightforward. Where Bird once tried to couch his subject matter in obtuse terminology, on the new album he seems to have decided that transparency is a worthwhile exercise as well. Bird was kind enough to answer a few questions from us ahead of his appearance at Millennium Park tomorrow at 7 p.m. CHICAGOIST: It's been a while since you've lived here, but we'll always claim you as a Chicagoan. When you were a resident what were some of your favorite places to go, either to hang out or play music? ANDREW BIRD: The Lakeside Lounge in Uptown, which is long gone but was a favorite late night spot. Nightwatch was the house band that played behind the bar till 4 a.m. The Hideout of course was our clubhouse for years and my favorite place to play. C: When you do make it back to town what are some of the things you love to do still? ANDREW BIRD: I usually head straight to Lula Cafe. Logan Square was the last neighborhood I lived in. I played there when it first opened. C: Your last few albums have shown a trend toward a shinier pop directionnot a bad thing! What's been driving that? ANDREW BIRD: I'd only take issue with the word shiny. The last few records have been pretty scrappy affairs, but I think what you're hearing is less whimsy and artful digressions and more simple, memorable songwriting. That's the most challenging thing to do. I've got plenty of side projects to satisfy my artistic urges, I'm just trying to write good songs. C: What's your favorite place to still play in town? ANDREW BIRD: Either The Hideout or The Auditorium Theater. Millennium Park is pretty special, too. C: Anything else you'd like to tell us about the new album? ANDREW BIRD: I put as much sweat into this one as I did The Mysterious Production of Eggs. Maybe the "album" is dead as an art form, but I thought I'd give it another shot. Andrew Bird plays Millennium Park on Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. and tickets are still available. After setbacks, IS digs in with focus on deadly attacks Despite major setbacks including the loss of access to the Syria-Turkey border and the assassination of several top leaders, the Islamic State group remains a potent force, analysts warn. The increasing pressure on IS, including Turkey's decision to launch an operation against it in northern Syria, has seen the organisation lose ground at an unprecedented pace. But the jihadist organisation still has the capacity to obtain weapons, attract recruits and dispatch fighters to carry out devastating attacks abroad, according to experts. An Iraqi soldier stands next to a wall with a red cross above a slogan of the Islamic State (IS) group Ahmad al-Rubaye (AFP/File) On Sunday, the Turkish operation reclaimed the last stretch of the Syria-Turkey border from the jihadist group, sealing off its self-styled "caliphate" in Syria and Iraq and forcing it to rely on smuggling networks instead. It was just the latest setback for IS, which is now under attack from Syrian and Iraqi troops, but also Kurdish fighters, Syrian rebels, Turkish forces, Russian warplanes, and a US-led coalition. IS now controls just 20 percent of Iraq and 35 percent of Syria, according to Fabrice Balanche, an expert on the political geography of Syria. At the height of its expansion after seizing Syria's Palmyra in May 2015, it controlled around 240,000 square kilometres (more than 92,000 square miles) in both countries, an area roughly the size of Britain, he says. But today that has fallen by more than a third to around 150,000 square kilometres, Balanche says. The population it controls has dropped from some eight million people in mid-2015 to 4.5 million people today, he says. Last month, the jihadists lost Jazirat al-Khaldiyeh, an area in Iraq's western Anbar province that was a key crossroads, dealing a major blow to its mobility. And in Libya, the group is on the verge of losing its stronghold of Sirte. The territorial losses have been accompanied by a series of high-profile assassinations of its key leaders, including senior commander Omar al-Shishani, and spokesman and top strategist Abu Mohamed al-Adnani. - 'Shouldn't be underestimated' - The setbacks paint a picture of decline for IS, once deemed the world's richest "terror" group, able to attract a flood of foreign recruits with its army-like prowess and a pledge to "remain and expand". But analysts warn the group is far from finished, and that its focus may simply be shifting from territorial expansion to consolidation of population centres -- like Syria's Raqa and Iraq's Mosul -- and new attacks against civilians in the region and the West. "IS has faced a campaign of exponential pressure that has steadily constrained their capacity to fight, to operate, to earn and to credibly claim an 'expanding' caliphate," said Charles Lister, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute think-tank. "But it remains a highly adaptable organisation with extensive asymmetric reach -- it should not be underestimated." While the loss of the border with Turkey will hamper the group's ability to import new weapons and recruits, as well as to export resources such as oil, that challenge is hardly new. "IS's access to the border has been dramatically reduced for a while now," said Syria expert Thomas Pierret, a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. Pressure from Kurdish forces and a Turkish crackdown on the border had already forced IS to mainly rely on smuggling networks instead, he said. And for weapons, it has always relied to some degree on purchasing from corrupt individuals among its enemies, or capturing arms from defeated opponents. "All of that will certainly be sufficient to ensure the group's survival as an insurgency, but keeping afloat a proto-state in these circumstances will become more problematic," Pierret said. - 'Uptick in terror attacks' - Given that difficulty, IS is likely to continue a trend experts say is already under way: "consolidating core urban, populated territory and rebuilding the asymmetric capabilities that allow it to carry out incessant bombings", Lister said. IS still holds the key cities of Raqa and Mosul, with long-running talk of operations to recapture them yielding little in the way of military action so far. In the interim, the group has claimed a steady trickle of attacks in the West, including the shooting of two police officers in Copenhagen last week, and unleashed a wave of suicide bombers in Syria and Iraq. On Monday IS claimed a series of bombings across mostly government-held Syria that killed at least 48 people, as well as a car bomb in central Iraq that killed at least seven. "The trajectory is characterised by an overall downward trend in military influence and ability to preserve its territory in Libya, Iraq and Syria, along with an uptick in launching terrorist operations against civilian targets," said Charlie Winter, an associate fellow at the Hague-based International Centre for Counter-Terrorism. The shift has already been reflected in IS's media output, said Aymenn al-Tamimi, a jihadism expert at the Middle East Forum. "We see this in the overall decline in non-military-related IS propaganda, along with a lack of claims of new 'wilayas' (provinces) abroad, but focus instead on claiming attacks," he said. That leaves IS looking like a different, but still dangerous, force, said Winter. "I think we have seen it at its strongest militarily, but in terms of overall influence... it is still a great cause for concern." Attacks in Syria afp (AFP/File) Turkish military tanks are seen during clashes between Turkish soldiers and Islamic State group fighters, 20 km west of the Turkish-Syrian border town of Karkamis, in the southern region of Gaziantep Bulent Kilic (AFP/File) Iraqi families who had fled the violence around the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, gather at the Dibaga camp in the town of Makhmur, before returning to their villages south of the city of Mosul Safin Hamed (AFP/File) Abbas and Netanyahu say willing to meet, but no date set Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both said Tuesday they were willing to meet to relaunch peace efforts, but no date was set and they traded blame for stalled talks. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been seeking to arrange a meeting between the two in Moscow in a bid to restart peace efforts that have been at a standstill for more than two years. But disagreements over the conditions for such talks have derailed previous efforts, and Netanyahu again called for a meeting without preconditions. Polish President Andrzej Duda (R) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas shake hands during an official welcoming ceremony in the courtyard of the presidential palace in Warsaw on September 6, 2016 Janek Skarzynski (AFP) Abbas did not speak of what his conditions would be for such a meeting if any, but Palestinian leaders have previously spoken of three issues. They include a halt to Israeli settlement building, the release of prisoners and a deadline for the end of the occupation of the West Bank. The Palestinian president, speaking during a visit to Warsaw, said a meeting had been proposed for Friday but an aide to Netanyahu suggested delaying this, leading to it being called off. "Netanyahu's representative proposed to delay this meeting to a later date. So the meeting will not happen," Abbas said at a joint press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda. "But I am ready and I declare again that I will go to any meeting." Netanyahu, speaking during a visit to The Hague, said he was "ready to meet Abu Mazen (Abbas) at any time directly and without preconditions". "The real question is whether Abu Mazen is willing to meet us without preconditions and we are hearing conflicting reports on that," he said. Putin's Middle East envoy has held talks with both Netanyahu and Palestinian leaders in recent days. On Tuesday after talks in Palestinian political capital Ramallah, he said efforts would continue to work towards a future meeting. "We are very thankful that Abu Mazen accepted in principle the Russian initiative proposed by President Putin," Mikhail Bogdanov said. "We'll continue our efforts, discussions and contacts with the two parties about the form, contents and dates of the meeting." - Political concerns - Peace efforts have been at a standstill since a US-led initiative collapsed in April 2014. The last substantial public meeting between Abbas and Netanyahu is thought to have been in 2010, although there have been unconfirmed reports of secret meetings since then. There have been concerns in Israel that US President Barack Obama will seek to make a strong statement on the conflict in his final months in office, possibly by supporting or at least not vetoing a UN Security Council resolution that Israel opposes. International criticism of Israeli settlement building, including from the United States, has intensified in recent months. Netanyahu's government, considered to be the most right-wing in the country's history, has nonetheless continued with the policy. The settlements are considered illegal under international law and major obstacles to peace as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state. At the same time, the Palestinians themselves remain divided between Abbas's Fatah party and the Islamist movement Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip. Polls have also shown that the majority of Palestinians want the 81-year-old Abbas to resign, making it difficult for him to take any steps that could be seen as concessions. France has also been pursuing its own peace initiative, with the idea of holding an international conference on the conflict before the end of the year. The Palestinians strongly support France's international approach, saying years of negotiations with the Israelis have not ended the occupation. Netanyahu, however, firmly opposes the French initiative and calls for direct talks. On Tuesday, Abbas said international help to end the conflict was crucial. "The peace process has stalled because of the Israeli government's position and we now need the political and economic help of the United States and the European Union, especially to rebuild our infrastructure," he said. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (L) shakeshands with his counterpart Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu in The Hague on September 6, 2016 Robin Utrecht (ANP/AFP) Clinton, Trump war of words escalates as race narrows Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, sensing the urgency of a presidential campaign entering its home stretch, assailed one another on multiple fronts and in coarse terms as new data showed the candidates in a dead heat. It was another day of scathing rebukes, intense rhetoric and tit-for-tat accusations as the bitter rivals sought to claim the advantage with voters just nine weeks before the November 8 election. In Florida, Clinton branded Trump a "demagogue" and declared his campaign to be "one long insult." Hillary Clinton rallied supporters at a voter registration event in swing state Florida, saying "I can't do it without you" Brendan Smialowski (AFP) After the brash billionaire made a sudden trip to Mexico last week to meet President Enrique Pena Nieto, Clinton said Trump choked because he failed to discuss his demand that Mexico pay for Trump's border wall. "Let me just tell you about choking," Trump fumed to ABC. "I don't choke. She chokes." Trump has edged ahead of Clinton in a new CNN/ORC poll, at 45 percent to 43 percent among likely voters, while an NBC News poll of registered voters shows Clinton's lead holding at six percentage points -- 48 percent to 42 percent. Another survey, by The Washington Post, looking at all 50 states shows Clinton with a solid lead in terms of electoral college votes, and even strength in some traditional Republican strongholds. Clinton said she pays no attention to polls. "We're sticking with our strategy, we feel very good about where we are," she said. But the polls show how close the race is looking ahead of the vote, making the battle for the so-called swing states all the more critical. Clinton rallied supporters at a voter registration event in swing state Florida, while the billionaire real estate mogul held a town hall meeting with military veterans before heading to North Carolina for an evening campaign rally. "We have 62 days -- just 62 days -- to make the case, and I can't do it without you," Clinton said in Tampa. The candidates have less than three weeks before the first of three scheduled presidential debates -- expected to be the most watched moments of an already raucous campaign. - 'Coming after me' - Clinton, in the national eye for three decades, shrugged off the intense nature of Republican attacks against her, including a call for a fresh congressional investigation of the Clinton Foundation following reports that donors gained inappropriate access to her while she was secretary of state. "I believe I'm the best person for this job and I believe they're going to keep coming after me," Clinton told reporters. With Monday's Labor Day holiday kicking off the final dash to Election Day, Clinton took pains to make herself more than available to reporters traveling with her, after nearly nine months without holding a formal press conference. She took questions for more than 20 minutes on her plane for a second straight day. Clinton said Trump was "dead wrong" for saying his tax returns were not the concern of everyday Americans, despite every major presidential nominee since Richard Nixon releasing their taxes before the election. "I think it is a fundamental issue about him in this campaign that we're going to talk about in one way or another for the next 62 days. Because he clearly has something to hide," Clinton said. - 'She's a disaster' - While Clinton repeated her charge that Trump is "temperamentally unfit" for office, Trump assured veterans in Virginia Beach that he was in their corner, and used the opportunity to slam Clinton's ineffectiveness as a top diplomat and politician. "She's a disaster in so many different ways, folks," he said. "You have illegal immigrants that she wants... treated better than veterans." Clinton is promoting a pathway to citizenship for many of the 11 million people living in the shadows, while Trump wants to curtail immigration and require that those who wish to gain legalized status must leave the country first. The two also exchanged shots about national security, with Trump warning that Clinton would be unable to stand up to adversaries like President Vladimir Putin of Russia. "Putin looks at her and he laughs," Trump said. Trump released a letter in which 88 retired generals and admirals endorsed him, a revelation dismissed by Clinton. "I think we're up to 89, but who's counting?" she quipped, noting how several Republican national security figures openly support her. She also upbraided him for saying he would have stayed on his plane and left China if he were treated as President Barack Obama was last week when he was forced to exit Air Force One from a rear door. Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn pointed to the hard-knuckled political battle ahead and urged Clinton to hit Trump relentlessly. "Once you get someone down, you keep your foot on their throat," Buckhorn told AFP. "If I'm her, I'm hammering him every day and not letting up." Donald Trump has edged ahead of Hillary Clinton in a CNN/ORC poll of likely voters, while an NBC News poll of registered voters shows Clinton's holding a six points lead David Cruz (Digital/AFP/File) "I'm not taking anybody, anywhere for granted," Hillary Clinton told a crowd of more than 1,000 at a picnic in Cleveland, Ohio Brendan Smialowski (AFP) Snapchat ad revenue to rocket: eMarketer Snapchat is expected to generate nearly a billion dollars next year, as marketers look to the vanishing messaging service to connect with young audiences, a research firm said Tuesday. California-based Snapchat will take in $366.7 million in ad revenue globally this year, and $935.5 million in 2017, according to estimates from eMarketer. The forecast said that Snapchat revenue could nearly double the following year to $1.76 billion. Snapchat estimates it has more than 100 million users globally of the service for sending videos, images and text messages which vanish after being viewed Lionel Bonaventure (AFP/File) "Advertisers are attracted to Snapchat for its broad reach among young millennials and those in Generation Z, which are valuable demographic groups for many businesses," eMarketer analyst Cathy Boyle said in a release. Snapchat has broadened its array of video ads and ways that advertisers can sponsor image filters or lenses in order to target its young, internet-savvy users. Snapchat estimates it has more than 100 million users globally of the service for sending videos, images and text messages which vanish after being viewed. Some reports say it generates 10 billion video views per day. The service for sending messages that vanish shortly after being seen by recipients became a hit with teenagers and young adults. About 59 percent of Snapchat's estimated 58.9 million in the United States are younger than 25 years old, and some 85 percent of them are younger than 35, according to eMarketer. Snapchat introduced advertising at its service in 2015 and is still striving for sound footing to stand against established social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, especially when it comes to targeting ads and measuring results. Snapchat currently gets 95 percent of its ad revenues from the US, according to eMarketer. Chicago hits 500 homicides in 2016: report Chicago marked its 500th homicide of the year over the US Labor Day holiday weekend, after 13 people were shot dead in an ongoing spike in violent deaths, the Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday. A surge of killings occurred between the early hours of Monday and Tuesday in what police believe was a spate of retaliatory violence mainly involving gangs to avenge affronts from earlier in the weekend, the newspaper reported. A total of 65 people were shot over the Labor Day weekend, with nearly half of them in the last of the three days. A Chicago police officer stands at a crime scene on August 31, 2016, as the city's homicide count now stands at 512 for 2016 Joshua Lott (Getty/AFP/File) According to the Tribune, the city's homicide count now stands at 512 for 2016. The Chicago Police Department put the number at 488 as of late Monday, an officer in media relations told AFP on Tuesday. The Tribune said its figure was higher because it includes highway killings and homicides which are considered justifiable, unlike the police tally. A retired pastor who was heard arguing with another individual was shot in the face and died near a senior housing complex, the paper reported. The uptick in violent deaths has brought Chicago's murder rate in line with levels not seen since the 1990s, when more than 900 people were killed annually, the Tribune said. The deadly holiday shootings far outpaced Chicago's other summer three-day weekends: six people died in shootings over Memorial Day in May and five over Independence Day in July. New York, in contrast, experienced its safest summer in more than 20 years according to crime statistics unveiled Tuesday by outgoing police commissioner Bill Bratton. The city has long proclaimed itself the safest big city in the United States. Overall reported crime was down five percent in the three months from June-August compared to the same period in 2015, and down 73 percent since 1994 when Compstat records began. In August, murders were down 2.9 percent, rape down 6.7 percent and robbery down 15 percent compared to the same month in 2015. Palestinian economy could double without Israeli occupation: UN The Palestinian economy could easily double, while sky-high unemployment and poverty would plummet if the Israeli occupation were lifted, the United Nations development agency said Tuesday. In a new report, UNCTAD pointed to a long list of ways the Israeli occupation stifled the economies of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including the confiscation of Palestinian land, water and other natural resources. The widespread restrictions on the movement of people and goods, destruction of homes, trees and other assets, and the expansion of Israeli settlements were also damaging, it said. "Without occupation, the economy of the Occupied Palestinian Territory could produce twice the GDP (gross domestic product) it currently generates," the report said Ahmad Gharabli (AFP/File) "Without occupation, the economy of the Occupied Palestinian Territory could produce twice the GDP (gross domestic product) it currently generates," the report said. The economy of the territories grew 3.5 percent last year after shrinking 0.2 percent in 2014, when it was hard-hit by the devastating war in Gaza between Israel and Islamist rulers Hamas and other factions. Per capita income remains below its pre-2014 level, the report said. The 2014 Gaza war killed more than 2,200 Palestinians and 73 on the Israeli side while causing economic losses close to three times the size of Gaza's GDP. With reconstruction hampered by Israel's blockade and by lagging international aid, 91 percent of damaged houses in Gaza have yet to be rebuilt and 75,000 people remain displaced two years on, UNCTAD said. UNCTAD also pointed to the dire impact Israel's control of the so-called "Area C", which covers 61 percent of the West Bank and 66 percent of its grazing land. "It is estimated that the occupation of Area C costs the Palestinian economy the equivalent of 35 percent of GDP" ($4.4 billion in 2015), UNCTAD said in a statement. - Gaza's rising infant mortality - In Gaza meanwhile, producers are unable to access half of the cultivable area due to an Israeli-imposed buffer zone blocking access to land alongside the border fence, and 85 percent of fishery resources due to a maritime blockade, it said. Israel also widely blocks Palestinians from digging water wells, while confiscating 82 percent of Palestinian groundwater, the agency said. "The Palestinians are left with no choice but to import their own water from Israel to cover 50 percent of their consumption," it said. All of this combined has "generated permanent crises of unemployment, poverty and food insecurity," UNCTAD said. Officially, one quarter of the population in the Palestinian territories is unemployed, while the rate in Gaza is 38 percent, but these figures are likely to significantly underestimate the problem, UNCTAD said. "A shocking indicator of the grim situation in Gaza is the rising infant mortality rate, ... (which) has risen for the first time in 50 years," the report said. The neonatal mortality rate nearly doubled between 2008 and 2013, from 12 to 20.3 deaths for every 1,000 live births, it said. Cities, towns and territory retaken from IS Islamic State jihadists have given up their last positions along the Turkish-Syrian border, depriving the group of important transit points for recruits and supplies. But IS still holds sway over a large area in Iraq and Syria and in the past few days has claimed deadly bombings in Baghdad and in Syria's regime stronghold of Tartus. And while air strikes have eliminated IS leaders like Omar al-Shishani and propaganda chief Mohamed al-Adnani, foreign jihadists they attracted now pose a threat to many countries. Turkish soldiers stand in a Turkish army tank driving back to Turkey from the Syrian-Turkish border town of Jarabulus Bulent Kilic (AFP/File) Here is a recap of key cities, towns and territory IS has lost in Syria, Iraq and Libya: - Syria - KOBANE: A Kurdish town in northern Syria on the Turkish border. It became a symbol of the fight against IS, and the jihadists were driven out of Kobane in January 2015 after more than four months of fierce fighting with Kurdish forces backed by US-led strikes. TAL ABYAD: Another city on the Turkish border, it was captured by Kurds in June 2015. Tal Abyad controls a key supply route between Turkey and the IS stronghold Raqa, and jihadist fighters and arms regularly passed through the city before its recapture. PALMYRA: Known as the "Pearl of the Desert", Palmyra was overrun by IS in May 2015, after which the jihadists blew up UNESCO-listed temples and looted ancient relics. Syrian regime forces backed by Russian warplanes and allied militia retook the ancient city from IS in March this year. MANBIJ: On August 6, a coalition of Arab and Kurd fighters backed by US-led aircraft recaptured Manbij following a two-month battle. IS had controlled the town since 2014 and used it as a hub for the movement of jihadists to and from Europe. It also controlled a key supply route for the group. JARABULUS: This border town is north of Manbij and west of Kobane. Turkish troops and Syrian rebels swept almost unopposed into Jarabulus on August 24 during operation "Euphrates Shield," which also targets Kurdish militia. SYRIAN/TURKEY BORDER: On September 4, Turkish troops and allied rebel fighters drove the IS from its last positions along the border. The group is now more isolated, but foreigners trained by it pose a serious threat to their regions of origin. - Iraq - TIKRIT: Hometown of late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein located north of Baghdad, it fell to IS in June 2014, soon after Mosul. It was recaptured in April 2015 by Iraqi troops, police and Shiite-dominated paramilitaries. The operation was helped by the fact that much of Tikrit's civilian population had fled the city. SINJAR: Iraqi Kurdish forces backed by US-led coalition air strikes recaptured Sinjar, northwest of Baghdad, from IS in November 2015. That cut a key supply line linking areas held by the jihadists in Iraq and Syria. IS had captured Sinjar in August 2014 and pursued a brutal campaign against its Yazidi minority that included massacres, enslavement and rape. RAMADI: The capital of Anbar, Iraq's largest province that stretches from the borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to just west of Baghdad. Ramadi was recaptured on February 9, about nine months after IS seized it in an assault involving dozens of suicide attackers driving explosives-rigged vehicles. FALLUJAH: Anbar province's second city and one of IS's most emblematic bastions in the country. It was seized by anti-government fighters in 2014 and later became a key IS stronghold close to the capital. Iraqi forces recaptured Fallujah in June this year. QAYYARAH: Iraqi soldiers backed by coalition aircraft retook Qayyarah from IS on August 25, providing Baghdad with a platform for its assault on Mosul, which lies a little further to the north. The prime minister has promised that offensive would be wrapped up by the end of 2016. - Libya - Forces loyal to Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA) backed by US airstrikes have recaptured nearly all of Sirte, the jihadists' main stronghold in North Africa. Syria and Iraq: zones of control Thomas Saint-Cricq, Sabrina Blanchard, Simon Malfatto, Jean Michel Cornu (AFP) An Iraqi soldier stands next to a wall with a red cross above a slogan of the Islamic State group in the city of Fallujah which was recaptured by Iraq Ahmad Al-Rubaye (AFP/File) New York state opens antitrust probe of Mylan's EpiPen New York state has launched an antitrust probe into Mylan's sale of the EpiPen anti-allergy injector to local school systems, New York's attorney general announced Tuesday. A preliminary review by the New York office concluded that Mylan may have inserted anticompetitive terms into EpiPen sales contracts with local school systems, said Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. "No child's life should be put at risk because a parent, school, or healthcare provider cannot afford a simple, life-saving device because of a drug-maker's anti-competitive practices," Schneiderman said. A Mylan spokeswoman said the drugmaker's "EpiPen4Schools" program has provided more than 700,000 free auto-injectors to more than 65,000 schools in the US Drew Angerer (Getty/AFP/File) The probe comes as Mylan faces criticism from Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, among others, after instituting a five-fold increase in the price of the life-saving epinephrine injectors over a decade. A Mylan spokeswoman said the drugmaker's "EpiPen4Schools" program has provided more than 700,000 free auto-injectors to more than 65,000 schools in the US and that the program "continues to adhere to all applicable laws and regulations." The drugmaker previously offered to sell schools additional injectors beyond those provided for free under the program, but that "such restriction no longer remains," the Mylan spokeswoman said. Since coming under fire for higher prices last month, Mylan has announced plans to offer a generic version of EpiPen and to expand patient assistance programs. Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar, whose daughter relies on EpiPen, has called on the Federal Trade Commission to launch an anti-trust investigation against the company, which has a near-monopoly in the market. Most humpback whales taken off US endangered species list Most populations of humpback whales are no longer on the United States endangered species list thanks to international conservation efforts, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Tuesday. Four decades of national and international initiatives to protect and conserve the marine mammals have helped nine of 14 humpback population segments rebound from historically low levels. "Today's news is a true ecological success story," said Eileen Sobeck, assistant NOAA administrator for fisheries. Today just four whale groups remain on the endangered list, and one is now listed as threatened Miguel Medina (AFP/File) "Whales, including the humpback, serve an important role in our marine environment. Separately managing humpback whale populations that are largely independent of each other allows us to tailor conservation approaches for each population." After commercial whaling severely reduced populations, the US listed all humpback whales as endangered in 1970. Today, just four whale groups remain on that list, and one is now listed as threatened. The International Whaling Commission's whaling moratorium imposed in 1982 -- which remains in effect -- played a crucial part in the comeback, NOAA said. The US Marine Mammal Protection Act that protects marine mammals within US waters still applies to all humpback whales, regardless of endangered status. The MMPA prohibits the killing of certain marine mammals in US waters and by US citizens on the high seas, and bans their importation into the United States. Two separate regulatory decisions filed Tuesday maintain protection for whales living off Hawaii and Alaska by "specifying distance limits for approaching vessels." Two of the four humpback groups still considered endangered can be found in US waters at some times of the year. The Central American population looks for food in the Pacific Ocean off the US West Coast, while the group in the Pacific Northwest spends time in the Bering Sea and near the Aleutian Islands. The humpback group from Mexico now listed as threatened regularly goes to the West Coast of the continental United States and Alaska. In 2010, NOAA launched an extensive review of the status of humpback whales that resulted in the reclassification of the species into 14 distinct populations. NOAA proposed last year to remove 10 of those 14 groups off the endangered list and gave the public 90 days to comment on the proposed change before finalizing its decision. Humpback whales can grow to 60 feet (18 meters) and live 50 years. They weigh up to 40 tons and eat tiny crustaceans called krill, often as much as 3,000 pounds (1,360 kilograms) per day. Chevy Chase enters rehab for 'tuneup' on alcohol problem LOS ANGELES (AP) Chevy Chase has checked into a rehab facility in Minnesota for treatment for an alcohol problem. Chase's publicist Heidi Schaeffer said Monday that Chase is at Hazelden Addiction Treatment Center for what she calls a "tuneup" in his recovery. Chase has had struggles with substances during his career. He checked into the Betty Ford Clinic in the 1980s for treatment for an addiction to prescription pain killers. FILE - In this Feb. 15, 2015 file photo, Chevy Chase attends the SNL 40th Anniversary Special at Rockefeller Plaza, in New York. Chase has checked into a rehab facility in Minnesota for treatment for an alcohol problem. Chase's publicist Heidi Schaeffer said Monday, Sept. 5, 2016, that Chase is at Hazelden Addiction Treatment Center for what she calls a "tune-up" in his recovery. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File) The 72-year-old former star of "Saturday Night Live" and the "Vacation" movies was recently a regular on TV's "Community" from 2009 to 2014. He has a pair of films coming up, "The Christmas Apprentice," and "Dog Years." Chicago Surpasses 500 Homicides After Bloody Labor Day Weekend By Stephen Gossett in News on Sep 6, 2016 2:40PM Crime scene tape (Photo by LukaTDB via Shutterstock) In the midst of a bloody holiday weekend, Chicago has reached and surpassed a shameful mark: 500 homicides in 2016. The city did not record 500 homicides over the entirety of last year; the final 2015 homicide count totaled 491. Over the long Labor Day weekend, 13 people were shot and killedand another 52 were non-fatally shotraising the current year-to-date homicide figure to 512 after Monday, according to Tribune data. One of the shooting victims was a pregnant woman, Crystal Meyers, 23, who was taken to Stroger Hospital and listed in serious condition. Her boyfriend, Albert Moore, was also shot and taken to Stroger, in critical condition, according to police. Also among the non-fatal shooting victims was a man, 26, who was struck while driving on the Dan Ryan Expressway, near 83rd St., late on Monday night. Nearly half the shootings occurred within about 20 hours, late in the weekend, between Monday and Tuesday mornings. As the Tribune points out, the Fourth of July weekend saw a similar late upsurge in violence when a 15-hour spike capped off a relative period of calm. Mayor Rahm Emanuel confirmed on Friday that he plans to hire a wave of additional police officers to counter the violence epidemic. He said he intends to outline the plan further on Sept. 20. The bloody Labor Day weekend continues a late-summer trend of dramatic violence: August's 90 homicides and 472 shooting victims made it the deadliest month in Chicago in 20 years; while high-profile deaths like the shooting of Nykea Aldridge plunged Chicago violence back into the national spotlight. [H/T Tribune] Clinton says she won't be going Mexico before Election Day WASHINGTON (AP) Hillary Clinton says she won't be going Mexico before Election Day. ABC News' David Muir asked Clinton on Monday if she would accept Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto's invitation to visit, as Republican rival Donald Trump did last week. Clinton responded, "No." Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives at the Quad Cities International Airport in Moline, Ill., Monday, Sept. 5, 2016, after traveling from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) The Democrat says she's "going to continue to focus on what we're doing to create jobs here at home." Hanjin pledges $90 million to resolve shipping cargo chaos SEOUL, South Korea (AP) Hanjin Group said Tuesday it will inject $90 million, including $36 million from its chairman Cho Yang-ho's personal assets, to help resolve disruptions to container cargo transport caused by Hanjin Shipping Co.'s financial troubles. The move follows South Korean government demands that the parent company do more to help as Hanjin's vessels remain stranded outside ports after the company filed for bankruptcy protection last week. Hanjin Shipping is seeking protection from creditors in dozens of countries, hoping to minimize seizures of its assets. With the company's assets frozen, its ships are being refused permission to offload or take on containers at ports worldwide, out of concern tugboat pilots or stevedores may not be paid. Out of 141 vessels the company operates, 68 were not operating normally, were stranded or seized, as of Sunday. FILE - In this Sept. 1, 2016, file photo, South Korea's Hanjin Shipping Co. container ship Hanjin Montevideo, top, is anchored outside the Port of Long Beach in Long Beach, Calif. South Korea's financial regulator said Monday, Sept. 5, 2016, that financially troubled Hanjin Shipping Co. will seek stay orders in dozens of countries this week to help minimize disruptions caused by its slide into bankruptcy proceedings. The Financial Services Commission said Hanjin, the country's largest ocean container shipper, will seek bankruptcy protection in 43 countries, including Canada, Germany and Britain. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File) Late Tuesday, a federal judge temporarily granted the company's request to have bankruptcy protections from its South Korean proceedings recognized in the United States. Judge John Sherwood in Newark, New Jersey, ordered a hearing on Friday to make sure that creditors are protected during the bankruptcy. The world's seventh largest ocean shipper, Hanjin Shipping is part of the Seoul-based Hanjin Group, a huge, family-dominated conglomerate, or chaebol, that also includes Korean Air. The Hanjin Group said in a statement Tuesday that it will provide its stakes in overseas terminals, such as the one Hanjin operates in Long Beach, California, as collateral to borrow 60 billion won ($54 million). That still falls short of the fees that Hanjin Shipping must pay for services it needs to offload cargoes already on its vessels. According to local media reports, that amounts to 600 billion won ($543 million). It was unclear if banks or the government might provide more financing to resolve the immediate crisis. In the meantime, South Korean regulators said they are directing Hanjin Shipping vessels to unload cargoes in a few key ports, including in Singapore and Hamburg, Germany. With the country's largest ocean shipper idled and the shipbuilding industry also in crisis, a government task force is directing moves to salvage the container shipping sector, which like ocean shipping worldwide has been battered by weak demand and overcapacity. "The government is making all-out efforts to minimize damage and loss of consignors," Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho told reporters late Monday. "Korean government-led response teams will be formed in the selected offshore ports to swiftly receive stay orders or guaranteed protection," Yoo said in Hangzhou, China, where he was attending a Group of 20 summit. Officials appear set on a consolidation, without committing huge sums of taxpayer cash, of Hanjin and its smaller rival, Hyundai Merchant Marine, which already is being restructured. Hanjin Shipping was handling nearly 8 percent of the trans-Pacific trade volume for the U.S. market, and with its container ships marooned offshore, major retailers have been scrambling to devise contingency plans to get their merchandise into stores. The shipping company has posted net losses every year since 2011. Last week, creditors led by the Korea Development Bank rejected a plan by Hanjin Group to spend another 500 billion won ($447.2 million) to rescue the shipping firm, way short of Hanjin Shipping's more than 6 trillion won ($5.37 billion) in debts. Hanjin's shares jumped 20 percent on Tuesday on hopes for government help for the company, after falling 13.7 percent on Monday. ___ Associated Press writer Josh Cornfield in Trenton, New Jersey, contributed to this report. ___ Lee can be reached on Twitter: www.twitter.com/YKLeeAP Her previous works can be found on: http://bigstory.ap.org/content/youkyung-lee From remote stronghold, Haiti fugitive seeks political power PESTEL, Haiti (AP) Fishermen gathered eagerly at a rickety wooden pier to welcome a boat carrying Haiti's most divisive and provocative political candidate. The crowd quickly cleared a path as Guy Philippe stepped to shore and began shaking hands and slapping backs. More people emerged to see the man whose face adorns campaign posters on one-room shacks in a community isolated from the rest of the country by forested mountains and rutted roads. Philippe is reviled by some Haitians as a leader of the 2004 rebellion that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He is wanted on decade-old drug-trafficking charges by U.S. authorities. And last week, a Haitian judge questioned him about a deadly May raid on a police station after he rebuffed previous subpoenas. In this Aug. 25, 2016 photo, Guy Philippe, center, is surrounded by supporters as he campaigns for senator in Corail, Haiti. Many already call him "senator" as he seeks to win a seat in a runoff election scheduled for Oct. 9, a victory that would give him immunity from arrest and prosecution in his homeland. Philippe was a leader in the 2004 rebellion that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide; is wanted on decade-old drug-trafficking charges by U.S. authorities; and a Haitian judge questioned him about a deadly May raid on a police station after he rebuffed previous subpoenas. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) Yet Philippe appears to be revered in the rural Grand'Anse region of southern Haiti. Many already call him "senator" as he seeks to win a seat in a runoff election scheduled for Oct. 9 a victory that would give him immunity from arrest and prosecution in his homeland as well as political power that he has long craved. "He's like a father for this area," said Christin Pierre Louis, who was among those welcoming Philippe to the village. Elsewhere, many see him as a troubling symbol of Haiti's wider problems. "There is an accountability vacuum in Haiti that means people implicated in past human rights violations can run as popular candidates with no fear of investigations, much less prosecutions, of alleged abuses," said Amanda Klasing, a senior researcher with New York-based Human Rights Watch. The fugitive candidate, who looks much younger than his 48 years, allowed Associated Press journalists to spend a day with him in his Pestel stronghold. It's a remote municipality in the rugged mountainous region that has been his refuge since U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents barely missed capturing him in a 2007 raid at his house in the south coast city of Les Cayes. He says he wants to bring prosperity to Haiti's mountainous southern peninsula, which features clear blue waters and lush forests but has scarce electricity, little infrastructure and widespread hunger. Philippe insists he is innocent of any crimes, blaming the accusations on enemies trying to silence him. He has particular rancor for Haiti's caretaker president. "The path I chose, the way I chose, is not easy. But I chose it and I'm willing to die for it," Philippe told AP journalists, who made the teeth-rattling drive to his stronghold along a dirt road that has been lined with boulders so barricades can be erected at a moment's notice. In Pestel, where his father served as mayor, Philippe is the undisputed boss. Downing bottles of Prestige beer, he held court at the town's only hotel, which he owns. He occasionally barked orders to supporters, socialized with a coterie of hangers-on and doled out favors. At a gazebo he built for the town on a waterfront promenade, he made an open invitation to former soldiers to relocate to Pestel. Haiti's military was abolished in 1995, but veterans like Philippe and their supporters have long demanded the army be reconstituted. "They can come to Pestel land of liberty," he said, flashing a grin. While Philippe insisted he holds great respect for law enforcement as a former police commander and soldier, he warned that any uniformed officials trying to capture him in his tropical outpost will be met with force. "We'll consider them as mercenaries and we will fight them," he said. Philippe denied reports he has stockpiles of weapons, but two T65 assault rifles and a pair of M-1 carbines were visible inside a roadside shack where a lookout stood guard. Philippe's candidacy for a Senate seat is the latest chapter in a colorful life. In 2000, he was police chief of the northern city of Cap-Haitien, the country's second largest city, when he bolted to the neighboring Dominican Republic after accusations he was plotting a coup. While in exile, he was accused of masterminding attacks on Haitian police stations and other targets. He returned in 2004 to join an uprising against Aristide, taking over a band of rebels that captured Cap-Haitien. Aristide left the country aboard a U.S.-supplied jet before Philippe's rebels reached the capital. After rolling triumphantly into Port-au-Prince, Philippe proclaimed himself "military chief." But he gave up his arms as a U.N. stabilization force geared up. He ran for president in 2006, finishing a distant ninth. A year later, heavily armed U.S. and Haitian anti-drug agents raided his home in Les Cayes but found only his family and a maid. U.S. agents came in several Black Hawk helicopters. A fugitive poster from the DEA said he is wanted on charges including conspiracy to import cocaine into the U.S. But the decade-old U.S. indictment charging him is sealed and federal prosecutors decline to discuss the case. Philippe faces questions about a May 16 assault on the Les Cayes police headquarters. As many as 50 armed men wearing camouflage or faded green uniforms attacked the station, stealing guns and killing one police officer and wounding another. His lawyer, Reynold Georges, confirms that Philippe is named on a Haitian warrant involving the attack, but says his client had no involvement. Philippe says he is living a simple life and is focusing on his campaign. Jovenel Moise, a presidential candidate chosen by former President Michel Martelly, recently campaigned with Philippe in Pestel. His American wife and two children live in the U.S., and he says he seldom ventures out of Grand'Anse. Philippe warns of trouble if he loses the Senate runoff. "I will fight if I lose this election because I'll know the government did it illegally," he said between swigs of beer. "I've got nothing left to lose." ___ Associated Press writer Curt Anderson in Miami contributed to this report. ___ David McFadden on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dmcfadd In this Aug. 24, 2016 photo, senate candidate Guy Philippe laughs during an interview in Pestel, Haiti. The fugitive candidate, who looks much younger than his 48 years, lives in the remote, mountainous region that has been his refuge since U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents barely missed capturing him in a 2007 raid at his house in the south coast city of Les Cayes. Philippe is wanted on decade-old drug-trafficking charges by U.S. authorities. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) In this Aug. 25, 2016 photo, a mural feature senatorial candidate Guy Philippe in Pestel, Haiti. Philippe says he wants to bring prosperity to Haiti's mountainous southern peninsula, which features clear blue waters and lush forests but has scarce electricity, little infrastructure and widespread hunger. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) In this Aug. 25, 2016 photo, supporters of senatorial candidate Guy Philippe, holding a bottle of Prestige beer, help him get on a boat after campaigning in Corail, Haiti. "He's like a father for this area," said Christin Pierre Louis, who was among those welcoming Philippe to the village. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) In this Aug. 26, 2016 photo, a motorcycle tries to pass the only road to Pestel, Haiti, lined with boulders so barricades can be erected at a moment's notice. While senatorial candidate Guy Philippe insisted he holds great respect for law enforcement as a former police commander and soldier, he warned that any uniformed officials trying to capture him in his tropical outpost will be met with force. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) In this Aug. 25, 2016 photo, senatorial candidate Guy Philippe, right, checks his phone inside his guest house in Pestel, Haiti. In Pestel, where his father served as mayor, Philippe is the undisputed boss. He held court at the town's only hotel, which he owns, occasionally barked orders to supporters, socialized with a coterie of hangers-on and doled out favors. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) In this Aug. 25, 2016 photo, a supporter of senatorial candidate Guy Philippe pastes pictures of the former rebel during the opening of his campaign in Corail, Haiti. A fugitive poster of Philippe from the DEA said he is wanted on charges including conspiracy to import cocaine into the U.S. But the decade-old U.S. indictment charging him is sealed and federal prosecutors decline to discuss the case. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) In this Aug. 25, 2016 photo, a fisherman sleeps in his wooden boat next to the sea in Pestel, Haiti. In the community isolated from the rest of the country by forested mountains and rutted roads, senatorial candidate Guy Philippe made an open invitation to former soldiers to relocate to this town. Haiti's military was abolished in 1995, but veterans like Philippe and their supporters have long demanded the army be reconstituted. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) In this Aug. 25, 2016 photo, supporters hold up campaign posters of senatorial candidate Guy Philippe during the opening of his campaign in Corail, Haiti. In 2000, Philippe was police chief of Cap-Haitien when he fled to the neighboring Dominican Republic after accusations he was plotting a coup. While in exile, he was accused of masterminding attacks on Haitian police stations and other targets. He returned in 2004 to join an uprising against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, taking over a band of rebels that captured Cap-Haitien. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) In this Aug. 25, 2016 photo, supporters of senatorial candidate Guy Philippe stand along the wharf as the former rebel, who is wanted by U.S. authorities for drug trafficking, leaves after campaigning in Corail, Haiti. Philippe insists he is innocent of any crimes, blaming the accusations on enemies trying to silence him. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) Hurricane Newton slams Mexico's Los Cabos resorts, 2 dead CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (AP) Hurricane Newton shattered windows, downed trees and knocked out power in parts of the twin resorts of Los Cabos on Tuesday, but residents were spared the kind of extensive damage seen two years ago when they were walloped by a stronger storm. A shrimp boat capsized in rough seas in the Gulf of California, killing two people and leaving three others missing, authorities said. The boat had set out from the port of Ensenada and was bound for Mazatlan. Newton made landfall at the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California peninsula in the morning as a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 90 mph (150 kph), pelting the area with torrential rain as residents hunkered down in their homes and tourists huddled in hotels. Two men shovel sand deposited by Hurricane Newton, from inside a restaurant in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Tuesday, Sept. 6 2016. Hurricane Newton shattered windows, downed trees and knocked out power in parts of the twin resorts of Los Cabos on Tuesday, but residents were spared the kind of extensive damage seen two years ago when they were walloped by a monster storm. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) Palm trees were toppled along Cabo San Lucas' coastal boulevard and some windows were broken. But there was calm in the city as firefighters cleaned refuse from the streets during the day, and there were no reported casualties on land. "There are only minor damages fallen branches, some fallen banners, some cables. ... In general, no victims," army Col. Enrique Rangel said. After passing over the resort area, Newton spur northward up the interior of the peninsula and then moved out over the gulf Tuesday night. Late Tuesday night, its center was about 20 miles (30 kilometers) east of Santa Rosalia, and it was moving north at around 17 mph (28 kph) with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph). The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm would make landfall in Sonora state still a hurricane Wednesday morning. Newton could reach the U.S. border as a tropical storm at midday Wednesday, and drop 1 to 3 inches of rain over parts of Arizona and New Mexico through Thursday, threatening flash floods and landslides, forecasters said. About 14,000 tourists had remained in Los Cabos as the storm approached, tourism officials said, and visitors began venturing out some after Newton passed. "Just trying to make it through the day, with a little help," Mark Hernandez, a tourist from California, said as he raised a can of beer at one of the few bars open in Cabo San Lucas. "We pray for the city of Cabo San Lucas. It was a rough one as you can see." Roberto Dominguez, a customer relations worker at the Fairfield Marriot, said the hotel's windows and balconies had been sufficiently protected from the storm and guests were fine, although cellphone and internet services had been knocked out. In 2014, Los Cabos suffered heavy damage to homes, shops and hotels when it was hammered by Hurricane Odile, which hit land as a Category 3 storm. "You know, it could have been a lot worse and I think we are very fortunate that it wasn't as bad as Odile," said Darlene Savord, another tourist from California. "I think that we are very fortunate and blessed." Officials evacuated low-lying areas and opened 18 shelters at schools in Los Cabos and 38 more in other parts of the state, while warning people against panic buying. Los Cabos police were stationed at shopping malls to guard against the kind of looting that occurred after Hurricane Odile. Firemen removed a palm tree felled by Hurricane Newton in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. Newton slammed into the twin resorts of Los Cabos on the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California peninsula Tuesday morning, knocking out power in some places as stranded tourists huddled in their hotels. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) People help a tourist move his car after it became stuck in the sand, after the passing of Hurricane Newton in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. Hurricane Newton shattered windows, downed trees and knocked out power in parts of the twin resorts of Los Cabos on Tuesday, but residents were spared the kind of extensive damage seen two years ago when they were walloped by a monster storm. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) A woman wades through a street flooded by the heavy rains brought on by Hurricane Newton in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Newton's winds Tuesday morning were around 90 mph (150 kph) and the storm is expected to still be a hurricane when it makes its second landfall on the northwest coast of mainland Mexico early Wednesday. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) A man recovers belongings after the passing of Hurricane Newton in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Tuesday Sept. 6, 2016. Newton slammed into the twin resorts of Los Cabos on the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California peninsula Tuesday morning, knocking out power in some places as stranded tourists huddled in their hotels. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) A man takes pictures of the damage caused by Hurricane Newton at El Medano Beach, in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. Newton slammed into the twin resorts of Los Cabos on the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California peninsula Tuesday morning, knocking out power in some places as stranded tourists huddled in their hotels. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) A man recovers belongings after the passing of Hurricane Newton in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. Newton slammed into the twin resorts of Los Cabos on the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California peninsula Tuesday morning, knocking out power in some places as stranded tourists huddled in their hotels. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) Bill Cosby returned to a Pennsylvania courtroom on Tuesday where prosecutors said they want 13 other women who have accused the comedian of molesting them to testify in his upcoming felony sexual assault trial that will start June 5. Montgomery County Judge Steven O'Neill said on Tuesday that Cosby is blind and offered whatever special accommodations that the actor may need. 'This case now 252 days from filing of criminal complaints,' O'Neill said in his Pennsylvania courtroom. 'There is a right to a speedy trial.' The 79-year-old arrived to the courthouse laughing with a wide smile on his face as he was pictured getting out of a black SUV with assistance from his legal team who have claimed he is blind for the past few months. He clutched an aide's arm as he walked, but his eyes appeared less milky and he seemed more engaged and animated as he spoke with his legal team before the hearing. The criminal case against the actor involves a single 2004 encounter at his home near Philadelphia with former Temple University employee Andrea Constand. He was charged with drugging and molesting Constand, and this is the only criminal case stemming from dozens of claims of sexual misconduct. Cosby has denied any wrongdoing, but prosecutors can introduce evidence of other acts, even though no charges were brought in those cases, to show a pattern of behavior. Scroll down for video Happy?: Disgraced comedian Bill Cosby (above) arrived to the Montgomery County Courthouse in Pennsylvania laughing on Tuesday. A June 5 trial date has been set for his sexual assault case The 79-year-old was at court with his legal team for a pretrial conference for the criminal case against the actor involving a single 2004 encounter at his home near Philadelphia with former Temple University employee Andrea Constand Prosecutors said they reviewed accusations made against Cosby by about 50 women and concluded 13 should be allowed to testify. Cosby was arrested in December on the sexual assault charges. He is pictured above in the mug shot booking photo 'An individual who, over the course of decades, intentionally intoxicates women in signature fashion with the intention of sexually assaulting them cannot also be mistaken about whether or not these women are consenting to the sexual abuse,' prosecutors wrote in their motion. The defense is expected to oppose such testimony. The judge postponed hearing arguments on the filing during Tuesday's hearing to allow the defense team more time to review the copious material. Constand told police that Cosby drugged and molested her. Legal experts have said a judge might allow as evidence similar allegations against Cosby in which drugs or alcohol were involved. Cosby's lawyers meanwhile asked that prosecutors not be allowed to use a telephone conversation recorded by his accuser's mother and other evidence at his trial. Prosecutors said they reviewed accusations made against Cosby by about 50 women and concluded 13 should be allowed to testify. Cosby is pictured above smiling walking into court on Tuesday Cosby's defense team also hopes to suppress several days of testimony Cosby gave in the accuser's lawsuit a decade ago. Cosby is pictured above smiling walking into court on Tuesday The tape was to be played in the hearing Tuesday afternoon while the judge mulled over the issue. Cosby in the conversation described the sex act as 'digital penetration' but refused to tell Gianna Constand what pills he had given her daughter. The defense argued that Cosby did not know he was being recorded, and that the tape should not be permitted at trial under Pennsylvania's two-party wiretap law. District Attorney Kevin Steele will fight to use both the phone call and a lengthy deposition from Constand's lawsuit at trial. Cosby's lawyers said they will also ask to have the case moved out of Montgomery County, where it was a high-profile issue in Steele's fall campaign for office. He ran against the prosecutor who had declined to charge Cosby in 2005. Cosby has so far lost his efforts to have the felony charges thrown out. Cosby is pictured above smiling walking into court on Tuesday Cosby, who was sporting a light blue seersucker jacket, dropped his media handler, Washington lawyer Monique Pressley, ahead of the hearing. The defense also pushed on Tuesday to keep key evidence out of the case. They hoped to suppress several days of testimony Cosby gave in the accuser's lawsuit a decade ago. Cosby acknowledged giving Andrea Constand several pills before what he calls a consensual sexual encounter. She later said she was in and out of consciousness. 'I don't hear her say anything. And I don't feel her say anything. And so I continue and I go into the area that is somewhere between permission and rejection. I am not stopped,' Cosby testified in the 2005 lawsuit. Veteran Philadelphia defense lawyer Brian McMonagle is expected to lead the courtroom fight as the case moves forward. Cosby also replaced one top-tier Los Angeles law firm with another on his defense team, the second such switch in about a year. Cosby has acknowledged giving Andrea Constand several pills before what he calls a consensual sexual encounter. He is pictured above leaving court on Tuesday Angela Agrusa of Liner LLP also will handle the defamation lawsuits filed in several states by women who say they were defamed when Cosby or his agents denied their accounts. Cosby had countersued some of them. But he has since abandoned that strategy in Philadelphia, where he dropped the lawsuit filed against Constand, her lawyers and her mother. Cosby had accused them of violating the confidentiality of their 2006 settlement, in part by cooperating with police last year. And so the once-beloved comedian known as 'America's Dad' for his top-rated show on family life that ran from 1984 to 1992 finds himself spending his time and fortune in his waning days in a Pennsylvania courtroom. The women who accuse him of similar misconduct say the charges were a long time coming. Cosby's defenders instead suggest he is a wealthy target for the many women he met during five decades as an A-list celebrity. Clemens 'held hostage' at home and at times couldn't use his front door Kozan also threw apples, potatoes and grapefruit, victim statement said An Ohio man who egged his elderly neighbor's home more than 100 times walked free Tuesday as he was sentenced to 18 months of probation. Jason Kozan, 31, will also have to pay a $1,000 fine for the attacks on 86-year-old Albert Clemens Sr's house in Euclid. He pleaded guilty last week to inducing panic, a misdemeanor. A six-month jail sentence was suspended on Tuesday. Vandalism and menacing charges were dropped. The egg-throwing occurred between May 2014 and June 2015, court documents show. Clemens and his wife bought the house 60 years ago after getting married. Scroll down for video Jason Kozan (pictured), 31, was sentenced to 18 months of probation and a $1,000 fine for egging 86-year-old Albert Clemens Sr's house in Euclid, Ohio more than 100 times The attacks defaced the front of Clemens' home (pictured), stripping off the paint. They occurred between May 2014 and June 2015, court documents show Clemens' wife has died but his 51-year-old son and 49-year-old daughter still live there with him. Defense attorney Anthony Bondra said Tuesday there's a great deal of evidence that would lead to a reasonable doubt that Kozan participated in egging the home of Clemens in the Cleveland suburb. Authorities haven't said what motivated the attacks, which largely stopped after Kozan moved. The attacks usually lasted for 10 minutes and always occurred after dark, Cleveland.com reported. Clemens (pictured) bought the house with his wife 60 years ago after getting married. His 51-year-old son and 49-year-old daughter still live there with him The house (pictured) was subjected to multiple attacks a week, sometimes more than one a day. They usually lasted for 10 minutes and happened after dark They happened multiple times a week, sometimes several times a day. Clemens and his family sometimes woke up at 2 am to the sound of the eggs smashing against the front door. 'For over two years Jason Kozan subjected my family to a constant barrage of flying eggs, assorted produce such as apples, oranges, potatoes and grapefruits,' Clemens said in a victim statement Tuesday according to Cleveland 19. 'My daughter was hit squarely on the chest by an egg. I was narrowly missed by a flying potato. A responding officer was hit in the foot by an egg.' Clemens said he and his family were 'virtually held hostage' inside their own home, 'unable to use the front entrance during and after dark hours'. 1,000 in Myanmar protest Annan examining religious conflict SITTWE, Myanmar (AP) More than 1,000 Buddhists in a Myanmar state wracked by religious and ethnic strife protested Tuesday's arrival of former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, saying the Ghanaian is meddling in the country's affairs by leading a government-appointed commission to find solutions to the conflict. The Southeast Asian country set up the commission last month to help find solutions to "protracted issues" in western Rakhine state, where human rights groups have documented widespread abuses by majority Rakhine Buddhists against minority Rohingya Muslims. The state's dominant Arakan National Party and the Rakhine Women Network led the protest about 300 meters (yards) from the airport in Sittwe, the Rakhine capital, where Annan and other members of the Rakhine Advisory Commission arrived Tuesday morning. As Annan's car passed, the crowd shouted, "Dismiss the Kofi Annan-led Rakhine Advisory Commission now." Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, center, who chairs the recently created Rakhine State Advisory Commission, is escorted by local authorities as he arrvies arrives at the airport in Sittwe, Rakhine state, Myanmar. More than 1,000 Buddhists in Sittwe wracked by religious and ethnic strife protested Tuesdays arrival of Annan, saying the Ghanaian is meddling in the countrys affairs by leading a government-appointed commission to find solutions to the conflict. (AP Photo/Esther Htusan) "We came here because we don't want that foreigner coming to our state," said May Phyu, a local Rakhine Buddhist resident. "I don't know exactly what this group is and what they are doing, but I came here to protest as I don't like them to come here. "I cannot accept them talking about the Rakhine and kalar case in our state," said protester Soe Thein. "Kalar" is a derogatory word used in Myanmar to refer to Muslims. Many Buddhists in Rakhine and across Myanmar consider Rohingya to be Bangladeshis living in the country illegally, though the ethnic group has been in Myanmar for generations. Hundreds of Rohingya were killed and tens of thousands forced to flee their homes in 2012 unrest in Rakhine state, and many continue to be confined to squalid camps there. "We are here to help provide ideas and advice," Annan said at the Rakhine state government office, where he met government and police officials, community leaders and members of nongovernmental organizations. "To build the future, the two major communities have to move beyond decades of mistrust and find ways to embrace, share values of justice, fairness and equity," he said. "Ultimately, the people of Rakhine state must charge their own way forward." Before Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi's government created the commission, her international reputation as a Nobel Peace Prize-winning democracy icon had been diminished by what some have viewed as her inaction on the Rohingya issue. Her government still does not even use the word "Rohingya." "You will see for yourself all the problems on the ground now," Suu Kyi, officially Myanmar state counselor and foreign minister, told Annan and other commission members at a news conference Monday. "You will be able to assess for yourself the roots of the problems itself, not in one day, not in one week. But I am confident that you will get there, that you will find the answers because you are truly intent on looking for them." The commission is to address human rights, ensuring humanitarian assistance, rights and reconciliation, establishing basic infrastructure and promoting long-term development plans. During their six-day Rakhine trip, the commission will visit the Rohingya camps and meet members of political and religious groups. But the Arakan National Party said it will not meet or work with the commission. "Rakhine state is in Myanmar and our country has its own sovereignty and there is no way we can accept a commission that is formed by foreigners," ANP official Aung Than Wai said Tuesday. Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who chairs the recently created Rakhine State Advisory Commission, is escorted by local authorities as he arrvies arrives at the airport in Sittwe, Rakhine state, Myanmar. More than 1,000 Buddhists in Sittwe wracked by religious and ethnic strife protested Tuesdays arrival of Annan, saying the Ghanaian is meddling in the countrys affairs by leading a government-appointed commission to find solutions to the conflict. (AP Photo/Esther Htusan) Hundreds of demonstrators hold banners and shout slogans in protest of the arrival of former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, outside of the airport, in Sittwe, Rakhine State, Myanmar. About 1,000 Buddhists in a Myanmar state wracked by religious and ethnic strife protested Tuesdays arrival of Annan, saying the Ghanaian is meddling in the countrys affairs by leading a government-appointed commission to find solutions to the conflict. (AP Photo/Esther Htusan) Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who chairs the recently created Rakhine State Advisory Commission, is escorted by local authorities as he arrvies arrives at the airport in Sittwe, Rakhine state, Myanmar. More than 1,000 Buddhists in Sittwe wracked by religious and ethnic strife protested Tuesdays arrival of Annan, saying the Ghanaian is meddling in the countrys affairs by leading a government-appointed commission to find solutions to the conflict. (AP Photo/Esther Htusan) Hundreds of demonstrators hold banners and shout slogans in protest of the arrival of former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, outside of the airport, in Sittwe, Rakhine State, Myanmar. About 1,000 Buddhists in a Myanmar state wracked by religious and ethnic strife protested Tuesdays arrival of Annan, saying the Ghanaian is meddling in the countrys affairs by leading a government-appointed commission to find solutions to the conflict. (AP Photo/Esther Htusan) Hundreds of demonstrators hold banners and shout slogans in protest of the arrival of former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, outside of the airport, in Sittwe, Rakhine State, Myanmar. About 1,000 Buddhists in a Myanmar state wracked by religious and ethnic strife protested Tuesdays arrival of Annan, saying the Ghanaian is meddling in the countrys affairs by leading a government-appointed commission to find solutions to the conflict. (AP Photo/Esther Htusan) Hundreds of demonstrators hold banners and shout slogans in protest of the arrival of former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, outside of the airport in Sittwe, Rakhine State, Myanmar. About 1,000 Buddhists in a Myanmar state wracked by religious and ethnic strife protested Tuesdays arrival of Annan, saying the Ghanaian is meddling in the countrys affairs by leading a government-appointed commission to find solutions to the conflict. (AP Photo/Esther Htusan) 15 years after Sept. 11: How the unity we forged broke apart NEW YORK (AP) For a time, it felt like the attack that shattered America had also brought it together. After Sept. 11, signs of newfound unity seemed to well up everywhere, from the homes where American flags appeared virtually overnight to the Capitol steps where lawmakers pushed aside party lines to sing "God Bless America" together. That cohesion feels vanishingly distant as the 15th anniversary of the attacks arrives Sunday. Gallup's 15-year-old poll of Americans' national pride hit its lowest-ever point this year. In a country that now seems carved up by door-slamming disputes over race, immigration, national security, policing and politics, people impelled by the spirit of common purpose after Sept. 11 rue how much it has slipped away. FILE - In this Friday, Sept. 14, 2001 file photo, Joseph Esposito, left, chief of department of the New York Police Department, offers help as President George W. Bush steps off of a pile of rubble after speaking at ground zero of the World Trade Center site in New York. Esposito, then the NYPD's top uniformed officer, was struck by "the camaraderie, the unity" of those days. (AP Photo/Doug Mills) Jon Hile figured he could help the ground zero cleanup because he worked in industrial air pollution control. So he traveled from Louisville, Kentucky, to volunteer, and it is not exaggerating to say the experience changed his life. He came home and became a firefighter. Hile, who now runs a risk management firm, remembers it as a time of communal kindness, when "everybody understood how quickly things could change ... and how quickly you could feel vulnerable." A decade and a half later, he sees a nation where economic stress has pushed many people to look out for themselves. Where people stick to their comfort zones. "I wish that we truly remembered," he says, "like we said we'd never forget." ___ Terrorism barely registered among Americans' top worries in early September 2001, but amid economic concerns, a Gallup poll around then found only 43 percent of Americans were satisfied with the way things were going. Then, in under two hours on Sept. 11, the nation lost nearly 3,000 people, two of its tallest buildings and its sense of impregnability. But out of the shock, fear and sorrow rose a feeling of regaining some things, too a shared identity, a heartfelt commitment to the nation indivisible. Stores ran out of flags. Americans from coast to coast cupped candle flames and prayed at vigils, gave blood and billions of dollars, cheered firefighters and police. Military recruits cited the attacks as they signed up. Congress scrubbed partisanship to pass a $40 billion anti-terrorism and victim aid measure three days after the attacks, and approval ratings for lawmakers and the president sped to historic highs. A special postage stamp declared "United We Stand," and Americans agreed: A Newsweek poll found 79 percent felt 9/11 would make the country stronger and more unified. "I really saw people stand up for America. ... And I was very proud of that," recalls Maria Medrano-Nehls, a retired state library agency worker in Lincoln, Nebraska. Her foster daughter and niece, Army National Guard Master Sgt. Linda Tarango-Griess, was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2004. Now, Medrano-Nehls thinks weariness from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and combative politics have pried Americans apart, and it pains her to think of the military serving a country so torn. Larry Brook can still picture the crowd at a post-9/11 interfaith vigil at an amphitheater in Pelham, Alabama. The numbers seemed a tangible measure of an urge to come together. Now? "I don't think we're anywhere close," says Brook, who publishes Southern Jewish Life magazine. To him, political partisanship and clashes over Middle East policy are walling off middle ground. Three days after 9/11, Joseph Esposito was at smoldering ground zero as Republican President George W. Bush grabbed a bullhorn and vowed the attackers "will hear all of us soon." The moment became an emblem of American strength and resolve, and Esposito, then the New York Police Department's top uniformed officer, was struck by "the camaraderie, the unity" of those days. He remembers the support police enjoyed then, and how much the tone had changed by the time of the Occupy Wall Street protests in 2011, when police arrested hundreds of demonstrators, many of whom said cops unjustly rounded and roughed them up. Now the city's emergency management commissioner, Esposito has watched from the sidelines as a national protest movement has erupted in recent years from police killings of unarmed black men, and as police themselves have been killed by gunmen claiming vengeance. These days, Esposito hopes his job can be unifying. He wants people to feel that the city helps neighborhoods equally to handle disaster. "The 1 percenters should not be better prepared than the 99 percent," he says. "If everyone feels they're getting their fair share," he adds, "it fosters better feelings toward one another." ___ For all the signs of kinship after Sept. 11, the first retribution attack came just four days later, authorities said. Balbir Singh Sodhi was shot dead while placing flowers on a memorial at his Mesa, Arizona, gas station. Prosecutors said the gunman mistook Sodhi, an Indian Sikh immigrant, for an Arab Muslim. Seeing hundreds of people gather in solidarity on the night of his brother's death showed me "the greatness of unity," says Rana Singh Sodhi, of Gilbert, Arizona. But in the last two years, he's felt a "change toward hatred again." He worries politicians are stirring animosity toward immigrants and minorities. So does Imam Abdur-Rahim Ali. After 9/11, he invited first responders for tea and coffee at the Northeast Denver Islamic Center to show appreciation and emphasize that Muslims "are regular Americans." Now, Ali, who is African-American, believes Muslims and people of color are being demonized with "incendiary and divisive" remarks. "We can't act like racism hasn't been a part of all this," he says. ___ Can the United States feel united again? Some Americans fear it will take another catastrophe, if even that can shift the climate. Others are looking to political leaders to set a more collaborative tone, or to Americans themselves to make an effort to understand and respect one another. When Sonia Shah thinks about the push and pull of American unity since the attacks that killed her father, Jayesh, at the World Trade Center, she pictures a rock hitting a pond. The innermost ripple, that's the tight circle of support that came together around the people most directly affected by tragedy. Outside it, bigger and more diffuse, are bands of debate over policies and politics in the wake of 9/11. "We usually see the outer rings of the arguments," says the Baylor University senior. "But I think there always is a current of unity that goes underneath things." ___ Contributing to this report were Associated Press journalists P. Solomon Banda in Denver; Nati Harnik in Lincoln, Nebraska; Mike Householder in Farmington Hills, Michigan; Dylan Lovan in Louisville, Kentucky; David R. Martin in New York; Jay Reeves in Pelham, Alabama; and Brian Skoloff in Gilbert, Arizona. ___ Reach Jennifer Peltz on Twitter @ jennpeltz. FILE - In this Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011 file photo, New York Police Department chief Joseph Esposito addresses the Occupy Wall Street protesters as they arrive for a rally at Times Square in New York. He remembers the support police enjoyed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, and how much the tone had changed by the time of the Occupy protests in 2011, when police arrested hundreds of demonstrators, many of whom said cops unjustly rounded and roughed them up. (AP Photo/David Karp) Maria Medrano-Nehls, aunt and foster mother of Nebraska army guard Master Sgt. Linda Tarango-Griess, holds a photo of her in Lincoln, Neb., Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016. Tarango-Griess was killed by an IED in Iraq in 2004. In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, she recalls, "I really saw people stand up for America. ... And I was very proud of that." (AP Photo/Nati Harnik) Maria Medrano-Nehls, aunt and foster mother of Nebraska army guard Master Sgt. Linda Tarango-Griess, stands for a photo in Lincoln, Neb., Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016. Tarango-Griess was killed by an IED in Iraq in 2004. Medrano-Nehls thinks weariness from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and combative politics have pried Americans apart, and it pains her to think of the military serving a country so torn. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik) Jon Hile stands in the McMahan Fire Department in Louisville, Ky., on Aug. 19, 2016. For the September 2001 terror attacks, Hile traveled from Louisville to volunteer at ground zero. The experience inspired him to become a firefighter. He remembers it as a time of kindness, when people understood "how quickly you could feel vulnerable." A decade and a half later, he thinks that feeling has changed. He says he wishes Americans "truly remembered like we said we'd never forget." (AP Photo/Dylan Lovan) In this Aug. 19, 2016 photo, Jon Hile, of Louisville, Ky., holds a hardhat with signatures from friends he met during his time volunteering at ground zero in Manhattan after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The experience inspired him to become a firefighter. He remembers it as a time of kindness, when people understood "how quickly you could feel vulnerable." A decade and a half later, he thinks that feeling has changed. He says he wishes Americans "truly remembered like we said we'd never forget." (AP Photo/Dylan Lovan) Imam Abdur-Rahim Ali, with the Northeast Denver Islamic Center, gives a sermon before Friday prayers in Denver on Aug 19, 2016. After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Ali invited first responders for tea and coffee to show appreciation and emphasize that Muslims "are regular Americans." Now, Ali, 65, believes Muslims and people of color are being demonized with "incendiary and divisive" remarks. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) Imam Abdur-Rahim Ali, with the Northeast Denver Islamic Center, embraces a congregant following Friday prayers in Denver on Aug 19, 2016. After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Ali invited first responders for tea and coffee to show appreciation and emphasize that Muslims "are regular Americans." Now, Ali, 65, believes Muslims and people of color are being demonized with "incendiary and divisive" remarks. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) Larry Brook speaks during an interview at an amphitheater in Pelham, Ala., on Aug. 19, 2016. He can still picture the crowd at a post-9/11 interfaith vigil at the venue almost 15 years ago. The numbers seemed a tangible measure of an urge to come together. Now? "I dont think were anywhere close," says Brook, who publishes Southern Jewish Life magazine. To him, political partisanship and clashes over Middle East policy are walling off middle ground. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves) Rana Singh Sodhi, 49, holds a photograph of his murdered brother, Balbir Singh Sodhi, in Gilbert, Ariz., on Friday, Aug. 19, 2016. Days after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Balbir was shot dead while placing flowers on a memorial at his gas station in Mesa. Prosecutors said the gunman mistook Sodhi, an Indian Sikh immigrant, for an Arab Muslim. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin) Rana Singh Sodhi, 49, kneels next to a memorial for his murdered brother, Balbir Singh Sodhi, in Mesa, Ariz, on Friday, Aug. 19, 2016. He says seeing hundreds of people gather in solidarity on the night of his brother's death showed "the greatness of unity." But in the last two years, he's felt a "change toward hatred again." He worries politicians are stirring animosity toward immigrants and minorities. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin) Hermine weakens as it lingers offshore PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) Tropical storm Hermine weakened but lingered as it churned in the Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday, and forecasters said it could continue to affect coastal areas of southern New England with high surf and dangerous riptides for another two days. The National Weather Service at midday Tuesday discontinued the tropical storm warning associated with the Hermine, which was about 150 miles southwest of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and moving west at 3 mph. Sustained winds remained at about 60 mph over the ocean, but onshore impacts were expected to be minimal. New York officials extended beach closures beyond Labor Day because of continued deadly rip currents, but some ignored the warnings. A beachgoer stands at the edge of the water, Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016, in Bridgehampton, N.Y., on the southeastern shore of Long Island, where the effects of storm system Hermine could be seen in the rough surf and a ban on swimming. Hermine spun away from the U.S. East Coast on Sunday, removing the threat of heavy rain but maintaining enough power to churn dangerous waves and currents and keep beaches off-limits to disappointed swimmers and surfers during the holiday weekend. (AP Photo/Jennifer Peltz) The New York Post said police issued $80 tickets to at least four surfers at Rockaway Beach. An emergency worker who dived into the Atlantic Ocean at Coney Island to save a swimmer who violated the ban told the Post the current felt like a "300-pound guy pulling me back out to sea." In New Jersey, big waves pushed water up to the base of dunes in some areas of the state hit hard by Superstorm Sandy in October 2012, including Point Pleasant Beach, Bay Head, Mantoloking and Brick. But no flooding or other damage was reported. While many communities felt like they dodged a bullet, the threat of Hermine caused many vacationers to cancel their holiday plans. MD Mahabub Khan has worked as a taxi cart pusher at the shore for 27 years and said he still attracted some business over the weekend, but the smaller crowds were noticeable. "People from New York and New Jersey are kind of stuck here (during bad weather), so they can still come," if forecasts don't play out as predicted, Khan said. Hermine rose over the Gulf of Mexico and hit Florida on Friday as a Category 1 hurricane before weakening to a tropical storm across Georgia. It has caused at least three deaths, inflicted widespread property damage and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people from Florida to Virginia. ___ Associated Press writers Megan Trimble and Wayne Parry in Atlantic City, New Jersey, contributed to this report. Beachgoers walk away from big waves and rough surf caused by Hermine, Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016, in Bradley Beach,N.J. No swimming was allowed because of the passing storm. (Noah K. Murray/The Asbury Park Press via AP) Chloe Riffle, 7, watches as she is surrounded by water on Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016 in the Ocean View section of Norfolk, Va. Storm system Hermine spun away from the U.S. East Coast on Sunday, removing the threat of heavy rain but maintaining enough power to churn dangerous waves and currents and keep beaches off-limits to disappointed swimmers and surfers during the holiday weekend. (Vicki Cronis-Nohe /The Virginian-Pilot via AP) People sit at the beach in Ocean City, N.J., on Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016. Storm system Hermine spun away from the U.S. East Coast on Sunday, removing the threat of heavy rain but maintaining enough power to churn dangerous waves and currents and keep beaches off-limits to disappointed swimmers and surfers during the holiday weekend. (Viviana Pernot /The Press of Atlantic City via AP) Beachgoers stand at the edge of the water, Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016, in Bridgehampton, N.Y., on the southeastern shore of Long Island, where the effects of storm system Hermine could be seen in the rough surf and a ban on swimming. Hermine spun away from the U.S. East Coast on Sunday, removing the threat of heavy rain but maintaining enough power to churn dangerous waves and currents and keep beaches off-limits to disappointed swimmers and surfers during the holiday weekend. (AP Photo/Jennifer Peltz) New Jersey Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno, second from right, meets with New Jersey DEP Commissioner Bob Martin, right, and Congressman Frank LoBiondo , on Sunday Sept. 4, 2016, at the Cape May County Office of Emergency Management in Cape May Court House, N.J. Storm system Hermine spun away from the U.S. East Coast on Sunday, removing the threat of heavy rain but maintaining enough power to churn dangerous waves and currents and keep beaches off-limits to disappointed swimmers and surfers during the holiday weekend. (Michael Miller /The Press of Atlantic City via AP) Beachgoers stand at the edge of the water, Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016, in Bridgehampton, N.Y., on the southeastern shore of Long Island, where the effects of storm system Hermine could be seen in the rough surf and a ban on swimming. Hermine spun away from the U.S. East Coast on Sunday, removing the threat of heavy rain but maintaining enough power to churn dangerous waves and currents and keep beaches off-limits to disappointed swimmers and surfers during the holiday weekend. (AP Photo/Jennifer Peltz) Marco Cardone put on dry socks and boots after wading through the flood waters on Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016 in the Ocean View section of Norfolk, Va. Storm system Hermine spun away from the U.S. East Coast on Sunday, removing the threat of heavy rain but maintaining enough power to churn dangerous waves and currents and keep beaches off-limits to disappointed swimmers and surfers during the holiday weekend. (Vicki Cronis-Nohe /The Virginian-Pilot via AP) Cormac Worrall, 6, left, helps his father remove tree debris from their yard in Virginia Beach, Va, on Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016, Storm system Hermine spun away from the U.S. East Coast on Sunday, removing the threat of heavy rain but maintaining enough power to churn dangerous waves and currents and keep beaches off-limits to disappointed swimmers and surfers during the holiday weekend. (Vicki Cronis-Nohe /The Virginian-Pilot via AP) This NOAA satellite image taken Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016 at 9:45 AM EDT shows Post Tropical Cyclone Hermine spinning roughly 300 miles east of the Jersey Shore. Hermine is packing winds of 70 miles an hour and has moved further east than originally forecasted. So far this has kept the worst of the impacts offshore from the Mid-Atlantic. A northward turn is still expected over the next day which will bring some rainy and windy weather into southern New England. The remainder of the eastern half of the Untied States is under the influence of a ridge of high pressure. Under this ridge mostly sunny skies and dry conditions will prevail. (Weather Underground via AP) The Latest: Obama condemns North Korea missile launches VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) The Latest on President Barack Obama's trip to Asia (all times local): 5:15 p.m. President Barack Obama says the United States will work with allies to toughen sanctions on North Korea after further ballistic missile launches Monday. But Obama says there is room for dialogue if North Korea changes direction. Laotian President Bounnhang Vorachit and U.S. President Barack Obama talk with the help of a translator during an Official State Luncheon at the Presidential Palace in Vientiane, Laos, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Obama's comments come after a meeting with President Park Geun-hye (goon-hay) of South Korea on Tuesday. The two leaders are attending a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. He says the two leaders want peace and security for all peoples. Obama says the latest North Korea launches are provocative and that North Korea needs to know that such actions will increase its isolation in the world. Park says a nuclear test and continued missile launches are fundamentally threatening the security of the Korean Peninsula. ___ 3:30 p.m. President Barack Obama says the U.S. commitments to the Asia-Pacific region will endure over the long term. He says in a speech to about 1,100 people that American interest in the region "is not a passing fad" and "we've sent a clear message that as a Pacific nation, we are here to stay." Obama's project to shift U.S. diplomatic and military resources from the Middle East to Asia has been dubbed his Asia pivot. Obama says Asia-Pacific is home to more than half the world's population and will become even more important in the century ahead. He says that's why he has "worked to rebalance our foreign policy so the U.S. is playing a larger role in the Asia-Pacific region." ____ 2:15 p.m. President Barack Obama says the United States has a moral obligation to help Laos heal and that the U.S. wants to help the Lao government invest in its people. Obama is recounting the nine-year "secret war" that the U.S. conducted in Laos during the Vietnam War. He says American warplanes dropped more bombs on Laos than fell on Germany and Japan combined during World War II. He also says it's important to recognize the suffering by all sides in that conflict and that war inflicts a terrible toll whatever the cause. Obama is speaking to about 1,100 people at the Lao National Cultural Hall as he becomes the first U.S. president to visit Laos. ___ 1:55 p.m. President Barack Obama is offering a luncheon toast to "the dignity and the future" of the people of Laos. Obama and the Lao president clinked glasses of red win during their lunch at the presidential palace in Vientiane. The menu included deep-fried bacon roll stuffed with minced prawn, braised duck breast and deep-fried Mekong fish. Obama and the other guests watched a dance performance by 10 women in traditional red and pearl skirts, draped shirts and gold headbands. The dancers twirled their hands in the air in a slow, rhythmic dance. ___ 1:30 p.m. The Obama administration says it will commit $90 million over the next three years to clear unexploded bombs the U.S. dropped on Laos during the Vietnam War. The announcement came Tuesday during President Barack Obama's visit to Laos. Millions of unexploded cluster bombs remain in the Laotian countryside from a nine-year U.S. covert bombing campaign that was aimed at cutting off communist forces in neighboring Vietnam. The White House says the U.S. has contributed $100 million to the effort in the last 20 years. Annual deaths fell from more than 300 to fewer than 50 in that period. ___ 1:15 p.m. President Barack Obama says he wants to forge a partnership with Laos to make the two countries "whole again" after troubled relations dating to the Vietnam War. Obama is on a historic visit Laos to heal war wounds and reinvigorate relations with a country with rising strategic importance to the U.S. Obama has been greeted by a military band, traditional dancers and a tropical rain. Obama is the first sitting U.S. president to set foot in the impoverished, landlocked country. Laotian President Bounnhang Vorachit, right and U.S.President Barack Obama stand as the national anthems are played at Presidential Palace in Vientiane, Laos, Tuesday, Sep 6, 2016. President Obama met with Laotian President Vorachit on the first visit to the Southeast Asian country by a sitting American president. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe) Cyclist Critically Injured While Riding In Portage Park By Stephen Gossett in News on Sep 6, 2016 9:39PM A 20-year-old male cyclist was critically injured in Portage Park on Tuesday afternoon when he was struck by a moving vehicle after being doored by a parked car, police told Chicagoist. DNAinfo reported the story earlier this afternoon and news photographer Christopher Smith tweeted images of the scene. The cyclist was riding along 5900 West Irving Park Avenue at around 1:40 p.m. when he was hit by the door of a parked vehicle, a police spokesman told Chicagoist. He was then struck by a moving vehicle in traffic. The cyclist was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center and listed in critical condition. Everyone involved in the crash stayed on the scene, according to police. One citation was issued for an open door in traffic. According to DNAinfo's report, witnesses said the cyclist was traveling east and was dragged underneath the vehicle, reportedly a small-sized SUV, and his shoes came off during the collision. Australia seeks $90 million from ship owner for reef damage BRISBANE, Australia (AP) The Australian government told a court Tuesday that it was seeking at least 120 million Australian dollars ($90 million) from the owners of a Chinese coal ship that damaged part of the Great Barrier Reef. Shenzhen Energy Transport was fighting the clean-up bill in the Australian Federal Court on Tuesday for Douglas Shoal, which was damaged when the Shen Neng 1 went off course and grounded in April 2010. The Federal Court heard that the crash site was contaminated with hundreds of kilograms (pounds) of paint particles tainted with the highly-toxic, anti-fouling agent tributyltin. Tributyltin slows the growth of aquatic organisms on ship hulls, and marine biologists say the particles need to be removed from the 40-hectare (100-acre) crash site to allow the area to recover. The carrier's owner says the reef is self-healing and the company should not have to pay for a clean-up that was not needed. It also disputes the testing methods that led to the detection of tributyltin in the area. Clinton: He's a national security danger. Trump: No, she is GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) Donald Trump said Tuesday night that Hillary Clinton's handling of private emails disqualifies her to serve as president. His own temperament, Trump said, was his "single greatest asset" and not the national security danger that Clinton alleges. Trump's charge, delivered to a packed crowd in swing state North Carolina, marked a pointed escalation of the Republican White House hopeful's case against his Democratic challenger as both court military families in key Southern battlegrounds. Clinton, meanwhile, accused Trump of insulting America's veterans and pressing dangerous military plans around the globe. Clinton, addressing supporters in Florida, warned that Trump would lead the nation back to war in the Middle East. And to military vets and their families, she pointed anew to his summertime dust-up with the Muslim parents of a slain American soldier. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gives a thumbs up after speaking at a campaign rally, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, in Greenville, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) "His whole campaign has been one long insult to all those who have worn the uniform," the Democratic nominee said at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Trump, trying to emphasize his military support, released a letter from 88 retired generals and admirals citing an urgent need for a "course correction" in America's national security policy. It was aimed at rebutting Clinton's arguments that she would be best positioned to lead the military and reassuring Republicans who have openly worried that his provocative statements might undermine U.S. alliances. "We believe that such a change can only be made by someone who has not been deeply involved with, and substantially responsible for, the hollowing out of our military and the burgeoning threats facing our country around the world," the military leaders wrote. "For this reason, we support Donald Trump's candidacy to be our next commander in chief." Trump promoted the letter as he campaigned in Virginia and North Carolina on Tuesday, suggesting that he would rely on the generals to make up for his own lack of national security inexperience to take on the Islamic State group. He vowed to give military leaders a "simple instruction" soon after taking office: "They will have 30 days to submit to the Oval Office a plan for soundly and quickly defeating ISIS." Clinton pushed back, saying Trump has lagged in securing key military supporters compared to past Republican nominees including John McCain and Mitt Romney. She pointed to her endorsements from retired Marine Gen. John Allen, who blasted Trump at the Democratic National Committee, and former CIA deputy director Mike Morell. "They know they can count on me to be the kind of commander in chief who will protect our country and our troops, and they know they cannot count on Donald Trump," Clinton said en route to Florida. "They view him as a danger and a risk." The conflicting messages came as the candidates prepared to appear at an MSNBC forum Wednesday night on national security. While they will appear separately and not be on stage at the same time, it could serve as a warm-up to their highly-anticipated first presidential debate on Sep. 26 in New York. Meanwhile, Clinton's campaign released a new television ad entitled "Sacrifice," showing military veterans watching some of the New York businessman's more provocative statements. The spot includes clips of Trump claiming to know more about the Islamic State group than military generals, and his criticism of McCain, the Republican senator from Arizona and a former prisoner of war. The ad, which features former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland, a triple-amputee who served in Vietnam, also keys on Trump's assertion that he has sacrificed a lot compared to families who have lost loved ones in conflict. "Our veterans deserve better," reads a line at the end of the ad, which is airing in Ohio, Florida, Iowa, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Separately, Trump continued to face questions about his immigration policy a day after refusing to rule out a pathway to legal status for immigrants in the country illegally. He focused on his proposed border wall plan in a Tuesday interview with ABC's "Good Morning America." Last week in Phoenix, he told a raucous crowd of supporters that there was "one way only" for immigrants here illegally to become legal to return home and get in line for official re-admittance. ___ Thomas reported from Tampa, Florida. Associated Press writer Kathleen Ronayne in Wilmington, North Carolina, contributed to this report. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally at University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla., Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Democratic vice presidential candidate, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. speaks during a campaign rally in Wilmington, N.C., Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, accompanied by Traveling Press Secretary Nick Merrill, right, speaks to members of the media on board her campaign plane as she travels to Tampa, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. Clinton will attend a rally at the University of South Florida. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) IS car bombing kills at least 12 civilians in Iraqi capital BAGHDAD (AP) A car bombing claimed by the Islamic State group struck a bustling commercial area of central Baghdad overnight, killing at least 12 civilians, Iraqi officials said on Tuesday. The explosives-laden pick-up truck was left in a parking lot in the Shiite-dominated district of Karradah, near a hospital and shops, a police officer said. Up to 28 people were wounded and at least 15 cars were damaged, he said. A medical official confirmed the casualty figures. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Mourners carry the Iraqi flag-draped coffins of bomb victims during their funeral procession in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. A car bombing in a bustling commercial area at Karradah neighborhood has killed and wounded civilians, late Monday, officials said. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim) Mourners held a funeral procession for some of the dead on Tuesday morning, with men carrying coffins wrapped in Iraqi flags as women wailed and pounded their chests in grief. At the scene of the bombing, shocked residents examined the blood-stained pavement and the damage to nearby shops. The Islamic State group issued a statement saying the suicide attack targeted Shiites. The Associated Press could not verify the authenticity of the statement, but it was posted on militant websites commonly used by the extremists. Karradah is a major commercial area of the capital. Its streets are lined with clothing and jewelry stores, restaurants and cafes. The area is usually packed with shoppers, especially ahead of next week's Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, which marks the end of the annual hajj pilgrimage. In early July, an IS-claimed bombing killed nearly 300 people in Karradah as Iraqis were preparing for the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. The Karradah disaster put the Iraqi government under pressure to improve security in the capital and to rein in corruption. Monday's attack came nearly two weeks after authorities reopened the sealed off part of Karradah where the July bombing took place, in an attempt to restore normalcy to the district. In recent months, IS militants have turned to insurgency-style attacks in public areas far from the front lines after Iraqi government forces and allied militias pushed the extremists out of many areas they had captured in western and northern Iraq during a mid-2014 blitz. Late last month, Iraqi forces retook the town of Qayara, about 70 kilometers (45 miles) south of the IS-held city of Mosul, Iraq's second largest city. A string of villages and towns south and southeast of Mosul have also been recaptured as part of an operation launched in March aimed at eventually unseating IS from Mosul itself. It's the biggest city still under militant control in Iraq. The militants set fire to a number of oil wells around Qaraya, first in an attempt to thwart airstrikes and then, when they withdrew, to leave behind a ruined prize. On Tuesday, the spokesman for the Iraqi Oil Ministry, Assem Jihad, said that teams had extinguished fires in six wells, removed bombs planted nearby and stopped crude oil leaking into the Tigris River. Jihad added that there were still three wells on fire but that they are in areas under IS control. The U.N. World Food Program painted a grim picture of Qayara, describing the situation there as "dire." Black smoke is still billowing from burning oil wells while safe drinking water, electricity and medical services "remain nearly impossible to access," WFP said. "All of its shops were either destroyed or closed and food stocks were running dangerously low, with people surviving on wheat from the recent harvest," the statement said. In cooperation with local partners, WFP distributed desperately needed food for more than 30,000 people in and around the town, as well as to 2,000 displaced people living in camps and with host families in areas surrounding it. The Iraqi government is now gearing up for a major offensive to retake the northern city of Mosul from IS. It pledged to recapture the city this year. ___ Associated Press writers Murtada Faraj in Baghdad and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report. People gather at the site of a car bomb in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. A car bombing in a bustling commercial area at Karradah neighborhood has killed and wounded civilians, late Monday, officials said. (AP Photo/Ali Abdul Hassan) A man cleans the site of a car bomb in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. A car bombing in a bustling commercial area at Karradah neighborhood has killed and wounded civilians, late Monday, officials said. (AP Photo/Ali Abdul Hassan) Mourners carry the Iraqi flag-draped coffin of a bomb victim during his funeral procession in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. A car bombing in a bustling commercial area at Karradah neighborhood has killed and wounded civilians, late Monday, officials said. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim) A man cleans the site of a car bomb in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. A car bombing in a bustling commercial area at Karradah neighborhood has killed and wounded civilians, late Monday, officials said. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim) Congress returns to battle over Zika, keep government open WASHINGTON (AP) Lawmakers returning to Washington after a seven-week break picked up right where they left off feuding about legislation to battle the mosquito-borne Zika virus and deadlocked over the defense budget. A tightening presidential race and pitched warfare for control of the Senate this November promise to overshadow whatever Congress accomplishes in an election-shortened September session which, for now, looks like little more than a temporary government-wide spending bill to prevent a shutdown at month's end, possibly linked to money to battle Zika. In its first vote Tuesday, Senate Democrats for the third time blocked a $1.1 billion Zika funding package and an accompanying Veterans Administration spending bill over restrictions on Planned Parenthood. They then voted to prevent the Senate from turning to a $576 billion Pentagon spending measure. An American flag flies over Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, as lawmakers return from a 7-week break. Election-year politics will rule the congressional calendar when lawmakers return from a seven-week recess. Congress will have a little more than four weeks in session beginning Tuesday before the November election, or around 20 days. Lawmakers are scheduled to leave town again in early October to return home and campaign. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) "It's hard to explain why despite their own calls for funding Senate Democrats decided to block a bill that could help keep pregnant women and babies safer from Zika," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "It's also hard to explain why despite the array of terror attacks we've seen across the world Senate Democrats decided to block a bill that could help keep the American people safer from threats." Democrats oppose the Zika measure as it bars Planned Parenthood clinics in Zika-suffering Puerto Rico from receiving new money to treat the disease and curb its spread. The legislation also would ease, over the objections of environmentalists, permitting requirements for pesticide spraying to kill the mosquitoes that can spread the virus. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Republicans had "loaded it up with poison pill riders to assuage the hard right." Republicans added those provisions to the measure in June, along with spending cuts to help pay for the Zika bill, saying they are reasonable priorities that reflect their control of the House and Senate. The Zika threat hasn't gripped the public as Ebola did two years ago, but pressure is building as dozens of mosquito-transmitted Zika cases have been confirmed in the political battleground state of Florida since lawmakers left Washington in July. The defense bill, meanwhile, is caught in a furious battle sparked by a Republican move to use emergency war funds to try to artificially increase the basic Pentagon budget by $16 billion next year. The Obama administration and its Democratic allies on Capitol Hill are dead set against the idea, which breaks with a hard-won budget deal that's less than a year old; they say that if Republicans want more money for defense, domestic programs will have to receive an equal boost. The defense battle won't be resolved until after Election Day, but Tuesday's vote on Zika should send the warring parties back to the drawing board, and it appears likely that the provision targeting Planned Parenthood and perhaps the underlying $95 million worth of social services grants will have to be dropped from the measure. "We're going to work through these issues and I'm sure we'll have a successful outcome to make sure just that the trains are running on time," House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told hometown radio host Stan Milam of AM 1380 in Janesville on Tuesday. On the Zika virus, which has spread over the summer and is linked to birth defects, Ryan said, "I do believe we'll find some kind of resolution." For his part, Ryan has to navigate some tricky waters on the underlying stopgap spending bill, known in Washington-speak as a continuing resolution. Some conservatives want to block any post-election session and are pressing for a continuing resolution that keeps the government open until March or so. But President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats are dead set against the idea they want a full-year spending agreement completed this year and Ryan said he wants to keep negotiating on the full-year spending bills through the fall. Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 House Democrat, said Tuesday that an extension of current spending "should be in my view be passed as soon as possible, it should go to sometime in December" and budget work should be finished by the end of the year. As the inauguration of the next president looms in January, a multi-year restoration of the iconic Capitol Dome is nearing completion, and the Rotunda reopened for visitors on Tuesday, free of scaffolding and safety netting that prevented visitors from a full view of its artwork. Politically, Republicans are pressing for additional investigations of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton over her emails. House conservatives are determined to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, saying he stonewalled and impeded congressional investigations into IRS targeting of conservative organizations. Koskinen wasn't commissioner at the time. Russia blacklists independent pollster as 'foreign agent' MOSCOW (AP) Russia's justice ministry has branded Russia's only major private pollster a "foreign agent," a stigma that could lead to its closure. The ministry issued a statement Monday evening saying that the Levada polling agency has been listed as a "foreign agency" after a snap inspection found some irregularities. Following major protests against his rule in 2011 and 2012, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law that requires all NGOs receiving foreign funding and found to engage in vaguely defined "political activity" to register as "foreign agents." Those who fail to comply face fines and potential closure. Many organizations have said the stigma of "foreign agent," which rings like "spy" in Russian, would make it impossible for them to work in the country. The decision comes less than a week after the respected pollster founded by and named after the late sociologist Yuri Levada published its latest election survey, indicating a drop in the ruling party's ratings. Russia holds a parliamentary election on Sept. 18. Levada on Tuesday vowed to contest the ruling and expressed its dismay, saying that the ministry had not given it a chance to present its own case before issuing the decision. "Placing an organization on a foreign agent list does not put an end to its activities, that's why we will continue our work," the Interfax news agency on Tuesday quoted Levada's deputy director Alexei Grazhdankin as saying. "That said, the foreign agent label can have a bad impact on our activities, on the perceptions of those polled." U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner hailed Levada's work and said the Russian government has now designated 141 organizations as so-called foreign agents. "They've targeted non-governmental and business associations working to protect the environment, fight the spread of HIV, and promote transparency, good governance and freedom of expression," he said. "Polling is as we all know here in the U.S. an important tool in any country that seeks to live by democratic standards of openness, accountability in government, and freedom of scientific inquiry," Toner said. "These are principles Russia should seek to promote, we believe, and not silence." Southeast Asian summit opens, overshadowed by Duterte flap VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) A summit of Southeast Asian leaders to discuss issues ranging from terrorism to South China Sea tensions opened Tuesday, overshadowed by the Philippine president's intemperate comments in his debut appearance at the annual meeting. The insult was made more egregious because of who the target was President Barack Obama. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte occupied center stage on the eve of the summit Monday when he made comments about Obama that included a "son of a bitch" remark. He was again in the spotlight Tuesday when he trooped into a conference hall in the Laotian capital of Vientiane wearing a traditional Filipino shirt with sleeves rolled up, and hands in pant pockets. The other male Southeast Asian leaders were dressed in dark business suits. Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi wore a mauve traditional dress. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, center, arrives at the National Convention Center for scheduled bilateral meetings with ASEAN leaders on the sidelines of the 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits and other related summits Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016 in Vientiane, Laos. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) Filipinos wear the "barong" shirt on formal occasions too, but with sleeves buttoned down at the wrists. Rolled-up sleeves are considered too casual for any formal setting, let alone a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN. Duterte rolled his sleeves down and buttoned them when Laotian President Bounnhang Vorachith gave a speech to open the summit. "Multifaceted security challenges have occurred in many parts of the world, such as terrorism and extremism, natural disasters, climate change, migration crisis, trafficking in people, territorial disputes and armed conflicts," Bounnhang said. "At the same time, although the global economy has gradually recovered, growth remains slow and fragile." "There is a need for us to closely follow these developments and continue to enhance ASEAN cooperation and collaboration with the international community," he said. The 10-nation ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The summit will be followed by a series of other meetings on Wednesday and a summit Thursday between leaders from ASEAN and other countries, including the United States, China, Russia, India, South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Obama arrived in Vientiane on Monday night and will attend Thursday's summit. Duterte also arrived Monday night. But hours before his arrival, Duterte dropped a diplomatic bombshell by saying he doesn't want Obama to ask him questions about extrajudicial killings that have occurred amid an ongoing crackdown on drug dealers in the Philippines. More than 2,000 people have been killed in the crackdown since he took office on June 30. In his typical loose-tongued style, Duterte said: "I do not have any master except the Filipino people, nobody but nobody. You must be respectful. Do not just throw questions. Putang ina, I will swear at you in that forum," he said, using the Tagalog phrase for "son of a bitch." Obama later canceled a bilateral meeting he was scheduled to have with Duterte in Vientiane. On Tuesday, Duterte expressed regret over the remarks, but the damage was already done. Duterte is also planning to ask China's premier at the Vientiane meetings whether China is trying to develop a disputed reef, Scarborough Shoal, off the Philippines' northwestern coast, Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said. The shoal is part of the larger dispute in the South China Sea between China and some ASEAN countries. An international arbitration panel recently ruled that China's expansive claims in the sea are illegal. Beijing has rejected the ruling as a sham. Although ASEAN has the power of the ruling behind it, its summit is unlikely to mention it in its final declaration, a reflection of Beijing's diplomatic clout. But according to a draft of the final statement ASEAN is scheduled to release on Thursday, the region's leaders will express strong concern about Beijing's construction of man-made islands in the South China Sea, which Southeast Asian countries fear could destabilize the region. Duterte said last week that the Philippine coast guard has sighted Chinese barges at Scarborough, which he said could presage the transformation of the Chinese-held reef into another man-made island. One of the Chinese vessels had what appeared to be a crane, according to a Philippine official who did not want to be identified because he was not authorized to discuss classified intelligence. China sparked widespread alarm when it converted seven reefs in the Spratly Islands into islands that the United States says could be transformed into military bases to reinforce Beijing's territorial claims and intimidate rival claimant countries. Duterte has taken a more conciliatory stance toward China than his predecessor. But a confirmation of Chinese reclamation activities at Scarborough Shoal, a rich fishing ground where Filipino fishermen have been forced away by Beijing's coast guard, could impede relations. U.S. officials have also expressed deep concern over the possibility of China developing Scarborough into an island or starting to erect concrete structures there, which could reinforce Beijing's control over a swath of the South China Sea. Philippine's President Rodrigo Duterte, left, walks away with other leaders and officials of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) after posing for a group photo at National Convention Center in Vientiane, Laos, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe) Mother-in-law indicted on murder charges in teacher's death MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) A south Georgia woman accused of killing her daughter-in-law at a home in Atlanta's suburbs has been indicted on charges of felony murder and malice murder. News outlets report that a Cobb County grand jury indicted 63-year-old Elizabeth B. Wall of McRae on Thursday in connection with the June 23 slaying of 35-year-old Jenna Wall in Powder Springs. Authorities believe Elizabeth Wall had researched shootings and bought a gun months prior to shooting her daughter-in-law four times in her home. Police Say Jenna Wall's two young sons were home at the time of the shooting. The victim taught kindergarten at Kemp Elementary School in Cobb County and had been going through a divorce with the suspect's son. British Airways suffers global delays due to computer glitch LONDON (AP) British Airways travelers are suffering delays globally due to a computer glitch in the check-in systems, the latest in a string of technical failures to hit major international airlines. Travelers took to social media to complain of long lines and the airline said "a number" of airports were affected. According to tracking service Flightaware, 157 BA flights were delayed, or 17 percent of its total flights, and five were cancelled as of midday in London. FILE -- In this Feb. 8, 2016 file photo, a British Airways plane lands on a runway at Denver International Airport. British Airways has apologized for delays caused by computer glitches in check-in systems and warned that there may be further troubles. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File) "We've been in line for three hours," Erik Blangsted, told KGO-TV as he waited for his flight at San Francisco International Airport. "We've talked to the people who've offered us some cold water and some chips and sympathy." The airline apologized and said passengers are now being checked in at Heathrow and Gatwick Airports but that the process may be "a bit slower than usual." BA had to apologize already in July after computer glitches in check-in systems also delayed passengers. It began installing new systems last October and completed the rollout earlier this year. The company, which is part of the International Consolidated Airlines Group SA, says it would "encourage customers to check in online before they reach the airport." The airline's problems come barely a month after U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines Inc. suffered a global outage that caused it to cancel 2,300 flights, costing it $100 million in lost revenue. Lego continues to grow, particularly in Europe, Asia COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) Lego, the Danish company famous for its popular colored toy blocks, says sales continued to grow in the first half of 2016, thanks in particular to strong demand in Europe and Asia, while the Americas were flat. The privately-held group says net profit was 3.5 billion Danish kroner ($525 million), the same as the equivalent period last year. Lego said Tuesday that revenue increased by 10 percent, adding sales growth was driven by lines like Lego City and Lego Ninjago. CEO Joergen Vig Knudstorp said the double-digit growth "through more than a decade is a testament to the never ending possibilities that children find in LEGO play." Prominent Islamic extremist goes on trial in Germany BERLIN (AP) A well-known German convert to Islam who once tried to establish Sharia law in a city neighborhood is going on trial on allegations he supported a foreign terror organization. Federal prosecutors say Sven Lau is suspected of supporting The Army of Emigrants and Partisans, known as JAMWA, by acting as the contact for extremists wanting to fight for the group in Syria, the German news agency dpa reported. The 35-year-old is also suspected of providing financial and material support to the group. FILE - In this July 19, 2014 file photo German Islamic extremist Sven Lau, who is going on trial Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, delivers a speach during a rally in Hamburg, northern Germany. Federal prosecutors say Lau is suspected of supporting the group Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar, or JAMWA, which was designated as a terrorist organization by the United States. (Markus Scholz/dpa via AP, file) Lau goes on trial Tuesday at a high security court in the western city of Duesseldorf. Lau first made headlines in 2014 when he attempted to establish a "Sharia police" in the city of Wuppertal to enforce a strict interpretation of Islam. 14 Of Our Favorite Events In Chicago This Week Photo courtesy of Chicago Human Rhythm Project. They're offering free dance classes all week at the American Rhythm Center. We're back to work and back to the grind, but the fun isn't over. Check out 14 of our favorite events for the week. TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 6 FREE DANCE CLASSES: The American Rhythm Center is offering free dance classes all week, and not just in tap. The DANCE Free-4-All all levels in modern, ballet, Zumba, flamenco, break dancing and more. Check their website for the full schedule and more information. FUNKY READING SERIES: Tuesday Funk is back at Hopleafs upstairs lounge at 7:30 p.m. Virginia Bell, Fred Sasaki, Ryan DiGiorgi, Gina DeLuca and Tori Szekeres are among the readers at the eclectic monthly series. Free. INDEPENDENT FILM: Its the first Tuesday of the month, so that means the Midwest Independent Film Festival will introduce us to another locally made film. This month only, First Tuesday will be held at the Music Box Theater for the Chicago premiere of Who Gets The Dog starring Alicia Silverstone. The romantic comedy begins at 7 p.m. and will be followed by a post-screening discussion with the filmmakers. Get there early for a pre-show cocktail reception at 6 p.m. Tickets are a $10 tax-deductible donation. WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 7 OUTDOOR CONCERT: Chicagos own whistling violinist Andrew Bird plays a special hometown concert at Pritzker Pavilion at 7 p.m. The popular songwriter is just coming off the release of his latest album, Are You Serious, and every ticket purchased includes a download. Margo Price also plays. Tickets start at $23.50. WINE TASTING: Sip six Spanish wines at a III Forks "Sommelier for a Day" tasting from 5 to 7 p.m. Wine specialist Jessica Marshall-Bruckner will lead the tasting which also includes hors d'oeuvres from Executive Chef Cedric Harden. $20 per person. Call 312-938-4303 to RSVP. THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 8 LATINO MUSIC FESTIVAL: The 11th Chicago Latino Music Festival kicks off on Thursday with a free concert from DAo Belcorde at Instituto Cervantes of Chicago. The festival featuring classical Latin American and Spanish music will continue through Dec. 1 at venues across the city including Harold Washington Library, Old Town School of Folk Music, Ravinia and more. Visit their website for the full schedule and ticket information. Photo courtesy of The Joffrey Ballet by Todd Rosenberg. BALLET LIVE STREAM: Its a big year for The Joffrey Ballet with choreographer Christopher Wheeldon creating a new version of The Nutcracker for the legendary dance company. Get a sneak peek of the program with a live stream rehearsal from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Just visit their youtube channel to tune in. ADULT SWIM DRIVE-IN: Adult Swim is hosting a Drive-In at Soldier Field and youre invited. Theyll be showing unaired episodes of never before seen pilots and specials and RSVP is free. There will also be food trucks, trivia, prizes, and vouchers for a free meal from one of the food trucks. Car lineup begins at 5 p.m. and show is at 7:45 p.m. ZOO AFTER HOURS: Explore the zoo after all the little ones have gone home at Adults Night Out. From 6:30 to 10 p.m. stroll through Lincoln Park Zoos animal enclosures with a glass of wine or beer for a different kind of night out. Tickets are $15. FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 9 Occidental Brothers Dance Band International. Photo courtesy of DCASE. WORLD MUSIC FEST: The 18th Annual World Music Festival Chicago features artists from around the world at venues across the city including Millennium Park and the Chicago Cultural Center. Some highlights include Ragamala: A Celebration of Indian Classical Music, The 606 Polyrhythmic Procession & Global Peace Picnic and a collaboration with Chicago SummerDance on the first weekend of the fest. Events continue through Sept. 25. Check the World Music Fest website for the full schedule. Free. FESTIVAL DE LA VILLITA: Celebrate Mexican independence with the community of Little Village this weekend at the 27th annual Festival de La Villita. The fest will have more than 30 food vendors serving up authentic Mexican cuisine, plus live music, carnival rides, a rodeo and more. Theres also a stand-alone ticketed concert on Sunday with Latin Grammy Award winners Ramon "King of the Accordion" Ayala, and Conjunto Primavera. Entry to the festival is free. For more information on the ticketed concert, click here. Photo courtesy of Qatar Airways Chicago Beach Polo Cup. BEACH POLO: If youve ever wanted to see polo live, heres your chance. The Qatar Airways Chicago Beach Polo Cup will be on North Avenue Beach this weekend. United States, Wales (The Royal Team), Buenos Aires, Canada, Chicago, and Washington will all be competing for the cup head to head and horse to horse. For the event schedule, visit their website. Tickets are $65. THROWBACK MUSIC FEST: Gladstone Park welcomes a new retro street festival this weekend. The Throwback Music Fest will include music spanning generations from an Elvis impersonator and Fab Four tribute band to disco beats and a Bon Jovi tribute band. Purchase a daily tasting pass for the craft beer tastings. Entry is a $5 donation benefiting the Gladstone Park Chamber of Commerce. FUNNY READING SERIES: The literary humor series Funny Ha-Ha returns to the Hideout this Friday with an evening called Get Lit. Speakers include writer, performer, and beat poet JW Basilo, standup comedian and host of We Still Like You Tyler Snodgrass, co-Host of the podcast Vital Social Issues & Stuff Jasmine Davila and more. 6:30 p.m. Entry is a $10 suggested donation benefiting Sit Stay Read. UK court sentences radical Islamic preacher to 5 years LONDON (AP) One of Britain's best-known radical Islamic preachers was sentenced Tuesday to 5 years in prison for encouraging support for the Islamic State group. Anjem Choudary has been one of the best-known faces of radical Islam in Britain for years, leading groups under names including al-Muhajiroun, Islam4UK and Muslims Against Crusades. Several people who attended Choudary's rallies and events have been convicted of violent attacks, including the pair of al-Qaida-inspired killers who ran over British soldier Lee Rigby and stabbed him to death in 2013. FILE - This is a Friday, April 3, 2015 file photo of Anjem Choudary, a British Muslim social and political activist and spokesman for Islamist group, Islam4UK, speaks following prayers at the Central London Mosque in Regent's Park, London. Choudary nne of Britain's best-known radical preachers Tuesday Sept. 6, 2016 was sentenced to 5 years in prison for encouraging support for the Islamic State group. The 49-year-old Choudary has been one of the best-known faces of radical Islam in Britain for years. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland, File) His supporters shouted "Allahu akbar," the Arabic phrase for "God is great," as Choudary was sentenced at Central Criminal Court in London. Until he was charged under the Terrorism Act last year, the 49-year-old firebrand preacher gained attention for headline-grabbing activities that provoked outrage but stayed within the bounds of the law. They included protesting outside the U.S. Embassy on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and burning memorial poppies on the annual Remembrance Day honoring slain service members. But the London-born preacher ran into trouble in 2014 after his name appeared on an oath circulating online that declared the legitimacy of the "proclaimed Islamic Caliphate State." Choudary denied encouraging his followers to support the Islamic State group and said the oath was made without his knowledge. Police said Tuesday that evidence from authorities in Indonesia established that Choudary and co-defendant Mohammed Mizanur Rahman "were key in the publication of their oath of allegiance." "We have watched Choudary developing a media career as spokesman for the extremists, saying the most distasteful of comments, but without crossing the criminal threshold," Dean Haydon, head of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command, said. "At last we had the evidence that they had stepped over the line and we could prove they were actively encouraging support of (Islamic State.)" Evidence presented during the trial showed that Choudary broadcast speeches online explaining his rationale for recognizing Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as the leader of Islamic State or Daesh. "Both men were fully aware that Daesh is a proscribed terrorist group responsible for brutal activities and that what they themselves were doing was illegal," Sue Hemming, the Crown Prosecution Service's head of counter terrorism, said. EU lawmakers seek help to preserve Syria, Iraq mass graves BRUSSELS (AP) European Union lawmakers want help to preserve 72 mass graves in Syria and Iraq documented by The Associated Press so the evidence can be used to bring Islamic State group members to trial. Romanian Socialist lawmaker Victor Bostinaru said Tuesday that "the preservation of this evidence is today of utmost importance." His Austrian colleague Josef Weidenholzer said time is pressing because the grave sites are only roughly covered and exposed to dogs and the weather. He said "the longer we wait, the less that will remain of the graves and of the evidence. It is important to make European support available." Police: threat against German hotel was teenagers' hoax BERLIN (AP) An anonymous call threatening a "terror attack" on a German hotel on Tuesday morning was a hoax by teenagers in Austria, police in the eastern city of Leipzig said. They called off an extensive search of the hotel and withdrew police from around the building after they identified the caller. In a tweet, police said the threat was "apparently a bad joke by teenagers from Austria via a cellphone." Police officers walk with a dog iinto the Hotel Fuerstenhof in Leipzig, Germany,Tuesday Sept. 6, 2016. Police sealed off the hotel following a terror warning. Police in the eastern city of Leipzig, Germany, are investigating an anonymous threat of an attack against a hotel and have established a heavy police presence in front of the building. Police spokesman Alexander Bertram said the upscale Fuerstenhof hotel received an anonymous phone call Tuesday. A search did not turn up anything suspicious. (Sebastian Willnow/dpa via AP) They did not say whether they were pursuing charges and could not immediately be reached. Police spokesman Alexander Bertram said earlier that the upscale Fuerstenhof hotel received an anonymous phone call around 2:50 a.m. local time. Germany to raise spending, keep budget balanced in 2017 BERLIN (AP) Germany's finance minister says the country will keep its budget balanced despite increasing spending on research, training and infrastructure, as well as dealing with the huge influx of migrants last year. Germany's budget has been balanced since 2014 and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told Parliament on Tuesday his plans through 2020 foresee it remaining that way. His budget for 2017 includes a 3.7 percent increase in spending as well as some limited tax relief measures, which he says will be offset by higher tax receipts thanks to economic growth. Schaeuble says Germany "must now prove that the integration of the many refugees can succeed." Hundreds of thousands of refugees and other migrants came to Germany last year. In this photo taken with reflection through windows at the visitors tribune, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble delivers his speech during the first day of the budget 2017 debate at the German parliament Bundestag in Berlin, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber) French premier says recount of Gabon elections would be wise PARIS (AP) France's prime minister says that a recount of the Gabon presidential election results would be wise and that "the electoral process should be clear" amid fraud allegations. Gabon's top opposition candidate, Jean Ping, declared Friday that he was the rightful winner of the election, calling the results for the Aug. 27 vote fraudulent following President Ali Bongo Ondimba's re-election. Election commission results showed Bongo won by only 1.57 percentage points and clashes quickly broke out after results were announced last week. Italy's museums turn toward the private sector for funding FLORENCE, Italy (AP) Italian taxi drivers and concierges are being enlisted to encourage tourists to visit some museums. In Florence, supermarket customers raised 250,000 euros ($275,000) by opting to help the city's art instead of receiving store loyalty rewards. And in Venice, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection is partnering with big-name businesses including ones that make watches, grappa and cologne. Whatever the formula, museums are increasingly looking to private-sector donations, collaborations or sponsorships to survive and develop. In Italy, where government coffers have long been too meager to adequately safeguard and maintain its vast array of artworks, historic palazzi and ancient ruins, state-run museums and monuments are scrambling to follow the example of private institutions after decades of general distrust between culture and business. Museum officials and other high-profile patrons of the arts, ranging from an espresso coffee mogul to a contemporary arts space funded by a tire-maker, flocked to Florence, where centuries ago the Medicis and other princely patrons nurtured Renaissance masters, for an all-day brain-storming session this week. FILE - In this June 13, 2014 file photo, a worker walks on the Trevi Fountain with scaffolding during its restoration, funded by Fendi fashion house, in Rome. Whatever the formula, museums are increasingly looking to private-sector donations, collaborations or sponsorships to survive, even flourish. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis, files) Lending lofty inspiration to the lively debate held in the Uffizi Galleries was a fresco of Botticelli, who was just one of the many artists who enjoyed the Medicis' favor. Participants had tasked themselves with eventually drafting practical proposals for Italy's culture minister, including the potential for public-private relationships. Also participating were potentially deep-pocketed benefactors, like an investment group from the United Arab Emirates. "The prejudice between money, business and culture is still very deep in Italy," said Michela Bondardo, a culture policy expert who serves on the Contemporary Arts Council of New York's MoMA. She urged Italy's state museums to change mentalities and forge long-term alliances with corporate partners. Under the leadership of Premier Matteo Renzi, who used to be mayor of this Tuscan city steeped in art, Italy's state diffidence toward associating public-sector culture with the private sphere is easing. "Private resources, crowdfunding, private donations, donations by companies, sponsorship, patronages, will integrate public funding," Culture Minister Dario Franceschini told the brainstorming session. The Uffizi Galleries' new director is Eike Schmidt, a German who is part of Franceschini's new breed of museum directors, following decades of Italians-only at the helm of state museums. In an interview with The Associated Press, Schmidt noted that the national culture budget cuts of the past 15 years have finally been reversed, with this year's budget up some 27 percent over last year's, although still skimpy at some 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion). And a 2014 law allowing 65-percent tax breaks for donations to help Italy's public museums, monuments and arts venues has triggered a total of nearly 120 million ($135 million) in donations, Franceschini said. "The state is investing itself in culture again," said Schmidt, who directs Italy's biggest drawing art museum. "But this is not enough for such countries as Italy and Greece," so rich in art and archaeology. "So private donors' patronage, especially for restoration, continues to be needed," Schmidt said. Italy has been relying heavily on businesses including fashion companies, a mattress manufacturer and a textile tycoon to pay for restoration of prestigious monuments. Shoe-and-luxury-goods-maker Tod's is footing the bill to clean the Colosseum; Fendi sponsored restoration of Rome's Trevi Fountain, then held a summer fashion show on transparent walkways crossing over the water. Eisa Bin Nasser, president of Dubai-based Alserkal Group of companies, said he came to Florence to listen to the museums' proposals and for the business to consider sponsoring some restoration. But some participants at Monday's strategy session highlighted what they called the sponsorship approach's limits. Among them was the director of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, whose home is an 18th-century palazzo on the Grand Canal. Since 1992, the institution has forged partnerships of at least two years' duration with a host of companies eager to associate their brand with the prestigious art collection. "The era of single-sponsored events is passe," Philip Rylands, who is also the collection's Foundation director for Italy, told the strategy sesson. Later, he explained in an AP interview that these long-running business partnerships allow him the tranquility of "knowing that I have a platform of fundings" to plan exhibits two or three years down the line. But, Rylands acknowledged, the majority of Italian musuems, being public, "just don't have the kind of liberty to dedicate themselves seven days a week to the friendship, to the needs, to the requirements of this relationship with the companies." Only relatively recently have museums even been allowed to keep their own revenues. Before that, all money went to the state's overall coffers. Flourishing state museums like the Uffizi contribute 20 percent of their revenues to a "solidarity fund" for smaller, lesser known museums, often in the provinces, like the town museums hard hit by the Aug. 24 earthquake. FILE - this July 1, 2016 file photo shows leather goods Tod's founder Diego Della Valle posing for photographers inside the Colosseum, which is undergoing restoration funded by Tod's, after the completion of the first stage of the renovation works, in Rome. Whatever the formula, museums are increasingly looking to private-sector donations, collaborations or sponsorships to survive, even flourish. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, files) FILE - This July 7, 2016 file photo shows models wearing Fendi fashion house creations presented on a catwalk over Rome's historical Trevi Fountain, whose restoration was done by Fendi, during a show marking the 90th anniversary of the birth of the brand. Whatever the formula, museums are increasingly looking to private-sector donations, collaborations or sponsorships to survive, even flourish. (Giorgio Onorati/ANSA via AP, files) Nearly a ton of marijuana found on speedboat in Greece ATHENS, Greece (AP) Greek authorities say they have seized nearly a ton of marijuana on an inflatable speedboat that was abandoned after a chase in the west of the country. The coast guard says the seizure followed a tip-off. A coast guard launch located and pursued the 10-meter (33-foot) boat Monday, but the only man on board managed to beach the craft and escape on foot near the town of Messolonghi. A coast guard statement Tuesday said a total 920 kilograms of marijuana was found packaged on the speedboat. 2 Nobel judges to be dismissed over stem-cell doctor scandal STOCKHOLM (AP) The panel that awards the Nobel Prize in medicine is dismissing two judges for their roles in a scandal over a disgraced stem cell scientist at Stockholm's Karolinska Institute. Nobel Assembly secretary Thomas Perlmann told Swedish news agency TT on Tuesday that Harriet Wallberg and Anders Hamsten would be asked to leave the 50-member group, which will announce the annual award next month. Wallberg and Hamsten have already left high-ranking jobs at Karolinska amid scathing criticism of how the institute handled allegations of scientific misconduct against stem-cell scientist Dr. Paolo Macchiarini. Once considered a pioneer in windpipe transplants, Macchiarini was fired after being accused of falsifying his resume and misrepresenting his work. Obama vows to work to tighten sanctions on North Korea VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) In the wake of another missile launch, President Barack Obama vowed Tuesday to work with the United Nations to tighten sanctions against North Korea, but added that the U.S. was still open to dialogue if the government changes course. Obama signaled the U.S. would redouble its effort to choke off North Korea's access to international currency and technology by tightening loopholes in the current sanctions regime. Obama called the series of ballistic missile launches "provocations" that flouted international law and would only lead to further isolation. "We are going to work diligently together with the most recent U.N. sanctions," Obama told reporters after meeting with South Korean President Park Geun-hye. "We're going to work together to make sure we're closing loopholes and make them even more effective." U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the Lao National Cultural Hall in Vientiane, Laos, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) North Korea fired three ballistic missiles off its east coast Monday, a launch that was widely viewed as a show of force timed to get the attention of world leaders visiting the region for a series of summits. Obama and other heads of state gathered in China over the weekend for the Group of 20 economic summit. Obama went on to the Lao capital for a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday strongly condemned the North Korean launches and threatened "further significant measures" if it refuses to stop its nuclear and missile tests. The U.N.'s most powerful body agreed to the statement hours after a closed-door emergency meeting called by the United States, Japan and South Korea. The council gave no indication of what "further significant measures" it might take. The White House noted the U.S. remains committed to moving ahead with the planned deployment of a major anti-missile system in South Korea. China has urged South Korea and the U.S. to scrap the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, saying it is merely meant to spy on the China. Park told reporters Tuesday that North Korea missile program is "fundamentally threatening the security" of the Korean Peninsula and both leaders defended its position as defensive. Obama suggested they would continue to push China, North Korea's chief ally in the region, to use its influence to intervene and to crack down on North Korea's use of front companies and other entities to work around the sanctions. Obama raised the issue in his meeting Saturday, deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said. "We have over many years seen North Korea try to find ways to evade sanctions, try to find ways to access foreign currency, try to find ways to access sensitive technologies using front-companies for their activities. So we have to be very vigilant in terms of enforcement and we have to maintain the sense of urgency among the international community," Rhodes said. Even as Obama promised a tougher stance, he did not close off the possibility for dialogue with North Korea, if it were to change course. The Latest: Trump would give generals 30 days for IS plan WASHINGTON (AP) The Latest on Campaign 2016 (all times Eastern): 7:21 p.m. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, in Greenville, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) If elected president, Trump says he will give his top generals a "simple" instruction: Within 30 days, come up with a plan for "soundly and quickly defeating" the Islamic State group. Trump made the comments at a Tuesday night rally in Greenville, North Carolina. The Republican presidential nominee has been aggressively courting veterans this week. The group marks a traditionally loyal Republican constituency, although some have expressed concerns about Trump's readiness to serve as commander-in-chief. ___ 6:57 p.m. Donald Trump is charging that new documents released by the FBI prove that Hillary Clinton "fails to meet the minimum standard for running for public office." The Republican presidential nominee is unveiling the line of attack in prepared remarks for a speech set for Greenville, N.C. Trump says "Clinton lied about her handling of confidential information." Her conduct, he says, "is disqualifying." Late last week, FBI published scores of pages summarizing interviews with Clinton and her top aides from the recently closed criminal investigation into her use of a private email server in the basement of her New York home. She told the FBI she relied on her staff not to send emails containing classified information. Clinton has said her statements on the matter were truthful. Trump charges that, after the server was revealed, Clinton's "staff deleted all the emails and wiped it clean using a software designed to prevent any recovery." ___ 3:46 p.m. Tim Kaine says Donald Trump is disrespectful of the American military and has no credible plans to defeat the Islamic State group. Delivering a national security speech in North Carolina, Kaine running mate is hitting Trump as clueless and talking up Hillary Clinton's foreign policy credentials. To make his point, Kaine is pointing to news interviews in which Trump has appeared to be confused about the nation's nuclear triad and said that he knows more than some American military generals. Kaine also claims that the Islamic State is rooting for a Trump victory in November. ___ 3:35 p.m. Neither New Yorker vying for the presidency is expected to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the September 11th attacks with a visit to the site where two hijacked airliners took down the World Trade Center towers and killed thousands of people. A spokesman for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are not slated to attend the annual commemoration at the former World Trade Center site on Sunday. There is precedent for presidential candidates to visit the former Ground Zero on the anniversary of the terror attacks. In 2008, Barack Obama and John McCain made a joint appearance at the site in New York. Neither Clinton nor Trump has unveiled their schedules for Sunday. But both have pledged to refrain from campaigning or advertising that day. ___ 3:25 p.m. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign is venturing onto Georgia airwaves, but if metro Atlanta residents blink they might miss it. According to a contract with WSB-TV, Clinton has purchased $5,000 for 30-second spots during four Wednesday time slots: the early morning local news, Good Morning America and the local news shows broadcast at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Georgia is a GOP-leaning state but polls suggest Republican nominee Donald Trump's struggles among college-educated whites, particularly in the Atlanta suburbs, could make the state competitive for Clinton. Still, the small ad buy suggests Clinton, for now, is more interested in coaxing Trump or independent groups that back him into spending money in Georgia. Separately, the Clinton campaign has confirmed it will invest money to pay for more field staff to work out of Democratic Party offices already open in Georgia. ___ 3:25 p.m. Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine is talking up his own national security credentials as he begins a speech on the topic in Wilmington, North Carolina. Kaine, a senator from Virginia and former governor, is a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committee. And his son is a member of the U.S. Marine Corps based at Camp Lejeune. All of this, he says, makes national security issues real and personal to him. He says Hillary Clinton, like any president, needs a "solid partner" in the White House. He's arguing that Clinton is a president who would have a "steady demeanor, solid judgment and really thick skin." ___ 3:00 p.m. Hillary Clinton says her Republican rival is insulting veterans with his campaign rhetoric. The Democratic presidential nominee questioned Donald Trump's readiness and foreign policy expertise for the White House as she campaigned in Tampa, Florida, Tuesday. She said his presidential bid has been "one long insult to all those who have worn the uniform." Clinton said that "a man who is so wrong about our veterans isn't right to serve as commander in chief." Clinton attacked Trump for seemingly contradictory plans to combat ISIS, saying he's both promised to send American ground troops into Syria and let Syria become a free zone for the militants. Both candidates will address national security issues at a forum in New York City scheduled for Wednesday night. ___ 2:30 p.m. Donald Trump says his Democratic opponent would treat immigrants in the country illegally better than veterans. The Republican presidential nominee attacked Hillary Clinton as he courted veterans Tuesday in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He referenced Clinton and President Barack Obama's policies, saying, "You have illegal immigrants that she wants and he wants treated better than veterans." Trump promised he would fix bureaucratic problems in the Veterans Administration. In the meantime, he said veterans waiting for care could go to private doctors or hospitals and the government would pick up the bill. Trump and Clinton are aggressively courting veterans this week ahead of a national security forum scheduled for Wednesday evening. ___ 1:57 p.m. Hillary Clinton says that the military officials who have backed her candidacy for president believe she will "protect our country and our troops." Clinton was asked about a letter signed by 88 retired military officials in support of Donald Trump during a briefing with reporters on her campaign plane Tuesday. She responded, "I think we're up to 89, but who's counting?" Said she was proud to have endorsements of military, intelligence and defense officials like retired Gen. John Allen, Mike Morell and Mike Vickers. She said that they "know they can count on me to be the kind of commander in chief who will protect our country and our troops." She added that those same individuals view Trump as "a danger and a risk." ___ 1:55 p.m. Hillary Clinton is blasting Donald Trump for saying that he would have left a G-20 summit in China after a logistical flap over the staircase that President Barack Obama used to depart Air Force One. Clinton told reporters aboard her campaign plane en route to Florida that Trump's views offer "yet another strong piece of evidence as to why he should never be anywhere near the White House." Clinton said sometimes these types of logistical dust-ups are "annoying" but they're not the reason a president attends these types of meetings. She said Obama made "exactly the right decision to get off the plane and go to those meetings." Obama got off his presidential plane from a secondary exit after arriving in China. It was viewed as a snub by Chinese officials. Trump said it was a sign of disrespect and he would have left immediately if he had been president. ___ 1:10 p.m. Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence will return to his old stomping grounds and speak to House Republicans next week. Pence represented Indiana in the House for 12 years. He left Congress in January 2013 before becoming governor. Speaker Paul Ryan and other GOP leaders invited Pence to address Republican lawmakers. Ryan spokesman Zack Roday says Pence agreed to speak to them next Tuesday. Pence will appear less than two months before Election Day. Two months ago, Donald Trump, now the GOP presidential candidate, addressed House and Senate Republicans in separate closed-door meetings. Trump lambasted some GOP critics at those meetings. Ryan has had a cool relationship with Trump. Ryan called Pence "a great friend and a true conservative" and said Pence has "added tremendous value" to Trump's campaign. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, accompanied by Democratic vice presidential candidate, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., right, arrives to speak at the 11th Congressional District Labor Day festival at Luke Easter Park in Cleveland, Ohio, Monday, Sept. 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) FILE - In this Sept. 11, 2015 file photo, a flag is placed along the South Pool prior to a ceremony at the World Trade Center site in New York. Neither of the two New Yorkers vying for the White House is expected to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11th terror attacks with a visit to Ground Zero. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are not slated to attend the annual commemoration at the former World Trade Center site, a spokesman for the memorial told The Associated Press on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2015. (AP Photo/Bryan R. Smith, File) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, accompanied by traveling press secretary Nick Merrill, left, and director of communications Jennifer Palmieri, right, listens to a question from a member of the media as her campaign plane prepares to take off at Westchester County Airport in Westchester, N.Y., Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, to head to Tampa for a rally in Tampa. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, center left, waves as he walks with vice presidential candidate Gov. Mike Pence, R-Ind., center right, during a visit to the Canfield Fair, Monday, Sept. 5, 2016, in Canfield, Ohio. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, accompanied by Democratic vice presidential candidate, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., right, arrives to speak at the 11th Congressional District Labor Day festival at Luke Easter Park in Cleveland, Ohio, Monday, Sept. 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, accompanied by Traveling Press Secretary Nick Merrill, right, speaks to members of the media on board her campaign plane as she travels to Tampa, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. Clinton will attend a rally at the University of South Florida. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Wisconsin Juggalo Accused Of Cutting A Woman With A Machete For 'Ritual' By Rachel Cromidas in News on Sep 6, 2016 6:32PM A Wisconsin man chopped off a woman's finger with a machete in a Juggalo-inspired "blood ritual," according to authorities. The man, Jonathan Schrap, has been charged with mayhem and reckless injury after he and some friends staged a "ritualistic memorial," for a friend who passed away, on Aug. 27, police told WBAY. The friend was a Juggaloa.k.a., a fan of Detroit's Insane Clown Posse. Shcrap, of Suamico, Wisconsin, was allegedly discussing blood-drinking rituals with friends the morning of the incident, before his companion, a 27-year-old woman, offered to let him cut her arm and drink her blood. Schrap then used a machete to cut her arm, filled a shot glass with her blood, and drank it. The criminal complaint, obtained by WBAY, explains in a bit more (gory) detail: [The woman] had volunteered to let Jon [Schrap] drink her blood. Jon had taken a machete and made an approximate one inch laceration on her right side forearm. She was bleeding profusely Jon filled up a shot glass with her blood and drank her blood. The woman later allowed him to chop off her right pinky finger, "all the way to the palm," which he then put in the freezer, according to the criminal complaint, because "he said he would cook it and eat it later." According to WBAY, the woman was bleeding significantly and the group decided to use a car cigarette lighter, and later a blow torch, to attempt to cauterize the wound. When that failed, the woman went to the emergency room at Saint Mary's Hospital. The hospital staff then called the police. WBAY identifies the woman by name in their report but it is our policy not to name crime victims without their consent. The woman told police the ritual was totally voluntary and she had not been using drugs or alcohol during it, but officers arrested Schrap and another friend who was released without charges. Police are also looking for a companion of Schrap named Preston Hyde who goes by the rap name "Bloody Ruckus," believing he has video of the incident. The Latest: Hurricane Newton makes landfall in Mexico CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (AP) The Latest on Hurricane Newton (all times local): 5:25 a.m. Hurricane Newton has made landfall on Mexico's Baja California peninsula near Cabo San Lucas. Drivers wait in line to fill up their gas tanks in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Newton in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Monday Sept. 5, 2016. Authorities at the southern end of Mexico's Baja California peninsula ordered schools closed and set up emergency shelters as Hurricane Newton gained strength while bearing down on the twin resorts of Los Cabos for a predicted arrival Tuesday morning. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Newton's winds Tuesday morning were around 90 mph (150 kph) and the storm is expected to still be a hurricane when it makes its second landfall on the northwest coast of mainland Mexico early Wednesday. State Tourism Secretary Genaro Ruiz said about 14,000 tourists remained in Los Cabos as of Monday night as airlines canceled flights out as the storm approached. Ruiz said tourists had been advised to remain in their hotels. Newton is expected to move up the peninsula and enter the Gulf of California by Tuesday night. The hurricane center says the storm is likely to continue north and cross into southern Arizona as a tropical depression Wednesday night. Workers board over a store front in preparation for Hurricane Newton, in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Monday Sept. 5, 2016. Authorities at the southern end of Mexico's Baja California peninsula ordered schools closed and set up emergency shelters as Hurricane Newton gained strength while bearing down on the twin resorts of Los Cabos for a predicted arrival Tuesday morning. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) People play on El Medano Beach before the arrival of Hurricane Newton in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Monday Sept. 5, 2016. Authorities at the southern end of Mexico's Baja California peninsula ordered schools closed and set up emergency shelters as Hurricane Newton gained strength while bearing down on the twin resorts of Los Cabos for a predicted arrival Tuesday morning. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) Residents tow a boat out of the water as they prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Newton in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Monday Sept. 5, 2016. Authorities at the southern end of Mexico's Baja California peninsula ordered schools closed and set up emergency shelters as Hurricane Newton gained strength while bearing down on the twin resorts of Los Cabos for a predicted arrival Tuesday morning. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) Workers board over a store front in preparation for Hurricane Newton, in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Monday Sept. 5, 2016. Authorities at the southern end of Mexico's Baja California peninsula ordered schools closed and set up emergency shelters as Hurricane Newton gained strength while bearing down on the twin resorts of Los Cabos for a predicted arrival Tuesday morning. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) Saudi Arabia's top cleric says Iran's leaders 'not Muslims' RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) Saudi Arabia's top cleric is revving up the kingdom's rhetoric against Iran, saying in comments published on Tuesday that Tehran's leaders are "not Muslims," in response to rancorous remarks from Iran's supreme leader. The remarks by Grand Mufti Abdulaziz Al Sheikh came a day after Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Saudi authorities of killing Muslims injured during last year's crush of crowds at the hajj pilgrimage. Their confrontational comments mark a sharp escalation in the countries' faceoff as their spat plays out across the region. FILE - In this Tuesday, March 24, 2009 file photo, Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh, the Saudi grand mufti listens to a speech of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at the Consultative Council in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia's top cleric has said that Iranians are "not Muslims," adding fuel to a spat between the two regional powers a day after Iran's supreme leader accused the kingdom of mistreating pilgrims injured during last year's Hajj stampede. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File) Khamenei, in remarks published on his website Monday, said the "heartless and murderous Saudis locked up the injured with the dead in containers instead of providing medical treatment and helping them or at least quenching their thirst. They murdered them." Mostly Sunni Saudi Arabia and majority Shiite Iran back opposite sides of the wars in Syria and Yemen, and support opposing political groups in Iraq, Bahrain and Lebanon. In comments to the Makkah newspaper, the top Saudi cleric was quoted as saying that Khamenei's remarks are "not surprising" because Iranians are descendants of "Majuws" a term that refers to Zoroastrians and those who worship fire. Zoroastrianism is a monotheistic religion predating Christianity and Islam and was the dominant religion in Persia before the Arab conquest. "We must understand they are not Muslims, for they are the descendants of Majuws, and their enmity toward Muslims, especially the Sunnis, is very old," the Saudi cleric said. The September 2015 stampede and crush of pilgrims killed at least 2,426 people, according to an Associated Press count. Iran had the highest of death toll of any country, with 464 Iranian pilgrims killed. Saudi authorities have not released any findings of their investigation into the hajj disaster. Preliminary statements suggested the crush was caused when at least two large crowds intersected. Khamenei also blamed Saudi Arabia for an earlier crane collapse in Mecca that killed 111 people, and urged Muslims around the world to reconsider Saudi Arabia's custodianship and management of Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina where the hajj is performed. He also said Saudi rulers promote sectarian strife and arm "wicked takfiri groups" a reference to extremist Sunni militants who denounce other Muslims as heretics and non-believers. The two countries severed diplomatic relations in January after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Saudi Shiite cleric and angry Iranian crowds overran Saudi diplomatic missions. Negotiations between the two countries over hajj security measures also collapsed earlier this year, prompting Iran to declare it would not be sending any of its citizens to this year's pilgrimage, which begins this weekend. ___ Emirati terror suspect tried to kill US citizen DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) State-owned media in the United Arab Emirates is reporting a 29-year-old Emirati man faces charges after trying to kill a U.S. citizen with his car. The National newspaper of Abu Dhabi reported Tuesday that the man had allegedly pledged his support to the al-Qaida-linked militant group Jabhat Fatah al-Sham in Syria, which was formerly known as the Nusra Front. The newspaper reports the man had allegedly plotted other attacks, including "bombing the headquarters of Sky News Arabia in Abu Dhabi and Al Arabiya in Dubai." The state-run WAM news agency also reports that the man had his first court hearing Monday. Neither report named the accused nor the U.S. citizen attacked. Police: Guard shot near Maryland school's conference center ADELPHI, Md. (AP) Authorities say a security guard has been shot near a university conference center in Maryland during a robbery. Campus police Chief David Mitchell said at a news conference that officers called to the University of Maryland University College's Inn and Conference Center early Tuesday for a report of the shooting found the injured guard. Mitchell says he's in critical condition. Mitchell says two armed men stole three safes, which were found nearby. He says one man was arrested, but they're searching for the second. Network that smuggled migrants in old cars busted in Italy ROME (AP) Italian police say 21 people have been detained on suspicion of transporting new Syrian migrants into Germany, Austria and France in a fleet of old cars. Police say 10 of the 18 drivers arrested in Germany and Austria were Italian, but that the main organizers of the land-based smuggling network that charged 500 euros per passenger were Syrian, Egyptian and Tunisian. They said in a statement Tuesday that the taxi network ferried 200 migrants north from Italy and Hungary from December 2014 to May 2016. Police say the Como, Italy-based organizers recruited the drivers and provided them with 170 different used cars, many owned by fictitious companies. Volkswagen Truck & Bus buying stake in Navistar for $256M NEW YORK (AP) Volkswagen Truck & Bus, an arm of the German automaker Volkswagen, is buying a minority stake in Navistar for $256 million. The companies also said Tuesday that they will enter a procurement joint venture that will help source parts for both businesses. There will also be technology sharing, with an anticipated emphasis on powertrain technology. Volkswagen Truck & Bus will acquire 16.2 million Navistar shares at $15.76 per share and will be allowed to name two directors to Navistar's board. Navistar will remain an independent truck, bus and engine company. FILE - In this Oct. 5, 2015, file photo, the VW sign of Germany's Volkswagen car company is displayed at the building of a company's retailer in Berlin. Volkswagen Truck & Bus, an arm of the German automaker Volkswagen, is buying a minority stake in Navistar. The two companies also said Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, that they will enter a procurement joint venture that will help source parts for both businesses. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File) Navistar International Corp. expects savings of at least $500 million over the first five years. By the fifth year, the Lisle, Illinois-based company anticipates the alliance will generate annual savings of at least $200 million for its business. The announcement of the deal comes as Volkswagen AG is trying to move forward in the U.S. following an emissions cheating scandal. Last month it was disclosed that about 210,000 owners of Volkswagens with 2-liter diesel engines that cheat on emissions tests have registered to settle with the company under the terms of a June court agreement. U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer has given the $15 billion settlement preliminary approval, with a final decision expected Oct. 18. Terms call for the German carmaker to spend up to $10 billion buying back or repairing Volkswagen and Audi 2-liter vehicles and paying owners another $5,100 to $10,000 each. Navistar has also had its own emissions issues. In March the company announced that it would pay $7.5 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission complaints about its claim to investors that it had developed an engine that could be certified to meet U.S. emission standards. Navistar didn't admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement. The Latest: Austrian draft law sets limit on asylum seekers ROME (AP) The Latest on Europe's migration crisis (all times local): 8:40 p.m. Austria's government has drawn up a draft law that would prevent most migrants from seeking asylum once the number of applicants reaches 37,500. Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo in Paris, speaks during a press conference at Paris' town hall, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. The Paris mayor outlines plans for a new reception center for migrants in the French capital, in an unusual and controversial effort to cope with Europe's migrant crisis. (AP Photo/Michel Euler) Officials say the text of the proposed law was finalized Tuesday but still has to undergo a four-week review period before it is put to a parliamentary vote by the center-left government. The Austria Press Agency reports that the text lists increased crime, the dangers of Islamic radicalization, and overstretched institutions as grounds for an automatic triggering of the law once the 37,500 limit is reached. Parliamentary approval is expected. Government statistics show nearly 29,000 people had applied for asylum in Austria this year as of the end of July, about 8,000 fewer than during the same period last year. ___ 7:15 p.m. Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban says the European Union should defend its borders from "uncontrolled migration" as far south as possible. Orban, who previously called migrants "poison," also said the migration wave has exposed the EU as weak. Orban spoke Tuesday in southern Poland, where he met with government leaders from Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Ukraine for talks on the bloc's future. He says those in attendance at the meeting agreed that the "defense against uncontrolled migration must be moved south as far as possible." He praised countries helping Bulgaria guard its borders in southeast Europe against illegal migrants headed for nations in the west. ___ 5 p.m. Chancellor Angela Merkel says she expects asylum applications from the large number of migrants who arrived in Germany in 2015 to be processed by early next year. Germany registered nearly 1.1 million people as asylum-seekers last year. Officials say that figure was inflated by people who registered multiple times or then continued to other countries in Scandinavia and elsewhere. Since asylum applications lag some distance behind arrivals, it isn't clear how many actually arrived. News agency dpa reported that Merkel said in Berlin Tuesday: "We will have an exact overview by the end of September of how many exactly arrived last year." She added: "In the spring of next year all asylum applications will be processed, apart from the ones where papers are missing or everything is mixed up." ___ 2:25 p.m. Greek police have arrested two local men for allegedly trying to smuggle a group of Syrian refugees trapped in Greece over the rugged border with Albania. Police said the suspects were part of a network that had promised to clandestinely bring the refugees to northern Europe, for which each Syrian was to pay 1,200 euros (US$1,300) upon arrival. A police statement Tuesday said the two Greeks were arrested in the mountainous Kastoria region, after letting off 14 Syrians near the border. They had allegedly driven the group there in two cars from the northern city of Thessaloniki. It was the fifth such incident on the Albanian border since mid-July. About 60,000 refugees and other migrants have been trapped in Greece by a series of Balkan border closures in March. ___ 1:50 p.m. The mayor of Paris has presented a plan to open a new reception center for migrants in the French capital. Mayor Anne Hidalgo said Tuesday the center in north Paris designed for up to 400 people is aimed at taking care of "several dozen migrants arriving everyday" in the city. People will be allowed to stay there for up to 10 days before being transferred to other facilities in France where they can apply for asylum. Hidalgo says she hopes to have the center open by mid-October and that it will prevent migrants from camping in squalid conditions elsewhere in the capital. French authorities say about 15,000 migrants have been removed from Paris streets and parks and given shelter since June 2015. ___ 1:40 p.m. Italian police say 21 people have been detained on suspicion of transporting new Syrian migrants into Germany, Austria and France in a fleet of old cars. Police say 10 of the 18 drivers arrested in Germany and Austria were Italian, but that the main organizers of the land-based smuggling network that charged 500 euros per passenger were Syrian, Egyptian and Tunisian. They said in a statement Tuesday that the taxi network ferried 200 migrants north from Italy and Hungary from December 2014 to May 2016. Police say the Como, Italy-based organizers recruited the drivers and provided them with 170 different used cars, many owned by fictitious companies. The investigation began in September 2015 when an Italian was arrested in Hungary with several migrants in his car, according to Eurojust. Review: Spy novelist le Carre relates stories from his life "The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life" (Viking), by John le Carre Of stories to dine out on, David Cornwell has an abundance. Or should we say John le Carre has? Cornwell's pen name overshadows the title on the cover of this, his first memoir, "The Pigeon Tunnel." The name "John le Carre" attracts the audience, but it's David Cornwell confiding in us here, as if over dinner, then chatting long into the evening over snifters of brandy, or, as he unspools memories of Russia, glasses of vodka. He is nearing his 85th birthday, so he reflects on his brief stint as a British spy during the Cold War and long career as a revered espionage novelist who does his own fieldwork. Fans of le Carre's fiction will use this as a code book where they will match up characters from "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy," ''The Little Drummer Girl" and other titles to the real people who inspired them. An undated photo provided by Viking shows the cover to "The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life" by John le Carre. (Viking via AP) To research the Palestine-Israel conflict for "Drummer Girl," for example, Cornwell works his way into the world of Palestinian liberation fighters and eventually wins an audience with Yasser Arafat. He interviews a Russian mafia boss to gather material for "Our Kind of Traitor." For "The Mission Song," he seeks out warlords in east Congo. Film offers came early, so there are actors and directors to befriend. When hard-drinking Richard Burton, cast as the hard-drinking lead in "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold," the 1965 film adaptation of le Carre's early best-seller, needs a pal to keep him steady, it is Cornwell whom director Martin Ritt summons to the set. Sober-minded Alec Guinness, who plays George Smiley in two BBC miniseries versions of le Carre novels, encounters an actor showing up drunk and "the poor man might as well have gone to sleep on sentry duty," Cornwell recalls. But Guinness' anger gives way "to an almost desperate kindliness." When Sydney Pollack, Francis Ford Coppola and Stanley Kubrick call, Cornwell jets off to discuss impossible projects. "One day, I trust, it will be recognized that the best films of my work were the ones that were never made," he laments. The title "The Pigeon Tunnel" comes from a much earlier memory. His conman father (the inspiration for le Carre's autobiographical novel, "A Perfect Spy") has taken him on a gambling spree in Monte Carlo, Monaco. At a sporting club, the teenager David sees "well-lunched sporting gentlemen" shooting pigeons. He learns the surviving birds fly back to their home on the casino roof where they are doomed to be trapped in the tunnels that lead them again into shotgun fire. It's a troubling image. Does it haunt him into his 80s because he's trapped by his own inherited nature? His father, Ronnie, looms, at last fully formed, in "Son of the Author's Father," a chapter saved for late in the book. Roguish Ronnie cheats, lies, runs cons, sends others to prison for his crimes, beds women, goes to prison himself and still manages to send his sons to the best schools. Later in life, Ronnie takes advantage of his son's fame whenever he can. In these pages, Cornwell becomes one of his most fascinating characters the son who learns to dissemble at his father's knee, joins the British intelligence service and rounds out his life creating false worlds as a novelist. "Sometimes I walk round him, sometimes he's the mountain I still have to climb," he writes of Ronnie. We listen and nod, sipping with pleasure, intoxicated by his words. ___ Online: UK lawmaker steps down from committee post amid sex scandal LONDON (AP) A powerful Labour Party lawmaker stepped down Tuesday as chair of a British Parliament committee devoted to law, security and immigration issues after a sex scandal threatened to overshadow the committee's work. Keith Vaz was under pressure to resign from the U.K. Home Affairs Select Committee after the Sunday Mirror and the Daily Mirror published stories alleging the married father of two had paid for the services of male escorts. Vaz has not commented on the substance of the reports, but said they made it impossible for the committee to function without distraction. British Labour Party Member of Parliament Keith Vaz speaks in the House of Commons, London in this image taken from video Monday Sept. 5, 2016. Vaz powerful lawmaker has stepped down Tuesday Sept. 6, 2016 as the chair of the U.K. Home Affairs Select Committee following a sex scandal. Vaz was under pressure to resign after a Daily Mirror sting. Vaz says in a statement that "those who hold others to account must themselves be accountable."(PA via AP) "Those who hold others to account must themselves be accountable," he said. Born to Goan parents in Yemen, the 59-year-old Vaz was one of the more influential East Asian voices in the House of Commons and has held a number of key posts. Some reports suggested he faced a no-confidence vote from Conservative Party members of the Home Affairs committee had he not stepped down. Conservative committee member David Burrowes told the BBC on Tuesday that Vaz had done the right thing. "It was the inevitable thing, I think, given the nature of the allegations and his role as chairman of the committee," Burrowes said. "It wasn't a party political view." Burrowes said the committee's investigations into prostitution and drugs demand objectivity and made his positon untenable. "What has been exposed through the papers meant he was fatally compromised to continue as chair," he said. Thai protest leader gets 20 years in prison for fraud BANGKOK (AP) Thailand's Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a 20-year prison sentence for fraud for a media tycoon whose successful crusade to oust a prime minister triggered a decade of political violence and instability. The court affirmed a lower court's 2012 ruling that Sondhi Limthongkul violated Securities and Exchange Commission regulations in 1996-97 by presenting fraudulent financial data to obtain a large bank loan for one of his businesses. He was also accused of not informing the Stock Exchange of Thailand and the board and shareholders of the company guaranteeing the loan, which fell into default. Two of his associates in his Manager Group who were involved also had their 20-year sentences affirmed Tuesday. FILE - In this July 24, 2008, file photo, Sondhi Limthongkul, founder of Thailand's People's Alliance for Democracy, arrives at the metropolitan police headquarters to acknowledge the police charges for lese majesty in Bangkok, Thailand. Thailand's Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, upheld a 20-year prison sentence for fraud for the media tycoon whose crusade to oust a prime minister succeeded, triggering a decade of political violence and instability. The court affirmed a lower court's 2012 ruling that Sondhi violated Securities and Exchange Commission regulations in 1996-97 by presenting fraudulent financial data to obtain a large bank loan for one of his businesses.(AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File) Sondhi, 68, also was the founder of the People's Alliance for Democracy, which sought to force then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to step down in 2006 for alleged corruption and disrespect toward King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Thaksin was then ousted in a military coup, but his supporters and opponents continue to contend for power. Sondhi was one of a generation of Thai business entrepreneurs who built their empires during the boom years of the late 1980s and early 1990s, taking advantage of a loose regulatory climate. He expanded a mostly print-based media empire focusing on business coverage and diversified into other fields, including satellite communications and tourism. His circle of up and coming businessmen friends included Thaksin, who was a pioneer in the mobile phone sector as well as cable television. Sondhi, whose holdings were overextended and highly leveraged, was struck hard by Asia's 1997 financial crisis, which devastated even established Thai banks and businesses. Thaksin, who had already entered politics by that time, retained most of his fortune and used it to build his own political party, which won the 2001 general election and put him into the prime minister's seat. Friendly relations between the two men soured as Thaksin failed to carry out appointments and actions that Sondhi had sought, and by late 2005, Sondhi was leading small rallies attacking Thaksin. When other critics of Thaksin joined his crusade, the movement expanded and the People's Alliance for Democracy was formed. It was often called the Yellow Shirts because it adopted the royal color. Army and palace disenchantment with Thaksin took advantage of the pressure to stage a coup in September 2006. Thaksin's political allies regained power in a 2007 election, and the People's Alliance for Democracy became more militant in 2008, taking over the prime minister's office for three months and Bangkok's two airports for about two weeks. Royalist courts threw two Thaksin-friendly prime ministers out of office and political maneuvering then put the anti-Thaksin Democrat Party in power. The aggressive actions began to be mimicked by Thaksin's supporters, leading to their often violent shutdown of central Bangkok in 2010, which ended when the army used deadly force to clear the streets. Artists perform during an evening gala for the G20 summit at the West Lake scenic zone in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 4, 2016. (Xinhua/Zhang Duo) Famous Chinese film director Zhang Yimou has done it again. The man behind the awe-inspiring opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games, presented a dazzling visual extravaganza telling various Chinese stories with nearly 1,000 performers for world leaders attending the G20 summit in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province last Sunday. Zhang built the show around the theme of water, a natural element worshipped by adherents of China's ancient Taoist philosophy, and also based on the "Impression West Lake," an outdoor musical production created by Zhang that has long been a major evening attraction in Hangzhou. The G20 evening gala, named "Most Memorable Is Hangzhou," a title taken from a work by the Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi (772-846), highlighted the city's rich cultural legacy. Zhang described Sunday night's show as even more difficult and challenging than the Olympics opening ceremony. The director and his team worked for a year with many sleepless nights to produce the first grand gala on such a large scale in China to be presented on an outdoor stage. In an accompanying "behind-the-scenes" documentary, Zhang said: "From symphony, choir, children's choir, solo artist, solo instrument player to the show as a whole in the natural environment, we have to present them all by using high-tech means without any sound distortion. "We have to ensure the sound and light, and everything else, is beautiful and well-synchronized. This was very hard, and it was very hard at a world level to stage such a show," he added. The platform was engineered to lie three centimeters below the water surface so it would seem as if the actors were dancing on water. The ballet "Swan Lake," along with traditional Chinese music, folk songs, Yueju Opera and traditional dance, as well as a fireworks display, were designed to highlight the combination of Western and Chinese arts. Artists dance during an evening gala for the G20 summit at the West Lake scenic zone in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 4, 2016. (Xinhua/Wang Jianhua) The "Swan Lake" performance also used digital laser hologram technology, presented for the first time outdoors, to enhance the spectacle." The performance was very special. And we had a joke, saying this was the first time 'Swan Lake' performers actually danced on a real lake," Zhang said. But it was very difficult for the ballet dancers who eventually coped with performing on water by wearing skid-resistant dance shoes. "I was stunned when I saw the stage for the first time," said the renowned baritone Liao Changyong, one of the performers. "It was so beautiful, and it really did feel like we were performing on water." Liao told China Youth Daily that, in every rehearsal, the performers would get wet from head to toe, and "many caught a cold." To ensure the show would be perfect, everyone had to undergo at least 10 full dress rehearsals. But Hangzhou's hot, wet weather caused big problems for the musical instruments and even for the microphones. "We had to constantly adjust the strings of various instruments, and the wet environment had a bad influence on wireless mikes, resulting in many experiments to cope before it was eventually decided to use wired mikes to achieve the best sound effects." Liao said the vast outdoor environment was so challenging, forcing Zhang and all his staffer to spend many hours working on the fine details. Yi Ming, the longtime collaborating stylist of Zhang, said they had more than 100 meetings with the director to decide how to handle the makeup for the show. For example, he said, his 50-person stylist team had hand-made 200 wigs for the performers over a two-month period when they found it impossible to buy proper wigs on the open market. Artists perform during an evening gala for the G20 summit at the West Lake scenic zone in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 4, 2016. (Xinhua/Zhang Duo) "It also took the construction team two months to complete the lighting project. To add more Chinese traditional elements, we hung lamps resembling stars on all the trees surrounding the lake. Thanks to that, West Lake now looks like a landscape from a traditional Chinese painting," said Sha Xiaolan, the producer of G20 summit evening gala. However, the most challenging part was the weather. On the eve of the gala, it rained in Hangzhou. Director Zhang watched the rain and became silent. The team even considered Plan B, which was moving the show indoors. Fortunately, the rain stopped before the show, though there was wind, which also would affect the presentation requiring a beautiful reflection in the water. When the gala officially started, the wind had died down. Zhang was happy. After it was over, his wife Chen Ting posted on her microblog account on Weibo, "Thank you everyone, thank you the crew and staff and thank God. Everything went smoothly." However, Zhang was still critical of himself, feeling he could have done better, although he gave his team a perfect score of 100. Regarding the purpose of presenting a show during the G20 summit, Zhang said, "Telling Chinese stories to the world, telling them the good, I think that is the most important aspect. I want them to feel China in the hour of performance." His will to tell good Chinese stories will continue, as his big-budget Chinese-American co-production film "The Great Wall," starring Matt Damon and Andy Lau and mixing Chinese elements and action scenes, will also debut at the end of this year. Romania: Ex-PM investigated over pre-election 'Blair' visit BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) Former Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta is being investigated for alleged financial improprieties connected to another political figure's 2012 visit to Bucharest, prosecutors said Tuesday. Prosecutors didn't identify the prominent visitor. But Sebastian Ghita, a businessman who was questioned Tuesday, told the Mediafax news agency that the probe focused on a visit by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Prosecutors also questioned Ponta on Tuesday. They claim he misused his authority as leader of the Social Democratic Party to persuade Ghita to spend 220,000 euros ($246,000) on Blair's trip for electoral purposes ahead of parliamentary elections. FILE - This is a Friday, Nov. 6, 2015, file picture of Romania's outgoing prime minister Victor Ponta as he exits after an appearance at the High Court for Cassation and Justice, in Bucharest. Romanian anti-corruption prosecutors said Tuesday Sept. 6, 2016 that former Prime Minister Victor Ponta is being investigated for alleged financial improprieties connected to another political figure's 2012 visit to Bucharest. Prosecutors did not identify the prominent visitor, but a businessman who was questioned in the probe identified him as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File) They said Ponta arranged the visit so it looked like it was initiated and organized by non-political groups and that he benefited from press coverage of the visit. In exchange for sponsoring the visit, Ponta, who was prime minister from 2012 to 2015, allegedly promoted the businessman within the party to help him win a parliamentary seat and a four-year term in the Chamber of Deputies. Ponta and Ghita both deny wrongdoing. Prosecutors' spokeswoman Livia Saplacan said the foreign visitor is not being probed for any wrongdoing. Blair visited Romania in March 2012 and gave a keynote speech on the future of Europe. His office said he was invited to the country by the Multimedia Foundation for Local Democracy and that the fee he received for the speech was passed in its entirety to Blair's charities. Ponta is being probed on suspicion of using his authority to obtain money, goods or other improper benefits and being an accomplice to money laundering. Prosecutors put Ponta under judicial control on Tuesday, meaning he has to report to prosecutors, needs to get permission to leave the country, cannot talk publicly about the probe or make public comments about prosecutors. In another case, Ponta is currently on trial for corruption-related charges stemming from work he did as a lawyer from 2007-2008. He denies wrongdoing. European clubs target 2024 UEFA deal to block Super League GENEVA (AP) European clubs are set for fresh talks with UEFA that should block a breakaway Super League until at least 2024. Two weeks after UEFA and the European Club Association agreed on Champions League entry slots and prize money models through 2021, both sides said on Tuesday that negotiations for the next three-year cycle will start within months. "This is a kind of guarantee that the clubs stay united under the umbrella of UEFA," Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the ECA and Bayern Munich chairman at a news conference. Germany's Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, chairman of the European Club Association, ECA, addresses his speech, during the opening plenary general assembly of the European Club Association, ECA, in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP) Rummenigge spoke after two days of closed-door meetings that revealed disunity and unhappiness among clubs from lower-ranked national leagues which will be squeezed by the Champions League deal agreed last month. A breakaway, American-style closed league for rich, storied clubs is typically threatened before UEFA begins signing Champions League broadcasters and sponsors to three-year contracts. Total revenue in the 2015-2018 seasons for the Champions League and Europa League tops 2.2 billion euros ($2.47 billion) annually. An ECA-UEFA working cooperation agreement also expires in 2021, opening the chance for a split. Still, Rummenigge assured on Tuesday, "We will cooperate in the future with UEFA, there is no doubt about that." The latest Champions League deal was agreed on last month in Monaco after months of raised tension fueled by influential clubs including Juventus and Real Madrid. Italian and Spanish clubs were among winners in changes agreed for the 2018-2021 Champions League. Italy is among the top-four ranked national leagues with Spain, Germany and England which will each get four guaranteed places in the 32-team group stage. Italy has two teams in the current qualifying system. Spanish clubs which go deep into the competition will get more prize money, because broadcast revenues from the richest TV markets will be spread across all successful clubs instead of being targeted at clubs from that country. The current model ensured Manchester City topped the prize money last season getting about 75 million euros ($84 million) from UEFA despite losing in the semifinals to eventual winner Madrid. "I believe that was not fair and serious," Rummenigge said. Another change to prize money distribution will reward storied clubs for their past titles. Rummenigge said this decision skewing future money away from newcomers like Leicester toward traditional clubs like AC Milan was made by UEFA. UEFA told clubs in Monaco last month to expect "significantly" increased prize money in the 2018-21 seasons. The 153 clubs attending on Tuesday were told to expect a 30 percent rise in club competition revenues, a projected total of 3.2 billion euros ($3.6 billion). Delegates from lower-ranked clubs declined to speak publicly about the influence of elite clubs who cash in most from the Champions League, and would likely be part of a Super League. Real Madrid's ECA board delegate, Pedro Lopez Jimenez, noted sharply that marketing analysis suggested the best model for the Champions League would include only 24 clubs. The 32-team group stage this season has room for clubs from Bulgaria, Denmark and Poland. Rummenigge insisted European fans are a priority, despite demand from broadcasters worldwide to provide more matches involving top teams at times to suit non-European audiences. "Our will is to make (supporters) happy first, and not playing, I would say, at crazy kickoff times," the West Germany great said. "We never talked about to play in the afternoon or at noon to make our Asian friends or whoever else happy." Refugees from Boko Haram return home, excited but fearful MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) Excited but fearful, refugees from Boko Haram piled into yellow school buses with their bundles of belongings, returning after two years to homes that have been torched, wells destroyed, livestock looted and fields that still may not be safe from the Islamic insurgents. On Monday, the largest group yet of such refugees, nearly 2,000, was transported to villages and the town of Konduga. Though they are just 35 kilometers (22 miles) from Maiduguri, northeast Nigeria's biggest city, they are also on the fringes of the Sambisa Forest where the Islamic extremists still have strongholds. How this group of returnees survives, and whether the military can protect them, could influence other refugees whom the government is keen to resettle. Maiduguri alone is home to about 1 million of the 2.6 million people forced from their homes in Nigeria and neighboring countries during Boko Haram's seven-year uprising that has killed some 20,000. In this photo taken Sunday Aug. 28, 2016 a girl displaced by Islamist Extremists carries empty plastic containers at a camp Maiduguri, Nigeria. Excited and fear-filled refugees from Boko Haram piled onto buses with pathetic bundles of belongings, returning after two years to homes that have been torched, wells and crops destroyed, livestock looted and fields that may not be safe from the Islamic insurgents. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba) Despite the threat from insurgents, "food is the most important issue," said one returnee, Baari Mustapha. "If not, there will be serious hunger and starvation." Food is already a critical issue. Children are dying of starvation in refugee camps like Dalori, where many of the returnees had been living in tattered tents and makeshift huts of straw on the outskirts of Maiduguri. Dalori residents were among hundreds who protested last week, accusing officials of stealing their food donations. Nigeria's government is investigating the charges. The refugees say the camps are miserable, and they hope life will be better back home. "Life has not been easy in the camp," said Bintu Ganaye, a 32-year-old mother surrounded by her five children, ages 3 to 13. "Our major fear is that we don't know what the future holds out for us as we return empty-handed." Almost all the returnees are children, women and old men. Most women have no idea of the fate of husbands and sons, who may have been killed by Boko Haram or kidnapped to be turned into fighters. The Borno state government some months ago tried to force refugees to return home, only to meet resistance from people who said it wasn't safe. Smaller groups have voluntarily returned. On Monday, the refugees waited hours in sweltering heat for the arrival of Borno state Gov. Kashim Shettima, who assured them that food rations would be shipped to them, along with seeds to cultivate a total of 50 hectares (124 acres) of land cleared for them. The villagers said they believe they still could be attacked by Boko Haram on their traditional farming lands, which are located away from their villages. Hundreds of thousands of peasant farmers have been driven from their lands by Boko Haram. Konduga town was attacked many times in the past because it serves as a final defense for Maiduguri, the birthplace of the extremist group and headquarters of the military campaign to curb its insurgency. Even in Dalori camp, the refugees were not safe. In January, Boko Haram sent gunmen and suicide bombers who firebombed huts there and killed at least 86 people, including children. There has been no major attack on Maiduguri or Konduga in the months since the military and forces from neighboring countries announced they had forced the militants out of most areas except the extreme northern areas around the Lake Chad Basin, where Nigeria's borders meet Cameroon, Chad and Niger, and the Sambisa Forest to the west of Konduga. In this photo taken Saturday Aug. 27, 2016, women displaced by Islamist Extremists wait for food at Bakassi camp in Maiduguri, Nigeria. Excited and fear-filled refugees from Boko Haram piled onto buses with pathetic bundles of belongings, returning after two years to homes that have been torched, wells and crops destroyed, livestock looted and fields that may not be safe from the Islamic insurgents. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba) In this photo taken Saturday Aug. 27, 2016, a woman and her child walk past the laundry at a camp for people displaced by Islamist Extremist in Maiduguri, Nigeria, . Excited and fear-filled refugees from Boko Haram piled onto buses with pathetic bundles of belongings, returning after two years to homes that have been torched, wells and crops destroyed, livestock looted and fields that may not be safe from the Islamic insurgents. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba) In this photo taken Saturday Aug. 27, 2016, women displaced by Islamist Extremists wait for food at Bakassi camp in Maiduguri, Nigeria. Excited and fear-filled refugees from Boko Haram piled onto buses with pathetic bundles of belongings, returning after two years to homes that have been torched, wells and crops destroyed, livestock looted and fields that may not be safe from the Islamic insurgents. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba) In this photo taken Saturday Aug. 27, 2016, women displaced by Islamist Extremists wait for food at Bakassi camp in Maiduguri, Nigeria. Excited and fear-filled refugees from Boko Haram piled onto buses with pathetic bundles of belongings, returning after two years to homes that have been torched, wells and crops destroyed, livestock looted and fields that may not be safe from the Islamic insurgents. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba) Unruly passenger causes plane to make emergency landing NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) A United Airlines flight has made an emergency landing in Nashville, Tennessee, after an apparently intoxicated passenger caused a disturbance. An arrest affidavit from Metro Nashville Police says the passenger, Mohammed Nasser Aldoseri, told officers he had eight drinks before boarding Monday's flight from Cincinnati to Houston. The pilot diverted the flight after police say Aldoseri broke one of the plane's bathroom doors, threw up in a sink and then starting speaking loudly in Arabic. News outlets report the affidavit says officers found Aldoseri passed out in his seat when the plane landed. Police said he had slurred speech, red, glassy eyes and was unsteady on his feet. Pledging US help, Obama says Laos living in 'shadow of war' VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) Acknowledging the dark aftershocks of the Vietnam War, President Barack Obama paid tribute Wednesday to survivors maimed by some 80 million unexploded bombs America dropped on Laos decades ago and pledged U.S. help to finally clean them up. Touring a rehabilitation center in Vientiane, Obama said the U.S. had a "profound moral and humanitarian obligation" to work to prevent more bloodshed from the remnants of the U.S. bombardment. He touted his administration's move to double spending on ordinance cleanup to roughly $90 million over three years. "For the last four decades, Laotians have continued to live under the shadow of war," Obama said. "The war did not end when the bombs stopped falling." U.S. President Barack Obama pauses in the Ho Raj Rod, or Carriage House, as he tours the Wat Xieng Thong Buddhist Temple in Luang Prabang, Laos, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Some 20,000 people have been killed or wounded since the the war ended, Obama said after viewing displays of small rusted grenades and photos of a child missing his foot. He insisted those were "not just statistics," but reminders of the heavy toll inflicted by war "some of them unintended." "I'm inspired by you," he told one survivor, Thoummy Silamphan, who uses a prosthetic after losing a hand to one of the bombs. Half a century ago, the United States turned Laos into history's most heavily bombed country, dropping some 2 million tons of ordnance in a covert, nine-year chapter of the Vietnam War. The first U.S. president to set foot in Laos while in office, Obama lamented that many Americans remain unaware of the "painful legacy" left behind. The $90 million is a relatively small sum for the U.S. but a significant investment for a small country in one of the poorer corners of the world. Obama sought to put a human face on the issue by meeting Wednesday with survivors of bombs that America dropped. The president did not come to apologize. Instead, he said he hoped the strengthened partnership on clearing the bombs could mark a "decisive step forward" between the U.S. and this landlocked communist nation. Thanks to global cleanup efforts, casualties from tennis ball-sized "bombies" that still litter the Laotian countryside have plummeted from hundreds to dozens per year. But aid groups say far more help is needed. Of all the provinces in landlocked Laos, only one has a comprehensive system to care for bomb survivors. "We're incredibly proud of the progress the sector has made over the last five years in terms of the decline in casualties and new victims," said Channapha Khamvongsa of the nonprofit Legacies of War. "But we are concerned about the upwards of 15,000 survivors around the country that are still in need of support." After touring the rehab center, Obama was taking a short flight to Luang Prabang, a city in mountainous northern Laos that is on UNESCO's World Heritage List. He was to tour a Buddhist temple before taking questions from young Southeast Asians at a town hall-style event. The $90 million Obama announced follows $100 million the U.S. has committed in the past 20 years. The Lao government, meanwhile, said it will boost efforts to recover remains and account for Americans missing since the war. The punishing air campaign on Laos was an effort to cut off communist forces in neighboring Vietnam. American warplanes dropped more explosives on this Southeast Asian nation than on Germany and Japan combined in World War II, a stunning statistic that Obama noted during his first day in Vientiane. Obama was one of several world leaders visiting Laos to attend a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Taking its turn as chair of the regional forum, Laos' communist government is seizing a rare moment in the spotlight. For Obama, the visit serves as a capstone to his yearslong effort to bolster relations with Southeast Asian countries long overlooked by the United States. The outreach is a core element of his attempt to shift U.S. diplomatic and military resources away from the Middle East and into Asia in order to counter China in the region and ensure a U.S. foothold in growing markets. The project has yielded uneven results. Yet Obama's outreach took an uncomfortable turn just as he headed to Laos from another summit in China. The White House called off a scheduled meeting Tuesday with President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippine - a U.S. treaty ally - after the brash new leader referred to Obama as a "son of a bitch." Duterte, who had been expecting Obama to criticize his deadly, extrajudicial crackdown on drug dealers, later said he regretted the personal attack on the president. Obama filled the hole in his schedule by meeting with South Korean President Park Geun-hye in a display of unity a day after North Korea fired three ballistic missiles. Obama vowed to work with the United Nations to tighten sanctions against Pyongyang, but said the door wasn't closed to a more functional relationship. ___ Daniel Malloy in Luang Prabang, Laos, contributed to this report. U.S. President Barack Obama is given flowers as he arrives on Air Force One at the Luang Prabang International Airport, in Luang Prabang, Laos, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016, en route to Wat Xieng Thong Buddhist Temple in Luang Prabang, Laos. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) U.S. President Barack Obama tours the Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise (COPE) Visitor Centre in Vientiane, Laos, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) NATO chief to visit Turkey for 1st time since coup attempt BRUSSELS (AP) NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will make his first visit to Turkey since a violent coup attempt rocked the key alliance member in July. NATO said in a statement Tuesday that Stoltenberg will visit Ankara, the Turkish capital, on Thursday and Friday. It said he will meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Defense Minister Fikri Isik and other high-level officials. Police investigate officer-involved shooting in Connecticut NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) Authorities say a New Haven police officer shot a man who had rammed police cruisers after committing two robberies. Officials identified the suspect Tuesday morning as 49-year-old Kenneth Palmieri of Branford. Police say he is hospitalized with a gunshot wound to his arm and is expected to survive. Authorities haven't identified the officer who shot Palmieri. The officer was not injured. Police say Palmieri robbed a convenience store in Guilford overnight and later robbed someone in New Haven. New Haven police say Palmieri led city officers on a car chase, but police stopped for safety reasons. Officers say they later found Palmieri at a housing complex, where he rammed cruisers before the officer shot him. Ex-Stanford swimmer in rape case registers as sex offender XENIA, Ohio (AP) A former Stanford University swimmer whose six-month jail sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman sparked a national outcry registered as a sex offender on Tuesday in Ohio, where he's living with his parents. Brock Turner registered at the Greene County sheriff's office four days after he was released from a California jail for good behavior after serving half his term. His mother tried to shield him from media cameras as he registered under his family's Dayton-area address in Sugarcreek Township, where about a dozen people had protested Friday as police watched. FILE - This January 2015 file booking photo released by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office shows Brock Turner. The former Stanford University swimmer convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman is poised to leave jail Friday, Sept. 2, 2016, after serving half a six-month sentence that critics denounced as too lenient. (Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office via AP, File) Sheriff Gene Fischer said Turner is being treated the same as any other sex offender under his office's supervision. Turner, 21, must register as a sex offender for life, checking in every three months, and he faces three years of supervised probation. Deputies will check on him without warning to make sure he hasn't moved without permission. Police took a complaint Monday about cars passing in front of Turner's home and pictures being taken, according to copies of incident reports associated with the Turners' address. The Associated Press obtained the records through a public records request. Another report indicates an officer checking on the home Monday night found several broken eggs and an egg carton on the sidewalk and driveway. Turner was convicted of assaulting the woman near a trash bin after they drank heavily at a fraternity party in January 2015. The woman passed out, and Turner was on top of her when confronted by two graduate students passing by on bicycles. The graduate students chased and tackled him when he tried to flee, holding him on the ground until police arrived. A jury convicted Turner of sexual assault. Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky sentenced him to six months in jail, citing the "extraordinary circumstances" of his youth, clean criminal record and other considerations in departing from the minimum sentence of two years in prison. Prosecutors had argued for six years. Turner plans to appeal. His case exploded on social media and ignited a debate about campus rape and the criminal justice system after a letter the accuser read at his sentencing was published online. "I want to show people that one night of drinking can ruin two lives," she wrote. "You and me. You are the cause, I am the effect." The furor grew after letters surfaced that Turner's family and friends wrote urging the judge to be lenient. Turner's father lamented that his son's life was ruined by "20 minutes of action," and his grandparents complained that "Brock is the only person being held accountable for the actions of other irresponsible adults." A Minnesota man has finally confessed to abducting and killing 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling nearly 27 years ago, putting to rest a mystery that had haunted the state and led to changes in national sex offender laws. Danny Heinrich made the admission on Tuesday as he pleaded guilty to a federal child pornography charge that could put him behind bars for decades. In excruciating and disturbing detail, Heinrich told a courtroom containing Jacob's family the circumstances that led to the abduction, the sexual assault and murder after taking a plea deal that will land him in jail for at least 20 years. Asked whether he abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered Jacob, Heinrich said: 'Yes I did.' Danny Heinrich (left), seen here in an undated photo, made the admission to killing Jacob Wetterling (right) as he pleaded guilty to federal child pornography charges that could put him behind bars for decades Closure: On Tuesday Patty Wetterling (pictured) spoke during a press conference following the confession while wearing a pin with her son's face on it 'I want to say Jacob Im so sorry to know his last day, his last hours, his last minutes. For us Jacob was alive until we found him,' she said as she was comforted by her son Trevor In painstaking detail, the 53-year-old told the court how he was driving on a dead end road when 'I noticed three children on their bicycles with a flashlight.' The 53-year-old, who wore a tan knit shirt and dark-rimmed glasses, described donning a mask that night and confronting three children with a revolver near Jacob's central Minnesota home. Jacob's family was seen and heard crying as he detailed what happened next. Heinrich said he was driving on a dead-end road when he saw Jacob, his younger brother Trevor and his best friend Aaron Larsson. Heinrich told a crowded court on Tuesday after he molested Jacob he panicked and pulled out a revolver and shot him (pictured in undated mug shot) The three boys were on their bikes and shining flashlights to light their way. When Heinrich confronted the boys, he told Jacob's brother and friend to run and forced Jacob into the car. 'What did I do wrong?' Jacob pleaded with Heinrich. He then handcuffed the boy in the front seat and said he had a police scanner so when he heard officers were searching for Jacob, he told the boy to duck down. Heinrich then detailed how he drove around back roads, ending up with Jacob at a gravel pit where he removed the handcuffs, had the boy undress and told him to masturbate. Heinrich said there was no penetration and no forced oral sex. 'Im cold,' Jacob told Heinrich. 'Ok, you can get dressed,' Heinrich replied. Heinrich told the court that Jacob then asked to go home but he told him he couldn't take him all the way home, at which point the boy began to cry. This is the last area Jacob was seen alive. He was abducted by Heinrich while the boy was riding bikes with his brother and friend 'What did I do wrong?': Heinrich took Jacob (pictured) in his car, handcuffed him and then sexually assaulted him before shooting him dead 'I panicked. I pulled the revolver out of my pocket... I loaded it with two rounds. I told Jacob to turn around,' he confessed, as sobs filled the courtroom. 'I told him I had to go to the bathroom. I raised the revolver to his head. I turned my head and it clicked once. I pulled the trigger again and it went off. 'Looked back, he was still standing. I raised the revolver again and shot him again.' Heinrich, who had trouble breathing while recounting the night to the court, said he initially fled the scene but returned later to bury the boy's body. The court heard how at first, Heinrich used a Bobcat to bury Jacob's body and camouflaged it with grass and twigs. The grave was outside Paynesville, around a mile from his home. But when he went back to the site a year later, he noticed the grave was partly uncovered and Jacob's jacket could be seen above the ground. Another victim: Jared Scheierl, pictured aged 12, who was also molested by Heinrich, but survived; he said today that he hoped he helped bring closure to the case He exhumed the body, put it in a bag and then buried it across the highway - the site where Jacob was found last week. After detailing his abduction and assault of Jacob, he then opened up about an earlier attack on another boy, Jared Scheierl, who was 12 at the time and survived the ordeal, helping authorities to catch Heinrich. 'I was driving around in Cold Spring looking for a child,' Heinrich explained, when he came across a boy on a dark street and asked for directions before he abducted him. Later he said he got in the back seat, and asked Jared to undress, and attempted to perform oral sex on him. 'That didn't work out too good, so I asked him to perform oral sex on me', he said, adding that he told Jared: 'If you throw up I'll kill you.' He admitted keeping Scheierl's underwear. When asked why, he replied: 'Souvenir I guess.' He told the court he didn't know either boy before the attacks and acted alone in both cases. Jared Scheierl (pictured), who was assaulted by Heinrich when he was 12, also took time to speak at the press conference about his life after being molested by the murderer; he said he hoped he could help Jacob's family 'move forward and to keep it positive' Heinrich, of Annandale, led authorities to Jacob's buried remains in a central Minnesota field, according to a law enforcement official. The Stearns County Sheriff's Office said Jacob's remains were identified Saturday. Speaking at a press conference following the confession, Patty Wetterling, who was consoled by her son Trevor, said Jacob taught her family how to live and how to love but said she was still hurting. 'Jacob has taught us how to live, how to love, how to be kind. He speaks to the world that he knew, that we all believe in. It's a world worth fighting for. 'His legacy will go on. 'I want to say Jacob Im so sorry. It's incredibly painful to know his last day, his last hours, his last minutes. ' For us Jacob was alive until we found him,' she said as her voice broke. I want to say Jacob Im so sorry. It's incredibly painful to know his last day, his last hours, his last minutes. ' For us Jacob was alive until we found him Patty Wetterling Scheierl also spoke at the press conference, where he said he hoped that his purpose was to 'help others gain closure.' 'I was thrown into this investigation, not by choice, but because I was a victim,' he said. 'A victim of an assault that, in so many ways, defined who I am today. 'If you would have asked me 25 years ago what my purpose in life was, I wouldn't have had an answer. If you would've asked by 18 years ago what my purpose in life was, I would have told you my daughter. Today, I'm in a moment of transcending or finding a new purpose in helping others gain closurein what they need to move on, to move forward and to keep it positive.' U.S. Attorney Andy Luger called Patty 'his hero'. 'This is not the ending any of us wanted but Jacob is finally home,' Luger said. Luger also said that Heinrich had accepted a plea deal and would spend the next 20 years in prison. However, once those 20 years are over, Heinrich could spend more time in prison under civil law, Luger said. 'He's not getting away with anything,' Luger said. He also said Heinrich is 'not a calm man', which they knew before walking into discussions with him. In this Aug. 28, 2009, file photo, Patty and Jerry Wetterling show a photo of their son Jacob Wetterling, who was abducted in October of 1989 in St. Joseph, Minnesota In an unusual move, he also took time to praise the defense team for helping them get a confession out of Heinrich and reach the plea agreement. Authorities named Heinrich as a person of interest in Jacob's disappearance last October when they announced the child pornography charges. Heinrich had long been under investigators' scrutiny. They first questioned him shortly after Jacob's abduction, but he maintained his innocence and they never had enough evidence to charge him. They turned a renewed spotlight on him as part of a fresh look into Jacob's abduction around its 25th anniversary. Investigators used a tractor-mounted backhoe (pictured) to dig just southeast of Rassier farm in St. Joseph, Minnesota, to find Jacob's remains in 2010 but came up empty handed As part of that effort, investigators took another look at the sexual assault of 12-year-old Scheierl, of Cold Spring, nine months before Jacob's disappearance. Investigators had long suspected the two cases were connected. Using technology that wasn't available in 1989, investigators found Heinrich's DNA on Scheierl's sweatshirt, and used that evidence to get a search warrant for Heinrich's home, where they found a large collection of child pornography. The statute of limitations had expired for charging him in the assault on Scheierl, but a grand jury indicted him on 25 child pornography counts. He confirmed that he will plead guilty to one of the charges, with the court dismissing the rest. Typically, victims of sexual assault aren't identified, but Scheierl has spoken publicly for years about his case, saying it helped him cope with the trauma and that he hoped it could help investigators find his attacker and Jacob's kidnapper. Heinrich had long been under investigators' scrutiny. They first questioned him shortly after Jacob's abduction, but he maintained his innocence and they never had enough evidence to charge him Officers turned a renewed spotlight on Heinrich as part of a fresh look into Jacob's abduction around its 25th anniversary Jacob's abduction shattered childhood innocence for many rural Minnesotans, changing the way parents let their kids roam. His smiling face was burned into Minnesota's psyche, appearing on countless posters and billboards over the years. Patty Wetterling always kept hope her son would be found alive. She became a national advocate for missing children, and with her husband, Jerry Wetterling, founded the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center, which works to help communities and families prevent child exploitation. China's first lady, Peng Liyuan, called for a redoubling of international efforts against HIV/AIDS on Monday in Hangzhou, the host city of the G20 Leaders Summit. As the World Health Organization's goodwill ambassador for tuberculosis and HIV, Peng led a group of officials' spouses to Zhejiang University for an anti-AIDS activity. "I have provided support and have been engaged in activities to popularize the prevention of AIDS in colleges," Peng said. "Such activities have been held at many Chinese universities and have borne great fruit so far." Spouses from Argentina, Indonesia, Laos, Mexico, Turkey, Singapore and Thailand attended the activity with Peng. They watched a video about fighting AIDS and listened to a speech about how the campus is working to prevent the disease. University students shared their understanding about prevention and expressed their determination to stop AIDS. Two teenagers affected by AIDS told their stories and shared their hopes for the future. The visiting women put red ribbonsthe HIV/AIDS awareness symbolon a signature board to signify they were "hand-in-hand for improving AIDS prevention and control". Several athletes who participated in Rio Olympic Games, including swimmers Sun Yang and Fu Yuanhui, also attended the activity and volunteered to fight AIDS. Peng's engagement in anti-AIDS efforts dates to 10 years ago, when she helped children affected by HIV/AIDS and promoted prevention messages. On July 29, when a summer camp was launched at the Forbidden City in Beijing, Peng called for more social support for affected children. She said during the Love in the Sunshine China-Africa Children Summer Camp: "Along with healthy children, those suffering or affected by AIDS are the world's future; and regardless of their HIV status, nationality or color, they deserve care, support and a happy childhood." In December, Peng participated in another anti-AIDS advocacy event in Johannesburg, South Africa. On Monday, she invited wives of leaders participating in the G20 Summit in Hangzhou to visit the China Academy of Art to learn about Chinese culture through handwriting, silk and the academy's history. All the guests tried Chinese calligraphy during the visit and showed interest in the silk clothing on display. Canadian auto workers pick General Motors as strike target DETROIT (AP) The Canadian auto workers' union has picked General Motors Co. as a potential strike target in contract talks with the Detroit Three automakers. GM will now be the focus of bargaining as the two sides hash out a new contract agreement. The union's contracts with GM, Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler expire at 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 19. If an agreement isn't reached by the deadline, the union could call a strike. Any deal reached with GM also would be used as a pattern for the other two companies. The union, Unifor, represents 23,000 GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler workers in Canada. FILE - In this Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016, file photo, Jerry Dias, president of Unifor, the Canadian Auto Workers Union, speaks at a news conference after meeting with General Motors Canada in Toronto. The Canadian auto workers' union has picked General Motors Co. as a potential strike target in contract talks with the Detroit Three automakers. The union's contracts with GM, Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler expire at 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 19. Any deal reached with GM also would be used as a pattern for the other two companies. The union, Unifor, represents 23,000 GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler workers in Canada. (Aaron Vincent Elkaim/The Canadian Press via AP, File) "These negotiations are about the future of local communities, good jobs and the industry. Our demand is clear, invest today to build a future for tomorrow," Unifor President Jerry Dias said at a news conference Tuesday in Toronto. "Policy makers and the public need to understand what is at stake here." Talks so far have been contentious, especially with GM. The company wants a contract that's more cost-competitive with the United Auto Workers union in the U.S. Unifor wants guarantees that new products will go into a GM factory in Oshawa, Ontario. The Oshawa plant employs 2,400 hourly workers and builds the Chevrolet Impala, Cadillac XTS and Buick Regal. All three cars have been slow sellers as the North American market shifts away from cars to trucks and SUVs. GM has said about 75 percent of the workers at the Oshawa plant are eligible for full retirement benefits, leading some workers to believe that the company wants to close the factory. GM also employs 1,400 Unifor members at an engine factory in St. Catherines, Ontario, and 60 people at a parts center in Woodstock, Ontario. Matthew Perry says he is 'nervous' for his memoir to come out... after dishing on Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts and Valerie Bertinelli to boost sales Candidate quits race after call for rape of journalist WEST DEPTFORD, N.J. (AP) A New Jersey Republican ended his campaign for local office Tuesday following reports that he called online for the rape of a Washington-based reporter for news and opinion website The Daily Beast. Mike Krawitz, who was running for the township council in West Deptford, sent a handwritten resignation note to the party Tuesday saying he was dropping out. On Monday, Krawitz told The Philadelphia Inquirer that his account was hacked and that he didn't make the comment on journalist Olivia Nuzzi's Facebook account. But Nuzzi, a New Jersey native, said she has been harassed on social media by Krawitz since December 2015. Krawitz's recent comment said: "I. Hope. Somebody. Rapes. You. Today. :)." Krawitz's account also posted a comment that said: "Hope. You. Get. Raped. By. A. Syrian. Refugee. :)." Bob Waller, chairman of the West Deptford Republican Committee, said in a statement before Krawitz stepped down that there is "no reasonable reason" to believe Krawitz was hacked. He had called on Krawitz step down. "We as a party cannot condone such repulsive, threatening or demeaning rhetoric of this kind being made by any person regardless of party," Waller said. A person answering the phone at a number listed for Krawitz on Tuesday afternoon said he was not home. West Deptford Police Chief Sam DiSimone said no complaint has been filed with the department, but he condemned the comments. "It's an embarrassment to the township that this is taking place," he said. The comments came after Nuzzi promoted an article about Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's ex-wife Marla Maples. Nuzzi said in a statement that she has received a lot of colorful hate mail but never from a candidate for office. "I have faith that most voters in New Jersey and around the country disapprove of hateful rhetoric of this nature," Nuzzi said. Swedish ex-minister fined for drunken driving STOCKHOLM (AP) Sweden's former minister for higher education has been fined almost $5,000 for drunken driving, an offense that prompted her to resign last month. Aida Hadzialic was stopped by police when she was returning from a concert with a blood-alcohol level just above the legal limit, which is lower in Sweden than in many other European countries. The 29-year-old Hadzialic called it her "life's biggest mistake" and stepped down immediately. Prosecutors on Tuesday issued a fine of 40,000 kronor ($4,670). Whether it's the pleasant greeting when you slide into the driver's seat or a loud, annoying beep that warns you of an imminent crash, there's science behind the noises that your car makes. Nearly all automakers have engineers and others assigned to special groups that make sure musical greeting sounds are pleasant and that warnings like forward collision alert are so annoying they get a driver's attention fast. 'It's critical,' said Sean DeGennaro, a vehicle harmony engineer at Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn, Michigan. Scroll down for video The dashboard of a Toyota sedan: As more features have been added in cars and trucks, the number of sounds has grown, and their functions have become more important. Nearly all automakers have engineers and others assigned to special groups that make sure musical greeting sounds are pleasant and that warnings are so annoying they get a driver's attention fast. (AP Photo/Mike Householder) MAJOR OR MINOR? On Ford and Lincoln vehicles, the sounds run through the audio system to produce chords, said DeGennaro. The frequencies of major chords tend to be more soothing, while minor chords can be annoying. Advertisement 'If we get it wrong, you don't know that you have low tire pressure, you don't know that you're low on fuel, and all of a sudden you're stuck on the side of the road.' As recently as a decade ago, there wasn't much research behind the chirps, bells and chimes inside cars. Most automakers had a dedicated speaker for the sounds, and some even used the crude noise from electrical relays for turn signal clickers and other alerts. But as more features have been added in cars and trucks, the number of sounds has grown, and their functions have become more important. The average car has 10 to 15 different sounds for anything from keys in the ignition with the door open to seat belt reminders. Some luxury vehicles, or even mainstream cars with a lot of advanced safety features, can have as many as 20 noises. That's only going to grow as more safety features are added on the way toward self-driving cars. Teams at automakers, some with music backgrounds, come up with the sounds for the various devices. Then they are often tested with real drivers to find out if they're annoying enough for emergencies and soothing enough for greetings. And the cars have to be programmed so the sounds coincide with dashboard text alerts. On Ford and Lincoln vehicles, the sounds run through the audio system to produce chords, said DeGennaro. The frequencies of major chords tend to be more soothing, while minor chords can be annoying. IThe visual display on a Cadillac sedan indicates the proximity of the vehicle to another as it backs up in a Canton Township, Mich., driveway. The indicator is accompanied by an audio alert. 'It's up to us to pick the right frequencies that can deliver either the harsh or positive sound that we want,' said DeGennaro, an engineer who sang in the choir and took music theory classes in high school. It's then up to field tests with real drivers. Ford, General Motors and other automakers play different frequencies for drivers in tests and ask them to rate how pleasant or annoying they are. Sometimes, they want annoying, as in the case of the shrill staccato beeps that warn GM drivers to brake because they're nearing a collision. In this Aug. 16, 2016, image taken from video, a light flashes on the side mirror of a Ford sedan in Dearborn, Mich., after the driver activated the vehicle's four-way flashers. The indicator is accompanied by an audio alert. Currently GM can only do two single-frequency tones played over the audio system speakers, but it's testing more sophisticated sounds across the globe, said Andy Gellatly, the company's technical fellow for user experience, who is in charge of sounds. Multi-tone sounds can be more effective than single-frequency ones, and they also can give owners the feeling of quality, Gellatly said. They can even help establish a brand identity, which is what German automaker Audi has done, he said. 'We've come a long way with external styling, and now interior styling has matched,' he said. 'If you have a beautifully styled product, the sounds should match that.' He wasn't sure when the new sounds would be ready, but said initial research shows that many sounds convey the same meaning worldwide. At Toyota, sounds are more regimented. Engineers have a choice of pre-selected noises, many coming from a central speaker, and they assign them to different tasks based on the urgency of the alert. As demand for louder noises has grown due to pre-collision and other warnings, the speaker had to be modified for more output, said Engineer Nathan Secord. Trucks generally have more sounds than cars because of four-wheel drive systems, Secord said. In this Aug. 16, 2016, image taken from video, the dashboard of a Toyota sedan in York Township, Mich., displays a warning icon informing the driver that a door is ajar. 'You'll have a buzzer for any kind of system that may have a malfunction, and there can be multiple triggers for the same buzzer,' he said. At the same time the buzzer sounds, text alerts flash on the dashboard to tell drivers what's going on. When the computer in Eric Snowberger's new Honda Pilot figured out that he might hit the car in front of him in Augusta, Georgia, it flashed a big message in orange letters telling him to brake and sounded a rapid 'ding' that got his attention. 'It's not anything where cannons are going off in the car,' said Snowberger, director of the police academy at a technical college. UN changes guidance about sex for travelers to Zika zones GENEVA (AP) The U.N. health agency is changing its advice to travelers returning from areas facing a Zika virus outbreak, saying both men and women should now practice safe sex or abstinence for six months. The World Health Organization's guidance applies to all travelers, whether or not they show symptoms of the virus. The organization's previous guidance in early June was for only men without symptoms to use condoms or abstain from sex for eight weeks after returning from areas with epidemics. The disease is mostly transmitted by mosquitoes but can also be spread via sex. FILE - In this Jan. 27, 2016 file photo, an Aedes aegypti mosquito known to carry the Zika virus, is photographed through a microscope at the Fiocruz institute in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. The U.N. health agency is changing its advice to travelers returning from areas facing a Zika virus outbreak, saying both men and women should now practice safe sex or abstinence for six months. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File) Officials had previously tracked cases of men spreading Zika through sex and in July, American scientists reported the first case of a woman infecting a male partner via sex. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that men and women should consider using condoms or not having sex for at least eight weeks after returning from a Zika-hit country, if they have shown no symptoms of the disease. The agency said it is currently reviewing the latest scientific information on Zika and may update its guidance later. Most people who catch Zika only experience mild symptoms like fever and a rash, but in a small proportion of pregnant women, the virus can also cause brain and other neurological problems in babies. WHO says men and women living in areas with ongoing Zika epidemics should make an "informed choice about whether and when to become pregnant." Last week, WHO declared that the continued spread of Zika it has now infected more than 70 countries and territories remains a global health emergency. Since the virus arrived in Singapore about two weeks ago, it has sickened nearly 300 people. Randa, whose ruling halted Gov. Walker probe, dies at age 76 MILWAUKEE (AP) U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa, whose high-profile decisions included a ruling that blocked a secret probe into Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's campaign, has died at age 76. Randa's secretary, Cary Biskupic, confirmed Randa's death following a battle with cancer that sent him into semiretirement in February. Randa died early Monday. Randa's ruling in 2014 blocked the so-called "John Doe" investigation of Walker's campaign, a decision an appeals court eventually overturned and sent back to the Wisconsin courts. The investigation began in 2012 by Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, a Democrat, and looked into whether the Republican governor's campaign had illegally worked with independent groups in recall elections in 2011 and 2012. In this undated photo provided by U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin, is U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa. Randa, whose high-profile decisions included a ruling that blocked a secret probe into Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's campaign, died early Monday, Sept. 5, 2016, following a battle with cancer. He was 76. (U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin via AP) In a statement Tuesday, Walker said Randa was "a great man and an outstanding jurist. He was well-respected by his peers and those in the legal profession." Randa was appointed to the federal bench in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush. Randa was born in Milwaukee and earned his law degree at the University of Wisconsin. He served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam from 1967 to 1969, earning the Bronze Star, and worked in the U.S. Attorney General's office in Washington, D.C., following his discharge. Randa returned to Milwaukee in 1970 where he served in the city attorney's office, Milwaukee Municipal Court, then the circuit court in Milwaukee and Wisconsin Court of Appeals before his appointment to the U.S. District Court in Milwaukee. He served as chief judge of the Eastern District from 2002 to 2009. GE ups its digital game, snaring two 3-D printing companies WASHINGTON (AP) General Electric is continuing its push into the digital realm, spending $1.4 billion to acquire two European 3-D printing companies. At the same time, it's upping its old-school manufacturing capabilities with technology that will allow it to quickly punch out industrial components, for airlines or anything else, to satisfy any client's whim. The Fairfield, Conn. company said Tuesday that it expects the acquisition of Arcam AB and SLM Solutions Group AB to boost revenue within its 3-D printing business to $1 billion by 2020. GE has shed most of its financial service business to focus on its high-tech industrial operations. Pakistan demolished over 100 offices of MQM party in Karachi KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) A Pakistani government minister says authorities in the port city of Karachi have demolished over 100 offices of a political party whose leader spoke from self-imposed exile against Pakistan last month. Jam Khan, the provincial minister for local government, says Tuesday's action against Muttahida Qaumi Movement, or MQM, was launched after last month's speech by the movement's leader, Altaf Hussain from London, in which he incited supporters to violence. Hussain's followers subsequently attacked TV stations in Karachi and clashes with the police left one person dead. Pakistani children play next to the picture of Altaf Hussain, a top leader of Muttahida Qaumi Movement, or MQM, at one of his party offices demolished by authorities in Karachi Pakistan, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. A government minister says authorities in Pakistan's largest city of Karachi have demolished over 100 offices of an ethnic party after its self-exiled leader Altaf Hussain made a speech against Pakistan. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan) Khan says the ongoing crackdown is not just "MQM specific" and that any illegal offices of other political parties will also be shuttered. MQM mainly represents ethnic Mohajirs, who fled to Pakistan from India during 1947's partition, and it dominates politics in Karachi. Lawmaker: Probe deleted Clinton emails cited in FBI report WASHINGTON (AP) The Republican chairman of the House committee investigating Hillary Clinton's email practices asked a federal prosecutor Tuesday to determine whether she or others working with her played a role in the deletion of thousands of her emails by a Colorado technology firm overseeing her private computer server in 2015. The written request by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and obtained by The Associated Press, is based on recent revelations from the FBI, which decided not to press for criminal charges after its own yearlong investigation. Clinton and her longtime aide and lawyer, Cheryl Mills, told FBI investigators during questioning that they had no knowledge of the deletions. Those occurred separately from the email deletions overseen by the former secretary of state's legal team last year before she turned over 33,000 work-related messages to the State Department. The FBI's recently released summaries of its investigation did not offer any evidence contradicting their statements. FILE - In this May 17, 2016 file photo, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Chaffetz asked a federal prosecutor Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, to determine whether Hillary Clinton, and others working with her played a role in the deletion of thousands of her emails by a Colorado technology firm overseeing her private computer server in 2015. The written request, obtained by The Associated Press, is based on recent revelations from the FBI, which decided not to press for criminal charges after its own year-long investigation. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File) In a separate letter also obtained by the AP, Chaffetz the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman warned the Denver-based tech firm, which hosted Clinton's server, that one of its engineers who deleted Clinton's electronic files last year could face federal charges of obstructing justice and destroying evidence for erasing the material. That's because the congressional inquiry into the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans were killed, had issued a formal order on March 3, 2015, to preserve such records. The moves by the GOP led-House committee amount to new political complications for Clinton's presidential campaign, which was spared a legal ordeal in July when FBI Director James Comey upbraided Clinton for careless email practices but declined to seek criminal charges after the bureau's investigation. Donald Trump and GOP allies have urged the appointment of an independent prosecutor an unlikely prospect so late in the presidential election. But even if the Justice Department decides against another investigation, the new allegations could surface in upcoming presidential candidate debates. Clinton dismissed Chaffetz's outline of the email deletions as "his latest conspiracy theories." "The FBI resolved all of this," Clinton said to reporters Tuesday on her flight en route to an appearance in Tampa, Florida. "Their report answered all of the questions." The sparse evidence laid out in Chaffetz' letters highlighting a March 2015 phone discussion between Platte River Networks and Clinton lawyers that FBI agents were unable to detail also shows the uphill climb the committee faces in turning up any significant new information beyond what the FBI already learned in its inquiry. "The bottom line is these documents were destroyed and they were records under subpoena," Chaffetz told the AP. "Secretary Clinton has fought this every step of the way. The election should not slow down this probe." The top Democrat on Chaffetz's committee, Elijah Cummings of Maryland, said the letters are politically motivated, intended to help Trump. Platte River Networks' lawyer declined to comment. Chaffetz's letter to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Channing Phillips, comes nearly two months after the House committee similarly asked the same prosecutor to determine whether Clinton committed perjury and made false statements in testimony to congressional committees. The new referral asked the Justice Department to "investigate and determine whether Secretary Clinton or her employees and contractors violated statutes that prohibit destruction of records, obstruction of congressional inquiries and concealment or cover up of evidence material to a congressional investigation." Chaffetz also questioned whether the mass email deletions by the unidentified Platte River engineer, which came at about the same time as a conference call with Clinton's legal team, might have been "instructed" by Clinton through her lawyers. Comey said last July that he had no basis to find that the deletions of Clinton's emails were aimed at concealing evidence. The FBI said Mills had instructed the Platte River engineer in December 2014 to delete all emails from the server older than 60 days old. But the engineer apparently forgot to delete the files and didn't realize his mistake until March 2015, the FBI said. That was three weeks after Clinton's email revelation and the House Benghazi committee's order that Clinton and her tech consultants retain all of her email records. According to the FBI files, the engineer told agents that "he believed he had an 'oh, (expletive)' moment," and deleted the archived emails sometime during the last week of March 2015. The FBI report said the engineer used a program BleachBit to delete the files in ways thought to make them unrecoverable. The report said that the engineer "was aware of the existence of the (Benghazi committee) preservation request and the fact that it meant he should not disturb Clinton's email data on the PRN server." The FBI said Platte River personnel had a conference call with Mills and David Kendall, Clinton's longtime personal lawyer, in late March 2015. FBI agents found a Platte River "work ticket" for such a call on March 31, but they reported that the company's attorney advised the engineer "not to comment on the conversation with Kendall based on the assertion of attorney-client privilege." Chaffetz said he will seek to examine the work ticket. Kendall and Cheryl Mills' attorney were not immediately available to discuss Chaffetz's letters. ___ Associated Press writer Ken Thomas reported from aboard Hillary Clinton's campaign plane Nine people have been arrested in relation to a fire at a limestone mine in Gansu Province last month that killed 12 people, local authorities said on Tuesday. The nine suspects include the deputy head of the mine and four members of the construction team, who were working in the mine when the fire broke out, according to the People's Procuratorate of Sunan County in the city of Zhangye. The procuratorate said the people in charge of the mine had failed to implement safety measures and had outsourced construction work to a team whose negligence had caused the fire. Those responsible did not report the fire immediately and failed to take efficient response to the accident. The nine people are arrested on suspicion of major liability in an accident, the procuratorate said. The fire occurred at the limestone mine operated by Jiuquan Iron and Steel Group in Zhangye City, northwest China's Gansu Province, around 2 p.m. on Aug. 16, trapping nine miners. Despite firefighters and a rescue team rushing to the scene, the trapped miners and three rescuers died. The head of the mine, surnamed Liu, was detained in late August. Hawaii woman accused in twin's death released from NY jail STAMFORD, N.Y. (AP) A woman who had been accused of killing her twin sister after their vehicle plunged off a Hawaii cliff has been released from a New York jail where she was being held on drunken driving charges. Delaware County authorities say 38-year-old Alexandria Duval was released Friday after posting bail. Duval was arrested Aug. 15 in Stamford. State police said her blood-alcohol content was more than three times the legal limit. Duval pleaded not guilty Aug. 23 to charges including aggravated driving while intoxicated. Messages left with her attorney weren't returned. Duval's sister, Anastasia, died in May when their SUV crashed in Maui and plunged 200 feet. Court: Doctor on trial for murder can be forcibly medicated Connecticut authorities can forcibly administer anti-psychotic medicine on a mentally ill doctor charged in the murder of a Yale University physician so he can be competent to stand trial, the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. Justices released a 7-0 decision that rejected the appeal of Lishan Wang, whose lawyer argued that medicating Wang against his will would violate his constitutional rights to a fair trial and to mental and physical bodily integrity, as well as conflict with a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court ruling restricting involuntary medication of defendants. Wang, a Chinese citizen from Beijing, is charged with murder in the 2010 fatal shooting of Dr. Vajinder Toor outside Toor's home in Branford. He is also charged with attempted murder on allegations he shot at Toor's pregnant wife, who wasn't injured. Wang has pleaded not guilty, and he has insisted he is competent and doesn't need medication. Authorities say the shooting appeared to stem from a 2008 workplace dispute Wang had with Toor and other doctors when they worked together at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in New York City. Wang was fired from the medical center that year after a series of confrontations with Toor and other colleagues. Wang represented himself in the case until a judge ruled him incompetent last year and assigned a public defender. In November, New Haven Superior Court Judge Thomas O'Keefe Jr. ruled that state officials could forcibly medicate Wang to make him competent to stand trial and that doing so would not violate Wang's constitutional rights or the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. O'Keefe's decision was put on hold pending the Supreme Court appeal. A main issue in the appeal was whether prosecutors showed that it was "substantially likely" that forcing medication on Wang would restore him to competency. The "substantially likely" standard was set but not specifically defined in 2003 by the U.S. Supreme Court, which said the government can force medication on mentally ill criminal defendants only in the rarest of circumstances and only if certain conditions are met. The Connecticut Supreme Court said state prosecutors met those conditions and concluded that it was substantially likely that Wang would be restored to competency with medication. State justices relied on the testimony of a state psychiatrist, who said the chances of success in restoring Wang to competency with recommended medications was in a percentage range from the mid-50s to 70. Wang's public defender on the appeal, Mark Rademacher, argued that a projected success rate of mid-50s to 70 percent did not make it "substantially likely" that Wang would be restored to competency. The Supreme Court disagreed and defined "substantially likely" as "more likely than not, or a greater than 50 percent probability." "They just set the bar too low before they can violently restrain a patient, knock him out with a sedative and inject him with medication," Rademacher said Tuesday. "It's an extremely serious thing to do and shouldn't be taken lightly." Rademacher said he will be deciding whether to appeal the state Supreme Court ruling to a federal court, possibly the U.S. Supreme Court. Prosecutor Nancy Walker has said the ruling by O'Keefe in November did not violate Wang's rights or the U.S. Supreme Court restrictions. She said his case is based on the sound medical advice of experts and is one of the rare instances where forced medication is allowed. The American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut has been closely watching Wang's case. Turkey says 3 of its soldiers killed in IS attack ISTANBUL (AP) Three Turkish soldiers were killed and four were wounded in a missile attack Tuesday by the Islamic State group in northern Syria the first Turkish casualties caused by the militants in Turkey's two-week-old incursion into Syria. The Turkish fatalities came after Turkish troops and allied Syrian rebels on Sunday expelled IS from the last strip of territory the militant group controlled along the Syrian-Turkish border, effectively sealing the extremists' self-styled caliphate off from the outside world. Turkey launched the incursion into Syria the so-called Euphrates Shield operation to back Syrian rebels in their fight to push IS out of the town of Jarablus and to limit the Syrian Kurdish forces' advance west of the Euphrates River. In this photo taken on Aug. 31, 2016 and provided by the Turkish military on Monday, Sept. 5, 2016, army commanders, from right to left, Air Forces Com. Gen. Abidin Unal, Land Forces Com. Gen. Salih Zeki Colak, Chief of Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar and Navy Com. Adm. Bulent Bostanoglu monitor and direct military operations along the Syrian border, in Ankara, Turkey. Turkish troops and allied Syrian rebels expelled the Islamic State group from the last strip of territory it controlled along the Syrian-Turkish border on Sunday, effectively sealing the extremists' self-styled caliphate off from the outside world, Turkey's prime minister and a Syrian opposition group reported. (Turkish Military, Pool photo via AP) In a statement, Turkey's military said the militants fired rockets at Turkish tanks during clashes near the border area from where IS was pushed out of on Sunday, immediately killing two and wounding five soldiers. It said the wounded were evacuated by helicopters. One of the wounded soldiers died despite efforts to save him, according to Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency. The military said two Turkey-backed Syrian rebels were killed and two wounded rebels were also evacuated. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were intense clashes on Tuesday between the Turkish-backed rebels and IS militants east of the town of al-Rai and surrounding villages. The territorial losses at the border were the biggest blow to the militant group, which also has suffered a series of recent battlefield setbacks elsewhere in Syria and in neighboring Iraq. The three killed by IS were not Turkey's first casualties following the launch of the incursion, though they were the first fatalities at the hands of the militant group since the operation began. On the fifth day of the operation, a Turkish soldier was killed in clashes with Kurdish fighters in northern Syria. UN Security Council condemns North Korea missile tests UNITED NATIONS (AP) The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday strongly condemned North Korea's latest ballistic missile launches and threatened "further significant measures" if it refuses to stop its nuclear and missile tests. The U.N.'s most powerful body agreed to the statement hours after a closed-door emergency meeting called by the United States, Japan and South Korea in response to North Korea's firing of three missiles Monday that traveled about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) and landed near Japan. The council gave no indication of what "further significant measures" it might take if North Korea continues conducting tests and trying to enhance its nuclear capabilities. The U.S., Japan and South Korea made clear after the council meeting that they want further action, but also didn't specify what. The press statement urged all U.N. member states "to redouble their efforts" to implement sanctions against Pyongyang, including the toughest measures in two decades imposed by the council in March. Those sanctions reflected growing anger at Pyongyang's nuclear test in January and a subsequent rocket launch. The council expressed serious concern that North Korea carried out the latest launches "in flagrant disregard" of its demands. North Korea has repeatedly flouted Security Council resolutions demanding an end to its nuclear and ballistic missile activities and has continued to launch missiles, escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula and in the region. It already has a variety of land-based missiles that can hit South Korea and Japan, including U.S. military bases in those countries. Last month, it successfully tested a submarine-launched missile and development of those missiles would add a weapon that is harder to detect before launch. U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told reporters after Tuesday's meeting that "the Security Council must remain unequivocal and united in condemnation of these tests and we must take action to enforce the words we put on paper to enforce our resolutions." President Barack Obama signaled at a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders in Laos that the U.S. would redouble its effort to choke off North Korea's access to international currency and technology by tightening loopholes in the current sanctions regime. North Korea launched the missiles while China was hosting the Group of 20 economic summit, Power said. This once again showed the North's "blatant disregard" for U.N. sanctions and its international obligations "and its willingness to provoke and to threaten the international community with impunity," she said. Power said North Korea has carried out 22 missile launches so far this year, and the latest hit "within 300 kilometers of Japan's coast." With each test, she said, the North demonstrates further advancement of its ballistic missile program whose aim according to the country's leader Kim Jong Un is "to arm the systems with nuclear weapons." Japan's U.N. Ambassador Koro Bessho said he was encouraged that in Tuesday's council meeting "there was much stronger show of unity" than in past discussions. The tests not only threaten Japan's national security but the region and beyond, he said, stressing that the missiles were launched without any prior notification and could have hit planes or ships. Bessho said Japan wants the council to consider further actions it can take "in unanimity, in unity, in bringing about change in North Korea's behavior." South Korea's deputy U.N. ambassador Hahn Choong Hee said the international community should be united in sending a "clear and unequivocal message to North Korea that if they continue to provoke and violate their international commitments and sanctions, they will face much stronger and insurmountable and significant counter-measures from the international community." What action the council takes remains to be seen and a lot depends on China, the North's neighbor and only major ally, though ties have frayed over the nuclear and missile tests and what many outsiders see as other provocations in recent years. China's U.N. Ambassador Liu Jieyi, apparently annoyed that the latest missiles were fired during the G20, told reporters as he left the meeting that the council would work on a press statement. But he didn't mention any further council action. Power said "there were very strong and numerous voices in the room for doing more" than another condemnation. "So without getting ahead of the council we were also interested in increasing the consequences after this pattern of using these launches to advance the capabilities of the program," she said. North Korea is banned from importing or exporting nuclear or missile items and technology as well as luxury goods and the March resolution expanded the list of banned items. It requires countries to freeze the assets of companies linked to the North's nuclear and missile programs. Police find explosives, bomb materials in Northern Ireland LONDON (AP) Police say they have found large quantities of explosives after searching 12 properties in Northern Ireland. The head of the Police Service of Northern Ireland's crime operation unit said Tuesday that "a significant amount of terrorist material" had been uncovered in searches that began two weeks ago in the Larne area north of Belfast. Assistant Chief Constable Will Kerr said the material included "explosive devices, chemicals for use of bomb making, ammunition, and a firearm." A royal marine with connections to Larne was arrested last week and charged with terror-related offenses involving Northern Ireland. Pennsylvania AG: Kane's former No. 2 to leave job next week HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) Pennsylvania's new attorney general said Tuesday his predecessor's former second-in-command will leave the job after this week, the latest in a series of shake-ups at the beleaguered office. Bruce L. Castor Jr.'s last day as solicitor general will be Friday, Attorney General Bruce Beemer said in a statement. Former Attorney General Kathleen Kane, a Democrat, created the position of solicitor general in March and filled it with Republican Castor, a former district attorney and elected commissioner in Montgomery County, a Philadelphia suburb. He is also a central figure in the Bill Cosby case, having chosen a decade ago not to charge the entertainer with sex assault. Kane resigned Aug. 17, two days after her conviction on charges she abused the powers of her office by leaking secret grand jury information to smear a rival and then lied under oath to cover it up. Castor ran the office after Kane resigned, but Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf quickly nominated Beemer to step in for the remaining months of Kane's term. Castor lacked support from Wolf and top state lawmakers, and also became a target of criticism that he was an extension of Kane, a characterization he rejected. Beemer was confirmed by the Senate and sworn in to the office Aug. 30. Castor vowed to do anything Beemer asks to help the transition and said in an email he was looking forward to resuming a retirement from public service. "Nearly six months in Harrisburg was more than enough," he told the AP. "For those who remain, I wish them all the best. It was quite an experience, to say the least." Beemer on Tuesday also named Robert Mulle as first deputy attorney general and appointed James Donahue III as acting chief of staff. Tuesday's announcements came as the office continues to revamp staffing in the aftermath of Kane's conviction and resignation. Last week, Beemer fired two of Kane's confidants, including a former police chief convicted of contempt for snooping through emails about a grand jury's investigation of her. Jonathan Duecker, who was Kane's chief of staff, was sent a termination letter, as was supervisory special agent Patrick Reese, formerly the chief of police in Dunmore. The Latest: Attorney refutes Cosby team's claims of bias PHILADELPHIA (AP) The Latest on the hearing in Bill Cosby's sexual assault case (all times local): 7 p.m. An attorney attacked by Bill Cosby's spokesman and legal defense team says the comedian appears to be desperate in his fight against criminal sexual assault charges lodged against the actor in Pennsylvania. Bill Cosby arrives for a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Attorney Gloria Allred rejected accusations by Cosby's spokesman Andrew Wyatt that her representation of several women accusing the comedian of drugging and sexually abusing them was built on racial bias and prejudice. Allred writes in a statement that several of the women she represents are African-American and she thinks their voices should be heard. Allred has held numerous press conferences with women who have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct, although it is not clear whether she represents any of the 13 women prosecutors want to testify against the comedian in the criminal case. She represents a woman suing Cosby, claiming he forced her to perform a sex act at the Playboy Mansion around 1974, when she was underage. Allred writes that ultimately the Pennsylvania case is about whether or not Cosby is guilty. ___ 6 p.m. Bill Cosby's legal defense team is blaming racial prejudice and "a barrage of new accusers" for the criminal sex-assault charges lodged against the actor in Pennsylvania. The 79-year-old Cosby, after a court hearing Tuesday, is expected to go to trial by June over a 2004 encounter with a woman he mentored at Temple University. After the hearing, defense lawyer Angela Agrusa faulted the media for not investigating claims by dozens of other women who have come forward in the past decade. Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt has meanwhile issued a statement blaming lawyers for the women for "the trampling of Mr. Cosby's civil rights." The statement says Cosby has been "no stranger to racial discrimination and hatred" throughout his career. Cosby became one of the first black actors to star in a network TV show when he was hired in 1965 for a lead role in "I Spy." ___ 4:15 p.m. Prosecutors say 13 women accusing Bill Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting them over a four-decade span are willing to testify at his sex assault trial in Pennsylvania. They include aspiring actresses, a flight attendant, a waitress and a masseuse who say Cosby used his celebrity to win their trust before drugging and assaulting them. Prosecutors asked a judge Tuesday to allow the women to testify as witnesses to a pattern of criminal behavior they say began in 1964. They're among 50 women who have come forward with allegations against the 79-year-old entertainer. Cosby has only been charged criminally in the case in Pennsylvania involving Andrea Constand, who says Cosby molested her in 2004. A judge hasn't yet ruled on whether the women will be allowed to testify. ___ 3:50 p.m. A Pennsylvania judge says he wants Bill Cosby's felony sexual assault case to go to trial no later than June 5. Lead defense lawyer Brian McMonagle of Philadelphia says he has other trials scheduled through the spring. Prosecutors say they hope to have 13 Cosby accusers testify at the trial. The accusers say they were intoxicated by drugs or alcohol that Cosby gave them before they were sexually assaulted. Cosby is charged with drugging and molesting Andrea Constand in 2004 at his Philadelphia-area home. Montgomery County Judge Steven O'Neill did not rule Tuesday on whether the other accusers could testify or whether prosecutors could use Cosby's deposition or a phone call recorded by Constand's mother in 2005. The judge says he'll rule on the phone call within a week. ___ 3:10 p.m. Bill Cosby's lawyers say they'll likely ask for his trial to be moved from the suburban Philadelphia county where his sexual assault case became a central issue in last year's election. Lawyer Brian McMonagle said Tuesday that he's worried Cosby won't get a fair trial in Montgomery County. He says District Attorney Kevin Steele's campaign painted the 79-year-old entertainer as a sexual predator. McMonagle says he expects to file motions asking either for a change of venue or for a jury that's picked from another county. Prosecutors charged Cosby last December with drugging and assaulting a woman at his Montgomery County home in 2004. The judge notes that Cosby's case has made worldwide headlines, making it hard to find prospective jurors who haven't heard details of the accusations. ___ 3 p.m. A Pennsylvania judge says Bill Cosby is blind and might need special accommodations at his upcoming sexual assault trial. Judge Steven O'Neill says Cosby's lawyer disclosed the 79-year-old comedian's condition in a letter before Tuesday's pretrial conference. Cosby was arrested last December on charges he drugged and assaulted a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. Cosby looked noticeably healthier as he walked into court for the pretrial conference. He clutched an aide's arm but didn't have the wooden cane he's used at past hearings. Cosby's eyes appeared less milky and he seemed more engaged and animated as he spoke with his legal team. Cosby's lawyers are asking that prosecutors not be allowed to use a telephone conversation recorded by his accuser's mother and other evidence at his trial. ___ 2:55 p.m. The judge presiding over Bill Cosby's criminal sex assault case is indicating that he wants a trial to start before June. Lead defense lawyer Brian McMonagle said at a hearing Tuesday that he has other trials booked until June. But Montgomery County Judge Steven O'Neill says McMonagle might have to review his schedule and look for an earlier date. Cosby has been fighting the charges since his Dec. 30 arrest. The case involves a 2004 encounter with a Temple University employee who says she was drugged and molested. Prosecutors reopened the case amid new evidence and arrested Cosby days before the 12-year statute of limitations expired. Cosby insists the sexual encounter with accuser Andrea Constand was consensual. ___ 2:50 p.m. Pennsylvania prosecutors preparing for Bill Cosby's sex assault trial hope to paint the comedian as a serial offender by having 13 other accusers testify. The criminal case against the 79-year-old actor involves a single 2004 encounter at his home with former Temple University employee Andrea Constand. But prosecutors can introduce similar uncharged acts to try to show a pattern of behavior. Montgomery County prosecutors at a hearing Tuesday say they have reviewed accusations from about 50 women and believe 13 should be allowed to testify. The defense is expected to vehemently oppose such testimony. Constand told police that Cosby drugged and molested her. Legal experts say a judge might allow similar Cosby allegations in which drugs or alcohol were involved. ___ 1:15 p.m. Bill Cosby is back in a suburban Philadelphia courtroom for a hearing in his felony sexual assault case. He held onto an aide's arm Tuesday as he arrived to court dressed in a light blue striped seersucker jacket. His lawyers are trying to keep some key evidence out of the case. They hope to suppress several days of testimony Cosby gave in the accuser's lawsuit a decade ago. They also hope to suppress a secretly recorded 2005 phone call Cosby had with the mother of his accuser. Cosby says his 2004 sexual encounter with Andrea Constand was consensual. The Associated Press doesn't normally name people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they come forward publicly, as Constand has done. The judge could set a trial date. ___ 12:15 a.m. Bill Cosby's defense team will have a new look when the actor returns to a suburban Philadelphia courtroom for a hearing in his sexual assault case. Cosby has streamlined his legal team as the case heads to trial. A judge on Tuesday could set a trial date. Cosby's lawyers also will push to suppress key evidence, including the deposition Cosby gave in the accuser's 2005 lawsuit. Cosby acknowledges giving Andrea Constand several pills before what he calls a consensual sexual encounter. Prosecutors say he drugged and molested her. Cosby has parted ways with a Washington lawyer who has handled press appearances. Veteran Philadelphia criminal lawyer Brian McMonagle is expected to lead the courtroom fight. Cosby also has hired a new Los Angeles firm to defend several defamation cases filed by accusers around the country. Bill Cosby arrives for a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Bill Cosby arrives for a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Bill Cosby smiles as he arrives for a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Bill Cosby, second from right, arrives for a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Bill Cosby arrives for a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Bill Cosby, right, is lead into Courtroom A in the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., by one of his aides on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, for a pre-trial conference in his sexual assault case and to set a trial date. The defense also will push on Tuesday to keep key evidence out of the case. (Michael Bryant/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool) Bill Cosby arrives for a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Bill Cosby smiles as he arrives for a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Bill Cosby, center, is lead into Courtroom A in the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., by one of his aides on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, for a pre-trial conference in his sexual assault case and to set a trial date. The defense also will push on Tuesday to keep key evidence out of the case. (Michael Bryant/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool) Kids may get more of a sting from the flu vaccination this fall. Doctors are gearing up to give shots only, because U.S. health officials say the easy-to-use nasal spray version of the vaccine isn't working as well as a jab. Needle-phobic adults still have some less painful options. But FluMist, with its squirt into each nostril, was the only ouch-free alternative for children, and has accounted for about a third of pediatric flu vaccinations in recent years. Doctors claim flu shots - though painful - are the only option for adequate protection Studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in the past few years, FluMist hasn't protected against certain influenza strains as well as regular flu shots. Baffled scientists can't explain why. The CDC says FluMist should not be used in the U.S. this year. On Tuesday, the American Academy of Pediatrics agreed and urged youngsters to roll up their sleeves for a shot. 'We're saying, "Shoot, now we've got to do the poke again,"' said Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson of Seattle Children's Hospital and the AAP. But, 'we know the flu vaccine is the best shot at prevention and protecting those who are vulnerable from serious and even life-threatening infections from influenza.' Swanson has tricks to help ease tears and anxiety, like numbing the skin or distraction techniques like telling the youngster to cough on the count of three, coinciding with the poke. Sometimes the youngest feel braver by going first to show up older siblings. The CDC says flu shots reduce the risk of flu by 50 per cent to 60 per cent Swanson makes her own vaccination a family affair, parents and kids getting the shot together. But her top advice: Parents, don't lie and tell your kids the shot won't hurt. Instead, tell them 'it might hurt a bit but it doesn't last long and you can do this.' The FluMist mystery isn't the only vaccine news. Seniors are getting a new option made with an immune booster in hopes of more protection. Here are some other things to know: WHO NEEDS FLU VACCINE The CDC urges a yearly vaccination for just about everyone starting at 6 months of age. Flu is most dangerous for people over age 65, young children, pregnant women and people with certain health conditions such as asthma or heart disease. But it sometimes kills even the healthy and young. The CDC says on average flu kills about 24,000 Americans each year, including about 100 children. If mom gets a flu shot during pregnancy, the vaccine also helps protect her baby during its first six months of life. WHEN TO GET THE SHOT Vaccinations are getting under way as shipments arrive at grocery stores, clinics and doctors' offices. Despite the FluMist problem, the CDC expects enough to meet the typical U.S. demand, between 157 million and 168 million shot doses. Flu typically peaks in January or February but there's no way to predict when it will begin spreading, and it takes about two weeks for full protection to kick in. WILL I GET SICK Flu shots are made with killed flu virus, so you can't get the flu from them. But they're not perfect; CDC says they reduce the risk of flu by 50 per cent to 60 per cent. Sometimes people still catch the flu but generally have a milder case than if they'd gone unvaccinated, or had flu-like symptoms that were caused by a different virus. And occasionally, a strain starts circulating that wasn't included in the vaccine recipe. WHAT HAPPENED WITH FLUMIST Earlier studies had suggested FluMist actually protected youngsters better than shots. It's not clear why, although FluMist is the only vaccine made of live but weakened flu virus. So it was a surprise when CDC said earlier this spring that scenario was flipping and FluMist was failing against certain strains. One theory is that it has to do with a change in the nasal spray's recipe to incorporate four strains of influenza instead of three. 'Having this scientific puzzle really bothers everybody,' said Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University and the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. The FluMist recommendation could change for future flu seasons if researchers figure that out. It's still legal to sell FluMist, which is approved for ages two to 49. Manufacturer AstraZeneca said it plans to make a limited amount available in the U.S. in response to some health provider requests. OTHER LESS PAINFUL OPTIONS Two less painful gadgets are only for adults. A version of Sanofi's FluZone can be given 'intradermally,' using tiny needles to penetrate the skin instead of muscle. And a version of Seqiris' Afluria vaccine can be given in a needle-free device called a jet injector that forces the vaccine into a stream of fluid that penetrates the skin. WHAT'S NEW FOR SENIORS People aged 65 and older are especially vulnerable to flu's dangerous complications because they tend to have more underlying health problems and standard flu shots don't work as well with their waning immune systems. One alternative to standard shots is Sanofi's High-Dose Fluzone, containing four times the usual anti-flu ingredient. This year seniors have a second alternative, Seqiris' Fluad with 'adjuvant,' the first U.S. flu vaccine to contain an extra compound designed to rev up the immune system's response to the shot. THE COST Insurance covers most flu vaccinations, often without a co-payment. GOP woos veterans, but Trump has rubbed some vets wrong way RENO, Nevada (AP) It was more than a routine get-out-the-vote knock on the door when Iraq War veteran and Nevada Republican Party staffer Jon Staab asked Kenneth Olofson, a Vietnam veteran, if he'll be voting for Donald Trump. An instant bond was formed as the two swapped stories of service and those of relatives who fought in World War II. "I don't miss an election," Olofson, 74 and a lifelong Republican, said. "Whenever I vote, I think of Normandy." A few blocks away, Daniel Mendoza, also an Iraq war veteran canvassing for the GOP, was promptly kicked off another elderly veteran's property at the mere mention of Trump's name. In this photo taken Aug. 19, 2016, Iraq war veteran and Nevada Republican party staffer Jon Staab talks with Vicky Maltman, a Reno veterans rights activist, before going out to canvass veterans, in Reno, Nev. Two years ago, the Republican National Committee hatched a plan to bolster the turnout of one of the most conservative-leaning groups in the nation. The party calculated that 6.5 million veterans either didnt register to vote or didnt cast a ballot in the 2012 election. (AP Photo/Nicholas Riccardi) Two years ago, the Republican National Committee hatched a plan to bolster turnout for veterans, who traditionally lean Republican. The party calculated that 6.5 million veterans either didn't register to vote or didn't cast a ballot in the 2012 presidential election. In the shadow of the Obama administration's controversial management of the Veteran's Administration, the RNC compiled lists of veteran voters and hired veterans for an unprecedented get-out-the-vote effort. Then Trump won the party's presidential nomination, and his controversial rhetoric has rubbed some veterans the wrong way. The billionaire businessman has mocked Sen. John McCain for being captured during the Vietnam War, threatened to withdraw from NATO and feuded with a slain soldier's family that criticized him during the Democratic National Convention. On Tuesday Trump released a list of former military leaders who support him. Clinton countered with a television ad featuring veterans silently watching some of Trump's more controversial statements. "Our veterans deserve better," the ad states. There's limited polling on where veterans stand in the current presidential election. They supported Mitt Romney by 20 points in 2012 and John McCain by 10 points in 2008. But Trump has had trouble winning the support of some of his party's base, and veterans are no exception. "The nail in the coffin for him was his NATO stuff," said Colton Jordan, a 28-year-old former Navy SEAL and lifelong Republican, as he waited in a Las Vegas nightclub for a rally with his preferred candidate, Libertarian party nominee Gary Johnson. Still, Republican operatives are confident that if they turn out veterans, they'll turn out more votes for Trump. "Being a veteran, your skin's a lot thicker," said Mendoza, 24, who noted that he's both Hispanic and a veteran two groups Trump has disparaged but he still supports Republican nominee. "It conditions you to seeing that bigger world and seeing past what someone says off the cuff." The instant bond that veterans form with each other often defuses tension inherent in political canvassing and opens doors that would otherwise be closed, said Bob Carey, a former Navy captain and the RNC's veterans outreach director. But their political utility goes beyond that. "Veterans have a disproportionate ability to gain the trust of any voter," Carey said. "The military is the last institution that has the trust and respect of the general public." Veterans vote at a higher rate than civilians, but younger veterans are less likely to vote than their peers. That's no surprise to Staab. He was deployed to southern Iraq in 2008 where his unit received mail once a month and had to create a base virtually from scratch at an abandoned air field. He didn't even remember to vote in the presidential election back home. Many veterans feel out of place after returning from war, and Staab and Mendoza, who returned from Iraq more recently are no exception. Mendoza is still dizzied by the carefree way some of his fellow students act. "People take being a citizen for granted," he said. Staab now runs the GOP's Reno office and has recruited Mendoza and a cadre of veteran volunteers to call other veterans and knock on their doors. In Nevada, the veterans outreach has a dual purpose helping Trump and also the GOP's senate candidate, Rep. Joe Heck, a brigadier general in the army reserves. Vicky Maltman, an veterans' activist whose husband received a Purple Heart in Vietnam, at first refused to help Staab because she didn't want to be associated with partisan politics. Now she happily volunteers because she believes the program is trying to mobilize a group she fears is growing politically alienated. "A lot of our veterans feel like they're forgotten about," she said. On a recent afternoon, Staab knocked on doors of veterans in a comfortable subdivision dotted with signs warning of wild horses that roam through the streets. Staab routinely introduced himself as a veteran and touted Trump's 10-point plan for improving veterans' issues, highlighting item six, a promise to create a special White House phone line for veterans having problems getting medical care. He also noted that Heck ran a hospital in Baghdad during the surge and Staab added that he himself served during that operation. Even those who turned Staab away received a quick "thank you for your service" before the door clicked closed. "Part of the outreach is just thanking them for their service on behalf of the Republican party," Staab said. In this photo taken Aug. 19, 2016, Iraq war veteran Jon Staab, a staffer for the Nevada Republican Party, prepares to walk a Reno, Nev. neighborhood looking for veterans who will support Donald Trump. Two years ago, the Republican National Committee hatched a plan to bolster the turnout of one of the most conservative-leaning groups in the nation. The party calculated that 6.5 million veterans either didnt register to vote or didnt cast a ballot in the 2012 election. (AP Photo/Nicholas Riccardi) IS loss of border area with Turkey sharply harms group BEIRUT (AP) Expelling the Islamic State group from the last territory it controlled along the Syrian-Turkish border has effectively cut the militants' supply lines from the outside world. That could affect their ability to protect their last bastions the cities of Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq. The area under IS control has been shrinking for months, under assault from forces determined to wipe out the self-declared "caliphate." The fight for Mosul appears to be imminent, with U.S.-backed Iraqi forces closing in, and Raqqa will probably be in the crosshairs for an attack possibly led by Kurdish militias in the near future. If removed from power in the territory it controls, many fear it will turn even more decisively toward terrorist attacks against civilians in the region and in the West, operating from the shadows. It that way, it will be more like the group it developed from: al-Qaida. FILE -- In this undated file photo released by a militant website, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, militants of the Islamic State group hold up their weapons and wave its flags on their vehicles in a convoy on a road leading to Iraq, while riding in Raqqa, Syria. Expelling the Islamic State group from the last territory it held along the Turkey-Syria border has dealt a critical blow to the extremists, cutting their supply lines. That could affect their ability to protect their last bastions the cities of Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq. (Militant website via AP, File) A look at the current battle against Islamic State: HOW DID THE SUPPLY LINES FROM TURKEY WORK? After the Syrian conflict began in March 2011, people could evade Turkish troops on the border and sneak into or out of Syria. Many of those crossing into Syria were jihadis from around the world joining al-Qaida's branch. Others, mostly Syrians, could use border checkpoints. Smugglers also were active, helping people cross over. WHY DID TURKEY ALLOW THIS, AND WHAT CHANGED? For years, Turkey turned a blind eye to the crossings. Neighboring countries also had been buying oil from IS at rates cheaper than those on international markets. But Europe put pressure on Turkey after the Charlie Hebdo attack in France in 2015, and Ankara began to tighten its border security. Turkey's gradual shift was followed by attacks blamed on the group inside Turkey itself, including one at Istanbul's airport. Once relations improved between Turkey and Russia, and following a July coup attempt failed to remove President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from power, he sent his forces into Syria to battle the extremists, as well as Kurdish fighters who had crossed to the west bank of the Euphrates River against Turkey's will. The Turkish acquiescence to IS finally seemed to be over. On Sunday, Turkish troops and Turkish-backed Syrian rebels captured all Syrian areas along the border that had been held by IS. HOW DO MOSUL AND RAQQA STILL GET SUPPLIES? Since Turkey tightened its border, IS has been relying on products brought from Turkey into the rebel-held Syrian border town of Azaz. Syrian merchants go to Azaz, buy what they need, and ship it by truck to Raqqa. Once inside IS-controlled areas, products would be sent to other IS-held territory. WHO IS FIGHTING THE ISLAMIC STATE GROUP? Many forces are fighting IS in Syria and Iraq, some backed by the U.S., and others by powers including Russia, Iran, and Turkey. The most effective group has been the Kurdish-led Syria Democratic Forces, which captured wide areas in northern Syria from the extremists in the past year under the cover of intense airstrikes by a U.S.-led coalition. Also fighting the extremists are members of Lebanon's Hezbollah group and Syrian government troops, mostly in central Syria. Turkey-backed rebel factions such as the Sultan Murad, Mountain Hawks, Shamiya Front and Liberation Army have been part of Ankara's offensive that began Aug. 24 and captured all IS-held border area from the Syrian side. In Iraq, the IS militants are under attack from government troops, regional police forces, Sunni tribesmen, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and Shiite militiamen. Iranians have been active as well, and there have been reports that Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran's elite Quds Force, led some operations of the Popular Mobilization Forces Iraq's government-sanctioned, mainly Shiite militias. HOW IS THE BATTLE GOING? In Syria, IS has lost the border town of Jarablus, a major crossing point, to Turkish-backed Syrian rebels. In March, IS was driven out of the historic town of Palmyra by Syrian troops backed by Russian airstrikes. The U.S.-led coalition has killed some of the group's founding members, including spokesman and chief strategist Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, and its war minister, Omar al-Shishani. IS has lost major cities and towns in the past year in Iraq, including Fallujah, Ramadi and Tikrit. Iraqi government troops recently captured the town of Qayara, near Mosul. HOW MUCH DAMAGE HAS THE ISLAMIC STATE GROUP DONE? IS has ruled its "caliphate" with an epic level of cruelty: Thousands have been killed and displaced, minority groups like Iraq's Yazidis have been massacred and enslaved, Christians have been displaced, gay men have been thrown to their death from tall buildings, and captives have been slain on video. Among the deadliest incidents was the 2014 killing of 1,700 Iraqi soldiers at Camp Speicher. In Syria, up to 1,000 members of the Shueitat tribe were believed to have been massacred. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says IS killed 4,401 people since June 2014, including 2,369 civilians. No specific statistics are available in Iraq, where extremists have killed thousands. The group has caused widespread destruction in areas it controls. It has damaged or destroyed archaeological sites and antiquities such as Palmyra's Temple of Bel, which dated to A.D. 32, and the Temple of Baalshamin, which was fronted by six towering columns. In Iraq, IS members razed the 3,000-year-old city of Nimrod and bulldozed 2,000-year-old Hatra both UNESCO world heritage sites. WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF THE ISLAMIC STATE GROUP? Hilal Khashan, political science professor at the American University of Beirut, believes the Islamic State group "is doomed in its current format," unable to create a viable state. He and other experts see it becoming a decentralized organization, melting into the communities it has ruled like salt in water. "The danger is that what comes after Daesh might be worse," said Iraqi journalist Dana Jalal, who closely follows jihadi groups, using an Arabic acronym for IS. "They will shave their beards, change their clothes and join other organizations that are not considered terrorist groups." That could make it more vicious, he said, carrying out deadly attacks like those in in France, Belgium, Turkey, Iraq and elsewhere. Jalal noted that many members of Saddam Hussein's army and Baath Party went underground and carried out guerrilla warfare against U.S. forces. ___ EDITOR'S NOTE: Bassem Mroue, based in Beirut, has covered the Middle East since 1992. FILE -- In this June 27, 2016 file photo, a member of Iraqi counterterrorism forces stands guard near Islamic State group militant graffiti in Fallujah, Iraq. Expelling the Islamic State group from the last territory it held along the Turkey-Syria border has dealt a critical blow to the extremists, cutting their supply lines. That could affect their ability to protect their last bastions the cities of Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban, File) Zhang Zhijun, the Chinese mainland's Taiwan affairs chief, has encouraged more cross-Strait exchanges among Buddhist groups. Zhang, head of both the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office (SCTAO), made the remarks while meeting a Buddhist delegation from Taiwan on Monday, according to an SCTAO statement. During the meeting, Zhang stressed the close bond between religious groups on both sides of the Strait, as well as the good faith needed to ensure the peaceful development of cross-Strait ties on the basis of the 1992 Consensus. Can Apple make listening easy without a headphone jack? SAN FRANCISCO (AP) When Apple shows off its latest iPhone on Wednesday, it will answer a question it hasn't had to address in years: "What's it putting in the box?" (Besides the iPhone itself, that is.) The iPhone has traditionally shipped with a pair of Apple's iconic earbuds, made famous in early advertising for the iPod music player. But tech analysts and industry bloggers, citing leaks from Apple's Asian suppliers, say it looks like the tech giant has decided to do away with the analog headphone jack in the next iPhone. That means the earbuds themselves are in for a revamp, one that could hint at Apple's plans for expanded use of wireless technology. This Sept. 2, 2016, photo shows the earphone jack and charging port on an Apple iPhone 6, in New York. Apple is getting ready to unveil new iPhones on Wednesday, Sept. 7. With experts predicting few big changes from last year's models, speculation has focused on Apple's rumored decision to eliminate the iPhone's traditional headphone jack. It isn't clear what kind of hardware the company will promote instead, but the answer could be a hint at some of Apple's future plans. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) IPHONE 7: INCREMENTAL CHANGES The headphone jack is drawing attention partly because there might not be many other major changes in this year's iPhone. The new models the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, if Apple sticks to its usual convention are expected to offer faster processors, more memory and improved cameras. But despite a recent dip in iPhone sales , most Apple watchers expect the company to save its next big overhaul for 2017, the 10th anniversary of the first iPhone's release. Though it might not seem dramatic, eliminating the 3.5 millimeter analog jack would be controversial. On the plus side, it could let Apple make the iPhone slightly thinner and possibly waterproof; it might also free up space for other components. But it also means future iPhone buyers will need new headsets that use a digital connection. That could just mean changing the headset cord so that it plugs into the same port that recharges the device. Or it could herald an Apple commitment to wireless earbuds that connect to the phone via a technology such as Bluetooth. Apple already sells wireless headsets from Beats Electronics, which it acquired two years ago for $3 billion. While Apple hasn't commented, reports of the change have sparked an outcry from those who believe the old analog jacks worked perfectly well. Tech blogger Nilay Patel of The Verge blasted the move as "user-hostile and stupid." WHY HEADPHONES MATTER For many people, listening to music and watching video not to mention making the occasional phone call constitutes one of the main uses for a smartphone. "People enjoy listening to music on their smartphones today as much as they listen to music at home," said Brian Blau, a tech analyst at Gartner. Today's wireless Bluetooth headsets, however, can be clunky to set up and sometimes randomly drop their phone connections. And no headphone jack means that existing headsets won't work with the new iPhones without an adapter. It's also not clear how you'd plug in your headset if you're already charging the phone. Finally, Apple uses a proprietary design for its charging port, known as "Lightning." So new headphones that plug into that port won't be compatible with devices made by Apple's competitors. OLD TECH ON APPLE'S HIT LIST Apple has a history of preemptively doing away with older technologies, often prompting lamentations from users at least until they got used to it. Co-founder Steve Jobs famously decided the first iMacs didn't need a floppy disk drive in 1998, years before Windows PCs followed suit. Later, he made waves by selling MacBooks without a CD drive or even a traditional hard drive, which have also disappeared from competing laptops. More recently, Apple made millions of old power cords incompatible by replacing the 30-pin charging port on older iPhones and iPads with the much smaller Lightning port in 2012. Apple, however, isn't the first company to do away with the headphone jack. Already this year, Lenovo's Motorola division and Chinese smartphone maker LeEco have released phones without analog audio jacks, relying instead on cords that plug into a new digital port known as USB-C which, of course, is different from Apple's Lightning port. Some argue that digital connections provide higher quality sound. "The market is changing," said Jim Thiede, head of global product marketing at Motorola, who expects to see a number of manufacturers producing "USB-C headphones, earbuds and what have you" over the next three to six months. OUR WIRELESS FUTURE Some believe Apple's real goal is to move people away from cords and plugs altogether. "They don't like the mess," said Jan Dawson, a tech analyst with Jackdaw Research. "Anybody who's carried a set of earbuds in their pocket have had them get tangled up. And they get in the way when you're exercising." Apple has already cut the number of ports on its latest MacBooks, encouraging owners to use wireless features like Apple's AirDrop and AirPlay for sharing files or streaming music and video, he noted. Widespread adoption of wireless headsets might also encourage people to try streaming music using the Apple Watch, said Carolina Milanesi, a mobile tech analyst at the research firm Creative Strategies. That would be a first step toward getting them interested in future smartwatch apps and services, she suggested. "It might be good if you had a Bluetooth headset that connects to your phone and your watch at the same time," she said. "What we see today is not necessarily the ultimate goal that Apple has for its devices." Despite criticism of Bluetooth's audio fidelity, Milanesi said more expensive models offer better quality. Apple could distribute the new iPhones with a "good enough" Bluetooth headset included, she added, while selling more expensive headsets separately. Dawson suggested Apple may provide earbuds with a Lightning plug, and possibly an adapter for older headsets. Most iPhone owners will get used to the new technology, Milanesi predicted. Still, she cautioned, "people don't like change." ___ The Latest: Prosecutor: Jacob's killer not getting off easy MINNEAPOLIS (AP) The Latest on the abduction and killing of Jacob Wetterling (all times local): 4:15 Prosecutors say they consulted with Jacob Wetterling's family and got their approval for a plea deal that means their son's killer faces a recommended sentence of just 20 years in prison. This undated photo provided by the Sherburne County Sheriff's Office shows Danny Heinrich, of Minnesota. Heinrich, who is expected to appear in federal court Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, in a child pornography case, was named last year by authorities as a person of interest in the 1989 abduction of Jacob Wetterling near his home in St. Joseph, Minn. He was never charged in that case. But he led authorities to the boy's remains last week, according to a law enforcement official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing case. (Sherburne County Sheriff's Office via AP) U.S. Attorney Andy Luger told reporters after Danny Heinrich pleaded guilty to a single child pornography count Tuesday that the 53-year-old Minnesota man isn't getting away with anything. Luger pointed out that Heinrich accepted the plea deal knowing that state prosecutors could seek to have him civilly committed after he finishes his federal prison sentence, so he could spend the rest of his life in custody. Jacob's mother, Patty Wetterling, and other family members appeared at the same news conference with Luger. She thanked all the law enforcement officials who helped solve the nearly 27-year-old mystery of her son's abduction. 3:20 p.m. The mother of Jacob Wetterling says it is "incredibly painful" to learn of her son's last hours and minutes of life. Jacob was 11 when he was abducted near his central Minnesota home in 1989. The man who took him, 53-year-old Danny Heinrich, admitted in federal court Tuesday to abducting Jacob, sexually assaulting him and killing him. Patty Wetterling says Jacob was alive to his family up until authorities found his remains last week. She says her son's legacy will live on. Patty Wetterling also thanked Jared Scheierl, a Minnesota man whose own sexual assault as a 12-year-old was long suspected to be connected to Jacob's disappearance. Scheierl talked publicly about his case in hopes it could help investigators find his attacker and Jacob's. ___ 2:10 p.m. A plea deal for the killer of 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling calls for no charges in the boy's death. Danny Heinrich admitted abducting, sexually assaulting and shooting Jacob on Oct. 22, 1989, in a crime that horrified and mystified Minnesotans for more than a quarter-century. His admission came in federal court in Minneapolis as he pleaded guilty to a child pornography charge. Heinrich faces the statutory maximum of 20 years on the child pornography count, though Judge John Tunheim will decide his sentence. Heinrich could also be civilly committed to the state's sexual offender program after his prison sentence ends. Heinrich led authorities to Jacob's body last week after initially denying involvement in his death. ___ 1:40 p.m. The man who killed 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling more than a quarter-century ago is detailing how he carried out the crime. Danny Heinrich admitted in federal court Tuesday that he killed the boy whose 1989 disappearance has transfixed Minnesota in the years since. The 53-year-old Andover man described donning a mask and confronting three children with a revolver near Jacob's central Minnesota home. He says he took Jacob, handcuffed him and assaulted him in a grove of trees. Afterward, he shot Jacob and later buried him in a gravel pit, and reburied him a year later. Heinrich says when he took Jacob, the boy asked, "What did I do wrong?" ___ 1:25 p.m. A Minnesota man has confessed to kidnapping and killing 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling nearly 27 years ago. Danny Heinrich made the admission Tuesday as he pleaded guilty to child pornography charges in federal court in Minneapolis. Heinrich led authorities to Jacob's remains last week, according to a law enforcement official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing case. He admitted abducting Jacob near the boy's home in the central Minnesota community of St. Joseph on Oct. 22, 1989. Authorities named Heinrich as a person of interest last October when they announced the child pornography charges. ___ 9:45 a.m. A Minnesota man who led authorities to the remains of an 11-year-old boy who was abducted in 1989 is expected to appear in federal court in a child pornography case. Danny Heinrich's status conference is set for 1 p.m. Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis. Last year, authorities named Heinrich as a person of interest in the abduction of Jacob Wetterling, who was snatched from a rural Minnesota road on Oct. 22, 1989. Heinrich was never charged in that case. But he led authorities to Jacob's remains last week, according to a law enforcement official who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing case. The Stearns County Sheriff's Office said Jacob's remains were identified Saturday. Authorities expect to provide more details this week. ___ Associated Press writer Amy Forliti contributed to this report. ___ Exhibition of Vaclav Havel caricatures opens in Prague PRAGUE (AP) An exhibition is opening in Prague with caricatures of Vaclav Havel to mark the 80th anniversary of the late Czech president's birth. The organizers from the Czech Union of Cartoonists say 80 portraits contributed by artists from 30 countries have been put on display at Malostranska Beseda, a music club located at a square at the heart of the Czech capital's picturesque Little Quarter neighborhood. The exhibit named "The World Draws Havel" runs until Sept 30. Havel was a dissident playwright who led the 1989 Velvet Revolution that toppled four decades of communist rule in what was then Czechoslovakia before becoming the country's president. He died on Dec. 18, 2011, at age 75. ___ Offshore wind firms agree to use New Bedford terminal NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) Three offshore wind energy developers holding leases in federal waters off Massachusetts have agreed to use a state facility on the New Bedford waterfront as a staging area for future projects, Gov. Charlie Baker's administration said Tuesday. Providence, Rhode Island-based Deepwater Wind, Princeton, New Jersey-based OffshoreMW and Dong Energy, a Danish firm, signed a letter of intent with the state, committing to a two-year, $5.7 million lease to use the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal for staging and deployment, officials said. The announcement could represent a shot in the arm for the terminal, built at a cost of $113 million and billed as a first-in-the-nation facility for supporting the still nascent offshore wind industry in the U.S. The future of the 26-acre facility, operated by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, had been thrown in question following the demise of Cape Wind's proposal to build a 130-turbine wind farm in Nantucket Sound. "Massachusetts has achieved another major milestone in securing a clean energy future for the Commonwealth's ratepayers," said Baker, a Republican, in a statement announcing the agreement. New Bedford, a once mighty whaling port that has suffered economically in recent decades, is working to position itself as the leading American port for offshore wind development, said Jon Mitchell, the city's mayor. Baker, a Republican, signed an energy bill last month that will require utilities to solicit bids for up to 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind power within the next decade. Minnesota man confesses to killing of Jacob Wetterling MINNEAPOLIS (AP) A Minnesota man confessed Tuesday to abducting and killing 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling nearly 27 years ago, recounting a crime that long haunted the state in chilling detail that included a handcuffed Jacob asking him, "What did I do wrong?" Danny Heinrich, 53, of Annandale, made the admission as he pleaded guilty to a federal child pornography charge that will likely keep him locked up for 20 years, with civil commitment possible after that, meaning he could spend the rest of his life in custody. Asked whether he abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered Jacob, Heinrich said: "Yes, I did." Patty Wetterling is consoled by son Trevor during a news conference after a hear for Danny Heinrich, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016 in Minneapolis. Heinrich confessed Tuesday to abducting and killing 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling nearly 27 years ago, recounting a crime that long haunted the state with details that included Jacob asking right after he was taken: "What did I do wrong?" (Jerry Holt/Star Tribune via AP) As part of the plea agreement, Heinrich will not face state murder charges in Jacob's death. U.S. Attorney Andy Luger said it was the only way to get Heinrich, whom he described as a volatile man, to show authorities where they could find the boy's remains. "He's not getting away with anything. We got the truth. The Wetterling family will bring him home," Luger said. Prosecutors said the family was consulted on and approved the plea agreement, which required Heinrich to give a detailed confession and tell investigators where to find Jacob. In the years after Jacob's disappearance, his mother, Patty, became a nationally known advocate for missing children. A 1994 federal law named for Jacob requires states to establish sex offender registries. With Patty and Jacob's father, Jerry Wetterling, in a packed courtroom, Heinrich described seeing Jacob, Jacob's brother, and a friend bicycling down a rural road near Jacob's central Minnesota home in St. Joseph the night of Oct. 22, 1989. Heinrich laid in wait for the three boys to return, and when they did, he put on a mask and confronted them with a revolver. He said he ordered them into a ditch and asked their names and ages. Heinrich said he told the two other boys to run and not look back or he'd shoot. He said he then handcuffed Jacob and drove him to a gravel pit near Paynesville, where he molested him. Afterward, Jacob said he was cold, and Heinrich let him get dressed. Jacob then asked whether he was taking him home. "I said, 'I can't take you all the way home,'" Heinrich said. "He started to cry. I said, 'Don't cry.'" Heinrich said at some point a patrol car with siren and lights passing nearby caused him to panic. He said he pulled out his revolver, which had not been loaded, and put two rounds in the gun. He said he told Jacob to turn around. He held the gun to the boy's head and pulled the trigger. The gun didn't fire. Heinrich then fired two shots. After the second, Jacob fell to the ground. Some of Jacob's family members cried openly as Heinrich calmly described the crime. Heinrich said he went home for a couple of hours, then went back to the gravel pit and buried Jacob about 100 yards away. He said he returned to the site about a year later and saw that Jacob's jacket and some bones had become exposed. "I gathered up as much as I could and put it in the bag and transported it across the highway" to a field, and reburied the remains, he said. Heinrich led authorities to Jacob's buried remains in a central Minnesota field last week. The remains were identified Saturday. "It's incredibly painful to know his last days, last hours, last minutes," Patty Wetterling said after the guilty plea. "To us, Jacob was alive, until we found him." Heinrich's attorneys declined to comment after the hearing. Authorities named Heinrich as a person of interest in Jacob's disappearance last October when they announced the child pornography charges. Heinrich had long been under investigators' scrutiny. They first questioned him shortly after Jacob's abduction, but he maintained his innocence and they never had enough evidence to charge him. They turned a renewed spotlight on him as part of a fresh look into Jacob's abduction around its 25th anniversary. As part of that effort, investigators took another look at the sexual assault of 12-year-old Jared Scheierl, of Cold Spring, nine months before Jacob's disappearance. Investigators had long suspected the two cases were connected. Using technology that wasn't available in 1989, investigators found Heinrich's DNA on Scheierl's sweatshirt and used that evidence to get a search warrant for Heinrich's home, where they found a large collection of child pornography. The statute of limitations had expired for charging him in the assault on Scheierl, but a grand jury indicted him on 25 child pornography counts. As part of Tuesday's plea deal, Heinrich also admitted to assaulting Scheierl. The AP typically doesn't identify victims of sexual assault, but Scheierl has spoken publicly for years about his case, saying it helped him cope with the trauma and that he hoped it could help investigators find his attacker and Jacob's kidnapper. Jacob's abduction shattered childhood innocence for many rural Minnesotans, changing the way parents let their kids roam. His smiling face was burned into Minnesota's psyche, appearing on countless posters and billboards over the years. Heinrich is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 21. ___ Follow Amy Forliti on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/amyforliti . More of her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/amy-forliti Patty Wetterling, mother of Jacob Wetterling, speaks after a hearing for Danny Heinrich hearing, Tuesday Sept. 6, 2016 in Minneapolis. Danny Heinrich confessed Tuesday to abducting and killing 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling nearly 27 years ago, recounting a crime that long haunted the state with details that included Jacob asking right after he was taken: "What did I do wrong?" (Jerry Holt/Star Tribune via AP) U.S. Attorney Andy Luger speaks at a press conference after the hearing for Danny Heinrich, Tuesday Sept. 6, 2016 in Minneapolis. Heinrich confessed Tuesday to abducting and killing 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling nearly 27 years ago, recounting a crime that long haunted the state with details that included Jacob asking right after he was taken: "What did I do wrong?" (Jerry Holt/Star Tribune via AP) FILE - In this Aug. 28, 2009, file photo, Patty and Jerry Wetterling show a photo of their son Jacob Wetterling, who was abducted in October of 1989 in St. Joseph, Minn and is still missing, in Minneapolis. Patty Wetterling said Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016 that his remains have been found. Daniel Heinrich, who authorities have called a person of interest in the 1989 kidnapping, denied any involvement and was not charged with that crime. But he has pleaded not guilty to several federal child pornography charges. (AP Photo/Craig Lassig, File) This undated photo provided by the Sherburne County Sheriff's Office shows Danny Heinrich, of Minnesota. Heinrich, who is expected to appear in federal court Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, in a child pornography case, was named last year by authorities as a person of interest in the 1989 abduction of Jacob Wetterling near his home in St. Joseph, Minn. He was never charged in that case. But he led authorities to the boy's remains last week, according to a law enforcement official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing case. (Sherburne County Sheriff's Office via AP) Alexis Frericks, 10, watchs the early news of the confession of Jacob Wetterling's killer at her dad's restaurant and bar Ultimate Sports Bar and Grill in Waite Park, Minn. on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. (Renee Jones Schneider/Star Tribune via AP) College of Saint Benedict's Amanda Baloun, of Sartell, wipes her face as she cried watching a press conference on a laptop after a hearing for Danny Heinrich,Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016 in St. Joseph, Minn. Heinrich confessed Tuesday to abducting and killing 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling nearly 27 years ago, recounting a crime that long haunted the state with details that included Jacob asking right after he was taken: "What did I do wrong?" (Renee Jones Schneider/Star Tribune via AP) Police say a distraught teenager in southwestern Michigan killed himself after fatally shooting another teen while playing with a gun. The two shootings occurred Monday night in an alley in Kalamazoo. A witness explained to police what happened, saying one of the teens was playing with the gun when it accidentally went off and hit the other teen. He then looked distraught before turning the gun on himself to commit suicide. The victims have been identified as 17-year-olds Marsavious Frazier and Daquarion Hunter. Police didn't publicly disclose which victim was accidentally shot, but said there was no argument or altercation. Scroll down for video Marsavious Frazier (left) and Daquarion Hunter (right) died Monday night in a tragic double shooting; Police didn't publicly disclose which victim was accidentally shot One of the teens accidentally shot the other, then took his own life after realizing what he had done, a witness said Captain Victor Ledbetter said in a press release that the incident was 'very unfortunate' and 'we remind people to be mindful and serious about the proper and legal handling of firearms.' Hunter graduated from Loy Norrix High School in June, while Frazier was a student at Phoenix High School. Counselors were available Tuesday, the first day of school, to talk to students and staff who knew the victims. 'It is a tragedy any time young people lose their lives. Both identified victims were Kalamazoo Public Schools students. Daquarion Hunter graduated from Loy Norrix High School this past June and Marsavious Frazier was a Phoenix High School student,' Superintendent Dr. Michael Rice said in a statement. Police also released a statement, reading: 'This is a very unfortunate incident and we remind people to be mindful and serious about the proper and legal handling of firearms. The firearm in this incident was not stolen, but it was also not properly registered.' The incident is under investigation by the Kalamazoo Department of Safety. Looking at Cosby's past for a pattern of drugging, sex abuse NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) They were models and aspiring actresses. One was a flight attendant. Another was a masseuse. Thirteen women who say Bill Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted them over the years have agreed to testify against him in the only criminal case stemming from his alleged behavior. Prosecutors say the women's experiences show that Cosby is a serial offender and that the one case he's charged in an alleged assault at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004 is part of a pattern of abuse dating to the 1960s. Bill Cosby departs after a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) One starlet said she lost consciousness after Cosby poured her a few glasses of champagne only to wake up naked and sore. Another said she felt woozy and had blurred vision after he insisted she take a couple of pills. A judge hasn't said if he'll allow the women to take the stand. If he does, their testimony could widen the scope of the 79-year-old Cosby's trial, slated for June, into a close examination of his treatment of women over the last six decades from his time as a fledgling comedian to his worldwide fame as a TV sitcom star dubbed "America's Dad." Cosby's criminal case involves a single encounter with former Temple University employee Andrea Constand, who told police he gave her three unmarked pills and then molested her as she drifted in and out of consciousness. Prosecutors said they reviewed accusations made by 50 Cosby accusers and found 13 who said they were also drugged or intoxicated by Cosby before he molested them. Many of those women came forward after Pennsylvania authorities reopened the Constand case last year. One of the prospective witnesses, then an aspiring actress, said Cosby assaulted her at a home near Reno, Nevada in 1984 after telling her agent and her parents that he wanted to mentor her. The woman said Cosby told her he wanted to see her act and handed her a script for an intoxicated character and an alcoholic beverage he wanted her to "sip on." The woman says she soon lost consciousness and awoke naked as Cosby forced his penis into her mouth. Another woman said Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in the late 1960s after befriending her and acting as a mentor to her 9-year-old son. The woman, a restaurant worker in the San Francisco area, said she lost consciousness after Cosby poured her a glass of wine and gave her a headache pill and woke up wearing only her underwear. Cosby's lawyers say they'll oppose any testimony from other accusers. They suggest he's a wealthy target for the many women he's met during decades as an A-list celebrity. Defense lawyer Angela Agrusa told reporters Tuesday that the accusers have been "paraded" before the press by lawyer Gloria Allred and others, without their accounts of abuse being investigated. "We have seen a barrage of new accusers claiming, 'Me too,'" Agrusa said. Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt brought race into the equation, saying Allred and others have trampled on Cosby's civil rights. Many of the accusers, including Constand, are white. Allred rejected Wyatt's accusations, saying Cosby's becoming desperate and that several accusers she represents are black. Allred also represents Judy Huth, who filed a civil lawsuit accusing Cosby of underage sexual abuse. She said the case is not about racial bias, but whether Cosby "has committed acts of gender sexual violence." It's unclear if any of Allred's clients are among the 13 women prosecutors are seeking to call as witnesses against Cosby. Also Tuesday, Cosby's lawyers asked a judge to block prosecutors from using a 2005 telephone conversation at trial because Constand's mother recorded it without his permission. Cosby was in California when he called Constand's mother at her Canadian home, but his lawyers argued Pennsylvania's two-party consent law on recording not a more lax Canadian law should apply since he's being prosecuted there. In the conversation, Cosby described the sex act with Constand as "digital penetration" but refused to say what pills he had given her daughter. In his deposition, he later said he feared sounding like "a dirty old man" on the call. ___ AP Entertainment Writer Anthony McCartney in Los Angeles contributed to this report. ___ Reach Maryclaire Dale and Mike Sisak on Twitter @maryclairedale and @mikesisak Bill Cosby departs after a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Bill Cosby, center, departs after a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Bill Cosby, center left, listens to his lawyer Brian McMonagle, center, speak with members of the media as they depart after a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Bill Cosby, second from left, is led out of Courtroom A in the Montgomery County Courthouse, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, in Norristown, Pa., by one of his aides after a pre-trial conference in his sexual assault case. Prosecutors said Tuesday that they want 13 other women, who said they were intoxicated when Cosby allegedly assaulted them, to testify at his upcoming felony sex assault trial. (Michael Bryant/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool) Bill Cosby, center, is lead out of Courtroom A in the Montgomery County Courthouse Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, in Norristown, Pa., by one of his aides after a pre-trial conference in his sexual assault case. Prosecutors said Tuesday that they want 13 other women, who said they were intoxicated when Cosby allegedly assaulted them, to testify at his upcoming felony sex assault trial. (Michael Bryant/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool) Brian McMonagle, front, one of Bill Cosby's attorneys, walks off an elevator in front of Cosby as they arrive at the Montgomery County Courthouse, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, in Norristown, Pa., for a pre-trial conference in Cosby's sexual assault case. Prosecutors said Tuesday that they want 13 other women, who said they were intoxicated when Cosby allegedly assaulted them, to testify at his upcoming felony sex assault trial. (Michael Bryant/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool) Q&A: What to know as Oregon ranching standoff trial begins PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) Trial is gearing up this week for armed ranchers who took over a national bird sanctuary in rural Oregon to oppose federal management of public lands. Jury selection starts Wednesday in the case against Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy and others who helped seize Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 2. They are charged with conspiring to prevent federal employees from doing their jobs. Several others were indicted, and many have pleaded guilty. Most key figures were arrested during a Jan. 26 traffic stop that ended with police fatally shooting Arizona rancher Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, a spokesman for the occupation. Others left after Finicum's death, but four holdouts extended the standoff to 41 days. FILE - This Jan. 27, 2016, photo provided by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office shows Ammon Bundy, one of the members of an armed group that occupied central Oregon's Malheur National Wildlife Refuge as part of a dispute over public lands. Jury selection starts Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016, in the trial of Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy and six others involved in the armed takeover. The protesters seized the refuge Jan. 2 and didn't relinquish control until 41 days later. (Multnomah County Sheriff via AP, File) Here's a recap of the takeover and a look at what to expect at trial: ___ WHO ARE THE DEFENDANTS? Occupation leaders and brothers Ammon and Ryan Bundy; two of the last holdouts, David Fry and Jeff Banta; as well as Shawna Cox, Kenneth Medenbach and Neil Wampler. All are charged with conspiring to impede U.S. Interior Department employees at the refuge through intimidation, threats or force. On Tuesday, prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss the conspiracy charge against another defendant, Pete Santilli, an independent broadcaster who was present at the standoff. His attorney had argued his actions were protected under the First Amendment. Cox, Fry, Banta and the Bundys also are charged with possessing a firearm at a federal facility. Cox, Medenbach and Ryan Bundy are acting as their own lawyers. ___ WHY WERE THEY AT THE REFUGE? It started as a protest against the imprisonment of two Oregon ranchers convicted of setting fires and grew into demands for the U.S. government to turn public lands over to local control. The father-and-son ranchers distanced themselves from the occupiers, reporting to prison two days after the standoff began. Ammon Bundy and others contend that the Constitution limits federal power to acquire and own property within a state's borders, revealing the larger dispute over the government's control of vast expanses of Western range. ___ HOW DID THE OCCUPATION END? The Bundys and other leaders were driving to a community forum when police stopped and arrested them. Finicum fled and crashed his truck into a snowbank to avoid a police roadblock. Authorities say he was reaching for a weapon when he exited the vehicle and that's when Oregon State Police officers opened fire. The four occupiers who remained after Finicum's death finally surrendered on Feb. 11 after protracted negotiations with federal authorities who surrounded the refuge. ___ HOW MANY PEOPLE FACE CHARGES? A total of 26 people were charged with conspiracy. Eleven have pleaded guilty, including several from Bundy's inner circle. Seven defendants sought and received a delay in their trial, now scheduled for February. ___ WHAT'S THE GOVERNMENT'S EVIDENCE? The takeover received extensive media coverage, Ammon Bundy gave daily news conferences and the group used social media in a mostly unsuccessful effort to get others to join them. In short, there's no question the group occupied the refuge. Prosecutors have said the evidence includes seized weapons, thousands of photographs, thousands of hours of video and reams of information gleaned from social media. ___ WHAT'S THEIR DEFENSE? They claim they used their First Amendment rights to engage in a peaceful protest and that those with guns were exercising their Second Amendment rights. The occupiers contend that nobody was threatened, no workers were impeded from performing their duties and the government fired the only shots. Moreover, they say those shots, which killed Finicum, showed why they needed guns for protection. ___ IS THE TRIAL GOING TO LAST LONGER THAN THE OCCUPATION? It looks that way. U.S. District Judge Anna Brown has set aside three days for jury selection, and opening statements are tentatively scheduled to start Sept. 13. The trial is expected to take two or three months. ___ AREN'T THE BUNDYS ALSO FACING TRIAL IN NEVADA? They and five others from the Oregon case have been charged in a 2014 armed standoff with federal agents near their father Cliven's cattle ranch in Bunkerville, Nevada. The three Bundys are scheduled for a February trial in Las Vegas. The elder Bundy drew national attention after his sympathizers pointed weapons at agents rounding up his cattle on public land. The U.S. government says he racked up more than $1.1 million in unpaid grazing fees and penalties over two decades, while Cliven Bundy claims it has no authority over the land. Several people took part in both standoffs. Federal officials were widely viewed as having backed down from the elder Bundy, possibly emboldening the Oregon occupation. Cliven Bundy was arrested at Portland International Airport in February when he arrived to visit his sons. ___ Follow Steven DuBois on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/pdxdub . Trump seeks distance from donation supporting Florida AG WASHINGTON (AP) Donald Trump spoke to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi before his charity cut a 2013 check to support her re-election effort, but his campaign said Tuesday the two never discussed whether her office would join a lawsuit against Trump University. Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks clarified details of the conversation one day after the Republican presidential candidate said he never spoke to Bondi about the issue, without providing specifics. Bondi, also a Republican, has endorsed Trump's White House bid. "I never spoke to her, first of all, she's a fine person beyond reproach," Trump said Monday. "Never spoken to her about it. Never. Many of the AGs turned that case down because I'll win that case in court, many turned that down. ... I just have a lot of respect for her and she's very popular." Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a town hall, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, in Virginia Beach, Va. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Bondi's spokesman told The Associated Press in June that she personally solicited the $25,000 donation from Trump during a 2013 phone call. The Donald J. Trump Foundation check arrived just days after Bondi's office told a newspaper it was deliberating whether to join a proposed multi-state lawsuit against Trump University and Trump Institute, businesses that offered real-estate seminars that scores of former students allege were get-rich-quick scams. Florida didn't join the lawsuit filed by New York's attorney general. Trump has said in the past that he expects and receives favors from politicians to whom he gives money. Bondi has said the timing of Trump's $25,000 donation was coincidental and said she wasn't personally aware of the numerous consumer complaints her office had received about the Trump-owned Trump University and the Trump Institute, a separate Florida business that licensed the Trump name and curriculum. Both had ceased operations by the time Bondi took office in early 2011. Alan Garten, the in-house counsel for Trump's business interests, also denied there were any connection between the donation and the fact that Bondi didn't pursue claims on behalf of Florida residents then seeking refunds from Trump. "Trump University students received quality coursework and substantial value in return," Garten said. Charities are barred by law from supporting political activities. Hicks said Tuesday that the improper foundation check was the result of a series of clerical errors, and that the billionaire businessman had intended to support Bondi with personal funds. The Trump Foundation on its 2013 tax return then incorrectly reported that the $25,000 was paid not to the pro-Bondi political group, but to a similarly named charity in Kansas that got no Trump money. The Washington Post first reported last week that Trump's charity paid an IRS penalty of $2,500 earlier this year, following media reports about the impermissible 2013 donation. It was not immediately clear whether the foundation has yet amended its tax returns to correct the reporting error. "Mr. Trump paid the fine," Hicks told the AP. "All is squared away." Neither Hicks nor Garten could provide specific answers to when the IRS fine was paid, on what date the 2013 call between Bondi and Trump occurred, or what the two discussed, if not Trump University. "I don't think this was a lengthy, memorable call," Hicks said. "Mr. Trump talks to a hundred people in any given day. So, I don't know if I will be able to provide that information. That's not exactly a realistic or reasonable request." ___ Brazil scientists: Culex mosquito not transmitting Zika RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) Brazilian researchers said Tuesday they have concluded that the common Culex mosquito is not transmitting Zika, the rapidly spreading virus that has been linked to severe birth defects. Rio de Janeiro's Fiocruz institute said the Culex quinquefasciatus mosquito has not played a role in the Zika epidemic that has hit Brazil over the last year. Culex is 20 times more common than the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is the main spreader of Zika. The Aedes also transmits dengue fever and chikungunya. FILE - In this Jan. 27, 2016 file photo, an Aedes aegypti mosquito known to carry the Zika virus, is photographed through a microscope at the Fiocruz institute in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. The U.N. health agency is changing its advice to travelers returning from areas facing a Zika virus outbreak, saying both men and women should now practice safe sex or abstinence for six months. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File) For the study, researchers gathered several hundred mosquitoes in four areas of Rio and fed them Zika-infected blood. Only two showed an early infection 14 days later, and the virus was not detected on their heads or in their saliva. The report came a few months after a study published in July by the same institute but by researchers in the northeastern city of Recife concluded that the Culex could transmit the virus. Scientists said then that more studies were necessary to definitively determine whether the Culex could transmit Zika. One possibility for the discrepancy in the two studies is that Culex mosquitoes in Recife may have a genetic variation that makes them different from those in Rio or elsewhere, the Fiocruz institute said. Leaders pose for pictures during the G20 Leaders Summit at the Hangzhou International Expo Center in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, on Sunday. WU ZHIYI/CHINA DAILY G20 summits are assessed on two things: financial stability and economic growth, which form the G20's core agenda. In terms of financial stability, the G20 has made significant strides in terms of financial regulation, as well as on international taxation and reforms of global organizations like the International Monetary Fund. This is still a work in progress, and we have weathered recent storms such as the market volatility this year and the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom. All these issues are being looked at in a global context, and we are seeing progress. Economic growth, on the other hand, is a problem because strong, sustainable growth is still elusive. This is a pivotal year not only for the G20 members, but for China as well. China has done all the right things early. The leadership has signaled that the G20 is a key Chinese foreign policy priority. China has put an emphasis on consulting widely and thinking deeply, and developed a broad agenda. I expect China will deliver a technical agenda of positive, incremental change regarding the medium-term challenges and long-term economic issues. China is already playing that role by presiding over the G20, and it knows the importance and magnitude of the group. China has made important progress in economic governance. In the G20, it has made a lot of progress in a short time. A lot of people are looking to see what kind of leadership role will be seen at the summit. The G20 group is not a mini United Nations. It is large enough to capture a big enough share of the global economy, population and trade, but small enough to facilitate agreement on key issues. It is informal and has two very clear mandatesfinancial stability and economic growth. For financial stability, it can get a tick, but on the other it has not done so well. Critics see it as a talking shop, but it has set in place important changes that affect people's lives, especially in the financial sector, and in a number of key policies such as tax avoidance, which are starting to see some success. China this year has invited the largest number of developing countries ever to attend G20 activities. By inviting developing countries, you give them a voice, which is a good thing. Decisions made by the G20 will impact on them as well. The author is research fellow and project director, G20 Studies Centre, Lowy Institute, Australia. Woman who was stranded in woods is reunited with escaped cat EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) An elderly woman who took a wrong turn in her car and was stranded in the woods for days before being rescued by soldiers has found her pet cat more than a month after it escaped when she opened a car window for air. Jeannette Haskins' daughter found her 4-year-old gray tabby, Mokey, last week in the area where Haskins got lost in July without food or water, the Press of Atlantic City reported (http://bit.ly/2c1Ix6v ). "We never thought we'd get him," said Haskins, who's 87. "That's a long time for him to be alive in those woods." Jeannette Haskins, of Egg Harbor Township, and her cat, Mokey, were reunited after being separated five weeks ago when Haskins got lost in the woods at Fort Dix, NJ. (Claire Lowe/The Press of Atlantic City via AP) Haskins took a wrong turn and got lost on a trip to visit her daughter and granddaughter in Maryland and then got stuck on a dirt road. Soldiers from the Massachusetts Army National Guard had been training at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst and were on a scouting mission when they found the Egg Harbor Township woman slumped over in the backseat of her car. She remained unresponsive after they honked the horn several times, but she awoke when a soldier approached her. Haskins suffered dehydration and possibly heat illness as temperatures reached the upper 90s. Mokey escaped the car during the ordeal. Haskins' daughter, Bonnie Baker, set out food and traps where Haskins was stranded. Baker, of Millersville, Maryland, caught five stray cats before Mokey was found on Aug. 29. She called her mother, who asked her to take Mokey to her that night. "She got down here at 2 a.m. with him, and as soon as he got out of the cage I knew it was Mokey," Haskins said. "He ran right to me and started rubbing his head against me. Now, he just will not leave me alone. He wants to be on me every minute." Haskins said a microchip confirmed that the cat is Mokey. She said the cat was skinny and covered with fleas when it was found but is in good shape. ___ Information from: The Press of Atlantic City (N.J.), http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com Jeannette Haskins, of Egg Harbor Township, and her cat, Mokey, were reunited after being separated five weeks ago when Haskins got lost in the woods at Fort Dix, NJ. (Claire Lowe/The Press of Atlantic City via AP) Police shooting suspects are held on $750,000 bail each MAYS LANDING, N.J. (AP) Two men charged in the shooting of an Atlantic City, New Jersey, police officer responding to a robbery in progress at a casino garage have been held on $750,000 bail each following their initial court appearances. A judge maintained the bail for Martell Chisholm, of Millville, and Demetrius Cross, of Bridgeton. Neither man entered a plea at Tuesday's hearing. The men were arrested Saturday in connection with the shooting of Officer Joshlee Vadell. Prosecutors say the nine-year veteran of the police force and another officer saw the robbery being committed early Saturday. Vadell was shot as he exited his vehicle. The second officer returned fire and struck robbery suspect Jerome Damon. Damon, who was 25 years old and from Camden, was found dead a short distance away. The second officer's name hasn't been released. He apparently was not injured in the incident. Vadell's condition was upgraded Monday from critical to stable. Chisholm and Cross were each charged with attempted murder, robbery and weapons offenses. Chisholm told the judge he would be seeking to hire his own attorney, but Cross apparently will seek to have a public defender represent him. New York requiring schools to test drinking water for lead ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) Schools in New York state will be required to test their drinking water for lead contamination under a new measure signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. School districts will report the results to parents as well as local and state officials. Buildings found to have high levels of lead will have to develop and implement plans to fix the problem. "These rigorous new protections for New York's children include the toughest lead contamination testing standards in the nation, and provide clear guidance to schools on when and how they should test their water," said Cuomo, a Democrat. Elementary schools must complete the tests by the end of this month. Schools for older children have until the end of October. Schools must cut off any water source with lead levels above 15 parts per billion and provide another supply. New tests will occur every five years or on a schedule worked out by the state's health commissioner. Schools that can show they've already conducted tests can get waivers. Lead exposure can cause significant neurological impairments in children. Trump, Clinton not planning to campaign on 9/11 NEW YORK (AP) Neither of the two New Yorkers vying for the White House is expected to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11th terror attacks with a visit to ground zero. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are not slated to attend the annual commemoration at the World Trade Center on Sunday, a spokesman for the memorial told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "We have not heard from either presidential candidate, nor the president of the United States, that they will be attending," according to Michael Frazier of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. FILE - In this Sept. 11, 2015 file photo, a flag is placed along the South Pool prior to a ceremony at the World Trade Center site in New York. Neither of the two New Yorkers vying for the White House is expected to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11th terror attacks with a visit to Ground Zero. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are not slated to attend the annual commemoration at the former World Trade Center site, a spokesman for the memorial told The Associated Press on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2015. (AP Photo/Bryan R. Smith, File) There is precedent for presidential candidates to visit the former ground zero on the anniversary of the terror attacks. In 2008, the last time an incumbent wasn't running for the White House, Barack Obama and John McCain set aside their political differences to make a joint appearance at the site in New York. Four years later, Obama marked the event at the Pentagon while his challenger Mitt Romney thanked first responders in Illinois and Nevada. Neither Clinton nor Trump has released their public schedule for Sunday but both campaigns have confirmed they intend to halt television ads for the anniversary, keeping with a tradition of avoiding partisan presidential politics on 9/11. Officials at the September 11th Memorial & Museum in New York have said that they did not extend formal invitations to either candidate or to the sitting president, in keeping with past practice. But, officials said they would welcome a visit from either candidate or the president should they choose to attend the commemoration. Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for the Republican nominee, confirmed that Trump will not be campaigning that day but declined to provide any details as to his whereabouts or if he planned to mark the anniversary. Clinton last attended the ground zero commemoration on the tenth anniversary of the attacks in 2011, when she was secretary of state. A spokeswoman for Clinton declined to comment about the Democratic nominee's plans that day. Trump and Clinton are the first New Yorkers to become their parties' nominees for president since nearly 3,000 people died in the Sept. 11 attacks. Both candidates have made their experiences that day part of their campaign narratives. Clinton was senator from New York at the time of the attacks and has frequently highlighted her efforts including at her party's convention this summer to aid those affected by the World Trade Center collapse. She made frequent trips to the attack site and her staff has highlighted her efforts to help secure medical benefits for first responders sickened at ground zero. Trump, meanwhile, has said he donated construction equipment to the recovery effort and gave $100,000 to the memorial after touring it for the first time earlier this year. But he also received widespread criticism for claiming that "thousands and thousands" of Muslims in New Jersey celebrated when the towers toppled, a claim for which there is no proof. New York typically goes Democratic in the general election though Trump has pledged to put up a fight for his native state. But while he easily won the New York state primary in April, he lost Manhattan to Ohio Gov. John Kasich. The lower Manhattan memorial now a peaceful open space flanked by soaring new skyscrapers has hosted Obama and other elected officials at previous commemorations but in recent years, including Sunday, the speakers at the event will largely be family members of the deceased. _____ Reach Lemire on Twitter at http://twitter.com/@JonLemire ___ What political news is the world searching for on Google and talking about on Twitter? Find out via AP's Election Buzz interactive. http://elections.ap.org/buzz ___ Pelosi to Ryan: Don't use hacked documents in campaigns WASHINGTON (AP) House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi urged Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday to keep Republican candidates from using hacked Democratic documents in this year's election campaigns, the latest political twist in a summer of revelations of digital break-ins believed linked to Russia. "Russia's cyber attack is an unprecedented assault on the sanctity of our democratic process," Pelosi, D-Calif., wrote in a letter to the Wisconsin Republican. "We must come together to say that defending our democracy from Russia's meddling is more important than any advantage or disadvantage in this election." A GOP aide said Ryan cannot control campaign ads by Republican committees that by law are barred from consulting with the party's candidates. FILE - In this May 25, 2016 file photo, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Pelosi wants House Speaker Paul Ryan to not use hacked documents in this years election campaigns. The California Democrat wrote a letter Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, to Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican. She said the two parties should unite in the face of Russias attempts to tamper with the will of the America people. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) Pelosi's letter came as Congress returned from summer recess just two months from an Election Day in which Democrats hope to gain sizable numbers of House seats, as well as capture the Senate and retain the White House. Democrats have been happy to link Russia to Donald Trump's GOP presidential candidacy, highlighting his July plea that Russia help find Democratic rival Hillary Clinton's missing emails and work former campaign manager Paul Manafort did for a pro-Russian party in Ukraine. Trump later said his call that Russia find Clinton's emails was sarcastic. Federal officials have been investigating electronic break-ins into Democratic Party computers by people that private cybersecurity analysts have blamed on Russian intelligence agencies. That's included a breach of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, House Democrats' campaign arm. Embarrassing internal Democratic documents have been posted online. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida relinquished her post as Democratic Party chief in July after the documents showed the organization tilting toward Clinton in her campaign against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders for the presidential nomination. "Democrats and Republicans must present a united front in the face of Russia's attempts to tamper with the will of the American people," Pelosi wrote. Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong steered a reporter seeking comment to the National Republican Congressional Committee, which runs House GOP campaign efforts. NRCC spokeswoman Katie Martin said Ryan and NRCC chief Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., do not "have control over" campaign ads produced by an arm of that committee, which is legally required to spend money without consulting candidates. Feds take most humpback whales off endangered species list HONOLULU (AP) Federal authorities took most humpback whales off the endangered species list Tuesday, saying their numbers have recovered through international efforts to protect the giant mammals. Known for their acrobatic leaps from the sea and complex singing patterns, humpback whales were nearly hunted to extinction for their oil and meat by industrial-sized whaling ships well through the middle of the 20th century. But the species has been bouncing back since an international ban on commercial whaling took effect in 1966. The moratorium on whaling remains in effect, despite the new classifications. In this August 25, 2012 photo, boaters watch a humpback whale breach off the coast of Gloucester, Mass. Federal authorities are taking most humpback whales off the endangered species list. The National Marine Fisheries Service said Monday, Sept. 5, 2016 that nine of the 14 distinct populations of humpbacks have recovered enough in the last 40 years to warrant being removed from the endangered list. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola) The National Marine Fisheries Service said it first had evidence to indicate there were 14 distinct populations of humpback whales around the world. It then said nine of these populations have recovered to the point where they no longer need Endangered Species Act Protections. These include whales that winter in Hawaii, the West Indies and Australia. Before, the agency classified all humpback whales as one population. They had been listed as endangered since 1970. "Today's news is a true ecological success story," Eileen Sobeck, assistant administrator for fisheries at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said in a statement. The whales will continue to be protected under other federal laws, including the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Vessels will continue to have to stay a specific distance away from humpback whales in Hawaii and Alaska waters. A Hawaii fishermen's group that petitioned for delisting three years ago said it was happy with the decision. "We just saw a lot of whales. So we thought this is a success in ocean management and we wanted to point that out to the world that things are good with whales in Hawaii," said Phil Fernandez, president of the Hawaii Fishermen's Alliance for Conservation and Tradition. An estimated 11,000 humpback whales breed in Hawaii waters each winter and migrate to Alaska to feed during the summer, the fisheries service said. But an environmentalist group said the protections should stay in place. "These whales face several significant and growing threats, including entanglement in fishing gear, so ending protections now is a step in the wrong direction," Kristen Monsell, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. Humpbacks that breed in Central America in the winter and feed off California and the Pacific Northwest in the summer are among those that will remain on the endangered list. Marta Nammack, the fisheries service's Endangered Species Act listing coordinator, said that's because the population is estimated at only about 400 whales. These whales also face threats from vessel collisions and getting entangled in fishing gear, she said. Whales that breed off Mexico and feed off California, the Pacific Northwest and Alaska will be listed as threatened. There are about 3,200 of the whales in this group, which is only about half of what scientists previously thought, Nammack said. The whales also face fishing gear entanglement threats. The different classifications mean that Alaska's whales will be a mix. In addition to whales that breed in Hawaii and Mexico, Alaska also gets whales that spend the winter in waters around Okinawa and the Philippines. These whales, called the Western North Pacific population, are endangered. They number only about 1,000 and faces threats from energy exploration and development, whaling and fishing gear entanglements, Nammack said. Kaine touts foreign policy background, hits Trump in speech WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) In a rare policy address by a vice presidential nominee, Democrat Tim Kaine showcased his own foreign policy expertise Tuesday and painted Donald Trump as clueless and dangerous when it comes to world affairs. "The prospect of the emotionally volatile, fact-challenged, self-obsessed and inexperienced Donald Trump as commander-in-chief scares me to death," Kaine said at a historic USO building in the swing state of North Carolina. Hillary Clinton's vice presidential running mate has a background in national security and foreign policy, something some voters might not know. He represents Virginia in the Senate and serves on the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees. Kaine also is the father of a U.S. Marine. His speech came as Clinton and Trump both argued their own national security credentials as they campaigned in the battleground states of Florida and Virginia, respectively. Democratic vice presidential candidate, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. speaks during a campaign rally in Wilmington, N.C., Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton) In his roughly 45-minute remarks, Kaine said Trump has a "bizarre fascination" with dictators, is disrespectful of the American military and unable to grasp basic facts about American relationships with Russia, Latin and South America and the Middle East. In contrast, he talked up Clinton's familiarity with world leaders gleaned from her time as a U.S. senator and secretary of state. Kaine, too, has traveled to Middle Eastern and Latin American nations. Together, Kaine said, the pair would make a president and vice president who are informed and well-versed in foreign policy. Kaine said Trump is misleading voters on his foreign policy views while Clinton is offering concrete proposals to defeat the Islamic State group and prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. He pointed to Trump's repeated assertion that he was against invading Iraq, despite statements to several news outlets at the time indicating otherwise, as evidence of Trump's untruthfulness. Trump's stated opposition to the Iraq war from the beginning is "one of the main rationales for his candidacy, and it's completely made up," Kaine said. Kaine also referenced his son's service in the U.S. Marine Corps to make a personal appeal for a Clinton presidency. "I trust Hillary Clinton to make (foreign policy) decisions with full knowledge that the life of my son and his friends may be riding on the outcome," Kaine said. Police say fire at Gap Inc. distribution center was set FISHKILL, N.Y. (AP) Authorities say a massive fire that ripped through a Gap Inc. distribution center in New York was intentionally set. State police said Tuesday the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives determined the origin of the fire was "incendiary." No other details have been released. State police and the ATF continue to investigate. This Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016 photo shows a damaged section of the Gap Inc. distribution center in Fishkill, N.Y. A fire burned late Monday into Tuesday at the facility about 50 miles north of New York City. No employees were hurt. Gap officials haven't been able to enter the building yet to assess the damage. (Alex Wagner/The Journal via AP) The Aug. 29 fire caused heavy damage to part of the facility in Fishkill, 50 miles north of New York City. Some of the distribution center's 1,300 employees were scheduled to return to work this week in other sections. The facility serves the Gap's northeast region. It opened in 2000. Man who authorities say faked death pleads guilty to fraud JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) A Florida businessman who authorities say faked his own death to defraud insurance companies has pleaded guilty. The Florida Times-Union (http://goo.gl/jMZfG3) reports that 63-year-old Jose Lantigua faces up to 50 years in prison, but prosecutors have agreed to seek less. Lantigua agreed to forfeit money or valuables to help satisfy court judgments totaling about $2.8 million. The former owner of a Jacksonville furniture business, Lantigua admitted to concocting a story with his wife that he had mad cow disease and was traveling to Venezuela for treatment. According to his plea agreement, he went there to obtain a fake death certificate. He was arrested last year in North Carolina while applying for a passport in another man's name. The Latest: Complaint says pictures taken of Turner's home XENIA, Ohio (AP) The Latest on former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner, whose six-month sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman sparked a national outcry (all times local): 5:30 p.m. Records show police took a complaint about pictures being taken of the Ohio home of a former Stanford University swimmer whose six-month jail sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman sparked national outcry. FILE - This January 2015 file booking photo released by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office shows Brock Turner. The former Stanford University swimmer convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman is poised to leave jail Friday, Sept. 2, 2016, after serving half a six-month sentence that critics denounced as too lenient. (Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office via AP, File) The Associated Press obtained copies of incident reports associated with Brock Turner's address through a public records request. Turner registered as a sex offender Tuesday in Ohio, where he's living with his parents in Sugarcreek Township. One complaint to police describes cars passing in front of the home and pictures being taken. Another report indicates an officer checking on the home found several broken eggs and an egg carton on the sidewalk and driveway. Turner was convicted of assaulting the woman near a trash bin after they drank heavily at a fraternity party in January 2015. He plans to appeal. ___ 12:55 p.m. A former Stanford University swimmer whose six-month sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman sparked a national outcry has registered as a sex offender in Ohio, where he's living with his parents. Brock Turner registered at the Greene County sheriff's office on Tuesday, four days after leaving a California jail after serving half his term. California jail inmates with good behavior typically serve half their sentences. Turner registered under his family's address in Sugarcreek Township, where about a dozen people had protested Friday as police watched. The 21-year-old must register as a sex offender for life. He faces three years of supervised probation. He was convicted of assaulting the young woman near a trash bin after they drank heavily at a fraternity party in January 2015. Turner plans to appeal. Flash Syrian soldiers wait in front of buses parked to collect civilians who were evacuated from the rebel-held town of Muadamiyeh, in rural Damascus, capital of Syria, on Sept. 2, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] Several bombings rocked key Syrian cities almost simultaneously Monday, killing at least 48 people, as Russia and the United States fail short of concluding negotiations on a cease-fire in Syria. The first bombing happened in the central city of Homs at 7.14 a.m. local time (0414 GMT), when a booby-trapped car was detonated after being discovered by government soldiers at a checkpoint at the Bab Tadmur area. Four people were killed and many others wounded in the explosion. Had it not been stopped, the vehicle could have caused much heavier casualties if the powerful explosives detonate inside the city, the national Syrian TV said. The Homs blast also left property damage in an area almost deserted form civilians in that part of the city. It said the explosion came as authorities and rebels in al-Waer were working to establish reconciliation that might lead to an end to insurgency in the neighborhood, the last rebel-held district inside the city of Homs. In the coastal city of Tartus, at least 35 people were killed and dozens of others wounded on Monday, in twin bombings that rocked a checkpoint at the city's entrance, said the report. An explosive-laden vehicle was detonated at the checkpoint of the entrance of Tartus, when it was discovered by military personnel, said the report. Another explosion followed when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt among a crowd who gathered to help the wounded in the first blast in Tartus, said the report. The suicide car bomber had apparently planned to detonate inside the city but did so at the entrance after he was discovered by the authorities, the report said. Both bombers, wearing military uniforms, were disguised as members of government troops, the military said. It wasn't the first time Tartus, once one of the safest cities in Syria, was targeted by explosions. On May 23, eight bombings were carried out by the Islamic State (IS) militants in the cities of Tartus and Jableh, another coastal city, killing 184 people and wounding at least 200 others. Also on Monday, an explosive-packed motorcycle ripped through a checkpoint for the Kurdish Assayish security forces in the predominantly-Kurdish city of Hasakah in northeastern Syria, killing eight people. In the capital Damascus, an explosion rocked a road between the summer resort town of Sabura, and Bajaj, killing one man. The IS group claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying its suicide bombers detonated themselves at military checkpoints in the aforementioned cities. Meanwhile, the Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned the bombings, saying the terrorist attacks are a continuation of the systematic terrorism practiced by the terrorist groups in Syria. It urged the UN Security Council to undertake "deterrent" measures against the countries that support the terrorist groups, naming Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and France as patrons of the terror groups. Internationally, the leaders of the United States and Russia fell short to resolve snags facing an agreement that could bring a ceasefire in the war-torn country. "Given the gaps of trust that exist, that's a tough negotiation, and we haven't yet closed the gaps in a way where we think it would actually work," U.S. President Barack Obama told a news conference in Hangzhou, China at the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit , following his meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Obama said he had instructed Secretary of State John Kerry to continue the negotiations with the Russian side in the hope of reaching a durable ceasefire in Syria. Both powers had previously agreed on ceasefires in Syria, but such truces were quick to fall apart. Observers believe that a robust agreement between both powers could be conducive in bring the violence in Syria to a pause, and hopefully to a long-run pacification. Alonso Perez, 25, broke free from handcuffs on Friday and fled from a Las Vegas police station - he was finally caught on Tuesday A murder suspect who escaped from a police interrogation room while handcuffed has been recaptured after four days on the run. Alonso Perez, 25, broke free from handcuffs on Friday and fled from a Las Vegas police station. He was identified by police as a suspect in a shooting that left Mohammed Robinson, 31, dead outside a McDonald's restaurant. An argument broke out on the night of August 27 after Robinson failed to hold a door open for a woman, according to the victim's family members who are mourning his 'senseless' death. Perez was arrested around 10am on Friday, and taken to the department's detective bureau where he was questioned for several hours. When a detective left the room at around 12.45pm, Perez twisted the handcuffs until they broke, according to police spokesperson Aaron Patty. He said: 'We're going to take a look at the details of how he escaped.' Perez fled the station and stole a white Ford F-250 work truck from a nearby parking lot. The vehicle was found the next day in a neighborhood east of downtown Las Vegas. After four days on the run, police finally apprehended Perez at a residence about 8pm on Tuesday night. When a detective left the room on Friday, Perez twisted the handcuffs until they broke Robinson's best friend witnessed the shooting and told his family members a woman was upset he did not hold the door open for her, KSNV reported. The woman then turned to a man she was with, and he took out a gun and shot Robinson before the two fled the scene, the witness said. Robinson was taken to hospital in critical condition, and died on Sunday morning, police said. His girlfriend said he was a respectful man who shied away from confrontation. Robinson's 14-year-old daughter Miniya Sampson struggled to understand her father's death, and told KSNV: 'I love him. I wish he was still here.' Robinson, 31, (pictured) was shot outside a McDonald's on August 27 after one witness said an argument broke out after a woman was upset he didn't hold the door open for her Perez fled the station and stole a white pickup truck (pictured) although the vehicle was recovered the next day Robinson's best friend witnessed the shooting at McDonald's (pictured) and told his family members a woman was upset the 31-year-old did not hold the door open for her The escape is at least the second this year from a police station in the Las Vegas area. The April escape of Ivan Mayoral-Lizarraga from a north-east Las Vegas police substation led to a five-hour lockdown of a surrounding neighborhood before the search was called off. Police said Mayoral-Lizarraga was being questioned in a stolen vehicle investigation when he fled. He was arrested about two weeks later, and pleaded guilty to felony home invasion, assault with a weapon and escape charges, according to court records. Valentine confessed in Facebook video he had shot his ex-wife The 15-year-old died; his ex-wife survived but was critically wounded Valentine shot his ex-wife and teenage son at home Tuesday, police said Authorities are looking for Earl Valentine of Norlina, North Carolina Authorities are looking for a man accused of shooting his ex-wife and his 15-year-old son, killing the teenage boy, before recording a confession on Facebook live. Earl Valentine kicked in the door of Keisha Valentine's home in Norlina, North Carolina on Tuesday and shot her before killing his son Earl Jr., police chief Taylor Bartholomew said. Valentine posted a video on his Facebook page admitting to his ex-wife's shooting, Bartholomew added. 'She lied on me, had warrants taken out on me. She drug me all the way down to nothing,' Valentine said on the video. 'I loved my wife, but she deserved what she had coming.' 'I know a lot of y'all are going to be disappointed in me, but it was something that had to be done. Scroll down for video Valentine posted a video on his Facebook page admitting to his ex-wife's shooting. A still from the video is seen above Authorities are looking for Earl Valentine (pictured in an old mugshot), who is accused of shooting his ex-wife and his 15-year-old son, killing the boy, before recording a confession on Facebook Live Tragedy: Earl Valentine (left) allegedly shot his ex-wife Keisha Valentine (right) and then confessed on Facebook Dead: Earl Valentine Jr. (left) was allegedly shot dead by his father Earl Valentine The post has since been removed. The chief said a domestic protection order was in place but expired last month. The chief said he later talked to Valentine on the phone and described him as 'cold and callous' and showing no remorse for the shootings. 'We actually got a call from the young victim with a dying declaration that his father had shot him and his father also shot his mother,' Bartholomew said according to WTVR. Valentine said he was on his way to Richmond, Virginia, to kill other family members, according to Bartholomew. These relatives have been placed under police protection, authorities said. Authorities are now looking for Valentine from Richmond to South Carolina. The FBI Fugitive Task Force and US Marshals are involved in the case. Valentine should be considered armed and dangerous, authorities said. Valentine is facing a first-degree murder charge in his son's death. House votes to ensure rights for sexual assault survivors WASHINGTON (AP) The House on Tuesday unanimously approved legislation outlining a federal bill of rights for survivors of sexual assault, following a national outcry over the sexual assault of an unconscious woman by a former Stanford University swimmer. The House bill would ensure that survivors in federal criminal cases have a right to a sexual assault evidence collection kit, to be told of the results and to be notified in writing before the kit is destroyed. Lawmakers said they are troubled by the number of untested rape kits that remain in the country, despite efforts to reduce a national backlog. Rep. Mimi Walters, R-Calif., one of the bill's sponsors, said she hopes it can serve as a model for states, which she said now have an uneven patchwork of laws across the country. That patchwork all-too-often "prevents sexual assault survivors from having full access to the justice system," Walters said. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.., said the bill would give sexual assault survivors additional rights in seeking justice and help them recover from trauma. The bill heads to the Senate, where similar legislation was approved this spring. Former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner registered as a sex offender Tuesday in Ohio, where he's living with his parents. Turner was convicted of assaulting a woman last year near a trash bin after they drank heavily at a fraternity party. The woman passed out, and Turner was on top of her when confronted by two graduate students passing by on bicycles. Dallas County DA Hawk resigns after bouts of mental illness DALLAS (AP) The Dallas County district attorney resigned her position as the top prosecutor in the nation's ninth most populous county Tuesday just a month after returning to work following her third inpatient treatment for mental illness. Since taking office in January 2015, Susan Hawk's tenure has been marked by long absences as she sought treatment. The Republican recently returned to work after spending nearly two months at an Arizona clinic. "I believe our office is making a difference and I want to continue that good work," Hawk said in her resignation letter dated Tuesday to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. "I made a commitment to step away from the office if I felt I could no longer do my job, and unfortunately I've reached that point as my health needs my full attention in the coming months." FILE - In this Oct. 1, 2015 file photo, Dallas County District Attorney Susan Hawk holds a press conference outside of her office at the Frank Crowley Courts building in Dallas. Hawk, who has spoken publicly about her battles with depression and anxiety, resigned her office Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016 just a month after returning to work following her third inpatient treatment for mental illness. (David Woo/The Dallas Morning News via AP, File) Her resignation is effective immediately. The start of Hawk's term was tumultuous, with allegations of paranoid behavior and the dismissal of top staffers. Some complained that Hawk had created a toxic atmosphere of suspicion in the district attorney's office. Last year, she had not been seen for weeks at the Dallas courthouse before her office revealed she was seeking mental health treatment. Hawk's absences had generated numerous questions about the management of her office and her ability to perform her duties. Hawk later checked into a Houston clinic for treatment of depression in the summer of 2015. She checked into the same clinic earlier this year for several weeks before heading to the Arizona facility that specializes in mental health treatment around mid-June. Dallas County Democrats last year moved beyond nuanced calls for her resignation and explicitly pushed for her ouster from a position that pays about $210,000. Heath Harris, the first assistant district attorney under former Democratic District Attorney Craig Watkins, said the legal community, as colleagues, wanted Hawk to "do what she needed to do to take care of her health." He said her absence was likely difficult for the staff overall. "The district attorney is the captain of the ship. When that captain is not present it affects everything," Harris said. "It affects morale, how people interact with each other. The office doesn't run as effectively or efficiently as it should." Toby Shook, a former prosecutor and Republican who ran against Watkins in 2006, agreed that the office can suffer without a top leader. "You can keep the day to day operations going, but you do need an elected DA to lead an office, someone to set policy and someone to set those ultimate decisions. Otherwise the place is in limbo," he said. Before her most recent stint in a treatment facility, Hawk said in a statement, "Mental illness is a fluid and dynamic disease that calls for unexpected and prolonged treatment. I did not choose this disease, but I am choosing to treat it aggressively and openly." In an interview with D Magazine for a story published last October, Hawk said there was a time she wanted to resign because she was having suicidal thoughts. Hawk is a former district court judge who surprised some when in November 2014 she defeated Watkins, the Democratic incumbent. It was later revealed she had also spent time in rehab for a prescription drug addiction in 2013 during her campaign for office. Watkins won national acclaim during his eight years as Dallas County DA for creating a Conviction Integrity Unit that freed more than 30 men wrongfully convicted of crimes. But the FBI investigated how he handled a mortgage-fraud case involving an oil heir, and opponents accused Watkins of bullying opponents and using county funds to cover up a car accident in which he acknowledged using his cellphone while driving. If Hawk had resigned on or before Aug. 26, voters would have chosen her successor in November, according to the Texas secretary of state's office. But since she resigned after that, Gov. Abbott will appoint a successor to serve the remaining two years of Hawk's term. John Wittman, a spokesman for Abbott, said the Governor's Appointments Office will begin accepting applications and "will take the appropriate time" choosing a replacement. County Judge Clay Jenkins, the county's top administrator and a Democrat, expressed his best wishes for Hawk's health battles. However, he regretted Hawk's timing. "The timing of the resignation is very unfortunate for Dallas County voters because it is coming just days after the ballot submission deadline. Whenever possible, the voters not the politicians should decide who represents them in elected office," he said in a statement. Said Harris, who served under a Democrat, the timing of Hawk's resignation was "disingenuous and a disservice to the people of Dallas County." ___ Sea search called off as boys reported safe A huge search operation off the south-east coast of England for two young boys seen playing in the water has been called off. The coastguard mounted an "extensive and thorough" search at the Isle of Grain, off the Thames Estuary, but stood down after a parent got in touch to say a group of boys seen there earlier were safe. Medway rescue team searched the shoreline for more than four hours on Monday evening while the Sheerness RNLI inshore lifeboat checked out the coastal area, before standing down at midnight. The coastguard conducted an "extensive and thorough" search of the area The coastguard had appealed to parents of children who had been in the area near Allhallows Caravan Holiday Park to get in touch to rule their children out of the search. Serena Williams seals record 308th grand slam win over Yaroslava Shvedova Serena Williams sealed a record-breaking 308th grand slam victory by beating Yaroslava Shvedova in the US Open fourth round. Williams cruised past Shvedova 6-2 6-3 in Arthur Ashe Stadium to move above Roger Federer in the all-time list of major wins. The world number one will now face fifth seed Simona Halep in the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows as she chases an Open-era record 23rd grand slam title and another spot in the history books. Serena Williams secured a record-breaking victory at the US Open (AP) It was 18 years ago that Williams won her first grand slam match when she beat Irina Spirlea in the opening round of the 1998 Australian Open. She has won 22 major titles since. "I think it's really exciting, I just think winning 308 matches in general is pretty awesome. For that to be in a grand slam is pretty cool," Williams said. "It's a huge number. I think it's very significant actually. I think it's something that just really talks about the length of my career, in particular. "I've been playing for a really long time but also given that consistency up there, that's something that I'm really proud of." Williams came into the tournament with concerns about a right shoulder injury but the 34-year-old is yet to have her serve broken in New York and has given away only one break point. "I don't think I really served in the summer until I got here to New York so it was a really tough summer for me. Maybe that's the key," Williams said. "When I serve well I feel like it definitely helps me to be able to know that I can hold. I definitely feel like I can play returns easier." Williams had been due for a family match-up in the semi-finals here but older sister Venus blew match point before losing in a final-set tie-break to 10th seed Karolina Pliskova. Venus, aged 36, was bidding to become the oldest grand slam quarter-finalist since Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon in 1994 but Pliskova snatched a thrilling 4-6 6-4 7-6 (7/3) victory in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Pliskova had to battle back from the brink as she trailed Williams by a set and 3-1, and then 5-4 in the decider, when the American came within a point of victory on her opponent's serve. "I really played the perfect point there, and she managed to stay alive," Williams said. "She hit a great serve. She hit another great shot and I still played a great defensive shot. I did the best I could on that. "Whenever you have a match point on someone else's serve, it's a little bit of an asterisk. I really have no regrets on that." Pliskova also spurned match points, including three when serving at 6-5, 40-0 in the final set. Williams saved them all to force a tie-break but the 24-year-old regained her composure to reach the last eight of a grand slam for the first time in her career. "I couldn't be just mad that I didn't make it because I still had a chance to win the tie-break," Pliskova said. The world number 11 is a dark horse for the title, having beaten Garbine Muguruza and Angelique Kerber, ranked third and second respectively, to become champion in Cincinnati last month. Hate preacher Anjem Choudary jailed for five and a half years for IS support Influential hate preacher Anjem Choudary has been jailed for five and a half years for drumming up support for Islamic State (IS). While claiming benefits, the married father-of-five spoke "contemptuously" about the democracy in which he was born and "happily" relished the idea of the Islamic flag flying over 10 Downing Street. Despite being a leading figure in the banned group al-Muhajiroun (ALM), and with a series of former supporters going on to be convicted of terrorism, Choudary had stayed on the right side of the law for two decades. Authorities said Choudary had stayed 'just the right side of the law' for many years But in the summer of 2014, he "crossed the line" and backed IS in a series of talks posted on YouTube, and recognised a caliphate - a symbolic Islamic state - had been created under its leader. Choudary, 49, from Ilford, and Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, 33, from Whitechapel, east London were found guilty of inviting support for IS and each sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison. Supporters in the public gallery of the Old Bailey courtroom shouted "Allahu Akbar" as Choudary was sent down to begin his sentence, which could be served in solitary confinement to stop him radicalising inmates. Sentencing, Mr Justice Holroyde said the men had shown "contempt for the values of the democracy in which we live" and failed to denounce the appalling violence of IS. In one of the speeches, which would have been heard by impressionable people, he had referred "happily to the prospect of the flag of Islam flying over 10 Downing Street and the White House", the judge said. He described Rahman as a "hothead" while Choudary was more "calculating" and the more experienced, although both were dangerous and lacking in remorse. The judge said: "At no point did either of you say anything to condemn the violent means by which ISIS claimed to have established a caliphate. "In fact, none of the many speeches which the jury heard contains any criticism by either of you of any of the violent actions of Isis or its supporters. "On the contrary, each of you was invariably able to find a way of justifying their most appalling acts. The trial heard that the preacher, viewed by officers as a key force in radicalising young Muslims, had been the "mouthpiece" of Omar Bakri Mohammed - the founder of the banned extremist group ALM. He courted publicity by voicing controversial views on Sharia law, while building up a following of thousands through social media, demonstrations and lectures around the world. In one speech in March 2013, Choudary, from Ilford, north-east London, set out his ambitions for the Muslim faith to "dominate the whole world". Supporters included Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, the murderers of Fusilier Lee Rigby, and suspected IS executioner Siddhartha Dhar who told him his views on the Caliphate would be "gold on Twitter". Shortly after the announcement of the caliphate, Choudary held a meeting with his closest aides at a curry house in Mile End Road in east London to discuss it. Afterwards, he texted his wife the word "done", and it was obvious from her response she knew exactly what he meant, the court heard. He also consulted his "spiritual guide", Omar Bakri Mohammed, currently in jail in Lebanon, and Mohammed Fachry, the head of ALM in Indonesia. On July 7 2014, the trio's names appeared alongside Rahman's on the oath posted on the internet, which stated the Muhajiroun had "affirmed" the legitimacy of the "proclaimed Islamic Caliphate State". The defendants followed up by posting on YouTube a series of lectures on the caliphate, which Choudary promoted to more than 32,000 Twitter followers. Despite protesting his innocence, Choudary continued to express extreme views, refusing to denounce the execution of journalist James Foley by so-called Jihadi John, aka Mohammed Emwazi, in Syria in 2014. Sue Hemming, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "Both men were fully aware that Daesh is a proscribed terrorist group responsible for brutal activities and that what they themselves were doing was illegal. "Those who invite others to support such organisations will be prosecuted and jailed for their crimes." Commander Dean Haydon, head of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command, said: "These men have stayed just within the law for many years and there has been frustration for both law enforcement agencies and communities as they spread hate. "We have watched Choudary developing a media career as spokesman for the extremists, saying the most distasteful of comments, but without crossing the criminal threshold. "Their recent speeches and the oath of allegiance were a turning point for the police - at last we had the evidence that they had stepped over the line and we could prove they were actively encouraging support of Isis. "This has been a significant prosecution in our fight against terrorism and we will now be working with communities to ensure that they are not replaced by others spreading hate." Child abuse inquiry should be remodelled, says ex-chief Dame Lowell Goddard The wide-ranging inquiry into child sex abuse needs to be completely reviewed and remodelled, the judge who resigned as its head last month has warned. Dame Lowell Goddard delivered a stinging critique of the inquiry's functioning and called for it to focus on the present to ensure the future protection of children, according to The Times. The New Zealand high court judge became the third chief to quit the inquiry - which was set up amid claims of an establishment cover-up following allegations that a paedophile ring operated in Westminster in the 1980s - since it was launched in 2014. Dame Lowell Goddard criticised the inquiry's functioning and called for it to focus on the present to ensure the future protection of children, according to The Times Dame Lowell, who followed Baroness Butler-Sloss and Dame Fiona Woolf in resigning, said she did so to "challenge" the way the probe is running. The newspaper referred to a memorandum in which she said: " With the benefit of hindsight, or more realistically the benefit of experience, it is clear there is an inherent problem in the sheer scale and size of the inquiry (which its budget does not match) and therefore in its manageability." She added: " I have recommended in my report to the Home Secretary that my departure provides a timely opportunity to undertake a complete review of the inquiry in its present form, with a view to remodelling it and recalibrating its emphasis more towards current events and thus focusing major attention on the present and future protection of children." In a statement after quitting she said there had been a "legacy of failure which has been very hard to shake off". The inquiry was given a budget of 17.9 million for 2015/16 and has been described as the most ambitious public inquiry ever in England and Wales. It was estimated to take five years, but there have been suggestions it could run for as long as a decade. After her resignation Dame Lowell was asked to go before the Home Affairs Select Committee to explain her departure. Home Secretary Amber Rudd is due to appear before the committee on Wednesday. A spokeswoman for the Home Office said: "The independent inquiry has a vital role to play in exposing the failure of public bodies and other major organisations to prevent systematic child sexual abuse. "Our commitment to this inquiry is undiminished. We owe it to victims and survivors to confront the appalling reality of how children were let down by the very people who were charged to protect them and to learn from the mistakes of the past." "Last month, the Home Secretary accepted the resignation of Dame Lowell Goddard and appointed Professor Alexis Jay as chair. She has a strong track record in uncovering the truth and it is essential that she is able to get on with the important job of delivering justice to those that deserve it." Asked whether there was still a need for the inquiry to proceed, Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "Obviously lots of people feel that there is. There was obviously a lot of under-reporting. "I don't think it matters what I think. There is a great deal of concern about how these cases may have been ignored in the past." Ms Saunders added: "We have certainly all learnt a lot of lessons, when you look at the guidance prosecutors now have and the training we have given to prosecutors in order to make sure that they don't subscribe to any myths and stereotypes, that they look at the offences not just the complainant. BA apologises as passengers suffer long delays after check-in IT glitch British Airways has apologised to passengers for delays after an IT glitch hit check-in systems. Angry travellers complained of hours queuing at airports in Europe and the US, while some passengers also experienced problems with online check-in. Responding to passengers on Twitter in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the airline wrote: "We apologise to our customers for the delay and we appreciate their patience as our IT teams work to resolve this issue." Passengers queuing at Seattle and Tacoma International Airport in the US after the IT glitch (Matthew Walker/PA) A BA spokeswoman later said the airline was " checking in normally across all of our airports", but added that the process at Heathrow and Gatwick would be "a bit slower than usual". Ewan Crawford, of Glasgow, who was waiting at Chicago O'Hare International Airport for a flight to Heathrow, tweeted: " Never a good sign when they deliver water to the gate! Waiting at ORD for @British_Airways 296. Worldwide computer outage apparently! Hmm." Matthew Walker, a nother passenger hoping to fly from the US to London, said he had been waiting for more than two hours to board his flight at Seattle Airport. The 29-year-old financial analyst, who lives in London but is originally from Australia, checked in online before arriving to catch his flight but said staff on the ground could not access their computer systems to see which passengers had gone through security. Speaking from the airport, he told the Press Association: "People were lining up, some had already checked in and got through security, but others, when this thing happened, whatever it is, were stuck in the check-in queue. "So they (the staff) have the problem that they didn't know who had already gone through the gate because all the systems literally just had a meltdown, basically." Magazine writer Stefano Andrean said: " I've waited an hour so far at Berlin airport check-in for Heathrow. No information from staff at all. Not acceptable." Chris Black, from London, described the BA check-in process in Polish capital Warsaw as "rubbish". Passengers at Heathrow Terminal 5 reported waits of about 45 minutes to check in. Elaine and Paul Barnett, who had come from Sheffield to travel to Sardinia, said the process had taken "longer than usual" and they had been required to give extra details once they reached the desk. "You really have to get here early and expect that it's busy," Ms Barnett said. Earlier problems appeared to have been smoothed out by early morning, with most queues moving. Patrick Darby, from Dulwich, south London, who was travelling to Russia, said: " There was a hold-up when nothing seemed to happen but that has eased up now." In July BA had to apologise after a glitch in its new check-in system caused delays. The airline began installing the system at airports across the world in October last year and the rollout was completed earlier this year. On the latest issues, BA said in a statement: " We are checking in customers at Heathrow and Gatwick Airport this morning as normal, although it may take longer than usual. Black Lives Matter activists arrested after blocking London City Airport runway A Black Lives Matter protest which grounded flights at London City Airport has ended. The final two activists were arrested at around 11.25am, Scotland Yard said, nearly six hours after the nine-strong group occupied the single runway. The protesters were being held on suspicion of aggravated trespass, being unlawfully air-side and breaching airport by-laws, police said. Black Lives Matter UK protesters after they stormed the runway at London City Airport (Black Lives Matter/PA) An airport spokesman said: "We are preparing the airfield to resume operations as soon as possible." The demonstration resulted in all flights in and out of the airport being cancelled, delayed or diverted. Several emergency service vehicles were parked on the runway as attempts were made to clear the protesters. A man in black, who had attached himself to the top of a wooden structure, was surrounded by police officers and a set of aircraft steps was wheeled up to him in an apparent bid to get him down. Police boats could also be seen circling the dock surrounding the runway. Having attached a helmet to the man, police removed him from the top of the structure and on to the plane steps. After sitting briefly on the platform with a rope around him, he was taken down. A police van was seen driving down the runway, away from the scene. Passenger Casey Collins said customers were unaware of the protest until after 8am, and assumed the delays were related to IT glitches at Heathrow and Gatwick. The freelance management consultant, from Devizes in Wiltshire, was supposed to be on a 7.35am flight to Luxembourg. He told the Press Association: " We didn't know why we weren't being called to board - it just said the next information would be at 8am and that people were being encouraged to queue up at the info desk. "But the problem was that there were only two or three staff there and the queue was about 150 yards long, so it was impossible. "Pretty soon they realised they would have to do a queue-walk to inform everyone. People were behaving themselves, they know it was not the airport's fault, but for a time it was a bit chaotic." He said passengers were offered refunds for cancelled flights, while delayed passengers were also given refreshment vouchers. Fellow passenger Chanel de Kock said she was stuck for three-and-a-half hours upon arrival in London. She said: " I wish the airport would tighten their security as it's a bit worrying that people can access the runway so easily in the current state of our times, and also that the airport will be better at giving information to people at the airport. "It was absolute chaos and really badly handled by what I thought was my favourite airport." It is the latest demonstration involving the anti-racism activists, who brought traffic to a standstill outside Heathrow Airport - and carried out similar protests in cities around the country - in a co-ordinated day of action last month. The campaigners, whose international movement was set up following the killing of black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida four years ago, said Tuesday's action was taken "in order to highlight the UK's environmental impact on the lives of black people locally and globally". Black Lives Matter UK spokesman Jacob Oti, 22, said campaigners were "pleased" with the attention the protest achieved. He said: "I think this has highlighted important issues which people need to think about. "People need to understand that the effects of climate change are most felt by the people least responsible for them. "London City Airport has been given approval to expand its capacity, consigning the local community in Newham to further deterioration of their environment and health problems. At the same time 40% of Newham's population struggle to survive on 20,000 or less. "When black people in Britain are 28% more likely to be exposed to air pollution than their white counterparts, we know that environmental inequality is a racist crisis." He added: "As a commuter, I have sympathy for people today. But I think they need to have sympathy for the people affected by climate change." He declined to go into detail about how the protesters gained access to the site, but confirmed it was via the Thames. The runway was reopened at around 12pm. The first commercial flight after the runway reopened was a Flybe service to Edinburgh, which left shortly after 12.30pm. Police were monitoring the scene (Black Lives Matter/PA) Flash U.S. President Barack Obama and his Philippines counterpart Rodrigo Duterte will not meet in Laos on the sidelines of the 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits and East Asia Summit, the U.S. Embassy in Vientiane confirmed on Tuesday. According to media report, plans for a bilateral meeting were shelved after comments by the firebrand Philippine president in response to reporters' questions on the prospects for a proposed bilateral meeting prior to his departure for Vientiane. "I always want to make sure that if I'm having a meeting that it's actually productive and we're getting something done," Obama was quoted as telling reporters before his departure from China to Laos for the East Asia Summit. The proposed meeting, now cancelled, would have been the first since Duterte came into office on June 30. Obama arrived in the Lao capital on Monday evening after participating in the G20 Summit in China's eastern city of Hangzhou. New Bridget Jones movie hailed as 'funniest of the series' Critics have hailed the return of one of Hollywood's favourite single girls as Bridget Jones's Baby finally made its long-awaited debut. The third in the popular franchise, based on Helen Fielding's books about the London-based media worker who just cannot seem to hold down a successful relationship, comes 12 years after the second movie, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. This new outing for now 40-something Bridget (Renee Zellweger) sees her rekindle a romance with her old flame Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) and get intimate with newcomer Jack Qwant (Patrick Dempsey) in the space of a few days, becoming pregnant. Renee Zellweger signed hundreds of autographs for fans outside the Odeon Leicester Square What ensues is a typical wild goose chase as a befuddled Bridget attempts to appease both men in her life after failing to discover who is the father of her child. Reviewers have praised the return of the hapless Bridget in this star-studded third film, with many critics awarding it three or four stars out of five. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw wrote that Bridget Jones's Baby was "a pretty broad comedy" but praised the film for including an update on the "traditional rom-com rush to the airport". He explained: "What sealed the deal for me - by a whisker - was the gigantic physical comedy that Dempsey, Zellweger and Firth uncorked as they try to get through the hospital revolving door as Bridget is about to give birth." Brian Viner wrote in The Daily Mail: "The performances are all terrific. It's nice to see Jim Broadbent and Gemma Jones back as Bridget's parents, and Sarah Solemani gives a delightful turn as a TV presenter." He added that the film is "on the whole, a worthy completion of the trilogy". "Any doubts about (Zellweger's) Bridget have long since been laid to rest," wrote The Independent's Geoffrey Macnab. He added, praising Zellweger: "Picking up the role after more than a decade, she again gives a thoroughly winning comic performance." Macnab went on to say "the new film is actually an improvement on The Edge of Reason," a sentiment felt by many critics. Tim Robey wrote in The Telegraph: "Zellweger feels back in charge of the character again, and even her excesses are easily indulged, after the tonally hideous detour of 2004's The Edge of Reason." He concluded: "It's a comeback you root for, then, even while it's wobbling and occasionally falling in the mud. But goodwill gets it home." Stella Papamichael said in the Radio Times: "Emma Thompson tickles the ribs as Bridget's doctor, who wearily plays along when the expectant mother brings Darcy and Qwant to alternate appointments, too cowardly to tell one about the other. "Thompson also co-wrote the script with Fielding and Dan Mazer, and together they trump the Edge of Reason with a sassier, more satisfying mix of dry wit and knockabout comedy." The Mirror's David Edwards hailed the film as "the funniest of the series". Emily, four, starts school after hospital ordeal A four-year-old girl who had 70% of her lung and a kidney removed due to a rare condition has started her first day at school. Little Emily Norris, of Bowthorpe, Norwich, was born with a malformation of the lung, which was first detected when her mother, Nicol Pybus, went for her 20-week scan. Doctors warned 28-year-old Miss Pybus that her daughter may not be able to breathe and advised her to consider a termination, but she said that was never an option. Four year old Emily Norris, from Norwich, at Costessey Infants school as she starts school school for the first time this week despite suffering ill health and having 70 per cent of her lung removed Emily defied the odds and was born without complications, but was taken to hospital aged four months after she picked up a chest infection. Her right lung was made up of cysts due to a condition called congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation, and she had 70% of her lung removed before her first birthday. Doctors then discovered she also had a multicystic dysplastic kidney - which was rare to see combined with Emily's other condition. The diseased kidney was removed when she was three-years old, and she has undergone four operations in total. Her mother said Emily's determination and confidence stunned her, and she was nervous but excited to wave her off at the gates at Costessey Infant School. "Emily is doing really well," she said. "Although she still struggles to grow at the same rate as other children and has her feeding tube, she can't wait to start school and has been asking constantly through the summer holidays if she can go to school yet. "She has never let her medical issues stop her and just sees herself as a normal four-year-old." She continued: "I'm nervous like any mum whose child is starting school for the first time but also anxious as she still has unresolved issues with her health and can't eat normally like her classmates. "She has come a long way since her operations and stuns me with her determination and confidence." Emily will be following in the footsteps of her big brothers Jake, nine, and five-year-old Dominic, who is also a pupil at Costessey Infants. During Emily's treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, Miss Pybus was supported by charity The Sick Children's Trust, which provides free accommodation for families of seriously ill children who are in hospital. Miss Pybus was supported by the charity's Guilford Street House, which is close to the hospital, for 10 days while Emily was undergoing treatment. It meant she could be with her daughter throughout, and did not have to make a four-hour round-trip daily. "I have no idea what I would have done had it not been for The Sick Children's Trust," said Miss Pybus. "Because Emily was so poorly and being treated first on the intensive care unit and then on the high dependency unit, I couldn't even sleep in a chair beside her." Every year The Sick Children's Trust supports around 4,000 families with seriously ill children, and it costs around 30 to support a family for a night in one of the charity's 10 Homes from Home. Royal surprise for joggers as Charles heads to sow seeds for wildflower meadow The Prince of Wales has sown seeds for a wildflower meadow named in honour of the Queen in London's Green Park. Heir to the throne Charles joined school children to scatter yellow rattle flower seeds to start the new grassland. As he strolled through Green Park close to his home, Clarence House, Charles was spotted by a pair of surprised joggers, who did a double take when they recognised the well-known royal. A pair of joggers recognise the Prince of Wales as he walks through Green Park He began the Coronation Meadows campaign in 2013 as a tribute to his mother to mark 60 years since she was crowned. The project has created a new meadow in every county in the UK and t he Queen's Meadow in Green Park is the 90th Coronation Meadow - and also marks the monarch's 90th birthday this year. Over 97% of the country's wildflower meadows have been lost since the Second World War - amounting to nearly 7.5 million acres. Charles, who is patron of the three charities running the project - The Rare Breeds Survival Trust, The Wildlife Trusts and Plantlife - joined local school pupils to sow the seeds, and met shire horses being used to harrow the ground. The roots of the yellow rattle flower tap into those of the grasses around them, giving other wildflowers space to grow. Rachel de Thame, Plantlife's vice president, called for the people to continue creating new meadows. "The 90th meadow in London is just the beginning. We want to see the meadows revival reach every community and really start to restore the colour and diversity to our countryside," she said. "And it's not just about the flowers - wonderful meadow plants like ragged-Robin, lady's mantle, burnet saxifrage and eyebright - but the wildlife they sustain. "From bees collecting nectar from buttercups to goldfinches feasting on knapweed seeds and common blue butterfly caterpillars eating bird's-foot-trefoil leaves, if we all do our bit to bring wild flowers back - as I've started to do in my own meadow at home - we have a chance to help nature re-build its fragile balance and regain its full glory." It took a while for the joggers to notice they had passed the royal visitor The Prince of Wales is recognised in Green Park in central London as he visits the newly-created Queen's Meadow The Prince of Wales scatters seeds with local school children to celebrate the creation of the Queen's Meadow in Green Park The Prince of Wales meets carriage driver Rachel Milton in Green Park Christian Eriksen signs new deal with Tottenham Christian Eriksen has signed a contract extension with Tottenham, the Premier League club announced on Tuesday. The 24-year-old Denmark midfielder has committed himself to Spurs until 2020. Eriksen, signed from Dutch club Ajax in August 2013, said in an interview with Spurs TV posted on the club's official Twitter feed: "There is a great future at this place and I wouldn't have signed if I didn't see that." Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen has penned a new contract extension with Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur Eriksen has gone on to make more than 130 appearances for Spurs and is confident Mauricio Pochettino's current group of players have what it takes to build another sustained title challenge this season, when they will also return to the Champions League. "Since I came in the last two years we have been going forwards, are taking steps upwards and I want to be a part of it," said Eriksen, whose new deal is reported to be worth around 70,000 per week. "I see a great future, it is going only one way at the moment. "I think it is a very good group of people and players who can connect with each other and a group of staff who connect with the players. "We have an idea of where we want to end and hopefully we will achieve that." Plan to open new grammar schools 'takes education back to the 1950s' Theresa May has been accused of elitism and taking education back to the "bad old days" of the 1950s after plans to open new grammar schools were inadvertently revealed on Downing Street. A document signed by the Department for Education's most senior civil servant was photographed being carried into No 10 and revealed proposals for a Government consultation on opening new grammars. It said Education Secretary Justine Greening's "clear position" is that they should only be approved once ministers have worked with existing selective schools to show that pupils who do not make the grade are not disadvantaged. Education Secretary Justine Greening plans to launch a consultation into opening new grammar schools, a document revealed Opposition parties and unions reacted angrily, accusing the Government of promoting the interests of a "select few" and attempting to sneak through the proposal without parliamentary scrutiny. The Prime Minister's official spokeswoman said the Government was "looking at a range of options" and insisted Mrs May and Ms Greening want education policy to help Britain "work for everyone, not just the privileged few". The document, which was photographed being carried into No 10 by an unnamed official and is signed by DfE permanent secretary Jonathan Slater, states: "The con doc (consultation document) says we will open new grammars, albeit that they would have to follow various conditions. "The SoS's (Secretary of State's) clear position is that this should be presented in the con doc as an option, and only to be pursued once we have worked with existing grammars to show how they can be expanded and reformed in ways which avoid disadvantaging those who don't get in. "I simply don't know what the PM thinks of this, but it sounds reasonable to me, and I simply can't see any way of persuading the Lords to vote for selection on any other basis." Reports last month suggested Mrs May was considering overturning Tony Blair's ban on new grammar schools by sanctioning around 20 institutions in mainly working class areas in an effort to improve social mobility. The plans have been backed by several Conservative-linked pressure groups and think tanks but have drawn stinging criticism from opposition parties, unions and other independent organisations. Sir Michael Wilshaw, the Government's outgoing chief inspector of schools, on Monday dismissed the selective model and said it would fail the poorest children. Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner accused the Government of prioritising the interests of a few of the highest performing pupils at the expense of the majority. The Labour frontbencher said: "The cat is out of the bag: behind closed doors the Tories are planning a return to the bad old days of grammars, ignoring all the evidence which has told us time and again that they do not aid social mobility. "As Michael Wilshaw said yesterday, with every grammar school you open you create three more secondary moderns with it. It's a policy which reveals the truth of this Tory Government: caring only for the few at the expense of the majority." She added: "Labour is committed to an education system for everyone, not just a select few." Liberal Democrat education spokesman John Pugh said the proposals appeared to suggest the Government wanted to "avoid parliamentary scrutiny and an inevitable defeat". "This lays bare the desperate lengths the Conservative Party are willing to go to deliver grammar schools through the cloak of expansion," he said. "If they think this is the right thing to do, they should bring it to Parliament and win the argument." Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "I am in favour of young people being taught together of differing abilities because that helps them to develop at their own pace but also helps everyone to understand the abilities and values in each other. "Whilst I have often heard many Conservative politicians talk about bringing back the grammar school I have never, ever heard any Conservative politician ever call for the return of the secondary modern school." The National Union of Teachers (NUT) accused Mrs May of "taking education back to the 1950s, when children were segregated at age 11 and their life chances determined by the type of school they attended". Met Police backtracks on spit hood proposals following concerns Scotland Yard has backtracked on plans to start using controversial spit hoods in the face of widespread alarm from campaigners. The force, the biggest in the UK, pledged to delay a trial where the mesh masks, which cover the entire head, would be used on suspects in custody. Opponents claim the hoods are dangerous and "belong in horror stories", but Met bosses said spitting and biting posed "a significant health risk" to police. Scotland Yard bosses have given the go-ahead for a pilot scheme using spit hoods from October Rank and file officers in the second and third biggest forces in England and Wales - West Midlands and Greater Manchester - are also pushing for permission to use the hoods in custody. Scotland Yard announced a trial of the masks on Tuesday morning, but by early evening had put out a statement to say that as a new administration had come in to City Hall since proposals were agreed, the plan would be delayed. "The Metropolitan Police Service has listened to concerns and will consult further before starting any pilot," the force said. The guards, which are classed as a use of force, hit the headlines when officers from British Transport Police were filmed using one on a man at London Bridge station in July. Watchdog the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is investigating whether the use of force was necessary. Craig Lippitt from the Greater Manchester Police Federation, who was a custody sergeant for nine years, said: "We would welcome a trial of spit hoods within GMP custody - we have been raising the issue for the last three years with management. "GMP custody suites already receive detainees wearing spit hoods, as British Transport Police officers are routinely issued with them. We believe that the incidents of assault would reduce if spit hoods were available." The majority of West Midlands Police Federation members are also in favour of the hoods being introduced. Campaigners reacted with alarm. The director of campaign group Liberty, Martha Spurrier, said: "A spit hood is a primitive, cruel and degrading tool that inspires fear and anguish. We have seen many cases where the police use them unnecessarily and without justification, including on children and disabled people. "Police have the power to use force against citizens when they have to - using handcuffs, arm restraints, leg restraints, pepper spray, batons. The suggestion that officers need to be able to cover people's faces and heads is as far-fetched as it is frightening. Spit hoods belong in horror stories, not on the streets of a civilised society - we urge the Met Police to think again." Shamik Dutta, the solicitor representing IK Aihie, who was placed in the spit hood at London Bridge, said: "The application of a spit hood can be deeply distressing and humiliating, causing panic in the detained person. "By obscuring someone's face, the use of a spit hood can prevent witnesses, including police officers, from quickly identifying whether a person is suffering breathing difficulties, is choking or has suffered some other serious facial or head injury requiring immediate medical attention to avoid life-threatening consequences. "It is troubling that any police force should consider it necessary to use spit hoods given the risks from their use and the amount of other restraint equipment police forces already have at their disposal." Amnesty International's UK arms programme director Oliver Sprague called for assurances about the medical risks of the masks. He said: "Spit hoods can be a cruel and dangerous form of restraint. Some models of spit hood are little more than a glorified sack which restrict breathing and can cause extreme distress. "We want to see the brakes put on their introduction whilst proper consultation is carried out and assurances are given about the models that can be used, the precise circumstances in which they should be used and the full medical implications of putting these hoods over people's heads." In June, Sussex Police came under fire after it emerged that officers had used a spit hood, handcuffs and leg straps on an 11-year-old girl, and did not record why they had used force. The girl was arrested three times and detained under the Mental Health Act once between February 2 and March 2 2012, and the force failed to provide an appropriate adult to accompany her on the four occasions she was held in a police cell. People back from Zika-hit regions urged to practise safe sex or abstain People who travel to regions affected by the Zika virus outbreak should practise safe sex for at least half a year upon their return, health leaders have said. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued new guidance to travellers extending the period of time for which they should practise safe sex or abstinence to avoid passing on the virus through sexual transmission. The new advice for holidaymakers and travellers stands whether or not they are trying to get pregnant. The Zika virus can affect pregnancy It has also issued to both men and women, whether they show symptoms or not. The current epidemic began in Brazil last year. It has since spread to the Caribbean, other parts of Central and South America, Oceania - Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia - and some parts of Asia. The virus's link to microcephaly among babies born to infected mothers was deemed to be a public health emergency of international concern by WHO earlier this year. The mosquito that transmits the virus is not found in the UK so risk to the wider British public is deemed to be "negligible" by health leaders. But so far m ore than 150 British travellers have been identified as being infected with the virus. Some 156 travel-associated cases have been diagnosed in the UK since 2015. The majority of cases, 106, are associated with travel to the Caribbean, according to the figures from Public Health England. The largest number reported travel to Jamaica, followed by Barbados, St Lucia, Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago. Meanwhile, 33 cases have been linked to travel to South America. Professor Paul Cosford, medical director at Public Health England, said: "Public Health England is monitoring the international situation closely and the risk to the UK remains very low. AstraZeneca seeks edge over rivals in severe asthma treatment By Ben Hirschler LONDON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca hopes to convince doctors its experimental injection for severe asthma has an edge over two approved rivals after clinical trials data on Monday showed it worked well when given just once every two months. The drugmaker has previously flagged benralizumab, which is likely to reach the market next year, as a potential $2 billion-a-year seller. In contrast to GlaxoSmithKline's Nucala and Teva's Cinqair - two other recently launched antibody treatments for severe asthmatics - benralizumab works directly to kill off inflammatory cells called eosinophils. Researchers, writing in The Lancet medical journal, said this meant eosinophil counts were nearly completely depleted after four weeks of treatment. AstraZeneca had reported in May that two pivotal Phase III clinical trials with the biotech medicine met their goals, but full details were only released at the annual meeting of the European Respiratory Society in London this week. Overall, a year's course of benralizumab injections cut the rate of serious attacks, known as exacerbations, by between a third and a half in patients with eosinophil-driven asthma who were already making optimal use of inhalers, the data showed. Researchers said this was "comparable" to results with Nucala and Cinqair, although it was difficult to draw direct comparisons because of patient differences, with some benralizumab patients less sick than those in rival studies. Importantly, dosing every eight weeks proved just as effective as treatment every four weeks, which should give benralizumab an advantage as rivals must be taken monthly. Dr Mario Castro of Washington University School of Medicine, who was not involved in the company-funded studies, said in a commentary that less frequent dosing should save money. It might also allow the drug to be used earlier and be given to children. AstraZeneca badly needs new drugs to drive future sales as it copes with patent expiries on older medicines, such as its cholesterol fighter Crestor and stomach acid pill Nexium. Although most focus is on its cancer portfolio, the company also has a long history in respiratory medicine. Tom Keith-Roach, head of the respiratory, inflammation and autoimmune business, sees treating uncontrolled severe asthma as a big opportunity, since this relatively small group of patients accounts for half of all asthma-related healthcare costs. "Analysts estimate the severe asthma biologics market by the early 2020s to be between $6.5 billion and $10 billion (a year), and we expect to have a competitive share of that based on this clinical profile," Keith-Roach said. Analysts' consensus sales forecasts for benralizumab currently stand at $485 million in 2021, according to Thomson Reuters Cortellis, against the $2 billion predicted by AstraZeneca in 2014. IS-affiliated agency says Kurdish forces targeted in Hasaka suicide blast BEIRUT, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The Islamic State-affiliated news agency Amaq said a suicide bombing in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasaka killed or wounded 15 members of the Kurdish security forces on Monday. Amaq said the suicide bomb happened in the Masakin neighbourhood of Hasaka. Afghan carrier Safi Airways grounded over debts KABUL, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's largest private airline has been forced to suspend operations after it failed to clear outstanding debt and taxes. The Afghan civil aviation authority ordered Safi Airways on Sunday to pay 1.15 billion Afghani ($1.7 million) before it can regain permission to resume services and sell tickets. "The finance ministry decided to suspend Safi Airways activities in Afghanistan," the Independent Directorate of Civil Aviation said. It added that authorities can also stop the company's executives from travelling outside Afghanistan. The finance ministry has allowed the tax office to seek court approval to confiscate and sell Safi Airways property if it fails to meet the payment deadline. The airline, which was founded in 2006, currently flies three domestic and four international routes. It is the country's second-largest airline after national carrier Ariana Afghan Airlines. Safi Airways transports many expatriates and benefits from the presence of non-governmental organisations, private security companies and other foreign entities in Afghanistan. Last year, the company said it was looking to add 10 to 20 planes in three to five years to expand business in Iran, Kuwait and Kazakhstan. You are here: Home Flash Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering a proposal by Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Moscow, his office said in a statement on Monday. The statement came following Netanyahu's meeting in Jerusalem on Monday with Mikhail Bogdanov, Putin's Special Envoy for the Middle East, during which they discussed the Russian president's offer. "The prime minister presented Israel's position that he is always ready to meet with President Abbas directly and without preconditions," the statement read, adding that Netanyahu is reviewing the Russian proposal. Abbas' office has not immediately commented on the move. The move came amidst tightened relations between Netanyahu and Putin over Russia's increased involvement in the Middle East. Netanyahu visited Putin three times over the last year, and the two held several phone talks. Last week, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said that Putin is willing to host Israeli and Palestinian leaders for direct peace talks, according to the Egyptian state-run Ahram newspaper. "President Putin told me he is ready to host the Palestinian president and the Israeli prime minister for direct peace talks in Moscow," Sisi was quoted as saying. The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks reached an impasse in April 2014. A recent peace bid by France to hold a peace summit in Paris was accepted by the Palestinians but rejected by Israel. Israel occupied the West Bank, along with other territories, in the 1967 Mideast War and has been holding it ever since. Ex-EU economic chief Rehn seeks Finnish central bank post HELSINKI, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Finland's Minister of Economic Affairs Olli Rehn, a former European Commissioner, has applied for a seat on the board of the Bank of Finland as he looks to switch from government to monetary policy. The bank announced on Monday that Rehn is among 19 people applying for two vacant five-year posts in its three-member board. If chosen, Rehn would have to step down from the centre-right government which he joined last year. Rehn spent a decade at the European Commision, stepping down in 2014, and was the EU's top economic official during the euro zone debt crisis. "At this age, one must think over what to do when one grows up. Macroeconomic politics, monetary and economic policy, that is my passion, which is why I'm interested in these tasks, Rehn, 54, told public broadcaster YLE. The third member of the Bank of Finland board is Governor Erkki Liikanen, who will complete his second and final seven-year term in 2018. He also sits on the rate-setting Governing Council of the European Central Bank. Rehn has been widely speculated as a possible successor for Liikanen. Asked by YLE on his interest for that post, Rehn said: "Let's not go ahead of matters." Sweden fires board of institution handing out medicine Nobel after scandal STOCKHOLM, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The Swedish government has dismissed the board of the Karolinska Institute after an investigation showed it was was negligent when hiring surgeon Paolo Macchiarini and letting him operate on patients. The medical scandal that includes numerous accusations of scientific fraud and the death of patients is a severe blow to the reputation of the institution that awards the Nobel Prize for Medicine. The hiring of Italian surgeon Macchiarini had already led to the resignation of the secretary of the Nobel Committee at the Institute as well as the then chancellor in February and to the Institute chairman last week. Macchiarini was fired in March when Karolinska said he had supplied false information on his resume and was guilty of scientific negligence after two of his patients died. Swedish prosecutors are investigating Macchiarini on suspicion of gross criminal negligence leading to another person's death. He has denied any wrongdoing. "Scandal is the right word," Minister for Higher Education and Research Helene Hellmark Knutsson told a news conference. "People have been harmed because of the acting of the Karolinska Institute and also the Karolinska University Hospital," she said. The government announced the firings after an external investigation commissioned by the Institute was presented on Monday. The investigator said that the management had showed "a stunning indifference" towards a vast amount of very negative references when hiring Macchiarini. Hellmark Knutsson said the investigation showed that the Institute had broken laws and regulations and that it had showed disrespect towards laws, ethics and morale. She said that as soon as a new board had been recruited, the board members that had not already quit after the Macchiarini scandal would be replaced. The country's University Chancellor Harriet Wallberg, who was heading the Karolinska Institute when Macchiarini was hired, would also have to leave her position, Hellmark Knutsson said. Bo Risberg, former head of the ethics committee at Karolinska, has called for the Nobel Prize for Medecine to be put on ice for two years and for prize money to be used to compensate the relatives of the patients Macchiarini operated on. Macchiarini was employed as a researcher into stem cell biology at the Karolinska Institute and consultant at Karolinska University Hospital in 2010. Another investigation that was presented last week centred on three operations conducted at the Karolinska University Hospital between 2011 and 2012 in which Macchiarini transplanted synthetic tracheas coated with stem cells into patients. That investigation showed he performed the operations before sufficient study had been done on the procedure and that the operations could not be justified on the grounds of being life-saving. China's Shanxi gives coal firms $142 million for capacity cuts SHANGHAI, Sept 6 (Reuters) - The northern Chinese province of Shanxi, the country's biggest coal producing region, has awarded 947.78 million yuan ($142 million) to six major coal enterprises this year for shutting down surplus capacity, one of the firms said late on Monday. In a notice to the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Datong Coal Industry Co. Ltd said it alone had received 312.16 million yuan from the provincial government after shutting down three mines with 3.75 million tonnes of annual production capacity. China vowed in February to close 500 million tonnes of coal production in the coming three to five years in a bid to tackle an annual capacity surplus amounting to more than 2 billion tonnes. The country plans to close 250 million tonnes of coal production in 2016 alone. The industry ministry said the country would provide 100 billion yuan this year to help handle layoffs in the coal and steel industries. According to China's Ministry of Finance, a total of 30.7 billion yuan had already been allocated by August this year. Shanxi produced 944.1 million tonnes of coal last year, amounting to 25.6 percent of the national total. The province cut output by 68.8 million tonnes, or 14.9 percent, in the first half of the year, according to the local government. Its efforts to curb output have been a key factor in the recovery in coal prices this year, with prices of thermal coal at the key northern port of Qinhuangdao rising by more than a third since the end of 2015. According to the official Xinhua news agency, central China's Henan province also plans to award 2.18 billion yuan to encourage its coal and steel producers to slash capacity this year. The funds will be used to help pay for layoffs. Clinton voices concern about Russian interference in election By Jeff Mason HAMPTON, Ill., Sept 5 (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Monday expressed concern about "credible reports" of Russian interference in the U.S. election and accused Donald Trump of being fixated on dictators including Russia's Vladimir Putin. Taking questions from reporters for more than 20 minutes on her campaign plane, Clinton said both Democrats and Republicans should be concerned about Russia's behavior. "The fact that our intelligence professionals are now studying this and taking it seriously raises some grave questions about potential Russian interference with our electoral process," Clinton said. "We are facing a very serious concern. We've never had a foreign adversarial power be already involved in our electoral process. ... We've never had the nominee of one of our major parties urging the Russians to hack more," she said. Trump, the Republican nominee, has praised Putin, the president of Russia, and has called on Moscow to dig up tens of thousands of "missing" emails from Clinton's time as head of the U.S. State Department. He later said his comments were meant to be sarcastic. Clinton has previously tied Russian intelligence services to the cyber hack on the Democratic National Committee. Asked on Monday if she believed the Russian government was trying to help elect her opponent, Clinton paused. "I often quote a great saying that I learned from living in Arkansas for many years: If you find a turtle on a fencepost it didn't get there by itself," she said. "I think it's quite intriguing that this activity has happened around the time Trump became the nominee." Clinton, a former secretary of state and a former first lady, has drawn criticism for not holding regular press conferences. On Monday she took questions on an array of topics for more than 20 minutes. Clinton dismissed concerns about her health as one of many conspiracy theories that were lobbed against her. She blamed seasonal allergies for a sustained coughing fit at an earlier event in Ohio. During the question and answer session on her plane, she also had to step away because of persistent coughing. Clinton, whose use of a private email account during her time as secretary of state has dogged her 2016 presidential campaign, said she understood and took classification seriously when she was President Barack Obama's top diplomat. Brazil bans third builder from government work for Petrobras bribes BRASILIA, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Brazil on Monday banned IESA Oil & Gas from government work for paying bribes, the third construction and engineering company barred in the massive graft and political kickbacks scandal involving contracts with state oil company Petrobras. The Ministry of Transparency, Brazil's primary anti-corruption agency, said IESA would not be able to bid for new government contracts for at least two years, and lifting the ban will depend on repayment of losses to Petrobras. Brazilian builder Mendes Junior Engenharia was barred from bidding for government contracts in April and the local unit of Swedish construction company Skanska AB was banned in May. All of the banned companies have denied wrongdoing. Skanska, the world's No. 5 construction firm, has challenged the Brazil government decision to ban its subsidiary from new contracts. The ministry said in a statement that IESA took part in a cartel that fixed prices on contracts with Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the state-led oil company is formally called. It said IESA used a fictitious consultancy contract to pay bribes to Paulo Roberto Costa, the former Petrobras director of refining and supply who was arrested in March 2014 at the start of the corruption investigation dubbed "Operation Car Wash" by Brazilian police. Costa admitted involvement in the graft scheme. Dozens of construction company executives have been arrested in the probe and some 50 politicians are under investigation in a scandal that has shaken Brazil's political establishment to the core and contributed to the impeachment of former president Dilma Rousseff who was removed from office last week. IESA representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Of the 29 companies investigated for involvement in the bribery scheme, three have been banned and nine are negotiating leniency deals that require recognition of guilt and repayment of damages, a ministry spokesman said. Accusations against three others have been dropped. Agriculture investment yields growth and nutrition gains for Africa By Isaiah Esipisu NAIROBI, Sept 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - African countries that took early action in the past decade to invest in agriculture have reaped the rewards, enjoying higher economic growth and a bigger drop in malnutrition, a major farming development organisation said on Tuesday. In a report, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) said: "After decades of stagnation, much of Africa has enjoyed sustained agricultural productivity growth since 2005." That has helped push down poverty rates in places like Ghana, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso, it added. Countries that adopted the policies promoted by the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) not long after it was created by African Union governments in 2003 saw productivity on existing farmlands rise by 5.9 to 6.7 percent per year, the report said. That helped spur a 4.3 percent average annual increase in gross domestic product (GDP). By contrast, states that sat on the sidelines saw farm productivity rise by less than 3 percent a year and GDP by only 2.2 percent, said the Africa Agriculture Status Report 2016. "The last ten years have made a strong case for agriculture as the surest path to producing sustainable economic growth that is felt in all sectors of society - and particularly among poor Africans," AGRA President Agnes Kalibata said in a statement. Growth in agriculture is more effective at cutting poverty than growth in other sectors in sub-Saharan Africa because farming is a main source of income for more than 60 percent of the labour force, and will continue to be a major employer in most countries for a decade or more, the report noted. On malnutrition, countries that were quick to put the CAADP into practice experienced an annual average decline of 3.1 percent, while those that did not sign up saw a drop of only 1.2 percent. The countries adopting the programme early - between 2007 and 2009 - were Benin, Burundi, Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Togo, according to the report. MORE EFFORT NEEDED "Africa is no longer in the dark. It has done a lot towards agricultural transformation in the past decade," said David Ameyaw, AGRA's head of monitoring and evaluation and a lead author of the report. "But there is a need to double the effort by 2030 for a meaningful agricultural transformation," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The report, released to inform discussions at the African Green Revolution Forum in Nairobi this week, noted that gains were made in early-moving African countries even if their governments did not hit a target set by the CAADP to allocate 10 percent of national budgets to agriculture. Only 13 African countries have met or surpassed that goal, the report noted. If others followed suit, public funding for agriculture across Africa would rise from $12 billion - the amount allocated in 2014 - to $40 billion, it added. Agriculture in Africa is still threatened by low productivity due to limited use of inputs like improved seeds and fertilisers, rising water stress, and climate-related disasters such as floods and droughts that are affecting crop, livestock and fish production, according to the report. A 2014 World Bank study found that around two-thirds of small-scale farmers surveyed in Ethiopia, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda did not use chemical fertilisers. There is a need for such farmers to invest further in irrigation, both studies said, with the World Bank estimating that only 1 to 3 percent of land cultivated by smallholders in sub-Saharan Africa is irrigated. Ameyaw said further agricultural progress in the region would require political will, the right policies and technology transfer to improve productivity and reduce post-harvest losses. Linking small-scale farmers to markets and giving them access to finance are also key, he said. Reforming the land tenure system is important in countries where arable land is inherited by siblings, the scientist added. Brazil's Taurus sold arms to trafficker for Yemen war, prosecutors allege By Lisandra Paraguassu PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Brazil's Forjas Taurus SA, the largest weapons manufacturer in Latin America, sold guns to a known Yemeni arms trafficker who funneled them into his nation's civil war in violation of international sanctions, according to charges in court documents reviewed by Reuters. Federal prosecutors in southern Brazil charged two former executives of Forjas Taurus in May with shipping 8,000 handguns in 2013 to Fares Mohammed Hassan Mana'a, an arms smuggler active around the Horn of Africa for over a decade according to the United Nations. The handguns were allegedly shipped by Taurus to Djibouti and redirected to Yemen by Mana'a, according to court documents. Alexandre Wunderlich, a lawyer for the two former Taurus export executives, Eduardo Pezzuol and Leonardo Sperry, said the accusations in the sealed indictment "do not reflect the facts of the matter." Yemen has been consumed since early last year by a brutal civil war killing thousands of people as Iran-backed Houthi rebels challenge a Saudi-allied government. Mana'a, who served from 2011 to 2014 as governor of Sa'dah, a Houthi stronghold, could not be reached for comment. A Brazilian court issued a public summons for Mana'a in May as part of a case citing him, Sperry and Pezzuol as defendants. Taurus declined to answer detailed questions on the weapons case due to legal confidentiality but said it was "helping the courts to clarify the facts." Following the Reuters report, the company confirmed in a securities filing on Monday that two of its former executives had been charged for an alleged 2013 arms shipment destined for Yemen. After learning about suspicions surrounding the Yemeni arms dealer, Taurus said it halted another shipment he negotiated. The case, currently sealed by a judge in the southern city of Porto Alegre, near Taurus' headquarters, may draw legal scrutiny to the company, a major supplier of firearms to Brazil's police and military and one of the top five makers of handguns in the U.S. market, where it sells nearly three-quarters of its production. Brazil is the world's fourth-largest exporter of small arms. Prosecutors say the two former Taurus executives were negotiating another shipment of 11,000 guns with Mana'a last year when police uncovered the plot and raided the company's offices in November. Prosecutors have not brought charges against Taurus but said evidence seized in the raid included dozens of emails showing it knew of U.N. sanctions against trading arms with Mana'a and Yemen but sought ways to skirt them. "Taurus clearly made use of a notorious international arms trafficker to triangulate its merchandise to other countries, especially Yemen," the documents said. "There is no way Taurus and its employees can claim to be unfamiliar with acts attributed to Mana'a, since Leonardo Sperry testified it is standard for Taurus to do an internet search on people they invite to Brazil," they said. Sperry and Pezzuol gave testimony to federal police in October 2015 as the investigation got underway. The executives left Taurus late last year, according to their LinkedIn resumes. "All of the acts covered in the case were carried out entirely within the company and within legal limits," their lawyer said in an email. He declined to answer other questions, citing the confidentiality of the case. FUELING WAR Prosecutors said ties between Taurus and Mana'a stretch back to 2007, without elaborating in the court documents. They said the relationship went quiet for a couple of years after the U.N. Security Council leveled sanctions against Mana'a in 2010 for violating an arms embargo in Somalia. The U.N. sanctions banned any weapons sales or financing for Mana'a, and ordered an asset freeze and travel ban for him and others suspected of selling arms in Somalia's civil war. U.S. President Barack Obama also named Mana'a and ten others in a 2010 executive order banning business with individuals and groups accused of contributing to unrest in Somalia. Yet prosecutors said the sanctions did not stop Taurus from re-engaging with Mana'a as violence broke out in Yemen. Yemen's 18-month old conflict has drawn in regional powers and killed at least 10,000 people, including nearly 4,000 civilians, according to the United Nations. In an undated email cited by prosecutors, who did not name the recipients, Pezzuol wrote that "if Taurus decides to sell to Yemen, the path appears to be through Mohamad Manaa," adding that he had set up a route through Djibouti, just across the Mandeb Strait from Yemen. Taurus got authorization from Brazil's army in October 2013 to ship 8,000 weapons to Djibouti's defense ministry but prosecutors say in documents that Mana'a redirected the arms to Yemen using companies such as Al Sharq Fishing and Fish. Brazil's defense ministry said authorization for the export to Djibouti did not allow for legal re-export to other nations. Mana'a paid Taurus $2 million for the weapons, according to court documents, which cite regular payments from the Yemeni to the company since 2013. The documents did not indicate who had received the arms in Yemen. "Djibouti was a false way point for exportation," prosecutors wrote in their charges. "They made use of fraud to disguise the real destination of the weapons and to hide the involvement of Fares Mana'a." Prosecutors say the fraud extended to the identity of Mana'a, who came to Brazil in January 2015 to visit the Taurus factory despite the U.N. travel ban. On behalf of the company, Sperry and Pezzuol asked Brazil's foreign ministry to extend a formal invitation to the arms dealer, but the request was denied on the grounds of economic restrictions with Yemen. The executives then discouraged Mana'a from traveling to Brazil under his own name and tried unsuccessfully to obtain a passport from Djibouti for his use, according to prosecutors. They said Mana'a eventually entered Brazil on a passport with a false name and birth date. Just two months later, Mana'a and Taurus were arranging for another shipment of guns through Djibouti, according to the charges, disregarding the U.N. arms embargo for Yemen passed in April 2015. Prosecutors say that shipment of 11,000 handguns would have gone through to Yemen if police had not broken up the scheme. Afterwards Sperry wrote an email to Mana'a suspending the shipment "due to recent contact with Brazilian authorities." In May, a federal judge overseeing the case called for the notification of Brazil's foreign ministry, along with Interpol, the United Nations and the Saudi Arabian, Egyptian and U.S. embassies in Brasilia, court documents showed. London copper holds above two month low despite rising stocks By Melanie Burton MELBOURNE, Sept 6 (Reuters) - London copper hovered above a two-month low on Tuesday as signs of a modest pick up in demand were countered by concerns of oversupply from a flood of inventory into exchange stockpiles. Activity has begun to step up from the northern hemisphere summer lull, with physical traders in Asia reporting more enquiries across most metals, although little in the way of big volume business as yet. Metals such as zinc, nickel and tin have outperformed, priming for a seasonal demand uptick late in the third quarter, but swelling supply is expected to pressure bellwether copper and aluminium. "While the recent macro-driven rally in base metals has disrupted the bear market, we still foresee downside to copper prices from a fundamental perspective in the coming quarters," JP Morgan said in a report. "Cost deflation continues to sink the marginal cost support levels as mine supply continues to grow ... We believe prices need to move lower to induce more supply adjustments." JP Morgan expects copper prices to average $4,400 a tonne in the third quarter. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange had edged up 0.2 percent to $4,635 a tonne by 0701 GMT, after closing little changed in the previous session. LME copper is holding above support at $4,600, a nine-week low touched last week. LME copper stocks jumped by 10,025 tonnes to 328,525 tonnes, the latest data showed, the highest in almost a year and an increase of 60 percent since mid-August. Shanghai Futures Exchange copper was barely changed at 36,570 yuan ($5,479) a tonne. "Feedback from fabricators onshore points to a pick-up in orders from the construction sector in recent weeks," said Standard Chartered in a report. Striking workers at Codelco's small Salvador copper deposit in Chile have blocked access to the mine and are affecting production, the company and union said on Monday. Meanwhile, leaders from the world's top economies broadly agreed at a summit in China on Monday to coordinate macroeconomic policies, but few concrete proposals emerged to meet growing challenges to globalisation and free trade. Also, the world's biggest mining companies on Monday called for action to stop any firms, including the oil and gas industry, from extracting resources from natural sites protected by the United Nations. Potentially supporting nickel prices, the Philippines will suspend more of the country's mines for violating environmental regulations, the mining minister said, as the government wrapped up a seven-week review. SHFE nickel traded up 0.8 percent while LME nickel rose 0.7 percent. Other ShFE metals were broadly weaker on profit-taking, with recent outperformers zinc and tin ending down around 0.7 percent. One physical trader in Singapore said that there was ample metal around and that futures of zinc and nickel in particular had overshot fundamentals and the higher prices had blunted real demand. PRICES Three month LME copper Most active ShFE copper Three month LME aluminium Most active ShFE aluminium Three month LME zinc Most active ShFE zinc Three month LME lead Most active ShFE lead Three month LME nickel Most active ShFE nickel Three month LME tin Brazil's Oi debt plan vexes bondholders with 70 pct haircut By Ana Mano SAO PAULO, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Brazil's largest fixed line carrier Oi SA on Monday unveiled a debt restructuring proposal, offering to sell assets and proposing a debt-for-equity swap option that could mean a 70 percent haircut for bondholders. Oi filed for protection from creditors on June 20 in the country's biggest-ever bankruptcy case, involving 65.4 billion reais ($19.3 billion) in bonds, bank debt and operating liabilities. In a securities filing on Monday, Oi offered four payment options to unsecured creditors such as bondholders owed approximately 34 billion reais. At the same time, the company said it is willing to repay secured creditors such as the Brazil's BNDES development bank in full over the course of 15 years. Brazil's Oi offered to exchange up to 32.3 billion reais ($9.90 billion) in unsecured debt for equity under the plan, which would give lenders up to 85 percent of the company's capital, according to the filings. The debt for equity exchange entails issuance of a convertible debt instrument with face value of 10 billion reais, Oi said. Creditors will receive voting capital if the company does not redeem the securities. "The debt conversion option is by far the worse," a bondholder told Reuters on condition of anonymity. In the best case scenario, creditors get paid 31 percent on their debt, plus 4 percent interest under the plan, he added. "But if the company does not perform well, creditors get 85 percent of the equity which will be worth zero, not to mention liabilities to be assumed as a shareholder," he said. Oi refused to comment on the plan beyond the securities filings. Creditors willing to commit new funding to help the company exit bankruptcy will receive priority in their debt repayment schedule, Oi said. While unsecured creditors will be repaid in 17 years with a seven-year grace period, lenders committing new financing will be repaid in 10 years. Unsecured lenders may also choose another repayment option, with interest payments of at least 8 percent per year for claims denominated in local currency. Under this option, the principal on the debt will be settled in 14 semi-annual payments beginning in the 11th year, according to the filing. Brazil Oi's investor says ruling sets shareholder meeting for Sept 8 By Ana Mano SAO PAULO, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Societe Mondiale, a minority shareholder in Brazil's largest fixed-line carrier OI SA , said on Monday an arbitration ruling obliges the company to hold a shareholders' meeting on Sept. 8 as demanded by the activist investor. The ruling was issued on Sept. 5 by the arbitration chamber of the Brazilian stock market operator BM&F Bovespa SA , according to documents sent to Reuters by the investor. Oi is operating under bankruptcy court protection and on Monday filed a reorganization plan aimed at reducing 65.4 billion reais ($20.03 billion) of bond, bank and regulatory liabilities. The shareholders' meeting was called by the activist investor in August but was suspended on Friday by the judge in Rio de Janeiro overseeing the bankruptcy proceedings. Societe Mondiale is seeking to remove all Oi board members appointed by majority shareholder Pharol SGPS. Oi refused to comment on the arbitration proceedings. Pharol said Monday's arbitration ruling causes "confusion" in the wake of the bankruptcy court's decision from last week, which suspended the shareholders' meeting and ordered a mediation between the dissenting parties within 20 days. Flash Thousands of Chinese marched on Sunday in Paris to protest against insecurity and crimes targeting Chinese. [Photo/Xinhua] Thousands of Chinese living in France marched Sunday in Paris to protest against insecurity and crimes targeting Chinese after a Chinese textile designer died after being attacked last month in Paris suburbs. Police data showed about 15,000 people attended the rally on Sunday, the largest gathering of Chinese community since 2012. Wearing white T-shirts, protesters waved French flags and chanted "Security for all"," Freedom, equality, fraternity and security." The wave of protests came after 49-year-old Zhang Chaolin died last month after five days in a coma. He had been mugged in the northern Paris suburb of Aubervilliers by three men who stole his bag. "The Chinese community does not talk much. It is very discreet and here people have finally decided to say something ... The message at this protest is that all communities feel concerned," Veronique Yang, a Sino-French journalist told Xinhua, adding: "we are citizens with full French citizenship." Stephane Cheng, a French of Chinese origin said the reason for the rally was "to put pressure on the government so that our demands will better been taken into account." "People need to feel protected by the French government when they come to France, and for us, it is still not enough," he added. Caroline Zhang, a Chinese student who has lived in Paris for three years, does not dare to go out at night. "I am not reassured to go out because I have friends who are being robbed..." she said. "The Chinese have reputation for carrying a lot of cash on them. But, we are targeted for nothing," she said. In Sunday's peaceful protest, many French people joined Chinese protesters to express solidarity with them. John Pergouret, manager of Saphir Eurasia Promotion agency, said: "I have a network on WeChat where many Chinese tourists I work with were attacked. They feel insecure and I'm demonstrating along with the Chinese community because we are all concerned." Philippines scrambles to soothe tensions after Obama slur By Roberta Rampton and Manuel Mogato VIENTIANE, Sept 6 (Reuters) - New Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte sought to defuse a row with the United States on Tuesday, voicing regret for calling President Barack Obama a "son of a bitch", a comment that prompted Washington to call off a bilateral meeting. The tiff between the two allies overshadowed the opening of a summit of East and Southeast Asian nations in Vientiane, Laos. It also soured Obama's last swing as president through a region he has tried to make a focus of U.S. foreign policy, a strategy widely seen as a response to China's economic and military muscle-flexing. Diplomats say strains with longtime ally the Philippines could compound Washington's difficulties in forging a united front with Southeast Asian partners on the geostrategic jostle with Beijing over the South China Sea. Duterte has bristled repeatedly at criticism over his "war on drugs", which has killed about 2,400 people since he took office two months ago, and on Monday said it would be "rude" for Obama to raise the question of human rights when they met. Such a conversation, Duterte told reporters, would prompt him to curse at Obama, using a Filipino phrase "putang ina" which can mean "son of a bitch" or "son of a whore". He has previously used the epithet against Pope Francis, although he later apologised, and the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines. After Washington called off Tuesday's bilateral meeting between Obama and Duterte in response to his latest comment, the Philippines issued two statements expressing regret and also briefed reporters. "President Duterte explained that the press reports that President Obama would 'lecture' him on extrajudicial killings led to his strong comments, which in turn elicited concern," the Philippines government said in a statement. "He regrets that his remarks to the press have caused much controversy," it added. "He expressed his deep regard and affinity for President Obama and for the enduring partnership between our nations." Obama's deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, said the focus on Duterte's comments leading into the summit had not created a constructive environment for a bilateral meeting. "All of the attention frankly was on those comments, and therefore not on the very substantive agenda that we have with the Philippines," he told reporters. Officials from both countries said there would be no formal meeting rescheduled in Laos but a short conversation between the two presidents was possible. Instead of the Duterte meeting, Obama held talks with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, a day after North Korea fired three medium-range missiles into the sea. He urged a full implementation of sanctions against North Korea, adding that the missile test demonstrated the threat that Pyongyang posed. Obama is also likely to hold an unscheduled meeting in Laos with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss North Korea, Rhodes said. He said Washington needed to maintain a sense of urgency within the international community on sanctions against Pyongyang. MOVES TO SOOTHE TENSIONS Obama, the first sitting U.S. president to visit Laos, said on Tuesday he wanted to address the legacy of U.S. bombing during the Vietnam War. He announced that Washington would provide an additional $90 million over three years to help clear unexploded ordnance, which has killed or wounded over 20,000 people. But the unusually open tensions between the United States and the Philippines, its former colony, threaten to overshadow the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Asia Summits in Laos, which run until Thursday. The 10-member ASEAN will also meet leaders of other regional powers: China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Russia and the United States. Duterte won the presidency in May after promising to suppress crime and wipe out the illegal drug trade in a country where the number of methamphetamine users is estimated to be at least 1.3 million in a population of 100 million. About 900 people linked to drugs have been killed in police operations since July 1 and a further 1,500 have been classified as "deaths under investigation", a term human rights activists in the Philippines say is a euphemism for extrajudicial killings. Duterte has poured scorn on critics of his uncompromising campaign, usually larding it with curses. He lambasted the United Nations after it criticised the surge in killings and he turned down a meeting with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the Laos summit. He has accused a senator heading an inquiry into the killings of getting payoffs from drug lords. Manila has been aligned with the United States in its dispute with China over the South China Sea, in which Washington blames Beijing for militarising a vital global trade route and jeopardising freedom of movement at sea and in the air. China rejects those accusations and accuses the United States of ratcheting up tensions unnecessarily. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims. An arbitration court in The Hague in July invalidated China's territorial claims after a case was brought by the Philippines, a ruling Beijing refuses to recognise. Saudi Arabia, Russia try to bake an oil magic pudding: Russell By Clyde Russell SINGAPORE, Sept 6 (Reuters) - It's difficult to be anything other than cynical about Saudi Arabia and Russia saying they will work together in global oil markets through a newly-announced joint taskforce. While Monday's media release boosted the price of crude oil as once again traders reacted to the latest moves in the ongoing soap opera of will they or won't freeze output, the news was short of any real substance. There was no commitment to the much-vaunted freeze on output, with Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih stating they are in no hurry to limit output, although it is a possibility for the future. But let's take matters at face value and ask the question as to what a Saudi-Russian task force is likely to discover as they monitor and report on the current and likely state of the global oil markets. In truth, they probably don't need a task force to tell them, as they already know, that if global oil prices do rise, it won't be long until output from swing producers such as U.S. shale drillers starts to flow back into the market. In fact, it's likely that even at the current Brent price of around $47.67 a barrel, oil from the United States and Canada is competitive in China, the world's second-biggest oil importer. New assessments from price reporting agency Argus Media show that West Texas Intermediate (WTI) from the U.S. Gulf coast and Western Canadian heavy oil delivered to China on a cost and freight basis is already competitive. Alejandro Barbajosa, Argus vice president for Middle East and Asia-Pacific crude, said that the end of the U.S. ban on crude exports has opened up the potential for more oil to flow eastwards from the Gulf to Asian markets. WTI shipped from Houston to China is already cheaper on a delivered basis than some competing grades of light, sweet oil from West Africa and Southeast Asia, Barbajosa told the Argus crude forum in Singapore on Monday. Likewise, Western Canadian Select, a heavy crude grade, is similarly competitive at current prices against Middle East crudes such as Basra Heavy from Iraq and cargoes from Latin America when delivered to China, Barbajosa said. While this doesn't mean that Asia is about to be swamped with U.S. light and Canadian heavy oil, it does give refiners an option to diversify supply. This is especially important if their usual suppliers, such as Saudi Arabia and the other Middle Eastern producers as well as Russia, do finally manage to limit production, or even cut back on shipments to Asian customers. If crude that doesn't usually flow to Asia is viable at current prices, it will only be even more competitive if the oil price does rise to somewhere closer to $60 a barrel, a level that the major oil producers would no doubt like to see. PRODUCERS' DILEMMA Effectively, major oil exporters such as Saudi Arabia and Russia are caught between a rock and a hard place. If they can engineer a price rise by limiting output, it will merely serve to bring back idled production, as well as tempting producers outside any agreement to ramp up their volumes. This would cap any rally, and possibly send oil back to the recent lows under $30 a barrel as more crude reached global markets. It would also put the large producers back into an unwanted market share war, whereby they have to choose between selling less oil at higher prices, or keeping market share but accepting lower revenue. Ultimately what the Saudis, the Russians and the other big exporters want is an oil price that keeps the most marginal production out of the market, but high enough to relieve the stress on their fiscal positions. That sweet spot is probably around $55 a barrel, but getting to that price point and staying there is not going to be an easy task. That's why the present machinations of meetings, statements, rumours and speculation are likely to continue for some time as the producers try to engineer a price and then keep it there. Bomb kills father and daughter at school in Thailand's troubled south BANGKOK, Sept 6 (Reuters) - A motorcycle bomb killed a father and daughter in front of a Thai elementary school as parents were dropping off their children on Tuesday, officials said, the latest in a series of attacks in the troubled south. The bomb went off in Narathiwat province, one of three Muslim-majority provinces in predominantly Buddhist Thailand where a separatist insurgency has been raging since 2004. The blast killed a man and his five year-old daughter, the army's Internal Security Operations Command said. The motorcycle was parked opposite the school entrance. Eight people were wounded. "We suspect this to be the work of people who want to destabilize the situation and cause chaos," the deputy spokesman of the ISOC, Yuthanam Petchmuang, told Reuters. The attack occurred less than a month after a wave of bombings in tourist towns, including Hua Hin, Phuket and Surat Thani, killed four people and injured dozens. Police say the tourist-town bombings were linked to the southern insurgency and arrested a suspect over the weekend in connection with the attacks. Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan told reporters on Tuesday that the military government, which took power in May 2014, were making security preparations ahead of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha on September 12. More than 6,500 people have been killed in insurgency-related violence in the Muslim-majority provinces Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani Province since the conflict began, according to Deep South Watch, which monitors the conflict. Carinthia presents second buy-back offer for Heta creditors VIENNA, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Austria's province of Carinthia on Tuesday presented a new offer to buy back bonds of "bad bank" Heta at a discount to the around 11 billion euros ($12.3 billion) it once guaranteed, in a case seen as a test for new European bail-in rules. Carinthia said it seeks to buy back senior bonds of Heta - the wind-down vehicle for now defunct lender Hypo Alpe Adria - at a 25 percent discount, offering creditors to reinvest the payout in a long-term zero coupon bond guaranteed by the federal government. In contrast to a failed offer in spring, creditors can sell the bond after a minimum holding period of 60 days, with the overall repayment rate expected to be at around 90 percent. ($1 = 0.8964 euros) G20 a success for China, but hard issues kicked down the road By Ben Blanchard BEIJING, Sept 6 (Reuters) - China is lauding its successful hosting of the G20 summit in scenic Hangzhou, with open confrontation largely avoided and broad consensus reached over the fragile state of the global economy and the need for a wide range of policies to fix it. There was even a joint announcement by China and United States that they would ratify the Paris climate change agreement, a significant step for the world's two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases. But scratch beneath the surface, and the gathering of the world's most powerful leaders was not all plain sailing - from the distraction of a North Korean missile test to the failure of the United States and Russia to reach agreement over Syria, and diplomatic faux pas to double speak over protectionism. Chinese state media, while largely basking in the glory of a summit that happened without being too overshadowed by disputes such as the South China Sea, also let slip Beijing's frustrations at what it sees as Western efforts to stymie its economic ambitions. "For the world's major developed economies, they should curb rising protectionism and dismantle anti-trade measures as economic isolationism is not a solution to sluggish growth," China's official Xinhua news agency said late on Monday. "In order to build an inclusive, rule-based and open world economy, protectionism must be prevented from eroding the foundation for a faster and healthier economic recovery." In the run-up to G20, China has been particularly upset by what it sees as unwarranted suspicion of its overseas investment agenda smacking of protectionism and paranoia. A few weeks before the summit, Australia blocked the A$10 billion ($7.63 billion) sale of the country's biggest energy grid to Chinese bidders, while Britain delayed a $24 billion Chinese-invested nuclear project. BEHIND THE SCENES Behind the scenes, Western countries have been accusing China of not sticking to its own goals. Before the summit, European G20-sources doubted that the Chinese agenda would mark a real new chapter to create more sustainable growth for the global economy. China, asking in public for more openness and steps to counter protectionism, is still giving Western investors only very limited access to their market, a European official said. A big concern for foreign investors in China is what they see as the increasing difficulty of doing business in China, driven by concern that new laws and policies are seeking to effectively shut out foreigners or make life very hard for them. "President Xi accurately raised the alarm on the need to counter the increase in protectionism around the world," said James Zimmerman, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China. "But actions speak louder than words and the ball is in China's court to implement its own needed domestic reforms and to provide greater market access for foreign goods, services and technology." And calls to utilise innovation as an economic driver should reflect policies that encourage an environment promoting fair and market-driven innovation that is open to all participants, and not just a few domestic champions, Zimmerman said. Several diplomats familiar with the summit said China had resisted the idea of putting steel on the final communique, though it did make an appearance in the end with G20 leaders pledging to work together to address excess steel capacity. For countries like Britain, whose steel industry crisis has been directly blamed on a flood of cheap Chinese imports, the issue is key. An official from British Prime Minister Theresa May's office said they and the United States had pushed for language in the communique on the importance of working together at G20 to tackle excess production. "We have, despite resistance from some countries, secured some language on the importance of doing that," the official said. Asked if China was one of those resisting, she just repeated "in the face of some resistance". Another shadow over the G20 has been the rise of popular opposition to free trade and globalisation, embodied by phenomenon like Britain's summer vote to leave the European Union and Donald Trump becoming the Republican presidential candidate in the United States. "We agree with the G20's analysis that the benefits of trade and open markets must be communicated to the wider public more effectively," said John Danilovich, Secretary General of the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce. "It's vital that business and governments work together to explain how and why trade matters for all." ($1 = 1.3110 Australian dollars) Japan aluminium buyers to turn to spot markets, could crimp annual contracts By Yuka Obayashi TOKYO, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Japanese aluminium buyers are looking to crimp the amount of the metal they purchase via annual contracts, instead turning to spot markets where premiums have in recent months dropped to their lowest in over seven years amid a persistent supply glut. Most aluminium buying by Asia's biggest importer of the metal is carried out through annual contracts, with premiums for delivered metal set each quarter via negotiations that act as a benchmark for the region. But with spot metal premiums falling since hitting this year's highs around March, sources at buyers said quarterly negotiations had locked them into prices well above those in the market. "Lots of inventories are out there and we can get better deals if we buy them in spot," said a source at a fabricator, adding that the company would likely buy less via annual contracts in 2017. He declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue. Aluminium stocks at three major Japanese ports slid to about 300,000 tonnes in July from a record above 500,000 tonnes in May 2015, but that is still above 230,000-270,000 tonnes in early 2014. Less contract purchases could be a blow to suppliers such as Rio Tinto , Alcoa and South32 as they would likely lose guaranteed sales. Rio declined to comment on the issue, while Alcoa and South32 did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Japanese contract premiums are expected to hit the lowest in seven years in October-December, with key producers offering $80-82 per tonne, down 9-14 percent from the previous quarter. But buyers are seeking even lower levels, bidding for the low $70s given weakening spot premiums at around $70, according to sources. Premiums are paid over the London Metal Exchange cash price . Major Japanese buyers include traders like Marubeni and Mitsubishi and fabricators such as UACJ and Kobe Steel. "We intend to ask smelters to change the way we do business," said a source at a Japanese trading house that was hit by heavy losses on aluminium inventories in the last financial year. But a producer warned that "without annual deals, buyers may not get as much metal as they want at a time they want if supply gets tighter". A Singapore trader who deals into Japan said that the country was likely to shift to greater spot purchases gradually, at first buying only limited amounts via spot. Meanwhile, a few buyers said they could push for prices under annual contracts to be based on a spot premium index, removing the need for quarterly negotiations that have been used for decades. But most suppliers and buyers said such a shift would be difficult as finding an index that accurately reflected the state of Japanese markets could be tricky. Japanese buyers and global producers are poised to start negotiations over 2017 contracts in November. Turkish air strikes hit 12 targets in north Iraq - military ANKARA, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Turkish warplanes destroyed 12 targets in northern Iraq late on Monday, the military said, striking a region where Ankara says the leadership of Turkey's outlawed Kurdish militant group PKK is based. The military statement said the sites hit were in the Metina and Hakurk regions of northern Iraq, but did not give further details. In the past, such strikes have been aimed at targets Turkey says are linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The PKK has been fighting a three-decades-old insurgency against Ankara to demand autonomy in Turkey's southeast region. Uzbekistan seeks stability in relations, says U.S. diplomat TASHKENT, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Uzbekistan wants to maintain a stable relationship with the United States as it goes through its first leadership change since independence, a senior U.S. diplomat said on Tuesday after meeting the Uzbek foreign minister in Tashkent. Moscow, Washington and Beijing are all vying for influence in the ex-Soviet Central Asia region which sits on vast mineral reserves and is strategically located north of Afghanistan, on the ancient Silk Road trade route between China and Europe. Daniel Rosenblum, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Central Asia at the U.S. Department of State, met Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Komilov late on Monday. It was the first visit by a U.S. diplomat since the death of veteran president Islam Karimov last week. Karimov, 78, died on Friday after suffering a stroke and left behind a power vacuum in Central Asia's most populous nation. "I am here in Tashkent these few days representing the U.S. government so that I can express condolences on the death of President Karimov and also to show our continued commitment to our partnership with Uzbekistan," Rosenblum told reporters. "We know very well that the change of leadership is always difficult for any country. We also know that these transitions provide opportunity to define ways to adapt and also to grow stronger." Rosenblum did not mention meeting any of the most senior officials who are viewed as potential successors to Karimov, such as Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev or his deputy, Rustam Azimov. "During my meeting with Komilov he expressed strong desire for stability in the bilateral relationship so I took it as an important message as well," he said. Vietnamese airlines order 40 Airbus jets worth $6.5 bln By Ho Binh Minh HANOI, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Vietnamese airlines plan to order 40 Airbus jets in deals worth an estimated $6.5 billion, the European planemaker said on Tuesday, as they expand their fleets for a small but fast-growing market. Strong economic growth and a burgeoning middle class has increased demand for travel both domestically and abroad, spurring carriers to increase routes. In deals announced at the start of a two-day visit to the Southeast Asian nation by French President Francois Hollande, Vietnam Airlines, the country's flagship carrier, reached a preliminary agreement for 10 A350 planes worth $3.1 billion. The widebody aircraft will allow the airline to expand its long-haul network, beginning with services between Ho Chi Minh City and Los Angeles. Budget airline Jetstar Pacific - controlled by Vietnam Airlines and 30 percent owned by Australia's Qantas Airways - finalised its order for 10 A320 single-aisle planes valued at about $1 billion. VietJet, the country's only private airline, placed a firm order for 20 A321s - worth $2.4 billion. VietJet has been rapidly expanding both at home and in Southeast Asia and the deal comes on top of an order for 100 Boeing 737 MAX 200 jets in May worth $11.3 billion at list prices - the biggest aircraft order in the country's history. The CAPA Centre for Aviation said in January that VietJet commands 40 percent of Vietnam's domestic market and it will likely surpass Vietnam Airlines this year as the country's biggest domestic carrier. Iraq puts out more oil fires at northern field, some still burning BAGHDAD, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Iraq has put out fires at six more oil wells in the Qayyara region, which Iraqi forces recaptured from Islamic State late last month, but at least three fires are still blazing, the oil ministry said on Tuesday. The militants sabotaged much of Qayyara's oil infrastructure before fleeing ahead of the government advance, sending black smoke into the sky for days and oil pouring into main thoroughfares. The authorities said last week they had already put out fires from four wells, but a Reuters correspondent visiting the city afterwards saw around a dozen separate plumes of smoke and a military officer in the area said on Sunday the fires were still raging. "The firefighting consisted of removing explosives from these wells, putting out the fires and preventing crude oil from leaking into the river to prevent pollution," ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said. Responders also built dirt walls and trenches to prevent oil from reaching residential neighbourhoods, he added. Jihad said three wells that remain outside the control of the security forces would be extinguished as soon as they were recaptured. The Qayyara region produces heavy sour crude and has a small refinery to process some of the oil. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed solidarity with China in its fight against terrorism and violence at a news conference Monday. [Photo by Lun Xiaoxuan/China.org.cn] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed solidarity with China in its fight against terrorism and violence at a news conference Monday following the G20 summit held in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou. In his first appearance at a meeting convening the world leaders since the recent coup attempt in Turkey, the president emphasized the importance of fighting against terrorism. He said, "If there is a terrorist who comes out of this religion [Islam], we cannot tolerate this regardless where he is." He called for an end to making distinctions between terrorist organizations, saying, "You have no good terrorists or bad terrorists; all are bad." "All of them are cursed, none of them can be defended," he asserted. The summit offered an opportunity for the leaders of both countries to exchange views and deepen ties. According to Xinhua News Agency, while meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit President Xi Jinping told Erdogan he appreciated that Turkey promised not to allow anything to happen within its borders that could hamper China. China "expects bilateral anti-terrorism cooperation to yield more tangible results," Xinhua News Agency cited Xi as saying. Speaking of Syrian issues at the news conference, Erdogan said he had discussed Syria with China, but currently Turkey has no cooperation with China on operations in the region. He revealed that Turkey is cooperating currently with coalition forces in the region, mostly made up of NATO members. Especially in the area of Aleppo, Turkey is trying to forge cooperation with Russia. He added, "We would like to see a ceasefire to be announced in the region." Romania - Factors to watch on Sept. 6 Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Romanian financial markets on Tuesday. GDP BREAKDOWN Romania's national statistics board to release a preliminary breakdown of second-quarter gross domestic producr data at 0600 GMT. DEBT TENDER Romania sold a planned 1 billion lei ($251.22 million) worth of one-year treasury bills on Monday, with the average accepted yield at 0.56 percent, central bank data showed. CEE MARKETS Central European currencies and equities firmed on Monday after weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs data lowered expectations of an imminent Federal Reserve rate hike, and Poland's central bank was seen keeping its own rates on hold later in the week. EBRD The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said on Monday it will lend 25 million euros to Universal Alloy Corporation Europe (UACE), which manufactures aluminium parts for aircrafts and is a subsidiary of the Swiss-Austrian Montana Tech Components group. It supplies components to leading aircraft manufacturers such as Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier and Premium AEROTEC and will continue to train local Romanian staff. BRAAS MONIER Braas Monier said on Monday it will acquire a concrete tile plant in the southern Romanian city of Craiova. The total investment for the acquisition of the assets amounts to roughly 33 million lei ($8.28 million). FISCAL RISKS Romania's Finance Minister Anca Dragu told parliament in a letter that the European Commission could challenge Romania at the European Court of Justice for failing to keep its budget deficit below 1 percent of GDP as agreed in a fiscal treaty. The Commission is expected to release a report about how EU countries that had signed the treaty were sticking to its terms at the end of September, Dragu said. Agerpres For the long-term Romanian diary, click on For emerging markets economic events, click on For an index of all diaries, click on Zika could impact slowing economy, Singapore bank chief says By Marius Zaharia and Anshuman Daga SINGAPORE, Sept 6 (Reuters) - A Zika outbreak in Singapore could have a small impact on the almost $300 billion economy, the central bank chief said on Tuesday, as the mosquito-borne virus spreads across the global financial and transit hub. Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, did not give further details, but the outbreak coincides with a dip in overall exports and growth in the trade-dependent economy. Growth is also slowing in China, Singapore's main overseas market. "It's too early to tell. I would say early indications are there could be some small impact, but it's not likely to be significant from an overall economy outcome," Menon told reporters when asked about the impact of Zika. "But really, it's still early days," he said at an event hosted by the Foreign Correspondents Association in Singapore. Small, tropical Singapore reported its first locally infected Zika patient on Aug. 27 and since then, the number of reported infections has reached 275, with 17 more cases reported on Tuesday. Health officials say the figure will rise, as the Aedes mosquitoes that carry the virus are all over the island, and hospitals have stopped isolating patients. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was quoted on the Channel News Asia website as calling at a regional summit in Laos for the 10 Southeast Asian countries to "join hands" to fight Zika, while keeping the region open for business and trade. "It is imperative for us to work together to combat Zika, but we should put Zika in the proper context," Lee said. "Given the presence of the Aedes mosquito, Zika may become endemic in our region, just like dengue." "We should prepare ourselves for a possibly extended campaign against Zika but ensure that the region remains open and connected for business and trade." Last month, Singapore narrowed its economic growth forecast for the year to 1-2 percent from 1-3 percent growth previously expected, citing concerns over Brexit and weak global demand. Economists said tourism and retail would be the areas most affected by Zika, which could in turn hold back growth. Tourism arrivals in the first six months of the year have increased 12.5 percent from a year ago, official statistics show. "Tourism is about voluntary trips and this is going to have a dent," said Trinh Nguyen, senior economist for emerging-market Asia at French investment bank Natixis SA in Hong Kong. "Zika will impact sentiment and people's already low propensity to consume." SLOWER SALES Retail sales excluding motor vehicles fell year-on-year in June for the fifth straight month, as worries about the sluggish global economy drove Singaporeans to cut spending. Singapore is due to host a Formula One motor-racing Grand Prix next week. Promoters of the race say preparations are going on as usual. The Tourism Board says Singapore remains a safe destination. Chan Brothers Travel, one of Singapore's biggest travel agencies, told Reuters there had been no cancellations but new bookings may slow down. While most people experience mild symptoms, Zika infections in pregnant women have been shown to cause microcephaly, a severe birth defect in which the head and brain are undersized. In adults, it can cause a rare neurological syndrome called Guillain-Barre. Zika is also affecting large parts of Latin America and the Caribbean, with Brazil the hardest hit. In Southeast Asia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand have also reported Zika infections. London City airport protest ends, BA delays continue By Kate Holton LONDON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Air passengers in Britain and beyond faced delays on Tuesday after a "Black Lives Matter" protest on a runway halted flights for six hours at London City Airport and a computer glitch hit British Airways in London and the United States. More than 120 flights were cancelled, delayed or diverted at City, a few miles east of the Canary Wharf financial district, after nine protesters locked themselves together on the runway. Police said late on Tuesday morning they had arrested all nine and the airline was preparing to resume flights. British Airways said it was taking longer than normal to process customers at a number of airports around the world, including London's Heathrow and Gatwick, and urged passengers to check in online before they reached the airport. The airline, owned by International Consolidated Airlines Group, apologised to customers. "Really unhappy with @British_Airways "The system is down" & can't check in!," one passenger, Shail, said on Twitter. Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada said the delays - the second problem with the service this year - could damage the airline's reputation after passengers took to social media to complain about delays in San Francisco, Washington D.C. and Atlanta on Monday night. British Airways has been rolling out a new check-in system since last year and a spokeswoman said the check-in delays were teething problems that affected many airports. Shares in BA's owner rose 1.5 percent, apparently unaffected by its airline's computer troubles. At City Airport, the protesters earlier erected two large posters with the slogans "Black Lives Matter" and "Climate Crisis is a Racist Crisis." The British arm of the group, which started in the United States as a reaction to fatal shootings of black people by police, said it wanted to highlight Britain's environmental impact on the lives of black people locally and globally. Members blocked a main road to London's Heathrow Airport in August. "Black people are the first to die, not the first to fly, in this racist climate crisis," the group said in a statement. "When black people in Britain are 28 percent more likely to be exposed to air pollution than their white counterparts, we know that environmental inequality is a racist crisis." The campaign group said City airport was designed for the wealthy while those who lived near the site struggled on low salaries. GE speeds up 3D printing push with bids for SLM, Arcam By Johannes Hellstrom and Maria Sheahan FRANKFURT/STOCKHOLM, Sept 6 (Reuters) - General Electric launched bids on Tuesday to buy two of the world's top makers of machines for metal-based 3D printing - Sweden's Arcam and Germany's SLM Solutions - for a total $1.4 billion to bolster its position in the fast-growing technology. 3D printing has been used to build prototypes for decades but has become more widespread for industrial mass production in recent years, with uses including the production of dental crowns, medical implants and light aircraft parts. GE has long been one of the main proponents of industrial 3D printing, using it to make fuel nozzles for its new LEAP jet engine in what marked a big step in using the technology in mass production. GE, which laid the foundation for its 3D printing push with the acquisition of 3D printing specialists Morris Technologies in 2012, said it expected its new 3D printing business to grow to $1 billion by 2020 at attractive returns. "Additive manufacturing will drive new levels of productivity for GE, our customers, including a wide array of additive manufacturing customers, and for the industrial world," GE Chief Executive Jeff Immelt said in a statement. While GE's Aviation unit has so far been the most active in using the 3D printing technology, parts are also being designed in its Power, Oil & Gas and Healthcare units, as well as across GE's services businesses. GE said it would offer 38 euros per share, or a total of 683 million euros ($762 million), for SLM Solutions, which makes laser machines for metal-based 3D printing for aerospace, energy, healthcare and automotive companies. It had already agreed to buy 31.5 percent of shares from major shareholders, GE said. GE also offered 285 crowns per share, or a total of 5.86 billion crowns ($685 million), for Arcam, which invented the electron beam melting machine for metal-based 3D printing, selling mainly to the aerospace and healthcare industries. SLM Solutions shares rose 38.9 per cent to 38.61 euros in Frankfurt at 1001 GMT, while Arcam rose 53 per cent to 285 crowns. "GE shows its commitment regarding the industrial use of 3D technology and mass implementation of this technology in industrial production," Equinet analyst Cengiz Sen said a research note. Arcam's and SLM's technologies complement each other as Arcam uses an electron beam as an energy source, while SLM uses lasers. 3D printing technology involves taking digital designs from computer aided design software, and laying horizontal cross-sections to manufacture the part. Since parts are built from the ground up, one of the big benefits is that it generates far less scrap metal than in traditional manufacturing. ($1 = 0.8965 euros) Slovakia - Factors To Watch on Sept 6 BRATISLAVA, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Slovak financial markets on Tuesday. ALL TIMES GMT (Slovak Republic: GMT + 2 hours) =========================ECONOMIC DATA======================== Real-time economic data releases.................. Summary of economic data and forecasts......... Recently released economic data................ Previous stories on Slovak data.......... **For a schedule of corporate and economic events: http://emea1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/Apps/CountryWeb/#/1C/events-overview =======================NEWS=================================== BOND AUCTIONS: Slovak debt agency said it would auction bonds due in 2027, 2031 on Sept 19. The indicated accepted amount in competitive part of auction is 100 million euros for each bond. Story: Related stories: ===================PRESS DIGEST================================= BRATISLAVA AIRPORT: A China-based airline company Hainan Airlines is interested in becoming a strategic investor at the Bratislava airport, the airport CEO Ivan Trhlik said. A long-term lease of the airport would have to be approved by the government. SME, page 6 FDI: A Chinese firm CEFC Direct Investment Company wants to invest hundreds of millions euros in the energy sector, engineering, logistics and tourism in Slovakia, the finance ministry said. http://spravy.pravda.sk/ekonomika/clanok/404150-cinania-planuju-na-slovensku-investicie-za-stovky-milionov-eur/ TOURISM: Almost 2.3 million tourists have visited Slovakia in the first half of the year, an 18.5-percent increase from the same period last year, Slovakia's tourism agency (SACR) said. Hospodarske Noviny, page 1 (Reuters has not verified the stories, nor does it vouch for their accuracy.) For real-time stock market index quotes click in brackets: Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX Main currency report TOP NEWS -- Emerging markets News editor of the day: Jan Lopatka on +420 224 190 474 E-mail: prague.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (Reporting by Prague Newsroom) OPEC secretary-general meets Iran oil minister in Tehran ANKARA, Sept 6 (Reuters) - A meeting between OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo and Iran's oil minister to discuss global oil market conditions and crude prices has started in Tehran, the ministry's official website reported on Tuesday. "The meeting between the OPEC official and Minister (Bijan) Zanganeh started a few minutes ago. Barkindo arrived in Tehran on Monday night," SHANA, the ministry's information service, said. Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will meet on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum (IEF), which groups producers and consumers, in Algeria on Sept. 26-28. They are expected to seek to revive a global deal to stabilise oil output levels. Non-OPEC member Russia, the world's top oil producer, is also expected to attend the IEF. Hit by global oversupply, oil prices collapsed to as low as $27 per barrel earlier this year from as high as $115 in mid-2014, but have since recovered to around $47. Attempts by OPEC and non-OPEC oil exporters to reach a pact on freezing output earlier this year foundered because Iran, OPEC's third-largest producer, declined to participate. Iran has said it would cooperate in talks to freeze output only if fellow exporters recognised its right to regain market share after the lifting of international sanctions in January under a nuclear deal with six major powers. A senior Iranian official said on Monday Iran was ready to raise its output to 4 million barrels per day in a couple of months depending on market demand. OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed on Monday to set up a task force to review oil market fundamentals and to recommend measures and actions that would secure market stability. U.S. gives Laos extra $90 mln to help clear unexploded ordnance By Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Roberta Rampton VIENTIANE, Sept 6 (Reuters) - The United States announced on Tuesday it would provide an additional $90 million over the next three years to help Laos, heavily bombed during the Vietnam War, clear unexploded ordnance that has killed or injured more than 20,000 people. The figure announced during President Barack Obama's first visit to Laos is close to the $100 million the United States has spent in the past 20 years on clearing its UXO in Laos. From 1964 to 1973, U.S. warplanes dropped more than 270 million cluster munitions on the communist country, one-third of which did not explode, the Lao National Regulatory Authority for UXO says. Obama became the first U.S. president to visit Laos when he arrived in the once-isolated country on Monday to attend two regional summits, half a century after America's "secret war" left Laos with the unfortunate distinction of being the most heavily bombed country, per capita, in history. The White House said in a statement U.S. programmes in Laos had helped slash UXO casualties from 300 to less than 50 a year and the additional funding would be used for a "comprehensive UXO survey of Laos and for continued clearing operations". "The United States is helping Laos clear unexploded ordnance, which poses a threat to people and hampers economic development," it said. The package would help support UXO victims needing rehabilitation, including orthotics and prosthetics, it added. Obama, in a speech on Tuesday in the capital, Vientiane, addressed the secret war. "As a result of that conflict many people fled or were driven from their homes," Obama said. "At the time America did not acknowledge its role." "I believe the United States has a moral obligation to help Laos heal." UXO remains a stubborn problem in the region and experts say it could take decades to clear landmines and bombs in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, which were beset by conflicts in the 1960s and 1970s, and in Cambodia's case, in the 1980s and 1990s too. In the central Lao province of Xieng Khouang, the area most heavily bombed by U.S. aircraft during the war in neighbouring Vietnam, there is a trail of devastation. About 80 percent of the people of landlocked Laos rely on agriculture, but some of it is simply too dangerous to farm. Approximately a quarter of its villages are contaminated with unexploded ordnance, says the British-based Mines Advisory Group, which helps find and destroy the bombs. Emirati on trial for trying to run over American - newspapers DUBAI, Sept 6 (Reuters) - An Emirati man suspected of ties to a Syria-based militant group has gone on trial in the United Arab Emirates on charges of trying to kill an American and planning attacks on media outlets in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, newspapers reported. The 29-year-old man appeared in court on Monday, accused of repeatedly running over the American while he was out jogging at al-Bahia, a rural area in Abu Dhabi, in May 2015, The National newspaper said. The expatriate was injured but survived, it added. The defendant was also charged with travelling to Turkey to try to join the militant Nusra Front. "He is also accused of plotting to commit acts of terrorism in the UAE, including bombing the headquarters of Sky News Arabia in Abu Dhabi and al-Arabiya in Dubai," The National said on Tuesday. Militant violence is rare in the UAE, a Western-allied oil exporter that has been concerned about efforts by Sunni Muslim jihadists to stoke sectarian tensions in the Gulf with a string of attacks at Shi'ite Muslim mosques in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The National said the suspect has denied all charges. The Federal Supreme Court in Abu Dhabi adjourned the hearing until October 3 to allow lawyers to prepare their defence, the English-language paper added. OPEC's Barkindo, Iran oil minister meet in Tehran ANKARA, Sept 6 (Reuters) - OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo and Iran's oil minister met in Tehran on Tuesday to discuss global oil prices, Iranian state TV reported, without revealing further details. Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are due to meet in Algeria on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum (IEF) on Sept. 26-28, and are expected to seek to revive talks on a global deal to freeze oil output levels. Ethiopian activists demand news of jailed leaders after fire guts prison By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Ethiopian opposition activists have demanded news on the fate of six of their leaders and other inmates held in a high-security prison that was wrecked by a massive fire over the weekend. The government has said 21 inmates died in the blaze that ripped through the Qilinto complex on Saturday - but has not named any of the victims. Another two prisoners were shot dead as they tried to escape the compound on the outskirts of the capital Addis Ababa, the government added in a brief statement two days after the fire, again stopping short of identifying them. The opposition Oromo Federalist Congress said on Tuesday it had received no news of six of its leaders, including Deputy Chairman Bekele Gerba and Assistant General Secretary Dejene Tafa, who were arrested in December on suspicion of inciting protests. "Our entire leadership is being held in that place and we have no idea what has happened to them," the OFC's Assistant Deputy Chairman, Mulatu Gemechu, told Reuters. "The government has a responsibility to explain to the public, no less their families. We have no idea why it is taking that long," he said. The government did not immediately respond to his statement. Dissidents say most recent inmates are ethnic Oromos held for taking part in demonstrations over land rights and alleged rights abuses that have rocked one of Africa's fastest growing economies since last year. The United States last week said it was gravely concerned about the use of excessive force against protesters. Human Rights Watch said in June at least 400 demonstrators had been killed by security forces. Ethiopia's government - a major ally of the United States in the fight against militants in neighbouring Somalia - disputes the death toll and says the protests are being staged illegally, stoked by rebel groups and dissidents based oveseas. Russia's Putin urges Karimov's successors to continue his tough style of rule By Olzhas Auyezov ALMATY, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday urged the successors to Uzbekistan's Islam Karimov to continue his policies - apparent encouragement for them to follow his authoritarian line and keep the lid on opposition at home. Karimov, who died on Sept. 2 at the age of 78 after more than quarter of a century at the helm, presented himself as a bulwark against a possible surge of Islamist militancy in his Central Asian state which borders Afghanistan. His tough anti-Islamist line enabled Karimov to manoeuvre successfully between Russia and the United States despite strong criticism by rights groups and misgivings among Western governments over his strong-arm tactics against dissenters at home. "Of course, we hope that everything Islam Abduganiyevich (Karimov) had started will be continued," Russia's Rossiya-24 channel showed Putin telling Uzbek Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev during a visit to Uzbekistan. "On our part, we will do everything to support this path of mutual development and the people and leadership of Uzbekistan. You can fully count on us as your most reliable friends," said Putin who flew to Uzbekistan from China where he attended the G20 summit. The Kremlin said in a brief statement that Putin visited Karimov's hometown of Samarkand where the Uzbek leader was buried and laid flowers on his grave together with Mirziyoyev. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev represented Russia at the funeral of Karimov who died of a stroke. The follow-up visit by Putin, which took place shortly after a visit to Uzbekistan by a senior U.S. diplomat, highlighted the competition among world powers, including China, for influence in resource-rich and strategically-located Central Asia. Hours before Putin's arrival, Daniel Rosenblum, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Central Asia at the U.S. Department of State, told reporters in Tashkent he had met Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Komilov the previous evening. Putin's meeting was seen as a further strong hint that Mirziyoyev, 59, is likely to succeed Karimov as head of state. Last week, he was appointed head of the commission that organised Karimov's funeral, a duty which in the Soviet culture of the region normally falls to the successor. Mirziyoyev, in turn, told Putin his visit "says a lot". "Our external political relations with the Russian Federation are those of strategic partnership, and we will continue to develop that bridge which you had been building together with Islam Abduganiyevich for so many years in order not to break it, but to further solidify it," he said. Karimov distanced Uzbekistan from Moscow in 2012 when Tashkent suspended its membership in the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation, which groups several ex-Soviet nations and is seen by some analysts as a regional counterbalance to NATO. South Africa's Tutu to undergo surgery as infection persists CAPE TOWN, Sept 6 (Reuters) - South African anti-apartheid hero Desmond Tutu will have surgery on Wednesday to relieve an infection that has confined him to hospital since last month, his family said. Relatives did not give any more detail on his ailment, but said it was not related to the prostate cancer he has had for nearly 20 years. The former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, who regularly criticised white-minority rule from his pulpit, was also hospitalised last year for treatment of an "inflammation". . "The Archbishop will undergo a small surgical procedure on Wednesday to address the root cause of the infections," the family said in a statement. African Union says to mediate in Gabon election crisis ADDIS ABABA, Sept 6 (Reuters) - The African Union plans to send a delegation to help resolve a crisis in Gabon where two opposing candidates claim to have won a presidential election last month, a spokesman for the pan-African body said on Tuesday. A former police chief dubbed 'The Tajik', trained by the US in anti-terror tactics, has been made the new ISIS 'Minister of War', it has emerged. Gulmurod Khalimov, once an elite police commander in the central Asian nation of Tajikistan, defected to join the terror group last May. Washington last week offered a reward of up to $3million for information leading to the location, arrest, and conviction of the militant, who had gone through special forces training in both Russia and the United States. Gulmurod Khalimov, once an elite police commander in the central Asian nation of Tajikistan, defected to join the terror group last May Now it has emerged that the extremist has been promoted through the ranks of ISIS, to the position of Minister of War. An security source told Iraqi News: 'The Tajik has been appointed as the successor to the dead terrorist Tarhan Batirashvili who also known as Abu Omar al-Chechani. 'The Tajik Golmurud Khalimov was elected as the first military commander in ISIS. The organization did not announce it officially because it fears that once mentioned, there might be a series of air strikes against them.' This morning, it emerged that Tajikistan's security services are investigating unspecified threats of action this month purportedly made by Khalimov. The US government has described the extremists as a 'key leader' of ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Washington last week offered a reward of up to $3million for information leading to the location, arrest, and conviction of the militant, who had gone through special forces training in both Russia and the United States Two security sources told Reuters that this week servicemen in Tajkikistan, a country bordering Afghanistan and seen by the West and Russia as a possible conduit both for militant Islamists and drug runners, started receiving text messages on their mobile phones in Khalimov's name. In these messages, he promised to 'congratulate' them on the 25th anniversary of independence celebrated on September 9, the sources said. Security services were investigating the matter. The evident threats come on the first anniversary of an attempted coup staged by then deputy defence minister, General Abdukhalim Nazarzoda. He died fighting pro-government troops shortly afterwards. Afghan refugees leave Pakistan over tougher measures on visits home By Asad Hashim ISLAMABAD, Sept 6 (Reuters) - More than five times the number of Afghan refugees returned home from Pakistan in August than in July, the United Nations' refugee office said on Tuesday, seeking to escape harassment in the host nation and stiffer measures on visits home. Pakistan is home to the world's second-largest refugee population, including 2.5 million Afghans, many living there since the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979. Until recently the Afghan refugees did not need passports or visas to cross the porous border and visit families left behind. But Islamabad has begun asking for such documents following brief cross-border clashes in June between Afghan and Pakistani forces that killed four people at the main Torkham crossing on the disputed 2,600-km (1,616-mile) -long frontier. The U.N. High Commission for Refugees said 67,057 refugees were permanently repatriated in August, up from 12,962 the month before and 1,250 in June. "The main reason for this is the closing of the Torkham border gate, because these people want to be able to go back and forth across the border, and that has completely stopped," said Baryali Miankhel, president of the Supreme Council of Afghan Refugees in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Torkham is 180 km (112 miles) northwest of Pakistan's capital of Islamabad and 170 km (106 miles) east of Kabul, the Afghan capital. "These people have brothers and other relatives on the other side, that's why the border restrictions are the main reason," Miankhel added. Under the UNHCR programme, refugees returning home get a special document permitting them to make the journey. In June, Pakistan extended Afghan refugees' right to stay until December 2016, but restrictions and harassment have grown, say refugees and the UNHCR. "The increase in the number of security operations against undocumented foreigners has also impacted refugees' decision-making," said UNHCR spokeswoman Duniya Aslam Khan. Police increasingly demand bribes from refugees, Miankhel said, even those with Proof of Registration cards showing a legal right to stay. "The police harass people, ask for money, and confiscate refugees' cards unless they are paid bribes," he added. Pakistani authorities deny harassing Afghan refugees. Repatriations are on course this year to reach their highest level since 2008, with the UNHCR saying 103,013 refugees have returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan, 93 percent within the last two months. The surge coincided with a doubling of the UNHCR's grant for returning refugees, to $400, Khan said. A year on, migrant crisis hangs over votes in Hungary, Austria By Krisztina Than and Francois Murphy VAMOSSZABADI, Hungary/NICKELSDORF, Austria, Sept 6 (Reuters) - O n a warm morning in late August, two dozen migrants carrying stuffed plastic bags and backpacks boarded a bus outside a refugee centre in Vamosszabadi, a village in northwest Hungary. Escorted by police on what was meant to be a short shopping trip organised by the Hungarian immigration office, the men, women and children should have spent a few hours shopping in the nearby city of Gyor before returning to their makeshift homes. Half of the group, however, slipped away to a park where they were met by a man. He led them through an underpass to the railway station and they jumped on a train headed for the Austrian capital, Vienna. Their whereabouts now is unclear. One year after the border between Hungary and Austria became a focal point of a mass influx of refugees to Europe, many of them heading for Germany, officials in both countries say the situation is largely under control. But, as the events witnessed by Reuters show, migrants continue to make their way into Hungary and across the border into Austria from areas of the Middle East, Afghanistan and Africa hit by conflict and poverty. The situation has left many Hungarians and Austrians on edge and could shape the outcome of two votes on Oct. 2, when Austria elects a president and Hungary decides whether to accept mandatory European Union quotas for resettling migrants. "Clearly this is a polarising issue that has stoked a lot of fears," said Austrian Defence Minister Hans Peter Doskozil. Like many people in Austria, a country of 8.5 million that has taken in about 110,000 asylum seekers since last summer, he sees a risk that the migrant crisis could worsen again. Although there is little evidence of it happening, he believes Austria could become the destination for migrants making their way from Africa through Italy. "That must be stopped," Doskozil said. Such concerns could work in favour of far-right candidate Norbert Hofer in Austria's election runoff. The first ballot, narrowly won by former Greens party leader Alexander Van der Bellen, was annulled because of technical irregularities. Similar fears could also help Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban persuade voters to reject the EU quota system following an aggressive government campaign in which billboards have been erected linking migrants to assaults and terrorism. Election of a far-right president in Austria and rejection of the quota plan in Hungary would be likely to damage the unity of the EU, which is already struggling to articulate a common vision after Britain's vote on June 23 to leave the bloc. "BIG SHOCK" Few communities have felt the impact of the migrants influx more than Nickelsdorf, a town of 1,800 in the eastern border region of Burgenland surrounded by sunflower and corn fields. It was near Nickelsdorf that the corpses of 71 refugees were found in an abandoned truck, shortly before Austria and Germany threw open their borders to migrants on Sept. 4 last year. Burgenland is a traditional stronghold of Chancellor Christian Kern's Social Democrats. But two thirds of voters there backed the eurosceptic Freedom Party's (FPO) Hofer in the presidential run-off in May that was annulled. "The Freedom Party promotes a very restrictive immigration policy and the people who live here in Nickelsdorf, who were confronted with this wave of 300,000 people a year ago, do not want it to happen again," Gerhard Zapfl, Nickelsdorf's SPO mayor, told Reuters. "The pressure valve is the election." Carmen Imnitzer, a 46-year-old housewife who helped distribute food and clothes to migrants, says she would never vote for the Freedom Party. But she describes the influx as a "big shock" for the town. "A lot of people are scared. They view everything that is foreign, everything they don't understand, as scary," she said. Debate has been clouded by an EU deal with Turkey granting Turks visa-free travel to the bloc, she added. Kern has accused the FPO of fanning fears about minorities and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has said politicians are using the refugee crisis for political gain. IMAGE "TARNISHED" BY CAMP Many migrants also arrived last year in Vamosszabadi, 65 km (40 miles) from Nickelsdorf, on the other side of the border. A refugee camp in the village designed for about 200 people housed nearly 800 migrants at one point in 2015, and many more were camping outside. Hungarian officials say many migrants disappear within days and the authorities lose track of them. Livia Vajda, the mayor of Vamosszabadi, said the camp had tarnished Vamosszabadi's image and should be closed. "This is an open reception centre, people can move freely in and out, they can do anything they want and we live here next to them and we don't know who they are," she said. Orban opposes the EU quota plan and hopes the Oct. 2 referendum will strengthen his hand in dealings on the migrant issue with the EU and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The U.N. refugee agency has condemned Hungary's refugee practices but criticism of the referendum and Orban's stance on refugees has largely been limited in Hungary to small opposition and rights groups. Merkel and then-Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann suspended EU migration rules last year to allow in thousands of refugees who reached those countries via Hungary. 'We are not butchers': Philippines defends drug war at Asian summit VIENTIANE, Sept 6 (Reuters) - The Philippines on Tuesday defended a surge in killings since Rodrigo Duterte became president over two months ago, handing out a 38-page pamphlet at a regional summit praising his campaign against illegal drugs in which thousands have died. "We are not butchers who just kill people for no apparent reason," reads one page of the booklet, citing the Philippines' feisty national police chief, Ronald Dela Rosa. The pamphlet was distributed at a Southeast Asian and East Asian summit in Laos that was overshadowed on Tuesday by the cancellation of a meeting between Duterte and Barack Obama after he referred to the U.S. president as a "son of a bitch". Duterte swept to power in May on promises to wipe out crime and corruption within six months, pledging to wage a war on drug dealers and crush widespread addiction to methamphetamines in the country of 100 million. There has been popular support for Duterte's campaign but the killings have brought expressions of concern from the United States, a close Philippine ally, and the United Nations. Last week, the number of people killed since July 1 reached 2,400: about 900 died in police operations, they said, and the rest were "deaths under investigation", a term human rights activists say is a euphemism for vigilante and extrajudicial killings. Duterte said on Tuesday he regretted that his comments to media on Friday "came across as a personal attack" on Obama. His government said in a separate statement the fight against illegal drugs must be won. "The campaign against illegal drugs has yielded an unprecedented number of 'surrenderees': more than 600,000," said the glossy pamphlet, which features various photographs of Duterte, including one of him attending the funeral of a senior police officer allegedly shot dead by a drug peddler. The booklet said that since Duterte took office 7,532 drug operations had been carried out, 12,972 pushers and users had been arrested, and police operations in July reduced crime by 49 percent from a year earlier. UK takes record action on violence against women as "revenge porn" rises By Pietro Lombardi LONDON, Sept 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Prosecutions for domestic abuse, rape and sexual offences against women in England and Wales hit a record high in 2015/2016, according to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which also reported the first cases of "revenge porn". Women's rights groups attributed the rise to victims' growing confidence in the justice system as the CPS revealed on Tuesday that more than 117,000 cases of domestic abuse, rape and sexual offences went to trial in 2015/2016, a 10 percent increase on the previous year. The number of convictions for such crimes also reached a high with more than 87,000 defendants found guilty of them in 2015/2016, an 11 percent rise on the year before. "Today a rape, domestic abuse, sexual offence or child abuse case is more likely to be prosecuted and convicted than ever before," said Alison Saunders, director of public prosecutions, in a statement. The CPS said more than 100,000 domestic abuse cases were prosecuted in 2015/2016, resulting in more than 75,000 convictions. Prosecutions and convictions for rape in 2015/2016 also hit highs of more than 4,600 and almost 2,700 respectively. Saunders said training for prosecutors and greater resources for specialist units handling rape and serious sexual offences including child sexual exploitation had contributed to the rise in the rape conviction rate. Chief Executive of Women's Aid, Polly Neate, said survivors of domestic abuse were starting to have more confidence in the criminal justice system, leading to more prosecutions and convictions. "However, we know that much more work is still needed, particularly in understanding of the nature and impact of coercive control, right across the criminal justice system," Neate said in a statement. The disclosure of private sexual images without consent, known as "revenge porn", was made a criminal offence in April 2015. Since then there have been more than 206 related prosecutions, the CPS said. "The use of the internet, social media and other forms of technology to humiliate, control and threaten individuals is rising," Saunders said. Activists like Rachel Krys, co-director of End Violence Against Women Coalition, welcomed the CPS figures but said more needed to be done. BRIEF-Poland's KGHM CEO expects copper prices to rebound next year Sept 6 (Reuters) - KGHM * The chief executive officer at Poland's copper producer KGHM said on Tuesday he would expect copper prices to rebound next year. * "This year will be difficult on the copper market but we expect a rebound in 2017. There is a chance that the price will exceed $5,000 per tonne," Krzysztof Skora told reporters on the sidelines of the Economic Forum in Krynica, Poland. Bombardier cuts CSeries delivery forecast, adjusts revenue outlook By Allison Lampert MONTREAL, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Bombardier Inc sliced in half the 2016 delivery forecast for its CSeries aircraft on Tuesday and said it expected full-year revenue to be at the lower end of its previously announced range. The setback is the latest for the CSeries program, which took years to get off the ground and has been hit by production delays and cost overruns, causing the Montreal-based plane and train maker to agree to a C$1 billion ($774 million) investment from the Quebec government. The company remained in talks with the Canadian federal government about possible funding, and some analysts said the delays could add to concerns about its financial strength. "Bombardier has a lot of debt, limited financial flexibility and these kind of setbacks, even when they are modest and transient, can heighten concerns", said one transport analyst who asked not to be named. Desjardins analyst Benoit Peorier said the development was "slightly negative" and "unexpected." Shares in the company were down 4.7 percent to C$2.02. Bombardier expects to deliver seven of the planes this year, compared with its earlier forecast of 15, blaming engine delivery delays by supplier Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp. The CSeries jets, which have between 100 and 160 seats and are designed for short- and medium-haul travel, entered service earlier in 2016. Bombardier hopes to compete with Boeing Co and Airbus in the single-aisle jet market. Lufthansa AG unit Swiss International Air Lines confirmed on Tuesday it expected to take delivery of fewer CSeries planes from Bombardier than initially planned this year, due to the engine delays. It had anticipated receiving nine, but declined to say how many it now expected. Bombardier now expects to be close to the lower end of the $16.5 billion to $17.5 billion revenue range for the full year. However, it reaffirmed its outlook for 2016 revenue and earnings before interest and taxes. Bombardier said it was working closely with Pratt & Whitney to quickly address the engine problem and remained confident it could meet its production goal of 90 to 120 aircraft per year by 2020. A Bombardier spokeswoman said the delays would also affect deliveries to airBaltic, the launch customer for the company's larger CS300 jet, but should not have an impact on orders further down the road from carriers Air Canada and Delta Air Lines Inc. Pratt & Whitney is facing heavy demand from aircraft makers and has 8,200 orders and options for the fuel-efficient GTF engine family, which is also being used in the Airbus A320neo. "In terms of production, we've made significant headway in the supply chain, but there is some pressure on new engine deliveries for this year," said Sara Banda, a spokeswoman for U.S.-based Pratt & Whitney. Banda could not say how the pressure on new engine deliveries would affect other aircraft makers. Turkey's government says under popular pressure to drop EU talks BLED, Slovenia, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Turks are dismayed by the "double standards" the European Union applied to their country after the coup attempt earlier this year and are putting their government under "huge pressure" to end accession negotiations, the foreign minister said. Mevlut Cavusoglu accused the bloc of dishing out criticism to neighbours but not taking it in turn. Turks had been disappointed not to receive visits or statements of support in the aftermath of the July coup attempt, he said. Kyrgyzstan: Uighur militant groups behind attack on China's embassy BISHKEK, Sept 6 (Reuters) - A suicide bomb attack on the Chinese embassy in the Kyrgyz capital last week was ordered by Uighur terrorist groups active in Syria and carried out by a member of the East Turkestan Islamic movement, Kyrgyzstan's state security service said on Tuesday. All 300 passengers were evacuated at Dubai airport and fireman died landed with its wheels retracted and became fireball The pilot of the Emirates jet that crashed at Dubai airport tried to take-off again seconds after touching down only to land on the runway with its wheels retracted. Flight EK521 skidded hundreds of metres along the runway into a fireball, subsequently killing a fireman on August 3. The initial report into the incident has shown the pilot had tried to abandon the landing after the main wheels of the Boeing 777-300 had already touched down. The pilot of the Emirates jet that crashed at Dubai airport tried to take-off again seconds after touching down only to land on the runway with its wheels retracted The plane was subjected to shifting winds as it made a failed attempt to abort a landing, United Arab Emirates (UAE) investigators said on Tuesday. A few seconds after the wheels hit the tarmac, the plane became airborne again, only to descend and sink back onto the runway as the wheels were retracting into the aircraft. Seconds later the plane caught fire as it slid hundreds of metres on its fuselage. All 300 passengers and crew were evacuated from the plane, which was arriving from Thiruvananthapuram, India. Fourteen people were admitted to hospital and one firefighter was killed in the intense blaze. Flight EK521 skidded hundreds of metres along the runway into a fireball, subsequently killing a fireman on August 3 The Dubai carrier's first significant accident happened shortly after UAE authorities issued a warning about windshear for all aircraft using the airport, the world's busiest international hub, the report said. During the incident the plane, flight EK521, was subjected to changing wind direction, as a headwind swung to a tailwind and then began shifting back to a headwind, it said. In a passage headlined 'Safety Concerns and Actions', the report said no such concerns had been issued at this stage. A final report will issued later. The report said the sole objective of the investigation was to prevent aircraft accidents and incidents. It would not apportion blame or liability, it said. Emirates Airline in a statement welcomed the publication of the report and noted it did not cover causes of the accident or make final safety recommendations. France deploys artillery, readies carrier ahead of Mosul offensive PARIS, Sept 6 (Reuters) - France said on Tuesday it was deploying artillery to Iraq and readying its aircraft carrier for deployment to reinforce foreign military support for the Iraqi army's expected push to recapture Mosul, the de facto capital of Islamic State in Iraq. The Iraqi army and its elite units have gradually taken up positions around the city 400 km (248 miles) north of Baghdad, with international coalition forces keen to capitalise on the militant group's loss of territory in both Iraq and Syria. "We decided to bolster our support of the Iraqi forces this Autumn with the aim of recapturing Mosul," French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told a gathering of defence and military officials in Paris. "At this very moment, artillery is arriving close to the front line," Le Drian said, adding that the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier would soon leave for the Middle East. French defence officials declined to give details on the nature of the artillery. It was from Mosul's Grand Mosque in 2014 that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdad declared a caliphate spanning regions of Iraq and Syria. Syrian rebel wants "safe zone", says it needs international deal BEIRUT, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Turkey-backed Syrian rebels would like to see a safe zone set up in areas of the border they are capturing from Islamic State, but this would need an agreement between the United States, Turkey and Russia, a rebel commander said on Tuesday. Ahmed Osman of the Sultan Murad insurgent group also told Reuters that the Turkey-backed rebels would soon be forced to confront Kurdish militias because they had not withdrawn from the area as demanded by the United States and Turkey. The Turkish military launched an incursion into northern Syria last month with the stated aims of clearing Islamic State from its last foothold at the border and preventing expansion by the Kurdish militia seen as a threat by Ankara. Turkey won't accept delay in EU visa liberalisation deal - Erdogan spokesman ANKARA, Sept 6 (Reuters) - A delay in Turkey's visa liberalisation deal with the European Union until the end of the year is out of the question, a spokesman for President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday, adding that only minor issues remain to be resolved. Bavarian leader warns Merkel after "disaster" state vote BERLIN, Sept 6 (Reuters) - The leader of the state of Bavaria warned German conservatives on Tuesday that they faced an "extremely threatening" situation after a "disastrous" state election on Sunday which he blamed squarely on Angela Merkel's open-door migrant policy. Exposing deep rifts within Chancellor Merkel's conservative bloc, Horst Seehofer, the combative premier of Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU), said the chancellor had failed to respond to voters' worries about the migrant crisis. "The situation for the conservatives is extremely threatening," Seehofer told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily, adding voters were fed up with "Berlin politics". Merkel's conservatives suffered heavy losses in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on Sunday, coming third behind the centre-left Social Democrats and, more surprisingly, the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD). With a federal election just a year away, Merkel's ratings have fallen to a five-year low since opening German borders to about a million migrants last year and then championing a disputed EU-Turkey deal to solve the crisis. Amid the post-election row, Seehofer has also cancelled a trip to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said the state election disaster was a result of failing to draw the right conclusions after losses in other regional votes this year. Some CSU members have renewed calls for Merkel to put a limit on the number of migrants entering Germany. The Social Democrats (SPD), junior partner in Merkel's right-left coalition, have seized on speculation about whether she may decide not to run in next year's election, although there are no obvious rival conservative candidates. Deputy SPD chairman, Ralf Stegner, told Spiegel Online: "Mrs Merkel has clearly passed her zenith. The question is whether she still has her party behind her." Merkel, chancellor for nearly 11 years, on Monday took responsibility for the state election result but stood by her migrant policy.. She wants the blessing of Seehofer's CSU before declaring she will stand for the chancellorship again. With her party facing losses in a state election in the city of Berlin in two weeks, an INSA poll in Bild on Tuesday showed the conservative bloc unchanged on 30.5 percent at a national level, with the AfD up half a percentage point at 15 percent. Kyrgyzstan says Uighur militant groups behind attack on China's embassy By Olga Dzyubenko BISHKEK, Sept 7 (Reuters) - A suicide bomb attack on the Chinese embassy in the Kyrgyz capital last week was ordered by Uighur militants active in Syria and carried out by a member of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, Kyrgyzstan's state security service said on Tuesday. The suicide bomber, whose car rammed the gates of the embassy on Aug. 30, was an ethnic Uighur who held a Tajik passport in the name of Zoir Khalilov, the GKNB security service said in a statement. Three embassy staff suffered minor injuries in the attack and were taken to hospital. China condemned the attack and urged Kyrgyz authorities to quickly investigate. "The investigation established that the terrorist act was ordered by Uighur terrorist groups active in Syria and affiliated to the terrorist organisation the Nusra Front whose emissaries ... financed the terrorist action," the GKNB said. Listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States and Russia, the Nusra Front has renamed itself Jabhat Fatah al-Sham and said in July it had ended its relationship with al Qaeda. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Wednesday the East Turkestan Islamic Movement was a recognised terrorist group that constitutes a serious threat to China, Syria, Central Asia and many other countries and regions. "I want to stress that East Turkestan terrorist forces representing ETIM have planned and carried out many terrorist incidents targeting China inside and outside the country and committed bloody crimes," she told a daily news briefing in Beijing. The attack on the Chinese embassy was coordinated through a native of Kyrgyzstan living in Turkey, the Kyrgyz secret service said. It said an arrest warrant had been issued for another native of southern Kyrgyzstan, an explosives specialist trained in Syria and holder of a Tajik passport, who helped to prepare the attack but flew to Istanbul several hours before the explosion. Five Kyrgyz citizens suspected of complicity in the bomb attack have been detained, the GKNB said. An international arrest warrant has been issued for two other Kyrgyz citizens living in Turkey, it said. Apart from the ethnic Uighur suspected of having carried out the attack, all the others accused of ordering, financing and preparing it come from two southern Kyrgyz regions in the Ferghana Valley. The fertile but overpopulated and largely impoverished valley, which Kyrgyzstan shares with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, has become a source of radical Islamists in Central Asia, from where hundreds of young people have gone to fight for Islamic State and its allies in Syria. Kyrgyzstan shares a remote, mountainous border with China's Xinjiang region where hundreds have died in violence in recent years, blamed by Beijing on Islamist militants. Rights groups say the unrest there is more a reaction to repressive government policies, and experts have questioned whether ETIM exists as a cohesive militant group. New rail line to connect high-tech Tel Aviv with holy Jerusalem By Steven Scheer JERUSALEM, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are only 60 km (40 miles) apart but they often feel like different planets, not just in terms of mentality but because the commute from the Mediterranean to the hills can sometimes take two hours. That is set to change in the next 18 months with the completion of a $2 billion, high-speed rail line that will slash the time between the high-tech, business centre and Jerusalem's Old City to just 30 minutes. After more than a decade in the planning, the project, which has involved boring tunnels through mountains and spanning bridges over deep valleys, promises to transform Israel's two largest cities, or at least bring them a little closer. "We are doing in Israel what was done 200 years ago in the United States, after World War Two in Europe and in recent decades in Asia," Transport Minister Yisrael Katz said on Tuesday, touting several new rail lines in the works. "The main aim is to connect Jerusalem to the rest of the country." There is already a train between Jerusalem and the coast -- built during the Ottoman empire and added to by the French and the British -- but it's a slow, scenic route that takes an hour and 40 minutes, not ideal for commuting. That said, around 7,500 people still ride it most days. The new line takes a more direct route, cutting through the steep hills between the Mediterranean and Jerusalem, which sits 800 metres (2,640 feet) above sea level. Working with 10 foreign companies, the line runs over 10 bridges and through five tunnels. Construction began in 2010 and is scheduled to end in March 2018. Double-decker trains holding around 1,700 passengers will travel at 160 km/h. The plan is for four departures an hour, serving 50,000 commuters a day, or 10 million a year, said Boaz Zafrir, the chief executive of Israel Railways. Katz believes the train will give a jolt to Jerusalem's economy, encouraging more people from the coast to open businesses in the city, which is more religious and conservative than Tel Aviv. Some Tel Avivians, fed up with high rental costs and high humidity, may also decide to move to Jerusalem. Russia's Putin offers support to new Uzbekistan leadership By Olzhas Auyezov ALMATY, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged his support to the man emerging as the likely next leader of Uzbekistan on Tuesday, during a visit that put a stamp on Moscow's claim to be the ex-Soviet republic's closest ally. Putin flew into the Central Asian state to pay his respects to President Islam Karimov, who died from a stroke on Sept. 2 aged 78. Putin was shown on state television embracing Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev, 59, the favourite to succeed the authoritarian leader. In contrast, the United States, which vies with Russia for influence in Uzbekistan, has pressed its new leaders to improve the country's record on human rights and sent a mid-level diplomat after Karimov's death. "Of course, we hope that everything Islam Abduganiyevich (Karimov) had started will be continued," Russia's Rossiya-24 channel showed Putin telling Mirziyoyev, after laying flowers on Karimov's grave in the city of Samarkand. "For our part, we will do everything to support this path of mutual development and the people and leadership of Uzbekistan. You can fully count on us as your most reliable friends." His words appeared to be a call to Karimov's successors to continue the tough line that he pursued against internal dissent during his more than 25 years at the helm. Karimov died without publicly designating an heir. But the way Putin's visit was stage-managed pointed strongly to Mirziyoyev having already taken on the mantle of his successor. Mirziyoyev carried out the role of Putin's principal host. The two were shown chatting at the graveside, and embracing warmly at Samarkand airport. Putin also met Karimov's widow, Tatiana, and his younger daughter, Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva. Mirziyoyev, in turn, told Putin his visit "says a lot". "We will continue to develop that bridge which you had been building together with Islam Abduganiyevich for so many years in order not to break it, but to further solidify it," he said. The visit by Putin highlighted the competition among world powers for influence in resource-rich and strategically-located Central Asia, the region in which Uzbekistan is located. Hours before Putin's arrival, Daniel Rosenblum, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Central Asia at the U.S. Department of State, told reporters in Tashkent he had met Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Komilov the previous evening. Karimov had for years presented himself as a bulwark against a possible surge of Islamist militancy in Uzbekistan, which borders Afghanistan. He successfully manoeuvred between Russia and the United States to win backing for his sometimes harsh policies at home despite criticism from human rights groups and misgivings among Western governments. Under his rule, Uzbekistan managed to forge close relations with Washington, which used Uzbek air bases to resupply its forces in Afghanistan. There were also periods of estrangement when the United States accused him of crushing dissent. Karimov distanced Uzbekistan from Moscow in 2012 when Tashkent suspended its membership in the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation, which groups several ex-Soviet nations and is seen by some analysts as a regional counterbalance to NATO. More curbs on British bank overdraft fees needed say lawmakers By Huw Jones LONDON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Measures from Britain's competition watchdog to crack down on high and complex overdraft charges are not enough and regulators should impose a cap on fees, lawmakers said on Tuesday. Parliament's Treasury Select Committee reached this conclusion after asking Britain's main banks to detail their charges for arranged and unauthorised overdrafts. The responses from 12 banks published on Tuesday showed a wide variety of charges, from daily to monthly flat fees, while others charged interest on the sum owed. Consumer groups were dismayed when the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) last month set out ways to increase choice in retail banking and cut overdraft fees, but decided against capping unauthorised overdraft fees. Instead, banks can set their own limits and publish them. Andrew Tyrie, who chairs the parliamentary committee, said the banks' responses showed that some customers are being charged very high rates for arranged and unarranged overdrafts. "The CMA's proposed remedies, which include a self-regulated maximum monthly charge, don't appear robust enough to deal with this serious problem," Tyrie said in a statement. Rachel Reeves, also a member of the committee, said the CMA's report did not go far enough and responses from the banks showed that customers "don't stand a chance" of being able to identify the best deal, calling on the Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates banking practices, to act. "It must step up to the challenge and take necessary action, for example by imposing a monthly maximum charge on overdrafts, to ensure that those who are most financially vulnerable are protected," Reeves said. Antonio Simoes, chief executive officer of HSBC in Britain, said the CMA's range of proposals on overdrafts will help to increase competition and ultimately improve consumer outcomes. Co-operative Bank deputy CEO Liam Coleman said that as a "challenger" bank, it looked forward to supporting the committee's work to improve competition in retail banking. Italy breaks up ring smuggling Syrian refugees to Western Europe ROME, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Italian police said on Tuesday they had broken up a criminal network that smuggled mostly Syrian refugees across the Balkans to Western Europe. International police forces arrested 21 people in Austria, Germany and Italy on suspicion of people smuggling, a police statement said. The arrests followed an investigation conducted by prosecutors in the northern Italian city of Como. Most of those arrested were Syrian, while others were Algerian, Egyptian, Lebanese and Tunisian and were officially resident in the area around Como, Italy. The criminal group organised transport for more than 200 migrants from 2014 to 2016, charging at least 500 euros ($560) each, according to prosecutors, who worked together with the EU's judicial cooperation unit, Eurojust. The probe began in September last year after an Italian was arrested in Hungary "while driving in a vehicle with several illegal migrants", Eurojust said in a separate statement. Italian police said the smuggling ring picked up migrants who had reached Hungary, and from there they were moved on towards Germany, Austria, and more rarely to France and Italy. The so-called "Balkans route", used by hundreds of thousands of migrants last year, has been less popular since the European Union and Turkey agreed to stop boat crossings from Turkey to Greece earlier this year. But boat crossings from Libya to Italy continue at about the same rate as before, with some 100,000 arrivals so far this year. Netanyahu says Netherlands, Israel to improve water, gas supply to Gaza AMSTERDAM, Sept 6 (Reuters) - The Dutch government will assist Israel in improving water and gas supplies to energy-strapped Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday during a visit to the Netherlands. Netanyahu said that while his government is in a conflict with "terrorists" in the occupied territories, Israel still wishes to improve the quality of life for most people living there. "We have no battle, no qualms with the people of Gaza", he said. "The first step is to improve the supply of energy and water to Gaza, including laying a gas pipeline." He said he was publicly committing to making it happen. Gaza faces an energy crisis due to damage to its electric network from past conflicts, together with Israel's coastal blockade and other sanctions and restrictions. Currently the country has electricity less than half the time, using an 8-hour on, 8-hour off rationing system. A gas pipeline from Israel could allow Gaza's power plant to double generation from around 200MW at present. Water supplies to Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank have long been a point of tension between the neighbours, with the Palestinians saying Israel prevents them from accessing adequate water at an affordable price. Netanyahu did not elaborate on details of the gas pipeline plan, saying only the Dutch, with their long history of water management, would help. WHO declares Sri Lanka malaria-free in "truly remarkable" achievement By Nita Bhalla NEW DELHI, Sept 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared Sri Lanka free of malaria, hailing it as a "remarkable public health achievement" for the Indian Ocean island, once one of the most affected nations in the world. The WHO said Sri Lanka had become the second country in the region to eliminate the mosquito-borne disease after Maldives with no locally transmitted cases of malaria in Sri Lanka in the last three and a half years. The WHO attributed the South Asian country's success to a strategy that deployed mobile clinics, boosted public health awareness campaigns and intensively targeted the parasite, as well as the mosquito. This included providing drugs to populations who may unknowingly be carrying the parasite, which can survive in humans for more than 10 years. "Sri Lanka's achievement is truly remarkable. In the mid-20th century it was among the most malaria-affected countries, but now it is malaria-free," WHO's South East Asia Director Poonam Khetrapal Singh said late on Monday. "This is testament to the courage and vision of its leaders, and signifies the great leaps that can be made when targeted action is taken. It also demonstrates the importance of grass-roots community engagement and a whole-of-society approach when it comes to making dramatic public health gains." Almost half the world's population is at risk of malaria. The disease is both preventable and curable, yet hundreds of thousands of children die of it every year. Globally, there were 214 million cases of malaria and more than 438,000 deaths in 2015. Analysts say the actual figure is probably higher because many cases are not reported. Spread by the female anopheles mosquito, it affects people in most developing countries. Sub-Saharan Africa carries a disproportionately high share of the global malaria burden with almost 90 percent of the total number of cases and deaths. Improvements in prevention have cut the number of people dying of the disease by 60 percent since 2000, and several countries have recently eliminated it altogether. But, in South East Asia, the parasite which causes malaria is developing resistance to the most effective drug treatment and scientists are concerned resistance may spread to Africa. TARGETING THE PARASITE More than 80 percent of Sri Lanka's 22 million population live in rural areas, providing ideal ecosystems for Anopheles culicifacies, one of the main vectors for malaria in the region. And despite an armed conflict raging in the country's northern and eastern provinces, authorities - supported by international charities and the army - managed to effectively lay down the ground work for the elimination of the disease. Sri Lanka stepped up its battle against the killer disease at the turn of the millennium after malaria cases soared in the 1970s and 1980s. "Mobile malaria clinics in high transmission areas meant that prompt and effective treatment could reduce the parasite reservoir and the possibility of further transmission," the WHO said in a statement. It added that health education and grassroots engagement also helped in the fight against malaria. During the country's 1986/87 epidemic there were more than 600,000 cases of malaria, while during its 1999 epidemic, the number of confirmed cases of malaria reached almost 265,000. By 2006, Sri Lanka recorded less than 1,000 malaria cases annually, and since October 2012, there have been no locally transmitted cases. With Syria "safe zone" plan, Turkey faces diplomatic balancing act By Orhan Coskun and Ercan Gurses ANKARA, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Turkey will have to strike a balance between the conflicting goals of Russia and the United States if it is to achieve its ambition of a "safe zone" in northern Syria and build on an incursion which gave it control of a thin strip of the border. Turkey has for several years called for world powers to help create a zone to protect civilians in its war-torn southern neighbour, with the dual aim of clearing its border of Islamic State and Kurdish militia fighters and of stemming a wave of migration that has caused tensions with Europe. Western allies have so far balked at the idea, saying it would require a significant ground force and planes to patrol a "no-fly zone", a major commitment in such a crowded and messy battlefield. Russia, which backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has meanwhile argued in the past that any foreign incursion would be illegal. But Turkey's offensive into northern Syria, launched with its Syrian rebel allies two weeks ago, has created what officials in Ankara are already calling a "de facto safe zone", driving Islamic State militants from the last 90-km (55-mile) strip of border territory they still controlled. Turkey now wants international support for a deeper operation to take control of a rectangle of territory stretching about 40 km into Syria, a buffer between two Kurdish-held cantons to the east and west and against Islamic State to the south. "The first phase of the plan has been achieved. Turkey no longer has borders with Islamic State. But this area is still very thin and vulnerable to attacks from the other side," said a senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity so as to discuss the strategy more freely. "What will be done now will depend on coordination with coalition powers and the support they will provide," he said, adding an improvement in relations with Russia had "eased Turkey's hand" operationally. The Turkish-backed rebels, mainly Syrian Arabs and Turkmen fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army, took charge of the frontier between the towns of Azaz and Jarablus on Sunday after seizing 20 villages from the ultra-hardline Islamists. Ahmed Osman, commander of the Sultan Murad rebel group, one of the Turkish-backed forces, told Reuters he would like to see a permanent "safe zone" but that this would require an agreement between Turkey, the United States and Russia. CONFLICTING INTERESTS Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, his hand strengthened by Turkey's incursion, said on Monday he had raised the issue of a "safe zone" again with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama at the G20 summit in China. Neither commented directly on the Turkish proposal, though both said they wanted to build cooperation in fighting terrorism in Syria. Erdogan's spokesman said there were neither objections nor clear signs of support in the meetings. A second senior Turkish official acknowledged both Washington and Russia "had their hesitations" but that a "de facto safe zone" had now become a reality on the ground and that their support, particularly in establishing a no-fly zone, was crucial. Metin Gurcan, a former major in the Turkish military and an analyst for the Al Monitor online journal, said Washington and Moscow's divergent agendas in Syria raised serious questions about the viability of the Turkish plans. "We are talking about two superpowers with great stakes in Syria. They have contradicting strategic interests about the end goal in Syria," he said. More than five years of civil war have cut Syria into a patchwork of territories held by the government and an often competing array of armed factions, including Kurdish militia fighters, a loose coalition of rebels groups, and Islamic State. The priority for Washington, which backs rebel factions fighting Assad in the civil war, is destroying Islamic State and it has been at odds with Turkey over the role of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia. The United States has backed the Kurdish fighters against the jihadists, but Turkey sees them as a hostile force linked to Kurdish militants on its own soil. The two NATO allies have reached an uneasy agreement under which YPG fighters are meant to remain east of the Euphrates river, just outside Turkey's proposed buffer zone, although Ankara has said it has yet to verify that they are doing so. Turkey meanwhile appears to be navigating Russian concerns more smoothly since restoring relations with Moscow in August, nine months after ties were broken when it shot down a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian border. Erdogan's spokesman said on Tuesday that Russia had voiced full support for Turkey's operation to clear the border of Islamic State. For its part, Turkey has been less insistent on Assad's immediate exit. "They appear to be lessening their demands for the ouster of Assad in deference to their new relationship with Russia," said James Stavridis, former NATO supreme commander and dean at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. 'ARMAGEDDON' Aside from the diplomatic challenges, a push deeper into Syria by the Turkish-backed Arab and Turkmen rebels poses significant military risks. The Turkish-backed forces have been advancing towards Manbij, a city around 30 km south of Jarablus that was captured last month from Islamic State by a U.S.-backed coalition that includes the YPG. The Kurdish fighters are since supposed to have pulled back east of the Euphrates. "We know there are de facto YPG factions still there. If they don't retreat, Turkey will be determined and return Manbij to its owners," said Yasin Aktay, a spokesman for Turkey's ruling AK Party, referring to Arab and Turkmen communities who lived there before civil war broke out in 2011. The Islamic State-held town of Al-Bab, west of Manbij, is another a key strategic target for both Turkish-backed and Kurdish forces where Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, one of Islamic State's most prominent leaders, is thought to have been killed in a U.S. air strike last week. To its northwest is the village of Dabiq - the site, according to Islamic prophecy, of a final battle between Muslims and infidels, an event in Islamic State propaganda that will herald the apocalypse. EU election mission in Gabon says finds anomalies in results LIBREVILLE, Sept 6 (Reuters) - A European Union mission to observe Gabon's election said on Tuesday it had found anomalies in results from the southeast region of Haut-Ogooue where President Ali Bongo won 95.46 percent of the votes cast. UB40 backs UK opposition leader Corbyn in leadership contest LONDON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - British 1970s reggae band UB40 is backing Jeremy Corbyn in his campaign to be re-elected as leader of the opposition Labour party, calling the left-wing leader "incorruptible" and welcoming his commitment to the arts. UB40, whose hits include "Red Red Wine" and "Can't Help Falling in Love", is the biggest musical name so far to back Corbyn, who is expected to fend off a challenge to his leadership this month. "Jeremy has re-ignited an interest in politics for people who no longer felt included, and engaged and inspired a new generation of young voters who, for the first time, believe that they have an incorruptible politician who truly represents them," UB40 said on its Facebook page. "Westminster needs big change, and Jeremy is the man to do it." Corbyn, a veteran left-wing campaigner, has brought many new members into the party but has deepened divisions between its left and right wings following its defeat in last year's parliamentary election under previous leader Ed Milliband. Corbyn has pledged to reverse cuts in arts spending made by governments over the past few years. WHO issues tougher safe sex guidance for those who visited Zika zones GENEVA, Sept 6 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that men and women returning from where the Zika virus is actively spreading should practise safer sex or abstinence for six months, regardless of whether they are trying to conceive or showing symptoms. The guidance is a change from the WHO's interim recommendation on June 7, which referred only to men and had a shorter timeframe of at least eight weeks. The WHO said the update was based on new evidence on Zika transmission from asymptomatic males to their female partners and a symptomatic female to her male partner, as well as evidence that Zika is present in semen for longer than thought. Zika infections in pregnant women have been shown to cause microcephaly - a severe birth defect in which the head and brain are undersized - as well as other brain abnormalities. The connection between Zika and microcephaly first came to light last autumn in Brazil, which has since confirmed more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly. In adults, Zika infections have also been linked to a rare neurological syndrome known as Guillain-Barre, as well as other neurological disorders. Sexual transmission of Zika had been reported in 11 countries by Aug. 26, mainly through vaginal intercourse. There was a first documented case of a man catching the virus through anal sex in February 2016 and a suspicion of Zika transmission through oral sex in April. Although one man had Zika found in his semen 188 days after the onset of symptoms, the longest period that the virus has so far been found to remain infectious was 24 days, and WHO said its latest six-month advice was conservative. In another Zika sufferer, the concentration of the virus in his semen was 100,000 more than that in his blood 14 days after he was diagnosed. Evidence on persistence of the virus in semen and its infectiousness and impact on sexual transmission remains limited and the guidance will be updated again when there is more information, WHO said. WHO advises that pregnant women should not travel to areas with ongoing Zika virus transmission, and it warned people travelling to the Paralympic Games, which starts on Wednesday in Rio de Janeiro, to take precautions against mosquito bites. Colombia's Santos says peace deal will pass, more war a disaster By Helen Murphy and Luis Jaime Acosta BOGOTA, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Colombians are sure to approve a peace deal with Marxist FARC rebels in a referendum next month because they see the enormous economic opportunity and know renewed war would be a "catastrophe," President Juan Manuel Santos told Reuters. Santos has spent about six years trying to make the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) hand in weapons and end a half-century conflict that has killed more than 220,000 people and limited economic growth. The final obstacle is a single-question vote on Oct. 2 dividing Colombians between those who believe in forgiving the FARC for the national good and those who prefer to see the rebels defeated on the battlefield and jailed. "I'm sure 'Yes' will win," Santos, 65, said in an interview on Monday, days after reaching a final the peace deal. "If 'No' wins, we will return to what we had at the beginning of this government, six years ago. We return to armed conflict. That would be a catastrophe for the country." While most polls see voters approving the peace deal, the 297-page accord allows FARC leaders to serve alternative punishments - like clearing land mines - and gives some of them congressional seats without election. Neither is popular. "I hope the nation understands the great opportunity we have...if we harness that potential positively no one can stop us," Santos said at the presidential palace. Apart from the loss of life he hopes to end, he heralded an era of investment that could come from peace. The economy will benefit most in tourism, infrastructure and agriculture if the rebels leave their battle stations and allow progress in neglected rural Colombia. "We don't have more than five million visitors a year. Any respected country in terms of tourism could have 10, 15 or 20 million, it's enormous potential," said Santos, wearing a white shirt emblazoned with a 'Yes' logo. While the government says peace could bring up to two percentage points of growth annually, economists are more skeptical. Some see about 0.3 percentage point a year added to GDP as many of the benefits have already been absorbed during more than a decade of security gains. Santos, a former journalist and economist, declined to provide an estimate of the cost of implementing the peace pact, but said there would not be excessive spending. North Korea missile launches "extremely concerning" - France UNITED NATIONS, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Ballistic missile tests carried out by North Korea on Monday are "extremely concerning" and France favors a quick and firm reaction by the U.N. Security Council, France's U.N. ambassador said on Tuesday. North Korea fired three ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast on Monday, the South Korean and U.S. militaries said, as the leaders of the Group of 20 major economies held a summit in China, the North's main diplomatic ally. Speaking ahead of a Security Council meeting to discuss North Korea, Ambassador Francois Delattre said the launches were "a clear and unacceptable new violation of the Security Council resolutions" and a threat to regional and international peace and security. "We very much favor a quick and firm reaction by the Security Council to this new provocation," he said. Koro Bessho, Japan's U.N. ambassador, added: "We want to have a united and clear message," without elaborating. Monday's missile launches were the latest in a series by North Korea this year in violation of Security Council resolutions that were supported by China and that ban all ballistic missile-related activities by Pyongyang. North Korea rejects the ban as infringing its sovereign right to pursue a space program and self defense. Stunning Northern Lights show captured on camera in Finland Sept 6 (Reuters) - Green lights dance across the sky in a striking aurora display over Rovaniemi, northern Finland, captured on camera. Travel magazine All About Lapland posted on its Facebook page video of the stunning natural light show, the result of collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the earth's atmosphere. The phenomenon is known as aurora borealis, or the Northern Lights, in the northern hemisphere and as aurora australis, or the Southern Lights, in the southern hemisphere. Saudi says Syria ceasefire deal could be agreed within 24 hours LONDON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Tuesday there was a possibility of reaching an agreement on a ceasefire in Syria within 24 hours. Asked at a briefing with reporters in London to comment on the failure of the United States and Russia to agree a ceasefire, Al-Jubeir said he would not describe it as a failure but as a work in progress. "There is a possibility of arriving at an understanding in the next 24 hours or so that will test Bashar al-Assad's seriousness to comply," he said. But the minister went on to say Assad's history did not inspire optimism about implementation of any agreement. Egypt to host Yemen aid conference in March -minister CAIRO, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Egypt will host an international conference in March to coordinate humanitarian aid for Yemen, which has been devastated by a civil war, a minister in Yemen's Saudi-backed government said on Tuesday. The United Nations said last week that at least 10,000 people had been killed in the past 18 months. It said some 14 million of Yemen's 26 million population needed food aid and 7 million were suffering from food insecurity. "We are now preparing for a conference ... to be held here in the city of Sharm al-Sheikh ... We are preparing for this conference fully so we can go to the aid organisations and civil society organisations and many donors," Abdel Raqeeb Fateh, minister of local administration, told a news conference in Cairo. The conflict pits the Iran-allied Houthis and supporters of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh against President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who is supported by an alliance of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia. A Saudi-led coalition began a military campaign in Yemen in March last year with the aim of preventing Houthi rebels and Saleh supporters from taking control of the country. The Houthis and Saleh's General People's Congress (GPC), hold most of Yemen's northern half, while forces loyal to Hadi share control of the rest of the country with local tribes. Egypt, which supports the Saudi-backed government, has yet to comment about the conference and its aims. U.N.-sponsored peace talks ended in August without agreement, and the collapse in negotiations was followed by stepped-up fighting across the Arabian Peninsula country. China's online chatter muted ahead of Apple iPhone 7 launch By Adam Jourdan and Paul Carsten SHANGHAI/BEIJING, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Judging by the volume of online chatter, there's a lot less buzz in China ahead of this week's expected launch of the new Apple Inc iPhone, and people on the street say they're more likely to "wait and see" what the latest device offers than rush out to buy. Posts on China's popular Sina Weibo microblogging site show the iPhone 6, which took China by storm in 2014 with its new, larger screen, attracted around 15 times more comments in the month before launch than this year's model. The muted online anticipation for the iPhone 7 underlines the challenge Apple faces to revive growth in China, where an economic slowdown has slammed the brakes on what was once touted as the firm's next big growth engine. Apple's Greater China sales dropped by a third in April-June, albeit after more than doubling a year earlier, and revenue was down by more than a quarter to $8.8 billion - around a fifth of its total sales. Its 7.8 percent market share ranked fifth in China, trailing local vendors Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, OPPO and Vivo, which together accounted for 47 percent, according to IDC data. Also, the California-based company's online stores for iBooks and movies closed in China after Beijing imposed strict curbs in March on online publishing, and Apple has been on the losing side of intellectual property battles. Beijing student Wang Yue, 23, said she was in no hurry to buy an iPhone 7. "I'm looking forward to the launch, but I won't rush to buy anything," Wang, who uses an iPhone 6S that was launched last year, told Reuters. "I want to know what new functions it's got. My feeling is there are no real major changes from the 6S, so I think I'll hold off for a while." Apple is widely anticipated to unveil the new iPhone 7 at an event in San Francisco on Wednesday. The company, which doesn't give a regional breakdown for its iPhone sales, didn't respond to requests for comment. Among half a dozen consumers Reuters spoke to most said they would first check out the new phone's functions or wait for the price to drop. Only one planned to definitely buy any new model. "The word among consumers is the updates are not going to be revolutionary, but smaller changes," said Ben Cavender, Shanghai-based director at China Market Research Group, who described current consumer interest in China as "muted". WAIT FOR EIGHT More than anything else, the upcoming iPhone 7 may be a victim of the success of the iPhone 6. China sales of the iPhone 6 soared in the first quarter of last year, helping drive up Apple's China revenues by 71 percent. A year later, weaker sales of the 6S contributed to the company's first global decline in iPhone sales and first revenue drop in 13 years - though globally the 6S was the top-selling smartphone in April-June, according to Strategy Analytics. The Weibo chatter in the run-up to the iPhone 7 launch has, so far, topped the levels seen ahead of last year's 6S launch. Some Chinese shoppers are even already eyeing a potential iPhone 8 model that could be launched with more significant changes next year, the 10th anniversary of the first iPhone. "Because it's just one year, lots of people are choosing to wait for the iPhone 8," said Wang Bo, a finance worker in his thirties at a securities firm in Shanghai. "The changes with the 8 will be much bigger, which I think will be a drag on sales of the new phone this year." Wang, who uses both an iPhone 6S and a Huawei P9, said he plans to buy this year's new iPhone when it's released in China. But convincing other shoppers in China - and the United States - to replace their smartphone is a tougher sell today than in 2014, when many Chinese were buying an iPhone for the first time. Concerns that Apple has hit "peak iPhone" have buffeted the firm's shares this year, with the stock price up just 2.35 percent, lagging the benchmark S&P 500 Index. "The biggest thing that's changed since 2014 is that the iPhone is widely available," said Ben Thompson, who analyses the technology sector at Stratechery. "There's a lot more growth potential when people have their first chance to buy an iPhone, but that potential has now been realized." Spanish ex-minister linked to Panama Papers renounces World Bank job MADRID, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Spain's former industry minister, who resigned after coming under scrutiny over his links to a company that appeared in the Panama Papers, has withdrawn his application for a senior job at the World Bank, a government source said on Tuesday. Jose Manuel Soria could not be contacted for comment on Tuesday but newspaper El Mundo reported he had told the economy ministry in a letter he was withdrawing after being asked to by the government and because of how his application was being used politically. Soria's nomination as his country's representative at the World Bank, announced on Friday by the acting centre-right government, sparked public outrage in Spain and drew criticism from across the political spectrum. The news came at a sensitive time in Spanish politics, where bickering between parties is edging the country towards its third election in a year. He stepped down as minister in April after reports surfaced of his alleged links to an offshore company on the British island of Jersey, saying he was resigning to limit any damage to the caretaker government. Soria has denied any wrongdoing. The conservative People's Party (PP) has governed in an acting capacity since losing its majority in an inconclusive election in December following a string of corruption scandals. The PP again won the most votes in a second ballot in June, but still fell short of a majority in another hung parliament. Parties have yet to find a way out of the impasse, and PP leader Mariano Rajoy has struggled to get enough rivals to back him for a second term in office. Soria's nomination to the executive director position at the World Bank prompted the PP's political rivals to demand explanations in parliament from acting Economy Minister Luis de Guindos. Rajoy shrugged off the appointment on Monday, saying Soria was no longer a political figure, but even some regional PP leaders showed their discomfort in recent days and questioned his nomination. Romanian ex-PM Ponta under investigation in new probe BUCHAREST, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Romanian anti-corruption prosecutors said on Tuesday they were investigating former leftist Prime Minister Victor Ponta on suspicion of abuse of power and complicity in tax evasion. Ponta is already on trial in a separate case on charges of forgery, money-laundering and being an accessory to tax evasion, which he has denied. He resigned late last year after a deadly nightclub fire set off massive street protests. Prosecutors have prohibited him from publicly discussing the latest case, but he said on Facebook he would prove his innocence once he can comment. Prosecutors said Ponta used his position the time, as prime minister and head of the Social Democrats, to put businessman Sebastian Ghita on the party's list of candidates for the 2012 parliamentary election in exchange for his paying 220,000 euros ($247,000) to bring an international celebrity to Romania. "The purpose was to publicise some meetings with the celebrity so that Victor Ponta gain electoral capital," prosecutors said in a statement. "The 220,000 euros were obtained through intermediaries from Sebastian Ghita." Ghita won a parliament seat in the 2012 election. Prosecutors said he was also under investigation in the case as an accessory to tax evasion. He has denied wrongdoing. "Over the recent period in Romanian politics, it has become a habit for financially powerful people to easily gain elected public posts through being promoted by party leaders with the purpose ... of illegally funding parties' campaigns," the prosecutors' statement said. Prosecutors did not name the celebrity. Enough rhetoric, time to implement EU-Turkish migrant deal, says Bulgaria By John Irish PARIS, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Turkey must apply an agreement with the European Union to readmit migrants before it can get visa-free travel to the bloc as part of a deal to stem the flow of migrants and refugees, Bulgaria's foreign minister said on Tuesday. One million people fleeing conflicts in the Middle East arrived in Europe last year, many coming via Turkey, and several EU states, including Bulgaria, fear a fresh influx if the deal breaks down. "The EU-Turkey agreement on migration needs to stand and be implemented," Daniel Mitov, whose country borders Turkey, told Reuters in an interview. "What we want to emphasise is that the readmission agreement needs to be implemented before visa liberalisation." The EU's relations with Turkey have become especially strained after EU governments criticised the scale of President Tayyip Erdogan's crackdown on those he accused of organising or backing the failed coup on July 15. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday Ankara's promise to accommodate war refugees on its territory would be rendered void if the EU did not uphold its pledge on visa-free travel. "We need to continue the dialogue and find the way to downsize and decrease the temperature of the rhetoric that has emerged. We need to talk to each other and not at each other," said Mitov. Bulgaria detained about 14,000 migrants in the first six months of 2016, compared with 21,000 in the same period last year. EU SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA MUST STAY Mitov also said his country would not back a lifting of EU sanctions on Russia, which he said had disregarded international law in the Ukraine crisis. EU diplomats have said Russia's tactics of methodically lobbying southern and eastern EU member states is starting to erode the bloc's unity on sanctions imposed on Russia, making it potentially harder to renew them at the start of next year. "Russia has blatantly and ruthlessly violated international order and law. That can't be left without consequences and the only peaceful instrument is sanctions. "Until the Minsk agreements are fully implemented, I don't think there is any condition to ease sanctions. Quite the opposite," he said referring to accords aimed at restoring stability in Ukraine. A loyal ally of Moscow in communist times, Bulgaria -- now a member of NATO -- remains almost entirely dependent on Russian energy supplies and many Bulgarians still feel a deep affinity with their giant neighbour across the Black Sea. Spain rescues 177 migrants off southern coast MADRID, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Spanish authorities said on Tuesday they had rescued 177 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa on six boats off the southern Mediterranean coast. Spain's maritime rescue service said it had spotted some of the boats by airplane. It sent ships to carry out the rescues at various points on the country's southern shore, including near Malaga. There were eight minors among those rescued, it added. In 2015, 3,845 migrants entered Spain via sea crossings, according to the International Organization for Migration, a tiny fraction of the 956,000 that reached Europe the same way. France sees sharp fall in number of citizens joining Islamic State PARIS, Sept 6 (Reuters) - The number of French citizens travelling to join Islamic State in 2016 has dropped drastically from last year, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Tuesday, putting the fall down to military reverses suffered by the militant group. With Europe's largest Muslim population, France has been a major centre for recruitment of would-be jihadis joining Islamic State, with hundreds of people travelling to the region since the group took control of large swathes of Iraq and Syria. Speaking to security agents at the ministry, Cazeneuve said there had been a "fourfold decrease" with just 18 French people recorded travelling to the area in the first six months of the year compared with 69 in the corresponding period in 2015. The depletion, he said, was explained by the group's recent losses on the ground but also by France's "enhanced anti-terrorism efforts." According to interior ministry figures released on Tuesday, 689 French citizens are still in the region, including 275 women and 17 underage fighters. U.S. urges Bahrain to free jailed rights campaigner Nabeel Rajab WASHINGTON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - The United States voiced concern on Tuesday about the detention of leading Bahraini democracy campaigner Nabeel Rajab and called on the Manama government to release him immediately. The call by the U.S. State Department came just two days after The New York Times published a letter by Rajab that said he was facing prosecution for his work exposing human rights abuses in Bahrain and criticizing the war in Yemen. Prosecutors in Bahrain filed new charges on Monday against an unidentified man, believed by rights activists to be Rajab, for "publishing a column in a foreign newspaper in which he deliberately broadcast news, statements and false rumors that undermine the kingdom's prestige and stature." Asked about the new charges, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the United States was "very concerned" about Rajab's "ongoing detention and the new charges filed against him." "We call on the government of Bahrain to release him immediately," Toner said. "We have concerns about the state of human rights in general in Bahrain and we're engaging with the government ... on all these issues." Rajab said in his letter to the Times that he had been detained, mostly in isolation, in Bahrain since the beginning of the summer. He said Bahrain had some 4,000 political prisoners and the highest prison population per capita in the Middle East. "This is a country that has subjected its people to imprisonment, torture and even death for daring to desire democracy," Rajab wrote. He said he also was accused of "insulting a neighboring country," Saudi Arabia, by sending notes on Twitter calling for an end to the war in Yemen. Rajab, who met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry earlier this year, was critical of the United States for selling billions of dollars worth of arms to Saudi Arabia for the Yemen conflict. Rajab said recent strong U.S. statements on Bahrain's human rights problems were good "but unless the United States is willing to use its leverage, fine words have little effect." He urged U.S. President Barack Obama to use American influence to resolve the Yemen conflict. Opposition political groups in Bahrain staged large protests during the Arab Spring of 2011, when demonstrators across the Arab world took to the streets calling for greater democracy. The protests in Bahrain were put down when neighboring Saudi Arabia sent troops to restore order. (OFFICIAL)-UPDATE 1-Former executives of Brazil's Taurus accused in Yemen arms deal, shares dive By Lisandra Paraguassu RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Brazilian prosecutors said on Tuesday they had charged former executives of Formats Taurus SA, Latin America's largest gun maker, in May for dealing with a known Yemeni arms trafficker in violation of international sanctions, prompting the company's shares to plunge. Taurus confirmed on Monday a Reuters report that two former executives had been charged over a deal in 2013 that allegedly sent arms to Yemen's civil war, but the company said it was only a concerned party in the case. "Although the company and its management are not parties in the proceedings, as soon as the company learned of the case, which could harm its reputation, it requested and was granted the status of concerned party to clarify the facts and help the investigation," Taurus said in a late Monday securities filing. The company declined to comment immediately on the statement by prosecutors on Tuesday. Taurus shares plunged 8 percent on Tuesday, their biggest drop in 16 months. The case against the former Taurus executives, currently sealed by a judge in the southern city of Porto Alegre, near Taurus headquarters, according to prosecutors, underscores concerns about fallout for the firm, which benefits from its designation as a strategic defense company by the Brazilian government. Gabon leader under scrutiny as EU questions election win By Gerauds Wilfried Obangome LIBREVILLE, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Gabon's re-elected president, Ali Bongo, came under international scrutiny on Tuesday as a European Union mission questioned the validity of his narrow win, France recommended a recount and the African Union said it would send mediators. Opposition leader Jean Ping, who has said the election was stolen, called on "the international community to help the people of Gabon," telling Reuters on Tuesday: "Everybody knows the result and everybody knows that Bongo is doing everything not to accept it." Ping has said the number of votes cast in southeastern Haut-Ogooue province were inflated to give victory to Bongo, whose family has ruled the central African oil-producing country for almost half a century. At least six people died in riots in the capital, Libreville, and other cities in the days after the announcement of results from the Aug. 27 election, which gave Bongo the victory over Ping by about 5,000 votes. Calm has since returned to the streets. Ping said on Tuesday that between 50 to 100 people were killed since last week in Libreville. There was no independent confirmation of the figure. Election monitors have focused on Haut-Ogooue, a Bongo stronghold, where official figures showed he won 95.46 percent of the vote on a 99.9 percent turnout. The EU observer mission said the number of non-voters and blank or invalid ballots were at variance with the reported participation rate, adding turnout in other regions was around 48 percent. "The integrity of the provisional results for this province is consequently put into question," said Mariya Gabriel, the EU's chief observer of the polls. A government spokesman told Reuters he would not comment on the EU statement until Wednesday. Opposition parties in Africa frequently say votes are rigged, but the results are rarely overturned and it is unusual for a president once declared winner, as in this case, to face significant international pressure over the election. The African Union said it would send a delegation to Gabon likely to be led by Chad's Idriss Deby, one of Africa's longest-ruling presidents and the current chair of the pan-African body. Ping, a former diplomat and African Union Commission chairman, said he had been told the delegation would arrive on Thursday. He said he had no faith in the constitutional court because it was tied to the Bongo family and he wanted a recount done under international supervision before any appeal to that court. Manuel Valls, prime minister of former colonial power France, suggested a recount would be wise and urged authorities to help locate about 15 of its nationals - out of a local French community of around 14,000 - it says are missing. The government has dismissed all calls to publish more detailed results, prompting the justice minister to resign. INCREASED CONCERN A main opposition complaint is that Gabon's oil wealth has not been shared fairly among its 1.8 million population. Shopkeepers and government staff returned to work on Tuesday. Parliament also resumed, with lawmakers gathering sombrely in the Senate building after part of the National Assembly complex was badly damaged during last week's protests. France has in the past intervened in its former African colonies, such as when it helped oust Cote d'Ivoire's then-president, Laurent Gbagbo, in 2011 after he refused to concede defeat in an election. But it has ruled out intervention in Gabon where it has a military base. Up to 1,100 people were arrested last week during the unrest, according to the interior minister, although many have since been released. After insult, U.S. and Clinton call for Duterte to show respect By Arshad Mohammed and Jeff Mason WASHINGTON/TAMPA, Sept 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Tuesday stressed the need for ties with the Philippines to be based on mutual respect, after Manila's new leader raised worries about the future of the key alliance by calling President Barack Obama a "son of a bitch." Despite U.S. dismay over Duterte's remarks, current and former U.S. officials played down the impact, saying they did not expect any serious damage to ties at a time of high tensions over China's extensive territorial claims in Asia. The State Department said a planned first meeting between Obama and his counterpart Rodrigo Duterte on the sidelines of a regional summit in Laos on Tuesday was canceled because the tone of the Philippine leader's rhetoric raised questions about the chances of productive talks. "Words matter, and we want to see an atmosphere that is cordial and open to strong cooperation," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told a regular news briefing in Washington. Clinton, who as secretary of state was an architect of Obama's policy of emphasizing the importance of the Asia Pacific to U.S. interests in the face of a rising China, said Obama was right to cancel the meeting. "When the president of the Philippines insulted our president, it was appropriate in a very low-key way to say: sorry, no meeting," she told reporters on her campaign plane. "We have a lot of ties between the United States and the Philippines. And I think it's very important that we have a relationship, but there has to be a certain level of respect that is expected on both sides," Clinton said. Duterte made the remark about Obama while explaining that he would not be lectured over extrajudicial killings in the war against drugs he has launched since taking over two months ago and which has killed about 2,400 people. He has previously called the pope a "son of a whore" and the U.S. ambassador a "gay son of whore." The Philippines voiced regret for Duterte's comments after Obama canceled a formal bilateral meeting. The White House then said Obama might speak with Duterte informally. "FEELING HIS WAY" Duterte's volatile nature threatens to complicate Washington's ties with its closest ally in Southeast Asia as it tries to forge a united front in the region in response to China's extensive claims in the strategic South China Sea. The Philippines has been central in this effort due to an international court case it brought and won against Beijing. In March, the United States and the Philippines agreed on five locations for U.S. military facilities in the country under a new security deal. The deal grants Washington increased military presence in its former colony through rotation of ships and planes for humanitarian and maritime security operations. Asked about Duterte's comments, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said the defense relationship with the Philippines was a "strong" and "longstanding" one. Speaking to reporters, Carter also described the Philippines' new defense minister, Delfin Lorenzana, as someone who was "very knowledgeable about all the things that we do together." An official of the U.S. State Department said "government to government" relations with Manila remained strong. "The areas that we believe we have robust, strong cooperation with them, we are not going to just simply throw that aside." The official noted that Duterte was new to national leadership having served as a city mayor. "He is maybe feeling his way into the new job," the official said. Former U.S. officials said China would be pleased by the U.S.-Philippines friction. "Time will tell whether President Duterte steps back from this episode and realizes he needs to recalibrate his choice of words in engaging U.S. leaders," said Amy Searight, a former senior Pentagon official now at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. Evan Medeiros, Obama's former top Asia adviser and now a senior analyst at the Eurasia Group, saw the row as a "speed bump, not a road block" in U.S.-Philippines ties. I was #trending on Twitter! That's my reward for criticising Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. I also realised how the Delhi chief minister feels, when he criticises Prime Minister Narendra Modi every morning on Twitter. If an ordinary journalist like me can figure on Twitter's India trends for few hours, imagine the influence the Delhi CM wields in the virtual world. When I retweeted a post of the channel I work for, I experienced the impact of Arvind Kejriwal's phenomenal presence. Photo credit: Reuters The big difference in the way the Delhi CM and I use Twitter is the time of the day we choose to tweet. I prefer to indulge on the micro-blogging website post morning, preferably at night, because, for me, there are other important chores of real world that need priority. For the Delhi CM, perhaps, his virtual world is equally, if not more important than the real world. So one can see how he begins his day with a tirade against the PM, not to forget it has to be in context of the latest issues. Twitter is all about fresh updates (read hashtags) after all. On Sunday, when I retweeted a post of the channel I work for, I experienced the impact of Arvind Kejriwal's phenomenal presence, and its ability to inspire trolls. My retweet was about Arvind Kejriwal running away in Rome, to evade any questions on the histrionics of AAP's tainted MLA Sandeep Kumar. The Delhi CM prefers only a one-way communication over Twitter or a video message, and even at a rare press conference, no cross-questions are welcome. So it was no surprise that he chose not to respond to our journalist when asked about the now infamous "sex tapes" of his MLA. It seemed interesting that the Delhi CM was avoiding a journalist in person, while he continues to challenge the our country's PM everyday on social media. My one retweet taught me that when a leader runs away, it's up to paid trolls and so-called fans to defend him in the virtual cosmos. You should be prepared for the choicest abuse and their retweets. I was luckier because joining the troll brigade was Delhi health minister Dr Satendra Jain, and Arvind Kejriwal himself. In true form, they made clear their discomfort at having their authority questioned by the odd journalist. In their attempt to trample opposition, they ended up making me popular on Twitter. As I read it, it was a miscalculated and politically immature step by the leader and his loyal followers, as more people are now reading, retweeting and liking my tweets. Such immaturity will make no difference to my life, but can prove an expensive misjudgement against a seasoned politician/leader. Twitter accounts for 13.7 per cent of users on social media - that is more than 22.2 million accounts. This number is smaller than the population of Punjab, which is of great interest to the Delhi CM. MissUniverse.com says that the pageant "empowers women to develop the confidence they need to achieve their personal best. A confident woman has the power to make real change, starting in her local community with the potential to reach a global audience." How they achieve this by asking the same versions of "how will you positively affect the world?" or bringing attention to their bikini bodies is actually worth a decent enough research grant. On the September 5, Japan selected a young girl to represent the nation in the Miss Universe pageant set for this year. Priyanka Yoshikawa is a 22-year-old, confident, half-Indian Japanese. She was born in Tokyo to an Indian father and Japanese mother. Her victory comes a year after Ariana Miyamoto was crowned Miss Japan. She was bi-racial too and was the first black Japanese woman to wear the crown. Priyanka Yoshikawa being crowned Miss Japan 2016. Picture courtesy: Instagram (priyanka_official) Now, Miss Universe isn't really a relevant event. It's not as glitzy as it used to be and its TV ratings have been going down every year. But as the event entails a certain sense of nationalism and attractive women, news cycles tend to care about the event. Nonetheless, Priyanka's victory has recieved backlash from hyper-nationalists in Japan. The reaction has been similar to that after Miyamoto's victory last year. On the Girls Channel website, for example, one poster wrote, "The idea is to have a Japanese representing Japan." "I think it's bad that a 'haafu' has become the Japanese representative," added one commentator, while another posted: "I don't understand this selection criteria." Priyanka's response? "Before Ariana, 'haafu' girls couldn't represent Japan", she told AFP, using the Japanese term for children born to mixed marriages. "We are Japanese," she said. "Yes, I'm half-Indian and people are asking me about my 'purity'. Yes, my dad is Indian and I'm proud of it. I'm proud that I have Indian in me. But that does not mean I'm not Japanese." This is a confident, measured response from a confident, measured young girl, but the question really isn't what she thinks. Rather, it's why a country as economically and socially evolved as Japan cannot accept a Japanese citizen, albeit of mixed heritage, representing it's "pride" on a world stage. Interestingly, even as the Japanese authorities are trying to keep up with the times, and accepting bi- and multiracial persons born to Japanese parents as one of them, the purity zealots are not impressed. Unfortunate, isn't it? Crowning mixed-race beauty queens has attracted trolling even in the United States, when Indian-American Nina Davuluri was chosen as Miss America 2014 and was racially abused by white supremcists. United States' first black president Barack Obama is trolled online on a daily basis from equally unpleasant and politically backdated lunatics, who'd probably vote for Donald Trump this November. Coming back to Japan and its over-emphasis on national culture and tradition, beauty pageants become the frontiers of such cultural politics in which past and present collide head on. Just like a section of hypernationalist and racial purist Japanese people created a ruckus after Ariana Miyamoto was crowned Miss Japan, Priyanka Yoshikawa's victory is not being celebrated as much as it ought to be. Albemarle-Charlottesville NAACP will elect the nominating committee after the presentation Special Education and Parents Rights during its monthly meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at the Mary Williams Center at the Jefferson City School Center at 233 Fourth St. NW. The annual Freedom Fund Banquet is set for Sept. 16 at the Doubletree Hotel Charlottesville. albemarle-cvillenaacp.org. (434) 220-1493. Albemarle County Public Schools will make the proposed learning resources for secondary history and social science available for public review from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday through Sept. 22 in Room 349 of the Albemarle County Office Building on McIntire Road. (434) 972-4021. Crozet Volunteer Fire Department and Western Albemarle Rescue Squad are accepting registration for the five-week Citizen Fire & Rescue Academy, which provides an overview of the fire and rescue systems in Albemarle County. It will meet from 7 to 9:30 p.m. on Thursday evenings beginning Sept. 22 at the Crozet Volunteer Fire Department at 5652 Three Notchd Road. acfirerescue.org. (434) 296-5833. Girl Scouts of Virginia Skyline holds open houses for potential Girl Scouts and volunteers, from 6 to 6:45 p.m. Wednesday in the cafeteria of Yancey Elementary School, from 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesday in the cafeteria of Agnor-Hurt Elementary School, from 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday in the auditorium of Murray Elementary School, from 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday in the auditorium of Greenbrier Elementary School, from 6:30 to7:30 p.m. Thursday in the cafeteria of Hollymead Elementary School, from 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday in the library of Jackson-Via Elementary School, from 7 to 8 p.m. Monday in the auditorium of Brownsville Elementary School, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the cafeteria of Scottsville Elementary School, from 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesday in the auditorium of Johnson Elementary School, on Sept. 14 in the cafeteria of Baker-Butler Elementary School and from 7 to 8 p.m. Sept. 14 in the auditorium of Burnley-Moran Elementary School. Additional open houses will be in September. gsvsc.org. (434) 382-8013. Job Corps holds an information session on its program at 10 a.m. Thursday at Virginia Workforce Center at 2211 Hydraulic Road. Job Corps provides no-cost technical training and education for young people ages 16 through 24 who qualify as low-income. The program offers hands-on training in more than 100 career technical areas, including automotive and machine repair, construction, finance and business services, health care, hospitality, information technology, manufacturing and renewable resources. Job Corps also offers the opportunity to earn a high school diploma or a GED, prepare for college and find resources for English language learners. Information sessions are held on the second Thursday of each month. (703) 671-5300. Junior League of Charlottesville accepts applications through Sept. 19 for its fall 2016 community grants program, which awards up to $2,500 to help nonprofit community organizations meet immediate local needs. Details and online applications are available at jlcville.org. (304) 228-7030. Orange County Department of Fire and EMS is accepting registration for the Fire Fighter 1 class, which will meet from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. each Wednesday from Sept. 21 to Feb. 28 at the Mine Run Volunteer Fire Department, 31077 Old Plank Road in Locust Grove. The Emergency Medical Technician class will meet from 7 to 10 p.m. each Monday from Sept. 19 to Jan. 30 at the Orange County Rescue Squad Building at 151 Berry Hill Road in Orange. Register in advance at fstrs.virginia.gov. (540) 672-7044. Piedmont Virginia Community College offers Getting Started information sessions, providing an introduction to PVCCs degree and certificate programs, as well as information about placement tests, student services and other resources. Getting Started sessions are offered from 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at Westhaven Community Center at 803 Hardy Drive, during the Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello on Saturday, from 6 to 7 p.m. Monday at Nelson Memorial Library in Lovingston and from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Louisa County Library. Additional sessions will be held at various locations through September. pvcc.edu/outreach. (434) 961-5275. Quit Smoking Charlottesville, a free support group, will meet from 5 to 6 p.m. Thursday and each Thursday through Nov. 3 at the Charlottesville/Albemarle Health Department at 1138 Rose Hill Drive. (434) 296-5525. Senior Statesmen of Virginia will host Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor at Slate magazine, presenting The Supreme Court: What happened last term; whats likely to happen this term from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Sept. 14 at the Senior Center at 1180 Pepsi Place. (434) 974-7756. Womens Initiative seeks entries of short essays and poetry of 500 words or fewer through Dec. 15 for its annual writing contest honoring women who have transformed life challenges into opportunities for change. Full submission guidelines are available at thewomensinitiative.org/change or (434) 872-0047. Virginia Blood Services holds blood drives from noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport Authority, from 9 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. Wednesday at Fluvanna County High School in Palmyra, from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday in the first-floor dining conference room at UVa Medical Center, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday and Tuesday at UVa Law School and from 8 a.m. to noon at Plow & Hearth in Madison. (434) 977-8956. TUESDAY Local government The Culpeper County Board of Supervisors holds its regular monthly meeting at 10 a.m. in the county administration building, 302 N. Main St., followed by a closed session to consider and discuss the countys acquisition of a piece of commercial property in town. The boards evening meeting for September has been canceled. Blue Ridge Art League Meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. Stephens Episcopal Church on East Street. The league offers Plein Air painting and other classes, demos, field trips to galleries and more. 540/321-4245 or blueridgeartleague@gmail.com. Blood drive At St. Stephens Episcopal Church runs from 12:30 p.m.to 5:30 p.m. Sept. 6 on the third floor above the Food Closet, 120 N. Commerce St., Culpeper. 540/825-8786. WEDNESDAY Silver Citizens Club Meets from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Culpeper Library. 540/829-2124 Gordonsville Firemans Parade Starts at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 7 on Main Street followed by carnival at the fairgrounds every night through Saturday. Church revival services At Beulah Baptist Church at 7:30 p.m. nightly through Friday with various guest preachers. Culpeper Chess Club Meets at 6:30 p.m. at the Culpeper Library. All ages and skill levels welcome. 540/727-0695. THURSDAY Culpeper County School Board Capital Planning Committee meets at 4:15 p.m. in the school board office, 450 Radio Lane. FRIDAY Family Feud & ice cream The Culpeper County Library presents a special night for teens and their families with ice cream sundaes and a game of Family Feud. Teams will be assigned on arrival. Sign up in advance by calling 540/825-8691 or write lbostian@cclva.org. Somerset Steam & Gas Show An annual celebration of steam engines, tractors and agricultural heritage, the 40th annual Orange County event starts at 8 a.m. Friday and runs through Sunday. Gate donation $7/day or $10 for all three days. Children 12 and younger are free. Proceeds support local charities and volunteer fire & rescue. somersetsteamandgas.org SATURDAY Poker Run To benefit the Culpeper Food Closet leaves at 10 a.m. from Peppers Grill in Culpeper. Approximate 100 mile scenic ride, $20 per hand, cash prizes sponsored by Culpeper ABATE. 540/937-3924 Puppet story time At 11 a.m. at Lollipop Station, 179 E. Davis St., Culpeper. Free. Steak dinner Mitchells Presbyterian Church will hold a steak dinner from 5 to 7 p.m. Adults are $12, children 6-12 are $5. Proceeds will go to restoring the exterior of the church. Call 540/825-1079 for more information. A Bugs Life The Library of Congress Packard Theater presents the animated Pixar movie A Bugs Life at 2 p.m. at 19053 Mt. Pony Road in Culpeper. No reservations required. Free. 202/707-9994. Safety Last The Library of Congress Packard Theater presents Harold Lloyd in this silent comedy at 7:30 p.m. at at 19053 Mt. Pony Road in Culpeper. No reservations required. Free. 202/707-9994. SUNDAY Culpeper 9/11 tribute Bugles Across America players will sound taps for the 15th anniversary of Sept. 11 at 8:46 a.m. in front of the Culpeper Volunteer Fire Dept. on West Davis Street; 9:03 a.m. in front of the sheriffs office on West Davis Street; 9:37 a.m. in the Wine Street Memorial Park and 10:03 a.m. at the corner of Main and Davis streets downtown. CCHS A Cappella Choir Performance from 9:30 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. at St. Lukes Church. Mid-Day Lions Bingo Doors open at 5 p.m., early bird games begin at 6:30 p.m. at Peppers Grill, 791 Madison Rd. in Culpeper. $1,000 jackpot and three Progressives at bingo that raises money for community charities. Homecoming At Beulah Baptist Church features a 10 a.m. message followed by dinner and guest preacher the Rev. Douglas Green at 3 p.m. 540/937-5563 A joint statement was issued by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vietnamese Premier Nguyen Xuan Phuc, calling for a peaceful resolution of the disputes over the South China Sea, on Saturday. The two leaders called the attention of all parties to resolve the disputes through peaceful settlements without threat or use of force. However, China continues to build military forces on some islands in the South China Sea, resulting to weakening ties with other claimants. "Both sides also called on all states to exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that could complicate or escalate disputes affecting peace and stability, respect the diplomatic and legal processes, fully observe the Declaration on the conduct of parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and soon finalize the Code of Conduct (COC)," Modi and Phuc said in the joint statement. China, Philippines and Vietnam have been into bitter arguments over the ownership of several islands and reefs in South China Sea. In July, the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration issued decision favoring the claim of the Philippines over South China Sea. During the Indian Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi's state visit last Sept. 2 to 3, Modi announced the plan of Indian government to provide four new patrol boats to Vietnam. Its school time again. Every morning a couple of students will hoist the flag of the United States of America for all to see. Really, what does that red, white and blue piece of cloth mean? Does it guarantee that each and every child attending school will be safe throughout the day? Does the American flag provide a blanket of security? I think so! The author is unknown to me, however his words need repeating: The flag will always be there as long as we want it to be there, and it will stand guard over the hearts of America the true and trusting heart of a child. As long as we want it to be ... Keep that in mind. The we is you and me. The month of September speaks loud and clear about our nation. Dates to remember Yesterday was Labor Day, celebrating those men and women who struggled to build this country into a mighty nation. Earlier this month, V-J Day was recognized. It was Sept. 2, 1945, when Japan formally surrendered and brought to a close one of the nastiest world conflicts ever fought. Sept. 11 is Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance. Francis Scott Keys Star Spangled Banner was written in 1814. The VFW was established in 1899 and the Ladies Auxiliary of the VFW was organized on Sept. 14, 1914. Sept. 16 is Recognition Day of our Prisoners of War and those still listed as Missing in Action. On Sept. 17, 1787, our U.S. Constitution was approved. The United States Air Force was established on Sept. 18, 1947. And Gold Star Mothers Day is the 25th of this month. Those are proud accomplishments if WE want them to be. It was Daniel Webster who stated, May the sun in its course visit no land more free, more happy, more lovely, than this our own country. Let each of us be an example of the preciousness of the freedoms we enjoy so it can be passed along to our school children. The American flag continues to fly dependent on our commitment. Lessons learned The Watchman-Examiner offered these suggestions: If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn. If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight. If a child lives with fears, he learns to be apprehensive, but if a child lives with encouragement he learns to be confident, to be patient and to be appreciative. If a child lives with acceptance, he learns to love. If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself. If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith in himself and in those about him. If a child lives with friendliness, he learns that the world is a good place in which to live. Senior thoughts Ill conclude with these senior notes: I dont have to go to school or work. I dont have a curfew. I have a drivers license and my own car. I have ID that gets me into bars. And I dont have acne. Life is great and I have more friends I should send this to, but right now I cant remember their names. The American flag continues to fly dependent on our commitment. The Government of Canada has announced a massive new investment in a Dalhousie-led international ocean-science collaboration one that positions Canada to become a global leader in the search for safe and sustainable solutions for harnessing the worlds ocean resources. The Honourable Scott Brison, President of the Treasury Board, was on campus Tuesday to share the news that the federal government would be committing $93.7 million through its Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) to support the Ocean Frontier Institute. The Ocean Frontier Institute (OFI) is a powerful new partnership linking ocean experts from Dal, Memorial University and the University of Prince Edward Island with world-leading national and international collaborators in research, government and industry. The governments investment represents the largest research grant in the history of Dal and its two partner universities. OFI has also attracted $125 million in additional support from provincial governments and partners including a $25 million gift from business leader and philanthropist John Risley for a total of $220 million in funding, an unprecedented investment in Canadas ocean-science sector. Read also: A game-changer for ocean research: Inside the new Dalled Ocean Frontier Institute" "This investment will truly help transform Atlantic Canadian ocean research from world-class to world-leading," said Minister Brison, announcing the funding on behalf of the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, minister of science, who was in Waterloo, Ont. for a national announcement of CFREF-funded initiatives. Minister Brison also thanked Risley for his generous support, calling his commitment essential and catalytic to the success of the OFI proposal. A vote of confidence in Atlantic Canada As Minister Brison noted in his remarks, OFI will focus its efforts specifically on the Northwest Atlantic and the Canadian Artic gateway a region of the global ocean where changes happen first and fastest. Treasury Board President Scott Brison speaks at the OFI announcement event. "The Ocean Frontier Institute's research will help us better understand these changes and help us develop solutions that will help us contribute to the safer and more sustainable use of the ocean off Canada's coast and throughout the world," said Minister Brison, who was introduced at the event by Halifax Member of Parliament Andy Fillmore. More than 200 people gathered into the unfinished fourth floor of Dals Steele Ocean Sciences Building for Tuesdays announcement, which featured various speakers from across Dal and other OFI partners. (The location will eventually house staff, researchers and grad students with OFI.) Dal President Richard Florizone thanked Minister Brison and his government for what he called a visionary investment. "Canada has just placed a huge vote of confidence in this region," said Dr. Florizone. "What better place for this visionary investment than right here in Atlantic Canada? We are entirely up to this challenge." Dr. Florizone said the ocean represents one of Canadas greatest opportunities for sustainable economic growth and plays a key role in other issues related to food supply, security and the regulation of the Earths climate. All of these, he explained, are reasons why we need to understand and manage it better. "It is a problem that is too big and too complex for any one nation, one company or one university to advance and work on alone, he said. That is why ... we have worked over the past 18 months to build the Ocean Frontier Institute. Four of the top five ocean institutes in the world as well as three federal departments, the Royal Canadian Navy, 19 industry partners, the Nova Scotia Community College and the National Film Board will work together with OFIs partner universities to uncover these new frontiers in ocean science, management and innovation. Read also: A game-changer for ocean research: Inside the new Dalled Ocean Frontier Institute" An ambitious partnership Dr. Florizone also thanked Risley for his investment and for his patronage of research in Atlantic Canada over the decades. While Risley was unable to attend the event in person, Dr. Florizone delivered remarks from the Clearwater Seafoods founder, in which he praised Dal and the federal government for contributing to the partnership. I have confidence the OFI can become an engine for regional economic growth and firmly establish us as global leaders in ocean science, he said. Dal President Richard Florizone (left) with the vice-presidents of research for Memorial (Richard Marceau) and UPEI (Robert Gilmour). Dr. Florizone was joined at the podium by Richard Marceau, vice-president of research at Memorial, and Robert Gilmour, vice-president of research at UPEI, who both praised the parties involved for making OFI a reality. "Our partnership is ambitious," said Dr. Marceau, noting OFI will lead the way to achieving breakthroughs in areas such as sustainable fisheries, sustainable aquaculture, marine safety, and ocean data and technology. "Through these breakthroughs we will enhance the safety of fishing, shipping and the oil and gas industry. Dr. Gilmour highlighted his institution's strength in aquatic epidemiology, anchored by the research of Canada Excellence Research Chair Ian Gardner. Dr. Gardner's research focuses on developing cost-effective testing strategies and surveillance programs for the prevention and control of diseases in aquatic food animals. "As we all recognize, the health of the ocean and the creatures that reside in and around them is crucial for our survival and also for the survival of future generations," said Dr. Gilmour. Dal's award was the largest of 13 awards worth $900 million that were announced Tuesday across the country under the CFREF funding program, which is administered by the federal governments tri-party funding bodies. Alfred Leblanc, vice-president of communications, corporate and international affairs the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (one of those federal bodies), said the award for OFI was well deserved. "I'm delighted at the outcome," said Leblanc, noting the awards are made after a rigorous, competitive and merit-review process with leading experts and senior officials. "We are very excited about the work that will be done under this program." Connections across sectors Martha Crago, Dals vice-president of research and master of ceremonies for Tuesdays event, thanked colleagues across Dal, Memorial and UPEI and other scientists in federal laboratories and in international partner labs for helping create the vision for OFI and helping her shepherd the proposal along the way. "What is now this empty shell in which you stand will be transformed into a vibrant workplace filled with scientists, graduate students, post-docs," said Dr. Crago, in reference to the unfinished space. Dr. Crago also introduced the two individuals who will help lead OFI. Wendy Watson-Wright, who has worked with Fisheries and Oceans Canada as well as the United Nations, will serve as OFI's CEO, while Marlon Lewis, former chair of Dals Department of Oceanography, will serve as launch scientific director until a permanent director can be recruited. Read also: A game-changer for ocean research: Inside the new Dalled Ocean Frontier Institute" Also speaking at the event was the Honourable Kelly Regan, Nova Scotias minister for advanced labour and education. Minister Regan heralded Ottawa's investment as a "game-changer" for Nova Scotia. "Thank you for your support of our university sector and sharing the vision of our premier that our universities help drive the provincial economy," she said. "It's nice to have a federal government that is a partner in our plans to move Nova Scotia forward." She gave special thanks to Dal for helping pursue the economic development goals laid out in the One Nova Scotia report and action plan. "This, folks, is how we foster change right here in our own backyard, on our own shoreline." Representing one of OFIs industry partners, Jean-Paul Deveau, president of N.S.-based marine biotech company Acadian Seaplants, told a story about the disappearance of a particular type of seaweed off the coast of PEI to illustrate why OFI is so important. "We don't know if it's climate change or some other factor that wiped out the seaweed in Prince Edward Island, he said. This announcement today and the research that's going to result will help to answer questions like this. This research will create knowledge so that ocean industries in Atlantic Canada will be able to provide good, sustainable jobs and economic prosperity far into the future." Following the formal portion of Tuesdays event, Minister Brison and others had a chance to hear first-hand from Julie LaRoche, a Dal marine biologist, and graduate students about some of the ocean data-capture technologies being spearheaded in Dal labs. OFI will enable Dal and its partners to create more of these kinds of groundbreaking technologies, with the aim of changing the nature of ocean science going forward. As Dr. Florizone said earlier in the day: Together we really will chart the oceans future. The Honourable Scott Brison and Halifax MP Andy Fillmore chat with Dal Biology Professor Julie Laroche (left) and her research team. More on OFI It could be the opportunity of a generation. Thats the phrase Aldo Chircop chooses to describe the Dal-led Ocean Frontier Institute and, in particular, its financial support from the Government of Canada. A faculty member in the Schulich School of Law and the Canada Research Chair in Maritime Law and Policy, Prof. Chircop is passionate about the need for a more robust 21st-century framework for studying the ocean. Ocean problems are so complex; we cant do research the way we did in the past and think we are making a dent, he explains. Weve got to deal with complex problems through new structures and processes that meet that complexity. At the other end of campus, Biologist Boris Worm knows as well as anyone that great science often comes from great teams. But he also knows the sort of teamwork required to address the challenges of a rapidly-changing ocean issues like climate change, global food production and access to the Arctic needs to be more collaborative, more interdisciplinary than ever before. We need to be able to talk more fluidly about problems and solutions at the same time, on the same teams, says Dr. Worm, whose marine conservation research has generated headlines around the globe. What matters most in ocean research right now is how we can turn our relationship with the ocean into a more productive and sustainable one. And thats really the core mission, as I see it, of the Ocean Frontier Institute. Transformative commitment, global scale So what exactly is the Ocean Frontier Institute? In dollars and cents, the Ocean Frontier Institute (OFI) is an unprecedented investment in Canadian ocean research. On Tuesday, September 6, the Government of Canada announced $94 million in funding for OFI through its Canada First Research Excellence Fund the largest research grant in Dalhousies history. To that, OFI adds an additional $125 million in funds committed from its various partners, including a $25 million gift from philanthropist John Risley to support OFI operations. That makes it a $220-million project, a scale of ocean research the likes of which Canada has never seen before. This is a historic and transformative financial investment in Canadian ocean research, says Dalhousie President Richard Florizone. It positions Dalhousie and Canada as world leaders in ocean science, sustainability, management and innovation. Read more: "From world-class to world leading": Federal gov't announces $94M investment in Dal-led Ocean Frontier Institute As a collaboration, OFI is transformative in its scope. At its heart is a new partnership between Dalhousie, Memorial University of Newfoundland and the University of Prince Edward Island. It then links this Atlantic Canadian ocean expertise with national and international partners. OFI includes eight international ocean research institutes (including four of the top five in the world), three Canadian federal departments, the Royal Canadian Navy, the National Film Board, the Nova Scotia Community College and 19 industry partners ranging from local small businesses to international corporations like IBM. But understanding what OFI represents why its set to become one of the worlds most significant ocean science collaborations requires an appreciation for the importance of its area of focus: the Northwest Atlantic and Canadian Arctic gateway. In terms of its absolute area, the Northwest Atlantic is really rather small, explains Marlon Lewis, professor emeritus in Dals Department of Oceanography and the launch scientific director for OFI. But it has unique characteristics that make it inordinately important for a whole wide range of physical, chemical and biological problems. The Northwest Atlantic is a place where ocean changes are happening first and fastest. Its home to highly productive marine ecosystems and one of the most active carbon sinks on the planet, helping mitigate and respond to climate change yet also causing chemical changes to the water, the consequences of which are not fully understood. The Northwest Atlantic also produces 72 per cent of Canadas fish and seafood exports, hosts major international shipping routes and is Canadas gateway to the Arctic, critical for global security. OFI will help us better understand the changes happening in the Northwest Atlantic from the complex interactions between the atmosphere and the upper ocean, to the shifting dynamics within its ecosystems, explains Martha Crago, Dalhousies vice-president research and chair of OFIs executive council. But, just as importantly, it will connect that knowledge with policy experts, governments, industry the partners needed to ensure safe and sustainable ocean development. We all recognize that the ocean is changing, but we cant just stop there we need to come up with solutions for how to use the ocean responsibly in the face of those changes, explains Paul Hill, current chair of Dals Department of Oceanography and who played a key role helping coordinate the OFI proposal. And that requires partnerships: with academics to understand the complexity of ocean change; with governments mandated to deal with the ocean in a safe and sustainable way; and with industry to take economic advantage of the opportunities that are out there. Read more: "From world-class to world leading": Federal gov't announces $94M investment in Dal-led Ocean Frontier Institute A rising tide OFI is a key milestone in Dals long and impressive history of ocean research. Its core foundation was built over 50-plus years, but during the past decade a number of new initiatives have served to strengthen Dals ocean research capacity and enhance its international connections: the Dal-led Ocean Tracking Network, launched in 2007; the 2011 awarding of a Canada Excellence Research Chair in Ocean Science and Technology, held by Doug Wallace; the 2012 launch of MEOPAR (Marine Environmental Observation Prediction and Response), a Network of Centres of Excellence focused on ocean hazards; German Chancellor Angela Merkels visit to campus that same year, where she signed an agreement between Halifax and Germany in ocean research and technology. Then came news of the federal governments Canada First Research Excellence Fund competition: a total of $1.5 billion in available funding targeting university-led projects that would help propel Canada to global prominence in particular fields of expertise. Starting in 2014, Dr. Crago and a team of researchers across Dalhousie began discussing how this funding opportunity could propel Dals ocean research momentum into overdrive. We had been able to work with and see these big European projects and how valuable it was to be able to draw from and share resources with all the different institutes, says Julie LaRoche, Canada Research Chair in Marine Biogeochemistry and Microbial Genomics, speaking about organizations like Germanys GEOMAR. When you collaborate on an international scale, you just have so many more opportunities to understand whats going on in the ocean. GEOMAR and Germanys Christian-Albrechts-Universitat in Kiel would become two of the eight international institutes involved in OFI; together with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts and Columbia Universitys Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, they represent four of the top five highest-ranked ocean research institutes in the world. But OFI would also need to leverage Canadian expertise. As the project took shape, it began to build the framework for a new institutional collaboration with Memorial University of Newfoundland and the University of Prince Edward Island. Each brought something important to the table. In UPEIs case, it was the team of Ian Gardiner, Canada Excellence Research Chair in Aquatic Epidemiology, and its research on aquaculture and marine disease control and prevention. Memorial offered scientific and applied strength in offshore fisheries, aquaculture and coastal community engagement. There are a lot of great researchers at both Dal and Memorial who are collaborating, but there are many projects where we could better draw on each others work, says Paul Snelgrove, Memorial professor and director of the NSERC-funded Canadian Healthy Oceans Network. OFI provides an opportunity to wrap these pieces together in a much more effective way, so the sum is more effective than the individual parts. Understanding and addressing ocean change The core of OFI is built around 17 interlinked research modules, each tackling a different ocean topic or challenge from an interdisciplinary perspective. Through these, OFI will provide funding to support research and deliver data science and technology tools to policy-makers, scientists and industry. Some of the areas where OFI hopes to make an impact include: improving prediction and mitigation of major storms; better management of the oceans living resources; more sustainable approaches to aquaculture; marine transportation policy and risk reduction; and new data capture and IT tools to monitor the ocean. At the same time, OFI will offer a series of interrelated programs to enhance Canadas ocean expertise and help educate future ocean scientists, leaders and innovators. These include a training program for PhD students and postdocs, a visiting fellows initiative and the previously announced Ocean School, an education partnership between Dalhousie and the National Film Board. Overseeing all of this activity will be OFIs CEO, Wendy Watson-Wright. A three-time Dal alum, Dr. Watson-Wright comes to OFI from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) where she served for a number of years as DFOs assistant deputy minister of science, and most recently worked as regional director-general for the Gulf Region. She has significant international experience, having led UNESCOs Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission as executive secretary and assistant director general from 2010 to 2015. We have the best in the world in this collaboration at OFI, says Dr. Watson-Wright. I know we can be a global leader in the many facets of ocean research and education, and we are thrilled to have been given this opportunity." Assisting her in guiding OFI through its initial months will be Marlon Lewis, set to lead OFIs research program until a permanent scientific director can be recruited. A veteran of Dals Department of Oceanography for more than three decades, he is also the founder of Halifax ocean technology company Satlantic. Im excited for the opportunity to help shape the integration, the initial interactions between the different groups involved, and to help bring people together, says Dr. Lewis. And not just within OFI but more broadly working to integrate better with industry, through organizations like COVE [Halifaxs Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship] and others. Meeting a global challenge Its this broad network of connections between universities, international institutes, government labs, industry that has so many in Dals research community excited by OFIs potential. There will be an equal opportunity for really terrific research to better understand the ocean, as well as to expand the benefits that we will be able to derive from the ocean while still sustaining it, explains Sara Iverson, Dal biology professor and scientific director of the Ocean Tracking Network. That combined focus is so important to what OFI is looking to achieve. Its going to just exponentially explode the ocean research capacity at Dalhousie, and with such strong national and international partnerships, it will be one of the most significant international institutional efforts ever put forward for the ocean. "Its a very big deal. More on OFI The following editorial was written by Bloomberg View editors. After days of conflicting accounts of Donald Trumps views on immigration, a period of confusion marked by words such as softening, Trump made his intentions clear last week. The line is as hard as ever, even if the policy is all over the place. Wednesday afternoon, Trump had a strange, subdued meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. At a joint appearance afterward, the Republican presidential candidate was positively demure, speaking of joint U.S.-Mexican endeavors to benefit the hemisphere. By evening, he was back in Phoenix, giving a speech in full-nativist mode. He shouted out what he called a plan on immigration, but it wasnt actually a plan. No matter what happens in November, the basic bargain of an immigration agreement remains unchanged: some form of increased security against illegal immigration along with a humane and economically rational dispensation for the millions of undocumented immigrant families who have been living and working in the U.S. for years. In terms of tone, Trump is all over the place, but hes consistent, at least, in refusing to engage with this reality. His signature idea is still the wall a beautiful southern border wall. In fact, the wall is largely beside the point. The most effective place to cut illegal immigration is in the workplace, with a mandatory system of employer verification. Without that, if theres gainful employment to be had, strivers will find a way in. As for getting Mexico to pay for Trumps irrelevant wall, Pena Nieto rejected the idea out of hand and with more credibility than his visitor could muster. Trump also said hed immediately deport 2 million criminal immigrants, without saying how he arrived at that large number or how they would be identified and rounded up. Other undocumented immigrants would have to leave and then apply for legal entry, he said. He promised an expanded deportation task force to make this stick but he also said that some undocumented immigrants might, after all, be allowed to stay. It was unclear who, when or why. Amid the confusion, Trump keeps piling on the distortion. There is no paperwork, Trump said of Syrian refugees coming to the U.S., whose number he greatly exaggerated. In fact, the refugees go through an extensive vetting process. Ignoring years of public and private research, he said the government has no clue how many undocumented immigrants there really are: Maybe 30 million, he said, a figure many times debunked. Immigration needs to be controlled, to be sure even though the number of undocumented immigrants has declined since the Great Recession, and the number of illegal crossings has plummeted in recent years. Screening applicants for higher skills makes sense, too. The U.S. should debate that idea. But Trumps outlandish scare stories and fantasy promises are no help in framing a better policy. I want to let readers know how important the recent Jurassic Quest event at the Northern Wisconsin State Fairgrounds was to Chippewa Falls. This is the newest and largest edition of Jurassic Quest managed by a group of educated young professionals who have a passion for dinosaurs and putting smiles on childrens faces. Prior to their arrival they rented numerous tents, gates, telehandlers and forklifts from a local rental company. They arrived with 1215 semi-trailers driven by mostly independent truckers, of which some stayed the full weekend in our community. The main group of 25-plus staging, managing and production crew stayed in a local motel and had meals purchased from local restaurants and/or catered boxed lunches delivered daily from Chippewa Falls. Over 45 individuals from our community were hired to work the weekend event. Jurassic Quest rented everything locally and spent thousands of dollars in our community. I volunteered Saturday and Sunday at the fairgrounds' main entrance welcoming guests and can honestly state that over 90 percent of the tens of thousands of tourists who attended Jurassic Quest were not from the Chippewa Falls/Eau Claire area. These are all new potential customers to Chippewa Falls businesses. The biggest complaint I heard was they could not find overnight lodging. Our local food stands at the fairgrounds were constantly running out of food as they experienced one of the best weekends of the year while generating money for their missions. I visited with guests who left after going through the 100,000-square-foot exhibition, and everyone was thrilled for the experience and felt it was well-worth the admission fee. Discount tickets were not available since Jurassic Quest rented the Fairgrounds venue and was responsible for all ticketing. Jurassic Quest was an exceptional professional educational adventure that provided a well-needed economic boost in our community, and I wish to publicly thank them for choosing Chippewa Falls as a destination. I hope to see them return and bring more tourists into Chippewa Falls. Rusty Volk, Chippewa Falls The luxury automaker, after consolidating its car market in India, has been eyeing the two-wheeler market with its premium range motorcycles. BMW plans to bring its entire range of motorcycles via its BMW Motorrad motorcycle brand in India. The luxury automaker, after consolidating its car market in India, has been eyeing the two-wheeler market with its premium range motorcycles. The first motorcycle after the all-model launch plan will be the BMW G310R, which is gearing up for launch in the next few days. Following the G310R, the rest of the models will be launched to make a complete portfolio. The launch will range from the G310R to the K1600GTL, as Indian customers have now opened up to premium biking. While the plus 300 cc has been becoming the norm in India, despite the continuing dominance of the commuter space, it seems justified for the BMW to launch 300 to 1600 cc motorcycles in India. The BMW Motorrad has the BMW G310R currently being made at the TVS Motors Hosur plant, designed fully by the former. The BMW will have the G310R powered by the 313 cc, 4-stroke, single-cylinder engine that creates 34 bhp of power at 9,500 rpm and 28 Nm of torque at 7,500 rpm. Power will be transferred to the wheels via a 6-speed transmission. Expect the G310R to price around the sub Rs. 2 lakh price point, which will make it the least priced offering from the BMW stable. The entire range of the BMW Motorrad launching in India will include the F700GS, F800R, F800GS, S1000RR, S1000XR, R1200GS, R1200GS Adventure, BMW R Nine T and BMW K1600GTL. The launch will include locally manufacturing, assembling and also importing from Thailand to make use of the India-Thailand FTAs (Free Trade Agreements) lower excise duties. The Thailand imports will also be offered at an affordable price making full use of the tax advantages between India and Thailand. Source: Vicky.in The upcoming MUV from Tata Motors, the Hexa, was spied during an ad shoot on the Manali-Leh highway. The launch of the Hexa is expected to take place later this year around the festive season. The MUV will take on the likes of the Toyota Innova Crysta, the Mahindra XUV 500 and the Maruti Ertiga. The Hexa was showcased at the 2016 Delhi Auto Expo. The car doesn't feature too many variations compared to the production-spec model showcased at the Expo. Showcased at the 2016 Delhi Auto Expo, the Hexa doesnt feature too many modifications compared to the production-spec version displayed at the Expo. During the ad shoot, two Hexas were spotted -- one in a metallic blue colour while the other in a brown colour. The former was a five-speed automatic version whereas the latter was a 4x4 model. Both the cars look beautiful with imposing design language, however, their borrowed traits from the Aria MPV are visible, giving it with a more MPV-ish character rather than the SUV-ish. Powered by a 2.2-litre VARICOR diesel motor, the Hexa pumps out 156PS at 4000rpm and max torque of 400Nm at 1700-2700rpm. It will be available in both manual as well as automatic versions. Poised to replace the aging Aria, the Hexa gets projector headlamps with DRLs, wraparound tail lamps, 19-inch diamond cut alloy wheels, a bigger Harman-powered ConnectNext infotainment system as compared to the Zest siblings, smart USB charging ports, twin exhausts, etc. The touchscreen panel comes with features such as playback via USB, iPod, SD Card, Aux and Bluetooth audio. The ambient lighting or as Tata likes to call it, mood lighting, is offered in eight different colours (white, orange, red, purple, blue, cyan, bluish green, and fluorescent green), which change as per the drive mode selected. The prices of Tata Hexa are expected to start upwards of Rs 11.50 lakh and will max out at approximately Rs 18 lakh. No matter how aggressively Tata prices the Hexa, the battle will be for the second spot as the Innova Crysta enjoys complete supremacy in its segment thanks to its sheer following, unmatched reliability, durability and of course, the trust of the Innova brand. Source: CarDekho.com New Delhi: India's biggest coal company CIL is in "deep consultation" with Bangladesh to export the dry fuel, Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said on September 6. The development comes in the backdrop of a sharp decline in demand for coal as well as with an inventory of over 80 million tonnes (MT) of the fuel at the pitheads and power plants. "We are already into it and they (CIL) are in very deep consultations with Bangladesh for exporting it," he told reporters on the sidelines of an event here. Exports to Bangladesh would also aid CIL in increasing sales as India in July inked a landmark deal with Bangladesh to construct a 1,320 mw coal fired power plant, the biggest project under bilateral cooperation. On the decline in offtake and volumes, he said as of March 31, there was an inventory of over 80 MT both at the pitheads and power plants. "Where would they stock the coal? We had more than 80 MT. Now if your entire production in 500 odd MT and you have 80 MT of stocks, you will have to look at it and that is why CIL did not produce more. Second reason is that in August there were unusual rains, which impacted mining. "I don't think it is an issue as they (CIL) will catch up as there is exposed coal available and can meet the requirements," he added. On coal production target, Swarup said the ministry is working towards achieving the coal production target of one billion tonnes and will decide on reviewing this after 2-3 years. The government has not scrapped this target. The government has set a production target of 598 MT for CIL for the ongoing fiscal. The miner is eying to double its production to 1 billion tonnes by 2020. When asked about subdued demand, he said the government does not make plans keeping in view the present situation. Explaining further, he said: "We plan for the future. Our power plants are working at a plant load factor (PLF) of 62 per cent, but in the future we believe this PLF will go to 70 per cent and that is the time when we will have more demand. "Also additional capacity will be added. So there is no logic in bringing down coal production. What will we do if there is demand in the future." Another point is that with UDAY, the financial position of the state discoms will improve and this will also have a positive impact on coal demand, Swarup said. On Friday, the rupee continued its stellar performance against the US currency for the fourth straight day ending higher by 13 paise at 66.82 on heavy dollar selling. Mumbai: The rupee surged by 31 paise to 66.51against the US dollar in early trade today on selling of the American currency by exporters and banks amid sustained foreign fund inflows. Forex dealers said a higher opening in domestic equity market and a weak dollar against other currencies overseas after last week's below-par US growth data also supported the rupee. Forex market remained closed yesterday on account of "Ganesh Chaturthi". On Friday, the rupee continued its stellar performance against the US currency for the fourth straight day ending higher by 13 paise at 66.82 on heavy dollar selling. Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex spurted by 248.75 points or 0.87 per cent at 28,780.86 in early session today. Mumbai: Shahid Kapoor is on a high, these days. His phenomenal act in Haider still fetches him accolades, two years down. His doped out pop star act in Udta Punjab ensured that his fans will forgive him for the debacle that was Shandaar and shower him with more love. The actor then was blessed with an angelic baby girl with wife Mira Rajput. In an interview with a popular magazine the actor candidly confessed, opening up on the importance of his better half, in his life. "In many ways I feel protected by Mira. Although she is young, she is self-assured. We talk about many things and she gives me interestingly different point of views, which I respect," he said. The actor added, "Of course I am protective about everyone I love. But I feel equally protected. When you have somebody who loves you, around you, someone who is looking out for your best interests, it makes you feel safer." Shahid will next be seen in Vishal Bharadwajs ambitious Rangoon co-starring Kangana Ranaut and Saif Ali Khan and reportedly will also be seen alongside Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone in Sanjay Leela Bhansalis ambitious Padmavati. Mumbai: Bollywood item girl-turned actress Rakhi Sawant was spotted in an all infuriated avatar thrashing the censor board after it issued an 'A' certificate for her upcoming movie 'Ek Kahani Julie Ki'. The 37-year-old bold actress threatened Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chairman Pahlaj Nihalani of barging in his house and pulling him down while accusing him of making bribe driven decisions. "The censor board should be shut down as they do nothing but to take money from big banners and tease the poor producers. They openly ask for bribe and take unnecessary advantage of their position; the people sitting there are literally incompetent and uneducated. I will make sure we shut it down. I will get inside Pahlaj Nihalani's house and pull him down from his chairman's chair. If he doesn't know anything he should resign and I will sit at his place, I think I can do the job better, at least I'll not be biased and categorize producers according to their banners," she said. Reportedly, Rakhi's forthcoming thriller drama was initially given a U/A that was later changed to an 'A'. "Is it because we have not given them any money that is why they have changed our certificate to 'A' or the reason is just that Rakhi Sawant is in the movie. I guess they have issues that an item girl has managed to become a heroine. They have all lost their minds. I'm country's daughter, a Bollywood star, an actress and an item girl at least not a porn star. So, how can you take such a decision," she added. B-town's drama queen also took on porn star-turned actress Sunny Leone to justify her point. "I have not come from abroad and I am not a porn star. They have issued an U/A certificate to a film like 'Ek Paheli Leela' in which a porn star has shown all kind of filth, nudity and obscene content and we have not even worn short dresses. I am struggling from the last 12 years in the industry and have no adult content in the movie, still we are sitting with an A certificate," she said. Rakhi further said that she has approached the Bombay High Court and urged them to take cognizance of the Censor Board's irrational decisions. "I am definitely going to teach a lesson to the censor board, I'm going to fight against them, I have already made an appeal before the High Court to take strict action against them following their biased decision. I think the court should take the screening responsibility in their hands and remove the censor board from the country," said the 'Buddha Mar Gaya' actress. However, Rakhi said the movie will follow its scheduled release date despite all the fuss. Helmed by Aziz Zee, the movie also features new comers Amit Mehra, Jimmy Sharma and Saniya Pannu in important roles. Mumbai: Salman Khan recently landed in Manali for the shoot of his next film Tubelight and fresh pictures are being shared by loyal fans from the hilly region. He was snapped sporting the traditional Himachali cap, when he was welcomed in the area. Later, he was spotted being surrounded by the locals as he was dressed in a check shirt with a sweater over it. This seems to be the final look for Salmans character, as he was later seen in another similar outfit during the shoot. With a simple attire and a simple hairstyle, Salman looked really innocent roaming around the sets of the film with Aayush Sharma. Incidentally, Salman's look will remind you of his characters in his recent films 'Sultan' and 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan', where he was also dressed in similar sweaters for certain scenes. Several other pictures had also gone viral when Salman had reached Manali. Take a look at them below. Reportedly, the shooting schedule in the region is to proceed for a period of four weeks. Previously, the team had shot the first schedule in Ladakh and director Kabir Khan had shared several scenic pictures from the schedule. Tubelight is slated to release during the festival of Eid next year and the film also stars Sohail Khan and Chinese star Zhu Zhu. Mumbai: And, it's official. There have been unconfirmed reports doing the rounds about the title of Imtiaz Ali's next, but this new picture that has showed up on social media has put all rumours to rest. The film has officially been christened 'The Ring,' going by this image of a clap-board, mid-shot. Imtiaz Ali was quite glad to return to Prague, which served as a consequential location for his cult Ranbir Kapoor starrer 'Rockstar'. SRK has seemed quite uninhibited about the impending Independence Day, 2017 clash of the film with in-form Akshay Kumar's Neeraj Pandey directorial, 'Crack'. Anushka, however, has been on a roll, with two 300 crore films with Salman Khan and Aamir Khan to her name, and her return on-screen with the superstar she debuted with, being much in the news for all the reasons. Shah Rukh Khan was last seen in the commercial debacle, 'Fan', though most have deemed it as a royal comeback of the extraordinary actor in him. Shah Rukh Khan's has some really exciting projects in the pipeline, including Rahul Dholakia's immensely anticipated 'Raees' and Aanand L. Rai's untitled project, which will have the much loved actor portray a midget on-screen. There seems to be no dearth of trouble for Hrithik Roshan. Adding to a rather horrid year, the hunky actors Facebook feed was hacked on Monday by an unidentified youth, leading to some unintentionally hilarious consequences. The hacker went live via Hrithiks Facebook feed for a few minutes, silently going about the session, which confirmed to the viewers and the actors fans that his account had indeed been broken into. The hacker seemed to be in no hurry to end the session, until it was pulled down presumably by Hrithiks own team. It didnt end just there, with the hacker proceeding to change the display picture of the page to his own, making the situation worse. The actor had to ultimately deactivate his Facebook account, swinging swiftly into damage control mode. The account was put back online later, after Hrithiks team had managed to retrieve the page successfully. Hrithik took to the page to confirm the hack and wrote, An enterprising individual managed to hack my page earlier in the day. However, the matter has been taken care of and the page is mine once more. It is strange to note that Shruti Haasan, a Chennai ponnu, born and brought up in the city has never been to the neighboring Puducherry, which is very often frequented by filmy personalities. The actress who recently visited the tourist destination revealed this on his social media handle. Shruti posted, On my way to Pondicherry for the first time ever I know so strange considering Ive grown up in Chennai. Apparently, many of her followers were surprised about it and most of the people there have welcomed Ulaganayagans elder daughter to their city. Shruti is busy with Sabaash Naidu with her dad and Singam III with Suriya, apart from the Telugu version of Premam, thats causing so many debates online! Neighboring Singapore has over the past week said it detected more than 240 cases (Photo: AFP) Indonesia can not afford to thoroughly check for a possible Zika outbreak, a health ministry official said, as Southeast Asia's most populous country must focus on fighting dengue, a potentially fatal virus also carried by mosquitoes. The World Health Organisation (WHO) lists Indonesia among Asian countries with possible endemic transmission of, or evidence of, local Zika infections, but authorities in the sprawling nation of 250 million people have yet to report any recent infections. Both dengue and Zika are spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is common across Southeast Asia. Neighboring Singapore has over the past week said it detected more than 240 Zika cases while Malaysia reported its first locally transmitted infection on Saturday. The Philippines confirmed on Monday its first case of Zika this year and said it was "highly likely" it had been locally transmitted. "At the moment we cannot go out there and test everybody or every suspected case for Zika because it is too costly," Muhamad Subuh, director general for disease prevention and control at Indonesia's health ministry, told Reuters. "There are other priorities like dengue fever, which is more prevalent and more dangerous, and we have to allocate our resources accordingly." Like many of its neighbors, Indonesia records thousands of dengue infections a year. Indonesia is Southeast Asia's biggest economy but the World Bank estimates the government spends 5.7 percent of its gross domestic product on public health, which works out to $99 per person per year, compared with $459 in Malaysia, the region's third largest economy. Subuh said the ministry was actively monitoring for Zika, but experts said authorities would struggle to identify patients as few hospitals offered Zika testing, and those that did expected patients to pay more than $150 for a test, putting it out of reach of many ordinary Indonesians. "The biggest challenge right now is that we may miss Zika-infected patients because of lack of facilities and testing," said Tedjo Sasmono, a scientist at Jakarta's Eijkman Institute, one of only two facilities in Indonesia capable of diagnosing Zika. The institute receives no government funding specifically for Zika and relies on funds from private hospitals, he said. Most people who are infected with Zika have mild symptoms but infections in pregnant women have been shown to cause microcephaly - a severe birth defect in which the head and brain are undersized - as well as other brain abnormalities. In adults, Zika infections have also been linked to a rare neurological syndrome known as Guillain-Barre, as well as other neurological disorders. Regional experts say the spread of Zika across Southeast Asia is likely to remain significantly under-reported as health authorities fail to conduct adequate screening. People may not realize that vision problems can be an indicator of stroke. (Photo: Pixabay) People who have a minor stroke or even a mini-stroke - are at serious risk for further strokes in the next few days, but many people delay going to the hospital because they do not recognize the symptoms, UK researchers warn. Often for these kinds of stroke, experts recommend surgery within 48 hours to unclog a major artery that supplies blood to the brain. People may not realize that vision problems can be an indicator of stroke, which can add to the delay in treatment, the researchers write in the British Journal of Surgery. Early recognition and prompt treatment can reduce hugely the death rates and disability after an initial minor or mini-stroke, said senior author Ashok Handa of John Radcliffe Hospital and Oxford University in the UK. Seeing a doctor and starting medical treatment the same day can reduce (the risk of) a second stroke by nearly 20 percent in the subsequent two weeks, Handa told Reuters Health by email. Recognizing that many people do not know the symptoms of stroke, the UK launched a public awareness campaign using the acronym FAST. FAST stands for the most common symptoms of stroke: Face drooping, Arm weakness, Speech slurring, and Time (emphasizing the need to act quickly.) Handa and colleagues surveyed 150 patients who came to their hospital in 2014 with a minor stroke or a so-called mini-stroke, formally known as a transient ischemic attack, or TIA. In the previous days or weeks, almost all 99 percent had experienced symptoms suggesting that the blood flow to their brain might be compromised. In the previous five days, nearly 25 percent had experienced symptoms of an actual stroke but hadnt recognized the danger, and only when the symptoms recurred did they seek help. The most common stroke symptom, occurring in 39 percent, was trouble speaking. But 30 percent of patients had a reduction or loss in vision, and many times that was the only symptom. Among patients who acted on their symptoms, 18 percent came straight to the hospital, 17 percent called emergency services, 55 percent called their doctor, and 10 percent called other services like eye doctors. Overall, more than 60 percent of patients had delayed seeking help at the hospital. These individuals either called a family member, or waited until the next day to act, or initially did nothing at all. Stephan Dombrowski, a health psychologist at the University of Stirling in the UK, noted in email to Reuters Health that stroke symptoms may not always be as severe as they look in informational videos, and they might not occur all at once. A single symptom is enough to indicate a possible stroke, warned Dombrowski, who was not involved in the study. Dombrowski understands that people may be reluctant to call emergency services. It is normal to be uncertain, feel insecure and to not want to bother busy health professionals when you are faced with symptoms that could be a stroke, he said. Still, he emphasized, it is always best to call for an ambulance and let doctors decide what is best. To increase awareness of eye problems as a symptom, Handa thinks the acronym should be updated to FASTER. If you have problems with weakness or numbness of the Face, Arm or Speech difficulty it is Time to act and Eye disturbance (temporary visual loss) React NOW, Handa advised. In a remarkable public health achievement, Sri Lanka has been certified as malaria-free island country by World Health Organisation (WHO) today. "Sri Lanka's achievement is truly remarkable. In the mid-20th century it was among the most malaria-affected countries, but now it is malaria-free. This is testament to the courage and vision of its leaders, and signifies the great leaps that can be made when targeted action is taken. It also demonstrates the importance of grass-roots community engagement and a whole-of-society approach when it comes to making dramatic public health gains," WHO Regional Director, Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, said here. Sri Lanka's road to eliminating the mosquitoes was tough, and demanded well-calibrated, responsive policies. After malaria cases soared in the 1970s and 80s, the country's anti-malaria campaign in the 1990s adjusted its strategy to intensively target the parasite in addition to targeting the mosquito. The change in strategy was unorthodox, but highly effective. Mobile malaria clinics in high transmission areas meant that prompt and effective treatment could reduce the parasite reservoir and the possibility of further transmission. Effective surveillance, community engagement and health education, meanwhile, enhanced the ability of authorities to respond, and mobilized popular support for the campaign. The adaptation and flexibility of strategies and support from key partners such as WHO and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria fast-tracked success. By 2006, the country recorded less than 1 000 cases of malaria per year, and since October 2012, the indigenous cases were down to zero. For the past three-and-a-half years, no locally transmitted cases have been recorded. To maintain elimination and ensure the parasite is not reintroduced to the country, the anti-malaria campaign is working closely with local authorities and international partners to maintain surveillance and response capacity and to screen high-risk populations entering the country. Sri Lanka is the second country in the WHO South-East Asia Region to eliminate malaria after Maldives. The announcement of Sri Lanka's victory over malaria was made at the WHO South-East Asia Region's annual Regional Committee meeting in the presence of health ministers and senior health officials from all 11 Member States. The Regional Director said WHO will continue to support the efforts of Sri Lanka's health authorities as they relate to malaria, as well as the country's wider public health mission. This outstanding achievement should be a springboard to further public health gains in the country and the South-East Asia Region as a whole. A senior general physician, said diagnosing chikungunya requires distinguishing it from dengue as both diseases are caused by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. (Representational image) Hyderabad: Nine cases of chikungunya have been reported in the city, showing that a lot needs to be done to curb the mosquito menace. In August, eight cases of the disease, which causes immense pain that lasts a lifetime, were recorded. A senior health official said there may have been more cases which did not reach the health centres. A major outbreak of chikungunya was recorded in 2006 and we have to study whether it is following the same pattern after a decade, he said. A close watch would be kept on the cases in September which would help strategise the response system for the winter when the cases are found to increase, he said. Dr Ajay Shah, a senior general physician, said diagnosing chikungunya requires distinguishing it from dengue as both diseases are caused by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Dengue is ruled out if the platelet count is in control. The treatment for chikungunya is symptomatic and medicines and rest are advised. Patients are asked to take a lot of water, he said. Chikungunya is found to affect those who are immune-compromised like children and senior citizens. Municipal bodies must not allow water stagnation by asking people to keep surroundings clean. Stricter laws to regulate the misuse of surrogacy services and elimination of middlemen, who mint money out of someone elses plight, is definitely a good move. But experts feel the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016 has many clauses which need a relook. The joy of parenthood seems to have been snatched from many couples who exercise this option. Last week the bill was approved by Union Cabinet claiming it would prevent exploitation of poor women as substitute mothers. But many others will have to pay the price. Forty-year-old Kalpana, who has had 16 abortions in twenty years, trying to experience motherhood, naturally is distraught at the idea of not being able to conceive. We both (my husband and I) don't have any problem but still I cannot conceive, she said. The government needs to understand the desperation of couples like us and we should not even be brought under the scanner of the legalities that need to be fulfilled, adds Kalpana, who still hopes of being a mother through a surrogate. My dream of being a father has been thwarted, thanks to the new bill, which allows eligible couples to turn to close relatives. It will cause a lot of problems for couples like us, who would not even get a nod from a relative because of various reasons, said Azhar (40), whose wife has been diagnosed with tuberculosis in the endometrium. This is a condition which reduces to zero her chances of conceiving. Azhar has been married for only three years and so according to the bill he would have to wait for another two years. I don't understand why I should wait for another two years when the clinical indications suggest that the window is really small, he added. These are just two examples, but there are many couples who are appalled by the new bill. At a time when they are coming out of their shells and looking towards commercial surrogacy as the last option, the bill is only making them go back into their shells. Dr Harshita, Consultant at Manipal Ankur in Kalyan Nagar, who is also a consultant at Medikoe, shares her experience at CRAFT Hospital and Research Centre in Kerala. She was a consultant there earlier. She said that some nine surrogates are at the hospital at any given time of the year, where they are admitted after they conceive. They are taken care of till they deliver their babies. The issue of altruistic surrogacy is meaningless and in times when it is anyway becoming very difficult for commissioning parents to find surrogates, the passage of such Bills will only close that last option for them, she added, who is currently helping a few such couples with other options as well. Certain cases should be allowed to go for commercial surrogacy and also a clinician's viewpoint should be invited when it comes to passing certain Bills, Dr Harshita asserted. The whole business of waiting for five years is unfair. What if the woman does not have a uterus? It will not grow back in five years. Such Bills need to involve medical professionals, so that they are more acceptable to society, said Dr Kamini Rao, medical director, Milann, The Fertility Centre. Dr Kamini raises another point. No Surrogacy Bill can be passed without Assisted Reproductive Technologies (Regulation) Bill. Both need to be passed together. When there is already a 2014 draft Bill on ART, which has gone through debates, why cant the government pass this Bill? As far as the Surrogacy Bill is concerned, it needs to be debated by the public, she said. The whole part about regulation is fine, because of misuse. I'm not against regulation of surrogacy, but it should be fair to all the sides, she said. In the current format, it should not be passed as a law because it would be unfair to people who really merit the need. The relative clause is definitely not needed and is flawed, as no relative would do it without money. That relative clause should be removed. And, whoever is willing to come forward should be accepted, she added. Dr Manisha Singh, HOD, Infertility and reproductive medicine and surgery, Fortis hospital, Bannerghatta, who stresses the need for proper framework and guidelines for the ART Bill. The surrogacy and gamete donation Bill cannot come out in isolation and outside the framework of the ART Bill. We should have proper ART laws that need to be put in place and establish a proper framework for ART and then look at surrogacy, she maintained. As per the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill passed by the Union Cabinet last week, only married (for at least five years) resident Indian couples who are infertile can opt for surrogacy as a means of extending their families. Only an immediate family member can be the surrogate in an altruistic surrogacy (in which no money changes hands). Further, the woman has to be between 23-50 years of age and the man should be 26-55 years old. It bans commercial surrogacy. The health ministry has proposed to amend the surrogacy laws in India because of increase in commercial surrogacy. Altruistic surrogacy: Is it practical? Altruistic surrogacy is when a surrogate gets no financial gain for carrying a child. This is another clause added to the Bill. Sadly, altruistic surrogacy would cause more social problems, said experts. Altruistic surrogacy would cause more social problems as the child grows, as the surrogate would be within the same family, said Dr Harshita, Consultant, Manipal Ankur in Kalyan Nagar. The doctor, who is also a consultant at Medikoe, added that the child would have issues being in the house where there is one woman who carried him for nine months and another who is raising him. Many of them don't want to be surrogates and they will be forced into surrogacy, which would not be a healthy thing, as it would pose bigger problems in the future. You cannot liberate one woman by suppressing another woman, said Dr Kamini Rao. She raises another point. "What if you do not have a sister or a sister-in-law?. Do you really think a relative would actually come forward willingly to be a surrogate without any kind of remuneration? asks Manisha Singh, HOD infertility and reproductive medicine and surgery, Fortis hospital, Bannerghatta hospital. Offering a solution, Dr Manisha highlights the need of the hour. Sadly, infertility in India is considered to be taboo, unlike in the West where issues such as this are discussed freely. Such couples should not be made to feel that infertility is a disability to be shy about. Such laws could harm them emotionally. And patients and patient support groups should come out and speak about their problems. They should reach out to the public and sensitize society as a whole. Let society be the judge: Dr H Sudarshan Ballal, Chairman, Manipal Hospitals The recently introduced Surrogacy Bill has brought in the Debate on Altruism vs Commercial Medical Procedures involving paid donors. The bill brings in a lot of preconditions on surrogacy and essentially forbids paid surrogates. This is very similar to the Human Organ Transplant Act, which forbids commercial donation. Surrogacy is a procedure where couples or individuals unable to have a child for various reasons have the embryo fertilized by the sperm of the partner and implant this in a surrogate, who then carries it in her womb for nine months. This is usually done by couples who are infertile for various reasons, single parents, those who wish to be single parents and same-sex couples. Though there is an option of adoption in these cases, some opt for this method because of the joy and fulfillment of having ones own child. In many cases in our country, in the absence of an altruistic surrogate, a paid surrogate is used. In surrogacy the surrogate carries the baby in the womb for nine months and the childbirth may be natural or may need a caesarean section for delivery (the rates of which may vary between 20 and 40% depending on the clinical situation). It is also to be noted that many surrogates are older and might have had children of their own earlier, and this may increase the risk. Though pregnancy is considered a safe physiological event, unfortunately there is a small risk of serious complications, including mortality, as evidenced by the death of versatile actresses Smita Patil in 1986 due to postpartum complications. The risk of complications post-pregnancy (some minor and others major) may be in the range of 10 to 20% and the overall maternal mortality in our country is about 174 per lakh, depending on the risk factors and the need for Caesarean section.The risks are certainly higher for rural impoverished women in developing countries. All in all, surrogacy is a very beneficial medical procedure, and can be a huge psychological boost for a childless couple. Unfortunately, surrogacy may happen for non-altruistic reasons; money may exchange hands, middlemen may be involved and exploitation of the impoverished does happen. The million dollar question that we should seek an answer for is: Is renting a womb, even if it gives happiness to a childless couple (with somewhat low risk of serious complications to the surrogate), socially, medically and ethically justified? Though all of us would condemn the exploitation of impoverished citizens by middlemen, civil society should debate, deliberate and come up with an answer to this question, which to me is certainly a burning issue right now. Robots can be available always and hence can cause addiction (Photo: AFP) The notion that the machines are coming seems true from the way technology is taking over almost all tasks from human beings, and while it is known to destroy memory among people, some suggest it can affect a very intimate experience for humans. A robotics expert has just warned that robots might overtake humans in sex in years to come, and will replace intercourse between human beings entirely. A robotics expert from Kirkwood College, Joel Snell told Daily Star that sex with robots can even develop into an addiction over time. He said, Sexbots would always be available and could never say no, so addictions would be easy to feed. People will rearrange their lives to accommodate their addictions. Apart from availability, robots can be programmed and will be able to satisfy individuals need of people. Meanwhile sex therapists suggest that it can actually help people have healthier sex lives. This comes as scientists in Amsterdam are talking about a sex robot brothel that can help bring down human trafficking and spread of STDs. The 16-year-old boy deserted her one day and disappeared and she returned to her family who then approached the police with a complaint. (Photo: Representational Image) New Delhi: A 14-year-old girl has accused her live-in partner, also a minor, of "raping her repeatedly" over a course of one year in South East Delhi, police said on Monday. The complainant alleged that she was living with the accused over the last one year in Jaitpur area in Delhi, police said. The 16-year-old boy deserted her one day and disappeared and she returned to her family who then approached the police with a complaint, a senior police officer said. The juvenile used to stay across the victim's house in Jaitpur and that's how they came in contact, he said. They became friends and eventually got into a relationship, police said. After the accused moved from the place, the victim started living in with him in the vicinity, they said. A case under relevant sections of POCSO has been registered and police is investigating the matter. A teacher in Mehsana, Gujarat, was on Tuesday booked for allegedly raping a 16-year-old Dalit girl after assuring her good marks in Class X board exams. (Photo: PTI/Representational) Mehsana: A teacher was on Tuesday booked for allegedly raping a 16-year-old Dalit girl after assuring her good grades in Class X board exams, police said. Visnagar police of Mehsana district lodged an FIR on the basis of a complaint filed by the girl who accused her tuition teacher Rajesh Patel of repeatedly raping her for several months when she was in X standard last year. "Patel teaches in the same school near Visnagar where the girl studies in Standard XI right now. When she was in 10th standard, she used to take tuitions from Patel at his home. The girl alleged that Patel first asked for her photo and then forced her to be friends with him," said Visnagar taluka police inspector P. K. Rana. In the FIR, the girl alleged that she was raped for almost 10-12 times by Patel last year. "The girl alleged that Patel trapped her by promising her good marks in the previous year's board exam. Since the girl is a Dalit and a minor, we have lodged a case under rape as well as under various sections of POCSO Act," said Rana, adding Patel is yet to be arrested. Preeti Rathi, who was attacked with acid in Mumbai in 2013. (Photo: PTI/File) Mumbai: A special women's court here on Tuesday convicted 26-year-old Ankur Lal Panwar of murdering Delhi native Preeti Rathi in 2013 by throwing acid at her after he allegedly grew jealous of the nurse who had come to Mumbai to pursue a career in a defence hospital. Special judge A S Shende convicted Panwar under Sections 302 (murder) and 326 B (Voluntarily throwing acid) of the IPC. The court is likely to hear arguments on the quantum of sentence tomorrow. Rathi, then 24, had died of multiple organ failure after Panwar threw acid on her on May 2, 2013 at the Bandra railway station here. Rathi, who had come to Mumbai join as nurse in a defence hospital, succumbed to her injuries at a private hospital here on June 1, 2013. Panwar was Rathi's neighbour in Bhakra Beas Management Board Colony in Delhi. Mumbai police filed a 1332-page charge sheet against Panwar in April 2014 and also submitted a list of 98 witnesses after he was arrested from the national capital in January. As per the chargesheet, Panwar, a hotel management graduate, threw concentrated sulfuric acid on Preeti at Bandra station here, as he was jealous of her career growth. According to police, Rathi had secured a nursing job with the Ministry of Defence at the INHS Ashvini Hospital. Also, Panwar's parents often told him about his failure to get a job despite completing his education and would praise Preeti, who landed the job at the Navy hospital in Colaba. Panwar wanted to disfigure her face so as to destroy her career. He procured the acid on April 2 and boarded the same train taken by Preeti and her family to Mumbai. Outside the court today, Panwar's mother Kailash demanded a CBI inquiry claiming her son had been falsely implicated. "We have been implicated just because we are poor. I want a CBI inquiry into the case," she said. Rathi's father Amar Singh Rathi hoped Panwar would get capital punishment. "It took three years for us to get justice but I am happy that it has been finally delivered. I hope he gets death sentence," he said. Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said 37 witnesses had been examined in the case, including 11 doctors and five eyewitnesses. Panwar allegedly flung the bottle of acid on Preeti when she got down from Garib Rath Express at the Bandra Terminus and took the same train back home. The gruesome incident had set the local police on a wild goose chase as Panwar had covered his face at the time of the attack. The Railway Police, which initially probed the case, had arrested another neighbour of Rathi, Pawankumar Gahalon, but set him free as there was no evidence against him. Later, based on a Bombay High Court direction, the case was handed over to Mumbai Crime Branch, whose investigation led to Panwar and arrested him. "I myself gave an affidavit for Gahalon to the police saying that he has nothing to do with the crime after I was convinced that he had no role in the crime," Rathi's father said today. He said after Panwar's arrest, he had gone to the Crime Branch where the accused confessed about the whole incident. Thane: A four-year-old girl was raped allegedly by a 19-year-old youth who was arrested from the Kalyan township on Monday, police said. The youth has been identified as Gunjesh Tiwari, a distant relative of the girl's mother, police said on Tuesday. The incident occurred early on Monday when Tiwari picked up the child, who was sleeping near her mother in Kailasnagar locality, took her to a nearby place and raped her, police PRO Sukhada Narkar said. Tiwari sells garments for living. The girl's mother lodged a complaint with the police, which arrested Tiwari on Monday after examining the footage of a CCTV camera installed in the area. Tiwari has been booked for rape and under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO). Bengaluru: Home Minister Dr G Prameshwar has said that a CID police team would be leaving to Maharashtra for questioning Vijayendra Tavade, who is also a suspect in murder of noted rationalist Prof Kalaburgi. After holding meeting with a group of writers on Tuesday, Dr Parameshwar told reporters that so far only the Maharashtra police were questioning Tavade and the State team had not yet got a chance to question him. Terming the murder as calculated, planned execution, which was making investigating officers difficult to crack the case, Dr Parameshwar said that ideology played a major role behind the motive. The CID had formed the largest team in its history, involving 27 officers, two SPs, one IGP and one ADGP. Reiterating the suspicion that the murderers of Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare in Maharashtra may be the same, Dr Parameshwar said that one of the weapon used in Pansare murder appears to be same used to kill Dr Kalaburgi. We are taking help of CBI and sharing information with them. There is similarity in cartridges used in Pansare and Kalaburgi murder cases, which was proved in Ballistic report. The CBI has sent it to Scotland Yard police for their opinion. We are not yet sure what report they got, he said. When asked why it was taking so long, Dr Parameshwar said the CID team was not leaving anything to chance. For example, on the day of murder, about 27,000 students had come down to Dharawad to write examination. The officers have analysed all the telephone available in the vicinity and that took a lot of time, he said. Answering another question, Dr Parameshwar said the government was ready to extend security for writers if they were facing any threats. 5-10 flights were delayed by half-an-hour to two hours on Monday as more than 70 pilots opted for their "weekly off". (Photo: Representational Image) New Delhi: Nearly a dozen flights of Air India were delayed for up to two hours on Tuesday as a section of pilots continued their protest for the second day over payment and other issues even as the airline served show cause notice to three commanders for alleged dereliction of duty. Seeking to resolve the issues raised by the pilots owing allegiance to Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA), Air India is expected to hold parleys with them on Tuesday even as airline chief Ashwani Lohani warned of "exemplary disciplinary action" against agitating employees. Sources said around 5-10 flights were delayed by half-an-hour to two hours on Monday as more than 70 pilots opted for their "weekly off" impacting services in the domestic network. At the same time, Air India has issued showcause notices to three pilots for not turning up for duty on Sunday, they added. Air India spokesperson was not available for comments. Earlier in the day, Lohani warned of "exemplary disciplinary action" against employees "sabotaging" the progress of the national carrier. In a stern message to employees, he said such acts at this juncture when the airline is looking to achieve a turnaround are "just not acceptable" and shall not be tolerated under any circumstances. Recently, there have been delays/cancellations of flights due to indiscipline by a small section of pilots. Such acts, not only result in revenue loss but also cause inconvenience to passengers, he said. Sources said Air India's Director of Operations has called for a meeting tomorrow with ICPA representatives to discuss their grievances. They, however, said ICPA -- which represents around 750 pilots of narrow-body planes -- is unlikely to soften its stances on their pending issues for which they are demanding resolution at the earliest. "If there are no definite time-bound assurance on resolving the issues by tomorrow evening, then the situation might turn worse," one of the sources said. Another source said ICPA is seeking the intervention of Lohani to resolve the issues. On Sunday, domestic flight services were partially affected a section of ICPA members decided not to report for duty in protest against pending issues related to salary and allowances, besides alleged denial of weekly-off. The apex court on Monday directed Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery water per day to Tamil Nadu for the next 10 days. (Photo: File) Bengaluru: Farmers and activists from pro-Kannada outfits protested in various parts of Karnataka against the Supreme Court's directive to the state government to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. The Cauvery Hitarakshana Samithi (Cauvery protection committee) called for a bandh on Tuesday in Mandya, even as farmers and others hit the streets protesting the top court directive to release 15,000 cusecs of water per day for next ten days to Tamil Nadu. The farmers blocked the Mysuru-Bengaluru highway at Mandya. "We have decided to call for Mandya bandh tomorrow to protest against the court direction to release cauvery water to Tamil Nadu when there is hardly any water left at our side of the river," Samithi President and former MP G Made Gowda told reporters late on Monday at Mandya, some 100 km from in Bengaluru. Gowda also urged the government to file a review petition in the Supreme Court. The farmers' leader also warned the government that it would face strong agitation if water was released to Tamil Nadu. According to reports, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah convened a meeting of legislature leaders and MPs in Bengaluru to discuss the issue. The Siddaramaiah government is set to hold a meeting with floor leaders of all parties in the state legislature, MPs and district-in charge ministers on Tuesday evening to take stock of the situation. Reports said that protests broke out in other parts of the state including Chamrajnagar, Mysuru and Hubballi with farmers and pro-Kannada activists demonstrating against the order of the apex court. 700 state buses were taken off the roads as a safety measure, said reports. Prohibitory orders have been clamped around Krishnarajasagar Dam and entry of visitors to it prohibited. Protesters also mobbed and ransacked several government offices in Mandya forcing their shut down, while attendance at government offices remained thin, police said. Effigies and posters of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa were burnt in some places, while a group of farmers tried to enter the KRS Reservoir in Mysuru but were stopped. 'Karnataka Okkuta', an outfit led by Vatal Nagaraj, called for a 'Karnataka bandh' on September 9. Workers of the pro-Kannada outfit held a protest in Bengaluru. Noting that the samba crops in Tamil Nadu would be adversely affected, a bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and UU Lalit on Monday directed Karnataka to ensure supply of water to Tamil Nadu. On September 2, the Supreme Court had made an emotional appeal to Karnataka saying 'live and let live', after Tamil Nadu brought to the notice of the court that the Chief Minister of the neighbouring state has said that not a drop of water will be released to it. In a recent plea, Tamil Nadu had sought a direction to Karnataka to release 50.52 tmc feet of Cauvery water to save 40,000 acres of samba crops this season. In reply, Karnataka had said it has a deficit of about 80 tmc feet in its four reservoirs. Srinagar: A day after an all-party delegation of 26 Members of Parliament concluded its two-day visit to twin capitals of Srinagar and Jammu, one more youth was shot during protest in Anantnag district. A total of two youths died on Tuesday. A 20-year-old youth, identified as Naseer Ahmed Dar, sustained multiple pellet wounds when security forces fired live ammunition to disperse the protesters and stone-pelting mobs at Seer Hamadan in Ananatnag on Tuesday. He was rushed to government sub-district hospital at Seer Hamadan, where doctors declared him brought dead. Another 120 people were injured in the clashes and the condition of one of them, a young woman identified as Jameela, was stated to be critical. The security forces had lodged pellets into her head allegedly from close range. She has been admitted to a hospital in Srinagar for specialised treatment, police sources and health officials said. The area along Anantnag-Pahalgam road erupted in violence early on Tuesday after J&K police and CRPF personnel raided residential houses around 3 am to arrest youth accused of being involved in protests and violence. Soon hundreds of people were out on the streets to protest. At dawn, the crowd swelled as people from neighbouring villages also joined the protest, reports said. The locals alleged that the security forces thrashed people and damaged properties. Police and CRPF personnel fired tear gas canisters and used pellet shotguns to quell the protests and soon the streets witnessed intense clashes between stone-hurling mobs and security forces, reports said. Another youth, identified as Asif Majeed Nagoo alias Musaib who was injured during a similar incident on Sunday in north-western town of Sopore, succumbed to his injuries in a hospital in Srinagar earlier on Tuesday. His funeral at Langeat in Baramulla district was attended by thousands of people yelling we want freedom and Go India, go back,' reports said. With these deaths, the toll in the ongoing unrest has reached to 75 while more than 10,000 civilians have been injured so far. Most of the people were killed in the firing by the security forces and other actions against protesters and stone-pelting mobs. Two policemen were also been killed in the unrest and, as per official statistics, more than 4,500 security personnel have been injured so far. The Kashmir Valley has been on the boil since July 8 following the killing of Hizb-ul-Mujahedin commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani. According to reports, the protests and clashes between irate crowds and security forces on Tuesday have occurred at about half a dozen places including in Bandipore and Kulgam districts, at Rangreth and Mehjoor Nagar in Srinagar and Langaet in Baramulla district. An irate crowd demolished an abandoned pillbox of the CRPF and then torched the debris in Srinagar's Mehjoor Nagar, witnesses said. The separatists, who are spearheading the ongoing agitation, have extended the shutdown programme till September 8. The shutdown has thrown normal life out of gear across the valley. Meanwhile, the authorities in Srinagar said that curfew was on Tuesday lifted from entire capital city following improvement in the situation. However, restrictions under Section 144 of the CrPC will continue to remain in force in Srinagar and elsewhere in the Valley, barring the assembly of five or more persons anywhere. An all-party delegation headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh visited twin capitals of Srinagar and Jammu on Sunday and Monday, but could meet only the leaders and representatives of various mainstream parties and some other groups and individuals. The separatists, who are calling the shots in prevailing situation, boycotted the delegation, saying no talks were possible within the ambit of India Constitution. No casualties have been reported in the incident so far. (Photo: PTI) Jammu: Pakistani troops on Tuesday violated border ceasefire for the second time in less than a week by resorting to small arms firing and mortar shelling on forward posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir. "The Pakistan army troops resorted to unprovoked and indiscriminate firing on Indian army posts along LoC in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir since midnight," the Defence spokesperson on Tuesday said. The spokesperson said the Pakistan army also shelled posts with heavy mortars and opened fire with small arms and automatic weapons in the Poonch sector. "Our troops are responding appropriately and no casualties or damage to our troops was reported till the report last came in, the firing was still going on," the spokesperson added. The exchange of fire is going intermittently in Shahpur Kandi area along LoC in Poonch, police said. Today's ceasefire violation is second in less than a week. On September 2, Pakistan troops violated ceasefire by firing on forward army posts along LoC in Akhnoor sector in Jammu district. Earlier on August 14, 2016, a 50-year-old woman was injured when the Pakistan Army violated the ceasefire twice and targeted Indian posts on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch sector in two different areas. Last year, 16 civilians were killed and 71 others injured in 405 incidents of cross-border firing by Pakistan, the officer said. While 253 incidents of ceasefire violations took place along the International Border (IB), 152 incidents were reported along the LoC, he said. Around 8,000 people were temporarily affected due to the ceasefire violations and had to be shifted to safer locations. President Pranab Mukherjee teaching students in a class at a Government School on the occasion of Teacher's Day in New Delhi on Monday. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee indicated on Monday that he is in favour of holding all elections together, an idea that was mooted by PM Narendra Modi recently. According to a report, when a Class 11 student asked the President on the spending on elections and whether it would be good to hold all polls at once, he replied, "The Election Commission can also put in their idea and efforts on holding the polls together and that will be highly beneficial." Mukherjee, while teaching students in the school inside the President's Estate in Delhi as part of the second edition of his 'Pranab Sir's class', also said India is "substantially free" from the globally witnessed menace of homegrown terrorism as citizens possess "ethnicity in mind and have faith in pluralism". The President also spoke about the worrisome development of "political assassinations" in India and its neighbourhood adding that despite these instances "we have had a stable political regime". The special session was held to observe 'Teachers Day' with students of Class XI of the Delhi government-run Dr Rajendra Prasad Sarvodaya Vidyalaya during which Mukherjee said "secularism is part of the life" for Indians. India has suffered the brunt of terrorism, including that of the cross-border variety, he said. The President said it was the credit and success of India's policy and acumen of the administration that incidents of homegrown terrorism, the biggest menace to international peace and community, has kept India "substantially free" from its tentacles. "It is we who are attacked and we are the victims of cross-border attacks... But not so much of homegrown terror," he said, adding this was because of the "ethnicity of mind, belief and faith in pluralism, huge diversity in language, religion, food... Almost in everything." We all belong to the same system, the President said, adding that this quality was "unique". Talking for about 50 minutes to the students on the subject of 'Politics in India since Independence', he recounted the evolution of the democratic process in India post Independence, the building up of the electoral process and participation of Indians in the constitutional democracy. The President, who has worked as a teacher before he took the political plunge, also taught the students about the formation of political parties including the creation of the BJP from Jansangh and the advent of coalition politics in the country. He remembered the "formation" of states by the State Reorganisation of Commission as an "important development" in India's history. Mukherjee called the partition of the country as a "psychological trauma" for the people who were extricated from their homes adding creation of communal tension was an aftermath of this but our political leaders and statesmen controlled these issues. Rudrapur (Deoria): Kick-starting his 2500 km-long Kisan Yatra in a bid to capture power in the politically important state of UP, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi met farmers on Tuesday, promising loan waiver and reduction in power tariff by 50 per cent if voted to power in the 2017 Assembly polls. The 'Deoria to Dilli yatra' is part of the Congress campaign to end its 27-year exile from power in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress leader reached here around 10.45 am by chopper and started knocking at the doors of farmers. In a tweet, Gandhi requested the people to join Congress in this 'yatra' as he and his party are fighting for the rights of farmers, labourers and the poor. "Door to door campaign begins from village Pachladi. Met farmers, & collected Kisan Maang Patras outlining their demands," he said in another tweet. Accompanied by party colleague and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, the 46-year-old Congress leader visited houses of farmers and collected 'Kisan Mangpatras' (charters of farmers demands) and interacted with them one-to-one as part of his "Khaat Sabha". "..Rahul ji came here and listened to us patiently. He collected details of my outstanding loan and also noted down my mobile number. He assured me that if Congress comes to power in the state, then his party will waive off farmers' loans and slash power tariff by 50 per cent," Om Prakash Singh, a farmer, said. The Gandhi scion also spoke to "our family members, especially children and asked about their studies and future plans," another farmer said. Gandhi will hold road shows at various places during the yatra. On the first two days of the yatra, Gandhi will cover Kushinagar, Gorakhpur, Sant Kabirnagar and Basti besides Deoria. The party has made preparations for making the Congress leader's longest yatra in the state a success. A team of national spokesmen will also be stationed in Lucknow to apprise media of the developments. Gandhi will make a night halt in Gorakhpur before embarking further on the journey. He will hold similar interactions with farmers and roadshows the next day and will spend the second night at Basti. During the mahayatra, the Congress leader will cover as many as 233 Assembly constituencies to reach out to people ahead of crucial polls slated early next year. The mahayatra comes after the successful road show of Sonia Gandhi earlier last month and the two yatras of state party leaders in various districts of the state. New Delhi: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the situation in Kashmir, after an all-party delegation led by the Home Minister returned to Delhi on Monday night. Rajnath informed Modi about the assessment of the ground situation done by the all-party delegation, said reports. While the Prime Minister returned to the capital last night after his visit to Vietnam and China, the Home Minister too had come back from Jammu and Kashmir on Monday evening. "Briefed the Prime Minister on all-party delegation's visit to J&K and also apprised him of the situation in the state," Singh said in a tweet after the meeting at the Prime Minster's residence. Members of the all-party delegation will meet in New Delhi on Wednesday to discuss their findings during the two-day visit and discuss strategies for the future. The all-party delegation seeking to end the turbulence in Kashmir concluded its visit yesterday with no breakthrough. The delegation did not meet with much success in Kashmir, since the Hurriyat and other separatist groups as well as several civil society groups refused to meet it for talks. However, some members of the delegation went to meet the Hurriyat leaders in their individual capacity. On Monday, Rajnath Singh had lashed out at the separatists, claiming that refusing to talk to members of the delegation was not the way of Kashmiriyat, democracy or even humanity. The separatists for their part had asked people like Rajnath Singh not to give them lessons in democracy, and rejected the talks because they had no specific agenda. New Delhi: Under attack for his controversial blog defending sacked Delhi minister Sandeep Kumar, AAP leader Ashutosh on Tuesday said the police case against him was an "infringement" on his right to freedom of expression. He also hit out at the media, saying it was indulging in "vulturisation" and "doing embedded journalism". "Atmosphere is created whr critical analysis of history not allowed, freedom of expression will be crushed, voice of dissent suppressed. Registering police cases against me is an infringement on my fundamental right to freedom of expression mandated by Constitution," he wrote in a series of tweets. "Even media is not interested into finding the truth, indulging into vulturisation and doing embedded journalism," he said. In his blog on NDTV website Ashutosh had written, "This video encompasses pictures of a man and woman indulging in a sexual act. The video clearly establishes that both individuals knew each other and consented to sex in a private space away from the public glare. The question then is that if two consenting adults are physically involved with each other, is it a crime?" Kumar was arrested on Saturday night after a woman seen in a video with him in a "compromising position" complained that she had been drugged and raped a year ago. Following the blog, the National Commission for Women summoned the Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson. "We have asked him to come on September 8. This is in response to what we feel is a very reprehensible and demeaning blog Ashutosh wrote, where he defended a man accused of rape," NCW Chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam had said. "The Commission has taken a note in the larger interest because we feel that as a spokesperson of a party that governs Delhi and a party whose members have been accused of many incidents of violence against women he should not be writing a blog like this which reeks of patriarchy and misogyny," she had said. New Delhi: Terrorists and insurgents are getting "public support" in some parts of the country and unless this is stopped, India will continue to get hit by acts of terrorism, a report prepared by the elite counter-terror force NSG has said. The analytical report on recent bombing incidents in the country, compiled with data from all states for the period between April and June this year, also raised concern over the possible leakage and use of ordnance factory-made explosives by terror outfits. "Analysis of the data by the NBDC shows public was the prime target of the terrorists/militants/insurgents. Public support to terrorists/insurgents continues in some parts of the nation. "Until and unless the public support to anti-national elements stops, the acts of terrorism will continue. Sincere efforts are required to mitigate the IED menace. A 'Whole of Nation' effort is the way ahead to keep the citizens of the country safe," the report said. While the report did not elaborate as to how public support was rendered to ultras, it is understood that police forces and other agencies who report these incidents to the National Bomb Data Centre (NBDC) also share inputs with regard to links detected between the locals and perpetrators of such blasts. The NBDC of the National Security Guard (NSG) is based at its garrison in Manesar near here and acts as the national repository for collection and analyses of all types of bombing incidents and attacks in the country. Analyses of the incidents of IED recovery/blasts for the second quarter of this year, it added, reveal "in most of the incidents, explosive ordnance like grenades and other forms of explosives which are made in ordnance factories were used by terrorists, militants and insurgents of Jammu and Kashmir and North East." "In some incidents, Chinese made grenades were also used by militants of Jammu and Kashmir," the report said. It said a total of 93 blast incidents were reported in the second quarter of this year as compared to 92 last year, while 39 people were killed as compared to 60 people last year and 185 injured in comparison to 206 last year. "There was 1 per cent increase in number of blast incidents during the second quarter of 2016 vis-a-vis second quarter of 2015. There was 16 per cent decrease in the number of casualties which took place in blast incidents in the second quarter of 2016 vis-a-vis same period last year," it said. Swachh Vidyalayathe scheme is a big failure as lakhs of students in 16,000 government schools in Telangana are unable to use these toilets, thanks to lack of water connections. (Representational image) Hyderabad: Having a working toilet in their school is still a dream for lakhs of government school students in Telangana. Around 16,000 of the 25,966 government schools in Telangana do not have water connections in toilets. Officially all government schools in the state have toilets, which has been reported in the 2015-16 report of District Information System for Education (DISE) but is yet to be put up in public domain. The Union ministry of human resource Development is already hailing Swachh Vidyalaya as a successful scheme on its website. However, in reality, the scheme is a big failure as lakhs of students in 16,000 government schools in Telangana are unable to use these toilets, thanks to lack of water connections. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan officials say that it is up to the headmasters of the schools to arrange for water connections in association with Rural Water Supply or urban development bodies, depending on whether the school is located in a rural or urban area. Mr N. Narayana of the Telangana State United Teachers Federation said, How can the government shirk its responsibility in providing water connections to toilets? The SSA is not just responsible for construction of toilets but also in ensuring that they are usable. Usable toilets are guaranteed under the Right to Education Act. School heads say that without efforts from top levels in the state government, getting water connections is not possible. When contacted, a principal of a government school in Medak said, School heads are trying their best to get water connections by asking everyone around for help. We have approached the Rural Water Supply department, MLAs, MLCs, district collector, and written to the Education department, but to no avail. Heads of the Education department and the minister himself must pursue the matter. The Swachh Vidyalaya mission has failed even in attracting the attention of corporates for construction of toilets in government schools, which was planned as one of its principal methods of getting funding for the scheme. In the state of Telangana, only Microsoft, which constructed 22 toilets in eight schools and Tata Consultancy Services, which constructed 425 toilets in 393 schools, came forward to take part in the scheme. According to a report by experts, around 2,850 toilets were constructed by a few Public Sector Units. Around 17,800 toilets were constructed with funding from the Central and state governments. Hyderabad: The Telangana state government on Tuesday decided to go ahead with the formation of 27 districts besides new revenue divisions and mandals simultaneously from Dasara with appropriate changes as desired by the people. It was also decided to revamp 64 departments by amalgamating common departments and bring some of them under a single official for better administration. The idea is to bring all welfare departments under one head. The plan will also cover medium and minor irrigation; agriculture, horticulture and sericulture; education, forests, social forestry and wildlife departments which currently function independently. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao held a meeting with energy minister Jagdish Reddy, transport minister Mahender Reddy, Chief Secretary Dr Rajiv Sharma, DGP Anurag Sharma, senior officials and district collectors in this regard at MCRHRD. An all-party meet will be convened soon. The Chief Minister asked officials to make necessary changes in tune with the exercise and public suggestions thereafter after release of the draft notification. Stating that some departments should be need-based, he said the focus should be on the Industries department in Hyderabad and its surroundings where a large number of units were located, sericulture in Khammam, horticulture in Ranga Reddy etc. The Chief Minister said Adilabad district, where contagious diseases were rampant, should have more medical facilities while more agriculture officials should be posted in rural areas. From day one of formation of the new districts, revenue and police departments should function in every mandal. There should be a three-tier administrative set up. Other departments and appointments should be subsequently organised, he said. The problems a family faces in shifting to a house are seen in the new district set up. These problems need to be identified and solved, the Chief Minister added. Mr Rao revealed that there was a demand for 75 new mandals out of which 45 were notified and feasibility of 30 others was being studied. On an average, each mandal will have populations of 35,000 and above, he said. He also asked officials to relax rules with regard to forest, remote areas and Chenchu habitations for the new mandals. Senior officials, collectors and police officers put forth their administrative proposals at the meeting. New districts are carved out for administrative convenience. The onus is on you to provide efficient service to people, Mr Rao said. Hyderabad: In an open letter to MAUD minister K.T. Rama Rao, an angry young Hyderabadi has lashed out at the minister for his failure to implement his promises for the city. The writer stated: We are impressed with your surprise checks, but except for photo opportunities, your visits or checks have not brought any respite to the citizens. Im a huge fan of your marketing skills, but all your claims of a global city fall in the rut when one looks at the roads in the city or the drains that flood the city when theres a sudden downpour. The 10-paragraph letter began: I respect you immensely for the effort you are putting towards in making Hyderabad shine, but when we claim to be a global city, shouldnt your administration take the onus of at least making sure that the city has good roads Isnt that the most basic thing a city deserves when it is vying to be on the top of cities, given that you call Telangana a start-up state? We do appreciate your quick replies on Twitter, but laying of roads is done in patches, filling of potholes leads to scattering of big pieces of tar. The author cited an example of a corrupt nexus between GHMC officials and contractors and added that the pavement alongside the Hyderabad Public School had been demolished and constructed four times in the last four-five months, there was no need to keep re-doing it until every contractor got a profit out of it. Another example was the bad road in front of the Chief Ministers office, where water gets stagnated. We do see traffic police trying to do their best, however, when the roads are dug up everywhere, what more can they do? Adding to our woes are increased stoppages of traffic due to VIP movement, the writer added. He/she also requested the minister to tour the city and get detailed information of the ground reality. In the recent past the minister himself had admitted to the bad condition of roads and had said that the authorities needed time to fix the problem. Bengaluru/Chennai: Agitated farmers and activists belonging to pro-Kannada outfits on Tuesday blocked the Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway as protests intensified in the wake of the Supreme Court directive to the state to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. However, in the light of Supreme Court order, Karnataka will release water to Tamil Nadu despite severe hardship, said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Meanwhile, Kannada organisations have called for Karnataka bandh on Friday, September 9, the second one this month. Earlier in the day, lakhs of commuters were stranded in various parts of the city when bus services headed towards Mysuru and Tamil Nadu were cancelled following the Cauvery tension. The situation is expected to continue till the weekend. The only relief for travellers was that train services were intact. Mandya district, the nucleus of Cauvery politics, saw a bandh with protesters holding road blockades and dharnas at several places, as hundreds of security personnel, including Central forces, were deployed in the Cauvery belt to maintain law and order. Prohibitory orders have been clamped around Krishnarajasagar Dam and entry of visitors to it prohibited till September nine, as the Cauvery row hotted up after the Supreme Court direction to Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for the next 10 days to address the plight of the farmers there. Protesters also mobbed and ransacked several government offices in Mandya forcing their shut down, while attendance at government offices remained thin, police said. Meanwhile, the government appealed to people not to resort to agitation and to maintain calm. Ex-CM B.S. Yeddiyurappa asked the government to file a petition countering the Supreme Court order. The state government in August had fixed Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,500 per month as honorarium for people employed for cleaning toilets in primary and high schools, depending on the number of students enrolled in the schools. (Representational image) Hyderabad: Students at government schools that have toilets and also water connections are not so lucky either, thanks to the state government not releasing funds. In this academic year none of the government schools in Telangana received the funds for maintenance of toilets, rendering them unsanitary for usage. The state government in August had fixed Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,500 per month as honorarium for people employed for cleaning toilets in primary and high schools, depending on the number of students enrolled in the schools. Heads of government schools are, however, unhappy that the maximum amount of Rs 3,500 is for schools with strengths of more than 100 students. Thus schools with 1,000 or more students will get the same amount and it is difficult to find someone who will clean all toilets for the low honorarium. Even this small amount has not been released by the government. Moreover, there is no separate allocation of money for repairs or plumbing works in toilets. Schools have to manage repair works, painting and other jobs in the around Rs 17,000 per annum which they receive for maintenance of the entire school. Some schools are directing part of the Rs 50,000 per annum funds which they actually receive for academic purposes such as developing laboratories. Hyderabad: TS irrigation minister T. Harish Rao on Tuesday requested Union water resources minister Uma Bharti to address the concerns of the state in the proposed Apex Council meeting with CMs of TS and AP over utilisation of Godavari and Krishna waters. Mr Rao urged Ms Bharti to direct the Krishna River Management Board to constitute a supervising body with officials from both the states on the diversion of Krishna waters by AP to Rayalaseema projects through Pothireddypadu Head Regulator without any information. He said that till the KRMB arranges telemetry systems at the project sites to confirm exact usage of waters by both the states, a supervisory committee should be constituted. Mr Harish Rao also asked Ms Bharti to include in the Apex Council meeting agenda APs diverting Godavari waters to Krishna basin through Pattiseema scheme without conceding the share of TS. He said that TS is entitled to its share of the surplus waters of Godavari flowing down to the Bay of Bengal. THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the Kerala Government Medical Officers Association (KGMOA) deciding to boycott evaluation meetings at the district level, disease control and prevention activities are likely to take a big hit especially in the background of increasing cases of dengue and malaria across the state. The district-level evaluation meetings of Medical Officers are crucial in finalising the disease prevention and control strategies at various levels. Besides evaluation meetings, the doctors have also decided to boycott VIP duty and private practice. Over 1,500 doctors staged a dharna in front of the secretariat to protest against the drastic cut in salaries of doctors following the 10th Pay Commission Recommendations. The KGMOA has threatened to observe a mass fast in front of secretariat on the Thiruvonam day on September 14 and a token strike on September 27 followed by an indefinite agitation. The association alleged that there had been reduction of Rs 1,200, Rs 10,500, Rs 14,200, Rs 14,600 and Rs 15,000 in the basic pay of of different categories. Situation had now come to such a pass that doctors will have to deposit Rs 33,576, Rs 47,734, Rs 54,318 and Rs 59,256 back to the government. It has pointed out anomaly in basic pay of assistant surgeons/ junior consultant, assistant director/ consultant/civil surgeon, deputy director/ senior consultant/civil surgeons, additional DHS/ chief consultant and director of health services. The proper ratio of civil surgeon and assistant surgeon in promotion posts has not been maintained, no revision in allowance of doctors deployed in casualty services and fixation of basic pay. The KGMOA said many of its demands had been overlooked; higher start for specialist not given, higher pay for higher qualification offered in the commission report not honoured, higher start should be given as special pay (amounting to two increments) or additional two advance increments to specialists and super specialist to all levels of their pay to get the actual benefit. Bodies of the deceased were recovered by divers late on Monday evening. Bhopal: In a spine-chilling incident, a woman and her 12-year-old daughter were snatched away and later mauled to death by crocodiles when the car in which they were travelling crashed into a river in a Madhya Pradesh district, police said on Tuesday. Omkar Singh Gill (65) who survived the mishap watched helplessly the heart-wrenching sight of his daughter and grand daughter being carried away by the crocs in the Aheli river. The incident occurred near Lalithpura on the Sheopur-Kuhanjapur highway in the district early on Sunday morning, H.S.Rawat, in-charge of Baduda police station said. According to the police, Mr Gill, resident of Kota in the district, was travelling with his daughter Mandeep Kaur (36) and grand daughter Harpal (12) in his car to drop them home at Badauda. Mandeep along with her daughter had gone to Kota to visit her ailing mother. Mr Gill who started for Badauda in the same district on late Sunday night suddenly steered his car to left to avoid head-on collision with a truck coming from the opposite side, diving his vehicle in the river in the process. He managed to push the car door open to ensure their escape and somehow swim to the river bank. He, however, looked back in horror when he heard cries of his daughter with crocodiles advancing towards her in the water. Later, he saw his daughter and grand daughter disappear in the river. Bodies of the deceased were recovered by divers late on Monday evening. Vijayawada: The three-day monsoon session of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly will be held from Thursday with the two Houses set to ratify the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, paving way for the introduction of Goods and Services Tax. Besides GST, four other Bills will also be taken up during the brief session that will be held in Hyderabad as construction of the new Legislature complex at Velagapudi in the states new capital region Amaravati is not yet complete. The state Cabinet met in Vijayawada this afternoon under the chairmanship of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and approved the draft bills to be introduced in the Legislature. Among the bills is one related to the amendment of the Value Added Tax Act, 2005, that will reduce VAT on three and five star hotels in important tourist destinations from the present 14.5 percent to five percent. The amendment will also pave way for reduction of VAT on mobile phones to five per cent, a senior minister said after the meeting. A bill to amend the Registration Act, 1908 will also be introduced in the House to prevent double registration of properties. This will curb malpractices in property registration and thereby avoid litigation, he said. Another bill to replace an Ordinance that brings private agricultural colleges in the state under the Acharya N. G. Ranga Agriculture University and one other on private horticulture colleges will also be introduced during the monsoon session, the minister said. Disaster Relief volunteer dies in Louisiana while doing laundry 06 September, 2016 by Alabama Baptist staff , | BATON ROUGE (BP) Working as part of his church's disaster relief team, Sonny Ellis died while doing what he did best serving people. "He was showing the people of Denham Springs, an example of what Jesus would do," said Roy Hill, pastor of First Baptist Church in Satsuma, Alabama. On Sept. 1, Ellis had just placed a load of laundry in a washing machine with his church's disaster relief laundry unit, which was in operation helping flood survivors of the historic flooding in south Louisiana. A little before lunch, Ellis, 72, lost his balance and fell out of the door of the unit and sustained brain injuries, Hill reported. Ellis was taken to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge and died later that evening. "God is still on His throne and Jesus is still Sonny's Savior," Hill wrote on his Facebook page. "We were reminded last night at church that there are times we must prove that we believe what we say we believe. This is one of those times and [the Ellis family] is living out their faith." John Hebert, Louisiana Baptists Director of Missions and Ministry, was saddened to hear the news. "I have connected with his family and pastor to express how all Louisiana Baptists are deeply saddened by this news," said Hebert. "Our hearts and prayers are with Mrs. Ellis and her children. We pray our heavenly father will bring them comfort at his passing and the assurance of his eternal destination." Hebert has asked the family permission to pay to bring his body back to Alabama. SECOND VOLUNTEER TO DIE THIS YEAR It was the second Southern Baptist disaster relief volunteer to die in Louisiana this year. Seventy-seven-year-old Don Fulkerson, an Illinois disaster relief worker, died March 29 while helping mud-out a home in Evans from the flooding in March. Fulkerson, and his wife, Margie, were on their 15th disaster relief trip and would have celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary in April. The couple were serving with members of the First Baptist Church Galatia Baptist Disaster Relief team in Leesville when he experienced a heart attack. UNIQUE TESTIMONY Ellis' testimony is unique. A close friend and deacon at First Baptist prayed for him and shared the Gospel frequently. It wasn't until about 10 years ago that the Holy Spirit moved in Ellis' heart and he accepted Christ and was baptized, Hill recounted. "Ever since he got saved, goodness, he's been a whirlwind of serving," Hill said. "He would serve wherever there was a need." Ellis' wife Gloria, who serves as the church's financial secretary, and their two daughters were able to arrive in Baton Rouge and be with him in the hospital. Mark Wakefield, disaster relief and chaplaincy ministry strategist for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, said Ellis "typifies the sacrifice made by so many disaster relief volunteers. All of them could and would be using their time doing other important things, but they choose involvement in the ministry of disaster relief serving the Lord by serving others." The team from First Baptist Satsuma had been serving since Aug. 21 and was stationed at New Covenant Baptist Church in Denham Springs. After Ellis' death, his family requested that the laundry unit remain in operation to continue to help those in distress after the record flooding. Hill said the unit would remain as long as there is a need, and volunteers from First Baptist would return to serve at the unit after Ellis' funeral. At press time, volunteers from other Alabama associations were making sure the unit remained operational. Ellis is survived by his wife, two daughters, three granddaughters and one great-grandson. With reporting from The Alabama Baptist. Chennai: Taking potshots at Rahul Gandhi over his 2,500 km-long 'Kisan Yatra', Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy on Tuesday said the Congress vice-president has more knowledge about the night clubs in Europe as compared to the condition of farmers in India. Swamy said the media should not bother about Gandhi as he is not a serious politician. "Rahul Gandhi does not know what the farmers' problems are. He only knows where the night clubs in Europe are, particularly in France and London. He goes there most of the time and then on occasion he takes a plane and comes here and does a padyatra and then again goes away. He is not a serious politician, you should not bother about him," he added. Earlier in the day, Gandhi reached out to the farming community while cornering the Centre and the Samajwadi Party government for not addressing their concerns despite making tall claims. He promised loan waiver and reduction in power tariff by 50 percent if the Congress is voted to power in the 2017 assembly polls. Continuing his tirade against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gandhi alleged that the former was more concerned about industrialists. Gandhi also used the occasion to target the Samajwadi Party and alleged that the state government was ignoring the plight of the labourers. Lucknow: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi began his 2,500-km yatra in Uttar Pradesh from Rudrapur in Deoria, a district in eastern Uttar Pradesh that is steeped in backwardness. The yatra will end in Delhi later this month. Mr Gandhi addressed a Khat Sabha in Deoria and after the event, the farmers were seen scurrying away with the khats (cots) which left Mr Gandhi smiling in amusement. The farmers walked off with over 5,000 cots made of wood and jute but left behind the iron ones since they were apparently too heavy to be carried away. Mr Gandhi sought blessings at the Baba Dugdheshwarnath temple and then started his Kisan Yatra from Deoria. Rahul takes mobile numbers of farmers The yatra, which will pass through 236 Vidhan Sabha constituencies and 55 districts, started with Mr Gandhi going from door to door in Pachladi Kritpura village, asking villagers to fill up the Kisan Mangpatra (charter of demands) which includes loan waiver and slicing of electricity rates by 50 per cent. He said that the Kisan Mangpatra would be given to the Modi government so that it could understand the problems of farmers. Mr Gandhi, who was accompanied by AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, spoke to farmers, listened to their problems and even took down their mobile numbers. He also visited the home of a Dalit in Kanchanpur village and stopped by for a bhutta. He asked us about our families, spoke to our children, asked them about their studies and what they wanted to do in the future. This was the first time that a leader had interacted with us at a personal level, said Rameshwar Pandey, a local farmer. Strange circumstances throw up unexpected heroes and heroines, and one such is Divya Spandana. Going by the stage name Ramya, she acts mainly in Kannada films. She was also for a while a Congress MP. Returning from a recent visit to Pakistan, she was asked to comment on a statement by defence minister Manohar Parrikar. Mr Parrikar, whose title should really be changed to offence minister, had said: Pakistan is hell. Ramyas response was: I respectfully disagree, Pakistan is not hell. She added that people there were very similar to people in India: warm, friendly and extremely hospitable. Such observations have been made by many Indians who have visited Pakistan, and I am sure Pakistani visitors to India must say the same things about us when they get back home. But, and heres the big but, these fairly commonplace observations were made before hyper-nationalism became a part of the Indian scene. The instant reaction in these changed times was to slap sedition charges on Ramya. All credit to her for not backing down despite threats and abuse directed at her. What is sedition? My dictionary defines it as conduct or speech inciting rebellion against the authority of a state or monarch. The origin of the word, the dictionary clarifies, derives from the sense of violent strife. Did Ramyas statement that Pakistan is not hell incite Indians against the Narendra Modi government? The notion would be laughable if it didnt carry such a strong feeling of foreboding. Soon after the Ramya case, Amnesty Internationals India office faced similar charges after slogans were raised following a seminar it organised in Bengaluru. The seminar was about recent events in Kashmir, and its no secret that these are rather grim, and Kashmiri sentiments are at fever pitch. Its reasonable to assume the slogans were anti-India. Its also reasonable to assume they were raised, not by organisers, but by people in the audience who conceivably could have been from Kashmir. But these are academic questions as whatever the slogans, and whoever shouted them, they werent causing any major disruption to governance or starting a rebellion. Predictably, after the dust has settled, no action under the sedition laws will be taken against either Ramya or Amnesty. Thats because no action can be taken as the Constitution follows the dictionary definition quite closely. As former attorney-general Soli Sorabjee has pointed out in a recent essay, the founding fathers of our Constitution deliberately kept sedition outside Article 19, that is about freedom of speech and reasonable restrictions attached to it. This was clearly because they had personally experienced the use of sedition laws by the British during the freedom movement. Sedition was shifted by the Constituent Assembly to the Indian Panel Code (Section 124A) as a criminal offence. Even that was challenged by Kedarnath Singh in 1962 in the Supreme Court. The court held: Keeping in mind the reasons for introduction of 124A and the history of sedition, the section must be so construed as to limit its application to acts involving intention or tendency to create disorder or disturbance of law and order, or incitement to violence. The court also clarified that comments, however strongly worded, expressing disapprobation of actions of the government, without exciting those feelings which generate the inclination to cause public disorder by acts of violence is not sedition. In a similar vein, it added that commenting in strong terms upon the measures or acts of government or its agencies, to ameliorate the condition of the people or to secure the cancellation or alteration of those acts or measures by lawful means is not sedition. The court also asserted the citizens right to say or write whatever he likes about the government or its measures by way of criticism or comment. Its being argued by many people that the sedition law should now be scrapped as it is a remnant of a colonial era. Others, like Mr Sorabjee, argue that the provision should remain, but it should be applied judiciously. The question is who will apply it? And, short of going to the courts, who will decide whether the use is judicious? As a matter of fact, the provisions are so clear-cut that mere commonsense will tell you whether an offence is serious enough to justify sedition charges, but as recent cases have shown, commonsense is in short supply in todays supercharged atmosphere. Contrast the knee-jerk reactions against Ramya and Amnesty with the pussy-footing around Zakir Naik. His ironically named television channel Peace TV is said to have nearly 200 million viewers worldwide. Is that why the government is wary of slapping any criminal charges against him? His sermons are said to have inspired Kafeel Ahmed of Bengaluru, who drove an explosive-laden truck into its target in Glasgow in 2007, which in turn could have inspired the recent Bastille Day attack in Nice. Two of the five Dhaka attackers who took hostages and killed 29 people on July 1, 2016, are also said to have been influenced by Naik. This, of course, is conjecture, and not likely to hold up in court, hence the governments reluctance to act. The other factor, of course, is Peace TV is based in Dubai and had only a small office in Mumbai, which apparently is now shut. I am not in the least advocating use of the sedition law against Naik. His case has been brought into this column only to highlight the serious challenges the government faces. Does someone like Naik through his preachings help radicalise youth? Even though he condemns Islamic State as UnIslamic State, are his speeches aimed at misleading young people not clever enough to understand his nuanced statements? Cases like Naiks need our security agencies full attention. That should not be diverted by frivolous cases like Ramyas and Amnestys. We live in times which are truly dangerous in reality; there is no need whatsoever to manufacture danger, is there? After the recent two-day visit of the parliamentary team led by Union home minister Rajnath Singh to Kashmir, the Centre has a real opportunity to address political questions relating to the Valley. The criticism that Kashmiris make is valid that a similar conversation after the 2010 troubles led to a flurry of activity. Meetings were held, plans drafted, and reports prepared. But nothing left the drawing boards in the end. Such are the complications of this country that the minute the moment of emergency passes in one sphere, it crops up in half a dozen others, and all any government ends up doing is firefighting. This time the approach has to be seen as manifestly different. Kashmir is no ordinary issue. It is linked to our territorial integrity. If the government is found to be serious it will find many takers. The pro-Pakistan constituency in the Valley will find it is on shaky ground. Ordinary Kashmiris have no interest in teaming up with Pakistan or its followers. But they are cowed into submission as the Centre has been tardy in presenting the option of constructive politics that has the potential to fight the shadow of the gun. The Hurriyat Conferences top leaders have practically been led by the nose by pro-Pakistan patriarch Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who is the charismatic leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami cadres across the Valley although he was removed several years ago. But when Mr Geelani and his cohorts spurned the efforts of some MPs to talk, in all likelihood taking the cue from Pakistan, with which Indias relations have lately hit a low. They acted contrary to the public mood and expectations, that favoured receiving positive assurances to be followed by action. They are likely be the political losers in the end, especially at a time when street protests are being controlled by a hitherto unknown band of pro-Pakistan elements over whom the Hurriyat leadership may struggle to have control. This presents an opportunity for the Government of India to be seen to doing something new and different, and also presents an opportunity to outflank pro-Pakistan opinion in the Valley. The Opposition MPs, who vainly tried to make contact with the Hurriyat leaders in an effort to hear all sections of public opinion in Kashmir, have helped to re-connect us with the ordinary people of the Kashmir Valley and forge an opportunity to try and do something constructive. Last month, Myanmars new Aung San Suu Kyi-inspired government gave out clear signals that Naypyidaw was engaged in a delicate balancing act with not just India and China, two of its large neighbours, but with other nations or blocs like the United States, Japan and Asean as well. True, President U Htin Kyaw chose India for his first state visit (August 27-30) after the National League for Democracy assumed office in March, but one cant miss the fact that Myanmars all-powerful leader, Ms Suu Kyi, made China her first port of call as state counsellor and foreign minister. Ms Suu Kyi paid a five-day visit to China (August 17-21) and received a red carpet welcome that Beijing usually reserves for heads of state. Next, Ms Suu Kyi is expected to head for the US at the invitation of President Barack Obama, and only in October is she due to visit India for the Brics and Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Binstec) outreach summit. Myanmar could well be trying to get out of Chinas shadow, but the new leadership appears to be interested at the same time to recalibrate its ties with its big, influential and affluent neighbour. Ms Suu Kyi, for instance, hinted that Naypyidaw was interested in re-examining the $3.6 billion Myitsone Dam project on the Irrawaddy river, suspended by the junta after public protests in 2011. This change of stand is significant as Ms Suu Kyi, as the pro-democracy protagonist in Myanmar, had earlier opposed large-scale Chinese investments, perhaps for fear that her country would fail to emerge from Beijings stranglehold. If construction of the joint China-Myanmar funded Myitsone Dam project resumes, Myanmar could soon have the means to sell power and boost its economy. China, of course, would regain lost ground and leverage this into other areas where Chinese investors could play a role. It might be prudent to analyse the recent visit of President Kyaw to India in this backdrop. For the record, four memorandums of understanding were signed between the two nations; two concerning the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway, one on renewable energy and the other on traditional medicine. But the fact remains that the highway project has been dragging along for a long time and the final push towards actually getting it done and over with is expected only now. India is constructing as many as 69 bridges on this highway, starting from Tamu, just across Moreh, in Manipur, up to Kalewa. Of course, the two sides expressed satisfaction at the progress made in the implementation of Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project. The landlocked northeastern state of Mizoram is set to be connected to Myanmars Sittwe Port, Rakhine State by December this year. After Ms Suu Kyis NLD assumed office in March, there have been several high-level engagements between India and Myanmar. National security adviser Ajit Doval, minister of state for commerce Nirmala Sitharaman, MoS external affairs V.K. Singh had met Ms Suu Kyi in Laos, and lately external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj held talks with leaders in Myanmar. These contacts have, however, not succeeded in fast-tracking the level of trade ties if the figures are any indication. Somewhere, the push seems to be lacking, or the tempo towards cementing ties has failed to remain consistent. For example, Indias total investment in Myanmar was a little over $224 million in 2015-2016 much lower than investments by others in the neighbourhood like China. Significantly, no new Indian investments were made in the first four months of 2016-2017. According to Myanmars commerce ministry, the total trade volume between the two nations has reached $1.17 billion, while Myanmar-China trade stands at $10.9 billion. Indian investors are keen to have a share in Myanmars energy, health, automobile and agriculture sectors. This could well be possible if New Delhi is able to maintain the momentum in engagements with Naypyidaw. The big takeaway for President Kyaw, of course, was the firm commitment by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who said after the formal bilaterals at Hyderabad House that: At every step of the way, 1.25 billion people of India will stand by you as both partners and friends. Myanmars new rulers may be eyeing other key global powers like the US or trying to boost ties with their neighbourhood, but Naypyidaw certainly knows India is the only nation that can be of use as a real counter-balance vis-a-vis China. Therefore, although Ms Suu Kyi herself visited China before India, the fact that her staunch loyalist, President Kyaw, made India his first port of call as the nations head of state indicates the importance Myanmar attaches to the relationship bound, among others, by cultural, religious and historical ties. Yet again, during President Kyaws visit, the two nations reiterated their commitment to jointly fight terror and trans-border insurgency. This is important as insurgents from Northeast India are known to have several major bases in Myanmar, making the 1,640-km India-Myanmar border region an insurgency hotspot. One has also seen the two sides announcing opening of immigration posts along the border in Manipur and Mizoram to facilitate easy movement of people in a bid to improve people-to-people contacts. What would be critical, however, is the ease of doing business with each other in the days ahead: this entails cutting down bureaucratic red-tape and easing governmental mechanisms, besides, of course, improving the infrastructure along the border and an improved security situation. New Delhi cant afford to continue with a blow-hot-blow-cold relationship with Myanmar as that nation is not only the bridgehead to Southeast Asia but also holds the key to peace and security in the Northeast. Indias offer to build institutions of democracy in Myanmar and to support the ethnic reconciliation process are meaningful gestures. But one expects New Delhi to act swiftly in implementing whatever is envisaged. After all, New Delhi has already been slow in establishing contact with the Suu Kyi-led government. Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi visited Myanmar within a week of the new governments taking charge, but Indias external affairs minister did so only on August 22! Google is reportedly planning to develop a new website, named Bharat Saves to help customers save and invest money in a better way. The website will guide customers over financial planning. According to media reports, the search engine giant wants to align its Bharat Saves websites to the governments financial inclusion scheme, Jan Dhan Yojana, launched in 2014 to ensure access to financial services, such as Banking/Savings and Deposit Accounts, Remittance, Credit, Insurance, Pension in an affordable manner. A Google spokesperson has told media that 'Bharat Saves' will be rolled out as an app as well. To use the service, user will need to log into either of the platformsthe 'Bharat Save' app or website. The user will then be required to take a financial literacy test. The certifications for the test will be given by the Indian government, Google and an industry organisation. These platforms will let user to see, compare and purchase banking and insurance products. Both the platforms will eventually be linked to PMs Jan Dhan Yojana, which has opened up about 24 crore new bank accounts so far. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Google decided to drop the Nexus branding to rename it as Pixel. Google will reportedly unveil its newly branded Pixel smartphonesPixel and Pixel XL on October 4 at a hardware event. Last month, Google decided to drop the Nexus branding to rename it as Pixel. Reports by Android Authority claimed that the two HTC-built smartphones codenamed Marlin and Sailfish will be called as Pixel and Pixel XL respectively. Apart from this, the report also anticipated that Google will launch a new 4K Chromecast, to be named as Chromecast Plus or Chromecast Ultra that can stream content in 4K, and the companys Daydream VR viewer device Daydream View on October 4. Previous rumours suggested that Marlin could sport a 5.5-inch display with 1440 x 2560 pixel resolution and powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 chipset backed by Adreno 530 GPU. The device will pack a 13MP rear camera while there will be an 8MP front facing camera also on board. The smartphone will draw power from a 3450mAh battery and will run on Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box with 32GB of internal storage and 4GB of RAM. On the other hand Sailfish was tipped to 5.2 inch display with 1080p resolution and 440 ppi. The device will be powered by a 64-bit quad-core Snapdragon 820 processor clocked at 1.59GHz. It will be juiced by a 2770mAh battery and boast USB Type-C port and Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Washington: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump landed just ahead of Democrat Hillary Clinton in a new national poll released on Tuesday, which showed the real estate mogul chiselling away at his opponents former lead. Mr Trump beat Clinton 45 to 43 per cent in the new CNN/ORC Poll, which showed stark divisions in the way different demographics plan to cast their ballots. Ms Clinton has mostly maintained an edge over Mr Trump in recent national polls. She has dramatically deeper ground operations in swing states and trounced Mr Trump in August fundraising. But the Republican flagbearers unorthodox White House bid, including his campaigns apparent imperviousness to criticism about his harsh rhetoric, assures a tight contest leading up to November 8. The near tie in the latest CNN/ORC results came in sharp contrast to Mr Clintons eight-point lead among registered voters in its early August poll following the Democratic Convention. According to CNN, huge gaps exist in voting preference based on gender, age, race, education and partisanship. Women prefer Ms Clinton 53 to 38 per cent, while men favor Trump 54 to 32 per cent. Voters younger than 45 give Ms Clinton an edge (54 percent to 29 per cent for Mr Trump), while non-whites favour Ms Clinton by almost four-to-one, poll results showed. Coughing fit On Tuesday Ms Clinton interrupted her stump speech involuntarily in a coughing spell and wryly blamed the incident on her rival Trump. Every time I think about Trump I get allergic, she said in the midst of her coughing fit during a Cleveland rally, Ohio. Vientiane: US President Barack Obama warned North Korea on Tuesday that it was deepening its international isolation following recent missile tests that were hailed by the reclusive state's leader as "perfect". Obama also held talks with South Korean counterpart Park Geun-hye on the sidelines of a regional summit in Laos about Pyongyang's firing of three mid-ranged missiles on Monday. The tests were a new show of force as world leaders met for a G20 gathering in China before Obama and many other Asian leaders travelled to Laos. "North Korea needs to know that provocations will only invite more pressure and further deepen its isolation," Obama told reporters after meeting Park in Vientiane. Park described the launches as a "reckless provocation (that) will lead North Korea down the path of self-destruction". Pyongyang has conducted a fourth nuclear test and a series of missile tests this year in defiance of UN sanctions, prompting South Korea to announce plans to deploy a US anti-missile system to counter such threats. In spite of tough global sanctions, Pyongyang continues to ignore the international community's calls for a halt to its weapons programme. Pressure on Pyongyang is expected to intensify later Tuesday when the 15-member UN Security Council convenes in New York to consider a response to the latest in a series of tests. But despite the global chorus of disapproval, Pyongyang is unrepentant. Bolster nuclear force The North's KCNA news agency on Tuesday said leader Kim Jong-Un personally oversaw Monday's missile firing which he "appreciated as perfect". "He stressed the need to continue making miraculous achievements in bolstering up the nuclear force one after another in this historic year," the report added. The North's top newspaper Rodong Sinmun carried nine photos of the test, including one of a beaming Kim standing in front of a map surrounded by smiling officials. South Korea's defence ministry said the tests were of Rodong missiles with a range of 1,000 kilometres (620 miles). It said they had been fired over the Sea of Japan (East Sea) without warning. The Rodong is a scaled-up Scud variant with a maximum range of around 1,300 kilometres, bringing most of Japan within range. Melissa Hanham, an expert on North Korea's weapons programme at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California, said it was difficult to determine so far if there had been any technical progress. "The most obvious difference from the last test is the change in warhead," Hanham said. Last month, North Korea fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile from the northeastern port of Sinpo. That flew 500 kilometres towards Japan, far exceeding the range of the country's previous sub-launched missiles. Kim described the August test as the "greatest success" and said it put the US mainland within striking range. The launch was widely condemned by the US and other major powers, but analysts saw it as a clear step forward for North Korea's nuclear strike ambitions. A proven submarine-launched ballistic missile system would allow deployment far beyond the Korean peninsula and a "second-strike" capability in the event of an attack on the North's military bases. After his meeting with Park, Obama said if North Korea committed to denuclearisation then the "opportunities for us to dialogue with them are there". But he added that Pyongyang's current behaviour made that impossible. Malaysian authorities said the attack on High Commissioner (ambassador) Ibrahim Sahib Ansar on Sunday left him with minor injuries. (Photo: YouTube Screengrab) Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian police said on Monday they have arrested five people after a group of protesters assaulted the Sri Lankan ambassador at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Malaysian authorities said the attack on High Commissioner (ambassador) Ibrahim Sahib Ansar on Sunday left him with minor injuries, but they have so far given no details on the identities or background of the attackers. "Five people have been arrested and we are investigating the motive for the attack," Abdul Samah Mat, police chief of Selangor state, said. In Colombo Sri Lanka's Foreign Secretary Esala Weerakoon summoned Malaysia's top envoy, Wan Zaidi Wan Abdullah, and demanded adequate security for Colombo's diplomatic mission. The foreign ministry expressed "disappointment that the Malaysian authorities had failed to provide necessary protection" despite warnings of a possible threat. Almost 100 ethnic Indian protesters had gathered in Kuala Lumpur last week to rally against former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse, who was attending an international conference, local media reported. 9/11 Memorial Imprecatory Prayer Vigil Contact: Dr. Wiley Drake, 714-865-8132 WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Congressional Prayer Conference of Washington D.C. will host an Imprecatory Memorial Prayer Vigil for the Islamic Terrorists who attacked, the United States of America on 9/11. Their continued daily attack on America is all the more reason to hold this prayer vigil. Psalms 109: 1-10, and Psalms 149: 6-9 "Boots on the Ground" and "Prayer in the Air" Where: National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial E St NW, Between 4th and 5th Streets Washington D.C. 20004 World Wide "Pray Line" for those who can't be in D.C. 1-202-747-4839, i.e. "Prayer in the Air" (This 24 Hour "Pray Line" being established on 9/11 2016 will continue to be open into Perpetuity) When: Sunday September 11th 2016, 8:45 am, EST (Time of the Attack) Chairman Dr. Wiley S. Drake, Candidate for President of The United States will officiate this special prayer vigil. (cell 1-714-865-8132) Supporters of Nathan Law of political party Demosisto celebrate after Law won the legislative council election in Hong Kong. (Photo: AP) Hong Kong: Beijing has warned new Hong Kong lawmakers not to back independence for the semi-autonomous city after young anti-China activists won seats for the first time in key weekend elections. Sunday's vote saw young activists pushing for more autonomy from Beijing secure a crucial foothold in the city's Legislative Council (LegCo), as fears grow that China is tightening its grip. It was the first major poll since pro-democracy rallies in 2014 failed to win concessions on political reform from Beijing. Some student protest leaders were among those winning seats in the landmark vote. Five candidates advocating independence or self-determination for Hong Kong are to sit in the 70-seat assembly. In a statement late Monday, China said that it would not tolerate any talk of independence "inside or outside" the legislature. "We firmly oppose any activity relating to Hong Kong independence in any form, inside or outside the Legislative Council, and firmly support the Hong Kong government to impose punishment in accordance with the law," state news agency Xinhua cited a spokesperson of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council -- China's cabinet as saying. It said some candidates had used the election as a platform to "openly promote" independence, adding that went against China's constitution, as well as Hong Kong's own mini-constitution, known as the Basic Law. "It is also against the fundamental interests of all Hong Kong residents," said the statement, which was posted on the website of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office. The vote saw the highest turnout since Hong Kong was handed back to China by Britain in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" deal that protected the city's freedoms for 50 years. Fears that Beijing interference is now threatening those liberties in a range of areas, from politics to education and media, have sparked the birth of the independence movement. Lawmakers will take up their seats on October 1 and will have to swear an oath to uphold the constitution, which describes Hong Kong as part of China. It is not yet clear what may happen if they go on to advocate independence as an option for Hong Kong in the legislature. The government has already taken steps to deter the pro-independence camp. It introduced a controversial new form before the LegCo election which required candidates to verify they understood Hong Kong was an "inalienable part of China". Many refused to sign it. The government also banned the most strident independence activists from standing, causing widespread outrage. Hong Kong's unpopular leader Leung Chun-ying, seen by critics as a stooge of Beijing, said Tuesday that all lawmakers must abide by the Basic Law. However, he added that he wanted to cooperate with all legislators. "(I) hope we can all work for society together," Leung told reporters. Anti-establishment parties increased their share of the legislature, taking 30 of 70 seats. It is almost impossible for them to take a majority as 30 seats are appointed by special interest groups that tend to be pro-Beijing. In the video footage, the man can be seen wearing a hospital gown and shorts. (Photo: YouTube Screengrab) Dramatic footage, capturing a man trying to wrestle with two women fighting in the middle of the ward of a hospital, has gone viral on social media. In the video footage, the man can be seen wearing a hospital gown and shorts. It is assumed that the man was admitted to the hospital when the fight broke out. One of the women in the video seems to be the man's wife and the other one is assumed to be his lover. When both the women turn up at the same time to meet the ailing man in the hospital, he is confronted by them and the situation ends up in a fight. The two-minute video clip shows two women fighting with each other as the man tries to separate them. One of the women can be seen holding a fistful of the other woman's hair and trying to drag her. As the fight escalates, the man desperately tries to calm them down, but both the women refuse to give up. He eventually manages to separate them, before one of them lifts up an item from the floor and hurls it at the other. It is not exactly known where the video has been shot, but its has gone viral and got thousands of views on YouTube since the time it has been uploaded. Vientiane: Myanmar's newly installed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi will visit the United States next week, US President Barack Obama said on Tuesday. Plans for a visit had previously been announced in July but no date had been given by either side. During a speech in Laos, Obama revealed Suu Kyi's trip to Washington was imminent. "I look forward to welcoming State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi to the White House next week as we stand with the people of Myanmar in their journey towards pluralism and peace," he said. The invitation reinforces Suu Kyi's primacy on the international stage as the real head of a government she is technically barred from leading. Despite winning a landslide in last November's elections, which ended decades of brutal military rule, the Nobel laureate is banned from being president by a junta-era constitution. Instead she has taken the role of foreign minister and created a new position for herself as state counsellor. She has also appointed long term friend and ally, Htin Kyaw, to be a proxy president. Obama and Suu Kyi first met in 2012 shortly after the veteran dissident was released from house arrest where she had spent much of the last two decades under junta rule. He also met Suu Kyi during a visit to Myanmar in 2014, when he criticised the ban on her taking the presidency. Myanmar's peaceful transition from military to civilian rule has been hailed in a world where such transitions seem rare. But the military, who spent decades brutalising the population and enriching themselves, remain enormously influential. Officers are still guaranteed a quarter of legislative seats, giving them a veto on constitutional change, while the military retains control of the crucial home, border and defence ministries. They also control huge business conglomerates, with some key army-linked figures still under US sanctions. There have been suggestions Washington may lift some of those sanctions during Suu Kyi's visit, something rights groups have balked at. "US sanctions are focused on the Burmese generals and their cronies in order to encourage democratic reforms," said John Sifton, from Human Rights Watch. "They shouldn't be fully lifted until the democratic transition is irreversible." Obama arrived in Vientiane just before midnight on Monday, for the first visit by a sitting US president to Laos, where he wants to begin to address the legacy of US bombing during the Vietnam War. (Photo: AP) Vientiane: President Barack Obama cancelled what would have been his first meeting with Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte, after Duterte described Obama in vulgar terms, a White House spokesman said on Tuesday. Duterte, a plain-spoken populist known for his colorful remarks and his campaign against illegal drugs in which thousands of people have died, described Obama as a son of a b**** to reporters on Monday, a day ahead of the planned meeting in Laos, where South Asian leaders are meeting for annual summits. Obama learned about the insult as he emerged from the Group of 20 summit in Hangzhou, China. At a news conference, he said he had told his aides to speak with Philippine officials to find out is this, in fact, a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations, leaving little doubt that the meeting would not proceed as planned. Read: Duterte diplomacy: Philippine leader's global insults I always want to make sure that if Im having a meeting, that its actually productive and were getting something done, Obama told reporters. Instead, Obama now plans to meet later on Tuesday with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, said Ned Price, spokesman for the White House National Security Council - a meeting where the response to North Koreas latest missile tests is expected to be on the agenda. Obama arrived in Vientiane just before midnight on Monday, for the first visit by a sitting US president to Laos, where he wants to begin to address the legacy of US bombing during the Vietnam War. He was set to give an address on the importance he has placed on Southeast Asia in his foreign and economic policy during his two terms in office, which will end on Jan. 20, setting the stage for three days of meetings with regional leaders. The White House had said Obama did not plan to pull any punches on his concerns about human rights abuses in the Philippines, its treaty ally, when meeting Duterte. Duterte won the presidency in May as he promised to suppress crime and wipe out drugs and drug dealers, and a wave of extrajudicial killings has followed. Duterte said it would be rude for Obama to raise the human rights issue, and told reporters such a conversation would prompt him to curse at Obama, using a Filipino phrase for son of a bitch. Plenty will be killed until the last pusher is out of the streets. Until the (last) drug manufacturer is killed we will continue, he said. Its not the first time Duterte has cursed at a world leader. He called Pope Francis a son of a whore in May, and called U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg a gay son of a whore. On Monday, Obama said he recognized the importance of fighting the drug trade, but insisted it must be done under the rule of law. Asean Summit The unusually open tensions threaten to overshadow the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Asia Summits in Laos from Tuesday to Thursday. The 10-member ASEAN will meet leaders of other regional powers: China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Russia and the United States. The Philippines has been a key US ally in its dispute with China over the South China Sea, in which Washington blames Beijing for militarising a vital global trade route and jeopardising freedom of movement at sea and in the air. China rejects those accusations, and in turn blames the United States for ratcheting up tensions unnecessarily. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims. An arbitration court in The Hague in July invalidated Chinas vast territorial claims to the waterway after a case was brought by the Philippines, a ruling that Beijing refuses to recognise. Duterte said last month he expected all ASEAN members to support the arbitration courts ruling, but that the Philippines would not raise the issue in Laos. Police chief Ronald dela Rosa has also regularly said the unexplained deaths are due to drug syndicates waging war against each other, rather than extrajudicial killings by vigilantes and others. (Photo: Representational Image/AP) Manila: An average of 44 people are being killed each day in Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's war on crime, according to police data released Tuesday that showed the death toll surging to nearly 3,000. The new figures came after Duterte vowed on Monday to defy a wave of international condemnation and continue killing until every drug trafficker in the Philippines was dead. "More people will be killed, plenty will be killed until the last pusher is out of the streets," said Duterte, who scored a landslide election victory in May largely on his promise to fight crime. "Until the (last) drug manufacturer is killed, we will continue and I will continue," Duterte said. Police have killed 1,033 people in anti-drug operations since Duterte was sworn into office just over two months ago, according to the national police update on Tuesday. Another 1,894 people have died in unexplained deaths, police said, which rights groups believe are largely due to out-of-control security forces and hired assassins. The total of 2,927 is more than 500 higher than the figure released by police on Sunday, and equates to an average of 44 a day since Duterte took office on June 30. US President Barack Obama was planning to raise concerns about the war on crime with Duterte at a meeting in Laos on Tuesday afternoon. But Obama cancelled the meeting after Duterte warned he would not be lectured to, and branded the US president a "son of a whore". Philippine police insist they are killing only in self defence. "They have guns, they are drug-crazed. Our policemen are just defending themselves," national police spokesman Dionardo Carlos told AFP. Police chief Ronald dela Rosa has also regularly said the unexplained deaths are due to drug syndicates waging war against each other, rather than extrajudicial killings by vigilantes and others. Still, Duterte has promised to protect police from prosecution if they are charged over the deaths and insisted human rights cannot get in the way of his war. He has also urged ordinary Filipinos to kill drug addicts in their communities. Dela Rosa last month called for drug addicts to kill traffickers and burn down their homes. The United Nations special rapporteur on summary executions has warned incitement to kill is a crime under international law. But Duterte has told the United Nations not to interfere and said he will use all means necessary to eradicate drugs in society, which he insists is the nation's biggest problem. He had been scheduled to meet with Obama separately, but that meeting has now been postponed. (Photo: AFP) Vientiane, Laos: Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday expressed regret over his "son of a bitch" remark while referring to President Barack Obama. In a statement read out by his spokesman, Duterte said his "strong comments" to certain questions by a reporter "elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the U.S. president." Duterte made the remarks Monday before flying to Laos, where he will attend a regional summit. He had been scheduled to meet Obama separately. But Obama indicated that he was having second thoughts about that meeting. Duterte said both sides mutually agreed to postpone the meeting. Even though Duterte's latest comment does not amount to an apology, the expression of regret is a rare instance when the tough-talking former mayor has expressed contrition for his remarks that often slide into profanity. "We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions, and working in mutually responsible ways for both countries," the statement said. The flap over Duterte's remarks started when a reporter asked him how he intends to explain the extrajudicial killings of drug dealers to Obama. More than 2,000 suspected drug pushers and users have been killed since Duterte launched a war on drugs after taking office on June 30. In his typical foul-mouthed style, Duterte responded: "I am a president of a sovereign state and we have long ceased to be a colony. I do not have any master except the Filipino people, nobody but nobody. You must be respectful. Do not just throw questions. Putang ina I will swear at you in that forum," he said, using the Tagalog phrase for "son of a bitch." Duterte has earlier cursed the pope and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "Who is he (Obama) to confront me?" Duterte said, adding the Philippines had not received an apology from the United States for misdeeds committed during its colonization of the Philippines. He pointed to the killing of Muslim Moros more than a century ago during a U.S. pacification campaign in the southern Philippines, blaming the wounds of the past as "the reason why (the south) continues to boil" with separatist insurgencies. Last week, Duterte said he was ready to defend his bloody crackdown on illegal drugs, which has sparked concern from the U.S. and other countries. Duterte said he would demand that Obama allow him to first explain the context of his crackdown before engaging the U.S. president in a discussion of the deaths. Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin, en route home from a summit in China, has made a stop in Uzbekistan where the president of nearly 27 years was laid to rest on Saturday, leaving no apparent successor. Uzbekistan is ex-Soviet central Asia's most populous country and borders Afghanistan, making it of strategic interest to Russia and the United States. Islam Karimov, who crushed opposition throughout his rule, was buried in his hometown of Samarkand on Saturday. The chairman of the country's Senate has been declared interim head of state in line with the constitution but it is unclear if he will succeed Karimov as president. Putin on Tuesday visited Karimov's grave and held a brief meeting with Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev, indicating that the prime minister is likely to get the job. Melbourne: Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has sought a "ferocious commitment" from French President Francois Hollande over data security after the leak of confidential information on the Indian Scorpene submarines made by a French firm which has also won a 50 billion dollar Australian submarines contract. Over 22,000 pages of secret data on the capabilities of six highly-advanced submarines being built for the Indian Navy in Mumbai in collaboration with French defence company DCNS were leaked. The data leak reportedly happened overseas. Earlier this year DCNS won the contract for the 50 billion dollar deal to build Australia's new fleet of submarines. Turnbull said the leak had no direct security implications for Australia, because the submarine DCNS will build for Australia, the Shortfin Barracuda is "completely different" to the Scorpene. "Of course it's a different submarine to the one that we are going to build in collaboration with the French, but it is absolutely critical to continue to maintain the highest level of security." Following the embarrassing document leaks on the Submarines for Indian navy, Turnbull asked the French President on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou to ensure there was a "ferocious commitment to the data security", ABC News reported. The report said Hollande said that the leak from French company DCNS was unacceptable. "Yes, we've already raised these issues with the French. And the President and we've had a brief discussion about it already, and we will be addressing it in more detail," Turnbull said. "Maintaining absolute maximum security, total security on information of this kind is critical. The leaks of the material relating to Scorpene submarine are very, very regrettable," he said on Monday. Turnbull emphasised the importance of data security and the two leaders noted the significance of the defence relationship between the two countries. Turnbull said the most damaging vulnerability in computer systems was "warmware", company or government insiders, the source of the leak. The French company DCNS has been awarded the USD 50 billion submarine project for Australia. Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne this morning said he was confident the Scorpene leak had no security implications for Australia. "This is a very old set of documents, they're not top secret, they bear no relation at all to the submarines we will be building with the French," he said. Merete Hodne risks six months in jail if she is found to have discriminated against the Muslim woman. (Photo: Representational Image/AFP) London: A 47-year-old Norwegian hairdresser who threw a hijab-clad woman out of her salon saying, she did not want "evil" in her establishment could be sentenced to six months in jail after refusing to pay a fine of 800 pounds. Merete Hodne is due to appear in court this week after the incident was reported to the police in October last year. "Islam is evil. It would have been discriminatory against her other customers if she had not thrown Malika Bayan out of the establishment," Hodne said. Malika Bayan, 23, reportedly went to Hodne's salon in the town of Bryne in October last year to enquire how much it would cost to colour her hair, but Hodne told her to leave, Daily Express reported on Tuesday. "It is disturbing that she treats people this way in a free country. Norway is my country. She talks about that Islam is oppressive to women, but it is she who oppress me," Bayan said. "Evil is Islam's ideology, Mohammedanism and the hijab are symbols of this ideology. I'm not afraid to lose but I won't pay for something that is wrong. I'll appeal to the court of human rights," Hodne added. The hairdresser was initially fined 800 pounds by the police in April for discrimination over the incident, but after refusing to pay, Hodne now faces a court appearance Thursday in the first case of its kind in Norway. Hodne risks six months in jail if she is found to have discriminated against the Muslim woman. Keith Vaz, a 59-year-old former Europe minister under ex-premier Tony Blair, chairs a powerful home affairs parliamentary committee which conducts probes into immigration, drugs policies and sex workers. (Photo: AP) London: A senior British lawmaker resigned from his position as head of an influential parliamentary committee on Tuesday after becoming embroiled in a scandal involving drugs and male prostitutes. Keith Vaz from the opposition Labour Party, a married father of two and one of the first British Asian ministers, was recorded paying two escorts for their services, according to a report in the Sunday Mirror. "Those who hold others to account must themselves be accountable," Vaz said in a statement. He said he was stepping down to allow the committee's "important work" to be carried out "without any distractions whatsoever". "I am genuinely sorry that recent events make it impossible for this to happen if I remain chair," he said. Vaz, a 59-year-old former Europe minister under ex-premier Tony Blair, chairs a powerful home affairs parliamentary committee which conducts probes into immigration, drugs policies and sex workers. The story, recounted in lurid detail typical of Britain's aggressive tabloid press, has provoked a debate about whether the newspaper intruded unfairly into Vaz's private life. The Sunday Mirror has justified its reporting on the basis that there is a public interest in exposing Vaz given his role in scrutinising legislation on sex workers and drugs. In a statement to the Mail on Sunday, Vaz attacked the journalists while adding: "I am genuinely sorry for the hurt and distress that has been caused by my actions." Vaz was filmed and recorded meeting the escorts at a flat he owns near his home in north London last month, according to the report. In one conversation with an escort published in the tabloid and its sister publication the Daily Mirror, Vaz reportedly offered to buy cocaine for a later date, although he said he would not take any himself. He also asked an escort to bring the party drug poppers with him for their encounter. Vaz has previously said in parliament that he would vote to ban poppers if the drug was proved to be harmful. Vaz, who was born in Yemen to parents from the Indian state of Goa, was first elected to parliament in 1987 for Leicester East in central England. British Prime Minister Theresa May told reporters on the sidelines of the G20 summit in China on Monday that voters must be able to have "confidence" in their politicians, adding, "What Keith does is for Keith, and any decisions he wishes to make are for him". Bridgen, who represents North West Leicestershire constituency which neighbours Vaz's Leicester East constituency, has since received a letter from law firm Howard Kennedy accusing him of "maliciously spreading false and highly defamatory scuttlebutt" about Vaz. Vaz, the long-serving lawmaker, was one of the most influential members of the House of Commons through his work on a committee that deals with law and order issues. His sister, Valerie Vaz, is also a sitting Labour MP from Walsall South and his wife, Maria Fernandes, is a practising lawyer. The November 14 series of coordinated attacks by suicide bombers and gunmen is the deadliest inflicted on France since World War II. (Photo: AP) London: A Pakistani LeT bomb maker with a bent for an un-Islamic hobby of accessing porn was part of the team of militants who set out to execute the deadly Paris attacks but could not reach in time to make it even more catastrophic, according to a media report. The November 14 series of coordinated attacks by suicide bombers and gunmen, the deadliest inflicted on France since World War II, were a "slimmed-down version of an even more ambitious plan" to hit other European countries and following them up with strikes in several locations, a senior European counter-terrorism official told CNN. Muhammad Usman, a suspected bombmaker for the Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, had set out from the capital of the self-declared ISIS caliphate in Raqqa, Syria, six weeks before the Paris attacks along with Algerian-born Adel Haddadi, the report said, citing investigation documents. The duo were part of a team of four militants, of whom the other two operatives later blew themselves up outside the national stadium in Paris, killing nearly 130 people. The team posed as Syrian refugees, blending in with thousands fleeing the war-torn country and made the treacherous crossing from Izmir, Turkey, into Greece in a boat filled with dozens of refugees but were intercepted by the Greek Navy. The two who would go on to strike the Paris stadium passed through Greece - though Greek officials declined to explain how - and started moving across Europe toward their target in France while Haddadi and Usman's fake Syrian passports were discovered and they were arrested. They were held for nearly a month, according to investigators, who believe that the delay was "significant as they did not have a chance to become part of the Paris attacks". They were only released in late October following which they immediately contacted their ISIS handler, Abu Ahmad, who arranged for someone to wire them 2,000 euros and the pair continued along the refugee route. And as they travelled north, Usman was preoccupied with a strikingly un-Islamic hobby - using his phone to peruse almost two dozen X-rated sites, including "sexxx lahur" and "Pakistani Lahore college girls, ImakeSex." The documents - which are some 90,000 pages most of them in French and include a trove of interrogations, investigative findings and data pulled from cell phones, shedding new light on the highly organised branch of the external operations wing of the sophisticated ISIS network known as the Amn al-Kharji - also show that Usman spoke only Urdu, while Haddadi spoke mostly Arabic. The incident happened yesterday as parents were dropping off their children at the start of the school day in Bonifacio, on the island's southern tip. (Photo: AP) Marseille, France: Two Muslim mothers wearing headscarves were accosted and prevented from entering a nursery school on the French island of Corsica by two other parents, officials said. The incident happened yesterday as parents were dropping off their children at the start of the school day in Bonifacio, on the island's southern tip. The two women, wearing Muslim headscarves, "were stopped by two men, two brothers, who thought it wasn't right that their children are not allowed to wear emblems of their religion at school and yet these women could enter with their veils," said local prosecutor Eric Bouillard, confirming a report in the Corse-Matin newspaper. Bonifacio mayor Jean-Charles Orsucci said his education official "had intervened to allow normal entry to the school". Police and a schools inspector were also sent to the scene "and the situation calmed down. There was no violence, no threats, and therefore no laws broken," said Bouillard. While religious symbols are banned for pupils and teachers in French schools, there is no such constraint on parents. The incident is the latest example of intercommunal tensions in France. A burkini ban by local authorities in a string of resorts in southern France divided opinion and ended up in the courts. A Nice court finally suspended its ban on the Islamic swimsuit on Thursday after authorities there had defied a ruling by the country's highest administrative court. The string of bans came after the full-body swimsuit allegedly sparked violent clashes in Corsica -- in the latest in a series of incidents that have raised tensions between local Muslims and their neighbours. In December, protesters vandalised a Muslim prayer hall and trashed copies of the Koran after an assault on firefighters that was blamed on youths of Arab origin. The food delivered in the past week included dates, beans and canned food as well as rations containing lentils, rice, flour and vegetable oil, enough to last for a month. (Photo: Representational Image/AFP) Baghdad: The UN said Tuesday it has delivered food supplies to more than 30,000 residents of Qayyarah for the first time in two years after Iraqi forces expelled jihadists from the northern town. Government forces on August 25 pushed the Islamic State group out of Qayyarah, considered strategic for a planned offensive against the jihadists' last Iraqi stronghold of Mosul further north. Qayyarah had been "inaccessible for over two years", the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said in a statement. "The people of Qayyarah are suffering extreme hunger with scarce access to food supplies," said WFP's country director for Iraq, Sally Haydock. WFP said the food delivered in the past week included dates, beans and canned food as well as rations containing lentils, rice, flour and vegetable oil, enough to last for a month. The town is "in a dire state" with "black smoke" rising from oilfields around it that were set ablaze by the jihadists during fighting, WFP said. "All of its shops were either destroyed or closed and food stocks were running dangerously low with people surviving only on wheat from the recent harvest," it said. "Safe drinking water, electricity and medical services remain nearly impossible to access," it added. The UN food agency said it had also distributed food to "almost 2,000 displaced people living in camps and with host families in areas surrounding Qayyarah". Located on the Tigris river, Qayyarah was retaken in a three-day operation led by Iraqi special forces backed by US-led coalition air strikes. Its capture is part of a plan by Iraqi forces to drive IS from their last stronghold in Iraq in Mosul, 60 kilometres (35 miles) away. The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR warned last month that a Mosul offensive could displace another 1.2 million people. Around 3.4 million people have already been forced to flee their homes in Iraq by conflict since the start of 2014. WFP said it was "scaling up its food assistance in Iraq ahead of the Mosul offensive but "urgently" needed $106 million to assist displaced families until the end of 2016. ISIS has banned burqa-clad women from entering buildings in Mosul after many of their militants were killed by women wearing burqa. (Photo: AP, Representational Image) Baghdad: In an unexpected move, the dreaded Islamic State group has called for a ban on the burqa at their security centres in Iraq and Syria. According to a report in the Daily Mail, women would be allowed to enter buildings in Mosul only if they are not wearing a burqa. This move comes amid recent attacks on ISIS militants by burqa-clad women. Prior to this new law, Islamic State's morality police would often force women to wear the Islamic outfit. Those who refused were beaten up and sometimes even killed by the militants. However, the sudden change in their rules, might be limited only to the security centres in Mosul, said a report. Last month, after US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces advanced ISIS-captured Syrian town of Manbij and freed civilians from Islamic State's captivity, women were seen burning their burqas and veils forced on them by the terror group. "Damn this stupid invention that they made us wear, one woman was heard saying as she set her burqa on fire. Were humans, we have our freedom, another said. Islamic State group has been forcing women in their territory to wear a burqa that covers their entire body, except for eyes, in accordance with Sharia. In July, an IS-claimed bombing killed nearly 300 people in Karradah. (Photo: Representational Image) Baghdad: Officials say a car bombing in a bustling commercial area in central Baghdad has killed at least 12 civilians. A police officer said on Tuesday that the explosives-laden car, which was left in a parking lot in the Shiite-dominated district of Karradah, exploded late on Monday. He says up to 28 people were wounded and at least 15 cars were damaged. A medical official confirmed the casualty figures. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release the information. In an online statement, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack. The Associated Press could not verify the authenticity of the statement, but it was posted on militant websites commonly used by the extremists. In July, an IS-claimed bombing killed nearly 300 people in Karradah. Riyadh: Saudi Arabia's top cleric is revving up the kingdom's rhetoric against Iran, saying in comments published on Tuesday that Tehran's leaders are "not Muslims," in response to rancorous remarks from Iran's supreme leader. The remarks by Grand Mufti Abdulaziz Al Sheikh came a day after Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Saudi authorities of killing Muslims injured during last year's crush of crowds at the hajj pilgrimage. Their confrontational comments mark a sharp escalation in the countries' faceoff as their spat plays out across the region. Khamenei, in remarks published on his website Monday, said the "heartless and murderous Saudis locked up the injured with the dead in containers - instead of providing medical treatment and helping them or at least quenching their thirst. They murdered them." Mostly Sunni Saudi Arabia and majority Shiite Iran back opposite sides of the wars in Syria and Yemen, and support opposing political groups in Iraq, Bahrain and Lebanon. In comments to the Makkah newspaper, the top Saudi cleric was quoted as saying that Khamenei's remarks are "not surprising" because Iranians are descendants of "Majuws"- a term that refers to Zoroastrians and those who worship fire. Zoroastrianism is a monotheistic religion predating Christianity and Islam and was the dominant religion in Persia before the Arab conquest. "We must understand they are not Muslims, for they are the descendants of Majuws, and their enmity toward Muslims, especially the Sunnis, is very old," the Saudi cleric said. The September 2015 stampede and crush of pilgrims killed at least 2,426 people, according to an Associated Press count. Iran had the highest of death toll of any country, with 464 Iranian pilgrims killed. Saudi authorities have not released any findings of their investigation into the hajj disaster. Preliminary statements suggested the crush was caused when at least two large crowds intersected. Khamenei also blamed Saudi Arabia for an earlier crane collapse in Mecca that killed 111 people, and urged Muslims around the world to reconsider Saudi Arabia's custodianship and management of Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina where the hajj is performed. He also said Saudi rulers promote sectarian strife and arm "wicked takfiri groups" - a reference to extremist Sunni militants who denounce other Muslims as heretics and non-believers. The two countries severed diplomatic relations in January after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Saudi Shiite cleric and angry Iranian crowds overran Saudi diplomatic missions. Negotiations between the two countries over hajj security measures also collapsed earlier this year, prompting Iran to declare it would not be sending any of its citizens to this year's pilgrimage, which begins this weekend. Authorities said that the man had used a 45cm-by-45cm sized drone to smuggle drugs into the prison. (Representational Image/ AFP) Riyadh: A Saudi Arabian court has awarded a man with 1,500 lashes and 15-year imprisonment for smuggling drugs into the Briman Prison in Jeddah with the help of a drone. According to a report in the Independent, the man has also been convicted for selling the drone. Investigators said that the accused had sold at least 13 similar devices for around 1,000 each. Authorities said that the man had used a 45cm-by-45cm sized drone to smuggle drugs into the prison. Authorities also alleged that the flow of drugs into the prison had continued for a period of over two years and that the accused had smuggled nearly 115 grams of cannabis and around 2,000 stimulant pills. In their report, investigators said that the drone had taken off from a supermarket roof which was located very close to the prison. The report also said that the smuggled drugs were meant to be distributed to the prisoners, who would in return pay for it. In a similar incident in August, London police had seized two drones while they were trying to smuggle Class B drugs and mobile phones into the Pentonville prison. Police in the central Anatolian city of Kayseri launched an operation with 400 officers in a bid to detain 147 teachers accused of using the app ByLock, the Anadolu news agency said. (Photo: Representational Image/AFP) Istanbul: Turkish prosecutors on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for almost 150 teachers who allegedly used an encrypted messaging app employed by followers of the US-based Muslim preacher authorities blame for the botched coup bid, state media said. Police in the central Anatolian city of Kayseri launched an operation with 400 officers in a bid to detain 147 teachers accused of using the app ByLock, the Anadolu news agency said. The teachers, who had already been suspended in the wake of the July 15 coup attempt, are accused of "breaching the constitution", "attempting to bring down the Turkish government", and "membership of an armed terrorist organisation," according to the report. Some of the suspects were detained, it said, without providing any exact number. The report did not give further details on what messages were exchanged via the app. Turkey says Fethullah Gulen masterminded the failed coup from his compound in Pennsylvania, using followers in Turkey who had built up a top-level presence within state institutions over several years. The reclusive Islamic preacher denies the charges. Turkish officials have said that the coup plotters used ByLock, a little-known messaging app, to coordinate the conspiracy. However Turkey's National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) began decrypting messages sent on ByLock from May last year, the officials have said. This enabled authorities in the wake of the coup to identify tens of thousands of Gulen followers, including top-ranking military personnel. Some 20,000 people have been arrested in the wake of the coup in a controversial crackdown that has caused alarm among Turkey's EU partners. Almost 70,000 civil servants have also been dismissed in total across all institutions, more than half of them in the education sector. Officials say education was a key sector used by Gulen to spread his influence in Turkey, using loyal teachers and seeking to create a new generation of pupils sympathetic to his ideas. The attack began after a third massive explosion jolted Kabul late Monday, which was followed by erratic gunfire. (Photo: AP) Kabul: Explosions and gunfire rang out Tuesday during an hours-long attack on a Kabul charity, the latest assault in a wave of violence in the Afghan capital that killed at least 25 people and wounded dozens. The assault on a charity called Pamlarena began late Monday with a massive explosion, just hours after a brazen Taliban double bombing near the defence ministry -- an attack apparently aimed at inflicting mass casualties. A plume of smoke rose over the upscale neighbourhood of Shar-e Naw after the raid on the charity, which means "care" in Pashto. Sporadic blasts and gunfire followed during the government's clearance operation early Tuesday. A spokeswoman for CARE International said the charity could not immediately confirm if it had been the target of the attack. "Forty-two people including 10 foreigners were rescued" after the attack, interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on Twitter, confirming at least one fatality. "All three assailants were gunned down by security forces." Authorities had earlier put the number of attackers at two. No militant group has so far claimed responsibility for the raid on the charity, but it comes as the Taliban ramp up their nationwide offensive against the US-backed government. The attack on the charity had been preceded by twin Taliban blasts that killed at least 24 people during the city's rush hour Monday, including high-level officials, and left 91 others wounded. The second of the two explosions struck just as soldiers, policemen and civilians hurried to help the victims of the first blast, which occurred on a bridge near the ministry. Ambulances rushed to the scene, littered with disfigured bodies and charred debris. But there were so many bodies that some had to be taken to hospitals in car boots and the back of police pickup trucks. Firemen raced to retrieve some bodies thrown into the Kabul River by the intensity of the first blast on the bridge. Health ministry spokesman Waheed Majroh said the casualties from the double bombing could rise still further as some of the wounded battled for their lives in hospital. Rising insecurity "The enemies of Afghanistan have lost their ability to fight the security and defence forces of the country," President Ashraf Ghani said on Monday, condemning the twin blasts. "That is why they are attacking highways, cities, mosques, schools and common people." Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter the defence ministry was the object of the first attack, while police were targeted in the second. The violence comes more than a week after 16 people were killed when militants stormed the American University in Kabul. Earlier in August two professors from the university, an American and an Australian, were kidnapped at gunpoint near the campus. Their whereabouts are still unknown and no group so far has publicly claimed responsibility for the abductions. The uptick in violence in the capital comes as the Taliban escalate nationwide attacks, underscoring the worsening security situation and the heavy price paid by civilians since NATO forces ended their combat mission at the end of 2014. Afghan forces backed by US troops are trying to head off a potential Taliban takeover of Lashkar Gah, the capital of the southern opium-rich province of Helmand. The Taliban have also closed in on Kunduz -- the northern city they briefly seized last year in their biggest military victory since the 2001 US invasion -- leaving Afghan forces stretched on multiple fronts. Karachi: In comments that may not go down well with the establishment back home, Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale was quoted by a leading newspaper on Tuesday as saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the SAARC Summit. The remarks coming in the midst of a new chill in bilateral ties were sought to be downplayed by sources in the Indian government which said no decision has been taken on the Prime Minister's participation in the summit slated for November. Bambawale, who was attending an interactive session organised by the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations yesterday, was quoted as saying by Dawn News that, "I can't say about the future but as of today, Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the SAARC summit in November this year." However, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup issued a clarification on Twitter, saying announcements of such nature are not made so far in advance. His remarks have caused quite a stir given the fact that both the countries were engaged in a fierce verbal battle over terrorism and the situation in Kashmir. While India has accused Pakistan of supporting cross border terrorism, Pakistan, on its part, has been trying to internationalise Kashmir, alleging New Delhi of human rights violations. Incidentally, Modi made a sharp attack on Pakistan at the G20 summit in China yesterday, saying, "one single nation" in South Asia is spreading "agents of terror" and demanded that those who sponsor the menace must be sanctioned and isolated, not rewarded. According to Bambawale, even while tensions were high between the two nations, there had been contacts at the operational level, Dawn News said. Bambawale also called for greater bilateral trade ties and said political issues will take time to resolve. During the interaction, Bambawale also took a swipe at Pakistan over its interference in Kashmir which was an internal matter of India, saying people living in glass houses should not be throwing stones at others. On Prime Minister Modi's recent statement on Balochistan during his Independence Day speech, the Indian envoy said, "The Prime Minister, in his August 15 speech, only referred to the letters he had received." "There are problems in both India and Pakistan and you (Pakistan) should focus on resolving your problems before looking into the problems of other countries," he added. Bambawale said the Indian government has been saying, "Let's work together to get to the bottom of terrorism which is a headache not only for Pakistan, but for India and the world." He said the two countries should not be talking on just one issue, but on all issues. Hangzhou: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping have agreed to make efforts to put India-China ties in the "right direction" and to "respect and accommodate" each other's concerns to avoid "impedance" relations, a top Chinese diplomat said on Tuesday. Modi and Xi met in Hangzhou on the sidelines of the G20 summit on September 4 amid differences over raft of issues. "They agreed that efforts shall be made to orientate the development of China-India relations in the right direction," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a written reply to PTI today about how China viewed the meeting. "The two sides also agreed to respect and accommodate each other's concerns and properly handle sensitive issues to avoid their impedance to the normal development of bilateral relations," Hua said in response to a question. In the bilateral meeting with Xi, Modi raised India's concerns over the USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) being laid through PoK and told Xi that "to ensure durable ties and their steady development, it is of paramount importance that we respect each other's aspirations, concerns and strategic interests". Their meeting took place in the backdrop of steady decline in the relations over China's technical hold in UN over banning Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar and Beijing stalling India's bid to gain members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) besides CPEC. Hua said the two leaders agreed to "enhance strategic communication, foster synergies between the development strategies of the two countries, expand exchanges and cooperation in various fields so as to further China-India strategic cooperative partnership". After meeting Modi, Xi had said that "China is willing to work with India to maintain their hard-won sound relations and further advance cooperation". "China and India should respect and care for each other on issues of major concern, and handle differences in a constructive way," Xi was quoted by state-run Xinhua news agency as saying. Commenting on Modi-Xi meeting, Hu Shisheng, Director of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations affiliated to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said India-China ties faced serious tensions over issues relating to Pakistan. He said Pakistan has become a visible negative factor in India-China relations. "This may also be due to India's rapidly increasing relations with the US and Japan. Chinese scholars apprehend that the Cold War my come again. We should prevent that," he said and called for enhanced talks between the two countries. On the issues like CPEC and terrorism emanating from Pakistan's soil, Hu said that India and China should hold free and frank discussions to find solutions. As part of the major country relations, the US and China have currently over 90 dialogue mechanism at Vice Ministerial level and 170 at the Director General level to discuss a host of contentious issue, he said, adding that compared to that India-China have only about 35. Modi and Xi are constantly meeting and set to meet again in Goa during BRICS summit next month and at the UN General Assembly. Meetings between officials can help the two leaders to set right policy, Hu said. Asked how he interpret Xi's comments that "China is willing to work with India", Hu said India and China went through hard times in improving relations over the years. The process to normalise relations after 1962 hostilities took so many years. Even after that border face offs continued and differences prevailed on a host of issues, Hu said. "He (Xi) means that we are surfing through trouble waters" and wants to step up communication to iron out differences, Hu added. Many booed and shouted, No Kofi-led commission into loudspeakers as they swarmed around his convoy, carrying posters. (Photo: AP) Sittwe: Hundreds of Buddhists jeered former UN chief Kofi Annan as he arrived in Myanmar's troubled Rakhine state Tuesday to examine a bitter religious conflict that has displaced tens of thousands of Muslim Rohingya. Annan has been tasked by the de facto leader of Myanmar's new government, Aung San Suu Kyi, to head a commission charged with finding ways to heal wounds in the poor western state. But in a sign of the passions surrounding the issue, protesters turned out as he landed in the state capital Sittwe. Many booed and shouted "No Kofi-led commission" into loudspeakers as they swarmed around his convoy, carrying signs that read, "No to foreigners' biased intervention in our Rakhine State's affairs". "We want decisions to be made by our own people. I don't want foreigners to make decisions, that is why I am peacefully protesting here," May Phyu told AFP. Rakhine, which borders Bangladesh, has been scarred since 2012 by bouts of communal violence between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and the minority Rohingya Muslim population. Their plight threatens to poison democratic gains in the former army-run country and has damaged Suu Kyi's reputation as a defender of the downtrodden. More than 100 people have been killed -- the majority of them Muslims -- while tens of thousands of the stateless Rohingya have spent the past four years trapped in bleak displacement camps with limited access to health care and other basic services. The Rohingya are despised by hardline Buddhists, who say they have no right to citizenship and label them "Bengalis", shorthand for illegal immigrants. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, has disappointed rights groups who accuse her of failing directly to address the plight of the Rohingya in a sop to Buddhist nationalist sentiment. Last month she asked Annan to lead the advisory commission on solving the state's troubles. Listen first The envoy, who has vowed to be impartial, met local Rakhine leaders and civil society groups in Sittwe shortly after his arrival. Recognising the highly-charged nature of the divisions in the state, he said his advisory commission would listen to all sides. "This first visit is an opportunity to listen and learn from you, the local people," he said, as protesters continued to chant slogans outside the building where he made his brief remarks. The Ghanaian diplomat is also expected to meet Muslim leaders and visit a camp where tens of thousands of Rohingya languish in poverty. But the region's largest political group, the Arakan National Party, has ruled out meeting the former UN secretary-general and mounted a push in parliament on Tuesday to disband the commission. "We do not need to rely on any foreigner," U U Hla Saw, a lower house MP from Rakhine, told lawmakers Tuesday. The near one-million-strong Rohingya are largely denied citizenship and the government does not recognise them as an official ethnic minority. Their appalling living conditions, including severe restrictions on movement, have pushed tens of thousands of them to flee, many via treacherous sea journey south towards Malaysia. "We want him to come," said Hla Kyaw, a Rohingya man from The Chaung, a village outside Sittwe where many displaced Muslim families live in tents. "If he comes, we will raise the issue of our citizenship status and our plight of staying in IDP (internally displaced persons) camps for four years," he added. Last week sitting UN chief Ban Ki-Moon called on Myanmar to grant citizenship to the group and respect their right to self-identify as Rohingya. But that question of identity remains incendiary for Buddhist hardliners. Karachi: In a snub, Karachi Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday cancelled an event of Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale at the last minute apparently over his remarks yesterday on Pakistan's interference in Kashmir. Bambawale, who is on his first visit to Karachi after assuming charge in January this year, was told about the cancellation "just half an hour before the event, invite for which was received and accepted by him a couple of weeks ago", sources said. The organisers did not give a reason immediately for the cancellation. However, the Indian officials feel that Bambawale's comments yesterday on Pakistan's interference in Kashmir which was India's internal matter "rattled the Pakistani authorities here, prompting a cancellation". "This is very disrespectful on the part of the organisers," officials asserted. Yesterday, during an interactive session organised by the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations, Bambawale had taken a swipe at Pakistan over its interference in Kashmir, saying people living in glass houses should not be throwing stones at others. "There are problems in both India and Pakistan and you (Pakistan) should focus on resolving your problems before looking into the problems of other countries," he had said. Islamabad: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday said Pakistan was not keen on joining an arms race but will take steps to maintain regional balance of power. "Pakistan does not want to join the arms race in the region, however, will continue to ensure balance in the region," Sharif said in a message issued on Defence Day marked every year to commemorate the 1965 war with India. "We have attained self-reliance in production of advanced weapons and our nuclear capability is the hallmark of our strong defence," he said. Harping on the Kashmir issue, Sharif said it should be resolved according to the United Nations resolutions. "We have a clear stance on Kashmir and believe that the solution of this issue only lies in implementation of the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council and in accordance with the aspirations of Kashmiri people," he said. President, in a separate message, said Pakistan's armed forces are fully prepared to defend the homeland. "The 6th September is a milestone in our history when 51 years ago Pakistan Army and the entire nation courageously defended the homeland against the enemy aggression," the President said. Different ceremonies were held in the country to mark the Defence Day. Karachi: People living in glass houses should not be throwing stones at others, the Indian envoy in Pakistan has said as he described Kashmir as an internal matter of India. Answering questions on the Kashmir issue and the recent statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Balochistan, Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan Gautam Bambawale said there are problems in both India and Pakistan. Calling Kashmir an internal matter of India, he said, "There are problems in both India and Pakistan and you [Pakistan] should focus on resolving your problems before looking into the problems of other countries." About the statement made by Modi, the envoy said, "The Prime Minister, in his August 15 independence day speech, only referred to the letters he had received." Bambawale was speaking at an interactive session organised by the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations on Monday. He said the Indian government had been saying: "Let's work together to get to the bottom of terrorism which is a headache not only for Pakistan, but for India and the world." Bombawale said the two countries should not be talking on just one issue, but on all issues. When asked whether Modi will visit Pakistan to attend the SAARC regional summit in November, Bambawale said, "Prime Minister Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the SAARC summit". He said that even while tensions were high between the two nations, there had been contacts at the operational level, The Dawn reported. Over the past one-and-a-half month, there had been "cordial" interactions between Pakistani and Indian border forces. Several meetings of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) had also been held. Bambawale also called for greater trade ties between Pakistan and India and said political issues will take time to resolve. He said that Pakistan should also grant India the Most-Favoured Nation status. "There should be more participation in trade fairs and more Pakistani trade delegations should visit India," he added. "There is no option but to do it step by step," he said. The Indian envoy said the road to normalisation of ties between the two countries lies through greater trade and business. The roadmap in this regard was prepared by the two governments in 2012 could be unveiled soon. The total trade between the two countries was worth just USD 2.5 billion a year, whereas its potential was of USD 20 billion, he said. "There is a great potential that needs to be tapped." According to reports in the leading Pakistani newspapers, he said that political issues take time to resolve but the two countries can take up smaller matters and move forward. Bambawale pointed out that India had boundary issues with China but decided to build on other relationships and today China is one of India's biggest trade partners. "We should start by grabbing the low hanging fruit." When asked about Kulbushan Yadav, the alleged RAW agent arrested in Balochistan earlier this year, Bambawale said New Delhi has been very clear on the matter. "After the arrest was made we said he [Yadav] was an Indian national but does not work for any government organisation," he said. "We asked for consular access to Yadav, but our request was turned down by Pakistan. "We have arrested in Jammu and Kashmir a Pakistani, Bahadur Ali, who has confessed that he received training of terrorism in Pakistan. We have offered Pakistani authorities full consular access to him," he said. On the question that India was trying to sabotage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said India will not derail any process that is for the betterment of Pakistan. He said India wanted a prosperous and stable Pakistan. The way forward for the two countries is to move in a direction where mutual trust could be increased because it is something which had been lacking for the past several years, he said. Bambawale also said he knew that the visa process for Pakistanis to visit India was intricate. However, about 100,000 people had applied and 90,000 had been awarded the visas last year. People-to-people relations must go on, he said. Farmers and pro-Kannada outfit activists protested in various parts of Karnataka yesterday against the Supreme Court direction to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu while Chief Minister Siddaramaiah convened a meeting of legislature leaders and MPs here tomorrow to discuss the issue. As farmers and others hit the streets protesting the apex court directive to release 15,000 cusecs of water per day for next ten days to the neighbouring state, the Cauvery Hitarakshana Samithi (Cauvery protection committee) called for a bandh tomorrow in Mandya, the hotbed of Cauvery politics. Siddaramaiah, whose government has been expressing its inability to release water to Tamil Nadu citing poor storage, would hold a meeting with floor leaders of all parties in the state legislature, MPs and district-in charge ministers tomorrow evening to take stock of the situation, an official release said tonight. "We have decided to call for Mandya bandh tomorrow to protest against the court direction to release cauvery water to Tamil Nadu when there is hardly any water left at our side of the river," Samithi President and former MP G Made Gowda told reporters at Mandya, some 100 km from here. Gowda also urged the government to file a review petition in the apex court. He said he had spoken to state Water Resources Minister M B Patil over phone and urged him to safeguard the interest of Karnataka farmers. The farmers' leader also warned the government that it would face a strong agitation if water was released to Tamil Nadu. Protests broke out in other parts of the state including Chamrajnagar, Mysuru and Hubballi with farmers and pro-Kannada activists demonstrating against the Supreme Court order and urging the Siddaramaiah government to protect interests of Karnataka farmers and not release water to Tamil Nadu. Police said effigies and posters of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa were burnt in some places in these districts. A group of farmers tried to enter the KRS Reservoir in Mysuru protesting the court direction, but police prevented them. 'Karnataka Okkuta', led by Vatal Nagaraj, called for a 'Karnataka bandh' on September 9. Workers of the pro-Kannada outfit held a protest here, bringing traffic to a halt in the heart of the city. "There is no water in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mandya and Chamrajnagar, and that is the truth. We have called for Karnataka Bandh on September 9 to protest against the injustice meted out to farmers here," Nagaraj told reporters. Passing orders on a petition by Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court noted that damage would be caused to samba crops in the neighbouring state and directed Karnataka to release water. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will be away from the national capital for nearly a fortnight for a throat surgery and to take stock of AAP's preparations in poll-bound Punjab. He will undergo the surgery on September 13 to cure his chronic cough problem. He will take a 10-day rest there. "Before leaving for Bengaluru, the CM will embark on a 4-day visit to Punjab starting from September 8. He will meet party leaders and address public gathering in Punjab. "Thereafter, he will leave for Bengaluru on September 12 and undergo surgery next day. He is expected to come back on September 22," said a senior government official. In his absence, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia will look after the chief ministerial works. Sisodia is also expected to visit Goa tomorrow, where the Aam Aadmi Party is gearing up for Assembly elections next year. Last month, Kejriwal had attended a 10-day Vipassana Session at a meditation centre between August 2 and 11 in Dharmasala, Himachal Pradesh. He had no access to newspapers, television and phone during the session. In January, he had undergone a 10-day naturopathy treatment for his cough problem at Jindal Nature Cure Institute, Bengaluru. However, he will undergo throat surgery at a different health institute this time. In 2015 too, he had undergone 12 days of naturopathy treatment at the Jindal Nature Cure Institute in Bengaluru for chronic cough and diabetes. Last year, Altadis USA released a special limited edition cigar for the to commemorate 80 years of the Montecristo brand known as the Montecristo 80th Anniversary No. 2. What made that cigar special was a tobacco used in the blend known as Pilotico. At this years IPCPR Trade Show, Altadis unveiled a new line that also incorporates the tobacco known as the Montecristo Pilotico Pepe Mendez. The line pays homage to the special tobacco incorporated into the blend as well as the man who made that tobacco special, Pepe Mendez. The Montecristo brand was originally established in Cuba by Alonso Menendez and Jose Manuel Pepe Garcia. Following the Cuban revolution, Menendez and Garcia fled to the Canary Islands and then to Dominican Republic. While the brand still exists in Cuba, Menendez and Garcia would eventually re-establish the brand. When the duo settled in the Dominican Republic, they met another Cuban refugee named Pepe Mendez with whom the started sourcing tobacco from. When Mendez had fled Cuba, he took some seeds with him where they were set aside. Recently the Mendez family grew some tobacco in the Navarrese region of the Dominican Republic from those seeds. When Mendez settled in the Dominican Republic, he incorporated classic Cuban methods to process the tobacco. A press release summarized this process which included: 1. Special selection and grading of tobacco: Pepe Mendez established more than 20 different grades based on specific criteria of tobacco leaf uniformity and quality. 2. Fermentation: Pepe extended the fermentation process that enhanced the richness and complexity of Dominican tobaccos. 3. Curing and Aging: Mendez established strict controls over the environmental factors during the curing and aging processes, which yielded tobaccos of better consistency and cleanliness of flavors. According to Altadis USA, the Pilotico tobacco is a collaboration between Altadis Grupo de Maestros team and Jose Mendez & Company, the family owned operation by the Pepe Mendezs family. Last year, the Dominican Pilotico tobacco was first used as a component in the filler of the Montecristo 80th Anniversary. With the new Montecristo Pilotico Pepe Mendez, this features a completely different blend from the Montecristo 80th. The cigar utilizes an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, a Dominican binder and a filler consisting of both the Dominican Pilotico tobacco as well as Nicaraguan filler. The cigar is available in three sizes. The cigars are available in 20 count boxes. The Montecristo brand was once again front and center for Altadis USA at this years trade show. In addition to the Montecristo Pilotico Pepe Mendez, the company unveiled the new Montecristo Artisan Series with the Montecristo Artisan Batch 1. The company also unveiled a jar release of the Montecristo Classic Series. At a glance, here is a look at the new Montecristo Pilotico Pepe Mendez line: Blend Profile Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra Binder: Dominican Filler: Dominican Pilotico, Nicaraguan Country of Origin: Nicaragua Vitolas Available Robusto: 5 x 50 (SRP $15.60) Toro: 6 1/4 x 52 (SRP $16.60) No. 2: 6 x 50 (SRP $17.60) Photo Credits: Cigar Coop Nearly three months after a major rejig, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today expanded his Cabinet by inducting M Krishnappa into his Council of Ministers and promoting two ministers of state - A Manju and Vinay Kulkarni -to the Cabinet rank. Krishnappa was sworn in by Governor Vajubhai Vala, who administered the oath of office to him at the Raj Bhavan. Manju and Kulkarni, who were ministers of state for Animal Husbandry and Sericulture and Mines and Geology respectively, have been given the ranks of Cabinet ministers. They represent Arkalgud and Dharwad constituencies respectively. The expansion of the Siddaramaiah government comes nearly three months after a major rejig, which had triggered discontent over dropping of some ministers. The induction of Krishnappa is seen by political observers as a move by Siddaramaiah, heading the three-year old Congress government, to assuage the ruffled sentiments of the Vokkaliga community who have been expressing their ire for dropping their leaders -- actor turned politician M H Ambareesh and Kimmane Ratnakar in June this year. The Chief Minister, in a major revamp, had sacked 14 ministers and inducted 13 members into his Council of Ministers on June 20, which had led to discontent with Ambareesh resigning as MLA. Malaysian police said today they have arrested five people after a group of protesters assaulted the Sri Lankan ambassador at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Malaysian authorities said the attack on High Commissioner (ambassador) Ibrahim Sahib Ansar yesterday left him with minor injuries, but they have so far given no details on the identities or background of the attackers. "Five people have been arrested and we are investigating the motive for the attack," Abdul Samah Mat, police chief of Selangor state, told AFP. In Colombo Sri Lanka's Foreign Secretary Esala Weerakoon summoned Malaysia's top envoy, Wan Zaidi Wan Abdullah, and demanded adequate security for Colombo's diplomatic mission. The foreign ministry expressed "disappointment that the Malaysian authorities had failed to provide necessary protection" despite warnings of a possible threat. Almost 100 ethnic Indian protesters had gathered in Kuala Lumpur last week to rally against former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse, who was attending an international conference, local media reported. Rajapakse ordered the bloody military assault which ended Sri Lanka's war with Tamil separatist guerrillas in 2009. International rights groups have said up to 40,000 civilians may have been killed in the final offensive, a charge denied by Colombo. Sympathisers of the Tamil victims in the almost three-decade long civil war burnt an effigy of Rajapakse during the protests in Malaysia. Police have warned local Indian groups not to show support for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) themselves. "I want to warn these groups which support the LTTE that it is a group that is banned by the United Nations," national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar was quoted as saying by The Star. More than two million of multi-ethnic Malaysia's 31 million people are ethnic Indians. Most are descendants of labourers brought from ethnic Tamil areas of southern India by Malaysia's former British colonial masters. An average of 44 people are being killed each day in Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's war on crime, according to police data released today that showed the death toll surging to nearly 3,000. The new figures came after Duterte vowed yesterday to defy a wave of international condemnation and continue killing until every drug trafficker in the Philippines was dead. "More people will be killed, plenty will be killed until the last pusher is out of the streets," said Duterte, who scored a landslide election victory in May largely on his promise to fight crime. "Until the (last) drug manufacturer is killed, we will continue and I will continue." Police have killed 1,033 people in anti-drug operations since Duterte was sworn into office just over two months ago, according to the national police update on Tuesday. Another 1,894 people have died in unexplained deaths, police said, which rights groups believe are largely due to out-of-control security forces and hired assassins. The total of 2,927 is more than 500 higher than the figure released by police on Sunday, and equates to an average of 44 a day since Duterte took office on June 30. US President Barack Obama was planning to raise concerns about the war on crime with Duterte at a meeting in Laos on Tuesday afternoon. But Obama cancelled the meeting after Duterte warned he would not be lectured to, and branded the US president a "son of a whore". Philippine police insist they are killing only in self defence. "They have guns, they are drug-crazed. Our policemen are just defending themselves," national police spokesman Dionardo Carlos told AFP. Police chief Ronald dela Rosa has also regularly said the unexplained deaths are due to drug syndicates waging war against each other, rather than extrajudicial killings by vigilantes and others. Still, Duterte has promised to protect police from prosecution if they are charged over the deaths and insisted human rights cannot get in the way of his war. He has also urged ordinary Filipinos to kill drug addicts in their communities. Dela Rosa last month called for drug addicts to kill traffickers and burn down their homes. The United Nations special rapporteur on summary executions has warned incitement to kill is a crime under international law. But Duterte has told the United Nations not to interfere and said he will use all means necessary to eradicate drugs in society, which he insists is the nation's biggest problem. Aiming to make its health insurance more inclusive, the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) today decided to raise the monthly wage threshold to Rs 21,000 in view of price rise and salary hike. Raising the wage ceiling from the existing Rs 15,000 per month will help ESIC add 50 lakh workers. The move is expected to bring in 2 crore people -- assuming a family of 4 -- under the health insurance net. Currently, it has 2.6 crore insured workers and covers over 10 crore people. Recently, the government hiked the minimum wage for unskilled non-farm workers by 42 per cent to Rs 350 per day, from the existing Rs 246. ESIC raised its wage ceiling by 40 per cent, considering the increase in minimum wages by the government. ESIC has not only increased the wage limit, but allowed insured persons to opt for continuing the cover even if their salary breaches the ceiling. The decisions will come into effect from October 1. "ESIC has raised the threshold wage limit from Rs 15,000 to Rs 21,000," Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya told PTI after the board meeting of ESIC here. The labour minister is the chairman of the ESIC board. Now, workers drawing a monthly salary of up to Rs 21,000 will be entitled to treatment during cases of sickness, maternity, disability and death due to injury during work. At the ESIC board meeting, the organisation had proposed raising the limit to Rs 25,000 per month, but it was decided to fix the ceiling at Rs 21,000. Earlier, a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour took the line that the wage limit should be raised in line with the rise in prices and salaries. An employer has to contribute 4.75 per cent of a worker's salary towards ESIC as contribution while for workers, it stands at 1.75 per cent. The minister also said there is a plan to increase the wage threshold for retirement fund body EPFO subscribers and it may be considered in the next meeting of the Central Board of Trustees (CBT). Dattatreya also launched the first phase of telemedicine services whereby ESIC Model Hospital, Basaidarapur, New Delhi, got connected with three ESI dispensaries at Rudrapur (Uttarakhand), Unnao (Uttar Pradesh) and Kathiyar (Bihar). Under these new initiatives, ESIC has launched a pilot project of telemedicine services at 11 ESI locations in co-ordination with the Health Informatics and Electronics Division (HIED), C-DAC, Mohali, under the Digital India programme. The launch of these services will lead to provision of specialised healthcare services to ESIC beneficiaries residing or working at different locations with limited medical specialist services. In comments that may not go down well with the establishment back home, Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale was today quoted by a leading newspaper as saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the SAARC Summit. The remarks coming in the midst of a new chill in bilateral ties were sought to be downplayed by sources in the Indian government which said no decision has been taken on the Prime Minister's participation in the summit slated for November. Bambawale, who was attending an interactive session organised by the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations yesterday, was quoted as saying by Dawn News that, "I can't say about the future but as of today, Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the SAARC summit in November this year." His remarks have caused quite a stir given the fact that both the countries were engaged in a fierce verbal battle over terrorism and the situation in Kashmir. While India has accused Pakistan of supporting cross border terrorism, Pakistan, on its part, has been trying to internationalise Kashmir, alleging New Delhi of human rights violations. Incidentally, Modi made a sharp attack on Pakistan at the G20 summit in China yesterday, saying, "one single nation" in South Asia is spreading "agents of terror" and demanded that those who sponsor the menace must be sanctioned and isolated, not rewarded. According to Bambawale, even while tensions were high between the two nations, there had been contacts at the operational level, Dawn News said. Bambawale also called for greater bilateral trade ties and said political issues will take time to resolve. During the interaction, Bambawale also took a swipe at Pakistan over its interference in Kashmir which was an internal matter of India, saying people living in glass houses should not be throwing stones at others. On Prime Minister Modi's recent statement on Balochistan during his Independence Day speech, the Indian envoy said, "The Prime Minister, in his August 15 speech, only referred to the letters he had received." "There are problems in both India and Pakistan and you (Pakistan) should focus on resolving your problems before looking into the problems of other countries," he added. Bambawale said the Indian government has been saying, "Let's work together to get to the bottom of terrorism which is a headache not only for Pakistan, but for India and the world." He said the two countries should not be talking on just one issue, but on all issues. Bengaluru Tamil Sangam leaders today met Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara and sought protection for Tamils living in the state amid protests by farmers and various pro-Kannada outfits against the Supreme Court direction to release Cauvery water for Tamil Nadu. "We met Home Minister Parameshwara and sought protection for Tamils living across the state, including at sensitive places such as Bengaluru, Mysuru, Chamrajnagar, Mandya and Kolar gold fields," Sangam president G Damodaran said in a statement here. Earlier, Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister TB Jayachandra had urged the people to maintain calm and not damage government property as the state government was taking steps to address the issue. The Sangam leaders reiterated their stand of supporting the Karnataka government's decision in the vexed Cauvery issue from the very beginning. Parameshwara has assured "full protection" for Tamils living in the state and said security was provided to the places where the community had a considerable presence, Damodaran said. The Cauvery row heated up after the Supreme Court yesterday directed Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for the next 10 days to address the plight of the farmers there. The apex court's direction triggered an immediate backlash with farmers' associations spearheading a protest and calling for a bandh today at Mandya district. In 1991, Bengaluru and Mysuru had witnessed anti-Tamil violence which had forced hundreds of Tamils from southern Karnataka to flee in a matter of weeks. Eighteen people were killed in the violence during the Cauvery turmoil then. In the month of February, Europe is not the ideal place to holiday. But we were hard pressed to think of a place, as my sister who was studying in Lille, France had a week-long holiday in her course, and I had just finished a major project at work, itching for a good long break. We decided on Portugal, and it couldnt have been better! As we landed in Porto, the whole flight applauded a safe landing and the beginning of an awesome trip, on a shoestring budget, with only a week at hand. The first thing you see is the gloomy clouds but with the sun shining through, making everything gleam with a wet shine. We checked into our house for three days, a lovely apartment we found through Airbnb, with the sweetest host who had left some snacks, groceries and spaghetti waiting for us! One of the reasons I was so eager to go to Portugal was the very active art scene, along with a history of unique handpainted, tin-glazed tiles, Azulejos. We have a version of the same in Goa, where you can see a resonance of the Portuguese architectural style. As you walk down the streets, you cross buildings after buildings resplendent in patterned tiles in blue and white, green and yellow, and my favourite yellow and white. The new identity of the city has been designed taking inspiration from these tiles, by White Studio, simple and graphic! Towards the evening, we took a metro to Ponte de Dom Luis I, the iconic bridge across river Duoro, completed in 1886 by a student of Gustave Eiffel. It is a beautiful place to be after sunset, with the Mosteiro da Serra do Pilar illuminated by night in the background. The views of the river and Old Town are riveting, with the traditional Rabelo boats bobbing near the banks. Porto is the home of the sweet but potent Port wine; we used to guzzle this in Mumbai and Diu. Make sure you get a bottle at the Ribeira, the funicular railway will gently take you down the steep cliff from Batalha (on the higher ground of central Porto) to the quayside at Ribeira. It is only a three-minute journey and the view over the Douro and the spectacular metal bridge is well worth it. A little gem in the city is the Livraria Lello and you have never seen anything like it. You need at least half a day to take in the beauty of the detailed interior, this opulent bookshop inspired the Harry Potters library in Hogwarts! Though two nights in this city were not enough, we moved on to Lisbon by bus where we fell in love further with Portugal, vowing to come back with a lot more time at hand! In Lisbon, its best to stay in the central part of the town, which allows to walk through the citys many alleys, allowing for unexpected surprises as you turn every corner with clever graffiti. Spend time looking at the sea, at the Port of entry to the city Terreiro do Paco, Lisbons monumental riverside square, with a sunshine yellow facade. It made us happy as the earlier two days had been grey with rain clouds! In Lisbon, there is so much to see (and buy from individual artists), as you climb up to the Sao Jorge Castle, a reminder of their Moorish history. I think the kitschy apartment we stayed in will forever be etched in my mind where we spent evenings looking out on the streets of Lisbon an open-air museum, full of ephemeral graffiti creations and solid icons of history, a medley of architectural styles. We craved more sunshine, and found Cascais, at the end of one of the suburban train lines out of the capital. The quaint beach town was the highlight of our entire trip as we spent hours biking around its terrain, towards the Boca do Inferno, Hells Mouth, an interesting cliff formation pounded by the Atlantic. The food mouthwatering, the weather never been better, and the sights made us fall in love and want to stay here an entire month! To say the least, we were hooked! To the musty, wet and gleaming cities of Porto and Lisbon, with one foot in the past and one foot very firmly in the present. Saude! How to get there *We flew from Brussels to Porto and the return was from Lisbon to Brussels, as Ryanair operates from there. The return trip for two cost Rs 9,000. *Porto to Lisbon by RedeExpressos Bus is Rs 2,250 for two. Places to stay We needed a large house for five so accommodation options had to be planned accordingly. *Porto: Airbnb ,Tariff for 2 nights for 2 is Rs 4,700 Path Porto Apartments, Rua do Bonjardim, 891 Porto. *Lisbon: Airbnb ,Tariff for 3 nights for 2 is Rs 7,700 Goncalos Apartment, Rua dos Fanqueiros, Lisbon. The Centre may harden its attitude towards separatist leaders in Jammu and Kashmir, making their foreign travel difficult and scaling down the security which they enjoy at the exchequer's cost. Miffed over the cold shoulder treatment given by separatists to the MPs, who were part of the all-party delegation that visited the state, the Centre is considering moves to curb their foreign travel by withdrawing their passports and denying travel documents in some cases. Besides these, the Centre will also scrutinise their bank accounts and complete pending investigations in cases against them so a strong message goes around that those provoking youths in Kashmir Valley to create disturbance since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8 will not be spared, government sources said. The Home Ministry's tough stand came apparently after the nod from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is said to have conveyed that time has come to act tough with the separatists, sources said. The snub by the Hurriyat leaders who refused to meet some members of the all-party delegation, has upset the government to the extent of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh saying that such behaviour was neither 'Kashmiriyat' nor 'Insaniyat'. CPI-M's Sitaram Yechury, Sharad Yadav of JD-U, Jaiprakash Narayan Yadav of RJD, AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi and D Raja of CPI had gone to meet Hurriyat leaders. Sources said there was a feeling in the government that lack of governance was a major concern for Jammu and Kashmir and this needs to be addressed. The central government feels that the state government is treating separatists with kid gloves and have to be tough against them, they said, claiming students, parents and the middle class were getting restless and wanted the cycle of violence to end. The final decision on these issues, however, will be taken after the all-party delegation, which visited the troubled state, meets here tomorrow and consultations at the highest level of the government, sources said. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today hit out at the separatists for "spoiling" the youth of the Kashmir Valley and termed as an "insult" to 'Kashmiriyat' their action of shutting the door on members of the all-party delegation of MPs that explored ways to restore peace in the troubled state. By spurning talks, she said, the separatist leaders were not facilitating resolution of the problem but stalling the process for finding lasting peace. "We have lost several opportunities in the past to resolve the issue through engagement and dialogue and today again if we miss the chance, the coming generations will never forgive us for our intransigence," the Chief Minister told the gathering at a function for formal launch of UJALA scheme in Kashmir under which LED bulbs will be supplied. The event was organized by Union Power Ministry, the state's Power Development Department and Energy Efficiency Services Limited a joint-venture of PSUs under the Ministry of Power. Referring to the separatists' decision to not talk to the visiting all-party delegation, Mehbooba said it was "an insult to Kashmiriyat, to us". She said an opportunity has presented itself for addressing the Kashmir issue as the country has a strong Prime Minister in Narendra Modi who has called for an end to the violence. "Today, there is an opportunity as there is a very strong Prime Minister in this country. Today, in this situation, the cream of the country, members of the Parliament, came to you (as part of all-party delegation) and many among them said that they want to talk without any conditions," she said. Mehbooba said the Prime Minister went to Pakistan, then Pathankot happened, the Home Minister (Rajnath Singh) went there in bad times, but he was given the same treatment which was meted out to the visiting MPs who had come to our (separatists) door. "It does not insult our guests, it insults us because it shows our moral standards," she said, adding her government would continue its endeavour for peace. "It has not happened till now that a sitting Chief Minister, as president of the party, writes a letter and requests (for talks) this way but I did it because there is pain within. As I travelled to most of the places in the Valley, children were out on roads with stones in their hands instead of going to schools or colleges. "Why? Is it their doing? It is the doing of the (separatists) leaders," she said. She wondered how the separatists could roam from one home to another asking children and young people to come out when their own were studying abroad or outside the state. "My colleagues have this (fear) that I may say something. But, I have always spoken truth. The way a mother slaps her child when he tries to touch a hot kangri (firepot), I will do the same to save my people. I will be angry, I will speak truth and warn them not to use children as a shield," an emotional Mehbooba said. He also said the state would approach the Supreme Court with a modification petition explaining the its difficulties in implementing its order, directing release of 15,000 cusecs per day to Tamil Nadu for next ten days, and seeking change in it and also move the Cauvery Supervisory Committee. The Chief Minister said it would be "difficult" for a Constitution-bound state to defy the Supreme Court order or to refuse release of water. "With a heavy heart", it has been decided to provide water to Tamil Nadu even though the state itself was facing a "very severe distress" year, he said. Seeking to assuage the feelings of protesting farmers in the Cauvery heartland of Mandya and other districts in the basin, he said all efforts would be made to provide drinking water to Bengaluru and other places as also for crops. He appealed to farmers to maintain peace and tranquility and not to cause any damage to public property. In Mandya, agitated farmers and activists belonging to pro-Kannada outfits blocked Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway as protests intensified in the wake of the apex court directive to the state to release Cauvery water. Mandya district, the nucleus of Cauvery politics, saw a bandh with protesters holding road blockades and dharnas at several places, as hundreds of security personnel, including Central forces, were deployed in the Cauvery belt to maintain law and order. Prohibitory orders have been clamped around the Krishnarajasagar Dam and entry of visitors to it prohibited till September 9, as the Cauvery row hotted up after yesterday's Supreme Court directive on a petition by Tamil Nadu government. The court has directed Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water for the next 10 days to address the plight of the farmers in Tamil Nadu. Protesters also mobbed and ransacked several government offices in Mandya forcing their shut down, while attendance at government offices remained thin, police said. The court order triggered an immediate backlash with the farmers' body, spearheading the stir, calling for a bandh today in Mandya district. Shops, hotels and other commercial establishments and theatres and hotels remained shut and schools and colleges declared a holiday in Mandya district where state run and private buses were also off the roads. Protests are also being held by farmers in Mysuru and Hassan districts, fed by the Cauvery, demanding that Karnataka should not release water. G Madegowda, President of Cauvery Hita Rakshana Samithi, the body spearheading the agitation, criticised the chief minister and irrigation minister for their "irresponsible" behaviour over the Cauvery issue. He also called the district MLAs to resign enmasse to protest against the "injustice." In Bengaluru, some theatres stopped screening of Tamil movies as a "precautionary" step in view of the protests over Cauvery issue. Siddaramaiah said the state had told the Supreme Court during the recent hearing that it was willing to release 10,000 cusecs for six days but it directed release of 15,000 cusecs for 10 days. In a similar situation in 2012-13, the BJP government headed by Jagadish Shettar had released 10,000 cusecs for nine days, he said, adding that they had done so without taking the Opposition into confidence. "Despite being in an extremely difficult situation, we have to obey the Court order," Siddaramaiah said, also noting that it has to be taken into account that the main petition would be coming up for hearing before the apex court on October 18. As per the Cauvery tribunal order, Karnataka had to release 94 TMC ft of water from June to August end in a normal year but given the "severe distress", the state had provided 33 TMC ft during the period. Amid the mounting protests, Bengaluru Tamil Sangam leaders today met Home Minister G Parameshwara and sought protection for Tamils living in the state. Reports from Tamil Nadu said inter-state bus services to Karnataka remained hit for the second day today. Buses to various destinations in Karnataka originating from Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Salem, Erode, Tirupur and Coimbatore districts were stopped in border towns such as Hosur, Sathyamangalam and Bannari. However, some Karnataka State Transport Corporation buses were operated from Tamil Nadu. Also, private cars, vans and taxis and trucks with Karnataka registration were operated. Political parties in Tamil Nadu demanded that the Siddaramaiah government comply with the court directive and suggested Chief Minister Jayalalithaa lead an all party delegation to Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue. DMK President M Karunanidhi said the court order directing 15,000 cusecs for ten days "is certainly not enough for samba crops." Complying with the Supreme Court direction, Karnataka government today decided to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu despite "severe hardships", as protests in the wake of the court order intensified with the highway between Bengaluru and Mysuru blocked by farmers."Despite severe hardships faced by the government of Karnataka, the state will release water as directed by the Supreme Court," Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told reporters tonight after nearly a three-hour long all-party meeting convened by him here. The police have caught a man who had barged into a paying guest digs on August 25 with the intention of committing robbery but raped a 23-year-old woman at knifepoint when he found her alone. They identified him as Murali, 24, a native of Seegondahalli in Kolar district, who previously worked at a hotel in KR Market. The hotel shut up shop a few months ago. They tracked him down in KR Market on Monday morning. Murali had taken to crime by teaming up with a friend named Lohith. The duo started off with stealing footwear from homes, apartments and PG digs. Then they began burgling homes and lifting mobile phones. The partnership came apart last year when Lohith died of ill health. Murali didnt give up crime but rather gave it a different dimension. He started targeting PG digs as he realised that they are unguarded and that the victims refrain from going to the police. He would do a recce of PG digs before targeting them. Around August 24 midnight, he visited a bar in Bommanahalli and got drunk. He came out of the bar around 1 am and decided to target a PG digs. He went to Parappana Agrahara and zeroed in on a building. He went to the fourth floor and found a digs with its door open. A woman was sleeping alone. He tiptoed quietly into the room in order to find some valuables. But he didnt find any. He switched on the lights, waking the victim up. She froze at the sight of him. He snatched her mobile phone, a gold chain and Rs 100 in cash. Brandishing a knife, he threatened to kill her if she raised an alarm. The petrified woman gave away her ATM card and its PIN (Personal Identification Number). Murali noticed that no one was around, raped her at knifepoint and sneaked out. The woman, who works for a software company and hails from Coimbatore, narrated the ordeal to her roommate when she came after working night shift. They approached the jurisdictional Parappana Agrahara police station and filed a complaint. Police swung into action and prepared a computerised portrait of the suspect based on the description given by the victim. The portrait was circulated to all police stations in Bengaluru. They rounded up nearly 200 suspects. When the portrait was shown to residents and shopkeepers in Parappana Agrahara, they said they had seen the suspect roam around in the last few days. Meanwhile, police got to know that Murali had stolen a mobile phone in a PG digs in Parappana Agrahara and sold it to an unknown person in KR Market. They looked into all cases of mobile phone theft registered in southeastern Bengaluru. They also checked the IMEI numbers of all lost phones. One such phone was traced to KR Market. The person using the phone was picked up. He told the police that he bought the phone from an unknown person in KR Market. The police showed Muralis portrait to him and he confirmed that it was him. P Harishekaran, Additional Commissioner of Police (East), said the suspect had confessed to the crime. A few months ago, Murali was booked by the Mahadevapura police under section 109 of the CrPC (security for good behaviour from suspected persons). The police also arrested Naveen, who was operating the PG, for not providing security at the digs. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday offered to host the first meeting of riparian states of the Mahadayi river for resolving the dispute over water sharing. Siddaramaiah, in a letter, informed his Goa counterpart Laxmikant Parsekar that he was ready to host the meeting this month and hoped that he (Parsekar) would agree to participate in the meeting. He has also requested Parsekar to instruct Goa Chief Secretary to interact with his Karnataka counterpart and finalise the date of the meeting. The Mahadayi river water disputes tribunal recently suggested the riparian states to hold negotiations and try to resolve the issue amicably. He has also written to his Maharashtra counterpart, Devenda Fadnavis, requesting him to attend the meeting. Home Minister G Parameshwara held a meeting with writers and progressive thinkers in connection with the probe into the killing of writer M M Kalburgi. Parameshwara said the CID team will travel to Maharashtra to interrogate Virendra Tawade, arrested by CBI in the murder of social activist Narendra Dabholkar. Parameshwara said progressive thinkers have shown concern about the safety of people with progressive ideology in the state. It (killing of Prof Kalburgi) was not an ordinary murder but a calculated and planned execution. I have briefed the delegation about the progress of investigation so far. The writers and thinkers have raised concern since no arrest has happened in the murder case. In fact, we have engaged the highest number of police officials to probe this case. Around 27,000 students had come to Hubballi and Dharwad to write various exams on August 30, 2015, the day Prof Kalburgi was shot dead. The CID has verified the antecedents of all these students and also checked the phone numbers active during that time. I am confident the CID will be able to crack the case soon. A team will leave for Maharashtra to interrogate one of the suspected arrested by the CBI in the killing of Dabholkar, Parameshwara said. The Home Minister said that the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Bengaluru had found that one of the two firearms used in the killing of communist leader Govind Pansare in Kolhapur in Maharashtra, was also used in the killing of Prof Kalburgi. The CID and the CBI officials are in constant touch and are sharing information. The FSL report has been sent to CBI, which wanted a second opinion. The CBI has stated that the ballistics reports, pertaining to the firearms used, have been sent to Scotland Yard,'' he said. Dabholkar was shot dead on August 20, 2013 in Pune and Pansare on February 16 in Kolhapur and he succumbed to injuries on February 20, 2015. Prof Chandrashekhar Patil, Dr K Marulasiddappa, Prof Baragur Ramachandrappa, Dr Manu Baligar and Prof Kalburgi's son Vijay Kalburgi attended the meeting. The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea by Essar Group promoter Ravikant N Ruia, who faced trial in a cheating case in connection with the 2G scam, to go abroad. A bench of Justices J S Khehar and Arun Mishra said, We do not want to take chances any more. We have allowed a person to go abroad but he never came back. He was no less big than you in monetary terms. We are now once bitten twice shy. We are not going to give liberty to anyone, the bench said, without specifying the person. The apex court did not allow Ruias plea to travel to the UK, the US, Canada and UAE for business purposes. Fifteen Joint Secretaries in Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Tuesday urged Home Minister Rajnath Singh to reconsider the suspension of their colleague G K Dwivedi for renewing FCRA licence of Islamic preacher Zakir Naiks NGO. In the unprecedented show of solidarity, the officers told Singh that Dwivedi, an IAS officer who was serving as Joint Secretary (Foreigners Division), has been wrongly punished for the lapses of his juniors, who facilitated the renewal of FCRA licence of Naiks Islamic Research Foundation. Dwivedi also separately met the Home minister. Naik had been in the eye of a storm after IS-inspired suicide bombers in Bangladesh claimed that they were influenced by his speeches. Following this, the investigating agencies in India launched a probe against Naik and his NGOs while the MHA was probing the foreign funding. The officers said Dwivedi is an honest officer and such action sends wrong signal and is demoralising for others. The home minister assured that he will look into the matter. Life snuffed out Preeti, 24, a nurse from New Delhi, had suffered the attack on May 2, 2013 at the Bandra railway terminus of the Western Railway, and died on June 1, of multi-organ failure. Rathi, was attacked on platform No 3 of the Bandra Terminus after she alighted from the New Delhi-Mumbai Garib Rath Express on May 2. She had arrived in Mumbai for joining INHS Asvini, the Naval command hospital, as a nurse. Three years after nurse Preeti Rathi died in an acid attack, a special Mumbai court on Tuesday convicted her neighbour, Ankur Panwar, who took the step out of jealousy for the girl getting a job and rejecting his marriage proposal.Additional Sessions Judge A S Shende, who presides over a special womens court, convicted Panwar, 27, on charges of IPC sections 302 (murder) and section 326 B (causing grievous hurt by throwing acid). On Wednesday, the court would hear arguments on the quantum of sentence, before announcing the verdict.The convict had a one-sided love for the victim. He even asked her not to go to Mumbai. The girl had rejected his marriage proposal. Out of jealousy, he attacked her with acid, which he purchased from Delhi and followed her to Mumbai, Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said.Defence lawyer Apeksha Vora said that she respects the verdict of the court, however, added that she would appeal in the Bombay High Court. There were lapses in investigations, the victim also did not get proper medical attention, she said. As one more youth was killed in her home district of Anantnag, Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti accused the separatists of using children as human shields to achieve their goals. Their (separatists) own kids are settled in safer havens of Malaysia, Dubai, Bengaluru and other places. The poor kids are provoked to carry out protest marches in such a way that there is retaliation from security forces, she said while speaking at an official function here. Mehbooba accused the separatists of provoking kids for hatred. Scared of police, they (separatists) move here and there at night to provoke children. Referring to the ongoing agitation, the chief minister said, This tehreek (movement) has surpassed the limits of tameez (decency) An expecting woman who is in need of medical consultation is asked (by protesters) if she really is pregnant. No one wants the children to get hit by pellet guns. Our children are getting killed or maimed, our social fabric is slipping into disorder, economy is in shambles, educational sector has suffered immensely, tourism inflow is zero, shopkeepers are not able to do business, industrial units are shut, development process has come to a halt and people are feeling suffocated. We shall have to ponder over how long we are going to allow this self destruction to continue, Mehbooba said. Hopes for normalcy In her heartrending speech that lasted for 25 minutes, Mehbooba evoked the Urdu couplet to express her hope for restoration of normalcy in the Valley, which has been witnessing humanitarian crises, since July 8 when Hizbul commander Burhan Wani and his two associates were killed. Raat jitni he sangeen hogi, subah utni he rangeen hogi (the dark night is always followed by bright morning, she said, amid claps in her address to the jam-packed SKICC auditorium, here. Shutting the doors for dialogue is not going to help, the chief minister said, adding that the separatist leadership is not facilitating the solution by spurning the parleys, but only delaying the resolution process. During the past day, I have received several emails and pictures of a strange cloud feature seen from roughly 4 PM to 5:30 PM on Thursday. ... Normal life was affected in Tamil Nadu near the Karnataka border on Tuesday following a bandh observed in Mandya. Thousands of passengers, including several students, were put to hardship after most of the Tamil Nadu-owned buses bound for Karnataka were stopped as a precautionary measure. Even trucks proceeding towards Mysuru from Nilgris district were stopped on the border to prevent any untoward incidents. State Express Transport Corporation (TN) buses plying between Chennai and Bengaluru were brought to a halt near the border at Hosur. Services of several private and government buses bound for Karnataka were suspended in Coimbatore. Highway traffic was severely affected in Hosur with thousands of trucks and private buses stranded on the border. However, rail and air services from Tamil Nadu to Karnataka were not affected. Sporadic violence was also reported in Thanjavur district after some miscreants broke the windshield of a bus coming from Mysuru. A few farmers in the district also staged protest demonstrations against the bandh in Mandya. Heavy security has been deployed across the state outside the offices and banks owned by Karnataka to prevent violence. Meanwhile, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa also chaired a high-level meeting to discuss the future course of action with regard to the Cauvery row. The meeting was attended by senior ministers and officials. Various Opposition political parties including DMK and PMK urged the state government to put pressure on the Centre for setting up the Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulatory Authority. Several pro-Kannada and farmer organisations have called for a Karnataka bandh on September 9, to protest against the order of the Supreme Court, directing the state to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. Pro-Kannada organisations under the banner Kannada Okkuta held a meeting on Monday in Bengaluru, soon after the apex court issued the directive to release 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery water over the next 10 days to Tamil Nadu. Injustice has been meted out to the state. When we do not have water for drinking purposes, asking us to release water for Samba crop is impractical and unfair, Okkuta president Vatal Nagaraj said. He said the government should not release water to Tamil Nadu even if it amounts to contempt of court. The interest of our farmers should be protected. The consequence of not abiding by the court order can be dealt with later. We understand that frequent bandh calls are a huge inconvenience to the public. But we have no alternative to register our protest, he said. Farmers leader Kodihalli Chandrashekar said the farmers unions will extend total support to the bandh. Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) has also extended support to the bandh call. KFCC president Sa Ra Govindu, who was present at the meeting, said film shootings will be suspended for the day and theatres will remain closed. JD(S) leader H D Deve Gowda on Tuesday said he didnt see the need to replace the states counsel and senior advocate Fali S Nariman at this juncture. Terming the Supreme Courts verdict on the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu as tragic, Gowda told reporters in Bengaluru that the demand for replacing Nariman was unwarranted. He said the senior counsel was well versed with the history of the Cauvery River water dispute, and it would be difficult to replace Nariman with somebody equally competent. Taking exception to the Courts directive, he said, Tamil Nadus farmers have just begun sowing activities, and the Court has given this verdict when Karnataka is grappling with acute drinking water shortage. Can they be termed as judges? If this is the case, then one will lose hope in the judiciary, he said. He said that every time the Cauvery issue came up, the political parties in Tamil Nadu put up a united front, but such was not the case in Karnataka. He said Karnataka stood a chance if it files a special writ petition before a bench comprising the five Supreme Court judges. Seeking Prime Minister Narendra Modis intervention, he also called on farmers and pro-Kannada organisations to stage peaceful protests. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has withdrawn its affiliation to six private schools in Karnataka National Public Schools at five different locations and the National Academy For learning. The Karnataka government had lodged a complaint with the CBSE stating that minority status certificates submitted by these schools, run by the National Education Trust and allied trusts, were forged. CBSEs public relation officer Rama Sharma said: All four National Public Schools set up in Indiranagar, Koramangala, Rajajinagar and 4th Sector HSR Layout of Bengaluru have been disaffiliated along with the National Academy for Learning in Basaveshwaranagar and NPS International School in Vijayanagar, Mysuru. Sharma said the states commissioner for public instruction stated in the complaint that the school managements were indulging in fraudulent means to claim exemptions from the provisions of the Right to Education (RTE) Act. The Act stipulates 25% reservation in admission to children from the economically weaker sections of society. With the disaffiliation, these schools will not have any authority to use the CBSE tag for running classes from class I to class XII, a board official told DH. All six schools have been directed not to run classes IX and XI under the CBSE pattern with effect from academic session 2017-18, the CBSE official said. Since the students of these schools cannot take board examinations for class X and class XII held by the CBSE as their regular students following disaffiliation, these schools will have to approach the CBSE Regional Office and obtain permission for allowing their students to take board examinations as regular students of some other school affiliated to the board, the official added. When asked if these schools can get the board affiliation again, sources requesting anonymity said: ...it may not be so easy...The CBSE bye-laws stipulates that once affiliation is withdrawn on establishment of serious irregularities which amount to cheating the board or causing embarrassment, the board may blacklist such a school to debar it from seeking re-affiliation in future. The Department of Public Instruction in Bengaluru has not received any official communication regarding CBSEs action. The chairman of NPS Education Institutions, K Gopalkrishna was not available for comment. The central government is tightening the screws on Kashmiri separatists after they snubbed efforts to bring peace back to the Valley by planning to curtail facilities extended to them. The separatist leaders may lose round-the-clock security cover and high-tech medical facilities for ailing separatist leaders, extended by central and state governments. They could also find their foreign travels difficult with the withdrawal of passports, official sources warned. In a bid to send a strong message, government sources said, investigators may also be asked to scrutinise their bank accounts and complete the probes pending against them. The nod for a re-look at facilities enjoyed by separatist leaders came from Prime Minister Narendra Modi after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh briefed him about the ground situation in Kashmir and the all-party delegations visit to the state. The toughening of the stand comes against the backdrop of separatist leaders refusing to meet a section of political leaders, who were part of an all-party delegations two-day visit to Kashmir that concluded on Monday. The separatists, according to the government, are not lending a helping hand to end the ongoing violent protests following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen's self-styled commander Burhan Wani in July. The separatists accused the Centre of not being earnest in solving the problem in the state. Though Singh is insisting that the "doors are open" for dialogue, sources said the Centre also wants a message to go across that the separatists are holding up peace and development in Jammu and Kashmir. The Centre is upset that the state government is treating the separatists with kid gloves. The final decision on the actions to be taken against separatists will come after a meeting of the leaders who went to Kashmir here on Wednesday and high-level consultations within the government. After his meeting with Modi, Singh also met senior ministers Arun Jaitley and Manohar Parrikar, among others. He met BJP president Amit Shah as well. They discussed ways to handle the situation, besides firming up the talking points for Wednesday's meeting with the members of the all-party delegation. The meeting is being held as a follow-up to the visit and involves all parties in the process to bring peace in the Valley. A section of the Opposition, including the CPM, is not in consonance with the hard line adopted by the BJP-led government. There are also concerns that the hawkish approach by the government could flare up the situation and put the government in a corner. A Muslim woman advocate on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court to do away with Shariat courts, saying it raised a question mark on the judiciary. In an affidavit, advocate Farha Faiz sought directions from the apex court to refer the question of reforms in personal laws, being examined suo motu as Muslim Womens Quest for Equality, to the five-judge Constitution bench. The country has its Supreme Court, high courts, district courts and family courts, along with federal shariat courts. Despite the existence of a well-developed judicial system along with federal shariat courts, these fundamentalists are not satisfied and are regulating their own shariat courts on the pattern of Dar-ul-Qazas, she contended. There is no difference between the logic of AIMPLB, Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan and Jamat-ud-Dawa of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed of Pakistan, who is also running shariat courts in the name of arbitration, speedy and less expensive justice, the advocate said. She submitted that despite several safeguards, like the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937, the Muslim Woman (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 and the Dissolution of Marriage Act, 1939, a Muslim woman is still unsafe and these laws were not able to wean the community away from discriminating women and required an overhaul. She maintained that triple talaq is simply un-Islamic, and this was being defended by AIMPLB. The clerics and politicians spread negative things, misinterpret the teachings of the Quran and direct the Muslim community against the government and the nation. They have not faced any intolerance in the country but brainwash the community and give a negative image, she contended. Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, will undergo surgery at Narayana Health City in Bengaluru on September 13. The surgery would be performed to bring relief to his chronic cough. Kejriwal is scheduled to land in the city on September 12. According to sources close to him, Kejriwal will undergo a surgical procedure to correct a defect in his windpipe. So far, he was told that it could be due to allergies or infection that he has recurrent cough. However, now, doctors are of a considered opinion that it is due to a defect in the wind pipe as there is an obstruction. Hence, he would be operated upon, the source added. Narayana Health team Sources in the Aam Admi Party said that a team of experts from Narayana Health themselves approached Kejriwal in New Delhi telling him of a possible cure for cough and he consented. After the surgery, he will be able to breathe better and would be relieved of his chronic cough. Doctors also said that they have conducted similar procedures earlier which relieved many of cough. Naturopathy treatment Arvind Kejriwal went to the Mazumdar-Shaw Cancer Centre at Narayana Health City on August 29. The Delhi chief minister also visited the citys Jindal Naturecure Institute for Naturopathy Treatment last year. He is also a diabetic. The Bengaluru City Police will have their hands full next week. With various pro-Kannada groups on Tuesday giving a call for Karnataka bandh on September 9 to protest against the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, the police are a worried lot. There are several events round the corner such as the Ganesha idol immersion processions, St Mary's Feast, Eid-ul-Azha (Bakrid) and the Karnataka bandh. Every event requires an equal attention and even a slight laxity might lead to law and order problems, opined senior police officers. A senior police officer, who did not want to be named said: We have a series of events coming up this week. Our priority will be to ensure that the bandh passes off peacefully. Massive Ganesha processions have been planned on Friday and Sunday in East division of the city police and a few other areas. These areas are communally sensitive and heavy bandobust has to be made. On Thursday, there is St Marys feast in Shivajinagar and thousands of people would be visiting the basilica. We have to make sure that no inconvenience is caused to devotees. Adequate security arrangements have to be made for Bakrid next week, the officer said. We are under pressure but are well-prepared. We have roped in Rapid Action Force, City Armed Reserve and Karnataka State Reserve Police. A detailed security plan is being worked out and we are confident of maintaining law and order at any given point of time, said K S R Charan Reddy, Additional Commissioner of Police (West). N S Megharikh, City Police Commissioner told DH: It is our duty to provide security to the common man. Every police personnel has been directed to make sure that there is no law and order problem in the city and, the force will be present at all the events. Several pro-Kannada organisations staged protests at various locations in the city on Tuesday, against the Apex Courts order to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. Some protesters gathered at Amruth Theatre in Lingarajapuram and Nataraj Theatre near Seshadripuram, shouting slogans against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha. The protesters demanded that the theatres stop screening the Tamil movie Kidaari and to support their cause. At least 200 protestors were taken into preventive custody from various parts of the city and were released late in the evening. No untoward incident was reported in any area of the city. Near ministers house A few members of the Karnataka Janapara Vedike staged a protest in front of Water Resources Minister M B Patil's house. They were detained and released in the evening. Members of various pro-Kannada organisations were detained when they tried to enter Vidhana Soudha. Protesters gathered at the Marathahalli flyover, Bommanahalli Junction, Majestic area, Town Hall, satellite bus stand on Mysuru Road, Silk Board Junction and staged a protest for a few minutes. There was not much traffic congestion, as the police were already in place and requested the protestors not to disturb the movement of vehicles. Various factions of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, Vatal Paksha and other pro-Kannada organisations staged protests in the city. They have called for a Karnataka bandh on Friday. Police have deployed one company of Rapid Action Force (RAF), 36 platoons of Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) and 15 platoons of City Armed Reserve (CAR) along with the city police personnel. Constant patrolling Water jets and policemen in plainclothes will also be present. They will be placed in sensitive areas and there will be constant patrolling. It is a sensitive issue and needs to be dealt with carefully. If required, we will get more forces, said a senior police officer. Meanwhile, Home Minister G Parameshwara on Tuesday requested people to remain calm during the protest. He said the police department has deployed additional security forces at sensitive areas. The Supreme Court direction will not be reversed by pelting stones or torching buses. Police have been deployed on the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway to assist people. I request people not to damage public properties, he said. The Bengaluru Tamil Sangham has submitted a memorandum to the home minister, seeking security for Tamils in the state. By Deirdre Fulton 5 September 2016 (Common Dreams) Despite calls from environmental leaders, major insurance companies, global investors, and climate groups, the G20 has failed to put a deadline on phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, yet again. German press agency DPA reported Monday that a late draft of the G20 Leaders Communique did not mention plans to fulfill a promise the G20 made seven years ago to put an end to controversial fossil fuel subsidies. That recalcitrance runs counter to wide swaths of public opinion. An open letter (pdf) in June from more than 200 civil society organizations called for a 2020 cut-off date, warning that the estimated $444 billion in G20 subsidies to the fossil fuels industry are locking in long-lived, high-emitting infrastructure and unlocking new fossil fuel reserves. Bloomberg, in an editorial last week, called fossil fuel subsidies an egregious policy failure that has been allowed to persist for far too long. On the heels of the U.S. and China formally doing so on Saturday, the entire G20 did pledge to join the Paris climate agreement, with the communique saying leaders expect a rapid implementation of the agreement in all its dimensions. But that dealalready limited in its ability to curtail global warmingis just lip service without action on subsides, said Oil Change International senior campaigner Alex Doukas on Monday. On Chinas watch, G20 leaders have again failed to set a deadline to end fossil fuel subsidies, despite first agreeing to do so in 2009, Doukas said. Time is running out. Every dollar wasted on fossil fuel subsidies pushes us closer to climate disaster and makes the transition to clean energy more difficult. As more governments take the important step of ratifying the Paris Agreement on climate change, they must stop giving handouts to big polluters, which undermine the spirit and the letter of the Paris deal. Li Shuo, Greenpeace East Asias senior climate policy adviser, echoed that charge, declaring: Handing out money to the fossil fuel industry is simply not compatible with the Paris Agreement. 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We are very pleased to be selected by HTC, an leading innovator in virtual reality, to create a significant breakthrough in the VR industry, said Andrew McLennan, executive vice-president of INSIDE Secures Mobile Security Division. Driving trust all along the VR content distribution chain will benefit the user experience by greatly enriching the content offering. Visit https://www.htcvive.com/ to learn more about the HTC Vive. To learn more about INSIDE Secures content protection solutions, please visit: http://www.insidesecure.com/Markets-solutions/Content-Protection-and-Entertainment About VIVE Vive is a first-of-its-kind virtual reality platform designed by HTC and Valve. Uniting passion, talent and innovation, Vive delivers on the promise of VR with game-changing technology and best-in-class content. Unveiled during HTCs Mobile World Congress keynote in March 2015, Vive has since been recognized with over 30 awards, including best of CES 2016. About INSIDE Secure INSIDE Secure (Euronext Paris FR0010291245 INSD) provides comprehensive embedded security solutions. World-leading companies rely on INSIDE Secures mobile security and secure transaction offerings to protect critical assets including connected devices, content, services, identity and transactions. Unmatched security expertise combined with a comprehensive range of IP, semiconductors, software and associated services gives INSIDE Secure customers a single source for advanced solutions and superior investment protection. For more information, visit http://www.insidesecure.com. Emraan Hashmi Says Muslims Are Treated Very Well In India A highly educated population? The idea that Cuba will be able to develop rapidly once the Castro era is over because it has "a highly educated population" constitutes an act of wishful thinking. Since 1959 the Government of Cuba has allocated considerable resources to its national educational system. The literacy campaign of 1961, the appropriation of private schools, intervention at universities and the creation of new, specialized institutions were, according to the official propaganda, measures to transform the island into a "world power in education." At the same time, the aim was to create a system of indoctrination that would shape the people's thinking, right from early childhood, into Marxist-Leninist-Castroist ideology. Ever since throughout the world the regime's chorus of kowtowers has touted the spectacular development of education as one of the Cuban Revolution's "achievements." These triumphalist proclamations are based more on slogans and manipulated statistics disseminated by the Government in Havana than on objective and verifiable data provided by international organizations. Without considering the anthropological damage they have inflicted on several generations of Cubans through the incessant indoctrination practiced over the years in classrooms, and the need to feign an enthusiastic adherence to "revolutionary" values in order to continue to study, it is possible to evaluate the results of the Castroist educational system based on objective and measurable criteria. The first thing that jumps out is the poor quality of university education. Whatever the international classification system consulted (Shanghai, Oxford or CSIC), Cuba's top institution, the University of Havana does not even stand among the top 1,000 in the world. For example, in the most recent ranking by Spains Superior Council of Scientific Research (CSIC), the University of Havana is ranked 20th in the Caribbean, behind institutions in Mexico, Jamaica and Puerto Rico, and 1,741st in the world. That is, the world features some 1,740 universities, some in very poor countries in Asia and Africa, topping Cuba's best institution of higher learning. It should be noted that these entities' ranking systems are becoming more and more sophisticated each year, taking into account cultural differences, the economic context, and internal organization. The assessment, addressing visibility, impact and activities, is determined by a wide range of indicators of institutional and academic prestige, such as articles in specialized publications, research results, the publishing of high-level material, the use of new technologies, international recognition, etc. These scores, combined on a weighted basis, yield a numerical index that determines the institution's rank in the international hierarchy. It would be absurd to think that these ranking agencies operate in a coordinated manner, beholden to the CIA, with the intention of discrediting the Cuban government. The Island's universities simply do not measure up and meet the educational and research needs of the contemporary world. This is the despite more than half a century of colossal investments, preferential attention lavished on the education sector, "pedagogical innovation" along the lines of Makarenko and Castro I, and systematic efforts to create the "new man," an objective now hardly spoken about on the Island. It should not be forgotten that that the starting point for Cuba's educational system in 1960, both public and private, was relatively advanced for a country of intermediate development and that, with an illiteracy rate approaching 20%, hardly scandalous for the time. In that year the global average was 40% (Mexico: 30%; Puerto Rico: 11%, Chile: 10%, Argentina: 9%). Although one will be able to find Castroist websites stating that during the Republic "each year the army of illiterate adults increased," the fact is that since 1902 the number of Cubans who could read and write increased from 30% to 80% of the population. The deficiencies in university education do nothing more than encapsulate and reflect the problems plaguing the Cuban education system and society as a whole. Essentially, Castroism's educational policy has been based on extension and massification, at the expense of quality. The main objective has been to make everyone capable of reading, even if only a handful of political slogans, and to sign their names, in order to proclaim the Island "a territory free of illiteracy," and then fight the "battle of the sixth grade" to give everyone a certificate; and, finally, place a college diploma in the hands of the greatest possible number of young people, without stopping to consider academic standards and students' true vocations. This policy has given rise to some very curious situations. In 1980, two decades after the Castro government declared that the entire population was literate, some 35,000 exiles reached Key West from the Port of Mariel. US authorities found that about 7% of those forming part of the Mariel boatlift were functionally illiterate; that is, they were not able to read and understand a simple form and complete it. When considering this fact it must be borne in mind that the vast majority of these emigrants were from urban areas, and were adults between the age of 20 and 40. What must have been the real literacy among people over the age of 50 living in rural areas on the Island? This is not known, among other reasons because the Cuban government has never conducted a follow-up study to determine the effectiveness of its famous literacy campaign of 1961, and the likely relapses into illiteracy due to disuse among older adults living in the countryside, who received summary educations for a few weeks and then did not crack another book for the rest of their lives. This is just one example of many that merits skepticism when it comes to the regime's triumphalism about education in Cuba. The general assessments issued by the ranking agencies, which use statistical criteria to comparatively score educational systems something which may seem very abstract are borne out, in my particular experience, by the empirical data from almost 20 years of work at the UNESCO. As everyone knows, the UNESCO is the UN organization dealing with Education, Science and Culture. During the performance of my duties at the headquarters of this organization I often had to deal with professionals who had graduated from Cuban universities. Except for some scarce and commendable exceptions, these graduates stood out for their astonishing ignorance of the most basic topics, their anachronistic knowledge and their lack of general cultural literacy. Some of them had even been university professors, but did not know the most elementary facts in the fields of History, Geography and other subjects normally studied in primary school. They wrote poorly in Spanish, could not spell correctly, and exhibited obvious limitations when it came to working in other languages. Due to their pervasiveness, these deficiencies cannot be attributed to a set of Cuban university graduates' lack of intelligence or ability, but rather highlight gaps in the educational system's content and methods. The quality of higher education on the Island has also suffered due to the lack of academic freedom, comprehensive politicization, and the imposition of Marxist orthodoxy, an anachronistic ideology whose erroneous predictions and weak arguments had been exposed as early as the 19th century. To all the above must be added the low educational level from which students suffer right from primary education throughout the secondary level, destining them to enter college with the aforementioned deficiencies. This characteristic is, in turn, linked to shortages of teachers and their poor training. Although in the past decade the school population has decreased each year as a result of migration and the demographic crisis, there are barely enough primary school teachers, and the Government has had to resort to retired teachers to cover the gap. Apparently there is not much interest among young people in studying Pedagogy and undertaking careers in teaching. The situation is exacerbated by the scant career prospects that the system offers its graduates. Massification and "free" university studies have ended up creating several generations of frustrated people adorned with devaluated degrees that are of little use because a) they lack the knowledge necessary to occupy the positions their degrees should qualify them for and b) the country's socioeconomic structure cannot offer them employment commensurate with their qualifications anyway. This is why there are engineers in Cuban cities driving taxis, ex-architects serving up mojitos at restaurants, and biologists now working as tour guides, as well as a multitude of sex workers who, as Fidel said in 1998, "are the most educated in the world." The idea that in the future, once Castro is gone, Cuba will be able to rapidly develop, because it has "a highly educated population," is a form of wishful thinking. Like so many other aspects of the regime, the education system is a gigantic fraud serving the propaganda needs of the State, which draws inspiration not from Makarenko or Lunacharski, but rather Grigori Potemkin, Catherine the Great's lover, who adorned the country's impoverished villages like theatre stages, with flowers placed in the windows and dapper peasants smiling as they waved to the imperial procession passing by. A few months ago Stephanie Palmer invited me to contribute a quilt and corresponding pattern to the 2017 edition of the Quilters Planner. I was blown away when I got a sneak peak of the photos Kitty Wilkin shot for the publication. Arent they gorgeous? She shot them on location at the coast of Maine, near her home. This quilt was made using Bari Js Millie Fleur collection for Art Gallery Fabrics. The quilting on this one was done by Melissa of Sew Shabby Quilting. I love those loop-d-loops! Theyve become a favorite. Also a huge shout out to my friend Diane Woodward for being my stunt-double on the piecing of this one. The Quilters Planner is a beautiful spiral bound calendar and quilt planner all in one. There are pages for to-do lists as well as planning and organizing your sewing projects. There is lots of quilting inspiration and motivation AND there are 14 quilt patterns (gorgeously photographed) from amazing quilt designers, including Amy Friend of During Quiet Time, Amy Sinibaldi of Nana and Co.,AnneMarie Chany of GenXQuilters, Cheryl Brickey of Meadow Mist Designs, Christa Watson of Christa Quilts, Karen Lewis of Karen Lewis Textiles, Kari Vojtechovsky of Craft-Happy, Katie Blakesley of Swim Bike Quilt, Lee Monroe of May Chappell, Lindsey Rhodes of LR Stitched, Rita Hodge of Red Pepper Quilts, Stephanie Palmer of Late Night Quilter, Yvonne Fuchs of Quilting Jetgirl and my Double Crossed quilt seen here. You can learn more about and pre-order your copy of The Quilters Planner here. I cant wait to get my hands on one! PS: If youd like gorgeous photos of your own quilts, contact Kitty Wilkin. You can see more of her work here. Softbank had announced its plans to acquire ARM in July this year. Japans Softbank Group has announced that it has completed its acquisition of ARM for approximately 23.4 billion. Softbank has been planning to acquire the chipmaker since July this year. As part of the deal, ARM will be delisted from the London Stock Exchange, September 6 onwards. Softbank noted in its statement that the financial and operational impact of ARMs consolidation will be announced once it is verified. Back when Softbank announced its plans to acquire ARM, the company had stated its interest in Internet of Things. It had also said that it would continue to support ARM through increased investment. While this isnt the only acquisition to happen this year, it is certainly one of the biggest. A few months ago, Yahoo finally found a taker. Verizon bought its operating business for $4.83 billion. Not only would Verizon acquire Yahoos email and brand services, but Yahoo would also be merged with AOL. The acquisition is expected to be completed by Q1 2017. Back in April, Nokia announced its plans to acquire Withings for 170 million. The French manufacturer of healthcare devices recently entered India with a range of wearable devices. Earlier this year, Foxconn acquired Sharp for $6.2 billion. Apple and Intel are also racing to acquire AI startups, growing an entire base of acquisitions. It is quite apparent that the Internet of Things (IoT) is the next big push for mobile chipset-maker Qualcomm. The American semiconductor company already commands the lions share of the mobile SoC market, and is now one of the largest patent holders in the IoT space, followed by Intel and ZTE respectively. With new IoT focused mass-market chipsets in the offing and a market like India to play with, Qualcomm is bullish about IoT adoption in India. We spoke to Uday Dodla, Director of Product Marketing, Qualcomm India and picked his brain on the subject. Heres what he had to say - Digit: What are your IoT plans for India? How do you plan to be involved in the Indian Governments Smart City initiative? Qualcomm: Our goals for IoT in India are fairly clear. We want to concentrate on some of the verticals such as surveillance & security for our IP camera platform, our wearables, essentially anything thats either connected to your smartphone or directly to the network with different use cases. It could be the casual wearable user, it could also be healthcare. We just announced a partnership with Philips around that last week. We are also looking at the growing ecosystem around video boxes, IP boxes and Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR). Again, last week we announced the Snapdragon VR 820 (a VR headset). So, these are the key areas we want to focus on. On the second part, yes we are working with a few of our partners, not directly with the government, but through our partners. For example, we have a current engagement in Jaipur, with CISCO. Wed like to expand that to other regions as well. The Jaipur one is a very small scale lab setup, like a proof of concept. So, the idea is to understand the use cases that affect smart cities. What are the use cases that the Government is looking for and how we can scale those use cases for those problems. Its an ongoing engagement and everyday theres a new platform that comes up. We have our own platform thats going to go live in Q4. Its called the Edge Management Platform (EMP offers a series of hardware reference designs, software capabilities to address the connectivity, edge intelligence and interconnect requirements). Digit: India is yet to catch onto the IoT buzz when it comes to home products. What according to you are some of the limitations on the widespread adoption of IoT products? Qualcomm: Each of the solutions that are coming up are still very early. Theres quite a bit of work thats being done for the outside markets, but for domestic India market, I believe solutions are still being developed. One of the reasons why the adoption of IoT is slow is because we dont have a ready reference platform to build on. If you have something thats already built, then companies can replicate. We now have reference designs for wearables, for surveillance cameras, for smart cities, for video boxes. These reference platforms make life easier for a design house to startup in India, to basically get the hardware in place. Digit: I know Qualcomm is already working with startups and providing them with reference platforms to build on, but thats not where I am getting at. I am getting at the fact that the final adoption of what these startups build and the final adoption of consumer IoT is not happening in India. Even with wearables, the market is there but its not really a huge market in India. What do you think is the problem? Qualcomm: I believe the policies are there and there is encouragement by the Government, both state and central. I believe it has got to do with the maturity of the solution. That includes both hardware and software, and the effectiveness of those solutions. Digit: Do you think people in India effectively know about IoT and what it can offer? That sort of knowledge base also does not exist here, right? Qualcomm: Thats correct. It will take time for us to get to that awareness level. But, take something like surveillance and security, thats something that people dont have to be told about. Thats a key use case and a need, and we are addressing it. You are right about wearables, but we are seeing an uptake in the wearable adoption globally. Not specifically watches, but stuff like kid watches and elderly care watches, they are gaining traction, and we see that similar thing happening in India too. Digit: If you were to put a number to it, how many years do you think will it take India to understand and implement IoT in our daily activities? Qualcomm: Its a constant evolution of how we are solving problems locally. I believe it wont take long. First of all, you see how 4G has aggressively rolled out right? Now almost all the national operators have 4G Digit: Yes, 4G is going to be a cluttered network right? All operators are on 4G and there are many mobile devices on 4G. What about specialised networks for Iot, like the LoRaWan network in South Korea? Qualcomm: Good question. In fact, one of the things that will help increase the connectivity is the availability of what we call Narrow-Band IoT (NB-IoT). So while LoRaWan is one such solution, 3gpp is leading the effort to standardise whats called NB-IoT, which will make IoT devices communicate very efficiently with a Wide Area Network. So, its actually an adaptation of an existing 4G network to support NB-IoT. Think of it as a highway, where a small portion of the highway is dedicated to IoT traffic, whereas the rest of the highway is dedicated to cars and trucks (figure of speech). So, thats how it is going to look like. It is not a brand new highway, its essentially cutting out a sliver of that highway for IoT. We are anticipating networks to launch NB-IoT sometime next year, once the standardisation is final and products start coming out. Digit: You know India is a price sensitive market and when you actually talk about consumer IoT products, they are not exactly cheap. Do you feel that home IoT products will always be a niche category in the country? Qualcomm: I believe theres not only technological advances, but also, scale. India can scale like no other country right. So, once you get those volumes in place, your economies of scale will take the cost down. Look at everything out there, 4G smartphones, theyve become so low cost now. I believe with scale, you will get very very affordable solutions. Digit: The most important issue in IoT these days is that of standardisation and security. How important is it to standardise IoT devices from a security standpoint? Qualcomm: Currently, the security part of it is either provided by the solutions provider, so whoever is providing the analytics and cloud is responsible for providing security. However, data collected by sensors can be protected using security mechanisms that are there on chipsets inherently. Thats an important thing that needs to be looked into and made sure no compromises are made. Digit: Most modern IoT devices will sport LTE and we believe Qualcomm is working on specialised chipsets for IoT, like the MDM 9207-1, to increase device performance, while optimising battery. Can you tell us more about these? How will these be more cost effective? Can these bring down the cost of IoT devices? Qualcomm: Yes, we have with us the first chipset that came out earlier this year, that enables mass market IoT adoption. What we have done is made it more efficient, made it more suitable for this NB-IoT, that I just talked to you about. We have chipsets coming out, the 9206, for example, was recently announced which will be coming out in December. Theres a follow-up to that, which will be announced in a months time, and will come out around 2017. All that is to make connectivity more seamless, simpler and cost efficient, while keeping power in mind. By reducing the components that go into a device, we are able to control power consumption. At the same time, we have what is known as low power consumption on this specific family of chipsets, that will allow the device to only operate when necessary. For example, at Mobile World Congress, we were able to show the 9207 operating in the low power mode in a smart meter, reporting once a day, using two AAA batteries that lasted 10 years. Digit: How big a bet are you placing on IoT, since you are the largest patent holder in this space? Should we believe exaggerated numbers like 50 Billion plus connected devices by 2020? Qualcomm: You are right that 2 years ago, a big number was thrown out. That number was reduced a bit this year. So we anticipate 20 Billion devices by 2020 will be connected to the internet in some way or the other. Internally, I think this has gone out earlier also, our goal is to accelerate revenue specifically from IoT solutions. By 2020, we anticipate that IoT will be a significant portion of our revenue. Almost a 3rd of our revenue is forecasted to come from IoT by 2020. Digit: Lastly, whats your opinion of Reliance Jio, an all IP-based network? Do you see that helping in the IoT space? Qualcomm: We firmly believe that Reliance Jio is a game-changer. One of the things it will enable is that it is not only digital 4G for everyone, I believe it will also be a platform for us to expand IoT. Shares in Mineral sands producer Sierra Rutile fell nearly 17% on Tuesday morning as it was announced that its proposed $375m merger with Australian zinc miner Iluka Resources is to be delayed by a German regulator calling for a longer review of the deal. Reportedly the German antitrust authority needed more time to consider the merger due to the complexity of the mineral sands market, and initiated phase two proceedings which will take up to three months to conclude. AIM-listed Sierra Rutile and Iluka have five business days to agree on how to proceed as either company may terminate the merger if they do not come to an agreement. Sierra Rutile planned to cancel its shares on AIM on 9 September due to the merger, but because of the phase two review, the cancellation will be rearranged at a later date. "So why are the German Antitrust Authority getting involved? Is it because Germany hosts a number of traders and consumers of titanium mineral sands? Might they be flexing muscles afforded by the European Union? The chances are that the Authority will allow the deal through though it is possible that there may be some conditions applied to Illukas dominance in the market for zircon supply," analysts at SP Angel said. "It is our view that the revenues and profits of mineral sands consumers have been long and unjustly held back by a relatively small group of specialist consumers, though we note that no anti-competition review has been launched into the actions of consumers in this respect by any German Authority." Shares in Sierra Rutile were down 16.55% to 29p at 1133 BST. These were the movements in some of the most widely-followed 10-year sovereign bond yields: US: 1.54% (-7bp) UK: 0.66% (-6bp) Germany: -0.11% (-6bp) France: 0.17% (-7bp) Spain: 0.93% (-8bp) Italy: 1.09% (-7bp) Greece: 8.23% (+10bp) Portugal: 2.995 (-6bp) Japan: -0.18% (+2bp) The global rally in longer-term sovereign bonds appeared to get a new lease on life on Tuesday after what was arguably the most keenly-awaited data point of the week, the US ISMs service sector gauge for August, came in surprisingly on the 'bullish' side of things. Acting as a backdrop, traders were gearing up for Bank of England governor Mark Carneys testimony before the Treasury Select Committee. IHS Markits UK service sector purchasing managers index released on 5 September blew past forecasts, leading some traders to expect Dr.Carney to face a grilling for the BoEs 'sledge-hammer' approach to stimulus following the Brexit referendum. Ironically, for some economists such actions had been very much a factor in helping to prop up confidence in the months after the vote. Of interest in that regard, on Tuesday economists at Morgan Stanley lifted their forecasts for the UK GDP growth in 2016 from an annual rate of 1.2% 1.9% and for the the third quarter of 2016 from -0.4% quarter-on-quarter to 0.3%. That meant the UK was now expected to dodge a technical recession, although the broker still expected the BoE to carry-out another tranche of quantitative easing arrive February 2017. The other key question on investors minds, looking out to the European Central Banks policy meeting on Thursday, was whether rate-setters in Frankfurt would announce further measures, or not. In recent days economists from several top firms, including Barclays, Morgan Stanley or PIMCO had aired their dounts, at least as the next meeting was concerned. For Andrew Bosomworth, PIMCOs head of portfolio management in Germany, the ECb would wait until December. Nonetheless, when it did move Bosomworth did expect that the Governing Council would relax the capital key allocation for government bonds - contrary to some other analysts predictions. "Large countries France, Italy and Spain should be the major beneficiaries of tapering Bunds. While relaxing the capital key will be controversial in some quarters, we think relaxing the other criteria are even more controversial." Over in the corprate bond space, Henkel AG and Sanofi were poised to became the first non-financial firms to issue debt yielding less than 0%, Bloomberg reported - thus in effect gettig paid to borrow. Meanhile, in Greece, a poll carried out by researchers from the University of Macedonia during the first week of September revealed that 90% of voters were disappointed with the government of Alexis Tsipras, according to The Times. Marks & Spencer: Goldman Sachs reiterates sell with a target price of 315p. Bunzl: RBC maintains underperf orm with a 1950p target. Mediclinic: UBS keeps at buy with a 1170p target. Ultra Electronic: Berenberg reiterat es buy with a 2000p target. Associated British Foods: Goldman Sachs upgrades to neutral with a target price of 3100p. Foxtons: UBS reiterates buy wi th a target price of 165p. Provident Financial: RBC stays at sector perform with a 3000p target. Next: Goldman Sachs upgrades to neutral with a target of 5600p. Countrywide: UBS stays at neutral with a 250p target. Land Securities: JP Morgan reiterates overweight w ith a 1325p target. Intu Properties: JP Morgan stays at neutral with a 360p target. Flights at London City Airport were severely disrupted on Tuesday morning, after a group of protestors managed to access the runway. Its understood a group activists got past security by using a rubber dinghy to access the runway, which lies on reclaimed land in Londons Docklands, surrounded by water. Metropolitan Police were called to the airport around 0540 BST, and were still there at 0730 BST trying to defuse the situation. We believe that the protesters are airside. We are on the scene at the moment, and the incident is ongoing, a police spokesman said. No arrests have yet been made. All flights to the airport were diverted to Gatwick and Southend, and flights due to depart have been grounded as the activists huddled together on the runway. It wasnt immediately clear what the protesters were demonstrating about, though photos have emerged showing them carrying Black Lives Matter banners. The runway is currently closed due to protesters on site, an airport spokesman said in a statement. Police are present and we will resume normal operations as soon as possible. Eurozone gross domestic product growth for the second quarter was confirmed at 0.3%, according to data released by Eurostat on Tuesday. Seasonally-adjusted GDP was up 0.3% in the bloc compared to the previous quarter and 1.6% from the second quarter of last year. In the first three months of the year, eurozone growth came in at 0.5%. Eurostat cut its estimate of quarter-to-quarter growth in the quarter to March to 0.5% from 0.6%. The report from Eurostat showed weakness in domestic demand was behind the slowdown in the second quarter. Gross investment was flat following a revised 0.4% jump in the first quarter, while consumer spending was up 0.2% and government consumption rose 0.2%. Dennis de Jong, managing director at UFX.com, said: Following a stronger-than-expected first quarter, ECB president Mario Draghi will be pleased to see the eurozone continued to grow during Q2 albeit at a slower pace than the start of the year. Much of the second quarter was clouded by uncertainty as Britain prepared for its historic EU referendum, so while there will be relief in Frankfurt at todays results, there will also be concern that the biggest challenge is yet to come. Iran stood ready to continue increasing its production, possibly taking it past its pre-sanction levels towards the beginning of 2017. Depending on market conditions, the Islamic Republic was ready to raise its oil output to 4.0m barrels per day over the next two to three months, Seyed Mohsen Ghamsari, the director for international affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company, said at the Argus Crude Forum, according to Reuters. "We can increase crude production based on market requirement," Ghamsari said. Iran doesnt plan to stop or cut oil output, he added, according to another report. NIOC may raise its production capacity to 4.3m barrels per day in the first quarter of 2017 and to 5.0m bpd in two to three years, he added, noting that the majority of any new production would be of the so-called 'heavy' variety. "We believe that the market is more in favour of heavier grades and that's why we are going to introduce a new one." In a statement issued on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting in Hanzhou, on 5 September, Saudi Arabia and Russia flagged their openness to cooperating in the energy sphere, subject to Iran participating in any accord. "The statement was not dissimilar to others before it, in that the Saudis and the Russians remain open to a freeze but remain non-committal and continue to stress the importance of Irans involvement," analysts at Citi mused. As of 1227 BST front month Brent crude oil futures were trading 0.591% lower to $47.35 per barrel on the ICE. US president Barack Obama has backed out of a planned meeting with Rodrigo Duterte, president of the Philippines, after the recently-elected leader referred to him as a "son of a whore". The pair were scheduled to meet in Laos at a summit for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations after Obama flew from the G20 meeting in China. Obama had raised concerns over extra-judicial killings of drug dealers in the Asian country, something that Duterte had called for during his short time as president. During a press conference Duterte said, "You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum. We will be wallowing in the mud like pigs if you do that to me." Initially Obama did not cancel the meeting, saying that he would instruct his staff to find out whether the planned meeting would be in any way useful. "Obviously the Filipino people are some of our closest friends and allies and the Philippines is a treaty ally of ours," Obama said at a news conference in Hangzhou, China, where the G20 summit was being held. "But I always want to make sure that if Im having a meeting that its actually productive and were getting something done." But hours later Obama's aides called off the meeting. Duterte has since apologised for the comments, saying that the immediate reply was a response to pressure from reporters, but his office has said that "we regret that it came across as a personal attack on the US president." The Phillipine president has not been short of controversy since he took office in June, promising to oversee the deaths of 100,000 drug dealers, as well as insulting the mothers of Pope Francis and the US ambassador to Manila. German healthcare company Fresenius said on Monday that it had agreed a $6.42bn leveraged buy-out for Spanish hospital operator IDC Salud Holding , commonly known as Quironsalud. CVC Capital Partners have a controlling stake in Quironsalud, which runs a network of 43 hospitals, 39 outpatient centres and has 35,000 workers. The move is the first outside of Germany for Fresenius, and will be paid for in cash almost entirely financed by debt (5.36bn of debt and 0.4bn of share issuance), according to a statement from the company. "For Fresenius, this acquisition is another strategic step towards offering quality and yet affordable care for patients worldwide," said Stephan Sturm, Fresenius CEO. Founder and CEO of Quironsalud, Victor Madera, is expected to continue to manage the group that was created just two years ago by the merger of IDC Salud and Grupo Hospitalario Quiron. The statement said the transaction was expected to be finalised by the end of 2016 or early 2017. Patrick Wood, analyst at Citi, has upgraded Fresenius to "Buy", citing "strong topline visibility" and "inflecting earnings growth". In a separate note, Wood pointed out that the company has done well in its running of Helios in Germany, increasing its margins from 6.5% in 2005 to 11.5% in 2015. Pointing to the already fully-integrated Rhoen Klinikum, Wood said Fresenius had a solid track-record of hospital integration. As of 1148 BST shares in Fresenius were advancing 0.34% to 80.59, having hit an intra-sesion high of 81.45, with the stock changing hands at approximately 1.6 price-to-sales, giving the firm a market capitalisation of 24.73bn. Theresa May did not raise concerns about Chinese overproduction of steel, which has been blamed for crippling the British steel industry, in her first meeting with Chinas president, Xi Jinping. During a half-hour bilateral on Monday, immediately after the G20 summit in the country, the prime minister avoided the controversial subject that overshadowedXis visit to the UK last year at a time when the industry was in crisis. Thousands of workers at Port Talbot and other plants are still facing an uncertain future. Guardian Sainsburys is to open mini-Habitat shops and more than double the number of Argos outlets in its supermarkets by Christmas after finalising its 1.4bn takeover of Home Retail Group. The supermarket said it would open 30 new Argos outlets, joining the 20 that have been trading for more than a year, as it kicks off the integration of its new acquisition. Guardian Japans companies could flee the UK post-Brexit, the countrys government has warned, if Britain is cut off from Europe and the world. The bold statement does not reflect the public aims of Britains leaders nor those of the EU, but Japans warning reflects worries over the potential shock to global trade if ties with other nations are severed altogether. Telegraph Britains biggest and most toxic nuclear waste site is facing fresh questions over its safety after allegations that staffing levels are frequently too low and that radioactive waste is being stored in degrading plastic bottles. If a fire were to break out at the Sellafield site in Cumbria, it could generate a plume of radiological waste that will go across Western Europe, one whistleblower claims in a BBC Panorama documentary. Telegraph For years women have been told to lean in at work, to be more assertive about securing pay rises and promotions. Now it turns out that they have been leaning in so hard its a wonder they dont fall over. Yet they are still less likely than men to get a salary increase when they ask. Women demand wage rises as often as men, but men are 25 per cent more likely to succeed, according to research from the Cass Business School, the University of Warwick and the University of Wisconsin. The Times Jes Staley has dipped once again into the senior talent pool at JPMorgan Chase, his former employer, as the Barclays chief executive tries to build a coterie of trusted lieutenants. Mr Staley, who spent 34 years at the American investment bank, has recruited Tim Throsby as head of Barclays corporate and international division. Mr Throsby will join its executive committee and will report directly to Mr Staley. The Times Theresa May did not raise concerns about Chinese overproduction of steel, which has been blamed for crippling the British steel industry, in her first meeting with Chinas president, Xi Jinping. During a half-hour bilateral on Monday, immediately after the G20 summit in the country, the prime minister avoided the controversial subject that overshadowedXis visit to the UK last year at a time when the industry was in crisis. Thousands of workers at Port Talbot and other plants are still facing an uncertain future. Guardian Save my User ID and Password Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site. To activate this function, check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section. This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site. Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site. Scopri tutte le offerte e i vantaggi dellabbonamento In un unico ambiente, e con aggiornamento in tempo reale, si trovano le informazioni utili per la professione, le ultime sentenze commentate, gli orientamenti giurisprudenziali, il commento alle novita normative, gli strumenti operativi, gli approfondimenti e la documentazione delle banche dati professionali del Sole 24 Ore e la versione digitale del settimanale Guida al Diritto. Bottom line: How did the Buckeyes grade vs. Penn State? Grading Ryan Day and the rest of the Buckeyes after Ohio State's win over Penn State. Altice offers to buy rest of French cable and telecom unit SFR for $2.7 bn Altice NV, the Luxembourg-based cable and telecommunications company controlled by billionaire Patrick Drahi, yesterday offered to pay 2.4 billion ($2.7 billion) in stock to buy the remaining it does not already own in French cable and telecom company SFR Group SA. Atlice said that full control will allow SFR to diversify into higher growth markets with structural and competitive advantages, particularly in the US. Altice has offered SFR 8 of its own shares in exchange for 5 SFR for the remaining 22.25 per cent stock it does not already own. The offer values the SFR stake at 2.42 billion, representing a 2.6 per cent premium based on Friday's closing share prices for the two companies. In 2014, Atlice, through its telecom unit Numericable, acquired a controlling stake in SFR from French media giant Vivendi SA for 17 billion ($23 billion). (See: Vivendi agrees to sell telecom unit SFR to Numericable in an over $23-bn deal) With 2015 turnover of 11 billion, SFR is the second largest operator in France after Orange SA with a network covering 99.3 per cent of the population in 3G and 70 per cent in 4G. Atlice, listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange, has recently gone on a acquisition spree and is reported to have a debt pile of around $50 billion. Altice had last year acquired New York cable operator Cablevision Systems Corp for $17.7 billion, and later spent $9.1 billion in buying St Louis-based cable operator Suddenlink. Founded by Drahi, Altice is a multinational cable and telecommunications company with presence in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal, Switzerland, Israel, French Caribbean, the Indian Ocean regions and the Dominican Republic. Drahi had an eye on US' second-biggest cable operator Time Warner cable (TWC), after the latter's $45-billion merger with Comcast collapsed because of regulatory concerns. However, in May, US' fourth-biggest cable operator Charter Communications agreed to acquire TWC in a cash-and-stock deal valued at over $78 billion deal including debt. Drahi later said that Altice opted not to bid for TWC because the company was not yet ready to make a large acquisition in a new market. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. October is National Bullying Prevention month. We have all heard the phrase bullying, but what does it actually mean? Bullying is defined as unwanted aggressive behavior; observed or perceived power imbalance; repetition of behaviors or high likelihood of repetition. Bullying is unfortunately a reality for far too many in our communities both young and old. Much like any other form of violence, bullying is not isolated to any particular age group, gender or demography. Just about everyone of us can look back in our lives and recall a time where either we were personally bullied or witnessed one of our friends or schoolmates being bullied. Its hard to believe that with all of the advancements and awareness, this type of behavior still exists, but it does and with the advent of social media, it had actually gotten much worse. This is because unlike in the past, the bully not only impacts your life on the playground or classroom; they now are able to follow you into your personal life due to the constant presence of social media. There is good news in that we have learned a great deal about what creates these bullies and how to neutralize their ability to isolate and intimidate. The key is for those in authority to respond to reports of bullying immediately to show without question that bullying will not be acceptable. That message needs to follow to our homes with the messages we send our children not only by what we say but by our own actions in how we treat fellow adults. Bullying is without question a learned behavior. It is learned on the playground, in the classroom and follows through to the workplace and social interactions as adults. We need to send a strong message to our own children, a message of empathy and compassion not of ridicule and rumor. Who are at risk of bullying the most? Typically those who are bullied have one or more of the following risks: Are perceived as different from their peers, such as being overweight or underweight, wearing glasses or different clothing, being new to a school, or being unable to afford what kids consider cool Are perceived as weak or unable to defend themselves Are depressed, anxious, or have low self esteem Are less popular than others and have few friends Do not get along well with others, seen as annoying or provoking, or antagonize others for attention However, even if a child has these risk factors, it doesnt mean that they will be bullied. The important lesson is that we as adults set the tone for how the next generation will interact with each other. Chances are if we show acceptance of others, our children will show acceptance of others. If we engage in demeaning others or spreading rumors, our children will follow suit. So often we as adults underestimate the influence, we have not only on our own children but even those who dont know us but witness our behavior. While school or workplace policies are an important component, the only way to truly decrease bullying is by denying the bully their victim. We do this by raising strong, confident, resilient children, and speaking out and supporting those who find themselves on the receiving end of this type of behavior. We are all teachers in life lessons and we teach by our actions. Lets all be aware of what we teach. Home Off beat Mamata Banerjee To Meet BMW Boss In Munich oi-Abijith Vilangil In an attempt to prove the Singur agitation was her opposition to the land acquisition by the opposing party, Mamata Banerjee will meet the chief executive officer of BMW in Munich on Wednesday. The chief minister had reached Munich on Monday evening after the canonization of Mother Teresa at the Vatican City. Her purpose in Germany is to explore trade and investment opportunities between Germany and West Bengal. Before her meeting with BMW officials on Wednesday, the state government delegates top industrialists will visit the BMW facility in Bayern on Tuesday. To in big automobile industries to Bengal, a committee has reached Germany on Monday morning. The meetings will be carried at Dusseldorf -the city that contributes 20% of the GDP of Germany. "I have raised a proposal to the Financial Minister of the state to consider North Rhyne as sister state of West Bengal. They said the proposal will be discussed with the external affairs ministry of Germany ," said Mitra. You may remember local actor Aoibheann McCann when she brought the hit show Wrapped to Dundalks An Tain last September? Or perhaps you have seen her on TG4s Cumann na mBan, RTEs A Terrible Beauty or this years 1916 Film at Dublins GPO? You definitely hear her voice on your television and radio every day as she voices various adverts and documentaries, she has just finished a tour to Cork with the hugely successful Harder Faster More and very soon you can catch her at the prestigious Tiger Dublin Fringe Festival playing Anne-Marie in Red Bear Productions new play Coast. It will be a difficult part for any actor as Aoibheann explains how her character goes through an incredibly dark time, on the cusp of a breakdown. The drama is the eleventh show Aoibheann has starred in since she returned from London almost three years ago where she trained at the Oxford School of Drama, following a degree from NUI Maynooth. Aoibheann is from Glenmore, Riverstown and attended St. Vincents School where she also attended Patricia Reynolds drama classes. Coast touches on many of our societys issues as three other characters go through their own crises but, despite this, the production promises to entertain their audience, says writer and director Tracy Martin. The show will star actors Camille Lucy Ross (RTEs Republic of Telly), Donncha ODea (RTEs The Beo Show) and Gordon Quigley (Gaiety School). Coast runs from the 18th 24th September at The Project Arts Centre. Tickets can be found at redbeartheatre.com. Again over 3,000 attendees from all over the world, came to the Stockholm World Water Week 2016 and talked about the global water issues and the United Nation's 2030 agenda. Main topics were the joint implementation of last year's Paris agreement on climate change, the Sendai agreement on disaster risk reduction and the adoption of the 17 Sustainable development goals. The Stockholm World Water Week 2016 took place from 29 August till 2 September. Secretary general of the OECD, Angel Gurria mentioned that these agreements provide the water sector with large windows of opportunities. "Our focus must be on implementation, implementation and implementation. Although not necessarily in that order", he said playfully at the opening plenary. In an impressive speech UN deputy secretary general Jan Eliasson talked about dignity. Water is about dignity Later in the week Jan Eliasson, UN deputy secretary general delivered an impressive speech on water "as a precious resource that can never be taken for granted. Water is peace, water is life and water is dignity", he summarized. Eliasson is an important driving force behind the UN's agenda on water and he is well aware of the huge issues to be solved. "Let me state unequivocally: there is no dignity in illness and death from diarrhea, there is no dignity in open defecation, and there is no dignity in paying outrageous prices for water in slums." Great tools available He also touched the subject of water scarcity. "In todays world, limited natural resources must be managed more fairly. Climate change and growing demand are contributing to increased water scarcity. "The answer lies in better management", Eliasson continued, "using what we have more wisely, more smartly, more responsibly. We have huge tasks ahead of us. But we also have great tools in our hands for water availability and water equity, not least with the new SDGs." Below a selection of photos that illustrate some of the Dutch related contributions. An effective water architecture Director a.i. Fritz Holzwarth (left) at Unesco-IHE institute for water education joined a panel discussion on the need of an institution to show the fragmented water sector the way forward to achieve SDG #6. The panel was divided over the suggestion that an UN-mandated platform is necessary. Sponge city and slums Maarten Mulder of AMREF Flying Doctors presented a digital poster on a study on the 'sponge city' concept, an underground that absorbs rainwater and releases it for reuse when it is necessary. Mulder explained that the concept is already applied in China and the United Sates. New about his study is the application in Kajiado city, Kenya, with large poor areas. He expects that citizens will react differently and will be less the willing to catch rainwater. Faith-based communities Representastives of global faith communities discussed how religion can contribute to the achievement of SDG #6. Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp (middle) told he was one of the founders of the Global Interfaith WASH Alliance (GIWA) that is engaging the planets many faiths to create a world with universal access to safe drinking water, improved sanitation and proper hygiene. Bringing in ownership In a panel discussion that reflected on the required coherence to achieve SDG #6, Dutch water envoy Henk Ovink (middle) that water management - like in the Netherlands - will be there forever. He made a plea for ownership and involving youth. Dear Dutch prime minister Senior advisor Dick van Ginhoven (left) of the Dutch ministry of foreign affairs received from Michael Sheldrick of Global Citizens movement a petition signed by 47,242 followers. The petition urges Dutch prime minister to follow through with the commitment that was made in 2015 by the Dutch government to provide 30 million people with clean toilets and 50 million people with clean drinking water by 2030. Acceleration of WASH Nicoline Blokzeijl invites a visitor to take a seat on the 'Acceleration Sofa' in the booth of Wash Alliance International and discuss their personal recipe for acceleration of WASH with country coordinators from Ethiopia, Mali and Bangladesh. One trillion dollar The World Bank has calculated the currently almost 600 billion US dollar is spend on water and sanitation. To achieve SDG #6 the World Bank expects that 1,1 trillion US dollar is needed to achieve universal access. The Dutch governement was co-conveyer in a series of sessions on financing this gap. Affordable watertechnology Annemarie Maltha (left), Jasmine van Driel (middle) and Henk Holtslag (right) of the Smart Centre Group showed the Dutch designed Tulip table-top filter which is now produced in Mali. The Tulip filter is one of the products that are offered at a Smart Centre that is affordable and easy to maintain. The next Stockholm World Water Week will take place from 27 August - 1 September 2017. Read also on this website Stockholm water week 2016: High level panel on water takes complexity of global water issues on board, 3 September 2016 Stockholm World Water Week 2016: Technical centres as water job generators in rural areas, 2 September 2016 Stockholm World Water Week 2016: Watershed partnership pursues to hold governments more accountable for sustainable WASH services, 1 September 2016 Stockholm World Water Week 2016: Akvo celebrates ten-years online monitoring water aid projects, 31 August 2016 Stockholm World Water Week 2016: Taking sanitation to the next level, 31 August 2016 Stockholm World Water Week 2016: Implementation of SDG6 on water gets into gear, 30 August 2016 Stockholm World Water Week 2016: Dutch delegation to launch programme on sustainable water use, 25 August 2016 Stockholm World Water Week 2016: Overview of the Dutch contributions More information Stockholm World Water Week www.worldwaterweek.org Of the eleven social entrepreneurs who participated in the recent Optus Future Makers Pitch Day, only five were awarded a $50k grant. Melbournes Marina Paronetto was one of those few, having impressed the judging panel with her digital innovation Biz: a peer-to-peer mobile app designed to equip teenage girls with the skills and confidence to succeed in business. In addition to being an innovation specialist with PwC, Paronetto is the founder of PowerhouseHQ and a founding member of Startup Victorias Female Founders committee. She spoke to Dynamic Business about Biz and how the $50,000 Optus Future Makers grant will help her turn her idea into a reality. A learn by doing opportunity Biz is a marketplace platform that will allow teenage girls, aged 13 to 17 years old, to establish a digital store where they can earn money by making products and services available to a trusted community. While marketplace platforms already exist, they dont consider the challenges faced by teenage girls with business aspirations. Whether its starting their first jobs or performing tasks for their friends and family, teenage girls are looking for opportunities to earn money early on. Biz represents an invaluable learn by doing opportunity. Initially, girls might use the platform to offer simple services such as babysitting, dog walking and car washing. As they become more confident over time, the nature of the products and services they offer might evolve. Nailing the user experience Were currently prototyping the minimum viable product (MVP). Were trying to create a very simple user experience but the app will evolve over time. For example, users will be able to track product performance including sales through backend administration, and were exploring the ability for users to nominate a trusted mentor, such as a parent, older sibling or teacher, to have oversight of their account for security purposes. Considering that not all teenage girls have bank accounts or cards, were also looking at ways to make the payment process as simple as receiving cash in hand. Were collaborating with Mentone Girls Grammar School on refining the prototype before we build it. Were talking with the girls about what the app could do and how it could empower them. We really want to create a meaningful experience and validate it before we build. The next step is closed beta testing, which were launching in October. You can register to participate at www.thebizapp.co. Two key distribution channels Were focusing on two distribution channels: parents and schools. We will initially market Biz to parents, so they can then encourage their children to give it ago. We will also raise awareness of Biz by working with schools to deliver business workshops. The aim of these workshops will be to promote the use of Biz, equip girls with business skills, including a knowledge of key terms and concepts, inspire them to start their own business and provide them with a safe environment to test an idea. We want the girls to have fun and to share their shop with friends and family. Optus Future Makers The Optus Future Makers program has been a key support to our journey. The $50,000 grant will allow us to take the prototype and turn it into a product, which can be launched to market. The funding will also provide us with more opportunities to engage with schools by increasing the number of workshops we can offer. The program itself was great. It was fantastic spending time with the other participants. We learnt from one another and it was positive environment. For me, there were three main takeaway experiences. Firstly, we met with investors, who gave us a broader understanding of we approach investment. Secondly, there were some great speakers who discussed the challenges faced by vulnerable youth. This helped create empathy with, and a deeper understanding of, our target audience. Thirdly, the program helped me to refine my pitch. I began the program with a very different way to articulate what Biz, even though the product has remained the same, aside from tweaks as I progressed. Office automation is a term that arose in the 70s and 80s to describe the way that computers were revolutionising workplaces. These days, our computing power is taken for granted, and office automation now refers to a range of new technologies that are already extremely popular in homes and offices all over the world. If youre not up to date with everything that new technology has on offer, then heres an introduction to some of whats possible with modern office automation. Impress clients and customers With a combination of technologies and products, you can create a boardroom and presentations that are sure to impress your clients. For example, you could use a voice command to simultaneously dim your Wi-Fi enabled smart lighting, start your presentation, and turn up the volume on the sound system. Youll need to back this up with a good presentation and high-quality information, of course, but there is value in having an impressive board room. As any marketing professional will tell you, the psychology behind gaining the trust of your prospective clients and customers can be very powerful. Using technology to impress them is one way that you can achieve this. These products can be used in any number of creative ways to achieve a result that is valuable for your business. They could even be used to automatically change the smart lighting and music atmosphere for different courses in a restaurant to create a dining experience worthy of Heston Blumenthal. Improve efficiency Just like the advent of computers in the workplace, modern office automation has the potential to greatly improve efficiency for your business. There are a range of products that will yield improvements to office efficiency. There are software solutions that you will interact with on a daily basis while the hardware infrastructure takes care of things behind the scenes. When it comes to hardware, it is essential that your office is correctly wired so that each desk has power points and ethernet connections. Youll need a high-speed internet connection and Wi-Fi network to ensure that your employees can work effectively. In terms of software, there is a huge number of apps and programs that are designed to improve the way you manage your normal business tasks. These can help you easily keep track of multiple projects, the time spent on different tasks, and maintain a cloud-based file management system. There is also software that makes financial tasks such as accounting, payroll, and inventory management much easier. The programs that you will get the most value out of will depend on the needs of your business. If you put a bit of thought into where time is being lost in your business, youll be able to find a piece a software that will solve the problem. In many cases, there is innovative business software that is designed to be a one-stop-shop which may have everything you need. Office amenities Managing your employees effectively isnt just about making sure the work gets done. Creating a positive working environment is one of the best ways of ensuring that your employees to do their best work. There are many things you can do to make your office an enjoyable place to work. The most important thing is that you foster a positive office culture, but there are also systems that you can provide to improve the work life of your employees. Even simple things like being able to control the music for the office from their computers can go a long way towards creating a positive work environment for your employees. Improve security and save energy Another system that can be great for both employers and employees is access control. These systems have a range of features that will improve security, including tiered access permissions, real time permissions management, and remote monitoring of security cameras and activity. These systems can also give your employees more flexible work hours, allowing them to come in early or leave late, while also maintaining the security of your premises. You can even integrate your access control with other systems designed to reduce energy consumption such as smart climate control and lighting so that they turn off automatically when nobody is in the office. About the author Mike Andrews is the Director of Integrated Technologies Australia. Mike and his team are experts in automation technologies for the home and office. 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Fox News Megyn Kelly interviews The Weather Channel co-founder John Coleman Media Matters for America What was once a modest tendency for Congressional Republicans to be less pro-environmental than their Democratic counterparts has become a chasmwith Republicans taking near-unanimous anti-environmental stances on relevant legislation in recent years, especially 2015, the study said. This distance between the parties was further exacerbated by the rise of the Koch-funded Tea Party, which took the hard line of fully dismissing the climate change threat, often making climate change a lightning rod for voters who were outraged at Washington. As they stoked fears about the U.S. government attempting to pass legislation to limit greenhouse gas emissions, the Tea Party normalized climate denial throughout the Republican Party, according to Oklahoma State Universitys Prof. Riley E. Dunlap and Jerrod H. Yarosh, and Michigan State Associate Professor Aaron M. McCright. Global warming views by party controlling for education and era. Illustration: Dunlap et al. (2016) The Gallup Organization Another study, cited by The Guardian Tuesday, concludes that the growth of conservative media has cemented this gap. Conservative newspaper The Wall Street Journal was found to publish inaccurate information on the topic, according to a report by Media Matters for America. Out of 93 climate-related opinion pieces published in the Journal during the time period examined, 31 featured climate science denial or other scientifically inaccurate claims about climate change (33 percent), Media Matters for America said. A 2013 study found that those Americans who consumed news from conservative news sources such as Fox had a higher distrust of science and scientists, than did those who read or watched non-conservative media. Breaking through to those who fiercely deny the existence of climate change is no easy task, the Oklahoma State University researchers concluded. The countermovement includes fossil fuel corporations and business allies like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, conservative think tanks and their funders, conservative media, and a large supporting cast of front groups, bloggers and contrarian scientists, the Oklahoma State University study said. Does any persuasive framing strategy hold special promise for penetrating Republicans partisan/ideological identities? The evidence so far gives us little basis for optimism. Since Republicans have spent so long telling their constituents that climate change is not a serious threat, they are in no position to do anything about it in government. This leaves the Democrats with the responsibility to pass as much legislation to lessen the impact of climate change and deal with its consequences. Since Republicans insist on vetoing nearly all legislation concerning the threat, it is likely that if Hillary Clinton is elected, she will have to follow Obamas footsteps and implement policy through executive actions. Conservative media and politicians may not be the only reasons why Americans are so divided about the climate: Corporate groups are also hedging their bets and throwing investment behind both sides, an investigation by Reuters found. Some of the countrys most vocal corporate supporters of Obamas environmental programs have been found to be funding some of the most ardent anti-climate change politicians in Washington. Among these companies are PepsiCo, Dupont and Google, Reuters said on Tuesday. Though companies often split their campaign donations to both parties, arguing for both sides of a particular issue may be a problem, the head of the Investor Responsibility Research Center Institute Jon Kukomnik told Reuters. There really needs to be a process that looks at these issues at C-suite and board levels on a periodic basis, he said. Of the 35 biggest U.S. companies which signed on to Obamas American Business Act on Climate Change Pledge last year, 25 of these companies are supporting Congressional climate deniers by helping to fund their campaigns. These climate deniers include North Dakota Republican Congressman Kevin Cramer, who once argued the Earth was getting cooler and not warmer, and Oklahoma Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe, who once held up a snowball in the Senate to prove that global warming is not occurring. Other companies which signed the environmental pact and then gave political donations to climate deniers are Mondelez, Google, AT&T, Verizon and GE. Only GE responded to Reuters requests for comment, saying it supports elected officials based on a wide range of issues. The company insists it has been outspoken about the need to address climate change. Sen. Inhofe said businesses might have signed the environmental pact because it appeared politically expedient to do so at that moment. These are competitive companies, and the board might have said, Look, right now it might be a popular thing to join this, and theres no downside since were not really committing to anything,' he said. However, investors may want companies to be more committed to environmental sustainability, Lauren Compere of Boston Common Asset Management said. No company wants to be perceived as espousing progressive climate policies on the one hand, while funding climate deniers on the other, she said. What is fracking? Fracking is a process of blasting water, chemicals and frac sand deep into the earth to break up sedimentary rock and access natural gas and crude oil deposits. The fracking industry, which has sought to promote the practice as safe and controlled, has preferred the term hydraulic fracturing. Fracking emerged as an unconventional, relatively new and extremely popular technique only about 20 years ago in the U.S., after advances in technology gave it an unprecedented ability to identify and extract massive amounts of resources efficiently. Fracking is one of the most important environmental issues today, and its a prime example of how a new technology that offers immediate economic and political benefits can outpace (often less obvious) environmental and health concerns. Why is fracking so controversial? Modern fracking emerged so quickly, faster than its impacts were understood. Just as importantly, once scientists, health experts and the public started to object with evidence of harm it was causing, business and government succeeded in perpetuating a message of uncertainty, that more research was necessary, further enabling the full speed ahead fracking juggernaut. How does fracking impact the environment? Frackings supporters have pushed an environmental angle, insisting that natural gas can be a bridge fuel, a cheaper, cleaner option than coal before we have a large-scale transition to renewable energy. This claim has some merit, as natural gas does emit much less carbon dioxide than coal or oil. However, it is still a fossil fuel, adding harmful emissions while the climate crisis worsens. Moreover, fracking wells leak methane, a greenhouse gas more than 25 times more potent than CO2. Water In order to break up rock formations one to two miles deep, a fracking operation requires millions of gallons amount of water. After its used, the resulting wastewater, which contains chemicals is pumped back into injection wells, sent to treatment plants, or can be dangerously dumped or spilled. In 2016 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a report skewed friendly to industry in its language: Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas: Impacts from the Hydraulic Fracturing Water Cycle on Drinking Water Resources in the United States. The EPA acknowledged that drinking water contamination was possible, but ultimately came to this conclusion: Data gaps and uncertainties limited EPAs ability to fully assess the potential impacts on drinking water resources locally and nationally. Earthquakes According to the U.S. Geologic Survey, disposal of wastewater has caused an increase in earthquakes in the central U.S. Seismologists have reported that frackings initial blasting process can trigger earthquakes. Air Pollution In addition to methane, fracking releases many toxic contaminants into the air. EPA has acknowledged the public health threat, but a lack of urgent political pressure has sidelined the agency into advising on ways to control and reduce, rather than eliminate, the danger. Toxic Chemicals Fracking fluids contain unknown chemicals and known carcinogens such as benzene. Fracking companies havent been required to disclose their proprietary formulas, however. This is yet another example of how uncertainty serves as an enabling force. The EPA has identified more than 1,000 different chemicals used in fracking fluid. Wildlife Fracking can destroy wildlife habitats, pollute rivers and fisheries, poison birds, and use up water supplies that animals need to survive. How does fracking affect the economy? The fracking boom made the U.S. the worlds largest producer of oil and gas, reducing its energy imports from 26% to less than 4%. It has lowered oil and gas prices and created thousands of industry jobs. While fracking companies profited greatly at first, as prices dropped their margins collapsed. Many are now going bankrupt. How is fracking regulated? Congress has enabled the oil and gas industry to be exempt from such regulations as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act. Fracking surged during the Obama administration, which moved to protect water from fracking on federal lands in 2015. Subsequently, the Trump administration sought to roll back protections and expand fracking on federal lands. Key Examples of Fracking in the United States Pennsylvania Pennsylvanias Marcellus Shale is the source for about 40% of shale gas production in the U.S. New York While the Marcellus Shale also runs through New York, the state has banned fracking. Texas Texas produces more crude oil than any other state. North Dakota The Bakken Shale in North Dakota has been one of the main sites for the fracking boom and subsequent bust, leaving behind extensive environmental damage. A recent report found that all 50 states could provide 100% (or even greater) in-state renewable energy. Other Countries Outside the U.S., only Canada, China and Argentina have commercial fracking operations. A UN report in 2018 said that other countries were highly unlikely to produce at such a large scale as the U.S., due to political and cultural factors, and existing infrastructure. The Future of Fracking While renewables were considered a solution for peak oil only a decade ago, fracking changed the terms of the debate, with a new focus from environmentalists to keep it in the ground starting in 2015. The Biden administration now stands at a pivotal moment in the climate crisis. Bidens stance on fracking is not yet entirely clear, but he has rejoined the Paris agreement and appears to take climate seriously. At the same time, he is sympathetic to workers in fossil fuel industries, was vice president during the fracking boom years under Obama, and may be more inclined to seek a gradual transition than one fast enough to help solve the crisis. By Andy Rowell The contrast could not have been greater. Over the weekend, speaking on the eve of the G20 summit in Hangzhou, history was made as President Obama and Chinese President, Xi Jinping, announced that the worlds biggest emitters of greenhouse gases would formally ratify the Paris agreement on climate change. We have a saying in America that you have to put your money where your mouth is, said Obama at the news conference, watched by the worlds press. Democracy Now! One way to do that is to stop building fossil fuel infrastructure in order to keep fossil fuels in the ground. And to stop it now. As Obama has been at the G20 summit, over the weekend construction work continued on the proposed route of the North Dakota Access pipeline, which, if built, will transport 570,000 barrels of fracked crude a day across the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois. For months First Nations, led by the Standing Rock Sioux, have been trying to stop the building of the pipeline, as it crosses the Missouri river twice, which is the tribes man source of drinking water, as well as more than 200 smaller rivers and creeks. Over the last few weeks, as preliminary construction has begun on the route, tensions have risen immeasurably. The Standing Rock protest site, now home to several thousand protesters, is fast becoming an international symbol of grassroots rebellion against the fossil fuel industry. Nearly 100 tribes have now answered the call from the Standing Rock Sioux to protest against the pipeline. Some 150 have so far sent resolutions and letters of support too. This is becoming one of the defining moments in recent history of anti-oil protests. And how the American oil industry and its contractors react is being closely watched from around the world too. On Saturday, as protesters were marching near the proposed route they saw diggers at work. We were walking up to the flags on the highway to sing and pray, then we found out they were starting to build again, said Ursula Young Bear, Oglala Lakota, from Porcupine, South Dakota. What happened next is shocking as private security firms started using dogs to intimidate the anti-pipeline activists, including women and children. Several people were then attacked and bitten by the dogs being controlled by around eight private security personnel. The protestors were also attacked with pepper spray. Today Dakota Access security attacked 30+ #NoDAPL protestors w/ pepper spray; attack dogs bit 6 others. #WaterIsLife pic.twitter.com/UPZxzEXWSy Collin Rees (@collinrees) September 4, 2016 In response the First Nations shouted: Were Not Leaving. One activist who took photos of the attacks was Tomas Alejo. He recalls Today private security contractors hired by the oil companies attacked the water defenders with strike dogs and pepper spray as they attempted to halt construction on sacred land. Footage from Democracy Now on Saturday, showed people crying from the effects of the spray, with pipeline security personnel pathetically attempting to deny using the spray. An estimated 30 people suffered temporary blindness. The disturbing footage shows the security personnel letting go of their dogs, who then attack protesters, some of whom had bite marks from the dogs. Eventually the dogs were removed from the protest. When asked by Amy Goodman, the presenter, why the struggle was important, the simple response from one protester, who had been maced twice and bitten said, Because water is life I wish they would open their eyes and have a heart. The violence by the contractors is deeply worrying on many levels. Firstly, it is state-sanctioned violence against peaceful protesters. The police stood idly by and did nothing. The cops watched the whole thing from up on the hills, said Marcus Frejo, Pawnee and Seminole, from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It felt like they were trying to provoke us into being violent when were peaceful. This is also sliding back into its Americas repressive past, something that you would think would appall President Obama. As the New York Daily News reported recently about the height of the civil rights protests: In May 1963, the nation bore witness as police in Birmingham, Alabama, aimed high-powered hoses and snarling dogs on black men, women and even children who wanted just one thingto be treated the same as white Americans. The paper said these days tore at Americas conscience. Indeed, as Sarah Manning, a reporter and First Nations activist tweeted over the weekend: In 1493 Spaniards used war dogs to kill Natives in the name of Gold. Today Dakota Access uses attack dogs against Natives in the name of oil Sarah Sunshine Manning (@SarahSunshineM) September 3, 2016 The scenes on Saturday should tear at Americas conscience too. The 5.6 magnitude earthquake that rattled Pawnee, Oklahoma Saturday morning has been classified as largest in state history, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The September 3, 2016 Oklahoma earthquake occurred as the result of shallow strike-slip faulting about 15 kilometers northwest of the town of Pawnee. USGS Earlier reports had matched the Labor day weekend temblor with the November 2011 Prague quake. However, USGS geophysicist Daniel McNamara confirmed to KOCO on Monday that the Pawnee earthquake was about 10 percent larger, even though it fell within the same 5.6 magnitude range. The Midwestern state is not previously known for seismic activity, however the disposal of wastewater produced from fracking has led to the regions alarming increase in magnitude-3 or larger earthquakes in recent years. Scientists have dubbed this phenomenon as induced earthquakes as they are triggered by human activities as opposed to natural seismicity. The USGS is currently investigating whether or not Saturdays earthquakewhich occurred 25 miles north of the worlds largest oil-storage complex in Cushing, Oklahomawas triggered by wastewater fluid injection from oil and gas production in the area. If the Sept. 3 quake was indeed triggered by wastewater injection, Oklahoma will set the record for the largest manmade earthquake in history. This dubious record is currently held by British Columbia, Canada, which felt a 4.6-magnitude last year due to fluid injection from the fracking process. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency for Pawnee County following the quake that was felt from Nebraska to Texas. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC), the state agency tasked with regulating the oil and gas industry, also immediately shut down all disposal wells within a 725-square mile in the Arbuckle shale formation. Commission spokesman Matt Skinner told Bloomberg that this is the first time the regulator issued the mandatory measure. According to KOCO, the Oklahoma Geological Survey said on Monday that the Pawnee quake could have been years in the making, adding that earthquakes can happen years after wastewater is disposed into the ground. Ominously, this implies that wastewater that has already been pumped into the ground could trigger future quakes. Its important to note that the OCC did not shut down every well in the state. Oklahoma is currently home to 3,200 active disposal wells, according to data from the OCC. In March, the USGS released a startling report showing that approximately 7 million people live and work in areas of the central and eastern U.S. with potential for damaging shaking from induced seismicity. There are roughly 40,000 disposal wells nationwide, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says. Environmentalists have called on a ban on fracking due to the recent spate of Oklahoma earthquakes. The 5.6 magnitude earthquake that occurred in Oklahoma and was felt throughout the Midwest this morning threatened countless homes and businesses, and put lives at risk, Wenonah Hauter, the executive director of Food & Water Watch, said. But it could have been prevented. This earthquake, and hundreds of others like it over the last few years, are the direct result of the underground disposal of fracking wastewater. There cant be fracking without disposing of fracking waste, and there is no safe way to do so. This is just one of many reasons why fracking is inherently dangerous and must be banned. Earlier this year, the Sierra Club and Public Justice filed suit against four of the primary culprits for wastewater disposal, citing that it causes an imminent and substantial endangerment to public health and the environment in violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), which has been managing a recovery operation for the critically endangered red wolf, will decide the fate of the species this month. Just 45 animals remain in and near the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina. Red wolves, like this one at the Wolf Conservation Center in New York, have been saved from extinction by captive breeding programs. Dan Zukowski Most Americans are familiar with the majestic gray wolf, which has made a remarkable comeback due to conservation efforts. Although populations are far lower than pre-colonial times, today there are about 5,000 in the lower 48 and 7,000 to 11,000 in Alaska. Canada is home to a thriving population of up to 60,000 wolves. In North America, Arctic wolves inhabit the tundra of Alaska and Canada, Mexican gray wolves were once endemic to Mexico and the American Southwest, and red wolves roamed the American Southeast. There is debate among scientists whether these are separate species. Wild red wolves went into decline after initial recovery efforts. Credit: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Predator control programs and loss of habitat decimated red wolf populations. They were listed as an endangered species in 1973, and declared extinct in the wild by the USFWS in 1980. Prior to that, 17 animals had been placed in a captive breeding program at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington. This allowed the reintroduction of red wolves to the North Carolina refuge in 1987 and later to additional areas in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and islands off the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. As a result of the captive breeding program and reintroduction, wild red wolf populations increased throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, peaking at 130 animals in 2006. Populations then went into decline, followed by a severe crash beginning in 2014. The only surviving population is in the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. In March of 2016, the Center for Biological Diversity filed suit against the USFWS for violating the Endangered Species Act, claiming mismanagement of the reintroduction program. In its press release issued at the time the suit was filed, the organization stated, Bowing to political pressure, the Fish and Wildlife Service has stopped virtually all aspects of the recovery program for red wolves and is conducting a feasibility review as a pretext to further dismantle the program. It is the result of that study that is expected to be announced this month. Its simply jaw-dropping that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is consciously deciding to issue a death sentenceknowingly allowing a wolf found only in the United States to go extinct, Leda Huta, executive director of the Endangered Species Coalition, said. The red wolf has been one of our greatest wildlife success stories and could be again. It is a day I never thought Id see. Results of a poll of North Carolina voters released on Aug. 17 showed that 73 percent support red wolf recovery efforts. The numbers were almost identical among registered Republican and Democratic voters. Following that, on Aug. 29, 27 members of the North Carolina legislature signed a letter to the Secretary of the Interior expressing grave concerns about the actions of the USFWS. The letter asks that the USFWS be directed to resume and improve the recovery program. Red wolves are generally smaller than gray wolves, growing to about 4.5-5.5 feet long, including the tail. Adults will weigh 50 to 80 pounds. They have a lifespan in the wild of just six to seven years. Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to photograph two red wolves at the Wolf Conservation Center (WCC) in New York. The WCC has been part of the captive breeding program since 2004 and two litters have successfully bred there. One has returned to the wild, and 10 are currently at the WCC. They inhabit a large, fenced enclosure and fiercely patrol the perimeter of their area. Seeing these wolves up close creates a connection to their place in nature and an understanding of why they need the help of the reintroduction program. Aside from the 45 animals in the wild, there are now about 200 in various captive breeding programs across the U.S. Gray wolves have seen a successful recovery but are now being hunted in several areas. Dan Zukowski The USFWS has been criticized for repeated attempts to delist gray wolves from protection. In 2003, they began reducing protection for wolves until stopped by court action. In 2009, hunting was allowed in the Northern Rockies and Western Great Lakes. Even though that was overturned, in 2011, the USFWS came back with another effort to remove protections in the region. Meanwhile, Congress removed protection for wolves in all of Montana and Idaho, the eastern third of Washington and Oregon, and a small portion of northern Utah. Today, we are witnessing the massacre of the Profanity Pack of 11 gray wolves in northeast Washington. The killing is in response to ranchers complaints about cattle predation, but a study release last Thursday showed little scientific justification for such killings. The study looked at previous research on the effectiveness of killing predators to prevent livestock losses. They found that most of these studies showed that eliminating predators either didnt stop attacks or actually increased predation. The researchers recommended that policy makers suspend predator control efforts that lack evidence for functional effectiveness and that scientists focus on stringent standards of evidence in tests of predator control. For now, the fate of the last 45 wild red wolves is in the hands of the USFWS. What Is Climate Change? Is It Different From Global Warming? Climate change is actually not a new phenomenon. Scientists have been studying the connection between human activity and the effect on the climate since the 1800s, although it took until the 1950s to find evidence suggesting a link. Since then, the amount of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases) in the atmosphere have steadily increased, taking a sharp jump in the late 1980s when the summer of 1988 became the warmest on record. (There have been many records broken since then.) But climate change is not a synonym for global warming. The term global warming entered the lexicon in the 1950s, but didnt become a common buzzword until a few decades later when more people started taking notice of a warming climate. Except climate change encompasses a greater realm than just rising temperatures. Trapped gases also affect sea-level rise, animal habitats, biodiversity and weather patterns. For example, Texas severe winter storms in February 2021 demonstrate how the climate isnt merely warming. Related: What Are The Top States For Solar Incentives? Why Is Climate Change Important? Why Does It Matter? Marc Guitard / Moment / Getty Images Despite efforts from forward thinkers such as SpaceX Founder Elon Musk to colonize Mars, Earth remains our home for the foreseeable future, and the more human activity negatively impacts the climate, the less habitable it will become. Its estimated that Earth has already warmed about one degree Celsius, or two degrees Fahrenheit, since the start of the Industrial Revolution around the 1750s, although climate change tracking didnt start until the late 1800s. That warming number may not sound like much, but this increase has already resulted in more frequent and severe wildfires, hurricanes, floods, droughts and winter storms, to name some examples. Environmental Impacts Then theres biodiversity loss, another fallout of climate change thats threatening rainforests and coral reefs and accelerating species extinction. Take rainforests, which act as natural carbon sinks by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But as rampant deforestation is occurring everywhere from Brazils Amazon to Borneo, fewer trees mean that rainforests are becoming carbon sources, emitting more carbon than theyre absorbing. Meanwhile, coral reefs are dying as warming ocean temperatures trigger bleaching events, which cause corals to reject algae, their main food and life source. Fewer trees, coral reefs and other habitats also equate to fewer species. Known as the sixth mass extinction, a 2019 UN report revealed that up to a million plant and animal species could become extinct within decades. Human Impact It can be easy to overlook climate change in day-to-day life, or even realize that climate change is behind it. Notice theres yet another romaine lettuce recall due to E. Coli? Research suggests that E. Coli bacteria are becoming more common in our food sources as it adapts to climate change. Cant find your favorite brand of coffee beans anymore? Or that the price has doubled? Climate change is affecting that too. Climate change is also worsening air quality and seasonal allergies, along with polluting tap water. Not least, many preliminary studies have also drawn a line between climate change and the deadly COVID-19 pandemic that is still gripping much of the world. Future pandemics are likely to happen more frequently until the root causes, such as deforestation, are addressed. Speaking of larger-scale issues, global water scarcity is already happening more frequently. The Caribbean is facing water shortages due to rising temperatures and decreased rainfall; Australias dams may run dry by 2022 as severe wildfires increase and Cape Town, South Africa has already faced running out of water. As touched upon earlier, its one thing to be inconvenienced by a lack of romaine lettuce for a couple of weeks or higher coffee bean prices, but reports warn how climate change will continue to threaten global food security, to the point of triggering a worldwide food crisis if temperatures surpass two degrees Celsius. Many of these factors are already contributing to climate migration, forcing large numbers of people to relocate to other parts of the world in search of better living conditions. Unless more immediate, drastic action is taken to combat climate change, future generations will have to contend with worst-case scenario projections by the end of the 21st century, not limited to coastal cities going underwater, including Miami; lethal heat levels from South Asia to Central Africa; and more frequent extreme weather events involving hurricanes, wildfires, tsunamis, droughts, floods, blizzards and more. Related: What Are The Best Solar Companies? Whats Happening and Why? Fiddlers Ferry power station in Warrington, UK. Chris Conway / Moment / Getty Images The Earths temperature has largely remained stable until industrial times and the introduction of greenhouse gases. These gases have forced the atmosphere to retain heat, as evidenced by rising global temperatures. As the planet grows warmer, glaciers melt faster, sea levels rise, severe flooding increases and droughts and extreme weather events become more deadly. The Greenhouse Effect In the late 1800s, Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius studied the connection between the amount of atmospheric carbon and its ability to warm and cool the Earth, and while his initial calculations suggested extreme warming as carbon increased, researchers didnt start to take human-induced climate change seriously until the late 20th century. But proof of human-led climate change can be traced to the 1850s, and satellites are among the ways that scientists have been tracking increased greenhouse gases and their climate impact in more recent years. Climate researchers have also documented warmer oceans, ocean acidification, shrinking ice sheets, decreased snow amounts and extreme weather as among the events resulting from greenhouse gases heating the planet. Numerous factors contribute to the production of greenhouse gases, known as the greenhouse effect. One of the biggest causes involve burning fossil fuels, including coal, oil and natural gas, to power everything from cars to daily energy needs (electricity, heat). From 1970-2011, fossil fuels have comprised 78 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions. Big Ag is another greenhouse contributor, particularly beef production, with the industry adding 10 percent in 2019. This is attributed to clearing land for crops and grazing and growing feed, along with methane produced by cows themselves. In the U.S. alone, Americans consumed 27.3 billion pounds of beef in 2019. Then theres rampant deforestation occurring everywhere from the Amazon to Borneo. A 2021 study from Rainforest Foundation Norway found that two-thirds of the worlds rainforests have already been destroyed or degraded. In Brazil, deforestation reached a 12-year-high in 2020 under right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro. As it stands, reports predict that the Amazon rainforest will collapse by 2064. Rainforests are important carbon sinks, meaning the trees capture and remove carbon from the atmosphere. As rainforests collapse, the remaining trees will begin emitting more greenhouse gases than theyre absorbing. Meanwhile, a recent study revealed that abandoned oil and gas wells are leaking more methane than previously believed, with U.S. wells contributing up to 20 percent of annual methane emissions. Not least is the cement industry. Cement is heavily used throughout the global construction industry, and accounts for around eight percent of carbon dioxide emissions. Natural Climate Change Granted, natural climate change exists as well, and can be traced throughout history, from solar radiation triggering the Ice Ages to the asteroid strike that rapidly raised global temperatures and eliminated dinosaurs and many other species in the process. Other sources of natural climate change impacts include volcano eruptions, ocean currents and orbital changes, but these sources generally have smaller and shorter-term environmental impacts. How We Can Combat Climate Change Participant holding a sign at the climate march on Sept. 20, 2020, in Manhattan. A coalition of climate, Indigenous and racial justice groups gathered at Columbus Circle to kick off Climate Week with the Climate Justice Through Racial Justice march. Erik McGregor / LightRocket / Getty Images While the latest studies and numbers can often feel discouraging about societys ability to prevent the worst-case climate scenarios from happening, theres still time to take action. As a Society In 2015 at COP 21 in Paris, 197 countries came together to sign the Paris Agreement, an international climate change treaty agreeing to limit global warming in this century to two degrees Celsius, and ideally 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels; its believed that the planet has warmed one degree Celsius since 1750. Studies show that staying within the two-degree range will prevent the worst-case climate scenarios from happening. Achieving this goal requires participating parties to drastically slash greenhouse gas emissions sooner rather than later. However, there have already been numerous setbacks since then, from former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrawing from the Paris Agreement in 2020 to world leaders, such as China, the worlds biggest polluter, failing to enact aggressive climate action plans. Yet many of the treaty participants have been slow to implement changes, putting the world on track to hit 3.2 degrees Celsius by the end of the 21st century even if the initial goals are met. However, its worth noting that U.S. President Joe Biden rejoined the Paris Agreement in 2021, and pledged to cut greenhouse gases in half by 2030. Then theres the Montreal Protocol, a 1987 global agreement to phase out ozone-depleting substances such as chlorofluorocarbons, chemicals that were commonly used in air-conditioning, refrigeration and aerosols. Recent studies show that parts of the ozone are recovering, proving that a unified commitment to combatting climate change issues does make a difference. On a smaller scale, carbon offset initiatives allow companies and individuals to invest in environmental programs that offset the amount of carbon thats produced through work or lifestyle. For example, major companies (and carbon emitters) such as United Airlines and Shell have pledged to achieve net-zero carbon emissions in part by participating in carbon offset programs that remove carbon from the atmosphere. The problem is that these companies are still producing high levels of fossil fuel emissions. While individuals can make a small impact through carbon offsets, the greater responsibility lies with carbon-emitting corporations to find and implement greener energy alternatives. This translates to car companies producing electric instead of gas vehicles or airlines exploring alternative fuel sources. It also requires major companies to rely more on solar and wind energy for their energy needs. In Our Own Lives While its up to corporations to do the heavy lifting of carbon reduction, that doesnt mean individuals cant make a difference. Adopting a vegan lifestyle, using public transportation, switching to an electric car and becoming a more conscious consumer are all ways to help combat climate change. Veganism Consuming meat relies on clearing land for crops and animals, while raising and killing livestock contributes to about 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the UNs Food and Agricultural Organization. By comparison, choosing a plant-based diet could reduce greenhouse gas footprints by as much as 70 percent, especially when choosing local produce and products. Public Transportation Riding public trains, subways, buses, trams, ferries and other types of public transportation is another easy way to lower your carbon footprint, considering that gas-powered vehicles contribute 95 percent of transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions. Electric Vehicles Electric cars and trucks have come down in price as more manufacturers enter the field, and these produce far lower emissions than their gas counterparts. Hybrid vehicles are another good alternative for lowering individual emission contributions. Conscious Consumption Buying locally produced food and items is another way to maintain a lower carbon footprint, as the products arent shipped or driven long distances. Supporting small companies that are committed to sustainability is another option, especially when it comes to clothes. Fast fashion has become a popular option thanks to its price point, but often comes at the expense of the environment and can involve unethical overseas labor practices. Not least, plastic saturates every corner of the consumer market, but its possible to find non-plastic alternatives with a little research, from reusable produce bags to baby bottles. Climate Activism Those interested in becoming even more involved can join local climate action organizations. Popular groups include the Sunrise Movement, Fridays for Future, Greenpeace and the Sierra Club, to name a few. Voting, volunteering, calling local representatives and participating in climate marches are additional ways to raise your voice. Takeaway Its taken centuries to reach a climate tipping point, with just a matter of decades left to prevent the worst-case climate scenarios from happening. But theres still hope of controlling a warming climate as long as individuals, companies and nations make an immediate concerted effort to lower greenhouse gas emissions. As the world already experienced with the COVID-19 pandemic, a rapid unified response can make all the difference. Meredith Rosenberg is a senior editor at EcoWatch. She holds a Masters from the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism in NYC and a B.A. from Temple University in Philadelphia. More than 20 states have seen occurrences of toxic algae blooms this summer, which have had far-reaching environmental and human health impacts across the country. The algae blooms can also be found around the world, in all climates from Greenland to Oman. Utah swimmers have been sickened by the toxins, while beaches in Florida have been closed to protect beachgoers. In California, complete ecosystems are under threat due to the toxic blooms, NPR reported. Some beaches in South Florida have been covered by a toxic algae sludge for months prompting Florida Gov. Rick Scott to declare local states of emergency in St. Lucie, Martin, Palm Beach and Lee counties in June. 'Guacamole-Thick' Algae Takes Over Florida's Atlantic Coast, 4 Counties Declare State of Emergency https://t.co/r3n8BhYXD4 @TheCCoalition EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) July 3, 2016 California has reported the blooms in at least 30 lakes and reservoirs, California Water Resources Control Board scientist Bev Anderson told NPR. Theres no question that we are seeing more harmful blooms in more places, that they are lasting longer and were seeing new species in different areas, University of Maryland researcher Pat Glibert told the National Geographic earlier this month. These trends are real. A similar trend happened last year, when algae blooms practically covered the West Coast. In summer 2014, an outbreak in Lake Erie forced Toledo, Ohio to cut off city water to almost half a million residents. The levels of toxins in the toxic blooms are whats most concerning, Anderson said. Twenty micrograms per liter would cause concern, but these blooms are reporting readings as high as 15,000 micrograms per liter. Though the quality of drinking water is unlikely to be impacted due to screening in water plants, bathers and boaters can be sickened by the toxins. One boater in California has noticed the change this summer. Weve been here since 2002, kayaker Dave Holmes said. It is by far the worst weve ever seen. Local resident Wade Hensley had to be hospitalized because of the toxins, after his body became numb from the waist down after he dove into Discovery Bay in the middle of July. He still hasnt recovered feeling in half his body. It was about three days of swimming, he said. Not constant, but in and out. And they cant pinpoint exactly what it is, Hensley said. The increase in algae and the change in its composition is likely due to warming temperatures, Anderson said. Were getting higher temperatures than weve seen ever in the past, she said. California had an unprecedented drought for the last five years which [has left] the water levels very low in a lot of areas. Toxins are unusual in algae blooms, she noted. Some areas have been monitoring and seeing blooms for decades, but theyve never had toxins, she said. Blooms are also appearing in places that are unusual, including streams and mountain lakes. Scientists are grappling with how to understand the impact of the blooms on local ecospheres. What emerged from last years event is just how little we know about what these things can do, University of California-Santa Cruz toxic algae expert Raphael Kudela said. Solutions for the Toxic Algae Crisis in Florida and Beyond EcoWatch https://t.co/mfhnrVUnLm @FoEAustralia @globalactplan EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) August 5, 2016 Algae can have a variety of effects on nearby organisms, National Geographic noted. Some algae can alter the color of the waters around it and cause local air to be dangerous for humans to inhale. Other algae forms can cause fish and shellfish to die, and with them the humans that consume these fish and shellfish. Other blooms can be so large that they deplete the local area of oxygen and force the death of other organisms. We expect to see conditions that are conducive for harmful algal blooms to happen more and more often, University of Maines Mark Wells said. Weve got some pretty good ideas about what will happen, but there will be surprises, and those surprises can be quite radical. Joaquim Goes, a researcher at Columbia Universitys Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, thinks an increased use of fertilizers and substantial population growth are creating the conditions for these toxic algae blooms. But rapid glacial melt in the Himalayas, and the ensuing changes to monsoon patterns, are also causing problems. Its also unclear how long toxic algal blooms have been a problem, especially in sparsely populated regions such as the Arctic, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Northwest Fisheries Science Center scientist Kathi Lefebvre said. Its a weird thing, she said. We saw domoic acid in every species we looked at, so they are all being exposed to it. Its pretty clear that if you change temperature, light availability and nutrients, that can absolutely damage an ecosystem. But is it just starting? Is it getting worse? Is it the same as always? I have no idea. (Reuters/Damir Sagolj)More than two years after the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370), family, relatives, and friends of the passengers continue to hope and pray for their loved ones. More than two years after the mysterious disappearance of Flight MH370, Mozambique authorities reported three aircraft debris found in their area. One part was found by a South African hotelier off the waters of the southern province of Inhambane and the two smaller parts were found by the son of a diplomat near the southern resort of Xai Xai. The biggest debris was found in Inhambane and Mozambique's director of aviation authority, Joao de Abreu, suggested the parts found could be "an aileron, a flap or an elevator." He also noted that it was the first colored part of the aircraft ever found. The two smaller debris were the ones picked up in Xai Xai. The parts will soon be sent to Malaysia for further examination. Meanwhile, the search period for the plane or its parts is coming to an end, and some relatives of the passengers have come to Australia, which is in charge of the investigation of the missing flight. Some of the family members expressed disappointments in the way the investigation is being handled. Grace Nathan, who is waiting to know what happened to her mother, said they "just want to know what efforts are being made so new credible information can be found for the search to go on." She said, "I really have mixed emotions about the whole trip," adding, "I live in denial about what's happened." Other relatives fear that Malaysian authorities may be ignoring possible new evidences along the African coast because of the temporary and indefinite suspension of the search. Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370) disappeared on March 8, 2014 during its supposed trip from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China. There were a total of 239 passengers on board including two pilots and crew members. (UN Photo / Pierre Albouy)Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, addresses the opening of the thirty-first session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva Feb. 29, 2016. The U.N. human rights chief has lashed out at populists, demagogues and political fantasists like Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, Donald Trump, France's Marie Le Pen and the UK's Nigel Farage, calling them "clever cheats" whose words can trigger "colossal violence." Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein spoke in The Hague Sept. 5, calling for action to confront European and U.S. demagogues who "blend a fictional halcyon past" with half-truths and oversimplification, resulting in "the banalization of bigotry." This creates an atmosphere "thick with hate that may descend into violence." He said he wished to address a "short statement to Mr. Geert Wilders, his acolytes, indeed to all those like him the populists, demagogues and political fantasists." Much of their rhetoric is justified as a critique of Da'esh, or the Islamic State, the extremist group which aims to exterminate from its sphere any religion that does not equate with what it calls Islam. "And yet what Mr. Wilders shares in common with Mr. Trump, Mr. Orban, Mr. Zeman, Mr. Hofer, Mr. Fico, Madame Le Pen, Mr. Farage, [the names of some Western populists] he also shares with Da'esh. "I am a Muslim, who is, confusingly to racists, also white-skinned; whose mother is European and father, Arab," said Zeid, a former Jordanian diplomat. "And I am angry, too. Because of Mr. Wilder's lies and half-truths, manipulations and peddling of fear. "You see, 20 years ago I served in the UN peacekeeping force during the Balkan wars - wars so cruel, so devastating, which flowed from this same factory of deceit, bigotry and ethnic nationalism," said Zeid. He said he is the global voice on human rights, universal rights; "elected by all governments, and now critic of almost all governments." He defends and promotes the human rights of each individual, everywhere: the rights of migrants, asylum seekers and immigrants; the rights of the LGBT community. He said defends the rights of women and children in all countries; minorities; indigenous persons; people with disabilities, and any and all who are discriminated against, disadvantaged, persecuted or tortured whether by governments, political movements or by terrorists. Zeid said that what Wilders, Trump and the other share is a seeking in different degrees to "to recover a past, halcyon and so pure in form, where sunlit fields are settled by peoples united by ethnicity or religion." They see that past as one of isolation where people controlled their fate, were free of crime, foreign influence and war. "A past that most certainly, in reality, did not exist anywhere, ever. Europe's past, as we all know, was for centuries anything but that. "The proposition of recovering a supposedly perfect past is fiction; its merchants are cheats. Clever cheats." 'HALF-TRUTHS AND OVERSIMPLIFICATION' The UN high commissioner for human rights said that the polulists use half-truths and oversimplification. "The internet and social media are a perfect rail for them, by reducing thought into the smallest packages: sound-bites; tweets." Their formula is simple. It is to "make people, already nervous, feel terrible, and then emphasize it's all because of a group, lying within, foreign and menacing. "Then make your target audience feel good by offering up what is a fantasy to them, but a horrendous injustice to others. Inflame and quench, repeat many times over, until anxiety has been hardened into hatred." Zeid said empathically, "Make no mistake, I certainly do not equate the actions of nationalist demagogues with those of Da'esh, which are monstrous, sickening; Da'esh must be brought to justice. "But in its mode of communication, its use of half-truths and oversimplification, the propaganda of Da'esh uses tactics similar to those of the populists. And both sides of this equation benefit from each other indeed would not expand in influence without each others' actions." The UN rights chief said that humanity must pull back from the trajectory propelled by Wilder, Trump and the others. "A decade ago, Geert Wilder's manifesto and Cleveland speech would have created a world-wide furore. Now? Now, they are met with little more than a shrug, and, outside the Netherlands, his words and pernicious plans were barely noticed. "Are we going to continue to stand by and watch this banalization of bigotry, until it reaches its logical conclusion?" FOUNTAIN VALLEY, California The 2017 Genesis G90 luxury sedan arrives at Hyundai's Genesis dealerships at the end of September, starting at $69,050. The 2017 Genesis G90 is the first model in the new brand's lineup. What was once the name of Hyundai's high-end sedan, Genesis is now the name of Hyundai's luxury brand. The G90 sedan sits at the top of the Genesis brand and replaces the current Hyundai Equus sedan. In comparison, the 2016 Equus is priced at $62,450. Prices include a $950 destination charge. The base G90 3.3T Premium with rear-wheel drive is equipped with a 3.3-liter twin-turbocharged V6 engine. The G90 3.3T Premium with all-wheel drive starts at $71,550, including destination fees. The G90 5.0 Ultimate with a 5.0-liter V8 engine and rear-wheel drive starts at $70,650, and the G90 5.0 Ultimate with all-wheel drive is priced at $73,150. Standard equipment on the G90 includes automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, nine airbags and smart cruise control with stop-start. Key G90 competitors include the Audi A8, BMW 7 Series and Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Edmunds says: The 2017 G90 should represent an impressive value to many luxury shoppers. A new program is helping principals upgrade the business skills and qualifications that will make them better managers.The first-of-its-kind program was created through a partnership between Catholic Education Melbourne (CEM) and Australian Catholic University (ACU) Executive Education in 2014.In February, Stephen Breen , president of the Western Australian Primary Principals Association (WAPPA), warned that principals lack vital compliancy training, an issue that could have legal ramifications for them and their schools.School leaders were running million-dollar businesses with a myriad of separate yet intersecting responsibilities all of which are being run by one individual, he told The Educator.Most million-dollar businesses would have a compliance officer, an accountant, access to legal help and other support, but the principal doesnt.However, the MBA (Executive) program aims to equip principals with the skills required to overcome this problem.The first group of 28 graduates from the course were recognised in April by the Victorian Education Minister, James Merlino, with the second class of graduates accepted at the end of 2016, swelling to more than 50 principals.Tom Ristoski, director of strategic partnerships and executive education at the ACU, told The Educator that CEM identified a desire among principals to expand their management skills, and in doing so, free up their time and resources.This saw CEM seek out ACU Executive Education and from there we collaborated to develop a tailored MBA offering that met the needs of the modern school executive, the first of its kind in Australia, he explained.Ristoski added that the course provides school principals with all the business skills, knowledge and insights that would be expected from one of the countrys top-rated MBA programs.They will learn from our industry-leading business experts, as well as education experts from ACU, who draw on the Universitys wealth of experience in teaching and learning, he said.This tailored MBA program is about empowering our school principals with the tools to take on the challenges of running multi-million dollar businesses, contribute to key organisation decisions, and develop and implement innovative business practices.Gavin Brennan, principal of St Margarets Primary School, located in Maribyrnong, was one of the first graduates. He told The Educator that the MBA develops and introduces skills to the principal that enables them to do their best with the limited resources for their students.The MBA develops a level of financial literacy that equips the principal to ask the right questions when dealing with accountants, business managers and the tight financial resources, he said.The course exposes students to different ways of thinking, and a variety of lenses through which we can look at issues in new and innovative ways.Brennan added that the development of his financial literacy has had the biggest impact on his ability to manage the school.I have also been more open to new and innovative ways of working with staff, budgets and the school community, he said. Following multiple reports of racial violence and unrest this summer, research conducted by educator and author Christopher Emdin on race, culture, and inequality in urban America may provide guidance for teachers and school leaders seeking to reach a greater understanding with their students at the start of the new school year. Emdin knows how it feels to be an undervalued student of color in an urban school. As a young man, he attended the specialized Brooklyn Technical High School in New York City, where he felt misunderstood by his teachers and, as a result, he disengaged from academics. Now an associate professor in the department of mathematics, science, and technology at Teachers College, Columbia University, Emdin published his second book this spring. For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood ... and the Rest of Yall Too (Beacon Press, 2016) is part how-to guide for classroom teachers and part critical analysis of the dynamics of race in certain school settings. As the title suggests, Emdin argues that teachers, especially white teachers, should re-examine their practice to understand the impact it can have on students whose backgrounds differ from their own. Through the use of reality pedagogy"his teaching philosophy grounded in the idea that empathy and respect play a critical role in student learningEmdin believes that teacher and student can navigate their differences on an equal footing. Commentary Intern Alex Lenkei recently spoke to Emdin by phone to discuss how urban school communities can better serve marginalized youths. EW: Id love for you to define the word urban, which you use in many contexts throughout the book to refer to students, schools, and communities. Can you help us unpack this word, because it is often used synonymously with the geographical identifier inner city as code for nonwhite? Emdin: "[T]he hood, in many ways, is what has been described as urban and sort of used interchangeably with inner city. I use that term and expression purposely because when folks say urban, they actually mean the hood or inner city. Urban becomes a way through which they can describe schools that have very particular characteristicsschools where the population is low-income, where youths are socioeconomically disadvantaged as a result of being low-incomeand communities that have high incarceration rates and low graduation rates, where students are traditionally underperforming based on particular forms of assessments. Urban outside of the context of schooling oftentimes refers to cities. In New York City, for example, urban could be 42st Street, it could be Chelsea, it could be places where a lot of wealth is accumulated. But when you say inner-city or you say the hood, it means to gloss over the places where there is money; gloss over the places where there are high concentrations of people who are socioeconomically advantagedor who may have the opportunity to be able to have private educationand go right to those communities that are not doing well, that folks are scared to go to, that are mostly populated by black and brown people. EW: You note that urban students are more disengaged in science than other subjects. To help reverse this trend, you created Science Genius B.A.T.T.L.E.S., an initiative that uses hip-hop and rap to engage urban students in science classrooms. Why are these students disengaged, and does it point to larger problems in science, technology, engineering, and math education? Emdin: In K-12 STEM education, science, in particular, is viewed as being only for the best and brightest, for those who have the resilience to be able to overcome challenging academic subjects. We are attaching a perception that only particular populations can do well, and then theres a general, writ-large consensus that urban youths of color are not part of the best and brightest. So when you put those two things together, theres a perception that certain populations just cant do well in those disciplines. When a young person who listens to hip-hop dailyor who can write a rhyme or perform a rhyme or memorize a rap album in three or four hoursstarts realizing that they can actually be scientific using hip-hop, then you start changing the perceptions they may have about themselves in relation to disciplines like STEM. EW: In the beginning of your book, you describe the traditional school structure as an authoritarian system that required you to conform to white standards in order to succeed academically. You also emphasize the role of this structure in reinforcing fear-based narratives where teachers view urban studentsusually referring to black and Latino studentsas violent or angry. Where does the responsibility for changing this structure lie? Emdin: We are all collectively responsible for the existing structures of schooling, particularly the traditional structures of urban schooling. If we can all identify the fact that we do not have a good time in school spaces, why are we ensuring that the next generation also has a bad time? If the feeling isnt good, and were all doing the same thing and not feeling well doing it, then we need to do something different. This is not just about students, although students are where my heart isits also about teachers. Teachers have to be able to go into schools and feel comfortable there. They have to be able to go into schools and feel joy. I want teachers to be able to feel successful every day. We all must change the structures to allow those who are invested in the process of schooling to approach that work with a certain sense of joy, satisfaction, purpose, a certain sense of comfort in the teaching and learning process. But if we try to implant rigor onto flawed systems, its just going to lead to dysfunction. EW: In one section of the book, you note the aesthetic similarities between a Detroit school and a neighboring correctional facility. To counteract the feeling of imprisonment urban youths may feel in school, you suggest teachers decorate their classrooms with artwork and quotes. Why is the classroom environment so overlooked, and how can educators apply the same principles to other spaces in the school? Emdin: The classroom environment is overlooked because we have educators who are so deeply connected to this notion that academic rigor or academic success for young people only requires a hyperfocus on testing. I went to a school, and I went into a correctional facility, and they looked the same. The walls were bare. There were bars on windows, and beyond that the teachers were acting or teaching like wardens. They were yelling at students. They were so deeply involved in zero-tolerance policies and dont smile until November and all these foolish things that they inherited from the schooling they received. The key to transforming schooling requires young people to feel as though they are learners, to feel as though they are welcome, to feel as though this place is about learning, and learning is a fun activity. There are messages that we send to young people simply by how our classrooms look, and if our classrooms look like prisons, students feel incarcerated. If students feel incarcerated, they dont feel free enough to learn. If you treat somebody like a prisoner and you make them feel like a prisoner, theyre going to respond by giving you prisoner behavior and attitude. And if you treat them like theyre valued and artistic, loving, learning beings, then they will respond in kind. We cannot blame young people for giving us responses to oppressive structures that are negative when we are the ones who are creating the structures that invoke that response. If you treat somebody like a prisoner, theyre going to act like a prison inmate. If we treat somebody like theyre brilliant, they will express brilliance. If we treat somebody like they are free and excited about learning because you are excited about learning about them, then they feel like they have value. EW: Early in your book, you talk about the trauma some urban students face both in their communities and in the simple act of going to school. In addition to teachers practicing reality pedagogy, how can school counselors and administratorsthe whole school community, in factwork to reduce these traumatic experiences that touch school campuses in order to better serve urban students? Emdin: When we talk about trauma, we cannot identify the trauma somebody is experiencing unless we (a) bear witness to that trauma, meaning we see it ourselves; or (b) we create the spaces that allow them to feel comfortable enough to let go of that trauma. In an era where were so hyperfocused on reading and math skills, we dont invest enough in the social-emotional spaces for young people, which means investing in school counselors. I was in a school the other day in Arizona, and they were telling me the statistics of school counselors to students. It was like 812-to-1. How can you say you value young people when you only invest in testing them and you dont invest in their social-emotional well-being? I dont need a $5 million grant. I just need people who are fully invested in young people and are willing to take on new tools for teaching and learning. That will transform schools. EW: Do you have anything to add? Emdin: I, by no means, write this book or share these tools or come up with reality pedagogy with the goal of saying, Its Emdins way or the highway. What I am providing for teachers are simply tools to allow them to be able to develop pedagogical strategies that they need. This work is, in many ways, a labor of love. I dont do it to make teachers uncomfortable. [The book is] called For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood because there are more white teachers in urban spaces than ever before, and oftentimes they come from backgrounds that dont reflect the backgrounds of students, so those folks need as much help as possible. But the book is also named for the rest of yall too. This is for black teachers who oftentimes take on the structures of traditional schooling and are just as ineffective. The work is about providing tools to make you better at your craft and do right by young people. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. Attention remains focused on the fate of low-performing schools in Michigan, where Gov. Rick Snyders office last week released the latest list of those among the states bottom 5 percent. The 124-school list issued Sept. 1 includes 116 that are still openamong them 58 schools in Detroit. Those Detroit schools would not be subject to potential closure until at least 2019 under the state laws that set up a $617 million financial bailout of Detroits school district in June. But the prospect of closures around the state had raised anxieties among district officials in advance of the lists release last week. The governors administration has in the past warned that schools at the bottom 5 percent statewide for three straight years could be subject to closure. Snyder, however, apparently aiming to quell worries, denied plans to shut down schools in the immediate future. It is not a school closing list, he said in a video posted to his Twitter page earlier last week. Thats just flat-out wrong. The list of low-performing schools was mandated by state law to be published by Sept. 1, the governor said. Caleb Buhs, a spokesman for the states School Reform Office, reinforced that view. To be clear, there have been no decisions made about school closures in the state, he said last week. The list being released is a statutory requirement and is based on 2015 data, with 2016 data to be available later this year. The School Reform Office continues to review all available information to determine the appropriate steps to hold schools accountable that chronically fail to educate children and prepare them for the next level, Buhs said. Districts Wary Districts became wary of the governors intentions when, last year, Snyder by executive order removed the Office of School Reform from the Michigan education department and made it report directly to him. The office is charged with holding low-performing schools accountable for improvement. According to Raymond Telman, the executive director of the Middle Cities Education Association, a coalition of 30 urban school districts, where 60 percent of the districts include schools in the bottom 5 percent, the Office of School Reform said last year that it wasnt in the business of closing schools. Rather, the office said its aim was to come up with better ways of measuring school effectiveness, so that schools could get a clearer picture of how they are performing. But the reform office changed its tune in recent meetings with school leaders, according to Telman. Their agenda clearly imparted the notion of closure, he said. The emotions surrounding school closurefor whatever reasonare evident in communities that have recently experienced a shutdown. In Detroit, high school seniors and their parents at University Yes Academy, a charter school, were told at an Aug. 22 meeting by school officials that it would close because a search for a new building to house the growing student body had failed. The school was on the states February 2016 priority list of low-performing schools but not on the most recent list. The closure left about 250 students and their parents scrambling to find new schools. Some of those students had just transferred to University Yes Academy this year. Wytrice Harris, a parent organizer in northeast Detroit, says the Osborn community where she works is worried about continual talk of school shutdowns. There arent many good options nearby. Students may have to travel far from their homes, and thats a huge burden on our families, she said. Debating the Strategy Closures have to be an option, especially since school turnaround efforts havent been terribly successful, according to Marguerite Roza, professor of education finance at Georgetown University. What were seeing is schools cant quite turn themselves around academically and culturally, and theyre just riddled with problems at many different levels, she says. That is an intractable problem. She stressed that school closures have to be done right. She points to former Denver superintendent of schools Michael Bennetcurrently one of the states U.S. Senatorswho as head of the Denver system had to take on the tough task of closing schools due to declining enrollments. His main priority, according to Roza, was to make sure no student ended up at a lower-performing school than the one that closed. But Steven Norton, co-founder of Michigan Parents for Schools and the parent of two children in the Ann Arbor school system, argues that when you look at the entire picture, the idea that schools are failing students doesnt hold water. Its the state thats failing kids by underfunding education and creating damaging policies. Schools have to deal with whatever comes at them, and there are a lot of children coming in with bigger weights on their shoulders than others, Norton said. Its the job of schools to take those weights off, but that requires extra effort, extra skills, extra manpower, and were simply not providing that to our local schools. Donald Peurach, an associate professor of education at the University of Michigan, has studied school turnarounds and closings nationwide. He questions the wisdom of a get-tough policy on schools in the face of what research shows about the best way to help low-performing schools do better for students. Simply turning up the heat on struggling schools and expecting that heat to generate deep knowledge of school improvement is a ridiculous proposition, he said. With policymakers across the country increasingly worried about teacher shortages, one after another, state licensing authorities have been loosening certification rules. In Utah, prospective teachers now only need a bachelors degree in any subject and a passing score on a content-area test to attain a license. Previously, those candidates were required to have years of practice teaching and some college-level education classes under their belts before being granted a license. Wisconsins schools chief, Tony Evers, recently announced a slew of changes to his states teacher-licensing procedures to make it easier for retired and prospective teachers to get certified. Teachers with emergency one-year licenses will be allowed to renew their credentials even if they havent yet passed required tests. Retired teachers or those planning to retire will be given five-year licensure extensions without having to go through the additional training typically required. New York cleared the path in July for more out-of-state educators to get licensed to teach in the Empire State, dropping its requirement that teachers who are certified in other states take New Yorks own certification exams. And back in May, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin signed a bill that creates a new pathway for teacher-candidates who have a bachelors degree in and work experience related to a subject area. The new law leaves the details of how much and what type of work experience will be required to the states licensing board. In all four cases, lawmakers cited concerns about teacher shortages. The educator-workforce shortage is one of the most critical public-policy issues facing our state, Evers said in a statement. We must look for long- and short-term solutions, identify what is driving shortages in Wisconsin and nationally, and search for actionable steps that can bring our schools and educators relief. Well-trained educational staff are critical partners in our work to prepare our kids for college and career. Human Rights Issue While theres scarce evidence of a teacher-shortage crisis on the national level, research does support the idea that some states are experiencing serious shortages because of high turnover rates and fewer entering teachers. State teacher-licensure procedures, meanwhile, often make it cumbersome for out-of-state teachers to transfer their credentials. According to federal data, Wisconsin and Oklahoma are experiencing widespread shortages across several content areas, while Utahs shortages are largely confined to science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and special educationspecializations for which most states struggle to find enough teachers to meet demand. Even so, critics have questioned the impulse to loosen certification requirements, saying it could reduce teacher quality and diminish teachers professional status even further. Utahs new rules have received the most criticism. Utah Education Association President Heidi Matthews has urged the board to rehash the new rules, saying they will only exacerbate inequalities, as rich districts will be able to hire more mentor teachers to get all the new inexperienced teachers up to speed. Its a human rights issue, she argued. The popularity of dual-enrollment programs has soared nationally as high school students clamor to try college-level work. But the movement is dogged by questions about one of its key selling points: that students can get a jump-start on college by transferring those credits. Take the case of Sabrina Villanueva. As an ambitious high school student in Dallas, she earned 12 credits at a local community college by taking speech, government, psychology, and sociology. Because the courses were part of a dual-enrollment partnership, they counted toward her high school graduation requirements, too. But when Sabrina moved into her dorm at the University of Rochester last fall, she got bad news: None of her college credits were accepted for transfer. So much for her dream of minoring in psychology or sociology while majoring in engineering. Without those credits, she wont be able to assemble enough coursework in those disciplines to do it on the typical four-year college timetable. I was kind of upset, said Sabrina, whos now a sophomore at the New York college. The work I did didnt get accounted for in every aspect I wanted it to. The dual-enrollment movement is having growing pains, as issues with credit transfer arise alongside its well-documented benefits. A lot is at stake for the students who invest time, hard work, hope, and in many cases, money, in the courses theyre told will produce college credit. About 1.9 million students11.4 percent of the secondary school populationwere taking some form of dual-enrollment course in 2010-11, the most recent federal data show, up from 1.2 million in 2002-03. A new pilot program offered by the federal government might lure even more students into dual-enrollment classes: the chance to use Pell grants to cover costs at 44 institutions. Even the staunchest advocates of dual enrollment, however, are concerned about the potential fallout of its rapid expansion, such as difficulty transferring credit. Leaders in the field are encouraging a guided pathway approach, in which more colleges and universities would spell out which courses will transfer for credit, and high school counselors would use that information to help students create sequences of courses that are planned and thoughtfully designed so theyll be more likely to transfer, said Joel Vargas, whos researched dual enrollment as a vice president of Jobs for the Future, a group that studies college and career readiness. Where Are Dual-Enrollment Programs Offered? The proportion of schools that offer dual-enrollment classes varies significantly from state to state. In 2013-14, 10 states reported that 70 percent or more of their schools had students enrolled in such programs. Source: Education Week analysis of Civil Rights Data Collection, 2016 The issue of dual-enrollment-credit transfer is certainly on peoples radar. Its something people are concerned about, said Melinda M. Karp, who has studied dual enrollment and is the assistant director of the Community College Research Center at Teachers College of Columbia University. There is a disconnect between what students are being toldthat college credits are goodand the fact that college credit really needs to add up to something in order to graduate. That second half isnt often expressed, she said. Accumulating credits that ultimately dont transfer or apply to a major can put students at risk to drop out or use up their lifetime maximum of Pell grants, Karp said. A Little-Documented Problem Very little research has been done on the proportion of students dual-enrollment credits that are accepted by the colleges they attend. The courses can be taught at high schools or colleges, by high school teachers with appropriate qualifications or by college instructors. Dual enrollment is like the Wild West, Davis Jenkins, a senior research associate at the Community College Research Center, said about the question of credit transfer. No one seems to know [nationally] what credits students are earning and whether those credits are applicable toward any sort of degree. Only a handful of small studies have explored the transfer question. The American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers asked about dual-enrollment credits in a recent survey of its 2,700 institutional members. According to preliminary findings, one-quarter of the respondents said theyre aware of problems with acceptance of such credits at other institutions, according to Michael V. Reilly, the associations executive director. A study of alumni of the University of Connecticuts Early College Experience program found that students lose 13 percent of their credits, on average, when they enroll in college. The Greater Texas Foundation, which awards scholarships to students in early-college high schools, where they can graduate with both diplomas and associate degrees, studied the experiences of 226 of its scholars. It found that while all their credits transferred, only 73 percent were accepted toward their major courses of study. As a result, most students didnt earn bachelors degrees in two years as they had envisioned, mainly due to credits earned that do not apply to chosen degree programs, the foundation said in its report last October. Some university-high school partnerships have secured rigorous national accreditation from the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships. Of those programs, three-quarters report that 80 percent or more of the students successfully transfer credits to other colleges they attend, according to Executive Director Adam I. Lowe. Those 98 programs account for only a small fraction of programs operating nationally and include only a subset of dual-enrollment courses: those taught in high schools, by approved high school teachers. Only half the states have agreements that require public colleges and universities to accept dual-enrollment credits, according to the Education Commission of the States, and those agreements dont require the compliance of private institutions. Sonia A. Gonzalez found that out the hard way. The 11 credits she earned in government and physics at a community college in Dallas wouldnt transfer to the University of Notre Dame in Indiana when she enrolled there last fall. Had she attended a public university in Texas, where her credits would have been guaranteed to transfer, she probably could have graduated a semester early, she said. Even some states that guarantee transfer of dual-enrollment credits to state institutions impose restrictions. Florida, for instance, allows its flagship institutions to refuse the credits. Tennessee requires dual-enrollment students to pass an exam and allows each institution to set its own passing score. Revising the Pitch? The problems with transferring dual-enrollment credit have sparked concern that its being oversold. The courses have long been pitched as a way to build academic muscle and prepare for college, a benefit few dispute. Study after study has found that participants are more likely to enroll in college right after high school, get better grades once theyre there, and have the academic momentum to stay in college and finish in four years. Entering college with creditseven if they apply only to elective or general education requirementscan allow students to dive into more advanced courses or explore new subjects. But more recently, in the wake of the Great Recession, with college costs and student debt soaring, theyve also been promoted as a way to save money and finish college more quickly. Some students find that to be the case. But others with similar dreams end up feeling misled and disappointed. Floridas state college system says on its website that dual-enrollment courses can save a student and their family hundreds if not thousands of tuition and fee dollars and expedite entry into the workforce. The Rhode Island education department says that with dual-enrollment, all students have the opportunity to reduce the amount of time and expense required to obtain a college degree. In a 2013 statement about President Barack Obamas initiatives to make college more affordable, the White House said: Dual-enrollment opportunities let high school students earn credits before arriving at college, which can save them money by accelerating their time to degree. Its definitely being oversold, said Barmak Nassirian, the director of federal relations for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. The notion of promoting more rigorous work in high school is fabulous. The problem comes when you build on that the notion that its a cheaper way of solving the vexing problem of college costs. Its coming from policymakers who are terrified about where to go next in reducing college costs. Qualms About High School Most dual-enrollment courses are taught by high school teachers, on high school campuses, and are sometimes called concurrent enrollment courses. Even though such teachers typically have masters degrees, and work closely with their partner universities, these high-school-based programs are the ones that colleges view with the most skepticism. Reilly, of the national registrars and admissions group, said his members tend to be pretty confident when students take courses taught by [college] faculty. A course taught by a high school teacher just doesnt quite ring the same way when his members evaluate the coursework for transfer, he said. Amy Roy, the director of college counseling at Westerly High School in Rhode Island, said that nearly 40 percent of her seniors are taking dual-enrollment coursesmore than ever. But in the past few years, shes noticed that more colleges are reluctant to accept the course credits, which students earn through a community college or state university. There are so many schools my kids arent getting credit at, Roy said. When I call them, they kind of beat around the bush, but I get the impression that they dont feel they can guarantee the rigor of the course when its taught at a high school, a reaction that frustrates her, because the students teachers have masters degrees, and their curricula and pacing guides are approved by their partner colleges. To ward off disappointment, Roy makes sure she explains to studentsand their parentsthat dual-enrollment credit transfer isnt a sure thing, she said. Higher Educations Discretion The University of Illinois Laboratory High School took steps to insulate students from potential loss of earned college credits. Its partnership allows students to take college courses, but only in college classrooms, with college students, and not for simultaneous high school credit. Lisa R. Micele, the director of college counseling at the small, selective school in Urbana, said her schools policy is based on feedback from the 15 colleges and universities that its students most often attend. They were telling us, We dont want these kids double dipping, Micele said, adding that many expressed doubt that students were truly working at a college level in classes taught by high school teachers. We have not had problems with credits being accepted at other colleges, but I think its because were not double dipping. Jason L. Taylor, whos studied dual enrollment as an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy at the University of Utah, sees the credit-transfer problem as just another arm of the broader problem that plagues students who transfer from one college to another. Higher education has long exerted its discretion to accept some credits, and reject others, costing students time and money, he noted. But many states are working in various ways to improve transferability of dual-enrollment credits, or, at the very least, ensure that students are well informed about their chances. Florida requires its department of education to develop and circulate a statement that tells students and parents that dual-enrollment credits might transfer only for general education or elective credit. North Carolina requires state-funded dual-enrollment courses to be taken in one of 12 coherent programs of study. Oregon set up a committee to conduct quality reviews of dual-enrollment programs. And three other statesHawaii, Nevada, and Oklahomarequire students to take dual-enrollment courses in college, with college faculty, or online. More states are pursuing the concurrent-enrollment alliances accreditation, which can increase the chances of credit transfer. Iowa in 2015 became the first state to have all its community collegeswhere dual-enrollment partnerships reside in that stateaccredited. Lowe, the organizations leader, argued that states keen attention to quality will affect dual-enrollment credit-transfer rates. Quality and transfer, he said, go hand in hand. Public education abounds with excitement as schools, districts, and communities work together to rethink the ways in which teaching and learning can better suit the needs and abilities of todays youths. They do so for good reason. By 2020, 65 percent of all jobs will require some level of postsecondary education and training, according to a 2013 projection from Georgetown Universitys Center on Education and the Workforce. It is easy to point to peak national high school graduation rates and say that we are making great strides. Yet, when we look at whether these graduates are ready to succeed after high school, the picture is not as rosy. In April, a national study by Education Reform Now found that one in four students requires remedial coursework before beginning actual college classes, costing the student on average $3,000 in additional tuition and making them 74 percent more likely to drop out of college than their peers who do not need remediation. The notion that we can fix our schools to create more-equitable outcomes for these students only moves us backward. It implies that our education system is broken. In reality, the system is working exactly as it was intended when public education was designed over 100 years ago. It is culling and sorting the more elite students and leaving the rest to work the factories or the farms. We can no longer afford winners and losers in our schools. Instead, we need to redesign education in high schools to move it forward and away from that 19th-century model. Today, schools and communities across the country are advancing a framework known as student-centered learning, which questions traditional concepts of where, when, and how learning happens. This innovative approach is not restricted to the traditional classroom. Rather than simply sitting through lectures, students use class time for interactive projects and thoughtful discourse. Learners complete internships for credit and run their own parent-teacher conferences. They advance by demonstrating understanding of material at their own pace, rather than by accruing credits based on the seat time theyve endured at a desk. Student-centered approaches are transforming the learning experience for American high schoolers. Among the districts that receive grant support from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation (which I lead), two different high schools offer shining examples of how student-centered approaches can be tailored to a schools distinct needs. With enough time to transition, schools can successfully create their own vision for what student-centered learning looks like." With a population comprising 60 percent students of color and 80 percent students who receive free or reduced-price lunches, Revere High School in Revere, Mass., has increased achievement among students historically marginalized in our education system. Once rated in the lowest-performing 20 percent of schools by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, RHS won a High School Gold Award from the National Center for Urban School Transformation in 2014. RHS uses a flipped-classroom approach, in which students watch lectures and lessons at home. This allows them to work more closely with their peers and teachers, and it allows teachers to emphasize interaction and student-driven dialogue. In just two years, the school has become a national model for equity in education, often hosting site visits for educators and school leaders interested in making this transition. In rural environments, these approaches are helping students who are not on track to graduate. Deer Isle-Stonington High School had the third-highest dropout rate in the state and 133 suspensions in a student population of just 167 during the 2008-09 school year. Located on a small island off the coast of Maine, the community has a maritime economy. School leaders incorporated that economy into the curriculum, providing personalized classes that have direct connections to real-world opportunities for students after graduation. As a result, the school embodies a culture of college and career readiness for all students and has seen a steady graduation rate of 85 percent over the last five years. Reveres flipped classrooms and Deer Isle-Stoningtons local-economy-oriented curriculum are evidence that when schools and communities are empowered to determine how student-centered learning will work best for them, they often yield the greatest results. Recently, the Nellie Mae Education Foundation released a comprehensive analysis of student-centered approaches and practices in 12 schools across New England. The study examined common class-planning time, professional development, and community partnerships, among other practices, that encourage student-centered approaches and help manage some of the inherent challenges. Above all else, the study illustrated how, with enough time to transition, schools can successfully create their own vision for what student-centered learning looks like, strengthening teaching and learning practices inside and outside the classroom. The transformation of our high schools will not happen overnight. But make no mistake: It will change the face of public education for the better with the help of dedicated teachers, administrators, and communities working together to equip our students with the critical-thinking and 21st-century skills needed to achieve at high levels for the rest of their lives. Our system of public education is not brokenit just serves a different purpose than it did 100 years ago. It is well past time for an upgrade. Its time for the rich to start paying their fair share of education costs, teachers unions in Oregon and Maine sayand they have some targets in mind, if voters go along. The driving factor: For the past few years, hundreds of paper and timber mills in the heavily forested states have shuttered, state tax revenue has dipped, and school districts have suffered a series of debilitating budget cuts. After several frustrating years of wrestling with legislators to boost K-12 revenue, the unions are taking two carefully worded tax initiatives directly to those states voters this fall. Oregon voters will decide whether to impose a 2.5 percent tax on corporate gross sales that exceed $25 million. In Maine, voters will decide whether to levy an additional 3 percent surcharge on the portion of any household income exceeding $200,000 per year. If passed, both measuresamong a handful of education-related tax proposals on statewide ballots Nov. 8could potentially raise millions more for the states public school systems. For far too long, proponents of the ballot measures argue, lower-income residents and communities have shouldered the vast majority of the states rising education costs through property taxes, while corporations and higher- income communities benefit from company tax loopholes and inequitable school funding formulas. Our tax code has been rigged in a way that overwhelmingly benefits the wealthiest Mainers, said John Kosinski, a lobbyist for the Maine Education Association whos leading the states campaign. Were saying theres a better way. But opponents to Oregons Measure 97 and Maines Question 2, say the measures are manipulative and will hurt the poor, not the rich. Dana Conner, the president of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, said raising taxes on the wealthy will lead them to leave the state for lower taxesand take the jobs they bring with them. Tax the rich is a common cry you hear worldwide, but, truthfully, I dont buy it for a minute, Conner said. These people, quite often, have very responsible positions, they employ people, they put money back into the economy, and theyre making philanthropic contributions we dont want to lose. Besides, he said, citing research from the states former education commissioner, putting more money into an already flawed funding formula will only exacerbate inequality between rich and poor districts. In Oregon, Rebecca Tweed, the campaign coordinator for the NO on 97: Defeat the Tax on Oregon Sales campaign, said the 1,000 companies that will be taxed if the measure passes will just tack those extra costs onto their products. This is a wolf in sheeps clothing, she said. Its a hidden, regressive sales tax on low-income, everyday Oregonians. Revenue Soft Spots Across the country, revenue for K-12 public schools has modestly risen in recent years as property values have rebounded since the recession and people spend more money. But in some states where tax revenue is heavily dependent on natural resources such as timber, coal, and oil, public school districts continue to suffer. Legislators, especially in conservative states, are notoriously reluctant to raise taxes unless a court tells them to. So voters, in some cases, have decided to sidestep the legislative process. Of the more than 153 ballot measures being proposed this year across the country, four would significantly raise general revenue for public school systems. Cigarettes, Sales Levies In addition to the Maine and Oregon measures, voters in Missouri will decide whether to increase the cigarette tax from 17 cents to 67 cents per pack to expand pre-K services. That proposal is expected to bring in $300 million annually. And Oklahomas voters will decide whether to raise the sales tax to 9 percent from 8 percent. The money would, among other expenditures, provide the states teachers with a $5,000 raise. In 2010, at the height of the recession, more than eight states had ballot initiatives that would affect school funding, a record number, according to an analysis by Daniel G. Thatcher, a policy analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures. Revenue Raising Voters in four states are being asked to approve ballot initiatives that would use tax increases to dramatically increase the amount of money school districts receive each year. Maine Question 2: Would levy an additional 3 percent surcharge on the portion of any household income exceeding $200,000 per year to provide the states school system with $157 million annual state funding a year. Missouri Amendment 3: Seeks to increase the states cigarette tax from 17 cents to 67 cents per pack in order to provide $300 million annually, mostly to expand the states pre-K services. Oklahoma Question 779: Would raise the states sales tax from 8 to 9 percent in order to provide, among other things, a $5,000 annual raise for teachers. Oregon Measure 97: Would impose a 2.5 percent tax on corporate gross sales that exceed $25 million to provide $3 billion worth of revenue to benefit public schools, health-care services, and services for senior citizens. Source: Education Week Of the 18 education initiatives that have been proposed since 2010, six have passed. In 2012, for example, Californians passed Proposition 30, which levied a temporary half-cent statewide sales tax, along with an income tax on those who make more than $250,000 a year. The initiative poured billions of dollars into the states school system. Voters will decide on whether to renew it this year. Tax-the-rich proposals are tricky, said Lawrence Picus, a school finance and policy expert at the University of Southern California. The trick is convincing people its a free vote, he said. You vote, and someone else pays the tax. Unlike other initiatives this year, Maine and Oregons ballot measures propose to tap high-income earners and large corporate revenue in resource-poor states. Similar to the campaign behind Californias Proposition 30, the ballot measures being proposed in Maine, which is heavily Republican, and Oregon, heavily Democratic, have those states teachers unions arguing that lower-income residents wont be hurt by voting yes. For the last two decades, weve been faced with disinvestment in our public schools, said Johanna Vaandering, the president of Oregon Education Association. Were not asking for the world. Were asking the largest corporations to pay their fair share. In Oregon and Maine, teachers have hit the streets testifying to voters about overcrowded classrooms, low pay, and duct-taped textbooks. Their campaigns have an Occupy Wall Street tinge to them, complete with colorful graphics that seek to highlight how much of the education costs the states poorer residents have had to pay compared with those with higher incomes. Oregon, which does not have a sales tax and relies heavily on a statewide income tax, has fallen almost $1 billion short of what officials say is needed to properly fund schools, proponents of the measure say. Thats largely due to the continued slide of the timber industry and a growing poverty rate. In order to cushion themselves from budget cuts by the state, many districts have raised their property taxes. Targeting the Formula In 2010, voters approved two ballot measures to help balance the Oregon state budget, raising the income tax on those making more than $125,000 a year and the tax on some corporations. But the state teachers union points out that the legislature has steadily given tax breaks to the states corporations over the years. If Measure 97 passes this year, it would bring in $3 billion a year in revenue, according to Paul Warner, a legislative revenue officer for the state. The legislature would decide how to divvy the money up between the states public education, health-care, and senior-citizen services. Democratic Gov. Kate Brown last month endorsed the measure, though she has conceded that consumers would have to bare some increased costs. In Maine, meanwhile, the state teachers union proposed Question 2 to fix what it calls an inequitable school funding system. Like Oregon, the state has fallen short of paying its 55 percent required share of education costs, and districts have made up the difference, resulting in large disparities among them. If passed, Question 2 is estimated to bring in more than $157 million, but how that money would be distributed is in dispute. By sending money to the state coffers, the union says, the funds would more equitably be sent back to districts. But thats not necessarily so, said Jim Rier, a former Maine state education commissioner. Because of a quirk in the funding formula, any new money placed into the system would first go to districts with the lowest millage, or taxation, rates in the state. Those districts tend to be disproportionately wealthy. This is a much more complicated issue than just taxing the rich to make sure the education is equitable, said Rier. This initiative is not going to solve that. Jim Weber, the superintendent of the 6,000-student Lewiston public school system, has qualms about Question 2. The citys mostly poor population has swelled in recent years after several hundred refugees from Africa moved there. Voters have several times over passed bonds to build new schools and add on new classrooms. Resources are still tight. We dont have an empty classroom here, he said. But Weber knows his neighboring suburbs, which have lower millage rates, would likely benefit more than his district from any increase to the states budget. While, yes, we can use the additional funds, Im not sure that raising taxes on income earners over $200,000 is the best way to do that, he said. Id hate to drive out of Maine the very people who are the biggest investors and employers in the state. And Im concerned about a tax increase that didnt come through the more regular legislative process. Its the time of year when more than 50 million American public school students return to the classroom. No doubt, most are looking forward to reuniting with friends after a busy summer, even if theyre dreading homework. Every store is stuffed with notebooks, paper, and backpacks, and families are buying new school uniforms in bigger sizes. But these annual rituals elude more than 124 million children and teenagers in nations across the world who dont attend school. As a U.S. representative and the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committees State and Foreign Operations subcommittee, which oversees foreign aid and humanitarian assistance, I know that an education is the bedrock of our international-development goalsfrom poverty reduction and economic prosperity to the improvement of health outcomes and community participation. We simply will not make sustained progress if generations of children grow up without basic literacy skills. Access to quality education has been a driving force behind my congressional career. Girls in the developing world face innumerable obstacles to accessing an education, including gender discrimination, societies that do not value their education, poverty, unsafe school environments, and inadequate sanitation facilities. According to the U.S. Agency for International Development, for every year a girl stays in secondary school, her future income increases between 15 percent and 25 percent. Educated women are more than twice as likely to send their children to school, and studies show they are also likely to invest 90 percent of their income in their families and households. An education is also critical to the future success of boys. According to a recent report from the International Labor Organization, the global youth-unemployment rate is expected to reach 13.1 percent in 2016. That is why the United States must aggressively continue efforts to prioritize education access for children around the world. We simply will not make sustained progress if generations of children grow up without basic literacy skills." An influential next step would be to pass the proposed Education for All Act, which would develop and implement a strategy to expand access to basic education for children worldwide and is scheduled for a vote by the House of Representatives this week. My colleague Rep. David Reichert, R-Wash., and I introduced this bipartisan bill in the House earlier this year. This bill was also introduced in the Senate by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine; Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill.; Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.; and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. This legislation places the United States squarely in a leadership role in pursuit of achieving access to quality education for all children regardless of where they live. By working with foreign governments, nongovernmental organizations, and international groups, we can help nations develop and implement comprehensive, quality programs, address key barriers to school attendance, and increase completion rates for the poorest and most vulnerable children worldwide. Expanding access to quality basic education across the globe will benefit U.S. national and economic security and improve life for our current and future K-12 students. The act, which was approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee in July, also has the support of 30 nonprofit advocacy organizations across the country. Last year, I hosted the extraordinary student Malala Yousafzai and her father on a visit to the U.S. Capitol. After surviving a brutal assassination attempt by a Taliban gunman at the age of 15 simply for going to school, she has become a well-known advocate for girls education in Pakistan. Her story of courage and perseverance is incredible. Despite the changes to Malalas physical appearance as a result of the attack and the trauma of continued threats from the Taliban, she and her father are crusading to help millions of children who are currently out of school. They are challenging world leaders to invest in books, not bullets, as she says. Congress should heed Malalas call. For the sake of so many girls like Malala and for so many vulnerable boys, lets pass the Education for All Act and help children around the world realize their dreams by receiving the education they so desperately deserve. Lets blaze the trail for children everywhere. To build the largest and most complete Amateur Radio community site on the Internet - a "portal" that hams think of as the first place to go for information, to exchange ideas, and be part of whats happening with ham radio on the Internet. eHam.net provides recognition and enjoyment to the people who use, contribute, and build the site. This project involves a management team of volunteers who each take a topic of interest and manage it with passion. The site will stand above all other ham radio sites by employing the latest technology and professional design/programming standards, developed by a team of community programmers who contribute their skills to the effort. The site will be something of which everyone involved can be proud to say they were a part. We welcome your comments. The eHam.net Team, Revision 07/2020. Ely, Cambridgeshire is best known for its majestic cathedral dubbed the 'Ship of the Fens' because it dominates the flat landscape. The city, which is the second smallest in England, is about 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about 80 miles by road from London. 14:55, 28 OCT 2022 COLUMBUS When Dave Shemek worked at Ernst Auto, he started his mornings by going to Reeders 11th Street Grub and Pub for coffee. That was everyday life then, but it's an accomplishment now for Shemek, who is wheelchair-bound after contracting West Nile virus in 2014. On a recent Saturday, the local man decided to drive his electric wheelchair from his Wagner Lakes home to Reeder's. Out of the blue one day he did that, said Tricia Bloomquist from Promedcare, which provides in-home care for Shemek. I came in to take care of him, and he says, Guess where I went Saturday?'" Since then, on nice days, Shemek has taken advantage of his increased mobility. It gets me out of the house once in a while, said Shemek. It feels good. I'd like to go more places. I'd like to get to the Husker House sometime, but I don't know if this (the wheelchair) will make it up the viaduct. Darci Reinke is also enjoying her own renewed skill. Shes now able to drive again after losing mobility because of West Nile. Having my independence is very major, the Columbus woman said. You lean on everyone. You lean on everyone to do everything for you. And that sucks. Shemek and Reinke were both diagnosed with West Nile virus around the same time, Reinke in September 2014 and Shemek a month later. West Nile can cause a wide range of effects in humans, from a mild flu to death. Both Shemek and Reinke experienced heavy fatigue. Reinkes husband, Roy, said she was barely able to move from the kitchen to the living room couch. She spent most of her time in a wheelchair that supported her head because she was too tired to hold it up. A year ago, Shemek was barely able to move his arms. But the illness has also affected each of them differently. Reinkes memory was impacted. She said she doesnt remember 2014, and for months afterward Roy said he had to remind her about her illness. Every day she'd wake up and be like, 'Hey, why am I this way?'" he said. The bigger challenge for her, the not knowing, was upsetting. And not having the short-term memory to say, 'Hey, you were in wheelchair.' Today, you can stand and today you can go to the bathroom (on your own). Even today, her brain has difficulty switching from one task to another. Once she was watering flowers and her neighbor came over to say hello, which caused her to fall over. If someone speaks to her while shes drinking, she can choke. After a few months of therapy at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln, Reinke was cared for at home by family and a caregiver hired to come in once a week. She walked a mile at last year's We Can Run, Walk and Roll event and goes to water therapy at Columbus Wellness Center to build up strength. She also has therapy for fine motor skills and speech enunciation. When Reinke speaks too quickly, her speech becomes slurred and difficult to understand. She's able to have conversations but there's times where you have to put two and two together and you cannot grasp enough of her enunciation, Roy said. Shemek spent months at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital, then was moved to a nursing home. He stayed at multiple nursing homes before finding Promedcare and moving back home. Its good being home. Its boring because you're by yourself, but I think to myself, I could be stuck in a nursing home, Shemek said. If you're dying that's the place to go. I wasn't ready to die yet. In addition to recovering from West Nile, Shemek has to worry about his finances. Between his therapy and nursing homes bills, Shemek said he lost his retirement savings. And he misses his job. I miss working, God, I miss working, he said. I hate sitting around the house all day. Its boring. Hes now able to cook simple meals, like a hamburger, and move his legs slightly. Hes also not fatigued as easily as before. His hearing is gone permanently. Shemek has a digital writing tablet so people can write to him but he has no trouble speaking. He goes to therapy three days a week with a goal of getting out of his wheelchair. I can live with being deaf, but I hate this thing, he said about his wheelchair. I absolutely hate it because you can't do nothing. Youre stuck in it 14 hours a day. Shemek said hes grateful for the care hes received at the Columbus Wellness Center and Columbus Community Hospital, which have helped him get to where he is today. Columbus is lucky, he said. We're lucky to have the therapists we have at the Y and the hospital. Reinke spends her days meeting with family for lunch, running errands, going to therapy and recently started volunteering with special-needs students at Columbus Middle School, where she used to work as a secretary. It helps a lot. They help me a lot, she said. Being at school seems back to the normal me. So far this year the number of diagnosed cases of West Nile in Nebraska is relatively low, only 28, with no deaths. But state epidemiologist Tom Safranek said it's still the middle of West Nile season. Our numbers are coming in right now, around Labor Day, Safranek said. People right now are getting West Nile and theyll be reported in a week or two. The easiest way to protect against West Nile virus is to take precautions to prevent mosquito bites, such as using insect repellent and wearing long-sleeved shirts and full-length pants. Passengers at London City Airport were unceremoniously delayed on Tuesday after the U.K. branch of Black Lives Matter staged a protest in one of the airport's runways. Erecting a tripod, the nine protesters who took part in the demonstration locked themselves together, prompting the intervention of the police. Police eventually removed the protesters from the runway. No injuries have been reported as of writing. While protests by Black Lives Matter are quite frequent lately, it is the alleged reason behind the London City Airport demonstration that was rather odd. According to Joshua Virasami, who was one of the demonstrators, BLM U.K. opted to stage the protest in order to highlight the dangers of environmental dangers that black people face in the region. "The community where this airport is a predominantly black community. In Britain, 28% of black people are more likely to be exposed to air pollution, being in closest proximity to the industries causing climate change," he said. "The disruption to flights was a very small inconvenience when you think about the consequences for black communities daily." While the protesters might be under the impression that the protest caused but a small inconvenience for passengers in the airport, many commuters felt otherwise. Hannah Moore, a passenger whose flight to Amsterdam was delayed, expressed her disappointment at what happened. "It's chaos. There's a huge queue outside the airport. I managed to get in. We've been told to watch the boards. I have an important business meeting to attend in Amsterdam. I've told them I might not make it," she said. Casey Collins, whose flight to Luxembourg was also delayed, stated that the protest caught the airport staff off-guard. "The problem was that there was only two or three staff there. People were behaving themselves, they know it was not the airport's fault, but for a time it was a bit chaotic," he said. Flood walls, pumps and road improvements are also subsidies for those who build/remain in risky areas: Local governments, under pressure from annoyed citizens, are beginning to act. Elections are being won on promises to invest money to protect against flooding. Miami Beach is leading the way, increasing local fees to finance a $400 million plan that includes raising streets, installing pumps and elevating sea walls. ... But the local leaders say they cannot tackle this problem alone. They are pleading with state and federal governments for guidance and help, including billions to pay for flood walls, pumps and road improvements that would buy them time. Yet Congress has largely ignored these pleas, and has even tried to block plans by the military to head off future problems at the numerous bases imperiled by a rising sea. A Republican congressman from Colorado, Ken Buck, recently called one military proposal part of a radical climate change agenda. The gridlock in Washington means the United States lacks not only a broad national policy on sea-level rise, it has something close to the opposite: The federal government spends billions of taxpayer dollars in ways that add to the risks, by subsidizing local governments and homeowners who build in imperiled locations along the coast. The views expressed by Udayon Misra in his article titled Victory for Identity Politics, Not Hindutva in Assam (EPW, 28 May 2016) happen to differ radically from mine. What Misra has written echoes the general tenor of remarks on the striking election results in the local press and other media by and large. It centres on the discourse of identity. One would have thought that the developments during and since the Assam movement of the early 1980s made thoughtful people aware of the fallout of this discourse, particularly the virulent anti-Muslim turn it took towards the end. This turn compelled prominent Muslim leaders of the All Assam Students Union (AASU) to hold a separate meeting and present a memorandum to the top AASU leadership listing their grievances and objections. Since then, the only result, however, unintended of the high-pitched rhetoric of identity has been the widening gulf between the khilonjias (indigenes) and the descendants of Muslim immigrants, many of whom had settled in Assam as far back as the early 20th century. That has put unimaginable hurdles in the way of democratic dialogue and politics, without which the common people are destined to suffer the vile machinations of the ruling classes. MADISON CITY COUNCIL TO HEAR FROM TIMORESE VISITOR Women's health advocate works with Madison's sister city of Ainaro, Timor-Leste For immediate release Contact - Diane Farsetta, madison@etan.org or 608-241-2473 Sidalia do Rego tours family farm, Madison, WI. September 6, 2016 - At the beginning of the Tuesday, September 6 Madison Common Council meeting (6:30 pm in room 201 of the City-County Building, 210 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd), Sidalia do Rego from Timor-Leste will address the Council about her work with women's health programs in Madison's sister city of Ainaro, Timor-Leste (East Timor). Sidalia is the Coordinator of Women's Health and Social Care at Bairo Pite Clinic, a free health care provider in Dili, the capital city of the Southeast Asian island nation. The Madison chapter of the East Timor Action Network has supported Bairo Pite Clinic since its founding in 1998. Madison and Ainaro became official sister cities in 2001. "My time in Madison has strengthened my foundation to work for women's health and women"s rights," said Sidalia do Rego, who is visiting for two weeks. "The community birth attendants in Ainaro are amazing women. They inspire me. They do so much, but sometimes need help advocating for their own rights. I want to make sure they have the support and information they need. Last week, Sidalia participated in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Global Health Institute's 2016 Quality Improvement (QI) Leadership Institute. The QI Institute brings together people working in low-resource settings in Wisconsin and around the world, to learn from UW faculty and staff experts and from each other about strengthening healthcare systems. In addition to addressing the Madison City Council, this week Sidalia will meet with Domestic Abuse Intervention Services, local midwives and Representative Mark Pocan's office. She will also speak with nursing students at UW-Madison and anthropology students at Madison College, and be interviewed by WORT 89.9 FM. Over the holiday weekend, she toured local farms and met with farmers and cheesemakers affiliated with Family Farm Defenders. "We are thrilled to host Sidalia in Madison and sponsor her U.S. visit," said Diane Farsetta, coordinator of the Madison-Ainaro Sister-City Alliance. "She is incredibly passionate about her work for women's health and women's rights. During her visit, she's been able to learn and teach others. It shows how much our sister communities have in common and how we benefit from each other." Madison has a long history of solidarity with Timor-Leste. The Madison chapter of the East Timor Action Network formed in the early 1990s, during the U.S. supported Indonesian military occupation of the country. In August 1999, the Timorese voted for independence in a United Nations-organized referendum, bringing an end to the brutal, quarter-century-long occupation. The Madison chapter of the East Timor Action Network (ETAN-Madison) established a sister-city relationship with Ainaro, to help the rural community rebuild and recover. Sidalia do Rego on family farm tour, Madison, WI. SUPPORT ETAN! ETAN is "A voice of reason, criticizing the administration's reluctance to address ongoing human rights violations and escalating oppression in West Papua and against religious minorities throughout Indonesia." Noam Chomsky Donate Today! Younited Italia, Nicola Manzari e il nuovo Coo, Luca Faccini e Head of Growth e Domenico Petraroli e General Counsel BEER-SHEVA, ISRAEL...September 6, 2016 -- A researcher at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) has developed a new methodology to track and manage rumors during emergencies, and proposes guidelines for first responders and agencies on how to handle the rumor dissemination loop. According to a recent study published in Computers in Human Behavior, BGU researcher Tomer Simon mapped 13 different rumors that were shared during Operation Brother's Keeper, an effort by Israeli emergency teams and the Israel Defense Forces to locate three kidnapped Israeli youth. The results showed that more than two-thirds (69 percent) of the rumors were found to be true. Moreover, journalists, military and emergency personnel participated in the dissemination of the rumors during the operation. "Chat and social media apps like WhatsApp and Facebook have drastically sped up the pace of rumor proliferation during emergencies," says Simon, a Ph. D. student in the Department of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, under the supervision of Prof. Avishay Goldberg and Dr. Bruria Adini. "The research was conducted in real-time to identify the rumors that had spread on WhatsApp in Israel, but mainly to trace their source and the people disseminating them." Rumors by definition are bits of information that cannot be verified in real-time, especially when there is a strict gag order, as was the case during the operation. Despite this, many people accept them as true and share them further. According to Simon, individuals who are immersed in emergency situations try to reduce their stress levels by searching for information concerning the event. The public in Israel preferred to use WhatsApp to disseminate the rumors. In contrast to Facebook, it is perceived as significantly more private, and the messages conveyed as more trustworthy. The research showed that more than 40 percent of WhatsApp users in Israel were exposed to at least one rumor during Operation Brother's Keeper. Based on this study, Simon offers some specific lessons for first responders and official agencies. 1. Actively search for rumors and other information bits that are shared during emergencies in order to understand the public's information gaps. 2. Once rumors are recognized, actively push accurate related information to personnel, thus keeping them informed and ahead of the rumor dissemination loop. 3. Create Virtual Operations Support Teams (VOST), which are constructed of volunteers whose job is to monitor social media during emergencies. Through the use of VOST, the police, for example, will be able to tap into the social media stream through external volunteers that do not have to overcome the fear and trust barriers the police have with the public. 4. Do not use strict gag orders, as their effectiveness in the digital era is almost non-existent. Using gag orders creates the opposite effect and enhances and expedites the dissemination of rumors during emergencies. ### About American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU) plays a vital role in sustaining David Ben-Gurion's vision: creating a world-class institution of education and research in the Israeli desert, nurturing the Negev community and sharing the University's expertise locally and around the globe. As Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) looks ahead to turning 50 in 2020, AABGU imagines a future that goes beyond the walls of academia. It is a future where BGU invents a new world and inspires a vision for a stronger Israel and its next generation of leaders. Together with supporters, AABGU will help the University foster excellence in teaching, research and outreach to the communities of the Negev for the next 50 years and beyond. Visit vision.aabgu.org to learn more. WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2016 -- Thanks to a new, cheap and accurate DNA-editing technique called CRISPR-Cas9, targeted genetic modification in humans is no longer just the realm of science fiction. Both the British and U.S. governments recently gave scientists the thumbs-up to edit DNA in human embryos and adults using CRISPR. So does this mean that we can trim out genetic diseases or mutations? Or maybe even add in abilities like infrared vision, possibly creating a designer-baby dystopia? In the latest Reactions episode, we explain how CRISPR works, how it is being used today and what the future might bring for this landmark technology: https://youtu.be/5gQGWJraptU. Subscribe to the series at http://bit.ly/ACSReactions, and follow us on Twitter @ACSreactions to be the first to see our latest videos. The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 158,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio. ### To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org">newsroom@acs.org. Follow us: Twitter Facebook Findings are mixed but evidence is strongest for suicides and mental health problems A review of studies investigating the 2008 recession in Europe show it was associated with adverse health outcomes, particularly for suicides and mental health problems, finds a study in The BMJ today. However, the authors warn that most published studies on this topic had a substantial risk of bias and therefore results need to be cautiously interpreted. In 2008, Europe entered a period of unprecedented financial crisis following a global economic downturn. Yet despite growing interest in the impact of the crisis on the health of populations, the evidence so far has been fragmented. So a team of researchers based at City University in London and Stanford University in California analysed studies reporting on the impact of the European financial crisis on health outcomes, published from January 2008 to December 2015. A total of 41 studies met the inclusion criteria and were analysed, the vast majority focused on two countries - Spain and Greece. The main health outcomes that these studies explored were suicides and mental health. All studies were assessed for risk of bias. Of these, 29 (73%) were deemed to be at high risk of bias, nine (23%) at moderate risk of bias, and only two at low risk of bias, limiting the conclusions that could be drawn. Although there were differences across countries and groups, there was some indication that suicides increased during the financial crisis, particularly among men. Studies looking at mental health found similar increases, but these results were more mixed. Women seemed to be more affected by mental health problems than men. Studies focusing on mortality seemed to show a different picture, with overall mortality not being affected or even declining during the crisis years. It has been argued in previously published studies that, among other reasons, this is probably due to healthier lifestyles during years of economic difficulties. There was also some evidence that the health of immigrants, especially those who had illegal status and lacked social security, deteriorated much more during the crisis than that of natives. Evidence on self-rated health and other indicators was mixed. These results need to be interpreted with caution, say the authors, but overall, the financial crisis in Europe seems to have had mixed effects on health outcomes, with the evidence being most consistent for suicides and mental health. "There is a need for better empirical studies, especially those focused on identifying mechanisms that can mitigate the adverse effects of the crisis," they conclude. In a linked editorial, researchers at the University of Liverpool, agree that recessions can harm health, but argue that a government's response can exacerbate the damage. "It is therefore critical to distinguish between the health effects of recessions and the effect of different policy responses to recession," they write. And they call on doctors "to advocate for social and welfare policies that are informed by the evidence available and evaluated for their health effects, so that they protect people during crisis rather than creating further health problems." ### Using cryo-electron microscopy, an international group of scientists has solved the atomic structure of the human aichi virus (AiV), a rather unusual but poorly characterized picornavirus that is very common and can cause severe gastroenteritis in children. Acute viral gastroenteritis is a leading cause of morbidity worldwide and an important cause of death in children less than five years old, especially in developing countries. AiV infects humans, usually subclinically, but can lead to acute gastroenteritis. The seroprevalence of AiV is approximately 60% in children less than 10 years old and reaches 90% later in life. Although AiV is considered a potential global public health threat, there is no available vaccine or effective antiviral treatment. The identification of the structure of human AiV could be an important step towards a better understanding of how this poorly characterized family of viruses enters host cells and evolves, and could pave the way for new virus treatments. Professor RAO Zihe and Professor WANG Xiangxi of the Institute of Biophysics (IBP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in cooperation with Professor David Stuart of Oxford University and colleagues, applied cryo-electron microscopy to determine the 3.68 angstrom structure of this elusive virus. AiV has a number of distinctive structural features and seems to occupy a position between the enteroviruses and other picornaviruses, using an uncoating mechanism, yet to be determined, but different from that of enteroviruses. In their research, a highly exposed polyproline helix at the C-terminus of VP1 was demonstrated to act as a recognition motif for binding to the enteric receptor. This would imply a mode of engagement with the host cell unlike others described for picornaviruses. In addition, the researchers found the interactions between pentamers determine viral particle stability. Enhancing the interactions between pentamers would be a target for the rational design of a picornavirus vaccine to improve its stability. The research work, entitled Structure of Human Aichi Virus and Implications for Receptor Binding, was published online in the journal Nature Microbiology on September 5, 2016. This work was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Ministry of Science and Technology 973 Project and the National Science Foundation. ### OTTAWA, CANADA - What if a blood spot from a newborn could identify vulnerable children at birth? One of the biggest vulnerabilities is being born premature. Canadian researchers are hoping that metabolic markers found in blood spots routinely collected from infant heel pricks as part of newborn screening will help determine gestational age in newborns and lead to better care for infants in developing countries. "We are looking for a metabolic fingerprint that could help estimate gestational age from specific molecules found in blood," said Dr. Kumanan Wilson, an internal medicine specialist, senior scientist and Chair in Public Health Innovation at The Ottawa Hospital and professor at the University of Ottawa. "Knowing the gestational age of a newborn can guide assessments for that child and help determine the best post-natal care." Preterm birth is one of the leading causes of death and illness in newborns around the world. In many low-income countries, the gestational age of a newborn is unknown. Prenatal care, including ultrasound to determine fetal age and development, is often unavailable and mothers do not always know the date of conception. Scientists from The Ottawa Hospital, the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and the University of Ottawa are leading an international team that will test whether a calculator that has successfully determined gestational age in Canada can be used in developing countries. "I am very pleased to use newborn screening expertise in Ontario to help children in other countries, especially lower income countries," said Dr. Pranesh Chakraborty, Executive Director and Chief Medical Officer, Newborn Screening Ontario and clinical investigator, CHEO Research Institute and associate professor at the University of Ottawa. "We are also excited about the potential to expand this approach beyond prematurity. This research will create the tools and methods to explore this for other important childhood health issues both in Canada and abroad." Preliminary results The project recently received US $1.2 million from the Gates Foundation through the Grand Challenges Explorations program. This Phase II funding will allow the team to expand a successful pilot project, which received $100,000 in Phase I funding in 2014. The pilot project involved analyzing routinely collected data from more than 400,000 babies born in Ontario, Canada. The researchers found that the levels of certain metabolic compounds in the blood of newborns, combined with sex and birth weight, could determine the gestational age of newborns within 1 to 2 weeks. This research was published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. Phase II funding will allow the research team to refine and validate this gestational age calculator on a global scale. Working in partnership with scientists and clinicians in China, the Philippines, Zambia, Bangladesh, Canada and the United States, the team will pilot the method in the field, using heel prick blood samples from newborns in Bangladesh and Zambia. Dr. Steven Hawken, scientist at The Ottawa Hospital and assistant professor at the University of Ottawa, will validate the calculator using newborn screening databases from China and the Philippines. If successful, the researchers hope their calculator will allow families and health-care workers to provide specialized care to premature babies, including vaccines. Knowing that a baby is premature would also allow for customized developmental assessments, which could lead to faster identification of other health problems. The gestational age calculator could also help monitor preterm birth at a population level and measure the success of programs to reduce this. ### Other investigators in this project include Dr. Julian Little (professor and Chair of the School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Ottawa and Canada Research Chair in Human Genome Epidemiology), Dr. Beth Potter (associate professor of the School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Ottawa) and Dr. Mark Walker (Chief of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Newborn Care and senior scientist, The Ottawa Hospital and professor and Chair of Obstetrics & Gynecology, University of Ottawa). The Ottawa Hospital: Inspired by research. Driven by compassion The Ottawa Hospital is one of Canada's largest learning and research hospitals with over 1,100 beds, approximately 12,000 staff and an annual budget of over $1.2 billion. Our focus on research and learning helps us develop new and innovative ways to treat patients and improve care. As a multi-campus hospital, affiliated with the University of Ottawa, we deliver specialized care to the Eastern Ontario region, but our techniques and research discoveries are adopted around the world. We engage the community at all levels to support our vision for better patient care. See http://www.ohri.ca for information about research at The Ottawa Hospital. About the CHEO Research Institute The CHEO Research Institute coordinates the research activities of the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and is affiliated with the University of Ottawa. Its three programs of research include molecular biomedicine, health information technology, and evidence to practice research. Key themes include cancer, diabetes, obesity, mental health, emergency medicine, musculoskeletal health, electronic health information and privacy, and genetics of rare disease. The CHEO Research Institute makes discoveries today for healthier kids tomorrow. For more information, visit http://www.cheori.org and @CHEOhospital University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa is home to over 50,000 students, faculty and staff, who live, work and study in both French and English. Our campus is a crossroads of cultures and ideas, where bold minds come together to inspire game-changing ideas. We are one of Canada's top 10 research universities--our professors and researchers explore new approaches to today's challenges. One of a handful of Canadian universities ranked among the top 200 in the world, we attract exceptional thinkers and welcome diverse perspectives from across the globe. http://www.uottawa.ca Washington, DC-- Cool brown dwarfs are a hot topic in astronomy right now. Smaller than stars and bigger than giant planets, they hold promise for helping us understand both stellar evolution and planet formation. New work from a team including Carnegie's Jonathan Gagne has discovered several ultracool brown dwarfs in our own solar neighborhood. Their findings are published in The Astrophysical Journal. Brown dwarfs are sometimes called failed stars. They are too small to sustain the hydrogen fusion process that powers stars, so after forming they slowly cool, contract, and dim over time. Their temperatures can range from nearly as hot as a star to as cool as a planet and their masses also range between star-like and giant-planet-like. They're fascinating to astronomers for a variety of reasons, mostly because they can serve as a bridge between stars and planets and how the former influences the latter, particular when it comes to composition and atmospheric properties. But much about them remains unknown. "Everyone will benefit from the study of brown dwarfs, because they can often be found in isolation, which means that we can more easily gather precise data on their properties without a bright star blinding our instruments," Gagne said, who is also a collaborator of the Institute for Research on Exoplanets (iREx) at Universite de Montreal. Discovering new brown dwarfs will help scientists to better quantify the frequency at which they occur both in our solar neighborhood and beyond. Knowing the abundance and distribution of brown dwarfs provides key information on the distribution of mass in the universe, and on the mechanism of brown dwarf formation, for example, whether they form in isolation or instead are ejected from larger planetary systems. To that end, the team, led by Jasmin Robert of Universite de Montreal, believed that although hundreds of ultracool brown dwarfs have already been discovered, the techniques used to identify them were overlooking those with more-unusual compositions, which would not show up in the color-based surveys generally used. So they surveyed 28 percent of the sky and discovered 165 ultracool brown dwarfs, about a third of which have unusual compositions or other peculiarities. When talking about brown dwarfs, ultracool means temperatures under about 3,500 Fahrenheit or 2,200 kelvin "The search for ultracool brown dwarfs in the neighborhood of our own Solar System is far from over," said Gagne. "Our findings indicate that many more are hiding in existing surveys." ### This work was supported by the Fonds de Recherche Quebecois-Nature et Technologie and the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The Carnegie Institution for Science is a private, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with six research departments throughout the U.S. Since its founding in 1902, the Carnegie Institution has been a pioneering force in basic scientific research. Carnegie scientists are leaders in plant biology, developmental biology, astronomy, materials science, global ecology, and Earth and planetary science. NEW YORK (September 6, 2016)--A researcher at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health studied a hidden source of hardship: energy insecurity, the inability to adequately meet basic household energy needs, and its adverse environmental, health, and social consequences. The study provides real-world examples of three dimensions of energy insecurity: economic, physical, and behavioral. This study is one of the first to examine how household utilities, which account for a large share of living expenses, are a critical measurement of material hardship. Findings are published online in Social Science and Medicine. "Utilities bills at $200 per month represent nearly 30 percent of household income for those at or near the federal poverty level making it a significant, and likely unaffordable, expense," said lead author Diana Hernandez, PhD, assistant professor of Sociomedical Sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health. "While participants often expressed an ethos of responsibly 'paying the bills,' many simply cannot afford the monthly utility payments and were often 'playing catch up' in a vicious economic cycle of prioritization and trade-offs, complicating the already fragile financial profiles of low-income ratepayers." Dr. Hernandez conducted in-depth interviews with 72 low-income families from community health centers in the Boston area. Participants included those reporting at least one housing hardship, ranging from housing affordability, to frequent moves, to hazardous housing conditions and income at or below $32,000, which equals 150 percent of the 2008 federal poverty level. Heads of household ranged in age from 18 to 59, were mostly single mothers (97 percent), racial/ethnic minorities (47 percent African American; 29 percent Latino), with a high school education or higher (85 percent). The majority received housing subsidies (65 percent). Participants reported a wide range of household energy expenditures per month, reaching as high as $650 at the height of the heating season. "Energy insecurity is a term little understood," said lead author Dr. Hernandez, "In this analysis, participants described energy as a main source of hardship. Collectively the data conveyed a tale of economic adversity, inefficient building infrastructure, complex coping strategies, and limited options for assistance." Mental and Social Fallout. The experience of energy insecurity triggered mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression. The constant threat of service interruptions due to non-payment fueled parental fear and stigma. Parents felt judged by persistent surveillance on the part of child protective services and feared losing parenting privileges. Moving represented a way out of the discomfort for some participants who expressed feelings of shame and a disruption of family life when living through a utility service disconnection. "However, this coping strategy brings with it negative consequences, as residential instability spurs the loss of social network and institutional ties, which comes at a significant cost in terms of social capital," observed Dr. Hernandez. Inefficient Infrastructure Exacerbates Economic Burden. The challenge in simply trying to pay the bills is further exacerbated from inefficiencies in their physical homes, reflecting the second dimension of energy insecurity. Deficiencies in the physical infrastructure of the home environment included poor quality heating and cooling systems and the use of subpar building materials that can increase energy costs. In response to these challenges, study participants often devised a variety of behavioral strategies to juggle expenses and cope with the physical and economic facets of energy insecurity. Limited Options for Assistance. Dr. Hernandez also points to the current options to support affected populations such as the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program and the Weatherization Assistance Program: "These programs have historically been underfunded and subject to budget cuts, particularly in recent years," she said. "Greater awareness of the dimensions of energy insecurity and accompanying advocacy may lead to more comprehensive policy measures to expand existing programs in order to ensure that the needs of low-income householders are better met." Other research by Hernandez and colleagues has demonstrated the prevalence and risks associated with energy insecurity. In a study published last year on how energy efficiency upgrades could help low-income tenants and landlords alike, Dr. Hernandez reported that low-income single-family homeowners reaped the greatest direct benefits. However, all respondents experienced enhanced health and safety, improved thermal comfort, and reduced energy costs--$60 per month in some cases--as a result of the upgrades. A study published earlier this year showed that African Americans across the economic spectrum experienced economic energy insecurity at the highest rates while Asian and Latino immigrants were the least burdened. An upcoming study will report on the association between energy insecurity and its effect on mental health. ### Co-authors on these studies are Yumiko Aratani, Daniel Carrion, Yang Jiang, Douglas Phillips, and Eva Siegel from the Mailman School of Public Health. The study was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (#P30ES009089.) Dr. Hernandez also received a JPB Environmental Health Fellowship and a Columbia University Provost award, which also supported this work. No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health Founded in 1922, Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health pursues an agenda of research, education, and service to address the critical and complex public health issues affecting New Yorkers, the nation and the world. The Mailman School is the third largest recipient of NIH grants among schools of public health. Its over 450 multi-disciplinary faculty members work in more than 100 countries around the world, addressing such issues as preventing infectious and chronic diseases, environmental health, maternal and child health, health policy, climate change & health, and public health preparedness. It is a leader in public health education with over 1,300 graduate students from more than 40 nations pursuing a variety of master's and doctoral degree programs. The Mailman School is also home to numerous world-renowned research centers including ICAP (formerly the International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs) and the Center for Infection and Immunity. For more information, please visit http://www.mailman.columbia.edu. Deaths from ovarian cancer fell worldwide between 2002 and 2012 and are predicted to continue to decline in the USA, European Union (EU) and, though to a smaller degree, in Japan by 2020, according to new research published in the leading cancer journal Annals of Oncology [1] today (Tuesday). The main reason is the use of oral contraceptives and the long-term protection against ovarian cancer that they provide, say the researchers, who are led by Professor Carlo La Vecchia (MD), from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Milan (Italy). They say the decline in hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to manage menopausal symptoms and better diagnosis and treatment may also play a role. Using data on deaths from ovarian cancer from 1970 to the most recent available year from the World Health Organization, the researchers found that in the 28 countries of the EU (minus Cyprus due to the unavailability of data) death rates decreased by 10% between 2002 and 2012, from an age standardised death rate per 100,000 women of 5.76 to 5.19 [2]. In the USA the decline was even greater, with a 16% drop in death rates from 5.76 per 100,000 in 2002 to 4.85 in 2012. In Canada ovarian cancer death rates decreased over the same period by nearly 8% from 5.42 to 4.95. In Japan, which has had a lower rate of ovarian cancer deaths than many other countries, the death rate fell by 2% from 3.3 to 3.28 per 100,000. Large decreases occurred in Australian and New Zealand between 2002 and 2011 (the most recent year for which data were available); in Australia the death rate declined by nearly 12% from 4.84 to 4.27, and in New Zealand they dropped by 12% from 5.61 to 4.93 per 100,000 women. However, the pattern of decreases was inconsistent in some areas of the world, for instance in Latin American countries and in Europe. Among European countries, the percentage decrease ranged from 0.6% in Hungary to over 28% in Estonia, while Bulgaria was the only European country to show an apparent increase. In the UK, there was a 22% decrease in death rates, which fell from 7.5 to 5.9 per 100,000 women. Other EU countries that had large decreases included Austria (18%), Denmark (24%) and Sweden (24%). The Latin American countries tended to have lower rates of deaths from ovarian cancer. Argentina, Chile and Uruguay showed decreases between 2002 and 2012, but Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela all showed increases in death rates. Prof La Vecchia said: "The large variations in death rates between European countries have reduced since the 1990s when there was a threefold variation across Europe from 3.6 per 100,000 in Portugal to 9.3 in Denmark. This is likely to be due to more uniform use of oral contraceptives across the continent, as well as reproductive factors, such as how many children a woman has. However, there are still noticeable differences between countries such as Britain, Sweden and Denmark, where more women started to take oral contraceptives earlier - from the 1960s onwards - and countries in Eastern Europe, but also in some other Western and Southern European countries such as Spain, Italy and Greece, where oral contraceptive use started much later and was less widespread. "This mixed pattern in Europe also helps to explain the difference in the size of the decrease in ovarian cancer deaths between the EU and the USA, as many American women also started to use oral contraceptives earlier. "Japan, where deaths from ovarian cancer have traditionally been low, now has higher rates in the young than the USA or the EU - again, reflecting infrequent oral contraceptive use." Another researcher, Dr Eva Negri, Head of Epidemiologic Methods at the IRCCS Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri in Milan, added: "Women in countries such as Germany, the UK and the USA were also more likely to use hormone replacement therapy to manage menopausal symptoms than in some other countries. The use of HRT declined after the report from the Women's Health Initiative in 2002 highlighted the increased risk of cardiovascular disease, as well as breast and ovarian cancer, and so this may also help to explain the fall in death rates among middle-aged and older women in these countries." The researchers predicted the age-standardised ovarian cancer death rates for France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK, and for the whole of the USA, the EU and Japan up to 2020. They expect there will be a 15% decline in the USA and a 10% decline in the EU and Japan. Of the six European countries, only Spain showed a slight increase from 3.7 per 100,000 women to 3.9. "This is possibly due to the fact that women who are middle-aged or elderly now were less likely to use oral contraceptives when they were young," concluded Prof La Vecchia. Professor Paolo Boffetta (MD), the Annals of Oncology associate editor for epidemiology and Associate Director for Population Sciences at the Tisch Cancer Institute of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York (USA), commented: "The findings of Professor La Vecchia and his colleagues are important as they show how past use of hormone treatments has an impact on the mortality from ovarian cancer at the population level. As our understanding of preventable causes of this major cancer progresses, early detection strategies are being developed and novel therapeutic options become available, we enhance our ability to reduce ovarian cancer mortality." ### Notes: [1] "Global trends and predictions in ovarian cancer mortality", by M. Malvezzi, G. Carioli, T. Rodriguez, E. Negri and C. La Vecchia. Annals of Oncology. doi:10.1093/annonc/mdw306 [2] Age-standardised rates per 100,000 of the population are adjusted according to the proportions of women in different age groups in the overall population. The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), the leading professional organisation for medical oncology, has revealed the 4 outstanding recipients of its distinguished awards Lugano, Switzerland, 6 September 2016 -- The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), the leading professional organisation for medical oncology, has revealed the four outstanding recipients of its distinguished awards. Alberto Sobrero receives the ESMO Award for his world renowned research on treatment of gastrointestinal cancer.1 "Prof. Sobrero has not only very broadly and prominently co-authored more than 200 original contributions on very important issues mainly relevant to colorectal cancer where he is considered a leading world expert, but has also cooperated to a large extent within the European Society for Medical Oncology," said Christoph Zielinski, Chair of the ESMO Fellowship and Award Committee, comprised of oncology leaders who select exceptional international researchers and clinicians for recognition. Commenting on the significance of receiving the honour, Sobrero said: "One always wonders if he is doing well in his professional life: the ESMO Award is certainly the best answer to this questioning." Sobrero is the Scientific Chair of the ESMO 2017 Congress in Madrid, Spain, a member of the ESMO Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale Working Group, a member of the ESMO Educational Committee and ESMO Faculty Coordinator for Gastro-Intestinal Tumours. His main research interests include gastrointestinal cancer treatment, and design and interpretation of clinical trials in oncology. Sir Richard Peto wins the ESMO Lifetime Achievement Award for important contributions to breast cancer treatment and his epidemiologic studies of tobacco-related diseases.2 Peto, working with his colleagues Richard Gray, Rory Collins and several dozen leading breast cancer researchers, founded the Early Breast Cancer Trialists' Collaborative Group (EBCTCG) in 1985, which has substantially improved the routine management of early breast cancer and influenced clinical trial strategies. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1999 for his epidemiological studies of the hazards of smoking and benefits of stopping. Zielinski said: "Prof. Richard Peto's meta-analyses have generated important contributions to state-of-the-art of breast cancer treatment. He has also excelled in his epidemiologic studies of lung cancer and other tobacco-related diseases, showing that smoking still causes a quarter of all European cancer deaths." On receiving the award, Peto said: "The ESMO Lifetime Achievement Award recognises not just Richard Peto but the Early Breast Cancer Trialists' Collaborative Group as a whole, including the patients and staff in hundreds of randomised trials." Carlos Caldas is honoured with the Hamilton Fairley Award for opening up new horizons for understanding the biology of breast cancer.3 Caldas' research focus is the functional genomics of breast cancer and its biological and clinical implications. His laboratory redefined the molecular taxonomy of breast cancer, revealing novel subtypes and their respective drivers. It also completed microRNA profiling of 1,300 of the same tumours, which uncovered a new role for miRNAs as modulators of the immune response in a subset of breast cancers. Zielinski said: "Prof. Carlos Caldas has excelled in molecular analyses and its implications in breast cancer where he has analysed an abundance of genomic and transcriptomic landscapes leading to a vastly ameliorated insight into the biology of the disease. Besides having published almost 400 original contributions on the topic, his research achievements have been published in eminent journals. On receiving the award, Caldas said: "ESMO is the association representing medical oncologists in Europe. As a medical oncologist and member of the organisation this is an extremely prestigious award for me. It is a recognition of excellence and of the contributions my group has made to our understanding of breast cancer." Sumitra Thongprasert is granted the ESMO Women for Oncology award for being a role model for women oncologists and for her distinguished career.4 Prof. Thongprasert has lobbied across Asia for female participation in the oncology workforce and promotion of women in leadership roles. She has held many important positions in the Far East and internationally, including Far East regional representative for ESMO from 2008-2015 and President of the Thai Society of Clinical Oncology during 2002-2006. Zielinski said: "Prof. Sumitra Thongprasert has been essential to the support of women's careers in Asia and beyond. She is a role model for what ESMO wants to convey with the Women for Oncology Award." On receiving the award, Thongprasert said: "The award is further impetus to strive towards contributing something meaningful to ESMO and especially to women oncologists." ### References 1-2-3 The ESMO Awards will be presented during the Opening Session of the ESMO 2016 Congress, Friday 7 October 2016 at 12:00 to 13:20 (CEST). The awardees will each deliver a scientific lecture during the session. 4 ESMO Women for Oncology award will be presented to Sumitra Thongprasert during the Special Session "Women for Oncology session" on 9 October 2016 at 09:00 to 10:30 (CEST). Info on all ESMO awards is available at http://www.esmo.org/Career-Development/Awards ESMO, European Society for Medical Oncology ESMO is the leading professional organisation for medical oncology. Comprising more than 13,000 oncology professionals from over 130 countries, we are the society of reference for oncology education and information. We are committed to supporting our members to develop and advance in a fast-evolving professional environment. Founded in 1975, ESMO has European roots and a global reach: we welcome oncology professionals from around the world. We are a home for all oncology stakeholders, connecting professionals with diverse expertise and experience. Our educational and information resources support an integrated, multi-professional approach to cancer treatment. We seek to erase boundaries in cancer care as we pursue our mission across oncology, worldwide. http://www.esmo.org Leipzig. In Europe, they are classified as beneficial organisms, but many North American ecosystems are not adapted to these subterranean burrowers. This is because almost all earthworms became extinct there during the last ice age, which ended about 12,000 years ago. When the ice retreated, new ecosystems that are adapted to soils without earthworms emerged. But by now, several earthworm species live again in North America. They were introduced by European settlers and spread by anglers. An earthworm invasion is making its way through the forests at approximately five metres per year and is altering the physical and chemical properties of soils. Earthworms mix soils and build extensive burrows, which interrupts the symbiotic relationship between plants and fungi (mycorrhiza). The mixing also affects soil pH: the best-known earthworm in central Europe, the Lumbricus terrestris, carries alkaline soil upwards from deeper layers. On the forest floor, the leaf litter vanishes as it is eaten up by the worms and turned into humus. As a result, the nutrients stored in the leaves become quickly available to the plants. Furthermore, the soils dry out easily as water drains away readily. Many native plants cannot thrive under these unusual circumstances, which is why the species diversity of the forest understory is decreasing. Wherever the worm creeps, the goblin fern (Botrychium mormo), for example, has become rare. Other plants are also threatened by the earthworm invasion, such as the largeflower bellwort (Uvularia grandiflora), the Japanese angelica tree (Aralia elata), the forest lily (Trillium spp.), the Solomon's seal (Polygonatum spp.) or the tormentil (Potentilla erecta). Conversely, the worms literally prepare the soil for non-native (exotic) plants, which are used to living with earthworms. Grasses also grow well in invaded forests because their fine roots can quickly absorb soil nutrients, particularly nitrogen, and can tolerate summer droughts. Moreover, earthworms eat small seeds of certain plant species and thus directly influence the composition of the forest understory. Because earthworms live in different soil layers and their effects are cumulative, the more types of earthworms that live together in one location, the more plant species vanish. The researchers have brought together and evaluated data from 14 studies and published their findings in the journal Global Change Biology. Their results demonstrate, for the first time, a general pattern between the decline in species diversity in North American forests and the spread of European earthworms. 'The earthworm invasion has altered the biodiversity and possibly functioning of the forest ecosystems, because it affects the entire food web as well as water and nutrient cycles', says Dylan Craven, lead author of the study. 'The long-term impact could be massive and be exacerbated further still by climate change', adds director of studies, Professor Nico Eisenhauer. Both are scientists at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and at the Leipzig University and have conducted their study together with colleagues from the United States and Canada. Eisenhauer had recently raised 1.5 million euros in funding from the EU to investigate the consequences of the earthworm invasion. ### Link to pictures: https://portal.idiv.de/owncloud/index.php/s/c2wfArZ82Y86DsU Publication: Dylan Craven, Madhav P. Thakur, Erin K. Cameron, Lee E. Frelich, Robin Beausejour, Robert B. Blair, Bernd Blossey, James Burtis, Amy Choi, Timothy J. Fahey, Nicholas A. Fisichelli, Kevin Gibson, I. Tanya Handa, Kristine Hopfenspberger, Scott R.Loss,Victoria Nuzzo, John C. Maerz, Tara Sackett, Bryant C. Scharenboch, Sandy M. Smith, Mark Vellend, Lauren G. Umek, Nico Eisenhauer (2016): The unseen invaders: introduced earthworms as drivers of change in plant communities in North American forests (a meta-analysis). Global Change Biology. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13446. Published online on 3. September 2016. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.13446/full Useful links: iDiv press release: European Research Council awards Leipzig biologist a EUR 1.5 million grant https://www.idiv.de/en/press/press-releases/press_release_single_view/news_article/european-res.html General info on earth worms in North America: http://ecosystems.serc.si.edu/earthworm-invaders/ and http://www.nrri.umn.edu/worms/ iDiv is a central facility of the University of Leipzig within the meaning of Section 92 (1) of the Act on Academic Freedom in Higher Education in Saxony (Saechsisches Hochschulfreiheitsgesetz, SaechsHSFG). It is run together with the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, as well as in cooperation with the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ). The following non-university research institutions are involved as cooperation partners: the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (MPI BGC), the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology (MPI CE), the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI EVA), the Leibniz Institute DSMZ / German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry (IPB), the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) and the Leibniz Institute Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Goerlitz (SMNG). Geography and ecology are key factors that have influenced the genetic makeup of human groups in southern Africa, according to new research discussed in the journal GENETICS, a publication of the Genetics Society of America. By investigating the ancestries of twenty-two KhoeSan groups, including new samples from the Nama and the =Khomani, researchers conclude that the genetic clustering of southern African populations is closely tied to the ecogeography of the Kalahari Desert region. The name KhoeSan refers to several indigenous populations in southern Africa; KhoeSan people speak "click" languages and include both hunter-gatherer groups and pastoralists. They are genetically distinct and strikingly isolated from all other African populations, suggesting they were among the first groups to diverge from the ancestors of all humans. Much scientific interest has focused on the KhoeSan as researchers try to reconstruct this early divergence; however, little genetic material was collected until the past decade. Brenna Henn, of Stony Brook University in New York, has been studying southern African population genetics for over a decade. She notes that there is a tendency to lump all indigenous southern Africans into a single group - often called "Bushmen" - but in fact, the KhoeSan includes many distinct populations. She and her team set out to explore genetic diversity in the area and to better understand the differences between these KhoeSan groups. "For the last twenty years or so, there has been a lot of interest in understanding how genetic patterns are determined by geography in addition to language," says Henn. The genetic differences between human populations are strongly correlated with their linguistic histories, and both of these factors are also linked with geography. Henn argues that ecology and geography together are likely a better explanation for the genetic differentiation between groups than either linguistic differences or method of subsistence (i.e. hunting/gathering or farming). However, much of the research on southern African populations had previously focused on linguistics and subsistence, with little attention paid to ecogeography. Henn and her colleagues analyzed genetic information from the KhoeSan. They collected genome-wide data from three south African populations: the Nama, the =Khomani San, and the South African Coloured (SAC) group. Their analysis also included samples from 19 other southern African populations. It quickly became apparent that the geography of the Kalahari Desert was closely tied to the population structure that they uncovered. The outer rim of the Kalahari Desert presented a barrier to genetic mixing, while populations that live within the Kalahari basin mixed more freely. Their findings suggest a more complex history for the KhoeSan populations than originally predicted. Previous work argued for a northern vs. southern divergence pattern among the human groups, but this new work identifies five primary ancestries in the region, which points to a geographically complex set of migration events responsible for the heterogeneity observed in the region. Henn points out that there are more KhoeSan populations who were not sampled. Sampling in the area is a significant challenge for a number of reasons, including the complex politics of the region in the post-Apartheid era. Most populations in South Africa and Zimbabwe no longer identify as KhoeSan and have been absorbed into other populations over the past 500 years. Still, their findings add to the body of knowledge surrounding the history of southern African populations - while also complicating them. "There are a lot of threads of information to bring together - linguistics, subsistence, geography, genetics, archaeology. They don't always reconcile easily," says Henn. The challenge continues to fascinate Henn and her colleagues. She established a field site in 2005 and has maintained and expanded it over the years as she continues to research ancestry in the KhoeSan. She emphasizes that it is extremely important for investigators doing research in developing countries to work closely with local collaborators as they try to understand the genetic diversity of the region. "The first author on this paper, Caitlin Uren, is a South African student. I'm very proud of our collaboration and her excellent work," says Henn. Much work remains to be done in understanding and uncovering the factors that contributed to the formation of southern African population structure. "There is a huge amount of diversity in southern Africa populations. These groups speak differently, look distinct, and have divergent genetic histories. They are not homogenous people, and the historic and prehistoric factors that led to their divergence are still being explored. It's amazing how much work there is to do." ### CITATION Fine-Scale Human Population Structure in Southern Africa Reflects Ecogeographic Boundaries Caitlin Uren, Minju Kim, Alicia R. Martin, Dean Bobo, Christopher R.Gignoux, Paul D. van Helden, Marlo Moller, Eileen G. Hoal, Brenna M. Henn GENETICS September 2016 204: 303-314; doi: 10.1534/genetics.116.187369 http://www.genetics.org/content/204/1/303 Boston, MA - Individuals born by cesarean delivery were 15% more likely to become obese as children than individuals born by vaginal birth--and the increased risk may persist through adulthood, according to a large new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. In addition, individuals born via cesarean delivery were 64% more likely to be obese than their siblings born by vaginal birth. The study will be published online September 6, 2016 in JAMA Pediatrics. The researchers also found that individuals born via vaginal birth among women who had undergone a previous cesarean delivery were 31% less likely to become obese compared with those born via cesarean birth following a cesarean birth. "Cesarean deliveries are without a doubt a necessary and lifesaving procedure in many cases," said Jorge Chavarro, associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard Chan School and senior author of the study. "But cesareans also have some known risks to the mother and the newborn. Our findings show that risk of obesity in the offspring could another factor to consider." Nearly 1.3 million cesareans are performed each year in the U.S., accounting for one third of all deliveries. While a number of previous studies have suggested a link between cesarean delivery and a higher risk of obesity in offspring, the studies were either too small to detect a clear association or lacked detailed data. The new analysis included 16 years' worth of data from more than 22,000 young adults in the Growing Up Today Study (GUTS), in which participants answered survey questions every year or two years from 1996-2012. The researchers looked at the participants' body mass index (BMI) over time; at whether or not they were delivered via cesarean (using information collected from participants' mothers, participants in the Nurses' Health Study II); and at other factors that could play a role in obesity, such as the mothers' pre-pregnancy BMI, smoking status, age at delivery, and where they lived. They also looked at whether the mothers had previous cesarean deliveries. "I think that our findings--particularly those that show a dramatic difference in obesity risk between those born via cesarean and their siblings born through vaginal delivery--provide very compelling evidence that the association between cesarean birth and childhood obesity is real," said Chavarro. "That's because, in the case of siblings, many of the factors that could potentially be playing a role in obesity risk, including genetics, would be largely the same for each sibling--except for the type of delivery." ### Other Harvard Chan authors involved in the study included lead author Changzheng Yuan, Audrey Gaskins, and Matthew Gillman. Funding for the study came from grants UM1-CA176726, P30-DK046200, U54- CA155626, T32-DK007703-16, HD066963, HL096905, DK084001, and MH087786 from the National Institutes of Health. "Association Between Cesarean Birth and Risk of Obesity in Offspring in Childhood, Adolescence, and Early Adulthood," Changzheng Yuan, Audrey J. Gaskins, Arianna I. Blaine, Cuilin Zhang, Matthew W. Gillman, Stacey A. Missmer, Alison E. Field, and Jorge E. Chavarro, JAMA Pediatrics, online September 6, 2016, doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2016.2385 Visit the Harvard Chan School website for the latest news, press releases, and multimedia offerings. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health brings together dedicated experts from many disciplines to educate new generations of global health leaders and produce powerful ideas that improve the lives and health of people everywhere. As a community of leading scientists, educators, and students, we work together to take innovative ideas from the laboratory to people's lives--not only making scientific breakthroughs, but also working to change individual behaviors, public policies, and health care practices. Each year, more than 400 faculty members at Harvard Chan School teach 1,000-plus full-time students from around the world and train thousands more through online and executive education courses. Founded in 1913 as the Harvard-MIT School of Health Officers, the School is recognized as America's oldest professional training program in public health. The respiratory chain is responsible for most energy production in humans. Several large protein assemblies are embedded in the mitochondrial lipid membrane. The mitochondrial Complex I is the first and largest complex in this chain. Metabolites derived from food are processed by this enzyme complex in order to contribute to the electron transfer and proton translocation. So far, research groups were only able to reveal mostly poly-alanine models lacking necessary full atomic details due to the fact that huge and complex molecules are difficult to examine with current methods. Cryo-electron microscopy made huge advances in recent years due to the development of new direct electron detectors, allowing high-resolution studies. The resolution of the structure at an atomic level now allows the understanding of the intricate arrangements and interactions of all 45 subunits (14 conserved core and 31 mitochondria-specific supernumerary subunits) with implications for the coupling mechanism and its regulation. The insight into mechanism, assembly, maturation, and dysfunction of Complex I allows a detailed molecular analysis of disease-causing mutations and affected enzyme activity. Therefore the publication in Nature is expected to serve as reference source of information in medicine, bioenergetics and other research areas. Leonid Sazanov, a Belarusian-British structural biologist, studied biophysics (B.Sc. and M.Sc.) at the Belarusian State University in Minsk and performed his doctoral studies at the Department of Biophysics at the Moscow State University where he remained as a research fellow in the group of Sergei V. Zaitsev. After continuing his research in groups at the University of Birmingham and at Imperial College in London, Sazanov joined the group of Nobel Laureate John E. Walker at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge as a research associate. After his position as tenured program leader at the MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit in Cambridge Leonid Sazanov joined IST Austria in April 2015 as Professor. The research group aims to understand the structure and function of membrane proteins and focuses on the determination of the structure and mechanism of respiratory complex I. ### The joint report by IUCN-International Union for Conservation for Nature, WWF and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) examines the results of the work of an IUCN-led independent panel of scientists, which has been advising Sakhalin Energy - one of the largest companies operating in the area - as part of an innovative loan deal. Over the last 12 years, Sakhalin Energy has made important efforts to limit the impact of its operations on whales and the fragile environment. During this period, the western gray whale population has grown 3-4% annually, from an estimated 115 animals in 2004 to 174 in 2015. The western gray whale population is currently listed at Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red list of Threatened Species. "What started 12 years ago as a response to a growing conflict between environmentalists and the oil and gas industry over one critically endangered whale population has resulted in multiple benefits for conservation and business," says IUCN Director General Inger Andersen. "IUCN has shown that independent scientific panels are an effective mechanism to arrive at evidence-based and robust solutions to some of today's pressing environment and development challenges." However, the report also warns that further cooperation and involvement of all companies and industries in the region - including oil and gas operators and fisheries - are crucial to ensure best practices and the long-term protection of the animals. "The annual increase of Sakhalin whales is encouraging but their recovery in the long-term will depend on more companies in the region joining this effort," said Doug Nowacek, a well-known specialist in whale behaviour and a WGWAP panellist. "Sakhalin Energy has demonstrated that it is possible for companies to mitigate their impacts and still operate effectively. But other companies in Sakhalin need to take similar measures to address the problem of cumulative impacts of industry on the marine environment." The report, titled Stories of Influence, explores how the panel generated benefits for business and conservation. It is based on interviews with more than 20 experts and stakeholders engaged in the process. Over the past 12 years, the panel issued more than 539 recommendations to Sakhalin Energy and other parties, 90% of which have been implemented or superseded by subsequent advice. The process has included financial lenders and government officials as well as NGOs, serving as observers. Among the achievements is a decision by Sakhalin Energy to alter the route of its pipeline to minimize the disruption and impact on the whales' feeding grounds. The panel has advocated innovative scientific research, including a satellite-tagging programme that has documented the longest one-way migration of any mammal - a 10,880km journey from Sakhalin to its wintering calving grounds in Mexico's Baja California peninsula. In addition, the panel's work has also led to the development of one of the most comprehensive company Monitoring and Mitigation Plans for seismic surveys, which now serves as the industry's global guide. IUCN first established what is now known as WGWAP in 2004 in response to a growing concern over Sakhalin Energy's plans for expansion in the Sea of Okhotsk and the impact this could have on the critically endangered whales found off Sakhalin Island. An outcry from NGOs opposing those plans eventually persuaded lenders to tie a number of mitigating conditions to the loan agreement. These included a requirement for Sakhalin Energy to finance an independent panel managed by IUCN to provide recommendations on their operations. "The Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel has reduced the impact of this oil and gas operation on one of the world's most threatened whales, a legacy the lenders to this project can be proud of," says Wendy Elliott, Deputy Global Wildlife Leader, WWF International. "We encourage other financial institutions to replicate this success by including similarly stringent conditions when granting loans to projects with potentially damaging impacts on threatened wildlife and their habitats." Sakhalin Energy recognises that integrating science into the company's management and policies has had a positive impact on its operations, and this is now reflected in the company's vision. During the report's launch, IUCN confirmed it intends to sign another five-year agreement with Sakhalin Energy to continue this work. Under the new agreement covering 2017-2021, WGWAP will continue to provide independent scientific advice to the company. Also, the panel has recently established a working group to explore how similar lending conditions to enhance conservation measures can be mainstreamed going forward. Throughout the IUCN Congress from 1-10 September, a number of events will explore the management of oil and gas impacts on the marine environment, as well as examine the effectiveness of Independent Scientific Advisory Panels, such as WGWAP, for resolving environmental conflicts on behalf of governments and business. In addition, building on the WGWAP experience, IUCN has released a new guide developed to help industry design and carry out effective and responsible geophysical surveys. ### For more information, please contact: Anete Berzina, IUCN media relations, Tel. +41 79 174 6186or email: anete.berzina@iucn.org IUCN Congress media team, congressmedia@iucn.org Richard Lee, WWF wildlife communications, Tel +41 79 691 4018 or email: rlee@wwfint.org Clare Sterling, IFAW communications manager, Tel. +44 207 587 6708 or email: csterling@ifaw.org Media materials: The full report Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel: Stories of Influence and its executive summary under strict embargo can be accessed here: https://portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/documents/2016-034.pdf Photos for the media and the press conference speaker bios are all available at: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wg4txbdce0v74yg/AACpAmLbhu8K7kTBgV2dst9Ka?dl=0 After the press conference, the report will be freely available on the IUCN Library portal online: https://portals.iucn.org/library/node/46182 Additional quotes from stakeholders: "The WGWAP process has served as a constructive platform for open dialogue between the oil and gas companies and NGOs. All of the WGWAP recommendations are public, which has fostered greater transparency and accountability among all of the stakeholders," said Azzedine Downes, IFAW President and CEO at the press conference. Deric Quaile of Shell said at the press conference: "As a shareholder in Sakhalin Energy, Shell believes that the WGWAP process has played an important role in improving environmental performance in the Sakhalin-2 Project. The lessons from cooperation with WGWAP reinforced Shell's conviction that environmental and biodiversity screening and stakeholder collaboration should be an integral part of the company's business decisions." About IUCN IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, helps the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges. IUCN's work focusses on valuing and conserving nature, ensuring effective and equitable governance of its use, and deploying nature-based solutions to global challenges in climate, food and development. IUCN supports scientific research, manages field projects all over the world, and brings governments, NGOs, the UN and companies together to develop policy, laws and best practice. IUCN is the world's oldest and largest global environmental organisation, with almost 1,300 government and NGO Members and more than 15,000 volunteer experts in 185 countries. IUCN's work is supported by almost 1,000 staff in 45 offices and hundreds of partners in public, NGO and private sectors around the world. http://www.iucn.org THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) The U.N. human rights chief says U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump and Dutch nationalist Geert Wilders are among populists and demagogues whose tactics of communication smack of Islamic State group-style propaganda. In exceptionally strong terms, and with far-right groups on the rise in the wake of extremist attacks, Zeid Raad al-Hussein warned Monday about the banalization of bigotry in Europe and the U.S. by populists who allude back to a fictional halcyon past and oversimplify messages with sound bites and Tweets. Zeid, the son of a Jordanian prince and Swedish-born mother who often goes by his first name, focused mainly on Wilders in the speech at a gala dinner organized by the Hague-based Peace, Justice and Security Foundation. But Zeid also lumped in others, including Trump, Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, and Nigel Farage, a former leader of Britains main anti-immigration party. Make no mistake, I certainly do not equate the actions of nationalist demagogues with those of Daesh, which are monstrous, sickening; Daesh must be brought to justice, Zeid said, using the Arabic-language acronym for the radical Islamic State group. But in its mode of communication, its use of half-truths and oversimplification, the propaganda of Daesh uses tactics similar to those of the populists. And both sides of this equation benefit from each other indeed would not expand in influence without each others actions, he added. Wilders recently presented a one-page manifesto ahead of Dutch elections scheduled for March calling for a halt to all asylum seekers entering the country, a ban on immigrants from Muslim nations, closing all mosques and Islamic schools, and outlawing the Quran. Zeid called the manifesto grotesque and urged the audience to speak out and up against demagogues. We will not be bullied by you the bully, nor fooled by you the deceiver, not again, he said. In a text message responding to AP requests for a reaction to the speech, Wilders wrote: Another good reason to get rid of the U.N. I lost my freedom in my fight for freedom, and I dont want my country to lose its freedom as well. Thats why we have to de-Islamize. Islam and freedom are incompatible whatever this Jordanian bureaucrat says. Wilders has lived for years with round-the-clock protection because of threats against him. Zeid decried a formula used by the demagogues: make people, already nervous, feel terrible, and then emphasize its all because of a group, lying within, foreign and menacing. Then make your target audience feel good by offering up what is a fantasy to them, but a horrendous injustice to others. Inflame and quench, repeat many times over, until anxiety has been hardened into hatred, he said. With high-minded language, Zeid used words to fight words that he considers harmful and discriminatory. We hear of accelerating discrimination in workplaces. Children are being shamed and shunned for their ethnic and religious origins and being told they are not really European, Zeid said. Entire communities are being smeared with suspicion of collusion with terrorists. The speech drew a standing ovation from the crowd, which included Hollywood star Sharon Stone. Satisfy your customers and win in the stock market, says a new study by a team of researchers from Michigan's University Research Corridor, who found positive stock returns on customer satisfaction far out-distance competitive market measures that have been in play for more than half a century. Using 15 years of audited returns, researchers from Michigan State University and University of Michigan found creating a stock portfolio based on customer satisfaction data achieves cumulative returns of 518 percent. This compares with a 31 percent increase for the commonly used Standard & Poor's 500 Index in the same time period. On an annual basis, the customer satisfaction portfolio outperformed the S&P 500 in 14 out of 15 years. "Many companies collect customer satisfaction data regularly but few companies know how to use the data effectively to drive bottom line performance of their firms," said Tomas Hult, Byington Endowed Chair at MSU and director of MSU's International Business Center. He and fellow researchers, Claes Fornell, Donald C. Cook Distinguished Professor Emeritus at U-M, and Forrest Morgeson, professor in MSU's master of science in marketing research, determined that an intangible measure, such as customer satisfaction, could likely supplant measures that have been used in finance and economics for decades. They conducted numerous tests to determine the validity of the satisfaction-stock relationship and to estimate the size of its effect. The U.S. findings were corroborated by returns from a portfolio in the United Kingdom, Hult said. The study examined 15 years of data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index and actual stock portfolio returns from a fund trading in the U.S. on satisfaction. ACSI measures the satisfaction of U.S. household consumers with the quality of products and services offered by both foreign and domestic firms with significant share in U.S. markets, said Morgeson, director of research for ACSI. As suggested by the sheer size of the stock returns found in their study, the reward for having satisfied customers is much greater commonly thought, generating positive risk-adjusted stock returns of about 10 percent per annum, the researchers said. Given this, Fornell, Morgeson and Hult encourage more firms to focus on improving customer satisfaction. "The explanation for this phenomenon is likely to be found in inadequate satisfaction data collection and analysis derived from a general misunderstanding of just how valuable satisfied customers are to the firm," Fornell said. As a backdrop to the study, Fornell started the ACSI in 1994 , and this index is the only national cross-industry measure of customer satisfaction in the United States. The familiarity and access to ACSI gave the researchers unique insights and research opportunities. The study is published in the Sept. 2016 issue of the Journal of Marketing. ### Scientists from NOAA and the Bishop Museum have published a description of a new species of butterflyfish from deep reefs of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The study was published today in the scientific journal ZooKeys. "Butterflyfish are the glamour fish of the coral reefs," said Richard Pyle, Bishop Museum scientist and lead author on the publication. "They are colorful, beautiful, and have been very well-studied worldwide. Finding a new species of butterflyfish is a rare event." Deep coral reefs at depths of 150 to 500 feet, also known as mesophotic coral ecosystems or "the coral-reef twilight zone," are among the most poorly explored of all marine ecosystems. Deeper than most scuba divers can venture, and shallower than most submersible-based exploration, these reefs represent a new frontier for coral reef research. "Discoveries such as this underscore how poorly explored and how little we know about our deep coral reefs," said Randall Kosaki, NOAA scientist and co-author of the study. "Virtually every deep dive we do takes place on a reef that no human being has ever seen." This species was first observed in video taken from manned submersibles more than 20 years ago, at depths as great as 600 feet. At the time, Pyle and University of Hawaii marine biologist E.H. "Deetsie" Chave recognized this as a potential new species. However, because of the extreme depths, it was many years before technical divers using advanced electronic closed-circuit rebreathers were able to collect and preserve specimens in a way that would allow proper scientific documentation as an undescribed species. Recently, the new butterflyfish has been encountered regularly on deep exploratory dives up to 330 feet on NOAA expeditions to Papahanaumokuakea. The description is based on these specimens from the NWHI. The new fish, Prognathodes basabei, is named after Pete Basabe, a veteran local diver from Kona who, over the years, has assisted with the collection of reef fishes for numerous scientific studies and educational displays. Basabe, an experienced deep diver himself, was instrumental in providing support for the dives that produced the first specimen of the fish that now bears his name. In addition to the specimens used for the published study, live specimens of the new butterflyfish were collected on a NOAA expedition to Papahanaumokuakea in June of this year. The fish are now on display at Bishop Museum in Honolulu and at the Mokupapapa Discovery Center in Hilo. An additional specimen is on display in the Deep Reef exhibit at the Waikiki Aquarium. President Obama announced on August 26 the expansion of Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument by from 139,797 square miles to 582,578 square miles, making it the largest marine protected area on Earth. "This new discovery illustrates the conservation value of very large marine protected areas," said Kosaki. "Not only do they protect the biodiversity that we already know about, they also protect the diversity we've yet to discover. And there's a lot left to discover." The article, Prognathodes basabei, a new species of butterflyfish (Perciformes: Chaetodontidae) from the Hawaiian Archipelago by Richard L. Pyle and Randall K. Kosaki, can be accessed online at http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.614.10200 Papahanaumokuakea is cooperatively managed to ensure ecological integrity and achieve strong, long-term protection and perpetuation of Northwestern Hawaiian Island ecosystems, Native Hawaiian culture, and heritage resources for current and future generations. Three co-trustees - the Department of Commerce, Department of the Interior, and State of Hawai'i - joined by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, protect this special place. Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument was inscribed as the first mixed (natural and cultural) UNESCO World Heritage Site in the United States in July 2010. For more information, please visit http://www.papahanaumokuakea.gov. NOAA's mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Join us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and our other social media channels. ### Video of the newly discovered butterflyfish is available at http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/earthisblue/butterflyfish-new-species.html Patients with active tuberculosis of the lungs, the infectious form of the disease known as pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), are typically treated with several medications for a period of six months. However, clinicians currently lack a definitive way to determine when antibiotics have effectively cured a patient of the disease. It has been known that the microbe that causes TB, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, can persist in the lungs even after patient tissue samples test negative for the bacteria. In new research appearing in Nature Medicine, intramural researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, together with NIAID grantees, found through the use of positron emission tomography/computerized tomography (PET/CT) scanning that TB lesions can remain in the lungs long after treatment with antibiotics has been completed. The scientists used PET/CT to examine the lungs of 99 patients with pulmonary TB in South Africa before, during and after treatment with a typical regimen of TB medications. For tuberculosis, PET/CT can be used to measure the level of inflammation, or lesions, in affected areas of the lungs. Previously, NIAID researchers found that PET/CT could be used to successfully predict the effectiveness of TB drug regimens. After six months of treatment, PET/CT scans of 76 of the 99 patients showed lung lesions similar to those seen in untreated pulmonary TB patients. One year after treatment concluded, 50 patients still showed radiological abnormalities. The investigators found that while most lesions decreased in severity and size, only 16 of those patients with such abnormalities were fully cleared of TB lesions; the remaining 34 patients still had significant residual lesions. The researchers also detected TB genetic material in respiratory samples of saliva and mucus from a substantial number of patients deemed to be cured of clinical symptoms at the end of treatment. The findings show that TB bacteria may persist in the lungs even after patients have finished treatment and are free of clinical symptoms. Although it is unclear how this might affect the risk of disease relapse, the study results underscore the need for new diagnostic methods and improved TB treatment strategies, according to the researchers. ### ARTICLE: S Malherbe et al. Persisting PET/CT lesion activity and Mycobacterium tuberculosis mRNA transcripts are common after curative treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis. Nature Medicine DOI: 10.1038/nm.4177 (2016). WHO: NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., and Clifton E. Barry III, Ph.D, chief of the Tuberculosis Research Section in NIAID's Laboratory of Clinical Infectious Diseases, are available to speak about this research. CONTACT: To schedule interviews, please contact the NIAID Office of Communications, (301) 402-1663, niaidnews@niaid.nih.gov. NIAID conducts and supports research--at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide--to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID website . About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov/. NIH...Turning Discovery Into Health The terrorism threat to the Asia Pacific region is serious, imminent and on a growth trajectory, say scholars from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) in the latest book titled Handbook of Terrorism in the Asia-Pacific. Published by international terrorism expert Professor Rohan Gunaratna and other scholars at NTU's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), the new book aims to better prepare governments on the escalating terror threat. The authors point out that while the threat of terrorism internationally shows little signs of abating, countries in Southeast Asia like Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Singapore, are increasingly becoming high-priority terror targets. Just last month, Malaysia's counter-terrorism unit had warned that terrorists well-armed with grenades are already in the country and more lone-wolf attacks could potentially happen. Regional attacks earlier this year include the Puchong Nightclub blast in Malaysia in June and the Jakarta blasts in Indonesia in January. Prof Gunaratna said that unlike the days of Al Qaeda where the removal of its senior leadership can reduce terror threats, terrorist cells now number in the thousands and are formed by self-radicalised individuals and groups which are not coordinated by any central body. Stopping the advance of the Islamic State (IS) into the Asia Pacific will require more than just the removal of its leadership, said Prof Gunaratna. Government agencies will have to focus on monitoring and rehabilitating returning jihadists, while stepping up education efforts to prevent self-radicalisation of their citizens. Most comprehensive book on terrorism in the Asia-Pacific Edited by Prof Gunaratna and Miss Kam Li Yee Stefanie, an Associate Research Fellow at RSIS, the handbook is the most comprehensive account of terrorism in the Asia-Pacific. It provides in-depth knowledge to governments and policymakers on how to better manage the growing threat posed by groups such as the IS. Earlier this month, the plan for a rocket attack on Singapore's iconic Marina Bay Sands by a Batam-based terror cell was thwarted by Indonesia authorities. However, the severity of the threat to Singapore has not diminished as the IS is determined to hit the Lion City, said the authors. "What has happened in the foiled Batam attack was that Syrian-based Muhammad Bahrun Naim, the directing figure of the cell in Batam, had identified Marina Bay Sands as an iconic Jewish target," Prof Gunaratna explained, "though the facilitating cell in Batam waited for the IS attack team that never came." Prof Gunaratna and Miss Kam strongly urge governments in the region, including Singapore, to build strong counter-terrorism capabilities. "Countries in this region have two growing threats that they will need to address - the self-radicised individuals who carry out lone-wolfs attacks in the name of Islam and well-organised groups of militants. In future, those returnees from Syria and Iraq will threaten the Asia Pacific," said Prof Gunaratna. "Unlike the IS militants which can be fought by means of a military campaign in the Middle East, the terrorist elements the Asia Pacific is dealing with are inconspicuous and hard to detect, as they blend in with the rest of the community until they decide to strike." On building anti-terror capabilities, Miss Kam said, "What we need now is a concerted effort by governments and anti-terrorism organisations to boost their intelligence gathering operations and share information with each other, continue to counter IS online radicalisation efforts with the right messages and education; and to engage the vulnerable populations, especially youths." Book invaluable and timely guide Mr Amrin Amin, Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Singapore, called the handbook "an important guide to inform governments and their partners seeking to manage the emerging IS threat across the Asia-Pacific region." "The book attempts to go beyond the media headlines and simplistic analyses based on alarmist narratives. It provides a historical overview of the threat from each of the countries across the Asia-Pacific and examines the operational and ideological threat of the existing local insurgencies and terrorist campaigns. "Given the rising implications of terrorism and extremism across the Asia-Pacific, this book is an invaluable contribution to the field of security. Its detailed country-by-country assessment of the terrorist and extremist threat in the region provide policymakers, journalists, scholars and businesses a better understanding of the threat landscape and come up with more nuanced ways to better manage the threat in the Asia-Pacific," said Mr Amrin. Ambassador Ong Keng Yong, the Executive Deputy Chairman of RSIS, NTU, described the new book published by Imperial College Press as invaluable and "a timely resource for those dedicated to researching and managing the current and emerging threat". Ambassador Ong added that it delineates the new Asia-Pacific threat environment and "provides a range of tools on how to respond to the emerging threat from the Islamic State". ### About Nanyang Technological University A research-intensive public university, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has 33,500 undergraduate and postgraduate students in the colleges of Engineering, Business, Science, Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences, and its Interdisciplinary Graduate School. It has a new medical school, the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, set up jointly with Imperial College London. NTU is also home to world-class autonomous institutes - the National Institute of Education, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Earth Observatory of Singapore, and Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering - and various leading research centres such as the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI), Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N) and the Institute on Asian Consumer Insight (ACI). Ranked 13th in the world, NTU has also been ranked the world's top young university for the last two years running. The University's main campus has been named one of the Top 15 Most Beautiful in the World. NTU also has a campus in Novena, Singapore's medical district. For more information, visit http://www.ntu.edu.sg Superman can famously make a diamond by crushing a chunk of coal in his hand, but Rice University scientists are employing a different tactic. Rice materials scientists are making nanodiamonds and other forms of carbon by smashing nanotubes against a target at high speeds. Nanodiamonds won't make anyone rich, but the process of making them will enrich the knowledge of engineers who design structures that resist damage from high-speed impacts. The diamonds are the result of a detailed study on the ballistic fracturing of carbon nanotubes at different velocities. The results showed that such high-energy impacts caused atomic bonds in the nanotubes to break and sometimes recombine into different structures. The work led by the labs of materials scientists Pulickel Ajayan at Rice and Douglas Galvao at the State University of Campinas, Brazil, is intended to help aerospace engineers design ultralight materials for spacecraft and satellites that can withstand impacts from high-velocity projectiles like micrometeorites. The research appears in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. Knowing how the atomic bonds of nanotubes can be recombined will give scientists clues to develop lightweight materials by rearranging those bonds, said co-lead author and Rice graduate student Sehmus Ozden. "Satellites and spacecraft are at risk of various destructive projectiles, such as micrometeorites and orbital debris," Ozden said. "To avoid this kind of destructive damage, we need lightweight, flexible materials with extraordinary mechanical properties. Carbon nanotubes can offer a real solution." The researchers packed multiwalled carbon nanotubes into spherical pellets and fired them at an aluminum target in a two-stage light-gas gun at Rice, and then analyzed the results from impacts at three different speeds. At what the researchers considered a low velocity of 3.9 kilometers per second, a large number of nanotubes were found to remain intact. Some even survived higher velocity impacts of 5.2 kilometers per second. But very few were found among samples smashed at a hypervelocity of 6.9 kilometers per second. The researchers found that many, if not all, of the nanotubes split into nanoribbons, confirming earlier experiments. Co-author Chandra Sekhar Tiwary, a Rice postdoctoral researcher, noted the few nanotubes and nanoribbons that survived the impact were often welded together, as observed in transmission electron microscope images. "In our previous report, we showed that carbon nanotubes form graphene nanoribbons at hypervelocity impact," Tiwary said. "We were expecting to get welded carbon nanostructures, but we were surprised to observe nanodiamond as well." The orientation of nanotubes both to each other and in relation to the target and the number of tube walls were as important to the final structures as the velocity, Ajayan said. "The current work opens a new way to make nanosize materials using high-velocity impact," said co-lead author Leonardo Machado of the Brazil team. ### Machado is a graduate student at the State University of Campinas, Brazil, and the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Co-authors are Rice's Robert Vajtai, an associate research professor, and Enrique Barrera, a professor of materials science and nanoengineering, and Pedro Alves da Silva of the State University of Campinas and the Federal University of ABC, Santo Andre, Brazil. Ajayan is chair of Rice's Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering, the Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor in Engineering and a professor of chemistry. The research was supported by the Department of Defense, the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research and its Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative, NASA's Johnson Space Center, the Sao Paulo Research Foundation, the Center for Computational Engineering and Sciences at Unicamp, Brazil, and the Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education. Read the abstract at http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsami.6b07547 This news release can be found online at http://news.rice.edu/2016/09/06/nanodiamonds-in-an-instant/ Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews Videos: https://youtu.be/aOYHWaD27xE A simulation shows how nanotubes deform when shot at a solid target at 5.2 kilometers per second. Experiments and calculations by researchers at Rice University and in Brazil showed the formation of nanodiamonds and other carbon structures. (Credit: Galvao Group/State University of Campinas) https://youtu.be/9H3DOmIzoCI A computer simulation shows the interaction between two nanotubes shot at a target at hypervelocity. Remnants of the nanotubes form diamond-like amorphous carbon and grain boundaries. (Credit: Galvao Group/State University of Campinas) Related materials: Ajayan Research Group: http://ajayan.rice.edu Rice Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering: https://msne.rice.edu Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,910 undergraduates and 2,809 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for best quality of life and for lots of race/class interaction by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. To read "What they're saying about Rice," go to http://tinyurl.com/RiceUniversityoverview. A study shows that contests of butterflies occur only as erroneous courtships between sexually active males that are unable to distinguish the sex of the other butterflies. These findings by Tsuyoshi Takeuchi from Osaka Prefecture University in Japan were highlighted in a review1 article in the Journal of Ethology, the official journal of the Japan Ethological Society, published by Springer. Males of various butterfly species compete over mating territory via prolonged aerial interactions. Their contest behavior has previously been explained by the "war of attrition" model in the context of game theory, where two contestants perform costly displays until one of them reaches its limit, or cost threshold, and gives up. However, butterflies lack weapons or any obvious means to attack their opponent and thus it is difficult to explain why they perform aerial displays that impose costs not on their opponent but on themselves. Takeuchi and his collaborators found in their previous study2 that there is no evidence that males of territorial butterflies can discriminate the sex of flying conspecifics. Considering the inability to distinguish the sex of their opponents, the male aerial interactions of territorial butterflies should be viewed as prolonged courtship behavior between males chasing each other. They wrongly assume that their opponent is a receptive female and they are not being accepted. This framework provides a prediction that a contest should occur only between flying males and not between sitting males. Takeuchi reviewed past research on competition over mating opportunity in butterflies. He found that it supported the erroneous courtship theory as expected, revealing that "air combats" take place over mating territory between flying males but contests do not occur when males are sitting around a female or a female pupa. Assumptions based on human senses can sometimes be misleading in our understanding of animals. Based on observational and experimental results, the author provides controversial but an important framework to understand butterfly behavior. The applicability of this logic to other taxa remains to be investigated. ### References: 1. Takeuchi, T. (2016). Agonistic display or courtship behavior? A review of contests over mating opportunity in butterflies, Journal of Ethology. DOI 10.1007/s10164-016-0487-3 2. Takeuchi, T., Takeuchi, T. Yabuta, S. Tsubaki, Y. (2016). The erroneous courtship hypothesis: do insects really engage in aerial wars of attrition, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. DOI 10.1111/bij.12770 Photo: Two males of Chrysozephyrus smaragdinus (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) in "air combat" | Tsuyoshi Takeuchi In an analysis that included more than 1.4 million births, exposure to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) during the first trimester of pregnancy compared with nonexposure was not associated with increased risk of harm to the fetus or in early childhood, although gadolinium MRI at any time during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of a broad set of rheumatological, inflammatory, or skin conditions and, possibly, for stillbirth or neonatal death, according to a study appearing in the September 6 issue of JAMA. Concern has been expressed about the safety of MRI exposure in the first trimester of pregnancy due to the heating of sensitive tissues by radiofrequency fields and exposure to the loud acoustic environment. When indicated, MRI's diagnostic accuracy is improved with gadolinium, an intravenous contrast medium. Fetal safety of MRI during the first trimester of pregnancy or with gadolinium enhancement at any time of pregnancy is unknown. With the use of universal health care databases in the province of Ontario, Joel G. Ray, M.D., M.Sc., F.R.C.P.C., of St. Michael's Hospital and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, and colleagues identified all births of more than 20 weeks from 2003-2015 to evaluate the long-term safety after exposure to MRI in the first trimester of pregnancy or to gadolinium at any time during pregnancy. The study included 1,424,105 deliveries. In pregnancies that lasted a minimum of 21 gestational weeks, 1 in 250 had an MRI in pregnancy, including 1 in 1,200 in the first trimester and 1 in 3,000 with gadolinium contrast. Maternal MRI in the first trimester was not associated with a higher risk of stillbirth or neonatal death, congenital anomalies, neoplasm, or hearing loss. Exposure to gadolinium-enhanced MRI at any gestation was not associated with a greater risk of congenital anomalies. Although a nephrogenic systemic fibrosis-like outcome was extremely rare, gadolinium-enhanced MRI was associated with an increased risk for a non-specific outcome of any rheumatological, inflammatory or infiltrative skin condition up to age 4 years, and for stillbirth or neonatal death, although there were just 7 events in the gadolinium MRI group. "The current findings inform published recommendations about the safety of MRI in the first trimester of pregnancy," the authors write. "Until further studies are done, these findings suggest that gadolinium contrast should be avoided during pregnancy." ### (doi:10.1001/jama.2016. 12126; the study is available pre-embargo to the media at the For the Media website) Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc. Two studies appearing in the September 6 issue of JAMA examine the effectiveness of nasal sprays to reduce the frequency and duration of nosebleeds caused by hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT), an inherited condition characterized by abnormal blood vessels which are delicate and prone to bleeding. Epistaxis (nosebleed) are the most frequent and disabling manifestation of HHT. These epistaxis episodes can be severe and life threatening. There is currently no medical or surgical treatment available to cure the nosebleeds definitively. Sophie Dupuis-Girod, M.D., Ph.D., of the Hopital Femme-Mere-Enfants, Bron, France and colleagues evaluated the efficacy of 3 different doses of the drug bevacizumab administered as a nasal spray. Bevacizumab is a monoclonal antibody that slows the growth of new bloods vessels. In this phase 2/3 clinical trial, 80 patients with HHT and a history of nosebleeds were randomly assigned to received placebo or one of three doses of bevacizumab nasal spray (3 doses 14 days apart for a total treatment duration of 4 weeks). The researchers found that average monthly epistaxis duration measured at 3 months was not significantly different in the patients receiving bevacizumab in comparison with the placebo group or between the bevacizumab groups. Toxicity was low and no severe adverse events were reported. Treatment with bevacizumab had no measurable effect on secondary outcomes including number of epistaxis episodes, quality of life, number of red blood cell transfusions, or hemoglobin and ferritin levels. The study was terminated prior to phase 3 for treatment futility after interim analysis on the recommendations of an independent data monitoring committee. (doi:10.1001/jama.2016.11387; the study is available pre-embargo to the media at the For the Media website) Editor's Note: This work was financed by the Hospices Civils de Lyon grant supported by the National Research Program and by the patients' association (Association Pour la Maladie de Rendu-Osler). All authors have completed and submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest and none were reported. In another study, Kevin J. Whitehead, M.D., of the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, and colleagues examined whether therapy with any of 3 drugs would be effective in reducing HHT-related epistaxis. Based on published data and anecdotal experience, 3 agents with theoretically differing mechanisms of action were selected: bevacizumab, estriol, or tranexamic acid. The study included 121 patients with HHT who had experienced HHT-related epistaxis. Patients were randomly assigned to receive twice-daily nose sprays for 12 weeks with either of the agents or placebo. The researchers found that drug therapy did not significantly reduce epistaxis frequency. After 12 weeks of treatment, the median weekly number of bleeding episodes was 7 for patients in the bevacizumab group, 8 for the estriol group, 7.5 for the tranexamic acid group, and 8 for the placebo group. No drug treatment was significantly different from placebo for epistaxis duration. There were no significant differences between groups for hemoglobin level, ferritin level, treatment failure, need for transfusion, or emergency department visits. No serious adverse effects were seen in the study. (doi:10.1001/jama.2016.11724; the study is available pre-embargo to the media at the For the Media website) Editor's Note: The North American Study of Epistaxis in HHT trial was funded by Cure HHT, a nonprofit patient organization supporting the HHT community. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, etc. ### New dental school will be first to open in Texas in nearly 50 years EL PASO, Texas - Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso (TTUHSC El Paso) is set to house Texas' fourth dental school, thanks to a $25 million gift from the Woody and Gayle Hunt Family Foundation. The new dental school, named the Woody L. Hunt School of Dental Medicine (WLHSODM), will be the first to open in Texas in nearly 50 years, and the first-ever in West Texas, and on the U.S.-Mexico border. "This new school at TTUHSC El Paso will have a significant impact on oral health care in the Paso del Norte region and West Texas," says university President Richard Lange, M.D., M.B.A. "Our region is severely underserved when it comes to dentistry, and by establishing a school here in the heart of the Borderplex, we expect to retain dentists in our area to help fill this gap." El Paso County suffers from a severe lack of dentists, and has been classified as a dental Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). According to a study by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), El Paso County currently has about one dentist for every 5,000 residents, compared to the state average of one for every 2,760. This translates to about 172 dentists serving a population of nearly 860,000. This shortage of dentists has significant consequences on access to health care and overall health. Despite poor oral health being linked to devastating conditions like stroke, diabetes and cancer, less than half of El Paso adults visit the dentist annually. Contrastingly, some 60 percent of the U.S. adult population pays a visit to the dentist every year, according to the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. "Real change comes from community leaders coming together for a common purpose," says TTUHSC El Paso Associate Vice Chancellor Victoria Pineda. "This landmark gift from the Woody and Gayle Hunt Family Foundation, in partnership with TTUHSC El Paso and its mission to improve the lives of our community members, is a testament to the tremendous impact that a few can make by touching the lives of many." "A first for the Texas Tech University System and only the fourth in Texas, the dental school will be vital to addressing the region's significant shortage of dentists and improving oral health in the Borderplex and the greater area of West Texas," said Robert Duncan, chancellor of the Texas Tech University System. "This extraordinary gift strengthens our founding mission to serve the needs of our communities, region, and state and adds to Woody and Gayle Hunt's astounding legacy of philanthropy at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso. We are immensely grateful to the Hunt family for their continued generosity and support of excellence." Of the three dental schools that currently call Texas home, all are located more than 500 miles away from El Paso - in San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas. Together, the three schools graduate some 300 students a year, yet few of these graduates opt to practice in the West Texas region. Between 2007 and 2011, only 13 graduates -- 1.25 percent of all Texas dental school graduates -- took up practice in El Paso. Woody Hunt, chairman of the Woody and Gayle Hunt Family Foundation, believes the establishment of the new dental school will solve these issues. "We are confident that this dental school will have a significant impact on the Borderplex, the City of El Paso, and the surrounding region," says Hunt. "Our immediate goal is to attract bright medical talent and young men and women who are eager to stay in El Paso to practice dentistry. In the longer term, the school will help alleviate oral health problems in our region, as well as serve as a significant enhancement to our overall quality of life in the Borderplex." The TTUHSC El Paso WLHSODM will apply for approval from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) and accreditation from the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA). ### MEDIA CONTACTS: Sergio Ramirez at 915-205-1156 or email news.ep@ttuhsc.edu Veronique Masterson at 915-433-7407 or email news.ep@ttuhsc.edu About the Woody and Gayle Hunt Family Foundation: The Hunt Family Foundation, a private family foundation founded in 1987 by Woody Hunt and his wife Gayle, supports not-for-profit organizations and initiatives that focus on the Paso del Norte region, which includes El Paso County, Texas; Dona Ana County, New Mexico; Otero County, New Mexico; and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. The Foundation also supports organizations whose programs impact the state of Texas, and the nation as a whole. Charitable giving is focused on health care, education, arts, local heritage, quality-of-life initiatives, and regional economic development. About Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso: TTUHSC El Paso became a standalone university in 2013 after separating from TTUHSC in Lubbock. It is the fourth university in the Texas Tech University System. The health sciences center consists of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, the Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing, and the future Woody L. Hunt School of Dental Medicine. Coastal waters near heavy human development are more likely to receive land-based "pathogen pollution," which can include viruses, bacteria and parasites, according to a recent study from the University of California, Davis. The study said higher levels of rainfall and development increase the risk of disease-causing organisms flowing to the ocean. The study, published recently in Nature Scientific Reports, adds to years of work by a consortium of researchers led by the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine's Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The scientists were called upon to help decipher the mystery in the late 1990s when a parasite hosted by cats, Toxoplasma gondii, caused deaths in sea otters along the coast of California. Wild and domestic cats are the only known hosts of T. gondii. The parasite can shed its infective egglike structures, called oocysts, in their feces. In soil, freshwater and seawater, these hardy oocysts can survive for over a year in some cases, infecting animals and people. The latest study advances earlier work by tracking the parasite to see how human-driven land-use change and rainfall might be impacting pathogen movement from land to sea. "This isn't just about Toxoplasma," said lead author Elizabeth VanWormer, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Davis at the time of the study. "Humans, pets, stray animals, livestock and wildlife can all shed pathogens that can be carried from land to sea in runoff after rainstorms. The way we develop our urban and rural coastlines -- adding people, domestic animals, and hard surfaces like concrete and asphalt -- can increase the flow of these pathogens into estuaries and oceans." Development and Climate Change Affect Runoff From 1910 to 2010, California's human population, the majority of which resides in coastal counties, expanded from 2.4 million to more than 37 million, with close to 50 million people expected by 2050. The growing human population reshaped large areas of the California coast, converting natural habitat to residential, industrial and agricultural uses. Natural environments like forests, grasslands and wetlands can help filter out pathogens like T. gondii before they reach the sea. However, a paved or tilled landscape promotes the flow of contaminated runoff into waterways, storm drains and, ultimately, the ocean. Using census and land-use records, the authors estimated that development between 1990 and 2010 increased oocyst delivery from coastal watersheds to the ocean by 44 percent. Climate change may also exacerbate the journey of pathogens to the ocean. Changes in rainfall or in the intensity of storm events can alter the level of contaminated runoff. Oocyst runoff rose by 79 percent between years of low and high precipitation. When increases in development and climate variability are combined, oocyst runoff more than doubles. Reducing Coastal Pathogen Pollution "Human-driven changes can increase pathogen runoff, but we also have the power to reduce coastal pathogen pollution through actions like conserving wetlands and riparian areas along waterways, reducing paved surfaces in our developed lands, and reducing the amount of poop left in the environment from pets and free-roaming domestic animals," VanWormer said. ### Decades of collaborative research by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, USGS, Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Marine Mammal Center, University of California Santa Cruz, and UC Davis, with commitment from the National Science Foundation Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases program, provided the interdisciplinary tools and knowledge necessary to assess the impacts of coastal development and climate variability on coastal pathogen pollution. Co-authors on the study included Karen Shapiro, Wesley Wallender, Patricia Conrad, John Largier and Jonna Mazet, all from UC Davis; Tim Carpenter of Massey University in New Zealand; Purnendu Singh of VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology in India; and Marco Maneta of the University of Montana. As governments around the world scramble to better respond to security threats, they are increasingly monitoring everyday things used to commit crime, like cell phones and automobiles. This novel approach to fighting crime forms the backdrop of recent research published by Keith Guzik, a sociologist at the University of Colorado Denver. In his new book "Making Things Stick: Surveillance Technologies and Mexico's War on Crime" Guzik examines Mexico, one of a number of countries around the globe beset by criminal networks, in order to understand how surveillance technologies impact security policy around the world. Using documents, survey data and interviews with government officials and Mexican citizens, Guzik followed a trio of federal programs featuring cutting-edge information systems designed to fight crime. These included a national cell phone registry devised to help authorities respond to kidnappings and extortion calls; a national identity card featuring biometric data to protect people from identity theft and fraud; and a national automobile registry with radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags to fight car thefts, kidnappings, and drug trafficking. Guzik found that government plans to fight crime through advanced surveillance and information technologies often stumble. "My research showed that these security programs in Mexico faltered because people saw measures like having to register their mobile numbers with the government as invasive and therefore refused to comply. Companies also balked at the financial costs associated with having to store caller data or applying RFID stickers onto new vehicles," Guzik said. "In other cases, the technical design of the programs and technologies often proved inadequate." The programs also failed after push back from politicians and state governments themselves, who saw the federally implemented measures as a threat to their own power and independence. While all of this should be cause for alarm for governments trying to deal with security threats through advanced technologies, Guzik believes they also illustrate the need for more traditional approaches to crime-fighting based on mutual trust and cooperation between authorities and the people they govern. "The failed experiment of the Mexican security programs demonstrates that state surveillance technologies yield neither the secure utopia nor the police state dystopia promised by their supporters and opponents," Guzik said. "The inherent uncertainty of technology-based state surveillance programs ensures that civic involvement in the work of crime control will remain critical to the shape of security governance in the future." ### "Making Things Stick" is available through the University of California Press's new open access publishing program: http://www.luminosoa.org/site/books/detail/12/making-things-stick/ Fishers in Central Africa often cover hundreds of miles in very basic boats without engines searching for food to feed their families and make a living, a new study shows. Experts from the University of Exeter have tracked the journeys taken by fishers in the Republic of Congo as part of their work with the Congolese Government to protect the local marine environment and improve marine resource management. This is the first time anyone has recorded in such detail how different types of fishers use the ocean in this part of Africa. Researchers fitted 41 boats across 28 different sites with GPS trackers to see how far they travelled between February 2014 and March 2015, with the data representing 875 individual fishing trips. They collected 5,500 hours of tracking data that covered a total distance of 9,500 km. Boats were tracked from several sites, including the city of Pointe Noire and a national park, and the results showed very different strategies according to location. Fishers based in city typically travelled up to 120km offshore for up to six days in wooden boats with small engines. They had no safety gear and the expeditions were highly risky. Fishers based in more rural areas undertook daily fishing trips up to eight km offshore in simple boats with no engine. Many of these fisheries-dependent communities are angry that fishing boats, working illegally and sometimes in National Parks, are harming stocks by overfishing in areas they have traditionally used to provide food for their families and earn a living. Industrial fishing vessels have allocated spaces to work in, but small-scale fishers complain they are fishing in parts of the ocean reserved exclusively for them. This has huge impacts on fishers in more rural areas who can't invest in better boats and equipment which would allow them to fish in different areas, or further offshore. This work is part of a Darwin Initiative project, funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to improve the livelihoods of fisheries-dependent communities and conserve marine biodiversity in Central Africa. Experts from the University of Exeter are working with representatives from the Government of the Republic of Congo, the Wildlife Conservation Society in Congo, and local NGO Renatura to develop a marine spatial plan that will improve marine resource management and protect important marine life for which this region is globally important. Dr Kristian Metcalfe, from the Centre for Ecology and Conservation (CEC) at the University of Exeter who undertook the work in Congo, said: "We have found that fishers working in the city go further, faster, fish in deeper waters and for longer, whereas fishers in more rural areas are dependent on making daily fishing trips, and these are much more physically demanding". Professor Brendan Godley, from the CEC said: "Using GPS trackers is an example of how, with the collaboration of fishers, relatively low-cost technology can be used in developing countries to collect data which can be used to better understand how fishers behave - this is important to ensure that management decisions do not compromise local livelihoods". ### This study was carried out by experts from the University of Exeter's Centre for Ecology and Conservation in Cornwall, the Wildlife Conservation Society Congo country program, the Ministere du Developpement Durable, de l'Environnement et de l'Economie Forestiere in the Republic of Congo, the Comite de Gestion des Ressources Naturelles (COGEREN), Parc National de Conkouati-Douli in the Congo, the British Trust for Ornithology, the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) and the Scottish Oceans Institute. Addressing uncertainty in marine resource management; combining community engagement and tracking technology to characterise human behavior is published in the Open Access Journal Conservation Letters. A recent survey by the Cyber Security Centre at the University of Kent has revealed that 5% of British adults have browsed the darknet, with 1% acknowledging they have bought items from it, but this percentage is much higher (14%) for 18-24 year olds. The survey, now in its third year, also revealed that: At least 4% of British adults have been victims of ransomware, where their computer has had malware installed, which encrypts their data and then faced demands for a payment to restore it back to normal. Of those polled, 26% paid the ransom - though even after they complied with the criminals' demands, 35% of them never recovered their data Bitcoins still struggle to become popular among British users - though the ownership figures double in the 18-24 age range When it comes to data breaches, it is the older age group that wants the toughest penalties imposed. Approximately 40% of British adults agree with companies suffering the breach paying larger fines, with the users affected receiving significant compensation. They believe the government should do more to prevent data breaches in companies Almost a third of all GB citizens don't want their medical data to be shared with third parties for any reason, including improving medical care or research. Overall, the survey has revealed that a generation gap still exists in attitudes to the internet amongst UK population. ### The Cyber Security Centre consists of researchers within the School of Computing, the School of Engineering and Digital Arts, and others. The survey is available at http://www.cyber.kent.ac.uk/Survey2016.pdf For further information or interview requests contact Sandy Fleming at the University of Kent Press Office. Tel: 01227 823581/01634 888879 Email: S.Fleming@kent.ac.uk News releases can also be found at http://www.kent.ac.uk/news University of Kent on Twitter: http://twitter.com/UniKent Notes to editors All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2022 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 5th - 8th August 2016. The survey was carried out online. The Centre for Cyber Security Research combines research from the Schools of Computing and Engineering & Digital Arts and others in Sciences and Social Sciences. The centre received EPSRC/GCHQ recognition as an Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research in 2015. Established in 1965, the University of Kent - the UK's European university - now has almost 20,000 students across campuses or study centres at Canterbury, Medway, Tonbridge, Brussels, Paris, Athens and Rome. It has been ranked: third for overall student satisfaction in the 2014 National Student Survey; 23rd in the Guardian University Guide 2016; 23rd in the Times and Sunday Times University Guide 2016; and 22nd in the Complete University Guide 2015. In the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2015-16, Kent is in the top 10% of the world's leading universities for international outlook and 66th in its table of the most international universities in the world. The THE also ranked the University as 20th in its 'Table of Tables' 2016. Kent is ranked 17th in the UK for research intensity (REF 2014). It has world-leading research in all subjects and 97% of its research is deemed by the REF to be of international quality. Along with the universities of East Anglia and Essex, Kent is a member of the Eastern Arc Research Consortium (http://www.kent.ac.uk/about/partnerships/eastern-arc.html). The University is worth 0.7 billion to the economy of the south east and supports more than 7,800 jobs in the region. Student off-campus spend contributes 293.3m and 2,532 full-time-equivalent jobs to those totals. In 2014, Kent received its second Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education. Patients who had access to GP surgeries with longer opening times in evenings and at weekend visited accident and emergence departments far fewer times than those who did not have similar access to primary care. The findings of the report published in PLOS Medicine have implications for the British Government's desire to implement a seven-day NHS service. Funding given to GP surgeries to extend their hours may reduce demand on emergency hospital service especially at the weekend - but the cost of doing so may outweigh the benefits. The study analysed data from nearly three million patients from 525 GP surgeries in North West England. NHS England (Greater Manchester) provided 3.1 million to enable 56 GP surgeries to open longer in the evening and at the weekend during 2014. These 56 surgeries had 346.024 patients in total, while the wider patient population in the non-funded 469 surgeries was 2,596,330. The research team looked at total emergency department visits by each cohort; the extended-access GP surgeries had a 26.4 percent relative reduction in patient-initiated emergency department visits for minor problems - equating to nearly 11,000 fewer visits. The cost saved by those fewer admissions was only 767,976 - less than a quarter of the extra funds allocated to surgeries to extend their hours. However, the study solely focused on emergency department admissions, and did not collect any data on health outcomes - either from a post-A&E visit or from seeing a GP in extended hours. Therefore the analysis does not take into consideration the potential benefits to those patients using additional appointments who would not have visited emergency departments otherwise. William Whittaker, Research Fellow in Health Economics at The University of Manchester, was the lead author of the report and notes caution for 7-day services if solely aimed at reducing emergency department visits. "There's a need for evidence that 7-day primary care has benefits to patients as on the basis of emergency department savings alone, extending primary care is unlikely to be cost-effective. "Our study suggests that extending opening hours in primary care may be a useful addition to policies aiming to reduce pressures on hospital services, potentially reducing patient-initiated use of the emergency department for minor problems--but at a significant cost," Mr Whittaker concluded. ### Notes to editors Paper and photographs on request Interviews on request Follow @UomNews on Twitter The latest media videos are on our YouTube page The latest news and coverage on Google+ A record of the University in the news is on our Scoop.it page Media enquiries to: James Bates Media Relations Officer - Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health The University of Manchester Tel: 0161 2758257 Mob: 07810 304142 Email: james.bates@manchester.ac.uk A University of Oklahoma study demonstrates for the first time that remote sensing data from weather surveillance radar and on-the-ground data from the eBird citizen science database both yield robust indices of migration timing, also known as migration phenology. These indices can now be used to address the critical gap in our knowledge regarding the cues that migrants use for fine tuning their migration timing in response to climate. "These scientists combined citizen science observations with data from radar, satellites and weather predictions to understand the cues birds use in their migrations across continents," said Liz Blood, program director in the National Science Foundation's Division of Environmental Biology, which funded the research through NSF's MacroSystems Biology Program. "The results show that birds migrate in time with warming temperatures in spring and with seasonal changes in the surface of the land, like the leafing-out of trees." Seasonality of bird migration is shifting in response to climate change and, as a result, birds are arriving at their northern breeding grounds earlier in the spring. The OU study conducted in the eastern United States uses two novel data sources, weather surveillance radar and eBird citizen science data, to build indices of bird migration timing. These indices are innovative and reflect timing of migration of millions of birds of many species over large regions, expanding on more traditional measures of migration timing based on a few individuals of a particular species. OU researchers compared these new measures of migration with environmental cues that are thought to be used by birds to adjust migration timing. They found that temperature is likely to be useful to migrants in making adjustments in timing in route, however, they dispute the notion that a commonly used index of vegetation greenness is a useful cue for migration timing in the study region. OU Professors Jeffrey F. Kelly, Todd Fagin and Eli S. Bridge, Oklahoma Biological Survey, and graduate student Kyle G. Horton, Department of Biology, OU College of Arts and Sciences; in collaboration with OU Professors Phillip B. Chilson, School of Meteorology, and Kirsten de Beurs, Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, OU College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences; and Phillip M. Stepanian, formerly with the Advanced Radar Research Center, worked together to demonstrate how migration timing relates to land surface phenology and temperature changes. "Understanding which environmental cues link migration timing to patterns of global change is key to forecasting future responses of migration systems," said Kelly. "Novel data sources from the weather surveillance radar network and the eBird citizen science database enable development of a migration phenology index that can be used to answer this question in future studies." ### A paper describing this study, "Novel measures of continental-scale avian migration phenology related to proximate environmental cues," was published online Sept. 6 by Ecosphere at http://www.esajournals.org. Funding for this project was provided by the National Science Foundation grant EF-1340921 and by the National Institute for Food and Agriculture of the U.S. Department of Agriculture award 2013-67009-20369. For more information about eBird, jointly coordinated by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, visit http://www.birds.cornell.edu/citscitoolkit/projects/clo/eBird/. Contact Jeffrey F. Kelly at jkelly@ou.edu for more information about this project and other related OU New research suggests the Polynesians, Europeans and the Chinese have had a penchant for black pigs because of the novelty of their colour. Pigs have played an important cultural role in Hawaii since Polynesian explorers first brought them to Hawaii 800 years ago. Scientists led by Professor Greger Larson from Oxford examined the DNA sequences of modern feral Hawaiian pigs and discovered that a novel mutation is responsible for their black coats, a significant finding because the pigs were expected to have either the Asian or the European genetic mutation leading to their black colour. The study in the Royal Society journal, Open Science, says wild pigs would naturally have camouflaged coats. However, human societies have independently selected domesticated pigs that express the trait of black-coloured coats on at least three separate occasions. Debate has centred on whether Hawaiis modern feral pigs (modern populations that were once descended from domestic pigs but are now living in the wild) are from Polynesian stock or whether they descend primarily from the European domestic pigs that travelled with explorer Captain Cook who arrived in Hawaii in 1778. Scientists find that todays feral pigs ARE mainly the descendants of the Pacific family brought by the Polynesians. In addition, the scientists identified a new genetic mutation responsible for the black colouring of their coats. An international team of researchers studied the mitochondrial DNA and MC1R gene sequences in tissue samples collected from 57 modern feral Hawaiian pigs. They found a novel mutation in all the black-coloured pigs which is different to the mutation in European and Asian domestic pigs with black coats. This finding suggests that for thousands of years, humans in different parts of the world have been independently selecting and breeding pigs for their black colour. Senior author Professor Greger Larson, from the Palaeogenomics and Bio-Archaeology Research Network at the University of Oxford, said: The first pigs introduced to Hawaii by the Polynesians were kept as domestic animals. No wild boar have black colours since natural selection only allows camouflaged pigs to survive long enough to reproduce. Humans, on the other hand, love all kinds of coloured coats and have selected for black coats at least three times independently in domestic pigs in Europe, Asia, and the Pacific. In the case of pigs, black has always been the new black. Existing academic literature describes how Polynesians were experienced sailors who spread across the Pacific region, bringing dogs, pigs, chickens and sweet potatoes in their boats. The study suggests that further research is needed to pinpoint where the domestic animals used by Polynesian explorers were originally sourced. Some scholars have said they believe South East Asia to be their original ancestral home. The modern feral pigs in Hawaii are considered as a scourge of the islands by many. Over the last few hundred years, they have uprooted and eaten indigenous forest vegetation and preyed on the eggs of native ground-nesting birds. The discovery of their unique historical lineage may inform future debates about how to manage them in a way that is culturally sensitive but also protects native Hawaiian flora and fauna, says the paper. ### The research was a collaboration between the University of Oxford; Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Washington, USA; University of Hawaii; Trinity Western University, Canada; Uppsala University, Sweden; University of Liverpool, UK; Estacion Biologica de Donana, Spain; Cornell University, USA; National University of Ireland; and Texas A&M University, USA. Research for the study was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council and the European Research Council. For images and more information, please contact the University of Oxford News Office on +44 (0) 1865 280534 or email: news.office@admin.ox.ac.uk Alternatively, contact the study lead author Professor Greger Larson on Office: +44-1865-611745/ Mobile: +44-7963905362; email: Greger.larson@arch.ox.ac.uk Notes for Editors *The paper, A novel MC1R allele for black coat colour reveals the Polynesian ancestry and hybridization patterns of Hawaiian feral pigs, is published in Royal Society journal, Open Science. The media can request a photograph of a black feral Hawaiian pig from the University news office. Please credit to Jack Jeffrey Photography. Mathematicians at The University of Texas at Arlington are conducting research to refine and supplement curriculum materials used in college mathematics courses designed for students who plan to become high school math teachers. The project specifically aims to enhance materials currently used in UTeach Arlington, UTA's version of the highly successful science and mathematics secondary teacher preparation program which has been replicated at 43 universities across the United States. More than one third of UTeach nationwide is comprised of students historically underrepresented in science technology, engineering and mathematics courses. "This project will impact the learning experiences of hundreds of thousands of socioeconomically disadvantaged students across the country, as 66 percent of UTeach program graduates nationwide go on to teach in schools where the majority of students are low-income," said James Epperson, UTA associate professor of mathematics and leader of the project. "In addition, we will not limit dissemination to UTeach programs, so the project has the potential to impact an even larger and more diverse group of teachers and their students." The project is supported by a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Undergraduate Education, with Theresa Jorgensen, associate professor of mathematics, and Kathryn Rhoads, visiting assistant professor of mathematics, participating as co-principal investigators. The focus of the project is MATH 2330 or Functions and Modeling -- a course taken by all UTeach mathematics majors who are seeking teacher certification in mathematics. To increase K-12 students' interest and success in mathematics, teachers need to have a thorough understanding of the mathematics they teach. However, research has shown that many secondary school mathematics teachers lack a deep understanding of some of the mathematical concepts they teach, in part because many undergraduate mathematics courses do not offer opportunities for teachers to deeply study these concepts. There are few curricular resources available for use in college mathematics courses designed to train future secondary mathematics teachers. "This project is important because we aim to develop course materials in ways that can deepen teachers' understanding of the mathematics they will teach; hence the project has the potential to positively impact both secondary school mathematics teachers and, in turn, the students they teach," Rhoads said. As a first step for the project, the UTA mathematicians brought in a prestigious group of math education research and practitioner experts in mid-July to provide feedback on the current course materials, including Olive Chapman, board member for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and editor of the Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education; Elizabeth Burroughs, chair of the Mathematical Association of America's committee on the Mathematical Education of Teachers; and Jennifer Hylemon, K-12 director of mathematics at Grapevine-Colleyville ISD and vice-president of the Board of Directors for the Conference for the Advancement of Mathematics Teaching. "This will help us identify the most important research-based aspects on teachers' understandings of functions that need to be addressed in addition to those already identified by me in preliminary pilot classroom studies after having taught from the materials three times," Epperson said. "These materials have been used at all 43 UTeach institutions and all sites are required to use them in their first year of implementation. Many universities continue to use the materials and our project, once finalized, will be a natural starting point for dissemination nationwide across the UTeach network." The researchers are using feedback received from the panel of experts to make small changes for implementation this fall as well as to create an assessment that will provide information regarding the effectiveness of the materials at addressing key concepts, Epperson said. This fall they will collect data and then analyze the data next spring to begin making research-based changes to the materials. An advisory board composed of math education researchers and school supervisor leaders, UTeach Institute representatives and others, will guide the external evaluation of products developed by the researchers. "After feedback is received, changes will be made next summer and the process will repeat in Fall 2017," Epperson said. "In Spring 2018, after analyzing all data collected, we will again revise and create materials as well as draft the instructor notes. In Fall 2018, we will study the use of the materials at various sites as well as study how a novice instructor uses the materials. These materials focus on inquiry-based learning; many instructors have never learned in this type of setting and may not know how to implement mathematical tasks and explorations that are meant to be used in this manner." ### The project builds upon curriculum development and research which Epperson has conducted for the last two decades. The creation of research- and standards-based materials has a natural connection to recent joint work by Epperson and Rhoads on high-yield mathematical tasks for teachers, as well as to research conducted by Epperson on strengthening problem solving for in-service mathematics teachers, and to work done by Jorgensen and Epperson as part of UTA's Mathematics Teacher Preparation Academy. Epperson earned his doctorate in mathematics from UT Austin in 1996 and came to UTA in 2001. He received the UTA Innovation in Teaching Award in 2009 and the UTA Provost's Research Excellence Award each year from 2005-10. He is a recipient of the UT System Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award in 2010 and the Mathematical Association of America Texas Section Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics in 2012, and he was named to the UTA Academy of Distinguished Teachers in 2012. Jorgensen earned her doctorate in mathematics from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in 2000 and came to UTA in 2002. She received the UTA Provost's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2005, the UTA Honors College Distinguished Faculty Award in 2006, and the UT System Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award in 2010. She was named a member of the UTA Academy of Distinguished Teachers in 2016. Rhoads earned her doctorate in education from Rutgers University in 2014 and came to UTA as a visiting assistant professor that same year. She has conducted extensive research in mathematics education, including ongoing projects funded by the NSF and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board which focus on mathematical problem solving and representational connections in algebraic reasoning. About The University of Texas at Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington is a Carnegie Research-1 "highest research activity" institution of about 55,000 students in campus-based and online degree programs and is the second-largest institution in The University of Texas System. U.S. News & World Report ranks UTA fifth in the nation for undergraduate diversity. The University is a Hispanic-Serving Institution and is ranked as the top four-year college in Texas for veterans on Military Times' 2016 Best for Vets list. Visit http://www.uta.edu to learn more, and find UTA rankings and recognition at http://www.uta.edu/uta/about/rankings.php. To learn more about UTA's Strategic Plan, see Strategic Plan 2020: Bold Solutions | Global Impact. Scientists at the High Energy Physics Group (HEP) of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg predict the existence of a new boson that might aid in the understanding of Dark Matter in the Universe. Using data from a series of experiments that led to the discovery and first exploration of the Higgs boson at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in 2012, the group established what they call the Madala hypothesis, in describing a new boson, named as the Madala boson. The experiment was repeated in 2015 and 2016, after a two-and-a-half year shut-down of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The data reported by the LHC experiments in 2016 have corroborated the features in the data that triggered the Madala hypothesis in the first place. "Based on a number of features and peculiarities of the data reported by the experiments at the LHC and collected up to the end of 2012, the Wits HEP group in collaboration with scientists in India and Sweden formulated the Madala hypothesis," says Professor Bruce Mellado, team leader of the HEP group at Wits. The Wits Madala project team consists of approximately 35 young South African and African students and researchers who are currently contributing to the understanding of the data coming out of the LHC experiments, along with phenomenological investigations from theorists such as Prof. Alan Cornell and Dr. Mukesh Kumar and support in the area of detector instrumentation from Prof. Elias Sideras-Haddad (all from Wits University). The hypothesis describes the existence of a new boson and field, similar to the Higgs boson. However, where the Higgs boson in the Standard Model of Physics only interacts with known matter, the Madala boson interacts with Dark Matter, which makes about 27% of the Universe. "Physics today is at a crossroads similar to the times of Einstein and the fathers of Quantum Mechanics," says Mellado. "Classical physics failed to explain a number of phenomena and, as a result, it needed to be revolutionised with new concepts, such as relativity and quantum physics, leading to the creation of what we know now as modern physics." The theory that underpins the understanding of fundamental interactions in nature in modern physics is referred to as the Standard Model of Physics. With the discovery of the Higgs boson at the LHC in 2012, for which the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded in 2013, the Standard Model of Physics is now complete. However, this model is insufficient to describe a number of phenomena such as Dark Matter. The universe is made of mass and energy. The mass that we can touch, smell and see, the mass that can be explained by the Higgs boson, makes up only 4% of the mas-energy budget of the Universe. The rest of the mass in the Universe is simply unknown, yet it makes about 27% of the world around us. The next big step for the physics of fundamental interactions now is to understand the nature of Dark Matter in the Universe: what is it made of? How many different types of particles are there? How do they interact among each other? How does it interact with the known matter? What can it tell us about the evolution of the Universe? The discovery of the Higgs boson at the LHC at CERN has opened the door into making even more ground-breaking discoveries, such as the observation of new bosons that are linked to forces and particles unknown before. These new particles can explain where the unknown matter in the Universe comes from. "With the Madala hypothesis predictions of striking signatures are made, that is being pursued by the young scientists of the Wits HEP group." Some of these scientists include Dr. Deepak Kar and Dr. Xifeng Ruan, two new academic staff in the group, who have years of expertise at the LHC. ### New research from the Cass Business School, the University of Warwick and the University of Wisconsin shows that women ask for wage rises just as often as men, but men are 25 per cent more likely to get a raise when they ask. Using a randomly chosen sample of 4,600 workers across more than 800 employers, the research is the first to do a statistical test of the idea that women get paid less because they are not as pushy as men. The researchers found no support for the theory. The authors of the study Do Women Ask? also examined the claim that female employees hold back for fear of upsetting their boss, and again found no evidence for this theory either. Co-author Andrew Oswald, Professor of Economics and Behavioural Science at the University of Warwick said: "We didn't know how the numbers would come out. Having seen these findings, I think we have to accept that there is some element of pure discrimination against women." Various ideas have previously been suggested as to why women might be reluctant to ask for an increase in their pay packet. These include: women don't want to deviate from a perceived female stereotype, and they may fear being less popular at work. Co-author Dr Amanda Goodall at Cass Business School said: "Ours is the first proper test of the reticent-female theory, and the evidence doesn't stand up." When like-for-like men and women were compared, the men were a quarter more likely to be successful, obtaining a pay increase 20 per cent of the time. Only 16 per cent of females were successful when they asked. The research uses data gathered in the Australian Workplace Relations Survey (AWRS) which covers the period 2013-14 which is a representative sample of Australian employees and workplaces. Professor Oswald said: "We realised that Australia was the natural test bed, because it is the only country in the world to collect systematic information on whether employees have asked for a rise." The survey has the distinctive feature that it asks individuals a set of questions about whether their pay is set by negotiation with the company, whether they have successfully obtained a wage rise since joining the employer, whether they preferred not to attempt to negotiate a pay rise because they were concerned about their relationships, why they decided that, and about their levels of job satisfaction. Using statistical methods, the authors' analysis shows that it is crucial to adjust for the number of hours worked (because part-time workers feel hesitant to 'ask'). The analysis also took into account the nature of the employer, the industry, and the characteristics and qualifications of workers. Despite the dispiriting findings, the authors pinpointed one encouraging sign in the data - young Australian female employees get pay hikes just as often as young Australian men. Dr Goodall said: "This study potentially has an upside. Young women today are negotiating their pay and conditions more successfully than older females, and perhaps that will continue as they become more senior". ### The research is a collaboration between the University of Warwick, Cass Business School, City, University of London and the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh, USA. For further details and to request a copy of the paper please contact Nicola Jones, Communications Manager, University of Warwick 07920531221 or N.Jones.1@warwick.ac.uk Notes to Editors The paper is downloadable here: https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/workingpapers/2016/twerp_1127_oswald.pdf Warwick Economics Working Research Series http://www.andrewoswald.com http://www.amandagoodall.com Authors Andrew Oswald PhD, University of Warwick, UK. Amanda Goodall PhD, Cass Business School, City, University of London. Ben Artz PhD, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Sept. 6, 2016 - The dreaded finger exam to check for prostate cancer used to be a mainstay of check-ups for older men. With its value now in question, some doctors share the risks and benefits with their patients and let them decide. So, should they or shouldn't they? "The evidence suggests that in most cases, it is time to abandon the digital rectal exam (DRE)," said Ryan Terlecki, M.D., a Wake Forest Baptist urologist who recently published an article on the topic in Current Medical Research and Opinion. "Our findings will likely be welcomed by patients and doctors alike." Terlecki said the DRE, referred to by some urologists as a "clinical relic," subjects a large number of men to invasive, potentially uncomfortable examinations for relatively minimal gain. In addition, it may deter some men from undergoing any test for prostate cancer. The issue Terlecki's team explored was whether the DRE is needed when another more accurate test that measures prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in the blood is available. PSA is a protein that is often elevated in men with prostate cancer. "Many practitioners continue to perform DRE in attempts to identify men with aggressive prostate cancer who could die from the disease," said Terlecki. "In the era of PSA testing, we wanted to explore whether it's time to abandon the digital exam." To reach their conclusion, Terlecki's research team reviewed both medical literature and the results of a nationwide screening trial in which 38,340 men received annual DRE exams and PSA tests for three years. They were then followed for up to 13 years. Of interest to Terlecki's team were the 5,064 men who had a normal PSA test but an "abnormal" DRE. Only 2 percent of these men had what is known as clinically relevant prostate cancer, which means it may need to be monitored or treated. "The DRE does capture an additional small population of men with significant prostate cancer, but it also unnecessarily subjects a large number of men to the test," he said. Until 2012, men over 50 (age 40 for African-Americans) were urged to have both DRE and PSA tests annually. That was before the United States Preventive Services Task Forces recommended against routine PSA testing because it could lead to over-treatment of slow-growing, non-harmful tumors. The panel did not address DRE, which was the primary method of detecting prostate cancer prior to the blood test. As a result of the task force's recommendation, there has been confusion and controversy about whether men should be screened for prostate cancer. Some organizations recommend against any screening and others recommend PSA screening, but only if men are counseled about the potential benefits and risks. In previous studies, PSA had been shown to outperform DRE in detecting significant disease. The current analysis confirmed that PSA is superior to DRE as an independent screen for prostate cancer. PSA testing detected 680 cases of significant cancer, compared to 317 cases for DRE. "When PSA testing is used, the DRE rarely assists in diagnosing significant disease," said Terlecki. "In cases where PSA testing is used, the DRE should be abandoned in common clinical practice." There is still a place for DRE testing for certain patients, Terlecki said. For example, a patient with abnormal PSA who is "on the fence" about having a biopsy, may feel more comfortable proceeding with the procedure if a DRE is also abnormal, he said. ### Media contacts: Karen Richardson, krchrdsn@wakehealth.edu, 336-716-4453. Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center (http://www.wakehealth.edu) is a fully integrated academic medical center located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The institution comprises the medical education and research components of Wake Forest School of Medicine, the integrated clinical structure and consumer brand Wake Forest Baptist Health, which includes North Carolina Baptist Hospital and Brenner Children's Hospital, the creation and commercialization of research discoveries into products that benefit patients and improve health and wellness, through Wake Forest Innovations, Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, a leading center of technological discovery, development and commercialization, as well as a network of affiliated community-based hospitals, physician practices, outpatient services and other medical facilities. Wake Forest School of Medicine is ranked among the nation's best medical schools and is a leading national research center in fields such as regenerative medicine, cancer, neuroscience, aging, addiction and public health sciences. Wake Forest Baptist's clinical programs have consistently ranked as among the best in the country by U.S .News & World Report for the past 20 years. Pound Sterling (GBP) Exchange Rates Mixed after Falling Annual Sales, GBP Falls Vs ZAR The Pound to Rand exchange rate today: 18.71000 The South African Rand to Pound exchange rate is 0.05345. The pound sterling fluctuated with a downward bias against the South African rand for most of Wednesdays session, but attempted to hold away from the days worst levels as Pound sentiment fluctuated. Rand demand continued to be boosted by the weeks solid South African ecostats, but investors hesitated to continue to pile into the risky emerging-market currency after Tuesdays surge. Pound Sterling (GBP) exchange rates were in a state of uncertainty during Tuesdays European trading session, owing mainly to renewed concerns about how the UK economy is really faring after the Brexit vote. While the currency rose against some rivals, it fell against others - recording a loss against the South African Rand (GBP/ZAR). The latest data to trigger this unsettled state among investors was the British Retail Consortium (BRC) like-for-like sales figure, which fell on the year in August from 1.1% to -0.9%. Other UK domestic data has been more low-impact, with the 10-year Treasury gilt auction resulting in a shift from 0.910% to 0.690%. Latest Pound/South African Rand Exchange Rates On Sunday the Pound to British Pound exchange rate (GBP/GBP) converts at 1 FX markets see the pound vs pound exchange rate converting at 1. The GBP to EUR exchange rate converts at 1.165 today. Today finds the pound to us dollar spot exchange rate priced at 1.161. NB: the forex rates mentioned above, revised as of 30th Oct 2022, are inter-bank prices that will require a margin from your bank. Foreign exchange brokers can save up to 5% on international payments in comparison to the banks. Pound Sterling Forecast: GBP to be Shifted by Production Results and GDP Estimate Tomorrow So what news is likely to impact Pound Sterling (GBP) exchange rates as the week continues? Wednesday will bring a range of UK ecostats, spanning from the morning to the afternoon. Among these will be the July industrial and manufacturing results, which are expected to fall on the month and the year. Also due over the course of the afternoon is a meeting between Bank of England (BoE) officials and the Treasury Select Committee; in attendance will be BoE officials such as Governor Mark Carney and Kristin Forbes. Closing off the days UK data will be the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Q3 GDP estimate, which is already expected to show a dip from 0.3% to 0.1%. South African Rand (ZAR) Exchange Rates Gain on Rising GDP Figure The Rand was in high demand during Tuesdays trading, spiking up to a high of 0.52 against the Pound. This strong showing came from the only South African data released on Tuesday, which covered the GDP growth rate for Q2. Previously, the annual and quarterly printings had been negative. Expectations had been for negative results, but these forecasts were shattered when the quarterly printing rose from -1.2% to 3.3% and the yearly result climbed from -0.1% to 0.6%. South African Economic Outlook: Production Stats and Confidence Score to Impact ZAR Currency Trading The next South African domestic data to watch out for will concern the nations highly-influential gold, mining and manufacturing production results for July, which are all due on Thursday. As it stands, forecasts have been broadly negative, with losses expected to take place on the month and year for both fields. Closing off the week for the Rand will be the nations Q3 business confidence result on Friday, which is expected to dip from 32 points to 30. Will UK Homebuilders Struggle in Post-Brexit UK? Berkeley Reports Sales Drop in August In addition to focus resting on the UKs PMI figures for signs of how the economy is faring, economists have also been looking to how housing market activity is changing after Brexit. In the case of Berkley Group, a reduction in sales of around -20% has been seen in August, which prompted the company statement that; This is not just a problem for business and ordinary people in the capital but for the country as a whole. London is the engine of our national economy and the principal driver of fiscal revenues. The Euro to Pound Exchange Rate Forecast and FX Predictions Confidence in the euro received a further boost from the news that the Greek Unemployment Rate had dipped from 23.6% to 23.4% in June, a modest improvement that nevertheless bodes well. With markets doubtful that the ECB will offer much other than dovish rhetoric at todays policy meeting the Euro to Pound Sterling exchange rate has maintained its stronger form. The Euro exchange rates performed generally strongly later on Wednesday afternoon, as the days economic news left investors selling off the Pound as well as readjusting their levels on the Euro ahead of Thursdays European Central Bank (ECB) meeting. The shared currency will become increasingly sturdy as the meeting approaches. While no policy changes are expected from the ECB, markets will be eager to see what ECB President Mario Draghi has to say about the Eurozones disappointing economic performance in August. Further poor data from Germany kept the single currency weak recently, although GBPEUR was unable to break from opening levels Despite volatile trading, the Euro to Pound Sterling (EUR/GBP) exchange rate was able to approach the close of the session having recovered the days losses. Eurozone PMIS may have shown a strong increase in retail activity, but slowing year-on-year Germany factory orders added yet more data to the pile that suggests Germany has gone from being the Eurozones driving economy to a dragging factor. In a statement delivered to Reuters via email, the Germany Economy Ministry explained; The sideways movement of orders speaks for more subdued momentum in manufacturing in autumn. The business climate in manufacturing has cooled of late, even though it remains above its long-term average. Latest Euro/Pound Exchange Rates On Sunday the Pound to British Pound exchange rate (GBP/GBP) converts at 1 FX markets see the pound vs pound exchange rate converting at 1. The GBP to USD exchange rate converts at 1.161 today. The pound conversion rate (against swiss franc) is quoted at 1.157 CHF/GBP. Please note: the FX rates above, updated 30th Oct 2022, will have a commission applied by your typical high street bank. Currency brokers specialise in these type of foreign currency transactions and can save you up to 5% on international payments compared to the banks. British Pound (GBP) Holds Ground Against the Euro (EUR) News that retail sales had unexpectedly fallen in August failed to overly weaken Pound Sterling (GBP) exchange rates due to factors other than Brexit taking the blame. UK retail sales posted an unexpected -0.9% decline in August, but markets were not overly worried due to the fact that the Olympics were cited as the primary reason consumers were too preoccupied to go out shopping. As Chief Executive of the British Retail Consortium, Helen Dickinson OBE noted; Care should be taken in reading too much into August's lacklustre performance. As we've seen in the last couple of months, data portending the health of the economy paint a volatile picture. The fact is that so far little has directly changed for the UK's consumers as a result of the referendum, so it's the pre-existing market dynamics that are still driving sales. As a result, Pound Sterling exchange rates managed to trend above opening levels verses the Euro by the end of the session. German industrial production data is due tomorrow and could weaken Euro (EUR) exchange rates further as forecasts are for slowing growth. With many believing the German economy is showing signs of slowing, the Euro faces downside pressures from tomorrows industrial production data. After year-on-year non-seasonally adjusted growth in June of 0.5%, production is expected to have slowed to 0.2% in July, which would weaken EUR/GBP exchange rates thanks to a softer German outlook. BayernLB economist Stefan Kipar explained, Data suggest that in the summer the German economy wont be able to maintain the fast pace observed in the first half of the year. We expect a slight economic slowdown in the second half. Packed Data Calendar Forecast to Create Pound Sterling (GBP) Exchange Rate Volatility UK industrial and manufacturing production figures for July are released tomorrow; markets will be interested to see how the sectors performed during the first few weeks after the shock of the referendum outcome. Further outlook on the UK economy will be provided by the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR) GDP estimate. The future of UK monetary policy may also come into further clarity thanks to scheduled appearances from several Bank of England (BoE) officials, including Governor Mark Carney. Would be expats who believe that job security is the most important factor should look to Luxembourg, which has been named as the top country for employment stability, followed by Taiwan and Germany.The nations finance industry is regarded by expats as being the best sector, followed by the public sector, which includes a number of European Union institutions with opportunities at managerial level. The research published as part of the 2016 InterNations global expat survey also shows that in Luxembourg expats are more likely to choose a traditional role as employee or manager as their main employment status than the global average at 66% compared to 41%.Indeed, senior employees or experts also make up a large percentage of that group, with 32% in Luxembourg compared to 23% worldwide and in terms of overall job satisfaction 76% of expats in Luxembourg are generally satisfied, compared to a global average of 64%.With regard to career prospects, 67% are overall pleased with their opportunities compared to a global average of 55% and a work-life balance is rated highly by 79% of expats in Luxembourg, more than the global average of 60%, with the country ranking fourth in the Work-Life Balance subcategory of the survey.Luxembourg also ranks first in terms of the state of the local economy, with not one respondent considering it very bad. Generally, a large proportion of expats decided to move to Luxembourg for job specific reasons and 71% saw the economy or the job market as a potential benefit when they considered relocating there.This is backed up by the results for the participants main motivation for their move as 34% of expats came to Luxembourg because they found a job on their own, making this the most important reason for relocating to this destination, more than double the global average of 15%.Taiwan comes second in the working abroad index overall and ranks first in the Job and Career subcategory, with 82% of expats in Taiwan citing overall satisfaction in their jobs compared to a global average of 64%. Additionally, only 9% would rate their career prospects negatively, compared to 24% worldwide.Taiwan does well in terms of work-life balance as 30% of respondents said they are completely satisfied with this factor, almost double the global average of 17% and 81% are also happy with their job security while 79% view the Taiwanese economy positively.In third place in the work sector is Germany, with the nation doing best when it comes to job security, ranking second in the respective subcategory while 71% are generally satisfied with the level of job security, with 23% going so far as to express complete satisfaction.The state of the German economy is also very good, according to 44% of the respondents, more than double the worldwide average of 17%. Indeed, 68% of those moving to Germany saw its economy or labour market as potential benefits during their relocation plans.Expats in Germany also seem to be happy with their work-life balance with 69% saying so while 72% were happy with their working hours and in terms of overall job satisfaction, 64% were generally happy, and 66% happy with their career prospects.Most expats in Germany have opted for the role of employee or manager with the survey showing that 47% did so with 22% in the IT industry, the highest percentage of expats, followed by the manufacturing industry with 10%. From: American Evaluation Association (AEA) For Immediate Release: Dateline: Washington , DC Tuesday, September 6, 2016 Aloha, we are Sonja Evensen, Evaluation Senior Specialist at Pacific Resources for Education and Learning, and Judith Inazu, Acting Director, Social Science Research Institute, University of Hawaii. In 2006, we worked together to establish the Hawaii-Pacific Evaluation Association (H-PEA), an affiliate of AEA. We wish to nominate Dr. Lois-ellin Datta as our most-esteemed evaluator. Why we chose to honor this evaluator: Lois-ellin Datta has made tremendous contributions to the field of evaluation at the international, national, and local levels. Many know of her leadership and influence on the national scene, but few know of how she has given unselfishly in supporting the development and survival of H-PEA. In those early years, she participated in our conferences as a keynoter, workshop presenter, and panelist every time we asked, she said yes, and did so without compensation. When we were getting organized she told us that it was easy to start something (H-PEA) but difficult to sustain it. Fortunately, H-PEA is now celebrating its 10th birthday and is still going strong! We are forever grateful for her support, both financial and strategic, in our efforts to grow the Hawaii-Pacific Evaluation Association. Contributions to our field: Dr. Datta spent many years in Washington, D.C., serving as director or head of research of many organizations, including the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. General Accounting Office where she received the Distinguished Service Award and the Comptroller Generals Award. She has served as past-president of AEA, a board member of AEA and the Evaluation Research Society, chief editor for New Directions in Evaluation, and now serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Evaluation, International Encyclopedia of Evaluation, and the International Handbook of Education, among others. Dr. Datta has written over 100 articles and three books, all while providing in-kind assistance to countless local organizations such as the Hauoli Mau Loa Foundation, the Maori-Hawaiian Evaluation Hui, and the Native Hawaiian Education Council in support of culturally sensitive evaluation approaches. Lois-ellin is precise and exacting in her work and simultaneously caring and sensitive to those she works with. She has always been keenly focused on achieving social justice and mindful of the importance of policy. We deeply admire her intellect and wit, but it is her encouragement and boundless enthusiasm which make her such a valued colleague and advisor. Each time her counsel is sought, she thoroughly considers the issue at hand before providing a deliberate, thoughtful response. Over the years, the unique contributions of Lois-ellin Datta to the field of evaluation at the local, national, and international levels have been legendary. Resources: Lois-ellin Datta on LinkedIn The Kohala Center Books by Lois-ellin Datta The American Evaluation Association is celebrating Labor Day Week in Evaluation: Honoring Evaluations Living Pioneers. The contributions this week are tributes to our living evaluation pioneers who have made important contributions to our field and even positive impacts on our careers as evaluators. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the This is part of a two-week series honoring our living evaluation pioneers in conjunction with Labor Day in the USA (September 5).Aloha, we are, Evaluation Senior Specialist at Pacific Resources for Education and Learning, and, Acting Director, Social Science Research Institute, University of Hawaii. In 2006, we worked together to establish the Hawaii-Pacific Evaluation Association (H-PEA), an affiliate of AEA. We wish to nominate Dr. Lois-ellin Datta as our most-esteemed evaluator.Lois-ellin Datta has made tremendous contributions to the field of evaluation at the international, national, and local levels. Many know of her leadership and influence on the national scene, but few know of how she has given unselfishly in supporting the development and survival of H-PEA. In those early years, she participated in our conferences as a keynoter, workshop presenter, and panelist every time we asked, she said yes, and did so without compensation. When we were getting organized she told us that it was easy to start something (H-PEA) but difficult to sustain it. Fortunately, H-PEA is now celebrating its 10birthday and is still going strong! We are forever grateful for her support, both financial and strategic, in our efforts to grow the Hawaii-Pacific Evaluation Association.Dr. Datta spent many years in Washington, D.C., serving as director or head of research of many organizations, including the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. General Accounting Office where she received the Distinguished Service Award and the Comptroller Generals Award.She has served as past-president of AEA, a board member of AEA and the Evaluation Research Society, chief editor for New Directions in Evaluation, and now serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Evaluation, International Encyclopedia of Evaluation, and the International Handbook of Education, among others.Dr. Datta has written over 100 articles and three books, all while providing in-kind assistance to countless local organizations such as the Hauoli Mau Loa Foundation, the Maori-Hawaiian Evaluation Hui, and the Native Hawaiian Education Council in support of culturally sensitive evaluation approaches.Lois-ellin is precise and exacting in her work and simultaneously caring and sensitive to those she works with. She has always been keenly focused on achieving social justice and mindful of the importance of policy. We deeply admire her intellect and wit, but it is her encouragement and boundless enthusiasm which make her such a valued colleague and advisor. Each time her counsel is sought, she thoroughly considers the issue at hand before providing a deliberate, thoughtful response. Over the years, the unique contributions of Lois-ellin Datta to the field of evaluation at the local, national, and international levels have been legendary.The American Evaluation Association is celebrating. The contributions this week are tributes to our living evaluation pioneers who have made important contributions to our field and even positive impacts on our careers as evaluators. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org . aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. Tuesday, September 6, 2016 The Authority is now requiring that the address appearing on the license, bond and lease match the 911 system and the deed for the property. This can be confusing when it differs from the mailing address for the leased premises. Lets look at an example. A corner multiple unit commercial building in Canandaigua has two street level commercial retail units along Beeman Street, 5 and 7 Beeman Street and one street level commercial retail unit along Main Street, 195 Main Street. It also has several residential apartment units on the second floor 6A, 6B and 6C. In this situation, the lease, bond and licensed premises must be 5-7 Beeman Street; 195 Main Street as recited on the deed. Lets look at another example. A downtown multiple unit commercial building in LeRoy has two street level commercial retail units at 7 and 9 Main Street. The deed for the building lists the property as 7, 9, 11, and 13 Main Street. It also has several residential apartment units on the second floor. The street address for 7 Main Street will be a farm brewery. The street address at 7 Main Street will be an adjacent restaurant. In this situation, the lease, bond and licensed premises must be 7-13 Main Street, unit 7 Main Street for the brewery and 7-13 Main Street, unit 9 Main Street for the restaurant. If the building has more than one legal address, the Authority requests that applicants additionally submit one or more of the following supporting documents with the original application: All property tax bills for the building Letter from 911 system verifying the address(es) in its system for the building as a whole Deed for the building Letter from the Post Office verifying mailing addresses associated with the building The Examiner may request additional documentation at his or her discretion. About Tracy Jong Tracy Jong has been an attorney for more than 20 years, representing restaurants, bars, and craft beverage manufacturers in a wide array of legal matters. She is also a licensed patent attorney. Her book Everything You Need To Know About Obtaining and Maintaining a New York Retail Liquor License: The Definitive Guide to Navigating the State Liquor Authority will be available next month on Amazon.com as a softcover and Kindle e-book. Her legal column is available in The Equipped Brewer, a publication giving business advice, trends, and vendor reviews to help craft breweries, cideries, distilleries and wineries build brands and succeed financially. She also maintains a website and blog with practical information on legal and business issues affecting the industry. Follow her, sign up for her free firm app or monthly newsletter. www.TracyJongLawFirm.com TJong@TracyJongLawFirm.com Facebook: Tracy Jong Law Firm Twitter: @TJLawFirm LinkedIn: Tracy Jong Tracy Jong Law Firm Last week I confessed that I was wrong when I predicted that the lows were in for corn and soybeans. This week the bad news just kept coming. We made a new low for December corn on Aug. 31 at 3.14 3/4. The new bean low was 9.37 on Sept. 1, and even the December wheat hit the bottom at 3.91 1/2 on Aug. 30. In the wake of the last week, we now have the experts saying that December corn futures could get to $2.80. Yuck. A look at this mornings CHS Hedging Morning Highlights report just gives us more of the same. If there werent bad news, there wouldnt be any news at all. It keeps coming Start with the corn yields. Last week I said the one bright spot was that the Pro Farmer report came in five bushels below the USDA estimate. Not so. A prominent brokerage firm that Friday predicted 175.6 bpa for corn, actually above the USDAs 175.1 slightly. The same firm has put its soybean yields estimate at 50.1 bpa, well above the USDAs 48.9. Then, look at the CFTC (Futures Trading Commission) report that said that the funds, the managed money portion of the traders, were a net seller of 8,561 contracts of corn last week. Add to that the fact that they sold 27,665 contracts of soybeans, and 4,444 contracts of bean meal. These sales, and these statistics, weigh heavily on the markets. More news We have said that all the major wheat-producing nations except France have had big crops. A Russian consulting company has raised its forecast of Russias wheat crop 2 MMT to 72 MMT. This is now equal to the USDA forecast, so it basically confirms what we already suspected. Oh, yeah, I forgot. The weather news this morning is for a large area of rain across the north. Along with this is a precipitation map for Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri that says the area will get over 3 inches of rain in the next week. That is enough to finish the crop, if needed. Hello, fall If we focus on crop progress instead of price-reducing news, it is interesting that fall has started in northeast Ohio. The first leaves are off the trees. The slight (am I imagining it) tint of yellow in the soybeans has given way to waves of yellow and fields that are predominantly yellow. Drive up state Route 11 and you notice that the green boundaries of the right-of-way are going off to yellow-green. The air conditioner is staying off at night, with temperatures in the low 50s. Especially for those in the wetlands of the north, it is encouraging to see harvest approaching. The thought of parking semis in the fields and running fast on the hard ground is wonderful to those of us who have ground out the crops in the mud. The first corn is being chopped by the dairymen, although it is mostly a matter of opening up fields so far. So, it is the time for anticipating the exciting harvest, which for most of us will be better than we expected in the dry spell of late June and early August. It is the time for hoping that there will be a time ahead when prices recover. It is the time to be glad that we are not farming farther west this year. Northcentral Ohio got nice rains in August, but the crop was hurt badly before that. Midwest spinach production explained in detail Learn how spinach performs in the Midwest and seasonal considerations in a new publication from ISU. CLA's 'New Opportunities' report: 'Better outcomes and reduced burdens' CLA's 'New Opportunities' report: 'Better outcomes and reduced burdens' Around 58,000 chickens were saved by firefighters after tackling a huge farm fire near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. A chicken shed roof caught on fire, prompting a number of crews from across Gloucestershire to tackle the blaze. About a third of the roof was severely damaged by fire but the firefighters were able to save the lives of all 58,000 chickens by using extractor fans to keep the smoke at a higher level close to the roof. The chicken shed was a single story building, which measured 90ft by 320ft. Stewart Edgar, chief fire officer at Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service, said: "Due to the quick thinking and intuition of our firefighters we were able to rapidly extinguish the fire and minimise the damage caused, which successfully ensured the safety of 58,000 chickens. "The welfare of the livestock and the business continuity were a key priority and we are pleased with the successful outcome." The fire service were called to the scene at about 8.30am and left about 3.15pm after salvaging the building. A growing number of major New Zealand and EU dairy companies are increasing their farmgate milk prices, following improvement in dairys global supply/demand balance. AHDB Dairy has said that New Zealand's two largest dairy co-operatives, Fonterra and Westland, have both raised their forecast farmgate prices for the 2016/17 season (ending May 2017). Fonterras forecast is up 12% to approximately 19ppl (NZ$4.75 per kg of milk solids), while Westlands has risen 4% to around 18-20ppl (NZ$4.55-4.95 per kg of milk solids). However, both companies still warn they expect further challenges and volatility over the coming months. In Europe, Friesland Campina has raised its guaranteed farmgate milk price by 5% for September, to nearly 22ppl (26.25 per 100kg). The company says this is based on the reduction in milk supply from the EU, combined with relatively stable demand. In France, Lactalis is also reported to have agreed to a price rise, following a series of farmer protests and discussions. The processor is expected to ensure an average of around 23.5ppl (27.5 eurocents per litre) is paid for milk supplied during 2016. To achieve this, it will need to increase its price to nearly 25ppl (29 eurocents per litre) for milk supplied between August and December. Over 1 million has been paid out by the government to more than 180 flood-hit farmers to help their business recovery after last winters storms. In total more than 9 million will be allocated to over 1000 farmers across Northern England as part of the Farming Recovery Fund set up by the government. The fund formed part of the response to the unprecedented flooding seen across the region last December in the wake of Storms Desmond and Eva. The funds have helped farmers to bring their land back to agricultural production through mending and replacing fences, stone walls and gates, clearing debris deposited on land, restoring damaged river banks, and reinstating field access. Farming Minister George Eustice said the Farming Recovery Fund was set up as part of a wider 250 million package of government support set up to help communities affected by the December floods. "I am delighted that over 1million of repairs have been completed and reimbursed by the government, helping flood-affected farmers get their businesses back on track to contribute to a thriving rural economy and world-leading food and farming industry," Mr Eustice said. RPA Chief Executive Mark Grimshaw said: "With over 1 million already paid to farmers who have claimed, I would encourage those who have had their applications approved, to send their claims for completed work to us before the end of December deadline." 'Cruicial in response to extreme weather' CLA North Rural Adviser Libby Bateman said similar recovery funds will be "crucial" in response to extreme weather in the future and there have been some issues with the Farming Recovery Fund that should be improved. "The priority is to create greater flexibility in the timings for carrying out work," Miss Bateman said. "With scheme guidance advising that work must not begin until an offer letter is received, some farmers have had to carry out time-critical work at the risk of not getting reimbursed. "Coupled with delayed BPS payments, this has put a great deal of additional pressure on farm finances. The implications of this situation will become clear as claims are considered. "There have also been issues with river bank work, where there has at times been a lack of consistency in Environment Agency advice. "The Environment Agency is bound by licence conditions that have been unworkable in these extreme circumstances, so this has created some challenges that should be reviewed for any future schemes," Miss Bateman said. Flooding at Camp House Farm, Lancashire Grants of up to 20,000 were available to farmers in Cumbria, Lancashire and Northumberland, Yorkshire, County Durham and Greater Manchester. Storm Desmond caused major flooding at Camp House Farm with unprecedented levels of water covering the land. It was assessed that at least 50% of the Applicants land was impacted by the flooding event. The floods damaged and destroyed a vast amount of fencing 1,500m, 5 field gates and gate posts. A considerable amount of debris was also deposited on the land which needed to be removed. Work also had to be undertaken to rebuild the washed out river banks, repair a blocked pipe, bridge and track. The Applicant was awarded a grant of 20,000 under the Farming Recovery Fund. All of the work except for 60m of replacement sheep netting was completed under contract. In total, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) received over 1100 applications by the close of the application window on 15 April 2016. All farmers who applied to the Farming Recovery Fund have been notified of the outcome of their application. The Agency is urging farmers to complete claims for repair work by 31 December 2016. Any farmer who is unable to meet the December deadline due to exceptional circumstances should contact the Rural Services Helpline. NFU Scotland is inviting its members to attend a free information day to provide them with key information to protect their property from fire and theft. The event, taking place at Gledpark Farm, Borgue, in Dumfries and Galloway on 29 September, has been organised by NFU Scotland in conjunction with Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS), Police Scotland, SP Energy Networks and NFU Mutual. As well as hearing from all the organisations involved about fire safety and farm security measures, attendees will be able to chat to representatives to gain advice about their individual needs. There will be a walk around the farm to provide practical advice regarding fire prevention, with tips on carrying out risk management as well as farm safety advice for working in the vicinity of power lines. Rupert Shaw, NFU Scotlands Regional Vice Chairman for Dumfries and Galloway, and host farmer for the event, commented: This practical walk and talk event will gives farmers the opportunity to receive valuable and practical advice to ensure their property is safeguarded against the potential of fire and theft. Our farms are laid out with the movement of livestock, machinery and storage of dangerous items for convenience, sadly this makes many vulnerable to opportunity thefts and other incidents. Having met with some of the victims of such crime in our region I'm very keen to support an event that will see the regions emergency services guide attendees through simple practical measures to reduce risk. For NFU Scotland members who would like to attend please call 0131 472 4000 with your membership number to book your place. Rural organisation CLA has said the government should avoid chaos and disruption by balancing the need for regulatory continuity. The government should grasp the opportunity to change specific EU regulations which work poorly for UK rural businesses, consumers and the countryside, said the CLA. The organisation, which represents 32,000 landowners, farmers and rural businesses, has published a new briefing paper on the EU regulations that affect rural businesses and land management. The paper underlines the importance of certainty and continuity of the majority of the regulatory framework, while also identifying a number of regulations which work poorly for the UK and should be replaced at the point of Brexit. These include the Three Crop Rule for farmers, Plant Protection Product licensing and the one-size-fits-all approach to Energy Performance Certificates. The new paper sets out how these regulations can be replaced with domestic alternatives that cut unnecessary red tape while delivering better outcomes for the rural economy and the environment. CLA President Ross Murray said that leaving the EU creates a "clear opportunity" to tackle the "worst" of the regulations 'Holding back growth' CLA President Ross Murray said that leaving the EU creates a "clear opportunity" to tackle the "worst" of the regulations established in Brussels that are "holding back growth" in the rural economy and environmental improvements in the UK. "The chance to improve regulations that have been imposed by the EU to tackle problems elsewhere in Europe was a key factor in the rural vote for Brexit," Mr Murray said. "We are looking to the Government to work with us in making the most of this opportunity for better outcomes both for rural businesses and the environment. "While Government should take these opportunities for swift improvement, it must avoid chaos and disruption by providing certainty about the regulatory framework as a whole. "In addition, the UK will still be bound by commitments to agreements such as the Bern Convention, and to trade within the single market we need to comply with the rules that underpin it," said Mr Murray. The CLA is proposing that Government establishes a legal backstop to ensure any EU law that has not been specifically altered or removed by the point of Brexit is automatically transferred into domestic law. Mr Murray continued: "In many areas the UK has led the EU towards better standards and the current regulations rural businesses work under should be maintained, pending longer-term review after Brexit has taken place. "However there are some clear opportunities for early improvements and we ask Government to ensure priority quick win changes are ready to be put in place at the point of Brexit." The National Pig Association (NPA) is hosting an industry summit in London on Monday to discuss what the future for the pig industry might look like. The small event, in Westminster, will bring together representatives from Government, retailers and processors, alongside pig producers. The aim is to start the process of devising a new industry strategy and to look at how the various strands of the industry can work together to achieve some common aims. The summit comes at a time of great uncertainty, but also opportunity, for the sector as the Government and industry work on post-Brexit strategies. The 40 delegates will hear from NPA chairman Richard Lister, AHDB Pork director Mick Sloyan and Promars John Giles, before breaking out into group discussions to start putting flesh on the bones of a new strategy. Topics covered will include: The value of assurance to the British pig industry The industrys key points of difference The opportunities and risks of Brexit What consumers and the supply chain demand from pork How the industry can best balance efficiency and productivity. NPA chief executive Zoe Davies said the summit was designed initially to be a small event to set out the basic pillars of a new strategy. She said: Once the initial draft strategy has been produced, we plan to open it out to the wider membership for comment and further discussion. These are uncertain times for agriculture, but along with challenges, there will be many opportunities for the British pig industry that we are keen to identify and take advantage of. In order to be able to do this however, the industry needs to be ready and will need to change in order to meet future consumer demands. Monday's summit will be followed by an NPA producer group meeting and the associations AGM on Tuesday. NFU Cymru members packed into a Monmouthshire barn this week to take part in the organisations first Brexit Roadshow consultation event. The roadshow sees NFU Cymru staff and officeholders travelling around Wales to engage with members to discuss what they would like to see from a future Welsh agricultural policy now that the UK has voted to leave the European Union. The Thursday 1st September event was held at North Court Farm, Redwick, Newport by kind permission of the James family and featured NFU President Meurig Raymond as a guest speaker. NFU Cymru staff presented a detailed run down of the process of leaving the EU and the different trade options available once Article 50 is triggered. NFU Cymru President Stephen James and Deputy President John Davies were also on hand to answer members questions about what could lie ahead for Welsh agriculture in a future outside the EU. The key topics raised by members included queries about possible trade deals, access to labour and the make-up of a future Welsh agricultural policy. Members also stated the importance of future expenditure on domestic support being on a par with their counterparts over the border in England and with EU member states. NFU Cymru President Stephen James, said: It was fantastic to see so many members attend the first of our Brexit Roadshows and contribute to an interesting debate about the direction Welsh agriculture needs to take for a productive, progressive and profitable future. Recent political events mean that the industry is approaching a crossroads, so it is important that members play an active part in this consultation by attending our meetings, filling in their Brexit questionnaires and ensuring their voice is heard so that we can move forward together at this crucial time. Sheep and cattle producers are being urged to vaccinate their stock before its too late, the British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA) warns. Defra is still predicting a significant risk of an outbreak of bluetongue in the UK by the end of the summer. "According to Defras latest bluetongue situation assessment there is currently a medium risk of an incursion of infected midges arriving in Britain from across the Channel, but a high risk by the end of the summer," said BCVA Senior Vice President Gareth Hateley. "Thankfully, bluetongue vaccine supplies are now readily available, so we are urging farmers to discuss their disease risk situation with their vet as soon as possible." Report Bluetongue immediately to the Animal and Plant Health Agency on 03000 200 301 Mr Hateley says that if the bluetongue virus does appear in Britain once again, the most significant impact on the UK sheep and cattle sector would be the enforcement of restriction zones of at least 150km (93 miles), from which susceptible animals would not be allowed to move to other parts of the country. "This would have significant implications for trade and animal welfare, so far better to take all available steps to try and prevent disease, rather than have to deal with an outbreak once it occurs," he said. "You simply cant guarantee that stock will not get bitten by infected midges," says MSD Animal Health technical manager John Atkinson. "This is why it is so important that all animals at risk have the necessary level of immunity to prevent the disease breaking out. Importance of vaccination Vaccination has been proven to control bluetongue, but the success of a vaccination programme is reliant on a high proportion of cattle and sheep farmers vaccinating their stock, particularly across southern England. "Widespread vaccination helped to prevent bluetongue gaining a foothold in Britain the last time the disease threatened our shores back in 2007/08," Mr Atkinson says. "Experience of that outbreak in Northern Europe tells us though that if the virus is not effectively controlled within a naive livestock population we are likely to see a dramatic increase in cases over successive seasons, with hundreds in the first season, thousands in the next and tens of thousands in year three." Mr Hateley adds that the results of a recent survey of bulk milk samples for antibodies to BTV8 taken from 200 dairy herds in the south and east of England should be interpreted with caution. "A high proportion (>80%) of the herds in this study did test seropositive for antibodies to the bluetongue virus; most likely due to historical vaccination and/or historical infection. "But these findings should not be interpreted as an indication that seropositive herds will be immune to the disease this time around: each positive bulk milk result could have been caused by just one or only a few animals in the herd having antibodies. "The herds are likely to have little immunity if the cattle remain unvaccinated," he warns. "What we do know though is that the most effective control measure against BTV8 is vaccination, so we are urging farmers to talk to their vet as soon as possible," Mr Hateley said. The business impact of flock health and welfare will be the focus of the third Sheep Health and Welfare Group (SHAWG) conference on Wednesday 16 November. The biennial event, which will be held at Six Ways Stadium in Worcester, will attract delegates from across the industry to discuss a range of subjects which affect British sheep enterprises. Expert speakers will lead sessions focused on improving flock performance, improving health and welfare through monitoring and making the most of medicines on farm. SHAWG is an independent body whose membership includes 19 organisations representing different aspects of the sheep industry from across Great Britain. The conference will mark the end of Peter Babers tenure as chairman of SHAWG and will see him pass the baton to incoming chairman Charles Sercombe. The conference is being sponsored by Agrimin, Animax, Bimeda, Elanco, MSD Animal Health, Strathclyde Nutrition, Virbac, Zinpro and Zoetis. Impact of health and welfare on flock Dr Liz Genever, Beef & Lamb senior scientist at AHDB, which provides the secretariat for SHAWG, said: "Every sheep producer needs to be considering the impact of health and welfare factors have on their flock and, ultimately, their bottom line. "This event is a great opportunity to receive an update on current work in this area and also to contribute to future activity which can benefit the whole industry. "We are very grateful to the sponsors for their support, which enables us to ensure the conference is a success. In the run up-to the event, SHAWG has produced its first Sheep Health and Welfare Report for Great Britain, which underpins many of the messages which will be delivered at the conference. Peter Baber said: "One of SHAWGs key roles is to coordinate industry initiatives in sheep health and welfare related activity. "We hope that the data and associated information contained in the report will encourage collaboration within the sector and help the industry develop some common health and welfare goals." A large number of Conservative MPs have urged Thersa May to pump billions of pounds of post-Brexit farm subsidies towards environmental matters. The 36 MPs wrote a letter to the PM, urging May to maintain a strong stance for protecting wildlife and water provided by EU directives. British farmers receive approximately 3billion a year through the EU's CAP. But the Tory MPs would like the PM to take advantage of the repatriation of CAP by shifting subsidies in favour of paying farmers for delivering services for the environment and public good. The Environment Secretary, Andrea Leadsom, will be in charge of directing a new subsidy scheme in a post-Brexit UK. Zac Goldsmith, MP for Richmond Park and North Kingston who ran for London Mayor, said Brexit is a 'massive opportunity' for our environment In August, the National Trust released a statement on a reform of farm support, proposing a system which is more environmentally friendly. The conservation organisation said that reforms are needed to "reverse decades of damage to the countryside we love." It called on government to put the "recovery" and "future resilience" of the natural environment at the heart of any funding system that replaces CAP. "Taxpayers should only pay public subsidy to farmers in return for things that the market wont pay for but are valued and needed by the public," said National Trust Director-General Dame Helen Ghosh. But the National Farmers Union hit back, saying the 'damaged countryside' isn't a picture many farmers, or visitors to the countryside, recognise. 'Massive opportunity for our environment' The Tory MPs who signed the letter include former environment ministers Caroline Spelman and Richard Benyon, the current chair of the environment, food and rural affairs select committee, Neil Parish, and Zac Goldsmith, member of the environmental audit select committee. The letter, obtained by the Guardian, reads: "Done properly, Brexit is a massive opportunity for our environment. "We are urging the PM to put existing EU environmental protections into British law and to honour the green manifesto commitments we made before the election in full. "But more than that, Brexit allows us to repatriate and reform the environmentally disastrous CAP to make sure farm subsidies are there to pay for environmental and public services. The upside is enormous," wrote Zac Goldsmith. May's environmental credentials thus far in her Premiership include banning plastic microbeads and expanding the controversial badger cull. The Conservative MPs who signed the letter are: Zac Goldsmith, Richard Benyon, Alex Chalk, Andrew Mitchell, Anne Main, Ben Howlett, Bernard Jenkin, Caroline Spelman, Charlotte Leslie, Cheryl Gillan, David Warburton, Derek Thomas, Flick Drummond, Heidi Allen, James Gray, Jason McCartney, Jeremy Lefroy, Jo Churchill, Kevin Hollinrake, Kit Malthouse, Marcus Fysh, Maria Caulfield, Matthew Offord, Neil Carmichael, Neil Parish, Nicolas Soames, Oliver Colvile, Paul Scully, Peter Bottomley, Richard Graham, Sarah Wollaston, Scott Mann, Stephen Hammond, Tania Mathias, Victoria Borwick, Will Quince. LEBANON Just in general, not too many businesses, no matter the type or area they serve, can say theyve lasted since the turn of the century. This is especially true for shoe repair shops, which have been trending as a dying breed. Fortunately, and maybe even more remarkably, for one Lebanon business, it has overcome those obstacles and will celebrate a milestone on Sept. 7. DiNunzios Shoe Repair, at 43 E. Cumberland St., is celebrating 100 years of serving Lebanon and its surrounding areas, now a four-generation family business. I think being a four-generation business helps. But because its down to us after there used to be eight shops in Lebanon, whats happened is the shoe industrys changed in different qualities, but weve changed with it, said owner Dave DiNunzio. Thats the main thing. Most of the time, this industry is passed on from generation to generation. DiNunzios Shoe Repair was started by DiNunzios grandfather, John, when he was 16 years old and had learned about shoe repair from DiNunzios great-grandfather, Nicola. The business was then passed to DiNunzios father before DiNunzio took over. The store fixes anything from high end shoes, to boots, and even character shoes. It also offers canvas repairs, as well as zippers and coat repairs. And because of other shoe repair shops closing, the Lebanon-based business is now bringing in customers from Reading in Berks County, getting three to five new customers a week, as well as Harrisburg in Dauphin County, and Lititz and Manheim in Lancaster County, and other surrounding areas. DiNunzio first started working in the industry with his dad at a young age as well, at 10 years old. We had shoe shine stands back then. A lot of guys used to come from the VA (Lebanon VA Medical Center), and Fridays and Saturdays were hopping back when Lebanon was a hopping town, he said. The veterans used to come in off the bus when we were located on Eighth Street to get a shoe shine. So wed always earn money that way. But before continuing in the business after college and then eventually buying the business in 1980, DiNunzio almost didnt follow in his ancestors footsteps. When I got out of high school, I went to college for business administration and accounting. My uncle told me people werent learning the trade and to stick with it, DiNunzio said. Sure enough, when I got out of college, they werent paying enough for accountants, so I just stuck with it. And from the moment he took over, DiNunzio never once thought his family business would ever go out of business. I never thought of the closing part. Its never been part of my thinking, he said. You see ups and downs, but it all comes around. DiNuzio also credits his wife, Karen, for the continued success. And her birthday also happens to be Sept. 7. She basically runs the front counter. Shes here a lot and couldnt have done it without her. Shes always by my side, he said. But with his children son, Michael, and daughter, Natalie deciding to work in other industries, and now 62, DiNunzio, in an effort to keep the century-old business alive, has brought in an apprentice, Charles Kuleda, who came over from working in the corporate world. I had gotten to know Charles four years ago doing a special buildup on his shoe. When he came in, he couldnt even walk. So I had been working with him and doing his shoes for several years, and he just came to me this year and asked if I would consider taking an apprentice. After some hard thinking, it would be terrible to close the business when Im 70 or 72, since thats whats happening. And working full-time for another 10 years or so is the goal for DiNunzio, but even then, itll be hard to keep him away. I cant sit still, he said. And as the triple-digit old business continues to grow, DiNunzio reflected on what family gone before him would think about it today. I would hope theyd smile down on it. They were glad and proud I kept everything going, he said. But its just hard to believe Ive actually been at this 51 years. Kuleda, along with DiNunzios son who does graphic design, is working on a new fully automated website for the business, which will be launched in the coming weeks. What was it like to be an Oath Keeper? John Zimmerman can tell you news Since its been seven months since the Iowa caucuses and itll be another three-plus years until that hell is fresh again, this is the best time to talk about ethanol. Just in case you didnt know, ethanol is very popular in Iowa and other corn states, which is why most presidential candidates swear once every four years that they love ethanol so much theyd marry a jug of it if they could. If only for a moment, loyalty to this government moonshine becomes as fraught with political symbolism as a gay wedding in which both grooms refuse to wear American flag pins while declining to stand for the national anthem in support of our troops. Thankfully, we dont have to worry about that for a little while, so lets tell the truth: Ethanol is stupid, wasteful and bad for cars (because its corrosive and inefficient), the economy and the environment. The main case for biofeuels is twofold. Its supposed to be better for the environment, particularly global warming, and lessen our dependence on foreign oil. The assumption was that converting plants into fuel was carbon neutral, and since we can do that at home, every gallon of oil we replace with corn is one less we have to buy from overseas. The fact that it also lines the pockets of agribusinesses and the politicians who love them is supposed to be a total coincidence and irrelevant to this good and noble policy. Nope. A new study from the University of Michigan confirms what pretty much everyone knew all along. Researchers found that biofuels actually create more greenhouse gases than simply using petroleum, because plants only absorb a fraction of the carbon dioxide released by burning the fuels in the first place. Moreover, ethanol production and distribution is energy-intensive, throwing off even more greenhouse gases. When you look at whats actually happening on the land, you find that not enough carbon is being removed from the atmosphere to balance whats coming out of the tailpipe, University of Michigan professor John DeCicco said. When it comes to the emissions that cause global warming, it turns out that biofuels are worse than gasoline. A study last year by the University of Tennessee found that in the decade since the U.S. imposed the Renewable Fuel Standard and after $50 billion in subsidies corn-based ethanol created more problems than solutions and hampered research on other kinds of biofuels. But even if you think, as I do, that caring for the environment means more than climate change, ethanol is a horror. Growing corn for inefficient fuel takes up farmland, raising food prices and encouraging deforestation. Science writer Matt Ridley has estimated that if all of our transport fuel came from biofuel, we would need 30 percent more land than all of the existing food-growing farmland we have today. All of the corn we grow requires vast amounts of fertilizer, which runs into our waterways and out to the Gulf of Mexico. Every year that runoff creates a massive and growing dead zone that kills sea life in one of our most valuable fisheries. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Organization, Habitats that would normally be teeming with life become, essentially, biological deserts. This years dead zone will be the size of Connecticut, researchers say. Meanwhile, in places such as Brazil, CO2-absorbing rainforests (among the biggest sources of biodiversity) are being clear-cut to make room for biofuel crops. The Nature Conservancys Joseph Fargione estimated a few years ago that converting rainforests, peatlands, savannas or grasslands for biofuels releases 17 to 420 times more CO2 than it offsets by displacing petroleum or coal. One hears a lot about the great jobs that ethanol creates here at home, but this is broken-window thinking. Frederic Bastiat famously explained in his essay on the broken window that its silly to talk about the jobs created by a broken window youve got to hire people to replace it, right? unless you also take into account that the money spent on a new window could have been spent on something more productive. Thanks to the shale oil revolution, America now has greater oil reserves than Saudi Arabia and Russia. Domestic oil production produces far more and far better paying jobs than ethanol production. Cheaper oil also cascades through the economy, creating more jobs. And were better at producing oil in an environmentally safe way than most other countries. When we take production offline, we are in effect subsidizing foreign production. But hey, the Iowa caucuses are important too. Jonah Goldberg is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a senior editor of National Review. You can email him at goldbergcolumn@gmail.com. OK, we get it. Companies should have effective compliance and ethics programs to fight all kinds of corporate crime and misconduct, including bribery. In particular, the fight against bribery is a prime example of this need to have companies do what they can to help end this scourge. There are good solid standards for what companies should do. The U.S. Sentencing Guidelines give us sound guidance on what is needed. The OECDs Good Practice Guidance (pdf) similarly provides practical advice. So governments have given us a clear direction on what to do. We know, too, that compliance and ethics the day-to-day work of preventing violations in our companies is the right thing to do. But there is a nasty little secret behind this conclusion. The legal system, which is supposed to help prevent business crime, actually undermines company compliance efforts. Instead of providing substantial incentives and recognizing the value of our work, there are strong undercurrents that undermine our efforts. In the four decades I have been doing compliance work I have seen these developments, often just accepted resignedly by our field. Instead of praise and recognition, our work is used against our companies or treated hostilely and without the slightest deference. Recently I was invited by the Rutgers University Law Review to submit an article on compliance, and I decided it was time to confront this issue. The article I have drafted, Joseph E. Murphy, Policies in conflict: Undermining corporate self-policing, 69 Rutgers U.L. Rev. 2 (forthcoming 2017), attacks this conflict head on. Here are the types of things I address: 1. Sacrificing compliance and ethics to litigation. Compliance program work can be and has been used against companies in litigation, even going so far as to have notes from compliance training used to assess punitive damages in an employment discrimination case. 2. The National Labor Relations Board has taken action against companies based on their codes of conduct and other employee guides. 3. EU privacy regulators have undercut compliance helplines and in some countries even bar anonymous employee reports. It can be illegal to allow an employee victim to report misconduct by the boss unless the employee discloses his or her own identity (thus making it easier for the boss to retaliate!). 4. EU competition enforcers (and courts, following their lead) have rejected in-house attorney-client privilege to get access to counsels legal advice to employees, undercutting counsels role in helping assure compliance. 5. EU enforcers also actually use companies compliance programs against the companies, and give no benefit for any program, no matter how rigorous. 6. A variety of other agencies and courts have taken actions making compliance programs more difficult or risky. There are certainly enforcers and agencies that take our work seriously. The Fraud Section of the Department of Justices Criminal Division has made it clear it considers compliance programs and will credit companies for good faith, diligent compliance work. The Canadian Competition Bureau is another example of an enforcement agency that values preventative efforts, and recognizes and promotes compliance programs. But elsewhere in the legal system you see courts and agency officials who have no regard at all for the importance of compliance and ethics work. To them it seems to be nothing more than some foolish diversion to be put down as unimportant. In the article I also discuss dangerous weaknesses I see in compliance programs, in part the result of these errant enforcement and judicial approaches. I believe we should not quietly accept these bad policies. In the article I propose a solution to balance other legitimate interests against the need to encourage and support corporate self-policing. The draft article is available on the SSRN http://ssrn.com/abstract=2827324. I welcome any comments you may have. ___ Joe Murphy is a Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional and author of 501 Ideas for Your Compliance and Ethics Program: Lessons from 30 Years of Practice (SCCE; 2008). He was co-founder and vice-chairman of the board of Integrity Interactive Corporation (now part of SAI Global). He serves on the board of the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE). He can be contacted here. One surefire way to spot an election year is to check Tim Kaines closet. If hes been rummaging around inside, looking for his clerical collar, someone is going to be voting in November. This time Kaine is being introduced to a new, nationwide electorate as the senator from Virginia joins Hillary Clinton on the Democrat ticket. Kaines role in 2016 is an expansion of his usual Virginia performance as designated Christian. His nationwide rollout as the theological counterpoint to Hillarys aggressively secular reputation generates unintentionally funny coverage. Kaines being a Christian and a Democrat is so novel, its newsworthy! The medias sympathetic coverage treats publicly announcing your belief in God as a disability that successful politicians work to overcome. Thats why a candidate caught with a church bulletin in his briefcase is geometrically more frightening to the Bernie Bros and the rest of the pagan Democrat base than Tim Kaine in a turban and a suspiciously bulky down jacket in August. Independents are the real target for Kaine and thats why hes being introduced to them like hes a man of the cloth. Already the Christian Science Monitor and National Public Radio have called him a devout Catholic and other publications talk about his [balancing his] catholic faith with Democrat politics. Yet somehow over the years when Kaines faith is weighed in that balance it always tilts toward Democrat orthodoxy and Christian heresy. The truth is Tim Kaine is a devout Catholic like Judas was a devout follower of Jesus. Judas willing participation in one big death ripped the curtain guarding the Holy of Holies, while Kaines equally willing participation in millions abortion deaths tears our social fabric today. Kaine finesses the Bible and his Catholic churchs prohibition against abortion with the same shuffle that Mario Cuomo tried in the 70s. Kaine claims to be strongly opposed to abortion, but according to the Monitor, he describes these convictions as personal beliefs. In accord with the Supreme Courts landmark Roe v. Wade ruling on abortion, he doesnt think the government has the right to dictate such an intimate decision for women. For Kaine, when it comes to deciding how he will respond to the life or death of the unborn a judicial robe trumps priestly vestments. Kaine is both wrong and actively misleading the public. Deciding to become a vegan is a personal belief. Belief in the sanctity of innocent life is being obedient to the call of Christ. A person who sincerely personally opposes abortion doesnt have a 100 percent voting record with the National Abortion Rights Action League and Planned Parenthood. Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis spent five days in jail defending the sanctity of marriage. Tim Kaine doesnt have the courage to cast five votes to defend the sanctity of life. There is nothing preventing Kaine from voting his conscience and opposing public funding for abortions. Or allowing Christian organizations to decide what medical procedures the company will cover, but Kaines votes are laid before the altar of abortion. There is nothing preventing Kaine from joining thousands of other Catholics during the Right to Life March, yet the event somehow never makes it on his calendar. The issues where Kaine does choose to highlight his flexible faith mark him as a Comintern Catholic who has adopted the Lefts social justice agenda. In Kaines view God needs to get with the program and move faster. Like ISIS, he wants to use the power of government inaugurate a paradise on earth, only without the public executions. If men wont change their hearts on their own Kaine, like Hillary, is happy to do it for them. Marvin Olasky talks about college students functioning in an environment hostile to their belief when he says: The milder form of surrender is to see the Bible as personally meaningful but irrelevant to public discussion. Thats also destructive to faith in Christs lordship. The same admonition applies to Kaine. Kaine is a Catholic as long as its convenient. But faith always takes a seat in the back of the bus when it starts to interfere with his career as a Democrat professional politician. Its time to tell Kaine he cant have it both ways. If his faith isnt strong enough to guide his voting record and his witness on issues that affect Gods kingdom, then he needs to leave his clerical collar in the closet and stop clinging to Jesus coattails. Michael Shannon is a commentator and public relations consultant, and is the author of A Conservative Christians Guidebook for Living in Secular Times. He can be reached at mandate.mmpr@gmail.com. Prince Harry was received by the President of Botswana yesterday (05.09.16). Prince Harry The 31-year-old royal met up with Ian Khama at the Presidential Palace in Gaborone, the country's capital and largest city, and the British High Commissioner to the nation, Katharine Ransome, was also in attendance. The Court Circular - the official record of past royal engagements - stated: "Prince Henry of Wales was received by The President of the Republic of Botswana at the Presidential Palace, Gaborone, Botswana, today. "Her Excellency Ms Katharine Ransome (British High Commissioner to the Republic of Botswana) was present." Harry has close ties with the country and in May it was announced the work of his Sentebale charity, which supports HIV positive youngsters in Africa, will be expanded to Botswana. He told guests at the Sentebale Polo Cup in Florida that he wanted to "give as much back" as he could to the country. He said: "This year, we are working with established partners and government departments elsewhere across southern Africa; and I'm delighted to confirm that we will be expanding our camp programme into Botswana, a country I have been visiting regularly for almost two decades and genuinely feel I need to give as much back to as I can. "We are confident that, in partnership with others and by maximising our use of the new centre, we will provide 1 million hours of support to children and young people living with HIV and Aids across the region by 2020. "That's an ambitious goal, but as I've already mentioned, the scale of the challenge demands bold action." Prince Harry will make an official visit to the Caribbean on behalf of Queen Elizabeth. Prince Harry Kensington Palace announced yesterday (05.09.16) the flame-haired royal will head to the region, where he will take in Antigua, Barbados, St Kitts and Nevis, Barbuda, St Lucia, Grenada, Guyana, St Vincent and the Grenadines, in late autumn. A post on their official Twitter account read: "Prince Harry will make an official visit to the Caribbean in the late autumn, on behalf of Her Majesty The Queen. "HRH will visit Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines." Harry will visit Barbados and Guyana to mark the 50th anniversary of independence for both countries, and it is the 35th year of independence for Barbuda and Antigua. It will not be the first time the 31-year-old royal has visited Barbados, having spent time there in 2010 as part of an official visit. During his travels, he raised money at a Haiti benefit concert and got involved with the event by dancing the calypso on stage. He told the audience at the time: "I can't believe I have let myself in for this. I think I'll just crowd dive instead." Harry's trip could have ended in disaster when he was thrown head-first off his horse during a charity polo match, but fortunately both he and the animal were unharmed. He also consumed spicy food with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, visited a local hospital and met legendary TV presenter Cilla Black, who has since passed away. She said at the time: "Harry said to me, 'I didn't know you were going to be here,' and I said, 'Well, surprise, surprise.' " Peter Capaldi is to guest star in the opening episode of 'Class'. Peter Capaldi The 58-year-old actor is to reprise the role of Doctor Who alongside former 'Coronation Street' actress Katherine Kelly in the new sci-fi spin-off, which is set to broadcast on BBC Three in October. In the show, written by Patrick Ness, a group of sixth formers are faced with the usual everyday stresses of teenagers - as well as the end of existence. A show insider told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "What sort of trouble must those kids get themselves in if they need the Doctor to come and bail them out?" Steven Moffat, the executive producer and lead writer of 'Doctor Who', has previously revealed 'Class' will be like a British version of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', promising it would be "dark and sexy and right now". The third episode of the upcoming series reportedly features a gay sex scene between one of the teenage characters and an older lover. Filming for the eagerly-awaited show wrapped at the weekend and Patrick has revealed he is keen for TV watchers to see the debut episode. He recently tweeted: "I put my heart into it. Can't wait for you to see it." Meanwhile, Steven previously confessed that the part of the iconic Time Lord was offered to a black actor before Peter took on the role. He said: "Two non-white leads would be amazing. In fact, a lot of people would barely notice. I certainly don't think there's ever been a problem with making the Doctor black, which is why it should happen one day. "Sometimes the nature of a particular show - historical dramas, for instance - makes diversity more of a challenge, but 'Doctor Who' has absolutely nowhere to hide on this." Fethiye Times has been following the progress of Sam Tucker, One Man Many Paths, and Dogan Eraslan, previous owner of Mozaik Bahce, as they prepared to kayak from Antalya to Fethiye to raise money for FIG (Fethiye International Group) a local childrens charity. Please click here and here to read our previous articles The adventure begins On Thursday 1st September, the big day finally arrived and the adventure began. Sam and Dogan, along with various supporters including Sheila Tongue, the Chairman of FIG, left from Fethiye on the first leg of their journey, the drive to Antalya. On arrival at Konyaalt Beach it was time to unload and pack the kayaks. Once the kayaks were packed and ready to go it was time to eat and relax before the journey began. Next on the agenda was an interview with the Turkish media. Surprise visit Thank you to Elvan Korukoglu (second from the left) from the British Vice-Consulate in Antalya for coming along to wish Sam and Dogan good luck. Time to go And then it was time to get the kayaks into the water. They were in the water and on their way at 16:15 Sherwood Club Kemer On Saturday Sam and Dogan stopped off at the Sherwood Club Kemer. Some information about the journey From Antalya ( Konyaalt Beach) to Fethiye is a distance of 170 nautical miles (315 km). Paddling from Antalya to Fethiye is against the natural current making it much more challenging as head winds and wave patterns can be unpredictable. The average kayaking speed is 3-4 km per hour Sam and Dogan covered 40km in the first four days of kayaking Further information To follow Sam and Dogans progress please visit and LIKE One Man Many Paths on Facebook If you would like to know more about FIG and the work they do please click here If you would like to sponsor Sam and Dogan in this fantastic effort please click here to make a donation to FIG A fabric touch tester and an imaging colour measurement system for textile and garment industry developed by Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA) have the potential to become industry testing and measurement standards in the textiles industry. A demonstration of these two technologies was viewed by a Hong Kong government official. The work of the HKRITA facilitates industrial upgrading and transformation, enabling enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, to move towards high value-added production. In addition, the development and adoption of technical standards and platforms, such as those in textiles testing and measurements, are also important for Hong Kong to have a strong influence on the development direction of the industries, said Nicholas W Yang, the secretary for innovation and technology, Hong Kong government during his visit to HKRITA. Speaking about the two technologies, Yang said, These are also important factors in driving re-industrialisation of Hong Kong, namely to attract high-value manufacturing activities in Hong Kong, which will provide better and diversified jobs for Hong Kong people. A fabric touch tester and an imaging colour measurement system for textile and garment industry developed by Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA) have the potential to become industry testing and measurement standards in the textiles industry. A demonstration of these two technologies was viewed by a Hong Kong government official.# The Hong Kong government is pushing forward to facilitate the realisation of R&D results, bringing them to the real world so that members of the public can feel that technology is closely related to everyday life and could help improve quality of living. It will continue to support the operation of the R&D centres for the commercialisation of R&D results for the benefit of the community. The HKRITA has been building up its core competencies for in-house research in the environmentally friendly technologies domain and the high performance materials domain. Partnering with overseas and Mainland universities/institutes as well as private companies, the HKRITA has been striving in the commercialisation of research outcomes both for the industry and the public sector, including designing a high-performance uniform for the Hong Kong rowing team and fencing team for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, and engaging non-government organisations to develop suitable textile-based solutions for their work with the elderly, people with disabilities and patients, like radio frequency identification-embedded tracking vests. Yang met the chairman of the board of directors of the HKRITA, Dr. Harry Lee, and the chief executive officer, Edwin Keh. He also toured the HKRITA's Bio-Functional Textiles Laboratory. (KD) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India More than 10,000 hectares of land will come under cotton cultivation in Nigeria's Ogun state, as the provincial government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with ArewaCotton Limited, an indigenous natural fibre company. The MoU has been signed with an aim to focus on production, processing as well as marketing of cotton in the state. The memorandum states that cotton farmers in Ogun would mandatorily sell their produce to ArewaCotton, Nigerian media reports said. As a result, investment opportunities of billions of naira are expected to be created. A ginnery will also be established in the state for faster buying of cotton. The Ogun government has agreed to give 10,000 hectares of land to the company for cotton cultivation in the beginning. As soon as cultivation starts on this land, ArewaCotton can apply to get more land to fulfill its hopes of ultimately having 20,000 hectares of land under cultivation. Ogun is now in a position to grow, spin and weave cotton as well as produce textiles for home furnishings, clothing and other uses. Thus, it can now exploit the complete cotton value chain and generate over tens of thousands of job opportunities. This partnership will also be helpful in boosting productivity and increasing foreign exchange earnings for cotton farmers in the state. Ibikunle Amosun, the state governor and professor Michael Olayiwole, the chairman of ArewaCotton signed the MoU recently at the Governor's Office in Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta. (KD) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Ring travellers producer Reiners + Furst (R+F) will show travellers for spinning yarns from various fibres like cotton wool and glass at ITMA Asia in hall H1, stand B30. Among which is a traveller for Siro-Compact technology, which has optimised geometry and new surface characteristics, with benefits of low yarn hairiness and longer traveller service life.According to the company, customers in China prefer the latest generation of Turbo rings especially for Compact and Siro yarns and already more than 2.5 million Turbo ring units are running successfully in the market. Ring travellers producer Reiners + Furst (R+F) will show travellers for spinning yarns from various fibres like cotton, wool and glass at ITMA Asia in hall H1, stand B30. Among which is a traveller for Siro-Compact technology, which has optimised geometry and new surface characteristics, with benefits of low yarn hairiness and longer traveller service life. # The enhanced surface allows increasing machine efficiencies by up to 10 per cent, especially when producing yarns from sensitive fibres or with higher spindle speeds, Reiners + Furst said.With regards to worsted spinning, R+F will introduce J-travellers for ring heights of 9.1 and 11.1 mm with enhanced surface for better performance of the spinning process and which is available in different shapes.For the processing of fibre glass, the German company is displaying the latest series of horizontal travellers for twisting of fine fibre glass filaments for ring heights of 9.5 and 4.8 mm. (AR) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Saudi Arabia based producer of petrochemicals Sadara Chemical has started up the first of its kind Saudi Arabia located mixed feed cracker (MFC). The MFC is made up of 12 furnaces, of which, seven will be used to crack ethane, while the rest will crack naphtha . Three of the five liquid furnaces are designed to switch between gas and liquid feedstock The MFC will allow Sadara to produce its own basic petrochemicals on-site to be subsequently converted in to value-added products through its up-stream manufacturing units. Saudi Arabia based producer of petrochemicals Sadara Chemical has started up the first of its kind Saudi Arabia located mixed feed cracker (MFC). The MFC is made up of 12 furnaces, of which, seven will be used to crack ethane, while the rest will crack naphtha. Three of the five liquid furnaces are designed to switch between gas and liquid feedstock. # It will also allow the company to adjust its production levels of petrochemicals between naphtha-based and ethane-based feedstock in accordance with market demand.Sadara's products will help fill a significant gap in a regional petrochemical industry dominated by commodity products, with less than 1 per cent of petrochemical production currently defined as specialty chemicals , Sadara CEO Ziad Al-Labban said.The introduction of the specialty petrochemicals and chemicals will help support the drive to broaden the secondary and tertiary petrochemical manufacturing landscape in Saudi Arabia, he added. (AR) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India The 007 actor, Daniel Craig, who has portrayed the character of classy British spy since 2005, has recently been offered a hefty sum of 1000 Crores to make his return to the James Bond franchise for another two films. "The studio is desperate to secure the actor's services while they phase in a younger long-term successor," said a source. However, Craig has made his intention clear about quitting the franchise and in no mood to return back in the famous tuxedo saying, he would rather slash his wrist than be back as James Bond. Despite all, Daniel Craig still remains as the first choice to play Bond, according to the sources. "Everyone knows how much executives adore him, and the idea of losing him at such a crucial time in the franchise isn't an option as far as all the studio honchos are concerned," the source added. "Daniel's the key for a seamless, safe transition as far as Sony and Bond bosses are concerned, and they're prepared to pay a king's ransom to make it happen." the source said. The franchise is looking to move on and pass the James Bond baton to a younger actor and consequently,the hunt is on. A few names are also doing rounds including Tom Hiddleston, Idris Elba and many others. But the franchise wants Daniel Craig for one last time in two more films. Have you picked up a Christian magazine recently? There are some good ones about. But quite often it seems that these magazines are produced by people who ... 6 years ago Actress Renee Zellweger, who had taken a six-year off from movies and her career, says her return to spotlight and acting was scary. Renee also said that she had some reservation about coming back in to the spotlight. "It was scary coming back," said Zellweger. The 47-year-old star, previously featured in Bridget Jones's Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. And now, she is back again to star in Bridget Jones's Baby. "Especially since I love this character and didn't want to disappoint anybody. I always feel a slight twinge of impostor syndrome when I go to work." She said. "It's an ever-present sentiment for me that I'll be thinking, 'Okay, this is the time I'm going to be discovered and fired', and after being away for so long, it was strong this time," she added. "But from the moment I read the script, I was reminded of how much I love Bridget and how much I love her family and her friends, so once I'd gotten past my fear, it was a very happy experience," said Zellweger. The Cold Mountain star also mentioned that she had fun pretending to be pregnant for her new movie. "The prosthetic baby bump was a substantial number, and it took a long time to put on and importantly, take off, so I wasn't drinking a lot of water because if I needed to go to the bathroom, everyone would have to wait a good 20 minutes for me to get back,' Zellweger added. Celebrated actor, Stanley Tucci, who is renowned for his role as Joshua Joyce in Transformers: Age of Extinction, is all set to reprise his role in the upcoming sequel to the movie. Tucci stated that he will be back in the character of Joshua Joyce in the next installment of the franchise titled as Transformers: The Last Knight, which just started its shooting with the actors Laura Haddock, Mark Wahlberg, and Anthony Hopkins. When being asked about another sequel being made of author Lauren Weisberger's Revenge Wears Prada, he said, "That's never going to happen." "That role was so great because it was so beautifully written and he was incredibly funny and there was a real substance to it. It was a truly great American studio movie in every way...perfect in every way," Tucci said. "Sometimes it's best just to leave things. If you try to redo it, let's face it, there are very few sequels that actually work," Tucci added. "Cinema is a collaborative art form. That collaboration is one that has brought us so many great films, but it's in that spirit of collaboration that we hope we can all move forward and I think in this way, politicians might have something to learn from artists," he concluded. Transformers: The Last Knight is the fifth installment of the series and is expected to hit theaters in June 2017. TAIPEI, TAIWAN -- (Marketwired) -- 09/05/16 -- Digital Taipei, hosted by Industrial Development Bureau (IDB), will be held from September 7th to 9th, on the 2nd floor at the TWTC Exhibition Hall 1. This year, with the theme of S.M.A.R.T. (Smart, Mobile, App., VR/AR, and Technology), Digital Taipei has expanded the event to three days for the first time. To also focus on the development of digital content industry and the global trend, 4 exciting activities "International Forum", "Achievement Display", "Business Matchmaking" and "Special Event" are organized in order to facilitate industry exchange and business corporation. Gathering great speakers to share experience and trend The forum will kick off on the first day of the event. The all-star speakers are invited from major international exhibitions. Mr. Levi Buchanan, the keynote speaker from Chillingo, Electronic Arts, who has rich experience in mobile game development and distribution, will share how to accurately gain immediate understanding and control of the product's risks, and opportunities at development stage. Of course, the hottest topic on AR, VR games, is also on the international forum agenda. Mr. Greg Madison of Unity Technologies, with a background in magician design, dives into UX design and strives to integrate all interactive mechanisms to connect seamlessly with the real world, where virtual and real worlds are completely integrated. Matchmaking for buyers from multi-countries creating 2 billion NTD business Industrial Development Bureau, MOEA, has been hosting Digital Taipei annually since 2009, striving to establish a B2B digital content exhibition platform that connects Taiwan with Asia and the rest of the world. Local companies are given the opportunities to learn about the latest technology and market trends, while showcasing their strengths on the global stage. Moreover, both international buyers and local companies can carry out rapid and effective discussions through our one-on-one business matchmaking sessions. Every year, Digital Taipei attracts over 200 international buyers from Southeast Asia, Europe, US, Japan, South Korea, and Mainland China, generating international strategic businesses worth over NTD 2 billion. "Digital Taipei" has the mission to effectively build an international B2B exhibition platform, introduce innovative technology and applications, and create a new digital economic model to continue driving Taiwan's development into the center of Chinese digital content industry. Looking ahead, users will be both the consumers and providers of contents, and service providers will be the users and innovators of the contents. Through strategic collaboration with international companies, we will be able to accelerate the process of bringing Taiwan's digital products and related applications onto the global stage. We sincerely invite you to join us to create unlimited business opportunities, and to participate this wonderful annual event that you simply cannot miss! The release has been provided by IDBMEA. Digital Taipei 2016 information Date of the Event Sep. 7th, 2016 (Wed) to Sep. 9th, 2016 (Fri) Venue Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall 1 (2F., No.5, Sec. 5, Xinyi Rd., Xinyi Dist., Taipei City, Taiwan) Website http://www.dgtaipei.tw/ Contact Ms. Grace Tsou gracet@mail.tca.org.tw About Digital Taipei Preparatory Committee This is the 8th consecutive year of Digital Taipei since 2009. In the past few years, the event has continuously exerted in shaping Taiwan into an international exchange platform for digital content in the Asian Pacific region. In addition to further creating opportunities by showcasing domestic products on an international level, it is also our hope that latest news and trends in this industry can be exchanged, international strategic business alliances can be found and that new contacts and friendships among people in this industry can be established. Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3051869 Contact Digital Taipei Preparatory Committee +886-2-2577-4249 extension 803 Grace Tsou Grace Email: Email Contact MISGAV, Israel, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Gordian Surgical, a portfolio company of The Trendlines Group, received CE clearance for its TroClose1200', an innovative trocar with integrated closure system for the suturing of abdominal wall incisions during laparoscopic surgical procedures. The Company announced the completion of registration and receipt of CE approval to begin marketing the TroClose1200. Together with this certification, Gordian also received ISO13485 certification. Gordian Surgical's TroClose1200 acts both as a trocar, through which surgical instruments enter the abdomen, and to close internal incisions made during surgery, delivering "two-in-one" functionality. Currently, surgeons insert sutures in a time-consuming and difficult process at the end of the procedure or they close internal incisions with the use of an additional device. Using the TroClose1200's uniquely designed release mechanism, sutures are inserted into the tissue at the beginning of the procedure and anchored to remain in place throughout the operation, allowing incisions to be closed easily and quickly upon removal of the TroClose1200. Gordian has started human trials to demonstrate safety and efficacy and has, to date, performed 34 successful laparoscopic procedures using the TroClose1200, including hysterectomy, cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal), hernia repair, and sleeve gastrectomy. The surgeries were performed by four different surgeons in two medical centers in Israel and abroad. Gordian expects to complete 50 additional procedures as part of the trial by the end of 2016. Gordian CEO Zvi Pe'er remarks: "Receiving CE Mark certification allows us to move to the next phase and start sales, a critical step in our development. We expect to begin sales during the first half of 2017." Gordian Surgical has raised approximately $3 million from The Trendlines Group, Pirveli Ventures (a Canadian foundation operating in Israel), Chinese investment fund Virtus Inspire Ventures, Israel's Office of the Chief Scientist, and private investors, including renowned Israeli and American surgeons. Contact: Zvi Peer, zpeer@gordiansurgical.com, +972-50-4203333 6 September 2016 Altona Energy plc ("Altona" or "the Company") Arckaringa Joint Venture Update Altona (AIM: ANR) is pleased to announce that Altona, Sino-Aus Energy Group Limited ("Sino-Aus") and Wintask Group Limited ("Wintask") (together the "JV Partners") have entered into a Deed of Variation with Arckaringa Coal Chemical Joint Venture Company Co Pty Ltd ("JV Company") modifying the terms of the Current JV Agreement that was originally announced on 14 November 2014 with subsequent changes being announced on 5 November 2015. Further to the announcement made by the Company on 28 July 2016 the Deed of Variation gives effect to the changes now agreed between the JV Partners: the main amendments are detailed below. Sino-Aus Second Tranche Subscription for Altona Shares As announced on 28 July 2016 the JV Partners agreed that the second tranche subscription for Altona shares by Sino-Aus be re-negotiated given the requirement for the JV Company to obtain a Petroleum Exploration Licence ("PEL") before work can commence at the Arckaringa Project. The revised terms of the second tranche subscription are now as follows: Sino-Aus is to subscribe in cash 180 days from the Effective Date (as defined below) for 100 million Altona Shares: (i) at the average market price per share during a specified period preceding the Effective Date; or (ii) such other subscription price (if any) as shall have been agreed in writing between Sino-Aus and Altona. Returned Funds The AUD$5 million temporarily returned to Sino-Aus by the JV Company will be repaid to the JV Company within 90 days of the Effective Date. The Effective Date is the earliest date on which the following conditions precedent are satisfied: (i) The continuance in force and effect of all necessary Australian Government consents which have been granted or issued prior to the date of the Deed of Variation and which relate to any of the transactions contemplated by the JV Agreement or the Arckaringa Project. (ii) The acquisition by the JV Company by whatever means of a PEL applicable to the Licensed Area or such part or parts of it as the JV Company may accept. (iii) Receipt by the parties of written confirmation from WSP-Parson Brinkerhoff that the JV Company has the necessary permits, including a PEL, to permit it to exploit coal deposits using UCG technology. (iv) The grant or issue of any additional Australian Governmental consents which may be necessary to implement the Arckaringa Project. Further Contributions to the JV Company Subject to satisfaction of the Conditions Precedent, the Second Contribution by Sino-Aus (AUD $5.4 million, or such lesser figure as the Board of the JV Company may determine subject to a minimum of AUD $4.86 million) and the Second Contribution by Wintask (AUD $600,000), into the JV Company, will take place 180 days from the Effective Date or such earlier date as the Board of the JV Company may determine. The Third and Fourth Contributions by Sino-Aus and Wintask are payable in accordance with the current JV Agreement. Qinfu Zhang, Altona Energy's Executive Chairman, commented: "We are very pleased to have agreed the terms of the Deed of Variation with our Joint Venture Partners and in particular we welcome the continued support from Sino-Aus. The focus of the JV Company is now to secure the necessary PEL so we can commence work on the Arckaringa Project." This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No 596/2014. Related Party Transaction Both Wintask and Sino-Aus are related parties of Altona, as both companies are substantial shareholders in Altona and the revised joint venture terms constitute a related party transaction as defined by Rule 13 of the AIM Rules for Companies. Accordingly, the independent directors, being Phil Sutherland and Nick Lyth, having consulted with the Company's Nominated Adviser, Northland Capital Partners Limited, consider that the terms of the Deed of Variation are fair and reasonable in so far as the Company's shareholders are concerned. For further information, please visit www.altonaenergy.com or contact: RAMAT GAN, Israel, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In Addition, European Women Found to Have Higher Sleep Scores than Men EarlySense, the market leader in contact-free continuous monitoring solutions, released today sleep scores gathered from a sample of 900 Europeans using an EarlySense-powered sleep sensor for six months. Data recordings from more than 20,000 nights were analyzed. Originally designed for hospitals, EarlySense's contact-free health monitoring sensor detects more than 50,000 data points every night to provide users with a precise picture of overall health. "Nighttime is the best time to monitor our health because it builds a clear baseline in which fluctuations can be quickly detected," said Avner Halperin, CEO of EarlySense. "Any changes or abnormal readings indicate if we are getting healthier and in better shape, or provide advanced warnings of health disorders, including breathing disorders, fever or cardiac events." The data indicates that Italians have the highest sleep quality scores, with an average of 71.9. The British follow, at 65.4; Germans are next, at 65.1; and the French sleep most poorly, with an average score of 60.4. The data also shows that, as expected, breathing interruptions are identified more in overweight people and more in men than in women. Women sleep better in each of the four countries analyzed, with average sleep scores as follows: Italy : 83.4 : 83.4 Germany : 69.0 : 69.0 Great Britain : 67.6 : 67.6 France : 61.9 Sleep score is determined by a combination of seven contributors, which typically reflect the subjective feeling of one's sleep, including total sleep time (TST), sleep efficiency (SE), amount of deep sleep, time to fall asleep (Sleep Latency) and number of awakenings during the night. "Sleep is crucial to our health, and identifying sleep disorders and breathing disorders in sleep is of paramount importance," said Prof. Asher Tal, Founder and previous Head of the Pediatric Pulmonary Unit and Sleep Center at Soroka Medical Center. "In a recent letter to the prestigious 'Sleep' scientific journal, the authors noted the huge opportunity to improve care by tracking sleep at home with wearable devices. Now, we may be able to take that a step further with medically-proven sensors that face no compliance challenges." Placed under a mattress, the contact-free EarlySense sensor communicates with a dedicated smartphone app to track users' heart rate, respiratory rate and body motion. Employing advanced algorithms, data is used to measure and analyze sleep patterns and overall health stability. Additional data findings include: Overweight users (BMI>30) had an 8% lower sleep score than those who were not overweight. AverageTime to Fall Asleep: Men: 19 minutes; Women: 17 minutes Age: over 70: 20 minutes; 50-70: 18 minutes; Under 50: 19 minutes British: 20 minutes; German: 18 minutes; French: 19 minutes; Italian: 18 minutes Average Total Time Slept (hours: minutes): Men: 6:30; Women: 6:49 Age: over 70: 6:27; 50-70: 6:39; under 50: 6:34 British: 6:51;German: 6:36; French: 6:21; Italian: 6:48 "Good sleep is a pillar of good health, and awareness is the first step toward improvement. Our solution is quickly gaining traction, helping people sleep better while improving their wellbeing," added Halperin. EarlySense is showcasing its technology at IFA 2016 in Berlin - Hall 7.2c/111. NOTE TO EDITORS: If you would like a complete copy of the European sleep data findings, please contact those listed at theend of this news release. About EarlySense EarlySense provides contact-free, continuous monitoring solutions for the medical and consumer digital health markets. EarlySense's patented sensor and advanced algorithms monitor and analyze cardiac, respiratory, sleep and motion parameters. Used in hospitals and healthcare facilities worldwide, EarlySense assists clinicians in early detection of patient deterioration, helping to prevent adverse events, including code blues, preventable ICU transfers, patient falls and pressure ulcers. The myEarlySense smart home-compatible consumer solution brings hospital-proven technology to the home, providing valuable data regarding wellness and sleep. myEarlySense OEM technology is at the core of wellness and sleep products marketed by international partners including Samsung, Beurer and iFit. For more information, please visithttp://www.EarlySense.comandhttp://www.myEarlySense.com. Follow EarlySense onLinkedIn,TwitterandFacebook. Media Contact: Ellie Hanson Finn Partners +1-929-222-8006 ellie.hanson@finnpartners.com Company Contact: Hila Peleg +972-54-527-3117 hila.peleg@earlysense.com BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - At 3:30 am ET Tuesday, Germany's construction PMI for August is due to be released. Ahead of the data, the euro showed mixed trading against its major rivals. While the euro rose against the U.S. dollar and the Swiss franc, it fell against the yen. Against the pound, the euro held steady. As of 3:25 am ET, the euro was trading at 0.8367 against the pound, 1.0940 against the Swiss franc, 1.1166 against the U.S. dollar and 115.38 against the yen. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Switzerland's consumer prices continued to decline in August, the Federal Statistical Office said Tuesday. Consumer prices slid 0.1 percent year-on-year in August, slightly slower than the 0.2 percent decrease seen in July. The annual pace of decline matched economists' expectations. A similar pace of slower decrease was last seen in November 2014. Prices have been falling since late 2014. Consumer prices dropped 0.1 percent as expected in August from the prior month, when it declined 0.4 percent. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Program Expands to Support Insurtech Ventures, as New Data Shows UK investment surge Applications are now being accepted for Accenture's (NYSE:ACN) fifth annual FinTech Innovation Lab London, a 12-week program that helps early- and growth-stage fintech companies accelerate product and business development by providing mentorship and exposure to decision-makers at top financial institutions. Fintech entrepreneurs developing cutting-edge products, services and technologies are invited to apply now until Oct. 9 at FinTech Innovation Lab London 2017. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160906005608/en/ Graphic: Business Wire. This year's Lab is being expanded to select 20 startups and, for the first time, will include a dedicated stream for insurtech entrepreneurs. This reflects the rapid rise of insurance technology ventures in recent years, with new data from Accenture highlighting a surge in UK insurtech investment to over $22 million as of 31st August 2016, up from $250,000 at the same point last year. This early indication of Q3 2016 activity shows investment is nearly three times the total UK investment made in 2015 (approx. $8 million). "Innovation is borderless," said Julian Skan, Accenture managing director for Financial Services. "Like London itself, the Lab has become a heathy ecosystem for global fintech innovation, attracting applicants from more than 33 countries since we launched in 2012. There are few industries that need innovation more than financial services, which is why firms must keep their foot on the pedal with digital technologies. At the same time, even the nimblest of startups have much to learn from financial institutions, regulators and larger tech companies." The financial institutions participating in the London Lab include Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Intesa Sanpaolo, JPMorgan Chase, Lloyds Banking Group, Morgan Stanley, Nationwide Building Society, RBS, Santander and UBS. Participating global insurers supporting the program will be unveiled in January. Startups will partner with senior-level financial services executives who will help them fine-tune and develop their technologies and business strategies. The Lab begins in January 2017 and entrepreneurs will ultimately present their business cases at a Graduation Day in March in front of an audience of venture capitalists and financial-industry executives. As a supporter of the Lab, Nationwide Building Society recently completed successful testing of release management software from startup Cutover, one of the 2016 finalists of the FinTech Innovation Lab London. "Technology is rapidly changing our relationship with money and our financial services providers. Nationwide is committed to move with pace and confidence to deliver innovations which enable our members to get more from their money," said Matt Cox, Head of Insight Innovation at Nationwide Building Society. "So we are proud to support Accenture's FinTech Innovation Lab for the third year and it is always exciting to see the cutting edge propositions from the start-ups. We look forward to forming new relationships with the next generation of FinTech start-ups whilst nurturing existing collaborations with 'graduates' of the programme." "Fintech continues to be a highly attractive sector for investors," said Eileen Burbidge, HM Treasury's Special Envoy for FinTech. "It's vital that the UK continues to grow the fintech economy by creating conditions where startups and financial services can work together in an ecosystem that boosts the global economy. This Lab and other industry initiatives show that the UK continues to be very open for business and home to innovation. The growing sector will undoubtedly unlock a wealth of opportunities for both financial institutions and entrepreneurs alike." Since its launch, 36 start-ups have participated in the London Lab, securing more than 50 contracts with global banks and increasing revenues by 170 percent. Globally, the Labs' alumni companies have raised more than US$370 million in financing after participating in the program. The FinTech Innovation Lab London, launched by Accenture in 2012, is a mentorship program for entrepreneurs that are developing innovative and disruptive technologies for the financial services sector - particularly in the areas of big data; analytics and cognitive computing; security and identity management; risk management and compliance; digital marketing and social media; cloud; payments; blockchain technology; talent management; and, Internet of Things applications. The London Lab is modelled on a similar program that Accenture co-founded in 2010 with the Partnership Fund for New York City, the US$115 million investment arm of the Partnership for New York City (www.pfnyc.org). In 2014, Accenture launched FinTech Innovation Labs in Asia-Pacific and Dublin, Ireland. About Accenture Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries and all business functions underpinned by the world's largest delivery network Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders. With more than 375,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com. Copyright 2016 Accenture. All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160906005608/en/ Contacts: Accenture Petra Shuttlewood, 44 7788 305373 petra.shuttlewood@accenture.com or Natalie De Freitas Natalie.de.freitas@accenture.com BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - At 5:00 am ET Tuesday, Eurostat releases Eurozone's final GDP data. According to preliminary estimate, the economy expanded 0.3 percent sequentially in the second quarter. Ahead of the data, the euro showed mixed trading against the other major currencies. While the euro rose against the greenback and the franc, it fell against the yen. Against the pound, the euro recovered. The euro was worth 1.1163 against the greenback, 115.36 against the yen, 1.0941 against the franc and 0.8370 against the pound as of 4:55 am ET. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Shemos Rabbah (52:03) The story is told of R. Simeon b. Halafta, that he once came home just before the Sabbath and found that he had no fo... Important!! email - yadmoshe@gmail.com plista, a one-stop provider of data-driven native advertising, is acquiring Linkpulse, one of the leaders in real-time content analytics. By doing so, plista will be able to provide its publisher partners with state of the art technology to understand how to maximize on-site traffic and engagement with their content. Linkpulse's technology will also be incorporated into plista's core platform to power new native advertising solutions and increase publishers' revenue. Linkpulse allows publishers to track the performance of their articles across all devices in real time via customized dashboards and alerts. The functionality of Linkpulse goes beyond content analytics, making it easy for editors to test any desired number of headlines and images in real time. Linkpulse determines the highest performing combinations and can automatically optimise front page traffic. This allows high-traffic publishers to reach their audience goals and maintain high levels of engagement around the clock. The acquisition of Linkpulse is another key milestone for plista and reinforces the company's position as a leading provider of data-driven native advertising solutions. By leveraging Linkpulse's A/B testing approach, plista will be able to optimize the delivery of native advertising campaigns and to increase overall publisher eCPM. plista and Linkpulse have worked closely together as partners over the past two years. By incorporating the Linkpulse technology into the plista service offering, today's deal strengthens plista's position as a one-stop partner for publishers wanting to get the most out of their content from an engagement and monetization perspective. "With the integration of Linkpulse we offer publishers a state of the art technology with which they can improve the user experience and stickiness of their websites and increase their turnover for the long-term," said Jana Kusick, global managing director at plista. "At the same time, we are strengthening our international position by combining our resources and benefiting from Linkpulse's existing partnerships with large publishers, particularly in Scandinavia." "plista is the ideal partner for mutual global growth," said Tarjei Gilbrant, managing director of Linkpulse. "We are very pleased about the next stage of our cooperation and excited for the possibilities opened by the deeper integration of our respective technology platforms." About plista plista is a pioneer in innovative solutions for native advertising and content distribution in premium environments. With its data-driven platform, the Berlin company has been successfully bringing advertisers and media together since 2008 and is one of the leading international providers in its segment. With its proprietary real-time recommendation technology, plista is able to supply both content and advertising that suits the interests of the individual user across all channels and devices. Publishers benefit from longer user visit duration, increased traffic and the additional monetization of their digital products. By using plista's native ad formats, advertisers are able to address users seamlessly and efficiently along the entire sales funnel. The company currently has over 180 employees and is active in 17 international markets with additional in planning. About Linkpulse Linkpulse is one of the leading real-time content analytics providers on the market and was developed especially for the requirements of high traffic news websites. More than 120 publishers across Europe already use Linkpulse; the company with headquarters in Oslo is the market leader in the Nordics. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160906005651/en/ Contacts: Harmonica plista Peter Epstein or Adrian Brophy +1 323-251-3567 or +44 (0)7590 572 405 peter@harmonica.co or adrian@harmonica.co or plista Milko Malev Head of Marketing Communications +49 30 4737537-841 milko.malev@plista.com plista.com |Careers |Blog |Facebook |Google+ |Twitter |Xing |LinkedIn Former VP at SK Hynix and ST-Ericsson joins LTE for IoT chip leader Leading LTE for IoT chipmaker Sequans Communications (NYSE: SQNS) has appointed Nick Taluja to the position of vice president, worldwide sales, where he will manage Sequans' global sales organization, including regional operations in USA, Asia, and Europe. Nick brings to Sequans more than 20 years of broad range experience in sales and marketing at leading semiconductor companies in the mobile, communication, industrial and automotive markets. "We are very pleased to have Nick join our executive team," said Georges Karam, Sequans CEO. "Our customers will benefit from his extensive knowledge of global semiconductor markets and our company will benefit from his significant sales management and customer service experience." Taluja was most recently vice president of sales at SK hynix, a leading supplier of DRAM and Flash memory solutions, where he led the sales organization for the Americas. Prior to SK hynix, Taluja led the Americas' sales and marketing organizations at ST-Ericsson, the former multinational supplier of wireless semiconductor products, including LTE solutions. Earlier, Taluja spent several years at Texas Instruments. "I am excited to be part of the Sequans team and lead the worldwide sales organization," said Taluja. "What they have accomplished in becoming the first to market with optimized LTE solutions for IoT markets is truly exceptional and I look forward to working with Sequans' global teams to drive the next chapter in the company's growth." About Sequans Communications Sequans Communications S.A. (NYSE: SQNS) is a 4G chipmaker and leading provider of single-mode LTE chipset solutions to wireless device manufacturers worldwide. Founded in 2003, Sequans has developed and delivered six generations of 4G technology and its chips are certified and shipping in 4G networks, both LTE and WiMAX, around the world. Today, Sequans offers two LTE product lines: StreamrichLTE, optimized for feature-rich mobile computing and home/portable router devices, and StreamliteLTE, optimized for M2M devices and other connected devices for the Internet of Things. Sequans is based in Paris, France with additional offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, and China. Visit Sequans online at www.sequans.com; www.facebook.com/sequans; www.twitter.com/sequans. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160906005550/en/ Contacts: Sequans Communications S.A. Media relations: Kimberly Tassin, +1-425-736-0569 Kimberly@sequans.com or Investor relations: Claudia Gatlin, +1-212-830-9080 claudia@sequans.com OTTAWA (dpa-AFX) - Enbridge Inc. (ENB, ENB.TO) and Spectra Energy Corp (SE) announced that they reached a definitive merger agreement under which Enbridge and Spectra Energy will combine in a stock-for-stock merger transaction, which values Spectra Energy common stock at approximately C$37 billion or US$28 billion, based on the closing price of Enbridge's common shares on September 2, 2016. Upon completion of the Transaction, Enbridge shareholders are expected to own approximately 57 percent of the combined company and Spectra Energy shareholders are expected to own approximately 43 percent. The combined company will be called Enbridge Inc. The combination will create the largest energy infrastructure company in North America and one of the largest globally based on a pro-forma enterprise value of approximately C$165 billion or US$127 billion. The Transaction was unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017, subject to shareholder and certain regulatory approvals, and other customary conditions. As per the terms of the Transaction, Spectra Energy shareholders will receive 0.984 shares of the combined company for each share of Spectra Energy common stock they own. The consideration to be received by Spectra Energy shareholders is valued at US$40.33 per Spectra Energy share, based on the closing price of Enbridge common shares on September 2, 2016, representing an approximate 11.5 percent premium to the closing price of Spectra Energy common stock on September 2, 2016. The combined company's C$74 billion (US$57 billion) organic growth platform is expected to support a highly visible dividend growth rate of 10-12 percent through 2024, including an anticipated aggregate increase of 15 percent in 2017 post closing, while maintaining a conservative payout of 50-60 percent of available cash flow from operations or ACFFO. The combination is expected to achieve annual run-rate synergies of C$540 million or US$415 million, the majority of which should be achieved in the latter part of 2018. In addition, approximately C$260 million or US$200 million of tax savings can be achieved through utilization of tax losses commencing in 2019. Upon closing of the Transaction, Al Monaco, President and Chief Executive Officer of Enbridge will continue to serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of the combined company. Greg Ebel, President and Chief Executive Officer of Spectra Energy, will serve as non-executive Chairman of Enbridge's Board of Directors. Enbridge's Board of Directors is expected to have a total of 13 directors consisting of 8 members designated by Enbridge, including Mr. Monaco, and 5 members designated by Spectra Energy, including Mr. Ebel. The headquarters of the combined company will be in Calgary, Alberta. Houston, Texas will be the combined company's gas pipelines business unit center; Edmonton, Alberta will remain the business unit center for liquids pipelines, with gas distribution continuing to be based in Ontario. On closing the Enbridge common shares to be issued in connection with the Transaction will be listed on the TSX and NYSE. Spectra Energy common stock will be delisted from the NYSE. Enbridge expects the Transaction to be neutral to its 12 percent to 14 percent secured ACFFO per share CAGR guidance through the 2014-2019 time period, and strongly additive to its growth beyond that timeframe. Enbridge is committed to maintaining the financial strength of the combined company. The funding program is designed to ensure strengthening of the balance sheet with the objective of maintaining strong investment grade credit ratings. Enbridge expects it will divest of approximately $2 billion of non-core assets over the next 12 months to provide additional financial flexibility. At closing, Enbridge Energy Partners, LP and Spectra Energy Partners, LP are expected to continue to be publicly traded partnerships headquartered in Houston, Texas. Enbridge Income Fund Holdings will remain a publicly traded corporation headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. The Transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017 subject to the receipt of both companies' shareholder approvals, along with certain regulatory and government approvals. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- The Honourable Judy Foote, Minister of Public Works and Procurement, on behalf of the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, will be at Memorial University of Newfoundland to announce infrastructure funding for the university and to highlight the benefits of the Government of Canada's Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund. Date: Tuesday, September 6, 2016 Time: 10:30 a.m. (NT) Location: Memorial University of Newfoundland St. John's Campus R. Gushue Hall, Junior Common Room Irwin's Road St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador Follow Minister Bains on social media. Twitter: @MinisterISED Contacts: Philip Proulx Press Secretary Office of the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development 343-291-2500 Media Relations Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada 343-291-1777 ic.mediarelations-mediasrelations.ic@canada.ca WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Danaher Corp. (DHR) Tuesday said it has signed a definitive merger agreement to acquire Cepheid (CPHD) for $53 per share in cash, or a total enterprise value of approximately $4 billion including indebtedness and net of acquired cash. The offer represents approximately a 54 percent premium to Cepheid's common stock over the closing price on September 2. Danaher expects the acquisition to be moderately dilutive to net earnings per share and approximately $0.05 accretive to adjusted net earnings per share in the first full year post acquisition. In the fifth full year post acquisition, the Company expects the acquisition to be approximately $0.30 accretive to adjusted net earnings per share. The acquisition has been unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of each company, and the Cepheid Board of Directors has unanimously recommended its shareholders to approve the transaction. The deal is expected to be completed around the end of calendar year 2016. Sunnyvale, California - based Cepheid is an innovative global molecular diagnostics company and will become part of Danaher's $5 billion Diagnostics segment, joining the Company's Beckman Coulter, Leica Biosystems and Radiometer businesses. Cepheid generated annual revenues of $539 million in 2015 and expects to generate $618 to $635 million in revenues in 2016. Danaher's President and CEO, Thomas Joyce, Jr., said, 'Cepheid's extensive installed base, test menu and innovative product offering contribute to its market leadership in molecular diagnostics and we expect it to strengthen our position in this high-growth segment.' Further Joyce Jr. noted that Cepheid will be well-positioned to improve operational efficiencies, significantly expand margins and drive long-term growth. We look forward to welcoming the Cepheid team to Danaher.' Danaher expects to finance the transaction with available cash and proceeds from the issuance of debt. Fenwick & West LLP is Cepheid's legal advisor, while Goldman, Sachs & Co. is acting as Cepheid's exclusive financial advisor. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de HOUSTON, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --Shell announces today that production has started from the Stones development in the Gulf of Mexico. Stones is expected to produce around 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) when fully ramped up at the end of 2017. The host facility for the world's deepest offshore oil and gas project is a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. It is the thirteenth FPSO in Shell's global deep-water portfolio and produces through subsea infrastructure beneath 9,500 feet (2,900 meters) of water. Stones underscores Shell's long-standing leadership in using FPSOs to safely and responsibly unlock energy resources from deep-water assets around the world. "Stones is the latest example of our leadership, capability, and knowledge which are key to profitably developing our global deep-water resources," said Andy Brown, Upstream Director, Royal Dutch Shell. "Our growing expertise in using such technologies in innovative ways will help us unlock more deep-water resources around the world." Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej9SZs3dvbg Stones, which is 100% owned and operated by Shell, is the company's second producing field from the Lower Tertiary geologic frontier in the Gulf of Mexico, following the start-up of Perdido in 2010. The project demonstrates Shell's commitment to realizing significant cost savings through innovation. It features a more cost-effective well design, which requires fewer materials and lowers installation costs; this is expected to deliver up to $1 billion reduction in well costs once all the producers are completed. The FPSO is also specially designed to operate safely during storms. In the event of a severe storm or hurricane, it can disconnect and sail away from the field. Once the weather event has passed, the vessel would return and safely resume production. Shell's global deep water business is a growth priority for the company and currently produces 600,000 boe/d. Deep-water production is expected to increase to more than 900,000 boe/d by the early 2020s from already discovered, established reservoirs. Three other Shell-operated projects are currently under construction or undergoing pre-production commissioning: Coulomb Phase 2 and Appomattox in the Gulf of Mexico and Malikai in Malaysia. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403696 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403698 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403691 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403697 Logo- http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120917/MM76045LOGO Read the Inside Energy Story: "Scientists Gain New Line to the Deep Ocean." Cautionary Note The companies in which Royal Dutch Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities. In this release "Shell", "Shell group" and "Royal Dutch Shell" are sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words "we", "us" and "our" are also used to refer to subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These expressions are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular company or companies. 'Subsidiaries', "Shell subsidiaries" and "Shell companies" as used in this release refer to companies over which Royal Dutch Shell plc either directly or indirectly has control. Entities and unincorporated arrangements over which Shell has joint control are generally referred to as "joint ventures" and "joint operations" respectively. Entities over which Shell has significant influence but neither control nor joint control are referred to as "associates". The term "Shell interest" is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or indirect ownership interest held by Shell in a venture, partnership or company, after exclusion of all third-party interest. This release contains forward-looking statements concerning the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Royal Dutch Shell. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management's current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Royal Dutch Shell to market risks and statements expressing management's expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as 'anticipate', 'believe', 'could', 'estimate', 'expect', 'goals', 'intend', 'may', 'objectives', 'outlook', 'plan', 'probably', 'project', 'risks', "schedule", 'seek', 'should', 'target', 'will' and similar terms and phrases. There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Royal Dutch Shell and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this release, including (without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for Shell's products; (c) currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserves estimates; (f) loss of market share and industry competition; (g) environmental and physical risks; (h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international sanctions; (j) legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including regulatory measures addressing climate change; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions; (l) political risks, including the risks of expropriation and renegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental entities, delays or advancements in the approval of projects and delays in the reimbursement for shared costs; and (m) changes in trading conditions. There can be no assurance that future dividend payments will match or exceed previous dividend payments. All forward-looking statements contained in this release are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional risk factors that may affect future results are contained in Royal Dutch Shell's 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2015 (available at www.shell.com/investor and www.sec.gov). These risk factors also expressly qualify all forward looking statements contained in this release and should be considered by the reader. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this release, Sept. 6, 2016. Neither Royal Dutch Shell plc nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained in this release. With respect to operating costs synergies indicated, such savings and efficiencies in procurement spend include economies of scale, specification standardisation and operating efficiencies across operating, capital and raw material cost areas. We may have used certain terms, such as resources, in this release that United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) strictly prohibits us from including in our filings with the SEC. U.S. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No 1-32575, available on the SEC website www.sec.gov. PUNE, India, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new market research report "Cloud Storage Market by Solution (Primary Storage, Disaster Recovery & Backup Storage, Cloud Storage Gateway & Data Archiving), Service, Deployment Model (Public, Private & Hybrid), Organization Size, Vertical & Region - Global Forecast to 2021", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market size is estimated to grow from USD 23.76 Billion in 2016 to USD 74.94 Billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 25.8% from 2016 to 2021. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 ) Browse 76 market data Tables and55 Figures spread through157 Pages and in-depth TOC on"Cloud Storage Market" http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/cloud-storage-market-902.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. The key forces driving the Cloud Storage Market include the increasing adoption of hybrid cloud storage, growing need for enterprise mobility, and need for easy deployment of cloud storage solutions. Cloud storage solutions also provide scalability and flexibility to scale up or scale down the storage capacity. With the increase in the adoption rate of cloud storage among Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), the Cloud Storage Market is expected to gain major traction during the forecast period. Cloud storage gateway solution is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period The cloud storage gateway solution has gained importance over the years owing to its easy integration into the existing infrastructure of the enterprises. This solution provides additional features such as encryption, compression, and de-duplication to make effective use of the available network bandwidth and transfer data rapidly on cloud. Managed services segment is expected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period Among services, the managed services segment is expected to grow at the highest rate in the Cloud Storage Market during the forecast period. Managed services allow enterprises to focus on their core businesses, service quality, and better end user experience while delivering optimized and quality IT services. Managed Service Providers (MSPs) offer remote management and monitoring of IT infrastructure of the end user under a subscription model. Therefore, enterprises are increasingly opting for managed services to overcome the challenges of budget constraints and technical expertise as MSPs have specialized resources, infrastructure, and industry certifications. North America is expected to contribute the largest market share; Asia-Pacific (APAC) to grow the fastest North America is expected to hold the largest market share and dominate the Cloud Storage Market from 2016 to 2021 owing to large investments in cloud-based solutions, early adoption of new & emerging technologies, and high internet penetration. The APAC region is in the initial growth phase; however, it is the fastest-growing region for the global Cloud Storage Market. The key reasons for the high growth rate in APAC are growing demand for hybrid cloud storage, increasing need for enterprise data storage, and rising cloud-based applications. Ask for Sample Pages @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsample.asp?id=902 The major vendors providing cloud storage solutions and services are Amazon Web Services (Seattle, Washington, U.S.); IBM Corporation (Armonk, New York, U.S.); Microsoft Corporation (Redmond, Washington, U.S.); VMware Inc. (Palo Alto, California, U.S.); HP Enterprise Company (Palo Alto, California, U.S.); Google Inc. (Mountain View, California, U.S.); Oracle Corporation (Redwood City, California, U.S.); EMC Corporation (Hopkinton, Massachusetts, U.S.); Rackspace Hosting, Inc. (San Antonio, Texas, U.S.); and Dropbox, Inc. (San Francisco, California, U.S.). Browse Related Reports Hybrid Cloud Market by Solution (Cloud Management and Orchestration, Disaster Recovery, Security and Compliance, and Hybrid Hosting), by Service (Professional Services and Managed Services), by Service Model (IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS) - Global Forecast to 2021 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/hybrid-cloud-market-1150.html Disaster Recovery as a Service Market by Service Type (Backup, Real-Time Replication, Data Security, & Professional Services), Provider (Cloud, Managed, and Telecom & Communications), Deployment, Organization Size, Vertical, & Region - Global Forecast to 2021 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/recovery-as-a-service-market-962.html Know More About our Knowledge Store @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Knowledgestore.asp About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets is the largest market research firm worldwide in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers. We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository. Contact: Mr.Rohan Markets and Markets UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India 1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog @ http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/telecom-it Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets DETROIT, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Stratview Researchannounces the launch of following two exclusive market research reports: Global Composite Preforms Market by Application Segment (Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Consumer Goods, Infrastructure, Medical, Marine, and Others), by Fiber Type (Glass Fiber, Carbon Fiber, and Others), by Product Type (Braiding, Weaving, Stitching, and Knitting), by Structure Type (One-D, Two-D, and Three-D), and by Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World), Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2016 - 2021 (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160831/402975LOGO ) Global High Performance Glass Fiber Market by End Use Industry (Aerospace & Defense, Sporting Goods, Automotive, Wind Energy, Electrical & Electronics, and Others), by Usage (Polymer Composites and Non-Polymer Composites), and by Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World), Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2016 - 2021 These market reports from Stratview Research study the global composite preforms market and global high performance glass fiber market over the period 2010 to 2021. The reports provide detailed insights on the market dynamics to enable informed business decision making and growth strategy formulation based on the opportunities present in both the markets. The Global Composite Preforms Market: Highlights As per Stratview Research, the global composite preforms market offers an excellent growth of 8.5% CAGR during the forecast period of 2016 to 2021, which offers an opportunity to the composites industry players to align themselves with the market growth. Currently most of the composite preforms are used in the turbofan engine applications for commercial aircraft, for e.g. fan blade. There are a number of factors bolstering the growth of composite preforms over the period 2010 to 2021. The author of the report cited increasing usage of composites in aerospace & defense and automotive, ability to develop complex parts, excellent product strength, and shortened cycle time are the major drivers providing growth momentum to the global composite preforms market. Currently, many OEMs are heavily betting on composite preforms based highly automated High Pressure Resin Transfer Molding (HP-RTM) for the structural applications in their mass produced vehicles. Aerospace & defense is expected to remain the dominant application segment in the composite preforms market whereas automotive is expected to experience the fastest growth over the next five years. During the last ten years, governments of many countries have imposed stringent regulations on the automotive industry by setting up targets related to vehicles' fuel efficiency and carbon emissions, which has compelled auto OEMs to look for the best alternatives for achieving those targets. Composite preform is one of the best available alternatives for achieving those targets. North America is expected to remain the dominant region in the composite preforms market, the region being the manufacturing hub of major turbofan engine OEMs. The key composite preform manufactures are A&P technology, Albany Engineered Composites, Bally Ribbon Mills, Sigmatex, SGL Kumpers GmbH. The Global High Performance Glass Fiber Market: Highlights Stratview Research foresees a robust growth of 9.2% CAGR in the global high performance glass fiber market over the next five years (2016 - 2021), which offers an opportunity to the composites industry players to align themselves with the market growth. The author stated that aerospace & defense industry segment is expected to remain the growth engine of high performance glass fiber market during the forecast period. Increasing aerospace & defense deliveries, automotive production, and increasing high performance fiber penetration in performance driven applications, such as helicopter blade and ballistic armor are the key growth drivers of the high performance glass fiber market. North America is expected to remain the largest market for high performance glass fiber market during the forecast period. Higher specific strength and modulus than E glass fiber and lower cost than other advanced fibers, such as carbon fiber make it a preferred material for high performance applications. The key high performance glass fiber manufactures are AGY Holdings, Owens Corning, CPIC Fiber Glass, Nittobo, and 3B Fiberglass. Report Features The mentioned reports provide respective market intelligence in the most comprehensive way. The reports' structure has been kept such that it offers maximum business value. It provides critical insights on the market dynamics and will enable strategic decision making for the existing market players as well as those willing to enter the market. The following are the key features of the report: Market structure: Overview, industry life cycle analysis, supply chain analysis. Market environment analysis: Growth drivers and constraints, Porter's five forces analysis, SWOT analysis. Market trend and forecast analysis. Market segment trend and forecast Competitive landscape and dynamics: Market share, product portfolio, product launches, etc. Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities. Emerging trends. Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players. Key success factors. Stratview Research has a number of high value market reports in the global composites and advanced materials industry. Please refer to the following link to browse through our reports: Click Here for Other Reports from Stratview Research in the Composites and Advanced Materials Industry Some of our other premium market reports in the composites industry: Global Non-Woven Prepreg Market by Fiber Type,by End Use Industry Type, by Sales Channel, by Region, Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2016 - 2021 Global non-woven prepreg market likely to grow at 9.2% CAGR during the forecast period of 2016 to 2021. Increasing installations of large MW wind turbines, increasing use of composites in aerospace & defense and automotive industries, and recovering boat sales as some of the major growth drivers of the non-woven prepreg market. Global Silicon Carbide (SiC) Fibers Market by Fiber Type, by Application Type, by Usage Type, by Region, Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2016 - 2021 Global SiC fibers market likely to grow at 8.2% CAGR during forecast period of 2016 to 2021. Technological advancement, development of new applications in high temperature areas, and high focus of major engine manufacturers to increase the use of SiC fibers in upcoming engine models for commercial and military aircraft, are some of the major growth drivers of the SiC fibers market. Global Metal Coated Fiber Market by Material Type, by Application Type, by Form of Use, by Plating Type, by Sales Channel, and by Region, Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2016-2021 Global metal coated fiber market likely to grow at double digit CAGR during the forecast period of 2016 to 2021. EMI shielding applications will continue to drive the metal coated fiber market during the forecast period. About Stratview Research Stratview Research is a global market intelligence firm providing wide range of services including syndicated market reports, custom research and sourcing intelligence across industries, such as Advanced Materials, Aerospace & Defense, Automotive & Mass Transportation, Consumer Goods, Construction & Equipment, Electronics and Semiconductors, Energy & Utility, Healthcare & Life Sciences, and Oil & Gas. We have a strong team of industry veterans and analysts with an extensive experience in executing custom research projects for mid-sized to Fortune 500 companies, in the areas of Market Assessment, Opportunity Screening, Competitive Intelligence, Due Diligence, Target Screening, Market Entry Strategy, Go to Market Strategy, and Voice of Customer studies. Stratview Research is a trusted brand globally, providing high quality research and strategic insights that help companies worldwide in effective decision making. For any enquiries: Contact: RiteshGandecha Stratview Research E-mail:sales@stratviewresearch.com Direct: 1-313-307-4176 Feel free to drop an enquiry with us in the below page and our team will get back to you very soon: http://www.stratviewresearch.com/register.php WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - EOG Resources Inc. (EOG) and Yates Petroleum Corp. announced definitive agreements under which EOG has agreed to combine with Yates Petroleum Corporation, Abo Petroleum Corporation, MYCO Industries, Inc. and certain other entities. Under the terms of this private, negotiated transaction, EOG will issue 26.06 million shares of common stock valued at $2.3 billion and pay $37 million in cash, subject to certain closing adjustments and lock-up provisions. EOG will assume and repay at closing $245 million of Yates debt offset by $131 million of anticipated cash from Yates, subject also to certain closing adjustments. Following the transaction closing, EOG intends to maintain Yates' office in Artesia, N.M., to support the newly combined operation. Yates is a privately held, independent crude oil and natural gas company with 1.6 million net acres across the western United States. Since 1924, when it drilled the first commercial oil well on New Mexico state trust lands, Yates has amassed a rich acreage position across the western United States. Yates immediately adds an estimated 1,740 net premium drilling locations in the Delaware Basin and Powder River Basin to EOG's growing inventory of premium drilling locations, a 40 percent increase. A premium drilling location is defined by EOG as a direct after-tax rate of return of at least 30 percent assuming a $40 flat crude oil price. EOG plans to commence drilling on the Yates acreage in late 2016 with additional rigs added in 2017. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. SmartBurner purchased for 138 hotel properties (8,806 hotel room suites). Purchase represents approximately 20% of this leading hotel chain's properties. Hotel channel development driven by a leading Pioneering distribution partner. Mississauga, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 6, 2016) - Pioneering Technology Corporation (TSXV: PTE) (OTC: PTEFF), ("Pioneering" or the "Company"), a technology company and North America's leader in cooking fire prevention technologies and products is very pleased to announce today a SmartBurner purchase of 8,806 units for 138 hotel properties by one of the largest suite style hotel chains in North America. This purchase order represents approximately 20% of this undisclosed hotel chain's total North American suite style hotel property portfolio. The purchase was led and facilitated by one of Pioneering's industry leading distribution/supply partners. The purchase was made after the completion of a successful 15 property pilot project with this hotel chain over the past 9 months. This undisclosed hotel chain is one of North America's largest owner/operators of company branded suite style hotel rooms that include fully equipped kitchens. This major hotel chain is the first to install Pioneering's SmartBurner on a large scale. The initial roll out represents approximately 20% of their total suite style hotel portfolio. Shipments will be completed in September and the roll-out to the hotel chain will occur immediately afterwards. Pioneering CEO Kevin Callahan said, "The hotel/motel/short term rental segment with fully equipped kitchens is large, growing and a natural channel for Pioneering's cooking fire prevention solutions. We are ecstatic to see significant adoption in this channel as it represents a major opportunity for Pioneering and its partners to help suite-style hotel/motel operators and other multi-residential rental property owners to protect their properties, reduce their operating costs and most importantly protect their guests/tenants. Based on the success of this project we look forward to working with our distribution/supply partners in further exploiting this very large channel opportunity." Major suite style hotel chain properties (with kitchens) in North America number over 3,200 hotel properties and approximately 320,000 hotel units representing a significant multi-million-dollar opportunity for the Company and its distribution partner(s) while helping these hotel chains save money, protect their guests/tenants and deliver a return on their investment. According to the National Fire Protection Association, cooking equipment is involved in nearly half (45%) of all hotel and motel fires resulting in significant costs, injuries, inconvenience costs and sometimes death. For a hotel chain like this one, cooking fires result in significant annual direct costs but also result in additional costs in the form of lost income, relocation, insurance and other indirect costs. Pioneering's SmartBurner with its patented temperature limiting control (TLC) technology helps prevent cooking fires before they start. This technology has now been installed on over 150,000 stovetops throughout North America with 100% efficacy (zero reported cooking fires). ## About Pioneering Technology Corp: Pioneering, based in Mississauga, Ontario is an "energy smart" technology company and North America's leader in innovative cooking fire prevention technologies. Pioneering engineers and brings to market energy-smart solutions for everyday consumer appliances making them safer, smarter, and more efficient. The company's patented technologies/products address a multi-billion-dollar problem - cooking fires. According to the National Fire Protection Association, stovetop cooking is the number one cause of household fire and fire injuries in North America (48% of all household fires - up from 20% in 1980). Pioneering's temperature limiting control (TLC) technology is now installed in over 150,000 multi-residential housing units across North America without a single cooking fire being reported and delivering a return on investment for its customers. Pioneering has proprietary cooking fire prevention solutions, including its trademarked Safe-T-element, SmartBurner, RangeMinder & Safe-T-sensor, for the majority of the more than 140 million stoves/ranges and over 140 million microwave ovens throughout North America. For more info, go to www.pioneeringtech.com. For more information, please contact: Pioneering Technology Corp. Kevin Callahan, President & CEO Phone: 905-712-2061 ext.222 Email: kcallahan@pioneeringtech.com 220 Britannia Road East Mississauga, ON L4Z 1S6 For investor relations please contact: Contact Financial Corp. Rob Gamley Phone: 604-689-7422 Email: rob@contactfinancial.com 1450 - 701 West Georgia St. Vancouver, BC V7Y 1G5 This news release contains certain forward-looking statements that reflect the current views and/or expectations of the Company with respect to its performance, business and future events. Such statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Actual results and events may vary significantly. The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release : - , ' , ' CALGARY, ALBERTA and LONDON, ENGLAND -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- Vogogo Inc. ("Vogogo" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: VGO) announces today that Tom Wenz will be resigning as the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of the Company, with an effective date of September 30, 2016. Mr. Wenz has also agreed that he will not stand for re-election at the Company's upcoming annual general meeting of shareholders. The Company gratefully acknowledges Mr. Wenz's contribution to the process of transitioning Vogogo's business in 2016, including the discontinuance of its payment processing services. About Vogogo Inc. Vogogo Inc. has provided payment processing and related transaction risk services. The Company has developed software that administers multiple electronic payment types in the US, UK and Canadian markets. During 2016, Vogogo has discontinued its payment processing services and the Company is now assessing alternate business opportunities. The head office is located at 400, 320 - 23rd Avenue SW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2S 0J2. The registered office is located at Torys LLP, 4600, 525 - 8th Avenue SW, Calgary, Alberta. READER ADVISORYNeither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. The words "will," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intent," "may," "project," "should," and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are founded on the basis of expectations and assumptions made by Vogogo. Readers are cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of such information may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of Vogogo. Vogogo does not have any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements except as expressly required by applicable securities laws. Contacts: For information or interview please contact: Gino DeMichele Chief Executive Officer 403-648-9292 ANKARA (dpa-AFX) - Turkey's central bank reduced its reserve requirement ratios on Tuesday to boost the liquidity in the financial system. The Turkish lira reserve requirement ratios were cut by 50 basis points for all maturity brackets, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey said in a statement. Under the Reserve Options Mechanism, coefficients for the second, third and fourth tranches of the FX facility and for the first three tranches of the gold facility have been increased by 0.1, the bank said. The central bank expects the latest measures to release approximately 1.2 billion Turkish liras and $670 million of liquidity to the financial system. Late August, the bank cut its key lending rate by a quarter basis point, which was the sixth reduction in a row. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. SAN DIEGO, CA and SALT LAKE CITY, UT -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- Youngevity International, Inc. (OTCQX: YGYI) (www.YGYI.com) (http://www.YGYI.com), a global direct marketer of nutritional and lifestyle products, and also a vertically-integrated producer of gourmet coffees for the commercial, retail, and direct sales channels, declared, Wednesday, September 7, 2016 as "Be The Change Day." Volunteers made up of distributors and corporate staff, who will be arriving for Youngevity International's Annual Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, will band together in service with one of Youngevity Be the Change Foundation's supported charities, My Story Matters. Youngevity Be The Change Foundation is the company's 501 c 3 non profit subsidiary. The volunteers will visit two locations and interview children to build books of their lives documenting their hopes for the future at no cost to them. Amy Chandler, the Founder of My Story Matters, a 501 c 3 nonprofit entity, said, "Part of the power of story is that it connects individuals as equals in the universal pursuit of understanding life and finding hope, uniting people despite race, class, culture, religion, and ethnicity. Our volunteers have often expressed that working with My Story Matters is a life affirming and even life changing experience. We are thrilled to be joining with Youngevity Be the Change Foundation on Be the Change Day." Steve Wallach, CEO of Youngevity stated, "As we prepare for our Convention, it gives me great pride to join with our distributors and corporate staff who will also be giving to the community of Salt Lake City in service to children in need." Lisa "Sunshine" Briskie, Director of Youngevity Be The Change Foundation said, "Be The Change Day will be a very emotional yet, heartwarming day for our Youngevity team. During the morning session, the team will visit a local high school to interview children, including those who are refugees from over 76 countries, and learn of the struggles that led them to the United States. The afternoon session will include a trip to a local homeless shelter where on any given day, 200 children reside. I don't think there is a better legacy to give a child than hope for their future, and strength for their life's journey and I am so proud that so many of our distributors have volunteered for a 12 hour experience with My Story Matters that will certainly remain in the memory of their hearts for years to come." Dave Briskie, President and CFO of Youngevity concluded, "Youngevity Be The Change Foundation was created to help those in need, bring about change where it is needed and involve time and sweat equity through volunteerism, not solely monetary donations. We are so pleased that our distributors have embraced this core tenet of the Foundation. By listening with an open heart to these inspiring and resilient children as they share their history, we can help them learn from their past while encouraging them to write the next chapters of their lives with hope for the future." About Youngevity International, Inc. Youngevity International, Inc. (OTCQX: YGYI) (www.YGYI.com) is a fast-growing, innovative, multi-dimensional company that offers a wide range of consumer products and services, primarily through person-to-person selling relationships that comprise a "network of networks." The Company also is a vertically-integrated producer of the finest coffees for the commercial, retail and direct sales channels. The Company was formed after the merger of Youngevity Essential Life Sciences (www.youngevity.com) and Javalution Coffee Company in the summer of 2011. The company was formerly known as AL International, Inc. and changed its name to Youngevity International, Inc. in July 2013. Safe Harbor Statement This release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 on our current expectations and projections about future events. In some cases forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may," "should," "potential," "continue," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," and similar expressions. These statements are based upon current beliefs, expectations and assumptions and include statements regarding and include statements regarding our growth and the goodwill derived by us from the Youngevity Be The Change Foundation and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict, including the risk that we will continue to grow and that we will derive benefits from the Youngevity Be The Change Foundation and other factors described in our Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 and its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including subsequent periodic reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K. The information in this release is provided only as of the date of this release, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release based on new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law. Chuck Harbey Managing Director, Corporate Advisory PCG Advisory Group O 646-863-7997 www.pcgadvisory.com SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- NGINX, Inc., the engine delivering sites and applications for the modern web, today announced it has been recognized by Gartner in both its Magic Quadrant(1) and Critical Capabilities(2) Reports for the Application Delivery Controller (ADC) market for 2016. NGINX received the highest scores in use cases for Mode 2 Application Development and Mode 1/Mode 2 Hybrid ADC in the Critical Capabilities report, which the company believes puts it at the forefront of a larger industry shift happening across the ADC landscape -- away from hardware and traditional approaches toward flexible and scalable solutions for modern applications built in the cloud or hybrid environments. As the first and only open source vendor to be evaluated in the ADC Magic Quadrant, NGINX believes it is in a unique position of providing a sophisticated and rapid to deploy software offering which is developed based on usage by a community of millions of users and through direct feedback from its customers. Its commercial offering, NGINX Plus, extends open source NGINX with advanced features and award-winning support for an enterprise ready solution. "Open source vendors are playing a critical role in driving the performance, reliability, security, and scale of modern day applications," said Gus Robertson, CEO of NGINX, Inc. "The ADC market is another great example of open source gaining tremendous clout and market-share by offering a more focused and lean solution to load balancing tooling. The ability to innovate faster and offer a more agile product is disrupting the ADC market, and helping it to grow alongside today's digital businesses." According to the Magic Quadrant Report, a 'divergence of ADC buying requirements is driving change and innovation in the market. This change and bifurcation is a microcosm of what Gartner refers to as "bimodal" work style, which combines the conventional capabilities of IT alongside a capability to respond to the level of uncertainty and the need for agility required for a digital transformation.' "The growing shift towards modern Mode 2 application development is going mainstream in the enterprise, as organizations are seizing the opportunity to transition to the modern web. This evolution in the development process inevitably favors companies that offer software-based and application native load balancing tools like NGINX," remarked Owen Garrett, Head of Products at NGINX, Inc. "We're proud to be recognized with the highest scores for our Critical Capabilities in Mode 2 Application Development and Mode 1/Mode 2 Hybrid ADC use cases, which we believe puts us at the forefront of this growing application delivery trend." NGINX Plus customers have recognized that a new approach is necessary to achieve the speed and agility to bring new services to market. They have also seen significant cost savings with NGINX's load balancing of up to 50-75% over legacy hardware-based competitors. "Because we are dealing with a firehose of data from sources like Microsoft, Facebook, and Google, we needed to come up with a different solution in order to process that amount of traffic. Traditional hardware load balancers are expensive, and they lacked the flexibility and scale we needed," said AJ Wilson, Vice President of Operations at IgnitionOne. "We selected NGINX Plus because it can scale enough to handle the load that we're talking about, giving us confidence that we can deliver with the solution. With NGINX Plus, we're able to process four to five times the volume that we were processing in the past with our hardware load balancers." Current and prospective NGINX users can also learn more about NGINX's ADC offerings and other capabilities at this year's annual user conference, nginx.conf 2016, September 7-9 in Austin, Texas. For more information, visit https://www.nginx.com/nginxconf/ or follow along on Twitter @nginx. To learn more about open source NGINX and the added benefits of NGINX Plus, visit: https://www.nginx.com/products/feature-matrix/ To view the full text of the 2016 Magic Quadrant for Application Delivery Controllers and Critical Capabilities reports, visit: https://www.nginx.com/gartner2016 Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. [1] Gartner "[Magic Quadrant for Application Delivery Controllers]" by [Andrew Lerner, Joe Skorupa, Danilo Ciscato], [August 29, 2016]. [2] Gartner "[Critical Capabilities for Application Delivery Controllers]" by [Mark Fabbi, Danilo Ciscato, Andrew Lerner], [August 29, 2016]. About NGINX, Inc. NGINX is the heart of the modern web -- helping the world's most innovative companies deliver their sites and applications with performance, reliability, security, and scale. The company offers an award-winning, comprehensive application delivery platform in use on more than 180 million sites worldwide. Companies around the world rely on NGINX to ensure flawless digital experiences through features such as advanced load balancing, web and mobile acceleration, security controls, application monitoring, and management. More than half of the Internet's busiest websites rely on NGINX, including Airbnb, Box, Instagram, Netflix, Pinterest, SoundCloud, and Zappos. The company is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Moscow and London. Learn more at https://www.nginx.com/ Press Contact: Chad Torbin Email Contact 415.548.6536 BONSALL, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- MARIJUANA COMPANY OF AMERICA ("MCOA" or the "Company") (OTC PINK: MCOA), an innovative cannabis and hemp marketing and distribution company, is pleased to announce that it has retained the services of AGORACOM Investor Relations ("AGORACOM") (http://www.agoracom.com) to provide online investor relations services. AGORACOM will specifically provide an online investor relations community for current shareholder communications, in addition to online marketing through search engines, social media networks and Tier-1 financial content partners for the purpose of attracting new shareholders. Online investor relations maximizes the speed of communication, the degree of transparency and the access to company information. In response to overwhelming research data being generated on the industry and the volume of inquires by small-cap investors, the Company selected online investor relations to facilitate faster and more efficient communications with both current and prospective shareholders around the world. Effective immediately, a customized and monitored Marijuana Company of America IR HUB will be available at http://agoracom.com/ir/MarijuanaCompanyofAmerica, allowing management to communicate with shareholders anytime and in near real-time through an electronic shareholder forum http://agoracom.com/ir/MarijuanaCompanyofAmerica/forums/discussion. Moreover, the IR HUB will provide Company management with the ability to extend communications beyond text via audio messages, video presentations, Google Hangout Interviews, webcasts and podcasts. Mr. Steinberg, MCOA President and CEO commented, "This relationship will provide one more pillar of foundation support on which we intend to build a strong company with a long term vision." AGORACOM is the pioneer of online investor relations, online conferences and online branding services to North American small and mid-cap public companies, with more than 250 companies served. More than just lip service, AGORACOM is the home of more than 808K investors that visited 5.6 million times and read 52.4 million pages of information every year (Average 2008 - 2015). AGORACOM traffic ranks within the top 0.5% of all websites around the world. These traffic results are independently tracked and verified by Google analytics. AGORACOM traffic can be attributed to its strategy of maintaining the cleanest, moderated small-cap discussion as a result of implementing the first ever Investor Controlled Stock Discussion Forums. AGORACOM Founder, George Tsiolis, publishes the leading blog on small to mid cap investor relations. His 50 Small-Cap CEO Lessons are a must read for CEO's looking to increase their education and knowledge about online investor relations. On behalf of the Board of Directors, "Donald Steinberg" Donald Steinberg President & CEO 888-777-4362 www.MarijuanaCompanyofAmerica.com About Marijuana Company of America Inc. Marijuana Company of America ("MCOA") is a publicly traded company headquartered in Southern California. MCOA will distribute marijuana and products related to marijuana as well as CBD and hemp, using a variety of marketing approaches to distribute on a global basis. About HempSmart The HempSmart brand represents MCOA's non-THC, hemp derived, product line. All HempSmart products are formulated with a cannabinoid base that is derived from hemp and has less than a .3% THC content. About Club Harmoneous Club Harmoneous (The Club) delivers all of the benefits of cannabis to its members harmoneously. The Club provides a wide range of cannabis products to its members, medicinal, adult use or healthy foods, body care and cosmetics. The Club products are top quality and offered to members at competitive prices with the convenience of home delivery. FORWARD-LOOKING DISCLAIMER This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and information, as defined within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the Safe Harbor created by those sections. This material contains statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements by definition involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Marijuana Company of America, Inc. to be materially different from the statements made herein. LEGAL DISCLOSURE Marijuana Company of America Inc. will provide management services that assist legal businesses to cultivate, sell, and distribute hemp and marijuana based products within the legal guidelines of individual states and international markets. For more information, please visit the company's website at: www.MarijuanaCompanyofAmerica.com www.Harmoneous.com Donald Steinberg President & CEO 888-777-4362 www.MarijuanaCompanyofAmerica.com OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- PhytoPain Pharma Inc. ("PhytoPain Pharma" or "PPP"), a subsidiary of GrowPros Cannabis Ventures Inc. ("GrowPros" or the "Company") (CSE: GCI), today announces the submission to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Orphan Products Development, two applications for Orphan Drug Designation for delta-9-tetrahydrocannibinol and cannabidiol for the treatment of patients with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type 1 (CRPS1) and patients with Central PostStroke Pain (CPSP). The decision to proceed with these Orphan Drug Designation submissions is part of PPP's plan to move forward with the development of a cannabis prescription drug product for the treatment of neuropathic pain associated with CRPS1 and CPSP. If successful, the designation of delta-9-tetrahydrocannibinol and cannabidiol as an Orphan Drug will open the door for many opportunities most notably tax credits on clinical research reduction of the waiting period and reduced registration fees. It also provides PPP with a 7-year period of market exclusivity in the U.S. Dr. Guy Chamberland, M.Sc., Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of PhytoPain Pharma, commented: "Our Orphan Drug Designation submissions, announced today, are part of our corporate strategy to develop and commercialize delta-9-tetrahydrocannibinol and cannabidiol prescription drug products for the management of neuropathic pain associated with cancer, HIV, CPSP, and CRPS1 and uncontrolled pain within the United States." He continued: "I am also very pleased to report that PPP and its collaborators are on track to finalize the Clinical Trial Application (CTA) and submit the clinical protocol to the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for review. PPP is developing these prescription drug products for both the Canadian and USA market and intends on obtaining marketing approval from Health Canada and the US FDA. Our medical research team headed by Apical Science Inc. principals Dr. Randy Ringuette, Ph.D. and Dr. Charles Campbell, Ph.D. has been tasked with finalizing these documents for the regulatory agencies. "This important step positions PPP at the forefront of North American cannabis based consumer drug product development. PPP intends to engage industry partners operating under Canada's ACMPR (Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposed Regulation) to participate in various aspects of the development process. Being able to leverage this federally legal infrastructure will allow PPP many benefits not available in other jurisdictions", commented GrowPros CEO Ryan Brown. The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) has not reviewed this news release and does not accept responsibility for its adequacy or accuracy. Forward-looking statements Some statements in this release may contain forward-looking information. All statements, other than of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future (including, without limitation, statements regarding potential acquisitions and financings) are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of the words "may", "will", "should", "continue", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "believe", "intend", "plan" or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict, that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, without limitation, the inability of the Company, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, GrowPros MMP Inc., to obtain a licence for the production of medical marijuana; failure to obtain sufficient financing to execute the Company's business plan; competition; regulation and anticipated and unanticipated costs and delays, and other risks disclosed in the Company's public disclosure record on file with the relevant securities regulatory authorities. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results or events not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements included in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company does not undertake an obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect new information, subsequent events or otherwise unless required by applicable securities legislation. Contacts: GrowPros Cannabis Ventures Inc. Ryan Brown Chief Executive Officer (613) 421-8402 GrowPros Cannabis Ventures Inc. Andre Audet Executive Chairman (613) 421-8402 GrowPros Cannabis Ventures Inc. Dr. Guy Chamberland Chief Scientific Officer and Regulatory Affairs (514) 220-9225 CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- -- Concerned Shareholders urge ALL shareholders to VOTE the BLUE Form to VOTE for positive CHANGE. -- Concerned Shareholders reiterate worst fears confirmed by Q2 Results and misleading incorrect information asserted by entrenched Management of Hemostemix. Barry Ullet, Bernie Troitsky, Donn Lovett, Glynn Hendry, Jed M. Wood, Jim Brown, Joseph P. Stewart, Dr. Owen Schwartz, Dr. Pierre Liemgruber, Robert Achtymichuk, Robert Sweep, Rodney Cavanagh, Rodney Risling and Todd Reinhart, shareholders (collectively, the "Concerned Shareholders") of Hemostemix Inc. ("Hemostemix" or the "Company"), wish to once again thank shareholders for the resounding support they have received to date and remind those who have not voted the BLUE form as of yet, to vote today by 12 p.m. (Calgary Time). Shareholders are also urged to read the Concerned Shareholders' September 3rd news release which addresses the troubling Q2 results, and corrects purposeful misleading information from management of the Company ("Management"). Additionally, further updates on the Concerned Shareholders' progress and transition planning is also provided. The Concerned Shareholders' September 3rd news release can be found at: http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/concerned-shareholders-thank-hemostemix-inc-shareholders-resounding-support-much-needed-2155296.htm. Certain Highlights of the Concerned Shareholders' September 3, 2016 News Release Troubling details of the Company under current Management's leadership include but not limited to the following, x the Company appears to be effectively insolvent based on the Q2 Results; x cash position was a mere $127,267 combined with a current rate of spending of $218,624.50 per month and no active clinical trials; x the outrageous details of the Insider Loan Proposal to a still undisclosed supposedly "arm's length party"allowing this unknown "arm's length party" to seize all of the Company's assets for a mere $1 million if the Company defaults, and become the Company's largest shareholder with 12,500,000 shares without approval from shareholders being sought by Management; and x the Company no longer has a service provider to operate a clinical trial. Supporting the Concerned Shareholders' will bring positive change including, - a new board of directors consisting of a slate of highly qualified executives, investors in public and private companies, and entrepreneurs with track records of placing shareholders' interests first and proven ability to creating value; - a sound strategic plan with timelines, as described in the Concerned Shareholders proxy circular, to enhance shareholder value; - the support of highly qualified clinical scientists and medical professionals, including a Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology who have all agreed to help rebuild a strong and capable team to assist in the transition plan relating to the clinical science and biotechnology expertise required for the Company going forward; and - advanced plans to raise a minimum of $4,000,000 to stabilize the Company and fund the continuation of the collection of interim data and the Phase 2 Trial on reasonable commercial terms and with a view to involving current shareholders generally if and as permitted, whether via rights offering or otherwise. Drive Capital has agreed to underwrite or top-up this financing as necessary. Shareholders are encouraged to read the Concerned Shareholders' September 3rd news release for more detailed information on these and other points. (See: http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/concerned-shareholders-thank-hemostemix-inc-shareholders-resounding-support-much-needed-2155296.htm Shareholder Support For Change Over 41% of the issued and outstanding shares of Hemostemix have voted with the BLUE voting forms thus far: -- Over 140 identified shareholders have voiced their support based on the Concerned Shareholders direct contact with them as part of the current proxy contest. -- Beyond 10 management shareholders identified in the concerned Shareholders outreach, the only active resistance the Concerned Shareholders have encountered is from: -- the consultant CEO (who acquired his first 100 shares for $23.00 on June 17, 2016), the part-time consultant CFO (who owns zero shares); and -- 3 other beneficial shareholders who all presently are now or have previously been directors and/or officers of the Company (Victor Redekop, a current director, Charles W. Baker, a former director and officer and Lyle Wunderlich, a former director). -- The 3 other shareholders collectively control or direct approximately 22,652,639 or 33.7% of the issued and outstanding shares and among them also hold options, warrants and other securities convertible into additional shares. Again we ask the question, who are the true dissidents here? The true overwhelming number of shareholders of the struggling Company - or a tight little team with minimal confirmed supporters presiding over the continuing decline led by a consultant with a token $23 investment trying to hold on to his high paying consultancy fees? Although support is clear for change, shareholders who have not yet voted their BLUE voting form are encouraged to have their voices heard and vote today as soon as possible by no later than 12:00 noon P.M. (Calgary Time). Call for Action We would encourage all shareholders to attend the meeting and stand up for change. The meeting will be held at 2:00 P.M. (Mountain Standard time) on Thursday, September 8, 2016 at the offices of Heighington Law Firm, 730, 1015 - 4th Street S.W., Calgary, Alberta. We hope to see you there. We once again thank shareholders for the significant support shown so far. Although support for the Concerned Shareholders is emphatic, given Management's actions to date, shareholders should be wary of any tactics they may use to try to invalidate your vote and disenfranchise you. Therefore, shareholders who have received their BLUE forms late and have not voted yet, we urge you to continue to vote. It is important that management fully appreciate and understand the level of discontent and the strong desire for change. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- We once again thank shareholders for the significant support shown so far. Although support for the Concerned Shareholders is emphatic, given Management's actions to date, shareholders should be wary of any tactics they may use to try to invalidate your vote and disenfranchise you. Therefore, shareholders who have received their BLUE voting forms late and have not voted yet, we urge you to continue to vote. It is important that management fully appreciate and understand the level of discontent and the strong desire for change. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Time is of the essence. Vote online or by telephone by following the instructions found in the BLUE voting form mailed to you. Discard Management's voting form and only the BLUE voting form well in advance of the impending deadline of 12:00 noon P.M. (Calgary time) on September 6, 2016. If you have already voted using management's form but wish to support the Concerned Shareholders, simply recast your vote using the BLUE voting form. A later dated vote will supersede a previous vote. Questions, Requests for assistance with voting may be directed to the Concerned Shareholders' Proxy Solicitor: Laurel Hill Advisory Group North America Toll Free: 1-877-452-7184 Collect Calls Outside North America: 416-304-0211 Email: assistance@laurelhill.com Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this news release are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements, including, without limitation, risks and uncertainties related to actions taken by the Company or shareholders in connection with the Meeting. No assurance can be given that any of the events or outcomes anticipated by any forward-looking statement will occur. Contacts: Laurel Hill Advisory Group North America Toll Free: 1-877-452-7184 Collect Calls Outside North America: 416-304-0211 assistance@laurelhill.com MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- MOBI724 Global Solutions Inc. ("MOBI724" or the "Company") (CSE: MOS), a Fintech leader offering all in one fully integrated EMV payment, card link couponing and digital marketing is pleased to announce that it has authorized and is currently seeking to close private placements in the aggregate amount of 1 million dollars by issuing a maximum of 20,000,000 common shares at $0.05 per share including the discounts allowed by CSE policies. The subscribers shall also be issued one common share purchase warrant for every common share issued at an exercise price of $0.15 exercisable on or before August 31st, 2018 after which they shall expire. The common shares shall be sold pursuant to exemptions from prospectus requirements to purchasers in Canada and will be listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE). The proceeds received will be utilized to support solution deployments as well as supporting the Company's working capital requirements. About Mobi724 Global Solutions MOBI724 Global Solutions Inc. (CSE: MOS), a leader in the Fintech industry based in Montreal (Canada), offers a unique and fully integrated suite of Payment & Digital Marketing solutions. We are innovating in our market with a combined EMV Payment, Card Linked Offers, and Digital Marketing platform that works on any card and any mobile device. We pioneered in adding intelligence to all types of transactions benefiting banks, retailers and cardholders. We succeed in leveraging all available user and purchasing data to increase transaction volumes and spend. MOBI724 provides a turnkey solution to its clients to capture card transactions on any mobile device, at any point of sale or from any payment card. Our easy-to-adapt gateway Switch is designed for easy integration with all payment protocols in our target markets. Within the same solution suite we combined our Card Linked Offers solution, and provided financial institutions' payment card portfolios and retailers the ability to add offers and/or coupons which can be redeemed directly at the Point of Sale, in a seamless user experience for all the parties in the eco-system. MOBI724 Global Solutions unleashes the true potential of both payment and card-linked couponing/rewards transactions for both online and offline points of sale (POS). The Corporation provides its customers with full and comprehensive traceability and enriched consumer data through its offering. Its solutions enables card associations, retailers, manufacturers, offer providers, mobile operators and card issuers to create, manage, deliver and "track and measure" incentive campaigns worldwide to ANY mobile device and allow its redemption at ANY point of sales. Our credit and debit EMV payment solutions will allow banks to process end to end EMV transactions, focusing on authentication, approved security and quick merchant adoption which allows the users to process payments with a wide range of devices over a secure and seamless transaction. MOBI724's PCI and EMV cloud-based switch, with their device agnostic connectivity, simplifies deployment and integration, and introduces new payment and digital incentives solutions to the market enabling multi layered intelligent transactions therefore SMART TRANSACTIONS. For more information on its products and on MOBI724 Global Solutions, visit www.mobi724globalsolutions.com. Certain statements in this document, including those which express management's expectations or estimations with regard to the Company's future performance, constitute "forward-looking statements" as understood by applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are, of necessity, based on a certain number of estimates and hypotheses; while management considers these to be accurate at the time they are expressed, they are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and risks on the commercial, economic and competitive levels. We advise readers that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other known and unknown factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements. Investors are advised to not rely unduly on the forward-looking statements. This advisory applies to all forward-looking statements, whether expressed orally or in writing, attributed to the Company or to any individual expressing them in the name of the Company. Unless required by law, the Company is under no obligation to publicly update these forward-looking statements, whether to reflect new information, future events, or other circumstances. The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) has not reviewed this news release and does not accept responsibility for its adequacy or accuracy. This news release does not constitute a solicitation to buy or sell any securities in the United States. Contacts: Mr. Marcel Vienneau 514-394-5200 Ext 413 NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- ZenFi, New York's carrier-neutral fronthaul fiber provider, announces today that it has joined the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA), the principal trade association representing the interests of companies that make up the wireless telecommunications and broadcast infrastructure industry. WIA leads the industry in hosting national events and networking for new business development opportunities for wireless companies and the organizations that support them. WIA, which is comprised of wireless carriers, infrastructure providers and professional services firms, advocates for the responsible deployment of wireless infrastructure across the United States. WIA works with members of Congress, the Federal Communications Commission, and other federal agencies in Washington, D.C., as well as state legislatures and local governments to promote policies that encourage network infrastructure deployment. WIA provides critical outreach and education at all levels of government in order to build strong relationships and represent the interests of members and the industry. "We are pleased to join the Wireless Infrastructure Association," comments Ray LaChance, CEO of ZenFi. "By advocating policies that encourage network infrastructure deployment, the WIA aligns with ZenFi's mission of delivering a highly flexible, customizable, and scalable fiber and backhaul solution to all major colocation facilities throughout the New York metro area. Our shared goal is to enhance the wireless carrier network and enable the Internet of Things." The wireless infrastructure industry plays a vital role within every community throughout the United States by providing the necessary telecommunications systems that enable mobile voice and data networks to serve consumers, businesses, governments and public safety operations. The WIA, a 66-year-old association, is the only organization that dedicates itself to representing the unique business needs of the wireless infrastructure industry. "WIA provides industry leadership by offering our members the expertise and data they need to address the pressing regulatory, marketplace and technology issues affecting their organizations," states Jonathan Adelstein, CEO and President of WIA. "We are excited to add ZenFi to our membership ranks and look forward to working with them." The ZenFi Network is custom-built to support densification and increase the accessibility and affordability of bandwidth at the edge. Offering a metro Access Network with a core carrier Express Network, ZenFi delivers a highly flexible, customizable and scalable fiber solution that enhances the wireless carrier network and enables the Internet of Things (IoT). For more information about ZenFi, visit www.ZenFi.com or email info@ZenFi.com. About ZenFi ZenFi owns and operates a carrier-neutral dark fiber network specializing in fronthaul, backhaul and wavelength connectivity to enable the Internet of Things (IoT). Its New York City purpose-built network is the infrastructure that underlies and enables connectivity in today's mobile world. For more information, please visit: www.ZenFi.com. About the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) The Wireless Infrastructure Association represents the businesses that develop, build, and own the nation's wireless infrastructure. Members include wireless carriers, infrastructure providers, and professional services firms that collectively operate telecommunications facilities around the globe. Through public affairs and advocacy efforts -- on the local, state and federal level -- WIA works to support the widespread deployment of wireless infrastructure in order to deliver mobile broadband access to all citizens and communities. For more information, visit www.wia.org. EDMONTON, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- Members of the media are invited to attend an important infrastructure announcement with the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities; Robert C. McLeod, Minister Responsible for Infrastructure; and the Honourable Joe Savikataaq, Minister of Community and Government Services. Date: Tuesday, September 6, 2016 Time: 4:00 p.m. MDT Location: Main Meeting Room Shaw Conference Centre 9797 Jasper Avenue Edmonton, Alberta Follow us on Twitter at @INFC_eng Contacts: Brook Simpson Press Secretary Office of the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities 613-219-0149 brook.simpson@canada.ca Jay Boast Communications and Website AdvisorDepartment of Municipal and Community AffairsGovernment of Northwest Territories867-767-9162 ext. 21044jay_boast@gov.nt.caKris MullalyPolicy Analyst/Communication OfficerGovernment of Nunavut867-222-0279kmullaly@gov.nu.caInfrastructure Canada613-960-9251Toll free: 1-877-250-7154infc.media-medias.infc@canada.ca VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- Southern Silver Exploration Corp. (TSX VENTURE: SSV) (OTCQB: SSVFF) (FRANKFURT: SEG1) (SSE: SSVCL) ("Southern Silver") reported today that final permits have been received and crews have mobilized for the next phase of a fully funded exploration program on the 100% controlled Oro project, New Mexico. The program includes a trenching program over some key target areas, followed by a 1200-metre reverse-circulation drill program scheduled to begin in mid-September on the Stockpond gold target. Eight to ten holes are planned for this phase of drilling, which will test the area within and around a previously outlined 500m x 500m gold-in-soil anomaly and mineralized outcrop exposure where rock-chip samples returned up to 4.8g/t Au. The dimension of the gold anomaly coupled with the sampled grades underscore the project's potential for the discovery of a significant bulk-tonnage, intrusive-related, disseminated oxide-gold deposit. The Oro property consists of Federal and State mineral claims surrounding private land owned by Southern Silver and totals 11.8 square kilometres in the historic Eureka mining district in Grant County, New Mexico. The property is located approximately 80 kilometres southwest of the Silver City porphyry copper district. The property covers and surrounds a highly prospective quartz-sericite-pyrite alteration zone, interpreted to overlie an unexposed porphyry center. Classic porphyry system zonation is indicated by gold and copper mineralization associated with Laramide-age intrusions, flanked by lead-zinc skarn and carbonate-replacement mineralization, and distal sediment-hosted gold occurrences. The Stockpond target is interpreted as one of these gold occurrences distal to the main porphyry center, which is located 3 kilometres to the southwest (Figure 1). Cerro Las Minitas Project Update Southern Silver also reported that crews have mobilized and that soil sampling is underway as part of the next phase of work on the Cerro Las Minitas project, located in Durango, Mexico. The work will target new discoveries on the largely gravel-covered property. The sampling program will further evaluate targets developed during the Company's detailed re-evaluation of airborne and ground geophysics, property-wide biogeochemical surveys, and soil and float sampling completed by Southern Silver over the last several years. Initial work has started with step-out soil lines to determine the potential strike-length of a 500 metre-long gold-in-soil anomaly in Target Area 1 (Figure 2), located about 4 km to the southwest of the Blind, El Sol and Santo Nino deposits. Follow-up drilling is anticipated as new targets are developed and refined. To view Figure 1: Metal zoning at the Oro project please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1068033a.pdf. Gravel-covered areas are extensive at the Cerro Las Minitas property and remain highly prospective, with little or no drilling. The areas are on trend with Avino's gold and silver mine to the west and Hecla's San Sebastian gold and silver mine to the east; San Sabastian reopened in January, 2016. Exploration on the company's Cerro Las Minitas property is funded by Electrum Global Holdings L.P. ("Electrum"), which is financing a broad range of exploration activities to earn a 60% interest in the project through a US$5.0M earn-in option, with Southern Silver as operator. The Cerro Las Minitas project contains an estimated Inferred Resource of 17.5Mozs silver and 237Mlbs of lead and 626Mlbs zinc (77.3Mozs AgEq), and an estimated Indicated Resource of 10.8Mozs silver, 189Mlbs lead and 207Mlbs zinc (36.5Mozs AgEq).(1) A total of 91 drill holes for 35,955 metres have now been completed on the Cerro Las Minitas project, with exploration expenditures of approximately US$8.35 million spent on the property to date. To view Figure 2: Property wide targets for further evaluation on the Cerro Las Mintas Project please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1068033b.pdf. About Southern Silver Exploration Corp. Southern Silver Exploration Corp. is a precious metal exploration and development company with a focus on the discovery of world-class mineral deposits in north-central Mexico and the southern USA. Our specific emphasis is the Cerro Las Minitas silver-lead-zinc project located in the heart of Mexico's Faja de Plata, which hosts multiple world-class mineral deposits such as Penasquito, San Martin, Naica and Pitarrilla. We have assembled a team of highly experienced technical, operational and transactional professionals to support our exploration efforts in developing the Cerro Las Minitas project into a premier, high-grade, silver-lead-zinc mine. The Company engages in the acquisition, exploration and development either directly or through joint-venture relationships in mineral properties in major jurisdictions. Our property portfolio also includes the Oro porphyry copper-gold project located in southern New Mexico, USA. 1. The 2016 Cerro Las Minitas Resource Estimate was prepared following CIM definitions for classification of Mineral Resources. Resources are constrained using mainly geological constraints and approximate 10g/t AgEq grade shells. The block models are comprised of an array of blocks measuring 10m x 2m x 10m, with grades for Au, Ag, Cu, Pb, Zn and AgEq values interpolated using ID2 weighting. The models identified at a 150g/t AgEq cut-off, an indicated resource of 3,724,000 tonnes averaging 90g/t Ag, 0.05g/t Au, 2.3% Pb, 2.5% Zn and 0.09% Cu and a cumulative inferred resource of 6,611,000 tonnes averaging 82g/t Ag, 0.17g/t Au, 1.6% Pb, 4.3% Zn and 0.2% Cu. Mineral Resource cut-offs are estimated using an average long-term price of $15/oz silver, $1,100/oz gold, $2.75/lb Cu, $0.90/lb lead and $0.90/lb zinc and metal recoveries of 82% silver, 86% lead and 80% zinc. AgEq calculations did not account for relative metallurgical recoveries of the metals. All prices are stated in $USD. Mineral Resources are conceptual in nature and as such do not have demonstrated economic viability. The current Resource Estimate was prepared by Garth Kirkham, P.Geo. of Kirkham Geosciences Ltd. who is the Independent Qualified Person responsible for presentation and review of the Mineral Resource Estimate. Robert Macdonald, MSc., P.Geo, is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for the supervision of the exploration on the Cerro Las Minitas Project and for the preparation of the technical information in this disclosure. On behalf of the Board of Directors Lawrence Page, Q.C., President & Director, Southern Silver Exploration Corp. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include the timing and receipt of government and regulatory approvals, and continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. Southern Silver Exploration Corp. does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable law. Contacts: Southern Silver Exploration Corp. 604.641.2759 ir@mnxltd.com www.southernsilverexploration.com MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc. (the "Company" or "BVT") (TSX VENTURE: BEE) today announced its appointment of former Syngenta Senior Manager, Christoph Lehnen, Master of Science ETH, Switzerland, in Agronomy, on a contractual basis. Mr. Lehnen will take the position of European Technical Manager with responsibility over the management of launch activities, system trials and demonstrations across European territories. During his 29-year career as a Senior Manager with Syngenta, which ran from 1987 to 2016, Mr. Lehnen held positions within technical research and development, business management, marketing, sales, and product launch strategy development and execution. He has run highly successful global operations in European, Middle Eastern and African markets, within Agriculture, Agribusiness, Biologicals, Flowers, Seed Care and Crop Protection. "Europeans are actively looking for ways to reduce pesticides within their food supply," Mr. Lehnen stated. "In my view, BVT has developed a highly-unique and comprehensive solution which will be extremely attractive to European growers. I am very excited and enthusiastic to join what is an impressive and growing team of industry professionals at BVT and play my part in successfully launching their systems across Europe and associated countries." "The European market opportunity for revenue is three times that of North America and therefore, the successful development of this market requires a broad range of skills to properly execute," stated Ashish Malik, BVT CEO. "In our business, initial launch processes in a country go a long way in determining future success. The addition of a seasoned executive such as Christoph with his rich industry experience and targeted skill set puts us in a very strong position to capitalize on the vast European market potential We expect that his 22 years with Syngenta, strong industry connections and rich experience in crop protection and country management will enable to BVT to gain strong traction within the European market quickly. Christoph's decision to join BVT is another great endorsement of how our system is viewed by notable industry figures and represents another significant step in our objective to build a world class team within our growing company." "We have an immensely strong team of seasoned industry experts and continue to assemble a powerful management team. Together we are mapping what we see as a strong and strategic course towards success for the company and ensuring internal execution is driven towards those goals," said Ashish Malik, CEO "I am extremely pleased with our progress to date." The Company also announces that Mr. Todd Mason has stepped down from his position as VP of Research and Protocol. The Company is pleased that Mr. Mason will continue to contribute to BVT on a consulting basis. About Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc. BVT has developed and owns patent-pending bee vectoring technology (consisting of a proprietary tray dispenser containing a unique carrier agent) that is designed to harmlessly utilize commercially reared bumblebees as natural delivery mechanisms for a variety of powdered mixtures comprised of organic compounds that inhibit or eliminate common crop diseases, while at the same time stimulating and enhancing the same crops. This unique and proprietary process facilitates a targeted delivery of crop controls using the simple process of bee pollination to replace traditional crop spraying, resulting in better yield, organic product and less impact on the environment without the use of water or disruptions to labour. Additional information can be viewed at the Company's website www.beevt.com. On Behalf of the Board of Directors of Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc. Michael Collinson, President & CEO Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" that involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. All statements in this press release, other than statements of historical fact, that address events or developments that BVT expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to BVT'S future plans and technologies, including the timing of such plans and technologies. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential", "indicate" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although BVT believes that the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include continued availability of capital, financing and required resources (such as human resources, equipment and/or other capital resources), and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of BVT'S management on the date the statements are made. BVT undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change, except as required by law. Contacts: Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc. Michael Collinson President & CEO 647-660-5119 marketing@beevt.com www.beevt.com For media enquiries or interviews: Josh Stanbury 416-628-7441 josh@sjspr.co.uk HONG KONG, CHINA -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- Media OutReach -- CIFI Holdings (Group) Co. Ltd. ("CIFI", or the "Group") (HKEX Code: 884), one of the "Top 20 Real Estate Developers in China" is pleased to announce that contracted sales for August 2016 increased 54% year-on-year to RMB3.70 billion. The first eight months achieved year-on-year growth of 154% to RMB36.30 billion, exceeded 83% of the full year sales target. In August 2016, the Group's contracted ASP was RMB 19,600 per sq.m., up approximately 38% year-on-year, with the contracted GFA was approximately 188,500 sq.m. From January to August 2016, contracted sales of the Group increased 154% year-on-year to RMB36.30 billion with a contracted GFA of approximately 2,043,900 sq.m., while contracted ASP from January to August 2016 was approximately RMB17,800 per sq.m., up approximately 40% year-on-year. During the first eight months of 2016, contracted sales of the Group achieved 83% of its full year contracted sales target of RMB43.8 billion. Land Acquisition In August 2016, the Group has successfully conducted the following acquisitions: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total Group's Planned Group's Average Current Intended Site GFA Attributable Land City Project Equity Primary Area Excluding Consideration Cost Interest Use (sq.m.) Carpark (RMB) (RMB/ (sq.m.) sq.m.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tiexi District First Shenyang Grain 100% Residential 84,832 186,630 1,222,430,000 6,550 Warehouse Project ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dadong District Vocational and Commercial, Shenyang Technical 100% Residential 55,560 133,344 346,690,000 2,600 College South-1 Project ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dadong District Vocational and Commercial, Shenyang Technical 100% Residential 61,451 135,192 367,720,000 2,720 College South-2 Project ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Company Logo http://release.media-outreach.com/i/Download/5527 About CIFI Holdings (Group) Co. Ltd. CIFI is headquartered in Shanghai and is amongst China's Top 30 Real Estate Developers. CIFI principally focus on developing high quality and end-users driven properties in first- and second-tier cities in China. CIFI's development projects cover various properties types including residential, office and commercial complexes. To learn more about the Company, please visit CIFI's website at: http://www.cifi.com.cn For more information, please contact: iPR Ogilvy & Mather Gary Li / Joseph Zhou / Lily Zhang / Ophelia Wong Tel: (852) 2136 6185 Fax: (852) 3170 6606 Email: Email Contact Press Release Krasnodar September 6, 2016 Magnit Announces the Holding of a Joint Session with Suppliers in the Volgograd Region Krasnodar, Russia (September 6, 2016): Magnit PJSC, one of Russia's leading retailers (MOEX & LSE: MGNT), announces the holding of a joint session with food and FMCG suppliers in the Volgograd Region. On Monday, September 5, 2016, Magnit's executives, with the support of Volgograd Regional Administration, held a joint session for suppliers from the area. More than 70 regional suppliers took part in the session and all participants received information on numerous topics, including Magnit's operations, its corporate principles, and the advantages of working with one of Russia's leading retailers. Additionally, the suppliers received detailed information on Magnit's supplier selection criteria and the procedures it uses to execute agreements. A number of the participating Volgograd suppliers shared with their peers experiences of successfully working with Magnit in a win-win partnership. Some suppliers even set-up a tasting exhibit where they offered attendees an opportunity to try their products, which included dairy, bakery, and confectionery goods, as well as, grits, vegetables, and non-alcohol drinks. Magnit continually seeks to work collaboratively and in partnership with its domestic suppliers; and joint sessions, such as the one in Volgograd, help to contribute to the important goal of building positive and open lines of communication with all current and future suppliers. For further information, please contact: Timothy Post Head of Investor Relations Email: post@magnit.ru Office: +7-861-277-4554 x 17600 Mobile: +7-961-511-7678 Direct Line: +7-861-277-4562 Investor Relations Office MagnitIR@magnit.ru Direct Line: +7-861-277-4562 Website: ir.magnit.com/ Media Inquiries Media Relations Department press@magnit.ru Company description: Public Joint Stock Company "Magnit" is one of Russia's leading retailers. Founded in 1994, the company is headquartered in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar. As of June 30, 2016, Magnit operated 34 distribution centers and 12,888 stores (9,902 convenience, 398 hypermarkets and 2,588 drogerie stores) in 2,397 cities and towns throughout 7 federal regions of the Russian Federation. In accordance with the reviewed IFRS consolidated financial statements for 1H 2016, Magnit had revenues of RUB 522 billion and an EBITDA of RUB 52 billion. Magnit's local shares are traded on the Moscow Exchange (MOEX: MGNT) and its GDRs on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: MGNT) and it has a credit rating from Standard & Poor's of BB+. Measured by market capitalization, Magnit is one of the largest retailers in Europe. DUBLIN, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global Steel Casting Market 2016-2020" report to their offering. The global steel casting market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 3.82% during the period 2016-2020. Commenting on the report, an analyst from the research team said that steel as sustainable material is one of the trends spurring growth for the market. The production of steel is extremely energy-intensive, and it is the world's most important engineering material. Technological advances and extensive R&D will help in reducing the high consumption of energy during the production process, thereby leading to a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions. This will also help combat climate change, which has become a serious environmental issue in recent years. Thus, the use of steel as a sustainable material for casting is a new trend that is expected to auger well for the growth of the market during the forecast period. According to the report, increased simulation-based castings is a key driver aiding to the growth of this market. Financial services are one of the most data-intensive industries. Simulation allows visualization of the virtual casting processes such as mold filling, cooling, and solidification with respect to direction and time for the manufacturers. It also helps in predicting the location of internal defects and optimizing the method and design of the casting process. Simulation-based casting technique is highly suitable for the production of reliable, economical, and high accuracy cast components. Questions Answered: What will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be? What are the key market trends? What is driving this market? What are the challenges to market growth? Who are the key vendors in this market space? What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors? Companies Mentioned: Anhui Yingliu Hitachi Kobe Steel Precision Castparts JFJC Peekay Amsteel Castings ESCO Hyundai Steel Nucor Pacific Steel Casting Report Structure: PART 01: Executive summary PART 02: Scope of the report PART 03: Market research methodology PART 04: Introduction PART 05: Market landscape PART 06: Market segmentation by application PART 07: Geographical segmentation PART 08: Market drivers PART 09: Impact of drivers PART 10: Market challenges PART 11: Impact of drivers and challenges PART 12: Market trends PART 13: Key leading countries PART 14: Vendor landscape PART 15: Appendix PART 16: About the Author For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/zlmzbv/global_steel Related Topics: Iron and Steel Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- Maestro Capital Corporation (TSX VENTURE: MCP.P) ("Maestro") a capital pool company ("CPC") under the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange"), further to its July 7, 2016 news release, announced that at the August 31, 2016 Special Meeting of Maestro's shareholders all matters submitted to shareholders were approved as recommended by the Board of Directors. Maestro's shareholders approved the investment into Relevium Technologies Inc. (TSX VENTURE: RLV)(FRANKFURT: 6BX) ("Relevium") by Maestro, as its Qualifying Transaction ("QT") under Policy 2.4 of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange"). Additionally, the shareholders ratified resolutions to: (1) distribute, on a pro rata basis, the Units (as defined below) of Relevium by dividend as a return of capital to the Maestro shareholders; and, (2) upon completion of the distribution of the Relevium Units, to dissolve the Corporation according to section 211(3) of the Business Corporations Act (Alberta). To conclude the QT, Maestro has subscribed, by way of a subscription agreement, for 1,500,000 units (the "Units") of Relevium, at a price per Unit of $0.10, for a total investment of $150,000. Each Unit will consist of one common share in the capital of Relevium (a "Relevium Share") and one common share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"), with each Warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one additional common share in the capital of Relevium at a price per share of $0.15 for a period of 36 months from the date of closing of the private placement. A total of up to 10,000,000 Units may be offered by Relevium under the private placement, which may close in one or more tranches, for total gross proceeds of up to $1,000,000. All securities issued by Relevium to Maestro in connection with the private placement will be subject to a statutory hold period of four months plus one day from the date of issuance of the securities in accordance with applicable securities legislation. Upon completion of the private placement, Maestro will distribute the Relevium Shares and Warrants, pro rata, to its shareholders (the "Distribution") and thereafter apply to be delisted from the Exchange and be dissolved (the "Dissolution"). Dividend Declared Effective September 5, 2016, the Board of Directors of Maestro declared a return of capital dividend to shareholders of record on September 15, 2016. Each Maestro common share will be entitled to receive 0.25 Relevium Shares and 0.25 Warrants. The dividend will be payable on or after September 25, 2016. In accordance with Exchange policies, Maestro's common shares are currently suspended from trading and will remain suspended until the QT is completed and its common shares are delisted, or upon reinstatement of trading to NEX. On Behalf of the Board of Directors MAESTRO CAPITAL CORPORATION Sean Caulfeild, CEO and Director NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION: This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the business and operations of the Company. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; delay or failure to receive board, shareholder or regulatory approvals; and the ability of the Company to execute and achieve its business objectives. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that the conditions to the transactions contemplated by the potential letter of intents will be satisfied or that those transactions will be completed. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Contacts: Maestro Capital Corporation Sean Caulfeild investors@maestrocaptial.com www.maestrocapital.com HONG KONG, CHINA--(Marketwired - September 06, 2016) - Weyland Tech Inc. (OTCQB: WEYL) ("Weyland Tech" or the "Company"), a provider of mobile business applications announces that it has signed a strategic licensing agreement with BGT Corporation Public Company Limited ("BGT"), for the Thai market. BGT owns the rights to Body Glove, founded in 1953, in Redondo Beach, California. BGT distributes men's & women's sport and casual wears and wetsuits in Thailand and ASEAN countries such as Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and the Philippines. The company has 149 company owned locations in Thailand alone and was listed on the Thailand Stock Exchange in 2007. Body Glove Thailand's website is: http://www.bodyglove.co.th/. BGT, in 2013, established BGT Technology in order to distribute electronic devices and other related accessories under trademarks of Wolfeye, Moontech and Boost. BGT Technology intends to utilize the Weyland Tech CreateApp platform for BGT's m-Commerce app as well as provide a 'branded app' to other industries in Thailand. Mr. Dickson Goh, CEO of BGT, commented that "As of December 2015, according to the Thailand Telecom Industry Database, Thailand had 83 million mobile subscribers, 5.4 million fixed-line telephone customers and 39.4 million internet users. Thailand is ASEAN's second largest smartphone market. With 60,000 mobile developers, Thailand's mobile app market is ranked third in Southeast Asia, after Indonesia and Vietnam. Thailand and its neighboring countries still lack an application platform like Createapp Technology that we are going to implement. Thus, our company is confident that CreateApp Platform will be successful business in the next 2-3 years. Thailand has 2.8 million SMBs. Those SMBs and start-ups still need an application platform to grow their business and increase revenue." About Weyland Tech Inc. Weyland Tech's CreateApp platform is focused on the Asia markets. WEYL's CreateApp platform is offered in 12 languages and enables small-medium-sized businesses ("SMB's") to create a mobile application ("APP") without the need of technical knowledge and background. SMB's can increase sales, reach more customers and promote their products and services via a simple easy to build mobile APPs in an affordable and cost-effective manner, http://www.weyland-tech.com/. For further information about Weyland Tech, Inc., contact Rich Kaiser, Investor Relations, YES INTERNATIONAL 757-306-6090 (001-757-306-6090), yes@yesinternational.com,info@weyland-tech.com and http://www.weyland-tech.com/. Safe Harbor Statement This release contains "forward-looking statements" relating to the business of the Company. All statements, other than statements of historical fact included herein are "forward-looking statements" including statements regarding: the continued growth of the e-commerce segment and the ability of the Company to continue its expansion into that segment; the ability of the Company to attract customers and partners and generate revenues; the ability of the Company to successfully execute its business plan; the business strategy, plans, and objectives of the Company; and any other statements of non-historical information. These forward-looking statements are often identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believes," "expects" or similar expressions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, they do involve assumptions, risks, and uncertainties, and these expectations may prove to be incorrect. Investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this news release. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, including those discussed in the Company's periodic reports that are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on its website (http://www.sec.gov). The Company does not assume any duty to update these forward-looking statements. Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/9/6/11G112896/Images/weylcreatappbody-5ee5ae2bb38e83949cc2dd4f094bf425.jpg Contact: Rich Kaiser Investor Relations 757-306-6090 yes@yesinternational.com info@weyland-tech.com Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 6, 2016) - BlackIce Enterprise Risk Management Inc. (CSE: BIS) ("BlackIce" or the "Company"), is providing this update on activities in Asia. The company is a global enterprise risk management technology firm with over 20 years' experience in the financial services industry. The Company has developed Enterprise Risk Management tools and reports to help banks manage their data and to comply with the Basel regulatory expectations for monitoring enterprise risk. Initially focused in Asia, BlackIce has completed 'proof of concept' and begun successful sales in Vietnam. Working closely with the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) guidance, BlackIce has completed its first installation at VIB Bank, with 2 more banks in late stage negotiation for contracts this fall. Another 10+ banks are potential clients in Vietnam. Discussions are underway for several other Asian markets, and BlackIce is preparing a bid for the Nepal Central Bank. A new cloud-based SaaS (Software as a Service) Stress-Testing product is under development to address the US market of 7,000 regional banks in 2017. DATA PLATFORM FOR RISK MANAGEMENT AND BASEL REGULATIONS BlackIce's advisory/development with global banks and the guidance of several Central Banks, has resulted in a unique, open, data management system that provides banks with instantaneous reporting capabilities that address all aspects of risk management, as well as compliance with the international Basel regulations. VIETNAM The company has leveraged its extensive knowledge into three distinct solutions (products) that are now in active marketing, with the initial sale and installation of the BlackIce 'RWA Calculator' at the International Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VIB) in Vietnam completed. The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV - Vietnam's Central Bank) will be instituting a validation process, and when complete BlackIce anticipates several other bank orders. The validation is being monitored by 30+ other Vietnam banks and BIS expects to sign 2 more bank installation contracts in 2016 and 5-10 in 2017. The number of customers can increase with more sales/technical staff. Working with EY Vietnam (Ernst and Young) and HPT (a Vietnamese systems integrator) as well as IBM, BIS is quickly developing a network of potential customers and a reputation for quality products and service. BlackIce has also completed a 'Proof of Concept' and tender for a Data Warehouse project. This could result in a much larger project that includes the BlackIce ERA solution and would provide a multiple of sales revenue for the company. NEPAL BlackIce is preparing a bid for the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB - the Central Bank), the monetary, regulatory and supervisory authority in Nepal. This project would leverage all three BlackIce solutions: ERA - Data Warehouse and reporting; RWA Calculator and BEST(Stress Testing tool) into a solution for NRB to administer, monitor, regulate and supervise the 100+ banks in Nepal. This bid closes in late September 2016. U.S. Further development of BIS products will include a cloud-based version ('Software as a Service' -SaaS) of the BlackIce Enterprise Stress Testing product (BEST) which addresses the market for regional banks in the U.S. - over 7,000 potential customers. The U.S. Stress-Testing product (BEST) is expected to be complete in Q1 2017. IBM is currently a partner with BlackIce in the U.S. BLACKICE RECOGNIZED AS TOP 20 ERM PROVIDER In June 2015, BlackIce was recognized as one of the top 20 ERM Solution Providers by CIO Review magazine. PRODUCT DETAILS BlackIce has developed the Enterprise Risk Aggregation (ERA) Solution (an open platform that delivers end-to-end data and analytical standards to support comprehensive Enterprise Risk Management) to meet all regulatory expectations of Basel (I, II, III) as well as the BCBS Risk Data Aggregation & Reporting (RDA) requirements, and the FSB (Financial Stability Board) Legal Entity Identifier program for monitoring concentration risk. ERA includes prebuilt out of the box reports to satisfy all regulatory requirements and an extensive selection of management reports addressing all Risk related issues faced by financial institutions. Also, ERA includes prebuilt analytics for RWA, Economic Capital, CVA, VaR, Stress Testing and modeling. The Governance Compliance Database (GCD) Solution is an application that allows financial institutions to assess adherence to Minimum Regulatory Requirements or to requirements specific to the institution (e.g. the Risk Data Framework). BlackIce developed this tool from several global Basel Implementations, and offers it to assist financial institutions with overall tracking of progress and capture of compliance to and governance of Regulatory Regulations and Best Practices, while at the same time providing comprehensive examples of artifacts and supporting extensive reporting. The BlackIce Enterprise Stress Testing (BEST) Solution, is a stress testing application being developed for Tier 2 and community banks in the United States, where IBM is a partner. The target market is in excess of 7,000 institutions. FINANCING AND OPTIONS The Company has received commitments for a non-brokered private placement of 2,500,000 Units at $0.05 per Unit for gross proceeds of $125,000. Each Unit consists of one common share of the company and one-half common share purchase warrant. Each whole warrant will entitle the holder thereof to purchase one additional share at a price of $0.10 cents per warrant share for a period of two years from the closing date. There are no finder's fee payable. The Company also announces it has set 2,000,000 options at $0.05 to officers, directors and consultants for a two year period. More information is available on the website: www.blackiceinc.com. BlackIce Enterprise Risk Management Inc. Judy Kalyan, Director and CEO Forward-Looking Information This press release may include forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, concerning the business and trading in the common stock of BlackIce Enterprise Risk Management Inc. The forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the company's management. Forward looking statements in this press release include that we expect to sign sales contracts in Vietnam in the near future. The forward looking statements can be affected by competitors' products, customers determining to delay purchases or not purchase at all, customers not having sufficient funding to purchase, and the possibility of technical or other issues with our software solutions. Orders that are made can be cancelled. Although the company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking information is based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking information because the company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and the company disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws. The CSE has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this press release. CHANTILLY, VA -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- AMERICAN SYSTEMS today announced it was awarded a $52 Million Contract by Washington Headquarters Services (WHS) for the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Developmental Test and Evaluation (DASD(DT&E)) to provide professional engineering services. Under the terms of the five-year (base year plus four option years) contract, awarded under the General Services Administration's One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS) contract vehicle, AMERICAN SYSTEMS will continue its support of the DASD(DT&E) mission to ensure Major Defense Acquisition Program/Major Automated Information System (MDAP/MAIS) acquisition programs deliver the data and assessments needed to support critical acquisition and engineering decisions, including the decisions to begin development and enter production. AMERICAN SYSTEMS will provide Warfare Area Staff Specialists to monitor, review, and assess the developmental test planning, programming, and execution activities of the approximately 150 MDAPs and MAIS under DASD(DT&E). Services include supporting MDAP/MAIS acquisition program managers and chief developmental testers in the development of comprehensive and efficient test strategies. Work also includes assessing program progress at various key milestones to inform acquisition decision makers. AMERICAN SYSTEMS will support DASD(DT&E) in managing workflow, tracking action items, and financial execution. "This contract award further validates our position as a leading provider of test and evaluation services and solutions," said Peter Smith, President and CEO of AMERICAN SYSTEMS. "AMERICAN SYSTEMS is proud to be able to continue our support of the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense." About AMERICAN SYSTEMS Founded in 1975, AMERICAN SYSTEMS is a government Engineering and IT solutions provider and one of the top 100 employee-owned companies in the United States, with approximately 1,400 employees nationwide. Based in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Chantilly, VA, the company provides Test and Evaluation; Acquisition and Lifecycle Support; Engineering and Analysis; Enterprise IT; and Training solutions to DOD, Intel, and civilian government customers. For more information, visit: www.AmericanSystems.com. Contact: Michael Dolton 703.968.5287 Email Contact LAS VEGAS, NV -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- Pure Hospitality Solutions, Inc. (OTC PINK: PNOW), parent Company of the Central American-Caribbean Online Travel Agency (OTA) Oveedia, announced today, that the Oveedia.com domain has reached new, record levels, as its Alexa ranking now shares footing with Movistar and Citibank Costa Rica; increasing the value of both the domain and the Company overall. "One item we have stressed for several months now, is the positioning of the Oveedia website," stated Melvin Pereira, President and CEO of Pure Hospitality Solutions. "On December 30th, 2015, we reported that, following 90 days of continuous, diligent work, we had increased (lowered) our Alexa ranking from one of the billions of websites in existence, to a ranking of 430,580. Anyone familiar with the Alexa system, knows just how much work it takes to bypass billions of sites currently on the web; equally, they understand the positive impact this makes to the site's overall valuation. "On Friday, September 2nd, 2016, we hit a brand new milestone; months earlier than anyone anticipated. We now have an Alexa ranking of 193,146! This means, Oveedia's visibility has improved substantially, surpassing another 237,434 websites worldwide. That's a 55% improvement. We are very happy with these metrics!" For a better perspective, here is how Oveedia ranks amongst a few major regional companies: Banco Popular de Costa Rica (Government bank) 242,872 Claro Costa Rica (Mexican phone company) 231,235 Movistar - Telefonica Costa Rica (Major Spanish phone company) 210,136 Oveedia 193,146 Citibank Costa Rica 164,320 Generally speaking, the lower (better) the ranking of a website, the greater the daily traffic received. The more traffic, the more valuable the site, its content and advertisements become. Clearly, Oveedia is receiving as much, and in many cases, more traffic than some of the largest companies from within the region and throughout the world. If the trend continues at this rate, management is confident that Oveedia's domain alone will soon be worth a million dollars. Pereira concluded, "One thing I have made very clear since I became the CEO of this Company, is that first and foremost, I am a webmaster. It is my hope that once people acknowledge the true feat in bringing this much attention and interested visitors to a fairly young website, confidence will continue to improve and translate directly to our market value. While there has been little correlation to date, the fact that we are now one of the top 200k websites in the world -- soon approaching 100k -- should indicate that the conversion of traffic into travel bookings, shareholder growth and stock price appreciation, is evident and quickly approaching. "We expect that with this new ranking, additional travel bookings and advertisement traffic, revenue will begin flowing in quite steadily and our overall valuation will grow in-kind." To view part II of the shareholder update, please visit: http://www.purenow.solutions/pure-updates-shareholders/ To View part I of the shareholder update, please visit: http://www.purenow.solutions/letter-shareholders/ To view the second iteration of Oveedia, please visit: http://blog.oveedia.com/oveedia-new-website/ To interact and discuss PNOW with other shareholders, please visit: http://investorshangout.com/Pure-Hospitality-Solutions-Inc-PNOW-65267/ About Pure Hospitality Solutions, Inc. PURE provides proprietary technology, marketing solutions and branding services to hotel operators and condominium owners. The Company's vision is to build competitive operations in the areas of (i) online marketing and hotel internet booking engine services, (ii) hotel branding and, (iii) own, operate and in some instances develop, boutique hotels under the new, "by PURE" brand. PURE is the creator of Oveedia, the Central American-Caribbean online travel hub. Related Links: Pure Hospitality Solutions, Inc. Pinterest Pure Hospitality Solutions, Inc. Facebook Pure Hospitality Solutions, Inc. Twitter Pure Hospitality Solutions, Inc. Google + Pure Hospitality Solutions, Inc. LinkedIn Pure Hospitality Solutions, Inc. Investors Hangout Oveedia Google + Safe Harbor Statements in this news release that are not historical facts, including statements about plans and expectations regarding products and opportunities, demand and acceptance of new or existing products, capital resources and future financial results are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties which may cause the Company's actual results in future periods to differ materially from those expressed. These uncertainties and risks include changing consumer preferences, lack of success of new products, loss of the Company's customers, competition and other factors discussed from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Contact: Team PURE IR Div. (800) 889-9509 VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - September 06, 2016) - Astur Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE: AST) (FRANKFURT: CDC) ("Astur" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that RMB Australia Holdings ("RMBAH") has extended the option period pursuant to the option agreement entered into between Lionsbridge, RMBAH and the Company, as outlined in the announcement of July 12, 2016. The option period has been extended to November 6, 2016 on the same terms previously disclosed to the market. Lionsbridge and Astur appreciate RMBAH's continued support of the Company and the Salave gold project in Spain. Brian Wesson stated, "Management has been undergoing an intensive review both in Canada and Spain with a view to unlocking the significant value of the Salave asset. The change in Astur's Board and management has provided a platform for the Company to develop a clear strategic plan to progress the Company, which will be articulated to the shareholders shortly. The exercise of the option forms a fundamental part of this plan." Signed "Brian Wesson" President and Chief Executive Officer Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. This document contains certain forward looking statements which involve known and unknown risks, delays and uncertainties not under the Company's control which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from the results, performance or expectation implied by these forward looking statements. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Clyde Wesson Vice President Suite 545, 999 Canada Place Vancouver, B.C., V6C 3E1 Tel: (604) 684-6264 info@asturgold.com www.asturgold.com Michael Kors (NYSE:KORS), a global luxury lifestyle brand, is excited to introduce the MICHAEL KORS ACCESS display smartwatch,part ofits new wearable technology accessories line. The line is geared towards the fashion-focused consumer and combines innovative technology with exceptional style from a leader in luxury fashion. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160906005376/en/ Michael Kors Access Smartwatch The cutting-edge technology at the heart of the MICHAEL KORS ACCESS smartwatch, which is compatible with both iPhone and Android phones, is made possible through a partnership with Google, using their Android Wear smartwatch platform. Designed to show that technology and social connectivity should be seamless the MICHAEL KORS ACCESS line, which also includes activity trackers, proves that access can be both glamorous and effortless. "Our customers love fashion and they're plugged in 24/7," says Michael Kors. "I think they'll appreciate having social connectivity and health and fitness tracking all within a great-looking accessory." MICHAEL KORS ACCESS smartwatches offer customizable features perfect for our fans: Exclusive Michael Kors display watch faces, which change with a swipe-whether it's a digital chronograph design for the gym or glittering, animated pave for night Hundreds of possible combinations of display face, color and sub dials A touchscreen display smartwatch powered by Android Wear that provides: Social media updates and text and email alerts App notifications Smart help from Google Built-in fitness tracking Interchangeable leather and silicone wristbands Glamorous versions for women and sporty versions for men Magnetic charging The Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100, a system-on-a-chip (SoC) designed to ensure a highly interactive touch screen experience "We're excited to offer our customers smart, great-looking watches that will help them to stay on top of their daily lives while uniquely expressing their personal style," says John Idol, Chairman and CEO of Michael Kors. The Michael Kors customer lives a busy, fast-paced life and the MICHAEL KORS ACCESS collection will let him or her stay connected. "From Google Search to smartwatches, Google strives to give you the information you need to stay connected to what matters most," says David Singleton, VP of Engineering for Android Wear. "MICHAEL KORS ACCESS and Android Wear move the wearables category forward with smart, beautiful watches that help you stay on top of your daily life while expressing your personal style." MICHAEL KORS ACCESS will be launched in 18 countries via a global digital and print advertising campaign, including a video featuring Zendaya and Martha Hunt. The video follows the two models on a jam-packed day in New York City-from morning workouts to a glamorous evening party. Throughout the day, Michael Kors Access smartwatches keep them in sync and looking chic-proof that with the right accessory, you really can AccessItAll. You can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/vV7_aaSKNU0. The MICHAEL KORS ACCESS smartwatches start at $350 USD. The activity trackers start at $95 USD. Both are available in Michael Kors stores, MichaelKors.com and select department and specialty stores. For more information, please visit the following: Michael Kors Access: http://www.michaelkors.com/Access Destination Kors: http://www.destinationkors.com/ Michael Kors on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/michaelkors @MichaelKors on Twitter: http://twitter.com/michaelkors @MichaelKors on Instagram: http://instagram.com/michaelkors Michael Kors on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/michaelkors.com @MichaelKors on Weibo: http://weibo.com/michaelkors Search for "Michael Kors" on Weixin and WeChat Search for "Michael Kors" on LINE Japan Android Wear requires a phone running Android 4.3+ or iOS 8.2+. Supported features may vary between platforms. Visit g.co/wearcheck on your Android phone or iPhone to see if your device is compatible. Google, Android and Android Wear are trademarks of Google Inc. iPhone is a trademark of Apple, Inc. Qualcomm and Snapdragon are trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated. About Michael Kors Michael Kors is a world-renowned, award-winning designer of luxury accessories and ready-to-wear. His namesake company, established in 1981, currently produces a range of products under Michael Kors Collection, MICHAEL Michael Kors and Michael Kors Mens, including accessories, footwear, watches, jewelry, ready-to-wear and a full line of fragrance products. Michael Kors stores are operated, either directly or through licensing partners, in some of the most prestigious cities in the world, including New York, Beverly Hills, Chicago, London, Milan, Paris, Munich, Istanbul, Dubai, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on such statements because they are subject to numerous uncertainties and factors relating to the Company's operations and business environment, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the Company's control. Forward-looking statements include information concerning the Company's possible or assumed future results of operations, including descriptions of its business strategy. These statements often include words such as "may," "will," "should," "believe," "expect," "seek," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "estimate" or similar expressions. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on assumptions that the Company has made in light of management's experience in the industry as well as its perceptions of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors that it believes are appropriate under the circumstances. You should understand that these statements are not guarantees of performance or results. They involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Although the Company believes that these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, you should be aware that many factors could affect its actual financial results or results of operations and could cause actual results to differ materially from those in these forward-looking statements. These factors are more fully discussed in the "Risk Factors" section and elsewhere in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 2, 2016 (File No. 001-35368), filed on June 1, 2016 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160906005376/en/ Contacts: ICR, Inc. Jean Fontana, 203-682-1214 jean.fontana@icrinc.com Alecia Pulman, 646-277-1231 (Media) KorsPR@icrinc.com ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada The Government of Canada values the role of post-secondary institutions as they help equip young Canadians with the education and training they need for future careers that will help them join a strong, healthy middle class. Today's $14.4-million investment at Memorial University of Newfoundland will do just that by fostering the training needed for the well-paying middle-class jobs of today and tomorrow. The funding was announced today by the Honourable Judy Foote, Minister of Public Services and Procurement, on behalf of the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development. The Government of Canada's Innovation Agenda aims to make this country a global centre for innovation-one that creates jobs, drives growth across all industries and improves the lives of all Canadians. This investment exemplifies that vision in action and will help create the well-paying middle-class jobs of tomorrow. The funding includes $14.4 million to replace two of Memorial University's current aging animal research care facilities. This will ensure the university can continue to conduct its biomedical research activities and to offer certified degree programs. Memorial University will provide an additional $15.6 million for this project. In total, universities and colleges throughout Newfoundland and Labrador will receive more than $85.2 million from the Government of Canada, the provincial government, the institutions themselves and private donors. Federal funding will be allocated through the Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund, which will enhance and modernize research facilities on Canadian campuses and improve the environmental sustainability of these facilities. As a result of these investments, students, professors and researchers will work in state-of-the-art facilities that advance the country's best research. They will collaborate in specially designed spaces that support lifelong learning and skills training. They will work in close proximity with partners to turn discoveries into products or services. In the process, they will train for-and create-the high-value, middle-class jobs of the future. And their discoveries will plant the seeds for the next generation of innovators. That is how the Strategic Investment Fund will jump-start a virtuous circle of innovation, creating the right conditions for long-term growth that will yield benefits for generations to come. On July 4, 2016, the Government of Canada and the governments of the four Atlantic provinces launched the Atlantic Growth Strategy, which involves targeted actions to stimulate Atlantic Canada's economy, including supporting key infrastructure projects that support long-term growth and position the region to capitalize on emerging opportunities. Today's announcement builds on this commitment. Quotes "This once-in-a-generation investment by the Government of Canada is a historic down payment on the government's vision to position Canada as a global centre for innovation. That means making Canada a world leader in turning ideas into solutions, science into technologies, skills into jobs and start-up companies into global successes. Investments like this also support our Atlantic Growth Strategy, designed to stimulate the region's economy and address its challenges while building on Atlantic Canada's competitive advantages, such as its strong export potential, growing innovation ecosystem and skilled workforce." - The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development "Through the Strategic Investment Fund, our government is supporting innovation to help improve opportunities for business, create jobs in the Atlantic Canada region and contribute to Atlantic Canada's reputation as an innovation hub. Projects like this one contribute to building a vibrant economic future by helping grow the middle class and support industry both in Atlantic Canada and in communities across the country." - The Honourable Judy Foote, Minister of Public Services and Procurement "The Strategic Investment Fund builds on the federal government's ongoing partnership with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and will help Memorial University strengthen its capacity for research and attract and retain top talent. This investment in infrastructure is also an investment in Newfoundland and Labrador's next generation of students and will support economic development for years to come." - The Honourable Dwight Ball, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador "A robust research and development community is vital to the future prosperity of Newfoundland and Labrador, and to Canada as a whole. By constructing and renovating our research infrastructure to help prepare young people for the jobs of the future, the Government of Canada-in partnership with the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Memorial University of Newfoundland and others-is investing wisely in this future prosperity." - Nick Whalen, Member of Parliament for St. John's East. "I thank the federal government for its continued strong support of Memorial University and the important work we do here. Animal care facilities are the backbone of much research that happens at universities. A new centre will have a tremendous impact on teaching, learning, research and outreach capacities across many disciplines. Supporting biomedical research and public engagement aimed primarily at Newfoundland and Labrador but with potential global impact, these investments translate into incredibly good news for the province and the world." - Dr. Gary Kachanoski, President and Vice-Chancellor, Memorial University of Newfoundland Quick facts -- The Government of Canada is providing more than $33.3 million for research infrastructure at institutions across Newfoundland and Labrador. Memorial University has been awarded $14.4 million for this project. -- The Government of Canada's Innovation Agenda is designed to ensure Canada is globally competitive in promoting research, translating ideas into new products and services, accelerating business growth and propelling entrepreneurs from the start-up phase to international success. -- The targeted, short-term investments under the Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund will promote economic activity across Canada and help Canada's universities and colleges develop highly skilled workers, act as engines of discovery, and collaborate on innovations that help Canadian companies compete and grow internationally. -- The Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund supports the Government of Canada's climate change objectives by encouraging sustainable and green infrastructure projects. -- On July 4, 2016, the Government of Canada and the governments of the four Atlantic provinces unveiled the Atlantic Growth Strategy, a homegrown, prosperity-focused and evidence-based strategy to stimulate the region's economy and address both long-standing and emerging regional challenges. -- The Atlantic Growth Strategy is aimed at stimulating economic growth in the region by focusing joint federal and provincial efforts and resources on the following five main areas of action: skilled workforce/immigration, innovation, clean growth and climate change, trade and investment, and infrastructure. -- As part of the Atlantic Growth Strategy, both levels of government will work together on key infrastructure projects. Associated links - Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund website - Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund backgrounder - Innovation Agenda backgrounder - Atlantic Growth Strategy Follow Minister Bains on social media. Twitter: @MinisterISED Follow the Atlantic Growth Strategy on Twitter: AtlanticGrowth Contacts: Philip Proulx Press Secretary Office of the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development 343-291-2500 Media Relations Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada 343-291-1777 ic.mediarelations-mediasrelations.ic@canada.ca WATERLOO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat The Government of Canada values the critical role the nation's post-secondary institutions play in attracting world-class researchers, catalyzing discoveries that improve our health and environment and contributing to an innovative economy that leads to more opportunities for the middle class and those working hard to join it. To underscore this commitment, the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science, was at the University of Waterloo's Institute for Quantum Computing today to announce a landmark investment of $900 million to 13 postsecondary institutions through the Canada First Research Excellence Fund. The Fund strategically invests in areas where Canada's postsecondary institutions can become global leaders in their respective areas of key research strengths. For example, the University of Waterloo will receive $76,277,000 for Transformative Quantum Technologies, an initiative that will bring together theoretical and experimental physics, computer science, and engineering to advance the development of relevant quantum technologies. The devices developed by the university and its partners will have applications in such areas as medicine, navigation, sensing and the development of new materials. The 12 other initiatives funded today each focus on developing areas of similar competitive advantage. They include sustainably developing our oceans; developing next-generation medical technologies; increasing the capacity, sustainability and safety of our food production systems; and improving human brain health. Each of the initiatives was selected for funding following an open competitive process among Canadian postsecondary institutions. The competition was judged by a panel of Canadian and international scientific experts. Information about each of the 13 funded initiatives is available at www.cfref-apogee.gc.ca. QUOTES "The Canada First Research Excellence Fund will equip Canada to respond to some of the most pressing issues it will face in the future: brain health, sustainable food and water supplies, environmental concerns, future energy supplies. The research supported through this Fund will make the country stronger." -The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science "Today's investment by the Government of Canada enables our leading postsecondary research institutions to capitalize on areas in which they excel. Indeed, it promises to make them world leaders in these areas, and strengthen Canada's position as the destination of choice for innovation and cutting-edge research." -Ted Hewitt, President, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Chair, Canada First Research Excellence Fund Steering Committee "Today's investment in quantum information science is a watershed moment for this frontier discipline. Quantum devices and computing will propel us through an era of transformation, revolutionizing technology as we know it. In recognizing Waterloo's role as a global leader in both theoretical and experimental quantum research with this funding, CFREF also secures Canada's place at the leading edge of quantum research, with Waterloo and the Quantum Valley as its vanguard." -Feridun Hamdullahpur, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Waterloo "Quantum mechanics enable devices that are otherwise impossible in the classical world. These revolutionary devices will transform the way we interact with and learn about the world. The Transformative Quantum Technologies initiative at the University of Waterloo aims to develop new quantum technologies and to connect quantum devices to applications spanning the fields of medicine, health, navigation, environment, materials and others." -David Cory, Canada Excellence Research Chair, Professor of Chemistry, Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo Facts -- This is the second Canada First Research Excellence Fund competition. In July 2015, five initiatives received funding worth $350 million in total. -- A total of $900 million is being awarded to 13 projects, with the largest single award being $93,732,000 to Dalhousie University, for its Safe and Sustainable Development of the Ocean Frontier initiative. -- The Fund is administered by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, on behalf of the three federal granting agencies, which include the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Additional Links About the Canada First Research Excellence Fund Inaugural Competition 2 Results Inaugural Competition 1 Results University of Waterloo-Transformative Quantum Technologies Contacts: Veronique Perron Press Secretary Office of the Minister of Science 343-291-2600 Michael Adams Communications Advisor Canada Excellence Research Chairs Program 613-944-1758 Cell: 613-219-7523 Toby Day-Hamilton Associate Director, Communications and Strategic Initiatives Institute for Quantum Computing University of Waterloo 519-888-4422 Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. EDMONTON, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- The Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, has convened a federal/provincial/territorial meeting of ministers responsible for public infrastructure to discuss Canadian infrastructure priorities. Representatives from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities will also be participating. The meeting is part of the engagement process the Government of Canada is undertaking in the design of Phase 2 of Investing in Canada. Discussions will surround the progress achieved so far on the country's infrastructure needs, and the best path forward in positioning Canada for the future. Members of the media are invited to obtain b-roll prior to the opening remarks, and a full press conference at the conclusion of the meeting. Date: Wednesday, September 7, 2016 Location: Shaw Conference Centre 9797 Jasper Avenue Edmonton, Alberta Time: 8:45 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. -Prior to opening remarks in Salons 8/9 4:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. -Press event in Riverview Room Contacts: Brook Simpson Press Secretary Office of the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities 613-219-0149 Brook.Simpson@canada.ca DUBLIN, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global Flexible Electronics Market 2016-2020" report to their offering. The global flexible electronics market to grow at a CAGR of 66.66% during the period 2016-2020. The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global flexible electronics market for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report covers the sales of flexible electronic devices that include flexible displays and flexible or printed batteries worldwide. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market. Flexible electronics refers to advanced electronic devices that can be folded and bended without getting damaged. Flexible electronics find applications in a number of sectors such as consumer electronics, healthcare, industrial, and military and defense. Flexible electronic devices are ultrathin, lightweight, compact, power-efficient, and have low heat emissions. However, flexible electronic devices are expensive and are less popular as compared to traditional electronic devices. This is resulting in their low penetration in the market. The report only focuses on flexible displays and flexible or printed batteries. The material mostly used for flexible electronics is plastic. According to the report, capacity expansion plans is a key driver aiding to the growth of this market. As the innovation continues to churn out developments in the flexible display market, major companies such as Samsung and LG have started expanding their manufacturing capacity and required investment in their APAC manufacturing plants. The time to prototype and gauge the manufacturing capacity planning has reduced to weeks and months compared to years previously. For instance, in 2015, Samsung produced 30,000 to 40,000 flexible displays each month. Also, in support of the Make in India campaign, Samsung is establishing manufacturing plants in India. Key Vendors AU Optronics Blue Spark Technologies Cymbet E Ink Holdings Enfucell LG Display Samsung Display Solicore Planar Energy Devices Key Topics Covered: Part 01: Executive summary Part 02: Scope of the report Part 03: Market research methodology Part 04: Market insights Part 05: Introduction Part 06: Future outlook Part 07: Market landscape Part 08: Market segmentation by product Part 09: Geographical segmentation Part 10: Summary of key figures Part 11: Market drivers Part 12: Impact of drivers Part 13: Market challenges Part 14: Impact of drivers and challenges Part 15: Market trends Part 16: Buying behavior Part 17: Vendor landscape Part 18: Appendix For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/8tgjvp/global_flexible Related Topics: Semiconductor Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - 21st Century Fox (FOXA, FOX) said that it has settled Gretchen Carlson's lawsuit. During her tenure at Fox News, Gretchen exhibited the highest standards of journalism and professionalism. She developed a loyal audience and was a daily source of information for many Americans. The company said it sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect and dignity that she and all of its colleagues deserve. Reports said that 21st Century Fox will pay Carlson $20 million. Ms. Carlson said, 'I am gratified that 21st Century Fox took decisive action after I filed my Complaint. I'm ready to move on to the next chapter of my life in which I will redouble my efforts to empower women in the workplace. In July 2016, Gretchen Carlson, a former Fox News Channel host, had filed a sexual harassment case against Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes, who later resigned from his post. In the complaint, Carlson, popular for co-hosting 'Fox & Friends' until 2013, alleged Ailes of sabotaging her career because she refused his 'sexual advances.' Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- With photo Andrew Munt, to be Head of pentahotels UK pentahotels are well known for their unique style and creative approach. It continues to thrive with its strategic decision on creating a brand new position to reinforce the hotel chain's UK market development: Andrew Munt appointed to be first Head of pentahotels UK from 1st August 2016 in the company's history. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160906/404265 ) pentahotels are looking to further strengthen their global market presence thorough expansion plans for the UK. Andrew Munt will be the drive behind the opening of further pentahotels throughout the United Kingdom and put his fingerprint on the measures. When Andrew Munt stepped into pentahotel Reading almost seven years ago for a job interview with Alastair Thomann, today Managing Director of pentahotels, he knew right away that he could be part of something very special in the hotel industry - and he was right! For the last three years, Andrew Munt has played a vital part in helping shape the penta portfolio in the UK - an experience through which he developed. Looking ahead, Andrew Munt is excited about playing a key role in the next chapters of the brand's development story. This course for expansion is something that Alastair Thomann, Managing Director of pentahotels, is especially delighted to announce: "We are looking into a very successful future for our brand as the expansion of pentahotels UK will only further position us as a globally recognised hotel chain. New openings in key locations in major cities will be another important milestone in the company's history. Andrew uniquely embodies the lifestyle hotel chain's philosophy and will play a key role in pentahotels' growth strategy." pentahotels represents a new generation of hotels. Known for its unique interior design and "neighbourhood" feel, the lifestyle brand stands for true innovation in the industry's four-star segment. With 27 hotels across seven countries over two continents, pentahotels offers individual and business travellers comfort and style in a relaxed atmosphere. The hallmark of the hotel chain is the pentalounge - a combination of lounge, bar, cafe and reception - that stands out with its "living room" look and feel. For further information and bookings, please visit www.pentahotels.com. Follow us on facebook.de/pentahotels for our latest news. media contacts: media consulta International Holding AG On behalf of pentahotels Sandra Bumbar-Malchow Phone: +49(0)30-65-000-320 Fax:+49(0)30-65-000-171 E-Mail: press.pentahotels@mcgroup.com Global Marketing & Communications Department pentahotels Max Siegers Penta Hotels Germany GmbH Westhafen Tower, Westhafenplatz 1 60327 Frankfurt a.M., Germany Phone: +49(0)69-256699-750 Fax: +49(0)69-256699-766 E-Mail: communications@pentahotels.com Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/pentahotels Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pentahotels/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pentahotels LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/penta-hotels Website: https://pentahotels.live/ Note to Editors: A picture/s accompanying this release is available through the PA Photowire. It can be downloaded from http://www.pa-mediapoint.press.net or viewed at http://www.mediapoint.press.net or http://www.prnewswire.co.uk . IRVINE, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- Evans Brewing Company (OTCQB: ALES), a producer of award-winning premium craft beers, today announced an increase of over 1000% in the sales of Evans branded packaged products over the same period last year. The increase is attributed to local Orange County sales as well as the wider distribution of Evans products in the western United States. These additional sales drive a greater awareness of the company's ales and lagers in the craft beer marketplace. Evans Brewing's year-round packaged products include Pollen Nation Honey Blonde Ale, The KrHOPen India Pale Ale, Oaklore Brown Ale, and ChocoLatte Chocolate Porter, all available in 22-ounce bottles. New distribution agreements for Evans packaged products were announced in the Colorado and Washington markets in April 2016 and May 2016 respectively. Distribution of the 22-oz. bottles has also expanded throughout the California market since the beginning of 2016. "Increased Orange County demand, wider distribution of our packaged products, and greater awareness of the Evans brand as an award-winning southern California craft beer producer has helped to boost sales over last year," said Evan Rapport, Vice President, Director and head of brewery operations for Evans Brewing Company. "We are confident that as more craft enthusiasts are introduced to our brand, sales of our bottled offerings will continue to grow." "The upcoming opening of The Public House, our first branded restaurant in downtown Fullerton, California, is expected to increase awareness of the company in the large southern California market, and our growing out-of-state distribution helps introduce our beers to drinkers in other regions," added Mr. Rapport. To see the full range of Evans branded products, including seasonal beers, special releases and potentially other year-round offerings, please visit http://www.evansbrewco.com/thebeerbeer. About Evans Brewing Company, Inc. Evans Brewing Company (www.evansbrewco.com) develops and distributes premium craft brands including a superior line of lagers and ales that have been honored with over 20 international awards. Operating the oldest brewery in Orange County, California, Evans Brewing supplies restaurants, retailers and beer drinkers across several states. Future plans include the opening of the company's first restaurant/taproom, The Public House by Evans Brewing Company, broader product distribution, and potentially an expansion of the beer brands currently under management. For more information, please email us at investors@evansbrewco.com. Follow Evans Brewing Company: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/EvansBrewCo Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/evansbrewingco/ Twitter - @EvansBrewCo Forward-Looking Statements This press release may contain statements, estimates or projections that constitute "forward-looking statements" pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. federal securities laws. Generally, the words "believe," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "project," "will" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, which generally are not historical in nature. Forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from Evans Brewing Company's historical experience and present expectations or projections. These risks include, but are not limited to, changes in general economic, business and political conditions, developmental delays or disruptions inherent with new products, and risks of reduction in revenue from the elimination of existing and potential customers due to consolidation or new laws or regulations affecting the craft brewing industry, and other risks detailed in Evans Brewing Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including the "Risk Factors" sections of our filings, and subsequent SEC filings. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. Evans Brewing Company expressly disclaims any obligation or intention to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements unless otherwise required by law. Evans Brewing Company Andrew Beyer 714-443-0099 investors@evansbrewco.com MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- Canada Strategic Metals Inc. ("Canada Strategic Metals" or "the Company") (TSX VENTURE: CJC) (FRANKFURT: YXEN) (OTCBB: CJCFF) and Matamec Explorations Inc. (TSX VENTURE: MAT) (OTCQX: MHREF) are pleased to report the latest drill results for the Sakami property. Drilling on the Northwest extension of Zone 25 (main zone) has returned an intersection of 4.94 g/t Au over 21.05 metres within a wide gold-bearing intersection of 2.52 g/t Au over 48.55, from Hole PT-16-92 (see table below). Once again, the drill results for the Northwest extension confirmed the extension of Zone 25 and tend to indicate higher gold grades in the extension. The program consists of nine holes for a total of 2,058 metres of drilling. Table of mineralized intersections from recent 2016 drilling ---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- Hole # From (m) To (m) Length (i) (m) Au (g/t) ---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- PT-16-91(ii) 165.20 208.50 43.30 2.21 Including 176.00 187.50 11.50 3.46 ---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- PT-16-92 203.60 252.15 48.55 2.52 Including 206.95 228.00 21.05 4.94 Including 206.95 225.00 18.05 5.38 ---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- (i) Core length; the Company estimates the true width of the mineralized zone at 70 to 95% of the core length. (ii) Results already announced in a press release dated August 25, 2016 The program is aimed at increasing the size of the main gold zone (Zone 25) to the west-northwest, as well as its south extension at depth. Zone 25 is in the La Pointe sector of the Sakami property. Once this program is complete, Zone 25 will have been tested over a strike length of more than 300 metres and to a depth of over 500 metres along its plunge. See drilling figure below. The Company will release the results of holes PT-16-93 to PT-16-99 as soon as they are received and compiled. The 2016 drilling program designed with the help of Guy Desharnais, Ph.D, geologist at SGS Canada was managed by Consul-Teck Exploration of Val-d'Or, Quebec who supervised the program and logged and sampled the core. Consul-Teck Exploration implemented QA/QC procedures to ensure best practices in sampling and analysis of the core samples. The drill core was logged and then split, with one-half sent for assay and the other retained in the core box as a witness sample. Duplicates, standards and blanks were inserted regularly into the sample stream. The samples were delivered, in secure tagged bags, directly to the analytical facility for analysis, in this case the ALS Minerals laboratory facility in Val-d'Or, Quebec. The samples are weighed and identified prior to sample preparation. All samples are analyzed by fire assay with AA finish on a 30g sample (0.005-10 ppm Au), with a gravimetric finish for assays over 10 ppm Au. Jean-Sebastien Lavallee (OGQ #773), geologist, shareholder and Chief Executive Officer of the Company and a Qualified Person under NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical content of this release. About Canada Strategic Metals Canada Strategic Metals is an emerging company focused on the exploration and development of a number of projects covering over 22,584 hectares in Quebec. With broad management experience in green technology and junior resource exploration and development, Canada Strategic Metals is well positioned to aggressively advance this promising property portfolio for its shareholders. For more information on the Company, please visit www.csmetals.ca. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. To view the map associated with this press release, please visit the following link: http://file.marketwire.com/release/csm0906e.jpg Contacts: Jean-Sebastien Lavallee, P. Geo President and Chief Executive Officer 819-354-5146 Paradox Public Relations 514-341-0408 With only a month left of the Rosetta mission, the ESA has finally located Philae on the Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Images were taken on 2 September by Rosetta's camera, as it came within 2.7 km of the comet's surface, which clearly show the main body of the lander, along with two of its three legs, said the ESA. Furthermore, "the images also provide proof of Philae's orientation, making it clear why establishing communications was so difficult following its landing on 12 November 2014," added the ESA. pv magazine had extensively covered Philae's landing on the Comet's surface. Rosetta's probe, Philae, which was powered by solar panels and a battery system, had been in operation for almost three days after landing on the comet, during which time it completed experiments and measurements that provided an unprecedented mass of data to the ESA scientists. However, Philae's rough landing on the comet eventually led it into trouble, ending up in a dark location that was later named Abydos, on the comet's smaller lobe. Philae's primary battery was exhausted and the lander went into hibernation. Scientists had hoped that Philae would awake from its hibernation in the summer ... Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. On Saturday the White House announced that the United States and China had signed the necessary paperwork to formally join the Paris Agreement, as the 25th and 26th nations to do so. Last December more than 190 nations took the initial step to adopt the global agreement to limit emissions at the 21st Conference of the Parties in Paris. However, In order for the agreement to be legally binding, 55 nations representing 55% of emissions must formally join. Saturday's action marks major progress towards the 55% target, at the United States and China are the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gasses and together represent 38% of global emissions, bringing the current total to 40%. 32 more nations ... Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - We assume that at the upper echelons of business, things are, well, all about business. The decisions in our everyday lives might be driven by emotions - colored by office grudges and personal preference - but when deals are worth billions of dollars, we take it for granted that cold calculations rule the day. Turns out that's not quite true. In an in-depth profile of the recent $10 billion Airgas acquisition, the New York Times reveals that one of the driving forces behind the deal was that CEO Peter McCausland was tired of dealing with shareholders. McCausland founded company - a distributor of specialty gases (things like oxygen canisters) - in 1982. By the 2010s, shareholders were pressing him to sell the company. He drew criticism for rejecting a $5 billion bid from Air Products & Chemicals in 2010. He eventually tired of the fight, however, and sold the company in 2015 to France's Air Liquide - for more than $10 billion. 'I was spending a lot of time finding a buyer for a company that I didn't really want to sell,' McCausland told the Times, still sounding a bit bitter about his treatment, adding, 'The whole system is rigged toward transactions and turnover.' McCausland shouldn't be too upset, though. He got nearly $1 billion in the deal himself. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Ovarian cancer mortality rates are falling worldwide, according to a new study. The main reason for the favourable trends is the use of oral contraceptives (OCs), particularly, in the USA and the European countries where they were introduced earlier, said researchers, led by Professor Carlo La Vecchia from the University of Milan in Italy. Declines in menopausal hormone use may also have played a favourable role in elderly women, as well as improved diagnosis, management and treatment, researchers said. Over the last two decades, ovarian cancer mortality rates have levelled or declined, says the research that was published in the journal Annals of Oncology. In the EU, ovarian cancer mortality rates decreased 10 percent between 2002 and 2012. The decline was 16 percent in the USA. Latin American countries had lower rates, and declines were observed in Argentina and Chile. Likewise, modest declines were observed in Japan, whose rate remained low. Australia had a 12 percent decline. The falls were larger in young women, than in middle or old age. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The Hillary Clinton Campaign has released a new television ad, entitled 'Sacrifice,' which it says is spotlighting Donald Trump's continued disrespect towards American veterans and military families. The ad, which is airing nationwide on cable, features veterans including former Senator Max Cleland, responding to Trump's comments about vets and the military. 'Donald Trump compares his business record to the sacrifices of the men and women who have dedicated their lives and lost loved ones in battle for their country. From his attacks on Gold Star families to his insulting comments towards prisoners at war, Trump has been disrespecting our veterans and military for decades, proving he's unqualified and temperamentally unfit to be Commander in Chief. Our veterans deserve better,' said Hillary for America Veterans and Military Families GOTV Director Rucker Culpepper The ad will run on cable and in OH, FL, IA, NV and PA. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - General Motors Co. (GM) has settled the final two cases related to its defective ignition switches that were linked to 124 deaths and 275 injuries. However, the company did not disclosed the settlement amount. Both of these bellwether trials were slated later this year. Of six bellwether cases, GM has settled three and won two. One case was dropped by the plaintiffs after they were found to have given misleading testimony. The cases arose due to a delayed recall of 2.6 million vehicles with defective ignition switches by General motors. The faulty switches could shut down the engine and prevent deployment of air bags in the event of a crash. According to reports, General Motors incurred about $2 billion in settlements charges with the U.S. Justice Department, shareholders and consumers. The company also paid around $875 million to resolve shareholder litigations and to settle death and injury claims. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. NEW MALDEN, United Kingdom, 2016-09-06 17:26 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE:NOC) Sperry Marine business unit announced the launch of CompassNet, a network-connected ship heading management system which allows for the deployment of different configurations which can be upgraded easily and affordably at the Shipbuilding, Machinery and Maritime technology show (SMM) in Hamburg, Germany. CompassNet allows multiple ship heading management controls through the groundbreaking use of standard Ethernet connectivity to link the heading sensors and the distribution portion of the heading management system. As a fully type-approved system, it provides improved efficiency for a wide range of sensors and controls configurations from a basic setup to more complex arrangements with redundant monitoring stations. CompassNet will benefit a wide range of vessels including high-end commercial ships, cruise liners, and survey vessels as well as military support and control vessels. "The flexibility of CompassNet, combined with a significant decrease in the cabling required, makes the system particularly attractive to shipyards for new builds," said Jeanne Usher, managing director, Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine. "The reduction in both material quantities and installation time will create lower costs for shipyards and owners." CompassNet improves system redundancy and resiliency by offering "plug and play" functionality through the use of fewer required control and display units. With a reduction in cabling requirements of up to 80 percent, the system reduces installation and commissioning costs. Fewer connections make it easier to enhance heading management requirements with additional equipment. Functionality is further simplified through the use of two 24V DC power sources for all components. Additionally, a Sperry Marine NAVITWIN V control and display unit allows for connecting up to five heading sensors. Besides the installation process, Ethernet technology in a Sperry Marine heading management system facilitates modularity and improves reliability, operational performance and consequently navigational safety. Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in autonomous systems, cyber, C4ISR, strike, and logistics and modernization to customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information. Contact: Fernando Catta-Preta +1 434-974-2736 (office) +1 434-242-9283 (mobile) fernando.catta-preta@ngc.com Ken Beedle +44 207 747 1910 (office) +44 7787 174092 (mobile) ken.beedle@euro.ngc.com Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de LONDON, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Trudell Medical International today announced results from a real-world study, evaluating the efficacy of theAerobikadevice in reducing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations. These results were presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress, and are anticipated to impact the future management of COPD patients with a history of exacerbations. Exacerbations are a worsening of symptoms, and are the most common reason for COPD hospital admissions.[1]During an exacerbation, airways are compromised by inflammation and mucus buildup, causing patients to be poorly responsive to usual COPD treatments.[2]Recovery can be delayed for weeks, resulting in further airway deterioration and putting patients at risk of recurrent exacerbations. In fact, approximately 1 in 5 admitted patients require re-hospitalization within 30 days.[3] Clinicians, hospitals, and healthcare systems around the globe are now focusing their attention on this critical post-exacerbation period with the goal of reducing subsequent re-admissions and maintaining the long-term health of their COPD patients. In the 6-month study, theAerobikadevice demonstrated a clinically-significant reduction in exacerbations in as little as 30 days of treatment, when used as an add-on to usual COPD medications. "These results carry important implications for how we manage COPD patients with a history of exacerbations," says Brian Carlin, MD, FCCP, FAASM. "Adding theAerobikadevice to our current COPD treatment protocols could significantly improve patient outcomes while decreasing the burden on our healthcare resources." TheAerobikadevice has been previously validated in clinical studies, demonstrating improvements in airway ventilation, lung function and quality of life. "This new study has validated the use of this device in a real-world setting, providing a drug-free addition to post-exacerbation therapy for COPD patients." says Dr. Jason Suggett, Group Director of Science & Technology at Trudell Medical International. About theAerobikadevice study A 6-month retrospective cohort study of the hospital Charge Detail Master (CDM) claims database, conducted between September 2013 and August 2015. This real-word study involved 810 patients, 405 receiving treatment with theAerobikadevice and 405 propensity score matched controls. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients with moderate-to-severe and severe exacerbations at 30 days. Secondary measures included resource utilization and costs associated with exacerbations. About TheAerobikaDevice TheAerobikadevice is hand-held, easy-to-use, and drug-free. When the patient exhales through the device, intermittent resistance creates positive pressure and oscillations simultaneously, which stents open the airways, mobilizes and assists in moving mucus to the upper airways where it can be coughed out. This may also aid in improved drug deposition. TheAerobikadevice is available in Canada, Mexico, and select European countries including the UK and Germany through TMI and in the US via Monaghan Medical Corporation.https://www.trudellmed.com/products/aerobika AboutTrudell Medical International (TMI) TMI designs, develops and manufactures a wide range of medical devices and is home to a global aerosol lab and research center. From the flagshipAeroChamberBrand of Valved Holding Chamber (VHC) and the latest award-winningAerobikadevice, to custom designed products and systems, our best-in-class respiratory management products are sold in over 110 countries. Their efficacy has been validated in hundreds of peer-reviewed articles from various medical journals. About Monaghan Medical Corporation (MMC, USA) MMC, an affiliate of TMI, offers leading aerosol drug delivery devices and respiratory management products includingAeroEclipseII BAN,AeroChamber Plusbrand aVHC, and theAerobikadevice exclusively in the United States. Our strength lies in product development around core capabilities in mechanical design complimented by collaboration with a state-of-the-art aerosol research laboratory. We focus on developing cost-efficient, outcome-based solutions for our customers.http://www.monaghanmed.com/ References: [1] O'Donnellet al. Can Respir J. 2007;14(Suppl B):5B-32B. [2] O'Donnell DE, Parker CM.Thorax. 2006;61(4):354-61. [3] Shahet al. CHEST.2016 May 7 [Epub ahead of print]. For clinical inquiries, please contact: Jason Suggett, Group Director Science and Technology, +1-519-455-7060 ext. 2270 VIENNA (dpa-AFX) - An unexplained computer outage has resulted in widespread delays for British Airways flights. Thousands of passengers had to wait for hours in several airports. There have been no apparent cancellation of flights, despite long queues and manual check-in. The airline described the outage as an 'IT glitch.' In U.S. airports, the issue with the check-in system started on Monday late evening. The airline had to provide hand written slips in place of boarding passes. At certain airports in Europe, passengers had to identify their own checked bags at the tarmac. O'Hare International, San Francisco International, Seattle-Tacoma International, London City, Heathrow, Gadwick airports etc. were affected. The airline has issued apology letters to their passengers from San Francisco to London Heathrow. The company offered to re-book onward connection flights for those who have their connection flights compromised. On Tuesday morning, London time, the British Airways said their flights are returning back to normal. They advised passengers to check in online as it may take longer than usual. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. The following announcement replaces the announcement "Director Subscription Under the Placing" released at 10.35 on 2 September 2016. The reference in the table of that previous announcement to "Price(s) and volume(s) of 0.15p" was incorrect and has been replaced with "Price(s) and volume(s) of 0.015p". In addition investors should note that the Admission date for the 333,333,333 new Ordinary Shares is now expected on 12 September 2016. All other text remains the same. The full text of the amended announcement is set out below: 2 September 2016 Mayan Energy Ltd (formerly Northcote Energy Ltd) ('Mayan' or 'the Company') Subscription under the Placing Director/PDMR Holding TVR Further to the announcement of 2 September 2016,Mayan Energy Limited is pleased to announce that Heriberto ('Eddie') Gonzalez Jr., Chief Executive Officer, has today subscribed for 333,333,333 new ordinary shares in the Company on the same terms as the Placing (the "Shares"), that is at 0.015p per Share. This brings the total amount raised under the Placing to 550,000. Application will be made for the Shares, which will rank pari passu with the existing ordinary shares, to be admitted to trading on AIM ('Admission'). It is expected that Admission will become effective and dealings will commence on or around 12 September 2016. Following the issue of the Shares, Mr Gonzalez's total holding will comprise of 333,333,333 ordinary shares in the Company, representing 0.02% of the enlarged issued share capital. The enlarged issued share capital of the Company will consist of 13,898,253,603 Ordinary Shares. No shares were held in treasury at the date of this announcement. The total current voting rights in the Company are therefore 13, 898,253,603. In addition the Company confirms that it has now issued certain directors and management 2,060,000,000 options to subscribe for ordinary share on the terms and further described in the announcement of 1 September 2016. This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014. The notification below, made in accordance with the requirements of the EU Market Abuse Regulations, provides further detail in respect of the transaction as described above. 1 Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated a) Name Heriberto ("Eddie") Gonzalez Jr. 2 Reason for notification a) Position / status Chief Executive Officer b) Initial notification /Amendment Initial 3 Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor a) Name Mayan Energy Ltd b) LEI Not applicable 4 Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted a) Description of the financial instrument, type of instrument Identification code Ordinary shares in Mayan Energy Ltd ISIN VGG5S26K1079 Nature of the transaction Purchase of 333,333,333 ordinary shares Price(s) and volumes(s) Price(s) Volumes(s) 0.015p 333,333,333 d) Aggregated information n/a e) Date of the transaction 2 September 2016 f) Place of the transaction London Stock Exchange, AIM (XLON) **ENDS** For further information visit www. northcoteenergy.com or contact the following: WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The Donald Trump Campaign has called on FBI to make additional investigation records on emails sent from Hillary Clinton's email server public. A statement issued by Trump's Deputy Campaign Manager David Bossie expressed doubt if Clinton emails under subpoena were intentionally destroyed. 'Not only do the FBI's interview notes underscore Hillary Clinton's terrible judgment, incompetence, and dishonesty, they raise serious questions about whether emails regarding the terrorist attack in Benghazi were intentionally destroyed while under congressional subpoena,' he said. Washington Examiner reported last week that the incomplete records of the Hillary Clinton email investigation released by the FBI raise questions about the conduct not only of Clinton but of her top aides and the staffers working under their direction. 'Perhaps the most serious is whether the Clinton team destroyed evidence which they were under legal order to save and produce to congressional investigators,' the newspaper wrote. According to the FBI's notes, an intense round of deleting' began weeks after lawmakers subpoenaed Clinton's emails following the New York Times report in March 2015 exposing the existence of her private email system. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Regulatory News: THERACLION (Paris:ALTHE)(Alternext, FR0010120402 ALTHE)a company specialized in leading-edge medical equipment for echotherapy, today announced that Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse (AOK) Bremen/Bremerhaven, a major German insurance company, has signed an agreement to cover the reimbursement of echotherapy for the non-surgical treatment of both thyroid nodules and breast fibroadenomas. The agreement covers echotherapy treatment performed at the Center for Nuclear Medicine and PET/CT in Bremen, which is the first and currently only center providing the non-invasive echotherapy procedure to patients with thyroid nodules or, in cooperation with their partner St. Joseph-Stift Hospital, to patients with breast fibroadenomas, thus completing the nuclear medicine care offer since 2016. "We believe that it is important to provide procedures that minimize invasiveness, cost, patient discomfort and inconvenience without compromising efficacy whenever possible," said Norbert Czech, M.D., Federal of the European Board of Nuclear Medicine, Center for Nuclear Medicine and PET/CT in Bremen. "Theraclion's echotherapy system provides these benefits enabling us to offer optimal treatment for our patients." The AOK Bremen/Bremerhaven is the biggest insurer in the federal state of Bremen and covers approximately 237,000 members, 13,000 employers and 4,000 health care partners. AOK Bremen/Bremerhaven is one of eleven regional branches of AOK, which is the largest insurance group in Germany, covering more than 24.7 million people or approximately one-third of the German population. Jose Abellan, Vice President, Central Europe Theraclion said, "This agreement between the Bremen Echotherapy Center and the AOK Bremen/Bremerhaven is of particular significance for patient access. AOK Bremen/Bremerhaven is the first insurer with significant regional coverage and marks a potential door opener to other members of the AOK group." Anja Kleber, VP of Marketing and Market Access Theraclion added, "Overall there now are over 1.7 million people covered by the public healthcare system in Germany. In addition to this coverage many public and private insurers also accept to reimburse the treatment by echotherapy on a case-by-case basis." David Caumartin, CEO of Theraclion added, "Our continuing success in accessing the German market clearly demonstrates that more payors agree to accept the recent scientific results and benefits shown by our Echopulse echotherapy system." About Theraclion Theraclion is a French company specializing in high-tech medical equipment using therapeutic ultrasound. Drawing on leading-edge technologies, Theraclion has designed and manufactured an innovative solution for echotherapy, the Echopulse, allowing non-invasive tumor treatment through ultrasound-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound. Theraclion is ISO 13485 certified and has received the CE mark for non-invasive ablation of breast fibroadenomas and thyroid nodules. Based in Malakoff, near Paris, France Theraclion has brought together a team of 34 people, half of it are dedicated to R&D and clinical trials. For more information, please visit Theraclion's website: www.theraclion.com. Theraclion is listed on Alternext Paris PEA-PME eligible Mnemonic: ALTHE ISIN Code: FR0010120402 View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160906006090/en/ Contacts: Theraclion David Caumartin, Tel.: +33 (0)1 55 48 90 70 Chief Executive Officer david.caumartin@theraclion.com or Kalima Press Relations Estelle Reine-Adelaide Florence Calba, Tel.: 33 (0)1 44 90 82 54 era@kalima-rp.fr or NewCap Financial Communication and Relations Emmanuel Huynh Valentine Brouchot, Tel.: +33 (0)1 44 71 94 94 theraclion@newcap.eu or The Ruth Group (U.S.) Investor Relations Public Relations Robert Flamm Kirsten Thomas, +1 646-536-7017 +1 508-280-6592 rflamm@theruthgroup.com / kthomas@theruthgroup.com FREDERICTON, NEW BRUNSWICK -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- The Government of Canada values the role of post-secondary institutions as they help equip young Canadians with the education and training they need for future careers that will help them join a strong, healthy middle class. Today's $24.88-million investment at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) will do just that by fostering the training needed for the well-paying middle-class jobs of today and tomorrow. The funding was announced today by the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, on behalf of the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, and by the Honourable Brian Gallant, Premier of New Brunswick. The Government of Canada's Innovation Agenda aims to make this country a global centre for innovation-one that creates jobs, drives growth across all industries and improves the lives of all Canadians. This investment exemplifies that vision in action and will help create the well-paying middle-class jobs of tomorrow. The funding will support the Centre for Healthy Living, a green facility providing research and teaching space for the Faculty of Kinesiology, a recognized leader in research and knowledge mobilization in healthy living and health promotion strategies. This new centre will be adjacent to the Richard J. CURRIE CENTER and directly linked to the Andrew and Marjorie McCain Human Performance Laboratory, creating a nationally significant and innovative research cluster in applied health research. Of the $24.88 million in funding, $16.59 million is federal and $8.29 million is provincial. The university is contributing a further $11.1 million to the project. In total, universities and colleges throughout New Brunswick will receive more than $111 million from the Government of Canada, the provincial government, the institutions themselves and private donors. Federal funding will be allocated through the Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund, which will enhance and modernize research facilities on Canadian campuses and improve the environmental sustainability of these facilities. As a result of these investments, students, professors and researchers will work in state-of-the-art facilities that advance the country's best research. They will collaborate in specially designed spaces that support lifelong learning and skills training. They will work in close proximity with partners to turn discoveries into products or services. In the process, they will train for-and create-the high-value, middle-class jobs of the future. And their discoveries will plant the seeds for the next generation of innovators. That is how the Strategic Investment Fund will jump-start a virtuous circle of innovation, creating the right conditions for long-term growth that will yield benefits for generations to come. On July 4, 2016, the Government of Canada and the governments of the four Atlantic provinces launched,the Atlantic Growth Strategy, which involves targeted actions to stimulate Atlantic Canada's economy, including supporting key infrastructure projects that support long-term growth and position the region to capitalize on emerging opportunities. Today's announcement builds on this commitment. Quotes "This once-in-a-generation investment by the Government of Canada is a historic down payment on the government's vision to position Canada as a global centre for innovation. That means making Canada a world leader in turning ideas into solutions, science into technologies, skills into jobs and start-up companies into global successes. Investments like this also support our Atlantic Growth Strategy, designed to stimulate the region's economy and address its challenges while building on Atlantic Canada's competitive advantages, such as its strong export potential, growing innovation ecosystem and skilled workforce." - The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development "This project will support industry, both here in Atlantic Canada and across the country, and contribute to building a vibrant economic future by helping grow the middle class and address regional challenges. Through the Strategic Investment Fund, we are supporting innovation to help improve opportunities for business, create jobs in the Atlantic region and contribute to Atlantic Canada's reputation as an innovation hub." - The Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard "Your government understands what matters most to New Brunswickers: the economy, education and health care. We are proud to partner with the Trudeau government to get things done in these priority areas." - Brian Gallant, Premier, Government of New Brunswick "Investments like the ones being made under the Government of Canada's Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund and by the Province of New Brunswick support the construction or renovation of the research infrastructure our universities and colleges need to train young people for the high-value jobs of the future." - Matt DeCourcey, Member of Parliament for Fredericton. "The proposed Centre for Healthy Living has been a project that's been on UNB's priority list for almost a decade. Thanks to the generous support of our federal and provincial governments, UNB will have a new space to grow our nationally significant research cluster focused on health, wellness, physical fitness and health promotion that will help establish New Brunswick as a leader in preventative health care." - Dr. Eddy Campbell, President, University of New Brunswick Quick facts -- The Government of Canada is providing close to $50 million for research infrastructure at institutions across New Brunswick. The University of New Brunswick has been awarded $16.59 million for a project at the Fredericton campus. -- The Government of Canada's Innovation Agenda is designed to ensure Canada is globally competitive in promoting research, translating ideas into new products and services, accelerating business growth and propelling entrepreneurs from the start-up phase to international success. -- The targeted, short-term investments under the Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund will promote economic activity across Canada and help Canada's universities and colleges develop highly skilled workers, act as engines of discovery, and collaborate on innovations that help Canadian companies compete and grow internationally. -- The Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund supports the Government of Canada's climate change objectives by encouraging sustainable and green infrastructure projects. -- On July 4, 2016, the Government of Canada and the governments of the four Atlantic provinces unveiled the Atlantic Growth Strategy, a homegrown, prosperity-focused and evidence-based strategy to stimulate the region's economy and address both long-standing and emerging regional challenges. -- The Atlantic Growth Strategy is aimed at stimulating economic growth in the region by focusing joint federal and provincial efforts and resources on the following five main areas of action: skilled workforce/immigration, innovation, clean growth and climate change, trade and investment, and infrastructure. -- As part of the Atlantic Growth Strategy, both levels of government will work together on key infrastructure projects. Associated links -- Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund website -- Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund backgrounder -- Innovation Agenda backgrounder -- Atlantic Growth Strategy Follow Minister Bains on social media. Twitter: @MinisterISED Follow the Atlantic Growth Strategy on Twitter: AtlanticGrowth Contacts: Philip Proulx Press Secretary Office of the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development 343-291-2500 Media Relations Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada 343-291-1777 ic.mediarelations-mediasrelations.ic@canada.ca Tyler Campbell Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour Province of New Brunswick 506-453-4090 WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwired - September 06, 2016) - On September 9, 2016, the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) will participate in the inaugural meeting of the Global Parliament of Mayors (GPM), where mayors from across the globe will convene at the World Forum in The Hague. Unlike any other urban network, the GPM will be the first, and only, international organization exclusively for mayors and it will serve as an unprecedented platform for municipal leaders to collaborate on solutions to a wide range of global challenges. Under the leadership of USCM President and Oklahoma City (OK) Mayor Mick Cornett, a delegation of mayors including USCM Second Vice President Columbia (SC) Mayor Steve Benjamin, Dayton (OH) Mayor Nan Whaley and USCM CEO & Executive Director Tom Cochran will take part in the meeting, which will run through September 11, 2016. More than 75 cities, both large and small and from developed and emerging countries, will be represented at the meeting, including Amman, Bangkok, Cape Town, Paris, Dakar, Rio de Janiero, Quito and Warsaw. The two-day agenda will focus on three central topics: Migration & Security, the Environment & Climate Change, and the Governance of the GPM. The concept of the GPM grew out of Dr. Benjamin Barber's 2013 book If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities, which argues that cities, and the mayors that run them, offer the best new forces of good governance. Cities are already home to more than half of the world's population and are the primary incubator for cultural, social and political innovations. According to Barber, a new international coalition of city governments has the potential to accomplish more than any individual national government. "Every day, mayors are forced to be practical, responsive and pragmatic. We do not enjoy the luxury of ideological debate. We are the level of government that is closest to the people, listens to the people and can actually get things done. Mayors across the globe share many of the same problems, from rising water, crumbling infrastructure and vulnerable populations. The newly formed GPM gives mayors an extraordinary forum to come together, brainstorm best practices and, use our collective power to advocate for more effective urban policy. We look forward to getting to work with our international colleagues to find innovative solutions that will ultimately make our cities better for our citizens and the next generation," says USCM President Oklahoma City (OK) Mayor Mick Cornett. "The United States Conference of Mayors is proud to have relationships with mayors on every continent. The Global Parliament of Mayors will finally create the needed place for mayors of the world to learn, share and make significant progress on the global metro-urban challenges we are facing," says Tom Cochran, USCM CEO & Executive Director. "The formation of this new organization marks an historic moment as no other international coalition for mayors, and run by mayors, exists. If national governments cannot agree on the challenges we face, we remind all that through this GPM collaboration, we will go forward, as mayors do every day, to meet these challenges for our people and for cities around the world." NOTE: On Friday, September 9, participants will gather at the Marriott Hotel in The Hague (Johan de Wittlan 30) for a welcoming reception. Press may attend and members of the USCM delegation will be available for interviews. All plenary sessions of the GPM (The World Forum, Churchillplein10, The Hague) on Saturday, September 10 and Sunday, September 11 are open to press. At the conclusion of the meeting on Sunday, September 11, reporters will be briefed on the deliberations of the GPM. Interested press should contact Sara Durr at sara@durrcommunications.com or 202/215.1811. About The United States Conference of Mayors -- The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are nearly 1,400 such cities in the country today, and each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/usmayors, or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/usmayors. Contact: Elena Temple 202-286-1100 etemple@usmayors.org Sara Durr 202-215-1811 sara@durrcommunications.com MILWAUKEE, WI--(Marketwired - September 06, 2016) - College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving, which has been featured on Blue Collar Millionaire, Shark Tank and other primetime shows, has expanded its presence into Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The company provides local moving, junk removal, donation pickups and more. Some might call Alex Biggam a serial entrepreneur, the kind of guy who is always looking for the next great business success. Alex had already created several successful businesses when he found his next winning formula in a College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving franchise opportunity. Biggam had just sold a very successful national business when he teamed up with the three partners in his other company, which delivers food for local restaurants, to launch a College Hunks location in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in August of 2016. Bringing youthful energy to an old industry College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving has become a nationwide, multimillion-dollar brand by bringing youthful energy, professional service and bold marketing to an ancient industry. Moving and decluttering are not new or trendy, but they are universally needed activities. Biggam was attracted to College Hunks Hauling Junk because of how the well franchise blended with the culture of his existing companies and partners. "The College Hunks culture fit us well. My three partners and I are all young guys with lots of energy. We're not afraid to knock on doors or dress up in the mascot uniform, whatever it takes," he said. "We know how to work hard and have some fun at the same time. So, the culture was an attraction for sure." The desire to mentor leaders and aggressively grow a new market is why College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving awarded Biggam the rights to the franchise in Milwaukee. "We are very aggressive when it comes to growth, but we want to do it the right way," College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving President Nick Friedman said. "That means, first and foremost, finding the right franchise partner. We only want to work with people who are enthusiastic about teamwork and who believe in our mantra of 'move the world' -- which means making a positive impact in the lives of customers and employees. Alex Biggam shares our core values, and clients are going to be blown away by the level of service they receive." College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving of Milwaukee is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. You can reach them at (414) 203-1306 or https://collegehunkshaulingjunk.com/locations/wi/milwaukee/. To learn about owning a College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving franchise, visit www.collegehunksfranchise.com. Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/8/29/11G112156/Images/Alex-Biggam-CHHJ-280a980410a3a4a3881c05f536e99b53.jpg Embedded Video Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpYFQ2JQnY4 Embedded Video Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZLNFSMSELM College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving 866-766-0540 Danielle Wright Kimble danielle.wright@chhj.com Frank Morrison frank.morrison@chhj.com SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - September 06, 2016) - Zephyr Real Estate is delighted to announce the launching of its all new inclusive website. Zephyr's website has consistently been award-winning, robust and convenient, and now it presents a whole new level of easily-accessible and relevant details for the Bay Area real estate market. Among the many added features, visitors can now share a search with a spouse, partner, friend or relative by using "Invite a Collaborator." This feature provides instant email alerts ("It's a Match!) when collaborators give a four or five rating to any property. The website's community descriptions have long-been at the cutting edge with information, videos, narratives and photography. Now 140+ community guides offer the latest trends, visuals, graphics and statistics, and that number continues to grow regularly. The property search feature now extends well beyond San Francisco and Marin County and includes San Mateo, Sonoma, Napa, Alameda and Contra Costa counties, all with that same wealth of information you've come to expect from Zephyr. Available property status is continually updated. Whether on your desktop, tablet or mobile device, properties can be searched and saved while keeping you updated on any status changes. Open house tours are now a breeze with automatic driving directions. Planning and touring Sunday open houses is easy with filtered searches according to your specifications. Multi-point directions are output and ready for you to hit the road with your customized home tour map. "Staying on top and ahead of the market and its trends is always a top priority for Zephyr," commented Melody Foster, Vice President of Marketing and Web Development. "Our new, streamlined website makes it easy for our clients to find, follow and execute real estate transactions in an informed and beneficial manner." About Zephyr Real Estate Founded in 1978, Zephyr Real Estate is San Francisco's largest independent real estate firm with nearly $2.3 billion in gross sales and a current roster of more than 300 full-time agents. Zephyr's highly-visited website has earned two web design awards, including the prestigious Interactive Media Award. Zephyr Real Estate is a member of the international relocation network, Leading Real Estate Companies of the World; the luxury real estate network, Who's Who in Luxury Real Estate; global luxury affiliate, Mayfair International; and local luxury marketing association, the Luxury Marketing Council of San Francisco. Zephyr has six offices in San Francisco, a brand new office in Greenbrae, and two brokerage affiliates in Sonoma County, all strategically positioned to serve a large customer base throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information, visit www.ZephyrRE.com. Contact: Melody Foster Zephyr Real Estate San Francisco, CA 415.426.3203 Email contact NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- BNP Paribas announces that on Sept 7 & Sept 8 2016 it will host its first Blockchain Bizhackathon in New York for the Americas platform. In recent years the bank has focused on new technologies, invested in a dedicated Blockchain team of developers and managers and held multiple Bizhackathon events in Europe. BNP Paribas has successfully positioned itself within this space -- it is a member of the R3 consortium, European CDC initiative, in addition to being on the Board of Digital Asset Holdings. Thus, this first edition of the Americas Bizhackathon will mark the unveiling of the bank's new in-house Innovation Lab at their Americas head office in New York. The event will kick-off on September 7th with prominent key note speakers in the Blockchain space: Dan O'Prey, Chief Marketing Officer - Digital Asset Holdings Beth Shah, Head of Business Development - Digital Asset Holdings Todd McDonald, COO & Co-founder - R3 Pascal Bouvier, Fintech Expert and Investor Yorke Rhodes III, Blockchain Business Strategist - Microsoft "BNP Paribas focus on new technology has been a priority for decades so we are glad to be hosting the First Americas Bizhackathon in New York. With the creation of our new in-house Innovation Lab we want to initiate a dialogue with our clients around Blockchain and find new solutions to integrate the technology that will allow BNP Paribas to better serve them," noted Bruno d'Illiers, Deputy Head of CIB Americas, Functions and COO CIB Americas. Over the course of two days more than 50 participants will gather to explore how this new technology can concretely advance the consumer/ client experience and improve the efficiency of the services offered in different areas of BNP Paribas' CIB platform. The Americas Blockchain Bizhackathon will bring together renowned experts from the Blockchain community, internal talents from a wide-range of functions and businesses and relevant BNP Paribas clients and vendors. About BNP Paribas in the USA BNP Paribas has built a strong and diversified presence in the United States to support its client base. The bank employs over 16,000 people and has had a presence in the USA since the late 1800s. Bank of the West and First Hawaiian Bank (together BancWest, part of Retail Banking & Services) serve nearly 3.5 million individual, wealth and SME clients through a branch network of more than 650 branches and business centers. Large corporate and institutional clients are serviced by BNP Paribas' Corporate & Institutional Banking franchise that has a presence in the main US cities, in addition to a global reach through a network of offices in EMEA and APAC. The bank also offers asset management services through BNP Paribas Investment Partners (part of Retail Banking & Services) as well as Real Estate and Fleet Services through partnerships. Follow us on Twitter: @BNPPAmericas Press Contact Mylene Benmoussa Phone: 212-841-2351 Email: mylene.benmoussa@us.bnpparibas.com ATLANTA, GA -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- Urban Expositions, a Clarion Events company, announced today its partnership with the Historic Vehicle Association (HVA) for The Classic Auto Show, being held January 27-29, 2017, at the Los Angeles Convention Center in California. Through its members and partners, the HVA promotes and protects the cultural and historical significance of the automobile and creates educational programs to expand awareness of how the automobile has impacted and shaped modern society. At The Classic Auto Show, the HVA will provide content that connects visitors to the history of classic automobiles, showcasing two of the vehicles on the National Historic Vehicle Register on the show floor. On display will be "Old Red," the 1964 Meyers Manx dune buggy, and President Reagan's beloved 1962 CJ-6 Jeep. The HVA will also be holding educational sessions in the Celebrity Theater, which will also include featured guests Mike Brewer, Wayne Carini, Chip Foose, Chris Jacobs, Dave Kindig and Mike Phillips. "These two vehicles, while historically significant on a broader, national scale, have a special connection to California," said HVA President Mark Gessler. "Bruce Meyers helped bring California beach culture to the masses with his ingenious dune buggy design and sense of fun and freedom. The jeep represented a different type of freedom as it was the only vehicle President Reagan was able to drive while in office. Used daily at his beloved ranch, Rio del Sol, the jeep remains largely as it was the last time the late president drove it." The Classic Auto Show is the first in a series of consumer-based automotive events hosted by Urban Expositions and Clarion Events in the United States. The Clarion Events Motoring Division produces a complete suite of auto events, including the UK Classic Motor Show, and the Classic Car and Restoration Show and Race Retro The international Historic Motorsport show, which are attended by over 100,000 auto enthusiasts each year. "There's an excitement when cars from a variety of eras and regions come together," said Doug Miller, partner of Urban Expositions, a Clarion Events Company. "Beyond the cars themselves, it's the stories of how an automobile can connect people with life milestones and memories that we want to capture at The Classic Auto Show. Partnering with the HVA is a vital connection to enhance the event experience for our visitors." To learn more about The Classic Auto Show and how to attend, exhibit or sponsor, visit www.theclassicautoshow.com, and follow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. ABOUT URBAN EXPOSITIONS Based in Kennesaw, GA, and founded in 1995, Urban Expositions produces and manages a portfolio of 36 events. Urban serves nine industry sectors including Gift, Souvenir, Art, Aviation, Apparel, Halloween, Foodservice, Pet and Gaming. Urban also produces Airport Revenue News, a publication focused on the airport concession industry. Urban has offices in Shelton, CT and Boca Raton, FL, and is represented by employees in California, Colorado and Illinois. www.urban-expo.com. ABOUT CLARION EVENTS Clarion Events operates over 200 events in 35 countries from offices in the UK, South Africa, USA, Brazil, Germany, Singapore, UAE, Turkey, and the Netherlands. Clarion can trace its roots back to 1947 and takes great pride in being one of the oldest independent event organizers in the UK. The teams at Clarion create uniquely effective and stimulating environments that can serve as a platform to build businesses, enhance customer relationships and accelerate product awareness. www.clarionevents.com. ABOUT THE HISTORIC VEHICLE ASSOCIATION The HVA is dedicated to preserving and sharing America's automotive heritage. In 2014 the HVA established the National Historic Vehicle Register program working with the U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Heritage Documentation Programs and Library of Congress to document historically significant automobiles in America's past. The HVA is supported by over 400,000 individual historic vehicle owners, key stakeholders and corporations such as Shell, Pennzoil, Quaker State, Hagerty, American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers as well as important individual benefactors. Please visit: historicvehicle.org Contact: Eileen Curran 203-242-8772 Email Contact LAS VEGAS, NV -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- As the 2016 U.S. presidential election nears, Hemp, Inc. (OTC PINK: HEMP) has strategically positioned itself as a leader of the re-emerging industrial hemp industry. With the country's largest industrial hemp processing facility and milling operation in Spring Hope, NC nearing completion, CEO Bruce Perlowin, says, "I believe our industry, specifically public companies within this sector, is about to see the biggest spike to date. The industrial hemp and medical marijuana industries have been building their fundamentals over the last few years as more states have legalized hemp and medical marijuana or passed favorable laws. As we approach the 2016 elections, I foresee a potential explosive growth curve for pot stocks again. That is less than 90 days away." CEO of Hemp, Inc., Bruce Perlowin, continued, "A recent video (which is a bit long-winded) by moneymorning.com gives the best description, I've ever seen, on the marijuana industry and marijuana stocks in regards to the upcoming explosive growth possibility the November elections will create in the pot stock sector. Everyone should be aware of these facts so watch the video and share it with others. If the post-election spike of 2014 is any indicator of what will happen in post-election 2016, many of the pot stocks could soar in price over 1,000%, just as before." Moneymorning.com explained the surge of pot stocks over the past few years in a detailed video. According to the video, in March of 2016, Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted to become the 24th state to legalize medical marijuana, an overwhelming 149-46 vote. Prior to this legislation passing, one pot stock company, for example (Digital Development Group), was trading for below a penny. By March 11, 2016, their stock increased 1,500%... right in line with Pennsylvania's marijuana legislation. In 2015, Georgia and Texas legalized cannabis and Delaware decriminalized weed. That same year, a company that sells hemp-infused energy drinks surged 3,157% in over 2 months. The correlation between marijuana laws and pot stocks are not believed to be coincidental. In 2014, Minnesota and New York passed legislation legalizing medical marijuana, while Alaska and Oregon gave a "thumbs up" for recreational marijuana and Maryland decriminalized cannabis. 2014 was an enormous year for marijuana stocks. For example, Zone Properties, a company that builds sustainable facilities for medical marijuana growers stock shot up 11,781%. United Cannabis Corp, a grower of genetically refined strains of medical-grade cannabis plants was trading for around $.06 a share in February. By early April, it traded for $10.50 a share... an increase of 16,700% just over the course of two months. Green Cures Botanical Distribution, a company that creates hemp-infused nutritional supplements was trading for barely a penny. With all the favorable marijuana legislation passed, the company's stock increased to $5.92 per share... a whopping 36,412% increase in just three months. There are many more examples in the moneymorning.com video of what happens in the hemp and marijuana stock post 2014 election. Industry veterans are calling the hemp and marijuana industry the "green rush" of business and investment opportunities. "The hemp and cannabis industries are likened to another dot.com explosion," said Bruce Perlowin, CEO of Hemp Inc. "Not only are industry-related companies benefitting from this green rush, individuals are too. People have been cashing in handsomely from the legalization of marijuana in several states. Hemp, Inc. is positioned at the forefront of this booming industry. We will be able to process industrial hemp and manufacture products made from hemp, as well as Lost Circulation Material (LCM) and other absorbent materials in the commercial decortication plant once it is operational." Hemp, Inc.'s multi-purpose industrial hemp facility is over 70,000 square feet and is nestled across 9 acres. It's the only one in the U.S. of this scale and magnitude. David Schmitt, COO of Hemp, Inc.'s wholly owned subsidiary Industrial Hemp Manufacturing, LLC reported that everything remains on schedule. Industrial hemp has already been legalized in 29 states creating more lucrative business opportunities for positioned businesses such as Hemp, Inc.'s wholly owned subsidiary, Industrial Hemp Manufacturing, LLC in Spring Hope, North Carolina. Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and Virginia have defined industrial hemp as distinct and removed barriers to its production. Hawaii, Kentucky, Indiana, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oregon and Tennessee had hemp research crops in accordance with section 7606 of the Farm Bill and state law, in 2015. Colorado, Kentucky, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont licensed or registered farmers to grow hemp under state law, in 2015. (Source: VoteHemp.com) "I foresee another quantum leap forward... approaching that tipping point where this industry experiences an explosive, yet sustainable, exponential growth curve," concluded Perlowin. SUBSCRIBE TO HEMP, INC.'S VIDEO UPDATES "Hemp, Inc. Presents" is capturing the historic, monumental re-creation of the hemp decorticator today as America begins to evolve into a cleaner, green, eco-friendly sustainable environment. What many see as the next American Industrial Revolution is actually the Industrial Hemp Revolution. Join "Hemp, Inc. Presents" and join the hemp revolution. "Hemp, Inc. Presents" is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by visiting www.hempinc.com. To subscribe to the "Hemp, Inc. Presents" YouTube channel, be sure to click the subscribe button. ABOUT INDUSTRIAL HEMP Hemp is a durable natural fiber that is grown as a renewable source for raw materials that can be incorporated into thousands of products. It's one of the oldest domesticated crops known to man. Hemp is used as a nutritional food product for humans and pets, building materials, paper, textiles, cordage, organic body care and other nutraceuticals, just to name a few. It has thousands of other known uses. A hemp crop requires half the water alfalfa uses and can be grown without the heavy use of pesticides. Farmers worldwide grow hemp commercially for fiber, seed, and oil for use in a variety of industrial and consumer products. The United States is the only developed nation that fails to cultivate industrial hemp as an economic crop on a large scale, according to the Congressional Resource Service. However, with rapidly changing laws and more states gravitating towards industrial hemp and passing an industrial hemp bill, that could change. Currently, the majority of hemp sold in the United States is imported from China and Canada, the world's largest exporters of the industrial hemp crop. ABOUT THE NATIONAL HEMP ASSOCIATION NHA represents hemp farmers, processors, manufacturers, start-up businesses, entrepreneurial endeavors, and retailers and strives to build a viable industrial hemp economy by providing education about the benefits of hemp and providing expert consultation to producers and processors entering the hemp industry. NHA has developed close relationships with local and state government agencies to establish regulations that benefit the hemp industry across the nation. We provide a wealth of expertise in fields ranging from mining and agriculture to hemp materials processing and the latest developments pertaining to laws and regulations. For more information on the National Hemp Association, visit www.NationalHempAssociation.org. HEMP NATION MAGAZINE HempNationMagazine.com (HNM) is published by Hemp, Inc. and focuses on informing, educating, raising awareness and connecting the public to the powerful world of HEMP. HNM reports on Politics, Industrial Growth, Banking, Distribution, Medical, Lifestyles and Legalization. HNM is your source for all things HEMP and news about this emerging multi-billion-dollar industry. For more information on HNM, visit www.HempNationMagazine.com. HEMP, INC.'S TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE Hemp, Inc. (OTC PINK: HEMP) seeks to benefit many constituencies from a "Cultural Creative" perspective, thereby not exploiting or endangering any group. CEO of Hemp, Inc., Bruce Perlowin, is positioning the company as a leader in the industrial hemp industry, with a social and environmental mission at its core. Thus, the publicly traded company believes in "up streaming" a portion of its profits back to its originator, in which some cases will one day be the American small farmer -- cultivating natural, sustainable products as an interwoven piece of nature. By Hemp, Inc. focusing on comprehensive investment results -- that is, with respect to performance along the interrelated dimensions of people, planet, and profits -- the triple bottom line approach can be an important tool to support its sustainability goal. SOCIAL NETWORKS: http://www.twitter.com/hempinc (Twitter) http://www.facebook.com/hempinc (Facebook) SAFE HARBOR ACT Forward-Looking Statements are included within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements regarding our expected future financial position, results of operations, cash flows, financing plans, business strategy, products and services, competitive positions, growth opportunities, plans and objectives of management for future operations, including words such as "anticipate," "if," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "could," "should," "will," and other similar expressions are forward-looking statements and involve risks, uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control, which may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from anticipated results, performance, or achievements. We are under no obligation to (and expressly disclaim any such obligation to) update or alter our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Hemp, Inc. 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State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu US Virgin Islands Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland United States Minor Outlying Islands United States of America Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Conference call and webcast scheduled for Wednesday, September 7th at 3:00 pm CET/9:00 am EDT Ongoing review by European Medicines Agency (EMA) of Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for GRASPA for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) Completed patient enrollment in Phase 2b study of eryaspase (GRASPA) for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) Enrollment of patients in Phase 2 study of eryaspase (GRASPA) for the treatment of pancreatic cancer near completion Appointed Allene M. Diaz to the Board of Directors in September 2016 Core immunotherapy patent granted in the United States Solid cash position of 36.5 million on June 30, 2016 Regulatory News: ERYTECH Pharma (Paris:ERYP) (ADR:EYRYY) (Euronext Paris: ERYP), a French biopharmaceutical company developing 'tumor starvation' treatments for acute leukemia and other oncology indications with unmet medical needs, today provided a business update and reported its financial results for the six month period ended June 30, 2016. First Half and Recent Business Highlights The Company's MAA for GRASPA for the treatment of ALL, submitted in September 2015, is under ongoing review by the EMA's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP). In July 2016, the Company submitted a response to the Day 120 List of Questions received from the CHMP and the company expects to receive the official D180 List of Outstanding Issues before the end of the month. Based on the preliminary feedback received, the company believes significant progress was made towards addressing the CHMP questions. Addressing the remaining issues may, however, require more time than originally expected. The Company expects to be in position to receive an opinion from the CHMP regarding the approvability of GRASPA during 2017. The Phase 2b trial of eryaspase (GRASPA) for the treatment of AML recently completed enrollment of a total of 123 patients and is on track for reporting of primary data in the second half of 2017. The trial is being conducted at more than 20 sites in Europe. With over 130 patients enrolled in the Company's Phase 2 trial of eryaspase (GRASPA) for the treatment of pancreatic cancer, the study is near complete patient enrollment and is on-track for reporting of primary data in early 2017. The patent titled "Composition and Therapeutic Anti-tumor Vaccine", covering the use of ERYTECH's proprietary ERYCAPS platform for the development of immunotherapy products, was issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and the patent titled "Medicament for the Treatment of Cancer of the Pancreas" covering the use of eryaspase (GRASPA) for the treatment of pancreatic cancer was granted in Japan and South Korea. The Company opened a U.S. office located in Cambridge, MA and completed recruitment of its U.S.- based clinical development team. Allene M. Diaz was appointed as a nonvoting member (censeur) to ERYTECH's Board of Directors, with the intention to appoint her as a Board member in January 2017, in anticipation of the next shareholders general meeting. Ms. Diaz has significant experience in the biopharmaceutical industry with broad cross-functional expertise in sales, medical affairs, in-line marketing, new product planning, portfolio planning, strategic planning, and market access. She currently serves as a Senior Vice President, Global Commercial Development at TESARO (Waltham, U.S.). Prior to joining TESARO, Ms. Diaz served in executive and line roles at other leading biopharmaceutical companies, including Merck Serono, Biogen Idec and Pfizer. Financial Highlights ERYTECH's key financial figures for the first six months of 2016, compared with the same period of the previous year, are summarized below: Key figures (in thousands of euros): 1H (6 months) 2016 1H (6 months) 2015 Variation Revenues 0 0 0 Other income 2,403 1,474 929 Total operating income 2,403 1,474 929 Operating expenses: Research development (8,800) (5,231) (3,569) General administrative (4,222) (3,107) (1,115) Total operating expenses (13,022) (8,338) (4,684) Operating loss (10,618) (6,863) (3,755) Financial income 260 325 (65) Income tax 9 5 4 Net Loss (10,349) (6,533) (3,816) As of June 30, 2016 As of December 31, 2015 Variation Net Cash and Cash Equivalents 36,471 45,634 (9,163) Net loss for the first half of 2016 was 10.3 million, compared to net loss of 6.5 million for the same period of last year. The 3.8 million increase reflected increased expenses to advance the Company's preclinical and clinical development programs. The increase was driven by higher service and contracting fees, mostly related to the clinical and regulatory progress of product development projects, and by higher personnel costs resulting from the staffing of key positions in the preclinical, clinical and pharmaceutical operations domains intended to prepare the Company for further development, both in Europe and in the United States. Other income, which was mostly comprised of research and development tax credits and grants, increased in the same period and in approximately the same proportion. As of June 30, 2016, ERYTECH had cash and cash equivalents totaling 36.5 million, compared with 45.6 million on December 31, 2015. Net cash utilization for operating and investment activities was 4.1 million in the second quarter of 2016 and 9.2 million in the first half of 2016, compared with net cash utilization of 8.1 million in the second half of 2015, excluding the net cash impact of the December 2015 capital raise. As with net loss in the first half of 2016, net cash utilization reflected the increase in expenses related to product development and the strengthening of the Company's operations. The financial results for second quarter 2016 are in line with the Company's expectations and established strategy for 2016, which focuses on advancing the clinical development of its innovative treatments for acute leukemia and other oncology indications in Europe and the United States. Gil Beyen, ERYTECH's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer commented, "In the first half of 2016, we made continued progress toward several important objectives. We are pleased to have submitted a response to the CHMP's Day 120 List of Questions related to our European Marketing Authorization Application for GRASPA for the treatment of ALL. We continue to advance GRASPA forward with the goal of obtaining approval in Europe and we have made significant progress in the ongoing clinical development of GRASPA for other oncology indications, including the recent completion of patient enrollment in our Phase 2b trial for the treatment of AML and the anticipated upcoming complete patient enrollment in our Phase 2 trial for treatment of pancreatic cancer. We have also continued to make progress on our preclinical programs and have further strengthened our organization, especially in the U.S." First Half 2016 Conference Call Details As a reminder, ERYTECH management will hold a conference call, which will be broadcast live over the Internet, on Wednesday, September 07, 2016 at 15:00pm CET 9:00am EDT to review the Q2 and 1H 2016 financial and operational highlights. Gil Beyen, Chairman and CEO, Eric Soyer, CFO and CFO and Iman El-Hariry, CMO will deliver a brief presentation, followed by a Q&A session. Investors and analysts can access the call via the following teleconferencing numbers: USA: +1 877 887 4163 United-Kingdom: +44 2030432440 Switzerland: +41 225809022 Germany: +49 69222229031 France: +33 172001510 Belgium: +32 24029640 Sweden: +46 850334664 Finland: +358 942599700 Netherlands: + 31 107138194 Confirmation Code: 79702432# A live Internet webcast of the call will be available via the following link: http://www.anywhereconference.com?UserAudioMode=DATA&Name=&Conference=135303493&PIN=79702432 Following the live webcast, a telephonic replay will be available for 90 days. To listen to the replay, please dial: USA: +1 877 642 3018 United-Kingdom: +44(0) 2033679460 France: +33(0)1 72 00 15 00 Confirmation Code: 303493# Additionally, an archive of the webcast will be available on the "Webcast" section of the Company's investor relations site at www.erytech.com Next financial updates: Financial highlights for the 3rd quarter of 2016: November 3, 2016 (after market close), followed by a conference call and webcast to be held on November 4, 2016 (3:00pm CET/9:00am ET) Upcoming participations at investor conferences: JPMorgan Small/Mid-Cap Conference, September 14, London Small MidCap event, October 5-6, Paris Bryan Garnier European Healthcare Conference, November 14-15, Paris Jefferies London Healthcare Conference, November 16-17, London Eigenkapitalforum (2016 German Equity Forum), November 21-24, Frankfurt About ERYTECH and eryaspase (eryasp/GRASPA): www.erytech.com Founded in Lyon, France in 2004, ERYTECH is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies for rare forms of cancer and orphan diseases. Leveraging its proprietary ERYCAPS platform, which uses a novel technology to encapsulate therapeutic drug substances inside red blood cells, ERYTECH has developed a pipeline of product candidates targeting markets with high unmet medical needs. ERYTECH's initial focus is on the treatment of blood cancers, including acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML), by depriving tumors of nutrients necessary for their survival. ERYTECH has recently filed for European Marketing Authorization for its lead product candidate, eryaspase, also known as eryasp and under the trade name GRASPA, following positive efficacy and safety results from its completed Phase 2/3 pivotal clinical trial of GRASPA in Europe in children and adults with relapsed or refractory ALL. ERYTECH also has an ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial of eryaspase in the United States in adults with newly diagnosed ALL, and a Phase 2b clinical trial of GRASPA in Europe in elderly patients with newly diagnosed AML, each in combination with chemotherapy. Eryaspase consists of an enzyme, L-asparaginase, encapsulated inside donor-derived red blood cells. L-asparaginase depletes asparagine, a naturally occurring amino acid essential for the survival and proliferation of cancer cells, from circulating blood plasma. Every year over 50,000 patients in Europe and the United States are diagnosed with ALL or AML. For about 80% of these patients, mainly adults and relapsing patients, current forms of L-asparaginase cannot be used due to their toxicity or as a result of allergic reactions. ERYTECH believes that the safety and efficacy profile of eryaspase/GRASPA, as observed in its Phase 2/3 pivotal clinical trial, offers an attractive alternative option for the treatment of leukemia patients. ERYTECH believes that eryaspase has the potential as a treatment approach in solid tumors and is conducting a Phase 2 clinical trial in Europe in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. In addition to its current product candidates that focus on using encapsulated enzymes to induce tumor starvation, ERYTECH is exploring the use of its platform for developing immunotherapy products and enzyme replacement therapies. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have granted orphan drug designations for eryaspase/GRASPA for the treatment of ALL, AML and pancreatic cancer. ERYTECH produces the product at its own GMP-approved and operational manufacturing site in Lyon (France), and at a site for clinical production in Philadelphia (USA). ERYTECH has entered into licensing and distribution partnership agreements for eryaspase for ALL and AML in Europe with Orphan Europe (Recordati Group), and for ALL in Israel with TEVA, which will market the product under the GRASPA brand name. ERYTECH is listed on Euronext regulated market in Paris (ISIN code: FR0011471135, ticker: ERYP) and is part of the CAC Healthcare, CAC Pharma Bio, CAC Mid Small, CAC All Tradable, EnterNext PEA-PME 150 and Next Biotech indexes. ERYTECH is also listed in the U.S. under an ADR level 1 program (OTC, ticker EYRYY). Forward-looking information This press release may contain forward-looking statements and estimates with respect to the financial position, results of operations, business strategy, plans, objectives and anticipated future performance of ERYTECH and of the market in which it operates. Certain of these statements, forecasts and estimates can be recognized by the use of words such as, without limitation, "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "plans", "seeks", "estimates", "may", "will" and "continue" and similar expressions. Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Such statements, forecasts and estimates are based on various assumptions and assessments of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which were deemed reasonable when made but may or may not prove to be correct. Actual events are difficult to predict and may depend upon factors that are beyond ERYTECH's control. There can be no guarantees with respect to pipeline product candidates that the candidates will receive the necessary regulatory approvals or that they will prove to be commercially successful. Therefore, actual results may turn out to be materially different from the anticipated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements, forecasts and estimates. Documents filed by ERYTECH Pharma with the French Autorite des Marches Financiers (www.amf-france.org), also available on ERYTECH's website (www.erytech.com) describe such risks and uncertainties. Given these uncertainties, no representations are made as to the accuracy or fairness of such forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates. Furthermore, forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates only speak as of the date of the publication of this press release. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any of these forward-looking statements. ERYTECH disclaims any obligation to update any such forward-looking statement, forecast or estimates to reflect any change in ERYTECH's expectations with regard thereto, or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement, forecast or estimate is based, except to the extent required by law. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160906006248/en/ Contacts: ERYTECH Gil Beyen Chairman and CEO Eric Soyer CFO and COO +33 4 78 74 44 38 investors@erytech.com or The Ruth Group Lee Roth, +1-646-536-7012 Investor relations lroth@theruthgroup.com or Kirsten Thomas, +1-508-280-6592 Media relations kthomas@theruthgroup.com or NewCap Julien Perez Investor relations Nicolas Merigeau Media relations +33 1 44 71 98 52 erytech@newcap.eu WISeKey (SIX:WIHN) announced today that no definitive agreements on a business combination with OpenLimit (O5H.DE) have been reached within the initially contemplated 6 to 8 week time frame after the Signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on 25 July 2016. Discussions on a possible transaction with OpenLimit are continuing, but will take longer than previously anticipated and further remain subject to satisfactory confirmatory due diligence. About WISeKey WISeKey (SIX Swiss Exchange: WIHN) is a leading cybersecurity company and selected as a World Economic Forum Global Growth Company. WISeKey is currently deploying large scale Internet of Things ("IoT") digital identity ecosystems and has become a pioneer of the "4th Industrial Revolution" movement launched this year at the World Economic Forum in Davos. WISeKey's Swiss based cryptographic Root of Trust ("RoT") integrates wearable technology with secure authentication and identification, in both physical and virtual environments, and empowers IoT and wearable devices to become secure transactional devices. The RoT serves as a common trust anchor, which is recognized by the operating system and applications, to ensure the authenticity, confidentiality and integrity of on-line transactions. With the cryptographic RoT embedded on the device, the IoT product manufacturers can use code-signing certificates and a cloud-based signature as a service to secure interactions among objects and between objects and people. WISeKey has patented this process in the USA as it is currently used by many IoT providers. Disclaimer: This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements concerning WISeKey International Holding Ltd and its business. Such statements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of WISeKey International Holding Ltd to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. WISeKey International Holding Ltd is providing this communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities, and it does not constitute an offering prospectus within the meaning of article 652a or article 1156 of the Swiss Code of Obligations or a listing prospectus within the meaning of the listing rules of the SIX Swiss Exchange. Investors must rely on their own evaluation of WISeKey and its securities, including the merits and risks involved. Nothing contained herein is, or shall be relied on as, a promise or representation as to the future performance of WISeKey. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160906006221/en/ Contacts: WISeKey: Youmna Abisaleh, +41-22-594-3040 Marketing Communications yabisaleh@wisekey.com OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- The Government of Canada values the contribution teachers make providing young Canadians with the education and skills they need to join a strong middle class. There is a new refundable tax credit for 2016 and beyond: the Eligible Educator School Supply Tax Credit. If you are an eligible educator you can now claim a 15% refundable tax credit on up to $1,000 of supply purchases per year. Who is eligible? You can only claim this tax credit if you are a teacher or early childhood educator employed at an elementary or secondary school or a regulated child care facility: -- You must have a teacher's certificate that is valid in the province or territory where you are employed; or -- You must have a certificate or diploma in early childhood education that is recognized in the province or territory where you are employed. What kinds of teaching supplies are eligible? For your supplies to be eligible for this credit, they must be: -- purchased in the taxation year by an eligible educator; -- used in a school or in a regulated child care facility for teaching or helping students learn; -- not reimbursable and not subject to an allowance or other form of assistance (unless the reimbursement, allowance or assistance is included in the income of the teacher or educator and not deductible); and -- not deducted or used in calculating a deduction from any person's income for any taxation year. Some examples of eligible supplies include: -- construction paper; -- flashcards; -- items for science experiments; -- art supplies; -- various writing materials -- games and puzzles; -- books for the classroom; and -- educational support software. If you claim this tax credit, the CRA may ask you to provide a certification from your employer attesting to the eligible supplies expense. You should request the certification from your employer in a timely manner and keep it in your files, along with your receipts, in case the CRA requests it. For more information, go to our website, or consult the Department of Finance Canada's Budget 2016 documents. Stay connected To receive updates when new information is added to our website: Follow the CRA on Twitter - @CanRevAgency. Subscribe to a CRA electronic mailing list. Add our RSS feeds to your feed reader. You can also watch our tax-related videos on YouTube. Contacts: Jelica Zdero Media Relations Canada Revenue Agency 613-952-9184 Jelica.Zdero@cra-arc.gc.ca ROUYN-NORANDA, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- OREX EXPLORATION INC. ("Orex" or the "Corporation") (TSX VENTURE: OX)(FRANKFURT: O5D) announces its intent to proceed with a non-brokered private placement for a minimum amount of $1,250,000 (representing 25,000,000 Units) and a maximum amount of $1,500,000 (representing 30,000,000 Units) (the "Private Placement"). Each Unit will be offered at a price of $0.05 (a "Unit") and will be comprised of one Common Share and of one Common Share Purchase Warrant of Orex (a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to purchase one additional Common Share of the Company at an exercise price of $0.06 over a period of five years from the date of closing. In relation with the Private Placement, finder's fees will be payable in cash and/or in Units, for up to 6% of the Units sold. The net proceeds from the subscriptions of Units will be used by the Company to establish a revised mine development plan, define and undertake a supplementary exploration program on the Goldboro Property for the purpose of establishing a revised Preliminary Economic Analysis (PEA) and for working capital purposes. Some directors and officers might subscribe Units, up to a maximum of 25% of the Private Placement. All of the securities of Orex to be issued under the Private Placement will be subject to a hold period of four months from each closing date. The Private Placement is conditional to the approval of the TSX Venture. The securities to be issued pursuant to the Private Placement have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. About Orex Exploration Inc. Orex Exploration Inc. is mineral exploration company based in the Province of Quebec, Canada. Orex's principal asset is the Goldboro gold project in Nova Scotia in which it holds a 100% interest.For further details on Orex and the Goldboro project, please visit the Company's website at www.orexexploration.ca or Canadian public filings at Orex's profile at www.sedar.com. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation service provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. Contacts: Jacques Levesque, CFO Cell: (514) 239-9592 (819) 797-4354 orex@cablevision.qc.ca Marcel Faucher, CEO (514) 679-6927 mfaucher78@gmail.com GREENVILLE, SC--(Marketwired - September 06, 2016) - KEMET Corporation (NYSE: KEM), a leading global supplier of electronic components, today announced its 33 rd KEMET Institute of Technology (KIT) series. Beginning on September 20 th with a two-day event at its Simpsonville Innovation Center, KIT is a free technology workshop based on classroom instruction and live discussion covering details on how capacitors and other passive components are made, how they work and their applications. This year's event also includes presentations on KEMET's new component offerings. Two technology tracks focusing on customer applications are available. One track focuses on embedded electronics associated with low voltage DC electronics, while the other focuses on AC line and power applications such as AC/DC converters. "KEMET is proud to offer KIT, a unique educational program that provides an invaluable service to our customers across the globe," said Per Loof, KEMET Chief Executive Officer. "These seminars enable us to collaborate on the development of emerging electronic component technologies, emphasizing our commitment to meeting the enhanced needs of our customers." KIT seminars are geared toward engineers, technologists, designers and other technical decision-makers utilizing capacitors and other passive components in their products. A range of speakers across the KEMET technology, application engineering, manufacturing, and quality teams will be on hand to present expertly detailed presentations on a variety of electronic component topics which include: Component construction, characteristics, applications and manufacturing K-SIM modeling and tutorials Factory tours (via video at off-site locations) One-on-one roadmap sharing sessions KIT will be held across numerous locations in the Americas, Europe and Asia, including the following locations/dates: Paris, France -- Sept. 13 Barcelona, Spain -- Sept. 15 Warsaw, Poland -- Sept. 20 Simpsonville, S.C., USA -- Sept. 20-21 Budapest, Hungary -- Sept. 22 Copenhagen, Denmark -- Sept. 28 St. Petersburg, Russia -- Oct. 18 Moscow, Russia -- Oct. 20 Madrid, Spain -- Oct. 27 Shenzhen, China -- Oct. 27 Manchester, UK -- Nov. 3 New KIT dates are regularly being added. For more information, please visit www.kemet.com/kit. About KEMET KEMET Corporation is a leading global manufacturer of electronic components that meet the highest standards for quality, delivery and service. The company offers its customers the broadest selection of capacitor technologies in the industry across all dielectrics, along with an expanding range of electromechanical devices, electromagnetic compatibility solutions and supercapacitors. KEMET's corporate headquarters are in South Carolina; the company also operates manufacturing facilities, sales and distribution centers around the world. KEMET's common stock is listed on the NYSE under the symbol "KEM." Additional information about KEMET can be found at www.kemet.com. Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements included herein contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws about KEMET Corporation's (the "Company") financial condition and results of operations that are based on management's current expectations, estimates and projections about the markets in which the Company operates, as well as management's beliefs and assumptions. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," variations of such words and other similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, which are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in, or implied by, such forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect management's judgment only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly any of these forward-looking statements to reflect new information, future events or otherwise. Certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcome and results to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements are described in the Company's reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Contact: Dr. John C. Boan Vice President, Marketing johnnyboan@kemet.com 954.766.2813 SAN MATEO, CA--(Marketwired - September 06, 2016) - Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ESS) announced today that Michael J. Schall - President and CEO will be participating in the apartment panel at the 2016 Evercore ISI Annual Real Estate Conference on Thursday, September 8, 2016, from 9:25 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. Eastern Time. To listen to the panel, please visit the webcast link on the Investors section of the Company's website at www.essex.com. An archive of the webcast will be available for thirty days following the event through October 8, 2016. A copy of any materials provided by the Company at the conference can be obtained through the Investors section of the Company's website. About Essex Property Trust, Inc. Essex Property Trust, Inc., an S&P 500 company, is a fully integrated real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires, develops, redevelops, and manages multifamily residential properties in selected West Coast markets. Essex currently has ownership interests in 243 apartment communities with an additional 7 properties in various stages of active development. Additional information about Essex can be found on the Company's website at www.essex.com. Contact Information Barb Pak Vice President of Finance & Investor Relations (650) 655-7800 bpak@essex.com WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - ITT Educational Services Inc., the company that operates for-profit ITT Technical Institutes, announced Tuesday its decision to shut down all its technical institutes. The company blamed the actions and sanctions of the US Department of Education for its decision to close down after the federal regulator forced a series of prohibitions including a ban on new students who rely on federal aid. 'It is with profound regret that we must report that ITT Educational Services, Inc. will discontinue academic operations at all of its ITT Technical Institutes permanently after approximately 50 years of continuous service. With what we believe is a complete disregard by the U.S. Department of Education for due process to the company, hundreds of thousands of current students and alumni and more than 8,000 employees will be negatively affected,' the company said in a statement. The company said it took the decision after searching for alternatives, including transfer of the schools to a non-profit or public institution. The shutdown will affect about 35,000 students. The company said it has eliminated the positions of the overwhelming majority of its more than 8,000 employees, effective today. The federal regulator had demanded the company to increase its collateral to $247 million, up from $94 million, with in 30 days. The action of federal regulator to increase surety requirement to 40 percent of Title IV federal funding and place schools under 'Heightened Cash Monitoring Level 2,' forced ITT Educational Services to shut down, the company said. 'We believe the government's action was inappropriate and unconstitutional, however, with the ITT Technical Institutes ceasing operations, it will now likely rest on other parties to understand these reprehensible actions and to take action to attempt to prevent this from happening again,' the company said. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- SOURCE EXPLORATION CORP. (the "Company" or "Source") (TSX VENTURE: SOP) wishes to announce that it intends to proceed with a consolidation of its issued and outstanding common shares ("Common Shares") on the basis of one (1) post-consolidation Common Share for every ten (10) pre-consolidation Common Shares (the "Consolidation"). The Consolidation was previously approved by the shareholders of the Company at an annual and special meeting of the shareholders of the Company held on August 15, 2016, and has been approved by the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange"). Currently, a total of 87,643,734 Common Shares are issued and outstanding. Accordingly, if the Consolidation is implemented, a total of approximately 8,764,373 post-Consolidation Common Shares would be issued and outstanding, assuming there are no other changes in the issued capital of the Company. Any resulting fractional Common Share that is held by a holder of Common Shares will be cancelled, and the aggregate number of Common Shares held by such holder will be rounded down to the nearest whole number of Common Shares. The exercise price and the number of Common Shares issuable under the Company's outstanding options will also be proportionately adjusted upon Consolidation. A letter of transmittal will be sent to registered shareholders providing instructions to surrender the certificates evidencing their Common Shares in exchange for replacement certificates representing the number of Common Shares to which they are entitled as a result of the Consolidation. Until surrendered, each certificate representing Common Shares prior to Consolidation will be deemed for all purposes to represent the number of Common Shares to which the holder thereof is entitled as a result of the Consolidation. The Board of Directors believes that the proposed Consolidation will better position the Company to access the capital markets should further funds be required. There is no name change in conjunction with the Consolidation, and the Company's trading symbol on the Exchange will remain the same. Source expects its post-Consolidation Common Shares to commence trading on the Exchange at the open of markets on September 9, 2016. About Source Exploration Source Exploration is a Canadian based mineral exploration company committed to building long-term value through ongoing discoveries and strategic acquisitions of prospective precious metals deposits in Mexico. Source is exploring the Las Minas Project, which is located in the core of the Las Minas district in the Veracruz State, Mexico. The district is host to one of the largest under explored skarn systems known in Mexico and has a strong production history that dates back to the Aztec era. CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION: This news release includes certain information that may constitute "forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements about the completion of the Consolidation, the ability of the Company to access capital and the commencement of trading of the post-Consolidation Common Shares on the Exchange. Forward-looking information is necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including the risks identified in the Company's disclosure documents available at www.sedar.com. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. All forward-looking information contained in this press release is given as of the date hereof and is based upon the opinions and estimates of management and information available to management as at the date hereof. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Neither the Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Contacts: Source Exploration Corp. Camille Turner Investor Relations 604-669-7840 or 604-970-8052 Source Exploration Corp. David Baker Executive Chairman 604-817-4211 or 604-970-8052 Source Exploration Corp. Brian Robertson President and Chief Executive Officer 807-474-4270 or 807-251-1816 807-474-4272 (FAX) info@sourceexploration.com www.sourceexploration.com WINNIPEG, MANITOBA -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- The Honourable MaryAnn Mihychuk, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, on behalf of the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science, will make two announcements regarding partnerships between Canadian colleges and business and will tour the Heavy Equipment Transportation Centre. Minister Mihychuk will be available for questions from the media following the announcement. Date: Wednesday, September 7, 2016 Time: Tour: 9:00 a.m. Announcement: 9:25 a.m. Location: Heavy Equipment Transportation Centre Red River College Notre Dame Campus 2055 Notre Dame Avenue Winnipeg, Manitoba Contacts: Veronique Perron Press Secretary Office of the Minister of Science 343-291-2600 Martin Leroux Media and Public Affairs Office Natural Sciences and Engineering ResearchCouncil of Canada613-943-7618media@nserc-crsng.gc.caMedia RelationsInnovation, Science and Economic Development Canada343-291-1777ic.mediarelations-mediasrelations.ic@canada.caMalorie BertrandMedia Relations and Communications OfficerCanada Foundation for Innovation613-943-2580malorie.bertrand@innovation.ca OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- (All amounts in this release are in Canadian Dollars) Calian Group Ltd. (TSX: CGY) is pleased to report that it has re-won two long-term DND contracts for a combined ceiling value of $29 million with the Military Personnel Generation (MilPersGen) and the Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (RCEME) Schools. The initial contract for the Military Personnel Generation contract is valued at $7 million over a period of 12 months with two one-year options, which if exercised, could increase the total contract value to $21 million. Since 2010, Calian has been providing training services to the MilPersGen (formerly Canadian Defence Academy), at schools such as the Canadian Army's Leadership and Recruit School, the Fire Fighter and CBRN Academy, the Chaplain School and the Logistics Training Centre. This new contract expands the scope of work to include additional schools such as the Canadian Forces Health Services Training Centre, School of Military Intelligence, School of Meteorology, Military Policy Academy, Language School and the Canadian Forces Naval Operations School. The initial contract for RCEME is valued at $5 million over a period of 2.5 years with two one-year options, which if exercised, could increase the total contract value to over $8 million. The scope of the work has been expanded from the vehicle technician training that Calian has performed for the RCEME School since 2008 and now includes Weapons, Material and Electronic-Optronic technician training. The inclusion of these additional services means that the RCEME School now has even more flexibility to meet their increased training demands forecasted over the next three years. "We are extremely pleased to continue our long-term relationship with the MilPersGen and RCEME organizations. Our ability to re-win with the expanded scope of these contracts is a testament to the quality of the training professionals on the Calian team as well as the skills and dedication of our management staff," stated Jerry Johnston, Vice President, Training & Engineering Services. "Customer retention is the first pillar of Calian's growth strategy. The re-win of these two contracts is yet another example of our long-standing relationship with the Canadian Army and we appreciate the continued trust in our ability to support their training needs," stated Kevin Ford, President and CEO. About Calian Training Calian provides a full-suite of specialized training services to both public and private sector organizations, including many elements of the Canadian Armed Forces. Services range from needs analysis through to courseware design, development and delivery, and include the development and execution of collective training exercises which allow customers in both emergency management and military domains to validate their plans and team performance. About Calian Calian employs over 2,500 people with offices and projects that span Canada, U.S. and international markets. The company's capabilities are diverse with services delivered through two divisions. The Business and Technology Services (BTS) Division is headquartered in Ottawa and includes the provision of business and technology services to industry, public and government in the health, training, engineering and IT services domains. Calian's Systems Engineering Division (SED) located in Saskatoon plans, designs and implements complex communication systems for many of the world's space agencies and leading satellite manufacturers and operators. SED also provides contract manufacturing services for both private sector and military customers in North America. For further information, please visit our website at www.calian.com, or contact us at ir@calian.com DISCLAIMER Certain information included in this press release is forward-looking and is subject to important risks and uncertainties. The results or events predicted in these statements may differ materially from actual results or events. Such statements are generally accompanied by words such as "intend", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" or similar statements. Factors which could cause results or events to differ from current expectations include, among other things: the impact of price competition; scarce number of qualified professionals; the impact of rapid technological and market change; loss of business or credit risk with major customers; technical risks on fixed price projects; general industry and market conditions and growth rates; international growth and global economic conditions, and including currency exchange rate fluctuations; and the impact of consolidations in the business services industry. For additional information with respect to certain of these and other factors, please see the Company's most recent annual report and other reports filed by Calian with the Ontario Securities Commission. Calian disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. No assurance can be given that actual results, performance or achievement expressed in, or implied by, forward-looking statements within this disclosure will occur, or if they do, that any benefits may be derived from them. Contacts: Calian Group Ltd. Kevin Ford President and Chief Executive Officer 613-599-8600 Calian Group Ltd. Jacqueline Gauthier Chief Financial Officer 613-599-8600 TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 09/06/16 -- Firan Technology Group Corporation (TSX: FTG) announced today the retirement of Joseph R. Ricci, Vice President and CFO. Joe will remain with FTG in an advisory role to ensure an orderly leadership transition to the new CFO over the next number of months. Joe's decision to retire will bring to a close a remarkable career of nearly fourteen years of continuous service to the Corporation and its stockholders. During his time at FTG, the Corporation transitioned into a publicly listed company, grew more than four-fold in size and expanded operations into the US and China. "I have worked with Joe for more than 30 years. He has been a great partner, trusted advisor and lifelong friend," stated Brad Bourne, President and CEO, FTG Corporation. He added, "The Board and leadership team is grateful for his innumerable contributions to the Corporation and his distinguished tenure as CFO." Joe Ricci commented, "I am proud of the accomplishments we have achieved at FTG and I believe the Corporation is positioned well for future growth and success." Effective today, the Corporation would like to welcome Melinda Diebel, CPA, CA, C.Dir to the leadership team. Melinda assumes the role of Vice President and CFO. Melinda has extensive experience in senior finance roles within manufacturing, most recently serving as the CFO and VP, Finance of Automodular Corporation. "We are very pleased to welcome Melinda to the leadership team at FTG. She brings extensive knowledge and experience, making her well-positioned to help us continue to strengthen FTG and to accelerate our growth. I look forward to working closely with her," said Brad Bourne. "I am excited to join FTG's exceptional team," stated Melinda, adding, "I look forward to working with Brad and the rest of the team to continue FTG's success in the aerospace and defense markets." ABOUT FIRAN TECHNOLOGY GROUP CORPORATION FTG is an aerospace and defense electronics product and subsystem supplier to customers around the globe. FTG has two operating units: FTG Circuits is a manufacturer of high technology, high reliability printed circuit boards. Our customers are leaders in the aviation, defense, and high technology industries. FTG Circuits has operations in Toronto, Ontario, Chatsworth, California, Hudson, New Hampshire and a joint venture in Tianjin, China. FTG Aerospace manufactures illuminated cockpit panels, keyboards and sub-assemblies for original equipment manufacturers of aerospace and defense equipment. FTG Aerospace has operations in Toronto, Ontario, Chatsworth, California, Fort Worth, Texas and Tianjin, China. The Corporation's shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol FTG. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This news release contains certain forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are related to, but not limited to, FTG's operations, anticipated financial performance, business prospects and strategies. Forward-looking information typically contains words such as "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "plan" or similar words suggesting future outcomes. Such statements are based on the current expectations of management of the Corporation and inherently involve numerous risks and uncertainties, known and unknown, including economic factors and the Corporation's industry, generally. The preceding list is not exhaustive of all possible factors. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual events and results could differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements made by the Corporation. The reader is cautioned to consider these and other factors carefully when making decisions with respect to the Corporation and not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Other than as may be required by law, FTG disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Contacts: Firan Technology Group Corporation Bradley C. Bourne President and CEO (416) 299-4000 x 314 bradbourne@ftgcorp.com www.ftgcorp.com Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - November 1, 2016) - The Board of Directors of Pancontinental Gold Corporation (TSXV: PUC) ("Pancon Gold", "Pancon" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Dennis LaPoint as Vice President, Exploration. Dr. LaPoint will lead Pancon's technical team and initial drilling program, scheduled to commence in mid-November at the Company's flagship Jefferson Gold Project in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, United States. Pancon has compiled and continues to review the historic exploration data at the Jefferson Project, and is planning for a staged drilling program to develop an initial gold resource. The Pancon Board is also pleased to announce the formation of a Technical Advisory Committee, consisting of Dr. Laurence (Laurie) Curtis, a consultant to the Company, and Mr. David Mosher, a Director of the Company. The Technical Advisory Committee will perform an oversight role of the Company's drilling and resource plans and programs. Dr. LaPoint is a seasoned exploration geologist and project developer, with extensive experience in South Carolina, including leading the exploration program at the Jefferson Project when it was under previous ownership. He assembled the original Jefferson property package, managed the successful four-hole 2011 exploration program, and was the Qualified Person when the assay results were released on March 1, 2012. He is a registered Qualified Person under Canada's National Instrument 43-101 "Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects." With more than 40 years of experience in minerals exploration and mining, including 35 years working in the southeastern United States, Dr. LaPoint has successfully explored for and discovered significant gold deposits. His discoveries include the Merian Gold Deposit in Suriname, South America, which recently went into production by Newmont Mining Corporation with a reserve of more than 5 million ounces. He has also discovered gold deposits in South Carolina, and in North Carolina, where he currently resides. Dr. LaPoint is a registered geologist in South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee, and earned his PhD in Geology from the University of Colorado. The new Pancon Gold Technical Advisory Committee brings a combined 75 years of geology, exploration, project development, mine building and capital markets experience. Leading the Committee is Laurie Curtis, a well-known and respected economic geologist and geochemist, with more than 40 years of global exploration, mining and capital markets experience. As President and CEO of Intrepid Minerals Corporation, Dr. Curtis was responsible for taking the Casposo gold-silver project in Argentina to full feasibility; this project was subsequently sold and its mine is still operating. Dr. Curtis saw Intrepid transition through merger and acquisition to become a mid-tier gold producer and ultimately attain a market capitalization exceeding USD$1 billion, mainly due to the Tujuh Bukit copper-gold-silver deposit, one of Indonesia's largest deposits containing more than 25 million ounces of gold and 10 billion pounds of copper. In recent years, Dr. Curtis has been active in the financial sector, as a senior mining research analyst for Clarus Securities and Dundee Capital Markets. He is a Director of three minerals exploration companies. Originally from Australia, Dr. Curtis resides near Toronto and earned his PhD in Exploration Geology from the University of Toronto. David Mosher, who is a founding Director of Pancon Gold, is a geologist and mining executive with more than 35 years of experience in the United States, Canada, Australia, Russia, Asia and Africa. Over the past decade he has been active in the restructuring, financing and management of a number of minerals projects and mining companies, both private and public. Mr. Mosher is currently a Director of four public minerals exploration companies, including Pancon Gold. From 1992-2008, Mr. Mosher served as President and CEO of TSX-listed High River Gold Mines Limited, where he raised more than USD$300 million and developed three mines, from exploration to production, in Canada, West Africa and Russia. Under Mr. Mosher's leadership, High River Gold Mines' market capitalization increased from CAD$7 million to more than CAD$1 billion. In addition, he assisted with the expansion of two underground mines in Russia and outlined a 5 million ounce gold deposit in Burkina Faso, which subsequently became an operating mine. Originally from Nova Scotia, Mr. Mosher earned his BS in Geology from Acadia University. In connection with the foregoing, the Company also announces that it has granted today to consultants of the Company, in accordance with the terms of the Company's stock option plan, an aggregate of 1,200,000 stock options exercisable at a price of $0.12 per Common Share and expiring on November 1, 2021. About Pancontinental Gold Corporation Pancontinental Gold Corporation is a Canadian-based mining company focused on the exploration and development of the Jefferson Gold Project in South Carolina and on acquiring additional prospective gold properties. The Company's shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, trading under the symbol PUC. In 2015, Pancon sold its interest in its Australian rare earth element (REE) and uranium properties, formerly held through a joint venture, and retains a 1% gross overriding royalty on 100% of future production. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Rick Mark President & CEO For further information, please contact: Rick Mark, President and CEO 1-416-293-8437 or info@panconu.com Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Language and Forward Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking information which is not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking information is characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking information involves risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, changes in the state of equity and debt markets, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in obtaining required regulatory or governmental approvals, and other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry, including those risks set out in the Company's management's discussion and analysis as filed under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking information in this news release is based on the opinions and assumptions of management considered reasonable as of the date hereof, including that all necessary governmental and regulatory approvals will be received as and when expected. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable securities laws. CASTLEFORD, England, September 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Survey of 1000 UK residents shows over 55s take personal responsibility for health, but less likely to use digital technologies to manage health Survey comes on heels of UK government report highlighting risk of new healthcare technologies failing t o reach those with highest need Teva UK - the 'Digital Zone' sponsor at NHS England's Health & Care Innovation Expo 2016 -calls for NHS-patient-industry collaboration in tackling healthcare generational "digital divide" Teva UK Ltd. today released results of a UK survey showing that people over the age of 55 feel in high control of their health[1] and that over 55s are more likely than other age groups in the UK to feel it's their responsibility to influence their own health.[2] The research, involving 1000 participants in the UK, also indicated UK baby boomers believe it's important to take care of one's own health to avoid major health-related expenses in the future.[2] (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150824/260497LOGO ) But the study also revealed a generational "digital divide" in attitudes toward managing one's health. Research found that people over 55 in the UK are least likely of any age group to seek advice on how to take better control of their health.[3] They're also least likely to search for health information online, with only a third saying they find health information online dependable.[4] The UK survey also found that less than half of over 55s surveyed said they actively seek new information about their health[2] - despite over 80% saying it's their responsibility to influence their own health.[2] Teva UK has published these findings to coincide with the start of NHS England's Health & Care Innovation Expo 2016, which opens today in Manchester. Teva is serving as NHS England's Digital Zone partner at this year's Expo, with the aim of sharing experiences, examining best practices, and understanding drivers and barriers to adopting digital technology in healthcare. The Teva UK study also showed that over 55s are the least likely of any UK age group to agree that technology makes their life easier.[5] Research indicated UK baby boomers would be least likely to make use of health tests that - thanks partly to advances in digital technology - could predict or prevent certain health conditions: only 11% said they would seek out tests to predict or prevent conditions they might be prone to develop due to their genes or lifestyle.[4] Over 55s were also sceptical of the potential health impact of wearable technologies and similar innovations, with only 1 in 5 (22%) believing these technologies could revolutionise healthcare.[6] Baby boomers were also least likely to either own (4%) or consider owning (8%) a wearable tech device or health sensor.[7] Teva believes a key to better health outcomes is patient-empowerment, backed by digital technologies that support a sustainable, whole-system approach to healthcare. In commenting on the study, Kate Smith, Director of NHS Strategy at Teva UK, said: "We've been working to address baby boomers' lower rates of engagement with digital technologies. It's fantastic to see in this new research how empowered baby boomers feel when it comes to their health. However, the survey shows we need to do more to educate an older generation of the potential benefit of new tests, technologies and information now becoming available thanks to advances in digital health." News of this generational digital divide in healthcare comes just eight weeks after the UK government released its foresight report looking at the challenges and opportunities of an ageing society. In it, expert advisers warn "there is a risk that the potential of technologies to support health will not translate to those with highest need"[8] and underline that "technology can help to provide the solutions to challenges faced by the ageing population, and help to realise the benefits of longer lives."[9] Reflecting on the government report, Ms. Smith added: "Our study also revealed some of the challenges highlighted in the UK government report. That's why we're excited to have the opportunity to collaborate with NHS England in taking a closer look at the role of digital in healthcare at this year's NHS Expo." On day 2 of the conference, Teva UK along with NHS England, will co-host a panel discussion to explore how to digitally empower patients and clinicians to drive improved health outcomes. We asked Juliet Bauer, the newly appointed Director of Digital Experience at NHS England, who will participate in the panel discussion, how she feels digital technology can help deliver better health and care: "Simplicity for the patient is critical. The health and care system is complicated and confusing to navigate, and whilst we have some of the best healthcare in the world, the consumer journey of getting to care is often difficult. The adoption of digital technology presents us with a very real opportunity to guide people to the right place, support them to make the right decisions and transform that consumer experience. In everyday life we rely on high quality digital journeys to access services and information we need. In health and care we have some serious catching up to do. I know the task is significant but the commitment is clear. The investment in paperless 2020, the strong partnerships across health and care organisations, the department of health and industry, all combined with technology that is evolving.... these are exciting times." Teva's partnership with NHS England in the Digital Health Zone at the Health & Care Innovation Expo 2016 forms part of Teva's strategy of collaborating in digital health with industry, healthcare providers and patients. The partnership also builds on Teva's ongoing work in the UK to connect patients with their healthcare providers through Teva's Patient Support Programmes, which help patients manage their treatments more effectively by connecting them to nursing support via an online platform. References: Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited, "Locking in Audiences" Survey, July 2016 , Q 29 Ibid S 6 Ibid Q 20 Ibid Q 7 Ibid Q 8 Ibid Q 18 Ibid Q 5 Government Office for Science, Future of an Aging Population, 7 July 2016 , page 86, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/535187/gs-16-10-future-of-an-ageing-population.pdf [accessed 15/08/16] Ibid P 98 About Teva UK Limited Teva UK Limited is one of the UK's top ten pharmaceutical manufacturers, with a presence in the generics, branded respiratory, CNS and hospitals markets. It has the widest range of any UK generic pharmaceutical company and markets solid and liquid dose, injectable and respiratory medicines to healthcare professionals. The company is part of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. For more information, visit http://www.tevauk.com. About Teva: Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE and TASE: TEVA) is a leading global pharmaceutical company that delivers high-quality, patient-centric healthcare solutions to millions of patients every day. Headquartered in Israel, Teva is the world's largest generic medicines producer, leveraging its portfolio of more than 1,800 molecules to produce a wide range of generic products in nearly every therapeutic area. In specialty medicines, Teva has a world-leading position in innovative treatments for disorders of the central nervous system, including pain, as well as a strong portfolio of respiratory products. Teva integrates its generics and specialty capabilities in its global research and development division to create new ways of addressing unmet patient needs by combining drug development capabilities with devices, services and technologies. Teva's net revenues in 2015 amounted to $19.7 billion. For more information, visit http://www.tevapharm.com. Fourth & Heart, a Los Angeles, CA-based premium artisanal ghee manufacturer, closed a $1M Series A funding. The investment, made by an undisclosed individual, was raised on CircleUp, an investment marketplace for emerging consumer and retail companies. The company intends to use the funds to develop new innovative food products. Led by Raquel Tavares Gunsagar, founder and CEO, Fourth & Heart is a premium artisanal brand that has introduced flavored ghee to the consumer market. The product portfolio features grass-fed, pasture-raised and glyphosate-free ghee in the gourmet flavors White Truffle Salt, Himalayan Pink Salt, California Garlic, Madagascar Vanilla Bean and Original Recipe. This assortment of ghee flavors can now be found in over 3,500 stores nationwide including Whole Foods Market, Central Market, Earth Fare, Luckys Market, Fresh Thyme, Kroger, Sprouts, Giant Eagle, and other independent stores. Fourth & Heart is also available online at Thrive Market, Amazon, and soon will launch an e-commerce section on their own site FourthandHeart.com. The company plans to close the year in 6,000 stores nationwide. FinSMEs 06/09/2016 Anurag Kashyap has been receiving a lot of rave reviews for his performance in AR Murugadoss' film Akira. However the guilt of delivering a flop film Bombay Velvet in 2015 still weighs heavily on the director-turned-actor. Bombay Velvet was a dream that the director had harboured for a long time. Seeing it come crashing down has been very painful for him and he has not forgiven himself despite having a successful inning this year. Speaking to DNA, the director said, "I had gone into depression. There was a time I started feeling that the floods are because of me, the drought is because of me, the accidents here and there are happening because of Anurag Kashyap. People have attacked me and rightly so. But I have learnt from my mistakes. I don't think I will ever try making a film like Bombay Velvet anymore where the production costs will become invisible. Creating Mumbai in itself meant so much money and I didn't realise it then." In another interview to The Huffington Post, the director revealed that Raman Raghav 2.0 originated from the failure of Bombay Velvet. "I'm tempted to agree. That film comes from a very personal place of anger. Yes, it is a reaction to Bombay Velvet and all that was said and written about it, it is my response to the hypocrisy that I experienced all around me. It definitely starts from there. The genesis of Raman Raghav is rooted in the failure of Bombay Velvet," he disclosed. Even last year in an interview to PTI, Kashyap had spoken about Bombay Velvet probably becoming the biggest loss making movie in the history of cinema. People have gone to fund my dream, which was unreasonable to begin with. Just because I have a dream to do something for 10 years does not mean that somebody is obliged to do it. They buy into your idea, they buy into your dream. It was like a Rs 90 crore art film. For me the burden of that money lost is going to be there for a long time, he said. A beauty queen with an Indian father and a Japanese mother was crowned Miss Japan on Monday, furthering racial equality in the country. Priyanka Yoshikawa's tearful victory comes a year after Ariana Miyamoto faced an ugly backlash for becoming the first black woman to represent Japan. Social media lit up after Ms. Miyamoto's trailblazing triumph as critics complained that Miss Universe Japan should instead have been won by a "pure" Japanese rather than a "haafu" the Japanese for "half", a word used to describe mixed race. "Before Ariana, haafu girls couldn't represent Japan," Ms. Yoshikawa told AFP in an interview. "That's what I thought too. I didn't doubt it or challenge it until this day. Ariana encouraged me a lot by showing me and showing all mixed girls the way." Half and Half Ms. Yoshikawa, born in Tokyo to an Indian father and a Japanese mother, vowed to continue the fight against racial prejudice in homogenous Japan, where multiracial children make up just two percent of those born annually. "I think it means we have to let it in," said the 22-year-old when asked what it signified for her and Miyamoto to break down cultural barriers. "We are Japanese. Yes, I'm half Indian and people are asking me about my 'purity' yes, my dad is Indian and I'm proud of it, I'm proud that I have Indian in me. But that does not mean I'm not Japanese." Ms. Yoshikawa, like Ms. Miyamoto, was bullied because of her skin colour after returning to Japan aged 10 following three years in Sacramento and a further year in India. The Indian Heritage "I know a lot of people who are haafu and suffer," said Ms. Yoshikawa, an avid kick-boxer whose politician great-grandfather once welcomed Mahatma Gandhi for a two-week stay at their home in Kolkata. "We have problems, we've been struggling and it hurts. When I came back to Japan, everyone thought I was a germ," she added. "Like, if they touched me they would be touching something bad. But I'm thankful because that made me really strong." Ms. Yoshikawa, who speaks fluent Japanese and English and towered over her rivals at 5'8", will contest for the Miss World crown in Washington this December. "When I'm abroad, people never ask me what mix I am," said Ms. Yoshikawa, who earned her elephant trainer's licence recently. "As Miss Japan, hopefully I can help change perceptions so that it can be the same here too. The number of people with mixed race is only going to increase, so people have to accept it." Social Media Backlash Reaction to Ms. Yoshikawa's victory failed initially to trigger any real outrage, although predictably some were unhappy. "What's the point of holding a pageant like this now? Zero national characteristics," grumbled one Twitter user, while another fumed: "It's like we're saying a pure Japanese face can't be a winner." As the Japanese government continues to push its "Cool Japan" brand overseas to entice foreign tourists for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Yoshikawa promised to win over any doubters. "There was a time as a kid when I was confused about my identity," she admitted. "But I've lived in Japan so long now I feel Japanese." The Delhi High Court in a copyright infringement case between Britannia Industries Ltd and ITC Ltd has provided an interim relief to the latter and asked the Nusli Wadia-owned company to refrain from selling its digestive biscuits, NutriChoice Zero. The injunction order passed by justice S. Muralidhar gave Britannia four weeks time to take out existing stocks, the Mint report said. Last month, the cigarette-to-FMCG major ITC had filed a case in which it claimed that Britannia's NutriChoice Zero digestive biscuit brand had copied the packaging of its Sunfeast Farmlite Digestive All Good biscuit. The Mint in its report stated that Britannia, which has been selling the digestive biscuits in a blue and yellow package, had agreed to stop using the blue colour of its packaging. Britannia, which controls 66 percent market share in digestive biscuits segment, however, refrained from giving up the yellow colour of packaging. It told the court that it has been using yellow colour for packaging several vairants of its digestive biscuits, the Mint report said. In fact, Britannia, had filed a counter-suit against ITC on 1 September for using yellow colour packaging on its digestive biscuits. New Delhi: IT Ministry's reported plan to rope in private companies like Microsoft and IBM for providing cloud computing services to government departments has come under flak from cyber security experts. "I think by using cloud services of foreign companies like Microsoft and IBM, IT Ministry has decided to throw all Data and National Security concerns into a dustbin. What has happened to the National Cloud Project of government? We appeal the Prime Minister to intervene and stop this else this will send a wrong message," Indian Infosec Consortium (IIC) CEO Jiten Jain said. IIC is India's cyber security group which has around 4,000 members. "If the world's software super power (India) does not have the capacity to even build its own indigenous cloud infrastructure then where is 'Make in India'," Jain said. IT and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad tweeted a news report that suggested that private companies such as Microsoft, IBM and others may be roped in by the IT ministry to provide cloud services to government departments. The tweet attracted criticism by social network users who questioned the reported proposal on security grounds. Though there was no official announcement of the reported proposal, no immediate comment could be obtained from the IT ministry over the same. The previous UPA government had launched the National Cloud project which would be managed by its own agency NIC. "The purpose of the project MehgRaj was to basically to keep data of government managed projects within its control for security reasons and also to help government departments in reducing their time, capital and operational expenditure in implementing e-governance services," an official involved in the project MehgRaj said. The Government has earmarked over Rs 1,000 crore for Meghraj under which the Department of Electronics and IT will have to set up data centres and develop IT applications for all central and state government departments to roll out e-governance services. NEW YORK (Reuters) - While former trader David Kugel was helping conman Bernard Madoff fabricate stock trades, his son Craig Kugel was giving U.S. authorities false information about who worked at the now-defunct Madoff firm. Craig Kugel, a human resources employee at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (BLMIS) from 2001 until the massive Madoff fraud was revealed in December 2008, pleaded guilty to five criminal charges in U.S. District Court in New York on Tuesday. He is not charged with involvement in the massive Madoff fraud. But Kugel told the judge that he sent forms to the U.S. Department of Labor about people who were not employed by the firm even though they were on payroll and entitled to benefits. He also admitted to filing false U.S. individual income tax returns. Last November, his father, David Kugel, pleaded guilty to six criminal charges before the same federal judge, Laura Taylor Swain. He said he and two other longtime Madoff employees, Annette Bongiorno and Joann Crupi, faked records when no trades actually took place. Bongiorno and Crupi have pleaded not guilty to criminal charges. BLMIS collapsed with the December 2008 arrest of Madoff. The disgraced financier pleaded guilty three months later and is serving a 150-year prison term. He orchestrated a decades-long, multibillion dollar Ponzi scheme in which early investors are paid with the money of new clients. Craig Kugel, 38, said during his plea proceeding that he sent the employment forms "knowing the numbers were inaccurate and swearing to their truth." Kugel said he was sorry for his lapse in judgment "but I want to make clear I was never involved in the Madoff Ponzi scheme and never worked in its trading department." Kugel also charged more than $200,000 in personal expenses, including luxury clothes, jewelry, and vacations for himself and his family, to a corporate credit card, but did not report it as income on his tax returns, prosecutors said. The charges carry a maximum possible prison term of 19 years. The case is USA v Craig Kugel, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 10-228. (Reporting By Grant McCool; Editing by Bernard Orr) MILAN (Reuters) - Prosecutors from a small town in southern Italy have probed Standard & Poor's headquarters in New York for alleged market manipulation as part of an investigation into the credit-rating agency's downgrades of Italy, a legal source said on Tuesday. Prosecutors from the town of Trani have probed New York-based S&P under a law which holds companies liable for alleged crimes committed by their employees. The legal source said proceedings have not yet been formally notified to S&P as the prosecutors are first informing five S&P employees being probed. Prosecutors are looking into a raft of downgrades by global credit agencies S&P, Fitch and Moody's for debt-laden Italy between 2010 and 2012 that triggered a sell-off of Italian assets and fuelled long-running criticism over rating agencies. "We believe the reported claims are baseless and unsupported by any evidence. We will continue to defend vigorously our actions and the reputation of our company and people," S&P said in an emailed statement on Tuesday in Milan and New York. A lawyer for S&P in Milan said the development in New York was a "formal step" as prosecutors wind up their investigation and notify proceedings to the people involved and their offices in Europe and New York. Moody's has said it takes the dissemination of market-sensitive information very seriously and is cooperating with authorities. Fitch has not commented on the case. A source close to the investigation said on May 31 that the prosecutors had completed a probe into five former and current S&P representatives and the branches where they were based. The prosecutors are investigating whether crimes of market manipulation and abuse of privileged information were committed when the reports by the three agencies were released. Under Italian law, when prosecutors complete a probe they notify their acts to the people and companies involved and can then seek a trial. A judge has to rule on any trial request. S&P previously said none of its controlling shareholders had access to data or reports before the downgrade was made public and had rejected the prosecutors' allegations as groundless. The prosecutors began their investigations last year after receiving a legal complaint from two consumer rights groups. European policymakers complained the agencies had been too quick to downgrade indebted EU states despite bailouts and painful reforms to contain the euro zone debt crisis. If the case goes to trial it may reshape the long-running debate over liability of credit agencies at a time of great uncertainty over the euro zone crisis. Credit agencies have already come under fire for not predicting the subprime mortgage debt crisis of 2008-2009. U.S. authorities criticised S&P for cutting the U.S. cherished triple-A rating last August. Frustration in Italy mounted again last month when Moody's announced a mass downgrade of the country's banking sector. (Reporting by Sara Rossi; Editing by Emilio Parodi and James Dalgleish) Srinagar: A youth was killed on Tuesday in fresh clashes between protesters and security forces in Anantnag district, taking the death toll in the ongoing unrest in Kashmir to 73 even as normal life remained disrupted for the 60th consecutive day. Naseer Ahmad Mir was killed in the security forces' action to chase away a large number of protestors in Seer Hamdan area of south Kashmir, even as several other persons including a woman sustained injuries, a police official said. He said the injured woman has been referred to a hospital here in a critical condition. Last night, a youth, injured during similar clashes in Sopore area on Sunday, succumbed at a hospital here. Musaib Nagoo was injured during clashes between protesters and security forces on Sunday in Sopore town of Baramulla district. With these deaths, the toll in ongoing unrest has gone up to 73. Normal life continued to remain affected in the Valley for the 60th straight day following violence in the wake of killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in July, even as curfew was lifted from entire Srinagar following improvement in the situation. Although authorities lifted curfew from seven police station areas of the city after two days, normal activities remained suspended due to a separatist sponsored strike. Curfew has been lifted from entire Srinagar city and so no area in Kashmir is under curfew on Tuesday, a police spokesman said. He said curfew was lifted following improvement in the situation. The spokesman, however, said restrictions on the assembly of people would remain in forces across the Valley to maintain law and order. Shops, business establishments and petrol pumps continued to remain shut during day time.They only open in the evening when the separatists have announced relaxation in the strike for some days of the week. Schools, colleges and other educational institutions also continued to remain closed. However, the attendance in government offices and banks has showed signs of improvement since the past few days, officials said. Public transport continued to be off the roads. The separatists, who are spearheading the ongoing agitation, have extended the shutdown programme till 8 September. As part of their weekly protest programme, they have called for peaceful protests by women on Tuesday, while announcing >a 12-hour relaxation in the strike from 6 PM. The Indian Civil Services, particularly the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) has been in the news recently, inviting uncharitable reactions on social media, ever since US Secretary of State John Kerry told a group of students during his visit last week to IIT Delhi, that, India's economy will only be able to maintain its impressive growth if its bureaucracy ceases to be an expert in setting up roadblocks". In fact, talks on the IAS have become sharper with the Indian branch of a leading American think-tank, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, releasing simultaneously an article titled, The Indian Administrative Service Meets Big Data. Kerry seems to have a point when he says, Even though we are witnessing impressive gains in India's economic growth, there is still a real question as to whether we are doing so quickly enough." All told, India ranked 130 of 189 on the World Banks ease of doing business indicators in 2016, (improving by just 8 ranks from 138 in 2015). In fact, India is nearer in the rankings to Pakistan (138) than to China, its principal competitor in Asia, which is ranked 84th. Incidentally, a 2012 report had termed the Indian bureaucracy among the worst in Asia. The report by Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy had ranked bureaucracies across Asia on a scale from one to 10, with 10 being the worst possible score. India had scored 9.21. India fared worse than Vietnam (rated at 8.54), Indonesia (8.37), the Philippines (7.57) and China (7.11). On the other hand, Singapore remained the best with a rating of 2.25, followed by Hong Kong (3.53), Thailand (5.25) Taiwan (5.57), Japan (5.77), South Korea (5.87) and Malaysia (5.89). Identifying Indias bureaucracy as responsible for many complaints businessmen had about India, like lack of infrastructure and corruption, the report said that Indian bureaucrats were rarely held accountable for wrong decisions. When one talks of the Indian bureaucracy, the IAS that comes to the picture since it is Indias elite civil service cadre and occupies what is called the nerve centre of the Indian state. The Carnegie study said that, The IAS of today is hampered by several concomitant issues: a decline in the quality of recruits, political interference, perverse incentives for career advancement, a lack of specialised expertise, and a perception of widespread corruption. In my considered opinion, what ails our civil service can be broadly categorised into two: what is the working environment of the civil servants, particularly the IAS; and what type of civil servants a developing India needs (generalists or specialists). This analysis focuses on the first aspect; the second aspect will be dealt with on another occasion. Unlike other civil services, an IAS officer (like the one in Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service) has two masters the state to which he or she is attached and the Centre, which appoints him or her and controls the subsequent course of career advancement. Though on paper, their job is secure, in practice the most important aspect of his or her career happens to be the way he or she handles the political interference. If you are a pliant bureaucrat, the political masters of the day will reward you. But if you are a law-abiding and honest bureaucrat, go by the content and spirit of the rules and do not compromise them for the benefits of the political masters, you will in all probability be punished. And when it comes to punishment, the commonly observed practice is to transfer (if one cannot be suspended immediately) the bureaucrat and deny or delay a promotion due. And since there is no provision of having a minimum tenure in a position, frequent suspensions and transfers have a very demoralising effect on civil servants. In this regards, it is instructive to note the observations of Lakshmi Iyer and Anandi Mani. In a Working Paper in 2012 for the Harvard Business School, titled 'Traveling Agents: Political Change and Bureaucratic Turnover in India', the two authors have developed a framework to empirically examine how politicians with electoral pressures control bureaucrats with career concerns as well as the consequences for bureaucrats career investments. According to them, politicians use frequent reassignments (transfers) across posts of varying importance to control bureaucrats. Secondly, Lakshmi and Anandi find that the average rate of bureaucratic transfers increases significantly, by 10 percent over the baseline of 53 percent, when there is a new chief minister (CM). Most of these transfers take place in the first four months after a new CM takes over. Further, a CM, who comes to power along with a new party in power, is twice as likely to transfer bureaucrats than a CM who comes to power without a change in the party in power. The majority of such transfers are what the authors call lateral transfers, i.e. not accompanied by promotion. Thus, these transfers are not for a reward for past performance or routine promotions that merely coincide with a new CM coming into the office. On the other hand, bureaucrats with a higher ability invest more in developing expertise; they undergo longer durations of training over the course of their entire career. These officers are also significantly more likely to be recommended for senior positions in the central government (empanelled). But there is another way of obtaining important positions by being loyal to specific politicians. Lakshmi and Anandi say that the officers are more likely to be appointed to important positions when they belong to the same caste as the CMs party base. Disturbingly, the average importance of the posts held by an officer over the course of his or her career does not vary significantly with his ability the officers with high ability are no more likely to be assigned to important posts than other (say, loyal) officers, the authors say. It may be noted here that under the prevailing system, a greater weightage is given to subjective factors than objective ones in an officers performance appraisal, from which promotions and postings flow. The system assigns 60 percent weightage to personal attributes and functional competency (a subjective assessment by the seniors and political boss) and just 40 percent to work output (an objective assessment). This has created a situation where 90 percent of bureaucrats are rated outstanding (scoring 9 on 10) without even having a face-to-face meeting with the appraiser. That this system needs a change was emphasised by none other than the former cabinet secretary (head of the civil service) Ajit Seth. In fact, under him, the Cabinet Secretariat had drafted an alternate appraisal process. Drawn up after examining similar systems in Australia, Malta, New Zealand, and Singapore, it mirrored the norm in the corporate sector and gives greater importance to results and performance: 80 percent weightage to results and just 20 percent to personal qualities and functional skills. A former DOPT (Department of Personnel and Training) secretary, PK Mishra, has advocated for a radical system that ensures lower compensation to incompetent bureaucrats. In Brazil, 60 percent of a government servants pay depends on competency and only 40 percent is fixed. The concept is that if you do not measure up to a performance standard, you are paid less. Unless we accept these modern concepts wholeheartedly, the image of Indian civil services is unlikely to improve, PK Mishra said. But the question is: who will evaluate the competence? Unless there is a set of objective criteria, the evaluation will be ultimately made by the political masters (ministers), and the subjective elements will remain, as always. Incidentally, according to media reports, under the Modi-government, the DOPT is systematically reviewing the performance of central officers who have either completed thirty years of service or reached fifty years of age. Those officers who receive negative reviews are to lose their jobs after a three-month notice period. It is said that at the end of 2015, 13 (thirteen) such officers were made to retire compulsorily. Coming back to the politician-bureaucrat nexus, in many a case bureaucrats themselves are responsible for their exploitation, if a serving Secretary to the Government of India is to be believed. And that is because, for every officer who refuses to sign a file due to political pressure, there are 10 others willing to do that job, according to him. And this is particularly so when the ruling party believes in the concept of a committed bureaucracy. The concept of committed Bureaucracy can be traced back to the days of the late Indira Gandhi, who thought that the bureaucrats were often stumbling blocks on her road of economic management and growth. In an interview, she had expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of bureaucracy. She, in fact, expressed doubts about the relevance of the basic assumptions underlying the Indian bureaucracy like that of political neutrality, anonymity, impartiality etc. She even alleged that the bureaucrats lacked in commitment. This, in turn, has led to a situation in which the favourite bureaucrats of a regime are punished by the succeeding regime. And vice versa. This is a phenomenon that is seen both at the Centre and in States. As Professor C P Bhambhri argues rightly, politicians in India are not wedded to norms of legality, sanctity of procedures and rules and administration has been pressurised to comply with the demands of the politicians by bending the rules and flouting procedures. As pointed out already, the bureaucrats are also responsible for this state of affairs. Indian bureaucracy lacks internal cohesion. There are many who will go any extent to appease their political masters of the day, for their present and future selfish considerations. They are never neutral. They are obsessed with reemployment after retirement and various other lucrative assignments, such as governors and ambassadors. In fact, many of them join political parties and contest elections. Importantly, many a time one has even witnessed wives and close relatives of serving officials contesting elections. Can such officers be expected to be honest and neutral, the prime requisites in a true bureaucracy? In other words, a committed bureaucrat, as the maxim goes, is chopping a branch he or she is sitting on. Chennai: Expressing their happiness at the Supreme Court's order to Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu every day for next 10 days, farmers in the latter state hope this will be an interim order and the final order will give sufficient water for their crops, said a leader of farmer's association. "We are happy at the Supreme Court's order. The total water release ordered for 10 days amounts to around 12 thousand million cubic (TMC) of water. Only when 25 TMC water is released there will be storage at Mettur Dam for release," S Ranganathan, General Secretary, Tamil Nadu Cauvery Delta Farmers' Welfare Association, told IANS. He said it is possible for Karnataka to release 25 TMC of water so that it can cater to the need of crops till October. "Before the close of September, we have to raise the crop," Ranganathan added. He hoped the Tamil Nadu government would press strongly for more as the interim release will not be helpful. "In order to have smooth release of water there should be Cauvery Management Board (CMB) but it may take time. Till CMB is set up there can be a committee headed by a judge with members from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. This is to address the issue and take decisions based on the availability of water," Ranganathan added. Mumbai: A special women's court on Tuesday convicted Ankur Lal Panwar for murder in connection with the Preeti Rathi acid attack case. Special Judge AS Shende convicted Panwar under Sections 302(murder) and 326B (Voluntarily throwing acid) of the IPC and is likely to hear arguments on the quantum of sentence on Wednesday. Rathi, who hailed from Delhi, had died of multiple organ failure after hotel management graduate Panwar threw acid on her in May 2013. According to police, Rathi had secured a nursing job with the Ministry of Defence at the INHS Asvini Hospital and Panwar was unhappy over it. Police said acid was thrown on Rathi as Panwar was jealous of her career growth. Outside the court, Panwar's mother Kailash demanded a CBI inquiry claiming her son had been falsely implicated. "We have been implicated just because we were poor. I want a CBI inquiry into the case," she said. Meanwhile, Rathi's father Amar Singh Rathi hoped Panwar was awarded capital punishment. "It took 3 years for us to get justice but I am happy that it has been finally delivered. I hope he gets death sentence," he said. New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration to not take any action, till 19 September, including the penalty against JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar and seven others. Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva also asked the University to submit its response before the court on students' petition against the finding of the appellate authority. Kanhaiya Kumar has moved the high court challenging the findings of the university's appellate authority holding him guilty of indiscipline in connection with the controversial 9 February event on campus in which "anti-India" slogans were allegedly raised. The JNU appellate authority had imposed a fine on Kanhaiya Kumar and had asked him to file an undertaking stating that he will not participate in or be present at any illegal activity taking place on the JNU campus. Appearing for him, senior counsel Rebecca John told the high court that to asking him not to be present where illegal activity is going on is "excessive". On Monday, the high court had given similar relief to Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, who were amongst the 21 students found guilty on indiscipline by the appellate authority, headed by the Vice Chancellor, which had upheld the decision of university's High-Level Enquiry Committee (HLEC). The university had slapped the students with varied punishments ranging from rustication, hostel debarment to financial penalty on the basis of probe by the HLEC. While the appellate authority reduced the fine of some students, for Khalid and Bhattacharya, the punishment remained the same. New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday filed a chargesheet against Life Insurance Corporation agent Anand Chauhan in the disproportionate assets case registered against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. The chargesheet was filed before Special Judge Vinod Kumar. Chauhan is accused of laundering the alleged disproportionate assets acquired by Virbhadra Singh as Union Steel Minister. Editor's note: This piece was originally published on 7 September. On Monday, the Supreme Court modified its earlier order asking for the release of 15,000 cusecs Cauvery water per day to Tamil Nadu and directed the Karnataka government to release 12,000 cusecs on a daily basis till 20 September. Here's a look at the history of the dispute. The Cauvery dispute started in the year 1892, between the Madras Presidency (under the British Raj) and the Princely state of Mysore when they had to come to terms with dividing the river water between the two states. Since that day, Cauvery water has been a bone of contention between the two states. In the year 1910, both states started planning the construction of dams on the river. The issue was presided upon by the British who also decided which state would receive what share of the water. In 1924, an agreement was signed between the two states where the rules of regulation of the Krishnarajsagar dam were pointed out. In a report published by The Times of India, senior counsel AK Ganguly pointed out that the clause 11 of the agreement provided " for such modifications and additions as may be mutually agreed upon as the result of reconsideration'' after a passage of five decades, this revision clause was only applicable to projects other than KRS. The core of the agreement was the conditions governing the construction and operation of KRS and that could not be subject to any review. Hence the 1924 agreement gave both the Madras presidency and the Mysore state rights to use the surplus waters of the Cauvery. Madras had objected to the construction of the Krishnasagar dam and hence the agreement gave them the liberty to build the Mettur dam. However the agreement also put restrictions on the extent of area irrigated by Madras and Mysore using the river water. Geographical location If you look at the map of India, you will notice that the 765-km-long river cuts across two Indian states, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It originates at Talacauvery in Kodagu district in Karnataka. While it flows mainly through Karanataka and Tamil Nadu, a lot of its basin area is covered by Kerala and the Karaikal area of Puducherry. According to the 1892 and the 1924 agreements the river water is distributed as follows: 75 percent with Tamil Nadu and Puducherry 23 percent to Karnataka remaining to go to Kerala The real problem started after the re-organisation of states post Indian independence. Before that, most matters were settled through arbitration and agreements. Through the late 20th century, Tamil Nadu opposed the construction of dams on the river by Karnataka, and the state in turn wanted to discontinue the water supply to Tamil Nadu. They argued that the 1924 agreement had lapsed when its 50 years were up in 1974 and considering that the river originated in Karnataka, they had better claim over the river. They argued that they were not bound by the agreement struck between the British empire and the Maharaja of Mysore. Tamil Nadu too had become heavily dependent on the river after they developed millions of agricultural land around the river. They argued that the livelihood of farmers would be affected if there was a change in the distribution of water. In 1972, the Centre agreed to appoint a committee who would collect statistics from each of the states that had the river basin Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The fact-finding committee found that Tamil Nadu used 566 tmcft (thousand milli cubic feet), Karanataka used 177 tmcft. In 1976, the states arrived at an understanding that each state would continue using the water according to their previous usage, only now an additional 125 tmcft water would also be saved and shared. Karnataka argued heavily that the river water should be divided according to international rules, i.e. in equal portions. They suggested that 94 percent could be divided equally between them and the rest could be distributed to Kerala and Puducherry. However Tamil Nadu wanted to stick to the original distribution, according to the 1924 agreement. Political gains, protests and dharnas The river dispute has attracted some of the most extreme protests and dharnas. In 1986, a farmer's association from Tanjavur, Tamil Nadu moved the Supreme Court (SC) and demanded that a tribunal be formed for the adjudication for the Cauvery water dispute. In 1990, the SC heard the petitions by the two states and asked them to complete negotiations. However the two failed to do so, following which the SC directed the Centre to constitute a tribunal and distribute the water between states. In 1991, the tribunal gave its award after calculating the average inflows into Tamil Nadu over 10 years between 1980 and 1990. They directed Karnataka to ensure that 205 tmcft reach Tamil Nadu every year. They also directed Karnataka not to increase irrigated land area from the existing measure. However this decision was not well received by the people of the two states which simultaneously erupted into riots. The Karnataka government rejected the tribunal award and sought to get it annulled. However the SC struck down the ordinance and asked for the tribunal award to be upheld. Karnataka refused to oblige. Following this, the interim award was published in the Government of India gazette. The next few years saw enough rain for the states to not create an uproar. In 1993, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa went on a sudden fast at the MGR memorial in Chennai. She demanded Tamil Nadu's share of water as stipulated by the interim order. In 1995, Karnataka received very little rainfall and hence could not obey the interim order. Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, approached the SC demanding release of 30 tmcft of water. The SC and Karnataka did not entertain these demands. After a lot of to and fro, the SC asked the then prime minister PV Narsimha Rao, to intervene in the matter. Rao met with the chiefs of the two states and recommended a solution which was complied by the two states. In 1998, the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) was formed with the prime minister presiding as the chairperson and the chief ministers of the four states as members. In 2007, after 16 years, the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) gave out their final award. The tribunal held valid the agreements of 1892 and 1924 executed between the government of Madras and Mysore. Karnataka protested the tribunal award and observed a state-wide bandh. The award was as follows: Tamil Nadu: 419 TMC (which had demanded 512 TMC), Karnataka: 270 TMC (which had demanded 465 TMC), Kerala: 30 TMC, and Pondicherry: 7 TMC In 2013, the Centre notified the final award of the CWDT. The government was mandated to constitute the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) with the gazette notification of the final award of the Tribunal. Chief Minister Jayalalithaa approached the Supreme Court for the formation of the Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Authority, however this has proved to be a futile exercise. Recently the issue was again brought into the limelight when the Supreme Court directed the release of the Cauvery water into Tamil Nadu. This decision was widely protested by the people of Karnataka, especially farmers. On Monday the Supreme Court directed the Karnataka government to release 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery river water every day to Tamil Nadu for next 10 days to meet the demands of the summer crop in the state. A bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit asked the Cauvery Supervisory Committee to look into Tamil Nadu's plea seeking direction to Karnataka to release 35 tmcft of water to make good for that much shortfall in the release of water for three months starting with 1 June to 30 August. While directing the release of 15,000 tmcft of water every day, the bench took note of the impact of non-availability of required water on the summer crops and the plight of farmers. The bench also said that Tamil Nadu in turn would proportionately give water to Puducherry and gave Tamil Nadu three days time to approach the Supervisory Committee with its claim of 35 tmcft of water from Karnataka. The court gave three days' time to Karnataka to respond to the plea by Tamil Nadu, while asking the Cauvery Supervisory Committee to examine the matter in four days and pass appropriate directions. Tamil Nadu contended that even if it was to accept the Karnataka stand that due to deficient rainfall in the current year, the inflow of water into four major reservoirs in the State is less, the same (shortfall in inflow of water into the reservoirs) could not have been more than 28 per cent. It also contended that applying the pro rate formula as per the final order of the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal, the state was entitled to 68 tmcft of water at Billigundulu from 1 June to 31 August. The court has directed listing of the matter for further hearing on 16 September. Hundreds of people, especially farmers staged protest demonstrations in the Mysuru region against the Supreme Court order. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah convened an all-party meeting on Tuesday to discuss the apex court order. However the farmers in Tamil Nadu expressed happiness over the order. They hope this will be an interim order and the final order will give sufficient water for their crops, said a leader of farmer's association. With inputs from agencies New Delhi: Delhi Youth Congress activists on Tuesday staged a demonstration outside Aam Aadmi Party office here to protest against AAP leader Ashutosh's controversial remarks against Mahatma Gandhi and other leaders of the nation. The protest is against the "senseless and illegitimate remarks" made by Ashutosh with regard to the father of the nation, former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, socialist stalwart Ram Manohar Lohia, among others, said Delhi Youth Congress president Amit Malik. "Ashutosh cannot repent his grave mistake by over-reacting and seeking cover under the garb of freedom of expression, rather he should pay a visit to Rajghat and seek forgiveness from that great person who sacrificed his life for this country," Malik said. Scores of Youth Congress protesters raised slogans against AAP and its spokesperson Ashutosh as they marched on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg from Congress office to AAP office on the same road. The protesters distributed autobiographies of Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru at AAP office as a symbolic protest against Ashutosh's remarks in a controversial blog in which he supported expelled party MLA Sandeep Kumar, who has been arrested on rape charge, drawing parallels with Gandhi and Nehru, among others. New Delhi: The personal secretary of sacked Delhi minister Sandeep Kumar was on Tuesday questioned again by police in connection with the rape case filed against the latter. Sandeep, who is embroiled in a 'sex tape' scandal, has alleged that his personal secretary Praveen Kumar was "blackmailing" him and "threatening to destroy his public image". Police suspect that the "objectionable" video, which showed Sandeep in a compromising position with a woman, was leaked by Praveen. Praveen was on Monday detained by police for questioning from the Delhi Secretariat and was let off late last night. He was called again on Tuesday. While Sandeep has claimed he was innocent and alleged that Praveen had "tried to blackmail" him, police have not been able to find strong clues pointing toward Praveen's role in the matter. Praveen has not been arrested as there is no incriminating evidence against him, said a senior police officer. Police are also concerned about the video going viral on the social media. "Since the victim has filed a rape case against the accused, police are worried about a possible threat to her," the officer said. Police may seek help from the Cyber Cell of the Economic Offences Wing to halt the spread of the video. The officer said: "The priority is finding the device which was used for making the video. After the device is seized, it will be sent for forensic examination along with the CD." Chandigarh: AAP's Punjab women wing chief Baljinder Kaur on Tuesday filed a complaint with the state women commission against party's Delhi MLA Devinder Sehrawat, alleging he was "defaming" the women in the state. This comes a day after Sehrawat wrote a letter to AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, alleging that women were being exploited in return for tickets to fight Punjab Assembly polls due next year. A delegation led by Kaur, who is also AAP's candidate from Talwandi Sabo, met chief of Punjab Women Commission Paramjit Kaur Landra and filed a formal complaint against the Delhi legislator. Kaur said she was hurt after reading Sehrawat's letter which "was an attempt at defaming the women of Punjab". The reports published in different newspapers and broadcast on TV news channels have multiplied the "act of defamation" by Sehrawat, she said. "Sehrawat made an attempt to deliberately undermine the image of women by accusing honest and dedicated AAP leaders without any evidence," Kaur said and demanded strict legal action against the Delhi MLA. "Col Sehrawat has a history of criticising AAP leaders on one pretext or another. Party reposed faith in him but he has never been loyal to it," she alleged. Sehrawat should either furnish evidence to support his allegation or stop defaming the women of Punjab, Kaur added. Rudrapur : Kick-starting his 2500 km-long Kisan Yatra in a bid to capture power in the politically important state of UP, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday met farmers, promising loan waiver and reduction in power tariff by 50 per cent if voted to power in the 2017 Assembly polls. The 'Deoria to Dilli yatra' is part of the Congress campaign to end its 27-year exile from power in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress leader reached here around 10.45 am by chopper and started knocking at the doors of farmers. In a tweet, Gandhi requested the people to join Congress in this yatra as he and his party are fighting for the rights of farmers, labourers and the poor. "Door to door campaign begins from village Pachladi. Met farmers, & collected Kisan Maang Patras outlining their demands," he said in another tweet. Accompanied by party colleague and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, the 46-year-old Congress leader visited houses of farmers and collected Kisan Mangpatras (charters of farmers demands) and interacted with them one-to-one as part of his "Khaat Sabha". "..Rahul ji came here (in Rudrapur) and listened to us patiently. He collected details of my outstanding loan and also noted down my mobile number. He assured me that if Congress comes to power in the state, then his party will waive off farmers' loans and slash power tariff by 50 percent," Om Prakash Singh, a farmer, told PTI. The Gandhi scion also spoke to "our family members, especially children and asked about their studies and future plans," another farmer said. Gandhi will hold road shows at various places during the yatra. On the first two days of the yatra, Gandhi will cover Kushinagar, Gorakhpur, Sant Kabirnagar and Basti besides Deoria. The party has made preparations for making the Congress leader's longest yatra in the state a success. A team of national spokesmen will also be stationed in Lucknow to apprise media of the developments. Gandhi will make a night halt in Gorakhpur before embarking further on the journey. He will hold similar interactions with farmers and roadshows the next day and will spend the second night at Basti. During the mahayatra, the Congress leader will cover as many as 233 Assembly constituencies to reach out to people ahead of crucial polls slated early next year. The mahayatra comes after the successful road show of Sonia Gandhi earlier last month and the two yatras of state party leaders in various districts of the state. Melbourne: Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has sought a "ferocious commitment" from French President Francois Hollande over data security after the leak of confidential information on the Indian Scorpene submarines made by a French firm which has also won a 50 billion dollar Australian submarines contract. Over 22,000 pages of secret data on the capabilities of six highly-advanced submarines being built for the Indian Navy in Mumbai in collaboration with French defence company DCNS were leaked. The data leak reportedly happened overseas. Earlier this year DCNS won the contract for the 50 billion dollar deal to build Australia's new fleet of submarines. Turnbull said the leak had no direct security implications for Australia, because the submarine DCNS will build for Australia the Shortfin Barracuda is "completely different" to the Scorpene. "Of course it's a different submarine to the one that we are going to build in collaboration with the French, but it is absolutely critical to continue to maintain the highest level of security." Following the embarrassing document leaks on the Submarines for Indian navy, Turnbull asked the French President on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou to ensure there was a "ferocious commitment to the data security", ABC News reported. The report said Hollande said that the leak from French company DCNS was unacceptable. "Yes, we've already raised these issues with the French. And the President and we've had a brief discussion about it already, and we will be addressing it in more detail," Turnbull said. "Maintaining absolute maximum security, total security on information of this kind is critical. The leaks of the material relating to Scorpene submarine are very, very regrettable," he said on Monday. Turnbull emphasised the importance of data security and the two leaders noted the significance of the defence relationship between the two countries. Turnbull said the most damaging vulnerability in computer systems was "warmware", company or government insiders, the source of the leak. The French company DCNS has been awarded the USD 50 billion submarine project for Australia. Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne this morning said he was confident the Scorpene leak had no security implications for Australia. "This is a very old set of documents, they're not top secret, they bear no relation at all to the submarines we will be building with the French," he said. Vietiane: US President Barack Obama warned North Korea's government today that provocative weapons tests would deepen the country's isolation. "Today I'll be meeting with (South Korean) President Park (Geun-hye) to reaffirm our unbreakable alliance and to insist that the international community remains united so that North Korea understands its provocations will only continue to deepen its isolation," Obama said at a regional leaders' summit in Laos. North Korea on Monday test-fired three ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan, a new show of force as Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other world leaders met at the G20 summit in China. North Korea has conducted a series of missile tests this year in defiance of UN sanctions imposed after its fourth nuclear test in January. The UN Security Council was due to meet on Tuesday to discuss the latest missile test, which attracted condemnation from Japan and the United States. Obama and Park were due to meet on Tuesday afternoon in the Lao capital of Vientiane on the sidelines of a gathering of regional leaders hosted by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Kabul: Explosions rang out Tuesday during an hours-long attack on an international charity in Kabul, the latest assault in a wave of violence in the Afghan capital that has killed at least 24 people and wounded dozens. The assault on CARE International began late Monday with a massive car bombing, just hours after the Taliban carried out a brazen double suicide attack near the defence ministry. A plume of smoke rose over the upscale neighbourhood of Shar-e Naw after the raid on the charity, located next to the office of Afghanistan's former intelligence chief Rahmatullah Nabil. It remains unclear which compound was the intended target of the attack, which left piles of rubble and shards of broken glass strewn across the area. "An armed group launched an attack on what is believed to have been an Afghan government compound located close to the Kabul office of CARE," the charity said, adding that its staff had been safely evacuated. "The incident continued through early Tuesday morning with damages sustained to the CARE compound." The interior ministry said 42 people including 10 foreigners were rescued and added that no one was killed in the attack, revising its earlier toll of one fatality. "Our new investigation shows... only six people were wounded," the ministry said in a statement, adding that all three assailants had been gunned down by Afghan forces. No militant group has so far claimed responsibility for the raid on the charity, but it comes as the Taliban ramp up their nationwide offensive against the US-backed government. The attack had been preceded by twin Taliban blasts that killed at least 24 people during the city's rush hour on Monday, including high-level officials, and left 91 others wounded. The second of the two explosions struck just as soldiers, policemen and civilians hurried to help the victims of the first blast, which occurred on a bridge near the ministry. High-level defence officials were among those killed, including a young military officer and further compounding the tragedy, his mother also died as soon as she heard of his death. "Colonel Ahmed's mother died of a heart attack after hearing of her son's martyrdom," former deputy interior minister Ayub Salangi tweeted. "She lost two other sons before him." Ambulances rushed to the scene, littered with disfigured bodies and charred debris. But there were so many bodies that some had to be taken to hospitals in car boots and the back of police pickup trucks. Firemen raced to retrieve some bodies thrown into the Kabul River by the intensity of the first blast on the bridge. Rising insecurity Health ministry spokesman Waheed Majroh said the casualties from the double bombing could rise still further as some of the wounded battled for their lives in hospital. "The enemies of Afghanistan have lost their ability to fight the security and defence forces of the country," President Ashraf Ghani said on Monday, condemning the twin blasts. "That is why they are attacking highways, cities, mosques, schools and common people." Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter the defence ministry was the object of the first attack, while police were targeted in the second. The violence comes more than a week after 16 people were killed when militants stormed the American University in Kabul. Earlier in August two professors from the university, an American and an Australian, were kidnapped at gunpoint near the campus. Their whereabouts are still unknown and no group has publicly claimed responsibility for the abductions. The uptick in violence in the capital comes as the Taliban escalate nationwide attacks, underscoring the worsening security situation and the heavy price paid by civilians since Nato forces ended their combat mission at the end of 2014. Afghan forces backed by US troops are trying to head off a potential Taliban takeover of Lashkar Gah, the capital of the southern opium-rich province of Helmand. The Taliban have also recently closed in on Kunduz the northern city they briefly seized last year in their biggest military victory since the 2001 US invasion leaving Afghan forces stretched on multiple fronts. Seoul: North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un called on his military to continue building up Pyongyang's nuclear force after issuing orders for the latest test-firing of ballistic missiles, the North's state media said on Tuesday. North Korea test-fired three missiles into the sea on Monday, Seoul said, in a new show of force as world leaders met for the G20 summit in China. "He stressed the need to continue making miraculous achievements in bolstering up the nuclear force one after another in this historic year," the official KCNA news agency said. Kim was guiding a fire drill of his military aimed at checking the "capabilities of the units" and the accuracy of the "improved ballistic rockets deployed for action," it added. Describing the combat performance of the rockets as "perfect", KCNA said Kim expressed "great satisfaction over the successful successive firing drill of ballistic rockets". South Korea's defense ministry said the missiles were speculated to be Rodong missiles with a range of 1,000 kilometres (620 miles), and that they were fired without navigational warning to Japan. "North Korea's ballistic missile launch is a direct violation of UN Security Council resolutions, aimed at showing off its nuclear and missile capabilities during the G20 summit," a ministry spokesman said in a statement. The defence ministry in Tokyo said the three missiles were estimated to have fallen into Japan's maritime Exclusive Economic Zone. "The ministry expresses serious concern over the missile launches as they pose a grave threat to Japan's national security," a ministry statement said. The United States and Japan lodged a protest against Monday's test-firing and requested a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York. The 15-member body will convene on Tuesday and discuss whether the council will consider a response to the latest missile launches. North Korea has conducted a series of missile tests this year in defiance of UN sanctions imposed after its fourth nuclear test in January. Last month, it fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile from the northeastern port of Sinpo. That missile flew 500 kilometres towards Japan, far exceeding the range of the North's previous sub-launched missiles. Leader Kim Jong-Un described the August test as the "greatest success" and said it put the US mainland within striking range. The launch was widely condemned by the US and other major powers, but analysts saw it as a clear step forward for North Korea's nuclear strike ambitions. Google and FASTER, a consortium of six international companies recently announced that worlds fastest fiber optic undersea cable, which connects the United States and Japan was complete and will offer access to up to 10Tbps (Terabits per second) of the cables total 60Tbps bandwidth. Today Google has announced that its new high-speed undersea cable that links FASTER from Japan to Taiwan is now online. With the new cable, Googles largest data center in Asia located in Changhua County, Taiwan will provide its millions of users across Asia to access its tools and services, at speeds of up to 26 terabits per second. Google said that the new FASTER cable has enough bandwidth to support every person in Taiwan sending a selfie to a friend in Japan every 15 seconds. That would work out to 138 billion selfies per day. Regarding the new FASTER cable, Google on the official blog, said: You may not notice right away, but this new cable should help Google products and services load more quickly across the region. It should also improve the reliability and consistency of this speedier experience, since the cable was strategically built outside of tsunami zones to help prevent network outages related to natural disasters. During an interview on the FOX Business Networkas Cavuto: Coast to Coast, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban discussed how the election impacts his investment decisions. aI think there are so many external global influences on our market. You know what money comes here when thereas uncertainty overseas. What money goes into treasuries and where does it go if rates go higher or lower -- and then thereas the uncertainty of the electiona I have my Trump hedge on. In the event Donald wins, I have no doubt in my mind that the market tanks. And so, I literally have put on more than 100% hedgea that Iall put on stronger if it looks like thereas a better chance as we go forward,a he told Neil Cavuto. The aShark Tanka investor, who is worth an estimated $2.6 billion according to Forbes, said Donald Trumpas policies create uncertainty within the markets. aRight now, all we know a little bit about is immigration which tends to change on a day-to-day basis and we know he is going to reduce taxes significantly. When you reduce taxes significantly thereas a timeline involved. Everybody is going to put off selling and doing anything until next year because of the drop in tax rates, if heas able to get it passed, and because of that, youare going to see a huge sell off,a he said. He added, aThen on the global peace basis all he has to do is say the wrong thing one time and thereas no good that will come of it.a Want to force a multi-billion dollar phone company to make something you like? Voting has now started in ZTE's Project CSX, the company's attempt to harness the collective wisdom of the Internet to select its next great device. But the wisdom of the crowd may be less original and imaginative than ZTE would like. The company received almost 400 idea submissions during August, ZTE VP Jeff Yee said, of which about half were phones, 15-20 percent were VR-related, and "maybe an equal number of wearables." The current front-runner is just a phone running the Ubuntu OS, an idea that is already being done by Meizu and BQ. "I think the project gets validated when we have a new category of device," Yee said. "I posted a few blogs trying to get people to think out of the box, and I got, 'you should design a smartphone with a Snapdragon 830 chip.'" That said, if the Ubuntu phone wins, "I still have a hard time saying that ZTE can't remain committed to it," Yee said. The second-place idea right now is pretty originalit's a hands-free smartphone with a self-adhesive back, which you stick to things. But many of the top ideas are concepts we've seen before in other retail products, for instance Google's modular Project Ara or Yotaphone's e-ink screen. Voting has been restricted a bit by the fact that you have to sign up for an account on ZTE's ZCommunity website to participate, Yee acknowledged, which may have skewed participation towards passionate niche communities. "We need to make sure that we're opening up this voting process so we can hear from thousands of users," he said. The top 20 vote winners will be validated by a panel of judges, and then three basic ideas will move onto a community-run design phase on Sept. 12. Various designs based on those three winning concepts, plus a fourth "wild card" concept, will be narrowed to five final designs on Oct. 12, with the creators of final five ideas garnering $1,500 each, Yee said. The winning device will enter production with a dedicated team at ZTE in charge, and it will come out in 2017. If it's a phone, Yee said, the "un-carrier" (meaning T-Mobile) has expressed interest in seeing what comes out of the project. "If it's a smartphone it might be December of next year; if it's something simple it might be March," he said. This article originally appeared on PCMag.com. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 2022 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. FAQ - New Privacy Policy The Cadillac ATS-L is a China-only model that has a longer wheelbase and more space inthe back seat than the U.S.-market ATS. It has been a big seller for GM's luxury brand. Image source: General Motors. General Motors (NYSE: GM) said that its deliveries in China rose 18% to 293,537 vehicles in August, backed by strong demand for the Cadillac, Buick, and Baojun brands. Year to date, GM's deliveries in China are up 8.1% from the same period a year ago. All of GM's China brands gained ground last month GM's luxury Cadillac brand posted the biggest year-over-year gain, with sales up 93% from a year ago to 9,914 vehicles. The star here is the brand-new midsize XT5 crossover, which has hit a sweet spot in the Chinese market. Sales broke 3,000 for the first time. Cadillac's ATS-L and XTS sedans are also finding a lot of new buyers in China. The ATS-L is a longer-wheelbase version of the U.S. market ATS, with more room in the back seat. Sales of the ATS-L also broke 3,000, GM said, while sales of the big XTS were up 65% from a year ago. The XTS has been available in China for a few years now, but sales have jumped in recent months. The Buick Excelle GT, a close sibling of the U.S.-market Buick Verano, is the brand's top seller in China. Image source: General Motors. Buick has long been GM's best-selling brand in China. Buick deliveries rose 23% in August to 94,188 vehicles. The hot sellers continue to be the Excelle GT sedan (a sibling of the U.S.-market Buick Verano) and the midsize Envision crossover SUV. Envision sales were up 53% from a year ago, GM said. Chevrolet delivered 38,706 vehicles in China in August, 36 more than a year ago. That's actually a good result for the bowtie brand, which was hurt at the end of 2015 when the Chinese government ended subsidies that had boosted sales of its small Sail sedan. GM's all-new Cruze was launched in China in July, and sales broke 19,000 in August. GM noted that its iconic Camaro muscle car will be launched in China later in September. The Baojun brand is GM's China-only entry into the affordable family vehicle market segment. It has been quite successful: Baojun delivered a solid 51,099 vehicles in August, up 41% year over year. Its mainstays are the Baojun 730, a smallish minivan or MPV, and the 560, a midsize crossover SUV. The 560 in particular has been a big hit for GM in China since its introduction last year. Sales were up another 52% in August. The Wuling brand sells small, affordable vans. Its commercial vans were a huge success for GM and its joint-venture partners for a while, but the brand's sales took a hit (along with the commercial-vehicle segment as a whole) as China's building boom stalled. But August was a good month: Wuling deliveries were up 8% to 99,589 vehicles on strong sales of the Hong Guang small minivan family. Further investments to sustain GM's current momentum Cadillac's sales numbers in China may seem small in comparison to the mass-market brands, but that's true elsewhere, too: Cadillacs made up just 16,346 of the 256,429 vehicles GM sold in the U.S. last month. But these are high-profit models -- and in China, it's the growth that is significant. The new XT5 is a no-excuses product that compares well with its German rivals. Its early success is a good sign for the brand. The all-new Cadillac XT5 is selling briskly inboththe U.S. and China. Image source: General Motors. Aside from Cadillac's gaudy growth numbers, GM China president Matt Tsien noted that the company's sales strength is coming mostly from mainstream passenger models right now. He said that GM will be rolling out another five new or significantly refreshed models before the end of the year in an effort to sustain its recent sales momentum. What it means for shareholders: Is GM offsetting pricing pressure? Like other global automakers, GM has faced a tougher market in China over the last year. Local Chinese automakers have raised their games, becoming tough competitors in the lower-priced segments. That has put pressure on GM's pricing, and that in turn has dented profits. GM's equity income from its Chinese joint ventures was down about 6% in the second quarter from a year ago. GM didn't give any details on China pricing in its statement on Tuesday. We may have to wait until its third-quarter earnings report next month to find out if GM is winning these sales gains with aggressive discounts that might hurt profits. But I suspect that GM's profits from China will be fine. CFO Chuck Stevens said during the second-quarter earnings call that new product launches and increased efficiencies would help it deliver full-year income from China comparable to the $2.1 billion it earned a year ago. August's strong sales gains suggest that GM is one month closer to delivering on that guidance. A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here. John Rosevear owns shares of General Motors. The Motley Fool recommends General Motors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Image source: Getty Images. What happened August was a wild month for Cobalt International Energy (NYSE: CIE). Shares crashed nearly 40% after the company reported second-quarter results, which not only detailed a costly dry hole but also that the sale of its Angolan assets was about to be terminated. That said, the stock bounced higher after the company's top two executives bought shares. Still, even after that rebound, shares were down double-digits last month: CIE data by YCharts. So what Cobalt International Energy reported a second-quarter loss of $200.4 million, or $0.49 per share, whichwas much steeper than its year-ago loss of $53.4 million, or $0.13 per share. Driving the decline was the write-off of the company's Goodfellow prospect, which it co-owns with French oil giant Total (NYSE: TOT). The partners started drilling the first Goodfellow well in March, but they did not encounter hydrocarbons upon reaching their target depth last quarter. Because of that, they have to plug and abandon the well. Worse yet, because Cobalt owns a 72.5% working interest in the project, compared to just 27.5% for Total, it is responsible for the bulk of the costs. As a result, Cobalt expensed $107.5 million in costs and $42.4 million for the impairment of the underlying leases during the quarter. However, that dry hole paled in comparison to the fact that the sale of Cobalt's Angola Blocks 20 and 21 fell through. The company initially signed a deal with Angola's state oil company Sonangol last year, which agreed to purchase the stakes for $1.75 billion. However, the deepening of the oil market downturn made it impossible for Sonangol to get the funding it needed to close the deal. As a result, Cobalt has to find another buyer and likely won't fetch anywhere close to the previous sale price for that asset. While that was disappointing news, the company's newly hired CEO and COO remain very bullish on its prospects. They showed that during the month, buying 100,000 shares apiece. That insider buying helped pull the stock out of its tailspin, though it was not enough to drive a full recovery. Now what Offshore drilling is both expensive and risky. That poses a big problem for Cobalt because it does not have the cash flow from legacy producing assets to reinvest in development projects. That forces the company to rely on outside capital, with it hoping that the Angolan asset sale would provide the cash it needs to develop other projects. Given the uncertainty surrounding Cobalt's ability to sell that asset, this is not an oil stock for the faint of heart. A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here. Matt DiLallo has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Total. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Image source: Getty Images. What happened Shares of Delek US Holdings (NYSE: DK), Alon USA Energy (NYSE: ALJ), and CVR Refining (NYSE: CVRR) all saw big jumps in August. The big primer for this stock price change came on Aug. 11 when a rumor surfaced that CVR Energy (NYSE: CVI) was looking to buy Delek. The news also sent shares of Alon USA Partners (NYSE: ALDW) up more than 10%, as well. ALJ data by YCharts. So what It might seem a bit odd that all three of these companies' shares moved considerably when the announcement involved only two companies. That is, until you consider how all of these companies are pretty intimately connected. The first thing to realize is that Delek US Holdings owns 48% of all shares outstanding in Alon USA Energy. Alon USA Partners is the master limited partnership of Alon USA Energy, which owns 81% of all shares outstanding. On the other side of the deal, CVR Refining is the subsidiary master limited partnership of CVR Energy, which owns and operates CVR's refining operations. In the event that CVR Energy were to acquire Delek, chances are very likely that Delek's refining assets would then be dropped down into CVR Refining and combined into a single operation. Conversely, with a 48% stake in Alon already, it's not too much of a stretch to see the company consolidate those holdings as well into a single refining unit. This would be a pretty significant change in the refining industry in the U.S. Today Alon, Delek, and CVR Refining have 147,000, 155,000, and 185,000 barrels per day of refining capacity, respectively. That doesn't include the additional 70,000 barrels per day of refining capacity owned by Alon in California that haven't been operational since 2012. Assuming that Alon is added to the mix, this would immediately vault the combined company to the nation's sixth largest independent refiner and would significantly consolidate three of the smaller players in the business. It should also be noted that CVR Refining has a reputation for efficient and low-cost operations, something that Delek and Alon could use, considering the strategic locations of their refineries. Now what It's far too soon to say whether this deal goes through or not, and investors who are pinning their hopes on the deal shouldn't necessarily hold their breath. One thing we have learned this year about mergers and acquisitions in the energy industry is that no deal is certain until the ink is dry. So investors shouldn't be too hasty and pin their investment thesis on this deal alone. If -- I can't overstate enough the word "if" -- this deal does go through, though, it could help make the combined companies much larger players in the refining industry. CVR Refining's management could do great things with Delek and Alon's refining assets, as well as their logistics assets. It may take several quarters before we realize those benefits, but it would certainly be something worth looking forward to if the deal were to go through. A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here. Tyler Crowe has no position in any stocks mentioned.You can follow himat Fool.comor on Twitter@TylerCroweFool. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. When it comes to dividends and stock buybacks, these two banks make it rain. Image source: iStock/Thinkstock. One reason investors have long had a penchant for bank stocks is because they tend to pay generous dividends. But quarterly distributions are only half the story when it comes to rewarding shareholders. To get a true sense of how much capital a bank returns to its shareholders, you also have to factor in stock buybacks. If you combine the amount of money that the nation's biggest banks pay out to shareholders through both of these methods, two bank stocks separate themselves from the pack: Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM). Over the past 12 months, these banks distributed nearly twice as much capital as third- and fourth-place finishers Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC). Data source: YCharts.com. Chart by author. There are three reasons that Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase are in a league of their own when it comes to returning capital, the first of which relates to their size. JPMorgan Chase is the biggest bank in the country. At the end of the second quarter, the New York City-based bank had $2.5 trillion worth of assets on its balance sheet. And if you include assets that it administers but are owned by clients -- namely, assets under management or custody -- then its size balloons to nearly $25 trillion. Wells Fargo, by contrast, ranks third, with $1.9 trillion worth of assets on its balance sheet. This is smaller than Bank of America, which has $2.2 trillion in assets, but Wells Fargo is gaining quickly on its larger rival. It eclipsed Citigroup last year to lay claim to the No. 3 spot, and at Wells Fargo's current rate of growth, it could do the same to Bank of America in the near future. The second reason that Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase distribute so much capital to shareholders is because they earn a lot of money. Wells Fargo reported $22.4 billion in net income over the past 12 months, according to data from YCharts.com, while JPMorgan Chase earned an even more impressive $23.9 billion. They have little choice but to pay out a lot of capital, in other words, to ensure that it doesn't build up on their balance sheets and thereby weigh down their return on equity, which is the primary profitability metric tracked by bank stock investors. This helps to explain why Bank of America and Citigroup trade for such low valuations, as their less-generous dividend and buyback programs have swelled their respective shareholders' equities. The final reason that Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase pay out so much more than their counterparts is because they can. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, which was passed in the wake of the financial crisis, the Federal Reserve gained veto power over bank capital plans. Now, if a bank wants to boost its dividend or its repurchase authorization, it must request the Fed's permission in the comprehensive capital analysis and review (CCAR), the second stage of the annual stress tests. This is inconvenient, but it hasn't stopped Wells Fargo or JPMorgan Chase from raising their dividends every year since 2011. Bank of America and Citigroup, by contrast, haven't been as fortunate. Both have had their capital proposals rejected by the central bank multiple times since the stress tests were inaugurated six years ago. The net result is that they've been allowed to boost their dividends only twice each since the crisis, most recently this year. In sum, if you're looking for bank stocks that return the most capital to shareholders, then the obvious place to start is by going with the biggest and best banks in the country: Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase. A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here. John Maxfield owns shares of Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Wells Fargo. The Motley Fool recommends Bank of America. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday responded to a suggestion from the Clinton campaign of a potential quid pro quo link to presidential candidate Donald Trump. It is absolutely untrue and Hillary Clinton will not bully me, Bondi told the FOX Business Network, adding, Of course I asked Donald Trump for a contribution; thats not what this is about. She [Clinton] was saying he was under investigation by my office at the time and I knew about it, none of which is true. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called the actions questionable when speaking to the press on Monday. Bondi said she immediately disclosed the contribution from Trump in 2013. We reported it and he reported it through a different entity which had the almost identical name, if not the same name, as my entity, my PAC, she said. And so they cleared that up with the IRS. They reported it, but through a charitable organization by mistake. The AG also commented on Floridas impact on the presidential election. I think Donald Trump is going to do great in the state of Florida, she said. Marco Rubio of course won the primary and will be our next U.S. Senator, as he should be, and yet Donald Trump overwhelmingly won the presidential primary. So no, I dont see any disparity there at all. After wowing critics at early morning press screenings on Sunday, Mel Gibsons pacifist World War II action drama, "Hacksaw Ridge," had its red carpet world premiere out of competition at the Venice Film Festival last night. The film played to a roughly 10-minute standing ovation long standing-Os are not as common a happenstance on the Lido as they are at some other festivals. At about six minutes into the ovation, Gibson and the actors were asked to go down into the audience. Check out the photos from inside the Sala Grande below (outside, some fans greeted Gibson with their faces painted blue, "Braveheart"-style). In attendance alongside Gibson were stars Andrew Garfield, Vince Vaughn, Hugo Weaving, Teresa Palmer and Luke Bracey as well as co-screenwriter Robert Schenkkan. 'Hacksaw Ridge': Mel Gibson's Faith-Based WWII Action Pic Has Lido Believing Garfield plays Desmond T Doss, the real-life conscientious objector who saved 75 men in Okinawa without ever firing or carrying a gun. The faith-based film and horrors-of-war action drama is about a man who does something extraordinary and supernatural, really, that inspired me, Gibson had earlier told the press corps. A lot of attention needs to be paid to our warriors; they need some love and understanding. I hope this film imparts that message. If it does nothing but that, thats great, said Gibson. 'The Young Pope' Blesses Lido: Jude Law's Orphan Pontiff Smokes, Schemes, Doubts & Drinks Cherry Coke Zero This is the first film Gibson has directed in a decade and last night at the gala premiere, he and the actors were overwhelmed and very truly speechless, Im told by a person close to the gang. A private dinner followed hosted by "Hacksaws" Italian distributors, Andrea Leone and Eagle Pictures. There were emotional toasts, particularly by producer Bill Mechanic who worked for 13 years to bring the project to life. While at Fox, Mechanic worked with Gibson on "Braveheart" and declared that "Hacksaw" is his greatest film. One attendee observed, It was particularly meaningful. Also at the event were IM Global CEO Stuart Ford and Brian Oliver of Cross Creek Pictures. The companies are co-financiers; IM Global handles world sales on the film which sold out in Berlin last year. 'The Young Pope' Trailer: Jude Law Is A Contradiction, And God Lionsgate releases "Hacksaw" domestically in the heart of awards season on November 4. Overseas release dates are not yet widely confirmed. Dinesh DSouzas Hillarys America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party," was re-released in over 400 theaters this past weekend after already becoming the top-grossing documentary of 2016 by pulling in $5.2 million in its first 12 days. And while critical of the Democratic Party's nominee, DSouza told FOX411 if the election were held today, Clinton would most likely win. I think if the election were held today, Hillary would win, he explained. But paradoxically enough I believe this is Trumps election to lose. Just as I thought it was Romneys election to lose four years ago, he lost it. Trump is running a more daring campaign. He is going where previous Republicans have not gone. The filmmaker shared three things that that Donald Trump would need to do to win the 2017 election. Number one, he needs to expose the Democratic Party as the party of bigotry and exploitationthat strips away the moral capitals from the Democrats. He needs to expose Hillary as being fundamentally a racketeer and a crook; this distinguishes Hillary from Obama. Obama is an ideologue, but the Clintons are essentially scam artiststhey treat public policy as something that is up for auction. The third thing Trump needs to do is convince the American people that he is not reckless and he can be a statesman. This is not a critique of Trump. Reagan had to do the same thing. DSouza credits the re-release of the film to the tenor of the current campaign. The re-release is being driven by consumer demand but also by the fact that the election is heating up right around the issues that are discussed in the movie, he said. Part of it is that Trump has not only focused his attack on the Democratic abuse and exploitation of the inner cities, but he has also indicted the Democratic Party as the party of slavery and segregation and oppression. And these themes are right out of Hillarys America the book and the movie. The judge presiding over Bill Cosby's criminal sex assault case set the trial date for no later than June 5, 2017 at a pretrial hearing on Tuesday. He also said Cosby is blind and offered whatever special accommodations he may need. "This case now 252 days from filing of criminal complaints, Montgomery County Judge Steven ONeill said in his Pennsylvania courtroom. There is a right to a speedy trial. Prosecutors said Tuesday that they want 13 other women who said they were intoxicated when Bill Cosby assaulted them to testify. The criminal case against the 79-year-old actor involves a single 2004 encounter at his home near Philadelphia with former Temple University employee Andrea Constand. But prosecutors might be allowed to introduce evidence of other acts, even though no charges were brought in those cases, to show a pattern of behavior. Prosecutors said they reviewed accusations made against Cosby by about 50 women and concluded 13 should be allowed to testify. At least one said she declined his offer of quaaludes but accepted Champagne that she believed was spiked. She later woke up naked in a hotel room and said she had been sexually assaulted. The defense is expected to oppose such testimony. Constand told police that Cosby drugged and molested her. Legal experts have said a judge might allow as evidence similar allegations against Cosby in which drugs or alcohol were involved. Cosby's lawyers meanwhile asked that prosecutors not be allowed to use a telephone conversation recorded by his accuser's mother and other evidence at his trial. The tape was to be played in the hearing Tuesday afternoon while the judge mulled over the issue. Cosby in the conversation described the sex act as "digital penetration" but refused to tell Gianna Constand what pills he had given her daughter. The defense argued that Cosby did not know he was being recorded, and that the tape should not be permitted at trial under Pennsylvania's two-party wiretap law. District Attorney Kevin Steele will fight to use both the phone call and a lengthy deposition from Constand's lawsuit at trial. Cosby's lawyers said they will also ask to have the case moved out of Montgomery County, where it was a high-profile issue in Steele's fall campaign for office. He ran against the prosecutor who had declined to charge Cosby in 2005. Cosby was arrested in December after the investigation into the allegation Constand first brought in 2005 was reopened, following disclosure of the entertainer's testimony in a lawsuit and a stream of new allegations by women going back decades. Cosby clutched an aide's arm as he walked to court, but his eyes appeared less milky than previous appearances, and he seemed more engaged and animated as he spoke with his legal team. Cosby has been fighting the charges since his Dec. 30 arrest. Cosby has replaced one top-tier Los Angeles law firm with another on his defense team, the second such switch in about a year. Angela Agrusa of Liner LLP also will handle the defamation lawsuits filed in several states by women who say they were defamed when Cosby or his agents denied their accounts. Cosby had countersued some of them. But he has since abandoned that strategy in Philadelphia, where he dropped the lawsuit filed against Constand, her lawyers and her mother. Cosby had accused them of violating the confidentiality of their 2006 settlement, in part by cooperating with police last year. Cosby has so far lost his efforts to have the charges thrown out. And so the once-beloved comedian known as "America's Dad" for his top-rated show on family life that ran from 1984 to 1992 finds himself spending his time and fortune in his waning days in a Pennsylvania courtroom. The women who accuse him of similar misconduct say the charges were a long time coming. Cosby's defenders instead suggest he is a wealthy target for the many women he met during five decades as an A-list celebrity. "None of us will ever want to be in the position of attacking a victim. But the question should be asked who is the victim?" his wife, Camille, asked as more accusers came forward in 2014. The AP contributed to this report. The plight of a Canadian boy who just wanted to eat a hamburger is drawing attention to a risk that many backyard barbecuers may not realize even exists: wire brush bristles ending up in people's throats. CBC reports 6-year-old Anthony Fiore took a bite of a burger in June only to feel a sharp pain. "It felt like a needle," he says. Twelve hours later, Anthony was in surgery having a wire bristle removed from his throat. His mom, Nadia Cerelli, spoke out about the incident this week to draw attention to what is a growing problem. "I hope to have these brushes removed from the shelves, have them banned," she says. Bristles coming loose from barbecue brushes, then finding their way from grill to food to throat is getting to be such an issue that the Canadian Society of Otolaryngology addressed it at its annual meeting this year. "None of us have figured out a surefire way to get rid of them, so wed prefer just to prevent it from happening in the first place," Munchies quotes one otolaryngologist as saying. While surgeons in Canada are recommending no one use barbecue brushes with wire bristles, it's also a problem here in the US. One study found nearly 1,700 injuries from wire bristles in the US since 2002, the Austin American-Statesman reports. And according to CTV, researchers believe that number is an underestimate. (Another unexpectedly deadly item: these kites.) This article originally appeared on Newser: Barbecue Brush Bristle Sends Boy to Hospital Canker sores can be very painful and annoying. When you get one, simple things like eating and talking can become a real drag. We recently got this email from a viewer: Dear Dr. Manny, My husband gets painful canker sores all the time in his mouth. What's the deal? Thanks, Brittany Canker sores are small ulcers that develop in the soft tissues of the mouth. They can appear under the tongue, inside the cheeks or lips and at the base of the gums. Doctors dont know exactly what causes canker sores, but they do know there are a number of contributing factors. These include: Having a weakened immune system Poor nutrition or vitamin deficiencies Minor injuries to the mouth Hormones Even using some toothpastes or mouth washes that contain sodium lauryl sulfate Unlike cold sores, canker sores are not contagious, and most of the time, they will clear up on their own within a week or two. However, there are some things that you can do to ease the pain while you wait for them to go away. Vitamin B12 and folate are very effective in reducing the incidence, said Dr. Gerry Curatola, a dentist and owner of Rejuvenation Dentistry in New York. Licene, found in fish, chicken and eggs supplements found in health food stores, yogurt and probiotic cultures raise the level of healthy bacteria in the body. Curatola said that its very important that people with canker sores stop using toothpaste containing sodium lauryl sulfate in it if they want to relieve the pain and stop the condition from worsening. He added that resting and lowering stress levels were also good ways to help clear up the ulcers and keep them from coming back. Do you have a health question for Dr. Manny? Email it to him at drmanny@foxnews.com. next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 It took just 24 hours for a Georgia hospital to plan a bedside wedding for the daughter of a patient, so the ill man could give his girl away on August 31. Steve Hammonds died on Sunday after the last-minute ceremony, which was moved up from its original October 1date, Fox30 reported. On August 30, doctors told Candice Hammonds that her father only had a few days left, Fox30 reported. Steves diagnosis was not disclosed. Staff at Upson Regional Medical Center in Thomaston, Georgia, provided the family with a room in the outpatient surgery area and ICU nurses cleared Steves room, covering his ventilator with sheets to make the room suitable for the celebration. Steves doctor suspended his sedation so he could be alert and the father raised his hand when asked by the pastor who was giving Candice away. "It was the last gift he could give his little girl," Teresa Hammonds, Steves wife, told Fox 30. Family friend and photographer Julie York Schandolph captured the ceremony. "I don't think I have ever experienced so much love and emotion in one room," Schandolph told Fox 30. "The way that this family came together in such short time for this beside wedding amazed me." If youve been following the story of stem cell surgeon Dr. Paolo Macchiarini and the scandal unfolding at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, you are right to question the ethics of medical award competitions and what exactly constitutes a medical breakthrough. If you havent, allow me to take you into the most disturbing story in modern medical science. Macchiarini was involved in at least 15 windpipe operations that used patients own stem cells. This surgical finding was highly noted around the world, and overnight, thanks to features such as one on 60 Minutes and generous coverage by other, numerous media reports, Macchiarini had become a world sensation. However, as time passed, scientists began questioning his seemingly innovative procedure. Two of Macchiarinis operations resulted in death, and a third recipient has reportedly required continuous hospital care since the transplant. Macchiarinis first pediatric patient, 2-year-old Hannah Warren, was born without a windpipe, and could not swallow, eat or talk without assistance. Without other surgical options, she received the artificial windpipe in April 2013, but, the following July, Childrens Hospital of Illinois announced in a statement that she was unable to overcome additional health issues that were identified as her care progressed, and that she died. The other patient who died after undergoing Macchiarinis procedure, in 2011, had suffered from throat cancer. He died three months after the operation. Despite other professionals questioning the procedure, Macchiarini has consistently denied any wrongdoing. But an investigation later revealed the Karolinska Institute, with which Macchiarini was affiliated, did not properly vet his work. An external inquiry commissioned by the Karolinska University Hospital regarding the aforementioned three operations eventually led the hospitals director to issue a formal apology to the patients families. In the statement, the hospital said the conduct was unacceptable and exceptional. Macchiarini stopped performing the procedure at the hospital in 2013, but he carried out five additional procedures at other locations. Now, he faces numerous accusations of scientific fraud and misconduct. One accusation levied against him includes mislabeling the procedures as medical care rather than clinical research, which allegedly allowed him to skirt protocol and avoid submitting the procedure to an ethical review board. He has also been accused of failing to obtain a permit from the Swedish Medical Products Agency to use growth-promoting drugs, which are not approved. Swedish prosecutors are investigating the once-lauded surgeon on suspicion of gross criminal negligence. On Tuesday two individuals on the 50-member panel that awards the Nobel Prize in medicine, arguably the most prestigious award in the field, were dismissed for their roles in the Macchiarini scandal. Harriet Wallberg and Anders Hamsten, who held high-ranking positions at the institute, and were instrumental in recruiting and collaborating with Macchiarini, have been accused of ignoring major warnings about the scientist. In March, when Macchiarinis grievances were revealed and the Karolinska Institute fired him, I could only watch the news unfold and hope to God there was some merit that the procedures would be justified on the grounds of being lifesaving. My prayers went unanswered, and now we must deal with the fallout. As medical professionals, we owe it to each other to keep ourselves accountable for the actions we take. Is a title or award so sacred in our community that we willingly abandon the Hippocratic Oath we all took upon entering the medical field? The Nobel Prize is one of the most coveted achievements a medical professional can obtain, so shouldnt it be entrusted to the most upstanding people to award it? The Macchiarini scandal, and the alleged role the two judges played in allowing him to essentially act under his own accord, sheds light on the possible corruption behind the scenes of these medical miracle stories. There should be no question that the award go to a deserving recipient, but if the award panel cant be trusted to properly vet candidates, who can? Electronic health records slow doctors down and distract them from meaningful face time caring for patients. That is the sad but unsurprising finding of a time and motion study published in Tuesdays Annals of Internal Medicine. A team of researchers determined that physicians are spending almost half of their time in the office on electronic health records (EHRs) and desk work and just 27 percent on face time with patients which is what the vast majority of doctors went into medicine to do. Once they get home, they average another one to two hours completing EHRs. I wish I could say I was shocked by these results. But they just add a fresh headline to old news, reinforcing what we already know too well: the more our country spends on traditional EHR software, the more time providers must spend on them, the more dissatisfied they become, the more frustrated patients feel, and the more expensive health care gets. This is a shared problem with more than enough culpability to go around. Vendors like my company, athenahealth, and others have been required to develop EHRs that satisfy government regulations rather than the needs of providers and patients. With limited authority and the best of intentions to oversee EHR certification and adoption, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology continues to inflict enormous pain on our nations providers and care teams, turning caregivers into box-checkers and inadvertently limiting the private sector from innovating. Motivated by more than $30 billion in incentives, vendors have lined up happily to ride the wave, building EHRs that satisfy government requirements but make it increasingly difficult and less rewarding to care for patients. And so, we find ourselves in 2016 using the very latest stopwatches and journals to figure out just how bad our technology problem is. The very idea that were measuring 21st century technological performance with 19th century technology the clipboard and stopwatch is a nightmare of the absurd that only health care (or possibly Terry Gilliam) could conjure up. Do you think Facebook or Amazon arms their teams with stopwatches to see how long a friend request or book order takes? They dont. They look under the hood, constantly, to record user experience by the keystroke and they test fixes and changes in near real-time in a continuous feedback loop. Its time for health care to stop retreading old ground and instead embrace the kind of user-centric innovation pioneered by the likes of Amazon, Facebook, Uber, and other network-based revolutionaries. Network-enabled technology, which my company and clients run on, is still the radical exception in health care, even though it is the norm in many other industries. While the athenahealth EHR is far from perfect, it doesnt require a stopwatch to measure. We can and do track exactly how much time doctors spend documenting in the exam room with a patient or after hours at home. For example, we know that women physicians work on the EHR at night more often and longer than men. This isnt self-reported information, as in the Annals article, but is directly measured. One of our corporate scorecard metrics (which directly affect employee bonuses) this year is to decrease the amount of time physicians spend documenting patient visits after hours. Because our EHR is delivered over a network we know exactly how much time providers and staff spend on patient care vs. administrative work, and use that data to test and drive improvements. This type of accountability needs to become the industry norm. Key measures like after-hours EHR documentation and time spent in face-to-face patient care will help squelch health cares technology problem, bring transparency to the most offensive solutions in the market and, more important, will chip away at care team burnout and dissatisfaction. Improving quality while reducing costs and delighting providers and patients is the Holy Grail. We will reach it only if we reimagine the existing health care process in which we are trapped. Efforts are in the works around the country to advance price transparency. Movements are slowly taking hold around value-based reimbursement. The call to break down health care data silos has been sounded. And initiatives to boost both physician and provider engagement are taking root. But when will we declare that the software-based EHR, as weve known it, is dead? Im starting the stop watch for this declaration now. Ida, 29, was six months pregnant when she suddenly felt abdominal pains and went to a government hospital in Kampala. Like all pregnant women in Uganda, she was tested for HIV as part of routine screening for the virus. She lost her baby and was then given the news that she was HIV-positive. "I was in a lot of pain and the situation was bad. They told me they were going to clean my womb. They took me to the examination room and asked me how many children I had. I told them I had four," she said, recalling the events of 2008. "They were using English. I did not understand what they were saying because I never studied English. They told me they were going to give me treatment. Later when I gained consciousness I saw a dressing on my belly, but because I was in great pain, I couldn't ask questions." After the miscarriage, Ida tried for some years to get pregnant again. Eventually, she went to another hospital, where she was examined and told her fallopian tubes had been cut. Without her knowledge, she had been sterilized. Joy, who, like Ida, did not want to give her real name, was sterilized in 2003, when she was 21 years old. She had been admitted to hospital in Kampala to deliver her first child. She was HIV-positive. "They told me after birth that they would give me an injection so that I wouldn't give birth again for five years - which I accepted,"," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "I didn't know until later that I had been sterilized. I found out when I visited a clinic because I kept getting stomach pains." The doctor at the clinic asked to see her medical records which were with her uncle. When she asked to see the forms she learnt that her fallopian tubes had been cut and her uncle had signed the consent form. "Upon hearing that, I started shedding tears. This has greatly affected my health. I just struggle to accept the situation," she said. A 2015 study carried out in nine districts of Uganda by the International Community of Women living with HIV Eastern Africa (ICWEA) found 72 out of 744 HIV-positive women surveyed had been sterilized. Twenty of them had been forced to undergo the procedure, or it had happened without their consent. Hajarah Nagadya of ICWEA said that 18 of the 20 forced sterilizations had been carried out in government hospitals, and two cases occurred in private clinics. "These women need psychological support such as counseling because a lot is going through their mind," Nagadya said. "Others want to consider a legal action, go to court and have the government compensate them." A spokesman for Uganda's Ministry of Health said it was not government policy to sterilize women living with HIV/AIDS. Asuman Lukwago, the permanent secretary at the ministry, said such cases of forced sterilization were a criminal offence. However, he said there may be exceptional circumstances in which doctors may decide to sterilize women if they believed their lives would be in danger in pregnancy. According to UNAIDS 2015 estimates, Uganda has an HIV prevalence rate of 7.1 percent among adults aged 15 to 49. An estimated 790,000 women aged 15 and over are living with HIV in the east African country. POWER The ICWEA report said most violations of women's sexual and reproductive health rights - including forced sterilization - occurred during childbirth, particularly when women were delivering by Caesarean section. Health workers have access to women's bodies and the power to do what they believe is right for women living with HIV, without asking for consent, the report said. The survey found that sterilized women often suffered anxiety due to failure to conceive, feelings of worthlessness and feeling outcast from their families and communities. The report also showed that sterilization could affect sexual relations including reduced sexual desire and painful intercourse. Forced or coerced sterilization among women living with HIV is a global concern. Some of the first cases related to HIV/AIDS to be documented were in a 2007 study in Namibia conducted by International Community of Women living with HIV/AIDS (ICW). The study found that three of 30 participants in a training project for young women living with HIV said they had been sterilized without their informed consent. In 2012, a Namibian court ruled that state hospitals illegally sterilized three HIV-positive women. The women were presented with sterilization forms just before or after giving birth, and weren't told what they were signing, the ruling said. However, the judge did not feel there was sufficient evidence to prove that it was a discriminatory practice against women living with HIV. In Uganda, none of the 20 women who underwent forced sterilizations had sought legal redress and said they felt there was no one to support them, the ICWEA report said. "I have not heard of any organization or laws for addressing my problem," one of the women was quoted as saying in the report. "I think the government should put in place a law and sensitize women about the issues related to sterilization and the laws that can support women living with HIV." But in neighboring Kenya, where similar cases of forced sterilization have been reported, a group of women who had undergone forced or coerced sterilization were helped by lawyers in 2014 to sue the government. A new study adds to evidence that hospice care during the last six months of life is associated with better overall experiences for patients and a lower likelihood of dying in a hospital. "Consistent with other studies demonstrating benefit, the use of hospice care is associated with better quality-of-care outcomes, including patient-centered care metrics," study leader Ruth Kleinpell and colleagues write in the journal BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care, online August 16. In other words, Kleinpell told Reuters Health, "Hospice care can provide patients and families with a better dying experience." The research team studied more than 163,000 patients enrolled in Medicare, the U.S. government's insurance for the elderly and disabled, who had died in 2010. All had been hospitalized at least once in the previous two years for a chronic illness associated with high mortality rates. Roughly 47 percent of patients were in hospice in the last six months of their life. Hospice admissions were tied to a number of variables, the team found, including higher patient satisfaction ratings, better pain control, reductions in hospital days, fewer deaths in the hospital, and fewer deaths occurring with an ICU stay during hospitalization. In the U.S., Medicare provides hospice benefits for patients who aren't expected to live more than six months. Those benefits include medications, equipment (such as hospital beds, wheelchairs, commodes and oxygen), home visits from nurses, chaplains and social workers, and other services for the patient and family members. "The majority of patients today still die in hospitals," said Kleinpell, a professor at the Rush University College of Nursing in Chicago who works in a critical care unit at Rush University Medical Center. "If someone is hospitalized and approaching the end of life, hospice care is more optimal so they can get the care they need," she told Reuters Health by phone. Susan Miller, who specializes in hospice and palliative care at Brown University School of Public Health in Providence, Rhode Island but who was not involved with the current study, said for patients nearing the end of life, hospitals' palliative care teams "typically address management of symptoms such as pain and include discussion of goals of care including the choice of hospice." "Hospice care offers symptom management, emotional and spiritual support, and it's a Medicare benefit," she said. What's most important is that patients and their families have crucial conversations about hospice care with their doctors, Kleinpell said. "Patients should be enrolled in hospice early," she said, "so when conditions worsen, they and their family members get the appropriate help to prepare for what's next." Hundreds of banana farmers from Central America and South America will again have their day in court, after a U.S. appeals court on Friday revived six lawsuits accusing several big fruit and chemical companies of sickening them with a toxic pesticide. By an 11-0 vote, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia revived claims by 228 farmers from Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala and Panama against such companies as Chiquita Brands International, Del Monte Fresh Produce, Dole Food, Dow Chemical, Occidental Chemical and Shell Oil. The court said a Delaware judge abused his discretion by dismissing the lawsuits instead of putting them on hold or transferring them, after another judge in Louisiana had rejected the same claims because they were brought there too late. Circuit Judge Julio Fuentes called it "untenable" to throw out litigation that began in 1993, without any U.S. court reviewing the merits of the farmers' claims. The farmers are seeking damages from the defendants for exposure from the 1960s to 1980s to dibromochloropropane (DBCP), a pesticide they blame for causing sterility, kidney failure, elevated cancer risk, birth defects and other medical problems. Most uses of DBCP were banned in the United States in 1977. The farmers sued on their own after a U.S. court rejected their bid to pursue a class action. "I'm extremely gratified that a court of this stature has finally seen the truth," and that the farmers will "have their day in court, which is what they have asked for two decades," their lawyer Scott Hendler said in a phone interview. Other banana workers with similar claims have won multi-million dollar settlements. One case against Dole reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003. Lawyers for the companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Friday's decision reversed an August 2015 ruling by a three-judge 3rd Circuit panel, which had upheld dismissals of the six lawsuits by U.S. District Judge Richard Andrews in Delaware. Fuentes said he found merit to defense arguments that the farmers tried to "game the system" by shopping for a friendlier court after being shut out in Louisiana. But he said dismissal would be unfair, given that the farmers were indifferent as to which court heard their claims, so long as they were heard. Most of the lawsuits were returned to Delaware for further proceedings. Claims against Chiquita will move to New Jersey, where that company is incorporated. Malaysia is bracing for more Zika cases, officials said on Sunday, after detecting the first locally infected patient, which could further stretch a health system struggling with dengue, another mosquito-borne virus that can be fatal. Both Zika, which is of particular risk to pregnant women, and the dengue virus are spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is common in tropical Malaysia, Southeast Asia's third largest economy, and across the region. Neighboring Singapore has reported more than 200 cases of Zika. Three days ago, Malaysia reported its first Zika infection - a woman living near Kuala Lumpur who contracted the virus during a visit to Singapore. On Saturday, Malaysian authorities said they had detected the first local infection: a 61-year-old man in the city of Kota Kinabalu, in the Malaysian part of Borneo island. "The confirmation of the second case of Zika in Kota Kinabalu suggests that the virus is already present within our communities," Health Minister Subramaniam Sathasivam said. "Zika is present in our country. New cases will continue to emerge," he posted on his Facebook page. Zika infections in pregnant women have been shown to cause microcephaly - a severe birth defect in which the head and brain are undersized - as well as other brain abnormalities. The connection between Zika and microcephaly first came to light last fall in Brazil, which has since confirmed more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly. In adults, Zika infections have also been linked to a rare neurological syndrome known as Guillain-Barre, as well as other neurological disorders. DENGUE FIGHT Since reporting its first Zika infection, Malaysia has increased insecticide spraying to kill mosquitoes. It has also stepped up health checks at its main border with Singapore, through which 200,000 people pass daily. Malaysia, with a population of almost 30 million and a size 46 times bigger than Singapore, faces a much more challenging fight against Zika, doctors say. "Zika will spread even faster in Malaysia than Singapore because our Aedes volume is so much higher and the breeding grounds are enormous," said Amar Singh, head of the paediatric department at Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun in the Malaysian town of Ipoh. The World Health Organisation (WHO) ranks Malaysia's healthcare system as the world's 49th most developed. Singapore figures in the top 10. There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika, which is a close cousin of dengue and chikungunya and causes mild fever, rash and red eyes. An estimated 80 percent of people infected have no symptoms, making it difficult for pregnant women to know whether they have been infected. The WHO has declared the Zika outbreak an international health emergency, and if Malaysia's fight against dengue is any indication, it will struggle with Zika. Malaysia recorded a total of 120,836 dengue cases last year, including 336 fatalities - the most since 1995, according to government data. This year, there have been 75,000 dengue cases and 166 fatalities. Malaysian authorities say dengue is a bigger problem than Zika. But regional health experts believe Zika is significantly under-reported in Southeast Asia as authorities fail to conduct adequate screening and also because of its usually mild symptoms. The WHO lists Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam as countries with "possible endemic transmission or evidence of local mosquito-borne Zika infections in 2016". The virus was first identified in Uganda in 1947 and was unknown in the Americas until 2014. A Maryland medical students education was tested when he was faced with a man who collapsed at the gym. Isa Mohammed, a fourth-year medical student at the University of Maryland, was working out at The Columbia Gym on August 26 when a man collapsed after using a stationary bike. I checked his pulse and I didnt feel anything and I didnt notice that he was breathing, so I rolled him over and I just quickly started doing compressions just because that is something I remember from medical school, the 24-year-old student told Fox 5. Mohammed performed about 10 minutes of compressions on the man, who is in his 60s, telling the news channel that it was a solid exhausting workout. Staff at the gym jumped in about halfway through and assisted Mohammed and an EMT arrived to find the man had a pulse. We are so grateful to Isa and his timing was perfect, Steve Mendelsohn, general manager for The Columbia Gym told Fox 5. He couldnt have been more valuable and helpful in that moment to save a life. The incident was the first time Mohammed, who is training to be an opthamalogist, saved a life outside the hospital. In the hospital, I'm a medical student so I always have someone watching my back, Mohammed told Fox 5. But here, I was completely by myself, which was a little scary, but glad things worked out. I did it a few times in hospital and it sometimes works out and sometimes it doesnt. So I was glad this time it worked out for the best. Trainee doctors are finding a more supportive attitude from superiors and colleagues toward their pregnancies, a small study suggests. In the U.S., women entering medicine face many barriers to childbearing, including a persistent negative stigma surrounding pregnancy during years-long training programs, said senior author Dr. Marissa Tenenbaum of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. "In surgery you're standing all day, you don't eat regularly, don't hydrate yourself, and throw pregnancy into there, it can be challenging," she said. Becoming a surgeon takes four years of college, four years of medical school and an average of five years of residency, so women spend their mid-20s to mid-30s in training, Tenenbaum told Reuters Health. It doesn't make sense to wait to have children until your residency is over, she said. "They're really in their prime years of fertility while in surgical training, and historically it's been incredibly difficult to become pregnant and parent during residency training," she said. Accommodations vary by specialty but tend to be very restrictive in the U.S., she said. The American Board of Plastic Surgery, for example, only allows residents four weeks of time off per year, which includes vacation, traveling for meetings or conferences - and maternity leave. In 2008 and 2015, the researchers sent a 10-minute survey designed to be filled out anonymously online to female resident physicians at Washington University. Both surveys assessed the demographics, pregnancy status, attitudes and influences on childbearing of female residents. In 2008, 107 female residents in surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine and anesthesia responded to the survey, representing nearly 75 percent of invited participants. In 2015, 96 female residents responded, representing a 50 percent response rate. In both years, respondents were an average of 29 years old and 99 percent were heterosexual. In both years, about 25 percent of the women said they had ever been pregnant. In 2008, about 35 percent of respondents were considering pregnancy during residency, which dropped to 20 percent in 2015. Women strongly disagreed in both years with the statement "it is easy to be pregnant during residency" and agreed that there is a negative stigma attached to being pregnant during residency training. "There potentially is a perception that if you take time away to become pregnant or have maternity leave, your coworkers or peers or residents have to pick up the slack," Tenenbaum said. In both 2008 and 2015, female residents did not feel unfairly burdened by pregnancies among other female residents. In 2015, there was also a significant drop in feeling unfairly burdened by male residents' taking of paternity or spousal leave. In both years, survey respondents rated the supportiveness of other female residents and female faculty and program directors higher than that of male residents or superiors. And the supportiveness of program directors and chiefs overall was rated higher in 2015 than in 2008, according to the results in The American Journal of Surgery. In Canada, residents can take three months maternity leave and return to the program, Tenenbaum noted. "When we have happy balanced surgeons they tend to be better surgeons," Tenenbaum said. "I think that we should have reasonable rules in place that allow for a maternity leave." Editor's note: A previous version of this column stated that the group that complained about the text on a new 9/11 monument was a Muslim organization. The group that raised the issue is The Children Of Abraham Of The Southern Tier, which is an interfaith organization. A group of New York Muslims has taken offense at a small towns new memorial honoring those who died in the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. The Islamic Organization of the Southern Tier fired off a letter to city leaders in Owego alleging that words engraved in the granite memorial would encourage hatred toward Muslims. Click here to join Todds American Dispatch: a must-read for Conservatives! The memorial, which will be dedicated on Saturday, identifies those responsible for the attacks as Islamic terrorists. Thats a problem for the Islamic Organization of the Southern Tier, based in nearby Johnson City, N.Y. A spokesperson told our Fox television affiliate that having the words Islamic terrorists on the monument is a broad brush against the many Muslims who live in the Southern Tier. They want us to change the word from Islamic Terrorist to either terrorist or Al Qaeda terrorist, City Manager Donald Castelluci told me. I sent them back an email saying I disagreed with their premise 100 percent. The entire inscription reads: On September 11, 2001 nineteen Islamic terrorists unsuspectedly boarded four airliners departing east coast airports to hijack the planes and carry out a series of coordinated attacks against the United States. This is a tribute to all the lives lost that day and to the heroic sacrifice of all who rushed to help. As Americans, we honor their memory by living our lives in freedom. We will never forget. Mr. Castelluci said they have no plans to change a single letter in the towns memorial. I dont live in a politically correct world, he told Fox affiliate WICZ. I live in a historical fact worldwhether its American, homegrown, Christianity, Islamic, you call it what it is. And we dont whitewash things, especially here. Amen, Mr. City Manager! This is not about religion, he told me. Its about one event on one day that killed more than 3,000 people. I reached out to the Islamic Center of the Southern Tier but they did not respond to my inquiries. I want to commend Mr. Castelluci and the good people of Owego for refusing to bow at the altar of political correctness. The facts surrounding 9/11 are very clear. Islamic radicals committed jihad on American soil. They were not shouting, Jesus Saves when they flew those jetliners in the buildings. On Saturday, the citizens of Owego will commemorate the 15th anniversary of that terrible day by dedicating their memorial park a park that honors a local resident who died in one of the twin towers. His name was Derek Statkevicus and he worked on the 89th floor of 2 World Trade Center. And his life was taken by an Islamic terrorist. Thats a fact. Before there was Rush Limbaugh, before Sean Hannity, Pat Buchanan and even before Ronald Reagan, there was Phyllis Schlafly. For half a century, she stood rock solid on conservative principles. She single-handedly turning Americas rightwing into a powerful political movement, one that saved our country from disappearing completely down the social and intellectual rat hole known as liberalism. I was fortunate enough to see another side of Phyllis Schlafly, one the media wont mention but with a perspective I wont forget. She was the Mother Superior of the conservative movement: stern, utterly consistent, unyielding in her adherence to the principles that the Goldwater campaign of 1964 had symbolized and that would eventually put Ronald Reagan into the White House. Those principles were a commitment to limited government, the rule of law and constitutional principles, and a strong America aboard and a morally virtuous America at home: the bedrock of American conservatism that Schlafly fought for all her life. Just as Rush Limbaugh turned AM radio into a tool for conservative ideas, Phyllis Schlafly turned direct mail into a potent tool for promoting and extending that conservative faith. And when Republicans turned away from that faith, as they did during the Bush yearsparticularly on illegal immigration--they felt the sting of the Mother Superiors steel ruler across their knuckles. She was utterly fearless and utterly consistent and not a little intimidating in person, which I discovered first hand when meeting her at a conference a few years ago. I was there to sign copies of my book "Freedoms Forge," about how American businessmen built the arsenal of democracy that sustained America and the Allies during World War Two, and eventually won the war. She was immediately intrigued, bought a copy and had me inscribe it. A few days later I got a call from her producer: Phyllis Schlafly wanted to discuss "Freedoms Forge" on her radio show. I had done many radio shows in the pastLarry Elder, Sean Hannity, Brian Kilmeade, G. Gordon Liddy, even Rush Limbaugh had read excerpts from one of my books on the airbut this invitation was special. We had a wonderful time. Afterwards Phyllis called me up to thank me and tell me how much she enjoyed doing the show. The highlight of the interview came at the very end, when Phyllis asked me if I had any stories about the arsenal of democracy that werent in the book. I told the story about Hersheys and D Rations, the special rations that were to be issued to airmen and sailors to insert in their life vests, in case they had to ditch in the ocean or abandon ship that would keep them alive for two or more days when there was no other food or water. The navy scientists thought about a chocolate bar and approached the Hershey company, which was already shipping hundreds of thousands of chocolate bars to American service personnel around the world. Could Hershey make the D ration bar, they asked, but with one stipulation: it had to have the taste of boiled potatoes, so that service men wouldnt be tempted to eat the D Ration instead of leaving it in their vests. The Hershey executives had never been asked before to produce a chocolate that tasted terrible, I told Schafly and her audience, but they put on a straight face and said yes, they could figure out how to do it, and didproducing D Rations by the billions. When I finished the story, Phyllis Schlafly laughed so loud and long she could barely close out the show. Yes, I actually heard Phyllis Schlafly laugh. Its a memory I always treasure, just as America should and will always treasure this remarkable, fearless icon. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Monday held a question-and-answer session with reporters, defending her handling of confidential material as secretary of state and answering several other pressing questions, amid criticism she has largely avoided the news media during her campaign. Among the questions was why Clinton said roughly three dozen times that she couldnt recall specific information or events when the FBI interviewed her last month about her use of a private computer server while secretary of state, according to recently released FBI notes. The fact that I couldnt remember certain meetings doesnt affect the commitment I had to the treatment of classified material, Clinton said. Reporters had the opportunity to ask several tough questions that Clinton answered directly without appearing to break major news. Clinton, a former first lady and New York senator, also responded to a question related to how she could not recalling the specifics of State Department briefings about the handling of classified material. I went into the State Department understanding classification, she said. I take classification seriously. And she said she was unaware that aides had erased 23 days of emails, after revelations about the private server became public. Clinton conducted the largely informal session -- frequently referred to as a gaggle -- in a campaign airplane she used Monday for the first time. She briefly spoke with reporters on a trip from an airport near her home in upstate New York to Cleveland. The gaggle occurred on a later Ohio-to-Illinois flight. Clinton also said she was really concerned about recent reports and other indications that the Russian government might be trying to interfere with the White House race. And she said that the hacking of Democrat Party groups soon after Donald Trump accepted the Republican Partys presidential nomination was quite intriguing. Clinton pointed out that Trump vowed, if elected, to pull out of NATO and furthermore has praised (Russian President Vladimir) Putin. The news media, Clinton critics and others have argued that Clinton has not held a full-fledged press conference in roughly 275 days. Her campaign disagrees, pointing to an exchange last month with reporters at the conclusion of a National Association of Black Journalists conference in Washington, D.C. Whether Mondays exchange with reporters was an attempt to end the criticism, and whether such criticism will end, remains unclear. The campaign plane is a Boeing 737 with about 100 seats for passengers and crew. Phyllis Schlafly, the iconic pro-family activist who rose to fame in the 1970s when she campaigned against the Equal Rights Amendment, has died at age 92, according to the Eagle Forum, the conservative organization she founded. Schlafly had been an activist since the early Cold War era, but gained national prominence by leading traditional-religious women in the movement against the Equal Rights Amendment. President Reagan praised her campaign against ERA as brilliant and called Schalfly an example to all those who would struggle for an America that is prosperous and free. Schlafly rose to national attention in 1964 with her self-published book, "A Choice Not an Echo," that became a manifesto for the far right. The book, which sold three million copies, chronicled the history of the Republican National Convention and is credited for helping conservative Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona earn the 1964 GOP nomination. She went on to become one of the most influential pro-family activists in the 1980s and 1990s, and her support was courted by all GOP presidential candidates. She authored 27 books and thousands of articles. Founded in 1972, Eagle Forum focuses on pro-family and socially conservative issues and now has an estimated 80,000 members. Republican candidate Donald Trump praised the conservative activist in a statement released Monday evening. "Phyllis Schlafly is a conservative icon who led millions to action, reshaped the conservative movement, and fearlessly battled globalism and the 'kingmakers' on behalf of America's workers and families," the statement read. "I was honored to spend time with her during this campaign as she waged one more great battle for national sovereignty." Schlafly endorsed Trump at a rally in St. Louis in March, and she co-authored a book called "The Conservative Case for Trump" that is being released Tuesday. Trump says he was "honored to spend time with her." In April, Schlaflys endorsement purportedly sparked uproar among Ted Cruz supporters on the Eagle Forum board of directors. In a statement posted on its website Monday afternoon, the Eagle Forum said Schlafly died at her home in St. Louis surrounded by family members. Her focus from her earliest days until her final ones was protecting the family, which she understood as the building block of life, read the statement. She recognized America as the greatest political embodiment of those values. From military superiority and defense to immigration and trade; from unborn life to the nuclear family and parenthood, Phyllis Schlafly was a courageous and articulate voice for common sense and traditional values. Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement that Schlafly was an unflinching champion of many ideas Republicans have long held dear. Through her tireless activism that continued even into her 90s, Phyllis Schlafly never wavered in giving a voice to millions of Americans concerned about preserving constitutional rights, strong families, and American greatness. Her influence will continue to be felt for years to come, and as we celebrate an iconic figure in the conservative cause, our thoughts and prayers go out to her family, friends, and many admirers. Schlafly was born Aug. 15, 1924, and grew up in Depression-era St. Louis. Her parents were Republican but not politically involved. With the country involved in World War II during her college years, Schlafly worked the graveyard shift at the St. Louis Ordnance Plant. Her job included testing ammunition by firing machine guns. She would get off work at 8 a.m., attend morning classes, then sleep in the middle of the day before doing it all over again. The schedule limited her options for a major. "In order to pick classes to fit my schedule I picked political science," Schlafly recalled in a 2007 AP interview. She graduated from Washington University in 1944, when she was 19. Her first taste of real politics came at age 22, when she guided the 1946 campaign of Republican congressional candidate Claude Bakewell, helping him to a major upset win. In 1952, with her young family living in nearby Alton, Illinois, Schlafly's husband, attorney John Schlafly Jr., was approached about running for Congress. He declined, but she ran and narrowly lost in a predominantly Democratic district. She also ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1970. Schlafly earned a master's degree in government from Harvard in 1945. She enrolled in Washington University School of Law in 1976, and at age 51, graduated 27th in a class of 204. Schlafly received an honorary degree at Washington University's commencement in 2008. Though some students and faculty silently protested by getting up from their seats and turning their backs to the stage, Schlafly called it "a happy day. I'm just sorry for those who tried to rain on a happy day." She is survived by six children, 16 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren. Fox News' Chris Snyder, Joe Weber and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Monday she was really concerned about recent reports and other indications that the Russian government might be trying to interfere with the White House race. According to The Wall Street Journal, Clinton cited official assessments that Russian intelligence services are behind the recent cyberattacks of computers at the Democratic National Committee. Hackers were able to breach DNC servers this summer, which led to WikiLeaks publishing 20,000 DNC documents prior to the Democratic National Convention. The leaks showed that party officials leaned favorably toward Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders and led to Debbie Wasserman Schultz stepping down as the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. Clinton compared the hacks to an electronic version of the Watergate scandal. Clinton also expressed concerns over Republican nominee Donald Trumps remarks in late July about urging the Russians to find emails her office had deleted, which Trumps campaign later said were taken out of context. Clinton pointed out that Trump vowed, if elected, to pull out of NATO and furthermore has praised (Russian President Vladimir) Putin. Weve never had a foreign adversarial power be already involved in our electoral process with the DNC hacks, she said. Weve never had the nominee of one of our major parties urging the Russians to hack more. So I am grateful that this is being taken seriously and I want everyoneDemocrat, Republican, independentto understand the real threat that this represents. Putin has repeatedly said that Moscow wasnt involved in the hack attack of the DNC servers, but called the cyberattacks a public service in an interview with Bloomberg News. Listen, does it even matter who hacked this data? he said. The important thing is the content that was given to the public. Theres no need to distract the publics attention from the essence of the problem by raising some minor issues connected with the search for who did it. But I want to tell you again, I dont know anything about it, and on a state level Russia has never done this. Security experts have also pointed to Russian groups as being involved in the security breaches. Clintons comments came in a rare question-and-answer session with reporters. She also defended her handling of confidential material as secretary of state and answering several other pressing questions, amid criticism she has largely avoided the news media during her campaign. The news media, Clinton critics and others have argued that Clinton has not held a full-fledged press conference in roughly 275 days. Her campaign disagrees, pointing to an exchange last month with reporters at the conclusion of a National Association of Black Journalists conference in Washington, D.C. Whether Mondays exchange with reporters was an attempt to end the criticism, and whether such criticism will end, remains unclear. The campaign plane is a Boeing 737 with about 100 seats for passengers and crew. Click for more from The Wall Street Journal. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte expressed some regret over his explicit comments about President Barack Obama in a statement Tuesday and said a meeting between the two leaders would be rescheduled for a later date. The two leaders were supposed to meet Monday before Obama flew to Laos. However, their meeting was canceled after Duterte called Obama a son of a whore and warned Obama not to question him over extrajudicial killings. More than 2,000 suspected drug pushers and users have been killed since Duterte launched a war on drugs after taking office on June 30. While the immediate cause was my strong comments to certain press questions that elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the US president. Our primary intention is to chart an independent foreign policy while promoting closer ties with all nations, especially the US with which we had had a longstanding partnership, Duterte said in a statement. We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions, and working in mutually responsible ways for both countries, he added. Obama said Monday that he had heard Dutertes original comments and characterized them as colorful. National Security Council spokesman Ned Price gave no explanation for the cancellation of the bilateral meeting at a regional summit in Laos. Duterte made his foul-mouthed comments in response to a reporters question: "I am a president of a sovereign state and we have long ceased to be a colony. I do not have any master except the Filipino people, nobody but nobody. You must be respectful. Do not just throw questions. Putang ina I will swear at you in that forum," he said, using the Tagalog phrase for son of a b----. Duterte has earlier cursed the pope and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The cancelled meeting was supposed to take place on the sidelines of the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. "Who is he to confront me?" Duterte said, adding that the Philippines had not received an apology for misdeeds committed during the U.S. colonization of the Philippines. He pointed to the killing of Muslim Moros more than a century ago during a U.S. pacification campaign in the southern Philippines, blaming the wounds of the past as "the reason why (the south) continues to boil" with separatist insurgencies. Duterte also pointed to human rights problems in the United States. Last week, Duterte said he was ready to defend his bloody crackdown on illegal drugs, which has sparked concern from the U.S. and other countries. Duterte said he would demand that Obama allow him to first explain the context of his crackdown before engaging the U.S. president in a discussion of the deaths. The Associated Press contributed to this report. California lawmakers have OK'd a Planned Parenthood-backed bill that creates new penalties for distributing secret recordings of discussions with health providers but civil rights and media advocates say the measure goes too far. The bill, which passed Friday and now goes to Democratic Gov. Jerry Browns desk, targets activists such as the Center for Medical Progress -- which last year released secretly recorded videos purportedly showing activists discussing the purchase of aborted fetal body parts with Planned Parenthood representatives. The videos, while criticized for selective editing, sparked significant outrage among Republicans who called for the organization to be defunded. Recording and distributing a confidential communication without consent already is a crime under California law. However, the new bill adds an additional layer of penalties -- including additional fines and up to a year in prison -- specifically for recording a conversation with a health care provider. Planned Parenthood supported the bill and said that in light of the videos, it had seen a nine-fold increase in violence against its facilities. With the Internet and the tremendous wildfire nature in which news can be spread now through social media, we need to have a crime against distribution by those in particular who did the illegal recording, Beth Parker, chief legal counsel for Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, told the Los Angeles Times. The bill passed on a party-line vote. However, some voices often allied with Democrats were unhappy with the bill. We know of no legitimate governmental reason for singling-out disclosure of all health care provider communications for special criminal sanctions, making the bill vulnerable not only on First Amendment grounds but also on equal protection grounds, the American Civil Liberties Union argued in opposition to the bill in June. The Sacramento Bee reported that the measure initially stalled in the state Senate due to opposition from media advocates that it could prevent lawyers and journalists from doing their jobs. However, it passed after language was added that restricted who could be prosecuted under the law -- which proponents said would prevent it being used against news organizations reporting on such videos. It is narrowly tailored to address the growing threat to health care providers, Democratic state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson told the Bee. It did not appear, though, that those changes specifically addressed the ACLU's complaints. The ACLU did not immediately respond to a request for comment from FoxNews.com on Tuesday. Even after the amendments, The Los Angeles Times editorial board on Aug. 31 called the move to give health care providers special protection mystifying and accused the lawmakers behind the bill of pandering to special interests. But make no mistake, this measure would heap more criminal and civil penalties on making a secret recording an act thats already prohibited by state law, even when done in the public interest simply to satisfy an interest group popular among Sacramento Democrats, the board said. The editorial board warned that the bill could disincentivize potential whistle-blowers from recording abuses such as a patient who sees a doctor handing out opioid prescriptions too liberally. The potential for unanticipated and unwelcome consequences is huge, the board said. Thank you for reading! To read this article and more, subscribe now for as little as $1.99. Donald Trumps campaign and congressional Republicans are pushing to re-open the Hillary Clinton email case at the Justice Department, as well as in the court of public opinion in the wake of newly released FBI documents which are fueling claims her team may have destroyed evidence. The latest call came Tuesday from former New York City mayor and top Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani, who urged the FBI to review its own findings and the department to appoint a special prosecutor to take over the case. She acted with criminal intent, Giuliani said a charge Clintons team denies. On a conference call with reporters, Giuliani said a special prosecutor should also investigate allegations that Clinton Foundation donors got special access to the State Department during and after Clintons tenure as secretary of state, which the Clinton campaign also denies. I dont trust the Justice Department to review the pay-to-play foundation scandal or the national security [email] scandal, Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor, said in response to a question from FoxNews.com. This is [the kind] of case in which attorneys general have appointed a special prosecutor. Giuliani specifically has cited FBI revelations that Clinton server emails were deleted using special software and that at least a couple mobile devices were destroyed by being broken in half or hit with a hammer. Meanwhile, the Republican chairman of the House committee investigating Clinton's email practices asked a federal prosecutor Tuesday to determine whether Clinton and others working with her played a role in the deletion of thousands of her emails by a Colorado technology firm overseeing her private computer server in 2015. The written request by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, asked the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Channing Phillips, to look at whether they illegally destroyed records or covered up evidence. Clinton and her longtime aide and lawyer, Cheryl Mills, told FBI investigators during questioning they had no knowledge of the technology company's deletions. In a separate letter, Chaffetz -- the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman -- warned the Denver-based tech firm, Platte River Networks, that one of its engineers who deleted Clinton's electronic files last year could face federal charges of obstructing evidence for erasing the material. That's because the congressional inquiry into the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans were killed, had issued a formal order to preserve such records. The top Democrat on Chaffetz's committee, Elijah Cummings of Maryland, said the letters are politically motivated, intended to help Trump. Speaking to reporters on a plane en route to Tampa, Fla., Hillary Clinton also countered Tuesday afternoon that the FBI resolved all of this. Their report answered all the questions," she said. "I believe I have created so many jobs in the sort of conspiracy theory machine factory because honestly they never quit. They keep coming back and here's another one. Clinton's campaign dismissed Chaffetz's outline of the email deletions as a "conspiracy theory" debunked by the FBI investigation. "This is yet another example of the congressman abusing his office by wasting further taxpayer resources on partisan attacks," Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said Tuesday. But the moves by the GOP led-House committee and Trump campaign amount to new political complications for Clinton's presidential campaign, which was spared a legal ordeal in July when FBI Director James Comey upbraided Clinton for careless email practices but declined to seek criminal charges after the bureau's investigation. Despite the Clinton campaigns bid to downplay the revelations, FBI notes from the investigation and the bureaus interview with Clinton released Friday before the long holiday weekend have fueled Republicans criticism of her and her teams conduct. Perhaps most striking was a section in the FBI files showing that a Platte River engineer told agents "he believed he had an `oh, sh-t' moment," and deleted archived emails sometime during the last week of March 2015. The FBI report said the engineer used a program BleachBit to delete the files in ways thought to make them unrecoverable. According to the FBI, Mills had instructed the engineer in December 2014 to delete all emails from the server older than 60 days old. But the engineer apparently forgot to delete the files and didn't realize his mistake until March 2015, the FBI said. That was three weeks after Clinton's email revelation and the House Benghazi committee's order that Clinton and her tech consultants retain all of her email records. The report said that the engineer "was aware of the existence of the (Benghazi committee) preservation request and the fact that it meant he should not disturb Clinton's email data on the PRN server." On the conference call Tuesday, Giuliani said the new details from FBI lay out probably the strongest case Ive ever seen for criminal intent. He said the FBI should review its conclusion not to seek criminal charges for its own good and the sake of its reputation. Separately, the Trump campaign on Monday called for the FBI to make all of the relevant information surrounding the wiping of Clintons server public, including witness accounts from employees of Platte River Networks, which carried out the deletions. FoxNews.coms Joseph Weber and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Lawmakers returning to Washington after a seven-week break picked up right where they left off feuding about legislation to battle the mosquito-borne Zika virus and deadlocked over the defense budget. A tightening presidential race and pitched warfare for control of the Senate this November promise to overshadow whatever Congress accomplishes in an election-shortened September session which, for now, looks like little more than a temporary government-wide spending bill to prevent a shutdown at month's end, possibly linked to money to battle Zika. In its first vote Tuesday, Senate Democrats for the third time blocked a $1.1 billion Zika funding package and an accompanying Veterans Administration spending bill over restrictions on Planned Parenthood. They then voted to prevent the Senate from turning to a $576 billion Pentagon spending measure. "It's hard to explain why despite their own calls for funding Senate Democrats decided to block a bill that could help keep pregnant women and babies safer from Zika," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "It's also hard to explain why despite the array of terror attacks we've seen across the world Senate Democrats decided to block a bill that could help keep the American people safer from threats." Democrats oppose the Zika measure as it bars Planned Parenthood clinics in Zika-suffering Puerto Rico from receiving new money to treat the disease and curb its spread. The legislation also would ease, over the objections of environmentalists, permitting requirements for pesticide spraying to kill the mosquitoes that can spread the virus. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Republicans had "loaded it up with poison pill riders to assuage the hard right." Republicans added those provisions to the measure in June, along with spending cuts to help pay for the Zika bill, saying they are reasonable priorities that reflect their control of the House and Senate. The Zika threat hasn't gripped the public as Ebola did two years ago, but pressure is building as dozens of mosquito-transmitted Zika cases have been confirmed in the political battleground state of Florida since lawmakers left Washington in July. The defense bill, meanwhile, is caught in a furious battle sparked by a Republican move to use emergency war funds to try to artificially increase the basic Pentagon budget by $16 billion next year. The Obama administration and its Democratic allies on Capitol Hill are dead set against the idea, which breaks with a hard-won budget deal that's less than a year old; they say that if Republicans want more money for defense, domestic programs will have to receive an equal boost. The defense battle won't be resolved until after Election Day, but Tuesday's vote on Zika should send the warring parties back to the drawing board, and it appears likely that the provision targeting Planned Parenthood and perhaps the underlying $95 million worth of social services grants will have to be dropped from the measure. "We're going to work through these issues and I'm sure we'll have a successful outcome to make sure just that the trains are running on time," House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told hometown radio host Stan Milam of AM 1380 in Janesville on Tuesday. On the Zika virus, which has spread over the summer and is linked to birth defects, Ryan said, "I do believe we'll find some kind of resolution." For his part, Ryan has to navigate some tricky waters on the underlying stopgap spending bill, known in Washington-speak as a continuing resolution. Some conservatives want to block any post-election session and are pressing for a continuing resolution that keeps the government open until March or so. But President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats are dead set against the idea they want a full-year spending agreement completed this year and Ryan said he wants to keep negotiating on the full-year spending bills through the fall. Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 House Democrat, said Tuesday that an extension of current spending "should be in my view be passed as soon as possible, it should go to sometime in December" and budget work should be finished by the end of the year. As the inauguration of the next president looms in January, a multi-year restoration of the iconic Capitol Dome is nearing completion, and the Rotunda reopened for visitors on Tuesday, free of scaffolding and safety netting that prevented visitors from a full view of its artwork. Politically, Republicans are pressing for additional investigations of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton over her emails. House conservatives are determined to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, saying he stonewalled and impeded congressional investigations into IRS targeting of conservative organizations. Koskinen wasn't commissioner at the time. Donald Trump said Tuesday that recently released FBI documents proved that Hillary Clinton "fails to meet the minimum standard for running for public office," as both presidential candidates tried to appeal to military and retired voters in Southern swing states. At a rally in Greenville, N.C., Trump said Clinton's use of a private email server for her correspondence while secretary of state was "disqualifying," a pointed escalation of his case against the Democratic nominee. "Its clear from the FBI report that Hillary Clinton lied about her handling of confidential information," said Trump, who added, "This is like Watergate, only it's worse." Late last week, the FBI published scores of pages summarizing interviews with Clinton and her top aides from the recently closed criminal investigation into her use of a private email server in the basement of her New York home. The summaries revealed that the FBI identified 13 mobile devices associated with Clinton's two phone numbers, but the Justice Department was unable to obtain any of them. On another occasion, an aide to former President Bill Clinton recalled "two instances where he destroyed Clinton's old mobile phones by breaking them in half or hitting them with a hammer." "Who uses 13 different iPhones in four years?" Trump asked rhetorically Tuesday. "People who have nothing to hide don't destroy phones with hammers. They don't ... destroy evidence to keep it from being publicly archived as required under federal law." Earlier Tuesday, Clinton accused Trump of insulting America's veterans and pressing dangerous military plans around the globe. Clinton, addressing supporters in Florida, warned that Trump would lead the nation back to war in the Middle East. And to military vets and their families, she pointed anew to his summertime dust-up with the Muslim parents of a slain American soldier. He called the military a disaster, Clinton said. He said, I know more about ISIS than the generals do' ... His whole campaign has been one long insult to all those who have worn the uniform." She also vowed to help the military by giving it the proper equipment to dismantle terror networks and providing members and ex-members with better mental-health care. In response, Trump touted a letter from 88 retired generals and admirals citing an urgent need for a "course correction" in America's national security policy. At his evening rally, the real estate mogul suggested that he would rely on the generals to make up for his own lack of national security inexperience to take on ISIS. He vowed to give military leaders a "simple instruction" soon after taking office: "They will have 30 days to submit to the Oval Office a plan for soundly and quickly defeating ISIS." Clinton pushed back, saying Trump has lagged in securing key military supporters compared to past Republican nominees including John McCain and Mitt Romney. She pointed to her endorsements from retired Marine Gen. John Allen, who blasted Trump at the Democratic National Committee, and former CIA deputy director Mike Morell. Trump also also extolled a new CNN/ORC poll that shows him leading Clinton 45-43 percent in a four-way race with Libertarian Gary Johnson at 7 percent and Green Partys Jill Stein at 2 percent. The numbers are a stark reversal from mid-August, when Clinton led by roughly 8 percentage points. As for polls, I dont pay much attention, Clinton told reporters Tuesday on her new campaign jet en route to Tampa for her only event of the day. The Democratic nominee said she is instead focusing on what she calls Trumps un-American views on dictators, illegal immigrants and religious tolerance. So dark, so divisive, so dangerous, Clinton said in Tampa. I want to be a president who brings a country together. Im glad that [running mate] Tim Kaine and I are running a campaign of issues, not insults. The conflicting messages came as the candidates prepared to appear at an MSNBC forum Wednesday night on national security. While they will appear separately and not be on stage at the same time, it could serve as a warm-up to their highly-anticipated first presidential debate on Sept. 26 at New York's Hofstra University. Meanwhile, Clinton's campaign released a new television ad entitled, "Sacrifice," showing military veterans watching some of the New York businessman's more provocative statements. The spot includes clips of Trump claiming to know more about ISIS than military generals, and his criticism of McCain, the Republican senator from Arizona and a former prisoner of war. The ad, which features former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland, a triple-amputee who served in Vietnam, also keys on Trump's assertion that he has sacrificed a lot compared to families who have lost loved ones in conflict. "Our veterans deserve better," reads a line at the end of the ad, which is airing in Ohio, Florida, Iowa, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Clinton spent much of late August fundraising in such wealthy enclaves as Hollywood and the Hamptons -- for the TV ads, state-level operations and other campaign expenses needed in the final 62 days of the White House race. She raised a combined $143 million in August for her campaign, along with the Democratic National Committee and state parties -- her best month yet. Clinton began September with more than $68 million in her campaign's bank account to use against Trump, who has not yet released initial fundraising totals for August. Clinton on Monday used a campaign plane for the first time this election cycle, a Boeing 737 with about 100 seats for passengers and crew. She has since taken serious questions at least twice from reporters flying with the campaign, in an apparent attempt to quell criticism that she avoids the news media and has not held a full-fledged press conference in 276 days, arguments the Clinton camp disputes. Trump flies in a private jet, while his press corps travels in a separate one. The wealthy businessman on Monday allowed reporters on his plane, which he said lacks such accommodations, but vowed to occasionally continue taking questions onboard. FoxNews.com's Joseph Weber and The Associated Press contributed to this report. A centuries-old stone crocodile carving used in Mesoamerican rituals was recently discovered in Mexico, offering clues about an ancient city's ceremonial practices, and its relationship with a larger city nearby. Archaeologists found the slab of carved rock in what is now Oaxaca, near a temple in the ruins of the city Lambityeco, which archaeologists first uncovered in the 1960s and dates back between 500 and A.D. 850. Early excavations at the site decades ago had revealed two palaces; frescoes in one of them hinted at close ties with a larger city in the area called Monte Albon, researchers from the Field Museum in Chicago, who investigated Lambityeco for the past four years, said in a statement. Their work yielded hints that Lambityeco may have begun distancing itself from its more powerful neighbor at one point, with scientists unearthing evidence of changes to important structures and their access routes. [The 7 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth] Buried and barricaded The crocodile carving was found after clearing and following a hidden path that had been deliberately barricaded, perhaps as Lambityeco's inhabitants sought to reshape their city to reflect and celebrate their own power and influence rather than Monte Alban's, according to Gary Feinman, one of the team's lead archaeologists and a curator of Mesoamerican anthropology at the Field Museum. Feinman told Live Science that the group was looking closely at parts of the site related to civic and ritual uses. They were especially interested in the pre-Hispanic ball court, a type of space that was both recreational and ceremonial, and which is recognized to have particular significance in Mesoamerican society. During the last season's work, in 2015, when the archaeologists excavated the first part of the ball court, they noticed something peculiar access to the court and its overall layout appeared to have been changed from its original construction and while it was still in use. "The stairway leading out of the ball court was destroyed, and there was river gravel piled to block access to the stairway," Feinman said. Clearing a path Intrigued, the researchers investigated and found a path with large jars arranged along it. When they returned in 2016 to see what else they could find along this path, they discovered the crocodile carving, up against a building on the east side of a plaza. Artifacts near the carving showed that it served a ritual purpose, Feinman explained. "In front of it was charcoal, pieces of burnt human skull, broken ceramics used as incense burning vessels," he said. Clearly it was being used but the archaeologists doubted that it was in its original position, as the stone was upside down and wasn't well-attached to the building next to it, he said. [In Photos: Amazing Ruins of the Ancient World] "I suspect that because the stone was carved on three sides that it was a balustrade marking the beginning of one side of a stairway," Feinman said, adding it was a stairway that was later destroyed. "It looked like they flipped the crocodile stone and reversed it, and left it leaning against the platform, which they then remodeled without a stairway," he said. The blocked entrance, the path, the jars and the crocodile stone may have once been part of a ceremony that began at the ball court and ended at the temple building where the carved crocodile was found, Feinman told Live Science. Breaking away"We think that when the ball court was first constructed, some kind of ritual procession went out past the jars, into the plaza, and up to the building where we found the crocodile stone," Feinman said. "The ball court was seen as access to the underworld. You'd come out of the underworld, get food from the jars, go up to the plaza the level of earth and up to the temple, where you accessed the supernatural world. That clearly changed when they remodeled," he added. Lambityeco's ball court was originally a near-perfect copy of Monte Alban's. But the archaeologists found that about 150 years after the ball court was built, it was modified to shorten it and to change the entrance from the north to the northeast corner which altered the former processional path to the temple. According to Feinman, this may have reflected Lambityeco's leaders' attempts to declare their own importance. "We think that when the civic-ceremonial core of the site was laid out [in] about 500 A.D., there were strong connections between the people who were in charge in Lambityeco and the people who ruled the valley's largest city, Monte Alban," Feinman said. But after 100 to 150 years, that relationship may have changed, according to Feinman. "Possibly the changes that took place in Lambityeco were not only to differentiate it, but also may have given more attention or focus or power to local rulers," he said. Interestingly, while crocodiles were widely associated with the Mesoamerican calendar and held an important role in creation myths, Feinman pointed out that it's unlikely that people living in Oaxaca would ever have seen a living crocodile. As the valley was landlocked, this stone carving of the toothsome river beast was likely the closest that many of Lambityeco's inhabitants ever came to the seeing the real thing. Original article on Live Science. Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Call it the road to nowhere. Scores of wood ants living near an old nuclear weapons bunker in western Poland plunge seemingly to death each yearand their descendants follow themin a bizarre ritual that has amazed scientists. The story begins with hard-working ants that built a colony atop a defunct Soviet-era bunker, reports ArsTechnica. When metal covering a ventilation pipe rusted way, the ants began tumbling down. What sounds like a death sentence (they cant climb out, there is no food, and it is very cold) has turned into a survival story because these worker ants keep doing what they always do: building until they die. And when they do? "A younger generation is on its way, ready to cart off the fallen to a two-million-strong ant cemetery beyond the mound and continue their endless, pointless labor," reports Inverse. Researchers write in the Journal of Hymenoptera that a million or so trapped ants have managed to carry on in a virtual Cold War nightmare, living in a near-starvation state and total darkness. The colony rests atop a thick cemetery of ant ancestors, indicating this has been going on for quite some time. Zoologists who stumbled upon the odd discovery in Templewo while counting bats doubted cannibalism was keeping the insects alive, suggesting bat excrement could be doing the trick. The ants produce no offspring, and so the colony's survival depends on surface ants making the same mistake they did. Wood ants are known to be resilient, though, with one colony surviving on a barren islet for nearly 30 years with only pine trees to munch, the researchers write. (A historian thinks a $500 million treasure hides in an old Nazi bunker.) This article originally appeared on Newser: In Abandoned Cold War Bunker, a Determined Colony Survives The launch of NASA's first asteroid-sampling mission on Thursday won't be affected by a nearby SpaceX rocket explosion that occurred on Sept. 1, space agency officials say. On Sept. 8, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is scheduled to launch from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, kicking off a two-year journey to a near-Earth asteroid named Bennu. Lift off of the probe's Atlas V rocket is set for 7:05 p.m. EDT (2305 GMT) and remains on track despite the explosion of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at a nearby launchpad yesterday. "@OSIRIS-Rex remains on Sep. 8," NASA officials wrote on Twitter after the rocket explosion yesterday. "Initial assessments show @ulalaunch rocket & spacecraft healthy and secure, 1.1 miles from @SpaceX's pad," SpaceX is investigating the cause of the explosion yesterday. Meanwhile, launch provider United Launch Alliance is preparing its own Atlas V booster for the OSIRIS-Rex launch. [Osiris-Rex: NASA's Asteroid Sample-Return Mission in Pictures] If all goes according to plan, OSIRIS-REx will rendezvous with the 1,650-foot-wide (500 meters) Bennu in July 2018, grab a hefty chunk of asteroid material two years later and return that sample to Earth in September 2023. The main goal of the $800 million mission whose name is short for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer involves better understanding of the role carbon-rich asteroids such as Bennu may have played in delivering the building blocks of life to Earth, OSIRIS-REx team members have said. "Bennu has what we believe to be some of the most primitive, organic-rich material that exists in our solar system," Daniel Scheeres, leader of the mission's radio-science team, said in a statement. "We think it was initially distilled out of gas during the dawn of the solar system, which is the main reason it was chosen for the mission," added Scheeres, an aerospace engineering professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. OSIRIS-REx's observations will also help scientists refine their understanding of the threat Bennu poses to Earth. (There's a slight chance the space rock could hit the planet in the late 22nd century.) "By visiting Bennu, we can very precisely determine its orbit, determine the physical forces affecting it and do a much better job of predicting where it will be in the next couple of hundred years," Scheeres said. "By then we should know if we need to start building a giant space tugboat." The mission will also investigate the resources Bennu possesses, providing information that may prove useful to future asteroid miners, NASA officials have said. OSIRIS-REx is NASA's first asteroid-sampling mission, but it's not the first one in history. Japan's Hayabusa mission sent home tiny pieces of the asteroid Itokawa in 2010, and Hayabusa 2 launched in December 2014 to snag samples from a different space rock. NASA has mounted other types of sample-return missions in the past. The Apollo astronauts brought hundreds of pounds of rocks home from the moon, for example, and the robotic Genesis and Stardust spacecraft grabbed particles from the solar wind and a comet, respectively. All eyes will be on San Franciscos Bill Graham Civic Auditorium Wednesday when Apple hosts its latest product launch, which is expected to mark the iPhone 7s eagerly-anticipated debut. The rumor mill has been spinning full speed in the run-up to the event, with most of the attention focused on Apples supposed plan to ditch the headphone jack on the new iPhone, reportedly in favor of headphones connected via Bluetooth and the phones charging port. Our research in Asia highlights that Apple will remove the headphone jack by leveraging the Lightning connector, wrote Drexel Hamilton analyst Brian White, in a recent note. Although likely a contentious issue with iPhone users at first, we believe this will soon be forgotten and makes room for an additional speaker with enhanced sound quality. Ditching the headphone jack could also mean that the new iPhone offers greater water resistance than current iPhones. The iPhone 7 Plus may also feature new dual-camera technology that combines two images for brighter, more detailed photos and offers improved zoom. The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are expected to have similar designs to the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, as well as retaining their predecessors respective 4.7-inch and 5.5.-inch screens. Drexel Hamiltons White expects that the iPhone 7 will be 0.2 mm thinner than the iPhone 6s (6.9 mm vs. 7.1 mm). Experts also expect Apple to ramp up the storage on the new phones. Whereas the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus offer storage capacities from 16GB to 128GB, Apple may have a significant upgrade for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus up its sleeve. For storage, we expect the high end to ratchet up to 256GB from 128GB and the entry level to expand to 32GB from 16GB, he wrote. Moreover, our research indicates the two white horizontal antennas that cross the back of the iPhone 6s will now curve around the edge of the iPhone 7/7 Plus. Other potential features of the new iPhone could include a faster processor, likely called the A10, and a revamped, pressure-sensitive, home button. Apple typically unveils new iPhone hardware designs every two years its last major form factor overhaul was in 2014 when it launched the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. However, Apple watchers are eyeing next year for the big revamp of the iconic phone. 2017 will be the iPhones 10th anniversary and could herald significant hardware changes for the device, such as a rumored curved display. In a blog post, analyst Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research said that Apple could be taking a risk by ditching the headphone jack and sticking with existing hardware designs for the iPhone 7. However its positioned, the removal of the audio jack is likely to give some people pause, and the lack of a new design is also likely to make some people want to wait until the form factor changes next year, he wrote, in a recent blog post. Nonetheless, Dawson believes that dual camera technology, combined with speed improvements and existing technologies like Live Photos and 4K video recording, could still prove compelling to many users on two-year upgrade cycles. Apples iPhone sales fell for the second straight quarter recently, although its sales of 40.4 million iPhones came in above Wall Streets expectations. While our survey work indicates consumers have delayed upgrading or purchasing an iPhone in the past several months, we expect the iPhone 7 and especially new iPhones in 2018 to reaccelerate iPhone sales, said Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley, in a recent note. The iPhone 7 will intensify Apples battle with smartphone rival Samsung. The Korean tech giant recalled its new Galaxy Note7 phone after finding that batteries on some of the devices exploded while they were charged. In addition to iPhone 7, Apple could unveil a new Apple Watch with GPS technology, enhanced processor and improved fitness and health tracking. The new iOS 10 and macOS Sierra operating systems are also on deck. Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers Cruise passengers found themselves far from paradise when their Bermuda-bound ship was caught in the middle of tropical storm Hermine. The Royal Caribbean cruise liner from Bayonne, New Jersey en route to Bermuda traveled through 90mph winds and massive swells Sunday afternoon. A passenger on the Anthem of the Seas tweeted footage of the ships terrifying journey and said: If yall are wondering where Hermine is at, we here on the Anthem of the Seas found her. Anthem of the seas recording gusts of 90 knot winds. Good times on #croastascruising2wed. pic.twitter.com/3PCKBNVhDl Robert McHugh (@Robert_J_McHugh) September 4, 2016 Restaurant dishes were going all over the place and many passengers spent the rough journey ill in their bathrooms, FOX8 reported. Hermine remains miles offshore Monday, creating large waves in some southern New England beach waters that lured in surfers despite the rough surf and rip currents that kept most beachgoers away on the last day of the holiday weekend. Hermine's position Monday southeast of Nantucket created 20-foot waves and wind gusts of up to 50 kph about 55 miles southeast of the island, Buttrick said. Hermine was expected to stall over the water before weakening again. Fortunately for Anthem of the Seas passengers the rough ride didn't last long. Much better this morning pic.twitter.com/QQdyCrBchG Robert McHugh (@Robert_J_McHugh) September 5, 2016 In February, thousands of Royal Caribbean passengers endured a violent Atlantic storm with 100-mph winds that forced the ship to return to New Jersey. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The south Alabama house where five people were slain with an axe and gunshots has mysteriously burned, authorities said. Investigators had gotten a tip that the home in Citronelle, Alabama, would be burned and then it went up in flames Sunday morning, Mobile County sheriff's officials said. Derrick Dearman, 27, of Leakesville, Mississippi, is accused by authorities of killing five people, including a pregnant woman, in the home on Aug. 20. He then kidnapped his ex-girlfriend, Laneta Lester, and a 3-month-old infant Lester grabbed from the house, authorities have said. An email sent to the sheriff's department had tipped off detectives that the house would be burned, Mobile County sheriff's spokeswoman Lori Myles said. Investigators had already finished collecting evidence of the killings at the home before it burned, she said. No one knows how the blaze started, Citronelle Mayor J. Albert "Al" McDonald tells Al.com. He also said it's unclear whether it was arson. "Nobody knows who did it or how it happened," he told the news site. Dearman has been held in jail since shortly after the killings, and he has pleaded not guilty to two counts of kidnapping and six counts of murder one for each adult killed and one for the pregnant woman's unborn child. Lester had moved into the home shortly before the killings to escape her abusive relationship with Dearman, sheriff's officials have said. She was awakened by the sound of a gunshot and watched her ex-boyfriend kill the other five adult occupants of the home: three men and two women, according to search warrant affidavits. Dearman told investigators that he had parked in the woods nearby and injected himself with methamphetamine just before the killings, court records show. Recently released search warrant affidavits also revealed new details of how Lester said she and the infant managed to escape after Dearman drove them to Mississippi. Lester told detectives that Dearman had threatened to kill her if she tried to escape the house. He found the keys to her brother's car and forced her and her brother's infant into the vehicle, she told investigators. Dearman drove to a truck stop and bought cigarettes, and also made other stops before reaching his father's house in the Leakesville, Mississippi area, where his father told him he was going to take him to turn him into authorities, the search warrant affidavits show. "Lester said that Dearman tried to force her to go with him, but she jumped into the driver's seat of her brother's vehicle," the affidavits said. She then drove it back to Citronelle's police station to report the crimes, she told investigators. Brock Turner registered as a sex offender in Ohio on Tuesday morning, just days after the ex-Stanford students release from a controversial three-month jail stint for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. Turner, 21, spent 30 minutes at the Green County Sheriffs Office in Xenia registering as an offender, ABC reported. He arrived with his parents. Turner must register each 90 days for the rest of his life as a Tier III sex offender. Turner was convicted of assaulting the woman near a trash bin after they drank heavily at a fraternity party. The woman had passed out and Turner was on top of her when confronted by two graduate students passing by on bicycles. They chased and tackled him when he tried to flee, holding him on the ground until police arrived. A jury in March found Turner guilty of three felony sexual assault counts. Judge Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky sentenced him to six months in jail, citing the "extraordinary circumstances" of Turner's youth, clean criminal record and other considerations in departing from the minimum sentence of two years in prison. Prosecutors had argued for six years. He ended up serving three months. Turner's case exploded on social media and ignited a debate about campus rape and the criminal justice system after the victim's 7,200-word letter to Turner that she read in the courtroom during sentencing was published online. "I want to show people that one night of drinking can ruin two lives," she wrote. "You and me. You are the cause, I am the effect." Following Turner's release from jail, Sheriff Laurie Smith said she believed his sentence was too light. "He should be in prison right now, but he's not in our custody," she told reporters. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A California university is the latest public school of higher education to establish African-American-priority housing in response to demands from black students seeking refuge from what they consider insensitive remarks and microaggressions from their white classmates. California State University Los Angeles established the specialized housing in time for the current school year, according to The College Fix. The school complied with demands issued nine months ago by the universitys Black Student Union. [It] would provide a cheaper alternative housing solution for Black students, read one of the unions demands. This space would also serve as a safe space for [black students] to congregate, connect, and learn from each other. The newly debuted Halisi Scholars Black Living-Learning Community focuses on academic excellence and learning experiences that are inclusive and non-discriminatory, Cal State LA spokesman Robert Lopez told The College Fix. University of Connecticut and UC Davis and Berkeley also offer similar housing. In February, FoxNews.com reported that UConns main campus in Storrs launched a program slated for fall in which 40 male undergraduates, all but one of whom are black, live together in on-campus housing. Proponents believe the students can draw on their common experiences to support one another. They also point out that non-black students are not explicitly barred from applying for the housing. Niger Innis, the national spokesperson for the Congress of Racial Equality, said UConn may be unintentionally creating an atmosphere where black students are the other. If they wanted to go to an all-black institution, there are plenty of historically black colleges that still exist, he told FoxNews.com. But if they want to go to an institution that is racially diverse and integrated, then racial diversity and integration is part of it. To have a university-sanctioned segregation or separation is, to me, a bit troubling. The Halisi Scholars Black Living-Learning Community will be within the 192 furnished apartments on campus. Other communities tied by specific themes have their own housing, though none are designated by race. CSULAs Housing Services page calls it an effort to enhance the residential experience for students who are a part of or interested in issues of concern to the black community living on campus by offering the opportunity to connect with faculty and peers, and engage in programs that focus on academic success, cultural awareness, and civic engagement. On its Instagram page, the Halisi community called it a long overdue, but well deserved achievement, Young Americas Foundation reported. Students who seek to live in Halisi must agree to respect the differences of others that live in my community and look for positive thing to learn from them, be an advocate for change if the tools and resources available are deemed inadequate, and accept that I am still learning and need to be open to new ideas and experiences. On its housing page, the school said, "We currently have a long wait list and are no longer accepting applications for Housing for the fall 2016 semester." Editors Note: A previous version of this story has been changed to clarify the application and admission standards for housing at both Cal State LA and University of Connecticut. As noted in the story, students who identify as African-American will be prioritized in selection. But interested students of other races may also apply. After a bloody August saw homicides climb to a 20-year high, a deadly Labor Day weekend sent Chicagos 2016 homicides soaring past 500, surpassing total murders for 2015 with four months still left in the year. In all, 65 people were shot during the holiday weekend, 31 of them between 6 a.m. Monday and 3 a.m. Tuesday, The Chicago Tribune reported. The 13 killed brought the citys skyrocketing homicide total to 512 already well past the 491 logged in 2015. "It is a complex problem with multidimensional facets to it," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said on Friday of Chicago's homicide rate. "It's not just about more police, but it will include that. But it's also about more resources for our children, more resources for our neighborhoods and stiffer laws that reflect the values of our city." The scores of dead and wounded in the early days of September follow 90 homicides in August, tied for Chicagos deadliest month since June 1996. Nearly 3,000 people have been shot this year, according to data analyzed by The Tribune. That includes several deadly celebratory periods in 2016: 69 shot (six dead) during Memorial Day weekend and 66 shot (five dead) during the Fourth of July weekend. Police attribute the spike in gun crime during the tail end of the Labor Day weekend to retaliatory gang acts, the Tribune reported. In contrast, New York and Los Angeles had 409 homicides combined through late August. While gang violence is largely responsible for Chicagos burgeoning body count, its not the sole cause. In one of the more odd examples of the citys conflicts, an elderly, ex-preacher who uses a wheelchair was accused of shooting and killing a fellow retiree on Monday morning. Lets start with an important question. Who do you think has the most intimate knowledge of your brand culture and business? Your employees are without a doubt one of the most untapped, organic sources of promotion and content within your organization, and yet few companies know how or when to use that resource and why it works. There are numerous rewards for cultivating a high level of internal buy in before any new product or service is introduced to the market. This article will share information on where brands should be looking for their internal employee advocates and provide some structural campaign ideas that will boost your brand image and improve the collaborative culture of your organization. Related: 6 Steps to Building a Strong Company Culture Finding your hidden brand advocates. Not every member of your team is going to be authentically emphatic about your company. You would like them to feel that way, but staff will have varying degrees of engagement and evangelism, depending on their age, business function, department and work experience within the organization. If you have agreed to pursue the opportunity of using employee brand advocates in your marketing strategy, the first step is finding them. Launching a campaign that asks employees to share their favorite proprietary products or services is a great start. Not only will you score points for valuing staff opinion, but the exercise will give you content that can be used for print, video or blogging and social media. A questionnaire or voluntary online survey will help you expose the staff members who are most passionate about your brand, and the survey model will help them speak freely and comfortably about your products or services. International brands like Starbucks, Walmart and IBM have been cultivating employee buy-in before launching a product to the public for this reason -- it works better to launch a product that your entire organization is talking about. That level of information and the buzz that is generated through each employees personal network is rocket fuel for emerging new products or services. Once you have received the survey responses, a qualitative review will connect you to the staff members who are activated and ready to share positive things about your corporate culture. Engage those who provided the most energetic responses in the campaign planning. One important aspect about sharing your culture and brand from the inside out, is to make sure that you are involving staff from various departments, and not just sales or marketing. Then what you produce will be an authentic, non-fabricated expression of who you are as a business and why your products or services are outstanding. Related: Your Employee Advocacy Program: Measuring the Right KPIs Campaign strategies and ideas. A consumer can use your products for decades and never know how that product is made or the kind of talent that is involved in delivering your product through production and distribution channels, right into your customers home. Did you know that one of the most endearing exercises that brands can engage in is transparency? We are not suggesting that you give away your secret recipe or proprietary information, but giving consumers a glimpse behind the scenes can include: Video tour of a production facility Meet and greet introduction to staff, from executive leadership to shipping and receiving Meeting the talent or creative team behind favorite commercials, products or services Celebrating long-term employees who achieve benchmark anniversaries with the company Holiday or fun corporate events that punctuate your brands mission and how that carries through to cultivating an enriched social and team environment Consumers love brands who love their employees. And they also favor organizations that are proud of achieving a positive corporate culture -- one that is punctuated by employees who seem happy to be part of the team and proud of their contribution to the product. From a marketing perspective, once you have made staff the center point of a couple of campaigns, you will find employees more eager to share the promotion on social media and with friends and family. From a human resource perspective, you have provided something more valuable than salary or perks -- youve given staff recognition for being an important part of the success of your organization. Related: 3 Compelling Reasons to Adapt the Workplace Culture for Social Media Set KPIs and guidelines. Every successful campaign starts with a plan and a set of rules that are designed to protect your brand image, while optimizing your promotional opportunity. Introduce the campaign to your employees and document your expectations and standards for sharing appropriately on social channels when referencing the brand. This may involve some training and support about social media best practice for employees who many not be used to sharing in an official capacity. A jilted teen suspected of being the woman in a viral video engaging in an ill-fated attempt to set her ex-beaus car on fire was arrested by Florida police on Saturday, The Washington Post reported. A security camera caught Carmen Chamblee, 19, trying to set her ex-boyfriends car ablaze, officials said. Shes been charged with second-degree arson. The problem, however, was that it turned out the car didnt belong to her former lover. The incident occurred on Aug. 28 and video of the arson spread like wildfire around the Internet. Chamblee allegedly told Clearwater police she believed the car belong to her ex-boyfriend, not Thomas Jennings, the cars actual owner. Jennings roommate saw the vehicle in flames. He came running in the house saying my car was on fire, Jennings told WFTS. We ran out there. He had a pot of water trying to get it to go out. It was too much. Its unclear if Jennings and Chamblee had had any prior contact or why she believed that car to be her exs. next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 The Latest on Campaign 2016 (all times Eastern): 3:35 p.m. Neither New Yorker vying for the presidency is expected to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the September 11th attacks with a visit to the site where two hijacked airliners took down the World Trade Center towers and killed thousands of people. A spokesman for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are not slated to attend the annual commemoration at the former World Trade Center site on Sunday. There is precedent for presidential candidates to visit the former Ground Zero on the anniversary of the terror attacks. In 2008, Barack Obama and John McCain made a joint appearance at the site in New York. Neither Clinton nor Trump has unveiled their schedules for Sunday. But both have pledged to refrain from campaigning or advertising that day. ___ 3:25 p.m. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign is venturing onto Georgia airwaves, but if metro Atlanta residents blink they might miss it. According to a contract with WSB-TV, Clinton has purchased $5,000 for 30-second spots during four Wednesday time slots: the early morning local news, Good Morning America and the local news shows broadcast at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Georgia is a GOP-leaning state but polls suggest Republican nominee Donald Trump's struggles among college-educated whites, particularly in the Atlanta suburbs, could make the state competitive for Clinton. Still, the small ad buy suggests Clinton, for now, is more interested in coaxing Trump or independent groups that back him into spending money in Georgia. Separately, the Clinton campaign has confirmed it will invest money to pay for more field staff to work out of Democratic Party offices already open in Georgia. ___ 3:25 p.m. Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine is talking up his own national security credentials as he begins a speech on the topic in Wilmington, North Carolina. Kaine, a senator from Virginia and former governor, is a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committee. And his son is a member of the U.S. Marine Corps based at Camp Lejeune. All of this, he says, makes national security issues real and personal to him. He says Hillary Clinton, like any president, needs a "solid partner" in the White House. He's arguing that Clinton is a president who would have a "steady demeanor, solid judgment and really thick skin." ___ 3:00 p.m. Hillary Clinton says her Republican rival is insulting veterans with his campaign rhetoric. The Democratic presidential nominee questioned Donald Trump's readiness and foreign policy expertise for the White House as she campaigned in Tampa, Florida, Tuesday. She said his presidential bid has been "one long insult to all those who have worn the uniform." Clinton said that "a man who is so wrong about our veterans isn't right to serve as commander in chief." Clinton attacked Trump for seemingly contradictory plans to combat ISIS, saying he's both promised to send American ground troops into Syria and let Syria become a free zone for the militants. Both candidates will address national security issues at a forum in New York City scheduled for Wednesday night. ___ 2:30 p.m. Donald Trump says his Democratic opponent would treat immigrants in the country illegally better than veterans. The Republican presidential nominee attacked Hillary Clinton as he courted veterans Tuesday in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He referenced Clinton and President Barack Obama's policies, saying, "You have illegal immigrants that she wants and he wants treated better than veterans." Trump promised he would fix bureaucratic problems in the Veterans Administration. In the meantime, he said veterans waiting for care could go to private doctors or hospitals and the government would pick up the bill. Trump and Clinton are aggressively courting veterans this week ahead of a national security forum scheduled for Wednesday evening. ___ 1:57 p.m. Hillary Clinton says that the military officials who have backed her candidacy for president believe she will "protect our country and our troops." Clinton was asked about a letter signed by 88 retired military officials in support of Donald Trump during a briefing with reporters on her campaign plane Tuesday. She responded, "I think we're up to 89, but who's counting?" Said she was proud to have endorsements of military, intelligence and defense officials like retired Gen. John Allen, Mike Morell and Mike Vickers. She said that they "know they can count on me to be the kind of commander in chief who will protect our country and our troops." She added that those same individuals view Trump as "a danger and a risk." ___ 1:55 p.m. Hillary Clinton is blasting Donald Trump for saying that he would have left a G-20 summit in China after a logistical flap over the staircase that President Barack Obama used to depart Air Force One. Clinton told reporters aboard her campaign plane en route to Florida that Trump's views offer "yet another strong piece of evidence as to why he should never be anywhere near the White House." Clinton said sometimes these types of logistical dust-ups are "annoying" but they're not the reason a president attends these types of meetings. She said Obama made "exactly the right decision to get off the plane and go to those meetings." Obama got off his presidential plane from a secondary exit after arriving in China. It was viewed as a snub by Chinese officials. Trump said it was a sign of disrespect and he would have left immediately if he had been president. ___ 1:10 p.m. Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence will return to his old stomping grounds and speak to House Republicans next week. Pence represented Indiana in the House for 12 years. He left Congress in January 2013 before becoming governor. Speaker Paul Ryan and other GOP leaders invited Pence to address Republican lawmakers. Ryan spokesman Zack Roday says Pence agreed to speak to them next Tuesday. Pence will appear less than two months before Election Day. Two months ago, Donald Trump, now the GOP presidential candidate, addressed House and Senate Republicans in separate closed-door meetings. Trump lambasted some GOP critics at those meetings. Ryan has had a cool relationship with Trump. Ryan called Pence "a great friend and a true conservative" and said Pence has "added tremendous value" to Trump's campaign. ___ 12:45 p.m. Donald Trump's campaign spokeswoman says that he had spoken to Florida's attorney general in 2013, but the two never discussed Trump's beleaguered Trump University endeavor. Hope Hicks made the clarification Tuesday, after Trump said a day earlier that he had never spoken to Pam Bondi about the issue, without providing specifics. Trump has distanced himself from an improper $25,000 donation from his personal foundation to a political group supporting Bondi's re-election campaign made as her office was deliberating whether to pursue fraud allegations involving Trump University. Bondi's spokesman told The Associated Press in June that she personally solicited the 2013 donation from Trump by phone. The Trump Foundation check was received days after Bondi's office told a newspaper it was deliberating whether to join a multi-state lawsuit against Trump University. Charities are barred from supporting political activities. ___ 11:10 a.m. House Speaker Paul Ryan is discussing what would happen if the House of Representatives had to decide the presidential election. Ryan was asked about the scenario in an interview Tuesday on WRJN in Racine, Wisconsin. If neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump gets a majority of electoral college votes it would be up to the House to decide something that hasn't happened since the 19th century. Ryan responded that "I haven't really looked too deep into this because I'm not planning having to do this." But he made clear he was knowledgeable about the scenario, explaining that the House would have to pick from the candidates who've received electoral votes, with each state delegation casting one vote. ___ 9:45 a.m. Donald Trump's campaign has released an open letter from retired military leaders promoting his candidacy. The letter, signed by 88 retired generals and admirals, cites an urgent need for a "course correction" in national security. The military leaders write, "We believe that such a change can only be made by someone who has not been deeply involved with, and substantially responsible for, the hollowing out of our military and the burgeoning threats facing our country around the world." It continues: "For this reason, we support Donald Trump's candidacy to be our next commander-in-chief." Democrats have pounded Trump on national security and aggressively warned voters that he lacks the temperament to control the world's most powerful military. Dozens of Republican national security leaders released a letter last month warning that Trump would risk the nation's "national security and well-being." ___ 9:35 a.m. Hillary Clinton is unveiling a new ad appealing to military veterans, aiming to undercut Donald Trump's message on defense. The ad, called "Sacrifice," shows military veterans watching clips of provocative statements by Trump, including his claim to know more about the Islamic State group than military generals and his criticism of Arizona Sen. John McCain, a former prisoner of war. It also shows Trump saying he had sacrificed a lot in comparison to families who have lost loved ones in conflict. The ad is airing on cable and in Ohio, Florida, Iowa, Nevada and Pennsylvania. It comes as Trump and Clinton are set to appear in an MSNBC forum on Wednesday night on national security ___ 8:10 a.m. Democratic running mates Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine have released their campaign book, which is named after the campaign's slogan, "Stronger Together." The 256-page book, released Tuesday, details their policy proposals, including ideas for economic growth, uniting the American people, and foreign policy and policy. A statement from the campaign Tuesday said the introduction, entitled "Love and Kindness And Action" details Clinton's upbringing and the things "she learned from her mother's difficult childhood." Kaine's introduction, entitled "Fighting for Right," describes his service in Honduras and the inspiration he drew from his father-in law, former Virginia Governor Linwood Holton. ___ 7:10 a.m. Donald Trump says the Mexican president violated some "ground rules" by admitting that the two did actually discuss payment of his proposed border wall between the two countries. But the Republican presidential nominee adds: "That's ok." Trump spoke in an interview aired Tuesday on ABC's "Good Morning America." He says, "it was discussed that it wouldn't be discussed, but they know my stance and I know their stance." Trump made a last minute trip to Mexico last week to meet with President Enrique Pena Nieto. At a joint press conference, Trump told reporters that payment of his proposed border wall was not discussed. Pena Nieto later tweeted that it was discussed and he "made it clear" that Mexico would not pay. Trump said, "See who wins in the end, who will win. A hundred percent, they will pay for the wall." ___ 7:05 a.m. Michelle Obama is preparing for her first campaign appearance for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Clinton's campaign says the first lady will rally voters behind the former secretary of state during a Sept. 16 event in Northern Virginia. The location was not announced. Mrs. Obama's task will be to urge all voters, but especially young people, in hotly contested Virginia to support Clinton and running mate Tim Kaine in the Nov. 8 election. She'll also urge people not to miss the state's Oct. 17 deadline to register to vote. A few days before Mrs. Obama hits the trail, her husband, President Barack Obama, is scheduled to hold his first solo campaign event for Clinton on Sept. 13 in Philadelphia. ___ 3:05 a.m. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are pushing ahead in top presidential battlegrounds with Labor Day behind them. Trump, the Republican nominee, is set to campaign in Virginia and North Carolina on Tuesday, two critical states in his path to the presidency. Clinton, the Democrat, is campaigning in Florida in search of an advantage in the nation's largest swing state. A Clinton victory in Florida would make it virtually impossible for Trump to overcome her advantage in the race for 270 electoral votes. The day before in swing state Ohio, Trump softened his stance on immigration while Clinton blasted Russia for suspected tampering in the U.S. electoral process. More than 400 people were arrested and at least five people were sent to the hospital during a three-day Labor Day weekend electronic music festival in Southern California. The Los Angeles Times reported Monday that nearly 70,000 people attended the Nocturnal Wonderland festival in three days at the San Manuel Amphitheater in Devore. The San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department said that 111 people were arrested Friday during security screening at the entrance to the amphitheater. Police said 141 people were arrested on suspicion of offenses, including drug possession, drug sales, assault and battery, and being under the influence of drugs or alcohol. In the final two days, police arrested 176 additional people for being under the influence of drugs and alcohol. One sheriffs deputy was injured Friday night and was hospitalized with minor injuries. He was later released. Another deputy was involved in an accident Sunday when a person smashed into his police motorcycle, according to the Los Angeles Times. The deputy was uninjured and the person was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. Electronic music festivals have been notoriously tied to drug overdoses of young adults. Some see ecstasy and club drugs as part of the experience. The LA Times noted that three people died in July during the Hard Summer festival in Fontana. The most recent death at the Nocturnal Wonderland festival occurred in 2013 when a 22-year-old died after overdosing on ecstasy and meth. Click for more from the Los Angeles Times. State police are investigating an officer-involved shooting in New Haven. Police say one person was injured in the Tuesday morning shooting but is expected to survive. The shooting occurred in the area of Church Street and Columbus Street. The officer was not hurt. No names were released. Events leading up to the shooting were not immediately disclosed. No other information was released. There are two words all students love to hear from their teacher: no homework. A Massachusetts school is saying just that to students as they are returning to classes, but its not being done entirely to create extra time for after-school fun in the last few days of summer its part of a bid to turn around less-than-stellar performance. At my school, it was like go big or go home, said Jacqueline Glasheen, the principal of Kelly Full Service Community School in Holyoke. We have to do something different. The kindergarten through eighth grade school in western Massachusetts is part of a public district that went into receivership in April 2015 after the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education labeled it chronically underperforming. My school in particular has made slight gains, but my kids are well below the proficiency line, Glasheen told FoxNews.com. Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester said last year that only one in three children in Holyoke public schools are reading at grade level, while Glasheen noted that 98 percent of the student body is enrolled in a free or assisted lunch program. Now the school hopes that the no-homework policy, coupled with an extended, eight-hour school day which for some of its younger students is two hours longer than past years will raise performance in the classroom. We are doing this not because we dont think kids need homework, but because we think we are giving kids very rigorous instruction for eight hours, Glasheen told FoxNews.com. We want them to hang out with families, have dinner, do extracurricular activities and go to bed. We constantly hear from educators that they need more time Jacqueline Reis, media relations coordinator for Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education In addition to extended recess periods, the school is intending to provide more targeted learning time for struggling students in the form of small group instruction and one-on-one sessions with teachers. The changes made from the way instruction was handled in past years are key as to whether or not the program will succeed, according to Thomas Hatch, an associate professor of education and co-director of the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching at the Teachers College at Columbia University. The essential thing in all of this is not necessarily how much time you spend in school or out, but what you do with that time, Hatch told FoxNews.com. You cant say just because your school day is longer your kids are going to perform better. A 2006 study published in the Review of Educational Research journal found that the average student in classes where homework was given would score 23 points higher on tests compared to students in classes where homework was not. If a district or school discards homework altogether, however, it will be throwing away a powerful instructional tool, Robert Marzano, who leads an educational research company, wrote in an article for Educational Leadership magazine. Perhaps the most important advantage of homework is that it can enhance achievement by extending learning beyond the school day, he added. Students arent the only ones seeing changes this year, as teachers in Holyoke are facing an extended workday as well. Glasheen says the switch into receivership took away many of the powers of the local unions regarding how the district would operate going forward, but added that the two union representatives on her staff were in favor of the no homework policy. Teachers will be getting extra compensation out of the schools budget as part of a deal worked out with the state receiver, she added. Hatch says the added time in the classroom could relieve some pressure teachers are facing. If students are doing better and they find out kids are making progress in ways they didnt know before, that could go a long way in terms of helping out teacher burnout, he told FoxNews.com. The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said it isnt aware of other schools in receivership having a no-homework policy, but the shift to a longer day is an effective ingredient for school turnaround. We constantly hear from educators that they need more time, Jacqueline Reis, the departments media relations coordinator, told FoxNews.com. The Buffalo Academy of Scholars, a private school that already has a no-homework policy, says its structure where students complete assignments under supervision by teachers during the day is getting positive feedback from parents. Completing the work in school eliminates the frustration students and their families have when a student lacks the knowledge to complete the work without adult help, the challenge parents face when assigned work differs from the work they completed as students, and ultimately removes a major stressor for the student and family, Executive Director Meg Keller-Cogan told FoxNews.com. In Texas, a teacher at the Godley Elementary School in Johnson County wrote in a letter sent home to students that there would be no homework given in her class this year because "research has been unable to prove that homework improves student performance." The note has since gone viral. The changes at the Holyoke school this year will be evaluated next summer. But for now, the switch to a no-homework policy will make it easier for parents as the school year begins. Its one less thing off parents plates, Glasheen said. The U.S. Geological Survey is examining whether the 5.6-magnitude earthquake that shook Oklahoma on Saturday and tied for the strongest temblor ever recorded in the state was triggered by the underground disposal of wastewater from oil and gas production. The quake, which damaged some buildings but didnt cause serious injuries, spurred Oklahoma regulators within hours to demand that operators of 37 disposal wells in a 500-square-mile area shut down. It took place around 7:02 a.m. Saturday near Pawnee, Okla., a town of about 2,200 people roughly 55 miles northwest of Tulsa, and was felt widely throughout the middle of the country, as far as Kansas City and Houston. Without studying the specifics of the wastewater injection and oil and gas production in this area, the USGS cannot currently conclude whether or not this particular earthquake was caused by industrial-related, human activities, the USGS said in a statement. However, we do know that many earthquakes in Oklahoma have been triggered by wastewater fluid injection. Saturdays quake occurred on a fault that experts hadnt previously known about, roughly perpendicular to a larger known fault system, Daniel McNamara, a research geophysicist at the USGS Geologic Hazards Science Center in Golden, Colo., said in an email. He was set to travel to Oklahoma Tuesday to help state officials on wastewater-injection issues, he added. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, who declared a state of emergency for Pawnee County following the earthquake, said in a statement that information on the event would be reviewed by a state council on seismic activity as we continue to move forward to make our state safe. When energy producers extract oil and gas from wells, thousands of barrels of salty water laced with heavy metals come up along with the fuel. The water often is injected back underground under high pressure into special disposal wells. But government and academic researchers have found that the practice may help trigger movement along geologic fault lines. The oil-and-gas industry has acknowledged the validity of the studies and cooperated with regulators, but has said that more research is needed to link specific wells to specific incidents. Saturdays well shutdowns were a direct response to the earthquake and seek to minimize further seismic activity around the fault line, said Matt Skinner, spokesman for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. The commission focused on wells that dispose wastewater into a rock formation deep underground called the Arbuckle. Seismologists are in broad agreement that the Arbuckle formation is linked to earthquakes in Oklahoma, Mr. Skinner said Click for more from The Wall Street Journal. This years career-minded graduates are flooding the job market after four years of hard work and higher education, armed with a piece of paper that proves theyre go-getters. They finish things. Theyve got an alma mater that taught them how to live. But as you all start to wonder what comes next, that alma mater could start to feel like a big variable -- will the name of your college impact where youre able to land a job? Research has repeatedly shown that graduates of so-called better schools -- the Oxfords, the Harvards, the Stanfords -- are more likely to be the most employable, moving on to top jobs and making pretty darn good money along the way. Recruiters at top employers have been known to say they only look at candidates from a specific set of top-ranking schools. Big banking and investment firms proudly admit they focus most of their recruiting at top-tier campuses. Its not surprising, then, that parents and students historically spend so much time, effort and money trying to get into these elite universities. Weve been indoctrinated to believe that the name matters most of all. Related: Placement Blues: What Ivy-League Colleges Should Keep In Mind Prior To the Next Recruitment Season But before todays grads get too concerned about w+hats written on their diploma, take heart -- things are changing. According to Jobvite data, graduates from San Jose State University, University of California, Berkeley and The University of Texas at Austin were the most in-demand for companies hiring between March of 2015 and March of 2016. Thats a huge variety, and it just goes to show that the outlook is good for any hard-working college graduate -- regardless of which college you attended. Luck (and the job market) is on your side. First of all, youve got simple supply and demand working in your favor. As technology continues to infiltrate every industry on the planet, companies desperately need employees capable of navigating this brave new world -- and the fact is that the so-called top schools cannot produce enough skilled graduates to fill this need on their own. No company is going to have the time, patience or durability to continue limiting its applicant pool to an elite handful. Being agile and competitive in this job market means developing more creative recruiting strategies and being open to all available options -- and thats good news for you. The other thing is that all this super-investment in hiring based on a schools name is not delivering any justifiable returns. Thats why Googles head of HR, Laszlo Bock, stated flat out last year that his company doesnt care where you went to college anymore. Google looked at its own data and found that the top-tier graduates it had been hiring -- at a considerably greater expense -- were not always the employees that delivered the greatest results for the company. In fact, Google found that performance, leadership, culture fit, problem solving -- these were the things that differentiated its most productive workers and therefore these were the things that should warrant a better salary. More and more companies are going with Googles philosophy. Theyre willing to pay more for the best talent, sure; but with todays data analytics capabilities, there are more scientific ways to determine how to get a return on that investment than assuming it pumps naturally in the veins of Stanford grads. Related: 4 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Recruit Exclusively Online Whats in a name? Ive been working a long time. Ive been everything from a beat reporter to a technology CEO and Ive learned that once youre hired, your performance on the job matters more than anything else. Period. No one sits around the office comparing diplomas. No one will care whether you went to Dartmouth or the University of Michigan. They care if you can do the work you were hired to do. Honestly, I think graduates of second- and third-tier schools are often better prepared for this reality than those who went Ivy League. If you attended a large public institution (I was an undergrad at UCLA), then youve routinely sat in classes with 400 other students taught by busy professors who dont soften or inflate grades. Youve learned how to buckle down and get things done. That counts for something, believe me. I went to graduate school at an Ivy League university, and while it was certainly tough, it was not the same environment. I think the school of hard knocks regularly humbles graduates who dont know what the real world is like. Related: 5 Surefire Ways to Attract College Talent So as you head out beyond graduation, keep these thoughts in mind. Be sure, too, that you keep in touch with your friends. Good friends are hard to find -- and they can also be great business contacts as the years go by. But above all, turn your focus now to the school of real life -- because in the long run, how you do there will be a more important predictor of your future success. Iran's supreme leader on Monday said Saudi Arabian authorities "murdered" Muslim pilgrims who were injured during last year's hajj stampede. "The heartless and murderous Saudis locked up the injured with the dead in containers instead of providing medical treatment and helping them or at least quenching their thirst. They murdered them," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement on his website marking the anniversary of the disaster. He offered no evidence to support the allegations. Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and Interior Minister Mohammed bin Nayef said Iran was attempting to "politicize" the hajj. In comments published later Monday by the Saudi Press Agency, he said Iran had decided not to send its citizens to the pilgrimage this year for domestic purposes. Iran accuses Saudi Arabia of sabotaging negotiations that took place earlier this year regarding the security of pilgrims. The September 2015 stampede and crush of pilgrims killed at least 2,426 people, according to an Associated Press count. Tehran has said 464 of the dead were Iranian and blamed the catastrophe on Saudi mismanagement of the annual pilgrimage. Khamenei has also blamed Saudi Arabia for an earlier crane collapse in Mecca that killed 111 people, and said the kingdom's rulers had "reduced the hajj to a religious-tourist trip" while accusing Iran of "politicizing" the pilgrimage. A top Saudi official said Khamenei's accusations reflect "a new low". "These accusations are not only unfounded, but also timed to only serve their unethical, failing propaganda," said Abdulmohsen Alyas, the Saudi undersecretary for international communications and media at the Ministry of Culture and Information. "Saudi Arabia stands ready to serve the pilgrims and ensure their safety and comfort," Alyas told The Associated Press. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said the ministry has formed a committee to investigate the issue and pursue it in international forums, without elaborating. The hajj stampede caused a new flare-up in tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia, regional rivals that back opposite sides in the civil wars in Syria and Yemen. The two countries severed diplomatic relations in January after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shiite cleric and angry Iranian crowds overran Saudi diplomatic missions. Saudi authorities have not released the findings of their investigation into the hajj disaster. Preliminary statements suggested the crush was caused when at least two large crowds intersected. Russia's justice ministry has branded Russia's only major private pollster a "foreign agent," a stigma that could lead to its closure. The ministry issued a statement Monday evening saying that the Levada polling agency has been listed as a "foreign agency" after a snap inspection found some irregularities. Following major protests against his rule in 2011 and 2012, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law that requires all NGOs receiving foreign funding and found to engage in vaguely defined "political activity" to register as "foreign agents." Those who fail to comply face fines and potential closure. Many organizations have said the stigma of "foreign agent," which rings like "spy" in Russian, would make it impossible for them to work in the country. The decision comes less than a week after the respected pollster founded by and named after the late sociologist Yuri Levada published its latest election survey, indicating a drop in the ruling party's ratings. Russia holds a parliamentary election on Sept. 18. Levada on Tuesday vowed to contest the ruling and expressed its dismay, saying that the ministry had not given it a chance to present its own case before issuing the decision. "Placing an organization on a foreign agent list does not put an end to its activities, that's why we will continue our work," the Interfax news agency on Tuesday quoted Levada's deputy director Alexei Grazhdankin as saying. "That said, the foreign agent label can have a bad impact on our activities, on the perceptions of those polled." U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner hailed Levada's work and said the Russian government has now designated 141 organizations as so-called foreign agents. "They've targeted non-governmental and business associations working to protect the environment, fight the spread of HIV, and promote transparency, good governance and freedom of expression," he said. "Polling is as we all know here in the U.S. an important tool in any country that seeks to live by democratic standards of openness, accountability in government, and freedom of scientific inquiry," Toner said. "These are principles Russia should seek to promote, we believe, and not silence." The other two major Russian pollsters are state-owned and their surveys on political parties and politicians often differ significantly from what Levada research shows. Syrian activists and rescue workers in the rebel-held part of the contested city of Aleppo said that government warplanes dropped suspected chlorine bombs Tuesday on a crowded neighborhood, injuring dozens. The report could not be independently verified and it was not clear how it was determined that chlorine gas was released. Accusations involving use of chlorine and other poisonous gases are not uncommon in Syria's civil war, and both sides have denied using them while blaming the other for using it as a weapon of war. Last month, there were at least two reports of suspected chlorine attacks in Aleppo also, while the Syrian government also blamed the opposition for using the gas. In Tuesday's attack, a medical report from one of the hospitals in the besieged eastern rebel-held part of Aleppo was shared with journalists via text messages. It said at least 71 persons, including 37 children and 10 women, were treated for breathing difficulties, dry cough, and that their clothes smelled of chlorine. The report said 10 of the patients are in critical care, including a pregnant woman. Ibrahem Alhaj, a member of the Syria Civil Defense first responders' team, said he got to the scene in the crowded al-Sukkari neighborhood shortly after a helicopter dropped barrels containing what he said were four chlorine cylinders. He said he himself had difficulty breathing and used a mask soaked in salt water to prevent irritation. At least 80 civilians were taken to hospitals and treated for breathing difficulties, he said. A video by the rescuers shows children crying and men coughing. "Most of those injured where women and children," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "It is a crowded neighborhood." The head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 70 people suffered from breathing difficulties after a barrel bomb attack in al-Sukkari on Tuesday. The Observatory's chief, Rami Abdurrahman, said he could not ascertain if it was chlorine gas attack. Chlorine gas is a crude weapon that can be fatal in high concentrations. In lower doses, it can damage lungs or cause severe breathing difficulties and other symptoms, including vomiting and nausea. A team of international inspectors determined in late August that the Syrian government and Islamic State militants were responsible for chemical attacks carried out in 2014 and 2015. But the U.N. Security Council failed to agree on whether to impose sanctions on the government in line with a September 2013 resolution authorizing sanctions that can be militarily enforced for any use of chemical weapons in Syria. The resolution followed Syria's approval of a Russian proposal to relinquish its chemical weapons stockpile and join the Chemical Weapons Convention. That averted a U.S. military strike in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack that killed hundreds in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta. Russia, a close Syrian government ally, has blocked sanctions against President Bashar Assad's government. Fighting in the deeply contested city of Aleppo has not let up despite international efforts to establish a cease-fire. On Sunday, Syrian pro-government forces backed by airstrikes launched a wide offensive in the city, capturing areas they lost last month and besieging rebel-held neighborhoods once more after a breach in the siege a month earlier. On Tuesday, a Turkish spokesman said Turkey was pushing for a ceasefire in Aleppo that would extend through the Muslim religious holiday of Eid al-Adha, due to begin Monday. Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke to his U.S. and Russian counterparts during the G20 meeting in China about the ceasefire. Kalin told private broadcaster NTV Tuesday that the initial plan was for a 48-hour ceasefire. Erdogan also repeated calls for a safe-zone to be established between the Syrian towns of Azaz and Jarablus in Aleppo province, to protect civilians. Turkey has pushed for a safe zone in Syria since at least 2014. Turkey sent tanks into Syria last month to support rebel forces against the Islamic State group in the town of Jarablus. It expanded its operation into nearby al-Rai over the weekend. Bulent Kenes is a hunted man. He was once one of President Recep Tayyip Erdogans most strident champions, editor of a top English-language daily at the forefront of government-backed efforts to take on critics. Now, hes one of scores of Turkish journalists branded terrorists and facing years behind bars. Western leaders and press freedom groups have rallied around their cause and accused Turkey of an unprecedented crackdown on free speech. But after years of hurling inflammatory accusations, Mr. Kenes and other journalists aligned with a U.S.-based imam accused of masterminding a failed coup are having a harder time finding sympathy at home. They have burned bridges with every single constituency in Turkey, said Aaron Stein, a Turkey specialist at the Atlantic Council in Washington. Turkey has detained around 100 journalists for alleged links to Fethullah Gulen, at one time one of Mr. Erdogans most important allies and now his biggest foe, as well as more than 35,000 of the imams other alleged supporters in the government. Turkey wants the U.S. to extradite Mr. Gulen, who has denied any responsibility for the July 15 coup attempt, in which 271 people died, including 31 coup plotters. Mr. Kenes, who is open about his ties to Mr. Gulen and also denies a role, has a warrant out for his arrest. Police officials declined to discuss his case. He says he has gone into hiding to avoid being jailed. Twice in recent weeks, Mr. Kenes says, police have raided his Istanbul home. The former editor of Todays Zaman says he has stopped using credit cards so that Turkish intelligence cant pinpoint his whereabouts. And now his cash is running low, he says. I dont know when I will be able to go home, Mr. Kenes said. I have no valid passport, I have gone from house to house, and things are only getting worse. Click for more from The Wall Street Journal. Save The Date: Build-A-Bear Workshop To Celebrate National Teddy Bear Day With Two $5 Furry Friends On September 9 Retailer to offer one-day-only, in-store event featuring commemorative $5 bear, two additional $5 teddy bears and a donation match for three charitable organizations. ST. LOUIS, Sept. 6, 2016 // PRNewswire // -- Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. (NYSE: BBW), an interactive destination for creating personalized furry friends, is inviting guests to celebrate the brand's favorite holiday, National Teddy Bear Day, in stores on Sept. 9 with $5 teddy bears, all while helping children across the globe. To mark the occasion, guests of Build-A-Bear Workshop stores can make their own limited-edition National Teddy Bear Day bear for just $5 (USD) / $5 (CAD) / 5 (GBP), plus applicable taxes, in U.S., Canada and U.K. stores on Friday, Sept. 9. This is the first time the brand has created a commemorative bear for National Teddy Bear Day. Two additional bears will also be available for $5 each: Lil' Vanilla Bean Cub and Lil' Hazelnut Cub. Each guest can purchase a maximum of five $5 bears, while supplies last. In the spirit of the brand's mission to "add a little more heart to life," for every $5 bear purchased on Sept. 9, Build-A-Bear will donate a furry friend to one of three charitable organizations: Toys for Tots in the United States, up to 30,000 furry friends; Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada inCanada, up to 1,000 furry friends; and Childhood First, along with other children's charities, in the United Kingdom, up to 6,000 furry friends. "We celebrate teddy bears every day, but Build-A-Bear Workshop is commemorating National Teddy Bear Day with exclusive $5 furry friends and a heart-felt opportunity to share the hug of a teddy bear with kids in need," said Gina Collins, chief marketing officer, Build-A-Bear Workshop. "With the support of our charitable partners around the world, we hope to help as many children as possible experience the joy of a new furry friend during this fun, in-store event." During the week of National Teddy Bear Day, teddy bear fans can: Visit BuildABear.com/TeddyBearDay to learn more about the in-store event and find a nearby Build-A-Bear Workshop location. Attend the National Teddy Bear Day Twitter Party hosted by Build-A-Bear Workshop on Thursday, Sept. 8, at 9 p.m. ET to answer fun trivia, interact with the brand and qualify for the chance to win prizes. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/2bCHkQU. Follow the brand on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and share a favorite teddy bear or Build-A-Bear Workshop memory with hashtag #NationalTeddyBearDay and @BuildABear. The brand will celebrate its 20th birthday in 2017, and 2016's National Teddy Bear Day marks the kick-off of more than a year of celebrations. About Build-A-Bear Founded in St. Louis in 1997, Build-A-Bear, a global brand kids love and parents trust, seeks to add a little more heart to life. Build-A-Bear Workshop has approximately 400 stores worldwide where guests can create customizable furry friends, including company-owned stores in the United States, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom and China, and franchise stores in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Mexico and the Middle East. The company was named to the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For list for the eighth year in a row in 2016. Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. (NYSE: BBW) posted a total revenue of $377.7 million in fiscal 2015. For more information, visit buildabear.com. SOURCE Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. Media Contact: Beth Kerley Build-A-Bear Workshop 314-423-8000 ext. 5430 bethk@buildabear.com ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Privacy Overview This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. A man whose conscience led him to turn himself in for a robbery police had no idea hed committed received a suspended sentence Tuesday in Spotsylvania County Circuit Court. Corey Ortega Banks, 30, was sentenced by Judge Ricardo Rigual to 10 years in prison, with all of it suspended except for the 60 days Banks has already served. Banks was also ordered to make restitution of $33 to the Four Mile Fork Shell station. According to the evidence, a man entered the convenience store on June 2 of last year and demanded money. He got a relatively small amount from the clerk and left. No weapon was displayed, but the clerk told police the suspect reached into his jacket as if he had one. Police had no leads in the case until Feb. 16, when Banks went to the Fredericksburg Police Department and confessed to a robbery. After police determined that the offense occurred in Spotsylvania, the county Sheriffs Office there was contacted. Banks said Tuesday that he is a Christian and that his conscience would not allow him to live with the secret he was keeping. Im sincerely sorry for what I did, he told the judge. I thank God for saving me and loving me. Defense attorney Jenna Nacht said Banks became addicted to pain pills after suffering a serious injury in the military. She said Banks had already received treatment for his addiction long before he went to the police. He made a bad decision in a life otherwise well lived, Nacht said. In an unusual twist, Commonwealths Attorney Travis Bird agreed. Bird had already agreed to let Banks plead guilty to a lesser felony charge of grand larceny from a person and acknowledged Tuesday that it is rare from someone to turn himself in for a crime he was not suspected of committing. In this case, I cant honestly say that any further incarceration would be useful, Bird said. A number of supporters were in the courtroom and several of them testified, including Bob Dennis, the pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church. Dennis brother, Richard Dennis, said Banks is a fine young man who got sidetracked somehow. Judge Rigual said he was impressed by the support Banks has and by Banks action in turning himself in. The judge noted that most defendants find religion after theyve been in jail for a little while. But Rigual warned Banks that you will serve a considerable amount of prison time if you have another relapse. The Culpeper County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to spend just over $3 million to fund Culpepers portion of a three-county emergency radio system upgrade. The new internet-based system, to be purchased from Harris Corp. for a total of $7.6 million, should become operational by January 2018 and should provide better service while offering cheaper maintenance, according to communications director Alan Culpeper. Another advantage of the new system will be its in-building Wi-Fi coverage, which will eliminate the need for small structural antennas, Culpeper said. Culpeper County will share the cost of the new system with partners Fauquier ($3.8 million) and Rappahannock ($760,000) counties. The individual county cost is based on the total number of radios in service in each jurisdiction. Culpeper will have 1,009. The county had budgeted just over $7 million in its three-year capital improvements plan for the upgrade with $5.2 million, about $2 million more than needed, already in the bank. Some aspects of Culpepers present Motorola system, installed in 2006, will not be supported after 2016, Culpeper said. The new system is expected to last 15 to 20 years. Supervisors also voted to tear down the old town police station on Commerce Street across from the courthouse entrance and add six additional spaces to the existing parking lot. Environmental Services Director P.J. Howard said this was the maximum number of spaces the county could get without filing a site plan with the town. This lot is expected to be used to build a new courthouse in the next few years. Supervisor Bill Chase asked if a proposal to create a pocket park on the lot had been eliminated from the plans. Jack Frazier, chairman of the Building and Grounds Committee, said it had. Good! Chase replied. We dont need any more parks downtown. People can walk one more block and get to Yowell Meadow Park. Virginia Department of Transportation resident administrator Mark Nesbit told supervisors that all four major highway construction projects underway in Culpeper are on or ahead of schedule and on budget. He added that State Route 666 traffic is expected to be rerouted over the new U.S. 29 bridge near Eastern View High School within the next few weeks. Frazier reminded Nesbit that some county roads are in bad need of maintenance and that this problem would likely only worsen following freezing and thawing over the coming winter. Commissioner of Revenue Terry Yowell came before the board and asked that the personal property tax relief percentage for the county be lowered from 31 percent to 30 percent. Yowell said the change was needed due to the abnormal number of new vehicles purchased by county residents during the past 13 weeks. This is a very unusual market, she said. The supervisors lowered the percentage as requested. The board also voted to approve a $399,400 contract with Lantz Construction for renovations at the old George Washington Carver Regional High School campus. The recently formed League of Women Voters in the Fredericksburg region has a committed group of nearly 20 people working to register and educate voters as the November election approaches. Cathie Fischer Brayman, chair of the league in Fredericksburg, said the groups immediate focus since forming in June is voter registration. The nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, has chapters nationwide seeking to educate voters. The league was founded in 1920 by suffragettes following their push to get the vote for women. It works to register and educate new voters about issues and candidates, holds debates and forums, and focuses on creating a fair atmosphere for elections. Anne Sterling, past president of the league in Virginia, said she noticed a big hole in the Fredericksburg area when surveying the 12 leagues across the state. Fredericksburg had a league in years past that became inactive. On National Voter Registration Day, Sept. 27, the local chapter will hold a meet and greet at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library headquarters with candidates for Virginias 1st congressional district: Republican incumbent Rep. Rob Wittman and his Democratic challenger, Matt Rowe. Every Saturday, the group sets up at the Hurkamp Park farmers market and registers locals to vote. To me it is important to see everyone no matter who they vote for to get out and vote, Brayman said. Everyone should get a vote and know where to cast a ballot. Debbie Combest, secretary and treasurer of the league, said though the league is named for women voters, the group is open to men and really anyone who wants to get information about voting. Elaine Diepenbrock, a member, has lived in other cities with chapters and appreciated the information it gave out as a nonpartisan group. She said by joining the local chapter, she hopes to replicate what was missing here. The league can be a breath of fresh air in what can be a gray and muddy arena, Diepenbrock said. Brayman said each chapters focus depends on the needs of the area. Locally, the Fredericksburg chapter serves Planning District 16, which also includes the counties of Stafford, Spotsylvania, King George and Caroline. The group meets at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library Headquarters on Caroline Street on the last Monday of every month at 7 p.m. The October meeting, though, will be moved to Oct. 24 so it doesnt coincide with Halloween. Labor Day begins the sprint to November that will test whether Donald Trump and Republicans can compete with Virginia Democrats ground game. As the calendar reaches Labor Day, signaling the sprint lap for Virginias political campaigns, Tim Kaine will be pressing the flesh as usual Monday, making his case to working familiesin Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Kaines wife, Anne Holton, will campaign in Virginia, attending a breakfast salute to labor unions and community leaders in Hampton before heading to Rep. Robert C. Bobby Scotts 40th annual Labor Day cookout in Newport News. But the vice presidential nominees deployment elsewhere is a measure of Democrats confidence nearly two months before Election Day in what was supposed to be a key swing state. A couple of the states that were really close have actually moved into pretty safesaferterritory. Virginia is one, Colorado is one, Kaine said Aug. 27, while speaking to municipal officials in South Florida. The widening gap means he and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton can really spend a lot of time in states that are real close such as Florida, Kaine said. He added: If we win Florida, its over. In August, four polls showed Clinton and Kaine leading Republican nominee Donald Trump and his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, by double digits in head-to-head matches in Virginia. Trump and Pence still are aggressively fighting for Virginias 13 electoral votes, if campaign stops are an indication. Trump will campaign Tuesday afternoon in Virginia Beach at the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts. The event is not open to the public. Not including the new event in Virginia Beach, Mr. Trump and Governor Pence have campaigned six times in Virginia, jointly or separately, in the last few weeks, and we are working hard to win the commonwealth on Election Day, said Thomas Midanek, state director of Trumps Virginia campaign. We are reaching out to voters on the ground and taking Mr. Trumps message directly to the people of Virginia. The voters we hear from understand that Hillary Clinton represents a third Obama term, while the TrumpPence campaign of tougher law enforcement, stopping illegal immigration and bringing back jobs is resonating strongly across the commonwealth. Democrats think they have an advantage in a robust ground game that has helped the party win every statewide contest in Virginia since 2009. The Clinton-Kaine team includes many veterans of past Virginia statewide campaigns. In one of numerous examples, Clintons campaign manager, Robby Mook, ran Gov. Terry McAuliffes successful Virginia campaign for governor in 2013. Listen, weve got to work hard, but Im very confident Hillary is going to win the election, McAuliffe said Wednesday during his monthly Ask the Governor show on WTOP radio. Think about Virginia today, that they have actually stopped the media, McAuliffe said, noting the paucity of political advertising airing in Virginia, although we are the swingiest of swing states. Asked if he has faith in the recent Virginia surveys, McAuliffe said: I believe the polls today. Do I believe they could tighten? You bet. Ground game McAuliffe says the Democrats expect to win Virginia on the ground, regardless of how many ads are on the air. There are literally thousands and thousands of volunteers every day doing the door-knocking, and going and talking to the folks and doing the phoning and all that, McAuliffe said. We have a real solid infrastructure, which we have worked on for a long time in Virginia, to make sure were communicating and, most importantly, getting them out to vote. The Clinton campaign says it has 33 offices across Virginia, including four in the Richmond area. Organizers who make calls and knock on doors also seek to boost congressional candidates, such as Eileen Bedell, the Democrat who is challenging Rep. Dave Brat, R-7th. The Clinton campaign says that each week it holds more than 1,000 organizing events across the state, such as phone banks, voter registration drives or door-to-door canvassing effortsincluding 120 every week in the Richmond area. It says 40 elected officials have attended organizing events in the Richmond area in the past six weeks. Our ground game in Virginia was being rolled out in 2015, Shipley said. And that is the reason Governor McAuliffe and Michael Bloomberg dont have a majority in the Virginia Senate right now. Republicans have 18 field offices and 61 paid staff members in Virginia For all of the ClintonKaine campaigns apparent advantages in Virginia, Kaines wife, Anne Holton, who campaigned Friday in Roanoke and Charlottesville, has a clear message for volunteers: Dont believe the hype. Theres no way its not going to be close, despite all the craziness and the polls, she told campaign workers Friday at Clintons office on Charlottesvilles Downtown Mall. Dont believe anything that tells you any different. Its going to be a very close race in Virginia and across the nation. The president of the Heritage Preservation Association said the organization is waiting to see whether the Virginia Supreme Court will take up the groups appeal in the Confederate flag case in Danville. The issue is not going away because other towns and cities are also awaiting the courts decision, said Wayne Byrd, HPA president. Other localities [in Virginia] are looking at this, Byrd said. The organization is trying to get clarification on state law regarding the display of Confederate flags and monuments on local government property, he said. Were just trying to get an honest hearing on the issue and we just havent had that yet, he added. There are a lot of monuments across the state. Its not just Danville, he said. This affects the whole state of Virginia. A three-judge panel of the Virginia Supreme Court on June 20 declined to hear the HPAs initial appeal of a local judges decision that upheld Danvilles removal of the Third National Confederate flag from a monument on the grounds of the Sutherlin Mansion. The Heritage Preservation Association filed a petition for a rehearing in the Virginia Supreme Court following the courts decision. Doug Robelen, chief deputy clerk with the court, said last week he expects the seven-justice court to consider the petition for a rehearing at the end of this month. A decision on whether to hear the appeal could come by the middle of October. The HPA could appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court if the state court decides against hearing it, but the chances of it making it into the high court would be small, said HPAs attorney, Kevin Martingayle. The case does not present a clear federal constitutional issue and would be unlikely to catch the high courts attention, he said. Byrd declined to comment on the HPAs next step if the Virginia Supreme Court denies the petition for a rehearing. Since the flags removal from the Sutherlin Mansions property, HPA members and other flag supporters have been flying the flag on the sidewalk in front of the mansion on Saturdays. Also, 14 flags have been erected on private property within five miles of Danville since its removal, Byrd said. In March, Gov. Terry McAuliffe vetoed a bill that would have extended protections to all war memorials in Virginia. THE ONE great service of Donald Trumps extended peregrinations on immigration policy is to have demonstrated how, in the end, theres only one place to go. You can rail for a year about the squishy soft, weak-kneed and stupid politicians who have opened our borders to the wretched refuse of Mexico. You can promise to round them upthe refuse, that is, not the politicians (theyre next)and deport them. And that may win you a plurality of Republican primary votes. But eventually, you have to let it go. For all his incendiary language and clanging contradictions, Trump did exactly that in Phoenix on Wednesday. His deportation task force will be hunting ... criminal aliens. Isnt that the enforcement priority of President Obama, heretofore excoriated as the ultimate immigration patsy? And what happens to the noncriminal illegal immigrants? On that, Trump punted. Their appropriate disposition will be considered in several years when we have ended illegal immigration for good. Everyone knows what that means: One way or another, they will be allowed to stay. Trumps retreat points the way to the only serious solution: enforcement plus legalization. The required enforcement measures are well knownfrom a national E-Verify system that makes it just about impossible to work if you are here illegally, to intensified border patrol and high-tech tracking. The one provision that, thanks to Trump, gets the most attention is a border wall. Its hard to understand the opposition. Its the most venerable and reliable way to keep people out. The triple fence outside San Diego led to a 90 percent reduction in infiltration. Israels border fence with the West Bank has produced a similar decline in terror attacks into Israel. The main objection is symbolic. Walls, we are told, denote prisons. But only if they are built to keep people in, not if they are for keeping outsiders out. City walls, going back to Jericho, are there for protection. Even holier-than-thou Europeans have conceded the point as one country after anotherHungary, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Austria, Greece, Spain, why even Norwayhas started building border fences to stem the tide of Middle Eastern refugees. The other part of the immigration bargain is legalization. What do you do with the 11 million already here? In theory, you could do nothing. The problem ultimately solves itself as the generation of the desertthose who crossed the border originallyis eventually replaced by its American-born children who are automatically legal and landed. But formal legalization is a political necessity. It gets buy-in from Democrats who for whatever reasonself-styled humanitarianism or bare-knuckled partisanshiphave no interest in real border enforcement. Legalization is the quid pro quo. If they want to bring the immigrants out of the shadows, they must endorse serious enforcement. Such a grand bargain could and would command a vast national consensus. The American public will accept todays illegal immigrants if it is convinced that this will be the last such cohort. This was the premise of the 1986 Reagan amnesty. It legalized almost 3 million immigrants. Because it never enforced the border, however, three has become 11. And thats why the Gang of Eight failed. They too got the sequencing wrong. The left insisted on legalization first. The Gangs Republicans ultimately acquiesced because they figured, correctly, this was the best deal they could get in an era of Democratic control. The problem is that legalization is essentially irreversible and would have gone into effect on Day One. Enforcement was a mere promise. Hence the emerging Republican consensus, now that Trump has abandoned mass deportation: a heavy and detailed concentration on enforcement, leaving the question of what happens to those already here either unspoken (Trump on Wednesday) or to be treated case by case (Trump last week). The Trump detour intoand retreat fromdeportation has proved salutary. Even the blustering tough guy had to dismiss it with were not looking to hurt people. The ultimate national consensus, however, lies one step further down the road. Why leave legalization for some future discussion? Get it done. Once the river of illegal immigration has been demonstrably and securely reduced to a trickle, the country will readily exercise its natural magnanimity and legalize. So why not agree now? Say it and sign it. To get, you have to give. Thats the art of the deal, is it not? Charles Krauthammer is a columnist with The Washington Post Writers Group. He may be reached at letters@charleskrauthammer.com. SPIRITS are high today across the Fredericksburg region, as smiling teachers greet eager schoolchildren on the first day of classes. At least we hope those teachers will be smiling, since economic concerns are weighing on them more than usual. Victims of a state revenue shortfall, Virginias educatorsalong with other state workerscan no longer look forward to a promised state pay hike this fiscal year. Plus, other indicators on public educations instrument panel are flashing yellow and red. Large class sizes continue to bedevil those entrusted with preparing tomorrows leaders for a fast-changing world. Studentteacher ratios in several of the Fredericksburg regions school districts are troublesome. In 2015, in that regard, Stafford, Spotsylvania and Caroline ranked among the states five worst systems for the proportion of instructional personnel to kids, according to some number-crunching done by Free Lance-Star reporter Katrina Dix based on state Department of Education data. Caroline was No. 2, Stafford No. 3 and Spotsylvania No. 4. Nationally, fewer college students are pursuing careers in education. Enrollment in teaching preparatory programs has dropped by nearly a third since 2009. And American teacher job satisfaction is at its lowest point in 25 years, according to a MetLife survey. But so long as there are teachers such as Gayle Middle School instructor Luis Amador, do not despair. Amador, an Orange County High School graduate who is a veteran of the Teach for America leadership program, told Dix that he would teach again in the countrys neediest schools in a heartbeat. Hurrah. The nation needs more people like Amador, especially in a time when teachers are feeling the collective punch of budget cuts, lower morale, high stress and low autonomy. And yet, for students and their parents, the first day of school in the areas districts (Caroline Countys classes began Aug. 15) is exciting and promisinga moment when almost anything seems possible. As it should. Local motorists should pay extra heed. There will be oodles of children along the streets, and the cops will be out in force. If youre anywhere near a bus stop, please watch out. oh boy, even more gridlock Adding to drivers distraction today is Terrible Traffic Tuesday, when students return to school and 2.9 million worker bees and drones return to their beehives in the work-a-day world, as the American Automobile Association describes it. The automotive group calls it the dreaded day of reckoning. The double whammy of this September Surge, a jolt to the regions freeways and arterial roads that lasts for weeks, can increase the Washington areas average morning travel delays by 15 to 45 percent, AAA says. Congestion might seem inevitable when just short of 6 million Washington-area residents are heading back to school and back to the daily grind. But as anyone who lives here knows, our regions traffic can be nightmarish, statistically a national claim to infamy. The Washington metro area (along with the New York metro area) has the highest mean travel time for place of work for all full-time working commuters, according to the U.S. Census Bureaus American Community Survey. And, turns out, traffic is bad for you and bad for business. Living with ceaseless traffic congestion worsens ones health, AAA says. Gridlock also hurts the delivery of goods and services here. All of the above are reasons to take extra care behind the wheel this week, and to let your elected officials know how you feel about our traffic mess. Rob Wittman, the 1st Congressional District representative, and other misguided individuals think Donald Trump will resolve the countrys perceived problems. In addition to displaying no personal attributes necessary to govern, Mr. Trump has proven himself unwilling to accept advice from those more knowledgeable than him on matters of significance. Mr. Trump displays an autocrats disregard for our constitutional system. He bans news organizations he believes are unfriendly to him. He wants to re-craft libel laws to weaken the First Amendment. He has threatened to use the presidency to retaliate against a federal judge because of his Mexican heritage. He has said he would (illegally) order the U.S. military to torture detainees and target innocent civilians. He is considering banning members of an entire religion from entry into our country and forcing those already here to register. Mr. Trump is a demagogue who operates outside of our democratic traditions, promoting racism, condoning violence and moving paranoia into the mainstream. He led the movement that (erroneously) challenged President Obamas American birth. He struggled to disavow the Ku Klux Klan. He has publicly mocked Asian accents and those with physical disabilities. Mr. Trump is neither a conservative nor a Republican. Rep. Wittman knows this, yet he short-sightedly endorses this man for the sake of party unitya misguided position both for the good of our country and the viability of his own party. If pressed, could Rep. Wittman cite one tangible reason why our country would be better served by a President Trump than a President Clinton? No one can even begin to predict what actual decisions Donald Trump would make as president and what would happen after those decisions are made. This November, we must defeat Mr. Trump and those who stand with him, like Wittman. Ensure our countys heritage and future by voting for Hillary ClintonTim Kaine ticket and Matt Rowe for First Congressional District. Robin Zaner Spotsylvania Jacob Frydman Partakes in Toys for Hospitalized Children Program of NCFJE A renowned expert on value added investments, Jacob Frydman has made a positive and lasting impact over his 30-year career in the real estate acquisition and development industries. -- New York property investor and philanthropist, Jacob Frydman will participate in the National Committee for Furtherance of Jewish Education's (NCFJE) Toys for Hospitalized Children program. Mr. Frydman's generous commitment and support for the NCFJE's initiative will help provide toys, gifts, and smiles to children in need. Located in Brooklyn, NY, NCFJE is a multi-faceted charity founded in 1940 by Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneerson dedicated to protecting, feeding, and educating thousands throughout the New York metro area. Today, the NCFJE has several programs under the leadership of Rabbi Jacob Hecht with the objective of providing fast, discreet, and dignified service to all sectors of the Jewish community. Under the direction of Program Director, Mrs. Baila Hecht, the organization's roster of initiatives includes Toys for Hospitalized Children, which sends over 10,000 toys and gifts annually to numerous hospitals, senior residences, and special needs facilities. For more than 50 years, these gifts have brought joy and smiles to those that need it most, and Jacob Frydman is pleased to be able to give back to the community through this meaningful and impactful program. Toys for Hospitalized Children is also helping children learn how easy and fulfilling it is to reach out to help others who are less fortunate. The young volunteers of the program gather to wrap toys, and when possible, visit the recipients to offer the gifts personally. During his years of active involvement in Toys for Hospitalized Children, Jacob Frydman has witnessed on numerous occasions how an unexpected gift uplifts a hospitalized child, senior, or special needs adult by letting them know they are not forgotten. This simple gesture sends a message of compassion and hope to patients and family members that leaves a lasting sense of community spirit in all who participate. A renowned expert on value added investments, Jacob Frydman has made a positive and lasting impact over his 30-year career in the real estate acquisition and development industries. As a recognized leader in his field, Jacob has served as a contributor and panelist at numerous industry seminars, speaking on aspects of property investments. He has been a guest lecturer on real estate finance at Columbia University, and in the Master's Lecturer series sponsored by New York Law School. His television appearances include CNBC, Bloomberg TV, FOX News, and others, where he discusses trends in commercial real estate and provides his invaluable expertise. Frydman has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Bardavon Opera House, home of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic and is also an avid philanthropist, often donating his time and capital to various charitable endeavors. He is a firm supporter of organizations such as Chabad of Dutchess County and The Brem Foundation of Washington DC. Jacob Frydman - Property Expert and Consultant: http://jacobfrydmannews.com Jacob Frydman -- Discusses Current Trends in Commercial Real Estate: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/jacob-frydman-discusses-current-trends-032355134.html Jacob Frydman (@jacobfrydman) - Twitter: https://twitter.com/jacobfrydman For more information, please visit http://www.JacobFrydmanNews.com Contact Info: Name: Jacob Frydman Email: contact@jacobfrydmannews.com Organization: JacobFrydmanNews.com Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lpgwu_U5liM Source: http://marketersmedia.com/jacob-frydman-partakes-in-toys-for-hospitalized-children-program-of-ncfje/131156 Release ID: 131156 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) CNC Machine Tool Industry Analysis and Professional Survey 2016-2020 (Mazak, Trumpf, Amada, Okuma, Hass, Shenyang and More) Latest report on CNC Machine Tool Industry provides essential information for business growth. It shows the market trends, manufacturing processes, cost structures, import-export, supply, production, revenue growth rate, major manufacturers and more. -- As a key role in manufacturing, CNC machine tools have been emphasized by developed countries. China's CNC machine tools occupied about 30% in 2015, which indicates a big gap with developed countries such as Japan, the United States, and Germany whose CNC rates go beyond70% each now, especially Japan achieves over 90%. Affected by the Chinese economic slowdown as well as the restructuring of downstream industries including automotive, aerospace and rail transit, China's CNC machine tool output plunged by 13.1% year on year in 2015 and is expected to continue the downward trend with slower decline in 2016. Nevertheless, China's CNC machine tool industry has seen a number of highlights since 2015. First, the fast-growing demand from mobile phone metal housing processing stimulates a surge in the demand for 3C-use CNC machine tools. Second, China achieves a breakthrough in aerospace-use five-axis linkage CNC machine tools, and even exports such products overseas. Third, Made in China 2025 catalogues high-end CNC machine tools as one of ten key strategic areas, and Industry 4.0 further boosts the development of the industry. With the above incentives, Chinese CNC machine tools, especially high-end and intelligent ones, will usher in rapid development in future. Complete Report Spread across 162 pages and 204 Charts. Now Available. Order a Copy of This Report at http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/contacts/purchase?rname=684511 CNC systems are the key components of CNC machine tools. Currently, Chinese enterprises represented by Wuhan Huazhong Numerical Control, GSK, Shenyang Machine Tool, Dalian GONA and the like can produce economical and mid-range CNC systems, but they lose out in the high-end CNC system market to Fanuc, Siemens, Mitsubishi, DMG and other foreign counterparts. According to the plan, the localization rate of Chinese mid-range and high-end CNC systems will exceed 60% and 20% respectively by 2020. At present, China's CNC machine tool industry has entered a critical period of transformation and upgrading, with the unsolved problems including excess capacity of medium and low-end CNC machine tools, long-term dependence on imports of high-end CNC machine tools and foreign monopoly on CNC systems and key components. In 2016, both host machines and parts manufacturers are actively seeking transformation and upgrading. Shenyang Machine Tool Co., Ltd. enforced "i5" strategy in 2014 to build a new model of intelligent factory. In 2015, despite the traditional metalworking machine tool market downturn, over 5,000 i5 intelligent machine tools were ordered, of which over 3,000 ones were delivered actually. The company plans to build 30 smart factories, and strives to produce and sell 20,000 i5 intelligent machine tools in the country in 2016. Dalian Machine Tool Group Corporation has enhanced the supply of high-precision efficient products and expanded Russia, Pakistan and other overseas markets radically in recent years. At the same time, it has erected incubators in Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta, as well as overseas service centers in India, Russia, Mexico and other countries, in a bid to gradually improve global competitiveness. In the next five years (2016-2020), the company's goals will be global layout, intelligent products, diversified marketing, industry & academy combination and public management. Qinchuan Machine Tool & Tool Group Co., Ltd. has proposed "three 1/3" strategic concepts (host machines, key components and modern manufacturing services) in recent years. In 2015, the company and Shanghai Bosch Rexroth Hydraulic & Automation Ltd. signed a strategic agreement on strengthening the cooperation in CNC systems, gear boxes and industrial robotics reducer. Wuhan Huazhong Numerical Control Co., Ltd implements "one core and two subjects" strategy around Made in China 2025. The core is CNC system technologies, and the subjects refer to CNC machine tools and industrial robots. In 2015, the company acquired Jiangsu Jinming's expanding robots and system integration. In May 2016, the company invested RMB200 million in establishing Wuhan Intelligent Control Industrial Technology Institute Co., Ltd. with Wuhan Airport Economic Zone Construction Investment And Development Co., Ltd. jointly to intensify its supporting capacity in the field of new energy vehicles. The report focuses on the following aspects: Market supply & demand, import & export, and competitive landscape of the global and China machine tool industry. Global situation of CNC machine tools, and development of CNC machine tools in major countries. Supply & demand, import & export, key enterprises and development trends of China machine tool industry. Status quo and key enterprises of the core CNC machine tool component market (including CNC systems, servo systems and the like). Automotive, aerospace, rail transit, electronic information and other downstream markets as well as their CNC machine tool applications. Operation and business in China of 12 key global companies. Operation, revenue structure and development strategies of 19 key Chinese enterprises. More Details about this Report available at http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/contacts/inquire-before-buying?rname=684511 Major Points from Table of Contents 1. Overview of CNC Machine Tool Industry 2. Status Quo of Global and China Machine Tool Industry 3. Status Quo of CNC Machine Tool Markets Worldwide 4. Status Quo of CNC Machine Tool Market in China 5. Main CNC Machine Tool Products in China 6. Core Components of China CNC Machine Tool Industry 7. Downstream Sectors of China CNC Machine Tool Industry 8. Major Foreign CNC Machine Tool Manufacturers 9. Key Chinese CNC Machine Tool Enterprises About Us: RnRMarketResearch.com is your single source for all market research needs. Our database includes 100,000+ market research reports from over 95 leading global publishers & in-depth market research studies of over 5000 micro markets. With comprehensive information about the publishers and the industries for which they publish market research reports, we help you in your purchase decision by mapping your information needs with our huge collection of reports. Contact Us: We provide 24/7 online and offline support to our customers. Contact us for your special interest needs and we will get in touch within 24hrs to help you find the market research report you need. sales@rnrmarketresearch.com + 1 888 391 5441 For more information, please visit http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/global-and-china-cnc-machine-tool-report-2016-2020-market-report.html Contact Info: Name: Ritesh Tiwari Email: sales@rnrmarketresearch.com Organization: RnR Market Research Address: UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar, Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India Phone: + 1 888 391 5441 Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xkv9AvNA9Ug Source: http://marketersmedia.com/cnc-machine-tool-industry-analysis-and-professional-survey-2016-2020-mazak-trumpf-amada-okuma-hass-shenyang-and-more/131263 Release ID: 131263 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Battlefield Earth Book Sets the Pace for SF Reading on National Read a Book Day Galaxy Press, publisher of L. Ron Hubbard's Battlefield Earth book, has launched an SF reading campaign to support National Read a Book Day on September 6th. For more information go to http://amzn.to/2bThwpR -- Galaxy Press, publisher of L. Ron Hubbard's Battlefield Earth, one of the biggest fan fiction titles ever published, has launched a campaign to support National Read a Book Day on September 6th. "Reading books is the building block of success," says John Goodwin, President of Galaxy Press. "We support events and activities that get people of all ages reading. Battlefield Earth lends itself to this celebration as it is science fiction, and as L. Ron Hubbard put it, 'Science fiction appeals to every age group because it is about the future and the human potential.'" National Read a Book Day was established to encourage people to find a book to enjoy and share. The main goal is to encourage people to read books, as both fiction and non-fiction books open up huge unknown vistas to enquiring minds. (Ref: DaysoftheYear.com/days/read-a-book-day/) Galaxy created several fun and catchy Facebook and Twitter cards for fans and followers to share and encourage others to get involved around the country. They also launched a video promoting "I am a reader" to encourage reading, which can be seen here: IAmAReader What may not be broadly known is that one in four children in America grow up without learning how to read. Further, two out of three students who cannot read proficiently by the end of 4th grade will end up in jail or on welfare. Over 70 percent of America's inmates cannot read above a 4th grade level. (Ref: www.begintoread.com) Often, the difference between a "reader" and "non-reader" is finding a good book. Sandra Girourd author of The Worthier Part (TheWorthierPart) and mother of 3 teenage boys wrote, "My middle son (11) has never been much of a voluntary reader. Mostly, he only reads when required to, or when looking up something interesting in a reference book. Never literature, never for recreation. Well, we listened to about the first four hours of the Battlefield Earth audiobook on our most recent trip, and he found the book on Kindle and now he's got it in his hand most of the day. In fact, I had to fuss at him to put it away to do his other school work. It's really been a big hit." "In Battlefield Earth, I present a situation where mankind has almost been wiped from the face of the Earth by advanced technology and is now imprisoned not so much by the aliens who dominate the planet but by superstition. ...a story of superstition and fear and how it is overcome--by children," stated New York Times bestselling author L. Ron Hubbard in an interview he did with the Rocky Mountain News upon the book's release. Celebrate National Read a Book Day with a science fiction novel at Amazon.com/BattlefieldEarth. For a limited time, the publisher is offering a free Frank Frazetta poster with purchase of the book or unabridged audiobook. For more information, please visit https://www.BattlefieldEarth.com Contact Info: Name: Emily Goodwin Organization: Galaxy Press Address: 7051 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028 Phone: 3234663310 Release ID: 131261 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Knoxville Foundation Repair Basement Problems Warning Signs Report Launched Tennessee Foundation Repair Specialists have announced the launch of a new report on the importance of checking foundation repair warning signs. The company says checking early can help avoid expensive repair costs. -- A Knoxville foundation repair expert has launched a new report on the importance of keeping on top of foundation and basement waterproof problems. Tennessee Foundation Repair Specialists say that the average cost of foundation repair in Knoxville is almost $7,000 against the national average of just $4,000, and home owners are ignoring the early warning signs that can help save them money by catching damage early. More information can be found on the company website at: http://tnfoundationrepairspecialists.com. The Knoxville foundation repair specialist explains that it is vital to check early warning signs in order to save costs. These early warning signs can include obvious things like cracks in the walls, which are usually easy to spot and can show that foundations might have been compromised. Home owners are told to look out for jagged cracks at 45 degree angles and get in touch with specialists if they find them. If windows or doors stick and prove difficult to open, this could also be a sign of foundation problems. Windows that consistently stick, especially when it's not immediately apparent why, can be an indicator that the foundations have moved and shifted the window frame out of balance, preventing it from opening or closing properly. Tennessee Foundation Repair Specialists also emphasise that it's not just the floor, windows and walls where warning signs can be found. It's also important to look up near the top of the house. They say that when a foundation has been compromised, home owners should carefully check the top story of their home from the outside. They can do this using a ladder to ensure they're checking properly, looking for cracks above and around the window frames. Knoxville residents concerned about the safety of their home, whether with foundation problems or basement waterproofing problems, can find full service details that Tennessee Foundation Repair Specialists offer on the company's official website. A frequently asked questions page is also available to allay concerns about the process. Interested parties can also get in touch using the contact form provided, or by calling the company on (865) 240-2647. For more information, please visit http://www.tnfoundationrepairspecialists.com Contact Info: Name: Dennis Champion Organization: Tennessee Foundation Repair Specialists Address: Knoxville TN 37923 United States Phone: (865) 240 2647 Release ID: 131226 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Aura Hair Extensions Introduces Their Colour Match Service The company wants to streamline the process for women to get the hair extensions that suit them best, reports www.aurahairextensions.co.uk. -- Aura Hair Extensions , a premier online retailer of high-quality human hair extensions, has announced the introduction of their colour match service. Customers who would like to purchase hair extensions from their online store but are unsure of which colour will best match their hair can get assistance from the Aura Hair Extensions team in making their choice. Aura's colour matching recommendations are provided through email, but those who wish to speak with one of their professionals about their colour choices are invited to contact the company via phone. Simon Lee, a spokesperson for Aura Hair Extensions, commented "Hair extensions are a great way for women to change their look without having to do anything too drastic to their hair. However, we all know that the key to making hair extensions look great is getting a close colour match. As an online retailer, we also know that differences in computer monitors and batch numbers can make it difficult for women to know which colours will best suit them. We're streamlining everything for our customers by taking the guesswork out of the matching process and giving women a chance to take advantage of our professional expertise." Aura Hair Extensions strives to make it easy for women to use their colour match service. All that customers need to do is take a photo of their hair, ensuring that it clearly displays their hair colour. Once they email that photo to the Aura Hair Extensions team, they will receive their professional recommendation on the colours that will be the best match for their hair. As Lee goes on to say, "The Aura Hair Extensions product line is ever-changing, which means we have new products and colours arriving every single month. We have made it our mission to make sure that our customers are able to get high-quality hair extensions that they know they'll look great in, and providing colour match recommendation helps us ensure their highest satisfaction. We look forward to the opportunity we have to help women look and feel their best." Those who would like to receive colour matching assistance from the team at Aura Hair Extensions or learn more about the products they offer should visit www.aurahairextensions.co.uk. About Aura Hair Extensions : Established in 2004, Aura hair extensions is part of the SLP Limited group of retail businesses and has become one of the largest wholesalers and retailers of human hair extensions in the UK with current expansion programs into Europe and worldwide. Their clients include professional salons, e-retailers, and high street stores to name but a few. All of their products are carefully sourced from selected suppliers and manufacturer to ensure only the best quality products are offered at amazingly low prices. For more information, please visit http://www.aurahairextensions.co.uk Contact Info: Name: Simon Lee Organization: Aura Hair Extensions Berriedale Phone: +44 01482 474786 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/aura-hair-extensions-introduces-their-colour-match-service/131268 Release ID: 131268 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global Palm Oil (Vegetable Oil) Market DataPack 2016 Edition Now Available at MarketReportsOnline.com MarketReportsOnline.com adds "Global Palm Oil Market DataPack (2016 Edition)" report to its research store. -- The Palm Oil Industry DataPack provides a unique mix of market information, analysis and estimates based on quantitative and qualitative research. The market figures and industry dynamics are given in order to determine the overall market potential and help the client in gaining a stronger foothold in the marketplace. Complete report available at http://www.marketreportsonline.com/500212.html. Global palm oil market report presents a reliable assessment of the industry including key industry metrics, regional market analysis, market trends and growth drivers. It also explores the competitive landscape of the respective market with focus on major players. The DataPack serves as a must read for anyone willing to invest in this market and trying to evaluate opportunities. Our success parameter is very simple - impact of our services on our clients' business. We provide high quality, cost effective research and analysis to support decision making processes for industry professionals. Our strength lies in the reliability of our research and on the value added analysis that we provide. We have a team of research analysts who have mastered the skill of preparing flawless market intelligence reports to help clients maximize their productivity and return on investment. Our analysts have great expertise to assess current trends in business practices, product promotion and market competition. Purchase a copy of this research report at http://www.marketreportsonline.com/contacts/purchase.php?name=500212. Key Topics Covered in Global Palm Oil Market: 1. Vegetable Oil Market - An Introduction 2. Palm Oil Market - An Introduction 3. Global Vegetable Oil Market Analysis 4. Global Palm Oil Market Analysis 5. Major Palm Oil Producing Countries 6. Major Palm Oil Consuming Countries 7. Market Dynamics 8. Company Profiles 9. Market Outlook Other Related Reports on Palm Oil Market: Global Palm Oil Market Report: 2016 Edition (http://www.marketreportsonline.com/477163.html) The palm oil market report provides a comprehensive study of global vegetable oil market, global palm oil production and consumption and also the regional markets. The competition in the global palm oil market is intense among large players like IOI Corporation Berhad, Sime Darby, Wilmar International and PT Astro Agro Lestari Tbk. All these companies have been profiled in the present report highlighting their key financials and business strategies for growth. A Study of Indonesia's Palm Oil Industry: Palm oil is the most widely produced category of vegetable oil produced globally, despite high environmental concerns around its production. Globally, most of the palm oil is produced in Asia, Africa and South America because of the suitable weather conditions in these regions. The global consumption of palm oil has grown consistently at approximately 7% per annum for the last two decades. The global demand has been growing substantially boosted by the rising consumption in emerging Asian economies primarily India and China. Inquire for a discount on this report at http://www.marketreportsonline.com/contacts/discount.php?name=442400. Browse All Latest Koncept Analytics Market Research Reports at http://www.marketreportsonline.com/publisher/koncept-analytics-market-research.html. For more information, please visit http://www.marketreportsonline.com/contacts/purchase.php?name=500212 Contact Info: Name: Ritesh Tiwari Email: sales@marketreportsonline.com Organization: Market Reports Online Phone: + 1 888 391 5441 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/global-palm-oil-vegetable-oil-market-datapack-2016-edition-now-available-at-marketreportsonline-com/130948 Release ID: 130948 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Raphael Toledano Of Brookhill Properties Adds To New York City Portfolio Brookhill Properties expands portfolio by recently acquiring residential units and commercial spaces in New York City. -- Raphael Toledano, President of Brookhill Properties, LLC, a premier New York based real estate investment company, has announced today the expansion of the Brookhill Properties' portfolio with the acquisition 332 East 9th Street in Manhattan's East Village. Built in 1920, 332 East 9th Street consists of 5 stories, comprised of 9,546 square-feet with 20 residential units and two commercial spaces. The building was acquired from the Tabak Family Reality Co. and no outside broker was involved. "The 332 East 9th Street building is located in a prime and popular area and I am thrilled to expand the Brookhill Properties New York City real estate portfolio with this acquisition. Brookhill is dedicated to providing the best service to both our residential and commercial tenants and we are looking forward to our ownership of this property," said Raphael Toledano, President of Brookhill Properties, LLC. Paradigm Commercial Real Estate LLC, a full service commercial mortgage firm established in 1999, assisted Brookhill in the 332 East 9th Street transaction. "I am pleased to further the relationship between Brookhill and our regional banking lending business contacts. Brookhill's highly professional team has led us to another seamless financial transaction, " said Michael Edery of Paradigm Commercial Real Estate LLC. About Brookhill Properties Brookhill Properties is a real estate investment firm that has established itself strategically in the New York City market. Brookhill Properties is focused on the acquisition and development of residential properties in the East Village and Chelsea neighborhoods and prides itself on the quality of service provided to all tenants. Brookhill was founded by entrepreneur Rafi Toledano, who has a proven track record of successful real estate investment transactions. The Brookhill team brings together a unique group of knowledgeable professionals with broad experience in the global real estate markets, as well as expertize in property development, real estate finance, and law, all working together to maximize investments. For more information, please visit http://brookhillproperties.com/ Contact Info: Name: Alan Segan Email: ASEGAN@RUBENSTEINPR.COM Organization: Rubenstein Phone: 212-805-3064 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/raphael-toledano-of-brookhill-properties-adds-to-new-york-city-portfolio/131021 Release ID: 131021 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Free Freightnet Membership List your company in the Freightnet directory. It's Free, it's Easy and your company can be displayed in front of potential freight buyers within 24 hours. BlackRock has launched an Asian equity long/short absolute return fund to be managed by Oisin Crawley and Andrew Swan. The firm said the BlackRock Strategic Funds (BSF) Asia Pacific Absolute Return fund will invest in stocks benefiting from structual reform but short those facing internal and external pressures. Co-head of research for Asian equities Mr Crawley, and head of Asian equities Mr Swan, will run the strategy with support from a team of 21 based in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The Class A share class will have an ongoing charges figure (OCF) of 1.98 per cent, a 20 per cent performance fee and a minimum investment of 5,000. It will typically hold approximately 40 to 60 long and 40 to 60 short positions, including the use of equity swaps, contracts for difference, index futures or exchange traded funds, and the selective use of equity options. BlackRock said the liquid equity long/short Ucits will target a positive absolute returns regardless of volatility in Asian markets. Alex Hoctor-Duncan, head of EMEA retail at BlackRock, added: The BSF Asia Pacific Absolute Return Fund is for investors who are keen to explore what the region has to offer and want to diversify their portfolio, without taking on excessive market risk. James Ross is to become co-manager on the 3.9bn (3.3bn) Henderson Horizon Pan European Equity fund, handing over his UK Alpha vehicle in the process. Mr Ross will manage the fund alongside Tim Stevenson, who has headed the product since it was launched in 2001, and has been at Henderson since 1986. Mr Ross joined Henderson in 2007 as a graduate and has been co-manager on the 412m UK Alpha fund alongside Neil Hermon since 2013. Mr Stevenson said: Having worked with James for the past 10 years, I am very pleased to bring him on to the fund to work alongside me. James and I share a common investment philosophy and with his help I feel confident we can continue our successful track record of finding good quality growth companies in an increasingly tough market. Henderson said that Mr Rosss move was purely an effort to strengthen the European equities team and was not succession planning for Mr Stevenson. A spokesman said the promotion to Horizon Pan European Equity represents a big opportunity for him as it is a much bigger fund than UK Alpha. Mr Hermon will now become lead manager on the UK Alpha fund, and Henderson has appointed Indriatti van Hien who has worked with Mr Hermon and Mr Ross for four years as deputy manager. According to FE Analytics, the Henderson Horizon Pan European fund has returned 31.1 per cent over three years, while the offshore Europe including UK equity sector returned 23.7 per cent over the same period. The Henderson UK Alpha fund has returned 35.7 per cent over three years, compared to the IA UK All Companies sector which returned 21.1 per cent over the same timeframe. Standard Life Investments has hired Alliance Trusts Evan Bruce-Gardyne as head of investment trusts. Mr Bruce-Gardyne will manage relationships with the boards of Standard Lifes two mainstream investment company mandates - the UK Smaller Companies and Equity Income trusts run by Harry Nimmo and Thomas Moore respectively. Having spent over 12 years at Alliance Trust, in the main as head of investor relations but latterly as head of internal audit, Mr Bruce-Gardyne replaces Gordon Humphries at Standard Life. Mr Humphries left the Edinburgh-based fund manager earlier this year. Article continues after advert Canada Lifes decision to reopen its UK property fund is unlikely to herald the end of suspensions in the sector, with the end of 2016 looking a safer bet for most portfolios. The company became the first provider to reopen an indefinitely suspended fund last week. This came two months after it joined Standard Life Investments, Aviva Investors, Henderson, M&G and Columbia Threadneedle in gating UK real estate portfolios in the wake of a spike in redemptions following the EU referendum. The insurer said it remained cautious on the outlook for the asset class, and most of its peers have already opted to keep their portfolios closed for at least another 28 days. Aviva Investors has gone further, estimating that its Property Trust is likely to remain suspended until the first quarter of early 2017 at the earliest. Progress is also slow at Henderson and M&G the two largest UK retail property fund managers. But both may yet be able to reopen ahead of Avivas own 2017 estimate. On July 31, 11.2 per cent of the Henderson UK Property fund was held in liquid assets. By August 24, this figure had increased to 13.9 per cent, according to an update from the asset manager in which it confirmed the suspension remained in place. Chief executive Andrew Formica told analysts on July 28 that the fund may target a liquidity buffer of around 20 to 30 per cent before reopening. Based on the current run-rate of disposals, that would imply the suspension is lifted towards the end of this year. M&G has said its own fund will not reopen until cash levels reach at least 12.5 per cent. As of July 31, this weighting stood at 5.1 per cent. Manager Fiona Rowley secured sales equivalent to 1.5 per cent of the funds assets in the four weeks immediately following the referendum vote. The pace of disposals may have since increased given the calmer markets seen recently, and even simply maintaining the June rate will see the funds target cash level reached by December. This timeline is based on the assumption that managers are not selling off their highest quality assets first, a tactic that would suggest subsequent disposals take longer to complete. Ms Rowley said last month that some rivals had conducted a firesale of assets in the immediate aftermath of the suspensions. But funds that remain suspended have little need to do so, and the M&G manager said she would not be tempted by sharks offering immediate transactions but only at steep discounts. Asset managers BlackRock and Vanguard have been branded hypocritical for their stance on the climate change policy of US oil giant ExxonMobil, a company in which they are both major shareholders. The accusation came from the Asset Owners Disclosure Project, a not-for-profit campaign group that concentrates on climate change investment risk. In a new report, the Asset Owners Disclosure Project analysed a recent shareholder vote on a resolution to force ExxonMobil to assess climate risk to its business. The vote, which took place at the oil companys annual general meeting, defeated the resolution by 62 per cent to 38 per cent. The AODP branded BlackRock and Vanguard, which together own 11 per cent of the company, hypocritical because they voted against the motion despite being signatories to the United Nations Principles of Responsible Investment, or UN PRI. The AODP claimed by voting against the motion, the investment managers were violating UN PRIs third principle: We will seek appropriate disclosure on ESG issues by the entities in which we invest. JP Morgan, Capital Group and Franklin Templeton were also singled out for voting against the resolution. State Street Global Advisors, which owns 4.5 per cent of the company, voted in favour of the resolution. FTAdviser contacted both BlackRock and Vanguard for comment. A spokesperson for BlackRock said the firm prefered to engage with companies directly on complex issues such as adaptation to a low carbon economy adding: Where a company is unresponsive, we hold board members accountable. A spokesperson for Vanguard said the company was committed to the management of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues as an element of prudent investment and responsible portfolio ownership practices, adding its voting record and engagement activities were entirely consistent with its UN PRI commitments. Julian Poulter, chief executive of Asset Owners Disclosure Project, said climate change posed a clear threat to the business model of fossil fuel companies adding shareholders had a right to know how Exxon plans to manage climate risk. He went on: Asset managers and asset owners who helped Exxon defeat this modest climate resolution are not only risking their own money, they are betraying the millions of ordinary people whose pensions are invested in Exxon stock. Our analysis also reveals disturbing hypocrisy, with many investors ignoring responsible investment commitments they have made. The report also heavily criticised pension funds for failing to take the issue of climate change investment risk seriously. It found that 1,069 pension funds around the world were contacted by members asking them to vote in favour of the motion. Only 35 funds responded, AODP claimed. Of the funds that did respond, the most common reason given for not divulging voting plans was that they relied on their asset managers to vote. Three said they invested through pooled funds and one said it relied on proxy voting advisers. Lisa Hardman, a financial adviser and director of Investing Ethically, said if firms like BlackRock and Vanguard were voting against motions of this sort, you have to wonder why they sign up to the UN PRI. Specialist fund management group Liontrust has added six funds to one of the largest platforms in Europe, as it looks to tap into new markets. Investors now have access to a range of Liontrust funds through the Allfunds Bank platform. James Beddall, Liontrusts co-head of international sales, said the move is an important step in boosting Liontrusts distribution, particularly given the platforms popularity in continental Europe. He also said the decision to include the funds on the platform was a response to investor demand. Given where we are in the economic and market cycle, we are seeing particular interest in our two long/short Ucits funds, European Strategic Equity and Global Strategic Equity. The Dublin-domiciled funds now on the platform include: European Strategic Equity Global Strategic Equity Global Water & Agriculture Asia Income Special Situations Global Income The sales team at Liontrust are particularly focused on distributing the funds in Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the Benelux. Borja Largo, global head of fund groups at Allfunds Bank, said including asset managers like Liontrust reinforces the platforms current fund offering, while matching the interest of many investors and financial distributors when it comes to investing in high quality products. Liontrust reported net inflows of 255m for the year ending 31 March, which it claimed was driven largely by the UK retail business. katherine.denham@ft.com French farmers and lorry drivers blockaded the main motorway route into Calais, demanding the closure of the Jungle migrant camp. The French government has promised to close the camp, which is home to about 7,000 migrants, mainly from Afghanistan, Africa and the Middle East. But the protesters are demanding that the government fixes a date the closure of the camp, which they say is causing misery for locals and blighting the image of Calais. See also: French farmers step up milk price protests According to reports, some 100 tractors and 80 lorries staged a go-slow protest called Operation Escargot along the A16 near Calais on Monday (5 September) leading to the entrance of the Channel Tunnel and ferry terminals. The protest brought traffic to a standstill along the main artery leading to the ferry port at Calais. #Calais #A16 Des tracteurs bloquent les acces du Tunnel dans les deux sens de circulation. Evitez le secteur Police Nationale 62 (@PoliceNat62) September 5, 2016 (French National Police: Tractors are blocking the access of the Channel Tunnel in both directions. Avoid the area #Calais #A16) Vehicles travelling in the opposite direction greeted tractors and lorries with their horns. Around 10am on Monday, farmers joined locals to form a human chain across the road with many wearing t-shirts saying I Love Calais. La chaine humaine des habitants de Calais converge avzec les agriculteurs et les routiers. pic.twitter.com/bfu6suPb2q Gaele Joly (@joelgaly) September 5, 2016 (The human chain of residents from Calais joins up with farmers and lorry drivers) Arrivee a la sortie du tunnel sous la Manche pic.twitter.com/OOfEFn6NOR benjamin massot (@massot_benjamin) September 5, 2016 (The Channel Tunnel exit in Calais) Ralliement des manifestants qui ont effectue une chaine humaine a Calais a l operation escargot pic.twitter.com/ZSJ4jvIh5i benjamin massot (@massot_benjamin) September 5, 2016 (Rally of protesters who have made a human chain at Calais during Operation Escargot) French lorry drivers have been angered by attempts by migrants to jump on their vehicles as they seek to cross the Channel to enter Britain. Migrants have been deliberately causing crashes by throwing large objects at cars and then sneaking around the back and trying to climb aboard lorries. Farmers also complain that the recent wave of migrant action has damaged crops and farms in the area. Natacha Bouchart, the mayor of Calais, told the BBC that the situation had become untenable and something must be done. Were asking for total evacuation of the northern area of the camp, said Ms Bouchart. French right wing presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy has said illegal immigrant camps in France should be pulled down immediately and replaced by migrant detention camps in the UK. Mr Sarkozy said migrants who are seeking asylum in the UK should have their applications dealt with by British immigration authorities. However, the Home Office said the idea was a complete non-starter. In a statement, the UK and France have said they will work closer to resolve the problems in Calais. Story Highlights Daily spending reports averaged $91 last month August spending down $9 from unusually high July spending Higher-earning Americans' spending average down sharply WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans' daily self-reports of spending averaged $91 in August, down from $100 in July, which was the highest average for any month since July 2008. Last month's average is in line with the $89 reported in August 2015, but slightly below the averages for the same month in 2013 ($95) and 2014 ($94). These results are based on Gallup Daily tracking interviews conducted throughout August. Gallup asks Americans each night to report how much they spent "yesterday," excluding normal household bills and major purchases such as a home or car. The measure gives an indication of discretionary spending. Since December 2012, Americans' daily spending estimates have consistently averaged $80 or higher in all but one month. By contrast, in the four years prior, which included part of the Great Recession and periods of high unemployment that ensued, monthly spending averages were as low as $58 and never above $77. The spending average for August is on par with the average of $90 for 2016 so far. In Gallup's nearly nine-year trend, August has generally not been a standout month for spending, ranking neither among the highest nor the lowest spending months in most years. Looking forward, Americans typically report less spending on average in September than in August, including each year since 2010. On this basis, it's not likely spending will rise in the coming month. Higher-Earning Americans' Spending Average Slid Last Month Both higher- and lower-earning Americans reported lower spending on average in August than in July. The drop was more pronounced among Americans whose annual household incomes are $90,000 or higher, whose self-reported daily spending average fell $21, to $140. This earning group consistently reports spending a lot more on average than lower-income Americans, and its spending estimates tend to vary more over time. Spending dropped less in August among Americans whose annual household incomes are lower than $90,000. Spending among this group dropped only $3 to an average of $72. Monthly averages for lower-earning Americans have been much steadier over time compared with those who earn $90,000 or more annually. Bottom Line After reporting higher-than-usual discretionary spending in July, Americans pulled back slightly to more typical levels in August. The average for spending in August is still on par with the 2016 average so far, and remains healthy compared with sub-$80 figures from 2009 to 2012. The dip in spending does, however, come amid a slowing of spending in manufacturing and construction industries. But given Americans' improved confidence in the U.S. economy last month, it doesn't appear that their return to normal spending is a reaction to larger economic forces. These data are available in Gallup Analytics. Survey Methods Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Aug. 1-31, 2016, on the Gallup U.S. Daily survey, with a random sample of 15,249 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of error for the spending mean is $4 at the 95% confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting. Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 60% cellphone respondents and 40% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods. Learn more about how Gallup Daily tracking works. iPhone 7 Plus Latest News, Release Date & Update: Bigger Version Armed With More RAM, Dual Camera, Water Resistant The countdown continues on the iPhone 7, something expected to be unveiled on Sept. 7 from San Francisco. Though minimal features have overshadowed its coming, the select upgrades are widely expected to be present on the iPhone 7 Plus version. Among the potential perks that the iPhone 7 Plus will include that highly touted dual-camera setup and also higher RAM. Seeing how the Cupertino company has placed the premium on its ruggedness, its water-resistance is also expected to be better. All this comes from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. iPhone 7 Plus likely to carry the big revisions The iPhone 7 is reportedly coming with 2 GB of RAM but the Plus model will boast of 1 GB RAM more (3 GB). This will compliment the expected A10 chip clocked at 2.4 GHz powering both models with the iPhone 7 Plus reportedly impressive in tests, via XDA Developers. As far as the camera difference, the iPhone 7 is likely to sport a 12 MP main camera while the Plus model will tote the dual-camera version, each with 12 MP sensors and different element lens. Both models will have 4-LED flash which should give the necessary assist when taking photos under low-lit conditions. Storage options As most may have heard by now, the iPhone 7/ 7 Plus will come in three storage versions. The base model will start off at 32 GB after which choice jumps to either 128 and 256 GB. The pricing is expected to follow the same one that the iPhone 6s/ 6s Plus models offered, available in silver, gold, rose gold, piano black and dark black themes. Gone are the 3.5 mm jacks which should make the included Lighting-to-3.5 mm adapter an interesting piece and transform the home button into a Force Touch button. The move was part of improving the water-proofing for the upcoming iPhone models as mentioned in a previous post. All that and probably more will be finally known in a couple of days when Apple finally lifts the covers on the iPhone 7. 'Power' Season 3 Episode 9 Air Date, Spoilers, News & Update: Ghost, Family's Life In Danger? Kanan Using Tariq Against Ghost? "Power" Season 3 is up with its last two episodes and it looks like things are getting more intense as it is reaching its way to the finale. Fans now fear for the life of Ghost (Omari Hardwick) for picking a battle against Milan that puts him and the one he loves in danger. 'Power' Season 3 Episode 9 Spoilers 'I Call The Shots' In "Power" Season 3 Episode 9, Ghost will be seen trying his best to keep his family safe, but his efforts to fight Milan still puts them in jeopardy. As he is having a hard time to keep up with his plans, his eagerness to bring Milan down might take its toll on him, as per CarterMatt. The role of the 42-year-old star is now being outnumbered by his opponent and the only one he expects who could help him is not in a good shape. Evidently, Tommy is still upset with the death of Holly (Lucy Walters) that makes him too vulnerable. Moreover, fans should also watch for Tariq (Michael Rainey Jr.) in "Power" Season 3 Episode 9 "I Call the Shots." Kanan (50 Cent) is making his way to being closed to Tariq and this may result in a not so good friendship. Fans Expect To See In 'Power' Season 3 Episode 9 'I Call The Shots' Meanwhile, a lot of speculations are now starting to emerge as "Power" Season 3 will come to a close. Some expect it could be a very dirty finale as the show is full of betrayal, dishonesty and deceitfulness. Here are some scenes fans want to see before "Power" Season 3 concludes, as per TV Fanatic. Angela (Lela Loren) will find ways to know the real thing between Ghost and Tasha (Naturi Naughton) as she found them together. In "Power" Season 3, the role of Tariq definitely surfaces and it looks like Kanan is only befriending for his own benefits against Ghost. Lastly, Dre (Rotimi) too should tell everything he knows to Ghost about Kanan before it's too late. "Power" Season 3 Episode 9 "I Call the Shots" will be seen on Sept. 18 on Starz. 'Jeepers Creepers 3' Release Date, Plot, News & Update: Why Is There No Update On Third Installment? Facing Another Delay? Although the anticipation and hype for "Jeepers Creepers 3" continues to grow, nothing much is said about the movie. But now the "Jeepers Creepers 3" director himself has revealed new interesting update about the film and fans are eager to learn more about what is in store for all of us. READ: 'Jeepers Creepers 3' Release Date, Plot, News & Update: 'Cathedral' Sequel Faces Another Delay? According to "Jeepers Creepers 3" director Victor Salva, the curiosity regarding The Creeper will finally be answered in "Jeepers Creepers 3," Movie Pilot reported. "We are bringing back the Creeper's truck, and will be addressing the big questions about The Creeper: what it is, where it came from and why it does what it does," the "Jeepers Creepers 3" director said. Since the "Jeepers Creepers" director mentioned that we may finally learn the background of The Creeper in "Jeepers Creepers 3," does this mean that the film will bring us back to the early days of The Creeper? If so, then there's a possibility that "Jeepers Creepers" 3 will be more likely a prequel than a sequel. READ: 'Jeepers Creepers 3' Release Date, Plot, News & Update: Will Cathedral Sequel Finally Reveal Everything About The Creeper? "Jeepers Creepers 3" got a lot of love when the possibility of the "Cathedral" sequel was mentioned. Unfortunately, even with the positive feedback, the much-awaited movie is getting all the bad luck during its production process, and the lack of update left fans to speculate that "Jeepers Creepers 3" may face another setback. Despite the controversy, sequel producer Stan Spry, assured fans that "Jeepers Creepers 3" is still going to push through. When asked by a fan on Twitter if "Jeepers Creepers 3" is ever going to happen, Stan Spry replied, "it is not cancelled. Producers are working on the domestic distribution deal." READ: 'Jeepers Creepers 3' News & Update: Release in Jeopardy Due to Director's Conviction? That's all the fans needed. Now, the hype for "Jeepers Creepers 3" is back and the anticipation is getting stronger by the minute. Are you going to watch "Jeepers Creepers 3"? Let us know in the comment section below! "Jeepers Creepers 3" release date has yet to be announced. 'Beauty and the Beast' Latest News & Updates: Dan Stevens Looks Perfect For Beast's Human Form, See Gaston, Lumiere and Cogsworth Photos "Beauty and the Beast" is a live-action movie from Disney which stars Emma Watson who is really eager to make the animated film to life. A number of photos was recently released showing the characters for the upcoming film adaptation. Photos from the "Beauty and the Beast" were recently revealed by the film producer himself. Jack Morrisey has been seen posting a documentation of the film in his Facebook account. According to an article, the film producer said that there will be a lot of behind-the-scenes photos that will be featured in the latest Beauty and the Beast DVD/Blu-Ray release for its 25th anniversary celebration. A photo released show the Beast in his human form and is played by Dan Stevens. Other characters images like Gaston who is played by Luke Evans in a song number in a pub, Lumiere and Cogsworth who are voiced by Ewan McGregor and Ian McKellen respectively were also released. As the usual "Beauty and the Beast" story goes, the Beast will not transform back into his human form not until the end of the movie. According to Vanity Fair. Dan Stevens who played the Beast was also seen in a photo in his human form and many commented that he really looks very closely to the animation prince with its hairstyle and clothes. The upcoming film "Beauty & the Beast" will hit the theatres on March 17, 2017 and fans can no longer hide their excitement as they will once again here the same songs from the animation with the cast singing along. The film will also cast Kevin Kline, Emma Thompson and Josh Gad. This will all be directed by Bill Condon. The filming for the live action "Beauty and the Beast" started from May 2015 and had wrapped up in just three months. Many of the scenes will be incorporated with CGI to include the same magic as to the original animation. Star Wars Rebels Season 3 Air Date, Spoilers, News & Update: The Grand Admiral Thrawn and His Tactical Prowess The Star Wars Rebels Season 3 is nearing its premiere and somehow, news about its latest antagonist; the Grand Admiral Thrawn is making headlines. In fact, the new season, despite the presence of Darth Maul and Vader, will not concentrate on the two enemy's battles. Now, it looks like the whole team is warned by the Admiral Thrawn's arrival. The latest Star Wars Rebels Season 3 trailer suggests, how Thrawn has been studying how to defeat to defeat the universe with his tactical intelligence. He works on bringing down the rebellion and relies on his clever ideas on how to defeat them. Darth Vader, if he relied on his strength and superiority before, the Thrawn definitely has a total different way of antagonizing the rebellion. It is also apparent, the absence of Darth Vader's role in the new trailer. This confirm, creator Dave Filoni's previous comments wherein he said, the Star Wars Rebels Season 3 will not be about Darth Vader and Darth Maul. he also added that, the inclusion of the Admiral Thrawn in the Star Wars Rebels Season 3 has been delicately studied and considered, before they started introducing him to the new season. Thrawn will be the threat to the heroes of Star Wars Rebels Season 3. Lars Mikkelsen's vicious Star Wars character will be unforgiving and no amount of hero power can easily put the antagonist down. Thrawn's character came from the unknown regions and as he get promoted to a commander in the defense force, he was given the opportunity to destroy the Outbound Flight. Since then, he rose to fame in the Galactic Empire, thus earning the title of the Grand Admiral Thrawn. Star Wars Rebels Season 3 will premiere in the Disney XD channel on Saturday, September 24. For more news and update about the series, read them here on GameNGuide. 5 Best Android Phones Available Now: Know The Specific Specs & Features Of Each After so many devices that was recently released and will soon be released, there is no doubt that the Android has the largest number of population on the phone industry right now as compared to Apple's iOS. These devices have their own different screen size, processors used and features to offer that choosing what is the best is really hard. According to iTech Post, these are the Top 5 2016 Best Android Phones available now. Samsung Galaxy Note 7 The Galaxy Note 7 is considered as the best Android phone in the world which has a stunning curved screen. It has a dual edge curves that measure 5.7 inch diagonally with a Super AMOLED display. It is also the first device from Samsung to have a Gorilla Glass 5. Galaxy Note 7 is powered by Exynos 8890 Octa Chipset plus Octa-core CPU and a Mali-T880 MP12 GPU in Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. It also has a 12 megapixel main camera with a 5 megapixel selfie camera. According to GSMarena, the Samsung Galaxy Note7 is a great performer in terms of battery life as it has 90h Endurance for the Exynos 8890 version and 81h for the Snapdragon 820 one. Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge The only difference with the Samung S7 Edge and Samsung S6 is that the S7 Edge has a larger screen and a software feature included with the curve screen on both sides of the phone. Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge has 5.5 inch Super AMOLED screen display with a dual edge design. It also has two variants of running processors, the Qualcomm MSM8996 Snapdragon 820 chipset, Quad-core CPU, and Adreno 530 GPU for the US version and an Exynos 8890 Octa Chipset, Octa-core CPU, and Mali-T880 MP12 GPU for its global version. It features a 12 megapixel main shooter and a 5 megapixel front. The Galaxy S7 Edge also offers a 3,600 mAh battery which is higher than the S7's 3,000 mAh capacity. Samsung Galaxy S7 The Galaxy S7 is the latest Samsung device which was released after Galaxy S6 and Samsung has so many new features, improvement, and comebacks to offer this time. The phone is water resistant that it can submerge underwater up to 1.5m for 30 minutes. Samsung Galaxy S7 comes with a Quad HD Super AMOLED 5.1-inch display and comes with two different specs, one with the Snapdragon 820 quad-core CPU and Adreno 530 GPU and the other one with the Exynos 8890 octa-core CPU and a Mali T880 MP12 GPU. As to its camera, it has a 12 megapixel main camera with a 5 megapixel front camera. It also has a 3,000 mAh battery life and supports quick charging. Google Nexus 6P On the other hand, the Google Nexus 6P is specially designed by Huawei and Google. The Nexus 6P body is more likely to be a Huawei's design while the camera setting and fingerprint sensors were designed by Google. Google Nexus 6P weighs 178g which is heavier than Nexus 5X and is much bigger when it comes to its screen as it has a 5.7 inch QHD AMOLED display. Nexus 6P is powered by Qualcomm MSM8992 Snapdragon 810 chipset, Octa-core with a 3 GB RAM memory and an Adreno 430 GPU. Google Nexus 6P flaunts a 12.3 megapixel Sony sensor dual-LED flash and laser autofocus main camera an 8 megapixel front camera which is very good in taking selfies. It has a longer battery life with 3,450 mAh as compared to Nexus 5X. Google Nexus 5x The Google Nexus 5X is co-designed by Google and LG which has mid-range offering that looks identical from the Nexud 6P. It weighs 136g which is very light and can be used single handedly. It has a 5.2 inch 1080p IPS LCD with a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 touchscreen and is powered by Qualcomm MSM8992 Snapdragon 808 chipset, Hexacore CPU with a 2 GB RAM memory and Adreno 418 GPU. It also has an amazing 12 megapixel main camera that supports laser autofocus and dual LED flash while its front camera has a 5 megapixel shooter. Google Nexus 5X also has a good battery life with 2,700 mAh and is also equipped with an LTE Cat. 6 modem to speed up its connection. A USB Type-C cable is also available for data transfer at USB 2.0 speed. Health officials said the local coronavirus outlook remained stable this week, though they continued to warn against a potential winter surge. We recently came across this story in which a former engineer on the US spy satellites known as Keyhole-9, claims that the imagery they got from those satellites were better than Google Earth. We thought this was something worth looking in to. Google Earth has imagery in a wide range of resolutions from a few centimetres per pixel to more than 15m per pixel. The highest resolution photos are taken from very close to the ground, such as some photos of the island of Manihi that Frank captured with a camera attached to a kite. Next highest is aerial imagery that is captured from aircraft and covers the continental US, much of Europe, Japan and a number of other locations around the world. Aerial imagery in general is better resolution than can reasonably be captured by satellite. So, for a fair comparison we need to look at satellite imagery only. All references we have been able to find say that the best resolution that the KH-9 satellites provided was 2 to 4 feet. That translates to about 70 cm per pixel at best. If you look at this list you will see that many commercial satellites that provide imagery to Google Earth actually do a bit better than that, the best being DigitalGlobes WorldView-3 that can manage 31cm per pixel. WorldView-4, due to be launched this month will have similar resolution. So, although the resolutions achieved by the KH-9 satellites are certainly impressive, they were not actually better than Google Earth provides today. The maximum possible resolution of a camera depends on the size of the collector (typically a mirror) and the distance from the target. The KH-9 satellites were in non-circular orbits with lowest altitude of about 150 km. Most modern commercial imaging satellites are in higher orbits anywhere from 400 800 km up. The lower orbit of the KH-9 satellites gave them a resolution advantage, but it may also be the reason why they were only in orbit for around 3 to 9 months each. The best imaging satellites today probably achieve their greater resolution despite the higher orbit through a combination of larger mirrors and better quality optics, although we could not find any actual data on the size of the mirror used in WorldView-3. The KH-9 satellites had 0.91 m diameter mirrors. In the past it was actually illegal in the US to sell imagery with better than 50cm per pixel resolution, but in June 2014 DigitalGlobe was given permission to sell higher resolution imagery up to 25cm per pixel. One of the photos shown in the clip in the CNN story and also shown on Daily Mails version of the story, which shows an overhead shot of people having a picknick is clearly higher resolution than 2 feet per pixel and we believe is not a satellite image. Another of the photos they show is of a submarine at the Russian naval yard at Severodvinsk, which we discussed in this post. At the time we noted that it was a remarkably good image for its age, although not quite as good as the Google Earth imagery. A declassified photo of a submarine (cropped for better resolution) in Severodvinsk, Russia. The image was captured in October 1982 by KH9-17. Full image here. The same location (and probably the same submarine) as seen in Google Earth. It is no coincidence that the company Google Earth originally came from was named Keyhole Inc. It was in direct reference to the Keyhole spy satellites. To this day, Google Earth saves files in the KML format which stands for Keyhole Markup Language. The Corona program (that flew the Keyhole satellites) and most of the imagery from them has been declassified. The imagery can be obtained from the USGS. Some has been digitized and is available to download for free via Earth Explorer (look for the Declassified data data sets). For imagery that hasnt been digitised, for a fee of US$ 30 per scene you can have them scanned. The imagery is not just of Russia and China. In fact the only high resolution imagery we were able to find was of the US and Antarctica. You can read more about the KH-9 satellites on Wikipedia. A documentary about the start of the Corona program can be found on YouTube. Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021. Raid in Bad Godesberg : Businesses are re-opened and efforts are made to improve situation Bad Godesberg All businesses that were shut down after last weeks raid have now been re-opened. City marketing is leading discussions on improving the situation. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken Following the re-opening of the shisha bar on Aennchenplatz, the supermarket and two real estate offices on Villichgasse have followed suit. Last week, they had been raided by police and sealed off. The city confirmed to GA that the businesses have all been registered and re-opened now. Jurgen Bruder, head of city marketing, met with the Arcadia Passage owner last week because some of the affected businesses are in the Passage. We talked about the situation there and the escalation (of violence), said Bruder and they wanted to work together to do something about it. On Friday, they will bring all business owners who rent at the Aracadia Passage together as well as other business people in the area. The goal is for them to meet each other, overcome fears together and work against formation of a parallel society. There is a potential for violence and provocation. One has to work against that, explained Bruder. Further, We want to help improve the situation and the mood. Some first ideas have already been kicked around; perhaps a street festival or something similar around Aennchenplatz and Villichgasse. They planned to talk about the possibilities on Friday. StreetScooter : Deutsche Post pilot project in Bonn a big success Der Fuhrpark der Post fur Wachtberg besteht nur noch aus Elektrofahrzeugen und hat in Holzem seinen zentralen Standort; hier tankt Zustellerin Heike Gobel ihr Fahrzeug vom Typ Streetscooter per Strom aus der Steckdose auf Foto: Axel Vogel Bonn Deutsche Post helps the climate and reduces noise pollution with its transition to an electric fleet. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken In many places, you can hear the postal delivery truck coming from miles away. In Wachtberg, those days have been over for some time already. When Heike Gobel delivers the mail between Niederbachem and Adendorf, no one hears her coming. She and her colleagues in Wachtberg take part in a pilot project for Deutsche Post DHL using electric vehicles called StreetScooters to deliver the mail. Deutsche Post spokesperson Achim Gahr said Bonn is the first city in Germany where they have employed their carbon-free concept. They have been transforming the fleet to electric vehicles since 2013. Because the program has shown such positive results, other cities will also receive the electric vehicles. The StreetScooter was developed in-house and is produced by Deutsche Post, with 1,000 vehicles having been manufactured by the end of August. 45-year-old Heike Gobel has been driving the StreetScooter for four years already. For the Wachtberg area, there are 17 electric vehicles, eight of them StreetScooters. She says the maximum distance her electric delivery vehicle travels is 80 kilometers but she normally drives around 10 kilometers a day, and the maximum need for the area would be 35 kilometers. Whats important for her is an electric plug-in at hip level, a mail box next to the drivers seat instead of a passenger seat and a rear view camera. The battery gets charged overnight. According to Gahr, 13,500 of the 30,000 company vehicles have been enhanced with energy-efficient technical modifications, and over 1,000 of the fleet are the StreetScooters, which are fully emission free and at the same time help reduce noise pollution. The Post is committed to do its part in protecting the climate; the goal says Gahr is to reduce carbon emissions of the fleet by 30 percent from 2007 to 2020. At the moment we are 25 percent. 'Feels Like Home Season 2' offers something real and tangible to think about; takes home a pertinent point - if your intentions are good, there is nothing in life that isn't achievable. Military Strikes Continue Against ISIL in Syria, Iraq From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release SOUTHWEST ASIA, Sept. 5, 2016 U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today. Officials reported details of yesterday's strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports. Strikes in Syria Attack and fighter aircraft conducted nine strikes in Syria: -- Near Raqqah, six strikes destroyed eight ISIL trailers, three oil pump jacks, and 42 oil tanker trucks. -- Near Manbij, two strikes engaged two ISIL tactical units and destroyed two vehicles and a fighting position. -- Near Mar'a, a strike destroyed an ISIL mortar system. Strikes in Iraq Bomber, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted three strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government: -- Near Baghdadi, a strike destroyed two ISIL communication towers. -- Near Ramadi, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed a vehicle. -- Near Sultan Abdallah, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an assembly area, a fighting position, and two vehicles. Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is a strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike. Part of Operation Inherent Resolve The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, the region, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Syria include the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 13th MEU patrols the seas during Western Pacific Deployment 16-1 US Marine Corps News By Cpl. Alvin Pujols | September 5, 2016 The Fighting 13th has been forward deployed for almost seven months and in that time has faced many adversities such as the bone-chilling cold in South Korea and the sweltering heat in Djibouti, but the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit has met each challenge head on. The 13th MEU, embarked at the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group, is currently transiting the Pacific Ocean during the final phases of Western Pacific Deployment 16-1. After six months of pre-deployment training off the coast of southern California, the Fighting 13th departed for WESTPAC 16-1 from Naval Base San Diego, February 12, 2016 rolling into sustainment training in Hawaii just a few days later. The MEU was able to conduct training to sharpen the skills of each of its major subordinate commands, said Sgt. Vanessa Polanco, a Marine Air-Ground Task Force planner with the MEU. The ground combat element conducted various raids and live-fire ranges. The air combat element conducted close-air support drills and helicopter support team drills. The logistic combat element provided support in the forms of ammunition, medical care and transportation. The training helped ensure the MEU functioned well as a MAGTF. "During our time in Hawaii, we conducted military operations in urban terrain training, multiservice patrolling classes and jungle warfare training," said Sgt. William A. Randle, an infantry squad leader with the 13th MEU. The sustainment training in Hawaii was the last time the MEU would see American soil. The next stop was Exercise Ssang Yong 16 in Pohang, South Korea, one of the world's largest multinational gatherings of naval vessels. "After an amphibious landing ashore, the MEU conducted explosive ordnance disposal range sweeps in partnership with the 31st MEU, medical evacuation team drills and live-fire ranges," said Polanco. Once ashore, the Marines faced below freezing temperatures. That adversity didn't hinder the explosive ordnance disposal team from completing their mission. "During Ssang Yong 16 we conducted a range sweep of the Su Song Ri range," said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Timothy Harrison, the officer in charge of the explosive ordnance disposal team with the 13th MEU. "Our purpose was to locate and dispose of unexploded ordnance within the maneuver area so [a MEU infantry company] could safely conduct their live-fire training. During the sweep we worked with the [31st MEU's EOD team] and located more than 300 pieces of unexploded ordnance totaling more than 200 pounds net explosive weight." While the Fighting 13th's EOD detachment swept a range for unexploded ordnance with the 31st MEU's EOD detachment, the 13th MEU's Light Armored Reconnaissance Company had the opportunity to work with the Republic of Korea Marines. "We communicated with the ROK Marines over radio and cell phone and once we arrived it was a simple meet and greet," said 1st Sgt. Tommy H. Choe, the LAR company 1st sergeant with the MEU. "We gave classes on our light armored vehicles, its capabilities and limitations, and what each of our Marine's function was within the unit." The ROK Marines showed a genuine interest in regards to the LAR Marines' gear, diversity and job details, Choe said. "Our Marines reciprocated the curiosity with their own. The whole experience was a good one with both sides getting to learn a bit about each other and having a lasting memory of the experience." Once Exercise Ssang Yong 16 was completed, the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group steamed away from South Korea toward more tropic climes. Some Marines quickly regretted wishing for warmer weather, as they soon found themselves operating in places with temperatures over 100 degrees in Africa and the Middle East. "The weather provided a different training environment than we were used to," said Sgt. Gregory Campbell, a light armored vehicle commander with the 13th MEU. "It was a mountainous terrain that was hot and humid. One of the saving graces was the ability to [work out] on the beach and when possible in the water because it gave us the chance to cool down after a hot day." The terrain and weather provided various challenges to many aspects of the training and operations the MEU conducted. "While in Djibouti, Marines with the Light Armored Reconnaissance Company conducted light armored vehicle gunnery, day and night patrols, and squad and fire-team sized live-fire ranges," said Capt. Nathaniel R. Jones, LAR company commander with the 13th MEU. The ranges and operations in the extreme heat proved to be challenging but the Marines were resilient and patient when it came to maintaining their equipment. "The extreme heat limited the amount of time we could spend on vehicle maintenance," said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Zachary McManigal, the maintenance officer with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit's logistic combat element. "If a Humvee was extremely hot, we would have to wait for the sun to go down in order to trouble shoot what was wrong with the vehicle in the first place. The Marines worked anywhere from five to ten hour days to ensure proper maintenance was taking place." The MEU went from the hot mountains of Africa to the desert heat of the Middle East, where the Marines lost the mountainous terrain but gained desert sands. Again they adapted. "The 13th MEU conducted collective skills training for the air combat element, ground combat element and logistical combat element, as well as focusing on chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear decontamination and culminating in a combined arms live-fire exercise," said Capt. Matthew P. Brousseau, an operations officer with the 13th MEU. While the majority of the MEU participated in large scale exercises in Africa and the Middle East, others provided support for Operation Inherent Resolve. "The MEU's Harrier detachment spent from June 20, 2016 until July 10, 2016 supporting Operation Inherent Resolve," said Maj. Andrew D'Ambrogi, the Harrier detachment officer in charge with the 13th MEU. "We provided close-air support during operations in the U.S. Central Command area of operations. We had five Harriers while in Qatar and were flying eight hours a day while we were a part of the operation." As the air combat element provided support during OIR other Marines were able to exchange knowledge with foreign militaries. "While in [the Middle East] we worked with the [foreign militaries] and exchanged basic instruction with long-range weapon systems and new combat optics," said Sgt. Timothy Stewart, a scout sniper with the 13th MEU. Marines were operating in many countries and eventually had the opportunity to not only exchange knowledge but demonstrate the MEU's capabilities to partner nations. "While in Malaysia we displayed the MEU's capabilities to the Malaysian armed services by conducting call for fire drills with actual aircraft," said Sgt. David Suyatokamoto, a joint fires observer with the 13th MEU. Throughout the duration of Western Pacific Deployment 16-1 the MEU has operated in 20 different countries, participating in various large scale exercises including Ssang Yong 16 in Pohang, South Korea and Eager Lion 16 in Jordan. It has expended over 65 tons of aviation ordnance and 400,000 rounds of ammunition. The aircraft have flown more than 6,500 hours transporting more than 11,000 passengers and more than 1,000,000 pounds of cargo. The MEU assisted in the protection of the President and sacrificed its own free time during ports of call to volunteer at special needs schools and soup kitchens. The Fighting 13th has added to its legacy over the last 6 months and as it prepares to transit through the U.S. 3rd Fleet area of operations back home it will continue to sharpen its skills and remain ever vigilant should it be called upon to take action. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 24 killed as two bombs go off near Afghan Defense Ministry Iran Press TV Mon Sep 5, 2016 12:10PM At least 24 people are killed as two explosions claimed by Taliban rip through Afghanistan's capital, officials say as the country continues to grapple with insecurity some 15 years after a US-led invasion. The blasts went off near the Defense Ministry building in Kabul during late afternoon rush hour on Monday. "Two suicide bombers, both on foot, detonated their explosives... in downtown Kabul," Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said. "The attackers blew themselves up one after another and unfortunately we do have police and civilian casualties," he added. A spokesman for the public health ministry said at least 24 people were killed and 91 injured in the blasts. The toll might rise further, the spokesman, Mohammad Ismail Kawousi, added. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the blasts on Twitter, saying that the Defense Ministry was the target of the first attack, while police were targeted in the second. The explosions occurred after 13 people, including seven students, three police, two security guards and a doorman, were killed in an attack on the American University in Kabul on August 24. Thirty students were also injured. Afghanistan has been gripped by insecurity since the US and its allies invaded the country as part of Washington's so-called war on terror in 2001. Many parts of the country still remain plagued by militancy despite the presence of foreign troops. Taliban have regrouped since the death of former leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour earlier in the year and are reported to be currently in control of some areas in Afghanistan. Fierce fighting is currently ongoing between the Afghan army and the militants across the country, notably in Helmand and around the northern city of Kunduz, which they had briefly seized last year. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) says it recorded 1,601 civilian deaths and 3,565 injuries in Afghanistan in the first six months of 2016. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Saudi warplanes use cluster bombs in airstrikes on Yemen Iran Press TV Mon Sep 5, 2016 7:7AM Saudi Arabia has intensified its airstrikes on Yemen, using internationally-banned cluster bombs in its air assaults against the impoverished country. The Yemeni news agency SABA said Saudi fighter jets dropped cluster bombs on several areas in the district of Baqem in the northern province of Sa'ada on Sunday. The attacks came in defiance of international laws, which prohibit the use of such weapons. The United Nations (UN)'s human rights office has recently called for an independent international investigation of cases of human rights violations in the Saudi war on Yemen, confirming the use of banned cluster bombs by Saudi Arabia against Yemen's residential areas. On May 6, Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticized the United States for selling cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia. The UK was also rapped by Amnesty International over supplying Riyadh with British-made cluster bombs, which have likewise been used against civilians in Yemen. Elsewhere in Sa'ada, Saudi warplanes launched air raids on the district of Shada on Sunday. Three Saudi airstrikes also hit al-Nahdin district in Sana'a Province. However, there were no immediate reports of causalities from the air raids. Also on Sunday, at least a woman was killed and two other people were wounded in Saudi airstrikes on residential areas in the Matun district of Jawf Province. Saudi warplanes also destroyed the building of Doctors' Syndicate in the western province of Hudaydah overnight. Two civilians were injured in the air raids, one of them critically. Separately, Saudi-backed mercenaries fired mortar shells at a market in the Bir Basha area in the southwestern province of Ta'izz early on Monday, killing and injuring a number of Yemenis. Also in the early hours of Monday, a heavy explosion hit the entrance to the central prison in Mansoura district in the province of Aden in southern Yemen, killing and injuring an unspecified number of people. Saudi Arabia has been incessantly pounding Yemen since March 2015, with the UN putting the death toll from the military aggression at about 10,000. The offensive was launched in an attempt to reinstate Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a Saudi ally who has resigned as Yemen's president. That prospect has so far proven out of hand for the Riyadh regime. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address South Sudan agrees to 4,000 more UN peacekeepers Iran Press TV Mon Sep 5, 2016 1:5AM South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has agreed to the deployment of 4,000 additional UN peacekeepers after initially rejecting the regional protection force as a breach of its sovereignty. Kiir made the announcement on Sunday following a meeting with the UN Security Council in the capital Juba. "The transitional government of national unity gives its consent for the deployment of the regional force," read a joint statement released by the UN and the government. Juba initially rejected the proposal, which was offered earlier in the month, stating that it lends the United Nations the ability to govern and "seriously undermines" South Sudan's sovereignty. South Sudan has witnessed a new wave of conflict since July 8, when gunfire erupted near the state house in Juba as Kiir and then Vice President Riek Machar were holding a meeting. More than 300 people were killed in the clashes. The country gained independence from Sudan in 2011. It has gone through turmoil ever since. The US envoy to the UNSC, Samantha Power, praised the additional deployment but noted that it was now time for action. "What we need to do now is move from those very important high-level commitments into working up the modalities in an operational way," she said. The conflict in South Sudan has exposed deep ethnic divisions. It erupted after a power struggle between President Kiir, a member of the Dinka ethnic group, and rebel leader Machar, a member of the Nuer ethnic group. "Fundamentally, it's going to be the tribes themselves and the political leadership of this country that are going to have to come together," added Power. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Afghanistan forces retake strategic eastern district from Taliban Iran Press TV Mon Sep 5, 2016 5:51PM Afghan government forces have retaken a strategic district in the war-ravaged country's east, more than a week after it fell to Taliban militants. Afghan officials said Jani Khel district in Afghanistan's eastern province of Paktia was recaptured from the militants on Monday, adding that a clearance operation was still going on. On August 27, Taliban militants seized the district in Paktia after five days of siege. "If we do not retake it (Jani Khel) soon then Taliban can easily move from one province to another and can undermine security in at least three provinces," Local governor Abdul Rahman Solamal had warned at the time. Jani Khel sits at an intersection linking eight districts. It also connects Paktia with neighboring Khost province and Pakistan. Afghanistan has been gripped by insecurity since the US and its allies invaded the country as part of Washington's so-called war on terror in 2001. Many parts of the country still remain plagued by militancy despite the presence of foreign troops. In late July, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said it had recorded 1,601 civilian deaths and 3,565 injuries in Afghanistan in the first six months of 2016. The mission warned that civilian casualties had hit a record high this year, describing them as "alarming and shameful." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Philippine President Introduces State of Emergency After Davao Explosion Sputnik News 20:48 05.09.2016 State of emergency in Philippines was introduced by the presidential decree, according to Presidential Communications Assistant Secretary for Policy and Legislative Affairs Christian Ablan. MOSCOW (Sputnik) President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte has introduced a state of emergency in the country following the explosion in Davao city, Presidential Communications Assistant Secretary for Policy and Legislative Affairs Christian Ablan confirmed Monday. "The state of national emergency shall remain in force until lifted or withdrawn by the President," Ablan was quoted as saying by the Philippine Information Agency. The president's order for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to take measures allowed by the constitution is among key points of the emergency state proclamation, he added. Over a dozen people were killed in an explosion last Friday in a night market in a southern commercial coastal town in the Philippines. Over 50 people were injured. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the blast. On Saturday, the president placed the country on a lockdown, branding the Davao city explosion an act of terrorism. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Egypt Strives to Equip Army With Modern Russian Weaponry Sputnik News 13:01 05.09.2016(updated 13:13 05.09.2016) Egypt is going to provide its army with modern Russia-produced weaponry, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Monday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Egypt aims to equip its army with modern Russia-produced weaponry, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Monday. "[We] are glad to note that Egypt seeks to use modern weapons and military equipment manufactured in Russia to equip the national armed forces," Shoigu said at the third meeting of the joint military and technical cooperation commission. He added that the Russian weaponry effectiveness was demonstrated in Syria. The minister also stressed the importance of connecting Egypt to Russia's Glonass satellite navigation network in May 2016. The third joint military and technical cooperation commission is expected to evaluate the results of the previous year work and set the goals for the upcoming one. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Third Blast Hits Kabul After Explosions Kill at Least 30 By Ayaz Gul September 05, 2016 A third blast rocked Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, late Monday, hours after a suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden vehicle, killing at least 30 people and wounding more than 90 others earlier in the day. The massive blast was followed by gunfire. A guesthouse frequented by foreigners was said to be the target. Afghan Special Forces quickly reached the area and reported to have engaged at least two gunmen trying to enter the facility. There were no immediate reports of casualties, nor any claim of responsibility. Hours earlier, a suicide bomber detonated his device near the Afghan Defense Ministry as crowds gathered to inspect the site after an earlier small blast caused by another device. Afghanistan's Tolo TV reported that the ministry's senior commander, General Abdul Raziq, along with the intelligence chief for the capital city and a district police chief, were among those killed. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid says the insurgents were behind Monday's attack, claiming they killed around 60 people, mostly personnel of the Afghan security forces, although the insurgent group often issues inflated tolls for such attacks. President Ashraf Ghani condemned the bloodshed, saying, "The enemies of Afghanistan have lost their ability to fight the security and defense forces of the country and thus attack highways, cities, mosques, schools and common people." Kunduz situation The Kabul attack came hours after security forces retook control of a key district from the Taliban in the volatile northern province of Kunduz. Area commanders say the insurgents were forced to retreat from Qala-i-Zal after the forces, backed by air support, staged an early morning assault on the district that the insurgents overran about a month ago. The Taliban has stepped up its campaign of violence and battlefield attacks, inflicting heavy casualties on the security forces. The commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, said last week that more than 900 Afghan soldiers and police personnel were killed in July alone. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address In Laos, Obama to Reiterate US Commitment to Asia Re-balance By Mary Alice Salinas September 05, 2016 President Barack Obama is seeking to reassure nations in Southeast Asia that the U.S. is firmly committed to its re-balance to the region during his historic trip to Vientiane, Laos this week. Obama's arrival Monday marked the first time a sitting U.S. president has visited the country. He will be attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit and the East Asia summit, where he will seek to further deepen ties and increase America's influence in the region. White House officials said Obama will seek to advance U.S.-Laos relations given the increased focus on the Asia Pacific, and America's goal to serve as a counterweight to China's growing role and power in the region. The U.S. leader will meet with Laos President Bounnhang Vorachit at the presidential palace on Tuesday. The Lao Communist Party elected the new leader earlier this year. Laos, which has been criticized for its human rights record, is currently ASEAN chair. White House officials said the bilateral meeting continues the administration's policy of reaching out to country's with which the U.S. has had troubled relations. Later, Obama will deliver a speech on his Asia policy and its impact during his presidency. "He'll talk about how far we've come in shaping an architecture in the Asia Pacific for the United States to lead and to be at the table in forums like ASEAN and the East Asia Summit," said Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser. Obama will credit his policy with increased commercial, economic and security ties and for more partnerships in the region to deal with sensitive issues like maritime security. During the speech, the U.S. leader will also make his case for ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a massive trade deal facing intense criticism in the United States. Critics argue the deal will eliminate jobs in the U.S. The agreement, which includes 12 Pacific rim countries, is a critical economic component of Obama's Asia policy. He has expressed confidence he can persuade the U.S. Congress to ratify the pact during a post-election session in the final months of his presidency. Without TPP, Obama's strategy is significantly weakened, experts said. "We have a robust security arrangement, formally with allies and informally with other partners in the region, but that can't stand by itself. It doesn't have the economic underpinnings," said Douglas Paal, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Opposition to the trade deal is fueling skepticism in Asia about America's commitment to the re-balance, according to experts. On the streets of Vientiane, residents expressed tempered hope about the future, well after President Obama departs and the summits come to a close. "About Obama coming, a lot of people are happy. This is interesting for a lot of people," said Sompaseuth Kounnavong, who runs a small grocery store near the site of the summits. "For the short term, it is good for business," she said. But the shop owner declined to predict beyond that, adding simply "We want to see everything change." Mek Boubong, who works in the tourism industry, was more optimistic. "I hope his coming here will help the country develop," he beamed. "Everything is changing." During his visit, Obama will hold a town hall with young people, make cultural stops and focus on U.S. efforts to help clear unexploded ordnance in Laos. About a third of the 2.2 million tons of bombs dropped on Laos by U.S. forces during a 9 year secret operation during the Vietnam war remain undetonated. The problem has slowed development in the country. Besides attending the summits, Obama will also meet with other regional leaders before departing on Thursday, marking the end of his eleventh and final trip to Asia as U.S. president. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Mary Jane Veloso DAVAO CITY, Philippines President Duterte yesterday said he would plead for mercy on behalf of Filipina Mary Jane Veloso when he meets with Indonesian President Joko Widodo this week. DAVAO CITY, Philippines President Duterte yesterday said he would plead for mercy on behalf of Filipina Mary Jane Veloso when he meets with Indonesian President Joko Widodo this week. Veloso, who was sentenced to death in Indonesia for drug trafficking, was scheduled to be executed in April last year but got a last-minute reprieve after her recruiters who allegedly planted illegal drugs in her luggage surrendered to Philippine authorities. Veloso has maintained she is innocent and was only tricked by her recruiter into smuggling cocaine. I may just have to ask President Widodo in the most respectful and very, very courteous way (I would) plead for mercy, Duterte said yesterday. But if my pleading will fall on deaf ear, I am ready to accept it, he said in a press briefing prior to his departure for Laos to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit. From Laos, the President will proceed to Indonesia on Thursday for a two-day state visit. Duterte, whose administration is waging a drug war, said he does not doubt the efficiency of Indonesias judicial system. Ive been there once upon a time and was able to observe how it works, he said. I might just accept the system and plead for mercy but if President Widodo will deny it, still I would be grateful that she had been treated very well. After all, we have our laws to follow, he said. Duterte, who is pushing for the reinstatement of the death penalty in the Philippines, admitted he would not know how to respond if he were in Widodos shoes. Had it been the other way around I might also be at the receiving end of so many pleas for mercy I would never know how to react, he said. Duterte ready to accept Mary Jane's fate Rodrigo Duterte and Mary Jane Veloso MANILA President Rodrigo Duterte said he will try to appeal the case of Filipina drug convict Mary Jane Veloso when he meets his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo later this week. Duterte, who will fly to Indonesia on Thursday after attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) Summit in Laos, said he will discuss Veloso's case with Widodo. ''I may just have to ask Widodo in a most respectful and very, very courteous way. And if my pleading will fall on deaf ear, I am ready to accept it,'' he said. Veloso was due to be executed last year by firing squad but she was given a last-minute reprieve by Widodo. Source: ABS-CBN News, with Reuters, Dharel Placido, Sept. 5, 2016 Philippines scrambles to soothe tensions after insult to Obama Rodrigo Duterte VIENTIANE (Reuters) - The Philippines scrambled to defuse a row with the United States on Tuesday and its new president, Rodrigo Duterte, voiced regret for calling President Barack Obama a "son of a bitch", comments that prompted Washington to call off a bilateral meeting. The tiff between the two allies overshadowed the opening of a summit of East and Southeast Asian nations in Laos. Duterte has bristled repeatedly at criticism over his "war on drugs", which has killed about 2,400 people since he took office two months ago, and on Monday said it would be "rude" for Obama to raise the human rights issue when they met. Such a conversation, Duterte told reporters, would prompt him to curse at Obama, using a Filipino phrase "putang ina" which can mean "son of a bitch" or "son of a whore". After Washington called off Tuesday's bilateral meeting between Obama and Duterte in response, the Philippines issued two statements expressing regret. "President Duterte explained that the press reports that President Obama would 'lecture' him on extrajudicial killings led to his strong comments, which in turn elicited concern," the Philippines government said in one statement. "He regrets that his remarks to the press have caused much controversy," it added. "He expressed his deep regard and affinity for President Obama and for the enduring partnership between our nations." The White House had earlier said Obama would not pull any punches on his concerns about human rights abuses in the Philippines, its treaty ally, when meeting Duterte. It was not immediately known if the bilateral meeting between the two president would be rescheduled. The unusually open tensions between the United States and the Philippines, its former colony and long-term ally, threaten to overshadow the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Asia Summits in Laos from Tuesday to Thursday. Duterte won the presidency in May as he promised to suppress crime and wipe out drugs and drug dealers. At least 2,400 people have been killed since he took office on July 1, including 900 in police operations against drug pushers. The rest are "deaths under investigation", a term human rights activists in the Philippines say is a euphemism for vigilante and extrajudicial killings. Duterte has poured scorn previously on critics, usually larding it with curses. He lambasted the United Nations after it criticized the surge in killings and he turned down a meeting with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the Laos summit. In May, he called Pope Francis a "son of a whore", although he later apologized, and called U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg a "gay son of a whore." Source: Reuters, Sept. 6, 2016 | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; send a submission; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! Source: Reuters, Sept. 6, 2016 Source: The Philippine Star, Edith Regalado and Giovanni Nilles, September 6, 2016The reprieve was given after Manila told Jakarta that it had in its custody Veloso's recruiter who allegedly planted the illegal drugs in the Filipina's luggage.Veloso maintains she is innocent and was only tricked by her alleged recruiter into smuggling cocaine.But Duterte, who is waging a bloody illegal drug crackdown at home, said he does not doubt the efficiency of Indonesia's judicial system.''I dont doubt the judicial system of Indonesia. I've been there once upon a time and was able to observe how it works,'' he said.''I might just accept the system and plead for mercy but if President Widodo will deny it, still I would be grateful that she had been treated very well. After all, we have our laws to follow."Duterte, who is pushing for the reinstatement of death penalty in the Philippines, admitted he would not know how to respond if he were in Widodo's shoes.''Had it been the other way around -- I might also be at the receiving end of so many pleas for mercy -- I would never know how to react,'' he said.Indonesia and the Philippines are two of Asia's main suppliers of migrant workers, with about 8.5 million such workers overseas, official data show.There are 205 Indonesians and 94 Filipino migrant workers on death row overseas, according to Indonesia's women's commission and Migrante International, citing figures from their respective foreign ministries.Indonesia imposed a moratorium on executions for five years before resuming them in 2013. It has executed 14 convicts, most of them foreigners, under Widodo.But amid international outrage last year, scheduled executions were postponed while the government focused on reviving the economy, officials said. S. Sudan Agrees to New UN-Backed Peacekeeping Force By VOA News September 05, 2016 Facing intense international pressure, war-ravaged South Sudan on Sunday agreed to the deployment of a 4,000-member regional protection force approved last month by the United Nations Security Council. Sunday's decision by President Salva Kiir, who in August rejected more peacekeepers, came a day after the 15-member Security Council visited the capital, Juba, to press senior officials for approval of the new force. In a joint statement, the Transitional Government of National Unity of South Sudan and members of the United Nations Security Council agreed that humanitarian and security needs of the South Sudanese people must be priority. South Sudan's government has committed to permit the free movement of members of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) in conformity with its mandate to protect civilians. "To this end, the Transitional Government of National Unity commits to devising a plan with UNMISS by the end of September 2016 on concrete steps to remove impediments to UNMISS's ability to implement its mandate, including reviewing procedures related to movement of UNMISS and streamlining bureaucratic processes," read the statement. South Sudan government and United Nations members agreed to "work in a fresh spirit of cooperation to advance the interests of the South Sudanese people, particularly their aspirations for justice, liberty, and prosperity." The new regional force, designed to protect civilians in the capital, would bolster the more than 12,000 peacekeepers already in the region. The visiting Security Council envoys on Saturday also toured a U.N. refugee camp in the capital, where tens of thousands of civilians have lived in squalor and fear during nearly three years of fighting between forces loyal to Kiir and rebels trying to drive him from power. Afterward, U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power called the Security Council visit "extremely important...because it's our chance to see the human consequences of the failure of political leaders to bring peace back to their country." Fighting erupted in South Sudan in December 2013, when government forces loyal to President Kiir began fighting rebels led by the president's former deputy, Riek Machar. The two sides signed a peace deal in August 2015 that elevated Machar to first vice president. But the shaky accord broke apart in July, when Kiir loyalists and fighters backing Machar fought a four-day battle in Juba that killed at least 300 people and wounded hundreds more -- most of them civilians. Machar has since fled the country. But analysts say his civilian supporters continue to be targeted, along with what Ambassador Power described Saturday as "a huge surge in sexual violence against women" who leave the crowded Juba refugee camp to gather firewood or other family necessities. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Philippine Bomb Attack Tests Fight Against Muslim Rebels By Ralph Jennings September 05, 2016 An apparent terrorist attack in Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's hometown, which is normally known for its public safety, will escalate the government's battle with violent Muslim rebels and could change the course of decades of civil conflict. Terrorist group Abu Sayyaf has taken credit for a bombing late Friday at a night market in Davao that killed 14 people and injured 70, according to Philippine news reports. Some reports say the group retracted its statement. The bombing is the first major retaliation after Duterte known as a crime fighter unafraid of using extrajudicial violence -- took office June 30 and began strikes against Abu Sayyaf in its stronghold near the southern island Mindanao. Those attacks killed 12 troops and 22 rebels last month. The same group is known for kidnapping foreigners, including a Canadian national who was beheaded in April. Duterte, a tough-talking former mayor of Davao, pledged last month to wipe out Abu Sayyaf, which has an estimated 400 members. He is also preparing to reopen peace talks with another Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. That two-prong approach to the rebels would match a campaign promise to rein-in a decades-old violent insurgency in Mindanao, the Philippine's southernmost major island and the location of Davao. But analysts caution that the effort will just trigger more violence without political solutions to the underlying problems. "The peace talks, a focus on education, [people's] livelihood, corruption eradication and addressing the history of Muslims and the land they own, all of these are the root causes of these bad events," said Eric Su, social networking company CEO in Davao. "Hopefully as we do more good in these areas, the likelihood of terrorist attacks will go down." At least four Muslim groups that trace their roots to nearby Malaysia have vied since the 1960s for autonomy and control of resources in Mindanao, which is poorer than most of the rest of the Philippines, partly because conflicts there have set back economic development. Duterte declared a state of lawlessness Saturday, allowing more coordination between police and troops in the fight against Abu Sayyaf after the night market bombing. His talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front could extend a peace and autonomy-sharing deal that the Muslim group signed with the government in 2014, but which still lacks follow-up legislation in Manila. The president needs a mix of suppression and broader problem solving to fix the broader Mindanao issue said Tim Johnston, Asia program director with the International Crisis Group. Otherwise, he said, the eradication of Abu Sayyaf could create new armed resistance. "A suppressive element is probably necessary, but it needs to be embedded in a broader political solution," Johnston said. "These two are not incompatible. They are complementary in many ways." But analysts fear the Davao bombing, if it was conducted by Abu Sayyaf, shows that group's resolve to fight back and signals more violence. "Violence begets violence, and so I think it's going to become a real challenge for [Duterte] to see how long he can continue this campaign of violence against the drug traffickers and now against the Abu Sayyaf without upsetting both the economic and the political stability in the country," said Carl Baker, director of programs with the CSIS Pacific Forum think tank in the United States. Johnston noted previous Philippine presidents have been unable to rein the group in. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Gabon Justice Minister Resigns Over Disputed Election By VOA News September 05, 2016 Gabon's Justice Minister Seraphin Moundounga has resigned over the disputed re-election of President Ali Bongo, becoming the first high-level government official to step down since the vote. Gabon's election commission announced last week that Bongo won the election over opposition leader Jean Ping by about 5,000 votes, leading to protests and street violence that has left at least six people dead. Moundounga told Radio France International on Monday that the government is not responding to concerns about the need for peace, which lead to his decision to step down. Also Monday, Ping who has declared himself the leader of Gabon called for a general strike, saying an economic blockage would pressure the government. However, few people seemed to stay home Monday, as many banks and shops in the capital, Libreville, re-opened following the violence. Some city residents said they did not hear about the call for a strike. Ping said his campaign has evidence of election rigging, which he says he will present to Gabon's constitutional court. In another development Monday, France expressed concern about the safety of several of its nationals, noting that "some arrests have been made in recent days." Interior Minister Pacome Moubelet Boubeya said more than 1,000 people have been arrested nationwide, including as many as 800 in the capital. He confirmed three deaths in the post-election violence. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke over the phone Sunday with Bongo and Ping, and urged an end to the violence. "The secretary-general deplored the loss of life that occurred during the demonstrations in the aftermath of the presidential election," according to a statement from Ban's office. "He expressed concern about the continuing inflammatory messages being disseminated and called for an immediate end to all acts of violence in the country." The U.N. secretary-general also requested that his Special Representative for Central Africa, Abdoulaye Bathily, continue to work with the parties in order to defuse tensions. "Ban Ki-moon reiterated his call to President Bongo to impress upon the government the need to show restraint. He also urged Ping to issue a clear message to his followers, calling on them to refrain from any acts of violence in the interest of the country and of national unity," the statement read. According to reports, 27 people who were detained in Ping's headquarters campaign have been released. Ban, however, stressed the importance of peaceful and legal means to seek a resolution in the outcome of the presidential election. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) Red Chips are stocks of mainland Chinese companies traded on the Hong Kong stock exchange. China uses Hong Kong to channel its investments around the world and a large share of the capital that flows into China goes through the Hong Kong financial system. The Chinese have a large incentive to maintain their image as a preferred destination for foreign capital. The financial linkage underwritten by British common law and a reputation for transparent and honest regulation that gives Hong Kong an importance to the Chinese economy that far outstrips its relative size. Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of China, a status that initially ensured its courts, civil service and media enjoy freedoms that do not exist on the mainland. Political stability, the rule of law, low taxes, minimal regulation and freedom of speech are qualities that have made it the main gateway between mainland China and the rest of the world for multinational companies for decades. Hong Kong is one of the world's most important financial centers, second only to New York and London in terms of global significance. The territory boasts over 150 licensed banks and more than 1,600 asset managers as well as associated professional services. Although Hong Kong accounts for less than 3% of entire China's gross domestic product (GDP), the territory is the country's most important offshore fundraising location. Despite the growing significance of places like Shanghai and Shenzhen as China's financial centers, Hong Kong remains a key gateway connecting mainland China with global financial markets. Hong Kong owed its status as a flourishing financial hub to a number of factors, like the region's rule of law and independent judiciary. international firms often use Hong Kong as a base to expand into mainland China. China also uses Hong Kong's financial markets to attract foreign funds. Chinese companies are by far the most important USD issuers in the Hong Kong offshore market, so most of Hong Kong's external debt is actually debt from Chinese subsidiaries operating from Hong Kong. Hong Kong's contribution to China's gross domestic product dropped from 20% in 1997 to less than 3% by 2019. By the year 2000, Hong Kong accounted for two-thirds of all foreign investment in China and one-third of China's foreign exchange. But by 2004, inward FDI and IPO funds raised through foreign equity markets (including Hong Kong) accounted for about 1114% of total investment. Hong Kong was the home of 73% of mainland Chinese companies initial public offerings overseas during the period 2010 to 2018. In the same vein, Hong Kong accounts for 60% of overseas bond issuance of mainland companies and 26% of their syndicated loans. Almost all U.S. portfolio investment goes toward Chinese firm listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange. By one estimate, by 2019, about 60% of foreign investment in China and a similar share of its outbound investment was channelled through Hong Kong. By another estimate, in 2019 it was the largest source of overseas direct investment in China, accounting for 54% of the national total, and the leading destination for China's foreign direct investment outflow, with the same percentage. Sixty-four percent of mainland Chinas inward FDI comes from Hong Kong, and between 2010 and 2018, 65% of outward FDI was channeled through Hong Kong. Assistant Professor Masato Kajimoto of the University of Hong Kong' Journalism and Media Studies Centre says Hong Kong has been divided between the pro-democracy camp and the pro-government bloc for years, mainly due to the 2012 Anti-National Education Movement and the Umbrella Movement two years later. But he says the gap has deepened further since many people turned to social media, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, WhatsApp, Weibo and Telegram. "It is natural for people to seek and share the views that reinforce their political beliefs. On social media those views are often amplified by like-minded users, creating an environment known as the 'echo chamber.' What we see is not just consuming the political views that you like. Those views include vicious attacks on other viewpoints. And I think that's particularly problematic because you're not only excluding yourself from other viewpoints, you are constantly exposed to other viewpoints. And yet, instead of trying to understand the other ways to look at things, you are constantly mocking them, attacking them, making fun of them. And that you can see on both sides clearly in Hong Kong." US policy treats Hong Kong separately from the rest of China in trade, investment, commerce, and immigrationbased on Beijings pledge to give the territory a high degree of autonomy under the one country, two systems model. Public Law No: 116-76 (11/27/2019) "Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019", requires the U.S. State Department to report annually to Congress whether Hong Kong is sufficiently autonomous from China to justify keeping the citys distinct trading status, and whether China has eroded Hong Kongs civil liberties and rule of law, as protected by the citys Basic Law. The Department of State shall report and certify annually to Congress as to whether Hong Kong is sufficiently autonomous from China to justify its unique treatment. The report shall address issues including (1) demands for universal suffrage; (2) law enforcement cooperation, including extradition requests; (3) sanctions enforcement and export controls; (4) decision-making within the Hong Kong government; (5) judicial independence; (6) civil liberties in Hong Kong, including freedom of assembly and freedom of the press; and (7) how any erosion to Hong Kong's autonomy impacts areas of U.S.-Hong Kong cooperation. The Department of Commerce shall report annually to Congress on China's efforts to use Hong Kong to evade U.S. export controls and sanctions and the extent of such violations occurring in Hong Kong generally. The report shall also (1) identify any items that were improperly reexported from Hong Kong, (2) assess whether dual-use items subject to U.S. export laws are being transshipped through Hong Kong, and (3) assess whether such dual-use items are being used to develop various mass-surveillance and predictive-policing tools or the social-credit system proposed for deployment in China. By December 2020 the UK was granting the most special British National Overseas [BNO] travel documents to Hong Kong residents since the 1997 handover, bolstering predictions of a mass exodus as China tightens its grip over the former British colony. Some 216,398 Hong Kong residents received British National (Overseas) passports during the first 10 months of the year, higher than any annual figure stretching back to 1997, according to data provided by the U.K.s Passport Office. The U.K. side violated its promises, insisted on going its own way and repeatedly played up the issue of BNO passports, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular news briefing 04 December 2020 in Beijing. As the British side violated its commitment first, China will consider not recognizing the BNO passport as a valid travel document and reserves the right to take further measures. A China-backed newspaper on 26 January 2020 warned that Hong Kong would have to leave behind any notion of "Western" democracy, suggesting that the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is planning to further tighten its grip on the city's political life amid an ongoing crackdown on dissent. In an article titled "Leaving behind the myth of Western democracy: consultative elections to comply with Basic Law," the CCP-backed Ta Kung Pao newspaper suggested a "consultative" process with even less public involvement may be implemented in future. It said the current method of choosing the city's chief executive could still result in the election of a candidate with political views not approved by Beijing. Currently, the chief executive is selected by a 1,200 election committee that was once overwhelmingly pro-Beijing. But a landslide victory for pro-democracy parties in the 2019 District Council elections may have rung alarm bells among Chinese leaders, as District Councils -- once overwhelmingly pro-China -- are represented on the committee. A British National (Overseas) - BN(O) - passport is available to a huge number of people -- about 70 percent of Hong Kong's total population of 7.5 million. Hong Kong's pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam played down the threat of a mass exodus. "I just don't see how 2.9 million Hong Kong people would love to go to the United Kingdom," she told Bloomberg, using the figure for the number of people eligible for BN(O) status that does not include their dependents. As many as 5.4 million Hong Kong residents could be eligible for the plan, including an estimated three million passport holders and just over two million dependents: around 72 percent of the city's population. Britain prepared to open its doors to millions of residents from Hong Kong following China's security crackdown in the former colony. "I am immensely proud that we have brought in this new route for Hong Kong BNOs to live, work and make their home in our country," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement. "In doing so we have honored our profound ties of history and friendship with the people of Hong Kong, and we have stood up for freedom and autonomy values both the UK and Hong Kong hold dear." Britain predicted up to 154,000 Hong Kongers could arrive over the next year and as many as 322,000 over five years. China said 29 January 2021 that it would not recognize the British National Overseas (BNO) passport as a valid travel document or for proof of identity. "From January 31, China will no longer recognize the so-called BNO passport as a travel document and ID document, and reserves the right to take further actions," Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters. BNO passports won't be accepted for the purposes of entering or leaving Hong Kong, with residents required to present an alternative document. Hong Kong permanent residents who are not of Chinese nationality and hold no other valid travel document can apply to the immigration authorities for a document of identity for visa purposes. The draconian national security law imposed on Hong Kong by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from July 1, 2020 appears set to spark an exodus of expats from the city, according to a survey conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham). More than 40 percent of the 325 AmCham members who responded to the poll were definitely planning to leave, or were thinking about it, according to the survey published on 12 May 2021. Three percent said they were getting out immediately, while 10 percent said they would do so by the summer's end, and 15 percent were planning to be gone by the end of the year. A further 48 percent said they would likely leave in the next 3-5 years. Of those planning to leave Hong Kong, 62 percent included discomfort with the national security law among the reasons, while 36 percent said they feared it would affect the quality of their children's education. The Hong Kong government said about 96,000 residents left the territory in 2020. That's the highest annual figure since the United Kingdom returned Hong Kong to China in 1997. Roughly 89,000 residents are estimated to have left Hong Kong during the one-year period starting 01 July 2020, or one day after the security law for the territory entered into force. By August 2021 Beijing planned to introduce new anti-sanctions laws in Hong Kong and Macau to prevent foreign firms and individuals from complying with sanctions against China. Those individuals or entities could then be denied entry into China or be thrown out, their assets in China seized or frozen. They could also be barred from doing business with Chinese nationals or firms. The law allows Chinese firms to drag their foreign business partners to court if they suffer any losses in complying with foreign sanctions. The rules would give the Chinese government a legal basis to retaliate against foreign sanctions at a time when the US and Europe are piling pressure on Beijing over its crackdown on pro-democracy activities in Hong Kong and human rights abuses against the Muslim Uyghur minority in Xinjiang. The US and the European Union slapped sanctions on several Chinese businesses and nationals over the past year. The law could damage Hong Kong's reputation as a global financial hub and turn away foreign investors already alarmed by the gradual erosion of the "high degree of autonomy" that Beijing promised to the former British colony. "Developments over the last year in Hong Kong present clear operational, financial, legal, and reputational risks for multinational firms," the Biden administration said in a 16 July 2021 business advisory. How strictly Beijing enforces the new rules would likely depend on how heavily Washington comes down on firms doing business with sanctioned entities or individuals in violation of the Hong Kong Autonomy Act. Nearly a quarter of Hong Kong residents have plans to leave the city for good, amid ongoing concerns over a lack of personal freedoms and a deteriorating political environment, a leading public opinion research institute said on Friday. Twenty-four percent of respondents to a 21-24 March 2022 survey of 6,723 Hong Kong permanent residents aged 12 or over by Hong Kong's Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI) said they were definitely emigrating, while a further 21 percent said they were either preparing or were planning but not yet ready to leave. Given that 24 percent plan to leave, that's 1.87 million people out of a population of 7.5 million. Just over one-third of those who planned to emigrate cited diminishing personal freedoms in recent years, with 16 percent citing fears for their family's future, PORI researchers told a news conference. Hong Kong's population fell by 1.2 percent in the 12 months to August 2021, amid an ongoing exodus of people in the wake of a draconian national security law imposed on the city by Beijing from July 1, 2020. Hong Kong's one-horse leadership poll, which selected former security chief John Lee -- the only candidate -- for the city's top job at the weekend, wiped out any distinction between the city and the rest of mainland China, commentators said on 09 May 2022. Lee, a former police officer who oversaw a violent crackdown on the 2019 protest movement, was "elected" by a Beijing-backed committee under new rules imposed on the city to ensure that only those loyal to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) can hold public office. Ninety-nine percent of the 1,500-strong committee voted for Lee, who was the only candidate on the slate. Lee, who takes office on July 1, the anniversary of the 1997 handover to China, vowed to "start a new chapter" in Hong Kong, which has seen waves of mass, popular protest over the erosion of the city's promised freedoms in recent years. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Obama makes disguised threat to Russia on cyber warfare Iran Press TV Mon Sep 5, 2016 4:33PM President Barack Obama has warned Russia that the United States has "more capacity than anybody" when it comes to cyber warfare, saying hack attacks can not become "wild, wild, West." Obama made the remarks to reporters following the G20 conference in Hangzhou, China. The issue of Russian hackers being implicated in breaching US cyberspace was a key issue at the summit. Though Obama didn't identify specific instances, he said, "We have had problems with cyber intrusions from Russia in the past" and that the goal is to not to duplicate a "cycle of escalation" that has occurred in arms races of the past. "What we cannot do is have a situation where this becomes the wild, wild West, where countries that have significant cyber capacity start engaging in unhealthy competition or conflict through these means," the president said. Making a subtle threat to Russia, Obama added, "Look, we're moving into a new era here where a number of countries have significant capacities. And frankly we've got more capacity than anybody, both offensively and defensively." US officials have blamed Russia for the recent hacking of the Democratic National Committee's (DNC) servers, and law enforcement and intelligence agencies are reportedly concerned about the Kremlin trying to disrupt or undermine the presidential elections. However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has in the past rejected claims that Moscow was behind a recent hack of DNC servers. In July, the WikiLeaks website released about 20,000 emails from the DNC, which showed that party leaders had purportedly sought to undermine the presidential campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders. The revelation prompted DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to announce her resignation. The campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton alleged that Russia had released the emails to influence the November presidential election. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China censures S Korea over US missile system Iran Press TV Mon Sep 5, 2016 5:6AM Chinese President Xi Jinping has rebuked South Korea for agreeing to let US forces deploy an advanced missile system in the South Asian country. Xi warned his visiting counterpart Park Geun-hye that US military deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system in South Korea could lead to instability and conflicts, Xinhua news agency said on Monday. "Mishandling the issue is not conducive to strategic stability in the region, and could intensify conflicts," Xi said on the sideline of the G20 summit in Hangzhou. The Chinese leader also reiterated Beijing's commitment to international peace and stability, especially on the Korean Peninsula. Xi said China is dedicated to realizing denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula but stressed that relevant issues needed to be resolved through dialog and consultation in order to establish long-term peace and stability. Xi reminded Park that China and North Korea were "close neighbors with broad common interests" who shared long-term interests in their common development and regional peace, Xinhua reported. The Chinese president also hailed the "leapfrog development" of bilateral relations between Beijing and Seoul, saying it has benefited the people on both sides since the two countries began diplomatic relations 24 years ago. "China is willing to work with the ROK (Republic of Korea) to better protect and advance their hard-won ties," Xi said, adding both sides must strive to "expand cooperative and positive elements and put lid on negative ones." For her part, the South Korean president blamed China's ally, North Korea, for straining of bilateral relations with China. Park claimed North Korea's actions had been detrimental to the prospects of peace and stability in the region. North Korea has conducted a series of military technology tests this year, including a fourth nuclear test in January, to counter what it describes as joint US and South Korean "provocations" in the region. The US is a close ally of South Korea and the two countries hold joint annual military exercises every year. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address THAAD System in Korea Designed to Defend US Troops, Not Korean Cities Sputnik News 21:06 05.09.2016(updated 21:07 05.09.2016) On Monday, speaking with his South Korean counterpart, Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized that China was categorically opposed to the deployment of US missile defense in South Korea. Commenting on the president's remarks, Russian and Chinese political analysts told Sputnik what it is specifically that China is concerned about. Speaking with South Korean President Park Geun-hye in Hangzhou, China on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, Xi warned that the "improper resolution of this issue will not help ensure strategic stability in the region, and may exacerbate existing conflicts." Park, in turn, responded by pointing out that in 2016 alone, North Korea has carried out another nuclear test, together with a series of missile tests. Accordingly, she suggested, it is Pyongyang's military 'provocations' which have undermined stability in the region, and posed a challenge to relations between Seoul and Beijing. The meeting between the two countries' leaders came against the background of tense relations between Beijing and Seoul, with China concerned over South Korea's agreement to deploy the American Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-ballistic missile system in the south of the country. Hours after the meeting, North Korea conducted three more ballistic missile launches in the Sea of Japan. On Saturday, speaking before the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Park called on North Korea's neighbors, including Russia, to assert their influence over Pyongyang. In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that it was necessary to act cautiously, so as not to provoke North Korean leaders in taking measures that they see as the protection of their national security. An aggravation of the situation would be counterproductive, and it's necessary to return to multilateral negotiations, Putin emphasized. At the same time, he added that Moscow still has some channels of communication with Pyongyang, and will use them to attempt to reduce tensions. Also on Saturday, President Xi met with US President Barack Obama. The two men discussed the North Korean issue. Xi reiterated the position that Beijing is fundamentally opposed to the deployment of THAAD in Korea, and urged Washington to respect China's strategic security interests. The US made the decision to deploy its THAAD ABM system in South Korea in July. Speaking to Sputnik, veteran military expert Vladimir Evseev laid out the contours of Beijing's concerns, and what China expects to gain by pressing Washington and Seoul not to deploy THAAD in South Korea. "According to the information we have at the moment, the US will only be deploying one THAAD battery [in South Korea]," the expert noted. "This battery is meant to defend US military facilities, not Seoul. I think that this was discussed at the meetings Xi Jinping held with Park Geun-hye and Barack Obama." "China expects, firstly, that a second battery will not be deployed, given speculation that South Korea wants to buy a second battery. It appears that talk of a second battery will not be forthcoming following China's statements." "Secondly, it is possible that the US may deploy other systems in South Korea," Evseev noted. "That is, THAAD may be only the first element. Specifically, a ground-based version of the Aegis system, like the one in Romania, could be deployed [in South Korea]. In other words, China is now looking to stop the further deployment of US missile defenseand the deployment of American offensive weapons which will affect China's security interests. The idea is to prevent unfavorable developments from taking place, since this would force China to respond [in kind]. China is being drawn into an arms race, and considers it necessary to stop it." For his part, commenting on Washington and Seoul's likely response to President Xi's warnings, Wang Junsheng, a research fellow at Beijing's National Institute of International Strategy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told Sputnik that it was very difficult to guess at the moment precisely how the US and South Korea would respond. "It's very difficult to assess whether Seoul and Washington will continue to hold their horse at the edge of the abyss, or whether they will reverse their decision on the THAAD deployment," the analyst noted. In any case, the meetings themselves hold a crucial importance, according to Wang, particularly the one between presidents Xi and Park. "During a key period of development of China-ROK relations, the senior leaders of the two countries are communicating directlyAt the meeting, Xi Jinping stressed that China and South Korea are neighbors, and have broad common interests, including joint economic development and the promotion of regional peace" "In addition, there is an extensive set of arguments both bitter and sweet ones, [that China can use] to persuade South Korea to take the right track to reduce the negative factor, to respect [China's] core interests, to find common interests despite existing differencesFuture development will depend on the political wisdom of South Korean leaders on this issue," Wang concluded. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Xi Expresses Opposition Over US Missile System Deployment in S.Korea Sputnik News 05:02 05.09.2016(updated 05:32 05.09.2016) Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting with his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-hye on Monday said that he opposes the deployment of US missile defense systems in South Korea in response to perceived North Korea's growing missile and nuclear threat. HANGZHOU (China), (Sputnik) The bilateral meeting Xi Jinping and the South Korean leader took place on the sidelines of the Group of Twenty (G20) summit in eastern China's Hangzhou. "Improper resolution of this issue will not help ensure strategic stability in the region and may exacerbate existing conflicts," Xi stated, as quoted by the Xinhua news agency. Earlier, Chinese leader met with the US President Barack Obama and discussed the North Korea's missile program. They agreed that Pyongyang's pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles presented a threat to the region. Xi and Obama stated they would cooperate on achieving the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in line with UN resolutions. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China's aero-engine development industry sets lofty goals for next decade People's Daily Online By Kou Jie (People's Daily Online) 16:17, September 05, 2016 After 60 years of development, China has established a relatively comprehensive research and development system for aero-engines, with about 90 percent of the country's operational aircraft utilizing domestic engines at present, according to an expert. "In the process of industrialization, China has established an independent sector for aero-engines. The performance of domestically produced imitational engines reached a remarkably high level in the 70s, and around 90 percent of China's main operational aircraft are using domestic engines now," said senior colonel Wu Guohui, who is also an associate professor at the PLA National Defense University, in an interview with the Beijing Times. Currently, most of China's fighter planes, attack aircraft, bombers and fighter-bombers feature domestic engines; only a small number of third-generation jet fighters are still using foreign engines, according to the newspaper. Nevertheless, Wu explained, "Compared to the U.S., Europe and Russia, China still lags behind in the area of engines, as the country's development and mode of management for engines are relatively outdated." China has historically relied heavily on foreign technologies when it comes to aero-engines. According to a CNN report in August, engines have accounted for 30 percent of all of China's imports over the past four years. This sobering reality made the domestic development and production of engines a major goal in China's most recent five-year development plan. President Xi Jinping called for the acceleration of independent research, development and manufacturing of aircraft engines in order to make China a genuine aviation power. Xi's remarks came on the heels of the establishment of the Aero Engine Corporation of China (AECC) on Aug. 28 in Beijing, Xinhua reported. The founding of AECC will accelerate China's development of new engines. According to Wu, it is possible that China will meet the current standards of international engine development within five to 10 years; however, a large-scale improvement is necessary in order to catch up with countries like the U.S. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pro-independence candidates win seats in Hong Kong's poll Iran Press TV Mon Sep 5, 2016 6:18AM Several pro-independence candidates have won seats in Hong Kong's legislative council election, raising the stakes in the already tense relations with China. A record 2.2 million people, or 58 percent of registered voters, cast their ballots in the city-wide legislative election which ended in the early hours of Monday. While official results were yet to be released, preliminary tallies indicated that several young activists advocating a break from Beijing had won seats in the 70-seat Legislative Council. Among them was Nathan Law, 23, leader of the "Umbrella Movement" rallies, who came second in his constituency behind a pro-Beijing candidate. The Umbrella Movement was created during the 2014 protests that erupted after the Chinese government introduced an election law, under which the people of Hong Kong will have to elect their next leader from a list of Beijing-vetted candidates in 2017. Law and his new party Demosisto are calling for a referendum on independence, emphasizing Hong Kongers' right to choose. "I think Hong Kongers really wanted change," Law said, celebrating his win. "Young people have a sense of urgency when it comes to the future." With the pro-democracy camp split between those who back the idea of possible independence and those who are more wary of the once taboo notion, Law said he would seek to unify the different camps. Full results weren't due till later in the day. Voters directly choose 40 lawmakers for the 70-member body. The other 30 lawmakers for the region, which is home to multinational business firms, are from trade-based functional constituencies and indirectly elected by different professional interest groups. The opposition hopes to pave the way for a fresh round of political confrontation over China's control of the territory by winning a significant number of seats. Beijing is strongly opposed to Hong Kong's independence. A survey by the University of Hong Kong showed that pro-Beijing lawmakers would gain the majority of the seats in the legislative body, which is tasked with establishing laws, overseeing budget, and supervising the local government's work. Currently, anti-establishment candidates belonging to the so-called localists or "pro-democracy" movements are demanding a chance to determine the future of Hong Kong by holding a referendum for independence from China. On the eve of the elections, five candidates from the anti-Beijing camp dropped out of the political race in an effort to increase chances for their fellow candidates. Hong Kong's legislative, executive and judiciary bodies are separate and independent from China, and Beijing only maintains authority in defense and foreign affairs. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Blog Hinangai While there is much discussion in Guam about the economic benefits of increasing the islands military presence, the damages/dangers that they represent are rarely mentioned. This blog, a supplement to the Peace and Justice for Guam Petition, is meant to counter that by providing information about the US military in Guam, with the hopes of steering policy away from a dangerous unilateralist course to more sustainable notions of regional development and a strengthening international solidarity. U.S. Is Arch Criminal Disturbing Peace, Stability: KCNA Commentary Korean Central News Agency of DPRK via Korea News Service (KNS) Pyongyang, September 5 (KCNA) -- Though the U.S. tries hard to paint its joint military drill as a "defensive one," it can never cover up its criminal nature. The just ended U.S.-south Korea joint military drill was a nuclear war drill to conquer the DPRK by force of arms and establish military hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region from A to Z. It was clearly evidenced by the goal and contents of the drill staged pursuant to operation plan and its ever-escalating scale and methods. An expert of the Russian Academy of Sciences said: The U.S. advertises that the Ulji Freedom Guardian is "one for protecting democracy" but it is quite different from its "defensive purpose" as the drill scenarios including "the operation for occupying Pyongyang" and "beheading operation" for "removing the leadership of the DPRK at a single stroke" are obviously offensive ones. The aim of the drill is to put the DPRK into an unendurable position to facilitate its "collapse" and achieve the "German-style unification through absorption". Xinhua News noted that the joint military drill the U.S. and south Korea stage every year, steadily escalating their scale, are increasing the possibility of military conflict on the Korean peninsula and threatening peace and stability in Northeast Asia. An expert of California University said that the U.S. and south Korea should make a policy switchover, not clinging to muscle flexing causing military tension but recognizing the desire of the Korean people to live in peace. As seen above, the joint military drill conducted by the U.S. is the root cause of disturbing peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in the region. The ultimate goal of the drill is to dominate the Asia-Pacific. The U.S. has long tailored all its moves for invading the DPRK to its scenario for dominating the world, regarding the peninsula as a region favorable for carrying out its strategy for establishing its hegemony. The U.S. forces have gotten familiar with and rounded off the capabilities to carry out the strategy for domination through joint military rehearsals. They are creating a vicious cycle of escalating tension through saber -rattling and massively introducing strategic assets into the peninsula and its vicinity under that pretext. The U.S. is the arch criminal escalating the tension on the Korean peninsula and creating instability in the region. As the DPRK has strong self-defensive nuclear force, peace and security on the peninsula and in the region are firmly preserved despite the U.S. moves for aggression. The army and people of the DPRK will strongly react to the U.S. hostile moves and nuclear threat including war drills by dint of its treasured sword--nuclear weapons. -0- NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Strong-arm Policies Are Bound to Go Bankrupt: KCNA Commentary Korean Central News Agency of DPRK via Korea News Service (KNS) Pyongyang, September 5 (KCNA) -- The present U.S. administration's ego-driven foreign policies are going belly-up one after another. As regards TTIP a German vice chancellor asserted on Aug. 28 that as Europe could not cave in to the demand of the U.S., negotiations actually broke down. This was little short of a declaration of resistance against the U.S. strong-arm policies and a herald of their bankruptcy. TTIP negotiations were the ones for U.S.-EU FTA pushed forward by the Obama administration to make it the best "goal" of its foreign policy since it started three years ago, being billed as the "building of the world's biggest free trade zone." But even allies in EU turned their back on the three-year-lingering negotiations with the U.S. as they disliked its self-assertive approach to the negotiations and ego-driven pursuit of its interests. It came to rupture at last, glooming the prospect of clinch. The Obama administration's bungling foreign policies are on the verge of going belly-up, meeting the frostiest-ever receptions not only in Europe but also in Middle East. The deceptive Middle East policy of Obama, who committed himself to "withdrawing GIs from Iraq" and "getting reconciled with Islam," not like his predecessors, caused the turmoil of "Arab Spring" and reduced the whole Middle East region into a mayhem hit by an evil cycle of terror and reprisal. As a result, the U.S. was branded as the world's worst human rights abuser wholly to blame for causing the worst refugee crisis. Other foreign policies advocated by Obama including the one for "building a world without nuclear weapons" faced real flops one after another for their unfeasibility and deceptive nature. Specifically, the Obama administration's anachronistic "strategic patience" policy aimed at "bringing down" the social system of the DPRK through sanctions and pressure went completely bankrupt and only resulted in promoting the strategic position of the DPRK as a nuclear power. Such disgrace being suffered by the U.S. in the eyes of the world public is by no means accidental. Sovereignty represents the vitality of a country and nation and independence is the trend of the times and history. The U.S. strategy for dominating the world based on strong-arm and arbitrary policies, aggression and intervention is being rejected by the world and is fated to go bankrupt as it is going against the trend of history. Collin Murphy, former editor-in-chief of a U.S. magazine, wrote in a book that the situation of the U.S. dates back to the Roman Empire on the verge of ruin, adding the U.S. and the Roman Empire all faced a series of crisis due to their exceeding influence over other countries beyond their boundaries. Robert Mary, a reporter of Wall Street Journal, asserted that the U.S. made a mistake by planting its flag on the core part of other nation's civilization without any reasonable pretext for igniting a war in the 21st century, adding conceptions like expansion of freedom and transplanting of democracy are no more than an item on the list of hopes. The story about "collapse of the U.S." like "end of the 'era of the U.S.'" and "ruin of the U.S." that floated around during the period of the Bush administration has become realistic. It is an inevitability of history that the world will witness it. With the passage of the time the world will clearly witness the final ruin of the U.S. along with the bankruptcy of its notorious hostile policy toward the DPRK. -0- NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address North Korea fires three ballistic missiles into Sea of Japan: South Korea Iran Press TV Mon Sep 5, 2016 5:28AM South Korea says the North has fired three ballistic missiles from a western region in the capital Pyongyang into the Sea of Japan. South Korea's Office of Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the missiles were fired on Monday but there were no more details available in the statement. The alleged missile launch was carried out hours after the leaders of South Korea and China met on the sidelines of the summit of leaders from G20 nations in the Chinese town of Hangzhou. South Korean President Park Geun-hye said at the meeting with her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that Pyongyang's nuclear test and missile launches posed a challenge to Seoul's ties with Beijing. She said Pyongyang's "provocations" gravely damaged peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency. Inter-Korean relations have become tense after a final decision was made last month to deploy the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system in the South Korean territory. China, which is Pyongyang's major ally, has repeatedly warned that it would take measures against the THAAD deployment in a base south of Seoul. Beijing insists the system will threaten security and stability on the Korean Peninsula and put Chinese military assets within the range of US radars. It has called on Seoul to "think twice" about its decision. Washington and Seoul, however, claim the system will only be used in confronting what they call North Korean threats. THAAD, which is planned to be installed by the end of next year, has been designed to intercept ballistic missiles inside or just outside the atmosphere during their final phase of flight. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China Warns Against Escalation of Tensions After N Korea Missile Launch Sputnik News 13:48 05.09.2016(updated 14:15 05.09.2016) China hopes that the North Korean recent ballistic missile launch will not escalate the situation on the peninsula. BEIJING (Sputnik) China hopes that the two countries on the Korean Peninsula will not allow the recent ballistic missile launch by North Korea to escalate the situation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Monday. Earlier in the day, the Japanese Defense Ministry confirmed that the North Korean authorities had fired three ballistic missiles from Hwangju county in the direction of the Sea of Japan. Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada interrupted her visit to a military base near the Nerima district in Tokyo due to the launch. "China's position on the matter is unchanged and clear. The current situation on the Korean Peninsula is complicated and sensitive. We hope that the relevant parties will avoid actions which could lead to the escalation of tensions there. Instead, they should work in the interest of peace and stability on the peninsula," Hua said. North Korea has been under pressure from the international community since its January nuclear test and a long-range rocket launch in February, which resulted in the tightening of sanctions against Pyongyang in a new UN Security Council resolution in March. On August 3, North Korea launched two missiles. One of them exploded immediately after the launch, while the other one flew over the country's territory and fell into the Sea of Japan. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN Security Council to Discuss North Korea Missile Launches By VOA News September 05, 2016 The United Nations Security Council will meet Tuesday to discuss the latest missiles launched by North Korea, diplomats say. The North fired three ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan on Monday from a site in Hwanghae province, located on the country's eastern coast. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staffs have identified them as Rodong missiles, which have a range of 1,000 kilometers. Japan's Defense Ministry says the rockets fell into its Exclusive Economic Zone in the region, which is known in Korea as the East Sea. The U.S. State Department said North Korea's missile launches have become too common in the past several months. North Korea has conducted a series of missile tests this year in defiance of U.N. sanctions imposed after its fourth nuclear test in January. Monday's missile firings came as world leaders met in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou for the now-concluded two-day G-20 summit of advanced and emerging economies. "This launch is a clear act of provocation not only to our country, but to the international community considering the timing of its launch coinciding with the G-20 summit held in China's Guangzhou today," said Japanese cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga. A U.S. official who attended the summit condemned North Korea's actions, calling the missile launches a threat to both aircraft and maritime vessels operating in the region. South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the summit just hours before the missile launches. According to Yonhap News Agency, Park warned the Chinese leader that Pyongyang's increasing provocations, including a series of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile tests, have "seriously undermined peace in this region and posed a challenge" to Seoul-Beijing relations. Meanwhile, China's Xinhua news agency says Xi told his South Korean counterpart that Beijing opposes deployment of the U.S.-built THAAD or Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system in South Korea. Seoul says the THAAD system is aimed at countering possible missile attacks from North Korea. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Modi Pulls Hollande Aside at G-20 Meet and Quizzes Him on Scorpene Sub Data Leak Sputnik News 18:02 05.09.2016 India had earlier chosen to downplay the issue by denying any possible compromise to national security due to the leak. New Delhi (Sputnik): Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met French President Francois Hollande on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Hangzhou, China. The two leaders reportedly discussed issues pertaining to the recent leakage of 'sensitive' data related to the Scorpene class submarines that are to be inducted into the Indian Navy. India's Ministry of External Affairs confirmed the reports in a statement. Another statement said the two leaders held a 'pull aside meeting' on the second day of the G-20 Summit. According to Vikas Swarup, spokesman for India's Ministry of External Affairs, "This issue (the Scorpene data leak) also figured in the talks." In a series of revelations in the last week of August, The Australian reported that it had 22,400 pages of data which included sensitive details about the ongoing construction of six Scorpene submarines for the Indian Navy. The newspaper published excerpts from the file that allegedly had details on the key stealth capabilities of the Indian submarines including, what frequencies the submarines gather intelligence at, what levels of noise they make at various speeds, as well as their diving depths, and the specifications of the submarine's torpedo launch system and combat system. However, India had chosen to downplay the matter by saying that the leaked documents did not compromise India's security. India had also sought a report from the director general of armaments of the French government. Meanwhile, sources say that the Ministry of Defense has yet to get a report from the French authorities. India is itself undertaking a detailed assessment of the potential impact of the leak. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Some 3,500 Terrorists Killed in Pakistan's Zarb-e-Azb Operation Sputnik News 13:30 05.09.2016(updated 13:48 05.09.2016) Pakistani armed forces eliminated more than 3,500 terrorists during Pakistan's Zarb-e-Azb counter-terror operation on the border with Afghanistan, according to Pakistani Ambassador to Russia Qazi Khalilullah. MOSCOW (Sputnik) As many as 3,500 terrorists were killed during Pakistan's Zarb-e-Azb counter-terror operation on the border with Afghanistan, Pakistani Ambassador to Russia Qazi Khalilullah told Sputnik. "The large-scale anti-terrorism operation called Zarb-e-Azb has presently entered its final phase. The operation was hugely successful the Pakistani armed forces eliminated more than 3,500 terrorists, destroyed 992 hideouts, confiscated 253 tonnes of explosives, as well as 3,500 rockets and mortars, destroyed numerous explosives plants and eliminated 2,800 mines in the regions bordering Afghanistan," Khalilullah said. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian forces stage massive military drills around Crimea Iran Press TV Mon Sep 5, 2016 1:27PM Russian military forces have launched large-scale military drills around the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, the Russian Defense Ministry says. The ministry said in a statement on Monday that 12,500 servicemen are taking part in the drills across its southern military region, which encompasses the annexed Crimea region. "The exercise includes around 12,500 servicemen, aviation, military equipment and ships," the statement read. The Russian Navy in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea are participating in the drills and that planes also are being used in the exercises, the statement added. The six-day strategic military drills dubbed 'Kavkaz 2016' will test the army's ability to "plan, prepare and carry out military actions." Russia's military forces last month staged massive snap military drills in districts close to the border with Ukraine and the Baltic states, putting ground troopers as well as airmen and marines on full combat readiness for possible future operations. Russia has also recently beefed up its military might in Crimea by delivering its most advanced air defense system, the S-400, to the peninsula. Tensions between Moscow and Kiev have flared in recent weeks after Russia's Federal Security Service said that it had thwarted an incursion by the Ukrainian military into Crimea, but two Russians were killed in the incident. Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Ukraine for "practicing terror" and vowed to retaliate the deaths. Ukrainian officials, however, denied the allegations and accused Russia of creating an excuse for further "intervention." People in Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula of Crimea voted in a referendum to join the Russian Federation in March 2014. The move angered the West and the Ukrainian government, which branded it as Moscow's annexation of the territory. The Crimea referendum came almost at the same as the Ukrainian government engaged in a crackdown on the Russian-speaking people in the eastern Donbass region, who later took up arms to defend themselves. Moreover, relations between Russia on one side and NATO and the US on the other have witnessed heightened tensions over a crisis in Ukraine. While the Kiev government and its Western allies keep accusing Moscow of having a hand in the militancy in eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin strongly rejects the claims. Russia has also criticized NATO's expansion policy to include countries in the Western Balkan region, saying the move directly harms Russia's strategic interests in the Balkans. On May 30, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced plans to station a rotating force near the border with Russia. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia Declares Respected Pollster 'Foreign Agent' September 05, 2016 by RFE/RL Russia's Justice Ministry has placed the independent national pollster Levada Center on its official register of organizations "operating as foreign agents," potentially threatening the widely respected research group's existence. The move was announced on the ministry's website on September 5, adding that the circumstances were disclosed in an "unscheduled" inspection of the group's documentation. It comes just two weeks ahead of state and local elections, with the economy sputtering under low oil revenues and foreign sanctions and scattered signs of discontent as President Vladimir Putin mounts an effort to reassert Russia on the international stage. Levada Center's director, Lev Gudkov, told TV Dozhd after the announcement that the determination could force the closure of his organization. "That is a very bad thing for us," Gudkov said. "If we are really recognized as [foreign agents] and the decision is not changed, that will mean the end of Levada Center's activities -- because with such a label it is just impossible to hold any social polls [in Russia]." Levada is one of Russia's largest nongovernmental polling and sociological-research groups, and conducts high-profile surveys in a range of topics from the popularity of politicians to Russians' views on Moscow's bombing campaign in Syria or the severity of the country's current economic crisis. Levada joins a growing list of well over 100 organizations and individuals targeted by the four-year-old law and its gradual tightening, including the Memorial Human Rights Center, Moscow's Sakharov Center, and a number of human rights activists. Russian and international human rights organizations have said the law was introduced to silence independent voices. The Russian law adopted in 2012 requires any nongovernmental organization that receives funding from abroad and engages in political activity to formally register itself as a "foreign agent." Amendments introduced to the law in 2014 allow the Justice Ministry to forcefully add NGOs to the list of "foreign agents." Failure to comply can result in heavy fines and/or jail time. The Russian law's influence is also thought to have extended beyond Russia's borders, with free-media and democracy campaigners like U.S.-based Freedom House noting the legislation has spawned similar laws elsewhere in Eurasia. The public perception of the phrase "foreign agent" has an especially negative connotation in post-Soviet Russia. Gudkov said the Levada Center's offices in Moscow were searched from August 12 to August 31 after an activist of the pro-Kremlin Antimaidan movement, Dmitry Sablin, formally accused the group of "conducting intelligence activities" and demanded that law enforcement bodies inspect the group's operations. Gudkov declined to link the Justice Ministry's decision to upcoming State Duma and local elections, scheduled for September 18. But he added that Levada's offices were searched after it noted a decline in the popularity of the ruling United Russia party. The Justice Ministry said the Levada Center, founded in 2003, was the 141st organization on its list of "foreign agents." With reporting by TVrain.ru, TASS, and The Moscow Times Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/russia- levada-polling-center-declared- foreign-agent/27968584.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Army Tests Next-Generation Armored Recovery Vehicle Sputnik News 15:33 05.09.2016(updated 16:00 05.09.2016) The Russian military is testing a new armored recovery vehicle based on the successful Kurganets-25, a tracked 25-ton modular platform for infantry fighting vehicles, Russian newspaper Izvestiya reported. Russia's Ministry of Defense and the "Special Design Bureau for Machine Building" (SKBM) have begun testing a next-generation Armored Recovery Vehicle (ARV), which is used to repair or recover damaged combat machinery during warfare. The new ARV has been developed on the platform of the Kurganets-25 infantry vehicle, and is intended to support infantry vehicles or armored personnel carriers. It carries repair equipment such as replacement engines, transmission systems, clutches and other necessary components, and is able to withstand heavy gunfire. "The vehicle is currently undergoing testing at the moment, and it can be expected to be deployed together with the Kurganets-25," Sergey Abdulov, head designer at SKBM, told Izvestiya. Abdulov explained that the new vehicle is safer than its predecessors, and boasts an improved system of evacuation for soldiers under fire. "The vehicle improves on its predecessors such as the Beglyanka ARV thanks to the greater capacity of its main crane and the strength of its winch," Abdulov explained. "For protection, it has the same 12.7mm caliber gun as the Bumerang armored personnel carrier, and the same level of armor as the (Kurganets-25) infantry vehicle." Instead of having to leave the armored cabin of the ARV to connect tow ropes to an incapacitated military vehicle, risking enemy fire, the new ARV allows soldiers to remotely connect the towing rope with special loops on the combat vehicle. The new ARV improves upon the BREM-1 armored recovery vehicle (pictured above), which entered service in 1984. A military source told the newspaper that the ARV will be deployed to support infantry and marine battalions equipped with the new Kurganets-25 and Bumerang combat vehicles, as well as the older BTR-80, BTR-82B, BMP-2 and BMP-3. "The armored recovery vehicles which are currently in service with the Russian army are unfortunately unable to handle the task of repairing the Kurganets and Bumerang," the source explained. The Kurganets-25 tracked infantry fighting vehicle and the Bumerang amphibious wheeled armored personnel carrier were unveiled at the May 9 2015 Victory Day military parade in Moscow, and are currently undergoing testing ahead of the first deployment in 2017. The Kurganets-25 is intended as a modular platform for several different infantry fighting vehicles and tracked armored personnel carriers. It is fitted with a 30mm automatic cannon, a 7.62-mm machine gun and two twin Kornet anti-tank guided missile launchers. Up to eight dismounted soldiers can be transported in the vehicle, which has a maximum speed of 80km/h on land, and 10km/h in water. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address In the heat of a presidential campaign, youd think that a story about one partys nominee giving a large contribution to a state attorney general who promptly shut down an inquiry into that nominees scam university would be enormous news. But we continue to hear almost nothing about what happened between Donald Trump and Florida attorney general Pam Bondi. [...]there was only one mention of this story on any of the five Sunday shows, when John Dickerson asked Chris Christie about it on Face the Nation (Christie took great umbrage: I cant believe, John, that anyone would insult Pam Bondi that way). And the comparison with stories about Hillary Clintons emails or the Clinton Foundation is extremely instructive. Whenever we get some new development in any of those Clinton stories, you see blanket coverage every cable network, every network news program, every newspaper investigates it at length. http://www.dailykos.com/stories/201...undit-roundup-The-Trump-Bondi-bribery-scandal [/QUOTEMarc Reichelderfer who worked as a consultant on Bondis reelection effort told the Associated Press in June that Bondi spoke with Trump and solicited the donation herself. Reichelderfer said that Bondi had not been aware of the complaints against Trump University when she asked for the contribution.But we do know that his first instinct was to tell an easily provable lie.Trump says he never spoke to Bondi about the bribe contribution to her campaign (which coincidentally came within days of dropping the suit against Trump University) except for the time when she directly requested the money from Trump.The attorney general of Florida called Donald Trump and asked for a campaign contribution at a time a lawsuit was hanging between the state and Trump.Trump slipped her the cash, illegally, through his charitable foundation.Bondi pulled out of the suit.Trump now claims he never talked to Bondi, though her consultant says thats not true. Russia says US statements on Syria talks have no basis ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency Mon / 5 September 2016 / 14:44 TEHRAN (ISNA)- Moscow said there is no basis for "dramatic statements" after Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry failed to strike a deal on ending the years-long conflict in Syria. The US State Department said Sunday a deal was close and could be announced by Kerry and his Russian counterpart, but hours later acknowledged they had failed to reach an agreement on Syria and that differences remained. "There are no reasons for such dramatic statements as those being made by some State Department sources, that nothing has been achieved," Interfax news agency quoted a source at the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying Monday. "The process will continue," the source added. Kerry and Lavrov had met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou.The two were expected to meet again on Monday. Earlier on Sunday, President Barack Obama said the US and Russia have deep differences with regard to the parties they support in Syria as well as the process to bring peace there. Speaking at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May on the sidelines of the G20 summit, Obama said the Russian-US talks are key for efforts to reduce violence in the Arab country. Washington and Moscow have sought for weeks to secure a ceasefire between Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and terrorist groups operating in the country, presstv reported. Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. According to UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, more than 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict. Takfiri terrorists have suffered major setbacks over the past few months and the Syrian army has managed to liberate many key areas. End Item NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey pushes plan for establishing no-fly zone in Syria Iran Press TV Mon Sep 5, 2016 4:13PM Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeated his previous call for establishing a no-fly zone in Syria, saying it would be needed to stop the flow of Syrian refugees into Turkey and other places. Erdogan, who was speaking in China, said he had renewed his call last year for setting up the safe zone during talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama. "The Syrian citizens in our country and those [who] would want to migrate from Syria can now find the opportunity to live more peacefully in their own land and their own houses," Erdogan said during a press conference after the closing of the G20 summit in Hangzhou, adding that such a zone could be set up in a big stretch of land that Turkey claims to have liberated from militants in its recent military operation in Syria. "A no-fly zone could be set up there, and that was my suggestion to both Obama and Putin. This could be achieved with the coalition forces. We are in an effort to take this step," he said, referring to an alliance of Western and regional armies claiming to fight the Daesh Takfiri group in Syria. Despite massive criticism, Turkey launched its military operation into Syria almost two weeks ago, in a declared bid to engage Daesh and Syrian Kurdish forces. An estimated 3 million Syrian refugees are living in Turkey. Erdogan had proposed the no-fly zone idea during the previous G20 summit, which was held in the Turkish city of Antalya last year. Ankara's proposal, however, which required an international police force to protect the area from aerial bombardment, was no success. "At the Antalya summit, we persistently told all leaders that we could solve the migrant crisis by setting up a safe zone ... now at this summit too, we have brought up this issue with all our friends," Erdogan said on Monday. The Turkish leader also commented on the escalated fighting in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, saying efforts were underway to establish a ceasefire in the area before Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice) which is expected to start on September 11. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia says US statements on Syria talks have no basis Iran Press TV Mon Sep 5, 2016 9:53AM Russia says there is no basis for "dramatic statements" after its Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry failed to strike a deal on ending the conflict in Syria. The US State Department said Sunday a deal was close and could be announced by Kerry and his Russian counterpart, but hours later acknowledged they had failed to reach an agreement and that differences remained. "There are no reasons for such dramatic statements as those being made by some State Department sources, that nothing has been achieved," Interfax news agency quoted a source at the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying Monday. "The process will continue," the source added. Kerry and Lavrov had met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou.The two were expected to meet again on Monday. Earlier on Sunday, President Barack Obama said the US and Russia had deep differences with regard to the parties they support in Syria as well as the process to bring peace there. Speaking at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May on the sidelines of the G20 summit, Obama said the Russian-US talks were key for efforts to reduce violence in the Arab country. Washington and Moscow have sought for weeks to secure a ceasefire between Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and terrorist groups operating in the country. Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. According to UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, more than 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict. Takfiri terrorists have suffered major setbacks over the past few months and the Syrian army has managed to liberate many key areas. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Bombings kill over four dozen people in Syria Iran Press TV Mon Sep 5, 2016 8:40AM Over four dozen civilians have lost their lives and scores of others sustained injuries after a string of bomb explosions that targeted residential areas near Syria's capital, Damascus, and elsewhere in the conflict-plagued Arab country. Two bomb explosions ripped through the entrance to the western port city of Tartus, located 220 kilometers (136 miles) northwest of the capital, Damascus, on Monday, claiming over 30 civilian lives. Syrian police sources said the first blast took place when a car rigged with explosives was detonated on a highway under the Arzuna Bridge. The second blast happened when a bomber blew himself up as people were rescuing the victims of the initial bombing. The unnamed sources said that at least 36 people were also injured in the two blasts. Russia, a Syrian ally that is conducting aerial operations against militants in the Syria, operates a naval base in Tartus. Additionally, a bomb hidden on a motorcycle exploded in the Kurdish-populated Marsho area of the northeastern city of Hasaka, leaving eight people dead. Three people were also killed and several others injured when an explosives-laden car went off on a road linking the Sabourah and Baja districts of the outskirts of Damascus. In the northeastern Bab Tadmor (Gate of Palmyra) neighborhood of the western city of Homs, located 162 kilometers (101 miles) north of Damascus, a bomb attack killed two civilians and left seven others injured. The Takfiri Daesh militant group later claimed responsibility for all of the terrorist attacks. Syrian government forces have been fighting militants, including members of Daesh, across the country. On Sunday, Syrian government forces uncovered a 400-meter-long tunnel in the northeastern Harasta suburb of Damascus. Militants apparently used the tunnel to smuggle people, weapons, and ammunition into an area under their control. Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict. Back in 2014, the UN said it would no more update its official death toll for Syria. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Battle for Aleppo: Syria Reimposes Siege, Chokes Off Rebels' Supply of Weapons Sputnik News 21:45 05.09.2016(updated 00:17 06.09.2016) After a major offensive the Syrian Arab Army succeeded in driving out rebel fighters from an area just South of Aleppo and regime forces have once again encircled opposition forces to reestablish the siege. On Sunday, Syrian Army forces succeeded in once again cutting off the supply route of weapons and reinforcements to the rebel-held half of the Syrian city of Aleppo after fierce fighting backed by a major wave of Russian airstrikes against military colleges and key opposition targets. The reestablishment of the siege in Aleppo turns back progress made by anti-Assad fighters, supported in part by the United States, turns back the clock on progress made by the so-called "moderate" rebels who shocked the international community last month when they successfully busted through the Assad regime's siege in a victory that was heralded by the West. The offensive against the Aleppo siege last month was led by Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly the Syrian al-Qaeda affiliate known as al-Nusra Front, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States prohibiting the Obama administration from providing aid and support to the group. Al-Nusra Front fighters have conjoined with the US-backed "moderate" rebels under the umbrella group The Army of Conquest placing the Obama administration in a conflicted position regarding the battle for Aleppo. Pro-Assad forces recaptured a strategic military complex in Ramosa distrct on Aleppo's southwestern outskirts, according to Syria's SANA News Agency. The complex had been overrun by rebels last month during the assault that broke through the government's siege at the time. "The army has managed now to control many areas within the vast complex that houses military installations. Rebel factions say that they are going to reunite in order to launch a counter offensive," said Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra. "Ramosa is crucial for all parties. It is crucial for the government because it will pave the way for them to encircle rebel-held areas. It's also crucial for the rebels because it is the only supply line." Aleppo was once Syria's largest and most wealth city prior to the outbreak of conflict in 2011. The city has been effectively cut in half since mid-2012 with government forces controlling the west and the rebels controlling the city's eastern sector. Syria's state television further reported on Sunday that "armed forces, in cooperation with their allies, took full control of the military academy zone south of Aleppo and are clearing the remaining terrorists from the area." The offensive, reported state television, "cut all the supply and movement routes for terrorist groups from southern Aleppo province to the eastern neighborhoods and Ramosa." Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US, Russia Yet to Reach Syria Cease-fire Deal By Steve Herman September 05, 2016 Secretary of State John Kerry is returning home empty handed, failing to have reached an accord with his Russian counterpart on a cease-fire in Syria after an intensive period of diplomacy. The two countries still need to resolve what are described as "technical issues" and discussions between American and Russian negotiators are set to continue this week, State Department officials said on Monday. Off to the side of the G-20 Summit in Hangzhou, China, the U.S. and Russian presidents held talks about Syria that Barack Obama described as "businesslike" and were "constructive but not conclusive." "Given the gaps of trust that exist that's a tough negotiation and we haven't yet closed the gaps in a way where we think it would actually work," the U.S. president told reporters at the conclusion of the G-20 Summit. Ongoing negotiations Obama added he had instructed Kerry, while Russian President Vladimir Putin had told his foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, "to keep working at it over the next several days" in hopes an agreement could lead "to a serious conversation about a political solution to this problem" with all parties directly or indirectly involved in the Syrian conflict. Putin told reporters at a separate news conference that talks with the United States and Turkey were continuing concerning Syria and negotiators had made a step forward. During the past 10 days a peripatetic secretary of state kept in touch with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov through face-to-face meetings in Geneva and Hangzhou and telephone conversations in between while the American senior envoy made stops in Bangladesh and India. Kerry and senior aides have reiterated they do not want to make a tenuous deal for the sake of an announcement, but rather want Washington and Moscow to agree upon something realistic to achieve a sustainable nationwide cessation of hostilities in Syria. There is a growing perception among some senior U.S. officials, however, that the Russians are gaming the Americans in the talks. In private, U.S. diplomats have characterized the negotiations with their Russian counterparts as a litmus test on whether there is a seriousness by Moscow to reach an accord, or if the Russians are buying time that results in Obama and Kerry being portrayed as hapless negotiators. "The Russians walked back on some of the areas we thought we were agreed on," a senior State Department official said on Saturday, revealing the level of frustration. Russia is a long-time backer of Syria, and is seen as desiring President Bashar al-Assad remain in power in Damascus to maintain Moscow's influence in the region. Shifting alliances Diplomats have no illusion that bringing an end to five years of intense misery for the Syrian people will be easy. They describe the battlefield as complex, with shifting alliances among the many militias involved. "There are five different wars being waged" in Syria is a characterization expressed by more than one person involved in the cease-fire talks. President Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, which hosts 3 million Syrian refugees, said he had reiterated to Obama and Putin at the G-20 talks in China the need for a "no-fly zone" over Syria and a "safe zone" where there would be no fighting, in hopes of stemming the human migration. A half decade of war has fractured Syria. More than 250,000 people are believed to have died from shootings, mortar fire and air strikes. Millions have fled the country. And 18 million more people remain to face an uncertain fate, most of them in need of humanitarian assistance, according to UN relief agencies. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Al-Qaida-Linked Syrian Groups Could Shape Their Own Islamic State By Jamie Dettmer September 05, 2016 With the Islamic State's self-styled caliphate straddling Syria and Iraq shrinking thanks to land losses to the group's many foes, its jihadist rival al-Qaida's rebranded affiliate in Syria is marketing its own nation-building and doing so by imitating propaganda techniques employed by its competitor. And its increased propaganda output is taking aim once again at its struggling rival, apparently in a bid to exploit IS's mounting problems including the loss of 40 out of 43 founding senior leaders mainly to U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and battlefield fighting. On Sunday, Turkish officials claimed their military campaign inside Syria to push back IS from border regions had met with success. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in a televised speech Sunday: "Thank God, today, from Azaz to Jarablus, our 91 kilometers of borderline with Syria has been entirely secured. All the terrorist organizations were pushed back they are gone." The beneficiary One of the beneficiaries of the blows being dealt IS is Jabhat al-Nusra, which announced in July that it was breaking formal ties with al-Qaida after renaming itself Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, or JFS (Front for the Conquest of the Levant). There has long been a debate in the ranks of Jabhat al-Nusra about whether it should announce officially an emirate in territory it controls in northern Syria, mainly in the province of Idlib to the west of the besieged city of Aleppo. The group's leader, Mohammad al-Julani, suggested in a posted audio recording in July 2014 that it was about to do so. Syrian Jihadists make up JFS For tactical reasons, apparently mainly focused on avoiding disrupting relations and cooperation with other rebel militias in Syria, the group made up mainly of Syrian jihadists has held off. But emirate-building aspirations appear once again to dominate much of its recent propaganda and, as IS is pushed back more and more, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham has been boosting its criticism of rival jihadists while also engaging more directly with Western media. The propaganda operations are being overseen by an Australian jihadist preacher, the self-styled Sheik Mostafa Mahamed, who last month appeared on British television to show videos of formally fractured rebel groups fighting together under the banner of the JFS. Media wise Among the techniques JFS is copying is using teasers to boost the audiences for posted videos. Former U.S. ambassador Alberto Fernandez, an expert on jihadist use of the internet, noted as one "interesting example" a graphic released last week to advertise a forthcoming video that accuses IS of having Muslim blood on its hands and being heretical. "Notice nothing is said about infidel blood," Fernandez added. The graphic and video features al-Qaida-linked Sheikh Abdallah Muhammad al Muhaysini, a Saudi cleric and a highly influential jihadist ideologue in Syria, who in April launched a recruiting campaign for then-Jabhat al-Nusra urging young Muslims to "take up arms, do not sit still." JFS helped defend Aleppo Al Muhaysini has been at the forefront of the calls for all rebel fighters to unite around Jabhat Fateh al-Sham a call that has even greater pull with rebel militias since JFS's key role in defending eastern Aleppo from a massive Russian and Iranian-backed Assad regime offensive and managing a breakout last month. Most Western analysts dismiss JFS's break with al-Qaida as a feint, seeing it as a long game the jihadist group has been playing for some time across the Middle East and Africa. JFS long-term strategy In a paper published earlier this year by the Middle East Institute, a Washington-based think tank, analyst Charles Lister contrasted the Islamic State's modus operandi of imposing unilateral control over populations and rapidly proclaiming independence, with al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate moving "much more deliberately, seeking to build influence in the areas they hope to rule." He argued: "This is a long-game strategy that the terrorist group began adopting in the late 2000s, first in Yemen, in 2011, and then in Mali, in 2012." A key group in assisting JFS in its long-term aim to dominate the rebel opposition in Syria is Ahar al-Sham, another jihadist militia that al-Qaida leaders helped to found, according to Jennifer Cafarella and Genevieve Casagrande of the Washington-based Institute of the Study of War, a think tank, and Nicholas Heras, an analyst at the Center for a New American Security. Group may have its own Islamic State Writing in Foreign Policy magazine, the three analysts say Ahar al-Sham, which has never been formally part of al-Qaida, "Serves as the mortar that binds opposition groups together in northern Syria and is well-positioned to merge these forces with Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and solidify sharia-based governance all without the world realizing that the result would be a major win for al-Qaida's aims in Syria." JFS influence over a swathe of the anti-Assad rebel movement has grown in leaps and bounds thanks to the group's vanguard role in the defense of civilians in eastern Aleppo. Its popularity is growing despite the harsh penalties the group's Sharia courts mete out for infringements of a moral and social code not dissimilar to the Islamic State's. The analysts in their Foreign Policy article worry that Washington's inaction in the defense of the eastern half of Aleppo "may inadvertently be paving the way for Syria's next Islamic State." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Defense ministry denies report of military downsizing ROC Central News Agency 2016/09/05 16:07:48 Taipei, Sept. 5 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense (MND) on Monday denied a media report that the government is planning to streamline the military by cutting 30,000 troops. The ministry said the size of Taiwan's military is decided based on regional factors, enemy threats and military strategic planning and that the government plans to maintain the current number of troops. The MND was responding to a report published Monday in the Apple Daily, which said the ministry will put forward a military downsizing proposal later this month, the first of its kind since President Tsai Ing-wen () took office on May 20. It said the plan is expected to be implemented over a four-year period, starting in 2018, with the goal of cutting the number of troops from 215,000 at present to 190,000. (By Hsieh Chia-chen and Y.F. Low) ENDITEM/pc NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PKK commanders killed in Turkish airstrike in northern Iraq Iran Press TV Mon Sep 5, 2016 8:4PM Turkey says it has killed 30 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants during airstrikes in northern Iraq. According to a statement released by the Turkish army's General Staff, two militant positions were hit in Iraq's Qandil Mountains. The statement noted that several high ranking PKK members were among those killed. Earlier in the day, at least two Turkish soldiers were killed in fresh clashes with the Kurdish militants in Turkey's volatile southeast. On Saturday, over 100 members of the PKK were killed or wounded in clashes with Turkish army forces in the region. Turkish military forces have been conducting ground operations as well as airstrikes against PKK positions in Turkey's troubled southeastern border region and Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region over the past year. The campaign began following the July 2015 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc, which claimed more than 30 civilian lives. Turkish officials held the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group responsible for the act of terror. PKK militants, who accuse the Ankara government of supporting Daesh, launched a string of supposed reprisal attacks against Turkish security forces after the bomb attack, in turn prompting the Turkish military operations. A shaky ceasefire between Ankara and the PKK that had stood since 2013 was declared null and void by the militants following the Turkish strikes against the group. More than 600 Turkish security forces and over 7,000 PKK militants have been killed since the collapse of the truce, according to the latest toll provided by Anadolu in July. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Two soldiers killed in clashes with PKK in SE Turkey Iran Press TV Mon Sep 5, 2016 2:48PM At least two Turkish soldiers have been killed in fresh clashes with militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the country's volatile southeast. According to the state-run Turkish Anadolu news agency, the fatalities occurred on Monday when government forces launched an operation against the militants in the country's southeastern province of Hakkari. The report said Turkey's special forces, backed by the army's air and land forces, were still conducting military operations against the PKK in Hakkari. The development came two days after deadly clashes in the same province in which at least 12 soldiers were killed and 26 others sustained injuries. Government sources said over 100 militants were killed or wounded in the Saturday clashes. Ankara has been engaged in a large-scale anti-PKK campaign in its southern border region over the past few months. The Turkish military has also been pounding the group's positions in northern Iraq as well in breach of the Arab country's sovereignty. A shaky ceasefire between Ankara and the PKK that had stood since 2013 was declared null and void by the militants following the Turkish strikes against the group. More than 600 Turkish security forces and over 7,000 PKK militants have been killed since the collapse of the truce, according to the latest toll provided by Anadolu in July. 'Turkey bent on fending off Daesh and PKK in Syria' Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Sunday that Turkey was determined to press ahead with its military operations against both the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group and Kurdish militants in neighboring Syria. Speaking in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, Yildirim claimed that Syria's territorial integrity was essential to Ankara, adding that the Turkish military and the allied militants have managed to drive out Daesh terrorists from border areas near the Syrian towns of Azaz and Jarablus. Ankara's alleged fight against Daesh is believed to be a cover up for Turkey's real mission, which is purging Syrian border areas of Kurdish militants. Ankara regards the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and its affiliate Democratic Union Party (PYD) as allies of the PKK, which has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey since the 1980s. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 1938 2016 Dottie passed away peacefully on the evening of Sept. 1, 2016, with her family by her side. She was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, in 1938, the oldest of three children. Dottie graduated from Washington High School in 1955 and married the love of her life and best friend, Charles Chuck Frank. They celebrated 61 years of marriage on Aug. 23. Dottie and Chuck had three children, Charles, Cheryl and Mike. They settled in Corvallis where they have lived since 1973. Dottie is survived by her brother and sister, husband, three children, six grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. After raising three children, Dottie started her career and quickly excelled as the NW District Manager for Welcome Wagon. She then joined Hendersons Business Machines in Corvallis and found her true calling as a sales professional. Again excelling at her career and expanding the Henderson brand, she ultimately became a partner. During her career she always found the time to volunteer at the OSU Folk Club Thrift Shop. Dottie eventually retired to focus the remainder of her life serving others, entertaining and doing what she loved most, being with her family. A celebration of life is planned for 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 11, at the First Presbyterian Church in Corvallis, with a reception to follow. In lieu of gifts or flowers, please send donations to the OSU Folk Club or the First Presbyterian Church of Corvallis. Over 60 Miles of Turkish-Syrian Border Retaken From Daesh Sputnik News 15:22 05.09.2016(updated 15:38 05.09.2016) Daesh terrorist group had been forced out from territory along 98 kilometers (some 61 miles) of the Turkish-Syrian border. ANKARA (Sputnik) Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildlirim confirmed Monday that the Daesh terrorist group had been forced out from territory along 98 kilometers (some 61 miles) of the Turkish-Syrian border between the northern towns of Jarabulus and Azaz. Last month, units of the opposition Free Syrian Army routed terrorists from 10 Syrian villages to the south of Jarabulus, and a total of 400 kilometers in northern Syria have been retaken since the start of the Turkish military operation. "Ninety-eight kilometers of the border with Syria from Azaz to Jarabulus were taken under control. All terrorist groups were pushed from there," Yildlirim said during his address in the country's Diyarbakir province. On August 24, Turkish forces, backed by US-led coalition aircraft, began a military operation dubbed Euphrates Shield to clear Jarabulus and the surrounding area of Daesh, outlawed in Russia and many other countries worldwide. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UK becomes world's second biggest arms dealer Iran Press TV Mon Sep 5, 2016 10:9AM The UK government has become the world's second biggest arms dealer, with bulk of its weapons fueling deadly conflicts in the Middle East, according to official data. According to latest data by the UK Trade and Investment, a government body that promotes British exports overseas, over the last 10 years the UK's average arms sales exceeds that of Russia, China, or France and is only second to the United States. According to a joint analysis by The Independent and Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT), between 2010-2015, the British government has sold 10 billion in arms licenses to at least 39 of the 51 countries that have been ranked "not free" on the US-based Freedom House's "Freedom in the world" report. London has gone a step further and sold 7.9 billion worth of arms deals with 22 of the 30 countries that have been blacklisted on the UK government's own human rights watch list. Interestingly, about two-thirds of the exports over the five-year period were destined to the Middle East, where many countries have been ravaged by conflicts resulting from Western intervention. "The UK is one of the world's most successful defense exporters, averaging second place in the global rankings on a rolling ten-year basis, making it Europe's leading defense exporter in the period," the government organization boasted in its report. The Foreign Office maintains a "human rights priority countries" list which includes countries that it deems as having "the worst, or greatest number of, human rights violations." Saudi Arabia, Israel and Bahrain were some of the customers on the controversial government list. According to the Independent, Saudis have received British bombs, missiles, and fighter jets, which it has been using in its military aggression against Yemen, which has killed about 10,000 people since it began in March 2015. Last year alone, London approved the sale of more than 3 billion worth of weapons to the Riyadh regime. The UK has provided the Israeli regime with drone components and targeting equipment. Bahrain, another repressive Arab monarchy, has also received machine guns from the UK, along with special police training that it has actively been using to curb a years-long popular uprising against the ruling Al Khalifa family. "These terrible figures expose the hypocrisy at the heart of UK foreign policy," said Andrew Smith of CAAT. "These regimes aren't just buying weapons, they're also buying political support and legitimacy. How likely is the UK to act against human rights violations in these countries when it is also profiting from them," he asked. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Sept. 6, 1941 Aug. 27, 2016 Karen Kay Smith of Beaverton died at home on Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016, surrounded by family. Karen graduated from Albany Union High School in 1959, and attended Oregon State University and Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. Her first job was as a secretary at the Oregon State Capitol Building. A few years later, she began a long career in healthcare as a clerk at Albany General Hospital, where she worked her way up to executive secretary, then to coordinator of medical staff services. She moved to Portland in 1998 to become a medical staff coordinator for the Legacy Health System. Prior to retiring in 2013, she enjoyed working as a credentialing specialist for Kaiser Permante Northwest. During her career, Karen earned several professional designations, and held offices in many professional organizations, including serving as secretary and treasurer of the Oregon Association of Medical Staff Services. She was extensively involved in the community, serving with United Way of Linn County, STRIDE (a community action planning group), and InReach Community Clinic. She was an Albany General Hospital Auxiliary Board Member, on the Linn Benton Community College Business Technology Advisory Committee, and served on the Office of Oregon Health Policy & Research advisory committee on physician credentialing. Karen loved taking care of and spending time with her family, nieces and nephews, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Over the years, she enjoyed traveling extensively for business and pleasure across the United States. Her favorite landing spot was South Padre Island, Texas, where she spent several weeks each summer after retirement. She loved bird-watching, and driving slowly through bird refuges in Oregon, Washington, and Texas, looking for new birds to add to her life list. Karen was predeceased by her parents, Orlan and Esther Wallace, and her brother, Leon Wallace. Surviving are her loving children, Scott Smith and wife Dayna of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Kim Smothers and husband Kent of Beaverton; grandchildren, Ali Lasco and husband Kawika, and Sierra Smothers; great-grandchildren Kalia, Liam, Keara and Malayna; sister-in-law Diane Wallace; nieces Debbie Miller, Rebecca Oberg and husband Eric, and Ruth Lampien and husband John; and nephew John Wallace and wife Kimberly. Private memorial celebrations will be held for Karens family and friends. Sydney, Australia, Sept. 06, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Oblique long-section (looking approximately east) for the northern end of the B Lens position, showing location of WNDD0105, DHEM plates and earlier drilling. G2 Lens long-section showing existing lens shape and recent drilling. G2 Lens Cross Section, showing result in WNDD0106 and surrounding holes Cowley Hills Prospect, long-section looking east showing existing mine workings, drilling and location of the DHEM plate. Drill core photos from WNDD0106 Heron Resources Ltd. (ASX:HRR TSX:HER, Heron or the Company) is pleased to provide initial results from the drilling program completed at its wholly-owned Woodlawn Project, located 250km south-west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. A total of eight diamond core holes were completed for 2,527m. This drilling program comprised: 1) Step out testing of the B Lens to the north where previous drilling on this high priority target had been hampered by drill pad access, due to an evaporation dam. 2) Shallow holes in the G Lens system to probe for extensions to lenses, that may add resources which would further support the early stages of the underground mine schedule. Commenting on these latest results, Heron Managing Director and CEO, Mr Wayne Taylor, said: The completion of the Woodlawn Feasibility Study has provided Heron with the opportunity to pursue a number of prospective targets in and around Woodlawn that could extend the resource and optimise the mine schedule. The initial results have been extremely encouraging and support our view that this mineralised system has much more to deliver. The G2 Lens and a possible new lens in the hanging wall of G2 are very close to surface, providing an excellent opportunity to add to the early production from the underground while the B Lens north and adjacent Cowley Hills prospect both represent significant potential additions to the medium term schedule. Eight diamond holes totalling 2,527m Assays received to-date are only for two holes in this program and recorded a very significant intercept in the shallow G2 Lens position (potential additions to the Mineral Resource statement): 11m @ 11% ZnEq [1] from 133m (6.3% Zn, 0.5% Cu, 3.3% Pb, 0.1g/t Au, 10g/t Ag) - WNDD0106 Other significant base metal sulphide intersections logged geologically, assays pending, include: 4m of polymetallic sulphides from 552m (B Lens extension) - WNDD0108 7m of polymetallic and Cu stringer sulphides from 570m (B Lens extension) - WNDD0108 0m of Zn stringer and polymetallic sulphides from 109m (G2 hanging wall) - WNDD0110 1m of Zn stringer sulphides from 140m (G2 Lens extension) - WNDD0110 75m of massive Cu-rich sulphides from 178m (G2 Lens extension) - WNDD0111 From Cowley Hills, positioned 2 km to the north of Woodlawn in the same prolific host rocks: 6m of Cu and Zn stringer and semi-massive sulphides from 205m (Cowley Hills) - CHDD0001 Significant DHEM conductors from drill hole WNDD0105 indicating potential for B Lens continuity to the north Significant DHEM conductor from the down-hole survey in the Cowley Hills prospect showing potential for continuity of mineralisation to 170m vertical depth below old workings [1] ZnEq% used in this release refers to the calculated Zn equivalent grade based on the Zn, Cu, Pb, Au and Ag grades, the formula for which is provide in Appendix 2 at the end of this report. B Lens North Drilling As reported in Herons June quarterly report, the first hole (WNDD0105) of the current program intersected a zone of polymetallic sulphides over 1.2m in width within a broader 4.5m of stringer sulphides from 538m depth. This intercept confirms the extension of the B Lens horizon in this northerly direction and represents a step-out of over 100m from existing drilled mineralisation. Three thinner (10-30cm) zones of polymetallic massive sulphides were intersected at 516m, 526m and 547m depth often with faulted contacts indicating the possible presence of relatively broad zones of sulphide mineralisation with the volcanic package. Assay results were as follows (details are provided in Appendix 1): 5m @ 5.8% ZnEq from 538m (2.3% Zn, 0.8% Cu, 0.5% Pb, 0.2g/t Au, 13.1g/t Ag) - WNDD0105 A down hole electromagnetic (DHEM) survey on WNDD0105 resulted in three plates being modelled (Figure 1): Plate 1 is related to the in-hole mineralisation and measures approximately 70m x 70m with a conductance of 25S. Plates 2 and 3 relate to a broad off-hole response and measure approximately 250m x 150m with a conductance of 50S. The modelling indicates that the bulk of the conductivity is south of the hole, towards the mined B Lens position and with Plate 2 being in part related to the known mineralisation of B Lens. As shown in Figure 1, there is potential for a substantial volume of mineralisation in the zone defined by the DHEM plates to the north of B Lens with historic hole, W151, and current hole, WNDD0105, interpreted to be close to the current outer limits. WNDD0108 was drilled to intersect towards the northern edge of the modelled EM plates (Figure 1) and returned two significant intercepts: 4m of massive polymetallic sulphides from 552m - WNDD0108 7m of massive polymetallic and Cu stringer sulphides from 570m (incl. 3m internal waste) - WNDD0108 The upper mineralisation is expected to grade well and may represent the edge of a previously unrecognised lens in the hanging wall to B Lens. The 10.7m lower intercept is the main B Lens and demonstrates the potential for a substantial tonnage in this zone and confirms the extension of B Lens to the north. Figure 1: Oblique long-section (looking approximately east) for the northern end of the B Lens position, showing location of WNDD0105, DHEM plates and earlier drilling. http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3c451ca3-0128-4dbb-bba4-3f9544755d49 G2 Lens Drilling Five holes (Figure 2) have been completed on the G2 Lens position targeting shallow extensions to known mineralisation. A very significant intercept was returned in WNDD0106 located 50m down dip from the Mineral Reserve: 11m @ 11% ZnEq from 133m (6.3% Zn, 0.5% Cu, 3.3%Pb, 0.1g/t Au, 10g/t Ag) - WNDD0106 Other sulphide intersections where assays are pending include: 6m of pyritic sulphides with minor Zn/Cu from 148m - WNDD0107 0m of weak Zn stringer sulphides from 130m - WNDD0109 0m of Zn stringer and massive polymetallic sulphides from 109m (potential new lens) - WNDD0109 1m of Zn stringer sulphides from 140m - WNDD0110 75m of massive Cu-rich sulphides from 178m - WNDD0111 The massive sulphides intersected at 109m in WNDD0110 are very significant, visually appear to be very high grade, and may be related to a new lens position in the hanging wall to the G2 Lens. The lower intercept at 140m in WNDD0110 is a more typical G2 Lens intercept consisting of 1-10cm wide zinc sulphide stringers (sphalerite) with pyrite and lesser Pb and Cu sulphides above a chloritically altered footwall with finer sulphide stringers. A weaker zone of Cu and Zn sulphide stringers also exists at 200m in this hole. The G2 Lens (Figures 2 and 3) is open down-dip, with very little drilling having been undertaken on the zone previously. Given the shallow position of the lens, it is potentially an important contributor in the early years of the operation. Metallurgical test work is currently being performed on the sphalerite stringer material and recoveries are expected to be in line with or better than other Woodlawn massive sulphides given the generally coarser grained nature of this style of mineralisation. Drill core photos of the WNDD0106 mineralisation are provided in Appendix 2. Figure 2: G2 Lens long-section showing existing lens shape and recent drilling. http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ec2b57cf-b9ae-455a-ab2b-ec4b19f6a65b Figure 3: G2 Lens Cross Section, showing result in WNDD0106 and surrounding holes. http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/82295e75-5bfa-4f49-b86d-3d7c307dde30 Cowley Hills DHEM Target The Cowley Hills prospect is located 2km north of Woodlawn and consists of a Woodlawn-style VMS deposit that was partially mined from underground in 1990 (35,000t extracted). A single historical hole drilled in 1985, W158, was surveyed with high powered DHEM as part of the current program and resulted in the modelling of a 60m x 80m sized plate located in the down-dip position of the known mineralisation (Figure 4). Combining the DHEM, historical drilling and known limits of mined stopes there is potential at Cowley Hills for a zone of mineralisation measuring 80m along strike and 170m down dip. Given the similarities with the Woodlawn mineralisation there is potential to extend this further; however, the controls on the lens have not been well established. A single hole was drilled to test this lower zone of mineralisation and provide a sample for metallurgical test work. A significant sulphide intersection was returned: 6m of Cu and Zn stringer and semi-massive sulphides from 205m - CHDD0001 The intercept consisted of fine-grained pyrite and base-metal sulphides hosted in a strongly chlorite altered basalt unit with a sharp footwall contact marked by an intrusive dolerite unit. The potential for a Mineral Resource at Cowley Hills is being assessed including the possibility of accessing the ore from an open-pit position which would have the potential to supply production feed during the early years of the Woodlawn operation. Figure 4: Cowley Hills Prospect, long-section looking east showing existing mine workings, drilling and location of the DHEM plate. http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/31c8483e-e72a-49f2-b608-724fa156bbc1 About Heron Resources Limited: Herons primary focus is the development of its 100% owned, high grade Woodlawn Zinc-Copper Project located 250km southwest of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. In addition, the Company holds a significant high quality, gold and base metal tenement holding in New South Wales and Western Australia. Compliance Statement (JORC 2012 and NI43-101) The technical information in this report relating to the exploration results is based on information compiled by Mr. David von Perger, who is a Member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (Chartered Professional Geology). Mr. von Perger is a full time employee of Heron Resources Ltd. and has sufficient experience, which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results and qualified person as this term is defined in Canadian National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101). Mr. von Perger has reviewed this press release and consents to the inclusion in this report of the information in the form and context in which it appears. CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION This report contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, which are based on expectations, estimates and projections as of the date of this report. This forward-looking information includes, or may be based upon, without limitation, estimates, forecasts and statements as to managements expectations with respect to, among other things, the timing and amount of funding required to execute the Companys exploration, development and business plans, capital and exploration expenditures, the effect on the Company of any changes to existing legislation or policy, government regulation of mining operations, the length of time required to obtain permits, certifications and approvals, the success of exploration, development and mining activities, the geology of the Companys properties, environmental risks, the availability of labour, the focus of the Company in the future, demand and market outlook for precious metals and the prices thereof, progress in development of mineral properties, the Companys ability to raise funding privately or on a public market in the future, the Companys future growth, results of operations, performance, and business prospects and opportunities. Wherever possible, words such as anticipate, believe, expect, intend, may and similar expressions have been used to identify such forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is given, and on information available to management at such time. Forward-looking information involves significant risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking information. These factors, including, but not limited to, fluctuations in currency markets, fluctuations in commodity prices, the ability of the Company to access sufficient capital on favourable terms or at all, changes in national and local government legislation, taxation, controls, regulations, political or economic developments in Canada, Australia or other countries in which the Company does business or may carry on business in the future, operational or technical difficulties in connection with exploration or development activities, employee relations, the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, obtaining necessary licenses and permits, diminishing quantities and grades of mineral reserves, contests over title to properties, especially title to undeveloped properties, the inherent risks involved in the exploration and development of mineral properties, the uncertainties involved in interpreting drill results and other geological data, environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations, pressures, cave-ins and flooding, limitations of insurance coverage and the possibility of project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, and should be considered carefully. Many of these uncertainties and contingencies can affect the Companys actual results and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of, the Company. Prospective investors should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Although the forward-looking information contained in this report is based upon what management believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure prospective purchasers that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking information, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, and neither the Company nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of any such forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake, and assumes no obligation, to update or revise any such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information contained herein to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required by law. No stock exchange, regulation services provider, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained in this report. Appendix 1 http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c8b44a34-7f7e-42a5-b352-259f7912bbe6 Drill core photos from WNDD0106: Zn%, Cu%, Pb% grades are shown and have been derived from a hand-held XRF Niton device that provides approximate metal grades for a particular point of the core. The grades shown are indicative only and are not in any way meant to provide average grades for specific intervals. The actual grade for the broader interval (as reported above) was 11m @ 6.3% Zn, 0.5% Cu, 3.3%Pb, 0.1g/t Au, 10g/t Ag (11% ZnEq) from 133m. The rocks consist of strongly altered, moderately foliated dacitic volcanic derived mudstones (light colours) and chloritic schist (dark green/black) with stringers of semi-massive sphalerite (reddish) and pyritic (golden) sulphides. Appendix 2 Drill hole details for diamond drill holes completed as part of the Phase III drill campaign. Hole No. WMG East (m) WMG North (m) WMG RL (m) Surface Dip WMG Surface Azimuth EOH Depth (m) Target WNDD0105 8973 19718 2786 -70 076 633.7 Northern B Lens horizon WNDD0106 9187 19202 2795 -60 115 167.0 G2 Lens down plunge WNDD0107 9187 19202 2795 -67 088 170.0 G2 Lens down plunge WNDD0108 8974 19720 2786 -75 090 633.8 B Lens south WNDD0105 WNDD0109 9153 19217 2791 -68 132 255.7 G2 Lens down-dip WwwwWWWNDD0106 WNDD0110 9175 19206 2795 -72 105 222.7 G2 Lens down-dip WNDD0111 9170 19211 2795 -72 83 205.1 G2 Lens down-dip WNDD0110 CHDD0001 10541 21967 2825 -60 80 238.8 Targeting EM plate Notes: WMG = Woodlawn Mine Grid Zinc equivalent calculation The zinc equivalent ZnEq calculation takes into account, mining costs, milling costs, recoveries, payability (including transport and refining charges) and metal prices in generating a Zinc equivalent value for Au, Ag, Cu, Pb and Zn. ZnEq = Zn%+Cu%*3.12+Pb%*0.81+*Au g/t*0.86+Ag g/t*0.03 Metal prices used in the calculation are: Zn US$2,300/t, Pb US$ 2,050/t, Cu US$6,600/t, Au US$1,250/oz and Ag US$18/oz. It is Herons view that all the metals within this formula are expected to be recovered and sold. Hole No From (m) To (m) Downhole Width (m) Estimated True Width (m) ZnEq% Zn (%) Cu (%) Pb (% Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) WNDD0105 526.0 527.5 1.5 1.2 5.2 3 0.2 1.1 0.1 18.2 WNDD0105 537.7 542.2 4.5 3.6 5.8 2.3 0.8 0.5 0.2 13.1 WNDD0106 132.7 143.6 10.9 8.7 11 6.3 3.3 0.5 0.1 10.4 Notes: True width is an estimate of the actual thickness of the intercept based on interpreted lens orientation (approximately 80% to 90% of downhole width, with 80% used in this table as a general guide); grades are weighted average grades, weighted by length of samples intervals downhole, which are nominally 1 metre. No weighting was applied for differences in specific gravity. JORC 2012 Table 1 Section 1 Sampling Techniques and Data (Criteria in this section applies to all succeeding sections) Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary Sampling techniques Nature and quality of sampling (eg cut channels, random chips, or specific specialised industry standard measurement tools appropriate to the minerals under investigation, such as down hole gamma sondes, or handheld XRF instruments, etc). These examples should not be taken as limiting the broad meaning of sampling. Include reference to measures taken to ensure sample representivity and the appropriate calibration of any measurement tools or systems used. Aspects of the determination of mineralisation that are Material to the Public Report. Samples from the diamond-core holes are being taken from mostly HQ3 and NQ3 sized core and sampled on a nominal 1 metre basis taking into account smaller sample intervals up to geological contacts. The core is cut in half along the core orientation line (where available) and in massive sulphide zones one portion is quartered for assaying, half the core is preserved for metallurgical testing and the remaining quarter is retained as reference material in the core trays. In non-massive sulphide material half core is sampled. These sampling methods are standard industry methods and are believed to provide acceptably representative samples for the type of mineralisation encountered. Drilling techniques Drill type (eg core, reverse circulation, open-hole hammer, rotary air blast, auger, Bangka, sonic, etc) and details. Diamond-core drilling is being undertaken by Sandvik UDR650 rigs with mostly HQ3 sized core being drilled. Various techniques are employed to ensure the hole is kept within limits of the planned position. The core is laid out in standard plastic cores trays. Drill sample recovery Method of recording and assessing core and chip sample recoveries and results assessed. The core is transported to an enclosed core logging area and recoveries are recorded. Recoveries to date have been better than 95%. The core is orientated where possible and marked with 1 metre downhole intervals for logging and sampling. Logging Whether core and chip samples have been geologically and geotechnically logged to a level of detail to support appropriate Mineral Resource estimation, mining studies and metallurgical studies. The diamond core is geologically logged by qualified geologists. Geotechnical logging is also being undertaken on selected sections of the core. Samples for metallurgical testing are being kept in a freezer to reduce oxidation prior to being transported to the metallurgical laboratory. Sub-sampling techniques and sample preparation For all sample types, the nature, quality and appropriateness of the sample preparation technique. All core samples are crushed then pulverised in a ring pulveriser (LM5) to a nominal 90% passing 75 micron. An approximately 250g pulp sub-sample is taken from the large sample and residual material stored. A quartz flush (approximately 0.5 kilogram of white, medium-grained sand) is put through the LM5 pulveriser prior to each new batch of samples. A number of quartz flushes are also put through the pulveriser after each massive sulphide sample to ensure the bowl is clean prior to the next sample being processed. A selection of this pulverised quartz flush material is then analysed and reported by the lab to gauge the potential level of contamination that may be carried through from one sample to the next. Quality of assay data and laboratory tests The nature, quality and appropriateness of the assaying and laboratory procedures used and whether the technique is considered partial or total. Nature of quality control procedures adopted (eg standards, blanks, duplicates, external laboratory checks) and whether acceptable levels of accuracy (ie lack of bias) and precision have been established. Sample preparation and assaying is being conducted through ALS Laboratories, Orange, NSW with certain final analysis of pulps being undertaken at the ALS Laboratory in Brisbane QLD. Gold is determined by 30g fire assay fusion with ICP-AES analysis to 1ppb LLD. Other elements by mixed acid digestion followed by ICP-AES analysis. Laboratory quality control standards (blanks, standards and duplicates) are inserted at a rate of 5 per 35 samples for ICP work. Verification of sampling and assaying The verification of significant intersections by either independent or alternative company personnel. Documentation of primary data, data entry procedures, data verification, data storage (physical and electronic) protocols. Discuss any adjustment to assay data. An internal review of results was undertaken by Company personnel. No independent verification was undertaken at this stage. All field and laboratory data has been entered into an industry standard database using a contract database administrator (DBA) in the Companys Perth office. Validation of both the field and laboratory data is undertaken prior to final acceptance and reporting of the data. Quality control samples from both the Company and the Laboratory are assessed by the DBA and reported to the Company geologists for verification. All assay data must pass this data verification and quality control process before being reported. Location of data points Accuracy and quality of surveys used to locate drill holes (collar and down-hole surveys), trenches, mine workings and other locations used in Mineral Resource estimation. The drill collars were initially located with a combination of handheld GPS and licenced surveyor using a DGPS system, with accuracy of about 1m. The final drill collars are picked up by a licenced surveyor with accuracy to 1 centimetre. While drilling is being undertaken, downhole surveys are conducted using a downhole survey tool that records the magnetic azimuth and dip of the hole. These recordings are taken approximately every 30 metres downhole. Where possible holes are also being surveyed with gyroscopic methods, with some 80 percent of holes drilled in the current program also surveyed by this method after drilling has been completed. Data spacing and distribution Data spacing for reporting of Exploration Results. Whether the data spacing and distribution is sufficient to establish the degree of geological and grade continuity appropriate for the Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve estimation procedure(s) and classifications applied. Whether sample compositing has been applied. The diamond drilling is mostly following-up in various directions from previous intercepts with a nominal spacing in the range 30-40m. This drill hole spacing will be sufficient to provide Mineral Resource estimates in the future. Orientation of data in relation to geological structure Whether the orientation of sampling achieves unbiased sampling of possible structures and the extent to which this is known, considering the deposit type. The drilling orientation is designed to intersect the mineralised lenses at a close to perpendicular angle. The mineralised lenses are dipping at approximately 50-70 degrees to the west and the drilling is approximately at 60 degrees to the east. This will vary from hole to hole. Sample security The measures taken to ensure sample security. Samples are being secured in green plastic bags and are being transported to the ALS laboratory in Orange, NSW via a courier service or with Company personnel/contractors. Audits or reviews The results of any audits or reviews of sampling techniques and data. A review and assessment of the laboratory procedures was under taken by Company personnel in late 2014 resulting in some changes to their sample pulverising procedure. Section 2 Reporting of Exploration Results (Criteria listed in the preceding section also apply to this section.) Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary Mineral tenement and land tenure status Type, reference name/number, location and ownership including agreements or material issues with third parties such as joint ventures, partnerships, overriding royalties, native title interests, historical sites, wilderness or national park and environmental settings. The security of the tenure held at the time of reporting along with any known impediments to obtaining a licence to operate in the area. The Woodlawn project is located 200km south-west of Sydney in the state of New South Wales. The area is near the top of the Great Australian Dividing range and has an elevation around 800m above sea-level. The mineral and mining rights to the project are owned 100% by the Company through the granted, special (Crown and Private Land) mining lease 20 (SML20). The lease has been renewed to the 16 November 2029. The project area is on private land owned by Veolia who operate a waste disposal facility that utilises the historical open-pit void. An agreement is in place with Veolia for the Company to purchase certain sections of this private land to facilitate future mining and processing activities. A cooperation agreement is also in place between Veolia and the Company that covers drilling and other exploration activities in the area. Exploration done by other parties Acknowledgment and appraisal of exploration by other parties. The Woodlawn deposit was discovered by the Jododex JV in 1970 and open-pit mining began in 1978 and continued through to 1987. The project was bought outright by Rio Tinto Ltd. (CRA) in 1984 who completed the open-pit mining. Underground operations commenced in 1986 and the project was sold to Denehurst Ltd in 1987 who continued underground mining up until 1998. The mineral rights to the project were then acquired by TriAusMin Ltd in 1999 who conducted studies on a tailings re-treatment process and further underground operations. Heron took 100% ownership of the project in August 2014 following the merger of the two companies. Some 980 surface and underground drill holes have been completed on the project to date and various studies undertaken. Geology Deposit type, geological setting and style of mineralization. The Woodlawn deposit comprises volcanogenic massive sulphide mineralisation consisting of stratabound lenses of pyrite, sphalerite, galena and chalcopyrite. The mineralisation is hosted in the Silurian aged Woodlawn Felsic Volcanic package of the Goulburn sub-basin on the eastern side of the Lachlan Fold Belt. Drill hole Information o A summary of all information material to the understanding of the exploration results including a tabulation of the following information for all Material drill holes: A table detailing the drill hole information is given in the body of the report. Data aggregation methods In reporting Exploration Results, weighting averaging techniques, maximum and/or minimum grade truncations (eg cutting of high grades) and cut-off grades are usually Material and should be stated. Where aggregate intercepts incorporate short lengths of high grade results and longer lengths of low grade results, the procedure used for such aggregation should be stated and some typical examples of such aggregations should be shown in detail. The reported assays are weighted for their assay interval width. The majority of the assay interval widths are 1 metre, but this weighting does take into account the non 1 metre intervals and weights the average assay results accordingly. For the results reported here no weighting was included for specific gravity (SG) measurements that have been taken for all sample intervals as the samples within the intervals are of a similar SG. Relationship between mineralization widths and intercept lengths These relationships are particularly important in the reporting of Exploration Results. If the geometry of the mineralisation with respect to the drill hole angle is known, its nature should be reported. The massive sulphide zone intercepted in the drilling to date is at an angle to the drill axis and therefore the true width is estimated to be some 0.8 of down-hole width. That is, a down-hole intercept of 16m equates to a true width of 12m. This is only an approximation at this stage and will be better estimated as the orientation of the Lenses is better defined. Diagrams Appropriate maps and sections (with scales) and tabulations of intercepts should be included for any significant discovery being reported These should include, but not be limited to a plan view of drill hole collar locations and appropriate sectional views. Where relevant, a diagram showing the hole positions relevant for current phase of exploration is included in the release. Other maps and diagrams showing the location of the Woodlawn Project are included in other recent Company releases. Balanced reporting Where comprehensive reporting of all Exploration Results is not practicable, representative reporting of both low and high grades and/or widths should be practiced to avoid misleading reporting of Results. The reporting is considered to be balanced and all relevant results have been disclosed for this current phase of exploration. Other substantive exploration data Other exploration data, if meaningful and material, should be reported including (but not limited to): geological observations; geophysical survey results; geochemical survey results; bulk samples size and method of treatment; metallurgical test results; bulk density, groundwater, geotechnical and rock characteristics; potential deleterious or contaminating substances. The drill holes are being cased with either 40 or 50 millimetre PVC tubing for down-hole DHEM surveying which is undertaken on the majority of the holes drilled. Geotechnical logging is undertaken on all core, 25m either side of the massive sulphide lenses. Archimedes method SG measurements are determined for all sampled intervals. Further work The nature and scale of planned further work (eg tests for lateral extensions or depth extensions or large-scale step-out drilling). The third phase of drilling at Woodlawn commenced in July 2016 and was designed to test step-out exploration targets focussing on the northern extensions to the B Lens horizon. In addition, a number of holes were planned to in-fill and close out shallow mineralised positions to better define the Mineral Reserves for the early part years of the production schedule. The results of the program will be assessed prior to further drilling, however, it is clear a number of shallow targets warrant additional drilling to generate shallow Mineral Reserves. For further information, please visit www.heronresources.com.au or contact: Australia: Mr Wayne Taylor Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Tel: +61 2 9119 8111 or +61 8 6500 9200 Email: heron@heronresources.com.au Jon Snowball, FTI Consulting Tel: +61 2 8298 6100 jon.snowball@fticonsulting.com Canada: Tel: +1 647-862-1157 (Toronto) Vancouver, British Columbia / TheNewswire / September 6 2016 - African Queen Mines Ltd. (the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has now acquired an additional 2565 hectares in five key mineral tenures adjacent to its Yellowjacket Gold Project near Atlin, BC (the "Project"). The Company now controls 46 mineral claims, placer claims and placer leases covering an aggregate of 25,369 hectares or approximately 253.69 sq. km of strategic ground in the historic Pine Creek, Spruce Creek and McKee Creek areas in the Atlin district. Management views this ground as highly prospective for its potential to host commercially viable hard-rock gold deposits. The newly acquired tenures are underlain by a complex network of cross faults and favourable geologic units, including rock types typically associated with gold in the Atlin District, including altered ultramafics and Cache Creek Group mafic volcanic and sedimentary units. These rock types are associated with accreted terranes known to host the bulk of orogenic (mesothermal) gold deposits worldwide. Located to the S and SE of the Yellowjacket zone which has been the subject of mining operations since 1898, these claims cover the head of the placer channel for McKee Creek which is notable for its coarse placer gold nuggets. The tenures also cover tributaries to the historically richest placer gold section of Spruce Creek. The company is planning to conduct preliminary exploration programs to assess the mineral potential of these newly acquired tenures as well as its other hard rock mineral claims. The Company's long-term exploration and development program contemplates: (i) further exploration and development of the Yellowjacket Zone, Rock of Ages Zone and other ground associated with the historic mine site at the Project, with a view toward expanded resource delineation sufficient to justify restarting a commercial mining operation; and (ii) exploration and development of the Company's large base of mineral tenures throughout the District with a view toward making one or more discoveries of new gold mineralized zones with potential to host commercially viable gold deposits. On the Yellowjacket Zone, an initial four-hole diamond drilling program has just been completed utilizing a local drilling contractor and assays are pending from Bureau Veritas laboratories in Vancouver, BC. Results will be announced as soon as available to the Company. Further drill holes are being targeted at this time with drilling plans to be finalized after receipt of assays on the initial holes. According to Irwin Olian, CEO of the Company, "Our exceptional team of highly experienced geologists is continuing to assess the regional potential for hard rock gold deposits in the Atlin District and to assist management in making strategic property acquisitions. We have now assembled and control what amounts to the largest body of highly prospective hard rock mineral tenures in the region, including those covering areas associated with many of the most prolific placer gold producing creeks in the region. We are very excited about our potential for making new discoveries and look forward to future exploration with great anticipation." Linda Dandy, P.Geo., a Qualified Person within the meaning of N.I. 43-101, is providing on site supervision and guidance at the Project and has reviewed and approved the contents of this press release. She previously oversaw exploration activities on the project for a predecessor operator. Overall project leadership at Yellowjacket is being provided by Dr. Reinhard Ramdohr. About African Queen The Company is an exploratory resource company engaged in exploration and development of mineral properties in Canada and Africa. It is presently focusing on development of its Yellowjacket Gold Project in Atlin, British Columbia, which covers an aggregate of approximately 253.69 sq. km. The Company has its executive offices in Vancouver, Canada. The Company was incorporated under the laws of the Province of British Columbia, Canada, on April 30, 2008, and received certain southern African assets in a spin off transaction related to the acquisition of Pan African Mining Corp. by Asia Thai Mining Co., Ltd. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF AFRICAN QUEEN MINES, LTD. "Irwin Olian" Irwin Olian Chairman & CEO For more information, contact: Irwin Olian, President and CEO E-mail: tigertail@africanqueenmines.com Phone: (604) 788-0300 Carrie Howes, Corporate Communications Email: carrie@africanqueenmines.com Phone : U.K. - +44 (0) 870 490 5443 Canada - +1 416 900 3634 The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of the information contained herein. The statements made in this press release may contain certain forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual events or results may differ from the Company's expectations. Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCwire) - Endurance Gold Corp. (EDG TSX.V, Endurance) is pleased to announce a drill has now been mobilized and will commence drilling on its 100% optioned Elephant Mountain Gold Property (the Property) in Alaska. As previously announced on June 15, 2016, three targets are prioritized for drilling with five drill holes planned with initial focus on the South and North Zones. For a complete summary of the targets please refer to the Companys release dated June 15 2016 and website at www.endurancegold.com. The Property is well located near Eureka in the Rampart-Manley Hot Springs area of Alaska, about 76 miles (123 kilometres) northwest of Fairbanks. The Property can be accessed by highway, road and all-terrane vehicle trails from Eureka, an historic and active placer gold mining camp. Gold mineralization on the property is associated with three generations of quartz veinlets crosscutting altered granite and syenite. The Property is interpreted to be a reduced intrusion-related gold system (RIRG) similar to the Fort Knox Mine, Ryan Lode, and True North deposits located in the nearby Fairbanks Gold Mining district in Alaska, as well as the Brewery Creek, Eagle-Dublin Gulch, and possibly Coffee deposits in the Yukon. All of these deposits are related or interpreted to be related to late Cretaceous-aged intrusive events within the Tintina Gold Province of Alaska and the Yukon, and are associated with historic placer gold mining districts. ENDURANCE GOLD CORPORATION Robert T. Boyd FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT Endurance Gold Corporation (604) 682-2707, info@endurancegold.com www.endurancegold.com Robert T. Boyd, P.Geo. is a qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 and will supervise the drill program and has also supervised the compilation of the information forming the basis for this and earlier releases. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange (Exchange) nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. This news release may contain forward looking statements based on assumptions and judgments of management regarding future events or results that may prove to be inaccurate as a result of factors beyond its control, and actual results may differ materially from the expected results. To view this press release as a PDF file, click onto the following link:public://news_release_pdf/endurance09062016.pdfSource: Endurance Gold Corp. (TSX Venture:EDG, OTC Bulletin Board:ENDGF) To follow Endurance Gold Corp. on your favorite social media platform or financial websites, please click on the icons below. Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2016 Filing Services Canada Inc. ALBANY POLICE Bike theft 4:12 a.m. Sunday, 2400 block Oak Street S.E. A caller reported that sometime during the previous night, his black Trek bike worth $1,200 was stolen. The caller did not know the bikes serial number. Stolen vehicle 1:10 p.m. Sunday, 3200 block 19th Avenue S.E. A caller reported that their house was broken into on Saturday, and items taken during the burglary included a set of keys. A vehicle was later stolen. Tabitha Rachelle Malcom, 28, of Albany, was arrested on charges of unauthorized use of a vehicle and unlawful entry of a motor vehicle. She also had warrants for possession of methamphetamine, four instances of failure to appear and three instances of probation violation. Her initial bail was set at $9,000 and she was scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday. Burglary arrest 9:30 a.m. Monday, Linn County Jail. Keely Scott Reynolds, 37, of Scio, was arrested on charges of first-degree burglary, third-degree theft, contempt of court and a warrant for probation violation. His initial bail was set at nearly $222,500 and he was scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday. Earlier Monday morning, Reynolds had broken into an Albany house in the 1300 block of Broadway Street S.W. One of the residents there had a restraining order against him. Burglary report 11:05 a.m. Monday, Albany Christian Preschool, 420 Third Ave. S.E. Sometime after Aug. 11, a suspect broke in and stole an acoustic/electric guitar, a Fender Telecaster and a video recorder. LEBANON POLICE Rental house scam 1:57 p.m. Friday, 2600 Birch Street. A caller reported that someone has been putting advertisements on the internet that her house is for rent. A couple came to look at the house today, and this has occurred multiple times. The couple provided the email and phone number of the advertiser, who asked that the first payment be sent to Nigeria via Western union. An online search revealed that the telephone number is associated with scams. Car into building 3:53 p.m. Saturday, This, That and More, 2437 S. Santiam Highway. A white Buick crashed into the front of a store, hitting a cabinet and other property on display in front of the business. No injuries were reported. The 87-year-old driver of the vehicle said that he tried to apply the brake but accidentally accelerated forward. Information was exchanged between the driver and the business owner. Stolen vehicle 2:40 p.m. Sunday, 100 block E. Elmore Street. A silver 2001 Saab was reported stolen. The theft occurred sometime after 10 p.m. on Saturday. The loss value was approximately $5,000. VANCOUVER, Sept. 6, 2016 /CNW/ - Tinka Resources Limited ("Tinka" or the "Company") (TSXV: TK) (OTCPK: TKRFF) is pleased to announce it has signed final access agreements with the communities that own surface rights over the Ayawilca Inferred Mineral Resource (18.8 million tonnes grading 8.2% Zinc Eq; news release of May 25, 2016) and much of the planned 2016-2017 resource expansion drilling area, at the Company's 100% owned Ayawilca Property in central Peru. The agreements with the San Juan de Yanacocha and Huarautambo communities will allow the Company to file for the final permit required by the Peruvian government to initiate drilling activities, and for the Company to continue exploration up to the end of 2020. Dr. Graham Carman, Tinkas President and CEO, stated: "Reaching agreements with these two communities is a major milestone for Tinka and for the Ayawilca project. We are very pleased with this result - it is the culmination of many months of negotiations and hard work by our dedicated community relations team. By expanding the area and term of the Yanacocha agreement, and by signing the first agreement with the community of Huarautambo, Tinka will be in a position to initiate resource expansion drilling over our high priority zinc targets at West and South Ayawilca, once final Ministry permits are received. We expect those permits to be issued in the next few weeks, with drilling expected to commence by early November 2016." "We wish to thank the communities of San Juan de Yanacocha and Huarautambo for their constructive engagement and for partnering with Tinka to improve living conditions in their communities through sensible mineral exploration and sustainable development. This process has helped to strengthen Tinka's cooperation with our neighbours and marks the beginning of a new period of collaboration." The qualified person, Dr. Graham Carman, Tinka's President and CEO, and a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, has reviewed and verified the technical contents of this release. About Tinka Resources Limited Tinka is an exploration and development company with projects in Peru. Tinka's focus is on its 100%-owned Ayawilca Property in the highly mineralized zinc-lead-silver belt of central Peru, 200 kilometres north of Lima and 40 kilometres from Peru's largest historic zinc mine at Cerro de Pasco. Ayawilca has two separate Inferred Mineral Resource Zones of 18.8 Mt at 8.2% Zinc Eq, and 5.4 Mt at 0.89% Tin Eq, both open for expansion (news release of May 25, 2016). The Colquipucro silver deposit, located 2km north of the Ayawilca Zinc Zone, has Indicated Mineral Resources of 2.9 Mt at 112g/t Ag for 10.4 Moz Ag and Inferred Mineral Resources of 2.2 Mt at 105g/t Ag for 7.5 Moz Ag contained in 'higher-grade lenses' within a larger lower-grade resource envelope (news release of Feb' 26, 2015). On behalf of the Board, "Graham Carman" Dr. Graham Carman, President & CEO Forward Looking Statements: Certain information in this news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively "forward-looking statements"). All statements, other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs and expectations of Tinka as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to Tinka's management. Such statements reflect the current risks, uncertainties and assumptions related to certain factors including, without limitations, timing of commencement of drill programs, the Company's expectations regarding mineral resource calculations, capital and other costs varying significantly from estimates, production rates varying from estimates, changes in world metal markets, changes in equity markets, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, equipment failure, unexpected geological conditions, imprecision in resource estimates or metal recoveries, success of future development initiatives, competition, operating performance, environmental and safety risks, delays in obtaining or failure to obtain necessary permits and approvals from local authorities, community agreements and relations, and other development and operating risks. Should any one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein. Although Tinka believes that assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. Except as may be required by applicable securities laws, Tinka disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. SOURCE Tinka Resources Ltd. MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - Sept. 6, 2016) - NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES. Mason Graphite Inc. ("Mason Graphite" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:LLG)(OTCQX:MGPHF) announces that the Company has entered into an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters led by National Bank Financial Inc. (together the "Underwriters"), under which the Underwriters have agreed to buy on a bought deal basis 22,750,000 common shares of the Company (the "Shares") at a price of $1.10 per share for gross proceeds of $25,025,000 (the "Offering"). The Shares will be offered by way of private placement in all the provinces of Canada to accredited investors under applicable exemptions from prospectus requirements. Mason Graphite has also granted an option to the Underwriters to purchase up to 3,412,500 additional Shares at the issue price of $1.10 per share (the "Underwriters' Option"), which if exercised in full would result in total gross proceeds of $28,778,750 to Mason Graphite from the Offering. The Underwriters' Option is exercisable in whole or in part at any time up to 48 hours prior to closing of the Offering. The gross proceeds of the Offering will be used by the Company as follows: Approximately $17 million for development expenses related to the Company's Lac Gueret graphite mine and Baie-Comeau, Quebec concentrator plant project (the "Project"), the majority of which the Company expects to incur over the next twelve months (or approximately $21 million if the over-allotment option is exercised in full). These development expenses represent a portion of the Project's estimated $165.9 million capital expenditure budget, as described in the "NI 43-101 Technical Report: Resource Update and Feasibility Study, Lac Gueret Graphite Project" report published by the Company on February 29, 2016; Up to approximately $6 million for the payment of amounts owing to Quinto Mining Corp. related to the Company's acquisition of the mining claims that comprise the Lac Gueret property; Approximately $1 million for an additional equity investment in Group NanoXplore Inc., an advanced materials company specialized in the production of graphene and graphene-enhanced polymers, and in which Mason Graphite currently holds a 31% equity stake on a non-diluted basis; The remainder of the proceeds for general corporate purposes. The Offering is expected to close on or about September 27, 2016 and is subject to the prior approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. All securities issued at the closing of the Offering will be subject to a four month hold period under applicable Canadian securities legislation and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"), or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act) absent such registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. About Mason Graphite and the Lac Gueret Project Mason Graphite is a Canadian mining and processing company focused on the development of its 100% owned Lac Gueret natural graphite deposit located in northeastern Quebec. The Company is led by a highly experienced team that has over five decades of experience in graphite production, sales, and research and development. Mason Graphite Inc. On behalf of the Board "Benoit Gascon, CPA, CA", President & Chief Executive Officer Cautionary Statements This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All information contained herein that is not clearly historical in nature may constitute forward-looking information, including references to the Offering, the closing date of the Offering and the use of proceeds of the Offering. Generally, such forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: (i) volatile stock price; (ii) the general global markets and economic conditions; (iii) the possibility of write-downs and impairments; (iv) the risk associated with exploration, development and operations of mineral deposits; (v) the risk associated with establishing title to mineral properties and assets; (vi) the risks associated with entering into joint ventures; (vii) fluctuations in commodity prices; (viii) the risks associated with uninsurable risks arising during the course of exploration, development and production; (ix) competition faced by the issuer in securing experienced personnel and financing; (x) access to adequate infrastructure to support mining, processing, development and exploration activities; (xi) the risks associated with changes in the mining regulatory regime governing the issuer; (xii) the risks associated with the various environmental regulations the resulting issuer is subject to; (xiii) risks related to regulatory and permitting delays; (xiv) risks related to potential conflicts of interest; (xv) the reliance on key personnel; (xvi) liquidity risks; (xvii) the risk of potential dilution through the issue of common shares; (xviii) the Company does not anticipate declaring dividends in the near term; (xix) the risk of litigation; and (xx) risk management. Forward-looking information is based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable at the time such statements are made, including but not limited to, continued exploration activities, no material adverse change in metal prices, exploration and development plans proceeding in accordance with plans and such plans achieving their stated expected outcomes, receipt of required regulatory approvals, and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. Such forward-looking information has been provided for the purpose of assisting investors in understanding the Company's business, operations and exploration plans and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is made as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake to update such forward-looking information except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Brossard, Quebec / TheNewswire / September 6th, 2016 - Nippon Dragon Resources Inc. (the "Company" or "Nippon") (TSX-V Symbol: NIP), is pleased to announce that it has entered into a gold production agreement with Au Consolidated inc. (AC), an Arizona Company. Nippon will conduct thermal fragmentation operations on selected high grade narrow surface veins at Au Consolidated Inc.'s property located in Cochise County, near Willcox in the State of Arizona, U.S.A. The initial term of the agreement will terminate once 2000 gold ounces have been extracted from the selected surface veins. Recovered gold ounces will be shared on an 80/20 ratio. Nippon will be entitled to 80% of the gold ounces whereas AC will be entitled to 20% of the gold ounces produced. Once the initial gold production as stipulated in the agreement is reached, a long-term agreement or sale of Nippon's thermal fragmentation unit(s) may be negotiated between the parties. Donald Brisebois, Nippon's President and CEO stated: 'During my site visit, I was very impressed by the professional work conducted by the geological team, they have identified several gold bearing vein structures that are amenable to our thermal fragmentation mining method.' Nippon is active in the exploration and the development of gold resources in Quebec. The Corporation holds a gold property with resources recognized in accordance with NI43-101, a modular treatment plant and also an exclusive license for the Thermal Fragmentation mining method. The company's growth strategy is based on: -The development of its gold deposits with the objective of producing revenue from its operations; -Increasing the value of its mining assets by prioritizing the exploration targets; and -The commercialisation and employment of its thermal fragmentation technology. For additional information: John Stella, Investor relations (514) 718-7976 jstella@nippondragon.com Donald Brisebois, President & CEO (450) 510-4442 dbrisebois@nippondragon.com Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This press release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address future exploration drilling, exploration and production activities and events or developments that the Corporation expects, are forward looking statements. Although the Corporation believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Ressources Nippon Dragon Resources Inc. 7055 Taschereau Blvd., suite 500, Brossard (Quebec) J4Z 1A7 Tel: (450) 510-4442 www.nippondragon.com Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. VANCOUVER, BC / TheNewswire / September 6, 2016 - Novo Resources Corp. ("Novo" or the "Company") (TSX-V: NVO; OTCQX: NSRPF) is pleased to announce commencement of processing of its recently collected 30,000 tonne bulk sample at its 100% controlled Beatons Creek gold project, Western Australia. Processing is expected to take approximately two to three months. Results of Bulk Sampling Over a three week period beginning in late July, Novo extracted approximately 30,000 tonnes of mineralized conglomerate from a pit in the central part of the Beatons Creek oxide resource. Most of the material came from one conglomerate horizon ("reef"); however, about 500 tonnes were extracted from a second reef about two meters stratigraphically below. Although the initial plan was to extract 10,000 tonnes of reef from each of three pits, it was recognized that grade blocks in the reef that was mined displayed a similar range, 1.5-5.0 gpt, to that expected from the three pits, 1.9-5.0 gpt. Therefore, Novo considers the material that was extracted to be similarly representative. By taking sample from one pit, extraction took three weeks rather than the planned six, and costs were significantly reduced. Results of trial bulk sampling were very encouraging. Findings include the following: --Both waste and reef, proved to be "free-digging." No drilling and blasting was needed. Material was extracted utilizing a D9 bulldozer and 80 tonne excavator and hauled utilizing 40 tonne articulated trucks (see Figures 1 and 2 below). --Nearly 75,000 tonnes of waste and 30,000 tonnes of reef was moved, a ratio of 2.5-to-1. Given the large size, geometry and position of the pit within the resource area, Novo considers this a reasonable trial of potential future extraction of reef at Beatons Creek. Cost of delivering each tonne of reef to the run-of-mine ("ROM") pad came in less than AU$10/tonne inclusive of site and road preparation, stripping, and extraction of reef. --The top and bottom of the reef horizon proved to be readily visually identifiable based on large boulder size and abundance of oxidized detrital ("buckshot") pyrite (see Figures 3 and 4 below). Exploratory trenches were dug into the pit floor as waste was removed allowing for a precise determination of the top and bottom of the reef while mining. --The excavator operator was readily able to feel the contrast between overlying waste material and the top of the boulder-rich reef while stripping. While excavating reef, similar contrast was noted with the underlying sandstone proving much softer than the reef. These observations are very important because it indicates that excavator operators can use hardness as a guide for future mining. --Minimal (<10%) dilution was incurred. --The reef proved to be continuous and predictable across the entire bench. Thickness ranged from about 0.4-2.0 meters (see Figure 5 below). In places, bowl-like depressions were encountered at the base of the reef where it would rapidly thicken. --Locally, the reef appeared to be comprised of two or three closely stacked sub-reefs. Interbedded sandstone partings up to 0.5 m thick sometimes occurred between such sub-reefs. A bright white sandstone marked the base of the reef making footwall determination easy (see Figure 6 below). --No offsetting faults were encountered removing concern that the reef might be dislocated and difficult to follow. --Reef appeared consistently mineralized with similar amounts of buckshot pyrite across the entire bench. Small samples were routinely collected, crushed and panned, all yielding visible gold grains. A determination of gold grades will come from data gathered during trial processing. "We are very pleased with the results from our bulk sampling exercise," commented Dr. Quinton Hennigh, President, CEO and director of Novo. "We were able to readily identify and selectively extract targeted gold-bearing reef material with minimal dilution. All aspects of this exercise indicate we can extract conglomerate cheaply and effectively." Bulk Sample Processing Over the three weeks since receiving approvals to commence processing on August 10, 2016, Novo has installed and begun operating its trial processing equipment. Processing is expected to take two to three months. As discussed in the Company's news release dated April 13, 2016, Novo is utilizing a state-of-the-art Rubble Master RM100GO! horizontal impact crusher to crush mineralized conglomerate before gravity gold extraction. The advantage of this crusher is that it can take raw material and crush to sub-3 mm size in one step (see Figure 7 below). Novo recognizes that further crushing will be required to achieve optimal liberation in any future commercial scale operation, but for the purposes of trial processing, the product produced by the RM100GO! is suitable to liberate coarse gold. Crushed rock is fed by conveyor into Novo's IGR3000 gravity plant (see the Company's news release dated September 9, 2015 for further detail) where it is mixed with water in a rotating scrubber, screened, then fed into two Falcon centrifugal concentrators (see Figures 8 and 9 below). Discharge is captured in a newly built tailings pond. No chemicals are used in processing. Concentrates will be treated offsite in a secure location. Samples of the crushed feed material as well as the tailings will be routinely collected to monitor grade and enable Novo to calculate head grades. Given that coarse gold is abundant, this data will be critical to reconciling with predicted grades. Given that processing will likely last into November, it will be near calendar year-end before all data has been returned and Novo can present results to the public. Alluvial Processing Novo is seeking permits to extract 30,000 tonnes of alluvial material from various creeks and drainages across the Beatons Creek property. Pending permit approval, Novo hopes to extract and treat this material following processing of the trial bulk sample. Novo thinks there could be appreciable gold in gravels found in many of the creeks draining away from exposed gold-bearing reefs and hopes to demonstrate this with such a batch test. Quinton Hennigh (Ph.D., P.Geo.) is the Qualified Person pursuant to National Instrument 43-101 responsible for, and having reviewed and approved, the technical information contained in this news release. Dr. Hennigh is President, CEO and Director of Novo Resources Corp. About Novo Resources Corp. Novo's focus is to evaluate, acquire and explore gold properties. Indirect subsidiaries of Novo hold a 100% interest in the Beatons Creek gold project, a 70% interest in properties surrounding Beatons Creek and Marble Bar, a 100% interest in the Blue Spec gold-antimony project, and options covering approximately 400 square km over the Mosquito Creek Basin, all in the Pilbara region, Western Australia. For more information, please contact Leo Karabelas at (416) 543-3120 or e-mail leo@novoresources.com. On Behalf of the Board of Directors, Novo Resources Corp. "Quinton Hennigh" Quinton Hennigh CEO and President Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. Forward-looking information Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information (within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation) including, without limitation, statements as to the expected receipt of results from various sampling and processing activities. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements. Such factors include, without limitation, customary risks of the mineral resource exploration industry as well as Novo having sufficient cash to fund the planned processing activities. Click Image To View Full Size (Figure 1: Equipment used for bulk sampling at Beatons Creek. Both waste and mineralized material were found to be "free-digging" requiring no drilling and blasting. The excavator is removing waste above the targeted reef horizon.) Click Image To View Full Size (Figure 2: Free-digging mineralized conglomerate. The large boulders in front of the 80 tonne excavator are up to 1 m across.) Click Image To View Full Size (Figure 3: A 1.2 m thick section of mineralized conglomerate prior to mining. Note the large boulders scattered through the rock. Gold occurs in the matrix material between boulders.) Click Image To View Full Size (Figure 4: A large piece of mineralized gold-bearing matrix material. The round pits are left after oxidized pyrite clasts. These pits are a good visual guide to mineralization.) Click Image To View Full Size (Figure 5: Extracting the seam of mineralized conglomerate. At the right near the bulldozer, the seam is about 0.5 m thick. Under the excavator it is approximately 2 m thick. Although thickness varied as expected, this reef proved to be continuous and predictable. The excavator operator could readily discern the top and the bottom of the reef resulting in minimal dilution.) Click Image To View Full Size (Figure 6: Un-mined reef, left and white footwall sandstone, right. The footwall sandstone was easy to discern while mining.) Click Image To View Full Size (Figure 7: Rubble Master RM100GO! horizontal impact crusher. Raw material is fed into the top and sub-3 mm crushed product comes off the conveyor. This is the only crushing unit Novo is employing for test processing.) Click Image To View Full Size (Figure 8: Novo's newly constructed processing facility. Mineralized stockpile is at left. Crusher is at center left. IGR3000 gravity gold plant is center right. Crushed stockpiles are in the foreground.) Click Image To View Full Size (Figure 9: Novo's IGR3000 gravity gold recovery plant in operation. This plant will treat crushed material over the next 2-3 months.) Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. September 6, 2016 / TheNewswire / Vancouver, British Columbia. Happy Creek Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: HPY) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that trenching and drilling has commenced on its 100% owned Fox tungsten property. Further to the news release of June 27, 2016, a program of geology, trenching and core drilling totaling approximately 2,500 metres is underway. Work is initially planned to expand the project's existing resource by trenching and drilling possible extensions at the Ridley Creek, BN and BK zones then move the drill to the new untested South Grid. David Blann, P.Eng., President, C.E.O. of Happy Creek comments: "The 100% owned Fox property in South Central B.C. is a great discovery with six zones found so far that are at- surface in a 10 km by 3 km mineral system. The Ridley Creek zone has an initial NI 43-101 open pit resource at an indicated grade of 0.468% WO3, and this and all other zones remain open to further expansion. From our experience with the Fox, it has always delivered and we look forward to continuing to advance it as an important new tungsten project in the western world." The Company advises that a helicopter crashed during landing in good weather near camp with only the highly experienced pilot onboard. The pilot is currently resting in hospital and the Company sends its best wishes to the pilot and his family and we wish him a speedy recovery. We thank him for his superb service and thoughtful support to the start of this program. In addition, the Company would like to thank the Paycore Drilling crew for their demonstration of professional, well trained assistance to help the pilot out of the helicopter within minutes, and the B.C. air ambulance and medical team who arrived quickly to attend. After a short break, the Company has retained another helicopter and exploration work is unaffected by the incident and has resumed. About the Fox tungsten property The Ridley Creek (RC) zone has a pit constrained 505,000 tonnes indicated at 0.468% WO3 and 280,000 tonnes inferred at 0.456% WO3 at a 0.10% WO3 cut-off with a 4.1: 1 strip ratio and 45-degree pit slope angle. Within this are 240,000 tonnes indicated at 0.74% W03 and 129,000 tonnes at 0.67% W03 inferred at a cut-off of 0.40% W03. The deposit, and drill holes such as F13-19 with 26.3m of 1.19% WO3, including 3.66m of 4.60% WO3, is open to further expansion. The BN target area is 250 metres by one kilometre in dimension. At the northeast edge, drill hole F12-27 returned 4.1m of 1.78% WO3 starting at surface, and further down-hole 14.8m of 4.0% WO3 and 24.0m of 0.79% WO3. At the BK target, F12-20 returned 5.0m of 0.68% WO3 starting approximately 25.0m below surface and 35m from a trench containing 7.3m of 1.25% WO3 and 3.0m of 2.11% WO3. The South Grid target is one kilometre by 500 metres in dimension, and four surface samples contain from 1.75-5.89% WO3, five samples contain from 0.35-0.76% WO3 and five samples contain from 0.12-0.26% WO3 (news release June 27, 2016). The BN and BK targets have seen only cursory reconnaissance drilling while the South Grid remains untested by drilling. All zones remain open to further expansion, and much of the 10 km by 3 km mineral system remains under-explored. On behalf of the Board of Directors, "David E Blann" ____________________ David E Blann, P.Eng. President, CEO FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: David Blann, President, CEO Corporate Office: Phone: 604.662.8310 Email: Info@happycreekminerals.com Website: www.happycreekminerals.com Corporate Communications Ron Birch: Phone: 250-545-0383 Toll Free: 1-800-910-7711 Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. David Blann, P.Eng. is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for the preparation and approval of the technical information disclosed in the news release. This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements that address capital costs, recovery, grade, and timing of work or plans at the Company's mineral projects. Forward-looking information may be, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "planned", "continue", "expect", "thought to", "project", "predict", "potential", "targeting", "intends", "believe", "opportunity", "further" and others, or which describes a goal or action, event or result such as "may", "should", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be undertaken, occur or achieved. Statements also include those that address future mineral production, reserve potential, potential size or scale of a mineralized zone, potential expansion of mineralization, potential type(s) of mining, potential grades as well as to Happy creek's ability to fund ongoing expenditure, or assumptions about future metal or mineral prices, currency exchange rates, metallurgical recoveries and grades, favourable operating conditions, access, political stability, obtaining or renewal of existing or required mineral titles, licenses and permits, labour stability, market conditions, availability of equipment, accuracy of any mineral resources, anticipated costs and expenditures. Assumptions may be based on factors and events that are not within the control of Happy creek and there is no assurance they will prove to be correct. Such forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, which may cause the actual results to materially differ, and/or any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Additional information on risks and uncertainties can be found within Financial Statements, Prospectus and other materials found on the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Although Happy creek has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Happy creek withholds any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by law. Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. Board to Consist of Seven Highly-Qualified and Experienced Executives ST. LOUIS, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Arch Coal Inc. today announced the proposed composition of its new board of directors. Subject to the Court's confirmation of the company's Plan of Reorganization, the term of the new board members will begin upon the company's emergence from Chapter 11. In addition to John W. Eaves, Arch's chief executive officer, the Arch board will be comprised of the following six directors: Patrick J. Bartels, Jr. is a managing principal at Monarch Alternative Capital LP, which focuses on investing in stressed and distressed companies across various industries and geographies. He has served as a director of WCI Communities, Inc. since 2009. Prior to joining Monarch in 2002, Mr. Bartels was a high-yield investments analyst at Invesco. He began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Bartels holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. James N. Chapman brings more than 30 years of investment banking experience across a wide range of industries, including metals and mining, energy, and natural resources, as well as significant experience as a capital markets and strategic planning consultant. Since 2004, Chapman has served as a non-executive Advisory Director of SkyWorks Capital, LLC, an aviation and aerospace management consulting services company. Sherman K. Edmiston III has more than 20 years of experience working with companies undergoing major transitions as a principal investor, investment banker and advisor. He recently served as chief restructuring officer of Xinergy Ltd.., a Central Appalachian producer of thermal and metallurgical coal. Edmiston has served on a number of boards during his career and previously served as a member of the board of JL French Automotive Castings, Inc. Patrick A. Kriegshauser serves as executive vice president and chief financial officer and as a principal owner of Sachs Electric Company, a leading specialty electrical and design firm. He has considerable experience in the coal and energy industries, including a 15-year career at Arch, during which he served as senior vice president and chief financial officer. In addition, he served on the board of directors of Walter Energy for 10 years. Richard A. Navarre is an accomplished senior executive with more than 30 years of diverse international business and financial experience, including as president of Peabody Energy. In his 19 years with Peabody, Navarre had executive responsibility for virtually all areas of the company. During his tenure, Peabody's market cap grew from $480 million to more than $20 billion. He currently is a director on the boards of two publicly listed NYSE companies. Scott D. Vogel is a partner at Vogel Partners LP, a private investment firm, after serving as managing director at Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP. During his 14-year tenure at Davidson Kempner, Vogel invested in a diverse set of industries, including industrials and industrial services, business services, transportation, and metals and mining. Previously, Vogel worked at MFP Investors, investing in special situations and turnaround opportunities for the private investment firm of Michael F. Price, and at Chase Securities. Vogel has served on numerous boards during his career and is currently a member of the board of Merrill Corp. "We look forward to welcoming a new board of independent directors with the right mix of experience and business acumen to help guide Arch in a rapidly evolving and highly dynamic market environment," said Eaves. "These directors bring proven track records and diverse perspectives from both inside and outside our industry. I am confident that their leadership will contribute to Arch's future success. I look forward to working with the new board to create value, to achieve operational excellence, to maintain our leadership in mine safety and environmental stewardship, and to serve the needs of our customers in the metallurgical and power generation industries." "I would also like to thank Arch's outgoing board members for their exemplary service to the company over many years," Eaves continued. "Their leadership was instrumental in enabling Arch to become a top U.S. coal producer, a low-cost operator and a recognized leader in safety and environmental performance, and they have played a pivotal role in guiding us through our successful financial restructuring." A hearing to consider confirmation of the Plan by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri is scheduled to commence on September 13, 2016. U.S.-based Arch Coal Inc. is a top coal producer for the global steel and power generation industries, reliably serving customers worldwide. Its network of large-scale, low-cost mining complexes and high-quality metallurgical and thermal reserves are located in the most strategic coal supply basins in the United States. For more information, visit www.archcoal.com. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements" that is, statements related to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address our expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," or "will." Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. For us, particular uncertainties arise from changes in the demand for our coal by the domestic electric generation industry; from legislation and regulations relating to the Clean Air Act and other environmental initiatives; from operational, geological, permit, labor and weather-related factors; from fluctuations in the amount of cash we generate from operations; from potential demands for additional collateral for self-bonding; from future integration of acquired businesses; and from numerous other matters of national, regional and global scale, including those of a political, economic, business, competitive or regulatory nature. These uncertainties may cause our actual future results to be materially different than those expressed in our forward-looking statements. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. For a description of some of the risks and uncertainties that may affect our future results, you should see the risk factors described from time to time in the reports we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120727/CG47668LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/arch-coal-announces-proposed-board-of-directors-300323226.html SOURCE Arch Coal Inc. photos by Ngan Ho/Standard-Times Game Warden Ricky May chats with Tyler Engelbart, 20, and Candida Chairez, 22, about permits, which are now required to enter Twin Buttes Reservoir. In addition, alcoholic beverages are prohibited. SHARE Lt. Jason Huebner (from left), of the Texas Department of Wildlife & Parks, Game Warden Cynthia Aguilar and May work together. Game Warden Ricky May checking permits required to enter Twin Buttes. By Ngan Ho of the San Angelo Standard-Times Labor Day is simply another day of labor for many people and particularly for those in law enforcement, the three-day holiday weekend equals extra work. "With our job, we work every weekend, and then we work every holiday because that's our busy time," said Ricky May, Tom Green County game warden. "We know that it's a day off, so we know that we're going to have an influx of people come in, so we're going to be extremely busy compared to just a regular weekend." May began Monday morning responding to a call from the Sheriff's Office to rescue a duck that had its beak and feet entangled in fish lines. He answered four more calls before noon: reports of homes peppered by hunters. "Labor Day, normally we try to go check dove hunters" since it's the first weekend of dove season, May said. "During hunting season right now, our most common one (report) is people hunting and then peppering the house when they shoot, and all their bullets cross the property line and hit someone's house." Tom Green County has two game wardens who enforce hunting and fishing laws and water-safety regulations among other tasks. May spent part of the day patrolling Twin Buttes Reservoir checking for permits and answering questions regarding new regulations at Twin Buttes. "Everybody that comes to Twin Buttes now has to have a permit," May said. The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, the Bureau of Reclamation, who owns Twin Buttes, and the city of San Angelo entered into an agreement in May to bring Twin Buttes Reservoir and the surrounding lands, totaling nearly 13,000 acres, into the TPWD Public Hunting Program for the 2016-2017 season. Signs and disclaimers have been posted at several points of entry at Twin Buttes to inform visitors of the changes, which became effective Sept. 1. Other changes include the consumption of alcoholic beverages, which is now prohibited at Twin Buttes. The three-way collaboration is intended to increase the presence of law enforcement. Lt. Jason Huebner, of TPWD, said the changes are ultimately the result of irresponsible behavior in the park, and they hope the changes will have a positive result. "They're not being responsible about it out here, and so that's the reason for the rules, and unfortunately that's part of the reason we have to charge," Huebner said. "We hope to increase the quality of people's experience out here." The city will maintain operations and management, such as cleanup, but will now have the support of TPWD administering the area's public-hunting program, Huebner said. Trash has been a major problem at the park. "That's going to be our biggest challenge out here, is the illegal dumping and the trash, so hopefully we can get it picked up," he said. "Sometimes it's just people simply not picking up after themselves. They'll come and camp or they'll come shoot, and they won't pick up their shotgun hulls. "I've seen it where it just looks horrible," Huebner said. For more information visit http://tpwd.texas.gov. SHARE The following editorial appeared in Wednesday's Chicago Tribune: Democrats spent eight years watching in dismay as President George W. Bush expanded the limits of presidential power, claiming his right to do so in time of war. "The biggest problems we're facing right now have to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch, and not go through Congress at all," Barack Obama said in 2008. "That's what I intend to reverse when I'm president of the United States of America." But wholesome intentions, sincere or not, are no guarantee of performance. As it happens, Obama has been different from Bush. While Bush asserted broad authority in the realm of war and national security, Obama has also done it in domestic affairs. What he has not done is look for ways to curtail the options available to him or his successors. He intervened in Libya without asking Congress for permission and insisted the War Powers Resolution didn't apply to the U.S. bombing campaign. He effectively granted permission for children of foreigners who live in the U.S. illegally, and parents of American citizens who live in the U.S. illegally, to stay in this country. He issued executive orders requiring federal contractors to pay a higher minimum wage and accept various workplace requirements. He did all these things despite persuasive arguments that he was overstepping his bounds. Even Obama himself once took that more limiting view notably in 2010, as he was being criticized by Hispanic groups for not acting to protect immigrants who are in the U.S. without legal permission. "The main thing we have to do to stop deportations is to change the laws," he told Univision. "I'm president, I'm not king." Yet he wound up behaving as if he had a scepter and throne. A federal appeals court ruled against him on his immigration measures, and the Supreme Court left that ruling in place. Those workplace regulations? In his first term, his own lawyers said they were beyond his authority. In his second term, his lawyers found a way. Obama's appetite for control is typical of recent presidents. In 2001, Elena Kagan, now on the Supreme Court, noted that Ronald Reagan started something when he claimed and exercised new powers over federal regulatory agencies. "By the close of (Bill) Clinton's presidency, a fundamental and, I suspect, lasting transformation had occurred in the institutional relationship between the administrative agencies and the Executive Office of the President," Kagan wrote. What Democrats of the Clinton era realized is what Republicans would realize under Bush: When you're out of power, you want a weak presidency, and when you're in power, you want a strong one. Obama and his recent predecessors deserve only part of the blame. The rest lies with Congress, which has the means to curb an overambitious president any time it wants but which has generally been content to impersonate a wax dummy. When Congress shirks responsibility, or when it resists any cooperation with the White House on matters of great importance immigration being a prime example it practically dares the president to act unilaterally. Doing their jobs should not be optional for elected lawmakers. But regardless of where the fault lies, in the long run, the steady accumulation of power in the Oval Office undermines the design of the Constitution, which relies on checks and balances to restrain government action. It also assures that if an especially dangerous person wins the presidency say, Donald Trump he will have an array of weapons at hand to make his malignant vision a reality. Thanks to Obama, Cato Institute analyst Gene Healy says, "the most powerful office in the world is even more powerful now." In the next four years, whatever the outcome of the election, that trend is sure to continue. And Republicans and Democrats not to mention the American people will sooner or later come to regret it. The United Steelworkers have filed an unfair labor practice complaint against ATI Specialty Alloys and Components, also known as Wah Chang, over the companys refusal to verify employment for workers who might qualify for benefits under a government compensation program. More than 200 current or former Wah Chang workers or their survivors have received more than $35 million in cash and medical benefits so far under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act. The EEOICPA was established to help people who contracted certain radiation-induced cancers or other illnesses while working for the U.S. nuclear weapons program. To qualify for benefits, people must prove they worked for a covered employer. The Wah Chang metals refinery in Millersburg is covered because of a contract it had in the early 1970s to reprocess depleted uranium for a federal defense contractor. The company used to routinely provide employment verification for free, but a few months ago it outsourced the task to a division of the credit reporting firm Equifax. Workers are now directed to a website and instructed to fill out an online form to request employment verification. The process requires a fee, and many people find the website so confusing they ultimately give up, according to Garry Steffy, a former Wah Chang employee and Steelworkers union member who advocates for atomic weapons workers. On Aug. 8, United Steelworkers Local 6163 filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board accusing ATI Wah Chang of unfair labor practices for changing its verification process without negotiating with the union to amend the collective bargaining agreement for the Millersburg plant, which employs about 1,000 people. Steve Eddings, president of the Steelworkers local, declined to discuss the complaint, saying it was too early in the process. It is in the works, but were not there yet, Eddings said. It would be putting the cart before the horse a little bit. Steffy welcomed the union's participation and added he thinks the complaint is justified. "It's changing people's job (conditions) without negotiating," Steffy said. "It puts a burden on employees." The verification issue was a major topic of discussion at an Aug. 24 meeting on the atomic workers compensation program held at an Albany hotel. The meeting included staff members from the U.S. Department of Labors Division of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation, personnel from the divisions Seattle District Office and Hanford Resource Center and representatives of U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley. Members of Oregons congressional delegation have been pressuring the Labor Department to do more to help affected workers and their families, and Rep. Peter DeFazio recently called on Wah Chang to resume employment verification and provide contact information for former employees who may still be unaware of the compensation program. About 50 people attended the Albany meeting, including some who were previously unaware of the compensation program, according to Steffy. Among those applying for EEOICPA benefits, he said, were people who worked at the Hanford Nuclear Site in southeast Washington and the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Albany, both covered employers under the program. Nationwide, the program has paid out more than $12.8 billion in compensation and benefits to atomic weapons workers or their survivors. big-box stores are a modern necessity. Where towns are spaced far apart and winters are long, one-stop shopping to load up on supplies adds a crucial convenience to what can be -- at least for many -- a rugged existence.Landing one large retailer is a coup. Having more than one can make a city or town a regional shopping destination. Marquette Township, a small community adjacent to the larger city of Marquette, is in the unique position of having a handful of big-box chain stores. Taking advantage of the fact that the city of Marquette was mostly built out, the township began encouraging large-scale commercial development on its western edge early in the 2000s.The town now boasts the only Lowes on the Upper Peninsula, and the only PetSmart, Target and Best Buy. A Menards home improvement store and a Walmart Superstore are there as well. The flurry of new building and retail was so great that the townships tax revenue never took a hit during the Great Recession, even at a time when most small towns on the peninsula and elsewhere in Michigan were struggling.But recently, the township suffered a dramatic drop in its property tax revenue. It had to cut back on spending, trim employee benefits and reduce library hours. The impact has reached up to surrounding Marquette County, which earlier this year closed a youth home to save money. The reason for the lost revenue isnt declining consumer demand. Its a series of rulings by the Michigan Tax Tribunal that have allowed large retailers to reduce their property tax assessments, in many cases by as much as half.Big-box retailers argue that the market value of their commercial property should be the sale price of similarly sized but vacant retail buildings. They point out that these buildings are extremely hard to sell as-is once the retailer moves out. They tend to sit empty for long periods. Thus, the assertion is, they arent worth nearly as much as local tax assessors have traditionally assumed in valuing the property.This appeals approach was first largely successful in the Detroit area following the recession, when nearly all retailers were dealing with depressed property values. But since then, it has spread across otherwise thriving areas in Michigan to the point where it is difficult to find a county that hasnt been challenged on the issue. The assessment community has even given it a name, dubbing it the dark-store strategy.Local governments, needless to say, arent buying this. When you get your house appraised, theyre going to look at properties that are occupied, says Steve Currie of the Michigan Association of Counties. Theyre not going to look at the foreclosed one because thats not an equitable property. Its the same case here.Michigan is far from alone in seeing localities take dark-store hits to their property tax base. Counties in Alabama, Florida and Indiana are seeing widespread challenges that make use of the dark-store method. The National Association of Counties says its an emerging issue in Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Washington and Wisconsin.Still, while these cases have been proceeding for the better part of a decade, its only been recently that county organizations and public officials have realized the geographical magnitude of the challenge. County assessors forced to respond to it arent always aware of similar controversies outside their jurisdiction. This is particularly true in places that are geographically isolated and where assessors are part-time employees.Getting policymakers clued in to the problem has also been tricky. The world of property tax assessments is loaded with definitions and methodology that, to the average outsider, can seem overwhelming. Property appraisal laws vary by state, and arguments that hold water in one state might not in the next. So its not always clear to lawmakers what -- if anything -- they can do legislatively to help counties respond to the threat.Even in places where counties have pieced together a coordinated effort to fend off challenges, response on the state level has varied. The Indiana General Assembly took arguably the strong-est action, passing two laws last year that essentially banned the dark-store tactic. But those laws were repealed and replaced with a weaker law this year. Alabama passed a law that amounted to an administrative change giving counties more legal resources. The Michigan Legislature has considered but not approved bills dealing with how the Tax Tribunal hears assessment challenges. In these places and elsewhere, many are concerned that the longer it takes for a concerted state response, the more money counties and local governments will lose.to complain that their propertys uniqueness should afford them special consideration when it comes to their taxable value. Nearly a century ago, the owners of the New York Stock Exchange tried to get the buildings appraisal value lowered by arguing that the buildings unusual -- and expensive -- design would be of no value to any future buyer. In fact, the argument went, the building actually lowered the value of the land itself because a future buyer would be forced to shell out the money for demolition costs. While the court rejected that argument in 1928, it has become a popular case to make ever since, with varying levels of success.There are different nuances and different case law in every state, but it can be generally said that appraisers look at three factors in determining the taxable value of property: the sale price of comparable properties, the current cost to build minus depreciation and the income generated by rents charged to tenants. Appraisers can apply a blend of these approaches to arrive at a propertys value, or place most of the weight on just a single approach.When it comes to unique properties like big boxes, finding comparable sales is difficult. Property values differ by market and its simply not often that an oversized retailer in a market area sells its property. For this reason, appraisers prefer giving more weight to building costs.But big-box retailers say using the construction costs of a building to determine the assessment artificially inflates the value. And they insist its unfair to value their retail properties based on their worth to the current user (referred to as value-in-use) instead of the value the property would have on the open market (called value-in-exchange). The appropriate use of the competing valuation methods is a topic of seething debate in the appraisal world. Retail representatives fall decidedly on value-in-exchange. Its easy to be confused by the presence of a business, says Florida real estate broker Sheila Anderson, whose firm Commercial Property Services has represented owners in scores of appeals. But a business is not [what needs to be] assessed. In her view, its only the resale value of the empty building that matters for taxation. And that is nearly always a much smaller amount.Complicating the matter are deed restrictions the big-box retailers place on the properties they do sell. Typically, a retailer closes a location to open up another store close by, or leaves because the market isnt viable anymore. But just to be sure a competitor doesnt move in and fare better, the deed bars the new owner from operating a similar business. Assessors say this limitation artificially depresses the market value of the property. The retailers consider it insignificant.The debate leads to real questions about the fairest way to value these prolific but unique properties, says Allen Booth, a former city assessor in Rhode Island without any affiliation to a dark-store case. The reality is there are very few tenants that will move into the custom building when youre dealing with these big-box situations, he says. But, he adds, officials are leery of retail attorneys motives because they can profit greatly from the challenges by taking a cut of the tax refund if they win. You have to wonder, Booth says, are these people just being obnoxious or are the properties really overvalued and its just that now someones looking at it?Tax courts in Michigan have generally agreed with retailers that properties were being overvalued. In Marquette Township, Lowes successfully used this argument in a 2012 challenge to its property assessment and succeeded in reducing its taxable value from $5.2 million to less than $2 million, even though the store alone cost $10 million to build. The township spent several hundred thousand dollars in legal costs but failed to win in the appeals process. As a result, the ruling applied to other pending challenges. All told, the townships total property tax collections have fallen nearly 22 percent in just a few years.Statewide, the results have been similar. According to the International Association of Assessing Officers, the valuation on large retailers across the country is anywhere from $45 to $75 per square foot, depending on the market. After five years of litigation in Michigan, says tax attorney Jack Van Coevering, the average per-square-foot value in the state is $20.brought a case at one of its most successful Indiana locations, in Marion County, after winning reduced assessments in Michigan. The attorney for Meijer went so far as to tell thethat the appeal in Marion County was a test case because whatever the value is there would be the upper limit of the value across the state. The retailer won in late 2014 and got its assessment slashed from $83 per square foot to $30 per square foot. The decision applied retroactively, requiring Marion County to refund Meijer $2.4 million for nine years of back taxes. Indiana county officials estimated that if the decision were to be extended to the more than 17,000 commercial properties across the state, it would mean a loss of $120 million in property tax revenue statewide.Indiana lawmakers responded quickly. In 2015, the legislature passed two bills: One effectively banned using the dark-store method to value existing businesses, and the other required using the cost method for properties over a certain square footage. But those laws were repealed this year under concerns they violated the uniformity clause in the states constitution, which requires all property to be assessed on an equal basis. The Indiana General Assembly then passed a new law that requires assessments to be based on the value of properties that are similarly situated in the marketplace.Other states have tried other tactics. Alabama passed a law this year that allows counties to remove these cases from their district attorneys jurisdiction and hire outside attorneys to fight them. In Michigan, a bill passed the House that would require the Tax Tribunal to consider all three valuation methods (rather than just the one the retailer is arguing for). It will be considered in the Senate later this fall.In short, the legislative authority of lawmakers to intervene is murky. Its always appropriate for the legislature to try to clarify and remedy a situation when appropriate, says Joan Youngman, a property tax expert with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. But you want to be sure this is a problem with the existing law.In the end, the best way to beat back the challenges is to win in court. But thats a tough task for counties that dont have a lot of resources. In Tampa, Fla., Hillsborough Countys director of valuation, Tim Wilmath, says counties in his state have caught on early to the dark-store challenge and have for the most part been able to mount successful defenses. Wilmath co-authored an article in an industry magazine last year advising county assessors on how to challenge the tactic, which has made him a de facto adviser to smaller counties across the country. Theyre looking for advice on how best to go at it, he says of the calls from outside Florida. But even when they know all the right things to do, they still settle because they just dont have the money.In Michigan, a recent Court of Appeals ruling may prove to be a turning point. In May, the court overturned a 2015 decision by the Michigan Tax Tribunal that had favored the retailer Menard against the city of Escanaba in a property tax dispute. The court found that Escanabas cost-based approach was more reasonable than the retailers comparable sales method, which included using dark stores. The case was remanded back to the tribunal with directions to consider all the assessment methods. It may end up setting a precedent for cases in Michigan that are currently open.Still, for counties and townships that have already lost or settled cases, the damage has been done. And because of limits on how much localities can increase the property tax each year, the previous losses in tax revenue will never be made up. In Marquette Township, that means officials will have to figure out how to replenish the reserves that were drained to pay back Lowes, at the same time adjusting permanently to a shrunken tax base.The long and short of it, says Marquette Township Manager Randy Girard, is that we will not recover. The Alabama Turnaround Not Flush State legislators support for public television is strengthening after nearly a decade of deep spending cuts and sharp ideological opposition from some lawmakers to the very idea of taxpayer-supported TV.In winning the additional money, boosters have successfully argued that public television is about more than NOVA and Downton Abbey. Public television stations produce programs and school materials that delve into state history and culture. They shed light on state and local political issues, sponsor debates between candidates, and are the backbone of the Emergency Alert System.In most of the states that we do business with local networks and stations have convinced the legislatures that they provide essential services, said Patrick Butler, the president of Americas Public Television Stations (APTS), which represents stations around the country. The tide has turned considerably.Public television is a tiny share of state budgets, usually no more than 1 percent.In the current budget year, according to APTS, 13 states increased spending on their public TV networks and radio stations, 10 kept spending level and seven cut spending. (The budget numbers for the remaining states were not available.)Of the seven states that reduced spending, only three enacted cuts greater than 3 percent. Public television wasnt specifically targeted in any of the seven states, but took its share of cuts as lawmakers struggled with budget shortfalls, APTS said.There also are signs at the federal level that public TV is no longer a top target of budgeters and small-government advocates: The Senate Appropriations Committee in June voted 29-1 to approve the Obama administrations $445 million request for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which distributes money to state TV and radio stations.One stunning example of a legislative change of heart was in Alabama, where lawmakers approved a whopping 35 percent increase to the Alabama Public TV (APTV) network the largest boost in the country for fiscal 2017.That increase was in sharp contrast to the beating APTV took during the recession and as the network dealt with a management scandal caused by what critics regarded as lavish and careless spending.When Executive Director Roy Clem took over in late 2012, APTVs budget had decreased 61 percent since fiscal 2008 and 54 percent of the staff had been laid off.But Clem earned a reputation among lawmakers as a frugal manager who could make do with what he had. When the states fiscal situation improved, he made a strong case for restoring some of the cuts made earlier in the decade.Theres a lot of confidence in Roy and the leadership he has shown. What hes been able to accomplish through the lean years has shown that hes a good steward of what hes been given and I think he can make it much better than it already is, said Republican state Sen. Arthur Orr, chairman of the committee that handles APTVs budget.Unlike some lawmakers, Orr said, he never had ideological problems with APTV. But he supported the deep cuts it endured because he believed that other areas of the budget should take priority.Our schoolchildren need to advance and we need to make sure they can read, he said. So when weighed against those kinds of critical decisions in tough years, public television has to batten down the hatches and deal with what it has.Republican state Sen. Trip Pittman, who ran the committee for five years before turning the reins over to Orr, was a tougher case.Pittman, who once proposed zeroing out APTVs budget, is a strong advocate of limited government who doesnt believe in taxpayer-financed television.However, he said that while he eventually would like to see APTV weaned off of public money, he believes it serves an important purpose that warrants government financial support now.Theres an important civic aspect to this. You cant really have a republican form of government unless people are well-informed, and I think thats one of its strengths, he said. It has public service programming and news programming that does a much better job [than commercial networks]. Frontline, their science programs they do a great job.The upward trend in spending in many states does not mean, however, that public television stations across the country are suddenly flush.Larger stations have largely recovered from the recession, but many smaller ones are still struggling, said Ted Krichels, CPBs vice president for system development.Public TV stations in Illinois, for example, have had to reduce programming hours because of the budget standoff there.Wyomings primary public TV station is cutting staff because of an unexpectedly sharp shortfall in tax collections, fueled by the drop in oil and gas prices and a decline in coal production.And Oklahomas public TV network is hoping to avoid layoffs and reductions in local programing even though it is facing a 16 percent budget cut ($550,000) in the fiscal year that started in July.Dan Schiedel, who heads the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority, said there are still some conservative lawmakers in the state who simply dont believe that public television is a core government service. However, he said, their numbers are shrinking.Its a political philosophy that takes time to change, Schiedel said.Some stations have employed new strategies to stretch limited dollars. During New Jerseys efforts to tame its budget in 2011, Republican Gov. Chris Christie engineered a transfer of the states public TV network operations to its New York rival, WNET, which now runs the network as a subsidiary.WNET and the subsidiary receive whatever revenue and federal grants go to the New Jersey network in exchange for promising to air at least 20 hours of original New Jersey programming.After New Hampshire Public Television (NHPTV) lost all of its state funding nearly a third of its budget in a single year, it forged an unusual partnership with its longtime Massachusetts rival, Boston-based WGBH. NHPTV ceded some of its viewers and halted all attempts to raise money from them in exchange for WGBH taking over much of NHPTVs day-to-day operations. Its been a dramatic summer for health care.In May, UnitedHealthcare announced it would stop offering insurance plans in "all but a handful" of state markets. In July, the federal government and 10 states filed a lawsuit to block Anthem from merging with Cigna and Aetna from merging with Humana. In August, Aetna and Humana said they would also drastically cut their coverage -- in Aetna's case, as payback for the lawsuit. Throughout the summer, several insurance co-ops, which were created by the Affordable Care Act, not only went out of business but decided to sue the federal government over the ACA's payment policies.Insurance providers have struggled to profit because many of the people using the exchanges are the sickest and costliest patients. The wave of providers departing the market leaves about a third of the country with likely just one insurer option once open enrollment starts in November, according to an analysis by Avalere Health, a consulting firm. That's up from just 4 percentof places with monopolies last year.But despite the gloomy outlook in many headlines and op-eds, the smaller marketplace isn't likely to be an issue for most consumers.Take Wyoming. It's no stranger to health insurance monopolies. After WINhealth went out of business in 2015, the state was left with just one insurer: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming. According to Denise Burke, senior policy and planning analyst with the Wyoming Department of Insurance, that hasn't had a negative impact.We just havent seen the problems that people have been anticipating as a result of lack of competition, she said.A basic rule of economics is that the more competition in a market, the better. Monopolies can result in poor provider networks as well as increased prices. And if people are unhappy with their options, the fear is that they'll just choose not to get insurance.That hasn't happened in Wyoming.Wyoming has the second-highest premiums in the country.But that doesn't affect most consumers, said Burke, because 94 percent of marketplace users get a subsidy to pay those premiums. Nationwide, 86 percent of marketplace users receive health-care subsidies. The federal government's highly complicated formula offsets premium hikes to the higher income people on the marketplace who don't qualify for subsidies.For their part, states have tools to keep premiums from rising too fast. Anytime an insurer proposes a premium hike of more than 10 percent, a state insurance official is required to review the "request" -- and in 37 states, they can reject it.There are some drawbacks for consumers, though, regardless of whether they get subsidies.This time last year, South Carolina had six insurers. Since then, a few major carriers left and its co-op collapsed, leaving just Blue Cross Blue Shield and one of its subsidiaries. That shouldn't impact consumers' coverage, said Ray Farmer, director of the states Department of Insurance, but it could hurt their options for care.Ive heard complaints from citizens who say their networks are pretty narrow -- they dont always get to go to the providers they would prefer to go to, he said.Avaleres study has recommendations for the feds that could keep insurers from leaving the marketplace, or bring some back. The most pressing is to change the risk adjustment program, which is what drove many of the ACA-created co-ops out of business and the center of their lawsuits.The risk adjustment program made insurers with healthier members make payments to sicker insurers as a way to stabilize the markets. But insurers, particuarly the co-ops, have been criticizing the program for being unfair in what it deems a healthy insurer.No one can say this market is stable," said Farmer. "At some point, someone at the federal level has to sit down and address these concerns. The states can offer advice, but ultimately the feds have to fix this."The Obama administration seems to be hearing the criticism loud and clear. Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed nearly 300 pages of new rules for the marketplace, with the most significant change proposed for the risk adjustment program.In the meantime, Elizabeth Carpenter, senior vice president at Avalere, isn't worried by the monopolies now -- but she may be if nothing changes.I think the carriers will keep coming and going. I think the important thing is to just make sure the downward trend doesnt continue in 2018." On Monday, in the evening, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC, with Mrs Kaye de Jersey, hosted a ceremony for the conferral of Adult Recognition and Youth Awards, Scout Association of Australia, Queensland Branch, and addressed guests. Trucking has a somewhat outsized effect on the transportation system. Federal regulators have estimated that each tractor-trailer semi does many thousand times more damage to the road than each passenger car. They can cause even more rapid damage in snowy parts of the country as frost melts. And they spew out a disproportionately large amount of greenhouse gas.Perhaps part of the problem is that they are forced to travel through already-congested corridors.Thats the premise behind a new technology now officially slated for its first deployment at Houstons seaport. The freight shuttle system (FSS), technology developed at Texas A&M University, is designed to displace trucks so they can operate in more convenient locations and its an electric, driverless system at that.Many [American seaports] stem back to the 1700s. So urban areas have a tendency to grow up around a port, and the port becomes locked in by that urban development. So getting in and out of a port gets increasingly difficult, said Stephen Roop, inventor of the system and assistant agency director of the Texas Transportation Institute at TAMU.The technology will be on display on Sept. 9 in Bryan, Texas, as the states governor stops by to take a look for himself. The event will also serve as the formal announcement of the agreement between a privately funded licensee of the technology and the Port of Houston to develop a freight shuttle system.The idea is to provide a means to transport containers from the port to a hub farther out from busy, congested corridors. That way, oversized trucks dont have to navigate constricting urban streets, saving time, gas and manpower in the process. Its about efficiency.As technological innovation moves to solve or at least mitigate many of transportations ills, some entrepreneurs have started to focus solely on trucking and freight movement. Peloton is testing out technology that allows trucks to platoon, or drive closely together using automation, in order to save on fuel. Otto, a startup that Uber recently acquired, has started retrofitting existing semi-trucks to allow them to drive themselves on highways. Columbus, Ohio, is planning on developing a routing application to help move freight more efficiently using money from the U.S. Department of Transportations Smart City Challenge.There are reasons to innovate for both the government and the trucking industry, Roop said. The government manages the very infrastructure that trucking damages, and seeks to keep congestion in check. The trucking industry faces a chronic shortage of drivers , meaning increased wages, so more efficient driving also means more economical driving.In Houston, the port is facing a probable increase in traffic and its already one of the busiest seaports in the country They move a tremendous volume of petrochemical traffic [and] bulk commodities," Roop said, "but they also have two growing vibrant container facilities, and with the Panama Canal expansion theyre anticipating a ... natural increase in cargo."Seaports arent the only target for the FSS concept. Roop said it could work anywhere the pain point is high enough any place where trucks must deal with too much congestion or other obstacles.One natural fit would be border crossings. Instead of waiting in massively backed-up traffic and heading through security checkpoints, a freight shuttle system could simply carry cargo across borders to trucks waiting on the other side.Trucks, then, would circulate domestically and not have to go through the process of crossing an international border with all the security and immigration-type issues, he said.Whatever the implementation looks like, Roop expects that it will be the private sector, not government, paying for buildout. Thats because he sees a tangible return on investment on the infrastructure. They would exist along public highways, but the government need not open its coffers to the idea.The freight shuttle is designed to augment the trucking industry, who would be among our largest customers, Roop said. (TNS) -- When the city of Santa Fe advertised last month that it wants to hire a deputy city manager/innovation manager for up to $132,288 a year, some taxpayers balked at the idea of City Hall adding another high-paying position at the same time it was cutting services and raising fees.The decision to place another manager in the central administrations chain-of-command also comes less than two years before the elected position of mayor becomes that of a full-time chief executive officer under a voter-approved charter change. That raised the question of whether a city the size of Santa Fe needs so many bosses at the top.Even some city officials cant answer the question with certainty.We really dont know how things are going to change, City Councilor Carmichael Dominguez, who chairs the city Finance Committee, said Friday.What is clear, though, is that Santa Fes city government, which has come under scrutiny for having a high number of municipal employees per capita when compared with other cities of similar size, generally has fewer administrators with high-level management titles.Five municipalities identified by Santa Fe officials as peer cities have one or two even three deputy or assistant city managers, though all of those cities have a council-manager form of government in which the city manager is the chief executive officer, not the mayor.Until recently, for example, the city of Midland, Texas, had a city manager, a deputy city manager and two assistant city managers.Sara Bustilloz, a spokeswoman for the West Texas city, said the city historically has had a city manager, a deputy city manager and an assistant city manager. The second assistant city manager, who recently resigned to be closer to family, was brought on board about two years ago during a period of unprecedented growth tied to the oil boom, she said.There was one year where we saw a 13 percent increase in traffic, she said. We saw an increase in oil field traffic as well, a lot of heavy trucks on our roads. There was definitely more of a need for infrastructure projects, and we saw a lot of new businesses come to Midland and a lot of development happening. There was a need at that time of unprecedented growth to bring in another set of eyes that could oversee all of the building going on so that it matched our vision for Midland for the future.The organizational chart at Santa Fe City Hall has included the title of assistant city manager at times in the past, including as recently as about a decade ago when an $88,000-a-year administrator filled such a job. Before that, the position hadnt existed for about 10 years.The latest effort to hire a helper for the city manager sparked public criticism.So, now the city wants to hire a deputy city manager at a $125,000 to $130,000 salary, Stephen C. Dubinsky of Santa Fe wrote in a letter to the editor. I have a better idea. Hire a city manager who can do his job.Santa Fe plans to hire a so-called manager of innovation who may assist Snyder where needed. Mayor Javier Gonzales said the city isnt looking for another manager to oversee the same old, same old.If people are applying for the position because they think a deputy city manager at the city of Santa Fe is going to be an administrative, managerial function just to oversee more of the bureaucracy, those are the individuals I feel for certain would not be the candidates that were looking for, he said.If in this pool of applicants there are experienced individuals that understand everything from business process management to organizational behavioral change to being able to develop systems where the city can deliver service in a way that is transparent and in ways that allow for us to be accountable and theyve shown that experience that would be an ideal candidate that I would love to see strongly considered, Gonzales said.The mayor said the new position easily could have been called a chief innovation officer or a government efficiency officer, a job that would be needed regardless of the citys form of government.The fact that today we do business exactly the same way we did when my dad was mayor back in 1968 is very telling of the need for modernization and innovation in the delivery of city services, he said, referring to the late George Gonzales. Im committed to that, and I think if the right person presents themselves through this competitive process, well be able to get that started.Former Councilor Karen Heldmeyer sees some unanswered questions about the new position, including whether the city will need a city manager and a deputy city manager when the position of mayor becomes a full-time job in 2018.Some people with experience in government management have suggested that, rather than making the deputy city manager the manager of innovation, the city manager be involved in the big picture items after being freed from the day-to-day, such as constituent complaints and personnel decisions, by having a deputy city manager, she said in an email.This seems to make sense, and mirrors the duties of other deputy city managers in New Mexico, she added. If the city manager is the boss of the deputy city manager, what happens if the deputy city manager brings in a big picture innovation and the city manager balks? Whos in charge? Has this been worked out?Snyder said the new hire will lead a focused effort to improve the delivery of government services, which he wholeheartedly supports.Its not creating less work for me, he said. Its putting a more focused effort on areas that we get caught up in the day-to-day functions of serving the public, from cutting costs to issuing permits quicker.As of Wednesday, four dozen people with varying degrees of experience had applied for the job, according to documents obtained under an open-records request. Renee Martinez, director of the citys Information Technology and Telecommunications Department, and Adam Johnson, who became the citys budget officer in February, are the only internal candidates so far.The City of Santa Fe is in the beginning stages of incredible transformation, Johnson wrote in a nearly two-page letter to the city manager. The degree to which the transformation occurs is entirely up to the leadership of the organization.Snyder said he plans to start conducting interviews in the next week or two and hopes to have someone in the job by the end of October.I have heard criticism directly to me and in emails and through the grapevine, Synder said, and Ive heard it as, Its another high-level, high-paid manager. Though that is the case, at the same time, what the function of this position is doing is try to put more focus on trying to serve the public better.Gonzales said he has yet to review the job applications but that he will only push for a hire if a qualified candidate applied.If the right person is in the pool of candidates, Im going to urge the city manager to go forward. If they are not, then were not going to hire somebody just for the sake of filling a position. Im absolutely opposed to that, he said. Weve got to have the right person. Theyve got to have the right experience. (TNS) -- SOUTHEASTERN NORTH CAROLINA -- The electronic voting machines used in Brunswick and Pender counties will be banned as soon as 2019, according to legislation signed by the N.C. General Assembly last year.House Bill 836 defines a ballot as a paper document marked by a voter either by hand or electronically, meaning the strictly electronic voting machines used by Brunswick and Pender, as well as some of the ones in New Hanover, will be outdated.All three counties are using the same machines this year that they did in 2012, which elections officials said could be a boost to them and, just as importantly, voters."Voters that have been in Brunswick County are used to them, so we don't have anything new on that front," said Sara Knotts, the director of Brunswick County's Board of Elections. "There's so much new in this election cycle, so that's not really new."Using the existing machines, Knotts said, also means poll workers are familiar with them and know things like how long it should take someone to cast their ballot.Brunswick has 305 iVotronic machines that will not be compliant when the new rules go into effect on Sept. 1, 2019, and Pender has 148.The 70 Model 100 optical scan machines New Hanover uses as their primary machines on Election Day will still be allowed under the new legislation, while the 112 electric iVotronic machines used during early voting and offered to disabled voters will not be allowed, according to Derek Bowens, the director of the county's board of elections.Brunswick has not yet chosen its path forward."We haven't really started looking at our options at this point," Knotts said. "In my mind, I'm kind of like, 'Lets get through the presidential elections and see what's out there.'"iVotronic, which makes the machines used in Brunswick, also makes a similar one that has individual ballots, Knotts noted.Once Brunswick and other counties set on a course of action for future elections, they will likely have a pilot program at one precinct and, if successful, that will become the model for the rest of the county. (TNS) -- Google's enemies are legion. It has fought bitter court battles against Apple, Microsoft, Oracle and PayPal.It has faced a well-financed campaign by Oracle, TripAdvisor, Expedia, Nokia and others against its European operations, plus a similar action driven by Yelp. It's been targeted in a lawsuit by AT&T over access to utility poles for Google Fiber.Now, in what appears to be a new tactic on the technology industry battleground, Google has come under attack by a mysterious group that keeps mum about its sponsors while issuing scathing reports about the Mountain View search giant's influence on government. Among its recent revelations: High-ranking Google execs have had more than 20 "intimate" meetings with President Barack Obama, and the company has a revolving-door employment relationship with the federal government.While the backers of the "Google Transparency Project" may be hidden, its purpose is clear, observers say: To offer purportedly objective research and commentary that can be used to thwart Google's burgeoning power in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere, much as similar "think tanks" have sought to undermine the environmental lobby or promote development projects."When you're successful, you're on top of the hill. You become a target," said Michael Cusumano, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management who studies the technology industry.Google, with a market capitalization of $529 billion, is a Goliath among Bay Area tech giants. It is known for disrupting industries around the world, from travel to media to transportation, making it enemy No. 1 for many competitors and leaving a trail of lawsuits in its wake. Oracle is still fighting to renew a failed $9 billion lawsuit accusing Google of stealing Oracle code to cash in on the Android mobile operating system.Google and the Transparency Project both declined to comment.So far, only Redwood Shores-based Oracle has admitted to funding the Transparency Project, tellingit wanted the public to know about its support for the initiative. Oracle declined to comment to this newspaper. Other companies that have tangled with Google have denied involvement with the project, including AT&T, Yelp and Microsoft."This is an attempt to influence policy, essentially, to restrict the behavior of your competitor who you feel is either monopolistic or competing unfairly," Cusumano said.American companies have long assailed competitors by sponsoring damaging research, but the Transparency Project's approach -- highly public attacks combined with profound secrecy about its backers -- is a new tactic in Silicon Valley tech, said Steve Blank, a lecturer at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and prominent Silicon Valley observer."This is just a symptom of a much bigger game. What you want to do if you're a corporation is you want to influence policy for your interest," Blank said. "We're just like any other industry now. This is what this game has gotten down to in Silicon Valley because the stakes are big enough."Just as there's nothing illegal about the activities that have put Google in the cross hairs of the Transparency Project -- lobbying, sponsoring research, and building close ties with U.S. officials -- the project's secrecy-shrouded attack-dog work also appears not to cross any legal lines."I don't see any of this as nefarious," said former U.S. Department of Justice chief economist Daniel Rubinfeld, an emeritus professor at the UC Berkeley School of Law. "It's changing times. Companies are battling each other on many more fronts than they used to."The Transparency Project commenced hostilities against Google in April, gaining national media attention with a report tracking the number of Googlers taking jobs in the White House and federal agencies, and the number of federal officials traveling in the other direction, into Google. Project researchers reported 113 "revolving door" moves between Google -- plus its associated companies, law firms and lobbyists -- and the White House and federal agencies."Over the past decade, Google has transformed itself from the dominant internet search engine into a global business empire that touches on almost every facet of people's lives -- often without their knowledge or consent," the group's first report said. "It scans the content of people's emails, tracks their activities online and their movements in the real world. It analyzes their search queries and behavior in ways many find troubling. At the same time, the company has assiduously courted Washington."Another report, based on White House guest logs, cites 427 visits by employees of Google and "associated entities" to the White House since January 2009, with 21 "small, intimate" meetings between senior Google executives and Obama."Google executives have had extraordinary access to the White House meetings at which policies are set ... meetings encompassing a surprisingly wide range of topics including intellectual property, national security, government contracts, digital media strategy, antitrust, biotechnology, energy and climate change, broadband and telecommunications, foreign policy, health care, aerospace and aeronautics," the report said.Another missive from the organization suggested that Google was influencing government policymakers on the sly by funding researchers who kept quiet about their ties to the company while promoting policies favorable to Google."Google-funded academics are playing an outsize role in the debate over the U.S. government's policy on internet privacy, a rapidly evolving area and an existential issue for Google," the report said. "They are also often at the epicenter of policy research on antitrust issues in the age of digital platforms, another issue in which Google has a major stake."Google declined to comment on the project's critiques.But none of the corporate behaviors described in the critical reports surprised UC Berkeley's Blank."Businesses will spend what's necessary to influence policy," Blank said. "It raises the larger issue of whether any industry people should have that level of influence. We've built what I call a deep-pockets democracy. If you have deep pockets you have more access (to government officials) than a nonprofit or somebody who's trying to represent Americans."What's not being represented by either Oracle or Google is the public interest."However, Google's competitors stand to gain from the Transparency Project's spotlight on the firm's aggressive efforts to mold policy, Cusumano of MIT said. Government officials might be less likely to make or promote policies benefiting Google if they felt the company's influence was being monitored, Cusumano said."They might re-evaluate what they're doing or thinking of doing," Cusumano said.For a group devoted to "transparency," the Google project's origins are obscure. It is run by the nonprofit Campaign for Accountability, a group that says it is dedicated to exposing government and corporate malfeasance and which started as an offshoot of the deep-pocketed New Venture Fund.The New Venture Fund is heavily supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. A Gates Foundation spokeswoman did not provide an answer when asked whether the foundation was aware of the venture fund's work on the Google Transparency Project. The Hewlett Foundation said none of its donations went to the project.The Campaign for Accountability does not publicly reveal its connection to the venture fund -- in fact its deputy director claimed to this newspaper in July that it was not a project of NVF, despite this newspaper having donated $1 to the campaign and received a tax receipt from the fund in return. However, the fund's president later admitted it did run the Campaign, but said it was spinning it off into a new organization called Hopewell Fund.Among Hopewell's three directors is Michael Slaby, who appears to be the same man who was an election-campaign-technology guru behind Obama's two successful runs, and whose campaign-tech platform The Groundwork is being used by the Hillary Clinton campaign.In a bizarre and quite possibly coincidental twist, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is reportedly the main investor in The Groundwork, raising the puzzling specter of the influential and respected Googler funding the work of a man whose side project is attacking Google. Google declined to provide access to Schmidt, who is now executive chairman of Google parent Alphabet, and Slaby did not respond to interview requests. (TNS) -- The tech pioneer that was Hewlett-Packard may be on the brink of becoming an even smaller shadow of its former self.Hewlett Packard Enterprise, one of the two companies emerging from HPs split in 2015, is reportedly looking to sell its software business for between $8 billion and $10 billion. The deal would have the twofold effect of giving HPE an infusion of cash and allow it to focus more on its enterprise hardware offerings, such as networking, data center and storage equipment, as well as technology services.A report from Reuters said HPE was in talks to sell its software business to Thoma Bravo, a buyout firm known for acquiring enterprise-software companies such as Compuware and Dynatrace. According to people familiar with the matter, HPE has hired Goldman Sachs to manage the sale process. Thoma Bravo has made the highest offer, but no deal has yet been finalized, the report said.HPE would neither confirm nor deny that it is shopping around its software business. As a policy, we dont comment on rumors and speculation, a company spokeswoman said.Glenn ODonnell, a technology industry analyst with Forrester Research, said that while no sale of HPEs software business is official, such a deal would play into the direction the company has taken since it separated from HP Inc. That company took on responsibility for Hewlett-Packards personal computer and printing businesses.HPE is betting on (being) smaller, while a rival like Dell is betting on (getting) bigger, ODonnell said. The market will determine which one wins.HPEs software offerings include cybersecurity company ArcSight, big-data analytics platform Vertics and the remnants of its $4.5 billion acquisition of Mercury Interactive in 2006.Additionally, it would be offering HP Autonomy, acquired in the notorious 2011 purchase of British software company Autonomy, for $11 billion. It was the fallout from the Autonomy deal that led to the end of the brief tenure of Leo Apotheker as HPs chief executive. The company eventually brought in Meg Whitman as CEO and ended up writing down nearly the entire Autonomy purchase.Whitman remained as HPEs CEO after the split, and her strategy for the company revolves around services and high-end business technologies. The software business brought in $3.6 billion in revenue in 2015, but that was a decline from the $3.9 billion the division recorded in 2014.Selling the software business fits in with the strategy of breaking into smaller pieces, which is the companys plan now, ODonnnell said. Theres a lot of merit in that position, as a lot of those software components are not necessarily at the core for them. They could also raise a good amount of cash and focus on their hardware offerings.The timing of the report hints at the possibility a sale of HPEs software business could be announced Wednesday, when the company is scheduled to deliver its fiscal third-quarter results. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters estimate HPE will post a profit of 44 cents a share on $12.64 billion in sales.For the year, HPE shares have risen more than 45 percent to trade Friday at $22.17. Evidence 'destroyed' Family cites letter Request not specific (TNS) -- The family of an inmate who died last year in the custody of the Harris County, Texas, Jail after contracting bacterial meningitis is demanding that state and local prosecutors investigate the Sheriff's Office for allegedly destroying cellblock videotape footage they asked be preserved at the time of his death.The Sheriff's Office denies evidence was destroyed and contends there were no cameras installed in the cellblock where Patrick Green was lodged, in the main infirmary of the jail complex, or in the sally port where he was transported to a local hospital.The dispute highlights the growing prevalence of using videotape to review actions by officers in making arrests and by detention officers in their treatment of inmates in jail.In July, Mayor Sylvester Turner ordered the immediate release of body cam videotape taken by two officers in the shooting of Alva Braziel to establish that he was armed at the time of his fatal encounter with police. Turner said he wanted the public to see both videos to confirm that Braziel had a gun and to quell protests that might be based on the false premise that police had shot an unarmed black man.A little over a year ago, the Waller County Jail released nearly three hours of video to show that nothing unusual happened on Sandra Bland's cellblock on the morning in July 2015 when she was found hanging in her cell following a traffic stop several days earlier. Her death was ruled a suicide.In the Harris County Jail, incomplete video coverage by outdated surveillance cameras that cannot store footage has constituted a long-standing deficiency at the jail complex and has raised questions about the ability to hold inmates and guards accountable for their actions inside the crowded jail.Two projects that upgrade or expand cameras are underway, according to information released from Sheriff Ron Hickman, who took office in May 2015. A $1.4 million project will provide 600 upgraded digital cameras in the main jail at 1200 Baker Street from the original 150 and a $3.4 million project will expand the network of 384 cameras in the 701 San Jacinto jail to 1,600 high-definition digital cameras.City officials in Houston, meanwhile, are still grappling with issues around how to store videotape and when to release it. The city decided to store video in-house, and former Chief Charles McClelland said before retiring that HPD's policy would be to release video after the conclusion of internal affairs and criminal investigations. Turner's decision to release videos of the Braziel shooting much sooner only demonstrated their potential to help establish the facts in an incident.In the latest dispute involving the death in the Harris County jail, the mother and siblings of Green, 27, who died of bacterial meningitis on March 25, 2015, held a news conference on the steps outside the 1200 Baker St. jail on Wednesday and asked for prosecutors to bring criminal charges for destruction of evidence.On the day Green died, attorneys for the family delivered letters to former sheriff Adrian Garcia's staff and Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan asking they preserve any video or audio tapes and other records related to his death."But instead of preserving them, they destroyed them," said Randall Kallinen, a Houston civil rights attorney. "They cannot say they did not know."Kallinen noted a Houston law firm hired by Green's parents alerted Harris County on March 25 that the family planned to bring a liability claim for damages. The family's letter asked county officials to preserve "all evidence" relating to Green's death, including video and audio tapes, surveillance tapes, photographs, medical records, incident reports, jail logs and a large category of other records."Patrick Green died because he did not get treated for bacterial meningitis. He was sick for days - making requests, asking for medical help - which all were denied,'' said Kallinen.He said two jail inmates later told the family that Green repeatedly asked jailers for medical attention. Green's mother, Kathryn Green, a Houston attorney, said the county first told her they would ask the Texas attorney general to allow them to withhold the records she requested under the open records law."They are cherry picking and saying what wasn't there, but they are not denying there is video in the hallways and the vestibules where he made the request, if he did, for medical help," Kathryn Green said, adding her son first sought treatment for meningitis on March 19, five days before he died. "I know inmates said he made requests for medical help at least twice before his death."Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson, through a spokesman, would not confirm whether they are investigating the claim of destruction of jail records. Kayleigh Lovvorn, a spokeswoman for Texas Attorney General's office, said the agency could not confirm, or deny, any possible investigation over the destruction of documents.Hickman, in a statement, denied any evidence was destroyed. He said there were no cameras installed in the cellblock where Green was housed, or in the jail infirmary at the main Baker Street jail, or where Green was loaded into an ambulance."No video, audio, or photographs ever existed of the described locations during the time period identified in the request" by the Green family, the statement said. "No video, audio or photographs were destroyed."The family's contention that evidence was destroyed is based in part on the June 16 reply by the County Attorney's Office to Kathryn Green's request, under the Texas Public Information Act, for video tapes and infirmary records she made to the county in May of this year.The June letter from the county attorney said the Sheriff's Office had searched through its records and archives, but did not find any jail records related to her request."According the Sheriff's Office, records of the type you have requested are generally kept for 30 days before being transferred to archives. Once in the archives, the records are retained for 90 days before being destroyed," the letter states.Robert Soard, first assistant Harris County Attorney, said the Green's preservation letter of March 25 was not specific enough and should have included the identifying number of Green's jail cell."If you want to be fair about it, then the original demand to preserve evidence should have said 'Please preserve all the video and evidence from Pod 3CV' and it did not say that," Soard said.He also said his office's reply to the Green's request stated the Sheriff's retention policy, and was not confirmation that documents had been destroyed.Soard added the county does not know if the video tapes ever existed, since the sheriff's office has told his office most areas in the county jail are equipped with surveillance cameras that only monitor areas of the jail but are not capable of recording or storing the footage."I can't tell you which cameras record and which don't, but I'm told most cameras at the jail do not record video. Now if there were records destroyed we are not aware of that, but we are certainly looking into that allegation," Soard said. "Based on these allegations and claims, they're making a thorough search and we're working with the Sheriff to make sure evidence is not destroyed."Kallinen said a jail supervisor has told the family there is a camera trained on the hall outside of the cellblock, and that would be central to their claim the inmate repeatedly asked for medical attention."Our insider says there are cameras in the hall outside the pod that would show where Patrick Green put his request for medical care into request box," Kallinen said. "In those three places there may not be cameras, but we never said there was."Green, a graduate of Baylor University, had been in county jail for three months after he was arrested in December 2014 for violating a probated sentence for drug possession. He died as he waited transfer to a Texas prison to serve out his sentence. (TNS) -- State lawmakers and civil liberties advocates are considering legislation that would regulate police surveillance programs and require public disclosure after the Baltimore Police Department ran a secret aerial surveillance program over the city for months.The head of the city's delegation to the Maryland House of Delegates said the public should know where such technology is used, how the information is kept and the costs involved. The lawmaker, Del. Curt Anderson, is looking at proposing regulations in the next General Assembly session that all Maryland police departments would have to follow to do any kind of surveillance.In Baltimore, the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland plans to submit legislation to the City Council that would prevent the Police Department from acquiring new surveillance technology without public debate."These tools should not be acquired and deployed in secret," said David Rocah, senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Maryland. "We are not a foreign enemy; this is not a battlefield. Secrecy simply has no place whatsoever in this entire discussion."The Baltimore Police Department has acknowledged conducting about 300 hours of aerial surveillance on broad swaths of the city about 32 square miles at a time using a bank of cameras aboard a privately funded, privately operated Cessna airplane flying thousands of feet above the city. The program launched in January and remained secret until last month.Beyond the Police Department, few knew about the program, including Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, the city's top prosecutor and the state public defender's office, state and federal lawmakers, and police union officials.Police Commissioner Kevin Davis knew about the program from its inception, but police officials have dismissed concerns about the lack of disclosure, suggesting that the surveillance was little more than an expansion of the city's street-level CitiWatch camera system.Officials say the program was operating in a trial capacity, and Davis has promised a "robust and inclusive community conversation" if the department decides to continue the program.The plane is not conducting surveillance in Baltimore now but might be tested again during the Maryland Fleet Week and Air Show and the Baltimore Running Festival in mid-October, said T.J. Smith, a police spokesman.Smith said police are "always reviewing legislation that could impact the Police Department," but he said he could not comment on potential legislation.The Baltimore program, operated by Ohio-based Persistent Surveillance Systems, was funded by Houston philanthropists John and Laura Arnold through the Baltimore Community Foundation. Because of that arrangement, the program did not require approval from the city's Board of Estimates and did not undergo the scrutiny typically afforded to city contracts and expenditures.The images Persistent Surveillance captures cannot be used to identify individuals the resolution is too low but the system enables the tracking of individuals or vehicles to and from crime scenes, police said. Street-level police work takes over from there.The footage has been used by police to track down individuals accused in serious crimes, including the shooting of two elderly siblings in February, Baltimore police said. But police did not refer to the surveillance in charging documents in court.Maryland Public Defender Paul B. DeWolfe's office has raised concerns about the failure of police and prosecutors to disclose that information. And Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby's office has called on the Police Department to outline when the plane was conducting surveillance and the criminal cases in which the technology has been used, noting a legal obligation to disclose certain information to defense attorneys.While the ACLU and other critics raised concerns that the program could violate Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures, others took issue with the lack of public disclosure while supporting an improved ability of police to fight crime.Anderson, a Democrat, said the Police Department is under pressure to find new ways to reduce crime, especially as violent crime is up over last year, when city homicides hit a historic high, and that most residents "don't have a problem with this.""The problem they do have is, you ought to run this by a few folks before you unilaterally set it into motion," Anderson said of the aerial surveillance.Anderson said he is researching how a bill could be crafted. The legislation could "impact anything where the police have cameras that view the public, whether it's the body cameras, the CCTV cameras, an eye in the sky or dash cams," Anderson said. "It would be a comprehensive look at all the tools police have to surveil."It's more than dotting i's and crossing t's. It's ferreting out how and where it would be used, where you keep the information, how much it would cost to store that information, and how much it would cost someone if they made a request for that information," Anderson said. "Right now, it would be up to the local jurisdiction."He said the statewide regulations could be promulgated by the Maryland Police and Correctional Training Commissions. The bill also could set new, modern standards for the disclosure of police surveillance footage as evidence in criminal cases and in response to requests under the Maryland Public Information Act , Anderson said.A spokeswoman for the Maryland Police and Correctional Training Commissions, which is in the midst of a reorganization, said officials there could not comment on proposals for legislation.Del. Samuel "Sandy" I. Rosenberg, a Baltimore Democrat who has supported legislation to regulate police surveillance programs in the past, said, "The key is having a serious discussion about whether there is a way for this technology to be used consistent with the Fourth Amendment, constitutional protections and the benefits of solving crimes."Rosenberg said the legislature and the courts should work to ensure that the law is being followed."We balance those interests as a matter of policy, and they balance those interests as a matter of law and legal rules," he said.Rocah said city legislation could mirror efforts by the ACLU in cities such as Oakland, Calif.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; and Seattle to limit surveillance or provide citizen oversight of surveillance operations. The organization would need to find a member of the City Council, which is planning hearings on the issue, to sponsor the legislation."There's a difference between me seeing you do something at a particular time and the government having a permanent record of every time you walk out of your house," Rocah said. "It's a plane now, but I'm sure very soon it will be a drone. A drone can fly in the air for 24 hours at a time."Ross McNutt, a former Air Force officer who founded Persistent Surveillance Systems, has touted the technology developed for military use as a tool for local governments dealing with an array of issues, from large events to traffic congestion, natural disasters, weather and fighting crime.Its rollout in Baltimore is not the first time the technology has attracted controversy or attention from local politicians.Persistent Surveillance has operated in several cities across the country since it was founded in 2007. But the company has not been able to find a police department willing to use its services long-term. Each time its operations have become public, political leaders have balked at the idea of keeping tabs on their constituents from the air.Still, McNutt said he remains confident that he will find a police chief and a mayor willing to take a chance on his technology."What I see is a great tool for law enforcement that has good protections for privacy that's not being used in Baltimore while 344 people are being murdered," McNutt said, referring to the record number of homicides on a per-capita basis in the city in 2015. "We have been looking for a while for a city with strong political leadership that wants to do something about crime."We believe we've done a lot of work on the privacy policy issues. At this point it's not the technology, it's more the political will to address the issue of crime."McNutt declined to discuss the Baltimore operation and referred questions to the Police Department.In the past, McNutt has publicized his company and welcomed discussions about its merits and the concerns that such surveillance raises. In 2014, the Internet Policy Forum posted a video to YouTube in which McNutt briefed privacy activists and explained how authorities used images taken from his plane to piece together information about a killing in Juarez, Mexico. He also took questions from members of the audience, who raised concerns about how the technology could be abused."To throw out a crazy hypothetical: You can probably figure out where a lot of the Muslims in your community live," said one woman in the audience. "You can put little red dots around them."McNutt replied that he understood the concerns and said the company had been working on developing privacy policies and working with communities that are considering using his technology.Police in Dayton, Ohio, near where McNutt's company is based, were excited about the surveillance plane's potential, said Lt. Matthew Dickey, an official in the Dayton police chief's office. After a brief test, police sought to sign a contract with Persistent Surveillance but faced stiff opposition from local residents. The deal fell through."I think it effectively killed it," Dickey said. "I don't think there's anybody that's going to bring it back up."A program run by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in 2012 did not come to light until two years later. The department did not respond to questions about its operations with Persistent Surveillance.Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, who met with Davis this week to discuss the surveillance program, said he encouraged the police commissioner to be as forthcoming as possible about the program and its capabilities and soon.The Baltimore Democrat said he told Davis that he "has to make the very best case he can make, not only to me but to others," as to the benefits of the program if he wants it to continue. Cummings noted that the public is "extremely sensitive" about department overreach and civil rights violations after a recent U.S. Justice Department investigation found a pattern of unconstitutional practices by Baltimore police.While he said he sees the potential benefits to law enforcement of the surveillance technology, he believes a conversation about potential legislation to ensure civil rights are protected is "a good discussion to have.""The Police Department needs to show all of these groups exactly how all of this works," Cummings said.Smith, the police spokesman, said Davis "looks forward to showing and discussing the technology more in the coming days." In what could be the least surprising news of this political season, it appears that both major gubernatorial candidates are going to focus their attention over the next two months on the spot where statewide elections are won or lost: The three metro counties in the state's northwest corner. Call it the Chris Dudley factor. You recall Dudley, the Republican candidate who ran against John Kitzhaber in 2010. You might also recall that if you looked at a map showing which candidate carried which county in that election, you might have thought that Dudley had romped to an easy victory. Dudley won every Oregon county east of the Cascades. In fact, Kitzhaber won just seven of Oregon's 36 counties. Dudley actually won in Clackamas County and battled Kitzhaber nearly to a draw in Washington County. Unfortunately for Dudley, there was the small matter of Multnomah County, where Kitzhaber crushed his opponent by more than 120,000 votes. Game over. Dudley ended up losing by about 23,000 votes. So, as this year's Republican candidate, Bud Pierce, sizes up the election map, it's no wonder he plans to focus on Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties. He has to do well in Eastern Oregon, but there seems little chance that his opponent, incumbent Democrat Kate Brown, will make much headway there. In fact, Brown has campaigned in cities where the electorate is concentrated; she has the luxury of being able to focus much more intently on population centers. Brown also seems focused on making sure that she at least holds her own in fundraising. For her campaign, the instructive lesson of the 2010 campaign might be that Dudley came close to an election upset, but outspent Kitzhaber by some $3 million ($10.5 million to $7.4 million) just to come close. The 2014 gubernatorial race between Kitzhaber and Dennis Richardson was a tamer affair, in part because Richardson only was able to raise $3 million or so against Kitzhaber's $5 million. A look at the state's online campaign finance website suggests that Brown and Pierce have raised roughly equal amounts of money so far this year, $2 million or so. The big difference: Pierce had to spend a big chunk of that in the primary and appears to have about $400,000 left in the bank. Brown, who was able to skate through the primary, appears to have a balance of about $1.6 million. (Remember, though, that these numbers posted online can be dated, so both campaign war chests could be significantly different now.) We'd guess the 2016 gubernatorial campaign could be a $10 million-plus campaign when it's all said and done, especially if the race shows signs of being close. So candidates have to go where the money is, both inside and outside the state. That means fundraisers in the state's population centers, along with the occasional jaunt outside Oregon. You can lament the increasing flow of outside money into Oregon politics, but the source of the cash doesn't much matter when the bills come due. And when it comes time to woo voters, candidates must focus on population centers. That's why the majority of action in this year's election, once again, will focus on the Portland metro area, where you can bet Pierce is trying to figure out ways to at least neutralize some of the natural advantage a Democratic candidate will enjoy. If he has the savvy (and the resources) to do that, this campaign might yet have a couple of surprises in it. (mm) Jolyon Palmer's father has emerged as a potential saviour for the British grand prix. F1 business journalist Christian Sylt has reported that the future of the historic race is in doubt, now writing in the Telegraph that the current owner, the British Racing Drivers' Club, is "distancing itself" from the track amid losses. "We are definitely interested in making an offer for Silverstone and have a lot of confidence in our ability to bring a great deal of stability to it and a vision for the future," said Jonathan Palmer, whose son Jolyon races for Renault. Dr Palmer is also a former F1 driver, whose company MotorSport Vision owns four British racing tracks. (GMM) Toto Wolff has played down suggestions he would make an ideal successor to Bernie Ecclestone. As speculation swirls about new majority owners for F1's commercial rights, it has been suggested F1 supremo Ecclestone's long reign could end imminently. Amid that talk, the 85-year-old chief executive this week said Wolff, the Mercedes team boss, could "absolutely" take over in theory. "He has the skills to do the job," Ecclestone told the German newspaper Bild. Now, to the same newspaper, 44-year-old Wolff replied: "I am of course flattered when such a man, who has made formula one what it is over many decades, has trust in me. "But I am wholeheartedly with Mercedes and will stay here," he insisted. Bild said team co-owner Wolff's current contract with Mercedes runs until 2017. (GMM) Max Verstappen has admitted he is no fan of the 'Halo'. The 18-year-old became the latest driver to try the controversial cockpit protection system at Monza, as the governing FIA seeks the feedback of the entire grid before introducing it in 2018. Verstappen told the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf: "It is difficult to get in and out of the car with the Halo. "Also, I could see very little in the mirrors," the Red Bull driver added. "I think quite a lot of time is still needed to further develop this system. What would be the best change for it? Probably to take it off," said Verstappen. (GMM) The campaign for Ann Roe, who is running for Congress against Lyin' Bryan Steil has come out with the best one-liner of this cycle so far: I can't argue... 11 months ago Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless. A right delayed is a right denied.Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true. Martin Luther King Jr. No one is born hating another person People must learn to hate and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite. Nelson Mandela We can disagree and still love each other, unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist James Baldwin There is a fine line between free speech and hate speech. Free speech encourages debate whereas hate speech incites violence. Newton Lee The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything. Albert Einstein EDEN Morehead Memorial Hospital is looking to partner with a healthcare system, the board of trustees announced Tuesday afternoon. According to a news release, the board adopted a three-year strategic plan late last year a process thats led to this decision. Though Morehead has recently seen growth in patient volume and is working to add services and focus on employee engagement, it recognizes the challenges that small, independent hospitals face in todays ever-changing healthcare environment, the news release states. The healthcare industry is changing rapidly and rural community hospitals have unique challenges, said Judy Rouse, chairman of Moreheads Board of Trustees. Thats why we are being proactive in searching for the right strategic affiliation for Morehead. Hospital officials are not directly saying the hospital is for sale. The goal is to find an affiliation with a healthcare system that will position Morehead for years to come. We call it an affiliation because we truly don't know what options might be available and what form an agreement might take, Myla Barnhardt told Eden News Tuesday afternoon. As we move further through this process with H2C, the firm who will, on our behalf, make contacts in the healthcare marketplace, our goal will be to partner with a system that best fits our culture and our desire to continue providing trusted care right here in Eden. The hospital wants a strategic affiliation with a healthcare system that will share the patient-centered focus that has always been a part of Moreheads tradition, according to the news release. Through affiliation Morehead would be better positioned in the industry that has seen increasing regulation, decreasing reimbursements, growing consumer needs and rapid advancements in technology that require large capital outlays. It is the boards desire to find an affiliation that will maintain our quality, grow our clinical programs, while sharing our focus on providing local trusted care, said Dana M. Weston, who took over in mid-December 2015 as president and CEO of the hospital. The search process is expected to extend into the spring of 2017, and will be led by Hammond Hanlon Camp LLC known as H2C, a strategic advisory and investment banking firm headquartered in New York. The non-profit community hospital is licensed for 108 acute-care beds and 121 long-term care beds. The main 22-acre campus is home to inpatient and outpatient hospital services, a state-of-the-art emergency department, a birthing center, a nursing center, a cancer treatment center, and six physician office buildings. The hospital also has the Wright Diagnostic Center on Pierce Street, which houses labs, a wound healing center and mammogram center, and Morehead Physical Rehabilitation, located in Meadow Greens Shopping Center. Hospital History Morehead Memorial Hospital dates back to 1924, when Drs. C.V. Tyner and Kenan Casteen of Leaksville, and Dr. H. Carlyle Dixon of Madison, saw a need for a hospital in the Tri-City area of Leaksville, Spray and Draper. Marshall Field and Company gifted $7,500 to open a 24-bed facility, and lent another $7,500 to the doctors to operate the hospital. In 1953, Tri-City Hospital became a publicly owned community facility. Marshall Field and Company donated $50,000 for the communitys part of the purchase. The new board of trustees sought donations to build a new hospital. Fieldcrest Mills formerly Marshall Field and Company and John Motley Morehead each donated $100,000. Along with donations from industry and the community, a new hospital opened in 1960, with additional medical specialties. Four years later, the Whitcomb Diagnostic and Treatment Center opened. And four years after that, a new wing was added to the hospital. It was 1984 before any other changes were made and it was a massive 48,000-square-foot addition and a renovation of 19,000 square feet. In 1986, the east wing became a 24-bed Morehead Nursing Center, and was expanded to 41 beds the following year. In the 1990s, the campus saw the addition of a Day Hospital, birthing center, medical office building, cancer center, 134-bed long-term care facility, and a physical rehab center. Student health centers opened at each high school. In 2006, the Wright Diagnostic Center opened, and a $35 million expansion and renovation tripled the size of the emergency department. Morehead Hospital now has around 700 employees, and is the largest employer in Eden. Nearby Health Systems While Barnhardt said Morehead Memorial Hospital is unsure of its options, a couple of health systems are already prevalent in the area. Cone Health includes six hospitals including Reidsvilles 110-bed Annie Penn Hospital, which joined in 2001. In 1953, Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital opened in Greensboro. In 1990, it and the five-year-old Womens Hospital of Greensboro part of what is now Cone Health. Other hospitals to join the system include Wesley Long Hospital, LeBauer HealthCare and Behavioral Health Hospital, and Alamance Regional Medical Center. Novant Health consists of 15 hospitals, including Forsyth, Kernersville and Thomasville medical centers, with facilities in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia. The system was formed in 1997 by the merger of Forsyth Memorial Hospital of Winston Salem and Presbyterian Health Services of Charlotte. Contributed / Contributed photo GREENWICH The painting Peonies by Emil Carlsen has been one of the favored treasures of the Bruce Museum collection since it was first shown in an exhibition featuring the work of the Greenwich Society of Artists here in 1919. One of three artworks purchased from that show, the painting represents the early history of the Bruce Museums collection. The nearly three-foot-tall oil on canvas is currently hidden from public view, held in secure, climate-controlled museum storage, but it has been featured in the Bruces 75th anniversary exhibition in 1987 and, more recently, in the 2001 show Art for the Great Estates: The Bruce Museum's First Decade and in 2002 in Celebrating 90 Years: The Bruce Museum Arts Collection. Cafe Integrals Cesar Vega. Photo: Melissa Hom Its opening day of Cafe Integrals brand-new Nolita coffee shop the four-year-old companys only stand-alone location and a first-time customer approaches owner Cesar Vega. My names Andres; Im from Nicaragua, he says. Thats how I found your place. This couldnt be a more fitting introduction: Vega is Nicaraguan born in the city of Jinotepe, and then raised in Miami and he launched Cafe Integral with the mission of championing the countrys coffee, buying beans only from Nicaragua and roasting them in Bushwick. Ive always loved being Nicaraguan more than anything else, Vega says. When I was young, I wanted to be a marine biologist. Then I became passionate about photography. But the only thing that Ive always been excited about is being Nicaraguan. I think I was trying to find a way to root myself back. Vega actually started Cafe Integral when he was quite young just out of New York University, age 23, and (still to this day) baby-faced. He realized that Nicaragua produced amazing, world-class coffee, but he couldnt find it in New York. That got me curious, so I wanted to import just 500 pounds of coffee, he says. He traveled with his grandparents back home, drawing from his familys network to connect with farmers, and ended up purchasing 3,000 pounds of beans. The coffee sat un-roasted in a spare bedroom in Vegas uptown apartment, while he tried to hustle it to other coffeehouses. My idea was to get the Stumptowns and the La Colombes of the world to believe in Nicaraguan producers, he explains. But I went door to door, and no one gave me the time of day. Around the time that Vega thought, Fuck it, and purchased a roaster for $10,000 on eBay, his friend Olivia Wolfe came over and asked if hed like to open a coffee bar inside her new clothing store, American Two Shot. He didnt hesitate to say yes, but he was, admittedly, naive. You never realize that coffee and flavor have little to do with success, he says. My opening blend I was convinced it was one of the best I had ever tasted and that there was going to be a line out the door. I cannot tell you how convinced I was that this was true. It didnt happen, of course, but, slowly but surely, we hustled and people kept coming in. A+. Photo: Melissa Hom Cafe Integral has become somewhat of a cult favorite in New York, and it has earned enough attention that the Freehand asked Vega to open a coffee shop inside of its Chicago hotel. He hopes to grow with the hotel and expand to Miami and Los Angeles, but first came a brick-and-mortar outpost in New York, which opened at 149 Elizabeth St. last week. Egg Shops chef, Nick Korbee, recommended the space next door to his restaurant, which used to house a hip dry cleaner. Vega designed the cafe himself its light and bright, in the style of New Yorks Australian restaurants and finished the build-out in an impressive seven weeks. I felt the need to grow and have something to show for it just to have our name on the door, finally, Vega says. I dont think the core of what we want to do is different, but this is a full iteration of what were about. Within the four years since Vega started Cafe Integral, though, the coffee industry has changed dramatically: Peets Coffee & Tea acquired Stumptown and Intelligentsia; Blue Bottle has accepted more than $20 million in funding; La Colombe is focusing on the fourth wave of coffee cold, canned beverages. There are more opportunities than ever before to monetize small coffee companies, and thats certainly going to impact Vegas business strategy moving forward. Coffee now has that big-money cachet, Vega says. An entire class of shops graduated. They were decidedly not Starbucks, and now theyre of a different school. In that sense, its almost like a Breakfast Club wrong-table-at-the-cafeteria thing. But I think that because of the amount of passion and intelligence that coffee people have the obsession and competitive nature of the coffee roaster, taster, barista when you take a step back, of course theyre going to go big, because theyre insane. Were crazy about what we do, and thats great. For Vega, it all comes back to his earnest pursuit to spotlight Nicaragua. His customer, Andres, asks how often he returns, and Vega proudly says four times a year. (Oh man, thats awesome, Andres exclaims.) The bigger we are, the more we can do for Nicaragua, he says. When youre growing and excelling, you have more purchasing power. Im able to walk onto a farm and say, Hey, I want to buy all of this lot. Dont be stressed about finding another buyer. That peace of mind means so much. Its empowering. Sweet. Photo: Starbucks Melody Starbucks is making a bold, possibly even McDonalds All-Day Breakfastlevel move in the fast-food breakfast wars: Its trialing an official brunch menu. Company chronicler Starbucks Melody discovered the chain began quietly testing at 78 Portland- and Seattle-area locations last week. The weekend-only menu includes standard fare like baked French toast and two different cage-free-egg quiche options (spinach and Swiss, or bacon and Swiss), but the real star is plainly the Belgian waffles that come topped with fresh blueberries, powdered sugar, and syrup. Company reps tell her theres no firm end date yet, but Melody guesses the test will run maybe six to eight weeks. Customers can order the items anytime from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., or until the items run out. Like hot sandwiches or other goods in the pastry case, they arrive premade each morning, go in the fridge, then get warmed up before serving. That means the waffles arent fresh off an iron, but Melody notes Starbuckss TurboChef ovens do a surprisingly good job imbuing what could be a mess of sad, spongy dough with a nice crunch. Starbucks has tested waffles twice and the other brunch items at least once before, so the commitment to bringing fast foods most overlooked meal to the masses seems pretty strong at this point. Of course, theres no stopping this train once its in motion, so up next is obviously a full-scale mimosa test at stores that serve late night alcohol. The faulty battery packs that caused some Samsung Galaxy Note7 units to explode during charging, forcing Samsung to announce a global recall, were manufactured by the South Korean company's own SDI subsidiary. Reports out of Samsung's home country are suggesting that the tech giant has now decided to stop using Samsung SDI's batteries in the phablet. "As a follow-up of the battery issue, we decided to temporally stop using Samsung SDIs battery for Galaxy Note 7," several Korean media outlets quoted sources from Samsung Electronics as saying. Samsung SDI is claimed to have supplied up to 70% of batteries used in the Galaxy Note7, while the remaining were supplied by Hong Kong-based Amperex Technology, which is a unit of Japan's TDK Corp. For its part, Amperex has made it clear that it only supplied batteries for Galaxy Note7 units sold in China, the only region which is unaffected by the recall. In case you missed, Samsung smartphone business head Koh Dong Jin recently said that the recall will cost the company a "heartbreaking amount," with analysts saying that the figure could be somewhere around $1 billion. Via 1 2 Huawei's flagship P9 smartphone is doing very well in terms of sales, as it turns out. First the Chinese company told us that it managed to ship 2.6 million of the P9 and P9 Plus handsets within the first six weeks of their availability, and now there's a much bigger milestone to speak of. Huawei has already sold over 6 million P9 units globally, according to an official release sent to us. This does not mention the P9 Plus, so we assume the number is just for the P9 itself. The company says its customers are praising the smartphone's built-in "professional photographic effects" like the "artistic black and white images" and the bokeh effect achievable when using the P9's dual rear camera arrangement developed in partnership with Leica. To learn more about the P9 and its camera, make sure you read our in-depth review. These are the best offers from our affiliate partners. We may get a commission from qualifying sales. Today a new software update has started rolling out for the OnePlus 2. The Chinese company warns that, as usual, the push will be an incremental one, so it might be a few days before every single OnePlus 2 unit out there receives the coveted update notification. The new release doesn't bring with it an Android version bump, but it does contain some pretty important fixes and improvements. For one thing, the August security patch is implemented, along with the fix for the QuadRooter vulnerability. Additionally, Doze Mode's performance has been enhanced, some notification issues should be gone, and a problem with the alert slider and silent mode has been addressed. A media sound toggle has been added for the alert slider, and you can also expect to find many more unnamed bug fixes inside. If you own the phone you can give the company feedback about the update if you visit the Source link below. Thanks for the tip, Ganesh! Source Today Samsung has outed more details about how the Galaxy Note7 recall will work in the UK. Because the global recall was announced just as the phone was supposed to be released in the UK (on September 2), only a handful of those who pre-ordered the handset over there actually received it. As previously revealed, these people will get free replacement Note7 units from Samsung. The exchange program will start in the UK on September 19. New Galaxy Note7s with safe batteries will be prioritized for the exchange program, so that every single person who already has a Note7 will be able to quickly get a replacement. After that happens, the Note7 will finally go on sale in the UK, as it was supposed to on September 2. An exact date for its availability hasn't been communicated yet, with the company promising to reveal new in-store dates shortly. Still, we assume the best case scenario is a release on September 20 or later that week. Clearly, Samsung is working hard ensuring that the delay is as small as possible. One more thing to note - if you're one of those who already got the Note7 in the UK, you will soon be contacted by the retailer or operator you purchased it from to inform you about the aforementioned exchange process. Source As you may know, Samsung made the Gear S3 official at IFA, but hasn't so far provided any concrete details about when it will be in stores. As for the pricing, one report claimed the smartwatch would cost 399 in the Eurozone, but failed to mention which model it was talking about - the Gear S3 classic or the Gear S3 frontier. And while we have no news on the price front, at least we now know when to expect the device to become available in the EU. The date is November 4, according to Samsung's own arm in the Netherlands, responding with the information to an inquiry via Twitter. Obviously the launch date might end up being different for other regions of the world. And even within the EU there could be some variance, but if you're in the Netherlands you can pretty much mark your calendar (and start saving). Interested in the Gear S3? Then don't forget to read our extensive hands-on from IFA. Source | Via Xiaomi Mi Box with Android TV might land in the US in October for less than $100 Back in May Xiaomi unveiled the Mi Box, a small device running Android TV. This specific model was always meant for the US market, but since that announcement we've heard almost nothing about it. Now a new rumor claims the Mi Box is almost ready for release, and that it will be available in the US in "early Q4". That translates into "at some point in October" in our book. Furthermore, the same source goes on to say the set-top box will retail for less than $100. Now whether that's going to be $99.99 or something more like $69 is unclear. These new details reportedly come from "a source inside Xiaomi". The Mi Box will be officially sold in the US by the Chinese company itself, something it's not currently doing with any of its smartphones. The Mi Box has 4K support (with 60fps), is HDR-ready, and HDMI 2.0a is baked in too. It has a quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor, Mali-450 GPU, 2GB of RAM, and 8GB of storage (expandable via USB flash drives, apparently). Source Harlow is a former New Town in Essex with a population of 86,000. Located in the upper Stort Valley, it was built in the decades after the Second World War to ease overcrowding and London and provide homes for people bombed out during the Blitz. It includes Britain's first pedestrian precinct and first modern residential tower block, The Lawn. Old Harlow, the historic part of the town, was mentioned in the Domesday Book. David and Victoria Beckham's former home, Rowneybury House, nicknamed 'Beckingham Palace', is nearby. 06:00, 29 OCT 2022 Genetic extinction technology rejected by international group of scientists, conservationists and environmental advocates News Release from Friends of the Earth, FOE, Sep. 1, 2016 (With additional information in parenthesis to ensure accuracy.) (Fascinating Fact: FOE was founded in 1969 by the Chairman of Atlantic Richfield Oil Co as an anti-nuclear group. Anything to tamp down the competition, eh? Another founder was anti-immigration activist David Brower.) OAHU, HAWAI'I As thousands of government representatives and conservationists convene in Oahu this week for the 2016 World Conservation Congress, international conservation and environmental leaders are raising awareness about the potentially dangerous (to mosquitoes) use of gene drives a controversial new synthetic biology technology intended to deliberately cause targeted species to become extinct. Members of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), including NGOs, government representatives, and scientific and academic institutions, overwhelmingly voted to adopt a de facto moratorium on supporting or endorsing research into gene drives for conservation or other purposes until the IUCN has fully assessed their impacts. News of the August 26 digital vote comes as an important open letter to the group is being delivered. Scientists and environmental experts and organizations from around the globe have advocated for a halt to proposals for the use of gene drive technologies in conservation. Announced today, a long list of environmental leaders, including Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE (A monkey expert reduced to being an anti-GMO follower of Jeffrey Smith), genetics professor and broadcaster Dr. David Suzuki (A self-promoter from Vancouver), Dr. Fritjof Capra (A self-promoter from Berkeley), entomologist Dr. Angelika Hilbeck (Best Quote: I take Seralinis study seriously.), Indian environmental activist (debunked $40K per speech anti-GMO hypester) Dr. Vandana Shiva and organic pioneer and biologist Nell Newman (Paul Newmans daughter. Loads of money and cashing in for more with Newmans Organics.) have lent their support to the open letter: A Call for Conservation with a Conscience: No Place for Gene Drives in Conservation. (Also singing: Protest for pay activist Walter Ritte and OHA Candidate Mililani Trask.) The letter states, in part: Gene drives, which have not been tested for unintended consequences, nor fully evaluated for ethical and social impacts, should not be promoted as conservation tools. (Translation: Mosquitoes are a useful population control device. We like Zika and Malaria because they eliminate unsightly humans.) Gene drives are basically a technology that aims for a targeted species to go extinct, explains ecologist and entomologist Dr. Angelika Hilbeck, president of the European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility (ENSSER). (The usual Eurotrash anti-GMO activists.) While this may appear to some conservationist professionals to be a 'good' thing and a silver bullet to handle complicated problems, there are high risks of unintended consequences that could be worse than the problems they are trying to fix. (Translation: We will lose an opportunity to kill off lots of excess humans.) Both the leading developers of the technology and also those concerned about gene drives will be attending this weeks Congress and holding events to raise awareness, hype promises or highlight the potential hazards of gene drives. One near-term gene drive proposal, promoted by U.S.-based non-governmental organization Island Conservation, intends to release gene drive mice on islands to eradicate them. Another led by the University of Hawaii would develop gene drive mosquitoes for use in Hawaii to combat avian malaria which affects honeycreeper birds. The debate around gene drives is likely to resurface later this year at the negotiations of the United Nations Biodiversity Convention in Cancun Mexico in December. Gene drives, also known as mutagenic chain reactions, (IQ Test: Do you know this phrase exists solely to manipulate you?) aim to alter DNA so an organism always passes down a desired trait, hoping to change over time the genetic makeup of an entire species, explains (laughs) Dr. Vandana Shiva of Navdanya. This technology would give biotech developers an unprecedented ability to directly intervene in evolution, to dramatically modify ecosystems, or even crash a targeted species to extinction. (Would you pay $40K to hear this speech?) Genetic extinction technologies are a false and dangerous solution to the problem of biodiversity loss, said Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth. (Yes. They are your FOE.) There are real, sustainable, community-based conservation efforts that should be supported. We are concerned that genetic extinction technologies will allow new destructive agricultural practices and even use by the military. Speculative conservation claims (other than ours) are at best an unfounded diversion or smokescreen. We support those in the IUCN who recognize the gravity of irreversible and irresponsible technologies such as gene drives (which might kill off our beloved invasive mosquitoes). Signatories of the letter, which include indigenous organizations (uhh you mean Walter Ritte?) and legal experts, raised legal and moral questions, citing an ethical threshold that must not be crossed without great restraint. From military testing to GMO crops, and now gene drives, Hawaii should not be treated as a test zone for risky and experimental technologies, said Walter Ritte, Native Hawaiian activist and hunter. (Yup. They mean Walter Ritte. Heres a really obvious question: How much is Ritte being paid this time?) What happens in Hawaii must be discussed with residents, not decided from a lab on the other side of the continent. Hawaiians (like me) should (be paid off to) decide what is best (most profitable) for Hawaii (us personally). Some of the signing organizations will be holding a Knowledge (Ignorance) Cafe event as part of the IUCN World Conservation Congress at 8:30 am (HST) on Monday, September 5. The event will be live streamed at www.synbiowatch.org/gene-drives. In response to upcoming proposals to release gene drive organisms in Hawaii, the local organization Hawaii SEED (who have been doing their best to obstruct mosquito eradication efforts) will be hosting an educational (hype) session on gene drives in the evening on Tuesday, September 6. See http://bit.ly/2bwZEuG for details. * * * * * Note to editors: (Instructions on how to spin this.) 1. A short briefing outlining concerns about gene drives prepared by the Civil Society Working Group on Gene Drives is available at www.synbiowatch.org/2016/08/reckless-driving/. A copy of the letter A Call for Conservation with a Conscience: No Place for Gene Drives in Conservation and a complete list of signatories is available at http://www.synbiowatch.org/gene-drives-letter/. 2. The organizers of the letter are inviting other organizations to join as signatories. Additional organizational signatures can be sent to: genedrives@synbiowatch.org. 3. More details about the Island Conservation Project to release gene drive mice are available in this article: http://baynature.org/article/re-coding-conservation/. Plans to develop gene drives for Hawaii are being developed by the lab of Dr. Floyd A, Reed of Hawaii University:http://hawaiireedlab.com/wpress/?p=2270. 4. The IUCN Motion on Synthetic Biology and Conservation (motion No. 95) was supported by 71 Governments and 355 NGOs (out of a total of 544 votes cast). It includes the following amendment on gene drives: CALLS UPON the Director General and Commissions with urgency to assess the implications of gene drives and related techniques and their potential impacts on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity as well as equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources, in order to develop IUCN guidance on this topic, while refraining from supporting or endorsing research, including field trials, into the use of gene drives for conservation or other purposes until this assessment has been undertaken. A breakdown of the vote was today made available to IUCN members. ---30--- HTH: Scientists converge on BI to discuss curbing population KGI: IUCN Congress debates genetic extinction technology le HR departments have traditionally disapproved of workplace swearing, some researchers believe that there are positive effects that come from using it in a leadership context.Using swear words adds power to certain messages, grab attention, and for some population, may make you cool if this is what the CEO is looking for, said Yehuda Baruch, professor at Southampton Business School, to CNBC. Case in point is Irish budget airline Ryanairs boss, Michael OLeary. He was recently in the news for letting loose colourful language in response to the EUs ruling on back taxes owed by tech giant Apple to the Irish government.Baruch, who co-authored a study on the acceptance of profanity in the workplace in 2007, noted that the generation gap is a big factor in the way swearing is perceived in the office. Swearing is becoming almost a societal norm for younger people and enables the development of personal relationships among coworkers, he stated, citing the prevalent use of curses and profanity in the media. And with more young entrepreneurs and CEOs making their mark in various industries nowadays, it seems that swearing and cursing in the workplace may soon become the norm.Still, there are experts that stand by the belief that dropping swear words in the office should be banned. Speaking to CNBC, Julie Logan, a professor in entrepreneurship believes that swearing in the office is inappropriate because as a leader you lead by example and maybe you dont want staff who represent you swearing in the media or at clients.Though, she admitted that the likes of OLeary are able to get away with it because it gives the company added publicity.Whats your opinion on swearing in the workplace? Tell us in the comments below. (HITC Business) Bloomberg News reports that Deutsche Banks John Cryan and his top managers will meet this weekend to assess progress on the reorganization, said a person familiar with the matter. Deutsche Bank held talks over a potential merger with Commerzbank last month, before both concluded the timing wasnt right, another person said Wednesday, asking not to be identified.. To read this article: Migri announced in May that the security situations in the countries have improved to the extent that it is safe for asylum seekers to return there without facing a direct threat to their life or well-being. The Finnish Immigration Service's (Migri) updated assessments of the security situations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia are not based on information produced by the Country Information Service, Jaana Vuorio, the director of Migri, has admitted to Helsingin Sanomat. I see now that we shouldn't have commented on the security situation one way or the other, says Vuorio. The Country Information Service of Migri produces information on aspects such as the political and social circumstances, human rights and security situation, and the legislative environment in the most common countries of origin for asylum seekers in Finland. It was really a case of us monitoring the practices of other [destination] countries and trying to have a level playing field. Finland didn't want to create any political pull factors, explains Vuorio. The Finnish Government, she adds, has stipulated that asylum applications should not be granted on lesser grounds than in Sweden. Helsingin Sanomat reported on Sunday that officials responsible for processing asylum applications are working under immense cross-pressure due to the introduction of unrealistic performance targets and revisions to the national asylum policy. The Ministry of the Interior initially demanded that the officials clear the backlog of asylum applications by the end of last month, a demand that would have necessitated a 70 per cent increase in the number of decisions per man-year and a weekly rate of 1,000 decisions in 2016. Our performance targets are so tough that they're practically impossible to reach. People are really getting exhausted. The quality of interviews is affected, jeopardising the legal protection of applicants, lamented one of the roughly a dozen officials interviewed by Helsingin Sanomat. The newspaper highlights that the duration of asylum interviews has consequently dropped from four to seven hours to no more than three hours Another official conceded that under the current circumstances mistakes are unavoidable: Someone who doesn't need asylum will be granted one and someone in need of protection will be left without one, because we don't have the time to examine the cases thoroughly. The officials also revealed to the daily that they are constantly reminded of their own performance and of what the entire country expects of them. Li Andersson, the chairperson of the Left Alliance, and Ville Niinisto, the chairperson of the Green League, have both voiced their concerns about the political pressure felt by the immigration officials after the report by Helsingin Sanomat. A civilised nation guarantee the rights of everyone especially when the times are difficult. Finland can't compromise this principle. The Government of [Prime Minister Juha] Sipila (Centre) must revise its position: let's defend human rights, review our current practices to guarantee humane treatment. Let's guarantee that Migri has the necessary resources and time to process the applications with due diligence, writes Niinisto. Andersson, meanwhile, estimates that the current situation is untenable. Wrong decisions can't be justified simply by noting that there is a short window to file an appeal, she states in a press release. If we're prepared to make compromises in the case of one population group, how can we guarantee that children, pensioners, the unemployed or other groups are not the next in line? asks Andersson. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Jussi Nukari Lehtikuva Transcription 1 Gabonese Republic Ministry of Digital Economy, Communication & Post Telecom Policy and Regulation for Next Generation Networks GABON STRATEGY Armand C. Lichambany Managing Director Digital Economy Department ( ICT ) Ministry of Digital Economy of Gabon Libreville, 30th August 2012 2 Content I. Gabon in brief: socio-economic, Telecom& ICT indicators II. Institutional framework III. Legal and Regulatory frameworks IV. Licensing framework V. Gabon Digital Plan: the country roadmap for the development of the ICT sector VI. National strategy for the development of NGN and Broadband Services VI.1. Cybercity of Mandji Island VI.2. IT Park VII. Challenges for Telecom Policy& Regulation for NGN 3 I. Socio-economic Indicators: Gabonese Republic 4 Telecom & ICT indicators ( 2011) Fixed-telephone: 22,500 subscribers Penetration rate( fixed telephone): 1% Mobile cellular: 2,370,227 subscribers Penetration rate( Mobile-cellular): 97% Fixed(wired)-broadband: 0,29 Mobile Broadband: 0 Internet( mobile): subscribers Internet( fixed): 23,657 subscribers Penetration rate(fixed-internet): 1% Penetration rate( mobile-internet): 16% Households with computers: 7,64 Households with Internet: 6,02 5 II. Institutional Framework Policy Maker Ministry of Digital Economy, Communication & Post Regulatory Agency ARCEP Infrastructure Agency ANINF GMDC Multimedia Development Company Transport & Connectivity Company Data Center Management Company Cybercity Mandji Island ( CMI ) Telecom Operators TV/Radio Operators IT Parks LBV, FCV, LBN, Oyem, Mouila, Booue International ICT Companies Application Services Providers SME and ICT Start-ups Cloud Providers ONSHORE ZONE Governed by the Decrees No. 35/PR/MCPEN dated 16/02/2010 and 0212/PR dated 27/01/2011 ECONOMIC SPECIAL ZONE (OFFSHORE) Governed by the Law 10/2000 dated 12 /10/2000 And by the DecreeNo. 35/PR/MCPEN dated 6/02/2010, Article 72, Line 8 6 III. Legal and Regulatory Frameworks In 1999, the Telecommunications market has been opened to competition in mobile telephony by awarding three (3) GSM licenses to three operators: Libertis, Celtel(Airtel) Telecel(Moov). In 2001, the Telecommunications sector and postal services have been deeply restructured and 3 Law have been adopted by the Parliament: the Law No. 0004/2001 of 27 June 2001 reorganizing the Posts and Telecommunications sector in the Gabonese Republic. This results on the creation of Gabon Telecom and Gabon Poste; the Law No. 0005/2001 of 27 June 2001 establishing the regulation of the Telecommunications sector in the Gabonese Republic. This results on the creation of the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency( ARTEL); thelawno.0006/2001of27june2001establishingtheregulationofpostssector in the Gabonese Republic. This results on the creation of the Posts Regulatory Agency(ARP). 7 III. Legal and Regulatory Frameworks Subsequently, these laws were supplemented by the implantation of the legislation under the form of Orders, Decrees and Decisions. In February 2007, Gabon Telecom and its mobile subsidiary have been privatized. The new shareholders are Telecom Morocco ( 51%)andtheGovernmentofGabon(49%). In November 2009, a 4 th Mobile License has been attributed to USANwhichoperatesaGSMNetworkunderthetrademarkAZUR Gabon. The Decree No /PR/MPT of 15 th July 2005 establishing the modalities of Interconnection, the infrastructures sharing and the tariff principles. The Decree No /PR/MPT of 15 th July 2005 establishing the Universal Service and access obligations. 8 III. Legal and Regulatory Frameworks The Decree No. 035/PR/MCPEN of 16 February 2010 reorganizing the Ministry of Communication, Post& Digital Economy. Article 72, Line 8: the Promotion of Digital Economy Department establishes the Technology Parks for promoting the ICT sector; The Decree No. 0212/PR of 27 January 2011 establishing a National Agency for Digital Infrastructures and Frequencies (ANINF) attached to the Presidency of the Republic, and under the technical supervision of the Minister in Charge of Communication, Post & Digital Economy, which is responsible for the development and implementation of digital infrastructure projects and the management of the Spectrum; The Decree No. 726/PR/MCPEN 26 June 2011 establishing the Gabonese Broadcasting Company and specifying the procedures for design, installation and operation of transmission equipment and broadcast programs of radio and television; 9 III. Legal and Regulatory Frameworks The Order No. 004/MCPEN of 15 February 2010 on the establishment and composition of the Commission for managing the Transition from Analog TV to Digital TV in the Gabonese Republic; The Order No. 0018/MCPEN of March 4, 2011 on the modernization of terrestrial broadcasting in Band III, IV and V in the Gabonese Republic. Since the 13 th February 2012, the Posts Regulatory Agency (ARP) and the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ARTEL) have been combined by Ordinance No /PR/2012 into one agency called " Post & Electronic Communications Regulatory Agency (ARCEP) 10 IV. Licensing Framework There are 3 main operating regimes of Telecommunications governed by the NRA in Gabon are the following: Public Service Delegation (PSD), for basic Telecommunications services (fix network); Licensefor operators of Telecommunications networks using radio frequencies such mobile operators and the restricted area telephone operators ; Authorization or Declarationfor the Value Added Services Providers and for the private Telecommunication Network Operators. 11 V. Gabon Digital Plan: the country roadmap for the development of the ICT sector Within the framework of the Emerging Gabon development strategy, the Gabonese State has developed a special three-year plan called"digital Gabon". Significant investment will be made in the development of a digital economy in Gabon, and in particular broadband infrastructure, including the development of high-speed services such as e-learning, e-health, m-health, Video-conferencing, Telemedicine, Tele-education, e-government an m-government services. The Digital Gabon Plan is the main support of the Pillar Services Gabon of the politic Emerging Gabon which aims to turn Gabon onto an emerging country at the horizon 2025. 12 V. Gabon Digital Plan: the country roadmap for the development of the ICT sector The main projects: to connect the country to the international broadband submarine cable ACE which interconnects the West Coast of Africa to Europe; to setup a national Backbone based on optical fibber from Libreville to Franceville, crossing several provincial capitals and following the railway; to build a WiMax Network in all the 9 provincial capitals in order to connect the whole Administration; todeveloptheftthandfttbnetworksinthemaincities to equip all the schools in Gabon with multimedia rooms with Internet connections in order to develop the E- Education, M-Education and Tele-Education; 13 V. Gabon Digital Plan: the country roadmap for the development of the ICT sector The main projects ( cont.) to develop Telemedicine and M-Health; to implement a digital Administration ( E-Government, M-Government); to manage the Digital TV migration before the dead line of17june2015; to develop the Mobile Broadband based on the LTE technology; to build the largest Central African Technology Park of Digital Economy in the Economic Special Zone of Port Gentil( Cybercity of Mandji Island); tobuildsmallandmediumitparksinallthecitieswhich host the universities for the incubation of the Cloud Providers. 14 WHICH TYPE OF INFRASTRUCTURE FOR THE EMERGING GABON? 15 Gabon is connected to main Broadband Networks ( SAT 3, ACE and CAB2 ) The main national and sub-regional Broadband Network projets( RAG and CAB2 ) Connection of Port gentilto the Broadband Network National Broadband Network map National Digital TV Network These Broadband Networks will support the development of ICT services 16 LTE AS THE MOBILE BROADBAND NETWORK FOR THE RURAL ZONES LTE network willenablethe Broadband mobile Services in the rural zones LTE willenablethe migration ( AnalogTV towarddigital TV ) in the rural zones Source: Althos 17 Objective: to achievethe MDGsin the rural zones usingthe m-services 1. Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, 2. Achieving universal primary education, 3. Promoting gender equality and empowering women 4. Reducing child mortality rates, 5. Improving maternal health, 6. Combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases, 7. Ensuring environmental sustainability, and 8. Developing a global partnership for development 18 WHICH ICT SERVICES FOR THE EMERGING GABON? 19 VI. National strategy for the development of NGN and Broadband Services SaaS PaaS IaaS 20 ORGANISATION OF CLOUD GABON GouvernmentCloud Business Cloud G2C G2B G2G SaaS B2C B2B B2G 21 ORGANISATION OF THE GOUVERNMENT CLOUD GOUVERNEMENT CLOUD e-gouvernment m-gouvernment 22 M-Health: main challenge to bring efficient Healthcare in the Rural Zones Using the Smartphone as a smart Stethocope LTE 23 M-Health Cloud : the best way to enable Healthcare in the Rural Zones 24 Source: WHO 2011, World Vision Building a national m-health System 25 STRATEGY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CLOUD GABON 26 The Flagship Zones for the development of Cloud Gabon Flagship Zone 2 IT Park Libreville (IPL1) Flagship Zone 5 IT Park Oyem(IPO) Flagship Zone 1 Cybercity de l Ile Mandji( CIM ) Flagship Zone 7 IT Park Boue(IPB) Flagship Zone 4 IT Park Lambarene(IPL3) Flagship Zone3 IT Park Franceville ( IPF ) Flagship Zone 6 IT Park Mouila(IPM) 27 GMDC: main player for NGN and Broadband Services development GABON MULTIMEDIA DEVELOPMENT COMPANY ( GMDC ) Flagship Zones Management Cybercity of Mandji Island IT Park of Librevillle( IPL1) ITParkofFranceville(IPF) IT Park of Lambarene( IPL3) IT Park of Oyem( IPO ) IT Park of Mouila( IPM ) IT Park of Booue( IPB ) Cloud Gabon development G2C G2B G2G B2C B2B B2G Promotion of Digital Economy Management of the ICT events Promotion of the Cybercity on the International marketplace Management of the partnerships for the promotion of the Digital Economy ( Informa Telecom & Media, GSMA, UIT, etc.) Management of the Convention Center 28 Flagship Zone1 CYBERCITY OF MANDJI ISLAND 29 Cybercity of Mandji Island : Objectives and advantages The Cybercity of Mandji Island will be the ultimate ecosystem for the development and promotion of the Digital Economy through the installation of offshore companies specialized in Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Located in the Free Trade Zone of Mandji Island and connected to a Broadband submarine fibber opticnetwork,thecmiwillbethelargest"icthub"ofthecentralafricaregion. The ICT companies operating in the CMI will be exempted from taxes during the first 10 years. Fromthe11thyearofoperation,theywillbesubjectedtoincometaxat10%. easyandfastregistrationofictcompaniesviaaonestopshop; no restriction on funds transfer; Strong legal and regulatory framework on Internet Governance (personal data protection, protection of Intellectual Property, Fight against Cybercrime, etc.). ICT companies eligible in the CMI will stimulate the employment of Gabonese Citizen and ensure the transfer of competencies to them in order to allow these future Technopreneurs to create their own Start-Ups in the regional IT Parks. The potential candidates eligible in the CMI are the Outsourcing Companies, Cloud Computing Providers, Call Centers, Software Publishers, Web Agencies, Hosting companies, Media production companies, etc. 30 31 Cybercity of Mandji Island: master plan 32 Future IT Park of Libreville ( Nkok) IT Park Model 33 VII. Challenges for Telecom Policy & Regulation for NGN 4 Laws on the Information Society are currently under implementing: LawonthePersonalDatas; Law on the Electronic Transactions; LawontheCybercrime; LawontheCryptology. Implementing Telecom Policy and Regulation for New Generation Networks is the country main challenge for establishing a confident and competitive ICT environment in order to attract international investors for the development of the Cloud Gabon through the Private-Public Partnership scheme. 34 Contact Armand C. Lichambany Managing Director Department of Digital Economy( ICT ) Ministry of Digital Economy, Communication & Post PO Box 2280 Libreville, Gabon Tel: Fax: Cell: The sale of newly-built apartments at the former Priory Hall complex will go ahead, despite a move to increase the number of social housing units at the north Dublin site. Some 60 apartments have recently been completed at the former fire-trap complex, which was built in 2007 by former IRA hunger striker Tom McFeely. Nine apartments will be retained by Dublin City Council (DCC) for social housing and the other 51 are expected to be offered for sale from the end of the month. The rest of the complex is still in the process of reconstruction and the council hopes work will be finished by the end of 2017. A vote took place in City Hall last night. Anti Austerity Alliance councillor Michael O'Brien set out a motion to have all 162 apartments at the site be made available for a combination of social and affordable housing which was narrowly defeated. "It is cruel and obscene in the midst of the current crisis to leave people languishing on the allocations lists, some of whom are homeless or in overcrowded situations, and at the same time the City Council whose prime responsibility is meeting the public housing need sells off apartments which could well end up in the hands of vulture funds," he said. DCC Chief Executive Owen Keegan said that council was "honour bound" to seek a return on the 27m invested into the reconstruction of the notorious fire-trap complex. "However sympathetic I am to using these apartments for social housing we have to have regard for the legal agreement we entered into," he said. Risk "I am warning the council that there is a serious risk that the entire Priory Hall resolution could collapse, and DCC could be exposed to legal complaints, if we try and void the contract we agreed to in 2013. "I'm more than happy to seek future agreements on increasing the number of units at the site for social housing. "These apartments are available now. We should use them. Any delays could mean that 40 families who might have a home this month wouldn't." An armed garda was punched in the ribs by a young man who threatened to "kill him and bite his face off" after he searched him for drugs. Jordan Joyce (20) also assaulted the officer's colleague by kicking him on the left leg. He further threatened to "knife" the two gardai and said he would "get them the next time I see them". Swords District Court heard fast food worker Joyce had "panicked" and "lost his temper". Judge Dermot Dempsey ordered a probation report and said Joyce should pay 2,000 compensation to the gardai. Joyce, of Jugback Green, Swords, admitted possession of drugs, assaulting Gda David Smith and obstruction of Gda James Carolan. Judge Dempsey said it was an "absolute disgrace" that Joyce was not charged with assaulting Gda Carolan, who was off work for two weeks after the incident. "If it was Joe Bloggs off the street there'd be an assault charge, but apparently gardai are not entitled to the same level of protection," he said. Smell Gda Carolan was on armed patrol in Swords at around 8.30pm on August 20 last year when he encountered a group of youths at St Cronan's Close. He said he spoke to Joyce, detected a strong smell of cannabis and told him he was going to search him. Joyce emptied his pockets, and the garda found a grinder and a cannabis joint, worth 5. Gda Carolan said Joyce became very aggressive towards him, returned the items to his pocket and punched him twice on the left side of his rib cage. The garda was armed, so he protected his weapon and raised his arm to push Joyce away. Joyce tried to swing at him, and Gda Carolan called on Gda Smith to help. Gda Smith tried to grab Joyce's arms, but he kicked him in the leg. He was shouting at gardai: "I'll kill you, I'll bite your face off." Gda Carolan said a relative of Joyce tried to calm him but he remained aggressive. He struggled as he was placed in a patrol car, tried to spit at gardai and had to be restrained. Defence solicitor Fiona D'Arcy said Joyce had apologised for his behaviour. Health Minister Simon Harris led the criticism of "dangerous" claims made by a maverick Dublin clinic that having an abortion can cause cancer and lead to child abuse. The minister said he was "sickened" and "extraordinarily concerned" after it emerged that the Women's Centre on Berkeley Street, Dublin 7, is reportedly telling women who go there for crisis pregnancy counselling that having an abortion can cause breast cancer later in life. One woman purporting to be a counsellor at the unregulated clinic also reportedly told an undercover reporter for The Times that having a termination could result in psychological damage to women, who could go on to abuse any subsequent children they have. Mr Harris said the issue has highlighted the lack of regulation for pregnancy counselling and is concerned by what some women are being told. "I have asked my officials to give me an urgent update on the situation and present me with policy options," he said. "It is important that women in this country are provided with factual information. What I read in the newspapers today is very alarming and very worrying." The minister's concerns were echoed by a pro-abortion organisation called Doctors for Choice Ireland (DFCI), which said the advice that was secretly recorded and published online is "entirely dangerous, untrue and dangerous". Perverse "There is no reputable published research and no medical evidence for an increased risk of breast cancer or psychological sequelae [after-effects] from abortion when compared to women who have completed pregnancies," DFCI said. The physicians group also suggested it was perverse for the 'counsellor' to link women who have had abortions with child abusers. "To suggest that women who have had abortions are more likely to perpetrate child abuse is to heap insult on top of the stigma already imposed on the more than 100,000 women who have been forced to leave Ireland to access safe legal abortion services," DFCI said. The Times also said its reporter was shown photos of aborted foetuses. She was also reportedly questioned about the state of her mental health. The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) is calling for the immediate registration and regulation of people claiming to be psychotherapists and counsellors. "The production and promotion of misinformation is unethical, unhealthy and, frankly, dangerous," said USI president Annie Hoey, "The only way to ensure the correct information is broadcast and advised is by having statutory registration and regulation of psychotherapists and counsellors, which will contribute to a more ethical, transparent and modern health system in Ireland." The Women's Centre could not be reached for comment last night. Congress is back in town and the first thing up is an intractable Republican-created controversy that, thankfully, doesn't involve-- at least not so far-- El Trumpanzee! Instead of rushing to fund the president's Zika proposals, like they should have a year ago, the GOP immediately started bickering about shutting down the government. Although he says electing Senor Trumpanzee is integral to his repackaged hash of bad, failed austerity ideas (AKA, a "Better Way"), Ryan's congenital inability to keep his corner of the government functioning even minimally pre-dates the rise of Trumapnzee-ism in the GOP. The Republicans have hefty majorities in both Houses of Congress, but both are so riven with back-biting, petty feuds, ideological crackpottery and mutual hatreds, that the legislative branch of government is just mired in anomie-- and that's even before the Democrats weigh in! Ryan has until September 30-- about 3 weeks-- to get his tits together or Social Security checks stop going out, military funding shuts down and the U.S. starts looking like a banana republic on world markets again. History tells us who voters blame when the Republicans pull this kind of crap. So, when does early voting start, you dumb-ass Republican cry-babies? HuffPo readers last week when he House GOP extremists, filled with rage at Ryan for sabotaging Tim Huelskamp's reelection , and allied with all the Koch-funded outside groups that always want to shut down the government anyway, are making their move. They say they don't care if the GOP loses the election because of a shutdown and that unless they get spending cuts to programs they hate-- like social services, health care, education, anything that helps working families-- they will shut the government down (and hold their breath 'til everyone turns blue). Matt Fuller captured their mentality forreaders last week when he quoted one Freedom Caucus brainiac spewing: "How can you have a gang, and have one in your gang get stabbed, and do nothing? You got to stab somebody, or else whats the point of having a gang?" Yes, that's what controls how the congressional Republicans operate today-- and their case for being reelected as the majority party. Imagine that mentality mixed in with a dose of Senor Trumpanzee and you have a recipe for the end of the United States of America. They want to use the threat of shutting down the government to cut spending, cripple their own party's Speaker and ruin his chances to run for president in the future and they are demanding Congress impeach an IRS Commissioner they have a hair up their collective ass about immediately. Zika? Climate change? The threat to voting rights? None of that matters much in their dysfunctional, inbred, crazy little world. Instead GOP nuts-- not just Freedom Caucus members but lunatics like Lamar Smith (R-TX), Frank Guinta (R-NH), Peter King (R-NY), Cresent Hardy (R-NV), Fred Upton (R-MI), each with his own ax to grind-- are gearing up for pre-election civil war. Paul Clements, the progressive Democrat running against House Energy and Commerce Committee chair, Fred Upton, in southwest Michigan, is aiming to replace one of the members of Congress responsible for more messes than just about any other individual member. You think the Freedom Caucus are the bad guys? Upton, through his committee chair, has overseen almost every bad thing Congress has done-- and not done in it many years. Yesterday Clements told us that "when Fred Upton has a Tea Party challenger he wont let anyone call him moderate. The rest of the time he makes an effort to look moderate about once every two years. Twenty percent of the children in his district go to school hungry sometimes, and he votes to cut food stamps. He has done about-faces on support for Planned Parenthood, strengthening Medicare, and the reality of climate change. But after blocking serious action on Zika, now suddenly its a priority. After blocking imports of generic drugs from Canada, now we have to get to the bottom of the EpiPen price rise. But dont let the johnny-come-lately fool you." Please think about chipping in what you can for the grassroots campaign Clements is running in Michigan by tapping on the thermometer on the right. Ryan and McCarthy hope to avoid the whole mess by making a deal with Pelosi to pass a short-term continuing resolution and adjourning Congress as fast as possible and then letting the lame duck and the next Congress handle all the hard stuff that Ryan doesn't have the capabilities to deal with. And in the middle of this ugly atmosphere, he and Obama are trying to sneak the TPP through in some kind of a deal that will infuriate the whole country and is already angering members of both parties. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) and Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) don't usually find themselves on the same side of the battlefield, but on pushing through the TPP as part of a "compromise deal," during a lame duck session, they are exactly on the same side, if with differing intent. Mulvaney: "[A lame duck session is] the least accountable time for Congress. We let people who have either quit or been fired or retired vote on spending billions and billions of taxpayer dollars after their period of accountability has ended. This is something that is supposed to be Republican orthodoxy: that the least accountable government is the worst government." And Grijalva's outlook is more in line with progressive thinking in Congress. "What worries me is the Christmas tree effect. Empowering a lame-duck Congress to do a lot of things... I think that would be very dangerous. Let's do it in a new Congress and a new administration." The Pam Bondi/Trumpanzee case isn't going away. It's classic Trump. As Paul Waldman put it in yesterday's, "Bondis office had received multiple complaints from Floridians who said they were cheated by Trump University; while they were looking into it and considering whether to join a lawsuit over Trump University filed by the attorney general of New York State, Bondi called Trump and asked him for a $25,000 donation; shortly after getting the check, Bondis office dropped the inquiry." Clearly, Bondi should not be Attorney General, not even of Florida, and should certainly be in prison. What about Trump? He insists she's "upstanding" but Trump himself certainly isn't; he has a pattern of behavior that this episode typifies, a pattern going all the way back to when he was a crooked young real estate developer, emulating his crooked, racist father and bulldozing the rules and getting away with everything from racial discrimination to Mafia funny business . But Waldman's point yesterday was that we don't know anything much about the Bondi scandal because the media has just let it die. [T]here was only one mention of this story on any of the five Sunday shows, when John Dickerson asked Chris Christie about it on Face the Nation (Christie took great umbrage: I cant believe, John, that anyone would insult Pam Bondi that way). And the comparison with stories about Hillary Clintons emails or the Clinton Foundation is extremely instructive. Whenever we get some new development in any of those Clinton stories, you see blanket coverage-- every cable network, every network news program, every newspaper investigates it at length. And even when the new information serves to exonerate Clinton rather than implicate her in wrongdoing, the coverage still emphasizes that the whole thing just raises questions about her integrity. Trumps casino bankruptcies, which left investors holding the bag while he skedaddled with their money Trumps habit of refusing to pay contractors who had done work for him, many of whom are struggling small businesses Trump University, which includes not only the people who got scammed and the Florida investigation, but also a similar story from Texas where the investigation into Trump U was quashed. The Trump Institute, another get-rich-quick scheme in which Trump allowed a couple of grifters to use his name to bilk people out of their money The Trump Network, a multi-level marketing venture (a.k.a. pyramid scheme) that involved customers mailing in a urine sample which would be analyzed to produce for them a specially formulated package of multivitamins Trump Model Management, which reportedly had foreign models lie to customs officials and work in the U.S. illegally, and kept them in squalid conditions while they earned almost nothing for the work they did Trumps employment of foreign guest workers at his resorts, which involves a claim that he cant find Americans to do the work Trumps use of hundreds of undocumented workers from Poland in the 1980s, who were paid a pittance for their illegal work Trumps history of being charged with housing discrimination Trumps connections to mafia figures involved in New York construction The time Trump paid the Federal Trade Commission $750,000 over charges that he violated anti-trust laws when trying to take over a rival casino company The fact that Trump is now being advised by Roger Ailes, who was forced out as Fox News chief when dozens of women came forward to charge him with sexual harassment. According to the allegations, Ailess behavior was positively monstrous; as just one indicator, his abusive and predatory actions toward women were so well-known and so loathsome that in 1968 the morally upstanding folks in the Nixon administration refused to allow him to work there despite his key role in getting Nixon elected. And that last one is happening right now. To repeat, the point is not that these stories have never been covered, because they have. The point is that they get covered briefly, then everyone in the media moves on. If any of these kinds of stories involved Clinton, news organizations would rush to assign multiple reporters to them, those reporters would start asking questions, and wed learn more about all of them. Thats important, because we may have reached a point where the frames around the candidates are locked in: Trump is supposedly the crazy/bigoted one, and Clinton is supposedly the corrupt one. Once we decide that those are the appropriate lenses through which the two candidates are to be viewed, it shapes the decisions the media make every day about which stories are important to pursue. And it means that to a great extent, for all the controversy he has caused and all the unflattering stories in the press about him, Trump is still being let off the hook. Halloween is coming! Here's when to trick or treat in your town lifestyle Yesterday on CNN's State of the Union, Republican Senator Jeff Flake was practically predicting that Hillary is going to win his state. His state is Arizona, which has only voted for one Democrat since Harry Truman in 1948. Flake said he doesn't plan to personally vote for either Hillary or Senor Trumpanzee. "I just know," he told Jake Tapper, "that I would like to vote for Donald Trump. Its not comfortable to not support your nominee. But given the positions that hes taken and the tone and tenor of his campaign, I simply cant... Arizona should still be a red state. But Donald Trump, with the rhetoric that he's under and the characterizations of, you know, many of the state's population, have put the state in play. And unfortunately, you know, that leads to Democrats spending a lot of money here, unfortunately for Republicans." The one Democrat Arizona did vote for since 1948 was Bill Clinton in 1996. Hard to believe? Here's how it happened: Bill Clinton- 46.52 Bob Dole- 44.29 Ross Perot- 7.98 And this year, Bill's wife could well get the same kind of help from Gary Johnson. Yesterday AP speculated that "the Libertarian Party nominee's best chance to influence the presidential race may come in Arizona, where the former New Mexico governor appeals to a group of finicky conservatives who make up part of the GOP base." And Flake agrees that it's possible, calling Johnson "an easy out for some people in our party." Senor Trumpanzee's immigration speech went over poorly among normal people The GOP's recent struggle with independent-minded, small-government Libertarians was clear before Trump's speech Wednesday in Phoenix, when he reaffirmed a hard line on immigration. And his stance could alienate the roughly one-quarter of Hispanic voters in the state who usually align with Republicans. "I think that right now we're at a tipping point, where at any moment we are going to begin to see an outpouring of support," said Latino GOP strategist Juan Hernandez, who works for Johnson in Arizona. Sensing an opportunity herself, Clinton began airing television advertisements in the state Friday, and has reserved $500,000 in ad time through mid-September. Democratic strategist Andy Barr said Hispanic turnout was "the multimillion-dollar question." About one-third of the state's population identifies as Latino, but their share of the vote ranges between 12 percent and 16 percent, according to public and private polling. "This closer it gets to 20 percent, the more our chances of winning go up," Barr said. ...Four years ago, Libertarian candidates in Arizona drew enough votes away from Republicans that Democrats Ann Kirkpatrick and Kyrsten Sinema won election to the U.S. House. Flake, who had endeared himself to many Libertarians while serving in the House, won his Senate race that year, too. "It's a really sore spot for the party," Arizona Republican Party spokesman Tim Sifert said of those 2012 results. "You could see people frustrated, throwing away their vote and going with a third-party candidate." The views of most Libertarians, focused on personal liberty and small government, overlap more with Republicans than Democrats. Johnson's call for dramatically lower business taxes and regulation to unburden entrepreneurs resonates with Matthew Sherman of Phoenix, who describes himself as more as a conservative than as a Republican. "I'm for whoever has the best plan on startup companies," said the 31-year-old who's working on a business networking app. "So far, that's Gary." Republican Dave Richins, a councilman in Mesa City, said Johnson is conservative on spending, but tolerant on social issues, which he calls "a pragmatic combination." "For me, a lifelong Republican, I don't agree with everything Johnson proposes," said Richins, a Johnson organizer. "But I find his pragmatism refreshing. That's how we get things done." Johnson's hands-off approach to government also includes decriminalizing marijuana, and he could benefit from a November ballot proposal in Arizona on that question. "That's another reason for Libertarians to vote in higher numbers," said Barr, who is running the decriminalization campaign. "We're inclined to believe that could increase Johnson's performance." The Guardian. "With recent polls showing that Hillary Clinton and Trump are virtually tied in Missouri, it could be a voting bloc that swings the election." That's 11 electoral votes that should be El Trumpanzee's that Hillary could wind up with. Missouri has 10 electoral votes that Republicans have come to depend on. Obama came close in 2008 but only scored 44% against Romney. This year a Hillary win there could be even stranger than a Libertarian-fueled win for her in Arizona: Bosnians. Missouri had a lot of them-- 50-70,000 Bosnian Muslim refugees. And they hate Senor Trumpanzee and are registering to vote for the express purpose of making sure he loses. "Bosnian Americans in Missouri are expected to turn out in record numbers this November," wrote Ryan Schuessler for. "With recent polls showing that Hillary Clinton and Trump are virtually tied in Missouri, it could be a voting bloc that swings the election." This domain has expired. If you owned this domain, contact your domain registration service provider for further assistance. If you need help identifying your provider, visit https://www.tucowsdomains.com/ Tamil Nadu has a rich tradition of music and has given India some of its towering musicians in carnatic, folk and film music. Tyagaraja, MS Viswanathan, MS Subbulakshmi, Illayaraja, AR Rahman, SP Balasubramanyam, the list goes on. But now giving them a good run for their money are legislators from the ruling AIADMK. And, no, theyre not straining their vocal cords at a recording studio at Kodambakkam, the nerve centre of Tamil cinema, nor at the Music Academy in Egmore, but, on the floor of the Tamil Nadu Assembly, at Fort St George, Chennai. Read | Three decades after his death, TN parties bank on MGR factor The first session of the J Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK government, which came back to power after the elections this summer, concluded last Friday, and the conduct of the ruling MLAs was disappointing. It would be expecting too much of AIADMK MLAs to critically analyse the schemes and policies of the government and talk about the ways to improve them. Such cerebral exercises are left to the Puratchi Thalaivi, which means revolutionary leader, as Jayalalithaa is described by the faithful. The praise of Jayalalithaa is a monomania that has infected the AIADMK for far too long now. This is not to say that political hyperbole is new to the state. The influence of films and the sycophancy associated with it has been seen in the past. But now, especially after Jayalalithaa returned to power overcoming great odds, political hagiographies by party MLAs are quite routine. Read | Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa completes 100 days in office The first session of the new Assembly saw MLAs, some of them even ministers, falling over each other to belt out numbers from old Tamil films to praise the visionary leader. If one day it was health minister C Vijaya Baskar comparing Jayalaithaa to god, another day it was S Karunaas, actor-turned-politician, who thanked the goddess and said hes found the mother in her. AIADMK MLA Rathisabapathy praised MGR, former chief minister and founder of the party, and Jayalaithaa for the visionary lines about Tamil Nadus development in the songs in their movies. To make things more absurd, the MLA was challenged to a debate by Opposition leader MK Stalin on the subject. All this would have been funny if it was not happening in the Assembly, while the House is in session. The tamasha did not stop within the state; recently, while the Rajya Sabha was intensely debating the unrest in Kashmir, AIADMK MP A Navaneethakrishnan decided to sing a song from an MGR film describing the beauty of Kashmir. These new-age song birds, who cut sorry figures as representatives of the people, should be ashamed of the way they have reduced what many consider the temple of democracy into the theatre of the absurd. Different media houses have been reporting on this trend of sorts, with one even calling the songs item numbers referring to the practice of adding songs with catchy lyrics and dance sequences that usually are irrelevant to the story told in a film. Read | Defamation cases: The Jaya govt must stop the misuse of state machinery It is highly unlikely that the drafters of our Constitution would have envisaged such misuse and mockery of democracy otherwise they would have put in a provision to stop these musical outburst. That such bombastic item numbers are permitted on the floor of the House shows the inefficiency of the Chair, and, more importantly, shows how an elected government is changing into an autocracy where everything is about one leader. In such a system, all work done by the government is attributed to that leader, welfare schemes are tagged as the benevolence of that leader, and all praise goes to that leader. The people of Tamil Nadu deserve leaders who do more than just song and dance numbers. @vijucherian SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Vietnam is an agricultural nation, but feed for pigs and chickens must be imported. During the first seven months of this year, Vietnam spent $1.8 billion on animal feed imports, the equivalent of 40 percent of the country's revenue from rice exports, data from Vietnam Customs showed. That figure hit $2 billion in August, and shows no signs of slowing. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecasts that nearly half of Vietnam's animal feed will be imported this year. In recent years, approximately 45 percent of Vietnam's demand for animal feed has been met by imports of soybean meal, corn and wheat. Local sources mostly provide bran rice and cassava. Vietnam is an agricultural nation, but feed for pigs and chickens must be imported, said Le Ba Lich, chairman of the Vietnam Breeding Association.. Most of Vietnam's imported animal feed comes from Argentina, accounting for 45 percent of the total value, followed by China and the U.S. Vietnam has been looking to expand its corn and soybean plantations to minimize its reliance on imports since 2015. In March 2015, the countrys Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development approved three genetically modified corn varieties for commercial planting, which were then planted a month later, making Vietnam the 29th country in the world to commercialize a biotech crop. However, local corn production still faces challenges from competitive prices offered by India, Argentina and Brazil. Experts said that Vietnam does not have the best conditions for cultivating animal feed crops like corn, wheat and soybean, and emphasized that Vietnam's livestock sector is facing many challenges due to market competition in the context of international integration. Related news: > Vietnam to import 450,000 tons of cashew nuts for processing industry > Drought struck Vietnam to import 100,000 tons of sugar India will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its independence without all its children in school, according to a Unesco report. The Global Education Monitoring report of Unesco has said India can achieve universal primary education by 2050, universal lower secondary education by 2060 and universal upper secondary education by 2085. This is a sad commentary because at governmental level India has tried to universalise primary education though the funds allotted for this purpose may have been insufficient. John Kenneth Galbraith, economist and once US ambassador to India, had said there was no literate population that was poor and there was no illiterate population that was anything other than poor. Galbraith may have been powerfully influenced by the Indian example. Read: Teachers travails: Battling crowded classrooms and non-teaching duties The Unesco report says more than 60 million children receive little or no formal education and there are more than 11 million children who are out of school at lower secondary level. In this respect one can go beyond the Unesco report. The Annual Status of Education Reports, published by the National Council of Education, Research and Training, points out about 50% of class 5 students were not fit to be in class 2, and about 25% of students from class 1 to class 8 could not recognise numbers. This is despite the efforts of the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, which has set 30:1 as the pupil-teacher ratio. But in places sometimes there is just one teacher for 100 students. The quality of education in government-run schools is particularly bad, which is alarming because almost 80% of the primary schools in India are government-run. A recent report in Hindustan Times said India had a deficit of 584,000 teachers in primary schools and about 350,000 upper primary schools. However, there has been in improvement in the dropout percentages of girls. Read: Government schools need urgent fixing There are a host of reasons for this. First, governments across the country are going slow on hiring teachers, citing high fiscal deficits. Second, in many cases teachers in government schools are given jobs that have nothing to do with teaching, such as census work and industrial surveys. Third, a high proportion of teachers is found absent from duty. A World Bank National Absence Survey reported one in four rural teachers were found absent at work. Read: Errand boys? Delhi teachers are govts ultimate multi-taskers Primary education has not received the attention it deserves. Without that our social infrastructure is bound to flounder. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A team of twenty students led by Shikha Prakash, teacher convener of Luminoso, the Fine Arts Society, have painted tribal art such as Madhubani, Warli, and Gond on ten interior walls of Kamala Nehru College. These beautiful wall have become selfie corners for students. A student of Kamala Nehru College paints tribal art on a wall inside the college. The initiative had a dual purpose, Prakash says: Tribal art is not kitsch art, its not something that todays kids relate to. If we dont introduce them to it now, they will never know about it and eventually these art forms will be lost. So, this initiative brings young students close to the traditional arts as well as beautify the college. Read: Street art that speaks of social issues Some of the tribal art forms painted by the students are Warli, Gond, and Madhubani. (AMAL KS/HT) Not just that, the walls were also painted keeping in mind the flourishing selfie craze. She adds, We had to keep the walls vibrant, something that the students will like. Generation Y is the selfie generation. Having colourful corners in the college will provide them with a nice background where they can take their pictures. This is a good way to have them bond with the college, too. Years after graduating, when they will see these walls in a picture, they will instantly know that this was taken in their college. The students had to paint in shifts as they had classes to attend. The month-long process was not an easy one due to the regular spells of showers and mosquitoes. Gauri Chaturvedi, the student convenor, shares, As we had classes to attend, we worked in shifts. We spent about 6-8 hours daily on these walls. The biggest challenge was working outdoors as it would rain at times. We had to keep a check on the forecast. When it wasnt raining, there were mosquitoes to be dealt with. Read: Delhi University students paint the campus in rainbow hues The students worked for 6-8 hours daily. (AMAL KS/HT) She adds, Since the walls are of uneven texture, we had to keep the coats thick, and to do shading, we had to use our hands to blend the colours. There was a lot of pressure on us as we were painting the walls of the college. The basic drawing is made with chalk, and if we messed it up, cleaning it would be very hard. Galti hoti toh sabko dikhta. It meant ruining others hard work too which no one wanted to do. Some walls that required shading had to be hand painted. (AMAL KS/HT) Despite the hurdles, the students say that they had an amazing time indulging in paint wars and found admirers aplenty, including parents. Neha Sharma, a BA Geography (Hons) student, says: We would often randomly start paint wars and ek doosre ko colour kar dete the. And getting these paints off is not easy, let me tell you! Ghanto lag jaate the colour hatane mein but jo mazza aata tha, woh alag hi tha. Also while working on the walls, students and even parents of prospective students would appreciate our work. They would ask us about the walls, our art society and if their daughter can also be a member. We started featuring in Snapchat stories and on social networking profiles of various friends. Kya feeling hai! SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Investigations into the rape of a three-year-old Dalit girl in Bhopal last week led police to her step-father, who was arrested on Sunday after he confessed to the crime. On August 31, the girl was raped and dumped near Pul Patra in Barkhedi, 350 metres from Bhopal railway station. The accused (32) had then told the government railway police (GRP) that she was abducted from the station premises where they were sleeping early on August 31 and that she was raped and dumped in a pool of blood near Pul Patra. Police found contradictions in accuseds statement Police found several contradictions in his statement, Inspector general (GRP), A K Singh said, explaining that no blood was found at the site, but there were blood stains at the place they were sleeping on platform number 6 of the station. Police kept a watch on the accused and found that he used to consume alcohol and behave differentlyenjoy while drinking and be sad when with his wife and the girl, who is undergoing treatment at a city hospital, superintendent of police (GRP), Avdhesh Goswami said. In his statement, he had also said that his first wife had died of cancer in Mahoba, but police found that she is alive and was clueless about his second marriage. Based on these contradictions, police grilled him and he confessed he raped the toddler at about 5 am on August 31 inside the blanket in which he was sleeping, leaving blood stains on it. When the girl cried out in pain, he tried to calm her down, but when she did not, he took her and left her near Pul Patra. He came back to the spot and changed his clothes. When his wife, a deep sleeper, woke up around 7 am and did not find the child, he feigned ignorance and started a search and later lodged a complaint with the police. Blood-stained clothes of the accused and the blanket on which he was sleeping were later recovered. The forensic report confirmed that he had committed the crime, police said, adding that he will be produced in court soon. Goswami said the mother of the girl was shocked on learning that her husband was the one who raped her daughter. At present, she is in trauma and said that the accused should be punished. Filmmaker Farah Khan, who is known for making several big budget films, says Bollywood is going through a tough time. Bollywood is going through a really tough time. The kind of taxes that are put on a Bollywood movie is crazy. Hollywood movies come here but their taxation is half of ours. They are not taxed as we are, said Farah. Read: Why say women directors? We all are just directors, says Farah Khan Read: 11 Instagrams that prove Farah Khan is the funniest celebrity mom It has become very expensive to make a movie and now everyone wants to watch on phone. Thats going to be the future. Also, half of the money the government takes, so it is becoming difficult, she added. However, this phase in Bollywood doesnt scare her as a filmmaker. It doesnt scare me but they (Government) have to figure out a way to control it. Its the budget thats wrong, especially the small budget movie that you have to worry about, she said. Watch: Trailer of Farah Khans Happy New Year The latest to heighten concern in the whole industry was Disney India, that owns UTV Motion Pictures, reportedly deciding to draw the curtains on its Hindi film production business. Follow @htshowbiz for more Filmmaker Karan Johar, on Tuesday, tweeted the title track of his upcoming film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, and it looks pretty much in tune with most of his romantic films. The song, composed by Pritam, formed the background of the teaser that was released earlier this month. It carries forward the momentum and appears like a lovers moments of self realisation. Ae Dil Hai Mushkil has Ranbir Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Anushka Sharma and Fawad Khan in pivotal roles, and is a relationship drama about complicated modern day relationships and unrequited love. Karan Johar, who last directed Student Of The Year (2012), brings deep emotions with the film and despite the teaser not revealing much, it makes us feel the pathos of the characters. Casting Aishwarya Rai (42) with an actor as young as Ranbir (33), Karan brings a rare pairing to Bollywood with his latest offering. However, this is not first time Bollywood will see such a paring - Kareena (Ekk Main Aur Ekk Tu), Katrina (Fitoor), Kalki (Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani), Priyanka Chopra (Gunday), Rani Mukerji (Dil Bole Hadippa), Bipasha Basu (Bachna Ae Haseeno) and a few others have also worked with actors younger to them. Directed by Karan Johar, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil is the second film that features Ranbir and Anushka opposite each other. The duo has previously appeared in Bombay Velvet. Watch: Ae Dil Hai Mushkil title track Follow @htshowbiz for more More than six months after sending a list of shell companies to Sebi, the income-tax department has decided to approach the special investigation team on black money to register its disappointment with the market regulators lax stance on the matter, sources told HT. In February, revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia shared a list of companies being used for blackmoney or hawala transactions with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) with a request to ban them. But till now Sebi has not taken any action. These shell or jamakharchi (deposit and withdrawal) companies were alleged to have traded shares and evaded long-term capital gains claiming bogus transactions. Such companies are used to channel illicit money earned from purchase of land and jewellery among others. According to tax authoritys directorate of investigation, a chunk of operators work from Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi and Bengaluru. These details were also sent to Sebi, sources said. However, Sebi has been clamping down on such companies on a whole. In March, the regulator debarred over 1,000 entities from the capital markets after they were found to be misusing stock exchange platforms for tax evasion to the tune of more than 15,000 crore. In its probe into various such cases, Sebi found huge share price rally in shares of the companies that existed only on paper. Meanwhile, citing gaps in the regulatory framework, the Supreme Court constituted SIT asked the central bank to establish an institutional mechanism to track and curb illicit financial flows and share data with other enforcement agencies such as enforcement directorate, directorate of revenue intelligence and CBDT. In a letter to RBI governor on August 11, SIT head Justice M B Shah (retd) underlined the need for creating a data warehouse from where various agencies can gather relevant information for taking early appropriate action. SIT said the data provided clearly showed that there are gaps in monitoring trade flows which are used by unscrupulous elements to take out precious capital outside the country, this damaging the fabric of Indian economy. Hyundai Motor Companys attempt to become a modern premium carmaker in India is being seen as a way to create space for its subsidiary Kias entry. Head of sales for Hyundai India Rakesh Srivastava said that the average price of a Hyundai car has gone up from 4,00,000 in 2015 to 7,00,000 now. From an affordable value brand proposition we are moving to a modern and premium brand, he said. Also, Hyundais new products will be in the higher priced segments. Be it the recently launched Elantra, or the forthcoming Tuscon, the SUV positioned above the Creta, which Indias largest selling passenger vehicle above 10,00,000. Srivastava said that Hyundai will keep focusing on premium cars by introducing new features and technology to existing brands to appeal to the youth and launching new brands. Sales of its entry-level cars Eon and i10 are, however, declining. Hyundai, which owns one-third of Kia, denied any such development. Hyundai is here to be in every space, said Srivastava. It will not give a single inch or a single unit to any other brand, irrespective of its origin. Analysts, though, do not agree with Srivastava. They are upgrading Hyundai as a premium car brand to create space for Kia at the entry level segment. Kia is a very strong brand, especially in entry-level segment. It doesnt have a premium heritage, said Amit Kaushik, India head of London-based consultancy Jato Dynamics. In South Korea, the domicile of both brands, the brands are well placed to avoid too much of conflict. In India, Hyundai might be looking at replicating that strategy. India is the last of Hyundais successful markets to go through this transformation It will take Hyundai at least three years to go through a complete shift, said Anil Sharma, analyst at IHS World Markets Automotive. But, the strategy isnt a good one, warns London-based Deepesh Rathore, co-founder of consultancy firm Emerging Markets Automotive Advisors. All multinational carmakers, including Honda, Nissan, Volkswagen and Toyota havent done well while trying to be a premium brand. Rathore believes that there is ample space for another mainstream carmaker without the need of Hyundai to turn into a premium brand. Kia is the cheerful sporty Korean brand, while Hyundai is targeting the more conservative customer. The Kia customer will be slightly younger than the Hyundai customer about three to five years, he said. The recent Indo-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue (S&CD) and assurances given by the US government have not cut much ice between the country and the Indian IT industry. Wipro chairman Azim Premji on Monday met commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman over concerns related to visa fee hike. He, however, maintained that the decision was not targeted against Indian professionals. The US in December had hiked the fee for H1B and L1 visas -- the types used by overseas companies to employ people in the US -- to $4,000 and $4,500 respectively. Premji in a closed door meeting is understood to have asked the minister for details of the talks. US commerce secretary Penny Pritzker had last week said Indians were major beneficiaries when it came to visas as about 69% of H1B and 30% of L1 visas were issued to them last fiscal. This statement by US did not go well with the IT industry and they are concerned whether US will actually take the concerns forward or not, sources privy to the meeting told HT. HCL chairman Shiv Nadar is also likely to touch upon same concerns in his upcoming meeting with the minister. This meeting is likely to happen on Wednesday, sources added. Indian IT industry raised the visa issue at the India-US CEO Forum, saying the move hurt Indian IT firms, which are the main users of these non-immigrant temporary work visas. According to India, the absence of a totalisation pact is imposing a burden on the Indian software sector as they have to pay over $1 billion per year to the US government towards social security, with no benefit or prospects of refund. Not just Sitharaman, even external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had raised this issue with US. The visa fee hike has affected our people-to-people exchanges I would urge you to find a just and non-discriminatory solution to these issues, Swaraj had told US secretary of state John Kerry. US has constantly being denying the allegations raised by India and the Indian IT industry that changes that have been made towards H1B and L1 visa applications are limited and focused on Indian nationals. But given the concerns expressed by Indian industry, I committed to minister (Nirmala) Sitharaman to look into this and report back, Pritzker had said. India has also sought the details of the data shared by Pritzker to align it with the concerns shared by the Indian IT industry. Reliance Capital, a part of Anil-Ambani led Reliance Group, on Tuesday said it has raised Rs 2,000 crore (about $300 million) through private placement of secured, redeemable non-convertible debentures for a period of 5 years and 10 years respectively. The issue size offered was Rs 1,000 crore ($150 million) with an option to retain oversubscription, by way of greenshoe option, of up to Rs 1,000 crore. The company said the issue was fully subscribed, including the greenshoe option, and will be listed on BSE. Debentures are financial instruments which carry a fixed rate of interest that is paid to the debenture holders. It is considered as a form of debt. The funds will be used to refinance our existing debt and also grow our lending businesses. Our debt equity remains at a conservative 1.7, amongst the lowest in the NBFC sector. We will continue to maintain a healthy asset liability mix, and provide optimally priced funds for our high growth lending businesses, said Reliance Capital ED and group CEO Sam Ghosh. The secured redeemable debentures offer an annual coupon rate of 8.9% for 5 years, and 9% for 10 years. The issue was rated AAA by two rating agencies Credit Analysis and Research Limited and Brickwork Ratings India. Almost 18,500 villages in 1,000 days! Ever since Narendra Modi announced in his Independence Day speech that 18,452 villages will be electrified and mentioned Nagla Fatela village as an example, reports have emerged about discrepancies between governments claims and the ground reality. But the data about villages being electrified is given to us by states. And in a federal structure we have to trust states, power minister Piyush Goyal told HT. To avoid any such controversy, the Centre is conducting surveys to see if there are any discrepancies between claims made by states and the actual condition of rural household electrification. In fact 395 people have been contracted to travel to electrified villages to verify data from states. They are called gramin vidyut abhyantas (GVA) village electricity engineers. According to data available with the central government there are 600,000 villages in India as per the 2011 census. The target was to energise 18,452 villages, which were not electrified, by May 2018. So far 10,111 villages have been provided electricity, data from the state governments claim. But what is the definition of rural electrification? The central government says it is building transmission towers, laying cables for channelling power and ensuring at least 10% households in a village have access to electricity. Rural Electrification Corporation (REC), the central agency responsible for disbursing funds for electrifying villages in India, has written to principal secretaries and distribution companies in all states seeking audit reports of utilisation of central funds towards electrification. The GVAs are also verifying if these 10,111 villages actually have electricity, as claimed by the states, said Dinesh Arora, executive director at REC. He adds that Sources in the government say that so far Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh have been identified as states that have received funds yet have been reluctant in their rural electrification drives. In some these states infrastructure for providing power has been created but electricity is not provided through them, Arora added. We have given states time till September 30 to respond to our letters confirming information provided by them is authentic, says a source in the power ministry. If caught falsifying data, states will be showcaused by the central government and further funds disbursement for the power sector. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Rolls of steel are stacked inside the China Steel Corporation factory, in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan August 26, 2016. Photo by Reuters European and U.S. leaders have blamed China's big exports on slumping prices and accusing it of dumping cheap metal in foreign markets. G20 leaders have pledged to work together to address excess steel capacity that has punished the global industry with low metal prices for years while raising tensions between China and other major producers. A statement from the White House said that leaders at the G20 summit in Hangzhou, eastern China, on Monday accepted that overcapacity in steel and other industries is a global issue that requires a collective response. Proposals for the formation of a global forum that would seek a global solution and report back to the G20 next year underscore the growing resolve to support a sector that has long been grappling with chronic oversupply and sluggish demand. Global steel production fell last year for the first time since 2009, dipping 2.8 percent to 1.6 billion tons, with China accounting for half of the total. But there is a long way to go if the industry is to make a serious dent in the 700 million tons of excess capacity. Such a forum would be the first concrete action by world leaders to try to stem output, revive producers and end a trade brawl between China and other major steel producers, including the United States. Speaking at the summit, British Prime Minister Theresa May said the G20 had decided to do more to tackle excess output, while Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged leaders to address the issue. European and U.S. leaders have pressed China to accelerate capacity cuts, blaming its big exports on slumping prices and accusing it of dumping cheap metal in foreign markets. They have threatened sanctions or anti-dumping taxes on Chinese steel imports and criticized Beijing for providing subsidies, such as interest-free loans, to prop up state-owned companies. China has promised to cut steel capacity by 45 million tons this year, though it said last month that it was behind on that target. The steel industry welcomed the G20's pledge of support but remained cautious, with executives in Europe and India agreeing that any taskforce requires China's buy-in. "Its success will depend on (China's) attitude," said Jindal Steel & Power's Chief Executive Ravi Uppal, adding that global production needs to be about 800 million tons. "Anything more than that is going to create crisis." Indian steelmakers have lobbied for protectionist measures to prevent cheap overseas steelfrom undercutting local mills and squeezing margins. European steel body Eurofer said it was "prudently positive" about the plan. Related News: > Vietnam slaps high anti-dumping tariffs on imported galvanized steel > Domestic steel demand to fall further in upcoming months > Vietnam imposes safeguard tariffs on steel imports to block Chinese products NEW DELHI: Lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung has directed General Administration Department (GAD) of the Delhi government to provide details of all foreign tours undertaken by Aaam Aadmi Party ministers, their personal staff and other officials in the last one-and-a-half years. Jungs special secretary RN Sharma has asked the GAD to furnish all such details to Raj Niwas by September 12. In the note issued to the department, the Lt Governor Secretariat has asked for complete details of foreign tours including purpose of visit, countries visited, duration, class of travel by each participants and others and submit them by September 12. This was first foreign visit made by the Delhi chief minister since the Aam Aadmi Party has come to power in February, 2015. The two were expected to return to Delhi late on Monday night. NEW DELHI: In July, when the Delhi government organised a Mega Parents-Teacher meeting in its 1,011 schools, it was a giant stride for a large number of parents. On a wet Saturday, they walked into these schools many for the first time to see Delhis school system up close. It was a grand ceremony with free tea and snacks, which only served to keep them going in the queue till they could share with teachers the issues children had been bickering about. Overcrowded classrooms, broken chairs, filthy toilets, no potable water, rowdy classmates, absence of teachers, low learning levels their list was long. Nearly 16 lakh children study in these government schools scattered across neighbourhoods. But it is low fees and not quality of education that attracts them to these schools classified into Government Boys/Girls Senior Secondary, Sarvodaya and Rajkiya. The learning levels and facilities in these schools are proportional to what the parents pay. Not more than Rs 10 per month in senior classes. But is it fair? When Delhi can have some of the best higher education institutes run by the government, what goes wrong at the school level? In the last two years, the AAP government has showed intention. From 13% in 2013-14 when the Congress was in power the allocation for education went up to 23% this year. Last year, the funds for education surged by 106%. Education minister Manish Sisodia had said in March this year that 8,000 new classrooms had been constructed, principals were being sent to Cambridge and IIMs to learn to innovate and over Rs 100 crore had been kept aside for training of teachers. CCTV cameras are also making their way to the classroom. But theres more to be fixed. In a five-part series, HT explores what prevented Delhi government schools from becoming credible institutions of learning. Lack of teachers due to delayed appointments, crumbling infrastructure, classroom transaction of the kind that leaves students with no recognition of letters, no-detention policy and zero coordination with feeder municipal schools schools are denounced for all this and more. HT will line up issues that government should fix on priority. Its important all parents are assured of good education, their financial status notwithstanding. Can the government make sure the changes that started with the Mega PTM are more than just cosmetic? SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON NEW DELHI: Sixty students listened to President Pranab Mukherjee with rapt attention as he took a class on Politics in India since Independence at a Delhi government-run school to mark Teachers Day. For Class 11 student Hari Om Ojha, the 45 minutes lecture was a gateway to understand how political parties evolved before and after Independence in India. The President explained us about how the current political parties came into existence. Being a science student, I was not exactly aware of it but it was very interesting to understand the history behind the parties that exist today, Ojha said. This was the second year in a row that the President addressed students at Dr Rajendra Prasad Sarvodaya Vidyalaya inside Presidents Estate. We are among the lucky few to listen to our President give a class to us. The way he explained everything was different from our regular classes as he has experienced most of the developments he talked about, said Shabista, a student of arts stream. Some students said they would have loved to have a longer class. He taught us about many issues including political parties and economics. I would have wanted the class to be longer, said Suraj Bhat, a Class XI student of Commerce stream. Speaking to the students, Mukherjee said that secularism is part of the life for Indians. The President said it was the credit and success of Indias policy and acumen of the administration that has kept India substantially free from incidents of home-grown terrorism, the biggest menace to international peace and community. It is we who are attacked and we are the victims of cross-border attacks... But not so much of home grown terror, he said. As President taught the students of one school in Delhi, all the other 1011 government schools also were part of his teaching. Schools had made arrangements for the live telecast of the Presidents address. Students from the junior to the senior classes were a part of the address. Last year also the President had held a class during teachers day so all of us recognise him. He should also come to our school not teach in the same school every time, said Sakina Banu, a student of Government Girls Senior Secondary School in Saket. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON NEW DELHI: Former Delhi minister Sandeep Kumar has reportedly told the police that his personal secretary was allegedly blackmailing him with a sex CD that showed the minister in a compromising position with two women. Kumar, Delhis women and child development minister, was sacked by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Twitter after news channels showed the tape. Police picked up Kumars personal secretary, Praveen Kumar, from the Delhi Secretariat around 10am on Monday for questioning. Praveen was interrogated for nearly seven hours at the Sultanpuri police station. The police questioned him in presence of Kumar, who was arrested on Saturday, to connect the dots. Praveen is likely to be arrested for circulating the video tape, sources said. Recently, Praveen had reportedly stayed over a month in New York with Kumar and his wife. The couple had reportedly travelled to the US in May for Kumars wifes delivery. They returned in mid -July after the birth of Kumars son at a New York hospital. Investigating officers said Kumar confessed that Praveen was in the possession of the CD. Praveen, police said, is very close to the sacked minister and his family. During interrogation on Sunday evening, Kumar reportedly told the police that Praveen had access to his phone and laptop and that is how he got the video. Sources said Praveen was blackmailing Kumar in order to get the post of officer on special duty. Kumar told police Praveen had once threatened to make the CD public, if he was not given the post. Praveen is denying his role and said many others knew about Kumars sex tapes. We are verifying their statements, an officer said. No senior police officer came on record to confirm it. Police said they had seized Kumars phone and laptop for forensic examination. Kumar had reportedly saved the video on his laptop. The video was deleted after the case grabbed headlines. We have seized Kumars laptop and phone, said an investigating officer. Police sources said they are gathering evidence to connect Praveen to the leaked tapes. THREE-DAY CUSTODY Kumar was on Monday remanded to three-day police custody by a local court. Kumar, 36, was produced before Special Judge Poonam Chaudhry on expiry of one-day police custody. The former minister was arrested on September 3 after a woman approached Sultanpuri police station in north Delhi with a complaint of sexual harassment against the former minister. The woman had figured in the objectionable video with him. In her complaint, the woman alleged that around 11 months ago she was raped by Kumar when she had gone to his office in Outer Delhis Sultanpuri seeking help to obtain a ration card. OBJECTIONABLE POSTERS IN GOA The AAP in Goa on Monday threatened to file a police complaint after objectionable posters showing sacked Delhi minister Sandeep Kumar came up across the state with the party election symbol on it. Kumars posters were put up in Panaji, Margao, Ponda, Vasco and Mapusa markets besides other prominent places in Goa with AAP for Women Empowerment written on it. The picture of broom, which is AAPs symbol, has also been displayed on the posters. I suspect the BJPs hand behind such acts. The BJP rules and governs the state (Goa). They should see to it that proper inquiry is conducted into such acts, AAP Goa convener Walmiki Naik told reporters in Panaji. The party will file a formal police complaint, Naik said. AAP condemns such cheap tactics. We wont mind people criticising our work or policies but someone stooping down to such a level is unexpected, he said. (With PTI inputs) New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh said on Monday he will sue party legislator Devinder Sehrawat for accusing some colleagues of exploiting women in Punjab for election tickets. Singh, who is AAPs Punjab unit in-charge, dared Sehrawat to produce proof and substantiate the charges levelled against party leaders. Sehrawat, the MLA from Bijawasan in south Delhi, shot off a letter to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday criticising party leader about what is being done by party representatives in Punjab. Besides criticising Ashutoshs stand on the CD scandal, involving sacked Delhi minister Sandeep Kumar, the MLA alleged that a coterie was damaging the party. Sehrawat hit out at AAPs Delhi unit convener Dilip Pandey, questioning his conduct. Speaking to reporters here, Singh said: Allegations by AAP MLA Devinder Sehrawat against me have no basis. Allegations have been levelled against me in the past, but proved wrong. I once again challenge Sherawat to prove his allegation. I will quit politics if proven guilty. I will file a defamation case against him soon. Singh asked Sehrawat to clarify how did he benefit the party that gave him ticket thrice since 2013 assembly polls despite he (Sehrawat) losing the polls on the first two occasions. On the question if party would take any action against the rebel legislator, Singh said, Decision will be taken only after AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal returns from abroad. Kejriwal was scheduled to return to the city on Monday from the Vatican where he attended the canonisation of Mother Teresa. Sehrawat said he stand by his allegations. On the defamation suit, Sehrawat said, We will cross the bridge when it comes. NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Monday sought the polices response on the bail plea of a 62-year-old man, who was arrested for allegedly running a high-profile sex racket and trafficking women from central Asian countries. Justice PS Teji directed the Delhi Police to file a status report by September 14 to find out the progress of the probe into the arrest of Pritindra Nath Sanyal, held on charges of trafficking. S any al has moved the high court, challenging the trial court s July 30 order dismissing his bail plea.He said the allegations against him were very serious in nature. A case was registered against Sanyal at the Safdarjung Enclave Police Station in south Delhi on July 20. The police said Sanyal was arrested after income tax officials found documents indicating his involvement in the racket during raids at his residences. It was found that Sanyal had sent messages to government servants, posing as MPs and top bureaucrats, to get favour sin business deals, the police said. The police have also recovered photographs and documents linking Sanyals alleged accomplice retired Colonel Ajay Ahlawat to the racket. The high court granted him bail on July 11. NEW DELHI: A three-year old girl was raped by her elderly uncle in west Delhis Uttam Nagar area on Monday. The childs mother told police that on Monday morning, the girls distant uncle took her to a park and raped her. A local caught the man in the act after which he was handed over to police. The girls father told reporters, I was not at home, the other workers informed me about this. Sandeep (accused) took her to the park on the pretext of playing with her. He is from our village and has been coming to our house since my childhood. I cant believe he could do such a thing. NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will look into the suicide of Amit law student Sushant Rohilla to examine if he took the extreme step due to any harassment by the college authorities or teachers. A bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur requested senior advocate Fali S Nariman to assist the court in the matter. When Amity s counsel, senior advocate Siddhartha Luthra, tried to defend the college, the bench, also comprising Justice YV Chandrachud, said: There are allegations that he was deliberately withheld, as the teacher was not pleased with him. The court issued the order after taking cognisance of a letter written to the CJI by Rohillas friends, who alleged the college authorities drove the 19-year-old to hang himself. Luthra said Rohilla did not have the mandatory 75 per cent attendance as per Bar Council of India rules. He had only 43%. This included the extra 15% given because he participated in various programmes on behalf of the college. Still he was short of attendance, Luthra added. On August 10, Rohilla committed suicide at his Delhi house after his college reportedly denied him permission to write his exams. His friends and family members protested against his death and held the college responsible. Luthra blamed the parents for Rohillas alleged indiscipline. Repeated e- mails were sent to the father that he had not attended classes and was short of attendance. He was aware of it and did not care , the senior counsel said. The bench said the boy was an adult and wondered if the parents could do anything in the given situation. Luthra informed the court that 18 students were not given their hall tickets, besides Rohilla. They all have been asked to join the next year, he said. Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, who was present in court for another matter, said institutions had forgotten to be kind. There is an obligation on institutions to be kind, he remarked. But the CJI observed: A hypersensitive person may commit suicide and another might just shrug it off. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON NEW DELHI: A week after a woman alleged burglars robbed her house and chopped off her hair, the police arrested her for concocting the story. The woman, a resident of Lahori Gate, had alleged the robbers had fled with cash and valuables worth Rs 10 lakh from her house. The police investigation, however, revealed no such incident had happened and the woman had cooked the story to escape with the money along with one of her alleged paramours. Police said she had a strained relationship with her husband and in-laws. Madhur Verma, DCP north, said ,During the interrogation we found several gap sin her story. She told usher hair was chopped off by the robbers but our investigating team found it was cut. The footage of a CCTV installed in a nearby house showed no one had entered the house during that time, he said. Secondly, she had alleged her clothes were torn, but she was not molested. Such discrepancies made us doubt her intentions , he added. Thereafter, the police scanned her call details and suspected that she might be having an affair with someone. A senior police officer said the woman had hidden the stolen items in a toilet flush and cellphone in a water tank. The woman had torn her clothes so her family wouldnt report the matter to the police, fearing social stigma, he said. The woman had plans to elope with one of her paramours, but before she could do that, she was arrested, the police said. The police are questioning the man, whom she talked to over the phone. They are trying to identify other acquaintances. The woman had earlier said the robbers entered her room when she was asleep, forced her to take off her saree, and tied her with it. At that time, her husband and father-in-law were at their shop in Jehangirpuriarea, and her mother-in-law was out. Her two children had gone to school. A case was registered under appropriate sections of the law. The police will now add relevant sections to the FIR that was registered earlier. People visiting India to attend weddings can now bring their jewellery into the country without any hassle. To give relief to non-resident Indians and air travellers bringing gold with them, the customs has proposed to take a one-time refundable payment from them at the Delhi airport. Often, passengers carrying gold have complained of customs officials harassing them. As per the rule, bringing gold without declaring it is illegal. NRI women, who have stayed abroad for over a year, can bring gold worth Rs 1 lakh. Thereafter, there is a duty of 10% on gold jewellery and 6% on biscuits. We have to stop them even though we know they bring the jewellery for weddings. This is not smuggling, but we are bound by rules, said a customs official. A female passenger, who has stayed outside India for six months, is allowed to carry gold worth Rs 1 lakh. For a male passenger, the limit is Rs 50,000. To reduce harassment, customs has proposed that a traveller be charged 10% of the duty, which he reclaim on his/her return. This way, we get an assurance from the passenger that he/she is not smuggling, the official said. Customs will depute a jewellery appraiser to assess the value of gold. In the customs declaration form, a traveller has to declare gold he is wearing or carrying. The appraiser will give an export certificate to travellers, who want to carry gold on their foreign visit so they are not harassed on their return. A passenger is generally unaware that he can be stopped on arrival in India if he is carrying more than the allowed amount of jewellery. Most Indian passengers claim it is their jewellery but are fined for not declaring it when going abroad, said a customs official, requesting anonymity. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The start-up claims the app gives even more precise measurements than traditional tailors. A couple from Ho Chi Minh City have made custom-fit clothing more affordable with a mobile app called UKYS. The innovative approach removes much of the costs associated with taking customers measurements by measuring them via the apps. With the mobile app, customers can take their measurements using the camera on their smartphones to scan the body, rather than using a traditional tape measure. The start-up claims that the measurements are even more precise than the more traditional way of getting fitted, and offers shirts at more affordable prices than a tailor. Customers can also design their own shirts by choosing from a number of different fabrics. Then they can choose what type of cuff, collar and cut they want, said Pauline Tran, one of the creators of UKYS, adding that the custom-fit shirts would be shipped to customers within two weeks of an order being placed. Pauline said that she and her husband decided to give up their stable jobs to develop the start-up. We started two years ago. The app has been tested on thousands of body types to design the optimal algorithm. We believe that UKYS is a new approach to tailoring, she said. The app has been put up on U.S. crowd-funding website Indiegogo and has started to receive public attention. The couple also won the Ambassadors Entrepreneurship Challenge launched by the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam to encourage start-ups in the Southeast Asian country. Related News: > Vietnam strategizes to be a start-up nation > Should the Vietnamese government invest in start-ups? > New US visa policy offers opportunities for Vietnamese start-ups > Vietnam's tech startups: a force to be reckoned with Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung has directed General Administration Department (GAD) of Delhi Government to provide details of all foreign tours undertaken by AAP ministers, their personal staff and other officials in the last 18 months. Besides the duration of stay and expenditure incurred on foreign trips, the L-G office has also sought details of the purpose of visits. The development comes at a time when Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and PWD minister Satyendra Jain have just concluded their visit to Vatican to attend canonisation of Mother Teresa. Sources said the L-G office has asked the GAD to furnish all such details to Raj Niwas by September 12. The note sent to the GAD is part of the review the LG House is conducting, following the August 4 order of Delhi High Court, of Delhi government over the past one and half years, a senior official said. Sacked AAP minister Sandeep Kumar has also been accused of travelling to the US in May-June this year without informing the government. According to BJP, Kumar travelled to the US twice and used his position to facilitate the birth of his child in New York. Read: L-G Jung forms panel to examine AAP government files SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Many Delhi government schools might be over-crowded but those in New Delhi area are witnessing a steady dip in the number of students. At Government Boys Senior Secondary School (GBSSS) Number 3, which runs classes 6-12, enrolment has come down by 35% in the last six years. At least five other schools in the area are facing this peculiar problem. School administrators say, people in the neighbourhood are mostly government employees who can afford private schools for their children. Reasons for low enrolment There are schools in the city where one teacher has up to 100 students in a class. But at GBSSS Number 3, the teacher-student ratio is 1:19 much lower than 1:30 as mandated by the Right to Education Act 2009. There are 531 students in the school this year compared to 683 in 2015. In 2010-11, we had 837 students. The number has been decreasing every year also because there are no feeder schools. NDMC (New Delhi Municipal Council) schools in our area have been upgraded till class XII, said principal Sansari Lal Sharma. Similarly, in GBSSS Number 4 in Sarojini Nagar, which runs classes 6-12, 579 students were enrolled this year. Most students from Class 9 onwards come from far-off areas but parents dont allow younger students to travel that much. My school has 98% students from distant areas in secondary and senior school and they change many buses to reach here, said principal Hitender Yadav. Government schools allow admission to students living within a 3 km radius and students. To admit students living farther away, permission is needed from the zonal deputy director education. The process of getting permission is tedious and needs to be eased out, said Yadav. At Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Sarvodya Bal Vidyalaya No 1 nearby, which has classes from Class 1 to 12, the number of students is relatively higher at 976. But principal Krishan Pal Singh said that most students come from far- off areas like Badarpur, Madanpur Khadar, Faridabad and Greater Noida. Solution Sources said that the government is planning to resolve the crisis and allow students from over-crowded schools to get admission in schools with low enrollment. Many principals said the government should resolve the problem of commuting. Most students come here from border areas where there are resettlement colonies. The government can start direct buses from those areas to schools here, suggested Sharma. Yadav said the government can even offer discount on bus fares to students. DTC is owned by the government. They can offer some sort of rebate to students on the fare. Some students travel four hours every day to come here as they have to change buses, he said. Sharma said, If students move here it will help in reducing the burden of schools in border areas where the population is higher. Read more stories on State of Schools here SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Ever since Class IX student Chandas school got a facelift, her joy has known no bounds. She is no longer greeted by the sight of dirty classrooms, flakes of paint peeling off of the walls. Government Girls Senior Secondary School in New Kondli is among the 54 government schools selected as a model or pilot school. The AAP government plans to bring them on par with private schools. These schools were selected after principals submitted proposals on how to improve their schools. My school doesnt look like a government school any more. Ever since it became a model school, our teachers have become more attentive. My biggest achievement in the last year was becoming fluent in English. My parents are so proud of me, says Chanda. The government has taken several steps to bring about this drastic change in the school. Infra boost The dilapidated buildings have got a facelift and new classrooms have been built. Clean classrooms and modern infrastructure helps boost students confidence. Parents also feel proud of the school. This is just the first of a series of steps to be taken to bring about this change, said BK Sharma, principal, Shaheed Hemu Kalani Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Lajpat Nagar, which was established in 1948. Most schools hope to finish the construction by December. Teachers, students upbeat Students said ever since the school turned model, teachers have become more responsible and focus more on teaching. Our teachers are more attentive now. Even we feel we need to perform well now, said a student. Seema Roy Choudhary, principal, New Kondli girls school, said, We teach both English and Hindi. We need to make sure students learn to communicate well. We hold many activities such as the mock Parliament session. The school has seen a jump in admissions from around 3,600 last year to over 4,000 this year. Focus on extra-curricular activities The directorate of education has started a special programme under which experts are teaching students music, dance (classical and contemporary), theatre, fine arts (including craft), creative writing, and photography. Students are coming to school regularly to learn these subjects. We have two batches of 50 students learning theatre and music, said an east Delhi school principal requesting anonymity. Some principals claimed even students from nearby private schools are enrolling in model schools. We admitted around 50 students from private schools. Parents and students are slowly realising they are getting facilities on a par with private schools, said Meena Kumari, principal of Sarvodya Kanya Vidyalaya, Zeenat Mahal, Jafrabad. The school has around 5,000 students on its rolls. Simmering discontent However, many feel the changes are cosmetic, with the problem of teacher shortage has not been addressed. Who will plan these fancy activities for the students when there are no teachers. We have to teach three groups of students in every class. But there is no additional support, said a teacher from a model school in west Delhi. Model school features No. of model schools: 54 54 Infrastructure: Up to Rs 25 crore allocated for construction of new classrooms, repair of existing building Up to Rs 25 crore allocated for construction of new classrooms, repair of existing building Teacher training: Principals and teachers sent on a 12-day training session to Cambridge University and five-day training session to IIMS Principals and teachers sent on a 12-day training session to Cambridge University and five-day training session to IIMS Extra-curricular activities: Classes by external experts on music, dance (classical and contemporary), theatre, fine arts (including craft), creative writing and photography Classes by external experts on music, dance (classical and contemporary), theatre, fine arts (including craft), creative writing and photography Vocational education: Courses in retail, travel and tourism, information and technology (IT), beauty and wellness, financial market management, and security introduced in model and 150 other schools. Mishaps in government schools June 2015: On three different days, a moving fan fell on students at a govt school in Pushp Vihar. On three different days, a moving fan fell on students at a govt school in Pushp Vihar. August 2016: Plaster and building material fell from the ceiling at a government school in north-west Delhis Mubarakpur Dabas. Plaster and building material fell from the ceiling at a government school in north-west Delhis Mubarakpur Dabas. July 2015: Four girls injured after coming in touch with a naked wire at Government Girls Senior Secondary School at Shahbad Dairy. For more stories in State of School stories, click here SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON On paper, the list of facilities that a school should have is long though not fancy. But on the ground, most of the government-run institutions in Delhi lack the very basic of them. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi allocated Rs 10,690 crore, 23% of the total allocation, for education in its last budget. However, crammed classrooms, rugs filling in for desks, leaky roofs, stinking toilets, missing libraries and absence of clean drinking water in several government schools show that the goal of reforming school education in Delhi is not easy to achieve. In 15 schools that HT visited , basic amenities were missing. Broken glass panes, plaster coming off the walls, leaky roofs and missing desks were some of the common problems. A school in northeast Delhis Sonia Vihar holds classes in corridors. In an approximately 20 X 20 feet room, more than 150 students sit together. In some classrooms, two different classes were being held together. Some fans were broken and some were not working. Data provided by the Delhi governments directorate of education (DoE) shows that 47 schools of the total 1011 in Delhi have more than 3,000 students. There were no desk or chairs in four schools in Molarbandh in south Delhi. In a school in Narela, there is no water or electricity connection. Read more | 1 teacher for 80 students: Delhi govt schools slip on numbers Activists working in the field of education estimate that a mere 5% of the government schools in Delhi fulfil the infrastructure requirements as mandated by the Right To Education law. When students dont have a proper place to sit, you cannot expect quality education, said Aakanksha Gulati, City Director, Teach for India. School principals said their requests for necessary repairs and new material take a long time to be approved. RP Meena, principal, Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya No. 2 in Molarbandh said, It took me two years to get electricity meters fixed in the school. A teacher at Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya in West Patel Nagar showed documents to prove that requests to get windows, desks and chairs repaired are pending for the last two years. Watch | In this Delhi school, students take turns to sit on chairs The government records show over 1,000 pending requests for repair and maintenance work in various schools. For every infrastructure requirement, the school writes to the education department and the request is then forwarded to the Public Works Department (PWD). Officials acknowledged poor infrastructure in schools and said the process to repair and improve has begun. They said to address the problem of overcrowding, 8,000 new classrooms and 21 new schools are being built. But to create space for classrooms, the government is taking up playing space in some schools. Atishi Marlena, advisor to the Delhi education minister Manish Sisodia, said, Land is scarce in Delhi. There are some schools where no new rooms can be built, so we conducted a survey and found schools nearby where new rooms can be built. We are trying to get buses for students so those living nearby should have no problem in shifting to other schools. Marlena admitted that for PWD, the governments building agency, has little time for schools as roads and flyovers were priorities. She said the Aam Aadmi Party government has restructured PWD and created separate units for school and hospital maintenance. In order to cut the red tape, the Delhi Cabinet has also approved a plan to set up a call centre where schools can register their infrastructure requirements, she said. The education minister has also announced Rs 700 crore to revamp infrastructure in Delhi government schools. For more stories in State of Schools series, click here SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that a person wishing to protect their head must be in want of a helmet. Then, it is not surprising that the students of Daulat Ram College (DRC) have taken to wearing helmets inside the college after a part of the ceiling of a classroom fell on a few students. The incident, which took place on Tuesday, left five students injured and several others angry. To protest against the poor infrastructure, students have started the Wear Helmet campaign under which they will roam around inside the college with helmets on their head. Ask them why a helmet, and pat comes the reply, taaki hosh na udd jaaye. Read: Delhi: Ceiling falls on students at DU college during class hours, 5 hurt Daulat Ram College students are protesting after a piece of the ceiling fell off in a classroom, injuring five students. (Nikita Saxena/HT) Preeti Joshi, the brain behind the campaign and second year student of the college, says that the idea was to protest innovatively. She adds, Protests toh Delhi University (DU) ke colleges mein hote rehte hain kisi na kisi cheez pe. Humne socha aisa kya karein ki protest bhi ho aur innovative bhi ho jaaye. By wearing a helmet, we want to register our point that we arent safe in our own colleges. Also, if any part of the ceiling were to fall again, at least our heads wont be injured. The students are registering their anger with the authorities over poor infrastructure in college by wearing helmets and covering their heads with plates. (Nikita Saxena/HT) The campaign, which started on Friday, received immense support from students. So much so, that those who did not have helmets turned up to protest with plates. Sakshi Gupta, a first year student, says: A lot of us taking part in the protest are hostellers and dont own helmets. But we want to take part in the protest and follow its norms so we turned up with plates instead. Gupta, who who hails from Punjab, adds, Maine itna suna tha DU ke baare mein yaha aane se pehle. Sab kehte the ki DU mein admission mil gaya toh life set ho jayegi. Kabhi nahi socha tha ki aisa hoga ki chat hi gir jayegi sarr pe. Ab toh aisa hai ki helmet lagao, sir bachao. Read: After Daulat Ram College protests, students list uncool things at DU When the principal Dr Savita Roy was asked to comment, she said, I am very busy, I have to handle this mess first. However, a teacher, not wishing to be named says, Its high time the authorities took note of the matter and did something about it. Part of a ceiling on the first floor again fell yesterday, they have locked the classrooms on the floor. Now what will they do if something happens on the ground floor? Lock everything down? Instead of that, shouldnt they make the infrastructure better? A part of the ceiling fell, injuring five students. (Nikita Saxena/HT) This is not the first time that the college has drawn flak for its poor infrastructure. Prior to this, students were protesting against the lack of toilets in the college. Nishita Narwal, a final year student, says, Were 4,000 students and theres only one washroom for us in the whole college. Pehle teen the, then they demolished two. As if that wasnt enough, ab ye ho gaya hai. Badi cool si feeling aa rahi hai helmets pehen ke protest karne mein. Were like warriors with our helmets on, fighting for our cause. Watch the video here: SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Fifty Shades of Grey star Jamie Dornan joins Peaky Blinders actor Cillian Murphy for a World War Two thriller about the assassination of one of the main architects of the Holocaust. Anthropoid is based on the operation to kill SS Obergruppenfuehrer (general) Reinhard Heydrich in Prague in 1942. It follows Czech soldiers Jan Kubis, played by Dornan, and Jozef Gabcik, portrayed by Murphy, parachuted into occupied Czechoslovakia from Britain to kill Heydrich in Operation Anthropoid. Id never heard of this story and it was quite remarkable to read it, Murphy told Reuters in an interview. Its quite extraordinary to think that what these men did changed the course of the Second World War and inevitably changed the course of history. Heydrich, who stood at the pinnacle of the Nazi security apparatus, was the most senior Nazi to be assassinated in World War Two. The village of Lidice was razed to the ground in a revenge massacre, part of a wave of reprisals. In pics: Beginning of the end: When Germany ignited World War II Months before his death, Heydrich had chaired the Wannsee conference near Berlin which formalised plans for the killing of all Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe. Read: Working on Fifty Shades is paralyzing: Jamie Dornan Anthropoid was filmed in Prague and features a local cast. However, most of the leading characters are played by Hollywood actors and the story is told in English. Director Sean Ellis said finding a balance between art and commerce was a factor. Read: Hacksaw Ridge: Mel Gibson shows a soldiers extraordinary heroism I wouldve loved to have made this film in the Czech language with Czech actors but then it would be a Czech film and no one outside the Czech Republic would probably see it, he said. Follow @htshowbiz for more Top leaders and strategists of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have put together what they claim is a more inclusive alternative to Narendra Modis Gujarat model of governance and beginning this week, they will showcase their Delhi model to voters in poll-bound Goa, Punjab and Gujarat. Delhis deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and health minister Satyendra Jain, who are in Goa for three days, will tell AAP workers and volunteers about what they claim are the successes in Delhi. From Thursday, AAP chief and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal will spend four days in Punjab, where he will launch the partys manifesto for farmers and talk about the claims of successes of Delhi in fixing the broken public healthcare and education system. The Gujarat model of development widely showcased as development-oriented governance in sectors from industries to agriculture during Modis reign as chief minister from 2001 to 2014 helped propel him to the position of Prime Minister in 2014. But it was also criticised as lopsided, with gaps in health, nutrition and poverty reduction. In March 2014, the AAP launched a counter campaign against the BJPs claims. Read | AAP not a force in Punjab, Congress main rival: BJP Punjab incharge The Gujarat model looks beautiful from the outside, Jain told HT. We plan to share with people our successes and ask them what is more important for you, lopsided islands of development or governance that benefits all? We are focusing on the basics education and health. The health minister will talk about a three-tier system of public-funded health infrastructure. The government has set up neighbourhood clinics and polyclinics with free medicines and tests to take the primary healthcare burden off tertiary care government hospitals. Nearly 90% of the patients reaching hospitals wanted just primary care. Now those doctors are free to treat patients who need critical care, he adds. On August 22, AAP launched a Delhi-style neighbourhood clinic in Mumbai that will be funded by the party. Sisodia is focused on fixing the broken government school education system by 2018. Jain says past governments spent money but did not utilise it well. In June, AAP announced the Chunauti 2018 programme that aspires to bring government school students studying in Class 9 on par with private school students. A month later, government schools in Delhi held a meeting between parents and teachers an exercise earlier confined only to select private schools. Two days before leaving for Goa, Sisodia announced 100% ReadAbility, which will ensure all Class 6 students can read Hindi textbooks by November 14. A government survey had found three-fourths of them couldnt. Read | Punjab assembly polls: Accessory war rages on among parties In 2017, the AAP will make a bid for power outside the capital. The party already is in election mode in Punjab, Goa and Gujarat, which have elections next year. We are focusing on states where we can directly fight the BJP and the Congress, an AAP strategist said. Party leaders feel it can make a serious national pitch in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls if the AAP wins at least one more state. All regional parties are confined to one state. Winning one or two more states will put us in a different league and place as an alternative to BJP, he explained. Kejriwal has positioned himself and the AAP as avowedly anti-corruption and against crony capitalism. The party has frequently targeted Modi, saying his government is trying to stall the AAPs efforts to govern Delhi. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Centre plans to scale down security of Kashmiri separatist leaders, withdraw their passport that will make foreign travel difficult, scrutinise bank accounts and request state police to complete pending investigations in cases against them. The crackdown follows the Hurriyat leaders snub on Sunday in Srinagar to a 26-member all-party delegation that Union home minister Rajnath Singh led to find a solution to two months of unrest in the Valley over the killing of a militant leader. The separatists refused any engagement with the team. New Delhi viewed the separatists stand as provocative, inciting the Valleys youth and not helping solve the crisis. Singh on Tuesday briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the strife-torn Valley. The home minister met finance minister Arun Jaitley and BJP chief Amit Shah later in the evening, along with party general secretary Ram Madhav and junior minister in the PMO, Jitender Singh. After the all-party teams visit, we met today and discussed future course of action in Jammu and Kashmir. Government will make announcement after tomorrows meeting, Madhav said. The government will brief political representatives at an all-party meeting on Wednesday the outcome of the teams visit and discuss the road ahead. The Centre has apparently told the Mehbooba Mufti government in Jammu and Kashmir to give up its soft-separatism position and take tough action against separatists. Mufti, New Delhi feels, has been a bit hesitant on that account. As for the Valleys protesters, security forces dont take action until the mob attacks with stones and brickbats. We have asked them not to allow a crowd to gather at all. The crowd should be dispersed immediately. No need to wait till it becomes violent, a government official said. Besides, the Centre wants the ring leaders inciting the youth to be behind bars. Though a minister hinted at tough action against separatists, a senior security official said: There will be elements trying to take advantage of the security withdrawal and blame any incident on the government. We would like the security to continue. As the BJP faces its stiffest electoral challenge in almost two decades in Gujarat in the backdrop of the Patidar agitation and Dalit unrest, its national president Amit Shah seems to have taken upon himself the task of ensuring the partys victory in the high-stakes elections next year. Shah, who purportedly told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he would win the 2017 elections if he was allowed to pick Anandiben Patels successor, is going all out to retain power in his home state. Against a couple of visits in the past two years, the Navrangpura MLA has already toured the state on five occasions since August. He has covered a range of events from a tree plantation drive in his assembly constituency to delivering pep talk, twice so far, to the cadre since his close confidante Vijay Rupani took over as the chief minister on August 7. On September 8, when Shah will address a party workers meet at Vyara in south Gujarat his sixth visit in a months time he will speak directly to booth level workers in Gujarat for the first time after becoming the party president. His constant presence and guidance infuse new energy and enthusiasm into the cadre, Bharat Pandya, Gujarat BJP spokesperson, said. On the same day in Surat, he along with Rupani will be felicitated by the Patidar community. With a new CM and a new team, the BJP under his guidance is going full throttle planning and strategising (for the 2017 polls), Pandya added. 20 varash thaya Sarkhej ma ane havey Naranpura ma. Pan hun kyarey pan samvedanshill dharasabhya rahiyo nathi biji jimidariyo ma vayst rahi yo che (I represented Sarkhej for 20 years and now I represent Naranpura. But I have never been a sensitive MLA who is in touch with his constituents. I have remained busy with other responsibilities of the party, Shah said at a function in Ahmedabad in August during his first public speech in two years. It was a new Shah not only for his constituency, where the tree plantation event was organised by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation but also for party leaders as he assured them that he would meet them more often. Read | The Shah of BJPs game plan who wants to alter Indias political culture After becoming the party president in 2014, it was the first time that Shah who was hardly seen in action in Gujarat when Anandiben Patel was the chief minister addressed constituents. The same day he also inaugurated a medium and small scale enterprise event in Ahmedabad, again a first such government programme where he was present. He flew down to Gujarat again on August 17 to attend the last rites of Swaminarayan sect guru Pramukh Swami. The next day he presided over the partys meeting at its headquarters in Shree Kamalam in Gandhinagar. While PM Modi couldnt attend the swearing-in ceremony of newly chosen CM Rupani on August 7, Shah made it a point that he was there. Shahs growing presence in the state coincides with the exit of Anandiben with whom he shares a frosty relationship. Shah did not happen to attend any AMC programme when Patel was the CM. Tree plantation was the first programme of a local body that he attended, a BJP leader remarked. At a party workers meet in December 2015, Anandiben had remarked, I should keep my address short. You all must have been waiting for Amitbhai to speak as he is hardly seen in Gujarat. Shahs shift in focus assumes significance given that the party is surrounded by a series of concerns just a year before the assembly elections. Besides fighting anti-incumbency which is looming large over the BJP that has ruled the state for 21 years, the party is also struggling to retain its key vote bank of Patidars who are up in arms against the government demanding OBC quota. While the state has a new CM in Rupani who replaced beleaguered Anandiben after she failed to contain the Patidar agitation, another stir is brewing this time by Dalits who have vowed to give up skinning and sweeping jobs to bring an end to atrocities being inflicted on them. The BJPs vote share in the panchayat polls last year dropped from 50.26% in 2010 to 43.97%. Its hold over semi-urban and urban civic bodies also weakened during the period, helping revive a moribund Congress party in the state. For the BJP, winning the 2017 elections in Gujarat is very crucial. BJPs performance in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will set the stage for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections when Modi will be seeking a second term, political analyst Achut Yagnik said. Read | Why Rupani is BJPs chosen one: Equations behind the Gujarat gambit SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Prime Minister Narendra Modi met a number of world leaders on the sidelines of the G20 summit during his visit to Hangzhou, China. The G-20 summit was one of Modis most high-voltage engagements where he underlined a range of issues, most prominently Pakistan-backed terror. Here are the key takeaways from the visit: 1) Push for counter-terrorism cooperation At the G-20 meet, India was keen on stepping up the counter-terror cooperation and drumming up the support for the United Nations Convention the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) --- which New Delhi has been leading from front --- at an early date. As the Indian side pushed G-20 countries to adopt stricter measures to deal with terror financing, Modi used the opportunity to make a political point against Pakistan, which has stepped up a diplomatic offensive against India over recent developments in Kashmir. In the final session of the G20 summit, Modi said, Indeed, one single nation in South Asia is spreading these agents of terror in the countries of our region. 2) High-level contact with China Modis meeting with Chinese President Xi Jingping on the sidelines of the summit was the eight meeting between the two leaders. The frequent high-level interaction is something very important between the leaders to keep their ties marked with both convergences and differences going. Modis predecessor, Manmohan Singh, had done the same thing. The PM used the opportunity to push for Indias membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group and underlined Indias concern over the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. 3) Dialogue with new British PM May deputed three ministers Preeti Patel, Alok Sharma, and Greg Clarke -- to India. Modi said even after Brexit the UK remained an important a partner for India. He sought the British PMs suggestions on further strengthening the partnership, particularly trade and investment ties with the UK. Modi also said he was working on ushering in ease of doing business and some UK experts had been very helpful in this task. May said that she supported Modis reform agenda and the UK was keen to participate in Make in India, Smart Cities and the Skill India Programme, among others. The two leaders discussed further enhancement of the defence partnership with PM inviting British defence firms to Make in India. Modi also flagged concern over Britains new visa regulations. 4) Meeting with Saudi deputy crown prince Modi also followed up his visit to Saudi Arabia in April by meeting Saudi deputy crown prince Mohammad bin Salman . Saudi Arabia is the biggest source of crude oil for India and home to largest number of Indian passport holders outside India. Modi called for the strengthening of partnership with Saudi Arabia in sectors such as maritime, infrastructure, low cost housing. The two leaders discussed further cooperation in the energy sector. The PM invited greater Saudi investment, particularly in Indian infrastructure such as modernisation of railway stations. There was a detailed discussion on the reform of the UN Security Council with both leaders emphasising the need of expansion of council to include more permanent members. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON French eyes in the sky to help Vietnam monitor the environment Leaders of FPT Corporation and Telespazio France sign an agreement on the establishment of a new EarthLab in Vietnam. The hi-tech center will be keeping its eye on rising sea levels. A string of strategic partnership agreements covering the construction of an EarthLab center in Vietnam and two highway projects were signed between Vietnamese and French corporations this morning. The agreements were among 20 important deals that Vietnam and France signed this morning on the occasion of French President Francois Hollandes two-day visit to Vietnam that aims to bolster bilateral ties between the two countries. The signing of the agreements at the Government House in Hanoi was followed by a ceremony attended by President Tran Dai Quang and President Hollande. Representatives of FPT Corporation, a multinational Vietnamese IT company, and Telespazio France, a leading French company in satellite operator, signed a cooperation agreement on the establishment of an EarthLab center in Vietnam to monitor the environment by using data collected by satellites and other methods of observation for analysis. The joint venture between FPT and Telespazio France is expected to provide geoinformation with a view to proposing advanced services related to risk exposure for insurance, strategic economic assessment and asset management concerns in the public and private sectors. Once established, it will be Telespazio Frances fourth EarthLab, besides the others located in France, the Republic of Gabon and Luxembourg. Both sides also agreed to jointly collect and process data related to monitoring the sea and land via satellites to create products and services on a cloud computing platform. Road to development The Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC) and France's VINCI Concessions Group have signed a cooperation agreement covering the joint development of concession schemes for road infrastructure currently operated by VEC. In addition, the two sides will exchange experiences in management and the operation of motorways, while considering technology transfer opportunities. The VEC-VINCI cooperation agreement will focus on construction, financing and operation of new motorway projects involving the VINCI Group's concessions and contracting businesses. Another highlight in the framework of President Hollandes visit was a $6.5 billion deal signed by Vietnamese carriers Jetstar Pacific, Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air with French aviation giant Airbus. Among the remaining agreements, Hanoi signed a service contract between Airparif, an organization responsible for monitoring air quality in the Ile de France. The purpose of the contract is to help improve air quality in Hanoi by setting up a monitoring system. The French Development Agency (AFD) is also expected to provide a 52.5 million euro loan package and 1 million euros in non-refundable aid to help Vietnams central province of Ha Tinh, the northern province of Ninh Binh and the southern city of Can Tho fight rising sea level. The AFD is also expected to contribute another 100 million euros this year and 50 million euros from 2017-2018 to help Vietnam deal with climate change. French President Hollande touched down in Hanoi this morning to start a two-day visit to Vietnam from September 5-7 This is the first visit to Vietnam by a French president in 12 years. Hollande is the third president of France to visit Vietnam after the visit of President Francois Mitterrand in 1993 and President Jacques Chirac in 1997 and 2004. Related news: > French President Francois Hollande arrives in Hanoi > Vietnam carriers sign $6.5 bln, 40-plane deal How old is too old to start a project? Ask Aruna Mukherjee, who celebrated her 100th birthday on August 31, and she will tell you she is capable enough to run an old-age home. The Guwahati-based centurion baffled the civic administration by seeking permission for the home a few days ago. The mayor asked who will run the home. I said I will, and loved the look on his face, Mukherjee told Hindustan Times. City mayor Mrigen Sarania said the rule books do not have any age bar on humanitarian ventures. But the zeal of a woman, who at 100 wants to do what many in their youth wont, is admirable, he said. Mukherjee hopes authorities will speed up the formalities for her to start the home in October. Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Mukherjee came to Assam 80 years ago after her marriage. Her deceased husband Jadulal Mukherjee was the head of the chemistry department in Guwahatis Cotton College, the most sought-after higher education institute in the northeast. The philanthropist in Aruna emerged in 1947 after she met hungry refugees of Partition from East Pakistan (todays Bangladesh) at Guwahati Railway Station close to her residence in the citys Paltanbazar area. I felt sorry for the refugees and began feeding many of them, but members of my family objected. So I decided to give up my share of food to continue feeding the people as long as they could not be rehabilitated, she said. She has since been living on arrowroot biscuits and tea since besides seasonal oranges. The citrus fruit, perhaps, gives me the energy to work, she said. She has outlived most members of her family, including three sons who were scientists abroad. The fourth son and a daughter live in Canada, visiting her occasionally. The reasonably agile Mukherjee has refused to budge because she runs several schools for the underprivileged from her residence. She teaches painting, music, knitting, sewing, embroidery and soft toy-making. An aide said Mukherjee has never suffered from any ailment but has of late been struggling with failing vision and hearing. But she insists on doing the household chores, Ganga, the aide, said. Mukherjee has inspired filmmaker and former beauty pageant winner Bobbeeta Sharma to make a documentary. The film is dedicated to her spirit that makes her, at age 100, help people in distress, Sharma said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda hit back at the states BJP government on Monday for allegedly facilitating CBI raids on his properties in connection with an illegal land allotment case. I have no problem with CBI raids. But if their (BJPs) intentions were right, they would have handed over the case directly to the CBI. But they didnt want CBI to conduct preliminary inquiry. Had the CBI done preliminary inquiry, the case would have been closed after it, he said. The central investigation agency had raided 24 premises linked to the Congress leader on Saturday but Hooda claimed that it found nothing against him. The CBI found no documents in my house regarding the case. They took away documents related to my brothers business, and a computer that has record of our workers, he said. Hooda also lashed out at a national Hindi daily for reporting that the CBI had sealed two files from his farmhouse. Showing a written document by the CBI that stated that they did not seal any file from his farmhouse, Hooda said, I can go to the court against this daily for reporting wrong facts In another daily, they gave a front page picture of our Delhi house which wasnt even raided. Hooda also downplayed reports that claimed that a few officers of his former government were willing to give evidence against him. So whos stopping them? These must be people seeking some benefit. Considering that the BJP government can even oblige those who blame me for the Syria war, their chances are bright if they criticise me, he said. The ex-CM also lashed out at INLD leader Abhay Chautala for latters comments against him. I want to advise Abhay to rather focus on his own case. Had he fought the case better for his father OP Chautala, he wouldnt be in jail. Bengaluru Tamil Sangam leaders on Tuesday met Karnataka home minister G Parameshwara and sought protection for Tamils living in the state amid protests by farmers and various pro-Kannada outfits against the Supreme Court direction to release Cauvery water for Tamil Nadu. We met home minister Parameshwara and sought protection for Tamils living across the state, including at sensitive places such as Bengaluru, Mysuru, Chamrajnagar, Mandya and Kolar gold fields, Sangam president G Damodaran said in a statement here. Earlier, Karnataka Law and Parliamentary affairs minister TB Jayachandra had urged the people to maintain calm and not damage government property as the state government was taking steps to address the issue. The Sangam leaders reiterated their stand of supporting the Karnataka governments decision in the vexed Cauvery issue from the very beginning. Parameshwara has assured full protection for Tamils living in the state and said security was provided to the places where the community had a considerable presence, Damodaran said. The Cauvery row heated up after the Supreme Court on Monday directed Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for the next 10 days to address the plight of the farmers. The apex courts direction triggered an immediate backlash with farmers associations spearheading a protest and calling for a bandh today at Mandya district. In 1991, Bengaluru and Mysuru had witnessed anti-Tamil violence which had forced hundreds of Tamils from southern Karnataka to flee in a matter of weeks. Eighteen people were killed in the violence during the Cauvery turmoil then. A Supreme Court order asking Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery water every day for next 10 days to neighbouring Tamil Nadu has sparked off an agitation by farmers in Karnataka. Cauvery Horata Samiti activists and farmers blocked roads in the Shrirangapattana taluk of Mandya on Tuesday to protest the SC directive. A bandh was called by the pro-Kannada outfit on Monday. Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah called an all-party meeting to discuss the Cauvery river water issue and the apex courts order on the matter. Heres what you need to know about the ongoing dispute: Core of the issue Karnataka claims that the British-era agreement was not correct as it did not get its due share of water. On the other hand, Tamil Nadu believes that it needs the water to sustain extensive farming that has increased because of Karnatakas commitment to providing sufficient water. Karnataka wants to triple its water share from the river, that originates from Kodagu and flows through Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala, which means there Tamil Nadus portion will reduce. History of the dispute Historically, the dispute over sharing Cauvery waters dates back to the British era. The dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over sharing Cauvery neared a solution when the two warring sides, Mysore princely state and Madras Presidency reached an agreement in 1924. Mysore was permitted to build a dam at Kannambadi village to trap 44.8 thousand million cubic feet of water. The agreement was to be valid for 50 years and a review thereafter was part of the agreement. Not willing to accept the agreement, the two states took the dispute to the Supreme Court after Independence on several occasions but the matter could not be resolved. Arbitration attempts Mysore, named Karnataka after independence, asked Tamil Nadu seeking permission to make changes to various clauses after 12 years of independence. But Tamil Nadu refused to do so, saying they can be addressed only when the agreement runs out in 1974. In the 1970s, Cauvery Fact Finding Committee found that Tamil Nadus irrigated lands had grown from an area of 1,440,000 acres to 2,580,000 acres while Karnatakas irrigated area stood at 680,000 acres, resulting in an increased demand of water for Tamil Nadu. A study conducted by the central government in 1972 said the utilisation of water from Cauvery in Tamil Nadu was 489 one thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft) against Karnatakas 177 tmc ft. Cauvery Water Tribunal As both states refused to agree through talks, the Centre constituted the Cauvery Water Tribunal in 1990. After hearing both sides for years, the tribunal in its final award in 2007 gave 419 tmc ft for Tamil Nadu and 270 tmc ft for Karnataka. Kerala was awarded 30 tmc ft and Pondicherry 7 tmc ft. Both governments challenged the decision in the Supreme Court. Present agitation The dispute escalates when monsoon fails, as there is lesser water to share. And this year, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have received less than normal rainfall during the monsoon. Karnataka says it cannot release water to TN for agriculture as it needs it for drinking water purposes. A TIMELINE Feb 5, 2007: After 16 years, Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal holds as valid the two agreements of 1892 and 1924 executed between the governments of Madras and Mysore on the apportionment of water to Tamil Nadu The final award makes an annual allocation of 419 tmcft to Tamil Nadu in the entire Cauvery basin, 270 tmcft to Karnataka, 30 tmcft to Kerala and 7 tmcft to Puducherry out of the total 740 TMC available in the Cauvery basin in a normal year. All states file clarificatory petitions in SC seeking greater clarity on tribunal award. After 16 years, Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal holds as valid the two agreements of 1892 and 1924 executed between the governments of Madras and Mysore on the apportionment of water to Tamil Nadu The final award makes an annual allocation of 419 tmcft to Tamil Nadu in the entire Cauvery basin, 270 tmcft to Karnataka, 30 tmcft to Kerala and 7 tmcft to Puducherry out of the total 740 TMC available in the Cauvery basin in a normal year. Sept 19, 2012: At the seventh meeting of the CRA, Manmohan Singh directs Karnataka to release 9,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu at Biligundlu. Both the CMs Jayalalithaa and Jagadish Shettar term it "unacceptable". This is the first CRA meet since the UPA came to power at the Centre in 2004. At the seventh meeting of the CRA, Manmohan Singh directs Karnataka to release 9,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu at Biligundlu. Both the CMs Jayalalithaa and Jagadish Shettar term it "unacceptable". This is the first CRA meet since the UPA came to power at the Centre in 2004. Sept 28, 2012: The Supreme Court slams the Karnataka government for not complying with the PMs direction. The Supreme Court slams the Karnataka government for not complying with the PMs direction. Feb 29, 2013: The Centre notifies the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT). The Central government was mandated to constitute the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) simultaneously with the gazette notification of the final award of the Tribunal dated February 19. The Centre notifies the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT). The Central government was mandated to constitute the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) simultaneously with the gazette notification of the final award of the Tribunal dated February 19. March 10, 2013: The Tamil Nadu chief minister says she will work for the formation of the Cauvery Water Board during a felicitation ceremony organised in Thanjavur for her efforts to get the final award notified in the Union gazette. The Tamil Nadu chief minister says she will work for the formation of the Cauvery Water Board during a felicitation ceremony organised in Thanjavur for her efforts to get the final award notified in the Union gazette. March 19, 2013: Tamil Nadu moves the Supreme Court to give directions to the water ministry for constitution of the Cauvery Management Board. Tamil Nadu moves the Supreme Court to give directions to the water ministry for constitution of the Cauvery Management Board. May 28, 2013: Tamil Nadu moves Supreme Court, seeking Rs 2,480 crore in damages from Karnataka for not following the orders of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. Tamil Nadu moves Supreme Court, seeking Rs 2,480 crore in damages from Karnataka for not following the orders of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. June 1, 2013: The Union water resources secretary chairs the first meeting of the supervisory committee in which Tamil Nadu demanded its share of water for June as stipulated in the award. The Union water resources secretary chairs the first meeting of the supervisory committee in which Tamil Nadu demanded its share of water for June as stipulated in the award. June 2, 2013: Water cannot be released as and when TN demands, says Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah. Water cannot be released as and when TN demands, says Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah. June 6, 2013: Karnataka says it cannot release 134 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu between June and September. Karnataka says it cannot release 134 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu between June and September. June 12, 2013: The Cauvery Supervisory Committee terms as not "feasible" Tamil Nadus plea for direction to Karnataka for release of Cauvery water. The Cauvery Supervisory Committee terms as not "feasible" Tamil Nadus plea for direction to Karnataka for release of Cauvery water. June 14, 2013: Tamil Nadu decides to file contempt plea against Karnataka for its stand on the Cauvery Supervisory Committee. Tamil Nadu decides to file contempt plea against Karnataka for its stand on the Cauvery Supervisory Committee. June 15, 2013: Chief minister Jayalaithaa says the Tamil Nadu government will approach the Supreme Court for the formation of the Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulatory Authority. Chief minister Jayalaithaa says the Tamil Nadu government will approach the Supreme Court for the formation of the Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulatory Authority. June 26, 2013: Contending that the setting up of a supervisory committee had become a futile exercise, Tamil Nadu moves SC for constitution of the Cauvery Management Board. Contending that the setting up of a supervisory committee had become a futile exercise, Tamil Nadu moves SC for constitution of the Cauvery Management Board. June 28, 2013: Tamil Nadu files contempt petition in the Supreme Court against Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah for his defiant stand against the Supervisory Committee Tamil Nadu files contempt petition in the Supreme Court against Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah for his defiant stand against the Supervisory Committee July 15, 2013: Karnataka and Tamil Nadu clash during the third meeting of the Cauvery Supervisory Committee over the latters share of the river water. While Tamil Nadu sought 34 tmcft in July and 50 tmcft in August to save the Samba crop, Karnataka says that it had already released 34 tmcft between June and July 13. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu clash during the third meeting of the Cauvery Supervisory Committee over the latters share of the river water. While Tamil Nadu sought 34 tmcft in July and 50 tmcft in August to save the Samba crop, Karnataka says that it had already released 34 tmcft between June and July 13. August 2016: Tamil Nadu asks the Supreme Court to direct Karnataka to release water to Tamil Nadu after Siddaramiah says there is no water in the reservoirs. Tamil Nadu asks the Supreme Court to direct Karnataka to release water to Tamil Nadu after Siddaramiah says there is no water in the reservoirs. Sept 6, 2016: SC directs Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs a day till Sept 15. Protests break out in Karnataka College student Danish Mohammeds arrest this March under the scrapped Section 66A of the Information Technology Act for allegedly sharing a morphed picture of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat wasnt an exception. Police arrested more than 3,000 people under the section in 2015, triggering concerns that the law was abused well after it was struck down by the Supreme Court in March last year. The top court had ruled Section 66A violated the constitutional freedom of speech and expression. The exact number of people arrested after it was scrapped is not available. But the National Crime Records Bureaus (NCRB) Crime in India report released last month shows 3,137 arrests under the section in 2015 against 2,423 the previous year. On an average, four people were arrested every 12 hours in 2015 as compared to three in 2014. I am shocked, said Supreme Court lawyer Karuna Nundy, who represented the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties, among the petitioners in Supreme Court seeking removal of Section 66A. Making sure that our guardians of law know their law is absolutely basic... Whether it is training or notifying every police officer, we need action on it immediately, she said. It is unlikely that all 3,000-plus arrests were made before the provision was struck down in March. Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Bengaluru-headquartered advocacy group Centre for Internet and Society, said it was obvious that the police had not made these arrests before the SC ruling. Lawyer Manali Singhal said once the Supreme Court struck off a provision of law, any arrest under that provision would be per se illegal and void. Police also appeared to be on an overdrive to file charge sheets against people booked before the SC verdict in 1,500 cases last year, almost twice the 2014 figure. NCRB statistics suggest that trials too did not end. There were 575 people still in jail on January 1, 2016, twice as many as the 275 in prison when the law was in force a year earlier. In 2015, the courts also convicted accused in 143 cases. Read | Supreme Court disposes of PIL over misuse of sedition law SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The four Union home ministry officials suspended over issuing Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) licence to Islamic tele-preacher Zakir Naiks NGO Islamic Research Foundation have got a former home secretarys support. I dont know the details of the case but the suspension is not called for. Such actions generally demoralise people, former home secretary GK Pillai told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on border security here on Tuesday. He said if such actions are taken, the bureaucracy will stop taking any decisions. Pillai admitted that Zakir Naiks is a high-profile case but went into add: From my experience, I can state that the Home Secretary should be in a position to defend his officials in such cases. Four officials of the Union Home Ministry were suspended on September 1 for their lapses in renewing the FCRA licence of the NGO Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) run by Zakir Naik. Naiks Peace TV and his speeches have come under the scanner of the central security agencies at home and abroad for allegedly propagating radical views, especially in the aftermath of the July 1 Dhaka terror siege that left 22 people dead. India was left scrambling on Tuesday after its envoy to Pakistan said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the Saarc Summit in November, with officials clarifying a final decision is yet to be made. High commissioner Gautam Bambawale made the remarks during an interactive session organised by the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations in the Pakistani port city on Monday. Coming against the backdrop of a spike in tensions between the two countries, the comments took some in New Delhi by surprise. I cant say about the future but as of today, Prime Minister Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the Saarc summit in November this year, Bambawale was quoted by Dawn newspaper as saying in response to a question at the event. After Bambawales remarks were reported by the Indian media, external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup clarified that decisions and announcements of such nature are not made so far in advance. Other officials said a final decision is yet to be made and it would be announced at the right time. We will only announce dates for any visit of the prime minister just before the visit, said one official who did not want to be named. Another source questioned the envoys remarks. Whether he should have made the comment now is another question. But its also a fact that it was a qualified statement, the source said. Pakistan has formally invited Modi to the summit and foreign minister Sushma Swaraj had said in December before the attack on Pathankot airbase that was blamed on the Jaish-e-Mohammed that Modi would attend. Bambawale also said there had been contacts at the operational level between the two governments even while tensions were high. Over the past month-and-a-half, there had been cordial interactions between Pakistani and Indian border forces and several meetings of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc). A Saarc Summit cannot go ahead if even one of the heads of state or government of the eight member states opts out. No Indian prime minister has skipped a summit so far. India-Pakistan ties have nosedived several times since January over the Pathankot attack, the unrest in Kashmir and Modis remarks about Islamabad answering for atrocities in Balochistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The two sides had announced a new Comprehensive Dialogue when Swaraj visited Islamabad in December but the process is yet to take off. Home minister Rajnath Singh visited Pakistan last month for a meeting of Saarc interior ministers but his interactions with his Pakistani counterpart were marked by a lack of warmth. Finance minister Arun Jaitley subsequently skipped another Saarc meet held in Islamabad during August 25-26. At the interaction in Karachi, Bambawale also said it was Indias desire to see a Pakistan that is moderate, prosperous and stable, and at peace with itself, its neighbours and the rest of the world. The way forward is to increase trust and confidence between the two countries because this had been lacking for the many years, he said. There had been contacts at the operational level between the two governments even when tensions were high, he said. Over the past month-and-a-half, there had been cordial interactions between Pakistani and Indian border forces and several meetings of Saarc had been held, he added. The Indian government, Bambawale said, had been saying: Lets work together to get to the bottom of terrorism which was a headache not only for Pakistan, but for India and the world. The two countries should not be talking on just one issue but on all issues, he said. Replying to a question about alleged atrocities in Kashmir, he said Indians were as concerned about the people of Kashmir as anyone else in the world. However, the issue of Jammu and Kashmir is domestic and you should focus on your problems, he added. Asked about Indias alleged interference in Balochistan, Bambawale referred to the arrest of former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav by Pakistani authorities and the capture of Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Bahadur Ali in Jammu and Kashmir and said there is a need to discuss these matters though there would be difficulties. When Pakistan arrested Jadhav on charges of spying, India said he was an Indian national and sought consular access, but it was not given, Bambawale said. We have arrested in Jammu and Kashmir a Pakistani, Bahadur Ali, who has confessed that he received training of terrorism in Pakistan. We have offered Pakistani authorities full consular access to him, he said. (With inputs from agencies) Home minister Rajnath Singh briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday on the situation in Kashmir after the two-day visit of an all-party delegation to Jammu and Kashmir. apprised him of the situation in the state, the home minister tweeted after the briefing. At least 75 people have been killed and nearly 12,000 injured in the weeks of the unrest after the killing on Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani on July 8. Singh went after Kashmiri separatist leaders on Monday, saying their behaviour towards members of the all-party delegation that reached out to them over peace talks in the violence-hit region defied the spirit of Kashmiriyat and insaniyat. The minister distanced himself from attempts of chief minister Mehbooba Mufti and other leaders to persuade the separatists for talks. He was visibly disappointed with the opposition leaders attempt to go on their own to meet the separatist leaders. I want to clarify that some members of the delegation had gone to meet Hurriyat leaders yesterday in their individual capacity, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON For the Union information and broadcasting ministry, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan will mean more than just clean toilets and public places. The ministry has drawn up an activity calendar for the next one year to tackle pending work and mounting waste. While most ministries have periodically carried out cleanliness drives to clear junk, the calendar of activities drawn up the I&B ministry will have to be reviewed quarterly to ensure continuity. Divisions under it will also have to submit photographs of before and after as evidence of having carried out the cleanliness activities. A communique has been sent to all divisions on how to clear the backlog - old court cases, pending files, service records, inter-ministerial and government communication apart from identifying old, unused items that can be auctioned. For instance, all departments will prepare a list of unused or obsolete electrical items for disposal in September; in October the exercise will be to identify fixtures and furniture that have outlived their utility. April 2017 has been earmarked for a special drive to identify and review pending court cases, comply with old orders or settle issues by initiating a further legal action or out of court settlement. Read| Swachh Bharat not a big hit, thumbs-up to international diplomacy: Survey According to officials, there are several pending legal cases as well as issues that are stuck in arbitration that the ministry wants to dispose of. A Swachhta Pakhwada (fortnight of cleaning) was carried out in August, during which 1,591 files were weeded out apart from identifying items that can be auctioned for disposal, an official said. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 2, 2014, as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, whose 150 birth anniversary will be celebrated in 2019. He led the campaign by wielding the broom at the Mandir Marg Police Station in the Capital and exhorted his council of ministers to follow suit. Read| Swachh Bharat mission needs a peoples push A 40-year-old man being taken to hospital was allegedly dumped in a drain where he was exposed to heavy rains for 22 hours before villagers alerted authorities, police said on Tuesday. The person, said to be mentally deranged, was admitted on Monday evening to a Jamshedpur hospital, where he was in a critical condition owing to pneumonia, multiple sources told HT. The incident in southeast Jharkhand created furore and cast suspicion on the ambulance driver besides a police chowkidar and health officials of Ghatsila sub-divisional hospital, which had referred him to MGM Jamshedpur, 45 km away. Authorities across board passed the blame even as doctors attending the man, whose name was yet to be known, said he had infections in wounds on a leg that might be amputated. The story began on Saturday when a civic-body official got information about a gravely-injured man lying unattended in Dhalbhumgarh market. I rushed to the spot and arranged for his treatment, said Dhalbhumgarh panchayat member Ratna Mishra. We collected funds, arranged a van-rickshaw to transport the man to the local community health centre. There, the doctor referred him to MGM after first aid. It was then a private ambulance was called with help from police. Dhalbhumgarh police station SHO T Khan said he asked Sujit Dey, who owned an ambulance, to take the patient to Ghatsila sub-divisional hospital. I asked Bauri, our chowkidar, to accompany the patient along with Bikram Rathore, the driver. I made the paper for payment of the ambulance, he said. Ghatsila hospital Medical officer Shankar Tudu said, We could not entertain the patient, as the CMC paper referred him to MGM. After that, we have no information about the matter. Dhalbhumgarh police maintain the local CMC had accepted the patient, but the blocks medical officer claim he was never admitted. On their part, the ambulance driver and the police station chowkidar said they left the patient in the sub-divisional hospital and returned. According to the head of the Kasida Paltu Sardar village, where the man was found dumped in a drain, the driver and chowkidar ostensibly abandoned him midway. Police should book the culprit after investigating the case, Ghatsila SDPO Sanjeeb Besra said. I have called a meeting with all concern people to investigate the matter. No fish, no school: 1,000 students forced to stay at home in central Vietnam Fishermen are demanding authorities pay school fees after mass fish deaths. Nearly 1,000 children from Ky Anh Town in the central coastal province of Ha Tinh were forced to stay at home while their peers from all over the country were attending the new school year opening ceremony on September 5. Local authorities said that only a third of students, around 550, attended ceremonies held at kindergartens, primary and middle schools in the town. The reason behind this is an environmental disaster caused by a Taiwanese steel plant Formosa, which killed off tons of fish along a 200 kilometer stretch of Vietnams central coast. Nguyen Thi Huong from Ky Ha Commune told VnExpress that catching fish and producing salt are the only means of making a living in the area. Since the incident, salt farms have been left abandoned while fishing boats lie quietly on the sandy shores. I have four children who should be in school, but now they have to stay at home due to financial difficulties, Huong said, adding that she will only be able to send them back to school if authorities cover all their tuition and other fees. Ky Ha Commune is one of 54 communities in Ha Tinh Province worst-hit by the disaster. Locals say that its hard for them to pay school fees as they cant sell fish and salt at the moment, and switching to another job is difficult too. I was very excited to see my friends heading off to the opening ceremony of the new school year. For months, many parents havent sailed out to catch fish, so I dont have money to buy books, a student said. Children play on the beach as they cant go to school. Photo by VnExpress/Duc Hung The fact that so many students have to stay at home rather than go to school has resulted in feelings of insecurity among teachers and disrupted their teaching schedules, according to Tran Minh Duc, principal of Ky Ha Primary School. Our advice is for students to return to their schools, but introducing policies to support them is the governments responsibility. In an interview with VnExpress, Ky Anh Commune official Phan Duy Vinh said that fishermen are keeping their children at home to put pressure on authorities. Vinh quoted local people as saying that the environmental disaster has cost them dearly so they want their children to be exempt from tuition fees. In response, authorities have sent a request to Ha Tinh People's Committee, pending a final decision on September 24. Vinh added that many fishermen have demanded to be exempt from paying for school maintenance costs, and granted money to buy books and new clothes for their children. However, they have so far only been offered a 33 percent discount. The official said that they are trying hard to persuade parents to change their minds as going to school is a child's fundamental right. In early April, waste water from the Vietnamese unit of Taiwanese conglomerate Formosa Plastics Group killed off tons of fish in four central coastal provinces, taking its toll on 41,000 fishermen and over 176,000 people dependent on the industry. Four months have passed but the government remains non-committal about whether it is safe to catch and eat fish yet. Related news: > Vietnamese fishermen remain beached 4 months after toxic disaster > Formosa's toxic disaster: are fish safe to eat now in central Vietnam? A special CBI judge on Monday saved two lives when he promptly rushed accident victims to a hospital in Jind. Jagdeep Singh, practising in Panchkula, was on a visit to his native village in Jind on Monday. While leaving for Panchkula, he saw four people injured in a collision between a motorcycle and a car at Ikkas village. Panicked, he called up the 102 service a couple of times for an ambulance. Irked by his frequent calls, the ambulance operator instead gave a shocking reply: Ambulance kya udd ke aaegi? (Will the ambulance come flying?) Taking charge of the situation, the judge sought help from passersby and rushed the injured victims to the civil hospital. However, while one of the victims was pronounced dead on arrival, another succumbed to injuries a few hours later at PGIMS in Rohtak, where he was referred from Jind. The police said Ajay Kumar, a resident of Ramrai village, was brought dead while his brother Paras Kumar succumbed to injuries in Rohtak. The judge met Jind chief medical officer (CMO) Dr Sanjay Dahiya and narrated the incident to him. He told me about the shocking reply from our ambulance operator. Based on his version, we have initiated an internal inquiry in the jurisdiction of two surgeons, who have been asked to submit a report within two days, Dr Dahiya said. The police have registered a case against the two men in the car, one of whom is admitted at Jind while the other is critical at PGIMS in Rohtak. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday wished Jains on the last day of Paryushan Parva, sending the message of unity and harmony. Michhami Dukkadam. May the spirit of forgiveness & compassion enhance the spirit of harmony & togetherness in our society, Modi wrote on Twitter. Paryushan Parva is a major Jain festival that lasts seven days, culminating in Samvatsari Parvi. On this day, Jains greet each other with Michhami Dukkadam and observe a day-long fast. Michhami Dukkadam is an ancient phrase from Prakrit language, which is uttered by one seeking forgiveness for any ill-will or bad deeds and offering a renewal of relationship. Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks forward to visit Pakistan in November to attend the Saarc summit, Indias high commissioner in Islamabad said in comments published on Tuesday. At an event in Karachi on Monday, Gautam Bambawale said while India and Pakistan must certainly discuss the entire range of issues, they must keep also their focus on economy --- which he described as a low-hanging fruit. I cant say about the future but as of today Prime Minister Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the Saarc summit in November, the Dawn quoted Bambawale as saying at an interactive session of the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations. His comments came amid reports that Modi might keep away from the Saarc summit in view of the rising tensions between India and Pakistan, particularly over the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. Bambawale said it was Indias desire to see a Pakistan which was moderate, prosperous and stable and at peace with itself, its neighbours as well as the rest of the world. He admitted that trust and confidence were lacking in relations between New Delhi and Islamabad. The road to normalisation of Pakistan-India relations, he said, lay through greater trade and business, the roadmap for which was prepared by the two governments in 2012. The total trade between the two countries was worth just $2.5 billion a year while its potential was of $20 billion, the Dawn quoted him as saying. The Indian diplomat said that even when tensions were high between the two countries, there had been contacts at the operational level. Over the past month and a half, there had been cordial interactions between Pakistani and Indian border forces. Bambawale referred to external affairs minister Sushma Swarajs and Modis visits to Islamabad and Lahore in December last year. But on January 2 this year, terrorists -- who India says came from Pakistan -- attacked the Pathankot Indian Air Force base. He said the Indian government had been saying: Lets work together to get to the bottom of terrorism which was a headache not only for Pakistan but for India and the world. In an obvious reference to the Kashmir dispute, Bambawale said the two countries should not be talking on just one issue, rather on all issues. He said India had taken a stand in the 1960s and 70s that New Delhi and Beijing must talk on the boundary problem before moving on to other issues. But this was reversed in 1988. Today China was one of Indias largest trading partners, he pointed out. Asked about Indian atrocities in Jammu and Kashmir, the high commissioner said Indians were as concerned about the people of Kashmir as anyone else in the world. But the issue of Jammu and Kashmir was domestic and you should focus on your problems, he added. Bambawale said the problem with China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was that it went through Pakistani Kashmir whose ownership is disputed by Islamabad and New Delhi. He also mentioned how Pakistan had refused consular access to alleged RAW agent Kulbhushan Jadhav, arrested in Pakistan, while India gave consular access to a Pakistani terrorist, Bahadur Ali. We have offered Pakistani authorities full consular access to him, he said in reply to a question about Indian involvement in Balochistan. A Muslim womens group on Tuesday demanded a complete ban on Sharia (religious) courts, saying they cant be allowed to function as a parallel judiciary in the name of mediation, conciliation, speedy and less expensive justice. In an affidavit, the Muslim Womens Quest for Equality, which has petitioned the Supreme Court against arbitrary triple talaq, also demanded that organisations such as the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA)should be abolished to save the country and Indian Muslims from the clamp of fundamentalists/ activists having the ideology similar to Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and his organisation Jamat-ud-dawa (JuD). Some people and NGOs are misusing the freedom given by the constitution. They want to keep Muslim education in Muslim extremists hands, entirely free from the government control, the affidavit said. The affidavit comes days after AIMPLB defended the practice of triple talaq, saying its better to divorce a woman than kill her. The government told the Supreme Court that it would file its response to the petitions against triple talaq in four weeks. The AIMPLB, a non-governmental institution that oversees Muslim personal law, also said the Muslim law gave husbands the power to divorce as they were emotionally more stable. Shariah grants the right to divorce because men have greater power of decision making. They are more likely to control emotions and not take a hasty decision, the board said in an affidavit. Triple talaq, under which a Muslim man can repeat the word talaq thrice to divorce his wife, violated womens right to equality, several women have told the Supreme Court. The affidavit of Muslim Womens Quest for Equality filed through advocate Farha Faiz said: There should be a complete change in madarsas education system and a Muslim university under government supervision is the urgent need to impart religious as well as worldly education to the Muslims. It accused Muslim clerics of creating a gulf between country and Muslims and brainwashing Muslims who always faced a dilemma whether the country is above or the religion. The affidavit blamed vote bank politics, especially by Congress governments, for the plight of Muslims. Accusing Congress governments of dumping people in favour of clerics or fundamentalists, it said they never encouraged Muslims to integrate. India has separate sets of personal laws for each religion governing marriage, divorce, succession, adoption and maintenance. While Hindu law overhaul began in the 1950s and continues, activists have long argued that Muslim personal law, which has remained mostly unchanged, is tilted against women. To end the confusion over personal laws, the court has been advocating a uniform civil code, a political hot potato. The AIMPLB said constitutional provision on uniform civil code was not enforceable. On an average, one person every second is displaced by disasters brought on by natural hazards since 2008, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). The IDMC estimates that more than 19.3 million people were forced to flee their homes by disasters in 100 countries in 2014. Hundreds of thousands more are still displaced following disasters in previous years. The latest victims of this global temperature trend are the residents of a tiny village in Alaska, on the north-western tip of North America. The about people 350 that call Newtok home are now resigned to the fact that they can no longer fight the inevitable, as the swollen Ninglick River slowly, but surely, swallows their homes. An abandoned house in Alaska sits on the beach after sliding off during a fall storm. (AP File Photo) It is projected that by 2017, the highest point in Newtok a school building will be completely submerged by salt water pools formed by the thawing permafrost. Climate change for these Alaskans is more than just a statistic, it has been happening under their feet for the past two decades. Shoreline erosion is forcing residents to abandon their community as rising water inundates their lives, and the Newtok residents will possibly become the US first climate refugees people displaced from their homes by the impact of a changing climate. And Alaskans are not the only people suffering the effects of this rising temperatures. As glaciers in the Himalayas melt, floodwaters rush to batter the Bay of Bengal, resulting in rising sea levels, increased salinity, destructive floods and cyclones. People living along the coast in Bangladesh are its direct victims. The upscale Gulshan area during floods in Dhaka, Bangladesh. (Reuters File Photo) Though no study indisputably proves a direct correlation between climate change and migration, research has shown that the majority of migrants to its capital Dhaka hail from coastal areas. The International Organisation for Migration estimates that 70% of Dhakas slum-dwellers moved there fleeing some sort of environmental shock. A similar situation exists across the border, in the Sundarban delta in West Bengal, where entire villages lie in ghostly silence as their inhabitants relocated inland to save their lives, hopeful to one day return to rebuild their lives if and when the water recedes. Since 2008, 26.4 million people on average per year have been displaced from their homes by natural disasters. Read | 19 more die in Bihar floods, mild snowfall in Himachal Pradesh Read | Bihar flood: Death toll rises to 165, 37.53 lakh people affected SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON People in glass houses should not throw stones, the Indian envoy in Pakistan said while describing Kashmir as Indias internal matter. Indian high commissioner in Pakistan Gautam Bambawale was speaking on the Kashmir issue and the recent statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Balochistan at an interactive session organised by the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations on Tuesday. There are problems in both India and Pakistan and you [Pakistan] should focus on resolving your problems before looking into the problems of other countries, he said. About Modis I-day speech, the envoy said, The Prime Minister, in his August 15 independence day speech, only referred to the letters he had received. He said the Indian government had been saying, Lets work together to get to the bottom of terrorism which is a headache not only for Pakistan, but for India and the world. Bombawale said the two countries should not be talking on just one issue, but on all issues. When asked whether Modi will visit Pakistan to attend the SAARC regional summit in November, Bambawale said, Prime Minister Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the SAARC summit. He said that even while tensions were high between the two nations, there had been contacts at the operational level, The Dawn reported. Over the past one-and-a-half month, there had been cordial interactions between Pakistani and Indian border forces. Several meetings of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) had also been held. Bambawale also called for greater trade ties between Pakistan and India and said political issues will take time to resolve. He said that Pakistan should also grant India the Most-Favoured Nation status. There should be more participation in trade fairs and more Pakistani trade delegations should visit India, he added. There is no option but to do it step by step, he said. The Indian envoy said the road to normalisation of ties between the two countries lies through greater trade and business. The roadmap in this regard was prepared by the two governments in 2012 could be unveiled soon. The total trade between the two countries was worth just $ 2.5 billion a year, whereas its potential was of $20 billion, he said. There is a great potential that needs to be tapped. According to reports in the leading Pakistani newspapers, he said that political issues take time to resolve but the two countries can take up smaller matters and move forward. Political parties are split on the introduction of a new machine that prevents disclosure of voting pattern during counting to enhance secrecy, the Election Commission has informed the law ministry. The Commissions letter to the legislative department in the law ministry is now part of documents before a team of ministers formed last month to take a call on whether the machine should be used in future elections. While it is learnt that the team of ministers is in favour of the totaliser machine, a final decision will be taken by the Union cabinet based on its recommendations. The five-member team headed by home minister Rajnath Singh was set up on the directions of the Prime Ministers Office to recommend to the Union cabinet on whether the machines can be used. The move of the government to set up a team of ministers comes against the backdrop of the Supreme Court asking the Centre to decide on the issue by this month end. The machine is connected to control unit of electronic voting machines (EVMs) after polling and it gives out an overall result. It does not disclose results booth-wise, thus preventing parties from knowing which area voted against them. When EVMs were not in use, ballot papers from different booths were mixed before counting to conceal voting pattern. According to the Commission, the Congress, NCP and BSP categorically supported its proposal to use totaliser machines, while the ruling BJP was of the view that booth-wise performance is important for parties in their booth management. The CPI-M agreed in principle to the proposal with the rider that we should be careful regarding the fool-proof functioning of the totaliser and that in may be tried out in phases, the Commission said. Referring to a meeting convened by it of recognised national and state parties in March to discuss electoral reforms, including the use of totalisers, the Commission informed the ministry that the CPI did not give any specific view on the use of the new machine. While the AAP Delhis only recognised state party supported totaliser, Trinamool Congress accorded national party status last week opposed its introduction. The Congress may not lose sleep over those lost khats but the few minutes of chaos did land the party in an embarrassing situation in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. Nearly 1,000 stringed cots khats in local parlance were taken away on Tuesday by villagers attending a rally by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who launched his Deoria to Dilli yatra to connect with voters ahead of next years assembly elections. As soon as Gandhi left the meeting venue, Rudrapur Inter College ground, villagers jostled to collect the stringed cots popular in the countryside. Men, women and children all scampered to collect one each, carrying off the loot on their heads, bicycles and motorbikes. Local Congress leaders tried to stop the people but were pushed aside as the villagers quickly emptied the ground of the new khats arranged by Congress MLA from Rudrapur Akhilesh Pratap Singh. What will the Congress leaders do with the khatias? said one farmer who identified himself as Ram Lakhan, when asked by a Congress leader to put down the cot he was carrying on his head. A brainchild of the Congress election strategist Prashant Kishor, hundreds of khat sabhas will be held along Gandhis 2,500 km-long yatra during which he will cover 233 assembly constituencies. The Congress has specially made the colourful khats by artisans in Bihar and other states for the event, part of a grand campaign lined up by the party to end its 27-year exile from power in the countrys most populous state. The Congress was quick to deflect criticism, saying attacking the party on the issue would boomerang on the opposition as these khats still hold importance in the countryside. Whoever tries to belittle the issue will do an injustice to the poor villagers. Certain people in this country make away with thousands of crores of rupees and when a few villagers take home a thing as innocuous as a cot, all hell breaks loose, said Meem Afzal, the partys national spokesperson. #ReplaceMovieNamesWithKhats was trending on Twitter, with people posting photos of villagers carrying cots from the gathering soon after Gandhi concluded his speech. WATCH: Chaos breaks out as locals fight for Khatiyas(wooden cots) after Rahul Gandhi's Khat Sabha in Deoria ends pic.twitter.com/4tUxP81L1w ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 6, 2016 Game of Khaats#ReplaceMovieNameswithKhaat Bahadur(@my2bit) September 6, 2016 For the record, in his speech Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of ignoring the problems of farmers and promised them loan waiver, higher support price for their produce and reduction in power tariff. In Delhi, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi did not mention the loot but asked Gandhi whether he slept on a prickly cot, using a colloquial parlance of UP about people making illogical comments. State BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya alleged that villagers were lured into attending the khat sabha on the promise of getting cots. The khat loot that followed proves us right. It also shows that the villagers had come for the cots than to hear Rahul Gandhi, Maurya said. For many among those gathered for Gandhis rally, the speech was forgotten as soon as he finished speaking. I informed my brother to reach the ground (venue) to help me carry these cots, said Amar Pal, who managed to grab two cots. Sarita Devi, 47, justified her action. I had to leave all farm work to come to the venue for the sabha on the request of local Congress leaders. Now, at least I have some solace that I have managed to grab a khatia. (With agency inputs) Read | Rahul attacks Modi as he starts 2,500-km Kisan Yatra from UP SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Cauvery Horata Samiti activists and farmers blocked roads in the Shrirangapattana taluk of Mandya on Tuesday to protest against a Supreme Court directive asking Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water per day for next 10 days to neighbouring Tamil Nadu. A bandh was called by the pro-Kannada outfit on Monday. Around 2,400 police officers were deployed to monitor the situation. Tamil Nadu state transport buses were halted at Hosur Border Bus Stand due to protests in parts of Karnataka. Krishna Raja Sagara Dam and Brindavan Gardens have also been closed to the public for four days. Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah called an all-party meeting to discuss the Cauvery river water issue and the apex courts order on the matter. Meanwhile, TB Jaychandra, Karnataka law minister, appealed to the public not to take law and order in their hands and to maintain peace. We know that the Supreme Court is the highest court in the country. We have to oblige to their orders. My appeal to public is not to resort to agitation and keep calm. They should cooperate with the state government, Jaychandra told ANI. Samithi president and former MP G Made Gowda had on Monday urged the government to file a review petition in the apex court. He said he had spoken to state water resources minister MB Patil over phone and urged him to safeguard the interest of Karnataka farmers. The farmers leader also warned the government that it would face a strong agitation if water was released to Tamil Nadu. Protests also broke out in parts of Karnataka, including Chamrajnagar, Mysuru and Hubballi, where farmers and pro-Kannada activists demonstrated against the Supreme Court order and urged the Siddaramaiah government to protect interests of Karnataka farmers and not release water to Tamil Nadu. Police said effigies and posters of Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa were burnt in some places in these districts. A group of farmers tried to enter the KRS Reservoir in Mysuru protesting the court direction, but police prevented them. Karnataka Okkuta, led by Vatal Nagaraj, called for a Karnataka bandh on September 9. There is no water in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mandya and Chamrajnagar, and that is the truth. We have called for Karnataka Bandh on September 9 to protest against the injustice meted out to farmers here, Nagaraj told reporters. Passing orders on a petition by Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court noted that damage would be caused to samba crops in the neighbouring state and directed Karnataka to release water. Once snubbed by the HRD ministry over his proposed vedic education board, yoga guru Ramdev is making a fresh pitch, claiming he has the support of the Prime Minister and BJP president for his project. Prime minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and the NDA government are serious for such a vedic educational board and we are hopeful we will soon get approval, he told Hindustan Times. Ramdev is looking at spreading vedic education to every district of the country. A few months back Ramdevs trust moved an application to the then HRD minister Smriti Irani seeking recognition for vedic education board. Irani turned down the application on the ground that the governments sanction for a private board would open the doors for similar requests from other unrecognised school boards. No private board is currently recognised by the Centre. School education secretary S C Khuntia had also stuck to a similar line. Earlier this month, Ramdevs aide Balkrishna met HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar and Khuntia to revive the proposal to establish a national board that would allow affiliated schools to offer a blend of the traditional gurukul system and modern curriculum. Ramdev is hopeful of hopeful of getting the permission this time since PM supports idea of vedic education. Also on his wish list are 500 Acharyakulams (traditional schools imparting education) that he wants to open across the country. And while his Patanjali business empire continues to expand, Ramdev also aims to bring yoga to the spotlight. For this, he wants to conduct 10 lakh yoga classes from the current one lakh classes. We have battery of part time and full time Patanjali colleagues who will conduct 10 lakh classes in next 5 years Ramdev said when asked if he is still focused on yoga. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc will begin his official six-day visit this weekend. Vietnams Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc will visit China for the first time since taking office in April at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang. During the trip, which is scheduled to take place from September 10-15, Phuc will also attend the China-ASEAN EXPO and the 13th China-ASEAN Trade and Investment Summit in Nanning, China, Vietnams Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Monday. Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy Phuc already met with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on the sidelines of the 11th Asia-Europe Meeting Summit in Ulan Bator, Mongolia last July. Two-way trade value between Vietnam and China stood at $32.3 billion in the first six months of 2016, up nearly 2 percent year on year. Of the total, Vietnam spent $23.2 billion on imports from China, down 3 percent year on year, and gained $9.1 billion from exports to its largest trading partner, up 13.7 percent from a year earlier, according to data from Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The Vietnamese prime minister made his first foreign visit to Russia in May where he witnessed the signing of several cooperation agreements between the two countries. Related news: > Vietnams PM to make first foreign visit to Russia next week > Vietnam PM to visit Japan after Obama trip By next year, yoga guru Ramdev plans to open a state-of-the-art research institute in Haridwar that will focus on breeding cows. In an interview to Hindustan Times at his ashram, Ramdev said the cow had been neglected over the years and therefore it is a high time that mother gets due attention. He claimed that his research institute will be first of its kind in the country that will breed cows of international standards. Our desi breed of cows will give milk up to 60 litres a day. We plan to end the monopoly of foreign cattle that presently farmers prefer because of their capacity to produce 50-60 litres of milk a day. Our institute will also double up as the biggest cow shelter in India, Ramdev said. Ghee made of cows milk is one of the largest selling products of Ramdevs flagship company Patanjali Ayurved Limited which currently sources the milk from elsewhere. Exports and new ventures With an aim to boost his business and meet growing demand for Patanjali products in domestic and international market, Ramdev is opening six new production units two in UP and one each in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Jammu. These units are scheduled to be operational by the last quarter of the current fiscal. The food processing unit at Nagpur will export products to the US and other international destinations while rest of the units will cater to the domestic demand. The yoga expert also sees potential in the beauty care segment. The Patanjali unit at Haridwar is on course to double its shampoo production to 10 lakh bottles, Ramdev said. We have a ready market of 500 tons of soap per day which we are not able to meet. Similarly, demand has shot up for products such as dish washing liquid and face wash. Our new units will meet such demand he said. Patanjalis revenue has already touched Rs 5000 crore on the back of an exponential growth and the company has emerged as a serious threat to FMCG majors in the country. FMCG heavyweights like Dabur, Colgate Palmolive, Nestle, Emami and others now face a risk of an earnings downgrade due to their expensive valuations and the competitive pressure from Patanjali. The yoga guru who has dragged the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) to court, alleged that the body is favouring few multinational brands. The ASCI had reportedly served around 30 notices to Patanjali for violating advertising code of conduct. Ramdev insists that consumers trust Patanjali products and this is not acceptable to MNCs. Black money, FDI and politics In the run up to the 2014 general elections, Ramdev led a campaign to bring back black money from foreign banks. Bringing black money was also one of the major poll promises of the BJP. Asked whether he was satisfied with the steps taken by the government, Ramdev said it needs to work on time bound, result-oriented and strong plan to recover back black money. Despite his proximity to the NDA government, Ramdev has differences over Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Earlier this year, the Modi government permitted 100% FDI in sectors like pharmaceuticals, defence and civil aviation. FDI is fine in some technical field where the country lacks expertise. But FDI in other sectors makes no sense. We have enough blocked money lying unused and government should make effort to extract it and use where it required, he said. With Patanjalis growth now on an upward curve, the yoga guru is paying more attention to business than politics. While Ramdev campaigned for BJP in the last general elections, he has no such plans for the upcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand. I dont have any political agenda nor do I have political plans. I have others things to do he said when asked about his political role. In a bright and colourful room in the government-run Veerangana Avanti Bai Womens Hospital in Uttar Pradeshs Lucknow, mothers are quietly nurturing their premature infants through their touch. With soothing music in the background, the skin-to-skin contact or Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) between the mother and the baby works wonders ensuring the survival of these babies. KMC is a standard therapy for caring low-birth-weight infants in under-resourced settings that can reduce morbidity and mortality and recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). According to estimates, the therapy has the potential to reduce 1 million infant deaths globally every year. Sridevi, who uses one name, is one such mother to have benefitted from the innovative therapy. For Sridevi was worried about the survival of her daughter who weighed just 900 grammes at birth. She was all the more precious because she was the second surviving child of six pregnancies. Initially reluctant to adopt the therapy, she agreed to experiment with the advice - give a skin to skin touch to the baby for prolonged hours. She did it religiously and when she was discharged from the hospital, her baby weighed 2 kilogrammes. Sridevi continues the therapy at home and now her daughter is a healthy six-month-old. This skin-to-skin touch technique has recently been introduced in Veerangana Avanti Bai Womens Hospital in the state capital where the room was readied in 15-days time. It will be also be launched in all the 79 Sick Newborn Care Units (SNCUs) across the countrys most populous state. A dedicated ward for KMC started on July 30. Specialised chairs, beds and gowns were arranged to enable mothers to give skin therapy to the babies. The room was designed to make the mothers feel comfortable as in many cases they are required to give around 20 hours of KMC to the baby, Subodhini Briscoe, sister-in-charge at Avanti Bai hospital, said. The screen in the room shows them breastfeeding tricks and other newborn care methods. The instrumental music relaxes them and makes them comfortable to allow KMC to the newborn, she added. Kangaroo Mother Care unit at Veerangana Avanti Bai Womens Hospital (Deepak Gupta/ Hindustan Times) Dr Vishwajeet Kumar, a physician with a masters degree in global health from John Hopkins University, and his wife Aarti Kumar introduced the therapy as a community experiment in Shivgarh, nearly 80 km from Lucknow, in 2003. Both quit their careers abroad and chose to work in Shivgarh villages. Aarti is an infotech professional and worked in Singapore. An article about their work was published in the journal The Lancet and Melinda Gates, the co-chair and trustee of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, visited the community to see how the model was working. What is unique about KMC is the human touch. There are no machines and no medication. Neither the baby nor the mother is treated and made to feel as a patient. Instead, it is a simple method wherein a mother keeps a bare-bodied infant on her own bare body. This regulates the babys body temperature and induces lactation in the mother, Dr Vishwajeet, CEO and principal scientist in the Community Empowerment Lab that has introduced the technique in the state, said. However, despite its benefits, less than 1% infants were receiving its benefits, said Dr Vishwajeet. In UP, 54 lakh babies are born every year, of which 2.6 lakh die in the first 28 days (newborn period). Potentially 66,000 of these babies could be saved through KMC, he added. KMC was also started in the government-run King Georges Medical University in 2005 but could not run for long. The doctors who started KMC were transferred and thus the practice was discontinued, Dr Vishwajeet said. However, this time the government is planning to take the practice to all government hospitals across the state and officials are hoping it can help bring down infant mortality rate. Within a few months, 79 KMC units would be functional across the state. A budget of Rs 1 lakh has been sent to each district to ensure that KMC units are made an integral part of the SNCUs and furniture and gowns etc are arranged, Alok Kumar, director of National Health Mission (NHM), said. Awareness programmes through social media and other methods will also be undertaken on a massive scale to apprise pregnant women about KMC, he added. A number of private hospitals have also shown the willingness to introduce KMC in their facilities. Some private hospitals here contacted us to start KMC as they are convinced by the benefits of the practice, Dr Vishwajeet said. Dr Fahad Ishlahi, managing director of Lucknows Metro Hospital, said they have been using incubators and other such equipment to take care of pre-term babies. But this KMC is a really good option. Since we have observed the results in some mothers, we are going to introduce this in a big way in our hospital. Dr Jyotsna Mehta, a leading gynaecologist in Lucknow, said this practice has a number of benefits and she encourages mothers of normal babies to follow the therapy as well. Not just in cases of preterm deliveries and underweight babies, we ensure that soon after delivery, a skin to skin contact is ensured between the mother and baby, she added. One of the mothers at the Kangaroo Mother Care Unit with her pre-term underweight newborn (Deepak Gupta/Hindustan Times) What is Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC)? KMC is a technique for creating a womb-like environment for the newborn after birth that provides the four basic needs of the baby: warmth, food, love and protection. It significantly benefits all newborns, especially those with low birth weight and premature babies. It involves three aspects of infant care: skin-to-skin contact, exclusive breastfeeding and support to the mother and baby. Babies kept in KMC position are found to have improved survival, reduced illness, weight gain and overall neurodevelopment. Who can give KMC? While the best person to provide KMC is the mother in order to enable breastfeeding, any healthy person can provide KMC to the baby. The father can also provide KMC. Often mothers are exhausted after delivery or have other complications and need to be supported to ensure prolonged KMC to the baby. How should KMC be given? All newborns should be provided KMC at birth. Preterm and babies weighing less than 2000g need prolonged KMC for 20 hours daily. The baby should wear a nappy and cap. Sit in a chair with cushions so you can lean back a bit and be comfortable. It is best for your baby if you are half lying, half sitting. The angle of 30-40 degrees helps babys breathing. Place your baby on your chest facing you with her legs curled up in the foetal position. This is best for the babys hips. Put his/her tiny hands near his/her face for self-soothing. The baby has been doing that for months in the womb already. Cover the baby and yourself. Your body will automatically warm up if your baby is cold or will cool down if your baby is hot. You might find that you start to sweat. Dont worry, that is normal, Aarti said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A 14-year-old rape victim who is in advanced stages of pregnancy and has sought an abortion was refused medical tests, a must undertaking the procedure, at a government facility as the doctors were busy. According to the girls father, they were kept waiting for more than three hours at Bareillys Maharana Pratap common district hospital on Tuesday, only to be told to come back on Thursday. We were asked to wait outside the CMOs office and in the evening, they asked us to come again on Thursday, the father said. The girl is 32 weeks pregnant and every day counts. India has a 20-week legal restriction on abortions, a ceiling that has been challenged in the Supreme Court. The pregnancy termination law allows a woman to abort but only after doctors confirm it is necessary to save the mothers life. Various courts, including the countrys top court, have relaxed the ceiling after getting an all-clear from a team or board of doctors. The girls case could not be taken up as he was preoccupied with tehsil diwas proceedings, chief medical officer Vijay Yadav said. He did not even ask his team to start the tests, the father said. Earlier, the girl was denied permission for abortion by a lower court and a fast-track court in Bareilly after which the family approached the Allahabad high court. The high court on August 29 disposed of the petition, asking the girls father to move an application before the CMO who was told to take appropriate decision. The CMO turned down their pled and the family met the district magistrate on Monday. The DM asked the medical officer to examine the girl, familys counsel VP Dhyani said. The tests, including an ultrasound examination, will help doctors assess her medical situation and then arrive at a decision. But, medical practitioners say it is impossible to terminate a 32-week-old foetus. Delivery is the only option at such an advanced stage because termination will pose a grave danger to the life of the mother, said chief medical superintendent (female) of Bareilly district hospital Alka Sharma. The girl was repeatedly raped by a man who promised to marry her but walked out when she got pregnant, the family said. . Complying with the Supreme Court direction, Karnataka government decided on Tuesday to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu despite severe hardships, as protests in the wake of the court order intensified and farmers blocked the highway between Bengaluru and Mysuru. Despite severe hardships faced by the government of Karnataka, the state will release water as directed by the Supreme Court, chief minister Siddaramaiah told reporters on Tuesday after nearly a three-hour long all-party meeting convened by him here. He also said the state would approach the Supreme Court with a modification petition, explaining its difficulties in implementing its order that directed the release of 15,000 cusecs per day to Tamil Nadu for next ten days. The petition will also seek a change in the Supreme Court direction and move the Cauvery supervisory committee. Read | Cauvery water to be released not enough for Tamil Nadu farmers: DMK The chief minister said it would be difficult for a Constitution-bound state to defy the Supreme Court order or to refuse the release of water. With a heavy heart, it has been decided to provide water to Tamil Nadu even though the state itself was facing a very severe distress year, he said. Seeking to assuage the feelings of protesting farmers in the Cauvery heartland of Mandya and other districts in the basin, he said all efforts would be made to provide drinking water to Bengaluru and other places, along with supply for crops. He appealed to farmers to maintain peace and tranquillity and not cause any damage to public property. In Mandya, agitated farmers and activists belonging to pro-Kannada outfits blocked the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway as protests intensified in the wake of the apex court directive to the state to release Cauvery water. Mandya district, the nucleus of Cauvery politics, saw a bandh with protesters holding road blockades and dharnas at several places, as hundreds of security personnel -- including central forces -- were deployed in the Cauvery belt to maintain law and order. Read | Cauvery water row explained: Why Tamil Nadu, Karnataka fight over river usage? Prohibitory orders have been clamped around the Krishnarajasagar Dam and entry of visitors to is prohibited till September 9, as the Cauvery row intensified up after Mondays Supreme Court directive on a petition by the Tamil Nadu government. The court has directed Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water for the next 10 days to address the plight of the farmers in Tamil Nadu. Protesters ransacked several government offices in Mandya and forced their shut down, while attendance at government offices remained thin, police said. The court order triggered an immediate backlash, with the farmers body spearheading the stir and calling for a bandh in Mandya district on Tuesday. Read | Cauvery row: Tamil leaders meet Karnataka home minister for protection Yuva Bhim Sena (YBS) is one of many Dalit organisations that joined the agitation in Gujarat, following the flogging of four Dalits in Una in July. But, its members are in a dilemma now. DD Solanki, the head of the 6,000-member body, wonders what agitation leaders will do if their demands are not met. On August 15, they warned of a rail roko if the demand of 5 acre land for each Dalit family is not met within 40 days, Solanki said, adding But do they have a backup plan? They are members of the Una Ladat Samiti led by Ahmedabad-based lawyer Jignesh Mevani, who has become the face of the protests. Solanki, a photographer in Rajkot, and YBS share the confusion of many Dalit bodies that joined in July. However, four conventions and a 10-day march later, the agitation faces threat of derailment due to factionalism and lack of planning. Each convention during the one-and-half month agitation raised different demands even as Dalits felt that the core issues remained untouched. As a result, neither the call to give up the traditional tannery and sweeping work found acceptance nor a threat like rail roko changed BJPs stand. Though the Ahmedabad-Una march spread awareness, the demands raised on the concluding day were unreasonable, said Martin Macwan, a senior activist and founder of Navsarjan Trust which works for upliftment of Dalits. The demand for land should only be for tanners and not all Dalit families. We do not have data on the population of tanners in Gujarat. Besides, land reforms take time, said Macwan. We will not participate in rail rook, said Keval Rathod, a relative of the Sarviya family whose members were thrashed by scow vigilantes on July 11. SC, ST and OBCs first need basic amenities like free education. If the agitation continues, it will only add to the problems of Dalits. Rathod, a convener of the Social Unity and Awareness Forum, disagrees with Macwan and Mevani: Mevani gave a political overtone to the agitation while Navsarjan Trust is guided by upper caste activists like Gagan Shethi. YBS supported the Ahmedabad-Una march but now wants to focus on issues such as the arrest of Dalits. They (NGOs and leaders) come, participate in agitations and go back, said Solanki. Getting land is not our priority. Our focus is to form a district wise lawyers committee to facilitate release of Dalit youths from jail, he added. Jharkhand police arrested on Tuesday National Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) chairman Balvir S Tomar from his Jaipur house on charges of attempt to rape a Ranchi-based student two years ago. The case was lodged in February 2015 by the NIMS University scholar, who accused Tomar, now 70 years old, of indecent advances during a Ranchi event and, later, on her return to the campus hostel here. The victim alleged that Tomar misbehaved with her at the Jharkhand capital in October 2014 during the launch of a news channel in which Tomar had a stake. After the function, Tomar called her to his hotel room in a Ranchi hotel and spoke of sending her to Europe under a student exchange programme, she claimed, adding the NIMS chairman made several indecent advances. The complainant alleged that Tomar went on to seek sexual favours from her after she came back to the NIMS hostel here. On Tuesday, the district and sessions court in Jaipur rejected a transit bail application Tomar filed, and directed the police to take him to Ranchi after ensuring he was fit to travel. In March last year, Tomar filed an anticipatory bail, which a woman fast track court at Ranchi rejectedand issued arrest warrant against him. Later, the Jharkhand High Court cancelled the warrant. At this, the fast track court issued fresh arrest warrant against Tomar on July 4 last year after the police submitted Tomars explanation to the court on the High Courts direction as furnished by Tomars counsel. On Tuesday, Ranchi police said the accused failed to appear before the station. We had also searched for Tomar in several areas and finally we received the tip-off that he was in Jaipur, inspector Bhola Prasad Singh. Our team arrested him in the morning from his home. The controversy took a curious turn in March later when another NIMS scholar lodged a complaint against the father of the Ranchi girl. Deepika Rawat claimed Virender Kumar Tripathy tried to outrage her modesty at gunpoint. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The deadlock between the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) and the management of Air India (AI) ended on Tuesday evening after the airline management agreed to put out rosters that mention pilots weekly offs, said an ICPA member. Air India had issued show-cause notices to four pilots for refusing flight duty resulting in many flights either being cancelled or delayed. Read: Air India pilots will shun duty to protest lack of weekly offs Last week, the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), a union comprising more than 800 AI pilots, had told its members to turn down flight duties that are not published on the roster. It argued that globally, airlines publish monthly rosters specifying weekly offs and days when pilots are put on spare. This enables smooth operations and pilots get to plan their time with family, said a senior union bearer. He added that the show-cause notices issued to the pilots were illegal. While the AIs automated roster issues short rosters, it does not specify a pilots weekly off, it said. The union met Captain Arvind Kathpalia, AIs executive director, operations, on Tuesday. We reached an agreement after the Air Indias CMDs intervention, said the member, adding that the union will not reject flights. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON As millions in Maharashtra observe the largest festival of Ganesh Chaturthi in the state, it is difficult to believe that the celebrations, at least in its current form, are just over a century old. The Hindu festival in honour of the elephant-headed god is primarily celebrated in homes and in public by local community groups or mandals who install images of Ganesha in their homes and pandals. Ganesh Chaturthi was observed after the Maratha empire was set up by Chhatrapati Shivaji in the 16th century and it was an important day in the festival calendar of the Peshwas, the prime ministers of the Maratha rulers, but was largely confined to individual homes. In 1892, one of the stalwarts of Indias freedom movement, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, reinvented the festival as a rallying ground for nationalists. The streets of Mumbai and Pune turned into venues for the 10-day celebrations and huge gatherings of devotees. Tilak channelised the patriotic spirit by bringing the household Ganapati out onto the streets of Pune. He was able to bring a feeling of unity among the masses against the British through the festive fervour as opposed to a political gathering that the British would not allow, Tukaram Raut, treasurer of Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Samanvay Samiti (BSGSS), said. A year later Tilak met with a number of freedom fighters and progressive thinkers in what was known as Bombay then and decided to bring the festival to the city where the Keshavi Naik Chawl Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal, the first and oldest mandal came into being at Girgaum in 1893. Within a decade, the spirit of the festival spread like wildfire with mandals coming up in small pockets at Dadar, Parel and Girgaum. People from different religions finally had 10 days to interact with each other without the British beating down on them, Raut said adding that from then on, independence and nationalism became central themes during festival days all the way up to 1947. There was a time when the festival meant everything to the people because their freedom depended on it. Between 1940 and 1950, while the festival rituals continued to be simple, themes related to the first and second World War were a sign of a progressive society. According to members of Keshavi Naik Chawl Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal, the festival themes during the early half of the 20th century roped in everyone irrespective of their caste or class. In a first, cultural events like dance dramas, musical nights, and religious gatherings were organised and the British did not interfere, Jeetender Clother, the mandals secretary, said. Bombay had little more than 10 lakh people during the inauguration of our mandal. Idols were made only from mud, collected from rivers, lakes and the main idea was to spread awareness about a free India. Public forum debates were organised and leaders from different parts of the city participated to silently aid the freedom struggle, Clother added. Post Independence, the festival took a political turn as Hindu culture was the primary theme for devotees visiting each mandal, president of BSGSS Naresh Dahibhavkar said. Themes such as Mahabharata, Ramayana and other stories from the Bhagavad Gita were enacted through plays, essays, drawing competitions, and dance programs during all 11 days of the festival. However, some mandals did put forth themes such as problems regarding plagues, droughts and issues faced by the agrarian society, he said. TIMELINE 1892 One of the stalwarts of the freedom movement, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, brought a revival of the patriotic spirit of India by brining the household Ganapati out onto the streets of Pune One of the stalwarts of the freedom movement, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, brought a revival of the patriotic spirit of India by brining the household Ganapati out onto the streets of Pune 1893 Tilak decided to bring the festival to then Bombay, where the first and oldest mandal Keshavi Naik Chawl Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav mandal was set up at Girgaum in 1893 Tilak decided to bring the festival to then Bombay, where the first and oldest mandal Keshavi Naik Chawl Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav mandal was set up at Girgaum in 1893 1890-1920 Cultural events like dance dramas, musical nights, and religious gatherings were organised with central themes such as independence and nationalism Cultural events like dance dramas, musical nights, and religious gatherings were organised with central themes such as independence and nationalism 1940-50 While the festival rituals continued to be simple, themes related to the first and second World War were depicted during the festival While the festival rituals continued to be simple, themes related to the first and second World War were depicted during the festival 1960s The festival took a political turn post-independence, with increased focus on the Hindu culture Mahabharata and Ramayana were enacted in plays, and reflected in essay writing and drawing competitions in addition to dance programmes over the 11 days of the festival The festival took a political turn post-independence, with increased focus on the Hindu culture Mahabharata and Ramayana were enacted in plays, and reflected in essay writing and drawing competitions in addition to dance programmes over the 11 days of the festival 1970-80 Black-and-white war films were the highlight of the festivals. Themes revolved around the China and Pakistan wars, and nationalism Black-and-white war films were the highlight of the festivals. Themes revolved around the China and Pakistan wars, and nationalism 1982 An umbrella body for mandals was formed after pressure from the state government regarding increased conflicts between different groups. First count of total Sarvajanik mandals in the Bombay was 1,340 up to Mahim (suburbs did not exist) An umbrella body for mandals was formed after pressure from the state government regarding increased conflicts between different groups. First count of total Sarvajanik mandals in the Bombay was 1,340 up to Mahim (suburbs did not exist) 1995 Count goes up to 3,000 Sarvajanik mandals Count goes up to 3,000 Sarvajanik mandals 2008 Number increases to 5,000. By 2012, there are 6,500 mandals and 11,756 by 2016. Did you know? Mud or clay idols were the predominant material used to make idols from 1892 to 1992; the use of Plaster of Paris (PoP) only began a little over 22 years ago. Political parties have also invested in the local mandals in the form of huge donations and sponsorships for various programmes like orchestra or prizes for local programmes. The reason being the youths of these mandals wield a lot of influence in their areas and also play a crucial role during campaigning. The Shiv Sena used the festival to expand its reach. From the 1970s onwards the party dominated the festival. Ganesh mandals were formed in every area and Sena office bearers led by Shakha Prabhu (unit chief) occupied important posts in these mandals. Donations were collected mostly by threatening the local business communities. The Sena used this festival to mobilise the people and it really helped them to gain a foothold among the Maharashtrians, B Venkatesh Kumar, a professor at the Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS), said. The situation can be gauged from the fact that every top leader in the Sena had in his formative years headed a local Ganesh mandals. However, this began to change when Congress-Nationalist Congress Party leaders started getting assertive in recent times. The real change happened in 2005-06 when the Sena saw the defection of two top leaders Narayan Rane and Raj Thackeray. Supporters of both the leaders started making inroads into these mandals. The BJP, which had hardly any significant presence in the Ganesh festivals, is now making itself highly visible with an eye on the 2017 BMC polls. The city unit headed by Ashish Shelar is currently being seen in all major mandals with banners and posters of the party. Shelar has instructed his cadres to make their presence felt in all major events taking place in the city in the run-up to the polls. As political parties competed to claim the festival, the celebrations became bigger. In 1982, the first survey of all Sarvajanik mandals revealed a total of 1,340 in the city alone. By 1995, the numbers increased to 3,000 and crossed 5,000 in 2008. In 2012, the numbers went up to 6,500 but the major jump was seen in the last four years with 11,756 mandals currently in Mumbai. For more stories on Ganesh Chaturthi festival, click here The special womens court on Tuesday held the accused in the Preeti Rathi acid attack case guilty of murder. The court convicted Ankur Panwar, Rathis relative, and set the sentencing date for Wednesday. Rathi, who hailed from Delhi, died of multiple organ failure after Panwar threw acid on her in May 2013. The court heard both the sides last Friday and closed the case for judgement. In 2013, Rathi secured a nursing job with the ministry of defence at the INHS Asvini Hospital in Colaba. However, Panwar was unhappy with Rathi shifting to Mumbai. Special public prosecutor (SPP) Ujwal Nikam argued that Panwar wanted to marry Rathi, but the latter declined his proposal as she wanted to pursue her career. Angered by her refusal, Panwar even tried to stop Rathi from taking up the job. Brushing aside his objections, Rathi finally left for Mumbai on May 1, 2013. Nikam alleged that Panwar followed her from Delhi, with a chemical, to avenge Rathis denial. On May 2, when Rathi reached Bandra terminus, Panwar threw acid on her. While Rathi sustained serious burn injuries, three other passengers were also injured in the attack. Panwar too sustained a few burns. Read: Rathis refusal to marry her kin led to acid attack, says lawyer According to the prosecution, Rathi was rushed to Madeena Hospital and was later moved to Gurunanak Hospital after initial treatment. As her conditioned worsened, Rathi was shifted to Bombay Hospital where she succumbed to her injuries on June 1, 2013. The Mumbai railway police had first arrested Rathis neighbour Pawankumar Gahalon, but let him off in 2014, after no evidence was found to link him to the crime. Later, Mumbai crime branch arrested Panwar. The prosecution alleged that he was the one who threw acid on Rathi, and was also identified by the eyewitnesses. The prosecution examined 37 witnesses, including five eyewitnesses and 11 doctors in the case. But defence lawyer Apeksha Vora argued that Rathi died due to medical negligence and Panwar was falsely implicated in the case. Vora had argued that Rathi was first taken to Bhabha Hospital, where she did not get proper treatment and later at Maseena Hospital the doctors ignored her and that she was examined by the junior staff, who neglected her condition. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A special womens court on Tuesday convicted 25-year-old Delhi resident Ankur Panwar of the murder of 23-year-old Preeti Rathi in May 2013. Panwar threw acid on Rathis face at Bandra terminus soon after she arrived in Mumbai on May 2, 2013 to work as a nurse in the Indian Navy. Rathi suffered grievous injuries and died a month later of multiple organ failure. Panwar, Rathis neighbour in Delhi, reportedly attacked her as he was jealous of her success and because she had spurned his advances. Judge AS Shende, who convicted Panwar, will hear arguments on his sentencing on Wednesday. Public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said the prosecution is likely to seek the death penalty. According to police records, Rathi arrived at Bandra terminus on May 2, 2013 with her father Amarsingh Rathi and aunt Sunita Dahiya, and was to join INHS Aswini as lieutenant (nursing). Panwar had taken the same train. At Bandra station, he tapped her on the shoulder. When Rathi turned around he threw acid on her face, also injuring her father, aunt and two other passengers Sudeshakumari Singh and Sameer Shaikh. Rathi was taken Guru Nanak Hospital before being shifted to Masina Hospital. When her condition worsened, she was taken to Bombay Hospital on May 18. However, she succumbed to her injuries on June 1. Rathis post-mortem report states that she died of multiple organ failure. Apeksha Vora, Panwars lawyer, alleged that Rathi had died not because of the acid attack but owing to medical negligence by doctors at Bhabha Hospital. The prosecution, however, rejected the allegation and said Rathi had never been taken to Bhabha Hospital. After a shoddy investigation, the government railway police (GRP) first arrested Pawankumar Gahalon, another neighbour of Rathi in Delhi, but let him off as they found no evidence linking him to the murder. Then, on January 17, 2014, the Mumbai crime branch arrested Panwar and charged him with murder. While convicting Panwar, the court relied heavily on the testimony of Shaikh, who was also injured in the attack, and of another passenger, Rohit Singh, who identified Panwar in court. Of the five eyewitnesses examined by the court, three were injured in the attack. In all, 37 witnesses, including doctors from all the three hospitals, were examined. The prosecution also called as a witness a shopkeeper who identified Panwar as the person who had bought acid from his shop, and also relied on call records to show that Panwar had travelled from Delhi to Mumbai on the day of the murder. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON When in Vietnam, have fun the native way. Getting high has long since been a thing for many. Each person has their own way of taking a break from the monotony of everyday life to buy themselves some time away from it all. Try taking a hedonistic journey to find where Vietnamese fly to for a break from the mundane. Thuoc lao The Vietnamese way to get a nicotine hit: smoked in a bong, bamboo or plastic, rather than rolled in paper, and filtered through water instead of, yeah, filters. The sound of bubbles surfacing as the smoker takes a deep toke on the inhaler and the thick fog that follows have opened many eyes and claimed so many tears and, Im afraid, saliva. Even its veterans are not excluded. Said to carry three times more nicotine than cigarette tobacco, 'thuoc lao' is absolutely not something to mess with alone. Type 'hut thuoc lao' (literally smoking Vietnamese tobacco) in Google or Youtube, and the videos that show up are no inferior to any on FailArmy, AFV or whatever compilation you have ever encountered. Paan Look it up if this Asian term is not in your vocabulary, it appears in the Oxford Dictionary, but to be short, it is chewed like gum. Nowadays paan, or 'trau' in Vietnamese, is only chewed by elders in the country, i.e. only those who have spent decades chewing paan and spitting out the red juice it produces still enjoy that traditional high. These days it's only used for ceremonies such as weddings and sacrifices to the ancestors and gods. Chewing paan, mainly a combination of betel leaves and areca nut, has a mild effect on the mind, but throw in the above-mentioned 'thuoc lao' and you can take it to the next level. Red juice fills the mouth of a paan chewer. Photo by Fcastello/GFDL Bill Gates eats paan in 2006 during his visit to Vietnam. Cassava Cassava is an important industrial tree, but dried cassava is also one of the best ways of beating a hangover. Boiled cassava is still eaten as a snack around Vietnam, but not many people know that it can get you high. Cassava contains a toxin called HCN, which, in sufficient doses, can kill. A less lethal amount will lead to nausea, itchiness and dizziness - quite a way from what stimulants offer, but at least it still gives you a break from this miserable life. Coffee The coffee we are talking about is not the kind of coffee you pick up from Starbucks on your way to work in the morning. The mildly sour coffee that comes with milk, cookies and ground ice is Arabica. The Vietnamese version is Robusta, and the name says it all. This kind of coffee contains 2 - 4 percent caffeine, which is double that of Arabica. And with the Vietnamese preferring to have it neat, like on the rocks or espresso, this means a lot. Hardcore drinkers who run on coffee might not feel the heat, but Arabica virgins are in for a bumpy ride. Beware that dizziness, sweating and nausea may replace a feeling of euphoria and a chilled-out session. Hau dong Or len dong, hau bong is part of a Vietnamese folk religion that worships the Mother Goddesses. Performers act as mediums to deliver the deities message through a practice called 'nhay dong', which is said to involve divine incarnation. A hau dong session boasts dancing, fast-paced music, mountains of brightly colored sacrificial offerings, and incense so intense it drowns out religious sites as it envelops worshippers praying to the holy ones. All join forces to create a hypnotizing vibe; visually, aurally and olfactorily, that can even drown a non-worshipper in its ghostly current. Related news: > Strange religious practices during Vietnam's 'Halloween month' > High in Hanoi: Mermaids, wizards and swimmers on meth > 3 clubs that bang in Hanoi Women attending chief minister Akhilesh Yadavs speech at a public meeting on Monday were disappointed after finding no mention of women safety in it. The Samajwadi Party (SP) leader was addressing a public meeting inaugurating the Ala Hazrat Haj House in Mohan Nagar. Women rights activists expressed resentment over SP leaders glossing over the spate of crimes against women in the state. While the leaders spoke about recent events, development and technology, there was no mention of the Bulandshahr gangrape case or the recent rape of a 5-year-old in Hapur. A mother and daughter were gangraped on the National Highway in Bulandshahr on July 29 in front of their family members. The incident drew nationwide attention. On August 6, a 5-year-old girl was raped outside her house in her village in Hapur. Activists condemned the leaders behaviour as unacceptable. The CM spoke of development and technology but did not raise any concerns regarding the safety and security of women in the state. Reports of women and little girls getting raped and abducted in Uttar Pradesh have become common. It was astonishing to see no concern from any of the leaders on this matter, said Usha Thakur, a womens right activist in Noida. Read: Construct toilets instead of temples at Ayodhya, says SPs Azam Khan Crimes against women in the state have not decreased even though SP national president, Mulayam Singh Yadavs daughter-in-law supports an NGO that works for womens safety, Thakur added. Women attending the event also protested against the conduct of security personnel outside the Haj House after Akhilesh Yadavs departure. While we were entering the venue, my dupatta was taken away by a woman constable who was frisking us. She said dupattas would be returned to us when we left but later, there was no one to be seen. I had to go home without a dupatta, said Shivani, a resident of Dasna, who had come to Mohan Nagar to attend the CMs speech. The CM announced a scheme to provide smartphones for the poor at the event. However, he added that smartphones will be delivered only if the SP government comes back to power in 2017 Vidhan Sabha elections. The worlds largest free laptop distribution scheme was started by us with over 18 lakh laptops distributed and we have kept our promises. Now we promise to distribute free smartphones the same way if we are brought back to power. The Samajwadi Party Smartphone Scheme will be a tool for the public to remain connected with government and be up to date with its schemes and policies, said Yadav. In an official statement released by Government of Uttar Pradesh, the online registration of the smartphone scheme will be started in a month. However, the smartphone will only be delivered in the second half of 2017, also the time when the Vidhan Sabha elections will be over. The beneficiary of the scheme must be 18 years or above on 1 January 2017 and a resident of Uttar Pradesh. The registration process will be online, and the smartphones will be delivered on a first come, first serve basis. Those who work in the private sector and their annual income is less than Rs 2 lakh can apply for the smartphones when the scheme opens next month. Read: Akhilesh Yadav promises free smartphones if SP wins UP assembly polls SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Tuesday directed the chief secretary of state to hold a meeting with all public authorities of Ghaziabad and pass appropriate directions to restore green belts in the city. The green court directed the chief secretary to submit a compliance report in one month and a final report before the next hearing of the case listed on October 28. The four member bench, headed by chairperson of NGT, Justice Swantanter Kumar passed the directions while hearing a petition filed by Society for Protection of Environment and Biodiversity (SPENBio), an NGO and Sushil Raghav, social and environment activist. The order stated that none of the authorities are concerned about the green belt or are working in accordance with law. There are various public authorities in whose jurisdiction the green belts fall, apparently action are required to be taken by multiple authorities and none of them seem to be reacting expeditiously and in accordance with law. Whether the area falls under the jurisdiction of Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation (GMC), UP State Industrial Development Corporation (UPSIDC), Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA), Corporations and Committee or are responsible for maintaining the green belt and ensure that there is no environment and ecological adverse impact, the order said. According to the petition, the 2001 master plan of GDA had earmarked almost half of the city as green area and there were ample number of green belts. However, in the 2021 master plan, this was reduced to just six green belts in the city. Our petition challenges the GDA that how can six green belts cater to the ever-growing population of Ghaziabad which is reaching approximately 18 lakh. Moreover, according to the orders of the high court, the basic character of a city cannot be changed by an authority in the master plan, said Akash Vashishtha, convenor, SPENBio. He added that apart from this there are 28 green belts in the city which are under jurisdiction of various authorities including GMC, UPSIDC and others. We have submitted an affidavit in the court proving that the condition of these 28 green belts is very poor and the green cover of the city is dying and nothing is being done by the authorities to revive it, he said. Apart from this, there are three other green covers in the city, which include the Sai Upvan, Kanha Upvan also called city forest and Madhuban Bapudham forest in Sadarpur which are also mentioned in the petition saying that they are not being taken care of by the authorities. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON All nine girls and eight boys hostels on Panjab University campus have solar water heating panels. The largesse cost the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Rs 3 crore. The incumbent Panjab University Campus Students Council (PUCSC) is headed by the Student Organisation of India (SOI),a wing of the SAD. The girls gym of the university has also been refurbished at a cost of Rs 1.3 crore. This all was done keeping in mind the students demands, says Youth Akali Dal leader Parambans Singh Bunty Romana. The Congress student wing, National Students Union of India (NSUI), also accuses the SOI of distributing free liquor, which Romana, who has the franchisee for liquor brand, Kingfisher, denies. Coming barely a few months before the Punjab assembly elections, the PU elections have become a prestige battle for both the Congress and the SAD. As countdown to the 2017 assembly elections begins, the NSUI is trying to counter the SADs money power with manpower from Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhis close team. While the All India Youth Congress president and Punjab MLA Amrinder Singh Raja Warring is planning the strategy along with MLAs Kuljit Nagra, Rahul aide and former MP Vijay Inder Singla, too, is camping here along with Delhi NSUI president Amrita Dhawan. Also read | PU student polls: 15,000 voters, 25 candidates, 4 posts For the first time, a former CM, Bhupinder Singh Hooda of Haryana, announced the alliance of the NSUI with the Himachal Students Union (HIMSU) for the elections on September 1. Himachal CM Virbhadra Singhs son Vikramaditya, too, has campaigned to woo students from the hill state. NSUI presidential candidate Siya (right) on election eve. (Karun Sharma/HT Photo) A student pastes NSUI stickers on her car on the campus. (Ravi Kumar/HT Photo) Romana (C) on PU campus on Tuesday. (HT Photo) Both the Congress and SAD are accusing each other of using money power to woo the 15000-odd voters, freebies are flowing freely be it pizzas, food delivery to hostels, beauty treatments or liquor. Though SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal is managing it through Romana, Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh can be seen appealing for votes on videos. The Congress also has a splinter group, Student Front of NSUI, to contend with after the central NSUI team took charge of the elections along with Warring, who expelled Punjab Youth Congress leader Brinder Singh Dhillon on Monday for supporting the breakaway group. Dhillon, who is heading the Jago Punjab campaign of Congress from the residence of Amarinder in Chandigarh, attributes it to internal politics. In pics || In pics: Poll fever at PU Romana says a landslide victory in the PU polls will give a boost to the Akalis in the Punjab assembly elections. It is the only university campus where student polls take place in this part of the country. But the Congress has betrayed its nervousness. Look at the stature of leaders who are campaigning for the NSUI. Vijay Inder Singla almost become a regular student of the university, he adds. However, Singla says he has been on the campus for two days helping candidates. But it remains an election of the students, he adds. Some of the issues set to dominate the Punjab polls are among the top issues here as well. The Congress leaders, for instance, are trying to corner the SOI on drugs problem. They are seen telling the students they need to rein in SOI to save the campus from drugs. Both the SAD and Congress are going for broke in the varsity polls as the winning party will love to go into the state polls wearing the PU crown and flaunt it as a sign of youth mood in its favour. The SOI had swept the polls last year to prevent NSUI from scoring a hat-trick of wins. What the victory meant for the SOI was evident when Sukhbir turned up at the oath-taking ceremony of the new council for a picture-perfect finish. The victory this time will be bigger, so will the defeat. SADs one-man army For someone who was initiated in politics as the chairman of the Faridkot Improvement Trust, Parambans Singh Bunty Romana has a quick rise in politics. A protege of SAD president and Punjab deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, Romana now has a franchisee of liquor brand, Kingfisher, in Punjab. The dilapidated house in Faridkot, which he later bought from his uncle, is now a plush bungalow. As a close Sukhbir aide, he now lives in Chandigarh in a two-kanal house in Sector 8. Appointed by Sukhbir as the Punjab Youth Development Board chairman, he has been given luxury Corolla car and security at his Chandigarh residence. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The police stopped the farmers at different places from marching towards Chandigarh where farmers unions had announced to start a pakka morcha (indefinite protest) at Matka Chowk in support of their demands, on Monday. Seven of the farmers unions had announced to start indefinite protest at Matka Chowk in Chandigarh from Monday onward. The farmers unions are demanding debt waiver, compensation of Rs 5 lakh to farm suicide victim families, survey of farm suicide from 1990 onward, compensation of Rs 40,000 per acre to farmers whose cotton crop was destroyed in whitefly attack and making laws in favour of farmers to stop farm suicides. The farmers had gathered in Jethuke village, Tungwali village and Dhipali village to march in tractor trolleys and jeeps but police force blocked the roads. Senior vice-president of Bhartiya Kissan Union (Ekta-Ugrahan) Jhanda Singh Jethuke said that unprecedented police force was deployed in the villages to stop farmers even from gathering at one place but they have succeeded to gather at three villages for further planning. The police administration does not have the force to put a check on drugs trafficking and checking the law and order situation but they manage to deploy the heavy force to quell the protest of farmers who want to raise the issue of farm suicides, he said. Bathinda senior superintendent of police (SSP), Swapan Sharma said that police didnt stop any farmers; rather farmers themselves didnt come out of the gurdwara in Jethuke village while those in Tungwali and Dhipali also went back. He said that about 12 protesters were detained earlier who have been set free. Farmers intercepted by police in Moga Hundreds of farmers were intercepted by the heavy police deployed in the Kishanpur Kalan in the district, reportedly to not let them participate in the Karza Mukt Morcha protest which was held in Chandigarh. Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan, representative of Bhartiya Kissan Union, said that police may not let them participate in the protest but still the farmers from across the state showed their unity. We will not sit quite in the fear of the police and in todays protest more than 6000 farmers had participated in making the protest successful, he said. Police have detained around 100 farmers Farmers from Barnala commenced their protest for indefinite period at Gurudwara of Fatehgarh Chhanna village when police reportedly did not allow them to proceed to Chandigarh for Pakka Morcha (indefinite protest). BKU block president Balour Singh said, Police have detained around 100 farmers near Mehal Kalan to prevent them from proceeding to Chandigarh. Since police has done nakabandi at various places and not allowing us to go to Chandigarh, farmers of Barnala district are on indefinite protest in Fatehgarh Chhanna village. Harpreet Singh, SP (headquarters) said police have been deployed to maintain law and order. Cops foil protest march of farmers in Mansa To prevent the farmers marching towards Chandigarh, police detained more than 50 protestors in Mansa district.The farmers had gathered near Khyala Kalan village but were stopped from moving ahead. The cops are not allowing us to move ahead. The Badal family has unleashed all their might against the farmers, said Mahinder Singh, member of Bharat Kisan Union (Dakounda). Jasmeet Singh, deputy superintendent of police, said that they have been cautioned by the Chandigarh administration to ensure that farmers should not be allowed to march towards the union territory without permission. Thanks mainly to the largesse of 10,000 tubewells and mass switch from whitefly-shadowed cotton, Punjabs paddy yield is going to be an all-time high of 186-lakh tonnes. What could be worse. The experts are worried that this non-native crop may bring momentary respite to farmers but spell doom for Punjab. Paddy never grown over 30-lakh hectares or 94-lakh acres before has eaten into the area of other kharif crops such as maize, cotton, and basmati. The states diversification plan has taken a severe beating. Also read | Agriculture experts expecting bumper paddy crop due to heavy rain this year Farmers are jubilant. Its a bumper crop, highest-ever yield since Punjab started growing paddy to make the country self-sufficient in food, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) vice-chancellor BS Dhillon said. But its not good for the future generations. The V-C advised a level playing field for all crops. The Centre offers minimum support price and assured procurement for wheat and paddy, while selling other crops is a struggle. The agriculture directorate prepared for paddy cultivation over 27-lakh hectares but farmers went way beyond. We are happy that they will earn well after a long bad spell, said agriculture director JS Bains. We advise diversification but farmers need immediate profit. Cotton experts feel helplessness. What can we do? We cant impose anything on farmers, said Pankaj Rathore, director of the PAUs research centre in Faridkot. Paddys invasion into cotton area which is not a good trend, because the subsoil water is brackish and the other conditions are also not conducive. Also, once farmers get used to growing paddy, it is difficult to bring them back to cotton. Paddy requires less labour. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The illegal construction has not stopped on a temple property in Dhillion colony. The land, measuring over one acre, is attached with Gujarati Shiv Temple and is worth Rs 10 crore. Under existing rules, the donated property of a temple can be used for agriculture or religious purposes but cant be used for commercial activity, as it is happening in the exiting case, where allegedly a showroom is to come up. The matter came to the fore when RTI activist Mohinder Kumar complained about it. Half of the land is already encroached with concrete structure while construction is in progress in the rest of the property. He alleged that the pressure from the influential people led authorities to remain silent even as it is an open case of encroachment of temple property. Deputy Commissioner Ramvir Singh, who is the custodian of temple properties being ex-offico chairman of Dharam Arth board, ordered an inquiry when HT reported the matter on June 16. Despite his intervention, the fear of law is missing on ground. DC said he would ensure report from the revenue department at the earliest and ensure adequate action against those involved in encroaching. MC too fails to take any action Municipal Corporation is also silent on the illegal construction. In July, it served notice to the temple authorities to immediately stop the construction since there was no building plan approved for the said property. However, it did not take any follow up action to stop the illegal construction. The sources said the involvement of temple authorities could not be ruled out in the encroachment. It is not a lone case of donated religious land being encroached in the city. There are approximately 100 religious places in Patiala which were gifted land by erstwhile city rulers. The aim was to strengthen the religious institutions as they could earn some income by giving land on lease for agriculture purpose and use that money for the welfare purpose. But over the years, several of the temple or religious deras properties have been encroached even as Dharam Arth board was set up to take care of these properties Last year in April, Punjab and Haryana High court directed Patiala DC to remove all the encroachments on donated lands to religious deras and temples in Patiala but the Supreme Court stayed the high court orders after affected parties filed writ petition there. Final orders of the court is still awaited. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In an interesting turn of events in the 10-kg gold loot at Manappuram Finance Company at Rama Mandi on August 28, it has now been revealed that the mother of Sukhwinder Singh, one of the accused arrested in the case, had also taken a loan of Rs 8,000 from the finance company by mortgaging her earrings. Moreover the mother, Paramjeet Kaur, is also an eyewitness in a similar loot of 14-kg gold from Ludhianas Shimlapuri branch of Manappuram Finance at Gill Road on July 30, 2015. She was inside the branch when six armed robbers looted 14-kg gold worth Rs 3.5 crore and Rs 2.23 lakh in cash. Read more | Jalandhar: Ten kg gold worth Rs 3 cr stolen from finance firm in 15 minutes Paramjeets second son Varinder Singh Billa, the prime accused (absconding) in the Jalandhar robbery, was reportedly involved in the Ludhianas robbery but the Ludhiana police have no information about this. After Ludhianas loot, Paramjeet along with her husband Surjeet and son Sukhwinder moved to Jalandhar and took a rented accommodation at Sainik Vihar near Dakoha. Surjeet and Sukhwinder visited the branch many times on the pretext of the loan and noted all important information including the number of staff members, CCTV cameras in the branch. Sukhwinder supplied the information to his younger brother Billa who lives in Orissa. Billa, along with five other accused landed in the city on August 25. When they came here, Sukhwinder brought a Hyundai i20 car from his brother-in-law in Kaithal and went to Amritsar with other accused including Billa. On August 28, he brought a bike from his sisters house in Ludhiana. Also read | Cops under fire as Jalandhar becoming a hotbed of crime The next day, both Sukhwinder and his father Surjeet remained outside in the car, took the bag after the loot and went to Ludhiana. After distributing the gold among them, the six went back to their respective areas while Sukhvinder and Surjeet returned to Jalandhar. Deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Harjit Singh said that Paramjeets role is being examined as her role has not come to light yet. A team of cops is already camping in Orissa to nab Billa as he owns a small transport business there. Meanwhile, Surjeet and Sukhwinder are in the custody of Rama Mandi police till September 12. The police had also seized a .32 bore revolver, three live cartridges, two Honda Activa scooters and a bike from them. The police said the case involved a gang of eight people and the arrested two were conducting recce outside the branch as the crime took place. A CCTV footage led the cops to the Sainik Vihar locality where they had been living in a house they had taken on rent from a retired DSP. Ludhiana case On July 30, 2015, armed men looted gold 14-kg gold (worth Rs 3 crore) from Manappuram Finance Company on the busy Gill Road in broad daylight. The robbers also took away mobile phones belonging to the staff of the company that offers gold on loan. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Over 15,000 students will decide the fate of 25 candidates contesting for the posts of president, vice-president, secretary and joint secretary for Panjab University Campus Students Council (PUCSC), the voting for which will take place on Wednesday. There are seven candidates for the presidents post, five for vice-presidents, six for secretarys and seven for joint secretary. The results will be out by 8pm. The contest is among three main alliances led by National Students Union of India (NSUI), Students Organisation of India (SOI) and Panjab University Students Union (PUSU). Students For Society (SFS) is fighting for the presidents post only. IN PICS: Poll fever at PU NSUI is the student wing of the Congress and SOI has allegiance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). The SOI-led alliance had won all the 4 seats in the student council election last year. This was the first victory of the party on the campus. The incumbent president, SOIs Jasmeen Kang, a PhD student, had won by the biggest ever margin of 1,436 votes. Vice-president Preeti Negi, who was from SOI alliance partner Himachal Students Union (HIMSU), had even won by a still higher margin of 1,688 votes. This time HIMSU has tied up with NSUI, but then SOI has joined hands with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Also read || In male-dominated student politics, girls fast making inroads After last years landslide victory, SOIs Chandigarh unit president Vicky Middukhera has been leading from the front once again. SOIs national convener Parambans Singh Bunty Romana, who is chairman of the Youth Development Board in Punjab, had addressed all the press conferences of SOI. He had gone on record to say that victory on PU campus will give an advantage to the Akali Dal in the upcoming Punjab assembly elections. Like last year when NSUIs presidential candidate was declared ineligible, this time too, the party had a disastrous start. At least twice, faction led by Manoj Lubana and Rohit Rana-Hardeep Singh Lalli clashed on the campus. A breakaway faction took birth in NSUI Student Front that tied up with Panjab University Students Union (PUSU). This led to infighting in the Congress and National Youth Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring had to suspend Brinder Dhillon, the Youth Congress president for Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha seat, for he was supporting the rebel faction. Must read || We dont matter, say intl students A number of leaders from SOPU had joined NSUI in 2012 during Rahul Gandhis visit to the PU. After that it won presidents post twice in 2013 and 2014, but in 2015, it was poor third. This year, NSUI has fielded a woman, Siya Minocha, as its presidential candidate. Unlike last year, NSUI started early this year. They also organised a Save PU campaign and raised the issue of fund crunch in the varsity. Some Congress leaders too had visited the campus. PUSU, one of the oldest student parties on PU campus, had suffered five consecutive defeats. The last time it had won presidents post was in 2010. SFS has fielded the lone candidate in Amritpal Singh for the presidents post. This is the second election of the party. Main issues NSUI has brought out a separate manifesto for women and challenged SOI on financial crunch and fee hike. SOI has promised a senate seat for the student council president and strengthening of the teachers evaluation system. PUSU relies on being the only party exclusively for students and SFS talks of ideology and student-centric issues. Swing factor University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET) which has about 2,500 votes could be the deciding factor. From the major alliances, this time there is just one UIET candidate Amit Kaushik, who is fighting for the joint secretarys post from PUSU-led alliance. Others from the UIET are Rajan Kumar Gupta of Yuwa for presidents post, Prince Attrey for secretarys post and Yuwas Akhilesh Kumar for joint secretarys post. Both NSUI and PUSU have presidential candidates hailing from Himachal Pradesh (HP), so votes of students from the hill state will get divided. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Whistle-stop tours, strategy planning, group meetings, late-night campaigning were the highlights of Monday evening on the Panjab University campus. This was the last day of campaigning for the student council elections. The campus was alive even at around 9pm when HT took a tour inside PU. Senior leaders of Panjab University Students Union (PUSU) were addressing supporters and requesting them to not to sleep for two days and work hard for victory in their campaign tent. Must read | PU debate by HT: Heres what presidential candidates say on key issues According to the Lyngdoh guidelines, parties will not be allowed to hold any campaign on the campus or in hostels on September 6, a day before the elections. Late-night campaigning in hostels Friends, do not sleep for two days. Work as much as you can. Go around the campus. Go to the departments. Visit the hostels. Meet your supporters and ensure votes but make sure that you do not indulge in any mischief to earn a vote. We have to be transparent and get an honest victory, said one of the PUSU leaders. Students Organisation of India (SOI) spokesperson Babalpreet Singh said, We usually begin with campaigning at around 6pm and finish at around 8pm. We hold group meetings in out tent after we come back, having assigned teams in hostels. Till around 10pm, we are free to sit inside tents but after that police order us to disperse. This is when we start campaigning in the hostels again. Must read | PU polls 2016: In male-dominated student politics, girls fast making inroads Another senior leader from Akhil BharatiyaVidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) said they call a meeting inside their tent at around 8pm and representatives from all departments share their feedback on how many students were willing to vote for them. We want to ensure our votes from each department, so we make this effort daily, he said. Indian National Students Organisation (INSO) leader Rana Dhaka said, Having meals is secondary for at least these two crucial days. At times, we ask somebody to get food for all of us from the Student Centre and at times, we go in groups to have our meals and come back. The situation was similar in the girls hostels where representatives were campaigning for three hours. SOI leader Arshdeep Kaur said, We begin door-todoor campaigning from 6pm onwards, followed by the second session after dinner.On September 6, the parties will not be allowed to hold any campaigns on the campus or in hostels as per the Lynghdoh guidelines. Night patrolling inside University Late on Monday, the security with the help of police initiated night patrolling on the campus by closing all three gates and restricting the entry of the cars without student stickers. A total of 70 cars that were already inside the campus and did not have PU stickers were sent back after which all the three gates were barricaded. All the cars were thoroughly checked by police. Chief security officer Jatinder Grover had issued directions to security to close all the gates by 10pm and to not let any vehicle without a PU sticker to enter the campus. Traffic jams during late hours Roads inside PU were chock-a-block with traffic from 9am to 10pm on Monday. In the first half, the traffic jam took place because of the student rallies and later because of the barricading of all three gates and the strict checking of vehicles. Dont miss | PU polls 2016: Its final! Seven for presidents post SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Border area farmers, whose land falls between zero line and the barbed fence, have said that the compensation worth Rs 150 crore, recently approved by the Centre for them, was not enough to end their woes. However, the approval has raised a ray of hope for them in getting adequate compensation. When militancy was at its peak in Punjab, the government had acquired as many as 600 acres of farm land situated along the 553-km long international border falling in all border districts of the state to install barbed fence and provide a passage for security forces. This land was owned by farmers of as many as 220 villages. The acquisition had increased woes of the farmers, who had already been victimised by the 1947 partition and various Indo-Pak wars, as their 21,000-acre land, situated beyond the barbed fence (from Bamyal to Abohar), and on which their livelihood depended, was greatly affected. The victim farmers fought a long legal battle to get adequate compensation and finally with the intervention of the Supreme Court, a special tribunal was constituted under the supervision of additional and sessions judge of Tarn Taran Darbari Lal last year, which paved the way for the compensation. After getting approval, this tribunal has asked the farmers to claim for compensation by October 7. The compensation is being given as per collector rates, which has further raised eyebrows of farmers. The farmers want the compensation to be given as per the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, which was passed by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in 2013. Under this Act, there is a prevision to compensate the landowner with four times of the market rate. Reacting on the development, Border Area Sangharsh Committee president Arsal Singh Asal said, As per norms, the victim farmers should be paid `20,000 per acre for the land falling in-between zero line and fencing. Giving relief to us, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had approved `10,000 per acre, against which the Centre and the state government moved the Supreme Court expressing their helplessness in giving this amount. The SC again assigned the case back to the high court. As the tribunal is yet to submit its report in this regard, the case has been pending, he said. Secondly, he said, the Border Security Force (BSF) has set up border outposts (BOPs) and the army has built a defence wall on their land, but the farmers have not been compensated for same so far. Farmers in the border belt are suffering a lot, but their grievances have never been redressed sincerely. The committee constituted underthen chief secretary SL Kapoor assessed the problems in 1988 when the barbed fence was installed. So, woes of farmers should be taken in view as per the recommendations of this committee, said farmer activist Rattan Singh Randhawa. Punjab Border Area Farmers Welfare Society president Raghbir Singh Bhangala welcomed the move, terming it as a ray of hope for affected farmers. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON September 5, 2016 | 10:52 pm PT Hanoi Dance Festival Annual dance festival "Europe meets Asia in Contemporary Dance" will take place this year for the sixth time. The festival, coordinated by the Goethe-Institut, has successfully contributed to raising awareness of contemporary dance in Hanoi since 2011. The artistic and cultural event promotes and enhances the value of contemporary dance in Vietnam, creating a bridge for artists to exchange and to share experiences. "Europe meets Asia in Contemporary Dance" is an initiative of EUNIC, a network of European cultural institutes and embassies in Hanoi, in cooperation with the Vietnam Youth Theater and the HCMC Ballet Symphony Orchestra (HBSO). Vietnam_The Roof_ Phuc Hai, Son Tran Over six days and at two venues in Hanoi - the National Youth Theatre and Star Galaxy - audiences can experience contemporary dance in a variety of styles from Germany, France, Israel, Japan, Austria as well as the host country that explore the innermost depths of human beings, staged with breathtaking choreography and impressive lighting and media installations. The productions from Germany, Austria and Vietnam will also be seen in HCMC - the festival is growing and thriving! Vietnam - Yes Yes No No - Trinh Xuan Hai Ticket price VND100,000 ($4.5), available online here. Actor Manish Paul is a happy man. Being one of the most loved hosts on Indian TV, Paul has been well-lauded for his comic timing and rapport with his colleagues judges, contestants and crew members alike. But many of his fans wont know about his charitable deeds, as the actor doesnt like to talk about it much. I do a lot of charity but dont like to talk on that. I dont do these things for publicity or to brag about it later. I do it from my heart. Whether its visiting a blind school or an orphanage, I dont do it on any special day. Whenever I feel like and when I am free, I would just go. Even my team gets amused at times that I would suddenly tell them to buy certain things and come along, says 35-year-old Paul who is currently hosting a dance reality show on TV. Read: I dont need to wear a sari to make people laugh, says Manish Paul Actor Manish Paul says he would never want to discuss money with friends or family. (Shivam Saxena) Recently, the actor went on a gifting spree and ordered 300 pairs of shoes for the crew members and spot boys of the reality show, who he calls his extended family. I saw a couple of spot boys wearing torn shoes and when I asked them about it, they said sir yahi hai (we only have this). I felt bad for these people who work so hard all day, and run around; there are nails and screws, and wires on the floor and they can get hurt. So I decided to gift them all new shoes. He further adds, Of course there are size issues, so they are still coming in lots. Now every time I go on the sets, someone will say they have not got it. And I feel glad to order one more pair. I feel like I have an unlimited deal with anyone who wants shoes. Read: I wish people talk about my work and not what I get paid: Manish Paul A while ago, there were reports that Paul is charging a whopping amount for hosting this reality show. While the actor didnt pay heed to all these reports, he says he doesnt like to discuss money at all. People do discuss with me about my earnings, but its their call. Thankfully Im blessed with friends, who come to my place, unwind, chill and never talk work or money, shares the actor. Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON For the Italian director, Paolo Sorrentino, it could not have been easy doing a 10-part television serial on the Pope. The Young Pope, whose two parts premiered at the ongoing Venice Film Festival, was the helmers first foray into the small screen. Now, the director -- whose The Great Beauty won an Oscar -- is all set to do a movie on the former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Sorrentino -- who has often been compared to the Italian legend, Federico Fellini, and who has masterfully created stories about lonely, ageing playboys with enormous wealth and power -- seems to be on track with his Berlusconi work. The politician has been known for his colourful life -- frequently attacked by the Italian press. Actor Jude Law on the set of the TV series The Young Pope at Villa Pamphili in Rome. (AKM-GSI) Berlusconi will be 80 next month, and it is said that he will retire from politics. It is reported in the media here that Sorrentino would begin work on his new movie in early 2017, and it will be in Italian -- unlike his last outing, Youth, which was in English. The Young Pope, also in English, received an overwhelmingly ecstatic reception at Venice, and some observers felt that the current disenchantment with the papacy had a lot to do for the Jude Law film garnering such applause. Sorrentino is no novice when it comes to presenting satirical stories about men in power. If his The Young Pope -- at least the first two episodes -- was a wittily critical look at the Vatican with all its reported blemishes, the auteurs 2008 Il Divo focussed on Giulio Andreotti -- probably the most well-known politician in post-war Italy. He was the countrys prime minister for no less than seven times. Ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi has been known for his colourful life. (AP) Watch the trailer of The Young Pope here: (Gautaman Bhaskaran is covering the Venice Film Festival.) ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop Postelection violence in Gabon has killed between 50 and 100 people, the opposition presidential candidate said Tuesday, a toll much higher than the governments count of three in days of violent demonstrations against the presidents re-election. Jean Ping has declared he is the rightful winner of the Aug. 27 vote, though election commission results showed President Ali Bongo Ondimba won by 1.57 percentage points. Clashes quickly broke out in this oil-rich Central African country after the results were announced last week. It is difficult to independently verify reports of deaths, as the internet has been shut off since Aug. 31. International pressure is growing on Gabons government to show transparency in the vote results, with French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday telling RTL radio that common sense would command a recount of the ballots. European Union observers have said the vote lacked transparency, and countries including the U.S. and France have called on the government to publish results by individual polling stations. Gabons justice minister resigned Monday over the governments refusal to recount the ballots, as Ping has demanded. The African Union has offered to help find a solution to the crisis. On Tuesday, Ping told France 24 the death toll was far higher than the three that Interior Minister Pacome Moubelet Boubeya mentioned Monday. Boubeya also said 105 were injured in the postelection violence, with security forces detaining 800 people in the capital, Libreville, and 400 in other areas. The oppositions estimate of 50 to 100 killed in the protests is based on reports from residents around the country, Pings spokesman, Jean Gaspard Ntoutoume Ayi, told The Associated Press. It is clear that the government is hiding the true toll, Ntoutoume Ayi said. The government fears an international investigation into the deaths of these people. Three dead is acceptable. Fifty to 100 dead is unacceptable. Bongos re-election would extend a family dynasty in power since the 1960s. He was elected in 2009 after the death of his father, longtime ruler Omar Bongo, and protests followed. Saudi Arabias top cleric said Iranians are not Muslims, after Irans supreme leader launched a fresh tirade over the kingdoms handling of the hajj pilgrimage, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. We must understand these are not Muslims, they are children of Magi and their hostility towards Muslims is an old one. Especially with the people of Sunna, Grand Mufti Abdulaziz al-Sheikh told Makkah daily, referring to pre-Islamic beliefs in Iran and to the Sunnis who make up the main branch of Islam. The grand muftis comments came a day after Irans Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the Muslim world should challenge Saudi management of Islams two holiest sites in Mecca and Medina. The verbal sparring, ahead of the annual hajj, which this year starts on Saturday, follows months of tension between Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia and its Shia regional rival Iran. Because of Saudi rulers oppressive behaviour towards Gods guests, the world of Islam must fundamentally reconsider the management of the two holy places and the issue of hajj, Khamenei wrote on his website. He reserved some of his harshest words for Riyadhs response to last years hajj stampede which killed 2,297 pilgrims, according to a toll compiled from foreign officials. Iran said its nationals accounted for 464 of the dead. Khamenei said the Saudis did not prosecute those at fault for the stampede, accused them of showing no remorse and said Riyadh had refused to allow an international Islamic fact-finding committee. After reviewing security forces assigned to protect the hajj, Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef said later on Monday that the kingdom had spared no effort to provide state-of-the-art services for the safety, comfort and security of all pilgrims. For the first time in almost three decades, Iranians will not participate in this years pilgrimage to Mecca after talks on logistics and security fell apart. Riyadh said Tehran had made unacceptable demands, including the right to organise demonstrations that would cause chaos. Prince Mohammed reiterated those concerns. He charged that Iran was making efforts to politicise hajj and convert it into an occasion to violate the teachings of Islam, through shouting slogans and disturbing the security of pilgrims. Sheikh said such efforts would fail because all Muslims trust what the (Saudi) government is doing in providing services for pilgrims and with its work to improve facilities at the holy sites. Saudi Arabia says Iranian pilgrims are still welcome if they travel from other countries. Riyadh and Tehran are at odds over a raft of regional issues, notably the conflicts in Syria and Yemen in which they support opposing sides. Riyadh severed diplomatic relations with Tehran in January after protesters attacked its embassy and a consulate in Iran after the execution of a prominent Shia cleric in Saudi Arabia. A bomb exploded outside a school in southern Thailand on Tuesday, killing three people, including a man and his 4-year-old daughter, whom he was dropping off for kindergarten. The incident was the latest in a series of attacks that coincide with efforts to hold peace talks between Thailands government and Muslim separatist insurgents who have wreaked havoc across the countrys southernmost provinces since 2004, at a cost of more than 6,000 lives. Other recent attacks have included bombings across seven provinces popular with tourists that killed four people, and an explosive detonated on a rail line that derailed a train car and killed a railway worker. Preliminary investigations into Tuesdays incident show that a suspect drove a motorcycle and parked it in front of a small store across from the school in Tak Bai district of Narathiwat province, police Lt Col Noppadon Kingthong said. He said the bomb was placed in the front basket of the motorcycle and was detonated remotely. The targets were traffic policemen and people dropping off their children at the Baan Ta Baa School, Noppadon said. In addition to the father and daughter who died of their injuries while being taken to a hospital, a 23-year-old man who was one of eight people hospitalised died of his injuries. Three of those hurt were police personnel and one was from the military, Noppadon said. Thailand is overwhelmingly Buddhist, but its three southernmost provinces have Muslim majorities who have long complained they face discrimination. A statement from Unicef, the United Nations childrens advocacy organization, said it was shocked and saddened by the incident. The group Save the Children urged greater protection for children and educational institutions. Senior Labour Party MP Keith Vaz resigned on Tuesday as chairman of the influential Home Affairs Committee of parliament following a sting operation splashed by Sunday tabloids that showed him with male prostitutes at his London flat. He said in a statement: "It is in the best interest of the Home Affairs Select Committee that its important work can be conducted without any distractions whatsoever. I am genuinely sorry that recent events make it impossible for this to happen if I remain chair. " The Sunday Mirror had published pictures that it said showed Vaz, 59, with male sex workers, while illegal drugs were mentioned during a secretly recorded conversation. The committee examines issues related to drugs and prostitution in Britain. Vaz, the senior-most MP of Indian-origin who has been at the forefront of Indian and Asian participation in British politics since the 1980s, was due to meet members of the panel but decided to step down from the role he has held for nine years even before the meeting. He added in his statement: "The integrity of the select committee system matters to me. Those who hold others to account, must themselves be accountable. I am immeasurably proud of the work the committee has undertaken over the last nine years, and I am privileged to have been the longest serving chair of this committee. "This work has included the publication of 120 reports, hearing evidence from ministers 113 times, and hearing from a total of 1379 witnesses. I am very pleased that so many members of the committee have gone onto high office and ministerial positions. "This is my decision, and mine alone, and my first consideration has been the effect of recent events on my family," Vaz said. Vaz said he had recommended that former Conservative minister Tim Loughton takes over as chairman of the committee before the full process of electing his successor is completed. He added: "I would like to thank my fellow members of the committee, past and present, for their tremendous support. I would also like to thank the Clerks of the House for the amazing work they have done to strengthen the select committee system, we are not quite on par with the United States, but we are getting there." SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Malaysian police on Tuesday said they have arrested five people after a group of protesters assaulted the Sri Lankan ambassador at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Malaysian authorities said the attack on High Commissioner (ambassador) Ibrahim Sahib Ansar on Monday left him with minor injuries, but they have so far given no details on the identities or background of the attackers. Five people have been arrested and we are investigating the motive for the attack, Abdul Samah Mat, police chief of Selangor state, told AFP. In Colombo Sri Lankas Foreign Secretary Esala Weerakoon summoned Malaysias top envoy, Wan Zaidi Wan Abdullah, and demanded adequate security for Colombos diplomatic mission. The foreign ministry expressed disappointment that the Malaysian authorities had failed to provide necessary protection despite warnings of a possible threat. Almost 100 ethnic Indian protesters had gathered in Kuala Lumpur last week to rally against former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse, who was attending an international conference, local media reported. Rajapakse ordered the bloody military assault which ended Sri Lankas war with Tamil separatist guerrillas in 2009. International rights groups have said up to 40,000 civilians may have been killed in the final offensive, a charge denied by Colombo. Sympathisers of the Tamil victims in the almost three-decade long civil war burnt an effigy of Rajapakse during the protests in Malaysia. Police have warned local Indian groups not to show support for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) themselves. I want to warn these groups which support the LTTE that it is a group that is banned by the United Nations, national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar was quoted as saying by The Star today. More than two million of multi-ethnic Malaysias 31 million people are ethnic Indians. Most are descendants of labourers brought from ethnic Tamil areas of southern India by Malaysias former British colonial masters. A day after his candid remarks on the situation in Kashmir and Balochistan, Indian high commissioner Gautam Bambawales meeting with members of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce was cancelled at the last minute on Tuesday. The Karachi chambers spokesperson insisted the cancellation was made from the Indian side. Journalists said they were first informed of the meeting on Tuesday afternoon. When many of them reached the venue, they were informed the meeting had been cancelled. During an interaction at the Karachi Council of Foreign Relations on Monday, the Indian envoy had spoken extensively on the situation in Kashmir and Balochistan against the backdrop of an increase in bilateral tensions. He had also said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was looking forward to visiting Pakistan for the Saarc Summit in November but officials in New Delhi clarified on Tuesday that a final decision on the visit is yet to be made. Bambawale also said there were contacts at the operational level between the two governments even while tensions were high. Over the past month-and-a-half, there had been cordial interactions between Pakistani and Indian border forces and several meetings of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation had been held, he said. Indian-American supporters of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump have launched a traditional door-to-door campaign, arguing that this mode of campaigning is still an effective tool to win peoples heart ahead of the November 8 general elections. Volunteers of Indian-Americans for Trump 2016 started old-fashioned campaigning to sell Trump and his agenda for American president among perspective voters in New Jerseys Mercer and Monmouth counties, a media release said. AD Amar, president, Indian-Americans for Trump was joined by political activist Satya Dosapati Narayana, West Windsor Township Republican Committeeperson Rimma Rosenberg, Mercer County Republican Committee Second Vice Chair Colleen DiPastina and her husband and Monmouth County Republican State Committeeman John Costigan and his wife, the media release said. The campaigners presented evidence in the form of past behaviour to convince the voters why Hillary Clinton will not be a good president and why Trump will be good. With a few exceptions, they hope they changed minds of some voters, the media release said. President Barack Obama cancelled what would have been his first meeting with Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte, after Duterte described Obama in vulgar terms, a White House spokesman said on Tuesday. Duterte, a plain-spoken populist known for his colorful remarks and his campaign against illegal drugs in which thousands of people have died, described Obama as a son of a bitch to reporters on Monday, a day ahead of the planned meeting in Laos, where South Asian leaders are meeting for annual summits. Obama learned about the insult as he emerged from the Group of 20 summit in Hangzhou, China. At a news conference, he said he had told his aides to speak with Philippine officials to find out is this, in fact, a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations, leaving little doubt that the meeting would not proceed as planned. I always want to make sure that if Im having a meeting, that its actually productive and were getting something done, Obama told reporters. Instead, Obama now plans to meet later on Tuesday with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, said Ned Price, spokesman for the White House National Security Council - a meeting where the response to North Koreas latest missile tests is expected to be on the agenda. Obama arrived in Vientiane just before midnight on Monday, for the first visit by a sitting US president to Laos, where he wants to begin to address the legacy of US bombing during the Vietnam War. He was set to give an address on the importance he has placed on Southeast Asia in his foreign and economic policy during his two terms in office, which will end on Jan. 20, setting the stage for three days of meetings with regional leaders. The White House had said Obama did not plan to pull any punches on his concerns about human rights abuses in the Philippines, its treaty ally, when meeting Duterte. Duterte won the presidency in May as he promised to suppress crime and wipe out drugs and drug dealers, and a wave of extrajudicial killings has followed. Duterte said it would be rude for Obama to raise the human rights issue, and told reporters such a conversation would prompt him to curse at Obama, using a Filipino phrase for son of a bitch. Plenty will be killed until the last pusher is out of the streets. Until the (last) drug manufacturer is killed we will continue, he said. Its not the first time Duterte has cursed at a world leader. He called Pope Francis a son of a whore in May, and called U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg a gay son of a whore. On Monday, Obama said he recognized the importance of fighting the drug trade, but insisted it must be done under the rule of law. Asean Summit The unusually open tensions threaten to overshadow the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Asia Summits in Laos from Tuesday to Thursday. The 10-member ASEAN will meet leaders of other regional powers: China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Russia and the United States. The Philippines has been a key US ally in its dispute with China over the South China Sea, in which Washington blames Beijing for militarising a vital global trade route and jeopardising freedom of movement at sea and in the air. China rejects those accusations, and in turn blames the United States for ratcheting up tensions unnecessarily. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims. An arbitration court in The Hague in July invalidated Chinas vast territorial claims to the waterway after a case was brought by the Philippines, a ruling that Beijing refuses to recognise. Duterte said last month he expected all ASEAN members to support the arbitration courts ruling, but that the Philippines would not raise the issue in Laos. Laos President Bounnhang Vorachith (C, without glasses) delivers remarks as he sits down to a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama (not pictured), ahead of the ASEAN Summit, at the Presidential Palace in Vientiane, Laos September 6, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Jonathan Ernst The draft communique of ASEAN listed eight points related to the South China Sea, but made no mention of the July ruling. Southeast Asian leaders are set to avoid references to a recent arbitration ruling that undermined China's claims to the South China Sea, known in Vietnam as the East Sea, after omitting it from a joint statement at a summit this week over which Beijing's influence looms large. A draft communique of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) seen by Reuters on Monday listed eight points related to the South China Sea, but made no mention of a high-profile July ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which invalidated Beijing's territorial claims. The decision to exclude reference to the ruling represents a diplomatic victory for China, following ASEAN's decision at its last meeting in July to turn down a U.S.-backed proposal to include the landmark ruling in the text. China refuses to recognize the case brought by the Philippines in 2013. Its outrage over the verdict has created regional concerns that Beijing might take a tougher line in future disputes. Soon after the ruling in The Hague, the Philippines lobbied strongly at an ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting for the verdict to be included in the text of the communique, only for Cambodia, a China ally, to oppose it. Beijing publicly thanked Phnom Penh for its support. U.S. President Barack Obama (2nd L) delivers remarks as he sits down to a bilateral meeting with Laos President Bounnhang Vorachith (not pictured), ahead of the ASEAN Summit, at the Presidential Palace in Vientiane, Laos September 6, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Jonathan Ernst China has been accused of pressuring some countries in the consensus-led, 10-nation bloc to stymie what it sees as unfavorable proposals. ASEAN does not include China, but leaders and senior representatives from China, the United States and other regional powers are attending the Laos summit. Experts say that China's approach makes it harder for Southeast Asian states to form a unified front to counter Beijing's assertiveness over the strategic waterway. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte wants to negotiate with Beijing, and has pledged not to rock the boat by discussing the ruling at this week's ASEAN and East Asia Summits in Laos. But a few days before the meetings, the outspoken leader vowed to make no concessions towards China over the ruling, and demanded that Beijing explain why it had increased its boat presence around the disputed Scarborough Shoal. Sek Wannamethee, a spokesman for Thailand's foreign ministry, said it was unclear from Senior Officials Meetings (SOM) if Manila would bring its concerns about China to the Laos forum. "There is no indication at the preparatory ASEAN SOM yet as to what, if anything, the Philippines would raise at the summit regarding the South China Sea," Sek said. The draft communique contained one new element on the South China Sea, welcoming the adoption of emergency hotlines and rules among ASEAN states and China to prevent military mishaps, known as the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea. Related news: > Philippines says omission of arbitration ruling in ASEAN statement not victory for China > ASEAN breaks deadlock on South China Sea, Beijing thanks Cambodia for support Afghan security forces ended an 11-hour standoff in central Kabul on Tuesday, killing the last gunman holding out after an attack that began when a car bomber blew himself up in a prosperous business and residential area. Police sealed off the centre of the city as they battled three attackers who barricaded themselves inside an office of the aid group Care International. After hours of standoff, interrupted occasionally by sporadic gunfire, interior ministry spokesperson Sediq Sediqqi said Afghan special forces had killed all those involved in the attack in the Share Naw area of Kabul. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which took place just hours after Taliban suicide bombers killed at least 24 people near the Defence Ministry, including a number of senior security officials. Initial casualty reports suggested one person had been killed and six injured while more than 31 people were evacuated. The attacks highlighted the precarious security in the capital just a month before a conference in Brussels where international donors are expected to pledge continued financial support to Afghanistan. After several hours of quiet overnight, gunfire and explosions could be heard as day broke. Rafi Ullah, a security guard near the Care International office was walking in the area when the explosion occurred. Right after the explosion, a huge flame rose and everything was covered with smoke, and then Afghan security forces arrived and blocked the area, he said. City traffic was blocked in several places and schools in the vicinity were closed. Officers killed Hours before the attack in Share Naw late on Monday, at least 24 people were killed and 91 wounded when twin blasts in quick succession tore through an afternoon crowd in a bustling area close to the Defence Ministry. The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for that attack, in which a suicide bomber caught security forces personnel and civilians who rushed to help victims of the first explosion. An army general and two senior police commanders were among the dead, a Defence Ministry official said. Another official said the deputy head of President Ashraf Ghanis personal protection force had also been killed. The double bombing came less than two weeks after gunmen attacked the American University in Kabul, killing 13 people. It was the deadliest attack in Kabul since at least 80 people were killed by a suicide bomber who targeted a demonstration on July 23. That assault was claimed by Islamic State. The Talibans ability to conduct coordinated attacks in Kabul has piled pressure on the Western-backed government, which has struggled to reassure a war-weary population that it can guarantee security. Afghanistans foreign partners, concerned about the ability of the security forces to withstand Taliban violence, are expected to pledge support over coming years at the Brussels conference, three months after NATO members reaffirmed their commitment at a meeting in Warsaw. Outside Kabul, the insurgents have stepped up their military campaign, threatening towns including Lashkar Gah, capital of the strategic southern province of Helmand, as well as Kunduz, the northern city they briefly took last year. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has vowed to personally tear apart and eat Abu Sayyaf militants, in a bloodthirsty vow of revenge for deadly attacks. They will pay. When the time comes, I will eat you in front of people, Duterte told an audience of Filipinos late on Monday night while in Laos for a regional summit. If you make me mad, in all honesty, I will eat you alive, raw. Duterte often hurls abusive insults at critics and is waging a brutal war on crime in which nearly 3,000 people have been killed since he took office on June 30. His aides often urge reporters against taking Dutertes comments literally, cautioning that the 71-year-old former lawyer speaks in a crude language of the people. During the election campaign earlier this year, Duterte attracted widespread criticism for saying he had wanted to rape a beautiful Australian missionary who was sexually assaulted and murdered in a Philippine prison riot. Duterte also claimed to keep two mistresses in cheap boarding houses who he took to short-stay hotels for sexual encounters. On Monday, Duterte offered a particularly vivid description of how he would like to eat Abu Sayyaf militants, who killed 15 soldiers last month and are accused of a bombing in his home city last week that claimed 14 lives. I will really carve your torso open. Give me vinegar and salt and I will eat you. Im not kidding, he said, according to an official video of his speech posted on Tuesday. These guys are beyond redemption. The Abu Sayyaf are a small band of Islamic militants based on remote southern islands of the mainly Catholic Philippines and are listed by the US as a terrorist organisation. They are notorious for kidnapping foreigners to extract ransoms, and this year beheaded two Canadian hostages. Duterte on Monday caused a major diplomatic rift with the US after branding President Barack Obama a son of a whore who would wallow like a pig. He made the remarks in response to comments by Obamas aides the US president would raise concerns about the Philippines war on crime when the pair met in Laos. Obama abruptly cancelled the meeting, which was scheduled for Tuesday, because of the tirade. Read | Bleeding men, mutilated corpses: Bodies pile up in Philippine drug war A summit of Southeast Asian leaders to discuss issues ranging from terrorism to South China Sea tensions opened Tuesday, overshadowed by the Philippine presidents intemperate comments in his debut appearance at the annual meeting. The insult was made more egregious because of who the target was President Barack Obama. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte occupied centre stage on the eve of the summit when he made comments Monday about Obama that included a son of a bitch remark. He was again in the spotlight Tuesday when he trooped into a conference hall in the Laotian capital of Vientiane wearing a traditional Filipino shirt with sleeves rolled up. The other Southeast Asian leaders were dressed in dark business suits. Filipinos wear the barong shirt on formal occasions too, but with sleeves buttoned down at the wrists. Rolled-up sleeves are considered too casual for any formal setting, let alone a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN. He rolled his sleeves down when the Laotian president gave a speech to open the summit. The 10-nation ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The summit will be followed by a series of other meetings on Wednesday and a summit Thursday between leaders from ASEAN and other countries, including the United States, China, Russia, India, South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Obama arrived in Vientiane on Monday night and will attend Thursdays summit. Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Tuesday there was a possibility of reaching an agreement on a ceasefire in Syria within 24 hours. Asked at a briefing with reporters in London to comment on the failure of the United States and Russia to agree a ceasefire, al Jubeir said he would not describe it as a failure but as a work in progress. There is a possibility of arriving at an understanding in the next 24 hours or so that will test Bashar al-Assads seriousness to comply, he said. But the minister went on to say Assads history did not inspire optimism about implementation of any agreement. A cessation of hostilities agreement brokered by US secretary of state John Kerry and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in February unravelled within weeks, with Washington accusing Assads forces of violating the pact. From the moment Barack Obama touched down in China, his last G20 summit seemed likely to be a tricky one. A kerfuffle over aircraft stairs -- or lack of them -- and overzealous Chinese apparatchiks drowned out Obamas efforts to laud his pivot to Asia and a deal between Beijing and Washington to jointly ratify a major climate accord. By the end of Obamas three days in Hangzhou, he would have to contend with yet more inconclusive talks on Syria, prickly Turkish allies, a mouthy Filipino ally and attention-seeking North Koreans firing off a battery of ballistic missiles. Obamas first full day in China started with a charm offensive aimed at elevating Britains new Prime Minister Theresa May. Instead of the usual photo and statements in a featureless meeting room, May was put, if not on a pedestal, then on a stage with a podium and all the trappings of state, side-by-side with Obama. The White House is keen to make sure the special relationship still feels at least a bit special, even if Britain has become tangled in a political thicket and diminished in stature by its vote to leave the EU. Obamas next task was to mend fences with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who since a July coup, has worried the White House by repeatedly stirring up anti-US sentiment. If public opinion were to shift against America in a Muslim democracy, one which is at the crossroads of Europe and the Middle East and is a major NATO ally, it would be a strategic disaster. Obama was worried enough to dispatch his vice president to Turkey last month to cool the situation, with mixed results. US President Barack Obama walks down the steps from Air Force One upon his arrival at Wattay International Airport in Vientiane, Laos on September 5. (AP) Meeting face-to-face for the first time since the attempted putsch, Obama went out of his way to praise the Turkish leader. He also offered reassurances that Erdogans Pennsylvania-based opponent Fethullah Gulen would be extradited if he did have hand in the coup plot. In return, Erdogan toned down direct criticism of the United States, even describing relations under Obama as a model partnership. The relations between our countries are very special and they are getting stronger as time goes by, he said. But the warm words were not enough to solve a rift between Washington and Ankara about the YPG, a Syrian-Kurdish group that Obama has backed and Erdogan has bombed. Erdogan branded the militia a terrorist organization and baldly declared: We have to embrace the same stance against all terrorist organizations around the world. He also lumped Gulen in that group, decrying the Fethullahist terrorist organization. Chinese President Xi Jinping (C) shakes hands with US President Barack Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during a joint ratification of the Paris climate change agreement ceremony ahead of the G20 Summit at the West Lake State Guest House in Hangzhou, China, on September 3. (Reuters) Duterte meeting Obama may be willing to extradite Gulen, if there is enough evidence, he is perhaps less likely to ostracise the YPG. The group forms the spine of the Syrian Defence Force, which will be vital if Islamic State groups capital at Raqqa is to be retaken. To shore up Kurdish support, Obama was forced to send another lieutenant, his special envoy Brett McGurk, to Syria with a pledge of ongoing US support, according to the State Department. Obamas problems with US allies did not end there. On the eve of a planned meeting with Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippine Presidents description of Obama as a son of a whore forced the US president to call their appointment into question. That would be a relief for Filipino officials nervous about what their unscripted and impolitic leader might say behind closed doors. But with Manila locked in a territorial dispute with China over the South China Sea, it could use US support. During Obamas time in China, US foes proved a little more reliable. North Koreas decision to fire three ballistic missiles off its east coast, was just the latest in a series of provocations. But ahead of an East Asia Summit in Laos, it may help Obama both make the case for tougher Chinese action against Pyongyang and for that EAS grouping to play a bigger security role, acting as a forum to address and defuse regional tensions. News from Syria proved that the countrys troubles can always get worse, with the regime again attacking Aleppo in an effort to besiege the city. That came just as Secretary of State John Kerry was trying to negotiate at least a partial truce with Syrias backer, Russia. It was not to be. The United States have asked North Korea to refrain from provocative actions as it strongly condemned the latters launch of three ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan, even as G20 Summit in China was underway. These launches, which have become far too common in the past several months, violate multiple UN Security Council Resolutions explicitly prohibiting North Koreas launches using ballistic missile technology, the State Department Spokesman John Kirby said. North Koreas development of its UN-proscribed nuclear and ballistic missile programs threatens the United States; our allies, Japan and the Republic of Korea; and our partners in the region. Todays reckless launches by North Korea threaten civil aviation and maritime commerce in the region, he alleged. Kirby said the US will raise its concerns at the UN about the threat posed to international security by these programs. Our commitment to the defense of our allies in the face of these threats remains ironclad, he added. We call on North Korea to refrain from actions and rhetoric that further raise tensions in the region and to focus instead on taking concrete steps toward fulfilling its international obligations and commitments, Kirby said. Syrian activists and rescue workers in the rebel-held part of the contested city of Aleppo said that government warplanes dropped suspected chlorine bombs Tuesday on a crowded neighborhood, injuring dozens. The report could not be independently verified and it was not clear how it was determined that chlorine gas was released. Accusations involving use of chlorine and other poisonous gases are not uncommon in Syrias civil war, and both sides have denied using them while blaming the other for using it as a weapon of war. Last month, there were at least two reports of suspected chlorine attacks in Aleppo also, while the Syrian government also blamed the opposition for using the gas. In Tuesdays attack, a medical report from one of the hospitals in the besieged eastern rebel-held part of Aleppo was shared with journalists via text messages. It said at least 71 persons, including 37 children and 10 women, were treated for breathing difficulties, dry cough, and that their clothes smelled of chlorine. The report said 10 of the patients are in critical care, including a pregnant woman. Ibrahem Alhaj, a member of the Syria Civil Defense first responders team, said he got to the scene in the crowded al-Sukkari neighborhood shortly after a helicopter dropped barrels containing what he said were four chlorine cylinders. He said he himself had difficulty breathing and used a mask soaked in salt water to prevent irritation. At least 80 civilians were taken to hospitals and treated for breathing difficulties, he said. A video by the rescuers shows children crying and men coughing. Most of those injured where women and children, he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. It is a crowded neighborhood. The head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 70 people suffered from breathing difficulties after a barrel bomb attack in al-Sukkari on Tuesday. The Observatorys chief, Rami Abdurrahman, said he could not ascertain if it was chlorine gas attack. Chlorine gas is a crude weapon that can be fatal in high concentrations. In lower doses, it can damage lungs or cause severe breathing difficulties and other symptoms, including vomiting and nausea. A team of international inspectors determined in late August that the Syrian government and Islamic State militants were responsible for chemical attacks carried out in 2014 and 2015. But the U.N. Security Council failed to agree on whether to impose sanctions on the government in line with a September 2013 resolution authorizing sanctions that can be militarily enforced for any use of chemical weapons in Syria. The resolution followed Syrias approval of a Russian proposal to relinquish its chemical weapons stockpile and join the Chemical Weapons Convention. That averted a U.S. military strike in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack that killed hundreds in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta. Russia, a close Syrian government ally, has blocked sanctions against President Bashar Assads government. Fighting in the deeply contested city of Aleppo has not let up despite international efforts to establish a cease-fire. On Sunday, Syrian pro-government forces backed by airstrikes launched a wide offensive in the city, capturing areas they lost last month and besieging rebel-held neighborhoods once more after a breach in the siege a month earlier. On Tuesday, a Turkish spokesman said Turkey was pushing for a ceasefire in Aleppo that would extend through the Muslim religious holiday of Eid al-Adha, due to begin Monday. Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke to his U.S. and Russian counterparts during the G20 meeting in China about the ceasefire. Kalin told private broadcaster NTV Tuesday that the initial plan was for a 48-hour ceasefire. Erdogan also repeated calls for a safe-zone to be established between the Syrian towns of Azaz and Jarablus in Aleppo province, to protect civilians. Turkey has pushed for a safe zone in Syria since at least 2014. Turkey sent tanks into Syria last month to support rebel forces against the Islamic State group in the town of Jarablus. It expanded its operation into nearby al-Rai over the weekend. DAVO: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte called Barack Obama a son of a whore on Monday as he vowed not to be lectured by the US leader on human rights when they meet in Laos. The acid-tongued Duterte bristled at warning she would face questioning by the US president over a war against drugs in the Philippines that has claimed more than 2,400 lives in just over two months. You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum, Duterte told a news conference shortly before flying to Laos to attend a summit .We will be wallowing in the mud like pigs if you do that to me. Duterte was due to hold a bilateral meeting with Obama on Tuesday afternoon on the sideline sofa gathering of global leaders hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Vientiane, the Lao capital. But shortly after Du te rte spoke, Obama appeared to cast doubt on whether such a meeting could take place. Calling Duterte a colourful guy, the US president said was asking his staff to find out whether a meeting would be useful .I always want to make sure if Im having a meeting that its actually productive and were getting something done, he told reporters. Duterte, 71, was elected in May after a promise to wage an unprecedented war on illegal drugs that would see tens of thousands of suspects killed. Official figures show that since he took office on June 30, over 2,400 people have been killed in police anti-drug operations. KABUL: At least 24 people were killed and 91 wounded Monday in a Taliban double bombing near the defence ministry in central Kabul during rush hour, the latest assault on the Afghan capital. High-level officials, including an army general, were among those killed in the carnage, as the Taliban ramp up their nationwide offensive against the US-backed government. A suicide bomber struck the area just minutes after the first explosion, in an assault apparently aimed at inflicting mass casualties as officials left the ministry after work. The first explosion occurred on a bridge near the defence ministry. The seconds truck just as soldiers, police men and civilians hurried to help the victims, defence ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish told AFP. Ambulances rushed to the scene, littered with disfigured bodies and charred debris. But there were so many bodies that some had to be taken to hospitals in car boots and the back of police pickup trucks. Firemen, meanwhile, raced to retrieve some bodies thrown into the Kabul River by the intensity of the first blast on the bridge. Health ministry spokesman Waheed Majroh said the attack left 24 people dead and 91 others wounded, some of them seriously, adding the casualties could rise still further. The Italian-run Emergency Hospital in Kabul, which was overwhelmed with wounded patients, tweeted that four people died on arrival. The interior ministry initially said the attack was carried out by two suicide bombers on foot. But officials later said the first bomb was detonated remotely while the second was triggered by a suicide bomber. - Rising insecurity - Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter that the defence ministry was the object of the first attack, while police were targeted in the second. President Ashraf Ghani strongly condemned the carnage and offered condolences to the families of the victims. The enemies of Afghanistan have lost their ability to fight the security and defence forces of the country, Ghani said in a statement. That is why they are attacking highways, cities, mosques, schools and common people. The attack took place more than a week after 16 people were killed when militants stormed the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul, ina nearly 10-hour raid that prompted anguished pleas for help from trapped students. Explosion sand gun fire rocked the campus in that attack, which came just weeks after two university professors--an American and an Australian -- were kidnapped at gunpoint near the school. Their whereabouts are still unknown and no group so far has publicly claimed responsibility for the abductions. LONDON: Muslim women who wear the veil to cover their heads often do so because they are engaging with a modern, secular world, according to a new study of thousands of women in Belgium, Turkey and 25 Muslim countries. Researchers at the University of Oxford and the European University Institute studied why young, highly educated Muslim women who live in modern urban environments may be choosing to wear the veil and uncovered a paradox. The study said that in social situations in which they mix with non-Muslim friends, work outside the home or interact with strangers, the women may wear the veil as a signal to others in their community that mixing with others does not compromise their religious piety. The veil may also be used to strengthen their own sense of commitment to their faith and its values in a secular world, the paper said. The study was published in the journal European Sociological Review. It is said to be the first empirical study into why wearing the veil should increase in line with modernisation, a statement from the University of Oxford said. The researchers tested earlier mathematical models to see how the intensity of wearing the veil varied according to the womens education, employment, urbanisation and contact with non-Muslims. Through statistical modelling, researchers found that the tendency for veil-wearing decreased among young, highly educated women when they were exposed to modern influences if they were averagely religious Muslim women. However, Muslim women who are highly religious tend to increase their wearing of religious head coverings and use more conservative styles as the level of modernisation, or risks they are exposed to, increase, the statement added. Study author Ozan Aksoy, from the department of sociology at the University of Oxford, said: There are important implications for policymakers as if the option of wearing a veil is taken away from Muslim women, they fall on costlier ways of proving their piety. A veil is seen as a genuine expression of a womans religiosity. Paradoxically, it is the women who are engaging with the modern world who appear to rely on the veil to signal to others that they will not succumb to the temptations of modern urban life. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Matt Welch on the Washington Post's Deficient Apology By: David Henderson Using not entirely in this case is like saying Rocky was not entirely about loan collections. On a blog called EconLog, I generally stick to economics. But occasionally I make an exception to deal with other issues. One is media bias, because I think the issue is so important. Recently Matthew Sheffield wrote an op/ed in the Washington Post titled Where did Donald Trump get his racialized rhetoric? From libertarians. In it, he wrote the following: There had always been some sympathy for racism and anti-Semitism among libertariansthe movements house magazine, Reason, dedicated an entire issue in 1976 to Holocaust revisionism and repeatedly editorialized in defense of South Africas then-segregationist government (though by 2016, the magazine was running articles like Donald Trump Enables Racism). Reason editor-at-large Matt Welch wrote a great response to this hatchet job. Of course he focused on the job done on Reason, not on other people against whom Sheffield wielded his axe. Here are three key paragraphs: The entire case for Reasons allegedly institutional pro-apartheid bias rests on three pieces written not by an employee of the magazine, but by a single South African freelancer, Marc Swanepoel. As I indicated in my post, I disagree strenuously with what Swanepoel wrote back when I was in elementary school. But even he described the apartheid regime as a dictatorship, and called for the abolition of omnipotent government, whether in black or in white hands. To repeat: Reason never editorialized, let alone repeatedly, in defense of the apartheid regime. Sheffield and the Washington Post need to correct the record. Nor is it true that Reason dedicated an entire issue in 1976 to Holocaust revisionism, as Sheffield parrots from another misfired Ames attack. That February 1976 issue, as Nick Gillespie pointed out at the time, was surely not the magazines finest hour, but the theme was revisionism-revisionism (i.e., challenging popular storylines Americans tell themselves about the countrys pristine motives for going to war), rather than questioning the veracity of the Holocaust. That scurrilous topic is not the focus of any of the articles in the issue, Gillespie wrote; instead the pieces were about things like what Franklin Roosevelt knew in advance about Pearl Harbor, and whether any actors other than Germany played a role in starting World War II. It is true that, in Gillespies words, the inclusion of contributors such as James J. Martin, who would go on to join the editorial board of the contemptible denialist outfit the Institute of Historical Review, is embarrassing, as is the presence of Gary North (who would later be excoriated in this 1998 Reason article for arguing in favor of violent theocracy and the stoning of gays and others). But it is not true that that was an entire issue dedicated to Holocaust revisionism. Sheffield and the Post should correct. So the Washington Post did correct, kind of. Heres the correction: CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described Reasons 1976 special issue on revisionism and its coverage of apartheid South Africa. It included articles about Holocaust revisionism, but was not entirely dedicated to the Holocaust. Also, while the magazine did run several articles defending apartheid, it did not editorialize in favor of the system. Now Welch has responded to that. He leads as follows: When I dealt with corrections in my first journalism job 30 years ago, at UC Santa Barbara, we hippies used the then-industry-standard practice of quoting the original erroneous material, explaining why it was wrong, then appending at the bottom of every correction this phrase: The Daily Nexus regrets the error. It may have been formulaic, it may have sounded just a wee bit like a hostage note, but the purpose of the exercise was to snip out the lie like the cancer it was, reinforce the empty space around it with the healing goo of truth, and continue our participation within a culture that holds as aspirational values basic veracity and honesty above all. He then considers how the WaPo correction measures up. These next lines are classic: COLOMBO: All pregnant women with or without fever must be screened for Zika virus if they live in or have travelled to countries with localised infection, says the World Health Organisation. Zika, a mosquito-borne virus, causes mild symptoms of fever, rash, conjunctivitis, fatigue and joint pain for two days to a week in most people, but pregnant women with the infection risk having babies with microcephaly, a condition in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and brains. The threat of microcephaly makes it vital for all pregnant women to be screened for Zika in countries with local transmission , said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director, WHO South East Asia. In February, WHO declared Zika a global emergency after establishing its link with microcephaly in babies. With 26 million babies born in India every year and 80% of people infected not developing symptoms, the risk is great for lakhs of pregnant women and their unborn babies .The good news is that five pregnant women with Zika infection in Thailand have had healthy babies, said Singh. Thailand has confirmed 97 cases, and Indonesia five, including a pregnant woman. Singapore is the only country in Asia with active local transmission, with cases shooting up from zero to 242, raising concerns about a potential rapid surge across Asia. Last week, a study published in The Lancet journal put several countries including India, Pakistan, China and Bangladesh in Asia at high risk of Zika based on an analysis of travel, climate and mosquito patterns. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON While Apple's iPhone 7 and Sony's PlayStation 4 Neo separate launches seem imminent, Microsoft is yet to announce if it will unveil its new Surface Phone in the IFA event in Berlin, Germany. If the tech company will unveil a new Surface Phone in the IFA event between Sept.2 to 7, the actual release date may not still be this year. The reason is really logical - Microsoft may be waiting for the mass production and delivery commitment of Intel's Kaby Lake, which is still expected to be available later this year. The company plans to use this latest chipset for Surface Book 2 and Surface Pro 5 aside from the newest Surface Phone. The new Surface Phone is projected to take the place Microsoft's old mobile phone models such as Lumia 950 and 950 XL and will have a 5.7 inch 2K screen AMOLED display and powered by Snapdragon 830 chipset, Intel's Apollo Lake processor or Intel's latest seventh gen chipset, the Kaby Lake processor. The Surface Phone is also expected to run on Redstone 2 or more popularly known as Windows 10. The biggest (and most outrageous for some) rumor is that the company will give users the freedom to choose among three options for the new Surface Phone. The options are the low, mid-level and top range models with specifications of 3GB, 6GB and 8B RAM and 32GB, 128GB and 500GB internal storage, respectively. Good news for all those concerned with the Surface Phone's camera as it will be equipped with a 21 MP rear camera with Carl Zeiss lens and 8 MP front camera with triple LED flash. For quicker data transfers, the latest Surface Phone is also anticipated to have a USB Type-C Port. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. He was a typical American worker who reportedly wanted to honor those who, from rude nature, have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold. However, further research revealed that a machinist and secretary of a local International Association of Machinist in New Jersey named Matthew Maguire is the one who proposed the holiday. The first Labor Day celebration happened on Sep. 5, 1882 in New York City in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. It has been a grand moment as cited in the state's Tribune, which declared that the windows and roofs and even the lamp posts and awning frames were occupied by persons anxious to get a good view of the first ever parade in New York, spearheaded by working men of all trades united in one organization. Although the New York legislature was the first to introduce a state bill for the bash, the first to become law has been passed by Oregon on Feb. 21, 1887. Over the next four years, four more states, namely, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York have enacted Labor Day as a holiday. Connecticut, Nebraska and Pennsylvania followed after. During the 19th century, Americans have been working for 12 long hours for seven days a week. It will be these grueling conditions that brought the labor movement to life. Through the Adamson Act, the 8-hour work day has come into effect on September 3, 1916. However, it is Canada that was credited for inspiring the evolution due to the Nine-Hour Movement which supported the striking workers back in 1872. In other countries, Labor Day is considered May Day. The festivity indicates the end of summer, the beginning of school and the start of football season. During the 1800s, children as young as 6 years old worked in the mines and factories. Today, the general rule sets 14 years as the minimum age for employment. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The couple could not keep their eyes off each other as Fassbender put his arm on her waist as they posed on camera at the red carpet at Sala Grande, as reported by People. "The Light Between Oceans" was based on ML Stedman novel that tells the story of a war veteran who lives in an island in Western Australia after World War I. Fassbender played Tom Sherbourne, the main character, while Oscar winner Vikander played as his wife Isabel. Tom worked as a lighthouse keeper in a remote island. One day they found a baby girl who was washed up ashore on a rowboat. They decided to raise her as their own and named her Lucy. The plot thickens as Lucy grows older and they have to deal a deprive woman (Rachel Weisz) who threaten to separate from their family. In an interview with the New York Times, Vikander admitted her admiration to Fassbender, saying he is one of the most courageous actor she has ever seen. "I admired Michael for being one of the bravest actors I had seen. And when I knew that he was involved in this, and with Derek, whose previous films I'd loved, that was it even more. It was a script that made me cry. But the people are always what draw me most to a film," she said. The couple has been together since December 2014. When Vikander won her Oscar for "The Danish Girl" last February, Fassbender kissed her before she received her award. The movie "The Light Between Oceans" was released on Sept. 2 in the U.S. On the first day, the movie grossed $1.4 million and continued to perform well on its opening weekend to gain $5 million. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. According to a recent report by Mirror, suspected debris from a missing Malaysian Airlines plane have been sent for examination to Civil Aviation Institute after they were found on a Mozambique shore. President of Civil Aviation, Captain Joao Martins de Abreu, said at a news conference yesterday revealed that the pieces discovered had a number inside the panel that could help identify the plane. The largest piece found in the washed up debris consisted of a large triangular piece that had a red and white section on one side and metallic on the other, congruent with the colors used in Malaysian Airlines flight logo. This piece was first picked up last month by a hotelier off the coast of Mozambique's southern region, Imhambane. Australia is said to lead the massive search operation who strongly believe that these pieces are from the missing plane. "I believe in the expertise of the international investigation team, they will identify very easily," de Abreu said. He also noted that this is the first time that a colored piece has been found. The remaining two pieces of the three discovered were picked up by Xai Xai and were handed over to the experts last month. No more details were shared about these two pieces. These items will be examined by Malaysian authorities. Malaysian Airline MH370 vanished in 2014 with 239 people on board, flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. So far, a massive search operation is underway and no conclusive information has been found. The 239 missing passengers flying the fateful MH370 are presumably dead as the authorities arrive at a unanimous decision of concluding the search if no evidence is found by the end of 2016. The case of missing MH370 has become one of the largest mysteries in the history of aviation, reports Channel News Asia. The search, led by Australia, is one of the costliest and largest search operation, at 100 million pounds, scouring a region of 120,000-sq-kms in the remote part of southern Indian Ocean. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Speaking to the members of Wadebridge Young Farmers at Cornwall, Kate said she was actually teaching her two children in farm chores. Bea Hodge, one of the attendees, recalled Kate saying that she taught George and Charlotte all about the farm at Sandringham. "She's been teaching George the difference between barley and wheat and everything they grow on the farm there. She wants the children to learn all about farming and the apples in their orchard," said Hodge. The royal mom also said that farming is the job she loved to do if she was not already busy in her role as the Duchess of Cambridge, according to Vogue. She said she wanted to pass her passion of farming to her children. Her husband Prince William was also reported to support his wife's decision to have a low-key childhood for their children. His mother, the late princess Diana, was known to be reachable to ordinary people despite her royal status. William is reported to follow his mother's footstep and step away from stiffness of royal family lifestyle. Recently, Kate brought their son George to meet a baby dinosaur puppet called Mutty, according to Mirror. He was interested on the puppet and he loves to play with it. Before her wedding to Prince William, Kate worked for clothing retail company Jigsaw. She also has worked in catalogue design, production, marketing and photography in her family business. Kate Middleton married Prince Willam in a royal ceremony in Westminster Abbey on 29 April 2011. Their first son Prince George was born on July 22, 2013 while second child Charlotte was born on May 4, 2015. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Eighty-eight retired ranking military officers of the U.S. expressed support to the candidacy of Republican presidential contender Donald Trump. In an open letter, the group of retired military officers said the long-overdue course correction in America's national security posture and policy could only be possible through a Trump presidency. "As retired senior leaders of America's military, we believe that such a change can only be made by someone who has not been deeply involved with, and substantially responsible for, the hollowing out of our military and the burgeoning threats facing our country around the world," the group said. "For this reason, we support Donald Trump's candidacy to be our next Commander-in-Chief," they pointed out. They also lamented that for the past eight years, America's armed forces have been subjected to a series of ill-considered and debilitating budget cuts, policy choices and combat operations that have left the superb men and women in uniform less capable of performing their vital missions in the future. "For this reason, we support Donald Trump and his commitment to rebuild our military, to secure our borders, to defeat our Islamic supremacist adversaries and restore law and order domestically. We urge our fellow Americans to do the same," they said. The statement came as Trump and his rival Hillary Clinton intensify their preparation for an upcoming NBC and MSNBC debate next week which will focus on national security issue. A report from the New York Times disclosed that some of the officers listed in the "Open Letter" were supporters of Mitt Romney during the 2012 presidential elections. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. According to the Chicago Police District, the weekend had begun relatively quiet but violence spiked on the last day with 31 shots between 6 a.m. Monday and 3 a.m. Tuesday. Nine of the 13 fatalities were shot during this period, according to a Chicago Tribune report. CPD police chief Eddie Johnson blamed the bloody incidents to impoverished neighborhoods where "people without hope do these kinds of things. "Impoverished neighborhoods, people without hope do these kinds of things. You show me a man that doesn't have hope, I'll show you one that's willing to pick up a gun and do anything with it," said Johnson as quoted by the report. Police said most of the killings have occurred in Chicago's southern and western neighborhoods, where 75 community organizations hosted block parties, concerts and other pop-up events over the holiday weekend. Among those who were fatally shot were a pregnant woman and a pastor. The Labor Day weekend was the deadliest of the three holiday weekends this summer -- the Memorial Day weekend saw 69 shot, six of them fatally, while the Fourth of July weekend recorded 66 shot, five of them fatal. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Although Americans are very much focused on the November elections, developments on the other side of the Atlantic suggest that the Eurozone could be headed for a major economic and political crisis sometime next year. In order to focus attention on how to handle such an eventuality, on September 14 the American Enterprise Institute will be hosting a public seminar in Washington DC entitled Can the European Project Survive? Click here to attend the event in person, and it will also be livestreamed on AEIs website. In July 2012, when Europe last faced a major economic crisis, Mario Draghi, the head of the European Central Bank (ECB), promised to do whatever it took to save the Euro. That ECB commitment was supposed to instill renewed confidence in the Euros long run viability and to put Europe on a sustained economic growth path. Yet four years later, as underlined by the recent Brexit vote, Europes economic and political future looks shaky, to say the least. At the heart of Europes current economic and political malaise is its highly disappointing economic performance since the global economic recession in 2008-2009. At a time that the United States economy has now recovered to some 10 percent above its pre-2008 crisis peak, the overall Eurozone economy has barely recovered its 2008 level. Worse yet, key Eurozone countries like Italy and Spain find their economies still some 6-7 percent below their 2008 peak while their youth unemployment levels remain uncomfortably above 35 percent. Sadly, the economic prospects for the European economic periphery remain grim. Despite many years of budget austerity, countries like Italy, Portugal, and Greece all have public debt to GDP ratios today that are significantly higher than they were in 2010 at the start of the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis. Similarly, despite years of belt tightening, the European economic periphery remains as uncompetitive in relation to Germany and its northern neighbors as it was at the start of the European economic crisis. Further attempts to restore economic balance to the European periphery will produce yet more years of very weak economic growth. Since stuck within a Euro straitjacket, these countries are precluded from using exchange rate depreciation to offset the negative impact on aggregate demand of budget tightening. That is likely to keep Europes unemployment level above 10 percent for a few more years. Against this dismal economic background, it is little wonder that across the Eurozone support for establishment political parties has crumbled and anti-Euro sentiment has gained traction. As an example, in Italy, the Eurozones third largest economy, the populist Five-Star Party, which is strongly opposed to the Euro, has now pulled even with the ruling Democratic Party. There is also strong support in Italy for a no vote in a forthcoming referendum on constitutional reform. If a no vote were to prevail in that referendum, now most likely to occur in November, Matteo Renzis government would almost certainly fall. Such a fall could pave the way for an anti-Euro government in Rome. Meanwhile, in France, Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Front, which too is against the Euro, is widely expected to make it to the second round in the French Presidential elections next April and May. Similarly, in Greece, Portugal, and Spain, support for the traditional centrist political parties has collapsed, which has forced the formation of weak coalition governments in those countries. The European peripherys ongoing economic and political problems have to be of particular concern, coming as they do at a time that German Chancellor Angela Merkels political strength is being steadily eroded. Ahead of scheduled German parliamentary elections in September 2017, Mrs. Merkels leadership is being challenged both from within her ruling coalition party as well as by the populist far-right Alternative for Germany Party. This has to raise serious questions as to whether Mrs. Merkel will to be able to muster domestic support for future Eurozone bailout programs as she managed to do so successfully in the past. Looking at the European economic and political landscape, one cannot discount the possibility that the new American president will be confronted with a full blown Eurozone crisis soon after assuming office in January next year. One also cannot discount the likelihood that such a full-blown Eurozone crisis would roil global financial markets, in much the same way as did the Lehman banking crisis in 2008. Among the reasons that the American Enterprise Institute is arranging a seminar on Europe at this time is to draw policymakers attention to that grim possibility. Desmond Lachman is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He was formerly a Deputy Director in the International Monetary Funds Policy Development and Review Department and the chief emerging market economic strategist at Salomon Smith Barney. Interested in real economic insights? Want to stay ahead of the competition? Each weekday morning, E21 delivers a short email that includes E21 exclusive commentaries and the latest market news and updates from Washington. Sign up for the E21 Morning Ebrief. Officials from Isala Hospital in Zwolle, Netherlands, have decided to serve 3D printed food to their patients as it comes in form of food pastes and easier to swallow. A team from the hospital will be working with food provider Huuskes to offer a wide variety of foods to the patients. These 3D printed food pastes have numerous nutritional benefits, as these can retain more vitamins and minerals than overcooked mushy foods. The 3D printed food pastes for the patients will include cabbages, peas, carrots, fish and even classic Dutch dishes such as kale stamppot. These food pastes not only tastes like original recipes but also have high nutritional values and are easier to swallow. This seems to be a perfect solution for elderly and dysphagic patients in hospitals, who often have difficulty in chewing and swallowing food. A few months ago, Dutch company byFlow started a revolutionary 3D printed pop-up restaurant called Food Ink in Netherlands. Due to easier swallowability, 3D printed food seems to be a great solution for several patients in the Isala hospital. However, the initiative is still under development, but the hospital strongly believes that 3D printing technology is a futuristic way to improve patient health. Up to 20-percent of patients in Dutch hospitals are malnourished due to lack of certain vitamins. But with 3D printed foods they are hoping to improve the patient health. Isala Hospital is seeking to apply new food policy from November 1, 2016. They will start to serve meals to patients before or after being admitted to hospitals, preferably in communal settings. Via: 3ders As Poland sees a 60% rise in British holidaymakers visiting the country1, Hotel Indigo, the boutique brand belonging to IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group), opens in Krakow - the culture capital of Poland. Located in a building dating back to 1836, close to Matejko Square and the Old Town City Walls, Hotel Indigo Krakow - Old Town provides a perfect base to explore the local area: a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The new Hotel Indigo is the latest expansion in IHG's growing footprint across the region. Krakow is one of the oldest and largest cities in Poland, with hundreds of historical buildings, cutting-edge galleries and buzzing bars. Set in the vibrant Old Town where the past and present meet, the hotel offers easy access to the famous Florian gate and medieval town square. Preserving the building's remarkable original architecture, the hotel decor draws on the neighbourhood's history and rich culture. Each of the 56 guest rooms have been individually designed with colours and interior decoration inspired by the renowned alumni of the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts. At the same time, no modern comforts have been spared; each of the spa-style en-suite bathrooms feature a glass-enclosed walk-in shower, rainfall showerhead and luxurious bath amenities created bespoke for the hotel by local suppliers. For guests seeking a moment to relax or reenergise, the hotel also has a Health and Fitness centre. Guests and locals alike will enjoy the hotel's restaurant, Filipa 18. It serves traditional Polish cuisine with a modern twist, using seasonal ingredients sourced locally from Old Kleparz - the neighbouring food market trading since the 12th Century. For those wanting to experience the Polish history of vodka connoisseurship, the hotel's intimate bar offers a menu of traditional vodkas. Speaking of the opening, Agnieszka Wranka, General Manager of Hotel Indigo Krakow- Old Town comments: "The new Hotel Indigo Krakow Old Town invites guests and our neighbours to enjoy the best of Krakow's history, and to experience real Polish hospitality in a contemporary and comfortable setting. We look forward to welcoming guests from all around the world and just around the corner." Tom Rowntree, IHG's Vice President of Brand Management for Hotel Indigo, Europe said: "Boutique is the fastest growing segment in our industry, and with tourism to Eastern Europe continuing to rise, it's an exciting time to be opening our first Hotel Indigo in Poland. Hotel Indigo gives guests an authentic local experience through the interior design, service and dining so much so that the local residents in the area love to eat and drink in our restaurants and bars and our hotels really feel like a doorway to the neighbourhood." Hotel Indigo Krakow Old Town will operate under a franchise agreement with Hotel Filipa 18 ltd. There are currently 19 Hotel Indigo properties in Europe and a further 14 in the pipeline*. Guests will get the lowest price for their stay by booking through IHG Rewards Club, it's free and easy to join, thanks to IHG's Lowest Price Promise initiative a guarantee that guests will get the lowest rates when they book directly with IHG. For further information or bookings, please visit hotelIndigo.com. 1 In Poland there's been a 60% jump in the number of visits by Brits, with 543,000 visits to the country last year making it a more popular destination than Norway, Malta and Denmark - World Economic Forum's 2015 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Inx *Figures as at 30 June 2016 About IHG IHG Hotels & Resorts [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global hospitality company, with a purpose to provide True Hospitality for Good. With a family of 17 hotel brands and IHG Rewards, one of the world's largest hotel loyalty programmes, IHG has over 6,000 open hotels in more than 100 countries, and a further 1,800 in the development pipeline. InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company and is incorporated and registered in England and Wales. Approximately 350,000 people work across IHG's hotels and corporate offices globally. Visit us online for more about our hotels and reservations and IHG Rewards. For our latest news, visit our Newsroom and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Iman Denney-Brown +44 1985 512 267 IHG It looks like you've reached a page that doesnt exist (anymore). Please use the navigation or search above to find content on Hospitality Net. Go back to home Automated Forecasting and Budgeting Gives Operators and Owners Tools to Effectively Optimize Profitability The hospitality industry is expanding rapidly. Hotel companies break ground on new build projects every week. Many operators are renovating older properties and reopening them as new brands from Marriott, Hilton, IHG and others. This expansion is based on investor capital; and investors demand a return. How do management companies deliver this return? Profitability. Forecasts provide extended vision to anticipate financial results on both top and bottom line, enabling hotel operators to make operational adjustments, says Chief Information Officer for Concord Hospitality Brian Cornell. Owners have a heightened expectation that technologically sophisticated, high performing operators have the awareness, tools and resources to aggressively target additional top-line revenue opportunities if a shortfall is anticipated. They also expect operators to proactively manage operational expenses and labor costs to protect profit flow-through. Concord operates more than 90 properties that include Marriott, Starwood, Hyatt, Choice, IHG, and Hilton brands for multiple ownership entities. Concord Hospitality uses the Targetvue Hotel Forecasting and Budgeting Solution from Aptech Computer Systems. Highpointe Hotel Corporation operates 15 flagged properties with two under construction. Creating forecasts for multiple properties is a complex process. In the past Highpointe used Excel to manually build forecasts, but we were not satisfied with the process, said Mark T. Pate, Sr, assistant controller/IT director of Highpointe Hotel Corporation. We automated our hotel forecasting and budget processes a year ago when one of our ownership groups required line item hotel forecasting, which we felt was impossible with Excel spreadsheets. They also wanted to know where the hotel would finish its year at any point in time on a line-by-line basis. Again, this is nearly impossible to keep current with a spreadsheet. We do this today with an automated hotel forecasting system that lets us manage by the numbers to optimize profitability. It also delivers the reporting our owners want. Highpointe Hotel Corporation also makes use of the Targetvue Forecasting and Budgeting Solution from Aptech. Accurate, continuously updated forecasts are essential to optimizing operations for owner profitability. Concord uses its forecasting system to generate business drivers as an operations roadmap. A driver is a specific measurement we create in Targetvue, such as percentage of revenue from a market segment or the number of housekeeping hours per room, said Cornell. For example, we use the cost of per-occupied-room expenses as a driver. Our system automatically applies the updated topline forecast against the drivers actual expenses. The system self-maintains the strategy we establish and reports daily. This enables us to manage a property effectively to plan. Our ability to forecast with Targetvue is much better and our crystal ball is much larger. We see further out more accurately. Accurate forecasting also demonstrates value with its impact on revenue generation. When a property has a continuous performance-based forecast for the coming period it can adjust rates and marketing to meet revenue requirements, said Jill Wilder, Aptech vice president. By refining rates and offering promotions an operator can increase occupancy and overall revenue for a better finish to the fiscal year. The value of forecasting is in more than accuracy. An automated forecast that gets daily updated performance data from property operations is like a continuous pulse meter that compares actuals against plan. This living forecast projects todays numbers into the future. This gives operators the ability to manage a business to plan day by day for the greatest profitability. With an automated forecasting and budgeting system like Targetvue, the numbers come in each night and the system projects how each periods performance will compare to plan, said Wilder. This information enables managers to quickly adjust daily operations and processes without waiting to month end. Many operators also use Targetvue to compare current period and forecast to the same period last year. The ability to compare the current forecast with the same time last year is valuable because operators can easily see trends that created last years performance, Wilder said. Imagine if your forecast dictates a certain ADR is required to meet plan, but this time last year occupancy trended downward. An experienced manager might meet with his or her revenue manager and sales team to adjust rates, create short term promotions, or call group prospects to generate business. A comprehensive forecasting system will include last years line item metrics for specific market segment performance. This also gives the sales team guidance on which markets have the highest revenue potential. The operational value of automated forecasting is equally clear. Pate at Highpointe said, Our team was not able to efficiently create solid forecasts for all its properties. With Targetvue, property budgets reside on our server and are accessed by property managers online. We have greater confidence in our numbers because the formulas are secure and cannot be overwritten. Now each Highpointe property works on its own forecast and is easily reviewed by the corporate executive staff. Besides being more efficient and more accurate, there is one version of the truth. The result is that our managers have current, more accurate forecasts on which to base their business strategy. In addition to profitability, owners also want timely accurate forecast on which to base their investment plans and cash flow. Forecast accuracy is key for Concord to manage owner expectations, said Concords Brian Cornell. Our owners receive forecasting reports in addition to their financial reports. Targetvues reports are flexible and let us customize information for each customer who receives the information. Automated budgeting combined with our business intelligence system gives us the ability to provide daily hotel forecasting that helps property ownership see further ahead and plan more accurately for the future. About Aptech Computer Systems, Inc. Aptech Computer Systems, Inc., based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the only provider of a fully integrated enterprise accounting, business intelligence and planning ecosystem to the hospitality industry. All of its clients are companies like yours, which own or manage hotels. Its solutions help customers at both the corporate and property levels understand their financial and operational data for faster goal achievement. The company is renowned for introducing business intelligence into the hotel industry, and offers a solid resource of hospitality professionals. Aptech is an IBM Software Value Plus partner and Premier Solution Provider. Incorporated in 1970, Aptechs state-of-the-art back office, true business intelligence and enterprise planning solutions are 100% hotel specific. Solutions include Profitvue, Execuvue, Webvue and Targetvue. Clients comprise over 3,500 properties - including large chains, multiple-property management companies and single-site hotels. Execuvue and Profitvue are registered to Aptech Computer Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are owned by their respective holders. For more information please visit www.aptech-inc.com. CONTACTS: Aptech Computer Systems Cam Troutman, Vice President 135 Delta Drive Pittsburgh, PA 15238 Phone: 800-245-0720 or 412-963-7440 Email: vueinfo@aptech-inc.com www.aptech-inc.com Media Contact Julie Keyser-Squires, APR Softscribe Inc. 609 SW 8th Street, Ste 600 Bentonville, AR 72712 Phone: 404-256-5512 Email: Julie(at)softscribeinc.com www.softscribeinc.com An 11.7% RevPAR increase at hotels in Amman was completely wiped out by high costs this month, resulting in a 4.3% decline in profit per room, according to the latest data from HotStats. An 11.7% RevPAR increase at hotels in Amman was completely wiped out by high costs this month, resulting in a 4.3% decline in profit per room, according to the latest data from HotStats. The year-on-year RevPAR (Revenue per Available Room) growth for July was primarily due to a 5.3 percentage point increase in occupancy. However, the data suggests Amman hoteliers sold a much higher proportion of bedrooms via online third party travel agents this month, illustrated by the 65.8% year-on-year increase in Rooms Cost of Sales, which in part, fuelled the occupancy growth. Whilst the use of online travel agents by Amman hoteliers has evidently not been so prevalent for the remainder of the year, as an increase of just 13.3% has been recorded in this measure in 2016, the 22.0% increase in this cost over the last three years would suggest its use is becoming more commonplace. Furthermore, as Amman hotels have suffered an 11.0% decline in RevPAR during this same period (ie the 36 months to July 2016), profit levels in the Rooms department have dropped by 14.1%, to $71.68 per available room in the 12 months to July 2016. Despite achieving a 9.6% increase in profit per room in July, the Rooms department is now less profitable than ever with the conversion dropping by 1.6 percentage points to 79.8% of Rooms revenue, from 81.3% during the same period in 2015. Manama Hotels Break Cycle of Decline in July Hotels in Manama recorded a profit per room increase of 4.3% in July, which is the first sign of profit growth in the Bahrain capital since January 2016. The year-on-year increase in GOPPAR (Gross Operating Profit per Available Room) was primarily fuelled by a 7.3% increase in RevPAR to $95.04, which was in spite of an 8.5% year-on-year decline in achieved average room rate. On a rolling 12-month basis, the average rate at Manama hotels has now fallen by 7.2% over the last ten months, to $187.27 in the 12 months to July 2016. Prior to July, profit per room at Manama hotels for H1 2016 had fallen by 18.3% year-on-year to $52.38, equivalent to a year-to-date profit conversion of 33.1% compared to 36.7% in 2015. The decline in profit was primarily due to an 8.7% drop in RevPAR, as well as declining ancillary revenues, including Food and Beverage (-12.4%) and Conference and Banqueting (-21.3%). Massive Drop in Leisure Demand Crippling Sharm El Sheikh Hotels Hotels in Sharm El Sheikh are struggling to remain profitable as leisure demand has all but abandoned the coastal city in the wake of terrorist related events in October 2015 and the hangover from the Arab Spring. Whilst overall volume has been worst hit, with year-to-date 2016 occupancy recorded at just 32.1%, 30.2 percentage points behind the same period in 2015, the key challenges remain in the leisure segment where the proportion of total demand in this sector has dropped by 12.7 percentage points. For the average hotel in our sample (ie approximately 450 bedrooms) this is equivalent to a decline of approximately 15,400 accommodated roomnights in the first seven months of 2016. Whilst there has been a 13.6% year-to-date uplift in the achieved rate in the leisure segment, to $46.26 from $40.73, the shortfall of volume from the leisure segment is equivalent to a $600,000 year-on-year decline in Rooms revenue for the average hotel in our sample. Despite the 12.5% year-on-year decline in profit per room in July, profit conversion at Sharm El Sheikh hotels increased by 0.7 percentage points to 29.3% from 28.6% during the same period in 2015. The growth in July is in contrast to the year-to-date profit performance as year-on-year GOPPAR has plummeted by 107.6% to -$1.20 per available room. Click here ( Adobe Acrobat PDF file) to view full the report. HotStats provides two reporting tools to hoteliers: Our unique profit and loss benchmarking service which enables monthly comparison of hotels performance against their competitors. It is distinguished by the fact that it provides in excess of 100 performance metric comparisons covering 70 areas of hotel revenue, cost, profit and statistics providing far deeper insight into the hotel operation than any other tool. Our latest innovation in daily revenue intelligence, MORSE. Amongst its reporting are daily and highly granular market segmentation metrics as well as distribution channel and source of booking analysis. It takes daily market intelligence to a whole new level. For more information contact: Enquiries +44 (0) 20 7892 2241 enquiries@hotstats.com Almost Three in Five Americans Plan to Add Extra Stops to Their Winter Trips This Year: Holiday survey reveals vaca https://t.co/ByRGUhBC5C Last Friday, Universal Music announced a remarkable record deal to sign Music for Cats, the first ever major label deal for music aimed at animals rather than humans. This album, composed by Americas National Symphony Orchestra cellist, David Teie, has been scientifically proven to enrich the lives of cats and provide a calming influence for our feline friends. Based at the University Of Maryland, David Teie is a published music researcher and decorated cellist, having given multiple solos with the National Symphony Orchestra and even playing lead cello for Metallica on their album S&M. Music for Cats was born out of Teie's scientific theory on the nature of music appreciation by animals. Felines establish their sense of music through the sounds heard when theyre kittens: birds chirping, suckling for milk, or their mother's purr. With this premise, David composed Music for Cats, incorporating cat-centric sounds and classical elements. An independent study conducted by researchers at the University of Wisconsin supported the idea that Music for Cats makes for contented kitties. Mick Flannery has announced the release of his fifth album I Own You and has shared with us the first single from that album. Following the release of By The Rule in 2014, Mick took a short break and began writing again in 2015. Basing himself between Cork and Clare, Mick was motivated by current events around the world to start writing again, specifically one tragic event in April 2015 that inspired the title track. Speaking directly about the new single he said: "I Own You is about class inequality, more specifically the Baltimore riots. I was writing around the same time that this kid Freddie Gray died they just broke his back, and the feelings and emotions around that just sort of bled into the song. I suppose the main bulk was to do with that." Flannery promises a collection of songs which are more socially conscious than his previous offerings. "50% of this album is more socially aware, containing social commentary stuff, and is ultimately less self-involved than my previous releases. It may also sound slightly different; I was listening to a lot of Kendrick Lamar, and for a long time it was just Christian [producer] and I in the studio him on drums and me warbling so the beat became more important than any guitar or piano parts, more hip-hop based, the reason it sounds a little bit more modern." Advertisement I Own You will be released on CD and vinyl on October 14. You can watch the video for "I own You" here: October 10th marks the 50th anniversary of the release of one of pop musics most iconic songs of all time, The Beach Boys Good Vibrations. To celebrate, the band have teamed up with Capitol U/ME to release a special 12-inch sunburst vinyl EP on October 7. Recorded across several sessions at four Hollywood studios between February and September 1966, Good Vibrations was a revelation upon its release, wowing musicians, critics and music fans, and rocketing to the top of singles charts around the world. A crown jewel of popular music, Good Vibrations has been called a pocket symphony, with its still-innovative production, lush, layered arrangements, and range of instruments. The Good Vibrations (50th Anniversary Edition)" vinyl EP features the original 7 single version, an alternate studio take, an edit of the song with elements from various sessions, an instrumental, and a live version from a Honolulu rehearsal in August, 1967 that was originally intended for the lost album Leid in Hawaii, plus the singles B-side, Lets Go Away For Awhile. A pull-out lithograph of the singles original Japanese cover art, with its Good Vibration title typo intact, is included in the EP package, which features the original 1966 U.S. single cover art on its front. Picture Perfect are the fledgling band currently gracing the cover of our new issue, and boy do the crowds love them. The two Athy lads have experienced a meteoric rise to fame after forming their band in October. Their packed performance at the Rankin Stage was further affirmation of their national acclaim. The audience lapped up their distinctive medley of rock, pop and indie. Ryan O'Shaughnessy's soulful vocals had all the girls swooning with 'Saviour' and 'I Don't Know Why'. The stirring guitar riffs and relentless drumbeat echoed 'Champagne Supernova' and 'Where the Streets Have No Name'. 'For You' exposed that beautiful voice to full effect with its free-style jazzy vibes. This song would definitely fit perfectly at the end of a romcom. The new trailer for season 3 of the slow-burning crime drama starring Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan has been released and shows Dornan's serial killer character, Phil Spector, fighting for his life in intensive care. The show first hit our screens back in 2013 and became an instant success by incorporating elements of Scandinavian crime dramas - such as The Bridge and Wallander - into a Belfast setting. The casting of X-Files star (Anderson) and 50 Shades of Grey pin-up (Dornan) helped sell the show to an international audience. The second season premiered in November 2014 but doubt was cast over whether its final episode, where Dornan's character was shot by a ghost from his past, would be the show's dramatic denouement. Now it appears the story is far from over. Watch the new trailer here: For over 50 years, Dr. George Manilla has served Elko county residents as a pathologist and researcher. His work with dyslexic children and adults to help them read also contributed to the community along with his involvement in the arts. Dr. George Thomas Manilla was born in Duluth, Minnesota to George and Muriel Manilla. His family moved to Salt Lake City after he graduated high school, where he attended the University of Utah, studying bacteriology. George was drafted into the Army during the Korean War and served in the Army Chemical Corps. After the war, George resumed his studies, entering medical school where he met and soon married Franzi Reisenbirchler. While working on his Ph.D. in pathology, George was inspired to move to Nevada after making a short visit to Elko with his father. In 1963, Dr. Manilla joined the Elko Clinic and moved to Elko where he and Franzi raised their children, Andy, Mary and Kathy. George joined the Clinic as a general practitioner and commuted to Salt Lake City to finish his degree. In 1970, he completed his residency and was certified in clinical, anatomical and forensic pathology, one of the few in the nation at that time to be certified in three boards. Through research and recognizing his own struggles with reading as a child, Manilla developed a method to teach dyslexics to read with eye exercises. In the mid-1980s, Manilla began helping schoolchildren and adults to overcome their reading problems and later wrote a book, Dyslexia Solved with Joe de Braga. They, along with Linda Lindsey, started Reading Vision LLC in 2012. In addition to his medical work and research, George and Franzi were square dancers with the Ruby Mountain Rainbow Reelers. He wrote three musicals with Mike Polise, including The Potts Hangin Ghost that was performed locally in 2011. Also an artist, his watercolor and oil landscapes have been displayed in the art gallery at the Northeastern Nevada Museum. In 1999, Dr. Manilla retired as Director of Pathology from Northern Nevada Regional Hospital and from the Elko Clinic in 2003. He was honored with an open house celebrating his 40 years of service. Donald Trump's hard-line stance on immigrants in the U.S. illegally is not surprising given that he made it the central part of his campaign. What has stunned experts in the fallout after his first detailed policy speech in Arizona last week is his nearly unprecedented public embrace of limiting legal immigration. The country has an obligation to "control future immigration," he said, to "ensure assimilation" and "keep immigration levels measured by population share within historical norms." "We will reform legal immigration to serve the best interests of America and its workers, the forgotten people," Trump said. It was a coup for those who support reducing immigration, led by Alabama's Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions and advocated by a small group of national activists, such as NumbersUSA. Roy Beck, its executive director, said he has "been looking for decades for a candidate with such a pro-American worker attitude." Others called it a significant shift in U.S. policy with dark implications for a nation built on immigrants. "What he's talking about is a closing of the door, period," said David Leopold, an Ohio immigration lawyer and past president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. "This is the time-out the restrictionists have long dreamed about." It is a sharp break from the mainstream Republican Party's long-held support for legal immigration while opposing amnesty for those in the country illegally. Many business groups favoring the GOP advocate an overhaul of the system to allow for more legal immigration. "This is a huge change in policy," said Jacob Monty, a Houston immigration lawyer who served on Trump's Hispanic advisory group until he resigned after Trump's Arizona speech. "This is not on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce website. This is not a serious proposal. It's a way to redefine America and make it look like something resembling the 1950s." In his Phoenix speech, Trump noted that the United States admitted 59 million immigrants between 1965 and 2015. "Many of these arrivals have greatly enriched our country," he said. "But we now have an obligation to them and to their children to control future immigration as we are following, if you think, previous immigration waves." The U.S. Census estimates that whites will be a minority in about 30 years and the share of foreign-born people - 13 percent of the population - is at its highest level since 1920. In 1924, Congress passed a law restricting the number of immigrants admitted from certain countries, initially limiting it to 2 percent of the number of persons from that country who lived in the United States in 1890. As a result, overall immigration dropped by almost half within a year. Aimed at limiting immigration from southern and eastern Europe to "preserve the ideal of American homogeneity," according to the State Department's Office of the Historian, the law stayed in place until 1965. Back to the 1950s Trump last week appeared to suggest returning to such policies to keep immigration at "historic norms." Advocates of such an idea generally reference the 1950s, when the foreign-born share of the population fell to about one out of every 20 people rather than today's one in eight. "This would be both an economic disaster and would be forever changing the nature of who we are as a country and shutting ourself off to the world," said Todd Schulte, executive director of FWD.us, an immigrant advocacy group founded by Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates. Sessions and the activist groups supporting such policies argue it would improve wages and employment opportunities for American workers. "(Trump) put so much emphasis on why he would enforce and reduce legal immigration and that is to help the American worker," said Beck, of NumbersUSA. "No candidate since 1960 has ever had anything like this kind of pro-worker policy." He noted that former Houston congresswoman Barbara Jordan, a prominent black liberal Democrat, chaired a 1995 commission calling for limiting immigration to protect U.S. workers. Former colleagues say Beck is taking Jordan's comments out of context, arguing they occurred during different political circumstances. About half of the American public opposes increasing legal immigration while just more than a third favors it, according to a poll last week by Morning Consult, a Washington, D.C. research company. It was conducted Sept. 1-2 among a national sample of 2,001 registered voters, with a margin of error of plus- or minus-two percentage points. 'Essentially zero' impact Economists, however, tend to agree that immigration does not depress wages over the long term and actually boosts productivity. There is some debate over its short-term effect, particularly on low-skilled workers. A 2014 study by Giovanni Peri, an economics professor at the University of California, Davis, found that immigration has a small impact, "essentially zero," on the average wages of native workers, who he said are insulated by differences in skills from immigrant workers. In his speech, Trump did not detail how he would limit legal immigration, but said he would create a commission to study the issue and develop a set of reforms. Immigrants should be selected based on their "likelihood of success" and ability to be "financially self-sufficient." He advocated an "ideological certification" to ensure immigrants "share our values and love our people." Charles Foster, a Houston attorney who has advised Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama on immigration policy, questioned how such a policy would be defined or enforced. "I'm a Methodist, but if I had to prove I'm a Methodist, I don't know what I would show," he said. "It's just almost impossible to enact." Current U.S. immigration policy emphasizes family reunification with fewer visas issued based on a person's ability to contribute to the economy. Trump's proposal would flip that. Beck said he also would urge Trump to cut an annual green card lottery that issues 50,000 visas to people around the world and stop allowing adult relatives to join their families here, which he said amounts to about 400,000 immigrants a year. On his website, Trump has called for a "pause" in issuing green cards to foreign workers abroad, saying companies would have to hire domestically instead. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, generally advocates for expanding legal immigration and has said she supports postponing the deportations for many of those in the country illegally. The 2013 immigration bill that passed the Senate but died in the House would have increased legal immigration by as much as 50 percent, expanding the number of visas for high-tech workers, among others, while keeping most family unification visas. Needs of an aging society Rethinking the immigration system to more effectively align with future U.S. economic needs is not a novel concept, said Doris Meissner, commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service between 1993 and 2000. It could, however, mean more immigration, not less. "We are, for the first time ever, an aging society," she said. "As more people retire and less younger workers in the labor force are native-born, immigration gives us a way and can be a real competitive advantage to cushion the effects of that." The median age of the U.S.'s white native-born population is 43, compared to 29 for Hispanics, said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a think tank in Washington, D.C. "We have immigration over the last 30 years to thank for the fact that we do have a growing labor force," he said. "If that stops, we would still continue to have some growth because of the past immigrants and their children, but over the longer haul we would look more like European countries, like Japan." A Licking teen was injured Monday night in a U.S. 63 crash in Randolph County, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said. A northbound 2014 Chevrolet Impala driven by Claireesa J. Ridenhour, 18, struck the rear of a 2002 Jeep Cherokee operated by Betty A. Mundy, 48, of Salisbury. The patrol said both sustained minor injuries and were taken to Samaritan Hospital in Macon. Each was wearing a seat belt. The Jeep had minor damage. The Impala had moderate damage. As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content. When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to. After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS! OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those. Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. Its estimated that 60 percent of children in the United States receive orthodontic treatment, generally in the form of braces. For some kids, traditional braces could be a thing of the past. Local orthodontist Dr. David Grove can offer an alternative orthodontic appliance known as the Myobrace. Although the Myobrace is not new its been around for 25 years it is being utilized by orthodontists to straighten teeth, promote healthy breathing, and treat sleep apnea. Grove, who has a passion for medically based dentistry and proper facial development, has used orthodontic appliances such as the Myobrace and Invisalign to straighten teeth, and medical oral devices to treat sleep apnea for several years. A common reason for braces is teeth overcrowding or an overbite. For Grove, its all about a clients airway and muscle development to eliminate overcrowding. The function of the tongue determines the position of the teeth and proper facial growth relies on breathing patterns. According to Grove, the Myobrace corrects this by allowing kids to grow more appropriately and have more room for their teeth. Basically, Myobrace addresses the cause of the problem and allows proper facial development, thereby allowing teeth to grow in properly. What Myobrace does is it makes them breath through their nose. It widens the maxilla (upper jaw) and makes room for the teeth. So someone whos developing overcrowding, if they just breath correctly and when they swallow, they close their lips, their tongue goes in the roof of the mouth, then the tongue will actually widen, said Grove. So your face and your jaws grow according to muscles, and not bone. There are several positive aspects for those patients who qualify for Myobrace treatment. The treatment is less painful, eliminates extracting teeth, and can be less expensive and take less time than traditional braces or shorten the time traditional braces are worn. It also promotes correct facial growth and proper breathing, often at an earlier age. The advantages to not extracting teeth are attractive to kids and parents alike, but also has advantages beyond the pain and cost. Having teeth extracted in some individuals could cause airway problems down the road. When you dont extract, youre not compressing the airways, said Grove. For some, extraction could increase sleep apnea problems in the future. Early correction of airway is important, according to Grove. I have found airway and sleep apnea symptoms in kids. Airway problems can start with infancy and continue to the end of life, said Grove. I have a girl who was CPAP intolerant and I worked with an ENT to use a Myobrace, as it would help open the airway, and at the same time alter positively, growth of the face, and improve the malocclusion (overbite), he said. Kids who use Myobrace wear the appliance an hour and a half before bedtime each night and then through the night. It is imperative to keep the appliance in for the full time to be successful. I start with this one, that looks like a mouthpiece. That gets them going, and then they graduate to different ones, said Grove. Over the years of his practice, Grove has had positive feedback from children and their parents who have used the Myobrace successfully. Robin Smith of Spring Creek, and her daughter, McKenzie have chosen to use Myobrace instead of braces. She has enough room in her mouth for all her teeth and we didnt have to put braces on her to get her teeth to move, said Smith. Her mouth is sore in the morning but its definitely less painful than having braces. Smith did feel that compliance with the parents is important for it to be successful and wearing the device the entire time is important. I think once she started seeing her teeth move in the front, she realized she didnt need braces, said Smith. Dr. Groves office manager and wife, Kathy Groves, also feels that commitment by both parent and child is the key to successful treatment. Ive noticed its an amazing treatment that requires adherence by the parents to enforce the routine and thats the key, said Grove. It works gorgeously, but It takes a motivated child and a motivated parent. Initial orthodontic evaluations can be done as soon as a childs front teeth are in, around ages 6 to 7. If youre interested in finding out if your child is a candidate for the Myobrace call Grove and schedule an evaluation at no charge. During the evaluation, Grove will make physical observations to determine if the child is a mouth breather and interview the parent and child in regard to the childs medical and dental health. He also includes a pediatric sleep questionnaire. I ask the parent if they see signs of being tired, behavior problems, being sleepy at school, cant wake up, restless leg syndrome, and wetting the bed. All those things are tied into bad sleep and airway, said Grove. ADHD kids are sleep apnea types as well, who cant breath through the nose, he added. Myobrace is covered by insurances the same as braces or any other orthordontic appliances. Jean-Michel Wu, Chief Talent Officer - McCann WorldGroup APAC Christina Ong, Regional Recruiter, SEA (Technology) Lazada Group Mike McCarthy, Group Head HR, APAC, Middle East & Africa Mastercard Eriko Talley, Head of HR, APAC Facebook Chek Wee Foo, Group HR Director, SEA & Hong Kong ZALORA Group Rachel Lee, Talent Acquisition Business Partner Grab Philippa (Pip) Penfold, HR & Talent Director GroupM Jean Yap, Vice President/Talent Acquisition Lead APAC SMBC Chris Mead, Head-Talent Acquistion APJC Cisco this is just the beginning of an exciting adventure as I embark on a continuous journey to share ideas and best practices on Talent Acquisition, an area that Im very passionate about." HR is a strategic function that helps an organisation select key hires and shapes their talent management programmes. We constantly hustle to push the boundaries in HR practices and adopt changes to shape and transform companies to be ready for tomorrows challenges. In my opinion, we can do this by hiring the most critical talent first and having a 'pay strategy' in mind. We have to be open to adopting new technologies and in establishing an approach to workplace diversity," she added. e influential HR leaders made the list of LinkedIns top power profiles in Singapore for 2016.Human resource heads and talent acquisitions directors from industries such as media and advertising, e-commerce, social media and technology, banking and finance were included on the list.The power profiles title was given to the following:For Chek Wee Foo, group HR director of the ZALORA Group for SEA and Hong Kong, being named in the power profile list for the second time in a row means that he is able to connect with more HR practitioners globally and to be able to exchange ideas on good HR practices.Investment in Asia is booming and we need HR professionals across Asia to be ready to take on the challenge in attracting, developing, and retaining talents, he told HRD.Foo also acknowledged the Singapore governments strong support of the HR profession, but urged his fellow practitioners to become advocates.The government strongly believes that human capital is a sustainable competitive advantage in any company, in any industry, and has committed to scale up our HR professions through various government-led initiatives. One example is the National HR Capability initiative by the Ministry of Manpower. We, as HR professionals, should leverage the strong support from the Singapore government, develop ourselves as HR professionals, contribute to the HR profession in Singapore, and beyond, he said.Rachel Lee, Talent Acquisition Business Partner - Regional Tech for Grab, who has made the list for the first time, said that " ELKO Dirt clods flew into the crowd as race horses thundered down the track Monday at the Elko County Fair. Each year the races feature six days of thoroughbred and quarter horse competition. A total of $200,000 in purse money is awarded to winners in the event. The Blackjack Challenge is the final race of the yearly, six-day race schedule. The races have long been a popular outing for Elkoans and Mondays crowd seemed bigger than ever. I think what is wonderful about this year is the variety of people out here on the grass, said spectator Janice Collett. The Choraliers sang Home Means Nevada before the horses loaded up in the chutes. Both patriotism and anticipation fired up the crowd and they whooped and cheered as the gates opened. When the horses crossed the finish line of the challenge the crowd was unsure who the winner was. A few minutes later, announcer John Patrick Rice said they were still waiting on a tight photo finish. Finally, Rice announced that Sefolosha was the winning horse with jockey Fernando Manuel Gamez pushing him on from the very back of the line of horses. Unable Stables was the syndicate sponsor for this horse and those in the syndicate came down from the stands to have their photo taken with Sefolosha and Gamez. He was a long shot, said parimutuel manager Tiffany Elkins, who has been coming to Elko for 12 years with her job. She is a third-generation manager of the races, preceded by her mother and grandmother. While Sefolosha and Gamez were receiving accolades, the other horses and jockeys returned to the stable area. Twenty-nine year old Aubrie Green from Idaho Falls was one of three female jockeys at this years races. I have been racing for about a year, she said. "I kind of fell into it. Green rode a winning horse Sunday and did not seem perturbed about losing to Seflosha and Gamez. She smiled and said, Its my career, I love it. Peter Mansbridge says he will step down from his position as chief correspondent of CBC News after 28 years. The 68-year-old news anchor announced his retirement during Monday's "The National" newscast, saying his final broadcast will air Canada Day, on the country's 150th birthday. Advertisement "Leaving the CBC's flagship will not be easy," said Mansbridge, because he "believes strongly in public broadcasting." "It's been an amazing time to report our history, but I've decided that this year will be my last one. What's important is that 'The National' of the future will continue to reflect our world, our country and our people." The decorated journalist has won 12 Gemini Awards and conducted roughly 15,000 interviews since getting his start at a CBC Radio station in Churchill, Man. at age 19, according to the CBC. Back in January, he received three Canadian Screen Award nominations for his work at the public broadcaster, including one for "Best National Newscast." Advertisement The network notes he has covered every federal election since 1972 and anchored all 10 since 1984. He has also hosted eight Olympic ceremonies, won 12 Gemini Awards and was named an officer of the Order of Canada in 2008. Born in London, England, the resident of Stratford, Ont. will continue to serve as the public broadcaster's chief correspondent until July 1, 2017. His son, Will Mansbridge, was quick to congratulate his father, writing: One more year behind the desk incredibly proud of you dad pic.twitter.com/rg8wdY0Dft Will Mansbridge (@willmansbridge) September 6, 2016 Earlier this year, Mansbridge was named to the Canadian News Hall of Fame and was given a lifetime achievement award by the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA). He also made his big screen debut in the animated film "Zootopia" as television reporter "Peter Moosebridge." Advertisement Mansbridge is chancellor at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, where he spoke at a commencement ceremony a few days ago. With a file from The Canadian Press Also on HuffPost Its little wonder so many Canadians hop across the border for cheaper flights: A new study estimates Canada has the worlds highest costs for international air travel. And by a longshot. According to a survey by Kiwi.com, Canadians pay an average of US$94.66 per 100 km of international air travel on full-service airlines, compared to US$61.87 in Oman, the second-most expensive country. In the U.S., that averaged just $18.05. Advertisement The least expensive country to fly internationally is China, with an average cost of US$2.84, the Kiwi.com survey found. Canada also topped the list for international travel on low-cost airlines, at $43.70 per 100km, compared to $12.84 in the U.S. When it comes to domestic flights, Canadian fliers arent faring quite that badly. On the index of all flights, domestic and international, Canada ranked as only the sixth-most expensive country, behind the United Arab Emirates, Finland, Qatar, the Netherlands and Japan. Advertisement Kiwi.com, an online travel agency that used to be known as Skypicker, says it analyzed prices on more than one million flights to compile price data on 75 countries. For domestic flights, it looked at prices from the countrys capital to five major domestic cities in the country, or a major city in a neighbouring country if the country doesnt have five other major cities. For international flights, it looked at costs from the capital city to five international hubs on the same continent. The debate over Canadas pricey air travel is well-traveled ground at this point, as are the arguments for why it's like this. Some in the industry argue that Canadas large size and the long distances between cities will always make air travel less efficient and therefore more expensive here. Advertisement But a recent study from the Montreal Economic Institute also placed blame on the fees that airports and governments charge. Canadas largest airports are notorious for having some of the worlds highest landing fees, while the federal government collects rent from airports that last year accounted for $313 million in revenue. Ultimately, these taxes and charges represent extra costs that are passed on to consumers and to air carriers, study author Alexandre Moreau wrote. Others point to a relative lack of competition in Canadas airline space, saying Air Canada and WestJet have formed a duopoly that controls air prices in Canada. Also on HuffPost A new poll suggests that, all things being equal, most Canadians prefer female political leaders to male ones. In a survey released over the weekend, Abacus Data asked voters who they would pick for party leader if the choice came down to an equally qualified man and woman. Advertisement Fifty-four per cent of respondents said they would pick a female leader in that scenario, compared to 46 per cent who would select the male. Sixty-nine per cent of women said they would pick a female leader, compared to 38 per cent of men. The breakdown according to political support is also interesting given that federal New Democrats and Conservatives are setting out to find new permanent leaders. Sixty-nine per cent of those who voted NDP in the last election would select a female leader, compared to 31 per cent who would pick a man. Advertisement It's the opposite story for Tories, however, as 63 per cent of past Conservative voters would pick a male leader and 37 per cent would select the woman. The numbers also suggest that 52 per cent of female Tory voters would prefer a male leader, while 75 per cent of male Tory voters feel the same. Kellie Leitch appears at a press conference in Ottawa on Feb. 27, 2015. (Photo: Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press) Ontario MP Kellie Leitch is the only female candidate in the Conservative leadership race so far, but fellow Ontarian Lisa Raitt and Manitoba's Candice Bergen are also mulling bids. There are currently no declared New Democrats running for leader. Ontario MPP Cheri DiNovo quit the race last month amid health issues. Manitoba MP Niki Ashton is reportedly thinking it over. Advertisement As for Liberals, 54 per cent of supporters told Abacus they would pick a female leader, while 46 per cent would select a man. Unlike the NDP or Tories, Liberals have never had a female leader at the federal level. Women under the age of 45 were most likely to prefer a female leader, while men over 45 were most likely to select the man. What about the age of candidates? The poll also tested who would win if the choice came down to a person under the age of 50 and a person older than 50. Sixty-five per cent of Canadians said they'd prefer a leader under 50, while 35 per cent would select the older candidate. Tory voters were the most likely to prefer the older candidate, with 59 per cent of that party's supporters choosing that option. In contrast, 68 per cent of Liberal supporters and 64 per cent of New Democrats would opt for the younger candidate. Advertisement Of the five contenders who have formally joined the Tory leadership race, three are over the age of 50 Quebec MP Maxime Bernier, 53, Ontario MP Tony Clement, 55, and Alberta MP Deepak Obhrai, 66. Ontario MP Michael Chong is 44 the same age as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau while Leitch is 46. Combining those preferences, Abacus found that 37 per cent of respondents would prefer a young female leader, while 27 per cent would like a young male leader. Among Tory voters, however, just 13 per cent preferred a young female candidate compared to 43 per cent who preferred a male candidate over 45. Tories 'see the world and politics' differently: CEO In the poll summary, Abacus chairman Bruce Anderson said the results suggest the nature of political biases are shifting in directions that favour younger women. Advertisement "The numbers suggest women have been convincing more men that they have good leadership qualities, than men have been convincing women," he said in the release. Anderson added that partisanship breakdowns show that Liberal and NDP voters "see the world and politics somewhat differently from Conservative voters." The online survey was conducted from Aug. 22 to 25 among a random sample of 2,010 adult Canadians. The margin of error for a similar poll is 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Also on HuffPost Rookie MPs To Keep Your Eye On See Gallery Can we blame Carrie Underwood for this? In an incident that reminds us of the country's star's song "Before He Cheats," a woman in Florida has been charged after allegedly setting a car on fire that she thought belonged to an ex-boyfriend. Carmen Chamblee, 19, faces second-degree arson charges after police in Clearwater say she torched a white car on Aug. 28, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Advertisement Quite an unfortunate mistake She told police she thought the car was her former boyfriend's. Instead, it belonged to Thomas Jennings, who told WFTS his roommate woke him up that morning to let him know his vehicle was on fire. He checked the surveillance camera footage around his home and saw a woman heading over to his sedan and lighting the trunk on fire, even fanning the flames. "I have no idea who she is," he told the outlet. "I've never seen her in my life." Fire investigators told WFTS a flaming rag was thrown in the gas tank and that the suspect was carrying some flammable liquid in a beach bag. The Clearwater Police Department posted a video Saturday showing a woman they say is Chamblee feeding the flames. Advertisement Pinella County inmate records show she is awaiting trial and being held on US$10,000 bail. You can see more on the story in the video above. Also on HuffPost If you're wondering how Justin Trudeau' first official visit to China went, Chrystia Freeland has two words for you: "little potato." Speaking to CNBC at the G20 summit in Hangzhou, the international trade minister was asked how she would characterize the relationship between Canada and China, especially with some lingering "legacy issues" from the previous Conservative government. Advertisement International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland speaks with Canadian and international reporters at the G20 Leaders Summit in Hangzhou, China, on Sept. 5, 2016. (Photo: Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press) The minister said Trudeau and Co.'s trip to the country is aimed at restoring and strengthening ties between the two nations. She then described how she is "quite proud" that the prime minister has been given the nickname of "little potato" in China. Advertisement Trudeau's name sounds similar to the Mandarin word for potato. Freeland added that the "little" comes from the fact that Trudeau's father Pierre would have been "senior potato." She said the moniker makes her feel that the Canadian delegation's visit is "off to a great start," and she thanked her Chinese hosts for being "warm." Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shakes hands with China's President Xi Jinping before the G20 leaders' family photo in Hangzhou on Sunday. (Photo: Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images) Advertisement Tuesday marks the last day of Trudeau's eight-day official visit to China, his first as prime minister. His primary goal of the visit was to strengthen commercial ties with the Chinese regime. With Canada struggling through an extended period of weak growth, the government sees expanding the relationship with China the world's second-largest economy as a key to helping things rebound. With files from The Canadian Press Also On HuffPost: On Monday, Dwayne "The Rock shared a new photo of eight-month-old Jasmine on Instagram, showing how much shes grown. In his caption, the dad-of-two shared a hilarious story about how his wee one pooped on him while they were having a serious father-daughter moment. A photo posted by therock (@therock) on Sep 5, 2016 at 9:19am PDT Advertisement I had an amazing philosophical conversation w/ my baby girl about the value of hard work and how respect is given when it's earned, the 44-year-old sweetly wrote. I told her, Baby girl when you grow up, you get out there and dent the universe thru hard work and sweat. And always make sure you do it in a positive way with class, dignity and respect. She responded by poo'ing on me in this moment as she plays her favorite game, Drum time on daddy's big head. It was a good talk. Johnson and his longtime girlfriend Lauren Hashian welcomed baby Jasmine in December 2015. Since then, the new dad has shared sweet photos and stories about his little one on social media. Just last week, for instance, The Rock shared a heartwarming video of his daughter playing her favourite game: slap daddy's head 'til I can see his big scary face. Advertisement A video posted by therock (@therock) on Aug 23, 2016 at 2:27pm PDT In the caption, the Fast 8 star revealed that the song thats playing, O Tiare, is one that he sings to his baby girl every day. Samoan lyrics are beautiful, Ia alofa le Atua, ma tausi ia te 'oe... which translates to may God take loving care of you, he wrote. When Jasmine learns to talk, I'm sure she'll ask me to please stop singing, he joked. I must now go do something very manly and bad ass to counterbalance this post. Johnson has always been a proud papa. Besides Jasmine, the actor is also a dad to a 15-year-old daughter named Simone, who he had with ex-wife Dany Garcia. tatyana_tomsickova via Getty Images Young boy, talking on the phone, taking notes, money and tablet on the table Parents everywhere know that school is expensive and that the costs are rising. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives confirms the statement too. A study they conducted last year shows that, "on average, tuition and compulsory fees for Canadian undergraduate students have tripled between 1993-94 and 2015-16 and will continue to rise over the next four years." But the fees for school start to roll in way before the kids head off to college and university. Theres the cost of field trips, school uniforms and of course, the cost of missing or broken backpacks (parents, you know the struggle). Needless to say, its important to devise a financial plan that works for you early on in your childs life. Advertisement There are the traditional ways to pay for education including loans and grants, but you shouldnt forget things like home equity and all-in-one accounts that can help you on the path of financial success. Ready, mom and dad? This is how youre going to pay for your kids education. RESPs and TFSAs Lets start with the tried and true: RESPs and TFSAs. The Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) is a savings plan registered with the federal government and is used to save for a childs post-secondary education. Parents (or other individuals) and the government contribute money to the account where your funds can grow tax-free until your child uses it for school. But here are two tips that can help you make the most out of your RESP. If you have the money to do so, its often a smarter idea to contribute to an RESP as soon as possible and deposit $2,500 a year. You can receive the Canada Education Savings Grant (money the government adds to an RESP) on contributions of up to $2,500 per year. If you cant reach that total in a particular year, you can catch up in later years. You can read more about those rules here. The Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) is an account where people can set money aside without that total being taxed. Its offered to people who are 18 or older with a valid SIN number. Advertisement Home Equity Line Of Credit Thanks to a strong housing market, most homeowners have built up some equity. That means as you paid down your mortgage, the value of your home increased. The difference between the value of your home and the unpaid balance of your mortgage is your equity and you can tap into some of it to help pay for school through a home equity line of credit (HELOC). With a HELOC you can borrow money whenever you want, up to your credit limit. That limit is determined by your lender and regulations set by the government. Check out this formula to see how line of credit limits are set. If youre interested in this revenue stream, you can apply for a HELOC to see if you qualify for the program. Simplified Banking Solutions What if we told you there was a better option? One that you can save and pay down debt at the same time? Would you believe us? Say you had taken out a home equity loan or refinanced your home to pay for your kids education. Often its a case of choosing between paying down the loan and saving. All-in-one accounts like Manulife One, which combine your mortgage, line of credit and banking, can give you both options, in one account. Your income and your debt are in one account so whatever is left in your account at the end of the day goes into paying down your debt. And you have easy access to the equity in your home so you can also withdraw from the account as you need it. Life = changed forever! Set Up A Trust If your kids have friends and family (thank you grandma!) who want to contribute to their education, consider setting up a trust to manage the money. The trust basically is a legal agreement with terms and conditions on how the money will be used for its intended purpose. Keep in mind that there could be tax implications with the setup of a trust so always work with a professional. Good news for animal lovers and conservationists: the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has downgraded Giant Pandas from endangered to vulnerable, meaning the adorable animals are slightly safer from extinction. "Previously listed as Endangered, The Giant Panda is now listed as Vulnerable, as its population has grown due to effective forest protection and reforestation," The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announced on Sunday. Advertisement The recovery of the panda shows that when science, political will, and engagement of local communities come together, we can save wildlife and also improve biodiversity, WWF Director General Marco Lambertini said in a statement. While the IUCN gave kudos to the Chinese government for their conservation efforts, they also warned that climate change is still a threat to Giant Panda species. Climate change is predicted to eliminate 35 per cent of pandas' bamboo habitat over the next 80 years. Advertisement The Eastern Gorilla which is made up of two subspecies has moved from Endangered to Critically Endangered. (Photo by: Hendrik Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images) Pandas weren't the only animals to receive good news this weekend the IUCN also acknowledged conservation success for the Tibetan Antelope, Bridled Nailtail Wallaby and the Greater Stick-nest Rat. Unfortunately, the Eastern Gorilla did not fair as well as the other species and is now considered critically endangered. The Giant Panda has served as the WWF symbol for more than 50 years. Despite the good news, there are still only 1,864 Giant Pandas left in the world. For more information, including how you can help, click here and here. Also on HuffPost Systemic gendered barriers sure gets 'em while they're young. Mother of five Shoshanna Keats-Jaskoll took issue with the latest cover of Girls' Life, a magazine targeted at girls ages five to 10. At first glance, there was nothing out of the ordinary about the cover. Beaming Disney actress Olivia Holt stood front-and-centre as headlines about friendship, makeup, fashion, and hairstyles surrounded her. Advertisement For Keats-Jaskoll, that was exactly the problem. In a Facebook post, she compared the Girls' Life cover to the cover of a Boys' Life magazine beside it. The two covers for children couldn't be any more different. While Girls' Life emphasized beauty and makeup, the cover of Boys' Life's was crammed with career options, with images of an airplane and a firefighter's helmet. "Your cover has a lovely young lady with a full face of makeup and you invite your readers to 'steal her secrets'," she writes. Advertisement "The BOYS' LIFE cover has in bold letters: EXPLORE YOUR FUTURE surrounded by all kinds of awesome gear for different professions- doctor, explorer, pilot ... could there possibly be two more divergent messages?" Keats-Jaskoll criticized the magazine directly, writing an open letter on Facebook addressed to Girls' Life masthead, the women behind the brand: publisher and founding editor Karen Bokram, creative director Chun Kim, content director Kelsey Haywood, national advertising sales director Brooke Winters, and consumer manager Paulette Paxton. "You are women. Working, professional women. Is this the message you are proud of?" she asks the editors. "Is this why you became publishers, writers, graphic designers? To tell girls they are the sum of their fashion, makeup and hair?" As a mother raising two girls and three boys, Keats-Jaskoll couldn't believe the narrow options her daughters had compared to her sons. "I know that you are only one of many many magazines that contribute to this culture but I believe you can be part of changing all that is wrong here," she writes to Girls' Life. Advertisement Others on social media noticed the gendered discrepancy. 'WAKE UP PRETTY' v. 'EXPLORE YOUR FUTURE' pic.twitter.com/PgRjUWzCGN Anne Helen Petersen (@annehelen) September 1, 2016 Matt Frye, a father of three, was the original poster of the magazine comparison photo. Upon seeing the covers, he vowed to raise his daughters to see the world differently. "A sad microcosm of what our society says being a girl vs being a boy means. With three girls to raise, this breaks my heart," Frye wrote in a Facebook post. "I'll fight like hell for my girls to not exist in this reality." Even Boys' Life magazine weighed in on the conversation, with a tweet expressing that they were nothing like Girls' Life. @lindsayncurrie Did you notice all the girls INSIDE that BL? The BSA Exploring program empowers all youth. Don't lump us in with GL. Boys' Life magazine (@BoysLife) September 2, 2016 Advertisement Although similarly named, Boys' Life and Girls' Life have different owners. In subsequent tweets, Boys' Life, which is published by the Boy Scouts of America, emphasized its co-ed programs that served boys and girls. Girls' Life magazine has not responded to Keats-Jaskoll's open letter, but Bokram defended the magazine from online outrage in an interview with The Stir. "I don't ever want to apologize for the fact that we have lip gloss," Bokram said, adding that 85 per cent of Girls' Life sales were from subscriptions bought by parents. "I'm not out there to determine how you should raise a child. Ultimately it's for parents to decide." When it comes to better representation, parents will need to vote with their wallets if they want children's magazines that doesn't play into cliche gendered interests. Alternative magazines could be the answer to challenging gender roles. There's been plenty of positive buzz about Kazoo, a new feminist girls' magazine. Frustrated with the lack of empowering media for her five-year-old daughter, Erin Bried created Kazoo as an outlet that would encourage young girls' love for science experiments and technology. Advertisement Stoked to have discovered @KazooMagazine today. My daughter is gonna dig this one. https://t.co/mAM8u1kkwBpic.twitter.com/hzKGrD1U3d Matt Moore (@Guerrillascribe) August 18, 2016 Rookie Magazine, founded by teenager Tavi Gevinson, publishes content by and for teenage girls online and in print. It's been commended for its frankness with topics such as sexual violence, mental health, and diversity. "Punk rock culture was my comfort zone, but I stuck out like a sore thumb." https://t.co/iOddRnG5MXpic.twitter.com/vTlorHccq6 Rookie (@RookieMag) July 26, 2016 Another option is Shameless, a Toronto-based magazine teenage girls and trans youth which encourages critical thinking, anti-oppressive perspectives, and a DIY punk approach to life. Advertisement Also on HuffPost This road sign must have startled some motorists. A hacked electronic sign spotted on the side of the road in an Ottawa suburb Monday warned drivers of a "road closed ahead" but not because of an accident or construction. "Zombie dicks ahead!" the sign in Stittsville read next. "Protect your vagina. Use condoms." 'Prepare for this to go viral' Matt Sweeting-Woods posted a video of the sign to Instagram Monday, with the caption "Modern vandalism." Advertisement It's unclear when the sign was tampered with. Ottawa Police Sgt. Dan Berrea told the Ottawa Citizen that the force would only open an investigation if someone complained. No one seemed too upset about the prank, at least not on Sweeting-Woods' Instagram post. "Prepare for this to go viral!" wrote one commenter. "Too funny." "Travel issues," wrote another. Don't try this at home, but you probably will anyway The prankster may have taken direction from a 2009 post on Jalopnik, which teaches readers how to hack a road sign, right after warning them not to do so on their local streets. The post was later updated with many examples of people definitely trying it themselves, creating signs that said "NAZI ZOMBIES! RUN!!" and "OMG THE BRITISH R COMING." When one searches "how to hack a road sign" on Google, that post is the first one that comes up. Do we thank the auto site for potentially inspiring this latest hacker? We don't know. Advertisement Three Texas kids, who lost their father last month, got a sweet surprise from the Amarillo Police Department. On their first day of school, nearly two dozen officers showed up to escort them to class. The kids father, Officer Justin Scherlan, passed away after suffering complications from an on-duty injury. As a result, Scherlans comrades decided it was their duty to show support for his children, who were starting fourth grade, second grade and pre-kindergarten. Advertisement The kids were very excited and emotional, Officer Jeb Hilton told ABC News. Scherlans four-year-old son, Jackson, was especially touched, as this was his first time ever starting school. In a heartwarming gesture, the little boy hugged each of the officers, one by one. After losing his police officer dad, he has an army of stand-ins for this important first. #firstdayofschool2016pic.twitter.com/BwtRMRuNmf Amarillo ISD (@AmarilloISD) August 22, 2016 Id give it all back just to have Justin here with his son, Officer Daniel Smith told ABC7. At least we can be here for him and let Jackson know that he always has someone to call on. Watch the video above to hear more about this sweet surprise. Also on HuffPost Celeb Kids Starting School In 2016 See Gallery Sept. 5 Luke P. Bruner, 23, of Spring Creek was arrested at Idaho and 10th streets on a warrant for giving false statement to or obstructing a public official; texting, sending, reading or talking without a hands-free cellphone; failure to appear after bail for a misdemeanor; failure to appear on a traffic citation; and driving without a drivers license. Bail: $1,865 Lorraine E. Freeland, 61, of Spring Creek was arrested at 122 Bellwood Drive for domestic battery. Bail: $3,140 Javier Hernandez, 41, of Elko was arrested at West Silver Street and Errecart Boulevard for non-surrender of a suspended, revoked or canceled registration card or license; driving with a suspended drivers license; use or possession of drug paraphernalia, and proof of insurance required. Bail: $2,090 Ryder D. Krassner, 18, of Salt Lake City was arrested on Interstate 80 for possession of a controlled substance and selling a controlled substance. Bail: $25,000 Libby R. Moss, 35, of Spring Creek was arrested on Lamoille Highway at Metzler Road for DUI, duty to stop at an accident with attended vehicle or property, and two counts of child abuse or neglect. Bail: $202,280 Alex J. Rasch IV, 40, of Elko was arrested at 5638 Justin Drive for domestic battery. Bail: $3,140 John G. Richards Jr., 30, of Spring Creek was arrested at 345 Fourth St. for two counts of failure to appear after bail for a misdemeanor. Bail: $605 Zane C. Sanders, 34, of Herriman, Utah, was arrested at Fifth and Commercial streets for failure to appear on a traffic citation. Bail: $737 Andrea K. Stone, 36, of California was arrested at 1104 W. Main St. for failure to appear after bail for a misdemeanor. Bail: $695 Lester W. Thurman Jr., 37, of Elko was arrested at 334 Merino Drive on a warrant for assault, battery and failure to appear after bail on a misdemeanor. Bail: $4,560 Kevin D. Williams, 38, of Fallon was arrested on Interstate 80 for second-offense DUI. Bail: $1,640 By now, we all know Sophie Gregoire Trudeau loves to sport the latest and greatest fashions. So how did she spend her downtime in China? By shopping for some new threads, of course! At the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, world leaders managed to squeeze in a bit of fun with a trip to Hangzhou Tower, one of the top shopping malls in the city. Advertisement While top delegates from Russia were spotted dropping major dollars at Luolai Home Textile Co., one of China's top bedding brands, Gregoire Trudeau had her eye on some fine Italian designs. According to Chinese website Weibo, Justin Trudeau's wife was in complete "buy, buy, buy" mode when she paid a visit to Dolce & Gabbana. Chinese media talking about Sophie #Trudeau's shopping trip in Hangzhou (w/Ella-Grace) incl at D&G (via Weibo) #G20pic.twitter.com/ePTqhJaB3H Ben O'Hara-Byrne (@Ben_oharabyrne) September 6, 2016 It is said the mother of three bought herself a 3,000 yuan evening gown, which comes out to $500 CDN. Advertisement That's one luxe souvenir, Sophie. Now, we're not entirely sure what the dress Sophie picked up looks like, but we're hoping it might look a little something like this: By her side during the shopping trip? Daughter Ella-Grace, who, like all of us at the age of seven, looked not-so-pleased to be waiting around for her mother to finish up chatting with other grown-ups. We feel you, Ella-Grace. Regardless, we're sure the mother and daughter duo had a wonderful girls shopping trip together. Here's to hoping we see this D&G gown on Sophie at the next event she attends! Follow Huffington Post Canada Style on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter! Also on HuffPost Sophie Gregoire Trudeau See Gallery Buena Vista Images via Getty Images researcher with plants On Twitter last year, Monsanto VP Robb Fraley asked why people doubted science. He linked to an article in National Geographic that implied people who are suspicious of, among other things, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are confused, adhere to conspiracy theories or are misinformed as a result of access to the "university of Google." It is worth mentioning that science is not the giver of absolute truth. Science historian Thomas Kuhn wrote about the revolutionary paradigm shifts in scientific thought. Philosopher Paul Feyerabend argued that science is not an exact science, and the manufacture of scientific knowledge involves a process driven by various sociological, methodological and epistemological conflicts and compromises, both inside the laboratory and beyond. Advertisement But the answer to the question "Why do people doubt science?" is not because they have read Kuhn, Feyerabend or some sociology journal. Neither is it because a bunch of irrational activists have scared them witless about GM crops. It is because they can see how science is used, corrupted and manipulated by powerful corporations to serve their own ends. U.S. sociologist Robert Merton highlighted the underlying norms of science as involving research that is not warped by vested interests, adheres to the common ownership of scientific discoveries (intellectual property) to promote collective collaboration and subjects findings to organised, rigorous critical scrutiny within the scientific community. Secrecy, dogma and vested interest have no place. But if we really want to look at the role of secrecy, dogma and vested interest in full flow, we could take a look at in the sector to which Fraley belongs. The GMO agritech sector is only concerned with a certain type of science: that which supports its aims. In 2014, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack called for "sound science" to underpin food trade between the U.S. and the E.U. Consumer rights groups in the U.S. are pushing for the labeling of GMO foods, but Vilsack said that putting a label on a foodstuff containing a GM product "risks sending a wrong impression that this was a safety issue." Despite what Vilsack would have us believe, many scientific studies show that GMOs are indeed a big safety issue. But Vislack tries to prevent proper debate about issues that his corporate backers would find unpalatable. And "corporate backers" must not be taken as a throwaway term here. Big agritech concerns have captured or at the very least seriously compromised key policy and regulatory bodies in the U.S., Europe, India and in fact on a global level. GM is so heavily pushed because it offers a lucrative way to control intellectual property and global supply chains. It's highly convenient for Vilsack to want to close down debate on the GM issue. Coming from the GMO biotech industry, or its political mouthpieces, the term "sound science" rings extremely hollow. The industry carries out inadequate, short-term studies and conceals the data produced by its research under the guise of commercial confidentiality while independent research highlights the dangers of its products (many peer-reviewed studies are cited in the last link). Advertisement The GMO agritech sector is only concerned with a certain type of science: that which supports its aims. Because if science is held in such high regard by these corporations, why isn't Monsanto proud of its products? Why in the U.S. doesn't it label foods containing GMOs and throw open its science to public scrutiny, instead of veiling it with secrecy, restricting independent research on its products or resorting to unsavoury tactics? If science is held in such high regard by the GMO agritech sector, why in the U.S. did policy makers release GM food onto the commercial market without proper independent long-term tests? Where is the data to prove safety? It attempted to get around this by using the throwaway term "substantially equivalent," which has nothing to do with science. Foreign genes are being inserted into organisms that make them substantially non-equivalent. Substantial equivalence is a trade strategy on behalf of the GM sector that neatly serves to remove every genetic modification to our food from proper scrutiny. The reason why no labeling or testing has taken place in the U.S. is not due to "sound science" having been applied, but comes down to the power and political influence of the GMO biotech sector and because a sound scientific approach has been substituted for fraud and mass deception. It is not science itself that people have doubts about, but science that is pressed into the service of immensely powerful private corporations. The sector cannot win the scientific debate so it resorts to co-opting key public bodies or individuals to propagate various falsehoods and deceptions. Part of the deception is based on emotional blackmail: the world needs GMOs to feed the hungry, both now and in the future. This myth has of course been taken apart many times before (for example, here). People's faith in science is being shaken on many levels, not least because big corporations have secured access to policy makers and governments, and are increasingly funding research and setting research agendas. Ultimately, it is not science itself that people have doubts about, but science that is pressed into the service of immensely powerful private corporations and regulatory bodies that are effectively co-opted and adopt a "don't look, don't find approach" to studies and products. Or in the case of releasing GMOs onto the commercial market in the U.S., bypassing proper scientific procedures and engaging in doublespeak about "substantial equivalence" then hypocritically calling for "sound science" to inform debates. Finally, if Robb Fraley wants to know why people doubt his company -- and indeed the science that it supports -- its track record of duplicity and criminality is clear for all to see. That alone provides very good reason why so many would doubt and challenge powerful corporations and the type of science they fund and promote. Advertisement Perhaps the question we should be asking is: Mr Fraley, why isn't Monsanto on the side of science? Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook Photodisc via Getty Images a caucasian female patient in a hospital gown sits in an exam room and waits The health-care trial of a generation will start September 6 in Vancouver. With the support of the Canadian Constitution Foundation, four private plaintiffs will be joined by Dr. Brian Day of the Cambie Surgical Centre in a constitutional challenge of British Columbia's laws. If they are successful, B.C. residents will be freed from suffering and languishing on ever-growing public health-care waiting lists. And B.C.'s health-care system will modernize to the standard of timeliness in every other OECD nation with a public health-care system. Advertisement What's not at stake is public health care. There is simply no possibility that public health care is in jeopardy. Anyone saying otherwise is grossly misleading the public. This trial cannot, and will not, lead to any so-called "Americanization" of Canadian health care. Here's the problem. The cost of maintaining B.C.'s public health-care system has outgrown the province's funding capacity, and the only solutions available are politically undesirable. A 2011 CD Howe report said the choices are to sharply reduce the availability of public services, increase taxation, allow for extra billing or set lower standards of care for those within the public health-care system. Access to a waiting list is not access to health care. Faced with these options, B.C. capped annual spending increases at 2.6 per cent and cut costs by reducing operating room time and hospital beds. According to the OECD, the solution to the budgetary pressures created by rising costs in a closed system like B.C.'s "has been to ration [health care] by means of long waits for treatment." This problem is entirely of the province's making. B.C. law prohibits doctors from working simultaneously in the existing public and private health-care systems. It also prohibits residents from accessing private insurance to pay for medically necessary treatment in B.C. These prohibitions, together with the province's rationing of health-care services, has resulted in long waiting lists. Many residents in urgent need of medical interventions are forced to languish, unable to receive timely treatment before suffering irreparable harm and risking death. Advertisement In the 2005 Chaoulli decision, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down similar laws in Quebec. That decision put the B.C. government on notice that if it could not provide timely medical services for all of its residents, it could no longer legally prevent them from accessing those services privately. After all, access to a waiting list is not access to health care. By prohibiting private insurance, B.C. is consigning mothers with fewer resources than Mandy to die. Freeing patients from waiting lists will mean that young mothers, like plaintiff Mandy Marten, will not be forced to wait. Mandy noticed blood and mucus in her stool and immediately sought medical attention. She was understandably worried about what her symptoms meant. After seeing her doctor, she was put on a seven-month waiting list for a colonoscopy. Fortunately, Mandy didn't wait. She paid out-of-pocket for the test only to find she had stage four cancer and would likely have died within seven months. Mandy avoided tragedy because she could afford to pay out-of-pocket. Most B.C. residents cannot, but private insurance would make it affordable. By prohibiting private insurance, B.C. is consigning mothers with fewer resources than Mandy to die. But tragedy is not always avoided. In 2004, eight-year-old Walid Khalfallah of Kelowna was diagnosed with a degenerative spinal condition. His family trusted that B.C.'s health-care system would provide the treatment that Walid needed in a timely fashion. But after waiting for more than two years as his health continued to deteriorate, Walid's family was forced to seek medical attention in the U.S. Treatment came too late, and Walid is now permanently paralyzed. Stories like these are far too common. Since B.C. is unable to provide the medical services residents require, the Charter prohibits the province from forcing any mother or child to suffer on a public waiting list. And it's a tragedy that the B.C. government is going to court to keep them there. Advertisement The cost of this endeavour is enormous. The trial is expected to take 26 weeks and will include the testimony of experts from across Canada and around the world. Aside from the federal and B.C. governments, the list of opposing parties reads like a who's who of well-funded interest groups. Without the support of the Canadian Constitution Foundation and donations, none of the plaintiffs could afford to defend their constitutional rights in court. All parties expect this to end up at the Supreme Court of Canada. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook MORE ON HUFFPOST: MarinaMariya via Getty Images Awareness issue logo loop mean day unity protest against drug and association preserv of human living with STI virus. Sida global world fund trophy bow magnet medal isolated on burgundy space for text By Moses Owori The most vivid memory I have of my mum is her groaning during the last few minutes of her life, as she battled AIDS. I was pre-school aged and about to lose my mother. My mum had five boys, each with a different father. I was born third. At the time of her death, she was "married" to a Kenyan man, the father of my younger brother. She was travelling back from Kenya to Uganda when her condition deteriorated. She never made it home. Advertisement Back in Kenya, our oldest brother was waiting for our return. We never heard from him again because she was the only one who knew where he lived. When my mother died, my other older brother and I were shipped off to our fathers'. My Kenyan brother was adopted by an aunt (my mum's younger sister) and I went to my dad's. Before my mum died, our youngest brother succumbed to tuberculosis. He had been infected with HIV in the womb and was barely a year old. Just like that, our family had been destroyed. Over two decades on, and I am still yet to hear from my two older brothers. I don't know where they live, or if they are still alive. At my father's, I found an abusive stepmother, so an aunt (my father's only sister) took me to an orphanage out of pity. I stayed at the orphanage for four years, during which time my dad passed away. Advertisement The aunt, who had adopted my younger brother, took me on and I have lived with her since. This is my story. But I wasn't alone. There were hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, more similar experiences all over the developing world at the time. Prior to antiretroviral treatment and prevention of mother to child transmission, deaths from HIV/AIDS were widespread and the number of helpless orphaned children high. My brother and I are both HIV negative, meaning my mother got infected after our births. The only disease we wrestled with growing up was malaria, which made us lose several school days every time it struck. My mother and youngest brother did not live long after they became infected because treatment wasn't available. My brother and I were the lucky ones. We had relatives who were willing and could afford to take us on; most children in similar situations do not have this 'luxury'. The establishment of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria in early 2000s was a welcome relief to millions of families like mine. Since its inception in 2002, 8.1 million people have been put on lifelong antiretroviral treatment for HIV, which will help millions live longer. An additional 13.2 million and 515 million cases have been treated for malaria and TB respectively. With the new $13 billion investment case for the 2017-2019 Global Fund replenishment, an additional 8 million lives could be saved from the three diseases. Advertisement The Global Fund gets its resources from several international donors, including the UK. The UK government has been a generous contributor to date, pledging 1 billion at the last replenishment. It is vital that they continue to show strong support for the fund and push other donors to invest as well. If donors meet the funds ambitious target, we can help ensure families stay together and thrive. Moses Owori was born and raised in Uganda, is part of the RESULTS UK London grassroots campaign group. He has lived in London for about a year, and has recently completed a Master's in International Public Health Nutrition from the University of Westminster. He is passionate about rural development policy and advocacy and plans to start an organisation in Uganda to ensure that voices and priorities of ordinary Ugandans are factored into health and nutrition policies. You can follow Moses on Twitter @owori_jr This blog is part of the blog series: AIDS, TB and Malaria: It's High Time for Us to End It. For Good by the Interagency Coalition on AIDS and Development (ICAD) in recognition of The Global Fund's Fifth Replenishment. The blog series runs from August 29 to October 3, 2016 and features a selection of blogs written by our member and partner organizations. Contributors share their broad range of perspectives and insight on the work of The Global Fund and the opportunity that this moment presents us one year following the inauguration of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this blog series are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of ICAD. Martin Barraud via Getty Images Close up of calculator, data and stethoscope The recent negotiations between the Ontario Medical Association and the Ontario Government highlight the complex relationship between physicians and health spending. As important and trusted gatekeepers to the health-care system, physicians are nevertheless a crucial component of health-care costs as the total number of physicians, the volume of health services they provide and the cost per service come together. While governments such as Ontario have been focusing on reducing or holding physician fees steady as a cost control measure, health-care spending is also affected by the overall number of physicians we have and the number of services each provides to their patients. Advertisement Across the country, provinces are trying to rein in their health-care spending and rising costs for doctors remains a key concern. Is it the right emphasis? Yes -- and no. We have gone from an era of perceived physician shortages to one of relatively more abundance. The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) released data this week that shows physicians in Canada were paid a total of $25 billion in gross clinical payments in 2015 -- up from $24.1 billion last year, for an increase of 3.7 per cent. This rate of growth is down from nearly six per cent the year before, suggesting that there is some restraint underway. That's good news from a cost control perspective. We also seem to have more doctors than ever. For Canadians waiting for care, that surely sounds like good news too. For the ninth year in a row, the number of Canadian physicians per capita has grown. We had 82,000 doctors in 2015 -- up from 79,905 in 2014. Indeed, Canada has sustained yearly physician increases of more than two per cent since 2007, with increases of more than four per cent in 2009 and 2011 and an increase of about 2.6 per cent in 2015. Advertisement We have gone from an era of perceived physician shortages to one of relatively more abundance. Put another way, total physicians per 100,000 of population have grown from 192 in 2007 to 228 in 2015. At the same time, the average gross payment per physician in 2015 remained virtually unchanged at $339,000 nationally. But looking deeper, there is a worrisome trend. A recent CD Howe Report similarly notes that while there has been a recent decline in real per capita provincial government health spending, total physician costs have continued to rise. But the CD Howe Report points out that spending is also affected by physician composition -- particularly specialists. Adding one specialist physician per 1,000 persons was associated with an additional $720 in real per capita provincial health spending -- no small amount. More health specialists per person should mean better health care, right, even if we have to spend more? Just how big is the increase in the number of specialists? The number of specialists per Canadian has almost doubled since 1981. Advertisement In 1981, the average number of specialist physicians per 1,000 persons across Canada's provinces was 0.6 and grew to 1.1 by 2013 -- an increase of nearly one-half specialist physician per 1,000 persons. This near doubling is therefore associated with a $295 increase in real per capita provincial health spending (1997 dollars) which grew from $1,415 per person in 1981 to a 2015 forecast of $2,447 per person. Again, no insignificant cost. Specialist physician numbers are expected to grow in the future, given increased medical school enrollment. Is this such a bad thing? More health specialists per person should mean better health care, right, even if we have to spend more? The problem is, we don't really know the answer. We don't have measures in place to evaluate whether increasing the specialist health workforce is always the best investment of our health-care dollars. Public debate highlights spending and the political tug of war between medical associations and health ministries but missing is any discussion of effectiveness of services and how that can be measured. Advertisement Without appropriate measurement of health-care outcomes, we cannot know if cost control measures affect the quality of care. For example, a campaign from the Canadian Medical Association, Choosing Wisely, suggests there are a number of specialist diagnostic tests and services that may be unnecessary and may even cause unnecessary harm. If spending more on physicians provides greater value for money as measured by improvements in health outcomes, then that is a good thing. On the other hand, if we are spending more money on diagnostic tests and procedures that don't improve health, then that is not such a good thing. Without appropriate measurement of health-care outcomes, we cannot know if cost control measures affect the quality of care. It is incumbent on both provincial governments and physicians to work together on evidence-based evaluation of the effectiveness of health care services. Only then can we know if our money is well spent. Elli Garlin/Canadian Press handout Please help me! I'm upset! I'm confused! I can't speak, but I'm hot, I'm hungry, and I'm thirsty! I need air! I want space! My life is upside down today, and I don't understand! Where are my babies? Why are we here? My friends, my family and cousins, are all shit-scared. Can I just go back to yesterday, please? I'm smarter than you think; I'm fully self-aware and none of this seems right!! Oh, there's a human. She is kind, she has water. I need water! BOOM! Mind-piercing, gut-wrenching screams. Silence. Sadness. In Burlington, Ontario, local animal activist Anita Krajnc of Toronto Pig Save went on trial for "mischief" because she gave water to a distressed, dehydrated pig, who was en route to slaughter in a truck, in the summer of 2015. The outrage has been swift and widespread. The largest media services in the world, including The Guardian, The Chicago Tribune, and The Washington Post all covered the story, as did all of our domestic news services. Clearly, Anita's story and actions have hit a global nerve. Advertisement We are bearing witness to progressive change in real time for animals in Canada. Anita Krajnc, however unwittingly, is leading the charge at the grassroots/bottom-up level. Someone has to because getting our Government to make the changes top-down has proven near impossible. This, despite the fact that a 2015 Environics study showed that 92 per cent of Canadians surveyed want better animal protection laws and World Animal Protection gives Canada a "D" rating on its animal protection index. Why aren't the MPs doing their homework, let alone representing our voices? There have been 13 attempts in the last 16 years to update the Criminal Code provisions on cruelty to animals, but delay tactics by lobbyists have killed them every time. These provisions were written in 1892 -- let that sink in for a minute! Provisions that are so inadequate that prosecutors know it's usually pointless to lay charges even against sickening cruelty because they won't get convictions. WTH? Every time a bill is introduced that would improve these antiquated animal cruelty provisions, a small but loud bunch of fear-mongers stoke the same old flames of fear and lies... Fishers will go to jail for putting a worm on a hook! Farmers will be drummed out of business! Hunting will become illegal! It's the end of medical research! No more pets! The sky is falling! How on earth do they come up with this stuff? And why, in heavens' name do MPs believe them when every justice department and legal expert has said there are no such risks for the animal-use industries. MPs are elected by citizens to represent their views. Why aren't the MPs doing their homework, let alone representing our voices? The reason must be that the farming, hunting and fishing lobbies are a threat to rural Liberal seats. Many of those rural seats were historically held by Conservatives, until 2015. That must be it -- there is nothing else that would explain it. Advertisement On September 28th, Canada's Parliament will vote on a bill to improve the welfare of animals in this country: Bill C-246 "The Modernizing Animal Protections Act." If the good guys win, the bill will proceed to an all-party committee for review and possible amendment. But if they don't pull together 50 per cent +1 of the votes that are cast that day, the bill dies. Another one bites the dust. And right now, it's not looking good. Don't wake up on September 29th and wish you'd done more. The Liberal party seems to be backing away without putting up a fight, rather than stand up to that very small number of lobbyists, and do the right thing. Granted, we have a lot of newly-minted MPs in this Parliament, who are sensitive to the next electoral cycle. We also have a lot of "old school" MPs, who, bowing to their constituents' fealty to old practices, are downright opposed to any change, hanging onto 1952 ideas and ideals for dear life: The new generations, like Anita, understand the value of inclusion, diversity, and saving the environment (which includes a hard focus on agricultural practices), and object to cruelty to animals -- period -- whether it's a puppy or a pig. Don't wake up on September 29th and wish you'd done more. Do it now. Go to www.CallYourMp.ca for all the information you need to be part of the solution. It's the last call for animals. MPs are here to serve "at your pleasure." Exercise your rights. Lend your voice. If you want to be part of the solution for animals, click here. Advertisement Please do it for the dear pig, who DID want water, and DID NOT want to die. This editorial was co-authored by M. Michelle Nadon and Cara Melbye, both Toronto animal advocates. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook ALSO ON HUFFPOST: McGill Unlike many others, I got straight As my first year at McGill, and started fucking up my grades only after. So when people tell me that grad schools don't often look at my first year due to it often being a tumultuous time -- I have to wonder, will they also consider the grades that trauma, substance abuse, and institutional betrayal took away from me? Two years after being sexually assaulted, and one year after reporting it, I, the victim, have had to pack up and travel across the world for a semester abroad -- with the sole purpose of keeping myself sane and staying away from McGill's toxicity. Advertisement I'm going to provide some gruesome details of rape to get the attention of the people who need to listen. I have tried more "respectable" ways of demanding accountability from McGill, ways that honour my own dignity, and they failed. At this point, I know nobody will listen unless I put my body on the line and make a scene. I still don't know what the outcome of my case was. In September 2014, I lay on a stranger's bed, too drunk to understand what was happening to my body, and watched my limbs being maneuvered into different penetrative positions for what felt like many excruciating hours. Since then, on any given day, I think of the blood-stained toilet papers, of being too sore to sit down, of the hangover the day after, the emergency room, the antibiotics, the kidney infection, the speculum. Too many evenings, I have woken up dizzy and hungover from downing too many Advils and too much rum in the afternoon. I still have an extra pregnancy test from the package I bought at the time, thinking that I would need it in the case of being raped again; I've kept it, even though it's expired. I remember too many things.I wish I would wake up one day in a psychiatric unit and be held down under electroshock therapy so I won't have to remember anymore. After I found myself in the same class as my assailant, I disclosed the assault to nine different people in charge at McGill: first sometime in July, then on September 4, September 11, December 31, January 15, January 16, and April 14. One after another, they lied to me, blamed me, shamed me, discouraged me from reporting my rape altogether, or made empty promises to me. I still don't know what the outcome of my case was. I still don't know if there ever was any form of investigation. Advertisement "Rape victim" was never something I wanted to be known for. I've written about my experience extensively, but here's the gist: I begged for help, over and over, but nobody listened. Many staff, administrators, and faculty -- aware of the situation -- stood by silently and watched me suffer. As a result, I did what people do when everything else fails: I went public and wrote about my experience, only to watch the most traumatic moments of my life get dissected by the lowest of the low on the internet. Here's another catch: McGill's Charter of Student Rights, section five states that "The University has an obligation to maintain safe and suitable conditions of learning and study." That right did not apply to me. A lot happens when you become your university's poster child for rape. I've been getting more media requests than I care to reply to, met activists from universities across the country, and have been sitting on panels nationwide to voice what is actually happening on our campus with regards to sexual violence. But while I do appreciate the recognition I get for my work, I can't help but wish that the spotlight could have been on something I had set out to accomplish at the onset. What am I getting credit for right now: getting raped? Getting ignored? Being lied to? Being reduced to a moral story, a PR disaster, a statistic? For years, I had intentionally avoided anti-sexual violence advocacy because I knew every minute of it would be like picking at a scab, and that it has been. "Rape victim" was never something I wanted to be known for. These days, I'm too afraid to consume alcohol, meet new people, or go to parties. Every potential daily activity boils down to one question: will I get raped while doing it? Potentially. Am I victim-blaming myself? Potentially -- but I don't care. Advertisement Getting raped at a university that doesn't give a damn about you is expensive. If it hadn't been for my parents' financial support, I would have dropped out two years ago. I don't have the money to waste on lost tuition again, and I can't, for the sake of my future, have more failed or withdrawn courses on my transcript. But most importantly I know that, to quite literally save my life, I can't go through what I went through again. I want McGill to have crystal clear reporting procedures and redress regulations. While people have been supportive, I couldn't care less if more people told me that they believe me. The administration, my professor, my advisor: they all told me that they believed me and that they were all sorry for what happened to me. Rarely has anyone actually doubted my story. Did these affirmations actually make a material difference when I reached out for support from the McGill administration? Absolutely not. I don't care about active listening, tea videos, poster campaigns, "I love consent" buttons and consent weeks when I'm asking for concrete, material support. Instead of effectively jerking off to feel-good "prevention"campaigns with very little impact, I want to see energy being redirected to standing up and holding abusers and institutions accountable. I want sit-ins. I want alumni to withhold donations. I want people to contact administrators, politicians -- I want them to demand change. I want McGill to take responsibility for all the harm it has done to me and simply apologize. I want McGill to reimburse me for lost tuition, for therapy, for medication, for all the cab rides home because I gagged and blacked out as soon as I stepped foot on campus. I want this institution to consult those who've been through the reporting process in regards to the sexual assault policy at McGill. We know best what we need. I want McGill to have crystal clear reporting procedures and redress regulations. I want McGill to make sure there won't be another student on this campus whose access to education will be taken away because of rape, and that no student falls prey to sexually abusive professors. Advertisement This is an excerpt, you can read the rest of the piece at The McGill Daily. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook ALSO ON HUFFPOST: ASSOCIATED PRESS Canada's Prime Minster Justin Trudeau stands on the Badaling section of the Great Wall in Beijing, China, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) There is no other way to describe it -- Justin Trudeau has been a public relations superstar from the very moment he took office as prime minister almost a year ago. As one who teaches a graduate course in public relations (and has been a PR practitioner for more than 35 years), I can confidently say that no North American politician in recent memory has more deftly managed his public image. Not John F. Kennedy. Not Ronald Reagan. Not even Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Advertisement And certainly not Stephen Harper. The truth is that the camera loves Justin. Foreign leaders love Justin. Many swoon in his presence and envy his sophistication (not to mention his left hook). Writing here more than a year prior to the 2015 election, I warned Conservatives not to underestimate Trudeau's innate appeal to Canadians. The "Just Not Ready" attack ads, I asserted, would not dent his viability as a serious contender. Plus he really did have nice hair. What I didn't anticipate was Trudeau's ability to sustain his public relations success over an extended period of time. It is one thing to have a great political honeymoon -- Kennedy, Reagan and Obama all got off to great starts -- but it is quite another thing to go almost a year from high point to high point (with the recent visit to China capping things off). Kennedy, to whom Trudeau is often compared, started off with a ringing inaugural speech... but was soon mired in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and a disastrous summit meeting with the Soviets in Vienna. Reagan also started strong -- the Iranian hostages were released as he gave his inaugural address -- and his popularity was temporarily bolstered by his bravery (and humorous quips) in the face of an assassination attempt. But soon things began to go south for the Great Communicator, as the U.S. economy stalled and his poll numbers plummeted. Advertisement There are several dark clouds on the horizon -- and any or all could dent the Trudeau mystique. This is not so say Trudeau's public persona hasn't taken a few hits over the past 10 months. There was, of course, Elbow Gate -- his ill-advised trip across the floor of the Commons in May. And he has had other minor slips (like not knowing that the Baltic States -- Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia -- are, indeed, "a thing"). But the fact remains -- Justin Trudeau continues to ride high. However, just as September has shorter days and produces a tinge of frost in the evening air, this prolonged period of public basking in the sun may soon be coming to an end for our prime minister. There are several dark clouds on the horizon -- and any or all could dent the Trudeau mystique: 1. The Economy- Despite all of the government's free-wheeling (deficit) spending, the Canadian economy has been stubbornly stuck in neutral or first gear, quarter after quarter. People tend to pay less attention to this in the summer months -- but they will pay more attention in the fall and they will hold the Liberals accountable. The biggest question mark? Will the force of gravity finally hit the housing sector. 2. Decisions Delayed - The PMO has deftly pushed some tough items into the future, including what to do about Canada Post; federal aid to Bombardier; and procurement of a replacement aircraft for Canada's aging CF-18's. Every one of these issues has the potential to make a significant number of people very unhappy and two -- Canada Post and the aircraft procurement -- could involve going back on (arguably ill-advised) campaign promises. 3. Washington Relations - Most Canadians fear a Trump presidency. And for good reason. The good news is that it is just not going to happen. The bad news is that a Hillary Clinton presidency will be no bed of roses for Justin Trudeau. Hillary is far more hawkish than Obama -- and far less friendly to free trade (having felt the Bern from Bernie Sanders). Advertisement 4. Ministers Behaving Badly - Trudeau has already had some bad innings due to missteps on the part of cabinet members, specifically Health Minister Jane Philpott and former Fisheries Minister Hunter Tootoo. Both today could be positioned as aberrations. A couple more would be seen as a spreading ethical stain. 5. Kathleen Wynne - There's no question the Ontario Premier helped Justin Trudeau become prime minister. And there is no question that a number of his aides and confidants have close ties to her. But the reality is that she is increasingly becoming a liability. Trudeau needs to find a way to move away from Wynne... without appearing to do so. Good luck with that. Justin Trudeau is smarter than people give him credit for. And he has been wise enough to surround himself with smart people -- and listen to them. That's a good thing, as they will need all of those smarts and more to navigate the coming months. Robert Waite teaches graduate courses in public relations and media relations at Seneca College and is the Managing Director of Waite + Co., a communications strategy firm. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook ALSO ON HUFFPOST: Advertisement There is a violent offender on the loose in Winnipeg -- and police are powerless to do anything about it. Although his identity is known, this individual has plagued the police and the community for years. Since 2013, he has been dealt with by police on a whopping 22 occasions. Over this time, he is alleged to have committed a plethora of criminal acts. They include arson, car theft, drug possession, robbery, break-and-enter, uttering threats, assault and, most recently and perhaps most disturbingly, a near-fatal stabbing. It is a laundry list of serious criminal behaviour that warrants severe legal action. Advertisement To date, however, he has not faced any consequences for his behaviour. He is free to remain in the community. He has not been arrested. He has not been charged with any crimes. He has not even spent a night in jail. Why? Because he is a 10-year-old boy, and under the law, he is too young to be charged. Criminal law, as it relates to young offenders in this country, is governed by the Youth Criminal Justice Act. It dictates the minimum age of criminal culpability in this country, which is 12. This means that an individual must be at least 12 years of age before he or she may be charged with a criminal offence of any nature. This is higher than it is both the U.S. and England, where the minimum age of criminal culpability are, respectively, seven and 10. Thirty-three years ago, the law in Canada was different. Children as young as seven could be held criminally responsible for their actions. In 1983, that changed. The age of criminal culpability was raised to what it is today. A young offender under the age of 12 may, theoretically, commit any criminal act imaginable under the protection of the law and free from consequence. Although the new law was controversial at the time, it was ultimately passed with the rationale that 12 years, rather than seven, is an age of more moral maturity. It was generally accepted as the age when children can first understand and process complex moral and ethical issues. The law assumes that children under the age of 12 cannot appreciate the gravity of their actions or the consequences that may flow therefrom. The bottom line is that, as it stands today, a young offender under the age of 12 may, theoretically, commit any criminal act imaginable under the protection of the law and free from consequence. The only mechanism by which officials may deal with a young offender under 12 is through provincial guidelines. In many provinces, these guidelines are often highly restricted and grossly inadequate, as they cannot restrict the liberty of the child, force the child to participate in his or her own rehabilitation or obtain psychological treatment for any meaningful length of time. This is a scary prospect. Thankfully, violent, young offenders under 12 are extremely rare. But they are not unheard of. In 2013, the inadequacy of the law around young offenders was tragically illustrated in the case of a six-year-old Saskatchewan boy who was murdered by another boy under the age of 12. Although details of the crime are largely protected, it was widely reported that the murderer was a young boy who had been well-known to police for a long period of time, mainly due to his notorious propensity for violence. His young age, however, prohibited any police intervention beyond issuing him simple cautions. The criminal justice system was unable to intervene, at any stage prior to, or even after, the murder. They are vulnerable, young, impressionable and on a bad path. They need help - and they need it sooner than later. As one can imagine, the sense of public outrage in cases like these is overwhelming. People are left feeling confused, frustrated and forsaken by the judicial system... and the sad reality is that they are. When the hands of justice are tied, the victims of crime, the community at large and even the young offenders themselves suffer considerably more than they should. After all, the criminal justice system works not only by punishing offenders, but also by intervening and rehabilitating offenders before it is too late. The preamble to the Youth Criminal Justice Act acknowledges this fact. It declares that society has a responsibility to address the developmental challenges and needs of young people, and that the justice system must work in partnership with communities and families in order to prevent youth crime. It seeks to do this by addressing underlying causes of youth crime, responding to youth needs, and providing support and guidance. It does not seek to lock young offenders up and throw away the key. It seeks to provide prevention, intervention and instruction for those who need it. This is a principled and noble mission. Its downfall, however, is that it only applies to a portion of the population, while forsaking others due to their age. Arguably, the youngest of the young offenders are most often the ones who are most in need. These children tend to come from at-risk families with low incomes and poor support networks. They are more likely to drop-out of school and engage in substance abuse. They are vulnerable, young, impressionable and on a bad path. They need help -- and they need it sooner than later. Advertisement The sad reality is that as it stands today, our criminal justice system is unequipped to intervene. It appears that the only option for Winnipeg law enforcement is to continuing issuing cautions to the boy until he turns 12, at which point he will be under the fold of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Let's just hope that his 12th birthday won't come too late. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook MORE ON HUFFPOST: Sept. 4 Terry G. Bailey, 62, of Jonesboro, Arkansas, was arrested at 920 Mountain City Highway for the arrest of a fugitive felon from another state. No bail listed. Shawn C. Biggs, 49, of Shelly, Idaho, was arrested at 3021 Idaho St. for the arrest of a fugitive felon from another state. Bail: $15,000 Elida Gonzales, 22, of West Wendover was arrested at 2541 Tibbets Blvd. on a warrant for petit larceny and trespassing. Bail: $355 Alexis J. Gorman, 18, of Miles City, Montana, was arrested at Sixth and Pine streets for a minor in possession of an alcoholic beverage in public. Bail: $355 Ira M. Grywusiewicz, 20, of Spring Creek was arrested at 975 Fifth St. for a minor loitering in a place where alcoholic beverages are sold, a minor in possession of an alcoholic beverage in public, and a mental health hold. Bail: $704 Rudolph L. Parker, 40, of Elko was arrested on Interstate 80 for DUI, failure to maintain lane or improper lane change, and driving without a drivers license. Bail: $1,450 Vincent I. Quintero, 25, of Elko was arrested at Spruce Road and Mountain City Highway for second-offense DUI. Bail: $1,640 Chanse E. Reynolds, 38, of Spring Creek was arrested at 2065 Idaho St. for disturbing the peace. Bail: $355 It's the early 1980s. Ethiopia is facing the worst famine to hit the country in over a century. Awareness of global hunger is on the rise. The media is flooded with news and charity efforts like BandAid and U.S. for Africa. In Toronto, two local women, Ina Andre and Joan Clayton, are raising funds for international famine relief when they're asked a question that will ultimately change the scope of Toronto's hunger relief efforts -- what are you doing to help hungry people in your own city? Advertisement The question triggered an idea for Joan and Ina, who were increasingly bothered by seeing good food being thrown away while people went hungry. The contradiction never sat well with them, and so, in 1985, with two volunteers, a hatchback, seven food donors and seven community agencies, Second Harvest was born. Today, Second Harvest is the largest food rescue charity in Canada, and rescues and delivers over 8 million pounds of fresh surplus food to 220 agencies. Unlike food banks, Second Harvest focuses on rescuing and delivering fresh, healthy, perishable foods -- protein, dairy and produce -- and doesn't bank any food, aiming to pick up food from donors and get it to agencies within 48 hours. Soon after being established, Second Harvest found the list of agencies requesting food was growing and donations from restaurants were getting smaller as chefs began to better manage food inventory. So by the early '90s, Second Harvest began requesting donations from retailers with unsold or unsellable stock. Advertisement In 1994, Ontario passed the Food Donation Act, protecting food donors from civil and criminal liability, paving the way for larger retail chains to donate to charities. The United States would follow suit two years later, with the Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act. By 2000, Second Harvest was rescuing and delivering more than 3 million pounds of food to over 110 agencies. To support this volume, Second Harvest began to solicit donation directly from food processors or distributors. This was food that wasn't even being sent to stores -- misshapen or overripe produce, mislabeled jars or yogurt with looming best-before dates. Skids of perfectly edible perishable food were being picked up and delivered to people experiencing hunger. Public awareness of food waste is currently at an all-time high. In early August, Italy passed new laws making food donation easier as part of a commitment to reducing waste by 80 per cent. In 2015, France became the first country to ban retailers from throwing away or destroying unsold food, forcing them to donate it to charities. Apps like Ubifood (Montreal) and FlashFood (Toronto) connect consumers with restaurants offering discounted surplus food. Every day seems to bring news of entrepreneurs, researchers and experts who are talking about wasted food and food rescue. Advertisement All of this attention makes Second Harvest's Executive Director Debra Lawson hopeful that awareness will translate to action. She notes, "We as individuals and as a community still need to answer the question 'what are you doing to help hungry people in your own city?' with the same urgency Joan and Ina did 31 years ago." Take Action Now Join thousands of Canadians calling on our governments and grocers to help reduce food waste. Sign a petition at Change.org Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook MORE ON HUFFPOST: John & Lisa Merrill via Getty Images Last week, the world was informed of yet another expansion of Israeli "settlements" by the Netanyahu government. Israel announced plans for 285 new units in the West Bank, and the retroactive approval of 178 units that were built in the 1980s. Part of an ongoing series of announcements, Israel has now advanced plans for 1,700 new units since July 1. The UN Mideast Envoy, Nicolay Mladenov, was incensed. "Israeli settlements in occupied territory have no legal validity and are an obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East." Advertisement And the response from Canada and its federal political parties: silence. Such announcements must be met with firm and repeated condemnation, by Canada and all other governments. Global Affairs Canada must have considered the 24 hours after Israel's announcement to be a slow news cycle. Their only press statement announced Minister Dion's upcoming travel to Micronesia. But Israel's ongoing construction of settlements in the West Bank is no small matter. Such announcements must be met with firm and repeated condemnation, by Canada and all other governments that give lip service to human rights and the rule of law. Here's why. As Mladenov observed, Israel's settlements are illegal under international law. The Fourth Geneva Convention states, "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." Advertisement In 1958, the Red Cross explained the basis for this prohibition, stating: [This article] is intended to prevent a practice adopted during the Second World War by certain Powers, which transferred portions of their own population to occupied territory for political and racial reasons [...] to colonize those territories. Such transfers worsened the economic situation of the native population and endangered their separate existence as a race. Thus, Israel's settlements are colonies, with all the pejorative meanings. And with each Israeli colonial expansion in the West Bank, Palestinians struggle to maintain their livelihoods and their communities. Aside from the illegality and inhumanity of Israel's settlements, they also spell dire trouble for the oft-touted "two state solution" for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Global Affairs Canada states, "Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The settlements also constitute a serious obstacle to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace." Individually, all Canadian parties have expressed wholehearted support for the two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Why is it, then, that neither our government nor any of our political leaders lament the growth of these Israeli settlements which are repeatedly hailed as a significant impediment to peace? Advertisement It's like two people arguing over how to divide a pizza while one of them eats it. It's no wonder that Mladenov asserted, "It is difficult to read in these actions a genuine [Israeli] intention to work toward a viable two-state solution." There are different mechanisms of enforcement for international law. Formally, there are international bodies -- the ICC, the ICJ and others -- that are occasionally brought to bear effectively. Far more frequently, it is informal mechanisms that enable international law to bring positive change: collective condemnation, and a desire for international legitimacy. Canada is not a military superpower, but it can be a moral superpower. The condemnation of Canada, its government and its political leaders is far more powerful than many might realize. While it may feel like empty hand wringing to some, history has repeatedly shown that if enough voices are raised, intransigent governments will move. In one meeting I had several years ago with the foreign affairs critic of a major Canadian party, I asked him about the last time his party had condemned Israeli settlement building. "Well, Tom," he explained, "Our disapproval of Israeli settlements is well known." "But when was the last time you actually issued a statement?" I pressed. "Well, we can't repeat the same thing in statement after statement." I repeated, "But when was the last time you actually issued a statement of condemnation?" He didn't have an answer for me. In a final appeal for action last week, Mladenov said something which should give pause to everyone, regardless of where they stand on the conflict: "For years we have been managing this conflict, while the occupation has continued, Palestinians have been dispossessed, and a one-state reality has been establishing itself on the ground." If Mladenov is right, Palestinians may soon be echoing the battle cry against Apartheid South Africa: "One [hu]man, one vote!" Advertisement Canada is not a military superpower, but it can be a moral superpower. Canada may not be the host of Mideast peace talks, but it can grease the wheels for such talks. But to be either, our political leaders have to have the courage of their convictions. In the meantime, silence is acquiescence. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook MORE ON HUFFPOST: Dana Hoff via Getty Images Real estate sign on home for sale. Written by Wayne Karl Most people have an idea what they want when buying a home -- proximity to transit and schools usually ranks near the top. Buyers' criteria may vary depending on their age and location. Single professionals looking for a downtown condo would likely key on proximity to mass transit. Young families in the suburbs, on the other hand, might rank schools and parks at the top of their list. Advertisement When it comes to the value of your home, however, certain neighbourhood features have very distinct influences -- positive and negative -- that you should be aware of. For example, realtor.com, the official website of the National Association of Realtors in the U.S., recently produced a list of the worst neighbourhood features that drag down your home value. Its counterpart north of the border, the Canadian Real Estate Association and its website, realtor.ca, doesn't have an equivalent list for the market here, so we assembled one -- from an informal poll of realtors and other sources. Here, then, are five things to look for -- and five to avoid -- when looking for a home. 5 THINGS TO LOOK FOR Mass transit: This isn't just for convenience, though being able to walk to a subway, LRT or commuter train is the wish of many homeowners. Experts rank walkability to a subway station as the number one thing homebuyers are willing to pay for -- so it has a very real positive impact on property values. Research shows that homes located 500 to 800 metres from a subway stop increase by 10 to 20 per cent in value more than average. And in a downturn, these properties will drop by 10 to 20 per cent less. Advertisement Schools: This may be more important for young families than single professionals or Millennials, but overall, properties close to good schools and school districts are at a premium. (And be sure to avoid poor school districts.) Think convenience in dropping off the kids, less worry about long commutes, syncing up with daycare or requiring them to become "bus pupils." And when it comes to resale, you'll find lots of people looking for just this kind of home. Walkability: Speaking of convenience, proximity to amenities such as shops, services and restaurants ranks high on most buyers' lists. Being able to walk to them, within a reasonable distance, is golden. Builders know this, and more and more of them master-plan their communities to make sure such essentials are nearby. Parks: Lifestyle is becoming increasingly important -- and in some cases, a concern -- these days, especially for the thousands upon thousands of Canadians choosing to live in condos because of their affordability. Think it's not so important? Try living in a downtown condo cluster without any greenspace in sight. Generations of Canadians are now growing up as condo dwellers, so nearby parks, trails and other escapes are increasingly essential. Major highways: Besides living reasonably close to work, most homebuyers also want to be close to friends and family. But these days, with rising prices increasingly determining where you buy, easy access to major highways and thoroughfares is the next best thing. And thank goodness many Canadian governments are spending billions on infrastructure to help make it all happen. "The features that are most important to homebuyers are reflective of what they value as individuals," says Adil Dinani of Royal LePage West Real Estate Services, Burnaby, BC. "Generally speaking, neighbourhoods that fall within excellent public school catchments, are close to rapid transit hubs and have access routes are highly sought after. Advertisement "The notion of walkscore also plays an important role in desirability -- residential neighbourhoods that are in proximity to urban conveniences such as cafes, grocers, restaurants and parks are generally very attractive and can positively influence the value of homes." 5 THINGS TO AVOID Busy street or intersection: While proximity to highways is high on the list of positive influences, there's such a thing as being too close. The concern here is two-fold: high volume of motorist traffic; and the danger that represents to pedestrians. The same is true with being too close to a subway or train station -- and studies show a definitive drag on property values. Cemeteries: Superstition or not, many people find it just too creepy to live adjacent to any kind or size of cemetery. Some may find it cool, but the greater likelihood is that far more potential future buyers will be turned off at the prospect. Industrial areas: As best, think loud, potentially constant industrial noise and heavy truck traffic. At worst, depending on the type of industry, imagine particulates and other kinds of emissions and contaminants. No thank you. Railways: We all remember Lac-Megantic, but if you need a reminder, there was a train derailment in downtown Toronto just last month. Rail transport and transit literally helped build this country, and it's important to our future, but there are very real dangers in living too close to railways. Advertisement Hydro wires: Even if you, personally, aren't put off by homes located near hydro right-of-ways, future potential buyers of your home might be. Such properties often sell at a discount -- which may sound great at first, until you realize it's because the pool of prospective buyers is smaller when you go to sell. Why take the chance? Importantly, such negatives can actually help people in their home search. "It really depends on the budget, but most of the time, a buyer will make up their mind on a home that they are ruling out, quicker than a home that they love," Shawn Zigelstein, sales representative at Royal LePage Your Community Realty in Richmond Hill, told YPNextHome. "Buying a home is a process of elimination rather than a process of selection, and many of these specific factors may help a buyer eliminate a home very quickly." TOP 9 DRAGS ON PROPERTY VALUES Bad school district Strip club High renter concentration Homeless shelter Cemetery Funeral home Power plant Shooting range Hospital Post originally published on YPNextHome.ca Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook The five things you need to know on Tuesday, September 6, 2016 1) VAZELINE INTENSIVE CARE Will today mark the beginning of the end for Nigel Keith Anthony Standish Vaz? The man long dubbed Vazeline by some colleagues - for the slippery way in which he changes his stance on various issues, and glides in and out of controversy - has a private showdown with colleagues on the Home Affairs Committee at 2pm. His political career is not yet dead, but it is in intensive care, thanks to unease among fellow MPs on the committee. The very latest is that it seems he's decided to step aside, at least temporarily. Advertisement The committee is scheduled to take evidence in public from Robert Goodwill, the Immigration Minister, at 3.30pm, and exactly who will take the chair for that session will ensure a packed audience outside the Grimond Room. Under a deal between the parties, this is a Labour chairmanship and Chuka Umunna is seen by many as the man to step up. Six of the committee are Tories and Theresa Mays public skewering of Vaz (often a thorn in her side) in China - what is important for people is that they feel they are able to have confidence in their politicians - gives them the cover to tell him to go. Its trickier for the Labour MPs who are acutely aware of claims that Vaz should not be ousted over private matters. But note that David Winnick told Newsnight that Vaz had in the past shown too much desire for publicility.[that had] to some extent it undermined the credibility of the committee. Its not as if theres a shortage of home affairs stories around today - from revenge porn to calls for the child abuse inquiry to be narrowed - and yet there is no HAC chairman on the airwaves. That in itself speaks volumes. Chukas own line yesterday was that Vaz had himself said he didnt want to disrupt the committees work. He also, pointedly, said before every session you make declarations of interests and obviously those need to be out there and in the open. The Mirror says The Vaz tapes prove he was not the victim of a press sting, but with a high profile lawyer on his side, some still feel it will take new revelations to actually force Vaz to step aside from anything other than the prostitution inquiry. Advertisement Vaz turned up to the Commons to ask two questions yesterday (one in Home Office Qs, one in the Yemen statement) and looked set to force his critics - especially Chuka (who would be gifted a major platform to rebuild his own career) to show their hands today. If he had refused to go voluntarily, he was set to be given 24 hours to reflect. But committee members were unsure if they could pass a vote of no confidence, and whether it can be done in a secret ballot rather than a show of hands. Now, the issue is just how long Vaz will step aside, and if there's any way back at all. 2) BREXIT MEANS BREXIT MEANS BREXIT Theresa May and her entourage landed back in Blighty in the early hours and shes determined to bounce into this mornings Cabinet to prove shes always in charge. Out in China, the PM had put the taut into tautology, declaring The reason I've been saying Brexit means Brexit is precisely because it does. Her much-anticipated bilateral meeting with President Xi was smoothed over when a No.10 official revealed that Hinkley was kinda parked as an issue. [Mr Xi] said that he recognised the new Government would need to take some time for reaching decisions on some agreements pushed by the last Government. President Xi said that they had the patience to wait for a resolution on those issues. Back home, DD was urging similar patience among Eurosceptics as he used his Commons Brexit statement to stress the Government would take the time to get it right (though word is that he and the other Brexiteers want Article 50 triggered in the first half of the year at the latest). Brexit means Brexit means two things so far: definitely quitting the EU, and definitely getting new control over migration. DD came up with a neat soundbite to back up Mays own rejection of Vote Leaves points-based system, declaring he preferred a results-based system. Farage claimed this was backsliding but in fact Tory Eurosceps want a plan that will shoot Farages fox by being even tougher. Note that MigrationWatch and others back DDs line, and the Mail splashes that Mays No10 staff are pressing her to bring in a full work permit system. Advertisement On the single market, DD was in similarly Hard Brexit mood. Asked about the single market, his key quote was: This Government is looking at every option. But the simple truth is that if a requirement of membership is giving up control of our borders, I think that makes it very improbableAbout forty countries have free trade agreements with Europe without any deals on migration, without any deals on money," 3) UB NAUGHTY Labours leadership travails continue. Just after 5pm today we will learn the results of the PLP ballot on Clive Betts plan to restore Shadow Cabinet elections. Im guessing the result will be a North Korea-style landslide for the proposal. But actually its all kinda academic as the NEC will next have to decide if it wants the plan - and Corbyn allies tell me they will only go for it if its not a threat to his authority (and if it is then the wider membership may be invited to vote, a rival plan that one source told me would kill the whole thing stone dead). Jeremy Corbyn is this morning appearing alongside 1980s reggae-pop combo UB40. Already Labour MPs are joking that I am The One In Ten (a song about unemployment) is a neat reference to the number of Corbyn-supporting MPs in the PLP. Or thats how much of the national vote Labour will be reduced to in 2020. Ah, gallows humour, eh? But whats just as fun is that UB40 has a splits story of its own that makes the Milibands look like the Waltons. The version of the band that will back JC today is led by guitarist and vocalist Robin Campbell, and others in the original lineup. But a rival UB40 is led by Ali Campbell not the Blair spin chief, but Robins younger brother and the original lead vocalist and features two other founding members. Another brother Duncan was brought in to take on the vocals in Robins band. In 2014, Ali uttered this lovely line: If you went to see the Rolling Stones and Derek Jagger turned up instead of Mick, youd feel a bit peeved. I havent spoken to Duncan or Robin for six years now. It has torn the family apart. Advertisement In an interview with the Guardian, Corbyn said JK Rowling was a wonderful writer though she seems to have some differences with me at the moment. Im disappointed about that but Ive never met her. Meanwhile, some Labour MPs are just getting on with real life: Caroline Flints amendment on tax transparency was accepted by the Government late last night (the House adjourned just before midnight). BECAUSE YOUVE READ THIS FAR Watch Dominic Grieves reaction in the Commons as Owen Paterson says all EU law could be subsumed into British law. Priceless. 4) ITS ASHLEY VERY SIMPLE Sports Direct chief Mike Ashley has finally bowed to huge pressure, with his firm announcing it will axe zero hours contracts and replace them with guaranteed hours for all those who want them. It also admits it should pay staff more and vows a review of all its employment practices. There, that wasnt so hard, was it? Sports Direct has admitted "serious shortcomings" in working practices at its Shirebrook warehouse in Derbyshire. In a report commissioned by the firm, the retailer apologised for conditions at the warehouse, which have been likened to those of a Victorian workhouse. Its real triumph for Commons Select Committees and trade union campaigns which have been pushing Ashley, but also a victory for journalism- the Guardian investigations into its practices have been vindicated. Advertisement Ian Wright, chairman of the BIS Select Committee, told Today "it goes a long way, but not far enough". He spotted buried in today's report that there was no formal contract in place for the agency workers used by the firm. 5) YOU ARE THE PASSENGERS Lord Fowler, the new Lords Speaker, is making clear he wont be a mere bystander in the debate over the future of the Upper House. In an interview with The House magazine, he says the Lords has to cut its numbers to around 600- to match the new size of the Commons due in the next few years. As Cameron pushed the Lords to above 800 members, thats a big cut. We should certainly not have more peers than there are Members of Parliament. I think that's a principle that would probably find agreement amongst most of the House," the former Cabinet minister says. "There are how should I put it? a few passengers. I dont disagree with that. But the characteristic of the Lords is that it's hardworking and conscientious. At the moment the size of the House hangs over it like a cloud so anything you do it always comes back to 'arent you too big?' etc. If you get rid of the 'too big' argument, perhaps the public and politicians can concentrate on what we actually do, which I think is fundamentally important. If youre reading this on the web, sign-up HERE to get the WaughZone delivered to your inbox. Brazilians in general have a laid back attitude towards privacy when compared to people in other parts of the world. I first had contact with that reality when I moved to London from Sao Paulo in the early noughties. I was sitting on a packed Northern Line train in the London underground while a woman struggling to hold a large parcel stood in front of me - so I asked whether I could hold that package on my lap for her. Horrified, she replied: "Why would you want to carry my stuff?" I was equally horrified: something that was considered absolutely normal in Brazil was seen as a major invasion of privacy in the UK. In Brazil, we see privacy and people's personal space in a different way. As well as carrying packages for strangers in packed buses and trains, we will touch you, we will make eye contact, we will ask you questions that would be considered unthinkable if we have just met you in a social setting... the list goes on. One might argue that this makes Brazilians a bit quirky in a positive way, but that relaxed attitude about privacy also means we are very much accustomed to give our data away without ever asking questions. For example, to access an office building in Brazil I am required to produce some form of photo ID and have my picture taken, for "security reasons". I don't recall many occasions where I was required to show my ID to get into an office in the UK, let alone carry it with me at all times. Every time I shop at large retailers in Brazil I see people asking for and giving data everywhere, be it for loyalty cards, birthday discounts, prize draws...salespeople ask for my details and phone number when I buy a pair of shoes "just in case something I might like is launched." Advertisement Then I get an unsolicited phone call the next day offering discounted beauty treatments. Whenever I buy an intercity bus ticket, I am required to fill out a stub with my personal details, supposedly so that the bus company knows who to contact in case of an accident and also to identify that I have purchased travel insurance. This is supposed to be entered into a system, but I have seen ticket desk attendants simply tossing those details aside hundreds of times. These are only very simple instances of how our data is (mis)used in Brazil and how we often fail to ask some important questions to organisations: Who holds the data that I have to give you? Why are you storing it? What happens to my data after I give it to you? We don't ask these questions to avoid being confrontational, to avoid wasting time, or because often times we don't think it matters all that much or even know what kind of value our data has. These issues came to my mind while I was covering a cybersecurity summit on Latin America, held by Russian software firm Kaspersky Lab in Mexico last week. One of the speakers, global vice president of consumer marketing at the firm, Evgeny "Che" Chereshnev, brought up the data privacy dilemma - which is at the core of his own experiments as a "professional cyborg," which entails the maintenance of an NFC chip inserted in his own body. When Che began to talk about the way we help organisations to improve their own business on a daily basis but at the same time cannot control our own digital identities, it dawned on me (again) how we Brazilians are used to giving so much - possibly more than the average citizen in developed nations - and getting so little in return when it comes to our right to privacy and data ownership. Advertisement We have seen some situations in recent months that have forced us to start that conversation about our data, though. The first that comes to mind is the constant struggles of messaging tool WhatsApp, which has been banned several times in Brazil for failure to comply with requirements for information needed for criminal investigations. When I asked Che about his views on that, he replied that "anyone that tried to forbid encryption does not understand the concept of the Internet," adding that if criminals want to find an encrypted way to go about their business, they will whether WhatsApp or Telegram or any other tool is banned. Sure, this is the most obvious and sensible answer to a seemingly pointless debate, but what is the answer that would satisfy the need for privacy of users while helping law enforcement? Che says that the answer is to use technology in a, erm, more intelligent way. "We have to segment data. We have to be able to access a system and tell the authorities whether this or that person was at place X at any particular time, without having to get access to all of their other details," he says, adding that his team is now researching on such data segmentation techniques to possibly enable the creation of mechanisms that would make authorities happy without compromising users' security. Such technical conclusions are all well and good for people who have an understanding of the possibilities offered by technology, but how can we get anyone in Brazilian society - or any other country where privacy awareness is low - to know more about the importance of safeguarding their own information? According to the Russian security expert, we are all damned as it stands, but the key for future improvement is education. "We need to start introducing these concepts at school, from an early age." The problem is, Che says, that the few schools that have started to introduce computing and other associated activities like robotics, do not educate kids about data. "There is not much that can be done for our generation, but we mustn't lose hope as kids can still learn about privacy and how to share and protect information. There are ways in which you can be anonymous - it is complicated and it can be expensive, but you can do it. And kids should know about these things," he adds. With Parliament now resumed after the summer recess, my hope is that new ministers aren't planning on getting too obsessed with Brexit to the detriment of addressing the pressing domestic agenda. Regular readers won't be surprised to learn that top of my list for our government is health and social care. In the government reshuffle that swiftly followed Theresa May's appointment as Prime Minister, many social care commentators were dismayed to see the Department of Health's ministerial structure changed. Jeremy Hunt remained as Health Secretary, with a new role of Minister of State for Health going to Philip Dunne (overseeing hospital care, NHS performance and operations, the workforce, patient safety and maternity care), Nicola Blackwood becoming Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health and Innovation, and David Mowat appointed as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Community Health and Care. David Mowat's brief encompasses adult social care, carers, community services, cancer, dementia, learning disabilities and all elements of primary care, including dentistry and pharmacy. A pretty sizeable portfolio you might think - social care alone is a huge remit - and one perhaps more fitting of a dedicated ministerial post. Advertisement On the face of it, healthcare and the NHS are the primary focus of Theresa May, but she must not lose sight of the need to adequately provide and fund social care as so many of her predecessors in 10 Downing Street have. David Mowat needs heavyweight backing for his portfolio, since failure to strengthen the areas he is responsible for means the 'bigger' picture of healthcare and the NHS is doomed. Most people are far better off being cared for in their homes and via relatively low-level community support than they are in A&E and acute hospital beds for days, weeks or months on end. People rarely thrive in those conditions, it costs the country more money once a person needs hospital care, it affects NHS performance when too many people are accessing hospital care, it increases the chances of poor patient safety, and puts additional stress on the already overstretched workforce. The Health Select Committee's report, 'Impact of the Spending Review on Health and Social Care' that was published last July made the case for funding social care very clear: "Historical cuts to social care funding have now exhausted the opportunities for significant further efficiencies in this area. Increasing numbers of people with genuine social care needs are no longer receiving the care they need because of a lack of funding. This not only causes considerable distress to these individuals and their families but results in additional costs to the NHS. We are concerned about the effect of additional funding streams for social care not arriving until later in the Parliament." Advertisement Meanwhile, research also published last July by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) showed that local authorities are left with a gap to fill of around 940 million just to keep social care services operating at last year's levels. Against this backdrop, the complete false economy of compartmentalising health and social care infuriates me. Reform of NHS services, alongside meeting the demand for social care, is how the NHS will remain sustainable. Indeed, even the CEO of NHS England, Simon Stevens, echoed that latter point in his speech to the NHS Confederation less than three months ago when he said: "I do not believe that it would be prudent for us to assume any additional NHS funding over the next several years, not least because I think there is a strong argument that were extra funding to be available, frankly we should be arguing that it should be going to social care. That is one of the arguments that I have been making publicly, and I think social care has a very strong case for that." Social care's case, however, isn't high on the agenda of the electorate who politicians ultimately answer to (in the way the NHS is as was proven again in those Brexit NHS funding claims). It's also an incredibly tough nut to crack, being largely privatised and with the country in a state of austerity, so it's convenient to side-step it. Yet for all the reasons (or excuses), and for all the challenges and impossibilities, I come back to one simple fact: Advertisement Right now there are people who are unnecessarily in hospital beds, losing independence and desperate to be discharged. Meanwhile, there are people in their own homes having to choose between getting out of bed, having a shower, eating a meal or going to the toilet (because they don't have the support to do it all). And there are many, many people who genuinely fear getting older, becoming ill and needing care and support. This week marks the inaugural London Design Biennale 2016 staged in the grandiose setting of Somerset House. Its theme is Utopia by Design, marking the 500th anniversary of the publication of Thomas More's Utopia. Among the exhibits that has caught my eye is one at the French Pavilion called The Astounding Eyes of Syria. The tragedy of that country is played out daily on our news screens - mayhem and destruction in a seemingly interminable conflict waged by different factions in a complex geopolitical web. Benjamin Loyaute is a designer, artist, author, academic, filmmaker (not easy to pigeonhole) who has visited Syria both before and during the current conflict. Looking for a project that could in some way unite Syrians, he was struck by that country's fondness for sweets evident in the colourful mountains of confectionery that were once abundant on street candy carts and souk stalls. Advertisement So he decided to invent a new sweet (above) sculpted in the shape of an amulet known as an Eye Idol, the mysterious 4th century Assyrian archaeological objects first discovered in 1937 by Max Mallowan, the husband of Agatha Christie. Loyaute even invented a name for it, Louloupti, a pet name given to a child echoing the Syrian fondness for giving sweets affectionate nicknames. "I think the sweet is universal", Loyaute tells me. "I wanted to find the most humble, modest object which can link all Syrians together. I chose the shape because it's a small archaeological object that predates Islam. I wanted to talk about the deep culture, the history, the living heritage, to emphasise the ancient civilisation of Syria." He regards his sweet as a sculpture and persuaded a confectionery company in France to manufacture a million of them. The main features of this Biennale installation involve a vending machine from which the visitor can buy sachets of Louloupti, the proceeds of which will go to a charity that supports educational initiatives for refugees and displaced children. Advertisement The visitor is also invited to sit and watch an 18-minute film entitled The Astounding Eyes of Syria shot in high-definition by Loyaute in the Beqaa Valley refugee camp in Lebanon earlier this year. It's a haunting film that shows refugee families (as above) sharing their nostalgic memories of sweets at a time when they were at home and at peace, a part of daily life once taken for granted . One woman describes how the serving of sweets and pastries even helped soothe a row with a neighbour. A father wishes he had a time-machine that could wipe out the war and restore peace. "I invite people to do a kind of performance - to watch, to meditate," says Loyaute. "I don't want to provoke them, I want to make them undergo an introspection." The film is interspersed with street scenes of sweetshops and close-ups of the Louloupti thus combining a kind of fiction with reality. It's not so much a Utopia, more what French philosopher Michel Foucault called a Heretopia, a kind of "other space" within a reality, for example how a parent's bed might become an ocean or a forest in the mind of a child. Advertisement For the public, the Louloupti becomes a sculpture that they can buy, take home and keep. In this way they are also contributing in a small way to help ease the tragedy that is Syria. Thus, the sculpture becomes art with a purpose. Loyaute calls it "semantic design". He hopes to create an unlimited edition of his new sweet that could be sold all over the world. The proceeds would also be used to protect Syria's immense cultural heritage. As Loyaute puts it, "We can destroy people or buildings but we cannot destroy this collective memory." The London Design Biennale runs at Somerset House from 7 - 27 September Jude Law as the first American Pope? Diane Keaton as the faithful nun who looks after him? It strains the credulity more than a bit. But maverick Italian Paolo Sorrentino is the director, so we must always expect the unexpected. The Young Pope, a ten-part television series, of which the first two parts were shown out of competition at the Venice Festival, seems far from a masterpiece so far. But despite its unorthodox casting, at least it isn't the disaster some expected. This new Pope, selected largely because the Vatican thinks it can almost certainly control him, has colourful dreams of both despair and hope, but solidly ploughs through his self-imposed task of reforming those who are determined to keep things as they are. This is clearly only the start of a long TV journey, so we don't know whether he wins out or not. But both Law and Keaton give performances which justify the casting, at least since the object of the exercise is to attract as many watchers as possible to stay the course by using stars. Sorrentino and his regular cameramen could make anything look beautiful and do so again here. What's more the director of the Oscar-winning The Great Beauty clearly hasn't lost his touch as a man with radical ideas. His Catholic Church is conspiratorial and conservative minded, and his new Pope, beginning his battles against them despite being hardly a revolutionary himself, clearly has a hard battle ahead. If there is a problem with the first two episodes it lies in a screenplay which is serviceable but less than inspired. You always feel that The Young Pope is covering its options carefully and that Sorrentino, in accepting the job knew precisely how far he could go without offending too many. Only in the dream sequences does he pull out the virtuosity we know he possesses. Otherwise, you wouldn't be sure who has directed the film, except that it certainly couldn't be any old Hollywood hack. Advertisement We all know Mel Gibson, recently dubbed the richest actor in America, can direct as well. The Passion of Christ, whatever you thought of it, proved that. And so does Hacksaw Ridge, his latest essay in film-making after a gap of over a decade. This the true story of the conscientious objector who volunteered for the US Army Medical Corps at the start of the Second World War and was almost court-martialled for refusing either to carry or fire a weapon of any sort. In the end, he became a war hero for saving dozens of badly wounded men during the battle of Hacksaw Ridge, where the infantry has to scale the ridge and face a hail of Japanese bullets when they reached the top. Carnage on a giant scale followed and our heros bravery and his determination to go back into the battle area to rescue just one more made that phrase famous for years afterwards. Gibson tells a fairly conventional story about the young man and secures good performances not only from Andrew Garfield as Desmond Doss but the whole cast, which includes Vince Vaughn, Hugo Weaving and Sam Worthington. Above all, the extended final battle scenes are horrendously naturalistic, which puts a distinction on the film it might otherwise not have had. The horror of war, at least for the boots on the ground, has seldom been more apparent. You leave the theatre more than a trifle stunned. Advertisement But the problem is that Gibson's central idea that religious faith triumphs over almost everything also applies to the so-called Islamic State and most other wasteful and murderous religious wars. Doss was a hero who just happened to be on the right side. The best film at the festival so far, or at least in the star-studded competition, was undoubtedly Tom Ford's Nocturnal Animals, in which the director of A Simple Man proved he is potentially one of the finest in America. In the film, Jake Gyllenhaal's clean living middle-class man goes after the goons who rape and kill his wife and daughter, aided by Michael Shannon's chain smoking and almost impossibly cynical detective. But this isn't reality but the plot of a book divorcee Amy Adams is sent by her novelist ex-husband. Not only is it extremely violent but the characters in it have more than a passing resemblance to people she knows, including herself. Totally different from A Single Man, the film bows to Blue Velvet as much as any other movie, with bloody fiction bleeding into uncomfortable reality. It is elegant, acted with real power and has a strong feeling for its an ordinary man faced with circumstances Liam Neeson might attempt to circumnavigate. While claiming to want to "protect" or "save" the NHS, the junior doctors are now putting patients' lives at risk by threatening a series of four 5-day strikes starting on 12-16 September. These 20 days of strikes will entail "full withdrawal of labour" between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm on the days concerned and will affect A&E as well as other departments. Chris Hopson, head of NHS Providers, estimates that this will result in the cancellation of over 500,000 operations plus four million outpatient appointments. [ITV News, 2 September 2016]. It has been reported that "junior doctors being hired to co-ordinate strike action are being paid up to 250-a-day ....as well as expenses for hotels and business-class travel." [The Sun, 3 September 2016, report by Amanda Devlin]. This latest threat comes in the wake of five strikes in January, February, March and April 2016, which resulted in the cancellation of 150,000 operations and outpatient appointments. Advertisement Strike Ballots - the Law In law, any strike action is automatically a breach of contract. To save a strike from being unlawful - and therefore entitling the employer to sack the strikers -- a strike ballot has to be held. But, a valid ballot must follow certain precise rules, the whole point being to prevent strikes which do not have the support of the majority of the employees concerned. The rules governing strike ballots are laid down by the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 ("TULRA"). The only valid strike ballot in the whole of the current dispute was held on 19 November 2015, long before there was any suggestion of 5-day all-out strikes. TULRA s.234(1) stipulates that a strike ballot "ceases to be effective" a maximum of eight weeks after the date of the ballot. So, the strike action must start within that time. S.233(3)(a) makes it clear that a ballot is needed not only for a trade union to call for its members to strike initially but also to "continue to take part in industrial action". In other words, a fresh ballot is needed for the continuation of a strike. Not only must the employer be notified of any strike ballot, but the notice must state "whether industrial action is intended to be continuous or discontinuous and specifies" the intended dates. [TULRA s. 234A(3)(b)]. Background -- Rejected Contract On 18 May 2016, after ten days of intensive talks, it was announced that a new contract had been agreed between the BMA and the Government. Johann Malawana, the then junior doctors' leader, described this as "a good deal for junior doctors". Under the agreed contract, all juniors would get a basic pay rise of about 10%, plus a further 10% boost for those regularly working at weekends, plus an extra 37% (down from the current rate of 50%) for weekday nightshift working. However, the junior doctors proceeded to reject the agreed contract. But, as Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt pointed out: "The BMA's figures show that only 40% of those eligible actually voted against this contract, and a third of BMA members didn't vote at all." [The Guardian, 5 July 2016]. Advertisement Secret Ballot - Only 31.5% in Favour of New Strikes After the agreed-and-then-rejected new contract, the BMA, the doctors' trade union, seems to have recognised the need for a fresh ballot for the series of full-on strikes starting on 12 September. They did in fact hold a fresh ballot in August 2016 -- but, contrary to TULRA, they kept it secret. It is perhaps not surprising that they chose to keep it from the Government, because the support for full-on strikes was nowhere near the 50% requirement for a lawful strike. According to documents leaked to the Daily Mail, of the 37,770 junior doctors who as members of the BMA were entitled to vote, only 7,540, or 20%, actually voted, and of those just 31.5% (2,375) voted for the new strikes. In other words, the threatened new strikes have the support of only 6.3% of the total number of junior doctors entitled to vote. [Daily Mail, 4 September 2016, reported by Amie Gordon, Sophie Borland & Vanessa Allen]. Despite the ballot result, the BMA council nevertheless authorised a five-day strike by junior doctors starting on 12 September. When interviewed by Nick Robinson, BMA Chairman Mark Porter repeatedly refused to give details of this council vote but failed to deny that it was as close as 16 votes to 14. [Huffington Post, 1 September 2016, report by Aubrey Allegretti; Daily Telegraph 1 September 2016, report by Henry Bodkin]. The legal position therefore is that the new round of strikes is unlawful and the strikers can be sacked by their employer, the British Government. Jeremy Hunt's Options The threat of a whole new series of full-on damaging 5-day strikes puts the ball firmly into the Government's court. How is Jeremy Hunt to react? His options are: Advertisement To impose a new contract on the junior doctors. This is the option already announced by Jeremy Hunt. But it is unlikely to succeed, because a legally binding contract must be agreed to by both parties. You can't force somebody to agree. To threaten to fire all the strikers. In order to be lawful, any new strike action needs to be supported by over 50% of those voting in a fresh strike ballot. In the secret strike ballot held in August 2016 there was insufficient support for strike action: 31.5% is a far cry from 50%. Participants in an unlawful strike can be dismissed. The Government will be afraid to take this step in case it depletes the NHS of junior medical staff. In reality, most junior doctors threatened with dismissal if they fail to report for duty by a given date will probably see sense, remember their obligations to the public under the Hippocratic oath, and go back to work. In any case, are striking medics really indispensable to the NHS who are prepared to play politics with public health and safety? There is no shortage of foreign doctors who would be only too happy to step into the breach. To activate the Trade Union Act 2016. Amazingly, this relevant law that received the royal assent on 4 May 2016 has not yet been brought into effect! This Act requires a valid strike ballot to have not only the support of over 50% of those voting but also a turnout of at least 50% of those entitled to vote. In (as yet undefined) "important public services", which must surely include the NHS, there is an additional requirement "that at least 40% of those who were entitled to vote in the ballot answered 'Yes' to the question." The Government originally proposed to include a provision allowing employers to hire agency workers to cover for striking employees. This important provision was dropped, but it urgently needs to be inserted for public sector strikes. This would have to be passed through Parliament as an emergency with retrospective effect, which, though exceptional, is perfectly legal. It feels like a lot longer since the 23rd June than it really is, proving that a week is a long time in politics - and two and half months is even longer. But since then, the mass media is yet to move on from the word "Brexit" (and it is unlikely to do so given that we've learnt it could take as much as 10 years to complete dealing with all the facts and details of leaving the European Union) but now they're having a field day - adding two more words to the nickname creating yet another complete and utter misnomer - it's 350m Per Week 2: Electric Boogaloo - Broken Brexit Promises. This term has been bandied around extensively by the media representing anger felt by some of the 52% of the population that voted Brexit in the dramatic referendum. Many feel that now the negotiations are being prepared for and the realities are sinking in by our new Brexit team captained by Theresa May, they have been betrayed by the leadership because this wasn't what they were promised. This really gets my goat. When we voted Brexit, what was on the ballot paper was very simple. Leaving the European Union. Nothing more and nothing less. There was no promise to also redirect 350m to the NHS, or protect EU citizens in Britain (sidenote: the idea of using people's lives as bargaining chips is vile and morally reprehensible - symptomatic of a culture of human beings being used as a means to an end, especially foreigners (like in order to gain votes in certain referenda), or fund farmers, or cut down immigration, or give Britain an Australian-style points system or anything of the sort. There is a very simple reason why the British people feel violated and double-crossed over the things that were promised in the referendum campaign. Advertisement It's because they were lied to. That's the long and short of it. Brexit campaigners like Nigel Farage and his band of merry tricksters willingly and with premeditation allowed themselves to mis-sell a post-Brexit world. They sold us down the river with promises of what were really whims and ideas which were certainly not written in stone and definitely not deliverable. What makes this situation 350m times worse (if you'll pardon the pun) is that when these delightful concepts of a world free from the EU purely populated by candy, rainbows and bunny rabbits were sold to us, they were sold to us by people who had no authority to promise them. It wasn't like an election where we were electing a manifesto or a series of policy agendas, we were electing a concept onto 650 individuals who in the majority do not believe in it. We weren't electing a government or an MP, we were electing a policy direction which would overshadow the premiership of any Prime Minister unlucky enough to be caught beneath it. Because of this, any promise made by Nigel Farage (who failed be elected as an MP not once, not twice but seven times I may hasten to add) et al. was worth the same as my Woolworth's giftcard (circa 2003). We must not let them abdicate from the responsibility for the fact that they painted a picture of a world that could never exist to win votes - we were lied to plain and simple. And now Theresa May, not even 2 months into her leadership finds herself being accused of "breaking Brexit promises" that not only did she never make, but also that she campaigned against given her personal campaign for remaining in the European Union. When she realistically demolishes concepts like an Australian-style points system for Britain she is accused by many as cheating the British public (despite her never actually promising anything, the promises that were made were made without real power and authority, and the promises themselves being fanciful at best and deceitful at worst) when all she is really trying to is clear up the mess left by the British electorate. Advertisement Sept. 2 Marc A. Arevalo-Berrelleza, 20, of Watsonville, California, was arrested on Interstate 80 for speeding 21 to 30 miles over the limit, operating a vehicle with expired registration or plates, and failure to appear on a traffic citation. Bail: $1,130 William R. Bowker, 34, of West Jordan, Utah, was arrested at 2001 Errecart Blvd. for the arrest of a fugitive felon from another state. No bail listed. Troy D. Hoover, 31, of Bladenboro, North Carolina, was arrested at the Elko County Jail on a warrant for two counts of intent to utter a fictional bill, note or check and two counts of failure to appear after bail for a misdemeanor crime. Bail: $6,980 Nola E. Mangum, 55, of Elko was arrested at 200 Wilson Ave. for failure to appear after bail for a misdemeanor. Bail: $375 Venson W. Price Jr., 31, of Elko was arrested on Interstate 80 for DUI. Bail: $1,140 Jan-Michael Staub, 33, of Elko was arrested on Ruby Vista Drive for failure to appear on a traffic citation. Bail: $655 The Women's Equality Party launch a new campaign this week to coincide with the start of London Fashion Week. The #NoSizeFitsAll campaign seeks to highlight the prevalence of eating disorders and makes a bold statement regarding the fashion industry's role in this It is time for the fashion industry to recognise that it can and must effect change in this area. The Women's Equality Party makes four asks Image: Women's Equality Party Many are backing the campaign including fashion activist and diversity campaigner Caryn Franklin and plus size model Jada Sezer along with Rosie Nelson, model and activist who petitioned parliament for government legislation to protect models last year. Advertisement Taken at face value the aims of the campaign are laudable. The fashion industry's obsession with thin is often cited as fuelling a desirability with attaining an unrealistic and unhealthy body. To counter this we have seen a real push to see greater diversity on the catwalk, on the high street and in magazines and publications. The growth of 'plus size', the body positive movement and campaigns such as Dove's Real Beauty have created a greater acceptance and awareness of diversity. Campaign group and registered charity Models of Diversity are at the forefront of this drive as demonstrated by the mission statement The promotion of equality and diversity for the public benefit by promoting greater diversity in the fashion, beauty and media industries, where people of minority ethnic origin, older people, larger and smaller people, people with a disability, and non-binary gender people are under-represented. Many will point to the fashion industry and state that it's rare to see overweight models promoted whereas underweight has been the norm for years. Enforcing a ban on underweight models, and insisting those with a BMI less than 18.5 be signed off as healthy before they can be employed, would bring us into line with laws in France, Spain and Italy. Advertisement But if we accept there is danger in 'too thin' then we also need to acknowledge the issue with 'too fat'. If we ban anorexia and underweight from the catwalk are we also going to ban obesity and overweight too? Why are we demonising 'skinny'? When someone is underweight society has no problem labelling them 'anorexic' 'skinny' 'dangerously thin' and is quick to apportion blame. If only you would eat more, stop starving yourself, we say, because this works so well in reverse. We know that telling someone with a weight management problem they simply need to stop eating so much works a treat, we can see how effective that strategy is with a current statistic in the UK revealing 24% are obese and 36% are overweight. There are many reasons why people are underweight. Not eating enough is an outcome not a reason, to uncover the real issue we need to look a little deeper. From serious psychological problems, illness, underlying medical conditions, bereavement, stress, divorce or abuse the reasons people are underweight are equally as complex, and deserve just as much compassion and understanding, as those who are overweight. If we are going to use BMI as a tool by which to judge 'too thin' to catwalk then we also need to apply it to 'too big' because obesity is a national epidemic and we are losing the battle. In the UK 65% of men and 58% of women are now classified as overweight and shockingly 9% of all reception aged children (age 4-5) are obese. Whilst we need to be concerned about fashion and media images promoting overly thin models, we need to recognise the flip side of this. Ashley Graham, Tess Holliday and Felicity Hayward are some of the best known bigger models who have been at the forefront of the shift to celebrate more curvy women. Many have seen this as a really positive step to promoting inclusivity, challenging the 'ideal' body type, and addressing our obsession with 'thin'. But what would happen if we applied the BMI guidelines to all models regardless of size? Strictly speaking if we are going to use BMI to determine health then we need to acknowledge the 'healthy' range is between 18.5 and 29.5. Advertisement BMI is a controversial and crude method for calculating healthy bodyweight, as many doctors and health and fitness experts already know. The major flaw being, it doesn't distinguish between fat and muscle, and dividing people into 'weight' categories does not equate to 'health' categories. It's brilliant we no longer find it acceptable to stigmatise people according to body size. It's fantastic we recognise the worrying influence of fashion and media images that promote an unhealthy body size. However, we run the risk of normalising and trivialising the dangers in being overweight. There are significant health consequences in being overweight including joint problems, lower back pain, hypertension (high blood pressure), coronary heart disease and stroke, deep vein thrombosis, Type 2 diabetes, endometrial, breast and colon cancer, stress incontinence, menstrual abnormalities, erectile dysfunction and respiratory problems. Diabetes alone costs 10% of the NHS budget. Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire Public increasingly blame the BMA for the disputes as fewer people say that doctors are right to go on strike The BMA has called off next week's junior doctors' strike, citing patient safety concerns. This may prove to be a prudent move, as new YouGov data reveals that the public increasingly believes that junior doctors are wrong to go on strike. Advertisement The gap between the number of people who think the strikes are right/wrong have narrowed significantly since the last survey YouGov conducted in April. Back then, 53% people thought that the doctors were right to go on strike and 29% thought they were wrong - a lead of 24 points in favour of the doctors. That lead has now narrowed to just 4 points, with 42% of people thinking that strike action is right and 38% think it is wrong. The public are also increasingly blaming the BMA for the dispute, and less likely to blame the government (although they are still twice as likely to blame the government). But whilst more than half of people (52%) blamed the government for the strikes back in April, that figure has now fallen to 40%. Advertisement The number of people blaming the BMA, by contrast, has risen seven points to 16%. The number of people who blame both sides equally remains static on 27%. Whilst the public may support the junior doctors' cause in general, they are much less warm to the BMA's new strategy of holding five day strikes (previous strikes were one or two days). Asked whether they supported strike action lasting for five days, 48% of the public opposed them, compared to 34% who supported them. Although next week's strike has been called off, the BMA says that it still intends to go ahead with further five day strikes in October, November and December. Matthew Smith is a data journalist at YouGov AFP via Getty Images My head hurts. Not through any alcohol-related activities, but because I've been trying to understand where the Government is going with its post-Brexit immigration policy. Yesterday in China, the Prime Minister ruled out an Australian-style points-based system, the kind which has been advocated by Ukip leader Nigel Farage and, in the run up to the EU Referendum, the now-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. Advertisement A spokesman for the PM went ever further yesterday, saying that a points system would not form any part of the UK's post-Brexit immigration controls. In the afternoon, Brexit Secretary David Davis said the reason May had ruled out a points-system was because: "She was concerned that a points-based system was actually too open-ended, that it did not actually put a control on the number of people coming to the UK and therefore she wanted something which sounded like it would more rigorous, not less." There are two key words here: "sounded like." Is it possible that Davis is guessing at what the Prime Minister wants? Surely there can be no confusion over such a fundamental aspect of Brexit? Except of course, there is. Because what May also said in China yesterday was: "What the British people voted for on the 23rd of June was to bring some control into the movement of people from the European Union into the UK." Advertisement Two more key words: "Some control". That qualification of "control" is telling. She went on: "A points-based system does not give you that control." A strange statement, especially as the Australian High Commissioner to the UK pointed out in Parliament yesterday that a points-based system gives you exactly that. Under the Aussie system, applicants have to speak English, have to be under 50 years old, and have to pass a health test. The Australian Government even limits the numbers. Speaking in front of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Social Integration, High Commissioner, Alexander Downer said: "We decide that we will take, for example, 78,000 skilled migrants and that's how many visas we will issue." He added: "Even with the family reunion [visas], and like I say that is largely the partners of Australian citizens, we don't take everybody who applies every year in that year because we've reached capacity. "We don't just institute a cap. We work out how many people we want in a given year and that's how many visas we will issue." Advertisement So this system does limit numbers, and does provide control - complete control - over the quantity and type of immigration. But May doesn't want it. Why? This anecdote was her justification: "When I was Home Secretary, David Cameron and I went to Heathrow and we talked to Border Force officers there and we said to them: 'What's the most important thing that we can focus on?' and they said: 'Well you need to look at the issue of students, who come here, who appear to have met, the criteria, the don't speak English, they don't know which institution they are going to and they don't know what course it is they are doing and so the system's being abused, but because they met the criteria, they were automatically allowed in.' That's the problem with the points-based system." No it's not. That's a problem with not enforcing a points-based system. If people were unable to speak English, or were not real students, that is cheating the system and should be stopped. The system itself is not blame. Another criticism of the Australian-style points-based system is that it the Aussies have an immigration rate which, per head, is twice the level of the UK. This is a bizarre argument against adopting it. The UK would be able to decide its own immigration level under this system, and just because the Australian's have selected a relatively high number doesn't mean the British Government would have to. Advertisement After all, does every country around the world have the same levels of income tax? For whatever reason, May has decided a points-based system is a non-starter. So what are the alternatives? The UK could have zero-immigration (not even Farage wants that), or simply have a first come first serve basis: the first 100,000 to turn up at the border every year get let in. Realistically, the Government could introduce a work-permit system, which would mean applicants would need a job before moving to the UK. This is perceived to be a stricter regime than using a points-system. But would these work permits carry quality as well as quantity controls? Would, for example, one of the requirements of the permit be that the applicant needs to speak English? Or would the companies issuing the permits simply have to demonstrate a need to recruit from overseas to fill the position? If so, then what is to stop the mass import of manual labour from the continent, which currently happens? The criticism leveled against this kind of immigration is that the workers have poor English, meaning they struggle to integrate. Was this not one of the concerns of millions of Leave voters? Among all of this, let's not forget that Theresa May said "some control" on movement of people. Perhaps the system will be that any EU citizen with a work permit can move to the UK, meaning there will be no specific cap on numbers. If the policy is confusing, the politics is just as strange. Leave campaigners called for a points-based system, and Leave won the referendum. Any sense this is not being delivered will surely play into the hands of Ukip. Even if Theresa May did not want the Australian system, she could have quite easily announced there would be a "British-style points-based system". This would have enabled her the wiggle-room to come up with her own system and still be able to sell it as "points-based" - even if it is, in fact, a work permit scheme. Advertisement Confusing policy, strange politics. Somewhere between the luggage and cookware departments on the lower ground floor of Selfridges, sits The reFASHIONed theatre. I've seen the space as a cinema, a silence room and even a gym - but currently it plays home to The Faction production of Much Ado About Nothing. Selfridges has joined forces with the exciting young British theatre company to celebrate Shakespeare400 with this new staging of the William Shakespeare classic. The reFASHIONed Theatre entrance has a glamorous marquee out front, leading you into the auditorium where a stage sits proudly in its center with raked seats lining either side. It's almost like walking into a mini fashion show. When the blue glow that once filled the room is extinguished, the space goes black, and the show begins. Advertisement The fashion aspect is apparent from the outset, with costumes looking as though they have been taken directly from the rails of Selfridges. The set is very simple and stylish, with characters weaving in and out of the space with a great kinetic energy. The small nature of the theatre, having only 122 seats, allows the action to take place at a very close level. Every emotion of each actor is under close scrutiny. The cast all rise to the occasion, delivering wonderfully intimate and absurd performances across the board. Star players are Daniel Boyd (Benedick) and Alison O'Donnell (Beatrice) whose characters fill the theatre and breathe life into the words of William Shakespeare. Their equally awful attempts at eavesdropping while being tricked into romance were equally hilarious and had the audience in stitches. Caroline Langrishe (Leonata) and Jude Owusu (Don Pedro) each demonstrated strong characters, commanding their scenes and showing great understanding of the text. Advertisement The direction by Mark Leipacher was very well executed and he succeeded in creating the action around the audience to make a highly engaging version of this Shakespeare classic. It was certainly a more contemporary take, with moments such as the masquerade ball showcasing the marriage of sound, light and dance in a re-imagining of the scenario. However, the use of television screens to integrate 'digital cameos' from the likes of Simon Callow and Meera Syal fell flat during the performance, jarring with the live action that was taking place. Overall, Much Ado About Nothing is a really enjoyable night of theatre and The reFASHIONed Theatre is the perfect destination for it. The Faction theatre company and Selfridges have come together to create a production that makes the work of William Shakespeare very accessible and engaging. Elements including fashion, social media and tabloids are effectively incorporated to provide parallels to modern times. It is a wonderful way to celebrate the work of William Shakespeare and great example of British theatre. Much Ado About Nothing runs until Saturday 24th September 2016, The reFASHIONed Theatre, Selfridges. For over half a decade the sweet sound of police sirens sang me to sleep. There was something oddly comforting in the persistent wailing racing along the main road past Finsbury Park. In a perverse way it was a sign everything was normal. This came to mind last week when someone set a fire alarm off in the building opposite and the fire brigade came out at 10pm. Aside from insects and birds, it's only the second time there's been noise past sunset since I departed London. I left at the start of the year, crossing the Atlantic to the Boston area. Boston isn't a small place. It's a major metropolitan area full of life. Or it would feel full of life if I hadn't have come from London. To compare the two isn't really fair. One is a decently sized, influential national conurbation; the other an international mega-city. If I'd have gone a bit further south to New York I imagine it would all be different, but I didn't and it's very strange. It's not that I dislike Boston. It has a lot going for it, particularly on a pleasantly warm summer day crossing the Charles with the sun reflecting off the water and up onto the gold dome of the State House. It's just not the frantic, disorderly, overcrowded place I'm used to. It doesn't have a bewildering number of buses blocking up the same street, pavements are actually navigable and it's impossible to get lost in the historic centre because the whole thing can be traversed in a few minutes. There is an Underground but it's not called the Underground and it's normal to wait up to ten minutes for a train. A lot of days there aren't even any clouds in the sky. Advertisement Without a grey pall, nothing seems quite right. It's what I've had above me for nearly the entirety of my life. For three decades I was in and around London, but I'm not a Londoner. I'm from somewhere much worse; a Home Counties satellite town - the kind of place that exists only to serve its much larger, much more exciting neighbour. In the case of my hometown, it was where the capital sent its dead, shipped out on train far enough to no longer get in the way, but not so far it would look like they were being callously disposed of. Eventually I shook off the suburban gloom and moved into a London Borough that in most cities would be far enough out to count as a suburb. I loved my flat in Hackney with its flimsy single-glazed windows, lack of curtains, and a boiler that went kaput with unerring regularity. The proportions were just right. Everything Stateside is wrong, especially the pretty wooden houses. They're too big, like someone's taken a dollhouse for the base model and expanded the scale. What this actually means is houses large enough to live in for many people, but it still doesn't feel quite right. It's the quietness that really gets me though. It's not that there aren't people around; they just tend to avoid the streets. Go into a shop, or a restaurant, or a bar, or pretty much any building, and it will be reasonably busy. Step outside and it's completely different. I live ten minutes from a major university and even less from a minor one. There aren't even any students making noise. The closest I've come to a disturbance was a lost hipster playing Bob Dylan while he cycled around with corduroy trousers rolled up to his knees. Boston has its hipsters but not like London. I lived near middle-class Stoke Newington, the kind of place hipsters go to settle down. Every parent buys wooden toys for their kids; all handcrafted by part-time arts students in independent shops that gang together in an enclave to keep out Tesco. It was glorious. There were also kebab shops, a sight sadly missing from my dispiritingly healthy new locale. Advertisement Relentless references to the revolutionary past wear thin as well, though as a Redcoat I would say that. I do think Boston's steeped in a little too much history for its own good. As far as America goes, it's an old place indeed, but they jump overboard on the blue plaques. It seems anyone who oiled a creaking door or buffed a window in the days of independence got one. There's even a plaque proclaiming the courage of local citizens for decorating their houses in the style of ancient Egypt. Of all the unnecessary trumpeting of Boston's famous past, that one's a strange barrel to scrape. Boston is an interesting place, a pretty place, sometimes exciting, and certainly passionate if anyone mentions sport, but it doesn't wear its history with the same casual ease as London. That's a city currently in the sweet spot, at the cultural and economic cutting edge while underscored by a couple of millennia of history. The old mixes beautifully with the new. It's not Rome, a city that stripped of its considerable past glory would be little more than a husk, nor is it some shiny new kid on the block. Right now, while far from perfect, it's the best of both. The challenge for the NHS is twofold. Firstly it has to integrate these technologies into the system, and it has a number of official channels by which this is supposed to occur, whether it's via the Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) that are dotted around the country, or the Test Bed sites that are designed to allow new technologies and approaches to be tested in a live environment. The second challenge is to disseminate things that work so that the best practices and procedures are available to people throughout the country rather than in pockets of excellence. Advertisement Spreading the health That's something that remains a challenge, and NHS England launched the (NIA) last year to help do a better job of spreading innovations. They attempt to do this by backing individuals that have achieved local success, and provides them with some support in scaling up their innovations. Alas, in its first year of operation, just 17 innovation fellows were selected, so one would imagine they are merely scratching the surface of what is happening, both inside the NHS and outside it. This lack of breadth has encouraged a number of third party platforms to emerge and try and fill that void. For instance, last year saw the launch of The Academy of Fab NHS Stuff. It's a project backed by noted healthcare commentator Roy Lilley, who wanted a platform to help share the good things that are happening in the NHS. "For as long as I can remember I have been dreaming of a time when all the good things, ideas, innovations and concepts, that are the backbone of the NHS, could be shared.The NHS is full of enthusiastic, clever, keen, passionate people with a strong sense of vocation. They want to do the right thing and to do things right. Advertisement It encourages staff in the NHS to share examples of best practice at a local level in the hope that it provides a ready and able repository for staff hoping to change things but needing a bit of help to do so. Or you have the recently launched HSJ Solutions portal. This provides a searchable database of all Health Service Journal award nominees and winners since 2013, together with a summary of each project and the key personnel to contact should you wish to replicate their success. At the moment the database contains around 1,000 entries, and the hope is that they will eventually be 'live' and therefore updated as projects evolve. The challenge with many of these things is that change itself is incredibly difficult, especially in an environment such as the NHS that is so time poor. I've written before about the importance of 'slack' to innovation (both the ideation and implementation ends). It gives us free time to both come up with ideas (or locate them elsewhere), and then to do the nitty gritty of implementing them. It underpins initiatives such as the 20% time that was so well known at Google. Advertisement "Slack time does something more than what we thought," researchers say. "You need a creative idea for sure, but you also need to tell people about it and you need to put some effort into raising money. Slack time may give you the opportunity to do those mundane, execution-oriented tasks." In the NHS context, these databases assume that staff have the time to search them for ideas, but more importantly, the time and resources to build a team, secure funding, gain political support and all of the numerous other things that go into implementing innovation successfully. I'm not an expert. I don't build apps.. I don't know how to code. In fact I can barely tell a good story...but I'm a fashion designer. We don't know much, but we know culture. Technology companies run by Generation X have even less idea about the future than the Millennials. I once had a meeting with a company that was looking to hire a few fashion designers for another company looking to expand. When I came to the meeting, no one was there. I brought what I usually carry. A note pad, a pen, my note 5, my Gear VR headset, a fleecer scarf, a fleecer suit prototype, and my iPad. I arrived to discover the person I was going to meet was unable to meet me so their business partner filled in. It was no problem. Keep in mind, these people approached me. The first question I asked was, so...do you know what my brand is all about? They said no, I'm sorry I wasn't filled in. Immediately I was unimpressed, you would think in 2016, you would have the know how to GOOGLE someone, at least look at ones email signature to have a better idea of the person you are speaking to. I asked about what direction this client wanted to go...because it became clear to me this was a classic third party marketing/advertising firm. The second question I asked was tell me more about your company, not the company that is interested in hiring me. He explained to me that his firm was a marketing/advertising firm that focused on innovation. Coming up with creative solutions for clients, blah blah blah. The third question I asked was, tell me more about the CEO..with the response..."You know what I don't remember his last name?" I immediately picked up that this was the classic... Advertisement Social Media Know It All -- Marketing Firm. The firms who insist with NDA's. (Non-Disclosure Agreements) Which is so ironic because you preach innovation...but the core reasoning why technology thrives now is "open source". Transparency. Isn't it? WHEN IS EVERYONE GOING TO WAKE AND REALIZE NO ONE OWNS IDEAS? NO ONE IS A GENIUS..ask Elizabeth Gilbert. Advertisement You know those firms; typically come from Generation X, usually in their early to mid 30's. Had that realization that there were some Baby Boomers who financially succeeded in the late 90's to mid 2000's and now have corporate dollars to play with. You know those Baby Boomer/Maturist ceo's that run big corporations that have yet to get their company into the social media/app market because many of those in the exec level who come from that generation barely know how to use a smart phone, let alone check their email. You know, so you have people of Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook generation having this epiphany during the late 2000's to late 2010 that there is a way to capitalize off the app-market-boom, bitcoin-boom, wearable-tech-boom, now virtual-reality-boom and blah blah blah after the .COM boom. Boom. It's so sad, that this person was trying to tell me things that not only did I already know. I've probably done a better job at getting a client to say yes... How? By figuring out what they want, not selling them something they don't need. I remember the best advice I ever got with making closing a deal with a client was when a client wants something...don't give them one option...give them 20. Work with the client, not at them. There is no such thing as too many options, and the trick is to convince and manipulate them into thinking your ideas are their ideas. Leading them there with an intelligent argument. Advertisement So back to the story... We were talking, and talking, and talking, and I sort just laid it all down...who I am, what my brand stands for, and how I'm trying to help the transgender community and help bring fashion and technology people together. And then...there was a moment where I noticed he was taking notes. He was taking notes on what I was talking about. The TED talk..."People don't buy what you do they buy why you do it", by economist Simon Sinek. He didn't know what GLOWFORGE was...6 months ago they became the worlds biggest crowdfunded company with over 27 million dollars in preorders...the world's most affordable desktop 3D printer in partnership with Google where all the processing power is done in the cloud which allowed them to make it under $2500. (A step toward true self-sustainability) This person in front of me, is doing exactly what every TECH and MARKETING COMPANY in Toronto is doing. No plan. No morals. No ethics. They are just trying to make money. It's so sad that Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality is about to boom, completely redefining what could be the future of how we interact and think about technology and all of these people are ONLY thinking about making money. Barely... thinking about the power it could have on changing culture. Changing the way we think about Toronto, Technology, Fashion, Social Interaction, Design...to name a few. It makes me sad, that I have to do this by myself. I have to be the one that screams INTEGRATION. The secret is working together! OPEN SOURCE NETWORK! TRANSPARENCY! GENDER EQUALITY! YOUTH! EDUCATION! CULTURE! SELF SUSTAINABILITY! AUTHENTICITY! INTEGRATION! I'm so thankful to see companies like vTime, Cubicle Ninjas, Cerebrum, and the Transgender Community willing to at least engage and have a conversation. Advertisement Please Fail. Please. Make your money with every boom in technology and then move aside so the rest of us can figure out the why. Amid the descent of the Iron Curtain, the Bay of Pigs Invasion, and the conflict in Vietnam lies one of the more bizarre moments of the Cold War - Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev's goodwill tour of the United States beginning September 15, 1959. While some may have heard of Khrushchev's failed attempt to visit Disneyland, many do not realize that this was just one of a hundred things that went wrong on this trip. From angry journalists to scandalous movie stars, the entirety of the visit was cloaked by barely concealed threats and marked by chaos - almost to the point of political farce. Richard Townsend Davies discusses Khrushchev's less-than successful trip to Los Angeles and his time working on managing the press in 1959. A Pressing Problem DAVIES: Mr. Khrushchev made his visit to the United States and I was asked to work with the group of people who were handling the press. There was an enormous press party which accompanied Mr. Khrushchev around the country, and of course he was met at every stop by sort of double the number of correspondents and journalists who were traveling with him. Everybody wanted to be involved in this trip, and even those journalists who didn't stick with the trip throughout wanted to be there for the major stops, because at each stop there was something very newsworthy: in Hollywood going to the sound stage where Can Can was being filmed, in San Francisco there was a meeting with [head of the United Auto Workers, UAW] Walter Reuther, with labor leaders, and I think Harry Bridges [head of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, ILWU] was there. Advertisement And this was an extremely important milestone in the history of Soviet-American relations and would terminate with Khrushchev's first appearance at the U.N., so in Washington and in New York, nevertheless this trip was an enormous media event, one of the early great media events which were covered by television. At the luncheon which Spyros Skouras (the President of 20th Century Fox) gave in Hollywood, where many glittering Hollywood stars were guests, you couldn't have 300 newspaper people in the room, so these 15 who were in the room were picked to be representatives of the various branches of the media. But since there were -- I forget exactly how many events there were, but let's say that during the six days there might have been as many as 20 events -- not everybody could be a member of the pool, and that included people who were spending a great deal of money, whom the State Department was charging a lot of money to pay for the hire of the airplane in which they flew around from place to place, and for the provision of the accommodations which the State Department was responsible for reserving at each stop. So this was an enormous logistical job -- a logistical and political job, because when a newspaper spent, let's say 5000, 6000, or 7000 dollars to send a correspondent around to cover Mr. Khrushchev, then that correspondent would say, "Now what is my boss getting for his 5-6-7000 dollars? I can't see or hear anything." Advertisement A Rough Start The first trouble began on the trip up to Hyde Park, where he was supposed to go and lay a wreath at the grave of President Roosevelt. President Roosevelt of course was honored, so to speak, in the Soviet Union, he was a great friend of Russia, and if he had only lived, if he had not died everything would have been honky-dory, and so forth. So he went up there, and Eleanor Roosevelt was there and received him at Hyde Park, and the trouble began right there. The trip had only just begun. This was the first day of the trip, and the question arose as to who was going to be in the pool, because there was a motorcade organized by the New York State Police - the security was extreme of course - and there was a press car, or maybe two, in which the pool would ride. But there just wasn't room for everybody. People were fighting to get into these station wagons. It was not well organized..... Khrushchev vs. Mickey Mouse We went directly from New York to Los Angeles. This developed on the way from the airport to the hotel where Khrushchev was staying -- Khrushchev said he wanted to go to Disneyland. There was also a rather controversial sheriff - a sheriff or chief of police in Los Angeles - who was in charge of the local security who said, "No, we can't do that quite properly," and who said, "Look, your security man, General Serov, who was the head of the KGB, was here on the advance trip, and we discussed this, and General Serov vetoed it." Advertisement [He vetoed] going to Disneyland, because it would require closing Disneyland a day ahead of time, and then sending hundreds and hundreds of people in there to search it and make sure that somebody was not hidden at the top of a Ferris wheel or someplace with a high-powered rifle waiting to shoot Mr. Khrushchev when he came in. So General Serov himself had vetoed it, he had agreed that this would be impossible. But Khrushchev made great publicity about this, and he was attempting, in what I regard as typical Soviet fashion, to put the Americans on the defensive, and Henry Cabot Lodge -- in this kind of head-to-head confrontation with this very shrewd peasant, this very rough infighter -- it took [Lodge] a while to figure out that he was being attacked, but he was, you know. Initially, he thought, well, he really wants to go to Disneyland. And maybe for all I know he did. However, my perception of it was that this had been worked out rather carefully, and it was a ploy. "Let's say that you want to go to Disneyland. They of course will say, "No, it's impossible," and then you have already established your position as a demandeur, whose reasonable request, so far as the American people -- the American people will say, why sure, of course, everybody wants to go to Disneyland...It's a free country." So that was the first thing that happened. Khrushchev Kicks Up His Heels Well, at the lunch Spyros Skouras of course made a very impassioned speech: he was a Greek immigrant boy who came here with nothing, he spoke with quite a heavy Greek accent, and he preached at Mr. Khrushchev about how America was the land of golden opportunity, and here he was, a little Greek peasant boy whose family had fled from Turkey before the wrath of the Turks immediately after the First World War, and who eventually had come to the United States, and they didn't have a penny with which to bless themselves, and now here he was the Chairman of 20th Century Fox. There were several other speeches in like vein, but Spyros Skouras's was perhaps the most aggressive. It was well meant, but of course there had been no advance planning, and nobody had said to Spyros Skouras we want to handle it this way or that way. But I don't think it would have made any difference if they had said that, so unorganized or disorganized we were. Advertisement It was after that lunch that we went to the Can Can sound stage with Shirley MacLaine, and so far as I could see everything there was great jollity. I think Mrs. Khrushcheva was not exactly enchanted....She was not quite aware of what this was, and here were these very scantily dressed, charming young ladies prancing about in a fashion which in the Soviet Union with its prim and proper ways would have been regarded as pretty daring, if not actually obscene almost. So she was not quite pleased by the whole thing - it was evident - but Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev appeared to enjoy it. Khrushchev Threatens to Go Home Khrushchev then chose this occasion to drive home -- to cap the psychological effort that he had begun earlier with the ploy about Disneyland, and it was then that he threatened to go home, and he enumerated all these things. First of all, the Mayor in greeting him had been rude, which was not a bad description. But he said to the Mayor, "If this is what you call your capitalist manners, your good manners and hospitality, I want to tell you that we Russians have a different conception of hospitality. When Mr. Nixon came to our country of course we knew that he was not a friend of ours, but we received him properly and correctly, and nobody insulted him." And then he referred to this obscene spectacle, an affront. He portrayed it as an affront, and in effect said, "You know, Mr. Skouras' speech was an affront, lecturing me as if I were a little boy." Advertisement And he took the pose of one who had been offended, and he was indignant, that he had been invited here by the President, but if in fact it were the case that he was not welcome, he would get on the plane and go right back to the Soviet Union. Well, needless to say this sent a tremor -- a tremor! -- through the assembled dignitaries. What does this mean? It's very threatening. And it was very threatening. It was very threatening. It was very effective, with the result that Henry Cabot Lodge then was on the phone to the President next thing, saying, "What should we do? What should we do?" I don't know that the President telephoned Khrushchev directly because they had no common language, but through Henry Cabot Lodge the President conveyed his apologies. In other words, Khrushchev had succeeded in putting us in a corner quite adroitly, very well, utilizing our own mistakes. It is September already! Can you believe it? Although the days are long, the years are short. Is time passing you by? Do you feel as if you are not where you want to be and where you need to be? Do you feel as if you are not living on purpose and really using your God-given talent for the benefit of the world? It is time to take matters into your own hands before 2016 is gone. I am working with New York's community radio station, WBAI, to host a special workshop entitled "How to Quit Your Day Job to Live Your Mission". During the workshop, you will receive my step-by-step strategy for leaving the rat race of corporate law to pursue my dream of being a full-time author, storyteller, and educator. More importantly, you will leave with YOUR OWN CUSTOMIZED ACTION PLAN FOR MANIFESTING YOUR DREAM. I'll discuss money, saving, budgeting, mental preparation, and more. Additionally, you will get food, wine, music, storytelling and dance. The event will be held on September 16th at 6 p.m. at the Brooklyn Commons located at 388 Atlantic Avenue. Tickets will not be sold at the door and space is limited, so please register now. Here is the link. Global design and consultancy firm NELSON recently announced their intent to launch a design practice dedicated to TAMI companies (Technology, Advertising, Media, and Information Businesses). You may be thinking, "What a strange convergence?" but the grouping is actually quite smart. For the past two years, TAMI companies have been the fastest rising star in real estate markets across the country. Responding to the leaps and bounds in technological advances, these companies are converging in not only workstyle and space requirements, but disruptive innovation in their respective industries. Laura Johnson, Director of Marketing says, "Together with the local broker community, our New York office noticed that technology, advertising, media, and information businesses were really looking for same type of spaces and they were all citing the same type of reasons. They wanted unique places that would draw best and brightest unique talent. This included loft spaces outside of traditional areas within the city that could inspire creativity, and high performance spaces with a much more flexible floorplate. Advertisement Building upon a solid foundation of working with many well-known tech clients - including Google, Amazon, Oracle, Verizon, and Cisco - and multiple companies in advertising giant Publicis Groupe - including Starcom, Mediavest, Digitas LBi, Leo Burnett, Razorfish, and MSLGroup - NELSON created their new design practice to group and leverage internal expertise around the common desires of these seemingly disparate types of companies. Johnson explains, "One of the things we are seeing in all of these industries is large companies that still manage to keep that young, creative startup mentality. Tech firms are becoming more creative, and creative firms are having to become more focused on technology." Johnson continues, "On the technology side, history has shown us companies like Hewlett Packard, Dell, and IBM. Now the leading technology companies are much more creative by nature and larger, including the likes of Facebook, Google, and Dropbox. Today's tech companies think, look, and work differently. Conversely, if you look at what's happening in advertising, everything is moving out of the print world and into the technology realm. From print ads to web banner, and even billboards as LED screens, these creative firms are forced to become technology driven." Over the past five years NELSON has had a natural emergence of leaders for this type of work, including Theresa Williams, LEED AP ID+C, Principal and Design Director in Chicago, and Stacy Chambers, Managing Director in Boston. They, with others, have built the NELSON portfolio allowing dedication of national resources specifically to this kind of project. Mitchell Cohen, Managing Principal says, "Most large competitive firms are regional experts, but not necessarily this granular on these specific types of projects. Anywhere in the country, on a TAMI project, NELSON will have these experts involved to help drive all of the things that make this kind of client unique and come up with the approach and the methodology and philosophy." NELSON has found that the common denominators for Technology, Advertising, Media, and Information Businesses work spaces are the need for creativity and the desire for smart recruitment and retention, but they also all highly value flexibility and technology integration. While some types of TAMI companies typically grow faster than others, NELSON has recognized that all of these companies are looking for similar resources. However, just because these commonalities drive similar needs does not mean that each company or each type of company solves these challenges the same way. Williams describes their process by saying, "A lot of it is based in ability to come to table, listen to what's different. We can apply what we have learned from other similar clients but in new ways. Our solutions are not off-the-shelf or out of a catalog, and we are not forcing anything that they aren't willing to accept." One example of the biggest differences is that Advertising and Media companies always have client facing spaces, where tech companies don't necessarily need that. Advertisement Like many other non-TAMI spaces, activity-based planning is becoming a big part of planning. Williams says, "It's about crafting a menu of spaces that people can choose from all within one workplace. Our job is to use data-driven design to create space where workers know they have all the tools, people, and space needed to do what they need to do during the day. There are zones for noise and activity. Scrumming to individual work. In many of these workplaces it is fast paced, team-based work and the space must accommodate that." Amenity spaces are also a big part of the design for the TAMI practice. Chambers says, "It's all about developing the unique amenity space and not being repetitive. We must create spaces that allow workers to come together, scrum an idea quickly, then move along to the next personal space or collaborative zone. TAMI spaces must have both amenity rich and unique types of spaces that help their workers be more effective." Each of these workplaces must be a place that people WANT to come, that makes them more effective at work. That is where the recruitment and retention piece comes in. Today, there's also the coworking space factor. Chambers says, "Sometimes we will encounter a startup that is trying to weigh the options of coworking and creating their own office. Often, for companies below a certain size, financially they will see that going into coworking is the best choice for them right now. Bigger companies breaking into new geographies are also looking at coworking spaces while they establish themselves in new markets. We don't shy away from either of those conversations. When they get to the point they need their own space they come back and engage us." When asked about the unique furniture planning needs for TAMI companies, the NELSON team cited that aesthetics tend to be slightly different from standard, basic contract furniture selections. Chambers says, "You want quality, there's a budget, and a lot of the larger manufacturers don't offer the fit and finish of these unique furniture pieces and selections that would help to enliven the brand. We end up turning to retail brands on occasion, but there are a lot of challenges with that. So, we tend to go a little more custom; finding local fabricators to make that furniture piece for the right look." Also, although many TAMI companies are not specifically going for LEED certification, for many of them being environmentally responsible is a personal obligation. It's both health and wellness and goodwill toward environment. Advertisement With a finger on the pulse of major metropolitan areas across the country, NELSON's launch of a dedicated TAMI practice continues to track the changing needs of this emerging sector. John "Ozzie" Nelson Jr, Chairman and CEO of NELSON, says, "NELSON has been serving the Technology and Advertising & Media sectors individually for close to 40 years. For our tech clients, creativity has become an ingrained part of their cultural DNA. For our advertising and media clients, technology is playing a greater part in their service offering. Combining our design and planning leadership from both worlds means we now have a team of creative powerhouses forging a new path to meet the needs of these companies." This post originally published in the Bellow Press Business of Furniture on August 24th and can be found at this link. It is republished here with permission. LAS VEGAS Elko Area Chamber Government Affairs Committee Chairman Matt McCarty is one of 21 people who will begin searching for Nevadas next chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education. Rick Trachok, chairman of the Nevada Board of Regents, announced the list Tuesday. The next chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education will play a pivotal role in Nevadas future, said Trachok. Our state needs an experienced leader who understands higher education and can appreciate Nevadas challenges going forward. The first meeting of the Chancellor Search Committee will be scheduled at the end of September. McCarty is one of 15 advisory members on the panel. He is general manager of the TownePlace Suites by Marriott, and also serves on the Elko Civic Auditorium Board. Former Chancellor Dan Klaich resigned in May amid allegations that he misled the Legislature about a new formula for distributing money among colleges and universities. The Nevada System of Higher Education includes two doctoral-granting universities, a state college, four community colleges and one environmental research institute serving more than 100,000 students. Over the next two weeks I will be representing the world's smallest nation, the Republic of Nauru, at a meeting at the United Nations aimed at protecting the world's greatest natural asset, the ocean. For the people of small islands, understanding the importance of the ocean to human survival is as natural as breathing. If the ocean is healthy, we are healthy; if the future of the ocean is uncertain, so is ours. It is therefore alarming to witness the warming, rising and acidification of the sea around us due to climate change, and the increasing pressure on tuna and other fish stocks we depend on, and it has made Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like mine among the loudest voices calling for international action. Along with our fellow SIDS, Nauru has been working for years to encourage all governments to prioritize ocean health, and we celebrated a year ago when a coalition of states and organizations succeeded in securing a strong Sustainable Development Goal for the ocean, SDG 14. Over the coming days our task at this Prepcom meeting is to begin translating our shared visions for addressing threats to the ocean into the terms of a breakthrough international agreement to conserve and sustainably use biological diversity in areas of the ocean beyond national jurisdiction (the BBNJ), or the high seas. This is vital as what happens on the high seas directly affects territorial waters. Neither fish, nor pollution, nor the impacts of climate change pay any attention to the 200 nautical mile demarcation lines that divide national from international waters. If we are serious about protecting the ocean, and meeting the targets contained in SDG 14, we must agree on how to effectively, sustainably and fairly govern and manage the high seas. And we must do so without delay. Advertisement Negotiating a new, legally-binding international agreement on marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction is an immensely complex undertaking, but when completed it will take its place as one of the great international legal instruments of our time. It is a responsibility that delegates meeting in New York do not take lightly, but also one that we must execute with a degree of urgency. Maintaining the status quo will not keep us comfortably ticking along; it will leave the high seas - half the surface of the Earth - in continued peril of unregulated exploitation, and hold back efforts to boost the resilience of the ocean to climate change. For vulnerable island and coastal communities this spells disaster. Fortunately, the successful negotiation of the SDGs and the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015 gives us momentum, and offers hope that a robust High Seas Biodiversity Agreement can be swiftly reached. The task before us may be complex, but much of what should constitute the foundations of the agreement has already been laid by marine scientists and the negotiators of earlier agreements. The High Seas Biodiversity Agreement should focus on how the high seas can be jointly governed in order to meet the SDG 14 targets and all the goals agreed to under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. These targets include to "sustainably manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems to avoid significant adverse impacts, including by strengthening their resilience"; to "end overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices and implement science-based management plans"; and to "conserve at least 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas." The BBNJ can be a key partner in implementing this ambitious, and essential, agenda, but only if it lives up to the challenge by including the mechanisms needed to eliminate harmful and illegal fishing, and establish marine protected areas, including reserves, on the high seas so that biodiversity and ecosystems can flourish. It must also contain provisions that ensure that access to and benefits from the natural resources of the high seas are equitably shared among all nations, large or small. Advertisement When we take our seats at the discussions on the substance of the new High Seas Biodiversity Agreement at the UN this week, the delegates from SIDS may represent only a tiny proportion of the world's population, but we feel that we also speak for the ocean. We hope that all states will seize this exciting opportunity to forge a new future of responsible, science-based high seas governance that benefits all people and conserves the blue heart of the ocean. We believe it is a vision well within our reach. Flight by Marie Hoeber. Image courtesy of the artist and Gutfreund Cornett Art. We must never forget art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth. John F. Kennedy Some might say that the world is a mess right now. Others point out that it could be worse. In our war torn world, it depends on who you are and the place that you live. In light of the ever-growing list of crises crossing all borders and cultures, the curatorial partnership of Guttfreund Cornett Art has mobilized a group of 86 artists to address this escalation of violence, human rights violations, and environmental concerns. Throughout history, art has reflected its time. Art mirrors the aesthetic standard of the day and also provides a window into the historical context of the time. Works such as Andy Warhol's, Big Electric Chair or Picasso's Guernica serve as iconic reminders and powerful statements on social issues of their time. Artists often see their place to provoke, to voice, to enlighten. This long-standing role of the artist as activist is at the heart of "Social Change: It Happens to One, It Happens to All", an art exhibition taking place at Saint Mary's College of Art in Morago, CA September 18 - December 11, 2016. Gutfreund Cornett Art's mission is to create exhibitions in venues around the U.S. on themes of "art as activism." Karen Gutfreund believes, "There is much that is needed to be said, to make people stop, look and listen, to confront social injustice issues. Art can often say what words cannot. We want to bring powerful artwork to the general public that reflects on these issues and encourages change." Advertisement This exhibition focuses on a broad range of human rights violation issues which have risen dramatically to the surface in the last few years. The exhibition's statement explains, "Human rights can no longer be thought of as separate and belonging to a privileged few, but rather that these rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible for all" This exhibition entangles such hot-button issues as wealth disparity, immigration, racism, gender and equality issues, reform of the criminal justice system, and gun violence. Voice and visual image combine to form a powerful commentary. Eric Almanza, an artist and a teacher for Los Angeles Unified School District, has witnessed too often the chaotic aftermath embedded in students' experience, following their parents who have made the dangerous journey across the border, hoping to give their children a better life. Eric has observed, "They don't come here to mooch off a broken welfare system. These migrants cross the border to work, not one, but two and sometimes three jobs." His piece In Search of a New Home is dedicated to those who have made that journey. Advertisement In Search of a New Home by Eric Almanza. Image courtesy of artist and GutfreundCornett Art. The Sunshine State by Justyne Fischer reflects the artist's reaction to a tragic outcome for the young African American boys; Treyvon Martin and Jordan Davis, both victims of the Stand Your Ground law in Florida. The historical reference to lynching reflects the pain, grief, and complexity of the racial divide that the black community has dealt with for too many years. In Justyne's words, "White men stand their ground, Black boys get gunned down." The Sunshine State by Justyne Fisher. Image courtesy of artist and Gutfreund Cornett Art. Artist, Jenny Balisle explores gunshots as mark making in her work America Red, White and Blue. She took instruction in shooting a firearm as a means to explore both the operation and consequence of firearms in light of the numerous mass shootings in this country. She came to the haunting conclusion that her art practice reflected American culture. America Red, White and Blue by Jenny Balisle. Image courtesy of the artist and GutfreundCornett Art. Nancy Ohianian's conceptual piece, EPA Regulations is a powerful and visual reminder of what environmental injustice looks like. Implied are the effects of race and politics on a human right as simple as clean and safe drinking water. The irony not lost that in the most developed country in the world one of Michigan's poorest and blackest communities have not had access to safe or clean water. EPA Regulations by Nancy Ohianian. Image courtesy of artist and GutfreundCornett Art. The media attention given to the Ray Rice elevator incident with his wife Janay Rice forced artist Jaime Shafer to look at her own experience with domestic violence and the result was the pop up piece,1 in 3. "Creating this piece proved more difficult than I expected. . . By creating this piece, I hoped to help the viewer understand the victim's point of view and the lack of resources that often hinder a victim's ability to escape the situation." Advertisement 1 in 3 by Jaime Shafer. Image courtesy of artist and GutfreundCornett Art. Sarah Friedlander was faced with her own ambivalence to political realities in Israel. "In 2011 I traveled to Palestine for the first time. Prior to that, I had avoided the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because as an American Jew it was taboo to discuss or question Isreali policy." On her second visit, she was faced with her own questions. "What I saw when I arrived was both mesmerizing and profoundly unsettling. Only upon returning, when I sought to communicate my impressions, did I come up with this piece of artwork as a way of opening the discussion here in America. Stonewalled in Jerusalem is the initial piece in a larger series that explores the pain and anguish on both sides of the situation. Stonewalled in Jerusalem by Sarah Friedlanger. Image courtesy of artist and GutfreundCornett Art. The goal of this exhibition is not simply to call attention to these serious problems but to also begin a dialogue. Gutfreund Cornett Art partner, Sherri Cornett states that "One of the main motivators for creating these kinds of exhibitions is the dialog engendered by the works and the communities that form in the process of developing and participating in them. Artists have an opportunity to be part of the discourse. They are shedding light on their own personal experiences with injustice or those endured by others. . . through this shared dialogue, work together to transcend polarities and rediscover our common humanity." The exhibition runs September 18 through December 11th and includes work chosen for onsite installation as well as artists chosen to be a part of a digital slide show, For more information and the online catalog see gutfreundcornettart.com. The Bird Cage by Xian Mei Qiu. Image courtesy of the artist and GutfreundCornett Art. Haiti and Dominican Republic: One Island - Two Worlds by Gerado Castro. Image courtesy of the artist and GutfreundCornett Art. Justice in America by Margi Weir. Image courtesy of the artist and GutfreundCornett Art Untitled by Dawn Nakashima. Image courtesy of the artist and GutfreundCornett Art. Justice Will Prevail by Dan Tague. Image courtesy of the artist and Gutfreund Cornett Art. The Girl Who Fell From the Sky/La Nina que se cayo del cielo by Veronica Cardoso. Image courtesy of the artist and GutfreundCornett Art. Advertisement Queer menswear bloggers Sara Geffrard, founding editor of A Dapper Chick, and Danielle Cooper, founding editor of She's A Gent, became the first female creatives to curate original content for the "Studios" at the Liberty Fairs contemporary menswear trade show in Las Vegas. Liberty Fairs, held bi-annually in New York City, Las Vegas and Florence, invited the two menswear influencers to be a part of the event's third annual "Studios," an interactive community that connects buyers with media creatives who have forward thinking perspectives within the fashion industry. Sara and Danielle brought along androgynous model Marcia Alvarado as their muse. This is an impressive achievement for queer women's visibility in fashion. I had the opportunity to talk with these three female menswear trailblazers about their groundbreaking contributions to this innovative show. How did you all get involved with Liberty Fairs? Sara: Danielle and I were contracted by Liberty Fairs to participate in their show as media creatives within "The Studios," a platform where we are able to engage with a myriad of brands to create and execute concepts instantly. We recruited Marcia to join our team because we both felt that she fit the androgynous aesthetic that we wanted. Advertisement Sara Geffrard Sara Geffrard What were you asked to produce? Danielle: We were asked to produce custom creative content for brands showcasing their products on our social media platforms during the three day show, as well as the week following it. Danielle Cooper How were each of you involved and what was the final product? Danielle: Sara and I were the creative directors and stylists in "The Studio". Our visions and approaches were completely differently. Sara's goal was more conceptual and editorial, whereas I wanted to reflect a more lifestyle approach, one that truly represented me. Marcia modeled and shot 10 looks representing 33 different brands at the trade show. The final product was that we were able to create a diverse digital portfolio that captured everyone's attention. What was your experience like there as women in the menswear vertical? Sara: It was very positive. The team was very supportive, the brands were very welcoming. I think the most surprising part for me was seeing the impact we made. Attendees were constantly stopping by our studio to introduce themselves or to watch us create in awe. It was overwhelming in the most positive way. Left, Sara Geffrard. Right, Danielle Cooper. Marcia: As a woman who wears menswear and [who is] also an unconventionally masculine female model, I personally received a huge amount of support and encouragement at the event from the sales and marketing staff, from the brands to the Liberty Fairs staff, and all the other "menswear" influencers at the trade show. I was astonished how creative Sara and Danielle were and what they were able to bring to the table. The feeling of being a part of history on some level made me humble and proud to be there. The response and feedback was very interesting from spectators and staff. Some walked by in wonder, as the "GIRLS" backdrop was up. Others took the time to read what the "Studios" at the event were all about and walked in to say, "Hello" and provide much encouragement. A GQ Insider representative stepped in at one point to offer their huge support to Sara's blog. Many other brands came by our studio after images were being posted live from the event and offered their thanks and wanted to hear more about our own personal stories. Advertisement Left: Marcia Alvarado. Right, Danielle Cooper. Marcia Alvarado Danielle: I was blown away by how many people stopped to look at our space just in the first day. People were in awe of our custom quoted backdrop. It was an honor to hear our male counterparts share how inspired they were by our work ethic and mission. Photographs by Debbie Lemonte of DAG Images. The devastating floods in Louisiana and the wildfires in California are a sober reminder of climate change's destructive path. We're facing a harsh reality: frequent and extreme weather events are now the norm for more and more people here at home and abroad. Nepal Earthquake. Photo Credit: Judy Oglethorpe / WWF As the number and scale of natural disasters around the globe increase, the connection between World Wildlife Fund's environmental work, disasters and humanitarian action has never been more urgent. Healthy ecosystems not only play an important role in supporting recovery and reconstruction after a disaster, but in reducing future disaster risk. Advertisement When governments and vulnerable communities combine environmental conservation practices with humanitarian efforts after natural disaster strikes, it's possible to "build back safer" and improve resilience - for both people and the environment. The need for environmental disaster response work first became apparent to me after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. I was there during the rebuilding. My involvement began with something unexpected: fish. It never occurred to me that disaster response was a conservation issue, then I saw fisheries being rebuilt post-tsunami. Many builders were using outdated and potentially environmentally destructive methods. Building materials were needed to rebuild shelters and infrastructures - the need for massive amounts of timber, sand and gravel in a short period of time, poses a serious threat of habitat destruction, and a lack of appropriate spatial planning can expose people to flooding and landslide risk. In Sri Lanka, a community was inadvertently placed in harm's way by relocation from the coastline to an area that was an elephant migratory route. Our workshop at the World Conservation Congress will examine the concept of ''building back safer and greener'' after natural disasters, and we'll be sharing our Green Recovery and Reconstruction Training Toolkit - the only toolkit of its kind. Its purpose: to guide environmentally responsible rebuilding after a natural disaster and utilize healthy ecosystems to reduce future risk. Advertisement The toolkit is a result of our work with the American Red Cross and covers a wide range of topics some of them include: how to assess the environmental impacts of a disaster, strategic site selection and development in the rebuilding process and water and sanitation better practices. Historically, environmental and humanitarian professionals have worked in isolation. But now, we're routinely meeting each other on the ground. Humanitarian agencies working with disaster survivors are increasingly realizing that a healthy environment is critical to a healthy community. Although challenging at times, bringing together diverse skill sets and perspectives adds strength to every effort. It's in the interest of both of our sectors to work more successfully together in advance of the next crisis -- rather than trying to figure it out afterwards. The future holds many unknowns regarding how the world is going to be impacted by climate change. What we do know is that unpredictable and intense weather extremes are going to increase. So today, we have to continually learn, adapt and improve as we go. Embrace the uncertainty of tomorrow and work to collectively make the future less scary -- by including the environment in disaster management and providing as many sustainable options as we can. This post is part of a series on the World Conservation Congress taking place this week. Held every four years, it brings together about 6,000 people, including heads of state, government officials, business leaders, representatives from indigenous groups, scientists, academics, influencers, educators, artists and NGOs, from all over the world to discuss and decide on solutions to the world's most pressing environmental challenges. To read all the posts in this series click here. A man walks past a boat washed ashore on a beach after Typhoon Haiyan hit on Malapascua Island, off the north coast of Cebu, Philippines in 2013. Photo Credit: Pablo Sanchez / WWF Advertisement Indonesia tsunami. Photo Credit: Anita Van Breda / WWF WWF staff assesses the building materials being used to reconstruct a community center in Aceh, Indonesia. Photo Credit: Anita Van Breda / WWF Paris, World Exhibition, Interior of the Palais des Arts, France, 1900. (Photo by: Photo12/UIG via Getty Images) Debates rage today about the risks and benefits of modern technology -- driverless cars, robots and drones in warfare and commerce, surgery by robotic rather than human hands, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and genetic manipulation of food, organisms and even human beings. The National Institutes of Health recently announced that it plans to end the ban on funding research for part-human, part-animal embryos, raising urgent ethical questions like: What if this produces an animal with a partly human brain? Advertisement But the origins of these very modern concerns date back more than a century, with lively discussions about "modernization" underway as early as the world's fair in Paris in 1900. One especially compelling, yet largely forgotten, analysis was penned by Henry Adams, the son of a congressman and diplomat, descendant of two U.S. presidents, a highly regarded historian and a conflicted technology enthusiast. His reflections were contained in his posthumously published autobiography, "The Education of Henry Adams." What if this produces an animal with a partly human brain? In a chapter titled "The Dynamo and the Virgin," he ponders the implications of the machine age, expressing deep concern over what he sees as a dangerous clash between the seductive grandeur of modern science and technology -- what he calls "the Dynamo" -- and the essential undergirding of humanity, religion and traditional values, which he christens "the Virgin." More introspective than descriptive, "The Education of Henry Adams" was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1919. It tops the Modern Library's list of the top 100 English-language nonfiction books of the 20th century, outranking Booker T. Washington's "Up From Slavery," Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own" and Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring." Today, Adams's work is not nearly as widely known as those, but not for lack of merit and timeliness. Indeed, one could argue that it is even more relevant today than it was when it was written. Advertisement The Galerie des Machines at the 1900 world's fair in Paris. (Photo12/UIG/Getty) After studying exhibitions on art, science and technology at the world's fair in Paris, Adams concluded that -- despite his own appreciation of the merits of "progress" -- Americans were too ready to embrace new technology at the cost of traditional values. This raised for him a disquieting question for the dawning century: Will the human spirit survive the new age of the machine? Adams was anxious that American culture was about to take a fateful turn, sacrificing traditional values on the altar of technology. Prompting his reflections was a visit to the Hall of Electrical Machines. He fixated in particular on one of the gigantic dynamos on display. Its purpose was beside the point. Adams's focus -- and his fear -- centered on its size and mechanism, its "huge wheel, revolving within arm's-length at some vertiginous speed" while making hardly a sound. Its workings, he wrote, were an unfathomable but seductive mystery -- one that left him in awe. The dynamo became for him the incarnation of modernity and a symbol of the "revolution of 1900" -- interwoven revolutions in science and technology that ushered in, most impressively, the new age of electricity, along with automated production, the car and the airplane. And then there was the art. Adams contrasted the dynamo with the figure of the Virgin, which he suggested was the central inspiration behind much of what he had viewed in the fair's acclaimed art pavilions. The Virgin became his symbol for Christian tradition and, equated by Adams to the Roman mythological Venus, the female force in general. Looking to the future, he wondered if the god of technology, the dynamo's apotheosis, was on the verge of replacing, as he put it, the church and the cross. Adams was in fact seeking a middle ground between religion and science. Will the human spirit survive the new age of the machine? Adams's guide through the Hall of Electrical Machines was a leading American scientist, S. P. Langley, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Although holding Langley in the highest esteem, he wrote of being puzzled and a bit disturbed by the scientist's laser-like focus on machines and forces, to the exclusion of the art displays and all else that was non-scientific at the fair. "Langley," he wrote, "with the ease of a great master of experiment, threw out of the field every exhibit that did not reveal a new application of force, and naturally threw out, to begin with, almost the whole art exhibit." Advertisement Adams, writing in the third person about his experiences, described how Langley taught him to appreciate, if not really understand, recent discoveries in radioactivity, radio and electricity. "[Adams] wrapped himself in vibrations and rays which were new, and he would have hugged Marconi and Branly [the inventor of the Branly coherer, one of the earliest radio wave detectors] had he met them, as he hugged the dynamo." Long fascinated by modern physics, Adams later experimented with applying physical theories to the theory of human history, even in the face of skeptical feedback from scientist friends. But it was the dynamo that excited his strongest reactions at the Paris fair: "As he grew accustomed to the great gallery of machines, he began to feel the 40-foot dynamos as a moral force, much as the early Christians felt the Cross ... Before the end, one began to pray to it." Adams plays with his dog in an undated photograph. (Bettmann via Getty) Indeed, Adams later did pray to it, composing a poetic tribute, "Prayer to the Dynamo: Mysterious Power! Gentle Friend! Despotic Master! Tireless Force!" he wrote, with more than a hint of ambivalence. The rush of discoveries in science and technology sometimes left him longing for the solace of tradition, security and unity that he associated with medieval society and the church. That people who now seemed to be turning away from the Virgin worried him, for he believed it could mean the end of the great artistic traditions that were propelled by the power of Christian faith, "the highest energy ever known to man," surpassing even the power of the steam engine and the dynamo. Adams noted that in Europe, the "force of the Virgin was still felt at Lourdes and seemed to be as potent as X-rays," while "in America, neither Venus nor Virgin ever had value as force." Despite his personal religious skepticism (he was attracted to religion but remained agnostic, never really reconciling the truths of science and religious faith), he regretted that his countrymen were apparently throwing in their lot with the machine worshippers. Advertisement 'Before the end, one began to pray to it.' So, what does Adams have to say to us today as we confront the dilemmas of our own technological revolution? Adams was enthusiastic about modern science and technology -- today we might refer to him as an early adopter -- but he remained an essentially 19th century man, mindful of the challenges to society posed by 20th century technology. His hope was that dynamo and Virgin would ultimately join together in support of both our spiritual and material lives. To be sure, we no longer speak of dynamos and Virgins, much less of "hugging dynamos." Yet, in many ways, Adams was extraordinarily prescient. With today's advances in artificial intelligence and genetic manipulation, we face the very existential crisis that Adams foresaw. Precisely 100 years after Adams toured the Paris Exposition of 1900, Bill Joy, the co-founder and former chief scientist of Sun Microsystems, wrote his now famous essay in Wired magazine, "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us," projecting a dystopian future in which "our most powerful 21st-century technologies -- robotics, genetic engineering and nanotech -- are threatening to make humans an endangered species." Adams was not half so gloomy as Joy. From the vantage of the revolution of 1900, he welcomed our technological future, but with a crucial caveat: make sure our technology has a soul, not in the sense of superseding us as sentient human beings, but of living in spiritual harmony with our better selves. Also on WorldPost: Written by veteran flight attendant and writer Ji Byung-lim "How blessed is the man whose strength is in You, In whose heart are the highways to Zion! Passing through the valley of Baca they make it a spring; The early rain also covers it with blessings." This is one of the Bible verse from Psalm 84. The "spring" from this verse refers to the Zamzam well, which is located in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The origin of the Zamzam well is the following. A mother and her son were desperately seeking water in the middle of hot dry dessert. God listened to their crying and responded. Then suddenly, water sprang out with the sound "zamzam." The mother and son, who were saved from death, were Abraham's second wife Hagar and his son Ishmael. Zamzam is considered to be holy water that saves dying men from death. Millions of pilgrims visit Mecca every year to drink Zamzam, the spring water from God. Then they take the water with them to heal their family and friends who are sick and injured. I've also tasted Zamzam water several times from passengers coming back from Mecca. Zamzam water is crystal clear and has a smooth taste. When you drink it, you feel so blessed as it is absorbed into your hand, feet, heart, and even brain. Once, there was a kindhearted passenger who handed me a whole bottle of Zamzam water for nothing. My fellow flight attendants, who recognized the healing water, looked at me with longing eyes for salvation. They looked confident that I would gladly share the water. Of course, I gladly responded to their eyes. We drank the water together and became one, transcending the bounds of race and nationality. Advertisement Nordenau water in Germany, Lourdes spring water in France, Tlacote water in Mexico, and Nadana water in India are the world's four miracle healing spring waters. These waters are called miracle waters as they are known to fight leukemia and atopic dermatitis in the long-term. All the world famous waters contain a large amount of Hydrogen. In particular, natural Hydrogen water in Germany was first discovered in a cave after presenting the wine stored in a closed cave to a Dutch visitor. The water became generally known after the Dutch suggested people to drink it for treatment purposes. Germany's Nordenau spring water is the first case of commercialization of natural Hydrogen water. A small bottle of 500ml costs a whopping 10,000 won. As a result, it's popular among rich people who dream of eternal youth. Nordenau water is also used in anti-aging, anti-wrinkle cosmetics, which are also quite expensive. Natural Hydrogen water is also found in Korea. Last year, they found natural Hydrogen water in Taean, a famous clear zone for its mineral water. The water was discovered when a water examination took place in the region to develop hot springs. After a decade of water analysis and academic reports, the miracle water was extracted from natural bedrock water from the depth of 800 meters in Taean. And this water is now commercialized into "Haru 2.0", the only natural Hydrogen water in Korea. "Haru 2.0" has a smooth taste because of its fine particles. A Hydrogen water bath or wash up is an effective way to improve our skin. It tastes better when you use it for tea, soup or stew. Hydrogen contained in the water is rapidly absorbed into the body to remove toxic oxygen radicals and regain youth. The natural Hydrogen water in Taegan proved its efficacy on atopic dermatitis, and that it was chosen as "Korea's Good Water Beneficial for Atopic Dermatitis 2012." While commercialized natural Hydrogen waters in Europe are hard to become popular because of its high price, Korea's natural Hydrogen water is provided in a similar price to regular bottled water. Therefore, anyone can enjoy it and live a young and healthy life. Advertisement There are many types of drinks in the world, but you choose what to drink. There are many people who commit a crime after drinking alcohol, but no one commits a crime after drinking water. There are many people who die from cholera, and typhoid after drinking contaminated water, but no one gets sick after drinking fine water. Natural Hydrogen water is miracle water from God to thirsty mankind in the 21st century who are caught up in a whirling vortex of contaminated water and crying desperately. Originally posted on AWHONN Connections . by, Susan A Peck, RNC, MSN-APN In 2000, as a new Women's Health Nurse Practitioner, the provision of contraception to my patients was actually pretty simple. Most every woman who wanted hormonal contraception used the pill, and there were only a handful of brand name oral contraceptives that we all knew and regularly used. Shortly thereafter, in 2001, the contraceptive patch and the contraceptive vaginal ring were approved by the FDA. These other two options quickly became competitors to the oral contraceptive market and gave patients and clinicians more choice, and ways to avoid the sometimes daunting responsibility of daily pill intake. In the background was the IUD - only ParaGard and Mirena were available at that time. Still holding on to the worries of the unsafe IUDs of the 1970s and 1980s, most women and clinicians were not supportive of these devices at that time - fortunately that has dramatically changed! In 2013, the Skyla IUD became available and the Liletta IUD followed in 2015. And let's not forget about the contraceptive implant, Implanon (now Nexplanon) that was approved in 2006. Advertisement Barrier methods have also always been accessible to women, such as condoms (male and female) and various spermicidal formulations, as well as the diaphragm - did you know the "old" diaphragm is no longer available, but that there is a new one, Caya? So, when we consider all of these options, and factor in the complexity of some women's medical conditions or social practices, how can women's health clinicians consider not only which method might be most acceptable to a woman, but also which method is the safest?? There certainly is a lot to keep track of with all of today's contraceptive choices. And if a woman does not use her method correctly, what can a clinician advise? Fortunately, the CDC has recently published two documents, the 2016 US Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use (MEC) and the 2016 Selected Practice Recommendations for Contraceptive Use (SPR). The references are invaluable for any clinician who is providing contraception to women. I have a copy of both at my desk in my office and even after 16 years of practice, I regularly rely on their guidance to make the best, safest recommendations about contraceptive choices for my patients. I'd like to tell you about two recent patients, for which both references helped guide my decision making. Advertisement First, Jennifer, a 32 year old woman living with multiple sclerosis, has used oral contraceptives successfully for five years. She enjoys the regular, very light periods she has with the pill, and is a very responsible pill taker - never misses one! But, this year, when I see her for her annual exam, I learn that her MS has unfortunately taken a turn for the worse. She is currently in a wheelchair more the 50% of the time and her mobility is greatly limited. She is very hopeful that this period of immobility will be short lived - there is a new MS drug she is starting next month. So, I begin to wonder whether an oral contraceptive is the best, safest method for Jennifer. I use my 2016 MEC App on my phone and determine that due to her immobility related to MS (increased chance of hypercoagulable state) it may be time to change methods. She and I discuss all options and she decides on the Mirena IUD. Not only is she pleased with a long term method, she feels more comfortable knowing she is safe - it is one less thing she has to worry about. My next patient is Mary, a 20 year old healthy college student who tells me that she wants to use the contraceptive implant, Nexplanon. She is going back to school out of state in two days, and would really like to have the implant inserted today. In the past, some clinicians have traditionally preferred to insert LARC methods during a woman's menstrual period to "make sure she is not pregnant". However, this is often cumbersome for scheduling and delays an opportunity to provide effective contraception. So, I use my 2016 SPR and review the section 'how to be reasonably certain a woman is not pregnant'. I determine that since Mary has consistently and correctly used condoms since her last period, it is safe to assume she is not pregnant. After receiving her informed consent, I safely place the Nexplanon and she is able to return to college with a highly effective long term method of contraception. It is important to remember that in nearly all situations the use of a birth control method is safer than an unintended pregnancy. These CDC resources are invaluable guides for clinicians so we can be confident our contraceptive recommendations are based on the latest evidence. Both the MEC and the SPR are available free - of- charge with the option of downloading an APP for your device. Tell your colleagues and have these references close at hand! Advertisement Susan A. Peck, RNC, MSN, APN is a practicing Women's Health Nurse Practitioner. For 20 years, Ms. Peck's career has focused on women's health care, first as a labor and delivery staff nurse and for the last 16 years as an Advanced Practice Nurse. She currently works in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology within Summit Medical Group, a large multi-specialty practice group in Northern New Jersey. This is the story of one of the most remarkable and resilient men in American music, the legendary bluesman CeDell Davis. At 90 years of age he has made the definitive album of his career, Even The Devil Gets The Blues, which just goes to show that some forms of music only get better with the passage of time. It's the culmination of a life's work, a collection of CeDell's best original songs, delta classics, and spoken-word stories from a career that began in the 1930s on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi Delta and continues to this day. Although the process started in the Mississippi Delta several decades ago, this newest album found its origins in Seattle, Washington in the great Pacific Northwest. Like the Mississippi Delta, Seattle has its roots in a working-class culture that found its musical voice in the garage/indie rock explosion of the 1990s. But Seattle's musical legacy goes back much further, to the early 1920s, when a thriving blues and jazz scene flourished in downtown Seattle. That bluesy, working class ethos is still apparent today, which is why I, as the drummer and producer of this album, decided that Seattle would be the ideal city to make CeDell's newest album. I used to be the drummer for Seattle's own Screaming Trees and the super group Mad Season, so I asked some of my rock & roll friends to help us make this album. I asked friends like Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready, REM guitarist Scott McCaughey, Screaming Trees bassist Van Conner, Arkansas bluesmen Greg and Zakk Binns and Johnny Stephens, Seattle guitarist and vocalist Ayron Jones, vocalist Annie Jantzer, saxophonist Skerik, trumpeter Dave Carter, upright bassist Evan Flory-Barnes, and bassist Deandre Enrico. The idea was to bring these rock, jazz, and blues luminaries together in Seattle to pay tribute to the roots of their respective musical forms. And also, perhaps, to give everyone a history lesson in life from CeDell Davis. Advertisement Born in 1926 in Helena, Arkansas, Ellis "CeDell" Davis first learned to play guitar in 1936 at the age of 10. He had just battled yellow fever, followed by a crippling bout of polio, which severely handicapped his hands making guitar chords nearly impossible for the young man. Fashioning a slide out of his mother's butter knife, CeDell became the unwitting inventor of "butter knife slide", a technique imitated by many others, but for CeDell it was invented out of necessity. A rising young star in the delta music scene of the 1940s and 50s, CeDell was snatched up by legendary bluesman Robert Nighthawk to become his right hand man, and the two went on to perform and record for a decade together in the 1950s. After a barroom stampede in which CeDell was nearly trampled to death, he spent a year recuperating from his injuries before returning to make several albums for various blues labels around the world. In the 1990s, he made a series of excellent recordings for the Fat Possum label, where he was hailed by New York Times pop music critic Robert Palmer as the greatest hardcore vocalist of his generation. In 2001, I was introduced to CeDell, along with my friends Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey of REM. This new band line up, along with producer Joe Cripps and keyboardist Alex Veley, made the excellent album When Lightning Struck The Pine (2002). But in 2005 CeDell suffered a stroke, which forced him to stop performing altogether for several years. That is, until he was found in an Arkansas nursing home by bluesmen Greg & Zakk Binns, who started working with CeDell and getting him to sing again. This resuscitated his career to the degree that they were able to do two European tours and play blues festivals in the American South once again. CeDell's legendary slide playing was gone as a result of the stroke, but this has allowed CeDell to focus on just his voice, while his backing musicians provide the music. Advertisement In 2014, CeDell and the Binns recruited me and producer Jimbo Mathus to help make another album for CeDell, and this became the critically acclaimed comeback album, Last Man Standing (2015). This brings us up to the present with Even The Devil Gets The Blues, the most realized album in CeDell's very long and storied career. The album starts with the sexually charged double entendre Play With Your Poodle, followed by a spoken word story about the first guitar CeDell ever bought - a Silvertone from the Sears Roebuck catalog that cost $2.50. Another spoken word story tells the tale of Crap House Bea, the woman who allegedly poisoned Robert Johnson, and who also watched CeDell's debut performance in Helena, Arkansas. This is followed by CeDell's best-known song, She's Got The Devil In Her, featuring a vocal duet with rising Seattle son, Ayron Jones. The album contains other CeDell originals, such as the rhumba-infused Love Blues and the haunting Got To Be Moving On, both of which feature guest vocalist Annie Janzter and guitarist Mike McCready. Switching between traditionally acoustic instrumentation and full-on electrified blues, the album also includes delta classics such as Can't Be Satisfied, Dust My Broom, Cold Chills, and Catfish Blues, as well as a down and dirty version of Kansas City. The album begins to close with another original, the hilarious Grandma Grandpa featuring a vocal duet with REM's Scott McCaughey, and then another spoken word story with advice on how to live a full life. The album finishes with a rollicking and ferocious version of the blues classic, Rollin' And Tumblin', which features guitar solos from all three guest guitarists. These songs and this remarkable story are also the foundation of a feature length documentary film also titled, Even The Devil Gets The Blues. Presented by award winning director Tad Fettig and producers Kelly Nyks, Barrett Martin, and Valda Witt, the film is a living history lesson from a blues master who has literally seen and done it all. From his early years making music in the segregated South, to the invention of rock & roll, the Civil Rights Movement, the sexual revolution of the 1960s, the invention of the Internet, and making music with some of the best rock, jazz, and blues musicians of this era, CeDell Davis has, in almost a century of music, truly lived his life to the fullest. All of us who helped make this album and film hope you enjoy the musical journey as much as we did. And at the heart of it all is one of the greatest bluesmen the Mississippi Delta has ever produced, CeDell Davis, the toughest man I ever met, and truly the last man standing. Advertisement Barrett Martin Seattle, WA Summer of 2016 A version of this article originally appeared on Forbes. Sign up for my newsletter to get my articles straight to your inbox. Something strange happens when astronauts see Earth from space for the first time. The view made Apollo 15's Jim Irwin an evangelist and Al Worden a poet. Apollo 16's Charlie Duke became a born-again Christian. And Apollo 14's Edgar Mitchell left NASA to form the Institute of Noetic Sciences, an organization dedicated to the science of inner wisdom. Psychologist Frank White called the lump sum of these life-altering experiences "the overview effect." The term specifically refers to the sense of "wonder and awe, unity with nature, transcendence and universal brotherhood" that astronauts experience upon seeing a floating, far-away Earth. Advertisement But new research reveals that you don't need to leave the planet to change your perspective in life or work. The Science of Awe Craig Anderson, a PhD candidate studying awe at the University of California, Berkeley, says awe is when "you don't feel like you [can] wrap your mind around it completely." The result somewhat literally blows your mind. A recent University of Pennsylvania study explained: When individuals encounter something that cannot be reduced to preexisting elements in a given schema, they must 'accommodate,' expanding that framework to take new information into account. In short, awe expands our perspective. Or, as awe researcher Kathleen Vohs of the University of Minnesota told the Atlantic, Advertisement People mostly walk around with a sense of knowing what is going on in the world. They have hypotheses about the way people behave and what might happen; those are pretty air-tight ... When you are in a state of awe, it puts you off balance and as a consequence, we think people might be ready to learn new things and have some of their assumptions questioned. Awe's self-transcendent side effect occurs for obvious reasons: "You see how diminutive your life and concerns are compared to other things in the universe," explained astronaut Ed Gibson. But its consequences are invaluable: One study found that awe diminishes one's self concerns and increases altruistic behavior. After staring at a large grove of eucalyptus trees, participants reported feeling less self-important and entitled. In consequence, they were later more likely to help out a stranger. Awe slows our perception of time. A Stanford study found that participants in awe felt they had more time available and were more patient than participants not induced to feel awe. Astronaut Boris Volynov's experience seeing Earth echoes these reactions: "you become more full of life, softer. You begin to look at all living things with greater trepidation and you begin to be more kind and patient with the people around you." Advertisement Awe also makes us more creative. One Berkeley study found that watching short BBC videos of expansive Earth images increased participants' creativity and persistence at solving problems. In another, awe made participants more curious--even weeks after the initial boost. Likewise, a Tel Aviv University study concluded that "expansive thinking" could boost creativity and help children consider perspectives outside their present situation. In sum, awe helps people "be more adaptive, feel more connected, reframe troubles," wrote the Penn psychologists. For all these reasons, awe can jar our personal and professional ruts. The challenge is creating awesome experiences on average days. How to Experience Awe Unsurprisingly, travel, staring at the stars and anything in large quantities make us feel awe. But researchers note that there are subtler, commoner ways to feel awe, too. Advertisement Technologies that capture our attention, like IMAX films, storytelling platforms or even video games, can provoke selfless immersion. Likewise, yoga, meditation, walking, looking at something beautiful, silence, drawing and even sleep can help us lose ourselves and, later, return to our lives with renewed perspective. Even random acts of kindness can impart us with simple wonder and humility. Abraham Maslow wrote, "The great lesson from the true mystics is that the sacred is in the ordinary, that it is to be found in one's daily life, in one's neighbors, friends, and family, in one's backyard." If you want a tangible practice for perspective, try this Buddhist meditation: sit down, close your eyes and visualize watching yourself sit. See yourself inside the room, what you're next to, the windows, the doors. Then zoom out: see the building you're inside. Imagine it's a dollhouse, so your head is still visible from the top. Then zoom further out, to your city. Think of what your city would like from a helicopter; your region from a plane; your country from a satellite. And then, finally, see your Earth from space, where a select few bubble-headed humans have stood dumbfounded and changed forever. Awe is a feeling. But it's also a choice that can shift what you think and how you work. There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. -- Albert Einstein In the immortal words of John Oliver, "How is this still a thing?" The "this", in this case, is the Catholic church's official stance on contraception. Since most American Catholic women clearly have decided that the institutional church was out of touch when it deemed artificial birth control, "intrinsically wrong," many of us believed that battle largely was won, if only by attrition. (Even by conservative estimates, it appears that about seven out of ten Catholic women in the U.S. have used artificial birth control.) But, of course, that's not true. Contraception, which could do so much good, continues to be a religious minefield. In Africa and Latin America, millions of Catholics follow the church on this issue. Catholic hospitals and women religious, who should be at the forefront helping the disadvantaged plan their families, are stymied by the wrongheadedness of a long-dead pope. Advertisement The church has long had concerns about the morality of contraception, but so did the rest of society. In 1916, birth-control advocate Margaret Sanger was jailed for her advocacy. It took Congress until 1971 to actually repeal provisions of the federal law imposing restrictions on contraception. Courts invalidated many state laws. As women pushed for equality and autonomy, scientists were developing a birth control pill that would place the decision solely in women's hands. The problem was, the church was not progressing along the same timeline, although there was reason to hope for change. In 1930, Pope Pius XII had strongly condemned artificial birth control, when there was worry about a declining birthrate after the deaths of so many young men in World War I. But by the 1950s, the church had relaxed that ban to permit natural family planning, which allows couples to schedule intercourse when the woman is not fertile. In 1962, Pope John XXIII convened a commission to examine the ethical implications of birth control, a commission which was expanded and continued under Pope Paul VI. The commission, which included Catholic married couples and physicians, reportedly voted overwhelmingly to lift the Vatican's blanket ban on artificial birth control, and to permit married couples to prudently plan their families. Advertisement But that hope was dashed in 1968, when Paul VI, writing in his encyclical, Humanae Vitae, once more declared artificial contraception "intrinsically wrong." A re-thinking of the church's official position is long overdue. The progressive Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research, recently issued a lengthy and detailed rebuttal to Humanae Vitae, which has done so much harm in the fifty years since it was issued -- harm not only to women, but to the church itself. To date, the statement has been signed by more than 80 scholars, ethicists and scientists. Effective birth control gives women control over their own bodies, helps lift families out of the poverty caused by too many children, and shows careful stewardship of our over-taxed planet. In this time of Zika, contraception may be the most effective way to prevent tens of thousands of infants from being born with serious, debilitating birth defects. As long as AIDS continues to threaten African women, including married women, and their offspring, condoms are vital. Contraception may also limit the collateral damage of rape and sexual assault in countries where women have few defenses against predators. Advertisement The institutional church itself has suffered from this papal decision. Twenty-five years after Humanae Vitae was released, the late Jesuit moral theologian Richard A. McCormick regretted its aftermath - a cleric's position on birth control became a "litmus test" for priests who aspired to be bishops; it discouraged theological discourse on sexual ethics, and it caused many Catholics to no longer rely on the church for moral guidance. The scholars' recent statement notes that a quarter of the world's health-care facilities and schools are run by Catholic institutions, making a reversal of the church's position very urgent. The scholars contend that if the church permits natural family planning, which is a way to prevent conception, it should realize that other forms of birth control are equivalent. They ask that the institutional church make clear that all birth control methods that do not induce abortions are approved for use by Catholic healthcare providers. (Birth control methods that do induce abortions should be evaluated on a case by case basis, applying ethical principles such as whether their use would be the "lesser evil.") They also urge that Catholic theologians whose opposition to Humanae Vitae caused them to be censured have their reputations restored. Advertisement A half a century is a long time for a mistake to go uncorrected. If Pope Francis really wants to leave behind a reform legacy, this would be a good place to start. Editor: On Saturday, September 3, 2016, I went with my granddaughter (Shoshona L. Kibby) to the city park downtown here in Elko to attend a rally of support for the tribal members of the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota, whom along with non-Indian ranchers and farmers are protesting the Dakota Access/Bakken Pipeline (NDAPL). What is the Dakota/Bakken Access Pipeline? The Dakota/Bakken Access is a $3.7 billion project that is developing a transportation service that will extend from the Bakken oil fields in Northwest Dakota through South Dakota, Iowa and to Patoka, Illinois. The ranchers and farmers have stated their concerns that relates to the land which can be damaged in the long run, not to mention the leaks in the pipeline that may develop destabilization which would severely cause an environmental disaster. More importantly, for the ranchers, farmers and tribal members of the Standing Rock Reservation is the impact that an oil leak in pipeline would have on the water. The proposed pipeline will impact both the Missouri and Mississippi rivers and in the event there is ever a leak or severe damage done to the pipeline, millions of people who live along or near both rivers will find the water they use daily destroyed and spoiled by toxic waste and hazardous chemicals. All of life needs water! Non-Indian ranchers, farmers and tribal members know that water is an important value to their culture, traditions and livelihood and their claims are valid. The pipeline would create an economical value to various communities along the way, that is certain, however, consideration towards possible tragic events must be address in a legal manner. The rally was a good thing and good deal of people showed up. Im proud of my granddaughter, shes a lot like her grandmother (Paula J. Brady), she knows and is aware that Water is Life, that it is Sacred," that cultural and traditional sites should be protected; she has not and will not make a mockery of such values. I am very proud of my granddaughter and the other youth that attended the rally. Larry Kibby Elko The city gate of old in Acaya, Italy: form follows function A year of political obsession with walls along national borders has me contemplating city gates of the past and present. In a time of urbanization, refugee and "arrival cities," as well as metropolitan regions with multiple urban centers, could a city provide an entry differentiating itself from its barrios, suburbs and exurbs? If so, what form would this entry take, or would it have any form at all? The signature, historic, feature of urban grandeur--the city gate--was once the point of access to and from walled cities. Biblical passages champion the gate as the entry to the public domain of street and square---a physical manifestation of municipal power and defense---often through the ornate decoration in plain view of passers-by. Advertisement Gatekeepers granted passage to those deemed safe from a military, health and economic perspective. In older, world cities, remaining physical gates are ornamental artifacts, amid today's urban geographies. Newer cities did not need gates or walls, yet, ironically, public art sometimes remembers a history that never was, and cities like New York bestow the Key to the City as a symbolic gesture in honor of civic contribution. Seattle: The city gate from the history that never was With gate-less cities came less restricted gateways. While the historic, defensive city gate may be lost with time (with the exception of "gated community" residential enclaves, security-based, but often seen as inequitable), monumental structures such as epic skyscrapers or reinvented natural features are still oriented around invitation and the prestige of arrival. I've seen client projects cast as definitional, gateway statements for smaller cities in the hunt to build momentum for economic development. Similarly, shopping venues often claim gateway status, based on name or location. But the new gateways are more diverse and broad-based than iconic development projects. They range from simple welcome signs to airports and seaports, which frame regional commerce, and implement immigration policy and security scans. Advertisement Gateways are also the art and sculptures commissioned for light rail stations and transportation hubs. They are web pages and twitter feeds which message events and services---with geographically driven, alternate menus based on the location of a smart phone or tablet device. Today's gateway may even be a first, virtual visit by Google Street View mouse clicks from across the world. Given the diverse evolution from gates to gateways, from cities to regions and the sometimes virtual nature of place itself, arrival and departure have new meanings. A physical gate may be no more than nostalgia. Or, in the end, even in this age of ubiquity, maybe nothing has changed. In this political year, some among us still need tangible structures to assert the power and defense of times gone by. Images composed by the author in Acaya, Puglia, Italy, and Seattle, Washington. Sacramento, California USA Don't Frack California protest and rally The "gas-is-great" rhetoric spilling out of the recent Council of Australian Governments meeting (COAG) is cause for major concern. As the coal industry continues its decline, the gas industry is circling around like a pack of vultures, ready to get their fill. Josh Frydenberg's push to boost gas supply and lift state gas bans is a worrying move that will send the mercury rising to dangerous levels, condemn local communities to undrinkable water and wrecked farmland and throw a wrecking ball through any attempts to transition to a 100% renewable energy future. The rosy gas agenda coming out of COAG demonstrates that the gas industry has done a good job at peddling its gas-is-great-for-the-climate propaganda. This couldn't be further from the truth. Modelling from the International Energy Agency shows that if the planet converted heavily to "clean" gas, global temperatures would still rise by 3.5 degrees and CO2 would stabilise at 650ppm -- a far cry from the less-than-350ppm levels we know are needed for a safe climate future. Advertisement Already we are seeing devastating impacts flow from the earth's temperature rising by just 1 degree. Raise it by 1.5 degrees and we kiss goodbye to many of our Pacific neighbours. Raise it by 3.5 degrees and the storms, droughts and extreme heat we face now will become the new norm. The social and political fallout from a world that is 2.5 degrees hotter than today's should be worrying to all of us. And yet that is the best case scenario if we give the gas industry a front-row seat in our energy future. And I say "best case" because the IEA's modelling doesn't account for the gas industry's fugitive emissions - the pollution that leaks out of wells and pipelines at every stage of the production line, yet is at best poorly measured and, at worst, covered up by the industry's spin doctors. These leaked methane emissions are 105 times worse than CO2, which is why experts agree that they cancel out any climate benefit that gas may have been thought to offer. We could spend the next decade patching up all these leaks, but time is not on our side in the fight to halt global warming. And wouldn't that time be better spent building the clean affordable renewable energy we know we need? Which brings us to the second reason why the gas-is-good argument is a mirage. Switching to gas will actively undermine the transition to a 100% renewable energy future. The IEA warns that gas could push out wind and solar if governments come under pressure to reduce renewables subsidies and opt for gas, as the industry has been urging. Advertisement If we replace coal with gas, we'll have to build new plants and new pipelines, locking us into decades' worth of new carbon pollution. Modelling shows that replacing Australia's existing coal plants over the next decade with renewables, not gas, would generate 75% less carbon pollution. We should be building the renewable energy systems we know will be required, and building them now, not investing resources in new gas infrastructure that we can't allow to run for even a third of its normal life. Climate arguments aside though, lifting bans on gas and opening up wells across the country would spell disaster for local communities and ecosystems. Household water setting on fire, healthy people made sick by toxic fracking chemicals in their soil and drinking water, properties nurtured over generations ripped apart by drilling, precious natural ecosystems like the Pilliga and the Kimberley laid to ruin, is this the legacy that our politicians really want to leave our kids? It's time to take a look at the presidential horserace once again, using the smartest metric available: Electoral Votes (EV) charted over time. The last of these columns ran two weeks ago, and we've had lots of movement to cover since then, as 14 states shifted around on the map. In contrast to last time around, the past two weeks have been mostly bad news for Hillary Clinton. Not terrible news, but certainly not good, as she's seen several states weaken considerably and has lost two over to the Trump column, at least for now. Let's start with the big picture. You'll note that while Clinton's total has gone down, Donald Trump's hasn't really improved that much. This was due to two big states moving only into the "tied" column (white on this graph). As always, Clinton starts from the bottom and Trump starts from the top, and whichever color crosses the halfway mark is ahead in the race for Electoral College votes. Advertisement [Click on any of theses images to see larger-scale versions.] As things stand, Clinton still has a healthy 58 percent of the total, while Trump has 37 percent. In two weeks, Clinton has lost eight points while Trump gained three points. The extra five points is now in the tied category. This shows the outsized influence of more-populous states. Only two states caused the rise in the tied category -- Florida and North Carolina. Together, they total 44 EV, which is why it shows up so clearly on the chart. Clinton was doing well in Florida two weeks ago, but it's been tied pretty much ever since. North Carolina moved from Clinton to Trump, then back to being tied, and only today has moved back towards Clinton once again. There's a reason they call them "swing states." Clinton outright lost Iowa and Arizona during this period to Trump. Most of the rest of the movement wasn't quite as bad for her, but showed a weakening in several regions. Four states slipped in strength for Clinton (Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, and New Hampshire). Two states wobbled a bit, but then almost immediately recovered their support for Clinton in the end (Pennsylvania and Wisconsin). Trump, during the same period, made some modest gains, which were balanced in part by some modest losses. I should mention that in the midst of this last period, polling became available from a 50-state poll conducted at the end of May, so several states that had previously had no polling data at all got some numbers, which caused at least some of this movement. This resulted in two states weakening for Trump (Montana and North Dakota), while Mississippi firmed up solidly behind Trump. Also, a recent poll in Kansas moved it into safe territory for Trump as well. The best news for Trump was that he picked up Iowa and Arizona from Clinton's column, but he has since weakened his support in Arizona. Trump briefly held North Carolina, but by the end of the period it had flipped back into Clinton's column again. Advertisement What this all means is that Trump's overall numbers didn't change a whole lot. Let's take a look at Trump's chart, broken down into the Strong, Weak, and Barely categories used at Electoral-Vote.com (where we get all our data from). [Definition of terms: "Strong" means 10 percent or better in the polls, "Weak" means five percent or better, and "Barely" is under five percent.] As you can see, Trump's lines are pretty flat, even though he had a better two weeks than Clinton did (my previous column ran on August 23, so we're only talking about movement since then, on all of these charts). Trump began with a decent step upwards, gaining North Carolina's 15 EV. He lost them a few days later, but on the same day flipped Arizona from Clinton. While North Carolina was only Barely Trump, Arizona started off Weak Trump. There was some reshuffling when Montana, North Dakota, and Mississippi all moved around due to the old polls from May, but it didn't have a whole lot of overall effect. This was also the point that Arizona moved back from Weak Trump to Barely Trump. At the end, Kansas moved up to Strong Trump, while Iowa flipped from Clinton all the way to Weak Trump. Trump's overall total improved from 180 EV to 197 EV, with the addition of Arizona's 11 and Iowa's 6 Electoral College votes. Within the categories, Trump's numbers didn't change much, however. He started at 95 EV Strong Trump, and ended at 101 EV. Weak Trump started at 44 EV and improved to 50 EV, and his Barely numbers edged up from 41 EV to 46 EV. So while there was some positive news for Trump, he's still got a long way to go. Advertisement I'm always most interested in the "Strong Plus Weak" metric, which shows how many votes a candidate can comfortably count on (an advantage in the polls of at least five percent). Trump started this period at his low point for Strong Plus Weak, at only 139 EV. He rose briefly to 156 EV but then slipped back to 151 EV at the end. This is 119 EV short of the goal, to put it another way. Even when adding in the Barely Trump states, he's still short of 200 EV, so he's got a lot of ground to make up. Now let's take a look at how Hillary Clinton is doing. Unlike Trump, Clinton began this period at a high point. Since then, however, she's seen a weakening of her position overall, as is clearly shown on that chart. Clinton had two big steps down in the Strong category, as she lost Michigan down to Weak, and then both Virginia and New Hampshire on the same day (Virginia all the way down to Barely). Just in Strong, Clinton fell from 231 EV down to 198 EV within the last two weeks. But to put this in a little perspective, this is still one vote more than all of Trump's categories combined. Weak Clinton saw a lot more movement within it. Two states (Wisconsin and Pennsylvania) briefly dropped down to Barely Clinton, but then recovered the following day. In general, there is more polling done in swing states, which is one reason why they shift around faster than others. As noted, Michigan and New Hampshire both fell from Strong Clinton to Weak during the period. But the worst news was Ohio and Florida falling out of the Weak Clinton category -- Ohio down to Barely Clinton and Florida all the way down to being tied. Weak Clinton started at 89 EV, rose briefly to 105 EV, fell down to 38 EV, then partially recovered back to 62 EV. The Barely Clinton category was pretty volatile as well over the last two weeks. The biggest blow was losing Arizona's 11 EV all the way to Weak Trump, and a bit later losing Iowa's 6 EV to Trump as well. As already noted, Ohio and Virginia both wound up in Barely, Ohio down from Weak and Virginia down from Strong Clinton. But Clinton did have one bit of good news here, as North Carolina started the period off by moving from Barely Clinton to Barely Trump, then was tied for a while, but today has moved back to Barely Clinton, giving her a 15 EV spike to end on. Clinton started with 38 EV in the Barely column, but this rose to finish at 52 EV. Clinton's overall total took a big hit in the past two weeks, falling from 358 EV at the start down to a low of 297 EV, but rising today back to 312 EV. This was due to the loss of 17 EV to Trump (Iowa, Arizona) and Florida (29 EV) and North Carolina (15 EV) being tied for much of the period. Even without Florida, however, Clinton would still win by 42 EV if the election were held today and all the polls were correct, so things aren't quite as bad as some in the media are saying. Advertisement Which brings me to a new chart I created after writing my previous Electoral Math column. I noted at the time that Clinton was doing better in the Strong Plus Weak category than Barack Obama had ever managed in both his presidential runs. So I charted Clinton's Strong Plus Weak numbers (so far) against both the 2008 and 2012 Obama campaigns. Here is the result. As you can see, Clinton was enjoying a high point two weeks ago, with a whopping 320 EV in Strong Plus Weak alone -- 50 more votes than she needs to win. Again, this was higher than Obama hit, even during the final weeks of his historic 2008 run. Since then, Clinton has fallen 60 EV in this combined category, putting her at 260 EV. But historical context shows that this was exactly where Obama was during the same time period in 2008, and furthermore Clinton is 19 EV above where he was during the 2012 campaign. Even in 2008, Obama fell below 200 EV in this category at the end of September, only to come roaring back in the final month. I won't be running this chart in every Electoral Math column, but I did think it was helpful to put Clinton's relative strength into perspective. She is still only 10 EV shy of victory in states where she's up by at least five percent, meaning picking up only one or possibly two of the swing states will put her over the top in November. And Trump is currently barely over 150 EV in this category. My Picks Which brings us to the part of the program where my gut feelings come into play, in addition to all this raw polling data. I break down all the states into Likely (Safe plus Probable) and Tossup (Leans Clinton or Trump, plus those truly Too Close To Call), as always. Here's my new map, courtesy of the folks at 270toWin (where you can create your own maps, if you'd like to reference them in the comments section). Also please note at the end of the column I've provided full lists of each of my categories, with their Electoral College vote totals. Likely States -- Clinton Safe Clinton (15 states, 189 EV) The Safe column for Hillary Clinton grew by one state this time around, as I'm convinced that Minnesota is a lock for her. In fact, I'm not even sure why I ever thought otherwise. The rest of this list of bluer-than-blue states remains the same. Advertisement Probable Clinton (7 states, 71 EV) Clinton lost two states from this category, one of them good news and one of them bad news. As already noted, Minnesota moved up, but it appears I was a wee bit overconfident of Virginia last time around, so I am moving it back down to just Leans Clinton, at least for now. This leaves 22 states in either the Probable or Safe categories for Clinton. Likely States -- Trump Safe Trump (15 states, 95 EV) All the movement within the Safe Trump column is a result of the polling data from the end of May. This was at the end of the primary season, and it is quite likely all of the states I'm moving around will be solidly for Trump in November, I should mention. Trump lost two in this category, and gained two. Both Montana and North Dakota moved down to Probable Trump, but Kansas and Mississippi take their place as they move up from Probable to Safe for Trump. Probable Trump (4 states, 50 EV) All the movement within Probable was due to the new polling as well, as Kansas and Mississippi moved up to Safe, and Montana and North Dakota moved down to Probable (joining Texas and Utah, which didn't move this week). The upshot is that Trump has the same 19 states that he can likely count on in November in both these categories. Tossup States Leans Clinton (3 states, 37 EV) Two big states shifted in the Leans Clinton category this time around, and both of them were bad news for her. Florida moved all 29 EV down to "Too Close To Call," while Virginia fell from Probable Clinton down to just Leans Clinton. This leaves three states leaning towards Clinton this week, as Virginia joins Nevada and Ohio in this category. Leans Trump (4 states, 46 EV) Both Missouri and South Carolina remained in the Leans Trump category this week, in addition to newcomers Arizona and Georgia. Both Arizona and Georgia were previously in Too Close To Call, but for now have to be considered leaning towards Trump. New polls could change this -- especially since Hillary Clinton is about to spend some money contesting Arizona -- but for now I've got to put them in Trump's column. Advertisement Too Close To Call (3 states, 50 EV) Only three states are true tossups this week, and a case could even be made that Iowa really belongs in Leans Trump, as the last poll showed him up five points. But Iowa is notoriously volatile, so for now I'm leaving it as a big question mark. Iowa's 6 EV are probably not going to make much difference, but the other two states here have a whopping 44 EV between them. Florida was previously listed as Leans Clinton, but has remained tied through several polls, so it obviously could go either way. North Carolina just today had a poll showing Clinton up, but it's been swinging back and forth and will likely do so again. This category did lose two states this week, as Arizona and Georgia both moved to Leans Trump, at least for now. Final Tally It has been a rough few weeks for Hillary Clinton, as she has outright lost two states and had several others weaken considerably. Now, part of this may be due to pollsters making a shift that they always make around this point in a presidential election -- they start only reporting "likely voter" totals in their polls, attempting to screen out those who probably won't show up to vote on Election Day. This is tricky to do, because who knows how many new voters will actually cast a ballot this time around? Screening for likely voters usually consists of asking "Have you voted in the last two elections?" or similar questions. But there's always a shift in the numbers as the pollsters begin trying to get as accurate as possible for November. While Clinton had a relatively bad few weeks, this didn't translate into a good few weeks for Trump. Most of the damage to Clinton's totals was caused by only two states (North Carolina and Florida), and neither of them moved into the Trump column (they both stayed tied for much of the past two weeks). Donald Trump ended the period with the same 19 states firmly in his corner that he started with, for a total of the same 145 EV. Hillary Clinton now has 22 states that will likely vote for her, a loss of only one (Virginia) from last time around. This adds up to 260 EV, leaving her only 10 EV short of winning. Ten states remain true battlegrounds, with 133 EV between them. Four lean towards Trump, and three lean towards Clinton. But out of these 10, Clinton will win the presidency if she wins any one of the seven states with 10 or more EV (Nevada and Iowa have only 6 EV, while South Carolina has 9 EV). Donald Trump, on the other hand has to win nine out of ten of the battlegrounds to have any path to victory whatsoever. Even if you add in all the Leans Trump states to his total, he only comes out with 191 EV -- still almost 80 votes short of victory. That's a pretty daunting hill for him to climb, and it's why even with the slippage Clinton saw this time around, she still remains the clear favorite to win the White House in November. Advertisement [Electoral Vote Data:] (State electoral votes are in parenthesis following each state's name. Washington D.C. is counted as a state, for a total of 51.) Hillary Clinton Likely Easy Wins -- 22 States -- 260 Electoral Votes: Safe States -- 15 States -- 189 Electoral Votes California (55), Delaware (3), Hawaii (4), Illinois (20), Maine (4), Maryland (10), Massachusetts (11), Minnesota (10), New Jersey (14), New York (29), Oregon (7), Rhode Island (4), Vermont (3), Washington (12), Washington D.C. (3) Probable States -- 7 States -- 71 Electoral Votes Colorado (9), Connecticut (7), Michigan (16), New Hampshire (4), New Mexico (5), Pennsylvania (20), Wisconsin (10) Donald Trump Likely Easy Wins -- 19 States -- 145 Electoral Votes: Safe States -- 15 States -- 95 Electoral Votes Alabama (9), Alaska (3), Arkansas (6), Idaho (4), Indiana (11), Kansas (6), Kentucky (8), Louisiana (8), Mississippi (6), Nebraska (5), Oklahoma (7), South Dakota (3), Tennessee (11), West Virginia (5), Wyoming (3) Probable States -- 4 States -- 50 Electoral Votes Montana (3), North Dakota (3), Texas (38), Utah (6) Tossup States -- 10 States -- 133 Electoral Votes: Tossup States Leaning Clinton -- 3 States -- 37 Electoral Votes Nevada (6), Ohio (18), Virginia (13) Tossup States Leaning Trump -- 4 States -- 46 Electoral Votes Arizona (11), Georgia (16), Missouri (10), South Carolina (9) Too Close To Call -- 3 States -- 50 Electoral Votes Florida (29), Iowa (6), North Carolina (15) Polling data gaps: Polled, but no polling data since the primaries -- 16 States (States which have not been polled since the beginning of June, with the dates of their last poll in parenthesis.) Advertisement Alabama (5/31), Alaska (5/31), Hawaii (5/31), Kentucky (5/31), Louisiana (5/31), Maryland (5/31), Massachusetts (5/31), Minnesota (5/31), Mississippi (5/31), Montana (5/31), Nebraska (5/31), North Dakota (5/31), Rhode Island (5/31), South Dakota (5/31), Washington D.C. (5/31), Wyoming (5/31) No polling data at all, yet (States which have not been polled so far this year.) [None -- a state-by-state internet poll was conducted on May 31 in all states] Chris Weigant blogs at: Part I: What DOJ and the Bureau of Prisons Have Planned Reversing a 20-year policy, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates announced the Department of Justice will phase out federal use of private prisons, saying they "compare poorly" in safety and effectiveness to federal correctional facilities run by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP). This column will detail the Justice announcement; next week, I'll take a look at what led up to it, and its possible impacts. Private contracting began in 1997, responding to overcrowding at federally-run prisons. The IG report noted that in December 2015, when the federal inmate population was 20% larger than the rated capacity of all federal prisons, 14 contract prisons held about 22,660 federal inmates, or roughly 12% of BOP's total population of about 195,000. About 40,000 federal inmates were detained in private prisons in 2014, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The three for-profit prison companies contracting for federal inmates are the Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America; the Boca Raton-based GEO Group, Inc.; and Centerville, Utah-based Management and Training Corporation. The DOJ announcement drove down sharply the shares of the first two firms, both publicly-traded. Advertisement The August 18 announcement, which the ACLU's National Prison Project director termed "groundbreaking," came in a memo from Yates, which referenced a DOJ Inspector General's report issued a week earlier, Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Monitoring of Contract Prisons. The IG report claimed private prisons have poorer records on security and inmate safety than federally-run facilities, and ought to be monitored more thoroughly by BOP. The Yates memo maintained private prisons had "served an important role" following the nearly fourfold increase since 1980 in the number of federal inmates, but became less needed as federal prison populations began to decline. Rather than immediately cancel contracts with private prisons, Yates added, DOJ would either not renew expiring contracts (as all are due to over the next five years) or scale back the number of inmates sent to privately-owned facilities. Already, a federal contract will be ended for a private prison in New Mexico with 1,200 federal inmates, and another contract will be scaled backed from 10,800 spaces to 3,600. By next May, DOJ estimates the number of federal inmates in private prisons will fall below 14,200. The three for-profit prison companies contracting for federal inmates are the Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America; the Boca Raton-based GEO Group, Inc.; and Centerville, Utah-based Management and Training Corporation. The DOJ announcement drove down sharply the shares prices of the first two companies, both publicly-traded. Advertisement Federal spending on contracts with private prisons has been going up: the $562 million BOP spent on private prison contracts in fiscal year 2011 had risen to $639 million by fiscal year 2014. The IG report noted private prisons have somewhat lower per-inmate annual costs (the Yates memo characterized this as not saving "substantially" on costs), but said the agency lacks data on how much private companies spend in key areas like food and health services. Critics of private prisons note many of their contracts require government payments based on guaranteed occupancy levels as high as 90% or 100% of capacity, regardless of actual population figures. But one private prison analyst, skeptical BOP can assimilate the influx of transfers, called DOJ's plan "aspirational, rather than attainable. September is National Family Meals Month - a nationwide event designed to inspire American families to commit to making mealtime a priority. Study after study provides significant, measurable scientific proof about the positive, lifelong benefits of family time in the kitchen. Cooking together and sharing family meals nourish the spirit, brain and health of all family members. Not to mention, people who frequently cook at home eat fewer, healthier calories [1]. "Additionally, the importance of family meals has been well documented, as far as improving nutrition, children's school performance, and family bonding," says Janice Newell Bissex, MS, RDN, cookbook author and food blogger at MealMakeoverMoms.com. "When I was growing up, sitting down together for dinner as a family was just what we did. There were seven of us and we talked about our days, learned good manners, and helped with setting and clearing the table." Advertisement Despite the benefits, a 2013 Harris poll shows only 30 percent of American families today share dinner every night. Why is this? Yes, juggling jobs, kids and the demands of a busy, modern life often come at the expense of family mealtime at home. However, this doesn't need to be the case. Newell Bissex says "Making family meals a priority, even if conflicting schedules are a challenge, may mean sitting down together for an evening snack when the whole family is home, eating breakfast together, or gathering for meals together on the weekend. It's not all or nothing -- every family meal you can manage during the week is a win!" But those aren't the only reasons families don't eat meals together. A new survey - the Kitchen Confidence Survey, shows that one major ingredient in helping families connect by cooking together is missing in most kitchens: confidence. This new research, conducted by UNCLE BEN'S Brand, found that nearly all parents know how important it is to teach their kids to cook, but many are lacking their own cooking confidence and identified that as one of the reasons they struggle with inviting their kids into the kitchen with them. As a result, only 35 percent of U.S. parents are very confident their child can boil an egg. The Kitchen Confidence Survey, asked more than 4,000 parents of kids under 18 in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom about their family's cooking skills and traditions. The Survey led to surprising results: 96 percent of parents in the U.S. feel it is important that their children know how to cook or bake. However, only 33 percent cook with their children weekly, while 47 percent cook with their children monthly or less. 28 percent of U.S. parents feel they are cooking less often with their children than they did growing up with their own parents. 64 percent of U.S. parents do not have a high level of confidence in their children's ability to follow a recipe. To help families improve their kitchen confidence, UNCLE BEN'S Brand, is expanding its Ben's Beginners cooking program by providing interactive, step-by-step cooking instructions and family friendly recipes at beginners.unclebens.com. "We believe in the power of families coming together to cook and have fun in the kitchen, and feel that cooking is an essential life skill as important as reading and writing," said Andrew Cops, Vice President of Marketing, Mars Food North America, the parent company of Uncle Ben's. "With Ben's Beginners we have encouraged families to cook together. Now, with our digital hub, we are eager to provide more tools for families to come together and explore new recipes." On the Ben's Beginners website parents will gain confidence as they learn how to cook family-friendly meals together in fun and unique ways. With interactive skills like stirring, chopping, pouring, peeling and measuring available through the website, families will be guided to cook recipes together. National Family Meals Month is the perfect time for parents to explore the Ben's Beginners website and commit to family traditions and making meal time a priority. A participant in the 401(k) Plan administered by Edward D. Jones for its employees has filed a lawsuit alleging breach of fiduciary duty and prohibited transactions by the broker-dealer under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (known as ERISA). All of the claims in the Complaint are allegations that will have to be proven at trial. The irony It's ironic that these claims will be initially decided by a United States District Judge. That's a privilege denied to customers of Edward D. Jones and other broker-dealers. They require their customers to submit to mandatory arbitration of disputes, administered by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). I am among the many who believe this system is rigged against investors and should be abolished. To date, Congress has not had the political will to do so. The flawed 401(k) system In 2008, I wrote The Smartest 401(k) Book You'll Ever Read. I asserted the current system benefited" brokerage firms, brokers, pension consultants, insurance companies, insurance agents, the mutual fund industry and employers." I noted that employees "get the short end of this stick" and stated that "this must be changed." Advertisement It took a while, but the system is starting to reform. Not because the securities industry suddenly believes it has an obligation to do so, but rather it's a result of a combination of the DOL's new 401(k) rule mandating that advisors to these plans must put the interest of plan participants first, and a spate of lawsuits (like the one against Edward D. Jones) that expose the excessive costs and other conduct harmful to participants which is at the core of many of these plans. The allegations against Edward D. Jones The Edward D. Jones plan has 35,929 beneficiaries with assets of over $3.9 billion. The complaint notes that Edward D. Jones has a fiduciary obligation to these plan participants which is "the highest known to the law." As a fiduciary to its plan Edward D. Jones was required to act prudently and "defray reasonable plan expenses." In my view -- which has not been accepted by any Court to date -- the only way to fulfill this high standard is to limit investment options in the plan to low cost target date funds, or portfolios of index funds, exchange-traded funds or passively managed funds, at different risk levels. Retirement plans should accept no payments from fund managers (known as "revenue-sharing payments"). The receipt of these payments compromises the objectivity of the plan sponsor and encourages the selection of expensive, actively managed funds, likely to underperform comparable index funds over the long-term. Advertisement The complaint alleges that Edward D. Jones accepted both revenue sharing fees and "Networking and Shareholder Accounting Fees" from both affiliated and partner mutual funds companies, who were rewarded by the inclusion of their funds as investment options in the plan. The revenue sharing fees were significant. The Complaint alleges that, in 2014, Edward D. Jones received $153 million from mutual fund revenue-sharing. The Complaint alleges "The Plan's investments show a high correlation to mutual funds offered by mutual fund families that pay Edward Jones the most money." If true, it's a classic example of "pay to play." Everyone's a winner -- except plan participants. The Complaint asserts that Edward D. Jones made decisions about which funds to include in the Plan (and remain there) based on the amount of revenue-sharing fees paid by those funds, rather than which funds were in the best interest of plan participants. The Complaint has a number of other allegations, including the failure of the Plan to include lower cost share classes of identical mutual funds. Instead, the Plan allegedly kept higher-cost share classes, resulting in an excess cost to the participants of over of $13 million. Advertisement Significance of this case This case places the issue of whether plan fiduciaries have an obligation to consider low-cost index alternatives to expensive, actively managed funds squarely before the Court. The complaint summarizes the impressive array of academic evidence supporting its position that plan fiduciaries do have this obligation, including this quote from Jill E. Frish, in an article published in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. Ms. Frish is a Professor of Law and Co-Director at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Institute for Law and Economics: "The most consistent predictor of a fund's return to investors is the fund's expense ratio." Class action attorneys and plan participants will be closely following this case and hoping the Courts are persuaded by the academic evidence supporting an "evidence-based" approach to managing retirement plan assets. The present system is in dire need of an overhaul. The emergence of a new global power has often profoundly shifted the geopolitical landscape and caused considerable discomfort among the established order. China's economic and political resurgence is doing that, but apart from the inevitable uncertainty and tension associated with any shift in global power, much of the angst in China's case stems from its failure to engage in behavior concomitant with its increased global responsibilities - or even to acknowledge an obligation to do so. China has ascended rapidly onto the global stage by virtue of its economic might, even as it retains characteristics of a developing country by GDP per capita. China seems to want it both ways - it plays geopolitical power games as a force to be reckoned with among equals, yet declines to shoulder the burdens of a great power, or even demands that it be afforded the benefits ordinarily due to an underdeveloped charity case. In this regard, China's leadership simultaneously nurses a profound grievance against "colonialists" and "aggressors" as it expands its direct political and economic influence across the globe. China's leaders show bravado when on the world stage, but seem deeply paranoid that their rule at home could all fall apart at any time. While China's public pronouncements may at times appear mercurial, they are part of a well-conceived strategy. On one hand, China seeks to leverage benefits consistent with being a developing country, plays upon the west's historical guilt over colonialism, and exploits the west's continued belief that economic development will inexorably lead to pluralism. On the other hand, it does not hesitate to attempt to parlay its growing power into influence whenever and wherever it can. This Janus-like strategy gives China leeway and flexibility in crafting its international political and economic policy. Advertisement At home, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has established Socialism with Chinese characteristics, or, less euphemistically, state capitalism, that necessitates state powers using markets to create wealth, while ensuring political survival of the ruling class. As a government that now presides over the second largest (soon to be the largest) economy in the world -- and one that depends intimately on flows of international goods and capital -- the CCP no longer simply practices state capitalism at home: it applies it globally. Although the West has long played mercantilist games, it has gradually migrated toward the belief that liberalization of international markets is mutually beneficial for all countries. But China continues to see international economics as a zero sum game. It finds its developing status a convenient cloak and justification for the application of global state capitalism. It engages in beggar-thy-neighbor policies it deems advantageous, and distorts the world's markets according to the dictates of its political demands, while dismissing criticism of such behavior as unfair to a developing country. Similarly, on political issues, China portrays naked self interest as the reasonable demands of a developing country, and displays this behavior in nearly every arena in which it interacts with the world, from foreign aid and investment to multilateral institutions to international relations. The deliberate undervaluation of the yuan in the last decade pointed to further distortions of international markets by China's state capitalism. The Peterson Institute for International Economics estimated that the yuan was undervalued by between 20 and 40 percent, amounting to a massive export subsidy. However, the yuan's undervaluation was just the tip of the iceberg. As importantly, Chinese banks receive a hidden subsidy: a wide spread between the rates paid on household deposits and the rates banks charge for loans. Bankers, who are in effect state employees -- given that the banking system is largely government run -- funnel the artificially cheap money to state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Since households have no investment alternative to domestic banks, they in effect provide a huge subsidy to Chinese industry. The CCP's state capitalism mandates growth and employment through exports and investment at all costs in order to ensure its political supremacy. Advertisement Even as China increases its economic presence through investment and greater influence in multilateral institutions, it continues to reap benefits intended to accrue to the world's truly needy nations. By all rights, China should be a donor nation in multilateral development banks, not a recipient of aid. That China is the Asian Development Bank's largest recipient of Bank funds really is scandalous, and comes at the cost of countries like Bangladesh and Nepal, the poorest of the poor, which truly need the resources. As of 2007, China was ranked in the top 15 of development aid recipients worldwide. By 2010, China had increased its number of voting shares in the World Bank to become the third-largest stakeholder, behind the U.S. and Japan. The U.S. and Japan do not receive development assistance from organizations like the World Bank - at what point does China's absolute strength count for more than its per capita development? And why should donor countries like the U.S. and Japan allow this double standard to occur? Politically, China is an irredentist power that arguably has done more to advance global nuclear proliferation than any other state save Pakistan, while routinely doing business with some of the world's worst governments. Apart from the issues of Taiwan and the Spratly Islands, China lays claim to much of India's state of Arunachal Pradesh, and caused major jitters in 2009 with incursions into the territory combined with strident rhetoric. It has blocked Asian Development Bank projects approved for India over the issue. It helped Pakistan develop its nuclear arsenal and ballistic missile technology. The largest recipients of Chinese military aid have in the past been India's neighbors, including Myanmar, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka in addition to Pakistan; India fears that China is engaged in a concerted campaign to undermine and contain it. In addition, China continues developing its "string of pearls" strategy in the Indian Ocean, investing significant resources to develop deep water ports in the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the Seychelles. These appear to be a basis for the projection of a powerful naval presence into what India considers its backyard. Meanwhile, China blocks action against or actively supports a rogue's gallery of nations, among them Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Zimbabwe. It claims it has no influence over their actions, based on its policy of non-interference, but China's support clearly requires a quid pro quo, be it natural resource wealth, business ties, or a geopolitically strategic use. China has avoided sanctions from the international community, partly due to the image it has cultivated of itself as a non-interfering developing country. While the West has also projected its power and dealt with equally noxious states, domestic political constraints make such "deals with the devil" increasingly difficult to sell to electorates attuned to human rights, ethics, and governance, and who are provided with the freedom of speech to object to their governments' actions. No such freedom exists in China. As long as the CCP continues to govern, China will not change. It will continue to comport itself according to its zero-sum vision of the world. At best, the West can hope the CCP's interests converge toward those of the larger globalized world. Even as China speaks of a peaceful rise within the existing international structure, its behavior, which at times may be described as impertinent, belies the West's desire to have faith in its words. Indeed, many nations around the world appear to be running out of patience at China's uncompromising approach to the promotion of its own self-interest. President Obama has attempted to engage China on a variety of global issues, and for the most part found that his proffered hand was met with a clenched fist. With either Mr. Trump or Mrs. Clinton in the White House starting in January, the U.S. is likely to soon discard the illusion that China is gradually transitioning to become a responsible global power. The following Q&A is a continuation of an interview with Tara Moriarty, proprietor of the Moriarty Lab, an infectious diseases research lab that studies primarily Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. Moriarty is the principal investigator of a new academic paper from the University of Toronto that details the mechanism by which Bb "crawl" through the body -- a scholarly article that turned out to be unexpectedly popular. Tara Moriarty (Photo by Jeff Comber) How do you think your findings about the biomechanics of Lyme disease bacteria may affect treatment of the disease? Your research shows that Bb uses specialized adhesive bonds to "crawl" along the insides of blood vessels. Tara Moriarty: Absolutely, targeting this adhesion mechanism could be very important for preventing Bb from moving this way, forcing it to stay in the bloodstream and preventing it from escaping into tissues outside the bloodstream. From a treatment point of view, this is by far the most important potential implication of this study. Advertisement I can't emphasize enough, though, that all of this takes years of work, and that this work is primarily carried out by graduate students, who have to learn the required techniques to do the work (a pretty long process for the work we do), and then repeat and repeat their experiments until they work properly, then do endless new experiments which we realize are needed after we see the results of each preceding experiment, and all this while the students are attending classes and writing papers and reports for their classes and their graduate committees and conferences. We go as fast as we can, but the work can be arduous and long, and we're wrong about our hypotheses more often than we're right, so getting from the stage of knowing how the mechanism works to even having a chance of identifying a possible inhibitor is a long and risky process. And that's just to get to the stage of identifying candidate inhibitors. This is why it takes a decade or more to develop most drugs, or even to determine new applications for old drugs. It's a 10-20 year process that starts with the grad students in the lab just trying to get their experiments to work right. Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria (green) interacting with human endothelial tissue in a chamber that mimics human blood flow. Note that while most bacteria are swept up in the flow, some (note upper right and left) are able to stay in place through special bonds, allowing them to "crawl" along the walls of blood vessels on their own paths. This could have significant implications for understanding the behavior, and potentially treatment, of Lyme disease within the human body. Advertisement Lyme disease is a contentious and in many ways controversial subject. Even the science, which most regular people would think would be cut and dry, is hotly debated. For example, emerging studies such as yours reveal previously unknown aspects of the bacterium that causes Lyme disease and which may affect progression of the disease. First, I came to the Borrelia research field from another field (telomere biology, which is important for cancer and aging). And I can tell you that even in this field, where a Nobel prize was awarded a few years ago, there were some pretty raging debates, and occasionally people's personal points of view could get in the way of civil behavior, and sometimes shut down other, valid points of view. Sometimes the more acrimoniously expressed points of view turned out to be right. Sometimes it was the people quietly pursuing other points of view who turned out to be right. The level of contentiousness in the debates didn't really accurately predict who turned out to be right and who turned out to be wrong. However, I actually think that strong debates, whether acrimonious or civil, are a sign that a topic is really important, and most crucially, that there's still a lot left to learn. People generally fight about how to solve things, but not so much after they've been solved, even if they don't particularly like the solution. And we disagree and struggle because we don't know enough yet, and because we're trying to define what the most important issues are to focus on. So debate and having opposing and controversial points of view are not a problem -- they're actually a sign of deep engagement with an issue, and this engagement can lead to progress in ways that apathy never does. I'm not particularly acrimonious by nature. I'm Canadian -- we are generally presupposed to be rather peaceful folk. I do really love a good civil, scientific fight based on facts (not name-calling -- I really liked that part of your profile on Huff Post). I really believe that good solutions to problems are often pragmatic and not perfect, are developed out of compromise and identifying the goals that everyone shares, and can be difficult to achieve in the middle of highly polarized debates, because polarization makes it harder for people to hear other perspectives, and drives decent, committed, intelligent people of good faith into camps which separate them from each other, or causes them to disengage from the debate and go about their work trying to ignore it. In other words, I think that trying to work through some controversial topics together would be far more helpful to advancing treatment of patients than different sides asserting that their version of the truth is more true than the others. Or maybe sidestepping some of the most controversial topics and focusing on the common ground would be most helpful if some of the controversy is so heated that it makes productive discussion on these topics impossible. Advertisement Even as new discoveries are made, many people who call themselves advocates of "science-based medicine" claim that the science of Lyme disease is conclusive and that the scientific institution as a whole has reached consensus that there is no evidence of persisting Lyme disease infection. I actually don't think, based on my knowledge of the scientific field of Lyme disease research that most of us think that we have arrived at consensus about many topics. We're all still trying to find our way through the dark, so to speak. Good scientists have to be and do three things at once. We must be scrupulously open-minded, because we know from experience that most of our ideas turn out to be wrong when we actually try to test them, and that strongly held theories can bias the way we see our results. However, at the same times as keeping ourselves wide open to lots of different ideas, we must also be judicious. We learn to be judicious for the same reason that we learn to be open-minded: most of our ideas turn out not to be true when we test them rigorously, and we fail far more often than we succeed. So we learn to be careful about getting caught up in an idea that seems like a perfect explanation, because more often than not, we're just plain wrong. Finally, the way we achieve a balance between judiciousness and creative open-minded thought is by testing our ideas, and testing them as carefully and critically as we can, then waiting to see if other people arrive at a similar conclusion by testing these ideas independently. Advertisement If we do not do this as scientists and as a scientific community, we are not fulfilling our professional and ethical responsibilities as scientists. To someone who is not a scientist, this insistence on evidence can be really hard to understand, and incredibly frustrating, especially when the stakes are high, such as when people are very ill. But if we don't strike this balance between creative open-mindedness and caution, we're not actually doing our jobs properly, and are not contributing constructively to the advancement of scientific knowledge and medical treatment. I actually think that there is much less debate about some of the issues related to Lyme disease than is commonly portrayed or assumed, and that most scientists are far more open-minded than perhaps is widely understood or depicted. I do think that we need to do a much better job at communicating the way we think about these issues, so that people understand the reasoning better, and understand why some topics such as evidence are so important to scientists. And I think that we're personally a little (or more than a little) afraid of being misconstrued, intentionally or unintentionally, mainly because being as accurate as we can be is so fundamentally and ethically important to most of us. So, in the spirit of trying to improve how we as scientists communicate, I've decided to try to explain a little bit of the personal make up of many of the good scientists I know, or at least of my own personal makeup, in the hopes that maybe this will help non-scientists understand a little bit about why we can be so frustratingly slow and cautious, and so wary of committing strongly and unreservedly to any particular theory. While it's objectively untrue that all scientists have reached any consensus, those who argue this usually do so based on the fact that evidence of persisting strains of the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, have been identified in vitro (in a petri dish outside of the human body) but not in vivo (within living human beings) in clinical studies. Your study used human endothelial cells "to recreate conditions inside blood vessels" in a laboratory setting. Do you believe that the conditions you created in a laboratory can be applied to what might or would happen inside of a human body? As far as the persistence debate goes, that is still wide open in the Lyme disease scientific community. I'm pretty agnostic about its implications, as I think many of us are, because we don't have enough evidence yet. I think the evidence for persistence is pretty compelling, but I don't think persistence necessarily equals disease. Advertisement I think this debate hinges on what the criteria are for something to be considered infectious and disease-causing. There are lots of microbes that can persistently colonize a host without having any effect at all. This is causing a big shift in the way microbiologists think about infectious disease. Actually, I think that focusing on the microbe and whether it's there or not (or completely eradicating all remnants of it with antibiotics) may not actually be one of the most effective ways to approach the problem of Lyme disease in individuals who are not effectively treated by antibiotics. I think a much, much more important issue is probably identifying why some people get a hard-to-treat form of the disease when other people don't. This is where we may make some of the most important treatment advances...this and improving both the early sensitivity and accuracy of diagnostic tests. About the differences between laboratory strains and clinical strains. Laboratory strains actually are clinical strains -- they all came from patients at some point. I think the issue is probably the variety and range of strains that are studied in scientific studies. Scientific research is very labour-intensive and costly, so none of us can conduct all of our studies with a wide range of strains -- we'd never be able to complete our work if every experiment was done with multiple strains. What would you say to journalists, other researchers or policymakers who would discount your findings altogether because your study was conducted outside of human bodies? As for the question about whether our results are "valid" from a treatment point of view because they were conducted in vitro...we do know that what we're seeing shares a lot of similarities to what is seen in a living mouse with a fully functioning cardiovascular and immune system. Now, of course, one can easily argue that mice are not people, and that mouse models of Lyme disease do not adequately reproduce what happens in people. I couldn't agree more, and most scientists would say exactly the same thing. However, the trouble is that we have to try to make progress somehow, and we can't inject people with Borrelia to do experiments, so we have to try to use other methods too. Advertisement Doing human-centred research using clinical samples is quite challenging. First, it's extremely expensive, because you need a lot of clinical staff involved, and they tend to be a lot better paid than graduate students in a lab such as mine (or any research lab supported by public funding, for that matter). Second, depending on the type of experiment/study you're doing with people, you can lose a lot of study participants over time, or may not have sufficiently similar control and experimental groups due to other factors. So, often clinical studies can be statistically underpowered -- that is, they don't have enough people, enough data or the right balance of people and data in different experimental groups to form statistically valid conclusions...and because there's so much variation between people, it's crucial that data are analyzed carefully using statistics, because there's so much potential for a random or unrelated difference to affect the interpretation of data. Medical research in all fields is absolutely littered with clinical studies that don't lead to definitive conclusions because of these problems, and these can lead to a lot of confusion about what is "right." Finally, one of the biggest problems in studies conducted with people is that they can often find that there's an association between two factors, but can't actually tell if this is because one factor causes the other factor, or if they're associated because they both happen to be the result of another unidentified factor. One of the best examples of this from epidemiology is the association between coffee drinking and pancreatic cancer. For a long time it was thought that drinking coffee was a risk factor for pancreatic cancer, a particularly lethal form of cancer. However, what the medical community finally realized was that pancreatic cancer had nothing to do with coffee drinking. The reason there was an association was actually because coffee drinkers also were much more likely to be smokers (back in the day when many many people couldn't have a cup of coffee without a cigarette). It took a long time to figure out that coffee drinking had nothing to do with pancreatic cancer, and that is was the cigarettes smoked with the coffee that were the culprit. Advertisement So, what I, and I think almost every scientist would say is that we have to make progress where we can, but that we always need to push the boundaries of what we can do technically, to more closely mimic the processes we're trying to understand. We have to try to catch hold of one loose end in the big ball of knotted yarn and start slowly unravelling from that end until we get an idea we think is probably right. And then another lab has to test our idea in other ways, and we have to keep doing this ourselves. Individual Borrelia burgdorferi, shown in unique colors, interacting with the surface of endothelial cells, the cells that line blood vessels. Image credit: Rhodaba Ebady, Tara Moriarty. Published in Cell Reports. Image reused with permission. According to Scientific American, your coauthor Rhodaba Ebady suggested that "it is also likely that [the way by which your researchers discovered Lyme-causing bacteria move] helps the pathogens get to sites where they are able to evade the immune system and treatment." Advertisement This statement is profound, as it implies that Borrelia burgdorferi can in fact evade both the immune system and antibiotic treatment within the human body -- that is, that the bacteria themselves may be able to persist despite natural and medical interventions. And yet the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and its representatives and many science writers insist absolutely that either a) there is no evidence that Bb can persist within a human host following a short course of doxycycline or b) more absolutely that Bb has been proven not to be able to withstand a short course of doxycycline. In other words, these critics state that the science of Lyme disease is settled, and that the verdict is that while some patients may experience lingering symptoms following treatment, "the scientific consensus" is that all cases of Lyme disease are cured permanently with 21 days of antibiotic treatment. Those who advocate treating patients who experience persisting Lyme disease symptoms cite abundant evidence that in their opinion refutes such absolute claims. The International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), for example, has published a list of over 700 peer-reviewed scientific articles that describe and discuss Borrelia burgdorferi strains surviving after a typical course of antibiotics. The IDSA and other critics of ILADS consistently state that "suggesting that active infection is ongoing, is not supported by scientific evidence." Why in your opinion is there such a strong partisanship about the science of this particular pathogen, and where do you and your colleagues stand on the science? How can the arguably objective process of scientific investigation produce such a clean subjective divide: with scientists on one side claiming that science has proven conclusively that Lyme disease cannot persist in a human host following antibiotic treatment, and the other claiming that this has not yet been proved and warrants further investigation? One quick clarification...in Rhodaba's statement, she actually didn't say that this tactic helps the pathogens evade treatment. I actually contacted the journalist who wrote this article immediately after it came out to say that neither Rhodaba nor I remembered saying this, and did not intend to say that dissemination might affect treatment outcomes -- we absolutely want it to be clear that our study doesn't provide evidence about this in any way, and as scientists are worried when extrapolations are made from what we've said that we didn't intend to be made. The journalist said that since the word "likely" had been included, we didn't have to worry about misinterpretation of this sentence in her article, and it was not corrected since the article had already been posted. I do understand that journalists will tell a story differently than scientists, and that our goals are different, but this was something we actually wanted to be very careful about, because it would be misleading to say that this would affect treatment efficacy. It's possible, of course, but we need much much more evidence before we could responsibly conclude this. I do want to emphasize, though, that I actually don't think there's as strong a subjective divide between scientists and non-scientists as is often portrayed. I know a lot of scientists in the field, and we all talk and are a very disputatious and diverse group of people with a lot of different ideas. We're far from being a monolithic and highly coordinated group. I do think that many aspects of this issue are far less partisan than is assumed from outside the scientific field. And again, I think that part of this issue is that scientists have to start communicating more and better about what we do, because it's obscure and opaque to non-experts, and because we spend a lot of time worrying about being misconstrued. Finally, I think one of the biggest obstacles right now to making progress is this sense that there is a real polarization. Perhaps if we can reframe some of this issue in a way that doesn't depend on seeing two "camps," it would make it easier to identify the goals which everyone agrees about (I think that improving the sensitivity and accuracy of early diagnostics is one goal which everyone supports). I know that many scientists feel the same way, and think that perhaps identifying the moderate majority in all groups who could carry discussion forward in a pragmatic way might be an effective way to really make progress. This morning, one of the nation's biggest for-profit colleges, ITT Tech, announced that it has permanently shut down its academic operations and fired the "overwhelming majority" of its more than 8,000 employees. In a typically self-pitying, remorseless statement, the company blamed all its woes on the U.S. Department of Education, which, ITT claimed, acted with "a complete disregard ... for due process to the company." On August 25, the Education Department, citing a range of questionable business practices by ITT, banned the company from enrolling new students using federal grants and loans. Given ITT's overwhelming dependence on federal student aid, that decision essentially amounted to a death sentence. Here are some things you should know: Advertisement 2. ITT demonstrated until the end that it was primarily a call center, not a college. Market analysts at the firms PiperJaffray and Credit Suisse, like ITT, sought to blame the feds, with PiperJaffray telling investors that the Education Department was showing "minimal concern for 40,000 ITT students that will be displaced." But after the Department issued the cutoff of federal aid, ITT engaged in some shocking passive-aggressive behavior that revealed the company's own indifference to its students: ITT wiped clean its homepage, and reduced it to a single statement: "We are not enrolling new students." This was an odd display for a school that still had perhaps 35,000 students enrolled. (The next day, ITT wised up a bit, adding four words of acknowledgement that it was still in charge of a school.) 3. The Department of Education is finally stepping up to protect students and taxpayers. For years the Department of Education has allowed blatant abuses by for-profit colleges to go on. Senator Tom Harkin's blistering report on the egregious practices of ITT and other companies was issued more than four years ago, yet the Department has continued to send billions to these institutions. One critical change is that, in the wake of the collapse of the awful predatory Corinthian Colleges, the Department has moved toward issuing new regulations to implement a long-ignored law that gives students who were defrauded the right to have their federal loans cancelled. Now that we are about to move into this defense-to-repayment era, I think the Department sees there will be much greater costs to bestowing its Good Housekeeping seal on predatory schools by making them eligible for federal aid. So it sees more urgency in cutting off bad actors. That is good news. Advertisement Under Secretary of Education Ted Mitchell told reporters on a conference call a few minutes ago that "over time" it became "irresponsible for us" to allow ITT to enroll new students. Today, when you hear experts, especially those seeking to blame the Department, talk about the costs of an ITT shutdown, please keep in mind that even if ITT stayed in business, former students could still apply for loan discharges on the ground that the company defrauded them. By acting now, the Department has finally stopped the bleeding, stopped the enrollment of thousands more students whose woes would only compound the tragedy and the costs here. 4. The Department of Education has the chance to avoid repeating its Corinthian mistakes. Last year, the Department of Education wisely took steps that resulted in the demise of Corinthian, which, like ITT, was almost entirely a creature of government aid. But the Department made some major missteps in the aftermath, including approving the sale of many Corinthian campuses to ECMC, a debt collection company with no experience running colleges, and which hired many former Corinthian staff and has engaged in some of the same predatory behavior. The Department also acquiesced in efforts by Corinthian, fearful that many students would demand loan forgiveness, to steer students to transfer to other predatory, low-quality for-profit schools. This time it can be different. Various suitors have considered taking over ITT's operations, from the University of Akron to a long-time for-profit college entrepreneur who called me over the summer to sound me out. Although there are some fine instructors and staff at ITT campuses who have tried to do the right thing for students, and it is a tragedy that good people will lose their jobs, the better course for students and taxpayers would be to avoid a repeat of the Corinthian error, and instead offer students new places to learn. Some community college systems already are stepping up to engage with former ITT students, and leadership by governors and the Department of Education in steering students to better quality programs also could make a big difference. Under Secretary Mitchell told reporters on the conference call that the Department was engaging actively with states and community colleges to find new places for ITT students to learn. Advertisement One reporter told Mitchell that ITT CEO Kevin Modany had said to reporters this morning that the Department had rejected several efforts by ITT to be acquired. Mitchell said that while ITT had been in conversations with some prospective buyers, there was never a formal sale proposal for the Department to consider or reject. He added that the failure to find a buyer, or at least a buyer acceptable to the Department, might have been "further evidence of problems that ITT had in delivering high quality instruction to its students." The Department also can avoid what it has sometimes done in the past: trying to change the subject when students ask for loan discharges because their school has closed or engaged in fraud. Instead, the Department should make it easier to get these loans forgiven. It looks like the Department may be moving in this direction. (Mitchell said today that if every eligible student applied for a closed school loan discharge, the total cost would be $500 million, and that the Department has compelled ITT to put up $90 million to reimburse taxpayers for events like this.) The Department also should be moving to prevent executives of predatory schools from looting their companies as they fail -- to restrict stock buybacks and excessive executive compensation when schools are not in full compliance with regulations (as it did last month with ITT). 5. Big Washington players enabled ITT's bad behavior. Washington lobbyist Vin Weber, a former member of the House GOP leadership and still a big Republican power player, has served for 22 years on ITT's board of directors. The modern GOP is supposed to stand for lean, limited, honest government. WTF has Weber been doing validating ITT's waste, fraud, and abuse with taxpayer dollars? Powerhouse DC law and lobbying firms like Gibson Dunn, Thompson Coburn, Dickstein Shapiro, Cooley, and Lanny Davis also have been hired to push ITT's interests in legal and regulatory fights. 6. Other for-profit college companies are still in business and abusing students and taxpayers -- to the tune of billions of dollars annually. These include industry giants like the University of Phoenix, EDMC, Career Education Corporation, Kaplan, and Bridgepoint, as well as a slew of smaller enterprises. In recent years, the Department of Education and law enforcement agencies have taken a wide range of actions to address the abuses. But much more needs to be done, and urgently. Advertisement CLEVELAND, OH - JULY 18: A Donald Trump supporter attends a rally for Trump on the first day of the Republican National Convention (RNC) on July 18, 2016 in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in downtown Cleveland, including hundreds of protesters and members of the media. The convention runs through July 21. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) For the first time since 2000, the Presidential election promises to be pivotal for the politics of gun control. Both for supporters of stronger gun laws, and for "gun rights" partisans, the stakes could not be higher. It was not long ago that the political death of gun control was accepted as an incontestible truth by pundits of every ideological stripe. For the Democratic Party, although much was made of the alleged impact of the gun issue on the Gingrich takeover of the House of Representatives in 1994, the real turning point was the 2000 Presidential election. Despite the highly material fact that Al Gore actually won more popular votes than the National Rifle Association-endorsed George W. Bush, the Republican's ascent to the Presidency gave rise to a consensus among Democratic leaders and analysts that the policy benefits of gun control were simply not worth the political risk. When in 2005 the party chose Howard Dean, recipient of the NRA's support in Vermont, as chair of the Democratic National Committee, an insider Capitol Hill publication called it "the last nail in gun control" and "a crippling blow to the gun-control movement." In a 2006 book, Democratic advisors Paul Begala and James Carville argued that the Party should "defuse" the gun issue by agreeing with the NRA that we should simply enforce existing laws instead of passing new ones. Advertisement The conventional wisdom was so strong that, after 2000, gun control was not viewed as a winning issue regardless of which party won the Presidential sweepstakes. President Bush's reelection in 2004 was viewed, of course, as an NRA victory, but even President Obama's wins in 2008 and 2012 were not seen as victories for gun control because Obama was viewed as largely avoiding the issue, particularly in 2012. Obama's first term was singularly dispiriting for gun control forces, as a Democratic Congress passed legislation, signed by Obama, that included amendments to permit loaded guns in national parks (reversing a no-guns policy imposed by President Ronald Reagan, of all people) and unloaded guns in baggage areas on Amtrak trains. Time and again, mass shootings would prompt eloquent, consoling remarks from the President, but no statements supporting stronger gun laws. For President Obama and the Democratic Party, it all changed with the massacre of first graders at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December, 2012. The president later said it was the saddest day of his presidency. For the first time, he offered more than just healing words: "We're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics." His new, ambitious gun control agenda -- which included extending Brady Bill background checks to all gun sales and banning assault weapons -- died in Congress, as Congressional Republicans continued to march in lockstep with the NRA. But, since Sandy Hook, the transformation of the Democratic Party on the gun issue has become complete. The recent historic sit-in on the floor of the House of Representatives, led by civil right icon Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), symbolically established gun control as a matter of principle, not politics, for Democrats, much like the civil rights struggle itself. Advertisement The gun violence issue was center stage at the Democratic National Convention, which featured the stories of multiple families victimized by gunfire, with a heart-rending and utterly inspiring, appearance by wounded former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. After pummeling Sen. Bernie Sanders during the primaries for his Congressional votes against the Brady Bill and in favor of special legal protection for the gun industry, Hillary Clinton, in her convention acceptance speech, recognized that "for decades, people have said this issue was too hard to solve and the politics too hot to touch." She responded: "But I ask you, how can we just stand by and do nothing?" Hillary Clinton's commitment to stronger gun laws appears deep and genuine. Throughout the primary campaign, she pledged to keep "taking on the NRA." In contrast, the NRA has endorsed Donald Trump, who roused the NRA Convention with his statement that "We're getting rid of gun-free zones," reflecting his conviction that we need to ensure that teachers are armed to shoot back when a school shooting begins. For the first time, a top NRA official was given podium time at the Republican Convention. Of course, the gun lobby can hardly be sure of what Trump will say next about the gun issue (or any other issue); indeed, he has suggested that maybe persons on the terrorist "no fly" list should be denied guns, in opposition to the NRA's position. Nevertheless, the NRA's vehement opposition to Clinton could not be more clear. According to Wayne LaPierre, the organization's longtime Executive Vice President, with Clinton as President, "you can kiss your guns goodbye." Trump has learned well how to feed the paranoia of hardcore gun activists, with his warning that Hillary Clinton's judicial nominees will "abolish the Second Amendment" and his comment that only "Second Amendment people" can do anything about it, a chilling invitation to take action against government officials, including President Clinton herself, by force of arms. The political lines are drawn on the gun control issue more clearly and unmistakably than at any point since 2000. A Trump victory will no doubt be seen as the political resurgence of disaffected white Americans, mostly men, who see themselves as left behind and ignored by the elites. The triumph of previously disrespected "Second Amendment rights," as the Trump supporters interpret them, will be part of that Trump victory narrative. In contrast, given the political transformation of the Democratic Party on the gun issue since Sandy Hook, and Hillary Clinton's likely continued aggressive advocacy of gun control throughout the general election campaign, a Clinton victory will likely be interpreted by the political punditry as a resounding victory for the gun control forces. Unlike Obama in 2008 and 2012, a Clinton victory in 2016 could never be attributed to her avoidance of the gun issue. A Trump victory will end any hope of progress toward sanity in our gun policies (and no doubt other policies) for the foreseeable future. A Clinton victory will reinforce the political wisdom of the Democrats' recent embrace of the gun issue and strengthen the Party's commitment to gun law reform for years to come. It may even cause some Republicans who abandon Trump to reevaluate the issue themselves. 4 reasons why Legalizing Marijuana could be the solution to America's problems. For a few years now Americans' have disputed on the legalization of cannabis, also known as marijuana. Recreational cannabis is legal in four states: Oregon, Colorado, Alaska, and Washington state. This November, five states will vote to legalize recreational cannabis: California, Massachusetts, Maine, Arizona, and Nevada. We've heard all the research and the majority of adults will admit to having tried cannabis at least once in their life. In a world where substances like alcohol and tobacco remain legal, it's just illogical that cannabis stays illegal. Both the Republican and Democrat parties have recognized the value of cannabis, at least medically, however there is bigger picture. Legalizing cannabis could be the solution to America's social, economic, and even some foreign problems. 1. Marijuana is Medicine. Of course. Now, we don't need to keep listing all the health benefits of cannabis. There are already tons of articles about cannabis being an all in one medicine with only a tiny, tiny percent of a chance of an overdose. Even though 23 states have legalized cannabis medically, physicians still don't have national guidelines on how to prescribe it. High Times, a magazine publication advocating the legalization of cannabis, recently quoted Dr. Jean Antonucci who told CNN that she still feels "completely in the dark" about medical marijuana treatment, dose, and whether a patient should smoke, eat, or vaporize it. Most physicians have never been trained to prescribe marijuana and it is still not covered in medical schools. Only some states are beginning to require doctors to take additional medical courses on medical marijuana. 2. Cannabis is a Cash. Advertisement So let's talk economy. Depending on your views you either see America's economy as bad, or really bad. Cannabis/ Hemp could be the biggest cash crop since cotton. Cannabis is such large and profitable industry that legalization could boost the economy and create American jobs. Colorado has brought in nearly $73.5 million in selling marijuana and marijuana related products in just a few years. Colorado was the first to allow recreational marijuana sales in January 2014, followed by Washington in July 2014, and then Oregon sales began October 2015. Since then Headset Inc, found that the average recreational consumer spends $647 annually on marijuana. 3. Weed out the international drug trade. American cannabis growers, have become known for inventing new hybrid stains. This makes American marijuana unique which could help destroy the illegal foreign drug trade. In 2012, a study by the Mexican Competitiveness Institute found that legalization would take market profits away from cartel businesses. Former DEA intelligence specialist Sean Dunagan told Vice News that a national legal cannabis market will negatively impact drug cartels' profits so much that cannabis won't be "a viable business for the Mexican cartels the same way bootleggers disappeared after prohibition fell." Another study by a Harvard economist, Jeffrey Miron found that the US government could save billions of dollars by ending the drug war and legalizing cannabis and bring in an additional $46.7 billion in yearly tax revenues. 4. Mary + Jane= Happiness Let's go ahead and say it. Smoking marijuana is fun, enjoyable, and makes people happy. Diagnoses of depression in America grows more every generation. Now more than 15 million American adults suffer from some sort of depression and the suicide rate seems to get higher and higher each year. In a time of rapid changes and questionable futures, why not make something that creates positively and happiness legal? Advertisement Legalizing marijuana is something we might feel that we can do little about. Yet we can do more than we think. If legalization is your state's ballot this year, make you vote count. If your state is nowhere near legalization, then vote for pro-legalization candidates. Even if you don't feel like voting, tiny steps can be made when you keep an open mind and educate yourself on medical marijuana and the cannabis industry. It's been over seven decades when Mahatma Gandhi promoted 'Khadi' as an idea to instill Nationalism and fight British colonialism in India. Khadi, one of India's often heard handloom varieties has stood as a symbol of India's simplicity and self-sufficiency. However, India's prowess in its home-grown handloom sector is far from simple. The mere range of weaves and motifs are mind blowing. Handloom, fabric that woven by hand entirely has a spectacular range from every part of the country. While Tamil Nadu boasts of its Kanchipuram silks, Andhra has a Pochampally to show off. Gujarat basks in its tie-and-dyes and Varanasi makes us melt over its Benarasi silks. There's more- Sungadi, Mangalgiri, Jamdani, Venkatagiri, Ilkal, Ikkat, Bandhani, the list simply goes on and on. In other words, India's range is simply unmatched and totally enviable. Despite its incredible exclusivity, handloom makes up just 11% of India's total fabric production. Handlooms has largely been replaced by power looms that automate the process of weaving decreases labor costs and reduces production time. A typical handloom piece can take several painstaking hours of manipulating wefts and warps to create a saree or the hugely popular Indian salwar kameez. The power loom fabric market accounts for about 70% of the market. The finesse of the patterns and motifs of a handloom piece are hardly replaceable by the power looms. Advertisement Due to the premium placed on every handloom textile, several power loom pieces are passed off as handloom fabric in the market. In an attempt to stem this practice that can rob India of its tremendous potential and USP, the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi launched the India Handloom Brand, an initiative aimed at preserving the authenticity of our weaves while ensuring that the weaver gets his due for his efforts. The scheme ensures the every garment that carries the Handloom Mark Scheme holds up to the highest quality standards with zero defects and zero effect on the environment. This effort by the Modi Government was bolstered by his open appeal to the Public to value and preserve the Indian Handloom legacy has resulted in a spurt of growth in the handloom sector. Recently, a bunch of students at the Indian Institute of Hyderabad was reported to have cast away their graduation capes to don Pochampally( an Ikkat weave of Andhra Pradesh) scarves to celebrate the occasion. A sure indication of the rise of their popularity. The handloom industry is also seeing a resurgence with recent hashtags like #IWearHandloom promoted by the textile minister Smriti Irani. The appeal of the Indian traditional wear has been enhanced by the sheer adaptability of the Indian garment. There are sarees to suit every occasion- from weddings to festive occasions to office wear- the saree is seen as a versatile garment of grace for the Indian woman. The salwar kameez, a traditional ethnic outfit has also adapted itself to the needs of the modern woman through its various forms- the Anarkali suits, Churidar, Dhoti Salwar, Achkan salwar kameez, parallel salwar kameez and many more. Advertisement My friend and colleague, Mizuki Hsu, is about to conclude her tenure as a Visiting International Research Fellow at Syracuse University's Burton Blatt Institute (BBI). This essay is a collaboration between us. Soon, Mizuki will be returning to Japan to continue her advocacy work in the Japanese and international disability rights movements. In her blog, Moon Rider 7, Mizuki shares her public intellectual work in Japanese and English. While at BBI, she researched the employment of people with disabilities in Japan and the United States. Beginning in October of 2015, Mizuki traveled to cities throughout the U.S., interviewing activist-scholars, company employees, organizational leaders, and governmental representatives (among her projects, she interviewed me). Mizuki and I talk openly about empowerment, oppression, culture, and self-expression. Unsurprisingly, we discussed what she experienced on July 25, 2016, the day she found out that 19 people with disabilities who were living in a Sagamihara institution were murdered in their sleep by a former employee (due to the time difference, it was the 26th of July in Japan). The perpetrator seriously injured 26 others. Mizuki shared with me that she was in Washington, D.C., attending the National Council on Independent Living's (NCIL) conference. On the first day of the conference, a group of leaders from several Japanese disability rights organizations teamed up to report to the participants their approaches toward meeting the needs of Japanese people with disabilities. They highlighted their collaboration with various Asian countries, specifically nations with far fewer material resources than Japan. This year, Japan and the United States collaborated, as well; as part of this initiative, a group of American young adults visited Japan. Some of these individuals attended the NCIL conference and described their experiences to the audience. Advertisement Mizuki was inspired by what the young people reported. The American group noted that people in Japan seemed to be very kind toward people with disabilities. Given Mizuki's experiences living most of her life in Japan, the young Americans' descriptions of Japanese hospitality toward the disabled were surprising. Mizuki perceives that, in Japan, people without disabilities often understand people with disabilities as belonging to a distinct, and separated, human category. Growing up in Japan, Mizuki rarely met people with disabilities in her everyday life; she was the only person with a visible disability in elementary and secondary school who was not in a segregated classroom. People with disabilities did not seem to be living in the community with everyone else, and Mizuki wondered where they lived and where they were. Leaving the conference session with a lot on her mind, some "new views," and happy as well as intrigued to have heard what the Americans said about her home country, Mizuki returned to her hotel room and opened the Japanese Yahoo News app on her smartphone. She learned then of the violence that had occurred in Sagamihara. Her shock and disbelief were deep. It seemed impossible that this had happened. One of the reasons she felt this way was because Japan is known to be a very safe country. This crime was the most violent event to have occurred in Japan since World War II. The fact that the victims were targeted because they were all people with disabilities was particularly disturbing and abhorrent. Mizuki was struck by the stark contrast between what the Americans had just said during the conference session and what was now being reported in the news. She reflected upon her own upbringing and was even firmer in her resolve to do something, daily, to raise awareness of the rights of Japanese people with disabilities, and the rights of all people with disabilities. To live, period. To live full and meaningful lives. Advertisement Meanwhile, the focus in the Japanese media that Mizuki has read has largely been on the regulation of hospitalization and other forms of institutionalization, protecting the general public from presumably dangerous people, access to facilities by the public, and the rights of the victims' family members. Making the lives of Japanese people with disabilities safer and better has not been the priority of much of the mainstream Japanese news, it seems. Nor has there been much acknowledgment of the ongoing segregation of people with disabilities in Japan. Although many people have been shocked, and certain Japanese disability rights organizations have issued statements and calls to action, some in Japan agree with and support what the suspect did. The victims' names have not been disclosed, largely due to fear that non-disabled family members could be stigmatized by media exposure. Measurements of productivity and what is considered valuable in Japanese culture underscore many of the news stories in Japan and what is and is not getting coverage, Mizuki observes. Disturbingly, some of the news has emphasized claims that the suspect is mentally ill, furthering the stigma against people with psychiatric labels, who are far more likely to be victims rather than perpetrators of violence. And what of the victims? Why is there so little discussion about their lives being taken, being lost? Disabled lives are worth living. As Rooted in Rights leaders and many others assert, "Disability rights are human rights." Mizuki, a Rooted in Rights storyteller, recently co-created a video about the Sagamihara 19. Advertisement Trump presents himself as the ultimate patriot. Upon returning from his visit with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto -- and returning to his original position about not only building a wall but having Mexico pay for it -- he unveiled a new position about promoting patriotism in American Patriotism in schools: "American schoolchildren will be taught greater respect for patriotic values, Donald Trump promised on Thursday, as he followed up his surprise trip to Mexico and key anti-immigration speech by stepping up his appeal to 'Americanism.'" The right wing journalist Ann Coulter tweeted, "GO TRUMP." But form doesn't always follow function. Trump supports forms of patriotism like saluting the flag and standing for the national anthem, but unlike so many Americans he has not risked anything to protect our country. (See Trump draft record). Why would we expect anything else from a guy who has built his career on showmanship rather than substance? He doesn't get that the Constitution protects speech in many forms and protesting with patriotic symbols is one that has been used since the very beginning our nation (history of protests). Trump displays his ignorance of democracy in general and ours in particular by suggesting that we should all have the same opinion. Democracy is designed for negotiating different ideas and interests. Totalitarian governments have one unified thought pattern, often dictated by the government, or try to anyway.Yet he does not honor, identify and admire the various groups that make up America groups. A requisite for the functioning of our nation. Advertisement Colin Kaepernick's refusal to stand for the singing of the national anthem, called patriotic by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, is right in line with a long history of American protest. President Obama comments that Kaepernick was exercising his constitutional rights in not singing the national anthem. How lucky we are to have a history of peaceful protest rather than knifings and bombings so common in the Middle East. The complexities of the constitution seem to elude Trump. The democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine supports Colin's protest while acknowledging that he himself would not choose to express himself this way. We, too, would not choose this form of protest, because it is so raw and upsetting for those families who have sacrificed their loved ones for freedom. However, we are grateful for Colin's role-modeling of peaceful protest and use of his celebrity status to help improve the country. Unlike Trump, who uses his status to con others. But that is typical Trump. He criticizes Hillary's abuse of her status to grant access and, in some cases favors, to those who contributed to her foundation -- yet we don't find that he has used his billions to help others. In fact we have heard nothing about his charitable giving! To be clear, we are not defending Hillary here. We are merely pointing out that we doubt his legitimacy to "throw the first stone" when he himself never puts others first. Like most things, symbols can be used for good or for ill. Those of us who said others faiths' prayers daily in our public schools before the Supreme Court declared this illegal, know only too well that one can respectfully mouth words without believing them. We have also seen symbols morph in their meaning. The peace symbol was a sign of protest in the '60's despite its original intent to symbolize living together in harmony. Religious garb, particularly for women can be a sign of respect or of oppression. Advertisement Things just aren't as simple as Trump makes it sound. If all us of honored every patriotic symbol without advocating for American freedoms to apply to everyone in our society, it would do nothing to assure that persons of color, ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities, and immigrants are treated equally.Trump is superb at mocking and belittling, however, he has not demonstrated how he will improve the lives of the majority of Americans. Every now and then a song comes along that resonates so deeply in people's hearts it becomes an anthem for a generation. In 1964 Petula Clark did just that when she told people to go "Downtown." The song reached number one and Clark became the first female U.K. artist to earn a Grammy. Over the years, Frank Sinatra, Dolly Parton, Alvin and the Chipmunks, among others have put their own spin on the Grammy Hall of Fame song, but it will forever be identified with Clark. With the success of "Downtown," Clark became the reigning princess of pop music in the 1960s. Other massive hits followed including "I Know a Place," "Don't Sleep in the Subway" and her second number one, "My Love." Advertisement While the global success of "Downtown" could've cast a huge shadow on Clark, she charged ahead and didn't allow the song to define her. Over 50 years later people still celebrate the song, but Clark, 83 years old and living in Switzerland, has no desire to look back. She acknowledges her past, but only as to how it relates to her today. "I enjoy the moment. I don't look back unless I absolutely have to," she says. "What we are today is influenced by what we've been through." Where she is today is continuing to make music that reflects her thoughts on moving forward and eternal love. On September 16, she will release her new CD From Now On. It includes contemporary interpretations of classic songs like The Beatles' "Blackbird" and Peggy Lee's "Fever." There are also original compositions that are inspiring, haunting and even at their happiest are infused with a twinge of sadness; perhaps like the world in which we live. The album's title represents Clark's approach to life. "Let's face it, this is all we have---from now on. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow we don't know. I've felt like this for many years. Living for the day is the most important thing," she says. Advertisement That philosophy of staying in the moment extends to her life on stage. With a whopping 70 million records sold since her first hit in 1954, it would be easy for Clark to fill her performances with the tried and true. But she says singing new songs is what excites and intrigues her the most. Showing a naughtier side from her often sweet, public persona, she equates them to "playing with a new lover." Her new CD even experiments with the EDM genre. Her latest single, "Sacrifice My Heart," is proof that Clark embraces stepping out of her comfort zone. On "Miracle to Me," a song Clark wrote in her second home in the French Alps, she sings: You're everything to me and you always will be; Promise me to stay as you are. The song's inspiration is somewhat a mystery. Is it about Clark's husband of 55 years, publicist Claude Wolff? Together they have three children, but have lived separate lives for decades. Is it a love letter to a lover? Or is it a message to her fans? It seems Clark takes a page out of Carly Simon's book on "You're So Vain." "I think it's probably for several people. Yes, of course, there is one in particular. That's as far as I'm going," she says. Clark might be tight-lipped about this lyric, but she's lived more than seven decades in a very public spotlight. At the age of 9 she made her singing debut on BBC Radio. Two years later she landed a starring role in her first film. Others would follow, and Clark became known as Britain's Shirley Temple. In a rare moment of reflection, Clark offers wisdom to her younger self. Advertisement "I would warn her that you have to have a rather unattractive thing called courage, which no one seems to mention very much when they talk about show business," she says. "It's not enough just to have talent or charm. If I stop and think about how I'm still here, I don't quite know what that quality is that you need to last this long and not lose your faith or lose what put you there in the first place." Clark has stood the test of time. She's not only witnessed changes in the industry, but also in the world. "Those days of the little girl in the mountain in Wales were totally joyful and full of music. There was freedom," Clark recalls. "Not that I ever have, but you can't live in an ivory tower. I'm touched by what is going on in the world. It's almost like the background music of our lives---the awful things that are going on. I can't switch that off, but I have to carry on. That's all we can do is do our best." She says singing still gives her pleasure, and as long as she can continue to do it, she vows to keep going. When asked what she's the most proud of, without hesitation she says, "I don't think I've done it yet." Petula Clark's "From Now On" is available Sept. 16. For more information, visit www.petulafromnowon.com As part of activities to commemorate International Youth Day 2016, Rivers State Ministry of Youth Development in collaboration with the Rivers State Sustainable Development Goals Office organized a one-day workshop on "Youth Leading Sustainability" at the Public Hearing Hall, Rivers State House of Assembly Complex on Wednesday, 10th August 2016. The workshop started at about 11:15 a.m. with the National Anthem and a welcome address by Honourable Mrs. Toru Ofili, the Special Adviser to the Rivers State Governor on Sustainable Development Goals. Honourable Mrs. Toru Ofili in her address stated that the youth are not just our future but the future, stressing that she is already "walking-her-talk" by setting up a technical team comprised of young people. She asked that today, youth in Rivers State should take up the responsibility to lead the implementation of the SDGs. She concluded by asking young people to proactively engage with the Rivers State Sustainable Development Goals Office to make the SDGs work. Afterwards, the key note address was delivered by the Honorable Commissioner of Youth; Honourable Kingsley Ogbobula. In the address the honourable commissioner thanked the Governor whom he called "Youth friendly" for supporting and making available funds for the youth week activities including the workshop. He stated that youth have an important role to play in making things happen and that though he is an advocate for youth agitation, it had to be within the confines of the law. He concluded by encouraging the youth present at the workshop to forget their inefficiencies and interact freely with other participants and the speakers. Advertisement The facilitation session started with Mr. Sam Adejoh Okedi, a Social Entrepreneur, speaking on the SDGs and the role of Youth in Implementation. The facilitation session was very interactive as Mr. Sam Okedi asked the participants why they thought the SDGs failed and what the major differences between the MDGs and the SDGs were. The invited speakers included Miss. Jennifer Uchendu, Founder of Susty Vibes, who spoke on 'Youth Leading Sustainability through Community Engagement'. She elaborated on the informal and practical methods she employs to take the SDGs to the grassroots and how she is bringing youth together to learn how they can start something about the SDGs and their future; Mr. Aquila Kalagbor, CEO of Silicon South Tech, spoke on 'Youth leading Sustainability through Technology'. He also develops software solutions to strengthen best practices in the Agricultural sector and encouraged the attendees to solve the problems around them leveraging on ; Mr. Ebenezar Wikina, Digital Journalist & Curator of the Port Harcourt Global Shapers Hub, spoke on 'Youth Leading Sustainability through New Media' stressing on ways young people can become active advocates of the SDGs and demand accountability from government ministries and agencies directly concerned with the one or more of the 17 SDGs. Other speakers included the team from the United Nations Institute of Training and Research (UNITAR). The Workshop on Youth Leading Sustainability also had a panel discussion with specially invited guests as panelists. These guests included; Mr. Tunji Joseph, the Lead Consultant of Lyseis Forte; Miss. Onimim Karibo, the CEO of Fifi's Food House, Miss Jennifer Uchendu, Founder Susty Vibes, Mr Temple Onwukanjo, Founder of Temple Hills Consulting, Mr Aquila Kalagbor, CEO of Silicon South Technologies, Mr Ebenezar Wikina, Digital Journalist & Curator of Port Harcourt Global Shapers, and Representative from the United Nations Institute of Training and Research. The conversation was moderated by Mrs Bitebo Gogo, Founder and Executive Director or Keeping It Real Foundation. Advertisement 'The Role of the Rivers Youth in Eradicating Poverty and Achieving Sustanable Development through Sustainable Consumption and Production' was the topic for the panel discussion. Highlights of the Panelists Discussion include; 1. Rivers State youth do not need to be in the farm to be farmers. The Agricultural value chain needs to be explored by youth. 2. Social media and technology has to be employed to ensure visibility for youth as the world is now a global village. After the panel discussion, the workshop rounded off with the presentation of certificates to attendees, photography sessions with guests and speakers, and refreshment. Labor Day 2016 is past. And, the days of labor have passed as well. That's not just for organized labor. It's for all of those in the working and lower middle class who toil in blue collar and white collar jobs and make so little in wages that they qualify for food stamps and public aid. It didn't used to be that way. Looking back, the period after WWII from the early '50's to just before the mid-70's could be called the Camelot days for American laborers. Fairly compensated and gainfully employed full-time workers managed to own a home, with a car in the garage, and possibly another in the drive alongside the motorboat to take to a small cottage on the lake in the summer. Those days are gone. As the song at the end of that classic 1960's musical of the same name goes, "Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment, that was known as Camelot." It is the 21st century and the moment has not been shining for the average American worker for some time and is not getting any brighter at present. Advertisement Given the spate of new books, it would appear that those most challenged now are either white or in the white working and nonworking class. Consider the current best sellers Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance, White Trash by Nancy Isenberg, and the recently published The End of White Christian America by Robert P. Jones which begins with an obituary and ends with a eulogy for those Americans. These books build on a body of evidence put forward by Charles Murray in his 2012 book, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010. It's not just a problem for whites today, however. Economic anxiety, diminishing circumstances, income and opportunity inequality, declining aspirations and growing concerns about the future know no ethnic, racial or geographic boundaries. Robert Putnam does an excellent job of documenting this across the board impact in his 2015 book, Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis. Putnam points out that: From 1967 to 2011, within each major racial/ethnic group (i.e., white, black and Latino) income inequality rose at the same substantial rate. Between 1989 and 2013, the net worth of college-educated households with children, rose by 47 percent while the net worth of high school educated households fell by 17 percent. From 2009 to 2012, the real income of the top 1 percent of American families went up by 31 percent compared to .5 percent for the bottom 99 percent. These conditions are not lost on the public in general. The 2015 American Values Survey done by the Public Religion Research Institute revealed that an astounding 72 percent of respondents feel the country is still in a recession; 79 percent feel that the economic system unfairly favors the wealthy; and, 84 percent of Americans feel that business corporations do not share enough of their success with employees. There is definitely a shared economic angst. And, unfortunately, there are indicators that the situation for workers could get worse - possibly much worse - rather than better. Economist Robert J. Gordon in his book, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, projects that the "life altering" and "break through" innovations and advances made in the United States in the period from 1870 to 1970 can not and will not be replicated going forward. He attributes this to a number of factors including the obsession with technology-oriented innovation; rising inequality, stagnating education, and globalization. Gordon opines that unless there is a radical shift in the nature of innovation the economic conditions for future generations of Americans will not match those of the past. Advertisement In her book, Makers and Takers: The Rise of Finance and the Fall of American Business, Rana Foroohar, an assistant managing editor at Time magazine, presents a persuasive case that "financialization" - the phenomenon by which the financial sector has grabbed control of all aspects of American business is strangling the economy. Foroohar reports that "the financial sector takes a quarter of all corporate profits wile creating only 4% of American jobs" and that the biggest companies are spending monies on stock buy backs as opposed to investing in research and innovation. Finally, there is the changing nature of work. David Ignatius highlights in an August column for the Washington Post that a new paper from the consulting firm, McKinsey & Co. paints a stark and dark picture of the employment future. According to Ignatius, McKinsey looked at more than 800 occupations and estimates, "in manufacturing 59 percent of activities could be automated...In food service and accommodations, 73 percent of the work could be performed by machines. In retailing, 53 percent of the current jobs could be lost." Add to that gloomy scenario, the fact that in 2010, the Government Accountability Office using Bureau of Labor Statistics data estimated that over 40% of the American workforce was in "contingent" jobs as compared to only 30% in 2005. One source estimates that percentage will grow to over 50% by 2030. Those are the studies and statistics. But, they do not tell the human stories of the tens millions of Americans who are affected by these cataclysmic changes. Those are the stories that provide the sad and complete picture of once vital manufacturing cities disappearing, inner city neighborhoods being hollowed out, and rural areas being devastated by drugs. That is the American elegy. It is an elegy for the end of an era. The question is what to do about it. There are no easy answers. But, there is one thing for certain. This problem can not be solved by looking backward or romanticizing the past. Advertisement As the lyrics from another song go, "That was once upon a time....But, somehow once upon a time never comes again." This is a new time and a time for a new deal. That's not a new deal from the 1930's but a new deal for the 21st century. What got American here will not get America there. America needs a forward-looking plan for American workers. That plan does not exist today. But, it must be created in the very near future by our political, business and workforce leaders coming together and collaborating to craft a solution. The good news is that these leaders will not have to start from ground zero. There is already considerable good work that can be referenced to accomplish this. It includes: Advertisement Political scientists Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson's, American Amnesia: How the War on Government Led Us to Forget What Made America Prosper which provides an excellent analysis and argument on the need for the government and market to work together in a "mixed economy" to create better economic conditions for all. A 2015 report titled Opportunity, Responsibility and Security: A Consensus Plan for Reducing Poverty and Restoring the American Dream issued by the conservative America Enterprise Institute and the more liberal Brookings Institution that provides recommendations for actions in three domains: family, work and education. Andy Stern's, former president of the Service Employees International Union, Raising the Floor: How a Universal Basic Income Can Renew Our Economy and Rebuild the American Dream which outlines and describes how a guaranteed income will benefit both laborers and business. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi met Aug. 22 on the Italian aircraft carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi. The announced purpose was to discuss European policy after Brexit. The real discussion was about Italy's economy and the steps needed to revive it after a long period of stagnation, which continued through last quarter. Before getting to the economic discussion, it is interesting that they chose to have the meeting on an Italian aircraft carrier - a more military location than Europeans normally prefer. Holding the meeting on the Garibaldi drove home the point that Europe has some defense capability. But it also underscores how without Britain, the EU's military power is diminished, if only on paper, since the EU does not have a united defense capability outside of NATO. It was a good place to have a meeting at a time when European unity is in question, with Italy as a weak link. Italy's economy is weak. There is no growth. The banking system is in bad shape. Unemployment is high. There is substantial public unrest, and Renzi's standing is weakening. Italy has been living somewhere between recession and stagnation since 2008, and after eight years, there is no sign that the situation is going to end. Advertisement The Italians want to run a substantial budget deficit to stimulate the economy. The EU operates under a "stability pact," which requires deficits to be kept within certain limits, but allows for exceptions. One exception has been France, which has been operating outside the boundaries of the stability pact for years. Spain and Portugal were recently given exceptions as well. As Merkel put it, "The stability pact has a lot of flexibility, which we have to apply in a smart way." I am not sure what "a smart way" looks like, but the issue does not apply to Italy. Renzi said, "Italy's deficit has been at the lowest level of the last ten years." He said that he "would go ahead with structural reforms and deficit reductions for the good of [Italy's] children and grandchildren." In other words, Renzi said that he would further tighten spending. Merkel called his stance "courageous." Hollande mentioned that the U.K.'s decision to leave the EU at some point in the future "requires a response by EU leaders." Merkel agreed that they need to "deliver results." She was not clear on what those results would be. It is difficult to understand Renzi's move. Increased austerity has not worked in eight years. Accepting that Renzi is not insane, it is difficult to understand why he thinks this move will work anytime soon. Merkel conceded that these actions "won't show results in four weeks, but it sets the parameters for a sustainable and successful Italy." No one expects it to work in four weeks, but the question is why it should work at all. The Germans and French are going to use Brexit as an explanation of why increased austerity is needed. It is not clear to me how Brexit leads to austerity, but Merkel seemed to be saying that. Second, Merkel let it be known that while it is not up to Germany, the European Commission might be more flexible to accommodate Renzi. That is obviously an option, given the way France, Spain and Portugal have been treated. Advertisement But given the strategy Renzi is proposing, there is hardly a need for the commission to be accommodating. Renzi, who was seen as a maverick in Europe, is now being more austere than is required. If Merkel is congratulating you, then she has gotten everything she wants. Part of this might be political gamesmanship. Renzi needs a victory. One way to get it is to propose deep austerity and then demand concessions from the EU Commission. Once granted, he can be hailed as a tough negotiator. The problem is that he would be bargaining against his own budget. But politics is strange enough that he might pull it off. An alternative is that he knows he will need EU help on Italy's banks and by conceding this point, he is setting up an EU concession on the banks. That is pure guesswork, as there wasn't a hint of it in the talks. In either case, the budget, mandated as it is by the EU, will be extremely unpopular, imposing several more years of austerity. Inevitably, it will generate an exit movement, with proponents arguing that the only reason Italy has these problems is an EU-imposed austerity, and that the faster they get out of the EU the better. For all I know, maverick Renzi lives, and he is doing this to trigger this movement. But whether or not he favors leaving the EU, there will be a movement as a result of this budget. The argument for staying in the EU will be that Italy can't get better without the EU. The argument for leaving the union will be that Italy will never get better if it stays. In any case, the malaise that has gripped Italy for years will continue, and it is important not to expect solutions in four weeks. The problem Merkel has with European unity is that after eight years, no one expects an improvement in four weeks. The question is whether this is the permanent condition of Europe. Perhaps this is the best Italy will do for a long time, including children and grandchildren. The elders say that reburying can help deal with the loss and hurt of disturbing these graves. These are people whose graves are in some cases known about and who have family connections in Cannon Ball. We want an opportunity to rebury our relatives. We normally are given this opportunity if gravesites are disturbed. I do not believe that the timing of this construction was an accident or coincidence. Based on my observations, the nearest area of construction in the right of way west of Highway 1806 is around 20 miles away. It appears that DAPL drove the bulldozers approximately 20 miles of uncleared right of way to access the precise area that we surveyed and described in my declaration. The work started very early in the morning and they were accompanied by private security with dogs and with a helicopter overhead, indicating that the work was planned with care and that controversy was expected. By Wendy Paris During the past fifteen years, we've seen a great deal of research about happiness, strengths, and virtues. We've all heard how cultivating gratitude, for example, can counteract a tendency toward negative self-comparison and increase your appreciation of your assets. You might have read about the social, emotional, and health benefits of compassion--when you feel motivated to alleviate the suffering of another person. You can also extend compassion to yourself during major life changes like divorce. Self-compassion is a composite idea borrowed from Buddhism that includes three parts: seeing your problems as part of the universal human struggle, remaining calm and mindful in the face of a negative experience rather than letting it overwhelm or define you, and viewing yourself with understanding and forgiveness. To find out if self-compassion could help people through divorce--a process that can, for some, involve intense shame and self-criticism--David Sbarra at the University of Arizona recruited 105 willing divorcees who'd been married an average of thirteen and a half years. Sbarra and his team asked participants to recall an image of their ex and then speak freely for four minutes about their divorce. They also answered questionnaires about how they were recovering. Advertisement Four judges listened to the tapes, coding the degree to which the participants expressed self-compassion when speaking. They cross-referenced this attitude with participants' other positive practices and self-reported well-being, and with logistical realities such as length of the marriage and time since separation. At the initial interview--and again three, six, and nine months later--those with high self-compassion reported fewer intrusive negative thoughts, fewer bad dreams about the divorce, and less negative rumination. Self-compassion had a greater impact than other traits, habits, or even practical details. "If you pick all of the variables that predict how people will do after their marriage ends, self-compassion really carries the day," says Sbarra. Kristin Neff, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas, Austin, is largely credited with codifying the concept of self-compassion in Western psychological terms. "The research shows that self-compassionate people are more likely to take responsibility for their misdeeds, apologize for what they did wrong, and repair whatever harm they've caused," says Neff, who writes about her own divorce in her book Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself. Self-compassion protects us from identifying completely with our divorce, she argues; we see it as one piece of our present, and can still enjoy other positive aspects of our lives and build on them. Advertisement In his study, Sbarra measured how much self-compassion his participants brought into the lab, but it is not a fixed quality like eye color. You can cultivate self-compassion. Here are three ways to do that, excerpted from my new book, Splitopia: Dispatches from Today's Good Divorce and How to Part Well. 1. See the universality of your experience Suspecting that our suffering, failure, or loss is abnormal alienates us from others. In fact, suffering is part of the human experience (as is committing acts we later regret). Even your most successful, chipper friends have lost a loved one, made mistakes, or failed at a lifelong dream. You probably did behave less than perfectly in your marriage; it's the rare person getting divorced--or staying married--who didn't. But you also did many loving, lovely things over the years. The easiest way to feel the normality of divorce is to talk to any of the other two million people in the U.S. who divorced this year. While divorce rates in the U.S. are slowly dropping, it's still a part of life for the vast majority of Americans, and growing numbers of people worldwide. "As the time went by, I'd see friends and family members going through the same thing. I figured, it happens to a lot of people," says Carmen, a twenty-something hairdresser and mother of two from a close-knit Puerto Rican community in New Jersey. After her husband cheated for the second time, Carmen decided she wanted out of the marriage. She says seeing others do well after divorce gave her courage. "I always said, 'I could never make it without a guy.' But seeing them made me think, 'If they did it, why can't I?' I'm very proud of myself now. Sometimes you don't think you can do it until you actually go through it." Advertisement Success after divorce is also commonplace, it turns out. Another way to put your own struggles in perspective? Volunteer. Serving dinner at a homeless shelter or spending time in a childhood cancer ward is an instant reminder that we live in a world with many troubles, and that we can manage our own. Volunteering also reminds us that we have much to contribute. 2. Practice mindfulness Mindfulness is that deep state of "being in the moment," as opposed to, say, having waffles with your child while mentally rehearsing a fight you plan to pick later. Mindfulness in divorce can be as simple as truly noting how you feel. "A lot of people aren't aware that they're suffering. The suffering comes from harsh self-criticism, a harsh voice in their head they don't even notice," says Neff. "Or they go right to fix-it mode, and don't feel it. Mindfulness means seeing things as they really are, turning toward it rather than running from it." It can also help you to put down thoughts of divorce and focus on something else. Research links mindfulness with a slew of benefits we could all use at the start of divorce. Mindfulness reduces stress, boosts health, increases self-knowledge, promotes emotional regulation, assuages loneliness, and even improves sleep. Meditation is one popular method of achieving mindfulness. Meditation can deactivate the brain's "default mode," the energetic state the brain is in when it's not focusing on a specific task. In default mode, your brain might dwell on past regrets or future worries. Advertisement "One of the most important things meditation does is reduce that activity, both when you're mediating and not meditating. It reduces that constant focusing on ourselves and ruminating. A little bit of self-focus and worry is useful, but not to the degree that we do it," says Neff. If, like me, you plan to get to meditation sometime in the future that is not now, there are other ways to achieve mindfulness. Ellen Langer--a psychologist at Harvard University, often considered the "mother of mindfulness"--stresses the calming effect of genuine observation of your physical surroundings, the "stop and smell the flowers" approach to being mindful. Her research shows that mindlessness creates stress, in part because it allows for unquestioned negative assumptions and prior convictions to reign, unchecked. If you engage with your physical surroundings, you can detach from that ruminative cycle to fully absorb the scent of the roses, or the splash of the fountain, or the taste of the chocolate cake, then revisit troubling events with a fresh, more creative perspective. 3. View yourself with understanding and forgiveness Self-forgiveness is a fundamental aspect of nearly all religious traditions, and for good reason. While we're generally skilled at showing kindness to a friend in crisis, we often speak to ourselves as we would to an enemy. Our harsh words can act like internal fangs, causing our body to respond as if to a physical threat, letting loose cortisol and adrenaline. When sustained, this can lead to stress, anxiety, and even illness--not the best state for making amends or moving forward. One way to bolster self-forgiveness is to write yourself a supportive letter, the type you might send a friend. A recent study showed that people who wrote a short, compassionate letter to themselves about a distressing situation every day for a week felt better, and had lower symptoms of depression and higher happiness rates even six months later. Advertisement You also can hug yourself, as sappy as it may sound. Touch is rooted in the mammalian caregiving system, says Neff, which evolved to keep infants close to their mothers. We're wired to respond positively to being held or rocked, even if we're the ones doing the cuddling ourselves. If you're seeking divine forgiveness, self-forgiveness is a necessary first step, says Mordecai Finley, a rabbi and spiritual counselor in Los Angeles who teaches courses on comparative religious ethics and relationships. When you desire absolution from above, yet still blame yourself, that forgiveness will feel false, a coat of paint over a crumbling wall. "It's really understanding that you could not have done otherwise," suggests Finley. "We are frail, not evil. Reconciling is accepting that. You might say to yourself, 'I had not yet ripened as a human being.'" Some religious people I spoke to said that knowing they did everything possible to save their marriage allowed them to finally accept the divorce. Vince, a successful restaurateur from a Catholic family in a working-class section of New Jersey, went to couples counseling for years with his wife: Advertisement My a-ha moment was when we were with our counselor and he said, 'I'm done taking your money. If you did not have kids, right now, would you still be sitting here?' She and I, in less than thirty seconds, both said, 'No.' That was the switch for me. I knew I was done. I think my kids deserve more than two people who are miserable all the time. If I live by what I believe, that's what I'm concerned about. At the end of the day, if I'm judged for that, that's what it is. I have a personal connection to God, and He knows what I've done and how I've done it. Morgan, a twenty-seven-year-old Evangelical Christian from Georgia, married four days after turning twenty. She says that in her community "divorce is never okay." Things had been hard the whole time, but for years, divorce didn't cross her mind as an option. Then, seven years into her marriage, "something clicked"; she realized she had to get out. She found solace in the Bible. Under the shadow of the Alamgiri gate constructed by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb that opens towards the iconic Badshahi mosque and is now used as the principal entry into the Lahore Fort, is a small temple, a modest structure with a small dome on the top, a typical Mughal structure. The city of Luv Known as the temple of Lava, or Luv, the current structure is believed to have been constructed on the top of an ancient temple that was built here to honour Prince Luv, the son of Lord Ram. Stories about the origin of Lahore state that when Sita, the wife of Ram was banished from Ayodhya after being rescued from Ravana, she found herself in the ashram of a hermit called Valmiki, where she gave birth to her twin sons Luv and Kush. Legends narrate that Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana, was living on the banks of the river Ravi, not far from the present-day city of Lahore. In fact, it is believed that Luv founded the city of Lahore, while Kush founded Lahore's twin city, Kasur, about 50-odd km away. Therefore it was present-day Pakistan where the first Ramayana was written and the twin sons of Ram were born. Advertisement The land of Prahlad About 350 km from Lahore, is another ancient city, Multan. The city slowly developed around a mound where now lie the Sufi shrines of Bahauddin Zakariya and Shah Rukn-e-Alam, the patron saints of the city. Next to the shrine of Bahauddin Zakariya are the remains of one of the most ancient temples in the subcontinent that once served as the focal point of the city. The temple of Prahlad Bhagat commemorates the victory of the child saint over his tyrant father, Hiranyakashipu, who is once believed to have ruled this ancient city. Legends narrate that it was also at the city of Multan that Holi - one of the most prominent festivals of India originated. Prahlad Bhagat deceived and managed to kill his paternal aunt Holika, who attempted to kill him at the behest of his father. Holi is the celebration of victory of righteousness over evil, of Prahlad over Holika. The tears of Shiva n the north-western side of the country, in the foothills of Himalayas, within the embrace of the hills, is an ancient pool around which the Katasraj temples are constructed. It is believed that this sacred pond was created out of the teardrop of Shiva, which dropped at this location while he was flying above it carrying the dead body of his consort, Parvati. Regarded as one of the holiest sites in ancient India, this temple complex was once the site of a major university, and visited regularly by students of Hinduism and spiritualism. The temple complex and the pond have remained sacred through the long history of this land. Relics of the Buddha There is a partially-excavated Buddhist stupa here dating back to the third century BCE. Next to it are temples dedicated to Shiva constructed around the seventh and eighth century CE. It is narrated that the Pandava brothers constructed these temples during their long exile. Adjacent to it is the Ram temple constructed during the tenure of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Next to this temple is a gurdwara dedicated to the visit of Guru Nanak to this pilgrimage site. Across the mountain, on the top of a mount, is the spot where Al-Beruni, the famed Arab scholar, spent several years studying the "religion of the Indians" and calculating the radius of the world. Advertisement Further west, on the banks of the Indus, located on the top of rugged mountains, are the ancient stone forts of Kafir Kot and Bilot, containing some of the earliest temples in this region. Like the temples in Katasraj, they too are believed to be made by the Pandava brothers during their exile. Not far from here, in the embrace of the Margalla Hills, are the remains of the splendid Buddhist cities, temples and university dating back to the fifth and sixth century BCE. One of the most prominent archaeological sites here is Dharmarajika, established by Emperor Ashoka in the third century BCE, as a major Buddhist monastery. The monastery was constructed around a stupa, one of the many stupas that contain relics of Buddha. In Peshawar and Swat, other stupas were also found that contain relics of the Buddha. Where Mahavir preached While much has been written about Hindu and Buddhist sites of Pakistan, one of the most neglected aspects of Pakistan's history is its connection with Jainism. Scattered all over the country are several ancient Jain shrines constructed in the memory of several Jain acharyas. Perhaps one of the most prominent priests in recent history is Acharya Vijayanandsuri, also referred to as Atmaramji of Gujranwala. His smadh still stands in the heart of Gujranwala, one of the most populous cities of Pakistan. Ancient Jain scriptures identify that during his lifetime, Mahavir, the 24th and last Jain tirthankara, undertook an extensive tour of Punjab. Many of the names of those ancient cites have been lost, but it is likely that the Jain heritage scattered all over Punjab in Pakistan, in the cities of Kasur, Lahore, Multan, Sialkot, Bhera and Jhelum, were raised by his devotees to commemorate his visit to those places. Any mention of the non-Muslim heritage of Pakistan would be incomplete without a mention of its Sikh heritage. There are several hundred Sikh gurdwaras all over the country, most of which are associated with the Sikh gurus. Advertisement Birthplace of Guru Nanak One of the most prolific gurus in this regard is Guru Nanak, the first guru of Sikhism, who traveled extensively. His devotees constructed commemorative shrines at many places he visited. Two of the most prominent ones are Gurdwara Janamasthan in Nankana Sahib, where he was born, and Gurdwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur, where he passed away. Pakistan, which is today solely associated with Islam, is in fact the birthplace of several prominent religious movements that today influence a large part of the world. It is easy to view Pakistan stripped of its historical context, which makes it easy to call it hell, as the Indian Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar, recently declared. By Susan Corke, Director, Antisemitism and Extremism, Human Rights First and Ilan Scialom, Vice President, Coexister, France The perpetrator of the Bastille Day attack on the promenade in Nice, France may have been even more devious than he realized. He chose a place where people of all faiths, races, ages, and income levels mingled. As French journalist Jules Darmanin, "Knowingly or not, the terrorists targeted a symbol of community, of something everyone shared." But then that's the goal of every such terrorist attack: to rip apart society, to deprive citizens of a sense of security of community. It's the government's responsibility to strengthen the bonds of society, which are ultimately the best protection against terrorism. Unfortunately, in this traumatic year for France, the government has too often taken steps that push people apart. Most recently, the "burkini ban" further marginalizes Muslims. While a court's decision to strike down the ban restores a measure of sanity, the controversy has deepened divisions. Advertisement At a time of societal trauma, there is a natural tendency for communities to turn inward where common ground and shared identity already exist. Sometimes there's even competition between victimized groups. But solidarity among different religious, ethnic, and racial communities is essential. Jews and Muslims and other groups that face violence and discrimination have much to teach and learn from each other. That's why our two organizations, one American and the other French, are teaming up to promote a new way of fighting hatred. We hope to encourage people to see hate violence--against a Muslim or Jew or anyone--for what it is: an attack on society, on the nation/state. And we want to inspire people to respond accordingly, not exclusively as a member of a group but also as a member of a society, a citizen, and to join forces with other citizens. We'll be focusing our initial energies on the Internet, where people are increasingly venting inflammatory rhetoric. Online hate speech is both cause and effect of societal divisions. There are also coordinated efforts by extremists groups to disseminate their destructive messages online. In France, and elsewhere, an explosion of hate speech online has coincided with an increase in hate crime and terrorism. This is no coincidence. Our goal is to combat destructive speech with constructive speech. We aim to empower citizens to use the Internet to pursue their vision of an inclusive society that recognizes diversity as a strength. On September 7, 2016, the Missions of Canada, Israel, the United States, and the European Union Delegation to the United Nations, will jointly host a forum on Global Antisemitism. One of the forum's topics--which our organizations, among others, will address--is "the need for broad, inclusive, and diverse civil society coalitions that support governments in their efforts to prevent and address hate crimes and discrimination." To that end, our organizations will host the first U.S.-French #BetterTogether summit on September 12-13 in Paris. This will be a pilot initiative of bilateral dialogue and, we hope, sustained collaboration. Our goal is to create a forum that brings together US and French civil society, the tech sector, and governments to form innovative, workable ideas for promoting unity and tolerance on the Internet. Online speech is only one aspect of am immensely complicated, far-ranging issue. But the Internet is a place where society comes together--or apart. As it becomes a more and more popular tool of communication and organizing, we should take steps now to ensure that it's a productive, unifying force. Underlying this collaborative effort is a commitment to the universal values that American and French citizens share. After the November attacks in Paris, President Obama said, "We are reminded in this time of tragedy that the bonds of liberte and egalite and fraternite are not only values that the French people care so deeply about, but they are values that we share. And those values are going to endure far beyond any act of terrorism or the hateful vision of those who perpetrated the crimes this evening." Advertisement The adoption last year of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Climate Agreement reflect a deep shift in development strategies. The new agenda builds on an integrated vision of the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. Its vision is global, bringing all countries together, bridging the traditional North/South divide. What is more, the 17 new goals are designed as a single interconnected agenda. The point is clear. We cannot promote gender equality if we do not bolster food security. Poor air quality and extreme weather events can close schools and make learning impossible. On the reverse side, ensuring quality education for all is essential to tackle inequalities and prevent conflict. All issues are linked. Education stands at the heart of these nexuses --- this is the message of the 2016 UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report, launched on September 6, which examines the power of education for all of the 17 new Sustainable Development Goals. Education is a human right - it is also a transformational force for sustainable development, for mitigating climate change. Achieving the global education commitments by 2030 could prevent 3.5 million child deaths from 2040-2050 in sub-Saharan Africa alone -- this could lift 60 million people out of poverty in poorest countries. In low income countries, we estimate that universalizing upper secondary completion would increase per capita income by 75% by 2050. Advertisement From more productive agriculture to improved health and poverty eradication, education is a game changer for sustainable development. But, for this, we need to overcome steep challenges. These start with children out of school, totalling 263 million children today -- 61 million from primary school, 60 million from lower secondary and 142 million from upper secondary. In addition, 758 million adults still remain illiterate - the majority are women. Children in conflict zones are a third of all out of school children, and attacks against schools are increasing. Figures show that children refugees are 5 times more likely to be out of school. Girls and women carry the heaviest burden. 32 million girls are out of primary school, and the number of excluded adolescent girls is even higher. Only 1 percent of the world's poorest rural women complete upper secondary education. On current trends, universal primary completion will be achieved only in 2042, universal lower secondary completion in 2059 and universal upper secondary in 2084. The poorest countries will achieve universal primary education over 100 years later than the richest. Advertisement Evidence shows also that most education systems not keeping up with market demand - by 2020, the world could have 40 million too few workers with tertiary education relative to demand. At the same time, education continues to suffer chronic under-funding - to cover the 39 billion USD annual financing gap would require a six-fold aid increase. The UNESCO Report shows that, on current trends, only 70 percent of low income countries will meet the primary school goals by 2030. The most disadvantaged girls in sub-Saharan Africa will only make it to school in 2086 if we continue business as usual. This is why business-as-usual is unacceptable. We need to act in new ways, to put education first, to connect the dots across policy areas. We need a radical break with past trends, especially in low and middle income countries, to build on education across the board. For instance, school feeding programmes not only reduce hunger and improve nutrition - they also increase school attendance and address the needs of disadvantaged groups. This new way of acting is driving the partnership between UNESCO, UNFPA and UN Women, to tackle the cross-cutting obstacles that prevent the empowerment of young girls and women. When so many issues are so tightly interconnected - we need precisely such collaboration for effective action across the board. No one is saying this will be easy. We all need to think, organize ourselves and design policies differently, starting with education sectors. Advertisement This means also rethinking the goals of education - to foster the skills, attitudes and behaviours all societies need today and tomorrow. Here again, schools are on the frontline. I am encouraged that environmental issues are moving centreplate in classrooms. Together, schools, businesses and communities must think beyond economic growth alone, to focus on sustainability and consumption, on overcoming inequalities, on raising awareness about climate change. The 2030 Agenda is clear - learning must be all throughout life, and help citizens deal with complexity, connecting issues that have been in silos for decades. Take the example of water management. Public and private actors, farmers and industry leaders often compete over water resources, whereas they should collaborate, for much higher return - this requires the right kind of education. Cooperation needs to be taught. It has been three years since Pope Benedict retired, to be succeeded by the dynamic Pope Francis. In the few years since, European kings and queens have abdicated in favor of their sons, including Carlos of Spain, Albert of Belgium, Beatrice of the Netherlands, and also the Emir of Qatar. But the Japanese government was recently thrown into a tizzy when Emperor Akihito saw fit to suggest that his health no longer permits him to do his job with the vigor it deserves, and his son, Crown Prince Naruhito, is waiting in the wings. I was visiting Tokyo 28 years ago when Akihito's father, Hirohito, was terminally ill. The Japanese news media, including an array of television trucks, were stationed in the parking lot of the Imperial Palace awaiting word of his passing. He was 87 years old, and a frail shadow of the man on horseback in wartime Japan, or the American ally who visited Disneyland in 1975. He gave rare interviews to American reporters--I was among them--before that trip. It began with a very limp handshake, the microphone had to be hidden in a flower arrangement, and it was hard to detect a sound bite in what he was schooled to say. Abdication of Japanese emperors was no big deal before the 19th century, but the practice stopped when Japan opened to the West in what became known as the era of Emperor Meiji. The post-World War II Japanese constitution, adopted under American tutelage, had no provision recognizing the possibility of retirement. Therefore, no laws were passed relating to abdication, and Parliament would have to enact such a law now. But the current Parliament has more than its share of social conservatives who would have to be brought aboard, and Prime Minister Abe already has his hands full with controversial economic and security issues. Advertisement Which means that making the Emperor's retirement legal may fall victim to legislative gridlock, or that the prime minister won't feel confident enough even to bring it up, delaying until after the Emperor's illnesses become terminal. There's another wrinkle for future reference. Naruhito has no sons, just one daughter. His younger brother had two daughters, and then finally, a son. It would be a major brouhaha to suggest that, when Naruhito reaches old age, Japan should have a female ruler in waiting, however powerless a figurehead Japan's head of state now is, rather than Naruhito's nephew. Never mind that the Abe government is taking measures to encourage women to work after they marry, including provision of more child care. Given the Hobson's choice, Japan would rather see women workers than immigrants. But there isn't much Abe can do about the reluctance of Japanese husbands to help around the house that motivates Japanese young women not to marry in the first place. And Tokyo has just elected aa its governor a woman for the first time. Yuriko Koike, a strong-willed politician won in a landslide. She was a television news anchor before running for Parliament, and served as minister of environment and defense. She is a member of Abe's conservative party, though she ran is an independent against the party's official candidate for governor, and even more conservative members of the local Tokyo assembly pose an obstacle course to her getting anything done. Advertisement By Dennis Bua and Ishan Puri Recommendation letters are an important part of a student's college application. It is a misconception that the student has no control over these documents. In fact, one of the most critical steps is the student's selection of his/her recommenders. Furthermore, once a student selects a group of recommenders, it is up to him/her to provide these teachers and/or mentors with materials to prompt them to write a strong, student-specific recommendation letter. In this article, students will find six items they can compose to improve their letters of recommendation (LORs) for college applications. How many LORs will be needed? Firstly, how many LORs will a student need for his/her college applications? The ballpark estimate is one or two LORs. The exact number of LORs a student needs is determined by the student's finalized college list. The reason for this is LOR requirements are variable among colleges. For example, Harvey Mudd College requires two LORs: one from a math or science teacher and one from a humanities, social science, or art teacher. In contrast the institutions in the University of California system do not require LORs. A general guideline is to plan for two LORs from teachers in different areas of study, but it is best to check on each university's website once the college list is finalized. Some tips for putting together a college list can be found here. What do colleges ask recommenders? The LOR format for many colleges and universities consists of two parts: 1) an evaluation and ranking section and 2) the letter itself. There is an in-depth breakdown of what the recommender provides here. Briefly in the evaluation and ranking section, recommenders are often asked to answer questions about the maturity-level of the student and how the student deals with challenges. Additionally, the recommender can be asked if he/she would rank this applicant in the top 10% of students he/she has encountered. The top 5%? The top 1%? Given this, the student needs to reflect and consider how the potential recommender would answer these questions before asking the recommender for a reference letter. When the student asks the recommender it is best it say: will you be able to write me a strong letter of recommendation? If the recommender has any reservations, then it is best to select another teacher. Advertisement A general rule of thumb is that if the student has not had a real conversation with the teacher over the course of the academic year, then this is probably not a teacher that can provide a strong reference. The recommender will only be able to provide information on the student's grades and few insights into the student's personality. Again, the LOR goes beyond grades and excellent projects/essays. The right recommender can make all the difference From Day One in high school it is advantageous to the student to develop relationships with teachers in diverse disciplines. One reason for this is that some colleges require LORs from faculty in different disciplines.Another reason is that the best LORs generally come from a teacher/mentor who knows the student. For example, if a student earned the highest grade in the class but never interacted with the teacher, this may not be a situation in which the teacher will produce a strong recommendation letter. The final grade a student receives in a course only tells one part of the story - it is the culmination of classroom activities, projects, and tests. The recommendation letter is a platform for a teacher to address the potential of the student beyond the four walls of the classroom. So, a student doesn't want his LOR to come from a member of his fan club, but from the President of his/her fan club. Taking that into account, generally, recommenders should be teachers from 11th or 12th grade. Advertisement From my own experience reviewing applications, (D.J.B), if a student's recommender states that the student is very punctual, has done well on tests, and has never missed an assignment, then that doesn't really strengthen the student's application. This could be said about many of the top-tier students. Especially in the context of someone who reads two to three applications an hour for several hours a day. However if the teacher has a specific example of situations and or events where the student has shone, then the reader of the LOR gets a better sense of the student and his/her personality. In fact, a lukewarm recommendation can hurt an otherwise strong application package. Recall, the LOR is one of the few components of a college application that the student doesn't directly write so it is given an in-depth examination and could have a major impact on the decision to accept or reject the student. So a student get a strong recommendation letter? Six items to provide a Recommender Now that we have established that the relationship between the student and recommender is important, we suggest six items to provide the recommender. The purpose of these materials is to tell the recommender things that they may not know about the student and to help jog the recommender's memory of what the student was like in class. These six items will help the recommender compose a strong, student-specific LOR (see Figure). Figure caption: The 6 items to present to the recommender To get a strong and student-specific letter it is best to provide the potential recommender with: a resume, a short paragraph about each of three class experiences the student remembers from the course, a list of the student's strengths and weaknesses, a short description of how the class the recommender taught the student ties into the student's future goals, if the recommender has an intake form that should be completed, and, and list of the student's career plans. Item 1: Resume This is a very specific type of resume that is more like a curriculum vitae (CV). A great description of the differences between a resume and a CV can be found here. Briefly, the resume should include all relevant activities and experiences with a detailed description. For example a professional resume might have a line item like this: NHS membership 2013-2014. What is the NHS? How does one become a member? A good resume for a recommender would describe this activity as follows. National Honor Society (NHS) member 2013-2014, membership requires excellent scholarship (GPA >X.Y, Z hours of community service, etc.) Advertisement When to begin? Think about starting this document the summer before 9th grade and constantly add to it. Google Docs and other cloud-based programs allow you to archive and easily update and locate a resume. Each summer reflect on the activities from the prior school year and update it. Item 2: Class experiences To do this the student should provide the recommender a list of three specific experiences from the class. This is particularly useful for recommenders, because it tells them what the student enjoyed from their class. Item 3: Strengths and Weaknesses Composing a list of the student's strengths and weaknesses will take some self reflection. It gives the recommender insight into the student's personality and character. Item 4: Connect class to future goals If applicable, the student should provide a small description of how the class will tie into his/her future and studies in college. Item 5: Recommender's Intake forms Teachers that are commonly asked for LORs may have their own intake forms and/or list of requirements to secure the recommendation. It is a good sign when a teacher is a popular choice for LORs. Through the course of high school a student can talk with classmates and upperclassmen to get the scoop on teachers that write the best recommendation letters. Ideally, the student should get this at the end of eleventh grade so that the student can work on it during the summer before senior year. Advertisement Item 6: Student's intentions The student should let the recommender know the student's intentions. Why does the student want to attend college? What does he/she want to study? Why this set of colleges? Early decision/action and the college counselor LOR What about early action/decision? If the student is applying early action or early decision to any university, the deadline will most likely be early November. This may influence whom the recommender is because he/she will only be approximately two months into the school year which is not enough time to really get to know the teacher in most cases. Think back to junior year for a recommender and, possibly a 10th grade teacher if the coursework was rigorous. We would be remiss if we did not mention that many schools also require an LOR from the student's college advisor/counselor. This type of LOR is discussed in greater detail here. Closing remarks Students should think about recommendation letters early in the application process. It is important to choose recommenders wisely and to provide them with the proper materials to help them to write a strong, student-specific recommendation letter. Unless some unforeseen miracle happens for Donald Trump, Hawkish Hillary (at least as accurate a nickname as Crooked Hillary) is likely to be the next president of the United States. Although Hillary has run legitimate political ads implying that Trump's temperament is too volatile to be left with command of the military, especially nuclear weapons, Americans may not be all that safe with Hillary either. Throughout her career, Hillary supported her husband's bombing of Serbia and Kosovo and George W. Bush's aggressive invasion of Iraq, as well as pushing Barack Obama to attack Libya and overthrow Muammar Gaddafi. As Secretary of State, Hillary looked at the chaos caused by removing a dictator in a fractured developing country--Iraq--and then pressured Obama to do the same in Libya. So Trump's accusation that Hillary has poor judgment is not far off the mark. More important for the future, Secretary Clinton also unsuccessfully urged Obama to get more deeply involved in Syria's complicated, multi-sided, and bloody civil war. She advocated augmenting lethal aid to the Syrian opposition and creating a no fly zone to protect these forces and civilians. So if she wins power in the election, she may very well go farther down the road to enmeshing the U.S. military in another unwinnable quagmire, much like the ones in Afghanistan and Iraq. Advertisement Despite the 400,000 deaths already, Syria's civil strife is likely to continue for long while, because everyone seems to be fighting everybody else in the multi-sided bloodbath and because outside forces--such as the Russia, Iran, the militant group Hezbollah, Turkey, the Persian Gulf Arab states, and the United States--are stoking the conflict by assisting either the inherently weak Syrian government or its many lackluster opposition groups. The United States recently got its wish as the powerful Turkish military took a greater role in the neighboring civil war by invading Syria. However, it seems that the Turks have been more interested in throwing back the advancing Syrian Kurds, the United States' most effective ally against the brutal ISIS opposition group, than in destroying ISIS. The fact that two of the most effective U.S. allies are fighting each other should give Barack Obama and any incoming American administration pause. The main U.S. problem in the conflict is its pursuit of incompatible objectives. The United States is trying to overthrow the Assad government in Syria, while decimating or destroying the opposition ISIS group, keeping its Turkish ally happy, staying friends with the rival Kurds, and avoiding getting sucked more deeply into the quicksand. The top U.S. priority has changed from overthrowing Assad to weakening his ISIS opposition. However, even if the United States and its allies take most of ISIS's territory in Iraq and Syria, the group likely will continue to fight on using guerilla and terrorist tactics. The problem is that the other parties in the conflict have higher priorities than weakening ISIS. Although Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah are no friends of the heinous Sunni group, they have as their top priority keeping Assad in power and in charge of as much Syrian territory as possible; they want to weaken other opposition groups first, including those supported by the United States, so they can then say "its Assad or ISIS." In contrast, U.S. allies--Turkey and the Sunni Gulf states--place a high priority on getting rid of Assad and thus weakening his ally Shi'i Iran. Also, the Turks, despite recent ISIS attacks on their soil, seem to be more concerned about the Syrian Kurds (allied with the opposition Kurds in Turkey) consolidating territory held along the Turkish border. Advertisement With the Russians, Iranians, and Hezbollah Shi'i militants assisting Assad, the likelihood that he will leave power is very low. And any increase in arms or assistance that United States or the Gulf states give moderate Syrian opposition groups ultimately might fall into the hands of the al Qaeda affiliate in Syria or other nefarious Islamist groups, which fight intermingled with more moderate opposition forces; in warfare, the most brutal and aggressive factions usually end up with the provisions. In the past, the United States has had a knack for creating (or strengthening) future enemies--for example, al Qaeda by assisting the Mujahideen in Afghanistan in the 1980s and ISIS by invading Iraq in 2003. Aiding opposition forces in Syria may already be doing this again. Furthermore, a "no fly zone" likely could put U.S. aircraft in conflict with Russian and Syrian aircraft and ground-based anti-aircraft missiles, thus possibly turning a civil war into something much bigger and nastier. Written By: Charlotte Barber and Jack Healey If I told you that the longest running human rights event in the world is held in the same state that just two years ago participated in what can only be described as the state-sanctioned torture and gruesomely failed execution of Clayton Lockett, would you believe me? 30 years ago, a group of young people in Norman, Oklahoma, decided to set up their own human rights chapter of Amnesty International at the University of Oklahoma. They had just watched the power and success of Amnesty International's six-city Conspiracy of Hope Tour produced by Bill Graham and myself, that featured artists such as U-2, The Police, Peter Gabriel, Miles Davis, Bryan Adams, The Neville Brothers and countless more. Feeling inspired the students set up an Amnesty International chapter and started brainstorming how they could start their own music festival for human rights. Little did they know that in the fall of 1986 they would create one of the longest running human rights events in the world - in none other than Norman, Oklahoma. Norman, a city about 20 miles south of downtown Oklahoma City, can only be described as one of the reddest of the red cities in the United States. But miraculously, on the last Sunday of every September for the past 30 years, hundreds, even thousands, gather at Andrews Park in the name of human rights. Advertisement Called Groovefest, it addresses various human rights issues each year; anti-death penalty, institutional racism, Burma and Aung San Suu Kyi, anti-black violence, police brutality, political prisoners, trans rights, queer rights, the list goes on. Each year is thematic and topical to the causes of amnesty and the activists of the world. Groovefest shows deep commitment to human rights and the ever-changing understanding of how they relate to the intersecting systems of oppression and power. The festival uses a human rights framework to provide a fun and accessible platform for learning, collaborating and growing human rights activism from the local to global level. It does all this while being held in the 85% white, majority republican city of Norman. The original founders and leaders of Groovfest, Mike Johns, David Slemmons, Tom Decker and Alan Hailey described Groovefest as "energizing." Hailey explained, "For all of us liberals, here was this opportunity to have a voice - not only what was happening internationally with human rights, but also what was happening in the United States." That's not to say that Groovefest hasn't faced its challenges over the years. In 1994, the owner of a bar on Campus Corner approached the young activists. He offered to be the Promoter and pay for all costs, if Groovefest was held at Campus Corner on Liberty Drive. According to Michael Johns, "it didn't take long for us to think about that." The Promoter paid for everything and even agreed that if Groovefest made any profit, it would go straight to Amnesty International. If right about now you're thinking that this sounds too good to be true, you're right. During the day of Groovefest, the Promoter and Amnesty International Chair went around the festival and collected money. But the next day, the worst had happened; the Promoter and all the money were gone. I asked Mike Johns what they did when they discovered everything was gone; his response, "that didn't stop us and it didn't stop the students." Advertisement The anger and disappointment from their experience with the promoter became their fire and drive. The organizers responded by expanding the work even further. They became focused on the issue of the death penalty in Oklahoma. Two men who wrote for an Oklahoma State Penitentiary prison newspaper began corresponding with Johns and the other students. The two men provided insights into prison life and the tangible consequences of the prison industrial complex. The students told the men about Norman, Groovefest and their activism. Eventually, their correspondence led to discussion of how the incarcerated men could get involved with human rights work. The student activists immediately knew what they should do. Mike Johns went to me and said, "Jack, you are going to go talk to a prison." At the prison I spoke to over 70 incarcerated men. I spoke to them about his past, the reasons why human rights are so important and how they could get involved. After the speech, one of the men who wrote for the prison newspaper interviewed me. To this day, it was one of the best interviews of my life. I got to connect with people that had been denied human connection for years, even decades. I particularly connected with one inmate on death row. His name was Scotty Lee Moore and he had been in prison for around 10 years. The two of us became pen pals. Moore was interested in the work of Dr. King and Mandela; he wanted to learn about "the people who did a lot in their life." So, I would send Moore the writings of great activists and we would talk about human rights, the world and what change needed to come. As with most death-row-pen-pals however, our friendship could only last so long. Eventually, Moore was executed by lethal injection on June 3, 1999 after exhausting all appeals. Although the death penalty has been a major subject throughout the years, another unique quality of Groovefest is the diversity of causes, speakers and activist-groups that participate. When looking through all the different groups that have attended Groovefest, I challenge you to find a human rights cause that hasn't participated. The multiplicity of organizations reveals the intersectional approach to human rights that Groovefest provides. Just this year, Groovefest is hosting organizations that represent Black Lives Matter, reproductive justice, anti-fracking, anti-death penalty, Indigenous activists, a primate sanctuary, pro-voting, medical marijuana legalization, women and gender studies, and environmental justice. To say the least, it's surprising to witness all the factions of human rights work that are present at Groovefest. You can't help but wonder how Groovefest managed to pull together so many old, new and ever-changing causes. However, Johns says its really quite simple to understand; Groovefest is so diverse in causes because "it's run by the community." Groovefest purely reflects all the people of Norman and the things they care about. The power in the community of Groovefest is made clear when hearing about the actual days of Groovefest. The festival's structure is simple; musicians perform, but before each performance someone gets up and speaks to the crowd about human rights. This helps people understand how much the event matters and what genuine impact it has on the world. Along with the music, the organizations and non-profits set up booths; handing out information, gathering members, joining together. Artists, musicians, activists and families gather, listen to music and fight for human rights. Notably, Oklahoma artists and musical talent have been the source of power and unity for Groovefest. Those artists and bands create the spirit that bonds Groovefest together; something that can only be described as truly powerful and profound, something a simple 'thank you' cannot justly requite. I asked Allen Hailey why he thinks music and activism are such a powerful combination; he told me, "When you are fighting and trying to change a system, music can be something that provides a story for what you're fighting for." Advertisement When I first told my intern that the longest running human rights event was a festival in Norman, Oklahoma, she said that her first assumption was that Groovefest would be an event that was radical for Oklahoma but rather modest compared to what she was used to. She explained, "I am from Los Angeles, I am in my early twenties, I go to a traditionally all-women's college and to top it off, I am majoring in the Study of Women and Gender. As you can imagine, I'm constantly surrounded by some of the most radical, liberal activists there are. But Groovefest is truly a festival that defies all odds; because even in Norman, even when there are people actively working to make them fail, Groovefest brings together the most radical ideas and puts them in conversation." Groovefest presents the beauty and power of human rights, and the people who work everyday to protect them. Groovefest isn't just important because it is the longest running human rights event, it's also important because it gives the people of Norman something to energize and bind them. With the goal of harnessing the untapped potential of Iranian-Americans, and to build the capacity of the Iranian diaspora in effecting positive change in the U.S. and around the world, the West Asia Council has launched a series of interviews that explore the personal and professional backgrounds of prominent Iranian-Americans who have made seminal contributions to their fields of endeavor. Our latest interviewee is Soroosh Sorooshian. Soroosh Sorooshian is the Director of the Center for Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing (CHRS) and a Distinguished Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth System Science at University of California, Irvine. Among his recent honors are: Chinese Academy of Sciences' Einstein Professorship in 2014; AGU Robert E. Horton Medalist, 2013; UCLA CEE Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Award, 2013; Eagleson Lectureship, Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science (CUAHSI), 2012; Recipient of the 4th Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water Resources Management & Protection in 2010; Recipient of the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal in 2005; Recipient of Robert E. Horton Memorial Lectureship, American Meteorological Society, 2006; William Nordberg Memorial Lecture at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in 2004. In recognition of Professor Sorooshian's work, UNESCO awarded the Great Man-Made River Water Prize to the Center for Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing (CHRS) and the University of Arizona Center for the Sustainability of Semi-Arid Hydrologic and Riparian Areas (SAHRA). For more details, please click (here). You arrived in the US in 1966 with a dream to study aviation. Fate ruled otherwise and aviation's loss was earth system science's gain. Can you walk me through this stage of your life and how this change in direction came about? My academic journey leading to my career was all a series of accidents and spontaneous decisions that were due to circumstances at the time. When I received my B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering at California State University in San Luis Obispo (Cal-Poly) in 1971, I had to decide on choice of graduate school. I chose UCLA since a professor offered me an assistantship to work on his NASA project, for which he was expecting funding. That summer I went to Iran and when I came back in August, I went to the professor's office to start the paperwork. He told me that he had tried to contact me and had sent a number of letters to my Cal Poly address, all of which had been returned with "no forwarding address". This was back in 1971- no email and no easy phone calls especially to Iran, even if he had a number for me in the province of Kerman. To make a long story short, he said the reason he wanted to contact me was to say that he did not get the funding and consequently had no assistantship for me. Very disappointed, I left his office and as I was walking down the hall, a young gentleman saw me and recognized that I was a fellow Iranian (he was doing his PhD at UCLA). His name was Mohammad Torabi (we are still great friends), and he invited me to his office and within half an hour told me about his major: operations research and system engineering, of which I hadn't heard until that time. I was so fascinated that I decided to change my major from aerospace to systems engineering and went to the graduate office and filled out the change of major form. Advertisement After one year, I finished my MS degree and was debating what to do for my PhD. I was talking to the department secretary and sharing my concern that as much as I liked Operations Research, given its highly mathematical nature I was not sure how useful it would be when the time came to move back to Iran. As we were speaking, a professor whom I did not know at the time overheard the conversation and said why not "hydrology"? I responded "What is hydrology?" He went to his office and brought me a book he had authored and said to go and review it and see if it interested me. I looked the book over that night and came to his office and told him "this sounds like a fascinating field and I am interested." His name is John Dracup and to this day we remain great friends and colleagues. This is how I ended up getting a degree in hydrology and the project he had at the time related to flood forecast modeling for the US National Weather Service which led me to flood forecasting and precipitation studies. You have said that your background in farming helped guide you into this niche specialization and to the study of precipitation and drought. How relevant was your background to your work on flood forecasting, remote sensing, and precipitation estimates? Growing up in the Province of Kerman, Iran, which is where I was until I came to the U.S. after completing high school, I always heard and learned from my parents (who owned farms) about water, drought, and sometimes floods. My father was always asking our farm foremen, who were frequent visitors to the house, whether it had rained on a certain farm. So conversation about water was almost a daily event at home. When John Dracup gave me his book and I saw the discussion about the "hydrologic cycle", I realized the connection and this is why I became interested in the field. Also later, when I was a faculty member, a student named Karen Humes, who a few years earlier had spent some time working at JPL, got me interested in remote sensing which inspired me to write a proposal to NASA , which led to their funding my work as early as far back as 1989. The rest is history! Karen did get her PhD under my supervision and is now a professor at the University of Idaho. Advertisement You said you have learned as much from your senior professors as you have from junior colleagues. Has a chance encounter with one led to your current body of work? Most experts will not attribute their success to junior colleagues. Can you walk us through one or more defining moments in your career? I did say above that Karen Humes, who had worked at JPL for a few years, talked me into considering applying for funding to work on remote sensing to hydrology. This was new to me, but sounded exciting and with her and few other colleagues we explored how we are able to learn about the hydrology of arid regions using remote sensing. Working with every PhD student is a unique experience. I have had the fortune of advising around 55 students to date and have continued to work with some exceptional talent. This question speaks to your exemplary humility. How much of your success and the trait of modesty would you attribute to your faith and belief system? Those who know me know that I am not an overly religious person. I did learn Avesta, the holy book of Zoroastrians, in school but must admit that it was something we had to do. For example, we would repeat some of the verses without even understanding what they meant. But, what I have come to appreciate about my religion is the simplicity of its basic principles. First is the basic tenet of good thoughts, good words, and good deeds. Second is the responsibility to keep the four elements (air/wind, water, fire, and earth) clean. As far as I am concerned, both of these simple principles are more than enough to guide anyone. As you see, the four elements Zoroaster spoke of are highly relevant to what I do in my scientific work. Advertisement Upon receiving the Distinguished Service Medal from NASA, it is fair to say that you have reached the pinnacle of your career? You are widely recognized as one of the leading minds in Hydrology. How does that make you feel? I have been fortunate to have received a number of honors and it has been very humbling. Needless to say, receiving NASA's distinguished medal, which is the highest honor given to a civilian, is a great honor. However, for me personally, there are three other honors which have been more profound and humbling experiences for me. First and foremost is my election to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in 2003. This is the highest honor any engineer in the U.S. can dream of. Second was my election in, 2010, as an American/Iranian, to The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) "for the advancement of science in developing countries," which is also a big honor. Third was receiving the prestigious Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz international Prize for water, also in 2010. This prize was created by the Saudi Crown Prince who passed away several years ago. The citation given was as follows: "the prize is being awarded to Dr. Sorooshian for his development and refinement of the PERSIANN model to estimate precipitation from satellite remotely sensed data." Please note the word PERSIANN. While it is an acronym for our remote sensing model to measure rain, it is nonetheless close to the name of the Persian Gulf which is a sensitive issue in the Arab world. With credit to Grown Prince and his son Prince Khalid, who had the final say on the recommendation of the panel of experts recommending me, they had no difficulty in awarding me the honor and did not request my changing anything. Please click (here). Can you comment on your work with the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine to host Iranian scientists at UC-Irvine? My activities in connection with scientific exchange with our Iranian scientists and students residing in Iran was motivated by the fact that the issues and challenges related to the environment, climate, and water resources have a high degree of universality and extend beyond political boundaries. Rivers flow across borders, weather systems pass over borders, and winds blow dusts and air pollution for thousands of miles over many nations and regions of the world. As a result, over the past 5-6 years I have had the pleasure of working through the National of Academy of Sciences in the United States and with Iranian colleagues associated with their academies and major institutions to co-ordinate a number of multi-week visits to the U.S. for leading Iranian climate and environmental scientists. The diverse topics that we have focused on include water resources management issues, and water and air pollution particularly in urban environments, among others. As an example, nearly a year ago I was happy to host nearly 15 Iranian colleagues who are intimately involved with the current issues related to Lake Urmia. The visit was successful and included a comprehensive tour of similar situations in California, Nevada, and Utah. They visited Salton Sea and Owens Lake in California where conditions have gone through major changes as the water resources feeding these lakes have either been diverted or changed due to various water management policies. Recognizing the environmental impact, both the State of California and the U.S. Federal Government have taken major steps with millions of dollars of expenses to minimize further deterioration. The objective of the visit was a first-hand look by Iranian colleagues at what they can learn from California's experience to help them with their strategies in dealing with similar problems facing Lake Urmia and other inland lakes in Iran. How do you see your ongoing role in promoting academic collaboration between the two countries especially in the crucially important field of hydrology? I will continue promoting similar exchanges and hopefully continue reciprocating visits that allow our American colleagues and students to visit and Iran and the sites of some of the inland lakes as well as regions challenged with water resources management. Such trips aid in the development of a better understanding of these problems and hopefully will also develop cooperative projects to tackle them. For the moment, let me say nothing at all about the food at Chef Gabriel Kreuther's namesake restaurant across from Bryant Park. Instead let me focus in on what this splendid, year-old restaurant represents in 2016. When it opened, the food media questioned whether a restaurant of this high style and refinement would garner a clientele at a time when it was presumed people had moved away from fine dining in preference to downtown eateries with brick walls, barn wood tables, t-shirted waiters and cacophonous music. The question was hardly worth posing, for in the two years preceding the opening of Gabriel Kreuther, New York saw the debut of Nomad, Betony, Morini, and the re-configured Eleven Madison Park, all opened to great acclaim and packed houses. Given Kreuther's resume and reputation at restaurants like Jean-Georges and The Modern, there seemed every reason to believe his restaurant would succeed admirably. And it has indeed. GK, as I'll call it, has become one of NYC's most respected and popular midtown restaurants--with one Michelin stars and three from the NY Times--in both its 100-seat main dining room and its amiable bar-lounge area. Advertisement Prices for the four-course prix fixe dinner have angled upward since last year, now $125, with too many supplements, but they're still below those at comparable venues like Le Bernardin's $147 (four courses), Daniel's $142 (four) and Jean-Georges' $138. And what do you get for your money, which is about one-fifth the price of a ticket to "Hamilton"? First, a most civilized young waitstaff, not least manager Thierry Chouquet and wine director Emily Perrier, all impeccably dressed, never intrusive, always knowledgeable. GK's flowing dining spaces, including a chef's table near the kitchen, are inspired by the town squares in Alsace, whence Kreuther hails, with street lamp light fixtures, huge wooden beams, an etched-glass wall adorned with stork imagery, and a stainless-steel bar top. The retro-style chairs are extremely comfortable, the lamp-lighted tables are set with thick white linens and napkins, so the acoustics make for very civilized conversation. (The elongated and awkward silverware still strikes me as more apt for a fondue set.) Now a year into its prime, the place looks fresher than ever. Peek into the glassed-in kitchen and you'll see a brigade all in traditional crisp white chef''s coats--no t-shirts, no sandals, no cargo shorts, no earphones channeling hip-hop. In such a place as this, pride of professionalism trumps trendiness. Advertisement Now that I have set the stage for dinner, let me say that GK's cuisine continues to impress by refinement and detail, from the very Alsatian tartes flambee served at the bar-lounge to the wispy applewood smoke in a bell jar lifted from a course of sturgeon and sauerkraut with American caviar mousseline. Kreuther has kept this and other signature dishes on the menu, including the ethereal langoustine tartare with flying fish roe, cauliflower, and a lush macadamia puree. The continuing service of various breads is also--thank heavens--maintained, for there simply are no better breads in NYC, from the herbed buckwheat House rolls to the nicely chewy baguette. Colorful amuses live up to their name. Now the crispy sweetbreads are roasted in duck fat with honshimeji mushrooms, pancetta and mildly spicy pasilla chilies. The sight of Everglades frogs' legs cooked in a Mason jar is odd, but with woodsy chanterelles, zucchini and puffed farro, the dish is a little masterpiece of taste and textures and fun to scoop out. On a summer's eve, there can be nothing better than Kreuther's chilled honeydew melon soup with husk cherries, dried tomatoes and cantaloupe, and his classic training shows impeccably in a terrine of creamy foie gras with brittle black truffled praline, Muscat jelly and seven grain toast. There is never a jarring note on any plate, no surprise for the sake of it. Among the main courses, I love the pork tenderloin with fennel, roasted broccolini and pickled mustard seeds, while duck came with breast and confit-ed leg touched with chamomile oil in a spiced consomme--a dish as contemporary as anything in town. But in every dish, in the way it is conceived and presented--the drizzle of jus, the pour of broth, the minimal explanation by the captain--there is elegance and a dexterity that shows the depth of the entire staff. Kreuther is one of those chefs who is always in his kitchen, so he hovers over his cooks to make sure all goes well. This most certainly includes the dessert kitchen under Marc Aumont (his sous-patissiere is my daughter-in-law, so I'm well familiar with the detail work and complexity of the desserts, chocolates and petit-fours). Some sound simple, like a vanilla-coconut pannacotta with fresh pineapple and sorbet, but there are ten flavors within that sorbet. Saute cherries come with an almond mousseline and perfect sable Breton. And white chocolate mousse (left), which seems to have disappeared from dessert menus 20 years ago, has been marvelously restored to life with a bergamot marmalade and raspberry sorbet. At the end of an evening at GK, you'll realize several things: First, fine dining is alive and well in NYC; second, as Marc Aumont told me, this kind of excellence is inspiring a young generation of cooks ("They are the future."); and third, you will leave the dining room not only well fed and well cared for but feeling you have had a share in something rare and special. Open for lunch Mon.-Fri.; Dinner Mon.-Sat. Advertisement During the Balkan crisis in 1999, a reporter asked Alija Izetbegovic, then president of Bosnia, which of his two dangerous neighbors he preferred having to deal with--Slobodan Milosevic, the president of Serbia, or Franjo Tudjman, the president of Croatia. Izetbegovic replied that it was like being asked to choose between "leukemia and a brain tumor." A similarly unpleasant choice now looms before the American electorate--between Donald Trump, the xenophobic, nationalist demagogue, on one side, and Hillary Rodham Clinton, the unrepentant militarist, Wall Street shill, and unindicted emailer, on the other. That a nation of 300 million people couldn't find two more qualified or credible candidates for the nation's highest political office is a sign of how pathetic our nominal democracy has become. It didn't have to be this way. Some of my readers may still remember Bernie Sanders. Not since 1920, when Eugene V. Debs ran for president from inside a federal penitentiary (winning nearly 4% of the national vote) have working class and poor Americans had such a fierce advocate for their interests during an election season. Though never the revolutionary he claimed to be, Sanders nonetheless articulated a plausible alternative to the status quo--a vision of European-style social democracy in America. Sanders' proposals, like guaranteeing every American the right to higher education, affordable health care, and a livable wage, and taking more muscular action on climate change, were hardly radical, but they were sensible and just. Advertisement Had Democratic Party leaders been sensible and just too--rather than corrupt and venal--they would have made room for Sanders within their party and given him a fair shot at winning the nomination. Instead, they and their allies in the corporate press savaged and undermined Sanders, having concluded from the start that his brand of left populism posed an even greater threat to the party's long-term interests than the prospect of a Trump White House. Throughout the campaign, Sanders supporters had suspected the Democratic Party establishment of secretly trying to destroy their candidate. Then, on the eve of the party's convention in the City of Brotherly Love, they found their suspicions confirmed, when Wikileaks released thousands of private emails from the Democratic National Committee showing that party officials had been guilty, as the New York Times bluntly put it, of "conspiring to sabotage" the Sanders campaign. Using smear tactics lifted straight from Karl Rove's playbook, DNC staffers sowed stories in the press depicting the Sanders campaign as a "mess," and they evidently played up Sanders' atheism in religiously conservative Southern states. Though the Wikileaks scandal led to the swift and ignominious departure of DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, it did not otherwise affect the outcome of the nomination process. By then, Clinton had amassed the delegate pledges she needed to win, and Sanders had already conceded. Sanders supporters still hoped, at that point, that their candidate would either rescind his endorsement of Hillary or even run under the Green Party ticket. But Sanders instead did something quite unexpected. Sanders took the podium at the Democratic National Convention and lavishly praised his former rival, telling the world that Hillary would make an "outstanding" president. For those of us who had supported Sanders, it was heartbreaking to see--like watching newsreel footage from a show trial, of the moment when an enemy of the state is trundled out before the TV cameras to confess his phony crimes, before being led off to the gulag or firing squad. Sanders didn't merely cave. He recanted. Advertisement For months, Sanders had railed against socioeconomic inequality and the corruption of our electoral system by big money. American democracy had been bought and paid for; a political caste system had evolved to ensure that nothing would change. And Hillary Clinton, Sanders maintained, was part of the problem, not part of the solution--a corrupt politician beholden to the banking, finance, pharmaceutical, and military industries. Sanders criticized Hillary's elite fundraising parties, and he challenged her to release transcripts of her paid speeches to Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street titans. (Clinton never did, knowing that if she could just run the clock down on the primaries, no one after the election would remember--or care--that she had stonewalled. And she was right.) For Sanders to praise Clinton at the convention, then, was not so much a repudiation of what his movement had stood for as an affirmation of what it had stood against. After Sanders' recantation, the wind went out of the sails of the grassroots movement he'd inspired. Perhaps it will roar back, in different form. But there is no question that it was a grievous blow to the political left. With Sanders now out of the way, the Democratic machine predictably next went to work vilifying the millions of so-called "Bernie or Bust" voters who continued to resist the party leadership's cynical calls for unity. Part of this strategy has entailed strangling the presidential ambitions of Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate for president. Though Stein has attracted a number of disaffected Sanders supporters, she has no chance of winning the general election, having been subjected to a total media blackout for the last year. What Stein can do, however, is to siphon off critical votes from Hillary. That, at any rate, is the message of DNC officials, who have been going around telling anyone who will listen that it will be Stein's fault if Clinton loses in November. In reality, though, it's far from clear that Democratic Party officials are unhappy having Stein lingering in the race. Stein's candidacy, provided it can be kept within careful limits, offers an insurance policy of sorts for the Democratic establishment, which blundered badly in rallying around an establishment politician--under active FBI criminal investigation, no less--during a year of populist revolt. It's useful to have a patsy around, in other words, if your own candidate happens to suck. Think of the way Democrats still blame Ralph Nader for Al Gore's loss to George W. Bush in 2000. The problem for voters dissatisfied with the status quo, then, is that there really are no good options now. Some progressives will vote for Stein, even knowing that she can't win, in the hopes of sending an angry message to Democratic officials that they can no longer take the left-wing of their party for granted. Alas, that message was received at Democratic HQ back in 2000, to no effect. So whatever else a Trump upset might do, it is certainly not going to lead to any "soul-searching" on the part of the technocrats who control the Democratic Party. The latter don't have any souls to search, and they are prepared to run the nation and even the world into the ground, rather than to relinquish their hold on power. So we are headed into a ditch. Two plainclothes Civil Guard officers armed with a search warrant knock on the door of a house in Padul, a town of some 8,000 inhabitants in Granada province. Explaining they suspect marijuana is being grown on the premises, they enter and their suspicions are soon confirmed: in one bedroom alone there are 75 plants, each a meter high. This is no one-off event: throughout the southern region of Andalusia, dozens of such raids are carried out every month. After searching the property, one officer peers out of the top floor window, telling his companion there might be more marijuana in a neighboring house. The number of raids is pretty high, says the chief of the local branch of the judicial police. Its always been this way in Granada. In 2015, the authorities confiscated 1,126kg of marijuana in the province, 438 more than the previous year, according to Spains Interior Ministry. Only five other provinces had more than 1,000kg confiscated Girona, Barcelona, Seville, Valencia and Malaga. But Granada showed the biggest leap in production, with the second-largest volume of marijuana confiscated proportional to the population. Meanwhile, in the whole of Spain, 17,894kg were seized last year, 2,813kg more than in 2014. There are gangs who pay people to look after plantations in their own homes or in the homes of others Nowadays, anyone can turn their home into a plantation, says Andalusias chief of police. Its relatively simple. You can get everything you need legally. In the case of the grower in Padul, a man in his late 30s who prefers to remain anonymous, he used nine panels, a ventilator, an air-conditioning unit with a special filter to deal with the pungent smell of ripe marijuana plants, extractor fans and a thermostat to regulate the temperature. His plot was restricted to a room three meters long and two meters wide on the third floor of his house but the smell was so still so strong it could be detected outside . Every expert has his way of doing things, mine is to keep them at 24C, he explains. Police sources suggest that the high incidence of marijuana cultivation in Granada reflects high levels of unemployment. Local judge Emilio Calatayud, who writes a a daily blog called Ideal, agrees. In Granada, there are hundreds of jobless people who make money from marijuana. This is not good for society, he wrote in May. The cultivation and consumption of marijuana is becoming normalized and we will pay for it because it is not innocuous and nor is the money derived from it. The grower in Padul, an unemployed construction worker, fits this description. After two years of earning nothing, I had to make a living from the first thing that came my way, which was this, he explains. When asked if he was ever scared about breaking the law, he says he was at first, but says he had no choice. After acquaintances helped him get started, he was soon producing large amounts of weed. Granadas unemployment level is 32.14%, one of the highest rates Spain, trumped only by neighboring Cadiz and Jaen. The chief of police points out that not all unemployed people turn to cultivating marijuana. Demand for Granadas marijuana is increasing, with growers exporting not only to the rest of the country but also to Europe. The foreign media has been here investigating why there is so much production, say police sources. We are not only the plantation in Spain, were also the plantation in Europe. In their weekly raids, police find homes where people are producing between 100 and 5,000 plants. During the first eight months of this year, they have carried out 110 raids and confiscated 53,500 plants, not counting those seized in the provincial capital of Granada itself. A mini-plantation in Atarfe, Granada province. M. ZARZA One of the biggest busts was in early July in the remote Lujar mountain range. A shepherd was arrested for allegedly farming 5,160 plants, the biggest haul in the region in recent years. A kilogram of dried marijuana is worth 1,000 on the black market, say police sources, adding that interior home grows are more profitable as they dont depend on the weather and so can produce up to four harvests a year. There are gangs who pay people to look after plantations in their own homes or in the homes of others. The Padul grower says he made around 2,000 every two months. I wasnt about to get rich, far from it, he says. As cultivation needs a vast amount of electricity, home grows often hook up to the grid illegally for their supply. A spokesperson for the Endesa electricity utility in Granada says that one of their employees, his identity hidden by a ski mask, accompanies the police during raids in an effort to put a stop to the practice. English version by Heather Galloway. The Blog The Future Belongs to Authoritarian States The next decade or two may well see the three powers gaining more prominence. But all three countries have economic difficulties and their rise will increasingly prompt other countries to oppose them -- most of all the United States globally, India, Japan, Vietnam and perhaps Taiwan in Asia, and Israel and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East. I'm disheartened but not surprised by the behavior of these pastors in Detroit blindly accepting Trump's obvious racial slight of hand and subterfuge. It shows that neglected communities will have no shortage of misinformed individuals who will offer themselves up to be manipulated and used for someone else's political gain. The product of a desperate yearning for even the most damning of attention in attempts to become anywhere near what they perceive as influence, even if it is counter to their core needs or values. That's the only explanation for a group of African-American pastors who invite an openly racist candidate for President into their church, which begs the question of what their faith and leadership are truly based upon. Now let the church say, "Amen," to that! But this phenomenon applies to many groups and individuals associated with Trump throughout his campaign, including his campaign managers 1, 2, and 3, Omarosa, Ben Carson, that Breitbart dude, Mexican President, Enrique Pena Nieto, and his disastrous hosting of Trump and his lies, the other Republican candidates who ran for president and now can barely form a sentence when feebly attempting to endorse this scourge on their party and the nation, RNC Chair Reince Preibus, nationwide down-ticket Republican Congressional candidates now failing in their respective states, and that sad "taco trucks on every corner" guy - the list is large and continues to grow. No one dances with Trump in this campaign and comes out clean. This villainy of Democrats, particularly the presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, is unfounded and unfair. I shouldn't have to say this, but she is not perfect, doesn't claim to be, and no candidate is, but she is most definitely better than Trump! The assumption that Democratic law makers, including President Obama, have taken the African-American vote for granted is just not true. It assumes that the Republican Party's bigotry and tone-deaf destructive efforts didn't exist before Trump ran for office. The only party that has prioritized engagement and empowerment of the black community, and included more minorities among their leadership, is the Democratic Party. Imagine the even more damaging effects of systemic disparity if their policies weren't in place and progress slowed or even reversed by Republican legislation. The most recent reminder of this is the legislation that clearly attempted to legitimize voter suppression in states like North Carolina, with reports showing they deliberately targeted the same minority communities that Trump and his newly adopted party are now trying to court! The plight of the underserved isn't a problem that was created by the Democratic Party, it has existed and expanded under the watch of both parties, and while Democrats aimed to fix it, Republicans have blocked legislation, and many questioned the legitimacy and American heritage of our first black President. Who do you think currently leads that charge now in his candidacy, but Donald J. Trump. Advertisement His initial plea to black voters has been offensive and laced with arrogant bigotry and condescension. Some say he should be praised for starting the conversation, but you don't get a gold star for creating negative back-talk when told of the existence of systemic racism and the perils of police brutality or a criminal justice system that disproportionately affects African-Americans. You don't get applause for adding gasoline to the fire of racial disparity, instead of trying to extinguish it. Unless of course, your efforts of African-American outreach haven't been for African-Americans at all, but instead to seemingly show a more moderate stance so more moderate members of your party can feel ok about cosigning your bigotry with their vote; particularly when his numbers show he is also losing ground with college educated white voters, a group the Republican Party has historically won over in recent elections. Detroit, I don't know why he was invited, but I know while there, he has asked you to do the unthinkable, and that's to vote for him in November, oddly with him polling statistically at zero percent within the surveyed margin of error among African-American voters. Despite his best efforts and failed outreach, that is just something we as a community cannot do. One of the best reasons to visit the coastal city of Mazatlan is the food, particularly if you're a lover of fish and seafood. Located where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific Ocean in the state of Sinaloa, Mazatlan is a true shrimp mecca. Aquachiles and ceviches, along with other shrimp and scallop dishes, are omnipresent, along with lobster, baked oysters, smoked marlin and calamari. View from El Shrimp Bucket. Photo: Karin E. Baker My recent trip to the city known as the "Pearl of the Pacific" made it clear that another of Mazatlan's most alluring characteristics is its authenticity -- it wasn't created for tourism. For over 500 years, Mazatlan has been growing organically. The resorts in the Golden Zone are, of course, geared toward tourists, but the Centro Historico (Historic District) and the charming nearby villages give a sense of the real Mexico. El Meson de Los Lauranos. Photo: Karin E. Baker Rural Cuisine in El Quelite It's not everyday you bite into a lengua taco while an amorous chicken and rooster mate a couple of yards from your table, but I had that unique experience at El Meson de Los Lauranos in El Quelite, a small town 40 minutes from Mazatlan. El Meson is a lively restaurant teeming with vibrant hues, along with lots of animal life in the form of ducks, cats, peacocks and more that strut around the premises. This expansive, mostly open-air eatery almost pulsates with color issuing from its bevy of caged green parrots, gorgeous textiles and bougainvillea. Evidently the area's slowly becoming a destination: El Meson's avuncular owner, Dr. Marcos Osuna, told me, "Nobody visited this area till 15 years ago, but now people are making this a destination to try the foods of rural Mexico." At El Meson, unlike most eateries in Mazatlan, you won't find seafood. You will, however, encounter rural cuisine like roasted quail, barbecued lamb tucked into tortillas hand made on the premises, creamy artisinal local cheeses and barbecued goat. You'll also find a great assortment of regional desserts, like burnt milk pudding, calabash squash conserves and arroz con leche. Advertisement El Quelite. Photo: Karin E. Baker El Quelite is a quiet town, and that's part of its charm. You feel like you've stepped back in time a few decades, thanks to the adobe houses, cobblestone streets, a church dating back to the mid-19th century, locals astride burros and horses, and no tourist-driven shops. Worth visiting: a tiny leather shop where I bought a perfect, locally made belt for just $12. Street Art Outside El Presidio. Photo: Karin E. Baker Gastronomical Elegance in the Historic District Located in the Centro Historico, El Presidio is a drop-dead gorgeous restaurant offering the most elegant, trendy and sophisticated food and atmosphere I experienced during my trip, A true hidden gem, El Presidio isn't easy to find: it's tucked away inside a large house dating back to 1870 that's been transformed into a massive courtyard restaurant with a vibe both authentic and modern. Abundant with trees and featuring a pair of fish ponds, this magical space, flickering with candle light, is perfect for a romantic date. The mixology program is impressive, while the elevated Mexican cuisine here includes hamachi sashimi, octopus tostadas, duck burritos, and roasted chicken glazed in vanilla and chipotle and served on a bed of asparagus. Seafood Breakfasts If you like the idea of starting your day with an ocean view punctuated by shrimp chilaquiles and fruit-topped homemade horchata, you'll want to try such beloved local hangouts as Los Panchos Restaurant or El Shrimp Bucket. Los Panchos is set on the sand, while the Shrimp Bucket, dating back to 1963, is perched just across the street from the malecon, a 13-mile-long palm-tree lined boardwalk. These eateries offer such scrumptious dishes as "Divorced Eggs" (two fried eggs, one topped with green salsa and one with red, separated by a row of refried beans and tortilla chips), chilaquiles loaded with fresh marlin with a side of sauteed cactus, and fresh-baked pastries. Advertisement Los Panchos Restaurant. Photo: Karin E. Baker Another breakfast spot I kept hearing great things about was Panama Restaurant and Bakery. It lived up to the hype. A cart of desserts frequently makes its way around the during room, letting you choose from a huge assortment of high-quality baked goods like tres leches cake or cheesecake topped with guayaba, along with numerous egg dishes and pineapple-coconut smoothies. Celebrated Seafood at El Cuchupetas Want to dine in a restaurant that's attracted several Mexican Presidents, along with numerous celebrities from Mexico and elsewhere? Off the beaten track, in a village about 20 minutes from the beach, El Cuchupetas began as a small house that eventually took over three additional nearby structures. Though fairly humble in appearance, this bustling seafood eatery renowned for exceptional quality offers over 50 seafood dishes, including shrimp soup and numerous variations of aquachiles, tostadas with crab, barbecued whole fish, baked oysters and much more. Mural in the Historic District. Photo: Karin E. Baker And... Agave Distilleries Tequila lovers should visit La Vinata de los Osuna, a 40-minute drive from Mazatlan. This blue agave distillery (they can't legally call it tequila as, by law, that designation applies only to Jalisco-made blue agave) dates back to 1876 and produces three delicious varieties of its award-winning Los Osuna blue agave liquors: Anejo (aged in top-quality oak barrels for 12 to 18 months), Reposado (aged in oak for three to 11 months), and the un-aged Blanco. You can tour the factory, taste the three liquors, and buy a bottle to take back with you, as Los Osuna is still hard to find in the US. World leaders meeting in Hangzhou, China may be unaware that a few days earlier a shadow group of religious scholars met in Beijing. Their agenda was geared to the G20 and their meeting reflected a determined effort by Chinese scholars and counterparts from across the world to continue a tradition of gathering in parallel with the global encounters of national leaders. This tradition goes back to 2005. Since then, in successive countries where the G7, G8, and G20 meetings take place, groups have gathered to reflect on religious dimensions of the global issues at hand. The underlying idea is that the faith communities of the globe are a community of shared values with a special responsibility to proclaim and live justice and peace. Since a national group takes the lead, the character and agendas vary year to year, but there are threads of continuity, including in several participants who attend most of the events. The two day 2016 Forum in Beijing involved a group of Chinese scholars and about 20 international scholars who have, for the most part, shadowed the G20 meetings, with gatherings in Australia in 2014 and Istanbul in 2015. Plans are afoot for Germany in 2017. CASS (the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) and its religious studies department hosted the event and a large group of Chinese scholars participated. Cole Durham, from Brigham Young Law School, was a leading force in organizing the meeting. Advertisement The meeting's title invited a broad, sometimes sweeping discussion: "Dialogue Among Civilizations and Community of Common Destiny for all Mankind." Discussing religious issues is tricky in China, as there are sensitivities at various turns. Indeed, although the desire was to link the Forum to the upcoming G20 meeting, with its broad global agenda, and to the series of "faith" G20 meetings, the word religion was used sparingly and carefully. Harmony and shared values were common themes. I was struck by a very different tone and content between the meeting last year in Istanbul and the Beijing Forum. The themes in Istanbul mirrored more directly the G20 discussions, notably in efforts to link to issues of economic development and welfare. The framework of the Sustainable Development Goals that the United Nations agreed to formally in 2015 provided a scaffold for much of the discussion, both as a moral call for action and, more specifically, in pointing to goals like decent work. Migration was a theme, acknowledging religious tensions as a factor but also highlighting the positive humanitarian work of so many religiously inspired groups. Religious freedom was a central topic in Istanbul, though it was not always entirely clear what that meant for action, whether by the governments concerned or by religious leaders and scholars. Human rights were on the agenda, coming from various dimensions. And the discussion of tensions around religion, including the perils of "using" or "instrumentalizing" religion were a recurring topic. The themes of radicalism and violence were present, albeit in a guarded and rather subdued form. The benefits of interfaith cooperation were assumed but also interrogated, at least to a degree. One highlight, for example, was discussion of how "constitutional structures and faith groups can protect societies from violent religion by distinguishing free speech from incitement to immediate violence, and initiating calming responses to de-escalate violent acts." Advertisement In Beijing, discussion harked back to the remarkably durable debates that still refer to the arguments that Samuel Huntington advanced in his 1993 article, "Clash of Civilizations?" Are there indeed different "civilizations" whose core values differ in significant ways? Or is political power and influence what counts? How is the role of the nation state changing? Echoing the title, the overall line of argument was that common values trump real divides linked to culture or religion. There were many papers exploring scholarship about religious traditions that have shaped China, touching more on "harmony" than on tensions. Lively exchanges and some fairly blunt discussions turned about a central topic: Internet and religion. How, some asked, is the Internet really changing transmission and practice of religious beliefs and adherence, and how can and should the negative features of the Internet and the Internet age be governed? How and how far to control is plainly an issue. It was largely in this connection that the issues around radical religion and violence were touched upon. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump looks out the window as he travels aboard his plane between campaign stops in Ohio, U.S. September 5, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar When Americans go to the polls in two months, it is likely that Hillary Clinton will defeat Donald Trump, perhaps by a very substantial margin. Although, nothing can be known for certain until the voters are cast, we are now late enough in the campaign that a victory for Trump would be an enormous upset. Not only is Trump behind in national polls and polls in most key swing states, but his campaign organization is still not strong. This will make it difficult for him to close the gap with a strong GOTV campaign or to even effectively bring out all his voters. The Trump campaign has been an extraordinary political event, but it has also been, even more than most campaigns, a glimpse into the inner working of the man himself. Some voters like what they have seen, while many more appear to be repelled or frightened. However, Trump's supporters and detractors would agree that this is a man with an enormous self-regard and an almost unslakable need for the media spotlight. This raises the question of what Trump will do after he loses the election, a very likely outcome. It is clear that he cannot go back to being a reality television star and that it is unlikely he would be happy simply returning to running his businesses. Advertisement Following Trump's most recent campaign shakeup where he brought in Steve Bannon from Breitbard Media to serve as campaign CEO, and established a campaign relationship with right wing Fox personality Sean Hannity, many speculated that Trump was preparing for a post-election transition to starting a media company, presumably targeting his political base. Given the state of the media today, and the difficulty of making money in that highly volatile sector, it is unlikely that even a businessman who has failed in so many diverse endeavors as Trump has, would be able to succeed in that arena. While it remains possible that Trump will pursue that option, we have learned in this campaign that Trump does not have the patience for building something has complex as a media business. A more feasible option for Trump would be to lend his name to his chosen media outlet and let somebody else, presumably, Bannon run it. However, this will not be easy given both how badly Trump has damaged his brand during the course of the campaign. Additionally, allowing somebody else to run the media outlet would not keep Trump in the spotlight the way he wants. Because Trump entered the campaign as a well known celebrity and immediately became the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, he has received enormous amounts of coverage for over fifteen months now. Given that, it may be hard to imagine, particularly for the candidate himself, how quickly all of that will disappear within a few hours of the polls closing. Other than those candidates who ran for President again, such as Dewey in 1944 and 1948, Stevenson in 1952 and 1956, Nixon in 1960 and 1968 and Humphrey in 1968 and 1972, when he lost the nomination, all candidates who lost the general election receded into obscurity very quickly. Some, like Goldwater and McGovern were able to go back to the Senate, but they were not leaders in that body or national political figures. Losing candidates like Dukakis in 1988, Gore in 2000, Dole in 1996, even Mitt Romney in 2008 either essentially retired or worked very hard to remain relevant. Gore had some success with through his film An Inconvenient Truth, but that did not last long. Romney, for his part, largely failed in his efforts this year to insert himself into the leadership of the #NeverTrump movement. Advertisement Trump, however, has no Senate seat to which he can return, nor is he young enough to run for President in 2020. It is also unlikely any President would appoint Trump to a cabinet post as Barack Obama did for John Kerry fully eight years after the latter's defeat. The day after he loses, Trump will return to his office in Trump Towers and find that the media is no longer very interested in what he has to say,his latest Tweet or what he eats for lunch. Perhaps he will be content with the long vacation he said he would take after the election should he lose, but given what we have seen from Trump these last months, that is difficult to believe. Today's an important day. A milestone day. Today, we, in cooperation with the international NGO World Vision, can celebrate having reached 300,000 people with water. 300,000 new people, for whom water haven't been easily accessible - if accessible at all. People living in developing societies south of the Sahara . Until now, many of these people have had to travel vast distances to collect water. Often on foot. And it goes without saying, this consumes plenty of time and effort. Now those days are over. And the people can now use their new-gained access to water to improve their lives, building sustainable business around their water points. World Vision has played a tremendous part in making this reality. They have the knowledge of the societies and the connections to help build sustainable sources for water. We are happy to be part of that equation through our innovative water technology and fruitful partnerships. In the collaboration with World Vision, our solar powered submersible pumps, which are used in for instance wells, are becoming the "tool of choice" to make water flow in rural, off-grid areas. That makes me proud. However, this significant milestone we and World Vision can feel proud about, is not where our journey stops. Our joint ambitions reach further. Towards 2020, we want to reach two million people with water. Advertisement Adding to that, I personally feel very good about the fact that this partnership puts further thrust to the UN's immensely important and ambitious Sustainable Development Goals. Here, I'm specifically thinking about SDG 6, clean water and sanitation for all by 2030 and SDG 13, take action against climate change. Because if we are to reach that target, it takes exactly innovative partnerships spanning the political, private and civil spheres to succeed. Today, we have come a bit of the way. Bryn Greenwood is is a native and fourth generation Kansan, who holds two undergraduate degrees in literature as well as an MFA. Her latest work, All the Ugly and Wonderful Things (St Martins Press, 2016) has captivated romance readers despite its atypical heroes. MW: How would you describe All The Ugly and Wonderful Things to someone who hasn't read yet? BG: I love the idea of people going into my book without knowing anything about it, so I frequently mumble vague things like "a little girl whose father is a drug dealer." If pressed, however, I tend to think of it as a story about a lonely girl, a lonelier man, and the lengths they go to in order to create a family where they are loved and accepted. MW: Did you set out to write a romance novel when you conceived these characters? BG: No, that wasn't my intention, which is good, since I don't think All the Ugly and Wonderful Things succeeds as a romance novel. From early in the drafting process it was clear that there was this central relationship, but it misses the mark on the most common romance elements. I believe my publisher classifies it as literary/coming-of-age. That said, I'm thrilled that many romance fans have connected to the story. At its heart is a love story that asks readers to hope for a happy ending for two mismatched outcasts. Advertisement MW: You've had some negative feedback from readers about Kellen's size and you responded in a blog post. What do you make of the outcry and how is Kellen's size important? BG: My suspicion is that some readers went into the book expecting a traditionally gorgeous, toned romance novel hero, and instead they got Kellen, who is six-and-a-half feet tall, over three hundred pounds, with a beer belly and greasy hands. I sympathize with readers whose expectations are overturned in ways they maybe don't like, but I also feel that Kellen's physical form is important to the story. He isn't the kind of guy women drool over, but he represents strength and safety to the main character, Wavy. More than that, he's proof that it's safe to eat, when Way has spent most of her life afraid of eating in front of people. MW: The POV switches in the novel are intriguing, just when you think someone is a background character, the following chapter switches to their POV. Can you tell us how you chose who would have a voice and why? BG: I'm not sure I even believe in background characters. Every character who shows up in my novels is somebody with a story, and because I'm a compulsive writer, I tend to write down those stories, just in case I need them later. I like to pivot to characters on the periphery of the main story, because they frequently have perspectives I want to see. That's how I chose many of the secondary narratives for All the Ugly and Wonderful Things. Who could give me a new or unique perspective on the central story? Some of them are people who know the main characters well--like Wavy's cousin or Kellen's business partner--but others are strangers who meet Wavy and Kellen in passing. Conversely, I passed over the POVs of some of the central characters, because I feared they would derail the story I was telling, or because I felt their narrative was one that most readers could imagine on their own. For example, I skipped Wavy's Aunt Brenda, because she essentially stands in for us as a society. We know what she thinks, because it's what we think when we read terrible things in the news. Advertisement MW: In a lot of ways, All the Ugly and Wonderful Things is a dark novel and what should be the most controversial element is actually the lightest and purest part, providing a respite from all of the failed relationships in the novel. How have readers responded to the controversial subject matter? How did publishers react? BG: So far, the response to that controversial element has been tempered by the scope of the story. In light of all the dysfunction in Wavy's life, a lot of readers end up feeling that any loving and supportive relationship is valuable to her, even if we would normally consider it troubling. We may not approve of all the decisions Kellen makes, but he is consistently committed to trying to improve things for Wavy and her little brother. There are some readers who come away deeply disturbed by the story, and there are other people who feel strongly that this kind of story shouldn't even be told. I disagree. Not everybody has a nice, neat suburban childhood, but they deserve to see their experiences mirrored in fiction as much as anybody. When I see people saying, "This book should never have been published," I feel more resolved to continue writing stories that reflect the experiences of people who've lived through unpretty things. I won't shut up just because it makes some people uncomfortable. In terms of publisher reactions, there were a few editors who suggested it would be better if Wavy were older and Kellen were younger. Of course, that would be a very different book, as the age of consent in Kansas is sixteen. Advertisement MW: In your author's bio, it states that you are the daughter of a "mostly reformed drug dealer," is there an autobiographical aspect in All the Ugly and Wonderful Things? BG: I don't consider it autobiographical at all, but my personal experiences have informed some of the layers and details in the book. My father was a meth dealer, and he lived on an armed compound in the country, and he had a whole assortment of hangers-on. I experienced and witnessed a lot of wild things. As a young woman, I also had a habit of dating much older men, which started when I was all of thirteen and fell in love with the kind of guy you wouldn't want your thirty-year-old daughter dating. I have fond memories of that relationship, which I suppose made it easier to deal sympathetically with Wavy and Kellen's situation. MW: Who are some of your favorite authors? Books? Characters? BG: One of my absolute favorite series of books is Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea books. I have loved those since I was a child, and they have not lost one bit of their power. The most amazing thing is that the series has grown with me, and I've had the pleasure of seeing Tenar and Ged progress through full lives. Other writers who have stuck with me for years are Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison, Mary Renault, and Anthony Trollope. His The Way We Live Now has one of my favorite fictional characters: Marie Melmotte. She is so passionate and reckless and fierce. In terms of more recent favorites, I like Alissa York, Carol Emshwiller, Emma Donoghue, Mary Doria Russell, and Sherri L. Smith. I love writers who surprise me, whose characters step outside of themselves or rise above their natures to do something different. MW: What's next? BG: I tend to have way more ideas than I could ever hope to write in this lifetime, so it's a struggle to narrow it down. My current obsession is how we deal as a society and as individuals with the invasive presence of media. So I'm writing about a small town that decides to police themselves entirely through the public broadcast of live surveillance camera footage. No matter how we think we might be prepared for that, there are always secrets to be uncovered. I'm also working on a project that asks: In an era of Photoshop and CGI, what's the value of unaltered reality? Advertisement A bill intended to suppress boycotts in support of human rights and social justice has passed the California Legislature over the opposition of the state Department of Finance, which predicted it could cost the state more than $140 million and get tied up in litigation - all for accomplishing nothing more than existing statutes already provide. For that reason alone, our fiscally minded Governor Jerry Brown, a man who once marched alongside worker champion Cesar Chavez, should veto AB 2844. But it gets worse. The Israel lobby's core goal with this proposed legislation - a phenomenon being replicated in about half the states' legislatures -- is to demonize and even outlaw boycott, divestment and sanctions (known as "BDS") campaigns for Palestinian rights. These campaigns have gained momentum in recent years as more and more Americans become fed up with the unjust and untenable status quo in Israel/Palestine, propped up by billions in U.S. military aid. Dozens of student governments have passed resolutions, and a growing number of mainstream churches have adopted boycott and/or divestment strategies after concluding that "engagement" with Israel or with corporations whose business activities uphold international law violations was ineffective. A recent Brookings Institution poll found 49 percent of Democrats would support sanctions against Israel for its illegal settlement construction in occupied Palestinian territory. Advertisement As passed, AB 2844's convoluted, obtuse language would cast a pall of suspicion over anyone who pursues a "policy ... against any sovereign nation or peoples recognized by the government of the United States, including, but not limited to, the nation and people of Israel." It would force any entity - business or non-profit grant applicant - that wants to bid on a public state contract worth $100,000 or more to certify, under penalty of perjury - a felony - that this "policy" is not a pretext for "unlawful discrimination" under existing California civil rights law. That this veneer of anti-discrimination language is itself a pretext is demonstrated by the fact that the word "discrimination" appeared nowhere in the bill's early versions. But as the proponents' repeated statements attest, it can't hide what remains their goal: To single out, stigmatize and pave the way for suppression of those who advocate for Palestinian human rights, absurdly conflating criticism of a country's policies with anti-Semitism. Unlawful discrimination by state contractors is already prohibited under laws named in AB 2844. So taken at face value, this new law would be utterly redundant - except for the fact that it would open the door for a witch-hunt, involving creation of an unprecedented thought crime. Under AB 2844, anyone may submit complaints to state officials, who would then have to investigate and possibly prosecute a business, or even nonprofit charitable institutions like churches, for boycotting products from illegal Israeli settlements built on occupied Palestinian land. Advertisement And such complaints would surely come: Staunch defenders of Israel already deluge federal and state agencies, universities and mass media with allegations that critics of Israel, especially faculty and student groups, present a threat to Jewish students. Their complaints have been investigated -- and consistently, resoundingly dismissed. But AB 2844 would provide them with more ammunition to obfuscate the distinction between acting on political principle and committing unlawful discrimination. AB 2844 would have state employees act as thought police under a law that if signed, may qualify as the most vague statute ever. "Policy," for instance, is not defined in the bill, nor anywhere in California's codes. And a longstanding constitutional rule ensuring elementary due process dictates that a law must be extra clear in describing any act that might result in criminal prosecution. "Pretext for discrimination" is anything but clear. Furthermore, the costs of implementing AB 2844 could be staggering. Asked for input from the Senate Appropriations Committee, the Attorney General's Office, explicitly tasked with handling complaints until the last round of amendments, predicted it would cost $625,000 a year to receive complaints, investigate and possibly prosecute. Now, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing and others will be responsible instead, but the costly mandate to investigate remains unchanged. Committee staff further estimate that the narrowed field of bidders resulting from companies or non-profits that refuse to sign the affidavits could cost the state an additional $140 million a year. What's this all about anyway? Israeli officials and their U.S. surrogates are losing ground in their efforts to deflect growing criticism of Israel's nearly 50-year-old military occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Gaza and the Golan Heights. Along with the occupation comes theft of Palestinian land for settlements that violate international law and longstanding official U.S. policy, escalating racism against non-Jews, the destruction of Palestinian homes, extrajudicial executions and the suffocating Gaza blockade. More and more Californians are responding to Palestinian civil society's call for non-violent solidarity in the form of boycott and divestment campaigns to advance long-denied Palestinian human rights and freedom. So instead, defenders of the status quo are trying to legislate against criticism with anti-boycott bills introduced in Congress and about half the states. Fortunately, civil libertarians are mobilizing to resist, not only in California but also in Massachusetts, Virginia and Maryland, where efforts have been stymied. When a bill stalled in New York recently, Gov. Cuomo called the legislative process "tedious" and implemented draconian anti-boycott rules by executive order. Lawsuits are brewing. Advertisement The Center for Constitutional Rights, American Civil Liberties Union, Bill of Rights Defense Committee, CODEPINK, Palestine Legal and many other civil and human rights organizations have come out in opposition to AB 2844 and similar bills, warning that such legislation threatens our First Amendment right to free speech and in the case of AB 2844, our Fifth Amendment right to due process. A California Assembly Judiciary Committee analysis of an earlier version of AB 2844 remains pertinent because it addressed what are still the motives behind the bill: "It is difficult," the consultant wrote, "to imagine legislation more clearly calculated to have a chilling impact on the exercise of protected speech." Legislators should pay attention to the growing number of constituents who support Palestinian rights, lest they find themselves on the wrong side of history. But even if these lawmakers are not yet on board with the cause, they should defeat AB 2844 because it undermines free speech wile robbing citizens of resources needed to provide vital services such as public education and health care. For these reasons, we - members of the statewide Coalition to STOP AB 2844 - urge Governor Brown to reject this bill. We commend Governor Brown for his past support of farm workers during their boycott campaigns and urge him to stand once again on the right side of history by vetoing AB 2844. Advertisement Please add your voice to our call for a veto. Sign one of the on-line petitions and contact the Governor directly: Phone: 916-445-2841 FAX: 916-558-3160 Email Brown: https://govnews.gov.ca.gov/gov39mail/mail.php Post a comment on his "Contact" page: https://govnews.gov.ca.gov/gov39mail/mail.php NO on AB 2844 petitions: About the Authors David L. Mandel is an active member of the Sacramento chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace and the National Lawyers Guild, and has been coordinating the statewide coalition opposed to AB 2844. A longtime journalist and former legal aid manager, he lived in Israel for 10 years and is a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen. In August, the Dean of my alma mater, the University of Chicago, sent a letter to its freshmen nixing trigger warnings and such. The ban hit the headlines , provoking lively debate ("PC or not PC?") in comment-land. Lively, but unfocussed, because "trigger" is a looking-glass word. Besides, the issue goes much deeper. To nudge the conversation toward clarity, I offer my personal experience, not with triggers but as one. Imagine this. I'm talking with people I've never met before, say at a college reception. They're all articulate, accomplished: a sociologist, a biologist, a psychologist, and a historian. "What do you do?" someone eventually asks me politely. I say "Mathematics" and they all start trembling. Not in awe, but in fear. Their eyes brim with tears. And then, one by one, they confess. "My algebra teacher was wonderful but geometry made no sense to me." Or "I loved math up to sixth grade, but after that, I was blocked." Or "My brother was good at it." Or "I wanted to be a doctor but I failed calculus." Their confessions perplex me. I'm neither a therapist nor a priest. Should I have warned them that my answer might upset them, and offered them earplugs? Or smiled politely and said, "That's all right, dear, you have other talents?" No. As a staunch UC alum I challenge them: "Why are you telling me this? " Advertisement Silence. I push on: "When you meet a violinist, do you turn pale and say you couldn't play a note!? When you meet an economist, do you blush beet red and stammer that you dropped the course?" No, they admit, they do not. "So why do you confess to me?" They laugh nervously, then steer the conversation back to their own terrains. What's going on? It seems I've rung a bell -- the school bell. Let's ponder the metaphor. The English have rung bells from time immemorial so I looked up "ring, v " in the venerable Oxford English Dictionary, expecting to find a long and interesting history. But no! The metaphor is just eighty-four years old! Here are the first two entries under "c. to ring a bell : to awaken a memory": 1934 A. Huxley Beyond Mexique Bay. Why should the Local Pavlov have chosen to ring just those particular bells which happen to be rung? 1933 L. Thayer Counterfeit iii. Wait a second, Ray... Why does that name ring a bell with you? Why did this metaphor emerge when it did? What happened just about then, besides the Great Depression, the rise of Hitler, and the first sighting of the Loch Ness Monster? Here's one: Ivan Pavlov's work on conditioned reflexes was diffusing to the English-reading public. Advertisement The famous Russian physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936) won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1904 for his work on mammalian digestive systems. But the bell that rings when we hear "Pavlov" isn't a stomach rumbling, it's the literal bell he used in his later work on dogs. As the Nobel Foundation website explains to children, ...he struck a bell when the dogs were fed. If the bell was sounded in close association with their meal, the dogs learnt to associate the sound of the bell with food. After a while, at the mere sound of the bell, they responded by drooling. Maybe that's it! People who quake when they learn what I do are conditioned! Not to drool at the sound of a bell, but to tremble and weep at the sight of a math teacher! Think about it. Year after year, children stress out on timed tests. Decades later, when they meet me, stress-behavior kicks in reflexively. Nonsense, you may be thinking. These adults are grown up; they got over that long ago. But maybe they haven't. Maybe they can't. I wasn't surprised to learn, from the OED , that Aldous Huxley made the Pavlovian connection. He was interested (to say the least) in drugs and visited physicians who studied them. My father was one such doctor but don't I think Huxley paid us a call. Dad worked in the Addiction Research Center at the Narcotic Farm, a federal prison/hospital near Lexington, Kentucky. The Narcotic Farm was indeed both prison and hospital: inmates served time on dope charges, but they were also there to be cured. After detox, they were counseled and taught useful trades-farming, carpentry, and so on-to prepare them for clean, productive lives on the outside. Yet most of them returned one, two, or even ten years after their release, addicted all over again. The relapse rate was ninety per cent. What is relapse, and why is it time-independent? Dad, a disciple of Pavlov, thought addiction might be a form of conditioning. Just like in dogs, but with drugs instead of food, and syringes instead of bells. Indeed, ex-addicts were cured if they didn't go home again. They didn't relapse in new lives in new places. But, hanging out with the old gang even for a day, or setting foot on the old street corner, brought on the old craving full force. I learned about conditioned reflexes at the family dinner table; what I know about that science, I learned then. But, naive though I must be, I'll put it out there anyway: I trigger relapse! With this insight, I'll take another tack next time. I won't warn or soothe or challenge my weeping interlocutors. Instead, I'll invite them all -- the sociologist, the biologist, the psychologist, the historian, the violinist and the economist -- to join forces and work together to understand triggers in addiction, PTSD, math anxiety, literature and much more. That's a conversation for a college. There is a certain rhythm to the academic year that comes with working in higher education. Events and dates serve as markers to the beginning and end of each "season" as we find ourselves welcoming thousands of students onto our campuses for the start of a new fall semester. To me, there is nothing more exciting than this time of year as new freshmen descend, faculty and upper classmen return, and classes begin on campuses throughout the country. I often quiz these new students as to the meaning of the phrase alma mater since our hope is that they will refer fondly to our institution in such a manner once they graduate. Few know that it means "nourishing or bountiful mother" and fewer still make the connection as to why. But the symbolism of such a reference should not be lost on any of us. We are all brought into this world by means of a birth mother, placing us squarely on this mortality path and all that comes with it. But for countless people fortunate enough to have access to education, our alma mater is that place which gives birth to our intellectual, personal, social, and professional selves - that institution which launches us into a whole new world of self-discovery and exploration. Consider your own experience as an undergraduate and the way these formative years helped shape and mold you into the person you are today. Advertisement While working as the assistant to the president at the University of Utah, I had the privilege of attending an annual event which was, for me, one of the highlights of the entire year. The night before the University-wide Commencement exercises in the spring, a formal dinner was held to recognize those receiving honorary degrees the next day. The president would introduce each honoree and then ask him or her to make any comments. Some came prepared with scripted remarks, others did not. But without fail, each degree recipient talked about what the institution meant to them as a young student and their experiences of setting foot on campus unsure as to what was before them. They spoke movingly about the faculty member who served as a mentor, the staff who helped them along their way, the life-long friends they met through various clubs or organizations, the intellectual curiosity they experienced as majors were declared and changed multiple times. To be sure, there were disappointments and setbacks for each who spoke, but the common refrain in all remarks was this unrelenting gratitude to their alma mater - to that place and its traditions which imbued them with the attendant confidence to exit its doors knowing that that their degree had prepared them for life ahead. Unfortunately, access to higher education - and all those experiences an alma mater can provide - is becoming increasingly difficult as state support wanes and tuition invariably increases. According to data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, America's states today spend an average 20 percent less per student than seven years ago. These cuts are often justified to fund other pressing state needs. Education, however, is the medicine that treats root causes of society's ills. And, therefore, in the triage of treatment it must remain paramount. Consider this: data shows that, even with troubling tuition hikes, the long-term financial returns from a robust college education far exceed the individual monetary investment for most students. Aside from the obvious societal benefits that come with educated surgeons, judges, engineers, and first responders, studies suggest that those who attend college exhibit increased levels of political participation and are more likely to attend churches and become involved in various civic causes. They have better health and are more inclined to volunteer and make a difference in their respective communities. They pay more taxes and are less reliant on social, welfare, and government services. For those fortunate enough to study abroad as a student, this is a life-transforming experience that forever alters their world view as they encounter another culture, language, and perspective. Advertisement Spains acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is facing mounting criticism within his Popular Party (PP) over the nomination of a former minister named in the so-called Panama Papers to an executive position at the World Bank. Dissenting voices are questioning the wisdom of choosing Jose Manuel Soria, who has not been charged with any wrongdoing but who stepped down as industry minister in April after his name cropped up in the Panama Papers, a massive leak of insider files detailing offshore financial dealings by hundreds of individuals, including current and former world leaders. King tells parties to get moving Miquel Alberola King Felipe VI on Monday said that for now he will not organize a new round of talks with political leaders, and will instead wait for them to try to reach governing deals. Faced with the unprecedented situation of two failed investiture votes, the monarch called on Spanish parties to make decisions that will solve citizens problems. The political plurality expressed at the polls entails a form of doing politics that is based on dialogue, agreement and compromise, he said. Alberto Nunez Feijoo, the regional premier of Galicia, has described his own partys decision as difficult to understand and called for additional explanations. He added that while there was nothing illegal about nominating Soria to the post, whats being debated here is whether it is opportune. Cristina Cifuentes, leader of the regional government of Madrid, said she feels that the appointment should not have taken place, while her counterpart in Castilla y Leon, Rosa Valdeon, said she was embarrassed by the choice. And Esperanza Aguirre, a party heavyweight and former Madrid premier, noted that the announcement came just two minutes after the failed investiture vote. She was alluding to last week, when Rajoy submitted his own name for reinstatement as prime minister but was predictably voted down by a majority in Congress Internal critics feel that Sorias nomination does nothing to help public perceptions of the PP as a party plagued by corruption that is preventing it from attracting support in Congress. Spain has been stuck in political limbo ever since an inconclusive general election in December, when the PP failed to secure a congressional majority and was forced to seek alliances. Failure to do so resulted in a repeat election on June 26, with similar results. If no breakthrough occurs within the next two months, Spaniards will have to go to the polls for a record third time within a year possibly on Christmas Day. Former Spanish minister of Industry Jose Manuel Soria. ERIC PIERMONT (AFP) On Monday, Rajoy attempted to distance himself from the decision to nominate Soria as an executive director at the World Bank, a position that comes with an annual salary of around 226,000, tax-free. I dont know anything. The only thing I know is that Mr Soria has left politics, said Rajoy at the G20 summit in China. He is a civil servant, he returned to those duties and he went through the application process like all civil servants do. But the evaluation committee that formalized the nomination is made up of high-ranking officials of the PP government. The nomination must now be approved by the World Bank, which states that executive directors personal and professional conduct must comply with the standards and procedures set forth in the code of conduct. Rajoys strategy: to persevere Asked about his plans following his failed reinstatement bid, Rajoy said simply: to persevere. The caretaker PM has no plans to change the strategy he has been pursuing since December 20. If the main opposition Socialists (PSOE) refuse his offer for a grand coalition, he will continue to ask them to let me govern in a minority government. Paraphrasing Groucho Marx, he said that he would not engage in the practice of these are my principles, and if you dont like them, I have others. English version by Susana Urra. The tough competitive environment in Latvia requires knowledge of the country's business etiquette. Do not be taken by surprise. Be direct and brief, and forget about excessive formalities. Latvia is a prospective market strategically positioned on the coast of the Baltic Sea, which makes it an ideal distribution location for trade between Europe and Asia. Following the economic crisis, the country's economy is now enjoying growth, and adoption of the euro in January of 2014 is helping its foreign trade situation to improve. As a small country with limited private capital, Latvia welcomes foreign investment. However, it needs to be kept in mind that it is a small country with a relatively advanced competitive environment. Therefore, professionalism and attention to details are essential, as is knowledge of the country's business etiquette. And as is so often the case anywhere, connections will smooth your entry into the market. Burdensome bureaucracy, a remnant of Soviet days, is still very much a part of the Latvian business world. Advertisement Briefly, clearly, professionally Similar to people in Scandinavian cultures, Latvians are honest and straightforward and like to get directly to the heart of the matter. They appreciate when their business partners ask expert questions, clear up details and don't indulge in useless talk. Therefore, when doing business it is best to engage in direct negotiations. Meetings should not be too long, and more importantly they must be well prepared. It is important to present all key facts on the spot and answer any questions. If the presentation is not trustworthy, Latvian business partners may withdraw from the transaction being discussed and cancel all further negotiations regarding it. Trust plays a key role in the long-term fulfillment of projects, too. Latvians emphasize mutual trust and adhere to the principle that written contracts are not even necessary in dealings with people who have good reputations. However, written contracts are understandably used regularly in practice. Be formal only during the first meeting During a personal meeting, respectful, complimentary comments about the host or the location where the meeting is being held are appreciated. Punctuality, shaking hands and eye contact are crucial, but shouldn't be overdone. Such behavior could be perceived as a sign of a superior attitude. If there are more than two participants in a meeting, it is appropriate to give all of the participants the same amount of eye contact. Advertisement The first meeting tends to be very formal, so it's a good idea to make official introductions, and it is customary to include titles when addressing people. Subsequent communication can take a friendlier approach, and non-business topics and hobbies can also become subjects of conversation. Because Latvians are slightly conservative and do not express their emotions very much in public, excessive gesticulation is not recommended, and interrupting is considered very impolite. Cooperation is a strong priority in Latvia, so mediated communication is also conducted in a friendly manner. Social media is regularly used; it's common to hook up with business partners on Facebook or Twitter immediately after completing a joint event or conference, and also appropriate and courteous to wish them happy birthday and happy name day (a tradition in many European countries). No lecturing or expensive gifts Latvia is a tolerant country, where it is appropriate to be open, tolerant and positive. Women have traditionally had a strong position in the country's society, and they serve in many government and non-government institutions. Therefore, egalitarian attitudes with regard to gender will certainly assist in making your hosts feel comfortable. Latvians are educated, and they do not appreciate when foreigners tell them what they should do in their own country. However, they have a very warm relationship towards foreigners and enjoy interactions that offer the opportunity to learn about other traditions and cultures. Every business partner will be impressed when they hear foreigners using some Latvian words. Even a simple greeting can have a positive effect. As far as gifts are concerned, Latvians enjoy when foreign partners give a local gift, such as sweets or a small item. More expensive gifts are viewed as excessive and tend to be perceived as a bribe attempt. Expanding access to clean water and other natural resources. Ending gender violence. Improving physical and mental health. Increasing educational attainment for all students. These are some of the pressing challenges we face and will continue to face unless we decide to do something about it. Here is a thought: how about we ask our young people to use the latest technology and innovation to solve these problems? After all, these are problems they will inherit should we fail to solve them now. Last year, thousands of students from El Paso, Texas; Las Cruces, New Mexico, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico came together to do just that. They participated in the annual binational CampusLink, a 2-day summit which seeks to expose high school and university students living along the U.S.-Mexico border to the ever-growing importance of technology and innovation and how they can be leveraged to solve social problems. Advertisement Since launching in 2011, CampusLink has engaged more than 17,000 students across six cities, two countries, and over 70 high school and university campuses. These students have explored everything from the future of wearable technology to advancing medicine and health with technology and addressing cybersecurity. They have listened to the leading trailblazers in the field of technology as well as entrepreneurs whose products and services have revolutionized our world. This September, another group of hundreds of students will be able to participate in CampusLink--this year's 2-day summit will take place at TechHub in Ciudad Juarez and at the University of Texas at El Paso the following day. Students will be able to interact and learn from leading entrepreneurs and techies including, Jonathon Angell of Hackers/Founders, Pilar Manchon of Intel, Brian Rashid, Griselda Gomez of MIT-Mexico, and many more. There will be Ted Talk-like presentations; sessions on women in technology and innovation; tech clinics on digital photography, video blogging and virtual reality; and the signature Hackathon. This is the challenge where students come together in teams to apply technology and innovation in order to address a pressing social issue. Last year's winners pitched the idea of developing a game that would teach players how to prevent gender violence and have since been working hard to carry out the project. Advertisement This year, the possibilities are endless. The beauty of this program is not only that it's fostering the use of technology and innovation among young individuals, but that it is doing this across national boundaries and in a place that couldn't be further than Silicon Valley. The idea that students from Mexico and the United States can come together during a Hackathon and create solutions to global problems is emblematic of the potential that border regions play in facilitating global exchanges and creative thinking. And what's even better is that the 2-day summit is free to all students thanks to the generous sponsorship of multiple companies and individuals including: Cisco, Samsung, Telmex, Transtelco, Fundacion Paso del Norte, National Geographic Learning, the Hub for Human Innovation, The Borderplex Alliance, Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua, The University of California Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and dozens more. As someone who owns and oversees a telecommunications company servicing both Mexico and the United States, I have seen first-hand the power that technology and innovation hold and how it provides opportunities to bridge international communities and solve real-world problems. I couldn't be happier to support CampusLink and Carlos Castaneda, CIO at Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua, who has been leading this program. When the results of the 2016 Extel survey, which names the best of the European financial community in various different categories, were announced in June, there among the famous institutions like JP Morgan, Societe General, and UBS was a company with much less recognition. Makor, a relatively young but fast-growing firm with global reach and a unique approach to investment, won the top ranking in Global Special Situation Sales. The achievement could hardly be surprising, after the company was ranked second the previous year, and third in 2014. The Extel survey is conducted annually by the company, which has been a leader in financial news and information for over 100 years. The survey is dominated by the biggest brands in European finance. So how did Makor, a company less than a decade old, break into this group of financial powerhouses? A short answer would be: It brings together tradition and new technology. Makor was established by two ex-managing partners for Cantor Fitzgerald. When it had grown to include offices in London, Geneva, Paris, and Tel Aviv, the company's one moment of media attention (prior to the Extel win) came, with the acquisition of one of Wall Street's oldest stock brokers, Oscar Gruss & Son. Advertisement The advance of software and computing technology has netted huge efficiency gains for many industries, but applying the model to the financial industry involves barriers specific to finance, including regulatory hurdles. An algorithm that makes a financial service more efficient can be part of a financial technology success, but Makor has combined the approach to data with deep roots in institutional investment and traditional broker services. However, providing traditional financial services to the usual clients of those services is what separates the company from most fintech companies, Michael Halimi, Co-Founder and CEO of Makor Capital says. "Makor is between fintech and a traditional financial services company," Halimi said in an interview. "We have a dynamic and powerful R&D team based in our Israeli office. At the same time our European and US sales force is serving our instructional clients on the ground. From Savile Row to Madison avenue, we are making sure to deliver tailor made advice and services. If we are different from any banks and brokers in the market, it is probably because of our size and our fast decision-making process." The speed and effectiveness of Makor's decision making is powered by its research and development. This also provides a promise of future improvements, just at a time when Halimi says the traditional investment banks have dramatically reduced their manpower from the sale side to the research, which negatively impacts their client coverage, and their ability to recognize opportunities in special situation and risk arbitrage. The disruption of common business practices by new technology and the data it can deliver, sort, and utilize is at risk of seeming cliched as startups and technological pioneers tout the "disruptive" power of their services. Consumers are also becoming used to the idea of technology companies handling their money, due to the hype around businesses like Apple Pay. As important as those ventures may be, however, they represent only a small corner of the financial market which is currently being stormed by companies applying technology to the world of finance. Fintech actually has a much longer history, and a much broader range of applications, than commonly thought. Advertisement That technology is often presented as data control, but it is no less true to say that it is the long-awaited future in which algorithms and "artificial intelligence" have enabled entirely new approaches to old problems. "Fintech is omnipresent at Makor at all levels, from execution, to research, to client portal, as well as sales data analysis. We have invested from day one in an algorithm trading and execution platform to optimize and give the best execution to our institutional clients," Halimi said. "We have algorithms and robots that help our trader to execute any special situation or arbitrage trading taking advantage of market inefficiency." Algorithm trading can generate profit more quickly and frequently than human traders, as it is carried out by computers systematically according to defined instructions. Makor has also applied its innovation to the foreign exchange market, with a proprietary portal and a high speed aggregation platform. This drive to innovate, rather than the technology as such, is the hallmark of fintech, and the reason it will continue to make inroads in a market dominated by big, slow-moving companies. Equities brokering is just one of many areas in which fintech innovation could push into lucrative markets traditionally controlled by big banks. Companies like peer-to-peer credit marketplace Lending Club and digital retail bank for underserved consumers Kreditech have used technology to extend financial services to new customers, and financial professionals believe they could soon steal major market share from the traditional financial services companies, according to research from PwC. Going forward, investment experts are predicting fintech will benefit customers in new financial categories. Vatican City. September 5. Lights, Cameras, Action. Reporting live from St. Peter's Square on the inaugural Feast Day of the newly canonized Santa Teresa Di Calcutta. Surrounded by tens of thousands of pilgrims from every nation, religion and political party, reflecting the people Mother Teresa cared for with compassion and a clear mission. Leading by example to bring more souls to Jesus. It has been an amazing personal journey with profound grace to witness Mother Teresa and her legacy first hand over the past 28 years since we first met in India. Her selfless commitment to God and humanity set the stage for one of the world's most dramatic mysteries "The Making of a Saint." While on one hand it could be construed that her canonization on this September 4th was the culmination of her holy work, the reality is that the story and fruit of God's plan for her purpose in the world has really just begun. Mother Teresa, now St. Teresa of Calcutta, during her brief time on earth planted the seeds of service to God deeply in many hearts thirsting for their life to have meaning. This humble, holy woman personally nurtured spiritual growth and her Christocentric "I Thirst" spirituality continues to grow. Mother Teresa lives on through her ever-growing Missionaries of Charity and the people she touched across the globe. I was blessed to receive seeds of faith from her that hopefully I will pass onto others along the way, if "thirsting" open hearts desire them. Her society of nuns, brothers, priests and co-workers perpetuate her example daily as servants of God. These holy women and men, consecrated to Christ, carry on her work of selflessly helping "the poorest of the poor" and caring for those least wanted or with spiritual poverty. Advertisement In the Catholic tradition, Mother Teresa by her faith and actions has attained eternal life. Thereby, St. Teresa of Calcutta is an intercessor to God for grace. "If I ever become a Saint-I will surely be one of 'darkness.' I will continually be absent from heaven-to light the light of those in darkness on earth" is her deep desire. Whilst anyone can pray directly to God, Catholics believe it is an act of humility to ask a saint to intercede on one's behalf while also undertaking a personal relationship with God as part of an interior life. Finding Calcutta Journalist Kenneth L. Woodward researched and wrote the book "Making Saints, How the Catholic Church Determines Who Becomes a Saint, Who Doesn't and Why." The opening line of the Introduction written in 1990 states, "Is Mother Teresa of Calcutta a saint?" This topical inquiry was written seven years prior to her passing on September 5, 1997. The author's response, "To millions of people she is a 'living saint' for her unselfish service to the diseased, the dying, the wretched, the homeless, the outcast." The moniker of calling her a "living saint" was held by a previous pope now Saint John Paul II. For Mother Teresa her path to sainthood began in Skopje, Macedonia where she was born to Albanian parents who imparted their strong faith and values to the family. In 1928 at the age of eighteen she entered the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Loreto Sisters) in Ireland and took her first vows in Darjeeling, India in 1931, becoming a geography and catechism teacher to Indian girls from affluent families. But it was in the "City of Joy"- Calcutta, India where she discovered her real place of grace, grit and growth in holiness. On September 10, 1946, her "Inspiration Day," on a train journey from Calcutta she received a "call within a call" to "quench the infinite thirst of Jesus on the Cross for love and souls" by "laboring at the salvation and sanctification of the poorest of the poor." The call from God was her founding of the Society of the Missionaries of Charity, the "MC" family in Calcutta on October 7, 1950, the Feast Day of Our Lady of the Rosary. Following in Jesus' footsteps she began with 12 members, primarily Indian girls who were her students. Each "MC" has a number according to date of joining. Currently there are more than 5,000 "MC's" serving God and loving neighbor in poor and war-torn regions worldwide. Advertisement Mother Teresa told me and others who were blessed to experience time and guidance with this inspirational role model saint, "You must find your own Calcutta!" It begins with your family and following your call from God; she would firmly proclaim, while strongly reminding, "The family that prays together, stays together!" Adding with equal conviction, "Be holy, holiness is not the luxury of the few; it is a simple duty for you and for me." Looking deep into your eyes and your heart, the windows of the soul, she would say, "What you can do I cannot do, and what I can do you cannot do, but together we can do something beautiful for God." "The Fruit of Silence is Prayer" Under the blazing golden Italian sun, suddenly as though on cue, this historic canonization ceremony unfolded with a glistening white dove coming out of the crystal clear blue skies above the gray stone head of St. Peter on one side of the simple papal altar. Then somehow knowing that the tens of thousands of faithful were silently engrossed in contemplation listening to the reverent tones of sacred Gregorian chants while gazing at the realistic image of Mother Teresa this beautiful creature flew low almost touching guests gathered in prayer. While Pope Francis sat quietly for a brief interlude under an auspicious red canopy, the bird of "peace" gently glided over the head of St. Paul and soared past the gleaming turquoise blue mosaic entitled Mater Ecclesia, Mother of the Church. The symbolism of every aspect of this occasion is worthy of consideration. For Catholics, the words proclaimed at this very moment during this grace-filled encounter says it all: Veni Creator Spiritus...Come, Holy Spirit, Creator, come from Thy bright heavenly throne; come take possession of our souls and make them all thine own. "The Fruit of Prayer is Faith" People lined up for hours to enter St. Peter's Square. There were colorful flags from a plethora of countries; the most popular accent heard was the Irish brogue as Irish were scattered everywhere. The canonization ceremony began and ended by honoring Holy Mary, Mother and Queen, with all present reciting The Holy Rosary in various languages and Pope Francis offering The Concluding Rites of The Angelus in Latin. The rosary is a favorite prayer of Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity, illustrating devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother of Jesus, whom she called, "Our Lady." The cover on the canonization ceremony program is the Byzantine Icon depiction of Holy Mother Mary holding baby Jesus in her arms with their cheeks touching and their hands holding one another, "Mother of Tenderness." Advertisement Mother Teresa said, "Be only all for Jesus through Mary." She honors Mary as exemplar of practicing one's faith teaching the quickest way to Jesus was through His Mother. After all, Jesus gave her to the world when he cried out to humanity from the Cross, "Behold Thy Mother." The quiet crowd burst into resounding applause as Pope Francis' emotionally proclaimed in Latin the "Formula of Canonization," (English version below): For the honour of the Blessed Trinity,The exaltation of the Catholic faith and The increase of the Christian life, by theauthority of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and our own, afterdue deliberation and frequent prayer for Divine assistance, and having sought the counsel of many of our brother Bishops, we declare and define Blessed Teresa of Calcutta to be a saint and we enroll her among the Saints, decreeing that she is to be venerated as such by the whole Church. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. "The Fruit of Faith is Love" The Gospel of Luke read at the canonization ceremony is highly relevant in a world filled with contradiction and confusion. One of the young Missionary of Charity nuns declared that this Gospel offered clarity to those seeking the truth about God's expectation for souls desiring to be holy. Advertisement The Gospel message teaches "strong faith and tough love," placing God first to save souls: Great crowds accompanied Jesus on His way and he turned and spoke to them. If any man comes to me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, he cannot be my disciple. Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. And indeed, which of you here, intending to build a tower, would not first sit down and work out the cost to see if he had enough to complete it? Otherwise, if he laid the foundation and then found himself unable to finish the work, the onlookers would all start making fun of him and saying, "Here is a man who started to build and was unable to finish (Luke 14:25-33)." Jesus taught Christians "stand your ground" to be respected for your belief structure and to be with Him in eternal life. The Hymn "Jubilee of Mercy" opened the Eucharistic Celebration at the Canonization: Merciful like the Father! Merciful like the Father! Give thanks to the Father, for He is good. His love is everlasting!He created the world with wisdom, His love is everlasting!He leads his people throughout history, His love is everlasting!He pardons and welcomes His children, His love is everlasting! The scorching heat on this canonization day without wind or water was a test of strength and virtue for those standing in the intense sun. Yet when one of the Missionaries of Charity nuns was offered a seat, she lovingly gave it away to a poor elderly man who came all the way from South Sudan on crutches to show his respect and love for Mother Teresa. He told me he was named after King David in the Bible. He shared his frustration for the terrible conflict and senseless deaths in his country. He came to the canonization of Mother Teresa to pray for peace. David smiled beaming from ear to ear, without teeth, but with an obvious heart of gold. Exuding joy he exclaimed, "Salaam Aleikum." My new Sudanese friend David is a devout Muslim. "Peace begins with a smile," Mother Teresa taught "We must love until it hurts" teaching: Do small things with great love. It's not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It's not how much we give, it's how much love we put in the giving. "The Fruit of Love is Service" God certainly works in mysterious ways. In 1996 my sister Carole and I were on our way taking Mother Teresa to San Francisco Airport when she asked her to pray with her to God that she would have a baby after years of trying to become pregnant. The dozen sweet "MC" nuns in the back of the van on that momentous day giggled and told my sister to prepare a name for the baby in honor of Mother Teresa. Blake "Terrence" was born nine months later, a healthy baby boy now desiring to become a doctor to serve God and poor patients. The fruit of love is desire to serve others. He joined me at the canonization ceremonies thanking God for the fruit of his life. "The Fruit of Service is Peace" Interfaith understanding and charitable cooperation for a more peaceful world is a vibrant fruit flowing from St. Teresa of Calcutta's seeds of faith, hope and love planted throughout the world by her Missionaries of Charity. On her first Feast Day, celebrated today in St. Peter's Square, the holiest part of the Holy Mass-The Liturgy of the Holy Eucharist commences with: I thirst not for water, I thirst for love, I thirst for peace, I thirst for souls. Sweet Lord, I will quench Thy thirst for love. The closing message is: "I long to light the light of love in the heart of every creature of God. God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. God still loves the world and sends you and me to be His love, His compassion to the poor." +Saint Teresa of Calcutta Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump smiles as he meets with local labor leaders and union members during a campaign stop in Brook Park, Ohio, U.S. September 5, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar Donald Trump's speech in Arizona about his signature issue of immigration terrified me. Of particular concern was the perception that anyone who is not in Trump's image will be objects of his ire. In a Trump presidency, I have three strikes against me: immigrant, Muslim and brown-skinned. Trump's slogan of making America great again sounds fascistic because by any objective measure America is not in serious decline. Yet he has been able to persuade many that people who do not fit the profile of the majority pose an existential threat to America. Noted CNN commentator Fareed Zakaria views Trump as a bullshit artist who is so oblivious about the world that he fails to recognize reality, even when it is obvious. This shows up in his lack of understanding about immigrants and their struggles. Advertisement In his Arizona speech, besides the dark picture he painted of immigrants, Trump advocated returning immigration levels to "historical norms," a term he left undefined. This sounded like dog-whistle for returning America to the pre-1965 days when immigration was mostly limited to white Europeans. His speech gave the impression that America is awash with immigrants when in reality the number of legal immigrants to America has remained at about one million per year over the past two decades. The foreign born population in the U.S. now stands at only 13 percent, posing no threat to the native born majority. In addition, the number of undocumented immigrants has decreased to around 11 million from its peak of 12.2 million in 2007. Net migration, the difference between people coming and leaving, from Mexico is now close to zero. By reasonable estimates, it is impossible to make the assertion that crime rates from undocumented immigrants are more than those from native born Americans. Trump's statement that, "Illegal immigration costs our country more than $113 billion a year" was rated "Mostly False" by the fact-checking website PolitiFact. Trump also played on the fears of refugees, some of the most vulnerable people on earth. Since 9-11, America has resettled 784,000 refugees, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Only three have been arrested for planning terrorist activity and only one of them for plotting to harm the homeland. As a so called "law and order" candidate Trump is silent about the many deaths resulting from police brutality or from mass shootings by people other than Muslims. Trump also shows little reverence and understanding for the U.S. Constitution. Trump advocated the closure of mosques, because "some bad things are happening." He was oblivious of the fact that the First Amendment protects religious liberty of all Americans. In his Arizona speech Trump advocated "extreme vetting" of visitors to the U.S., not just on understandable security grounds but on inexplicable ideological grounds. He called out "radical Islam" as one example requiring "extreme vetting." How does one spot "radical Islam" at the border? How does a border agent determine which visitor is telling the truth about their true ideological beliefs? Advertisement Trump also lacks understanding of the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Trump not only wants to reinstitute the torturous practice of water boarding but he also advocates killing family members of suspected terrorists. Trump's blanket ban on all people from "terrorist countries" is possibly unconstitutional because the definition of "terrorist countries" is vague and if any such definition only singles out Muslim majority countries, it could be viewed by a court as a thinly veiled guise for discriminating against Muslims. When Trump railed against a judge and proclaimed him unfit because of his Mexican heritage, he not only exhibited racial animus but also ignorance about the separation of powers idea in the U.S. Constitution. Paul Wisenthal (TheProfessionalWriter.com) is a Pulitzer Prize nominee and award-winning writer based in New York City. A leading expert on alternative educational programs for at-risk youth, his ground-breaking stories appear in The Huffington Post, The New York Times, Newsday, USA Today and other major publications. His lectures/workshops (The Power of Story) continue to impact thousands of educators and students at Ivy League colleges and universities, including Yale, Columbia Stanford, New York University, CUNY, Jobs Corps, and Harvard Club's CEO's Club. (Readers can contact Paul Wisenthal at: paulwisenthal@gmail.com or his manager Rosemary Edwards at: (rosemaryedwards@rvellc.com.) Eleven-year old Joe struggled with temper tantrums. His anxieties drove him to physical violence and numerous school suspensions in Wales, United Kingdom. A year ago his uncontrolled outbursts were tempered after James McKeon, a school psychological counselor, began working with him using MakeBeliefsComix.com, one of the world's most popular educational comic websites. Advertisement The troubled teenager learned to channel his anxieties and fears into storytelling using the comics. Working one-on-one twice a week, they tapped into two resources offered by the free site. One enables visitors to create comic strip stories using comic strip characters created by noted illustrator Tom Bloom, interactive designer Toby Rosser, and best-selling author Bill Zimmerman, the site's founder. The other provides hundreds of comic printables that ask questions to help users express their deepest thoughts. "The comic strip and printables sections helped Joe identify a lot of his feelings and he started to empathize with others in his social reactions," said his counselor in a recent interview. One of the printables used asks the reader to jot down ''5 Things that I like about myself.'' "Struggling to see positive traits about himself, we worked on things he liked about himself." Over a few weeks, Joe eventually ''came up with traits such as 'I am caring toward younger children'; 'I'm a good friend'; 'I'm funny'; 'I have a good memory' and 'I am kind.' At the beginning of each session, McKeon insisted that Joe tell something nice about himself. "Slowly this built up his own self-esteem and he could then see all the positive traits he had, rather than concentrating on the negatives all the time.'' Children with Autism and Specials Needs Create Comics Comic strip created by one of Sharon Eilts' students at MakeBeliefsComix.com In California, Sharon Eilts, a 40-year veteran special education teacher, incorporates the web site's four-cell comic strips when working with her middle-school students who have autism and special needs. Advertisement "Playing on the site instills self-confidence and helps me recognize serious social issues," she said in a recent interview. She cites the example of a child creating a comic strip on the site which revealed he was being bullied at school. According to Eilts, the increasing use of educational comics websites provide an easy transition from the morning TV cartoon shows children watched while growing up. "It helps kids relieve their stress levels and avoid face-to-face confrontations. They can control what they feel and think using comic characters they are comfortable with. The site brings out the magic in them." Educators Increasingly Using Digital Tools Three million parents, teachers, students, education professionals, and families, even refugees learning English, are drawn annually to MakeBeliefsComix.com. Utilizing digital resources like the comic generator reflects the effort by educators to think out of the box in order to shrink the historic achievement gap between struggling public schools and others, says Megan Beyer of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. With never enough funds available for special needs education, educators and therapists like Eilts and McKeon are turning to innovative tools like MakeBeliefsComix and other digital aids to stimulate literacy, communication and linguistic skills. They find these web sites help more students became engaged, improve their attention span and increase their class participation. The American Library Association cites MakeBeliefsComix.com as one of the best children's web sites. Google, UNESCO and Parent's Choice Foundation, which evaluates children's media, acknowledge this award-winning site for its educational value to people of all ages. Advertisement With the Help of Comic Prompts, Ben Confronts His Low Self Esteem In Wales, Ben R., 16, another highly anxious student avoided school, suffered from low self-esteem and felt uncomfortable in social situations. Working together, counselor McKeon and Ben found the writing prompt printables and comic strip on the MakeBeliefsComix site easy to understand and use - and helpful to getting Ben to express his deepest feelings. James McKeon (right) works with Ben using one of the printables from Make Beliefs Comix. (Photo by Ben's Mom,Sarah Smith) For example, one of the illustrated printables McKeon uses asks: ''Make believe that wearing a mask could transform you into the person you thought you wanted to be. How would you differ from the way you are now?'' Another asks: ''My happiest memory is...'' Ben talked about how he'd like to be confident in social situations as he is when he was acting in his drama/theatre group. "His mask was himself on stage," said McKeon. "We talked about how far away this was from his 'true self' and what he needed to do to become more confident and a braver Ben." Said Ben, "The site appealed to me because of the way the comics are worded and the stylistic drawings. It felt like a safe place and helped with my self-esteem." Growing up in Cwmbran, Torfaen, Wales, a few hours outside of London, both Ben and Joe could not connect socially with other students. They stayed at home all the time. Engaged in isolated activities like watching TV. Joe's school and Ben's mother were deeply concerned for the boys' future education and emotional well-being. After McKeon introduced them to MakeBeliefsComix, the boys could also select from among the 60 fun, quirky characters (each one shows four different emotions) to create comic strips about difficult social situations. And using the site's cartoon writing prompts, the students found peaceful resolutions for their deep anxieties. Confronting worries about going to college, Ben used the web site's comic strip function to help deal with this. McKeon recalls Ben created a comic strip in which he expressed how he might manage different difficult situations that could arise in college. ''This helped him visualize himself managing difficult situations which in turn alleviated his anxieties.'' Today Ben attends college, has higher self- esteem and is much less anxious in social situations. As for Joe, says McKeon, "He really improved his understanding of others' feelings. He is also able to manage his own frustrations and anger more effectively and come a long way. I am very proud of him.'' Advertisement Academic Instructional Tool Speech pathologist and clinical supervisor, Maribeth Plankers at Minnesota State University Moorhead (MSUM) uses the comic site as an instructional tool for her graduate students. She introduced both the comic creator and the printables of MakeBeliefsComix as important teaching resources during the two-year speech pathologist graduate program at MSUM. Plankers showed one of her student clinicians how to use the site's resources to improve a boy's communication skills by his creating comic stories. (Photo M. Plankers) Maribeth Plankers (left) shows student graduate clinician how to use MakeBeliefsComix.com. She cites the story about 11 year-old Tim (not real name) who visited the university's speech language and hearing clinic with challenging narrative language issues. The youngster used the different comic characters, each of which expresses four different emotions, to create stories. Using the comic creator function, he selected a boy character travelling to visit the White House. First he chose the character, then a scene representing travel; after which he chose to write using speech-to-text in the blank speech and thought balloons. "For the first time, Tim managed to tell a story independently, in sequential order". "As his confidence grew with the section, he became more engaged and it soon became a game. Tim's reaction was remarkable. He gained self-confidence in himself and communicated his feelings.'' She continued, ''It's a very powerful teaching tool.'' Visiting one of her grandchildren, Plankers introduced her grandson Tristan to MakeBeliefs. The eight-year-old said, ""You can do anything with this app. There's different things you can do and different characters. The coolest part is you can make up your mind and change it. I like that I only had to write a few words. It's really cool that you can print your own comic." Tristan, 8, plays with MakeBeliefsComix.com. (Photo M. Plankers) In Sunnyvale, California, special education teacher Sharon Eilts at Columbia Middle School incorporates MakebeliefsComix.Com in her lesson plans at least three times a week. One of Eilts' students, Adam, a 12 year-old with mild autism, used his words in the comic strip speech bubbles from the site to communicate deep anger. His comics revealed that he was being subjected to constant bullying in his general education classes. Discovering this,Mrs. Eilts immediately notified the school's administration to change his classes. Advertisement Comic created by one of Sharon Eilts' special needs students at MakeBeliefsComix.com. She said, "He used a three-cell comic strip using the alligator [character] and several other cartoon animals' talk balloons to say what other kids were saying to him.'' After he was placed in different classes, she witnessed a huge change. "His trust level in my classroom staff improved and he began to communicate his feelings. something challenging for most kids with autism." She continued. "Bill's [Zimmerman's] creations provide a safe, therapeutic outlet that gives my students the skills and tools to communicate but in a way that is not uncomfortable." According to Eilts, some students in her social skills class have the "ah ha " or light bulb" moment once introduced to the site. Others take some time to be oriented to their iPads, ''but it's always fun and wonderful to see their reactions after they get it." Eilts recommends parents and teachers also try other web sites and applications, including Comic Life, Quiet Rev.com, and BookShare (not comic driven) which help those with learning impairments. Immigrant Students Learn English by Creating Comic Strips A major user segment of MakeBeliefsComix is made up of educators who teach English to foreign students throughout the world. The site has a whole section of activities for teachers of English for Speakers of Other Languages (go to http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/ESOL/ ) . Advertisement Comic created at MakeBeliefsComix.com In many countries, comic or graphic books are often used to teach different subjects. Text for comic strips created at MakeBeliefsComix can be written in seven different languages. Tamara Kirson, named New York Times ESOL Teacher of the Year, said that from the moment her immigrant students at City College opened the website they were able to comfortably explore the site with minimal instruction. ''Clearly, when students create a comic strip of their own,'' she wrote in TESOL Essential Teacher magazine, ''they are using their reading and writing skills as well as tapping into their creativity. The comic strip work readily supports classroom work.'' (See Kirson and her students work at the site on YouTube at: http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/ESOL/ESOL-Videos-Lesson-Plans) One of Kirson's students was Ramos Santos, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic. Said Santos, "The comix helped me to develop my ideas. I found a way to write an essay and express my feelings." He continued, "It reminds me of my grandfather who also loved comics. I can also trust my emotions more." Comic Therapy for Refugee Children in Berlin And, recently, in Berlin, Germany, a refugee help group -- PassTheCrayon -- began using the comic site's Comic printables to help Syrian and other refugee children learn the German language. They translated the text for the comic-drawn printables into German and also used them for art therapy for the children. Says Sevin Ozdemir, one of the group's founders, MakeBeliefsComix.com was introduced to three refugee sites where they visit weekly to help Syrian, Iranian, Iraqi and Afghani children learn German. They use art therapy to inspire them after the trauma and horrors they have experienced in leaving their countries. Refugee children using printables from MakeBeliefsComix for art therapy and to learn German language.(Photo: Martin Ringenbach) Advertisement The group's co-founder, Martin Ringenbach, says that in using MakeBeliefs' cartoon printables, "the kids expressed their inner fears about violence.'' Using, for example, a printable that depicts a street vendor and asks the reader to write or draw what the vendor sells, ''a young boy spontaneously drew a military tank and some guns. He also drew the street vendor with an evil face," said Ringenbach. (Photo: Martin Ringenbach) The refugee help group is seeking 40 laptop computers to expand their programs to other sites. (They can be contacted at: http://passthecrayon.com/contact ) Ozdemir recounts her own experiences in using the printables with the children. "Others worked with their imagination instead of their memory. They created the world they wanted to live in and including dealing with metaphysical questions.'' She said a 12 year-old refugee girl responded to a printable that asked, ''Make believe you could wave a magic wand. What two wishes would come true?" The girl, she said, expressed the wish to be a rabbit instead of a human and exchange her position with this creature in order to be able to experience another life other than former self. "By using the MakeBeliefsComix.Com tools, each refugee kid can express their inner feelings or vision of one question that seemed simple, but in reality, there are a million ways to answer that simple question. This makes our work all the worthwhile,'' said Ozdemir. Advertisement Says Zimmerman, creator of MakeBeliefsComix, ''It never ceases to amaze me how the site finds new innovative uses. It makes me feel so good that the web site is helping to make the world a little better.'' About Bill Zimmerman, The Creator of MakeBeliefsComix.com What made a 65 year-old retired newspaper editor create a comics web site for kids? It all goes back to Bill Zimmerman's love of comics as a boy. Growing up in family beset by his parents' economic and marital woes, he would try to escape the chaos by submerging himself in the Sunday newspaper comics sections and comic books. "The colors and illustrations were dazzling. I could escape into the illustrators' imaginations and enter worlds far better than the one I was living in," he remembers. His favorites: Dick Tracy, Mandrake The Magician and Wonder Woman. Despite having early problems learning to read, he later graduated from Queens College, then landed a job at American Banker newspaper where he eventually became editor in chief. His love of comic artists remained. " I wanted to work with cartoonists so I added cartoons to improve the paper's graphics." There he began to work with artist Tom Bloom and on his own time created two dozen interactive writing prompt books. These include the best-selling Lunch Box Letters: Writing Notes of Love & Encouragement to Your Children, Pocket Doodles for Kids, and MakeBeliefs: A Gift for Your Imagination. His books can be seen at: www.billztreasurechest.com . Later, joining Newsday newspaper, one of the nation's largest tabloids, Zimmerman created the Pulitzer-nominated Student Briefing Page to teach youngsters about current events. The pioneering interactive page, published three times a week, encouraged readers to respond to major current events. This feature generated thousands of letters a month from youngsters, as well as adults. It soon became one of the most popular parts of the newspaper. When he left Newsday, Zimmerman teamed up with interactive designer Toby Rosser (www.tobyrosserdesign.com) to create a web site that would encourage families to draw closer by creating comic strip stories and having fun together as well as improve students' literacy skills. Thus was born MakeBeliefsComix.com, funded from his personal savings. ''My goal, in all my work,'' says Zimmerman, ''has been to create a safe place where people of all ages can tap into their imaginations to discover new ways to express all the important things within them - their sense of humor, their writers' voices, their ideas and concerns, the ability to tell stories about their lives - and to have fun.'' (Zimmerman can be reached at billz@makebeliefscomix.com) Advertisement E-BOOKS By Bill Zimmerman You can download Bill Zimmerman's free interactive e-books at: http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/eBooks/ What You Will Find at www.makebeliefscomix.com Users of MakeBeliefsComix.com can select from among more than 60 cartoon characters, each of which shows four different emotions - happy, sad, angry and thoughtful. Choosing among two- , three- or four-paneled comic strips, they then fill talk or thought balloons with text now available in seven different languages, including English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Latin, Portuguese. Additional languages will soon follow. Visitors create their own comic strips stories about their lives and what's going on their external world. In addition to creating comics, the free site offers a variety of creative entry points, including hundreds of printables, free interactive e-books which help English language learners and literacy students, and a writing prompts blog called Somethingtowriteabout.com. These resources provoke children to write and talk. There is also a free MakeBeliefsComix app for iPad users that can be downloaded at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/make-beliefs-comix/id795026580?ls=1&mt=8 More Info About Refugee Children in Berlin Europe's immigration crisis presents a different set of dilemmas to the newly formed Germany- based PassTheCrayon organization. With over 1 million refugees packed into factories, churchs and other temporary housing, Kurdish-born Sevin Ozdemir and Martin Ringenbach a former assistant photographer at Paris's Louvre , recruited 15 volunteers to work with these displaced families living in Berlin. Advertisement Refugee children using printables from MakeBeliefsComix (Photo: Martin Ringenbach) They introduced Makebeliefcomix.com to three refugee sites, including the Notunterkunft Rathaus Wilmersdorf , a former town hall in Berlin, where they visit weekly to help Syrian, Iranian, Iraqi and Afghani children learn German and be inspired after the trauma and horrors they have experienced. With over 54,000 refugees housed in temporary facilities including empty factories in Berlin, the city continues to receive 20 new immigrants every day. Their volunteers, many who are former immigrants. include students, graphic designers and artists who are drawn from 10 different countries and speak many languages. According to the group's founders, there are currently 70 refugee sites around the city which have stretched their meager resources to the limit. They hope to discuss their situation with the President of Germany who recently requested a meeting with them. The group can be contacted at http://passthecrayon.com/contact/. They are seeking 40 laptop computers to expand their programs to other locations. The co-founders of http://passthecrayon.com/contact/ hope to raise an immediate 50,000 Euros to address some of the expenses to expand since both continue to tap into their own personal finances. Donors can contact them through Betterplace.org: http://betterplace.org/p34682 or visit their website: http://passthecrayon.com/donate/ "By using the MakeBeliefsComix.Com tools, each refugee kid can express their inner feelings or vision of one question that seemed simple, but in reality, there are a million ways to answer that simple question. This makes our work all the worthwhile." said Ozdemir. Other Recommended Sites for Children with Challenges Bookshare.org Bookshare, a Benetech initiative, is the world's largest online library of accessible ebooks for people with print disabilities. Through its extensive collection of educational and popular titles, specialized book formats, and reading tools, Bookshare offers individuals who cannot read standard print materials the same ease of access that people without disabilities enjoy. Bookshare is free for all qualified U.S. students. Advertisement Bookshare is an initiative of Benetech, a Palo Alto, California-based nonprofit that empowers communities in need by creating scalable technology solutions. Benetech has transformed how over 425,000 people with disabilities read; made it safer for human rights defenders in over fifty countries to document human rights violations; and equipped environmental conservationists to protect ecosystems and species all over the world. Benetech Labs is working on the next big impact. Other Comic Sites: https://www.pixton.com Pixton is Free-to Use and Pixton's characters help kids understand nuance of expression, ultimately boosting their confidence in real life. One parent described Pixton with its realistic facial expressions and life-like poses as "art therapy like no other." Visited annually by millions of people drawn from the United States and around the world, New York City's Department of Education, Palo Alto Unified School District, and Chicago Public Schools adopted Pixton.com to give students an alternative way to write creatively and express themselves. The world has gone mad. At least that's the way it seems. Not a single month has gone by in 2016 without a major terrorist attack somewhere in the world. Libya, Iraq, Burkina Faso, Baghdad, Somalia Turkey, Brussels, Kabul, Yemen, Orlando, Florida and Cameroon have all weathered terrorist attacks this year. The most recent occurred in July on Bastille Day as crowds gathered to watch the fireworks in Nice. 2016 has also seen more than its share of natural disasters. Tornadoes, earthquakes, volcano eruptions, floods, tsunamis, earthquakes and landslides have all been recorded in 2016. With each disaster, the number of innocents killed grows larger and more vexing. And with each disaster we mourn and collectively wonder if there is nothing that can be done to stem the tide of lives lost. In each situation the reverberations will continue to be felt long after the initial strike and more victims will be added to the tally of casualties. Many who will have survived the initial assault will nevertheless die as a result of trauma and time. Advertisement Trauma has always posed a dilemma for emergency responders because, in many respects, it poses a roadblock to administering immediate care. For instance, one of the first steps in treating traumatic injury after stopping the bleeding is to administer transfusion of fluids. However, these fluids should be introduced at body temperature to avoid worsening the existing patient hypothermia that almost always follows traumatic injury. In the face of a new world reality and the inevitable consequences that stem from senseless violence and unpredictable natural events, the medical industry has had to adapt its practices and protocols. The new standard for emergency care and treatment was appropriately modeled after military protocols that have been perfected from years of treating casualties in places like Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iran. This includes not only rapid hemorrhage control, securing airways and treating tension pneumothorax, but also preventing the trauma 'triad of death' by warming the patient. When trauma occurs the survival of victims depends on the speed of treatment; resting squarely on the shoulders of the first responders. Bleeding has been cited as the most preventable cause of death in a trauma situation. One of the first steps in treating casualties is to stop the bleeding and obtain hemorrhage control. Quikclot offers a product that was originally developed for military use in the field and has since been employed by hospitals and EMS responders. When Quikclot is applied to the wounded area, bleeding stops within minutes and the potential to save a life increases dramatically. Advertisement Keeping trauma patients stable largely depends on keeping them warm. Until now, the transfusion process could best be done in a hospital setting; necessitating transfer of the victim and wasting precious time. For the first time, technology has given us the capability to simply and efficiently heat blood, plasma or other fluids at the site of the injury for immediate transfusion. Countless lives may be saved as a result. Quality in Flow (QinFlow) has developed an in-line fluid warming solution that delivers warm blood instantaneously, even at high fluid resuscitation rates. The QinFlow Warrior is a high performance, lightweight, and portable warmer with a dual power source (battery and AC) so that it can be reliably used on the spot in any pre-hospital and hospital trauma environment. It is designed with a single button operation to avoid any confusion in an already intense situation. Likewise, time consuming setup or calibration are not required. Developed by former Israeli military personnel, it directly addresses and solves the dilemma of administering field based transfusions. 11 seconds to warm up fluids could be the difference between life and death. After stabilizing the patient and commencing warm fluid resuscitation, relocation to a proper facility is the final step in prehospital care. A patient's security and safety during transportation to the nearest trauma center or hospital is critical. Stryker Medical is the leading manufacturer of medical patient handling equipment for hospitals and emergency and rescue operations. Stryker's mobility solutions, support surface therapies, bed monitoring and Connected Hospital technologies set the standard for emergency medical transport. Co-authored by Rachael Bedard, MD, Jonathan Giftos, MD, M. Catherine Trimbur, MD, MPH, Katherine Wang, MD, Alison Rapoport, MD, Lello Tesema, MD, Ann Crawford-Roberts, medical student, Leo Eisenstein, medical student We are a group of physicians and medical students who wrote this letter to galvanize our profession into action. What started out as a handful of co-signers from across the country has now multiplied to thousands, and counting. We were comforted to find we weren't alone in our feelings, and our voice would not remain small. To the Black Lives Matter movement and to our colleagues in other healthcare professions who have been leading the fight for racial justice: we hear you, and we are showing up. In the same ways we require collaboration for individual patient care, it is even more important we unite to face this issue that affects the entire country. What follows is the original letter in its entirety. We are doctors and medical students who witnessed the events of the week of July 4th, 2016 with horror and grief. The murders of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Philando Castile in St. Paul, Minnesota and Delrawn Small in Brooklyn, New York reiterated a lesson that we should not have to keep learning: that black and brown people in the United States are at risk of police violence unlike any other group of people. There is a long tradition of physician-activists who have devoted their careers to working for racial justice. Yet historically, physicians as a group have not yet taken adequate responsibility for confronting racism, in our work or outside of it. We write to you now, late in making these promises, to make explicit the following five commitments: Advertisement 1. We commit to support Black Lives Matter. We write to express our solidarity with activists around the country who are working to protect and promote the dignity, well-being and equality of black people. We stand with Black Lives Matter in protests and affirm BLM's commitments to restorative justice and respect for life. We hear in the clarion call for empathy and loving engagement the values that inspire us to care for patients. Following the lead of medical students who have organized themselves to form White Coats 4 Black Lives, we stand with friends and colleagues who organize to fight racial injustice. We commit to recognize our own conscious and unconscious biases, to be honest about the systems and teams in which we work, and to call out what we see. We promise to recognize our potential to lead and to work for change. 3. We commit to learn how to provide trauma-informed care, and to teach this approach to our students, trainees, and fellow providers. Traumatic experiences linked to community violence, segregation, concentrated poverty and discrimination negatively impact our patients' health. We commit to partnering with our patients to address the pervasive stress associated with surviving in an unjust world, to recognize signs of trauma in our patients, to respond to trauma in our treatment plans and to avoid retraumatizing those we seek to serve. We will recognize and learn from the strength and resilience of the communities we care for. We will learn to support individual paths to healing. We will strive to practice with transparency in order to promote trust. We will seek to empower rather than patronize and diminish. We commit to practice with deep respect and love. 4. We commit to healing communities ravaged by discriminatory criminal justice practices through engaging public health systems. We will confront discriminatory practices in the criminal justice system by measuring the questions that matter. These might include but are not limited to: monitoring trends in police violence; assessing the impact of mass incarceration on communities of color; and supporting evidence-based public health approaches to community violence. We will explore how local public health systems can convene diverse stakeholders in education, healthcare, law enforcement and faith-based organizations to facilitate truth and reconciliation forums in communities devastated by structural violence. We commit to models of community-based participatory research in which our patients serve as partners in our inquiries. We will support evidence-based policies that leverage the lessons from this research and we will lobby legislators to prioritize programs that promote racial justice. 5. We commit to using our power as constituents and leaders to insist that every major medical society and association develop a policy on racial justice. A policy on racial justice is a starting point; we will also hold these organizations accountable to their statements and leverage their influence to elect political leadership that represents our concerns. We will use the powerful organizations that are meant to represent us as physicians to demand change locally and nationally. Advertisement Much of what we promise to do in this letter is informed by the work of our activist colleagues and forebears, and some will require we make a new road by walking. We feel an urgency to set these intentions as a step along the path to change, recognizing there are many more steps for us all to take. We see the killing of black and brown people by police as just the edge of the knife; it is the sharpest, most acute consequence of a systemic racism that devalues black and brown lives. We cannot allow it to persist. With humility we make these commitments today to you, our patients, and to the possibility for a more just world. On Tuesday, President Obama shortened sentences for 111 more prisoners as part of the ongoing clemency initiative his administration started two years ago. This brings Obama's total number of shortened sentences to 673--more than the past ten presidents combined. This long-held executive power, known as commutation, serves as a check on overly punitive sentences, and this president's heavy-handed use of the power shines a light on the overwhelming prison problem in the United States. The United States currently imprisons more people than any country in the history of the world. Though the United States makes up only 5% of the world's population, we have 25% of the world's prisoners. So much for the "Land of the Free." I explore the reasons for this vast overincarceration--and the implications for our society--in my new documentary, Incarcerating US, which premieres September 15th. Incarcerating US tells the story of America's broken criminal justice system through the eyes of those who created it, those who have suffered through it, and those who are fighting to change it. Advertisement Among the documentary's subjects is Amy Povah, who was sentenced to prison for conspiracy in her estranged husband's drug crimes that she was intentionally shielded from. Her husband agreed to a plea bargain, earning him a mere three years' probation in the United States. But because she refused to wear a wire and implicate people she'd never met, Amy received a staggering sentence of 24 years. After a vigorous media campaign, President Clinton eventually pardoned Amy. She abruptly but happily returned to her life. Amy and the handful of others who receive a commutation by the President and return home to their families have major cause for celebration. But there are thousands more nonviolent drug offenders serving unjust sentences that are not proportional to their crimes. Amy saw this firsthand in prison. Sadly, the vast majority of people are unlikely to attract Presidential attention or pardon. As Amy laments in Incarcerating US, "I may be free, but so many of my friends and other people aren't." Today Amy does excellent work fighting for clemency for others through her nonprofit, Can-Do Justice Through Clemency. The current news about Anthony Weiner presents a unique problem to Life in the Boomer Lane. Having used all of her best humor in her previous two posts about him, she isn't sure where to run with this latest inability Weiner has, to keep his penis in his pants. Weiner brings new meaning to the phrase, "Zip it shut." Weiner, destined for a life of mockery because of his last name, has, in this latest episode of poor choices, crossed the line in two ways. The first is that his wife, Huma Abedin, is the vice chairwoman of Hillary Clinton's 2016 run for the presidency. Abedin has never in her long, distinguished career of service to Hillary, been engaged in an election as important as this one. The second poor choice was that, among all of the sexually explicit photos he sent, was one of his underwear-clad crotch, as his four-year-old son Jordan was shown sleeping next to him in bed. Advertisement It's tough to say what drives this man. Or rather, it's tough to say that, with so much at stake in his life, he allows his dick to do the driving for him. He's lost his political career. He's lost his marriage. He's lost his reputation. The only gain he's had is to be a wealth of material for late night TV hosts and undeservedly unknown bloggers. The Weiner episode does allow LBL a temporary respite from the daily terror of anticipating the latest news headlines. And the thought of why Weiner would continue to knowingly ruin his life is as great a mystery to her as to why she ate so much Rocky Road Haagen Dazs last night. Of course, she knows the answer to both: addiction. She is grateful that hers extends only to ice cream, chocolate and nachos. She feels pretty sure that these will not ruin her marriage or her career. Although, she also suspects that if Now Husband knew that she occasionally eats ice cream in the car (directly from the little carton, with no spoon), he might give second thought to his marital commitment. Dovetailing with the news about Weiner was a piece about students at the University of Texas, using dildos to protest guns on campus. Their "Cocks Not Glocks" protest against Texas's "campus carry" law was held on the first day of classes. The new law permits licensed gun owners aged 21 and older to carry concealed handguns in most places on public university campuses, including dorms and classrooms. According to The Guardian, "Demonstrators gathered to brandish sex toys in the air or strap them to their backpacks. Or other places. 'We have crazy laws here but this is by far the craziest, that you can't bring a dildo on to campus legally but you can bring your gun. We're just trying to fight absurdity with absurdity,' said Rosie Zander, a 20-year-old history student." Advertisement Throughout history, as we well know, the sight of a penis (or a huge bulge in one's Haines) has meant many things to many people. Weiner and the U of Texas students have each made choices about how to use the penis to best advantage. In this case, LBL would like Weiner to keep his permanently hidden, while she encourages the U of Texas students to keep flaunting theirs. Earlier on Huff/Post50: Smartphone users in front of a Twitter logo. REUTERS Twitter Spain SL, the Spanish affiliate of the popular micro-blogging website, recorded a turnover of more than 4.8 million in 2015, a 56% increase on the previous year. The bulk of its revenue comes from services it provides to Twitter International Company, which is registered in Ireland. This allows the Spanish division to transfer most of its profits to that country, where corporate tax rates are lower than in Spain. But the full amount that the Spanish affiliate makes is not made public, because it is carried out through the Irish parent company. This does not constitute tax fraud under Spanish and EU law, and is another example of the ways that multinationals can exploit legal loopholes to reduce their tax burden. The Tax Agency has launched a campaign this year to prevent multinationals such as Twitter, Apple and Google from transferring their profits to tax havens Created on February 27, 2013, Twitter Spain ended its first fiscal year on December 31 with income of just under 1 million and net profits of 46,772.50. According to the companys 2015 annual report, Twitters Spanish division recorded a net profit of 246,069: Its activities consist of carrying out all kinds of marketing and business development The development of all kinds of advertising and providing support services and products. Twitter Spains entire business, which grew by 56% year on year in 2015, comes from billing its Irish parent company, which pays the minimum amount required to cover its operating costs. The company paid 110,213 in corporate tax in 2015. Its accounts do not provide any information as to whether it has any dispute with the Spanish Tax Agency. The Tax Agency has launched a campaign this year to prevent multinationals such asTwitter, Apple and Google from transferring their profits to tax havens. It has already opened an investigation into Apple in Spain, while a team of inspectors searched the offices of Google in June. English version by Nick Lyne. As I watched Donald Trump on Friday in Philadelphia meeting with Black Republican leaders, then visiting a Black Church in Detroit over the weekend, and also giving an interview to the Impact Network (a Black Christian religious network) I waited and waited to hear his policies on why Black America should try him as something new. Trump claims we have nothing to lose; he even said that he would be unveiling a new civil rights agenda. But the more he talked, the more I thought about a song that my surrogate father, the godfather of soul himself, James Brown, made that contained the following lyrics: "Like a dull knife just ain't cuttin/just talkin' loud then sayin' nothing." After combing through all of the public reports, and after interviewing Bishop Jackson on my MSNBC "Politics Nation" show (Trump visited this Bishop's Detroit Church), I do not see a hint of an agenda or a suggestion as to how Trump would do anything to tackle our very real concerns. It is merely a bunch of slogans and themes that do not explain at all what he would do around the challenges of continued inequality from jobs to wages, to criminal justice reform, to health care disparities or to unequal access to education and more. We, the Black community specifically, are in dire need of more progress in all of these areas, but have unquestionably faired better under Democrats than Republicans. There is still no track record of Trump, who has been in business for three decades, that indicates a commitment to Blacks. What we do have instead is a record of housing discrimination and full-page ads to bring the death penalty back to New York against five Black and Latino teenagers. For Trump to get national coverage all weekend about his so-called efforts to reach out to the Black community and not be clear about any sort of specifics would be laughable were it not so serious. There isn't even anything to debate here because he hasn't proposed a single thing. How do you contrast Clinton's criminal justice, health, economic and education policies -- all outlined at National Action Network's convention, the National Association of Black Journalists' convention, as well as other settings -- when Trump has not outlined anything or met with anyone? This weekend was just more theatrics without any concrete substance. It is time that people understand that it is an insult to Black voters (or any voters for that matter), if you ask them for their support, suggest that they not support others, but not give any reason why they should support you. It is blatantly implying that we are dummies because we support Democrats for no reason, as if we don't see, hear and observe policies and realities that impact our lives. We know very well what happens under Republican leadership versus Democratic leadership on both local and national levels, and our votes coincide with that reality. I understand from Bishop Jackson that Trump said he's willing to meet with civil rights leaders including Cornell Brooks of the NAACP, Mark Morial of the National Urban League and myself just as Clinton did. That meeting should be for him to not only hear from us, but for him to outline his agenda in all of the areas I mentioned and how he would put his background as a businessman to practice. Absent that, this weekend was just a series of photo ops. Maybe he can't lay out policies because he's appealing to a fringe right crowd that would object and he doesn't want to lose their backing. Maybe if he had a set target or percentage of how many Black businesses he would create or support in order to alleviate economic inequality for example, that would fly in the face of some of his base. Maybe this is precisely why he opted not to give any specifics and use a dull knife that didn't cut the butter in Detroit. Just talkin' loud and so far, sayin' nothing. LOS ANGELES, CA - MAY 24: A food truck is seen at the 'Say Anything' 25th anniversary screening at Exposition Park on May 24, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images) When conservative activist Marco Gutierrez warned about the consequences of a loss for his side in November - "taco trucks on every corner" - the internet rejoiced. "I'm not seeing a downside here," any number of people commented. A friend pointed out that panang curry trucks would be nice too, and it would be awfully helpful to have easy access to some good shwarma and tabouli, along with a real New York bagel. Our conversations about immigration in the United States have tended to center around fear. It is, after all, normal to be afraid of what we don't know or understand. The problem is that when we hold our debate on these terms -- one side expressing anxiety, the other reassuring -- we miss the real benefits cultural diversity brings. Advertisement As a Unitarian Universalist minister, I live in a world defined by differences. My faith is rooted in the idea that we are stronger when we're surrounded by people of many backgrounds, beliefs, ethnicities, abilities, cultures, gender identities and sexual orientations. Each week I preach the value of a community of diversity, in which all of us deepen through our connections with people who don't see the world as we do, or have different life experiences, or bring different gifts and perspectives. Each week we remind one another that we grow when we interact meaningfully with people who are different from us. This isn't just a religious idea. It is the best of what America can be -- a country in which we learn from differences, honoring the unique cultures which have come together to make our diverse society. Every culture has value. In my America the cultures of the West Virginia hollers, North Philadelphia neighborhoods and Latino communities of South Texas each form an essential part of a rich whole. In my America we embrace not only the food and the music of every culture, but also the wisdom. I believe in an America in which we don't just tolerate differences -- we celebrate them. Yes, America needs more taco trucks. We also need more Asian festivals, more pow-wows, more African American poetry, more old time fiddle music, hip hop and banghra, more mosques and temples and gurdwaras, more Humanist societies, more diverse churches of every stripe. We need more libraries filled with books by every kind of author. We need real community shared with thoughtful neighbors of every political persuasion. We have moved beyond the old idea of a melting pot, in which each of our cultures loses its distinctiveness; instead we are a tapestry, woven together by our connections and conversations. We are better when we are not all the same. Politics aside, I think the United States is moving in this direction. It is the inevitable product of a world in which communication across cultures has become the norm. That world may be frightening, sometimes -- the unfamiliar often is -- but if we embrace its promise, there is no end to the wonders and wisdom that await. Advertisement This post can also be found at The Song and the Sigh. A key hurdle to engaging more people in obstructing the Administration's proposed arms deal with Saudi Arabia has been convincing them that it is politically plausible to try to do so. Outside of the Pentagon-industrial complex, few would argue that sending more weapons to Saudi Arabia is an exemplary idea. In December, no less a validator than Farah Pandith of the Council on Foreign Relations, who was the first State Department special representative to Muslim communities, called for Saudi Arabia to face consequences if it did not stop promoting extremism. A few weeks ago, the New York Times reported: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump don't agree on much, but Saudi Arabia may be an exception. She has deplored Saudi Arabia's support for 'radical schools and mosques around the world that have set too many young people on a path towards extremism.' He has called the Saudis 'the world's biggest funders of terrorism.' The Arms Control Association says: If the administration is sincere in its desire to hold Saudi Arabia accountable and leverage such sales in ways that encourage it to change its behavior, President Barack Obama should withdraw this sale and suspend delivery on those agreed earlier, rather than continue to reward Riyadh for its actions. Such steps would reinforce the importance of human rights and international law in U.S. arms transfer decisions. But the initial DC reaction to efforts to stop the deal was: "you can't beat General Dynamics." On August 11, when Kentucky Senator Rand Paul said he would work with a bipartisan coalition to stop the Saudi arms deal, Foreign Policy said: Still, stopping the deal is going to be an uphill battle. The main beneficiary of the deal is General Dynamics Land Systems, according to a statement by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency. The firm is a subsidiary of General Dynamics, a massive defense contractor that wields significant clout on Capitol Hill. That could make it hard for Paul to find the allies he would need in the House and Senate to permanently block the sale. So, here are four key pieces of evidence that opposing the Saudi arms deal is not futile: 1. On August 17, the New York Times editorial board called for Congress to block the deal. Former Obama Administration official Bruce Riedel says the NYT editorial "got considerable attention in the royal family." Advertisement 2. On June 16, 49% of the House, including 91% of Democrats and 17% of Republicans, voted to block the transfer of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia. 3. On August 31, it was reported that Textron, which had the contract to export cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia, had announced it was getting out of the cluster bomb business, citing opposition in Congress to exporting the weapons to Saudi Arabia. In a filing to regulators on Tuesday, Textron noted that the sale of its "sensor-fuzed weapon," or cluster bomb, requires executive branch and congressional approval. "The current political environment has made it difficult to obtain these approvals," the company said. 4. On August 29, 64 Members of the House sent a bipartisan letter to the Administration urging that the Saudi arms deal be postponed. I had the chance to sit down with Sourabh Ahuja, CEO of Schoold. In this interview, you will learn about the Schoold app, his passion and dedication behind its development, and how it is poised to be the next Amazon for education opportunities. Today, Schoold is the fastest growing app in higher education with 1,000,000+ new installs in 2016 and an unprecedented 4.6/5.0 rating in the Apple store. Please tell me about your background, Sourabh. How did you get here today? Growing up in India, I knew that I wanted to study in the United States but the application was incredibly confusing. I ended up at a school in Oregon to get my Master's in Computer Science. Honestly, it wasn't the right program for me - I fell for a good sales pitch from an international recruiter with an agenda. But I made the best of it and after graduation, landed a coveted job with Glu Mobile. I spent ten years building some of the most popular games and mobile apps out there: Guitar Hero, Monopoly, Transformers, World Series of Poker, Deer Hunter, Kim Kardashian Hollywood... dozens more. You've likely played games that I built. What drew you toward the education field? I loved building entertaining apps, and I was good at it... but wanted to do something redeeming. I started work on Schoold when my wife was pregnant with our first child - in some ways that was my inspiration: I wanted to make the world a better place for future generations. Access to education is incredibly important and I know firsthand what it feels like to go to the wrong school. It's shocking to me that in a country as great as America, the average ratio of school counselors to students is 1:472; 73% of schools lack a dedicated college counselor. We can bring transparency through technology. And by applying my gaming background, I figured I can make it fun - this ensures students utilize the app to unlock their full potential. Advertisement Let's talk about Schoold. Schoold is the #1 USA college search and future planning tool, with over 500,000 downloads in its first month. Can you give us a brief overview of the app? Schoold is the fastest growing app in higher education with 1,000,000+ new installs in 2016 and an unprecedented 4.6/5.0 rating in the Apple store. Students describe Schoold as "sleek, sensational, surprising;" "addictive and super informative;" "my new best friend. "High school counselors report that Schoold "turns months of researching colleges into a 20-minute search." We have 3,125 university profiles for students to browse and gain access to data. We also have free counseling - our counselors don't just help students discover schools, they help them uncover educational interests and professional goals. Among all the noise in the edtech ecosystem, what is the key differentiator between your app and other college and career-planning apps? Our core tenets/values are transparency, accuracy, objectivity, simple and fun, and equality... We're much more mission-driven than other college and career-planning apps. Most sites feature sponsored universities and jobs, driving students to programs that aren't right for them. You won't find any of those sneaky tactics in the Schoold app. Schoold pulls together data from thousands of colleges, including graduation rates and salary projections. However, it also provides a vast amount of resources and hard-to-find information. Advertisement What are three unique tools within the app that you believe make it so attractive for students and parents? 1. Free in-app messaging with admissions experts and alumni 2. Dynamic financial insights with tuition calculators, scholarship suggestions, salary projections 3. Curated, unbiased, personalized educational and career recommendations Can you share a student success story with us? I think that our hundreds of glowing app store reviews are the best source of success stories. We provide free counseling to thousands of students - they can message our counselors and admissions experts directly from their phone. Users have been incredibly grateful, saying Schoold helped them find their dream college. We've also opened a lot of eyes to the real cost of attending universities - too often, students get scared away by sticker prices. We adjust tuition based on family income and background, estimating what each students will get in financial aid, scholarships, work study, etc. Most applicants don't realize that, if they have the grades and scores, attending schools like Stanford and MIT can actually be cheaper than state schools because of all the financial aid available. Students and parents can read reviews and find more images from the app via this article: College Prep: The Often Winding Road for Parents, Students and High Schools How can students take part in any social media offerings or contests Schoold runs? They just need to install the free Schoold App on their iPhones, Android or Kindle. We feature opportunities in their home feed, using a proprietary data analytics engine to personalize the content and offerings available for them. We also post about the contests on our Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat channels: Schoold_App. Advertisement How does Schoold benefit institutions and where can they go to learn about joining the community? Schoold partners with universities to help them engage with students directly through our app. Every year universities spend $2B+ recruiting students via outdated methods such as direct mailings, email campaigns, and college fairs. We're building mobile versions of one of the university marketing staples--Viewbooks-- and modernizing them for the current generation of mobile users who expect highly engaging, easily-digestible, visually-stunning content. It's a wildly affordably alternative. We're hoping they pass along some of these savings to their students via financial aid. Universities can contact our Chief Marketing Officer at: Lydia@schoold.co to learn more. Where can students and parents download Schoold? We're the top higher education app on iPhone, Android, and Kindle... Just type "university" or "college" into the store and we'll be one of, if not the, first result. You can also visit http://social.schoold.co to download the app and watch a quick demo. Please share anything else you'd like to tell us about Schoold. What does the future look like right now? We started by focusing on undergraduate institutions, but we're expanding to study abroad campuses, international universities, graduate schools, online classes, etc. Schoold's mission is to become the Amazon for educational opportunities. _____________________________________________________ A bit about me: I am honored to be an official education and edtech thought-leader on LinkedIn, with over 40,000 followers in my field. Advertisement A normal day in Prato, home to one of the largest Chinese communities in Europe"This is China, Not Italy" was written on a banner during a protest staged by 600 Chinese illegal migrant workers in Prato, Italy in early July 2016. The clashes between protesters and Italian forces escalated to the point anti-rioting measures were put in place using tear gas to re-establish order (see article on the South China Morning Post) One of the demonstrators, sweating heavily after confrontation with local police, voices his plea: "All we get is inspections. We are assaulted and robbed. The inspectors only want to get paid, but nobody protects us." On the other hand, Enrico Rossi, the regional governor known for his social engagement offers a different point of view. According to him, many of these businesses are not paying taxes and operate illegally. Rossi sees inspections as a way to monitor working conditions are up to standards and to formalise these production centres which operate on Italian soil. One major issue and two visions. Chinese Advantages with (Almost) No FlawsConversely, this event also reveals something about migration and economic development in general. Three decades ago, large waves of migrants from China started flocking to Tuscany along the Prato to Florence stretch. Most of them were employed as tailors by the local textile and garment industry that, in its heydays, employed 40,000 people and was an important source of income for a very wealthy community. Very quickly, the most entrepreneurial of these new immigrants started incorporating their own companies, offering the same services at a cheaper price. Cheaper because they breached employment and safety laws, and often dodged tax obligations. The Italian businesses sourcing from them turned a blind eye, as these manufacturers were not competitors: they were supplying cheap production inputs as local suppliers. No need to go to China or India anymore: Asia was here, at hand. Advertisement By the end of the nineties, the textile industry crisis hit Prato severely and companies started closing down. Yet, the Chinese community kept growing. They started connecting to mainland China, offering the prized Made in Italy label. They diversified production by launching into garmenting and accessories. They enlarged the boundaries by reaching the frontiers of Florence (where the above mentioned protest took place) and entering the lucrative business of leather goods. Of course, most of them kept working illegally. The Chinese triad saw a business opportunity in this for human trafficking and launched a scheme whereby they sponsored workers to travel to Italy and work with no pay: a form of modern slavery. Participants were allowed to leave the system after working a certain number of years to launch their own activity. Many people were incentivized to come from China and work in awful conditions and soon enough, this created a small Chinese town in Italy. Today in Prato, you have 50,000 Chinese people out of which no more than 16,000 are registered (Guardian, July 2016.) Officially, the others don't exist! Luxury Fashion Trimming the Cost of Labour Despite this, plenty of European distributors and brands carried on working with the Chinese community. Why? Because things were cheaper. As an example, over the ten years this has been taking place, the cost paid by a fashion brand to manufacture a luxury leather bag went from 28 to 19, and today it is around 13, excluding the cost of materials. Knowing a bag requires at least 2 hours of labour to accomplish, once you add the production overheads, what is the hourly remuneration of workers? Advertisement Clearly, this scheme created a competitive business. I recognise a few of these businesses adhered to local laws and respected employment conditions, thus revitalising the local community. Unfortunately, these are a minority. And everybody remained silent, until 2015 when one of those ghost companies - usually hidden in the back of formal factories or in an old warehouse - burnt down. Those inside perished, unable to escape from a building that didn't have any safety provisions for workers. This horrific accident triggered a big debate, leading the local police to inspect and close factories. Tensions increased and were brought to a head at the last showdown, two months ago. Migration Crisis, Economic Development, Revitalising Communities Beyond the breach of responsible manufacturing, this clearly reveals a lesson on migration and economic development. If migrants are enabled to work and enter a system of employment and business based on respect and law enforcement, they can become a resource. When not formally integrated into the workforce, migrants are exploited by somebody who wants to make money on their backs, until the problem becomes something too big and bad to be managed. Those who arrived from China migrated to Italy over a long period of time and settled in specific locations. Today, the same number of people reach Europe every six months. Unless we do something to frame these human beings emerging from the migrant crisis into a formal channel of life and work, we are going to pay a huge price in the future. Education, vocational training and employment are some of the solutions for the crisis caused by the biggest displacement of people in modern history. Not walls. This is something we need to take action on, now. Football unites! A local football fan The time has come for religious leaders in this country to lead. The endorsement of Trump, whether overt or by silence is crazy. For individuals of faith to support someone who could care less about their issues displays the blindness of which the Bible warns, and worse, opposes the very core of many Christian values. Pundits have written about the obvious rifts between Trump's lavish, playboy lifestyle and the views of many republicans and conservatives. Even more removed are evangelicals, who seemingly have less in common with Trump. Indeed, in the normal course of their worldview, a person with Trump's resume and personality would be viewed as something of a modern-day anti-Christ. For many Christians, then, the life and times of Trump could not be more at odds with their main tenets of faith. Perhaps the most obvious incongruence for the religious is his marriage to a Melania Trump. While little has been made of Melania Trump's nude and sexually explicit photos with another woman, for the religious right, it amounts to sacrilege. Indeed, after so much aversion and outrage over same-sex marriage, which ignited a wave of bathroom bills, "religious freedom" laws, and other anti-LGBT measures, the silence on the potential First Lady's same-sex photo shoot is conspicuous. Advertisement Of course, Trump's choice of wife highlights what is another problem -- the fact that she is his third wife. For many, this track record attests to a serial polygamist, who, instead of having multiple wives at once, separates them by divorce. Indeed, his womanizing lifestyle has repeatedly interfered with the well being of his family. It is likely that most Christians would be averse to sharing these types of details with their children for fear; fear of the effect it could have on their young psyche and fear that they might even try to imitate him. Truthfully, however, for parents, allowing the kids to hear Trump in real time is perilous considering the swearing and hateful words that may come from his mouth. Of course there is the question of Trump's compassion. Whereas, peace and mercy are trademark values in Christianity, Trump's campaign propagates the opposite. His antics include ridiculing a reporter with disabilities, a litany of racial and religious insults, and pushing supporters to violence. Perhaps the most pointed moment came when he stated that "Second Amendment people" could stop Hillary Clinton, which was taken by many as a veiled call for her assassination. From the religious perspective, Trump and his wife should be viewed as nothing but entertainers, like a Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, trying to get into the White House. The difference is, were Kanye to run for president, many of the same people supporting Trump would find countless reasons not to support Kanye, including his choice of wife. Indeed, ALL of these issues would come up, and more. Hence, the blindness with which Trump's followers follow is apparently not colorblind. Even his political juxtaposition against an unpopular adversary, Hillary Clinton, lands him further from the Christian ideal. Indeed, she sits embroiled over endless email disputes about a charity dedicated to disadvantaged people, while he conceals his own charitable contributions by not releasing tax returns. Imagine the difference: she has helped raise an estimated two billion dollars in charity, yet American still do not know how much he has personally given. Moreover, she has dedicated her life to lawyering for social justice and public service, whereas Trump has been noted as among the least charitable billionaires in the world. He has spun through wife after wife, while she has stayed with the same man, whom many believe she had every right to divorce. Yet she did not, and made sacrifices to keep her family together. Advertisement For Trump, much of this is moot, including the tax returns. Still, for religious people--it is critical--people supporting him deserve to know just how little he has supported them, their churches, and charities. Even if he were to release any returns, those who have been awake for the last year will have every reason to doubt their authenticity. All signs point to the possibility of deceit, especially given the quacky doctor's note that Trump published, not to mention that the stalling has provided ample time for doctoring the returns. These escapades cannot go unchallenged and should make religious leaders spring into action. It should make them stay up at night, making calls, organizing press conferences, and collaborating with co-religionists to guide their flocks in a morally conscious direction. However, so far there has been near silence, almost as if the leaders are following the followers. Of course angering the congregation is no way to ensure that donations and support keep coming in, but in this case, it may be obligatory. Leaders must not stray toward political charms like Michele Bachman, who proclaims that Trump was sent to us by God. Instead, they might consider the Pope's message that building walls is "not Christian." In response, Catholic Christians have backed their leader, which has left Trump trailing far behind in the Catholic vote. As Trump's support from the religious persists, religious leaders have their very credibility at stake. If leaders cannot see eye to eye on the fundamentals of decency -- then the country is doomed -- there is no nation. If the moral leaders will not take a stand to guide their parishes, halls, and congregations to vote with a Christian conscience, they might just end up giving away their religion like the Republicans gave away their party. It is less a hijack than a swindle. Advertisement Like those who do not think the Holocaust took place, men landed on the moon, or President Obama is an American, there are equally deluded people who think that climate science is a hoax or some kind of left-wing conspiracy. As the New York Times reported last week, parts of Florida are already having 'sunny-day floods' due to the impact of sea level rise during some high tides. Last weekend I left my Long Island summer home early to return to the safety of Morningside Heights, a full 121 feet above sea level. The south shore of Long Island is no stranger to flooding, but where we once saw a 6-12 inch storm surge last weekend we saw a surge of 1-3 feet, from a storm that did not really come close to my summer home. Scientists at Columbia's Earth Institute in our Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, International Research Institute for Climate and Society, Center for Climate Systems Research, Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy, and Center for International Earth Science Information Network have been studying each aspect of climate change for decades. They study tree rings, geology, soil sediments and arctic ice melts among many other forms of research to understand the human impact on climate change. They have analyzed historical data and have built models to project our possible climate future. The problem is real, and now the impacts have begun. The time for denial is over. But the political power of climate deniers continues. The worldwide alarm over climate change was demonstrated last week when despite a great deal of disagreement on many issues, President Barack Obama and China's President Xi Jinping signed the Paris Climate Accord in a ceremony in Hangzhou, China. According to New York Times reporters Mark Landler and Jane Perlez: Advertisement At a ceremony in this picturesque lakefront city, the two leaders hailed the adoption of the Paris agreement as critical to bringing it into force worldwide. Though widely expected as the next step in the legal process, the move could provide a boost to those who want to build momentum for further climate talks by bringing the December accord into effect as soon as possible. Countries accounting for 55 percent of the world's emissions must present formal ratification documents for that to happen, and together, China and the United States generate nearly 40 percent of the world's emissions. In the United States, our federal legal and political system represents places as well as people. We are very good at responding to local problems that can be seen, touched and smelled. Toxics, air pollution and water pollution are obvious and undeniable and much easier to act on. Climate change is a global problem that is caused everywhere and much of the impact will take place in the future. But in an excellent report in last week's New York Times, Justin Gillis reported that some of the impacts of climate change have already started to affect some of our coastal cities. According to Gillis: Federal scientists have documented a sharp jump in this nuisance flooding -- often called "sunny-day flooding" -- along both the East Coast and the Gulf Coast in recent years. The sea is now so near the brim in many places that they believe the problem is likely to worsen quickly. Shifts in the Pacific Ocean mean that the West Coast, partly spared over the past two decades, may be hit hard, too...Local governments, under pressure from annoyed citizens, are beginning to act. Elections are being won on promises to invest money to protect against flooding. Miami Beach is leading the way, increasing local fees to finance a $400 million plan that includes raising streets, installing pumps and elevating sea walls. In many of the worst-hit cities, mayors of both parties are sounding an alarm. The need to adapt to the current impact of climate change is already obvious in many cities and work is already underway to make cities more resilient to extreme weather events. New York City has begun to implement a resiliency plan that will cost at least $20 billion over the next decade. My hope is that the need to adapt to current climate impacts will lead to the deep understanding needed to develop political support to mitigate climate change. Advertisement The path to political understanding is not always direct. We often require visible, direct impacts to delve deeper into an issue. To John and Robert Kennedy, civil rights initially concerned them because they were worried about losing the votes of southern white democrats. Then television brought us the images of African American peaceful protestors and bystanders being attacked by dogs and fire hoses. JFK thought more deeply on the evils of segregation and gave a live TV address defining civil rights as a moral issue. The mere presence of racism and segregation should have been enough to foster change, but it required a dramatic visible image to bring the point home. Visible local impacts are often a prerequisite for action in our political process. Climate adaptation may well be the path to climate mitigation. You don't need to understand or agree with climate science or computer models to invest in infrastructure to reduce damage from extreme weather events. This is a little ironic. When scientists at Columbia's Earth Institute and throughout the world first started studying climate adaptation, some scientists and activists considered it a distraction from the more important work of preventing human induced climate change. Like many other political issues, dealing with immediate visible impacts can lead to an attack on the causes of the problems we are addressing. We may provide food stamps to prevent starvation, but then some people start to look at the causes of poverty. This leads to an emphasis on education and job opportunities. I think we are seeing this political dynamic with climate change as well. If we are going to make the transition to a renewable resource based, sustainable economy we will need a sophisticated partnership between government and the private sector. That will need to be informed by an understanding of ecology, earth systems science, and climate science. When your streets keep getting flooded you first work to stop the flood, and then you ask: Why is this happening? The ideology of denying climate science does not prevent investment in resiliency infrastructure, but does prevent an objective search for causes. Just as civil rights are still subject to political struggle, we can expect a long battle with climate deniers in the United States. Fortunately, climate denial is mainly an American problem, and in a global economy other nations matter a great deal. Advertisement The way around climate denial has been carved out by the Obama team: Use the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gases. The next step will be to do the basic research needed to develop renewable energy technologies that will drive fossil fuels from the market place. Even climate deniers will buy energy that is cheaper but as reliable as fossil fuels. This R&D must include dramatic increases in funding for renewable energy technology research by our national labs and research universities, along with substantial tax breaks for companies bringing this technology to the market and for individuals who replace fossil fuels with renewables. Sometimes it just pays to retire overseas ... not only can you live much more affordably overall, but you can treat yourself to experiences you might not have access to or be able to afford at home ... View of the Andes Mountains from Cotacachi, Ecuador One of the biggest advantages we've discovered in our 15 years of living overseas is the constant availability of travel and adventure ... and a big benefit is how remarkably little it costs. We've written before about the low cost of bus travel in Ecuador, where we live. For about $2.50 we can travel by bus from our home in Cotacachi in northern Ecuador to the capital city of Quito, two hours to the south. If we want to hire a private driver, we'll typically pay $50 to $60 for that. Domestic airfares are low, too. You'll rarely spend more than $50 to $70 to fly anywhere in the country. So if, on a whim, we want to take a weekend junket to the city...or to the Amazon basin and one of Ecuador's many rainforest lodges, or to a Pacific coast beach town ... we can do that both easily and affordably. The Grassland Zone of Ecuador Case in point ... a few weekends ago, we took a Sunday trip -- from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. -- to visit a national park in Ecuador's Carchi province that's home to one of the most unique ecosystems on the planet. Advertisement This tour cost just $25 apiece. (The U.S. dollar is Ecuador's official currency, in case you're wondering.) This included our transportation and driver/guide. We spent another $10 for our park entry and our eco-guide. Along the way, we stopped for a breakfast of grilled cheese toast, eggs, fruit, yogurt and granola, coffee, and fresh-squeezed juice -- just $4. Lunch was a choice of fresh-fried trout or grilled chicken with salad, rice and potatoes, more delicious juice, coffee, and homemade ice cream for dessert. The grand total for that feast was just $6 apiece. Of course, just living outside the U.S. can be a daily adventure for a couple of U.S. Midwesterners like us, and we suspect the same is true for most North Americans we know who have moved abroad. But the opportunity to spend the day or weekend visiting someplace amazingly exotic and seeing something that you've never seen before ... often right on your doorstep and often for less than the price of a fancy dinner back home ... sets the adventure bar pretty high for us. This most recent adventure took us up into the high-elevation Andes Mountains to explore an ecosystem that only exists between 11N and 8S latitudes, mostly in the northwest corner of South America. It's called the paramo, and it's a kind of alpine tundra that exists between 9,000 to 15,000 feet above sea level ... from down where the trees start to get weird and stunted up to where the permanent snow line starts and almost nothing grows. Advertisement In Ecuador's El Angel Ecological Reserve, the local paramo is an amazing wetland thanks to a convergence of air currents that brings fog and rain almost daily. A two-hour walk through the park takes you through two of the three main zones of a paramo ecosystem--first a walk through a stunted, twisted, shaggy barked forest of polylepis trees, some of the slowest-growing trees in the world--trees that only grow at high elevations. Climbing up, the forest soon gives way to a zone of grasses and stunted frailejones, a plant that looks like a cross between a dwarf palm tree and a cactus. We thankfully didn't walk up into the third zone of the paramo up near the snow line...but we could see it high above us. Aside from the fact that the paramo only exists in very few places on the planet, it is even more special because, here in Ecuador, it forms a kind of huge geological sponge. The plants and soils trap the constant upper-altitude rain and fog and release it slowly into streams and rivers that flow down into Ecuador's Andean valleys, supplying much of the fresh water for entire regions of the country. In fact, there are places in the El Angel Ecological Reserve that look like broad, grassy avenues--a kind of Alpine mirage. Beneath the pathways, underground waterways flow through fine sandy mud...you can jump on the ground and feel it quiver and shake as though you're walking on a sponge. The opportunities to visit places like this in Ecuador are legion thanks to the little country's geography and latitude. The Andes Mountains run right down Ecuador's spine, from north to south. From the beaches at sea level on the Pacific coast, the country rises eastward to some of the highest mountain peaks on the planet before descending again into jungles from which spring major headwaters of the Amazon River basin. Advertisement The diversity is incredible, which makes for some really diverse and amazing opportunities to visit places unique on the globe. And luckily for us, it's more than affordable to explore Ecuador. It's easy enough to find comfortable hostels -- yes, with private bathrooms -- for anywhere from $20 to $40 a night, breakfast included. And you can spend more for more luxurious digs with all meals and tours included. This isn't just true of Ecuador, of course. Expats living overseas all have a world of such adventures to choose from. In eastern Mexico, the ruins of the entire northern Maya empire are day trips apart...and they sit atop an amazing geographical region of underground rivers and cenotes to explore. In Belize, the second-largest reef system on the planet lies just a few hundred yards offshore. In Costa Rica, a significant portion of the entire country is national parkland with some of the most bio-diverse flora and fauna anywhere. Earlier on Huff/Post50: Two years ago, I stood on stage in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, with a quote on the screen behind me. It read, "All it takes is one big idea to change the world." I was speaking at the Franklin Project's Summit where General Stan McChrystal called upon 350 leaders in the private sector, higher education, technology, government, the military, faith communities, philanthropy, and nonprofits to come together to make a year of full-time service -- a service year -- a common expectation and opportunity for young Americans of all backgrounds. The Franklin Project envisioned a day when all young people had an opportunity to spend a paid year serving in a community, developing essential skills and addressing the nation's biggest challenges. The Summit at Gettysburg was our chance to put the idealism of the entire service year community into action. Advertisement While the idea of service is not a new one -- service is integrated in our culture from the military to our local communities -- it is not yet ubiquitous. Similarly, the concept of a service year -- a full-time, paid position where young people can develop skills and build change from the ground up -- is also not new. Programs like AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps, City Year, Teach for America and YouthBuild have been around for decades harnessing the energy of young people to address and impact pressing challenges in our local communities. Not only have they had impact in their respective communities, these service corps members have also grown into the leaders our country needs. Despite this widespread ethic of service and the existence of thousands of programs, nearly seventy percent of young people are unaware that service year opportunities exist. Meanwhile, research from the Case Foundation shows that ninety percent of millennials think young people like them can have an impact and make our country a better place to live. How do we take those critical programs to scale while also harnessing the idealism of the next generation of young people who want to make an impact? Advertisement When our team at Cisco initially sat down to explore the barriers to taking service years to scale, being a technology company it was no surprise that technological barriers were top of mind. That's why we committed our support and expertise behind the Service Year Exchange -- the first-ever service year marketplace. On stage that day in Gettysburg, I was honored on behalf of Cisco to make a commitment in the form of a $3 million matching challenge grant to help answer that question and support the organizations that were working every day to make this vision a reality. Over the past two years, Cisco has continued to support the development of the technology platform, which enables young people who want to serve to search for service year opportunities based on their interests, while also allowing organizations to certify service year positions, recruit service year corps members, and thereby power their organizations. The Service Year Exchange technology highlights the tens of thousands of service year opportunities -- from AmeriCorps to YouthBuild to privately funded service year opportunities. And it continues to grow every day, with a bold goal of hosting 100,000 service year opportunities by 2019 -- growing the field from the currently available 65,000 opportunities. We are proud to see our commitment to this platform come to life this week with the official launch of Service Year Alliance -- an organization merged from the Franklin Project, the Service Year Exchange, and ServiceNation. Advertisement I have seen first-hand this movement adapt and grow over twenty years from a handful of pioneer programs to a robust network of innovative organizations. Today, for the first time, they can be connected to learn and grow together with support from Service Year Alliance, truly representing a new day for the service year community and America. Service Year Alliance and the Service Year Exchange and has set the stage for a scalable marketplace that can evolve over the coming months and years. By advocating for federal funding, developing new programs, incorporating service years in higher education, and partnering with companies to support corps members throughout their year of service -- Service Year Alliance is putting the bold idealism of the service year community into action. At Cisco, we believe everyone has the potential to become a global problem solver. We strive to inspire, connect, and invest in opportunities that accelerate global problem solving by empowering people everywhere to work toward eradicating poverty, unemployment, climate change, and hunger. Everyone has a role to play, especially young people who are equipped to harness the power of the digital revolution to not only solve problems in their communities, but also to grow as leaders and innovators. We are honored to have been an early supporter of Service Year Alliance and the Service Year Exchange and are proud to support a new challenge grant that will help enable Service Year Alliance to realize our shared vision -- every year, one million young Americans engaged in a service year, solving important problems while transforming their own lives. A big idea is great, but putting that big idea into action has the power to change the world. By Guest Author: Jim Postl I've in the business world for over 40 years. The perspective that comes with four decades of experience includes understanding how much has changed . . . and how much remains the same. The one immutable, undeniable constant in a successful business is a quality workforce. Good people are the fuel that makes a business go. If people don't have the skills they need, not only will they have trouble carving out a fulfilling career, but their employers won't have the workers they need to be productive. Sadly, that exact scenario is beginning to unfold across the country. We're in the midst of a "skills gap" crisis. That means there are more job openings than there are people qualified to fill those jobs. Advertisement Without workers who have the training and education to meet the needs of employers, positions go unfilled (or are filled by less-than-ideal candidates). A skills gap disrupts operations and hamstrings productivity. I'm watching this crisis unfold in my home state of Texas. Research highlighted by the business leader organization ReadyNation shows how dire the situation is: By 2020, 62 percent of jobs in Texas will require some form of postsecondary education. However, only 55 percent of our state's workers have that level of education. That seven-percent gap translates to nearly 338,000 jobs that could go unfilled because our workers do not have the level of education employers will need. This isn't just a Texas problem. This is an American problem. Nationwide, 65 percent of job openings by 2020 will require some kind of postsecondary education. Only 60 percent of the American workforce hits that mark. This means that, if trends don't change, that five-percent gap equates to approximately 2.75 million jobs that may go unfilled. Making matters worse is the reality that the skills gap is particularly pronounced in "STEM" fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), which is a major growth sector. The expansion of the STEM sector only serves to heighten the urgency for finding a way to close the skills gap. Advertisement That means a lot to me personally, because I spent part of my career in the energy industry, which relies heavily on STEM employees. I know first-hand that an inadequate STEM workforce will mean a weakened economy for energy and many, many other industries. We have to be able to help students get the tools they need to flourish in the high-demand jobs of today and tomorrow. Thankfully, we have solutions at our disposal that can help do just that. We know that career and technical education (CTE) programs can often be the best way for students to receive the training that STEM and other specialized fields require. Meshing wonderfully with CTE education is a research-supported model called "deeper learning." Deeper learning stresses the "executive functioning" skills that today's employers value most. These include skills such as collaborating well, thinking critically, incorporating feedback into work product, problem-solving, communicating effectively, and knowing and mastering core academic content. More specifically, project-based learning is a centerpiece of deeper learning. Deeper learning gives students real-world know-how, often by creating direct connections between the classroom and workplace, with businesses and community partners frequently offering direct support for such programs. Advertisement One example of deeper learning and project-based learning in action is Manor New Tech High School. Located just a couple of hours west of my hometown of Houston, Manor New Tech is part of a national network of STEM-focused high schools that use student-created projects as the foundation of a practical education. Students are responsible for generating actual work product through project-based assignments. They collaborate with each other and with faculty in traditional and virtual ways. New Tech students are prepared simultaneously for higher education and future careers through this exciting and innovative learning method. Even better, the data suggests that deeper learning gets results. As of 2013, New Tech students were graduating six percent above the national rate. They also improved their performance on the College and Work Readiness Assessment by 75 more points between ninth and twelfth grade than students in other schools. Furthermore, research on deeper learning and project-based "career academies" across the country showed that students were twice as likely as non-participating students to be working in the engineering, media, and computer technology sectors eight years after they graduated. Deeper learning, including project-based learning, reflects the realities of the modern, global marketplace. Employers need workers who possess executive-functioning skills, as well as the practical knowledge that comes with career and technical education. We also know that the 21st century economy increasingly relies on a project-centric approach, which is why a curriculum that embraces project concepts better prepares students for the workplace. Advertisement We're starting to see legislative progress on this front. The bipartisan Improving Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, which would reauthorize federal support for career and technical education programs in Texas and nationwide, was recently passed unanimously by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. This legislative proposal included many components that advance deeper-learning education. It also stressed educational partnerships that align secondary and postsecondary institutions, employers, and career and technical education programs to meet local and regional labor needs now and in the future, meaning students can pursue a career path equipped with the knowledge of where job opportunities exist in their local community. This is a great first step, but there's more work to do. Not only does Congress need to complete the reauthorization of the Perkins Career and Technical Education Act with an emphasis on deeper learning, but all of us in the business community and beyond need to make sure that our education system gives kids deeper learning and project-based opportunities. Our economy needs workers with the skills and expertise fostered by innovative educational models. Embracing those models will help ensure that we'll have the supply of good, qualified people necessary to close our skills gap and preserve our economic success. This blog is part of "It's a Project-Based World" series. To learn more and contribute a guest post for the series, see the Project-Based World page. Join in the conversation at #projectbased. Advertisement For more, see: The Spanish Civil Guard is looking for the arsonists believed to have set the fires that have blackened more than 812 hectares of land in and near Javea, on the Alicante Mediterranean coast. Over 1,400 people had been evacuated from their homes, in an area with large British and German expat communities. On Tuesday, authorities allowed residents to return to their houses to assess the damage from the flames, which reduced several properties to ashes and threatened 16 residential estates in Benitatxell and Javea, in Alicante province. This was an act of environmental terrorism, said Valencian regional premier Ximo Puig about a blaze that has also ravaged parts of the natural reserve of La Granadella, a protected green area south of Javea. Investigators believe that arsonists may have started as many as five new fires in La Granadella as late as Monday afternoon, when the area was already full of firefighting personnel. Compulsive fire-starters are also thought to have sparked the original fire in Benitatxell on Sunday. The Civil Guards environmental crimes department is questioning witnesses and asking for the publics cooperation Seprona, the Civil Guards environmental protection department, is questioning witnesses and asking for citizen cooperation in finding the alleged culprits. We want to hear about any leads, said Juan Carlos Moragues, the government delegate in the region. Authorities underscored that the new Penal Code includes new, harsher punishment for these crimes, and that whoever deliberately starts a fire is committing a crime and will feel the full weight of the law. Fire is contained Regional authorities said that water is being dumped every four minutes on the affected area, and that the fires have now been contained. Particularly high temperatures and windy weather have hampered firefighting efforts, while the dryness of the terrain in this drought-parched part of Spain helped the flames spread quickly. Regional and national authorities deployed growing resources as the fires grew in scope throughout Sunday night and Monday. Military personnel joined the battle against the flames yesterday, along with 28 aircraft and 16 land vehicles. English version by Susana Urra. Any student (or parent of a student) beginning the college search process is probably aware that the SAT and ACT often play a big role in the college admissions process. The question of "how did you do on your SATs" from classmates or relatives surfaces as soon as someone starts the college search. Many prospective students ask college admissions professionals, "What do I need on my ACT to get in?" It seems as though there is an awful lot of emphasis on the ACT and SAT. What is often overlooked is just how many colleges and universities provide students with alternatives or have even abandoned the use of standardized tests. It is estimated that more than half of the U.S. News & World Report's Top 100 national liberal arts colleges have test-optional admissions criteria. In fact, Fair Test has identified more than 800 colleges across the country with test-optional admissions options. So why is no one asking, "Are you applying to any test-optional colleges?" I suspect that one of the reasons such a question has not yet made it into the college search lexicon is because most students and parents don't know much about test-optional admissions programs. My gut tells me that lack of awareness and maybe suspicion of gimmickry prevents students and families from understanding the value of test-optional admissions, though they may be wondering to themselves. Advertisement First, it is important to note that many colleges and universities find tremendous value in standardized test scores, finding them necessary to help with the initial sorting of applicants. Other colleges use them to confirm other elements of a student's academic record. I trust that colleges that don't offer test-optional admissions programs have an evidence-based reason for doing so. I personally believe test scores are worthwhile when considered within a broad context. However, I do not think a student should be defined by a test score exclusively. I am grateful to have worked at institutions that value the big picture when reviewing applicants for admission. Generally, colleges with test-optional admissions policies have concluded they can select and admit students based on other criteria. Many colleges have cited test bias against non-native English speakers and first-generation college-bound students as a reason for abandoning test scores. Others have indicated that the emphasis on standardized test adds to an unhealthy anxiety students experience during the college search. And, some have cited test-optional policies as being more inviting to students often underserved in higher ed. Every college has its reasons, but you can rest assured lots of thought and assessment goes into any decision to become test-optional. How did test-optional admissions come about? Bates College in Maine introduced a test-optional admissions policy in the mid-1980s, and has tested and re-tested the effectiveness of their policy and student performance on a regular basis since then. Their ground-breaking and evidence-based case that students are capable of performing equally well when admitted with and without test scores convinced hundreds of other colleges to introduce their own version of test-optional admissions. In recent years, there has been an acceleration of test-optional admissions policies as larger schools also have met with success, and changes to standardized tests have made some colleges caution about their predictive value. If a college doesn't consider test scores, what will they consider instead? Every test-optional college will be a little different--both in what they consider and the weight of each consideration. But, in most cases, test-optional colleges will place a much greater emphasis on a student's academic record to that point, including the quality of curriculum and the grades earned. It's also likely that extracurricular participation, letters of recommendation and a writing sample will be considered. Advertisement At my own institution, which has been test-optional since 2008, instead of the SAT or ACT score, we ask test-optional applicants to submit a graded paper and complete an interview with an admissions counselor. We chose these two activities because we place a high value on written and verbal communication, and believe those qualities are central to a student's success. A final question might be: Is test-optional admissions for me? It is impossible for me to answer this question for everyone, but I think most students who apply test-optionally believe something other than their test scores is a better measure of their ability to perform successfully in college. I have seen good students with ACT scores below a 20 apply because those scores did not match their academic record. I also have seen students with high scores (28 or 29) apply test-optionally because the score wasn't high enough to meet the personal standards they had established. Test-optional admissions is not for everyone, but more and more, colleges and applicants are moving in that direction. It is now common. And it is here to stay. By ZEALnyc's Theater Editor Jil Picariello, and Contributing Writers, Christopher Caggiano, Megan Wrappe, Justin Sharon, Bob Rizzo, and Dan Bacalzo, September 6, 2016 It's that time of year. Summer music festivals are a distant memory, school buses resume their scheduled routes, and we at ZEALnyc look forward to the a new season of arts and culture here in NYC. And a busy season it will be! To help you wade through all the offerings coming at us, our writers have been hard at work picking the very best theater coming to New York City this season. From Jake to Bette, plays to musicals, Broadway to St. Ann's we've got you covered. So read away - the new season awaits! Advertisement Jil Picariello, Theater Editor I love revivals. I guess I should have figured that out when my favorite performances from last season included A View From the Bridge, She Loves Me, Long Day's Journey Into Night, The Crucible... And don't get me started on the Lincoln Center Festival presentation of the Globe Theatre's Merchant of Venice, which brought new layers of depth and meaning to the characterizations and the story. Which is perhaps why it's no surprise that five out of the six productions I'm most looking forward to this season are revivals. The first is an uber-classic, a revival of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, adapted by Stephen Karam, fresh off his Tony win for The Humans, and directed by Simon Godwin. The cast is blue chip: Diane Lane, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Tavi Gevinson, John Glover, and the elfin icon Joel Grey. Previews begin at the American Airlines Theatre on September 15 for a limited run so grab your tickets pronto. A dark comedy that's super sexy and stars Janet McTeer fresh off her shrew-taming exercises in Central Park and the owner of the sexiest voice alive, Liev Schreiber? I'm so there. London's Donmar Warehouse is sending Broadway a revival of Les Liasons Dangereuse, about lovers-turned-rivals who challenge each other to a contest of reputation-ruining seduction. Yes, it's what the Reese Witherspoon movie Cruel Intentions was based on, except the play is much, much hotter and better. Based on a 1782 novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos and written by Christopher Hampton, previews begin October 8 for a limited run. Can a Shakespeare play be considered a revival? It seems somehow...diminishing. "I went to see a revival of Hamlet," is something no one ever says, maybe because there's no one, in fact there's no one's great-great-grandmother, who remembers the original production. But revived is what the Bard's plays are, with great regularity, and this season is no exception. St. Ann's Warehouse, in their groovy new home in Dumbo's Tobacco Warehouse, is bringing us The Tempest, Phyllida Lloyd's fourth Shakespeare play with an all-female cast, this one again starring Harriet Walter, who did the honors as Brutus in Julius Caesar and the lead in Henry IV. Previews begin January 13 for a limited run. Advertisement As if all of that weren't enough, there's Plenty more (sorry). Last on Broadway in 1982 after a transfer from the Public, David Hare's groundbreaking work returns home to the Public on October 4. Hare himself directed the original; this time around David Leveaux takes the helm, directing Corey Stoll and Rachel Weisz as a British secret agent flown into France during World War II. The original production won a bucket of awards and interestingly featured Kelsey Grammar a couple of years before he rose to fame as Dr. Frasier Crane on "Cheers." Plenty interested? Even better to me than Shakespeare or Chekhov is a revival that sings...literally. And if it features Sutton Foster, well, slap my ass and call me Judy, I am there. The New Group is kicking off their season with a fiftieth anniversary revival of the Cy Coleman, Dorothy Fields, and Neil Simon charmer, Sweet Charity. The gem-filled musical ("Big Spender," "If My Friends Could See Me Now," "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This") was conceived, directed, and choreographed back in 1966 by the great Bob Fosse and starred Gwen Verdon as the irrepressible Charity Hope Valentine. This time around, the show will be directed by Leigh Silverman (who helmed Violet, which also starred Foster), with a cast that also features Shuler Hensley and Emily Padgett. Sutton + Cy + Simon + Silverman? There can't be anything better than this! Previews start November 2 for a limited run. And last, my one-and-only newbie. Since I am always thrilled by an interesting new musical (please go see Dear Evan Hanson everyone), I'm very excited about The Band's Visit, launching previews at the Atlantic on November 11. This one grabs me because it seems such an unlikely idea for a stage musical--but then so did the life of our first treasury secretary, and that turned out okay. Based on the critically-acclaimed 2007 Israeli film, the show has a book by Drama Desk nominee Itamar Moses, music and lyrics by David Yazbek of Full Monty fame, and is directed by David Cromer. John Cariani and the inimitable Tony Shalhoub star. Christopher Caggiano, Contributing Writer Usually, I'm all about the musicals, and indeed I'll be writing a separate preview in the coming weeks about the musicals that are planned for the coming Broadway season that I've already seen elsewhere, to give readers a sense of what to expect. But there are also quite a few non-musicals on Broadway this season that have me quite intrigued--giddy, even. Advertisement The first is Oh, Hello on Broadway, which I had the extreme pleasure of attending when it played Off-Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theatre last December. The show is basically an extended comedy skit, but the comedians here are two of the funniest men currently roaming the planet: John Mulaney and Nick Kroll. Oh, Hello grew out of two characters that the pair have created and embodied--Gil Faizon (Kroll) and George St. Geegland (Mullaney)--and their supposedly comic exploits involving pranking friends and strangers alike by luring them to a diner and presenting them with "Too Much Tuna." That was also the name of the segment featuring Faizon and St. Geegland on the late and lamented Comedy Central offering, "The Kroll Show." If that doesn't sound all that hilarious, the real attraction here lies in the way in which Kroll and Mulaney embody the characters and work with the audience. Previous iterations of the show have also featured famous guest stars, such as Bill Hader, Aziz Ansari, Seth Meyers, Jenny Slate, and Mike Birbiglia. (Oh, Hello on Broadway begins previews on September 23 and opens October 10 at the Lyceum Theatre, and runs through January 8. Alex Timbers directs.) The second is Burn This, a serious rumination of themes of death and redemption by playwright Lanford Wilson. Burn This was the first straight play I saw on Broadway, back in 1987, and it starred John Malkovich and Joan Allen, who were positively smoldering in the central relationship of the show. A strong play, and well worth bringing back to the Main Stem, but there are two things that make this new production even more exciting. First, the show will be the inaugural production of the newly renovated and reclaimed Broadway house, the Hudson Theatre. The Hudson, built in 1903, hasn't housed a legitimate show since 1967. In recent years, the theater has served as a banquet space and function room for the Millennium Broadway Hotel, but thankfully the Ambassador Theatre Group, which also runs Broadway's cavernous Lyric Theatre, is investing millions to reclaim the Hudson as a legitimate house. Oh, but I'm saving the best for last: guess who's going to starring in this Burn This? None other than Jake Gyllenhaal himself. Gyllenhaal was most recently on Broadway in Constellations, and also proved himself as a bona fide musical-comedy performer in the Encores! concert staging of Little Shop of Horrors. The role of Pale in Burn This will give him a chance to stretch even further. Pale is enigmatic and explosive: The role was a virtuoso feat for Malkovich, and affords Gyllenhaal the opportunity to show the theater crowd what he's really capable of. (Burn This begins previews in February 2017, toward a March 6 opening. Michael Mayer directs.) And finally, we have The Little Foxes, Lillian Hellman's Southern Gothic potboiler about the Hubbard clan and their backstabbing ways. The play is a bit contrived in its melodrama, but that's part of what makes it so delicious. The central part of Regina Hubbard Giddens has been played by Tallulah Bankhead, Anne Bancroft, Elizabeth Taylor, and Stockard Channing on stage, as well as Bette Davis on screen, so you know it's a meaty role. But for the upcoming Broadway production of The Little Foxes, in a bit of a casting coup, the part of Regina will be played by two actresses, Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon. These two redoubtable performers will be trading off the roles of Regina and her sister-in-law Birdie, much like Philip Seymour Hoffman and John C. Reilly did with Sam Shepard's True West back in 2000. It remains to be seen whether the dual casting for The Little Foxes will have the same box-office effect as it did on True West: many people wanted to see the show twice to witness two of the finest actors of their generation in the different roles. Linney and Nixon are likewise terrific performers, with undeniable stage presence and vital intensity. If they don't quite have the same above-the-title cachet as Hoffman and Reilly, at least outside the Broadway community, their rotating presence will nonetheless entice theater purists like me to pad the coffers at the Manhattan Theatre Club's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre for the show's limited run. (The Little Foxes begins previews on March 29, 2017, toward an April 19 opening. Daniel Sullivan directs.) Advertisement Megan Wrappe, Contributing Writer I was brought up on classic musicals, which is why I am so incredibly excited about Roundabout Theatre Company's production of Holiday Inn, which will open on Broadway on October 13 at Studio 54. In this new production, directed by Gordon Greenberg, Jim (Bryce Pinkham) tries to leave his show business career behind, but when he meets Linda (Lora Lee Gayer), a teacher with a knack for the stage, he just can't stay away. Based on the Bing Crosby/Fred Astaire movie, with songs by Irving Berlin, this is about as "Broadway musical" as they come. I for one am so excited to hear one of America's greatest composer's songs on Broadway again. The production is scheduled to run until January 1, 2017 at Studio 54. I have seen quite a few shows since I first fell in love with theater, but there is one that still stands out--Jonathan Larson's Rent. When I first saw Rent, I knew nothing about it--except how deeply the show impacted me. And with Larson's tragic death just prior to opening night I was even more intrigued about this writer and composer. Happily, the composer's autobiographical Tick, Tick...Boom! is again on the boards with Keen Company's production opening Off-Broadway on October 20, directed by Jonathan Silverstein and starring Nick Blaemir, who has been seen in Godspell. The production runs through November 20 at the Acorn Theater on Theater Row, 42nd Street. Also opening Off-Broadway at one of my favorite venues at Lincoln Center--LCT3--is Samuel D. Hunter's latest work, The Harvest. When it comes to the work of this playwright, there is never a typical show. The production will be directed by Davis McCallum and tells the story of a group of missionaries preparing to leave for a trip to the Middle East. Unlike the other members of the group, one man who recently lost his father has not purchased a return ticket and plans on staying there. His estranged sister, however, has other plans. Religion, family, and escape collide in this production which is currently scheduled to run through November 20, 2016 at the Claire Tow Theater, which is located on top of the Vivian Beaumont Theater, Lincoln Center. Justin Sharon, Contributing Writer I tend to find that the most interesting and illuminating stories are those invariably buried deep inside the daily newspaper. Not that this will stop me from rushing to see The Front Page, a comedy caper that dates to 1928. Ascertaining how well ink-stained fare from almost a century ago holds up in the internet age will be one area of interest. A stellar cast, which includes two Johns (Slattery and Goodman) and one-of-a-kind Nathan Lane, is worth the price of admission alone. And I am a sucker for anything that screams The Roaring Twenties, in this case that brief idyll just before everything all came crashing down, as the Bible of Broadway itself indelibly recorded in one of history's most famous ever front pages. The production begins previews at the Broadhurst Theatre on September 20, opens on October 20, and is scheduled to run through February 5. Advertisement To take liberties with the most iconic sentence Jake Gyllenhaal will ever utter, "Stephen Sondheim, I wish I knew how to quit you." Alas, I don't, which is why I am so excited about City Center's blink-and-you'll-miss-it revival of Sunday in the Park with George, headlining the Hollywood heartthrob. Truth be told, absent splurging several Benjamins on a short-lived production that is sure to garner Hamilton-level hysteria, I likely won't get to see this revival in a month of Sundays, as it were. But that won't stop me from trying to snare a ticket. Having seen the Patinkin-Peters Pulitzer Prize-winning original in another lifetime, I can't wait to see how this one compares. A bona fide movie star trying his hand at the work of a master wordsmith on stage? As last year's fiasco involving Al Pacino in David Mamet's China Doll freshly attests, that's not necessarily a can't-miss proposition. Something tells me, however, that this production of Sunday won't suffer a similar case of the Mondays. The production opens at New York City Center with a special gala performance on October 24 and has two more performances on October 25 and 26. Bob Rizzo, Contributing Writer "Promise you'll never go away again" will hopefully be the plea from the audience once Bette Midler returns to the Broadway stage as Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly! Midler is an inspired choice to tackle the role of the legendary matchmaker made famous by original star Carol Channing. She last appeared on Broadway in the 2013 hit play I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers. The Divine Miss M will be seventy-one when the show opens, but so what? Anyone who caught her 2015 Divine Intervention tour would affirm that she still delivers a robust and lively performance. It doesn't hurt that she's teamed up with Tony and Emmy winner David Hyde Pierce (Curtains, "Frasier") as Horace Vandergelder, the unknowing object of her affections. His trademark deadpan delivery in contrast to her charismatic sassiness seems like a match made in musical comedy heaven. This long overdue revival is produced by Scott Rudin and directed by four-time Tony Award winner Jerry Zaks (Guys and Dolls) . Choreographer Warren Carlyle (After Midnight) is on board to put a spring in the waiters' gallop and give Midler her shining moment in the title song. You can "Bette" there'll be ad-libs aplenty when she descends that famous staircase. Hello, Dolly! begins previews on March 15, and opens on April 20, at the Shubert Theatre. Well, well, hello, Dolly! Roald Dahl's beloved novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will arrive on Broadway in the spring of 2017. The London production is currently in its fourth and final year at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. The show opened to mixed reviews but that didn't stop it from breaking house records. American audiences who are familiar with the original 1971 film will recall the unforgettable performance of the late Gene Wilder as the even wilder Willy Wonka. Filling Wilder's shoes in the American stage version will be two-time Tony Award winner Christian Borle (Something Rotten! and Peter and the Starcatcher). While the score will include original tunes by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, you couldn't ask for a better songwriting team than Mark Shaiman and Scott Wittman of Hairspray fame to write the additional songs. The likes of Mariah Carey, Maroon 5, Josh Groban, and the cast of "Glee" have covered one of the film's most popular songs, "Pure Imagination." The revamped Broadway version will be directed by three-time Tony Award winner Jack O'Brien (Hairspray), who's also helming the fall revival of The Front Page starring Nathan Lane. Creating the dance moves in Wonka's whimsical world is Emmy Award winning choreographer Joshua Bergasse ("Smash"). Charlie And The Chocolate Factory will begins previews on March 28, and opens on April 23 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. Based on the creative team and star, the whole musical concoction could end up being very scrumdidilyumptious! Dan Bacalzo, Contributing Writer I fell in love with the score for William Finn's Falsettos back in the early 1990s, when I was a young gay man coming of age in Wichita, Kansas. Here was a quirky musical gem that featured neurotic yet relatable gay relationships, fraught family ties, and a moving story of community in the face of the devastation of the AIDS epidemic. I'm thrilled that the tuner is returning to Broadway in a production starring such terrific actors as Christian Borle, Andrew Rannells, and Stephanie J. Block, and helmed by the musical's book writer, James Lapine. The production begins previews at the Walter Kerr Theatre on September 29, opens on October 27, and is scheduled to close on January 8, 2017. Advertisement Simon McBurney and his company Complicite have produced some amazing theatrical works that combine gripping storytelling with ingenious design. Their latest effort, The Encounter, is an immersive experience utilizing aural technology in a way that I don't think has ever been done on Broadway. The production begins previews at the Golden Theatre on September 20, opens September 29 and runs through January 8, 2017. Another theatrical innovator is playwright Qui Nguyen, whose delightful pop culture-infused sensibility--complete with hilariously over-the-top martial arts sequences--firmly established his reputation as part of the Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company. Nguyen's latest play, Vietgone, is being presented by Manhattan Theatre Club, and utilizes his parents' experiences as Vietnamese refugees in what promises to be a wild ride that takes unexpected turns. The production begins previews on October 4 at the company's home at New York City Center Stage 1 and opens on October 25. The queer and feminist theater company Split Britches presents the world premiere of Unexplored Ordinances at La MaMa E.T.C. Written and performed by downtown legends Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver, the show takes inspiration from the unexploded Civil War ammunition buried in New York Harbor as well as the iconic film Dr. Strangelove, while also exploring issues of aging, desire, and uncertainty. The duo will be performing it in repertory with Retro(per)spective, which will allow audiences to see snippets of past work from this extraordinary company, founded in the early 1980s by Shaw, Weaver, and Deb Margolin. The production runs from October 6-23 at the company's home at 66 East 4th Street. Cover photo (l to r): Laura Linney; Jake Gyllenhaal; Bette Midler; courtesy of artists' websites. ____________________________________ Jil Picariello, Theater Editor and Contributing Writers Christopher Caggiano, Megan Wrappe, Justin Sharon, Bob Rizzo, and Dan Bacalzo are all frequent writers for ZEALnyc, providing reviews and features on all aspects of theater production. Advertisement For more of ZEALnyc's Fall 2016 Previews, read: Buhler stopped the run but often got beat deep as Ark City wins 32-13 The Buhler Crusaders as the seventh seed hosted 10th-seed Arkansas City on Friday, but the night ended poorly for the home team in a 32-13 loss. One of the suitcases found by Dutch customs. Seguridad Alimentaria de Holanda More information Detenidos tres espanoles que viajaban desde Mexico con 260 reptiles en la maleta Dutch police have arrested three Spaniards on charges of illegally transporting animals after more than 260 reptiles including lizards, chameleons, snakes and tortoises, many of them protected species were found in their luggage after they arrived from Mexico at Amsterdam Airport. Of the 259 animals that were found, 10 were already dead, said a statement released by the Dutch customs authorities. A tweet from the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority about the find. The Netherlands NVWA Food Safety Authority said the animals were worth an estimated 88,000. Among the reptiles were 14 Chuckwalla lizards from Mexicos San Esteban island, which are similar in appearance to chameleons and are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). English version by Nick Lyne. Rap, Rock, Country, EDM, Not Considered Real Music In Chicago Although such a statement might seem outrageous, the fact that these multiple genres are not considered music is actually beneficial, meaning small venues are exempt from paying a "fine arts" tax, although it hasn't stopped some tax officials from demanding back payments. ________________________ Guest Post by Bobby Owsinski on Music 3.0 When it comes to the issue of fine arts, rap, country, rock and DJ-based music are not considered real music in Chicago, and believe it or not, thats actually a good thing. Small venues that hold 750 or less in Cook County arent subject to a 3% admission fee tax because what goes on in the venues isnt covered as music under the Fine Arts part of the tax code. That hasnt stopped tax officials from demanding back payments of the taxes though, and has only added to the extra pressure that small venues there face in staying open. New legislation by county commissioner John Fitchy is now being proposed that will hopefully clear up the situation, however. The amendment to the tax law clarifies what qualifies as music, but exempts the genres from the tax code, taking pressure off the venues should it pass. One thing it doesnt do is exempt venues from back taxes, but the commissioner has sent a letter to the tax board asking tax collectors to stand down from trying to collect any back taxes from the venues. All over the world, music venues are under siege, especially in the big cities. Although taxes are a part of doing business, an unexpected large tax bill could easily push a venue to close, especially when so many are struggling to survive as it is. Rising real estate prices and sometimes harsh police tactics and building code laws makes you wonder why anyone would even want to open a club these days, and in fact, so many classic venues have closed when up against these new realities. That said, some large cites (Chicago and London for example) are now recognizing that a thriving music scene is essential for a thriving nightlife, which only bolsters a citys culture and desirability. Lets hope that other cities make a similar move to help real music venues not only survive, but flourish. Share on: On Thursday, Farmers Insurance announced that it is now offering its new food truck insurance product in 16 states, such as Washington and Kansas. In July, the product was initially made available only in New Mexico and Utah."At Farmers, we understand that consumer preferences and the needs of business owners are constantly evolving, and we are continuously looking for new ways to meet these changing demands for our customers," said Farmers Insurance head of business insurance for commercial auto Jake Rothfuss in a statement."The increased popularity of food trucks is an example of the impact of shifting consumer preferences and it's important for Farmers to be able to provide our business owner customers with the insurance they want to continue to be successful in this constantly changing economy."Bit by bit, Farmers Insurance has plans to introduce food truck insurance policies to 28 states total over the course of 2016.It is relatively new for us across the country, and were slowly rolling it out, Rothfuss told The Topeka Capital-Journal.Before food truck insurance was a thing, owners had to secure separate policiescommercial auto, business owner, restaurantfor their mobile commercial operations. The combination of the two makes policy purchasing and management much more convenient for mobile food entrepreneurs.It was tough at times for food truck owners to get the coverages they needed, and also to get them from one place, as opposed to having to piece them together, commented Rothfuss. Even if they got one policy from one avenue, and another portion from another avenue, there might have still been some coverage gaps. Traditional property and general liability insurance is really geared to a physical location, where a food truck itself by definition is mobile.According to The Topeka Capital-Journal, food truck revenue hit $1.2 billion last year, exhibiting more than 12% growth in five years. Homes affected to hailstorms in San Antonio, TX were inspected by Allstate Insurance using drones.The insurer has been testing drones over the past year and has previously inspected damage to homes in Colorado but executive vice-president of claims Glenn Shapiro told Fortune.com that the change in FAA rules mean that last weeks investigation did not required a licensed pilot and a spotter.Instead Allstate was able to carry out the inspections with someone with a drone-piloting certificate and no additional person. The insurer also surveyed the damage with human inspectors and will compare the two sets of results.While Shapiro says that the plan is to operationalize the use of drones in the next few months with savings to both time and cost, he still sees a need for human inspectors.This will include analysing the information collected by the drones and in cases where a human needs to get close and personal to the shingles for a closer inspection.International insurance and risk management firm Integro Insurance Brokers of New York has acquired Insurance Revolution, the parent company of specialty broker Maloy Risk Services and Lloyds cover holder Piedmont Managers.Rick Maloy and his specialist team bring much to Integro, including considerable expertise in creating customized risk management solutions for underserved risks, said Bill Goldstein Integro CEO. In addition, the teams innovation is well known, as evidenced by a bespoke management liability product they developed that is having significant impact in the hedge fund market place. We are delighted for Integro and our clients in a number of industries that stand to benefit from the experience and knowledge the team adds to Integro.Maloys Financial, Life Science and Technology teams will operate as part of Integros Risk Management Division, while Piedmont Managers will continue to operate within the same division.Coastal American Insurance Company has launched a new combined wind and flood insurance policy, which it says is a nationwide first.The insurer has partnered with the WaterStreet Company to provide the private flood endorsement which Coastal American CEO president Ned Dolese says is a game changer.He says that the new endorsement offers an alternative to the National Flood Insurance Program and allows Coastal to underwrite risk on the basis of specific elevation and distance to water. Architect Chris Parkinson shows off models of the mobile studios proposed to be constructed and placed throughout the city. Pittsfield Writers Residency Project Mixes Art, Architecture The designs were inspired by five major authors who wrote in the city of Pittsfield. Once constructed, the studios will be large enough for a writer in residency to work out of during the month of July. PITTSFIELD, Mass. The pieces are all coming together for an art and architecture project that will bring writers to the city to work in mobile studios inspired by five major historical authors. Architects Chris Parkinson and Tessa Kelly are launching an exhibit at the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts in September to show exactly how the project will work. The two have designed five portable structures that will be placed in various parts of the city and authors will take residencies next July, working out of those structures. The designs are based on the places Herman Melville, Henry David Thoreau, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote in while they were in the city. "In literary history and American history, they were considered part of the renaissance of writing and all of them were writing in and about Pittsfield. That's a historical narrative and we thought about bringing these studios and bringing a residency program," Parkinson said. "We are taking a historical narrative and bringing in new writers to write about Pittsfield. It makes it a very contemporary and alive. It is both a reminder of the history of the place and a new alive energy of creativity in the city,." The project is funded by a $75,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and is coupled with local fundraising with a goal of raising $200,000. In the spring, the one-room studios will be constructed and in July and authors will be invited to stay in the city and use them as work space. "Basically what they are are small spaces someone can go and write, have a desk. They don't have electricity. They don't have a bathroom. But, they are a little work space for someone," Parkinson said, adding that the buildings with different designs will be around 10-foot by 12-foot. The "mobile studios" will be made of cross-laminated timber and placed on a steel substructure, which is anchored by helical piers. For the first year, the two have picked the locations two at Arrowhead, one at Canoe Meadows, one at the Springside House, and one at Pittsfield High School but in the future the structures will be placed in various locations throughout the city, being stored during the winter. "The designs are loosely based in some way on the original authors," Parkinson said. Kelly and Parkinson looked at pictures of the places these authors originally stayed locally and used aspects of those locations in the design of the structures. In the fall, they previewed the concept and have been working since on fine-tuning the drawings and models to conform with the logistics of moving and actually being used. "The designs have been evolving based on logistics and usability," Parkinson said. The exhibit throughout September will showcase those pieces and designs. Last fall, the concept was presented and Parkinson said while there was a lot of excitement from the public about it, there were still questions on whether such a project was possible. The exhibit will show off the material, the designs, and models of the five structures. "This exhibition is to help people understand how these things are going to become a reality," Parkinson said. There will be a reception on Sept. 23 to celebrate the next steps in the project. The concept does an array of things: it is public art, it is history, and it is modern. "One of the hopes is through word of mouth and people understanding what is going on, they see these structures in the landscape, they also think about this historical narrative of writing, they think about this a place where new writers are coming. There is a whole slew of ideas we hope this project makes people aware of," Parkinson said. When the new writers in residency are here, Parkinson said there will be an array of programs and exhibits coupled with the program for the public. "The plan is to have them here during July, either three or four weeks, and there will be a whole litany of programs and lectures at the Berkshire Athenaeum, historical society, Hotel on North, there are a lot of partners in the project holding events. The studios are really for the writers and private spaces, the program is really a celebration we are hoping the whole city engages in," Parkinson said. Throughout the month of September, an exhibition will show off exactly how this entire project will come together in 2017. Those looking to be writers will be asked to submit an application, samples, and letters of intent and the five will be chosen by a panel. The application period is slated for the fall. "It's an open application. It will be online. You'll have to submit some writing samples, a CV, statement of intent, what you are going to work on," Parkinson said. "It is a little unusual in that you are asked to spend some time in these studios." The idea came from Kelly's graduate thesis and evolved from there. Eventually, the city's former Director of Cultural Development Megan Whilden suggested applying for a grant to make it happen and the city sponsored the grant application. "This project started by us wondering what could young architects do for this place that doesn't necessarily have the new development and a ton of excess economic resources or a ton of investment in new buildings? But, the one thing we thought about this area has in spades is a rich history and legacy and cultural importance," Parkinson said. The focus on the 19th century authors is just the latest piece in a four-part project focusing on the city's history. The larger project focuses on the Mohegan Indians, local paper and textile mills, General Electric, and the 19th century authors, all historic pieces that have contributed greatly to the city's urban fabric. We work towards an equitable, gender-just, self-reliant and sustainable fisheries, particularly in the small-scale, artisanal sector We work towards an equitable, gender-just, self-reliant and sustainable fisheries, particularly in the small-scale, artisanal sector We work towards an equitable, gender-just, self-reliant and sustainable fisheries, particularly in the small-scale, artisanal sector We work towards an equitable, gender-just, self-reliant and sustainable fisheries, particularly in the small-scale, artisanal sector Clinton arrives in Moline, Illinois. BRIAN SNYDER (REUTERS) More information Hillary Clinton rechaza la invitacion de Pena Nieto a Mexico Two weeks ago, Mexicos President Enrique Pena Nieto extended an invitation to two US politicians: one was a man who had repeatedly insulted and offended his compatriots, the other was a woman who throughout her high-profile career had spoken of her rapport with the United States neighbor. The first politician accepted the invitation, the second turned it down. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Partys nominee in Novembers presidential elections, said on Monday that unlike her rival, Donald Trump, she wouldnt be meeting with Pena Nieto. In an interview with ABC television, Clinton politely said that for the moment she preferred to stay focused on the US economy. Pena Nieto met with Trump last week, surprising just about everybody. Clintons refusal to meet with the Mexican president in the wake of Trumps eventful encounter is the epilogue of one of the more unlikely episodes in recent US-Mexican relations. Asked by ABCs David Muir if she would be accepting Pena Nietos invitation to visit Mexico before the campaign was over, Clinton replied simply: No. Clinton, a former secretary of state who has already met the Mexican president, has avoided any possible embarrassment She then added: I'm going to continue to focus on what were doing to create jobs here at home, what were doing to make sure Americans have the best possible opportunities in the future. On Monday evening, Mexicos foreign minister, Claudia Ruiz Massieu, tweeted: We are in constant contact with the Clinton campaign. We understand and respect her decision to postpone the moment of meeting. The governments of Mexico and the United States have a multidimensional, mature and solid relationship. Pena Nieto sent a letter to Clinton and Trump on August 26 inviting them to meet him. Trump, whose campaign has seen him insult Mexicans and Mexico time and again, saw an opportunity and on Wednesday, August 31, arrived in Mexico City aboard his private jet. After the meeting, which lasted more than an hour, Pena Nieto and Trump held a press conference. During the question-and-answer session with reporters, Trump said that he and the Mexican president had not discussed who would pay for the wall he has said he will build along the border between the United States and Mexico if he is elected president. He has repeatedly insisted that Mexico will finance the project. Once Trump was in the air and on his way back to the United States, Pena Nieto tweeted that he had told the Republican presidential nominee that Mexico would not pay for the proposed wall. In an interview with ABC television, Clinton said she preferred to stay focused on the US economy On the same day, at a meeting in the border state of Arizona, Trump reiterated his anti-immigration stance, insisting that Mexico would indeed pay for a wall. [The president] just doesnt know it yet, smirked Trump. The meeting with Pena Nieto provided Trump with a rare opportunity to play the statesman thanks to the press conference at the official residence of the Mexican president, Los Pinos. His speech a few hours later in Arizona showed that he had not moderated his message, and indeed had toughened his rhetoric. Speaking to ABC, Hillary Clinton accused Trump of creating a diplomatic incident. He left the meeting saying one thing and the Mexican president contradicted him almost immediately, she said, adding: He doesnt even know how to communicate effectively with a head of state. If, by inviting both candidates, Pena Nietos plan was to meet the next president of the United States, then the move has backfired badly. Clinton, who was secretary of state between 2009 and 2013, and who has already met the Mexican president, has avoided any possible embarrassment, preferring to leave diplomatic experiments to Trump. English version by Nick Lyne. The Bank of Spain's headquarters in Madrid. EFE The cost to Spanish taxpayers of restructuring the countrys banking sector since 2009 has been 51.3 billion, of which just 5%, or 2.7 billion, has been recovered so far. Thats according to a report released on Tuesday by the Bank of Spain. The total figure includes the 40 billion lent to the country in June 2012 by the European Central Bank in order to stave off a disaster in the sector, which was struggling at the time due to the global financial crisis and the meltdown of the countrys construction and real estate markets. 40 billion was lent to the country in June 2012 by the European Central Bank in order to stave off a disaster in the sector Since 2009, the state has, through the FROB, provided public funds amounting to 53.553 billion as financial assistance for the restructuring of the Spanish banking system in various forms of capital, says the Bank of Spains report. When the 2,250 million provided by the FGDEC [Deposit Guarantee Funds, provided by Spains banks] are taken into account, this figure falls to 51.303 billion, of which 2.686 billion have been recouped to date. The central bank highlights that the bill for the bank bailout refers only to the cost to the state in other words, that the losses suffered by investors and individuals are not included. The report organizes state aid for Spains banking system into five categories. The first covers financial aid disbursed to recapitalize banks. This includes the 51.3 billion, of which 2.7 billion has been recovered. The second section covers the amounts provided by the Credit Institutions Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGDEC). The FGDEC set in place a procedure for providing liquidity, namely by purchasing unlisted shares from retail investors in banks controlled by the Orderly Bank Restructuring Fund (FROB). The funds committed by the FGDEC in this connection totaled 1.803 billion. The FGDEC has sold all these shares, receiving 673 million for them. The central bank highlights that the bill for the bank bailout refers only to the cost to the state, and that losses suffered by individuals are not included The third category refers to the guarantees granted by the state to credit institutions and to the guarantees granted to the purchaser, in the sales of institutions, and that are essentially asset protection schemes. As of December 31, 2015, the present value of the aggregate loss currently expected from asset protection schemes amounted to 10.390 billion, provisioning for which is in the financial statements of the FGDEC and the FROB. Of this amount, 918 million corresponds to the FROB. No loss from these guarantees will foreseeably arise for the state, says the Bank of Spain. The fourth category comprises the extraordinary credit lines granted to banks in some of the restructuring processes from 2009 to 2013. This credit was granted as an urgent, temporary provision of liquidity either by the Bank of Spain (9.800 billion), through the emergency liquidity assistance mechanism, backed by a state guarantee or by assets of the recipient bank itself, or by the FROB (6.500 billion). All the amounts drawn down on these credit facilities have been repaid and the lines have been cancelled following the recapitalization or, where appropriate, the sale of the beneficiary institutions, says the report. Finally, in the fifth category, is the contribution of public funds from the FROB to Sareb, the so-called bad bank set up in 2012, which amounted to 2,192 million, and of the public guarantees granted by the State on debt issued by Sareb for an amount of 43.476 million. English edition by Nick Lyne. SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan Google Ad Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol Armenia and Azerbaijan to do so without delay An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan". UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022 Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully Google Ad The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh USA Embassy Message for U.S. Citizens ANCA Issues National Call to Action to Stop Taxpayer Funding of Aliyevs Aggression With a developing country such as the Philippines, there is an ever-growing demand for reliable and dedicated workers to fill the needs of businesses, especially in the service industry. Which is why the arrival of GrabJobs in the Philippines couldnt have come at a better time. A Singapore-based jobs marketplace, GrabJobs aims to become a platform for employers and job seekers to connect in a matter of minutes. Although many might perceive that GrabJobs is giving LinkedIn a run for its money, its actually the opposite. GrabJobs aims to complement LinkedIn by focusing on the workforce that the latter underserves. While LinkedIn focuses more on white collar workers and is mostly web-based, GrabJobs is a light, portable app that provides opportunities in retail, service and blue collar industries. GrabJobs has definitely shown some promise since its launch in Singapore earlier this year. With more than 25,000 downloads and big names under their client list in Singapore alone like Foodpanda, Brotzeit, H&M, Club21, and Holiday Inn its not surprising that GrabJobs has already been rated as the #1 job app in Singapore and the Philippines. Having worked with several establishments in the food and beverage (F&B) industry in Singapore, weve noticed one challenge that we constantly faced the unreliability and inconsistency around staffing, shared GrabJobs CEO and co-founder Emmanuel Crouy. GrabJobs was created in response to staffing issues faced by employers in F&B, retail, hospitality, events, logisitics, warehousing, and BPOs, among others. After receiving seed funding from private investors in June to expand regionally, the company decided to first tap into the Philippines. To adapt better and faster in the market, GrabJobs has partnered with a startup accelerator and collaborative ecosystem, WeCube Inc. We wanted to get GrabJobs to the Philipines first and foremost, primarily because we know theres an ever-growing demand here, explained Mark Melo, GrabJobs CCO and co-founder. We understand how difficult it is for employers to find workers that could perfectly suit their needs, and that goes the same for job seekers who need to find a stable job, may it be part-time or full-time. What sets GrabJobs apart from any other job platform available is its features. Employers can broadcast job posts much easier with push notifications, search and filter candidates directly, and even contact potential workers through chat right on the app. On the other hand, job seekers can easily apply to job posts with a tap of a button. Push notifications are also on hand, so that workers can easily be notified when a new job ad has been posted or if an employer has selected their profile. Within the first week of its soft launch in the Philippines, GrabJobs had already garnered over 1,000 registered job seekers on its app. Thats in addition to the large number of employers the company had already gotten on board, such as SM Retail, Metro Retail, The Peninsula Manila, and Jollibee, to name a few. Back to top Imperial Valley News Center North Korea's Ballistic Missile Launches Washington, DC - The United States strongly condemns North Koreas launch of three ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan. These launches, which have become far too common in the past several months, violate multiple UN Security Council Resolutions explicitly prohibiting North Korea's launches using ballistic missile technology. North Koreas development of its UN-proscribed nuclear and ballistic missile programs threatens the United States; our allies, Japan and the Republic of Korea; and our partners in the region. Todays reckless launches by North Korea threaten civil aviation and maritime commerce in the region. We will raise our concerns at the UN about the threat posed to international security by these programs. We will also do so in other foraincluding the upcoming East Asia Summitto bolster international resolve to hold the D.P.R.K. accountable for its provocative actions. Our commitment to the defense of our allies in the face of these threats remains ironclad. We call on North Korea to refrain from actions and rhetoric that further raise tensions in the region and to focus instead on taking concrete steps toward fulfilling its international obligations and commitments. Troy Stratos Pleads Guilty to Multimillion Dollar Fraud Sacramento, California - Troy David Stratos, 50, formerly of Los Angeles pleaded guilty today to 11 counts of wire and mail fraud, two counts of money laundering, and one count of obstruction of justice, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced. According to the factual basis read in court today, between August 2005 and September 2007, Stratos devised and executed a scheme to defraud the victim of money and property. He told her that he was wealthy and successful, and that, among other things, he had made substantial money from oil investments. Stratos promised that he would help manage the victims portion of the proceeds from her recent divorce, including real property in her name and cash assets. Stratos told her that she needed to create a trust allowing Stratos to have access and control over her assets and the trust. According to court documents, Stratos falsely represented that he would invest the divorce proceeds overseas, including in Dubai and in the United Arab Emirates, where the proceeds would earn a high rate of return. Stratos also falsely represented that he would pay for her expenses from his own money because her money was purportedly invested overseas. Stratos admitted today that he never invested any money overseas as he promised. Instead, he diverted substantial sums of money from the trust for his own personal use. He also used portions of the money to pay the woman=s expenses, misrepresenting to her that he was spending his own money to pay for her expenses. With respect to two money laundering counts, on January 2, 2007, and on January 26, 2007, Stratos withdrew $25,000 from Granite TN Trust Bank of America account in Granite Bay, California. The money was proceeds from his scheme to defraud the victim, and Stratos knew that these were proceeds of the fraud. Further, with respect to the obstruction of justice count, between February 2007 and April 2007, Stratos was informed of a grand jury subpoena that his bookkeeper had received requiring the production of various financial records relating to Stratos, including documents relating to Stratos spending the victims money in casinos in Las Vegas. Stratos instructed the bookkeeper to not provide some of the records. In April 2010, the FBI executed a search warrant for a storage locker maintained by Stratos and located the records covered by the grand jury subpoena that were withheld at the direction of Stratos. Stratos was arrested on December 20, 2011, and has been in custody since that time. On May 19, 2015, a federal jury in Sacramento found Stratos guilty of four counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering, in a separate scheme to defraud a financial manager in Pennsylvania of approximately $11,250,000. This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Todd Pickles and Jared Dolan are prosecuting the case. Stratos is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley on all counts of conviction from todays guilty plea and the jury trial on November 17, 2016. The maximum statutory penalty for mail and wire fraud is 20 years in prison and a fine of up to twice the gain or loss from the fraud for each count. The maximum statutory penalty for money laundering is 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine or twice the value of the criminally derived property, and the maximum statutory penalty for obstruction of justice is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. Florida Computer Programmer Arrested For Hacking Washington, DC - A South Florida-based computer programmer made an appearance in the Southern District of Florida Thursday after being arrested Sunday on charges of hacking into computers operated by the Linux Kernel Organization and the Linux Foundation, announced United States Attorney Brian J. Stretch and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge John F. Bennett. The Linux Kernel Organization operates the www.kernel.org website from which it distributes the Linux kernel software. The Linux Foundation is a separate nonprofit foundation that supports the website. Donald Ryan Austin, 27, of El Portal, Fla., was arrested during a traffic stop on August 28, 2016, by officers of the Miami Shores Police Department. Austin was arrested pursuant to a four-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of California on June 23, 2016, and unsealed Tuesday. Austin is charged with causing damage to four servers located in the Bay Area by installing malicious software. Specifically, he is alleged to have gained unauthorized access to the four servers by using the credentials of an individual associated with the Linux Kernel Organization. According to the indictment, Austin used that access to install rootkit and trojan software, as well as to make other changes to the servers. Austin is charged with four counts of intentional transmission causing damage to a protected computer, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1030(a)(5)(A). Austin made his initial appearance in federal court in Miami, Fla., on August 29, 2016. He was released on bond today. Bail was set at $50,000. Austins next scheduled appearance is in San Francisco at 9:30 a.m. on September 21, 2016, before the Honorable Sallie Kim, United States Magistrate Judge. An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum sentence of ten years of imprisonment, and a fine of $250,000, plus restitution, for each violation of 18 U.S.C. 1030(a)(5)(A). However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. 3553. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Some remarkable waves are expected in the political field (video) During the upcoming months changes are expected in the Armenian inner policy, both the opposition and the government will take an active role, thinks political analyst Sergey Minasyan, Well have interesting, remarkable waves. But I think that those activations will be safe for the government because everyone will be in the pre-election turmoil. According to the political analyst new political alliances for effective participation in elections are also not excluded. At this moment there is final decision neither in the governmental wing, nor in the oppositional wing on how they will participate in the campaign, but the fact is that the interest will be high. Sergey Minasyan assesses peoples level of trust in the government too low. According to him, it particularly lost its positions after July events. I think that no action is able to restore that trust even if, for example, they decide to change the government. They must think of something else, it can be, for instance, the opening of the political field, it means the oppositional involvement in the government. Talking about the foreign policy, Sergey Minasyan didnt foresee any major changes: We can hardly have any serious progress in Artsakh conflict area. We cant expect from any side making unilateral concessions. Thats why we will not have any drastic developments in the negotiation process. Weak crop prices lead to sharp decline in producer sentiment West Lafayette, Indiana - After months of increases in producer sentiment toward the U.S. agricultural economy, the August reading of the Purdue/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer showed that declining commodity prices are weighing on the minds of producers. Producer sentiment declined sharply to 95 - a 17-point drop from the July reading. The barometer is based on a monthly survey of 400 U.S. agricultural producers and includes measures of sentiment toward current conditions and future expectations. The Index of Current Conditions fell from 93 in July to 80 in August, while the Index of Future Expectations dropped to 102 from July's 121. "This was in sharp contrast to July when farmers' optimism about future prospects pushed the barometer up, despite their concerns about current economic conditions," said Jim Mintert, the barometer's principal investigator and director of Purdue's Center for Commercial Agriculture. "Farmer sentiment in late spring and early summer was buoyed by a spring rally in key commodity prices, but near-ideal growing conditions for corn and soybeans this summer helped push yield prospects up and crop prices down sharply." Since the peak of the price rally in mid-June, December 2016 corn futures have fallen by more than $1 per bushel and November soybean futures by $1.75 per bushel. In its August Crop Production report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture indicated that record corn and soybean yields are expected this fall. If that's the case, carryover stocks for both crops will grow, potentially resulting in the lowest corn prices in a decade. Unsurprisingly, the resulting tighter operating margins are leading to adjustments in production costs, said David Widmar, senior research associate who works on the barometer. "What is somewhat surprising is that more producers expect input prices to rise in 2017 than decline," he said. "This was especially true for crop protection products, as nearly one-third of respondents expected prices to increase for herbicides, insecticides and fungicides. The long-term trend for crop input prices to rise seems to be leading to skepticism regarding prospects for input prices to decline, despite the lack of profitability among crop producers." Read the full August report, find additional resources and sign up to receive monthly barometer email updates at http://purdue.edu/agbarometer. Watch: Man's Fire Stunt Goes Horribly Wrong, Beard Up in Flames Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} UPDATE: The US publishers of The Winter Winds have revealed that no release date has been announced for the book. Random House told EW: "As his publisher, we support George RR Martin as he works hard to finish The Winds of Winter. Any on-sale dates currently listed online for the novel are incorrect. Once we have a publication date for The Winds of Winter, the world will know. UK publishers Voyager Books/Harper Collins were slightly more ambiguous, telling The Independent: "nothing has been finalised regarding the publication or the date". George RR Martin has apologised again and again for delaying the release of the sixth part in the A Song of Ice & Fire series, so-much-so that fans have come to subdue all hopes of the book reaching stores anytime soon. However, with the release of various sample chapters within the last year, expectations have been gradually rising. Thanks to an Amazon France placeholder page, a new release date has been sending fans into a frenzy. The retailers website has the book listed for a 9 March 2017 release, making the gap between The Winds of Winter and A Dance With Dragons almost six years. This should, of course, be taken with a huge grain of salt: while leaked information from retailers is sometimes correct, it is often merely a mistake on their system. Last week, reports circulated that a new International Standard Book Number for The Winds of Winter had been registered - 9780553801538 - hinting that a release may be impending. In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Show all 34 1 /34 In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Ramsay Bolton Fed to the hounds by his ex-wife In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Tommen Baratheon Jumped out of a window In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Rickon Stark Shot by Ramsay with an arrow In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Grand Maester Pycelle Stabbed by little birds In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Loras Tyrell Wildfire In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Alliser Thorne Hung In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Olly Hung #F*ckOlly In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Walder Frey Ticked off the list In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Shaggydog Head cut off In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Summer Ripped apart by White Walkers In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 High Sparrow Wildfire In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 The Blackfish Killed off-screen In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Hodor Hold the door In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Trystane Martell Stabbed through the face by those damned Sand Snakes In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Leaf Blown up saving Bran In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Walda Frey and her little boy Fed to the hounds In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Balon Greyjoy Thrown off a bridge by his brother In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Lady Crane Fell off a chair In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Mace Tyrell Wildfire In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 The Waif Killed in the dark by Arya Stark In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Lothar Frey and Black Walder Rivers Fray pie In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Brother Lancel Lannister Stabbed once then blown up by Wildfire In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Lem Lemoncloak Hung by the Brotherhood Without Banners plus The Hound In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Brother Ray Hung by Leomoncloak and his gang In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Three-Eyed Raven Killed by the Nights King In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Margaery Tyrell Wildfire In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Khal Rhalko, Khal Brozho, Khal Qorro, Khal Forzho, Khal Moro Burnt by the Mother of Dragons In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Roose Bolton Stabbed in the chest by his own son In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Kevan Lannister Wildfire In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Smalljon Umber Beaten by Tormund In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Wun Weg Wun Dar Wun That Goddamn Ramsay again In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Osha Throat slit by Ramsay In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Doran Martell Stabbed in the hearth by Ellaria Sand In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Areo Hotah Stabbed in the spine by Tyene Sand Meanwhile, season seven of HBOs Game of Thrones TV series is currently filming in Northern Ireland. Recently, two esteemed British actors have been linked to the show, Angela Lansbury and Jim Broadbent. SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol Armenia and Azerbaijan to do so without delay An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan". UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022 Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully Google Ad The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh USA Embassy Message for U.S. Citizens ANCA Issues National Call to Action to Stop Taxpayer Funding of Aliyevs Aggression Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Last year, Colin Firth told us that after umming and ahhing over the idea of making a Bridget Jones threequel, the cast were finally ready for that moment and now, here we are: Bridget is back and, by most accounts, shes as lovable as ever. Twelve years after our favourite hapless heroine headed off into the metaphorical sunset to live happily ever after with Mark Darcy in sequel The Edge of Reason, she returns for Bridget Joness Baby with, you guessed it, a baby on the way. Of course, this is Bridget, so all is not quite as simple as it seems, with Patrick Dempseys dashing new love interest Jack thrown into the mix to spice things up and a cameo appearance from Ed Sheeran. Bridget Joness Baby doesnt arrive in UK cinemas until 16 September but the first reviews have already come flooding in. Heres the predominantly three-star picture emerging from the critics about what fans have to look forward to and why they shouldnt expect too much: Renee Zellweger again gives a thoroughly winning comic performance and shows the steeliness which made her such an appealing character in the first place [] an improvement on The Edge of Reason. Bridget hasnt lost her neurotic charm in the slightest. Kooking up a facial storm right from the legitimately hilarious opening credits, Zellweger feels back in charge of the character again. It's a comeback you root for, even while its wobbling and occasionally falling in the mud. Bridget Jones's Baby - Official Trailer The performances are all terrific [] if she is let down at all by the writers, it is perhaps that she hasnt grown quite enough with the times. This is, on the whole, a worthy completion of the trilogy assuming it is to stay a trilogy, and that we are not likely to assemble again one day for Bridget Joness Dentures. This is a better Bridget than the last movie because it doesnt feel the need to indulge shark-jumping setpieces like zipping off to Thailand [] the best way to end what can only can be described as the Bridget Jones franchise: something resembling a likeable, good-natured one-off TV holiday special. Bridget Jones in quotes Show all 16 1 /16 Bridget Jones in quotes Bridget Jones in quotes Bridget Jones in quotes It is a truth universally acknowledged that when one part of your life starts going okay, another falls spectacularly to pieces. Bridget Jones in quotes Bridget Jones in quotes "Bridget Jones, wanton sex goddess, with a very bad man between her thighs...Dad?" Imdb Bridget Jones in quotes Bridget Jones in quotes One must not live one's life through men but must be complete on oneself as a woman of substance. Miramax Bridget Jones in quotes Bridget Jones in quotes We were always taught, instead of waiting to be swept off our feet, to 'expect little, forgive much'. Miramax Bridget Jones in quotes Bridget Jones in quotes "Bridget Jones, wanton sex goddess, with a very bad man between her thighs...Dad?" Imdb Bridget Jones in quotes Bridget Jones in quotes Resolution number one: Obviously will lose twenty pounds. Number two: Always put last night's panties in the laundry basket." Bridget Jones in quotes Bridget Jones in quotes I will not get upset over men, but instead be poised and cool ice-queen. Bridget Jones in quotes Bridget Jones in quotes I will not fall for any of the following: alcoholics, workaholics, commitment phobics, people with girlfriends or wives, misogynists, megalomanics, chauvists, emotional fuckwits or freeloaders, perverts. Miramax Bridget Jones in quotes Bridget Jones in quotes When someone loves you it's like having a blanket all round your heart... Bridget Jones in quotes Bridget Jones in quotes "I decided to get a grip on my life and start a diary" Bridget Jones in quotes Bridget Jones in quotes I realise it has become too easy to find a diet to fit in with whatever you happen to feel like eating and that diets are not there to be picked and mixed but picked and stuck to, which is exactly what I shall begin to do once I've eaten this chocolate croissant. Bridget Jones in quotes Bridget Jones in quotes "Valentine's Day purely commercial, cynical enterprise, anyway. Matter of supreme indifference to me." Miramax Bridget Jones in quotes Bridget Jones in quotes Can I officially confirm that the way to a man's heart these days is not through beauty, food, sex, or alluringness of character, but merely the ability to seem not very interested in him. Universal Pictures Bridget Jones in quotes Bridget Jones in quotes Emotional fuckwittage Rex Features Bridget Jones in quotes Bridget Jones in quotes The thing is, I like you, very much, just as you are" Bridget Jones in quotes Bridget Jones in quotes I'm no good at anything. Not men. Not social skills. Not work. Nothing. REX Even if the machinations of the plot are highly unlikely and predictable, like the best British comedy, there are moments that make you cringe as well as laugh out loud. There are crisply folded lines, and pleasingly peppery performances from the supporting cast especially, but where its beating heart should be there is a splinter of ice, the sense that no one involved is really doing this for that much love. Zellweger is unlikely to repeat the Academy Award nomination she justly received for the comic masterclass she gave in the first film, but she slips back into the role as comfortably as her old penguin pyjamas. Alas, despite her appealingly warm, vulnerable performance, the film itself is a mixed bag Though the story occasionally stretches credibility, the warmth and wit so reminiscent of the original propels you along, being due in large part to the return of one woman: director Sharon Maguire. Sign up to Roisin OConnors free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Roisin OConnors email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} In the latest news to make me want to immediately book a flight to Reykjavik, Bjork has discussed the lack of fan selfie/autograph culture out there as Icelanders dont really follow a hierarchical social structure or worship celebrity. Bjork is full of great facts from her native country ('In Iceland we dont go to church, we go for a walk and sing at the top of our lungs') and dished out more, along with many other interesting thoughts, during a Reddit AMA last night. Here are the highlights (all sic): Do you believe in an afterlife? yes and i will cook there Responding to a fan who was thrilled to spot her in a Reykjavik bar but chose to leave her alone and not hound her for selfies and autographs thanks for leaving me be . yes in iceland we have not much hierarchy and noone is more important than the next one therefore autographs kinda silly . here it is matter of self respect , if u want an autograph make one yourself lol . On where she locates inspiration "i think creativity always lives somewhere in everyone but its nature is quite pranksterish and slippery and everytime u grab its tail its found a nu corner to thrive in its in sauce recipes , writing theatre plays , papermache improv w nephews , discovering nu hiking routes or simply trying to figure out a family members sense of humour . On her love of Death Grips and working with them i basically got obsessed with guillotine , the video [below] the song everything !!!!! deathgrips did 2 remixes or remakes to be more accurate of biophilia that were my faves and we have been in touch ever since !!! i just love their punk spirit and admire the whole lack of genre they do On pressure to conform i prob was lucky because as a teenager in reykjavik nothing was going on . so we kinda had to make it up ourselves and release it ourselves . so when i have been introduced to restricting claustrophobic routes ive kinda just ignored them . because knew they werent true . and selling 3 copies dont scare me , more important to stay true to my nature On RuPauls Drag Race and Katyas impression of her YESSSSSSSS i absolutely loved it , especially when she started humming to herself ha ha ha ha selfishly i was hoping for a more current version like a vulnicura one lol but she nailed the feminist activist tribal volta sincerest form of flattery etc On composing while walking among nature, how walking lends itself to 4/4 musical metre and the unusual metre of Atom Dance and Moon thank u !!! what an interesting question !! ( ha ha ha ha always say that when its beyond me and i actually dont know how to answer it ha ha ha ) but yes , 4/4 is very human bipedal and atom dance was def an attempt to tap into the atoms rotating and the celebrational element of sufi or the icelandic or northern equivalent of it : vikivaki . these are cyclical round dances and i felt the pentagonic 5/4 was very appropriate somehow ? moon was def intentionally wanting to include the eternal spacious space of space and with such odd numbers celebrate the irregularity of it and perhaps taps into the emotional meaning of the tarot card "the moon" which is kinda possessed and water like , absolutely no grid at all !! sometimes borderline hysteria but overall the liquid shape of our feelings being prime here , def ignoring all boxes and squares of the four corners of 4/4 ha ha ha ha For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A former Apple software engineer who pioneered a major change to the Mac operating system was turned down for a job at the Genius Bar in one of the tech giants retail stores, in what has been touted as an example of age discrimination in the workplace. Recommended Read more New details of iPhone 7 revealed by report ahead of Apple launch JK Scheinberg left Apple in 2008 after 21 years with the firm, during which he reportedly figured out how to run Apples Mac OS on his home PC, which was powered by Intel processors. He then led the companys secret "Marklar" project to modify all Macs to run on Intel chips. At 54, and bored with retirement, he decided to apply for a job at an Apple Genius Bar, the in-person customer support locations at Apples high street stores, which tend to be staffed by younger people. Sure enough, the other applicants at his group interview were all half his age. Author Ashton Applewhite wrote about the episode in an article on age discrimination for the New York Times. "Im lucky enough to get my tech support from JK Scheinberg, the engineer at Apple who led the effort that moved the Mac to Intel processors," Ms Applewhite wrote. On the way out of his interview, Mr Scheinberg told her, the interviewers singled him out to say they would be in touch. But, he said, "I never heard back." After the piece was published, he tweeted: "Wonder if Apple will finally give me callback on that genius bar interview." Apple has not yet commented on the case, but describes itself on its website as "an equal-opportunity employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity." Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Minute magnetic particles typically found in air pollution have been detected in abundant quantities in human brain tissue for the first time. The tiny particles of iron oxide, known as magnetite, are toxic and it has been suggested they could play a role in causing or hastening the onset of Alzheimers disease. The study, in which brain tissue samples from 37 people were collected from those who had lived in Mexico City and in Manchester in the UK, is the first to prove magnetite particles found in air pollution have made their way into the brain. Magnetite naturally occurs in angular formations in the brain. But for every one natural angular particle, researchers found as many as 100 smooth, spherical particles. The smooth shape of the observed magnetite particles is characteristic of high temperature formation, such as from vehicle (particularly diesel) engines, power stations or open fires, researchers said. The toxic magnetite particles disrupt normal cellular functions in the brain by causing oxidative stress, and by the creation of unstable free radicals particles which damage essential structures in brain cells. Though no definite link between magnetite and Alzheimers has been established, previous studies have found a correlation between high quantities of the compound and the disease in the brains of Alzheimers sufferers. Recommended Read more Paris bans cars built before 1997 in battle against air pollution The study was led by scientists at Lancaster University and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The World Health Organisation warned as many as three million premature deaths every year were the result of air pollution. In the UK it is thought as many as 50,000 people die each year due to air pollution. A further 520,000 are affected by Alzheimers, a common form of dementia. Physicist Barbara Maher, co-director of the Centre for Environmental Magnetism and Paleomagnetism at Lancaster University said in a statement: Our results indicate that magnetite nanoparticles in the atmosphere can enter the human brain, where they might pose a risk to human health, including conditions such as Alzheimers disease. The particles we found are strikingly similar to the magnetite nanospheres that are abundant in the airborne pollution found in urban settings, especially next to busy roads, and which are formed by combustion or frictional heating from vehicle engines or brakes. Speaking to the BBC she added: Its dreadfully shocking. When you study the tissue you see the particles distributed between the cells and when you do a magnetic extraction there are millions of particles, millions in a single gram of brain tissue thats a million opportunities to do damage. Professor David Allsop, a specialist in Alzheimers at the University of Lancaster and co-author of the study, said: This finding opens up a whole new avenue for research into a possible environmental risk factor for a range of different brain diseases. Geophysicist Joe Kirschvink at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, who first detected naturally formed magnetite particles in the brain 25 years ago, told the journal Science, he believes the presence of the particle in the brain is disturbing. He said: Once you start getting larger volumes of [environmental] magnetite, the chemical reactivity goes way up. That nanoparticles of industrially generated magnetite are able to make their way into the brain tissues is disturbing. Dr David Reynolds, chief scientific officer at Alzheimer's Research UK, told the Press Association: Little is known about the role of magnetite nanoparticles in the brain and whether their magnetic properties influence brain function. Its interesting to see further research investigating the presence of this mineral in the brain, but its too early to conclude that it may have a causal role in Alzheimers disease or any other brain disease. We know that air pollution can have a negative impact on certain aspects of human health, but we cant conclude from this study that magnetite nanoparticles carried in air pollution are harmful to brain health. Indyplus gallery: High air pollution levels across the UK Show all 12 1 /12 Indyplus gallery: High air pollution levels across the UK Indyplus gallery: High air pollution levels across the UK pollution-4.jpg Indyplus gallery: High air pollution levels across the UK pollution-3.jpg Indyplus gallery: High air pollution levels across the UK pollution-5.jpg Indyplus gallery: High air pollution levels across the UK pollution-1.jpg Indyplus gallery: High air pollution levels across the UK pollution-2.jpg Indyplus gallery: High air pollution levels across the UK pollution-5.jpg Indyplus gallery: High air pollution levels across the UK pollution-3.jpg Indyplus gallery: High air pollution levels across the UK pollution-2.png Indyplus gallery: High air pollution levels across the UK pollution-1.jpg Indyplus gallery: High air pollution levels across the UK pollution-4.jpg Indyplus gallery: High air pollution levels across the UK pollution-7.jpg The Shard and St Paul's Cathedral from Hampstead Heath in London Indyplus gallery: High air pollution levels across the UK pollution-6.jpg Policymakers should take note of the results, Professor Maher told Science. Its an unfortunately plausible risk factor, and its worth taking precautions. Policymakers have tried to account for this in their environmental regulations, but maybe those need to be revised, she said. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Bayer sweetened its takeover bid for Monsanto a second time and said the two are in advanced talks as the German chemical company seeks to become the worlds largest producer of seeds and pesticides. Monsanto, meanwhile, said that its evaluating the Bayer offer as well as proposals from other parties and strategic alternatives. Bayer would be prepared to pay $127.50 a share provided a negotiated deal can be reached, the Leverkusen-based company said late on Monday in a statement. Recommended Read more Thousands protest against seed giant Monsanto The new offer is 2 per cent more than Bayers previous bid and 19 per cent above St. Louis-based Monsantos last closing price. Theres no assurance an agreement will be reached, Bayer said. The latest offer, which values Monsanto at about $56bn excluding debt, helped mute concerns that Bayer would overpay while stoking speculation that the German firm may take a hostile approach if negotiations over the price fail. Monsanto expects to get at least $130 per share, analysts at Commerzbank and Sanford Bernstein said on Tuesday. We see the current price offered as a last attempt to arrange for a negotiated transaction, Peter Spengler, an analyst at DZ Bank, said in a note to clients. Bayers management team is likely to ask the supervisory board for approval for a hostile takeover when it meets next week, he wrote, and forecast that a deal would likely be completed at $130-$135 a share. Stock Slumps Shares of Bayer slumped 0.8 per cent to 93.96 euros in early Frankfurt trading. The stock has declined about 19 per cent since the start of this year. Bayer made its first offer of $122 a share in May. That was rejected by Monsanto as too low, as was the higher offer of $125 a share made in July, but Monsanto later granted its suitor some access to its financial accounts for the purposes of due diligence ahead of a potentially revised bid. Monsantos shares have declined since Bayers initial bid in May, and closed at $107.44 in New York on Friday. We see the fairly modest raise as further indication that Bayer is feeling stretched by this deal, and is not willing to go north of $130, said Jonas Oxgaard, an analyst at Bernstein. Monsanto is unlikely to accept the current offer as the company values itself well above $130 (even if we do not share that view). Oxgaard said the transaction had a 50 per cent chance of succeeding in winning approval from regulators and the backing of lawmakers even if the two sides reach an agreement and make divestments. GMO Pioneer The offer from Bayer marks a reversal of roles for the US company. Monsanto has long sought to become a one-stop shop for farmers by boosting its crop chemicals portfolio to complement its seeds business. To that end, it had pursued the purchase of Syngenta on at least three separate occasions over the years. The crop and seed industry is being reshaped by a series of large transactions that may end up leaving just a few global players who can offer a comprehensive range of products and services to farmers. China National Chemical Corp agreed in February to acquire Syngenta. Meanwhile, DuPont and Dow Chemical plan to merge and then carve out a new crop-science unit. Monsanto called off its Syngenta bid last year, while more recently it has revived talks to buy BASFs agrochemicals unit. Falling crop prices have weighed on Monsantos profits and share price in the past year, making it vulnerable to a takeover. Buying Monsanto would give Bayer a company thats both the worlds largest seed supplier and a pioneer of crop biotechnology. The kind of genetically modified seeds that Monsanto started to commercialize two decades ago now account for the majority of corn and soybeans grown in the US. Monsanto also sells seeds in foreign markets including Latin America and India. Monsanto was founded in 1901 and its first product was saccharin, the artificial sweetener. It produced highly toxic polychlorinated biphenyls, known as PCBs, until the late 1970s, and was also among companies to manufacture the mixture of herbicides known as Agent Orange. In the past two decades it has pioneered the commercialisation of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. GMO varieties of corn and soybeans now account for the majority of those crops in the US Bloomberg Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Voices Dispatches email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A Government proposal to reintroduce grammar schools across the country will be backed by Theresa May, a document accidentally revealed outside Downing Street has confirmed. The paper says Education Secretary Justine Greening will launch a consultation into opening new grammars. The information has only come to light when the document, signed by the Department for Education's most senior civil servant, was photographed being carried into Downing Street by an official thought to be the deputy Lords leader Earl Howe. It reveals that the government will open new grammars, but that various conditions will need to be followed. Recommended Read more Labour moves away from working class vote on grammar schools The paper says: The con doc [consultation document] says we will open new grammars, albeit that they would have to follow various conditions. The SoSs [Secretary of States] clear position is that this should be presented in the con doc as an option, and only to be pursued once we have worked with existing grammars to show how they can be expanded and reformed in ways which avoid disadvantaging those who dont get in. I simply dont know what the PM thinks of this, but it sounds reasonable to me, and I simply cant see any way of persuading the Lords to vote for selection on any other basis. The document, signed by DfE permanent secretary Jonathan Slater, warns of the potential to disadvantage children who do not pass the selective grammar application processes. The revelation follows comments from the outgoing chief inspector of schools claiming the notion poorer children will benefit from proposed new grammar schools is tosh and nonsense. Head of Ofsted Sir Michael Wilshaw said a return to selective grammar school methods for children would be a profoundly retrograde step that would lower education standards and fail those from less advantaged backgrounds. Sir Michael said: The notion that the poor stand to benefit from the return of grammar schools strikes me as quite palpable tosh and nonsense and is very clearly refuted by the London experience. If grammar schools are the great answer, why aren't there more of them in London? If they are such a good thing for poor children, then why are poor children here in the capital doing so much better than their counterparts in those parts of the country that operate selection?" He added: I appreciate that many grammar schools do a fine job in equipping their students with an excellent education. But we all know that their record of admitting children from non-middle-class backgrounds is pretty woeful. Supporters of grammar schools argue the selection process can be beneficial to children from less affluent backgrounds by offering top quality education on the basis of merit rather than fees. Critics have suggested that the competition for top grammar school places leads to class discrimination, however, since many of those who do well in entrance tests are children whose parents are able to pay for private tuition outside of school. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn reiterated his opposition to the plans and suggested the Tories would have to bring back secondary modern schools in conjunction with new grammars in England. Mr Corbyn said: "I am in favour of young people being taught together of differing abilities because that helps them to develop at their own pace but also helps everyone to understand the abilities and values in each other. "Whilst I have often heard many Conservative politicians talk about bringing back the grammar school I have never, ever heard any Conservative politician ever call for the return of the secondary modern school." The National Union of Teachers (NUT) accused Mrs May of "taking education back to the 1950s, when children were segregated at age 11 and their life chances determined by the type of school they attended". NUT general secretary Kevin Courtney said: "Opening new grammar schools would not only be a backward step but is also a complete distraction from the real problems facing schools and education. "For every grammar school there are three or four 'secondary modern' schools. "All the evidence makes clear that segregating children in this way leads to lower academic standards." Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner described Sir Michaels comments as an embarrassing rebuke for the Conservatives. The Tories should be concentrating instead on raising standards in all schools and improving education for all our children, regardless of their backgrounds. They are failing to do so. But they want to return to a system in which children were branded as failures at the age of 11 and which only increased division in our society. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} 'Belle du Jour' blogger Dr Brooke Magnanti has criticised calls for a Home Affairs committee recommendation for the decriminalisation of sex work to be "discounted" following newspaper allegations Keith Vaz paid for sex. Dr Magnanti was called to give evidence before the Home Affairs committee chaired by Mr Vaz on prostitution and the sex industry in May this year. Mr Vaz announced his decision to step down from the committee today. The Labour MP said in a statement: Those who hold others to account must themselves be accountable. Recommended Read more New Keith Vaz tapes released as he prepares to face Commons committee Between 2003 and 2004, Dr Magnanti wrote about being an escort in London while studying for a PhD under the pseudonym Belle du Jour. Dr Magnanti was called to give evidence alongside the journalist Paris Lees, a former sex worker, despite both women having retired from sex work years before. They advocated the decriminalisation of the industry and Dr Magnanti warned MPs criminalising the payment for sex would make women more scared to come forward with abuse. She told MPs: "If you criminalise buying sex, the prostitute knows she becomes the evidence." In the UK, selling and paying for sex is legal but soliciting in a public place, managing brothels and kerb-crawling is a crime. In Sweden, buying sex is illegal but selling it is legal. The Swedish model has been considered after Sweden reported lower rates of prostitution in the country since the model was introduced. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA UK news in pictures 7 September 2022 Police officers stand guard after Animal Rebellion activists threw paint on the walls and road outside the Houses of Parliament in protest, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 6 September 2022 Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Liz Truss during an audience at Balmoral, Scotland, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA In an essay for Medium, Keith Vazs sex life does not matter, Dr Magnanti criticised supporters of the Swedish model for putting the focus of stories around Mr Vaz in light of the Home Affairs select committee, writing: "If you think Keith Vaz is singlehandedly responsible for sex workers being treated like human beings, you are very stupid, stop writing now. When I called out the committee for visiting Sweden and Denmark without meeting local sex worker-led orgs, Keith Vaz had the audacity to claim that they had. I know he was wrong; sex work organisations were shut out of the consultation visits. Why? Because Vaz has been a vocal supporter of the Swedish model. Now people are trying to imply Vaz gave us a helping hand in the results? As if. People twisting the Vaz story to suit their agenda are the lowest of the low, and their preferred policy kills women." She added: Sex workers influenced the outcome of the prostitution inquiry in spite of, not because of, Keith Vaz. Dr Magnanti's award-winning blog Belle de Jour: Diary of a London Call Girl was praised for its candid, unflinching portrayal of sex work and was followed by six books and a TV series based on her entries. She revealed her true identity in 2009 after a tabloid discovered her real name and address. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Chloe Grace Moretz is still a teenager but has already established herself as someone unafraid of getting on the wrong side of some of the most prominent names in the industry. The Neighbours 2 actress most memorably clashed with Kim Kardashian-West after she opposed to her sharing a photo of herself naked, covered by modesty bars, on the internet. Moretz, who previously denied accusations of slut-shaming or body-shaming, now says she regrets giving the 35-year-old attention by wading into row. Recommended Read more Kim Kardashian answers criticism from Piers Morgan over naked selfie I think I gave my attention to people that didnt deserve my attention, she told the Hollywood Reporter. So in some ways, I think I regret giving them the attention [though] I don't regret what I said." The famous men and women who arent afraid to speak their mind Show all 10 1 /10 The famous men and women who arent afraid to speak their mind The famous men and women who arent afraid to speak their mind Leonardo DiCaprio On climate change: 'Climate change is real, it is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating.' Getty The famous men and women who arent afraid to speak their mind Chrissy Teigen 'I will never stop talking about how horrible Donald Trump is. Even after he loses, I will set an alert to my phone to remind me to not stop. Getty The famous men and women who arent afraid to speak their mind Nicki Minaj On the war on drugs and US prison system: What it has become is not a war on drugs. It has become slavery. Or something crazier. When I see how many people are in jail, I feel like, Wait a minute. Our government is aware of these statistics and thinks its OK The sentences are inhumane. Christopher Polk/Getty Images for A+E Networks The famous men and women who arent afraid to speak their mind Emily Ratajkowski 'I am not shamed or apologetic of what my body might represent to you. Its the body I was given. I'm no less worthy of making political points about feminism or fighting for the reclaiming of female sexuality because of it.' Andrew Toth/Getty Images The famous men and women who arent afraid to speak their mind Jesse Williams On racial equality: Now what we've been doing is looking at the data and we know that police somehow manage to de-escalate, disarm and not kill white people every day. So what's going to happen is we are going to have equal rights and justice in our own country or we will restructure their function and ours. Getty The famous men and women who arent afraid to speak their mind Zendaya On claiming a magazine photoshopped her: Had a new shoot come out today and was shocked when I found my 19 year old hips and torso quite manipulated. These are the things that make women self conscious, that create the unrealistic ideals of beauty that we have. Getty The famous men and women who arent afraid to speak their mind Jennifer Lawrence Im over trying to find the "adorable" way to state my opinion and still be likable! F**k that. I don't think I've ever worked for a man in charge who spent time contemplating what angle he should use to have his voice heard. It's just heard.' AFP/Getty Images The famous men and women who arent afraid to speak their mind John Legend On Black Lives Matter: 'We should not have to jump through hoops to prove black people shouldnt be shot by police during routine traffic stops. So many people work so hard to find a reason why executing a human being during a traffic stop is ok. ITS NOT OK.' Getty The famous men and women who arent afraid to speak their mind Amandla Stenberg On cultural appropriation: 'What would America be like if we loved black people as much as we loved black culture?' Getty Images The famous men and women who arent afraid to speak their mind Maisie Williams On feminism: I [also] feel like we should stop calling feminists feminists and just start calling people who arent feminist sexist and then everyone else is just human. You are either a normal person or a sexist. People get a label because theyre bad.' Chris Jackson/Getty Images Moretz says she has since learned lessons from the Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who she has campaigned for and endorsed at the Democrat National Convention in Philadelphia in July, that she will take going forward. I also realised that being the most opinionated and loud person in the room is not always the most impactful. I learned that from Hillary, she said. Its great to be feisty, those were her exact words. But sometimes the smartest way to get into the psyche of people is to be the quietest person in the room. Let everyone else bicker and throw their words around and then you come in with the quiet voice and that will be the most impactful. Kim is not the only Kardashian Moretz has clashed with. In July, she found herself targeted by Khloe Kardashian after she criticised Kims decision to release a video of her husband Kanye West and Taylor Swift discussing song lyrics on Snapchat which became the latest saga in a very public feud between the trio. Khloe was later forced to deny she was a bully after receiving criticism for tweeting an image of girl, with part of her body exposed, who she wrongly claimed was Moretz. After Kardashian-West shared the internet-breaking post it triggered a polarising debate. Moretz, A representative for Kardashian-West did not immediately respond to a request for comment. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Rodrigo Duterte has found himself under scrutiny for his controversial remarks on more than once occasion. From appearing to call Barack Obama a son of a wh**e in his most recent slip-up to joking about rape to openly jeering at the Chinese, the Filipino President has no qualms about speaking his mind. Mr Duerte, who is widely known as Digong, most recently grabbed headlines for his remarks to the American President. You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a wh**e, I will curse you in that forum, he was quoted as saying. The remarks followed weeks of criticism from the US against his controversial crackdown on the drugs trade in the Philippines. Mr Obama responded by cancelling a meeting with him which had been scheduled at a regional summit in Laos for Tuesday. People news in pictures Show all 18 1 /18 People news in pictures People news in pictures 7 October 2015 Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in an ice hockey match between former NHL stars and officials at the Shayba Arena in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Vladimir Putin spent his 63rd birthday on the ice, playing hockey with NHL stars against Russian officials and tycoons EPA People news in pictures 6 October 2015 German designer Karl Lagerfeld (R) and model Cara Delevingne (C) appear at the end of his Spring/Summer 2016 women's ready-to-wear collection for fashion house Chanel at the Grand Palais which is transformed into a Chanel airport during the Fashion Week in Paris, France Reuters People news in pictures 5 October 2015 Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne addresses the Conservative party conference in Manchester. The Chancellor argued that reducing the payments to people in low paid jobs would give them economic security by reducing the Governments spending deficit Getty Images People news in pictures 4 October 2015 Cowboys captain Johnathan Thurston takes a moment in the centre of the field with his daughter Frankie Thurston, holding dark-skinned doll, after winning the 2015 NRL Grand Final match between the Brisbane Broncos and the North Queensland Cowboys at ANZ Stadium in Sydney. The image quickly became the talking point of Australias National Rugby League Final and provoked a strong reaction on social media, with many praising Thurston for giving his child a toy that promotes inclusiveness and diversity Getty Images People news in pictures 3 October 2015 Pope Francis gives a thumbs-up as he greets people at the end of an audience to the participants of a meeting organized by the "Food Bank" at the Paul VI audience hall in Vatican Getty Images People news in pictures 2 October 2015 Britain's Finance Minister George Osborne (L) throws an American football as he meets with former American football players Dan Marino (2nd R) and Curtis Martin (not pictured) at 11 Downing Street in London, ahead of the New York Jets playing against the Miami Dolphins at London's Wembley Stadium on 4 October Getty Images People news in pictures 1 October 2015 An honor guard opens the door as Russian President Vladimir Putin enters a hall to attend a meeting with members of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia People news in pictures 30 September 2015 Former Mrs America Lisa Christie, who alleges misconduct by Bill Cosby, holds up photos of her younger self during a news conference at the law office of attorney Gloria Allred in Los Angeles People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Matt Damon has defended himself against claims that he instructed gay actors to remain in the closet. He had said I think youre a better actor the less people know about you and sexuality is a huge part of that. Whether youre straight or gay, people shouldnt know anything about your sexuality but an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show said, I was just trying to say actors are more effective when theyre a mystery. Right? Getty People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Actor Marion Cotillard has said that there is no place for feminism in Hollywood. Speaking to Porter magazine, she saidFilm-making is not about gender/ You cannot ask a president in a festival like Cannes to have, like, five movies directed by women and five by men. For me it doesnt create equality, it creates separation. I mean, I dont qualify myself as a feminist." Getty People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Actor Paul Walkers daughter, Meadow, is suing Porsche over her fathers death in a lawsuit that claims he was trapped in the burning car because of design flaws and the seat belt. The Fast and Furious star was killed when the Porsche Carrera GT he was a passenger in hit a pole in California in 2013. The driver, his friend Roger Rodas, also died when the vehicle burst into flames. AP People news in pictures 28 September 2015 Robert Mugabe waits to address the United Nations General Assembly. The leader of Zimbabwe reportedly exclaimed 'We are not gay!' as he criticised Western nation's "double standards and attempts to prescribe new rights that are contrary to our values, norms, traditions and beliefs. In 2013 he described homosexuals as worse than pigs, goats and birds. Reuters People news in pictures 28 September 2015 South African comedian Trevor Noah hosts the first 'Daily Show' since taking over from Jon Stewart as host. Stewart had presented the US satirical news show since 1999 and was described by Noah during the show as a 'Political father' 2015 Getty Images People news in pictures 25 September 2015 Sir Elton John may have received a phone call from the real Vladimir Putin. Mr Putin's spokesman announced he had made contact weeks after the singer was duped by pranksters pretending to be the Russian President. Getty People news in pictures 25 September 2015 Actor Leonardo DiCaprio was mistakenly declared as the artist who produced the Mona Lisa by Fox News anchor Shepard Smith. It was in fact Leonardo da Vinci. People news in pictures 24 September 2015 A new biography claims Donald Trump expected to be dead by 40 and never marry. The Guardian says the a new book also claims that in 1980, Mr Trump manufactured a fake vice-president of his real estate conglomerate, whom he called John Baron. People news in pictures 24 September 2015 The Dalai Lama has said that Britain's policy towards China is just about 'Money, money, money.' And asked 'Where is morality?' People news in pictures 24 September 2015 Puff Daddy secured the number-one spot on the Forbes Hip Hop Cash Kings list, with the publication calculating he made an estimated $60million (39m) between June 2014 and June 2015. Mr Duerte has since expressed regret for his remarks saying they had not been intended as a personal insult. Nevertheless, it is Mr Duertes outspoken and straight-talking style which has endeared him to many Filipinos. The leader has frequently been likened to Donald Trump by media commentators although he himself has been keen to differentiate himself from the Republican presidential candidate, saying: "He is a bigot and I am not". Here is a selection of some of those times Mr Duarte has struggled to hold his tongue. Killing drug addicts These sons of whores are destroying our children. I warn you, dont go into that, even if youre a policeman, because I will really kill you, he told a Manila slum after being sworn in as President. If you know of any addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful. Message to China I will go there on my own with a Jet Ski, bringing along with me a [Phillipino] flag and a pole, and once I disembark, I will plant the flag on the runway and tell the Chinese authorities, Kill me, he said. To provide some context, the Philippines are engaged in a territorial row with China over Islands and reefs in the South China Sea. Christmas message to law-breakers If you do not want to stop, and just continue committing crimes, then this would be your last Merry Christmas, he said in a Christmas greeting video. Sex life I was separated from my wife. Im not impotent. What am I supposed to do? Let this hang forever? When I take Viagra, it stands up. He has referred to himself as a womanizer in the past and said he has two mistresses. On the drugs trade None of my children are into illegal drugs. But my order is, even if it is a member of my family, kill him'," he is quoted as saying in the Phillipine Star. Insulting the Pope We were affected by the traffic. It took us five hours. I asked why, they said it was closed. I asked who is coming. They answered, the pope. I wanted to call him: Pope, son of a wh**e, go home. Do not visit us again. Joke about rape At a campaign rally, Mr Duarte joked about the rape and murder of an Australian missionary during a 1989 prison riot in Davao when Mr. Duterte was mayor. I saw her face and I thought, 'What a pity... they raped her, they all lined up. I was mad she was raped but she was so beautiful. I thought, the mayor should have been first. He initially responded by saying this is how men talk but then later apologised for his remarks. There was no intention of disrespecting our women and those who have been victims of this horrible crime. Sometimes my mouth can get the better of me. My life is an open book. I am a man of many flaws and contradictions, he said. Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Voices Dispatches email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The security services are concerned that biohackers groups of ordinary people who use genome editing techniques to alter lifeforms could develop biological weapons or other potentially dangerous substances, an Oxford University academic has said. Amateur scientists around the world have started using gene editing techniques after the tools became cheap and readily available. And while most of these groups are harmless, Professor John Parrington told the British Science Festival in Swansea there were fears among other scientists and the security services that the technology could be used to create a new form of deadly virus. Who knows what will happen in the future, he said, raising the prospect of someone making a biological weapon. Theres some disquiet among the security services about where this is all leading as you might imagine. Scientists at Stanford University in the US, he said, had also expressed concerns that genetic engineering could be out there in the public domain. Recommended Read more Scientists take steps towards curing HIV with revolutionary technique However Professor Parrington, author of the popular science books The Deeper Genome and Redesigning Life, said creating a pathogenic form of bacteria that could cause significant health problems was not easy. Its actually quite difficult and not quite as trivial as some people might think to make a new form of virus thats lethal, he said. Thats partly because nature is quite good at doing that itself and also because of the dangers to the people concerned. And, for the most part, biohackers were enthusiastic amateurs who were involved in entirely peaceful pursuits. Science news in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Science news in pictures Science news in pictures Pluto has 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen Pluto has a 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen that is doing strange things to its surface, Nasa has found. The mysterious core seems to be the cause of features on its surface that have fascinated scientists since they were spotted by Nasa's New Horizons mission. "Before New Horizons, everyone thought Pluto was going to be a netball - completely flat, almost no diversity," said Tanguy Bertrand, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and the lead author on the new study. "But it's completely different. It has a lot of different landscapes and we are trying to understand what's going on there." Getty Science news in pictures Over 400 species discovered this year by Natural History Museum The ancient invertabrate worm-like species rhenopyrgus viviani (pictured) is one of over 400 species previously unknown to science that were discovered by experts at the Natural History Museum this year PA Science news in pictures Jackdaws can identify 'dangerous' humans Jackdaws can identify dangerous humans from listening to each others warning calls, scientists say. The highly social birds will also remember that person if they come near their nests again, according to researchers from the University of Exeter. In the study, a person unknown to the wild jackdaws approached their nest. At the same time scientists played a recording of a warning call (threatening) or contact calls (non-threatening). The next time jackdaws saw this same person, the birds that had previously heard the warning call were defensive and returned to their nests more than twice as quickly on average. Getty Science news in pictures Turtle embryos influence sex by shaking The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperatures at which they are incubated. Warm temperatures favour females. But by wiggling around the egg, embryos can find the Goldilocks Zone which means they are able to shield themselves against extreme thermal conditions and produce a balanced sex ratio, according to the new study published in Current Biology journal Ye et al/Current Biology Science news in pictures Elephant poaching rates drop in Africa African elephant poaching rates have dropped by 60 per cent in six years, an international study has found. It is thought the decline could be associated with the ivory trade ban introduced in China in 2017. Reuters Science news in pictures Ancient four-legged whale discovered in Peru Scientists have identified a four-legged creature with webbed feet to be an ancestor of the whale. Fossils unearthed in Peru have led scientists to conclude that the enormous creatures that traverse the planets oceans today are descended from small hoofed ancestors that lived in south Asia 50 million years ago A. Gennari Science news in pictures Animal with transient anus discovered A scientist has stumbled upon a creature with a transient anus that appears only when it is needed, before vanishing completely. Dr Sidney Tamm of the Marine Biological Laboratory could not initially find any trace of an anus on the species. However, as the animal gets full, a pore opens up to dispose of waste Steven G Johnson Science news in pictures Giant bee spotted Feared extinct, the Wallace's Giant bee has been spotted for the first time in nearly 40 years. An international team of conservationists spotted the bee, that is four times the size of a typical honeybee, on an expedition to a group of Indonesian Islands Clay Bolt Science news in pictures New mammal species found inside crocodile Fossilised bones digested by crocodiles have revealed the existence of three new mammal species that roamed the Cayman Islands 300 years ago. The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal New Mexico Museum of Natural History Science news in pictures Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland Science news in pictures Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty Science news in pictures Final warning to limit "climate catastrophe" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty Science news in pictures Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP Science news in pictures Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his "optical tweezers" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and Gerard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP Science news in pictures Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means "a giant thunderclap at dawn" Viktor Radermacher / SWNS Science news in pictures Birth of a planet Scientists have witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time ever. This spectacular image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star. ESO/A. Muller et al Science news in pictures New human organ discovered that was previously missed by scientists Layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments researchers have termed the interstitium. These compartments are found beneath the skin, as well as lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels and muscles, and join together to form a network supported by a mesh of strong, flexible proteins Getty Science news in pictures Previously unknown society lived in Amazon rainforest before Europeans arrived, say archaeologists Working in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a team led by archaeologists at the University of Exeter unearthed hundreds of villages hidden in the depths of the rainforest. These excavations included evidence of fortifications and mysterious earthworks called geoglyphs Jose Iriarte Science news in pictures One in 10 people have traces of cocaine or heroin on fingerprints, study finds More than one in 10 people were found to have traces of class A drugs on their fingers by scientists developing a new fingerprint-based drug test. Using sensitive analysis of the chemical composition of sweat, researchers were able to tell the difference between those who had been directly exposed to heroin and cocaine, and those who had encountered it indirectly. Getty Science news in pictures Nasa releases stunning images of Jupiter's great red spot The storm bigger than the Earth, has been swhirling for 350 years. The image's colours have been enhanced after it was sent back to Earth. Pictures by: Tom Momary For example, there is one biohacker group in Hackney, east London, who Professor Parrington said were using genome editing to make a special kind of craft beer. In many ways [biohackers] are people who want to get involved in science, often with no biological experience in the past, he said. Certainly the groups in England have to go through the same procedures of safety [that scientists do]. G-20 can have a chain reaction for Armenia The agreements reached at G-20 summit in China can also directly relate to the Republic of Armenia, taking into account the factor of Syria, told the former rector of Yerevan State Linguistic University after V. Brusov, doctor of Political Sciences, Member of the Public Council Suren Zolyan by adding, Syria is too near to us and any resolution of the conflict will be very beneficial for us. It will have a chain reaction. As for Obama-Putin similar meetings, according to Suren Zolyan, there were many such agreements before, but there has been no progress as a result of them, This time again the leaders of the superpowers continue insisting that they will remain in their positions. He thinks that Turkeys involvement in these discussions changes the situation, as its presence may somehow destabilize the situation in Syria. The Kurdish factor is very sensitive topic for Turkey. In replying to a remark whether the map will be newly restructured after the G-20 meetings, Mr. Zolyan didnt rule out the possibility of creation of Kurdistan both in Syria and Iraq. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Hate preacher Anjem Choudary has been jailed for five years and six months for drumming up support for Isis. Choudary, 49, from Ilford, east London, backed the terrorist group in a series of talks posted on YouTube. The radical cleric also recognised a caliphate a symbolic Islamic state had been created under an Isis leader after it was declared in June 2014, the Old Bailey heard. Despite being a leading figure in the banned group Al-Muhajiroun (ALM) - which has seen a number of former and current supporters being convicted - former lawyer Choudary skillfully avoided criminal charges after toeing the legal line for two decades. But police were finally able to arrest Choudary along with one of his followers, Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, after he posted their pledge of alliance online. Following an Old Bailey trial, the pair were found guilty of inviting support for Isis between 29 June 2014 and 6 March 2015 and were remanded in custody. For legal reasons, details of the case could not be reported until three weeks after the guilty verdicts were delivered on 28 July. Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Show all 9 1 /9 Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Policemen outside Rouen's cathedral during the funeral of Jacques Hamel, the priest who was killed in a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in Normandy on 26 July during a hostage-taking claimed by Islamic State group Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Two jihadists, both 19, slit Hamel's throat while he was celebrating mass in an attack that shocked France as well as the Catholic Church Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Muslims place flowers and hold a minute of silence in front of the church if Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, western France, where French priest Jacques Hamel was killed on 26 July Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Two people hold each other by the new makeshift memorial in Nice, in tribute to the victims of the deadly Bastille Day attack at the Promenade des Anglais Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the truck attack that killed 84 people in Nice on France's national holiday. Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, 31, smashed a 19-tonne truck into a packed crowd of people in the Riviera city celebrating Bastille Day Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Police work at a site where a Syrian migrant set off an explosive device in Ansbach, southern Germany, on 25 July, killing himself and wounding a dozen others Daniel Roland/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis A Syrian migrant set off an explosion at a bar in southern Germany that killed himself and wounded a dozen others in the third attack to hit Bavaria in a week. The 27-year-old, who had spent a stint in a psychiatric facility, had intended to target a music festival in the city of Ansbach but was turned away because he did not have a ticket Friebe/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Police officers walk along train tracks in Wuerzburg southern Germany on 19 July, a day after a man attacked train passengers with an axe. German authorities said they had found a hand-painted IS flag among the belongings of the man, an asylum seeker from Afghanistan, who seriously injured four members of a family of tourists from Hong Kong in his rampage Daniel Roland/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis German police killed a teenage assailant after he attacked passengers on a train in Wuerzburg, southerg Germany with an axe and a knife on 18 July, seriously wounding three people Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/AFP/Getty Images Choudary faced a maximum possible sentence of 10 years in prison but Mr Justice Holroyde said there was little precedent for such cases. His conviction was also welcomed by leading British Muslims, who condemned his evil and hateful views, but they reacted with outraged at the perceived leniency of the sentence. Haras Rafiq from the counter-extremism thinktank the Quilliam Foundation told the London Evening Standard: There are people who it is alleged that he has radicalised that have longer sentences than him. He has got five-and-a-half years for 15 years of radicalising youngsters in Britain and beyond towards jihadist terrorism. Security services have said he is directly linked to up to 500 people who have travelled to Iraq and Syria. Recommended Read more Thousands of Muslims meet in the UK to reject Isis and extremsim This is a sad indictment of the current state of our legislation. He could be out in two-and-a-half years. Professor Anthony Glees, a security expert at Buckingham University, told Mail Online he believed the sentence was "too lenient" and "mocks justice". He said: "This is a highly dangerous, sinister and wicked person from whom we have a right to be protected for a very long time. Once again an English court has delivered a soft verdict which is no deterrent. "He'll be out in two-and-half years and there's no reason to believe prison can reform him or make him see how appalling his recruitment of young Brits had been." The trial heard that the preacher, viewed by officers as a key force in radicalising young Muslims, had been the mouthpiece of Omar Bakri Mohammed the founder of the banned extremist group ALM. Choudary has been given five and a half years in prison despite spending '15 years radicalising young Muslims' (Getty) Former followers of Choudhury include Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, the murderers of Fusilier Lee Rigby, and suspected Isis executioner Siddhartha Dhar. Following the convictions, Commander Dean Haydon, head of Scotland Yards counter-terrorism command, said: These men have stayed just within the law for many years, but there is no-one within the counter-terrorism world that has any doubts of the influence that they have had, the hate they have spread and the people that they have encouraged to join terrorist organisations. Over and over again we have seen people on trial for the most serious offences who have attended lectures or speeches given by these men. The oath of allegiance was a turning point for the police at last we had the evidence that they had stepped over the line and we could prove they supported Isis. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A City worker raped a comatose woman under the desk on the floor of a stockbroker's office after a lat-night drinking session, a court has heard. Daniel Green, 26, allegedly attacked the woman as she slept on the floor of the StratX Markets office. The Old Bailey heard how the alleged victim woke up as Green was pulling off her trousers and underwear. She said no repeatedly but he continued to rape her and only stopped when she began to cry, the court heard. Green then allegedly left the office with the woman still crying on the floor. The jury heard how the woman had been out drinking with a friend in May 2015 when she met Green and his other work colleagues, according to the Evening Standard. Prosecutor Timothy Forester said Green was just one of a number of men from Stratx out drinking in the same area. Mr Forester said: The two women eventually ended up with a group of the defendant and a number of other people from his company. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA UK news in pictures 7 September 2022 Police officers stand guard after Animal Rebellion activists threw paint on the walls and road outside the Houses of Parliament in protest, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 6 September 2022 Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Liz Truss during an audience at Balmoral, Scotland, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA They went from one bar to the other. It is common ground that everyone in this case was consuming alcohol. According to The Telegraph, the court then heard the two women had started taking cocaine and it was suggested that Green may have also taken it as well. Afterward, a member of the group suggested they return to the Stratx building, near Monument Station in the City of London, where they continued to drink champagne. A group of eight went back to the office but by the time the rape allegedly took place at 4am only Green, the alleged victim, her friend and one other male were there. Mr Forrester said the woman had originally planned to sleep under the desk and wake up for the first train the next morning. After the alleged attack took place, the womans friend contacted another friend who called the police. The court heard that when police arrived at the scene the alleged victim told them what happened and Green was arrested at his home in Walthamstow, north east London later that day. Green has denied the charges. The trial continues. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Nine Black Lives Matter activists have been arrested by police after they occupied the runway at London City Airport this morning. The final activists were arrested around 11.25am, Scotland Yard said, nearly six hours after the group occupied the runway. An airport spokesman said: "We are preparing the airfield to resume operations as soon as possible." Black Lives Matter protesters storm runway at London City Airport Show all 5 1 /5 Black Lives Matter protesters storm runway at London City Airport Black Lives Matter protesters storm runway at London City Airport Emergency services surround protestors from the movement Black Lives Matter after they locked themselves to a tripod on the runway at London City Airport in London Getty Black Lives Matter protesters storm runway at London City Airport Emergency services surround protesters from the movement Black Lives Matter after they locked themselves to a tripod on the runway at London City Airport AFP/Getty Images Black Lives Matter protesters storm runway at London City Airport The view of the London City Airport after protesters the runway in support of the Black Lives Matter movement PA Black Lives Matter protesters storm runway at London City Airport Black Lives Matter protesters occupy runway at London City Airport @UKBLM/Twitter Black Lives Matter protesters storm runway at London City Airport People awaiting news on their flights after Black Lives Matter UK protesters stormed the runway at London City Airport PA The protesters reportedly bypassed security by using a rubber dinghy to cross the docks. Police said they erected a tripod and locked themselves together on the runway. From 9.30 Met Police officers began to arrest the protesters. Several emergency service vehicles were parked on the runway as attempts were made to clear the protesters. A man in black, who had attached himself to the top of a wooden tripod, was surrounded by police officers and a set of aircraft steps were wheeled up to him in an apparent bid to get him down. Police boats could also be seen circling the dock surrounding the runway. Having attached a helmet to the man, police removed him from the top of the structure and on to the plane steps. After sitting briefly on the platform with a rope around him, he was taken down. A police van was seen driving down the runway, away from the scene. Police said the seven have been held on suspicion of aggravated trespass, being unlawfully air-side and breaching airport by-laws. In a statement, Black Lives Matter UK said: "This action was taken in order to highlight the UK's environmental impact on the lives of black people locally and globally. "As the largest per capita contributor to global temperature change and yet among the least vulnerable to its deadly effects, the UK leads in ensuring that our climate crisis is a racist crisis." The group added that the planned expansion of London City Airport "consigns the local community in Newham to further deterioration of their environment". The group says the airport caters to people working in financial services - making it a facility to help the wealthy. Black Lives Matter said "when black people in Britain are 28 percent more likely to be exposed to air pollution than their white counterparts, we know that environmental inequality is a racist crisis." Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Eid al-Adha, the holiest celebration in the Islamic calendar, was expected to fall on 11 September, on the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon in 2001. But it has been confirmed the holiday will now fall a day later, on 12 September, in most countries. Literally translating as the festival of the sacrifice and also known as the Greater Eid, Eid al-Adha marks the end of Hajj, the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca undertaken by Muslims all over the world. It is distinct from Eid al-Fitr, the festival that comes immediately after Ramadan celebrated last month. During the Greater Eid, Muslims commemorate the day Ibrahim was about to sacrifice his son but was told by God to kill an animal instead. The celebration symbolises Ibrahims devotion to Allah. When is Eid al-Adha? The timing of the celebration is dictated by the lunar cycle, so the festival falls on a different date every year, just as Easter does. The day is set when a new moon is sighted but there is no exact definition of what this means. There is little agreement within the faith about whether the moon must be spotted with the naked eye and whether it should be seen in the country where the celebrations are happening. Saudi Arabia has been known to send up fighter jets to determine whether the new moon has arrived. The result of the varying interpretations of the rule is that Greater Eid falls on a different day depending on what sect, mosque or region you are in. Saudi Arabias Supreme Court announced on Friday it would celebrate the festival on the 12 September. The US, Canada and the Islamic Society of North America all follow the Saudi calendar, as does the European Council of Fatwa and Research. But in Pakistan and Bangladesh, the date is determined by local sightings of the moon. This year, the Asian countries will celebrate the Greater Eid on September 13. Why has Eid al-Adhas timing received so much attention this year? Concerns arose that the holiday would be misunderstood after it initially appeared the festival would fall on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The worry was that the festivities would be interpreted as Muslims celebrating the atrocities. The Muslim council on American-Islamic Relations held meetings about the possibility. Ibrahim Hooper from the council, told Reuters he was concerned it might allow Islam haters to falsely claim that Muslims were celebrating on 9/11. Following a surge in suspected hate crimes after terrorist massacres in Paris and California, religious leaders put their communities on high alert when they heard about the expected date. Akbar Ahmed, a chair of Islamic Studies at the American University in Washington DC said: One act of violence could trigger another as there is heightened tension." Mosques which held outdoor prayers on Eid were reportedly considering moving indoors amid worries about security. In pictures: Eid Al-Adha celebrations around the world Show all 18 1 /18 In pictures: Eid Al-Adha celebrations around the world In pictures: Eid Al-Adha celebrations around the world eid-1.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Eid Al-Adha celebrations around the world eid-19.jpg EPA In pictures: Eid Al-Adha celebrations around the world eid-5.jpg Reuters In pictures: Eid Al-Adha celebrations around the world eid-17.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Eid Al-Adha celebrations around the world eid-10.jpg AP In pictures: Eid Al-Adha celebrations around the world eid-16.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Eid Al-Adha celebrations around the world eid-9.jpg Reuters In pictures: Eid Al-Adha celebrations around the world eid-8.jpg AP In pictures: Eid Al-Adha celebrations around the world eid-15.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Eid Al-Adha celebrations around the world eid-14.jpg EPA In pictures: Eid Al-Adha celebrations around the world eid-11.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Eid Al-Adha celebrations around the world eid-13.jpg EPA In pictures: Eid Al-Adha celebrations around the world eid-20.jpg AP In pictures: Eid Al-Adha celebrations around the world eid-2.jpg In pictures: Eid Al-Adha celebrations around the world eid-6.jpg AP In pictures: Eid Al-Adha celebrations around the world eid-7.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Eid Al-Adha celebrations around the world eid-3.jpg Getty Images In pictures: Eid Al-Adha celebrations around the world eid-18.jpg EPA How is Eid al-Adha celebrated? For Muslims, the day begins with morning prayers, followed by the exchange of food and gifts with family and friends. Muslims are obliged to share their food and money with the poor so they too can take part in the celebrations. Worshippers will slaughter an animal, such as a sheep or a goat. In Pakistan alone, nearly ten million animals are slaughtered on Eid. Anyone wishing to sacrifice an animal in the UK must conform to welfare standards so the animal is treated humanely. The festival is traditionally four days long, but public holidays vary depending on the country. Turkey, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait and Oman will have nine-day breaks.Pakistan will observe a three-day break for Eid, while Bangladesh will have six days off. Saudi Arabia has announced a 12-day holiday public holiday, which will include the days of the Hajj pilgrimage. But low oil prices and government spending cuts are expected to dampen Eid celebrations there. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Gatwick Airport has slammed the conclusions of the Davies Commission on airport expansion as flawed. Nick Dunn, chief financial officer for the Sussex airport, said that Freedom of Information requests had cast doubt on the assumptions and methods used in the final report. Sir Howard Davies Airports Commission unanimously recommended a third runway be built at Heathrow, to the north-west of the existing airfield. The report concluded that it would produce much greater economic benefits than a second runway at Gatwick. Mr Dunn told an audience at the Westminster Energy, Environment & Transport Forum that Sir Howard Davies commission had ignored key evidence. He said that it showed that a second runway at Gatwick would produce almost identical outcomes in business travel, tourism and overall passenger numbers: You get the same traffic for the UK at a much lower cost. Heathrow third runway decision needed as soon as possible after Brexit says Simon Calder Gatwick made a Freedom of Information request for the data used by the Davies Commission. The airport now accuses the commission of triple counting some international journeys via Heathrow, skewing the predicted economic benefits. Mr Dunn told The Independent: Those flaws are very evident and I am sure will be taken into account by the government. If it chooses not to listen, I imagine there will be plenty of people in London who will be interested in that. But John Holland-Kaye, chief executive of Heathrow, said: The Airports Commission couldnt have been clearer get on with expanding Heathrow. Leaving the EU means that its more essential than ever that we create trading links to the growing markets of the world and that we control our own trade routes. Only Heathrow expansion can do this. And its an urgent task, if we are to have a strong and fair post-Brexit economy. If were taking back control, lets take back control of the UKs supply routes. In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Show all 22 1 /22 In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Inside one of the terminal tents in 1946 The year the airport opened. Comfortable armchairs and flowers try to distract from the conditions Graham Bridges collection In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow An aerial view of the airport in 1949 Construction of the runway layout and Central Area are under way In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow A Pan Am crew checks out the Boeing Stratocruiser N1029V Clipper Golden Eagle in 1954 During the early 1950s, Pan Am and American Overseas Airlines operated Statocruisers into London Airport in direct competition on the North Atlantic route operated by BOAC In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow One of the first official London Airport guidebooks C.1953, priced 1s In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow In 1950 a permanent concrete terminal building was built This replaced the tents previously used at London Airport North and is seen still in use for charter and cargo flights in this 1959 view via Graham Bridges In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow BOAC check-in desk in 1954 Inside the new London Airport North terminal building, just before the move to the Central Area Graham Bridges collection In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Air traffic control tower in the 1960s Inside the visual control room CAA Archives via Pete Bish In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Rear cover of the 1956 guidebook Showing a plan of the airport at the time, with entrance prices to the spectators viewing terraces and for airport coach tours In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Spectators in 1958 How close can you get? As soon as the Central Area was open, spectators were afforded unprecedented views of the airliners In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Terminal 3 was opened as the Oceanic Terminal on 13 November 1961 It was built to handle flight departures for long-haul routes. Renamed Terminal 3 in 1968, it was expanded in 1970 with the addition of an arrivals building In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Inside Terminal 3 in 1969 Check-in desks for BOAC and QANTAS airlines In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Plane spotting on Heathrows viewing terraces in the 1960s Wrap up warm, take your spotting logbooks, pen and binoculars and get your mum to pack your sandwiches In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow No 1 Passenger Building Also called the Europa Building. In this photo, taken on 22 June 1963, flags of the many airlines it serves are flown Lee Holden In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Luggage-trailer-towing Routemaster buses When BEA and BOAC merged to form BA on 1 April 1974, both fleets had to be repainted in the new livery, but so did all the ground support equipment In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow The entrance to the traffic tunnel in 1974 A Lufthansa Boeing 737 is seen on the runway In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow A 40 per cent scale model of Concorde In September 1990 it was erected on the roundabout at the entrance to the tunnel that passes under the northern runway at Heathrow Airport. It was built in four main parts, with an 80ft-long central fuselage section, to which the wings and tail fin were attached. The completed model was placed on the roundabout in September 1990 and was monitored by CCTV and surrounded by an infrared perimeter alarm that was connected to the local Heathrow police station to ensure it was not vandalised In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Heathrow Airport's 50th anniversary On 2 June 1996, Heathrow marked its anniversary with a flypast of representative airliner types that have served the airport over the years. This culminated in a formation flypast by Concorde with Hawks of the RAF Red Arrows aerobatic team In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow The roof of Terminal 3s car park One of the last bastions for plane spotters and spectators was here. This is the unfriendly notice that greets anyone who attempts this today Richard Vandervord In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow On 24 October 2003 BA withdrew its Concordes from service The final scheduled commercial flight was BA002 from JFK operated by G-BOAG. Here we see three of the Concordes parked together outside the BA hangar on 8 November 2003 following withdrawal John Hughes In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow The new control tower Costing 50 million to construct, it gives controllers an excellent 360-degree panoramic view NATS photograph In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow The new Terminal 2 The Queens Terminal In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Looking due west down Runway 27L Mr Holland-Kaye made a veiled criticism of the Cameron governments indecision, saying: We now have a prime minister who has remained open minded on how to deliver more airport capacity, and makes decisions based on the facts. A Department for Transport spokesperson said: The case for aviation expansion is clear but its vitally important we get the decision right so that it will benefit generations to come. As well as progressing the package of further work announced previously, the government will continue to consider the Commissions evidence before reaching a view on its preferred scheme. Services at Gatwick have recovered after a maintenance check discovered a hole on the main runway for the second time this summer. Eleven flights were diverted on Sunday night, and many others were delayed including the jet from Inverness carrying the conference chairman, Drew Hendry MP. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The protesters whose incursion on the runway at London City airport led to dozens of flights being diverted or cancelled will have cost the airlines hundreds of thousands of pounds. They will also have distracted police and airport security officials from other tasks. And the apparent ease with which the demonstrators arrived by boat to occupy the runway together with a large tripod, to make eviction more difficult may inspire terrorist groups to launch copycat actions with more sinister intent. Terrorists have long favoured aviation as a target. There is no sign that appetite is diminishing. But the tougher the routine checks on passengers, the more that those intent on mass murder will seek alternatives that ignore the front door and exploit weaknesses elsewhere. Emergency services surround BLM protesters after they locked themselves to a tripod on the runway (Getty) The incident highlights the vulnerability of an important international airport to breaches in perimeter security. The characteristics that make London City so appealing to travellers its proximity to offices and homes also make it more of a challenge to defend. The capitals other airports are surrounded by land, which should make their perimeters relatively easy to safeguard, with high fences and barbed wire. But they are not impenetrable, as a protest at Heathrow last summer showed. In July 2015, Plane Stupid demonstrators cut through the perimeter fence and brought through a tripod to block one of the runways. At London City, most of the runway is surrounded by water. Sensitive surveillance equipment can detect unauthorised incursions into the protected area, though the early-morning invasion raises questions about the speed of response. Aviation security professionals fear that shoulder-launched missiles could target passenger aircraft on take-off or landing. Detection of such threats requires surveillance well beyond the airport perimeter, and in a built-up area such as around London City the local community provide essential eyes and ears. Frustrated passengers who found their dawn flights to London City diverted to Southend or Gatwick, or cancelled at short notice, may yet have reason to thank the protestors who shut down the Docklands airport at the start of the morning rush, if it heightens security. The apparent ease with which the demonstrators could get airside is likely to trigger more sophisticated measures to protect against attacks, and a greater focus on the threat posed by attackers armed with something more lethal than a tripod. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Nine Black Lives Matter protesters have been arrested after they occupied a runway at London City Airport this morning, claiming the climate crisis is a racist crisis. The protesters were arrested after they erected a tripod and locked themselves together on the runway. They had reportedly bypassed security by using a rubber dinghy to cross the docks. The final activists were arrested around 11.25am, Scotland Yard said, nearly six hours after the group occupied the runway. City Airport tweeted that the runway had reopened at lunchtime and flights were resuming. Black Lives Matter UK: London City Airport expansion cannot go ahead In a statement, Black Lives Matter UK said: This action was taken in order to highlight the UKs environmental impact on the lives of black people locally and globally. As the largest per capita contributor to global temperature change and yet among the least vulnerable to its deadly effects, the UK leads in ensuring that our climate crisis is a racist crisis. The planned expansion of London City Airport consigns the local community in Newham to further deterioration of their environment, the group said. The group added that the airport caters to people working in financial services making it a facility to help the wealthy. Black Lives Matter said: When black people in Britain are 28 per cent more likely to be exposed to air pollution than their white counterparts, we know that environmental inequality is a racist crisis. Black Lives Matter protesters storm runway at London City Airport Show all 5 1 /5 Black Lives Matter protesters storm runway at London City Airport Black Lives Matter protesters storm runway at London City Airport Emergency services surround protestors from the movement Black Lives Matter after they locked themselves to a tripod on the runway at London City Airport in London Getty Black Lives Matter protesters storm runway at London City Airport Emergency services surround protesters from the movement Black Lives Matter after they locked themselves to a tripod on the runway at London City Airport AFP/Getty Images Black Lives Matter protesters storm runway at London City Airport The view of the London City Airport after protesters the runway in support of the Black Lives Matter movement PA Black Lives Matter protesters storm runway at London City Airport Black Lives Matter protesters occupy runway at London City Airport @UKBLM/Twitter Black Lives Matter protesters storm runway at London City Airport People awaiting news on their flights after Black Lives Matter UK protesters stormed the runway at London City Airport PA Police were called to the airport at 5.40am to reports protesters were demonstrating on the runway. Met Police officers began to arrest the protesters around 9.30am after specialist officers arrived to unlock the activists. The protesters are being held on suspicion of aggravated trespass, being unlawfully air-side and breaching airport by-laws, police said. Flights from the airport were delayed and all flights due to land were diverted to Gatwick and Southend airports. The Green Party said the activists were right to highlight the unequal way pollution affects BAME communities. Caroline Russell, London Assembly member and Green Party transport spokesperson, said: Pollution is not colour blind. Environmental problems tend to mirror the inequalities we see in our society, and this sadly means BAME communities are often the worst affected by environmental issues. Air pollution kills tens of thousands of people every year, and just today new research has revealed it is also linked to Alzheimers. Newham is one of Britains most racially diverse places and so any expansion of London City Airport, which was approved by Sadiq Khan despite huge local protest, will hit BAME people hardest. Last month, Black Lives Matter staged protests in London, Birmingham, Nottingham and Manchester as part of a nationwide shutdown calling for greater awareness of discrimination against black and minority ethnic communities following a spate of shootings in the US. Ten Black Lives Matter UK activists were arrested after demonstrating near Heathrow. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Scotland Yard has backtracked on plans to start using controversial spit hoods in the face of widespread alarm from campaigners. The force, the biggest in the UK, pledged to delay a trial where the mesh masks, which cover the entire head, would be used on suspects in custody. It emerged today that officers were to start using spit hoods in a pilot scheme next month, despite claims the measure is primitive, cruel and degrading. The restraint device is intended for use on unruly prisoners to prevent them from biting or spitting at officers. It was set to be initially used in 32 police station detention areas but not on London streets or in public. The hoods, which are classed as a use of force, hit the headlines when officers from British Transport Police were filmed using one on a man at London Bridge station in July. Scotland Yard announced a trial of the masks on Tuesday morning, but by early evening had put out a statement to say that as a new administration had come in to City Hall since proposals were agreed, the plan would be delayed. "The Metropolitan Police Service has listened to concerns and will consult further before starting any pilot," the force said. Martha Spurrier, director of human rights group Liberty said: A spit hood is a primitive, cruel and degrading tool that inspires fear and anguish. We have seen many cases where the police use them unnecessarily and without justification, including on children and disabled people. Police have the power to use force against citizens when they have to using handcuffs, arm restraints, leg restraints, pepper spray, batons. The suggestion that officers need to be able to cover peoples faces and heads is as far-fetched as it is frightening. Spit hoods belong in horror stories, not on the streets of a civilised society we urge the Met Police to think again. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA The Met has stated the hood is considered a use of force and that officers were being trained to use it only when necessary. The Police Federation has called for the implementation of the spit hood to help protect its officer members. Craig Lippitt from the Greater Manchester Police Federation, who was a custody sergeant for nine years, said: "We would welcome a trial of spit hoods within GMP custody - we have been raising the issue for the last three years with management. "GMP custody suites already receive detainees wearing spit hoods, as British Transport Police officers are routinely issued with them. We believe that the incidents of assault would reduce if spit hoods were available."A force spokeswoman said: A pilot scheme has been approved for the use of spit guards in all Metropolitan Police custody units from October 2016. These guards will only be used in a custody situation. They are considered a use of force and so officers are being trained to ensure that their use is proportionate and necessary in the circumstances. The use of this protective equipment is necessary to meet the duty of care owed to officers when a detainee spits at or attempts to bite them. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} As shoppers in the UK rifle through racks of underwear to find the perfect bra, women in refugee camps are a long way from this luxury. Pregnant women and rape victims are among the millions of female refugees who are having to deal with the discomfort and humiliation of having no clean underwear in camps across Europe and the Middle East. But one British woman has decided to do something about it. Caroline Kerr, from Nottingham, set up Bras not Bombs at the start of this year after hearing about the lack of clean underwear in refugee camps. Her action has seen thousands of bras and knickers donated by women in the UK reach those who most need it. Miss Kerr, 44, told The Independent: A volunteer in Turkey told me there were young girls who had been raped and tortured and there was no underwear for them. Others had told me they'd met pregnant women off the boats, sometimes women who had lost their babies in the ocean. I was horrified. It was a eureka moment. I had to act. The mother-of-two started a Facebook group and invited friends to join. She called it 'Bras not Bombs' in reference to Syria being bombed into obliteration at the expense of innocent people. Having already been involved with refugee action group, People to People Solidarity, she was able to use her contacts to connect with groups across the country. Ms Kerr asked people to collect underwear and send it to her address. The deliveries began to come in thick and fast. "It started off with just bras," she explained. "But within a week I started asking for pants as well." Miss Kerr began sorting through the underwear in her living room to the dismay of her teenage boys dividing the items by size into carefully labelled packages, before transporting them by post or in her car to individuals or groups travelling out to the camps. Mis Kerr sorts through the underwear in her living room, dividing the items by size into carefully labelled packages (Caroline Kerr) "I got in touch with groups who send containers to Greece and Syria, and people I know who go to Calais, then go meet them in my car or send the underwear in the post," she said. Nine months on the project has seen around 2,000 bras and several hundred pants delivered to refugees, with donations exploding in recent months. The desire of people wanting to help has been immense. There have been a lot of words from volunteers about how grateful the refugees are," she said. "One told me a little girl came running up to her and with a great big smile lifted up her dress to show the pants shed been given. Miss Kerr explained that while most of the underwear she sends out goes to women and girls, there is a drive to get underwear to male refugees as well. We are planning to extend to boxer shorts as well," she added. "Everyone needs clean underwear. A bit of dignity can stop people fighting and feeling so agitated." While sorting through the thousands of underwear donationsis, it is important to be wary about what is and isn't suitable. Sometimes the underwear is too sexy. I have to be mindful of whos in the camps and make sure theyre given the dignity they need," Miss Kerr said. A lot of the refugees have been the victims of mutilation and torture girls as young as seven. So its important to make sure everything is soft, and not sexual in any way. Cotton and stretchy is generally best. With donations soaring in recent weeks, Miss Kerr has started raising cash funds to go towards wholesale buying, which will enable her to order certain sizes and provide the camps with exactly what is needed. Bras not Bombs' biggest ever delivery is arriving in two weeks time. Thanks to 1,000 worth of funds raised through a GoFundMe page and Paypal, more than 3,000 pairs of knickers at 33p a pair will be arriving at Miss Kerr's door. In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Show all 12 1 /12 In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugee children at the Moria camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees queuing for food at the Kara Tepe camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees' tents at the Kara Tepe camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees at the Oxy transit camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees waiting to board ferries to the Greek mainland in Mytilene, Lebos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees waiting to board ferries to the Greek mainland in Mytilene, Lebos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees waiting to board ferries to the Greek mainland in Mytilene, Lebos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos The graves of drowned refugees in Mytilene, Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos A building used to house unaccompanied children at the Moria camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees queuing to register at the Moria camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees at the Moria camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees arriving on smugglers' boats from Turkey in Lesbos There are also plans to expand Bras not Bombs to provide sanitary provisions for women with each underwear package. I'm teaming up with a woman who is introducing reusable sanitary products for women and girls in the camps, Mis Kerr said. We're meeting up and were going to work together to start sending out underwear and sanitary products together. You can donate underwear on the 'Bras not Bombs' Facebook group or donate money for the cause here. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Forty-one leading campaign groups have called for a parliamentary inquiry into why G4S was handed a Government contract to run a helpline for victims of discrimination. Anti-racism campaigners Tell Mama and human rights group Liberty are among groups who have written to Harriet Harman, who chairs the Joint Committee on Human Rights, calling for a probe into the award. G4S will run the Equality Advisory Support Service (EASS) helpline from 1 October under current plans, but the campaigners want to see the outsourcing process paused while the firms suitability is assessed. Recommended Read more Labour conference could be cancelled as G4S turn down last ditch offer They say G4S is ill-equipped to run the line. In 2013 there was a coroners court finding of unlawful killing by G4S guards restraining Jimmy Mubenga. The 46-year-old Angolan died in 2010 while being removed from the UK by G4S. However the three G4S guards involved were acquitted of manslaughter. The groups cite the report of dozens of racist text messages on the phones of two of the G4S guards, which were released after their trial. Signatories of the letter, which was also sent to the chairs of Women and Equalities Select Committee, the Public Accounts Committee and the Home Affairs Select Committee, include the Law Centres Network, which represents 40 law centres; the Race Equality Foundation; the Womens Resource Centre and the Howard League for Penal Reform. G4S says it was awarded the contract on the strength of our work handling other complex call centres. Jimmy Mubenga died after being restrained on an aircraft by G4S escorts Bella Sankey, Director of Policy at Liberty, said: The EASS provides expert advice to those who face discrimination whether refused accommodation because of their race, or sacked from their job because of their age. Its hard to think of a company more ill-equipped to provide this vital service. Brexit racism and the fightback Show all 9 1 /9 Brexit racism and the fightback Brexit racism and the fightback Demonstrators protest against an increase in post-ref racism at London's March for Europe in July 2016 PA Brexit racism and the fightback These cards were found near a school in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, the day after the EU referendum Twitter/@howgilb Brexit racism and the fightback Getty Brexit racism and the fightback Romford, Essex, June 25 @diamondgeezer Brexit racism and the fightback A worker at this Romanian food shop was asleep upstairs at the time of this arson attack in Norwich on July 8, but escaped unharmed. Hundreds later participated in a love bombing rally outside the shop to express their opposition to racism and their support of the shop owners. JustGiving/Helen Linehan Brexit racism and the fightback This neo-Nazi sticker was spotted in Glasgow on June 26 Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback But after news emerged of neo-Nazi stickers appearing in Glasgow, some in the city struck back with slogans of their own. Courtesy of Eoin Palmer Brexit racism and the fightback Getty Brexit racism and the fightback More signs began to appear in some parts of the UK, created by people who wanted to show their opposition to post-referendum racism Courtesy of Bernadette Russell Liberty joins other equality and rights organisations in demanding that this perverse decision be halted while Parliament investigates. Neil Malpas, the G4S managing director responsible for the helpline, defended the award and said the firm welcomed a review. We would welcome and support any review of the tendering process for the EASS helpline, which in our view was conducted very openly, professionally and competitively, he said. We were awarded the contract on the strength of our work handling other complex call centres including the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) child maintenance options service. We have supported that helpline for separating parents over the past three years and feedback from callers and the DWP has been positive. We will bring that experience to the Equality Offices advisory service and ensure that our team has the knowledge, skills and training to provide clear, supportive and practical advice to people who turn to this helpline when they are concerned they have been discriminated against. Republican lawmaker: Serzh Sargsyan doesnt have a private house (video) During the summer the NA Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) faction member Hamlet Harutyunyan heard the opinions of the residents of Armenia and Karabakh on Serzh Sargsyan, They dont want Serzh Sargsyan to be the president, but they admit that Serzh Sargsyan is a historic figure. Hamlet Harutyunyan isnt able to cite even a single intellectual thought to be maintained in history from that historic figure; though he has known him for 30 years, If I tell by heart, it will be wrong. Yet the Republican lawmaker wants to see that person in power also in the parliamentarian government system. To say, there is no other option, Serzh Sargsyan has no problem for remaining in power. Everybody is destined to take Serzh Sargsyan the way he is. He is a person, who doesnt have anything personal, He doesnt have a house so that I could go and say what house it is. He, in short, for 25 years, according to Hamlet Harutyunyan, hasnt left the power in order to serve his homeland. Though he agrees that during his tenure the migration from Armenia has increased, Now also from Kharabakh, from our village people are migrating. The Republican lawmaker will never agree that Serzh Sargsyan, who has been in power for 25 years, be forced to leave by armed uprising. He is against coming to power with force. Maybe he could also say who came to power with force on March 1, Did you see March 1? Yes. They opened fire on the people. What were those people doing? Nothing. Nothing? Did they just open fire when those people were simply standing? Watch the video! Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Local Labour party members have declared their support for disgraced Keith Vaz, despite his resignation from a key Commons post over prostitution allegations, describing him as an excellent MP. The veteran Labour MPs constituency party has shrugged off calls for him to stand down from Parliament over the scandal, saying: Certainly not thats his private life. Mr Vaz bowed to overwhelming pressure when he resigned as chairman of the influential Home Affairs Select Committee, after the allegations that he paid for sex with male prostitutes. In a statement, issued a little more than an hour before a showdown meeting with other committee members, he said: Those who hold others to account, must themselves be accountable. He did not refer directly to the hugely damaging Sunday Mirror story that he paid for the services of two male escorts, told them to bring poppers and offered to pay for cocaine. But he wrote: It is in the best interest of the Home Affairs Select Committee that its important work can be conducted without any distractions whatsoever. I am genuinely sorry that recent events make it impossible for this to happen if I remain chair. The integrity of the select committee system matters to me. Mr Vaz added: This is my decision, and mine alone, and my first consideration has been the effect of recent events on my family. MPs involved in sex scandals Show all 9 1 /9 MPs involved in sex scandals MPs involved in sex scandals Mark Oaten Mark Oaten resigned as a senior member of the Liberal Democrats in 2006 after the News of the World revealed he had paid rent boys to perform sexual activities on him. He openly spoke about the affect it had on his family life and career in his book 'Screwing Up' Rex Features MPs involved in sex scandals Simon Danczuk He admitted to sending inappropriate texts to a 17-year-old Sophena Houlihan and calls are being made for him to resign from his role as Labour's Rochdale MP. He reportedly blamed a drinking problem on his sexually explicit messages Reuters MPs involved in sex scandals Brooks Newmark Brooks Newmark resigned form his role as a Conservative member of parliament for Braintree, Essex in 2014 after being caught sending explicit photos, involving paisley pyjamas, to an undercover journalist Rex MPs involved in sex scandals Lord Lambton Lord Lambton, a Conservative MP, was pictured in bed with two prostitutes and smoking a joint in 1973, the same year he resigned. He initially denied it, but later said he had a multitude of affairs after he was bored with his job Rex Features MPs involved in sex scandals Bob Blackman Robert Blackman, a Conservative MP had an 11 year affair with another Conservative councillor, which came out after he said marriage can only work between one man and one woman Rex Features MPs involved in sex scandals Nigel Griffiths Nigel Griffiths, former MP for Edinburgh South, admitted cheating on his wife of 30 years with an un-named woman after a Sunday tabloid produced photographs of the affair on a sofa in his Parliamentary office Rex Features MPs involved in sex scandals John Major Former Prime Minister John Major and former MP Edwina Curries four year affair began in 1984 and lasted four years. The affair came out in 2002 when Ms Currie serialised her diaries in The Times BBC News/Getty Images MPs involved in sex scandals John Prescott The then deputy Prime Minster to Tony Blair had a two year affair with his appointments secretary, Tracey Temple 43, came to light in 2006. He said: "I did have a relationship with her which I regret. It ended some time ago" Getty MPs involved in sex scandals Paddy Ashdown Paddy Ashdown, former leader of the Liberal Democrats, was nicknamed "Paddy Pantsdown" in 1992 after he was forced to disclose a five year affair with his secretary, Tricia Howard. He admitted the affair to his wife BBC The Leicester East MPs position has been further weakened by fresh details which undermined his claim that he had been set up in a newspaper sting operation. Some of his constituents have called for him to resign as an MP and Conservative Andrew Bridgen, who has demanded police and parliamentary investigations, said: I have long been of the opinion that Keith Vaz is not fit to be an MP. On Monday, Theresa May hinted that she thought Mr Vaz should go, telling journalists: I think overall what people look for is confidence in their politicians. But John Thomas, the chairman of the Leicester East constituency party, told The Independent: We have every confidence in our MP. We have stood by him all the way, he is an excellent MP. We are only concerned about the job that he does for his constituents, which for all these years has been excellent. What he does with the Home Affairs Committee is something extra and not a concern for us. Mr Thomas condemned what he called a tabloid sting, adding: They paid people to do that, didnt they. It was bloody outrageous. Mr Vazs downfall as a committee chairman marked the most serious setback in the career of Britains most high-profile Asian MP a magnet for controversy since entering Parliament in 1987. In those 29 years, he became embroiled in a series of financial allegations, sleaze investigations and conduct complaints, earning the nickname Mr Vaziline for his ability to survive. At the same time, he built a stronghold in Leicester East, turning a thin majority of just 1,924 in 1987 into a massive one of 18,352 last year, even as Labour crashed to defeat nationally. Conservative MP Tim Loughton has taken over temporary leadership of the Home Affairs Committee, before the election of a Labour successor probably ex-leadership contender Chuka Umunna. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Ken Livingstone has repeated his remarks about Hitler's relationship with Zionist Jews while defending Keith Vaz in a television interview. The former London Mayor was suspended from the Labour Party in April after mentioning Hitler made deals with Zionist Jews in the 1930s. Speaking with Victoria Derbyshire, the former London Mayor said the Labour Party are putting off dealing with his suspension. Mr Livingstone said: "Its now four months since Ive been suspended and Im still waiting for the committee to sit down and decide whether what I said was true or not and I think that the reason they keep putting me off is because Ive got so much evidence that what I was saying is true. "I mean, particularly striking if you go to the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, one of the pamphlets they sell to tourists is about the deal that Hitler did with the Zionists in the 1930s." He refuted any suggestion that he said Hitler was a Zionist, saying the fascist dictator "loathed and feared Jews". Mr Livingstone added: "If I had said Hitler was a Zionist, I wouldnt just have apologised but I would have gone straight to my doctor to check that I wasnt in the first stages of dementia. To suggest that Hitler was a Zionist is mad. He loathed and feared Jews all his life but he did do a deal with the Zionist movement in the 1930s. Ken Livingstone calls creation of Israel a 'catastrophe' However, he said Hitler's relationship with Zionists was not simply a "one-off thing" but a "whole working relationship". Before speaking about his own controversy, he offered his support to former colleague Keith Vaz MP, who has been accused of sleeping with male prostitutes. He said: "Do you judge someones political career on the basis of one incident like this? Everybody makes mistakes. "Dont judge somebody on one mistake that they make in their life or even a couple of mistakes." For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Rights groups have raised serious concerns over the fate of political prisoners held at a facility on the outskirts of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa after 23 inmates died in a huge fire at the high-security complex. While the cause of the blaze remains unknown, the Ethiopian government has admitted at least two of the prisoners were gunned down by the authorities as they fled the burning building. The Kilinto prison has become notorious as a holding facility for jailed members of the opposition, including members of the Oromo ethnic group. And the Oromo Federalist Congress, a key opposition party, said there were fears for the lives of its entire leadership, which it said was being detained at Kilinto at the time. Amnesty International and New York-based Human Rights Watch, which has been monitoring the deaths of the Oromo people during a government crackdown on political protests, told The Independent it was vital the authorities released the names of those killed in the incident. ESAT, a TV broadcaster based outside Ethiopia, showed grainy footage of the fire visible from a great distance (ESAT) The fire broke out on Saturday, just hours after a leader of the Oromo ethnic group, Tiruneh Gamta, had called for the release of all political prisoners. Local media groups reported gunfire could be heard from the scene, while a TV station based outside Ethiopia broadcast footage of the fire live. Initially, the Ethiopian government said one person was killed in the fire. But in a statement released this week via the state affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate, it said 21 died from stampede, fire burns and suffocation. Video of the fire also emerged on social media, though official reports were slow to come through (ESAT) The remaining two were killed while trying to escape from prison, Fana reported, adding that two buildings were damaged in the blaze. The government statement provided no details of how the fire began, only stating that the police were investigating, nor did it give the names of any of those killed. And on Tuesday, OFCs Assistant Deputy Chairman Mulatu Gemechu told the Reuters news agency: Our entire leadership is being held in that place and we have no idea what has happened to them. The government has a responsibility to explain to the public, no less their families. We have no idea why it is taking that long. Some local media have questioned the official version of events. They cited unnamed witnesses saying the prisoners were shot by wardens. Ethiopian journalist Tesfalem Waldyes, who was detained in Kilinto prison for more than a year before his release in July 2015, told The Independent it was hard to believe reports that the fire began as an attempted jailbreak. It is difficult for inmates to access fire, he said. Prisoners are not allowed to cook or smoke. And the remand facility is a highly guarded place and security cameras are everywhere. Though it has become known for political imprisonments, Kilinto is a facility where suspects of all sorts of crimes are held, sometimes for many years, before trial. As such, none of its inmates have actually been convicted of their alleged crimes. Yet Tesfalem said the prison still operates under a ruthless regime, with those who complain about abusive treatment subjected to the Kitat Bet (punishment house) or the dark house, a form of isolation. The political prisoners mostly face harassment, intimidation, confiscation of their written materials, denial of their visitation rights and sometimes physical abuse, he said. It was impossible to know, until the government releases more information, how many of those killed were political prisoners. Tesfalem said all those who are arrested on political grounds are sent to the facility to await trial, and they make up a significant proportion of the 3,000 or so inmates, though not the majority. Human Rights Watch says more than 500 people have been killed in clashes between the security forces and protesters demanding greater political freedoms in the province of Oromia. Last week, the African Union which is based in Addis Abiba expressed concerns about the unrest for the first time, while on Sunday the US ambassador to the UN said her country had raised grave concerns about what it called the excessive use of force against protesters in Ethiopia, a long-time ally. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Felix Horne, Human Rights Watchs senior researcher in the Horn of Africa, told The Independent: Numerous witnesses describe hearing heavy gunfire during the fire at Kilinto, raising serious questions about the safety and wellbeing of the prisoners held there. Family members of those held at Kilinto also still do not know the whereabouts of their loved ones. The authorities should immediately account for the whereabouts of all prisoners to their families, and provide details about those who died during the incident. Amnesty Internationals Fisseha Tekle said the charity was concerned about all prisoners held at the facility, including those detained on political charges. We call on the authorities to inform the families of prisoners of the situation of their loved ones, Ms Tekle said. They have the right to know whether their relatives are dead or alive. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A woman in Nigeria is suspected of attacking her husband with a machete while he slept, after he admitted he planned to marry a second wife. Police said the woman bought the weapon two weeks before inviting her husband to stay in her apartment in Ijebu-Ode, a city in the south-west of the country. She waited for him to go to sleep, police told Nigerias The Nation newspaper, before hacking at him with the new machete. The man was taken to the Ijebu-Ode General Hospital, where he remains in a coma, though doctors suggested he was responding well to treatment. Graphic images published in local media reports showed a man lying on a hospital bed, with deep wounds to his chest, shoulders and legs. One arrest has been made, and police said a suspect identified as Oluwakemi Etu would be charged with wounding or attempted murder at the Ogun state divisional court. On Tuesday, images emerged showing a woman believed to be Ms Etu standing against a wall, holding what appeared to be the machete involved in the attack. Ijebu-Odes acting police spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the weapon used in the attack had been recovered. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty He told the Punch newspaper: The woman has told the police that she bought the cutlass she used in inflicting cuts on her husband two weeks before she attacked him. She claimed that she attacked her husband because he wanted to marry a second wife. Though Nigeria does not have a national law covering polygamy, the practice is recognised and the rights of multiple wives enshrined in civil law in 12 of Nigerias northern, Muslim-majority states. In southern states such as Ogun, polygamous marriages are recognised in customary law. But the lack of civil recognition can mean women do not have their rights protected. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Brock Turner, the former Stanford University swimmer convicted of sexual assault, has registered as a sex offender in his home state of Ohio following his release from a California prison on Friday. Turner, now 21, sexually assaulted a young woman behind a rubbish bin on the Stanford campus near San Francisco in January 2015, after they had been drinking heavily at a party. He served just three months of a six-month sentence for three sexual assault counts, including digital penetration of an unconscious woman and assault with intent to commit rape. Following his release last week, Turner returned home to live with his parents in Greene County, Ohio, where he was given five days in which to register as a sex offender. On Tuesday morning his listing appeared on the Ohio Attorney Generals online sex offender registry, including a photograph and his home address. Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer told reporters on Friday that Turner would be treated no differently than any other sex offender, which means he cannot work with children or live close to places where children gather, such as parks, schools or playgrounds. He will be subjected to random drug and alcohol tests and searches of his home, and cannot move elsewhere without informing the authorities. His neighbours will also receive postcards from the sheriffs office to inform them that a sex offender is living nearby, and his name, address and photo will remain publicly available on the states online sex offender registry for life. Several protesters gathered outside his home in Ohio after his release, some carrying firearms and signs calling for rapists to be "castrated". Turner's brief sentence and early release have stoked widespread controversy over the way the criminal justice system appears to privilege the wealthy and ignore the seriousness of certain crimes such as campus rape. The 21-year-old has been ordered to pay restitution to his victim in an amount yet to be determined. His lawyer has said he intends to appeal his conviction. The California state assembly last week passed a bill mandating prison terms for people who sexually assault an unconscious or heavily intoxicated victim. The bill, which was inspired by Turner's case, is currently awaiting Governor Jerry Brown's signature. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A Pennsylvania judge has said Bill Cosby is blind and special arrangements may have to made for him at his trial on sexual molestation charges, which was tentatively set to start next June. Presiding over a pre-trial hearing in suburban Philadelphia, Judge Steven ONeill said the former comedians condition was revealed in a letter he had received from his defense lawyers. Recommended Read more Bill Cosby ordered to stand trial in sexual assault case Judge ONeill provisionally set 5 June 2017 for the start of the trial of Mr Cosby, 79, who is charged with drugging and molesting Andrea Constand, a former protege and employee of Temple University in Philadelphia, in his home in 2004. He has denied any wrongdoing. Ms Constand has contended that Mr Cosby rendered her incapacitated and molested her. He does not deny that he gave her pills and has sex with her but has insisted the encounter was consensual. Once venerated not just for his comedy but also for a career that seemed to symbolise progress towards a post-racial society, Mr Cosby seemed less frail arriving at the court on Tuesday than on previous occasions, reacting to cheers from fans and engaging with his defense team. While dozens of women have come forward claiming to have been sexually abused by Mr Cosby, only the claims of Ms Constand have led prosecutors formally to charge him. The hearing on Tuesday also saw the defense arguing for the exclusion from evidence of a tape-recording of a telephone conversation between the defendant and Ms Constands mother after the alleged molestation. Judge ONeill declined to rule on the matter. The defence also said they expect to file motions either to have the trial moved to a different court or for jurors to be drawn from a different county on the grounds that the prosecutor in the case had unfairly portrayed their client as a sexual predator while seeking election last year. Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Winner of his first Emmy for 'I Spy' is Bill Cosby being congratulated by his wife Camille held at Americana Hotel, 1966 Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby in 'I Spy', 1960s Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby in July 1973 in Perth Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor in 'California Suite', 1978 Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby and Elmo in Sesame Street, 1989 Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby poses for a picture with Florence Griffith-Joyner in June 1989 Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Comedian Bill Cosby back in 1992 Rex Features Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby A scene from a 1992 episode of 'The Cosby Show' AP Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby US Monica Seles breaks into laughter as she jokes with comedian Bill Cosby during a celebrity match in the stadium at the US Open for the Arthur Ashe AIDS Challenge on 27 August 1995 Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby meets Toronto Blue Jays' All-Star Joe Carter after the Stars played the Stripes in the Celebrity All-Star game which preceded workouts for the 67th All-Star Game at Veterans Stadium on 8 July 1996 in Philadephia Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Co-hosts Oprah Winfrey and Bill Cosby joke with each other during the opening of the 2000 Essence Awards 14 April 2000 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby jokes with baseball great Hank Aaron after they both received the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award from U.S. President George W. Bush during a ceremony on 9 July 2002 at the White House in Washington Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby poses backstage after winning the 'Bob Hope Humanitarian Award' during the 55th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium on 21 September 2003 in Los Angeles Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby 'Tonight Show' host Jay Leno and comedian Bill Cosby laugh during a surprise visit by Cosby to sign a Harley-Davidson motorcycle that Leno is using to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina at NBC studios on 9 September 2005 in Burbank, California Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby speaks during a taping of 'Meet the Press' at the NBC studios on 14 October 2007 in Washington Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby at the 12th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the John F. Kennedy Center on 26 October 2009 in Washington Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby speaks at the National Action Network's 20th annual Keepers of the Dream Awards gala in New York on 6 April 2011 Reuters Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby during the 100th anniversary celebration of the Beverly Hills Hotel & Bungalows supporting the Motion Picture & Television Fund and the American Comedy Fund, 2012 Getty Images Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby speaks onstage at the Thurgood Marshall College Fund 25th Awards Gala on 11 November 2013 in Washington Bill Cosby: Career in pictures Bill Cosby Bill Cosby performs at the Treasure Island Hotel & Casino on 26 September 2014 in Las Vegas The prosecution has indicated, however, that it plans to seek testimony from 13 of the roughly fifty women who have come forward publicly alleging misconduct by the comedian. Bringing the women to the stand is certain to bring defense objections also, however. The recorded telephone conversation with Ms Constands mother centres around her demand that Mr Cosby reveal to her what substances he used to incapacitate her daughter. Are you really going to send me on that piece of paper the name of that stuff or not? Or were you joking? she asks on the tape, transcripts of which have been submitted to the court. He responds, No, no, no, no, no, we can talk about what you asked for later. She then goes on: Okay. Just because I am concerned. I don't know how it affected her and I want to know. When District Attorney Kevin Steele filed charges against Mr Cosby last year, he said he was doing so on the basis of new evidence derived from a deposition given by the defendant during a civil filing against him by Ms Constand. At the time, the then prosecutor decided he did not have enough evidence to file charges against him in the case. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Not bad as a wedding picture. Especially since it was not taken by the official wedding photographer. Mike Karas, an amateur photographer who lives in Hawaii, was visiting Yosemite National Park in California last week and headed up the trail to Taft Point, a popular look-out spot. When he reached there, he spotted something stunning; a couple of newlyweds posing for pictures. Mr Karas decided to take out his camera and capture some images himself. I was just snapping away trying to get them, Mr Karas told the Oregonian. It was just unbelievable. The sunset that night was awesome. But Mr Karas had no idea who the couple in the distance were, and he hoped that by posting the image on social media he could find out. After all, he thought, they might like to see their photograph. It was surreal, he said. We had seen the bride and groom walking down, but all of a sudden we saw them out on the ledge as we were shooting other photos and that Eureka! moment just unfolded. Mr Karas posted the image on Instagram and Facebook in hope of hunting down the couple. Thanks for adding to an already amazing sunset photo opportunity and I would love to be able to share this with you, he wrote As much of an amazing moment it was for me to capture, it was clearly an even more special moment in your life. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} While Donald Trump has gained in national polls, a comprehensive new state-by-state survey shows he has a steep hill to climb to achieve an electoral college majority on election day. Most alarmingly for Mr Trump, his weakness among college-educated white voters, especially women, means that he is struggling to nail down several states that should be Republican strongholds. Among them, most surprisingly, is Texas, as well as Georgia and Arizona. The survey, conducted by The Washington Post and SurveyMonkey, is a reminder that who wins on 8 November will not be determined by the national popular vote but rather will come down to which of the two main candidates can muster the 270 votes needed to win in the electoral college. Taken in the run up to the Labour Day weekend, when campaigning traditionally kicks into high gear, the survey was unprecedented in scope, taking into account the responses of no fewer than 74,000 registered voters in every state. Recommended Read more Hillary Clinton blames coughing fit on Trump allergy In a two-way contest, Hillary Clinton, the Democrat nominee, is currently leading by four points or more in 20 states plus the District of Columbia, which together would give her 244 votes in the electoral college, tantalisingly close to outright victory. Mr Trump also leads by the same margin or greater in twenty states, but, because some have smaller populations, they would deliver him only 168 electoral votes. The advantage for Ms Clinton narrows somewhat when the leading third party candidates - Gary Johnson for the Libertarian Party and Jill Stein for the Green Party - are put in the mix, but her position versus that of Mr Trump still looks enviable. This and other data collections explain why the uptick for Mr Trump in national support has yet to sow panic in the Clinton campaign. For instance, a CNN/ORC poll on Tuesday showed Mr Trump leading 45 to 43 per cent with Mr Johnson at 7 per cent and Ms Stein at just 2 per cent. After the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia, Ms Clinton opened a ten-point lead nationally. However, that has now dwindled to just four points in the latest average of polls released by RealClearPolitics. The upper Midwest, including the crucial state of Ohio, would appear to be a bright spot for Mr Trump. Its a region with large numbers of non-college educated white men who are drawn to his messaging on immigration and trade. The Washington Post survey shows him with a slight lead in Ohio and also Iowa and in a close race in Michigan, Wisconsin and also Pennsylvania. But with parts of the normally reliable Republican base splintering off, he faces peril in states he absolutely cannot afford to lose in November. Remarkably the survey gave Ms Clinton a one-point advantage in Texas today. The last Democratic presidential candidate to take the Lone Star state was Jimmy Carter in 1976, a fellow southerner. Hillary Clinton speaking at a campaign event at Riverfront Sports in Scranton, Pennsylvania (AP) While Mr Trump may be tempted to keep bolstering already solid support among minimally-educated white men, it seems his priority now should be reaching out to those Republicans still not enamoured of him. That could be difficult with so many high-profile Republicans publicly spurning him and so many women Republicans also resisting his appeal. Mr Carters state of Georgia seems to be in play as does Arizona. Ms Clinton began airing television ads in the latter last week and her campaign has stepped up get-out-the-vote efforts in both states. The gender gap in this election could be more stark than in past cycles, the survey suggests. Across all 50 states, Ms Clinton does 14 points better among women than men; Mr Trump does 16 points better among men than women. But much more striking is how far adrift Mr Trump is among college educated voters. In past cycles, Republican candidates have seen deep support among white college graduates. Yet according to this survey, Ms Clinton is beating him among those voters in 31 of the 50 states. He is ahead in that group in only 13 states, none of them states that were ever likely to vote anything but Republican. These trends also translate into strength for Ms Clinton in several of the key swing states. She has slight - and certainly not daunting - leads of four points or less in Florida and Colorado. The survey shows the two candidates tied in North Carolina. The survey showed Mr Johnson, the Libertarian, attaining 15 per cent support in 15 states. He is strongest in New Mexico, where he served as Governor, so far winning 15 per cent support as against the 29 per cent who are supporting Mr Trump. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} You could call it tit-for-tat with a dash of Mexican drama. Mexico is to consider a proposal to revoke its treaties with the US, including the 1848 agreement that transferred half its territory to Washington if Donald Trump is elected and tries to make the USs southern neighbour pay for a border wall. A Mexican senator is due on Tuesday to propose legislation that would empower the government to retaliate of Mr Trump inflicts expropriations or economic losses on his country to make it pay for a wall along the 2,000 mile border. Reuters said that Armando Rios Piter, an opposition senator for the centre-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), hoped his initiative would protect Mexicans, and highlight the risks of targeting them economically. In cases where the property/assets of (our) fellow citizens or companies are affected by a foreign government, as Donald Trump has threatened, the Mexican government should proportionally expropriate assets and properties of foreigners from that country on our territory, says his proposal. Trump Meets with Mexican President Nieto in Mexico Total remittances to Mexico from abroad most of which come from the United States were worth nearly $25bn (18.6bn) last year, according to the central bank. Bilateral trade between the two nations is worth about half a trillion dollars a year. People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Show all 8 1 /8 People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Miley Cyrus 'God he thinks he is the f***ing chosen one or some shit! Honestly f*** this sh*t I am moving if this is my president! I dont say things I dont mean!' Jemal Countess/Getty Images People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Whoopi Goldberg 'I dont think thats America. I dont want it to be America. Maybe its time for me to move you know' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Samuel L. Jackson 'If that mother**er becomes president, Im moving my black ass to South Africa' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Raven Symone 'My confession for this election is, if any Republican gets nominated, Im gonna move to Canada with my entire family. Is that bad? I already have my ticket. I literally bought my ticket, I swear' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Cher 'If he were to be elected, I'm moving to Jupiter' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Neve Campbell 'Im terrified. Its really scary. My biggest fear is that Trump will triumph. I cannot believe that he is still in the game ... [I'll] move back to Canada' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Jon Stewart 'I would consider getting in a rocket and going to another planet, because clearly this planets gone bonkers' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Randy Blythe 'He could just be a clown. If he is the president, though, I am leaving America 'till he's gone' Mr Trump stormed to victory in the Republican primary with strident and frequently offensive comments about migrants from Mexico and other Central American countries. He vowed to build a wall, force Mexico to pay for it, and deport up to 11 million undocumented migrants. Last week, Trump surprised political observers by accepting an invitation from Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, to discuss the issue of immigration. In language that appeared conciliatory in its tone, he raised the issue of a wall, but not who would pay for it. (Mr Pena Nieto later tweeted that he told Mr Trump Mexico would not pay.) The same day, Mr Trump spoke in Phoenix and again vowed that Mexico would pay for the wall, saying: They dont know it yet, but theyre going to pay for it. Mr Rios Piter said his aim was to counter threats by Mr Trump to target Mexicans in the US and to stress that the economic welfare of both nations is at stake. His initiative also seeks to protect Mexico against unilateral changes to the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which Mr Trump has threatened to ditch. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed by the US and Mexico in 1848 to end a two-year war between the two countries, a conflict that Mexico lost. As part of the deal, Mexico handed to the US, what is now New Mexico, California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and parts of Wyoming and Colorado. Mr Rios Piter has suggested the treaty could be scrapped if Mr Trump makes it to the White House. At a time like this, its vital for us to understand why this relationship benefits both. Were neighbours, were friends, were partners, he said. Hes putting that at risk. UIC: Eurasian integration and democratic degradation Three years ago, on September 3 of 2013, Serj Sargsyan made a statement on the drastic shift in the Armenian foreign policy course from association with Europe to the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Three years later today there is a need to observe the democracy-related tendencies in Armenia in order to understand whether Armenia has taken the three EAEU founding members road towards the authoritarian governing system. Constitutional Amendments: In 2013, there was an important feature in which Armenia clearly differed from other EAEU member countries. It consisted in the fact that there had never been an attempt to change the Armenian Constitution in order to prolong the power of the ruling person or the ruling party. However, the constitutional amendments referendum held on December 6 of 2015 changed the situation. The concept of these amendments was published on the next day after taking the Eurasian path, i.e. on September 4, 2013. Moreover, the constitutional amendments referendum was accompanied by unprecedented violence and vote rigging. In fact, Armenia has followed the examples of Belarus and Kazakhstan by changing the Constitution in order for the ruling person (in Armenias case, the ruling party) to retain power indefinitely. In other words, the three EAEU founding members Nazarbaev, Putin and Lukashenko have taken the path of an authoritarian model of single-person rule, while Armenia has taken the path of an authoritarian single-party rule. Protests and Violence: The summers of 2015 and 2016 were distinguished by mass protests and unprecedented violence used by the Police. In the summer of 2015, a water cannon was used against peaceful protesters during the Electric Yerevan protests. And on July 29 of 2016, during the police base takeover period, the police used special means injuring both the peaceful protesters and the policemen. On July 29, the RA Police used 56 stun grenades (most of which produced shrapnel wounds) only in Sari Tagh district of Yerevan. Most of the grenades were used in violation of the order established by the RA Minister of Health. On that day only, 60 citizens were hospitalized, 5 out of whom had burns and 22 had bone fractures. Besides, during the police base takeover and the protests that followed, unprecedented violence was used by plainclothes. Some episodes of the events that took place in July (particularly, violence used against the journalists and protestors, illegal arrests) reminded of March 1 of 2008 and were strongly criticized by international organizations dealing with human rights protection. Arrests and Political Prisoners: In 2014, only 52 citizens were detained by the police during rallies and marches. That number reached 380 in 2015, and it has already approached 1000 in 2016. Moreover, the arrests were carried out by plainclothes without a proper police order, which is a gross violation of citizens rights. Numerous videos that documented the violence used during the arrests show that the current year will register a significant decline in the RA democratic standards. Three years after Armenias unexpected change of foreign policy course towards EAEU integration, the democratic perspectives leave much to be desired. It is already clear that it would be naive to expect any positive changes in this field. The RA Government has clearly shown that democracy is no longer considered a value after Armenias membership in the Eurasian Economic Union. Anna Pambukhchyan Union of Informed Citizens For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A group of girls used to walk up and down the beaches of south-west Bangladesh selling snacks to tourists. They trod the sands for hours every day offering crisps and eggs to anyone who looked willing to buy them so they could support their families. Some of the girls, at the age of around 10, were sent to rich households to be their domestic servants. But the girls do not do that anymore. Instead, they surf. The group started when Suma saw a lifeguard riding the waves from the beach. She asked him to teach her and he agreed. Several years later, Rashem Alams surfing school has eleven girls the youngest is ten years old and the oldest 15. Growing up in a conservative country, which has one of the worlds highest rates of child marriage, the girls have had to overcome obstacles to keep surfing. One fifth of girls in Bangladesh are married by the time they are 15. More than half are wed by their 18th birthday. Sexual abuse in the country is commonplace and, according to reports, it is on the rise. Most girls are expected to stay at home or earn money, rather than go to school. But their surfboards have allowed these girls to escape, at least sometimes. Surfing has just given them an outlet to be children, Allison Joyce, a photographer who has been following the girls for the past two years told The Independent. To be confident and to dream for more. When they're out on the water it's a break from everything that happens up on land. They're able to goof off. They're all together out there. The girls sing Bollywood songs while they wait to catch waves, Ms Joyce said. It's something they don't get to experience up on land, that freedom. Surfer girls in Bangladesh Show all 14 1 /14 Surfer girls in Bangladesh Surfer girls in Bangladesh Surfer girls in Bangladesh Rifa, who has been working for 4 years, surfs Allison Joyce/Getty Images Surfer girls in Bangladesh Surfer girls in Bangladesh Four competitors observe the annual Cox's Bazar surf competition from the beach Allison Joyce/Getty Images Surfer girls in Bangladesh Surfer girls in Bangladesh Rashed Alam teaches beach vendors to surf Allison Joyce/Getty Images Surfer girls in Bangladesh Surfer girls in Bangladesh Rashed Alam teaches Shuma to surf Allison Joyce/Getty Images Surfer girls in Bangladesh Surfer girls in Bangladesh Rashed Alam (center) talks with beach vendors after surfing Allison Joyce/Getty Images Surfer girls in Bangladesh Surfer girls in Bangladesh Shumi dances with Shobhemeheraj during the annual Cox's Bazar surf competition Allison Joyce/Getty Images Surfer girls in Bangladesh Surfer girls in Bangladesh Rifa looks at items to buy to sell on the beach Allison Joyce/Getty Images Surfer girls in Bangladesh Surfer girls in Bangladesh Shuma competes during the annual Cox's Bazar surf competition Allison Joyce/Getty Images Surfer girls in Bangladesh Surfer girls in Bangladesh Aisha competes during the annual Cox's Bazar surf competition Allison Joyce/Getty Images Surfer girls in Bangladesh Surfer girls in Bangladesh Rashed Alam talks with beach vendors after surfing Allison Joyce/Getty Images Surfer girls in Bangladesh Surfer girls in Bangladesh Aisha, who has been working for 4 years, sells jewellery on the beach Allison Joyce/Getty Images Surfer girls in Bangladesh Surfer girls in Bangladesh Jahanara, Shuma, and Aisha sell items on the beach Allison Joyce/Getty Images Surfer girls in Bangladesh Surfer girls in Bangladesh Shobhemeheraj surfs Allison Joyce/Getty Images Surfer girls in Bangladesh Surfer girls in Bangladesh Shuma and Jahanara smile as they poses for photos with their awards during the annual Cox's Bazar surf competition Allison Joyce/Getty Images For Mr Alam, who teaches the girls how to swim as well as surf, making sure the girls keep coming is a constant battle. At first the parents were angry that they were doing something inappropriate, said Ms Joyce, They were also angry that they weren't earning money on the beach." Each time the parents got scared, Rashed would go to their house and convince them [to let them keep coming] she said. He would tell them No it's not inappropriate. They're not working in a brothel they're just being girls. They're surfing. The girls' parents were not their only critics. This year, some of the older boys who surfed in the same patch started to threaten them. The older surf guys started to get really upset that the girls were succeeding and that they were thriving, Ms Joyce said. They said if they showed up to the beach they would break their legs. They said if they showed up to the beach they would break their legs

- Photographer Allison Joyce

It was a really scary situation. We thought the girls would get attacked. When Mr Alam heard the threats he went to the police. He went five times to demand protection for the girls and, eventually, he got it. Months on, after the girls' surf club moved away from the men's, the girls are safe, according to Ms Joyce. She has set up a fund to help pay for them to go to school. Only a third of women in Bangladesh can read and write, according to humanitarian organisation, Concern Worldwide. Almost three million children in the country do not receive any education, the majority of them girls. After the success of the fund, the girl surfers now have enough money to pay for their education for the next year. They have uniforms and schoolbooks. For most of these girls it's the first time in their life that they're able to get an education, Ms Joyce said. But Mr Alam is still concerned about the girls. He wants to leave Bangladesh in the next year to go to the US to join his wife, whose Californian. But I feel I have to take care of them he said. Recommended Read more Mystery over British victim of Isis attack imprisoned in secret jail I feel like Im their brother. Im worried whether something will happen, he said. Mr Alam, who is in his twenties, dropped out of school at a young age. He grew up sort of with the same background as the girls, said Ms Joyce. He was forced to work on the beach to help support his family. I think he sees a lot of himself in the girls. Mr Alam said he was looking for someone who could keep training the girls after he left for the US. But, he said he would never leave them for good. I will always come back, he said. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} It was Americas dirty secret a military campaign that most in the US knew very little about even years after its conclusion. Between 1964 to 1973, Laos became the most bombed country per capita, as the US military dropped two million tonnes of ordnance on the country as part its broader fight against the Viet Cong. An estimated third of these bombs and so-called bomblets did not explode, leaving a deadly legacy half buried in fields and jungles where they continue to pose a terrible danger to civilians. On Tuesday, Barack Obama, the first sitting US president to visit the South East Asian nation, announced a further $90m (67m) to help those maimed or injured by the unexploded ordnance and to pay for further clear-up efforts. Mr Obama was the first sitting US president to visit Laos (AP) Some details of the secret war remained classified until as recently as 2000, but there were more than 580,000 bombing missions on Laos from 1964 to 1973 the equivalent to one bombing mission every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, for nine years. In a speech in the capital, Vientiane, Mr Obama spoke of Americas military operations, and of the efforts to hide them from both the American people and the wider world. As a result of that conflict many people fled or were driven from their homes. At the time America did not acknowledge its role, he said, according to Reuters. I believe the United States has a moral obligation to help Laos heal. The White House said that US programmes in Laos had helped slash unexploded ordnance (UXO) casualties from 300 a year to around 50. The money announced would go towards a comprehensive UXO survey of Laos and for continued clearing operations. The United States is helping Laos clear unexploded ordnance, which poses a threat to people and hampers economic development, it said in a statement. The threat of UXO remains a problem across parts of South East Asia, where the US dropped huge amounts of ordnance, not just in Laos, but in Vietnam and Cambodia as well. Around half of those killed or injured are children. In the central Lao province of Xieng Khouang, the area most heavily bombed by US aircraft during the war in neighbouring Vietnam, there is a trail of devastation. Around 80 per cent of people rely on agriculture, but much of it is too dangerous to farm. One survivor of a blast from a piece of old US ordnance was Soud. Now aged 40, he was just 10 when he was farming with his family when his spade hit a bomb, triggering an explosion that blinded and maimed him. His mother, Thongsy, 75, said she remembered the day vividly. Staff from MAG have been clearing ordnance - a third of which did not explode (Reuters) I heard an explosion and then I saw my child lying there. The villagers helped carry him to the nearest hospital by foot, she told Reuters. They had to cut off his hand. I was crying. Approximately a quarter of its villages are contaminated with unexploded ordnance, said the British-based Mines Advisory Group (MAG), which helps find and destroy the bombs. On Tuesday, MAGs country director, Simon Rea, said the new money would help continue efforts at clearing up those parts of the country where there was still danger. This is extremely welcome news and will enable tremendous strides forward in helping Laos to become free from the bombs that continue to threaten the lives and livelihoods of ordinary people, he said. So many communities in Laos have no choice but to risk their lives on a daily basis going about their everyday activities farmers digging their land, families building new homes, communities undertaking infrastructure development while children continue to be those who are most at risk of death or injury from bombs dropped decades before they were even born. Experts say the link between UXO contamination and poverty is striking: 41 out of the 45 poorest districts in Laos are those most affected by the contamination. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} When I saw that picture I recognised that red T-shirt and the shorts. I bought those clothes, Tima Kurdi says. Even though he was face down, I knew it was him. The body of three-year-old Syrian Alan Kurdi washed up on a Turkish beach a year ago. His aunt, Tima, had been waiting anxiously in Vancouver for confirmation from her brother Abdullah that his family had made it across the Aegean Sea to Greece safely. Were leaving, hed said in a text message. Its just a half hour ride, you can see Kos across the water. Then, two days went by without contact. Ms Kurdi remembers standing in the kitchen when the now-famous picture of Alans body in the surf appeared on her phone. She forwarded it to a sister-in-law in Turkey. Is this Alan? Are we sure? Her sister-in-law didn't respond right away. When Ms Kurdi called, desperate for news, she got the answer she dreaded; her sister in-law was crying too hard to be able to speak. She was sobbing, Ms Kurdi recalls. Its Alan, she said. It's him. Alan, pictured in this undated family photograph, drowned off the coast of Turkey with his mother and brother (Reuters) Alan, his five-year-old brother Galib, and mother Rehana drowned in the early hours of 2 September 2015 when a dinghy designed for eight passengers but carrying 16 capsized after leaving Bodrum in Turkey. Other survivors of the tragedy said that they were given life jackets, but they didnt work properly. Photos of the toddlers lifeless body shocked the world, and led to promises from world leaders to do more to help those fleeing war and persecution. A year on, though, both Ms Kurdi and Alans father Abdullah have condemned the international community for failing to take in more refugees, and for not bringing the war in Syria to an end. Speaking on the phone from Abdullahs new home in Irbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan, Ms Kurdi said the anniversary of her family members deaths has been very difficult. I came here to be with him for the anniversary but I dont think anyone could understand what we are feeling. We are still grieving. Abdullah talks about his family constantly, we sit at the breakfast table and he looks at me and says, I remember when Galib said this, or when Alan did that. He cries a lot. He keeps asking, Why am I alive? I keep telling him that when you lose someone, time goes on, and eventually it heals. But I dont know if thats true for him. He has heart trouble, hes in and out of hospital. Its very hard to see him like this. The Kurdis are far from the only family to have suffered. Their tragedy is one of thousands in the five-year-long conflict in Syria, which the UN estimates has claimed more than 400,000 lives and made more than four million people refugees. The rise of Isis and other militant groups, fuelled by instability in Syria, has also led to an upswing in violence across the border in Iraq. Aylan Kurdi Anniversary: EU states failing in their obligations to refugees Following Alans death, former Prime Minister David Cameron said the UK would admit 4,000 refugees a year until 2020. Several human rights groups have concluded it is very unlikely the target will be met, as did an August meeting of the Home Affairs Select Committee. In the year that has passed since her nephews and sister-in-law died, Ms Kurdi has been an active and urgent voice for Syrians escaping bloodshed, working with aid groups, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and politicians in Canada and Brussels to better direct policy and funding for those in need. I have a voice, and I have to use it, Ms Kurdi says. Its too late for my family but not for the others. We need a bigger table, not higher fences. If people are hungry, we must feed them we all need each other one day. Ms Kurdi says she understands what many Syrians are going through now, because she has experienced it herself: while the Kurdi family are originally from Kobani, in the Kurdish region of northern Syria, she and her brothers and sisters grew up in Damascus, and Ms Kurdi left her home country for Canada in 1992. On her last vist to see family members in Turkey in 2014, Ms Kurdi said she was shocked by the conditions they were living in. Syrians in neighbouring Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon are not legally allowed to work, and often live in slum-like poverty while their savings dwindle and their children dont get access to proper schooling. I was in touch every day by phone, but that does not convey what its really like. I had to do something, she says. Ms Kurdi arranged to privately sponsor her brothers Abdullah and Mohammed and their families to come to Canada. Abdullah says his application was rejected, while Canadas Department of Citizenship and Immigration maintains that it was never received; the family, having left Kobani for Turkey in 2014 when Isis descended on the town, tried to return, but were forced to leave again after a renewed Isis offensive in June 2015. Desperate, Abdullah tried more than once to arrange for his family to cross the Aegean Sea to Greece before winter conditions set in. The other Alan Kurdis: Refugee children who survived the journey Show all 8 1 /8 The other Alan Kurdis: Refugee children who survived the journey The other Alan Kurdis: Refugee children who survived the journey Basheer Basheer, a 3-year-old Syrian boy, lying on his father leg, lives with his family in a rent-free house as part of NRC's shelter programme in the village of Bair-Ras, in Irbid governorate, northern Jordan. Photo 11 October 2015 NRC/Hussein Amri The other Alan Kurdis: Refugee children who survived the journey Hisham Mustafa has fled from Aleppo, and is currently at Idomeni in Greece. Here he is playing with his nephew Hisham, 3 NRC/Tiril Skarstein The other Alan Kurdis: Refugee children who survived the journey Ahmaydi Bouchra Little Ahmaydi, 3, and her family of eight fled from fighting in Mali to the Goudebo camp in Burkina Faso in 2013. Neither of her two older sisters went to school in Mali. The whole family lives in a tent that is approx. 7m x 6m. The family bed is stored outside to make space inside the shelter during day time. In the evenings, they carry the bed back in. NRC/Ingrid Prestetun The other Alan Kurdis: Refugee children who survived the journey Farah Farah, 4, lives with her family in Irbid in a rent-free apartment. She stays home with her mother as her four sisters and three brothers leave for the day to their various schools. Photo 11t October 2015 NRC/Hussein Amri The other Alan Kurdis: Refugee children who survived the journey Batane Yacouba Batane Yacouba, 4, lives with his two older sisters and his mother in the Goudebo camp in Burkina Faso. A Tuareg family, they were forced to flee Mali fearing for their lives. Their father is dead NRC/Ingrid Prestetun The other Alan Kurdis: Refugee children who survived the journey Hassan Syrian boy Redor, 12, plays with Hassan, 3, after arriving at the port in Chios, Greece NRC/Tiril Skarstein The other Alan Kurdis: Refugee children who survived the journey Fatin Fatin, 4, and her family fled Syria to Irbid, northern Jordan. Her father has issued a birth certificate for her, in order for her to have access to health centres. NRC/Hussein Amri The other Alan Kurdis: Refugee children who survived the journey Born a refugee Alice Digama (24) sits on the tent floor with her two-week-old baby. Her son is one of many children born a refugee. Alice was heavily pregnant when she escaped South Sudan and crossed the border into Uganda, after her husband left her for another wife NRC/Sofi Lundin There is likely to be another surge in refugee numbers before October as people hurry to make a move before the winter. And 2016 is already the deadliest year on record in the Mediterranean: while the number of people arriving in Greece has dropped from 67,000 to 3,430 since the EU-Turkey deal to return refugees, effectively closing off the migration route to Germany, the number of people crossing from North Africa to Italy remains constant, and journeys are becoming more dangerous thanks to overcrowding and unscrupulous smugglers. One in every 42 people has died crossing the central Mediterranean this year, compared to one in every 52 in 2015, UNHCR says. Its a journey that Ms Kurdi now urges people not to make. I sent [Abdullah and his family] the money so they could pay the smugglers, she says. Not a day goes by I dont regret that. I am not the same person any more. I spent the last 20 years sending money back to my family to keep them well, and safe and alive. For this to happen. Ms Kurdi sees Alan, Galib and Rehanas deaths as a message from God. It was a wake-up call. For four years my people cried out for help and no one did anything until that picture. The sad part is, after a few months, it was back to business. Shame on us. Shame on all of us. Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Nadine White Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter The Race Report Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the The Race Report email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A court on the French island of Corsica has upheld the burkini ban issued by a local mayor despite a higher court squashing it in Paris last month. A judge in the town of Bastia upheld the decision to ban the burkini from beaches in the Corsican resort town of Sisco because it had disrupted public order. Mayor Ange-Pierre Vivoni's decision followed a public brawl on a ban on 16 August three days after three Morroccan residents fought with other locals after reports emerged that people had been taking photographs of a woman wearing the swimsuit. It followed a ruling by the Council of State court which said the bans illegally violated the basic freedoms of women to wear what they wanted and could only be imposed unless there was a "proven risk of disruptions to public order". The unnamed judge said: "Given the events of 13 August, the presence of a woman wearing a swimsuit covered by the ban of 16 August in certain circumstances can generated an averse risk to public order which is up to the mayor to prevent". He said it was clear "emotion had not declined" since the incident. Mr Vivoni told Agence France Presse he thought the ruling was a "relief for me and my fellow residents and even, I believe, for the whole of Corsica". Video shows French women being ordered out of sea for wearing burkini He insisted he was "not against anyone" and "everyone could live in Sisco" but there was a "risk of people dying" if the ban was not in place. But the move has provoked fresh anger amid accusations politicians needed are "stoking this obsession" in Corsica. Others have compared the ruling to South African apartheid. The measure provoked outrage around the world when the first ban was announced by the Mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, on 12 August. The local council said the move was to prohibit "beachwear ostentatiously showing a religious affiliation while France and places of religious significance are the targets of terror attacks". Following his announcement a string of other French resort towns followed him in banning the full length swimsuit which covers the head amid mounting tensions after Nice became the latest city to be hit by a devastating Islamist terror attack on Bastille Day. The country has heavily criticised after photos of armed French police officers forcing women to remove their burkinis on beaches with many pointing out the similarity with countries like Iran or Saudi Arabia who force women to wear "modest" Islamic dress. In pictures: Protest against burkini bans in London Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Protest against burkini bans in London In pictures: Protest against burkini bans in London Demonstrators stage a beach party outside the French Embassy, in Knightsbridge, London, in protest against burkini bans PA In pictures: Protest against burkini bans in London Jenny Dawkins, a curate from All Saints Church in Peckham, at an anti-burkini ban protest at the French Embassy in London on 25 August Lizzie Dearden In pictures: Protest against burkini bans in London Demonstrators stage a beach party outside the French Embassy, in Knightsbridge, London, in protest against burkini bans PA In pictures: Protest against burkini bans in London Somayia Khan's six-year-old daughter at a protest against burkini bans at the French Embassy in London on 25 August Lizzie Dearden In pictures: Protest against burkini bans in London Friends Rebecca (L) and Hannah (R) at a protest against burkini bans at the French Embassy in London on 25 August Lizzie Dearden In pictures: Protest against burkini bans in London Demonstrators stage a beach party outside the French Embassy, in Knightsbridge, London, in protest against burkini bans Reuters In pictures: Protest against burkini bans in London Demonstrators stage a beach party outside the French Embassy, in Knightsbridge, London, in protest against burkini bans EPA In pictures: Protest against burkini bans in London Demonstrators stage a beach party outside the French Embassy, in Knightsbridge, London, in protest against burkini bans AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Protest against burkini bans in London People participate in a 'Wear what you want beach party' protest outside of the French Embassy in London EPA In pictures: Protest against burkini bans in London A protester holds a sign which reads "Are you Burkini Beach Body Ready?" as she lies on a beach towel outside the French Embassy in London on August 25, 2016, AFP/Getty Images France has a long tradition of secularism in public places and many feel the visible presence of Islamic dress threatens this. It previously banned the headscarf from all state schools in 2004 and former President Nicolas Sarkozy banned the niqab - or a full faced veil - from all public places in 2011. In April 2016, French prime minister Manuel Valls, called for the veil ban to be extended to all publicly funded universities and said the majority of French people think Islam is incompatible with the values of the Republic. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The planned closure of the Calais Jungle refugee camp has been dismissed by a leading medical aid agency as political posturing which could worsen the humanitarian crisis in northern France while playing into the hands of people traffickers. Leigh Daynes, the executive director of Doctors of the World UK, told The Independent he had little confidence in politicians on either side of the Channel properly managing the complete dismantling of the camp, which has now been promised by French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve. The result, Mr Daynes said, could be refugees facing conditions even worse than those in the Jungle which at least has some rudimentary facilities while still plaguing truck drivers and motorists around Calais with increasingly extreme attempts to sneak into Britain. I think this is just political posturing again, said Mr Daynes. I would be highly surprised if it amounts to anything meaningful. In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship Refugees sleep on the deck of MV Aquarius Alva White/MSF In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship An overcrowded rubber vote before a rescue by the MV Aquarius Alva White/MSF In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship Young boy being rescued from a rubber boat by the MV Aquarius Isabelle Serro/SOS Mediterranee In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship The rescue of a wooden boat with more than 400 peopl on board by the MV Aquarius on 21 August Isabelle Serro/SOS Mediterranee In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship Women rescued on MV Aquarius approaching Italy in the early morning Alva White/MSF In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship Crew on the MV Aquarius search for a missing boat Alva White/MSF In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship Rescue on the 21st August of a wooden boat carrying more than 400 people and a rubber boat with 120 people crammed on board. Ferry Schippers/MSF In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship The night rescue of 124 people after they had been on the water for 20 hours by the MV Aquarius Peter Eickmeyer/SOS Mediterranee In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship The MV Aquarius rescue vessel operated by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and SOS Mediterranee in the Mediterranean Sea Alva White/MSF In pictures: Life on board a refugee rescue ship Jacob Goldberg, MSF's team leader on board the MV Aquarius rescue ship Alva White/MSF Without question, the fear is that political posturing will exacerbate the situation and make the whole thing worse. With new Doctors of the World statistics showing that the number of minors in the Jungle has increased 151 per cent since May to 865, with 676 of them (78 per cent) being unaccompanied, Mr Daynes added that he was especially worried about the fate of child refugees. He told The Independent: Without question the fear is that there will more of what we have already seen in some parts of the Pas-de-Calais region: 10-year-old unaccompanied little Syrian boys living in ditches by the side of farmers fields, traipsing around in the mud, riddled with Scabies, with only flimsy bits of plastic for shelter. Without a proper exit plan, you will also see more people smugglers preying on even more desperate people, including unaccompanied children, who are at their lowest ebb and their most vulnerable. That problem will be pushed even further underground and become even harder to solve. Mr Cazeneuve promised the complete closure of the Jungle on Friday, ahead of Mondays blockade of the main motorway route into Calais by French famers and lorry drivers demanding the camp be shut. Mr Cazeneuve has pledged to 'unblock Calais' (Getty) The farmers and hauliers also called for action against increasingly desperate tactics by some migrants who have reportedly resorted to trying to block roads and cause traffic accidents in order to sneak onto lorries in the ensuing delays and confusion. Mr Cazeneuve pledged that to unblock Calais, France would create accommodation for refugees elsewhere in the country. He said places for 8,000 refugees would be provided this year, with accommodation for thousands more becoming available in 2017. Paris is also due to open its first refugee camp, with capacity for 400 people, in mid-October. But there have been fears the alternative accommodation plans will be insufficient especially as the French authorities and aid agencies seem to have very different estimates of the numbers currently in the Jungle. Official French estimates put the camps population at about 7,000 but last month Doctors of the World said the true figure was closer to 9,100. Mr Daynes said that he feared a repeat of the 2002 closure of the Sangatte Red Cross refugee camp: That closed with no clear exit plan because of the posturing of the British Government of the day. It did not deter refugees from seeking sanctuary. Instead, said Mr Daynes, Sangatte was simply replaced by the unofficial shanty town that became the Calais Jungle. If backed by a proper plan to resettle and relocate, added Mr Daynes, The closure of the Jungle would be an opportunity to end once and for all a human emergency of the first order just an hour away from British shores. The number of minors in the Jungle has increased 151 per cent since May (Getty) But what we have seen in the past is just political posturing by the British and French governments. And the cruel thing about that is that it only exacerbates the trauma of people who are already extremely traumatised and living in dreadful conditions. It is time politicians on both sides of the Channel stop playing to the gallery. The British Government, he said, could help the effective relocation of refugees by allowing UK asylum claims to be decided in Calais. That would be a pragmatic way to settle asylum claims once and for all, he said. As Mondays understandable protests showed, it is in no-ones interest for the current situation to continue. Mr Daynes fears were echoed by refugees in the Jungle. When The Independent approached one group of about 20 Sudanese men, none seemed to have any idea where they would go once the camp closed. Samuel Ismail, 26, from Darfur, said: The Jungle is not a healthy environment. We live worse than animals. But of course I am worried I could end up somewhere worse, sleeping on the streets. If they destroy this place, where can I go? For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A French woman who received the worlds first partial face transplant in 2005 has died aged 49. Isabelle Dinoire underwent the revolutionary surgery after her nose, mouth and chin were mauled by her pet Labrador. Her injuries meant she had difficulty speaking and eating. Doctors at Amiens Hospital in Valenciennes, northern France, grafted the face of a brain-dead female donor on to Ms Dinoires during the procedure, which has since been replicated dozens of times across the world. Ms Dinoire succumbed to two forms of cancer on 22 April, a statement released by the hospital on Tuesday said. The hospital said they did not announce her death at the time due to a request for privacy from her family during this painful time. Ms Dinoire had to take powerful immunosuppressive drugs following the surgery in November 2005 to stop her body rejecting the face but the side effects of the drugs include a weaker immune system. Despite this her surgeon, Professor Bernard Devauchelle, was still positive about the results during a public lecture in 2011. He said she was doing very well and the results went beyond what we had hoped...This first attempt was a masterstroke. Science news in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Science news in pictures Science news in pictures Pluto has 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen Pluto has a 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen that is doing strange things to its surface, Nasa has found. The mysterious core seems to be the cause of features on its surface that have fascinated scientists since they were spotted by Nasa's New Horizons mission. "Before New Horizons, everyone thought Pluto was going to be a netball - completely flat, almost no diversity," said Tanguy Bertrand, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and the lead author on the new study. "But it's completely different. It has a lot of different landscapes and we are trying to understand what's going on there." Getty Science news in pictures Over 400 species discovered this year by Natural History Museum The ancient invertabrate worm-like species rhenopyrgus viviani (pictured) is one of over 400 species previously unknown to science that were discovered by experts at the Natural History Museum this year PA Science news in pictures Jackdaws can identify 'dangerous' humans Jackdaws can identify dangerous humans from listening to each others warning calls, scientists say. The highly social birds will also remember that person if they come near their nests again, according to researchers from the University of Exeter. In the study, a person unknown to the wild jackdaws approached their nest. At the same time scientists played a recording of a warning call (threatening) or contact calls (non-threatening). The next time jackdaws saw this same person, the birds that had previously heard the warning call were defensive and returned to their nests more than twice as quickly on average. Getty Science news in pictures Turtle embryos influence sex by shaking The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperatures at which they are incubated. Warm temperatures favour females. But by wiggling around the egg, embryos can find the Goldilocks Zone which means they are able to shield themselves against extreme thermal conditions and produce a balanced sex ratio, according to the new study published in Current Biology journal Ye et al/Current Biology Science news in pictures Elephant poaching rates drop in Africa African elephant poaching rates have dropped by 60 per cent in six years, an international study has found. It is thought the decline could be associated with the ivory trade ban introduced in China in 2017. Reuters Science news in pictures Ancient four-legged whale discovered in Peru Scientists have identified a four-legged creature with webbed feet to be an ancestor of the whale. Fossils unearthed in Peru have led scientists to conclude that the enormous creatures that traverse the planets oceans today are descended from small hoofed ancestors that lived in south Asia 50 million years ago A. Gennari Science news in pictures Animal with transient anus discovered A scientist has stumbled upon a creature with a transient anus that appears only when it is needed, before vanishing completely. Dr Sidney Tamm of the Marine Biological Laboratory could not initially find any trace of an anus on the species. However, as the animal gets full, a pore opens up to dispose of waste Steven G Johnson Science news in pictures Giant bee spotted Feared extinct, the Wallace's Giant bee has been spotted for the first time in nearly 40 years. An international team of conservationists spotted the bee, that is four times the size of a typical honeybee, on an expedition to a group of Indonesian Islands Clay Bolt Science news in pictures New mammal species found inside crocodile Fossilised bones digested by crocodiles have revealed the existence of three new mammal species that roamed the Cayman Islands 300 years ago. The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal New Mexico Museum of Natural History Science news in pictures Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland Science news in pictures Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty Science news in pictures Final warning to limit "climate catastrophe" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty Science news in pictures Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP Science news in pictures Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his "optical tweezers" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and Gerard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP Science news in pictures Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means "a giant thunderclap at dawn" Viktor Radermacher / SWNS Science news in pictures Birth of a planet Scientists have witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time ever. This spectacular image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star. ESO/A. Muller et al Science news in pictures New human organ discovered that was previously missed by scientists Layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments researchers have termed the interstitium. These compartments are found beneath the skin, as well as lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels and muscles, and join together to form a network supported by a mesh of strong, flexible proteins Getty Science news in pictures Previously unknown society lived in Amazon rainforest before Europeans arrived, say archaeologists Working in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a team led by archaeologists at the University of Exeter unearthed hundreds of villages hidden in the depths of the rainforest. These excavations included evidence of fortifications and mysterious earthworks called geoglyphs Jose Iriarte Science news in pictures One in 10 people have traces of cocaine or heroin on fingerprints, study finds More than one in 10 people were found to have traces of class A drugs on their fingers by scientists developing a new fingerprint-based drug test. Using sensitive analysis of the chemical composition of sweat, researchers were able to tell the difference between those who had been directly exposed to heroin and cocaine, and those who had encountered it indirectly. Getty Science news in pictures Nasa releases stunning images of Jupiter's great red spot The storm bigger than the Earth, has been swhirling for 350 years. The image's colours have been enhanced after it was sent back to Earth. Pictures by: Tom Momary The news of her death comes after a US firefighter said he felt like a normal guy one year after undergoing a similar procedure in Mississippi. Patrick Hardisons face was burned beyond all recognition when the burning roof of a house collapsed on top of him when he responded to call to rescue a woman in the town of Senatobia in 2001. In August 2015, Mr Harrison, 42, was given the face of 26-year-old cyclist David Rodebaugh at the NYU Langone Medical Centre in New York City. He said he was able to take his children to Disney World in June and swam in a pool with them for the first time in 15 years and his life had been renewed by the surgery. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Former Dutch prime minister Dries van Agt has described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a war criminal who should be tried in the International Criminal Court in The Hague. His comments come ahead of Mr Netanyahus visit to The Netherlands this week. Speaking to Dutch television channel NPO 1, Mr van Agt said: Theres a war criminal coming to this country. The occupation and expansion building of settlements, of occupied territory, this is according to the Rome Statute, which is the statute on which the international criminal court is based, in so many words, a war crime. In a rambling interview, the 85-year old, who was prime minister of The Netherlands for five years until 1982, added: So why should we receive someone who continues with such things? We could have sent him straight away to the international criminal court that would have been better. Recommended Read more ICC to visit Israel to assess alleged war crimes Mr Van Agt has been highly critical of Israel in recent years, despite supporting the state during his years in office. In 2012, he caused controversy after saying Jews should have built a state in Germany rather than in the Middle East. Dutch pro-Israel group Likoed Nederland said in a statement on Monday: Van Agt merits no serious podium. Mr Netanyahus official visit to the Netherlands includes meetings with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who he calls a personal friend, and with King Willem-Alexander. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Mr Netanyahu said he planned to speak to Dutch leaders about Israels role in preventing the spread of Islamist terrorism. Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Nadine White Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter The Race Report Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the The Race Report email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A hairdresser who threw a woman out of her salon because she was wearing a hijab is facing six-months in prison. Business owner Merete Hodne, 47, refused to colour 24-year-old Malika Bayans hair and said she did not want this evil inside the salon. She also claimed she would be forced to discriminate against her male customers if she had to ask them to leave if Ms Bayan could not show her hair in front of them. The incident at the salon in Bryne, south west Norway, was reported to police in October and Ms Hodne was ordered to pay a fine of 8,800 krone (800) by police, but she has refused to pay the fine and is due to appear in court on Thursday. Ms Hodne could be sentenced to six months in prison if she is found to have discriminated against Ms Bayan, the Express reports. But she said if the court rules against her she is willing to appeal all the way to the European Court of Human Rights. Recommended Read more What enforced hijab in Iran and burkini ban in France mean Speaking to Norways Tv2 she said: I fear the totalitarian symbol of the hijab which says that I should be killed, and for me it is quite unnatural to provide good service in my situation. As most people know hijab clad woman do not get to show their hair to men. My salon is a man and womens hair salon. It would have been deeply discriminatory if I had banished men from the lounge because of a woman who could not show her hair to them. She added: Evil is Islams ideology, Mohammedanism and the hijab are symbols of this ideology, like the swastika is for Nazism. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Speaking to the same news channel, Ms Bayan said: It is disturbing that she treats people this way in a free country. Norway is my country. She talks about how Islam is oppressive to women, but it is she who oppresses me. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Ikea is being taken to court by people living near its flagship store in Sweden due to the "sewage smell" said to be emanating from it. Local residents in Almhult, southern Sweden, have been complaining about the noxious smells they believe Ikea is responsible for. The first ever Ikea store opened in the town in 1958, but residents have claimed the smells began after it moved to a new site in 2012 and was connected to the municipal sewage grid. In a written complaint, quoted by Smalanningen, a resident wrote: "I know that a neighbour opposite us explained that it's like the smell of fresh crap and that is pretty accurate." Another said: "Today has been a record day and nothing positive. It smells so incredibly bad." With a third declaiming: "Now you actually take hold of this with sewage smell in the Western Backgatan" Almhult Council tried to resolve the issue by sealing wastewater wells, undertaking tests and flushed pipes - the smells remained. The council then contacted the store who then examined its food disposer and grease separators and found maintenance was overdue. IKEA ruffles a few feathers with first Korean store In May, Ikea installed new equipment to suppress the smell but complaints have continued. According to Smalanningen, tests have suggested Ikea could have exceeded official limits of grease and water released into the wastewater system. The situation has now been reported to the national land and environment court to decide what if any measures Ikea should take. An Ikea spokesperson said: We are currently investigating the cause of the issue and taking the appropriate measures to rectify it as fast as we can. "We apologise to anyone who has been affected by the issue. We are in conversations with the local community/municipality to keep them updated on the situation. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A new publication from Isis called Rumiyah, which while on the surface is full of the usual propaganda, suggests that the terror organisation may be struggling to find its feet in the face of unrelenting airstrikes and Turkish, Kurdish and Iraqi army offensives, an expert has told The Independent. Isis's media wing Al-Hayat released the online magazine late on Monday in several different languages, including English, French, German, Russian, Indonesian and Uyghur. Rumiyah is Arabic for Rome, a reference to the fall of the Roman Empire. Isiss well-organised media strategy already includes several online magazines in different languages with the aim of recruiting different fighters from across the world. But the sudden appearance of a new publication could just be a savvy PR diversion, said Levi West, the director of terrorism studies at Charles Sturt University in Canberra. It's an interesting point in the group's evolution, West said. We've all but decimated the leadership in airstrikes. My guess is they're pretty rudderless, and having to get to grips with the fact they're not expanding anymore. The balance has definitely tipped. The English language Isis publication, Dabiq, has only been produced sporadically for the last few months, and Turkish forces are getting ever closer to the Isis-held town in northern Syria from which it takes its name, leading to speculation that Rumiyah is being touted as a replacement. But expert opinion suggests this is unlikely: many analysts on Twitter and Telegram have pointed out that Rumiyah lacks the fire and brimstone apocalyptic narrative of Dabiq, and appears to be an inferior product as it relies heavily on recycled material, lacks the the unifying theme of other Isis propaganda tools, and is significantly shorter. The front cover features spokesperson Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, who was recently killed in an airstrike. Inside there are lengthy tributes to his work. The English language version features the obituary of killed Australian fighter Ezzit Raad, of Melbourne. One story stresses that all non-Muslims are valid targets for jihadists, including businessmen young adults and the old man waiting in line to buy a sandwich. It is illustrated with a picture of a man at what appears to be a British market stall. The headline of the article calling for attacks on Westerners is titled: The kafir [non-believer's] blood is halal for you. So shed it. Rumiyah also includes an interview from Al-Naba with the director of Isis' new office for grievances and complaints, which West sees as an internal sop to mitigate concerns that the group's leadership is losing control of its fighters and subjects. A cache of internal documents leaked last week showed Isis is suffering from financial mismanagement, excessive bureaucracy and infighting between recruits of different nationalities, on top of heavy recent military losses. While there's no doubt that Isis's leadership is having to think hard about its next steps, the group is far from vanquished, West added. The idea that there isn't still widespread support for Isis in Syria, for myriad different reasons, would be laughable they're definitely not on the offensive anymore, but they're not quite on the back foot yet. Issue of Turkey discussed at PACE Bureau session On September 5, the meeting of PACE Bureau took place in Paris where the RA NA Deputy Speaker, Head of the Armenian Delegation to PACE, member of PACE Bureau Hermine Naghdalyan took part. The key issues on the agenda were the CE Secretary Generals and PACE Presidents reports. Mainly, they touched upon the summer events in various European countries, first of all in Turkey , the attempted coup dEtat and the actions preceding it and the aftermath of the coup . PACE President emphasized that political figures should assume a special obligation to protect their citizens in their communities, rejecting terrorism, international tension and labeling, growing populist intolerant and radical rhetoric. The societies should remember about the values uniting them, common interests and achievements, including, which is the most important, the creation of united all-European legal space underpinned by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) standards. Mr. Agramunt highlighted the process of strengthening democratic institutions in Turkey and called on to strictly observe domestic legal procedures and the CE standards. During the meeting they thoroughly discussed PACE President P. Agramunts and the CE Secretary General T. Jaglands visits to Turkey and their activities and announcements within the framework of those visits. The Bureau shared Mr Jaglands opinion that the struggle against the coup plotters may not be through violations of requirements of democratic norms. In his report, Mr Jagland emphasized that though Turkey deviated from European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), but the Convention continues to function under the control of the European Court of Human Rights. Thus, each measure initiated by the authorities should strictly comply with the threat spirit and European standards, excluding the pressure on freedom of expression, persecution of journalists accredited in Turkey also before the coup. Issues concerning Pedro Agramunts visit to the Russian Federation , meetings with the Presidents of the State Duma and the Federation Council and with leading executives were discussed. The implementation of Paragraph 13 of the Resolution on The Situation in Kosovo and the Role of the Council of Europe was one of the items of agenda at the September meeting of the Bureau. A new format of cooperation with Kosovos delegation was proposed. During the meeting of the Bureau draft agendas of PACE October Session were adopted, the issues of sending observers during the elections in several countries, including Georgia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Morocco, Moldova and other countries, issues of submitting a number of reports and suggestions to the respective committees and other working issues were considered. During the works of the September meeting of PACE Bureau the RA Deputy Speaker Hermine Naghdalyan exchanged opinions with the CE Secretary General, Committee Chairs and representatives from a number of countries. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} At least nine people have been killed in a car bombing claimed by Isis in Baghdad as the group continues its bloody insurgency. A suicide bomber targeted a Shia Muslims in the Iraqi capital's Karrada district on Monday evening, detonating a vehicle laden with explosives near a hospital. Witnesses said the blast hit near the site of another attack by the so-called Islamic State that killed 324 people in July in one of the deadliest atrocities since the start of the Iraq war in 2003. Isis' propaganda agency said it targeted a "group of Shiites [Shias]" - a faction of Muslims the Sunni terrorist group regards as apostates. Hospital sources said 20 people were also wounded in the blast and there were fears the death toll could rise as recovery operations continued. The fight against Isis, which seized a third of Iraq's territory in 2014, comes amid a long-running sectarian conflict in Iraq, mostly between the Shia majority and Sunni minority. The group has been driven out of all but one of its city strongholds in the country and security forces backed by Shia militas and air strikes by the US-led coalition are soon expected to launch an offensive on Mosul. In pictures: Baghdad bombing Show all 20 1 /20 In pictures: Baghdad bombing In pictures: Baghdad bombing Mourners react during a funeral of a victim who was killed in a suicide car bomb in the Karrada shopping area in Baghdad REUTERS In pictures: Baghdad bombing Mourners react during a funeral of a victim who was killed in a suicide car bomb in the Karrada shopping area in Baghdad REUTERS In pictures: Baghdad bombing Mourners carry the coffin of their relative, who was killed in a suicide vehicle bomb in the Karrada shopping area in Baghdad REUTERS In pictures: Baghdad bombing Iraqis react as they visit the aftermath of a massive bombing in Baghdad AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Baghdad bombing The mother (2nd L) of 16-year-old Iraqi Nabil Abdul Karim, who died in a massive bombing in Baghdad's Karrada neighbourhood as he went to celebrate his birthday, reacts as she visits the aftermath of the attack AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Baghdad bombing An Iraqi woman cries as she visits the aftermath of a massive bombing in Baghdad AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Baghdad bombing Iraqis react as they visit the aftermath of a massive bombing in Baghdad AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Baghdad bombing Iraqis gather at the site of a suicide car bombing in Baghdad's central Karrada district AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Baghdad bombing People light candles at the scene of a massive car bomb attack in Karrada, a busy shopping district where people were shopping for the upcoming Eid al-Fitr holiday, in the center of Baghdad AP In pictures: Baghdad bombing People light candles at the scene of a massive car bomb attack in Karrada AP In pictures: Baghdad bombing People light candles at the scene of a massive car bomb attack in Karrada AP In pictures: Baghdad bombing Iraqi women stand at a site barricaded with a security red tape in Baghdad AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Baghdad bombing Iraqis evacuate a body from the site of a suicide car bombing in Baghdad AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Baghdad bombing Firemen inspect the site of a suicide car bomb in the Karrada shopping area REUTERS In pictures: Baghdad bombing Iraqi firefighters spray water on a burning building at the site of a suicide car bombing claimed by the Islamic State group AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Baghdad bombing People gather at the site of a suicide car bomb in the Karrada shopping area REUTERS In pictures: Baghdad bombing Iraqis evacuate a body from the site of a suicide car bombing in Baghdad AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Baghdad bombing Iraqi women walk past a damaged building at the site of the attack AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Baghdad bombing Iraqis removed a burnt car from the site of the attack AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Baghdad bombing Iraqi firefighters extinguish a fire as civilians gather after a car bomb at a commercial area in Karrada AP In neighbouring Syria on Monday, Isis claimed responsibility for four bombs that killed more than 40 people in the government-controlled cities of Tartous, Homs, Damascus countryside, as well as the Kurdish stronghold of Hasakah. Analysts have described car bombings as one of the terrorist groups most tried tactics to regain momentum, aiming to inflict mass casualties, kill as many Shia as possible, provoke fear and unrest and turn all factions against the Iraqi government. Additional reporting by agencies For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accused heartless and murderous Saudis of deliberately causing the death of Iranian pilgrims in the 2015 crush on the outskirts of Mecca in 2015 which killed more than 2,000 people. Khamenei made the statement on his website, but offered no evidence for the accusation. More than 400 of those killed last year were Iranian pilgrims, which strained already tense relations between the two countries. The Associated Press and Reuters put the death toll from last year's tragedy at at least 2,000 people, whereas the official Saudi figure is 769 dead. The Iranian Foreign Ministry said earlier this year it remains very concerned for the safety of its nationals and will not be sending any pilgrims to Mecca or Medina this year. Saudi Interior Minister and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef said on Tuesday said Iran was attempting to politicise the Hajj and reaffirmed the country's commitment to keeping pilgrims safe during this year's holy Muslim ritual of Hajj to prevent accidents. Bin Nayef added that his country will not allow any practices which may disturb security and affect the lives of pilgrims and their safety when the annual event begins on Friday. In pictures: Hajj stampede Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Hajj stampede In pictures: Hajj stampede Hajj pilgrims and Saudi emergency personnel carry a woman on a stretcher at the site where at least 700 were killed and hundreds wounded in a stampede in Mina, near the holy city of Mecca, at the annual hajj in Saudi Arabia Getty Images In pictures: Hajj stampede In pictures: Hajj stampede In pictures: Hajj stampede In pictures: Hajj stampede In pictures: Hajj stampede In pictures: Hajj stampede In pictures: Hajj stampede In pictures: Hajj stampede In pictures: Hajj stampede Saudi state media said in July that all pilgrims will be issued with electronically tagged bracelets which are GPS enabled and contain personal and medical details in the event of an emergency. The bracelets also offer information to worshippers such as timings of prayers, and a multi-lingual help desk to guide non-Arabic speakers around the event. In addition, more than 1,000 new security cameras have been installed at holy sites so organisers can better oversee capacity and crowd control. Between two-three million people every year travel to Mecca and Medina, in modern-day Saudi Arabia, to participate in the six-day ritual. Muslims are obligated to try and undertake the journey at least once during their lifetimes. Mina, where pilgrims partake in the 'stoning of the devil' ceremony, has long been notorious for stampedes due to the volume of visitors: incidents in 2006, 2004 and 2001 killed a total of 712 people. Recommended Read more The untold story of the deaths at Hajj The worst Hajj-related accident was in 1990, when 1,426 people were killed in a crush in an overcrowded pedestrian tunnel. The cause of last year's tragedy is yet to be determined by a Saudi investigation. Saudi Arabia is expecting a more subdued Hajj and ensuing Eid celebration this year: the global slump in oil prices has led to government spending cuts and a drop in consumer spending, leaving citizens facing their most austere Eid in more than a decade. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} In the National Museum of Damascus are antique books of black magic or witchcraft listing curses and spells designed to dumbfound or destroy whatever enemy is targeted by the user. Alongside these tattered works lie a bible made out of copper, religious works from the Crusader period and, elsewhere in the museum, a striking stone statue of a falcon. These look like impressive survivals from Syrias past, but in reality all are fakes confiscated from smugglers on their way out of the country for sale to foreign customers and dealers. Expertly manufactured in workshops in Damascus and Aleppo or elsewhere in Syria, these fraudulent antiquities are flooding a market full of unwary or unscrupulous buyers who find it easy to believe that great masterpieces are being daily looted in Syria in the midst of the chaos and war. It started happening in 2015, says Dr Maamoun AbdulKarim, the general director of antiquities and museums in Damascus. The looters had attacked all the ancient sites in 2013-14, but they did not find as much as they wanted, so they switched to making fakes. A fake book on black magic, made from the skin of bulls, that was confiscated from smugglers There is a strong tradition of craftsmanship in Syria and, in addition, though Dr AbdulKarim does not say so, many unemployed archaeologists and antiquarians are prepared to give expert advice to fakers. The results are often magnificently convincing and come from both government and rebel held areas. In rebel-controlled Idlib province the speciality is making Roman and Greek mosaics, which may be then reburied in ancient sites to reinforce belief in their authenticity and so the buyer can be shown persuasive film of them being excavated. The smugglers are able to take advantage of the dangers of war which ensure that few potential purchasers will risk entering Syria in the middle of a conflict to check exactly what they are buying. They suppose that they can get a bargain because Isis and other iconoclastic Islamic movements are stripping ancient sites for ideological reasons and to raise funds which is true, but not on the scale they imagine (It is not only fake artefacts from antiquity that are for sale, but modern documents bought by the foreign media that supposedly come from Isis but whose provenance and significance are dubious or exaggerated). Ancient monuments under Isis threat Show all 8 1 /8 Ancient monuments under Isis threat Ancient monuments under Isis threat Isis seizes Palmyra The ancient oasis city of Palmyra Getty Ancient monuments under Isis threat Isis seizes Palmyra A partial view of the ancient ruins Getty Ancient monuments under Isis threat Isis seizes Palmyra The ancient Palmyra theater Reuters Ancient monuments under Isis threat Isis seizes Palmyra A view of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra Getty Ancient monuments under Isis threat Isis seizes Palmyra The Temple of Bel Reuters Ancient monuments under Isis threat Isis seizes Palmyra Palmyra's famous graves AP Ancient monuments under Isis threat Isis seizes Palmyra The ancient castle Getty Ancient monuments under Isis threat Isis seizes Palmyra A sculpture depicting a rich family from the ancient Syrian oasis city of Palmyra, displayed at the city's museum Getty Some of the fake antiquities can be swiftly detected as such by specialists, but others are so expertly made that only laboratory analysis can prove that they are of modern manufacture. Sometimes the real and fake are mixed to make detection more difficult. In the National Museum, its director, Yacoub Abdullah, scoops out of a bowl Abbasid, Roman and Byzantine coins and rapidly sorts them into two piles, muttering fake-real; fake-real as he does so. Some items, such as the black magic or witchcraft books made from the skin of bulls, are seized by the police without the museum staff knowing where they came from. Dr Abdulkarim says that 80 per cent of supposed antiquities being smuggled out of Syria into Lebanon are fakes, compared to about 30 per cent a couple of years ago according to the Lebanese authorities. He adds that the smugglers know that if they are caught by the Syrian police they will get reduced sentences because they can show that they were not though for entirely self-interested reasons robbing Syrias heritage. The remains of the Temple of Bel in Palmyra after it was destroyed by Isis (Getty) Smugglers benefit from Syria being the cradle of civilisation, containing many of the earliest agricultural settlements and cities in the world. Some sites are famous, such as the great Umayyad Mosque in Damascus with its wonderful 8th century mosaics showing scenes of daily life at the time of the Arab conquest, or Dura-Europos, the Hellenistic city called the Pompeii of the Syrian desert, famous for the frescoes in the early Jewish synagogue, fortunately removed long ago to Damascus. Unluckily, thousands of important sites are in the most war-torn parts of the country such Ebla in Idlib province, a Bronze Age city from the second and third millennium BC. Others, such as Mari from the third millennium BC, are on Isis-controlled territory and are vulnerable to systematic destruction, looting and neglect. Pictures show deep holes dug by looters every few yards. Many wars throughout human history have led to the loss of ancient masterpieces of art and architecture or the archaeological remains of past civilisations. The causes of destruction have usually been threefold: damage due to fighting, looting for profit, and ideological objections to certain types of art such as the representation of divinities or religious themes. Europe has seen all these forms of depredation, notable examples being the religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries and the area bombing of cities in the Second World War. The five-year-long Syrian civil war has combined these three causes in a uniquely destructive manner: there is warfare reaching every part of the country; a prolonged break down of law and order opening the door to looting; and the rule over much of eastern Syria of a religious cult in the shape of Isis that targets ancient remains as polytheistic in a way that may have no parallel in history. A copper Bible from the National Museum of Damascus a convincing fake The impact of all this has been devastating: Aleppo and Homs have been shelled and bombed for years at a time. Dr AbdulKarim warns that if Aleppo goes on being a battlefield it will become like Warsaw in 1944. The al-Madina Souk, which had over 700 traditional shops, was burned out and the Grand Mosque damaged. Damascus, Aleppo and Homs the three largest Syrian cities are full of ghost districts where every building is shattered and walls still standing are pitted with holes made by bullets and shrapnel. In Palmyra, Isis infamously blew up the Temple of Bel and vandalised or destroyed other buildings and statues. This tale of destruction and violence might lead on to think that the story of the attempt to preserve Syrias heritage is one more depressing story of failure in the face of greed and fanaticism. So, to some extent, it is, but the stereotypical media picture of unstoppable triumph of evil in Syria is, on present evidence, not really true. The news is not all bad and, when it comes to Syrias past, far more is being saved than has been lost. We should not be pessimists, says Dr Abdulkarim, who was appointed director general of antiquities and museums in 2013, a job for which he takes no pay and who regards himself as politically neutral. Of Armenian-Kurdish origin his father was a survivor of the Armenian genocide in 1915 who was adopted by a Kurdish family he revels in Syrias ethnic and cultural diversity and wants to do what he can to preserve it. He and his 2,500 staff, some of them in rebel-held areas, keep in touch with local communities who are often protective of archaeological remains in areas where they live. Devastating though the losses have been, no major museum in Syria has lost its contents through looting or destruction, though some have come frighteningly close to disaster. Trucks carrying items from the museum in Palmyra left for Damascus three hours before Isis captured the city in 2015. Some 24,000 objects were moved to safety from Aleppo and 30,000 flown out of Deir Ezzor on the Euphrates in the east of the country, including 24,000 cuneiform tablets. I thought Isis were going to take the city at any moment, says Dr Abdulkarim. I could not sleep for nights. He adds that when he became an archaeologist he hoped he would spend his career discovering treasures, but in the last three years I have spent all my time hiding them. Once rescued artefacts reach Damascus, they are placed in secret vaults, along with the contents of the National Museum, which is long closed. In its empty rooms are today stacked with old army ammunition boxes filled with broken sculptures from Palmyra, some shattered by Isis beyond repair but others in fragments that have all survived and can be painstakingly pieced together again. Destruction of the antiquities of Syria has not been anything like as total as was once feared. It has been resisted by Syrian archaeologists and communities alike. Khaled Assaad, the 82-year-old ex-director of Palmyra and Antiquities, was publicly beheaded by Isis in the city last August as a leading intellectual and because he would not tell them where treasures were to be found though there may have been nothing to tell since they had been evacuated. The very fact that the great majority of antiquities being smuggled out of Syria today are fakes is backhanded evidence that the smugglers and their employers have failed to plunder as many original and irreplaceable artefacts as they wanted. The Syrian past, like the Syrian present, may be more durable than it looks. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Post-Brexit uncertainty and long-term funding issues have seen storm clouds gather over UK higher education in this years QS World University Rankings. Startlingly, 38 of the UKs 48 top-400 universities have dropped down the rankings, with the University of Cambridge dropping out of the global top three for first time since 2004. Even though Cambridge, Oxford, UCL, and Imperial College London have remained in the top ten and with Edinburgh joining the top 20 and Manchester entering the top 30 Ben Sowter, head of research at QS Quacquarelli Symonds, cited a combination of uncertainty and long-term funding issues which have impacted negatively on the UKs performance. For the second year in a row, China which continues to benefit from generous government research funding has more universities in the top 100 for citations per faculty than the UK. Sowter said: Uncertainty over research funding, immigration rules, and the ability to hire and retain the top young talent from around the world seems to be damaging the reputation of the UKs higher education sector. The UK has, though, managed to retain its status as the worlds second best higher education nation, retaining the same number of top-400, top-100, and top-50 universities as last year. The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 Show all 20 1 /20 The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) 1st in 2015 Getty The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 2. Stanford University (USA) 3rd (=) in 2015 The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 3. Harvard University (USA) 2nd in 2015 Darren McCollester/Newsmakers The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 4. University of Cambridge (UK) 3rd (=) in 2015 Getty The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 5. California Institute of Technology (USA) 5th in 2015 The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 6. University of Oxford (UK) 6th in 2015 Getty The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 7. University College London (UK) 7th in 2015 The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 8. ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) (Switzerland) 9th in 2015 The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 9. Imperial College London (UK) 8th in 2015 Getty Images The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 10. University of Chicago (USA) 10th in 2015 The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 11. Princeton University (USA) 11th in 2015 Wikimedia Commons The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 12. National University of Singapore (Singapore) 12th in 2015 National University of Singapore/Facebook The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 13. Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) 13th in 2015 The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 14. Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne (Switzerland) 14th in 2015 The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 15. Yale University (USA) 15th in 2015 The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 16. Cornell University (USA) 17th in 2015 sach1tb/Wiki Commons The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 17. Johns Hopkins University (USA) 16th in 2015 Lester Spence/WikimediaCommons The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 18. University of Pennsylvania (USA) 18th in 2015 Bryan Y.W. Shin/Wiki Commons The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 19. University of Edinburgh (UK) 21st in 2015 The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 20. Columbia University (USA) 22nd in 2015 However, the evidence has suggested the US is stretching its lead and Asian universities are making inroads. For the first time since the rankings began 12 years ago, US universities hold all top three positions. The 20 hardest universities to get into Of the 48 UK universities in the top-400, only six have risen (12 per cent). This compares to 78 US universities, of which 47 per cent have risen, and 74 Asian universities, of which 68 per cent have risen. Overall, 73 per cent of the UKs top-400 universities have seen a drop in both academic reputation and employer reputation, while 58 per cent have seen a fall in international faculty numbers. The Brexit referendum took place after the QS surveys closed, but undoubtedly added to this uncertainty. Sowter also pointed to a reduced level of real terms government funding for research in higher education as a further contributory factor. The chancellors pledge to guarantee EU-funding levels for research projects signed before this years Autumn Statement is a good step to tackle both issues, said the team behind the rankings, adding how similar measures would go a long way to help the UK retain its global excellence. Recommended Read more Top European university warns UK students to apply before Brexit A focus on Londons universities, though, has provided a more positive picture for the UK as a whole. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, vowed to make sure London remains a top study destination as the city continues to host more top 40 universities than any other city in the world. Mr Khan described how London is the higher education capital of the world, with the city boasting more of the globes top universities and welcoming the most international students. He added: People who come from abroad to study in London leave as ambassadors for our city, spreading the message that the capital is a fantastic place to live, work, and visit. Im saying loud and clear to the world that London is open as the best place to study, do business, and innovate, and a city where all Londoners can take advantage of these opportunities. The full QS World University Rankings for 2016/17 can be found here Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Were plucking lobsters from the ocean for dinner. One, two, three now wriggle on the deck of the speedboat. The little critters cant hide from us, the water is too clear out here on the edge of the reef off the north coast of Barbuda. We toss in a few conches, too, then jump on board and head back to our hotel, Barbuda Belle, to consult with the chef about how wed like him to serve our catch. Alongside sunbathing, swimming and snorkelling, fishing for dinner is one of the obvious pursuits for guests at Barbuda Belle, which opened in June. Standing in splendid isolation on a 17-mile stretch of beach, this cluster of shingle-roofed wooden bungalows, held aloft from the sand on stilts, is arranged around a Club House, the home of a convivial bar and a French seafood restaurant. This place, light of touch with its footprint and powered by solar energy, is designed for wealthy castaways, who prefer their wilderness to come with high design, quality furnishings, and gourmet food. The resort has just six guest bungalows But its not just the looks and the landscape that set apart Barbuda Belle. This intimate resort defines that well-worn phrase, barefoot luxury. From the moment you hop off the speedboat on arrival at this remote, sea-bound spot, there is little reason to put your shoes back on until departure. The relaxed atmosphere is due to adroit management by Speedy Walters, a Barbudan, and his English wife Rosalind, drawing on Rosalinds long experience in the global hospitality industry, and Speedys passion for his island home and expertise in marine science. Without their deft service, this resort might be just another beautiful dot on the Caribbean horizon. The restaurant and bar Location The hotel is a 15-minute speedboat ride from the dock at Codrington, Barbudas only town (population 1,000), where visitors can connect by air (20 minutes) or sea (90 minutes) to its sister nation, Antigua, 38 miles to the south. The main draw of Barbuda, a 170-square-mile lump of coral limestone, dressed with mangroves and rainforest, partly drowned in a lagoon, is its fringe of white and pink sand beaches and glassy waters. But there are a few other attractions to balance with idling beneath the sun, and tours can be arranged by the Belle on request. The beach stretches for 17 miles Visitors can trace the ruins of Highland House, the home of the Codrington family, who turned Barbuda into a storehouse of food and slaves to feed the plantations on Antigua in the dark days of the 18th century. At Indian Cave there are ancient petroglyphs to investigate, carved by the Arawaks who once inhabited this island. But the main attraction is the rare Frigate Bird Sanctuary, best seen from a kayak. These soaring raptors are surprisingly ungainly closer to the ground they can neither swim nor walk. But come the mating season (September to April) the amorous males put on quite a show on their mangrove perches, puffing out their bright red throats. Comfort The bamboo and merbau structures of Barbuda Belle owe more to the Far East than the Eastern Caribbean, especially the Club House, which is reminiscent of an Asian longhouse. In fact, all the buildings were pre-built in Bali, and the furnishings and artworks were also sourced there. Yet, the hotel feels appropriately tropical. All the buildings were pre-built in Bali Each of the bungalows there are five one-bedroom and one two-bedroom overlooks the ocean, a view best enjoyed from bed, with the louvred shutters of the large facing window thrown open to the cool sea breeze. The king-size four-poster, romantically draped in white voile, is the focus of this highly polished wooden cocoon in more ways than one. On hot nights, guests can keep cool thanks to in-bed air-conditioning. Off the bedroom is a wet room, supplied with LOccitane products, and theres an outdoor shower, too. Balconies, with their own dining areas, look out on to the sea Outside, the sea and the hinterland of mangroves can also be gazed on from the balcony, which is large enough to house sitting and dining areas a good place, too, for a massage, bookable on request. But along the boardwalk, on a private patch of sand, two sunbeds, shaded by an umbrella, surely offer the best vantage point. Essentials Barbuda Belle, Cedar Tree Point, Barbuda (020 3695 2001; barbudabelle.com). Bungalows start at US$890 (669) per night, including return transfers to Antigua in peak season, breakfast, room service and non-motorised watersports. Wi-fi: free Access: unsuitable for wheelchair users Rooms: ***** Service: ***** Value: ***** Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Tens of thousands of British Airways passengers are experiencing delays due to what the airline described as problems with the computer systems. Overnight UK time, travellers at airports worldwide particularly in North America turned up at check-in to discover long queues. The systems normally used globally for check-in failed, obliging staff to revert to manual issuing of boarding passes and luggage tags. Staff at overseas airports were unable to issue onward boarding passes for connecting flights, requiring them to queue again when they arrived at Heathrow. Recommended Read more British Airways cuts food service for economy travellers A spokesperson for BA said: We are checking in customers at Heathrow and Gatwick Airport this morning, although it is taking longer than usual. We would encourage customers to check in online before they reach the airport. We are sorry for the delay to their journeys. The Independent has tracked delayed arrivals at Heathrow and Gatwick of more than an hour from about 20 airports, including Barbados, Orlando, Toronto, Washington and Hyderabad. The most delayed UK airports in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 The most delayed UK airports in pictures The most delayed UK airports in pictures 1. Gatwick Getty Images The most delayed UK airports in pictures 2. Luton PA The most delayed UK airports in pictures 3. Manchester Getty Images The most delayed UK airports in pictures 4. Glasgow PA The most delayed UK airports in pictures 5. Heathrow PA The most delayed UK airports in pictures 6. Edinburgh The most delayed UK airports in pictures 7. Bristol Getty Images The most delayed UK airports in pictures 8. Stansted Getty Images The most delayed UK airports in pictures 9. Birmingham AFP/Getty Images The most delayed UK airports in pictures 10. Newcastle PA WIRE With aircraft arriving late, delays built up for subsequent departures. The afternoon flight to Vancouver was delayed by three hours. Long-haul services to Las Vegas, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Lagos, Toronto, Houston and Bangalore were also substantially delayed. Passengers have been told to turn up at the airport normally unless they are warned of a delay or cancellation, and British Airways has asked them to check in online. Twelve short-haul flights to and from Heathrow have been cancelled during the day, though BA said these were due to separate issues unconnected with the check-in failure. BA began to roll out a new check-in system, known as FLY, last October. Some front-line staff have expressed frustration about what they say are its inadequacies compared with the previous system. Airlines are reliant on computer systems for speedy check-in, baggage handling and flight documentation. If these systems fail, the manual fallback is not always resilient. Ten days ago, Monarchs systems at Birmingham airport failed, leading to delays of four or five hours. A month ago, one of the worlds biggest airlines, Delta, had a system-wide failure which it said was caused by a power cut at its Atlanta hub. Black Lives Matter storm London City airport runway In the event of a delay of more than a few hours, the airline is obliged to provide meals and, if necessary, accommodation for passengers. For an arrival three hours late or more, cash compensation of 200-500 may also be payable. Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} City breaks are usually a short, simple way to see somewhere new, but it can be easy to get stuck in the rigmarole of ticking off tourist attractions and generic sightseeing excursions. So for those interested in delving a little deeper, it's worth seeking out the growing number of alternative city tours offering ways to view a more real side to a destination, or experience sights that are off the radar for most visitors. Here are our chosen few. Passage of time: New York City View some of Manhattans most spectacular Art Deco architecture on a tour through the back streets of Midtown, led by a guide from the New York Obscura Society (atlasobscura.com). Midtown may be the citys tourism heartland, but this tour offers an insight into some of its best-kept secrets, from luxurious public toilets to secret passageways that avoid the crowds. Even the most hardened urbanistas will gain a new perspective on the city that never sleeps. Next tour takes place 23 September; from $25pp (19). The New York Obscura Society offers visitors a different perspective on Manhattan (Shutterstock) Anime attraction: Tokyo Addicted to Pokemon Go? Go straight to the source and head for Tokyo, where you can take a walking tour of the citys anime shops (tokyowalkingtours.com). Covering classic Japanese anime such as Dragon Ball, Hello Kitty and Naruto, to name a few, this tour also offers the chance to visit the Pokemon Centre where you can pick up official merch as well as other specialist anime and manga stores. From 20,000 yen (145) for groups of six. Pokemon fans can take a tour of Tokyo's anime culture (Getty Images) Then and now: Barcelona Relish the opportunity to explore Barcelonas gothic quarter, while also doing something good for those who now live in the area. Homelessness is a growing problem in the Spanish city; more than 3,000 people sleep rough on Barcelona's streets today. Hidden City Tours (hiddencitytours.com) trains and employs guides who are homeless, so they can utilise their extensive knowledge of the city while finding meaningful employment. Each tour traces a route personal to each guide, teaching you about the city's history as well as its everday realities. From 15pp (12.50); under 12s go free. Barcelona's gothic Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia (Getty) (GETTY) Friday night lights: Berlin Berlin is a fantastic destination and even more thrilling after dark. Alternative Berlins Twilight Tour (alternativeberlin.com/tours/twilight-tour) offers you the chance to experience private parties, live music and night markets in lesser-known neighbourhoods, visiting secret spots on the fringes of the city. No specific itinerary exists for the tour as it changes from night to night, though you shouldn't expect it to be low-key: the company describes it as "not for the faint-hearted". From 20pp (16); pre-booking essential; over-18s only. Alternative Berlin's Twilight Tour takes partygoers into the city's edgier districts (Getty) Saddle up: Amsterdam To experience Amsterdam properly, you need to live like a local and that means getting on your bike. With itineraries taking in street markets, bookshops, outdoor festivals and much more, Alltournative (alltournative-amsterdam.com) organises various bike tours of the city, including one focused on street art, led by a resident graffiti artist. Some itineraries can be led by the visitors themselves with no set schedule, you choose what you want to see. From 22pp (18). Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The only thing worth knowing about the movie business, a great Hollywood scriptwriter famously observed, is that no one knows nothing. If he is still taking commissions at 85, William Goldman would be the obvious choice to write Brexit: The Movie. Approaching three months after the referendum, the PM is uneasily pictured on the outskirts of that G20 group photo in China and still NO ONE. KNOWS. NUFFINK. Does Brexit mean leaving the single market entirely, mostly, a fair bit, or not really at all? Who can say? Does it mean ending, partially restricting or barely tinkering with freedom of movement? Not a clue. How long will it take to negotiate trade deals with the EU, the US and other nations, and how punishing might the terms be? Go figure. Will British expats retain the right of residency in EU countries? Beats me. There are scores of other intriguing questions raised by the June vote, and to all of them the official reply may be paraphrased as follows: you might as well ask Larry, the Downing Street cat. For every human ostrich to whom this ignorance is bliss, countless souls will find the uncertainty unnerving. Even the zealous Leaver who felt imprisoned by Brussels may be feeling a little like the paroled lifer whose initial rush of exhilaration is cauterised by the first unfamiliar blast of sunlight. Brooks in The Shawshank Redemption, for instance, who cannot handle life on the outside, and hangs himself. Yet as we stumble about getting nowhere in the darkness, give thanks for one shining beacon to illuminate the path. What, David Davis was repeatedly asked in the Commons this week, does Brexit mean? Brexit, replied the Brexit Secretary, sampling the PM but speaking with the unique insight his portfolio confers, means Brexit. David Davis heckled If gnomic impenetrability is what you want from any means-related slogan, Brexit-means-Brexit must be the best ever. Beanz Meanz Heinz was pretty good in its day, at least when you first heard it in a TV advert. What the naked ear took for beans could have referred, after all, to string, runner, kidney, borlotti or any other member of the bean family. Only when you saw it written as beanz did that z remove any doubt that it was a Heinz haricot bean in tomato sauce, and all the fun went out of it. Another contender from yesteryear was Love means never having to say youre sorry, the tagline from the film of Erich Segals weepy novel Love Story. That sounded unfathomably deep and meaningless on first acquaintance. Then it struck you that love means having to say sorry all the time, frequently for offences you havent committed and in catchphrase terms, being diametrically wrong and arrant cobblers aint a patch on meaning nothing. The biggest loser of the means genre, I think, is a staple of the short-tempered parent. Admittedly, no means no seldom works. Overheard in the supermarket sweetie aisle, it tends to be the prologue to, Oh, all right, then, have the f****** Haribos, see if I care if you get dentures for your 10th birthday. Yet its fatal flaw is its clarity. No in this context can only mean no. It cant possibly mean Yes, Maybe, Noel Edmonds scrotal sack, or, Watch yerself, missus, or Ill move that Nissan plant from Sunderland to the outskirts of Zagreb. To his credit, David Davis understands that a catchphrases paramount aim is to bamboozle. Bruce Forsyth never grasped this, which is why hed be such a hopeless Brexit Secretary. When he asked, What do points make?, the only possible answer was Prizes! Ditto with Nice to see you In a political climate which treasures opacity, Brucie would be way out of his depth. If Brexit means Brexit is genius and it is this has less than nothing to do with the factual accuracy which is such a wickedly devalued currency in the context. John is John, Tony Blair said of Prescott after he biffed the eggman, and that also was true. Black is black, sang Las Bravas in 1966, before adding that they wanted their baby back. Again, no argument there. No, the cosmic brilliance of Brexit means Brexit is that, unless or until defined by reference to more than itself , Brexit potentially means anything, and therefore means absolutely nothing. Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Show all 30 1 /30 Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? David Beckham (REMAIN) The former captain for the England international football team announced on Instagram that he was voting to Remain. He said: We live in a vibrant and connected world where together as a people we are strong. For our children and their children we should be facing the problems of the world together and not alone. Getty Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Victoria Beckham (REMAIN) 'I believe in my country, I believe in a future for my children where we are stronger together and I support the remain campaign.' Getty Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Daniel Craig (REMAIN) Actor He was pictured wearing a white T-shirt with the slogan: 'No man is an island. No country by itself. Vote Remain on 23rd June.' Getty Images Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Bob Geldof (REMAIN) Irish singer expresses his support for the Remain vote as he waves from a boat carrying supporters for the 'Remain' campaign in London AFP/Getty Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? John Cleese (LEAVE) The Monty Python star signalled he will vote to leave the EU when he tweeted: "If I thought there was any chance of major reform in the EU, I'd vote to stay in. But there isn't. Sad." Getty Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Daniel Portman (REMAIN) Game of Thrones actor supports Reamin vote Getty Images Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Elton John (REMAIN) The singer also announced his intention to vote Remain on Instagram, sharing an image which said Build bridges not walls, along with the caption I'm voting to remain. #StrongerInEurope Getty Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Roger Daltrey (LEAVE) Former frontman of iconic rock band The Who. I am not anti European, but I an anti the present way we are being governed in Europe, he wrote in The Mirror. The whole system has been corrupted by political ego and massive government overreach. The Euro being a perfect example I do not want to be dragged into the kind of Federal State that this present EU is pushing for - with the UK's voice getting smaller and smaller. AFP/Getty Images Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? JK Rowling (REMAIN) The author of the Harry Potter books has expressed concern that "racists and bigots" are directing parts of the Leave campaign. She added: How can a retreat into selfish and insecure individualism be the right response when Europe faces genuine threats, when the bonds that tie us are so powerful, when we have come so far together? How can we hope to conquer the enormous challenges of terrorism and climate change without cooperation and collaboration? Getty Images Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Vivienne Westwood (REMAIN) British fashion designer expressed her support for Remain vote Getty Images Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Michael Caine (LEAVE) The actor has said he is a reluctant Leaver. He said: "I don't know what to vote for. Both are scary. To me, you've now got in Europe a sort of government-by-proxy of everybody, who has now got carried away. Unless there is some extremely significant changes, we should get out." Getty Images Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Benedict Cumberbatch (REMAIN) Benedict Cumberbatch and Sir Patrick Stewart led more than 280 figures from the arts world who backed a vote to stay. An open letter pledging support for Remain was also signed by music stars Hot Chip, alt-J and Paloma Faith, authors Dame Hilary Mantel and John le Carre, and fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood. Daniel Craig was pictured wearing a vote Remain t-shirt with the words "No man is an island. No country by itself" emblazoned across it in a picture tweeted on the Stronger IN account. Getty Images Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Patrick Stewart (REMAIN) Actor is a leading supporter of the Remain campaign Getty Images Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Elizabeth Hurley (LEAVE) The actress said If it means we can go back to using decent lightbulbs and choose high-powered hairdryers and vacuum cleaners if we so wish, I'm joining Brexit for sure. Getty Images Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Stephen Hawking (REMAIN) The physicist was in favour staying, and said "progress comes from co-operation". He said: "By working together in Europe we make our economy stronger and we give ourselves more influence in the world and we provide future opportunities for young people." Numerous scientists have also voiced their support for Remain, claiming an out vote would badly damage the field. Getty Images for Breakthrough Pr Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Sol Campbell (LEAVE) The former England international football star said he is backing Brexit so that young British sporting talent would be nurtured and given greater opportunities at British clubs. He said: "I'm looking at the sporting side - how youngsters aren't getting the opportunities at some of the big clubs and some of the big clubs are bringing in youngsters from 14, 15, 16 and becoming homegrown, which is pushing some of our youngsters out." Getty Images Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Hilary Mantel (REMAIN) Author Hilary Mantel announced her support for Remain vote Getty Images Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Bear Grylls (REMAIN) The adventurer and TV presenter said he spoke "from the heart" in backing the EU. "At such a time for the UK to retreat, run and cut ourselves loose from Europe, when there are so many challenges on our doorstep, to me just doesn't feel either courageous or kind, he said. Europe has many flaws, but I also believe the way to help resolve many of those tough issues is from within... I have never been a good quitter and I am so proud of the UK and our values: tolerance, kindness, respect, courage and resilience. This is why I want us to stay together and Remain in Europe." Getty Images Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Billy Bragg (REMAIN) British singer decided to support Remain campaign AFP/Getty Images Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Ian Botham (LEAVE) The former England Test cricketer and Test team captain supports Brexit Getty/Laureus Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Simon Cowell (REMAIN) Music mogul Simon Cowell announced his support of staying in EU Getty Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? David James (LEAVE) The former England goalkeeper supports Brexit Getty Images Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Idris Elba (REMAIN) The actor voiced his support for Remain vote Getty Images Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? John Le Carre (REMAIN) British writer supports Remain campaign Getty Images Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Paloma Faith (REMAIN) English singer supports Remain campaign Getty Images Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Perry McCarthy (LEAVE) The racing driver supports Leave campaign Rex Features Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Keira Knightley (REMAIN) The actress intends to vote for Remain campaign Getty Images for Lincoln Center Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? James Cracknell (LEAVE) British athlete and rowing champion decided to vote for Brexit Getty Images Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Florence Welch (REMAIN) British singer supports Remain campaign Getty Images for Gucci Which celebrities support Brexit and which support Remain? Helena Bonham-Carter (REMAIN) The actress expressed her support for Remain vote AFP/Getty Images With government and country trapped in this curious stasis while we wait for Brexit to take corporeal shape, several indicators suggest the economy is performing far better than doomsayers predicted. This is great news, and long may it continue, though the Prime Minister is less optimistic than those pro-Brexit newspapers which are prone to premature self-vindication. Theresa May warns of serious trouble ahead. With Obama and the Japanese issuing doomy warnings, Lloyds of London threatening to jettison its of London by relocating, and other alarming portents, we can probably trust the PM on that. So it is that, even as bullish Brexiteers greet the short-term growth in consumer spending and the construction sector as definitive proof that the promised land is in view, I cant help recalling the end of William Goldmans greatest movie. For a moment there, I thought we were in trouble, a relieved Butch Cassidy tells the Sundance Kid after the outlaws apparently cheat death by hiding in a disused fort. In the next shot, they stroll out into both the sunlight and the gunfire of the entire Bolivian army. * This article has been amended. It originally referred to Wiliam Goldman as having died. We are pleased to confirm he is still very much alive. 13/9/16 Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} You would be forgiven for mistaking it for a Daily Mash headline but no, its real. The Guardian has published a piece today under the headline I didnt choose to be straight, white and male: are modern men the suffering sex? The premise of the article is that men are feeling silenced by the spectre of gender equality. As I walk down the halls of hallowed institutions admiring the rows of (white male) portraits of former leaders, and I watch our Prime Minister (only the second female in a long line of white males) attempt to shout over her cabinet of predominantly white male MPs, I have to remind myself how silenced white men are. The press, the politicians, the police, the powerfulnotwithstanding the undeniable fact that these are all still predominantly male, and white straight males at that, men are feeling silenced. Forget about the billions of women worldwide who are literally silenced by patriarchal oppression, poverty, racial inequality, and femicide. No, the silencing of men in the western world is now the social issue du jour. And we know this because theyre complaining and being interviewed about it. Apparently, a well-educated, professionally successful and mostly very progressive male friend (you have to enjoy that qualifying mostly) sent Guardian journalist Rose Hackman a video of women beating up men, presumably to make the point that feminism is running rampant with its violence and its misandry and its general advocating of beating men to a pulp. Forget the estimated two women dying every week in the UK as a result of domestic violence, or how violence against women has been the norm in pretty much every culture in the entire world at some point. Forget that. Hey, look at this YouTube video! According to this mostly progressive male, women are having their cake and eating it too, profiting from an unfair double standard and getting away with stuff men never would. Like sexual assault? Like mass shootings? Like war crimes? Like terrorist attacks? Like human trafficking? Forget the statistics which show how disproportionate the gender divide of these crimes is. Apparently, women are committing these atrocities just as much as men but theyre getting away with it. Political correctness gone mad! Apparently, the increasingly equal society has made men the suffering sex, and theres no denying the consistency, and therefore validity, of the feelings being [expressed]. I had no idea that if a feeling is consistent, it must be valid. Thousands of racists rejoice your feelings are now valid. Sexism debates during the Olympics Show all 5 1 /5 Sexism debates during the Olympics Sexism debates during the Olympics Helen Skelton Viewers were forced to defend Skelton after scrutiny over her outfit. BBC Sexism debates during the Olympics John Inverdale/Andy Murray Andy Murray was praised on social media for reminding the presenter about the "existence of women". This came after Inverdale called Murray 'the first person ever to win two Olympic tennis gold medals', forgetting Venus and Serena Williams have won four each. Getty Sexism debates during the Olympics Chicago Tribune This tweet from the Chicago Tribune was roundly mocked after referring to the newly crowned trap shooting bronze medallist Corey Cogdell-Unrein as 'wife of Bears lineman'. Screengrab/Twitter Sexism debates during the Olympics Katinka Hosszu After Hungarian swimmer Hosszu won the 400m individual medley, NBC were criticised for calling her husband/coach "the person responsible" for her accomplishments. Getty Sexism debates during the Olympics Alexa Moreno Viewers rallied around Mexican gymnast Alexa Moreno after she was body shamed while competing in the gymnastics. Getty I have a bit of an issue with the microphone being handed over to men for their views on how women becoming seen as real and equal humans might be negatively affecting them. But then again, men have rather successfully held the monopoly on public discourse since language was invented. Women have had a space on the podium for long enough decades, in fact. Thats more than enough time. They should now hand the microphone back to men. According to Michael Kimmel, executive director of the Centre for the Study of Men and Masculinities (imagine their mailing list), the world used to be our locker room where men could say what they wanted. Now a lot of guys have to watch what they say. Thats got to be hard. It is, Mr Kimmel! Wouldnt it be excellent if we could all shout about our burning cystitis every time the bus goes over a bump? Wouldnt you love to finally admit to your co-worker that their voice makes you want to stab yourself in the face? Watching what we say is so hard! The Guardian article provides a selection of male voices to wax lyrical on how silenced they are: men chosen for a lack of overt disrespect towards women thats a category you dont want to lose in. Highlights include Tom, a butcher from Seattle, who howls: We talk about accepting people that someone didnt choose to be trans, or gayI didnt choose to be straight, white and male. Laura Kuenssberg 'hate campaign': PM attacks sexist online bullying Because of course, you can equate the political struggles, emotional trauma, hate crimes, prejudice, under-representation, imprisonment and murders of the global gay or trans communities with the frustrations of a white male butcher. So to all you over-privileged, economically advantaged and socially unpersecuted white cisgendered males out there, I say this: Im sorry youre suffering. Im sorry you didnt choose to be born who you are. I didnt choose to be born into a racially segregated patriarchy where menstruation and childbirth render me intolerant of your suffering, and where Im statistically more likely to be raped, murdered or discriminated against than you. But we all have our crosses to bear. Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Nadine White Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter The Race Report Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the The Race Report email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Jeremy Corbyn has inspired many people across the country, including me, by saying what he means and meaning what he says. Owen Smith sometimes also says what he means and means what he says and thats when the problems arise. Or perhaps its all just banter. Most people would be entirely willing to forgive a single gaffe or an honest mistake. But Owen Smiths gaffes dont seem like gaffes anymore. Theres only so many times that a mistake can be made before it goes from being a mistake to symptomatic of a long-held belief. In the past, Smith has opposed all-women shortlists and has made an inappropriate domestic violence analogy about the coalition government. Hes told one party leader that shes only offered time on TV because shes a woman. Hes threatened to smash Theresa May back on her heels and implied that misogyny has only been a problem since Jeremy Corbyn became leader as if Labour women hadnt experienced structural barriers or abuse prior to September 2015. He also told Leanne Wood that she probably only got invited on TV because of her gender. Kay Burley says Owen Smith 'is toast', he says leadership race 'is still on a knife's edge' And this week, Smith shared a photo of a gobstopper saying hed found the perfect present for Nicola Sturgeon. When people criticised him for his Calm down, dear stance on women being vocal in politics, he then retorted that it was just banter, because apparently hes applying for a job at the Lad Bible rather than attempting to leader a political party into a general election. He added that he couldnt possibly be accused of sexism given that there were women working on his campaign were yet to hear whether he also cant be sexist because his mum is a woman and he loves his mum. Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Show all 8 1 /8 Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith clash at a leadership hustings in Gateshead, where Mr Smith was scarcely able to answer a question without being booed by Mr Corbyns supporters PA Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Jeremy himself admitted he was seven out of 10 in terms of his faith in the European Union. He said it, said Mr Smith during his second live debate with Jeremy Corbyn Getty Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Ballot papers are currently due to be sent out on 22 August and returned a month later, with the result being announced at a special Labour conference on 24 September Getty Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Jeremy Corbyn supporters cheer and wave placards as the Labour Leader addresses thousands of supporters in in Liverpool, England Getty Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Labour Party leadership candidate Owen Smith poses for a picture with supporters during a picnic for young members in London Fields, Hackney in London Getty Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith The Labour leader has a spring in his step at a leadership rally in Sunderland Screenshot Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Labour leadership contender Owen Smith delivers a speech at the Open University in Milton Keynes, where he promised to reverse Conservative cuts set to leave millions of low paid workers thousands of pounds a year worse off PA Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has urged Owen Smith to distance himself from those saying they want to split the Labour party Getty Smith seems to be acting more like the candidate for leadership of a university rugby club, rather than the leadership of our party and our country. And hes as ignorant on issues of race as he is on gender. He has said that there are too many immigrants in parts of Britain, and that Syrian refugees were putting pressure on local schools in Wales. But in Smiths area, just 2.1 per cent of locals were born outside of the UK and only 16 refugees yes, 16 have settled there in the last few months. The numbers dont exactly back him up. Smith promises investment and support for the controversial Prevent strategy, while utterly ignoring the concerns of minorities, senior police officers and academics about its fitness for purpose. The policy has seen a Muslim student arrested for reading a book about terrorism for his studies, an eight-year-old referred over a T-shirt wrongly assumed to be extremist, and countless other examples of racial profiling which have alienated minority communities. We know all too well what happens when Labour takes its eye off the ball on these issues: in 2011 the former Labour immigration minister was rightly barred from office over a campaign apparently aimed at getting the white vote angry at the mad Muslims, while in the early days of New Labour leaflets read: Labour are on your side, the Lib Dems are on the side of failed asylum seekers. We cant afford to slip backwards under Owen Smith; we have to move on from this painful past. Owen Smith and Jeremy Corbyn clash at latest leadership debate The sponsored silence undertaken by Labour MPs about Smiths sexist and racist words has spoken volumes. Those supporting Smiths campaign have had very little to say. It is a shame to see that MPs previously committed to standing up for equality have now become far more committed to breaking Jeremy Corbyn and the movement around him. Meanwhile, in Corbyn we have a candidate who has built his political life around fighting for justice and equality, whether as a trade union officer fighting for equal pay for women or an MP arrested for protesting against apartheid. This election campaign has seen him transform his passion for equality into a bold and credible set of policies. This election has become a choice between the negative, damaging campaign being offered by Owen Smith that seeks to drag Labour back to the past and a positive project that looks to transform and rebuild Labours future being offered by Jeremy Corbyn. Smiths rhetoric on women and minorities has no place in that future. Disagreements of superpowers influence the NKR issue (video) The meeting of the U.S. President Barak Obama and the RF President Vladimir Putin at G-20 Summit held on September 4-5 gave nothing, says political analyst Styopa Safaryan, adding that many people expected that the U.S. President would be able to convince Vladimir Putin to change his policy not only in Ukraine, but also Syria. As shortly after Obama told the media outlets, he made it clear for Putin, that the sanctions will be lifted only in the case, if Putin respects the international right, but the RF evidently is not going to do it, especially doesnt want to show that it is isolated, Styopa Safaryan, political expert, Director of the Armenian Institute of International and Security Affairs, told A1+. The main topic of G-20 Summit was Creation of innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economy, but, as it had been expected, the main meetings and developments were political. The analysts also expected redrawing of world map from this summit, expecting creation of two independent Kurdish states- one in Iraq and other in Syria. It has been said not once that Iraq will be divided to three parts and Syria- to several. Maybe that process has already started; they are taking steps and come to agreements, notes Heritage faction secretary Tevan Poghosyan. The predictions in terms of the agreements reached at G-20 for the RA arent positive. Both the USA and the RF and European countries in general have great involvement both in our region and the Karabakh issue. Those disagreements are indirectly projected or influence the negotiations on the NKR issue and on the dynamics of conflict in the region in general, says Styopa Safaryan. When superpowers come to an agreement, very often it happens at the expense of the small ones. Naturally, here we have problems to understand what our policy or calculations must be, so that it wont be at our expense, or if they have a desire to do it at our expense, not to allow it, thinks Heritage faction secretary Tevan Poghosyan. Besides, the political analysts remind of the Armenian community in Syria; if the meetings at G-20 dont have positive consequences, first of all our compatriots will be affected. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} I was recently running over a familiar topic with some university friends of mine whose views on Labour are a lot more Blairite than my own. I wanted their perspective on Owen Smiths rise from nothingness to Labour leadership candidate and whether Corbyn should be consigned to the dustbin of recent Labour history. Do you think that the previously anonymous Smith would be a better leader that Jeremy Corbyn? was my question. They looked back at me, exasperated at my impossible naivety. Charlie, they laughed, anyone would be better than Jeremy Corbyn. And therein lies the rub. Smith does not seem to inspire anyone on the basis of his policy, charisma or his vision of a new, progressive Britain. Instead, those who believe Corbyn has ripped apart their beloved party, united in desperation, are willing to turn to anyone in their time of need and make them their hero. Owen Smith is little more than a political vulture, feasting on the remains of Corbyns career. If Smith finds himself ruling over the Labour party, he will find himself forever battling the feeling that, like Ben Afflecks Batman, he is the hero that no one actually really wanted. I didnt join the Labour Party in 2015 to vote for Jeremy Corbyn, although I had watched with fascination as a mixture of general New Labour fatigue and a membership spike brought Blairs project to a final, shuddering halt. Fuelled mainly by the enthusiasm of young people who felt that the ideologies of the two main parties were becoming inseparable, Corbyns plain-speaking style even won over my profoundly apolitical father: I do just love the way hes so honest. Corbyn has made mistakes. He is decidedly not the perfect Labour leader. He is not a natural orator and his leadership has been tainted by such debacles as Thangam Debbonaires stunning revelation that she was both hired and fired by the Labour leader without ever being informed that this was the case. The good news is Theresa May has stated that there is no plan for a snap election while Brexits aftermath looms over the country. Corbyn has time to learn from these errors, and legitimise his programme. Labour MPs who have the gall to sniff at Labours membership numbers, the best in decades, claiming they are one-time voters who are doing nothing for the party, do so while plotting against their own leader. Its hardly inspiring. Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Show all 8 1 /8 Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith clash at a leadership hustings in Gateshead, where Mr Smith was scarcely able to answer a question without being booed by Mr Corbyns supporters PA Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Jeremy himself admitted he was seven out of 10 in terms of his faith in the European Union. He said it, said Mr Smith during his second live debate with Jeremy Corbyn Getty Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Ballot papers are currently due to be sent out on 22 August and returned a month later, with the result being announced at a special Labour conference on 24 September Getty Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Jeremy Corbyn supporters cheer and wave placards as the Labour Leader addresses thousands of supporters in in Liverpool, England Getty Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Labour Party leadership candidate Owen Smith poses for a picture with supporters during a picnic for young members in London Fields, Hackney in London Getty Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith The Labour leader has a spring in his step at a leadership rally in Sunderland Screenshot Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Labour leadership contender Owen Smith delivers a speech at the Open University in Milton Keynes, where he promised to reverse Conservative cuts set to leave millions of low paid workers thousands of pounds a year worse off PA Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has urged Owen Smith to distance himself from those saying they want to split the Labour party Getty Democratic choice wasnt respected the first time. If Corbyn wins his second election, the engineering of coups and petty infighting must stop. A theoretical election in 2020 would give Corbyn the confidence to push forward with the grassroots projects that he has always claimed will bring him election victory, and his plans for a National Education Service seem promising. He must push for a swell in votes from young people and those around the country whose communities have suffered under Cameron and Osbornes dogmatic adherence to austerity, but didnt feel represented by Brown or Miliband. Provided his own party get behind him, Corbyn has a genuine chance of being Prime Minister. Stranger things are happening in politics. Just cast a glance over to our American brothers and sisters across the pond for proof of that fact. Like Corbyn or not, reanimating the corpse of an electorally unsuccessful but more united party in the form of Owen Smith cant be the answer. A Corbyn victory, which is looking increasingly likely, will give him the confidence to take the fight to the Tories at the next election. We can only hope that those in the Labour party who have been in a deep existential crisis since Corbyns first victory will throw their considerable weight behind Corbyn after his second. However bad they consider Corbyn to be, I think we can all agree that he isnt worse than the Tories and there are plenty of people, like my father, who will go to the ballot box for the first time in years because of him. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The news has hit the headlines of pretty much every British newspaper this morning: Mother Teresa has officially been made a saint. Following two successive confirmed miracles (dont get me started), she is today being officially recognised. With everything thats happening in the world, why is this particular person getting so much posthumous airtime? The Catholic Church, after all, doesnt enjoy the same access to our political system as the Church of England, so whats the relevance here? Well, its quite simple really Mother Teresa was a celebrity, with a very well-managed brand. Recommended Read more Mother Teresa orphanages in India stop adoptions after liberal reforms Ask most people what they think about Mother Teresa and theyll say something vague about what a good person she was, how benevolent, self-sacrificing and generally lovely. I have absolute sympathy with this stance; thats been the pretty consistent thread throughout the news coverage of her, both in life and after death. Im not going to go down the well-trodden route of criticising a person that Christopher Hitchens (who played the role of devils advocate in the discussions surrounding her canonisation) once famously dubbed a lying, thieving Albanian dwarf thats been done before, and by people with gifts of expression far superior to my own. The life of Mother Teresa Much of the criticism levelled at Mother Teresa centres around the way she promoted views of the Catholic Church that many would see as dogmatic. Take her stance on contraception: In destroying the power of giving life, through contraception, a husband or wife is doing something to self. This turns the attention to self and so destroys the gift of love in him or her. Abortion? She didnt hold back with that either: I always say one thing: If a mother can kill her own child, then what is left of the West to be destroyed? It is difficult to explain, but it is just that. Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Live and let live.' GETTY IMAGES Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Proceed calmly" in life' AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Be giving of yourself to others' AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Even though many parents work long hours, they must set aside time to play with their children' AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Sunday is for family' AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Respect and take care of nature' OSSERVATORE ROMANO/AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Stop being negative' AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: Respect others' beliefs' AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness Pope Francis: 'Peace sometimes gives the impression of being quiet, but it is never quiet, peace is always proactive' FP/Getty Images Pope Francis gives life advice: in pictures Pope Francis' guide to happiness AFP/Getty Images Perhaps not the most enlightened of views, to put it lightly (and somewhat ironically). The Roman Catholic Church, however, famously has no qualms with either of them, so its not surprising that they work in her favour. She wasnt perhaps quite as vitriolic in her criticism of gay people as they might have liked, but I suppose nobodys perfect. She in fact famously once stopped an interview when the interviewer used the word homosexuals, saying that they should be referred to as friends of Jesus. Cute. I submit however that the reason she is being acknowledged by the Vatican in this ostentatious and rather costly fashion is much more to do with the fact that she represents the greatest PR victory of the Church in the past hundred years. A suitably charismatic appearance, a penchant for photo opportunities with Princess Diana (an incredibly successful and symbiotic brand collaboration if ever there was one), and a global fundraising brand (Mother Teresas Missionaries of Charity has raised and deployed billions of dollars across the world) this, all this combined with the publics belief that Mother, or Saint, Teresa preached a deliciously palatable message of peace and love which bordered on the hippie. Im not sure when the Roman Catholic Church last had an advocate who enjoyed her level of profile, at least not in a positive sense. Im fairly sure that most members of the public would much more readily recognise an image of her than any of the last few Popes. Pope declares Mother Teresa a Saint Perhaps even devout secularists such as I shouldnt be too surprised that Mother Teresa is now being made a saint the Church, in honouring her in this way, is ensuring the longevity of a brand that continues not only to raise the profile of their mission and messages, but surely raises considerable capital into the bargain. The question is: was a woman who preached virtue in suffering rather than trying to alleviate it and took money from dictators really that saintly at all? Disabled people in a Co Mayo care home were forced to live in dull or bleak surroundings, experts said Disabled people in a care home were subjected to a bleak life of widespread control and conditioning, an official investigation has found. Residents of Aras Attracta, in Swinford, Co Mayo, were cut off from the outside world and forced to live in dull or bleak surroundings following daily rituals and rigid routines, experts said. The home is run by the Health Service Executive (HSE) and accommodates 96 men and women with intellectual disabilities. Health chiefs ordered an independent investigation into the centre after an RTE television programme two years ago showed scenes of people being manhandled and shouted at. A group of specialists, called The Aras Attracta Swinford Review Group and set up last year, has found "a bleak picture of life for residents" whose rights, choices and freedom were stymied. Dr Kevin McCoy, who heads the group, said residents were not respected as individuals. "They have suffered isolation and institutional conditioning," he said. "There was an assumption that the residents could not contribute and do things for themselves: they have been unable to reach their potential. "The residents have had a poor quality of life, and their voices have not been heard." The report found residents were subjected to "institutional conditioning" which occurs when people living in institutions react, behave and conform to rituals and rigid routines, it reported. The group said institutional conditioning is generally imposed to make life easier and more convenient for managers and staff. "The outcomes for people living in such organisations include loss of independence, limited options and poor control over their lives," it said. The report also criticised overcrowding and lack of privacy at Aras Attracta, with as many as four residents sharing a bedroom. "There are few links with the local community and community organisations and many examples of missed opportunities in this respect - one resident was observed knitting in the day services centre while there is a thriving knitting club in the town," the investigation found. "Mass is celebrated every week in Aras Attracta, but few residents attended the local church. "There is a GAA pitch across from the main entrance to the campus yet residents who follow GAA do not attend matches." Disability Minister Finian McGrath said the report also outlines many improvements at the home over the past two years but insisted "there is still a huge amount to be done". "Aras Attracta is an old-style congregated setting and this Government is committed to moving people out of these settings, to allow them to lead fuller lives in the community," he said. Pat Healy, national director at the HSE, said it was taking steps to overhaul Aras Attracta and ensure greater connections between residents and the community. "I wish again to apologise unreservedly to the residents of Aras Attracta and their families for the manner in which they were treated," he added. Members of SIPTU will be on strike for 48 hours Bus drivers have accused transport chiefs of ratcheting up a pay dispute and threatening a long and damaging industrial row over pay. Siptu issued the warning after Dublin Bus revealed buses were being taken off the city's streets at 9pm on Wednesday to prepare for a 48-hour strike which begins at 12.01am on Thursday morning. Union organiser Owen Reidy said: "This is an unnecessary move which will just further inconvenience the travelling public." About 400,000 bus users will be left seeking other transport as the pay dispute escalates to three 48-hour strikes this month. Dublin Bus claimed drivers would start taking the fleet off the streets three hours before the strike was due to start in order to give them enough time to get vehicles into secure depots. Final departures will take place at 9pm on Wednesday night. The shut down will hit Airlink services to Dublin Airport, all city services, the Ghostbus Tour on Wednesday, Nitelink buses on Friday and Saturday and all sightseeing services. "Dublin Bus has urged trade unions not to engage in this industrial action which will cause unnecessary inconvenience to customers. We will continue to make every endeavour to avoid any disruption to services and find a resolution to the matter," a spokeswoman said. Strikes by the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) and Siptu are planned for September 8 and 9, the following week on September 15 and 16 and again on September 23 and 24. Pickets are planned for Clontarf, Conyngham Road, Harristown, Ringsend, Phibsboro, Donnybrook and Summerhill and the head office on O'Connell Street. Siptu called for Dublin Bus bosses and officials in the Department of Transport to radically change their approach. It said drivers were committed to finishing their Wednesday shifts, even if they had to work past midnight and the official start of the strike. Union organiser John Murphy said: " Even worse is the situation whereby two million euro of the profits earned by Dublin Bus was taken last year by the National Transport Authority rather than reinvested in the company. This sum could have gone some way towards meeting the Dublin Bus workers' pay claim." Workers claim they have not had a pay rise for eight years. They rejected a Labour Court recommendation of an 8.2% pay rise over three years. They want 15%, a payment in lieu of an agreed 6% pay increase which was deferred a number of years ago and wages to be pensionable along the same terms as Irish Rail workers among other guarantees. Dublin Bus, which says it does not have the money to pay any more than 8.25%, apologised to customers. Union chiefs are using the victory for pay rises for Luas staff earlier this year to back up their campaign for better wages for bus drivers. The fire at the roof of the plant One of Ireland's largest cheese plants has vowed to maintain production following a major fire on the roof of Carbery's alcohol distillation facility at Ballineen on Sunday afternoon. The fire was brought under control within an hour by crews from both Bandon and Dunmanway fire stations, who battled the flames that engulfed the 60ft high tower facility at the state-of-the-art plant that produces one third of the country's cheddar, including the Dubliner brand. The ICMSA has called on the Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed, to clarify whether or not farmers must join the Voluntary Milk Supply Reduction Scheme to be eligible for the 11m Crisis Fund. Although a spokesman for the Department of Agriculture insisted the two schemes were separate initiatives, ICMSA president John Comer said the rules of Crisis Fund explicitly linked it with the Milk Supply Reduction Scheme. Mr Comer pointed out that to be eligible for the 11m fund, Member States had to ensure that farmer applicants met one or more of a list of criteria that included: Participating in Voluntary Milk Supply Reduction Scheme; Farming at a small scale; Engaging in extensive production methods; Being involved in a quality scheme; Training in financial instruments and risk management tools. "It is abundantly clear that Minister Creed in drawing-down the 11m fund - will have to include one of these criteria in whatever package of measures he puts forward," Mr Comer said. "In advance of the closing date for the Voluntary Milk Supply Reduction Scheme on September 15, Minister Creed must inform farmers whether or not participation in that scheme will be the qualifying criteria for application to the 11m Dairy Crisis Fund," he added. Meanwhile, Minister Creed confirmed that farmers applying for the Voluntary Milk Supply Reduction Scheme must get application forms from their milk purchaser. The scheme, which was officially launched last week, facilitates farmers who wish to reduce milk production in a three-month period, the first period being October to December this year. Any reduction in output will be measured against their production in the same period in 2015, with farmers receiving around 14c/l for the volumes accepted under the scheme. There are plans for further rolling three-month reduction periods after this but only applications for the first period are being accepted now. The roll-out of the scheme beyond this first period will be dependent on uptake of the 150m package across the EU. Further information is available on the department website. A. Arzumanyan: Russia must publish the black list (video) On the occasion of the decision of the Russian authorities to ban the entry of Stepan Grigoryan to Russia until 2030, Alexander Arzumanyan assumes that there is a list of some people, whose entry to Russia is prohibited: Lets hope that the RA MFA will send a relevant inquiry and we will find out whether there is any list of unwanted people and as a friendly country, strategic partner to directly publish that list so that the people dont make additional expenses and go to that country, where no one waits for them, says the RA NA Heritage faction member Alexander Arzumanyan. According to former Minister of foreign affairs of Armenia, Russia bans the entry of Stepan Grigoryan for the expression of his opinion. But he wouldnt like Armenia to ban the entry of some Russian politicians to Armenia for the same reason: If we are led by the logic that those, who dont like Armenias policy or something in Armenia, must be banned from entry, we will become like Aliyev or todays Russia or North Korea. The right to freedom of speech is a universal right, says the lawmaker of Heritage faction. Though, he says there are Russian political figures, whose activities threaten the Republic of Armenia: If there are such elements, such expressions and activities, we can also think about limiting the entry of those people. The process of limiting, according to Mr Arzumanyan, must be open and transparent. By the way, he still isnt sure, that Stepan Safaryans deportation from Russia is the response of the Russian authorities to the arrest of Russian citizen Sergey Mironov in Yerevan on August 27: I am, in general, against the theory of conspiracy, but I also think that the number of coincidences must be limited, noted Alexander Arzumanyan. Watch the video! Irish cement company Ecocem has invested 30m into a new production facility in the north of France as part of joint venture with the world's largest steel company. The investment is split 30pc to 70pc in favour of Ecocem and will increase the Irish firm's capacity from 1.4m tonnes of high performance, low carbon cement to around 2m tonnes. Ecocem said the main target markets for the plant will be the north of France and the UK. ArcelorMittal, the company that is investing with Ecocem, is the world's largest steel firm. The investment is a strategic partnership as Ecocem use a by product of the manufacture of steel to make cement. The news follows recent builds by the company with the Peel Ports Group. The pair built an import terminal in Runcorn on the Manchester Ship Canal and will look to add to it with another two, one in Runcorn and another in Sheerness in England. Ecocem's continued expansion in the UK is a response to growing demand from the market. The firm has experienced an increase in exports from the UK as a result of a bustling cement market and a shortage of the type of cement Ecocem produces. Speaking at the time of its UK investment, Ecocem managing director Conor O'Riain said the firm is looking long-term at the market. "We've invested in state-of- the-art equipment to demonstrate to the market that we're here for the long term, and I'm delighted to say that the response from the market has been phenomenal. "We've made commitments to sell more in the UK in our first year than our total domestic sales in 2016," he said. Prior to entering the British market Ecocem had already received orders for 200,000 tonnes of product for its first year and stopped taking any further offers in the short term. Ecocem is also trying to make its first move into the US. The company is looking to build a 45m grinding mill near San Francisco but has some hurdles to its intentions from its planning applications. The firm has continued to grow its reputation as a low-carbon cement producer and last month the firm picked up the Green Product Award 2016 for its superfine product. Ireland should remain an attractive location for multinationals even if the State was to ultimately take up to 13bn in taxes from Apple. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo Ireland should remain an attractive location for multinationals even if the State was to ultimately take up to 13bn in taxes from Apple, global ratings agency Fitch has said. The risk of increased uncertainty over Ireland's attraction to global businesses, potentially damaging foreign direct investment and employment, is "limited", Fitch said. But it said the ruling could add to the uncertainty surrounding the Brexit vote, which it believes will hit exports and investment. It also expressed concern that divisions within the Coalition "have become more evident". Fitch said that if upheld, the ruling from the European Commission would represent a "one-off fiscal windfall for Ireland", and could speed up the improvement in Ireland's public debt position if used to pay down debt or reduce borrowing. "It's possible that any such benefit would be partly offset by increased uncertainty over Ireland's attraction to global businesses potentially damaging FDI and employment," Fitch said in a note. "We think this risk is limited. Ireland's low 12.5pc corporate tax rate, and its high human development and governance indicators should keep the business environment attractive to multinationals, and the costs of relocating would be large." Meanwhile, Jobs Minister Mary Mitchell O'Connor said the Government has "a very strong case" against the EU on Apple, ahead of meetings with European officials in Brussels yesterday. She also said that the fracas between Fine Gael and Independent ministers over the appeal had not had a lasting effect on the Coalition, and that she was "confident" they would be able to agree on Budget 2017. Phil Hogan has said he would have had to resign from his job at the European Commission if he hadn't backed its ruling that Apple's tax arrangements amounted to illegal State aid. The former Fine Gael TD's backing of the ruling is in direct conflict with the position taken by Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Finance Minister Michael Noonan, who both insist there was no wrongdoing in the State's dealings with Apple. However, Mr Hogan has said Commission decisions are - like those of Cabinet - subject to collective responsibility. The Agriculture Commissioner added that after taking an oath to operate independently "you have no choice but to actually adhere to the decision of the Commission. Otherwise you'd have to make another decision, which is to resign". His remarks on RTE came as Independent Minister Katherine Zappone spoke of how she contemplated leaving Government last week due to her reservations over Fine Gael's plan to appeal the Apple ruling. "I considered it at length over the couple of days," she said while insisting she had been committed to finding a solution because she has "important work" to do as Children's Minister. Ultimately, she backed the appeal and said she secured "a number of commitments from government that moves us strongly into a new era of tax justice." The Government has promised an independent review of the tax system for multinationals. Meanwhile, Mr Hogan rejected suggestions Brussels is trying to influence Ireland's tax policy through the Apple tax demand. He said: "This is not about taxation rates... It is about State aid rules being implemented fairly so we have a level playing pitch for companies." Mr Hogan also dismissed suggestions the EU stance on Ireland's handling of Apple's tax could affect future investment by multinationals, saying "Ireland is well located to take advantage of the huge markets within the EU and people come here for very good reasons." He was speaking as he attended the opening of the Cork 2.0 Rural Development conference, and was welcomed by Agriculture Minister Michael Creed. Mr Creed said that, while he respected Mr Hogan's position, "It is absurd, in my view, that the EU Commission would take the view that the Irish Revenue Commissioners have any role to collect taxes on a global basis. We have no legal standing for that." He also said the Government sees it as an attempt to dilute Ireland's sovereignty in tax affairs. Mr Hogan said Brussels and Dublin understood and respected each other's positions. "It will now be a matter for the European Court to decide who is right and who is wrong," he said. If we are not able to access the single market... the inevitable consequences for Lloyds will be that we will transact the business onshore in the EU, its chairman said. Photo: Bloomberg Specialist insurance market Lloyd's of London could move some of its staff to Ireland should the UK lose its access to the Single European Market as part of the Brexit negotiations. The umbrella group said it is looking at setting up 'onshore' businesses that would include the establishment of branches in European member states, a spokesman told the Irish Independent. Lloyd's currently rates all of its European business, which amounts to around 11pc of its gross written premiums, from its London headquarters and ensured the firm's head office would be staying there. A spokesperson for the market didn't rule out Ireland as a potential destination for the firm's overseas branches. Lloyd's main market remains in the US with 85pc invested in the market coming from abroad. In an interview with BBC Radio yesterday, Lloyd's chairman John Nelson said the Brexit talks will require a joined-up and decisive government. "If we are not able to access the single market, either through passporting rights or other means, the inevitable consequences for Lloyd's - and indeed other insurance organisations - will be that we will transact the business onshore in the EU - and that obviously will impact on London's competitive position. "Brexit should, though, present us with opportunities. Ensuring that the UK financial sector remains competitive must be top of the [British] government's post-Brexit plans. Access to the single market is part of that but not all of it," he said. The insurance industry remains one of the key sectors that the UK is leading from London and the June referendum may pose a threat to the UK's market leadership. Meanwhile, Irish authorities are seeking to hire experienced UK regulators before an anticipated influx of financial-services companies following Britain's decision to exit the European Union, according to a person familiar with the matter. Irish regulators and officials are tapping business and personal networks to identify potential hires who have Irish connections or may be open to moving to Dublin, said a second person, who didn't want to be identified as the plans are not yet public. Among other roles, the Central Bank is seeking a banking risk analyst and enforcement lawyers. Authorities are said to be keen on recruiting current and former staff at the Financial Conduct Authority. It has been estimated that Brexit could push about 6bn of investment into Ireland. (Additional reporting from Bloomberg) US President Barack Obama speaks to media after the G20 closing in Hangzhou, China. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images) US President Barack Obama has accused allies of the United States of "racing to the bottom" with their tax policies, as Ireland and Apple remain in the spotlight following last week's ruling by the European Commission. At the G20 summit in China, President Obama said he had raised tax avoidance with leaders from the world's 20 biggest economies at the G20 summit in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, but did not specifically mention the Apple case. Expand Close European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. REUTERS / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. REUTERS Ireland made global headlines last week after the European Commission ruled that Apple owed up to 13bn in back taxes to the State. Without naming Ireland, President Obama said some of the US's "closest allies" were embarking on a race to the bottom in terms of tax policies, leading to revenue shifting and tax avoidance in the United States. And without naming the European Commission or the technology giant, he said there are risks when decisions regarding tax avoidance are taken unilaterally, rather than jointly with other states. "The one thing that we have to ensure we do is to move in concert with other countries," President Obama said. "Because there is always a danger that if one ... acts unilaterally, that it's not just a matter of a US company being impacted, but it may also have an impact in terms of our ability to collect taxes from that same company. "In the same way, we then have to do some coordination with even some of our closest allies racing to the bottom in terms of how they enforce their tax policies in ways that lead to revenue shifting and tax avoidance in our country," President Obama added. The ruling by the Brussels competition watchdog - described by Finance Minister Michael Noonan as bizarre and outrageous - found Ireland gave Apple a sweetheart deal which ultimately allowed the iPhone maker to pay 0.005pc tax on its European profits in 2014. Read more: The Government must learn lessons from the Apple debacle The tech giant's chief executive Tim Cook branded the numbers set out in Commissioner Margrethe Vestager's ruling as untrue and maddening. The ruling against Apple has pushed the issue into the limelight and raised the risk of significant push-back from the United States, where some lawmakers are saying it represents a European encroachment on the US potential tax base. President Obama said tackling the issue effectively was important to "regain the trust" of people who feared the system is rigged, but that it would not be fixed overnight. The EU decision against Apple comes amidst a coordinated global initiative to crack down on tax evasion by multinational companies, spearheaded by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Political While Apple chief Cook last week described the ruling as "total political crap", France and Germany have come out to back Brussels on the decision. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Sunday in China that the ruling against Apple was clearly based on facts and existing rules and was not a decision aimed against the United States. "Our rules on state aid have always been clear," said Mr Junker. "National authorities cannot give tax benefits to some companies and not to others. Read more: Martin: It's wrong that we are in the dark on Apple ruling "This is the level playing field that the Commission is always working to defend." He also said that "all companies must pay their fair shares of taxes in the countries where they make their profits". German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble has also come out strongly in favour of the 13bn Apple tax ruling. During the bailout, Michael Noonan insisted that Mr Schauble was "a friend" to Ireland and would not do anything to damage the country. Mr Schauble said individual states should not give "undue advantage" to companies. The 'book of quantum' will be used by the Injuries Board and is also intended to act as a guide for the judiciary and legal professionals as to the appropriate level of damages which should be awarded in a particular case. Stock Image: Getty Images/Maskot New guidelines for the size of personal injury awards are to be published by the end of the month, as insurance costs continue to spiral, the Irish Independent has learned. The "book of quantum" will be used by the Injuries Board and is also intended to act as a guide for the judiciary and legal professionals as to the appropriate level of damages which should be awarded in a particular case. Its publication comes as insurers voice concerns over what they see as inconsistencies in the size of awards made by the courts. The size of awards is said to be one of several factors to blame for the 70pc rise in motor premiums over three years. Read more: Revealed: How much hard-pressed motorists spend on running a car each year British data analyst ISO was commissioned to compile to guidelines, which are based on a study of 52,000 cases from 2013 and 2014. This analysis will set the benchmark for awards. Government officials hope that if people can be convinced they would get the same award from the Injuries Board as they would in court, that it will dissuade them from getting involved in expensive litigation. Meetings have been taking place between the Injuries Board, the Courts Service and senior judges in recent months in a bid to achieve "buy in" to the new guidelines. While judges will not be bound by the new guide, they must have regard to it. A number of judges have complained in recent years that the existing book of quantum, which was compiled more than 12 years ago, was of little use. The Irish Independent understands that in future there will not be lengthy gaps in between updates of the book and that it is envisaged it would be refreshed every two to three years from now on. A trend towards lower court pay-outs has begun to emerge in recent months, with the Court of Appeal significantly reducing a number of personal injury awards this year. However, certain categories of awards are likely to increase following the publication of the new book of quantum, with indications that there will be a 10pc rise in the recommended pay-out for lower-level injuries. On the flipside, the guide will recommend lower awards for more serious injuries and permanent injuries. Sources said it would provide more granular information, including detailed descriptions of injuries, to make it easier for judges to match what they read in a medical report with what is contained in the guide. In the latest in a long line of data hacks, information relating to almost 800,000 online pornography users has been leaked. The data relates to users of the popular website Brazzers. 790,724 unique email addresses, as well as many usernames and plaintexts passwords have been leaked. This data was passed onto Vice publication Motherboard by breach monitoring site Vigilante.pw after being spotted on the dark web. Matt Stevens, PR manager for Brazzers, told Motherboard that the data leak was due to issues with a third party contracter. He said: This matches an incident which occurred in 2012 with our Brazzersforum, which was managed by a third party. The incident occurred because of a vulnerability in the said third party software, the vBulletin software, and not Brazzers itself. He further adds that: users accounts were shared between Brazzers and the Brazzersforum which was created for user convenience. That resulted in a small portion of our user accounts being exposed." At the time of writing, Brazzersforum is displaying an under maintenance message, and is unavailable. On Wednesday, Apple is expected to launch the latest iPhone and a new Watch. The iPhone 7 is expected to have a number of upgrades, the biggest of which will be a more advanced camera (with two lenses). However, it is expected to look and feel the same as the current iPhone 6S and 6S Plus with a physical redesign not thought to be in the works until 2017. One physical change expected in the iPhone 7 is the scrapping of its traditional 3.5mm headphone socket. The idea may be an acknowledgement of the growth in wireless Bluetooth headphones. However, Apple is thought to be ready with a headphone adaptor that plugs into its Lightning power port. Apple has traditionally been an early mover among hardware companies to drop physical ports, first ditching optical drives for CDs and DVDs and, recently, doing away with USB ports on its lightweight MacBook laptop. Other upgrades expected in the new iPhone include a doubling of the basic storage to 32GB and a new top-end storage capacity of 256GB. This should be a welcome development among those who quickly run out of space due to photos clogging up the system. The new iPhone 7 is also set to be water-resistant to the point of almost being waterproof, according to one analyst, KGI Securities' Ming-Chi Kuo. Read More Because of this, the phone might come with a new "click-less" home button. Instead of clicking, the button will have a 'haptic' (buzzing) feedback sensation to let you know you've tapped it. Mr Kuo also says that a new glossy "piano black" colour will be introduced. "We expect the iPhone 7 to come in piano black, dark black, rose gold, gold and silver," he wrote in a note. "Only the piano black model will have a glossy finish. Given high production barriers, large-storage models may have first priority in adopting piano black casing in the initial stage." Finally, the new handset is expected to come with a significantly more powerful computer chip that brings it closer to laptop speeds. Apple was unexpectedly handed a boost in projected iPhone 7 sales with the news that arch-rival Samsung has had to recall all of its latest Galaxy Note 7 phones because of a fire hazard. The move is likely to delay rollout of the Samsung phone by several weeks, handing Apple a critical advantage in the pre-Christmas sales cycle. Apple will announce the iPhone 7 on Wednesday, September 7th at 6pm Irish time. Here are the main business stories from this morning's papers: Irish Independent * Ireland remains especially exposed to another financial shock because of the high levels of public and private debt, the open nature of the economy, and Brexit, Central Bank Governor Philip Lane has said. And he warned that the recent pan-European stress tests, which ranked both AIB and Bank of Ireland among the most vulnerable in Europe, showed the financial system also remains susceptible. * Fears of a UK recession in the wake of the Brexit vote may be receding, a closely watched survey has found, with the services sector there recording its biggest monthly jump in activity in the gauge's 20-year history. The pound surged to a seven-week high on the back of the data from the Purchasing Managers Index for the sector. * Specialist insurance market Lloyd's of London could move some of its staff to Ireland should the UK lose its access to the Single European Market as part of the Brexit negotiations. The umbrella group said it is looking at setting up 'onshore' businesses that would include the establishment of branches in European member states, a spokesman told the Irish Independent. The Irish Times * Central Bank governor Philip Lane has urged the finance minister not to base the budget around any temporary tax increases. Mr Lane said in a pre-budget letter to Michael Noonan that the current surge in corporation tax coming in Ireland is likely to be temporary. * The Irish services industry expanded again in August having slowed to its weakest level in nearly two and a half years back in July. Financial services reported substantial expansion during the period according to the latest Purchasing Managers' Index from Investec. * The Central Statistics Office will revise its property price index to include cash purchases to determine trends in property buying and selling. The new, more accurate index was set to launch this week but has been put back to the end of September. Irish Examiner * Fitch Ratings has highlighted the exposed divisions in the Irish government after the European Commission ruled that Apple must repay the State 13bn in back taxes. The ratings agency said taking the money would substantially reduce the national debt, but said it could be bad news if it discourages multinationals to come to Ireland. * A number of Irish firm are finding it difficult to deal with the dramatic fall off in the value of sterling following the Brexit vote, a leading economist has said. The news comes after the publication of industrial figures from the CSO that point to growth in the MNC sector. * The total amount paid out in professional, management and receiver fees concerning the receivership of Treasury Holdings's main Spencer Dock firm now total 12.4m. This followed 2.77m being incurred in the latest six-month period of the receivership that included 145,509 in receivership fees. US President Barack Obama: little to show at final G20 summit. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Leaders from the world's top economies broadly agreed at a summit in China yesterday to coordinate macroeconomic policies and oppose protectionism. But few concrete proposals emerged to meet growing challenges to globalisation and free trade. Expand Close British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks at a press conference held at the end of the G-20 summit in Hangzhou in eastern China. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks at a press conference held at the end of the G-20 summit in Hangzhou in eastern China. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) The two-day gathering in the scenic Chinese city of Hangzhou agreed to oppose protectionism, with Chinese President Xi Jinping urging major economies to drive growth through innovation, not just fiscal and monetary measures. "We aim to revive growth engines of international trade and investment," Xi said in a closing statement. "We will support multilateral trade mechanisms and oppose protectionism to reverse declines in global trade." Discussions at the meeting were distracted by North Korea test-firing three medium-range ballistic missiles in a defiant reminder of the risks to global security. North Korea has tested missiles at sensitive times in the past to draw attention to its military might. But yesterday's launch risked embarrassing its main ally Beijing, which has gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure a smooth summit meeting in Hangzhou. Beijing said it hoped relevant parties would avoid taking any actions that would escalate tensions. The United States called the launch reckless, while Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told US President Barack Obama that it was unforgivable. On other fronts, the United States tried but failed to finalise a deal with Russia for a ceasefire in Syria on the sidelines of the summit. British Prime Minister Theresa May, attending her first G20 summit, said governments needed to "do more to ensure that working people really benefit from the opportunities created by free trade." "This discussion goes to the heart of how we build an economy that works for everyone," she said. It is President Obama's last G20 summit, and his visit to Hangzhou got off to a chaotic start. There was no rolling staircase provided for Air Force One when it landed and Obama had to disembark from the plane's belly. Then, a Chinese security official blocked National Security Adviser Susan Rice on the tarmac and yelled at another US official trying to help journalists get closer to Obama. China blamed the US and journalists for the incidents. Greek lenders are saddled with tens of billions of euro of non-performing credit Greece's big banks must take faster action to clean up their huge stock of troubled loans to help the ailing economy's recovery and set the banking system on a solid footing, Eurobank's board chairman said yesterday. Greek lenders are saddled with tens of billions of euro of non-performing credit after a deep, protracted recession pushed unemployment to record highs, making it hard for corporate borrowers and households to service their debts. So called non-performing exposures (NPEs), which include loans past due more than 90 days (NPLs) and restructured credit likely to turn bad, have reached 116bn, more than half of Greece's annual economic output. Reducing this troubled-loan stock is the biggest swing factor for the country's banks as they continue to provision for impaired credit. The NPE stock is stabilising, with some banks managing slight reductions in recent quarters. With pressure from regulators to reduce the bad loan burden mounting, banks are close to finalising annual targets with the European Central Bank's Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM). "The challenge for Greek banks today isn't capital adequacy but a strong management resolve to use effectively the substantial stock of provisions and collateral to clean up NPE portfolios," Eurobank's Chairman Nick Karamouzis told Reuters. Mr Karamouzis said that such ammunition was already in place as banks have more than 58bn of provisions against NPEs and troubled loans are more than 60pc collateralised, mainly with real estate assets. Failure to shrink bad loans risks refuelling uncertainty over banks' capita. (Reuters) Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed yesterday to co-operate in oil markets, saying they will not act immediately but could limit output in future, sending oil prices higher on hopes the two top producers would work together to tackle a global glut. The joint statement was signed by the country's energy ministers in China on the sidelines of a G20 gathering and followed a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said the two countries were moving to a strategic energy partnership and that a high level of trust would allow them to address global challenges. His Saudi counterpart, Khalid al-Falih, said the agreement would encourage other producers to co-operate. Oil prices LCOc1 soared almost 5pc ahead of a news conference by the ministers but pared gains to trade up 2pc by 11.30 as the agreement yielded no immediate action. "There is no need now to freeze production ... We have time to take this kind of decision," Falih said. "Freezing production is one of the preferred possibilities but it does not have to happen specifically today." Even if yesterday's statement was short on actions, it marks a significant development in the Russia-Saudi relationship. The two countries have been effectively fighting a proxy war in Syria and Moscow also sees itself as a big ally of Iran - Riyadh's arch-rival in the Middle East. Oil producers will hold informal talks later this month. (Reuters) Sinead Kennedy at the Jameson Cult Film Club screening of Ghostbusters at The Mansion House Dublin. Picture:Brian McEvoy Sinead Kennedy pictured at the 2015 People of the Year Awards organised by Rehab and held in RTE. Picture: Robbie Reynolds Presenter Sinead Kennedy has defended RTE's controversial Rose of Tralee documentary after contestants claimed they were treated like "animals in a circus". The Road to the Dome programme featured a 'Rose Cull', where 65 Roses were whittled down to 32. Several contestants criticised RTE for the way they were treated in the cull. Down Rose Fainche McCormack said she could "go on for days about the many ways we were manipulated, bullied and mistreated". She added that the Roses had been "treated like animals in the circus and held in a room against our will". RTE subsequently released a statement saying they regretted any upset caused. Kennedy fronted the show and said she was "disappointed" when she heard about the Roses' reaction. "I wasn't in the room when they were told they hadn't got through," she said. "But I was disappointed when I heard that they were upset. I had spent a lot of time with the Roses and got on very well with them. "It was a very positive programme about the Rose of Tralee. I think it showed how much work goes into the festival." Kennedy said excluding the Rose Cull portion of the programme, the documentary received positive feedback. "I was happy with it. I have had some great feedback. Hearing you hadn't made it through is always going to be upsetting." Video of the Day Kennedy was speaking at the final call for nominations for this year's People of the Year Awards. The awards, which are organised by Rehab and broadcast on RTE One, are a celebration of ordinary people who have done extraordinary things. Nominations will close on Monday. "It is my favourite event of the year and such an inspiring night," she said. To submit a nomination visit www.peopleoftheyearawards Veteran journalist Vincent Browne returned, fighting fit, to his weeknight programme Tonight with Vincent Browne last night. Having received treatment for respiratory problems, the 72-year-old political pundit took to the hot seat after his summer break. Fans of the show had been willing him to come back to work for the last month on social media. And last night, they celebrated his return. "He's baaaack," said one Twitter user. "Great to see Vincent Browne back on air - looks as comically exasperated as ever with his panel!" said another. Browne, who has respiratory health problems, previously said: Ive had bronchitis for years. I was told I had to do things about it and I didnt do it. Eventually I had a bronchoscopy. I was warned in advance it could go wrong and cause trouble and it did. I still didnt pay any attention. I got an infection and I got pneumonia as a consequence of this, and I didnt realise I had pneumonia. Great to see @vincentbrowne back on air looks as comically exasperated as ever with his panel! @tonightwithvinb Paddy O'Dea (@PatrickODea1) September 5, 2016 when u get excited because vincent browne is back from Summer break!! Aisling (@Limerick_chicky) September 5, 2016 Vincent Browne every night; "this event has happened. Does this mean we should sack everyone?" Liam Mac Aoidh (@Lemon_McGee) September 5, 2016 Ah Jesus @vincentbrowne will you let it go #vinb Alastair (@sonofbelial) September 5, 2016 Asked if he needed to work, Browne replied: I do absolutely. Id be in serious financial trouble, were it not for the fact that Ive got this contract with TV3. Browne retured to some new faces on his production team after one of his leading team members, Lisa-Marie Berry, moved to a job in RTE. Her departure follows the exit of two of Browne's producers in 2014, just months after joining the show. Betty Purcell, a former RTE producer, and Sean MacCarthaigh decided to resign in May of that year. Vincent Browne has denied any suggestion he snubbed TV3s glamorous Autumn schedule launch after the station wooed Pat Kenny to present a new current affairs show. Browne, who is normally present at such TV3 bashes, told Independent.ie the legitimate personal reason he failed to turn up, but asked us not to report the specifics. The veteran broadcaster was conspicuous by his absence at the launch in Dublins National Concert Hall last week, where most of the big names and presenters including Pat Kenny were present. Browne will give up his Wednesday night slot to make way for Kenny and Colette Fitzpatrick to present a new current affairs programme. Asked if he was annoyed by this, Browne retorted: Im very happy about not doing Wednesdays. Id be even happier if Pat Kenny did Thursdays as well. It would be less work. He said he does not care about limelight if Kenny is taking some away, but he admitted both shows would be competing for guests. Brownes shows on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday will now be screened at an earlier time of 10.30pm. TV3 bosses at the station are delighted with the Kenny coup. Pats gargantuan, beams Andrew Hanlon, the stations Head of News and Current Affairs. We have got Vincent Browne and Vincents doing a great job, but hes doing a different thing to what I would call early peak current affairs. Vincent does a chat show that blends current affairs in with it. We wanted to do another format of current affairs and in that genre we thought there was only one go-to guy and that is what Pat does. Pat Kenny commented: Im really excited to be working with TV3. Its only a work in progress at this point. We know what our ambition is, Wednesday night to be on the money, current affairs midweek. Try and make it exciting and try and deal with the agenda of the day or the agenda of the week and do it in a way that will be gripping and exciting and will win an audience. Cold Feet catches up with the characters 13 years on and is shot through with a new sense of melancholy. Television reunions are risky things. They dont usually work out. RTE tried it with Bachelors Walk. The BBC tried it with This Life. Neither should have bothered. Both series were so comprehensively of the moment, so emblematic of their time and place (respectively, mid- to late-90s London and Dublin in the hopeful early years of a new century), you couldnt imagine either of them working just a few short years on, let alone, as in the case of This Life, a full decade. And they didnt work. You cant help feeling that the cast of Friends have dodged a hail of bullets by stubbornly resisting the clamour to get the old gang back together. Now its ITVs turn with the revived Cold Feet, the British Friends, as someone once unwisely dubbed it, which returned last night for a new six-part series, 13 years after what everyone assumed was the end. Does it still work? Yes, it does, although in a different, slightly darker way to before. Creator/writer Mike Bullens Manchester-set dramedy had a lot to get through in order to bring us up to speed on whats been happening to Adam, Pete, Jenny, Karen and David. Rachel was, of course, missing. The character died during the fifth season and actress Helen Baxendale declined to return as a ghost although that didnt stop them using a fleeting shot of her from an old episode to signpost a crucial plot turn. Consequently, the first half of the opener felt a little rushed as it skittered at breakneck pace through exposition and explanations, broken up with lots of cross-cutting and fast-paced flashbacks. Adam (James Nesbitt) has never really got over Rachels death, but at least hes got his life back together. Or at least he thinks so. He has a swanky job in Singapore and an even swankier Asian fiancee, 18 years his junior, whose dad is a gazillionaire. Hes on a flying visit to Manchester to catch up with his friends and also to persuade his teenage son, whos stuck in an expensive boarding school and hating every minute of it (though he hasnt told Adam), to come over for the wedding. The boy hasnt told him that hes being bullied and is about to be expelled for smoking dope, either. Things arent going swimmingly for the rest of the old crew. In fact, formerly upwardly mobile couple Jenny and Pete (Fay Ripley and John Thomson) arent swimming at all, but drowning. Video of the Day Pete was laid off and is driving a cab. Hes got a second job as a carer, wiping old peoples arses, as he tells Adam. As in the old days, its Thomsons deadpan delivery that often generates the biggest laughs. Karen (Hermione Norris) and David (Robert Bathurst) are long divorced and hes now married to a hotshot lawyer who has the warmth of a frozen cadaver and a tongue like a flick knife. Adams friends think hes mad to be tying the knot with a younger woman hes known only six months, and put it down to a mid-life crisis. Naturally, Adam is having none of it until a brief vision of Rachels ghost on an airport travelator literally bowls him over and knocks him out cold, causing him to miss his plane and spend the night in hospital. Thats when the doubts the cold feet, if you will start to kick in. The warmth and chemistry between the stars is as strong as ever, and Bullens script as deft as always. But what really makes Cold Feet worth revisiting is the strand of melancholy running through it. When we first met these characters (holy crap!) 19 years ago, they were in their 30s and looking forward. Now theyre pushing 50 and either looking back or looking for a way out. Theres a real sense here of lives having continued without us watching. Its nice to be watching now. The charities watchdog is finally able to investigate charitable organisations and seek to remove trustees or staff members if necessary. New powers for the Charities Regulator kicked in yesterday - almost two years after it was set up. The powers were triggered by Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald after it emerged the watchdog was limited in what it could do in response to allegations of financial misconduct by suicide bereavement charity's Console's chief executive Paul Kelly. The regulator was left largely toothless because a key part of the Charities Act 2009, under which it was set up, had not been commenced. Charities Regulator chief executive John Farrelly said the watchdog would now be able to impose sanctions if a charity breached certain obligations - such as the requirement to keep proper accounts or to submit its annual report. It can also now apply to the High Court to suspend or remove charity trustees or staff members and prohibit the removal or sale of charity property if it satisfies the High Court that charity property is being misused or that there has been misconduct or mismanagement of a charity's affairs. Mr Farrelly said the enactment of the new powers was "a very positive and welcome step for charity regulation in Ireland". He added: "The powers it confers will allow the regulator to take steps to ensure that charitable organisations are protected and well managed. "Where breaches of the act are suspected the regulator can now work proactively to prevent and counter mismanagement and protect charitable organisations. "These powers will be applied in a proportionate and fair manner, recognising that the majority of charities require support rather than enforcement." The regulator reported Console to the Director of Corporate Enforcement following financial revelations in June. The charity is now in liquidation. THE government jet may be called on to transfer an extremely troubled Irish teenager to a specialised secure psychiatric facility in the UK, the High Court heard today. The court was told the boy, who had been engaged in prostitution and is at risk of self harm, had spent lengthy periods in both secure and non-secure placements in Ireland. These placements had not worked out and the Child and Family Agency (CFA) say the best option for him, who has a complex range of problems. is that he be placed at the St Andrews Healthcare facility in Northampton, England. The teen has a history of absconding, alcohol and drug abuse, has been violent towards staff at facilities he had been placed at, and had damaged property. At Tuesday's sitting of the High Court Mr Justice Raymond Fullam granted the CFA various orders allowing it transfer the 16 year old boy to the St Andrews Healthcare facility. The teenager cannot be identified for legal reasons. Counsel for the CFA, Tim O'Leary SC, said it was hoped that the care and expertise offered by St Andrews could do something to help the boy who had had first came to the attention of the CFA some years ago, and had made claims that he had been sexually abused. Mr OLeary said the boy had spent "a record time" in secure placements in Ireland. Unfortunately, through no fault of staff working at those facilities, nothing could be done for him. In recent months he had been moved to a non secure placement. Counsel said again this did not work and he had gone "out of control". He was at serious risk of self harm, came to the attention of the gardai and had engaged in prostitution. Mr OLeary said the teen was vulnerable to sexual exploitation and in order to keep him safe he had been put back in secure care. There was now a fear the boy could become institutionalised but it was hoped the specialised care on offer at St Andrews could assist him. Counsel said the teenagers preferred option was to stay in Ireland but that he had accepted St Andrews, which is the biggest psychiatric hospital in Europe where a number of Irish children have been transferred to in the past, was the best option. Mr OLeary said that once the transfer arrangement was finalised the boy would be taken either by helicopter or by government jet to St Andrews and would be accompanied by his social worker, medical staff and members of the Gardai. Counsel said it was envisaged the transfer could take place in the coming days. The court also heard the teen's court appointed guardian was "100% in favour" of the transfer, while his mother was reluctantly supporting the move of her son to St Andrews. After making the order approving the transfer to St Andrews, Judge Fullam adjourned the matter to a date in October. A WATER protester, who shouted abuse at President Michael D Higgins and called him a parasite midget, has been spared a jail sentence. Father-of-three Derek Byrne (36), from Streamville Rd, Kilbarrack, Dublin, was fined 300 by Judge Bryan Smyth at Dublin District Court on Tuesday. Security guard Byrne was found guilty of engaging in threatening, abusive and insulting words or behaviour with intent to provoke a breach of the peace or being reckless as to whether a breach of the peace may be occasioned. The abuse was directed at the President during a protest outside Colaiste Eoin secondary school at Cappagh Road in Finglas in Dublin on January 23 last year. The president and his wife Sabina had been visiting Colaiste Eoin as part of its fiftieth anniversary celebrations. The protest was organised through Facebook because the president had signed the Water Services Bill into law. About 40 people turned up outside the school shortly before 10am. Garda Chief Superintendent John Quirke said many of them had their faces covered with hats and scarves. He said that when the President's cavalcade arrived protesters tried to block his car and a generally nasty atmosphere developed. The Chief Supt. said he was punched by someone. He agreed with defence counsel Prionsias O Maolchalain BL that he did not see Derek Byrne shoving or attacking anyone. He said Byrne had a megaphone and was wearing a GMC Sierra jacket. Garda Sergeant Peter Hayde told Judge Smyth that protesters were trying to impede the President's car. Abuse was shouted and the President was called a 'traitor'. Gda Sgt Hayde said Byrne was shouting midget and parasite and profanities were directed at Sabina Higgins by protesters. Gda Sgt Hayde said he found the words to be threatening and insulting. Mrs Higgins was called a slut while children were present but there was no suggestions Byrne was responsible for that comment. Just over an hour later, when the entourage was departing, Byrne began running along side the President's car and shouting in the window. Gda Sgt Hayde said that he went down on the ground while tackling another protester. He said Derek Byrne started to abuse him and called him a f**king prick. He alleged Byrne was roaring at me. Video clips from the protest were later uploaded to Youtube, the court heard. Some clips were played in court and men and woman could be seen confronting gardai. In the clips, there was also chanting of traitor, little midget parasite, f**king scumbag and shame, shame, shame when the President arrived. Some were also chanting no way we won't pay. Gardai were taunted about having their wages cut. It was put to the garda that words like parasite were part of political discourse but Gda Sgt Hayde said Byrne made references to gardai and they were called clowns and glow-sticks . The sergeant also alleged Byrne called him a f**king pig. Garda Inspector Aidan Flanagan told the court that protesters had placards and banners and some of them tried to get around the President's car and to block it entering the school. He said he heard Derek Byrne shout abuse at the President and call him a f**king parasite, little f**king midget. This continued for some time, said Inspector Flanagan. When they were leaving people had to be restrained form blocking the car, he said. Garda Mary Kilcommons said she and her colleagues were outnumbered by the protesters. She said Byrne was using a megaphone to call gardai corrupt and puppets protecting a parasite . She alleged that Byrne said ye gardai get allowances for socks and uniforms. She said there were only two women gardai present at this stage. She alleged he said to them: I suppose you female guards get an allowance for being on the rags and he said he was told by another protester that he had overstepped the mark The defence put it to her that he did not make that comment but she said he did and if I was going to make up something I would make up something better than that, I've been called many things in the job but that has never been said to me. She said that one woman attacked her and another woman threatened to batter her. As this happened Byrne was pointing his camera shouting at her, she told the court. The President's aide de camp Commandant Louise Conlon gave evidence in the trial. She travelled in the same car as him and was sitting in the front passenger seat. She said that when they arrived abuse was shouted towards him and Sabina Higgins was called a slut. She could hear the chanting outside as the President gave a speech in the school. She said that when they departed the car became engulfed, adding I was concerned something is going to happen. Prosecution solicitor Michael Durkan argued that the situation was a powder keg. Defence counsel Prionsias O Maolchalain BL argued that his client apologised in the media for comments he made about the president. He said Byrne was involved in water protest movement and trying to protect communities from the hardship of austerity. He said some of the comments were clearly tongue in cheek and not made in an aggressive manner and his client was motivated by public spiritedness. He regrets the comments and a conviction could jeopardise his job, counsel said. The offence can carry a three-month jail sentence. Judge Smyth noted Byrne is working as a security guard, is supporting a family and has no prior criminal convictions. He said he was satisfied there was sufficient evidence to convict Byrne fined him 300. Co-defendant Anna Clarke (35) from St Donagh's Road, Donaghmede, Dublin but now living in England, was facing the same charge but was not present for the hearing. Judge Smyth dismissed her charge on the grounds that the evidence of her identification was not sufficient. Legal representatives for Volkswagen walked out of court in Mayo today after labelling an ongoing court case regarding emissions as entirely inappropriate and unfair. Barrister Paul Fogarty and two instructing solicitors from A&L Goodbody walked out of Castlebar District Court after Judge Mary Devins ruled that she would continue with the case. Earlier Mr Fogarty told Judge Devins that his clients, Volkswagen Group Ireland and Volkswagen AG had obtained legal advice that the court had no jurisdiction to take the case. He said that as a result representatives were not present in court and the defence would be calling no witnesses. Mr Fogarty said his clients also took the view that there were serious issues in relation to orders previously made by the court in the case and raised concerns about the manner in which evidence would be given by witnesses for the claimant. He said the manner of the case was highly unconventional. He informed Judge Devins that the respondents would be seeking a judicial review in the matter. Judge Devins said the case would continue without Hamlet and later referred to the actions of the legal team as a spectacular walk out The case, before Castlebar District Court is being taken by mother of three Eithne Higgins Croghan, Boyle, Co Roscommon. She is seeking compensation after Volkswagen admitted cheating on emissions tests last year. The case will deal with whether there was an issue with carbon dioxide (CO2) and / or oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions on the vehicle in question. Ms Higgins claim states that there may be implications in respect to the payment of Vehicle Registration Tax or road tax as a result of incorrect emissions data. The court heard that after the emission revelations emerged she attempted to trade in her car at three different garages, each time unsuccessfully. Evan O'Dwyer, representing Ms Higgins criticised the respondents and their legal representation, stating that he and his client had been bullied. He also criticised the manner in which the respondents had treated the court by arriving late on one occasion, failure to make a witness available, failure to provide adequate data and the failure of the respondents to attend court. He also claimed he had received letters from A&L Goodbody threatening him with contempt while Ms Higgins had received three letters stating the company would pursue her for costs if she proceeded with the case. There has been a system of bullying going on in this case from the beginning. Bullying of Ms Higgins, myself and laterally this court. Attempts have been made to goad this court so that a judicial review could be sought. They are trying to set-up this court for a judicial review, he added. He added that the quality of information provided by Volkswagen belittles the court. A statement from Volkswagen Group Irelands technical services manager Stephen McDonnell was read into the record. Mr McDonnell did not attend despite having been directed by the judge to do so. His statement stressed that CO2 emissions were not linked to the NOx emissions. However, this was dismissed by emissions expert Horace Calvert Stinson who said it didnt stack up with theory, practice or experience. He stressed the issue of CO2 and NOx could not be separated adding they were intimately related and were completely interdependent on each other. Dr Calvert Stinson said the data provided by Volkswagen was not sufficient in this case and was not fit for purpose. This was also the view of Michael Lehmann who was involved in the Volkswagen litigation in the US. He said the level of information provided to the court fell well below the data provided for similar cases in the US adding that there was a complete absence of hard data. The case continues tomorrow. The Irish ticketing executive at the heart of the Olympic touting investigation last night refused to answer questions in an interview with police in Brazil, the detective leading the probe said. Kevin James Mallon (36) was quizzed for 40 minutes by detectives probing the 3m scandal that saw the arrest of Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) president Patrick Hickey. Expand Close Pat Hickey in Rio de Janeiro Photo: Steve Humphreys / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Pat Hickey in Rio de Janeiro Photo: Steve Humphreys "As he is already indicted he has the constitutional right to remain silent," detective Ricardo Barboza de Souza said. "He preferred to remain silent, but either way the questions were put to him." Mr Mallon, an executive of hospitality firm THG Sports, was first arrested on August 5 at a hotel in Rio de Janeiro, with 823 high-end tickets in his possession. Like Mr Hickey, he has since been released from the Bangu 10 jail while criminal proceedings continue. Read more: Kevin Mallon 'refuses' to answer any questions in an interview with Rio police Arriving at the interview at the headquarters of Rio's Civil Police with his lawyer Franklin Gomes yesterday afternoon, Mr Mallon told reporters: "I have nothing to say." He refused to answer questions once inside the interview room, police said. Barboza, the detective leading the investigation, added: "It does not bother the police because we have other forms of proof - witness testimony, documents, analysis of seized material." "He has been charged with facilitating ticket touting, illegal marketing and forming a criminal cartel. He had already been interviewed as he was arrested on the day of the opening ceremony. "But since then the police have made several enquiries, searches, seizures, important material was collected. Based on the content of this material, we identified the need for him to be interviewed again." Police will interview Mr Hickey (71) today and said their investigations will conclude on Thursday. Both Mr Mallon and Mr Hickey have had their passports confiscated and police said they were keen that they remain in Brazil for the duration of proceedings. Speaking about the testimony of the three OCI officials, Kevin Kilty, Stephen Martin and Dermot Henihan, who spoke to police last week, Mr Barboza said: "The analysis of the material and their testimony does not indicate any type of participation. On the contrary, it reinforces that the decisions of the [OCI] committee were practised by the president of the committee, who had all the powers of decision." Thousands of homeowners can expect hikes of up to 150pc in their local property tax bills when a revaluation takes place in just two years time after the local elections. Thousands of homeowners can expect hikes of up to 150pc in their local property tax (LPT) bills when a revaluation takes place in just two years' time after the local elections. Rising property prices across almost all counties will see the vast bulk of owners paying more LPT, with increases of up to 146 expected in some places. But property owners in expensive parts of the capital will see their liability fall, despite a steep rise in selling prices. This is because local authorities are free to adjust the rate up or down by as much as 15pc, and the lower rate which applies across Dublin means these homeowners will enjoy a lower rate than they currently pay. The LPT was introduced in 2013 and the amount due was based on prices as of May that year. Homes were due to be revalued in November this year, but last October the Government decided to postpone the revaluation until 2019 amid concern that rising prices would result in significant increases for homeowners. A review of the tax is currently under way. An analysis of the bills families are likely to face in 2019 is based on data from property website Daft.ie. It compares the 'average' asking price for a property in each county in the second quarter of 2013 and the corresponding period of this year. The analysis suggests most households will pay more. Unless there is a significant ramp-up in house construction, property prices are likely to continue to rise, which will mean people could have to dig even deeper to meet the increased bills in 2019. Read More: How rising property prices will result in higher property tax bills Based on current asking prices, the analysis shows that the 'average' home in the capital will incur a higher liability, up to 53pc in Dublin 22, which will add 119 a year to bills. Outside of Dublin, increases will be as high as 150pc in Leitrim, where the LPT will increase by 135 to 225. The most expensive average LPT will be in south county Dublin, at 803 per year. This is up 128, or 19pc. Dublin For the 'average' property, homeowners in Dublin 22, which includes Clondalkin and Newcastle, can expect to pay 53pc more, the highest increase. House prices have risen by 42pc in these areas, according to Daft.ie. There will also be steep rises of 33pc in Dublin 7, Dublin 10, Dublin 15, Dublin 20 and west Dublin. In financial terms, the highest increase is in Dublin 14, which includes Churchtown and Rathfarnham. The LPT is expected to increase by 146 a year, or 21pc. There will be increases of more than 100 in Dublin 7, Dublin 15, Dublin 20, Dublin 22, south Co Dublin and west Dublin. But in some areas with high house prices the increases won't be as pronounced. In Dublin 1, prices are up 50pc but average LPT liability will increase by just 9.2pc. For a three-bed semi-detached home, the capital is a tale of two cities. At the upper end, homeowners in Dublin 10 (Ballyfermot and Cherry Orchard) face being hit with property tax rises of almost 53pc, up 119 to 344. At the other end, homeowners in some of the most expensive areas will see a drop - in Dublin 6W, which includes Templeogue and Terenure, the bill will fall 25, or 3.7pc, to 650. In Dublin 16, they will fall 2.1pc to 573, down 12. Leinster Longford homeowners face the highest increase, up 142pc. This equates to an LPT rising from 90 to 218, an increase of 128. Steep rises of 40pc will also be felt in Wexford, Kilkenny, Westmeath and Offaly. Rates remain flat in Laois and Carlow. House prices have increased by 47pc in Meath, where an average home now costs 222,000. This will correspond to an LPT increase of around 28.6pc. In Kildare, where prices rose 43pc to 226,000, the LPT will go up 59, an increase of 18.7pc. For three-bed semi-detached homes, many counties will see a 150pc increase in the LPT. Homeowners in Offaly, Westmeath, Laois, Carlow, Kilkenny and Wexford can expect to pay 225 a year, up 135 each. In Louth, an increase of 145.6pc is expected, up 131. Munster LPT liability in Limerick city and county, and in Kerry, is expected to increase by 40pc. There is no change in Waterford city and county, and Tipperary. In Cork City, where prices have increased by 37pc, the average LPT liability will rise from 315 to 344, based on current rates. This equates to a 9.2pc hike. For three-bed semi-detached homes, increases of 150pc are forecast in Waterford city and Kerry. In Clare, they will increase by 112pc, and by 61pc in Cork city. Connacht/Ulster Homeowners in Leitrim will see a 150pc hike in the LPT, up from 90 to 225, an increase of 135. Conversely, properties in Monaghan will see a reduction in the LPT - the only county in the country across all property types where this will occur. Despite prices rising 14pc in Monaghan, the LPT will drop from 225 to 208, a fall of 7.6pc or 17. There is no change in most counties, as property prices haven't moved. No changes will occur in Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo, Donegal and Cavan. LPT bills will increase in Galway city and county - up 28.6pc in the city to 405, where property prices increased 44pc to 236,000. In Galway county, they will increase by 90 to 315, a hike of 40pc. Property prices rose by 27pc across the county. For owners of three-bed semi-detached homes there is little change, except in Galway city. Prices have risen by 46pc in the City of the Tribes, which correlates to a 40pc hike in the LPT, up 90 to 315. Rates will fall in Monaghan, down 7.8pc or 7 per year. There is no change in Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo, Leitrim, Donegal and Cavan. Read more: Proposed USC cut would see workers take home just 3 extra a week in pay Read more: Caught in the middle - ease the squeeze on middle-income families Student leaders have called for a minimum 500 cut in the annual third-level contribution of 3,000. The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) says the upcoming Budget must include an investment of 140m for higher education, but that students should pay less. The USI is also seeking a reinstatement of grants for post-graduate students, as well as 5m in funding in mental health services for colleges. The calls are made in the USI pre-Budget submission being launched today, and hand-delivered to the constituency offices of Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin. USI president Annie Hoey said students and their families were extremely concerned about the ever-rising cost of third-level education. According to USI, a reduction in the student contribution charge was absolutely vital to opening the opportunity of third-level education to those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and to increase social mobility in Ireland, in line with the recovery. Ms Hoey said "dramatic increases in accommodation costs, a shortage in appropriate part-time work, and the burden of 3,000 fees contributed to a burdensome annual cost of around 11,000 to attend third level" for those living away from home. She said that USI research showed that 58pc of students used extreme budgeting tactics, such as missing meals, in order to meet the costs of education. And research into student dropout showed that financial issues were a significant trigger for withdrawal from third-level. Ms Hoey said that abolition of post-graduate grants, in 2012, had created a two-tier system, where students from lower socio-economic backgrounds could not progress beyond undergraduate level. Calling for a Budget commitment to invest 140m a year in higher education, Ms Hoey said that the sector should be praised for its efforts to deliver quality education during a sustained period of under investment and uncertainty. But she said that what was necessary in a time of crisis was not sustainable as a long-term model. "It's time to match talk of economic recovery with strategic investment in vital public services such as education," said the USI president. Emma Fogarty, from Abbeyleix, with her mum Pat at the Hidden Heroes Awards ceremony at the Doubletree Hilton in Dublin yesterday. Picture Credit: Frank McGrath A woman who refuses to let a rare and painful skin condition get her down has received an award for her bravery at a ceremony yesterday. Emma Fogarty suffers from epidermolysis bullosa (EB), which leaves 80pc of her body covered in open sores. The Co Laois native (32) is one of only 300 people in Ireland who live with EB, also known as butterfly skin. Expand Close Pictured at the Hidden Hearing/ Irish Independent Hidden Heroes Awards ceremony at the Doubletree Hilton in Dublin, were, { L to R Back row] Heather McGrath, Special Recognition in Age is No Barrier Award, Stephen Leddy, MD Hidden Hearing, Marcin Mizgajski, Sporting Hero Award and Karen O Mahony, Corporate Social Responsibilty Hero Award, and front row, Joanne O Riordan, Hero Ambassador, and Sean McCullagh, Young Hero Award. Picture Credit: Frank McGrath / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Pictured at the Hidden Hearing/ Irish Independent Hidden Heroes Awards ceremony at the Doubletree Hilton in Dublin, were, { L to R Back row] Heather McGrath, Special Recognition in Age is No Barrier Award, Stephen Leddy, MD Hidden Hearing, Marcin Mizgajski, Sporting Hero Award and Karen O Mahony, Corporate Social Responsibilty Hero Award, and front row, Joanne O Riordan, Hero Ambassador, and Sean McCullagh, Young Hero Award. Picture Credit: Frank McGrath There is no cure, and the only treatment is constant, painful bandaging of the skin. "If someone was walking towards me in the street, if you bumped off me, the skin would automatically tear off my arm; 80pc of my body is covered in bandages," she said. "With any disability, if you have some hardship in your life, you don't have to sit in a corner. You can live your life." Fogarty was the recipient of a Courage Over Adversity Award at the Hidden Heroes ceremony in Dublin's DoubleTree Hotel yesterday. Her mother Pat was nominated for Unsung Hero for her work caring for Emma. Fogarty, who has suffered with ill health for several months, said, "You have to be positive about something like this, otherwise it will take over." Other nominees include Dubliner Sean McCullagh who was honoured with the Young Hero Award. Sean, who was paralysed at age four, has gone on to excel in sport and was part of the Leinster Sailing Team. Kildare single mother Linda Allen who lost her son Darragh to suicide in 2012 was also honoured. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has reported a 6pc reduction in the number of people waiting on trolleys within the year. The latest 'Trolley Watch' figures for August found a significant 41pc drop in Dublin hospitals but a 14pc increase in hospitals outside Dublin during the month of August compared to August 2015. During the month of August the Emergency Departments and hospitals experiencing the greatest level of overcrowding were University Hospital Limerick, Cork University Hospital, South Tipperary General Hospital, University Hospital Galway and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda. The figures were released at a time when the number of delayed discharges (patients who have completed their acute care) had increased to 640 at the end of last week. The latest meeting of the Emergency Department Taskforce takes place this afternoon. It will be attended by Health Minister Simon Harris, who will finalise his 40m winter initiative to reduce trolley gridlock in the country's emergency departments in the coming months, General Secretary Liam Doran said the reduction in Dublin hospitals is welcome and must be maintained into the future. "However, the significant deterioration, in a number of hospitals outside of Dublin is totally unacceptable and should be viewed as critical by the Department of Health/HSE," he said. "These figures confirm, yet again, that further actions, in addition to all steps taken to date, are required in order to alleviate trolley overcrowding as we now enter the autumn/winter period. Mr Doran said that the INMO would be seeking special measures for a number of hospitals to assist in dealing with the unsafe clinical environment which exists at this time. Waiting lists Meanwhile, Simon Harris yesterday pledged that thousands of patients who have waited longest on public hospital lists for surgery and diagnostic procedures will be treated privately over the next year. Mr Harris said he did not have any ideological hang-ups about using public funds to buy treatment for public patients in private hospitals. Waiting list figures for public patients remain at a critical level and figures to be published this week will show more than 500,000 are in a queue for surgery, an outpatient appointment or a diagnostic endoscopy procedure in hospitals across the country. Mr Harris said that patients didn't care where they were treated as long as they were able to get off the list. Apart from using private hospitals for public patients who need endoscopy procedures this year, he also intends to "look at a specific initiatives in relation to hip and knee replacements." He was speaking at the announcement of a 34.2m investment in new diagnostic equipment and facilities in the Beacon Hospital in Sandyford in Dublin. Prof Colm O Morain, consultant gastroenterologist at Beacon Hospital, said modern equipment gave doctors a better chance of picking up bowel cancer, which affects 950 women and 1,330 men annually. The Master of the National Maternity Hospital has criticised the Eighth Amendment for forcing doctors to make medical decisions regarding abortion in a "criminal context". Dr Rhona Mahony wants medical decisions on terminations in a "clinical context" to be free of legal considerations. "For me, the Eighth Amendment causes difficulties in making sound medical decisions [because] it asks doctors to make really complex medical decisions [involving terminations] in the context of criminal offences," she toldRTE's 'Claire Byrne Live'. "This is where the Eighth Amendment really gives us difficulty - we've seen its ability to distort medical decisions." Dr Mahony spoke in detail about the 2014 case where a woman who was brain-dead had her organs maintained in order for her to incubate her foetus. "Overwhelming medical opinion was that it was futile, as it would be many weeks before the foetus would reach viability. "I think that when something like that happens in your country, you really do need to examine why that happened and could it happen again," she added. The Master of Holles Street Hospital also said she had been "disturbed" by reports that a staff member at a Dublin crisis pregnancy clinic told an undercover reporter that women who had abortions suffered increased risk of breast cancer. "There is absolutely no link between breast cancer and terminations I think that advice was given with an agenda in mind." Health Minister Simon Harris has indicated that he will be looking at the regulation of pregnancy counselling services in Ireland following reports of the incident. A poll on the 'Claire Byrne Live' show found that two-thirds of people would like a referendum on abortion. When asked "Do you want to see a referendum on abortion?", 66pc said Yes while 22pc answered No. A further 12pc were undecided. A DUBLIN family's holiday looks set to be cut short after a purse containing over 2,000 was stolen at El-Prat Airport in Barcelona yesterday. Stephen and Lisa Ryan, and their 6-year-old daughter Madison flew to Barcelona yesterday morning on a family holiday. The family, from Northwood in Dublin, were paying for a rental car at the airport when Ms Ryan noticed her purse was gone. "Its sick to know that they could see I was with a small child. Knowing that they were going to leave me penniless with a small child, that is what is hurting me more so," she told Independent.ie. The couple had just returned home from their honeymoon in Las Vegas and Mexico on Sunday. This trip to Barcelona was meant to be one that all the family could enjoy. "We went on this holiday for me daughter. I cant look her in the eye now. She came here with spending money for herself and she said to me 'Mammy, will my 20 euro get me home on a flight?' It's heartbreaking." All Ms Ryan's bank cards and her driving licence were also in the stolen purse. The couple had money transferred into Mr Ryan's bank account by a family member this morning but he has been unable to gain access to the account due to technical issues. As they have no access to money, the couple are looking to return home tomorrow. "I think we'll have to come home. I'm absolutely devastated that this has happened," Ms Ryan said. The incident was reported to local police in Barcelona, who informed the Ryan family that up to 25 thefts had taken place at the airport yesterday. Barcelona is a city which is notorious for pick-pocketing, and is often referred to as the "pick-pocketing capital of the world". The principal of Columbine High School in Colorado where 12 students and a teacher were shot dead by two classmates, is urging Irish people to look after their mental health. Frank DeAngelis was the principal of the high school where two seniors Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went on a mass shooting spree before taking their own lives on April 20 1991. Expand Close Frank DeAngelis will be a guest speaker at a public talk on mental health / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Frank DeAngelis will be a guest speaker at a public talk on mental health Frank told RTE Radio One that April 20 started as an ordinary morning and it was a beautiful Colorado spring day. All of a sudden my secretary knocked on my door and said there was gunfire. I thought this couldnt be happening. It has to be a joke or a senior prank. This can not happen at Columbine High School. Frank said his worst nightmare became a reality when he saw a gunman running towards him and a group of young girls. They were unaware of what was happening and so my initial response was to get to them immediately to make sure that they were not in harms way and to protect them. There were about 30 girls and we were able to get down a hallway. Frank made a narrow escape from the building but said that it took him a long time to process the tragedy. I knew the seriousness of the tragedy when I saw SWAT teams come out with teary eyes and they said they had never witnessed anything like that. It was very difficult. You would never expect anything like that to happen in a community. Weve witnessed tragedies time and time again, were all vulnerable. There is nothing I can do to bring those 13 kids back. Frank said that the experience taught him to seek help when struggling. Expand Close Columbine High School Photo: Getty / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Columbine High School Photo: Getty If you were to break an arm would you allow a friend or spouse to surgically fix it? Of course not, youd go to a doctor. Then why would you not seek professional help? He said Ireland can learn from Columbine that parents need to play a pro-active and monitoring role in the childrens lives, especially now with social media. He said that the two gunmen didnt come out of their mothers womb hating. What happened between that day when they were sweet smiling kids to the two calculated killers that walked into the building? What happened to their lives? Thats the thing thats so difficult for us to understand is what creates this mind set of these killers? Frank said the perception that the two killers were outcasts and disenfranchised from society is wrong. They were two well educated men, two calculated killers. They were very smart. They were in advanced level classes. They did not wake up on the 20th and say were going to blow up the school or kill kids. This is something that they had made detailed plans off for over a year. Their intent was never to come into the school and shoot kids. Their intent was to place two propane tanks and blow up the school at the busiest time in which 700 people would be in the area and the students who did escape and run out of the school would be shot. It wasnt a successful shooting, it was a failed bombing. They were calculated and they knew once they went into the building they were never going to walk out. Frank said in a time where there are gun shootings all across the world, we should be talking about mental health instead of gun control. These kids have access to social networking and parents are unaware of where these kids are going as far as the internet. My plea to parents is that you need to be parents. You need to be involved in your kids live and you need to know whats going on. If you are struggling you need to get help. Maybe if the parents had been a little bit more involved we wouldnt have had the Columbine tragedy. By taking an interest in your kids life you might be saving it. Frank DeAngelis will be a guest speaker at a public talk on mental health at Mansion House, Dublin, on Wednesday, September 14th, 6.30-8.30pm. See wwww.jigsaw.ie/columbine for more details. Gavin James on stage, at day two of Electric Picnic. Photo: Fergal Phillips If you lost something last weekend at Electric Picnic, you could be forgiven for thinking that your property is consigned to the fields of Stradbally. Maybe not, as everything from car keys to mobile phones were handed into the lost and found office at the festival and now organisers are trying to reunite these items with their owners. Festival organisers have asked those who have lost property to fill out the form on their website. They've requested that you be as specific as possible with the details provided. You will only receive a response if your item is found. Otherwise, Stradbally Garda Station this Saturday (September 10th) will be hosting a Lost & Found open day from 9am to 9pm. A major Irish charity is at the centre of bullying allegations after the mother of a young woman who took her own life claimed she had been left broken by the charitys intense sales-driven focus. The Government has now been urged to create a Charities Ombudsman after 14 former volunteers with Oxfam said their treatment had been shocking and deeply upsetting. Seven volunteers have lodged formal complaints with Oxfam claiming they had been bullied and harassed. Four volunteers have now written to Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald and the Charities Regulator demanding changes to charity regulations. Trudi Soysal (40), the founder of Oxfams Mullingar store and who helped open other Oxfam stores in Portlaoise and Tralee, took her own life on June 16. Trudi, who worked for five years for Oxfam without missing a single day through illness, was forced to take stress-related leave from Oxfam twice over the past year. She was ground down and left broken, said her heartbroken mother, Gertie Balfe. It was the same as driving a screw into a piece of wood. The pressure was tightened on her until, just like a screw, the head snapped. Expand Close Trudi Soysal (40) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Trudi Soysal (40) The reason we are speaking out now is because we dont want any other Irish family to suffer this kind of tragedy. I am absolutely convinced that the way my daughter was treated was directly linked to her death, Gertie said. Expand Close Gertie Balfe holds photographs of her daughter, Trudi / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Gertie Balfe holds photographs of her daughter, Trudi Oxfam has offered me counselling but all I want is my daughter back, the heartbroken mother said. Trudi worked for Oxfam for five years without difficulty but her mother said she was under incredible pressure over the past year due to performance demands, her treatment by some within the organisation and what she felt was her increasing isolation within the charity operations. Gertie said one demand was that the Oxfam store needed to open on Sunday and if unpaid volunteers were not available to staff it, Trudi would have to operate the store on her own. Despite having taken Sunday and Monday off for the previous five years, she was also informed this was no longer possible. Gertie said her daughter was also told she would have to distance herself from volunteers, many of whom only agreed to support Oxfam because of their friendships with Trudi. Oxfam chief executive Jim Clarken acknowledged Trudis sudden and untimely death has continued to deeply affect the parents, family members and friends of our colleague, as well as all the volunteers and staff in the Mullingar shop. He described Trudi as a much respected manager. But the charity said it would be inappropriate for us or any unqualified person to speculate about the circumstances and conditions surrounding the tragic death in advance of such matters being considered by a coroner in the context of an inquest. We recognise that this is a private family loss and wish to be respectful and sensitive to their privacy. He also confirmed Oxfam was dealing with complaints from Mullingar volunteers about behaviour in the workplace. These were fully and thoroughly investigated and one person is currently appealing the findings. An external expert is conducting this appeal, he said. Nonetheless, we recognise and very much regret that there has been a breakdown of trust with some volunteers that have given their time, energy, talent and commitment to Oxfam. The Herald has learned that 14 Oxfam volunteers, all unpaid, met last March to discuss their workplace concerns. Seven volunteers lodged formal complaints on March 31. Paula Griffin, Patricia Gannon, Amanda Murray, Margaret OKeeffe and three others lodged various complaints about alleged bullying. I am 69 years old, I am not being paid for the volunteer work I do and one evening I went home fighting back tears and with my hands shaking from the stress. I thought to myself: I just dont need this. But when we raised what was happening, no one seemed to take it seriously, Patricia said. On June 15, Oxfam rejected all their bullying complaints as unfounded. Just over 24 hours later, Trudi took her own life after sending a text to her Oxfam volunteer friends saying: Luv you all XXXX. - Anyone affected by this article can contact the Samaritans on 116123. Gardai have launched an investigation into the theft of a number of signs at a popular Irish heritage site. Local historians have called for action after at least three signs marking the historical Battle of Kinsale have gone missing. CCTV footage in the area is currently being reviewed and enquiries are being made being made, a garda spokesperson told independent.ie. Members of the Kinsale History Society previously called attention to the "atrocious state" of signage erected to mark the 1601 battle. The Battle of Kinsale was one of the most important in Irish history when a Spanish fleet occupied the historic Co Cork port. Last month, the society called on the Cork County Council to improve this signage - and to alert them to the fact that at least two signs located around the harbour town had gone "missing". "The society is appalled by the current condition of the historical markers," it said in early August. However, last week, the society turned to social media to complain that another sign had been stolen on the morning of September 3. A YOUNG mother has spoken of her shock after she was handed her dead newborn baby at a Dublin hospital so the infant could be strapped into a car seat for the trip back to Kerry. Jazmine Sands Sheehan said, with her partner Kevin, she was handed a special letter from hospital staff to explain to Gardai, if they were stopped on their trip back to Kerry, the precise circumstances of their little girl's death. Expand Close Jasmine Sands Sheehan / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jasmine Sands Sheehan Her baby, named Isabella, had died five days after birth and was brought out to the family's car from the Dublin hospital in a Moses basket. However, the infant was then removed from the Moses basket and strapped into a baby seat in the family car for the trip home. "We were shocked - it wasn't what we were expecting," Jazmine said. "We thought Isabella would travel home with us in the Moses basket." "Kevin and myself were so distraught all we wanted to do was get home. It was only afterwards we wondered about it." The young mother said she has no issue with hospital staff - and is simply grateful for the incredible care they showed Isabella in her brief battle for life. But Jazmine has now launched a campaign, in memory of baby Isabella, for all pregnant women to be specially screened for potential infant heart abnormalities during late stage pregnancy. "Isabella was born on May 23 and she weighed five pounds and one ounce," Jazmine said. "Everything was perfect. She screamed at birth, we had kisses and hugs and cuddles. Everything seemed fine." However, doctors became concerned over Isabella and she was transferred from Kerry to a Dublin hospital for specialist care. "She was diagnosed with a serious heart defect. The doctors (in Dublin) even consulted with doctors at Great Ormond Street in London." "But the London doctors were amazed that Isabella had even been born alive given the condition of her poor heart." "On the Thursday morning we were taken into a private room and told that there was nothing could be done for Isabella." "I had a notebook and pen ready for whatever treatment plan the doctors would advise. Unfortunately there was no plan, nothing could be done and we were going to lose her." "Her poor heart was too badly deformed." Isabella had hypo plastic left heart syndrome. This results in the left side of the heart being chronically underdeveloped and drastically impacting on the flow of blood through the heart. One of the last things that baby Isabella did before her death was to appear to smile at her devastated parents. "My ultimate goal, in Isabella's name, is to now have everybody who is expecting to be fully screened during their pregnancy," Jazmine said. "The heart is the vital organ in the body that every unborn child should be screened for possible defects or abnormalities with." Jazmine has now started a social media appeal and appeared on TV3 to garner support for her specialist screening plea. "The key thing is preparation. Parents deserve to know as early as possible if they face a potential situation like ours." "If we'd known a little earlier, we could have prepared ourselves and prepared our seven year old son, Keelan." "We would have been prepared for the fact that we weren't going to be bringing Isabella home they way we wanted to." "We never, in our worst moment, ever thought we would be bringing our little girl home dead and strapped into a baby seat in our car." Jazmine said the hardest thing she has ever endured was arriving home from Isabella's funeral to the sight of baby bottles ready by the kettle. "I don't want any other mother or father to go through what we have. That's why I believe every pregnant Irish mum deserves to have their baby exhaustively screened at key stages in their pregnancy." "I don't want anyone else to go through this. I want Isabella's legacy to be a screening programme that we can all be proud of," she said. Jazmine underwent routine screening during her pregnancy but it did not pick up the heart defect that Isabella had developed. Dublin Bus will stop services at 9pm tomorrow in order to have their buses back at the depot ahead of Thursday and Friday's industrial action. Services will cease at 9pm on Wednesday, not Thursday morning as originally anticipated. A statement released from Dublin Bus said this stoppage is to ensure the safe and secure return of buses to each depot prior to the commencement of industrial action. The last Dublin Bus will leave the depot at 21:00 on Wednesday evening. Cliodhna Ni Fhatharta, media and communications manager for Dublin Bus, said that this decision was made by Dublin Bus management, rather than the unions. "This decision was made by Dublin Bus management on the grounds of health and safety. We have no option but to finish services at 9pm due to the trade unions confirming the strike action will take place from midnight tomorrow. "This decision was made to ensure that all buses (981 in our fleet) can return to each of our seven depots and be parked up safely and securely," she told Independent.ie. Dublin Bus apologises to customers for this inconvenience which is being caused due to industrial action by all grades of employees. This will affect a number of services, including the the Airlink, the Ghost Tour which is cancelled entirely on Wednesday and the Nitelink. This follows confirmation that the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) and Siptu will stage three 48 hour stoppages over the next month, the first of which will take place on Thursday 8 and Friday 9 of September. Approximately 400,000 passengers will be affected on Thursday and Friday as a result of the action. Perpetrators of sexual crime are more likely to be convicted now that DNA evidence can be stored for longer, a Dublin Rape Crisis Centre spokesperson said. Funding supplied to sexual assault units (SATUs) in Ireland means they have the technology to store the collected biological evidence themselves for up to a year, reports the Medical Independent. Prior to this, alleged victims had to make the decision of filing a garda report almost immediately after an alleged attack. "This is definitely an advance for people and it has the capacity of increases the number of people committing these crimes to be brought to justice," Noeleen Blackwell told independent.ie. "Following a sexual attack, victims need to address their own physical care but, in the shock and trauma of the incident, it can be very difficult to make a decision to report it to gardai. "They may not be in a position to say there and then that this is something that they want to go forward with." The quality of forensic evidence deteriorates rapidly and samples collated by the six SATUs around the country were handed very quickly over to the Garda Forensics Unit in Dublin's Phoenix Park for storage. However, this would only occur if a victim reported the attack. With funding from the Department of Justice and the National Office for the Prevention of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence, SATUs now have the technology to store the evidence themselves for up to 12 months. "Very often, the only evidence collected at the time - apart from witness statements from the parties involved - is DNA evidence. You can't take a photo of the scene or anything like that," said Ms Blackwell. "It's great if people are ready to make that decision [to file a report] but, the truth is, many are not." The Rape Crisis Centre has supported medics and forensics "and the police themselves" who have been campaigning for this funding "for some time" The six SATUs offer care for both women and men over the age of 14 who have been sexually assaulted or raped recently. There is no charge associated with availing of any of the SATU services. Police have uncovered a "significant" amount of terrorist materials during searches in Larne. Officers descended on the Co Antrim town on August 24 and have carried out 12 searches in the past 13 days. It followed the arrest of Royal Marine Ciaran Maxwell in England. He has since appeared in court on terrorism-related charges. The arrest and searches are related to terrorist hide finds in Carnfunnock Country Park and Capanagh Forest in Larne. Police believe the material is linked to dissident republicans. Assistant Chief Constable Will Kerr, head of PSNIs Crime Operations Department said: Since August 24 an extensive search operation has taken place in the Larne area. Police have searched 12 separate locations and recovered a significant amount of terrorist material including explosive devices, component parts for explosives, chemicals for use in bomb making, ammunition and a firearm. These searches were part of a joint, ongoing, police operation between PSNI and the Metropolitan Police Service in London. ACC Kerr added: "I would like to thank the community of Larne for their patience while these searches were ongoing. "I am aware of the disruption this has caused to local residents and am extremely grateful for their co-operation and understanding. "However, as I am sure the people living in Larne will understand, we will take no chances where their safety is concerned and, as a result of the significant terrorist material recovered, I am confident that the area, and Northern Ireland in general, is safer as a result. Radioactive materials have been stored in degrading plastic bottles and parts of the nuclear facility at Sellafield regularly have too few staff to operate safely, a BBC investigation has found. An investigation by 'Panorama' was told by a whistle-blower that his "biggest fear" was a fire breaking out which could generate a "plume of radiological waste that will go across Western Europe". The report comes after a number of incidents over the years at the Cumbrian site, just 170km from Ireland, which have raised safety concerns here. The UK's National Audit Office has described the site as the "most hazardous" in Britain, with some of the 240 buildings "deteriorating" or falling short of national standards, posing "significant risks" to people or the environment. But a 2011 government-commissioned report, which cost 2.9m, ruled out any safety risk to Ireland, even if radioactive materials were released in an accident caused by a natural disaster or human error. The report, 'Probabilistic Risk Assessment report of the risks from Sellafield to Ireland and Irish interests', which cost 2.9m and was organised by US law firm Egan, Fitzpatrick, Malsch & Lawrence, has never been published in full. It concluded that an incident at Sellafield or the low-level waste repository "would result in no observable health effects in Ireland". Even if there was a "severe" incident, it would not create health impacts but would create "significant socioeconomic impacts" including a negative impact on tourism and exports of Irish food. Read more: Nuclear expert warns of 'Chernobyl on steroids' risk from proposed nuclear plant 200km from Irish coast The BBC investigation was prompted by a whistle-blower, a former senior manager at the plant, who was worried about conditions and staffing levels. Figures obtained by Panorama claimed that between July 2012 and July 2013 there were 97 incidents where parts of the site had too few workers on shift. Sellafield says there are now fewer breaches of safe minimum manning levels but the latest figures show they are still being breached on average once a week. Dr Rex Strong, head of nuclear safety at Sellafield, denied that operating below these levels was dangerous. "Facilities are shut down if we're not able to operate them in the way that we want to," he said. Concerns were also raised about how radioactive materials were stored, with the investigation discovering that liquid containing plutonium and uranium had been kept in plastic bottles for years. The long-awaited re-opening of the Phoenix Park tunnel for passenger trains is due to be completed by Christmas, allowing trains from Kildare to reach Dublin city in around an hour. An estimated 7,500 commuters a day living in the congested commuter belt from southwest Dublin to Co Kildare will be able to avail of 15 new weekday trains to and from the city centre a day. The new service will travel directly from Newbridge and Hazelhatch Stations in Co Kildare to the IFSC, south city centre and Grand Canal Dock areas in about an hour or less, depending on the train. The new line, which uses the 139-year-old Phoenix Park tunnel, will also stop at Drumcondra, Connolly, Tara and Pearse Stations. The service, using existing inter-city rail trains, will travel under the Phoenix Park for 692 metres via the tunnel that runs from Heuston Station to the junction of the Cavan and Navan roads. The tunnel was closed to regular train traffic over a decade ago but has been in continual use for freight trains. Seven new morning rush-hour services will run from Newbridge and Hazelhatch to Grand Canal Dock with eight return rush-hour services in the evening. There will also be connections at Newbridge and Hazelhatch for commuters living as far away as Carlow town, Portlaoise, Kildare town and Athlone. Irish Rail is now seeking input from the public on the draft timetable and commuters have until September 19 to comment. Irish Rail chief executive David Franks said the new service would take thousands of commuters off the roads with new direct connections to a number of stations. However, firstly, and most importantly, we want customers to examine the initial schedules proposed, to give us their feedback, so we can ensure we meet their expectations as much as possible, he said. National Transport Authority chief executive Anne Graham said the project was aimed at attracting both new commuters and leisure travellers to the rail network. Its expected that services will increase to weekend and evening services once the initial weekday service is rolled out. The draft timetable is available online at www.irishrail.ie where customers can also make submissions. Wicklow/East Carlow TD Stephen Donnelly pictured last year with his Social Democrat co-leaders Roisin Shorthall and Catherine Murphy. Photo Tom Burke The split within the Social Democrats that led to the departure of Stephen Donnelly dates back to the refusal by the party to enter Government formation talks. The Irish Independent understands that the Wicklow/East Carlow TD was keen to engage with Fine Gael and Fianna Fail about the prospect of being in coalition. However, Mr Donnelly's co-leaders - Roisin Shortall and Catherine Murphy - opposed the move. Relations between the TDs have been strained in recent months, culminating in Mr Donnelly's decision to quit the party yesterday. Sources say the "final straw" was a disagreement over the party's response to the European Commission's ruling that Apple was given a sweetheart deal worth 13m by Revenue. Ms Shortall and Ms Murphy became "frustrated" after apparently being unable to make contact with Mr Donnelly over a proposed press release outlining the party's stance on the controversial issue. Read more: Stephen Donnelly quits Social Democrats - but has yet to decide to whether to go solo or join a party Hours later, while Mr Donnelly went on radio to offer a measured analysis, his party colleagues were staunch in their view that Ireland should collect the back taxes. A number of party sources last night said Mr Donnelly's decision to resign had been anticipated for some time. The same sources said Mr Donnelly told Ms Shortall and Ms Murphy that he intended to use the month of August to consider his future. In a statement yesterday, the party took a swipe at Mr Donnelly, saying he chose to "walk away" from the Social Democrats. "The levels of dedication required for such a major undertaking can be overwhelming for some," the statement said. "However, our elected councillors, our staff team and our volunteers are passionate about our project and we will now get on with the job of building our party." Both Ms Shortall and Ms Murphy spoke on radio yesterday, expressing their disappointment at the decision. Ms Shortall said Mr Donnelly had become "somewhat disengaged" from the party in recent months. Mr Donnelly did not respond to calls by the Irish Independent. However, he told Mary Wilson on RTE's 'Drivetime' programme that being a member of the Social Democrats "just isn't working for me". He rejected suggestions that he is not a "team player" and said he feels he cannot serve the country to the best of his ability within the Social Democrats' fold. Mr Donnelly also agreed that all politicians should aspire to be in government. "If you're asking me straight, would I love to be in government one day, of course I would," he said. Meanwhile, there is now speculation that Mr Donnelly may decide to join another party. Asked whether he would consider an approach from a party such as Fianna Fail, Mr Donnelly said that the issue was not at the forefront of his mind. "That's exactly the kind of conversation I'm going to have with my supporters in Wicklow over the next few days and the next few weeks," Mr Donnelly added. Fianna Fail sources last night said that they are open to the idea of approaching Mr Donnelly. Mr Donnelly's decision to quit also threatens the party's speaking rights in the Dail. At present, the Social Democrats are in an arrangement with the Green Party which allows them to avail of a slot during 'Leaders' Questions'. However, that arrangement may be rescinded unless Mr Donnelly agrees for it to remain intact. Meanwhile, the Social Democrats' sole councillor in Mr Donnelly's constituency yesterday confirmed that she will remain in the party despite the decision. Jennifer Whitmore, who was seen as being extremely close to Mr Donnelly, is now being lined up to oppose him ahead of the next general election. INDEPENDENT TD Stephen Donnelly has accused his former Social Democrats colleagues of sticking the boot in over his decision to quit the party. Mr Donnelly said he is disappointed by the reaction from deputies Roisin Shortall and Catherine Murphy and rejected suggestions that he is work shy. I can probably be fairly accused of a lot of things but being work shy certainly isnt one of them, Mr Donnelly told Declan Meehan on his local radio station East Coast FM. Ive worked night and day for the last six years. Everybody knows that. I dont need to make that point. I was very disappointed to see them say it. Its not true. They know it's not true. But I guess they have to say something, he added. Mr Donnelly said his departure has been coming for some time. You have to try new things. You have to agitate for change, he said, adding that the move was not naive. The Wicklow/East Carlow TD said the top team didnt work referring also to Catherine Murphy and Roisin Shortall. Obviously they decided to stick the boot in. Its certainly gone down very badly. Its annoyed a lot of people in Wicklow. On the prospect of joining Fianna Fail, Mr Donnelly said the issue will be discussed with his supporters. Thats for Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, the Greens. My head is so far away from that. Its speculative. THE Government doesnt make unpopular decisions "because we think it's great craic, according to Leo Varadkar. The Social Protection Minister today spoke about last weeks row in Cabinet over the Apple findings that almost led to the departure of Childrens Minister Katherine Zappone. Mr Varadkar said the matter proved to be a learning curve for the partnership government. And he insisted unpopular decisions are not taken for the sake of it. We dont make unpopular decisions for the sake of it, or because we think its great craic. We make unpopular decisions because they are the right things to do in the long-term, Mr Varadkar said. The comments come as the Dail prepares to debate the European Commissions ruling that Apple was given a sweetheart deal worth 13bn by Revenue. Mr Varadkar said he does not know of other companies who were offered a similar deal. But he said he would not be surprised if such arrangements existed. The car was discovered on a Dublin 8 street - over 86km from the family's home A car stolen from a private driveway was discovered by a passer-by over 86km away less than two days later- all thanks to the power of social media. The car was stolen from the driveway of a young couple's home in Gorey, Wexford in the early hours of Sunday morning. Less than 48 hours later, the family were contacted through social media site Facebook with information on the car's whereabouts on a Dublin street in the capital's south inner city. One of the homeowners, who is seven months pregnant, woke on Sunday morning to discover the car keys were taken from the kitchen table, the 152-registered Nissan Qashqai had disappeared from the driveway and her wallet had been taken from her handbag. The expectant mum's maternity file was also in the car. Gardai arrived to investigate the crime shortly after 11.30am. Expand Close This photograph with details of the car's registration was posted on Facebook in a bid to find the car / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp This photograph with details of the car's registration was posted on Facebook in a bid to find the car Meanwhile, family member Denise Maxwell took a "long shot" and decided to post a picture of the couple's car on her Facebook page. Speaking to Independent.ie, Denise said she posted the photograph and asked people to share the information. "They hopped the side gate and got in through the back door before they took the car keys," she said of the incident. "They went into the kitchen, opened the handbag and took the wallet, went into the hall and got the keys before they left again. "I put up a picture of the car on my Facebook page thinking it was a long shot, but within an hour it had over 100 shares." Denise said she woke up the next morning to see the post had garnered almost 500 shares overnight. "It was being shared by people I knew, but there were a few strangers too. "One person shared it in Belfast, another in England," she continued. "Then at 7.30pm on Monday night, a friend contacted me. Someone saw the car in Dublin and had taken a picture of it. "The person who spotted the car turned out to be a friend of a friend of my brother-in-law's." Gardai attended the scene and the couple travelled to Dublin to collect the car. Denise said it was "fantastic" how the power of social media resulted in the young mum-to-be's car being returned to her. "They are so relieved that they have it back. It was left on a side street off Kevin Street in Dublin 8. "The car was left parked in a small car park. There was no damage done to it which is the main thing. "A few items were taken from the car as well but my sister's maternity file was there so that was the main thing. "I said all the car needs now is a good valet, I can't believe it worked out so well." The 'miracle' daughter of brain tumour victim Emma McLaughlin will still grow up surrounded by a family's love, one of the woman's brothers has said. Emma (37) died on August 29 after a long and arduous 14-year battle against the tumour during which time she underwent open brain surgery three times. The mother-of-one was an inspiration to everyone who met her because of her warm personality and zest for life. But it is her family who will miss her most and who are determined her daughter Hope will always know how much her mother loved her. Emma's brother John Ryan said: "We thought Emma was unstoppable. "She fought so hard to stay with us but last June she had an MRI scan which showed a number of tumours were in her brain and it was terminal. "Emma wanted everyone to know her story. She wanted to create awareness and inspire people who were in the same position as her and she felt she had so much more to do. "But when she got the results of her MRI scan in June, she knew her time was short. "Emma was particularly worried about Hope, her daughter - Hope is just two years older than Emma was when our mother Berna died. But she talked to her and to our sister Claire and between us all and Harry, Emma's partner, Hope will have all the love Emma never got to give her. "After Emma was first diagnosed in 2002 she had a lot of radiotherapy. She was told it would mean she would not be able to have children but her radiologist protected her ovaries and Hope was born a few years later so she is a real wee miracle. "Hope is so like her mammy it is incredible and she gave Emma all the strength she needed and drive to be well. "She is an incredible little person, an artist, a musician, with the spirit of her granny Berna, and her mammy. Emma will always be with us, through Hope." Emma was first diagnosed in 2002 when she was just 23 years old. She had returned to Derry after travelling the world, including a trip to Australia where she first met the man who would become her partner and Hope's father, Harry Harris. She had been feeling unwell for a number of months but one day it all came to a head and her father Pat rushed her to A&E. JR continued: "Emma travelled throughout Australia for a year and a half. She had the best experiences and met many beautiful friends, meeting up with Harry in his homeland. "Our daddy was so proud to collect his beautiful daughter from the bus station with bells on her ankles that jingled as she walked, radiating happiness. "Life was good for her but on her return to Derry after months and months of illness, her daddy carried her in his arms into A&E on a Halloween night in 2002 to be diagnosed with a very aggressive brain tumour. "Sadly daddy developed cancer shortly afterwards and died. At the time people often said he chose to go first and allowed Emma to stay. "Things were tough for Emma having to deal with extensive radiotherapy treatment and surgery without her mother and father. But we did everything we could and she had such a huge number of friends who loved her so she was surrounded by people who cared for her. "It was after her diagnosis that she wrote to Harry in Australia and he didn't just write back, he got on a plane and arrived in Derry. He has been at her side since. "Their love for each other as a family was a joy to everyone around them. Harry's patience and dedication to Emma was always so strong and beautiful. "Emma was a gift to us all, we have the opportunity to remember what she taught us and to use this to change and improve our lives and the lives of others around us. She lit up a path that those blessed to know her can follow." Our GP on how to recognise the signs of stroke, and act fast, and advises on knee pain caused by a Baker's cyst. Q. My husband has narrowing of his blood vessels. He has been told he has an increased risk of stroke. I worry about this, are there any signs I should watch out for? Dr Nina replies: Brain tissue starts to die at a rate of up to two million brain cells a minute if the blood supply is reduced or cut off. The disturbance of flow in a blood vessel in the brain is called a stroke, and can occur due to the presence of a blood clot (ischaemic) or bleeding (haemorrhagic). Strokes are most common in those over 60 but can occur at any age, even in children. Until fairly recently, treatment of those who suffered a stroke mainly focused on rehabilitative care involving physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech and language therapy. This care is still essential for those who suffer prolonged weakness or paralysis, but today acute strokes are seen as a brain attack, a potentially treatable medical emergency. Strokes usually occur without any warning. Recognising the signs and acting fast can reduce the chance of long-term brain damage and disability. The word FAST is used to draw attention to the signs of a stroke and to stress the importance of seeking urgent medical help. F stands for face: Has the face fallen to one side, can the person smile? A stands for arms: Can they raise both arms above their head and keep them there? S stands for speech: Is the person's speech slurred? T stands for time: If any one of the symptoms is present call emergency services urgently. Other less classic signs of stroke can include confusion, loss of balance or dizziness, blurring or loss of vision, and sudden headache. If blood-thinning medication is given early (within three to four hours) in the case of a clot, permanent paralysis or nerve damage may be avoided. Strokes due to a bleed are more difficult to treat. The risk factors for stroke include: a family history of stroke, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol, smoking and excess alcohol intake. They are very similar to those for other heart and vascular disorders. You cannot change your genes but many of the risks are manageable. A healthy lifestyle goes a long way towards reducing your risk of stroke. If you are considered to be at a higher risk of stroke your GP can make sure your blood pressure is controlled, and advise you re exercise and weight loss. Those at risk should stop smoking, and keep alcohol well within normal limits. Stroke can cause temporary or permanent disability. In a transient ischaemic attack (TIA) a clot temporarily reduces blood flow to the brain but then dissolves or moves on. The symptoms of a TIA last less than hours. These should be taken seriously as they usually indicate underlying problems increasing the chance of stroke down the line. In those with more significant strokes, symptoms may resolve slowly over weeks to months. Unfortunately in some cases permanent disability remains.Stroke kills more people each year than breast, lung and bowel cancer combined. Of those who survive 65pc will make a reasonable recovery. Prevention is best but every minute counts. If you think someone you know is having a stroke, call an ambulance. Don't delay. Q. My leg is a little swollen and my knee is sore. The back seems especially tender when I touch it. I can feel a soft lump here. What could this be? Is it something I should worry about and should I see my doctor? Dr Nina replies: A Bakers cyst is a fluid filled cyst that occurs in the bursa behind the knee. Bakers cysts occur most commonly in young people aged four to seven, or in those aged 35 to 70. In younger people the cyst occurs in a normal joint where fluid moves into a pouch at the back of the knee. In older people with degenerating joints, increased production of synovial fluid puts pressure at the back of the joint causing swelling to occur. Bakers cysts can also occur if there has been a tear or damage in the joint leading to inflammation. If Bakers cysts enlarge they can cause pain and swelling behind the knee. There may be an ache around the knee or a sensation of fullness or pressure when standing. With larger cysts it may be difficult to bend your knee. More rarely people notice a sensation of clicking and locking of the knee. These cysts arent dangerous but rupture may lead to pain and swelling of the calf. There may also be bruising and tenderness. The symptoms associated with a Bakers cyst can be very similar to those associated with a clot (DVT) in the lower leg, and so it is important to visit your doctor to ensure this is not the case. Many Bakers cysts will resolve by themselves and dont require any treatment. If you have pain, applying ice may help. Taking over the counter, or rarely prescription, medication may help reduce inflammation and pain. It is important to discuss any medication with your doctor or pharmacist. If the cyst is large or causing a lot of pain or discomfort you may require drainage or removal of it, though this is rarely the case. Steroid injections into the joint are also sometimes used. President Obama didn't name Ireland and the European Commission specifically in his remarks at the G20, but his comments suggest they were on his mind. Just days after the European Commission ruled that Apple should pay 13bn in back taxes to the State, the most powerful politician in the world claimed some of the US's closest allies have been engaging in a race "to the bottom". President Obama was referring to how these "allies" enforce their "tax policies in ways that lead to revenue shifting and tax avoidance in our country". That makes for uncomfortable reading for the government here. Especially as the government has had to contend with huge international scrutiny in recent days as it struggled to get to grips with the magnitude, and the reputational damage, of the ruling laid down by Brussels. But the US President is playing both sides. He seems also to be taking a swipe at the European Commission and Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, warning that moving unilaterally isn't the way to go, a point raised by the White House in the wake of the ruling last week. The President believes countries should work together, in concert, to ensure big firms pay their fair share. Obama has long had tough words for US companies that seek to use complex loopholes to legally avoid paying taxes owed to, in particular, the United States. He has tried to end tax inversions, in which US companies re-register overseas in order to avoid hefty tax bills. Our colossal 26.3pc GDP rate was in part driven by these deals, which essentially involve large foreign companies reinventing themselves as being Irish to avail of our low corporate tax rate, while keeping their core operations in their original jurisdiction. But the US must accept fault as well. Reform of the US corporate tax regime is also required , and movement in that regard has been painfully slow. For now, Ireland, floundering as it has been doing over the last week, remains firmly in the spotlight. Premium Colette Browne Opinion Every effort must be made to retrieve oral histories of mother and baby home survivors With three days to go until the Mother and Baby Homes Commission ceases to exist as a legal entity, we are being told that audio recordings of hundreds of witnesses which were deleted may not actually be gone forever. It is another usual twist in a most emotional saga. For decades, survivors of mother and baby homes have been denied a voice and denied autonomy. When they fell pregnant, many through rape and abuse, they were marched to the doors of religious institutions. Premium Sinead Moriarty: 'Weve got to disconnect to reconnect to our gift of the gab' Are we losing our world-famous gift of the gab? In an attempt to save our traditional national pastime, a pub in west Cork has banned people from using mobile phones. Billy Fleming, owner of the Anchor Bar, in Courtmacsherry, has said that the locals who drink in his pub support his decision and that mobile phones have gradually killed conversation over the last few years. I am delighted that the management and unions in Oberstown Detention Campus are once again discussing how to agree the way forward for industrial relations in the centre. While I am hopeful that a resolution can be found for all of those involved at Oberstown, I feel that this issue has raised some real questions about considering alternatives to detention, so that children and young people receive services sooner rather than later. Preventing children from entering the youth justice system needs to be a priority from the very first time that a child interacts with the system across health, education and justice. The first time a child comes into school without food, or they miss days without reason or they are reported as at risk of abuse or a concern for risk-taking behaviour - these are all opportunities for society to help them recover and it is our duty to protect them at those points. No child reached the point of criminality which will lead them to Oberstown without our system already knowing about them. So what can we, as aState and as a people, do better? We need to recognise that while alternatives to detention must be explored, Oberstown is our reality, and it may be our last opportunity to positively change some of these young people, rather than assume it is too late. Simply locking young people up does not work and we need to be brave in establishing a new way of doing things, to ensure that any of the young people who are ready to change will have all the support and assistance necessary to do that. The redevelopment of Oberstown Detention Campus has been a vital step in providing a proper, child-centred response to societal issues which manifest in the very small number of young people who develop dangerous and challenging behaviours. The move of young people out of St Patrick's Institution to Oberstown was the beginning of a revolution which was designed to bring about better outcomes for all involved; the young person, their family, their victims and ultimately society in general. The staff and management in Oberstown are tasked with caring for, and treating with respect, those who often do not reciprocate. I am sure that they fulfil this task admirably and with due diligence for the security and safety of all involved. Undoubtedly, some young people in Oberstown are much easier to work with, and relate to, than others. However, therein lies the challenge for us as a society. Can we do more than just secure them until they turn 18 and are released? I have visited Oberstown on a number of occasions and have seen the striking physical redesign which is going on there, but it appears we are now reaching the crossroads for the cultural redesign of the campus. We can look at the incidents that took place during the recent industrial action at Oberstown and see it as proof that all of these young people are violent offenders who deserve no compassion, who should be locked up and treated like prisoners. Or we can decide to redouble our efforts to ensure that every young person who enters the centre can expect respect, dignity and an opportunity to change their offending behaviour. That is an approach we have tried, but never managed to sustain in Ireland. We must remember that Oberstown is a place where young people are not only deprived of their liberty but are also given the opportunity to try and change, and to consider a new way of life. And no matter what else is happening, these goals and objectives must remain front and centre. I visited Oberstown last week after the strike and I spoke with a number of residents. One of the young people asked me why he was being punished, by being locked up for hours, for something that had nothing to do with him. I could not answer him. The knock-on effect of the incidents on the roof that night meant that the young people were confined to their rooms from 9.30pm on Sunday night until after midday on Tuesday - much longer than the planned eight hours stoppage from 8am to 4pm. This is not acceptable. In the past week, I have been in contact with both unions involved in the strike, as well as the management at Oberstown. In line with my statutory obligation, I highlighted issues relating to the rights and welfare of children and young people. Having received their responses, I am not satisfied that the rights of the young people affected were fully to the fore in planning for industrial action. Ireland has already tried the concept of locking up young people in closed institutions, treating them as criminals and calling them inmates or prisoners. That has been proven to fail and fail utterly. Industrial schools, reform schools, work houses, mother and baby homes, laundries - every one of them operated in the "lock them up, break them down and then they will conform" style of child welfare. As our recent history has clearly shown through the Ryan, Murphy, Cloyne and McAleese reports, this way of treating children and young people is doomed to failure. I am not comparing young mothers to young people who have committed crimes, but what I am saying is that taking away their dignity and self-respect after locking people up, does not encourage change but rather entrenches anger and disrespect for the people and society which endorses such treatment. Change is possible and while you will never change all of these individuals, designing the system in a way that assumes you can change none of them, is to fail before you begin. Niall Muldoon is the Ombudsman for Children We will soon see the publication of new rankings for Irish and overseas universities. If past trends are anything to go by, the rankings of our universities may well be falling again. I hope this will be a wake-up call to all our politicians that we need action, and urgent action, to address the impact of a sustained period of underinvestment in this sector. There are many excellent examples of Irish universities being world leaders in research - we are ranked first or second in the world in nanotechnology, immunology and computer sciences. However, the fundamental measurements which drive these rankings have been going in the wrong direction for years. The facts speak for themselves - a 22pc drop in funding while student numbers increased by 18pc between 2007/2008 and 2013/2014. A further 29pc increase in student numbers is predicted up to 2028 over 2013 levels. The quality of our education and our international rankings have been put at risk by larger third-level class sizes and fewer opportunities for small group teaching and practical work. Our student-staff ratio is 22 to 1 compared to the OECD average of 14 to 1. The universities have been reluctant to publicly cry halt in case they damage their reputation. But that hard-earned reputation will be hit anyway by any further decline in the rankings of Irish universities. One lesson we should learn from the recession is that the country's future economic success must be based on sustainable grounds and not short-term advantage. As a small, open economy with few natural advantages over our competitors, people are our greatest asset. The world is changing. Competitor countries in Europe and Asia are doing just that as they recognised that such an investment pays off in terms of higher rankings for their top universities leading to the creation of high-quality sustainable jobs and better economic and social development. It's no coincidence that the Asian universities are making a bigger and bigger mark in the international rankings, as their governments invest massively in their higher education and research systems. They know full well that investment will eventually translate into sustainable jobs. In the future, brain power and the availability of skills and research capacity will become increasingly important in countries seeking to encourage overseas and indigenous investors. Ireland is no exception. The main way to ensure that we stay ahead of the competitive curve is through investment in higher education and research, which clearly needs a quantum leap in funding. Finding those resources poses a significant challenge to our political system, especially in the era of 'new Politics' where cross-party/independent consensus must underpin all major policy and budgetary decisions. A blueprint for tackling the issues is there. The Cassells Report published in July convincingly makes the case that current funding arrangements are not sufficient and a new strategy that will deliver a robust and steady base of funding is needed. I hope the Oireachtas Committee which will now work on this issue will adopt a long-term approach. If the issue is viewed as short term and becomes mired in political wrangling, inertia will follow and our universities will slide even further down the international rankings. It is inevitable that calls for increased resources in third level will be pitched against primary and second level demands. I hope that this time our politicians, of all parties, do not ignore the legitimate demands of third level. The worst decision that can be taken in business when it is facing a crisis is to take no decision. And that's what successive governments in Ireland have done in regard to a proper funding system for higher education. They have kicked the funding can down the road so often it's well dented by now. It's time that we, as employers and investors, voiced our concerns. We need those well-educated graduates in ever-increasing numbers to kick start innovation, to drive our companies and the economy forward, to do ground- breaking research which will translate into tangible and saleable products and create high-value jobs. It may be too late for this year's rankings, but if we can make a start at addressing the underinvestment in third level, starting in the October Budget, as well as committing to long-term funding, the tide can be turned. Martin Murphy is Managing Director of Hewlett-Packard Ireland Kayak adventurer Olly Hicks is keen on attempting to row around the world An adventurer has set his sights on rowing around the world after completing a 1,200-mile kayak trip from Greenland to Scotland. Olly Hicks and George Bullard arrived at Balnakeil Bay in Durness in the Highlands on Sunday morning - more than two months after they set off on the challenge following the trail of historic Inuit hunters. They were inspired by reading mysterious reports from the 17th century of "strange men" spotted off the coast of Orkney. Theories at the time suggested the men were fishermen from Finland or prisoners escaped from transport boats, with the possibility of Inuit tribesmen from Greenland ruled out because of the distance. However, artefacts preserved in Scottish museums, including hunting material and the remains of an ancient, skin-cover kayak, suggest the men may have paddled from Greenland. Mr Hicks, 34, and Mr Bullard, 28, decided to test the theory for themselves. Mr Hicks said: "That was the idea behind the whole project - that the Finnmen in the 17th century had been sighted. "We were trying to raise awareness of the story ... basically we were trying to add fuel to the fire of speculation that the Inuit really could have paddled all the way from Greenland to Scotland three centuries ago." The journey included a stretch of water between Iceland and the Faroes known as "the devil's dancefloor" while r ough seas and poor weather meant the pair had to take regular shelter en route, but they paddled 20 hours a day and sometimes through the night to make up the distance. The London-based adventurers spent years preparing for the voyage, training on the River Thames and practising recovery methods in Devon and Cornwall, as well as training runs from Land's End to the Scilly Isles. Mr Hicks is already working on his next project t o travel the world and, if successful, it will be the longest voyage ever undertaken in a rowing boat. He believes it could take him up to two years and will set off from Tanzania next year with enough supplies for 250 days before restocking. Despite preparing for a solo trip, he is hopeful of getting more people involved but is not afraid to go it alone. "That's part of the appeal, part of the challenge," he said. "We're actually looking into the possibility of turning it into a race and getting a few more people involved, and getting a four or five person race." Mr Hicks admitted he had a "small ambition" to compete at an Olympic Games. He joked: "I can tell you now, ocean kayaking is not going to catch on as a mainstream sport and it will never be an Olympic sport." A documentary about the Greenland to Scotland Challenge is due for release in 2017. A trial excavation last year indicated modern graffiti is 'probably extensive' over the stone's surface (PA/University of Glasgow) A prehistoric stone panel said to be the "most important in Europe" is being unearthed for the first time in 50 years - next to a housing estate in Clydebank. The Cochno Stone, which dates to 3000BC and is described as one of the best examples of Neolithic or Bronze Age cup and ring markings in Europe, is being fully excavated for the first time since being buried in 1965 to protect it from vandalism. The stone lies on land next to a housing estate near Faifley in West Dunbartonshire. Archaeologists will use 3D-imaging technology to make a detailed digital record of the site on excavation and hope this will provide more information on the stone's history, purpose and the people who created it about 5,000 years ago. Dr Kenny Brophy, from Glasgow University, is leading the dig at the site next to Cochno farm. Work started on Monday and is expected to last three weeks. He said: "This is the biggest and, I would argue, one of the most important Neolithic art panels in Europe. "The cup and ring marks are extensive but the site just happens to be in the middle of an urban housing scheme in Clydebank. "It was last fully open to the elements and the public up until 1965. Sadly, as it was neglected it was also being damaged through vandalism and people just traipsing all over it. "Renowned archaeologist Ludovic Maclellan Mann, with a team of experts, decided the best way to preserve it was to cover it over to protect it from further damage. It has lain there ever since." A trial excavation last year indicated modern graffiti is "probably extensive" over the stone's surface. The joint project between the university's archaeology department and the Factum Foundation for Digital Technology in Conservation aims to gather high-resolution data of the stone's surface before reburying it. The foundation then hopes to produce a lifesize copy of the 8m by 13m stone using the recorded digital data and historical sources, including the graffiti as well as prehistoric surface. The foundation's Ferdinand Saumarez Smith said: "Factum Foundation captured the world's attention through its 3D scanning work that led to the discovery of evidence of a new chamber in the tomb of Tutankhamun. "With the Cochno Stone, we are going to use similar recording methods to bring the world's attention to Scotland's equally important, mysterious and beautiful heritage. "We are going to show how digital technology can be used to resurrect this lost monument and give it back to the people it belongs to, because we believe that if we trust people, they will look after it." Iraqi security forces display home-made weapons and munitions formerly belonging to IS which were found in Fallujah (AP) A car bomb ripped through a bustling commercial area of central Baghdad overnight, killing at least 12 civilians, Iraqi officials said. Shortly after the attack, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the bombing in a statement posted online. The explosives-laden pick-up truck was left in a car park in the Shiite-dominated district of Karradah, near a hospital and shops, a police officer said. Up to 28 other people were injured and at least 15 cars were damaged, he said. A medical official confirmed the casualty figures. Early on Tuesday morning, mourners held a funeral procession for some of the dead. Men carried coffins wrapped in Iraqi flags as women wailed and pounded their chests in grief. At the scene of the bombing, shocked residents examined the blood-stained pavement and the damage to nearby shops. The Islamic State group issued a statement saying the suicide attack targeted Shiites. The Associated Press could not verify the authenticity of the statement, but it was posted on militant websites commonly used by the extremists. Karradah is a major commercial area of the capital. Its streets are lined with clothing and jewellery stores, restaurants and cafes. The area is usually packed with shoppers, especially ahead of next week's Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, or the Festival of Sacrifice, which marks the end of the annual Hajj pilgrimage. In early July, an IS-claimed bombing killed nearly 300 people in Karradah as Iraqis were preparing for the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. The Karradah disaster put the Iraqi government under pressure to improve security in the capital and to rein in corruption. Monday's attack came nearly two weeks after authorities reopened the sealed-off part of Karradah, where the July bombing took place, in an attempt to restore normality to the district. AP The spike in attacks was attributed to rising human and shark populations A man in Australia has died after he was bitten by a shark while he was kite-surfing in New Caledonia, Australia. The attack is the second in the area in just six months. The man in his 50s was kitesurfing inside the reef at Koumac, said Nicolas Renaud, head of the archipelagos marine rescue co-ordination centre. He fell and was bitten. The man, who has not yet been identified, was from Fremantle in Australia and was out with several other people on a catamaran when the attack happened. He suffered a deep bite to the thigh from a big shark. We dont know for the moment what species it was, said Mr Renaud. The attack is the second in the area in the last six months. The last fatal shark attack was in New Caledonia in April when a woman was killed while walking in the sea on the beach. In total, there were 98 shark attacks last year, which is the highest number ever recorded. Six of the attacks were fatal. Dr David McInnis said online searches of old texts had helped to uncover pre-Shakespeare uses for many words and phrases that are frequently credited to him An Australian expert on William Shakespeare claims the bard did not invent many of the words and phrases attributed to him, saying the mistake is due to the 'Oxford English Dictionary's' "bias" towards citing literary examples of early usages. Noting examples such as "it was Greek to me" and "wild goose chase", Dr David McInnis, from Melbourne University, said online searches of old texts had helped to uncover pre-Shakespeare uses for many words and phrases that are frequently credited to him. "Did Shakespeare really invent all these words and phrases?" he wrote in an article for the university's online magazine. "The short answer is no. His audiences had to understand at least the gist of what he meant, so his words were mostly in circulation already or were logical combinations of pre-existing concepts." Dr McInnis, a lecturer in Shakespeare studies, said the 'Oxford English Dictionary' contains more than 33,000 quotations from Shakespeare, including about 1,500 listed as the first evidence of a word's existence. A further 7,500 are listed as the first evidence of a particular usage or meaning. "But the OED is biased," Dr McInnis wrote. "Especially in the early days, it preferred literary examples, and famous ones at that. 'The Complete Works of Shakespeare' was frequently raided for early examples of word use, even though words or phrases might have been used earlier, by less famous or less literary people." According to Dr McInnis, the phrase "it's Greek to me" is often thought to derive from Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar', which is believed to have been written in 1599. But internet-based resources have helped to uncover at least one earlier use. Dr McInnis wrote: "Fellow playwright Robert Greene's 'The Scottish History of James the Fourth' was printed in 1598 but possibly written as early as 1590. In it, a lord asks a lady if she'll love him, and she replies ambiguously: 'I cannot hate.' He presses the point at which point she pretends not to understand him at all: ''Tis Greek to me, my Lord' is her final reply." ( Daily Telegraph London) Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte has expressed regret over his "son of a bitch" remark while referring to Barack Obama. In a statement read out by his spokesman, Mr Duterte said his "strong comments" to certain questions by a reporter "elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the US president". Mr Duterte made the remarks on Monday before flying to Laos, where he will attend a regional summit. He had been scheduled to meet Mr Obama separately, but that meeting was called off by the Obama administration. "Clearly, he's a colourful guy," Mr Obama said. "What I've instructed my team to do is talk to their Philippine counterparts to find out is this in fact a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations." National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said the meeting with Mr Duterte was off. Mr Duterte has been under intense global scrutiny over the more than 2,000 suspected drug dealers and users killed since he took office. Mr Obama had said he planned to raise the issue in his first meeting with Mr Duterte, but the Philippines leader insisted he was only listening to his own country's people. "You must be respectful," Mr Duterte said of Mr Obama. "Do not just throw questions." Using the Tagalog phrase for "son of a bitch", he said: "Putang ina I will swear at you in that forum." He made the comment to reporters in Davao City. Eager to show he would not yield, Mr Obama said he would "undoubtedly" still bring up human rights and due process concerns "if and when" the two meet. Officials have raised concerns over the potential influence of a former president of the bloc on negotiations related to Britain's exit from the EU, following his appointment at Goldman Sachs. Jose Manuel Barroso, who served two terms as European Commission president, joined Goldman Sachs in July in a move that revived complaints about EU officials taking up lucrative jobs after leaving. Mr Barroso is understood to be advising the US bank on issues related to Brexit. EU Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly, who oversees transparency issues, said in a statement that "this is a significant public interest issue and must be openly and comprehensively addressed". In a letter to the current Commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker - attached to the statement, Ms O'Reilly said "public unease will be exacerbated by the fact that Mr Barroso has publicly stated that he will be advising on the UK's decision to leave the EU". The UK narrowly voted in June to leave the EU, but discussions on how that will happen have yet to formally start. The Commission's Brexit team is led by French politician Michel Barnier, who was commissioner for internal markets and services during Mr Barroso's second five-year term. Ms O'Reilly wants to know whether Mr Barnier and other staff have received orders on how to "engage" with Mr Barroso. Though Mr Barroso respected the mandatory 18-month cooling-off period before joining Goldman Sachs, his appointment has drawn widespread criticism. The Guardian has reported that more than 75,000 people have signed an EU staff petition calling on Mr Barroso to forfeit his EU pension over the move. Goldman Sachs is particularly toxic for some as the bank has been accused for misleading investors about the quality of its loans ahead of the 2008 financial crisis. Goldman is also alleged to have helped the Greek government hide details about its national debt for more than a decade. In July, Mr Juncker told French media that "the fact that the former president works for a bank does not pose a problem. But for that one, that one poses a problem for me. You must carefully choose your employer". Commission spokesman Alexander Winterstein said that any meeting between Mr Barroso and officials would be noted on the EU executive's public register. AP A police dinghy sails past as aircraft stand idle at City Airport after a protest closed the runway causing flights to be delayed, in London, Britain September 6, 2016. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh Aircraft stand idle at City Airport after a protest closed the runway causing flights to be delayed, in London, Britain September 6, 2016. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh A police dinghy sails past as aircraft stand idle at City Airport after a protest closed the runway causing flights to be delayed, in London, Britain September 6, 2016. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh Aircraft stand idle at City Airport after a protest closed the runway causing flights to be delayed, in London, Britain September 6, 2016. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh Passengers queue at City Aiport after a protest closed the runway causing flights to be delayed, in London, Britain September 6, 2016. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh Police vehicles gather at one end of the landing strip at City Aiport after a protest closed the runway causing flights to be delayed, in London, Britain September 6, 2016. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh Aircraft stand idle at City Airport after a protest closed the runway causing flights to be delayed, in London, Britain September 6, 2016. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh Seven people have been arrested following an airport protest - though passengers remain grounded, with disruptions to flights in and out. The activists were from the nine-strong Black Lives Matter group who stormed the runway at London City Airport shortly before 6am. The Metropolitan Police said the seven have been held on suspicion of aggravated trespass, being unlawfully air-side and breaching airport by-laws after eyewitness reports that the group swam across the Thames to gain access to the Royal Docks site before locking themselves to a tripod frame. Two people remain locked together on the runway. Police are currently negotiating with the nine activists, who have locked themselves together after apparently swimming across the Thames to gain access to the Royal Docks site. Flights in and out of the airport were seriously affected, with no departures or arrivals expected until 10am at the earliest. We're currently experiencing disruption to all flights due to protestors at the airport. Police are currently on the scene. London City Airport (@LondonCityAir) September 6, 2016 A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "We were called at around 5.40am to reports of a number of protesters who made their way air-side. "There are currently nine protesters on the runway at the airport. They have erected a tripod and have locked themselves together. "Officers are currently on scene and are negotiating with them. We are awaiting the arrival of specialist resources that are able to unlock the protesters. "No arrests have been made at this stage." It is the latest demonstration involving the anti-racism activists, who brought traffic to a standstill outside Heathrow Airport - and carried out similar protests in cities around the country - in a co-ordinated day of action last month. The campaigners, whose international movement was set up following the killing of black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida four years ago, said Tuesday's action was taken "in order to highlight the UK's environmental impact on the lives of black people locally and globally". In a statement, the protest group's UK division cited expansion plans at the airport as the cause of their action. They said: "Recently London City Airport was given approval to expand its capacity, a move that consigns the local community in Newham to further deterioration of their environment. The average salary of a London City Airport user is 136,000 euros (114,000) and 63% of them work in business, finance or other business services. "It is an airport designed for the wealthy. At the same time 40% of Newham's population struggle to survive on 20,000 or less. When black people in Britain are 28% more likely to be exposed to air pollution than their white counterparts, we know that environmental inequality is a racist crisis." An airport spokesman said: "We're currently experiencing disruption to all flights due to protesters at the airport. Police are currently on the scene." Passenger Casey Collins said customers were unaware of the protests until after 8am, and assumed the delays were related to IT glitches at Heathrow and Gatwick. The freelance management consultant from Devizes in Wiltshire, was supposed to be on a 7.35am flight from City to Luxembourg. He told the Press Association: "The board was saying all BA flights were on hold, and that there would be updates at 8am, so we thought it was a continuation of the problems at Heathrow and Gatwick with BA. "We then realised that things were more serious because all flights were being affected. "It started to get a little bit out of control in terms of staff letting people know. "We didn't know why we were weren't being called to board, it just said the next information would be at 8am and that people were being encouraged to queue up at the info desk. "But the problem was that there were only two or three staff there and the queue was about 150 yards long so it was impossible. "Pretty soon they realised they would have to do a queue-walk to inform everyone. People were behaving themselves, they know it was not the airport's fault, but for a time it was a bit chaotic." He said passengers were offered refunds for cancelled flights, while delayed passengers were also given refreshment vouchers. A man confessed to police that he had murdered a young sex worker and then took officers to where he had buried her naked body, a court has heard. Christopher Halliwell, 52, admitted he had taken Becky Godden, then aged 20, from the streets of Swindon in Wiltshire, had sex with her and then strangled her. Bristol Crown Court heard that Miss Godden's skeletal remains were recovered from a field in Gloucestershire in March 2011 after Halliwell had taken police to the location. The jury of six men and six women listened as Nicholas Haggan QC, prosecuting, opened the Crown's case against Halliwell. He told them: "What happened to Rebecca Godden? We, the prosecution, say the short answer to that question is that she was murdered. "Her naked body was buried in a clandestine grave in a field which might be described as in the middle of nowhere," he said. "You might conclude that it was plain Rebecca was murdered. "But secondly, this defendant, Christopher Halliwell, confessed to the police that between 2003 and 2005 - he couldn't be sure of the date - he had taken a girl from the streets of Swindon. "He told the police he had sex with her and then he killed her by strangling her. He told the police he stripped the girl of her clothes and concealed her naked body. "Not only that but the defendant took the police to the location." Mr Haggan went on: "Had the defendant not told the police where he had buried that girl from the streets of Swindon, you might think that Rebecca's remains to this day would be in that field in the middle of nowhere." Halliwell, wearing a dark grey suit, white shirt and light blue tie, carried his own bundle of documents into the dock. Relatives of Miss Godden sat in the public gallery, including her mother, Karen Edwards, and Mrs Edward's husband, Charlie, and Miss Godden's father, John Godden. Earlier, the trial judge, retired High Court judge Sir John Griffith Williams, told the jury that Halliwell would not be represented by a barrister and would instead defend himself. But Sir John directed the jury not to speculate on the reason why. "It has no bearing on the issue of his guilt or innocence," he said. "You will give his case the same careful consideration as if it had been advanced by counsel." Mr Haggan told the court that Halliwell had also murdered Sian O'Callaghan, a woman who disappeared after a night out with friends at the Suju nightclub in Swindon in March 2011. He pleaded guilty to murdering Miss O'Callaghan and was jailed for life. "What happened to Sian? She too was murdered," Mr Haggan told the jury. "Her semi-naked body was found a few days after she disappeared. It was concealed by undergrowth in a remote location, not a great distance from the field where Rebecca's body had been buried. "What relevance is that, you might think? The short answer is that this young woman was murdered by this defendant, Christopher Halliwell. "How do we know that? We know that because he pleaded guilty to Sian's murder and is currently serving a term of life imprisonment for that offence." Earlier, Mr Haggan told jurors that the "last reliable sighting" of Miss Godden was in Swindon town centre in January 2003, possibly January 3. "After that nothing more was heard from her. She made no contact with her family; she made no contact with any of the government and other agencies and financial institutions," he said. "She quite literally disappeared. She was just 20 years old." The court heard that Miss Godden's parents, John Godden and Karen Edwards, separated when she was about six years old. "It is right to say Becky had a troubled adolescence," Mr Haggan said. "She became a heavy user of Class A drugs and, at some point during her early to mid- teens, she began earning a living as a sex worker operating in the Manchester Road area of Swindon. "As is so often the case with people in her situation, her life became somewhat chaotic and contact with her parents became more sporadic." Despite her lifestyle, Miss Godden - known as Becky or Rebecca to friends and family - kept in contact with her family, especially on Mother's Day and her birthday on April 4. Mrs Edwards last saw her daughter on December 16 2002, when she collected her following an appearance at Swindon Magistrates' Court, the jury heard. Having picked her up, Mrs Edwards took her to a friend's house in Swindon. "She was the last member of Rebecca's family to see her alive," Mr Haggan said. "No member of Becky's family heard anything from her after that date." A community beat officer recorded seeing Miss Godden, who was known to the police, on December 27 2002. Rebecca Boast, a friend of Miss Godden, spent time with Becky outside a nightclub called Destiny And Desire in Swindon in early January 2003. A taxi pulled up and Miss Godden approached it, returning to the car a short while later and arguing with the driver, Mr Haggan said. "A short time later, Becky told her friends that she was leaving and she went back to the taxi," he told the jury. "She got into the rear of the vehicle and the vehicle drove away. Rebecca Boast never saw her friend again, although she looked for Rebecca when she was out and about in Swindon town centre. "Extensive inquiries by the police indicate that this probably was the last known reliable sighting of Becky." The court heard that Miss Godden did not make contact with her family on Mother's Day in 2003, nor on her 21st birthday in April that year. An open border between Northern Ireland and the Republic post Brexit wouldnt pose a risk to Britain in terms of immigration, Irelands ambassador to London has said. Addressing the House of Lords EU Select Committee, Dan Mulhall said any effort to control the free movement of people on the island, or between Britain and Ireland, would be very damaging. Even under a worst case scenario, that Britain decided to prevent all EU Citizens from coming to live and work in the UK, it seems to me that the Irish border doesnt really pose a particular additional risk to Britain of the kind that would warrant trying to imposed border controls on a border that doesnt have any geographical basis very much, unlike borders in other parts of Europe, Mr Mulhall said today. The House of Lords Committee is conducting an inquiry into the impact on the relationship between the UK and Ireland following the vote on June 23 by UK citizens to leave the European Union. The inquiry is looking at the impact on the Common Travel Area, trade relationships, the border, and the rights of Irish citizens in the UK. It held its first public meeting this afternoon, and will also hear evidence in Belfast and Dublin next month. Mr Mulhall said that as long as Ireland remains outside of Schengen, people coming into Ireland need to go through passport control. Therefore, the only people that will have the right of free movement into Ireland, the right to live and work, will be European Union citizens. Of course, its true that an EU citizen could come to Ireland after Brexit, and then decide to go across the border into Northern Ireland and then into Britain. But they would be illegal immigrants, and most Europeans are not interested in being illegal in any European country. It doesnt seem to me that the Irish border provides any greater challenge for anybody here [in the UK] and I dont think theres any great risk that that border will be abused in the future." The ambassador also said that the Irish government does not underestimate the level of "disquiet" felt by many people in the north at the prospect of losing their connection to the EU. He said a hard border needed to be avoided. "If the UK does leave the EU, Northern Ireland will be in the unique position whereby almost all of its residents will be entitled to citizenship of an EU country, Ireland, and we must be alert to the particular circumstances of those Irish and EU citizens who will find themselves in a situation where they will be citizens of a European Union country, but they will be resident outside of the European Union," the ambassador said. He added that the best arrangement for Ireland in a post-Brexit environment would be keeping the status quo. Mr Mulhall also stressed that Irish officials have been in close contact with their British counterparts, and that there was an understanding across Europe of the sensitivities around Northern Ireland. European Council President Donald Tusk will be in Dublin tomorrow for talks with Taoiseach Enda Kenny, while Mr Mulhall told the Committee that the UKs Brexit Minister, David Davis, would be here on Thursday. Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Theresa May said Mr Davis was expressing his own view when he said its unlikely the UK would remain in the European Unions single market if that meant ceding control over immigration. Mr Davis told politicians yesterday, with the government focused on reducing immigration, its very improbable the UK would stay in the single market if doing so meant it couldnt police migration flows. Magnetite, a form of iron oxide, is known to be produced in car engines - particularly diesel engines, which can emit up to 22 times more particulates than petrol engines - as well as when brakes are used, both by cars and trains. Tiny magnetic particles produced by car engines and brakes can travel into the human brain and may trigger Alzheimer's disease, scientists have warned. Researchers at Lancaster, Oxford and Manchester universities discovered microscopic spheres of the mineral magnetite in the brains of 37 people in Manchester and Mexico who had suffered neurodegenerative disease. Magnetite is known to be toxic and is linked to the production of free radicals which are associated with Alzheimer's disease. Although the mineral has previously been found in the brains of people who had died of Alzheimer's, it was thought it occurred naturally. However, the tiny balls spotted by the scientists had a fused surface, suggesting they had been formed under extreme heat, such as in a car engine. Magnetite, a form of iron oxide, is known to be produced in car engines - particularly diesel engines, which can emit up to 22 times more particulates than petrol engines - as well as when brakes are used, both by cars and trains. It can also be produced by open fires and poorly fitted stoves. Researchers said the findings, published in the journal 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences', opened up a "whole new avenue" into the causes of Alzheimer's disease, while charities said it offered "convincing evidence" that the toxic particles could get into the brain. "Our results indicate that magnetite nanoparticles in the atmosphere can enter the human brain where they might pose a risk to human health, including conditions such as Alzheimer's," said lead author Prof Barbara Maher, of Lancaster University. "The particles we found are strikingly similar to magnetite nanospheres that are abundant in the airborne pollution found in urban settings, especially next to busy roads and which are formed by combustion or frictional heating from vehicle engines or brakes." Prof David Allsop, an Alzheimer's researcher at Lancaster University, added: "This finding opens up a whole new avenue for research into a possible environmental risk factor for a range of brain diseases." The figure of people suffering from dementia, mostly Alzheimer's, is expected to increase as the population ages. Last week scientists reported that they have found a drug that appears to halt the progress of Alzheimer's by clearing the sticky plaques from the brain which prevent brain cells communicating. Nobody knows what causes the plaques. ( Daily Telegraph, London) Air pollution has already been implicated in lung disease and heart attacks and a US study in 2014 showed that people in highly polluted areas were 50 per cent more likely to suffer cognitive decline. But until now, nobody thought that the particles could reach the brain. The new research suggests the particles can be inhaled and enter the brain through the olfactory nerve. Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] Nicolas Sarkozy should face trial along with aides on charges that his unsuccessful re-election campaign received illegal funding, French prosecutors reportedly recommended yesterday. The move is a major blow to the former French president's hopes to run for re-election next year just days after he announced his decision to join the race in a book. Mr Sarkozy was already under formal investigation in the affair, and prosecutors feel there is sufficient evidence against him and 13 other party members for the case to go to trial. Investigating magistrates now have one month to make the final decision on whether the case should come to court, meaning their ruling could come just days before presidential primaries of Mr Sarkozy's Republicans party - held on November 20 and 27. The case initially centred on allegations that false bills via an events company called Bygmalion amounting to 18m were used to mask the fact that Mr Sarkozy's party - then called the UMP - had massively surpassed campaign spending limits in 2012. The inquiry then widened last October to include another 13.5m. Illegal party funding in France carries a maximum prison sentence of a year and a 3,750 fine. In France, campaign spending limits for the 2012 presidential election were 22.5m, a figure his party is accused of vastly surpassing. Mr Sarkozy announced his bid for next year's presidential election last month and faces a primary in November against a dozen other conservative candidates. His lawyer, Thierry Herzog, denounced the prosecutor's request as "gross political manoeuvring". He noted that the move fell on the day the trial opened for Jerome Cahuzac, a former budget minister under Socialist President Francois Hollande forced to resign and charged with allegedly hiding part of his wealth in overseas tax havens. Immunity If the investigating judges eventually decide to send Mr Sarkozy to court, it is unlikely any trial could be held before the April-May presidential election. If Mr Sarkozy was elected next year, he would be granted immunity as president and would not be able to stand trial in the case before the end of the five-year term. In February, the judges handed Mr Sarkozy preliminary charges of alleged illegal campaign financing over an invoice system his party and a company named Bygmalion allegedly used to conceal unauthorised overspending. France had a ceiling on presidential campaign funding in 2012 of 22.5m. The conservative Mr Sarkozy, who was president from 2007-2012 and lost that year's election to Socialist Francois Hollande, is accused of spending 17m over that limit. Mr Sarkozy's party was then called UMP but has since renamed itself the Republicans. He quit as party leader when he announced his presidential bid two weeks ago. Several people close to Mr Sarkozy are among those requested to stand trial in the case. The former president has already paid back 364,000 for overspending in the campaign. "We are absolutely serene about the fact that all this will end up in a dismissed case," said Daniel Fasquelle, the treasurer of the Republicans. "I'm also surprised that this news is being announced today . . . as Nicolas Sarkozy just started his campaign." The so-called "Bygmalion case" is one of several legal cases in which his name has surfaced. In a separate case, Mr Sarkozy was handed preliminary charges of corruption and influence-peddling based on information gleaned from phone taps about an alleged bid to get information from a judge ahead of a decision. Preliminary charges mean magistrates have strong reason to believe a crime was committed but give them more time to investigate before deciding whether to send suspects to trial. Mr Sarkozy has not been convicted of any wrongdoing or gone to trial. ( Daily Telegraph London) Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] Isabelle Dinoire, the woman who received the world's first partial face transplant, has died (AP) A Frenchwoman who received the world's first partial face transplant has died, 11 years after the surgery that set the stage for dozens of other transplants worldwide. The Amiens University Hospital in northern France announced Isabelle Dinoire's death on Tuesday. It said she died aged 49 in April after a long illness, but her family wanted her death kept private. The hospital went public with the death after Le Figaro reported on it. The hospital did not release any further details and it was not clear if her illness was related to the transplant. Ms Dinoire was severely disfigured by her pet Labrador - and was given a new nose, chin and lips in 2005 by doctors Bernard Devauchelle and Jean-Michel Dubernard. Medications that patients must take to prevent their bodies from rejecting the new organs can cause other illnesses and have severe side effects. Le Figaro said she had suffered two cancers linked to the transplant and lost partial use of her transplanted lips last year. The operation changed Ms Dinoire's life and drew international attention. There have been nearly 40 face transplant surgeries around the world since 2005, including one last year in New York that was the first to include a scalp and functioning eyelids. Ms Dinoire, a divorced mother of two teenage daughters, said she was wrestling with personal problems at the time of the 2005 dog attack and "took some drugs to forget". She said she had passed out when the dog bit her. Disabled by her disfigurement, she welcomed the opportunity for a transplant from a brain-dead woman. Her doctors said they repeatedly warned her of the risks involved. Her operation was "an unquestionable surgical success" and the medical community learned from her experience, said Dr Jean-Paul Meningaud, who heads the reconstructive surgery department at the Henri Mondor Hospital south of Paris and was not involved in treating Ms Dinoire. But Dr Meningaud, who has been involved in seven of France's 10 face transplants, is now arguing for suspending the procedures so that the medical community can take stock of whether the long-term benefits are worth the physical and psychological toll they take on patients. In Ms Dinoire's case, "the results were very good in the medium term, but the long-term results were not so good," Dr Meningaud said. He said that face transplant recipients are having more difficulty with anti-rejection medication than doctors initially predicted, and are requiring more follow-up surgery. "It's a rather high price to pay for the patient. It's time to mark a pause," he said. Her immune system nearly rejected the transplant twice. A year later, doctors said she was gaining more and more sensitivity and facial mobility, and she got herself a new dog. "I can open my mouth and eat. I feel my lips, my nose and my mouth," Ms Dinoire said at a news conference in 2006. "I have a face like everyone else," she said. "A door to the future is opening." AP Soldiers and police at the scene of a suicide attack in Kabul (AP) Militants have stormed a building housing an international aid organisation in Kabul, provoking an overnight firefight with security forces in which three gunmen were killed and six civilians were wounded, Afghan officials said. The attack took place a day after twin bombings near the Afghan Defence Ministry killed at least 35 people and wounded more than 100 others. Police special forces killed all three gunmen involved in an overnight attack in the Shar-e Naw district of the Afghan capital, Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for the Afghan interior minister said. Six civilians were wounded in the attack, according to the Interior Ministry. It initially said one civilian had been killed but a later statement clarified that only three militants had died. An Interior Ministry statement said that a suicide car bombing struck close to a building belonging to the charity Care International in Shar-e Naw late on Monday night, after which three more attackers entered the building. "Police special forces immediately reached the site of the attack and started rescuing people from the building .... 42 people who were trapped were evacuated by the security forces," the Interior Ministry statement said. In a statement on Tuesday, Care said that on Monday night "an armed group launched an attack on what is believed to have been an Afghan government compound located close to the Kabul office of Care International". It said the incident continued through to the early morning, "with damages sustained to the Care compound." "All Care staff have been evacuated, are safe and are accounted for," it confirmed. The area is home to several guest houses and many foreigners and diplomats reside there. Security forces have blocked all the roads leading to Shar-e Naw. The shooting comes after at least 35 people were killed on Monday in twin bombings near the Afghan Defence Ministry that were later claimed by the Taliban. The Defence Ministry said in a statement Tuesday that 100 people were wounded in the bombings, and that five army officers were among the 35 killed. The death toll had risen considerably overnight. AP Boats wait to be taken out of the water as they prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Newton in Cabo San Lucas (AP) Hurricane Newton has slammed into the twin resorts of Los Cabos on the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California peninsula, knocking out power in some areas as stranded tourists huddled in their hotels. Newton made landfall as a Category 1 storm with winds of 90mph, pelting the area near Cabo San Lucas with heavy rain and blowing down at least half a dozen palm trees along the coastal boulevard. Some windows were also shattered, but there was calm in the city as firefighters cleaned the streets of debris. Roberto Dominguez, a customer relations worker at the Fairfield Marriott in Cabo San Lucas, said guests hunkered down in their rooms overnight. He said the hotel's windows and balconies had been sufficiently protected from the storm and tourists were fine in the morning, although without mobile or internet services. Los Cabos suffered heavy damage to homes, shops and hotels two years ago when it was hammered by Hurricane Odile, which hit land as a Category 3 storm. After making landfall, Newton moved inland and its centre was located about 50 miles west of La Paz, the capital of Baja California state. It was moving north-east at around 17mph. Maximum sustained winds had decreased to 80mph. Mexico extended hurricane warnings for the peninsula and also a stretch of the mainland coast across the Gulf of California, also called the Sea of Cortez. The US National Hurricane Centre predicted Newton could cross the peninsula as a hurricane and re-enter the gulf. Newton was forecast to dump eight to 12 inches of rain on Baja California Sur state with isolated maximums up to 18 inches, and heavy rains were also expected for five other states. Newton could even reach the US border at Arizona as a tropical storm, according to the latest forecasts. About 14,000 tourists had remained in Los Cabos as of Monday night as airlines cancelled flights, said Genaro Ruiz, the state tourism secretary. Mr Ruiz said tourists had been advised to remain in their hotels. "The most important thing is to stay at home," said Carlos Godinez, a civil defence official for Baja California Sur. "If there is nothing that requires you to be outside, take shelter with your family." Officials evacuated low-lying areas and opened 18 shelters at schools in the two resorts and 38 more in other parts of the state, while warning people against panic buying. "There is no need for mass buying," Los Cabos Mayor Arturo de la Rosa Escalante said. "There is enough food and fuel for the next 20 days." Los Cabos police were stationed at shopping centres to guard against the kind of looting that occurred after Hurricane Odile. On Monday, torrential rains from then-Tropical Storm Newton prompted some 100 people to evacuate their homes and damaged residences in Uruapan in the Pacific coast state of Michoacan, the city council reported. Some roads were blocked by flooding and mudslides in the neighbouring state of Guerrero, where some people were evacuated by helicopter. No deaths were reported in either state. Newton was expected to move up the peninsula and enter the Gulf of California by Tuesday night. The hurricane centre said the storm could dump one to three inches of rain over parts of Arizona and New Mexico by Thursday, threatening flash floods and landslides. AP Patty and Jerry Wetterling with a photo of their son Jacob, who was abducted in October 1989 (AP) A Minnesota man has confessed to abducting and killing an 11-year-old boy nearly 27 years ago, putting to rest a mystery that has haunted the state and led to changes in national sex offender laws. Danny Heinrich made the admission as he pleaded guilty to federal child pornography charges that could put him behind bars for decades. Asked whether he abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered Jacob Wetterling, Heinrich said: "Yes I did." Heinrich, 53, of Annandale, led authorities to Jacob's buried remains in a central Minnesota field last week, according to a law enforcement official. The Stearns County Sheriff's Office said Jacob's remains were identified on Saturday. Appearing in court, he admitted abducting Jacob from a road near the boy's home in the central Minnesota community of St Joseph on October 22 1989. Authorities named him as a person of interest in Jacob's disappearance last October when they announced the child pornography charges. Heinrich had long been under investigators' scrutiny. They first questioned him shortly after Jacob's abduction, but he maintained his innocence and they never had enough evidence to charge him. They turned a renewed spotlight on him as part of a fresh look into Jacob's abduction around its 25th anniversary. As part of that effort, investigators took another look at the sexual assault of 12-year-old Jared Scheierl, of Cold Spring, nine months before Jacob's disappearance. Investigators had long suspected the two cases were connected. Mr Scheierl has spoken publicly for years about his case, saying it helped him cope with the trauma and that he hoped it could help investigators find his attacker and Jacob's kidnapper. Using technology that was not available in 1989, investigators found Heinrich's DNA on Mr Scheierl's sweatshirt, and used that evidence to get a search warrant for Heinrich's home, where they found a large collection of child pornography. The statute of limitations had expired for charging him in the assault on Mr Scheierl, but a grand jury indicted him on 25 child pornography counts. Jacob's abduction shattered childhood innocence for many rural Minnesotans, changing the way parents let their children roam. His smiling face was burned into Minnesota's psyche, appearing on countless posters and billboards over the years. His mother, Patty Wetterling, always kept hope her son would be found alive. She became a national advocate for missing children, and with her husband, Jerry Wetterling, founded the Jacob Wetterling Resource Centre, which works to help communities and families prevent child exploitation. In 1994, Congress passed a law named after Jacob that requires states to establish sex offender registers. AP A wave of bombings in several Syrian cities yesterday, including a suicide attack claimed by Isil, killed at least 43 people in government-controlled areas. The blasts were in the coastal city of Tartus, the central city of Homs, the suburbs of the capital Damascus, and the northeastern city of Hasakeh. The attacks were timed closely together, but authorities have not determined whether they were linked. Isil claimed responsibility for the blast in Hasakeh. Areas controlled by President Assad's forces have seen several bombings and other attacks during the country's five-year civil war, with many claimed by al-Qai'da-linked militant groups. One of yesterday's attacks took place in the heavily guarded suburb of Sabbourah, marking a major security breach. The Syrian Arab News Agency (Sana) said the attack killed one person, while the opposition-run Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three people were killed. "It's an area that houses officers and their families. Even before the revolution it was carefully guarded," said opposition media activist Yousef al-Boustani, referring to the 2011 uprising against Assad, which began with peaceful protests demanding reform. The Britain-based Observatory, which maintains a network of contacts inside Syria, put the overall death toll at 47. Conflicting casualty figures are common in the Syria war. Attackers detonated two bombs along the international coastal highway to the government stronghold of Tartus, Sana said, killing 35. A car bomb at the Arzoneh bridge was followed by a suicide bomber, who targeted a crowd that was gathering. The city, a stronghold of support for President Bashar Assad, is home to a major Russian naval base. The Observatory said the twin blasts killed 35 people, including an army colonel, and wounded dozens more. A survivor at the al-Bassel Hospital told state TV the blasts occurred near a checkpoint on the highway. "My car caught fire and army soldiers pulled us out of the car," he said. The governor of Homs province said a car bomb struck a military checkpoint in the provincial capital, killing three soldiers and a civilian, and wounding 10 others. Most humpback whales are being taken off the endangered list by US authorities US federal authorities are taking most humpback whales off the endangered species list. The National Marine Fisheries Service said on Monday that nine of the 14 distinct populations of humpbacks have recovered enough in the last 40 years to warrant being removed from the endangered list. Four distinct populations remain listed as endangered and one as threatened, the agency said. The National Marine Fisheries Service last year proposed removing most of the world's humpback whales from the endangered species list. It said populations of the animals have steadily grown since the international community banned commercial whaling nearly 50 years ago. AP Bill Cosby arrives for a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Bill Cosby's sexual assault trial was tentatively scheduled for June 5, 2017, as it emerged he could face multiple accusers at the trial The 79-year-old American entertainer is accused of drugging and assaulting a woman in 2004 at his home, one of dozens of similar allegations made by some 60 women stretching back decades Expand Close Bill Cosby arrives for a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Bill Cosby arrives for a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Pennsylvania prosecutors said on Tuesday they intend to call more than a dozen accusers as witnesses against Bill Cosby at his sexual assault trial, setting up what will likely be an intense legal battle as it emerege The Montgomery County District Attorney's office filed a motion on Tuesday, just before Cosby appeared at a pretrial court hearing in Norristown, asking state Judge Steven O'Neill's permission to introduce the testimony of 13 women who claim the 78-year-old entertainer assaulted them. Defense lawyers for Cosby will presumably fight the request, which was made under a Pennsylvania law regarding the introduction of so-called "character evidence" against criminal defendants. Cosby is charged with drugging and assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004 at his Pennsylvania home. Approximately 60 women have accused Cosby of attacking them over several decades, though the Constand case is the only one to result in a criminal prosecution thus far. The former star of the 1980s TV series "The Cosby Show," who built a long career on family-friendly comedy, has denied assaulting anyone and portrayed his sexual relationships with the women, including Constand, as consensual. In general, a defendant's prior bad acts are not admissible as evidence that he or she committed a particular crime. Prosecutors, however, are sometimes allowed to use evidence or witnesses to prove a defendant committed a crime as part of a longstanding pattern of behavior. Numerous women have accused Cosby of strikingly similar sexual assaults, claiming that he plied them with alcohol and drugs before taking advantage of their altered mental state. Judges typically weigh the value of such evidence against the possibility that it will unfairly prejudice a jury. Cosby's lawyers, meanwhile, have made their own motions seeking to limit the evidence. They have asked O'Neill to bar the district attorney's office from introducing a telephone conversation between Cosby and Constand's mother that was secretly recorded, as well as a deposition from Constand's civil lawsuit against Cosby in which the comedian admitted giving Quaaludes to women before sexual encounters. In addition, Brian McMonagle, the lead defense lawyer, said on Tuesday he planned to request that the trial be moved elsewhere. He suggested the pool of potential jurors in Montgomery County had been tainted because the Constand case became a major campaign issue when District Attorney Kevin Steele ran for office last year. Cosby, who is free on $1 million bail, could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison if convicted. A Minnesota man who had been considered a "person of interest" admitted in court on Tuesday to the 1989 abduction and killing of an 11-year-old boy whose remains he helped lead police to last week, authorities said. Danny Heinrich, 53, said he kidnapped, sexually assaulted and fatally shot Jacob Wetterling, who was riding his bike on a rural Minnesota road with his brother and friend when he was abducted in October 1989 in a case that shook the U.S. Midwestern state. Expand Close Jacob Wetterling / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jacob Wetterling Heinrich "is the confessed murderer of Jacob Wetterling, and nearly 27 years after he committed this heinous crime, he has been brought to justice. And Jacob is finally home," Andrew Luger, U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota, said in a statement. Expand Close A bouquet of flowers is placed at the end of Jerry and Patty Wetterling's driveway as news has come out that the search for Jacob Wetterling may be over, Saturday afternoon, Sept. 3, 2016, in St. Joseph, Minn. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and other officials are offering support to the family of Jacob Wetterling after his mother said the remains of the boy missing for nearly 27 years have been found / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A bouquet of flowers is placed at the end of Jerry and Patty Wetterling's driveway as news has come out that the search for Jacob Wetterling may be over, Saturday afternoon, Sept. 3, 2016, in St. Joseph, Minn. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and other officials are offering support to the family of Jacob Wetterling after his mother said the remains of the boy missing for nearly 27 years have been found Read More Last October, authorities named Heinrich a person of interest in the case, given the similarities between Wetterling's abduction and a number of unsolved sexual assaults in central Minnesota dating to the 1980s. Wetterling's parents, Patty and Jerry Wetterling, became advocates for missing children after his disappearance. Heinrich, who has been in custody since his arrest last year, detailed the abduction and killing of Wetterling in court on Tuesday. "I panicked. I pulled the revolver out of my pocket ... I loaded it with two rounds. I told Jacob to turn around," the Minneapolis Star Tribune quoted Heinrich as telling the court. Expand Close A white ribbon with a large J hangs on a post along Minnesota Street as residents there await confirmation that remains found belong to 1989 abduction victim Jacob Wetterling, Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016, in St. Joseph, Minn. The Stearns County Sheriff's Office says in a statement that Jacob's remains were identified on Saturday. Jacob was 11 when he was kidnapped from a rural road on Oct. 22, 1989, near his home in St. Joseph, about 80 miles northwest of Minneapolis. (Kimm Anderson/St. Cloud Times via AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A white ribbon with a large J hangs on a post along Minnesota Street as residents there await confirmation that remains found belong to 1989 abduction victim Jacob Wetterling, Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016, in St. Joseph, Minn. The Stearns County Sheriff's Office says in a statement that Jacob's remains were identified on Saturday. Jacob was 11 when he was kidnapped from a rural road on Oct. 22, 1989, near his home in St. Joseph, about 80 miles northwest of Minneapolis. (Kimm Anderson/St. Cloud Times via AP) "I told him I had to go to the bathroom," Heinrich said. "I raised the revolver to his head. I turned my head and it clicked once. I pulled the trigger again and it went off. Looked back, he was still standing." "I raised the revolver again and shot him again." Authorities searched Heinrich's home in July 2015, finding child pornography in three-ring binders and on a computer hard drive. They also found dozens of videotapes Heinrich appeared to have filmed of young boys delivering newspapers, playing or riding bicycles, officials said, but Wetterling's picture was not among them. Heinrich also pleaded guilty to federal child pornography charges on Tuesday, the U.S. Justice Department said. A man has been accused of breaking into a Massachusetts home and painting a dog purple before making a getaway in a stolen car. Felix Reagan forced opened a ground level window in the Martha's Vineyard property and then painted the victims dog with purple paint, police say. Officers responded to a report of a crashed stolen vehicle with the suspect fleeing from the scene on foot, according to Oak Bluffs Police Department. Approximately 5-10 minutes later, officers were dispatched to a residence after a report of a breaking and entering, the department added. Items were reported stolen and the victims dog had been painted with purple paint, Oak Bluffs Police Department said in a statement. A search of Reagans person revealed prescription pills, a drivers license and credit cards that were stolen from the victim of the break-in. Reagan also had purple paint on his pants which was consistent with the paint that was found on the dog from the Pinewood Lane break-in. The statement added: While in the police cruiser Reagan attempted to kick out the windows and kicked an Oak Bluffs Officer on two occasions. Reagan has been charged with breaking and entering in the daytime with the intent to commit a felony, cruelty to animals, larceny of a motor vehicle and related crimes. Duterte has been under intense global scrutiny over the more than 2,000 suspected drug dealers and users killed since he took office. Obama had said he planned to raise the issue in his first meeting with Duterte. Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters Barack Obama called off a planned meeting with new Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte, seeking distance from the US ally's leader during a diplomatic tour that's put the American president in close quarters with a cast of contentious world figures. It's unusual for one president to tell another what to say or not say, and much rarer to call the other a "son of a bitch". Duterte managed to do both, warning Obama not to challenge him over extrajudicial killings in the Philippines. "Clearly, he's a colourful guy," Obama said. "What I've instructed my team to do is talk to their Philippine counterparts to find out is this in fact a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations." Early yesterday, National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said the meeting with Duterte was off. Duterte has been under intense global scrutiny over the more than 2,000 suspected drug dealers and users killed since he took office. Obama had said he planned to raise the issue in his first meeting with Duterte. Philippines' President Rodrigo Duterte gestures while answering questions during his pre-departure news conference before leaving for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Laos at the Davao International Airport in Davao city, Philippines September 5, 2016. REUTERS/Lean Daval Jr President Rodrigo Duterte gestures while answering questions during his pre-departure press conference before leaving for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Laos at the Davao International Airport in Davao city, Philippines September 5, 2016. REUTERS/Lean Daval Jr Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte has expressed regret over his "son of a bitch" remark while referring to Barack Obama. In a statement read out by his spokesman, Mr Duterte said his "strong comments" to certain questions by a reporter "elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the US president". Mr Duterte made the remarks on Monday before flying to Laos, where he will attend a regional summit. He had been scheduled to meet Mr Obama separately, but that meeting was called off by the Obama administration. "Clearly, he's a colourful guy," Mr Obama said. "What I've instructed my team to do is talk to their Philippine counterparts to find out is this in fact a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations." National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said the meeting with Mr Duterte was off. Mr Duterte has been under intense global scrutiny over the more than 2,000 suspected drug dealers and users killed since he took office. Mr Obama had said he planned to raise the issue in his first meeting with Mr Duterte, but the Philippines leader insisted he was only listening to his own country's people. Expand Close U.S. President Barack Obama steps out from behind a curtain screen as he arrives for a press conference after the conclusion of the G-20 Summit in Hangzhou in eastern China's Zhejiang Province, Monday, Sept. 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp U.S. President Barack Obama steps out from behind a curtain screen as he arrives for a press conference after the conclusion of the G-20 Summit in Hangzhou in eastern China's Zhejiang Province, Monday, Sept. 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) "You must be respectful," Mr Duterte said of Mr Obama. "Do not just throw questions." Using the Tagalog phrase for "son of a bitch", he said: "Putang ina I will swear at you in that forum." He made the comment to reporters in Davao City. Eager to show he would not yield, Mr Obama said he would "undoubtedly" still bring up human rights and due process concerns "if and when" the two meet. Donald Trump was fighting back in the polls and set to spend millions on TV advertisements as the US presidential election unofficially kicked off in force yesterday. The Labor Day holiday marks the start of an intense period for campaigning, with a little over two months left until the November 8 vote. Expand Close Hilary Clinton. Photo: Reuters / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Hilary Clinton. Photo: Reuters Surveys showed a significant narrowing of the gap between Mr Trump, the Republican nominee, and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. A Morning Consult poll released yesterday showed Ms Clinton up by only two points, a lead that had been seven in the same poll three weeks ago. The latest Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll of "likely voters" in all 50 states had the race as a statistical tie, registering an eight-point swing against Ms Clinton, pictured, in the last week. It also showed support for Mr Trump among Republicans jumping six points over the past two weeks, giving him 78pc backing in his own party.That was close to the 85pc Mitt Romney enjoyed as the Republican nominee in 2012. An average of all recent polls showed Ms Clinton's lead at 3.9 points, less than half what it was a month ago. The boost she received after the Democratic Convention at the end of July has disappeared. One poll conducted by the Los Angeles Times gave Mr Trump a three-point lead nationally. It came as Ms Clinton faced a resurgence of criticism over her use of a private email server while she was US Secretary of State, and the relationship between the Clinton Foundation and some of its donors. However, Ms Clinton maintained healthy leads in key battleground states including Pennsylvania, Ohio and North Carolina. Mr Trump finally began opening his funding war chest, buying $10m in television advertisements. So far, Ms Clinton has outspent the billionaire by nine to one on advertising. Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said: "Clinton got a substantial bounce from the convention that lasted for a full month. It's usually gone around Labor Day and we're where we should be." The email scandal that has dogged Hillary Clinton erupted again as it was revealed she blamed concussion for failing to remember briefings on how to preserve classified government records. Ms Clinton also faced ridicule from Republicans after telling the FBI she did not realise the letter 'c' on documents meant 'Confidential', instead thinking it had something to with the alphabetical order of paragraphs. The front-runner in the US presidential election also admitted brazenly discussing future drone strikes against terrorists on her unsecure email account, and narrowly avoided opening a link to a pornographic website which could have seen her fall victim to Russian hackers. New revelations in the year-long saga came as the FBI released 58 pages of heavily redacted documents summarising interviews it conducted with Ms Clinton and her top aides. The agency was investigating Ms Clinton's use of a private server in the basement of her New York home for her email when she was US Secretary of State between 2009 and 2013. James Comey, the FBI director, announced in July that Ms Clinton would not be criminally charged over the scandal but condemned her for being "extremely careless". Her opponents seized on the latest details of what the FBI discovered, saying it further called into question Ms Clinton's judgment and fitness to be president. The documents showed Ms Clinton used phrases like "I don't recall" and "I don't remember" a total of 39 times during her own three-and-a-half hour interview with agents on July 2. A picture emerged of a haphazard and shambolic approach to email security. Ms Clinton used at least eight BlackBerry mobile devices linked to the private server. There were also five iPads. Staff were sometimes dispatched to buy older versions of the equipment because she did not like the most up-to-date versions. What happened to discarded devices was "not known" and none of the BlackBerrys were ever recovered by the FBI. A Clinton aide recalled twice battering phones she no longer used with a hammer, or breaking them in half in an attempt to dispose of them. Ms Clinton also took her electronic devices into prohibited areas on the seventh floor of the State Department. ( Daily Telegraph London) Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] US President Barack Obama speaks at the Lao National Cultural Hall in Vientiane, Laos (AP) Barack Obama has said the United States will work with allies to toughen sanctions on North Korea after further ballistic missile launches on Monday. But the US President added that there is room for dialogue if North Korea changes direction. President Obama's comments come after a meeting with President Park Geun-hye of South Korea. The two leaders are attending a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Laos. He said the two leaders want peace and security for all peoples. President Obama said the latest North Korea launches are provocative and that North Korea needs to know that such actions will increase its isolation in the world. Mr Park said a nuclear test and continued missile launches are fundamentally threatening the security of the Korean Peninsula. AP "We are going to work diligently together with the most recent UN sanctions," President Obama told reporters after meeting with Mr Park. "We are going to work together to make sure we're closing loopholes and make them even more effective." North Korea fired three ballistic missiles off its east coast on Monday. The launch was widely viewed as a show of force timed to get the attention of world leaders visiting the region for a series of summits. The UN Security Council in late August strongly condemned four North Korean ballistic missile launches in July and August. It called them "grave violations" of a ban on all ballistic missile activity. Despite the heavy sanctions, North Korea says the programmes are justified because of the threat posed by the US and South Korea. Both leaders suggested they would continue to push China, North Korea's only ally in the region, to use its influence to intervene. "President Park and I agreed that the entire international community needs to implement these sanctions fully and hold North Korea accountable," President Obama said. He added that the US had not closed off the possibility for dialogue with North Korea, if it were to change course. "If it is willing to recognise its international obligations and enforce the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, the opportunities for us to dialogue with them are there," President Obama said. "We do not have any interest in an offensive approach to North Korea." AP Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Uzbekistan on the way back from the G20 summit in China (AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited Uzbekistan where the president of nearly 27 years was laid to rest on Saturday, leaving no apparent successor. Uzbekistan is former Soviet central Asia's most populous country and borders Afghanistan, making it of strategic interest to Russia and the United States. Islam Karimov, who crushed opposition throughout his rule, was buried in his hometown of Samarkand on Saturday. The chairman of the country's Senate has been declared interim head of state in line with the constitution, but it is unclear if he will succeed Mr Karimov as president. Mr Putin visited Mr Karimov's grave and held a brief meeting with Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev, indicating that the prime minister is likely to get the job. AP Activists and rescue workers say te Syrian government has dropped chlorine bombs on Aleppo Syrian government aircraft have dropped suspected chlorine bombs on a crowded district of Aleppo, injuring dozens, activists and rescue workers said. The report could not be independently verified. Accusations involving the use of chlorine and other poisonous gases are not uncommon in Syria's civil war, and both sides have denied using them. Last month, there were at least two reports of suspected chlorine attacks in Aleppo, while the Syrian government also blamed the opposition for using the gas. In the latest attack, a medical report from one of the hospitals in the besieged eastern rebel-held part of Aleppo was shared with journalists. It said at least 71 people including 37 children and 10 women were treated for breathing difficulties, dry cough, and that their clothes smelled of chlorine. The report said 10 of the patients are in critical care, including a pregnant woman. Ibrahem Alhaj, a member of the Syria Civil Defence first responders' team, said he got to the scene in the crowded al-Sukkari area shortly after a helicopter dropped barrels containing what he said were four chlorine cylinders. He said he had difficulty breathing himself, and used a mask soaked in salt water to prevent irritation. At least 80 civilians were taken to hospitals and treated for breathing difficulties, he said. A video by the rescuers shows children crying and men coughing. "Most of those injured were women and children," he said. "It is a crowded neighbourhood." The head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 70 people suffered from breathing difficulties after a barrel bomb attack in al-Sukkari on Tuesday. The Observatory's chief, Rami Abdurrahman, said he could not ascertain if it was chlorine gas attack. Chlorine gas is a crude weapon that can be fatal in high concentrations. In lower doses, it can damage lungs or cause severe breathing difficulties and other symptoms, including vomiting and nausea. A team of international inspectors determined in late August that the Syrian government and Islamic State militants were responsible for chemical attacks carried out in 2014 and 2015. But the UN Security Council failed to agree on whether to impose sanctions on the government in line with a September 2013 resolution authorising sanctions that can be militarily enforced for any use of chemical weapons in Syria. The resolution followed Syria's approval of a Russian proposal to relinquish its chemical weapons stockpile and join the Chemical Weapons Convention. That averted a US military strike in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack that killed hundreds in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta. Russia, a close Syrian government ally, has blocked sanctions against President Bashar Assad's government. Fighting in the deeply contested city of Aleppo has not let up despite international efforts to establish a ceasefire. On Sunday, Syrian pro-government forces backed by air strikes launched a wide offensive in the city, capturing areas they lost last month and besieging rebel-held neighbourhoods once more after a breach in the siege a month earlier. On Tuesday, a Turkish spokesman said Turkey was pushing for a ceasefire in Aleppo that would extend through the Muslim religious holiday of Eid al-Adha, due to begin on Monday. Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke to his US and Russian counterparts during the G20 meeting in China about the ceasefire. AP Nihar Info Global applies for trademark registration for 'ONVO' Nihar Info Global Limited informed to the exchanges that it has successfully applied for Trademark registration of its private label "ONVO" under the 'Trademark Classes 18 and 21. ... October 28, 2022 | 28-10-2022 2:37 pm Rupee rises 4 paisa to 82.29/$ Early on Friday, the rupee strengthened against the US dollar by 4 paise to 82.29, helped by a weak US dollar in the international market and strong local equities. The influx of new fore... October 28, 2022 | 28-10-2022 2:30 pm PNB Housing Finance's net profit increases by 12% PNB Housing Finance announced on Thursday that its September 20222023 quarter net profit increased by 11.7% to Rs 262.63 crore, thanks to a little increase in core income. In the same period... October 28, 2022 | 28-10-2022 2:25 pm Dhanuka Agritech soars ~8% as board to consider buyback Dhanuka Agritechs stock surged as much as 8% in Fridays intraday session and touched a high of Rs742. The company stated in its filing with the exchanges that at its ensuing ge... October 28, 2022 | 28-10-2022 2:18 pm Markets trade flat amid volatility; Nifty below 17,800 dragged by metals Domestic benchmark indices in a volatile session and trading flat after a gap-up opening on Friday. Both the Sensex and Nifty benchmarks are in the green during the afternoon market session ami... October 28, 2022 | 28-10-2022 2:00 pm Sadar Police on Sunday booked a foreign student for raping his senior from the same country studying in a college in Ludhiana's Badowal area. The accused was identified as 20-year-old Nopo of Lesotho in South Africa (presently living at rented room in Baddowal area), who is a first year student of Bachelors in Commerce at the same college. lockerdome.com/Represenatational image In her statement to police, the victim, who is a second year student of Bachelors in Business Administration (BBA) at a private college in Baddowal area, said that the accused called her on mobile on Saturday early morning claiming that a third year student from their country was heavily drunk and they needed to shift him to his room outside college. She added that as she lives in the hostel, she went to the nearby liquor vend on Baddowal Jhande road where the accused had asked her to come at around 12.30 am on Saturday. The complainant said that the accused, who was heavily drunk, then took her to nearby vacant plot and raped her there. She added that the accused also tried to strangulate her before running away from the spot. informante.web.na/Represenatational image The complainant said that after the incident, she somehow reached the hostel and informed the college authorities. She added that later they informed police about the incident. On being informed, cops from Sadar Police Station reached the spot and started investigation into the matter. Police have booked the accused under Section 376 (rape) of the IPC and have started further action into the matter. Station House Officer (SHO) of Sadar Police Station Gurdev Singh who is Investigating officer of the case as well said that the accused is on the run after committing the crime. The North Eastern Region has a distinctive connectivity constraint - thanks to its difficult terrain. It is connected only through a narrow strip of land to the rest of the country and this narrow strip is the well-known Chicken Neck corridor of North Bengal. Both rail and road linkages are only through this corridor. The region does not have adequate rail links and the road connectivity is also poor. Moreover, during the monsoon season, the region remains cut off from the rest of the country because of frequent submergence of both road and rail connection lines. Connectivity by air, both intra region and with the rest of the country, thus needs to be substantially augmented. Currently, air connectivity in the NE region is dismal barring the connectivity of a few airports in Guwahati, Agartala and Dibrugarh with the rest of the country. Facebook/City of peace and joy Thus, the government is making an effort to start air connectivity between the northeastern states and the rest of the country as well as neighbouring countries. Currently, Guwahati and Imphal are the only two cities with international airports in northeast India. On account of low air connectivity with the North Eastern states, the only connectivity between North East India and countries like Bangkok, Dhaka and Yangon is through Kolkata, which is a much longer route. However, if there is air connectivity between northeast India and East Asian countries, this would not only boost trade and economy within the country but also outside India, not to mention the distances that would significantly reduce. The junior Civil Aviation minister said the central government expects some private airlines to soon introduce more flights in the northeast and operate international flights from there. "To improve regional air connectivity at fair price, MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) would be signed with the governments of the northeastern states," he added. Facebook/Modified northeast India Considering the poor road condition in the Northeast, the state government urged the union minister to take steps to increase the number of flights from Agartala to Kolkata, Delhi and Guwahati keeping in mind the poor road condition of the national highways in the mountainous region. The Civil Aviation Ministry has undertaken an ambitious project to operationalise 50 currently unused airports across the country, including the northeastern region. Though these areas are far flung, the government is keen to offer fair prices in air travel in the country. Flights between Dhaka, as well as important Bangladesh cities like Chittagong and Sylhet - and Agartala, would be operated to boost trade and tourism besides people-to-people connect. Facebook The Chief Minister of Tripura, Manik Sarkar and Transport Minister, Manik Dey, said that the Civil Aviation Ministry has undertaken a Rs.400 crore project to upgrade Agartala airport to international standards by providing world-class facilities. He highlighted that upgradation of Agartala airport is very vital as Tripura's capital city is the second largest city in northeast India in terms of population and air traffic after Guwahati. Agartala airport handled 816,303 passengers in 2013 and the number rose to 905,014 in 2015. Moreover, the state government had allotted 72 acres of land to AAI for construction of the new terminal building, runway and other necessary infrastructure in Agartala airport following which 157 families had relocated to acquire 72 acres of land. Thus, upgradation of the Agartala airport is likely to start soon. Moreover, talks are on with the Chief Minister to rename the airport. Soon the long standing demand of the Northeastern states would soon be brought to fruition. This will boost trade, tourism and connectivity between northeastern states and adjoining Bangladesh. Air India In keeping with the plan by the government to improve air connectivity in the North East, Air India decided to operate small aircraft with 20 or less seats within the North-Eastern Region and make Guwahati, Agartala and Dibrugarh as hubs for the airlines operations within the region. Air India has also trained local youth for manning these hubs for ensuring effective functioning, providing a base at Guwahati for aircraft and night stop at Agartala and Dibrugarh. Heena Khan is certain that she's seen jehanum (hell). "How else do you describe writhing in pain for over eight hours as someone held your legs down and another pressed your belly till the foetus in your womb gave up," asks the 16-year-old. Heena does not remember what happened after that. When she regained consciousness it was 4am and daylight was about to break in Bulandshahr. Her baby was wrapped in a black cloth and put into a plastic bag. She remembers her brother Firdaus, 20, trying to take her home but the self-professed "Dr'' Urmila -popular in this small town for her "delivery skills" -reportedly said no. Heena's family owed her Rs 2,500 of Rs 6,000 promised for 'pet ke safai' (abortion). Till they could pay, the girl was under lock and key. wordpress "It was then that I called the police," Firdaus recalls. A panicked Urmila, whose clinic was in a two-storeyed house, let her go. Firdaus and their mother Shehnaaz Khan, carrying the seven-month-old baby in a plastic bag, were taken to Kotwali Dehaat police station on August 29. Two days later, at the Babu Banarsi Das government hospital in Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, about 75km from Delhi, Heena stares out of the window vacantly. She is still dizzy and in pain, rubbing the marks of injections on her hands. Heena alleges that she was raped twice, and beaten up over several months by a neighbour, Mohammed Yunus, 20. "I was too scared to say anything to my family. He threatened me, beat me," Heena says. It was only when she started showing signs of a growing belly that Shehnaaz got suspicious and took her to the village quack (known as "Dr'' Bijender) in Bhaipura, a few kilometres from the main city. The family went to Yunus's home and confronted them. His mother allegedly forced Heena to go to the "abortion centre". Kotwali Dehaat station officer Rameshwar Kumar says, "We have lodged a complaint against Yunus, his mother, Bijender and Urmila. We have arrested Urmila on grounds of illegal medical terminal of pregnancy." The police has charged them with rape and illegal abortion, and under the Pocso (Protection of Children against Sexual Offences) act. The other three are on the run, and the police think Yunus may have returned to Ahmedabad, where he used to work as a welder. Though the room used for deliveries in Urmila's clinic has been sealed, busi ness has just shifted to other rooms.Half a dozen women wait in the small hall lined with benches two days after the arrest. Urmila's daughter-in-law Rajeshwari Rajpat claims her mother-in-law has been charged wrongly."The woman came with the foetus' head stuck and legs out. The girl had to be carried. She was in so much pain. My mother-in-law decided to help them. She didn't ask for money. The girl is being forced by someone to say these things," Rajpat says. Heena may have survived the risky illegal abortion, but across the country quacks pretending to be qualified doctors and performing crucial procedures is common. Government records peg the number of abortions in the country at 6 lakh a year, but these numbers are significantly low, say experts. US-based Guttmacher Institute is conducting a study on the incidence of abortion in India, but provisional estimates place it at 11.2 million. A bill (Medical Termination of Pregnancy amendments bill) that proposes training mid-level workers like auxiliary nurse midwives may be useful in preventing deaths and destroying young lives. The bill is under the consideration of union health ministry. Dr Sara Bano, who treated Heena after the illegal abortion, says many abortions go wrong. "Many take overthe-counter abortion pills and then come here with excessive bleeding or other complications," she says. thehindu Ipas Development Foundation executive director Vinoj Manning says, "Our studies show that in India nine women die due to unsafe abortion every day. The proposal to train and support nurses and ANMs to dispense abortion pills is probably the most positive policy change since abortion became legal in India 45 years ago. The proposed law will revolutionize abortion care for rural and poor women by bringing a trained and safe abortion provider closer to their community." Names of the rape survivor and her family have been changed to protect identity The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Bihar Police probing the toppers scam on Monday filed a chargesheet against 32 people, police said. BCCL A chargesheet of over 4,000 page was filed against former Chairman of Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh, his wife and former JDU legislator Usha Sinha, Bachcha Rai, the alleged kingpin of the scam and former director and principal of V.R. College in Bihars Vaishali district and former board secretary Harharnath Jha, Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Manu Maharaj, Singh, Sinha, Rai and Jha are currently in jail after being arrested in the case. Maharaj said 20 of the 32 people are government employees and 12 others include four fake toppers. Nine of the 32 people are still absconding, he said. According to the police, last month a special juvenile court here granted bail to Ruby Rai, an accused in Bihar toppers scam. Ruby had topped this years Class XII examination conducted by the BSEB in humanities stream. Also Read: We Left Answer Papers Blank In Exam Hall, Says Arrested Bihar Science Topper Rahul Kumar BCCL She got into trouble after a sting by a TV channel showed her giving ludicrous answers to elementary questions related to her subjects. Class XII science stream topper Saurabh Shreshtha was also caught on camera giving wrong answers to basic science questions. TOI The sting suggested that the toppers might have used cheating and fraud to achieve their ranks. Both Ruby and Saurabh belonged to V.R. College in Vaishali district. Also Read: Bihar's Prodigal Science 'Topper' Is A Minor So Won't Go To Jail, But Her Parents Are Hiding To Avoid Arrest! Swati Mahadik, the widow of Colonel Santosh Mahadik who was killed during a search operation in Kupwara in November is all set to follow her husband's footsteps and adorn the army colours. Facebook This, after she cleared the SSB (Service Selection Board) exam. She will now undergo training at the Officers Training Academy in Chennai, for 11 months before joining the army. There was no emotion, no happiness or sadness. Just numbness. It seemed routine, even though I had worked so hard for it in the last few months. I guess because there was no one to celebrate the news with, she said. Swati, a graduate from University of Pune, had at her husband's funeral expressed her intention to join the army as a tribute to her husband. The mother of two said she was selected on merit and was not given any special consideration The only concession the Army gives for widows of martyrs is age concession and thats all I got too. After that, all candidates are on a par, be it the written exam or the interview or the fitness tests. BCCL Swati's husband, Colonel Santosh Mahadik was the commanding officer of the 41 Rashtriya Rifles. While on a search operation for suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists, he was killed by in a gunfire. First days at a new job can get pretty awkward, right? Especially when you don't know someone there. You're anxious, kind of nervous, don't know how things work, wonder if people are like-minded. All sorts of questions keep running through your mind. But how different would the first day at a normal desk job be from something more radical like a ghostbuster, or, I don't know, a pornstar? Wouldn't the pressure to perform just get to you? What if you get stage-fright or get way too excited for your own good? YouTube channel Wood Rocket got in touch with some of the better-known pornstars out there to figure what actually goes down. Well, that's not the right way of putting it (pun intended), we know what actually goes down but let's hear it from the horse's mouth, shall we? Part 1 - Part 2 The next time you think you're having a bad day remember there's someone called a fluffer in the porn industry whose only job is to keep a male adult film star aroused on the set. Human Trafficking is one inconvenient truth that India can't get brush underneath the carpet anymore. Each year, lakhs of Indians, be it women, girls, boys and even grown men get trafficked within as well as outside the country. But a big chunk of human trafficking happens to keep the sex trade alive in other counties and India has become a big source for supply of women for this trade; especially for the countries in middle east. AFP Also Read: India Human Trafficking, Sexual Slavery & A Girl Child: This Documentary Shows A Horrific Picture Of Varanasi! Be it 12-year-old Assamese girl recently rescued by Delhi Police from a red light area or the girl rescued from Saudi Arabia in 2013 who spent eight horrifying years in Middle East as a sex slave, the story is more or less the same as Assam grapples with issue. The recent National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) data 2015 shows that Assam has emerged as the trafficking hub of the country. With 1494 cases, the state accounts for whopping 22% of the total reported cases of trafficking across the country. Also Read: Fatima Khatoon, Who Got Trafficked At 9 In Name Of Marriage Receives A Death Threat For Fighting Human Trafficking! It's not that only women are being trafficked from Assam, Assam also accounts for highest number of cases of child trafficking. A total of 1317 cases were recorded in last one year which accounts for a staggering 38 percent of the figures collected from across the country. Also Read:India Prepares To Combat Human Trafficking, Govt. Unveils Draft Law To Protect Survivors The figures present a disturbing picture. But the situation on the ground could be far worse as many cases of trafficking go unreported. AFP The NCRB figures are only of those which have been reported to the police and FIRs registered. The actual number of trafficking cases in Assam would be much higher, Digambar Narzary, chairperson of Nedan Foundation was quoted in HT. Also Read: All Villages In The North East To Have Women Personnel, First Step To Stop Human Trafficking According to Narzary, the helpline of the NGO which operates in 8 districts of Lower Assam, records 4-5 cases of missing children and adults every day. Recurring floods, militancy, poverty, lack of employment avenues lead many victims and their families to succumb to the lure of traffickers who promise a better future away from the state. Russian President, Vladimir Putin, is apparently building secret bunkers to prepare for a nuclear war. According to an insider, Putin is not only building nuclear shelters but also refurbishing structures around Moscow to protect himself and his fellow-leaders from a "big war" that will most likely come from the West. Reuters "Russia is getting ready for a big war which they assume will go nuclear, with them launching the first attacks," said Mark Schneider, a former nuclear policy official from the Pentagon. National Geographic "We are not serious about preparing for a big war, much less a nuclear war," he added in his interview with Washington Free Beacon. Satellite footage has revealed the location of a huge facility near Mount Yamantau. Google via The Sun Russia, being a nuclear power, is already devising the world's most powerful nuke, the Satan-2 - which has the potential to wipe out an area the size of France. Terrorist organisation ISIS has banned women from wearing the burqa at their security centers in the Iraqi city of Mosul, which they have recently invaded. The terror group called 'the burqa' a security risk after their top jihadis were shot down by veiled women carrying concealed pistols. vocativ In the past, women living in ISIS-occupied territories in Iraq and Syria have been beaten and even killed by ISIS for not wearing the all black veil. The veil will still be mandatory across Mosul, except security centres. A source told local media: "A veiled woman carrying a pistol killed two members of ISIS who were standing in a checkpoint in Sharqat, north of Salah al-Din. The incident surprised the organisation and forced them to issue an alert of similar attacks." Earlier, media reports released photos of women in the liberated Syrian city of Manbij burning the sombre outfits, including what appears to be a burqa, which they had been forced to wear under ISIS control. Just last month, women were seen celebrating after being freed in previously ISIS ruled city of Manbij, burning their outfits, revealing their face and even smoking cigarettes. Islamic experts have firmly held that the Burqa has nothing to do with Islam - the word reportedly finds no mention in the Quran. In June this year, 19 year Souad Hamidi became the face of women's liberation under the Islamist regime when she tore off her Niqab. (IMAGE) Women in Afghanistan in The 70's dressed as they liked before the rise of the brutal Taliban, and now ISIS pic.twitter.com/PpZGdZxCni American Jihad Watch (@Watcherone) September 6, 2016 As is now protocol with ISIS, these women are subjected to sexual violence and repression. "Damn this stupid invention that they made us wear" , the recently freed women says, as she sets her burqa alight. "They banned television, the telephone, they took all the meat, they took all the bread, we've been living in hunger," she told a Kurdish Anha news agency. "They took our men and killed them, they trapped our people in prisons, we want them back." "Putang ina" might have become the accidental highlight of a press conference give by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. In Tagalog, spoken in the Phillipines, it translates to 'son of a bitch' Duterte was warning US President Barack Obama to not ask him about the ongoing flurry extrajudicial killings, or "son of a bitch I will swear at you" when they meet at a Laos regional summit. He was answering a reporter's question on explaining the extrajudicial killings to Obama. Reuters More than 2,000 suspected drug pushers and users have been killed since Duterte launched a war on drugs. "I am a president of a sovereign state and we have long ceased to be a colony. I do not have any master except the Filipino people, nobody but nobody. You must be respectful. Do not just throw questions. Putang ina I will swear at you in that forum," he said. The recently appointed President is slowly becoming infamous for his foul mouth. In May, he called the pope a 'son of a whore', and refused to apologise in person. He has also abused U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Obama was scheduled to meet with Duterte on the on the sidelines of the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Meeting no more - Obama's meeting South Korea's president instead "Clearly, he's a colourful guy," Obama said about Duterte later. "What I've instructed my team to do is talk to their Philippine counterparts to find out is this in fact a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations," he added. "I always want to make sure that if I'm having a meeting that it's actually productive, and that we're getting something done," Obama concluded. Last week, Duterte said he was ready to defend his bloody crackdown on illegal drugs, which has sparked concern from the US and other countries. In June this year, a student on a full swimming scholarship to Standford was given a very lenient sentence of six months for raping an unconscious 23-year-old woman. Brock Turner, now 21, faced three counts of sexual assault and faced a maximum of 14 years in prison after he was found thrusting an unconscious woman, naked from the bottom down. However, he was only given six months in prison because the judge thought that a longer sentence would have severe impact on the former swimmer. BROCK TURNER IS A RAPIST. NOT AN "EX-SWIMMER", SWIMMER, STANFORD STUDENT, ETC. HE'S A RAPIST. Best Coast (@BestCoast) September 2, 2016 The severe-impact-on-the-rapist part angered a lot of people. Why the bias? Because he couldve potentially represented American in the Olympics. But what about the victim? Didnt the judges think about the impact this leniency would have on the victim and the message this sends out to the general public? People online are not only angry for Turners early released but also about the medias bias in referring to him as a former swimming champion first and then a rapist. Its supposed to be the other way around after you have raped someone. "Ex-Stanford swimmer"??? Let's call him what he is, a rapist. https://t.co/CCJ5PhkNlR Andrea Russett (@AndreaRussett) September 2, 2016 Stanford swimmer convicted of sex assault set for release from jail Chandra Bernardo (@BernardoChandra) September 5, 2016 do you ever look at a guy and just KNOW he still addresses brock turner as "the stanford swimmer"??? terry (@whosteresa) September 5, 2016 Dear Media, for every woman on the planet, get this right: He is not, "Former Stanford Swimmer," he IS: "CONVICTED RAPIST, #BrockTurner" Rebecca Yarros (@RebeccaYarros) September 3, 2016 media outlets keep mistakenly referring to Brock Turner as the "Stanford swimmer" so I made a thing to correct them pic.twitter.com/0ev4XTMGhn kat frm the internet (@whackkat) September 3, 2016 STANFORD SWIMMER IS NOT HOW YOU SPELL RAPIST Olivia Wright (@oliviawright34) September 3, 2016 Please stop referring to him as a "Stanford swimmer" and start using the right term. #BrockTurnerIsSTILLaRAPIST #blacklivesmatter (@Penguiraffecorn) September 3, 2016 Being a Stanford swimmer is irrelevant. He is a RAPIST and deserves years in prison. 3 months in unjust! #BrockTurnerisSTILLaRAPIST Christian H (@Christianhead1) September 3, 2016 Turner was freed from the Santa Clara County Main Jail in San Jose, California, after serving three months. He faces three years of supervised probation and will be registered as a sex offender for the rest of his life. ALSO READ: Woman Explains The Difference Between Rape And Consensual Sex With A $5 Bill On the unfortunate night of January 17, 2015 two Stanford University graduate students on a bike found the victim being assaulted by Brock Turner but he ran away after they approached him. She wrote a letter after the verdict was announced expressing her disappointment over the sentence. It was released on Buzzfeed and widely read and shared. Were excited to announce that indmin.com is now part of fastmarkets.com. A new look and an improved experience means you can still stay ahead of this fast-moving market with price data, news and market intelligence right here on Fastmarkets. Discover more than 2000 prices, news and analysis in primary and secondary metals markets. We cover base metals, industrial minerals, ores and alloys, steel, scrap and steel raw materials. If you already have a Fastmarkets account, youll still have uninterrupted access to your markets by logging in with your current details. The European this week clearly backed statements by German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere regarding the refugee crisis in Europe and the potential return of asylum seekers to Greece, with a spokeswoman reiterating on Monday that the Greek government is obliged to reinstate the Dublin Treaty. The Abia State police command said it had arrested sixteen suspected kidnappers and some armed robbery suspects terrorizing residents of the state. The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Leye Oyebade, stated this at a news briefing at the commands headquarters in Umuahia on Monday, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports. He vowed that the command would deal decisively with criminal acts in the state and warned criminals to engage in legitimate business or leave the state. The commissioner alleged that the suspected kidnappers on Friday abducted two relatives returning from a pharmaceutical shop in Aba. He said the suspects took the victims to their hideout in Uratta, from where they demanded N2 million ransom. He said policemen immediately trailed the suspects to their hideout where they rescued the victims and arrested two of the suspects while others escaped. Fifty children orphaned by Boko Haram insurgents were awarded scholarship with their tuition paid upfront for the next 9 years in commemoration of Borno state Governor Kashim Shettimas 50th birthday anniversary. The award was sponsored by a group of 30 friends, family members and political associates of Shettima, who yesterday organized a reception in honour of the governor at the multi-purpose hall of the Government House in Maiduguri. Secretary to the Group of sponsors, Malam Isa Gusau, who is also spokesman to the governor, announced a list of 30 donors, who made payments of various sums into his personal access Bank account which he in turn issued bank drafts for payment of tuition fees for the 50 orphans. Two schools, Maiduguri Capital School and BaraImul Iman Integrated School, were paid to provide education, text and note books, school uniforms and bags for the orphans from their starting of school in September, 2016 to the year 2022, when those admitted into primary schools are expected to graduate and the years 2025, when younger orphans admitted into pre-nursery schools are expected to graduate. Chairman of the Occasion and former Governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, who was in Maiduguri, said the organizers of the event chose to support orphans because they had seen Governor Shettima being passionate about educating orphans of the Boko Haram insurgency. Kwankwaso also unveiled a 168-page compendium titled, Talks In Defying Terror which compiled speeches, interviews, columns, Editorials and news reports published and aired by local and international media organizations on the activities of Governor Kashim Shettima from 2011 to 2016. Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State has said that the state government is set to float an airline to be known as Cally Air, as part of its tourism investment drive. The governor made the disclosure yesterday, in Calabar, the state capital, while playing host to a consortium of Indian investors. According to him, the airline will be managed by Dana Group under a Public Private Partnership, PPP, arrangement. Governor Ayade added that the airline will make its inaugural flight in November and would fly Calabar, Obudu, Lagos and Abuja routes. He said: We have our own states aircraft currently in Aero Contractors fleet in Lagos. The management of Dana Airline has agreed to do a detailed technical study of the aircraft before it commences commercial flight operations. Ayade said that the state was in a haste to get the airline started while Dana Airline would serve as its technical partner. Earlier, the Managing Director of Dana Group, Mr. Jackies Hartmani, applauded the joint partnership between his group and the state government. My company is very impressed with what Governor Ayade is doing to transform the state in terms of investment and we are committed to ensuring the success of the partnership, Hartmani said. Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has the people of Edo State to vote for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, flag bearer in the governorship election on Saturday, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, describing him as the best choice for the state. This just as he called for extra-vigilance among people of the state before, during and after the governorship polls. While warning against inconclusive election as witnessed in some by-elections in recent time, the governor said the Edo polls will serve as a litmus test for the All Progressives Congress-led federal government. Fayose said: The people should not just vote and go to sleep, they must make sure that their votes count and victory is ensured for Pastor Ize-Iyamu, the PDPs candidate. The governor, in a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka on Tuesday, warned Edo people against repeating what he said was the same mistake Nigerians made last year when they voted the APC at the federal level. Fayose said party sentiment apart, Pastor Ize-Iyamu has campaigned through the nooks and crannies of Edo State to sell his visions and missions to the people of the State and anyone who saw the Channels Television debate on Sunday will agree with me that Pastor Ize-Iyamu is better equipped for the governance of Edo State. The governor declared that; If you believe in me and you are a voter in Edo State, give your vote to Pastor Ize-Iyamu, the man who has demonstrated the required capacity to lead Edo State to prosperity. While calling on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the security agencies to maintain neutrality before, during and after the election, Fayose described the Edo polls as a litmus test for the APC led federal government, urging all government agencies involved in the election to put the interest of democracy first. He said INEC must not repeat its story of inconclusiveness on the Edo State election, adding that for the first time in the history of this APC led federal government; election must be free, fair and conclusive. Governor Fayose also urged Edo people to be vigilant on the election day and make sure that votes are counted and recorded in relevant forms at the polling units, adding that; the people should know that elections are not concluded until results are announced officially. Late human rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria,Chief Gani Fawehinmi, would have supported the anti-corruption campaign of the current administration if he were alive, a Lagos lawyer has said. Mr. Fawehenmi, a no-nonsense legal luminary widely regarded as hero of the masses, passed away on September 5 2009 after a prolonged battle with lung cancer. Speaking yesterday in Ondo at the National Conscience Partys 7th Gani Fawehinmi memorial lecture series, Barrister Ebun Adegboruwa, however, said the late activist would have disagreed with the operational methodology of the current anti-corruption campaign, which he claimed is lopsided and selective. Mr. Fawehinmi founded the NCP. According to Adegboruwa, He (Gani) would have put pressure on Gen Buhari to first probe his campaign funds and all members of his own political party who have held power in the past. By now, Gani would have filed several cases in court to compel all public officers to declare their assets publicly, in line with the campaign promises of the president. The Lagos lawyer pointed out that Gani would have opposed and mobilized Nigerians to resist the recent increase of fuel prices. The two things that seem to determine the economy of Nigeria are the price of petroleum products and the exchange rate of our currency. So Gani always wanted a system that would guaranty a friendly package for all the masses of our people, he added. Adegboruwa further stated that Gani would have been in the forefront of promotion of qualitative education and would have called for a broad based government of national unity, where all talented and experienced Nigerians, would be encouraged to contribute to our national development. He also said the legal luminary would have advocated for proper restructuring of Nigeria, into a proper federation, with the devolution of power to the regions and the local governments. With Gani, the courts would have been agog with myriad of cases on the countless acts of impunity that we have been forced to put up with in this country. Gani would have mobilized the human rights community and civil society and labour to embark upon peaceful protests, all over the land, to reject the poverty and suffering that this government has imposed upon the people of Nigeria. A Japanese command to destroy incoming North Korea missiles on Monday repeatedly failed, according to local press. Tokyos self-defence forces were unable to recognise North Korea preparations for Mondays missile test because Pyongyang used a road mobile launcher, also known as a transporter erector launcher, it was reported. On Monday, the defence ministry could not detect the three ballistic missiles North Korea fired until they landed west of Hokkaido in Japans exclusive economic zone. Tokyo also could not immediately confirm the results of the launch even after Seouls joint chiefs notified the public of the tests. Japan press also reported the missiles have increased in strike accuracy. Each of the three missiles launched Monday travelled about 620 miles before falling into Japanese waters. The defence ministry estimates the missiles fell between 125 and 155 miles from Japans northern island of Hokkaido. SEE ALSO: North Korea Celebrates Missile Launch With Dance Party Artists worldwide have paid their respects to US rapper Lil Wayne after he suggested that his doomed label situation has got him thinking about retirement. Lil Wayne on Saturday vented his frustrations on Twitter and suggested his retirement. I AM NOW DEFENSELESS AND mentally DEFEATED & I leave gracefully and thankful I luh my fanz but Im dun, the 33-year-old wrote, seemingly in response to his futile attempts to escape his contract with Cash Money Records. I AM NOW DEFENSELESS AND mentally DEFEATED & I leave gracefully and thankful I luh my fanz but I'm dun Lil Wayne WEEZY F (@LilTunechi) September 3, 2016 He then wrote, aint lookin for sympathy, just serenity probably in response to the replies he got after causing alarm across social media. ain't lookin for sympathy, just serenity Lil Wayne WEEZY F (@LilTunechi) September 3, 2016 Fellow artists including Rick Ross, Lupe Fiasco, Chance The Rapper, and Missy Elliott have all reacted to his possible retirement from music. Here are some of the reactions: He won'twe ain't da quittin type and he love his fans and supporters too much! #DaGOAT #Mula https://t.co/aea68aGEbG Mack Maine (@mackmaine) September 3, 2016 https://twitter.com/rickyrozay/status/772042917192036353 Dear @LilTunechi I just wanna remind you that absolutely nothing and no one in this world can defeat you. Tell them devils back back. Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) September 3, 2016 Just talked to my brotha @LilTunechi we good see yal tonight #MadeInAmerica #collegrove Tity Boi (2 Chainz) (@2chainz) September 3, 2016 I hope you find some solace in the act of creating and continue to practice in some capacity the art which you helped progress @LilTunechi DROGAS WAVE & BeatNPath NOW PLAYING (@LupeFiasco) September 3, 2016 Prayers up 4 whatever u may be enduring right now this to will pass & may u find PEACE I will always be a fan of your work Missy Elliott (@MissyElliott) September 3, 2016 Olorogun Michael Ibru, chairman of the Ibru Organization, died at the age of 86 on Tuesday. His death came just over one month after the burial of his younger brother, Olorogun Felix Ibru, the first civilian governor of Delta State. According to family sources who confirmed Mr. Ibrus death to SaharaReporters, the late Michael Ibru, who had been battling with his health for over eight years, died in the early hours of Tuesday in Florida, U.S. The entrepreneur was the first son of Chief Epete Ibru of Agbarha-Otor in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State. He was married to Cecilia Ibru, the former CEO of the now defunct Oceanic Bank, who was arrested and jailed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Source: SaharaReporters The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has said that Nigeria is better off with Lagos than with the Niger Delta. He made this position known in a post on his Instagram page. Following the crash in the price of oil in the international market, there have been arguments in support of diversification of Nigerias economy from crude oil, which comes from the restive Niger Delta region. Some of the public commentators often cite the Lagos example, which though officially became an oil-producing state recently, has survived over the years on non-crude oil earnings. Supporting this line of argument, the emir, a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, said the example presented by Lagos State, is a story of what Nigeria can do with itself in terms of transparency, consistency and regulations. According to him, Thats why today, Lagos state is 30% Nigerian non-oil GDP, and Lagos can do without oil. He continued: This country is better off with Lagos than with the Niger Delta. Lets not make that mistake. We should be together as a country. Every part of the country is important. But, let us not be so obsessed by a resource, because we have had the commodity driven model, and we are blind to the potentials of an alternative model. Sanusi II maintained that Lagos doesnt need oil. What is oil anyway? It is a raw material. You dont drink it. You need it to move your vehicles. Now, you have electricity. You need it to fill your generator. Now you have solar power, and biomass. The future of oil is not there. The monarch also had a message for those agitating for the countrys break-up so they can have their oil and earnings from it to themselves. So, those few people who are trying to break up this country over oil, after sometime that oil will be worthless, he asserted. The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, has decried the kidnap of oil and gas workers returning from Egbema-Ohaji field to Port Harcourt, Rivers State, by unidentified kidnappers. The workers, about 14 in number, were returning to their base in Port Harcourt when the bus that was conveying them, was intercepted and diverted to an unknown destination amid heavy gunfire by the kidnappers. The workers were employees of Nestoil, an oil company in Ogba Egbema Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State. Condemning the abduction of the workers, National President of NUPENG, Comrade Igwe Acehese, in a statement on Monday described the kidnapping as one too many and called for hands to be on deck to protect the lives of oil workers, especially those working in installations. We are, therefore, worried about the attack which has made Oil Workers an endangered specie. It calls on the Federal Government to quickly ensure that Oil Workers returning from fields are given adequate security. The union warns that the recent kidnapping of such numbers of Workers will further scare foreign investors that would want to bring in the needed foreign capital and expertise to expand on projects in the oil and gas sector. It wants the security agencies to intensify efforts to comb the creeks and make sure the kidnapped oil Workers are brought back alive to rejoin their families with no ransom paid and the culprits punished. President Barack Obama has canceled a planned meeting with the President of Phillipined, Rodrigo Duterte. The Presidents were expected to meet at the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian conference on Tuesday. However, Duterte called out Im the President of a sovereign state, and we have long ceased to be a colony. He then went ahead to call Obama son of a whore. Obama said, Clearly hes a colorful guy. I always want to make sure if Im having a meeting its productive. Duterte has come under criticism for his disregard for human rights in his fight aginst the illegal drug trade as policemen have carried out thousands of extrajudicial killings. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday said he regrets comments aimed at U.S. President Barack Obama, which led to a cancellation of their meeting. The meeting between Obama and Duterte was rescheduled and will not occur this week while the two leaders are in Laos for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit. SEE: Obama Cancels Meeting With Philippines President A statement from Manilas Malacanang Palace said the meeting has been mutually agreed upon to be moved to a later date. The decision comes after a rant Monday by Duterte, who was critical of potential conflict with Obama. The United States then decided the meeting planned for Tuesday wouldnt be productive. SEE ALSO: Philippines President Calls Obama Son Of A Whore Dutertes office said his comment were not meant to be a personal attack against Obama. Prior to traveling to Laos on Monday, Duterte, expecting criticism from Obama over the Philippines new war on drugs in which more than 1,900 people have thus far died, bluntly answered a press question by saying I am a president of a sovereign state and we have long ceased to be a colony. I do not have any master except the Filipino people, nobody but nobody. You must be respectful. Do not just throw questions. Putang ina I will swear at you in that forum, he said, using the Tagalog phrase for son of a bitch. Obama, in Hangzhou, China, for the G20 summit, responded, Obviously the Filipino people are some of our closest friends and allies and the Philippines is a treaty ally of ours, but I always want to make sure that if Im having a meeting that its actually productive and were getting something done. On Tuesday, Duterte admitted that While the immediate cause [of the controversy] was my strong comments to certain press questions that elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the U.S. president. A date for the rescheduled meeting was not announced. A young man shocked passersby in Uganda this afternoon after falling from the rooftop of Mabirizi Complex in the city Centre. The man who was seen on the roof top of the six story building -suddenly jumped with his arms spread out to the shock of those wondering what he was doing there. Instead of dying as he wanted, he landed on top of a car parked by the roadside, thus escaping death with serious injuries. He however left the car damaged. No one knows the reason for his action as he was rushed to a Hospital for treatment. WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT Source: National Helm President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday in Edo State, assured Nigerians that their sufferings occasioned by the economic recession, will soon be a thing of the past. The president re-assured the citizens of his administrations resolve to make the country great again. He spoke in Benin City, the Edo State, capital at the grand finale of the All Progressive Congress, APCs campaign rally, ahead of this Saturdays governorship election in the state. President Buhari, who paid tribute to the late Oba of Benin, Oba Erediauwa, described him as a man of foremost integrity and forthrightness. He said, [Adams] Oshiomhole has reminded you of what we have gone through from 1999 to 2015. We have seen development more than what it used to be when Edo State was created. It was at that time that I met with the Oba who has joined his ancestors, and I saw a man with great integrity and there is no doubt that there is hardly any traditional ruler which is foremost and forthright like him. Edo people are lucky because as long as Nigeria exists, we will continue to play our role in stabilizing Nigeria. We are a nation of great human and material resources especially the youths. Please sit down and reflect and remember what I said years ago that there is no other nation like Nigeria. We will remain one together because no matter where you go the colour of your skin will be a problem for you. I congratulate Obaseki and I recommend him to you. He is a seasoned man so that you will continue to grow in Edo state. You have a credible team, you better hold them tight and ensure that Obaseki succeeds. I assure you that we are going to get out of our economic problems. We are almost out of our security problem and we are going to make Nigeria greater again. We are going to be very proud of our country once again, our size, our resources will not be for nothing. We will continue to grow. Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has labeled Nigerians hypocrites, who condemned him for wearing a T-shirt to the state House of Assembly but praised co-founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg for dressing in similar fashion. The governor came under fire from a section of Nigerians when he appeared in casual wears to present the 2016 budget estimates before the House of Assembly, last December. Some of his critics said considering the importance of the function, Mr. Fayose ought to have dressed in a formal or traditional outfit. Fast forward last week, Mr. Zuckerberg, who is listed in the worlds ten richest people, according to Forbes, arrived Lagos last week to meet young tech entrepreneurs, in T-shirt and jeans. He also took to the street, as is his tradition, to keep fit by jogging, without the compliments of body guards or security escorts. The move earned him rare accolades from President Muhammadu Buhari and Nigerians, who hailed the Facebook CEOs simplicity and humility, despite being the richest young person in the world at age 31. In his response to the perceived double standards, Gov. Fayose, while speaking at a meeting with directors of finance and accounts, directors of information, chief internal auditors and others from across ministries, departments and agencies in the state on Monday, described Nigerians as hypocrites, who see nothing good in whatever he does. Whatever I do, they will condemn. When I wore T-shirt to the House of Assembly, they said I didnt dress properly. But when the Facebook founder came to Nigeria, wearing T-shirt and jeans, they hailed him. They said he was humble. Hypocrites, thats what they are, he said. The governor, however, forgot to mention that when Mr. Zuckerberg visited the president at the State House in Abuja, he was formally dressed in suit. People have trouble prioritizing risk. For example, you often hear about the threat of voter fraud, when all evidence suggests that the risks of such fraud are inconsequential. In truth, hacked voting machines are much more likely to affect an elections outcome. Why would an election fraudster try to herd a flock of criminal participants to the polls when one mildly talented hacker could cause far more trouble? [ An InfoWorld exclusive: Go inside a security operations center. | Discover how to secure your systems with InfoWorld's Security newsletter. ] On a state-by-state level, most presidential elections are decided by many thousands of votes. For example, in 2012, Barack Obama beat Mitt Romney by more than 166,000 votes in the swing state of Ohio. Even in the 2000 election, the closest presidential contest ever, what sort of Houdini could have marshaled the miscreants necessary to cast a few hundred fake votes to tip the balance without getting caught? A hack of a single voting machine could accomplish the same objective. The good news is that voting machines are not connected to the internet, so physical access is required to hack them. The bad news: If you can get to them, they're easy to hack. Voting machines are dinosaurs Americas voting machines include both old mechanical devices and voting computers, which tend to run old operating systems on unsupported, out-of-warranty laptops and servers. Today, approximately 70 percent of U.S. voting sites use a voting computer. Its amazing how many voting computers still run Microsoft Windows XP, though Microsoft hasnt supported it or offered critical security patches for years. According to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, 43 of our 50 states have voting computers that are at least 10 years old; 14 of those 43 states use voting computers that are 15 years old or more. Most of the people in charge of protecting, configuring, updating, deploying, and supporting these devices lack the experience or troubleshooting skills of todays average teenager. Few understand the security risks involved with the computers they manage. All voting computers can be hacked Most voting computer manufacturers (there are at least 15 vendors) believe white hat hacking is a menace. Proactive bug bounty programs do not exist. Only a few states require independent vulnerability audits. Every independently audited voting computer has been shown to contain numerous, basic, easy-to-exploit vulnerabilities. A fresh report from the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology puts it succinctly: Voter machines, technically, are so riddled with vulnerabilities that even an upstart script kiddie could wreak havoc. In 2012, white hat hacker Roger Johnston explained to Popular Science how a voting computers votes could be changed for less than $10 worth of RadioShack hardware. Well, at least such hacks require physical access. No one would consider connecting voting computers to the internet and making them exponentially more vulnerable. Right? The internet voting peril Wrong. Thirty-plus states and the District of Columbia already allow some votes to be submitted across the internet. More states want to experiment with internet voting. Its simply a matter of time. Scores of companies are lobbying for internet voting, including Simply Voting, which touts flawless elections made simple. Granted, Im confident any system is hackable, but at least this vendor seems to understand some of the risks. I dont have to think long and hard to imagine a broad, client-side, man-in-the-middle attack, which could flip votes without the vendor or the voter being able to detect it. Sophisticated malware able to accomplish similar tasks, in the form of banking Trojans, has been around for more than a decade. Keep the vote safe I know of no independent computer security researcher with voting machine expertise who will tell you that computerized-voting is safe as it stands -- or recommends moving to internet-based voting. Read Bruce Schneiers latest NSFW rant to get his take on the topic. Lots of other organizations, such Verified Voting, are working hard to safeguard our current computerized voting experience. Verified Voting even lets you find out which voting computer or machine your voting precinct uses. All voting computer experts agree that verified paper audit systems must be maintained to audit and spot-check a voters intent. Unfortunately, one quarter of our states dont require paper trails -- and only 26 require post-election auditing verification. Why is stealing elections so hard? Hacking an electronic voting computer isnt hard, but rigging an election is, mainly because physical access is necessary. Each physical hack adds to the risk of discovery, and you'd need to hit enough machines in the right places without detection to shift an elections outcome. Consider the 2000 presidential election. The incredibly tight outcome in Florida could not have been predicted. To swing any election, hackers would need to know who's going to the poll and how many votes would be necessary to offset the early, military, and absentee ballots (which often arent counted until after the election). That cant be done with any level of accuracy. In todays world of ultrapolarized politics, where each side accuses the other of rigging elections, keeping our elections reliable and tamper-free is paramount. But I dont think election observers and voter IDs will do it. Instead, we need paper trial auditing -- and we need to keep voting off the internet. Limit up on Wheat? Banghart Properties - 4 minutes ago News broke over the weekend that could help wheat trade limit up when it reopens. Rains in the Plains, Dow soars Sidwell Strategies - Sat Oct 29, 8:38AM CDT 1st winter wheat ratings Monday; consider carbon for cash flow during drought Open Enrollment 101: Make the Most of Your Benefits Young & The Invested - Sat Oct 29, 6:00AM CDT The 2022 open enrollment season will be a difficult one as workers have to factor in persistently high inflation while they choose their coverage. These tips can help you maximize your benefits. Hogs Rebound into Weekend Barchart - Fri Oct 28, 4:39PM CDT Lean hog futures ended the Friday round with 32 to 97 cent gains to fade the triple digit losses from Thursday. The USDA National Average Base Hog Price was $90.54 in the PM update, down by $1.15. The... HEZ22 : 86.100s (+1.15%) HEJ23 : 92.700s (+0.62%) KMZ22 : 96.125s (+0.37%) Cotton Falls Triple Digits Barchart - Fri Oct 28, 4:39PM CDT December cotton ended the day locked limit lower on the 3c loss. The March contract worked back off the limit for the bell, but still went home down by 274 points. For the week, Dec cotton closed 702 points... CTZ22 : 72.11s (-3.99%) CTH23 : 72.07s (-3.66%) CTK23 : 72.30s (-2.99%) Cattle Market Fades on Friday Barchart - Fri Oct 28, 4:39PM CDT Live cattle futures ended the weeks last trade day down by 35 cents to $1.02 with soon to expire October down the most. Cash trade picked up later in the week with some Friday catch up sales mostly... LEV22 : 150.375s (-0.68%) LEZ22 : 153.000s (-0.28%) LEG23 : 156.325s (-0.33%) GFX22 : 177.875s (-0.14%) GFF23 : 180.375s (-0.04%) Loss for Friday Wheat Barchart - Fri Oct 28, 4:39PM CDT Wheat futures faded on Friday with the front month contracts going home 6 1/4 to 9 1/4 cents lower in SRW. For the December contract that completed the week with a 21 1/2 cent loss. KC futures closed down... ZWZ22 : 829-2s (-1.10%) ZWH23 : 849-0s (-1.05%) ZWPAES.CM : 7.6281 (-1.18%) KEZ22 : 925-0s (-0.78%) KEPAWS.CM : 8.8324 (-0.81%) MWZ22 : 945-0s (-0.58%) Corn Closes Red on Friday Barchart - Fri Oct 28, 4:39PM CDT Front month corn futures settled the Friday session with fractional to 1 1/2 cent losses. The December contract saw a tight 7 1/2 cent range from -6 cents to +1 1/2 cents on the day. It was also down for... ZCZ22 : 680-6s (-0.22%) ZCPAUS.CM : 6.7193 (-0.15%) ZCH23 : 686-6s (-0.15%) ZCK23 : 686-2s (unch) What does it take for an enterprise to live up to the label social? What about an entrepreneur? In recent years, a flurry of activity has arisen to fund startups promising some version of social good, like easier access to energy-efficient lightbulbs, financial literacy or affordable housing. More young professionals are eager to frame their entrepreneurial careers around the triple bottom line: social good and environmental sustainability in addition to profit. Meanwhile, the broader universe of social entrepreneurs, which encompasses a growing swath of nonprofits, is thriving as never before. That kind of culture change bodes well, but is it enough? Can these individual do-gooders, with all their hustle and fresh thinking, broaden their impact beyond small fixes and achieve anything resembling systemic change? Earlier this summer, several key funders in this spaceJim Bildner of the Drapers Richard Kaplan Foundation and and Vanessa Kirsch and Jeff Walker of New Profitpublished an article in Harvard Business Review taking on this question, arguing that social entrepreneurs need to become "systems entrepreneurs." They wrote that these change agents, so often inclined to operate as outsiders, need "a set of tools and a framework designed to address the complexity inherent when innovations are integrated into existing systems like school districts, welfare agencies, health departments, and corporate structures." We've argued something similar at Inside Philanthropy, noting that for all the excitement around social entrepreneurs, it's actually social movements that have lately done the best job at moving the national debate around certain issues, like inequality, race and policing. Likewise, there's growing evidence of the effectiveness of collective impact effortswhere many different stakeholders work together to solve problems. Related: This background explains why we're intrigued by Blue Ridge Labs, a New York-based incubator that supports social entrepreneurs developing services for low-income communities. In our past coverage of Blue Ridge, we shed light on its recent origins via hedge fund billionaire John Griffin and its current status as subsidiary program of the Robin Hood Foundation. Related: From its Brooklyn co-working space, Blue Ridge guides its portfolio companies through the treacherous early life of the startup, assisting them with grants and expertise as they flesh out their offerings, learn the entrepreneurial ropes, and start shopping around for investors. In many ways, Blue Ridge Labs is similar to startup incubators across the country. But several things mark it out as a place to watch. For one, the Robin Hood Foundation funds Blue Ridge in its entirety. And Robin Hood, in turn, has the backing of a powerful board representing the citys wealthiest interests. For another, Blue Ridge Labs takes a refreshingly systems-oriented view and is good at listening. We spoke with Hannah Calhoon, who heads up Blue Ridge, about her organizations role in New Yorks social enterprise sector. One thing that struck us is how attuned she is to the linkages between this sector and existing actors trying to achieve change, including government. Clearly, Blue Ridge has heard and internalized the common critique of social entrepreneurs, which is that they tend to parachute into problems without enough appreciation of veteran advocates who've long been on the case. Even more so, Calhoon emphasized the importance of community outreach to Blue Ridges work. Many of the partners Blue Ridge lists on its About page arent donors. Theyre organizations Blue Ridge works with to collect data and community responses as its companies develop their products. Through its Design Insight Group, Blue Ridge even solicits low-income New Yorkers to share stories about your life and test new technology for $25 an hour. Despite its high finance funding and startup chic, Blue Ridge Labs is keyed into the questions that social movements (rather than social enterprises) commonly address. With its portfolio companies providing services in financial education, gov-tech, health access, sustainability, and education, Calhoon talked about how important it is to make sure social entrepreneurs actually understand low-income people and their lived experiences. Since tech entrepreneurs dont usually come from poverty, theyre more likely to come into social enterprise with unconscious assumptions about irrational decision making among poorer people. Those cultural assumptions would cripple an enterprises efforts to improve, for example, the check-cashing industry. In addition to delivering more fluid user experiences, Blue Ridge Labs focuses on datas potential to make it easier for people to respond to povertys threats and avert crises before they occur. Blue Ridge Labs doesn't incubate social movements or create systemic political change. But its work is another sign that the social entrepreneur movement is growing up by moving in the direction of systems thinking, as well as gaining an appreciation of collective impact. As Blue Ridge states: "We acknowledge, celebrate and depend on the whole community to contribute to our process." The big promise behind the charter school movement since its beginnings in 1991 was that these schools would increase student achievement, especially for socioeconomically disadvantaged students and students of color. Since the first charter schools opened in Minnesota, the movement has spread rapidly across the country. Fueled by state legislation and philanthropic dollars from some of the nations largest funders, charters promised to raise student test scores and greater levels of college preparedness. A growing number of studies both independent and funder-backed have found that many charter schools do, indeed, boost student test scores. This is encouraging, as a rich body of research recognizes a strong link between academic achievement and lifetime earnings in the labor market. So one might expect that charter schools would be associated with greater employment and earnings among their graduates. Not so much, it turns out, at least according to a new study by two economists. Using data from charter schools in Texas, Princetons Will Dobbie and Harvards Roland Fryer found that while charter schools improve student test scores and rates of enrollment in four-year colleges, those academic outcomes have not translated into better jobs or earnings. This finding held true for even the highest-performing charters, which many policy makers point to as models for K-12 education nationwide. The study, Charter Schools and Labor Market Outcomes, was published by the National Bureau of Economic Research in July. It's been making waves ever since. A particular segment of the charter school universe sometimes referred to as no excuses charter schools have shown particular success in boosting student scores. These schools emphasized high academic standards, a rigorous code of student conduct, student uniforms, strict discipline and extended school hours and days. Examples of "no excuses" charter schools include KIPP, YES Preparatory, and the Aspire charter school network. Both KIPP and YES have schools in Texas and were part of the study by Dobbie and Fryer. The authors found that these and other advocates of the "no excuses" approach increase student test scores and college enrollment, but have only small, statistically insignificant impacts on earnings. Needless to say, these findings are at odds with the larger body of research on educational and labor market outcomes. They also pose important implications for charter schools, one of the most significant K-12 innovations of the last 30 years, supported by some of the countrys most prominent education philanthropists. While multiple funders support charter schools, the Walton Family Foundation stands out as one of the most enthusiastic boosters. Walton has poured hundreds of millions over the years into the development and expansion of many charter schools. It also funds research and policy advocacy around charter schools, and the funder shows no sign of slowing down. Walton began 2016 with an announcement that it would commit up to $1 billion over the next five years to grow new charter schools and keep existing ones operating. Not be outdone, the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation wants to expand the charter school landscape in Los Angeles. The funder hopes that Los Angeles will join New Orleans, Washington, D.C. and Detroit as cities in which the majority of school children are enrolled in charters. It is important to consider that research examining the relationship between charter schools and labor market outcomes is young. It is only recently that charters have been around long enough to even gauge their long-term impact and even then, only in early adopter states like Texas, which authorized its first charter schools in 1995. While the Dobbie and Fryer study was limited to one state, it is important to consider that the Lone Star State is the home of some of the nations best-known charter schools. KIPP, one of the nations largest charter school organizations, began in 1994 with two schools in New York City and Houston. The possibility remains, however, that the results could be a fluke that say more about schools in Texas than about charters in general. The answer lies in further research. As time passes, and states that authorized charter schools later accumulate longer records, further study of the connection between charter school educational outcomes and the career achievements of their graduates will be possible. All of this is good news for education scholars and policy wonks. Research has an important place in the education grantmaking of many funders, including Walton and the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, another favorite among charter school advocates. Other possible explanations exist for the findings of this study. The Boston Globe suggested the reason could be that charter schools achieve their successes through an instructional "drill and kill" approach that focuses on tests to the exclusion of building skills in other ways, such as through arts and humanities instruction. While nobody disputes the value of solid skills in reading and math the kind measured by standardized assessments they should not come at the expense of such analytical, creative, problem-solving and teamwork skills. These are among the skills most valued by employers, according to a 2014 report by Forbes. Yet a 2013 study suggested that some charter schools, especially the no excuses type, with their emphasis on discipline and order, have created overly submissive young men and women who may be less able to function effectively in work environments that value critical thinking and decision making. A lack of social capital among low-income minority youth for overcoming obstacles in the job market is a more obvious possible reason why academic achievements may not lead to career success. Getting a strong education is one thing; getting ahead professionally when you may be coming from generations of poverty is something else entirely. Of course, this is a point that critics of the ed reform movement have long argued: that better schools will only get kids so far in an America with pervasive inequality. With tens of thousands of families on waiting lists to enroll their children and funders committing millions in new grants, charter schools will continue to grow across the country. Their success in student testing may be well established, but this new study at least suggests there is room for improvement in other areas not so easily measured by standardized assessments. Nonprofits with ideas to integrate more art, music, creative writing and even recess into the school day may want to tailor their programs to charter settings. The same goes for organizations focused on career preparation activities and building social capital to help disadvantaged youth. Funders, meanwhile, should pay close attention to this studys findings and examine their funding strategies and grantmaking efforts around charter schools to ensure they are fostering an educational environment that will produce more than successful test takers. By Hugh D. Odom Generating additional revenue is (and should be!) a goal for every self-storage operator. Getting a cell tower on your property and leasing space to a wireless carrier can increase your bottom linenot only for the short term but for long-term gain. Self-storage professionals understand that many of their customers rent storage space as a temporary solution to achieve a long-term goal. For example, a family stores furniture while their new home is under construction; a newly engaged couple goes through the process of purging and merging personal belongings in preparation for sharing an apartment; or a business owner needs a place for inventory while his enterprise grows. The common theme? Planning for the future with intentionality. When a customer rents with you, he anticipates that someone will administer the paperwork and facilitate the rental process; but more important, he needs a transitional consultant, someone who will provide support, and has the experience and expertise to help him through the procedure. For example, he needs to know about the facilitys policies, the potential hazards of storing, the rental agreement and any available add-on services, such as tenant insurance. The customer will choose the best storage facility based on the value of the service and the operators ability to meet all these expectations. When it comes time for you to consider adding a cell tower to your property, put yourself in your customers shoes. When signing a new or existing lease, or a lease-buyout agreement, you need to be able to navigate this process and understand the terms. Its essential that you feel confident that any lease reflects your best interests and those of your business. Additionally, you want to ensure youre getting not only the most money but the best agreement for the short and long term. Unless youre an expert with years of experience in the telecom industry, navigating the cell-tower negotiation process can be incredibly challenging. Heres some guidance for choosing the best transitional consultant to assist. What a Consultant Should Do for You The most effective cell-tower lease consultants will provide assistance by doing the following: Give you the tools and resources to make informed decisions. Its impossible to proceed on the journey without an accurate map. A consultant should be able to provide information about any cell-tower lease transaction. Being equipped with knowledge about the leasing process and an understanding of the key agreement terms will help you level the playing field between you and the cell-tower company. Ensure you have the appropriate resources to navigate. If you dont know the rules of the road, you need a professional who does. Knowledge is power. By having a thorough understanding of how each aspect of a cell-tower transactionfinancial, legal, development, etc.affects the end result, youll have a solid foundation from which to steer through the process. Provide the lease framework so youre not leaving money on the table or unknowingly putting yourself and your property at risk. Your consultant should take actions to ensure your core asset is protected and achieving maximum rent. The Value of Your Space Cell-tower companies believe self-storage operators should be satisfied to simply receive a monthly check. However, the lease agreement should be structured to track the value of the companys use of your property throughout the entire 20- to 25-year term. Unlike renting self-storage units, youre not leasing space to the tower company. Youre leasing the value of the space, from which the tower company is benefitting. Making a poor decision in regard to a cell-tower lease can result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars over the life of that lease and possibly reduce the value of your self-storage facility. Although you may only use a small portion of your property for the tower, a lease is a long-term commitment that can have a big impact on the overall operation. Take the necessary precautions to ensure the lease terms wont limit or potentially control the use of your property. A cell-tower lease is an important negotiation that shouldnt be taken lightly. Its essential to find an experienced professional who has the expertise to secure the right deal for you today and for the future. Hugh D. Odom is the president and founder of Vertical Consultants, a telecommunications-consulting firm currently working with approximately 4,000 self-storage facilities across North America. The company achieved a 338 percent average immediate increase in rents for clients in 2015. Mr. Odom has more than 20 years of legal and telecom experience, including representing AT&T as an attorney for more than 10 years. For more information, call 877.456.7552; visit www.vertical-consultants.com. Update 10/10/16 Viking Self Storage has completed its Facebook competition and identified first- and second-place winners. Bedford & District Cerebral Palsy Society (BDCPS) garnered 121 votes, while Autism Bedford ended with 29. As BDCPS was already receiving 50 square feet of storage from the facility, its space has been increased to 100 square feet for one year, according to the source. Autism Bedford will now enjoy free use of a 35-square-foot unit. Representatives from BDCPS joined the storage operator for a ribbon-cutting ceremony last week to celebrate its win. "Having free space at Viking's unit has already been immensely helpful to us; we simply wouldn't be able to put on the variety of activities for our users without it, said Jane Howard-White, group services director at BDCPS. "We are pleased there is so much local support for us, and want to thank everyone who took the time to vote for us and Viking for providing the opportunity." "We've been overwhelmed with entries to our free storage competition and are very pleased to be able to help both BCDPS and Autism Bedford benefit from our facility, Schneider said. "It is our mission to support our local community as much as we can, and this competition has demonstrated how passionate the people of Bedford are about local causes." Viking Self Storage of Bedford, England, is holding a contest to give away one year of free storage to a local charity. The company has asked community members to nominate and vote for their favorite charitable organizations on Vikings Facebook and Twitter pages. The contest is limited to one vote per person, and the charity with the most votes will win. The voting will close at midnight on Oct. 3. Supporting the local community has always been important to us, and we are pleased to help out in any way we can, said Charlie Schneider, sales and marketing manager for Viking. We hope that offering free storage to a local charity will benefit the excellent work they do. The current frontrunners for the contest are Autism Bedfordshire, an independent charity providing advice, information and support to autistic individuals and their families, and Bedford & District Cerebral Palsy Society, which provides programs and support to those living with cerebral palsy. If it wins, Autism Bedfordshire would use the space to store equipment for its youth summer programs as well as items for a retail store, according to the source. After having our funding cut last year, we have been looking into alternative fundraising streams and are now hoping to open a charity shop. The storage space could really help us out with this new venture, said Claire Thompson, corporate fundraiser for the organization. Viking Self Storage offers household, business and student storage as well as a box shop. The business is headquartered in the Elms Farm Industrial Estate, on the eastern side of Bedford Town Centre. After Donald Trump rolled out his economic advisory council last month, Democratic rival Hillary Clinton mocked the then-presumptive GOP candidate for picking an all-male 23-member team stacked with billionaires and hedge fund tycoons, noting that it included six guys named Steve. Three days later the Trump campaign added nine names to the list, among them eight women plus hedge fund manager Anthony Scaramucci. Of those female advisers, perhaps the most curious and least well known, at least outside of certain Bel Air social circles, is Dr. Carla Sands. Sands, 55, earned her doctorate in chiropractic medicine from Life Chiropractic College, now Life University, in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta and worked as a private chiropractor from 1990 to 1999. In 1990 she married Fred Sands, who was already established throughout much of tony Los Angeles as a high-profile real estate broker. By the time Sands sold his company in 2000, to a group backed by private equity firm Apollo Management, Fred Sands Realtors had 23 offices and 1,200 agents across Los Angeles and Ventura counties. After the sale Sands started Vintage Capital Group, an investment management firm whose strategies included acquiring and redeveloping distressed shopping malls. For her part, Carla Sands was active on the LA social scene, serving on the board of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, among other appointments. When Fred Sands passed away in 2015 after suffering a stroke, his wife replaced him as chair and CEO of Vintage Capital, which has $150 million in assets. In a statement on its website, the firm said that Carla Sands was mentored by Fred over the many years of their partnership and is extremely active in the business. Although Fred Sands might have thought his wife a suitable successor as chair of an asset management firm, he had no such confidence in Trump as U.S. president. Hes a joke, Sands told The Jewish Journal in a July 2015 interview when asked about the real estate moguls unlikely bid for Americas highest political office. He likes the publicity because thats how he lives. Hes not really a real estate guy. He licenses his name and surrounds himself with publicity. And he might show up in the polls right now, but thats going to go away. Trump, of course, has not gone away, and now Carla Sands is serving on his economic advisory committee. Sands has credibility as a Trump supporter, if not as an economics expert. In July she hosted a fundraiser for the presidential contender at her Bel Air mansion, where some 200 donors were asked to contribute between $2,700 and $449,400 each to attend. Those who gave at least $25,000 or raised a minimum of $27,000 got to dine on a meal of pan-seared salmon and fresh-fig salad along with Trump. As of late August, Federal Election Commission records showed that Sands herself hadnt given money to Trump, though she and her late husband contributed to the campaigns of some of his GOP presidential primary rivals, including, in her case, Ted Cruz. The Texas Republican senator has been steadfast in his refusal to endorse his partys presidential nominee. A case before the U.K.s High Court of Justice could cast a chill over the ASCOT market, and we dont mean betting at the British racecourse. In early August it was revealed that seven Cayman Islandsbased hedge funds Arrowgrass Master Fund, Basso Holdings, Highbridge International, Northwest Fund, Northwest Warrant Fund, Pine River Asia Master Fund and Pine River Master Fund had sued British bank Standard Chartered. The complainants allege they were party to convertible bonds that were converted to shares based on fraudulent prices, leaving them stuck with virtually worthless stock. At the center of the London lawsuit is an Indian company named Castex Technologies, which manufactures parts for that countrys automakers. In 2012, Castex issued $130 million worth of convertible bonds underwritten by Standard Chartered. The hedge funds in the suit bought asset swapped convertible option transaction, or ASCOT, bonds, effectively a call option on the convertibles. The bond agreement allowed the funds to exercise the option, provided they were willing to pay the value of the bonds. However, the deal also contained a clause giving Castex the ability to force a conversion if its stock price exceeded 130 percent of the bonds value for 30 straight days. That event seemed unlikely until it happened. Castex had historically traded at about 55 rupees (roughly 80 cents) on the Indian exchanges. But over the past year, the companys share price spiked, topping 170 rupees for the 30 days required to trigger a forced conversion of the bonds and reaching as high as 360. Soon after Castex made the conversion, the stock fell back to 40 rupees. Having received the Castex shares for underwriting the bonds, Standard Chartered issued them to the hedge funds in July 2015. As of this August the stock was trading in the low teens on the Bombay Stock Exchange. In court filings the bank maintains that because the hedge funds bought the derivative on the bonds, they must take the shares and absorb the ASCOT loss. The complainants argue that the stock price was manipulated, possibly by Castex management. They also contend that the risk of any mandatory conversion lies solely with the bank and that receiving worthless shares when they were paying a 5 percent annual fee to keep the option is unfair and violates the derivatives contract. Our clients take the position that they bought a call option on a convertible bond and dont accept that they should be compelled to exercise that call in these circumstances, says Richard East, a co-managing partner in the London office of law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and lead counsel for the hedge funds. Standard Chartered and Castex declined to comment on the lawsuit or accusations of share price manipulation. In a statement the Bombay Stock Exchange has said that it found no evidence of wrongdoing. The court will need to answer two key questions, according to East. First, did a manipulation occur? If the answer to that is yes, then everything else falls away, he says. Second, ought Standard Chartered be entitled to exercise a forced call, in respect of a mandatory hard conversion by the company? The second consideration has other investors watching closely. The hedge funds in this case bought the option to convert the bonds into equity, but they also appear to have sold an embedded option that gave Castex the right to mandatorily convert the bonds into equity itself, explains Pradeep Yadav, a finance professor and derivatives expert at the University of Oklahomas Price College of Business. For Yadav, the question is whether the funds knew about that option position and its potential hazards. If so, they should have priced in or hedged that risk more aggressively, he asserts. The fact that Castex is a small company in a developing economy raises more concerns. Funds have to be aware of the risks they take when entering into transactions where the companies are single-person- or family-controlled, Yadav says. You may have to price the risk differently because the share price volatility and other risks could be substantial. In a case that could run into next year, Standard Chartereds relationship to Castex is fraught with potential conflict. The bank was responsible for selling and marketing the convertible bonds, which arguably gave it an incentive to make Castex look good. At an initial hearing on July 29, Standard Chartered failed to persuade the court to split the two questions underpinning the lawsuit into separate cases. Doing so would have diverted scrutiny of the banks sales and marketing efforts from any question of stock price manipulation by Castex. Attorney East and his colleague Sue Prevezer successfully argued that Standard Chartered had a close sales and marketing relationship with Castex that included advice and lending. The bank denies this characterization, but the result of the first skirmish with the hedge funds makes it harder to push off their claim that it should end up with the shares. A second case against Standard Chartered is going ahead in the U.S. New Yorkbased Och-Ziff Capital Management, which had no comment, also held the same derivatives on the Castex issue, but its bonds were governed by New York state law. I dont think this is necessarily a one-off case, finance professor Yadav says of the U.K. lawsuit. Funds that transact in any [sold] option positions have to be conscious of both explicit and implicit risk and manage both accordingly. Little contagion from the referendum is seen on EU ratings, while concerns about a possible global slowdown are offset by a wall of money chasing yields. Brexit has a cost, but so far it appears to be more modest than many analysts had feared. The U.K.s creditworthiness tumbles 3.1 points, to 85.8 on a scale of 0 to 100, in Institutional Investors semiannual Country Credit survey. The fall, a significant one for a major advanced economy, comes in the wake of the June referendum in which British voters stunned the political establishment and opted to take the country out of the European Union. The decline drops the U.K. two places, to 15th, in the survey. Yet many analysts say its far too early to determine what the long-term impact of Brexit will be. The new prime minister, Theresa May, has only just begun consulting with political leaders inside the U.K. about what kind of future relationship the country should pursue with the EU, and shes a long way from invoking Article 50 of the EU treaties, which will start a two-year exit process. It all depends on the negotiations, says Francois Faure, head of country risk at BNP Paribas in Paris. Although some political commentators have warned that Brexit could ultimately lead to a breakup of the EU, sovereign risk analysts dont seem to regard that as much of a threat for now. The average rating for Western European countries slips just 0.1 point in the latest survey and is up 0.7 point from a year earlier. Ireland rises 2.5 points since six months ago, continuing its impressive economic and financial recovery. The countrys rating now stands at 74.6, up from 49.0 five years ago when it sought a bailout from the EU and the International Monetary Fund. Belgium (+1.8), Finland (+1.0) and France (+1.0) tally notable gains in the latest six months as well, but in a sign that worries persist about the periphery, Italy and Spain fall 2.2 and 1.6 points, respectively, while Greece (0.8) and Portugal (0.5) also retreat. Asked about the odds of recession in major economies over the next 12 months, survey respondents put the U.K. at the top of the list, with a 55.5 probability of a downturn, followed by the euro area (30.8 percent) and the U.S. (19.3 percent). They see a 16.9 percent risk of a global recession. Overall the survey paints a stable picture. The average global creditworthiness rating stands at 44.2, down 0.5 point from March but up 0.1 point from a year ago. That continues the pattern of the past four years, which has seen the global average hover in a very narrow range even as certain countries such as Argentina on the upside or Brazil and Venezuela on the downside make significant moves. Analysts see plenty of risks on the horizon. Global growth forecasts are constantly being revised downward, says BNP Paribass Faure. Economists fret that the U.S. is not growing fast enough to pull many others along, that Chinas glory days of double-digit growth rates are long gone and that the EU remains vulnerable to a relapse. Those developments are weighing on the credit quality of many emerging-markets economies. In the first half of 2016, Standard & Poors downgraded 16 sovereign borrowers, Fitch Ratings trimmed 14 and Moodys Investors Service lowered 24. Nearly a third of all emerging-markets issuers are at risk of being downgraded, according to S&P Global Ratings. Yet money has been pouring into stock and bond markets across the EM world this year. Net inflows to emerging-markets bond funds reached a record high of $4.9 billion in the week ended July 20, reports Bank of America Corp. According to the Institute of International Finance in Washington, global bond funds raised their EM allocation to 10.6 percent in August from 9.8 percent in February. A July paper from BlackRock urged investors to join the great migration to EM investments. How to explain this seeming paradox of deteriorating credit quality and rising investment? Many investors are clearly chasing yield, says Karen Territt, head of country credit at AIB Bank in Dublin. In short, its better to take a chance on Ecuador than earn nothing in Japan or Switzerland. Which is just what many investors did. The country, which has defaulted eight times since 1832, went to the market in July to sell $1 billion of five-year notes at a yield of 10.75 percent. Investors snapped up the issue. Faure sounds a note of caution about the EM trend. There are many more downgrades than upgrades, he says. The risk premiums may not be enough to compensate for the economic risks. Argentina is the EM star of the latest survey. Its creditworthiness rate shoots up 7.4 points in the past six months, and has gained 11.0 points in the past 12 months, because of the investor-friendly stance of the administration of President Mauricio Macri. But politics have been decidedly troublesome in Malaysia (2.3), Turkey (1.6 points) and Venezuela (3.1). One year after Chinas equity market meltdown and unexpected currency depreciation, a Goldman Sachs analysis found that mutual funds were underweight China by more than 3 percentage points vis-a-vis global benchmarks, the biggest underweighting in a decade. Respondents judge the countrys creditworthiness to be virtually unchanged, though. Its rating dips a negligible 0.1 point, to 75.9, good for 27th place in the ranking, just ahead of a fast-climbing Ireland. The consensus seems to be that the mainland economy is not going to crater, but Chinese leaders are struggling to turn their exporting powerhouse into a consumption-led economy. Meanwhile, some other Asian countries that are eating Chinas lunch as low-cost manufacturing centers post gains, led by Vietnam (+3.8) and Bangladesh (+2.4). China isnt the only source of uncertainty. The U.S. presents two big question marks. One is the November presidential election. Foreigners, not to say many Americans, are bewildered by the phenomenon of Donald Trumps campaign, and worried as well. If Trump gets in, who knows what will happen, says Paul Papadopoulos, managing director of Politicon Consultants, a sovereign risk consultancy in Athens. The other big U.S. unknown is Federal Reserve policy. The central banks march toward higher interest rates got sidetracked after an initial 25-basis-point hike in December, but chair Janet Yellen and her deputy, Stanley Fischer, have said the Fed is near its goal of full employment and stable inflation, indicating that additional rate increases are in the cards. A hike could produce a stronger dollar, which would have a significant impact on a number of countries, AIBs Territt says. When respondents are asked which countries are most likely to have a higher credit rating in six months, Argentina tops the list, with 65.5 percent expecting its rating to rise, while 50.0 percent say Cuba, 60.0 percent cite Iran, and 29.4 percent say India. By contrast, 67.6 percent predict the U.K. will present a greater credit risk in six months, compared with 87.5 percent for Venezuela, 75.8 percent for Turkey, 50.0 percent for Brazil and 45.9 percent for China. Richard Jerram, chief economist at Bank of Singapore, suggests concerns about emerging markets may be overblown. If anything, the signs of downside risk across the emerging-market countries have probably diminished, he says. Commodity prices have stabilized, so the stress on commodity exporters should be less in three to six months. And the growth prospects for some of the big emerging-market countries have also stabilized. The problem, he says, is that its hard to see much change in the developed world. At the Group of 20 summit held in Hangzhou, China over the weekend, the U.S. and China used the opportunity to announce the adoption of the Paris climate change agreement. Yet a discussion between Russian and Saudi Arabian leaders over oil affected markets far more. Alexander Novak and Khalid Al-Falih, energy ministers for Russia and Saudi Arabia, respectively, sent ripples through crude markets with their comments regarding a possible cap on production. Brent-grade futures contracts for near-month delivery rose by more than 5 percent initially, before paring gains as Saudi officials remained non-committal about a significant freeze. The dynamic in energy markets is currently dominated by two overlapping narratives: Saudi Arabias commitment to keeping production levels high to combat U.S. and Canadian competitors and separately, desperation by less well-managed petro states to have the Saudis curb output to help them support their own failing economies. GE to acquire 3-D printing firms. Yesterday General Electric announced two acquisitions of European-based 3-D printing technology companies for a combined deal size of more than $1.4 billion. Both Swedish Arcam and German SLM Solutions will help propel the conglomerate, which has been aggressively abandoning its banking and financial services segments, into the bourgeoning market for real-time fabrication. Duterte attempts to control damage. Inflammatory comments made by newly installed Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte directed to President Barack Obama ahead of the Laos summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have resulted in the U.S. government canceling a bilateral meeting between officials from the two nations. The heated comments came after criticism from international agencies and Western governments over Dutertes anti-drug campaign which, within weeks, has racked up an estimated 2,400 extrajudicial killings. Official statements issued by the Filipino government apologized for Dutertes remarks and expressed hope that the two nations could continue to work together. Aussie central bank keeps rates unchanged. In line with consensus forecasts, the Reserve Bank of Australia left benchmark rates unchanged during the monthly policy meeting today. Critically, the banks board refrained from making explicit guidance in the accompanying statement. The meeting was the final one with Governor Glenn Stevens at the helm. Bayer raises bid for Monsanto. In the third time in a year, German drug and chemical company Bayer issued an offer to acquire St. Louis-based agrichemical company Monsanto with a fresh bid totaling $56 billion. The offer of $127.50 per share, made yesterday, comes after months of negotiations between the two firms. Monsantos board has been receptive to the merger in concept while rejecting earlier valuations. Major insurer AXA has revealed its plan to slash 650 jobs in Belgium over the next two years as the industry giant continues to scale back its operations in Europe.AXA Belgium head Jef Van In said the company presented the plan to unions on Monday, according to a report by Bloomberg.The number of jobs to be reduced represents 15% of AXAs insurance employees in Belgium, where the firm also runs a banking network.AXA Belgium is solid today, and we need to carry out this transformation to remain so, Bloomberg quoted Van In as saying.The transformation plan includes AXA Belgiums strategy to focus on pension insurance and property-and-casualty products, forcing the insurer to stop selling some individual life-coverage at the start of 2017.Over five years, AXA Belgium will also invest 200 million, or about 167.6 million, to new technologies to improve client and broker service, Bloomberg reported.AXA disclosed the planned job cuts following a recent major management shake-up, which saw last weeks appointment of Thomas Buberl as the new CEO. He succeeded Henri de Castries, who retired after his 16-year term.According to Bloomberg, Buberl aims to increase profitability through 2020 by growing digital spending and by pursuing cost cuts worth 2.1 billion.Earlier this year, the insurer completed the sale of its insurance businesses in Portugal, Serbia and Romania and offloaded its banking operations in Hungary.AXA has also divested its assets in the tobacco industry after selling its UK offshore investment bonds business based in the Isle of Man.In the UK, AXA has sold its wrap platform unit Elevate and its investment, pensions and direct protection businesses. Jacquie, EML Neven, EML Eryn, Allianz Specialist Team, GIO Team Insight, EML Low Touch Claims Team, GIO Matthew, CGU Sam, QBE Christie, EML Allied Health Initiative Team, EML Strategy & Continuous Improvement Team, EML North Coast Safety Network, QBE The finalists for this years Care & Service Excellence (CASE) Awards have been announced by Insurance & Care NSW (icare).The CASE Awards recognise industry excellence in injury management, service delivery, and broker engagement with customers within icares NSW businesses.The finalists were selected for having demonstrated excellence in delivering quality service across icares Nominal Insurer and Treasury Managed Fund (TMF) workers compensation insurance schemes.Vivek Bhatia, icare CEO, said: This years finalists are an impressive group whove consistently exceeded customer expectations and serve as a benchmark for their peers across the NSW workers compensation schemes.They demonstrate an impressive range of achievements and cross-agency collaboration in areas, such as intervention in high risk claims, proactive injury prevention and management strategies, scheme agent performance optimisation, training in risk identification and mitigation, and return to work initiatives.They are talented individuals who demonstrate that scheme agents and brokers are vastly improving the customer experience for workers impacted by a workplace injury, he said.Scheme agents and broker representatives will be awarded in seven categories. Among the finalists* are the following entrants in each category for Nominal Insurer and TMF Awards:Other categories include Brokers Award for Excellence in Improving Client Performance; and Awards Nominated by icare Service to icare Workers Insurance and Services to icare Self Insurance.I look forward to revealing the winner of the Awards in September and seeing how far scheme agents and brokers have come in transforming workers compensation service delivery into a world-class experience for the NSW community, Bhatia said.The winners will be announced on 15 September 2016 at Doltone House, Darling Island Wharf, Sydney.*Surnames not divulged by icare to protect finalists privacy Brokers will continue to play a major role in the cyber insurance market, which offers significant growth opportunities across every segment, according to Lambros Lambrou , CEO of Aon Risk Solutions, Australia.Lambrou told Insurance Business that Aon has seen exponential growth in the cyber market in Australia and that further growth is on the cards for the key market.If you look at where cyber is evolving to, if in five years time people dont think about cyber in the same way they think about property, D&O and third party liability cover, I would be extremely disappointed, Lambrou said.The industry still has a ways to go in educating clients around the need for cyber cover as businesses across all sectors, regardless of size, remain at risk.Education of the evolving risks faced by all businesses will need to be supported by facts and information across business peer groups, Lambrou said. He added that brokers will continue to play a key, but changing role, in the space.I see small brokers and their role of advocating for their clients absolutely continuing but some of these products, instead of them going to market and not having the scale, the knowledge or the data, will go to another organisation maybe like Aon who can then find that product and provide it to the client. That makes all the sense in the world.Lambrou stressed that cyber coverage is not just the concern of major multinational companies as SMEs face a growing threat too.You could arguably say that cyber is a bigger threat to SMEs because their businesses are smaller, they are not able to spend the same amount of money that large corporations do on cyber security tools so they are actually more at risk, Lambrou continued.In terms of approaching clients concerning their cyber risk, Lambrou said that everything starts with a client needs analysis and that needs to be supported with fact-based insights. Brokers meanwhile should look to educate clients around their risk and the steps needed to reduce their risk, before insurance coverage is purchased.Insurance is kind of the last thing to think about, but it is still an important thing to do and some of the biggest brand names in cyber security take out insurance themselves around the world. It is part of the journey, Lambrou said.You want to be protected. CVS Pharmacy Inc., the largest pharmacy chain in the U.S., is set to strengthen its policies around dispensing opioids in Massachusetts and pay $795,000 to the state in a recent settlement between the pharmacy and Attorney General Maura Healeys office. To effectively combat the opioid epidemic that is claiming lives and devastating families and communities across our state, we must work together to use all tools at our disposal, said Healey in a public statement. Through this groundbreaking settlement, these pharmacists will be better equipped to responsibly dispense opioids. The assurance of discontinuance was filed in Suffolk Superior Court along with a separate settlement agreement between CVS and Healeys office. It resolves allegations that CVS did not provide its Massachusetts pharmacists with access to the Massachusetts Online Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) before March 2013, a program that provides patient prescription history to help identify drug seeking behavior. It also resolves allegations that particular CVS pharmacies in Massachusetts did not monitor drug use patterns or exercise adequate judgement when distributing controlled substances, especially opioids. As part of the settlement, CVS will require its Massachusetts staff to access the PMP website and review a prescription holders history before distributing certain drugs. CVS will also update its written policies and conduct annual training on the responsibilities of primary pharmacies. Massachusetts will use $500,000 of the pharmacys $795,000 payment to the state to further address opioid dependence and addiction in Massachusetts. Healeys Medicaid Fraud Division initially conducted an investigation into CVS after a referral from the states Medicaid program, MassHealth, relating to Massachusetts Controlled Substance Management Program (CSMP). A subsequent investigation was conducted by Healeys Consumer Protection Division related to the PMP, in which it was found that CVS did not provide sufficient internet connectivity to its pharmacists to access the program. The investigation also found instances where certain CVS pharmacies in Massachusetts dispensed controlled substances to MassHealth members enrolled in the CSMP in exchange for an out-of-pocket payment, which the Attorney Generals office says violates state laws and regulations. Additionally, it was discovered that some of these transactions occurred despite MassHealths denial of claims for the same controlled substance on the same day. The PMP is part of Massachusetts larger effort to address the states opioid epidemic. Earlier this year, the Attorney Generals office formed the Interagency Group on Illegal Prescribing, a coalition of state and federal agencies created to investigate and prosecute prescribers, pharmacists and others who illegally prescribe or dispense pills. The office indicted a Ludlow physician and a Hyannis physician for illegally prescribing pain medication to patients with known substance abuse issues. This is an important first step in enforcing critical prevention measures needed to address the opioid crisis in our communities across the Commonwealth and our country, Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan, President and CEO of The Dimock Center, said in a press release issued by Healeys office. Prevention and education are essential pieces to ending this epidemic. Source: The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General Topics Massachusetts Drugs Johnson & Johnson persuaded a New Jersey judge to throw out two womens lawsuits blaming the health-care companys talcum powder for their ovarian cancer. The ruling may help J&J fend off more than 1,000 suits in state and federal courts accusing the drugmaker of ignoring studies that linked its talc products to ovarian cancer. Judge Nelson Johnson in Atlantic City ruled Friday the women couldnt produce sufficient medical evidence showing J&Js Baby Powder caused cancer. Brandi Carls and Diana Balderramas talc suits were the first scheduled for trial in New Jersey, starting in October. J&J, based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, is also facing a talc trial this month in state court in St. Louis. J&J lost two trials in St. Louis. A jury ordered the company to pay $72 million in damages to a woman in February and in May, another jury awarded $55 million in damages to a South Dakota woman who blamed the powder for her cancer. In the New Jersey cases, Johnson said testimony from experts hired by the womens lawyers to outline links between talc and ovarian cancer suffered from multiple deficiencies and didnt provide legitimate grounds for the suits. The courts decision today appropriately reflects the science and facts at issue in this litigation, Carol Goodrich, a J&J spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement. Science, research, clinical evidence and decades of studies by medical experts around the world continue to support the safety of cosmetic talc. Ted Meadows, an Alabama-based lawyer representing Carl and Balderrama, said Johnsons ruling was at odds with other judges findings that there are sufficient links between talc and cancer to allow cases to go to trial. We are planning to appeal his ruling, Meadows said in an interview Friday. In his 33-page ruling, Johnson said the plaintiffs experts review of the links between talc and cancer suffered from narrowness and shallowness, and didnt provide reliable evidence the substance could cause the disease. Meadows said Johnsons ruling will affect the more than 200 talc lawsuits consolidated before him in New Jerseys state courts, but wont have an impact on the more than 1,000 suits gathered in state court in St. Louis. The case is Brandi Carl v. Johnson & Johnson, No. ATL-L-6546-14, Superior Court of New Jersey Law Division (Atlantic City). Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics Lawsuits Legislation New Jersey Numbers AXA SA is considering cutting 650 jobs in Belgium over the next two years, as Europes second-largest insurer overhauls its range of products sold in the country. AXA Belgium has presented the plan to unions Monday, Jef Van In, head of the unit, said in a statement Monday. The reductions would represent 15 percent of its insurance employees in the country, where it also operates a banking network. AXA Belgium is solid today, and we need to carry out this transformation to remain so, Van In said in the statement. As part of the plan, AXAs Belgian unit will stop selling some individual life-coverage at the start of 2017 as it focuses on offering pension insurance and property-and-casualty products. The division will also invest 200 million euros ($223 million) over five years in new technologies to improve services for clients and brokers, it said. Paris-based AXA has just completed a major management shake-up. Thomas Buberl, 43, officially became chief executive officer last week as Henri de Castries retired after 16 years at the helm. Buberl has announced goals to increase profitability through 2020 by seeking 2.1 billion euros of cost cuts and growing digital spending. Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics Talent AXA XL Hurricane Newton made landfall Tuesday morning in northwest Mexico and will probably cause damage from heavy rain. Cabo San Lucas, a popular tourist destination, will be hit by winds moving as fast as 90 miles (144 kilometers) an hour, according to the latest advisory note by the U.S. National Hurricane Center. Newton is expected to reach the mainland as a hurricane early Wednesday morning as it gradually weakens. Associated rainfall of as much as 18 inches, could cause life-threatening flash floods and mud slides, especially in the areas of mountainous terrain. An advisory from the Mexican national weather service said the storm could be accompanied by hail, dust tornadoes and eddies, and warned against the risk of electric shock. A dangerous storm surge is expected to produce significant coastal flooding near and to the east of where the center makes landfall on both the southern Baja California peninsula and mainland Mexico, according to the update. Near the coast, the surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves. Preparations to protect life and property should have been completed by now, NHC said. Baja California has seven ports, according to information compiled by Bloomberg. Theres also an operational liquefied natural gas terminal thats outside the range of the hurricanes trajectory. Countries including the U.K. and Canada warned against travel to Mexico amid dangerous weather. At least 38 people died in mudslides and floods caused by Tropical Storm Earl last month, the U.K. warning said. Newton is the second hurricane within a week. Hermine became the first hurricane to strike Florida since 2005 on Friday. It damaged crops and property before weakening and moving up the U.S. East Coast. Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Flood Hurricane Mexico Israels Space Communication Ltd. said on Sunday it could seek $50 million or a free flight from Elon Musks SpaceX after a Spacecom communications satellite was destroyed last week by an explosion at SpaceXs Florida launch site. Officials of the Israeli company said in a conference call with reporters Sunday that Spacecom also could collect $205 million from Israel Aerospace Industries, which built the AMOS-6 satellite. SpaceX said in an email to Reuters that it does not disclose contract or insurance terms. The company is not public, and it has not said what insurance it had for the rocket or to cover launch pad damages beyond what was required by the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees commercial U.S. launches, for liability and damage to government property. [Editors Note: American International Group Inc., Munich Re, Swiss Re and Allianz SE are among the large insurers offering space insurance.] SpaceX has more than 70 missions on its manifest, worth more than $10 billion, for commercial and government customers. The space launch company is one of three major transportation and energy enterprises Musk leads. The others are electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc. and SolarCity Corp., and Musk faces separate challenges at each of those money losing companies. Spacecom has been hit hard in the aftermath of the Thursday explosion that destroyed the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and its payload. The Israeli company said the loss of the satellite would have a significant impact, with its equity expected to decline by $30 million to $123 million. Spacecom shares dropped 9 percent on Thursday, with the explosion occurring late in the last trading day of the week. Trading in the shares was suspended on Sunday morning, and the stock plummeted another 34 percent when trading resumed. In a conference call with reporters, Spacecoms general counsel Gil Lotan said it was too early to say if the companys planned merger with Beijing Xinwei Technology Group would proceed. Xinwei last month agreed to buy Spacecom for $285 million, saying the deal was contingent on the successful launch and operation of Spacecoms AMOS-6 satellite. We hope to continue fruitful communications with the prospective buyer, Lotan said. Xinwei officials on Monday declined to comment on whether the incident would impact the terms of the deal. The firm said in a statement on Friday it was in close communication with Spacecom about how the incident would impact the merger. It added the accident would not impact its broader strategy to establish an integrated space information network. Cause Unknown AMOS-6 was to be used by a number of key clients, including Facebook and Eutelsat Communications which leased the satellites broadband services to expand internet access in Africa. Both firms are pursuing other options, the companies said in separate statements after Thursdays accident. The cause of the accident is under investigation. Neither SpaceX, nor the FAA which is overseeing the investigation, have said how much damage the explosion caused at SpaceXs primary launch site at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. SpaceX said on Friday that it would shift flights to a second launch site in Florida, which is nearing completion and which was last used to launch NASAs space shuttles. Thursdays accident, which occurred as the company was fueling its rocket as part of a routine pre-launch test firing, was the second failed mission for Musks space company in 14 months. In June 2015, a Falcon 9 rocket exploded about two minutes after liftoff from Florida, destroying a load of cargo headed to the International Space Station. SpaceX returned to flight in December and since then has flown nine times, all successfully. It was scheduled to fly for the 29th time on Saturday. SpaceX declined to comment about what impact Thursdays accident would have on its schedule. (Additional reporting by Adam Jourdan and SHANGHAI newsroom; Writing by Joseph White; Editing by Mary Milliken and Stephen Coates) Related: Topics Florida Aviation Aerospace Facebook Inc. defeated a bid for a group lawsuit claiming the company illegally gave its users personal information to advertisers, with a judge ruling the plaintiffs didnt have enough in common to pursue a class action. Facebook users accused the social network of automatically and surreptitiously disclosing to advertisers information about them when they clicked on ads. They said that information included how they were using the website, which was contrary to Facebooks explicit privacy promises. U.S. District Judge Ronald M. Whyte in San Jose, California, had thrown out the case in 2011. An appeals court reversed the judge, returning the case to the lower court to proceed on breach-of-contract and fraud claims. Whyte on Friday made public a partially redacted ruling he issued in June concluding that the lawsuit contained too many individualized questions to go forward as a class action. Privacy lawsuits against Facebook and other Internet companies have failed in large part because plaintiffs havent been able to show how disclosures to third parties harmed them. Where such cases have moved forward, the companies have won rulings at later stages preventing them from advancing as group suits. In June, Whyte rejected Facebooks renewed bid to dismiss the case, agreeing that a remaining plaintiff might be able to prove she didnt receive the confidentiality Facebook promised. While the judge expressed skepticism about how the woman would prove the value of the benefit of her confidentiality, he ruled that she had fairly alleged she received less than she bargained for from Facebook. Facebook spokeswoman Vanessa Chan and Kassra Nassiri, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, didnt immediately respond to e-mails Friday seeking comment on the ruling. The case is In Re. Facebook Privacy Litigation, 10-cv-02389, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose). Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics Lawsuits Legislation Over Wynwood, the Miami neighborhood where Zika gained a foothold in the continental United States, low flying planes have been spraying naled, a tightly controlled pesticide often used as a last resort. It appears to be working, killing at least 90 percent of the target mosquitoes. Across the Biscayne Bay in Miami Beach, wind and high-rise buildings make aerial spraying challenging. So, the effort in the popular tourist destination has focused on ground-sprayed pyrethroids pesticides that are safer but dont always work. The arrival in Florida of Zika, a virus that can cause a crippling birth defect known as microcephaly, has drawn into focus the limitations of the U.S. mosquito control arsenal. Larvicides reduce future populations relatively safely. But for use against the mature mosquitoes that spread disease, only two classes of pesticides are approved. Each has drawbacks. Organophosphates, such as naled, are effective. But there are strict controls to limit risk. Pyrethroids are safer but have been used so much that mosquitoes, in many places, are immune. Thats really the weak link in much of the United States, said Michael Doyle, director of the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District. Were kind of caught off guard. Dengue Preview Doyle led a 2009 effort against a dengue outbreak in South Florida, the first in the United States in nearly a century. Authorities threw everything they had at the Aedes aegypti, the same mosquito that carries Zika: backpack fogging, door-to-door yard inspections looking for watery breeding sites and larvicide spraying. Still, 88 people were infected before the virus was brought under control more than two years later, and there continue to be sporadic cases in Florida. The outbreak highlighted gaps in the mosquito control arsenal that remain, according to pesticide makers, abatement officials and entomologists. Few companies make pesticides for use in public health outbreaks, a niche market that is expensive to get into, has a limited upside and varies season to season. Safety testing a new pesticide can cost up to $250 million and take 10 years, said Karen Larson, vice president of regulatory affairs at privately held Clarke Mosquito. As long as a product remains on the market, companies must continue testing for unforeseen side effects, an expense that some makers have blamed for decisions to abandon products. Theres not a lot of profit, Larson said. Sales of the Dibrome brand of naled have been estimated at $12 million a year. By comparison, total crop pesticide sales for some companies can exceed $500 million in a single quarter. Bayer, Dow Chemical, BASF and other agricultural pesticide makers are not interested in going after a $20 million or $30 million a year market, said William A. Kuser, investor relations director at Dibrome maker American Vanguard Corp. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved several new pesticides in recent years. But it has received few requests for using them against mosquitoes, said Jim Jones, Assistant Administrator for the agencys Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. Although its of critical importance, the amount one can sell is small and its variable, which makes it difficult for business planning, Jones said. You can go many years without having much of a market at all, then suddenly, whether its because of a nuisance outbreak of mosquitoes or something like West Nile or Zika, the market grows significantly. Abatement authorities have pressed for help with the cost of developing mosquito control pesticides. The 1996 U.S. Food Quality Protection Act includes a provision for subsidies to defray the expense of safety testing, but Congress has never funded it. Risk and Resistance At least 49 cases of locally transmitted Zika infections have been reported in Florida, most in Wynwood and Miami Beach. Most people have no symptoms or mild illness. Because of the microcephaly link, efforts are focused on preventing infection among pregnant women. In Wynwood, the campaign began with pyrethroids, synthetic versions of a chemical derived from chrysanthemums. Amid signs of resistance, authorities switched to naled. Developed as nerve agents, organophosphates, at high doses, can cause nausea, convulsions and death. They can be toxic to wildlife, including bees. The EPA considers naled safe at permitted ultra-low concentrations, and it is sprayed annually over 16 million acres in the United States. But it is banned in Europe, where the risk is seen as unacceptable. In the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, where Zika is widespread, the governor prohibited naled amid protests over safety concerns. Although naled killed more than 90 percent of mosquitoes in traps set in Wynwood, the Aedes aegyptis resilience remains a concern. This is truly the cockroach of mosquitoes, said Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dropping Pesticides CDC entomologist Janet McAllister said pyrethroid resistance typically is limited by the mosquitos small range. When resistance to one pyrethroid develops, another often works. Still, she said, we would love to see additional classes of insecticides available because, even in places that may have an effective tool today, that doesnt mean it is going to last down the road. The EPA can fast-track its evaluation of new pesticides and expand the use of old ones. In response to Zika, it expedited new uses for pesticide-treated bed nets and mosquito traps. Still, development of pesticides is painstaking. Even if the EPA speeds up its evaluation, required safety data can take years to collect. And the expense of ongoing safety testing has prompted companies to drop products. Bayer CropScience, for example, told distributors it dropped the pyrethroid resmethrin in 2012, rather than do additional testing. Clarke Mosquito gave up temephos, a larvicide, six years ago, because of costs, Larson said. That decision led to stockpiling in southwest Florida, said Wayne Gale, director of the Lee County Mosquito Control District. We purchased just about every bit, he said. (Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Lisa Girion) Topics USA Florida Pollution Oklahoma registered one of its biggest earthquakes on Sept. 3 even after state regulators have beefed up limits on disposing oilfield waste and the rate of tremors had started to slow somewhat from unprecedented levels last year. The tremor in central Oklahoma was felt from Texas to Illinois, measuring 5.6 in magnitude and tying a state record set in 2011, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The number of earthquakes measuring 3.0 or higher reached 890 last year, followed by 375 this year through June 22. At that rate, the number of earthquakes would fall to less than 800 this year, still a far cry from only two in 2008. As oil production surged in the state, with the Scoop and Stack areas among the most coveted new plays in the country, so too did the disposal of wastewater from fracked fields that scientists have tied to earthquake activity. Several producers, and now the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, are facing lawsuits because of seismic activity allegedly linked to oilfield wastewater disposal in Oklahoma and other states. Without studying the specifics of the wastewater injection and oil and gas production in this area, the USGS cannot currently conclude whether or not this particular earthquake was caused by industrial-related, human activities, the agency said Saturday in a statement. However, we do know that many earthquakes in Oklahoma have been triggered by wastewater fluid injection. Disposal Wells The Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which regulates oil and gas activity in the state, has been issuing restrictions for more than a year aimed at cutting down on the amount of wastewater injected into underground wells. There are about 35,000 active wastewater disposal wells, though only a few dozen have been linked to quakes, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence report in May, citing the USGS. The Sept. 3 earthquake, near a complex of oil-storage facilities, led the regulator to order the suspension of about 37 wastewater-disposal wells. The commission was contacting the operators of the wells in a 500-square-mile area around the town of Pawnee, Gov. Mary Fallin said in a Twitter post. Oil storage and pipeline facilities at Cushing, 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Pawnee, were undamaged, according to the commission and four of the companies that operate there. The quake was followed by at least eight others measuring as much as 3.6, according to the USGS. Fracking Boom Oklahoma, a region previously not known for intense seismic activity, began having a significant number of earthquakes in 2009, the same year area oil companies began using fracking to shatter deep rock layers to extract oil and gas. Fracked wells produce large quantities of wastewater, which drilling companies inject into ultra-deep disposal wells. Saturdays tremor hit the area about 7:02 a.m. Oklahoma time, the USGS said. It was also felt in Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana, according to USGSs reporting system for members of the public. Officials for Enterprise Products Partners LP, Kinder Morgan Inc., Magellan Midstream Partners LP and Enbridge Inc., which operate petroleum terminals, pipelines and storage facilities in Cushing, said their sites sustained no damage and that operations were normal. Last week, the crude storage levels at Cushing stood at nearly 64 million barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration data. Cushing Terminal Following the earthquake, Enbridge employees were directed to conduct visual inspections of tanks, manifolds and other facilities, spokeswoman Jennifer Smith said in an e-mail. The Cushing terminal is currently operating normally. A spokesman for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, Matt Skinner, offered similar comments. Tremors were also felt at the Cooper Nuclear Station in Brownville, Nebraska, about 350 miles north of Pawnee, but operations were unaffected and no damage was reported, said Drew Niehaus, a spokesman based at the plant. Oil and gas explorers that injected wastewater in the state include SandRidge Energy Inc., Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Range Resources Corp. Evidence linking oil and gas activity to earthquakes is mounting, along with legal and policy challenges, Peter Pulikkan and Rob Barnett, analysts at Bloomberg Intelligence, wrote last month in a report. (With assistance from Lananh Nguyen) Related: Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics Catastrophe Energy Oil Gas Pollution Oklahoma Earthquake Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards says his state had more than $8.7 billion in damage from catastrophic flooding in August, and the figure will increase as officials finish assessing damage to roads and other public infrastructure. The governors office on Sept. 3 released a letter Edwards sent to President Barack Obama. In it, the Democratic governor asked that Congress this month approve $2 billion in federal aid for Louisiana for housing, economic development and infrastructure. He said its a very reasonable request, adding to other programs assisting in Louisianas flood recovery, such as aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. While short-term relief for immediate needs available through FEMA for items such as temporary rental assistance, essential home repairs and other disaster-related needs are greatly needed and greatly appreciated, our full recovery will not be realized without additional help, Edwards wrote. A storm that started Aug. 12 dumped as much as 2 feet of rain in some parts of Louisiana over two days, and the flooding has been described as the worst disaster in the U.S. since Superstorm Sandy struck the East Coast in 2012. Edwards said flood damage has been documented to more than 55,000 houses in Louisiana, and that could double as aid applications and inspections continue. More than 80 percent of damaged homes lacked flood insurance because most were outside the 100-year flood plain. He said initial evaluations show the majority of flooded households were for people with low to moderate incomes, and 20 percent were renters. More than 6,000 businesses flooded, with more than $2.2 billion in damages to buildings, equipment and inventory, Edwards said. He also said there are conservative estimates of more than $110 million in damage to agriculture. Estimates are that about 30 state roads washed out and 1,400 bridges will need to be inspected, the governor said. Edwards said he has asked all members of Louisianas congressional delegation to support the request for $2 billion in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery money, and to ask their colleagues to approve it. The majority of these citizens did not carry flood insurance, and I impress upon you that they will not be able to make critical decisions on rebuilding their homes and their lives without the availability of CDBG-DR funds, Edwards wrote to the president. This additional assistance is critical to Louisianas full recovery from these floods. Emily Wagster Pettus reported from Jackson, Mississippi. Related: Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Louisiana Flood Finely shaved ice. Sugary syrup that tastes like pralines or strawberries or pina coladas. Perhaps a trickle of condensed milk and some whipped cream. The making of a classic New Orleans sno-ball, it would seem, is a simple matter that is, until lawyers get involved. Allegations of trademark violations and patent infringement have been boiling up in state and federal courts since 2005 in what amounts to a decade-long snoball fight between SnoWizard Inc., which makes ice-shaving machines and flavorings, and rivals including Southern Snow Manufacturing and Snow Ingredients Inc. The companies have battled on a range of issues including patents on machine parts and trademarks for flavor names such as Snosweet, Mountain Maple and Orchid Cream Vanilla. Signs that the legal frozen food fight may be playing out are in a decision handed down Aug. 15 by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The judge sprinkled her ruling with wintry allusions summing up the court skirmishes. What began as a flurry of cease-and-desist letters between the companies has turned into a blizzard of patent, trademark, and antitrust litigation, Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod wrote for a three-judge panel. Each party has attempted to freeze the other out of the sno-ball market. Elrods opinion included a recap of claims, counterclaims and overlapping litigation that has played out in multiple court jurisdictions with various results for all involved. It upheld a lower courts dismissal of a host of the Southern Snow groups latest claims against SnoWizard. Among them, that some of SnoWizards litigation tactics violated racketeering law, that SnoWizard was trying to establish a sno-ball monopoly and that it fraudulently registered the White Chocolate & Chips and Cajun Red Hot trademarks. SnoWizard, meanwhile, had argued that Southern Snow should be sanctioned for making claims that were frivolous in an attempt to harass SnoWizard. Elrods opinion said the panel was upholding the denial of sanctions because, while Southern Snows claims were creative they werent ridiculous. Where the case goes next is unclear. SnoWizard attorney Jack Morris said in an email that the company is happy with the decision and has no plans to appeal; Mark Andrews, an attorney for the Southern Snow clients, said in an email that they are evaluating the case. Food feuds are nothing new in New Orleans. Litigation and family disagreements nearly killed Brennans restaurant in the French Quarter, which has bounced back strong after a temporary closure. A famous diner on the uptown streetcar line, the Camelia Grill, was the subject of trademark disputes when it changed hands after Hurricane Katrina. You can still hear arguments from time to time about which beignet and cafe-au-lait business Cafe du Monde or Morning Call has a longer history. Syrup-flavored ice concoctions have an even longer history. It was a practice in Europe with actual snow, said Liz Williams, director of the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans. She also notes stories of American Indians flavoring snow with maple syrup centuries ago. Manufactured ice was available in New Orleans as early as the 1840s, she said. Sicilian immigrants may have introduced the city to the practice of adding syrup to shaved ice, which was about as close as you could get to real snow, she said. And, while such treats are hardly unique to New Orleans, sno-ball stands are as cherished a part of some neighborhoods as the local poboy shop. We embrace them, theres no question about that, and consider them something thats part of our culture. A fluffier, finer-shaved part of the culture as acknowledged by Elrods ruling: The products that are the center of this dispute are New Orleans-style sno-balls, not snow cones, she writes, adding that a sno-ball is a dessert treat made from finely shaved ice that can be consumed with a straw or spoon while a snow cone is made using coarser crushed ice and is generally eaten directly cone to mouth. In addition to food lore and wordplay, Elrods opinion includes a suggestion that its time for the fight to end. The parties could have shaved down the overwhelming costs in time, expense, and scarce judicial resources that this litigation has consumed, Elrod wrote, if they could have abandoned their unrelenting desire to crush the opposition. Related: Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Louisiana West Virginians are suing one of the nations largest chlorine producers after a cloud of chlorine gas leaked from a railcar inside a company chemical plant near their homes. Attorney Jim Bordas says the Aug. 27 chlorine leak at the Axiall Corp. plant forced residents from their homes and damaged their properties. The National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday that about 17,000 gallons of chlorine leaked out. This is a very serious matter, Bordas said. Property has been destroyed, people are worried and afraid. They are afraid of the possible health consequences that may result from this leak. Bordas is accusing the company of general negligence, trespass, private nuisance and public nuisance, and seeking class action status so that others who suffered can join the suit. Officials with Westlake Chemical Corp., which completed a $3.8 billion acquisition of Axiall on Wednesday, didnt respond to requests for comment from The Intelligencer. The newspaper reports that Bordas filed in Marshall County Circuit Court on Aug. 27 on behalf of Tim Bohrer, Rhonda Bohrer, Roy Yoho and Darlene Yoho. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits Virginia Federal officials say a Mississippi physician offered to illegally trade prescriptions for escort services and later sold prescriptions for money to the escort and an undercover agent. Dr. Michael Loebenberg of Ocean Springs was charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute controlled drugs in federal court Thursday in Gulfport. He was released on $25,000 bail and is scheduled to return for a preliminary hearing Tuesday. Loebenberg told a judge he would hire a lawyer. None is listed for him in court records. An escort told investigators in January that Loebenberg had offered to write a prescription in exchange for escort services, Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics Lt. Mary Flinchum swore in the criminal charge. At the urging of investigators, the escort then called Loebenberg and asked for drugs. The charge says the physician met with the escort on Jan. 29 and sold a prescription for hydrocodone for $40 while sitting in a car outside a pizzeria. Two more meetings were set up after the escort texted with Loebenberg about writing prescriptions for friends, actually undercover agents. Loebenberg explained that he would need to be careful with his license, the charge states. The escort explained that the individuals were trustworthy and Loebenberg agreed to meet with (the confidential sources) friend. At the meeting second in April, Flinchum says Loebenberg sold the escort and an undercover agent five prescriptions, including one for a second undercover agent who wasnt present, in exchange for $200. Then in June, the charge says Loebenberg sold five prescriptions for $200. The physician didnt examine either person but after the final meeting told the agent to come to his office before future prescriptions so he could create a file if the pharmacy called the clinic, Flinchum said. Loebenberg had worked as a gastroenterologist in a local medical practice. Court papers say hes now working for hospitals in Biloxi, Ocean Springs and Pascagoula. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Agencies Mississippi Drugs While Uber Technologies Inc. fights to keep its own drivers out of court with their grievances, it cant force arbitration on Lyft Inc. drivers who accuse the ride-hailing behemoth of dirty tricks. Uber will have to confront a lawsuit accusing it of creating fake Lyft accounts to lure its smaller rivals drivers to phony ride requests the old-fashioned way in a public courthouse. Ryan Smythe claims that he and hundreds of fellow Lyft drivers in California were sabotaged by Uber drivers using disposable cell phones for the fake rides scheme, as part of Ubers Operation SLOG, a driver recruitment initiative that first drew criticism two years ago. Smythe added new details Thursday to a complaint he filed in May following last weeks ruling by a San Francisco state judge blocking Ubers effort to move the dispute into closed-door arbitration proceedings. Uber Technologies Inc. did this to discourage Lyft drivers from contracting with Lyft, to deprive the marketplace of Lyft drivers so that Uber drivers would benefit, and to create a higher wait time for Lyft customers in order to steer their patronage to Uber, Smythe said in the revised complaint. Uber has taken a more aggressive stance in its highest profile driver lawsuit after appeals court deliberations in June made the company more confident in its ability to enforce arbitration clauses in its contracts and block drivers from suing. Class Action Like many drivers, Smythe used both Lyft and Uber apps to find rides, which led Uber to attempt to force his claims into private arbitration, one driver at a time, instead of court where hes seeking to proceed with class-action status. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Mary E. Wiss shut down Ubers bid. Smythes claims fall outside the scope of the arbitration agreement, Wiss wrote in an Aug. 25 ruling. His lawsuit is directly tied to his separate role as Lyft driver and the harm he allegedly suffered in that capacity. Last month a federal judge in San Francisco rejected Ubers $100 million settlement with drivers, which may reignite a dozen or so lawsuits that would have been silenced by the agreement. Legal experts have said that because those other cases are in state court, they wont be bound by Uber winning a favorable ruling on its arbitration clause from the federal appeals court. Uber spokesman Matt Kallman didnt immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment on Smythes claims. The case is Smythe v. Uber Technologies Inc. CGC-16-552035, California Superior Court (San Francisco). Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics Lawsuits Claims Volkswagen AGs agreement with California to resolve unfair competition claims tied to the companys emissions-cheating scandal won final approval from the federal judge overseeing hundreds of lawsuits in the U.S. Californias consent decree is part of VWs more than $16.5 billion in settlements with car owners, dealerships and regulators in the U.S. over the sale of diesel vehicles armed with devices to beat pollution tests. The carmaker will pay $86 million to California, home to the largest share of the almost 600,000 cars on U.S. roads rigged to cheat tests. The deal will help pay for research grants, consumer protection programs and the cost of the investigation by California Attorney General Kamala Harriss office, according to the final judgment signed Thursday by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco. No more than 20 percent of the funds can be earmarked for a single recipient. The deal also prohibits VW and Porsche from advertising, selling, leasing or distributing in California any vehicles containing the so-called defeat devices used to cheat pollution tests. The carmaker will have to report back to the California attorney general annually for five years on its efforts to meet the terms of the deal. Volkswagen tricked consumers seeking to purchase an eco-friendly car by misleading the public about the level of harmful pollutants their so-called clean diesel vehicles were emitting, Harris said in a statement on July 7, when the $86 million deal was announced. We must conserve and protect our environment for future generations and deliver swift and certain consequences to those who break the law and pollute our air. VWs settlement costs could expand if it fails to remove 85 percent of the cars from U.S. roads by June 2019. Of the 475,000 2.0-liter engines that must be fixed or repurchased, owners 210,000 of those cars have already registered to participate in the settlement. Most of those owners and lessees have so far opted for the buyback. The German automaker also faces lawsuits by investors and criminal probes in the U.S., Germany and South Korea. The U.S. case is In Re: Volkswagen Clean Diesel Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2672, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco). Related: Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics California USA Legislation Oklahoma Attorneys for the state of Washington have denied allegations of fraud in the deletion of emails by their expert witnesses in preparing for a trial over a deadly 2014 landslide. But they acknowledge emails were deleted and at least one state attorney was aware of it, according to a brief filed Friday in King County Superior Court. Earlier this month, the victims attorneys claimed the email deleting began with a pact approved by the attorney general to hide what was being done. The plaintiffs said they obtained some of the emails that were mistakenly spared from deletion and allege the emails show the experts were constantly shifting their story in service of the states defense. State attorneys acknowledge a mistake was made when some of the states experts decided to delete certain emails related to the case. No attorney for the State ever directed experts to delete emails, to reach a particular conclusion, or to change their opinions, the states attorneys wrote. The experts reached this agreement not as part of some nefarious plot, but rather based on their understanding, from work on prior cases, that their e-mails would not need to be disclosed so long as their final report detailed all of the evidence that they considered. No state attorney encouraged that practice, but one was aware of it, according to court documents. That attorney sincerely believed, according to the brief, that none of the emails would have to be disclosed under applicable rules. While that sincere belief was incorrect, it was not part of an effort to hide harmful evidence, the attorneys wrote. Attorneys said the state failed to make clear that substantive email communications about the case needed to be preserved. They said the state has now done everything it can be reasonably expected to do to recover those emails. The state believes it will soon have a virtually complete set of emails that were ever exchanged between the experts, documents said. The state is also offering to pay the costs to make their experts available for follow-up deposition by the victims attorneys to discuss the emails and offered to pay any costs related to the plaintiffs bringing their motion in this matter, documents said. State attorneys said those costs should be a more than sufficient sanction for the errors made by the state, They urge the judge to deny other sanctions requested by the victims attorneys. The lawsuit is expected to involve one of the largest tort claims in Washington history. The state, Snohomish County and Grandy Lake Forest Associates, the firm that logged land above the slide, are named as defendants. Related: Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Fraud Washington The foreign exchange market is the world's largest financial market, accounting for more than $5 trillion in turnover each day. Comprised of banks, commercial companies, central banks, investment firms, hedge funds and retail investors, the foreign exchange market allows participants to buy, sell, exchange and speculate on currencies. There are a number of ways to invest in the foreign exchange market. Forex The forex market is a 24-hour cash (spot) market where currency pairs, such as the EUR/USD pair, are traded. Because currencies are traded in pairs, investors and traders are betting one currency will go up and the other will go down. The currencies are bought and sold according to the current price or exchange rate. Foreign Currency Futures Foreign currency futures are futures contracts on currencies, which are bought and sold based on a standard size and settlement date. The CME Group is the largest foreign currency futures market in the United States, and offers futures contracts on G10 as well as emerging market currency pairs and e-micro products. Foreign Currency Options Whereas futures contracts represent an obligation to either buy or sell a currency at a future date, foreign currency options give the option holder the right (but not the obligation) to buy or sell a fixed amount of a foreign currency at a specified price on or before a specified future date. ETFs and ETNs A number of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and exchange-traded notes (ETNs) provide exposure to foreign exchange markets. Some ETFs are single-currency, while others buy and manage a group of currencies. Certificates of Deposit Foreign currency certificates of deposit (CDs) are available on individual currencies or baskets of currencies and allow investors to earn interest at foreign rates. For example, TIAA Bank offers the New World Energy CD Basket, which provides exposure to three currencies from non-Middle Eastern energy-producing countries (Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and Norwegian krone). Foreign Bond Funds Foreign bond funds are mutual funds that invest in the bonds of foreign governments. Foreign bonds are typically denominated in the currency of the country of sale. If the value of the foreign currency rises relative to the investor's local currency, the earned interest will increase when it is converted. Investopedia does not provide tax, investment, or financial services and advice. The information is presented without consideration of the investment objectives, risk tolerance, or financial circumstances of any specific investor and might not be suitable for all investors. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. SANTA MONICA, CA - September 6, 2016 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Gopher Protocol Inc. (OTCQB:GOPH) ("Gopher" and the "Company"), a development-stage Company which specializes in the development of real-time, heuristic-based mobile technologies, announced today that, in connection with the Company's desire to retain highly qualified individuals to advise the Company with respect to certain aspects of its business, the Company has adopted an Advisory Board Charter, effective September 1, 2016, and has appointed four (4) members to its newly created Advisory Board, in order to advise the Company on the roll-out of its technologies, including its Guardian Patch "GOPHERINSIGHT" circuit prototype device (the "Patch"). The Patch, which the Company intends to introduce to consumer markets in 2017, is a unique location technology that works with or without GPS. The Patch is a stick-on tracking device that provides its users with the capability to protect and track objects, a loved-one or even a pet, through a mobile application. As previously announced, the test results of the GOPHERINSIGHT technology proved range coverage of approximately 30 square miles in areas without tall buildings. The GOPHERINSIGHT prototypes are being shipped to the Company's offices in San Diego, CA for further testing within a larger and more densely populated urban area. In light of these recent developments, the Company has determined that the creation of an advisory board would be beneficial in advancing its technologies. Each of the Company's Advisory Board members are seasoned veterans of the technology industry and are considered experts in their respective fields. All of the Advisory Board members hold PhD's from prestigious universities and are reputable figures within academia. The Advisory Board will advise the Company on a wide variety of technological issues, including R&D matters such as integrated circuit reliability and design concepts, EDA (Electronic Design Automation) software architecture and automation algorithms. In addition, each Advisory Board member's prior experience and current rolls in key technology industry positions will provide the Company with vastly more knowledge in the areas of mobile technology, physics and advanced mathematics. The Company's CTO, Dr. Danny Rittman, will serve as Chairman of the Advisory Board. Advisory Board members will receive remuneration in the form of cash and stock options in consideration of serving as Advisory Board members and each Advisory Board member's term will be one (1) year from the date of appointment or until a successor is duly elected. The Company intends to indemnify each Advisory Board member against any liability incurred while serving as an Advisory Board member. About Guardian Patch The Guardian Patch (the "Patch"), potentially arriving in consumer markets in 2017, is a unique location technology that works with or without GPS. The Patch is a "stick-on" device that provides its users with the capability to protect and track objects, a loved-one or even a pet, through a mobile application. Download the Patch app, register your patch, and track anything that you own on your mobile device or on our designated website. Register the Patches of your family members and friends to receive alerts in the event of an emergency. Peel the Patch off and the Patch acts as a beacon, sending out a signal and notifying anyone who has registered the user's Patch. About Gopher Protocol Inc. Gopher Protocol Inc. (OTCQB: GOPH) ("Gopher" and the "Company") (http://gopherprotocol.com) is a development-stage company developing a real-time, heuristic-based mobile technology. Upon development, the technology will consist of a smart microchip, mobile application software and supporting software that will run on a server. The system contemplates the creation of a global network. Gopher believes this will be the first system that is developed using a human, heuristic-based analysis engine. Since the core of the system will be its advanced microchip technology that will be capable of being installed in any mobile device worldwide, Gopher expects that this will result in an internal, private network between all mobile devices utilizing the microchip by providing mobile technology for computing power enhancement, advanced mobile database management/sharing and other additional mobile features. Corporate Site: http://gopherprotocol.com Press page/ press kit - http://gopherprotocol.com/?page_id=228 Consumer and product website for Guardian Patch: http://www.guardianpatch.com/ Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as disclosed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission located at their website (http://www.sec.gov). In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release. Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investment involves risk and possible loss of investment. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. Contact each company directly regarding content and press release questions. Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. Disclosure: GOPH is a PR , social media and publishing client and compensates Investorideas.com ( three months effective April 4, 2016 - three thousand five hundred per month )More disclaimer info: http://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp Additional info regarding BC Residents and global Investors: Effective September 15 2008 - all BC investors should review all OTC and Pink sheet listed companies for adherence in new disclosure filings and filing appropriate documents with Sedar. Read for more info: http://www.bcsc.bc.ca/release.aspx?id=6894. Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. Top News - Investor Idea REE Stock News - Defense Metals (TSX-V: DEFN.V) (OTCQB: DFMTF) Drills 113 metres of 2.50% Total Rare Earth Oxide at Wicheeda Vancouver, British Columbia - October 26, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Mining / Metals / Green Energy Stock News - Defense Metals Corp. (TSX-V: DEFN / OTCQB: DFMTF/ FSE:35D) is pleased to announce high-grade Rare Earth Element ("REE") assay results from one additional core hole, totalling 383 metres (m), collared within the northern area of Defense Metals' 100% owned Wicheeda REE Deposit. Top Cleantech News - Investor Idea Breaking EV Stock News: Pre-orders for Mullen (NASDAQ: MULN) FIVE Electric-SUV Crossover Exceed Expectations as the FIVE 'Strikingly Different' Tour Begins BREA, Calif. - October 28, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN), an emerging electric vehicle ("EV") manufacturer, announces today that the Mullen FIVE "Strikingly Different" EV Crossover Tour which began yesterday, in Pasadena, California, is off to a great start with first day reservations exceeding expectations and overwhelmingly positive customer feedback. Top Health and Wellness News - Investor Idea Health and Wellness Stock News - Endexx (OTCBB: EDXC) Secures Third Order for Non-Nicotine Vape Product HYLA Worth Approximately $1.5M in Revenue for First two Fiscal Quarters of 2023 CAVE CREEK, Ariz. - October 27, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Endexx Corporation (OTCBB:EDXC), a provider of innovative, plant-derived, and sustainable health and skincare products, today announces it has secured three key significant orders for its newly acquired, non-nicotine plant-based vape product, HYLA. Top AI Stock News - Investor Idea Breaking AI Stock News: FatBrain (OTCQB: LZGI) Acquires Confidential Computing Platform ZeroTrust to Protect Data Privacy and Accelerate Innovation for Millions of Growth Businesses NEW YORK, NY - October 19, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) FatBrain AI (LZG International, Inc.) (OTCQB: LZGI), the leader in powerful and easy-to-use artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for star enterprises of tomorrow, has acquired the confidential computing and privacy intellectual property (IP) plus software assets of Zero2A PTE LTD ("ZeroTrust Platform"), a software company based in Singapore. Check out our Podcasts for great investor ideas: Get new posts by email: Subscribe Powered by Investorideas.com Newswire: Subscribe to Investor Ideas Newswire Some 14,000 housing units will be completed by the end of the year. Property Industry Ireland (PII), which is today launching the latest edition of Property Watch, said Budget 2017 must build on the positive work of the Housing Action Plan. A man wanted in connection with the Regency Hotel shooting has been arrested in the north. The PSNI says the 46-year-old is wanted here by Gardai in relation to murder and firearms offences. Update at 10.30pm: Stephen Donnelly has denied his opinion on the Apple tax appeal was the reason for leaving the Social Democrats. The TD, who only co-founded the party 14 months ago, has today resigned from the party. However the Wicklow TD had voiced some disagreement with the party's policy, which opposes an appeal of the 13 billion ruling. He said this evening his position was slightly more nuanced than that of the party: I had a slightly different view, fundamentally very similar, Apple should have been paying their taxes, the Irish State should not have been facilitating this massive tax avoidance, I just would be concerned that this allows the commission to start meddling in our corporation tax affairs. Deputy Roisin Shortall denies that the party will now face a struggle to survive: The fact of the matter is that the Social Democrats were in existence for a mere six months, we set up without any state funding at all, without any backing. We ran a very credible campaign we believe, we influenced the direction of the debate during the campaign and Steven played an important role in that." Update 5pm: Stephen Donnelly's office says he will stay as part of the Dail group alongside his former Social Democrats colleagues and the Green Party, in order to maintain speaking rights. He said the decision to leave the party was "a very difficult personal decision". His former party colleague Catherine Murphy said continuing the work as a technical group in the Dail was the right thing to do and added: "We've all go to be mature about this." Update 3.20pm: Social Democrats co-founder Catherine Murphy has said she is not surprised that Stephen Donnelly has left the party. Deputy Murphy said the Wicklow TD had been "disengaged" for some time, and was taking August to consider his future. It hasn't come as a complete bolt from the blueHe was taking August off to think about things, she said. (However), were determined to plough ahead with the development of the party. Fellow co-founder Roisin Shorthall said: "We're really building the capacity of the party and we believe it has a very bright future. It's a pity he's not a part of that, but we have to respect his decision and we wish him well" Update: 1.15pm: Stephen Donnelly has citing leadership issues as the reason for his leaving the party. The Wicklow TD said that his partnership with Roisin Shortall and Catherine Murphy as leaders of the party did not work, saying: "Some partnerships, in every walk of life, simply dont work." He said that: "In spite of everyones best efforts, I have concluded that our partnership did not have that." He statement said: "I am announcing, after a prolonged period of consideration, that I am leaving the Social Democrats with immediate effect. I do so with great sadness, having vested so much together with my parliamentary colleagues, Catherine and Roisin, a small core team and many volunteers across the country, into the establishment of the Social Democrats over the last 20 months. "It is a fact that some partnerships, in every walk of life, simply dont work no matter how hard all of the parties to that partnership try to make it succeed. "My decision is based on the fact that for the Social Democrats to achieve its potential as a party of significant influence and scale, despite the many obstacles new parties face, one critical component is that the leadership team must function very well together as a team. In spite of everyones best efforts, I have concluded that our partnership did not have that. I further believe that this would be the case whether the leadership had continued to be shared or was vested in one person, which was not something I or anyone else had sought. "I entered politics in 2011 because I saw an urgent need for new thinking and approaches to steering Ireland through turbulent times and into a new era of opportunity and equality. I remain just as committed to making as best a contribution as I can to my constituency and our country through politics, as a social democrat. To this end, I will now be consulting with my supporters in Wicklow and East Carlow on the best way forward.. "I wish to thank most sincerely the many, many people who support both the Social Democrats and me personally. "I will continue to work hard on the issues I am championing, including stopping tax avoidance by vulture funds, improving public services, resolving the mortgage crisis; responsible fiscal management, promoting high quality job creation and reducing the costs of living and doing business." Earlier: A founding leader of the Social Democrats has left the party. Stephen Donnelly - who is a TD for Wicklow - was leader alongside Roisin Shortall and Catherine Murphy since it was founded in July of last year. All three were the only TDs returned for the party at the last election. A statement from the Social Democrats says they are surprised that he has decided to walk away from the project, but the remaining members will continue to build the party. Statement from Social Democrats regarding the departure of Stephen Donnelly T.D. https://t.co/fW6R6cQ0OF Social Democrats (@SocDems) September 5, 2016 The full statement by the Social Democrats read: "Stephen Donnelly T.D. has informed us that he is leaving the Social Democrats. "We are disappointed that he has decided to walk away from the project, we undertook, to establish and build the party. "The Executive Committee of the party has reaffirmed its commitment to the vision of a strong economy, fair society and honest politics. "We are fully committed to the project and will endeavour to develop the party into an exciting force for change in Irish politics. "As is the case across the globe the defence of social democratic values is not dependent on one personality or politician - but rather is a collective pursuit. "Since the Social Democrats were first founded, in July 2015, we have worked to build the party brick-by-brick. This is a long term project which requires dedication, hard work, long hours and a major commitment from all involved including our elected representatives. The levels of dedication required for such a major undertaking can be overwhelming for some. "However our elected Councillors, our staff team and our volunteers are passionate about our project and we will now get on with the job of building our party. "We wish Stephen the best in his future endeavours and look forward, with excitement, to the future development of the Social Democrats." The young woman who died when the car she was in was hit by a truck on the M8 motorway yesterday had just taken a call giving her good news about her newborn baby. Nicola Kenny, aged 26 and from Thurles in Co Tipperary, had only just given birth for the first time on Sunday and was being driven up to Dublin by her mother Ann after her little baby Lily-Rose was transferred up to Temple Street hospital because of health worries. When Ann got a call from the hospital she pulled into the hard shoulder for Nicola to hear from the hospital that her one-day-old daughter was doing well and would be transferred back to Clonmel Hospital where she was born. When they finished the phone call, that was when the lorry hit the back of the car, killing Nicola who was in the back seat and injuring her mother and Nicola's aunt Irene who was also in the car. A family spokesman told the Herald: Nicola had Lily-Rose in the early hours of Sunday morning in Clonmel hospital, and all was well, but then later on Sunday there was a bit of concern that the baby had a bit of a temperature and it was decided to transfer her to Temple Street. Then yesterday Nicola was being driven up to be with the baby when a call came through from the hospital that everything was fine. "Ann pulled the car in to the hard shoulder so Nicola could take the call, and they were delighted to hear Lily-Rose was doing well, and thats when the crash happened. Nicola's local community around Kennedy Park were shocked at the news, with the spokesman saying: We are all devastated, Sunday was a big day of celebration with the baby being born and the Tipperary success at Croke Park, and then this happened." "The set of coincidences is just unbelievable." Nicolas mother is back at home with a broken arm and a shoulder injury while her aunt is in intensive care at University Hospital Limerick. The lorry driver, who was not inujured, was arrested in connection with the crash and then released. Ms Kenny's family, including her father Patrick and brother, also Patrick, have asked for people who wish to make donations to give money to the Clonmel Hospital Baby Unit. The relative paid a glowing tribute to Ms Kenny. "Nicola was well loved. A bubbly character, a great young girl. You couldn't say anything bad about her. Any time you met her she had a smile on her face, everyday," he said. "She was a gas young one as they say." Ms Kenny's family home in Kennedy Park, where she lived with her mother and father, is only a few streets away from where the victorious Tipperary hurling team homecoming was held in Semple Stadium. Ms Kenny was well known through her job in the Tesco store in Thurles and had a wide circle of friends. She was also a godmother. Her funeral will take place on Thursday at the Cathedral of the Assumption in the town followed by burial at St Patrick's Cemetery. Local priests spent the day liaising with the family. Fr Martin Hayes said prayers and sympathies were being offered to relatives and friends and appealed for them to be given privacy to grieve. Linzi Cleary, who had been friends with Ms Kenny all her life, posted a photo of them as toddlers and a message on social media. "What can I say sister I don't know how I can live without you. I love you so so much babygirl. I hope your wings are as big as your perfect personality. The last 26 years nobody can even come close I love you sis. I love you so much," she said. Hillary Clinton had a rough start to her election rally on US Labour Day, battling a stubborn cough. The Democratic nominee took to the stage in Cleveland coughing uncontrollably, before joking that, "every time I think about Trump I get allergic". Several people in the crowd began shouting "get her some water". She battled through the cough and delivered her speech with some difficulty. Both Mrs Clinton and Donald Trump are in Ohio courting voters in the critical swing state. A man and woman have been injured in a double stabbing in west London, police confirmed. Police were called at around 6.15pm today to reports that two people had been stabbed in Kirton Close, Chiswick, Scotland Yard said. London Ambulance Service and London's Air Ambulance, which landed on nearby Turnham Green, all attended the scene. Both victims were taken to hospital for treatment, where the woman's injuries were said not to be life-threatening. Police were waiting for an update on the condition of the man. Hounslow police force is investigating and could not give the names or ages of the victims. The force believe the pair were attacked by a man who fled the scene, and believe all parties are known to each other. No arrests have been made. An eyewitness told the Press Association: "I made my way towards the ambulance and saw a young girl being treated for superficial neck injuries. She seemed to be okay, and she was pointing down the alleyway. "I went down the alley as the police were taping it off and saw a man in the gutter, being treated by an ambulance crew. He was waving his arms trying to get up and they put him on a stretcher and into the ambulance." Road closures remained in place around Kirton Close, and Chiswick High Road was open, the Met added. The idea was floated in a letter the Central Bank governor sent to the minister of finance ahead of the budget. This year, for the first time, the Central Bank has publicly released the letter which was sent on August 6 as part of the regulators drive towards achieving increased transparency. Mr Lane also said in the letter that a part of the corporate tax revenues, which have surged over the past 12 months, may be a temporary phenomenon and cannot be relied on in planning for future budgets. Despite the challenges set by the UKs decision to leave the EU, he projects the Irish economy will expand this year and in 2017, while debt levels have continued to fall across the economy. The banking system has strengthened, even though the stress tests by the European Banking Authority released in late July showed the Irish financial system remains vulnerable in the event of a downturn and/or a deterioration in the international financial environment, he said. The governor said the Government may need to fashion long-term debt targets that are fitted to Irish conditions. The letter specifically questions whether the 60% debt-to-GDP target a pillar of the EUs fiscal oversight regime is low enough in Irelands case because of the countrys vulnerability to economic crises. Without specifying a target, Mr Lane said there are compelling reasons to develop a national target that is materially below a level that is more suitable for a large, more stable economy. The statistical issues surrounding the measuring of Irish GDP make the new measure more necessary. Under Eurostat rules, the level of Irish gross debts instantly slumped to around 80% of GDP after the CSO applied large revisions to the GDP levels because of the activities of a small number of multinationals. Let me offer a few other observations on budgetary policy, the letter goes on. First, it is important to differentiate between temporary and permanent influences on the trajectories for revenue and expenditure. While the volatility of the Irish economy does not make it easy to calculate the underlying sustainable path for tax revenues, it would be prudent to assume that some fraction of the recent surge in corporation tax revenues might be temporary in nature. Exchequer figures published last week confirmed corporate tax revenues were again running strongly for a second year, even though a question mark was again raised about the strength of Vat receipts. In 2015, revenues from corporate tax receipts set a new record, bringing in 6.87bn, almost 2.3bn more than was anticipated. New tax arrangements by large multinationals have helped drive the level of company revenues collected by the Government. The letter also said the exchequer could not rely on other non-tax sources of revenue, including large transfers of surplus income generated by the Central Bank. A spokeswoman for the Department of Finance said the submission would be taken into consideration by the finance minister. Taking the 13bn could substantially lower Irelands gross debt, but could also spell trouble for the country if the move were to discourage multinationals from investing here, the ratings firm said. The assessment by Fitch is similar to the one given by S&P Global Ratings, and also chimes with some of the arguments set out by the Government late last week for its decision to appeal the commissions decision. The warning comes as the CSO published industrial output figures which showed the so-called modern part of the economy, which includes the many multinational pharmaceutical plants based in the country, rose sharply, by 14.1%, in July from a year earlier. Output for all factories grew by an annual 7.4%, but the CSO again issued a health warning on the figures following the huge upward revisions published in July to Irish GDP levels. The CSO had said at the time that the huge revisions didnt necessarily mean there was any significant increases in employment in Ireland. However, the industrial output figures also showed the output of the traditional sector of the economy which includes many Irish firms such as food and beverage producers which employ many thousands of people fell 1.3% in the month, and is now 8.9% lower than in July 2015. We can see that the indigenous Irish manufacturing sector is struggling, said Conall Mac Coille, chief economist at Davy Stockbrokers. The pace of this contraction is accentuated by the volatility in the data. Nonetheless, taking the first seven months of 2016 together, traditional sector output is down 1.8% on 2015 after a relatively robust 4.4% expansion in 2015. Sterling has fallen from 76.8 pence against the euro on the eve of the UKs Brexit vote on June 23 to trade at 83.8 pence. The weakness of the pound, along with uncertainty about the prospects of the UK economy, make it more difficult for indigenous Irish producers to sell goods across the Irish Sea. The Investec Ireland purchasing managers survey published last week showed that manufacturing here expanded only slightly in August, and was growing at a significantly slower pace than earlier this year. Separately, the Investec Irish services survey, which was published yesterday, had much better news for the economy. Its services purchasing managers index showed a marked expansion in the headline rate of activity last month. The rate of expansion in the new export business index tumbled to a five-month low with some respondents reporting lower new orders from the UK, in part due to the strength of the euro compared with sterling following the result of the UKs referendum on EU membership, said Philip OSullivan, chief economist at Investec Ireland. The companys Irish plant is based in east Clare, 5km to the east of Tulla village, and currently employs 315 people. New plans, lodged with Clare County Council, show the company is seeking to increase the capacity of its current reagent kit manufacturing operation and expand its product line. The total annual salary spend at the plant is 17m equating to an average salary of 54,000, which the company claims is well above the average for the scientific and technical service sectors. The companys total export revenues amount to around 200m per year and it spends 14m per annum on materials and services in Ireland. Neither Beckman Coulter nor the IDA has yet to officially announce the new jobs, but in the planning documentation, the company states that the 105 positions will be provided by 2020. The company plans to commence production of urine sample testing strips in late 2017 with a view to producing 300,000 kits in 2018 and growing that total to 800,000 by 2023. The move by the US-headquartered company to expand its Clare operations follows the closure of its Galway plant in 2015 with the loss of 140 jobs. The move to shut down the Galway operation resulted in the firm consolidating its operations, with 80 Galway workers given the option to redeploy to Clare. Regarding the new expansion, the planning documents state that the proposed development represents a genuinely sustainable business. We have been working to list it, so if today or in the next few weeks we decided to do so, we could do it by years end, Mr Pallete said at a dinner with reporters in Santander on Sunday. Selling a stake in the UK carrier to a strategic investor is also still an option, he said: We could objectively do either one of the two things by years end. If markets closed, we would wait. We dont have the obligation to list or sell at any price. Telefonica was counting on proceeds from the planned 10.25bn (12.2bn) sale of O2 to Hutchison Holdings to reduce its debt load of about 53bn, before the EU in May blocked the deal on competition concerns. The O2 sale, an IPO of at least 25% of Telefonicas infrastructure unit Telxius, confirmed yesterday, and increasing free cash flow generation will allow the company to meet its target of lowered debt, Mr Pallete said. The company expects free cash flow and operating income before depreciation and amortisation to be higher in 2017 than in 2016, Mr Pallete said, without forecasting how much either metric would be. Despite debt concerns, the companys annual dividend of 75c a share is sustainable, Mr Pallete said. Telefonica could maintain the payout at that level in 2017 by giving shareholders stock if needed a so-called scrip dividend allowing the company to keep more cash available. In July, Telefonica scaled back its debt-reduction goal, saying it will reach a net-debt-to-operating income ratio of 2.35 times in the the mid-term. In February, the company had said the target would be reached this year, pending the sale of O2, which at the time was facing regulatory review. The ratio stood at 3.2 times at the end of June. The IPO of Telxius is set to take place this year, Telefonica said in a regulatory filing. The company will decide the price range as well as the percentage of the unit it will offer in the next few weeks, once it has gauged investor appetite, Mr Pallete said. An IPO could give the unit an equity value of as much as 3.5bn. Telefonica had put plans for a Telxius IPO, as well as a listing for O2, on hold after UK voters chose to leave the EU in June. The shock Brexit decision caused stock indexes to fall globally. Rural Ireland's village shops are meeting places, social hubs and amenities that are still very much part of the landscape and culture. They provide the everyday essentials, be it a litre of milk, a loaf of bread, the newspaper or a chat to catch up on the local news. IFA livestock committee chairman Angus Woods said a number of Irish exporters are actively involved in negotiations and he expected progress on both weanling and slaughter cattle exports in the coming weeks. He said work is also ongoing in lining up ships to facilitate the trade. Officials from the Turkish Meat and Milk Board visited Ireland to progress matters in the last week. Doctors have claimed that moves to address overcrowding in hospitals which do not focus on the shortage of acute beds are little more than political PR initiatives which will have little impact for patients. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisations daily trolley and ward watch report claimed there were 299 patients awaiting a bed yesterday morning seven of the countrys largest hospital had 20 or more patients in that position, including Cork University Hospital; Beaumont and Tallaght Hospitals in Dublin; University Hospital Limerick; and the Midland Regional Hospitals in Mullingar and Tullamore. The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has launched a campaign to highlight how the shortage of acute beds is causing chaos in emergency departments. Put simply there is nowhere for patients who need to be admitted to go and they are then left in an overcrowded, unsafe emergency department environment, it said. Dr Peadar Gilligan, chairman of the IMOs consultant committee and a consultant in emergency medicine at Beaumont Hospital, said overcrowding was now a year-round problem and it was inherently wrong to just focus on winter initiatives. Throughout the summer, for example, Beaumont Hospital has had about 20 patients waiting for beds each day. In other areas, the problems in emergency departments actually get worse during the summer as the local population swells with holiday-makers. The Beaumont consultant also warned that demand for hospital space will rise this year, in part because of the decision a year ago to cancel elective surgeries. He said those patients whose elective procedures have been cancelled often end up in emergency departments. Very often, what might have been elective a year ago becomes critical now. We warned last year that cancelling elective procedures would have consequences and those consequences will include increased demand in the coming months from patients who were not treated last year. Finally, Dr Gilligan pointed to the poor recruitment and retention of doctors, nurses and health professionals. Ireland must do better and ensure we have a highly trained medical workforce that is sufficient to meet the needs of patients, he said. Currently we have a situation of being unable to recruit consultants and our doctors in training are emigrating in greater numbers each year. He concluded by saying the crisis will not only continue but is guaranteed to worsen as long as the Government refuse to fund additional public beds. Our population is rising and we have cut 1,600 public beds from our hospitals. That goes back to an ill-fated decision in 2004 to reduce the number of acute public hospital beds. Were still paying a price for that. Put those together and a crisis in our public hospitals is inevitable. Any attempt to deal with the problem which doesnt increase the bed count is PR-led, not evidence-based. Editorial: 10 The worlds largest Titanic exhibition scooped the top prize at the awards which were held in Sardinia at the weekend. In its 23-year history, it is the first time an attraction from the North has won the award at the ceremony, nicknamed the Tourism Oscars. However, it is the second year in a row a tourism initiative from Ireland has won the accolade after the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin took the top prize last year. Titanic Belfast saw off stiff competition from the Guinness Storehouse, nominated again this year, as well as La Sagrada Familia in Spain, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Acropolis in Athens, Londons Buckingham Palace, Ribeira do Porto in Portugal, and The Roman Colosseum in Italy. The award is yet another coup for Titanic Belfast coming after it was recently included in Lonely Planets Ultimate Travel list of 500 of the worlds most striking locations. It is housed in East Belfast in a six-floor building featuring nine interpretive and interactive galleries that explore the sights, sounds, smells and stories of Titanic, as well as the city and people which made her. Reacting to the award, Titanic Belfast chief executive Tim Husbands said it was a huge achievement considering the attraction was still relatively young in world tourism circles. After only four years in operation, to be recognised and beat off stiff competition from Europes most iconic landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and the Roman Colosseum is a true honour. We know what we offer at Titanic Belfast is special and something our city and country can be proud of and are so pleased this has been recognised on an international level, he said. Mr Husbands said, since opening in 2012, Titanic Belfast had established itself as a world-class attraction on the local, national and international stage. Last month, we welcomed our three-millionth visitor having once again exceeded visitor number expectations. This milestone came during a record-breaking August, as the visitor attraction experienced its busiest day to date. The visitor experience has also experienced significant growth, to date, from France, Germany, USA and China year to year, he said. Buckingham Palace in London was among the iconic landmarks that were nominated. The Norths deputy first minister Martin McGuinness described the award as a phenomenal achievement. The story of the Titanic is known around the globe and it is only right and proper we have a world-class visitor attraction to match, he said. The Guinness Storehouse in Dublin won the award last year and was nominated again this year. Chief executive of Tourism Ireland John McGrillen said the organisation was extremely proud of the win. I congratulate Tim and his team and I have every confidence that Titanic Belfast will remain at the heart of our tourism industry for decades to come, he said. Members of Kinsale History Society have called on Cork County Council to secure, from theft, the remaining Battle of Kinsale signs. But they have also called for the remaining signage to be upgraded, for an improved battle display in the towns museum,and in the long term, for a dedicated Battle of Kinsale centre, given that the town is a gateway to the Wild Atlantic Way tourist route. It follows the theft of at least two of the landmark green and white metal signs which were erected in the 1960s at various points around the historic Cork harbour town. An audit by the history society has also revealed the remaining signs have deteriorated due to weathering and vandalism. Members of the history society have now asked the local authority to address the situation as a matter of urgency, and have written to councillors for the Bandon-Kinsale Municipal area requesting them to intervene without delay, a spokesman said. The signs mark significant areas and events linked to the 1601 Battle and Siege of Kinsale, when a 4,000-strong force of Spanish soldiers landed in Kinsale in a failed bid to help Irish rebels, including ONeill and ODonnell, fight British rule in Ireland. English forces bombarded the Spanish with artillery fire for almost three months. Despite reinforcements from the Irish, the better-trained English won the Battle of Kinsale on December 24, 1601. The Spanish eventually surrendered, handing the English a decisive victory which effectively broke Irish resistance. The aftermath also prompted the Flight of the Earls. The sign thefts emerged during Heritage Week after archaeologist Paul OKeeffe presented an update to the local history society on survey work one of the best-preserved siege sites in Ireland or Britain which has been completed in recent months. Mr OKeeffe and Brendan Shields combined historical maps and computer modelling to locate artillery fire sites along the 10kms of trenches and siege works built around the sites of the main English camps, Mountjoy, Thomond, and Carew, and from where the English troops pounded the town walls with canons. The Battle of Kinsale was fought between about 5,000 Irish and 3,000 English troops about four miles north-west of the town on Christmas Eve 1601, and was over within hours, with the English victorious. Of the 1,200 casualties, it is estimated 1,000 were Irish or Spanish. However, it is thought up to 7,000 people died during the 77-day siege. In the latest haul, Garda units swooped on a truck in north Dublin and uncovered 100,000 in cash, concealed in vacuum packs inside the vehicle. Officers believe the cash was the likely payment for a large drug shipment due to come into the country. The operation, part of a continuing investigation, was conducted by the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau assisted by the recently-formed Special Crime Task Force. Sources said the southside gang hit was not part of the Kinahan crime cartel. The swoop took place at a M50 roundabout, junction 4, in Ballymun at around midnight on Saturday. A 32-year-old man, described as a trusted member of a Tallaght gang, was arrested and questioned under money laundering legislation. He was released subsequently as gardai prepare a file for the DPP. Charges in relation to money laundering or under the Proceeds of Crime Act cannot be given over the phone by the DPP and gardai must submit a file. A forensic examination has to be conducted on the cash for DNA and fingerprints. The DPP must also be satisfied that the person does not have a reasonable explanation for having the cash. The Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau works very closely with the Criminal Assets Bureau in terms of examining bank statements and financial records. They also discuss which agency might bring the prosecution and whether it is a criminal prosecution or a civil proceeding to confiscate the cash. A source said prosecutions were in the pipeline in the cases. The midnight operation brings to four the number of major cash seizures conducted by the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau in the last 12 weeks, three of them in the last fortnight. Sources said the money is used to pay for drugs shipments. People buying large quantities dont do so on tick, they pay up first, in advance, and the delivery comes later, explained a source. The previous Sunday, the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau and the task force seized 200,000 in cash from a Crumlin/south inner-city gang. The interception, this time a car, was made in the Clondalkin area. On August 24, the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau seized 70,000 in cash at a drugs distribution facility in Co Meath. In the biggest haul this year, the bureau confiscated 400,000 in cash in north Dublin on June 14. Paul Mooney, president of the National Parents Council-post primary (NPCpp), was responding to the week-end recommendation by a unions central executive that its 18,000 members vote for industrial action. Two ballots of Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) members will take place at more than 400 second-level schools in the next month. If both are carried, union leaders would be authorised to call strikes from the end of October, but could also force schools to close if teachers agree to withdraw from carrying out supervision and substitution duties. Mr Mooney said the parents organisation is not in a position to say how it should be sorted. But, he said, anything that disrupts students education must be avoided. Children shouldnt be pawns in this dispute. There are creative ways that disputes can be handled without having to involve innocent bystanders, in this instance the students, he said. The ballot on equal pay for newly-qualified teachers proposes that ASTI members could take action, including strikes. The union wants full restoration of the common pay scale for all teachers that existed before 2012 when a number of budget measures saw pay reduced and allowances for qualifications withdrawn for new entrants to the profession. ASTI members have also been recommended by their 180-member central executive committee to discontinue supervision and substitution duties, for which they are no longer paid. If they vote to do so, lack of cover for this work could force school boards to shut the doors and keep students at home unless contingency arrangements are put in place. The ASTI is also in continuing dispute over junior cycle reforms which have seen members refuse to take part in teacher training for new assessment. The current status of the dispute means students at most schools will not undergo classroom-based assessments in English this year, which will also leave them unable to gain up to 10% on their written Junior Certificate exams next summer. Mr Mooney said students should be central to the education system, but it is hard for parents to get a handle on the different issues on which the ASTI is in dispute. It doesnt seem like they have the same issue from one week to the next, he said. Mr Mooney said he has not heard to date of any disruption from the instruction to ASTI members to stop working the extra 33 hours a year they had been doing under past public pay deals, such as parent-teacher meetings being held during school hours. The withdrawal from the extra hours prompted the Department of Education to exclude ASTI from the benefits of the Lansdowne Road Agreement that sees almost all other public servants having salary increments restored. Christopher Kelly (53) of Sigurd Road, Dublin 7 was seen by a neighbour walking home in an intoxicated state around 4.30pm on April 26 2015. Mr Kelly had moved in with the homeowner Mary OBrien after he did some odd jobs for her and she offered him the spare room. She was found in a back bedroom of the single storey house and survived the fire, the inquest heard. Garda Tiernan Feeney of the Bridewell garda station said there was a partially burnt mattress and a charred hole in the floor of the front room where the deceased had been staying. There were a lot of cigarette butts around the floor and mattress, Garda Feeney said. There appeared to be more smoke damage than flame damage in the house, the garda told the court. The cause of Mr Kelly's death was asphyxia, according to an autopsy report and the pathologist noted as contributory factors elevated carbon monoxide levels of 32 per cent and a blood alcohol level of 289 milligrams per cent, the equivalent of ten drinks, the coroner said. The inquest heard that in a house fire situation in can be dangerous to open an outside access door due to the risk of adding oxygen and inadvertently fuelling the flames. Bernie Biggs, who went to the scene when Mary OBrien's personal alarm went off, was told by Dublin Fire Brigade not to open the front door. She drove around 30 mins from Kilcock as three other people to be named contacts to be called in an emergency situation (one of whom was Mr Kelly) were not available. Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane recorded a verdict of accidental death. This was quite an unexpected and tragic event and difficult in the context of having set up alerts that three of the contacts were unavailable," the coroner said. The environmental lobby group Friends of the Irish Environment called on the Cork Association for Autism to amend its planned balloon release, ahead of its event this Sunday. Friends of the Irish Environment director Tony Lowes said that if the public knew how hazardous balloons are to the environment they would never allow them to be released. The [balloon] fragments can become lethal marine debris, a hazard for sea turtles, dolphins, whales, fish, and seabirds who mistake them for jellyfish or other natural prey, he said. All seven species of marine turtles are near extinction and many turtles of two species in particular, the Loggerhead and Leatherback turtle, have been found with balloons in their intestines. The string on balloons can also entangle and trap animals. Not only can entanglement cause death, but added to other plastic fragments, animals can feel full and actually starve to death from not eating. Having received the request from Friends of the Irish Environment, event organiser Carol Walsh said the group will now cancel the planned balloon release at the finish line and will instead ask everybody who takes part in the Blue Balloon Fun Run & Walk to bring their balloons home instead. They will still get to fly their balloons for Autism down the old railway line and back along the water as participants tie their balloons to their wrists, which always makes for a spectacular sight, she said. We look forward to another great event this year which raises essential funds for our services. The fun walk is due to take place in Blackrock, Cork, on Sunday September 11 at 11am. Participants are being encouraged to register online at www.corkautism.ie to book their place. Paramotor pilot Oisin Creagh landed safely just south of Madrid yesterday after safely navigating the Pyrenees between France and Spain with his back-mounted 200cc engine and parachute-like wing on what was one of the most challenging parts of his epic 3,000km adventure. It was the first time I flew at an altitude of over two kilometres above sea level, and I maintained that for over an hour, he said last night. Weve been making really good progress throughout the journey flying about 200km a day and we are on schedule to make the final flight at the weekend, depending on the weather. When he makes that final crossing over the Straits of Gibraltar to Morocco, he will become the first person ever to fly from Ireland to Africa using a paramotor. It will also become one of the longest paramotor expeditions ever staged. Mr Creagh said he was delighted to have completed the Pyrenees leg without incident. But he said the soaring temperatures of up to 38C in recent days have produced strong thermals which have buffeted him on some of the flights. Oisin Creagh as he started out on his epic 3,000km-journey from Ireland to Africa. He will attempt to cross the Straits of Gibraltar to Morocco at the weekend. Its been really uncomfortable and tough going at times, with the thermals throwing me around a bit, he said. Weve decided now to just confine the flights to early morning. We set off at first light, around 6am, and we can get five hours of flying done, doing an average of 45km an hour, before the weather and winds close in. Mr Creagh, an architect based in Cork, took on the paramotor challenge to raise funds and awareness for Irish-based international development organisation, Gorta-Self Help Africa a charity which is working in drought-stricken Ethiopia where crop failures have ravaged the food supplies of 20m people this year. He set off from Northern Ireland late last month and has flown through Scotland, along Englands eastern seaboard to Dover, from where he flew unsupported across the English Channel to Calais. The adventurer landed outside Madrid yesterday after safely navigating the Pyrenees between France and Spain His ground support, John Drew, returns to Ireland tomorrow and will be replaced by Glandore-based paramotor pilot Mel Bendon. Mr Creagh is one of a handful of paramotoring enthusiasts in Ireland and one of the countrys most experienced paramotor pilots. Last year, a record number of personnel tested positive for illicit drugs since the Defence Forces drug testing programme was introduced in 2003. Now, the Department of Defence has confirmed that, of the 17 who tested positive in 2015, eight members have been discharged. According to a spokeswoman, an additional seven are currently awaiting a decision on their cases while a further two are in service and are subject to targeted drug testing. The spokeswoman said that the primary objective of the Defence Forces Compulsory Random Drugs Testing and Targeted Drugs Testing initiatives is deterrence. In order to provide a credible deterrent, the testing programme is devised to ensure that all Defence Forces personnel are liable for testing through random selection, she said. All members of the Defence Forces are aware that they are liable for testing. Any member who tests positive is liable to be removed from the Defence Forces. She said that the unlawful possession, supply or use of a controlled substance is incompatible with membership of the Defence Forces. Gerry Rooney, general secretary of armed forces representative organisation PDForra, yesterday said the drug testing regime has PDForras full support. He said that, with members of the Defence Forces, there is no room for error or mistakes in how they go about their jobs when they can be using ammunition and weapons. Colleagues depend on each other in situations, often overseas, where there is a real risk of injury or death and any members who have been taking illegal drugs cant have any place in such an organisation, Mr Rooney said. He added that the level of drug-taking in the Defence Forces is a tiny minority and is very low compared to civil society. He said that drug taking in the Defence Forces can not be tolerated from a workplace safety view point. The Department of Defence spokeswoman said that information on the type of substances detected has been refused previously under the Freedom of Information Act 2014, on the grounds that the information could reasonably be expected to facilitate the commission of an offence. The Department of Defence states that of the 1,184 tests in 2015, 98.56% proved negative. The 17 positive tests represent 1.44% of the total tests completed. Developed with the support of the Samaritans, the tool is available to Facebooks 2.1 million Irish users. They will now have the option to flag content of concern posted by friends. Social media is a tool that some people use to communicate their feelings when life is tough and theyre feeling overwhelmed, said Samaritans Ireland executive director Deirdre Toner. Research shows that social media feeds can be effective indicators of what happens in real life, so those who threaten suicide online can often go on to make an attempt at taking their own life. Therefore, messages that cause concern should not be ignored. Facebooks safety policy manager Julie de Bailliencourt noted: People use Facebook to connect with friends and family, and thats why were evolving the support, resources and advice available to people who are in distress and their concerned friends and family members. The social media network said it encourages all users to report direct threats of suicide to their local emergency services immediately. However, the improved suicide prevention tool offers a chance for users to reach out to friends who may be struggling and direct them towards support services such as the Samaritans. The tool works by allowing a user to flag any troubling content posted by a friend. According to Facebook, its worldwide teams will review the highlighted content, and help options and resources are sent to those suspected of being in distress. Ms Toner said such teams are well trained by many different organisations to look for phrases and indicators that signal a user being in distress. The update to the tool includes the option of reaching out to a friend directly, as well as trained volunteers at the Samaritans. The tool will now also offer help and support for the person who originally flags the troubling content, including the option to also reach out to a friend or trained volunteer for support. Ms Toner says that the improvement to the tool was important because it was crucial to get the right information about suicide, instead of pre-conceived notions. Reported content is confidential and the person who reports a troubling post will not be known to the user who posted it. Thousands poured into the revered surrounds of Semple Stadium to welcome home the heroes who, 24 hours beforehand, had put a stop to Kilkennys gallop and won Tipperarys first senior All-Ireland in six years. Liam MacCarthy is back, as captain Brendan Maher said to the adoring hordes at the climax of the evening. From mid-afternoon, those crowds started to gather in Thurles, while up in Dublin, the players, management and backroom team left their weekend base at the Burlington Hotel and made the journey south, by bus, to the heartland. Six years may not seem too long with an All-Ireland to many counties, but in these parts, when neighbours and rivals Kilkenny are farming most of the garlands in the intervening years, its viewed as long enough. So the relentless hammering home of Tipperarys advantage as Sundays second half wore on was greeted with roars of relief as much as joy, and so the hats, flags, headbands, trumpets, posters were out in force for the evening in anticipation of the players arrival home, even some quickly- assembled number plates, 16-T-Liam, which sold like hot cakes in aid of the players fund. While waiting for the team, not forgetting the minors who also earned glory on Sunday, the crowds were entertained by country and Irish star Louise Morrissey, all the way from west Tipp, and The Two Johnnies whose latest rap/song, This Could Be Our Year, has been in demand in recent days. Meanwhile, next door in The Dome venue, The Sunday Game played on a loop, as it has done in many of the homes and hostelries of Slievenamon since Sunday. Before 8pm, the moment the Tipp faithful had been waiting for drew closer as the stars arrived made its way to Semple Stadium, the cheers getting louder and forming a crescendo until the players, with Liam McCarthy in safe hands, made their public appearance on stage. Led by their popular and unassuming captain Brendan Maher, they were cheered one and all, along with manager Michael Ryan and his selectors, with some of the loudest cheers greeting man-of-the-match Seamus Callanan of the 13-points, goalscorer John Bubbles ODwyer, he of the f-bomb on live TV two days ago, and of course captain Maher himself. Hopefully this is the beginning of something big for Tipperary, the leader said to the supporters. Were hugely honoured to be standing before you as All-Ireland champions. Team manager Michael Ryan said it meant a huge amount to us to see such numbers turning out to welcome the team home. We are home in our pitch, in the capital of hurling, which is Thurles. Once the formalities were over, it was into the darkening night for the medal-winning hurlers, their families and friends, ready for the next stage on their odyssey, to Brendan Mahers home town of Borrisoleigh, before the visits to schools and clubs all over the county in the coming weeks. The DPP withdrew an assault charge against Anthony Hayes, of 23 Hollywood Estate, Cork. Hayes pleaded guilty to charges of being drunk and a danger, engaging in threatening behaviour and resisting arrest. Judge Olann Kelleher noted the charge of assaulting Garda Keith Aher had been withdrawn. However, the judge said it was still a serious matter. The gardai were called out on the night to be met by a man with a weapon in his hand. They gave him plenty of opportunity to drop the weapon but he took the law into his own hands. When they go to apprehend him, he takes them on. He resists arrest. There is a guard out of work for five months as a result. I cannot possibly avoid imposing a custodial sentence. Judge Kelleher imposed a four-month sentence on the charge of resisting arrest, two months for threatening behaviour, and fined him 300 for being drunk and a source of danger. Frank Buttimer, defence solicitor, said the defendant accepted the facts as outlined by the inspector. However, he said that the person who called out the gardai on the night was someone with an animus against the accused. Mr Buttimer said Hayes only had the stick because he tended horses. He said he used it to force down an electric fence when accessing the animals. Inspector Fergal Foley said gardai were called to Hollywood estate at around midnight on January 23 and were confronted by Hayes carrying the stick. He was warned he would be pepper-spayed if he did not drop the stick. Hayes refused to stop and had to be pepper-sprayed. Insp Foley said Hayes similarly refused to drop the stick when warned he would be struck by Garda Anthony Moloney. He only dropped it after he was struck twice on the arm. Garda Keith Aher sustained a fractured wrist as the accused resisted arrest. Mr Buttimer said the accused apologised to Garda Aher in particular, and also to Garda Moloney and other gardai who were present on the occasion. According to Andy Pike, national secretary withImpact trade union, the 40 cleaners have a starting salary of the national minimum wage of 9.15 per hour, well short of the recommended 11.50 living wage. Staff are also expected to carry out a wide range of extended housekeeping duties without receiving any additional reward, Mr Pike said. Detectives are confident they know the people behind the murder of Philip Finnegan, whose body was found in a shallow grave in Kildare woodland at the weekend. The 24-year-old dad, who was reported missing on August 10, was found by a dog walker in Rahin Woods near Carbury on Friday night. Detectives suspect the man, from Dublins south inner city, was killed in a row over money or drugs. Investigators believe former associates of Mr Finnegan, members of the remnants of the Rattigan gang, were behind the murder. The gang, named after jailed killer Brian Rattigan, was one of the two outfits in the Crumlin-Drimnagh feud which claimed up to 16 lives between 2000 and 2012. The Rattigan gang was largely dismantled but officers have pointed to a resurgence in the gang, led by a close associate of Brian Rattigan. The gangs base, in the south inner city and Crumlin areas, is the heartland of the Kinahan cartel, leading members of which were on the opposite side of the feud. There is nothing to suggest any involvement of these members in the murder or that the killers suspected Mr Finnegan was linked to them. Investigators had feared Mr Finnegan was murdered after he was reported missing from his home at Mary Aikenhead flats complex on Jamess St, Dublin 8. When the body of Mr Finnegan was discovered, he was wearing a bulletproof vest. It is understood a postmortem indicated he had died from stab wounds. Gardai are hoping the poor attempt at burial may indicate his killers were rushed or spooked by the possibility of being discovered, and may have left forensic evidence either on the body or at the murder scene. There was an attempt to set fire to the body and some of the clothing was burnt. The Technical Bureau continued its search yesterday and was due to finish by dusk. They were looking for the murder weapon and any other evidence. The investigating team was awaiting the results of the bureaus work before issuing a public appeal for sightings of people or cars in the area in recent weeks. Mr Finnegan, who had a conviction for assault, had previously been subject to attacks, including one in July 2013 when he and an associate were shot at on Lower Basin St, near his home. In January 2015, he was acquitted of firearms charges. The issue is set for a 10-hour debate and vote tomorrow. Fianna Fail last night said it would not seek amendments to the Government motion but other parties will want changes. Government sources said the debate would be used to send a clear message from Taoiseach Enda Kenny and others to Brussels: The Taoiseach and ministers will emphasise there have been no broken laws. There will be a recommitment to the 12.5% [corporation tax rate] and a message to Europe that this is none of your business and to back off, said a Cabinet source. The Independent TD outlined how she secured commitments to make Irelands tax laws more transparent but also how she was close to leaving Cabinet. Her comments come ahead of a Dail debate tomorrow on the 13bn ruling by the European Commission, as government legal advisors prepare to appeal. Ms Zappone outlined how she was instrumental in breaking up last weeks emergency Cabinet meeting, when she expressed unease in supporting an appeal. The Dublin South West TD asked for an adjournment of the Wednesday meeting to consult with experts. This followed talks with Finance Minister Michael Noonan the previous evening where she indicated she had grave concerns about an appeal. I wasnt going to just agree to that without making sure there were a number of measures in the government decision that would really bring us into a new era of tax justice. She said the reconvened Friday Cabinet meeting then agreed there would be more transparency on tax agreements with multi-nationals and that no Revenue tax ruling would stand for longer than five years. This would ensure everyone pays their fair share, including multi-nationals, she said, adding: We allowed an avoidance by Apple to pay its taxation on significant amounts of profits. Ms Zappone had met with the Attorney General for more than three hours about her concerns last week but said she now was of the view that an appeal would provide certainty on any judgement and, furthermore, clarify whether Brussels had a mandate on these matters. She was asked if she had a sense she might leave the Government over the matter last week. She replied yes, adding: It was a very, very, difficult few days... although I made some compromises, I did not compromise my principles or my conscience in this regard. Kevin James Mallon, 36, was quizzed for 40 minutes by detectives probing the 3m scandal that saw the arrest of Olympic Council of Ireland president Pat Hickey. As he [Mr Mallon] is already indicted, he has the constitutional right to remain silent, said detective Ricardo Barboza de Souza. He preferred to remain silent, but either way the questions were put to him. Mr Mallon, an executive of hospitality firm THG Sports, was first arrested on August 5 at a hotel in Rio de Janeiro, with 823 high-end tickets in his possession. Like Mr Hickey, he has been released from the Bangu 10 jail while criminal proceedings continue. Arriving at the headquarters of Rio de Janeiros Civil Police with his lawyer Franklin Gomes yesterday, Mr Mallon told reporters: I have nothing to say. He continued to refuse to answer questions once inside the interview room. Det Barboza said: The fact that he did not speak does not invalidate and does not hinder the other evidence we have already collected. He has been charged with facilitating ticket touting, illegal marketing, and forming a criminal cartel. He had already been interviewed as he was arrested on the day of the opening ceremony. But since then the police have made several enquiries, searches, seizures, important material was collected. Based on the content of this material, we identified the need for him to be interviewed again. Police will interview Mr Hickey, 71, today and said their investigations will conclude on Thursday. Pat Hickey We already have extensive documentary evidence and analysis of the seized material was of great relevance to the investigation. On Thursday, this investigation will be complete and all the facts will be presented to the court. Both Mr Mallon and Mr Hickey have had their passports confiscated. Police said they were keen that they remain in Brazil for the duration of proceedings, though Det Barboza accepted this would be a matter for the courts to decide. Last Monday, a judge ordered Mr Hickeys release from prison, citing his critical health condition. Mr Mallon had been released a few days earlier. Both are staying at apartments in the city while the investigation continues. The pair are accused of facilitating touting, which carries a sentence of two to four years, forming a criminal cartel, which has a sentence of between one and three, and illicit marketing, which carries a sentence of six months to one year. Graham Egan, aged 41, of Kenilworth Road, Rathmines, Dublin, was found unresponsive in a shed to the rear of his home on January 23, 2015. The mans partner, Alan Bigley told Dublin Coroners Court that the couple, together 11 years, had had dinner the previous evening and sat together watching TV. Mr Bigley went to bed shortly after midnight. Graham said he was going out to the shed to chill out. We use it as a discreet playroom, he said. One in five women in Ireland who have been in a relationship have been abused, either by a former or a current partner. Thats a wake-up call, thats a wake-up call for all of us in terms of our work, but particularly those of us who are governing. Its shocking, Ms Zappone said yesterday. She was speaking at the launch of Womens Aid free 24-hour helpline. Why is it so high? An all too common a question in relation to women who suffer from domestic violence is: Why do they stay in the home? This question takes away from the real issue why does he beat her? she stated. Womens Aid, which had a 20% cut to its funding last year, launched the free 24-hour helpline in spite of the financial limitations. Weve already answered just under 2,000 calls to the out-of-hours services (since January 2016). Women are ringing at all hours of the morning, Linda Smith, the helplines manager said yesterday. Its there for you when its safe for you to call, she added. Ms Smith said that breaking the cycle of abuse requires talking. We know that domestic violence thrives in silence and isolation. We also know that leaving that (abusive) relationship is a very crucial time for women and children. It definitely escalates the level of risk so having support services around her at that particular time to inform her of the dangers and the supports is really crucial, Ms Smith said. The minister, who has been a long-time advocate of womens rights, said her background is an important element to bring to the Cabinet table. Im going to speak now as a cabinet minister, the only independent woman in Cabinet and these are words that I might have referred to before when I was an advocate for these issues from a feminist perspective but now it is a great privilege to say some of these words as a minister sitting around a table with other ministers. Violence against women is a cultural, social and economic phenomena. It is one of the most common and yet least reported crimes in the world and the effects of domestic violence on our society are enormous and difficult to measure, Ms Zappone said. She also emphasised that abuse was not just physical. This is a feminist analysis, that it is a chronic abuse of power and it includes emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse and financial abuse, said the minister. Margaret Martin, who is the director of Womens Aid, said that the organisation had to seek corporate partners in order to help fund the helpline which costs 75,000 a year to run. We have two people here from Peter Mark (hairdressing chain), we are their charity partner for this year. So in terms of making our helpline 24-7, we have a partnership with them, Ms Martin stated. She said that many letters they sent out seeking a partnership went unacknowledged. You can text ACTION to 50300 to donate 4 to Womens Aid. www.womensaid.ie Freephone 24-hour helpline: 1800 341 900 The prosecution was brought by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) following complaints from people living around the Bellanaboy Bridge area in Co Mayo, the location of Shells terminal to bring in gas from the Corrib gas field 65km offshore. Shell E&P Ireland Ltd, which operates the controversial gas project, pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court yesterday to breaching two counts of the Environmental Agency Protection Act during flaring tests on the night of New Years Eve. The company admitted that emissions from the gas flaring activity during the night resulted in impairment of, or interference with amenities of the environment beyond the installation boundary when people might reasonably be expected to be sleeping. The second charge stated it resulted in noise emissions that exceeded the applicable limits for evening time at noise-sensitive locations. Prosecution solicitor Alan Doyle told Judge John ONeill that during the start-up tests, Shell needed to flare off the mixture of gas and sea water until they had pure gas which they could then refine. EPA inspector Kealan Reynolds told Judge ONeill that it had been agreed that a certain amount of flaring would have to happen for 15 to 30 minutes during daytime. Consent was given on December 29 last to open the valve on to the Corrib field, he said. He said the EPA began to get complaints from locals regarding noise and light from the flaring from 8pm on New Years Eve until about 4am on January 1. Mr Reynolds said the EPA carried out an investigation and visited the terminal unannounced on January 4 when they gathered data from personnel and the monitoring equipment on site. The information they obtained confirmed the noise limit had been breached from 8pm on New Years Eve until early the next morning and this would have had impairment on the environment, he said. He agreed with defence counsel Declan McGrath that Shell co-operated and their managing director had sent out letters to locals to apologise. Mr Reynolds agreed that the letter explained there were unexpected difficulties that led to flaring for longer and later in the day. The court heard that the maximum district court fine for each offence was 4,000 and Shell had agreed to pay the EPAs 15,138 costs. The court heard the company had no prior criminal convictions. Judge ONeill also noted that there was no danger to life inside or outside the facility and said he took into consideration Shells early guilty plea as well as their apology. He said the company met the charges in a responsible manner. However, he said he understood why people in the vicinity might be concerned having regard to the history of the location. He fined Shell 500 on each charge and directed the money must go to the EPA. They must also pay the EPAs legal costs, he directed. One week on from the epic homecoming for Olympic rowing heroes Gary and Paul ODonovan, all eyes were on another local star, the Ludgate Hub, which has been at the centre of a drive for all things digital. The Hub, based in a former bakery and cinema, has already attracted users from multinational firms such as Facebook, Google, and Pfizer. Yesterday, CEO of the Ludgate initiative, Grainne Dwyer, said that the Ludgate might shortly be welcoming its first people from Silicon Valley. They have met with Leonard Donnelly [a member of the Ludgate board] and they are a tech company, established in Silicon Valley, and looking for a place top expand, said Ms Dwyer. Having seen an article about the Ludgate, representatives of the company travelled to Skibbereen and are now looking at working from the building for a trial period, with four people likely to base themselves in West Cork. We are really excited about that, she said. European Commissioner Phil Hogan with members of the board of the Ludgate Hub on his visit to Skibbereen. Picture: Anne Minihane Another company, this time from South Africa, is also sending a 10-strong team to visit the Ludgate early next year on a site visit, with a view to possibly relocating. Ms Dwyer said one issue appeared to be the lack of suitable accommodation in South Africa for the companys workforce, with Skibbereen offering an associated lifestyle as well as its status as Irelands first gigatown, based on its 1Gb connectivity as provided by Siro superfast broadband. Another visitor was European Commissioner Phil Hogan, who heard the Ludgate is also planning to expand with the development of Ludgate 2, and through its role with National Digital Week, which this year runs from November 10 to 12, inclusive. Last year the event attracted 1,600 people and speakers this year are to include Martin Shanahan, chief executive of the IDA, and Mark Ferguson, director general of Science Foundation Ireland. At its official launch little more than a month ago, guests were told that the Ludgate was potentially a blueprint for regeneration in many other towns around Ireland and beyond. Yesterday, Ms Dwyer said: Since we have launched the project, we have become a beacon of hope for places in rural Ireland. Skibbereens Ludgate Hub at the site of the old Fields Bakery. Picture: Emma Jervis Photography She said representatives of 15 towns and villages have already visited Ludgate, from Dingle to Dungarvan, looking for support and advice, particularly when it comes to filling spaces created by the closure of schools, post offices, or garda stations. What we are hoping to do is to become European best practice, she said. To this end, there is now an increased focus on engaging local farmers as well as retailers in how digital enhancements can aid them in their daily working lives, while the Ludgate will be a case study when Ms Dwyer visits the invite-only European Digital Assembly in the Slovakian capital, Bratislava, later this month. Mr Hogan was singing off the same hymn sheet when he said that the roll-out of high-speed rural broadband is a priority for me and the European Commission. Its essential if we are going to provide citizens with the opportunity to fulfill their desire to live and work in rural areas and to provide opportunities for rural communities throughout Europe. He said one goal was to create a European Digital Single Market with everyone engaged in that looking internationally. He also said he was glad that mainstream agriculture was still sexy in terms of job creation and maintenance and that tech would have an increased role to play in that sector and any associated spin-out industries. Ludgate Hub chief executive Grainne Dwyer addresses the launch yesterday. Stating the Ludgate was a shining example of what can be achieved in a rural area, he said vision alone will not support rural communities we also need practical projects that maintain the economic viability of rural areas and ensure that such areas are attractive places in which to live and work. For Sean ODriscoll, Glen Dimplex CEO, and another person strongly associated with the Ludgate project, it is about how rural Ireland can be recreated. Any new neighbours swapping Silicon Valley for Skibbereen might not find the transition as much of a culture shock as they might have expected. At the High Court, Ms Justice Mary Faherty after being informed of the Child and Family Agency (Tusla) very serious concern about the teens welfare, made orders placing the girl at the secure facility in Dublin, well away from her current location. The judge heard the girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, has a difficult family background and had been in various care placements which had not worked out. She has been in the care of Tusla for some time. Recently, she had come under the controlling influence of an older male who the court heard had assaulted her on several occasions. She had also been abusing alcohol and drugs, the court heard. Arising out of fears for her well being, Tusla, represented by Barry ODonnell BL, secured a temporary High Court order allowing it to place the girl at a secure unit for teens. The order was secured on an ex-parte basis. At the unit the teen will be given access to the care and counselling services she requires, and it would also allow her to escape from the influence of the violent older male, counsel said. The judge also made an order appointing a legal guardian to the teen. Counsel said a number of parties that had come into contact with the girl, including the gardai, had expressed their concerns about the girls welfare. Counsel said the teen had disengaged from services some time ago. She had been staying at various locations, including at the older males residence. She had been violently assaulted by the male, had suffered injuries requiring medical treatment, and has been unable to get away from him. Despite being assaulted by him shereturned to him. Counsel said the male was using emotional blackmail to ensure she would not leave him. The judge, who said she was satisfied to make the orders sought by Tusla, adjourned the case until September 22. Prof Barry OSullivan, who is director of the Insight Centre for Data Analytics in University College Cork, has been elected as deputy president of the European Association for Artificial Intelligence. The organisation has more than 4,500 members across over 30 countries, having been established in 1982. It seeks to research and promote the study and application of AI. In assuming his role, Prof OSullivan said the organisation needs to do more to become central to the discussions about the responsibilities and ethical issues associated with the technology. He said while many people believe that the application of AI is still something for the future, that is not necessarily the case. We are certainly at the point in technology where we can build these things, he said. The decisions are here now. However, he said there were a lot of killer robot stories that belonged more to the realm of science fiction. He said that, instead, there are serious issues which need to be debated about the role of AI in replacing human engagement in work through automation, and in other areas such as in medicine and in the military. One of the issues is the fundamental question of do we want machines to take decisions for us? he said. Prof OSullivan said he wants the European Association for Artificial Intelligence to have more of a social media presence and to be proactive in becoming engaged in the debate about the use of AI. Personally, I feel that there are too few people who are expert in AI, in terms of a day job developing these technologies, engaging in the debate, he said. One example to which he pointed, is the automation of work. A lot of people think AI is going to automate the very manual, routine stuff that is economically at the bottom of the rung but that is unlikely, he said. Its far more likely that the type of work that can be automated are at a professional level auditing, legal advice, number crunching, accounting, all these kind of thing, he said. The person who is physically digging a road, that is much more difficult to automate. Its not the low-value jobs, its the middle tier. Prof OSullivan also said that work on fully autonomous intelligence is not the focus of the AI community in the main, but rather that AI is developing in areas where the machine had partial autonomy within boundaries set by humans. Prof OSullivan said he hopes to talk to the European Commission regarding ways of engaging in the debate about the current and future role of AI. Another slide for Irish universities in the latest world rankings out today shows that, while four remain in the top 300, Trinity College Dublin (TCD) has barely stayed in the top 100 and University College Dublin (UCD) is down 22 places to 176th. Other than NUI Galway, the only one to make gains in the 2016 QS World University Rankings, all Irish universities have fallen substantially since 2009 due largely to funding and staff cuts. In an unprecedented statement, the presidents of TCD and UCD are calling for the Government and opposition parties to implement the Cassells report. Published by Education Minister Richard Bruton in July, it said an extra 600m a year must be spent on higher education by 2021, rising to 1bn by 2030. The sector has seen annual State funding cut by one third from 1.4bn to 923m since 2008, and academic staff fall from over 9,000 to below 8,000. In the same period, third-level student numbers have increased by nearly 40,000 to over 190,000. However, no Government decision on how the funding gap should be bridged will be made until the Cassells report is debated by the Oireachtas Education Committee this autumn. Crucially, Fianna Fail has not ruled out support for the option to introduce a study now, pay later student loan scheme believed to be favoured in civil service and Government circles. TCD provost Patrick Prendergast and UCD president Andrew Deeks said the political system must now make the difficult choices needed to improve higher education funding and how it is distributed. A significant start has to be made in the forthcoming budget to signal that the Government is serious about investing in our young people and providing them with the skills needed to survive and thrive in an increasingly competitive global environment, they said. The future of the country depends on it. A Department of Education spokesperson said the Cassells report is a massive first step to finding a new funding model. However, with the political climate meaning a minority government is unlikely to get any controversial policy past the Dail, broad consensus is being sought first. The minister wants the Oireachtas education committee to consider this report as early as possible in the coming Dail term, he said. Michael Murphy, president of University College Cork, which dropped 50 places to 283rd, said the country no longer has the luxury to postpone political decisions on bridging the funding shortfall to the sector. The genie is out of the bottle, despite our efforts to put a brave face on it. The realities are now coming out in repeated ranking outcomes, said Dr Murphy. UCC was 181st in the QS rankings in 2011 but Dr Murphy said the loss of 12% of senior science and medical academics has had a big impact because of the importance attached in rankings to research. In addition, he said, UCCs ratio of students to academics has jumped from 18.5 to 23:1 in his 10-year term, compared to the 14-to-16 range at the worlds leading universities. Even if consensus were reached on a long-term funding model, it is unclear what, if anything, will be done in next years budget. A student loan scheme similar to that employed in Britain or Australia would be strongly opposed by the Union of Students in Ireland, whose budget submission will today call for an immediate cut of at least 500 to the 3,000 undergraduate fee. It also seeks a start to the increased State investment it says should be made instead of expecting students to pay, with an extra 140m for the sector in 2017. The Orchard Day and Respite Centre, located in Blackrock in Dublin, was caring for 11 older people when the Health and Information Quality Authority (Hiqa) inspection took place in March. In its report, Hiqa said that a high number of significant and serious incidents occurred at the centre in the first quarter of 2016. However, none of these were notified to Hiqa as required by the regulations. Inspectors noted that evidence that a comprehensive review of these incidents, along with measures to prevent or reduce their recurrence, was not available. These incidences included shouting, threatening and abusive language, grabbing, slapping, pushing, and punching. The assaults included staff and other clients being kicked, punched pushed, and slapped. One assault resulted in a loss of consciousness, requiring transfer to hospital, while others related to inappropriate kissing, and touching. Hiqa said that, as all of these incidences had a negative impact on other residents, it could be determined that they fall within the definition of abuse. Evidence that measures were in place to protect residents from being harmed or suffering abuse was not found, said the report. Inspectors also found that the centre was not visually clean, with a build-up of grime and stains viewed in some areas. A strong odour of urine in some of the toilets was also noted. Hiqa also found that there was was a lack of adequate clinical governance in the centre, which resulted in poor outcomes for residents. It said that the management systems in place did not ensure that services provided are safe, appropriate to residents needs, consistent and effectively monitored. In total, six out of the nine areas inspected by Hiqa were found to be major non-compliant, with only one area deemed to be substantially compliant. However, a follow-up inspection in June by Hiqa found evidence of progress in many areas including governance, staffing levels, and skill mix. In a separate report of the HSE-run Phoenix Park Community Nursing Units located at St Marys Hospital in the Phoenix Park in Dublin, Hiqa noted that although a good standard of nursing care was being delivered to residents, the care needs of residents at end of life was compromised in the Chapel View unit due to issues related to the premises. Considerable deterioration to the fabric of the Chapel View unit due to a lack of any action to maintain these premises was found, said the report. This posed potential risks to the health and safety of residents staff and visitors using this building. This unit is not fit for purpose. Hiqa inspectors found that a recent reduction in resident numbers was due to the refusal of applicants and/or their relatives to be placed in the unit due to the poor environment and not as part of any formal decision by the provider to reduce the capacity. In a follow-up inspection in May, Hiqa found the building was in poor condition, with no improvements noted since the previous inspection in March. It also noted that further improvement would be required to meet regulatory requirements in respect of fire safety. ACCOMPLISHED writer Polly Samson is allergic to sitting at the desk in front of a sheet of paper. Instead, the author of two novels and two short story collections, as well as lyrics for her husband, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd fame, likes to compose her work while walking. She will be reading at the Cork International Short Story Festival, with Gilmour accompanying her, on a flying visit to the city. I write so much in my head before I commit anything to paper, she says. Sitting at the desk is so agitating. The great thing about writing short stories is that you can keep the whole thing in your head so that by the time I sit down to write, its a quick process. While this works for Samsons short story writing, she says its not so easy for novel writing. By the time I sit down, I want my writing to flow onto the page. When I try and adopt this method for novels, its a terrible feeling, as if my head is going to explode. I find writing a novel much harder than writing short stories. Publishers would much rather that I write novels, says the UK-based author whose most recent book is a novel called The Kindness, published last year by Bloomsbury. Its a multi-layered tale of loss, dealing with a broken relationship and a seriously ill child. You can see publishers faces fall when you tell them about your short stories. When people get behind short stories, they can be really surprised that there is an audience out there for them. Samson has always written. At one point, my parents (her late father was a newspaper editor and her half Chinese mother wrote about being a major in Mao Zedongs Red Army) gave me some stories that I wrote when I was five. I dont think I ever stopped writing. It didnt occur to me that it could be something I could do as a job. But once I was in the workplace, all my jobs ended up being writing jobs. I wrote poetry and stories when I was young. "It took a lot for me to be able to show something Id written to someone. A friend made me enter a short story competition and that led to getting an agent and so on. It wasnt something I set out to do. It was a strange and lucky process. I started working in publishing and then became a journalist. I ended up on The Sunday Times with a daft column I did for a few years, as well as writing features and reviews. Samson has been writing lyrics for her husband for 20 years. She is one of only two female co-writers of Pink Floyd songs. She has contributed lyrics to half of the tracks on Gilmours recent album, Rattle That Lock. Writing lyrics is a wonderful thing. I cant explain how it works. I think its because David doesnt really want to write lyrics. Music just flows out of him. He loves to sing and he loves to have songs to sing. I dont sit in the room and write them with him. For me, writing lyrics is the same as writing a short story except that instead of me having to find prompts, its there because the music comes first. So I have the music on my headphones and I just walk and walk and walk, listening to it. I start making up nonsense words and a meaning will emerge. I think it works because I know David so well. I can get out of a piece of music something that he didnt even know he was thinking when he wrote the music. Does Samson mind being asked about her famous husband who now has a solo career since Pink Floyd split up? If I find at the Cork International Short Story Festival that all anyone wants to talk about is Pink Floyd, Ill be really grumpy! Its all to do with the context. There is no clash of egos between the couple who have eight children between them, some from previous relationships. Were very different. Maybe if I started to write music, there might be tension. But luckily, thats not what I want to do. Polly Samson and Arlene Heyman will be in conversation with Mary Leland at the Firkin Crane on Saturday CORK SHORT STORY FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS Neil Jordan, film maker and writer whose writing career took off with Night in Tunisia forty years ago, will be in conversation with Patrick Cotter from the Munster Literature Centre, at the Firkin Crane on Saturday at 9.30pm. Doireann Ni Ghriofa has been commissioned to write a new short story inspired by the Farmgate Cafes Women of the South exhibition which highlights radical women associated with 1916. Ni Ghriofa will read her story at the Farmgate Cafe on Wednesday, September 7, at 6pm. John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, whose latest novel is The Boy at the Top of the Mountain, will read alongside Sean OBrien. Mary Morrissy, whose most recent book is short story collection, Prosperity Drive, will read alongside Mark Tuthill, followed by a conversation with Jennifer Matthews, editor of Long Story Short. Cork City Library, Wednesday, 4pm. Lucy Caldwell, whose latest work is short story collection, Multitudes, will read alongside David Park (shortlisted for the 2014 IMPAC Prize for The Light of Amsterdam). This will be followed by a discussion facilitated by writer, Paul McVeigh. Firkin Crane on Friday at 8.30pm. Donal Ryan, author of the novels, The Spinning Heart and The Thing About December and his short story collection, A Slanting of the Sun, will read alongside Sara Majka, debut author of Cities Ive Never Lived In. Theyll be in conversation with author and critic, Alannah Hopkin at the Firkin Crane on Thursday at 10pm. WE ARE just coming out of one of the most expensive times in the year for families back to school and soon it will be time to start planning for Christmas. There is plenty of advice about how to plan ahead and avoid getting into debt at these crunch times. But when a household slips into unmanageable debt it can be very hard to see a way out. On the website Consumerhelp.ie, the CCPC offer advice on tackling debt, including a checklist to help get a clear picture of your current financial situation. When paying bills, mortgage or rent and utilities should be top of the list. After that you need to prioritise debts to be paid first. If it feels too overwhelming to sit down assess everything yourself, MABS provide an excellent, free service and you can arrange an appointment with them on 0761072000. They can help you figure out exactly where you stand and help you deal with creditors if needs be. Credit card debt If your main concern is credit card debt it can feel like a vicious circle. The APR is high and making the minimum payments will lead to a very slow reduction in the balance. But there are concrete steps you can take to regain control. If you can, switch providers to one that offers 0% interest on balance transfers. Bank of Ireland, KBC, Permanent TSB and Tesco Clubcard all offer six or seven months interest free on your existing balance. Use this time to pay it down as aggressively as possible, ideally while not using the card to accrue more debt. If you cant get approval for a new card or fear you will slip back into the same cycle, speak to the lender you have your card with and convert the debt to a personal loan. This will have a lower interest and give you a fixed repayment schedule. Energy bills If you are struggling to pay your utility bills or have fallen into arrears contact your supplier. Provides of electricity, gas and water are required by their regulator to have codes of practice for dealing with customers in difficulty. There may by the option to install a pre-paid meter or use a pre-paid card to avoid accruing bills. If in arrears they will also work with you to set up a budget plan that works for you, for example allowing you to pay each week if your income is weekly rather than monthly. If you have been with the same suppliers for years, now would be a good time to switch and benefit on the savings during the more expensive winter months. Use Bonkers.ie to figure out the best deal for you. Mortgage arrears Mortgage debt is one of the most common causes of problems and MABS has a dedicated confidential, and free, mortgage arrears service to help. Their advice is to talk to your lender, but if you cant talk to them. The banks are bound by a strict code in managing arrears, but require a lot of paperwork from customers in difficulty, including a lengthy financial statement. MABS have guides to help you complete these. If the situation is at a stage where repossession is threatened, they also offer support at hearings in the courts. They cannot give legal advice but help to make sense of the proceedings and advise you on options. Self-employed If you are a sole trader or small business in trouble you can get advice from CAVA (Chartered Accountants Voluntary Advice). This service is provided by volunteer members of Chartered Accountants Ireland who give free financial and business advice. Clinics run in the evening time and they offer help with business debt issues, dealing with creditors and will also help small businesses prepare accounts and file returns. CAVA do not take self-referrals directly from the public so if you feel you would benefit contact MABS or Citizens Information Centre. DEAL OF THE WEEK With children back in school and temperatures dropping, Sky Ireland have launched new broadband deals to cater for families planning ahead for the long winter nights. They are offering existing customers Sky Fibre Unlimited for 35 per month for 12 months. As it is only a 12 month contract customers wont be locked into paying a higher amount after the introductory price ends. For new customers the offer is Sky TV Original bundle with Sky Fibre Unlimited for 55 per month for 12 months. The TV bundle includes more than 55 TV channels, including Sky Atlantic and comes with Catch Up TV and Sky Go allowing customers to watch TV on a compatible laptop, mobile or tablet. Sky Fibre was voted Irelands best broadband brovider at the Switcher Broadband Awards and they promise speeds of up to 100mbps. Both the Sky offers come with Talk Freetime, which includes free evening and weekend calls to local and national landlines. Recently RTE screened the film Older Than Ireland which featured an eclectic cast of characters all of whom were born before 1916. It was compelling viewing and made me wonder about the many changes that generation had experienced. Those of us born later in the last century have also seen great changes, most of which are related to technology. But what about our children? The children born in the 21st century have childhoods that bear very little resemblance to ours. In many ways their lives are far more regulated than ours were, with organised activities and mobile phones that allow us to generally know where they are. And if they are home they are safe, arent they? Dr Mary Aiken thinks perhaps not. Because when your child is home they are very likely to be online, watching movies, communicating with friends or playing games. And although we keep an eye on what they are doing, Aiken believes that the internet is in fact another world, largely unregulated and in which our children are free to wander about accessing all kinds of information much of which may, at best be inappropriate and at worst be potentially damaging to their development. Aiken is a forensic cyber psychologist and describes her new book, The Cyber Effect, as an early warning of some of the negative issues around children and the internet. She says in ten years we will have a longitudinal study that says here is what we should or shouldnt do. In the meantime kids are being born and growing up and I am trying to pull together what do we know now and highlight where the gaps in our knowledge are. Aiken has been involved in many different cyber research projects and she says the one thing I began to observe was that whenever technology interfaces with a base human disposition, the result tended to be amplified and accelerated. I became fascinated by this and I called it the cyber effect. She began to investigate what this cyber effect means developmentally for our children, saying because whatever about an adult picking up a behaviour or developing a bad habit online, children, from babies to teenagers, go through certain golden developmental periods that they dont do twice. So I became fascinated by the impact of technology during those periods. So is access to the internet changing our childrens behaviour? What are the dangers we, as parents should be aware of? Did you know that the average person checks their smartphone 200 times a day? Thats a lot of checking and it may be coming between us and our new babies. Aiken recounts how she observed on a train journey, a mother feeding her baby a bottle with one hand while checking her phone with the other, over a relatively long period of time. Babies faces are designed to be the most attractive thing on the planet to facilitate bonding, she explains. Now all of a sudden there is something more attractive and compelling than the face of an infant and my question in the book is what does this mean for the species? What does it mean if parents are not making eye contact with their children? Aiken endorses the recommendation of the American Academy of Paediatrics of no screen time, including TV, for children under the age of two. In her book she outlines the reasons why but essentially it is that babies learn from interacting with the real environment around them and cannot make sense of what they are seeing on screen until they are two years old. Mary thinks parents are not sufficiently aware of this advice and says this is another reason she wrote this book. She also has lots to say about toddlers and tablets and so called educational apps and games for the very young, as it is a field she has researched in depth. But what about our older kids, what do we need to understand about their activity online? Technology was designed to be rewarding, engaging and seductive to the normal population, but did anyone think about the abnormal; the deviant criminal or the vulnerable and the impact of technology on those groups? So if you are a cyber-criminal operating from the deep web its fantastic in terms of connectivity, of finding like-minded people. But equally if you are an 11-year-old girl with an eating or self-harm disorder, you can also find like-minded communities online. And the problem is that finding those communities in anonymous environments fuelled by online disinhibition, can actually normalise or socialise the behaviour. In other words, it can make it seem OK and even facilitate the behaviour. We need to understand this in order to actually do something about it. Dr Mary Aiken points to studies that show young children are better off without any screen time Pornography of course is the elephant in the cyber room and Mary quotes a comprehensive EU study which asked 8 to 12 year olds what bothered them most online and yes, it was pornography theyd seen. And this isnt just nudity, this is hard core adult pornography. We have yet to find out what the long term effect of this exposure is. Sexting, the posting of sexual images of self or others, is another phenomenon that is on the increase. There are studies that say between 25% to 40% of kids are engaging in this behaviour says Aiken. Why? Sexual curiosity is normal for young people and is part of their developmental process. Thats a social issue at one end of the spectrum but at the other end of the spectrum you have sex offenders who are grooming a child to generate an image and that is a criminal issue. The problem is the law at the moment has one lens and the lens is the legislation around child pornography. So teens posting sexual images online could be prosecuted for distributing child pornography. (Aiken says child pornography is how the law refers to it. It is more correctly termed child abuse material.) Aiken believes we owe our teenagers an apology. In the book she says we are failing to protect and defend them in cyberspace. She believes this is a childrens rights issue and has proposed that a new amendment to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child that would enshrine childrens rights in a cyber context. She considers this an emergency. How to manage your children and the internet Put your phone down. From babies to teenagers our children need our time and attention. No screen time for babies under two years of age and that includes TV. So-called educational games and apps for toddlers may not be that educational. Dr Aiken suggests the following sites to help guide you; pbskids.org, sesameworkshop.org and commonsensemedia.org Parental controls can be overcome. A google search will confirm that. With older kids be vigilant but not a vigilante. Respect their privacy but talk and ask them about their online life as well as their real life. Lobby for better online protection for our children. Age verification, online for example, should be possible. Read the book and then get your teens to read it. The student, known as Singh, attempted to retrieve his drone after it crashed into the water during a student photoshoot on St. Kilda Pier in Victoria. However, his rescue plan came undone after the cold water caused his body to cramp up. With no ladder to the pier, Singh was stuck. "I couldn't touch the floor with my feet, so then I started panicking. It was cold as well," Singh told 9 News. THIRTY years ago, the then Cork Examiner carried the story of an apparent exorcism at a grotto in Inchigeela, Co Cork on its front page. Priests exorcise shrine of Devils shadow ran the headline. The story stated that two priests carried out an unapproved exorcism at a Marian shrine in the tiny West Cork village, where a young girl had reportedly seen a sign of the devil while praying. Mary OSullivan, the elder sister of one of the chief recipients of a series of reported apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, said villagers were angered by the sensationalism of the story. The year was 1986, a period of reported heightened extraordinary activity around Irish grottos, with eye-witness accounts of statues crying, moving and associated visions of Our Lady the Moving Statues era. We are annoyed at the sensationalism with which this whole matter has been treated, Mary OSullivan is quoted as saying following the publication of the article, in the book Marian Apparition in Ireland and related Ireland, by Brian Nugent. The book, published in 2015, is an examination of the events from a local history perspective, with a collection of eye-witness accounts of Marian apparitions around the country. Former Bishop of Cork and Ross, Dr Michael Murphy, who died 10 years later in 1996, investigated the matter at Inchigeela and found that two priests had been praying with pilgrims at the grotto, when a young, local girl became upset, claiming she had seen Satan. In the circumstances, the priests did what any priest would do, they said some prayers and blessed the grotto, Bishop Murphy said, according to Nugents book. Derision from secular quarters denounces such experiences as fairytale, but the author found multiple corroborating eye-witness accounts at sites of reported supernatural occurrences. In a separate investigation of the incidents at Inchigeela, retired Australian professor of anthropology Michael Allen wrote a paper examining how young girls in Southern Ireland were making a significant contribution to the transformation of religious belief. Mr Allen summarised the messages received from the Virgin Mary at Inchigeela in his own words as follows: The world is full of sin and unless you all pray, fast and perform penances, a great catastrophe will shortly occur. Beware of the devil who is trying to take over the world he will constantly fight for you with temptations, but I shall be with you always. A spokesman for the Cork and Ross diocese has confirmed that no exorcism had ever occurred at Inchigeela. There was no official Church involvement, the spokesman said, adding that exorcisms are quite rare and only take place after all other explanations have been examined thoroughly. The Rite of Exorcism can be confused with deliverance prayers, the spokesman said, which are more common and do not require official Church approval. At a recent Catholic Young Adults Conference in Dublin, delegates heard that requests from members of the public for exorcism and deliverance prayers has risen exponentially in the last five years. The same phenomenon appears to be evident in mainland Europe, where the Archbishop of Madrid has selected eight priests to train specifically in the Rite of Exorcism following an unprecedented rise in demonic possession. The number of priests assigned to train as exorcists has doubled in Rome and Milan, but there has been no official response from Irish bishops, delegates were told. Less than 25% of Irish people believe in the devil, the conference heard, and feeling abandoned in times of turmoil people are increasingly turning to non-Catholic or new age practises that can compound their problems. The reported rise in requests for exorcism and deliverance prayers lends a prophetic element to the warnings that accompanied the Moving Statue era with personal testimonies telling of the Virgin Marys repeated call to faithful to pray for peace. NOT since the beginning of the Cold War has a US politician been as fervently pro-Russian as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Just four years after his predecessor, Mitt Romney, declared Russia to be Washingtons greatest geopolitical threat, Mr Trump has praised president Vladimir Putin as a real leader, unlike what we have in this country. Mr Trump has also dismissed reports that Mr Putin has murdered political enemies (Our country does plenty of killing also, he told MSNBC), suggested that he would look into recognising Russias annexation of the Crimean peninsula and questioned whether the US should defend Nato allies who dont pay their way. When Russian hackers stole a cache of emails in July from the Democratic National Committees servers, as security analysts have shown, Mr Trump called on Russia, if youre listening, to hack some more. Trump is breaking with Republican foreign doctrine and almost every Republican foreign thinker I know, says Michael McFaul, US ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014. He is departing radically from Ronald Reagan, something never done by any Republican Party presidential candidate. Ronald Reagan Its easy to see why Mr Putin views Mr Trumps ascendancy as a godsend and why he mobilised his cyberspies and media assets to his aid, according to security analysts. Trump advocates isolationist policies and an abdication of US leadership in the world. He cares little about promoting democracy and human rights, continues Mr McFaul. A US retreat from global affairs fits precisely with Putins international interests. Mr Putin has been relatively reserved in his public support for Mr Trump calling him colourful and talented, which in Russian comes across as faint praise but Kremlin-sponsored propaganda outlets such as Sputnik and RT (formerly Russia Today) have lavishly praised Mr Trump, tweeted #CrookedHillary memes, and supported Mr Trumps assertion that Barack Obama founded Islamic State, and Russias world-class army of state-sponsored hackers has targeted Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party. Whats more, its increasingly clear that after the DNC hack the Kremlin is relishing, even quietly flaunting, its newfound role as a meddler in US politics. After years of US influence over Russian affairs, especially in the chaotic 1990s, it is sweet revenge for the Kremlin to be cast once again as global puppet master. And most fundamentally, the Kremlins support for Mr Trump is part of a longstanding strategy to sow disruption and discord in the West. Whether its by backing French ultra-nationalists, Catalan separatists, or the Brexit campaign, or boosting Mr Trumps chances by blackening the Democrats, the Kremlin believes Russia benefits every time the Western establishment is embarrassed. Russias brazen cyberattack on the DNC servers was a cyber psy-op, according to Brian Whitmore of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. At least one of Moscows goals is apparently to force the United States to treat it as an equal superpower, Mr Whitmore wrote in the influential Power Vertical blog. Suddenly, for the first time since the Cold War, Russia occupies center stage in a US election. Suddenly, there are global headlines about the threat of Russian hackers. The forensics of the DNC hack point to two things first, that two well-known Russian hacker groups with connections to that countrys intelligence services were responsible for the break-in, and second, that when the material was released through WikiLeaks, the Russians made little effort to disguise their hand in the heist. A detailed report in July by the hacker-watcher collective CrowdStrike stated that one group, Fancy Bear (or APT 28), gained access to the DNC database in April. The other, Cozy Bear (or APT 29), broke in as early as June 2015. According to Alexander Klimburg, a cybersecurity expert at the Hague Center for Strategic Studies and author of the forthcoming book Dark Web, APT 28 is associated with Russias GRU military intelligence and APT 29 with its Federal Security Service, or FSB. Our team considers them some of the best adversaries out of all the numerous nation-state, criminal and hacktivist/terrorist groups we encounter on a daily basis, blogged CrowdStrikes chief technology officer Dmitri Alperovitch. Their tradecraft is superb, operational security second to none. Last year, APT 28 hacked the State Department, the White House, and the civilian email of the joint chiefs of staff. It was also involved in hacks of French TV and the 2014 meltdown of a German steel foundry after malware infected its systems, an attack known in cyberwar circles by the chilling clinical term cyber-to-physical effect. The DNC hack, then, was just one of several very forward-leaning attempts to signal to the West Russias cyber capabilities, says Mr Klimburg. They often dont care about being discovered. Indicating that you are behind something is part of the operation. When CrowdStrike first fingered the Russians, an internet user calling himself Guccifer 2.0 claimed that he, not the Russian government, was the culprit. Guccifer attempted to signal his non-Russianness by using an ordinary French Hotmail account the cyber equivalent of disguising yourself in a Groucho Marx false nose but the metadata on the documents he provided were found to contain Russian signatures, including Felix Edmundovich, the first names of Soviet secret police founder Felix Dzerzhinsky. Foreign intelligence agencies have been found snooping on American political campaigns before. In 2014, Chinese hackers broke into Mr Romneys servers, for instance. But the DNC hack has elevated such interference in politics to a frightening extent. I just want to underscore how unprecedented this is using espionage to influence an American presidential election crossed a new level of intervention, says Mr McFaul. Whats in Project Trump for Mr Putin is clear. But the more puzzling question is how Mr Trump became Mr Putins man in Washington. Former CIA director Mike Morell wrote in The New York Times that Mr Putin recruited Mr Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation with flattery. But the truth is more nuanced. Mr Trumps pro-Putinism goes back to at least 2007, when he told CNN that the Russian strongman was doing a great job rebuilding Russia. Mr Trump was pushing real estate deals in Moscow at the time and, according to one Moscow-based American businessman who negotiated with him, Mr Trumps admiration for Mr Putin was rooted in pure self-interest... He was looking to make friends and business partners among Russias politically connected elite. Oligarchs arent going to do business with anyone who bad-mouths the boss, explains the real estate developer, who requested anonymity because of his ongoing Russian investments. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is considered a failure in Russia. Mr Trumps affinity for the Kremlin deepened after he launched his political career in 2014. He has surrounded himself with advisers with deep connections to Mr Putins regime. Mr Trumps chief foreign policy adviser, Carter Page, once ran the Moscow office of Merrill Lynch and advised the Russian energy giant Gazprom (in which he still owns shares, Mr Page said in March). Mr Pages company, Global Energy Capital, continues to work with Russian investments and Sergey Yatsenko, Gazproms former deputy chief financial officer, works for GEC as an adviser. Since both companies have suffered grievously from the sanctions the US- and EU-imposed against Russia over its annexation of Crimea, Mr Page is a passionate advocate of lifting them something Mr Trump has said he will consider. On July 7, Mr Page took time off from the Trump campaign to give a speech at Moscows New Economic School, where he slammed Americas often hypocritical focus on democratisation and praised Russias policy of noninterference and respect for its neighbors. Page toed the [Kremlin] party line, says one senior Moscow expatriate professional who attended Mr Pages talk. Hes a believer... Its common among Western businesspeople in Russia to be pro-Putin. But its rare to hear it from someone at the top of Republican politics. Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, a Trump adviser and former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, is a regular guest on RT, the Kremlins conspiracy-theory-minded English-language propaganda channel. He has refused to say if hes on RTs payroll, but last year Lt Gen Flynn flew to Moscow to attend the stations 10th anniversary gala, where he sat two chairs away from Mr Putin. Michael Caputo, a public relations adviser who helped run Mr Trumps New York primary campaign, lived in Russia in the 1990s, and Gazproms media arm contracted him to improve Putins image in the US. Richard Burt, a former US ambassador to Germany during the 1980s who is known for his strong scepticism of the USs commitment to its Nato allies (Mr Burt appeared in a panel discussion in April on the topic Does America Need Allies?), reportedly helped draft at least one speech where Mr Trump blasted Natos free rider problem, according to Politico. Mr Burt is chairman of the advisory council of The National Interest, a publication of the Center for the National Interest, a strongly pro-Russian think tank based in Washington. The CNI has long partnered with the Kremlin-backed Institute for Democracy and Cooperation, a think tank in New York devoted to promoting Moscows interests. In May 2014, the two institutions held a joint press conference defending Russias position in Ukraine. In April, Mr Trump chose the CNI as the venue for his first major foreign policy speech, and the audience included Russian ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak. Mr Trumps former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, has longstanding ties to Ukraines Kremlin-backed former president Viktor Yanukovych, advising on campaigning for his Party of Regions in the 2006 parliamentary elections and paving the way for Mr Yanukovychs ascent to prime minister and then the presidency, from which he was ousted in 2014 amid massive pro-EU protests. Viktor Yanukovych Ukrainian parliamentarian Serhiy Leshchenko wrote in The Guardian that he had seen so-called shadow accounting documents that show a total of $12.7m of payments made to Manafort by the Party of the Regions, at least $2.2m of which, according to the AP, was channeled to two prominent Washington lobbying firms in 2012. Mr Manafort denies any wrongdoing, though the very public discussion of his Ukrainian business connections certainly played a part in his being sidelined as Mr Trumps campaign manager in mid-August. During his time at the helm of the Trump campaign, Mr Manafort played a crucial role in hauling the Republican Partys official position away from its traditionally anti-Russian stance. According to The Washington Post, Trump campaign staffers gutted a proposed amendment to the Republican Party platform that called for the US to provide lethal defensive weapons for Ukraine to defend itself against Russian aggression, defying a strong GOP consensus on the issue. Mr Trump has business ties in Russia that go back to 1987, when he and his then-wife, Ivana, visited Moscow to scope out a luxury hotel joint venture with the USSRs state tourism agency Intourist, according to his memoir, The Art of the Deal. That deal came to nothing, but Mr Trump returned in 1996 to negotiate a high-end condominium project with US tobacco giant Liggett-Ducat. Mr Trump talked a big game, recalls the American real estate developer, who has direct knowledge of the negotiations. But what was needed was not New York real estate connections but Moscow political connections... Trump didnt have those. In 2005, Mr Trump took another crack at a now-booming Russia, hoping to build a Trump Tower on the site of a former pencil factory. He partnered with Bayrock Group, a New Yorkbased developer that had co-developed the Trump SoHo and Trump International Hotel and Tower in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to pull together financing. Bayrocks CEO was Tevfik Arif, a Kazakhstan-born former deputy head of the Soviet Ministry of Commerces hotel department, who had made money running high-end tourist hotels in Turkey. The deal failed in part because of Mr Arifs choice of Soviet-born Felix Sater (later Satter) to run Bayrocks Moscow operation. Mr Sater had served prison time for slashing a mans face in a 1991 Manhattan brawl He got into trouble because he got into a barroom fight which a lot of people do, Mr Trump once said in a court deposition and in 1998 was convicted for fraud over associations with White Rock Partners, a Mafia-connected New York stock brokerage. (Mr Arif was detained in Turkey in October 2010 on suspicion of organising sex parties for wealthy businessmen and Eastern European models aboard a $60m yacht once used by the nations founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, according to charges filed by prosecutor Yusuf Hakki Dogan. Mr Arif was cleared of all charges the following year.) After the Bayrock debacle, Mr Trump had better luck selling high-end real estate to wealthy Russians in the West. Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets, Donald Trump Jr told a real estate conference in 2008. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia. Among those deals was the sale of a mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, to Russian fertiliser billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev for $95m in 2008, according to Florida property records. In the wake of his bankruptcies, Mr Trump found it hard to raise money in the West, so he gathered money from Russian and Kazakh investors for Trump SoHo and other Bayrock projects. Salvatore Lauria, a partner of Mr Saters in White Rock Partners, helped gather $50m in investments for Trump SoHo that included, according to a lawsuit against Bayrock, unexplained infusions of cash from accounts in Kazakhstan and Russia. Mr Trumps latest set of Russian partners are the most high-rolling Aras Agalarov and Emin Agalarov, real estate developers born in Azerbaijan, who paid Mr Trump to organise the 2013 Miss Universe competition in Moscow. They also signed a deal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, though the building has not yet got off the ground. The Agalarovs have received several contracts for state-funded construction projects, and Mr Putin personally awarded Aras Agalarov the Order of Honor of the Russian Federation soon after the Miss Universe pageant. Mr Trump told a National Press Club lunch in Washington in 2014 that, during his trip to Moscow the previous year, he had spoken indirectly and directly with Mr Putin, who could not have been nicer. In fact, Mr Putin never showed up at the gala, and the two have never met. But even the Agalarovs are far from Russias big leagues of power and money. Its bizarre that people are talking about Trumps Russian business interests, because he never made it in Russia, says the anonymous Moscow-based American real estate developer. He tried to become a player, but he didnt know the right people. Despite Mr Trumps lack of significant success in Russia, his political career has made him an important part of Mr Putins wider strategy to weaken the West and court conservatives around the world into a grand anti-liberal alliance headed by Russia. In August, Moscow hosted a gathering of nationalist and separatist activists from all over Europe and the US part of an ongoing effort to encourage anti-EU and anti-Nato political groups, including Greeces Golden Dawn, Bulgarias Ataka, and Hungarys Jobbik. As US vice-president Joe Biden warned in a speech in Washington last year: Putin sees such political forces as useful tools to be manipulated, to create cracks in the European body politic which he can then exploit. To Mr Putins mind, the campaign is a way of pushing back against what he sees as meddling by Washington and Brussels in his backyard, from allegedly encouraging anti-Putin protests in Moscow in 2011 to fomenting the pro-European Maidan uprising in Kiev in 2013 that led to the ousting of Mr Yanukovych (and put Mr Manafort temporarily out of a job). Mr Putin honestly believes that the US is trying to overthrow him, says Kremlin-connected technologist Gleb Pavlovsky, who advised Mr Putin until 2011. In the eyes of Russian elites, Western aggression must be met with a response, argues Eugene Rumer, director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peaces Russia and Eurasia Program and a former national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the US National Intelligence Council. Hacking into DNC computers is simply payback for Western media reports about elite corruption in Russia. It helps boost the Russian narrative that money and politics go hand in hand everywhere, and that Russia is no different from the United States or other Western countries whose governments are critical of Russia. Temperamentally, Mr Putin and Mr Trump dont have much in common. The former is a steely, shy, controlled career KGB man who has spent his life in disciplined institutions and got his break not through public politics but by being a perfect courtier to Boris Yeltsin. The latter is a freewheeling dealmaker with a taste for the trappings of wealth, beautiful women, publicity, and a deep need for the acclaim of crowds. But both are brilliant opportunist tacticians with a cynical attitude about the truth, willing to cherry-pick facts to build narratives that suit their purpose. Mr Trump more closely resembles Russian or Ukrainian oligarchs though he is much poorer than most of them insofar as he has hijacked a political movement to fuel his personal ambition and boost his business interests. The Kremlins support of Mr Trump offered in the form of backing from propaganda channels such as RT and Sputnik is electorally insignificant. Even the covert revelations of the DNC hack didnt make much of a dent in Ms Clintons ratings (though WikiLeaks founder and RT contributor Julian Assange promises devastating new findings next month). What is truly disturbing is the cyberwar method used by the Kremlin to disrupt the election and the wider and more sinister political programme that the Kremlin is pursuing. The target of the hacks wasnt just Clinton, Eerik-Niiles Kross, the former head of Estonian intelligence, wrote in a recent essay in Politico. Nor is Moscow much interested in supporting Trump (willing useful idiot though he may be). What the Russians have in their sights is nothing less than the democratic fabric of American society and the integrity of the system of Western liberal values. The political warfare of the Cold War is back in updated form, with meaner, more modern tools, including a vast state media empire in Western languages, hackers, spies, agents, useful idiots, compatriot groups, and hordes of internet trolls. In other words, Mr Trump is merely a useful stooge in the Kremlins grand design to encourage Nato disunity, US isolationism, and the break-up of the European Union. In practice, all the effort of Russian-sponsored hackers, think tankers and propaganda channels is unlikely to have much real effect and, on balance, have probably harmed Mr Trumps chances of getting into the White House. But the effort is real. As Mr Kross put it: Russia is effectively using our democracies and our systems of rule of law against us... America, welcome to the war. THE European Commission decision on Apple has the potential to create very serious issues for the country and requires a careful but strong response. With regard to the tax status and liabilities of Apple in Ireland, the commissions ruling, announced by Margrethe Vestager, reached the conclusion that Ireland was solely responsible for the collection of tax on up to 60% of Apples global profits for a decade. This seems to run contrary to the various international tax reforms which link the payment of tax to where the value was created. Ms Vestagers decision also contradicts the view of her predecessor, that EU member states have a sovereign right to determine their own tax laws and that state aid cannot be used to rewrite those rules. Clearly, the commissions decision is an announcement of major importance, not only for the Irish exchequer and Apple, but also potentially for a range of international companies based in Ireland and employing tens of thousands of our citizens. I note the repeated reassurances from Revenue and the Department of Finance that Apple did not receive any sweetheart deal on corporation tax. I am also conscious that Apple has made a very significant economic contribution to Ireland in the past 36 years. There is no doubt that as a country we find ourselves in the middle of a wider strategic clash between the US and Europe. Those public representatives clamouring to accept the decision and its repercussions would be well advised to pause and consider the wider implications beyond the headline of a 13bn tax windfall that will remain out of reach for the foreseeable future, at least until various legal challenges are played out. At the heart of Irelands economic development over the past 50 years has been our ability to attract foreign direct investment. Central to this has been our strong and unambiguous commitment to the corporation tax rate and the fair and consistent application of our system to companies of all sizes. This must remain the case. There are many outstanding questions, which remain unanswered. The European courts may be the only place where clarity on these issues will be found. From Irelands point of view, it is vital we have a corporation tax regime that is built on certainty. We must, however, ensure that we remain as open as possible to foreign direct investment from US multinationals. They are a source of significant employment in Ireland, and provide considerable tax receipts to the exchequer every year. FDI has been a central element of our economic strategy since the early 1960s. At present, nearly 200,000 people are employed by multinationals located in Ireland. While we will continue to support, and promote indigenous enterprises, our ability to attract investment from overseas must be protected. Our country has been transformed by the likes of Google, Facebook, IBM, and Pfizer locating in Ireland. Fianna Fail is committed to ensuring that those companies, and others, continue to see Ireland as a good place to locate and do business. Our corporate tax rate is a vital part of Irelands attractiveness to foreign direct investment and driving on our indigenous industries. We have a strong record of fighting to protect the rate and securing it in negotiations on EU treaties. The commission has relaunched plans for a common consolidated corporate tax base, which is essentially a fresh route to removing sovereignty over setting national taxation rates. Irelands rate is transparent and fair. As far as I am concerned, we will neither accept nor implement any increase in Irelands corporation tax rate. So too, we should oppose and, if necessary, veto any measure to weaken or reduce national control of corporation tax rates. Contrary to an often repeated myth that companies, especially multinationals, pay very little tax, exchequer figures for 2015 show that corporation tax brought in 6.85bn over the course of the year. That is 2.25bn more than 2014 and nearly double the amount collected in 2011. It is noteworthy that the proportion of all taxes raised from corporation tax is substantially higher in Ireland than Germany. The activities of multinational firms also generate a range of other taxes including income tax, PRSI, universal social charge, and employers PRSI. There are no special corporate tax rates in Ireland. Our tax rules are set out clearly in legislation and the rules are applied fairly to all companies, regardless of size. Other EU countries do not have the same level of transparency but are not subject to the same close scrutiny as Ireland. It will come as no surprise that there are some in the commission who would like to undermine Irelands corporation tax offering. Ireland is attractive to multinationals for a range of reasons. The headline corporation tax rate is only one consideration in assessing a countrys corporation tax regime. Market access, a supply of skilled labour, and a stable regulatory environment are cited by multinationals as key reasons for locating here in addition to our tax regime. Ultimately, though, we need to protect our interests and for that reason I agree with the proposal to contest and appeal this decision. Michael McGrath is Fianna Fails spokesman on finance Asia 20 New Zika Cases Found in Thailand A worker sprays insecticide for mosquitos at a village near the Thai capital Bangkok in January. / Reuters Twenty new patients in four provinces in Thailand have contracted the mosquito-borne Zika virus, but the situation remains under control, according to the public health ministry. The new patients have prompted health authorities to keep Chiang Mai, Phetchabun, Bung Kan and Chanthaburiwhere new confirmed cases were reported to the ministry over the past weekunder close watch, said permanent secretary for public health Sopon Mekthon on Monday. On average, four or five patients were found in each of the four provinces. He said health officials were aware of the situation although people should not be too concerned about the number of new cases. I dont want the cases to spark panic because they are sparse, he added. More patients have been found due to better procedures to identify and screen those infected with Zika, according to Dr. Sopon. In the case of Zika, patients usually suffer mild effects and will recover within one week, he said. However, pregnant women who develop Zika have a chance of giving birth to babies with microcephaly and other brain defects. In Chiang Mais San Sai district, two infected women, who are six and eight months pregnant, are being closely monitored by medical staff, Chiang Mai public health official Phaisan Thanyawinitchakun said. Health officials are monitoring some 30 pregnant women living in high-risk Zika areas but who are not infected. Six of them have already delivered strong and healthy babies, Dr. Sopon said. Many Zika-control measures are being carried out in San Sai district, where several Zika patients have been found. Provincial officials have implemented steps to eradicate mosquitoes within a designated radius of the homes of Zika-infected patients and will follow up on the health of people who came in contact with the patients for at least 14 days. Health authorities in Malaysia and Singapore have also reported Zika patients with confirmed cases in Singapore already reaching 242. Burma Mon Groups Form Land Policy Drafting Committee A two-day land policy workshop was held in Moulmein from September 4-5. / Mimin Nwe / Facebook Over 100 civil society representatives from across Mon State participated in a two-day land policy workshop in the state capital of Moulmein. The attendees formed a new 15-member acting committee that will draft an updated land policy for Mon State, in the hope that it will influence future federal law. The workshop, held from Sept. 4-5, was reportedly the first of its kind hosted by the New Mon State Party (NMSP) and various Mon State civil society organizations. Nai Swor Mon, a civil society spokesperson from Mon State said, We mainly will try to get voices from the ground first, and then we will draft a policy. After local consultations, more workshops will be needed, he explained. Nai Swor Mon added that the preparation of policies will help the Mon when the country has a truly federal system. At that time, he envisions, there will be different land policies for the people who stay in the mountains, and those who stay in the lowlands. Mon leaders at the recent workshop criticized the current government for using what they called centralized democracy, in which they said that farmers in ethnic states lacked control over their own landcontrol that they hope farmers would gain under a more federal system. The members of the newly formed committee will collect data about land use throughout Mon State, document the concerns and experiences of local farmers, and allow this information to inform a policy draft. We believed that our Mon should have one land policy, so we decided to hold this two-day workshop, said Zaw Min Oo, a member of both the new drafting committee and the NMSP. Even the 2008 Constitution lacks protection for the land rights of ethnic minorities, he added. Our ethnic groups need our own land policy because we need to protect our land. Their constitution does not protect our land. In the federal system, he said, farmers should own the land. But, the current policy from the government states that our Mon are just farmersthey cannot own the land. Much land in Mon State is reported to have been confiscated by various authorities, including the Burma Army. Data on land collected by committee members will also apply to confiscated land, Zaw Min Oo said. Burma NLD Rejects ANP Proposal to Remove Intl Reps from Arakan Advisory Commission Kofi Annan, chair of the Arakan State Advisory Commission, arrives in the state capital of Sittwe on Tuesday morning. / Maung Kyaw Hein MPA / The Irrawaddy RANGOON An urgent proposal put forward by Arakanese National Party (ANP) lawmaker Aung Kyaw Sancalling for international members of the Arakan State Advisory Commission to be replaced with local academicsfailed to earn parliamentary approval on Tuesday. All military appointees to the legislature and the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) MPs, as well as many of the ethnic political parties representativestotalling 174 parliamentariansvoted in support of the ANPs proposal, but 250 lawmakers from the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) objected to it. One MP abstained from the vote. The nine-member Arakan State Advisory Commissionwhose formation was announced on Aug. 24aims to explore the roots of Buddhist-Muslim tension in Arakan State, and to make recommendations toward lasting solutions to conflict. Since the outbreak of anti-Muslim violence in 2012, leading to the displacement of 140,000, the region has received international attention. Formed by State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the commission has three representatives from the international community, including chair and former UN chief Kofi Annan, two government representatives, two Buddhist Arakanese members, and two Muslim members. In the Lower House debate over the ANP proposal moving to expel Kofi Annan and two former UN advisors, 34 lawmakers participated in the discussion. Four army appointees, four ANP MPs, and five Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) lawmakers spoke in support of the proposal, but the debate session was dominated by the objection of 21 legislators from the NLD. ANP parliamentarian Pe Than said in the debate session that the State Counselors Office was under international pressure to select non-Burmese experts to serve on the Arakan State Advisory Commission alongside local appointees. ANP concerns about the commissions work and findings centered on a fear of a future mass repatriation of self-identifying Rohingya refugees back to Burma. Pe Than referred to the group as Bengalis, a suggestion that the individuals in question are not from Arakan Statewhich they claim as their homelandbut are migrants originally from Bangladesh. [Burma] could be faced with many consequences in the coming future, Pe Than said, adding that the commission could not be trusted to deliver a fair assessment for Arakanalso known as RakhineState. He alleged that the international delegates, who he referred to as so-called human rights activists, would judge the situation in the region from a one-sided perspective. NLD legislators responded by calling the comments inappropriate and emotional and threatening to the dignity of the Parliament. The lawmakers reminded the legislature of Mr. Annans record as a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, and referred to the other international representatives as respected individuals in the global community. When Pe Than argued that the government was allowing foreign interference in internal Arakan State affairs, NLD MPs said that the conflict in Arakan State had grown from being a domestic issue to one of international importance. The commission to review the controversial Myitsone dam at the confluence of the Irrawaddy River in Kachin State had only local experts, Pe Than pointed outnot international representatives. What is the main reason? he asked. NLD lawmaker Pyone Kaythi Naing said she empathized with the ethnic Arakanese, a reference to Arakanese Buddhists, and traced communal tension with the regions Muslim community to British colonialismduring which, she said, migrants from South Asia came to fill labor needs in Burma and settled there. However, the Rohingya community maintain that their roots in Arakan State date back to the ancient kingdom of Arakan, which predates colonialism and the borders drawn thereafter. She said that previous governments in Burma had exacerbated what she saw as the problem, and that, with the formation of the advisory commission, the current civilian-led government had provided a fresh platform to search for a neutral path for both Buddhist and Muslim communities. Pyone Kaythi Naing described the population in question simply as the laborers and their descendants, and avoided using either Rohingya or Bengali. NLD MP Myint Wai speculated that if the new government had formed the commission solely with local experts, the international community would accuse them of bias, and reminded Parliament of the negative image Arakanese society had earned abroad. This is not the right time to oppose the commission. This is the right time to prove our good image to them, he said. USDP MP Tin Aye questioned Mr. Annans qualifications, presenting what are considered professional failures during his tenure as a UN peacekeeping envoy in the early 1990sto prevent the genocide of the ethnic Tutsis in Rwanda, and the massacre of Bosnian Muslims in the town of Srebrenica. Yet Tin Aye also criticized Annans later call for international interventions in cases of systematic human rights violations, such as those carried out in Rwanda and Bosnia. Classified under the responsibility to protect, the statute provides justification for the international community to intervene when a domestic government is unable or unwilling to prevent mass killings, ethnic cleansing and genocide. What if he demands that the UN act on the responsibility to protect? he said. If the commission were to recommend an intervention based on the responsibility to protect in Arakan State, Tin Aye argued, it would be a threat to Burmas sovereignty. Even Indra cant solve the problem if they oppose the ethnic Arakanese, said USDP lawmaker Sai Tun Thein, referencing a powerful Hindu god also worshipped as a deity in Buddhism. Kofi Annan led eight members of the advisory commission to the Arakan State capital of Sittwe on Tuesday to conduct meetings with local civil society organizations. His arrival was met by hundreds of protesters calling for the international community to stay out of local affairs. Burma Protests Greet Kofi Annans Arrival in Arakan State Sittwe residents staged protest upon arrival of Kofi Annan in Arakan State capital on Tesday morning. / Maung Kyaw Hein MPA / The Irrawaddy SITTWE, Arakan State Hundreds rallied on Tuesday in Sittwe, Arakan State against an advisory commission led by former UN chief Kofi Annan to find solutions to the conflict between the countrys Buddhists and minority Rohingya Muslims. Local residents and Buddhist monks joined the protests overseen by dozens of police, challenging what they perceived as foreigners biased intervention from the nine-member panel. Jeers and chants denouncing the panel intensified upon the arrival of Annans plane Tuesday morning. The crowd followed the convoy into town, where Annan delivered a speech and met with members of both the Rohingya and Buddhist Rakhine communities during his two-day visit to Arakan, which is also known as Rakhine State. We are here to help provide ideas and advice, Annan told local officials and leaders from the Buddhist Rakhine community over the sound of demonstrators outside a government building. We are also aware of resistance, fears and doubts that have prevailed again and again, he said. Burmas lower house of parliament was on Tuesday discussing whether foreigners should be excluded from the commission, but the chances of such an outcome are low. I dont want to see foreigners involved in this commission. I want to see a commission involving people of the Rakhine nationality, Kyaw Zin Wai, a 52-year-old carpenter told Reuters, adding that the two ethnic Rakhine commission members were not representative of people in the state. The commission, made up of six Burmese citizens and three foreigners, is on an initial two-day visit to meet local communities. It will visit camps for stateless Muslims on Wednesday, where people live in cramped and poorly maintained huts. It hopes to present its findings in the next few months. The plight of the Rohingya has raised questions about Daw Aung San Suu Kyis commitment to human rights and represents a politically sensitive issue for her party, the National League for Democracy. More than 100 people were killed and some neighborhoods were razed to the ground as local ethnic Rakhine Buddhists clashed with Rohingya Muslims across the state in 2012. Some 125,000 people are still displaced, the vast majority of them Rohingya, who are prevented from moving freely, have their access to basic services restricted and are mostly denied citizenship in Burma. Many have fled by sea in rickety boats. State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi formed the commission last month to find solutions to the issue. She plans to visit the United States this month, where she is thought to be seeking further sanctions relief for her country but is likely to face questions over her efforts to improve conditions for the Rohingya. The protest was called by some leaders in the states powerful Arakan National Party (ANP), which has criticized the commission, insisting that foreigners cannot understand the history of the area. This country has its own sovereignty, so we will not accept foreign interference in local affairs, said Aung Than Wai, secretary of ANPs executive committee. Annan told fellow commissioners and Suu Kyi at the panels first meeting in Yangon on Monday that he planned to approach the regions long-running conflict with rigorous impartiality and would listen to all sides of the conflict. Dialogue will be the order of the day, Annan said. Burma U Win Htein Stands by Controversial Dismissals and Demotions in Shan State NLD NLD Central Committee Member and spokesperson U Win Htein / JPaing / The Irrawaddy RANGOON A senior leader of Burmas ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), said he has a clear mandate from State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to take decisive action on issues within Shan States NLD chapter, in response to public criticism for expelling a senior member and demoting three others. U Win Htein, a Central Executive Committee (CEC) member of the National League for Democracy (NLD), told The Irrawaddy he gave verbal instructions to sack the party chairman of Taunggyi Districts NLD chapter, U Tin Maung Toe, on Sunday. He wrote on his Facebook page, CEC [member positions] can be bought, but history cant be, U Win Htein said. Its an insult to say you can be a CEC member if you have money. Our party members can make complaints openly at the office. Instead, he posted on Facebook. Its not in accordance with party regulations. Thats why I sacked him, Win Htein told The Irrawaddy. He also said three other senior membersincluding Daw Khin Moe Moe, the NLD chairman for Shan Statehave been demoted because they did not contribute to the election campaign last year. They werent happy with our rejections of their candidate submissions. They didnt make any contribution during the whole campaign period. Its against our party rules and Daw Aung San Suu Kyis guidelines, he explained. Win Htein said he was told by the State Counselor to act decisively on these issues. I have reported back to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi about what I have done in Shan State and she didnt make any comments, he added. Daw Khin Moe Moe, the demoted chairwoman of Shan States NLD chapter, told The Irrawaddy that the decision to expel a party member could only be made through a CEC meeting. If the decision was made by an individual, it would mean the party is authoritarian, she said. But Win Htein said: They are insulting the party. We need to be authoritarian if necessary. Burma US Should Keep Key Sanctions on Burma: HRW The US Department of the Treasury in Washington DC, pictured in September 2015 / Saw Yan Naing / The Irrawaddy New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged the United States to retain key sanctions on Burma, warning that the countrys ongoing democratic transition would be at risk without continued pressure on the Burma Army. The statement came while the US government is considering easing or lifting further sanctions on Burma around the time of the countrys de facto leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyis visit to Washington DC later this month. The sanctions are crucial for pressing the military to end rights abuses and transfer power to a fully civilian government. They shouldnt be fully lifted until the democratic transition is irreversible, John Sifton, HRWs Asia advocacy director, said in the statement. US officials told Reuters in an earlier report that President Barack Obama is contemplating the lifting of key sanctions during the visit of Daw Aung San Suu Kyiwho is Burmas state counselor and foreign ministerto Washington DC, which begins on Sept. 14. HRW also reported that several Burmese nationals in the US Department of the Treasurys Specially Designated Nationals list for targeted sanctions are people who the US has determined threaten the peace, security, or stability of Burmas political reforms or are responsible for, or complicit in, human rights abuses in Burma. Sifton said: Many of the Burmese on the US sanctions list are criminal suspects and human rights abusers. The US should assist Burma in promoting genuine economic development, not help those who made ill-gotten gains during military rule. Although major sanctions were eased or removed on trade, investment and the financial sector between July 2012 and May 2016, US sanctions targeting Burmas military and its associates are still in placealongside a continued ban on imports of Burmese jade and gemstones. HRW said key sanctions should be retained on the military because Burmas constitution reserves 25 percent of parliamentary seats for the military. Key positions in the security sector, including the ministries of defense, home affairs, and border affairs, are occupied by military appointees. The constitution also gives the military power to dissolve the government in case of a national emergency. During her visit Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will meet President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, members of the US Congress, and business leaders. HRW encouraged the US Congress to continue its leadership and maintain relevant sanctions legislation, which will be particularly useful in the event of backsliding on reforms by the Burma Army. The human rights watchdog also urged international donors and financial institutions to be transparent in connections with Burmas mineral sector and state- or military-owned enterprises. Business Samsung Myanmar Recalls Note 7 Smart Phone U Zarni Win Htet, head of IT and Mobile Channel for Samsung Myanmar, delivering the companys statement regarding the Galaxy Note 7. / Samsung Mobile Myanmar / Facebook RANGOON Samsung Myanmar is cancelling the Sept. 11 launch of its Galaxy Note 7 smart phone in Burma and is offering the several hundred recipients of pre-ordered devices their money back or a replacement handset in October. This comes as part of a global recall of the Galaxy Note 7, beginning on Friday, after 35 confirmed cases of the lithium-ion battery exploding or catching fire while chargingalthough no cases have been reported in Burma so far. The new smart phone model was put on general release in certain countries, including the US and South Korea, in late August. Delays in the phones release in other countries caused by the large volume of pre-ordersavailable in Burma from the end of August, via a Samsung tie-in with Burmas KBZ Bankare to be prolonged by the global recall. We have received several hundred pre-orders of the Note 7 in [Burma]. We will take care of those people. New handsets will be available for them in October, said U Zarni Win Htet, head of IT and Mobile Channel for Samsung Myanmar. This is the first time weve had to recall Samsung products in Burma, he said. In a statement released on Monday, Samsung Myanmar said they were conducting a thorough inspection with suppliers to identify possible affected batteries in the market. Our customers safety is an absolute priority at Samsung; we have stopped sales of the Galaxy Note 7. Under the pre-order plan, the smart phonesassembled in factories in Vietnamcould be bought in Burma for 920,000 kyats (US$758). The statement said that customers not prepared to wait until October for a replacement, or who want a cash refund, must got to the Pre-Order Pick-up Shop, where they previously collected the phone, between Sept. 1-18bringing with them the full package (gift pack, charger, cover, box, accessories), a receipt, and their KBZ Bank account number. Ko Thiha Aung, a regular buyer of Samsung products and a recipient of a pre-ordered Galaxy Note 7, said he would wait for a replacement in October. I have not heard about any battery problems happening here. I think Samsung does not want its image to be affectedthats why they announced the recall of its product, he said. Opinion Wa Tin Mining Boom May Have Peaked A UWSA soldier on duty in Mongmau, Wa State. / J Paing / The Irrawaddy The massive tin mining boom underway in territory controlled by Burmas largest ethnic armed group, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), may be set for a decline, concludes a recent update from the International Tin Research Institute (ITRI), a not-for-profit organization closely connected to the international mining industry. The autonomous section of northern Shan State located along the Chinese border officially known as Shan State Special Region 2, but more commonly referred to as Wa State, is estimated by ITRI to currently account for 95 percent of Burmas tin production, peaking at some 50,000 tpy [tons per year]. Almost all of it is exported to China. A paper published last December in the journal Resources Policy concluded that Wa tin production had in just a few short years boosted Burma from being a small player in the global tin trade to the status of the worlds third largest tin producing country. According to figures provided by ITRI between 2009 and 2014, Burmas overall tin production shot up 4900.00 percent thanks almost entirely to output from the Wa territory, a dramatic shift that appears to have caught the global tin mining industry completely by surprise. ITRI reports that the mining operations at Man Mawsome 90 kilometers from Panghsang, the UWSAs de facto capitalhave changed considerably over the past few years. Citing information from an ITRI staff person in China who recently visited the UWSA territory, ITRI says that mining in Man Maw, which as recently as 2014 was dominated by open pit mines, has shifted as these sites have depleted. According to ITRI, today most mining is underground, with higher operating costs and lower ore grades. Another change cited by ITRI is that many of the smaller mining outfits operating in the area have disappeared and have been replaced by larger firms that are better organized and well financedoperations that are more mechanized and use expanded ore processing facilities. According to ITRI, in 2014, tin mining operations at Man Maw commonly dealt with grades of 10 percent tin. These have been largely depleted: most ore mined now grades between 2-3 percent tin. Although the ITRI update concludes that, in the short-term, tin output from Wa territory seems stable, ITRI notes that the longer-term outlook for production in Wa territory mainly depends on whether there are new resource discoveries in the next few years. Otherwise, production may peak in 2015-2017 and then decline. ITRI has estimated tin production in Wa territory by analyzing Chinas official import figures for tin ore and concentrate. According to the update, ITRI believes that the big increase in imports reported by China in the first half of 2016up 88 percent year-on-year in gross weight termsis based on a depletion of above-ground stocks of ore and concentrate accumulated over the last few years. This masks an underlying decline in mining activity and depletion of readily accessible higher grade ore resources. If the forecasted peak in the Wa mining boom takes place, global tin prices will likely rise. Currently tin is trading at U$18,770 a metric tonan 18-month high, but still considerably lower than the height reached during the most recent commodities boom. Much of the worlds tin production ends up in solder, used in electronic circuits. The leadership of the UWSA and its similarly named political wing the United Wa State Partymost of whom were mid-ranking members of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) when the group imploded in 1989are known to be reclusive and rarely grant access to their territory to foreign journalists or other outside visitors. Much of this appears to stem from a series of indictments filed by US authorities against the UWSA leadership, including Chairman Bao Youxiang, for their alleged involvement in the global drug trade. The UWSA has long denied these claims, which it maintains are part of a smear campaign. We, the UWSA, are wholeheartedly engaged in the fight against drug-dealing, the groups spokesperson, Aung Myint, told The Irrawaddy in a 2013 interview. For seven years since 2005, there have been no poppy fields and no poppy plants in our region. This has finished. Thats why the world should recognize us. The UWSA has longstanding ties with China, carried over from the days when Beijing was the main backer of the CPB and its armed insurrection against Ne Win, who in the parlance of the Cultural Revolution was a counter-revolutionary, fascist, and reactionary. More than a quarter century after the almost exclusively Burman CPB politburo was toppled by their ethnic comrades, the UWSA remains on good terms with their Chinese neighborsa relationship no doubt shaped by the vast amounts of tin being shipped across the border to feed Chinas giant manufacturing sector. Though this may not be the kind of recognition that Aung Myint and his colleagues had in mind, the Wa territorys significant role in the global tin tradeaccounting for nearly 10 percent of global tin output by recent estimateshas certainly put the group on the global mining map. Several international tin mining firms have cited Man Maws mammoth tin production and its effect on global tin prices as an issue of concern in the market outlook section of their annual reports. In a similar vein, metals analyst Andy Home described in a recent write-up for Reuters how plans to restart a long dormant tin mine in southwestern England depend on how much tin is left in the UWSAs mines. Man Maw is the hard reality that looms large over Cornwalls dreams of reviving its historic tin sector, he wrote. Despite their size and importance to the global tin trade, the UWSAs tin mines did not make an appearance in Burmas first ever Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) report published last year. The report disclosed royalty payments paid by firms operating in Burmas resource sector as well as royalty payments received by the government. Burma joined the global pact, which aims to bring about greater transparency in the oil, gas and mineral resources sector in developing countries, under President Thein Seina move heralded by some, including the World Bank, as a transparency breakthrough. If the figures from ITRI are to be believed, 95 percent of Burmas tin production remains unaccounted for in the EITI report. Given their current trajectory, it appears unlikely that the UWSAwho, since signing a ceasefire with the then ruling military regime in 1989, have run their special region on the Chinese border with almost complete autonomy from the central governmentwould cooperate with efforts like the EITI in future. The UWSA are much less inclined than many of their fellow ethnic armed groups in Burma to cooperate with the central government, if such cooperation doesnt directly suit their interests: the preservation of a degree of sovereignty unparalleled among their ethnic militia peers, none of whose forces are anything near as large or well-equipped. The groups representatives stormed out of the 21st Century Panglong peace conference in Naypyidaw last week, over a perceived slight related to their being given observer nametags at the outsetcasting doubt on their seriousness as participants in Burmas peace process. What kind of royalties the UWSA leadership is charging mining firms operating in their territory is unclear, but it certainly appears that the massive windfall from tin mining is helping the UWSA maintain its powerful militiaby some estimates numbering between 20,000 and 25,000 soldiers, larger than the standing armies of several European nations. Given the central role tin production appears to be playing in the Wa economy, it is very likely that tin mining analysts are not the only ones interested in just how much tin is left in Man Maws mines. 7 Steps to Combat the Cybersecurity Skills Shortage Its a perennial issue that IT hiring managers face: Given that technology is evolving so much more rapidly than our educational system is, how can companies tap the enormous talent coming out of colleges and universities, and at the same time harness the skills they need in a competitive world where skills requirements are constantly changing? One trend thats addressing that disconnect is the emergence of programs with various labels most commonly micro-degrees or nanodegrees that aim to deliver a credentialed set of skills in a relatively short period of time. In a recent interview, Jason Weingarten, CEO of Yello, a talent acquisition software provider in Chicago, shared some keen insights about this trend, and the value these degrees might add to the skills acquisition ecosystem. Weingarten explained the pace-of-change disconnect this way: There are new tools that seem to emerge almost daily in the technical space. Its hard to rely on an old-school class when the tool is so new that schools dont even have proper materials to teach it. So where technology moves faster than education is an area where nanodegrees could become a much quicker way to help verify that people can do things. To give an example from nine years ago, when Apple came out with the iPhone, iOS was born and you had the ability to develop apps for it. But the people who developed apps really didnt learn how to do that in school, because you had no one who could even teach it yet. Apple then held developers forums; they showed people how to use tools similar to those used to develop stuff for Macs; and they were able to help translate that out into the work force. So I think youre going to see that type of thing happen more and more, and thats why micro-degrees could be very interesting down the road. I was reminded of an interview I did a couple of years ago with a tech recruiter who argued that a successful IT career is becoming increasingly accessible without an expensive four-year college degree. So are micro-degrees a suitable alternative to a four-year college degree? Weingarten says definitely not: I think four-year degrees offer a lot of soft skills that people need in order to be leaders in organizations. Those who dont have a four-year degree right now might have certain technical skills that can be very valuable to a company. But being involved in different activities and organizations where youre able to relate and empathize with different groups of people, prepares you to work in organizations, beyond just doing your job. So I dont see micro-degrees as replacements at all I see them as supplements, as quicker ways to learn things. As people look at LinkedIn profiles as the new resume, its more valuable to throw a nanodegree on there than it is to just say you read a certain book. Were only at the start of it were not sure where it will end up. But I dont think it will disappear. Weingarten went on to highlight the role micro-degrees can play in enabling people to acquire skills in specific coding languages: It could be Ruby or Python, which are some newer languages; or it could be Microsoft-focused, where you need to learn .NET. Whatever those are, nanodegrees could be a quick way for people who currently have no experience in that area, to at least assert that they have made attempts to gain that experience. I think thats something were going to start to see more of, especially as the prices of nanodegrees come down dramatically. So whats the difference between a micro-degree and a traditional certification that outfits like CompTIA have been offering for decades? Weingarten said the difference lies largely in the manner in which the information is delivered: Certification is often done in person, in the form of night or weekend classes. So there traditionally has been more of a physical aspect to it, or at least it was done live people spoke to other people. Typically, with these micro-degrees, like on Coursera or Udacity, its recorded, so you learn when you can. While it has its draws its cheaper information to get, because its more accessible people still need time to accept and adopt it as a new way of learning. I think were just now at the forefront of it I dont think there will be wide acceptance of these programs for at least a few years. I asked Weingarten whether and how Yello is using micro-degree graduates to fill its own talent pipeline. He said Yello really only trusts its own assessments: For us, we just really focus on the skill sets theres nothing inherently verifiable, even for someone who graduates from one college vs. another. So especially from a technical standpoint, we have very difficult technical assessments and tests. People who qualify through those may have had four-year engineering degrees. Most of them do some of them have masters degrees. Others have just worked in the space for 10 to 15 years, and have picked up the skills after switching from other careers. So at least from an engineering standpoint, we dont look at it as, they got a nanodegree from here or a micro-degree from there. Weingarten wrapped up the conversation by addressing the question of the weight that tech recruiters should give to micro-degree programs: From my standpoint right now, I think micro-degrees are an option that is really important to collect data on, and then let the data tell you what works. I think its almost impossible to put a weight on it today. But the groundwork is being laid, so you can start getting a good sense of what it will be 12 or 24 months from now. If you think about the way recruiting has changed, now you have data on where people were sourced from; you have data on what their resume was like at that time; you might have updated information on them through assessment data as they move up in the organization. Micro-degrees should be one of those new data elements, just like a university degree was a data element you might say, Were going to hire from this school, because thats where weve successfully hired in the past. Nanodegrees should be looked at as a similar benchmark. I think data science and a lot of machine learning technologies, similar to the software that Yello provides and is working on, will help determine how valuable these are in the future. A contributing writer on IT management and career topics with IT Business Edge since 2009, Don Tennant began his technology journalism career in 1990 in Hong Kong, where he served as editor of the Hong Kong edition of Computerworld. After returning to the U.S. in 2000, he became Editor in Chief of the U.S. edition of Computerworld, and later assumed the editorial directorship of Computerworld and InfoWorld. Don was presented with the 2007 Timothy White Award for Editorial Integrity by American Business Media, and he is a recipient of the Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for editorial excellence in news coverage. Follow him on Twitter @dontennant. Sony's X-Series smartphones have rapidly expanded this year. Today, it's already a clan of five with the arrival of the new Xperia XZ flagship device. Xperia XZ is the finest phone of the group, bagging Sony's best camera technology now as well as some striking specifications. The Sony Xperia XZ is the new headliner with superior hardware, a larger display, a new and enhanced camera, stunning design, and, of course, water-proofing. In this review, we're going to find out if the new Sony Xperia XZ will be a top-notcher and this will be a good deal on its price. Key Features 5.2" 1080p IPS display, 428ppi Snapdragon 820 chipset: quad-core (2x2.15 + 2x1.6 GHz) Kryo processor, Adreno 530 GPU 3GB RAM Up to 32GB of built-in storage, expandable through microSD card slot by up to 200GB IP65/IP68 certified - dust and water proof up to 1.5-meter and 30 minutes 23MP Sony IMX300 camera, 24mm-equiv. f/2.0 lens, laser-assisted and phase-detection autofocus, SteadyShot, LED flash, dedicated hardware shutter key 2160p video recording, SteadyShot 13MP selfie camera with noise reduction, SteadyShot Stereo speakers 2,900mAh battery Qualcomm Quick charge certified, smart charging at night Flapless USB Type-C port design in waterproof phones Side-mounted fingerprint sensor in the power button Design According to Sony, the Xperia XZ is made up of new metallic material known as Alkaleido which boasts an impressive natural brightness and purity. The Sony Xperia XZ is a nice-looking smartphone. It houses a 5.2" display sheathed in a metal body which is remarkably curvier than with earlier Xperia smartphones. Sony calls this Loop Surface and is designed to make the phone appear unified while at the same time making it more comfortable to hold. Sony also returned the reassuring water-resistant design for the XZ, which is missing in the Xperia X and the Xperia X Performance. Thus, users can once again use their phone in the bath or even take a selfie in the shower. The new design is awesome and the phone is a pleasure to grip, but one thing that would have been better thought out is the back strip at the bottom that shelters the antennas. By some means, it disturbs the whole design and takes away the perfection. At the front of the device, on top of the display, sits the front-facing camera, earpiece, as well as the proximity and light ambient sensors. Below the screen is the loudspeaker of the phone, which has the same cases with the previous Xperia devices. Unfortunately, it can be covered by the palm when it is used in landscape mode. The right side of the phone is quite populated with buttons - from the topmost is the power button, embedded on it is the fingerprint scanner for security, going down is the volume rocker which is quite hard to reach in a single-handed operation and last in line is the dedicated camera shooter key which is very useful when taking a photo especially when the device is wet. On the left side, the device features the flap covering the SIM card slot and the microSD card slot. The top of the phone holds the 3.5mm audio jack and a microphone and in the bottom resides the USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer. A microphone is also at the bottom. The left top corner of the back of the phone has the 23-megapixel camera and the LED flash. In the center of the back of the phone lies the phone's insignia. Display Sony put a bigger 5.2" IPS display on the Xperia XZ, which still features 1080p resolution. The screen looks good with wide viewing angles, high contrast and succinct colors, particularly when it comes to browsing multimedia. The device gets Sony's X-Reality engine too, which artificially tinkers with movies and photos when activated. Otherwise, you can also toggle on the Super Vivid mode which enhances colors to make them really pop off the screen. Software With regardsto software, the Sony Xperia XZ runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow topped with slight touches of Sony. It is expected that the XZ will get the latest Android update at some point in the future. SO far, the date of the update's rollout is still unsure. The smartphone also feature Xperia XZ intelligence, which the company asserts can learn your habits and get smarter as you use it. However, the company is yet to offer a precise explanation on how this improves your smartphone experience. Battery Life The Xperia XZ is powered by a 2,900 mAh battery. It is a subtle upgrade over the X Performance's battery. It is capable of Quick Charge 3.0, but you will probably need to buy a Sony fast charger which is not bundled inside the box. The battery supports also adaptive charging called Battery Care for prolonging its life cycle. It learns when you are charging your battery overnight. It stops fast charging around 90% and continues to gently charge your battery up to 100% until the morning. Sounds awesome, right? Performance Just like the Xperia X Performance, the Xperia XZ runs on the Snapdragon 820 processor, mixed with 3GB of RAM, so, expect the device performs smoothly at all times, especially as the phone can habitually improve its running rates by separating and closing down unused apps. Alongside with the 64-bit processor and 3 GB of RAM, users can find a base storage of 32GB but if not enought for all your mobile needs, be happy to know that it can extended by a whopping 256GB via the included MicroSD card slot. Camera According to Sony, the Xperia XZ comes loaded with advanced photography technologies that can be recognized from other Xperia smartphones. They also added triple image sensing technology to analyze, adapt and capture perfect shots in challenging conditions. The Xperia XZ is all about the cameras. Sony is famous for doing advanced camera technology for its flagship Xperia line, and the Xperia XZ is no an exemption. The device packs a 23 MP camera at the back with triple image sensing technology. These sensing technology includes three sensors - an imaging sensor for movement, a laser autofocus sensor for measuring distance and an RGBC-IR sensor for accurate color reproduction. These help users take accurate and in-focus shots efficiently. The front-facing 13 MP shooter is not to be scoffed at either. It is improved by introducing a wide-angle lens for more extraordinary selfies. However, while the camera takes photos exceptionally quickly and the photos are generally crisp, zooming into images exposes slightly over-the-top noise reduction, making the photos look slightly soft and blurry. Though it's not the only smartphone that is guilty of this, it is an expectation for a company like Sony, especially with its emphasis on the camera capabilities of the Xperia XZ. Final Verdict Sony's Xperia XZ is an attention-grabbing flagship for it break the standards with respects to its design and colour options instead of going curvy like Apple and Samsung. Sony was fixed to its angular design and has always been producing something that feels good in the hand and appears like a premium flagship smartphone with a gorgeous, glistening varnish. The 23 MP camera at the back offers an impressive technology, but the aggressive noise cancellation lets it down a bit. The Xperia XZ will be launched in early October this year and is placed over the Xperia X Performance. This also means you could expect a price tag north of 700. Pokemon Go players can now make use of Google Maps' Timeline. A new feature, "Catching Pokemon" has recently been added. Google Maps Timeline And Pokemon Go Google Maps has recently added to its Timeline a "Catching Pokemon" tab. The new addition was recently reported by Reddit user GoldLeader272. Updating the Timeline in Google Maps is not a common practice among Pokemon Go players, according to Pokemon Go Association. However, this newest Timeline feature can be a handy tracker counter for Pokemon Go players. It can be used to record the steps or time it takes to reach a specific Pokemon Go Spawn Point or even its location. How To Add "Catching Pokemon" in Google Maps' Timeline Pokemon Go players simply need to update their Google Maps' Timeline activities on their smartphone. Android users would go to the "Your Timeline" tab, and then tap the travel icon to edit and "Catching Pokemon". Many Pokemon Go observers think that the new Google Map feature can give better tracking data than Niantic right now. Hopefully, the mobile game app developer can update a better tracker than Google Maps. Google And Niantic Connection Niantic was once part of Google some time ago. Obviously there is a lot good will left between the two despite their parting of ways. Interestingly, Niantic's earlier game, Ingress, based many of its location in Google Maps. The fact that Google Maps can add a "Catching Pokemon" feature means that Pokemon Go is still using a lot of data from Google Maps. Other Maps For Locating Pokemon Recently, there have been reports that Pokemon Go Spawn Points could be located using Open Street Map. This method however, will require a bit of tinkering and some technical knowledge. Data miners have discovered and concluded that Niantic is basing some of its locations from open source map data. Apple is known to unveil its new array of widely loved gadgets every September. 2016 is no exception to that rhythmic display of technological prowess, as the tech giant will be hosting the Apple Event in San Francisco on September 7 at exactly 10 a.m. PT and 6 p.m. BST. Tim Cook, together with the other high-ranking executives of Apple, will take part in the unveiling of its armada of gadgets that will surely sweep the feet of major tech companies like Samsung. Apple unveils the iPhone 7 The iPhone 7 will be out to set the smartphone industry in turmoil as it will prove to be a threat to Samsung, knowing that the Galaxy Note 7 is experiencing serious battery issues. One of the major changes that the iPhone 7 will have is the removal of the headphone jack. It will instead have a Lightning cable connection rather than have the standard 3.5mm jack connection. This will then enable the iPhone 7 to wirelessly connect to the Bluetooth headsets that will possibly come with it. What's up with the Apple Watch 2? It is widely accepted that a release of a new iPhone is more plausible than another Apple Watch. Despite the circumstances, it is still possible as it would be unjustifiable for Apple to give up the smartwatch competition, giving the lime light to Samsung's newly released Gear S3 smart watch. According to MacRumors, the next Apple Watch named as the Apple Watch 2 will have a bigger screen and would be thinner than the previous model. The Future of the MacBook Pro and iPad Apple hasn't had a reboot of the MacBook since May of 2015. Based on the statement of 9to5Mac, Apple will be launching an improved MacBook Pro that features a Touch ID and an OLED key screen, as well as a longer battery life. If these set of features are set to turn to reality, then it would surely be a very positive improvement for the MacBook series as it would be the first to feature such improvements. Microsoft Surface Phone 2016 release date made some noise the past month about its launch at IFA 2016. There have been rumors that the launch is moved next month and the Surface Phone could be released in 2017. Microsoft Surface Phone was supposed to be Microsoft's ticket to making a comeback in the smartphone industry. Years ago, Microsoft launched the Lumia series but it didn't appeal that much to consumers. The Surface Phone was expected to replace the Lumia 950 after its release, but it might not even happen this year. No Surface Phone Announcement in IFA 2016 Just last month, Microsoft declared their plans to launch at IFA 2016 in September. Yet, there are rumors circulating that the Microsoft Surface Phone 2016 release date was just a rumor and it's not true. Microsoft Fans waiting for the Surface Phone will be devastated if they don't follow through this month. According to the Inquistr, the Microsoft Surface Phone will launch at IFA 2016 in Berlin and it is going on sale on October. The Microsoft Surface Phone will be the second generation of Microsoft's smartphone series and it will replace the Lumia 950. In addition to that good news about the Surface Phone, Microsoft is going to release three different variants of their latest flagship. The Surface Phone will have a 3GB RAM and a total storage of 32GB, another one will come with 128GB storage with a 6GB RAM and it's largest would be equipped with a 500GB storage and 8GB RAM. Everyone is stoked to find out what the Microsoft Surface Phone has to offer. Sources suggest that the Lumia 950 replacement will be encased in an aluminum and magnesium body. The Microsoft Surface Phone will likely have a 5.7-inch AMOLED Display, a 21 MP primary camera from Carl Zeiss, a Windows 10 operating system and it will be equipped with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 821 or the Apollo Lake 64-bit Intel processor. Microsoft's Surface Phone seems like a very promising piece of technology. You have the chance to find out about it in person at the best consumer electronics trade show in Berlin, IFA 2016. Different sources suggest that the new Nintendo NX will be revealed some time this month. If it does get revealed, there are a few changes to be expected. According to rumors, the Nintendo NX will use cartridges and not discs. Nintendo's Decision To Go Old School In 2016 The reason why the company will go retro this time is to lure more casual players into going back to gaming. It has been mentioned that the company's target this year is the market of the casual gamers. If previous gaming devices are appropriately aimed towards hardcore gamers, Nintendo is changing their strategy for the Nintendo NX. However, this doesn't mean that the said cartridge is the same as what players from the past have used. Nintendo is expected to bring in something new to the table to make gaming a more fun experience to players. It was said that the Nintendo NX will bring in a mix of home console and handheld gaming unit. Needless to say, cartridges have a lot of advantages, Forbes reports. It is more durable and it lasts longer. With that said, Nintendo is expected to make the new gaming device a bit more appropriate for kids, which is one of their primary targets. Portability and durability are pretty much two of the most important traits the NX should have. Nintendo NX Release Date Nintendo NX is expected to make an appearance at the Tokyo Game Show on September 15, Inquisitr reports. This is just roughly a week after Sony's event on September 7 which also coincides with Apple's September 7 event. September is definitely the tech companies' favorite when it comes to announcements and releases. Furthermore, since Sony is expected to release its PlayStation 4 variants, fans are excited to see what Nintendo has in store for them a week after Sony's event. ITU-GS-MR-MainContent Over 500 participants from government, business, academia, non-governmental organizations and the United Nations family are meeting in Nairobi this week to formulate and optimize human capacity building strategies for the information and communication technology (ICT) sector, to improve' digital skills and empower countries to take full advantage of strong continued growth in ICT-related jobs. Organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UN specialized agency for ICTs, and hosted by the Communications Authority of Kenya, the global ICT Capacity Building Symposium (CBS-2016) provides an opportunity for stakeholders from across the world to discuss trends and developments in the sector and their implications for human and institutional capacity building, and to develop strategies to accelerate progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at a time of major digital technology transformation. "We live in a knowledge economy where new opportunities are emerging every day. ICTs are now at the centre of almost everything we do, and those who are empowered with digital skills and have the ability and opportunity to learn and adapt will gain a significant competitive advantage," said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao. "This symposium brings together key ICT and education stakeholders to discuss how emerging technologies are changing the human capacity building environment: ITU is committed to helping all its members effectively and rapidly build human ICT capacity and improve ICT skills." "ICTs occupy a very special place in the hearts and minds of Kenyans. Indeed, ICTs not only drive the Kenyan society today but also are intricately embedded in our national development plan, which Kenya calls 'Vision 2030'," said William Ruto, Deputy President of the Republic of Kenya. "Innovation is fuel of today's development. It is the foundation for the transformative and visionary societies of today and tomorrow. We are living in the most dynamic time in history. Today's innovation makes last week's innovation obsolete. We need to feed this monster; we need to let it devour the challenges of our time and usher us into a new inter-connected age of prosperity." CBS-2016 panellists and speakers bring together high-level officials including government ministers, Director-Generals of national regulatory authorities, heads of UN organizations, CEOs of private sector companies, representatives from academia and research institutions and other experts in ICT capacity building. "Emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) are increasingly becoming a reality," said Joseph Mucheru, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology of Kenya. He added "these require different sets of knowledge and skills across all sections of society. Governments, industry, universities and other higher education institutions need to invest in a range of ICT skills at various levels, to not only enable increased participation in the economy, but also ensure the creation of digital citizens for a digital society." "As society experiences the 'digitization of everything', learning methods and models change, offering educators and students new digital tools such as virtual classrooms, personalized instruction, adaptive curriculum, and blended learning," said Fred O. Matiang'i, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of Kenya. CBS-2016 discussions will focus on new skills requirements in a changing world; innovative tools for education and learning; new digital learning methodologies including online learning through social media and MOOCs (massive open online courses); and the central role of academia in building skills in the digital era. "The cornerstone of ITU's capacity building strategy is strengthening existing structures and introducing innovative initiatives for capacity building." said Brahima Sanou, Director of ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau, which is organizing the event. "Partnerships and collaboration are essential for capacity building in the ICT sector: we rely on partners to design and develop appropriate programmes and deliver training to our Members: our work impacts people's lives across the globe." This morning's programme also featured a Ministerial Roundtable on ICTs, Sustainable Development Goals and future priorities for human capacity building, and a Leaders Dialogue on the topic of establishing coherence in capacity building. Francis W. Wangusi, Director General of the Communications Authority of Kenya welcomed participants and re-affirmed Kenya's readiness to offers its renowned hospitality. "As the home to many ICT innovations, we have much to showcase and share with the global ICT community." An exhibition showcasing capacity building projects across the world and best practices from academia and industry was unveiled and will run for the duration of the symposium. The official opening was preceded, on 5 September by two pre-events dedicated to "Capacity Building in Internet Governance" and "Regulators as Enablers and Consumers of Capacity Building" respectively. Every Java programmer needs a programming editor or IDE that can assist with the grungier parts of writing Java and using class libraries and frameworks. Which editor or IDE will be the best fit for you depends on several things: the nature of your development projects, your role in the organization, your level of programming skills, the processes used by the development team, whether the team has standardized on tools, and, of course, your personal preference. You would hope that an IDE supports the latest versions of your favorite JVM languages, including Java, Kotlin, Scala, and Groovy. You'd want it to support the most popular application servers and Java frameworks, such as Apache Tomcat, Spring, JavaServer Faces, Struts, GWT (Google Web Toolkit), Play, Wicket, Grails, Dropwizard, ATG, Spark, Hadoop, and Vaadin. A workable IDE should support whatever build and version control systems your group uses, such as Ant, Maven, and Gradle, along with Git, SVN, CVS, Mercurial, and Bazaar. For extra credit, your IDE should be able to handle the client and database layers of your stack, including JavaServer Pages, Embedded JavaScript, TypeScript, and HTML on the client side and Hibernate, JPA, and SQL for the data layer. Finally, you want a Java IDE that lets you edit, build, debug, and test your systems with ease and grace. Ideally, youd not only have intelligent code completion but intelligent refactoring and code metrics. If youre in a shop that does test-driven development, you want support for your testing frameworks and stubbing. If your group uses a ticket system and CI/CD, the IDE should be able to connect to them. If you need to deploy to and debug on containers and clouds, your IDE should help with that. The three IDEs most often chosen for server-side Java development are IntelliJ IDEA, Eclipse, and NetBeans. These arent the only options, however, and well also discuss a few lighter-weight IDEs. For this review, I did fresh installations of IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate 2022.1.1, Eclipse Installer 2022-03 and the Eclipse IDE for Enterprise Java and Web Developers, and NetBeans 13 on a MacBook Pro. I also checked out several open source Java projects, which I used to demonstrate IDE features. IntelliJ IDEA IntelliJ IDEA, the premier Java IDE in terms of both features and price, comes in two editions: the free Community edition, and the paid commercial Ultimate edition. The main distinguishing factors are that the Ultimate edition supports Perforce, ClearCase, and TFS, as well as Git, SVN, Mercurial, and CVS; supports JavaScript and TypeScript; supports Jakarta EE, Spring, GWT, Vaadin, Play, Grails, and other frameworks; and includes database tools and SQL. Recent enhancements to the Ultimate edition include an HTTP client, profiling tools, remote development, and collaborative development. Version 2022.1 introduces a dependency analyzer, an updated new project wizard, and a notifications tool. It also has improved inlay hints, a new structural search and replace dialog, UML diagram export, a package checker for vulnerability detection, and better support for Java 18 and JUnit 5. The intent is for the Ultimate edition to earn a place on a professionals desktop and justify a paid subscription through increased programmer productivity. If a Java developer makes $50-100K per year, it doesnt take much of a productivity boost to give you a quick ROI on a $500-per-year business IDEA subscription. The price goes down in subsequent years for businesses, is much lower for startups and individuals, and is free for students, teachers, Java champions, and open source developers. IntelliJ touts IDEA for deep insight into your code, developer ergonomics, built-in developer tools, and a polyglot experience. Lets drill down and see what these features mean and how they can help you. Deep insight into your code Syntax coloring and simple code completion are a given for Java editors. IDEA goes beyond that to provide smart completion and chain completion. Smart completion means the IDE can pop up a list of the most relevant symbols applicable in the current context, ranked by your personal frequency of use. Chain completion offers a list of applicable symbols that are accessible via methods or getters in the current context. It also completes static members or constants, automatically adding any needed import statements. In all code completions, IDEA tries to guess the runtime symbol type, refine its choices from that, and add class casts as needed. Java code often contains other languages as strings. IDEA can inject fragments of SQL, XPath, HTML, CSS, and/or JavaScript code into Java String literals. For that matter, it can refactor code across multiple languages; for example, if you rename a class in a JPA statement, IDEA will update the corresponding entity class and JPA expressions. When youre refactoring a piece of code, one of the things you typically want to do is also refactor all the duplicates of that code. IDEA can detect duplicates and similar fragments and apply the refactoring to them as well. IntelliJ IDEA analyzes your code when it loads, and when you type. It offers inspections to point out possible problems (shown in Figure 1) and, if you wish, a list of quick fixes to the detected problem. IDG Figure 1. IntelliJ IDEA now has a dependency analyzer and manager, shown in the bottom panel of the screenshot. It can also pop up all the uses of a variable, as shown in the middle of the upper right window. The loaded project is DeepLearning4j-examples. Developer ergonomics IntelliJ designed IDEA with flow, aka the zone, in mind. The Project tool window at the left in Figure 1 gets out of the way at a mouse click, so you can concentrate on the code editor. Everything you want to do while editing has a keyboard shortcut, including bringing up symbol definitions in a popup window. While learning the shortcuts takes time and practice, eventually theyll become second nature. Meanwhile, even without knowing the shortcuts, a developer can learn to use IDEA easily and quickly. The design of the IDEA debugger is especially nice. Variable values show up right in the editor window, next to the corresponding source code, and when the state of a variable changes its highlight color changes as well. Built-in developer tools IntelliJ IDEA provides a unified interface for major version control systems including Git, SVN, Mercurial, CVS, Perforce, and TFS. You can do all your change management right in the IDE. As I tested IDEA, I wished that the last change in a source code block would show up in the editor window as an annotation (like in Visual Studio); it turns out that theres a plugin for that. IDEA also integrates build tools, test runners, and coverage tools, as well as a built-in terminal window. IntelliJ now has its own profiling tools, but only in the Ultimate edition. Debugging Java can be a pain when mysterious things happen in classes for which you have no source code. IDEA comes with a decompiler for those cases. Java server programming often involves working with databases. IDEA Ultimate includes SQL database tools; a companion tool, DataGrip, is a dedicated SQL IDE, and is available as part of an all-products subscription thats only a little more expensive than IDEA Ultimate. IntelliJ IDEA supports all the major JVM application servers, and can deploy to and debug in the servers, fixing a major pain point for enterprise Java developers. IDEA supports Docker through a plugin that adds a Docker tool window. Speaking of plugins, IntelliJ has a lot of them. Polyglot experience IDEA has extended coding assistance for Spring, Java EE, Jakarta EE, Grails, Play, Android, GWT, Vaadin, Thymeleaf, Android, React, AngularJS, and other frameworks. Note that not all of these are Java frameworks. IDEA understands many other languages out of the box, including Groovy, Kotlin, Scala, JavaScript, TypeScript, and SQL. There are currently about 19 IntelliJ language plugins, including R, Elm, and D. Cost: Organizations pay $499 per user in the first year, with 20% off in the second year and 40% off in subsequent years. Individuals pay $149 per user in the first year, also with 20% off in the second year and 40% off after that. Discounts are available for educational, open source, startups, and other special cases. There is also a 30-day free trial. Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux. Eclipse Eclipse, long the most popular Java IDE, is free and open source and is written mostly in Java, although its plugin architecture allows Eclipse to be extended in other languages. Eclipse originated in 2001 as an IBM project to replace the Smalltalk-based IBM Visual Age IDEs with one that was portable and Java-based. Another goal was to eclipse Microsoft Visual Studio, hence the name of the project. Javas portability helps Eclipse be cross-platform: Eclipse runs on Linux, macOS, Solaris, and Windows. The Java Standard Widget Toolkit (SWT) is at least partially responsible for Eclipses look and feel, for good or ill, and the JVM for its performanceor, some say, lack thereof. Eclipses reputation for running slowly harks back to older hardware and older JVMs. It can still feel slow, however, when it is updating itself in the background, especially when you have many plugins installed. Part of the overhead of Eclipse is its built-in incremental compiler, which runs whenever it loads a file and whenever you change code. This is on balance a very good thing, and provides error indicators as you type. Independent of the build system, an Eclipse Java project also maintains a model of its contents, which includes information about the type hierarchy and references and declarations of Java elements. This is also on balance a good thing, and enables several editing and navigation assistants as well as the outline view. The current version of Eclipse is 2022-3. I downloaded and ran Eclipse Installer 2022-03 and used it to install the Eclipse IDE for Enterprise Java and Web Developers, then I added the Java 18 plugin. There are many other installation packages, including the option to install the minimal Eclipse SDK and then add plugins as needed. Do note that the last option is not for the faint of heart: its not hard to introduce conflicts between plugins that didnt actually say they were incompatible. The plugin ecosystem is one of Eclipses strengths, as well as being a source of confusion. The Eclipse marketplace contains over 1,500 solutions at current count, but community-contributed plugins may or may not work as advertised. The 1,500-odd plugins include support for over 100 programming languages and almost 200 application development frameworks. The public-domain Java servers are supported: if you define a new server connection from Eclipse, youll come to a list of vendor folders, underneath which youll find about 14 application servers, including 11 versions of Apache Tomcat. The commercial Java application server vendors used to be listed here, but aren't in the latest Eclipse version by default. Editing, browsing, refactoring, and debugging Your first experience with Eclipse can be disconcerting, and even confusing. Eclipse has some unique concepts, such as workspaces, perspectives, and views, the functions of which are determined by what plugins you have installed. For Java server development, youre likely to use the Java, Java/Jakarta EE, and Java browsing perspectives, the package explorer view, the debugging perspective, a team synchronizing perspective, web tools, a database development perspective, and a database debugging perspective. In practice, all of those start to make sense once you open the views you need. IDG Figure 2. From left to right, we're seeing the Eclipse project explorer, the data source explorer, the source code editor with an explanatory popup for an annotation, and the class outline. The loaded project is Google Guava, a set of core Java libraries. The panes can be rearranged easily. There is often more than one way to do any given task in Eclipse. For example, you can browse code with the package explorer and/or the Java browsing perspective. Which you choose is a matter of taste and experience. Java searching support allows you to find declarations, references, and occurrences of Java packages, types, methods, and fields. You can also use a quick access feature to search, and quick views to pop up things like class outlines. Adding methods and generating classes are supported by error annotations and content assist. Common code patterns can be generated from code templates, and Eclipse can automatically generate and organize your import statements. Refactoring Java in Eclipse supports 23 operations, ranging from common renaming operations to more obscure transformations right out of Martin Fowlers book. Refactoring can be done interactively or from refactoring scripts. Eclipse supports debugging both locally and remotely, assuming that you are using a Java virtual machine that supports remote debugging. Debugging is fairly standard: you typically set breakpoints and then view variables in a tab of the debugging perspective. You can, of course, step through your code and evaluate expressions. Mobile security is a bit of a misnomer. Few of us can say weve been attacked by a piece of malware or have quarantined an actual virus. The odds are stacked against us. Mobile operators like Verizon and Sprint routinely scan for threats, and both Google Android and the Apple iPhone include multiple security measures on their devices, from fingerprint scanners to full encryption. Yet, theres a sneaking suspicion that mobile security is a bigger concern. According to one HP report, 67 percent of employees in the U.S. now work remotely. Were relying on phones more and more. We store sensitive business documents on them and use them to make purchases. Recently, a malware client called Pegasus appeared in the wild. It uses a fairly predictable attack strategy thats well known to anyone who has been the victim of a phishing scam. A text message tricks you into responding and installing an app. The malware can then jailbreak your phone, eventually installing a client that can capture data, per Symantec reports. What can be done? One solution is the Solarin phone from a company called Sirin Labs based in the UK and Israel. It costs 9,500 (or about $12,500). The features on this 5.5-inch phone reveal quite a bit about where mobile security might be heading and the future of mobile hacking. Warding off the bad guys The most interesting feature is a switch on the back of the device. When enabled, the Solarin enters a secure mode that encrypts all text messages. There's a "concierge" service that monitors apps and can alert you if there is an issue. The phone uses chip-to-chip 256-bit AES encryption, and the "secure" mode disables all sensors like the GPS chip, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi. Another feature has to do with the people communicating with you. If you want to text or call someone from the phone, they have to use the Secure Comm app for Android or iOS. The high price for the phone -- coupled with these added steps for security -- reveal what it takes to block intruders both now and in the next few years. As Alex Manea, the director of BlackBerry Security at BlackBerry, tells CSO, not securing a phone is a bit like leaving the house with the front door open when you leave. Were using mobile devices more than ever for not just some of our sensitive information but all of it, including all of our files, contacts, and bank records. "As phones have gotten more advanced, so have potential vulnerabilities and so the need for secure devices and services is a hot topic again," says Manea. As phones have gotten more advanced, so have potential vulnerabilities and so the need for secure devices and services is a hot topic again. Alex Manea, the director of BlackBerry Security at BlackBerry Alex Cline, director of Information Security for Branding Brand, a mobile commerce platform, agreed that the timing is right for addressing security issues, arguing that there are those who have a greater need to address potential attack vectors before their data is compromised. "Smartphones have become an extension of ourselves and are integral into our everyday lives," says Cline. "For the same reasons we have security systems installed in our homes, we look for mobile devices with the capability to withstand attacks. Those with access to sensitive and valuable information are at higher risk if that data were to be exposed, therefore they look for smartphones that meet a higher threshold for security and privacy." Expensive phone? While phones like Solarin show what it might take to deter hackers, the actual phone is not the perfect solution for everyone. Cline says hes surprised theres a fingerprint reader, since that biometric access technology has been widely shown as ineffective. The Solarin also relies on several third parties for their security platform, including Zimperium and KoolSpan, which was also a red flag to Cline who said that could be a non-starter for some. He says the phone uses the Snapdragon 810 processor, which is known for overheating issues. That alone could nullify all security measures if the phone overheats and data is lost. Of course, there are many other security options. Many Samsung phones use the KNOX encryption platform, but one of the leaders in this space is still BlackBerry. On their PRIV smartphone, for example, theres an app called DTEK that provides a security score for your device to help you monitor access points. A BlackBerry Certicom cryptographic library on the device protects against brute force attacks. And, the phone costs $550 unlocked. Future devices Still, even with all of these options, one thing is sure: Mobile security is going to take some radical steps soon. The fact that the Solarin phone requires that other people communicate with you through a secure app is a sign that there is a user segment that needs this kind of simplicity. "For executives, the idea of a phone that's so secure when you need it to be that all you have to do is flip a switch is enticing because they don't have to learn much that's new to figure it out," says Seth Rosenblatt, the editor for the security news site The Parallax. Rosenblatt does express one concern as these types of phones become more common. He says it will always be beneficial to practice what security pros call good "security hygiene" in never opening an attachment on your phone or opening a text from an unknown party. If expensive phones become the purview of the tech elite or only executives, theres a good chance some of these security practices -- not to mention using a VPN or complex passwords -- could be relegated to the steps we used to take on our phones. May that never be. RELATED VIDEO: With Ubuntu 16.04LTS (Xenial Xerus), Canonical has introduced incremental improvements to the popular server and cloud versions of its operating system, but if you were looking for exciting changes to desktop Ubuntu, this version isnt it. The 16.04 release is an iterative, not necessarily massive improvement. But this is an Long Term Service (LTS) version, which means that theres a team working on keeping it solid for five years. So, into the next decade, 16.04 gets patched and fixed, as other versions continue to be released on a regular basis. In this new release, Ubuntu further strays from the RedHat/SUSE/CentOS/Oracle school of software packaging by officially supporting an important new tool: Snap, a package manager. Ubuntu is based on Debian, and any Ubuntu/Debian/LinuxMint user has finger memory to use `apt-get and `wget to obtain and install software. Canonical would rather you source through them, using Snap. Snap can be used alongside the current Debian-friendly software package updating processes. Its important to note that in order to install packages wrapped by Snap youll need an Ubuntu One account. + MORE ON NETWORK WORLD Mark Shuttleworth: Ubuntu keeps GNU/Linux relevant + You might remember when Ubuntu One had personal repository features that were closed, but as a store, Ubuntu One never closed and thats where Snaps will be examined and downloaded. We tried it and decided that its an improvement worth using, if you can tolerate the sense of being tracked. The second major change is that Ubuntu now allows its installations to use supported ZFS and Ceph filing systems. Invented by Sun prior to its acquisition by Oracle, ZFS was, at the time, a visionary replacement to a number of journaling filing systems, like Andrews Filing System, NTFS. It was thought to be a potential replacement for the ext3, ext4, and Reiser filing systems. The idea was to prevent a number of maladies that caused systems failures, like power-interruptions during read/write processes, disk errors, storage cache errors, timing issues, and other disk and storage maladies. While Apple was rumored to be implementing ZFS, they didnt, and the FreeBSD community picked up ZFS the OpenSolaris version and used the port successfully in many NAS versions. A Linux port of ZFS followed the BSD port, and has been around for a while. The inclusion into Ubuntu gives it a seal of approval. Cloud considerations Ceph is a filing system of a different feather. Its first stable release coincides with the release of Ubuntu 16.04. What makes it different is that Ceph is not unlike software-based Reduced Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) as a software service and filing system. Ceph can store files and folders in the traditional desktop way, but Ceph can also store as a block device (e.g. arbitrary or standardized chunks of data) or data as objects all of which are compatible with cloud computing. NET RESULTS COMPANY CANONICAL PRODUCT Ubuntu 16.04 Cloud Server and Desktop Editions PRICE FREE PROS Strong server/cloud edition fleet/cluster advances; widely varied processor support CONS Mir still absent, no big desktop changes Ceph is a well-known member of various OpenStack cloud deployments, and Canonicals deployment of OpenStack in turn, becomes a part of their services structure, somewhat rubbing competitively against initiatives by Red Hat. Canonical also offers Autopilot on its website, an OpenStack control mechanism with a free trial for up to 10 servers and $750 per server per year after that. Conceptually, this allows an analyst or developer to build the control mechanisms on VMware vSphere, using MaaS (Ubuntus Metal-as-a-Service server/instance distribution system) with OpenStack software devices/services, such as networking, storage, KVM compute in various configurations. This system is very simple to test for those familiar with VMware and or Linux Containers (LXC) and gives a flavor for OpenStack control to novices. It was trivial for us to deploy. Canonical will also build and deploy an OpenStack network via their BootStack service for just $15 per server per month including support. In a bare metal install, we were able to add Windows Server 2012 R2 Data Center Edition as an OpenStack-managed host, although recipes for this sort of hypervising arent easy to find. The proof of concept worked. What this speaks to is the sheer automation speed of compute, storage, and network build-out and potentially low cost of OpenStack managed resources. At this writing, Ubuntu leads in both AWS instances, and also those deployed with OpenStack overall as client instances. Desktop takes a back seat Ubuntus Unity desktop is the same old stuff, although its grown to a 1.49GB download. We found it inconvenient that the long list of download sources are not optimized for speed; we found Tor sources to be the fastest, and the Tor sources checksummed correctly. The Mir display server underpinnings designed to become a unified replacement for Unitys XWindows substrate is, well, promised again for 16.10, due perhaps later this year. This apple of a user interface in Canonicals eye has taken longer to bring to all devices than was originally planned. Although there are many under-the-hood changes, we find none particularly notable. + PAST REVIEW: Canonical continues cloud push with Ubuntu 15.04 + Things that make us growl: The Desktop is missing Mir. Its also missing initial hard password enforcement. You can still boot to a desktop thats free and open with no password. There is no install-time SAML authentication or secondary or OAuth provider to immediately proxy users safely to an SSO provider, although there is an http proxy available at installation. Tablet versions of Ubuntu are rarer to find. BQ, an integrator/OEM of Ubuntu on tablets sells them mainly in the EU market. We were unable to put our hands on one for purposes of this review. The same problem exists for Ubuntu Phone. Cloud images for download were found in multiple packaging formats for 16.04, if you like i386 and x64 processor families, and most do. These images are ready to download, or can be spun up in numerous clouds. SCORECARD Features 4.5 Performance/Security 3.5 Manageability/administration 4 Usability/Docs 4 Overall 4 Server images have a comparatively greater choice of processor families: x86, x86-64, ARM v7, ARM64, POWER8 and IBM s390x (LinuxONE) are available for download. What does it all mean? Canonical has taken Ubuntu to a very strong position, and now incrementally adds features that end up sanctioning through its support features that others might have not considered to be ready for production use. ZFS and Ceph are sophisticated filing systems, and they take up more CPU for casual use, and offer broadly sophisticated architectural possibilities, now also joined to OpenStack and Ubuntus JuJu advocacy as rapid platform construction tools. JuJu construction kits are now available for a number of systems platform, ranging from simple WordPress to big/fat data analysis kits. While these dont necessarily rival Docker container farms, they can almost as easily be used as Docker, rkt, and other management substrates in prototyping. For now, using AutoPilot and OpenStack is the supported choice, and Canonical takes the nexus of making things work upon themselves, just as Red Hat must make its supported kit work. We expect Ubuntus popularity to continue unabated, but there isnt anything magnificent in the 16.04 release, except continuing breadth with depth. How We Tested Ubuntu 16.04 We downloaded and used Ubuntu 16.04 x64 cloud, server, and desktop versions, then deployed them mostly as VMs, excepting two tests. We also tested 16.04 on AWS. The cloud versions were used on local hardware using AutoPilot, Juju, and OpenStack in the lab on an HP Microserver Gen8 (i3 chipset, 8GB of memory, 1.5TB of disk, twin Gigabit Ethernet ports) testing Ubuntu and Windows 2012 R2 as VM instances. We also deployed 16.04 server and desktop on the following platforms in our network operations center: VMware ESXi 5.1, 5.5, and 6.0, as well as Hyper-V 3.1, and XenServer 6.5.0. Additionally, we installed 16.04 desktop and server versions as virtual machines under Parallels for Mac 11. We noted that little has changed from a deployment context from the last LTS version, 14.04, and scripts for 14.04 work with 16.04 in terms of PxE and Ubuntus Metal-as-a-Service now enhanced by the OpenStack management plane. The versions are interchangeable for one-off install scripts, such as PxE loads. The NOC is powered by HP Gen8 and Gen9 servers, a Lenovo multi-core server, and a Dell 730xd multicore server, all connected via Extreme Summit Series 10GBE switches to Expedient Data Centers core network in Indianapolis. Fifty miles south of Boston, the Internet of Things is taking hold in the City of New Bedford, Massachusetts. It isnt something youd expect in this fishing and agricultural area. But thanks to INEX IoT Impact Labs, Dell and the companies many IoT partners, small and midsize enterprises here are discovering the power of IoT-enabled sensors and monitoringand the data that comes from them. Theres a type of industrial revival taking place among those types of businessestaking current infrastructure and renovating it with new technology, says Christopher Rezendes, founder of INEX. Theyre recognizing how this technology can help them solve real business problems and do it without having to spend a lot of money. Most of this planet is made up of individuals and small and midsize businesses just trying to make their way, not Fortune 500 companies, he said. We want to make sure the little folks arent locked out from getting and using the technologyand the data collected from it. We have to figure out how to do this the right way in places that dont have all of the resources of big citiesin resource-strapped locations. INEX is like an IoT incubator. It partners with startup IoT tech companies, helps them develop the technology in the lab, then finds small and midsize enterprises to pilot the projects in the field. Farms and fishing businesses are the living labs. To date, INEX and its partners have 25 living labs in the New Bedford area. The IoT technology monitors environmental conditions so they can improve operations, better manage resources, and grow better and more product. Robots are not the answer for all things, Rezendes said. We want to help businesses become more stable so they can hire more people. A positive impact from this will be felt down the linein the canning business, plumbers, HVAC, production, banking, website design and more. At the end of the day, boots go in a truck and screwdrivers have to be turned. The ultimate goal is to help the businesses become stronger and more profitable so they can hire more workersand create healthier cities and towns. INEX isnt alone in this venture. The state of Massachusetts is helping with projects around the state, including in New Bedford, and is investing $60 million to get technology out of the labs, deploy it in cities and towns, and make the technology in the state, said Katie Stebbens, assistant secretary for technology innovation and entrepreneurship for the state. We forget that towns and cities have to be profitable, she said. Towns are going to be here no matter what. Businesses may leave, but towns and cities will still be here. IoT living labs in the New Bedford area INEX, with cooperation with Dell and its IoT partners, have IoT living labs operating at 25 small and midsize enterprises. Some of the field-based pilots, include the following: Port of New Bedford Michelle Davidson IoT-enabled sensors monitor nighttime activity in the Port of New Bedford, providing persistent security for fish houses. The Port of New Bedford has a blind spot. It cannot adequately see all activity coming in. This creates a security issue, but also a revenue issue because fish houses might under report landings and private boats might come in and not pay landing fees. The solution is an IoT-enabled sensor powered by a Dell V5 gateway on the lighthouse. The gateway is like a data center in a box and can operate on its ownusing Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ZigBee wireless technology, and its own power source. Sensors can be added to the gateway to monitor a number of things. Currently, the gateway on the lighthouse has a motion sensor. When the sensor detects a boat, it triggers an optical curtain in front of the blind spot in the port and video cameras start running, says Edward C Anthes-Washburn, executive director of the Harbor Development Commission. This provides persistent security for fish houses, while also ensures the boats entering comply with the ports rules and regulations. Its a security service at night, Rezendes said. Think of it as ADT for your boat. In the future, the video created could be used to eliminate the paper invoicing fishing companies have to submit. The project also has the capabilities to provide Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) sensors in multiple points, Rezendes said. Salt Creek Vineyard, South Dartmouth, Mass. Michelle Davidson The Salt Creek Vineyard uses IoT-enabled weather sensors and a Dell V5 gateway to remotely monitor humidity, sunlight hours, moisture and wind speed. Farms like Salt Creek Vineyard have to manage several unique microclimates. The conditions in one field can be completely different from conditions in another. The wind, moisture and soil can all be different, which means crops must be cared for differently. Plus, the water level and quality of the vineyards well water must continuously be monitored to provide proper watering to the vines. One mistake could destroy the grapes and ruin the vines. To help with this, Salt Creek, which is a 20-acre vineyard within a 130-acre farm, uses Dells V5 gateway and IoT technology in two locations. Location 1: Field 3 has a solar-powered Dell V5 gateway that has weather monitoring sensors. Its like a data center in a boxable to remotely monitor humidity, sunlight hours, moisture and wind speed. Skott Rebello, production manager at Salt Creek, says knowing the amount of sunlight hours determines when the vineyard can begin its harvest, and knowing the wind speed determines whether conditions are good enough to spray pesticide. The vineyard plans to add soil monitoring sensors and would like to add leaf analysis to help with preventive care of the vines. Location 2: At the location where Salt Creek plans to put its wine making facility, the vineyard monitors the quality of its water supply: pH level and temperature. Knowing the correct pH level allows Rebello to accurately treat the water before spraying onto the vines. Spraying improperly treated water could destroy the vines. All of the data is transferred into softwarea dashboardwhere it can be monitored and tracked. Once wine making production begins, the vineyard will use sensors in the tanks to measure temperature, pH and other conditions. Quansett Nurseries, South Dartmouth, Mass. Dell Quansett Nurseries use IoT-enabled sensors and Dell V5 gateway to measure light, moisture and heat in the many different zones of the greenhouse used to grow microgreens. Growing plants year-round in New England is a tricky business. Changing seasons means nurseries have to constantly monitor their growing environments and adjust them. Plus, they need to monitor their water supply, which during a dry summer can drop to unnerving levels. At Quansett Nurseries, a wholesale grower, Fred Dabney uses sensors in each of his two wells to monitor water levels. By knowing the levels, he can decide which well to use to water the plants. He can adjust and switch between wells so he doesnt stress either of them. The nursery uses sensors with a Dell V5 gateway in its greenhouse that grows microgreens. The sensors measure light, moisture and heat in the many different zones in the building. Each plant has different needs, and the sensors help the nursery ensure they provide the perfect climate for them. The sensors control venting. When it gets too hot, the vents open and a curtain covers the inside of the roof. When it gets too cool, the vents close and the curtain remains off. Under the microgreen beds, there are water tubes. If warmth is needed to germinate the seeds, they run hot water through the tubes. The nursery also uses sensors in its hoop houses sensors to monitor activity (motion), temperature, humidity, UV and sunlight. The data, which is transmitted to a dashboard, helps Dabney provide optimal growing environments for the plants. Other IoT living labs INEX and Dell have in operation: may serve a side of tablet with the main entree of xel phones this fall. According to the (usually very accurate) hardware-leaking Blass a new tablet will be built by Huawei ready by years end. re already expecting two new smartphones from HTC to be shown off in early October. s Huawei-built 7-inch tablet, with 4GB RAM, on track for release before the end of the year. Blass (@evleaks) September 5, 2016 As you can see from the tweet there isnt a tremendous amount of detail. ile 4GB of RAM sounds nice, the chipset, storage options, price will be key in whether or not this will be a tablet worth buying. Not to mention other factors, like display quality. For example, the thickness weight of the xel C make it a little hard to wield. The other factor worth noting is s shift in its hardware strategy. l indications are that the company is dropping the Nexus br going with xel for its phones. The current xel group includes the xel C tablet Chromebook xel 2, which was recently discontinued. Both of those devices featured top-of-the-line specs were sold built by . ile for its latest phones tablet may still partner with another hardware maker, there may be little visible indication that they played much of a role. As we hear more from the rumor mill, well be sure to keep you updated. The story behind the story: ve argued before that its time for a new Nexus 7. The xel C is expensive the current-generation Nexus 7 isnt getting Nougat so were left without a solid Android tablet that isnt infested with bloatware other customizations. Android has a lot to offer on tablets, but the struggle has been a consistent hardware offering in comparison to the ultra-popular id. Deputies say a 14-year-old boy was shot twice in the abdomen by a man who drove up and fired several shots at him in the parking lot of an amusement park. The York County Sheriff's Office report said the man who fired the shots Monday evening drove up to the Carowinds parking lot from a nearby gas station after telling a witness he was going to attack the teen. WBTV reported the victim was shot twice in the stomach. Medic took the teen to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte for treatment. The sheriff's office report noted that two girls were fighting near the teen when he was shot. Trent Faris with the York County Sheriff's Office, the shooting happened on the South Carolina side of Carowinds in the bus parking lot. Faris told WBTV that deputies don't believe it was a random act of violence. We believe this was an isolated incident. I can tell you we believe it stemmed from an earlier argument that happened inside the park, Faris told WBTV. He said the shooting happened as the park was closing, so there was no widespread panic. The report released Tuesday said the suspect fired several shots before driving off. No arrests have been made. Carowinds is located near Charlotte. Carowinds officials released a statement saying its security officers learned of the shooting at 7:20 p.m. Monday and arrived to find the juvenile in need of treatment. 09/06/2016 Katie Beth Carter beams during her first field performance with the Ballerinas on Thursday, Sept. 1. Carter passed away on Sept. 5. (Mark du Pont/JSU) UPDATED: September 6, 2016, 8 p.m. Jacksonville State University, the Marching Southerners and Ballerinas are mourning the loss of one of their own today. First year student Katie Beth Carter, 18, from Ringgold, Ga., passed away following a vehicle accident on Sept. 5 as she was returning from spending Labor Day weekend with her family. The accident involving her 2011 Honda Accord and a tractor trailer truck took place at the intersection of Hwy. 278 and Roy Webb Road, 10 miles north of the JSU campus. Carter was pronounced dead at Grady Memorial Hospital in Georgia after being airlifted from the scene. As news of her passing spread on social media Monday night, a stunned campus community used words like "joy" and "light" to describe Carter, an Early Childhood/Elementary Education major who had performed as a Marching Ballerina for the first time the previous Thursday night. On his Facebook page, Dr. Ken Bodiford, director of University Bands, wrote, Katie was an outstanding young lady and a wonderful person. She had the type of personality that would lift your spirit just by being in her presence. He added that she had been beaming with pride as she came off of the field on Thursday following her performance at the JSU vs. UNA game. There are no words to describe the pain that we all feel or the sadness we share with her family. Our Southerners family was blessed to have her in our midst, and we will think of her as we enter the field for every performance, he said. Noelle Stovall, Ballerinas coordinator, spent much of Monday evening with the Ballerinas, consoling them and remembering their Baby Ballerina, a pet name that the veteran members have for their new members. Stovall said Carter had told several of her fellow Ballerinas that the past few months were the happiest that she had ever seen. She said Carter was the perfect Ballerina to have on the line. She always came to practice with a smile; she was joyful, Stovall said. She worked hard, she was dedicated, and her joy was contagious. Dr. Janet Bavonese, department head of Curriculum and Instruction at JSU, called Carter a very vibrant, talented young lady, who was sure to be an asset to education. University President Dr. John Beehler, who spoke to the Southerners and Ballerinas prior to their Tuesday afternoon rehearsal, said it is extremely difficult to understand how such a tragedy could befall a bright, young student who brought others so much joy. The loss felt by Katie's immediate family and our Gamecock Family is great, and we must mourn and grieve this loss by consoling each other in this difficult time, he wrote in an email to students, faculty and staff. He added that the campus can best honor Carters memory by continuing the excellence of the Marching Southerners and Ballerinas of which she was so proud. To help the Ballerinas and Marching Southerners deal with the loss, university grief counselors met with the Ballerinas prior to rehearsal on Tuesday and offered support to the Southerners, Ballerinas and campus community throughout the week. Funeral Arrangements, Memorial Service Visitation and a service will be held at City Church of Chattanooga, Tenn. on Thursday, Sept 8. Visitation will be from 4-7 p.m. EDT with a service to celebrate Katie's life and impact at 7 p.m. EDT. In lieu of flowers a scholarship fund has been set up in Katie's honor at North Georgia Federal Credit Union in Ringgold. The Marching Ballerinas will host a campus memorial service on Wednesday, Sept. 7 at 9 p.m. CDT in the parking lot of Pete Mathews Coliseum. The campus and surrounding community are invited to attend. Reddit Email 0 Shares By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) is still acting like a military organization, but it has always mixed military with terrorist tactics. On Monday it slid toward the terrorist side of the spectrum, setting off 6 coordinated bombings that left over four dozen people dead. It mainly targeted, however, military personnel and infrastructure, suggesting that despite the organizations recent severe battlefield setbacks, it is still engaged in a mainly military strategy. As it is rolled up, expect to see it hit more civilian, soft targets. The bombings included a large blast at Tartus that damaged an important bridge. Russia leases a naval base at Tartus, and the road from there allows Russia to resupply the Syrian government troops down south in Aleppo. Trying to knock out a major bridge and to block traffic between the northwest ports and the southern capital is aimed at weakening the regime and hurting its Russian backers. Most of the dead were killed (35) in the Tartus bombing, with 48 wounded. Another bombing hit the al-Zahra quarter of downtown Homs, which is garrisoned by the Syrian Arab Army, killing 4 security personnel. The Syrian regime had expelled fundamentalist militias, including Daesh and al-Qaeda elements, from this central place. Homs is crucial to the al-Assad regimes logistics, since it is on the route from the ports of Latakia and Tartous to the capital. In Saboura, 20 km west of Damascus on the outskirts of the capital, a bombing killed one person. The regime has been consolidating control over the capital and its hinterland in recent weeks, and Daesh is pushing back against any feeling of security in Damascus. Daesh also hit a non-regime target, its deadly Kurdish enemy in al-Hasakah, with a bombing that left 6 security men and two civilians dead. The YPG militia of the Kurds has denied Daesh half of its base province, al-Raqqa, and has helped close off the terrorist organizations smuggling routes to Turkey, having taken Manbij away from it last month. North of Manbij at Jarabulus, Turkey has sent in tanks and given support to fundamentalist rebel groups that despise Daesh. Its leadership may have felt the need for this wave of bombings to hurt its enemies militarily but also to announce that it is hardly finished as a force. Another Daesh attack took place in the northeast Kurdish city of Qamishli. Daesh claimed responsibility for the wave of bombings in a communique and also published details of the biographies of the suicide bombers. It said that it hit regime and Kurdish targets, likely in a bid to shore up its bona fides with the Sunni Arab opposition, which sees Daesh as a wretched combination of brutal and ineffective against the regime. Related video: Ruptly TV: Syria: Twin bombing kills 35 in Tartous as multiple attacks across Syria kill 48 Reddit Email 0 Shares TeleSur | Pilgrims from Iran will be unable to attend hajj, which starts on Sept. 11 this year after talks between the two countries on arrangements broke down in May. Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei renewed criticism of Saudi Arabia over how it runs the hajj after a crush last year killed hundreds of pilgrims, and suggested Muslim countries think about ending Riyadhs control of the annual pilgrimage. Because of these (Saudi) rulers oppressive behavior toward Gods guests (pilgrims), the world of Islam must fundamentally reconsider the management of the two holy places and the issue of hajj, Khamenei said in a message carried by his website and Irans state media. They must not let those rulers escape responsibility for the crimes they have caused throughout the world of Islam, Khamenei said, listing Saudi Arabias involvement in conflicts in areas including Iraq, Yemen and Syria on the side of forces Iran opposes. Custodian of Islams most revered places in Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia stakes its reputation on organizing hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam which every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to is obliged to undertake at least once. Its prestige was damaged by the 2015 disaster, in which Riyadh said 769 pilgrims were killed the highest hajj death toll since a crush in 1990. Counts of fatalities by countries who repatriated bodies showed that over 2,000 people may have died in the crush, more than 400 of them Iranians. Iran, Saudi Arabias main regional rival, blamed the disaster on organizers incompetence. Pilgrims from Iran will be unable to attend hajj, which starts on Sept. 11, this year after talks between the two countries on arrangements broke down in May. An official Saudi inquiry has yet to be published, but authorities suggested at the time some pilgrims ignored crowd control rules. Via TeleSur Related video: DWs report from last year on the pilgrimage stampede and Irans criticism September 6, 2016 / TheNewswire / Vancouver, British Columbia - Nevada Energy Metals Inc. "the Company" (TSX-V: BFF; OTCQB: SSMLF; Frankfurt: A2AFBV) Rick Wilson, president and CEO is pleased to announce that Randy Avon has the joined the Company's Advisory Board. Randy will bring his expertise and vast skillset to assist in the sourcing of new lithium projects in Latin America. Mr. Avon has a proven track record of locating rare business opportunities, negotiating projects as well as joint ventures/option agreements. About Randy Avon: Randy is CEO and Managing Director of Asian Pacific Development Corp "Asian Pacific" (APDC), a multinational business development and investment banking company. Asian Pacific, with its global partner network, has completed over 18 billion dollars in global infrastructure projects in 22 nations during the past 3 decades. These projects are mostly public/private partnerships that utilize debt, equity, and cooperative funding. He is also the former CEO of Corporate & Financial Consultants (CFC), Florida Fixed Income Corp, the Ft. Lauderdale Kunshan China as well as the Aruba World Trade Centers and Gateway International Trading Partners LLC. He has served on the board of directors for multiple multi-national companies. Mr. Avon is a former member of the Florida Legislature, formerly President and CEO of four World Trade Centers and Corporate and Financial Consultants (CFC). CFC completed over $8 Billion of infrastructure projects with E.F.Hutton and Prudential Bache prior to forming APDC. Randy Avon was also a former Florida Legislator, State President of the Florida Jaycees, Charter President of the Florida JCI Senate, and was named one of Florida's Five Outstanding Young Men. He has served as a Presidential Advisor, was the Chairman of the Florida/Colombia Alliance, and was honored by the U.S. State Department with the James McKeithan Award for International achievements in the private sector. He chaired the Organization of American States (OAS) meeting in the United States in 2005 and has been a U.S. delegate to the past four Summits of the Americas. Mr. Avon's background is deeply rooted in community involvement, civic, and citizen diplomacy achievements. He served as a distinguished member of the Florida Legislature and was the previous Chairman of the Florida/Colombia Alliance. He has been listed in Marquis' Who's Who in American Politics, Community Leaders of America, Outstanding Young Men of America, Marquis' Who's Who in Finance and Industry, and was named as a recipient of the 2007 Global Leaders Award. He was named one of south Florida's "100 Most Powerful International Leaders" by South Florida CEO Magazine. About Nevada Energy Metals: http://nevadaenergymetals.com/ Nevada Energy Metals Inc. is a well funded, Canadian based, exploration company who's primary listing is on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company's main exploration focus is directed at lithium brine targets located in the mining friendly state of Nevada. The Company has ownership of 77 claims in Clayton Valley, only 250m from Rockwood Lithium, the only brine based lithium producer in North America (70% optioned-out to American Lithium Corp (TSX-V: Li). Nevada Energy Metals has also acquired: 100 claims (Teels Marsh West) covering 2000 acres (809 hectares) at Teels Marsh, Mineral County, Nevada, a prospective lithium exploration project, 100% owned without any royalties; the San Emidio Desert lithium project, consisting of 155 claims (approximately 3,100 acres/1255 hectares) in Washoe County, Nevada; the Alkali Lake Project in Esmeralda county, is a 60% earn in option agreement from Dajin Resources Corp (TSX-V: DJI), where near surface lithium values have been confirmed; the Dixie Valley Project consisting of 911 claims covering 73.6 square kilometers/28.4 square miles (7,363 hectares/18,194 acres) of salt marsh playa. On Behalf of the Board of Directors Rick Wilson, President & CEO Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the contents of this release. Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. Gabons Justice Minister Seraphim Moundounga resigned from his post on Monday amid mass protests concerning last weeks disputed presidential election results. Elected president Ali Bongo received 49.8 percent of the vote against 48.23 percent for rival Jean Ping. Ping supporters are claiming that the results were fraudulent and have challenged the election. The opposition questions the results from Bongos home province, Haut-Ogooue, where the voter turnout was 99.93 percent and Bongo received 95 percent of those votes. Other provinces had a turnout between 45 percent and 71 percent. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls called for a recount [RFI report] on Tuesday and for information concerning 15 French nationals that went missing after the protests. Moundounga resigned in an effort to encourage the government to engage in a recount. As a result of the election, protests began in Gabon and at least three people have been killed, one hundred injured, and eight hundred arrested in mass protests [CFR report]. A report released last week by Amnesty International condemned Gabon security forces [JURIST report] for using excessive force against protesters after the countrys disputed election. Protesters attacked the national assembly building, and in response police used tear gas and arrested hundreds that emerged from the building. Ping claims that his headquarters were bombed by security forces killing at least two people. The Mexican Supreme Court [official website, in Spanish] on Monday overturned two state anti-corruption laws that would have allowed departing governors to choose prosecutors in charge of investigating corruption allegations against them. Many believed [El Universal report, in Spanish] the laws were passed in an effort to curtail corruption reforms and protect the politicians themselves. The laws, passed in Chihuahua and Veracruz, were ruled unconstitutional in part because corruption is under the jurisdiction of the National Anticorruption System (SNA) [official website, in Spanish]. The Attorney General [official website, in Spanish] filed suit to stop the implementation of the laws and was satisfied [press release, Spanish] with the unanimous decision by the Supreme Court. The anti-corruption bills in Mexico follow recent news of courts combating corruption worldwide. Malaysian government minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan confirmed [JURIST report] on Friday that Prime Minister Najib Razak is the unnamed official involved in the nations recent national wealth fund scandal. The primary challenger to incumbent Zambian President Edgar Lungu, Hakainde Hichilema, on Saturday accused [JURIST report] the countrys electoral commission of colluding with the Patriotic Front (PF), the ruling party, to manipulate the results of the election. The Mexican Congress in June passed [JURIST report] several anti-corruption bills that would increase the severity of penalties for corruption charges. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein [official profile] on Monday unleashed [official speech] a scathing criticism of Western demagogues, accusing them of spreading populist xenophobia and racism. At issue for Zeid was the recent eleven point manifesto [text] released by Dutch politician Geert Wilders [BBC profile], which laid out plans to remove Islam from the country including the removal of the Koran as well as the closing of mosques. Zeid believes these populist ideals are tinged with bigotry and have spread around the Western political globe, including the US elections. He cautioned that this same rhetoric is seen in Islamic State (IS) propaganda and will have a disastrous effect on the democratic society if people do not speak out against it. Make no mistake, I certainly do not equate the actions of nationalist demagogues with those of Daesh, which are monstrous, sickening; Daesh must be brought to justice. But in its mode of communication, its use of half-truths and oversimplification, the propaganda of Daesh uses tactics similar to those of the populists. And both sides of this equation benefit from each otherindeed would not expand in influence without each others actions. The humiliating racial and religious prejudice fanned by the likes of Mr. Wilders has become in some countries municipal or even national policy. We hear of accelerating discrimination in workplaces. Children are being shamed and shunned for their ethnic and religious originswhatever their passports, they are told they are not really European, not really French, or British, or Hungarian. Entire communities are being smeared with suspicion of collusion with terrorists.History has perhaps taught Mr. Wilders and his ilk how effectively xenophobia and bigotry can be weaponized. Communities will barricade themselves into fearful, hostile camps, with populists like them, and the extremists, as the commandants. The atmosphere will become thick with hate; at this point it can descend rapidly into colossal violence. We must pull back from this trajectory. Zeid called for a rejection of these growing ideals. The speech comes after the UN Chief has called for a host of changes to improve the conditions of human rights around the world. Zeid in August called [JURIST report] on the international community to establish an independent international body for conducting comprehensive investigations of human rights violations in Yemen. Zeid expressed [JURIST report] his concerns in the same month regarding Indian and Pakistani authorities refusing to allow the Human Rights Council access to Kashmir. Also in August Zeid expressed [JURIST report] concern over efforts by the Iraqi government to expedite implementation of the death penalty. Journalist and lawyer Braulio Jatar was charged with money laundering on Monday after he reported on the Caracas protest in Venezuela. Jatar covered the protest on Report Confidencial [website]. The protest was one of the largest in recent history [CFR report], as thousands gathered to demand a recall referendum on President Nicolas Maduro. Before the September 1 protest, Venezuelan authorities denied entry to at least six journalists [CPJ press release]. Police allege [AP report] they found Jatar with a suitcase full of cash and Jatar was jailed following the charge. The rights of opposition leaders in Venezuela raise significant international conern. In August Venezuelan authorities arrested major opposition leader Daniel Ceballos [JURIST report] stating that the arrest was to prevent his efforts at destabilizing the country. Earlier in August a Venezuelan appeals court in Caracas upheld the more than 13-year sentence [JURIST report] of another opposition leader, Leopoldo Lopez. In March Venezuelas National Assembly approved [JURIST report] an amnesty law that would free 77 individuals allegedly jailed for political reasons under a number of crimes, including Lopez, but Maduro vowed to veto the law. In November UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein called for [JURIST report] the protection of political opposition leaders associated with an assassinated Venezuelan opposition leader. In October, a former Caracas prosecutor confessed [JURIST report] to being pressured into presenting false evidence to condemn opposition leader Lopez. NEWSLETTER Sign up Tick the boxes of the newsletters you would like to receive. Just Drinks Daily News The top stories of the day delivered to you every weekday. Just Drinks Weekly News A weekly roundup of the latest news and analysis, sent every Monday. Just Drinks Magazine The industry's most comprehensive news and information delivered every quarter Turkish conglomerate Yildiz Holding has announced plans for its domestic market to become the groups base for chocolate production and for the manufacture of new chocolate products for its snacks subsidiary, Pladis. Chairman Murat Ulker said yesterday (5 September) the group will install the latest technology at facilities in Turkey between now and 2021 to manufacture a range of products sold through UK-based Pladis. He told Turkish journalists in London a new R&D facility for Pladis, to be built in the north-western district of Gebze, about 50km east of Istanbul, will be the companys largest to develop products that will be distributed all over the world. Yildiz plans to spend TRY5bn (US$1.7bn) in facilities in Turkey over the next five years. Yildiz has 51 factories in Turkey, 11 of them now part of the Pladis subsidiary, which houses businesses based in Turkey, North America and the UK including Ulker, Godiva and United Biscuits. Pladis told just-food it could not say what the share of future chocolate production would be across all manufacturing sites. However, Yildiz has said that in addition to producing Godiva in Turkey and North America, we will even spread to different regions of the world. Meanwhile, Mr Ulker said Pladis will meet its growth target of 15% by the end of the year. He said Pladis continues to grow above the market (and) we will continue to invest in these growing companies. All of the facilities will focus on innovation and growth and highlight synergies between the regions. Mr Ulkers announcement came seven months Yildiz brought its global chocolate and biscuit businesses including Godiva, DeMets, Ulker and United Biscuits together under Pladis. He said: We are one of two global companies operating in all of the biscuit-chocolate-cake category in the world. Other companies do not have such broad categories of production. This is unique, it is what makes us different from our competitors and powerful. Mr Ulker said the groups decision to establish Pladis was to challenge global competitors with one umbrella brand selling all over the world. He insisted: Another difference that separates us from our competitors is our strong local brands. He claimed the Turkey-based snacks business Ulker is the most powerful brand in Turkey and the Middle East, as is McVities in the UK and Europe while Godiva in America is very strong. Mr Ulker said Yildiz is focused on making products tailored to local tastes in different countries but will also provide a competitive advantage by moving into new markets with our successful local delicacies brands in addition to our global brands. Pladis unveiled a super-premium range of chocolate bars in the US and online last month under the G by Godiva sub-brand. Also last month, Italy-based confectioner Ferrero confirmed that it had made a formal bid to acquire Belgian biscuits maker Delacre, which is also part of Pladis. Cambodian Ambassador Prak Nguon Hon presents his credential to President Tran Dai Quang (Photo: VNA) Meeting with Australian Ambassador Craig Chittick, President Quang said Australia is one of the leading trade and investment partners of Vietnam and bilateral cooperation in defence-security, education-training, tourism and labour is thriving. The President hailed Australian businesses for actively contributing to Vietnams socio-economic development, especially in the fields of banking, oil and gas, construction, light industry, processing industry and services. Greeting Belarusian Ambassador Anatolievich Goshin, he said the two countries should work to increase bilateral trade to USD500 million as agreed by their leaders. He said Vietnam will provide favourable conditions for the establishment of an automobile manufacturing joint venture in the country and help Belarus make inroads into other ASEAN member states. Vietnam wants further collaboration with Belarus in economics, trade, defence, security, and crime prevention as well, he stressed. During a reception for Swedish Ambassador Pereric Hogberg, President Quang said Sweden was among the first foreign countries to support Vietnam in the Doi Moi (renewal) process. With the long-standing friendship and advantages from the Vietnam - EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), the bilateral trade and investment is expected to grow in the coming time, he noted. He welcomes the Swedish Government to encourage businesses to invest in Vietnam , especially in the fields of green technology, processing industry, energy, infrastructure, health care, information technology, and marine economy. While receiving Cambodian Ambassador Prak Nguon Hong, the President confirmed that the Vietnamese Party and State always prioritise the development of traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation with Cambodia for the sake of the two peoples as well as regional and global peace, stability and development. At a meeting with Singaporean Ambassador Catherine Wong Siow Ping, the President thanked the Singaporean Government for its valuable assistance to Vietnam in economic development. He reiterated Vietnams consistent policy of enhancing strategic partnership with Singapore . The new Ambassadors expressed their confidence to fulfill their missions, contributing to expanding friendship and cooperation with Vietnam./. Presidents Tran Dai Quang and Francois Hollande (Photo: VNA) At the talks, the leaders shared the view that bilateral ties have been thriving across the board, stating the resolve to bolster the countries strategic partnership with a long-term cooperation vision so as to meet their common interests and concerns. They agreed to enhance all-level visits, especially at high levels, and bring into play coordination mechanisms in politics, economics, defence, science-technology, culture, and education-training. They emphasised that economic partnership remains a priority in bilateral ties, and the countries need to promote cooperation in key projects in infrastructure, energy, aviation, health care-pharmaceuticals, the environment, agriculture and food processing. President Hollande affirmed Frances commitment to continue ODA provision for Vietnam. The countries will continue creating a favourable environment for their enterprises to cooperate, invest and do business. Vietnam invited France to be the honorary guest at the 2017 Vietnam International Food Industry Exhibition (Vietnam Foodexpo). The Presidents agreed to foster science-technology linkages, particularly in renewable energy and satellite application, while boosting cultural, tourism and educational ties. They will provide optimal conditions for Vietnamese students to study in France and help the Hanoi University of Science and Technology to reach international standards. Vietnam and France will reinforce defence cooperation, especially through military equipment procurement and mutual visits by naval ships. France will help Vietnam in the UN peace-keeping operations and work with Vietnam to address traditional and non-traditional security issues. They also agreed to enhance coordination at multilateral forums like the UN, ASEAN-EU, Asia-Europe Meeting and the Francophone community. They will continue mutual support to promote Frances relations with Asian-Pacific countries and Vietnams cooperation with the EU. Vietnam highly values Frances role in the fight against climate change, particularly after the success of the 21st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 21) held in Paris last year. Both sides will tighten connections in coping with global challenges, including climate change. At the talks, the Presidents clarified the importance of maintaining peace and stability and promoting regional and international cooperation. They reiterated the commitment to ensuring free navigation and aviation, stressing the peaceful settlement of East Sea disputes through diplomatic and legal processes, and with respect to international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Regarding The Hague tribunals ruling on July 12th, 2016, both sides affirmed the law-abiding principle at seas and oceans. They underlined the importance of fully implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), while supporting efforts to reach a Code of Conduct (COC) in the waters. At the end of the talks, Presidents Tran Dai Quang and Francois Hollande witnessed the signing and exchange of many documents and cooperation agreements between the two governments, their ministries, agencies and businesses. At noon the same day, the Vietnamese leader hosted a banquet in honour of the French President./. Barely a week old into his unexpected assignment as Britains new Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson was already making headlines. Yet, could Boris Johnson be more than a wild card in Theresa Mays new cabinet? On his second day at the new job, Mr. Johnson got booed by guests at the French Embassy reception in London. Then came the terrorist attack in Nice and the need to grapple with the fallout of the coup detat attempt in Turkey. But the reaction he received from the U.S. press corps during his meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry really caught Mr. Johnson with his back against the wall. The joint press conference that followed saw a Boris Johnson taken to task by reporters asking him about the insulting references he made to world leaders, including comparing Hillary Clinton to a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital and attacking President Obama for his ancestral dislike for the British Empire. Peppered with questions and grilled for his past gaffes, the former mayor of London refused to apologize: Im afraid there is such a rich thesaurus of things Ive said that have been one way or another, through what alchemy I do not know, somehow misconstrued, that it would really take me too long to engage in a full global itinerary of apology to all concerned, he told reporters during the press conference, his first with his U.S. counterpart. His controversial appointment as the UKs top diplomat came with a swift and incredulous reaction on the world stage. Many rolled their eyes as Mr. Johnson took his place among the leading foreign dignitaries of the globe. Handing one of the great office of state to him, an erratic and controversial political figure, in a time of political discontent and uncertainty is a huge gamble. Unfortunate mishap or calculated risk? Choosing Mr. Johnson for such a position is considered by some not so much as an unfortunate mishap but as a massive political gamble. Handing one of the great office of state to him, an erratic and controversial political figure, in a time of political discontent and uncertainty is a huge gamble. Yet, this might well be a calculated risk and Mr. Johnson could prove to be the right man for the job. Firstly, the Foreign Office is not as important as it once was. Already under Tony Blair, the Prime Ministers Office has started intervening in a variety of areas, including foreign policy, hollowing out much of the power of this department. The ministry saw its attributes watered down by other areas of the government. Prime Minister May doubles down on this trend, bringing the most important issues of British foreign policy under the newly established Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union and Secretary of State for International Trade. Boris Johnson is now heading a Foreign Office that looks more like a sales department for British interests, making it the perfect place for an unpredictable yet charismatic politician who managed to sell London to the world and win the bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games. The move is also intended to unite the Conservative Party, quell any sort of internal discontent and bring the grassroots and right-wingers, for whom Mr. Johnson remains a popular figure, on board. With a slim majority in the House of Commons of only 12 MPs, Ms. May is very susceptible to divisive party rebellions. Keeping the populist and Eurosceptic Boris Johnson close makes strategic sense as Theresa May believes that with him in office, theres less of a chance for warring factions within the Conservative Party to turn against the Prime Minister. Also, as Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson will be traveling the globe, spending large amounts of time away from London and from plotting party coups against the newly appointed PM. Yet, having Mr. Johnson as the most absent figure in her cabinet doesnt save Theresa May the trouble of dealing with all kinds of diplomatic incidents her Foreign Secretary is prone to. Brexit is Brexit Boris Johnsons support amongst a large number of Tory MPs, especially amongst Brexiters, helps not only Ms. May stay out of trouble, but also sends a clear message that the new cabinet is determined to follow through with the UKs exit from the EU. In her inaugural speech, Theresa May was quick to point out that Brexit means Brexit, dismissing all hopes that the UK might change its minds about leaving the European Union. Having Boris Johnson, leader of the Leave camp, enlisted in a top ministerial position shows that triggering the now notorious Article 50 and parting with the EU is just a matter of time. In a quest for party unity and political stability, calling upon Boris Johnson to serve in office is a smart move with far wider consequences. In a quest for party unity and political stability, calling upon Boris Johnson to serve in office is a smart move with far wider consequences. Populists, just like Mr. Johnson, appeal to their constituents especially when kept outside public office, unaccountable to voters and away from the harsh realities of governing a country. Giving them the chance to step up to the plate and take charge holds but only two possible outcomes: fail big or become run-of-the-mill politicians. Either way, populism across the continent will be losing ground, proving that disarming it might be a matter of implication rather than isolation. KEARNEY A Kearney man was sentenced to nine to 15 years in prison for his role in an in-home robbery in Kearney in which a man was shot. Jason Warrington, 20, was sentenced Monday in Buffalo County District Court for felony robbery and being an accessory to Joshua Lewis, 24, of Grand Island during the Feb. 3 incident. With good time, Warrington could be eligible for parole in four years or could possibly be discharged in seven years. Judge John Icenogle gave Warrington 192 days credit for time already served in jail. Lewis is already serving a 15- to 25-year prison sentence for the robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm. On Feb. 3, a Kearney man was awakened at his home by two men wearing black ski masks. One man held a handgun, and the other man held a rifle. The suspects tied the mans hands behind his back with zip ties and shot him. The man said the suspects took marijuana from his safe in a closet and cash from his wallet. The victim recognized Warringtons voice. Warrington told police as he and Lewis were leaving, he cut the victim loose from the zip ties. The suspects left, and the man took himself to the hospital. Warrington and Lewis went into rural Buffalo County where they destroyed evidence. They were later arrested. In an interview with police, Warrington admitted knowing the victim and made statements about going to the victims house to score some weed. During Mondays hearing, Warringtons public defender, Larry Beucke of Kearney, said his client was sorry for the incident. Even as the incident occurred, he showed remorse. Beucke asked Icenogle to consider placing Warrington on probation. Warrington apologized to his girlfriend and his daughter for his actions and told his family Im not that person. But Deputy Buffalo County Attorney Mike Mefferd said the incident was committed in part to get more controlled substances and was premeditated. Mr. Warrington, at least in part, is a calculating criminal, he said. Icenogle agreed with Beucke that Warrington was more humane in the incident than Lewis, but said that didnt justify their actions. There are some things that are just inexcusable in society, and the two of you found yourselves in that, he said. email to: Free trade strongly boosts the American economy. With only 5 percent of the worlds population, we depend heavily on foreign countries to buy our products and services. Domestic industries and individual families benefit from low-cost raw materials and consumer goods imported from abroad. Moreover, theres a larger advantage beyond commerce. Economic ties enhance political ties. Nations that trade with each other seldom fight with each other. Yet both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have embraced an anti-trade, pro-protectionist approach. Both are campaigning against the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a market-opening pact that President Obama negotiated with 11 other trading partners. Both are bowing to short-term political calculations. And both should know better. Clinton once called the TPP the gold standard of trade deals before Bernie Sanders and his trade union allies pressured her into a back-bending flip-flop. Trump and his daughter Ivanka market clothing lines that are almost entirely imported. I know the politics of trade can be very difficult, especially in an election year, the president told the Straits Times of Singapore. But he was absolutely correct in adding: The answer isnt to turn inward and embrace protectionism. We cant just walk away from trade. In a global economy where our economies and supply chains are deeply integrated, its not even possible. So why are politicians in both parties advocating policies that turn inward and harm our economy instead of helping it? Start with the optics. Trade produces losers as well as winners, and the losers while a distinct minority are more visible and better organized than the winners. Its easy to find an abandoned furniture plant or jobless steel worker. Its far harder to illustrate the fact that holders of export-oriented jobs earn an extra $1,300 a year, according to White House estimates. Or to point out that a parent buying back-to-school clothes has 29 percent more purchasing power because of imported options. These benefits are small, even if theyre large in the aggregate, notes Ben Casselman, an economics writer for the website FiveThirtyEight. But a lost job is very big and easy to see. The losers often belong to trade unions, which are fundamentally ill-equipped to deal with a rapidly changing economy. As one labor official told us years ago: You have to understand, we represent the workers who have jobs today, not the ones who might have jobs in the future. Moreover, business organizations that traditionally support trade have lost clout as anti-Wall Street sentiment flourished in both parties after the last recession. And the foreign policy argument, that the TPP would strengthen our alliances against the rising power of China, matters little to ordinary voters. Geography plays a role as well. A recent study by economists at Georgetown University points out that low-skilled manufacturing jobs those most vulnerable to foreign competition are concentrated in swing states like Ohio and Pennsylvania. More prosperous sectors, like high-tech and financial services, tend to be concentrated in university towns and coastal states that tend to vote more reliably Democratic, giving them much less electoral pull, reports the Wall Street Journal. The problem is compounded by misinformation, often delivered by the candidates themselves. Technology is far more responsible for lost jobs than trade deals, but you never hear that on the campaign trail. And any candidate who promises to bring back jobs to shuttered mines and factories is simply lying. But its a lie many voters want to believe, which leads to the final point: Trade losers need more help. Efforts to provide that help go back to 1962, when President Kennedy endorsed the Trade Adjustment Assistance program by saying, When considerations of national policy make it desirable to avoid higher tariffs, those injured by that competition should not be required to bear the full brunt of the impact. Rather, the burden of economic adjustment should be borne in part by the Federal Government. Fifty-four years later, the program is woefully inadequate, especially for middle-aged workers with limited education who cannot qualify for the demanding, high-skilled jobs now being created. Even if they are retrained, they have trouble competing with younger, cheaper job-seekers. Theres only one solution: more government help. Many proposals are out there higher Earned Income Tax Credits, younger eligibility for Medicare but new trade deals wont pass unless the damage to existing workers is mitigated. Still, the bottom line is clear: Expanded trade is in the national interest. And both Clinton and Trump are undermining that interest by denying reality for political profit. As Donald Trump was making his political pilgrimage to the Mexico border, some 400 Catholic leaders from throughout the Americas, about 120 of them bishops, were meeting in Bogota, Colombia, on an actual pilgrimage. The occasion was the jubilee of mercy begun by Pope Francis last December. And the opportunities for renewal on a continental scale this was a vision of Pope John Paul II, to look at all of the Americas as one became apparent fairly quickly. Yes, there are political, historical and language barriers between the many countries of South, Central and North America. But these obstacles could actually form bridges, with a little work especially at a time when citizens of the United States of America arent exactly happy with their politics, and when more and more among us speak Spanish as a native language. Further, when you start looking around at the history of the continent, theres a Christian thread that has gone largely underappreciated. The gathering in Bogota included a primer on some of the saints and martyrs of the Americas. St. Junipero Serra is one of these. A founder of the California missions, Serra was described by Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez as the great apostle of California and one of the heroes of the first evangelization of the Americas. When Pope Francis visited the United States last fall, his most buzzed-about stops included visits to the White House and Congress, but the canonization Mass for Serra was the agenda item that may have the most lasting impact. Serra worked to change systems, legal frameworks and attitudes so that people would treat one another differently, valuing human life with a depth of respect due to beings created in the image and likeness of a divine creator. In his 30-minute video message, Pope Francis talked about the importance of conversion in a full picture of mercy. He said: Our way of treating others ... must never be based on fear but on the hope God has in our ability to change. Here you begin to understand again why people motivated by mercy and Gods merciful example are needed and ought to be welcome for a healthy society to function. Francis, in his message, also asked: Which will it be: hope for change, or fear? Filtering that through a U.S. context, its hard not to remember Barack Obamas hope and change campaign mantra. And recall, too, the bullying tendencies of Donald Trump. In both cases, political candidates benefit from an inflated view of what the government can or should do, and the fear or attraction that goes with it. Fear is better alleviated not by campaign promises or more tempered rhetoric fear is alleviated by the example of people living for something more than just their own desires. The hostility of the secular elite to real religion will make it increasingly harder for faith-based entities to do what they do and be what they are. Archbishop Gomez called it an existential threat. Gomez pointed to the great responsibility and opportunity of mercy. Witness is always more powerful and more persuasive than words, as we know, he said. But this becomes even more crucial in a society that denies the reality of God. The gathering in Bogota included a lot of what Christians do best: praying. It was no coincidence that it bore fruit in some of the clearest conversations Ive heard in a long time. Kathryn Jean Lopez is senior fellow at the National Review Institute, editor-at-large of National Review Online and founding director of Catholic Voices USA. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form FILE - In this Oct. 5, 2015, file photo, the VW sign of Germany's Volkswagen car company is displayed at the building of a company's retailer in Berlin. Volkswagen Truck & Bus, an arm of the German automaker Volkswagen, is buying a minority stake in Navistar. The two companies also said Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, that they will enter a procurement joint venture that will help source parts for both businesses. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File) In this June 30, 2016 photo, athletes from Brazil train ahead the Paralympic Games in Sao Paulo, Brazil. According to the Brazilian Paralympic Committee, Brazil's goal is to stay in the top five in the medal standings after placing seventh in London in 2012. (AP Photo/Andre Penner) Barring of Ukrainian manufacturers from the Russian market was an economic shock for Kyiv, which inflicted losses of at least $15 billion, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said. "Russia's aggressive closure of its market came as an economic shock for Ukraine. According to some estimates, it cost us at least $15 billion. We lost tens or even hundreds of thousands of jobs, and this economic aggression is a primary reason for plummeting living standards," the president said in his annual address to the Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday. Practically a third of Ukrainian exports went to the Russian market at the beginning of this decade, Poroshenko said. "The Kremlin attack started before Maidan: their restrictions cut Ukrainian exports to Russia by 15% already in 2013," the president said, adding that exports to Russia halved in 2015 compared to 2014. "We have not hit rock bottom yet, the decline continues: it reached 34% in the first half of this year. Russia's share in Ukrainian exports currently stands at 9% and falling. Those who love to speculate that 'somebody is making money on trade with Russia during the war' should take notice of the final digit - our exports to Russia have fallen five times in recent years," the president said. This is good from the strategic angle, as Ukraine's dependence on the Russian market "ruled by political blackmail and imperial pressure rather than economic laws" has drastically reduced, Poroshenko said. The president added that the Ukrainian administration should search for markets for domestic commodities. The business court in Odesa region has arrested all accounts of pubic joint-stock company Odesa Port-Side Chemical Plant. The court made the decision on August 29, 2016. The decision took effect from the moment of its making. The accounts have been arrested to secure the claim of Ukrgas (Kyiv). The company demands to collect UAH 100.635 million from the plant for natural gas supplied, UAH 4.044 million of fine and UAH 1.695 million of overdue interest. The only shareholder and head of Ukrgas is Serhiy Kravchenko. Earlier he worked as deputy assistant of former MP Anatoliy Shkrybliak. Then: In 2009, Nora Nolan (pictured at left), then 26, was preparing to leave her job as an accountant in Washington, D.C., to pursue a career as a stand-up comic in New York City. Before making the leap, she asked Kiplingers for advice on how to manage her finances in the unpredictable world of stand-up. Our advice: Crash at Mom and Dads Manhattan apartment until you get on your feet, spend cautiously, and dont forgo health insurance. Now: Seven years later, Nolan has a promising career as a comedy writer in Los Angeles, with TV sitcom pilots and numerous web-series episodes to her credit. Recently, she was one of 75 writers to make the first cut in a pilot-writing competition that attracted 1,600 submissions. Nolan took our advice when she arrived in the Big Apple. She crashed at her parents place for several months, and she purchased health insurancedespite the high price of individual coverage in New York (in her case, $500 a month). Eventually, she got a job at Lambda Legal, a nonprofit that advocates for gay and transgender people. The job provided generous health coverage on top of a steady paycheck, and the 9-to-5 hours meant she could still do stand-up at night. Subscribe to Kiplingers Personal Finance Be a smarter, better informed investor. Save up to 74% Sign up for Kiplingers Free E-Newsletters Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplingers expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail. Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplingers expert advice - straight to your e-mail. Sign up Nolan branched out into comedy writing after taking a class in television writing at New York University. Part of the decision was pragmatic: Comedy writing for TV is much more stable than stand-up, and you can make a lot more money, she says. She left her job at Lambda Legal and did freelance work as an accountant, but she continued her health insurance under COBRA, the federal law that allows former employees to extend group coverage for up to 18 months. Under COBRA, she paid the full premiums, which ran her a steep $1,200 a month. Nolan headed to L.A. in 2013, after being persuaded by her writing teacher that she couldnt make a living as a comedy writer in New York unless her name was Tina Fey. She found her first gig through a friend of a friend, writing web videos for a production company. That job led to others, including collaborating on Written Off, a TV pilot currently available on Amazon Prime. Nolan still does stand-up and takes writing classes, and she has joined an improv group. The culture out here is to meet as many people as you can and be in the right place at the right time as often as possible, she says. Another secret to making it as a comedy writer? Being an accountant. That job provides about 75% of Noras income; comedy writing makes up the rest. As for health insurance, she found affordable coverage when she married Hilary Meyer and got on her wifes plan. Medicare can cover most of your health care costs starting at age 65, but it leaves some big gaps: expensive deductibles and co-payments for hospital stays and doctor's visits, and no coverage for prescription drugs. Most people supplement their Medicare coverage with a medigap plan and a Part D prescription-drug policy offered by private insurers. But the costs can really add up when you have to buy three kinds of coverage. In addition to the Medicare Part B premium of $104.90 per month (or $121.80 per month for new enrollees in 2016 -- and even more for people with high incomes), the most popular medigap plan, Plan F, has an average cost of $2,293 in 2016 for a 65-year-old man ($191 per month), according to Weiss Ratings, and the average Part D plan costs $34 per month. Altogether, the average person pays $3,959 in premiums a year -- not counting co-payments, deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs. No wonder more beneficiaries are intrigued by Medicare Advantage plans, which let you trade government-administered Medicare for comprehensive medical and drug coverage through a private insurer for much less than the cost of a medigap policy. The average Advantage plan costs $37 per month above your Part B premium, and some plans charge nothing above that premium. The most exciting reason to use Medicare Advantage is to save a lot of money, says Aaron Tidball, manager of the Allsup Medicare Advisor, which helps people with their Medicare decisions. There are plans that have no added premiums, $5 co-payments for primary care and no co-pays for generic drugs. Its also easier to have one policy, instead of juggling three types of coverage. Nearly one-third of beneficiaries have coverage through an Advantage plan rather than original Medicare. It sounds almost too good to be true. Subscribe to Kiplingers Personal Finance Be a smarter, better informed investor. Save up to 74% Sign up for Kiplingers Free E-Newsletters Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplingers expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail. Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplingers expert advice - straight to your e-mail. Sign up But there is a major difference: With Medicare, you can use any doctor or hospital who accepts Medicare patients. With Medicare Advantage, you are restricted to a limited network of doctors and hospitals. The least-expensive plans tend to have the smallest networks and larger out-of-pocket expenses throughout the year. And this is critical: You may not be able to change your mind later if you end up having greater health care needs. Even though you can return to Medicare at certain times each year, it may be impossible to buy a medigap plan to supplement Medicare coverage. If more than six months have passed since you originally signed up for Medicare Part B, in most states medigap insurers can reject you or charge you more because of your health. The Affordable Care Acts prohibition against refusing or charging more to insure someone because of a preexisting condition does not apply to medigap insurers. "People need to make this decision with their eyes open, says Tricia Neuman, director of the program on Medicare policy for the Kaiser Family Foundation. In essence, it means the decision people make is an irrevocable one, and many people dont realize it. They assume they can go back and forth, but they can be locked into Medicare Advantage. How Medicare Advantage Works Medicare Advantage plans must cover everything that traditional Medicare does, but you may have more out-of-pocket costs than you would when pairing Medicare with a medigap policy. Youll have co-payments for doctors visits, hospital stays, prescription drugs and other care. Medicare Advantage plans must limit your out-of-pocket costs for in-network care to no more than $6,700 in 2016, although some limit such costs to just $3,000. This is one of the ways that plans compete, says Cathy Schoen, senior scholar at the New York Academy of Medicine. For some people, the main difference is cash flow. Do you want to pay a co-pay every time you use the doctor, or do you want to pay a medigap premium once a month and not worry about it? It comes down to comfort level and frequency of usage, says Tidball. If you dont have many medical expenses, youll come out ahead with the lower premiums. The Advantage plans may also provide extra coverage that isnt available through traditional Medicare, such as dental, vision and hearing benefits or a gym membership. The Medicare Advantage premium will look much lower on a monthly basis, but the cost-sharing has been going up in the plans, says Schoen. You need to look at what you will be paying in deductibles, what share of the doctors fees youll pay -- whether its a fixed dollar amount or percentage of the total cost -- and what will happen if youre hospitalized. For example, one plan in Columbus, Ohio, has a $0 premium but charges $250 each day for hospitalization. Another plan has a $99 monthly premium but $0 hospital co-pay. There are always trade-offs, says Alan Mittermaier, president of HealthMetrix Research, which analyzes Medicare Advantage plans. The key difference among competing plans is in provider networks. You must use the doctors, hospitals and other providers in your insurers network or else youll pay more. With a Medicare Advantage PPO, youll usually have higher co-payments and deductibles, and a higher out-of-pocket maximum for care outside of your insurers network. The in-network maximum may be $6,700, but the out-of-network maximum may be $10,000, says Diane Omdahl, president of 65 Incorporated, a Mequon, Wisc., company that helps people with Medicare decisions. And Medicare Advantage HMOs generally dont cover out-of-network care at all, except for emergencies. Youll have to pay the full price for care outside of your providers network yourself, with no out-of-pocket spending limit. Not surprisingly, the least-expensive plans tend to have the smallest provider networks. Choice costs money in health care, says Christopher Abbott, health plan chief executive officer for United Healthcare Medicare and Retirement in Wisconsin, Michigan and the Dakotas. The HMO plans have a lower premium because they have a narrow network. More than 90% of United Healthcare members had more than one Medicare Advantage plan available in their area in 2016. They may, for example, have the option of a $0 premium plan with a smaller network, as well as a plan with a monthly premium that offers richer benefits, lower cost-sharing and more flexibility in access to specialists. You want to make sure you have access to see the doctors you want, and that you have the right balance of choice and affordability, says Abbott. Even if your current doctors are included, find out if the plan includes the hospitals and specialists youd prefer if the need arises. The Kaiser Family Foundation found that about 20% of Medicare Advantage plans dont include an academic medical center in their network, and that 41% dont include their countys National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center. If you are healthy and choose a plan with a narrow network, make sure other plans in your area cover the hospitals youd prefer. You can switch Medicare Advantage plans during open enrollment every fall, but some areas have many more Medicare Advantage options than others. Kaiser Family Foundations Tricia Neuman uses a story about her friend Craig to drive home the importance of considering the breadth of a plans network. When he turned 65, Craig chose a Medicare Advantage HMO. Because he was healthy and didnt need much care, he figured hed save the money on premiums. But then doctors discovered he had a tumor and would need surgery. The surgeon in the insurers network had done the necessary procedure only a few times and Craig wasnt comfortable with that lack of experience, but the specialists recommended by Craigs doctors were not in his plans network. He appealed to go out-of-network, but the insurer denied the request. Craig considered switching back to traditional Medicare, which would let him use any doctor, but he couldnt get a medigap policy because of his condition. Without a supplemental policy, hed have to pay Medicares deductibles and co-payments without any out-of-pocket maximum. Instead, he was able to wait to have the procedure and, during the next open enrollment season, switched to a different Medicare Advantage plan that included the surgeon he preferred. His story illustrates the conundrum people can face because they really are limited if they live in a state where they cant buy a medigap policy without medical underwriting, says Neuman. How to Pick a Medicare Advantage Plan If you are interested in Medicare Advantage, now is the time to start thinking about your options. You can switch from traditional Medicare into a Medicare Advantage plan -- or switch from one Medicare Advantage plan to another -- during open enrollment every year, which runs from October 15 to December 7 for coverage to begin on January 1. You can compare all of the plans available in your area at www.medicare.gov/find-a-plan (opens in new tab) (the 2017 plans will be listed by October 1). Type in your zip code and your drugs and dosages, then click on Medicare health plans and specify whether youd like plans with prescription-drug coverage (most people do). In the refine your search column, you can change the health status to estimate costs (the default is good, but you can choose poor or excellent). Youll see details about each plan in your area, including premiums, deductibles and co-pays for medical and drug coverage, the plans out-of-pocket maximum, and other information. Click compare plans for details of the cost of in-network and out-of-network doctors visits, hospital stays and other care, and an estimate of your costs for the year under each plan based on your health status and the drugs you take. As with Part D, out-of-pocket drug costs can vary a lot by plan. The prescription-drug portion is increasingly an important piece of the decision process because its something people use every day, says Abbott. The plan may also provide coverage that isnt available through Medicare. They may have benefits for hearing aids, eyewear, a gym membership, and dental cleaning and x-rays that would not be offered in medi-gap policies, says Mittermaier. Finally, check the insurers star ratings, which assess the plans based on customer service, communications, appeal procedures, and coverage of health screenings and chronic conditions. The top rating is five stars. You can switch into a five-star plan anytime during the year -- not just during open enrollment -- but very few plans earn that superior rating. After narrowing your list, contact the plan directly to get details about providers -- that information isnt on the Medicare Plan Finder and providers can change from year to year. After youve whittled down your options to three to four plans, then you should find out whether certain hospitals or specialists are in those plans, says Neuman. It takes a lot of work to do that. HealthMetrix Research analyzes Advantage plans in 92 markets across the U.S. each year and ranks plans based on the lowest out-of-pocket costs for people in good, fair and poor health. Go to www.medicarenewswatch.com (opens in new tab); the latest results will be released in October. Also consider a Medicare Advantage special needs plan if you have certain chronic conditions, such as diabetes or heart disease. You can find these plans in the Medicare Plan Finder, too. They have benefits designed specifically for people with similar medical conditions, including coordinated care and special drug coverage. The government gives insurers a higher level of reimbursement for these plans, so it may not cost more to get this extra coverage if you qualify. What If You Change Your Mind? The biggest risk of switching into a Medicare Advantage plan is that you might not be able to get a medigap plan if you change your mind. The decision you make when you first sign up for Medicare can affect your care choices for years. You can switch from Medicare Advantage back to traditional Medicare from January 1 to February 14 each year. You can enroll in any Part D plan then, but theres no guarantee that youll be able to get an affordable medigap plan. The older you get, the more difficult it becomes, and some insurance companies wont even speak to someone over age 70, says Tidball. You have more options in a few states. New York and Connecticut let you switch into a medigap plan at any time regardless of your health. For someone who has minimal needs and is an infrequent user of health care, theres no reason not to start with Medicare Advantage in one of these states and you can always get a medigap policy later, says Tidball. Find out about your states rules at your state insurance department (go to www.naic.org (opens in new tab) for links). There are a few other special situations when you can get a medigap policy without medical underwriting. If you have Medicare with medigap and then switch into a Medicare Advantage plan, you have up to 12 months to return to Medicare and get the same medigap plan. You can also switch back into Medicare and get a medigap plan if your Medicare Advantage plan leaves the business or if you move outside of your plans service area, and in a few other situations (check Medicare.govs Special Enrollment Periods (opens in new tab) section). Keep this special enrollment period in mind if you plan to move in a few years. If part of your life plan is moving, theres really no reason to spend all that extra money on medigap, especially if youre an infrequent user of your health care, says Tidball. You can get a Medicare Advantage plan, even with a $0 premium, and when you move, use the special enrollment period to go into medigap. Of course, if your health takes a turn for the worse that prevents you from moving, you could be stuck in a Medicare Advantage plan that doesnt serve your needs. Relief is on the way for hard-pressed apartment renters after several years of tight supply and rent hikes. Job growth will moderate, easing demand. Builders have delivered new units, with many more in the pipeline. Factoring in rent concessions, rents rose 3.7% in the second quarter, compared with the second quarter of 2015. Thats down from the blistering 5%-plus rate of a year earlier and closer to the long-term U.S. average of 2.2%, according to Axiometrics, a provider of apartment-market research. Markets where annual rent increases have slowed most include the Bay Area, Denver, Houston, New York City and Philadelphia. San Franciscos median monthly apartment rent is still a whopping $3,292. But last winter, rents there tracked by broker J. Wavro Associates fell by 8%twice the usual off-season decline. And a rebound failed to materialize during the busy summer months, says Deborah Brown, a leasing and relocation specialist with the firm. She expects rents to fall further in 2017. Renters typically encounter the least competition for apartments during the late fall and winter. Thats the best time to negotiate lower rents or other concessionssuch as a free month or two of rent, a low security deposit, a period of free parking, or payment of gas and electric bills. Subscribe to Kiplingers Personal Finance Be a smarter, better informed investor. Save up to 74% Sign up for Kiplingers Free E-Newsletters Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplingers expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail. Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplingers expert advice - straight to your e-mail. Sign up But even if some markets are no longer sizzling, many others are, including Sacramento, Seattle and Phoenix. And downtown luxury buildings that tempt baby boomers and millennials alike are still hot commodities anywhere. You might find better deals in the suburbs, or in smaller, older buildings that may be architecturally interesting but lack luxury amenities. A rental agent may know of unadvertised prospects. In a slowing market, a landlord may agree to pay all or part of an agents commission, which is typically equal to or slightly more than one months rent. Daunted by all the retirement decisions? Some employers bring retirement advice to the workplace. Several years ago, Barbara Linnehan-Smith, a teacher in Portland, Maine, began attending retirement seminars offered through her union to learn about her pension formula, Social Security eligibility and retiree health insurance. Although Linnehan-Smith, 61, has no immediate plans to retire, "it was really important to get a feel for the whole process," she says. Your company 401(k) plan may also be a source of help. Increasingly, plans offer online tools and one-on-one phone conversations with financial planners to deal with everything from Social Security strategies to retirement spending to asset allocation. Its a concierge service to help you navigate the process, says Rob Austin, director of retirement research at Aon Hewitt, a human resources firm. Some will even set up a retirement paycheck for you. Almost half of employers in a recent Aon survey allow 401(k) participants to choose an automatic payment from the plan in retirement, and 30% offer a professionally managed account with a drawdown feature. Another 9% offer a managed payout fund, which uses a withdrawal strategy designed to produce lifelong paychecks (but without the guarantee of an annuity). Subscribe to Kiplingers Personal Finance Be a smarter, better informed investor. Save up to 74% Sign up for Kiplingers Free E-Newsletters Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplingers expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail. Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplingers expert advice - straight to your e-mail. Sign up If youre deciding between leaving your money in the plan and rolling it over, youll have to weigh the costs, services and convenience of your 401(k) against the flexibility and wider range of investment choices in an IRA. Keep in mind that large plans have access to institutional pricing, which means lower fees. If your 401(k) happens to be reasonably priced and gets the job done, by all means, keep the money there, says Michael Kitces, a partner and director of wealth management at Pinnacle Advisory Group. What You Can Do About Medical Debt Budgeting Millions of Americans are awash in debt from medical care. If youre one of them, we have your options, whether the bills are new or a collector is calling. SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - The Australian dollarrose on Tuesday after data showed robust government spendingbolstered economic growth last quarter while the country'scurrent account deficit also came in well below expectations. The Australian dollar posted its fifth straight dayof gains, hitting an intra-day peak of $0.7632, its highestsince Aug. 26. The upbeat data reinforced expectations the Reserve Bank ofAustralia would hold rates at 1.50 percent at its monthlymeeting on Tuesday. Australia's current account deficit came in at A$15.5billion ($11.8 billion) last quarter compared with expectationsof A$19.75 billion, after a big downward revision to theprevious quarter's shortfall. Combined with firmer public spending, it suggested there wassome upside risk for second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP)figures due on Wednesday. After some economists nudged up their forecasts, the generalexpectation was that GDP grew around 0.5 percent last quarter,still down from 1.1 percent in the first quarter, extending along phase of growth. "The Australia economic expansion will celebrate its 25thbirthday when the June quarter economic growth figures arereleased on Wednesday," said Craig James, chief economist atCommonwealth Bank. "Australia is zeroing in on the Netherlands for the goldmedal of the longest economic expansion in the modern era." The Aussie was also stronger on the New Zealand dollar , rising for a second straight day. Although it haslost 2.1 percent on the kiwi this year so far. The New Zealand dollar inched higher on Tuesday to$0.7320, aided by expectations for another strong dairy auctionlate on Tuesday. BNZ FX Strategist Kymberly Martin said the RBA's policymeeting may pass without creating too many ripples for theAussie, or kiwi. "The market will peruse the RBA comments for subtle changeof tone since the last meeting," said Martin. "Any tweaking ofits language could influence the direction of NZ OIS (rate)pricing," said Martin. The RBA statement is due out at 0430 GMT. New Zealand government bonds were mostly lower inprice with yields 1.5 basis point higher. Australian government bond futures eased, with thethree-year bond contract down 2 ticks at 98.55. The10-year contract slipped 1.5 ticks to 98.08. (Reporting by Swati Pandey and Rebecca Howard; Editing by SimonCameron-Moore) BRASILIA, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Brazil on Monday banned IESAOil & Gas from government work for paying bribes, thethird construction and engineering company barred in the massivegraft and political kickbacks scandal involving contracts withstate oil company Petrobras. The Ministry of Transparency, Brazil's primaryanti-corruption agency, said IESA would not be able to bid fornew government contracts for at least two years, and lifting theban will depend on repayment of losses to Petrobras. Brazilian builder Mendes Junior Engenharia wasbarred from bidding for government contracts in April and thelocal unit of Swedish construction company Skanska AB was banned in May. All of the banned companies have denied wrongdoing. Skanska,the world's No. 5 construction firm, has challenged the Brazilgovernment decision to ban its subsidiary from new contracts. The ministry said in a statement that IESA took part in acartel that fixed prices on contracts with Petroleo BrasileiroSA , as the state-led oil company is formally called. It said IESA used a fictitious consultancy contract to paybribes to Paulo Roberto Costa, the former Petrobras director ofrefining and supply who was arrested in March 2014 at the startof the corruption investigation dubbed "Operation Car Wash" byBrazilian police. Costa admitted involvement in the graftscheme. Dozens of construction company executives have been arrestedin the probe and some 50 politicians are under investigation ina scandal that has shaken Brazil's political establishment tothe core and contributed to the impeachment of former presidentDilma Rousseff who was removed from office last week. IESA representatives did not immediately respond to requestsfor comment. Of the 29 companies investigated for involvement in thebribery scheme, three have been banned and nine are negotiatingleniency deals that require recognition of guilt and repaymentof damages, a ministry spokesman said. Accusations against threeothers have been dropped. The ministry had been called the Comptroller General'soffice, but was renamed by the new government of PresidentMichel Temer, who has vowed to crack down on corruption inBrazil. His government, however, has been hit by corruptionallegations that have forced three cabinet minister to resign. (Reporting by Anthony Boadle, editing by G Crosse) (Updates prices) By Bruno Federowski SAO PAULO, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Latin American stocks weremixed on Monday, with light trading due to the Labor Day holidayin the United States. Surprisingly weak U.S. jobs data cast doubt on Friday overthe possibility of rate hikes this year, boosting demand forhigh-yielding emerging market assets. The jobs figures seemed to contradict recent comments by key Federal Reserve policymakers, who have repeatedly stressed thatthe U.S. central bank could tighten policy as soon as thismonth. Shares in Brazilian meatpacker JBS SA droppedover 10 percent, leading losers in the benchmark Bovespa index . Federal police had questioned the company's Chief ExecutiveWesley Batista on Friday about an investment by pension funds inpulp maker Eldorado Brasil SA, on whose board Batista sits. However, higher oil prices supported demandfor stock in oil companies, with shares in Brazil's state-ownedPetroleo Brasileiro SA providing thebiggest boost to the Bovespa. Oi SA , which is not part of the Brazilian index,posted its best daily gain in over a month. The telecom providerwas expected to file its bankruptcy reorganization plan with aRio de Janeiro court on Monday, two sources familiar with thesituation told Reuters. Brazil's currency, the real , dipped 0.88 percent fromFriday to 3.2821 per dollar on concerns new President MichelTemer could struggle to pass austerity measures in Congress evenafter the impeachment of his predecessor, Dilma Rousseff. Elsewhere in Latin America, Mexico's peso finished slightlystronger, closing up 0.17 percent from Friday to 18.569 perdollar. (Reporting by Bruno Federowski; editing by Alan Crosby and TomBrown) The situation in the special operation area in Donbas remains under control and the ceasefire is being generally observed, except for some armed provocations staged by the adversary, the press center of the Ukrainian military operation headquarters said on Monday. Since midnight until 6 p.m. on September 5, eight fire attacks have been recorded along the entire contact line, at the same time, the adversary has not used heavy weaponry, the press center of the special operation headquarters said in a report posted on its Facebook page. "For instance, in the Donetsk direction provocative fire attacks by the adversary have taken place in the area of the Luhanske populated locality and near Avdiyivka. Besides, the adversary has used small arms and grenade launchers. In the Mariupol direction, near Shyrokyne the adversary sniper has been shooting," the press service said. "The Ukrainian Armed Forces are strictly observing the Minsk Agreements," the statement said. HANOI, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Here's a snapshot of Vietnamese dong exchangerates in the official market and indicative SJC gold prices in Hanoi at 0113GMT. Sept 6 Sept 5 USD/VND mid-point 21,922 21,925 USD/VND interbank 22,301/22,302 22,295/22,310 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 36.11/36.37 35.93/36.22 NOTES: As of Jan. 4, 2016 the State Bank of Vietnam has begun setting themid-point rate on daily basis, allowing dollar/dong transactions to move in aband of +/- 3 percent around the mid point. The dong's exchange rate against other currencies is not restricted by aband. Interbank quotes are indicative bid/ask prices. One tael is equivalent to 37.5 grams or 1.21 troy ounces. SJC gold pricesare quoted by state-owned Saigon Jewelry Co, the gold manufacturer. Interbank offered rates are indicative, quoted from market sources. For Vietnam market overview click on: Vietnam's bonds market auctions: Bonds auction results: (Compiled by Hanoi Newsroom) (Adds detail from newspaper report and background) By Toby Sterling AMSTERDAM, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Takeaway.com, the Dutch-basedonline restaurant ordering and delivery service, will announceits intention to seek a stock market listing on Tuesday,newspaper De Telegraaf reported. The newspaper cited "several sources in the financialworld." Two sources familiar with Takeaway's IPO plans told Reuterslast week the company was preparing an "intention to float" thismonth, but they disagreed over pricing and timing. One banking source said the company was seeking a valuationof seven to eight times 2015 sales, or around 800 million euros. Another person familiar with the matter said that estimatewas "way too low," given the company's recent rapid growth. InApril, Bloomberg reported that the company hoped for a 1 billioneuro ($1.1 billion) valuation. Takeaway could not be reached for comment in the early hoursof Tuesday. Founded in 2000 by Jitse Groen, then a Dutch student,Takeaway.com is the largest restaurant delivery service in theNetherlands. It also says it is the largest in Germany, Belgium,Austria and Poland - though rivals may dispute that depending onthe metrics used. Takeaway had an estimated 7 million active customers as ofMarch 31. The company has raised a total of $118 million in funding sofar, according to Tech Crunch data, with investments fromMacquarie and Prime Ventures. Groen still holds a majority ofshares. Over the summer Takeaway.com sold its British operations toJust Eat for an undisclosed sum, and then bought Just Eat'soperations in the Benelux for 22 million euros. Spokesman Joris Wilton told Reuters last week that "at thismoment in time an IPO is not our key focus," but said that thecompany was "continually looking into opportunities to fund ourbusiness." Proceeds from a listing could be used to invest in Germany,where Takeaway.com's Lieferando.de subsidiary is engaged infierce competition with Delivery Hero. Sources identified Bank of America Merrill Lynch and MorganStanley as global coordinators of the Takeaway.com offering. Theinvestment banks declined comment. (Reporting by Toby Sterling, Arno Schuetze and Eric Auchard;Editing by Leslie Adler) LONDON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - A leading shareholder in Germanpharmaceutical and crops manufacturer Bayer said hedid not support the revised terms of a takeover offer for U.S.rival Monsanto . John Bennett, fund manager at Henderson , which hadpreviously called for a vote on the offer saying it threatenedthe long-term strength of Bayer, said he did not support thedeal. "Bayer have backed themselves into a corner," he said inemailed comments. "The money would have been better spent buyingtheir own stock. Alas, for shareholders, it was not to be." Late on Monday, Bayer said it had raised its offer forMonsanto and was prepared to pay $127.50 a share, up from itsprevious offer of $125 a share. (Reporting by Simon Jessop; Editing by Rachel Armstrong) Fitch Rates China Huarong's USD Perpetuals 'A-(EXP)' (The following statement was released by the rating agency) HONG KONG, September 06 (Fitch) Fitch Ratings has assigned China-based HuarongFinance II Co. Ltd's proposed US dollar perpetual securities an 'A-(EXP)'rating. The securities will be unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by ChinaHuarong International Holdings Limited (Huarong International), a wholly ownedsubsidiary of China Huarong Asset Management (China Huarong; A/Stable), and willhave the benefit of a keepwell deed and a deed of equity interest purchase,investment and liquidity support undertaking given by China Huarong. The final rating is contingent upon the receipt of final documents conforming toinformation already received. KEY RATING DRIVERS The proposed perpetual securities are credit-linked and notched down once fromthe 'A' Issuer Default Rating of Huarong International's ultimate parent, ChinaHuarong. Although the notes are unsubordinated, the one-notch differencereflects that, in a stress scenario, China Huarong may decide to prioritisesenior unsecured debt when extraordinary support is needed. The securities will be direct, unsubordinated and unconditional obligations ofHuarong Finance II and Huarong International, despite their perpetual nature,and rank pari passu with other unsecured unsubordinated obligations. Fitch deemsthe securities' effective maturity as finite and linked to the step-up of thecoupon on the first-call date. Dividend and coupon stoppers from all threeentities have reduced the opportunity for optional coupon deferral. Fitch believes the keepwell and liquidity support deed and the deed of equityinterest purchase undertaking signal a strong intention from China Huarong toensure Huarong International has sufficient funds to honour its debtobligations. The agency also believes China Huarong intends to maintain itsreputation and credit profile in the international offshore market and isunlikely to default on offshore obligations. In addition, a default by HuarongInternational could have significant negative repercussions on China Huarong forany future offshore funding. Fitch does not expect to accord equity credit to the proposed securities in itsevaluation of China Huarong's capital structure and leverage, as the instrumentranks pari passu with China Huarong's senior unsecured obligations. China Huarong is credit-linked to the Chinese sovereign (A+/Stable) and ratedone notch below the sovereign, reflecting the company's state-ownership andstrong control by the authorities. China Huarong's strategic ties with the statemean there is a strong likelihood the company would receive extraordinarysupport from the sovereign, if needed. China Huarong is one of four large national asset management companiesestablished to mitigate financial risks, preserve state-owned assets and promotethe reform and development of China's financial system. VARIATION FROM PUBLISHED CRITERIA The analysis supporting the 'A-(EXP)' rating on the proposed perpetualsecurities includes a variation from the Rating of Public-Sector Entities -Outside the United States criteria. Fitch used its corporate criteria, Treatmentand Notching of Hybrids in Non-Financial Corporate and REIT Credit Analysis, toconclude that the terms of Huarong Finance II's proposed perpetual securitieswould be considered 100% debt like. RATING SENSITIVITIES The rating of the proposed perpetual securities will mirror any change in ChinaHuarong's Issuer Default Rating. Positive or negative rating action could result from similar action on thesovereign. Stronger explicit support could lead to ratings being aligned withthe sovereign. Any significant dilution of China Huarong's core activities inthe acquisition and management of non-performing assets could lead to widernotching. Significant changes to China Huarong's strategic importance or a dilution of thestate's shareholding in the entity, resulting in a loss of control, could alsoresult in a widening of the notching down from the sponsor's rating, or a changein the current approach applied, resulting in China Huarong no longer beingclassified as a credit-linked entity. Contact: Primary Analyst Lin Pei Associate Director +852 2263 9912 19/F Man Yee Building 68 Des Voeux Road Central Hong Kong Secondary Analyst Terry Gao Director +852 2263 9972 Committee Chairperson Guido Bach Senior Director +49 69 7680 76111 Media Relations: Wai-Lun Wan, Hong Kong, Tel: +852 2263 9935, Email:wailun.wan@fitchratings.com. Additional information is available on Applicable Criteria International Local and Regional Governments Rating Criteria - Outside theUnited States (pub. 18 Apr 2016) Rating of Public-Sector Entities a Outside the United States (pub. 22 Feb 2016) Additional Disclosures Dodd-Frank Rating Information Disclosure Form _id=1011254 Solicitation Status Endorsement Policy ail=31 ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS.PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: . IN ADDITION, RATINGDEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE AGENCY'SPUBLIC WEBSITE ' '. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA ANDMETHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OFCONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCEAND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE 'CODE OFCONDUCT' SECTION OF THIS SITE. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLESERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF THISSERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN EU-REGISTEREDENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCHWEBSITE. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in precious metal products, commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication. kitco news BERLIN, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Strong demand from euro zonecountries drove a rise in German industrial orders in July, thefirst full month after Britain's decision to leave EuropeanUnion, data showed on Tuesday. Contracts for goods 'Made in Germany' were up by 0.2 percenton the month, the Economy Ministry said. That compared with aReuters consensus forecast for a rise of 0.5 percent. Domestic demand fell by 3.0 percent while foreign ordersrose by 2.5 percent, with demand from euro zone countriesjumping by 5.9 percent. The data for June was revised up to a drop of 0.3 percentfrom a previously reported fall of 0.4 percent. "The development of incoming orders was lacklustre so farthis year," the ministry said, adding that the data suggestedindustrial activity would be rather weak in autumn. (Reporting by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Michelle Martin) LONDON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Fund supermarket HargreavesLansdown said on Tuesday it would not offer a brokingfacility for investors looking to sell their annuity, or incomefor life, when a government scheme launches in April 2017. The plan is one of a range of steps taken by the governmentto try and help investors get the best deal with theirretirement savings, which included the removal of an obligationto buy an annuity at retirement. Hargreaves said in a statement that it had made the decisionafter analysing the market and potential risks to consumers. "For a small number of investors, selling an existingannuity income in exchange for a lump sum may make sense," saidTom McPhail, head of retirement policy. "However ever since this proposal was first made, we havebeen concerned that for many investors, it is likely to be apoor decision. We have therefore made the decision not to enterthe secondary annuity market at this time." McPhail said the firm was reviewing whether to offer anadvisory service to investors who may be considering sellingtheir annuity and would make a further announcement at a laterdate. (Reporting by Simon Jessop; editing by Carolyn Cohn) LONDON, Sept 6 (IFR) - Sanofi and Henkel are poised tobecome the first non-state owned entities to sellnegative-yielding non-financial corporate bonds in euros, as theimpact of the ECB's QE programme shows no signs of loosening. French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi and German consumer goodsproducer Henkel are both set to print new deals at yields of-0.05% on Tuesday, on 1bn January 2020 and 500m September 2018bonds respectively. Deutsche Bahn sold a 350m five-year deal in July at-0.006%, but some questioned whether it counted as being thefirst 'corporate' issuer to sell negative-yielding debt due tothe company being 100% state-owned. But just two months on and 'true' corporate borrowers arenow able to match the German railway operator as the universe ofnegative yielding corporate bonds continues to grow. Over 27% of euro investment-grade corporate bonds werequoted at a negative yield on September 2, according toTradeweb. The ECB has now bought more than 20bn in the sectorsince it started purchases on June 8. Henkel's A2/A rated deal will come alongside a euro,sterling and Eurodollar three-tranche tranches, totalling2.2bn-equivalent. Sanofi's three-year will come alongside a 750m-850msix-year and 1-1.15bn benchmark January 2027 deals on Tuesday. WHO'S NEXT? Bankers say some blue-chip corporates are keen to followthese issuers, although the unnecessary carry costs if thefinancing is not urgently needed, and the risk of suchtransactions being seen as "ego-driven" are putting some off. Morgan Stanley analysts said that the economic rationale forbuying negative yielding bonds is also "weak", as the earliestcohort of negative corporate bonds have not seen any spreadcompression after moving into negative yield territory. "This universe of investment-grade credit is in effect aquasi rates product and the rationale for keeping these bonds incredit portfolios stems from either mandate/benchmarkconstraints or a bias to stay with assets directly supported bycentral bank purchases," the analysts added. International companies Engie and Unilever have already sold0% coupon bond issues with barely positive yields. Sanofi, rated A1/AA, is expected to price later on Tuesdayvia BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley, Credit Agricole, Deutsche Bank,MUFG and Natixis. Henkel mandated BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan tolead Tuesday's deal. (Reporting By Laura Benitez, editing by Helene Durand andRobert Smith) By Huw Jones LONDON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Measures from Britain'scompetition watchdog to crack down on high and complex overdraftcharges are not enough and regulators should impose a cap onfees, lawmakers said on Tuesday. Parliament's Treasury Select Committee reached thisconclusion after asking Britain's main banks to detail theircharges for arranged and unauthorised overdrafts. The responses from 12 banks published on Tuesday showed awide variety of charges, from daily to monthly flat fees, whileothers charged interest on the sum owed. Consumer groups were dismayed when the Competition andMarkets Authority (CMA) last month set out ways to increasechoice in retail banking and cut overdraft fees, but decidedagainst capping unauthorised overdraft fees. Instead, banks can set their own limits and publish them. Andrew Tyrie, who chairs the parliamentary committee, saidthe banks' responses showed that some customers are beingcharged very high rates for arranged and unarranged overdrafts. "The CMA's proposed remedies, which include a self-regulatedmaximum monthly charge, don't appear robust enough to deal withthis serious problem," Tyrie said in a statement. Rachel Reeves, also a member of the committee, said theCMA's report did not go far enough and responses from the banksshowed that customers "don't stand a chance" of being able toidentify the best deal, calling on the Financial ConductAuthority, which regulates banking practices, to act. "It must step up to the challenge and take necessary action,for example by imposing a monthly maximum charge on overdrafts,to ensure that those who are most financially vulnerable areprotected," Reeves said. Antonio Simoes, chief executive officer of HSBC in Britain,said the CMA's range of proposals on overdrafts will help toincrease competition and ultimately improve consumer outcomes. Co-operative Bank deputy CEO Liam Coleman said that as a"challenger" bank, it looked forward to supporting thecommittee's work to improve competition in retail banking. Coleman has challenged the CMA's findings, which he said didnot reflect that the Co-operative Bank has "one of the mostcompetitive overdrafts" on the market. (Editing by Alexander Smith) OSLO, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Norway's central bank will startpublishing the minutes of its board meetings, althoughdiscussions on monetary policy will remain exempt, the bank saidon Tuesday. "The publication of the minutes of the meetings of theExecutive Board will enhance transparency about the managementof the central bank, and the management of the GovernmentPension Fund Global," it said in a statement. The fund is the world's largest sovereign wealth fund withassets of $895 billion. "In the upcoming strategy period, the Executive Board willalso consider increasing transparency regarding the Board'smonetary policy discussion," Norges Bank said. (Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Alister Doyle) HANOI, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Here's a snapshot of Vietnamese dong exchangerates in the official and unofficial markets, indicative SJC gold prices inHanoi and interbank offered rates at 0526 GMT. Sept 6 Sept 1 USD/VND mid-point 21,922 21,920 USD/VND interbank 22,298/22,300 22,301/22,302 USD/VND unofficial 22,290/22,300 22,300/22,310 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 36.13/36.39 36.03/36.32 Interbank offered rates Overnight 0.6-1.1 0.5-0.9 1 week 0.6-1.2 0.6-1.1 1 month 1.8-2.4 1.7-2.4 3 months 3.4-4.2 3.4-4.2 NOTES: As of Jan. 4, 2016 the State Bank of Vietnam has begun setting themid-point rate on daily basis, allowing dollar/dong transactions to move in aband of +/- 3 percent around the mid point. The dong's exchange rate against other currencies is not restricted by aband. Interbank offered rates are the latest indicative bid/ask prices, quotedfrom market sources. One tael is equivalent to 37.5 grams or 1.21 troy ounces. SJC gold pricesare quoted by state-owned Saigon Jewelry Co. For more interbank rate fixings released at 0400 GMT, click on . For Vietnam market overview click on: Vietnam's bonds market auctions: Bonds auction results: (Compiled by Hanoi Newsroom) Georgia's former ruling party, United National Movement, is trying to destabilize the election campaign in the country and set up a special organization to that end, Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze said. "Today all political parties are given an opportunity to hold the election campaign normally, meet with voters. The only political force keen on destabilizing the election campaign and the parliamentary elections due in a month's time is the United National Movement," Kaladze told reporters on Monday. The former ruling party has already set up some organization intent on staging riots, he said. "We have concrete evidence of the destructive activity by members of this organization, in particular, in Adjara," the deputy prime minister said. South Africa's rand rallies ahead of expected GDP boost JOHANNESBURG, Sept 6 (Reuters) - South Africa's randstrengthened early on Tuesday, extending gains to a fourthconsecutive session in thin trade after a holiday in the UnitedStates and ahead of local GDP data expected to show the economyavoided recession. * Rand 0.6 percent firmer at 14.2950 per dollar at 0650 GMTversus overnight close of 14.3800. * Government bonds also firmer. Yield on benchmark 2026paper down 4 basis points to 8.81 percent. * Q2 GDP release at 0930 GMT. Positive numbers would liftsentiment following 1.2 percent contraction in Q1. * Political unease lingering with police position stillunclear on possible arrest of Finance Minster Pravin Gordhan. * Blue chip futures index up 0.2 percent, indicating bourseopening firmer at 0700 GMT. (Reporting by Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by Ed Cropley) Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in precious metal products, commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication. kitco news South Africa government bond yields mostly higher at weekly auction JOHANNESBURG, Sept 6 (Reuters) - South Africa's Treasurysold a total of 2.35 billion rand worth of its 2031 ,2037 and 2048 instruments on Tuesday. Yields were higher compared with previous auctions. R213 BOND: Feb 28, 2031 - 7 percent coupon Auction date: 06/09/16 02/08/16 Best bid % 9.100 9.005 Worst bid % 9.32 9.2 Clearing yield % 9.17 9.05 Total bids (R'bln) 2.15 3.275 Allotted (R'bln) 0.65 0.7 Bid-to-cover-ratio 3.3 4.7 R2037 BOND: Jan 31, 2037 - 8.5 pct coupon Auction date: 06/09/16 10/08/16 Best bid % 9.35 8.975 Worst bid % 9.55 9.56 Clearing yield % 9.415 9.06 Total bids (R'bln) 1.90 1.985 Allotted (R'bln) 0.85 0.8 Bid-to-cover-ratio 2.2 2.5 R2048 BOND: Feb 28, 2048 - 8.75 percent coupon Auction date: 06/09/16 23/08/16 Best bid % 9.37 9.035 Worst bid % 9.67 9.3 Clearing yield % 9.45 9.13 Total bids (R'bln) 2.67 1.8 Allotted (R'bln) 0.85 0.85 Bid-to-cover-ratio 3.1 2.1 (Reporting by Vuyani Ndaba; Editing by Tiisetso Motsoeneng) Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in precious metal products, commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication. kitco news STOCKHOLM, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Sweden's fiscal watchdog saidon Tuesday it expected the country's public sector finances tobe in balance this year but returning to a small deficit in2017. The ESV had previously forecast a surplus of 0.1 percent ofGDP this year, but downgraded growth to 3.2 percent from 3.4percent in its latest outlook. The watchdog forecast a deficit of 0.3 percent of GDP in2017 against its earlier forecast of a deficit of 0.4 percent. For 2018 it sees a return to a balanced budget. (Reporting by Simon Johnson; Editing by Daniel Dickson) (Releads with comments from industry group president, sales bybrand) By Flavia Bohone SAO PAULO, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Car makers in Brazil no longerneed to trim production in order to clear inventories, the headof automaker group Anfavea said on Tuesday, after August datashowed the slowest daily output since the January trough of thenational industry's crisis. Automobile production in Brazil fell 6.4 percent in August from July despite two extra weekdays andtumbled 18.4 percent from a year earlier, national industrygroup Anfavea reported. Sales edged up 1.4 percent from the previousmonth, but were 11.3 percent lower than August 2015. "We are at a (sales) level that could start growing towardsthe end of the year, with stronger growth in 2017," AnfaveaPresident Antonio Megale told journalists. His outlook reinforced expectations of a fourth year for thecrisis racking automakers in Brazil and nearly halving salessince their 2012 peak as the country suffers through its worsteconomic recession in 80 years. Brazil was one of the world's five biggest auto marketsuntil the downturn and remains a major base of operations forFiat Chrysler Automobiles NV , Volkswagen AG , General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co . According to Anfavea data, Fiat remained Brazil's top sellerof cars and light trucks in August, with about 34,100 newvehicles. Second-placed GM extended its lead over VW, with about30,700 sales, ahead of its German rival's roughly 18,700 newregistrations. Ford sold around 17,500 vehicles, with Toyota Motor Corp's roughly 17,300 sales close behind. (Reporting by Flavia Bohone; Writing and additional reportingby Brad Haynes; Editing by Alan Crosby) (Adds context on Singapore's economy, quotes, analysts) SINGAPORE, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Singapore's central bank chiefsaid on Tuesday there were early indications that an outbreak ofthe Zika virus in the city state could have a small impact onthe economy. Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority ofSingapore, did not give any details. He also said it was tooearly to asses the impact of the virus on Singapore, aninternational financial and transit hub. "It's too early to tell. I would say early indications arethere could be some small impact, but it's not likely to besignificant from an overall economy outcome," Menon toldreporters when asked about Zika's impact on the economy. "But really, it's still early days," he said at the ForeignCorrespondents Association in Singapore on Tuesday. Singapore has so far reported more than 250 cases of Zika, amosquito-borne virus that has been linked to severe birthdefects if pregnant women become infected. The outbreak of Zika in the small, tropical nation coincideswith a dip in economic growth. It also comes nearly two weeksbefore Singapore is due to host the Formula One motor-racingGrand Prix, a major sporting and tourist draw. Singapore last month narrowed its economic growth forecastto 1-2 percent from a 1-3 percent growth range previouslyexpected, citing concerns over Brexit and weakening globaldemand. China, trade-dependent Singapore's top overseas market,is also experiencing lower economic growth. In a research note, economists at OCBC bank said the Zikaoutbreak could have a "near-term anticipated effects on visitorarrivals and possibly even domestic consumption" in September. (Reporting by Marius Zaharia, Anshuman Daga and Saeed Azhar;Editing by Miral Fahmy and Kim Coghill) (Adds context on BlackRock request, dateline, reporting credit) NEW YORK, Sept 6 (Reuters) - BlackRock Inc portfoliomanagers will be allowed to borrow from their peers if they arepressed for money to cash out clients, the U.S. Securities andExchange Commission said on Tuesday. Mutual funds and money market funds offered by the world'slargest asset manager will be able to borrow up to 10 percent ofthe value of their assets on an "unsecured basis" from oneanother under the SEC's order. BlackRock first asked the regulatory agency in 2015 forpermission to let its mutual funds borrow cash from one another,for instance to meet a spike in requests by clients to redeemtheir shares. BlackRock has already arranged for funds to tap credit linesprovided by other companies during times of stress. Some other U.S. mutual fund companies are already allowed tolet their funds lend cash to one another, but BlackRock'srequest came at a time when regulators and Wall Street areputting mutual funds' liquidity under a microscope. Late last year, for instance, Third Avenue Managementliquidated its near $1 billion Focused Credit Fund as its junkbond investments came under pressure. The SEC last year proposed a set of liquidity rules thatwould apply to all U.S. mutual funds and exchange-traded funds,though the rules have not yet been finalized. (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in New York; Additionalreporting by Lisa Lambert in Washington; Editing by SandraMaler, Bernard Orr) (Adds details on investment, background and byline) By Svea Herbst-Bayliss BOSTON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Activist investor WilliamAckman's hedge fund took a 9.9 percent stake in fast-casualMexican food chain Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc , buying inafter the once high-flying company was battered by food-safetyissues. The billionaire manager said in a regulatory filing late onTuesday that the company's shares, which closed at $414.07 onTuesday, were undervalued and that he would be speaking withmanagement. The share price jumped more than 5 percent inafter-market trade on news that Ackman owned 2.9 million shares. Chipotle was tied to E. coli, salmonella and norovirusoutbreaks last year and its shares tumbled 42 percent over thelast 52 weeks. And in July, Mark Crumpacker, its chief creativeand development officer, was arraigned on charges of possessionof cocaine. The company put him on leave. Chipotle marks the first addition to Pershing Square CapitalManagement's highly concentrated portfolio in nearly a year andat a time the firm is still deep in the red after years ofwinning performance. A spokesman for Ackman declined to commentbeyond the firm's filing. The investment in Chipotle puts the company squarely intothe path of one of the industry's most powerful investors whohas often handpicked chief executive officers and joinedcorporate boards to try and guide turnarounds. Chipotle was notimmediately available for comment. Last month Pershing Square, which oversees $12 billion forpension funds and other wealthy investors, sold off theremainder of its investment in railway Canadian Pacific ,freeing up some $1.5 billion. With Chipotle, Ackman wades back into the fast-food sectorwhere he has previously made successful bets on Burger King andMcDonalds and is currently invested in Restaurant BrandsInternational , a fast-food chain operator. At Chipotle he confronts a board that has come under firefor having served too long and being too chummy with topmanagement. Ackman is no stranger to shaking up boards andalready has company in the form of CtW Investment Group, whichpublished a letter earlier this year criticizing director tenureand other matters. Ackman resigned from the board of Canadian Pacific onTuesday and sits on the boards of Howard Hughes andValeant . Chipotle's biggest investors are mutual funds Fidelity andVanguard and it is not widely owned by many hedge funds. Buthedge funds have had their eye on the company before. Four years ago David Einhorn, who runs Greenlight Capitaland is widely followed, sent the company's shares tumbling aftersaying he thought they were overvalued. Ackman is under pressure to perform with his investment. HisPershing Square Holding fund is off 14.3 percent for the year,posting one of the biggest losses in the industry. While thefund gained 5.8 percent in August and has made up ground sinceMarch when it was down 25.6 percent, investors and analysts arestill concerned about how Ackman plans to recover from adebilitating investment in Valeant Pharmaceuticals ,whose share price has tumbled 87 percent in the last 52 weeks.Ackman's average annual return is still 12 percent, one of thebest records in the business. (Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; editing by Jonathan Oatis,Cynthia Osterman and Bernard Orr) SHARE Walker CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS Ned Mueller By Bill Walcott, For Kitsap A&E Two jurors have been selected for the 10th-anniversary edition of the CVG Show statewide art competition and exhibition, which will take place in January and February 2017. The CVG Show, one of the largest and most prestigious annual juried shows in Washington, has continued to grow in size and breadth over the years. The 2016 edition had 763 artworks submitted for consideration, and our single juror selected 134 to display in the show. We expect an even greater submission turnout for the 2017 show, and increasing from one to two jurors will broaden the expertise level, lighten the burden of jurying, and provide the highest quality of jurying such a large show. Ned Mueller is an accomplished and highly respected artist with more than 60 years of drawing and painting experience. He is a graduate of the prestigious Art Center School of Design in Los Angeles. He has participated in many major invitational shows, and is represented by some of the finest galleries in the country. He has won numerous awards, and has a "Master Signature Artist" status with the Oil Painters of America. He has juried many regional and national art shows, and shares his vast experience through teaching in workshops. Mueller will jury all the two-dimensional and three-dimensional submitted artworks to be included in the show, and will select the three prize winners in each of those categories. Johnny Walker is an independent photojournalist, commercial photographer and owner of AC Frame and Fine Arts in Kingston. Walker advocates for visual literacy interlaced with storytelling, emphasizing geographic and historical context to artworks in ways that promote lasting relevance. He will jury all the photo/digital submitted artworks, and will select the three prize winners in that category. The two jurors will then join forces to select the Mayor's Award for the best of show, which could be from any of the three categories. Additional awards include more than $2,500 in purchase prizes, and the $1,000 "Best of Kitsap" award to be selected by the Cultural Arts Foundation Northwest. This award goes to an artist residing in Kitsap County. In addition there will be a "People's Choice" award of $300, chosen by the vote of viewers throughout the duration of the show. The total dollar amount of awards and prizes this year will exceed $10,000. Entry deadline for the 2017 show is Nov. 20. The exhibition opens Jan. 21 with a reception at the Admiral Theatre, and continues at the Collective Visions Gallery in Bremerton until Feb. 25. Ridgetop Middle School science and leadership teacher Laura Rarig cuts out items to put up in her classroom. Academicians have studied the role classroom visuals play in learning, and many teachers work to incorporate decorations that are stimulating but not distracting. (LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN) SHARE West Hills STEM Academy special education teacher Stephanie Codorniz staples up a border in the entrance to her classroom. Codorniz works for a balance of items that are welcoming but not busy. (LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN) Vinland Elementary School librarian Rebecca Ryan removes old papers as she gets the rotunda ready for the school year last week. (LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN) Ridgetop Middle School science and leadership teacher Laura Rarig pins up one of her favorite quotes in her classroom. (LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN) By Christina Henry of the Kitsap Sun CENTRAL KITSAP Two weeks before school, ninth-grade teacher Laura Rarig tacked a laminated poster on a bulletin board in her Ridgetop Middle School classroom, "The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas." The quote by American chemist and educator Linus Pauling is meant to inspire students in both her science and leadership classes. Teaching two subjects in the same space has forced Rarig to be flexible and focused in her classroom layout and decor. Black-and-white botanical print fabric on bulletin boards lends a natural feel to the room. Neat displays show students where to hand in work and what's coming up next week, and there's plenty of blank space on the walls to show off students' work. Rarig uses accents like the poster sparingly to create a space that is orderly yet engaging. As students return to school throughout Kitsap and North Mason counties, they'll walk into classrooms where teachers, in most cases, have spent hours, days or even weeks not to mention much of their own money preparing a learning environment with care and creativity. Will the kids even notice or care? Most likely, according to John Lupinacci, a professor at Washington State University's College of Education. "Environment has a huge role to play in student learning," said Lupinacci, a former high school and middle school teacher in Detroit. There, teaching in impoverished schools, Lupinacci bucked the old saw, "Give them nice things and they will break it." "I thought, 'What if we flipped that script and made a really nice space they helped design?'" he said. Attendance and attention soared in classrooms transformed through grants and community sponsorships. Lupinacci cites research that confirms what most teachers know from experience: students learn better in classrooms that are physically comfortable with proper lighting, acoustics, temperature and air quality and that are stimulating but not too busy. The best learning environments have elements of nature in the design, promote students' sense of ownership in their work, and foster collaboration with others in the class, the research shows. "It's way more than putting up cute pictures. Everything you do is to help your students be more successful," Rarig said. Elementary by design Comfortable, homey and accessible. That's the look Kelly Pelligrino strives for in her first- and second-grade split classroom at Wilkes Elementary School on Bainbridge Island. Supplies are neatly stored in bins and Mason jars on low shelves. "My students can all reach the paper, the scissors, the glue sticks and writing materials they need so they can be more independent," Pelligrino said. Pillows and web chairs make cozy niches for reading, and this year Pelligrino is experimenting with adjusted table heights that allow students to work standing up or sitting on the floor. The trend today in classrooms for all ages is to allow for movement throughout the day, with lessons or activities often at "stations." Teachers pay attention to the layout of desks and tables to maximize traffic flow. Grouping desks for cooperative learning is common. Pelligrino adds a personal touch to her classroom by making space on the wall for students' pictures from home, along with a few photos of her own family. Less is more The plethora of cute and clever decorating ideas on Pinterest and other sites gives teachers much to choose from, but Anna Fisher, a psychology professor at Carnegie Mellon University, urges restraint. Research Fisher conducted with kindergartners showed students were more distracted in a highly decorated classroom than in a room with spare decor. Fisher is quick to say she doesn't advocate a "bare walls" theory, nor is she suggesting her research is a "silver bullet" to the complex task of teaching young children. "This is not a panacea, clearly. This is a small piece of the puzzle," Fisher said, adding more research is underway. In the meantime, teachers should ask themselves if the decoration serves a purpose. "Don't put it there unless it's needed," she said. Pepper Butler, a third-grade teacher at Hidden Creek Elementary School in South Kitsap, gets that. "There are children who get distracted, so I don't overdecorate," she said. Butler aims for a room that's "orderly and welcoming." Children appreciate a well-organized space, she said. Walls that teach Butler uses color to cue students' attention to teaching aids, such as the calendar and a display showing characteristics of a well-rounded student. The signs reinforce discussions she has with students about classroom expectations. According to Lupinacci, strategic use of visual teaching aids can corral students' attention when it wanders, as it inevitably does. "They're fully engaged with the teacher only part-time," he said. "When their attention drifts, you want it to drift toward something that keeps them engaged in long-term learning." That's especially true in special education classrooms. Stephanie Codorniz of West Hills STEM Academy spent the last few weeks of summer posting visuals around her self-contained classroom that walk students through the steps for everything from using the sink to lining up at the door. Codorniz sticks to the essentials. "I'm not going to put things up just because they look cute in this room," she said. "I don't want it to be so busy and bright that they have sensory overload." To that end, she chooses calming colors and has replaced the fluorescent light panels with panels that look like a blue sky with puffy clouds. A flock of cranes Dozens of origami cranes and swans swirl in a flock, suspended from the tall ceiling of the library at Vinland Elementary School in North Kitsap. The display was made by last year's fifth-graders and carries on a tradition at the school of outgoing classes leaving part of themselves behind through art projects. The mobile, made with the pages of old books that were beyond repair, is just one of the many striking features of the library. A tall rotunda, flooded with natural light is a favorite place for young readers. The fan-shaped room opens to a bank of tall windows. Librarian Rebecca Ryan, who describes herself as "aesthetically sensitive," has built on the architecture, adding graceful touches of homey decor throughout. The children appreciate the look and feel of the library, and so does she. "I just feel so blessed to be in such a beautiful space," she said. "It's filled with books and light and kids. It doesn't get any better than that." SHARE By Christina Henry of the Kitsap Sun NORTH KITSAP Several works of literature that contain some adult language and situations go into circulation this fall as part of North Kitsap School District's high school language arts curriculum. The books used in other districts were recommended by North Kitsap English teachers and approved by the school board Aug. 18 after a monthslong vetting process. North Kitsap's high school classes haven't had new works of literature added to the curriculum in a number of years due to previous budget constraints. Last year, the district updated the English language arts curriculum for kindergarten through 12th grade. Eight new novels were proposed for ninth- through 12th-graders, and seven were approved Under district policy, new curricular materials proposed by staff are reviewed by the district's instructional materials committee, made up of 10 teachers and two administrators. Parents may view materials under consideration. The committee votes on each selection before moving items on to the school board for adoption. Books on the high school list were discussed in at least two previous board meetings before their adoption. Among the selections, "Like Water for Chocolate," by Laura Esquivel, contains sexual scenes. "The Things They Carried," a work of fiction on the Vietnam War by war veteran Tim O'Brien, contains crude language and graphic violence. "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time," by Mark Haddon was recommended for ninth-graders. The book, whose narrator has autism, is a good contemporary work to help students understand character development and other literary devices, Kingston High School English teacher Erin Landvetter told the board on July 14. The book contains crude language. Other potentially controversial aspects are the death of a dog, treatment of disability issues and the death of a parent, according to an instructional materials committee report. Landvetter said staff wanted to use this and other more contemporary works to replace, "Oedipus Rex," an ancient Greek tragedy whose archaic language was difficult for some ninth-graders to grasp. "Oedipus," about a king who unwittingly kills his father, then marries his mother, will be taught in 10th grade this year. Board member Jim Almond objected throughout to the books, saying he found such material offensive. Almond said he has ties to the home-school and religious community. "You're forcing on their children things they're not taught in church or the synagogue," he said. Almond at the July meeting and on Aug. 18 said he wanted parents and students to have an opt-out choice. "I believe our stakeholders should have the freedom not to read something that's offensive," he said. Superintendent Patty Page said that in ninth grade, the books in question were to be used in literature circles, where students got to choose one of four books for small-group discussion. For students (and parents) who did not want to use the books with controversial material, there is a fourth book that is already part of the curriculum. Families can always work with the teacher and principal on a case-by-case basis, said Tim Garrison, director of curriculum and instruction. Almond also was concerned for teachers, least they run afoul of RCW 28A.405.030, which says, "It shall be the duty of all teachers to endeavor to impress on the minds of their pupils the principles of morality, truth, justice, temperance, humanity and patriotism." Page said the district's attorney had reviewed the law and determined teachers would not be liable for using the proposed books. Board member Cindy Webster-Martinson said she at first had some reservations about the books, but she was confident in the curriculum-adoption process. "We do not want to be in the business of banning books," she said. "I reminded myself from the very beginning the instructional materials committee has reviewed them and vetted them, and we need to respect their work." Webster-Martinson added that many tried and true novels used in schools "To Kill a Mockingbird," for example contain adult themes and controversial language. "We are not paving the way on any of these titles," said board President Beth Worthington. "These titles all have been used in other districts." The board voted 4-1 to approved the list, with Almond voting no. One book, "The Highest Tide," was omitted by the board because teachers had decided not to use it, Garrison said. The cost of the new books is approximately $120,000. NEW BOOKS APPROVED High school English literature books approved by the North Kitsap school board: "The Other Wes Moore," Wes Moore, 12th grade "The Things They Carried," Tim O'Brien, 11th grade "Big Fish," Daniel Wallace, 10th grade "Like Water for Chocolate," Laura Esquivel, ninth grade "The Ocean at the End of the Lane," Neil Gaiman, ninth grade "One Hundred Years of Solitude," Gabriel Garcia Marquez, ninth grade "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time," Mark Haddon, ninth grade Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin considers the discussion of Ukraine' issue in the G20 format is the indication of support from the international community, as well as the guarantee that Ukraine will not be left on its own to face Russian aggression. "We have friends and partners who proved they are ready to support Ukraine. They have shown solidarity and applied political pressure and sanctions against Russia. We talked to them before the G20 meeting and have a common clear and firm position. When the Ukrainian issue is in the focus of the world leaders during multilateral meetings not only within G20, but also G7, the EU, NATO and the OSCE, this, in fact, is a guarantee that we won't left on our own to face Russian aggression," he told Interfax-Ukraine. "They won't 'decide on us' without us. Two years have passed since the signing of the Minsk Agreements. If someone cynically wanted to negotiate with the Kremlin 'over our heads' it would have already happened," the minister said. SHARE Michelle Noble, first-grade teacher at Manchester Elementary, reads from a poem to her class last spring. LARRY STEAGALL/KITSAP SUN Michele Noble School: Manchester Elementary, South Kitsap School District Grade: First Number of students: 27 Years teaching: 33 What inspired you to get into teaching? "I have always enjoyed working with kids. I knew that teaching would be challenging but also very rewarding, which proved to be true." Name a rewarding moment from your career: "The progress that first grade students make in a year is extremely significant and is truly an amazing thing to see." What's your biggest challenge? "My biggest challenge is class size. Students come in to first grade with such a huge range of prior knowledge and skills. This along with an overloaded class size makes reaching every student's needs difficult. Differentiation would not be possible without my teaching partner, Deanna Buzzell. Together we are able to share our students to make sure that every student's needs are met." Finish this sentence, "I wish ...": "I wish that the profession of teaching would be more attractive to college students because I worry that with the current teacher shortage, it will affect the quality of education for our students in the near future." SHARE Violet Prudence Wilhelmina Rahman of Silverdale Oct. 20, 1918 to Aug. 30, 2016 Violet Prudence Wilhelmina (Laes) Rahman 10/20/1918 - 08/30/2016. Vi was the first child of Hermann F. and Violet (Hughes) Laes. In Springfield, Missouri, Vi learned to catch crawdads, climb trees, tat and help care for her three siblings. When her father was laid off in 1927 and offered a job at PSNS, they loaded the Model T and spent two weeks following the Oregon Trail to Portland then north to Seattle encountering tornadoes, breakdowns and wild horse stampedes. Vi met Robert (Bob) Rahman, a skinny Boy Scout, in her sophomore year at Bremerton High. She graduated in 1936, attended Wilson's Business College for the next year and took a job in Seattle. After Bob got a job with PSNS they bought a small house and were married on Feb. 10, 1940. Vi worked in the comptroller's office at PSNS for 10 years and in the Naval Hospital for 15 years until she retired in 1979. Vi and Bob loved the water and eventually sold their home to become live-aboards on the 44-foot boat they built, commercial fishing in Alaska and spending winters in the Southwest in a motor home. Vi's primary activities included First Mate on their boats, knitting, sewing, fish-pulling and documenting their travels. They moved ashore to a house in Bremerton in 1994. Vi was predeceased by her husband, Bob; her brothers, Hermann Laes Jr. and Harlin Laes; and her sister, Floreine Harrington. She is survived by her sons, Timothy (Aija), Gregory (Linda) and Ricky (Denise); eight grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. Vi requested no service. Donations may be made to your favorite charity. The Herald reports: The New Zealand woman who was arrested in Bali after allegedly bringing meth into the country yelled for hours and was inconsolable, said an onlooker. Indonesian media have named her as Myra Williams from Taupo. Williams reportedly flew to Denpasar from Melbourne and was questioned by Indonesian authorities over allegations she brought the drug into the country with her. Officials found 0.82g of methamphetamine. Auckland woman Holly Potton was waiting for her bags at Ngurah Rai International Airport for over an hour when Williams was detained on August 31. She said Williams was extremely upset and uncooperative. At one stage she had 22 Indonesian officials surrounding her. She kept yelling that she didnt feel safe. She was yelling that she had been in that little room all f***ing day. Potton, 26, said at one stage an official physically tried to take her back to the room At which point she resisted further and sat on the ground. She sat on the [ground] there abusing female staff and she yelled several times Two people from Pottons flight tried to get involved, she said. One yelled at Williams to shut up and another woman tried to talk to her and the officials but was told to go away. Potton said another passenger recorded Williams on his cellphone but a customs officer made him delete it. Potton thinks the Indonesian officials were waiting for her flight to get their bags and leave before dealing with her because it was causing such a scene. A Bali airport policeman told NZME Williams had appeared confused while lining up for her passport. He said she took a rest on the sofa for around 30 minutes. The policeman said theyd found 0.82g of methamphetamine on the sofa next to her where she was taking a rest. Stuff reports: The killing of Benton Parata in jail was likely carried out by three men jealous of his mana in prison, a judge says. Akuhatua Tihi, 23, was jailed for life with a non-parole term of 13 years for Paratas murder, while Levi Hohepa Reuben, 21, was jailed for seven years eight months, and Steven Betham, 38, for six years, both for manslaughter. They were all found guilty by a jury at a two-week trial before Justice Gerald Nation in the High Court at Christchurch in June. Tihi seems very sorry: Barking like dogs, Mongrel Mob-style, the three began their jail terms. His original offending was in 2010 when he got six years jail for stomping on a hairdresser, giving him serious brain injuries. As he was 17 at the time, he was not eligible for a first strike. If he had been, then this murder would be a second strike and would be life without parole (unless manifestly unjust). He also assaulted someone in custody in 2011. And it seems he even started assaulting people when he was five years old as authorities have a record of him attacking a sibling. The parents will no doubt be responsible. His father has a history of violence also. But the question for the community is whether Tihi will ever be safe to have out of prison. I doubt it. Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp More Pinterest Print Tumblr Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has stressed the importance of national unity and political consolidation in society. "At the time when Russia's aggression against Ukraine is still ongoing, while military threat from the east is the most difficult strategic challenge, the issue of national unity and political consolidation is a matter of life and death for our country. This is, in fact, my main message to you today," the president said in his annual address to the parliament in Kyiv. Kenneth Bunch of Oliver Springs is presented the Ultimate Battle Pass on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. From left, Emerson Breeden, Food City; Joe Greene, Food City; Kenneth Bunch; Mickey Blazer, Food City; Robert Hilliard, Food City; and Lennie Lawson, Gateway Ford/Lincoln/Mazda. (Submitted) SHARE By News Sentinel Staff KNOXVILLE On Tuesday morning Food City at Deane Hill presented the grand-prize package from their Ultimate Battle Pass Sweepstakes to Kenneth Bunch of Oliver Springs. The grand-prize package consists of 8 premium value tickets to the Pilot Flying J Battle at Bristol presented by Food City, 8 premium tickets to the Honda Ridgeline Tailgate Party featuring Kenny Chesney, $1,000 cash, game-day experience, X-Box One game system, Food City/Battle at Bristol prize pack and a new car the winner's choice of a 2016 Mazda 3 or Ford Focus, provided by Gateway Ford-Mazda of Greeneville, Tenn. More details online as they develop and in Wednesday's News Sentinel. St. Paul and the Broken Bones Sea of Noise Rating: 3-1/2 stars (out of five) St. Paul and the Broken Bones lives up to the hype generated by its full-length debut, "Half The City," with its likewise buzzworthy follow-up, "Sea of Noise." The lively rock/soul octet from Birmingham, Ala., burns like a wildfire of sound on the new release, stoking the flames with bursts of horns, electric guitar, keyboards and organic rhythms. The earthy, soul-drenched vocals of frontman Paul Janeway pulls it all together. His voice soars into the stratosphere in the blissful brew of the first full song, "Flow With It (You Got Me Feeling Like),"and on the subsequent, more emphatic "Midnight on Earth," the band creates a sound both celestial and grounded as he sings, "I'm just tryin' to love ya/Ain't nobody above ya." Like many groups this size, St. Paul and the Broken Bones tends to overcook the arrangements, shifting through instrumental breaks that highlight the different players and edging into a jammy realm that occasionally gets murky with all the disparate noise. Yet the band hits pay dirt with the classic R&B of "I'll Be Your Woman," achieving a grandly emotional air by way of understatement. Similarly, "Sanctify" works as a simmering stew rather than a boiling-over concoction, and the mournful waltz of "Burning Rome" is effective at least until the song blows up in cacophony. Appropriately enough, the denouement of "Sea of Noise" comes with the tender and affecting lullaby "Is It Me," its simple, stripped-down structure proving far more effective than a rowdy free-for-all. However, although St. Paul and the Broken Bones comes up short when the sound gets congested, the charismatic band mostly impresses with timeless passion. Kelly Drummond SHARE By News Sentinel Staff Kelly Drummond has been hired as Knox County Schools' human resources director, according to a news release. Drummond previously was the human resources director for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley for more than 16 years. Interim Superintendent Buzz Thomas announced her hire in a news release Tuesday. "We couldn't be more pleased to have Kelly join our team at Knox County Schools," Thomas said. "She has both the advanced training and hands-on experience to build a great talent pipeline for our school district." Drummond was offered an annual salary of $109,000, according to Carly Harrington, director of public affairs for Knox County Schools. She also will receive an annual travel stipend of $1,275. She is scheduled to start Sept. 26. She succeeds longtime Knox County Schools human resources Director Kathy Sims, who retired last month after agreeing to a $75,000 severance package and signing a nondisclosure agreement. Sims was managing human resources for 8,200 employees and earned an annual salary of approximately $115,000. She had no formal human resources training and previously was an elementary school principal at Hardin Valley. Drummond comes with a background in the field, with certifications from the Society of Human Resource Management and the HR Certification Institute. She also has a master training certification from the Boys & Girls Clubs of America through the International Institute for Facilitation. Prior to working at the Boys & Girls Clubs, she worked with the Knoxville Police Department, the city of Knoxville Civil Service and the Knoxville-Knox County Community Action Committee. "The employees are our greatest asset," Drummond said. "I am excited by Knox County Schools' vision and values expressed in the strategic goal to become the best school system in the South. In the coming months, it is my hope and expectation that our HR team will build upon our efficiencies, emphasize superior customer service and improve our performance by focusing on recruiting, hiring and retaining the best staff." SHARE The University of Tennessee Equine Extension Program has organized two events to educate all horse lovers, from horse owners, horse farm owners or operators, horse industry members, trainers or anyone who is interested in learning about feeding horses. The "Oh, Hay" field days are scheduled for Thursday at UT's Middle Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center in Spring Hill, Tenn., and Sept. 22 at East Tennessee's AgResearch and Education Center in Greeneville. "During the program, information on hay production, factors affecting forage quality, forage testing, nutrients provided to horses from forages, and physical qualities used to select hay," said Dr. Jennie Ivey, extension equine specialist at UT. Other topics to be discussed include the process of producing hay from the field to a horse's mouth; factors that affect forage quality, such as species or cultivar of grass; management practices; and hard climate conditions like prolonged drought. The events also will offer insight into physical qualities to look for when selecting hay based on appearance, touch, smell and color. During the field day there will be opportunities to visit with local county extension agents along with Gary Bates, UT extension forage specialist and director of the UT Beef and Forage Center, and Ivey. There will also be a trade show with vendors and industry representatives. The UT Equine and Extension Research Center focuses on addressing the best management practices to promote the overall welfare of horses. Both events are free to the public and the field day will run 4-8 p.m., with dinner included. Please contact Dr. Jennie Ivey at 865-974-3157 jzivey@utk.edu to confirm your reservation. News Sentinel staff SHARE Boat Investigator George Birdwell displays the remotely operated vehicle obtained in 2013 by the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency. By News Sentinel Staff Authorities have recovered the body of an Anderson County man who jumped from an anchored pontoon boat into Norris Lake Monday afternoon and didn't surface. Authorities were alerted about 12:10 p.m. Monday of the incident off Sugar Camp Lane in Union County, according to an emergency dispatcher. Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency spokesman Matt Cameron said the emergency call came in a little after noon for the incident at a cove off Sugar Camp Lane in Union County. Witnesses said the 71-year-old man jumped into the water but never resurfaced. His body was recovered in about 46 feet of water around 6:40 p.m., within an hour of TWRA deploying a remotely operated vehicle to search the lake. Cameron said the man has been identified, but his identity is being withheld pending the notification of family. Cameron said the TWRA's ROV was sent to Norris Lake from the Tri-Cities area. The state has one of the devices and normally keeps it in Nashville until needed. The device has sonar and camera capabilities and is controlled by an operator in a boat. After the man was located, Union County Rescue Squad divers recovered his body, said Cameron, who said about 27 boating accident victims have been located with the device since it was acquired in 2013. The Union County Sheriff's Office and members of the Northeast Union Volunteer Fire Department also were involved in the search. Nashville International Airport. (Photo: George Walker IV/The Tennessean) SHARE By Jen Todd, USA TODAY NETWORK Tennessee A plane heading to Houston was diverted to Nashville on Monday night after an intoxicated man broke an out-of-service lavatory door and began speaking loudly in Arabic causing a disturbance, according to an affidavit. Mohammad Nasser Aldoseri, 26, "had slurred speech, red glassy eyes," and smelled of alcohol according to one affidavit. He told authorities he had thrown up before boarding the plane in Cincinnati after drinking eight Lemon Drop shots. Aldoseri was passed out when authorities arrived. Continue reading at The Tennessean, a News Sentinel partner. About 50 persons are standing near the Inter television building on Tuesday to block the doors and to prevent Inter employees from entering their office, the 112 Ukraine television channel said. "About 50 people are standing near the Inter building at the moment. Inter employees tried to enter the building this morning, yet the blockaders did not allow them to do so. They said the blockade would not end until the channel stops broadcasting, as they suspected a Russia trail in it. The protesters said they would not set fire to tires but would not let employees inside the building either," it said. A number of fire engines and police patrols are on standby in the area. About 70 Inter employees left the television center blocked by protesters at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, the channel press service said earlier. "About 70 employees of the blocked Inter channel left the television center with the help of deputies at 7:30 p.m.," it said. SHARE For the past 26 years, David Cloar has been confined to a Nashville mental hospital. He brutally killed his father and stepmother in their Morristown home, but a jury found him not guilty by reason of insanity. Last month the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals ordered a trial judge to release Cloar with no restrictions. The case raises questions about the state law covering the discharge of court-ordered psychological patients. The crime was gruesome. According to testimony, Cloar went to his father's house and stabbed him repeatedly, then chased his stepmother into the yard, where he nearly decapitated her and stabbed her in the chest multiple times. Then he took his shoes off and sat under a tree until police arrived. He told officers Jesus ordered him to kill the victims. The insanity defense is rarely used and seldom succeeds, but in 1992 a jury found Cloar not guilty by reason of insanity. He was ordered to the Middle Tennessee Mental Health Institute for treatment. Initially diagnosed with schizophrenia, he was treated with medication. He later was diagnosed with "brief reactive psychosis, alcohol dependant and persistent personality disorder, non-specific." He currently is diagnosed with "delusional disorder," which is in remission. According to the mental health professionals at the facility, Cloar has been a model patient. They have said he has not shown any symptoms in longer than a decade and has always taken his medication. He enjoys privileges such as the freedom to roam the grounds alone and take trips to a job training center. Officials have been trying to discharge Cloar for years. Last year, 3rd Judicial Circuit Judge Thomas Wright rejected their latest attempt, saying he was troubled that the proposed discharge plan did not require Cloar to receive outpatient treatment. The Court of Appeals, however, overturned Wright's decision and ordered him to free Cloar. Writing for the court, Appellate Judge D. Kelly Thomas Jr. said the Legislature, in passing the law on the requirements for freeing the criminally insane, put no requirement for mandatory treatment after release in the law. "The discharge plan cannot be rejected for failing to provide safeguards that the applicable statute does not require or address," Thomas wrote. Cloar has arranged for psychiatric treatment at a Veterans Affairs medical facility, has promised to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and plans to live for 90 days in a residential group home, but the court ruled none of those measures can be mandated under Tennessee law. The most notorious person deemed not guilty by reason of insanity is John Hinkley Jr., who attempted to assassinate then-President Ronald Reagan in 1981. A federal judge placed 34 year-long restrictions on Hinkley when he was discharged earlier this year. If federal law allows for restrictions, surely the Legislature can revise state law to give Tennessee judges more flexibility in dealing with the criminally insane. Lawmakers should be able to find a constitutional way to keep patients from being unjustly held while ensuring the safety of the general public. SHARE On Sept. 1, you published a column by John Crisp titled "President Obama? We could do worse." Crisp suggests that we put aside for a moment what we think of Barack Obama's "politics and policies." Obama's tenure as president has been nothing but politics. He is, in fact, responsible for politicizing nearly everything that he has touched. His "most transparent administration ever" concealed, obfuscated and lied about nearly everything he was involved in, from health care, to abuses of power by the IRS, to Benghazi, to the Department of Veterans Affairs and to the Iran agreement. If a conservative or Republican president had told half of the lies that Obama has, Crisp would be foaming at the mouth. I don't think Crisp is a stupid man, which makes it difficult to understand why he is so far in the tank for Obama that Jacques Cousteau's crew couldn't find him. Crisp claims there is a list of 371 good things that Obama did and begins the list with the killing of Osama bin Laden and an unemployment rate of 5 percent (if you disregard those millions who have dropped out of the labor force). As to Crisp's vision of America as "one indivisible nation," I think it is fair to say that Obama has done more to divide us than anyone in recent memory. In a final point, which was perhaps the motivation for writing, Crisp says he prefers Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump because Trump might "transform the presidency." That might not be a bad thing after the damage Obama has done. Durward B. "Chic" Stinson, Knoxville U.S. Soldier targets an approaching ... SEPTEMBER 6, 2016 at 12:01 p.m. A soldier targets an approaching simulated enemy vehicle with a training Javelin shoulder-fired anti-tank missile while conducting defensive operations during exercise Combined Resolve VII at the Armys Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, Sept. 2, 2016. Army photo by Pfc. Caleb Foreman Published September 6, 2016 South Korea's finance minister on Tuesday called on Hanjin Group to take responsibility for a worldwide paralysis of maritime cargo delivery stemming from court receivership of its debt-laden shipping unit. The receivership of Hanjin Shipping Co., South Korea's largest shipper, has triggered snowballing logistic chaos across the world over the last few days, with more than 60 carriers having been stranded at sea and ports due to asset seizure requests by creditors. The South Korean government formed a task force to direct such vessels to selected offshore ports, including Singapore and Hamburg, where safe freight unloading can be guaranteed, in order to help Hanjin ships have their cargo safely offloaded at the port. "The responsibility for cargo delivery falls on the consignor and the shipper under the bilateral contract. So, Hanjin Shipping and its major shareholder are responsible for it in the first place," Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho told reporters while accompanying President Park Geun-hye on her visit to Hangzhou, China, to attend the Group of 20 summit meeting. "Under the premise of Hanjin's full accountability for unpaid unloading fees, the company and its creditor banks can discuss ways to raise funds with the court." The minister, who is also double hatted as deputy prime minister for economic affairs, said he will convene a minister-level meeting on Wednesday in Seoul to look into the development of the issue and seek further countermeasures. "The government is making all-out efforts to minimize damage and loss of consignors," he said. "The Korean government-led response teams will be formed in the selected offshore ports to swiftly receive stay orders or guaranteed protection." The Seoul government has been intensifying pressure on Hanjin Group to take action to raise money for the delivery of cargo as the group has remained lukewarm about the issue. On Monday, the top financial regulator and vice finance minister urged the company to move, while Hanjin Group met with officials from the state-run Korea Development Bank, the main creditor of Hanjin Shipping, apparently over how to provide assistance to the cash-strapped shipping line. (Yonhap) Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko held a meeting with Attorney General of Cyprus Costas Clerides in Nicosia (Cyprus) and discussed cooperation between the law enforcement agencies of the two countries. The press service of Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office reported on Monday that Lutsenko said that the Memorandum of Cooperation between the Prosecutor Generals Office of Ukraine and the Law Office of Republic of Cyprus was a significant ground for fruitful cooperation of the two authorities. "The meeting participants coordinated the further joint efforts in preventing corruption and money laundering, in particular, during the investigation of crimes committed by former Ukrainian high-ranking officials and their close associates," the press service said. Combating cross-border organized crime was separately discussed at the meeting. Lutsenko said that the key to success in this combat is to deprive the offenders of their material basis. "A hit in 'a financial heart' of organized crime could be a crucial step in the war against it," he said. The government plans to supply Hanjin Shipping with 100 billion won as soon as Hanjin Group provides sufficient security. / Yonhap By Lee Han-soo, Park Si-soo The government and ruling Saenuri Party have decided to inject 100 billion won ($90 million) into cash-strapped Hanjin Shipping to ensure docking and unloading of its nearly 80 container ships whose port access has been denied worldwide in the wake of the company's collapse. "The government will immediately send the money to the company as soon as Hanjin Group, owned by Cho Yang-ho, provides sufficient mortgage," said Rep. Kim Gwang-lim, chief policymaker of the Saenuri Party, Tuesday. As of Monday, 79 Hanjin vessels including 61 container ships and 18 bulk carriers have been denied port access, according to the maritime ministry. "Of the 145 ships owned by Hanjin Shipping, 87 are stranded in mid-ocean, unable to dock or unload," Kim said. "If we include the ships that have departed for their destinations, the number goes up to 97." It is estimated that more than 600 billion won will be required to settle the crisis, according to the government. By Lee Hyo-sik Tony Hayward, new BAT Korea CEO British American Tobacco (BAT) Korea has appointed Tony Hayward as its new CEO effective Tuesday, replacing outgoing CEO Erik Stoel who has gone to Malaysia to head the tobacco maker's operations in the Southeast Asian nation. The British national has been with the company for 17 years since he joined as a financial accounting manager in the Southampton factory in 1999. Since he became the firm's Africa financial manager in London in 2001, he has been making a substantial contribution to its financial strategies while covering numerous markets around the world, such as Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Romania and Poland. Hayward then moved back to the headquarters in Britain to head a global human resources project. He then went to the American Continent to serve as a regional manager, developing his managerial skills before assuming his last role there as regional head of finance of BAT Americas. "I am honored to have been given the opportunity to have a fresh start at BAT Korea after acquiring valuable experience through working with talented employees while traveling across the world," Hayward said. "BAT Korea, including the Sacheon factory, is considered a strategically important market in our group. I will devote myself to strengthening BAT Korea's capabilities as a Korea's market leader and nurture it into a key hub for the global tobacco market." Founded in 1902, BAT is an international tobacco company that operates in 200 different countries. BAT Korea, founded in 1990, offers its key brands including Dunhill, Rothmans and Kent. The company employs about 600 people and operates a manufacturing facility in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province. Starbucks Coffee Korea employees promote various beverages of its tea brand Teavana during an unveiling at a store in downtown Seoul, Tuesday. Korea's largest coffee chain started offering a dozen tea drinks at its 940 stores across the country. / Courtesy of Starbucks Coffee Korea By Lee Hyo-sik Starbucks Coffee Korea is betting big on its tea brand Teavana, attracting not only coffee lovers but also those opting to drink a variety of tea for health reasons. By adding more than a dozen tea flavors to its menu, the country's largest coffee chain can offer more options for its customers who may seek something different from conventional drinks. The company said Tuesday that it began offering Teavana beverages at its 940 stores across the county, holding a range of promotional events to attract consumer attention. It sells eight types of Teavana full leaf tea drinks, as well as five kinds of tea latte drinks and three others containing both tea extracts and lemonade. Some of its representative flavors include a shot of green tea latte and grapefruit honey black tea. "We believe that Teavana will change the paradigm of Korea's tea drinking culture by offering unique tastes and experiences to tea lovers of all age groups here," Starbucks Coffee Korea CEO Lee Seock-koo said. "We have reinterpreted the taste and aroma of tea from a modern perspective to appeal more to younger consumers. Teavana will offer special experiences." Starbucks plans to donate part of its sales to help develop Korea's tea industry and share the profits with tea growers, as well as implement new corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, Lee said. Founded in Atlanta in 1997, Teavana was acquired by Starbucks in 2013. The company now operates 300 Teavana brand stores in North America. After Korea, the Seattle-headquartered coffee chain plans to introduce the Teavana brand in Japan, China and other Asian countries in the second half of the year. South Korea's financial regulatory body said Tuesday it has decided to hold a regular meeting with "all foreign financial companies" in a bid to help resolve their troubles in doing business here. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) has held a quarterly meeting with the representatives of foreign firms since March 2014 to collect their opinions on ways to improve the business conditions of Asia's fourth-largest economy. It involved only those from companies based in countries related to the South Korea-U.S. or South Korea-Europe free trade agreements as well as their embassies in Seoul. "We have decided to expand the communication channel for constant discussions on tasks to improve business circumstances to meet global standards for foreign financial services firms," the FSC said in a statement. In fact, it invited the senior officials from all foreign financial companies operating in South Korea, along with embassy staff, to the latest session held on Tuesday. Two dozen firms, including those from China, Japan, Singapore and Australia, as well as several embassies and foreign business lobby groups attended the meeting presided over by Kim Hak-kyun, a standing member of the FSC. It was a follow-up to the FSC's meeting with the CEOs of foreign financial companies in July that was hosted by the FSC's vice chairman Jeong Eun-bo. South Korea's authorities are on alert over a growing number of foreign firms closing or scaling down their financial operations in the country. Apparently among the reasons for a shift in management strategy at their headquarters are a worsened profitability outlook, toughened global financial rules and some regulatory hurdles here. Speaking to reporters on Monday, FSC Chairman Yim Jong-yong pledged every possible effort to upgrade South Korea's financial system and make it more convenient for foreign financial firms to do business here. "We will actively address regulations that do not meet global standards," he said. "A comprehensive plan will be drawn up in December" based on the results of the meetings with foreign companies. (Yonhap) By Yoon Ja-young Lee Kwang-goo Worri Bank CEO Insurance companies, private equity funds and other investors are considering acquiring a stake in Woori Bank, increasing the chances of success for the government's privatization plan of the bank. Hanwha Life Insurance recently said in a filing that it is considering acquiring a stake of Woori Bank. "Nothing has been decided as of yet," it added. "We will make an announcement when it is determined in detail." The government, which holds a 51 percent stake in Woori Bank through the state-run Korea Deposit Insurance Corp., plans to sell 30 percent stake to multiple investors, each of whom will hold stakes between four and eight percent. After several failed attempts to sell the 30 percent stake in the country's third-largest lender to a single entity, it determined that it should be sold to oligopolistic shareholders. Those interested are scheduled to submit a letter of intent by Sept. 23, with the bidding process scheduled for November. It plans to sell an additional 18 percent stake later when the stock price rises. Industry analysts point out that Hanwha Life Insurance has maintained a close relationship with Woori Bank, both of which have Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. included in their major shareholders. They have been jointly advancing into the overseas bancassurance market as well as jointly participating in a consortium to launch an online bank. Back in 2014, Hanwha had a plan to acquire a stake in Woori Bank but it didn't realize. Kyobo Life Insurance also considered acquisition back then. A spokesperson for Kyobo said the company hasn't decided yet this time around. "The government is selling small stakes to oligopolistic shareholders, not managerial control of the bank," said Kyobo. "Hence, we have to examine it from the investor's perspective, such as profitability and risks." A number of private equity funds, both domestic and abroad as well as institutional investors such as a pension fund, are also considering the investment, according to media reports. Park Jin-hyoeng, an analyst at Yuanta Securities, said that the privatization plan is realistic. If the sales process goes ahead as scheduled, Woori Bank may go through real' privatization where management is led by the private sector, unlike in the past when the government exercised heavy managerial influence, the analyst expected. "As each investor can buy stakes between four and eight percent, it will be less burdensome," he pointed out. "The oligopolistic shareholders meanwhile will hold a 30 percent stake in total, higher than the government. They will be participating in management through board." Financial Service Commission Chairman Yim Jong-yong also stressed that the outside directors selected by the investors will choose a new CEO. The government stresses that Woori Bank is an attractive investment as its share prices are currently low. "If the oligopolistic shareholders succeed in harmonizing management, they will be able to set up a new system based on the autonomy of the private sector," Park said. However, a small stake wouldn't be satisfying those wishing full control over the bank. "A four percent stake isn't enough for an investor to expect a synergetic effect," said Son Mi-ji, an analyst at Shinhan Investment Corporation. Local YouTube creators pose at the main stage of YouTube FanFest Korea 2016 held in Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul, Sept. 3. / Courtesy of YouTube By Kim Jae-heun An American video-sharing website YouTube held it third FanFest event in Korea, last Saturday, at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul inviting 12 star YouTubers, or so-called "Creators," to perform special fan meeting stages for their 2,000 fans gathered at the venue. The number of visitors at the FanFest doubled compared to that of last year, showing the growing fandom of local YouTubers' and their distinctive contents in music, game and beauty. The event also provided a chance for the creators and fans to communicate while holding "Creator Camp" to teach rookie YouTubers know-how in creating quality contents. The popular YouTuber Na Dong-hyun, who has 1.27 million people subscribing his channel using the alias "The Great Library," staged the main show alongside Deeva Jessica, another YouTuber teaching English online, as an emcee. Other creators like Ddotty, SSIN and JuNCurryAhn held individual booth at the venue to meet their fans while performing comedy conte. Musical actress-turned-YouTuber Bubble Dia and women dance team Waveya showed off their singing and dancing skills. At the end of the event, creators with over a million subscribers on their channel received "Gold Play Button" Award. The first YouTube FanFest in Asia took place in Singapore three years ago, bringing the idea of America's Vidcon where YouTubers share their experience and knowledge while meeting their fans. The festival grew up hold its' event in 10 countries around the world. YouTube has developed into an open community where talented local creators communicate with their fans and created an ecosystem for people with potential to build their hobby into a job as content creator online. "When I created what I like, subscribers also liked it," said 40-year old YouTube creator Kim Hak, or Red Dokkebi. "It hasn't been long that I started YouTube and there aren't many contents for people in my age to watch, so I started making contents for adults." Kim has been uploading various contents for a year about newly launched movie be it a review or anything related to the film like materials used in the screen. By Kang Seung-woo HANGZHOU, China President Park Geun-hye and U.S. President Barack Obama plan to hold a bilateral summit in Vientiane, Laos, Tuesday, Cheong Wa Dae announced. The meeting will be held on Tuesday afternoon hours after President Park arrives in the Southeast Asian country for ASEAN-related meetings. Laos is the final leg of her three-nation trip that includes Russia and China. The talks come amid growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea and the two heads of states are expected to discuss ways to defuse escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula as well as denuclearize the repressive state. The Kim Jong-un regime test-fired three ballistic missiles on Monday. The Tuesday event is expected to be the last bilateral summit between Park and Obama as the latter is scheduled to leave office in January next year. Park is also likely to sit down with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday for their second summit on the sidelines of the multilateral events, according to sources. Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon on Tuesday hinted at the chance of running in next year's presidency. / Yonhap Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon on Tuesday said he is considering running in next year's presidential election, adding there must be a change in the regime in order to overcome the economic and security challenges. "Next year's presidential race is very important. There must be a change in power," Park said during a meeting with the Korean-American community in New York. When asked if Park plans to run for presidency, the mayor declined to give a direct answer but said he is deliberating on the matter. Along with Moon Jae-in, who lost against incumbent President Park Geun-hye, the mayor is also considered to be a key potential candidate for the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea. Concerning inter-Korean matters, Park said South Korea should take more pragmatic approaches. "There must be a government that can take a look at the inter-Korean relations with a reasonable and open mind," Park said, adding Seoul should have been more cautious on the deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system in the country. In a survey by Real Meter in late August, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stood as the leading presidential contender with 24.1 percent, trailed by Moon and Ahn Cheol-soo, former co-leader of the minority opposition People's Party, with 17.7 percent and 9.7 percent, respectively. Park held 6.3 percent. (Yonhap) The South Korean government gave the final nod to the controversial anti-graft law Tuesday, paving the way for the scheduled implementation slated for Sept. 28. The law was finalized at the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn. The Kim Young-ran anti-graft law aims to bring more transparency to workers in certain sectors who should maintain higher ethical standards than ordinary citizens. The Constitutional Court also backed the law saying it is a step in the right direction. Under the policy move, people working for the government, media outlets and schools are also banned from receiving meals priced higher than 30,000 won ($27), gifts exceeding 50,000 won, and congratulatory and condolence money over 100,000 won. Public employees are also banned from receiving excessive returns from making lectures, with the ceiling for ministers set at 500,000 won per hour. Those serving in private schools or media outlets, however, can receive up to 1 million won per hour as they are not considered to be civil servants. (Yonhap) Four Korean universities feature in the top 100 list of the 2016 World University Rankings released by Quacquarelli Symonds on Tuesday. It is the first time Korea University, 98th, has made the top 100 since 2004. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul By Hong Dam-young Four Korean universities have been named in the world's top 100. Seoul National University, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) and Korea University were ranked 35th, 46th, 83rd and 98th, respectively. In the rankings that included 916 universities from 81 countries, seven Korean universities made it to the top 200 and 16 were in the top 500, according to the 2016 World University Rankings released by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) on Tuesday. It is the first time Korea University has made the top 100 since 2004, when the first edition of the QS World University Rankings was released. QS said Korean universities scored high marks for "academic reputation" and "performance of alumni." Meanwhile, the U.S. and Britain dominated the top 20, with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) keeping its reputation intact as the top university for the fifth year. U.S. institutions Stanford and Harvard were second and third. "This year's rankings imply that levels of investment are determining who progresses and who regresses," said Ben Sowter, head of research at QS. "Institutions in countries that provide high levels of targeted funding, whether from endowments or from the public purse, are rising. On the other hand, some Western European nations making or proposing cuts to public research spending are losing ground to their American and Asian counterparts." China continued to progress, with Tsinghua University rising to its highest position at 24th while the National University of Singapore, 12th, remained the leading Asian institution. Kyiv is interested in keeping the Normandy Format of negotiating, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said. "The process of a real restoration of territorial integrity and not a formal one, and the reintegration of residents of the occupied part of Donbas into Ukraine, the return to Ukraine of the whole of Donbas is going to be hard, painful and lengthy. According to the common view that we have with our partners, it is exactly and exclusively the Minsk process that opens the path to the beginning of this process," Poroshenko said when making his annual address to the Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday. "Therefore we are interested more than anybody else in its continuation and also in preservation of the Normandy Format. And all kinds of attacks on it, which were pursued by the aggressor state, have proved to be fruitless," he added. "At the end of the day, one can be endlessly exercising invention of different formats, but never forget that any kind of format only makes sense so long as Russia participates in it. And as long as it is multilateral," Poroshenko said. The government has recommended the business community extend the Chuseok holiday to nine days. / Yonhap By Choi Sung-jin The government has recommended the business community extend the Chuseok holiday to nine days, officials said. Workers usually have a three-day holiday on Chuseok, the Korean version of Thanksgiving Day. This year, Chuseok falls on next Thursday, Sept. 15, and the holiday continues through Sunday. Yet the government is telling managers to allow their employees to take Monday and Tuesday as annual paid holidays. In this case, the holiday can extend to nine days, starting from this weekend. The government has lengthened holidays by designating a day between official holidays and weekends as temporary holidays but this is the first time it has tried to extend holidays by using annual leave. The Ministry of Employment and Labor has sent letters to that effect to the nation's five major business associations -- the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Federation of Korean Industries, the Korea Employers Federation, the Korea International Trade Association and the Federation of SMEs. The five organizations are planning to tell their member companies to cooperate with the government's guideline. The ministry also told regional labor offices to implement the annual leave system more actively. "During the two days before Chuseok, work efficiency can't help but decline," said Chung Ji-won, a director general responsible for labor standard policies. "If we enable workers to use annual leave, it will not only allow them to make good use of their leisure time but will help improve productivity and stimulate private consumption." Currently, only 60.6 percent of Korean workers are using their annual paid leave. And the ratio of workers who use the system goes down as the number of workers goes up. The annual leave use ratio, for instance, is 47.9 percent in businesses hiring 500-999 workers and 52 percent for companies employing 1,000 workers or more. While workers in small and midsize enterprise are more willing to use their annual paid leave, depending on their workload, people working in the subsidiaries of large business groups tend to use it less for fear of upsetting their bosses or in expectation of high stipends for unused annual leave. Article 60 of the Labor Standard Act stipulates employers allow 15-25 days of annual paid leave. "We will focus administrative power on shortening working hours by reinvigorating the use of annual holidays and reducing unnecessary night overtime," said Chung. "Through these measures, we not only want to improve productivity but raise the employment rate." By Jun Ji-hye China has ignored an invitation by South Korea to a global security forum in an apparent protest against the planned deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system here. The Ministry of National Defense said it sent invitations, May 4, to countries and international organizations to attend the Seoul Defense Dialogue (SDD), scheduled to kick off Wednesday for a three-day run. However, the Chinese government never replied, according to ministry officials. Thirty-three nations, including the United States, Japan and Russia, and five international bodies, including the United Nations and the European Union, have sent representatives. "We received no reply from China as of Tuesday," a ministry official said on condition of anonymity. "So, we think nobody from the Chinese government will attend this year's forum." The SDD is an annual security forum of vice-minister level defense officials and security experts from countries and global bodies, aimed at examining ways of better coping with growing threats from North Korea. Beijing has dispatched delegates for four straight years since the inaugural event in 2012 the country sent a military officer serving in South Korea in 2012 and 2013, and a director-level defense official in 2014 and 2015. By Choi Sung-jin The idea of Korea shifting from compulsory military service to a voluntary system is spreading from some corners of the political community to the rest of society. More lawmakers, ruling and in opposition, are exchanging pros and cons through the media and social networking services, political watchers said Tuesday. Spearheading the social discussion about shifting to a voluntary military system is Gyeonggi Province Governor Nam Kyung-pil. In almost every interview with media outlets since last month, Nam has repeatedly made it clear he would make it a campaign pledge if he runs in the presidential election next year. Nam wants to halve troop numbers -- now 600,000 -- and pay a monthly salary equivalent to that of G-9 government employees to those who volunteer to be career soldiers. Given the gradual decline in the birthrate, it will be difficult to maintain the present conscription system, so it would be better to reduce troop numbers and train the slimmer military into more expert soldiers, Nam says. He said providing a monthly salary of about 2 million won would not be difficult if the nation halves its military. Among politicians who back such calls is Rep. Kim Du-kwan of the opposition Minjoo Party of Korea. On Facebook, Kim said: "It is necessary to examine the voluntary system. Its introduction will also help to ease the youth unemployment problem." Some private experts also support the initiative. At the National Assembly's National Defense Committee last year, Lee Ju-ho, a fellow at the Korea Development Institute, proposed a mixed system, in which the nation maintains the basic conscription system and selects half the troops from volunteers. But most security experts say it is too early to discuss such a change given Korea faces the hostile communist regime in the north, stressing the volunteer system could lead to the loss of military strength. It is imperative to have sophisticated weapons systems to reduce troop numbers, the opponents say. As seen in the controversy over deploying the U.S. missile interceptor system, however, the introduction of state-of-the-art weapons could trigger conflict among countries surrounding the Korean Peninsula, they said. In addition, any discussion should include debates about the soldiers' service environment, equity with young women and how to support them when they return to society after retiring, the opponents say. Some watchers regard the proposal by Nam and other politicians as just "preempting political issues" in the run-up to presidential polls. The news, however, could not be more welcome for young men and their families --who have to join the army in the not so distant future, they said. Regardless of the pros and cons about changes to the military system, it is bound to attract public interest, particularly when some young soldiers are being bullied by superiors and some have committed suicide, they said, adding it is sure to become one of the hottest campaign issues next year. Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae bows his head in apology at the Supreme Court building in southern Seoul, Tuesday, over the latest corruption scandal involving a senior judge, before an emergency meeting of local court chiefs to discuss measures to deter corruption in the judiciary. / Korea Times photo by Hong In-kee By Kim Bo-eun Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae offered a public apology Tuesday over the latest corruption scandal involving a senior judge. "Representing the judiciary, I apologize for causing public concern, and pledge to take stern measures according to the findings of the investigation," Yang said. He made the remarks prior to an emergency meeting with local court chiefs at the Supreme Court in southern Seoul, Tuesday. The meeting was convened to discuss measures aimed at rooting out corruption in the judiciary. "The wrongful conduct of one judge is putting the entire court system in jeopardy and tarnishing the pride of judges," he said. "Integrity to a judge is different than that in other professions because it is directly related to a judge's identity. A judge without integrity cannot have a conscience, and a judge without a conscience cannot make a fair ruling." He said he would look for ways to root out corruption involving judges, saying public trust is key for the judiciary's future. The rare apology by the chief of the nation's top court is the first of its kind in 10 years. The latest corruption scandal involves Kim Su-cheon, a senior judge at Incheon District Court, who was arrested last week over allegations of receiving kickbacks from the former head of a local cosmetics company. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un laughs while observing the latest ballistic missile launches in this photo released by the state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun, Tuesday. / Yonhap By Jun Ji-hye North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered his military to continue to bolster its nuclear force, Pyongyang's state-run media said Tuesday. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim made the order while observing the launch of ballistic missiles by the Korean People's Army (KPA). The media did not specify when the drill took place, but it was understood that it referred to Monday's launch of three missiles, believed to be medium-range Rodong missiles, into waters off its east coast. The KCNA reported that Kim "stressed the need to continue making miraculous achievements in bolstering the country's nuclear force" this year that started with the regime's alleged test of a hydrogen bomb. The repressive state announced at the start of the year that it had successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb, Jan. 6, though many outside experts expressed doubts about the claim. On Monday, the North fired three Rodong missiles that flew about 1,000 kilometers before landing in waters within Japan's Air Defense Identification Zone (JADIZ) in the East Sea, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Choo asks Park to meet party leaders By Kim Hyo-jin The main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea's new leader, Rep. Choo Mi-ae, speaks at the National Assembly, Tuesday. / Yonhap The main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK)'s new leader, Choo Mi-ae, said Tuesday the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system is "useless" in defending the country from North Korea's nuclear weapons. She also described the government's decision to accept the U.S. anti-missile system as a diplomatic failure because China and Russia, the country's crucial partners in denuclearizing Pyongyang, will turn their backs on South Korea. In addition, she urged President Park Geun-hye to meet party leaders for discussions on how to revitalize the economy. Choo slammed the Park administration's economic fallout during her first speech at the National Assembly after being elected as the opposition party leader late last month. Noting that the country is facing a low-growth trap and widening income polarization, she said talks between Park and party leaders can be a good chance to deal with these issues. "The government and the Assembly should hold a practical view and join hands when it comes to improvement of people's livelihoods: I propose that we hold an emergency meeting to look into general economic issues that directly impact people's livelihoods," she said. "We, opposition parties, will make daring concessions if it is needed in realizing cooperative politics." The remarks are viewed as part of her efforts to take the initiative in the economic agenda in the lead-up to the presidential election next year, political pundits say. The party has called for "economic democratization" since her predecessor Rep. Kim Chong-in was in power. It has vowed to narrow the income gap by increasing the net income of households and imposing higher corporate taxes. Choo reiterated the need for income redistribution, arguing that the country's tax system, especially corporate tax, should be "normalized" to that end. "The public has growing anger on the current taxation system; the tax on low and middle-income households has increased while the tax on conglomerates is kept low. This can't continue anymore," she said. "It's time for the business sector to shoulder more burdens to revive the slumping economy," she argued, pointing out the country's 10 biggest firms' cash reserves exceed 550 trillion won while household debt is over 1,257 trillion won. The MPK is seeking to raise the corporate tax rate from its current 22 percent to 25 percent, contending its benefit has not trickled down to employees while conglomerates sit on snowballing cash reserves. The percentage was cut from 25 to 22 percent under the previous Lee Myung-bak administration in 2009. Touching on a controversial plan to deploy a THAAD battery, she maintained that the THAAD system cannot protect the safety of the people from the North. The opposition leader criticized the government's decision, saying it has too many limitations to be a perfect countermeasure to the North's missiles while only undermining diplomatic relations with China and Russia. "It is a diplomatic failure as it will induce China and Russia, necessary partners in our talks with Pyongyang, to turn their backs on us," she said. The party had remained relatively neutral in views to a THAAD issue compared to other minor opposition parties. But its tone has changed since Choo, a strong opponent to the U.S. anti-missile system, replaced her predecessor Kim. Kim Bang-soon, chairman of the Association of Korean Dermatologists, stages a one-man rally in front of the Supreme Court in southern Seoul, Monday, to protest the court ruling that allows dentists to use dermatological laser equipment. / Yonhap Doctors in different fields in feuds over expertise' By Lee Kyung-min Conflicts are deepening among doctors specializing in different fields, following recent court rulings that allowed medical practitioners to provide treatments which were previously regarded as being in others' domains. Doctors whose specialties are likely to be weakened protested the rulings, while those whose specialties are likely to benefit from the decisions claim such permission will widen patients' options. On Aug. 29, the Supreme Court acquitted a dentist of using a Fraxel Laser, a dermatological device that helps reduce fine lines and dark spots on the skin of a patient. It said the dermatological treatments are within dental expertise. The ruling came about a month after the top court overturned a lower court ruling and allowed dentists to give Botox shots to patients to remove wrinkles around their eyes. Dermatologists and plastic surgeons opposed the ruling. On Monday, Kim Bang-soon, the chairman of the Association of Korean Dermatologists (AKD), began a one-man protest in front of the Supreme Court, saying the ruling confuses the public about which medical professional they should see for a particular health concern. Kim held a sign that read: "Common sense dictates that dermatologists treat patients with skin problems, and dentists, problems with their teeth. Allowing dentists to use dermatological equipment disrupts the social norm." Kim said dentists should not be allowed to treat patients with skin problems because they do not have proper training to diagnose these conditions based on what appears on the patients' skin. "Dermatologists are trained to decide whether a patient requires a simple laser treatment for the removal of a mole or if they have something that requires further tests and observation for possible cancer or other serious diseases. Such diagnosis is impossible without years of in-depth, professional knowledge about skin," an AKD official said. "Further, those without training using laser equipment could cause an increase in medical accidents where affected patients might suffer from scars or other side effects," she added. Protesting against the ruling, dermatologists said they would begin teeth whitening treatment. The Korean Association of Plastic Surgeons (KAPS) also criticized the top court's ruling, saying it failed to recognize the role of a licensed dentist defined by law. "The law clearly stipulates that a dentist should treat patients with oral health concerns. The court ruling is based on the premise that the term oral' includes eyes, ears, nose, cheeks and forehead. This is not only uncommon but a bizarre interpretation of the law. Such a definition of the medical term oral' is nowhere to be found in any credible medical references," the KAPS said in a statement. "Rulings of this sort undermine the authority and credibility of state-administered medical licenses, further jeopardizing public health," it added. Contrary to these responses, the Korean Dental Association welcomed the rulings on laser and Botox treatments. "The decision on laser treatments is in line with that of Botox treatments. It again confirmed that treatment of the face is within a dentist's expertise," the association said in a statement. "We hope doctors' groups will halt their legal fight and stop making distorted claims about the domain of dentists. They should commit themselves to their duties." Earlier in August, a high court also ruled that Oriental medicine practitioners should be allowed to use the electroencephalograph (EEG), a brain-wave measuring machine used to assist in the diagnosis of dementia and Parkinson's disease, fueling the practitioners' conflicts with medical doctors. The court said using the EEG does not require specific clinical experience and thus Oriental medicine practitioners can use the device to understand patients' conditions, saying using the machine is within the limits of their licenses. By Kang Seung-woo VIENTIANE, Laos South Korea will help Laos develop rural areas and industrial infrastructure under the "Korea Aid" program, President Park Geun-hye said Tuesday. Korea Aid is a new form of official development assistance (ODA) that provides a diverse range of contributions, including healthcare, food and culture, by sending trucks directly to local communities in remote, hard-to-reach areas. Korea first initiated the program in Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya during Park's trip to Africa in May. "I hope my visit to Laos will contribute to expanding bilateral ties in every sector," Park said in an interview with the country's state-run English newspaper, the Vientiane Times. "In particular, I will expand the Korea Aid program to Laos soon." Park arrived in the Laotian capital of Vientiane on Tuesday to attend ASEAN-related meetings and hold her first summit with President Bounnhang Vorachith, who took office in April. She is the first Korean President to visit the Southeast Asian country since the two nations reopened diplomatic ties in 1995. "I look forward to discussions with President Vorachith on how to bolster substantive, mutually beneficial cooperation in such areas as trade, investment, energy and development cooperation," she said. South Korea has been expanding ties with countries that have maintained close relations with North Korea, including Laos, as part of its efforts for stronger international unity against the North's nuclear development. Park hoped her summit with the Laotian President will also offer an opportunity for cooperation in noneconomic areas. "I also expect to discuss measures to deepen cultural and people-to-people exchanges even more with a view to enhancing mutual understanding between the peoples of our two nations," Park said. For example, she said the Korean government is considering allowing Laotians to work in Korea. Korean ODA has contributed to Laos' development with 14 ODA projects worth $70 million currently underway and additional support will follow, Park said. "Korea plans to provide additional support for various other projects in the years to come, such as a building with increased capacity for a vocational skills development institute and for the immigration office as well as the Mekong Integrated Water Resources Management Project in Vientiane," she said. By Kim Jae-kyoung North Korea is expected to perform more nuclear and missile tests after the U.S. presidential election in November to gain an edge in negotiations, according to a North Korea expert. "As we course through the next U.S. president's first term, we will likely see more nuclear and missile tests as Pyongyang tries to scare us into believing it is impervious to military action on our part," William Brown, professor at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, told The Korea Times. "And it will continue to demand our acknowledgment of its new powers," he added. "We have to look tactically at what North Korea is up to and how our leaders will respond to its provocations and potentially more constructive initiatives." According to Brown, it is estimated that North Korea had a few crude nuclear devices at the beginning of Obama's term but now has upwards of 20 weapons, and is on the way toward a hundred or more in the not too distant future, all deliverable by missiles targeting South Korea, Japan, and U.S. bases. "North Korea wants us to be aware of its growing capabilities and thus willingly shows off that it has both plutonium and enriched uranium facilities in operation, presumably cranking out fissile material," he said. "Once you have plenty of highly enriched uranium, it is expensive but relatively easy to develop powerful weapons and shorter range missile delivery systems," he added. "Kim Jung-un is able to laugh at our sanctions with impunity and promote his "byeongjin line." However, Brown, who is also a non-resident research fellow at the Korea Economic Institute in Washington, pointed out that the byeongjin line its dual policy to pursue nuclear armament and economic developments simultaneously may backfire on the young, unpredictable leader. "Kim is shooting himself in the foot by allowing market forces to increasingly dominate his command economy and that will come back to haunt him," he said. "So it's kind of a race inside North Korea and we need to be quick to take advantage," he added."I'm thinking some changes in our defense and sanctions policies are needed in order to accomplish that." When asked which U.S. presidential candidates Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump would be better for Korea, he said that it depends on whether the situation is sustainable or unsustainable. "If the track is sustainable, Clinton might be the better choice for a stable South Korea," he said. "If unsustainable, something needs to change and Trump would seem to be the more likely one to induce needed changes." Brown expects that Clinton, especially given the increasing weight of left-leaning Sander's supporters, would respond with efforts to negotiate, while Trump would probably try something more dramatic and adventurous that can be scary for Seoul. "Kim Jong-un must be more than a little afraid of Trump, and less afraid of Clinton, so I figure the former is the better deterrent for our side," he said. "One concern for Trump is that he will not be ready, given his lack of Washington experience and what will be an entirely new executive branch," he added. "Trump probably would have to rescind the Obama executive action that specifically sanctions the young Kim." He said that Clinton has plenty of experienced people to fall back on but the question is "Do we want that kind of experience?" "Clinton might try to engage again using her husband, who visited Pyongyang and met with Kim a couple of years ago," he said. "Or she might again use her friend Madeline Albright, also with experience in Pyongyang." Beijing likely to reject Park's proposal By Yi Whan-woo President Park Geun-hye is seeking trilateral talks to settle a dispute between South Korea, the United States and China over the planned deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in South Korea. On Monday, she proposed "a comprehensive discussion" involving the United States during bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. Analysts said Tuesday that Park's offer was an attempt to make Seoul a mediator amid China's opposition toward the joint decision made by South Korea and the U.S. concerning THAAD. They also said China may appreciate Park's gesture amid escalating military tension between the two superpowers. However, China is likely to be skeptical about a three-way conversation, considering it remained lukewarm toward a 2015 proposal jointly made by Park and U.S. President Barack Obama for a three-way consultation on North Korea's denuclearization. "Park's offer is noteworthy because she sent clear signs to China that South Korea will try to maintain good relations," said Kim Yeol-su, an international politics professor at Sungshin Women's University. "Beijing is likely to take Park's gesture into account in future relations between the two countries." Ukrainian army reports 21 attacks on its positions in Donbas over past 24 hours Ukrainian army positions came under 21 attacks in the past 24 hours, although the truce was generally observed, the press center of the ATO staff wrote on Facebook. Six shelling incidents were registered in the Mariupol sector, 13 in the Donetsk sector, and two in the Luhansk sector. Luhanske and the outskirts of Avdiyivka were attacked by use of small arms, machineguns and grenade launchers in the Donetsk sector. The frontline between Shyrokyne and Talakivka in the Mariupol area came under fire of 120mm and 82mm mortars. Small arms and a sniper weapon were used near Shyrokyne. Grenade launchers, machineguns and small arms were fired in Stanytsia Luhanska and Novozvanivka in the Luhansk area. Besides, sniper activity was observed near Stanytsia Luhanska. Drones were seen flying in the Donetsk and Mariupol sectors. President Park Geun-hye shakes hands with U.S. President Barack Obama after speaking to the media at the conclusion of a bilateral meeting in Vientiane, Laos, Tuesday. / AP-Yonhap By Kang Seung-woo VIENTIANE, Laos President Park Geun-hye and U.S. President Barack Obama agreed Tuesday that the allies will maintain a strong deterrence against North Korea's growing threats. For this, they agreed to utilize all means, including an advanced U.S. missile defense system, to respond to the North's hostilities. The agreement was reached during a summit in the Laotian capital of Vientiane, where they arrived to attend ASEAN-related meetings that will begin today. Laos is the last leg of Park's three-nation trip that included Russia and China. The bilateral talks took place one day after the Kim Jong-un regime conducted a test of three ballistic missiles Monday the latest show of force as President Park and Chinese President Xi Jinping reaffirmed their commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula at the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China. "Since the beginning of the year, North Korea has carried out a nuclear test and launched a series of ballistic missiles, fundamentally threatening the security of the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia," Park said in a press statement following the summit. "So, I would like to make it clear that South Korea and the United States will respond resolutely to any provocations by North Korea by utilizing all means." Park also warned that the North's repeated and reckless provocations such as the missile tests will lead to its self-destruction. Obama also said, "I want to reaffirm that our commitment to the defense and security of South Korea, including extended deterrence is unwavering." "North Korea needs to know that provocations will only invite more pressure and further deepen its isolation" Washington plans to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in South Korea by next year to counter North Korea's missile threats. However, the decision has drawn criticism from China and Russia, which claim that the system's radar may be used to spy on them. "THAAD is a purely defensive system to defend against North Korean threats," Obama said. China's objections are also sparking speculation that Beijing may loosen its support of international sanctions imposed on the North over its nuclear weapons program. Regarding this, Park and Obama stressed China's role in enforcing sanctions against the North and resolving the reclusive state's nuclear ambitions. In March, the United Nations (U.N.) imposed the latest set of sanctions on the North Korean regime for its nuclear test in January and long-range rocket test the following month. "We are going to work diligently together with the most recent U.N. sanctions," Obama said, adding that efforts will be followed to close loopholes in existing sanctions and make them more effective. Park also said, "In order to fully implement the sanctions and address the North Korean nuclear issue, China's role is important. So, South Korea and the United States have agreed to continue discussing the issue with Beijing through various channels." In the press statement, Park also touched on the North's dismal human rights record, saying improving the rights of North Koreans will be a "crucial stepping stone" towards national unification. "Unification will provide opportunities for North Koreans to be treated equally," she said. Park to meet Abe today Today, President Park is scheduled to sit down with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for their third summit to discuss ways to deal with the North's increasing missile tests. Park met Abe, Monday, on the sidelines of the G20 Summit and they agreed to cooperate on the issue. Along with the North Korean threat, they are also expected to discuss follow-up measures to the "comfort women" deal, reached Dec. 28 last year to end their dispute over imperial Japan's sexual enslavement of Korean women before and during World War II. International participants take the Oebang Byeolsi, a state civil service exam, at the Dasan Heritage Site in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, Sunday. / Courtesy of John Redmond By John Redmond College students from Korea and other countries had the opportunity to experience the nation's traditions at the 30th Dasan Culture Festival in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, Sunday. The participants included around 100 foreign students and international guests from Iran, Brazil, Peru, Uzbekistan, Malaysia, South Africa, Australia, Thailand, England, Canada, the Philippines and the U.S. The festival was held at the Dasan Ecological Center to celebrate the life of Korean scholar Jeong Yak-yong (1762-1836) who went by the penname of Dasan. Exiled in 1801, Dasan wrote books on diverse topics including science, military, philosophy and literature. At age four, Dasan had learned 10,000 Chinese characters and was writing poetry in Chinese. The scholar passed the civil service exam at 28. And at 31 he devised a crane incorporating a pulley mechanism that was used in the construction of Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon, saving considerable costs and winning the respect of King Jeongjo. The purpose of the festival was to give participants a chance to experience Joseon life, including a stage performance, dressing up in Joseon clothes, a tea ceremony, a wedding and the Oebang Byeolsi, a civil service exam. "The Oebang Byeolsi state exam was taken outside the capital region in the presence of the king, that provided a privilege to its applicants either by recruiting them at once after the exam or by enabling them to directly apply for Jeonsi, the final stage in the official state literary exam," said tour guide and translator Leem Jin-hee. The exam tested participants' knowledge of Korean history during the reign of King Jeongjo and understanding of Hangeul and artistic skills. Guests received tokens representing currency of the era so they could purchase traditional Korean foods and beverages for lunch. A wedding ceremony was open to volunteers, complete with certificates, and was followed by a celebration feast with traditional rice cakes. "I can't believe it, I'm about to get married to a guy I met an hour ago," joked a woman from Seattle. The annual event is about a two-hour road trip from Seoul, with the nearest subway station being Ungilsan on the Gyeongui-Jungang Line. A shuttle bus takes participants to the Dasan Heritage Site. Prices vary depending on tour operator, but the general cost is 50,000 won. Visit nyj.go.kr for more information in Korea, English, Japanese, Chinese or Mongolian. Cult watcher Peter Daley speaks at Seoul Book and Culture Club, Saturday By Jon Dunbar Korea has a bizarrely high number of self-proclaimed messiahs, and they may use sophisticated deception and persuasion techniques to rope you in. Cult watcher Peter Daley lectured on cults at the Seoul Book and Culture Club, Saturday. After, he gave The Korea Times five tips on avoiding cults. 1. Street approach Rather than knocking on your door, cults here prefer doing their recruiting in public. "An obvious first introduction is a street approach," said Daley, which may involve a survey, donation request, event invitation or something simpler like asking for directions. He cautions that cults may try to find where you work or live so they can hit you closer to home. Foreigners living in small towns are especially easy targets. 2, Deception Some cults hide behind front groups rather than reveal their true nature, knowing that it would scare most new recruits away. They may pose as Bible studies groups or offer volunteer or recreational clubs or events. "I have spoken to former members of some cults who were not informed of the name of the church or its leader until well after a year of Bible studies," said Daley. 3. Exceptional interest in you Cults have exceptional financial and human resources to levy against you. "Love bombing" is a persuasion technique that relies on forced affection. "Friendships formed at the onset may appear wonderful at the beginning but are entirely conditional upon further attendance, and hence not true friendships at all," said Daley. "The relationship was instigated under orders from above." Cult-run events have nonstop photo ops, and you may find yourself always on camera, even if surrounded by more senior members. This puts you on the spot, but there might be another reason. 4. Not necessarily trying to convert you Many are fooled by recruiters who don't proselytize. But cults need more than worshippers, especially among foreigners. "Individuals do not necessarily need to be indoctrinated into a cult in order to be of use to it," said Daley. "Those with no knowledge of the cultic connections can speak sincerely and honestly and from a position of total ignorance about the group." Some cults use secular fronts to lure in foreigners, who are little more than seat fillers. Footage of foreigners at cult-run events makes internal propaganda that the leader's message is spreading globally. Foreign members are exploited to victimize Korean members. That free Korean language class isn't so free anymore. 5. Meaningless positive message Rather than learn that the leader is the undying messiah, he or she will more likely be introduced as a prominent peace activist, healer or philanthropist. But the message falls apart, as these cults tend to be autocratic groups primarily serving the leader's gratification. "If everyone shared the same beliefs, there would be world peace," said one cult leader. "Cults do not take rejection well," said Daley. If a cult is harassing you, he advises calling the police. Visit Daley's website jmscult.com to learn about the most active cults. By John J. Metzler BRATISLAVA, Slovakia The majestic Danube River connects Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest. Just 40 miles downriver from Vienna, the historic city of Bratislava rises above the Danubian plain. Still the turrets of Bratislava castle on the hill are more picturesque than forbidding butare usually missed in a journey between Vienna and Budapest. Yet here awaits a positive story, largely overlooked by the major media but very well known to foreign investors.. First a bit of history. Once part of the Austro/Hungarian Empire, after the First World War, what is today's Slovakia formed part of old Czechoslovakia founded in 1918. Following the Second World War, Czechoslovakia fell under communist control and was part of the East Bloc. Despite its relative proximity to Vienna, during the Cold War, Bratislava was largely forgotten and forsaken until 1989 when this epic year of freedom, bought Eastern Europe and with it Czechoslovakia, out of the cold. In what was called the velvet divorce, Slovakia peacefully separated in 1993 from Czechoslovakia in a move many pundits thought imprudent, but were proven wrong. Bratislava is the capital of this country of five and a half million people (5.5 million). Though certainly in the shadow of opulent Vienna or even Budapest, historically Bratislava, once known by its Hungarian name Pozsnoy, was a city of eleven royal coronations. During the Ottoman/Turkish occupation of Hungary, this city served as the seat of Royal Hungary. In June 1741, Maria Theresa, one of Austria's most powerful monarchs, was crowned at St. Martin's Cathedral. Nonetheless Bratislava, this gem of a once thriving royal city, is not yet a tourist nexus. From the dark days of the Cold War and socialist economy, since 1989 through hard work and focused policy, Slovakia has emerged as a multi-party democracy and an economic success story. Freedom House, the human rights watchdog group adds, "Slovakia has been among the most obvious economic success stories in post-communist Europe, and with economic growth topping 3 percent in 2015, it is one of the fastest growing economies in the European Union (EU). " According to the media monitor Reporters Without Borders, Slovakia ranks number 12 globally in press freedoms out of 180 countries; just behind Austria but ahead of Canada and the USA. The Washington based Heritage Foundation think tank adds, "A prudent regulatory framework for the financial sector combined with competitive tax rates has fueled Slovakia's transition into a flexible and vibrant market-based economy with considerable resilience. Openness to foreign trade and investment has positioned the country as one of the most attractive destinations for foreign direct investment in Europe." For a number of years already, the country has become home to high profile manufacturing industries. Korean firms such as Samsung produce widescreen TV for the European market. Though Slovakia was traditionally known for its heavy industries during the socialist era, the country has in a sense reinvented itself with far reaching market reforms to attract investors. Surprisingly Slovakia is one of the world's largest auto producers with Germany's Volkswagen, the French PSA Peugeot Citroen and South Korea's Kia Motors as major manufacturers. Over a quarter million people are employed in the automotive industry. Labor costs are far below those of Germany and France. American firms such as Dell, HP, IBM and Microsoft are well established in the computer and IT sector. Research & Development and computer security centers thrive and form a vital element in Slovakia's rich high-tech landscape. Two way trade between Slovakia and the USA reached $2.7 billion in 2015. Last year Slovakia attracted $479 million in foreign investment mostly from Europe and East Asia. Foreign Direct Investment into Slovakia increased to $2,6 billion in the first half of 2016. Given that Slovakia is a member of the European Union since 2004, as well as in the Euro currency zone, the country is well poised for intra-European trade. Equally, geography and transport routes favor Slovakia which is located as a transit hub between West and East. However, there's a dangerous dependence on Russian energy supplies. On the international front Slovakia is a member of both the European Union and NATO, a vital insurance policy for the country. Though currently holding the rotating Presidency of the European Union, Slovakia's tenure has been overshadowed by the British BREXIT crisis. Slovakia has provided troops to the NATO mission in Afghanistan as well as to UNpeacekeeping missions.Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcek is currently a candidate for the post of UN Secretary General. While the mighty Danube binds Slovakia into central Europe, the high Tatra mountains exemplify the spirit of this small country to excel and reach for the heights. John J. Metzler is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. The U.N. Security Council will meet Tuesday at the request of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan to discuss a barrage of ballistic missile launches that North Korea carried out on Monday in violation of a series of U.N. resolutions. / Yonhap The U.N. Security Council will meet Tuesday to discuss a barrage of ballistic missile launches that North Korea carried out in violation of a series of U.N. resolutions, diplomatic sources said. The meeting has been set up at the request of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, the sources said. It comes only 10 days after the Security Council adopted a press statement condemning the North's launch of a ballistic missile from a submarine. Earlier Monday, the North fired three Rodong medium-range missiles off its east coast. The missiles flew about 1,000 km and landed in waters some 400 km inside Japan's air defense identification zone, according to South Korea's military. The barrage was the latest in a number of missile launches of all ranges short, medium, intermediate and submarine missiles the communist nation has been carrying out since its fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch the following month. Such launches represent a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban the North from any activity using ballistic missile technology over concern that it can be used to develop long-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons. (Yonhap) The United States on Monday strongly condemned a barrage of missile launches from North Korea as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, vowing to raise the issue at the United Nations and an upcoming regional summit in Laos. The North fired three Rodong medium-range missiles off its east coast earlier Monday. The missiles flew about 1,000 km and landed in waters some 400 km inside Japan's air defense identification zone, according to South Korea's military. The barrage was the latest in a number of missile launches of all ranges -- short, medium, intermediate and submarine missiles -- the communist nation has been carrying out since its fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch the following month. "The United States strongly condemns North Korea's launch of three ballistic missiles," State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. "These launches, which have become far too common in the past several months, violate multiple U.N. Security Council Resolutions explicitly prohibiting North Korea's launches using ballistic missile technology." The North's development of nuclear and ballistic missile programs poses threats not only to the U.S., but also its allies South Korea and Japan, Kirby said. Moreover, "reckless" missile launches like Monday's threaten civil aviation and maritime commerce in the region, he said. "We will raise our concerns at the U.N. about the threat posed to international security by these programs. We will also do so in other fora?including the upcoming East Asia Summit to bolster international resolve to hold the DPRK accountable for its provocative actions," Kirby said. "Our commitment to the defense of our allies in the face of these threats remains ironclad," he said. "We call on North Korea to refrain from actions and rhetoric that further raise tensions in the region and to focus instead on taking concrete steps toward fulfilling its international obligations and commitments." The East Asia Summit is an annual gathering of the leaders of 18 Asia-Pacific nations, including the North's all five negotiating partners in the long-stalled six-party nuclear talks. This year's meeting is set to open in Laos on Tuesday. The U.S. Strategic Command confirmed the North's missile launches, but said two of the three missiles are "presumed to be intermediate range ballistic missiles" and the type of the other missile was still being assessed. The command did not further specify whether the intermediate-range missiles were Rodong as assessed by South Korea's military, or the longer-range Musudan missile, which is believed to be capable of reaching the U.S. territory of Guam. "U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) systems detected and tracked what we assess were three North Korean missile launches at 10:13 p.m. CDT, September 4, 2016, near the western city of Hwangju," the command said in a statement. "The missiles were tracked over North Korea and into the Sea of Japan." (Yonhap) North Korea's Rodong Sinmun released 9 photos on Tuesday that were revelent to the latests launches of three mid-range Rodong missiles toward Japan that took place on Monday. / Yonhap North Korean leader Kim Jong-un observed the latest launches of ballistic missiles and stressed the need to bolster the country's nuclear force, the state-run media said Tuesday. The North's leader was present for the test-firing of ballistic rockets by artillery units of the Korean People's Army (KPA), according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). On Monday, North Korea test-fired three mid-range Rodong missiles toward Japan in an apparent show of force as the Group of 20 major economies summit meeting was held in China. The launch also came four days before the 68th anniversary of the establishment of the North Korean regime. The KCNA reported that Kim "stressed the need to continue making miraculous achievements in bolstering up the nuclear force" in its historic year that started with the country's test of a hydrogen bomb. The artillery units of the KPA Strategic Force "demonstrated before the world their military might as a strong service capable of mounting a pre-emptive attack on the enemies any time and from any place," it reported. It added that those units are tasked with striking U.S. military bases in the Pacific region in a contingency. North Korea has increased tests of ballistic missiles in violation of relevant U.N. Security Council (UNSC) resolutions banning North Korea's use of ballistic missile technology. Since the North's leader took office in late 2011, North Korea has test-fired more than 30 ballistic missiles, including intermediate-range Musudan missiles, which theoretically can fly as far as the U.S. territory of Guam. In late August, the North test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) that flew about 500 kilometers, the longest flight by such a missile launched by North Korea. North Korea is seeking to develop a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of hitting targets on the U.S. mainland. Pyongyang has claimed technical advances of its missile capability, including its purported success of making a nuclear warhead small enough to be fit on a ballistic missile. A Seoul government official said that the North would seek to conduct a nuclear warhead test and more test-fires of ballistic missiles on the leader's orders in March. The UNSC slapped its toughest sanctions on Pyongyang in March over its fourth nuclear test in January and long-range rocket launch in the following month. North Korea has claimed that its nuclear weapons development is an act of nuclear deterrence for self-defense in the face of what it claims is Washington's hostile policy toward Pyongyang. (Yonhap) Pakistan has decided to ban North Korean passenger airplanes as part of United Nations sanctions on Pyongyang. / Korea Times file By Lee Jin-a Pakistan has decided to ban North Korean passenger airplanes as part of United Nations sanctions on the country for its nuclear and missile tests. According to the U.S.-based Voice of America (VOA), Air Koryo's flight JS 161 stopped in Urumqi, China, last Tuesday instead of its usual layover destination of Islamabad, Pakistan, on its way to Kuwait. The returning flight Air Koryo JS 162 to Pyongyang also stopped over in Urumqi. VOA said the flight took two hours longer because of the ban. The Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) told VOA that the government had banned Air Koryo planes following U.N. Security Council Resolution 2270. The official said it will continue the ban as long as the resolution remains effective. VOA said Islamabad refused entry to Air Koryo flights three times in July. Pakistan's decision means North Korean airplanes can only land in three countries China, Russia and Kuwait. Eduardo Chadwick, president of Vina Errazuriz, holds a bottle of 2013 Sena, an iconic Chilean wine. / Courtesy of Wine Review Luxury wine introduces 2014 vintage in Seoul By Park Jin-hai Renowned Chilean wine Sena held an introduction of its latest 2014 vintage in Seoul, Monday. Eduardo Chadwick, president and owner of Vina Errazuriz, is best known as the ambassador of esteemed Chilean wine by introducing the country's first international joint venture wine Sena with Californian wine legend Robert Mondavi and finally having put his label during the last 20 years onto the world wine connoisseur's map. He came to Seoul as part of his Asian tour to celebrate its release. Citing that Korea is one of the most important markets for fine wines, Chadwick says the event aims to showcase its world-class quality as well as its evolution in time and aging potential. "We are very pleased to present you with our 2014 Sena, a unique and stunning wine that equals the best vintages, such as 2006, 2010, 2012 and 2013. Depth, flavor intensity and great purity along with outstanding aromatics are the characteristics that best describe this beautiful, full-bodied wine," during the interview with The Korea Times at the Park Hyatt Seoul Hotel, Monday. Korea is an important market for Chile, as the country already gained a preference from Korean wine consumers with the largest market share in the imported wine category, he says. "Chilean wine is of good quality but also very affordable. It is remarkable that we have a 20 plus market share here," he said. Over 90 percent of Korean wine lovers opt for red wines. "If you compare palates of the American market, a more sweet market with more power, or the European, which has more finesse, I got a very interesting answer (from Korean connoisseurs) that people claim they prefer finesse, elegance and nuances, yet still when tasting they prefer power and more richness," he said. In 1995, on the template of Opus One, he and Mondavi created Sena, which literally means signal. "It is the signal to the world that Chile has world-class appellation and terroir that we can produce wines that can rival the best wines of the world," he said. Through blind-tastings, Sena has earned world-recognition as the best Chilean premium wine. Sena 2013 obtained 99 points, the highest number of points any Chilean wine has earned by renowned wine critic James Suckling. "Those tastings have proved that our wines are equal or better than the likes of Lafite, Margaux and Latour," he said. Compared with the 2013 vintage, the newly unveiled Sena 2014 is intense, powerful but with great elegance and finesse of a very round silky tense. The frost in mid-September that year made the grapes very concentrated and gentle and the following sunny season gave the perfect ripeness to the grapes. Blended with 60 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 16 percnet Carmenere, 11 percent Malbec, 8 percent Merlot and 5 percent Petit Verdot, and aged 22 months in new French oak barrels, Chadwick compares the 2014 vintage to "Angelina Jolie." "If I'm talking to a wine-lover, Sena is a beautiful wine, it's feminine. I'd call it the Angelina Jolie of wine that has great finesse and elegance but also has power and energy... very powerful and seductive." The secret has been he says biodynamic farming he adopted in 2005 to search for the truest possible expression of its terroir. It applies ancestral techniques and methods focused on preserving the cycle of fertility and biodiversity and maintaining a deep respect for nature in its 42 hectares of vineyards. "Biodynamic farming is an ultimate way of farming that shows respect for the terroir. It means you do not use any pesticides, chemicals or any outside elements that destroy the authenticity of the place," he said. "It's finding the best terroir and then respecting it. With the biodynamic farming, you are not making... It is allowing to bring out the best expression of the terroir. The key is soil, the natural conditions of this beautiful property." South Korea said Monday it has provided 74 percent of earmarked support funds to local firms that operated factories at the now-shuttered joint industrial park in North Korea to help cover their financial losses. The government has offered 376.7 billion won ($340.1 million) out of about 500 billion won in state funds to South Korean companies that have factories inside the Kaesong Industrial Complex, according to Seoul's unification ministry. Seoul shut down the factory zone in the North's border city of Kaesong on Feb. 10 in response to Pyongyang's January nuclear test and long-range rocket launch in the following month. The decision came amid concerns that money generated from the factory zone is bankrolling the North's nuclear and missile programs. The shutdown of the complex may have caused 1.5 trillion won in losses, according to local firms, adding that the government's financial support measures are not sufficient. The complex, which opened in 2004, had served as a major revenue source for the cash-strapped North. A total of 124 South Korean companies operated in the zone, some 50 kilometers northwest of Seoul, employing more than 54,000 North Korean workers to produce labor-intensive goods, such as clothes and utensils. "The government plans to help firms normalize their businesses by providing support in a swift manner," Jeong Joon-hee, ministry spokesman, said at a regular press briefing. (Yonhap) The Ukrainian constitution will not be modified regarding decentralization and a special self-government regime for individual districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions until provisions of the Minsk agreements prescribing de-escalation of the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine are fulfilled, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said. "As you can see, a second reading of constitutional amendments, a phantom of which has been constantly wandering around this hall, has not happened. This will not happen until appropriate conditions emerge. Any decision lies solely with you, esteemed deputies. Constitutional amendments, the law on local elections in part of Donbas or any other strategic steps will not happen without you," Poroshenko said in his annual address to the Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday. Ukraine managed to convince Western allies during dialogue that any steps towards political settlement in the region should be preceded by obvious and indisputable progress in security issues. "A lasting truce, withdrawal of Russian troops and weapons from the occupied territory, disarmament of militants and, in the end, our control over our own border," he said. "Russia wants to create a 'Donbas protectorate' on lands uncontrolled by Kyiv and to insert it into Ukraine on its own terms for the purposes of undermining Ukraine from the inside," the Ukrainian president said. "Let me be brief: this will not happen," Poroshenko said. By Nam Sang-so English was considered to be the enemy language in Japan during World War II and people were discouraged from learning it. As soon as the war was over, however, everyone wanted to learn the language and Emperor Showa (Hirohito) too thought Crown Prince Akihito should master English and be an international minded emperor to lead post war Japan. George D. Stoddard (1897~1981), an American educator was sent to Japan in 1946. Dr. Stoddard was to advise Gen. Douglas MacArthur on revising the Japanese educational system. While there, he was asked by Emperor Hirohito to find a tutor for his 13 year old son. Upon returning home, he looked for a suitable American to educate the future Japanese emperor. He had shortlisted 3 educators among 600 applicants, and Elizabeth Janet Gray Vining (1902~1999) was among the finalists. She had earned an MS in library science and became a librarian. She was injured in an automobile accident, and during her convalescence, she converted to the Quaker faith. From 1946 to 1950 during the Allied occupation of Japan, Vining was selected by Emperor Hirohito himself to become a private tutor to Crown Prince Akihito, the present emperor of Japan. In addition to teaching English-language skills, Vining introduced the children of the Imperial Household to Western values and culture. For her work, she was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure by the Japanese government. Among the English books Vining had brought from the United States as her teaching materials included: "Book of Knowledge," "Shire Colt," "Abraham Lincoln," "We Grow Up," "They were Strong and Good," "George Washington," and "Julius Ceasar," reports Masayasu Hozaka in his book, "His Majesty's English." Prince Akihito had a good chance to test his English knowledge when he attended the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of England. He read a welfare letter from the Emperor in front of Queen Elizabeth. It read: "Your Majesty, On behalf of my parents, the Emperor and Empress of Japan, I have the honor to tender their most sincere felicitations on Your Majesty's forthcoming Coronation. I am commanded by my father to convey his cordial greetings to Your Majesty and to H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh " Prince Akihito worked very hard repeatedly practicing the English text and even attempted to learn it by heart. As a result, his first English speech was well accepted by both Royal families and was considered to be one of the most important events for continuously maintaining the Royal House of Japan. It was a beautiful scene like a grandson lovingly speaking to his grandfather when the 19 year old future emperor of Japan whispered to the 79 year old Prime Minister Churchill. The scene greatly softened the British people's feeling of hostility toward Japan when they were enemies. English worked. When Prince Akihito along with Princess Michiko made a trip to the United States, the royal couple visited Madam Vining who was then resting in a nursing home in Philadelphia. The Prince expressed his gratitude for not only English but also the spirit and morale of the Quakers she had taught. In hindsight, though, all the crown prince needed was a few months of tutoring in Korean which would have been much easier for him to learn than English. One of his ancient grandmothers was Korean. And if he were able to read his father's congratulatory message in Hangeul in Seoul, the two nations may have been in a completely different picture now. Nothing is too late; Crown Prince Naruhito can still do it. Hangeul works too. The writer is a Japanese-English-Korean translator. His email address is sangsoname@gmail.com. By Doug Bandow Denmark is a pleasant place to live, but no one much cares what the Danes think about the world because they can't do much to change it. Unless they gain control of another nation's military. The last NATO Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, hailed from Denmark, which has 17,200 citizens under arms. Of course, that position did not allow him to deploy the American military. But it did give him unusual influence over U.S. policy. Even as the American people tire of trying to solve other nations' problems, he wants the U.S. continues its interventionist course. Politico recently interviewed Rasmussen, who promoted an "American-led world order" at American expense, of course. Rasmussen's greatest fear appeared to be that Donald Trump might be elected and end Washington's unique global role: "What is at stake here is the American role as the global superpower." He agreed that Europeans should do more on behalf of their own defense, but offered no strategy to make serious and permanent increases a reality. Rasmussen was critical of Trump's desire for better relations with Russia. Not that Denmark has any real interest in the issue, since in a conflict the Danes would do little to help defeat Moscow. Rasmussen complained that the GOP platform eliminated a pledge for military aid to Kiev. He worried: "The West risks losing a democratic Ukraine by undermining our support for the country." But is the prospect of a "democratic Ukraine," whatever that means in practice, worth war with Russia? Of course, Rasmussen contended that it is "in America's self-interest" to preserve "the international order." But surely not only America's interest. How about the interest of Europe, which today can't be bothered to spend much on its own defense, let alone for operations elsewhere? Indeed, he argued, if "America were to disengage from Europe, then you would really risk Russia increasing her influence," which would result in "a more hostile Europe." Is the continent, which vastly outranges Russia on most measures of power, really that inconstant and self-destructive? If so, Americans are better off leaving now. Yet Rasmussen is prepared to be quite generous with U.S. lives. As a superpower America "has special obligations." Really? Washington has "a special obligation to maintain the world order and promote peace." Indeed, it is America's "destiny" to lead. This sounds like the practiced cant of a con-man who relies on flattery. At the end of World War II only the U.S. was able to bolster war-ravaged friends and former foes and confront the Soviet Union. But that world disappeared in 1989, if not before. America's populous and prosperous allies also benefit from today's international system. Collectively they possess larger economies and populations than America. They can do much to "maintain the world order and promote peace," and especially to constrain regional trouble-makers. Rasmussen tried another tack, one common among American Neoconservatives. He argued: "it's in the United States' interest to actually prevent conflicts while they are still manageable and small, instead of waiting and seeing them grow bigger." Again, why only America which should keep "the lid on" such cases? Moreover, Rasmussen presumes that Washington officials are capable of discerning potential disasters in advance, acting swiftly and smartly to defuse impending conflicts, showing uncommon understanding in developing solutions, and steadfastly imposing and enforcing settlements. But the results of U.S. interventions have been uniformly bad, often disastrous, leading to successive interventions to fix problems created by the previous effort. Rasmussen charged President Barack Obama with being "too reluctant to use American force to prevent and solve conflicts around the world." It is the president's refusal to use the military that has resulted in "autocrats, terrorists and rogue states" being more influential. Again, in what world does Rasmussen live? President Obama actively used the U.S. military, including drones, in Afghanistan, Libya, Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, and Syria. Where else was there something useful to do, the U.S. knew what to do, the American people would support what must be done, and the end would be peace and stability rather than years more of conflict? Even more bizarre is his belief that China, Russia, and terrorists would go away if only America exercised "global leadership." Unless Washington is prepared to go to war with nuclear-armed powers over stakes they consider vital, such challenges are inevitable. And intervention creates rather than eliminates terrorism. Policing the globe is not America's job. Washington should focus on the defense of the U.S. What that requires will change over time as circumstances evolve. But America's defense mandate is America. It is well past time for allied states should take over their defense. Doug Bandow is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute. He also is a former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan. By Lee Seong-hyon South Korea is baffled as to how to interpret Chinese President Xi Jinping's display with his seemingly friendly public face during his meeting with President Park Geun-hye held on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. Despite the well-publicized Chinese indignation over THAAD, and the uncertainty until days before the G20 as to whether a meeting between Xi and Park would materialize, Xi greeted Park with a broad smile on his face Monday morning. He didn't give the kind of solemn and frowning look he put on when he met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during their meeting in Beijing in 2014 when tension over the two nations' territorial disputes were escalating. Xi started his conversation with Park by delving into a "soft topic" the historical linkage of the Chinese host city, Hangzhou, to Korea. Xi also underscored the friendship and cooperation between the two nations. Based on media texts, it was only toward the end of their meeting that Xi brought up the subject of THAAD, expressing China's displeasure with it. Even then, he did so only mentioning it in passing. Park and Xi didn't engage in a heated debate over THAAD. Each side stated their position on the matter and ended the meeting on time in a business-like manner with smiles and handshakes. The way China staged the meeting was similar to the way it traditionally handles problems with North Korea and vice versa. Despite their well-known uncomfortable relationship, China and North Korea avoid going head-on at the highest leadership level and refrain from verbally attacking the other publicly. As a result, they carry on the public face of friendship and amity. (This comes as a useful contrast to the case of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte's defaming U.S. President Barack Obama this week that led to the cancellation of their meeting.) Importantly, this very aspect of public face saving served as one of the major unspoken principles that have preserved the often icy Sino-North Korean relationship even today, despite numerous outside predictions that the couple would be about to divorce. For instance, among the charges in Jang Song-thaek's indictment in 2013 was the accusation that the powerful pro-China politician "sold off precious resources of the country at cheap prices" to a foreign country. But the North Korean authorities didn;t mention which country it was, while it was obvious that it was China. This feature of restraint at the top leadership level was preserved even during the Cultural Revolution period (196676) when China-North Korea relations were undergoing one of their lowest moments as each side accused the other of being "revisionist" and "dogmatist" respectively. During the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese embassy in Pyongyang even put up a Red Guards-style wall poster that criticized North Korea. The North Koreans demanded the Chinese embassy remove the material. The Chinese rejected it. The North Koreans blocked the alley that led to the Chinese embassy in order to prevent people from seeing the anti-North Korean propaganda slogan made by China. In response, the Chinese embassy put the slogan on the embassy's rooftop so that the North Korean leadership couldn't do anything about it. It was a chilly confrontation, affecting even the personal ties of the leaders of the two countries. However, when Kim Il-sung criticized China, he didn't name it, but instead criticized "certain people" in the socialist bloc as misbehaving, while it was so obvious to the beholders who he was referring to. At the G20 meeting, Xi didn't want the world to see the full-blown rupture between Beijing and Seoul. That would be a diplomatic catastrophe in their relationship. Nonetheless, it would be inaccurate to characterize that Xi "softened" his stance on THAAD. Rather, it would be a fairer observation to note that Xi's attitude with Park was more "businesslike." The fact that the Chinese official Xinhua News Agency promptly revealed Xi's opposition to THAAD less than 30 minutes after the end of the meeting indicates that the Chinese side prepared the media text in advance, anticipating the discord over THAAD would not be resolved during the Xi-Park meeting. In conclusion, Xi's decision not to publicly show the fracture in China-South Korea relations is based on the same line of strategy that China applies in handling issues with North Korea. It also means China attaches strategic importance to its ties with Seoul. This is three fold. First, China doesn't want to alienate South Korea too much over their disagreements about THAAD. Beijing doesn't want to see an estranged Seoul drift closer towards Washington. Second, the mutually high economic dependence between Seoul and Beijing functioned as a "shock absorber" this time. Third, it was overridingly important for Xi to stage the G20 meeting as a shining success to showcase his leadership to his domestic audience. Xi wants China's largest global event this year to go seamlessly, while putting aside THAAD for a few days. Lee Seong-hyon, Ph.D., is a research fellow at the Sejong Institute. Email him at sunnybbsfs@gmail.com. A spate of corruption cases involving judges, prosecutors and lawyers is prompting huge public resentment. The Supreme Prosecutors' Office has confirmed allegations that an incumbent prosecutor received kickbacks from a businessman who was his middle and high school classmate. The senior prosecutor, surnamed Kim, is suspected of taking 15 million won ($13,500) from the businessman who was on the wanted list for his alleged embezzlement and fraud. The senior prosecutor is believed to have received the money in February and March through the bank accounts of his acquaintances. In return, he allegedly met with his colleagues who were in charge of the case in the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office and asked them for favors. During police questioning over the weekend, prosecutor Kim said he had borrowed the money and paid it back after about a month, arguing that the financial transactions had nothing to do with the fraud case. But doubts remain as to why he used the bank accounts of other people if he just wanted to borrow money. The businessman, who was captured Monday while on the run, also fueled the doubts by claiming that he didn't get his money back and that he was asked to lie by his prosecutor friend. He also claimed that he had been a "sponsor" for frequent drinking parties attended by the senior prosecutor and his colleagues. This is the latest in a series of corruption scandals that have undermined the reputation of our legal circles. Korea-China summit provides momentum for improving relations The leaders of Korea and China held talks during the final day of the G20 Summit, Monday. The primary focus of the highly-anticipated meeting between President Park Geun-hye and Chinese President Xi Jinping was how they would handle their differences over the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system on Korean soil. This was the first Korea-China summit since Seoul announced a decision to host a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery, July 13. The THAAD issue has become one of the most serious impediments in bilateral relations, but the Park-Xi meeting provided strong momentum for improving relations from here onwards. Amid escalating tension, the meeting that took place on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou is a positive sign that the two countries are on a path toward communication rather than confrontation on the issue. During Park's term in office, Korea-China relations have gone from best to worst. It seemed to reach a high point when she accepted Beijing's invitation to a commemoration ceremony in September 2015 for the end of World War II at the risk of upsetting Washington. However, bilateral relations have noticeably deteriorated since Korea decided to host the U.S. missile defense system here against Beijing's staunch opposition. Many Koreans perceive Beijing's repeated denouncement of THAAD as an encroachment on Korea's internal affairs. During the meeting the two leaders were unyielding on their own positions on THAAD. President Park reiterated her position that the system was a necessary self-defense measure against North Korea and that the necessity for THAAD would no longer exist after North Korea' s nuclear and missile threats were removed. She also reassured her Chinese counterpart that it will not hamper Beijing's security interests in any way. Xi said that THAAD is not conducive to stability in the region and could intensify disputes. Although Korea and China are still very much apart on the THAAD issue, the Park-Xi summit produced some positive and future-oriented outcomes. First, President Park suggested a new discussion path in a three-way framework, involving Korea, China and the U.S., on the THAAD issue. It remains to be seen whether China and the U.S. will accommodate Park's proposal, but it will be a useful occasion to promote dialogue and consultation on the security issues on the Korean Peninsula and strengthen security cooperation among the three countries. Second, the summit was timely because it confirmed the strong friendship of the two countries and the high level of trust between the two leaders. Xi paid tribute to the leaders of Korea's provisional government that was based in Hangzhou in the early 1930s during the Japanese colonial rule of Korea. During the summit, Xi said China was committed to the "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and maintaining peace and stability." This is also something that Korea is striving for. The two countries are on the same page on the ultimate goal of maintaining peace on the peninsula. THAAD should not hamper the fruitful relations the two countries have developed since the historic establishment of bilateral relations in 1992. The two countries recently celebrated the 24th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. Based on the history of the two countries' strong friendship, Korea and China should work together to become stronger partners in the areas of security, economy and culture despite some lingering differences. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte released a statement Tuesday saying he regretted that his remarks came across as a personal attack on the U.S. President. / Courtesy of Twitter By Lee Han-soo U.S. President Barack Obama canceled a planned meeting with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte in Laos, Tuesday, after Duterte unleashed an expletive-laden warning against the U.S. interfering in a war on drugs that has led to the deaths of thousands of suspects. The cancelation was announced hours before the two leaders' meeting on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit. Duterte has been under intense global scrutiny over the more than 2,000 suspected drug dealers and users killed since he took office. Obama had said he planned to raise the issue in his first meeting with Duterte, but the Philippines leader said his mission will never be compromised. "Who does he think he is?" Duterte told reporters in Manila. "I am no American puppet. I am the president of a sovereign country and I am not answerable to anyone except the Filipino people. Son of a bitch, I will swear at you." Duterte made the remarks Monday before flying to Laos. Obama learned about the insult as he emerged from the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China. At a news conference, Obama said he had told his aides to speak with Philippine officials "to find out is this, in fact, a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations." Duterte expressed regret over his "son of a bitch" remark on Tuesday afternoon. In a statement read by his spokesman, Duterte said his "strong comments" to certain questions by a reporter "elicited concern and distress. We also regret it came across as a personal attack on the U.S. President." Even though Duterte's statement did not amount to an apology, the expression of regret was a rare instance when the tough-talking chief of state has expressed contrition for his controversial remarks. "We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions and working in mutually responsible ways for both countries," the statement said. Duterte has been criticized for using harsh words, including calling the U.S. Ambassador to Manila a "gay son of a whore", telling the Catholic Church "don't f--- with me," and accusing the U.N. of issuing "s----ing" statements about his anti-drugs policies. More than 40 import contracts on shipments of defensive equipment to the Ukrainian army are currently in place, their total value amounting to $1.5 billion, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said. "We highly appreciate the support on the part of our Western partners. Now we have more than 40 import contracts on shipments of instruments of defense to the Ukrainian army currently implemented, with their total value reaching $1.5 billion," Poroshenko said in his annual address to the Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv on Tuesday. The president said that partners donated armored vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles, surveillance and communications means, counterbattery radars to the country. Poroshenko said that Ukraine exports military goods and service to over 60 countries. In 2015, the country signed exports contracts worth over $1.3 billion, and the order portfolio for 2016 exceeds $1 billion. The president said weapons exports do decrease Ukraine's own defense capabilities. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko advocates support for the Ukrainian IT sector and its development. "We have a huge staff potential and the most dynamic growth in the number of IT specialists. Our task is to support the developing IT sector," he said in his address to the Ukrainian parliament in Kyiv on Tuesday. The president said that in 2015 the IT sector became the third sphere in Ukraine in terms of exports, reaching $2.5 billion. This is 3% of Ukrainian GDP. Poroshenko said that over 2,000 startups have been registered in Ukraine. They show high growth up to 100% in a year. "Last year investment reached $132 million, and foreigners invested a half of it. Ten Ukrainian IT companies were included in top 100 of global outsourcing companies," he added. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has declared that sectoral sanctions should be introduced against Russia for its violations of human rights in occupied Crimea. "Russia's violation of human rights in the occupied territories, including towards Crimean Tatars, requires the introduction of additional sectoral sanctions. I think a timely dialogue about sanctions, to pass a Jakson-Vannik amendment, would be appropriate," Poroshenko said in parliament on September 6 during his annual address in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Federal regulators shut down 17 wastewater disposal wells in the Osage Nation of northeastern Oklahoma following an earthquake last weekend that matched the state's strongest on record. Because the wells are on tribal land, Oklahoma regulators have no jurisdiction over oil- and gas-producing facilities in the region. Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner Matt Skinner told The Associated Press that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency notified the state on Tuesday that 17 wells were ordered closed. The 17 wells are in a 211-square mile area within Osage County, near where a magnitude 5.6 temblor struck on Saturday about 7:02 a.m. The epicenter was near Pawnee. Many people in southern and western Missouri and northwestern Arkansas said they felt it. Meanwhile, two more earthquakes of magnitude 4.1 and 3.6 rattled northwest Oklahoma on Tuesday, in an area away from the quake on Saturday. Activists have unblocked the office of Inter TV channel after its management promised to take certain personnel decisions and change the channel's information policy for pro-Ukrainian one, spokesman for the Holy Mary battalion Andriy Vatolkin has said. "We have indeed unblocked the Inter TV channel. Our initiative group has been negotiating and received a promise that within five days the situation in the channel will change substantially," Vatolkin told Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday. In his words, the channel's management has promised to dismiss Deputy Director for Development of the National Information Systems, which produces news programs for Inter, Russian citizen, Igor Shuvalov, and take a number of other steps. "They also talked about changing the content. Inter will give up a large number of Russian content and the channel's information policy will be changed based on a normal pro-Ukrainian position," Vatolkin said. According to him, the protesters have dispersed, but if the channel's leadership doesn't keep its promises in five days, the blockade will be resumed. At the moment, tents outside the channel's office were removed and activists have dispersed, leaving only a pile of tires. As reported, in the morning of September 5, the next day after an arson in the office of the National Information Systems, several dozen activists gathered and set up several tents outside the office of the Inter TV Channel on Dmytrivska Street in Kyiv. They wrote "Kremlin's Henchmen", "Inter Get Out!" on the fence. Later, tires were brought to the office and the activists blocked the driveway to the building with them. In the morning of Tuesday, September 6, about fifty people continued blocking Inter's office. The Saudi Arabian government has said that any pilgrim who violates the schedule put in place for the stoning of the devil ritual at Jamarat will be arrested and prosecuted. The government is putting measures to avoid the kind of stampede that happened last year at Mina, which led to the death of over 2000 pilgrims. The Nigerian government later confirmed that at least 145 of the victims were Nigerians. In a meeting with officials of Nigeria and other African countries in Mina on Monday, the Saudi Arabia Hajj Ministry representative, Sheikh Mohammed, said arrangements have been concluded to assign guides who will lead a group of 250 pilgrims at a time to the Jamarat and back. Any Pilgrim seen alone in Jamarat will be arrested and will face he highest punishment, the Saudi official said. He also said each group will not be led by a Saudi guide alone, but, that states would also nominate a guide for each group. The official, who spoke through an official of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, Aliyu Tanko, as interpreter, said the government is adopting the kind of schedule used for airlines at the airport. No flight arrives or departs the Airport until its rime is due, we intend to apply the same procedure for Jamarat, he said. Mr. Mohammed also said apart from the arrest and prosecution of any violating pilgrim, state officials responsible for the pilgrim would also face sanction. Take this schedule and timing as serious as the time for prayers, he said. Mr. Mohammed said records of all groupings would be taken at the departure from tents and back. He said guides will be held responsible if they fail to return with the exact number of pilgrims they take to the Jamarat for the stoning ritual. He also said pilgrims must only go with their assigned batch and time. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates A report released by the United Nations says Nigeria is in a fix. It said the country had been deeply divided along ethnic, religious and regional lines. It painted a gloomy picture of the countrys economy, noting that most of the development and social indices in the country were below acceptable standards. The report, which was read during a consultative meeting on the formulation of the UN Development Assistance Framework IV for the South-East zone, in Awka, Anambra State, observed that for decades, different segments of Nigerias population had, at different times, expressed feelings of marginalisation. The report read, Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa and the seventh most populous in the world. Her population will be approximately 200 million by 2019 and over 400 million by 2050, becoming one of the top five populous countries in the world. Nigeria is one of the poorest and most unequal countries in the world, with over 80 million or 64 per cent of her population living below poverty line. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates The Frenchwoman who underwent the worlds first face transplant has died almost eleven years since the groundbreaking operation. Isabelle Dinoire, 49, succumbed to two types of cancer earlier this summer after a decade taking powerful immunosuppressant drugs. The drugs were designed to prevent her body rejecting new tissues, but they always threatened to make Ms Dinoire seriously ill. Miss Dinoire, from Valenciennes, northern France, captured the imagination of the world in November 2005 when she was given a new nose, mouth and chin at the nearby Amiens Hospital. She was rushed to hospital after her pet dog apparently ripped off the vital features, but she had no memory of what happened. After taking sleeping pills, all the divorced mother of two could remember was waking up with blood on the floor of her flat. It took a team of med led by Professor Bernard Duvauchelle, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, 15 hours to perform the medical breakthrough. A triangle of face tissue from a brain-dead womans nose and mouth were grafted onto Miss Dinoire. Three years on, Miss Dinoire admitted that she remained uncertain as to whose face she looked at in the mirror every day. Referring to the dead donor, she said in 2008: Its not hers, its not mine, its somebody elses. Before the operation, I expected my new face would look like me but it turned out after the operation that it was half me and half her. A report in the news outlets health pages today reads: Isabelle Dinoire died this summer. She was the first patient in the world to benefit from a face transplant in 2005. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates One Ukrainian serviceman has been killed in the antiterrorist operation zone in eastern Ukraine, and a number of injuries have been suffered in the past 24 hours, Ukrainian Presidential Administration spokesman Oleksandr Motuzianyk said. "One serviceman was killed in the hostilities, and another two servicemen and a police officer suffered injuries over the past day," Motuzianyk said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday. The serviceman killed in the Mariupol sector hit an anti-personnel mine, he said. "One serviceman was injured in an attack near Avdiyivka, and the other was wounded by mortar fire near Shyrokyne. The policeman suffered injuries in a bomb explosion," Motuzianyk said. There was one shelling incident each in Stanytsia Luhanska and Novozvanivka in the Luhansk sector, he said. Thirteen shelling incidents occurred in Luhanske, Mayorske and Avdiyivka in the Donetsk area. "Tensions in the Mariupol sector persisted only in the extreme south where the hostiles used mortars. Nearly 90 mines were fired on Ukrainian army positions right after dusk. That happened in Talakivka and Shyrokyne," the spokesman said. In all, six shelling incidents occurred in the Mariupol sector, including four using heavy weapons, Motuzianyk said. Attempts by the Kremlin to destroy the architecture of European security is a problem for the continent and a global problem, which can't be solved on a bilateral basis, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said. "Russian behavior in the world, its violations of international law, rights, the attempt by the Kremlin to destroy the architecture of European security, Russian expansionism this is a problem for the continent and for the whole world. It cannot be solved on a bilateral basis. Ukraine will need extensive foreign assistance in its fight against the Russian aggression. The work of our diplomats to support these efforts, frankly, is becoming more difficult for a number of objective and subjective reasons," Poroshenko said during his annual address to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The price of LITRO gas cylinders would be further reduced in the first week of November in accordance with the Read more The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary Read more LA Observed photo. These LAPD motor units were parked outside Maria's Italian Kitchen on Ventura Boulevard a couple of weekends back. Popular place with the motor cops. At least I think they were in Maria's. They could have been next door, at Stir Restaurant and Lounge, and that would have been a much more historically notable place for LAPD officers to take their dinner break. On December 2, 1959, the address now occupied by Stir was an Italian restaurant, Rondelli's. It also was a hangout for local organized crime. That night, a prominent mobster named Jack "The Enforcer" Whalen, aka Jack O'Hara, was shot between the eyes at a booth occupied by Mickey Cohen, at the time LA's most famous and media-friendly criminal. Chief of Police William Parker took personal charge of the Whalen murder investigation, which turned up evidence including a gun belonging to Cohen bodyguard Johnny Stompanato in a trash bin behind the restaurant. Cohen was booked for the murder, released when an associate copped to the deed, and later indicted on new evidence. Cohen's trial ended in a hung jury. Rondelli's soon closed and the space has held a number of forgettable eateries since then. Yes that Johnny Stompanato: If the name sounds familiar, it's because Johnnie Stompanato was the boyfriend who was stabbed to death in the boudoir of actress Lana Turner, allegedly by her daughter Cheryl Crane. That had gone down more than a year before the Rondelli's hit. And because this is LA and nothing is ever truly unexpected: Former TV anchor Baxter Ward, who went on to a long elective career on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, was married to Whalen's daughter Karen. PRESS RELEASE CDC Director Warns: Federal Funds To Fight Zika Nearly Exhausted Sept. 5, 2016 (EIRNS)Dr. Thomas Frieden, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), announced to press on Aug. 29 that federal funds to combat the Zika virus are nearly exhausted, The New York Times reported on Aug. 30. Frieden warned that should Florida, for example, have another cluster of locally-transmitted casesbeyond the 47 cases currently identifiedor were other states to face the same situation, the CDC would be unable to send emergency funds. "The cupboard is bare," Frieden said. "Theres no way to provide that." In the aftermath of Hurricane Hermine in Florida, and flooding in Louisiana, state health officials fear Zika will surge in those states, along with other mosquito-borne diseases. One of the most vulnerable areas, the Gulf Coast, is only halfway through the peak mosquito period, health officials warn, adding that both Houston and New Orleans could very well see an outbreak. It is expected that when Congress returns to work tomorrow, funding for Zika will be one of the priority issues to be tackled, but it is fraught with political squabbling. Obamas requested $1.9 billion for Zika wasnt voted up; now the Senate has scheduled a vote tomorrow on a $1.1 billion Zika package proposed by Republicans, but Democrats are blocking it, because it excludes Planned Parenthood as one of the agencies to receive funding. This is insanity, Frieden warns. Critical programs are at stake if funding isnt approved, citing the situation in Puerto Rico as particularly disastrous, as it doesnt even have a mosquito-control agency but has the largest number of Zika cases in the U.S.almost 9,000. PRESS RELEASE China Intention Succeeds at the G20 Sept. 5, 2016 (EIRNS)The Chinese intention for the Sept. 4-5 G20 was spelled out in detail over the past monthsto unite the world behind fundamental principles, acknowledging the mounting dysfunction of the existing global economic and financial structure and institutions, and create a new paradigm based on innovation, with a new financial architecture capable of directing credit into growth and development in every part of the world. This intention has been achieved, despite wild lies and misrepresentations in the West, and especially by a humiliated and isolated Barack Obama. The institutions representing nearly the entire world outside of Europe and the U.S., have united behind this vision, a vision both coherent with, and indeed nearly identical with that presented by Lyndon and Helga LaRouche over the past half century. Both the BRICSrepresenting directly and indirectly most of the nations of Asia, Africa and Ibero-Americaand the G77, now representing 134 developing nations, released official statements fully endorsing and identifying themselves with this emerging revolution in world history. Combined with the similarly historic Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Sept. 2-3, and the ASEAN Summit and East Asian Summit to be held in Laos over the next three days, these events characterize a new momentum in the history of mankind towards ending geopoliticsi.e., British imperial divisions of the world into warring nations, religions, races, and ethnicities and creating a new system based on the common aims of mankind. In his press conference at the conclusion of the G20 today, President Xi Jinping said: "We can no longer rely on fiscal and monetary policy alone" to deal with the crisis. "We envision an all-dimensional, multi-tiered and wide-ranging approach to innovation which is driven by innovation in science and technology, but goes beyond it to cover development philosophy, institutional mechanisms and business models, so that the benefits of innovation will be shared by all," Xi said. The war-mongering Obama blathered about human rights, climate change, and the comatose TPP free trade agreement, even as the western world descends into permanent war, economic disintegration, and social degeneration. But the rest of the world was uplifted by the G20 vision of mankinds creativity as a basis for creating a world of progress for allincluding the U.S. and Europe, were they to end their failed imperial mindset. Xi said that the G20 now sees itself as an instrument that can provide a "new path of economic development" for the world, based on a push for scientific and technological innovation. The leaders of the BRICS nations, who will hold their annual Summit in India in October, met in preparation on the sidelines of the G20. Their communique stated: "Cognizant of global growth challenges..., the Leaders underlined the importance of establishment of a just and equitable international order based on international law. The Leaders congratulated and supported Chinese G20 Presidency for 2016 and expressed full confidence in the successful outcomes of the Hangzhou Summit. They appreciated the emphasis by the Chinese Presidency on the development agenda. They encouraged G20 members to strengthen macroeconomic cooperation, promote innovation, robust and sustainable trade and investment growth. They stressed the importance to foster an innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economy to usher in a new era of global growth and sustainable development. They expressed expectation that with the Hangzhou Summit, the G20 will embark on a new journey for a strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive economic growth." Similarly, the G77, headed this year by Thailands Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha, was invited to the G20, where he said that the proper agenda for the developing nations was precisely that put forth by Xi Jinping at the G20innovation, development, and inclusiveness. He added that "Thailand is ready to serve as a bridge linking the Group of 20s major industrialised economies and the developing economies in the Group of 77." The agenda for the new paradigm is now in place. The dying British Empire and its satrapies will do everything in their dwindling power to crush it. Now, however, the citizens of the western nations have in sight the model and the structure with which to restore their nations historic roles in nation building, and to create at last a truly global Renaissance. That is our task. Ukraine's Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak and newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch during a meeting on Tuesday discussed army reforms and U.S. support. "The U.S. always keeps its promises and always is on the side of democracy. The assistance we receive from the U.S. government, political assistance and military assistance, is important and needed by Armed Forces of Ukraine," Poltorak told Yovanovitch, the Defense Ministry's press service said. Poltorak informed the ambassador about army reforms, noting that the restructuring of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is proceeding apace based on NATO standards. "There is now a clear restructuring program with the aim of reaching full compatibility with NATO alliance standards by 2020," he said. The defense minister informed Yovanovitch about the situation in Donbas, noting that the threat of a full-scale Russian invasion will remain in the future. In turn, Yovanovitch said she, like her predecessor [former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine] Geoffrey Pyatt, would work to deepen cooperation between Ukraine and the United States. "The U.S. respects its partnership with Ukraine and how it values cooperation with the United States," the ambassador said. A Valencia drugmaker that has tried to convince diabetics to inhale rather than inject their insulin is working on a product that will make a similar pitch to a new group of patients: severe allergy sufferers who rely on Mylan Pharmaceuticals pricey EpiPen. Even as it struggles to ramp up sales of its Afrezza inhalable insulin, MannKind Corp. is now in the early stages of developing an inhalable form of epinephrine that aims to take market share from the injectable version at the center of a storm over drug pricing. Its a product that would bring more competition to the emergency epinephrine market dominated by the increasingly expensive EpiPen, and could give allergy sufferers a needle-free option something that could appeal especially to children and their parents, said Michael Pistiner, a pediatric allergist in Boston. Advertisement Some people have been a little nervous about, for instance, giving a child an intramuscular injection, Pistiner said. Finding alternative methods is something people have been very interested in. Epinephrine is used to combat anaphylaxis life-threatening allergic reactions to food, insect bites and other allergens. The EpiPen allows patients or aid givers with little to no training to quickly inject epinephrine, typically into the thigh, boosting low blood pressure and opening restricted airways. Though an inhalable version could hold promise, MannKind must get the product approved and into the hands of patients, a big task for a company short on cash after its Afrezza inhaler took more than a decade to bring to market, only to record disappointing sales. It would be a difficult process, said Joel Hay, a professor of pharmaceutical economics and policy at USC. I dont know if MannKind has the time and funding resources for that. Whats more, the company lost its deep-pocketed founder earlier this year. Alfred Mann, an entrepreneur who founded more than a dozen companies, died in February at the age of 90. He poured nearly $1 billion of his own fortune into MannKind to help the company develop Afrezza, twice rejected by the Food and Drug Administration before finally getting approval in 2014. Once thought to be a potential blockbuster, sales of Afrezza didnt meet expectations during its first year on the market. In January, French drug giant Sanofi, which had agreed to market and distribute Afrezza, scrapped its deal with MannKind, leaving the small company to sell the drug on its own. Shares of publicly held MannKind, which were trading at more than $10 after the FDA signed off on Afrezza, are now valued at about 74 cents. As of June 30, the company had $63.7 million in cash, enough to stay afloat into the first quarter of next year, Chief Executive Matthew Pfeffer told analysts last month. Thats when MannKind expects to file an application with the FDA and potentially begin clinical trials of its inhalable epinephrine. Financially, the question for MannKind is whether sales of Afrezza can pick up enough over the rest of this year to offset the potential cost of clinical trials for the new product. Pfeffer said that question should be answered well before the company would hope to start new trials. I think well know the future of Afrezza before we get to that stage, he said. Another option might be for the company to find a strategic partner a prospect made more likely by the intense media coverage of Mylans series of steep increases in the price of the EpiPen, from about $50 per shot in 2007 to more than $300 today. Theres a lot of interest in [EpiPen] alternatives, he said. Its not inconceivable that we could get a partner to help us with the funding of that trial. Thats not our current game plan, but its something we could consider. MannKind also expects that the clinical trials would take much less time than those for Afrezza, which needed to prove that long-term use did not decrease lung function. That was a problem with an earlier inhalable insulin developed by Pfizer that was pulled off the market. When the FDA approved Afrezza, it required a warning that it should not be used by people with asthma and other lung conditions. But diabetics may take insulin several times a day, while life-threatening allergic reactions are generally rare events. Its hopefully something you never have to use, which makes that less of an issue, said Pfeffer, who hopes clinical trials could begin and end next year, with the product hitting the market by late 2018. MannKind is developing two other inhalable drugs, one that treats nausea in patients undergoing chemotherapy and another to treat a cardiovascular disease called pulmonary arterial hypertension, but epinephrine is the priority. The company started work on epinephrine about a year ago, long before the recent spate of news stories about the EpiPen price increases. While its not clear how much a dose of inhalable insulin might cost, Pfeffer said the product would almost certainly be cheaper than EpiPen. Pistiner, the pediatrician and a co-founder of food allergy information site AllergyHome.org, said more options for emergency epinephrine users should lead to competition and lower prices. The more alternatives, the more competition there will be, Pistiner said. Hopefully well get back to an affordable and reasonable situation. But he noted that MannKind will have to overcome a few obstacles if it hopes to bring such a product to market. He noted a study that showed its difficult to get enough epinephrine into the body by inhaling it though that study looked at older epinephrine inhalers used to control asthma attacks. Pfeffer said MannKinds product would carry a stronger dose of epinephrine aimed specifically at stopping anaphylaxis. Pistiner also said that respiratory symptoms, such as shortness of breath, often accompany severe allergic reactions. If someone cant breathe, an inhaler doesnt do much good. Most kids who experience anaphylaxis have respiratory [symptoms], he said. Thats a very real challenge. Pfeffer said MannKind is aware of that issue, but that since respiratory symptoms typically dont start until several minutes into an anaphylactic attack, there would be time to use an inhaler before symptoms become life-threatening. Most people want to be pretty sure before they stab themselves in the leg with a big needle, he said. Thats often why people wait too long. We thought we could put epinephrine into a form thats not as intimidating to people so that people would use it sooner in the process with less hesitation. james.koren@latimes.com Follow me: @jrkoren ALSO Can YouTube make it big on the small screen? Rabies treatment shows why U.S. healthcare is hard to swallow Shipper Hanjin moves to resolve cargo chaos On a weeklong tour of China and Laos, President Obama is trying to reassure anxious foreign partners that even if he waits till after the election to make a big push for his sweeping Pacific Rim trade deal, U.S. politics wont jeopardize its passage. A failure by Congress to ratify the Trans Pacific Partnership deal would call into question Americas leadership just as a new administration transitions into power, Obama warned Tuesday. As difficult as the politics are back home, I will continue to push hard on the U.S. Congress to approve TPP before I leave office because I think it is important for this entire region and it is important for the United States, he said here as he prepared to meet Wednesday with southeast Asian leaders, including three of 11 also party to the deal. Advertisement The president has long projected his trademark cool confidence that the agreement, the largest international trade pact in history, would be approved. But with his potential successors and key congressional players saying otherwise, Obamas partners are left to wonder whether a deal in the works for more than a decade is about to fall victim to the politics of the frenzied American election. If, at the end, waiting at the altar, the bride doesnt arrive, I think there are people who are going to be very hurt, not just emotionally but really damaged for a long time to come, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said during a recent state visit to the White House. The TPP, encompassing nearly 40% of the global economy, would help eliminate tariffs and other obstacles for selling American goods in rapidly growing markets while cementing the U.S. as a Pacific power, the White House says, and require tougher labor and environmental standards in nations like Vietnam that have long been accused of undercutting U.S. companies. Lees view indicated why some analysts believe that Asian leaders who follow American politics will need more convincing. Its not easy for them to understand that thats part of a raucous election process where a lot of things should be taken with a grain of salt, said John Engler, a former Republican governor of Michigan and president of the Business Roundtable, which is working to build support for the agreement in Congress. Donald Trumps criticism of the TPP is a staple of his litany of complaints about Obama. Trump repeatedly says he favors free trade but that the TPP was poorly negotiated, and he has crudely predicted it would be a rape of our country. After taking part in trade talks while Obamas secretary of State, Hillary Clinton came out against the deal during a tough Democratic primary fight against liberal Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. She said she wasnt confident it would create the jobs its backers predict. Congressional allies on the issue insist Obama is right to tell trading partners that the fight can still be won. I would tell them that their presidential candidates rhetoric aside, that there is strong support from both Republicans and Democrats in Congress to resolving the outstanding issues in TPP and bringing it forward for consideration, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) said. History is on the side of passage. We always manage to pass our trade deals, said Michael J. Green, senior vice president for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who negotiated several such pacts as a top advisor to President George W. Bush. Eventually, they go through. So part of the message privately has to be, This is going to happen, Green said. Failure to ratify the TPP would deeply weaken the foreign policy legacy Obama set out to burnish after he was elected to his second term. He was able to score other big achievements without approval from Congress, including deals to limit Irans nuclear capabilities, open diplomatic relations with Cuba and cut carbon emissions around the globe. Hes going to hear from every Asian leader about the damage this would do to the U.S. in the region, said Jeffrey Bader, the former top Asia advisor to Obama. It would be a statement of U.S. disinterest in Asia, at a time when China is a leading trading and investment partner of every country in the region. For the U.S. to be seen as turning its back on Asia like this would be a terrible signal. Obama has defied predictions of doom before, including last year on legislation that helped clear the way for the trade agreement. As was the case then, administration officials are ready to fan out across the country and to Capitol Hill in the coming weeks to redouble their lobbying efforts. The United States has never had a smooth, uncontroversial path to ratifying trade deals, but they eventually get done, Obama noted Monday. Its my intention to get this one done. In addition to reassuring leaders of the other 11 countries involved in the trade talks, Obama is signaling to domestic allies that hes prepared to fight campaigns to prevent a vote in Congress after the election. Traditionally, the formula for securing passage of trade deals relies on Republican lawmakers and a minority of Democrats. But many Republicans in Congress appear to be buckling under intense pressure from a party base that increasingly has turned against trade. Opposition to free-trade agreements among GOP voters increased dramatically in the last year, a Pew Research Center poll released in August found, with just 32% holding a positive view compared with 51% in May 2015. Theres two reasons for that, Brady said. One, we have a disappointing economic recovery where support for trade tends to decrease across party lines. And, the opposition party from whoever is in the White House tends to have more resistance. The business community has played a key role in sustaining support among members of Congress, or at least persuading many to keep an open mind through the fall ahead of a possible vote while the White House works to address specific complaints. Weve tried with members of Congress in both parties to focus on what are the benefits of trade in their own districts, Engler said. Everybody wants to get this off the front burner until the next nine weeks have passed. But our commitment is to continue to work, continue to explain the benefits. More than two dozen Democrats in the House of Representatives supported a preliminary vote on the trade deal last summer, and officials say they have seen no indication of that number wavering. The White House has continued to court those lawmakers, inviting several to join Obama on Air Force One to travel to Vietnam in May or the state dinner welcoming Lee last month. We are near the finish line, and we hope that the countries particularly the U.S. will be able to ratify the TPP as soon as possible, Lee said during that visit. Parsons reported from Vientiane and Memoli from Washington. Follow @cparsons and @mikememoli for news about the White House. In China, Obama struggles for elusive deal with Russia on Syria Obama makes progress on climate change, the bright spot in his China policy Obamas final major trip to Asia is unlikely to be the victory lap he hoped for Last week, Samsung halted sales of its latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy Note 7, after reports of battery explosions and said that it would voluntarily replace every device. We acknowledge the inconvenience this may cause in the market, but this is to ensure that Samsung continues to deliver the highest-quality products to our customers, the firm said in a statement last week. Samsung said it had shipped 2.5 million of the devices and confirmed 35 cases in which the batteries exploded either during or after charging normally. The phones have a failure rate of about 24 per every million, the company said. Advertisement Although only a few dozen cases have been confirmed, those whove bought the devices may be wondering: Do I really need to trade it in? The answer is yes. Samsung will let smartphone users swap their current Galaxy Note 7 for a new one when they become available. Samsung is also going to give customers the option to swap their Note 7 for another Samsung phone -- the Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 edge -- that has not had battery issues. The company will refund the difference in price. The company has also said that consumers will receive a $25 gift card or bill credit from select carrier retail outlets when choosing a Galaxy S7 family device or the Galaxy Note 7 within the exchange program. AT&T is one of those retailers. All four major carriers -- AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile -- have stopped selling the phones and suspended restocking and shipping fees for exchanges. T-Mobile and Verizon have said the policy is in place until at least Sept. 30. Each carriers policy varies, so check with your company for specific instructions on how to exchange phones. Samsung has not issued an official recall for the Galaxy Note 7. Jan Kern was bitten by a stray dog while traveling abroad and ended up with a jaw-dropping illustration of why the U.S. healthcare industry is completely sick. Thats because she underwent a series of rabies shots in three countries at four medical facilities. What that revealed, and which will surprise no one, is that Americans pay way more for the exact same treatment than people in other nations. Moreover, her experience highlights the lack of uniformity for drug prices, including commonly used medications. One facility might charge a few bucks for the same drug that costs thousands of dollars at a U.S. hospital. Advertisement Theres no rhyme or reason to our medical system, said Rick Kern, 61, who contacted me about his 62-year-old wifes global healthcare adventure after reading my recent column on drug prices. Whats great about his story as well is that, after I shared it with about a dozen healthcare experts, the consistent reaction was one of utter disbelief. Were accustomed to shaking our heads at U.S. healthcare costs. Things become significantly more absurd when a couple of overseas medical facilities are stirred into the mix. Its obvious that our system is unlike any other health system, said Uwe Reinhardt, a healthcare economist at Princeton University. Other systems were set up to care for patients. Ours was set up by the providers the hospitals and drug companies for their own benefit. The Kerns are former Palos Verdes residents who now reside on Lake Tahoe. While traveling in Southeast Asia a couple of years ago, Jan was bitten by a stray pooch near Cambodias Angkor Wat temple. The couple went to a nearby hospital, where a doctor recommended vaccination for rabies, necessitating a series of four shots. The first shot at Royal Angkor International Hospital cost $125. That included $66.75 for the dose of Verorab, a $25 hospital charge and a $25 doctor fee. Jan received her second Verorab shot at a clinic in northern Thailand. The bill this time: A mere $18.50, which provides the best evidence of the drugs actual cost. Even with the clinics overhead factored in, a shot of Verorab, which is manufactured by French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi Pasteur, was priced well below $20. Things changed dramatically once the Kerns returned to this country. For her third shot, Jan visited Torrance Memorial Medical Center. It was a Sunday, and she had to go to the emergency room, so that added considerably to her cost. The tab for a single injection: $5,254.85. Shot No. 4 was administered at the Redondo Beach branch of HealthCare Partners medical group. This time the bill was $427. Its important to note that the Kerns werent on the hook for any of these charges. Theyd shrewdly purchased travel insurance before their trip, which covered all related medical costs, even once back in the United States. Also, that crazy bill from Torrance Memorial was the hospitals opening salvo in haggling with insurers. Such astronomic charges typically are paid only by those lacking coverage. The actual insured price invariably will be much lower. And Verorab, which is commonly prescribed for rabies in Europe and Asia because its relatively cheap to produce, isnt available in the United States. Costlier vaccines must be used. Even so, the Kerns experience demonstrates the financial pitfalls that await anyone with a high-deductible health plan and thus responsibility for a greater share of medical costs. It also underlines the lunacy of U.S. healthcare pricing. Clearly a big hospital like Torrance Memorial has more overhead expenses than a little clinic in rural Thailand its not an apples-to-apples comparison. But that doesnt mitigate how a bill for less than $20 in another country can turn into a bill for over $5,000 in this one. Even if the Torrance bill was $1,200, thats still a stark difference in prices, said Nadereh Pourat, a professor of health policy and management at UCLA. It shows that the free market doesnt work for healthcare. It works for buying televisions, but with healthcare, theres no price transparency. She and other experts I spoke with said this lack of transparency, plus a lack of competition, suggest a need for pharmaceutical price controls which are a common feature of the healthcare systems of other developed countries. Otherwise, they said, drug companies and hospitals are free to charge as much as they can get away with. People have no ability to price shop, said Dana Goldman, director of the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. And that certainly works to the benefit of suppliers. Larry Van Horn, director of the Center for Health Care Market Innovation Research at Vanderbilt University, said he sees hope for change in the growing use of high-deductible insurance plans. Neither providers nor medical technology companies will be able to charge the prices they have historically if they expect an average American to foot the bill, he said. That is the future, and it will be bright. Providers will have to supply services that people can afford out of pocket, and this will force them to innovate and take down their costs to survive. I asked Rick Kern what he learned from his wifes trip down the healthcare rabbit hole. He said the main thing was how easy it was to understand what was happening with overseas medical systems. Treatment was straightforward, and costs were clearly spelled out and affordable. Here in the U.S., Kern said, we received a bill from Torrance Memorial and nothing was itemized; nothing was clear. Most of all, how do you justify such a huge markup? He laughed. I have an MBA and am a former chief financial officer, and I cant understand this stuff. That should have us all foaming at the mouth. David Lazarus column runs Tuesdays and Fridays. He also can be seen daily on KTLA-TV Channel 5 and followed on Twitter @Davidlaz. Send your tips or feedback to david.lazarus@latimes.com. To read the article in Spanish, click here ALSO Same drug, different insurance tiers, crazy-high co-pays Drug companies spend millions to keep charging high prices When banks play unfairly, consumers want chance to be heard in court Bob Rosss hair. Brexit blues hit the art world. Burning the London landscape. Plus: A digital arts keeper reaches adulthood, an Ed Ruscha mini-movie, Steak Sinatra, turmoil at a Northwest arts college, and trying to determine, once and for all, who is Banksy? Heres the Roundup: Bob Ross had a perm. He was also a control freak. NPR For the record: UPDATE Sept. 8, 9:00 AM: This text was updated to reflect that Ann Goldsteins appointment at the Art Institute of Chicago took place in March. Martin Roth, the German-born director of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, is leaving the museum and England over his disillusionment with the Brexit vote. The Guardian Advertisement The Pacific Northwest College of Art in Oregon has suddenly cancelled its critical-theory masters program, raising questions about whether the shutdown was financially motivated or was intended to quell staff protests. Hyperallergic And a Dusseldorf art space has cancelled its exhibition of work by German artist Christoph Buchel because the artists proposals were getting too complicated. Not the first time a project by Herr Buchel has hit the skids because the artists ideas were, um, cray. The Art Newspaper Wells Fargo apologizes for implying that art isnt a real job in a new ad campaign. We all know working for Jeff Koons is rilly rilly real. Playbill A British investigative journalist believes musician Robert 3D Del Naja of Massive Attack is Banksy. Because British investigative journalists appear not to have enough to investigate. Del Naja, in the meantime, responds by saying, We are all Banksy. Daily Mail, Artnet Rhizome, the digital art chronicler, preserver and guardian, turns 20. ARTnews Burning the London skyline in the name of art. New York Times A model of Londons 17th century skyline burns after it was set alight in a dramatic retelling of the story of the Great Fire of London. (John Phillips / Getty Images ) Big, bigger, biggest: An 11,500-acre art center in Montana. Hyperallergic A long list of photo book reviews in alphabetical order. This is so organized. Conscientious What I find interesting about photography from this period is that it cant help capturing certain aspects that painters would perhaps leave out or control in some way: a ragged path and variably focused blend of trees and rocks; a clothes line outside a building as well as the unintended blur of a passerby or horse-drawn carriage. A Q&A with the Getty curator Karen Hellman, on an exhibition of photographs at the Getty that looks at the arts 19th century roots. Aperture A group of female artists reflect on participating in Kim Schoenstadts Now Be Here, the portrait session involving 700-plus women at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel. KCET Artbound Hundreds of female artists pose for a group portrait in the courtyard of Hauser Wirth & Schimmel. (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times ) At what point do we see him in bed, not with Kim or Caitlyn, but merely that avatar of cultural narcissism himself, Donald Trump? In the wake of Kanye Wests two-day sculpture show at Blum & Poe, arts writer Ezhra Jean Black takes on the man and his artistic intentions. Artillery The Art Institute of Chicago has named Ann Goldstein, formerly of the Museum of Contemporary Art here in Los Angeles, to the post of deputy director. [Note: I listed this as new in this weeks Roundup, but Goldsteins appointment was announced in March. We would nonetheless like to wish her the best at her new gig. Better late than never?] Chicago Tribune Steak Sinatra and the Flintstones: L.A. has a new museum devoted to the citys Italian American history. Los Angeles County Museum on Fire A mini-film about Ed Ruscha, directed by Felipe Lima and narrated by Owen Wilson. Quite enjoyable. Citylab L.A.s punk flyer maestro, Raymond Pettibon, will get a major solo survey at the New Museum in New York in 2017. Artinfo And because were on the subject of L.A.: That retrograde Neighborhood Integrity Initiative ballot proposal doesnt appear to be doing so hot in the polls. Thats good news for the integrity of our neighborhoods. Curbed And in the event youve got half a mil laying around: Theres a Frank Lloyd Wright house for sale in Kalamazoo, Mich. Detroit Free Press And last but not least, pachucos get groovy. Heppest of the Hep Sign up for our weekly Essential Arts & Culture newsletter Find me on Twitter @cmonstah. Chevy Chase has checked into a Minnesota addiction center for an alcohol issue, according to his rep. Saturday Night Lives original Weekend Update host checked into the Hazelden Addiction Treatment Center recently, his publicist confirmed Tuesday. He is there for an alcohol-related tune-up because he wants to be the best he can be, she said. Chase, 72, went to rehab for drug treatment in California in the 80s, but told Esquire in 2010, I never shot things up or freebased. I was pretty low-level when it came to drug abuse. I checked myself into the Betty Ford Clinic after my nose started to hurt. Advertisement The Community and Vacation actor has two movies slated for release this year: Dog Years, with Burt Reynolds and Ariel Winter, and The Christmas Apprentice. TMZ was the first to report the news Monday. Follow Christie DZurilla on Twitter @theCDZ. ALSO Star Trek at 50: The theme song has lyrics. No, really! Chaka Khan checks into rehab for painkiller addiction, cites Princes death as a wake-up call Eastwood and Hanks talk Sully, their film about the humble, smiling hero who landed on the Hudson River Film legend Jerry Lewis died Sunday at 91 in Las Vegas. In early 2016, Lewis sat down with The Times Mark Olsen on the eve of the release of Max Rose, Lewis first starring role in more than two decades. This article was published Sept. 6, 2016. Long before Jerry Lewis even enters a room, his presence and fame fill it. The expectation of his arrival conjures many images and personas, the comedic misfit, the serious maker of smartly silly movies, the earnestly maudlin telethon host, the tireless stage entertainer, the teller of tales from Hollywoods classical golden age. Arguably the only constant across those identities is his reputation as an exacting perfectionist. So just why is Jerry Lewis known for being difficult? Advertisement Because I am, he said with firm declaration. I expect people that come to the studio to work to come with the same energy I come with. If I see less than that, I get very strong about, if you want to do this, come with a sense of pride, come with eagerness and anxiety. And those people that think youre difficult, respect you tremendously. Because the creative aspect of film will never change, he added. They may not like it, but they respect it. At 90, Lewis recently made his entrance to the lounge of a hotel in Beverly Hills being pushed in a wheelchair, struggling a bit to move into an armchair on his own. There is a fragility about him that is at odds with the strength of his persona. At the same time, he still exudes the charisma, the confidence and the fortitude of a life spent in show business he first appeared onstage at age 5. Three times during a recent hour-long conversation he locked eyes with this reporter with the intense death stare of a man not to be crossed. In the new film Max Rose, opening Friday in Los Angeles, Lewis plays a retired jazz musician who, while mourning the death of his wife, becomes suspicious that she carried on a long-term affair with another man. His first leading role in a movie since 1995s Funny Bones, Lewis performance is ruminative and interior, sincere and raw. The role is potentially a fitting grace note to a storied career. The film was written and directed by Daniel Noah, also one of the co-founders of the Los Angeles-based genre-focused production outfit SpectreVision, who began the screenplay after having spent a great deal of time with his grandfather in his last years, grieving the death of his grandmother. When it came to casting the title role, Noah eventually landed on the idea of Lewis It really came down to Jerry, there was no one else, he said but struggled to contact the star. He finally found a phone number for Lewis office in Las Vegas but was told Lewis wouldnt read anything that was sent. Noah sent the script anyway. And a few weeks after Lewis accepted the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 2009 Oscars, he called. He was in. From there it still took a few years to get the financing of the film together. The film was shot in late 2012 and early 2013, premiering at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival only a few months after the production wrapped. The rushed and unfinished film was met with a disastrous response. And this was the great misstep of Cannes, said Noah, who recut and shortened the film after the festival. Taking a star the caliber of Jerry, its a blessing and a curse. Its a blessing because hes such a heavyweight that doors blow open, but it also means the whole world is watching, and theyre watching closely. In the film Lewis character is looked after by his granddaughter (Kerry Bishe) as he attempts to repair his relationship with his son (Kevin Pollak). That aspect of the film may have hit close to home with Lewis, who has six sons from his first marriage and one daughter with his wife Sam, to whom he has been married since 1983. His youngest son, Joseph, died of a drug overdose in 2009 at age 45. A question about any connection he may have felt between his own family life and that of the character of Max Rose, whether sacrifices were made at home for his career, is what drew Jerry Lewis death stare No. 1. Did I miss something? No. My family was as absolute as the work, Lewis said. Family was first always. For Noah, his personal relationship with Lewis grew in the time that they spent together after Lewis had agreed to participate. Yet they didnt talk about story or character, rather they just spoke about themselves, about their lives. And for Noah it became clearer why Lewis was drawn to the role. I gradually became aware that some of Maxs issues are Jerrys issues, said Noah. Jerry suggested Kevin Pollak, who I later realized looks a lot like his sons. I think something like that is so delicate, you just dont touch it. Those people that think youre difficult, respect you tremendously... They may not like it, but they respect it. Jerry Lewis At various times in his career, Lewis has played characters which revealed more about himself than, perhaps, he wanted to let out of the box. The sleazoid lounge-lizard Buddy Love the alter-ego to Lewis timid Professor Julius Kelp might not be the swipe at Lewis former partner Dean Martin but rather an examination of Lewis own internal conflict, between the egotist and the earnest. Lewis isolation by fame was dramatized in Martin Scorseses 1982 film The King of Comedy, in which he plays a late-night television host held hostage. And, in Max Rose, he plays a man grappling with the question of whether his work, and by extension his life, have added up to anything. This line of inquiry, whether he has exposed his own darkest emotions and thoughts onscreen, prompts Jerry Lewis death stare No. 2. Youre going very deep. Very deep, he said firmly. And the answers to what youre talking about dont come easy. Yet Lewis has mentioned that when he first saw the finished cut of Max Rose, he felt he had never seen himself onscreen in that way before. It didnt surprise me so much as get my attention, he said. When youre doing a different kind of film, you have to bring a different kind of attitude, you have to bring a different kind of concentration. I just wanted to do it right, and make it true. A question about the notorious unreleased, unseen film The Day the Clown Cried, which writer-director Lewis made in Europe in the early 1970s and in which he starred as a Jewish clown who leads children to the Nazi gas chambers during WWII, invokes a third and final Jerry Lewis death stare. Cant talk about it. I wont, Lewis said. You can ask me anything you want, that doesnt mean Im going to answer you. It was reported in 2015 that Lewis archives were going to the Library of Congress and that The Day the Clown Cried may at last be available for public view in 10 years time. Lewis has other thoughts on the matter. Never, he said as to whether the film would finally be shown publicly. After Im dead 30 years you wont see it. Ive got it worked out so theres nothing to show. And with that, a wink. Playful, inviting and mischievous, it is the exact opposite of the door-slam death stare. And an encapsulation of the enigmatic split between Lewis difficult reputation and the headstrong but apparently gentle man he seems to be today. Noah has come to know that divide well. I was very steeled for a painful relationship, he said. I think people think Im spinning when I say this, but I cant account for the difference between the reputation and the man I know. He seemed to be nothing but warmth and love. The final moments of Max Rose would make for an emotional, elegiac farewell to one of Hollywoods most enduring stars. Just dont tell that to Jerry Lewis. I dont know that thats the case, Lewis said of how he would feel if Max Rose were his last leading role onscreen. I could start one tomorrow. And Ive got two in my typewriter now. Ive been writing for probably a year and a half on a screenplay that I love and that I will do. Im only 90, for Christs sake. What do you want? Movie Trailers SIGN UP for the free Indie Focus movies newsletter Mark.Olsen@latimes.com Follow on Twitter: @IndieFocus ALSO: From the Archives: Jerry Lewis walks alone: The ritual of the Muscular Dystrophy Labor Day Telethon From the Archives: In the kingdom of the clown: Jerry Lewis remasters his lifes work Hey laaaaady! Jerry Lewis personal archive is acquired by the Library of Congress Transactions and transformations with Rachel Weisz in Complete Unknown, Denial and Plenty The indie summer provided a cure for the blockbuster blues The Girl on the Train stays true to the novel with the use of sex as a weapon and medication For all of its star wattage, the Toronto International Film Festival can feel like an insider affair, a showcase for movies that often wont be seen by the public for several months. But in an award season shaping up as the most socially charged in recent memory, the annual cinema gathering will contain a different feel this year. Movies about racial politics and identity will fill the streets of the Canadian city, injecting Hollywood into a cultural debate and kicking off a period of Oscar movies that could both inform and reveal a continents racial attitudes. Theres a whole new mix of films and people that involves race and, equally important, I think theres an appetite for them, said Cameron Bailey, TIFFs artistic director. We want to disseminate and call attention to these works. And hopefully they can call attention to the world beyond. Advertisement Already this film year has yielded period pieces about black-white relations notably, Nate Parkers fiery Nat Turner slave-revolt tale The Birth of a Nation, which premiered at Sundance, and Jeff Nichols more understated mid-century miscegenation drama Loving, which debuted at Cannes. Full Coverage: 2016 Toronto International Film Festival Both of these fall releases will also play Toronto. But they will simply be the beginning of the story there. TIFF kicks off Thursday with The Magnificent Seven, Antoine Fuquas inclusive remake of John Sturges classic 1960 Western, with people of color behind and in front of the camera. (Fuqua is black, while the list of stars includes Denzel Washington, Lee Byung-hun and Manual Garcia-Rulfo.) The 10 festival days that follow will then bring a special-footage presentation of the African American NASA scientist tale Hidden Figures; world premieres of the young Barack Obama story Barry and Disneys Ugandan chess film Queen of Katwe; a screening of the gay African American coming-of-age-story Moonlight; and world premieres of documentaries centered on James Baldwin (I Am Not Your Negro) and the murdered jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan (I Called Him Morgan). While these movies can seem like a response to the Oscars So White controversy that reached a cultural peak last winter, many of these projects have of course been in the works long before the current debate. Still, at a moment when the Black Lives Matter movement continues to seize headlines and racial politics have dominated the presidential election, the timing is propitious. Whats funny about all these movies preparing to launch is that everyone then thinks there Hollywood goes, reacting again, said Theodore Melfi, director of Foxs Hidden Figures, which stars Taraji P. Henson as a little-touted scientist instrumental in sending Americans to the moon. And Hollywood isnt reacting these movies were all in development for years. Its just, he added, that the message is coming along at exactly the moment we need to hear it. With its scores of journalists, artists, agents and Oscar consultants, Toronto is ground zero for a fall season of serious films, both previewing and setting the conversation for the many prestige works that will soon hit theaters. The focus this year could be on contenders such as Moonlight, Figures, and Loving all of which could end up in the thick of the best picture race. (So could Fences, Denzel Washingtons adaptation he directed and stars of August Wilsons Pittsburgh-set Pulitzer winner, which will not be represented at Toronto.) What this means is that, for the first time in modern Hollywood, the majority of the best picture nominees could be films that tackle racial themes. Tthe high-profile discussion about race and Hollywood, along with a more diverse Motion Picture Academy, will give the movies a greater chance againt the stiff competition of Oscar season though the chance for a backlash exists too. Watch the trailer for "The Birth of a Nation. The best picture race is thought wide open after Nate Parkers Birth, for months an Oscar front-runner, was made vulnerable last month with the revelation of new details of Parkers rape trial 15 years ago, in which he was acquitted. Though Oscar consultants would never admit it publicly, the last few weeks have given fresh hope to those who have movies that traffic in the same diversity themes as Birth but dont come with the baggage of its director. Yet the increase of diversity-themed fall movies is more than simply a matter of Oscar math. During a time of year that can often center on the internal mechanics of Hollywood--which studio has the best campaign? Which personality is most due a gold statuette?--the conversation this year could tilt to a larger referendum on which racial stories should most be told at this charged time. And the season in general could end up with a more socially minded purpose.. I think its important everyone gets to see themselves in some way on screen, which is one reason I made this movie, said Moonlight director Barry Jenkins, whose film, based on a Tarell Alvin McCraney play, centers on three chapters in the life of a young gay black man in Miami. But I also think its important people who would never know about a story like this get to see it. Especially now; we need movies that shrink distances. Our social media world is about only paying attention to what you already know and believe. And thats not what the medium of cinema is about. Negro, from the Haitian filmmaker and activist Raoul Peck, will tackle some of these ideas even more head-on. Inspired by 30 pages of an unfinished Baldwin book about the assassinations of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., the documentary will essentially seek to compress the distance between the 1960s and now by having the Baldwin of the past via archival clips and readings of Baldwins words by Samuel L. Jackson offer a kind of commentary on the present. I want people to be confronted with James Baldwin, Peck said. Not from beyond the grave, but now, in 2016, as he is addressing the challenges of today. Of course, agent of social change is not generally Hollywoods best look. To land with audiences, these movies foremost needs to be entertaining, or at least compelling. Whether they can do so while simultaneously offering social critiques remains one of the big questions that TIFF will help answer. Movies with racial themes are hardly the only Oscar hopefuls to land in Toronto. Other hot-button issues will take pride of place via Oliver Stones privacy-vs-security tale Snowden and the Rooney Mara-starring sexual assault drama Una. And the festival will offer upscale storytelling of a less socially conscious strain, including J.A. Bayonas genre-tinged tearjerker A Monster Calls, Tom Fords dark literary thriller Nocturnal Animals and Denis Villeneuves sci-fi drama Arrival. Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker star in Arrival. But a good portion of the focus could be on those movies with diversity angles. The presence of so many films at the festival with African American themes comes at the same time as programmers will be showcasing more movies from female filmmakers, with a record 7 of 19 galas at this years gathering directed by women. When it comes to inclusion we dont have to take turns now its women, now its people of color, Bailey said. Id like to have all the conversations at the same time. Some of the most spirited of those discussions will likely happen around Barry. Directed and co-written by Vice reporter Vikram Gandhi, the film centers on a formative period in Obamas life after he transferred from Occidental College to Columbia University in 1981, and sought to make his way as a mixed-race young man on a campus of white privilege and a city of racial upheaval. The largely dramatized story works its way through imagined chapters of Obamas life, from an encounter at a house party in the projects to a wedding hosted by his white girlfriends Connecticut family. With an uncanny performance from newcomer Devon Terrell, the movie offers an existentially serious, at times Richard Linklater-inspired counterpoint to the frothier Obama-date movie Southside With You. Gandhi said the movie was meant less as a factual reconstruction of Obamas time at Columbia in fact comparatively little is known about his years at the school but as a way of exploring race and belonging at the same time as American society is tangling with those questions. Its really about the birth of a consciousness, which is a universal story, Gandhi said. If people want to understand the intricacies of race in America, one of the best people to start with is Barack Obama. Those intricacies have, in recent years, started to seep into Hollywood too. Those in charge of putting movies like these together say that, for all the sturm und drang of Oscars So White earlier this year, this is not the same industry that before 2010 saw just one African American nominee for best director. The first step is being conscious thats how you make change, said the agent Rena Ronson of United Talent Agency, which helped put together Hidden Figures. You want everyone to have a shot for a particular role. A movie like Hidden Figures was extraordinary before this debate. The question now is whether theres more of an awareness at agencies and studios. And I think the answer is definitely yes. But some filmmakers say that changing a mainstream industry is beside the point, and that Toronto, with its mix of independent and studio pictures, is the proof. Like the civil rights movement, they argue, creating a more diversity-minded film culture is about individual initiative. We cant allow us to be allowed, Peck said. Theres no time for that. To quote Malcolm, its by any means necessary. Whether Hollywood is giving us a big window or only a little momentum, we have to do it. We have no choice. On Twitter: @ZeitchikLAT ALSO How Rooney Maras incendiary Una will advance the sexual-assault conversation at Telluride, Toronto and into Oscar season Snowden, Denial, and Deepwater Horizon among this years newsy films at TIFF AFI canceled Birth of a Nation screening amid Nate Parker controversy, but TIFF still plans to show the film Its been more than two years since HBOs sexy vampire drama True Blood went off the air. But some of the series devotees still approach Rutina Wesley, one of its featured stars, with some bizarre requests. They want to look into my eyes to see if theyre all black, and sometimes they want me to bite them, said Wesley, who played the sharp-tongued waitress-turned-vampire Tara Thornton. They still call me Tara. The 37-year-old actress doesnt mind. The series which premiered in 2007 and lasted seven seasons launched her career and established her as an actress adept at expressing both toughness and vulnerability. Her performance as Tara was praised by critics and fans alike. Advertisement But these days Wesley is focused on a new role that has a whole different kind of bite. She stars in Queen Sugar, the drama launching Sept. 6 on Oprah Winfreys OWN network about an African American family struggling against a multitude of obstacles in the Deep South. Wesley plays Nova Bordelon, a journalist and activist armed with an agenda and harboring a taste for mysticism. Novas life is turned upside down when she is forced to reconcile with her estranged siblings in order to save their dying fathers ailing sugar cane farm. While True Blood took place in the world of the supernatural, Wesley said Queen Sugar is grounded in a often painful reality dealing with black families and families in general. The classically trained actress, who studied at Juilliard, raved about her new character: Novas a beautiful mess, and I love juggling all her complexities. Based on the novel of the same name by Natalie Baszile and set in the fictional Louisiana town of Saint Josephine, the series, created by acclaimed Selma filmmaker Ava DuVernay, represents Wesleys first major leading role. Winfrey is an executive producer on the series, which also stars Dawn-Lyen Gardner and Kofi Siriboe. Seated in a spacious lounge at OWNs Hollywood studio, Wesley detailed her new role and her emotions about working with Winfrey, the challenge of working outside of her comfort zone, and life post-True Blood. You seem to be over the moon about this role and the show. Its just so interesting for me to be here now, with this show, especially being on OWN with Oprah. My very first job was with The Color Purple in a Broadway workshop (Note: Winfrey was a producer of the Broadway production). I was very green I hadnt even graduated yet. I wasnt ready for her then but Im ready for her now. To be here playing an amazing role on her network is surreal. What intrigued you most about this project? The best thing is that this character, Nova, is not in the book. Ava gave me an outline of where she got the character from, and where she came from in her mind. I felt I could really get to the essence of the role she created and chose me to play. Its my most challenging role to date. I have been stretched, pulled, poked, prodded in all the best ways as an actor. Ive used my instrument completely and fully, in many complex ways. Nova is quite different from Tara. Im really interested to see how people are going to react to her. Theres a sense of chaos. Im a woman but a black woman. Shes an avid journalist with her fist in the air, but her lover is white. Shes a beautiful mess. She is just so many things from the jump. For me, the most challenging thing was getting comfortable being uncomfortable. I can see people really trying to figure her out. But everyone can relate to a beautiful mess. Everybody has a bit of chaos in their life. What is your definition of a beautiful mess? She just has so many things going on that I love juggling. Her incredible tenacity, her grace, her love for her community, her strength, her wit, her grace. How does working on Queen Sugar differ from True Blood? With True Blood, I would go home after shooting all night in Calabasas and it was like OK, we just spent 12 hours in an orgy, and everybody was outside. That was not reality. Thats never going to happen. People arent running around with black eyes. It was fantastical. Here, its different. Im asked just to be in the normal. All of our characters are based in such a sweet, natural way of being human. We touch on a lot of things, the beautiful city of New Orleans and that life. When I stepped onto the sugar cane field for the first time, there was this sense of weight and energy that I felt immediately. I felt the history of New Orleans, the mystique of what it was and what it is, my ancestors, and the people who worked there. How did you and your costars develop the kind of chemistry that makes you convincing as siblings? Dawn-Lyen and I have a sisterly connection. We went to Juilliard together, so we can really go there. We can get raw. With this family on this show, there are times when we really have to hug it out. But I hope that people are moved and inspired by the connections we have, because its real. We love each other like family. The first scene of the pilot is a bedroom scene, showing you in shadow as you get dressed with your love. Its pretty sensual. And wonderfully confusing. Ive never felt so beautiful on TV. I dont want to get emotional, but when I saw it, I thought, Wow, I look really pretty. And I dont say that a lot. So it was just lovely to be captured in a real and truthful way. Nova has taught me to be a little bit more comfortable in my own skin. greg.braxton@latimes.com Twitter:@GeBraxton ALSO Beyond the buzz, a world of good TV is out there for the watching Stranger Things is coming back for a Season 2 This past weekend, many of us many thousands of us spent three days eating and drinking ourselves silly at The Taste, the Los Angeles Times annual food festival. Many capable people turned Paramount Studios into a giant outdoor food court, with demonstration stages and booths, a pop-up coffee house and an Airstream-turned-cocktail bar. Thanks to all the chefs, cooks, bartenders and baristas who came out and spent their holiday weekend working. To snapshot the occasion, and for those of you who couldnt come and somehow missed the zillion social media posts here are a few highlights. See you (we hope) next year. Advertisement Ceviche from ConiSeafood Ceviche from Coni Seafood. (Mariah Tauger / For The Times ) Many of us who spend a lot of time at ConiSeafood in Inglewood compulsively order the Pescado Zarandeado, or snook, a whole grilled fish that arrives on a sheet pan and can happily take up the rest of your meal. But many of the other dishes on the menu are just as wonderful, including the ceviche, a glorious bite served on a tostada that kept us getting in line again. Salbutes from Chichen Itza Beef and pork salbutes from Chicken Itza. (Mariah Tauger / For The Times ) This south L.A. restaurant, located in the Mercado La Paloma, specializes in Yucatecan food. At The Tastes Sunday Block Party, people lined up for its salbutes, or puffy tacos. Pillows of puffy corn tortilla were stuffed with a mixture of ground beef and pork, topped with a sliver of avocado, a slice of tomato, some shredded lettuce and a couple of pickled red onions. Heirloom tomato gazpacho from Spring Heirloom tomato gazpacho from Spring. (Amy Scattergood / Los Angeles Times ) Spring chef-owner Tony Esnault is very fond of the vegetables he compulsively sources from local farmers markets: His legumes de saison dish presents as a still life on a plate. So it wasnt a surprise that both Springs booth and Esnaults cooking demo featured a vegetable-intensive dish, his take on heirloom tomato gazpacho. Avocado toast from Lodge Bread Avocado and shaved radish on whole-grain sourdough from Lodge Bread. (Mariah Tauger / For The Times ) Avocado toast may be a bit of a clichethese days, but when done in exemplary fashion, as the bakers from Lodge Bread do it, you understand why it became a trend in the first place. On Saturday morning, this was a square of the Culver City bakerys wholegrain dark-crusted bread, topped with mashed avocado, discs of shaved radish and a drizzle of olive oil. Vampiros from Mexicali Taco & Co Vampiro Asada from Mexicali Taco. (Mariah Tauger / For The Times ) Because even in fancy food events, sometimes all you want is one of chef Esdras Ochoas Vampiros, a quesadilla filled with cheese and grilled chicken and garlic sauce especially when theres a giant bowl of fiery salsa handy. Biryani from Badmaash Biryani from Badmaash. (Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times ) In between bites of excellent sliders and tacos, there was chicken and rice. The team at Badmaash, the downtown Indian gastropub (they make poutine!), offered comforting bowls of biryani chicken and rice during Opening Night, topped with a cool cucumber sauce and some tangy pickled onions. Lamb barbacoa from Aqui Es Texcoco Lamb barbacoa from Aqui Es Texcoco. (Amy Scattergood / Los Angeles Times ) Aqui Es Texcoco is kind of a one-dish restaurant, and fortunately for many of us, this is what Francisco Perez reliably brings to The Taste: plates of his gloriously addictive lamb barbacoa. Pile your tortilla high with the stuff, add as much of the onions and herbs and salsas as you can stand, eat and repeat. Chicken larb from Jitlada Chicken larb from Jitlada. (Mariah Tauger / For The Times ) It is an article of faith that Jitladas Jazz Singsanong and her brother Tui Sungkamee will bring their Southern Thai food to The Taste and that it will somehow be spicier than you remember. Maybe this is because Jazz inevitably brings a bottle of lately made hot sauce to help you out. Veal tongue torchon from Little Beast Veal tongue torchon with pickled mustard seeds. salsa verde and buttermilk biscuit from Little Beast (Noelle Carter / Los Angeles Times ) Torchon is a French name for dishcloth, and the term commonly refers to the way in which foie gras or a similar meat-based dish is classically prepared gently cooked in a lowly towel. The veal tongue torchon from Eagle Rocks Little Beast restaurant pairs thinly-sliced veal tongue torchon with pickled whole mustard seeds and a vibrant salsa verde, a flaky buttermilk biscuit only adds to the richness. Kung pao shiitake mushrooms from Golden Boys Chinese Kung pao shiitake mushrooms from GoldenBoys Chinese. (Mariah Tauger / For The Times ) Its hard to settle for just one bite of the kung pao shiitake mushrooms from GoldenBoys Chinese, the self-described moveable guerrilla Chinese restaurant from chefs Hunter Pritchett and Adam Midkiff. Nevermind that the savory umami mashup of the tender mushrooms and koji rice, accented with fresh bits of smashed cucumber and cilantro is also vegan and gluten-free. Win-win. Risotto from Circa 55 Risotto in a cheese wheel from Circa 55. (Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times ) Did you see the giant wheel of cheese? The question carried through the crowd Saturday night at Dinner with a Twist as people searched for a rumored giant wheel of cheese. The rumors were true, and it was found in front of the chefs from Circa 55. The line of people at the booth snapped pictures with their iPhones as the chefs served plate after plate of creamy, cheese risotto out of a wheel of Parmesan. Japanese whiskey from Suntory Suntory Whisky served highballs of soda water and their whiskey. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times ) If your experience of Suntory has been limited to repeated viewings of Lost In Translation, a film as binge-worthy as the whiskey Bill Murray plugs on screen, then this was the booth for you. Not straight-up, mind you, but a proper highball, made from Suntory, soda water and just the right amount of ice. ALSO: Your guide to Orange County food halls Shin Sen Gumi is opening a drive-through ramen restaurant in Torrance Restaurant news: Josef Centenos new vegetable restaurant, a new beverage-and-breakfast in Koreatown On Wednesday, September 7, at 11.00, the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency's press center will host a press conference entitled Sabotage of Presidents Order on Recovery of TV Tower on Karachun Mount. The participants will include head of Anti-crisis media-centre (Kramatorsk town) Serhiy Popov, former Director of CEO of Radio and Television Broadcasting Concern Anatoliy Antonenko, leader of the Information Maidan Non-Governmental Organization Pavlo Bilonozhko, chairman of Ukrainian coordination council NGO Andriy Khoma (8/5-A Reitarska Street). Admission requires press accreditation. Additional information by phone: (067)676 8899. Heres whats been happening in the Los Angeles food and drink world: Josef Centeno is at it again: Seriously. Josef Centeno, the culinary king of downtown Los Angeles, the man behind Baco Mercat, Orsa & Winston, Ledlow and Bar Ama, is opening another restaurant. More specifically, he has decided to close Ledlow for a few days and turn it into two restaurants. Ledlow has been closed since Sunday and will reopen Thursday as Ledlow, a 24-seat restaurant with a whiskey-oriented bar and a more focused menu; and P.Y.T., a new vegetable-focused restaurant located in the remainder of the Ledlow space. According to Centeno, the name could stand for pretty young turnip or pretty yellow tomato or pass the yams, Ted. I mostly just like the acronym, he said in a recent statement. So were still unclear on the name, but we do know the inspiration behind it. His first restaurant job was at a vegetarian cafe in Austin, Texas, when he was in college. Hes been volunteering with the school farm at Los Angeles Leadership Academy in Lincoln Heights. And vegetables have always played a predominant role on the menus at his other restaurants. At P.Y.T. there will be mostly vegetable dishes on the menu, with a couple of chicken, meat or seafood dishes from specific producers available on a limited basis. After the remodel, Ledlow will continue to serve breakfast and breakfast pastries, lunch, dinner and weekend brunch. P.Y.T. will be open for dinner to start, and Centeno plans on adding a lunch service soon after. 400 S. Main St., Los Angeles, (213) 687-7015, www.ledlowla.com. A new B&B with cocktails: Were all familiar with the B&B, or bed-and-breakfast. Well, now theres a bed-and-beverage B&B in Koreatown. The Walker Inn, the speakeasy at the back of the Normandie Club thats been open for a little more than a year and a half, has just acquired 10 hotel rooms. Proprietors LLC and 213 Hospitality, the two cocktail powerhouses behind the bar, can now offer guests a place to rest their wobbly legs after a few drinks. Located inside the adjacent Hotel Normandie, the 10 rooms were all designed by Ricki Kline of Design + Build and feature different themes. For example: One 70s-inspired room includes a turntable, a vinyl selection, dark wood and taxidermy. And each room has a mini-bar with a selection of ready-to-consume cocktails made from the Normandie Club and the Walker Inn, as well as liquor chosen by the bar teams and tools you may need to make cocktails (mixing glass, shaker tin set, bar spoon). Everything is shoppable, and yes, you can get a packet of ibuprofen. The rooms are accessible through the Walker Inn or through Hotel Normandie. Reservations are available now. 3612 W. 6th St., Los Angeles, (213) 263-2709, www.thewalkerinnla.com. Advertisement Doma Kitchen heads to Marina del Rey: The Manhattan Beach restaurant known for chef Kristina Miksytes European and Central Asian dishes (think borscht and lagman Uzbek lamb noodle soup) is moving to Marina del Rey after having been in the Manhattan Village for the last two years. Owners Angie Corrente and Stan Mayzalis say they needed a bigger space to accommodate more customers. The current location of Doma Kitchen will close Sunday; the new restaurant will open this fall in the Marina Marketplace on Glencoe Avenue. Youll still be able to order the borscht, but expect new menu items, later hours and an extended drinks menu. 4325 Glencoe Ave., #8, in Marina del Rey, www.domakitchen.com. Your new late, late-night happy hour with brownies: Westbound, the bar that opened in early May at the One Santa Fe complex in the downtown Los Angeles Arts District, is taking the concept of late-night happy hour and pushing it even later it doesnt start until midnight, and it goes until 2 a.m. On the menu are a selection of classic cocktails priced at $10, including a Gold Rush, made with Buffalo Trace bourbon, honey syrup and lemon juice. And to go with your midnight cocktail, midnight snacks: fried pork rillette ($9), purple potato chips with mustard seed aioli ($7) and beef tartare ($15). And if you stick around til 1 a.m., the bartender will hand over some free freshly baked brownies topped with toasted meringue. 300 S. Santa Fe Ave., Los Angeles, (213) 262-9291, wwww.westbounddtla.com. More news: Cava Grill, the fast-casual chain known for its Mediterranean-ish, on-trend bowls (Sriracha Greek yogurt, cauliflower quinoa tabouleh) will open a location at the USC Village opposite the campus on West Jefferson Boulevard in mid-2017. Border Grill in Santa Monica is closing in October, after 26 years. Golden Boys Chinese, the Chinatown pop-up by chefs Hunter Pritchett and Adam Midkiff, is popping up at Dellun Chows Daw Yee Mynamar Corner in Silver Lake later this month. I like a good scoop (of chocolate ice cream). Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @Jenn_Harris_ ALSO: Your guide to Orange County food halls All the fun stuff we ate at L.A. Times The Taste food festival Shin Sen Gumi is opening a drive-through ramen restaurant in Torrance UPDATES: 9:57 p.m.: This article was updated to include additional details regarding P.Y.T. This article was originally published at 9 a.m. Editors note: This article was published in the Los Angeles Times on Oct. 13, 1989. Phyllis Schlafly died Sept. 5, 2016. In the world of archconservative Phyllis Schlafly, men are men and women are housewives even if they work. In Sarah Weddingtons world, men are men and women are whatever they want to be. Thursday night, Schlafly, 65, the matron saint of family-centered womanhood, and Weddington, 44, a Texas lawyer who won the landmark Roe vs. Wade case in 1973 that legalized abortion, debated inside the Bren Events Center at UC Irvine before an audience of about 800. Advertisement For more than two hours, they addressed a number of contemporary issues: the role of women, comparable worth in womens wage scales, and abortion, including the recent Webster vs. Reproductive Health Services, in which the Supreme Court opened the door for further state restrictions on abortion. While Weddington supported a womans right to choose whether to have children, Schlafly said it was the governments duty to protect the rights of the unborn by outlawing abortion. Whos going to make the decision to have children? Weddington asked. Can they force it on you and make you carry a pregnancy to term, and then turn around and tell you its all your responsibility? . . . Every child should be a wanted child, every mother a willing mother, she argued. Schlafly retorted, amid occasional heckling from members of the crowd: Are we really going to let mothers kill babies for any reason they want? No one says theyre going to have a fetus. They say theyre going to have a baby. . . . When it comes to cutting out a baby, Schlafly said, it is a hard decision. That is because it is a human life. We now know, with the advance in fetology, that it is a baby, and it is the purpose of government to protect that right to life. Weddington countered that the concept of right to life should mean that everyone should get medical care. But 37 million Americans dont have it. Schlafly and Weddington have been facing off on the debate circuit for several years. The UCI debate was one of about eight engagements the two have planned this year for the nations colleges and universities. It serves to motivate college campuses and make students take a stand on some of todays most controversial issues, said Jay Callahan, the agent for both women. Not much gets resolved necessarily, but it forces them to think. UCI paid Weddington $2,500, and Schlafly, $3,500, in addition to travel expenses for Thursdays event. Before the pair set foot on campus, students circulated anti-Schlafly flyers that scoffed at her stands against equal pay for women and the Equal Rights Amendment. At 4:30 p.m., members of the Rainbow Coalition, a group of 10 to 15 students, met in front of the main campus library to plan a protest. A handful of the students later showed up at the debate. The debate presents a narrow picture, said Catherine Carlassare, a student and member of the organization. If we fight together to improve health care, we wont have to decide between babies and women. Inside the Bren Events Center, pro-choice and anti-abortion groups set up tables to distribute literature. More than 100 people, mostly women, milled around in the lobby perusing their pamphlets. Although security was heavy, several advertised protests failed to materialize. Weddington graduated from the University of Texas Law School at age 21. She successfully represented Norma Nelson McCorvey, then known as Jane Roe, in the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion on demand. The decision wiped out 100 years of abortion laws, led to more than 24 million abortions and helped put Weddington in the Carter White House as an adviser for womens issues. Weddington, 44, now practices law in Austin, Tex., and lectures on history and government at the University of Texas and Texas Womens University. Schlafly, a defender of traditional homemaking and family-centered womanhood, is widely known for her conservative views on abortion and the role of women in American society. She is president and founder of Eagle Forum, a pro-family organization active in politics. Schlafly, the mother of six, is credited with masterminding the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment, which she said would have created a gender-free society and forced more women to work. For nine consecutive years, Good Housekeeping magazine has named her one of the 10 most admired women in the world. From her Alton, Ill., home, she is now championing the rights of children and contends day care can harm youngsters. ALSO Phyllis Schlafly, anti-feminist political activist, dies at 92 Hugh OBrian, actor who played Wyatt Earp, dies at 91 Analysis: In Pennsylvania and nationally, Trumps problems with suburban voters blunt his ascent Campaigns converge on Ohio: Trump meets voters; Clinton thinks she is allergic to GOP nominee A Santa Barbara man was nabbed early Sunday not for being hooked on drugs: He was arrested on suspicion of getting drugs on a hook. Christian Kulbe, 46, was taken into custody just after midnight when a Santa Barbara Sheriffs sergeant saw him stealing items from a dropbox for discarded drugs, the department said in a news release. The suspect was using a homemade cord and fishing hook to remove syringes, medications and other controlled substances that were inside the cabinet, the release said. Advertisement The sergeant didnt have to work hard to crack the caper -- the Operation Medicine Cabinet kiosk is located in front of the departments Coastal Station in Carpinteria. Officials seized as evidence medications, syringes and the fishing device Kulbe allegedly used to retrieve them from the box, which is part of a county program for the safe disposal of medicine, officials said. Kulbe was booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail on suspicion of possessing stolen property, petty theft, possessing burglary tools, prowling and possessing controlled substances. His bail was set at $2,500 and he was released late Sunday night, a jail employee said Monday. ALSO More than 400 arrested at Nocturnal Wonderland rave in San Bernardino County Police fatally shoot man armed with knife in Long Beach Armed man arrested after 8-hour standoff in Commerce Former Stanford University student Brock Turner, who was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman and sentenced to six months in jail, registered as a sex offender in his home state of Ohio Tuesday morning, state records show. Turner was released from the Santa Clara County Jail on Friday after serving half of his sentence a penalty criticized for its leniency. Early releases are commonly given because of good behavior and because of Californias prison realignment. Turner, 21, was convicted in March of three felony counts: assault with the intent to commit rape of an unconscious person, sexual penetration of an unconscious person and sexual penetration of an intoxicated person. He attacked an unconscious woman behind a garbage bin on the Palo Alto universitys campus in January 2015. Advertisement At his sentencing, Turner faced up to 14 years in prison. Prosecutors sought a six-year prison term. Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky ultimately opted for the lighter jail term of six months and also sentenced the Ohio native to three years of probation. At the time, he said a lengthier penalty would have a severe impact on Turner. Persky is facing a recall campaign over his handling of Turners case. Criticism of the sentence escalated after the unidentified victims 12-page, single-spaced letter that she read in court went viral online. She harshly criticized Persky for giving Turner a soft time-out, a mockery of the [seriousness] of the assaults. The seriousness of rape has to be communicated clearly, we should not create a culture that suggests we learn that rape is wrong through trial and error, she wrote. The consequences of sexual assault needs to be severe enough that people feel enough fear to exercise good judgment even if they are drunk, severe enough to be preventative. Public outrage over the case has extended to the state Capitol, where lawmakers have passed legislation to expand the definition of rape and to increase punishment for sex offenders. sarah.parvini@latimes.com For more California news follow me on Twitter: @sarahparvini ALSO California wants to make it easier to prosecute old rape cases. But how much would a new law really help? Northbound 110 Freeway closed in downtown L.A. after man is shot by CHP officer Santa Ana struggles with increasing homeless population around Civic Center A Metrolink train heading south toward Los Angeles on the Antelope Valley line struck a tractor-trailer sitting on the tracks Tuesday morning, officials said. No serious injuries were reported. The train had just pulled out of the Sun Valley station and was moving 15-20 mph when it struck the truck at 10:35 a.m., said Metrolink spokeswoman Sherita Coffelt. After the collision, 16 passengers requested medical attention, but no one was seriously hurt, Coffelt said. The driver of truck was not injured, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. Advertisement Nearly 190 passengers were aboard the trains six cars when the collision occurred, and firefighters made their way through each cabin assessing occupants, the LAFD said. In an ironic twist, September is Rail Safety Month, Coffelt said, and the agency is reminding Los Angeles County residents that if they are stuck on the tracks, they should call the phone number posted at the rail crossing to notify a railroad official. Call the number and it gets sent directly to the dispatching office, Coffelt said. They can stop a train before a collision happens. The crossing at Sunland and San Fernando has seen at least 15 collisions, including Tuesdays, since Metrolink began operating in 1993. A Times database lists most of these incidents. The intersection is equipped with flashing lights and red-and-white gate arms that lower when trains approach. About 27 trains pass through the crossing every day, according to federal data. sarah.parvini@latimes.com For more California news follow me on Twitter: @sarahparvini ALSO New laws regulating raves dont always apply, sometimes with tragic results Brock Turner registers as sex offender after hes freed in Stanford sex assault case Northbound 110 Freeway reopens in downtown L.A. after CHP shooting investigation UPDATES: 11:55 a.m.: This article has been updated with details on injuries from the crash. 11:45 a.m.: This article has been updated with details of prior incidents at the rail crossing. This article was originally published at 11:15 a.m. The Labor Day weekend saw another major rave in Southern California. While no deaths were reported, more than 400 people were arrested at and five people were sent to hospitals from Nocturnal Wonderland, which drew more than 67,000 people at the San Manuel Amphitheater. A string of drug-related deaths have prompted criticism from medical professionals and calls for stronger regulations. Some jurisdictions have cracked down with new laws. Rave operators said theyve taken steps to make the events safer by adding security. For the record: A previous version of this story said that Insomniacs chief executive, Pasquale Rotella, recently pleaded guilty to a conflict-of-interest charge in an alleged bribery and embezzlement scheme related to raves held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Rotella pleaded no contest to that charge. What laws have been passed? Advertisement In Los Angeles County, new laws regulating raves havent been tested instead, the concerts have moved elsewhere, just beyond county jurisdiction. California legislators and Los Angeles County supervisors have passed new laws that regulate events where theres a strong chance that attendees could die. It applies on land owned, managed or otherwise governed by the state or county. But that means the laws dont apply on, say, property governed by the city of Los Angeles, or in San Bernardino County, which has increasingly become the home of massive raves in Southern California. What is Sashas Law and how did it come about? Its heartbreaking to me, said Grace Rodriguez, whose 15-year-old daughter, Sasha, overdosed on Ecstasy while attending the Electric Daisy Carnival rave in 2010 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and later died. Sashas death was the inspiration for the state bill known as Sashas Law. Rodriguez said she had hoped the state law would end the tragedies, but is now acutely aware of the limitations of the laws reach. I just feel really bad for the parents, Rodriguez said. I know exactly what theyre going through. Exactly. And I feel so bad for them, because I know it could have been prevented. How many people have died after attending raves? There have been at least 25 confirmed drug-related deaths nationwide since 2006 among people who went to raves organized by Los Angeles-area companies Insomniac, Go Ventures, and Hard. Insomniac and Hard are now subsidiaries of the same company, Live Nation, which now dominate the electronic dance music festival scene in the region. Of the 25 deaths, 12 died in Southern California. How does the L.A. County law regulating raves work? The L.A. County law, passed unanimously by the Board of Supervisors in March, regulates any mass event expecting more than 10,000 people a day that poses a strong probability of loss of life to participants. It allows a panel of sheriffs, fire and public health officials to limit attendance, ban alcohol sales and require promoters to provide free water, impose a minimum age requirement of 18 or 21, offer onsite medical care and increase security, such as ordering the use of drug-sniffing dogs. This sends a message to promoters that Los Angeles County will not tolerate any event that does not comply with the countys requirements in order to protect the public, said a spokesman for Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich. The law affects land owned by the county and unincorporated areas directly governed by the Board of Supervisors. Similar rules were put in place voluntarily for a Halloween-themed Hard Day of the Dead rave at the Los Angeles County fairgrounds last year. What was the reaction among the fan base? One reviewer for consequenceofsound.net called some of the changes the mans best efforts to suck the life from the party. And according to an L.A. Weekly review, the new measures took what was once a great dance-music event and neutered it, and led to an all around-sense of buzzkill. How has the state law targeting raves worked? There has been little publicity about the use of the state law in Los Angeles County. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum complex has not held a rave since the end of 2010. The law has not meant an end to such events on state-managed property. Last August, after the Zoo-Tronic rave was held at the Fresno Fairgrounds, a 15-year-old girl who attended, Houa Lai Hue of Fresno, later died of Ecstasy poisoning, according to police and the coroner. But that rave did not require the added level of scrutiny required under Sashas Law because only about 800 people attended, far under the 10,000 threshold spelled out in the law. This summer, the fairgrounds barred the promoter, Kailin Hwang, from returning after an event in June left the venue with damage and vandalism, a spokeswoman with the fairgrounds said. Hwang then held another rave in July at the Crest Theater in Fresno, according to police. Ravegoer Debbie Yang, 18, of Merced later died from an Ecstasy overdose, according to the coroner. What about L.A.? Earlier this year, Los Angeles saw the return of the rave promoter Insomniac. Insomniacs chief executive, Pasquale Rotella, recently pleaded no contest to a conflict-of-interest charge in an alleged bribery and embezzlement scheme related to raves held at the Coliseum. Prosecutors accused Rotella of hiring an inside man employed by the stadium, who continued advocating for raves following Sashas death. Rotellas company on May 7 held an event attracting about 20,000 people at the city-owned Los Angeles Convention Center, featuring the artist Kaskade. Some attendees ended up in the emergency room. Patients suffered seizures, including one that was sent to intensive care, said Dr. Marc Futernick, medical director of emergency services at Dignity Health California Hospital Medical Center. These are all critical patients, and these events have life-long impacts to these patients. So even when we dont have a couple of deaths, there are lots of ill people and medical consequences from these events, Futernick said. As president of the California chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians, Futernick wrote a letter to city officials days before the event, urging them to take all avenues to ban it. There is extreme strain and unnecessary risks incurred when there is a sudden influx of many critically ill patients into an already-stretched emergency care network, Futernick wrote. Jeff Gorell, Los Angeles deputy mayor for public safety, said in a statement that he had deep concerns about reports of ill concertgoers, and said he would work closely with the convention centers operator, AEG, to provide a safe experience for all who attend events. This summer, three young ravegoers died after attending the Hard Summer rave at the Auto Club Speedway in San Bernardino County. Is that county considering regulations? The deaths have renewed a controversy over holding raves at a county-owned facility, the San Manuel Amphitheater in Devore. In June, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors narrowly rejected an effort to end raves at the amphitheater. But one of the supervisors absent at that meeting, James Ramos, said in an interview last month that he would consider a moratorium on raves at the amphitheater. Ramos expressed support to create a task force to study rave safety, much like what Los Angeles County supervisors did before passing their law. I would not be opposed to a moratorium on any future [rave] contracts until a study is completed, Ramos said. Were going to look at everything. Supervisor Janice Rutherford continues to advocate for a ban on raves at the amphitheater, reminding her colleagues that two young people Arrel Christopher Cochon, 22, a Los Angeles City College student. and John Hoang Dinh Vo, 22, a UC Irvine student have lost their lives from drug overdoses after attending raves at the venue. The financial liability to the county, and the potential for more tragic deaths, are too great, Rutherford wrote in a Facebook post. Rutherford wrote that she supports allowing private venues to host whatever events they wish, including electronic dance music festivals, so long as those events are done legally, i.e., obeying noise restrictions, proper security and medical care. What does Live Nation have to say about the controversy? A spokeswoman for Live Nation declined to comment. On its website, Insomniac calls on its fans to be safe, responsible and respectful to yourself and others, and urges attendees to stay together with buddies, and said they provide medical stations and roaming medical teams to watch fans. What do rave fans think about the controversy? Rave fans defended the festivals, saying promoters should do whatever they can to make events safe, but emphasized that people need to take personal responsibility for decisions to take drugs. Its all over the media that at these events, people pass away from taking Ecstasy. And if someone knows that full well, and still decides to proceed, of course its a sad situation if theres a bad result. But that doesnt seem to be a reason to punish the promoters when someone chooses to do that, when everyone is telling them not to, said Greg Wasik, editor of EDMLife.com. Ninety-nine point nine percent of the people walk out of there happy, and have an amazing time, Wasik said. You could be taking away an experience that tens of thousands and in the case of Electric Daisy, hundreds of thousands enjoy. ron.lin@latimes.com Twitter: @ronlin ALSO More than 400 arrested at Nocturnal Wonderland rave in San Bernardino County Brock Turner registers as sex offender after hes freed in Stanford sex assault case Santa Barbara man is suspected of angling for discarded drugs First responders from various cities attended a conference Tuesday aimed at better serving victims of mass-casualty incidents such as the San Bernardino terror attack. The one-day event, at the California Endowment Center in downtown Los Angeles, was hosted by the U.S. Department of Justices office of legal and victim programs. The conference focused on the Dec. 2 San Bernardino attack at the Inland Regional Center, which serves people with developmental disabilities in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Advertisement Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, burst into the center and shot dozens of people. Fourteen people were killed, and 22 others were injured. Farook and his wife were killed in a gun battle with police after a car chase. The San Bernardino shooting had been the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11. It was surpassed in June, when 49 people were killed and 53 others were injured after Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old U.S. citizen who reportedly had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, opened fire and took hostages inside Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla. Eileen M. Decker, U.S. attorney for the central district of California, said the two attacks led to Tuesdays conference, which was held to help first responders learn how best to assist victims of such incidents. She said after such attacks, much of the focus is on how law enforcement can prevent future incidents, but it rarely focuses on how to improve the response to victims. Today, our goal is learning how we can best develop a victim-centered approach to mass-casualty events like that one in San Bernardino, she told a room of dozens of first responders from various agencies. Its one of the most important ways we can honor the victims and their sacrifice. Decker said one of several issues to be discussed is how law enforcement agencies can communicate better with victims and provide information to family members during and after attacks. As we learned, even after the initial emergency is over, survivors and the victims have a deeply felt need to know what is happening with the case and what is happening to the investigation, and we owe it to them to provide as much information as possible, Decker said. Among those attending were members of the FBI, Homeland Security and the governors office of emergency services. Personnel from the cities of Riverside, San Bernardino, South Pasadena and Glendale also attended. An effective and passionate approach to protecting and caring for victims helps us and starts repairing the long-term damage these incidents cause, Decker said. Attacks like the ones in San Bernardino are so despicable not just but because of the immediate damage they cause, but because they seek to undermine our trust in our institutions and our own peace of mind. That is why a victims-centered approach is so critical. ruben.vives@latimes.com For more Southern California news, follow @latvives on Twitter. ALSO Full coverage of the San Bernardino terrorist attack Syria stalemate and Philippine leaders cursing vex Obama on Asia trip Dogs, Deepak Chopra, Instagram weddings and other signs of change among Irans middle class Thirteen people were shot to death in Chicago over the Labor Day weekend as the city logged its 500th homicide of the year. Thirty-one of the 65 people shot over the long weekend were wounded between 6 a.m. Monday and 3 a.m. Tuesday. Nine of the fatal shootings occurred over that period. Among those shot was Crystal Myer, who was nine months pregnant and was wounded in the abdomen on the same block where someone had been killed less than 20 hours earlier. No information on the fetus was available. A man she was standing near was left in critical condition in the same shooting around 3:30 p.m. in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. Advertisement Farther south, a retired pastor from Gary, Ind., was shot to death outside a senior housing complex in the South Shore neighborhood around 6:30 a.m. Monday. Police say the man was found dead, shot in the face outside the Senior Suites of Rainbow Beach near East 77th Street and South Exchange Avenue around 6:30 a.m. Monday. Residents identified the man as Allen H. Smith and said they heard him arguing with another man before shots were fired. Police said they took into custody another resident of the home. No charges had been filed. The Labor Day weekend was the deadliest of the three holiday weekends this summer. The Memorial Day weekend saw 69 shot, six of them fatally, and the Fourth of July weekend recorded 66 shot, five of them fatal. Early Monday morning, it appeared Chicago had a chance of ending a holiday weekend with fewer than four dozen people shot, which would have made it one of the least violent weekends of the summer. The uptick in shootings in this weekends final hours mirrored the end of the Fourth of July. Gunfire in the final hours of that holiday made up half the entire weekends bloodshed. Police attributed the eleventh-hour surge to retaliatory acts, often involving gangs, after a weekend of parties and tense encounters. Homicides in Chicago this year have risen to levels not seen since the 1990s, when killings peaked at more than 900 annually. The 90 homicides in August tied for the most the city had seen in a single month since June 1996. In the worst previous month July 1993 99 people were slain. After this past weekends violence, homicides now stand at 512 for the year, according to data collected and analyzed by the Chicago Tribune. There were 491 homicides all of last year. More than 2,930 people have been shot this year. Tribune data are usually higher than comparable numbers provided by the Chicago Police Department because the department excludes killings on area expressways and those that are considered justifiable homicides. Updated numbers from the department were not available Tuesday morning. Homicides and shootings in Chicago continue to far outpace both New York and Los Angeles, both bigger cities. According to official statistics through late August, the most recent publicly available, New York and Los Angeles had a combined 409 homicides, well below Chicagos total. Tribune staff writer Christy Gutowski contributed reporting. ALSO 92 deaths, 2,623 bullets: Tracking every Chicago police shooting over 6 years 78 homicides, more than 400 people shot: This month has been Chicagos most violent in 20 years South Carolina police officer fired 13 months after killing unarmed teen The Obama administration is considering an end to the practice of keeping immigrant detainees in for-profit centers, weeks after the Federal Bureau of Prisons announced it would stop its use of private prisons. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, whose agency includes the immigration service and the Border Patrol, in late August ordered a review of ways to end the use of the private facilities. For the record: A previous photo accompanying this article had a caption saying it showed the immigration detention center in Adelanto, Calif. The photo showed the Desert View Modified Community Correctional Facility, which is next to the detention center. A decision to do so would mark a major victory for the coalition of civil rights groups and immigrant advocacy organizations that has sought to roll back the growth of the private-prison industry. Immigration detention facilities house far more detainees than the private facilities the federal prison system has used. Advertisement But immigration officials have pushed back against the idea, arguing that they have no cost-effective alternative to the private facilities and that other choices could be worse. It would be remarkably detrimental, said a senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement official, speaking anonymously to comment on the internal debate. Cutting out private companies from the system would cost taxpayers billions of dollars more a year and take more than a decade to implement, the official warned. Johnsons Homeland Security Advisory Council is expected to make a recommendation by the end of November. The secretary has not indicated which side of the debate he favors. Nine of the countrys 10 largest immigration detention facilities are operated by private companies, and they hold about two-thirds of the detainees in a system that currently keeps more than 31,000 people in custody on a typical day. While some centers are located in border areas, others are far from the border because deportation officers arrest migrants living in the interior of the country as well. The federal government contracts with four privately run detention facilities in California that hold about 3,700 people each day, including immigrants in the country illegally, asylum seekers, green card holders and those awaiting immigration hearings. The California Legislature recently passed a bill that would block local governments from contracting with private companies wanting to run immigration detention centers in the state. Senate Bill 1289, also known as the Dignity Not Detention Act, is now on Gov. Jerry Browns desk. The Obama administration has budgeted $2.1 billion for detention operations in 2017, a slight decrease from 2016 as the administration has moved to reduce the number of people held in detention each day from 34,000 to about 31,000, including 960 family beds. Immigration and Customs Enforcement estimates the cost of housing a person in immigrant detention at $127 a day and $161 a day for those held in facilities designed for families. ICE has not publicly said how much of that money goes to private facilities, but an analysis of federal budget data by Grassroots Leadership, an organization based in Austin, Texas, that advocates against the use of private companies indicated that about half the annual spending or roughly $1 billion a year went to private firms. Civil rights advocates have documented a pattern of poor medical care and abuse inside private immigration facilities over the last several years. They say such prisons have an incentive to cut corners and reduce costs. Although the allegations of abuse are not limited to privately run prisons, we certainly see a lot of these problems magnified when a company is seeking to extract as much profit as it can out of a detention center, said Bob Libal, executive director of Grassroots Leadership. A review by medical experts of the deaths of 18 migrants held by immigration authorities from 2012 to 2015 concluded substandard medical care had contributed to at least seven of the deaths, according to a Human Rights Watch report published in July. In December 2012, for example, a 34-year-old Guatemalan man named Manuel Cota-Domingo died of heart disease and complications related to diabetes and pneumonia shortly after being transferred to a hospital in Phoenix from Eloy Detention Center, a private facility run by Corrections Corporation of America about 60 miles southeast. Cota-Domingo was having trouble breathing for about three hours before detention officers responded and a medical evaluation was conducted, delays which probably contributed to his death, according to a review of the file by medical experts. ICE officials warn, however, that if they have to reduce or eliminate private detention centers, they could be forced to put more detainees into state and local jails because the federal government does not have enough facilities of its own. That could be a worse outcome for detainees, they say, because conditions in the jails are sometimes harsher than in the private detention centers and are more difficult for immigration officials to oversee. The use of jails also means putting detainees who have not been accused of a crime into facilities where they are in contact with potentially dangerous criminals. Geo Group and Corrections Corp. of America, major operators of private detention facilities, said they welcomed the Department of Homeland Securitys review of their business practices. Geo Group said in a statement that its facilities are highly rated and provide high-quality, cost-effective services in safe, secure, and humane residential environments pursuant to strict contractual requirements and the federal governments national standards. Corrections Corp. of America said it is proud of the quality and value of the services we provide and look forward to sharing that information with the advisory panel. A former senior official of ICE, by contrast, said the time has come to reexamine the governments reliance on private companies for detention. They should do a real in-depth review, said Alonzo Pena, who was deputy director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement from 2008 to 2010. Pena said he has long been concerned that for-profit prison companies have been hiring former immigration officials to help them secure favorable contract terms. They are not better-run, they are not better-managed, they are not providing better service, he said. If the immigration service stopped using private facilities, some major changes would be necessary. The federal government stopped training its own immigration detention officers in 2002 during the massive bureaucratic shakeup that created the Department of Homeland Security after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Before this ever happens, the facilities we currently use have to be replaced thats basically the only way, or it will shut us down, said Chris Crane, president of the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council, the union that represents federal deportation officers. Eliminating private detention facilities cant be an excuse to not hold anyone or let bad guys back on the street because we cant lock them up, he said. Reducing the overall number of people in detention, however, is exactly what many civil rights and immigrant advocacy groups have pushed for. They argue that the government could allow more community organizations to vouch for immigrants and work with courts to ensure that people show up for deportation hearings and other proceedings. Even if the federal government completely ended its use of private detention facilities, the private-prison industry could still thrive most people in custody in the U.S. are held by state and local governments, not federal authorities. Many local prisons and jails are run by private companies. Still, a decision by Washington to cut its chief tie to the industry could set a pattern that states might follow and would be a significant blow to the industry. In mid-August, the administration decided to end using privately run facilities for federal prisoners. The Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Prisons determined that the private facilities were not substantially cheaper than government-run institutions and did not provide the same level of correctional services, programs and resources, according to a memo written by Deputy Atty. General Sally Yates. brian.bennett@latimes.com Follow me @ByBrianBennett on Twitter ALSO No more nation of immigrants: Trump plan calls for a major, long-lasting cut in legal entries Trumps immigration speech decoded: What he said, what it means and how it would work Californias new climate change laws almost didnt happen this year. Heres how lawmakers pulled it off. If a more permanent solution isnt found to address Lake Michigans eroding shoreline and shrinking beaches, the leaders of coastal communities fear their economies and tourism may suffer particularly in towns along the North Shore, the affluent suburbs north of Chicago. Cities in the region have traditionally relied on a piecemeal approach, from trucking in sand to building erosion prevention structures in the lake on a beach-by-beach basis. But experts say those methods have had mixed results, and that if suburbs are left to manage the lakefront on their own, theyll drain their finances or have to stop providing residents and visitors the sand-filled summers they have come to expect. While Chicago has for decades armored its lakefront with artificial structures to minimize sand loss, some North Shore towns say they dont have the same financial resources. Advertisement Terrance Young fishes at Illinois Breach State Park, where the Lake Michigan shoreline has been hit hard by erosion. (Anthony Souffle/Chicago Tribune ) It may not have hit us now. However, if we continue to experience significant erosion it will 100% impact us, said Ron Salski, executive director of the Lake Bluff Park District. If we keep spending $20,000 on sand a year, the impact is on other capital projects, which are not being completed. The sand loss is mostly a result of manmade structures that jut into the lake, such as breakwaters that trap sediment from moving along the coast. The structures have been built over two centuries and have been effective at safeguarding certain beaches. But they have also disturbed the natural southward drift of sand and have starved other beaches. A similar pattern of erosion is mirrored on the east side of the lake, along the coast of some Michigan towns, where tourists flock for vacation, experts say. Record-high lake levels compound the issue as they eat away at the shoreline, submerging beaches and blunting the effectiveness of breakwaters. In Evanston, Ill., the summers high lake levels wiped out its dog beach and reduced other beaches, park officials said. Lake Michigan has risen about 4 feet since January 2013, when it hit a record low. Of the five Great Lakes, Lake Michigan has the sandiest shores, and therefore draws the most visitors, experts say. Tourists are at times startled to discover the dozens of miles of beaches along the coast. German visitors Saskia Nembach and Ines Hoffmann, both 24, said their trip to Chicagos Ohio Street Beach on a recent afternoon was spontaneous. The weathers beautiful, and our feet are hurting, Nembach said. The womens ankles were sunk deep into the warm sand, and a Chicago map was stretched across their laps. Its beautiful. Its a nice place to calm down after walking so much and after sightseeing. The Illinois coast is also home to some of the highest-valued real estate in the Great Lakes region, so any loss of coastal land by erosion comes at a high cost. Illinois is one of the most intensely engineered coastlines across the Great Lakes, experts say. After completing a $14.5-million renovation project in 2015, Highland Parks park district may no longer have to replenish sand at Rosewood Beach, said Joel Brammeier, president and chief executive of the nonprofit Alliance for the Great Lakes. The park district in collaboration with the Army Corps of Engineers implemented a five-year sand-monitoring program to detect future erosion and make necessary adjustments. The ecological portion of the project helped restore the shoreline, bluffs and ravine and included the installation of breakwaters offshore to keep the sand in place, park district officials said. The park district was responsible for 35% of the cost of those improvements, or about $2.5 million. These are very expensive projects. They can help an individual place or individual community but are not designed as a system for the entire Lake Michigan shoreline, Brammeier said. Over the last year and a half, public officials have joined together to develop a regional plan to manage the 32-mile stretch of lakefront from Evanston north to the Wisconsin state line, home to more than two dozen beaches. The initiative, called the Illinois North Shore Sand Management Strategy, formed through the Alliance for the Great Lakes and funded through a grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, aims to use more cost-effective strategies to manage shorelines. The northern beach at Illinois State Beach Park in Zion has lost more than 100 acres of coastal habitat over the last century and is expected to continue to erode by an acre each year, according to Army Corps reports. And in Waukegan, a breakwater offshore unintentionally created sand dunes at the local North Beach Park and starved the beaches to its south. Through the sand-management initiative, one towns problem could be another towns solution. The buildup of sand in Waukegans harbors that requires annual dredging, for example, could perhaps be cleaned, decontaminated and used for beach nourishment in other areas, Brammeier said. These are the kinds of conversations were starting to have. Communities looking at their problem and thinking, Can my problem be someone elses solution? he said. The group last met in July. Members planned to outline specific solutions to long-term erosion, but decided they needed to gather more data before they could draft concrete plans, and will readdress those issues this fall. Members also hope that a master plan could protect natural areas, like Illinois Beach State Park, which are vulnerable. Its a tremendous resource, Brammeier said, but if we dont restore the sand flow, were going to lose it. Eltagouri writes for the Chicago Tribune. ALSO Obama administration considers closing for-profit immigrant detention facilities What Georgetowns atonement means for the campus debate over slavery On Labor Day, two presidential candidates focus on one topic: Donald Trump In a move that would set up a dramatic courtroom showdown between Bill Cosby and his accusers, 13 women who say the entertainer sexually assaulted them could be allowed to take the stand against him in a criminal trial. Cosby has been charged with three counts of sexual assault stemming from a 2004 encounter with former Temple University basketball player Andrea Constand. But hours before a pretrial conference Tuesday, Montgomery County Dist. Atty. Kevin Steele, who is trying the case, filed a motion that would seek to have 13 additional women testify to establish Cosbys alleged pattern of conduct. Steele has not named the alleged victims, though he has informed the defense of their identities. Advertisement We spent a lot of time talking to people all over the country and outside the country, Steele told reporters. They have indicated they are willing to testify. Outside the courthouse, lead defense attorneys Brian McMonagle and Angela Agrusa said that the issue of civil rights cut both ways and that the prosecution of Cosby amounted to discriminatory treatment. The judge, Steven T. ONeill, said at the pretrial conference he would consider Steeles request at a future hearing. He also set a trial date of June 5. ONeill said hed like the trial to begin sooner, but was accommodating both a series of pretrial admissibility hearings as well as McMonagles busy schedule on other cases. The judge said he would work aggressively to facilitate an earlier date. The case centers on whether Constand, under the influence of wine and pills, gave Cosby consent before he digitally penetrated her at his home in Cheltenham, Pa. Though witnesses from unrelated incidents are not often allowed to testify at a criminal trial, Steele is seeking to call the women under Pennsylvanias Evidence of Prior Bad Acts rule, which allows for such testimony if it demonstrates a pertinent trait on the defendants part. An individual who, over the course of decades, intentionally intoxicates women in a singular fashion with the intention of sexually assaulting them cannot also be mistaken about whether or not those women are consenting to the sexual abuse, the motion said. The defense is likely to argue that the accounts of those women are not relevant to the case at hand, especially since the statute of limitations is likely to have expired on all of them, and could prejudice the jury. The number of women whove stepped forward to say Cosby assaulted them has now reached 60, by many estimates, with most of the incidents past the statute of limitations. It is unclear how many of the remaining women were not deemed necessary by the prosecution for its case versus those who simply did not want to take the stand. Many of the women whove gone public described a similar narrative of unwanted sexual contact after promises of career advancement or other benefits; in a large number of cases the women have reported feeling drugged after the interaction. If the Evidence of Prior Bad Acts motion is granted, it would bring to a legal forum what until now has played out predominantly in the media. The womens testimony is likely to be welcomed by victims groups: Long arguing that the Constand case amounts to a vicarious day in court for all of Cosbys alleged victims, they would see in the testimony a more concrete realization of that hope. Cosbys defenders have said these accusations amount to a kind of vendetta against the comedian. The idea of 13 unrelated accusers taking the stand will certainly be used to buttress their argument. Anticipating a media frenzy in the wake of the motion, ONeill expressed doubts that an anonymous filing would remain that way if the witnesses names were revealed. I dont know the names and right now I dont need to know the names, the judge said. But, he added, the elephant is in the room. We now have 13 unnamed [alleged victims]. We have a courtroom full of the press. I dont know the identities can be protected. The motion lists details, often graphic, of the alleged encounters, beginning with the name Prior Victim Number One and going through all 13. Many of the specifics can be cross-referenced with published accounts. Cosby, wearing a long seersucker jacket, was in court for the pretrial conference. He did not speak. But his voice could be heard on a recording of a 2004 phone call between himself and Constands mother, Gianna, in what became an at-times surreal debate involving Canadians and a parrot. McMonagle argued that the recording should be suppressed because, while Canadian law allows for recording a conversation without all parties explicit permission, Pennsylvania law does not, and Pennsylvania has the overriding interest in this case. Cosby was in California and Gianna Constand in Canada when the conversation took place. Its all nice and warm and fuzzy because its Canada, said McMonagle. But dont make it Canada for a second. Make it Iraq or North Korea. Do we want Pennsylvania to apply the law of a foreign country? McMonagle also argued that Cosby did not know he was being recorded, because the comedian was not clear that a beeping sound signaled a recording device. Instead, Cosby thought, per his exchange with Gianna Constand, that the sound might be a parrot. Steele said that Cosby had already waived his privacy rights because he knew he was being recorded and had only been joking about the parrot. Later in the day the recording was played in court, offering a rare window into Cosbys interactions with his accusers. On the recording, a negotiation of sorts could be heard between Cosby and Gianna Constand about how he would pay for her daughters education in a manner that would placate the alleged victim and her mother. Cosby did not appear to be joking about the parrot it was Gianna Constand who brought it up and did not seem to know he was being recorded. Still, the recording could be admissible if the judge determines that because it was made in Canada local law shouldnt apply. Also Tuesday, McMonagle said he aimed to file a change-of-venue request to move the trial elsewhere in Pennsylvania. The idea was met with skepticism by ONeill, who cited the cases national profile, which meant a jury anywhere would have access to the same information. Where would you go? he asked. ALSO Bill Cosbys accuser does not have to testify before trial, judge rules Bill Cosby: A 50-year chronicle of accusations and accomplishments New Hampshire woman drops defamation suit against Bill Cosby UPDATES: 4:30 p.m.: This article has been revised throughout for additional reporting. 1:30 p.m.: This article was updated with staff reporting. This article was originally published at 7:15 a.m. A police officer who wasnt charged in the shooting death of an unarmed South Carolina teen more than a year ago is now being fired from the force. Seneca Police Chief John Covington declined to give a reason for firing Mark Tiller, calling it a personnel matter in a short statement. He said Tiller would remain on the departments payroll until Friday. The family of 19-year-old Zachary Hammond said the family never understood how Tiller was able to keep his job. Advertisement With each passing day the Hammonds never lost hope that Lt. Tiller would in the future never again have the highest honor of serving the public as a police officer, wear the uniform and carry a weapon. It appears that today is such a day, the family said in a statement released through their attorney, Eric Bland. NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj A state prosecutor refused to charge Tiller in the July 2015 shooting of Hammond as the teen tried to drive away from a drug sting in a fast-food restaurant parking lot in Seneca. But federal authorities are still investigating the shooting. Tiller said he thought his life was threatened because Hammond was about to run him over. But video from his patrol car showed him move toward Hammonds car, grabbing the front fender of the vehicle and only firing after it moved past. Though Tiller might have made a bad decision heading toward Hammonds moving car, the officer had less than three seconds to react and broke no law, Solicitor Chrissy Adams said in deciding not to charge the officer. The family agreed to a $2.1-million settlement with Seneca over the shooting. Hammonds family called Tiller a rogue officer and said his actions, along with Seneca polices refusal to release details about the shooting including Tillers name and the video of the incident, make the jobs of good police officers harder. All lives matter and it is an injustice to each and every American when an officer-related shooting is not handled with sensitivity and absolute transparency. Regardless of what the future holds for Lt. Tiller and others associated with the death of Zachary Hammond, the Hammonds offer their thanks and prayers to the brave men and women in blue, the family said in its statement. ALSO Lake Michigan towns struggle with eroding beaches and shrinking shorelines Bill Cosby will return to court with a streamlined legal team Video shows vandals destroying popular Oregon rock formation Trump compares Clintons email practices to Watergate (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) Worse than Watergate. Thats how Donald Trump described Hillary Clintons use of a private email server as secretary of State. Her conduct is disqualifying, Trump told thousands of cheering supporters in Greenville, N.C. This is like Watergate, only its worse because here our foreign enemies were in a position to hack our most sensitive national security secrets. No one takes all the risks Hillary Clinton took unless they are trying to cover up massive crimes. His comments followed last weeks release of documents by the FBI about its investigation of Clinton and her email use. Earlier this summer, FBI Director James B. Comey criticized Clinton for being careless but said her conduct did not rise to a criminal act and advised the Justice Department not to file charges in the matter. The investigation also found that multiple attempts were made to gain access to Clintons server, but there was no evidence that it was breached. The new documents, released in response to Freedom of Information Act requests, added more of the specific findings. Among the details: Clinton used 13 devices capable of transmitting emails; she did not realize that a c mark on documents meant confidential; an aide to her husband destroyed two of her phones, one of them with a hammer. They used hammers to destroy phones so they couldnt be turned over later -- and by the way, who uses 13 different iPhones in 4 years? Who? Trump said. (Clinton actually used BlackBerry phones.) The only people who use that many phones are usually involved in very, very, and I mean very shady activity, Trump said. And now shes running for president. In response, the Clinton campaign issued a statement that called attention to another recent piece of news: reports that a Trump foundation made a donation to a campaign group tied to Florida Attorney General Pam Biondi shortly before she decided not to pursue a case against Trump University. The IRS determined that the donation was improper and fined the foundation $2,500. There is only one candidate in the race whose foundation has been caught in an illegal pay-to-play scheme, the Clinton campaign statement said. Instead of dredging up old debunked conspiracy theories, Donald Trump should release his tax returns and come clean on his apparently successful attempt to buy off the Attorney General of Florida. The California Legislature had a busy final few days in August, passing about 800 bills, not counting the hundreds passed earlier in the year. Some are mundane, some profound. But all will go now to Gov. Jerry Brown for his approval. He has until the end of September to sign or veto them. If history is any guide, the governor will allow most of the bills to become law, vetoing just a few. The following bills would do more harm than good, and so belong on his To Veto list. Start with AB 2888 and SB 813. Two big news stories prompted these flawed proposals. The former stemmed from the outrage over the sentencing of Brock Allen Turner, the Stanford student found guilty of sexually assaulting a female student when she was unconscious. The judge gave Turner just six months for three felony convictions. Advertisement It was a shockingly light sentence, but AB 2888 is not the answer. It would eliminate judges discretion to place offenders on probation, rather than incarcerating them, when theyve committed a sexual assault on someone whos unconscious or too intoxicated to resist. Not only is this an ill-considered reaction to one headline-grabbing case, but it would reinstate a type of mandatory sentencing at a time when criminal justice experts and policymakers are correctly trying to move in the opposite direction. SB 813 was a response to rape accusations against actor and comedian Bill Cosby last year. Because Californias statute of limitations for sexual assaults is 10 years, some of the alleged sexual assaults by Cosby could not be prosecuted. But statutes of limitations exist for good reasons. They can help victims see justice in a timely manner by setting a deadline for prosecutors to bring charges. They also protect the rights of the accused. Its very hard to defend against accusations of crimes committed decades before. Besides, there is already an exception to the time limit for DNA evidence that turns up new suspects in old cases. AB 2844 is a much-amended bill that in an earlier version would have prohibited the state from entering into contracts with companies that participated in a boycott of Israel. After 1st Amendment objections were raised, the bill was revised (and re-revised) so that now it prohibits would-be contractors from violating existing civil rights laws as part of any policy that they have adopted against any sovereign nation or peoples recognized by the government of the United States, including, but not limited to, the nation and people of Israel. This legislation isnt necessary to protect anyone from discrimination that is already against the law. Its essentially a symbolic gesture designed to express disapproval of the so-called Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Public officials are free to denounce that movement as individuals, but they shouldnt clutter the statute books with redundant legislation. AB 717 and AB 1561. These bills would, respectively, waive the sales tax on diapers and on tampons, among other products used by menstruating women. Making such products less expensive for low-income people seems like an easy way to do a little good. Why not give harried parents of newborns a break on all those Pampers? And tampons are not luxuries for women either. Its a great headline, but in the end these waivers wouldnt make much of an impact on a poor familys wallet while also extending an unneeded benefit to middle- and upper-income consumers. What needy families could really use are state credits and vouchers. Losing $56 million in tax revenue from the diaper and tampon exemptions would make it harder to fund such programs. The states tax policy could surely use an overhaul, but this is the wrong way to do it. AB 2147 would authorize police to impound vehicles used in connection with soliciting prostitution. Although officers already have the authority to impound vehicles used in other suspected crimes, we oppose extending that power on the principle that people ought not to be punished or have their property seized before they are convicted of a crime. This is not a comprehensive list. Surely there are more stinkers among the hundreds that slipped through with little notice. Heres hoping that Brown will root them out and take appropriate action. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook Citizens United, the 2010 Supreme Court decision holding that corporations had a 1st Amendment right to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections, has no shortage of critics. Editorial writers (including the ones behind this page) have assailed the decision. President Obama denounced it in a State of the Union address with several justices sitting in attendance. In a 2015 Bloomberg poll, 78% of respondents said that it should be overturned. But is the decision so outrageous that it requires the radical step of amending the U.S. Constitution? Thats the question California voters will be pondering in November as they contemplate Proposition 59, which asks if the states elected officials should use all of their constitutional authority, including, but not limited to, proposing and ratifying one or more amendments to the U.S. Constitution to overturn Citizens United and related decisions. If we had had our way, this question even wouldnt be on the ballot. We urged Gov. Brown to veto the legislation that put it there because, unlike other propositions placed before the people in this citadel of popular democracy, Proposition 59 has no binding force. Although its proponents claim that its designed to instruct state legislators and members of Congress, those officials are entirely free to disregard it. (It also seems like preaching to the choir. Perhaps in an exercise of clairvoyance, the state Legislature had already voted in 2014 to petition Congress to convene a constitutional convention to approve an amendment overturning Citizens United.) Advertisement But now that the question is on the ballot, the voters must choose, and so must we. We recommend a No vote, for two reasons. First, amending the Constitution is a difficult process by design, and not every unwise Supreme Court decision justifies the attempt. Citizens United, which was decided only six years ago by a mere 5-4 majority, could plausibly be reconsidered or narrowed with a change in the courts membership. Hillary Clinton, for one, has made it clear that she would appoint justices likely to reconsider the ruling. (She also says she would fight for a constitutional amendment to overturn the ruling if necessary.) Even if it werent overturned, many of the evils for which it has become a metaphor undisclosed dark money in political campaigns, for example can be addressed by simple legislation. We dont rule out supporting an appropriately crafted constitutional amendment in the future, but we see no reason to rush. That brings us to our second concern about Proposition 59: Like a similar measure approved by Los Angeles city voters in 2013, Proposition 59 doesnt specify what a proposed constitutional amendment would actually say. True, Proposition 59 suggests that an amendment or amendments would reverse Citizens United and other applicable judicial precedents a reference mainly to Buckley vs. Valeo, a 1976 decision holding that individuals could spend unlimited amounts of their money on independent political expenditures. But the measure also suggests that a constitutional amendment would make clear that corporations should not have the same constitutional rights as human beings. Thats a powerful, even poetic, pronouncement, but what does it mean? Would corporations lose only free-speech rights or other rights as well, such as the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures at their places of business or to due process of law if they were sued? Would nonprofit as well as for-profit corporations be affected? What about the 1st Amendment rights of corporations that publish newspapers or broadcast the nightly news? Supporters of Proposition 59 suggest that such questions could be taken up later when members of Congress, after being instructed by the voters, got down to the hard work of drafting an amendment. But that seems backward: You dont decide that the Constitution should be amended, and then decide what the amendment should say. When it comes to amending the Bill of Rights, the exact words matter. We share the frustration over Citizens United (the decision) and Citizens United (the metaphor for the outsize role of money in politics). We also recognize that the very reason we opposed placing this question on the ballot that its purely advisory could be offered as a justification for voting Yes; why not take advantage of this opportunity to make a statement? Fair enough, but if that statement is: Amend the Constitution; details to follow, we dont think its a message worth sending. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook ALSO Tired, torn, disgusted by this election? You still have to vote. Its been an otherworldly campaign, and were not returning to Earth anytime soon Fear and loathing and long lines on election day Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. [Photo provided to China Daily] It is an inspiring story for many netizens in China. Many years ago, Jack Ma, head of the Alibaba Group, was rejected by KFC when he applied for a job with the fast food chain. Now the internet tycoon's payment unit is investing in the fast food chains' China business to help more customers use the mobile payment system at Yum! Brands Inc's 7,200 restaurants across the country, which also include Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. "The investment is of a strategic nature," said Jason Yu, general manager of Kantar Worldpanel China. After all, the two Chinese investors' combined shares are less than 5 percent of the total holdings of Yum China. Yu said the investment will not bring material change to the day-to-day running of the operation of the fast food chains. Last Friday, Yum! Brands Inc agreed to sell a combined $460 million stake in its Chinese operations to Primavera Capital Group and Ant Financial Services Group, a deal that sets the stage for a spinoff of the business into a separate company next month. Primavera, a Chinese private equity firm, will invest $410 million in the spinoff. Ant Financial, an affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, will put $50 million into the business. Primavera founder Fred Hu, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc chairman in charge of its business in China, will become chairman of the new company, which will be called Yum China. Yum, the sprawling fast-food empire that includes KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell and operates more than 7,200 restaurants in China, said the spinoff remains on track to be completed on Oct 31. The new company will then start trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker YUMC on Nov 1. Ant Financial, the Alibaba affiliate, operates the widely used Alipay mobile-payments platform. The firm will assist with an electronic payment system that works across the restaurant brands. "We expect Ant Financial can provide further unique insights to help us better connect with consumers through mobile technology," said Micky Pant, Yum China's chief executive officer. Despite the food safety scandals that severely hurt its business in the country last year, Yum's business has improved in recent quarters, and Yum's performance in Asia has shown signs of picking up. The company's second-quarter profit beat estimates, helped by the KFC chain's better-than-expected performance in China. Still, revenue dropped 3 percent to $1.6 billion in its China business, which accounted for 53 percent of the group's total. Yum shares have advanced 24 percent this year. Still, the winner in the deal is undoubtedly Alibaba. "The deal will certainly accelerate the adoption of the Alipay mobile payment as well as digital marketing integration with Alibaba ecosystem," Yu said. Even as researchers find that the foreign-born commit fewer crimes than their native-born peers, the perception that immigrants are uniquely crime prone permeates public and political discourse. Of course the warnings and anxiety about criminal immigrants are nothing new. At the turn of the 20th century, nativists worried that the large numbers of Polish, Italians and Irish migrating to the United States would taint the bloodstream. Though the countries of origin of todays migrant groups have shifted, a similar concern reverberates: Are immigrants bringing with them tendencies to offend, victimize and profit from the hard work of U.S. citizens? The findings exonerating the foreign-born are equally consistent. A sizable body of scientific research conducted by criminologists, sociologists and economists indicates that: Neighborhoods with more immigrants have lower rates of crime; an influx of immigrants has been shown to decrease crime; and that foreign-born individuals commit less crime than their U.S.-born peers. Advertisement These patterns hold not just for minor offenses, but also for serious violent crimes. Some have suggested that immigrants may actually revitalize communities and lessen crime. Yet there may be a problem with the scientific record: Many of these studies rely on self-reported survey data. These surveys ask individuals to respond to questions such as how often they have stolen goods, sold drugs or severely hurt someone in the last year. One major criticism of the research on immigration and crime is that it does not account for the possibility that immigrants have a distinct incentive to lie. Unlike their U.S.-born peers, immigrants may conceal their offenses even on anonymous surveys for fear of deportation. They may also lack a deep understanding about the U.S. criminal justice system and not realize theyve broken laws. In a recent study, we investigated whether immigrants have a greater tendency to underreport their offenses than native-born Americans. Over a seven-year period, a large sample of adolescent offenders were tracked and interviewed 10 times. At each interview they were asked if they had been arrested. We then compared these self-reports with official arrest records to check for accuracy. Bottom line: We found no evidence supporting the idea that immigrants are especially prone to hide their criminal behavior. Over the seven years of the study, immigrants accurately self-reported their arrests 87% of the time, which is slightly more accurate, though not statistically different, than their native-born (86%) and second-generation (84%) peers. The finding that the foreign-born commit less crime than their U.S.-born peers is not a product of differences in reporting practices across these groups. As the publics views on immigration policy trend toward support for increased pathways to citizenship, the rhetoric on the immigrant-crime nexus appears particularly resilient to scientific evidence to the contrary. Interest in the rhetoric-reality divide is more than an academic puzzle as exposure to these messages exacerbates fears, fuels anxieties and provokes reactionary responses that are not well conceived, like mass deportation plans or broad stroke exclusionary practices. Pundits and policymakers should drop the fear-based tactics and focus on understanding why, despite various disadvantages, immigrants remain less likely to be involved in crime than native-born Americans. We know that many immigrants uphold cultural traditions that prioritize the family over the individual; theres also emerging research showing that immigrants have a stronger faith in the legitimacy of the criminal justice system than many Americans of long-standing. Perhaps these beliefs, and the people who hold them, are worth embracing. Bianca E. Bersani is associate professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Alex R. Piquero is Ashbel Smith professor of criminology at the University of Texas at Dallas. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook To read the article in Spanish, clic here One of the most common reasons you hear in favor of voting for Donald Trump for president this November is that he tells it like it is. Unlike so many career politicians, the GOP candidate speaks his mind and is unafraid to offend. In addition to standing up to Mexican rapists and Islamic fundamentalists, his devoted fans say, the Republican nominee will wage a single-minded campaign against political correctness, the effects of which have deleteriously affected government policies on everything from crime to terrorism. I despise political correctness, whether it comes in the form of calling illegal immigrants undocumented (as if they merely forgot their papers at home) or Yale students shrieking about emails concerning Halloween costumes. Most Americans seem to agree: An October poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University found that 68% of Americans believe political correctness is a big problem. But heres the thing: Its not the presidents job to litigate debates on campuses or arbitrate the ways in which Americans or the media discuss contentious subjects. The role of the president is to lead the free world, command the armed forces, represent his country at international summits, and carry out other executive branch duties, none of which stipulate extemporizing on the controversy du jour. Advertisement Granted, offering opinions even on matters that may not fall within his explicit constitutional remit is very much a part of the presidents job description. Thats exactly what President Obama, supposedly captive to political correctness, did earlier this year in a commencement address at Rutgers University. Speaking of students who had protested an earlier invitation to Condoleezza Rice, Obama said, The notion that this community or the country would be better served by not hearing from a former secretary of State or shutting out what she had to say, I believe that is misguided. He counseled the graduating students that, If somebodys got a bad or offensive idea, prove it wrong. Engage it, debate it, stand up for what you believe in. Dont be scared to take somebody on. Dont feel like youve got to shut your ears because youre too fragile and somebody might offend your sensibilities. This is the proper way to combat political correctness, as opposed to the Trump method, which consists of little more than name-calling. Besides, Trumps solutions to the problems he believes are aggravated by political correctness would only exacerbate them. Trumps signature policy approach to dealing with Islamic terrorism barring Muslims from entering the country bolsters the Islamist narrative that the U.S. is at war with an entire faith. His approach to fighting the Islamic State, meanwhile, consists of allying with the Assad regime in Syria (and, by implication, its Iranian patrons), encouraging the impression that the U.S. is picking favorites among Islamic sects. (For all his wailing about Obamas lackluster anti-Islamic State campaign, Trump doesnt even seem to realize that his professed policy is essentially the same as that of the current administration, which has left Syria to burn as the price of its ill-fated nuclear deal with Tehran). Politicians, and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in particular, have a tendency to repeat rote talking points at the expense of saying something interesting or profound. Its perfectly valid to demand that our leaders talk to us like adults. Trump, however, epitomizes the complete opposite of this tendency, often to an irresponsible and even dangerous degree like when he seemed to advocate Clintons assassination with an appeal to 2nd Amendment people only to claim hours later that he was being sarcastic. His lack of decorum may not matter in a reality-television host. It does matter in a president, whose words are more heavily scrutinized than those of anybody else on the planet. Many, if not most, Trump supporters, especially those alt-right, self-proclaimed free-speech activists, want a Provocateur-in-Chief, not a president. They want someone who will, with his bluntness, validate their antipathies, not lead a country. Their problem is that they confuse being politically incorrect with being a racist loudmouth. James Kirchick is filling in for Jonah Goldberg. His book, The End of Europe, is forthcoming from Yale University Press. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook To the editor: Since most of the dirty industries remaining in the Los Angeles area are located cheek-to-jowl in sections populated by lower income families, the refusal to incorporate board members with a higher sense of concern for the environment leaves those citizens as usual very poorly represented on all fronts. ( AQMD board shake-up fails, Sept. 2) For several years, when I was an environmental assessor, consultant and trainer in the occupational health and safety trade, I often encountered AQMD field officers doing a pretty good job of citing and curbing defiance of the air quality rules. Advertisement In decades past, it seemed to me to be composed of people who understood that their mandate was to protect the public from egregious acts of air pollution. Carleton Cronin, West Hollywood :: To the editor: Spending cap-and-trade money points to just one problem with cap-and-trade. The Legislature tries to fairly balance expenditures between groups while also trying to slow global warming. Its a Herculean task. ( Lawmakers reach deal on cap-trade spending, Sept. 1) Using cap-and-trade to address acid rain and ozone hole problems was completely different. Climate change is a production problem, and until production is capped, well keep burning what is produced. The best way to cap production is to tax it as it leaves the ground, and steadily increase the tax. Our legislature just passed a joint resolution that asks Congress to adopt such a plan. California cant solve the global problem. Angie Vazirian, Newport Beach :: To the editor: Two lessons learned from Californias cap and trade law. First, it is not about climate change but it is about a political agenda to develop a new source of tax revenue to be distributed by politicians. Second, there is zero fiscal discipline in California government with no incentive or desire to refund money or reduce taxes but just a continuing propensity to spend. Don Black, Rancho Palos Verdes :: To the editor: As a way to determine the success of this effort, every five years or so taxpayers should get a very simple report card: How much carbon/methane has been scrubbed from the air and how much temperature reduction has been achieved? In other words a cost/benefit analysis. Ken Artingstall, Glendale Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook Vice presidential hopeful Tim Kaine warned that Donald Trump was too unpredictable and dangerous to entrust with the powers of commander in chief, accusing the Republican of misleading the public on his past foreign policy views and of expressing a fondness for dictators at the expense of traditional U.S. allies. Speaking in North Carolina on Tuesday in what Hillary Clintons campaign billed as a major national security address, the Virginia senator performed the customary role of a running mate, seeking to dismantle Trumps qualifications to lead the nation on the world stage while praising Clintons. Advertisement Kaine said the issue of national security is personal to him, with a son deployed overseas with the Marines. While he trusted Clinton with decisions that directly involved his family, the prospect of Trump as commander in chief scares me to death, he said. Under his leadership, we would be unrecognizable to the rest of the world. And wed be far less safe, Kaine said. Kaine focused his criticisms on three key areas: the Middle East, Russia and Latin America. He noted that Trump often claims to have opposed the U.S. decision to go to war with Iraq from the start as he did again at his own campaign event Tuesday. But Kaine cataloged contemporaneous statements by Trump including one he made to radio host Howard Stern in 2002 supporting the impending invasion. Its one of the main rationales for his candidacy. And its completely made up, he said. He says whatever he feels like at any given time because thats what you do when youre a TV star. But you cant do that when youre president of the United States. Kaine also accused Trump of a bizarre fascination with strongmen and authoritarian leaders, noting he once rented space at one of his New York estates for then-Libyan dictator Moammar Kadafi to pitch a tent. But Kaine focused on Trumps seeming courtship of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kaine said that while it seems obvious why Russia is seeking to influence the U.S. election for its own interests, the bigger question is why Trump seems to support Russian interests against American ones. Kaine argued that a Clinton administration would continue the Obama administrations foreign policy focus on its own hemisphere, working with what he said were the flourishing democracies in Latin America rather than wall ourselves off. He accused Trump of choking when it came to his trademark pledge to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, referring to his recent trip to meet with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto at which he claimed not to have discussed the touchy topic of who would pay for it. At his rallies, Trump frequently insists that Mexico will fund the project. Turns out, Donald isnt such a great negotiator after all, he said. And when Pena Nieto wrote on social media that he had raised the issue directly, Kaine said, Trump retaliated by toughening up his own planned immigration speech and launching a Twitter war with the U.S. ally. I guess we should be glad it was only a Twitter war, Kaine added, noting that soon Trump could have the U.S. armed forces at his disposal. Kaines focus was not entirely on Trump, though, as he sought to offer his own credentials for a position that could put him in line for the presidency. As a mayor and governor, Kaine noted, he was responsible for the safety of his citys and states citizens, and also oversaw a National Guard unit that deployed in conflict. He noted his service the last four years on the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees and his travels to foreign capitals. These werent quick drop-bys or photo ops, he said. He said Clinton shared his commitment to seek a vote from Congress to authorize U.S. military action against Islamic State, something that has been a priority for him in the last two years. The Obama administration has said its campaign against the terrorist group is already sanctioned under a post-Sept. 11 congressional resolution, though it also welcomes an authorization specifically targeting Islamic State. Kaines speech Tuesday came amid a broader effort by the campaign to refocus on national security issues and Trumps qualifications, as polls show a tightening contest after the traditional Labor Day campaign milestone. While Kaine was courting voters in Wilmington, a military-minded community in North Carolina, Trump was near a military community in Kaines state fielding questions from retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. Look how bad her decisions have been, Trump said of Clinton. Virtually every decision shes made has been a loser. michael.memoli@latimes.com For more 2016 campaign coverage, follow @mikememoli on Twitter ALSO Hillary Clinton castigates Donald Trumps campaign as one large insult to those who have worn the uniform In Pennsylvania and nationally, Trumps problems with suburban voters blunt his ascent How Tim Kaine went from wild card vice presidential pick to shortlist favorite for Hillary Clinton Three candidates will be competing for two seats on the Laguna Beach Unified School District board in this falls election. Incumbent Jan Vickers will seek her fifth consecutive board term, while challengers Howard Hills and Peggy Wolff will also vie for a place on the five-member board, which includes Ketta Brown, Carol Normandin and Dee Perry. Current board President William Landsiedel, who has served on the board since 2008, will not seek reelection. Vickers, 69, has lived continuously in Laguna since 1968 and was hired as an adult-education instructor in 1972. She has been a school administrator, artist and foster parent. I prepare and attend meetings, asking questions and giving input, Vickers said in her candidate statement on the Orange County Registrar of Voters website. I am responsive to students, staff, parents and ready to carry forward the concerns and issues brought to my attention. I will represent you conscientiously. Within the schools, Vickers, who has teaching credentials in elementary, secondary and early childhood education, has been a substitute teacher in all four district schools and participated in PTA and curriculum committees. She has delivered food to needy families through a program with the United Methodist Church. Hills, a constitutional lawyer and author, graduated from Laguna Beach High in 1970 and has been supporting public schools for nearly 50 years as a volunteer, offering substance-abuse mentoring and helping out at career fairs. His uncle, Bob Hills, graduated from Laguna Beach High in 1942. Hills, 64, consistently has called for video recordings of school board meetings, which the district implemented last year, as a means of boosting transparency and flow of information. The school districts budget and spending, personnel practices, fiscal accountability and policy-making must be managed in an orderly and open way, Hills said in his candidate statement. We also need to involve the community and our trusted teachers in the exercise of local control over local schools without undue reliance on costly outside consultants and lobbyists importing generic policy solutions. Hills said civic literacy is important, and he suggests a student government program in grades 5 through 12 that would teach democratic citizenship skills. Wolff, a community volunteer, taught fourth grade in the Newport-Mesa and Tustin school districts, and in Laguna Beach was past PTA president of Thurston Middle and Top of the World Elementary schools. She developed budgets, managed finances and oversaw projects and volunteers. Wolff, who has daughters at Laguna Beach High and Thurston, was also a trustee and executive officer of SchoolPower, the nonprofit organization that raises money for Lagunas schools. I am known for my can-do attitude, with no job being too big or too small to tackle, Wolff, 52, said in her candidate statement. I will bring the same strong organizational skills that have enabled me to effectively lead PTA, a diverse volunteer organization. I will bring my inherent sense of responsibility to see that taxpayer funds are wisely spent. The American Assn. of University Womens Laguna Beach branch and League of Women Voters will host a candidates forum at 6 p.m. Oct. 6 in the Artists Theatre at Laguna Beach High. bryce.alderton@latimes.com Twitter: @AldertonBryce My dad and I went to the South Pacific together in 1984. Hed just retired after 37 years with his employer and was looking forward to embarking on a trip hed waited a lifetime to take. Dad was 62, I was 39. As part of the retirement celebration, Dad and I took five weeks and traveled to Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. My mom was not a traveler and Dad didnt want to make the journey alone, so he invited me along. We planned to hit Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, the Cook Islands and Tahiti. After 20 days in Oz and NZ, we boarded a plane in Auckland for Nadi, Fiji. We were slated to spend four nights there, then a week in the Cooks, and finally several days in Tahiti. The best laid plans We checked into a Nadi hotel after a three-hour flight from Auckland. We slept well that first night and looked forward to the next days adventure. Dad and I booked a one-day excursion to remote Castaway Island, a pristine 174-acre South Pacific speck with white sand beaches, a tropical rainforest and vibrant coral reefs. The 90-minute boat trip from Nadi was spectacular. The water inside the reef at Castaway was azure and green and so clear that boats anchored in the lagoon appeared to be floating in the air. Dad and I had a wonderful time snorkeling and kayaking and eating a Fijian feast. Our Nadi hotel had a pool but not a beachside location. We had no specific plans for the second full day, so dad had an idea. My father, being slightly tight with a nickel, discovered a sure-fire way to get us some beach time at no cost. Wed hire a cab to take us from our modest hotel to one of the big luxury jobs on the bay. Wed walk through the lobby and onto the beach. Voila! I wasnt confident of success. It sounded too easy. Dad, Im not sure, I said. This could be embarrassing. Well, Dad was determined to give it a try, so we hailed a cab and beat it to the luxury hotel. We exited the cab, walked through the lobby and out the back door. We spent the day on the beach. It was lovely. The next day was to be our last on Fiji before leaving for the Cooks, so Dad suggested we spend another several hours on the luxury hotels beach. We felt more confident this time. Wed been on the beach for an hour or so when we noticed a couple of security guards randomly chatting with guests on the beach. I tried to burrow inconspicuously into the sand. One of the guards came over to us. Are you gentlemen guests of the hotel? he asked politely but firmly. Hmm, my dad pondered. Uh. You mean this hotel? I stammered. Busted! Gentlemen please show me your keys. We were just leaving, I assured him. I picked up my towel and began folding it. I felt as though wed attracted every eye on the beach. We hailed a cab and made it back to our hotel. That night we were informed that the once-a-week flight to the Cooks wouldnt be leaving the next morning. In fact, no flight for the foreseeable future would arrive or depart Fiji. Airport firefighters were on strike. The strike lasted nine days. We spent most of those days wolfing down delicious Indian cuisine and sitting around the pool getting to know every last guest at the hotel. We met British newlyweds from Bahrain, New Zealanders on holiday and, relishing being stranded in paradise, a French chef and a couple from Chile. When the strike finally ended, we faced waiting several more days in Fiji to catch the once-a-week flight to the Cooks. I made an executive decision. Dad, were going home tonight. I missed my wife, Hedy, and the kids. Though Im certain dad would have loved to try to salvage the rest of our trip, he didnt pitch a fit. We flew home. I smothered Hedy with kisses at the gate. That trip with Dad is one of my fondest memories, ever. --- JIM CARNETT, who lives in Costa Mesa, worked for Orange Coast College for 37 years. Actor and musician Jared Drake Bell spent Friday night in jail after pleading no contest to driving under the influence in Glendale within 10 years of another DUI conviction, officials said. Bell, best known for his starring role on Nickelodeons Drake & Josh, was sentenced late Friday to four days in jail and four years of summary probation after pleading to the misdemeanor charge, according to the Los Angeles County district attorneys office. Jail records show he was released from custody the following afternoon. The 30-year-old must complete an 18-month multiple offender alcohol education program and comply with any DMV orders and restrictions on his driving privileges. He was also given a so-called Watson admonition, or a formal warning that he could be charged with murder if a future DUI resulted in someones death, officials said. Bells Glendale arrest stretches back to around 2:20 a.m. on Dec. 21, when an officer saw him swerving and speeding after abruptly stopping at a red light, police said at the time. During the traffic stop at West Doran Street and San Fernando Road, the officer smelled alcohol coming from the car. Bell subsequently failed a field sobriety test and refused to take a chemical test. In May 2010, Bell was convicted six months after the incident of driving under the influence in San Diego. Bell co-starred with Josh Peck on Drake & Josh from 2004 to 2007. -- Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com Twitter: @atchek A new virtual reality haunted experience coming to Knotts Berry Farm and two other North American amusement parks this Halloween admits visitors to a mental hospital where a psychiatric patient with demonic powers is on the loose. Part of a wave of virtual reality experiences sweeping theme parks this year, Fear VR: 5150 will be available during Halloween Haunt on select nights in September and October at Knotts in Buena Park, Californias Great America in Santa Clara and Canadas Wonderland outside Toronto. The 5150 attraction takes its name from the California police code for a mentally ill person who is a danger to himself or others. I got a sneak peek at 5150 last week at Knotts and found the five-minute VR experience immersive, captivating and scary. The attraction was still under construction during the preview tour, so I did not get to experience the five-minute pre-show populated by live talent. Advertisement After checking into the mythical Meadowbrook Institute, visitors are strapped into a wheelchair in the psychiatric hospitals exam room and fitted with a Samsung VR headset and headphones. The VR experience follows a demonically possessed patient named Katie, who unleashes chaos throughout the hospital and takes mental control of the medical staff. A panic button attached to the wheelchair is available if the action becomes too intense. The young Katie, clad in a hospital gown and cursed with supernatural powers, may remind many visitors of Eleven from Stranger Things, the central character in the horror-science-fiction series recently released on Netflix. The upcharge price has not been set yet for the Fear VR: 5150 experience and may be different at each of the three Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. parks. At Knotts, expect a line to form for 5150 reservations as soon as the annual Halloween Haunt event opens at 7 p.m. daily. Only a few hundred reservations will be available each night. Capacity probably will be the chief problem at each location. The Knotts creative team, with technical assistance from Simi Valley-based Hollow Studios, shot the VR images for 5150 during three days of work at an Orange County college movie studio. Veteran Halloween Haunt talent played all the roles in the short film, and the Knotts design crew dressed the hospital set. Fear VR: 5150 is impressive, but it is still only a first step toward a more immersive virtual reality experience. Still, the special effects, set dressing and live talent separate the 5150 experience from simply sitting on a couch with a VR headset. But I wanted more. Being strapped in a wheelchair isnt the same as walking through a physical environment, even though special effects help simulate movement. VR haunted mazes are the logical next step for Cedar Fair and other theme park chains. The flexible nature of the virtual attractions allows parks to adjust each individual experience from extremely gory to family-friendly, and change from one story to another with the flip of a switch. This year will go down as the year of virtual reality at theme parks. VR experiences were added to more than two dozen roller coasters around the world, and many more installations are on the way. For Universal Studios Orlandos The Repository this Halloween season youll pay a $50 upcharge for a VR maze at the Florida park that guides visitors through a secret warehouse filled with mysterious artifacts. The Void, a virtual reality theme park outside Salt Lake City, puts visitors wearing VR headsets and armed with laser tag weapons inside a physical maze. Up next for theme parks are virtual reality integrations with existing dark rides, motion simulators and 4-D theaters. Ohios Cedar Point experimented with augmented reality in the Valravn queue when the roller coaster opened this summer. Expect more AR experiences at Cedar Fair parks that integrate virtual imagery with physical surroundings, much like the popular Pokemon Go mobile game. ALSO 32 best new theme park additions of 2016 8 unanswered questions about Disneylands Star Wars Land Disneyland 2055: What the future may hold for the original Disney park Disneyland 1955: Walts Folly got off to a nightmare start 21 creepiest abandoned amusement parks UPDATES: Sept. 28, 6:44 a.m.: Knotts has closed the Fear VR attraction. Sept. 27, 10:10 a.m.: This article refers to a Knotts Halloween attraction by the name used at the parks preview tour. The attractions name has since been changed to Fear VR, in response to mental health advocates concerns about the use of the 5150 code. President Obama vowed Tuesday to toughen international sanctions against North Korea after its government conducted a missile test launch as world leaders gathered for summits in Asia. Speaking with reporters after a meeting in Vientiane, the Laotian capital, with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, Obama said that the two agreed to work diligently together on the most recent United Nations sanctions against North Korea to close loopholes and make them even more effective. The entire international community needs to implement these sanctions fully and hold North Korea accountable, Obama said on the sidelines of a summit of Southeast Asian leaders in his last presidential trip to the continent. Advertisement On Monday, North Korea launched three ballistic missiles a test widely believed to be an effort to garner attention from international summits in Beijing and Vientiane. Park told reporters that North Koreas acts were fundamentally threatening and that she and Obama had agreed to respond resolutely to the defiance of international demands that North Korea end its pursuit of nuclear weapons. In March, the United Nations Security Council imposed the toughest sanctions in decades on North Korea after it began a round of nuclear and ballistic missile tests. The sanctions subject all cargo in and out of North Korea to inspections, bans exports of natural resources including coal and gold, tightens a weapons embargo and ends relationships with outside banks. Obama believes the U.S. and South Korea have to be vigilant in sanctions enforcement, aides said. We want to make sure were cutting off all the lifelines that North Korea tries to grab on to, said deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes. Obama also said the U.S. was still open to the possibility of talks with North Korea if Pyongyang were to recognize its international obligations and work to denuclearize the Korean peninsula. The opportunities for us to dialogue with them are there, Obama said. The U.S. has no interest in an offensive approach to North Korea, he said. Obama had been scheduled to meet Tuesday afternoon with the controversial new Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, but he canceled that meeting when Duterte threated to curse at him if he raised questions about Dutertes human rights record. Obama insisted he would raise that issue, and thus canceled the meeting. christi.parsons@latimes.com Follow @cparsons for news about the White House. In China, Obama struggles for elusive deal with Russia on Syria Obama makes progress on climate change, the bright spot in his China policy Duterte expresses regret for his Obama insult. But hes always had a way with words Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte made headlines this week after he called President Obama a son of a bitch. But given Dutertes record of crude remarks, the insult could be considered typical, maybe even tame. During Dutertes presidential campaign he was inaugurated on June 30 he remarked on the size of his penis, called Pope Francis the son of a whore and joked about an Australian missionary who was raped and killed during a prison break in 1989. I was angry because she was raped, thats one thing, Duterte, the mayor of Davao City at the time, said. But she was so beautiful, the mayor should have been first. What a waste. Advertisement Duterte later expressed regret over his remark about Obama. In a statement read by his spokesman, he said his strong comments that were made in response to a reporters question elicited concern and distress. He expresses deep regret, regards and affinity for Obama and the U.S. diplomatic partnership with our nation, the spokesman said, according to the Singaporean broadcaster Channel NewsAsia. The apology was rare. While campaigning, Duterte refused to apologize for the rape joke despite a wave of outrage. In mid-August, Duterte called U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg a gay son of a whore. He has not apologized for that insult. Freelance photographer Linus Guardian Escandor II has seen the nature of his job on the Manilla police beat change since the election of President Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte, 71, gained a reputation as a tough-talking, no-nonsense leader over his 22 years as mayor. He campaigned for president on the promise of eradicating the country of illegal drugs within six months, without regard for human rights or due process in the spring, he threatened to dump drug dealers bodies into Manila Bay and fatten all the fish there. Since his inauguration, more than 2,000 suspected drug dealers have lost their lives. Many were killed by police; others by shadowy vigilantes. Obama had planned to raise the issue with Duterte at their planned meeting in Laos since postponed raising the Philippine presidents ire. Dutertes statement of regret was delivered on the sidelines of the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in Laos. Richard Javad Heydarian, an assistant professor of political science at De La Salle University in Manila, said Dutertes comments tend to play well at home, where his spontaneity and audacity complement his image as a man of the people. His style has given him a 100% success rate with elections in the Philippines, Heydarian said. So hes probably thinking, Ive had such a high success rate, why would I change tacks? Duterte, in his remarks Monday, also accused the U.S. of causing many of his countrys problems, including instability on the southern island of Mindanao. The Philippines was a U.S. colony until 1946. We have long since ceased to be a colony of the United States, Duterte said. Duterte is a very sensible person, Heydarian said. He may seem like a crude, Third World strongman. But he reads about the early 19th century and the 20th century, and he knows about U.S. injustices not only against its own Native American and African American population, but also towards the Philippines, when the Philippines was a U.S. colony. I think thats the problem here that Duterte makes a lot of sensible points, especially if youre a progressive liberal, Heydarian said. The issue is that he has some problems with impulse control and preventing himself from making these statements. Hes also confident that he has domestic support and that were reaching a post-American age, where the U.S. doesnt have the power it did before. The U.S. relationship with the Philippines has been and remains rock-solid, a top aide to Obama said Tuesday, acknowledging nonetheless that Dutertes comments cast a shadow over the scheduled meeting between the two leaders. That did not create a constructive environment, deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes told reporters in Vientiane, Laos. We felt that it wasnt the right time. The White House stopped short of publicly asking for an apology but didnt rule it out. Its their determination as to how they address his comments, Rhodes said of Dutertes administration. Times staff writer Christi Parsons in Vientiane and the Associated Press contributed to this report. jonathan.kaiman@latimes.com ALSO Dogs, Deepak Chopra, Instagram weddings and other signs of change among Irans middle class A year later, legacy of refugee crisis has Greeks fearing paradise lost Anti-Beijing forces gain momentum in Hong Kong election UPDATES: Sept. 6, 8:35 a.m.: This article was updated with White House reaction. This article was originally published Sept. 5 at 10:30 p.m. Duterte says he will not allow any country to interfere in Philippine internal affairs Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Monday that the United States has no moral authority to give him a lecture on humans rights, warning he will not allow any country to interfere in Philippine internal affairs. Duterte was reacting to a question that U.S. President Barack Obama might raise the issue of alleged extrajudicial killings in the Philippines during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and related summits this week in Vientiane, Laos. "I do not want to pick a quarrel with Obama but certainly I would not appear to be beholden to anybody," Duterte told a news conference in Davao City in southern Philippines before leaving for Laos. Duterte also slammed the U.S. for its human rights records in the past when it colonized the Philippines. He said Obama must be careful of what issues that he raises at the summit. Duterte is getting criticism for the mounting number of victims in killings of people allegedly involved in illicit drugs. However, he said the campaign against illegal drugs will continue in spite of the criticism. Philippine military and police continued to investigate a deadly blast that hit Duterte's hometown Davao City on Friday night. The attack claimed the lives of 14 people and injured almost 70 others. Duterte vowed to remain firm in the resolve to combat terrorism. A man who unleashed a string of expletives at a mass shooter in Munich, Germany, back in July could have faced charges from the state prosecutor. The reason? A 19th century law that makes it a crime to disparage another person. After Ali Sonboly went on a rampage that killed nine people, he stood on the roof of a parking garage and engaged in a strange shouting match with a man on a nearby balcony. Thomas Salbey, a 57-year-old backhoe operator, hurled a seemingly never-ending stream of epithets at the teenage gunman and threw a beer bottle at him; the profanity-laced exchange was captured in a cellphone video that was widely shared on social media and TV news. A local woman requested that charges be brought against Salbey after watching the clip on television and, if charged, Salbey could have ended up in jail for a year or faced a hefty fine for his coarse language. Advertisement After an examination, the prosecutors opted not to pursue charges. For one thing, the woman who filed the complaint was confused about the timing. She thought that the insults were made before he went on the rampage and might have provoked him, when actually the shooting had already ended, state prosecutor Florian Weinzierl said. And the insulted party was, after all, dead. The gunman killed himself shortly after the video was taken and it was not his family who sought charges, which would have given the complaint a greater chance of success. But the surreal episode offered an insight into a quirk of the German legal system, and the potential risk lurking for anyone who may turn to four-letter words in anger. The Beleidigunggesetz, or law protecting people against insults, isnt always enforced, but certainly can be. The law against insulting another person in public has been on the books since 1871, and it can be taken quite seriously in Germany, said Volker Schmitt, a lawyer based in Berlin. Paragraph 185, Section 14 of the criminal code still reads almost exactly as it was written 145 years ago: An insult shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding one year or a fine and if the insult is committed by means of an assault with imprisonment not exceeding two years. The law is designed to protect peoples honor, said Karsten Gulden, a lawyer who specializes in the issue. Respect for people and their reputation enjoys legal protection, and shouldnt be verbally violated. There were 218,414 cases of insults filed with prosecutors in Germany in 2015, down slightly from 225,098 in 2014, but far above numbers of around 150,000 recorded a decade ago. Americans and other foreigners living in Germany sometimes run afoul of the law, unaware of it, and end up being called into police or prosecutors offices to explain their side of the story, before their cases are usually dismissed. Hardly anyone ends up in jail for insulting their neighbor in the midst of a heated dispute, or for flashing the middle finger the Stinkefinger, or stinky finger, as Germans call it at another motorist in heavy traffic. But cases do wind up in court and fines are sometimes handed down. In a precedent-setting 1995 ruling, a Schwaebisch Hall court awarded a man 460 euros over racist comments against his wife, who is black. In 1997, a boss who called a pregnant employee Germanys laziest worker in an in-house magazine was fined 2,500 euros. In 1998, a court in Heilbronn awarded a police officer 350 euros after another person called him a wanker. The law extends to insults made online as well. If someone makes comments on the Internet that violate the law, German authorities have the right to obtain data from the providers about the person who made the comments in order to go after the perpetrator, said Gulden. A Berlin court awarded one person 8,190 euros in 2011 for insults published against him in social media; in a 2012 case, a trainee who made disparaging remarks about her boss on Facebook had to pay 2,500 euros in damages. A student accepted a 5,000 euro out-of-court settlement in 2013 for racist remarks made in a rap song about him posted on YouTube. The 13-year-olds family had originally demanded 14,000 euros in court. Gulden said there are many classic insults that can land you in court, provided there is a witness or some record that they were used: old Nazi, fascist, pig, Scheiss Bulle (an insult for police) or Krueppel (cripple). In a case that went all the way to the countrys highest court, German President Joachim Gauck came under investigation after he called members of the far-right NPD party Spinner (nutcases) during a 2013 discussion about the partys anti-immigrant positions. The NPD filed the complaint, but the head of the Constitutional Court dismissed the case, saying Gauck was exercising free speech. More recently, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel consciously ran the risk of being charged for insulting a neo-Nazi, when he gave the Stinkefinger to a young man hectoring him after a speech. He did not face charges and later told public broadcaster ZDF that his only regret was not using both hands. Insulting Germany itself is also potentially punishable by law Paragraph 90 of the criminal code outlaws the defamation of the state and its symbols. At a protest in Berlin last year over the governments austerity policies toward Greece, 21 people came under police investigation for holding up a sign that referred to Germany as a miserable piece of excrement (Deutschland, du mieses Stueck Scheisse!). The state prosecutor later dropped the case. Foreign leaders too can seek satisfaction in German courts if they feel they have been insulted. The Turkish government demanded that German comedian Jan Boehmermann be prosecuted over a satirical poem suggesting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan engaged in sexual acts with goats. The state prosecutors office in Mainz is investigating Boehmermann on criminal charges. Boehmermann is also facing a separate civil suit from Erdogan for slander; a court in Hamburg is expected to rule in November. But the strict law in Germany does have one key positive effect, Gulden noted: Disputes remain more or less civilized. It means that a lot of people think twice about what they write and say, he said. Kirschbaum is a special correspondent. ALSO Mother Teresa declared a saint as Pope Francis lauds her in Vatican ceremony Germany opened its doors to refugees a year ago, but some residents have had enough A year later, legacy of refugee crisis has Greeks fearing paradise lost All material is subject to strictly enforced copyright terms & conditions and cannot be repurposed or reproduced. 19882022 Latin American Financial Publications Inc. Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump by an average of six points in the battlegrounds states of Pennsylvania and North Carolina. A recent CBS Battleground Tracker poll shows Clinton besting Trump 45 percent to 37 percent in Pennsylvania and 46 percent to 42 percent in North Carolina. Voters Still Struggled by Trump Hard-line Immigration Stance In a week where Trump traveled to Mexico to meet with President Enrique Pena Nieto, the poll of 3,675 registered voters in 13 battleground states found that 47 percent of all voters feel his long controversial and hard-line stance on immigration has not changed. The republican nominee launched his campaign be deriding Mexicans as "rapists" and "criminals" and vowing to deport as many as 11 million undocumented immigrants. Meanwhile, Clinton continues to face a backlash stemming from her ongoing email troubles, with almost halve of all the polled respondents insisting her explanations for using a private email server while secretary of state are growing "less than believable." Clinton Also up in Florida, Ohio Still, a recent Real Clear Politics average poll finds the former first lady topping Trump in the equally critical states of Florida and Ohio by an average of three and two points respectively, with Trump's path to the needed 270 electoral votes needed to ascend to the White House looking narrower and narrower. In Iowa, a recent Emerson College survey has Trump leading by five points at 44 percent to 39 percent. The Iowa poll was conducted from August 31 to September 1, and has a margin of error of 3.9 percent. Overall, FiveThirtyEight's poll project Clinton's probability of emerging as President Barack Obama's successor at 71 percent. A major part of Trump's struggles have stemmed from his struggle Latino voters. Beyond vowing to carry out mass deportations, Trump has also vowed to build a massive wall along the Mexican border to further keep immigrants out. Brazilians are going to celebrate Independence Day Brazil on Wednesday Sept. 7, 2016, remembering the day the Latin American country gained its freedom from Portugals grip in 1822. Take a walk in New York Citys Little Brazil to remember the history and find restaurants to attend for a taste of the culture. Independence Day Brazil 2016 Independence Day in Brazil can start with a history lesson, especially for third generation Brazilians who may not know a lot about their history. Grandparents can tell their grandchildren about the day Brazilians were free of Napoleons regime and overthrew King John VI. Tomorrow is Independence Day in #Brazil. Our Ss share love of culture and Brazilian spirit @_EAB_ #eablearns pic.twitter.com/AQUgUNP1z9 Matt Hajdun (@HajdunHomeroom) September 6, 2016 It was not as gruesome as you would think like other countries gaining their independence. In fact, the kings son Dom Pedro declared Brazils independence becoming the countrys first emperor. The Dom, also known as the hero liberator, did not want to return to Portugal following unjust acts in Brazil and refused to turn the country back into a colony. Nearly 200 years later, the citizens of Brazil, and people all over the world of Brazilian descent, are celebrating Independence Day. Some natives will take the day off at the beach while others will attend events in major cities throughout the world. Little Brazil Events 2016 While New Yorkers celebrated Brazil Independence Day on Sunday Sept. 4, you can still venture through 25 blocks of Little Brazil in New York City starting at West 46th Street to get taste of Brazilian culture on the day of. Brazilian Food Check out Little Brazil in Hells Kitchen on West 46th Street for affordable Brazilian food. For a pricier and "better" food, head a few blocks up at 43 W 46th Street to Ipanema Restaurant for an assortment of Portuguese, Brazilian and Latin American food. Dont feel like heading to Little Brazil? Take a bite out of Brazilian food in Greenwich Village at Favela Cubana at 543 LaGuardia Pl. Happy hour is every day from 4 p.m. EST to 7 p.m. EST where you can get five-dollar-beers. Brazilian Favorites in USA Americans not only love Brazilian food, but many things the culture has to offer like: 3 Bundls 150G Brazilian Virgin Ombre Remy Body Wave Human Hair Weft Extension https://t.co/v2I7mLIfC7 pic.twitter.com/GO373oXrn3 buy lovely item (@item_lovely) September 6, 2016 Brazilian Women Great Miss Bum Bum 2016 https://t.co/Rhclfpq6Zc pic.twitter.com/zuqiFQgeZ3 CharlieBoyTv (@CharlieboyTv) August 15, 2016 Some of the voluptuous women of Brazil pave the way for the ideal look for American stars like Kim Kardashian and the rest of her clan. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying has accused western media of a lack of professionalism in making up news based on their own assumptions about US President Barack Obamas arrival in Hangzhou for the G20 Summit. Following reports of a so-called diplomatic snub as Obama appeared not to have been provided with a staircase and red carpet, Hua said on Monday that China has attached great importance to bilateral ties with the United States, and we welcome President Obama to attend the G20 Summit. China has spared no effort in looking after leaders attending the event and satisfying the demands of coming delegations including that of the United States, according the spokesperson. On Sunday, Obama told reporters that the significance of a row between US and Chinese officials on the airport tarmac upon his arrival should not be overblown. I wouldnt overcrank the significance of tensions at the airport, Obama said on Sunday, part of it is we also have a much bigger footprint than a lot of other countries. Weve got a lot of planes, a lot of helicopters, a lot of cars, a lot of guys. You know, if youre a host country, sometimes it may feel a little bit much. Su, an elderly woman from Guizhou, was diagnosed with terminal cancer two years ago. After her diagnosis, her husband Mr. Jiang gave up his hobbies so as to accompany her, from shopping markets, to the Great Wall, to Hainan. His commitment to her was the best medicine, because Su has since recovered. The photo was taken recently on their 40th anniversary. Bill Gates From the standpoint of the worlds poor, the G20 Summit that concludes on Monday, Sept. 5 in Hangzhou is especially significant. For the first time, this annual gathering of leaders of the worlds largest economies has made eradicating poverty and improving global health a top priority. This is an important step in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) unanimously adopted last year by the United Nations. Taken together, the SDGs lay the groundwork for creating the better world we all want by setting targets to end poverty, improve the well-being of people in the poorest countries, and combat climate change. Artists dance during an evening gala for the G20 summit at the West Lake scenic zone in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 4, 2016. (Photo/Xinhua) That the G20 took this action in China is entirely appropriate because the world cant achieve the SDGs without Chinas leadership, participation, and innovation. One obvious reason is Chinas size. As the worlds most populous country, its progress on the SDGs will have a large impact on global measures of wellness and prosperity. Chinas recent advances in these areas were a major factor in progress on the previous global development agenda the Millennium Development Goals. Extreme poverty fell by half worldwide between 1990 and 2010, thanks largely to gains made in China and South Asia. China alone lifted 600 million people out of poverty over the past 30 years. Reducing poverty and improving health care in China have saved the lives of millions of new mothers and young children, contributing to a drop of about 50 percent since 1990 in worldwide mortality rates for both. China still faces many significant development challenges. But in light of the countrys momentum and determination, its realistic to think that China will once again lead the way in creating the better world we all want. I have visited China many times and am always impressed by the commitment of government officials, entrepreneurs, and scientists to realize the vision shared by our foundation of a world where every person has the opportunity to live a healthy, productive life. That commitment is one reason why we opened a foundation office in China nearly a decade ago and why we work closely with a wide variety of partners in government, business, and the non-profit sector. Our early work was focused on Chinas domestic health challenges -- helping reduce tobacco use, control tuberculosis, prevent HIV transmission, and improve treatment and care for people living with AIDS. While we continue these initiatives, our work in China is evolving along with Chinas changing needs and priorities. For example, we are working with our Chinese partners to explore how we can best support Chinas goal to eliminate poverty by the year 2020. Drawing on our global experience, we hope to assist with needs such as improving nutrition and rural healthcare and expanding access to financial services for the poor. We are excited about these efforts, especially because we believe lessons from Chinas development can aid progress around the world. As China increases its commitment to development cooperation, our foundation has partnered with the Ministry of Commerce to facilitate sharing of Chinas knowledge and expertise, particularly in agriculture and public health, with developing countries in Africa. Another way China increasingly plays a global role for good is as a center for innovation. Chinas private sector is developing and manufacturing important health and agricultural products, including affordable vaccines, diagnostics for tuberculous, and machinery to help small farmers increase their crop yields. To help accelerate innovation in global health, our foundation has partnered with the Beijing government and Tsinghua University to launch the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute. With a rich talent pool and $200-billion in annual R&D investments, China has an expanding capacity for innovation that can benefit the world. Chinas growing global leadership is evident in other ways, too. Last year, China was a leader in launching Mission Innovation, a commitment of over 20 governments to double research into new technologies that can provide reliable, affordable energy to help alleviate the climate crisis. This years G20 Summit comes at a pivotal moment in the advancement of Chinas role in the world. As world leaders depart Hangzhou, Im confident that China will continue to make great progress in its own development, and Im optimistic it will play an even greater role in helping other countries achieve significant progress of their own. Bill Gates is founder of Microsoft, Co-Chair of the the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation A Bethlehem man beat a man to death with a shotgun before an accomplice and he tried to dispose of the body by rolling it in a carpet and stuffing it in a car trunk, police say. James Heimbach, 30, of the 900 block of East Sixth Street, is charged with one count of homicide in the killing that took place Thursday or Friday at Heimbach's apartment after he and the victim ingested the synthetic drug Flakka, also known as the "zombie drug," city police said. Heimbach was initially arrested Sunday, charged with public drunkenness in the Poconos and sent to a local hospital for treatment, police said. Bethlehem officers took him into custody on Monday as he was being released from the hospital, police said. The victim's body was in the trunk of a car registered to the mother of Heimbach's accomplice Charles Anthony Yocum Jr., police said. The vehicle was towed from Pocono Township to Bethlehem's police headquarters, city police Chief Mark DiLuzio said. Once a warrant was obtained, the vehicle was opened there by the city police Forensics Unit and the Northampton County Coroner's Office, DiLuzio said. Police have yet to release the identity of the dead man. Yocum witnessed the killing and described it for officers, according to police. Heimbach was arraigned early Tuesday morning before District Judge Patricia Broscius on one count of homicide and sent without bail to Northampton County Prison. Yocum, 32, of the 1400 block of East Sixth Street in Bethlehem, was charged with abuse of a corpse and related offenses after police said he helped Heimbach put the body in a carpet and place it in the trunk of a grey Saab, police said. They intended to dump the body off the New Jersey coast, but Heimbach ended up getting arrested in the Poconos after running through traffic in his underwear in Pocono Township, police said. Yocum, wearing no shirt, was seen not far away from Heimbach in woods near where they left the car in supermarket parking lot, police said. He was asking people for a phone or a ride to Bethlehem, police said. But he wasn't taken into custody until Monday in Bethlehem, police said. "This is a bizarre homicide investigation," DiLuzio said Tuesday as officers looked for more evidence at Heimbach's apartment. It started as a missing persons case and eventually developed into a homicide investigation, he said. "There's no danger to the public. We're not looking for anybody else," he said, adding investigators were working in Bethlehem and out of state. City police first became involved after landlord Pat Halloran about 2:10 p.m. Friday went to 945 E. Sixth St. to get Heimbach to sign a new lease, police said. He knocked several times and, when no one answered, went inside, police said. He saw what looked like blood drops on the floor and on the living room wall so he called 911, police said. Officers responded and saw a straw, white powder and a digital scale on a countertop, police said. Officers noticed a white powdery substance around a safe that contained large plastic bags, police said. Empty pill capsules were on the shelves, police said. A spent shotgun casing was on top of the mattress in the second-floor bedroom, police said. Police said they found blood on the wall and floor of the mudroom to the rear of the residence, and a polished brown knife in a black sheath was on the garage floor. The investigating officer determined Heimbach was missing, police said. Heimbach's mother, Paula Donham, told police on Sunday that Heimbach was being treated at Pocono Medical Center in East Stroudsburg, according to an arrest affidavit. He was taken into custody by Bethlehem police as he was being released Monday from the hospital, DiLuzio said. When interviewed, Heimbach told officers he was at home with two other men and one of them and he injested Flakka, a drug similar to bath salts, police said. Heimbach said he believed that man -- who was not Yocum -- attacked him, trying to bite his face and then biting his hand, police said. Heimbach allegedly told police he got away from the man after "fighting for his life" and left out the back door. Heimbach said his next memory was speaking to an officer for the Pocono Township Police Department and added that he didn't know how he got the 40 or so miles from Bethlehem to the Tannersville portion of the township, city police said. There were bite marks on Heimbach's right hand and bruises and scratches on his arms, shoulder and face, police said. Heimbach when encountered by Pocono Township police displayed "extreme intoxication due to a controlled substance," according to court records. Police said he also appeared to be delusional. The Saab, with blood on the driver's seat and headrest, is registered to Yocum's mother and was found in a nearby grocery store parking lot, according to police. The dead man in the trunk was holding a shirt that said "Team Heimbach," according to police. Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek ruled the death a homicide. The victim's identity was pending family notification and the cause of death was expected to be determined in an autopsy, police said. Yocum was driven to Bethlehem police headquarters where he told officers he saw Heimbach kill the man by hitting him in the head with a shotgun, police said. He allegedly told investigators about the plan to dispose of the body. Yocum is charged with abuse of a corpse, obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence, police said. He was also arraigned early Tuesday before Broscius and taken to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $25,000 bail, according to court records. Preliminary hearings for both men are scheduled 9 a.m Sept. 16 in the district court on Stefko Boulevard in Bethlehem. The investigation "is very active and ongoing," DiLuzio said in a news release. "Detectives are presently at several different locations in and out of the area relative to this investigation." Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Bethlehem police are warning the public about a synthetic drug at the center of a city killing. Flakka, also known as gravel, is a cheap, synthetic cathinone drug similar to bath salts. The chemical name is alpha-PVP. Bethlehem police Chief Mark DiLuzio said he previously read about the drug in intelligence reports from around the country. But the case of a man reportedly beaten to death with a shotgun in Bethlehem, after he and his alleged attacker took flakka, is the first time DiLuzio said he had heard about the drug in the Lehigh Valley. The most recent case to make national news was a Florida college student accused of killing a couple and then biting the dead man's face. Police have speculated Austin Harrouff was high on bath salts or flakka at the time, and are waiting on test results. What is flakka? Synthetic cathinones can be found in the form of powders, crystals, resins, tablets and capsules, . They can be snorted, eaten, smoked or injected. Flakka is usually found in the form of white or pink crystals, and can reportedly cost as low as $3 to $5 per dose. The synthetic drug flakka. (Image via the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency) What are the side effects? While the drug delivers a euphoric high, the National Institutes of Health reports symptoms can escalate to frightening delusions, paranoia and extreme agitation. "You have no pain, that's why they call it the zombie drug. ... You're totally delusional and you have no pain," DiLuzio said. "That high lasts for awhile, and I guess when you come down from that high your body realizes what you did to it and you probably feel like hell." Police are investigating if there is more of the drug in the community. "It's a very dangerous drug and hopefully there isn't anymore out there," he said, adding the drug is "definitely a public health issue." "Stay away from this stuff. Basically, it's bad, very bad," DiLuzio said. He called flakka "bath salts on steroids" and said they cause bleeding of the eyes. In the Bethlehem case, police said homicide suspect James Heimbach told them he believed the victim attacked him, trying to bite his face and then biting his hand. The men were using flakka at Heimbach's apartment at the time, police said. Police have yet to identify the victim, whose body was found in Heimbach's car trunk. Heimbach allegedly told police he got away from the man after "fighting for his life" and left out the back door. "It's called the zombie drug because people who use it go into a zombie state and either eat themselves or bite and chew other people," DiLuzio said. "They exhibit delusional behavior and superhuman strength. We are looking into that factor in this case." Is it illegal? In 2011, the National Drug Intelligence Center warned about the abuse of synthetic cathinones and the possible increase of distribution and use of the drugs. The DEA put a temporary ban on alpha-PVP and nine other cathinones in 2014, and is now seeking to make that ban permanent and classify the compounds as schedule I drugs, which the DEA says have high abuse potential and safety concerns. Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. UPDATE: Charges filed in killing of Bethlehem man found stuffed in trunk Bethlehem police are investigating the killing of a man found in a car trunk on Labor Day. Bethlehem police are investigating a homicide. (lehighvalleylive.com file photo) Police found the body in a car that was "taken into custody early" Monday, according to a police news release. Police did not specify where the vehicle was found, what led them to it or whether anyone was in police custody in connection with the death. Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli said a suspect has been charged in the homicide. Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek has ruled the death a homicide. The man's identity is being withheld pending the notification of his next of kin. Bethlehem Police Chief Mark DiLuzio said more information would be released Tuesday and another press release would be released by noon. Reporter Tony Rhodin contributed to this report. Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Save The driver of a rental car ditched the vehicle once it sustained damage and airbags were deployed in a crash, according to Mansfield Township police. Officers at 4:32 a.m. Monday found the vehicle with severe front-end damage and deployed airbags in the area of Rockport and Karrsville roads. No one was in the vehicle. Investigators determined the car was rented by Niall Prendergast, 25, of Dublin, Ireland. Police did not provide details about the crash in a news release. Prendergast is charged with obstruction, leaving the scene of an accident, failure to report an accident, failure to stop at a stop sign, reckless driving and driving without a license. He was released pending a court appearance, according to police. Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Hundreds of union workers Tuesday protested at Phillipsburg Commerce Park over the use of out-of-state labor at the job site. The workers, many of whom had parked at the Phillipsburg Mall lot in Lopatcong and Pohatcong townships, walked and lined along busy Route 22's shoulder to the property entrance off Route 22 East in Lopatcong Township. They objected to the use of out-of-state nonunion labor at the former Ingersoll Rand site, which has plans for redevelopment, protesters said. Construction workers are coming from New York state to work at the Warren County site, they said. Tuesday's protest was organized by word of mouth and involved about 1,000 people, protesters said. The union workers had hoped to speak with a plant development official or perhaps a mayor, but no one engaged with them by midmorning Tuesday, one of the protesters said. Phillipsburg Mayor Stephen Ellis said he was going to go out to the site at some point Tuesday. He said he previously helped negotiate with a union leader and the contractor to hire a few union workers from one trade. But then, that leader went back "and said we're in" and several union trades overwhelmed the contractor so "that went down the tubes," Ellis said. Unions tried to contact the mayor recently while he was away on vacation, but Tuesday's protest came as a surprise, Ellis said. At this point, it's a matter for police keeping everyone safe, he said. "There's not much more we can do," he said. Phillipsburg Council President Todd Tersigni joined the protesters at the site and said he supported their message. He said council unanimously approved a resolution several weeks ago to support union workers at the redevelopment site. "They're experienced and the job would be done right. I'm a believer of these union workers," he said. One of the protesters who identified himself only as Jim said local workers should be getting the work. The construction business has been depressed since the 2008 recession and as conditions finally improve, he said, he'd like "to see guys stay home and work in their own state." Many out of work in the construction industry have lost their homes, he said. "I want to see New Jersey residents put back to work," the South Jersey resident said. A principal with developer Opus KTV said the company has no interest in talking to protesters who the company says trespassed on private property. "No way," Erin Murphy said late Tuesday morning. "We're not meeting with anyone who showed up at our property today." Opus is months away from any building on the site, she said. Site plans have yet to be approved, she said. So it's premature to talk with building trades, she said. The demolition contractor, which will remove 900,000 square feet of remaining structures, was told as part of the contact to attempt to hire local people, Murphy said. But an ad for such employment went unanswered, she added. "If their employees are willing to drive from New York to Phillipsburg, there's really nothing we can do about it," she said. When the demolition part of the project was bid, Opus received 11 responses and the company's goal was to find the best qualified bidder with the best number, Murphy said. The demolition contractor, Metro, met those requirements far better than the other bidders and it wouldn't have been sound business to turn away the company, she said. Since protesters on Tuesday entered the company's property, Murphy made clear that that won't be allowed in the future. "If it ever happens again, we're going to press charges for trespassing," she said. The site is clearly marked private property and the demolition underway is dangerous, she said. When asked if Metro would hire local union workers, Murphy said, "We hire an entity to do a job. We have absolutely no control over their hiring of workers." Hundreds of cars were parked in the mall lot Tuesday and buses brought protesting workers in for the picket, too. Police considered closing a lane on Route 22 as the walkers neared the site. They eventually gathered outside the entrance. Emergency dispatches said about half the workers walked past the site and were heading toward Roseberry Street. Hundreds of men walked in through the Route 22 gate, came out a gate at Center and Roseberry streets and walked north on Roseberry Street. The redevelopment of the site, which is in Lopatcong and Phillipsburg, is hoped to revive that area's economy. Freelance photographer Tim Wynkoop contributed to this report. Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. (Xinhua) 13:15, September 06, 2016 MACAO, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries will be held here on Oct. 11-12, the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) government said on Tuesday. Sponsored by the Chinese central government and hosted by the government of Macao SAR, the forum was created in Macao in 2003, with participation of seven Portuguese-speaking countries - Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and Timor-Leste. The forum has achieved great successes under the framework of intergovernmental cooperation in trade, investment, human resources, agriculture, fisheries. During the fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum, Action Plans for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (2017-2019) will be signed to lay out the key areas and directions of the economic and trade cooperations between China and Portuguese-speaking countries. The ministerial meeting this year will bring new dynamism to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Portuguese-Speaking countries and to promote the economic development of participating countries. Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Get the latest crime news direct to your inbox with the Crime & Punishment newsletter A man posing as a "knight in shining armour" pretended to be helping a drunken young woman while indecently assaulting her, a court heard. Bred Harding-Turner (41) was seen by a police officer to have his hand up the teenager's skirt while she was vomiting in the city centre. Leicester Crown Court was told the defendant had earlier lied to the officer, claiming he and the victim were old friends, when they were in fact strangers. He was apprehended after two men saw what was happening and tried to intervene, and then alerted a police officer. Harding-Turner, a maintenance worker at the University of Leicester, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the 19-year-old on October 2 last year. He was jailed for four years and three months. Esther Harrison, prosecuting, said the victim was unwell through heavy drinking, having been to Mosh nightclub, in St Nicholas Circle, Leicester, and was unsteady on her feet in the street outside at about 3am. Miss Harrison said: "The defendant asked if she was all right and said he would look after her, and she gratefully accepted. "He put his hands on her hips and tried to kiss her but she turned away, bent over and vomited. "His behaviour attracted the attention of a group of males, including Charlie Shillito and Karol Baczkowski, who went to see what was going on, but he told them to go away. "The two men spoke to a nearby officer, Pc Thomas Gregory, pointing out the situation." The court heard that Pc Gregory asked the defendant if he knew the girl and Harding-Turner claimed they were "old friends." The girl told the officer she felt sick and wanted to go home and bent over to be sick again. Miss Harrison said: "The defendant was holding her hair back and then began to kiss the side of her head saying words along the lines of 'I love you'. "The officer went to speak to a taxi driver and when he turned he saw the defendant had his hand under her skirt as she was being sick." It was also witnessed by an ambulance man. The officer challenged the defendant who said he had not done anything, and then challenged the office to "prove it". The defendant, of Leicester Road, Oadby, was arrested and in the interview claimed he had "quite a lot to drink", but suggested what happened was consensual. The victim said she felt her underwear being moved as she was being sick, but was "powerless" to stop him. She now finds it difficult to trust strangers is prone to panic attacks. Judge Head said: "It's had a profound and a significant effect upon the victim." He told the defendant: "She was very vulnerable by reason of her drunkenness and her illness. "You saw the state she was in and volunteered your services like a knight in shining armour, perhaps, and you ignored two interventions in her interests, including by a police officer." Monica Stevenson, mitigating, said the defendant went out drinking after a row with his then partner, with whom he had a child, when their relationship was breaking down. He thought she was devoting her time to the child rather than him. But for the drink he would not have had an "aberration" and committed the offence, which he deeply regretted, said Ms Stevenson. She described him as "in an emotionally fragile state". Judge Head told the defendant: "Those who have written so positively about you in references can't understand why you behaved as you did. "You are clearly a hardworking man and devoted to your family." 'Public-spirited and admirable' Judge Philip Head publicly commended Charlie Shillito and Karol Baczkowski, who alerted a police officer to Harding-Turner's actions. The judge said: "Their conduct does them very great credit, because the picture they saw is all too common someone under the influence of alcohol, who was in need of help, being preyed upon by someone else. "Rather than walking away they tried to find out what was going on and, when they were brushed off, reported the matter. "It was public-spirited and admirable." A raft of new train services will let Kildare commuters travel directly by rail into Connolly Station and on to Grand Canal Dock. The services, announced in a draft timetable published today by Irish Rail, will travel via the disused Phoenix Park Tunnel line which is undergoing a 13.7 million upgrade. There will be four peak-hour morning services from Newbridge into Grand Canal Dock, and three in the evening. Additional services will run to and from Hazelhatch Celbridge. Kildare rail commuters working in the IFSC, south City Centre and the techology hub around the Grand Canal dock are set to be the main beneficiaries. They currently have to travel by train to Heuston Station and finish their journeys via Luas, taxi or bus. None of the new services will stop at Heuston Station. The company says, however, that existing commuter service levels to/from Heuston Station are maintained. Minor time changes are being proposed to some Heuston routes. Commuters can have their say on the new draft timetable via an online form at the Irish Rail website. Public consultation is open until Monday, September 19. Irish Rail says it will endeavour to implement customers suggestions wherever possible. It adds that the implementation date for the new timetables will be confirmed when feedback has been reviewed. Times for proposed new services Into Dublin: The new weekday morning timetable will serve Newbridge, Sallins & Naas, Hazelhatch & Celbridge, Adamstown, Clondalkin Fonthill, Parkwest & Cherry Orchard, Drumcondra, Dublin Connolly, Tara Street, Dublin Pearse and Grand Canal Dock. Afternoon and evening trains, however, will not serve Adamstown or Clondalkin Fonthill. The journey between Newbridge and Grand Canal Dock is timetabled to take approximately an hour, and the timetable will run Monday to Friday, with no weekend service. The services will leave Newbridge at 6.14am, 7am, 7.20am 9.12am, 3.10pm and 5.57pm. Additionally, trains between Hazelhatch & Celbridge and Grand Canal Dock will leave at 6.50am, 8.10am, 8.35am, 3.55pm, 5pm, 5.25pm and 5.55pm. From Dublin: Return services will leave Grand Canal Dock for Newbridge at 8.10am, 4.40pm, 5.28pm and 6.16pm. Services running between Grand Canal Dock and Hazelhatch & Celbridge will leave at 7.25am, 7.49am, 4.20pm, 5pm, 5.58pm, 6.40pm and 7.13pm. The morning services will not serve Adamstown or Clondalkin Fonthill. To see the full new draft rail timetable and have your say on the changes, click here. There is one thing the distinctive pieces of handcrafted furniture at Irish embassies across the world, banquets at French chateauxs and Aras an Uachtaran have in common. They were made in Caragh. Just like their furniture, the Dunleavy brothers are also rooted in the Caragh community. Tim and Sean set up Dunleavy Bespoke in 2009 at a workshop at the family farm. Supported by their parents Martina and Jerry, they decided to pursue their dreams in a time of recession. Their determination paid off and last year they won the Best Established Business category in the Kildare Young Entrepreneur of the Year, going on to capture the regional title. They were one of three businesses to represent Kildare in the national finals. I suppose we were always into woodwork in school and then we both went to Furniture College in Letterfrack. We both worked for a few years after college, then the recession hit, said Tim. We were faced with a decision to make a go of things here, or move abroad. The boys chose the first option. Looking back now, Tim realises how brave that decision was, but he puts it down to youthful enthusiasm, exuberance and a bit of naivety on their part. When we started, it was the beginning of the recession in Ireland, its not the kind of thing people were looking for expensive furniture. Its not a priority. It definitely was tough at the start, added Tim. That didnt deter the brothers. They set up their business on the family farm, alongside their dads pedigree Friesian herd and their mums creche, Ti na nOg. In fact, Tim joked the Dunleavys yard is now like a mini business campus. When asked what their parents thought about the move, he replied: It sort of happened gradually. When we were in school, we had a little corner of the shed and then we were always gathering tools and working on things and over time we started to commandeer large parts of the yard. It was great. We didnt have to pay expensive rent that we would have had if we were in an industrial unit somewhere. Both he and Sean are hugely grateful for their familys support. Jeni Corrigan and Wojtek Gutter of Dunleavy Bespoke Starting out, they had to build the brand and get the name out there. They attended exhibitions and were regular visitors to the National Craft Gallery. In the meantime they continued to produce their own designs and began to win a number of awards. Gradually building up their client base, today the Dunleavys have sent handcrafted furniture all over the world including San Francisco, France, the UK, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Croatia. Just before Christmas Dunleavy Bespoke made a 14-seater banquet table for a house in France. They also made a dining table for a client in the US. Aras an Uachtaran beckoned next as the brothers completed cabinetry and tables for the home of President Michael D Higgins. Tim and Sean also work with architects and interior designers to provide bespoke furniture for their clients needs. Such is the demand, they now employ two additional cabinet makers, Jeni Corrigan and Wojtek Gutter. Tims wife, Claire also runs the business side of things. Speaking about last years Young Entrepreneur journey, Tim said: It was a great experience from a business point of view. It really made you step back from the business and take a look at where you were going wrong and where you were getting things right and make changes. Tim said he still keeps in touch with many of the other people he met during the competition. As the Dunleavy brothers designs travel the globe, word of mouth of their talent is spreading to new horizons every day. To enter this year, young entrepreneurs between 18 and 35 in Kildare are being asked to visit www.ibye.ie, to submit their entry. The closing date is October 14. The initiative is being co-ordinated by the Kildare Local Enterprise Office. With a 2m investment fund available nationally, this includes a 50,000 investment fund for Kildare winners. Yesterday, Brexit Secretary David Davis made his first parliamentary statement since his appointment and it didnt reveal very much. Our EU spokesperson was not impressed: This Govt really is up #Brexit creek without a paddle. More round tables? Is that all theyve come up with since 23/6? Nick Clegg (@nick_clegg) September 5, 2016 Paul Walter found some cause for optimism but there were also some very worrying aspects.of his answers to questions from 85 backbenchers. He stated that full access to the single market was very improbable. I am saying that this Government are looking at every option, but the simple truth is that if a requirement of membership is giving up control of our borders, then I think that makes that very improbable. Tim Farron has written to Theresa May to ask her to clarify exactly what he meant. Is the Government actually giving up on the single market before we even start? If so, that is a real disaster for the country. Tim said: David Davis yesterday seemed to rule out membership of the single market for access, in a statement, from the government, at the dispatch box. I know it has been a while since he was on the front bench and he might be rusty but these things matter. The public need to know if ideological zeal is threatening our economic security. It is time for the Prime Minister to step in and clear up the mess. Here is his letter in full: I am writing to urge you to clarify comments made by the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, David Davis in the House of Commons yesterday. He said on the Single Market: This Government is looking at every option. But the simple truth is that if a requirement of membership is giving up control of our borders, I think that makes it very improbableAbout forty countries have free trade agreements with Europe without any deals on migration, without any deals on money, Can I ask what status his comments have? Was he speaking officially on behalf of the Government? Is this the Governments policy in regard to the single market? The value of the Single Market to the UK economy is clear. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies Maintaining membership of the Single Market as part of the EEA could be worth potentially 4% on GDP adding almost two years of trend GDP growth relative to World Trade Organisation (WTO) membership alone. This would, on average, mean higher living standards and likely be distributed across income levels. Both theory and the available modelling suggest EEA membership would be likely to mean stronger UK economic performance than an FTA with the EU. In terms of the public finance implications, the macroeconomic effects negate any direct savings from a reduced EU contribution. I like forward to a prompt reply and your comments. It has been claimed you were unimpressed with a letter sent by Liam Fox, and I thoroughly share that sentiment. You say Brexit means Brexit but it should not also mean economic disaster for British families. The one Liberal Democrat question came from John Pugh: 15% of our academics are EU citizens and we would like more. What is being done to give them long-term security? Daviss response was along the line of tll be fine. We used to hear this all the time from the Yes campaign during the Scottish referendum. It does not inspire confidence. The movements of academicsresearchers in particular, I guessin and out of British universities antedates entry to the European Union by a very long margin. Britain is a science superpower standing on our own two feet, and that will continue after we leave the EU. The prize for the most sycophantic question, possibly of the century, has to go to Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell. How can anyone ask something like this in a serious parliamentary scrutiny session? Is it not absolutely clear that he has both the skills and the experience that are required for the extremely difficult job that lies ahead? * Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings As the new term starts at Holyrood, Willie Rennie writes to Scottish members to outline what he wants the Lib Dems to achieve. He plants the Lib Dem flag firmly in the pro EU, pro UK space, a unique position. The photo shows him with a framed copy of the brilliant cartoon of the party leaders by Neil Slorance, a reminder of the exuberance and humour of Willies Scottish Election campaign: As the Scottish Parliament resumes after the summer break I want to set out my ambitions for the year ahead. We return with a spring in our step after the results in the May elections that showed progress with gains from the SNP in Edinburgh and Fife and whopping big majorities in the Northern Isles. It is now our job to spread that success across the country, starting with the council elections next May. Just as I did in the Holyrood elections I intend to use this next parliamentary year to provide a clear, hopeful, optimistic, moderate and progressive voice. In a No Borders approach we will oppose independence, we will support strong relationships with Europe and we will work for public services that can liberate people to achieve more in their lives. We will work for better mental health and GP services, a penny on income tax for education, and action to exceed our climate change targets and to guarantee our civil liberties. The blow of Brexit and the threat of another independence referendum means that divisive constitutional politics remain at the centre of our national debate. From the push for English votes, to the demonisation of Scots in the general election, to the chaos of Brexit the Conservatives will always put their party before our country. From the snoopers charter, to immigration scaremongering, to scrapping the Human Rights Act, their vision for the future is not one that liberals share. And make no mistake, if we leave the campaign for Scotlands place in the United Kingdom to the Conservatives it will fail. We need progressive moderate, optimistic, hopeful voices that advance a No Borders approach in relation to the UK and Europe. The current Labour Party shows little sign of providing that voice so Liberal Democrats must speak up. People rallied to that progressive pro-UK cause in Edinburgh and Fife in May when we won seats from the SNP. We will make that case again across the country. It is why I now ask for your help. We must give our council candidates the support they deserve for next May. Please offer your help so that they can win and so that we can spread our positive message. If you want to get more involved with your local party you can let us know here. Thank you for your enduring support for the Liberal Democrats. Premier Li Keqiang presides over the fourth Leaders' Meeting of China and Central and Eastern European (CEE) Countries in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province, Nov 24, 2015.[Photo/Xinhua] China is mulling whether to deepen its economic bonds with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at the group's summit in Laos on Tuesday to mend rifts caused by the South China Sea disputes, analysts said. The summit and its related meetings, including the East Asia Summit, will be attended by heads of state from 10 ASEAN member countries and by leaders from China, Japan, South Korea, the US and India. After attending the G20 summit in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, US President Barack Obama arrived Monday night in the Laotian capital Vientiane to attend the ASEAN summit, kicking off the first official visit by any US president to the Southeast Asian socialist state. Obama's visit is thought to aim at reinforcing his "pivot to Asia" policy before he leaves the Oval Office by opening a new chapter in diplomatic relations between the US and Laos. On Monday evening, Vientiane also welcomed Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who is set to meet with Obama on Tuesday in the first bilateral meeting between leaders of the two countries since the South China Sea arbitration concluded. The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in July ruled against China's claims to territory demarcated by the so-called nine-dash line. China refused to participate in the arbitration and considers its verdict "null and void" with no legal binding force. The trip to Vientiane is also Duterte's first overseas visit, and he is set to make his diplomatic debut at Tuesday's ASEAN summit. Duterte previously told media he would not bring up the arbitration at the summit, but analysts say he and Obama might discuss the South China Sea disputes at their bilateral meeting. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye are scheduled to arrive in Vientiane on Tuesday. Zhuang Guotu, head of the Center of Southeast Asian Studies at Xiamen University, told the Global Times on Monday that economic cooperation and security issues are going to top the summit's agenda. "There are mutual desires from both ASEAN members and China to deepen economic bonds with each other. They wish to see some substantial benefit, whether it's in trade, connectivity or economic openness," Zhuang said. "But security issues cannot be overlooked. And one important topic - whether it is brought up at the summit or not - is the South China Sea," he added. Two documents related to the South China Sea - guidelines on the establishment of a platform on responses to maritime emergencies and a joint statement on applications of the Code for Unplanned Encounters in the South China Sea - are expected to be released at the ASEAN summit. China and ASEAN member countries agreed to hasten consultations on the South China Sea Code of Conduct at an August meeting in Manzhouli, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, where China and 10 ASEAN member states approved the documents. LABOURs Joe Leddin has called on Junior Minister Damien English to allocate extra staff to Limerick council in order to get some of the citys social housing schemes moving. Mr English was in Limerick last week to launch the local version of the Rebuilding Ireland- Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, which promises 47,000 new social housing units nationally. Environment Minister Simon Coveney told the Limerick Leader he could not put a figure on the number of houses projected for Limerick, and it will be up to the council to submit targets to the government. But Cllr Leddin a member of the housing committee says locally, the target is to build 753 social houses by 2017, and a further 736 by 2020. He pointed to a council study which has identified 23 sites across the city, which could deliver 359 units immediately. These sites are fit to build today. But we do not have sufficient resources in terms of manpower to get those sites live and active. The 23 sites have all different capacity levels from four units to ten units up to 40 unites. What id like to see is a facility whereby he [Mr English] would give the council the additional resources in terms of staffing so we can draw up designs for the sites, go out to tender, and get medium to small sized builders back in business, he said. According to the strategy, there are five pillars, including the acceleration of social housing, improvement in rental conditions, and the utilisation of existing vacant units. Mr Coveney last week said he will be publishing progress reports on local authorities and their housebuilding activity. Independent councillor John Gilligan, who is also on the housing committee, said even with the strategy, it will take an awful long time for the local authority to eat into the housing waiting list, which stands at 4,434. But, he added: At least we know they are coming. It does mean they have committed themselves to increase the new build over the next four to five years. Cllr Gilligan also welcomed the fact that 10% of the units in all new private estates will be designated as social housing, as per planning legislation. However, Sinn Fein councillor John Costelloe has criticised the governments spin over substance. Minister English was the third minister for housing to come to Lord Edward Street [where units are being developed] to make the same announcement over new houses. We need action, not announcements. He acknowledged that the governments plans make some bid to address the crisis, but they are undermined by the deep ideological flaw within Fine Gael which insists the solution to the housing shortage lies with the free market and further incentives to private landlords and corporate property agencies. A BUS service which ferries children from Shannon Banks, Westbury and Corbally to schools across the city has been suddenly cancelled. Fianna Fail councillor Cathal Crowe says the move by Bus Eireann to axe the 07:55 school bus service from Shannon Banks defies all logic. The state bus company has moved to cancel the link, which unlike the regular 301 service, makes detours to a number of city schools, including up to the gates of the Crescent College Comprehensive in Dooradoyle. Cllr Crowe was told in a letter from Bus Eireanns south-west manager Miriam Flynn that the move has come as a result of a review of the Limerick city network. But Cllr Crowe said: The timing is very poor. There was only two or three days into the new school term. It was announced by the bus driver who was working that day. There were no letters from management. They should have been there explaining to people why the service was being withdrawn at the beginning of a new school year. He said he thinks this service was one of the most viable bus routes you would find in the city environs. It was 40 years in existence. The Shannon Banks housing estate is 40 years old, and it has been operating since then. It has at all times been fully subscribed to, Cllr Crowe said. Ms Flynn added in her letter that while the 7.55 has been withdrawn, an alternative public service five minutes earlier is introduced. But Cllr Crowe says from speaking to one constituent on Monday, the bus was an absolute squash. This morning, one lady who works in the city went to work, and got the 7.50am bus, and she said it was ridiculous to have all the school kids and the people who normally get the regular bus anyway, he explained. Ms Flynn said as a result of the city review, the 301 service will be enhanced in frequency in the late evening, with the last bus departing at 11.30pm. She said students who were travelling to the Crescent College Comprehensive can now alight at the Crescent Shopping Centre stop which is a short walk from the school. This is a point Cllr Crowe disagrees with.She also points out that students in the OConnell Avenue area can now disembark at Mallow Street, or connect to the 304 service. A GRANDMOTHER has lost some of her most treasured family possessions after a fire in her home on the northside. Mother-of-two and grandmother-of-three Christina Hughes woke up at 6am to use the toilet and found the blaze ripping through her bungalow in De Valera Park, Thomondgate. Her asthmatic husband William was rushed to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation after the fire brigade rescued him, Christina and her beloved pet dog Missy. I saw a big bright light. I knew it wasnt my hall-light. It was just so shocking, she said, My husband William was sat in the kitchen, so he suffered the worst. He had taken all the smoke in. Christina who feels devastated and traumatised following the ordeal, has seen pictures of her children Kenneth and Helena, and her grandchildren David, 14, Rhys, 9 and Brooke, 1, destroyed in the inferno. And a shrine which her husband created to his parents Mick and Helen has also been destroyed. This is stuff I really treasured, and it is all gone, she said, struggling to hold back tears, Willies mother and father Mick and Helen who are in heaven, we had a holy crucifix at night in memory of them. Those were the only copies [of the pictures] I had. She added that all her grandchildrens confirmation pictures had been destroyed, saying: Little David made his confirmation only recently, and I had so many nice pictures of him. In the short term, she is sleeping at her only sons house in nearby Ballynanty. I am still shaking from this: I cannot eat. I am crying, and my son is telling me not to cry, as it is making him worse than what I am, said Christina, who is taking multiple tablets for a heart condition, depression and to aid her sleep. She will visit Limerick City and County Councils offices today in the hope of being re-housed from the bungalow she had occupied for the last four years. Some things can be replaced not the pictures though. My life is the main thing though, the fact I got out, Christina added. It is unclear how the blaze started last Tuesday morning, but the Limerick Leader understands the gardai are investigating reports that it may have been arson. Local Independent councillor Frankie Daly who will accompany Christina to City Hall today says he will be monitoring the investigation closely. It is very distressing to see a local woman like this in such stress. I am just hoping and praying the gardai and the other authorities get to the bottom of what has caused this. It is upsetting from Christinas point of view, and her husbands. There are a lot of question marks, and I just hope the gardai can get to the bottom of this. Christina was just in bed and to wake up to this is just horrific, Cllr Daly said. Anyone with information about the fire is asked to contact Mayorstone Gardai at 061-456980. [File photo] A decision by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to grant visas on arrival for Chinese visitors makes it the 58th country to offer visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to Chinese citizens. Experts anticipate that the policy change will boost the countrys tourism industry. The decision was adopted by the UAE cabinet in Abu Dhabi on Sept. 4, though the Dubai Media Office did not reveal the exact date the change would be implemented, Xinhua reported. The favorable policy has been met with great enthusiasm by Chinese citizens. Online discussions hashtagged UAEVisaonArrivalforChinese have garnered more than 35,000 views as of press time, while online searches for travel plans in the UAE have skyrocketed on Ctrip, one of Chinas biggest online travel companies, thepaper.cn reported. The UAEs tourism projects, such as luxury shopping, hotels and cruises on private yachts have found favor with wealthy Chinese tourists. Meanwhile, safety has become a major concern for Chinese travelers, making Dubai a perfect destination as the countrys public security is good, an employee at Ctrip told thepaper.cn. The peak tourism season in the UAE is from November to March. If the policy can be implemented before that, more Chinese tourists are expected to visit the country, said Ni Jiali, a tourism manager from Lumama, a Shanghai-based tourism booking site, in an interview with thepaper.cn. In 2015, 450,000 Chinese visitors traveled to the UAE, up 29 percent from the previous year. This growth represented the highest increase among all nationalities visiting the Gulf Arab state, Xinhua reported. As of press time, ordinary Chinese passport-holders are permitted to visit 58 countries and territories without first having to apply for a visa, putting the PRC passport in 87th place according to the Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index. Sep 5, 2016, 11 PM By Michael Baadke Social activist and author Jane Addams, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931 with peace activist Nicholas Murray Butler, was born Sept. 6, 1860, in Cedarville, Ill. Addams life was devoted to helping the poor, and she founded Hull House in Chicago, providing shelter for struggling working class families and training for those who would provide assistance. She was also active is seeking the right to vote for women. She traveled the world to speak on the subject of peace, but encountered public opposition in these efforts as the United States prepared to enter World War I. In 1919 she founded the Womens International League for Peace and Freedom, and as the leagues president, she met with international leaders in an effort to forge peaceful resolutions. The following year she participated in the founding of the American Civil Liberties Union. As a sociologist, Addams was honored on a 10 dark brown stamp in the American Scientists set of the Famous Americans series. The stamp (Scott 878) was issued April 26, 1940, in Chicago. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page. High-level guests head out on town for some shopping Turkey's first lady Emine Erdogan (left) visits the Arts and Crafts Shop in Hangzhou on Sept 4, 2016. [Photo/Getty Images] Many foreign leaders and entourage members attending the G20 Summit managed to squeeze some free time into their busy schedules for shopping and communicating with local artists, adding some light moments to their trips. Located in the center of the city, Hangzhou Tower, one of the top shopping malls, received groups of leaders from Russia, Thailand and Turkey, as well as the first lady of Canada, to shop or dine over the past three days. Wang Rong, a saleswoman at Luolai Home Textile Co, one of China's top bedding brands, said she served a Russian group of five people on Sunday. "The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, was not here, which was a pity," she said. "I feel really honored that the president's team chose our products." Wang, who has worked at Luolai for five years, said she is confident in China-made products and believes sales will continue to rise. Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau, wife of Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, went to Dolce & Gabbana on the first floor in Hangzhou Tower and bought a one-piece dress. She brought her daughter, who checked out some nightgowns. In addition to shopping, other forms of cultural communication are in evidence at the G20. Wu Xiaoli, a Hangzhou craftswoman who made sculptures of G20 leaders using dough modeling, a traditional art form in China, was surprised to meet Emine Erdogan, Turkey's first lady. Wu said Erdogan, who was accompanied by Turkish diplomats, reporters and other staff members, was fascinated by the miniatures, particularly the one of the Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "The first lady asked the interpreter to tell me that there is an identical sculpture of the president in his office and the president likes it a lot," Wu said. Wu and 30-plus peers spent half a year creating a set of sculptures of G20 leaderscalled World Peace Dreamto celebrate Hangzhou's hosting of the G20 Summit. The set caught the attention of both the domestic and international press before and during the summit. Wu said: "When Mrs Erdogan learned that both sculptures were made by me and my team, she warmly hugged me three times, saying that she was really glad to see me." An Internet finance affiliate of Alibaba Group, together with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), have announced the formation of the world's first green finance alliance for financial scientific enterprises. The announcement was delivered in Hangzhou on Sept. 5. UNEP and Alibabas Ant Financial Services Group said they will promote green finance and environmental protection initiatives by signing a strategic cooperation memorandum of understanding. Erik Solheim, executive director of UNEP, said that the agency would seek more partnerships and closer ties with businesses to better leverage their technological capabilities with the help of Internet finance knowledge and the experience of Chinese companies. "The United Nations has doubts about entrepreneurs thinking they are enemies rather than partners when it comes to environmental development and protection," thepaper.cn quoted Solheim. Solheim also said the UN has discovered that entrepreneurs play a significant role in investment, technology development and innovation. "We cannot achieve any progress without their help," he confirmed. Jing Xiandong, CEO of Ant Financial Services Group, said that the company has opened individual "carbon accounts" for its 450 million users in order to help them calculate their own emissions. If a user meets an emissions reduction goal, the company's public welfare partner will plant a tree, which will be named after the user, according to Jing. The account can not only record emissions, it can also transfer that record into carbon assets for sale and investment, Jing added. Solheim stated that three factors are necessary to promote green development: laws and rules handed down from the government, sufficient motivation on the part of enterprises and individual awareness of environmental issues. He hopes that UNEP can apply its experience from North and South America to China to form a large green finance platform. The partnership comes just after China's State Council approved a set of guidelines earlier this month for implementing the national strategy for "ecological civilization." According to a report by Xinhua, after China took over the G20 presidency last year, it quickly moved to make green finance one of the major topics of the summit. The report said that China proposed the establishment of a G20 Green Finance Study Group, led by the central banks of China and Britain. The group was tasked with developing a report on green finance for deliberation at the Hangzhou summit. [File photo] Chinas top discipline watchdog has warned against extravagance during the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival, calling for more thorough inspections of possible graft, including gift-giving and the improper distribution of festival bonuses. According to an announcement released by the Work Committee of Central Government Departments under the CPC Central Committee on Sept. 5, discipline inspections should be tightened during the upcoming holiday. Party members and officials are reminded to stay vigilant, being careful not to violate Party rules. Discipline inspection organs should fully understand the situation, strengthen their supervision and accountability during the holiday and promote the CPC Central Committees eight-point anti-bureaucracy and formalism rules, the announcement read. The discipline inspections will mainly focus on offences such as gift-giving, eating and drinking at the expenses of taxpayers and improper distribution of festival bonuses. Sending gifts to friends and relatives is a popular custom during Chinese holidays, but it can also lead to bribery and illicit power-for-money practices. Thus, its not uncommon for inspections to increase during traditional gift-giving periods. Chinas top discipline watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, also launches special campaigns during the Spring Festival and Lantern Festival. Between 2013 and 2015, 750,000 people were disciplined nationwide, including 36,000 who are facing criminal charges, Xinhua reported in May. Reform on international taxation will be given special attention during the G20 Hangzhou Summit, and China will for the first time propose a concept of new international taxation order, Chinas Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao announced at a press conference held on Friday. China will, for the first time, call on the world to establish a new international taxation order of fairness, equality, inclusiveness and order, Zhu noted. A focus of the summit will be the reform of international taxation, especially coordination on tax evasion, base erosion and tax havens, the official said, adding that previous G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meetings had set up inclusive frameworks and governance entities to cope with base erosion and profit shifting. He pointed out that during the thirdG20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting held in Chengdu, a special high-level seminar was also organized to pool a consensus of G20 members and the international community at large on this topic. The discussion over international taxation led by China mainly highlights the role taxation plays in boosting economic and fiscal growth, Zhu emphasized, suggesting that more reforms should be launched to boost taxation revenue and improve fairness. Though some new challenges have emerged in the international taxation sector, these roadblocks were effectively eradicated through Chinas efforts, and international taxation cooperation is now moving forward, Zhu added. Sept. 5 marked the 650th anniversary of the start of construction on Nanjing's ancient city wall. According to historical record, the first emperor of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, ordered the city of Jiankang - the former name for Nanjing - to be expanded on Sept. 5, 1366. Construction on the wall lasted over 20 years. Citizens celebrate the birthday of the City Wall. Today, the ancient wall has become a symbol of Nanjing. It is also one of China's largest national treasures. Hundreds of citizens gathered at the city wall to celebrate the occasion. Jin Taijin, a student whose own birthday falls on Sept. 5, brought a painting of the city wall as a "birthday gift" for the historic structure. "I hope it will stand by our side forever," Jin said of the wall. According to Cao Fangqing, an official with the Center for Protection of the Nanjing City Wall, a document was submitted to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage this March, applying for the wall to become a World Cultural Heritage Site. Cao hopes the city wall will become the second such site in Nanjing, after the Ming Palace. The U.K. will make a final decision about the Hinkley nuclear power station later this month, according to Prime Minister Theresa May during a Sept. 5 press conference at the G20 summit. A report by The Independent noted that Chinese President Xi Jinping "relieved a little pressure on May" in his meeting with her in Hangzhou before May's press conference. The report stated that Xi promised to "have patience in allowing her time to work out her plans for the scheme to which China's government has committed $8 billion. May revealed for the first time that she has asked security chiefs to probe Chinas involvement in the nuclear power station deal, according to a report by British newspaper The Sun. China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN), one of the three stakeholders of the project, released a statement on July 29 saying that the company understood and respected the U.K.'s decision to spend more time considering the project for the sake of the country's future energy security. CGN said in the statement that they will continue to cooperate with their strategic partner EDF on this project to provide safe, reliable and sustainable energy for the U.K. In an article entitled "Mutual trust is the foundation of China-UK cooperation--Hinkley Point is a test of mutual trust between China and Britain," China's ambassador to the U.K., Liu Xiaoming, defended Chinas 30-year record of safe operation of nuclear facilities. "I've been clear we will be continuing that global strategic partnership with China. It is a golden era of relations between China and the U.K.," May emphasized. The Independent reported that under the current deal, which is yet to be signed, the Chinese would contribute funds toward building two reactors at Hinkley Point in a scheme led by French firm EDF. The deal also states that China General Nuclear Power Group is to finance a third of the new Hinkley Point C reactors, which was first announced in October 2013. The company may later build a Chinese-designed nuclear power station in Essex. Liu also wrote in his article that Hinkley Point is not the result of some whimsical idea or rushed decision. Rather, it is the carefully considered outcome of a mutually beneficial tripartite partnership between the U.K., France and China. Before the three parties reached an agreement, authorities in Britain and France as well as the European Commission went through the process of research, verification and approval. In August, a 17-year-old Mexican boy reportedly died of a stroke that resulted from a hickey, according to Hoy Estado de Mexico, a local Mexican news source. As strange as it sounds, his case was not the first of its kind: A 44-year-old Maoriwoman in New Zealand also had stroke caused by a so-called love bite (another term for a hickey). The womansurvived her stroke after being admitted to an emergency room, doctors wrote in their report of her case, published in The New Zealand Medical Journal. Most strokes are caused by a blocked artery that cuts off blood supply to the brain. These strokes, called ischemic strokes, are usually the result of blood clots, which may form in the heart or large arteries leading to the brain. According to the American Heart Association, only about 13 percent of strokes are the other type, hemorrhagic strokes, which are caused by a rupture in an artery that leads to bleeding in the brain. In the cases of both the boy in Mexico and the New Zealand woman, the hickey might have damaged the blood vessels in the neck, which ultimately might have led to the stroke, said Dr. Thomas Hemmen, a professor of neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego, who was not involved in either case. [You] can come up with all sorts of scenarios [for] how you can cause a rupture of an artery, he said. [ 7 Things That May Raise Your Risk of Stroke] It's more common for choking or twisting of the neck to cause trauma that leads to stroke than it is for hickeys to cause stroke, Hemmen told Live Science. The death-by-hickey story is odd, said Dr. W. Scott Burgin, a neurologist and professor at the University of South Florida College of Medicine. But "countless forms of seemingly minor neck trauma have been associated with strokes," including those from vomiting, sneezing and turning of the head. If a love bite is big enough, it could cause stroke, he told Live Science. Strange stroke stories involve a wide range of medical maladies. In 2015, doctors reported the case of a 48-year-old woman in China who suffered a series of strokes that her doctors traced to blood clots caused by a heart infection. It turned out that the heart infection was caused by a finger-length needle that had been lodged in her heart a few weeks prior, the doctors wrote in their report of her case, published in the Journal of Medical Case Reports. Doctors surgically removed the needle, and the woman recovered. There were no further details in the report about how the needle got there. [Giant List of the Strangest Medical Cases] Just off the top of his head, Burgin said some odd stroke cases he has seen have involved massages, a Bruce Springsteen concert, beauty salon chairs, rodeos, chicken pox, ear and sinus infections, trampolines, scuba diving, weight lifting, synthetic cannabis (spice) smoking, cocaine, meth, workout supplements and work on a chicken farm. Insect venom? Burgin said he also treated a patient who had a stroke after being stung by a wasp. There have been a handful of such cases, he said. Just earlier this year, other doctors also reported such a case in The Journal of Emergency Medicine. In that case,a 44-year-old Ohio man experienced a stroke following a wasp sting. There are a few theories as to how an insect sting could lead to a stroke, according to the report of the Ohio man's case. One is that the insect's venom could cause blood vessel constriction, leading to a clot. Or, the sting could trigger atrial fibrillation, a condition wherein the upper chambers of the heart beat quickly and irregularly, causing pooling of the blood in the upper chambers and increasing the likelihood of clot formation. If someone is severely allergic to stings, this could cause a drop in blood pressure that would, in turn, reduce blood flow to the brain. Hemmen said a severe allergic reaction could cause dehydration, which could lead to a stroke. He added that he's heard that some people may be concerned that an insect could inject venom into their carotid artery (a major blood vessel in the neck). But such fears may be unwarranted; it's not likely that any insect could bite or sting deeply enough to damage the artery, Hemmen said. Possible link to infections Strokes also may be linked with infections. In a case reported in January 2015,awoman in west Africa survived a combination of Ebola and a stroke. The middle-age woman suffered a stroke while already at an Ebola treatment center, according to the details published in the journal BMJ Case Reports. Because the center was not equipped with a CT scanner, the doctors were unable to confirm her stroke, but her symptoms included weakness in the right side of her body and difficulty talking, both potential indictors of stroke. Hemmen said brain hemorrhages (bleeding in the brain), fever and dehydration are all symptoms of Ebola that could lead to stroke. Although this may have been the first published case linking Ebola and stroke, the doctors involved in this case said it's likely that other such cases have occurred. However, the vast majority of strokes result from plain old high blood pressure. According to the American Heart Association, more than 75 percent of Americans who have a stroke have high blood pressure. Each year, more than 795,000 people in the U.S. have a stroke, resulting in a death every 4 minutes, on average, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hemmen said people should educate themselves about the signs of stroke, including a sudden inability to speak or walk, a sudden loss of feeling or strength on one side, and unexplained headache (a particularly tricky symptom for many). Getting medical assistance quickly can increase a person's chances of surviving a stroke. The risk of stroke rises with age, but young people should still be aware of these red flags because bystanders and loved ones are often the people who get help for people experiencing a stroke, Hemmen said. "Don't hesitate to call for help," he said. "And you have to understand that the victim themselves may not be a reliable source" of information about their own symptoms, he said. People experiencing a stroke may not realize what's happening and may even discourage those around them from seeking medical assistance. [10 Amazing Facts About Your Heart] In his own research, Hemmen has found that certain minority groups are particularly prone to avoiding seeking emergency care for stroke because of the potential expenses involved. For example, in a study of 1,117 patients who had experienced an acute ischemic stroke (stroke caused by a sudden loss of blood circulation in part of the brain), Hemmen and his colleagues found that Hispanics were about half as likely as non-Hispanics to experience a favorable outcome after their strokes, particularly because they tended to avoid using emergency medical services. Hemmen stressed that people who use emergency medical services following a stroke generally receive appropriate care much more quickly than those who try to drive themselves to a hospital or consult with their doctor over the phone prior to seeking in-person help. The main risk factors for stroke include high blood pressure, sedentary lifestyle, obesity, diabetes, smoking and atrial fibrillation. Many of these conditions can be improved with lifestyle changes. A recent study published in the journal The Lancet concluded that 90 percent of all strokes could be prevented by addressing 10 modifiable risk factors. Original article on Live Science. The giant panda, commonly a symbol for conservation, is no longer considered an endangered species, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In an update to their Red List of Threatened Species on Sunday (Sept. 4), which assesses a species' conservation status, the IUCN reported the giant panda population has improved enough for the endangered species label to be downgraded to "vulnerable." A nationwide census in 2014 found 1,864 giant pandas in the wild in China, excluding cubs an increase from 1,596 in 2004, according to the IUCN. Including cubs, the current population count is approaching 2,060, the organization said. The report credits forest protection and reforestation measures in China for increasing the available habitat for the species. [Baby Panda Pics: See A Cub Growing Up] "The decision to downlist the giant panda to 'vulnerable' is a positive sign confirming that the Chinese government's efforts to conserve this species are effective," the IUCN noted in its assessment. The giant panda was once widespread throughout southern China, and is revered in the country's culture. The IUCN's first assessment of the species in 1965 listed the giant panda as "very rare but believed to be stable or increasing." The species has been the focus of an intensive, high-profile conservation campaign to recover an endangered species since the 1970s, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) which has used the panda in its logo since 1961. "For over fifty years, the giant panda has been the globe's most beloved conservation icon as well as the symbol of WWF," Marco Lambertini, director general of the WWF, said in a statement. "Knowing that the panda is now a step further from extinction is an exciting moment for everyone committed to conserving the world's wildlife and their habitats." Decades of conservation efforts have included the banning of giant panda poaching their hides were considered a commodity as well as the creation of the panda reserve system, increasing available habitats. There are now 67 reserves in China protecting nearly 5,400 square miles (14,000 square kilometers) of habitat and 67 percent of the panda population, reported CNN. "The recovery of the panda shows that when science, political will and engagement of local communities come together, we can save wildlife and also improve biodiversity," Lambertini said in the statement. The Chinese government's partnerships with the international organization have also spread conservation and breeding efforts. In June, a healthy male cub was born in a Belgian zoo. The captive population is not taken into consideration by IUCN for the Red List, which is specific to species in the wild. However, the captive population being bred for recovery and reintroduction are part of the overall conservation picture, according to Joe Walston, Vice President of Conservation Field Programs for the Wildlife Conservation Society. The giant panda is not completely in the clear, however. The IUCN warned that climate change and decreasing bamboo availability could reverse the gains made in the past few decades. More than one-third of the panda's bamboo habitat could disappear in the next 80 years, according to the IUCN. "It is a real concern, and this is emblematic of what species are facing globally with regard to climate change," Walston told Live Science of the threat to habitat and food supply. "The most important thing we can do at the moment is to be able to grow the extent and range of that habitat and by doing that you allow pandas to move across landscapes." Wildlife as a whole can adapt to short-term changes and season extremes, Walston said, but they need to space to move and adapt. As such, conservation efforts continue and the giant panda will continue to be considered "a conservation-dependent species for the foreseeable future," the IUCN's report concluded. Original article on Live Science. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory witnesses the moon and the Earth passing across the face of the sun simultaneously on Sept. 1, 2016. Because Earth's atmosphere absorbs some of the sun's light, our planet's shadow is fuzzy, while the moon's is sharp and distinct. A NASA satellite captured a far-out view last week when the moon and the Earth passed in front of the sun simultaneously. The double eclipse was captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), a satellite designed to monitor the sun and its atmosphere. The spacecraft holds a variety of instruments to image the sun in 13 wavelengths, enabling researchers to better understand solar cycles. The SDO is in geosynchronous orbit above a ground station in New Mexico, to which the satellite transmits its data. Its orbit is designed to have as clear a view of the sun as possible. Twice a year, however, the satellite experiences periods of daily eclipses as the Earth passes between the craft and the sun. These "eclipse seasons" last for a few weeks, according to NASA, and can obstruct the satellite's view for up to 72 minutes a day. [Solar Eclipses: An Observer's Guide (Infographic)] On Sept. 1, one of these daily Earth eclipses happened to coincide with the moon's transit across the sun. The satellite captured imagery of the Earth blocking the sun's light, and as the planet clears the sun, the moon can be seen lagging slightly behind. Earth's edge is blurry in the images because the planet's atmosphere absorbs light, according to NASA. The moon has no atmosphere, so its edge appears sharp against the surface of the sun. Some Earthlings got a cosmic view out of this transit, too. In Africa particularly South Africa the moon passing in front of the sun created an annular eclipse. An annular eclipse happens when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, but at the outer reaches of the natural satellite's orbit. Thus, the moon appears too small to entirely cover the surface of the sun. The result is a "ring of fire" effect, in which the sun is partially covered but light shines from the star's edges. This bright ring is called an annulus. On social media, people across central and southern Africa shared photos of the annular eclipse on Sept. 1, many of which were rounded up by the Mail & Guardian newspaper. Original article on Live Science. China Connecting with YouG20and two other promotional films on China and G20 broadcast on the screen of New York Times Square, between September 3-8, 2016. [Photo: news.cn] A series of China's G20 summit promo films is being shown on the massive video screen "China screen" in New York City's Times Square from September 3 to September 8. The films run in parallel with China hosting the summit in Hangzhou of eastern China's Zhejiang province. They show how China looks at dealing with global issues such as financial crisis, promotion of economic development and calls for a more sustainable, balanced and inclusive path. Three films introduce China and G20 Summit. Scenic landscapes of the G20 host city, Hangzhou, and metropolises like Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong feature in the films. Curious pedestrians watch from the street. The films show prestigious world economists speaking about the crucial role China plays in revitalizing the world's economy. They state that China's ability to set up the AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank) contributes greatly to the continued development of the world economy. The films also stress the importance of building a cooperative, mutual gain global partnership in the world economy. It says that China is ready to take on the responsibility of development together with the global community. Times Square stands in the center of Manhattan District, New York City. It is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world, with around 26 million visitors each year. The "China screen" is an outdoor screen located at Times Square, 19m in height and 12m in length. It is called "China Screen" because China-related films have been frequently broadcast on it since 2011. Check out our latest E-Edition Accessible anytime and anywhere on your desktop, tablet and smart phone devices. The Lodi News e-Edition is enhanced with the latest digital tools, including RSS feeds, social networking and much more. Check out our latest E-edition! Govt says no to any form of independence after HK vote (Global Times) 10:05, September 06, 2016 The mainland underscored its "resolute opposition" to any form of "Hong Kong independence" activities inside or outside of the special administrative region's (SAR) Legislative Council (LegCo), according to an official statement on Monday. The statement, issued by the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, noted that certain organizations and candidates in Hong Kong were publicly advocating for "Hong Kong independence," capitalizing on the exposure afforded to them by the LegCo election. The statement reiterated that "Hong Kong independence" is against the Constitution of China, the Basic Law and relevant laws of the Hong Kong SAR, stressing that it is a threat to China's sovereignty and security, damages the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and runs counter to the fundamental interests of Hong Kong citizens. "We firmly support the Hong Kong SAR government to mete out penalties according to law," the statement said. The anti-establishment camp, including pan-democrats and localists, won 30 of the legislature's 70 seats, while the pro-establishment camp took 40 seats, down from the 43 they won in the 2012 election, according to the final election results released Monday. But Hong Kong-based Wen Wei Po pointed out that the pro-central government camp still has mainstream support. All the candidates from the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong and the New People's Party - two pro-establishment parties in Hong Kong - have been elected to the LegCo, while the pro-establishment camp has retained all of its "super seats" from functional constituencies, the paper noted. Tian Feilong, an associate professor at Beijing-based Beihang University, told the Global Times on Monday that while the pro-establishment camp remains generally stable, no one expected young Hong Kong localists - the youngest of whom is just 23 years old - to win eight seats in the election after failing to win a single one four years ago. Young localists' actions will increase the difficulty of talks between the anti-establishment camp and the central government and will also make more pan-democrats lean toward radical parties, Tian said. Longford student Andrew Gallagher has been named as one of the Student Leader Ambassadors for the Cycle Against Suicide (CAS), after being nominated by his school. The St Mel's College student joined his counterparts from all over Ireland at the annual CAS Student Leader Ambassadors' Retreat, which took place in Kippure Estate, Co Wicklow on Thursday and Friday, August 18 and 19. The retreat, now in its third year, recognises the students for their exceptional contribution to the area of mental health. The aim of the programme, meanwhile, is to harness the immense leadership potential of those young adults, and empower them to bring the CAS message that 'it's okay not to feel okay; and it's absolutely okay to ask for help' back to their schools and communities. The Student Leaders actively participate in all CAS activities throughout the year. During the course of the retreat, Andrew and his peers were invited to participate in a range of workshops including Media Skills, Outdoor Pursuits, Team Building, Presentation Skills and Leadership Training. They enjoyed presentations given by special guests such as CAS Founder Jim Breen and Ombudsman for Children, Niall Muldoon and also collaborated to develop a theme for the Student Leaders' Congress, which takes place in the University of Limerick on January 19, 2017. Link teacher with St Mel's, Hazel Concar said; It's a huge honour for St Mel's College to have a student selected for such a prestigious and worthwhile programme at a national level. We are immensely proud of Andrew's achievement. Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: September 06 2016 U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and Representative Kathleen Rice announced that the Village of Freeport has been awarded $14,140 in federal DOJ Funding. Freeport, NY - September 1, 2016 - U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and Representative Kathleen Rice announced today that the Village of Freeport has been awarded $14,140 in federal U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Funding. The funds were awarded through the DOJs Bureau of Justice Assistances Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program, which provides funding to states and local governments to support a range of crime prevention activities based on state and local needs. The Village of Freeport will use these funds to pay officer overtime for additional patrols. The goal of this project is to decrease factors that lower the quality of life for residents in the village. When it comes to protecting Village of Freeport residents, we must be smart and prepared, said Senator Schumer. This investment will help make our streets and neighborhoods safer for children, families and seniors. When it comes to protecting our citizens we must be prepared and well-trained, and this DOJ grant will help us do just that. These federal funds will help support police officers who keep the Village of Freeport safe and secure, said Senator Gillibrand. Protecting our families and communities is a top priority and I will continue to push for funding to help get our police officers the resources needed to carry out their critical work more effectively. This funding will help the Village of Freeport put more trained police officers in the community, building relationships and working with residents to gather information, prevent crime, and address important quality of life concerns, said Representative Kathleen Rice. Im pleased we secured this funding for Freeport, and Ill keep working to ensure all communities in our district have the resources they need to keep residents safe and secure. Since becoming the first municipality in New York State to mandate body cameras on all police patrol officers and installing our Ring of Steel license plate reader system, Freeport has an increased need to support the success of these initiatives, said Freeport Mayor Robert Kennedy. By providing grant funding to contribute to our police overtime budget, we can increase patrols, without increasing village taxes. On behalf of the Freeport Board of Trustees, Freeport residents, and I, we thank U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and Representative Kathleen Rice for helping to ensure the safety and best quality of life for our community. The Byrne JAG program provides funding to support a broad range of activities to prevent and control crime and improve the criminal justice system that include: law enforcement programs; prosecution and court programs; prevention and education programs; corrections and community corrections programs; drug treatment programs; and planning, evaluation, and technology improvement programs; and crime victim witness programs. Nature & Weather, Local News, National & World News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: September 06 2016 Governor Cuomo announced a 20-member NY firefighting crew that traveled to Idaho to assist in the containment of the Pioneer wildfire returned to New York this afternoon. Albany, NY - September 5, 2016 - Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced a 20-member New York firefighting crew that traveled to Idaho to assist in the containment of the Pioneer wildfire returned to New York this afternoon. Photo: Governor's Press Office. The crew, comprised of DEC Forest Rangers, employees and volunteers worked to contain the more than 180,300-acre wildfire located in the Boise National Forest for the past two weeks. Photos of the crews in Idaho are available here, here and here. New Yorkers help their neighbors in their time of need and these brave men and women selflessly put their lives on the line and proudly upheld this state's great tradition, Governor Cuomo said. I am proud of their courage and professionalism displayed by these great New Yorkers during this mission and I am thankful for their safe return. NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos said, When other states are facing this type of adversity, New Yorkers are always willing to step in and lend a helping hand. I commend these individuals for their hard work and tireless efforts to contain these large wildfires over the past two weeks and Im pleased to welcome them home. Photo: Governor's Press Office. The team joined 42 crews from other states in battling the wildfires, which continue advancing to the north and northeast, but is less active than the last few days. When the New York team arrived, flames had consumed approximately 87,000 acres but that number rose to more than 180,300 acres as the wildfires spread. The New York team assisted in creating control lines to contain the flames, clear materials from the path of the fires and assist with burnout operations. During their time, they worked in rough terrain and endured daily temperatures that approached 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Following their two-week stint, the crew was flown back to Manchester, New Hampshire and rested overnight before boarding buses for their return home this afternoon. The New York crew included rangers, employees and volunteers across the state: Forest Ranger Kevin Slade, Crew Boss, Ulster County Forest Ranger Robert Praczkajlo, Crew Boss Trainee, Essex County Forest Ranger Joseph Hess, Squad Boss, Rensselaer County Forest Ranger Scott Sabo, Squad Boss, Orange County Forest Ranger Joseph Pries, Squad Boss Trainee, Suffolk County Forest Ranger Philip Parlier, Squad Boss Trainee, Orange County James Canevari, DEC Lands & Forests, Sawyer, St. Lawrence County Kraig Senter, Volunteer, Sawyer, Cayuga County Matthew Vincent, Volunteer, Squad Boss, Essex County Joshua Utberg, DEC Remediation, Firefighter, Schenectady County Eric Kasza, DEC Lands & Forests, Sawyer, Saratoga County Aaron Graves, DEC Lands & Forests, Firefighter, St. Lawrence County Timothy Watson, DEC Fish & Wildlife, Firefighter, Monroe County Lawrence Day Jr., Volunteer, Firefighter, Steuben County Daniel Welc, DEC Lands & Forests, Firefighter, Chenango County Samuel Griffis, Volunteer, Firefighter, Washington County Anthony Leung, DEC Division of Water, Firefighter, Suffolk County Paul Gallery, Volunteer, Firefighter, Schenectady County Christopher Sprague, DEC Lands & Forests, Firefighter, Chenango County Joshua Choquette, DEC Fish & Wildlife, Firefighter, Delaware County New York first sent a firefighting crew to assist western states in fighting large wildfires in 1979, and, usually, one or two crews have been sent to assist each year. In addition, to helping contain the western wildfires and minimize damage, these crews also gain valuable experience that can be utilized in fighting wildfires in New York. All personnel travel and administrative costs for the crew is paid directly by the U.S. Forest Service or reimbursed to the state. Nature & Weather, Local News, Business & Finance, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: September 06 2016 Group calls for real time updates on future storms. Oyster Bay, NY - September 5, 2016 - Small business on Fire Island on Long Island were adversely and unfairly affected by alarmist politicians more concerned about headlines than credible storm threats, said Long Island Citizens for Good Government. "It was like a scene from 'Jaws,' watching thousands of people running to the Fire Island Ferry yesterday," said Dr. Dean Hart, President of Long Island Citizens for Good Government. "The fact that Fire Island's 'voluntary evacuation' was only lifted today is proof that we need better and more up-to-date information as it pertains to potential emergency situations like this." Fire Island's small businesses from Davis Park to Kismet lost millions of dollars in lost revenue in what was supposed to be one of the most profitable weekends of the summer because of timid politicians who were slow to realize that the threat of Tropical Storm Hermine had dissipated. "As quick as Long Island's leaders called an emergency, they should have called off the emergency," said Hart. "The mass exodus that took place yesterday could have easily been avoided." Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano compared Tropical Storm Hermine to Hurricane Irene and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone called for voluntary evacuations of Fire Island, even as it became clear that Fire Island would not be in the path of the storm. Looking to stay up to date about all of the news stories and local headlines that are important to Long Islanders? We've rounded up the top coverage for all of the important topics from multiple sources around Long Island, so you can be sure you've got the most recent update on the top stories for Long Island. Have an idea for a news story? Email us at news@longisland.com Columnists Press Releases (Xinhua) 13:28, September 06, 2016 BEIJING, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiangwill visit Laos on Sept. 6-9 to attend a series of summits including the 19th China-ASEAN(10+1) leaders' meeting. Li's visit is widely considered as an important diplomatic action to deepen China-ASEAN relations and promote cooperation among East Asian countries. Here is a glimpse of what Li has said about ASEAN in recent years: On Aug. 1, 2016, Li said in a congratulatory letter to the Ninth China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week held in China's southwestern city of Guiyang that people-to-people exchanges, including educational exchanges, are emerging as a new pillar of China-ASEAN relations and showing broad prospects. On July 19, 2016 in Beijing, Li said in a congratulatory message sent to Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith that the China-ASEAN dialogue relationship, established 25 years ago, has withstood various tests and the two-way cooperation has yielded plentiful fruits, bringing tangible benefits to the people of both sides and becoming a paradigm of equal treatment and common development between countries of different sizes. On July 15, 2016 in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, Li said China will stick to the approach of settling the South China Seadisputes via dialogue and consultation between countries directly concerned, while protecting regional peace and stability as well as freedom of navigation in collaboration with ASEAN member states. On June 3, 2016 in Beijing, Li said during a state visit by Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni that China supports ASEAN's integration process and the construction of the ASEAN community, adding that the China-Cambodia friendship complements China-ASEAN relations. On May 31, 2016 in Beijing, Li said China stands ready to work with ASEAN members and other Asian countries to enhance mutual political trust, integrate development strategies, expand mutually beneficial cooperation and increase people-to-people exchanges. On March 23, 2016 in Sanya, China's Hainan Province, Li said that China firmly supports ASEAN's integration, and that the Lancang-Mekong cooperation will supplement China-ASEAN relations. On Nov. 22, 2015, Li said while attending the 18th China-ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that China and ASEAN countries commit themselves to the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea in its entirety, accelerate consultations to strive for an early conclusion of a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC) on the basis of consensus, and take steps to improve regional mechanisms for mutual trust and cooperation. On Nov. 21, 2015, Li pledged during the 18th China-ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur that China is offering infrastructure loans totaling 10 billion U.S. dollars to ASEAN countries. The China-ASEAN relationship transcends bilateral dimension and is becoming an important cornerstone of peace, stability and development of East Asia, he said. Li called on China and ASEAN to speed up the implementation of the outcomes of the negotiations on an upgrade of their Free Trade Agreement, and make concerted efforts to conclude as early as possible the negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. Li called on China and ASEAN to conjoin China's Belt and Road Initiative with other regional development strategies to promote integration. China and ASEAN should also explore potential in international production capacity cooperation and jointly boost cooperation in security, Li said. He also asked the two sides to promote the sustainable development of the region by promoting maritime cooperation, strengthening agricultural capacity construction, building a platform for sharing information on environmental protection and deepening people-to-people exchanges. Professor John Kirton with People's Daily Online reporter Photo: People's Daily Online/Zhang Zhiqiang The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is in line with Canadian values, said a Canadian political science professor in an exclusive interview with Peoples Daily Online, who also calls on the U.S. and Japan to join. AIIB is meeting the highest global standard of corporate social responsibilities, of good governance. The highest standard in protecting the environment, of protecting labor, said Professor John Kirton from the Munk School of Global Affairs at University of Trinity College in the University of Toronto. Canada has said yes, because those values are what Canada cherishes at home. And we know our friends in the U.S. cherish them too, and our friends in Japan as well. We are waiting for the U.S. and Japan, now that Canada has given its favorable approval, to follow Canada and say we, too, want to be associated with this important, new instrument of mobilizing new money for green investment to help solve not just the infrastructure gap that the world has, but to help realize President Xis vision of bringing an ecological civilization from China to the world as a whole, Kirton said. Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced Canada's decision to apply for AIIB membership at a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday, a decision welcomed by China the Xinhua News Agency reported. G20 expert Caitlin Byrne with Peoples Daily Online reporter. Photo: Peoples Daily Online/Zhang Zhiqiang Chinese President Xi Jinpings speeches given at the B20 and G20 Hangzhou summits have been recognized and praised by many reporters and experts throughout the event. President Xi introduced many new terms that have given special meaning to this G20, said Wang Wen, director of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, in an interview with Peoples Daily Online. Wang referred particularly to Xis remarks saying that the G20 does not belong exclusively to its members, but to the whole world. President Xi has had for the first priority of the summit the brand new theme of innovation ... The second priority is implementing UN sustainable development goals, economically sustainable goals and controlling climate change. The two [priorities] can come together. An innovative economy and an innovative green revolution is what [the] Hangzhou summit could well produce as pioneered and seen already here, said Professor John Kirton, director of the G20 Research Center at the University of Toronto, who also referred to Chinas call for green development as admirable. He said to the big business leaders, he said to put environment first, as no other G20 host leader has ever done, Kirton said in an interview with Peoples Daily Online. One of the major advances of the Hangzhou summit will be the move toward identifying and certifying high-level principles for direct foreign investment that could serve as the foundation for the worlds first multilateral regime, according to Kirton. Wang said that Chinas contributions have matured not only on a material level, such as in domestically manufactured products, but also in its suggestions and experience with global economic governance since the financial crisis in 2008. It was a really comprehensive speech that set out what China sees as its vision for this particular G20 with China as the host. But also going forward, as a very critical mechanism for global economic governance, said Caitlin Byrne, a researcher at the G20 Research Center and also a professor of international studies at Bond University in Australia. Byrne also pointed out how critical it is that the Chinese president hailed partnership as the most valuable asset of the G20. And thats exactly the way that the G20 works. All of the nations sitting around the table need to work together to make it a reality, she added. Coming from Brisbane, Byrne said she experienced the 2014 G20 summit in her hometown, and she can therefore empathize with Hangzhou citizens about the fact that, despite inconveniences, the residents of G20 host cities feel proud of their cities successful hosting. Putting the cities on display at such an important, international event helps to win a global audience, which in turn brings more tourism and business connections. As for agenda-setting at the G20 summit, the Hangzhou summit maintained economic growth at its core. But, Byrne emphasized, we are looking at globalization to make everybodys life better. China is now eyeing a position in the international arena. Not only will we work to address domestic issues, but we will also help tackle global issues such as industrial capacity cooperation and basic infrastructure, Wang said. It is the right time for China to host G20 Summit: Singapore Ambassador This year is the right time for China, a developing nation, to host the G20 summit, Singapores Ambassador to China Stanley Loh Ka Leung told the Peoples Daily, further explaining that developing nations now boast more expectations on delivering louder voices and posing greater influence on world economy via this platform hosted by China. The largest-ever presence of representatives from the developing world embodies an inclusive principle, a key word of this years summit theme, Loh added. Todays world expects a more inclusive G20, he said, pointing out that acknowledgment from the international community is the precondition to thoroughly implement the G20 consensus, but such recognition will come only when the G20 is more inclusive. Since worlds traditional development models have come to bottlenecks, new impetus are now required to stimulate a new round of development. Given such backdrop, incorporation of break a new path for growth into major summit agendas by China is a wise choice, the ambassador said. In recent years, China has been accelerating its transformation and upgrade pace and giving priority to structural reform, especially the supply-side structural reform. At the same time, many other world economies are also attempting to find new growth drivers through structural reform. Against this background, We can refer each others experience in structural reform, and Chinas precious experience can be used a reference for other countries, Loh said. Commenting on anti-corruption cooperation, another key topic of this years summit, Loh called on global cooperation to address this common challenge, saying that China has had a better-than-expected performance in anti-corruption efforts. China has proposed the G20 formulate high-level principles on international fugitive repatriation and asset recovery, set up a research center in this field and drafteda 2017-2018 anti-corruption action plan. The ambassador also called on the members to increase their communications with non-G20 members and consider the latters suggestions when making final decisions. The Global Governance Group (3G), an informal coalition established at Singapores proposal in 2009, is one of such platforms to facilitate their exchanges, according to Loh. He stressed that China is now contributing to regional and global development via the initiatives of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Belt and Road. The former can fill other Asian nationsgaps in infrastructure construction and boost their economic development, while the latter can narrow the regional wealth gap by driving economic development through improved connectivity, the ambassador added. Anas Haqqani and Qari Abdul Rashid Omari (a.k.a. Hafiz Rashid). NDS photos via Khaama Press. The Taliban threatened to attack judicial installations if the Afghan government follows through on executing Anas Haqqani, the brother of the groups deputy emir who is also the operational leader of the Haqqani Network. Anas was detained in 2014 along with Qari Abdul Rasheed Omari, the Haqqani Networks military commander for southeastern Afghanistan, after visiting the five Taliban leaders in Qatar who were exchanged for Bowe Bergdahl, the US soldier who deserted his unit in 2009 and was captured by the Taliban. Last time after the execution of the political prisoners many judicial installations were attacked giving severe blow to the government, the Taliban said in a statement released on its official website, Voice of Jihad, on Sept. 2. If the higher courts also uphold the death sentence to Anas Haqqani, it will have very disastrous and dangerous consequences for the current regime, it continued. The war and its intensity will increase in all parts of the country. A lot of blood will be spilled and the government will be responsible for all of it. An Afghan court purportedly sentenced Anas to death in late August, Zee News reported at the end of the month. Anas is the son of Jalaluddin Haqqani, the founder of the Haqqani Network who serves as a member of the Quetta Shura, the Talibans executive council. Anas brother, Sirajuddin, is the operational commander of the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network who was named as one of the two deputies to Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, the emir of the Taliban, in May 2016. Sirajuddin wields significant influence within the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, and is also linked to Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. The Taliban dispute the method of the detention of Anas and Rashid, a.k.a. Qari Abdul Rashid Omari, the younger brother of Mohammad Nabi Omari. Omari is a senior Taliban official who was held at Guantanamo beginning in late 2002. The Taliban have also said that the two were detained illegally. In October 2014, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Afghanistans intelligence service, claimed it captured Anas and Rashid during a special operations raid in Khost province, where the Haqqani Network is active. [See Threat Matrix report, Afghan intel agency captures two senior Haqqani Network leaders.] The NDS claimed that Anas has special skills in computer and was considered one of the master minds of this network in making propaganda through social networks. He was responsible for collecting and preparing funds from Arabic countries to carry out operations of this network. Rashid, according to the NDS, was responsible of choosing targets and providing equipment to the suicide bombers, that traveled from Peshawar, Pakistan to North and South Waziristan to their ultimate destination of the Afghan capital of Kabul. At the time of his capture, he was a military commander of [the] Haqqani Network in south eastern provinces of Afghanistan and previously served as the shadow governor of Ismailkhil district in Khost. [See Threat Matrix report, Afghan intel agency captures two senior Haqqani Network leaders.] At the time of their capture, the Taliban claimed that Anas and Rashid were actually detained by the US in Bahrain, and transferred back to Qatar and then to Afghanistan into the custody of the NDS. The Talibans statement could not be independently verified. The US, Afghan, and Qatari governments have not discussed the detention of the two Haqqani Network leaders. In addition to its claim that Anas and Rashid were detained illegally, the Taliban have maintained that Anas had no involvement in the group. After he was initially captured, the Taliban maintained that Anas was a Talib-ul-ilm (student) in his last year of studies who does not have an affiliation with any current political movements. [See LWJ report, Taliban claims captured Haqqani leaders visited ex-Gitmo detainees in Qatar.] In its most recent statement, the Taliban said that Anas is an ordinary student of religious school. He is also one of those members of his family who is not sanctioned by any authority because he was not involved in any political or military activity. There was no prize money on his head as he was not involved in any military or other activity. While the Talibans claim that Anas is not on the US list of specially designated global terrorists nor is he named on the Rewards for Justice website as a wanted individual, there are numerous Taliban commanders who are not on these lists. In addition to claiming that Anas and Rashid were detained illegally and that Anas is an innocent, the Taliban maintain that US violated its agreement with the Taliban on the release of the so-called Taliban Five. According to the group, the Taliban Five were allowed to receive visits from their family members. However, given Omaris past history with the Taliban and al Qaeda, Anas role as a fundraiser (the NDS said he was collecting and preparing funds from Arabic countries at the time of his arrest) and Rashids role as military commander, and the fact that Qatar serves as a nest for jihadist fundraising activities, it is more likely that the purpose of Anas and Rashids visit consisted of more than a simple family visit. Additionally, at least one of the Taliban Five is has attempted to return to militant activity from his current location in Qatar by making contact with suspected Taliban associates in Afghanistan, CNN reported in January 2015, three months after Anas and Rashids arrest. Less than two months later, FOX News reported that at least three members of the Taliban Five have tried to reestablish contact with jihadists in Afghanistan, with one of them trying to provide advice, council or inspiration. However, neither report named the Taliban leaders who attempted to reengage in jihadist activities. Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal. Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here. The Islamic State claims to have executed 729 martyrdom operations in Iraq, Syria and Libya during the first eight months of 2016. The figure comes from monthly data published by Amaq News Agency, a propaganda arm of the so-called caliphate that releases infographics summarizing the groups suicide attacks. Amaqs most recent infographic (seen on the right) was released on Sept. 5. It indicates that the jihadists carried out 81 martyrdom operations in the month of August alone. Most of the Islamic States suicide bombings, 431 of the 729 claimed (59 percent) since the beginning of the year, have been launched inside Iraq. Approximately 40 percent of these (174 of 431) have occurred in Anbar province, where the jihadists were engaged in fierce battles with Iraqi government forces and Iranian-backed Shiite militias during much of the year. Salahuddin (101 suicide attacks), Nineveh (71), Baghdad (47), and Kirkuk (18) are the next most frequently targeted areas. The Islamic State launched 268 suicide attacks in Syria (37 percent of the total) during the first eight months of the year. Aleppo province (106) was hit most frequently, followed by Hasakah (40), Deir Ezzor (34), Homs (27) and Raqqa (25) provinces. The remaining 29 martyrdom operations took place in Libya, with 26 of these occurring in Sirte, the Islamic States base of operations in North Africa. The data demonstrate how the battle for Libya has evolved since the beginning of the year. Amaq claimed only one suicide attack in Libya from January through April. But the infographics show that the pace picked up beginning in May, with nine such bombings in Sirte that month. The uptick reflects the fact that Libyan militias loyal to the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) began their offensive on the city that same month. Abu Bakr al Baghdadis loyalists have lost significant ground since then. The Islamic States fighters executed 12 suicide attacks in Sirte in August, according to the most recent infographic. US airstrikes have repeatedly targeted vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs) in the city since Aug. 1, meaning the figure would likely be higher if the Americans werent providing air support to Libyan fighters. Iraqi forces are the most frequent target of the Islamic States martyrdom operations, as they were hit 406 times (56 percent of the total) from January through August. Bashar al Assads regime is the second most frequent target, with the Islamic States suicide bombers striking the Syrian governments forces on 116 occasions. The remaining bombings struck the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) and the Peshmerga (136 times combined), the Syrian opposition (42), Fajr Libya and militiamen loyal to UN-backed GNA (27) and General Khalifa Haftars fighters in Benghazi (2 times). VBIEDs are used more often than individual bombers strapped with explosives, according to Amaq. The infographics count 492 VBIEDs used in suicide attacks (67 percent of the total) as compared to 224 bombings with explosive belts, jackets and vests. The remaining 13 are listed as dual operations. If Amaqs figures are accurate, then the Islamic State is launching suicide bombings at a historically high rate. In June, the State Department reported that there were 726 suicide attacks executed by all perpetrators around the globe in 2015. Foggy Bottom relied on figures reported by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), which maintains an unclassified event database compiled from information in open-source reports of terrorist attacks. All terrorist groups, including the Islamic State, carried out an average of 61 suicide bombings per month in 2015. According to Amaqs statistics, the Islamic State has surpassed this estimate all by itself in just three countries (Iraq, Syria and Libya) during the first eight months of 2016, tallying 729 suicide attacks for an average of 91 per month. As The Long War Journal reported, 2015 was the previous high-water mark for suicide attacks. Both July and August were below the monthly average for all of 2016. In July, Amaq reported 59 suicide attacks in Iraq, Syria, and Libya. Thus far, the high for the year occurred in May, with a purported 119 suicide bombings. The fog of war makes it difficult to independently verify Amaqs statistics. However, the figures are reasonable given the scale of the Islamic States fighting. Baghdadis men routinely claim credit for simultaneous suicide attacks. While suicide bombings are just one of the types of operations conducted by the Islamic State and other jihadist groups, casualty figures suggest they are an especially effective tactic. For instance, the State Department noted in June that [o]n average, suicide attacks in 2015 were 4.6 times as lethal as non-suicide attacks. This makes martyrdom operations crucially important for the so-called caliphate as it wages war against multiple adversaries in each country where it operates. [For more on the Islamic States claimed suicide operations, see LWJ reports: The Islamic States prolific martyrdom machine and Islamic State claims nearly 600 suicide attacks in first six months of 2016.] Thomas Joscelyn is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Senior Editor for FDD's Long War Journal. Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 6 Trend: The OSCE is expected to monitor the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops Sept. 7, said Azerbaijans Defense Ministry Sept. 6. The monitoring will be held under the mandate of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative along the line of contact near the Omar mountain pass of Azerbaijans Goygol district, said the ministry. On the Azerbaijani side, the monitoring will be held by field assistants of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative, Jiri Aberle and Peter Svedberg. On the opposite side, the monitoring will be carried out by field assistants of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative Ghenadii Petrica and Simon Tiller. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Luton is a large town, borough and unitary authority area of Bedfordshire. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 258,000. Luton is home to Championship team Luton Town Football Club, London Luton Airport and The University of Bedfordshire. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter. For all the latest news from Luton sign up to our newsletter here. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 6 Trend: Russia and France should work together on Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts settlement, says the Russian Federation Councils report titled "Russia-France: Parliamentary Vision of the Future, according to RIA Novosti. The atmosphere in Europe and the world in many cases depends on the level of confidence between Russia and France, the report says. But it should be admitted that the future of Russian-French relations depends on an independent policy of France in Europe and on international arena. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Lifestyle / Travel World Travel Awards awards the former Russian imperial capital the accolade for its remarkable architecture and unique Old World charm. Sep 06, 2016 | By Shatricia Nair Go just about anywhere in Europe and youll find yourself immersed in a plethora of cultures and breathtaking scenery. To decide the best destination then, is no easy task, but the World Travel Awards have gathered the opinions of travel experts, tourism leaders and the general public to award St. Petersburg the accolade. Built from scratch by the westward-looking Peter the Great, the former Russian imperial capital exudes an elegance and old world charm that is unique to Europe with regal baroque palaces and an intricate web of canals and bridges. The City of Tsars was chosen over strong rivals such as Barcelona, Berlin, Dubrovnik, Lisbon, London, Paris and Rome. With a multitude of exceptional museums and stellar gastronomic fare, Lyon also took the title of Europes leading city break destination, surpassing Berlin, Bordeaux, Venice and Dublin. The bustling city in France is not only steeped with culinary history, but is also developing a name for itself as an electronic music hub. The Nuit Sonores, a music festival that gathers some of the best local and international DJs is testament to this. The European edition of the World Travel awards also sees the Ritz Paris being crowned the continents leading city break hotel. The historic 1898 five-star hotel recently reopened after a $450 million renovation after four years, and is reputed for its unrivaled service and bars that once hosted many a literary figure, such as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. The title of leading luxury hotel went to the ultra-glamorous Peninsula Paris. Meanwhile, Lufthansa continues to dominate in the leading airline category, snagging Europes leading airline for the seventh year in a row, while the Ciragan Palace Kempinski in Istanbul was named leading hotel for the fifth consecutive year. Check out the full list of winners at World Travel Awards now. There is a simple rule about writing about Apple: Do not quote this one guy. The Macalope has been pretty clear about this so hes not sure why tech writers keep forgetting. Writing for TechNewsWorld, John Mello asks Can Apple Beat Snapchat and Instagram at Their Video Game? (Tip o the antlers to Joel Teitelbaum.) Dunno, whats their video game? Is it Altos Adventure? The Macalope bets Apples probably pretty good at that. Oh, oh, oh, their video game. Got it. Snapchat and Instagram, look out. Apple has you in its sights. Pew-pew. The company is working on a video-sharing app with features similar to those found in Snapchat and Instagram, Bloomberg reported last week. Mello neglects to include a link to that report by Mark Gurman. But he does quote some consultant who says pretty much what Gurman did. In a time when iPhone revenues are growing at a more earthly rate, Apple is looking for incremental revenue elsewhere, said Andreas Scherer, managing partner at Salto Partners. The Macalope had never heard of Salto Partners before but fortunately there is a link in the piece to their site where they explain their services include Board Advisory, Interim Management, Sales Excellence and Outsourcing (thats one eyebrow-raising, magical item) and Operations and Project Management. Basically, theyre the Bobs from Office Space. Oddly, serving as a quote mill for stories largely unrelated to our business just so we can get our name out there doesnt appear in the pop-down list. Very strange. Seems like a core competency. They seem like thought leaders in the field. Possibly they reference it on LinkedIn. Now, remember all the way back in the lede when Apple had Snapchat and Instagram in its sights? Well Its questionable whether Apple actually is gunning for Snapchat and Instagram. Ah, we were so young long ago when we first started reading this piece! So full of life! Look at this picture of you from back then. Look at those ridiculous sideburns, that devil-may-care glint in your eye. Where has the time gone, Darius? Well never get those days back. Mello does provide a brief bit of sanity in the form of a quote from Jan Dawson who tries to throw cold water on this whole bonfire of the insanities. But then he turns the Pinto around and cruises back to Bonkers, North Dakota, population: Rob Enderle. Having set up the Apple is trying to destroy Snapchat and Instagram! hysteria, its time to pull the cord on the motor and let the air out of the wind dancer. Tim Cook doesnt have a history of doing social media right, and it is incredibly difficult to do right, so I think the odds are against Apple with this effort, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. OMG, Rob doesnt think Apple can do it! Surely this unprecedented turn of events means that er Apple is doom and with the [sigh] so sleepy Yes, not only can Rob Enderle write pieces for TechNewsWorld saying Apple has no chance, he can get quoted in them as well. Next up: Enderle quotes himself in his own column about Apple having no chance, creating a singularity of hilarity that, sadly, destroys the universe. By the way, is it Tim Cook who doesnt have a good track record with social media or Apple in general? Because the Macalopes pretty sure that Ping came out under Steve Jobs. Pretty sure, what with the linear nature of time being a constant and all. Speaking of social media that dont have a chance at beating the competition John Mello is a freelance technology writer and contributor to Chief Security Officer magazine. You can connect with him on Google+. Yeah. The great Gold Rush Music Festival returns to the township of Waihi, with the first nuggets of gold dropping for the highly anticipated return of the 2023 festival. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.6 Trend: Azerbaijans Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has left for France to take part in the meeting of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry told Trend Sept.6. The 1263rd meeting of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers will be held in Strasbourg Sept.7. Azerbaijans foreign minister will make a speech and hold bilateral meetings during the meeting. Malaria Consortium to lead USAID/PMI malaria project in Uganda 6 September 2016 Malaria Consortium is pleased to announce that it has been selected to implement USAID/PMIs Ugandas Malaria Action Program for Districts Project. The contract is valued at over US$41 million and will run for a period of five years. The purpose of the contract is to prevent and control malaria morbidity and mortality in Uganda through a range of activities, which will result in minimising the social impact and economic losses on those affected. Working with the Government of Uganda, USAID/PMIs Ugandas Malaria Action Program for Districts Project aims to ensure that malaria will no longer be the major cause of illness and death in the country and that families will have universal access to malaria prevention, diagnostic and treatment interventions. The success of this programme will also contribute to the reduction of under-five mortality rate from all causes, as a result of reduced malaria infection. This gives USAID through Malaria Consortium the opportunity to seriously contribute to the reduction of malaria in Uganda in about a third of the country, said Godfrey Magumba, Malaria Consortiums Uganda Country Director. Success will be achieved following the Ministry of Health policies and guidelines as well as using our own expertise.. Malaria Consortium is the prime contractor for USAID/PMIs Ugandas Malaria Action Program for Districts. Sub-contractors in the delivery of this contract are Jhpiego, Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI), Banyan Global, Deloitte Uganda and Communication for Development Foundation Uganda (CDFU). Malaria Consortiums Chief Executive, Charles Nelson, added, This is an exciting opportunity for Malaria Consortium to bring its depth of technical expertise to bear in supporting the delivery of a hugely important programme. Vector control, case management and health system strengthening are central to our mission and I am delighted that through USAID/PMIs Ugandas Malaria Action Program for Districts Project we will be able to have a profoundly positive impact in these areas over the next five years in Uganda. To read more about Malaria Consortiums work in Uganda, please click here. Related projects Sokoto and Zamfara launch the second season of SMC 6 September 2016 This year, 1,735,602 children under five living in Nigeria will be given lifesaving seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) to protect them from malaria when they are most at risk, during the rainy season. In August, kick off events for the second SMC campaign were held in Zamfara and Sokoto states. In Sokoto state, the event was hosted by the Sokoto State government and attended by over 300 participants, including the Sokoto State Governor, the Commissioner for Health and other religious and community leaders. Community Health Workers (CHWs), beneficiaries of the campaign and media representatives were also present. In his opening remarks, Sokoto State Governor, Tambuwal, stated that malaria remains a major problem in Sokoto and that children are among those most vulnerable to the disease. He explained that the state is working with partners on the different approaches to combat malaria, including SMC for children under 5 years old: The government has adopted many strategies to try and relieve the menace of malaria and other diseases by providing capacity building for health personnel, providing health care facilities and ensuring the provision of essential drugs, explained Tambuwal. He also acknowledged the contribution of Malaria Consortium and other partners in their role in addressing the malaria problem. As part of the ACCESS-SMC project, Malaria Consortium is supporting the National Malaria Elimination Program (NMEP) in Nigeria to implement SMC in Sokoto and Zamfara. ACCESS-SMC, is a UNITAID-funded project led by Malaria Consortium, in partnership with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and will help protect over six million children from malaria by providing the lifesaving SMC preventive treatment. This year, Malaria Consortium will be supporting the NMEP to provide SMC to children in all 37 LGAs in Zamfara and Sokoto. During the kick-off event, CHWs performed a short drama piece, illustrating the process of mass drug administration, showing the possible supportive and unsupportive behaviour at community level, and highlighting the benefits of SMC. Other features of the launch were the unveiling of the displayed packs of the SMC medicines and the administration of the SMC drugs to some children by Governor Tambuwal. Take a look at some of the photos from the day, here. Related projects Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.6 Trend: President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has viewed the conditions at the building of secondary school No. 229 in the capitals Nizami district after major overhaul. The president reviewed the classrooms, departments, an auditorium and gym. Head of Baku City Executive Authority Hajibala Abutalibov informed the president of the work done here. He said the building was constructed in 1964. A bas-relief to national hero Yuriy Kovalyov, a graduate of the school, was installed in the yard of the school. There are photo stands in the foyer of the school reflecting National Leader Heydar Aliyevs and President Ilham Aliyevs attention to education. The three-storey school can handle up to 964 pupils in Azerbaijani and Russian sections. It employs 101 teachers. The school has 43 classrooms. 13 PHOTOS click for more Last summer, Amelia predicted that Abercrombie & Fitch may very well be the comeback kid of late 2015. If you had asked me then whether I foresaw denim mini skirts once again becoming a mainstay within my own closet (you know, for the posterity of A&Fs sake), Id have definitely said no with the kind of a conviction a Crocs wearer shuns high heels. Fast forward, however, to the Vetements revolution and couple said revolution with manifold question marks around the brands impetus, then a sort of answer that is tethered to their responding and reacting as opposed to blindly prescribing as a means to create and here we are! Observing personal style (which, really, is quite public these days) as a third party redefines what it means to wear a mini skirt with social media as its megaphone. Of course, with this megaphone often comes unilateral interest. So ask me again if I see mini skirts becoming a mainstay within my own closet. Ill deliver the following three ways to wear one through the early days of fall. 1. Like Doris Day meets Judy Jetson and with a Pair of Gucci Loafers Re/Done skirt, Miu Miu sweater and shirt, Adam Selman x Le Specs glasses, Falke socks, Gucci loafers Here we have the denim mini skirt accented by two separate layers of lace collars, one of which is attached to a denim shirt, the other to a purple sweater. The lenses on the futuristic glasses bounce off the sweater and pose the question: am I human, or am I cyborg? The socks and loafers respond with another question, this one more illustrative: Its ultimately confusing, but at least you look cool. Moving on! 2. Like Youre Not Sure What to Wear to Inaugurate Fashion Week Walk of Shame slip dress, Isabel Marant trench coat, Celine sandals Look, neither do I, but a slip dress worn under a mini skirt wherein the mini skirt actually functions as an unnecessary layer as opposed to A Thing that Covers Your Hoo-Ha seems like not such a bad idea, particularly when you can get your hands on a cotton jacket rendered in that wax-y finish. Meet you at Prabal? Xo! 3. Like You Stole Keanu Reeves Glasses from the Set of The Matrix, But Discarded Everything Else in Favor of Red Socks Maison Margiela top, Falke socks, Alberta Ferretti pumps, Sarahs Bag bag, Morgenthal Frederics sunglasses In case it wasnt clear: I was kidding when I asked you to meet me at Prabal and then garnished the request with a hug and kiss. Not because I dont want to hang out but because that feels like the equivalent of an air kiss, which is soI dont know, meditated. But I digress. Heres my favorite look from the loot. Perfect for a black tie wedding at the Plaza if said black tie wedding is actually just a dinner reservation with your girlfriends and the Plaza is a restaurant in a hip new neighborhood west of Nolita, but east of the Meatpacking District. North vs. South coordinates not specified because said coordinates extend from New Albany, Ohio (where A&F is headquartered) to Georgia (the country, where the Vetements designer and chief executive are from). Photographed by Krista Anna Lewis. click to go to homepage With Koreas Hanjin Shipping filing for court receivership last week, the assumption that major container lines will always find a way to survive has been rocked, says Drewry. In 2009 when the container industry posted operating losses of nearly $20 billion and many lines were said to be minutes from bankruptcy, none died. The zombie carriers survival methods were varied and complex, ranging from off-hiring ships to requesting government support, but ultimately they worked. Having survived the worst crisis the industry has ever faced the assumption grew in strength that major carriers could not be killed off. While some smaller players have fallen by the wayside this decade none were remotely in the same league as Hanjin Shipping, which with a containership fleet of around 100 ships and total capacity of 620,000 teu ranks it seventh in the world. Hanjins move into administration shatters the complacency that major carriers are immune to failure and can stomach prolonged years of low rates and financial losses. It was this complacency that blinded most to the very real possibility of Hanjins demise. It was common knowledge that the company was in financial trouble; from 2010 to the first-half 2016 the companys operating loss amounted to approximately $580 million with most of the damage emanating from the container division. Since 2013, Drewry Financial Research Services has warned that Hanjin was dangerously leveraged and living on borrowed time. Hong Kong flagged bulk carrier Five Stars Fujian has been banned from Australian ports for 12 months once it was discovered that the vessel lacked sufficient provisions for its intended voyage and the crew had not been paid in several months. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) issued the ban after detaining the vessel August 12. The vessel has been at anchor off Gladstone since July when it was arrested by the Federal Court over a commercial matter. The crew of the Five Stars Fujian have been forsaken off the Australian coast for over two months, with limited supplies and thousands of dollars of unpaid wages, said AMSA General Manager of Ship Safety Allan Schwartz. This is a completely unacceptable way for a company to treat their crew and this kind of conduct will not be tolerated in Australia. Since the vessel was detained, AMSA has been in regular contact with the owners of the ship, Five Stars Fujian Shipping Co of Hong Kong, to resolve the matters concerning outstanding wages and resupply of the vessel. AMSA received confirmation that outstanding crew wages have been paid, the vessel has been resupplied with fuel and sufficient provisions are on board for the vessels safe passage. An AMSA inspector attended the vessel to conduct a final inspection and confirm with the crew readiness to sail. The ship was then released from detention, but AMSA immediately issued the master with a direction notice banning the operators from bringing the vessel to any Australian port for 12 months. While we are pleased that ultimately the issues of outstanding wages and supplies was able to be resolved by those associated with the ship, the amount of time it has taken has been extraordinary, Schwartz said. AMSA hopes that this banning will serve as a warning to other shipping companies that if they wish to do business in Australian waters they must abide by their international obligations and manage their crew in a proper manner. The Company: H.O. Bostrom provides seating solutions for marine, transportation, and other niche markets. The firms facility boasts 60,000 square feet of manufacturing space located on a 4.5 acre campus. The firm has about 85 employees. Primary Product / Service: The SeaPost family of pilot chairs and mechanical suspension seating for commercial marine vessels serves a valuable niche in the mid-range price segment of the global commercial vessel market. New product development in the SeaPost line has benefited the companys portfolio of seating systems and accessories for the commercial marine vessel market. The Case: With complete design, engineering, fabrication, and assembly of seating systems and components in the U.S. Midwest, the firm offers the advantage of single sourcing their seating requirements. The firm was the recipient of the 2016 Governors Export Achievement Award, which recognizes success in global business development. Nominees were evaluated on measurable export growth, innovation and contributions to Wisconsins economy and trade development. In 2016, the firm celebrates its 70th year as a family-owned and operated business. 818 Progress Avenue Waukesha, WI 53186 Tel: (800) 332-5415 Website: www.hobostrom.com CEO/President: John Bostrom Hurricane Newton barreled up Mexico's Baja California peninsula tourist haven on Tuesday, dumping heavy rains as winds whipped, but there were no immediate reports of major damage. The category 1 hurricane hit the resort of Cabo San Lucas early on Tuesday morning, and then headed north, with the eye of the storm over the south of the peninsula. It is currently low season, and hotels popular with American tourists were not full, staff said. The storm lay around 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Cabo San Lucas, with maximum sustained winds blew at 90 mph (144 km), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Mexican emergency services warned on Twitter of waves of 4 meters (13 ft) to 5 meters along the coast, and advised extreme precaution. Newton was expected to move north-northwest on Tuesday, before turning north and losing strength. However the storm was expected to remain a hurricane when it moves from the peninsula to the northwestern coast of mainland Mexico early on Wednesday, the NHC said. Mudslides triggered by intense rainfall in eastern Mexico killed around 40 people last month as saturated hillsides collapsed onto homes in the wake of Tropical Storm Earl. (By Jean Luis Arce, Writing by Simon Gardner) J.M. Baxi Group commissions Hamburg company for the global management of its newly constructed special-purpose ship J.M. Baxi Group, a 100-year-old group of companies specializing in maritime logistics and port infrastructure, has commissioned United Heavy Lift for the commercial management of its newly constructed deck carrier, the MV Vir Varenya. The heavy-lift module carrier has now been added to the charter fleet of United Heavy Lift, and is managed globally from the company's head office in Hamburg. United Heavy Lift, which specializes in project transportation and the commercial management of heavy cargo vessels, is thus enlarging its fleet of versatile heavy-lift vessels to serve another specific market segment with the deck carrier. Lars Rolner, founder and managing director of United Heavy Lift, stated, We are delighted that J.M. Baxi Group, in the form of its subsidiary Boxco Logistics, has selected United Heavy Lift as the commercial manager for the Vir Varenya. The deck carrier suits us perfectly, as with our fleet, we offer a comprehensive range of options for the various niches in the heavy-lift market. Talks are already underway with potential customers for the deck carrier, and initial contracts are currently being worked on. The demand is there in the market. We are already getting a large number of enquiries, particularly as we take care of all the engineering work associated with chartering the vessel, explained Lars Rolner. We have a team of 16 in-house engineers in addition to a team of port captains and QHSE coordinators. Thus, the company can offer complete engineering packages, from the provision of transport to lashing calculations and through to the final method statement. Elshan Mikayilov, third year student of Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) from process automation engineering specialization won Techno Fest 2016 project presentation contest organized by BP company, on August 18, during summer internship. He was selected out of 29 people involved. Having successfully presented his software renewal project on Bridge Racking Crane Grip Guide Interlock, Elshan Mikayilov became the winner of the contest. This summer 17 students of BHOS took internship at BP. Elshan Mikayilov was born in 1996 Goychay region. In 2002 he started his secondary education at school of Gizilagaj village of Goychay. During school years he got the award as the best student of the year two times. After finishing school in 2013 Elshan scored 682 points during the entrance examination and he was admitted to study in process automation engineering program at BHOS. He also won presidential scholarship. Elshan has always been active in intellectual contests, workshops and training ever held at the higher school. As a member of Moon Walkers team he became the runner-up of First Robotics Contest held in 2016 at BHOS. It should be reminded that last year BHOS fourth year student from petroleum engineering Fidan Salimzade while taking internship at BP between September 2-10 got involved in Texno Fest 2015 contest and won the first place. BPs annual Texno Fest contest is a global one supporting innovation related ideas in the technical field. BP annually organizes Texno Fest contest for everyone willing to work for BP and take internship at the company including students. Every year young engineers enjoy the opportunity to make their presentations sharing their experience and outcomes. Korean Hanjin Shipping's filing for receivership reflects an unsustainable supply-demand imbalance in container shipping, Fitch Ratings says. "We expect more defaults and M&A activity in the short and medium term but these will only restore equilibrium and boost freight rates if they prompt capacity reduction," says Fitch. Bankruptcies in shipping are not unusual, especially in the current dire industry conditions, but Hanjin is the seventh largest container shipping company in the world and its filing for receivership may therefore have far-reaching ramifications. In particular, creditors' withdrawal of support may indicate a re-assessment of the financing landscape, where secured bank funding for new vessels has remained relatively accessible even as market conditions have deteriorated. Such a change would pave the way for more restructurings. The impact on the sector will depend on the share of Hanjin's capacity being redeployed in the market following receivership proceedings. Bankruptcies or consolidation will reduce the number of competitors and may have a short-term positive impact on freight rates and capacity utilisation. However, significant overcapacity and slow demand growth mean fundamentals will not improve unless capacity is withdrawn from the market. In the case of Hanjin, Korea's Financial Services Commission has reportedly indicated it will encourage the country's second-largest container shipping company, Hyundai Merchant Marine, to acquire some assets. "We expect some interruptions to the delivery chain, including Hanjin's current and future alliance partners and slot sharing partners, but these are likely to be short term," the statement says. Hanjin Shipping's liquidity is very tight with short-term debt of USD2.7bn against cash of USD205m at end-2015. Its total debt stood at USD4.8bn at end-2015 with operating profit of USD33m in 2015 and an operating loss of USD96m in 1Q16. Most of the company's fleet (60% in 2015) is chartered. Before court receivership, the company was implementing a voluntary restructuring arrangement, including sale of assets, charter rates negotiation and corporate bond and bank debt renegotiation. Hyundai Merchant Marine is also progressing with creditor-led restructuring, albeit more successfully so far. "We expect the container shipping companies' financial results to deteriorate in 2016 from 2015 due to weak freight rates, which often do not cover operating costs. Even the largest container shipping company Maersk Line reported an operating loss of USD117m in 1H16 compared to an operating profit of USD1.3bn in 1H15," it added. This prompted AP Moeller-Maersk to initiate a strategic review of the group operations and the current structure. Hapag-Lloyd and United Arab Shipping Company plan to improve their financial and operational profiles through increased scale and cost savings following their planned merger. Meyer Turku (Finland) has signed a memorandum of agreement with the worlds largest cruise ship operator Carnival Corporation & plc for two new, 180 000 GT, cruise ships. The Ships will be built for Carnival Cruise Lines with delivery dates expected in 2020 and 2022. With the same agreement, Carnival Corporation & plc also orders one 180 000 GT cruise ship from Meyer Werft (Germany) for P&O Cruises, to be delivered in 2020. All three ships will be Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) powered and will be based on the next-generation green cruising ship design developed with Carnival Corporation. We are proud to be at the forefront of introducing LNG-powered ships to the cruise industry, working with our partners to achieve shipbuilding breakthroughs like this that will help us produce the most efficient and sustainable ships we have ever built, said Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corporation & plc. Jan Meyer, CEO of Meyer Turku said: We are very happy to work again with both Carnival Cruise Lines and P&O Cruises. In Turku we are also very excited as these ships will be the first ones to the get full benefit from our investments in next-generation production facilities and IT-systems. Another important aspect is the long-term horizon for our business. It creates an environment where we and also our suppliers can grow and develop. In the end this will lead to a lot of good work for us and other Finnish companies., Jan Meyer comments. In conjunction with the order for Turku, the delivery of the 2nd ship for Costa Cruises will shift from 2020 to 2021. All American Marine, Inc. (AAM), together with Argosy Cruises of Seattle, Wash., has signed a contract for the construction of a 125-foot aluminum monohull tour boat for operation in Puget Sounds Elliott Bay. This project will mark the first keel laid at All American Marines new shipyard currently under construction in Squalicum Harbor at the north edge of Bellingham Bay. AAM will to open the new state-of-the-art 57,000-sq. ft. boat building facility in January 2017. The Port of Bellingham is developing the new site to further support AAMs ability to take on and pursue larger vessel projects with hulls over 100 in length alongside their regular production of mid-sized monohulls and catamarans. The new monohull will be certified under the latest U.S. Coast Guard Subchapter-K regulations to carry 500 passengers. Argosy selected AAM and Teknicraft Design as the leaders in building high quality and fuel efficient aluminum vessel designs. Kevin Clark, president and CEO of Argosy Cruises was most pleased with the value in terms of price, maintenance and functionality that was offered in the selection of an aluminum hull versus steel which is more common in his current fleet. The value of Teknicraft and All American Marine design teams working closely together to build us a quality boat, made the design and construction process absolutely seamless, Clark said. Argosy intends to primarily deploy the new vessel on a route to ferry passengers between their Seattle waterfront location at Pier 55 and their long-standing concession at Tillicum Village on Blake Island State Park. The Tillicum Excursion provides visitors with a Northwest Native American cultural experience inclusive of a narrated cruise, traditional style dining in a cedar longhouse, and live stage performance. The vessel will also be adaptable to provide private event charters, as well as join Argosys Christmas Ship Festival fleet. While on board, passengers will enjoy panoramic windows from both the main deck and second deck cabins. The versatile floor plans of each cabin will offer both fixed and configurable interior seating, elevator accessibility, and fully-equipped service bars. The second deck aft viewing veranda and spacious bow foredeck will provide perfect platforms for capturing selfies or snapshots of Mt. Rainier and the Seattle cityscape. The upper deck features a 360-degree viewing experience, complete with elevated observation and ceremony platform. The vessel will be powered with twin Scania DI 16-080M engines and auxiliary power will be supplied via Northern Lights 65kW and 40 kW generators. AAMs CEO, Matt Mullett is proud to partner with Argosy on this project and believes the finished product will be remarkable. Mullett commented, We have been working hard to reach this point and are truly excited about the comprehensive design and features that this new boat will offer to Argosy while moving the bar for our future designs. ABS, a provider of classification and technical services to the global marine and offshore industries, unveiled the first comprehensive cybersecurity certification and optional notations for marine and offshore assets and facilities at the SMM (Shipbuilding, Machinery, Marine) bi-annual international maritime trade fair. Introduced in early 2016, the ABS CyberSafety series is the industrys first risk-based management program for asset owners to apply best practice approaches to cybersecurity, automated systems safety, data integrity and software verification. Our unique approach to cybersafety charts a new path, delivering wider and deeper classification services as technology evolves and becomes more sophisticated, reaching far beyond simple compliance and directly to asset and facility security, says ABS Chief Technology Officer Howard Fireman. The ABS CyberSafety program provides the only actionable guidance for addressing and assessing cyber-enabled systems that emphasize human, systems and environmental safety. New volume releases and revisions in the ABS CyberSafety series include: Volume 1 Guidance Notes on the Application of Cybersecurity Principles to Marine and Offshore Operations (revised and expanded) Volume 2 Guide for Cybersecurity Implementation for the Marine and Offshore Industries Volume 3 Guidance Notes on Data Integrity for Marine and Offshore Operations Volume 4 Guide for Software Systems Verification Volume 5 Guidance Notes on Software Provider Conformity Program From the ABS Guides, optional certification and Classification Notations can be obtained to verify cybersecurity plans and programs for assets and facilities as well as integrated and non-integrated control systems, including factors for software quality management, product design assessment and unit software systems. We look beyond the step-by-step approach and deliver an integrated, holistic view of systems, assets and facilities to provide confidence for owners and operators that a multi-dimensional safety component is well-engineered and operated competently, adds Fireman. ABS established the ABS CyberSafety laboratory earlier this year and staffed it with a team of global cyber experts to expand the safety scope and verify cyber systems that look beyond physical asset safety. Lower growth rates for refinery throughput and drawdowns on swollen oil stocks has impacted the seaborne tanker market negatively. BIMCO expected this to happen. BIMCO has reduced its forecast for crude oil tanker demolition in 2016: from 5 million DWT to 3 million DWT. By mid-August, only 0.76 million DWT of crude oil tanker capacity proved to be in such poor condition that it could no longer be traded in the strong freight market. Limited fleet growth is key to keeping freight rates at a profitable level. This lack of demolition means the supply of new tonnage weighed down the market, making the shift to a fundamental imbalance quicker and harder felt. Especially as the growth rate on the demand side is coming down from last years peak. In the first seven months of 2016, Chinas refined oil product exports increased in total by 51.7% or 366,273 barrels per day (bpd). July 2016 saw a record-breaking level of 1,027,933 bpd. The five major importing countries of Chinese refined oil products had a combined market share of 59.5% between January 2014 till July 2016: Hong Kong with a growth rate of 20.9% or 147,759 bpd on a monthly average, Singapore with 18.3% or 129,129 bpd, Panama with 9.3% or 65,930 bpd, the Republic of Korea with 5.7% or 40,581 bpd Vietnam with 5.3% or 37,610 bpd. The imports made by Other" trading partners increased in total by 71.3% or 1,173,933 bpd in the first seven months of 2016, in comparison to the previous years period. Growing export volumes from China seems to have a positive effect on the tanker market. China is expected to continue growing its crude oil imports for the rest of the year, but at a slightly lower growth rate. Its latest Strategic Petroleum Reserve appears to be filled now. Crude oil prices are not as low as they have been and demand growth from the independent teapot refineries now tends to provide shorter hauls than before - and in comparison to the national refiners who prefer crude oil from West Africa and the Arabian Gulf. Imports of crude oil into US and India are expected to grow over the rest of the year, whereas European imports seem to be on par with 2015. In spite of a decisive reduction in freight market rates, BIMCO expects that average VLCC earnings in 2016 will still sit above those of 2014. But the foreseen market changes have proven to be slightly harder than expected with a negative impact on freight rates in all other oil tanker segments. BIMCO now sees average earnings for all other oil tanker segments (Ex VLCC) below those of 2014. Currently, average earnings year to date in 2016 are slightly above the full year average of 2014. The Company: Located in Carmi and Fairfield, Illinois and Cocoa, Florida, Elastec manufactures water pollution control products specializing in oil spill recovery equipment. Established in 1990 with the invention of the ELASTEC Drum Skimmer, the U.S. Clean Water act inspired Elastec to expand its product line to include floating booms, turbidity curtains, vacuum systems, work boats and portable incinerators. Elastecs new Omni Cat is a waterway maintenance catamaran designed to help municipalities comply with nonpoint source pollution. To control silt and sediment pollution during marine construction, Elastec also manufactures turbidity curtains. A recent project near the Golden Gate Bridge has earned Elastec an environmental award. The firm has about 110 employees. Primary Product / Service: Elastec manufactures and markets oil spill recovery equipment: drum, grooved disc and weir skimmers, oil boom, BoomVane, dispersant systems, response trailers and Hydro Fire Boom and American Fireboom systems. The company also manufactures work boats, such as the ELASTEC Omni Cat for waterway maintenance and landing craft response boats. ISO9001:2008 certified, Elastec has shipped products to 155 countries. The Case: In 2015, Elastec celebrated 25 years of manufacturing oil spill recovery equipment. As they look forward to the next 25 years, Elastec is developing new ways to keep our waterways clean from trash, debris, sediments, invasive aquatic weeds, as well as to recover oil spills. Elastecs Hydro-Fire Boom and American Fireboom systems were deployed in the controlled burn operation during the Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico. Elastec won the Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X CHALLENGE with its patented Grooved Disc Skimming technology. 926 County Road 1350 N Carmi, IL 62821 Telephone: (618) 384-2783 Website: www.elastec.com CEO/President: Jeff Cantrell & Jeff Bohleber Volvo Penta and Danish manufacturer BUKH have entered into a partnership by which Volvo Penta will supply BUKH with diesel engines of up to 16 liter capacity for new propulsion solutions for lifeboats. The agreement between the two companies enables BUKH to extend its SOLAS engine range, and allows Volvo Penta to extend the use of its products in new applications. Lifeboat manufacturers will benefit by the increase in available power options and leveraging of comprehensive technology offered by the two companies. Both Volvo Penta and BUKH have more than 100 years of experience in the marine industry and will utilize their expertise to offer state-of-the-art engines a vital aspect for lifesaving operations at sea. The performance and capabilities of engines are critical in lifeboats, said Martin Jufors, marine sales manager at Volvo Penta. Operators need to know that their boat will be able to respond quickly to emergencies and perform in any climatic condition and geographic circumstance. We are pleased to be working with BUKH so that our commercial diesel engines can provide greater options for lifesaving activities at sea. Volvo Penta will supply D3, D4, D6, D8, D13 and D16 (diesel) engines to BUKH, in the power range of 110 to 800 hp, which the Danish company will tailor to adhere to SOLAS regulations and the LSA Code. The extensive range of capabilities means that BUKH will have a wider scope of engines to offer customers to be suitable for small, medium and large lifeboats. SOLAS (the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974) stipulates minimum safety standards for the construction, equipment and operation of ships, and allows participating governments to inspect boats from other national states which sail in its waters. The LSA Code (Life-Saving Appliances) is governed by the International Maritime Organization and states regulations for the safety of lifesaving craft as well as equipment such as lifejackets and emergency flares. BUKH is also able to use Volvo Pentas innovative technologies including the ground-breaking electronic vessel control platform (EVC; a simple plug-and-play system which integrates all functions from driver interface to engine and drive systems), reverse gear options, and accessories such as Powertrim Assistant (to reach planing speeds quickly) and Low-speed Mode (for reduced idling which adds additional safety in tight spaces). We have developed a number of technologies over the years which have continually advanced the performance of engines, and consequently of the boats they power, said Bjorn Saljo, Vice President of Marine Commercial Product Management at Volvo Penta. In capitalizing on our technical expertise and wide range of engines, BUKH will have a greater scope of power options to offer its customers. And for us at Volvo Penta, its an exciting development to expand the range of engines we produce for SOLAS vessels by venturing into lifeboat applications. Danish-based BUKH has been producing diesel engines for marine applications including lifeboats, fast rescue and work-boats for more than a century. For lifeboat manufacturers, the company supplies engines ranging from 24 to 500hp; some models are produced directly by BUKH while others are sourced from different suppliers and modified according to requirements. And in working with Volvo Penta, it will be able to deliver additional power generation models for the SOLAS market. Reliability and continuing uptime are extremely important for lifeboat applications, and BUKHs new engine options will benefit from Volvo Pentas high performance, fuel-efficient and durable products. For many years our goal has been to ensure the best safety standards for life at sea, said Sren Christiansen, CEO and owner of BUKH. It is our goal to keep our leading position by continuously developing our range of engines, power systems and services to our customers, and identifying new business opportunities so that we can expand the total market for mutual benefit. We see a growing demand for bigger engines in the SOLAS market and more boat-builders are building multi-purpose work-boats where the use of SOLAS engines and SOLAS power systems increases the flexibility and usability of the boats. For instance, we see that in the offshore industry, additional safety aspects of multi-purpose boats means that they can be used for rescue purposes as well as the general transportation of people and materials. As such, we only collaborate with other companies which share our vision for manufacturing the highest quality products. Volvo Penta is clearly in that category and their range of products and investment in new solutions gives BUKH a unique possibility to offer complete power and propulsion systems, not only now but in the future as well. This is very important for us our strategy is long term success instead of short term profit. He added, Like us, they have more than a century of experience in designing marine engines and continue to research and develop new technologies. We are happy to pursue this strategy of co-operation with them so that customers can be assured that operators and passengers will have access to safe and efficient lifeboats, worldwide. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 6 By Azad Hasanli Trend: The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) sold $50 million to 30 banks through an auction held by the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) Sept. 6, SOFAZ said in a message Sept. 6. SOFAZ will continue to sell foreign currency through auctions in 2016. The foreign currency is sold as part of SOFAZs transfers to the Azerbaijani state budget, which are envisaged to stand at 7.615 billion Azerbaijani manats in 2016. SOFAZ was established in 1999 with assets of $271 million. As of July 1, 2016, SOFAZs assets increased by 4.6 percent and amounted to $35.1 billion as compared to $33.57 billion in early 2016. The new Ocean Signal E101V float-free EPIRB with integrated voyage data recorder (VDR) memory capsule is designed according to the latest VDR performance standards as a leading solution for commercial vessels of 3000+ gross tonnage. This is on display at the SMM, Hamburg, 6th to 9th September, Hall B6 Stand 605 (AMI Marine stand) Developed in collaboration with VDR specialist AMI Marine, the E101V is Cospas Sarsat and MED certified and approved to IEC61097-2 as a float-free EPIRB with built-in memory capsule. Enabling ship owners and operators to meet new mandates for VDRs as defined by IMO Resolution MSC.333(90), the Ocean Signal device can be easily integrated with a vessels VDR, a vital on-board system which helps to identify the cause of any accident, evaluate decision making on-board at the time of an incident, improve safety and also assist in accident avoidance, training and other areas of maintenance, monitoring and analysis. The EPIRB with memory capsule offers notable market-leading features and benefits for ship owners and operators which have been incorporated after meticulous development by safety specialist Ocean Signal and VDR experts AMI Marine. The E101V features a dedicated float-free housing with improved hydrostatic release unit and automatic disconnection of the interface cable on release before 4m depth, ensuring the stored data can be easily and quickly retrieved in the event of an accident or incident. With 406MHz Cospas Sarsat satellite alerting and 121.5MHz homing, the Ocean Signal device features an integral 66-channel GPS receiver, rather than the 22-channel GPS featured in other products, which ensures fast and accurate positioning as the device is able to acquire the position from a cold start by seeking all the satellites simultaneously to determine which are in view. At 224mm x 110mm (440mm including antenna) and weighing just 985g, the E101V is significantly smaller and lighter than other products on the market, due to the use of low current technology developed by Ocean Signal for its current EPIRBs. For easy maintenance, the compact design still allows easy accessibility without damaging the product. The release housing size is just 293mm x 196 x 126. The E101V has a flexible blade antenna and twin high intensity strobe light. As with all Ocean Signal products, it has a market-leading battery life of five years and a two-year warranty. The battery operating life is greater than 168 hours at -20C. The separate VDR storage module incorporated in the E101V features the standard memory capacity of 64GB. The Ocean Signal device will be available on an OEM basis to selected VDR manufacturers and suppliers for integration with their own VDR systems. The E101V is also supplied with AMIs new regulation X-Series VDR which incorporates IEC61162-450 network protocol, applicable to the collection, storage and playback of important data, and exceeds the requirements of the 2014 IEC 61996-1 Ed 2.0 regulations. Completely European in its manufacture, all of the equipment is designed and built in the UK and Germany, with all but the fixed capsule being of an AMI Marine bespoke design. Launched at this years SMM, AMIs new X-VHFR recorder for vessels under 3000 GRT is also designed to function with the E101V, assisting with safe recording and playback of basic vessel data in the event of an incident, or for general data analysis purposes. The X-VHFR VHF recorder provides a cost effective means of recording VHF communications, bridge audio and vessel position, along with AIS at any given time, for operators of vessels exempt under current rules from carrying a VDR. In combination with a computer for playback, it will construct an accurate history of events, whether it is for training and education purposes or for investigation and evidence purposes, and provides the ideal means to verify ship to ship and ship to shore communications, together with the associated date, time, and location of the vessel. The E101Vs leading design and technological capabilities reflect the knowledge and experience brought together by the unique collaboration of two UK companies - communication and safety at sea experts Ocean Signal and AMI Marine, world-leaders in VDR design and manufacturer of marine electronic equipment. James Hewitt, Ocean Signal Sales and Marketing Manager, said: The development of the E101V is a result of many months of meticulous design and expert input from the specialist engineers at Ocean Signal and AMI Marine. The result is a product which incorporates a number of significant features and is a trusted and approved solution for new generation VDRs which comply with the latest IMO mandates. Martin Cox, sales director at AMI Marine, added: The introduction of the IMO resolution, along with IEC61996-1 Ed 2.0, heralded a new chapter in VDR requirements with both a fixed and float-free capsule required, each holding a minimum of 48 hours of data. The E101V float-free capsule is a welcome addition to the AMI X-VDR system, allowing for easier and cheaper shipping with its refined compact design. For more information on the E101V at SMM, please visit AMI Marine (Hall B6 Stand 605). Ocean Signal products will also be on the Drew Marine Stand (Hall B5 Stand 527). The Houston Ship Channel re-opened to some vessel traffic on Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. Coast Guard said, after an early morning tanker fire prompted closure of the waterway. The U.S. Coast Guard Houston Vessel Traffic Service said it would commence with tow vessel transit outbound from Old River and San Jacinto River. That would be followed by inbound movements, it said. The Houston Ship Channel links the busiest U.S. petrochemical port to the Gulf of Mexico. Four Houston-area refineries were unable to receive crude oil from tankers on Tuesday after a portion of the channel was shut by an early-morning fire aboard an empty tanker. The fire began shortly after midnight CDT (0500 GMT) aboard the 810-foot (247-meter) tanker the Aframax River and was extinguished within a few hours. The ship was moved out of the water way to a dock. Only a light sheen from bunker fuel, a type of diesel, has been seen in the channel, according to the Coast Guard. The tanker caught fire near the intersection of Buffalo Bayou and the San Jacinto River. The fire appeared to originate in a punctured bunker fuel tank. No injuries were reported, the Coast Guard said. Because of the closure, Valero Energy Corp's and LyondellBasell Industries' Houston refineries, Petrobras' refinery in nearby Pasadena, Texas and Royal Dutch Shell's joint venture in Deer Park, Texas could not receive oil. The four refineries have crude on-site in storage tanks and also have access to long-distance and short-haul pipeline systems. The four refineries have a combined crude oil throughput of 761,505 barrels per day (bpd), equal to 4 percent of U.S. refining capacity. The channel had been closed to vessel traffic for one mile (1.6 km) southwest from where the ship caught fire, the Coast Guard said. It said seven ships were waiting to exit the channel and eight were waiting to enter on Tuesday afternoon. Tankers were able to move to and from Exxon Mobil Corp's 560,500-bpd Baytown refinery, the Coast Guard said. Tankers transiting the Houston Ship Channel supply five refineries in the Houston metropolitan area and three refineries in Texas City, Texas. The eight plants have a combined crude oil throughput of 2.1 million barrels per day equal to 11.4 percent of national refining capacity. (Reporting by Liz Hampton and Erwin Seba, Apeksha Nair; Editing by David Gregorio and Bill Trott) South Koreas second-largest container line Hyundai Merchant Marine Co Ltd is in talks with South Korean firms such as home appliance makers Samsung and LG to carry their cargo, Reuters reported quoting the chairman of South Korea's Financial Services Commission. Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd was handling cargo of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and LG Electronics. Hyundai plans to deploy 13 more vessels to the U.S. and Europe to help ease cargo disruptions after its bigger rival Hanjin's collapse, according to a report in Bloomberg. HMM could acquire some of the distressed assets from Hanjin, including vessels and protecting some jobs, Bloomberg has reported. HMM said it would work with authorities to come up with possible measures, but elaborated no further. A vessel from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps came within 100 yards of a U.S. military ship in the central Gulf on Sept. 4, two U.S. Defense Department officials told Reuters on Tuesday. The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the Iranian vessel sailed directly in front of the USS Firebolt, a 174-foot (53 m) coastal patrol vessel, forcing the U.S. ship to change course in a maneuver they described as "unsafe and unprofessional." (Reporting by Idrees Ali) Eric Haun is editor of Marine News. He has covered the commercial maritime and... Japan Night was held September 5, 2016, coinciding with the SMM 2016 maritime trade fair, conference and exhibition in Hamburg, Germany. There Mr. Gregory Trauthwein, editor and associate publisher of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News, was honored to participate in the breaking of the sake cask ceremony at the Japan Ship Machinery & Equipment Associations (JSMEA) reception at the Inter City Hotell Hamburg Dammto Messe. The Wartsila Nacos Platinum series of navigation, automation and control systems has been updated to include a number of new functions. The updated version will be introduced at the SMM conference and exhibition taking place in Hamburg, Germany from September 5 to 9. Among the most interesting of the new functions is Intelligent Route Planning, which takes into account weather and sea conditions to provide route and power optimisation and, therefore, notable fuel savings. Automated execution is also available. Other new features include scalable 'plug-in' software for various applications, seamless integration with third party applications, remote maintenance, a highly advanced and easy to learn interface, and highly advanced security against possible cyber attacks. "Wartsila has years of experience and deep in-house know-how in this field, and the Nacos Platinum series is acknowledged as being a highly reliable and advanced aid to shipping around the world. This update will make it even more competitive," says Maik Stoevhase, Director, Automation, Navigation and Control, Wartsila Marine Solutions. The Nacos Platinum series has been developed at the Wartsila Sam Electronics facilities in Germany. Shipments of limestone on the Great Lakes totaled 3,365,999 tons in August, a decrease of 13.5 percent compared to a year ago, according to the Lake Carriers Association (LCA). Augusts loadings were also 8 percent below the months five-year average. Loadings from U.S. quarries totaled 2,765,206 tons, a decrease of 15.5 percent compared to a year ago, while shipments from Canadian quarries totaled 600,793 tons, a decrease equal to one load in one of the larger river-class vessels. LCA said year-to-date the Lakes limestone trade stands at 16.5 million tons, a decrease of 7.6 percent compared to a year ago. Loadings out of Michigan and Ohio quarries total 13.2 million tons, a decrease of 11.8 percent, and shipments from Ontario quarries total 3.3 million tons, an increase of 14.3 percent. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. today announced that "MOL Global Management College, 2016" was launched on September 5. MOL Global Management College started in 2014 with the aim of improving management skills in cross-cultural environments and developing next generation executives who will be in the forefront of the MOL Group's global management. This year marks the third session of the program. In response to today's global marketplace, the college targets not only employees in the Head Office, but also personnel from overseas subsidiaries who represent the future of the MOL Group. This year, the college will begin its four-month program with 20 participants from nine countries. The program prepares the participants to come up with their own proposals to improve the company, taking part in energetic, hands-on sessions in small groups under the themes of personal empowerment, organizational management, and leadership in today's global business environment, and "MOL CHART", which expresses the MOL Group's shared values. The program culminates with the participants making their own presentations to MOL's top executives on the final day. MOL has pushed ahead with efforts to nurture independent-spirited global leaders who are committed to acting with a sense of ownership by sharing the values of "MOL CHART" among every employee and using it as basis for decisions. The goal is "to develop the MOL Group into an excellent and resilient organization that leads the world shipping industry," by strengthening and concentrating its comprehensive group-wide efforts. The Company: MetalCraft Marine Incorporated is a fully integrated designer and manufacturer of custom high performance fire, rescue, patrol, research, and other specialized work boats. The company is the North American industry leader in the design and manufacturing of high speed aluminum water-jet propelled craft. MetalCraft Marine designs and builds custom and semi-custom aluminum workboats, provides engineering and analysis using computer aided design, fit out of marine mechanical, hydraulic, electrical and navigation systems, as well as powering with jet drive, inboard, sterndrive, pod drive or outboard propulsion. Refits include repowers and repairs on small and large workboats including dry-docking and crane services. The firm also provides service contracts for maintenance on workboats in service. The firm has about 100 employees. The Case: MetalCraft Marine has experienced a record year with some significant U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard contracts. New York City also purchased a state of the art high speed fire/rescue boat to protect the NYC Harbor. 583 East Broadway Cape Vincent, New York 13618 Tel: (613) 561-5803 Website: www.metalcraftmarine.com CEO/President: Tom Wroe Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 6 By Elena Kosolapova Trend: S&P Global Ratings assigned its 'B' long-term and 'B' short-term counterparty credit ratings to ATF Bank JSC. The outlook is negative, S&P said Sept. 6. At the same time, S&P assigned 'kzBB' Kazakhstan national scale rating to the bank. Our ratings on ATF Bank reflect the high operating environment risks for a commercial bank functioning primarily in Kazakhstan, which we factor into our 'bb-' anchor (the starting point for assigning a rating to a bank) for Kazakh domestic banks, S&P said. They also reflect our view of the bank's moderate business position as the fifth-largest bank in Kazakhstan; its weak capital and earnings, due to its small capital buffer, which are restrained by elevated credit costs and low profitability; the bank's moderate risk position, reflecting significant legacy nonperforming loans (NPLs) and potential new loan-loss provisions required; and finally the bank's average funding and adequate liquidity, owing to its diversified funding base and an abundant liquidity cushion, the agency added. According to the message, the long-term rating on ATF Bank is one notch higher than its stand-alone credit profile, reflecting S&Ps view of the bank's moderate systemic importance in Kazakhstan as the fifth-largest bank with a market share of 4.4 percent in total loans and 6.0 percent in total deposits on Aug. 1, 2016. This means we consider that ATF Bank's failure would likely have a material, but manageable, adverse impact on Kazakhstan's financial system and real economy, the agency said. Thus, we believe ATF Bank has a moderate likelihood of receiving extraordinary support from the government if needed. S&P assesses ATF Bank's business position as moderate, reflecting the bank's medium size and its cautious business development strategy implemented by the experienced management team. According to the message, the bank's core profitability is weak, with return on adjusted assets below 1 percent in 2014-2015. The agency doesn't expect that the bank's net interest margin and core profitability will improve in the next 18 months, due to the bank's planned deleveraging and expectations of elevated credit costs, the message said. However, in view of still unfavorable economic environment in Kazakhstan, S&P expects that the level of NPLs will still remain sizable for ATF Bank, due to still large exposure to corporate clientele involved in international trade that are affected by the economic stagnation. Thus, S&P expects that new loan-loss provisions will likely be required over the next 12 months. This will exert further pressure on the bank's profitability and capital. According to the message, the negative outlook on ATF Bank reflects the one-in-three likelihood of a downgrade. S&P could lower the ratings if ATF Bank's asset quality deteriorates considerably over the next 12-18 months, which would result in the rise in credit costs up to the expected system average of 3.0 percent -3.5 percent by the end of 2016, exerting further pressure on the bank's profitability and capital and pushing the RAC ratio down below 3 percent. The agency could revise the outlook to stable in the next 12-18 months if the bank's capital buffer expands significantly, resulting in a RAC ratio, as calculated by S&P Global Ratings, remaining sustainably above 3 percent, supported by stronger profitability or on the back of sufficient capital injections. --- Follow the author on Twitter:@E_Kosolapova The luxury cruise ship Crystal Serenity is set to become the largest vessel to ever sail across the Northwest Passage as the 250-meter-long vessel carries a record-breaking 1,070 passengers and 655 crew members on a 32-day voyage from Anchorage, Alaska to New York Providing critical support to ensure the safety of this historic journey is Ardents Global Preparedness Cover (GPC), whose staff are on 24-hour response throughout the cruise ships transit through the Northwest Passage. Ardent has been on the forefront of provide emergency preparedness services to its marine industry for many years, and this goes hand in hand in being prepared to respond in all regions in the world including the Arctic, said Oliver Timofei, Ardents Director Emergency Management. Ardent said its response capabilities for the Crystal Serenity consist of experienced professionals and teams supported by a network of tugs, barges, logistics and emergency response, as well as dive capabilities. Ardent is continuously developing its response capability in the Arctic region, through Ardent Group assets, and key strategic partners, said Ardent Operations Director Shelby Harris. Ardent is not new to working with cruise liner companies. Its GPC and OPA-90 programs provide access to salvage and emergency capabilities for cruise liner operators worldwide. The company recently responded to one of its OPA-90 preparedness program vessels, the Caribbean Fantasy, when it caught on fire in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In 2012-2014, Ardent salvage crews were responsible for the largest maritime salvage job in history: The Costa Concordia, a cruise liner that struck the rock coast of Isola del Giglio, Italy. Siemens announced it has been awarded a contract to equip the first new build cruise liner for the British based operator Saga Cruises under contract to Meyer Werft in Papenburg. The awarded package includes a SISHIP eSiPOD propulsion system as well as a power and distribution plant. This new cruise ship to be delivered in the summer of 2019 will be 236 meters long and 31.2 meters wide with a gross tonnage (GT) of 56,850 and will offer capacity of 999 passengers. The contract includes an option to equip one additional cruise liner potentially due for delivery in 2021. According to Siemens, the major benefit of the SISHIP eSiPOD is its high overall efficiency resulting from the combination of a compact, hydrodynamically optimized design and an efficient permanent-excited synchronous motor. The propulsion motor is integrated into a pod shaped housing located outside the ships hull and enables full 360 degree steering angle. With the combination of the SISHIP eSiPOD and Siship Drive MV solution, Siemens is able to provide a perfectly balanced integrated propulsion system for this cruise ship with improved propulsion efficiency and maneuverability. In addition, the low-noise and low-vibration operation of the propeller motors make them particularly suited for the high demands of the customers in the yacht, passenger and cruise ship segment. The reliable power supply of the ship is guaranteed by the integrated power plant system Siship Power MV. This comprises four generators with a total electrical output of 21 megawatts. The NxAIR medium-voltage switchgear takes care of efficient and safe power distribution. The power and propulsion plant is internally controlled and monitored by the Siemens integrated protection systems such as the Power Plant Protection (PPP), Generator Power Adaption System (GPA) and Propulsion Control System (PCS). The integrated Siemens Siship solutions help to increase the overall efficiency and reliability of the cruise ship, reduce fuel consumption and thus drive down operating costs. Matthias Schulze, Executive Vice President Siemens Marine, said, This contract enables us to position our new highly efficient generation of pod propulsion systems firmly within the cruise ship segment. Surely we do hope that this meticulously engineered and innovated design will open the door to securing additional orders in the future. Siemens is also responsible for project managing, engineering and commissioning of the entire diesel-electric propulsion system. Rolls-Royce said it has added three larger stainless steel Kamewa waterjets to its product range. The new waterjets are designed for use in bigger (30m+) vessels. With fewer components, the new range is easier to install reducing the time and specialist skills required to fit them with consequent reductions in vessel build time and cost, Rolls-Royce said. The waterjets are supplied with an entire inlet, including main hydraulics, valves and even factory calibrated electronics where necessary. The pump technology uses proven waterjet technology. The whole package is pre-built and tested at the companys Kokkola factory. Tommi Viiperi, Rolls-Royce, Sales Manager, said, We have been supplying integrated skids and hydraulics in our smaller products for some time and have proven that by doing so this allow designers, yards and operators to concentrate on their key areas better, lowering total costs without compromise. The three new sizes being introduced are the S71, S80 and S90. This completes the larger steel-series size range. According to Rolls-Royce, the Kamewa steel series allows the flexible use of aluminum, steel or composite materials meaning the main range inlet material, shape and pump type can be selected from different alternatives to meet optimal hull installation and super lightweight constructions. Combining composite materials in transom flange and inlet tube provides further benefits by means of weight, cost and corrosion resistance. The use of marine grade aluminum plate in constructing part of the inlet means it can be easily installed using bolts or welds on any vessel type. Minimized tip clearance and outside thrust bearing allows for maximal efficiency without any compromises, reducing fuel consumption significantly and lowering emissions. The new product range has a mean time between overhauls (MTBO) of 15,000 hours or five years, with an option for a further extended warranty period. 1861 - USS Tyler and USS Lexington, support Gen. Ulysses S. Grants Army operations against strategic Paducah and Smithland, Ky. The ships mobile firepower assists in the capture of the cities, helping to preserve Kentucky in the Union. 1918 - In the first use of major-caliber naval guns in a land offensive, a U.S. naval railway battery of five, 14-inch guns begin long-range bombardment of German forces near Soissons, France. 1930 - USS Grebe (AM 43) arrives at Santo Domingo with supplies and medicines for victims of a hurricane three days prior. She is joined by USS Gilmer (DD 223) with a party of Marines for relief and rescue work. 1939 - The Navy begins formation of the Neutrality Patrol for the Atlantic Ocean. 1940 - First destroyers transferred to Great Britain at Halifax, Nova Scotia, under "Destroyers-for-Bases" agreement. 1944 - USS Independence (CVL 22) begins the use of a specially trained air-group for night work. This time was the first in which a fully equipped night carrier operated with a fast carrier task force. 1947 - A captured German V 2 rocket from World War II is successfully launched from a ship, fired by USS Midway (CVB 41). 1953 - Exchange of prisoners of war from Korean War called Operation Big Switch ends. 1997 - USS Louisiana (SSBN 743) is commissioned at its homeport of Submarine Base Kings Bay, Ga. The boat is the last of the Navys 18 Ohio-class nuclear-powered fleet ballistic missile submarines. 1997 - USS Hopper (DDG 70) is commissioned at San Francisco, Calif. The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer is the first ship in the Navy to be named after the pioneering computer scientist Rear Adm. Grace Hopper, often referred to as Grandma COBOL. The ship is homeported at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (Source: Naval History and Heritage Command, Communication and Outreach Division) PPGs (NYSE: PPG) protective and marine coatings business will showcase four of its premium marine coatings solutions at SMM event in Hamburg. Amongst these is one of PPGs most recent product innovations, the PPG SIGMAGLIDE 1290 fouling release coating. Its 100% silicone binder fouling release system utilizes a breakthrough dynamic surface regeneration technology to eliminate slime problems and dramatically increase fuel savings compared to existing fouling release products. Sijmen Visser, Global Marketing Manager Marine, PPG says: One of the well-known drawbacks of fouling release technologies is that their effectiveness reduces over time. This is often seen at the waterline where the impact of sunlight, dirt and UV radiation has a negative effect and leads to the aggregation of slime. PPG SIGMAGLIDE 1290 has been engineered to include dynamic surface regeneration properties. These allow water to act as a catalyst to lower the surface energy of the coating back to its original state and thus restart its beneficial surface configuration properties. This significantly extends the effectiveness of the coating and as a result, customers will experience no loss in performance and improved stability of the product throughout its lifetime. The combination of the 100% silicon binder fouling release system with the ability of the surface to dynamically regenerate makes the SIGMAGLIDE 1290 coating a breakthrough technology for the marine coatings market. The PPG SIGMASHIELD MTC system is built on a unique coating technology that comprises a PPG SIGMASHIELD PRIME undercoat and PPG SIGMASHIELD MTC topcoat. Designed specifically for the cargo holds of dry bulk carriers, the system features a unique chemistry that maximizes technical performance and offers a commercially sound solution for spot and full repairs as well as for application at newbuild. Its robust properties make it the ideal coating for premium performance in the demanding dry bulk cargo environment. PPGs SIGMA SAILADVANCE RX and GX coatings are based on an advanced technologies developed and patented by PPG that generate low friction, linear polishing, improved idle time tolerance and fuel savings. The self-release binder technology is based on Controlled Surface Active Polymers (CSP) that act on the coating/water interface as a lubricant, which supports laminar flow, thereby lowering the hull friction when the ship is sailing. In addition, these CSPs create a slippery surface that will increase the resistance to fouling when the ship is not sailing and, therefore, extend the possible idle days. Sijmen Visser continues: Increasingly competitive market conditions mean that owners want to reduce energy consumption and lower their total costs regardless of how their ships are operating. The PPG SIGMA SAILADVANCE range has been developed specifically to cover a wide range of vessel types and operational conditions and guarantees significant cost reductions. These low-friction, self-lubricating antifoulings deliver reduced fuel consumption and improved tolerance to idle time. Suitable for application at newbuild and dry dockings, the products are designed for all vessel types and speeds, and are particularly effective for slow steaming because of the engineered oil binder composition. Visit PPG at SMM 2016, Sept 6-9. The inauguration of an IHC dredging simulator was held at Transnets Maritime School of Excellence in Durban, South Africa on Friday 2 September. The launch marked the start of a new dredge training programme to develop and enhance the knowledge and skills of local dredging personnel. Transnet has set out a long-term vision to develop South African dredging and manufacturing industries raising levels of operational efficiency and improving the capabilities of those employed in these sectors. The delivery of a training simulator by IHC is part of the supplier development plan that IHC and Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA), one of five operation divisions of Transnet, agreed on prior to the delivery of trailing suction hopper dredger (TSHD) ILEMBE in 2016. The aim is to improve the local industry in South Africa by setting up a dredging school, outsourcing parts to local suppliers and using the local supply chain for life-cycle support of the vessel. Dredging school The IHC Training Institute has been working closely and sharing knowledge with Transnet over the past two years, in order to set up a formal and accredited dredging course at their Maritime School of Excellence. The simulator will be used in practical modules within the new training programme. It features dredging and navigation trainee consoles, a trainer desk, wide fore and aft exterior view displays, a classroom projector and screen, and accompanying hardware and software. We integrated two of IHCs trailing suction hopper dredgers in the simulator the ILEMBE and ISANDLWANA so that users can train using both vessels, says Rens Klootwijk, IHC Systems Managing Director. As the PLC/SCADA simulation of multiple TSHDs can also be uploaded, other dredgers can be added in the future. The school will welcome its first group of students at the beginning of 2017. TNPA and the IHC Training Institute are now finalising the curriculum, the duration of the schools programme, and (competence-based) course modules and materials. We are looking forward to training our dredging crew on the new simulator, says Richard Vallihu, TNPA CEO. The training on a dredging simulator, combined with the theoretical courses in the dredging school, will take the next generation of our pipe operators, dredge masters and dredging managers to a completely new level. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 6 By Aygun Badalova - Trend: While available financing would improve the prospects for the Turkish Stream pipeline project, it is also important to consider market timing, says Agnia Grigas, energy and political risks expert, non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. With a current gas glut and low prices in the global gas markets, expensive gas infrastructure projects become less appealing, Grigas told Trend. She believes that while it would be in Russias interests to build Turkish Stream, with limited resources and considering current markets, Moscow would probably prioritize other gas infrastructure projects such as Nord Stream II pipeline to Germany, Power of Siberia pipeline to China, and boosting its LNG export infrastructure. Turkish Stream project, which involves the construction of a gas pipeline from Russia to Turkey through the Black Sea, was frozen after the relations between Moscow and Ankara deteriorated in November 2015. During a meeting on Aug. 9, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to resume the implementation of the Turkish Stream project. Earlier Turkish media referring the countrys president Recep Tayyip Erdogan reported that Turkey is ready to equally split the financing of the Turkish Stream pipeline with Russia. Last week Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told journalists that Russia and Turkey could sign an intergovernmental agreement on the Turkish Stream gas project within one or two months. Regarding the recent proposal of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to connect the Turkish Stream pipeline to the Trans Anatolian pipeline (TANAP), Grigas believes that Brussels will be less enthusiastic about such a possibility. She noted that TANAP is part of the Southern Gas Corridor intended to bring Azerbaijani and potentially Central Asian gas to Europe to help it diversify away from Russian gas. Connecting TANAP to Turkish Stream would potentially defeat this purpose. Indeed, Russia has tried to hold on to the South Eastern European market and to outmaneuver previous plans to diversify this region such as the previously planned Nabuco pipeline project and Southern Gas Corridor with its own pipeline plans south as South Stream and now Turkish Stream, Grigas said. TANAP project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijans Shah Deniz field to the western borders of Turkey. The gas will be delivered to Turkey in 2018, and after completion of the Trans Adriatic Pipelines construction, the gas will be delivered to Europe in early 2020. Meanwhile, Russian energy ministry recently said that no discussions has been held yet on connection of the Turkish Stream to TANAP. Russias Energy Ministry has not received an official proposal on the possibility of connecting the Turkish Stream to the TANAP to supply Russian gas through Turkey to Europe, the Russian Energy Ministry told Trend earlier. COLLINSVILLE-A Henry County judge has sent drug and gun charges against two women to Circuit Court. On Sept. 1 in Henry County General District Court, a judge found probable cause to send the case linking Charlotte, N.C. resident Dahneilia Myckell Newmius and Elaine M. Pennington of Savannah, Georgia, to multiple drug-related charges, to court. The charges include one count each of manufacturing, selling, giving, distributing, or possessing with intent to manufacture, sell, give, or distribute a controlled substance or an imitation controlled substance; one count of transporting drugs into Virginia; and one count of possessing a gun with schedule one or two drug. The offenses allegedly happened on May 26. Some other recent cases in local courts follow: HENRY COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT Christian Lee Fain of Stanleytown pleaded guilty on Aug. 31 to a misdemeanor for entering another person's property (amended from felony statutory burglary of a dwelling to commit larceny), felony grand larceny and misdemeanor obtain money or property by false pretense. A judge ordered a presentence report and set a court hearing for Nov. 30 at 2 p.m. The offenses allegedly happened on Aug. 18, 2015. Robert Lewis Bassett, of Bassett, who was charged with a felony for distributing methamphetamine, pleaded guilty Aug. 31 to felony distributing a schedule 2 controlled substance as an accommodation in connection with an offense on July 15, 2015. A judge ordered a presentence report and set a court hearing for Nov. 30 at 2 p.m. The commonwealth dropped a charge of felony distribute methamphetamine against Bassett in connection with an incident on July 23, 2015. William Ray Nance (also known as Billy Ray Nance), of Bassett, who pleaded guilty to failure to re-register as a sex offender second offense, was sentenced on Aug. 31 to five years in prison, suspended for five years. A judge placed him on indefinite supervised probation. The offense allegedly happened on Jan. 9, 2016. After holding a trial Sept. 1, a judge dismissed charges of armed common law burglary, robbery and use a firearm to commit a felony against Justin Gregory Wingfield of Ridgeway. The offenses allegedly happened on Jan. 11. The commonwealth dropped the following charges against Tina Renee Alley of Melody Lane, Martinsville: four counts each of forgery and utter forged check; three counts of obtain money or property by false pretense; and one count of obtain money or property by false pretense third offense. The offenses allegedly happened in May and August 2014. Randal Eugene Manley of Bassett pleaded guilty to three counts of felony possess firearm by felon (amended from possess firearm by violent felon); and one count each of operate motor vehicle or self-propelled machinery or equipment by habitual offender prohibited, and misdemeanor DUI. A judge ordered a presentence report and scheduled a court hearing for Nov. 30 at 2 p.m. Michael Tyrone Berger of Martinsville, who pleaded guilty to three counts of felony obtain or attempt to obtain controlled substance by fraud, was sentenced on Aug. 31 in each case to three years in prison, suspended for three years on condition of two years of supervised probation. A judge suspended his drivers license for six months. Berger also pleaded guilty to three counts of misdemeanor assisting another person in unlawfully procuring prescription drugs. A judge sentenced him in each case to 12 months in jail, suspended for 12 months. The judge also placed Berger on supervised probation for two years. All the offenses allegedly happened on Dec. 22, 2015. MARTINSVILLE CIRCUIT COURT Michael Tyrone Berger also was in Martinsville Circuit Court recently. On Sept. 1, Berger pleaded guilty to two counts of felony obtain drugs by fraud and two counts of misdemeanor assisting another person in unlawfully procuring prescription drugs, all on Dec. 22, 2015. A judge ordered a presentence report and scheduled sentencing for Oct. 27 at 2 p.m. Joseph Lamont Taylor of Martinsville pleaded guilty Aug. 25 to possess cocaine with intent to distribute second offense (amended from possess cocaine with intent to distribute third offense); possess oxycodone with intent to distribute second offense (amended from possess oxycodone with intent to distribute third offense); and possess marijuana with intent to distribute A judge ordered a presentencing report and set sentencing for Oct. 27 at 2 p.m. The commonwealth dropped a charge of possess hydrocodone with intent to distribute. The offenses allegedly happened on March 19, 2015. On Sept. 1, the commonwealth dropped the following charges against Thomas Albert Gilman Jr., of Badger Drive, Fieldale: two counts of felony obtain money by false pretense and one count of misdemeanor obtain money by false pretense, in May and June 2015. On Sept. 1, Keilo Anton Martin of Martinsville pleaded guilty to misdemeanor hit and run (amended from felony hit and run) in connection with an offense on Jan. 25. A judge sentenced him to 12 months in jail, with one month active and 11 months suspended, and with 12 months of supervised probation to begin upon release. On Sept. 1, Julie Ann Bateman of Martinsville pleaded guilty to distribute methamphetamine on Jan. 20, 2015; and possess methamphetamine on June 20, 2015. A judge ordered a presentence report and set sentencing for Nov. 17 at 2 p.m. The commonwealth dropped a charge of drug sale near school. On Sept. 1, James Paul Logan Jr., of Bassett, pleaded guilty to possess cocaine with intent to distribute second offense (amended from possess cocaine with intent to distribute third offense). A judge ordered a presentence report and set sentencing for Nov. 17 at 2 p.m. The commonwealth dropped one count each of possess cocaine by inmate and possess marijuana by inmate. All the offenses allegedly happened on Nov. 3, 2015. PATRICK COUNTY GENERAL DISTRICT COURT On Aug. 30, a judge found probable cause to believe that Darryl Franchot Younger of Patrick Springs committed the crime of prisoner possess deadly weapon on July 13. The judge sent that case to Circuit Court. On Aug. 30, a judge found probable cause to believe that Jennifer Lee Gray of Meadows of Dan committed the crimes of grand larceny; and entering a house with intent to commit larceny, assault and battery or certain other felonies. The judge sent those two cases to Circuit Court. The offenses allegedly happened on May 10. On Aug. 30, a judge found probable cause to believe that Anthony Brian Mitchell of Martinsville committed the crimes of felony grand larceny and misdemeanor enter property to damage, etc., both on May 30.The judge sent those cases to Circuit Court. The judge dismissed a charge of nonviolent felon possess gun within 10 years. That offense allegedly happened on May 10. Paul Collins reports for the Martinsville Bulletin and can be reached at paul.collins@martinsvillebulletin.com. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 6 By Aygun Badalova - Trend: The joint venture building the natural gas pipeline between Bulgaria and Greece - Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) is seeking binding bids for the use of the gas link by the end of October, Reuters reported referring to its chief executive. IGB, estimated to cost 220 million euros, has received nine expressions of interest to transport gas through it for a total capacity of 4.3 billion of cubic meters. "We expect binding bids by the end of October. We have now companies that have not participated in the first phase of market test willing to place bids," Teodora Georgieva, ICGB executive officer, said. IGB, which is expected to be connected to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), will allow Bulgaria to receive Azerbaijani gas. In early December 2015, Bulgaria and Greece signed a final investment decision on the IGB project. Bulgarian state-owned energy holding company BEH has 50 percent in the joint venture which will build the IGB pipeline, while Greek state energy firm DEPA and Italy's Edison hold 25 percent each. In Defence of Marxism is committed to safeguarding your privacy. At all times we aim to respect any personal data you share with us, or that we receive from other organisations, and keep it safe. This Privacy Policy (Policy) sets out our data collection and processing practices and your options regarding the ways in which your personal information is used. 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Please let us know if you have any queries or concerns whatsoever about the way in which your data is being processed by emailing the Data Protection Manager at webmaster@marxist.com It is not easy to be a saint, and least of all in the sinful world of the 21st century - or so one might think. But this opinion is definitely not shared by Pope John Paul II. In fact, he has already manufactured no fewer than 474 of them during his stint at the Vatican. So there can be no complaints about his level of productivity. He has become an enthusiastic market leader in the saint-manufacturing business. Commentary on the Channel Four Documentary Mother Teresa (October 25, 2003) To put this achievement in its context, this Pope has created more saints than all his predecessors put together, in the course of more than 2000 years. And, despite his advanced years and delicate state of health, he is not about to give up on the job. He is currently planning to raise Mother Teresa of Calcutta to the ranks of the Saints, only six years after she passed away. Here we have the secret of Pope John Paul II's impressive productivity record. Actually it is no secret at all. He merely follows the tried and true method of capitalist industry - the Speed-Up. You see, in the days before people had heard of productivity deals and time and motion studies they took their time over such things. Take Joan of Arc, for instance. She had to wait 600 years for sainthood. Now Mother Teresa is a done deal after just six. This means an increase of exactly 10,000 percent on the old system! What more could one ask? The main reason why things used to take so long was that, in order to qualify for promotion to the Boardroom in the clouds, one had to satisfy a number of stringent (and rather old-fashioned) conditions. First, one had to have a good CV - a good story - one that makes people sit up and pay attention. Secondly (and here's the rub) a proven miracle, and, last but not least, the backing of a Pope. Now in the old days when the pace of life was a lot slower and people had never heard of productivity bonuses, the Popes were a stick-in-the-mud lot who were a bit tardy in elevating people to the sainthood. Production methods were not at all streamlined. There was a lot of bureaucracy and red tape, all kinds of unnecessary tests and interviews to say whether the miracles were proven to the satisfaction of the Vatican or not. This was a serious disincentive to the enterprise culture and explains why so few promising aspirants ever made it. Then in comes Karol Wojtyla - a thoroughly modern, no-nonsense, can-do, hands-on, business-oriented sort of Pope, completely in tune with the enterprise culture of the 21st century. Brushing aside all the red tape and bureaucracy, he liberalises and opens up the whole business. Miracles are approved wholesale. The number of saints increases by leaps and bounds. Sceptics and nay-sayers are downsized. Mother Teresa, as everybody knows, is a soul sister of the present occupant of the Vatican. Both hail from Eastern Europe (the Pope being Polish, and Mother Teresa Albanian). Both are staunch anti-Communists, both have had intimate relations with reactionary politicians in Washington, and both are fervent backers of the most conservative sectors of the Roman Catholic Church, fanatically opposed to birth control and abortion. Mother Teresa said "if a mother can murder her own children in her own womb, what is to stop you and me from murdering each other?" What this aspiring saint did not say is that in present day India millions of children are born into a life of misery, ignorance, hunger, disease and squalor that will send them to an early grave. This, too, is murder, a terrible murder perpetrated by the capitalist system - which she and her friend Wojtyla always loyally supported. There would be no need for abortion if the social conditions that guarantee poverty and hunger for the masses were abolished. There would also be no need for abortion if free contraception were made available to everyone who wanted it. By opposing contraception the Catholic establishment creates the conditions that drive desperate women to abortion. But there are two kinds of abortion - that which has always been available to the daughters of wealthy families who have an "accident", and that which is available to women from poor peasant and working class families. The first takes place quietly in hygienic and well-equipped private hospitals, the second in squalid backrooms down back allies where ignorant old women probe with dirty needles, causing pain, injury and horrific death to a large number of unfortunate women and girls in India and many other countries. Marxists stand for the rights of the poor and oppressed everywhere. We stand for the abolition of poverty and exploitation that makes such horrors inevitable. We also stand for the right of a woman to dispose of her body as she sees fit. The scientific use of contraception, and a proper sexual education for the young, free of religious mumbo-jumbo, hypocrisy and prejudice, is a precondition of a civilized attitude to the relations between men and women and for the freedom and equality of the female sex. Those who oppose this and place obstacles in the way of contraception are acting against the interests of women and above all of the most disadvantaged sections of society. Such reactionary attitudes are contributing to the perpetuation of poverty, the enslavement of women and the spread of aids, with all the horrors that means. In the context of an underdeveloped country like India it is nothing short of criminal. According to the story assiduously cultivated by the media, Mother Teresa was a real saint walking on the face of the earth. She healed the sick (with the aid of the odd miracle), comforted the dying and cared for the poor. And all this was accomplished in that ghastly sea of human misery that is Calcutta. This myth owes its origins mainly to a BBC TV documentary of 1968 called Mother Teresa of Calcutta. This was the first recorded instance of a "miracle" performed on television. The man responsible for this was the late Malcom Muggeridge - a well-known arch-Tory reactionary and fanatical Catholic. His interest in spreading the myth of the "saint" of Calcutta is perfectly clear. His whole demeanour in this programme was one of superstitious credulity and unctuous servility. This was wholly characteristic of the man, who is a byword for cheap TV journalism peppered with pretentious pseudo-philosophical gibberish. It is not impossible that M.M. may have even believed in this mumbo-jumbo. If you go to Calcutta looking for saints, the chances are you will find one or even two. Or he may just have been cynically manipulated by the subject of his documentary. After all, Mother Teresa was always a shrewd businesswoman, and the reactionary old fool from London was predisposed to believe just about anything. Be that as it may, the content of this first documentary was seriously challenged by subsequent investigations. The present case for beatification is based on an alleged miracle concerning a Hindu peasant woman, Monika Besra, who was supposed to have been saved from certain death by a miracle, There are one or two other cases, but these are of such a dubious character that even the new streamlined, liberalised procedures at the Vatican find them hard to swallow. One such case involves an Englishman, Norman Imms, a paranoid schizophrenic form the North-East who claims that he was cured of mental illness after seeing a vision of Mother Teresa. The value of miracles involving mentally ill people has always been regarded as slight by the Vatican itself, for obvious reasons. Therefore it does not regard this case as a "bona fide miracle". We are therefore left with the case of Monika Besra, who in 1997 was seriously ill, so ill that her family were forced to sell their land, having spent all their money trying to cure her. Finally, she was admitted to a local hospital, apparently dying. She had a cyst the size of a melon in her stomach. Local doctors diagnosed tubercular meningitis. Medicines seemed to be of no avail. But the sisters found a far more efficient method of dealing with the problem. They tied a medallion of Mother Teresa with a black string over the woman's stomach and prayed. The next morning, if we are to believe M.B. and the sisters, the cyst had disappeared. Doctors were incredulous, as well they might be. A tumour of this size does not disappear between 5pm and 1am. They are also sceptical about the claim, pointing out that the woman did not have that much faith in the sisters and their medallions and prayers, since she continued to take the medicines. They suspect fraud, and say simply that the woman and the sisters are not telling the truth. Why should people tell lies about this kind of thing? Well, for a start, there is a lot of money in the miracles business. Just look at Lourdes! A miracle can work - well, miracles - for business. A lot of people will come looking for cures for their illnesses, and that means more sales, more donations, more investments. In short, a miracle or two never did anyone any harm! Or did they? Actually, it is very harmful to preach to poor uneducated people that what they need is not modern drugs from western pharmaceutical companies at affordable prices, but miracles and prayers. Such propaganda does not help these people escape from their poverty, disease and ignorance but, on the contrary, binds them still more further to their physical and mental slavery. Sumita Kumar, Mother Teresa's spokesperson, certainly did not appear to be living in poverty when she appeared on Channel Four to justify these claims, sitting in a rather luxurious home in New Delhi. Clearly she herself was in no need of any miracles to solve her problems. A short drive to the bank would do just as well. Such well-to-do individuals find the likes of Mother Teresa and her "miracles" highly convenient, since they make high taxes for the betterment of the poor quite unnecessary. But other people have a very different opinion of Mother Teresa. A documentary on Channel Four in 1994 completely exposed the myths encouraged by the earlier programme by Muggeridge. It showed how MT was not interested in alleviating human pain and suffering but only in saving their souls. Although there were plenty of painkillers available, dying people were left to suffer. One of the persons interviewed on the programme, an Englishwoman, had been a great admirer of MT until she saw this with her own eyes. "I was shocked," she said. "They were regarded as souls, but not bodies." People were left in unnecessary pain, this presumably being good for the soul or at least a matter of secondary importance. The role of religion in the history of colonialism is well known historically. The domination of the colonial peoples by imperialism was everywhere prepared and facilitated by religion. The white man came to Africa, India and Latin America with the bible under his arm. He took the land and gold from the natives and gave them the bible in return. Some people might well say that this was not a good bargain. Bringing Christianity to these peoples had a clear purpose, to make transform them into obedient and submissive subjects, to accept their lot. This continues today in the face if imperialist oppression. And Mother Teresa and her sisters continued to inculcate this spirit among the oppressed layers of India. Mother Teresa's successor Sister Nirmala has explained that, "poverty will always exist. We want the poor to see poverty in the right way - to accept it and believe that the Lord will provide." If this were accepted by the workers and poor then they would never fight back against the bosses, they would never organise in a trade union or political party. So while presenting themselves as helpers of the poor in reality they contribute to keeping them prisoners of this system which oppresses and exploits them. One example helps to highlight this. In 1983, the US multinational Union Carbide's plant in India exploded, causing terrible deaths and injuring many others. This was clearly due to the company's policy of saving on safety measures. Mother Teresa's comment was: "This could have been an accident, it's like a fire [that] could break out anywhere. That is why it is important to forgive. Forgiveness offers us a clean heart and people will be a hundred times better after it." So instead of organising to fight back against Union Carbide the victims of this terrible crime of capitalism should merely accept their lot. That conveniently leaves the profits of Union Carbide intact and lets its owners off the hook. Of course, the victims could remain happy at having received aluminium medals of St. Mary from Mother Teresa. Of course, people should have the right to adopt any religion they wish - or none at all. But what is objectionable is the spreading of the idea among poor, ignorant people that they can be cured by miracles, by prayers and by the tying on of medallions with black string. Even more objectionable - and dangerous - is the propagation of the idea that the use of contraceptive devices is sinful in countries where millions are menaced by poverty, starvation and Aids. This does not contain an atom of progressive content but is purely reactionary and directed against the interests of the poorest and most vulnerable sections of society. Even if we leave aside these elements, the reactionary essence of MT and her like may be summed up as following: it is an outlook that would encourage people to leave the existing society intact, to leave the landlords, capitalists, moneylenders and other oppressors in possession of their power and privileges, and instead to look forward to future happiness beyond the grave. The reactionary character of MT's philosophy and works has naturally earned her the enthusiastic support of the ruling class, and especially its most unsavoury representatives. She enjoyed close friendships with all kinds of characters, right wing regimes and dictatorships: not only Ronald Reagan and Robert Maxwell, but also "Papa Doc" Duvalier, the bloodthirsty dictator of Haiti. What matter if they were crooks, dictators, or even murderers - as long as they were rich! All this is true also of her good friend Karol Wojlyla, who all his life has fought for the most reactionary causes and won the plaudits of the wealthy and powerful of this world. This hardened reactionary has a particular reason for promoting saints and miracles. Superstition has always been present in the dark recesses of human consciousness from the Stone Age down to the present. All the marvellous discoveries of science have not succeeded in dislodging these age-old prejudices from the human psyche. Not only in the slums of Calcutta but in the well-furnished flats of the middle class in California and London, and even in university lecture halls, religion and mysticism is alive and well in the first decade of the 21st century. Admittedly, organised religion has been having a hard time lately, especially in the developed capitalist countries. Fewer and fewer people go to church in Europe. In Catholic Spain the Church is finding it difficult to find a sufficient number of young men prepared to train as priests. In France the number of professional astrologers vastly exceeds that of Catholic priests. In the USA the Catholic Church has been rocked by sex scandals. Nor is the crisis confined to the Catholic Church. The Anglican Communion has also been torn asunder by the appointment of a self-confessed homosexual bishop in the USA. As in the period of decadence in ancient Rome, not many people believe in the old gods, but instead there is a huge and growing number of sects from the East. These display a certain vitality that is lacking in modern western Christianity. Their mystical creeds appeal to the jaded palate of men and women who do not suffer from material privation but who feel that their lives are empty and meaningless, an endless drudgery of work and toil, a cultural poverty and a spiritual void. Alienation and vicious egotism have turned "civilised" western society into a nightmare of crime, violence and insecurity in which people increasingly question the value of life itself. But they do not look to the traditional churches for succour and salvation. Organised religion in countries like Britain is withering on the vine. The attitude of most people to the scandals that rock the Churches resembles that of their ancestors in the 14th century, in the period of the decline of feudalism - cynicism, indifference and contempt. As a militant religious reactionary, Wojtyla has no intention of giving up without a fight. Unfortunately, he lacks some of the most effective methods of persuasion used by his forebears: fire, the rack and other pleasant little items in the arsenal of the Holy Inquisition. But superstition is always a useful weapon. This explains the single-minded determination with which this pope has pursued the business of saint-manufacture. But let no-one say that it is all a question of quantity. No! Pope John Paul II is very concerned about quality. Not everyone is accepted as good material for sainthood. The Pope scrutinises the list with the greatest care and attention, weeding out any candidate who lacks the necessary qualifications. Saints-to-be must have impeccable right wing references. Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador, a progressive who was brutally murdered by right wing death squads and whose name has been repeatedly submitted by Catholics in Central America, has been unceremoniously rejected. Modern saints must be right-wingers. Anybody on the left need not apply! On the other hand, Pope Pius XII, that friend of Hitler and Mussolini who maintained a complicit silence over the Holocaust, about which he was well informed, and who helped numerous Nazi criminals to escape to Latin America after the Second World War - is high on the list of those whom Wojtyla wants to make into saints. So is the founder of the right wing Catholic mafia the Opus Dei, Escriva, who was an active collaborator of the fascist dictator Franco. The hidden agenda of the present Pope is all too clear. He wishes to reinforce right wing reaction everywhere, presenting these reactionary scoundrels as first-rate candidates for sainthood. No doubt he also hopes that he himself will then be seen as a priority case, to be fast-tracked to sainthood soon after he has gone to a Better Place. But there is an even better reason for Wojtyla's enthusiasm for saint-manufacturing. The decline of organised religion in the West plays a role in the Churches analogous to that of overproduction in world markets. If there is a decline in purchasing power in Europe, one must look for an expanding market elsewhere. One must find an emerging market for religion! Such an emerging market exists. It exists in poor countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In these areas the universal poverty makes people desperate. The message of the Church, which promises the poor of this world a future of heavenly bliss in the next life plays the role of a powerful drug, the more attractive because it costs rather less than the other drugs offered for sale on the high street, is freely available and, in most places, not illegal. For many people in what is known for some reason or another as the "developing world" Christianity has the kind of exotic appeal that in Europe and America is usually associated with religious cults imported from the East. Here the usual rules of global trading apply: there is an interchange of imports between the "third world" and the "first world" - usually to the disadvantage of the former. The import of crazy cults into the west affect only the mental state of a tiny handful of eccentrics. But the import of Christianity to Asia, Africa and Latin America spelled the ruin of whole peoples, who were plundered and robbed not only of their wealth but also of their soul, their traditions and cultures. The Pope, as a shrewd businessman, keeps an attentive eye on these emerging markets. In order to ensure that the Church of Rome maintains its market share (for there is keen competition from rivals like Islam and Protestant evangelists) the Pope has stepped up the production of saints from the aforementioned countries. It would seem that the procedure is approximately as follows: The Pope goes to African/Asian/Latin America country x. Before departure, he is informed by the Vatican bureaucrats that in country x there is such-and-such a person (y - deceased) who meets the current criteria for beatification (right wing, reactionary, anti-birth control etc.). Upon arrival (or shortly before departure) the Supreme Pontiff announces to a rapturous crowd that y is up for sainthood. This is the way in which they try to influence millions of poor people to join them. It is not that the number of saints has increased but that the most reactionary wing of the Vatican, led by Wojtyla, is striving to lure a large number of people into the fold, and simultaneously to encourage a reactionary ideology. These manoeuvres have an entirely cynical character. Many honest Catholics can see through them. How does it come about that more saints have been made in the last few years than in 2,000 years? This world has not become a more saintly place since the present Pope took office, but quite the opposite. The living standards of the masses have been cut, poverty has increased, there is one war after another. The root cause of this human catastrophe is the capitalist system that the Pope defends. The founder of Christianity lived and worked among the poor. His followers had to give up all their worldly wealth as a condition for joining the movement. Today many Catholics, particularly in South and Central America, but also in places like the Philippines, are fighting against injustice and oppression. They want to defend the interests of the poor workers and peasants. These people have all our sympathy. But the princes of the Church (not just the Catholic Church) have long ago abandoned the creed of the early Christians. They have joined the ranks of the rich and powerful. They have handed the Church over to the same moneychangers that Jesus drove out. They preach obedience and servility to the poor in order to guarantee the continuation of this ghastly system of exploitation and oppression. The "consolation" that they offer the victims of this system is a poor consolation that must wait until the grave. Of them it is truly said: "I asked you for bread and you gave me a stone." We say: let us unite to fight against exploitation and oppression. Let the working class take power and put an end to the rule of the overlords - material and spiritual. Let us build a paradise in this world. London, November 3, 2003. SPRINGFIELD -- When partners Kal Perazzola and the late Marge Merigian opened their shop, the Clothes Tree, on Bridge Street in 1962, their customers were the young women who worked in the nearby bank buildings, accountants' offices and especially two phone companies right up the street. Women flocked in on the lunch hour from all over downtown. "Then in 2004 at the phone company they brought in machines and got rid of all the girls," Perazzola said. By then, the banks had merged and downsized as well. Styles and tastes changed. Slowly, fewer and fewer women came to Perazzola for business suits, slacks and blouses, or for dresses, jewelry, handbags and winter coats. "We had so many blouses, and tons of raincoats," she said. Last week, Perazzola started the process of closing down after 54 years and an untold number of dresses, blouses, slacks and skirts. She'll be out of the storefront at 311 Bridge St. by Oct. 31. Everything is on sale and she's already contacted a friend from New York City who deals in vintage women's wear who is interested in scooping up what's left. "My favorite memories are of all the customers I met," Perazzola said. "We had so many good times. So many holidays together." The Clothes Tree hosted and open-bar buffet each Christmas so men could come in a buy gifts for their wives. "And of course we knew what all their wives wanted, because they'd all come in here to pick things out," Perazzola said. "Then we would let the men think they found the clothes." Perazzola said she and Merigian were the first women to own a specialty clothing shop in Western Massachusetts. Women business owners were so unusual, she said, they needed their husbands' signatures to take out the initial bank loan, even though it was their money and their fashion sense that got the store off the ground. Over the years they moved a few doors up the street and expanded to stores in the Enfield Square and Eastfield malls. She closed the mall stores long ago. Also, after The Clothes Tree closes, there will be no more clothing shops on Bridge Street, once the heart of the city's shopping district. Albert Steiger Co. had its flagship department store on the corner. Perazzola can rattle off the names of the shops that once lined her block: Casual Corner, Martha's Web. "Where the clubs are, they were all stores," she said of the neighborhood. Main street was even busier. "From the arch all the way to State Street and back, all stores," she said. Not top mention the men's shops: Joseph's, A.O. White. "It was an era that can never be forgotten because it can never come back. Too many people shop online," she said. Perazzola said she's been trying to sell off her inventory and close up for years. Only now she doesn't have much of a choice. Her biggest neighbor, an office maintained by MassHealth, is moving to Industry Avenue next month. Representatives of management company Colebrook Reality have told Perazzola that the whole building will be redeveloped for a new major tenant. Despite having no other clothing stores, Bridge Street is going through a bit of a renaissance. United Personnel a few months ago opened its headquarters at 289 Bridge St. -- the exact spot of The Clothes Tree's first location. TSM Design has offices on the block and Develop Springfield is building the Springfield Innovation Center across the street from the old Steiger's site. Neither Colebrook nor building owner Thomas Dennis replied to questions about the building. Perazzola has been slowly clearing the file cabinets and office desks of five decades of paperwork. She loves showing the artwork her late husband did for the the store's ads. She shows off the giant Rolodexs loaded with a total of 329 cards. Each card represents an account a customer once held with the store. "We did revolving credit. A woman would come in and buy things, then pay some money to keep the account current and then charge some more," she said. In those does, not only did she have a bookkeeper to keep those accounts straight, but a team of 20 saleswomen, her "girls." Perazzola was the fitter, seeing to it that women got a sleek, finished look. She had a seamstress who would hem and take things in a or let them out to fit. The Clothes Tree's niche was suite separates. Women could buy a jacket in one size and a matching skirt or pair of pants in another size. "No one is a perfect size eight or a perfect size nine on the top and the bottom," Perazzola said. "Everyone wanted something unique. They didn't want what the other girl in their office had. Today, you look at the ads and everything is the same. Jeans, T-shirts." BOSTON -- Officers responding to a call for a break-in at an apartment in the city were pepper sprayed by the suspect who was wanted on 20 active arrest warrants, according to Boston police. Police were called to the area of 19 Saint Luke's Road around 11:40 a.m. Sunday after receiving a report that someone was trying to break into an apartment. "When officers arrived on the scene, they had no idea what was in store or the level of resistance they would encounter," police said. "That quickly changed, however, when officers entered the apartment building and immediately recognized the perpetrator." The suspect, identified by police as 39-year-old Fabio Armelio of Medford, was wanted on several warrants and had a history of resisting arrest. Police tried to arrest Armelio at the scene, but he ran off and dropped a police scanner he had with him, police said. Armelio ran up a stairwell and began climbing up a ladder to reach the roof. Officers grabbed his legs to stop him. "As officers did their best to prevent the suspect's escape, the suspect pulled out a canister of mace and sprayed both officers square in the face," according to police. "Freed from the officers' grasp, the suspect was able to escape to the roof." Authorities said Armelio used a rope to swing from the roof into a third floor apartment where he punched a tenant in the face. Officers chased him into the basement where, after a lengthy physical confrontation during which the suspect continued to resist arrest, the suspect was finally taken into custody. Armelio had two cans of pepper spray in his possession, police said. He was charged with two counts of breaking and entering, three counts of assault and battery on a police officer, armed home invasion, resisting arrest, armed assault in a dwelling and threats. A supervisor quoted in a news release commended the officers for their work. "The suspect in this case had no intention of going down without a fight and every intention of hurting both police officers and community members alike," the supervisor, who is not named, said. "As a supervisor, my hats off to each and every officer who quickly responded to this scene and, on arrival, thought little of their own safety or security in their shared efforts to protect and serve the residents of Saint Luke's Road while putting a dangerous felon behind bars." Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 6 By Aygun Badalova - Trend: The amendement made by Greek energy ministry that severely reduces DEFSAs leeway for network usage hikes and, by extension, the operators revenue potential, is an unprecedented move, Azerbaijans ambassador to Greece Rahman Mustafayev said in an interview to Greek weekly To Vima. But he noted, that even so, SOCAR remains interested in the DESFA deal, adding that he hopes the privatization can be swiftly completed. The operators market value has been reduced and the risk level has increased, which is why we expect specific moves from the Greek side in order to cover the damages caused, Mustafayev said. On Monday, president of SOCAR Rovnag Abdullayev told reporters that SOCAR is not going to abandon the purchase of a share in the Greek gas operator DESFA. We won the tender and were not going to abandon the deal [with DESFA], Abdullayev said. We dont talk about appealing to a court, but we will defend our interests till the end. The originally negotiated rules have been violated. We are now waiting for justification from the government of Greece. Under the new rules, DESFAs value should be twice cheaper, so we are in talks with the Greek government. SOCAR won a tender in 2013 on the purchase of a 66-percent stake in DESFA for 400 million euros. Earlier, Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Natig Aliyev said that the deal on SOCAR's purchasing the 66-percent share in Greece's DESFA will be completed after Italy's Snam purchases 17 percent of that share. Regarding Italys Snam, the company, just like SOCAR, is in talks with the Greek government regarding the situation, Abdullayev said. In July 2016, Greek Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change Panos Skourletis accused the European Commission of delaying the deal on selling a share in Greece's DESFA to SOCAR. Skourletis said that a number of conditions, set by the European Commission, greatly slowed the privatization process of the gas operator. In particular, the company will become a passive shareholder, not entitled to vote in the management of the company, as a result of decreasing SOCARs share in DESFA up to 49 percent. Greek MPs stressed that the problems with the privatization of DESFA may deprive the countrys economy of SOCARs huge capital injections. BOSTON -- A Massachusetts State Police cruiser was hit by an alleged drunken driver at 1:30 a.m. while responding to a crash on Route 93 southbound in Boston. The trooper was responding to a crash that occurred around the Mass. Ave. exit when a 2010 Chevrolet Malibu struck the rear of the the stationary, fully marked Ford Explorer. The operator of the Malibu, Lily Reid, 21, of Quincy, was arrested by responding officers for drunken driving and failing to move over for an emergency vehicle. The trooper suffered non life-threatening injuries and was released from a hospital earlier this morning. The two individuals in the crash the trooper was responding two were not injured. Reid's condition is currently not known, and police are not releasing anymore details of the crash at this time. Brrenna.desk.jpeg Brenna Murphy McGee, city clerk of Holyoke, Massachusetts, works at her desk at City Hall on Friday, Sept. 2, 2016. (SUBMITTED IMAGE) HOLYOKE -- City Clerk Brenna Murphy McGee has earned the designation of Certified Municipal Clerk from the International Institute of Municipal Clerks Inc., a professional association. "'IIMC' grants the 'CMC' designation only to those municipal clerks who complete demanding education requirements and who have a record of significant contributions to their local government, their community and state," institute President Vincent Buttiglieri said in an email last week. "In light of the speed and drastic nature of change these days, lifelong learning is not only desirable, it is necessary for all in local government to keep pace with growing demands and changing needs of the citizens we serve," he said. Murphy McGee is in her first, four-year term as city clerk, an elected position here, and is running for reelection next year. Among the courses she took in pursuit of the certification was a week at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire in July. "While obtaining my designation as a certified municipal clerk is definitely an important personal accomplishment and a validation of the pride that I take in serving the city of Holyoke, what I am most proud of is maintaining my commitment to the residents of Holyoke to do all that I can to continue to improve the overall operations of their city clerk's office," Murphy McGee said. Municipal clerks are not required to obtain such certification. With the city clerk in Holyoke being elected, the support of voters ultimately is the only condition for attaining the seat. But Murphy McGee said the training will help her and the city in the areas of government finance, media relations, municipal procedures, creative thinking, time management, computers and introduction to law. Courses she took also dealt with ethics, creating resolutions, ordinances, paperless agendas and government transparency and early voting, she said. The International Institute of Municipal Clerks (IIMC) is a professional nonprofit association based in Rancho Cucamonga, California that has affiliates in Canada, England, Wales, Scotland, Portugal, Belgium, Israel, South Afrida, Hungary, Bulgaria and the Netherlands, its website said. To achieve the Certified Municipal Clerk designation, a clerk must attain 60 points in the education category and 50 points in the experience category. Murphy McGee said she received 21 points for the week at Plymouth State, called the New England Municipal Clerks Institute and Academy Training, 20 points for having a bachelor's degree and 19 points from taking other classes. The experience points she earned from being city clerk, the City Council, working as an aide for seven years to former state Rep. Michael F. Kane, D-Holyoke, and taking courses in areas such as archival records, accounting, public speaking and grant-writing, she said. "On behalf of the IIMC board of directors, I am honored to endorse the conferring of CMC (Certified Municipal Clerk) to Brenna Murphy McGee, CMC of city of Holyoke," Buttiglieri said. 9/11/2001 The Agawam Fire Department has scheduled a 9/11 remembrance ceremony for 9:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 11, in front of fire headquarters at 800 Main St. Chief Alain Sirois, religious leaders, and Mayor Richard Cohen are among those slated to make remarks at the event commemorating the worst terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. More than 20 people with ties to Western Massachusetts were among the nearly 3,000 people killed in the attacks. (Associated Press / File Photo) AGAWAM The Town of Agawam will hold a 9/11 remembrance ceremony at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 11, in front of Agawam Fire Department headquarters at 800 Main St., Chief Alan Sirois said Tuesday. "The ceremony will honor those who lost their lives in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001," said Sirois, who will speak at the event. Other expected speakers are Mayor Richard A. Cohen, the Rev. William Hamilton, a Catholic priest and Fire Department chaplain, and the Rev. Tim Reed, executive pastor of the Bethany Assembly of God church in Agawam. The attacks were launched by al-Qaida and targeted key U.S. targets, including the Pentagon in Washington and the twin towers in New York. Nearly 3,000 people were killed: 2,507 civilians, 343 firefighters, 72 law enforcement officers, and 55 military personnel. More than 20 of the victims had ties to Western Massachusetts. For firefighters across the nation, 9/11 is a perpetual reminder of the danger of being a first responder, those who run toward the chaos not away from it. A decade after the attacks, the deadliest on American soil, al-Qaida's founder, Osama bin Laden, was killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan in May 2011. Russia and Bahrain will sign a memorandum of understanding between gas giant Gazprom and the Noga oil and gas holding company, according to the documents prepared for the meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with the King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, TASS reported. According to materials, discussions are currently underway to establish a multi-stage plan of gas cooperation. Bahrain's oil and gas holding Noga also signed an agreement with JSC Rosgeologiya in the field of geophysical studies aimed at exploration of reserves and production of oil and gas. A five-year program of explorations off the caost of Bahrain was prepared/ It implementation should start in 2017. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Sept. 6 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: Turkmenistan and South Koreas Hyundai Engineering company intend to boost the mutually beneficial cooperation, said the message from Turkmenistans oil and gas complex. Hyundai Engineering is Turkmenistans strategic partner in the fuel and energy sphere. A number of projects, including the construction of gas a desulphurization plant at Galkynysh field, the project for modernization of the oil refinery in Turkmenbashi city have been implemented successfully in recent years. Currently, it is planned to complete the construction of the polyethylene and polypropylene plant in Kiyanly village before the appointed time and at a high level, said the message. The projects cost is estimated at more than $3.4 billion. Hyundai Engineering opened a Welder Training Center in May in Turkmenistan. This center is meant to pave way for more effective implementation of various projects. Earlier, a delegation from Turkmenistan visited South Korea. The trainees visited the major industrial facilities of this company, in particular, the Daesan petrochemical complex. Today Brand Africa unveiled the 12th annual Brand Africa 100: Africas Best Brands 2022 rankings of the Top 100 most admired brands in Africa at a live event hosted by Brand Africa, at Eko Hotel & Suites in Nigeria. Against a backdrop of internal focus as a consequence of an urgent rebuilding of economies devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the acceleration of AfCFTAs goal of driving greater intra-African trade, after a 5-year decline, African brands have surged 4% to 17% from an all-time low of 13% in 2020 and 2021 in the 2022 Brand Africa 100 | Africas Best Brands survey and ranking of the best brand in Africa. Challenger brands such as South Africas lifestyle footwear brands, Bathu (#52) and Drip (#65), despite being primarily available in South African but accessible everywhere through e-commerce, massive growth in retail footprint in the middle of the pandemic and unmatched marketing and PR dollars, rocketed into the Top 100 as 17 brands exited, and heralded a notable return of African brands which once dominated the rankings as high as 34% when the rankings started in 2011. MTN, the perennially leading African brand has returned to the Top 10 as the highest ranking African brand and switched places with Dangote as the #1 African brand recalled when prompted to consolidate its status as the #1 African brand. Dangote, the pre-eminent African brand founded in 1981 by Nigerian Aliko Dangote, emerged as the #1 brand that symbolises African pride in a question where Brand Africa sought to establish which brand in Africa is a flag carrier and embodiment of rising optimism and pride in Africa. South Africa, led by MTN, leads the African list, with Nigeria, led by Dangote, the overall #1 brand, at 28%, and Kenya with flag carrier, Kenya Airways, at 8% and Ethiopia, with its flag carrier brand, Ethiopian Airline at 4%. Non-African brands, led by overall pace-setter Nike for the 5th consecutive year, continue to dominate with a share of 83% of the most admired brands in Africa. In a separate list of the Top 25 most admired financial services brands, African brands dominate with 68% of the share to 32% for non-African brands. DStv, through its brands across the continent, has consolidated its position as the #1 African media brand for the second year running, in a category that is fast going digital and mobile. Recognising that while the rebound in African brands is notable, the results will not be sustainable without committed and inspirational leadership, in 2022, Brand Africa recognised those leaders who are the catalyst for growth for Made in Africa brands both in corporate and in those who have championed and supported the development of great local brands in supporting industries. GT Banks Group CEO, Segun Agbaje and Nigerian doyenne of marketing, founder and chairman of Troyka Group were awarded the inaugural Africa Brand Leadership Excellence awards for inspiring brand-led excellence that drives the growth of made in Africa brands. As we emerge out of the pandemic and Africa seeks to assert itself, the results are very inspiring and bode well of an African renaissance led by competitive world class African brands, says Thebe Ikalafeng, Founder and Chairman of Brand Africa and Brand Leadership. With increased number of countries and greater sample size this year, more than ever, and especially so during the pandemic, mobile proved to be the effective tool for us to reach and access respondents across the continent, said , Bernard Okasi, Director of Research, GeoPoll, which has been the lead data collection partner since 2015. Karin Du Chenne, Chief Growth Officer Africa Middle East for Kantar, which has been the insight lead for Brand Africa since inception in 2010 says, despite volumes of brands analysed as a results of increased sample size in terms of respondents and countries, the survey continues to yield a very consistent picture of brands and trends that are transforming the continent. Now in its 12th year, every year on or around Africa Day, 25 May, Brand Africa releases the results of the survey on the most admired brands in Africa based on a survey across 29 countries that represent as much as 85% of the continents GDP and population. The 2022 survey was conducted between March and April 2022 and yielded over 80,000 brand mentions and over 3,500 unique brands. The Brand Africa 100 results will be published in the June issue African Business magazine which on sale globally in June 2022 and will be available online to subscribers on www.africanbusinessmagazine.com. The 2022 Brand Africa 100: Africas Best Brands were organised by Brand Africa partners in Nigeria, AT3 Resources and Open Squares Africa, and supported by the Central Bank of Nigeria, South African Tourism and NQR, Africa Media Agency and BCW Africa. Partager et informez vous aussi...... 0 shares Share Tweet LinkedIn Articles similaires Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Sept. 6 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: Another meeting of the Turkmen Interdepartmental Commission on the Caspian Sea was held in Ashgabat, the Turkmen government said Sept. 6. According to the message, the draft agreements on trade and economic cooperation among the Caspian-littoral countries and the agreements on transport cooperation in the Caspian Sea were considered at the meeting. The Turkmen Interdepartmental Commission on the Caspian Sea includes the representatives of the State Enterprise for the Caspian Sea under the president of Turkmenistan, the foreign ministry, as well as oil and gas, transport and industrial sectors of the countrys economy, the message said. "At present, the mutual trade volumes of the regional countries are huge, the message said. But taking into account the great multifaceted reserves, it is possible to say that there are all opportunities to significantly increase the economic cooperation and bring it to a qualitatively new level." According to the message, the transport sector and the use of the potential of the Caspian Sea as a major communication hub of continental significance is another strategic direction. The issue is to establish new relations among the Caspian-littoral countries, the message said, citing Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. The territories of these countries are the natural geographic area, connecting Asia and Europe and ensuring the effective functioning of the transport, transit and trade corridors along the East-West and North-South routes. According to the message, the new agreement envisages the establishment of the Caspian regional transport and logistics center. Particular attention during the meeting was paid to the promotion of Ashgabats initiative on organizing the Caspian Economic Forum, the message said. According to the message, two draft protocols, which are being worked out by the Turkmen side, were also thoroughly considered. Those protocols will complement the Agreement on Security Cooperation in the Caspian Sea, signed at the third Caspian Summit held in Baku in 2010. Those documents will create a legal framework for cooperation among the competent agencies of neighboring countries in such fields as the fight against poaching and ensuring safety in navigation, the message said. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 6 By Khalid Kazimov Trend: Irans ICT ministry plans to lure 16 billion euros in investment over the next five years, ICT minister Mahmud Vaezi said. Vaezi said that under the plan, the government and the private sector are expected to make the investment in order to develop the countrys information and communications technology, IRNA news agency reported. Addressing a two-day conference on investment opportunities in Irans telecoms industry in Tehran, Vaezi added that the government is expected to make one-fourth of the investment and private sector will provide the rest. Calling on the foreign investors to invest in Irans ICT, he assured them that the government will give support for those who do business in the Islamic Republic. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sep. 6 By Emil Ilgar Trend: Secretary General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo met with Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, SHANA reported Sept. 6. Barkindo earlier left Qatar to Tehran to discuss oil freeze issue. Qatars Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser met in Doha with Barkindo Sept. 5 and discussed the oil market and other related issues, OPEC's official website reported. OPEC members will meet on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum (IEF), which groups producers and consumers, in Algeria on Sept. 26-28. Zanganeh had earlier confirmed that he would take part in the upcoming meeting, aimed at a "common action" to support the global oil prices. Irans oil output stood at 3.9 million barrels per day (mbpd) before sanctions brought it down to 2.8 mbpd. The output now stands at 3.7 mbpd. Saudi Arabia and some other countries used Irans partial absence from the market under sanctions to export beyond their OPEC quotas, with a result that the OPEC output for July stood at 33.69 mbpd while the official ceiling is 30.45 mbpd. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sep. 6 By Emil Ilgar Trend: Irans oil minister says Tehran supports any common action by OPEC members that would help stabilize oil markets, SHANA reported Sep. 6. Secretary General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo met with Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh Sep. 6. During their meeting, Zanganeh didnt elaborate exactly that Iran is ready to join oil freeze plan, expected to be discussed Sep. 28 between OPEC and some non-OPEC producers in Algeria, but said that any decision of OPEC members bringing stability to oil markets is supported by Iran. The Iranian minister said OPEC members want an oil price at $50-$60, but $55 is a fair level that is profitable and also prevents increasing oil output by rivals [non-OPEC producers]. Barkindo earlier left Qatar to Tehran to discuss oil freeze issue. Qatars Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser met in Doha with Barkindo Sept. 5 and discussed the oil market and other related issues, OPEC's official website reported. OPEC members will meet on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum (IEF), which groups producers and consumers, in Algeria on Sept. 26-28. Zanganeh had earlier confirmed that he would take part in the upcoming meeting, aimed at a "common action" to support the global oil prices. Irans oil output stood at 3.9 million barrels per day (mbpd) before sanctions brought it down to 2.8 mbpd. The output now stands at 3.7 mbpd. Saudi Arabia and some other countries used Irans partial absence from the market under sanctions to export beyond their OPEC quotas, with a result that the OPEC output for July stood at 33.69 mbpd while the official ceiling is 30.69 mbpd. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 6 By Khalid Kazimov Trend: Irans Supreme National Security Council will probe into Tehrans cooperation with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a senior advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said. Ali Akbar Velayati said that the Islamic Republics respective bodies and eventually the Supreme National Security Council should investigate and decide on the issue of the FATF, Tasnim news agency reported. He further added that the country needs to protect its own interests. The remarks came following recent reports on a decision by two Iranian banks to refrain from providing a company affiliated with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) with financial services citing international sanctions. Earlier on June 24, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) announced its decision to suspend counter-measures against Iran for 12 months in order to monitor the countrys progress in implementing an Action Plan to address Tehrans strategic deficiencies regarding anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT). by Sara Guaglione , September 6, 2016 AFAR Media, the owner of a travel publication focused on immersion travel, has launched an Instagram project in partnership with the tourism department of Aruba to inspire travelers to visit the island. The project, called the AFAR Insta-Adventure, encourages travel using a social media platform and sponsorship from a tourism bureau. It arrives when consumers increasingly consult their social communities for vacation ideas and inspiration, per a statement. Interested users can employ the Instagram account @aruba.insta_adventure and tap through a nine-section map of Aruba to unlock chances to win prizes and a VIP trip for two to the island. Each section of the map is a different image posted on the Instagram account and features a distinct part of the country to explore, such as the the Dutch colonial capital of Oranjestad and the coves of Arikok National Park. advertisement advertisement As for the monetization of the project, the Insta-Adventure is part of a larger marketing and media partnership with Aruba Tourism Bureau. That includes digital custom content, brand ads in Afar magazine, and other promotional elements, such as newsletter sponsorships, email blasts and social posts, Maggie Gould Markey, executive director of marketing at Afar, told Publishers Daily. Afar will also launch an Aruba Travel Guide on AFAR.com to support the program. The Insta-Adventure launched last week and continues until Sept. 30. Winners will be revealed by October 7, 2016. Reuters, Friday, September 2, 2016 9:06 AM Samsung Electronics unveiled two new smartwatches on Wednesday which boast a range of digital features while also promising up to four days of battery life, seeking to outshine the Apple Watch. The world's biggest maker of consumer electronic products introduced its new line of Gear S3 watches ahead of this week's opening in Berlin of the IFA, Europe's biggest annual trade fair for consumer electronics and domestic appliances. The new Gear S3 Frontier model has a rugged outdoor look, while the Gear S3 Classic has a more refined appearance, but both watches feature large faces that are likely to appeal mainly to male consumers. Read the whole story at Reuters Silicon Valley Business Journal, Tuesday, September 6, 2016 9:05 AM Chinese search giant Baidu said on Thursday it is the latest company to get permission to test self-driving cars on California roads. It joins 14 startups, tech and auto companies that are now legally allowed to test their autonomous driving technologies in the state, including Google, Tesla Motors, Ford, Honda, Nissan, GM Cruise LLC, Zoox and Drive.ai. Read the whole story at Silicon Valley Business Journal by Sarah Mahoney @mahoney_sarah, September 5, 2016 While what Hispanics will or wont do in voting booths this November may be dominating campaign headlines, Nielsens latest report shows big demographic shifts that offer seismic changes for marketers, too. The new report, From the ballot box to the grocery store, delves deeply into how Latinos are changing the way they interact with marketers. As the group, now 57 million strong, continues to become younger, better educated, and more affluent, they are wielding their buying power, valued at $1.3 trillion in 2015, differently than in the past. Nielsen reports that Hispanic people are expected to account for 24% of the population by 2040, and 29% by 2060. Theyre gaining in affluence, with 48% of U.S. born Hispanic households now earning more than $50,000. And among those born outside the U.S., 38% now earn more than $50,000, up from 26% in 2000. To a degree, the shifts can be measured by language preference, with older people still much more likely to be Spanish-language dominant: Some 35% of those 55 and older prefer to speak and be spoken to in Spanish. Only 14% of those in the 18-to-34 range fit that categorization, and just 4% of those under the age of 18. advertisement advertisement And while 58% of those 34 and under are bilingual, making a case for ads that use both languages, the key insight is that among these younger consumers, there is a true ambiculturalism, which the market research company describes as at once entirely American and entirely of ones culture of origin. Savvy marketers are taking notice and crafting dual-language communications that speak to both the American spirit and the Latino soul, the report says. Target, for example, has named the Hispanic youth market as a key priority for its growth initiatives, last year launching the #SinTraduccion" campaign, which focuses not so much on language (it means "without translation") as addressing cultural concepts that are uniquely Latino. And this year, its run purely Spanish-language style ads, featuring actress Rita Moreno, among others, in English-only programming as well as Spanish TV. The Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies says Procter & Gamble spends the most on Hispanic advertising, with a budget of $439 million in 2015, followed by L'Oreal, MARS, Wal-Mart, Anheuser-Busch and SABMiller. Political candidates better be taking notes. Nielsen reports that youth will play an especially key role in the election. Of the 27 million Latinos currently eligible to vote, 14% of them are young voters who have come of age since the last presidential throw-down. Overall, 52% of Hispanic voters say they are Democratic, 30% Independent, and 9% Republican. by Philip Rosenstein , Staff Writer, September 6, 2016 Up until the past week, much of Donald Trumps minority outreach had happened in front of white voters. That changed on Saturday as Trump visited a Detroit church, where he made a surprisingly cogent and seemingly heartfelt speech to the Great Faith Ministries congregation. It was a positive move for Trump, who has been speaking about the difficulties faced by the black community in this country, but had yet to do so in front of a representative audience. Importantly for Trump, some members of the Great Faith Ministries congregation reacted positively to Trumps speech, as The Huffington Post showed in a piece on Sunday. He used phrases like: I believe that we need a civil rights agenda for our time, and I fully understand that the African-American community has suffered from discrimination and that there are many wrongs that must still be made right and they will be right. advertisement advertisement These approaches are rarely heard from the most recent iteration of right-wing American politics. Particularly not from politicians who take their time disavowing former KKK leader David Duke, and who retweet white supremacists. And not from parties whose loudest voices have claimed: Unfortunately for liberals, there is no more racism in America, as weve heard from Ann Coulter. For context, Trump has rejected multiple invitations from the NAACP and the National Urban League to speak to their members throughout his campaign. Kellyanne Conway has made a strong impact on Trump. For one, she seems to be softening the Trump image weve all known. From Mexico City to Detroit, weve experienced a new Trump in the past week. The difficulty is, the old Trump still gets some airtime in between his bouts of flaccidity. Trumps post-Mexico immigration speech in Arizona caused more confusion than assurance for many in the conservative Hispanic community. On Sunday mornings Face the Nation, U.S. Senator Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) was asked about whether Trump cleared up his position on immigration. His simple answer was no. This new posture seems squarely aimed at attracting the white conservative voter, who thus far refused to support Trump, given the overwhelming racist image he has built. For the white vote, Trumps minority outreach may ease some fears of overt racism. For minority voters, however, these moves confuse rather than explain how a Trump administration would deal with discrimination and immigration. by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, September 6, 2016 Gannett has lost another round in a battle over whether it violated a video privacy law by allegedly sending Adobe information about people who downloaded USA Today's app. Late last week, a federal judge in Boston rejected Gannett's argument that the potential class-action should be dismissed because Massachusetts resident Alexander Yershov wasn't injured by any alleged violation of the privacy law. U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV ruled that even though Yershov's alleged harm was "intangible," he could still proceed in court. "The intangible harm allegedly suffered by Yershov ... is a concrete injury," Saylor wrote in a 19-page ruling. The decision marks the latest setback for Gannett in a high-profile battle over whether USA Today's app runs afoul of the Video Privacy Protection Act -- a 26-year-old law that prohibits video providers from disclosing personally identifiable data about consumers' video-watching history without their consent. advertisement advertisement Yershov alleged in a 2014 lawsuit that Gannett violated that law by sharing information about Android users -- including device identifiers, geolocation data and video viewing history -- with Adobe. Gannett previously argued the case should be dismissed at an early stage for several reasons. The company contended that Android device identifiers -- a string of numbers unique to each device -- are not personally identifiable information. The company also says people who download a free app aren't "subscribers." Saylor initially agreed with Gannett and dismissed the lawsuit. But Yershov appealed to the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, which revived the case and sent it back to the trial court. The appellate judges wrote in a decision issued in May that device identifiers combined with geolocation data could be personally identifiable. Gannett unsuccessfully asked the appellate court to reconsider that order. The news publisher's efforts were supported by a host of outside companies and organizations, including the Interactive Advertising Bureau, The New York Times and Huffington Post. The groups argued in a friend-of-the-court brief that the appellate court's decision "risks exposing companies to broad class action liability for routine digital transactions that are essential to online content distribution." Earlier this summer, Gannett asked Saylor to throw out the case on the grounds that Yershov wasn't injured. The company argued that the Supreme Court's recent decision in a matter involving online data broker Spokeo required dismissal of Yershov's lawsuit. The Supreme Court ruled that Spokeo would only have to face a lawsuit for allegedly displaying incorrect information about consumers if the they can first show the errors caused a "concrete" injury. The Spokeo matter was centered on the Fair Credit Reporting Act, as opposed to the video privacy law. But Gannett argued that the Supreme Court's rationale also applies to privacy cases. "Yershov does not identify any concrete injury that he suffered from Gannetts alleged disclosures," Gannett wrote in legal papers filed in late June. "And any injury he can conjure up would require a lengthy chain of assumptions and speculation about what a third-party might do." Yershov successfully countered that Gannett "concretely harmed" him by allegedly disclosing his video-viewing data. Gannett and Yershof are expected back in court later this month for further proceedings. by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, September 6, 2016 Google this week is rolling out an interactive experience in the U.S. for apparel and home decor retail advertising that it calls "shop the look." The goal for retailers trying to connect with consumers searching on mobile devices will be turning online browsing into online buying through images in search results. The images powering Shop the Look come from brands, bloggers, retailers and publishers, which are sourced from Google's trusted partners such as LIKEtoKNOW.it., Yahoo's Polyvore, and Curalate, a visual content platform that works with 850 top brands to connect the dots between people browsing online and completing an action. For Shop the Look, Curalate supplied lifestyle imagery from retailers like Crate and Barrel, Forever 21, Neiman Marcus, and others to populate Google Shopping results, and then connected the products within those images to direct links to purchase. Google Shopping Senior Product Manager Melissa Hsieh Nikolic explains in a blog post that Google will charge retailers on a cost-per-click basis and report all impressions and clicks within existing Shopping campaigns. advertisement advertisement Searching for images for "holiday looks," for example, could serve up in query results the most popular fashion blogger wearing a black cocktail dress, heels and handbag. Searchers can shop for those exact or visually similar products featured in the image by tapping through the item to explore the relevant products shown in the form of Shopping Ads. Google estimates that 90% of smartphone users say they are not absolutely sure which specific brand they want to buy when they begin shopping, and nearly half of U.S. readers consult blogs to find new trends and ideas, which is probably one reason Google developed the feature. Mobile spend for product listing ads (PLAs) grew 135% in the second quarter, while clicks grew 147%, according to the Merkle Q2 2016 Digital Marketing Report. Research shows that images are a strong element on the page attracting searchers to a product in query results. In Merkle's Google Shopping PLA Playbook, the agency explains that the overall paid search growth by Google Shopping PLAs rose 73% for clicks in the second quarter of 2016, compared with ad spend of 43%. CPCs for the Google Shopping PLAs fell 17%, confirming that images are one of the most successful paid-search formats. by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, September 6, 2016 Online classifieds company Backpage is asking the Supreme Court to block a lower court order requiring the company to disclose documents to a Senate committee investigating sex trafficking. "This case highlights a disturbing -- and growing -- trend of government actors issuing blunderbuss demands for documents to online publishers of content created by third parties (such as classified ads) in a manner that chills First Amendment rights," Backpage writes in papers filed Tuesday with the Supreme Court. The battle between Backpage and the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations dates to last year, when the subcommittee demanded that the site turn over materials about its classified ads. Among other information, lawmakers sought documents that could shed light on how Backpage edits or deletes ads. The Senate wants the information as part of an investigation into sex trafficking. The federal lawmakers, like various state attorneys general and other authorities, obviously blame Backpage for contributing to sex trafficking. The officials argue that the company facilitates human trafficking with its "adult" ads -- often thinly veiled prostitution ads. Backpage has historically argued that it isn't responsible for the activity of people who use the platform. advertisement advertisement The classifieds site turned over more than 16,000 pages of documents to the Senate, but obviously didn't give lawmakers all the material they requested. The Senate responded by voting in March to hold Backpage in contempt. The subcommittee then sought a court order requiring Backpage.com CEO Carl Ferrer to provide the documents. Last month, U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer in Washington sided with the Senate and ordered Backpage to disclose the material. On Friday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to block that order. Backpage is now asking the Supreme Court to stay Collyer's ruling pending appeal. The company argues that lawmakers have no right to ask online publishers like itself for information about judgment calls regarding ads -- including decisions about deleting or modifying ads. "This case presents a question of exceptional nationwide importance involving the protection the First Amendment provides to online publishers of third-party content," the company says in its petition for a stay. Backpage goes on to compare itself to other Web companies, including Google and Facebook, which have had their own share of pushback regarding material on their sites. For instance, in late 2014, Google sued Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood after he demanded the company turn over documents relating to alleged copyright infringement by outside sides indexed in Google's search engine. (Google and Hood recently agreed to settle their differences out of court.) More recently, Facebook found received a letter by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-South Dakota), who had questions about whether the social networking service's "trending" news stories were biased against conservatives. First Amendment experts came to Facebook's defense, arguing that the company has the same right as any other publisher to decide what to highlight. Backpage argues that its case, like the controversies involving Google and Facebook, raise presents questions about online publishers' rights. "The unresolved question of the level of protection that online intermediary publishers enjoy under the First Amendment is of critical importance not only to Backpage, but to all online publishers of third-party content," Backpage says in its petition to the Supreme Court. "Given the exponential growth of the digital economy in recent years, the question has become ever more pressing." This isn't the first time Backpage has faced down authorities over its adult ads. Historically, Backpage has won its battles with government officials. Last year, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals enjoined Cook County, Illinois Sheriff Thomas Dart from continuing to lobby credit card companies to stop doing business with Backpage. Before that, the company successfully sued to invalidate state laws in Washington and Tennessee. We include products we think are useful for our readers. If you buy through links on this page, we may earn a small commission. Heres our process. When a stuffy nose strikes, the right nasal spray can provide much-needed relief. They are available over-the-counter, so many people assume that they can use them without problems. But is this true? The answer depends on the type of nasal spray they use. Some are safe to use daily for several months, but others can cause a nasal spray addiction if people use them for more than a few days. Overuse is common. In 2014, researchers found that out of 895 participants with nasal congestion, half of them overused their medication. Nasal spray addiction is not a true addiction, but it can lead to tissue damage inside the nose. This can result in swelling and long-term stuffiness that leads to further use and overuse of the spray. In some cases, a person may need to undergo additional treatment, and possibly surgery, to correct any damage. Knowing about the different types of nasal sprays and how to use them safely can help to prevent this problem. Saline nasal sprays Share on Pinterest Nasal sprays can provide relief from congestion. Drug-free saline nasal sprays tend to be safe for people of all ages. Saline sprays can help to loosen and thin any mucus in the nose. They allow easier breathing when congestion arises due to colds or allergies. They contain no medication and have no side effects. These sprays contain a small amount of salt and sterilized water. Some also contain preservatives that prevent the growth of mold or bacteria. Preservative-free formulas are available in aerosol cans that keep the liquid sterile. Many saline sprays will specify saline and drug-free on the bottle. To be sure, people should look for sodium chloride (salt) and water as the main ingredients, with no active ingredients. Are saline nasal sprays addictive? No. Saline sprays have no side effects, and people can use them as they need. A range of saline nasal sprays are available for purchase online. Steroid nasal sprays Steroid nasal sprays contain a corticosteroid. Many people think of anabolic steroids when they hear about steroids. These are popular with bodybuilders who want to improve muscle mass. A corticosteroid is not an anabolic steroid. Corticosteroids are useful for calming inflammation that happens because of an overactive immune system response. They can treat conditions such as hives, skin rashes from allergies or bites, asthma, and nasal allergies. Steroid nasal sprays apply a corticosteroid directly into the nose to treat nasal allergy symptoms, such as sneezing and a runny nose. They can provide relief from hay fever or nasal allergies, and can often replace other allergy medications taken by mouth. These sprays typically start working after several days of use. A person must use them every day during the allergy season to continue to find relief. Long-term use of any type of steroid can have side effects. These may include: nosebleeds eye conditions such as cataracts headaches Some types of corticosteroids may slow growth in children, especially if used for a long time. A study published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology found a small reduction in growth in children who used a particular type of nasal spray that contained a type of corticosteroid called fluticasone furoate. Children should only use steroid nasal sprays under the guidance of a doctor for this reason. Steroid nasal sprays are commonly available in stores, but some may need a doctors prescription. The active ingredients may appear on the package as fluticasone propionate or triamcinolone acetonide. Are steroid nasal sprays addictive? No. Nasal sprays with corticosteroids are safe to use daily for most people. People who need to use steroid nose sprays for 6 months or more should talk with their physician. Antihistamine nasal sprays Share on Pinterest Nasal congestion is a common problem for people with a seasonal allergy. People use antihistamines to treat seasonal allergies. Antihistamines block a chemical called histamine that is responsible for allergy symptoms such as sneezing, itching, and runny noses. Antihistamine nasal sprays allow a person to apply the medicine directly into the nose. This can help treat nasal allergy symptoms at the source and may cause fewer side effects than pills for some people. Cromolyn sodium is an antihistamine spray that is available over the counter. It is safe for use from the age of 2 years. It may take a week or more of daily use before a person feels complete relief from allergy symptoms. Are antihistamine nasal sprays addictive? No. Cromolyn sodium sprays are nonaddictive. People can use them daily for up to 12 weeks. Those who need to use them for longer should ask their doctor. Decongestant nasal sprays Decongestant sprays are available over the counter. They shrink the blood vessels in the nose temporarily. This is known as vasoconstriction. This provides short-term relief from stuffiness, but it does not cure a cold or allergies. These sprays have different brand names, but the two main active ingredients are oxymetazoline and pseudoephedrine. Are decongestant nasal sprays addictive? Yes. These sprays can cause a so-called nasal spray addiction in some people. This often occurs when a person uses the decongestant nasal spray too frequently or for too long. Strictly, this is rebound congestion and not an addiction. With rebound congestion, a person may find that they need to use the spray more frequently over time, often several times a day or more. Each time they use the spray, the blood vessels in the nose narrow, causing the tissue inside the nose to shrink. After the medicine wears off, the nasal tissue swells again. Sometimes it swells even more than before. If the person continues to use it, this swelling can get more severe and lead to permanent swelling of the tissue. Long-term use of these sprays can also damage the tissue, causing infection and pain. Symptoms of rebound congestion or dependency on nasal spray may include: feeling congested again shortly after using a decongestant spray using a decongestant spray regularly but feeling that it doesnt work anymore feeling a strong urge to use the spray more often than the instructions recommend using the spray just to be able to breathe normally on a daily basis To help people avoid this problem, the American Academy of Asthma, Allergy, and Immunology (AAAAI) recommend using it no more than twice a day for only 3 days. Those who have been using the spray more frequently should see a doctor. They will examine the nasal tissue to check for damage or excess swelling. Typically, a person will need to stop using the spray. They may need a different medication to relieve the swelling, such as a steroid nasal spray. Other issues with decongestant nasal sprays In addition, sometimes people abuse pseudoephedrine by using it to make an illegal recreational drug, methamphetamine, according to information from the American Academy of Family Physicians. For this reason, some states may require a doctors prescription for these products. In others, pharmacies may keep products containing this chemical behind the counter, even though they do not need a prescription. There may also be a limit on how much you can buy each month, and individuals may have to show ID or give personal details when they buy this type of decongestant. Alternatives to nasal sprays Share on Pinterest Neti pots are an alternative to nasal sprays, but remember to use sterile water and clean them well after use. A nasal spray is often the first choice for mild congestion due to allergies and colds. A saline nasal spray is drug-free and is generally safe. Another option is to use a neti pot. These are an effective way to flush mucus and allergens out of the nose. However, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have expressed concern about their use. They warn people to use neti pots with sterilized water and to clean them properly to avoid some rare but dangerous infections. Another option is over-the-counter decongestant and allergy pills. It is important to use these medications as instructed on the label. People should also ask a pediatrician before giving any medication to young children. Cultural Issues Advertisement Family Structure Economic Issues Treating Hikikomori Psychological Approach Social Approach Support groups and halfway houses like New Start try to get the hikikomori patients to a place where they can seek external help. Young women who work or volunteer for the organization will visit the house and try to strike conversations with the patient. To cause minimal discomfort, which would be counterproductive, the woman will only communicate from the other side of the closed door. The main aim is to reassure and befriend the patient before coaxing him out of isolation. There are also videos that help the individual to get reacquainted with social skills necessary for communication, while still remaining in isolation. This helps the individual better prepare for reintegration in society, but it cannot be relied on alone. Cognitive-behavioral therapies that use counseling and talking may also be effective and can be particularly helpful when dealing with depression or anxiety. To begin with, the problem is not unique to Japan, but it is most widespread in Japan. This is due to Japan's unique culture and societal structure. While almost all cultures do emphasize conformity and subject individuals to a certain amount of pressure to perform within certain parameters, the pressure to perform is a lot higher in the Japanese culture. The Japanese society is also unforgiving and most people traditionally would not get a second chance to find their place in society. Young men are prepped to perform and graduate from school or college to pursue a career and get married. This has been the traditional Japanese ideal of success and there is no slacking of time between adolescence or schooling and career life. Not finding a job and beginning work as soon as you graduate is seen as shameful in such a scenario. This puts a great deal of stress on youngsters and results in many wanting to turn their backs on society and the world at large.While in most cultures this would probably result in a temporary slump, in the Japanese culture there are no second chances and adults who fail to get jobs or lose their jobs are regarded as losers and misfits unworthy of second chances. Most teenagers and young adults therefore withdraw and become introverts, seeing as there is no way out. Unfortunately, Japanese parenting is indulgent and this makes it even easier for young adults to withdraw completely. Parents do not take charge and are generally not forceful: instead, they wait on their kids. This means that a parent will rarely seek outside help or force their child to get help; they will make sure that their children have all that they need to survive with meals and other provisions while the child stays holed up. Moreover, Japan has an affluent middleclass structure in which parents support children indefinitely without too many financial constraints. This obviously compounds the problem.The problem has magnified in recent years, because the poor economic climate in the past decade has aggravated and worsened social conditions, making it a lot harder for young graduates and working professionals to find viable employment. In the meantime, social attitudes and prejudices have remained unchanged making it extremely difficult for youngsters to cope with the social, peer, family and financial pressure.Treating Hikikomori can be pretty complicated as it is a condition we still don't fully understand and one that we can't even agree upon. This said, there are certain basic approaches that can help. Adolescence is a tough time in the modern world, especially when growing in a highly competitive environment with limited opportunities. Many psychological disorders that affect social behavior develop during this time when teenagers come under increasing pressure to mature into adults with careers overnight. Hikikomori however doesn't develop overnight and the high rates of comorbidity with depression and other mental illnesses are illuminating.This suggests that hikikomori develops as a symptom of other untreated mental health issues or causes other mental health issues, depending on whether hikikomori is to be regarded as a unique disorder. Either way, symptoms of depression and obsessive-compulsive behavior are often associated with the condition. If such behaviors are observed before there is complete social withdrawal, parents or other family members should immediately seek help.Once the individual actually develops hikikomori or goes into complete social withdrawal, there is a rapid loss of socialization skills. The person loses all self-confidence and is filled with a phobia of any social interaction. This makes reintegration a lot tougher as the person needs to relearn their social skills. As time progresses the condition becomes worse and therefore it becomes a lot harder for the family to help break the patient out of the isolation. As is the case with most health conditions and probably more so in the case of hikikomori, early detection and treatment can make a huge difference.To address the growing problem, the condition needs to be treated with a social and psychological approach.The warning signs of hikikomori should be treated as behavioral or mental disorder. Parents need to seek help by getting the youngsters to either visit a clinic or hospital for counseling, observation and in some cases drug therapy if necessary. If the individual is unwilling to leave the house and does not co-operate, then parents need to seek help from support groups and counselors.In this approach, the patient is not admitted into a hospital or a clinic but is instead relocated to a communal or shared living environment where he/she learns to reintegrate into social groups. This involves socialization techniques with group activities and interaction with other patients who are in various stages of recovery from the same condition. This works in a manner similar to support groups and counseling as it provides the patient with like-minded individuals who have endured similar experiences and at the same time it is conducted within a structured and supervised setting.The problem of hikikomori doesn't just affect the person who has withdrawn, it also puts an incredible strain on the family. Families are advised to seek help from support groups and therapists not just to learn about techniques to help the affected individual but also to learn about strategies to cope with responsibility of caring for a hikikomori patient.Source: Medindia Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 6 By Fatih Karimov Trend: Irans exports to Oman is expected to increase by 200 percent during the current fiscal year (March 20, 2016-2017), Abbas Abdolkhani, the Islamic Republics trade attache in Oman, said. Irans exports to Oman accounted for $375 million during last fiscal year (ended March 20), Abdolkhani said, the Iranian Industry, Mine, and Trade ministrys SHATA news website reported. He further said that Irans exports to Oman has increased by 181 percent during the first four months of current fiscal year(March 20-July 21), adding that Iran has a share of $1 billion in the countrys $35 billion worth market. Iran has good potential in food and construction sector which can be used for boosting the countrys share in Omani market, Abdolkhani said. To boost mutual commercial relations, a roadmap has been prepared which will be unveiled at the 16th Joint Economic Commission session, he said, adding that Iran plans to increase the value of its home-made products to Oman to $4 billion per year. The Omani ministry of Trade has announced that it will issue one-year visa for 2,000 Iranian businessmen, who are introduced by Irans Trade Promotion Organization, Abdolkhani said. Please complete this form and we'll send you a personalised information that is requested You may use this for your own reference or forward it to your friends. Please use the information prudently. If you are not a medical doctor please remember to consult your healthcare provider as this information is not a substitute for professional advice. The benefit of early detection of liver cancer is early intution of treatment to achieve a cure and regular surveillance of at risk patients is the key. A two-day conference on latest advances in the management of liver diseases was concluded in Delhi by Sir Ganga Ram Hospital under the aegis of Delhi Liver foundation. Experts from India, USA, Myanmar, Pakistan and Nepal attended the conference and shared their views and discussed newer and better strategies to tackle Liver ailments. Advertisement Hepatitis C, Hepatitis B, Alcoholism, Obesity and fatty Liver make a person more prone to Liver cancer as it is fifth commonest cancer in the world. Regular Surveillance for 'at Risk' Patients to Detect Liver Cancer On September 18, Russia will hold legislative elections. Initially, the elections were to have taken place on December 4. However, the initiative to move up the elections by three months was supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party, the Liberal Democrats and A Just Russia. These parties along with the Communist party are expected to secure representation in the Duma. In contrast, the liberal opposition parties the Russian Democratic Party (Yabloko) and the People's Party of Freedom (RPR-PARNAS), co-founded by murdered opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, will contest the elections separately - a suicidal tactic that mathematically further reduces their already slim chances to enter the Duma and further reduces the credibility of Russian liberalism. Unsurprisingly, United Russia, the party of power is the front runner in the polls measuring support for parties presenting electoral lists to the Duma elections. The Russian NGO, that Foundation for Civil Society Development, wrote that for "United Russia the electoral campaign of 2016 manifests the struggle for confirmation of their leadership in the national party system. If this party wins the elections, it would cement its status as a key parliamentary force and a stabilizing element of the political system."[1] Recently however, the party although still far ahead has been shedding support. It is worth noting that according to the Russian newspaper Kommersant, following the elections, the first deputy chair of the Presidential administration, Vyacheslav Volodin, will most likely be appointed the Duma's speaker, while outgoing speaker, Sergey Naryshkin, will be appointed head of the SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service).[2] The following is an overview of the Russian media's appraisal on the upcoming Duma elections: Russian Parties Are Trying To Bask In Putin's Rating A report by the pro-Kremlin Fund for the Development of Civil Society found that the contending parties are trying to bask in Putin's rating. His already high rating amongst the Russian public peaked after the unification with Crimea and Sevastopol in 2014. As such, the parties must orient themselves according to the electorate's preference for a "Putin majority in order not to avoid forfeiting the votes of their supporters." The fund's president, Konstantine Kostin says that only the parties currently represented in the Duma have a chance of passing the 5 percent electoral threshold meaning that he rules out representation for liberal parties such as Yabloko. The competition is over the voters who have not defined themselves and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia characterized by "a balance between patriotism, defense of the citizens' interests and moderate nationalism" has the best chance for a second-place finish. If the Liberal Democrats falter, the Communists will be the runners-up. Political scientist Yevgeny Minchenko considers the current campaign one of the most boring in memory and it is not worth talking about the gains of the parliamentary opposition, but only about how much their totals will drop in comparison with the previous election.[3] Russian media outlet Rbc.ru reported that the Duma amended an electoral, prohibiting using images of a person, who is not a candidate of the party. However, Russia's ruling political party, United Russia (UR) will feature Putin's quotes, and the party's video clips will use his voice, since UR members want the party to be more closely associated with its" moral leader." The Deputy Secretary of UR's General Council Olga Batalina said: "We have obtained the president's approval for this approach to the election campaign. United Russia was created by Putin; everybody realizes that he is the moral leader of the party and relies on it in the implementation of his policies. Therefore, this correct use of the president's image in the campaign is a response to the people's expectations." During the UR June congress, Putin called the party "the country's assembly point ". Additionally, Putin said that he had triggered the creation of the party. "I remember the conditions in which United Russia was created. As everybody knows it was my initiative. Indeed, I stepped forward and created the party myself", said the president. Political scientist Alexei Makarkin commented that the party cannot forego Putin's image. "It is he that the people perceive as a strong person. So, ever since 2003, the party takes this standard electoral step every time - it always invokes the president, always emphasizes that he was one of its founders", the expert noted.[4] Alexey Merinov, Mk.ru, August 29, 2016. A ballot box full of dirt. Levada Center Poll: United Russia Losing Support Despite the above described tactics, United Russia is encountering difficulty. A poll conducted by the respected Levada Center found that as opposed to 39% of the respondents prepared the vote for United Russia in July, the August poll found that the number had declined to 31%. The main beneficiaries were A Just Russia and apathy. United Russia's decline may be tied to the drop in Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev's popularity. Medvedev's popularity was 55% in July but stood at only 48% in August. By comparison, Putin's popularity was unchanged at 82%. [5] The polls appear to express voter dissatisfaction with the absence of concrete proposals to cope with the economic crisis and the unpopular decision not to index pension payments and suffice with a one-time payment. [6] This has hurt the party amongst pensioners. Medvedev as prime minister is UR unofficial leader in the Duma and he presides over a government that "has practically done nothing in the face of a crisis and money shortage."[7] Medvedev speaks at United Russia Convention. Is he pulling down its results? (Source: Rt.com) Observers For The Duma Elections According to the Russian newspaper Vedomosti, half of the "foreign" observers from the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States linking former Soviet republics) Inter-Parliamentary Assembly registered for the upcoming Duma elections turned out to be Russian citizens, which clearly violates the law. Moreover, only three out of the 36 registered observers are actually parliament members. All the remaining 33 observers are employees of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly's secretariat and report directly to their superior, Russian Federation Council chairwoman Valentina Matveenko. The newspaper quotes Grigory Melkonyanz, executive director for the NGO "VOICE" who says that this is a parody of international election observation standards.[8] Perhaps, realizing the credibility problem, the Russians have sought the participation of independent foreign observers but have so far encountered rejections. "The Polish State Elections Commission regrettably informs that the tasks that it confronts in the period of the aforementioned elections, will not allow it to take advantage of the invitation." The Croats begged off by saying that they were actively preparing for their own parliamentary elections.[9] Endnotes: On the sidelines of the G-20 summit in China, Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed to maintain stability on the crude oil market. The Saudi Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid Al-Falih and Russian Minister of Energy Alexander Novak stressed in the joint statement that "the current challenges in the supply side of the global oil market, including major contraction of capital investments in oil extraction on a global scale, particularly in exploration, as well as mass deferrals of investment projects," made the market, as a whole, "more volatile and therefore unsustainable to both producers and consumers in the long term". In the statement, the ministers underlined that "close cooperation among major oil producing countries is crucial to oil market stability to ensure sustainable levels of investment for the long term."[1] Russian minister Novak stated that this agreement is opening "a new era" of Russian-Saudi cooperation. Novak added: "I am confident that this new stage of relations between the two countries, OPEC and non-members. This is a historic moment, in my opinion."[2] Concerning Saudi Arabia and oil freeze, the Saudi regime needs oil at a higher price than currently is, so that Aramco could be valued at $2-3 trillion by the time they float the IPO (Initial Public Offering) that could offer investors 5% of Aramco. Reuters cited an oil industry source who claimed that the Saudis "want higher oil prices for a better Aramco valuation".[3] After the agreement between Russia and Saudi Arabia, global crude prices surged. Brent crude prices recorded a 5% spike but then fell back to a 1.6% gain.[4] Novak and his Saudi counterpart agreed to hold an October meeting in Moscow to discuss cooperation in the oil and gas sector. Meanwhile, on September 26-28, Algiers will host the International Energy Forum. Venezuela, Ecuador and Kuwait have initiated a new round of talks on capping oil production to be held at the forum. Meanwhile, Venezuelan oil minister Eulogio del Pino, whose country's severe economic crisis has been exacerbated by plummeting oil prices, praised the agreement reached by Russia and Saudi Arabia to stabilize the prices of crude oil. "Besides, this initiative falls in line with the strategy that Venezuela has been working on at [Venezuelan] President Nicolas Maduro's instruction in recent months in order to seal agreements between the largest producers of crude," said the Venezuelan minister.[5] On September 4, Russian president Vladimir Putin met with the deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad Bin Salman Al Sa'ud, the son of the current Saudi king and the country's defense minister, on the sidelines of the G-20. The two leaders, who are supporting the opposing sides in Syria, paid compliments to each other. Putin stressed that Russia believes that "without Saudi Arabia no serious issue in the region can be resolved," adding that it is important that two parts maintain a regular dialogue. Bin Salman also stressed the importance of Russia-Saudi relations. The Crown Prince said: "For us, the relations between Russia and Saudi Arabia are also of great importance. They are certainly strategic in nature and, therefore, cooperation and coordination between Russia and Saudi Arabia are essential." Bin Salman also stated that Saudi Arabia believes that Russia is not only an important "world player," but also "a great power." He said: "As for our cooperation with Russia, it proceeds on a privileged basis. That is why our work together brings a lot of benefits to the Middle East. We would certainly prefer to avoid any negative scenario in the Middle East, and so would you. We would like to ramp up economic cooperation and want it to not just continue, but to progress faster." Below is the joint Al-Falih-Novak statement on oil production: Novak and Al-Falih congratulate each other on their handiwork (Source: Arabnews.com) Russia And Saudi Arabia 'Shoulder The Responsibility Of Producing More Than 21-Percent Of Global Oil Demand' "The Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia Khalid A. Al-Falih and the Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation Alexander V. Novak met in Hangzhou, China on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. "In their meeting, the Ministers recognized the importance of maintaining their ongoing dialogue about current developments in oil and gas markets and indicated their mutual desire to further expand their bilateral relations in energy. This stems from the fact that the two countries currently shoulder the responsibility of producing more than 21-percent of global oil demand which is required to fuel global economic growth, improve standards of living and help achieve the Millennium Development Goals. "1. The Ministers recognize the current challenges in the supply side of the global oil market, including major contraction of capital investments in oil extraction on a global scale, particularly in exploration, as well as mass deferrals of investment projects, which made the market, as a whole, more volatile and therefore unsustainable to both producers and consumers in the long term. There is an imperative to mitigate excessive volatility harmful to global economic stability and growth. "In this regard, the Ministers noted that constructive dialogue and close cooperation among major oil producing countries is crucial to oil market stability to ensure sustainable levels of investment for the long term. Therefore, the Ministers agreed to act jointly or with other producers. In addition, the Ministers agreed to continue consultations on market conditions by establishing a joint monitoring task force to continuously review the oil market fundamentals and recommend measures and joint actions aimed at securing oil market stability and predictability. "2. The Ministers agreed to promote cooperation between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Russian Federation in the oil and gas industry, including deployment of new technologies, exchange of information and expertise to raise the level of technology applications in production, refining, storage, transport and distribution, as well as equipment production, support services such as engineering, manufacturing and research activities, along with collaboration in power generation and renewable energy. "3. The Ministers committed to explore the possibility of creating a joint database on advanced energy technologies, along with feasibility assessments of their deployment, utilization, and financing through sovereign funds of both countries. "4. The Ministers decided that the first meeting of the Saudi-Russia Working Group on oil and gas cooperation established according to Article 4 of the Cooperation Agreement between the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Government of the Russian Federation on oil and gas cooperation dated the 2nd of September 2003 and the Execution Program of the agreement dated the 18th of June 2015, shall be held during October 2016, to enhance the cooperation, and implementation of what has been agreed upon. Furthermore, the Ministers will meet again on the sidelines of the upcoming meetings of IEF in Algeria and OPEC's November meeting in Vienna." Endnotes: On August 2, 2016, Indian State Minister for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir sought to assure the Lok Sabha, India's lower house of parliament, that the international terrorist organization Islamic State (ISIS) has attracted "very few" youths from the country.[1] This statement caused many to wonder whether the government is fully alive to the threat posed by ISIS. Indian State Minister for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir addressing the Lok Sabha (Image: indiatvnews.com) The "Very Few" ISIS Suspects In reply to a question, the minister admitted that the number of these "very few" ISIS suspects stood at 54, and that this included only those misled youths against whom the country's National Investigation Agency, as well as the police in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu, have filed cases. The minister then deftly introduced an addendum by mentioning nine other cases of "persons [who] have been reported missing from some parts of Kerala, who are suspected to have joined terrorist outfits like ISIS, but whose links [to these organizations] have not yet been established." According to some observers, the minister's response seems to have conspicuously overlooked the possibility of ISIS recruitment in the troubled Jammu and Kashmir region and in several other riot-prone states in north India.[2] But even the "very few" cases divulged by the government point to a steady increase in the number of individuals suspected to have been caught in the ISIS radicalization snare, compared to the much smaller number of cases that had been registered by government agencies until late last year.[3] ISIS's Doctrinal Offensive The trend is particularly disconcerting in light of ISIS-related terrorist activities in neighboring Pakistan and Bangladesh, and more importantly in the context of the deliberate ideological campaign that Salafis have been waging in the Urdu and Bangla blogosphere against the Hanafi Deobandi and Barelvi adherents of Sunni Islam in the subcontinent. This intra-Sunni doctrinal debate has been launched so that globalist Salafi-jihadist ideas find greater resonance among non-Salafi Muslims in the subcontinent. Thus, the blogosphere in the subcontinent is abuzz these days with literature against the "muqallid" (jurisprudential conformism) doctrine of the more moderate Deobandis and Barelvi Muslims in the region, a hitherto unknown phenomenon. It should be noted that ISIS follows the "ghair muqallid" brand of Islam, which rejects adherence to the four orthodox Sunni jurisprudential schools - Hanafi, Shafi'i, Maliki and Hanbali- in spite of its Hanbali leanings.[4] This doctrinal dissonance has turned into a turf war, with ISIS trying to unseat the Deobandi Taliban from its position of influence in the AfPak region by weaning away its splinter groups. In the wake of this tug-of-war, the Afghan Taliban sent a direct message to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi last year, warning him that his fighters should refrain from encroaching upon the Taliban's insurgent operation.[5] In August that year, the Taliban denounced a video showing ISIS fighters blowing up blindfolded Afghan prisoners with explosives, describing them as "horrific."[6] As a matter of fact, the clash between the Salafi Al-Qaeda/ISIS ideologues and the Deobandi jihadists in the subcontinent is not a recent phenomenon. Its signs were evident even during the Afghan-Arab war against the Soviets in the 1980s. According to Al-Qaeda's most prolific writer, Abu Mus'ab Al-Suri, in the late 1970s the Sunni jihadist movement was "a mixture of Qutbist organizational ideology, the Salafist creed and the Wahhabi call."[7] In his book Call to Global Islamic Resistance, Al-Suri notes with consternation that, in the 1990s, the growing influence of Salafi hardline ideologues within the jihadist fold bred "partisan fanaticism" and led to "bloodshed, conspiracies and internecine fighting." He describes the Arab-Afghan jihadists as being derisive of the "muqallid" doctrinal beliefs of the Taliban and dismissive of Mullah Omar's claim of having established an "Islamic emirate" in Afghanistan. According to Al-Suri, many of the Arab jihadists regarded the Taliban as no more than a "safe haven" from which they could operate freely, and did not regard the so-called Taliban "emirate" as a suitable starting point for launching their cherished dream of a future Islamic Caliphate. He states (pp. 844-845): "One of the astonishing things... is a statement made by one of those extremist Salafi-jihadists. He told me in one of our conversations that jihad must be under the Salafist banner; its leadership, program and religious rulings must also be Salafist... If we accept that non-Salafists participate with us in jihad, we only do so because we need them. However, they should not have any leadership role at all. We should lead them like a herd of cows to perform their duty of jihad."[8] Although Al-Qaeda's top leadership (Bin Laden and now Al-Zawahiri) has always sought to downplay the doctrinal differences within the organization, the emergence of ISIS has brought the internal dissonance to the fore like never before.[9] With the death of Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar, ISIS has gained more ground and influence in the region, which poses a new set of challenges for countries in the subcontinent. Recent Increase In ISIS Attacks In Subcontinent Not surprisingly, the increasing influence of the Salafist brand of Islam has triggered a spurt in terrorist activity in the subcontinent. ISIS is said to have already developed close ties with the Salafi Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) in Pakistan and Jamaatul Mujahideen in Bangladesh. In late July 2016, the Afghanistan government accused former LeT chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed of directing ISIS attacks in Afghanistan. In the beginning of the month, ISIS gunmen entered an upscale restaurant in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka and held dozens of people hostage for hours, eventually killing 20 of them. In fact, that country has been rattled by a major wave of Islamist violence with a number of targeted killings of secularists, atheists and foreigners since 2013.[10] Then, on July 8, 2016, two policemen and a woman were killed in a terrorist attack on an Eid prayer gathering in the country. [11] Demonstration in wake of terror wave in Bangladesh (Image: News24online.com, July 18, 2016) In issue 13 of ISIS's online English-language magazine Dabiq, released in January 2016, the head of ISIS in Bangladesh, Sheikh Abu Ibrahim Al-Hanif, claimed that the group is currently training fighters in Bangladesh and Pakistan to launch simultaneous attacks from the western and eastern borders of India, in order to create chaos in this country. The mouthpiece also said that Kashmir would soon be overrun by ISIS. Indian jihadi groups like the Indian Mujahideen (IM) also have links to the group, with many of their members having joined the ranks of ISIS in Syria and Iraq and some planning their return to India, to enlist more recruits. In fact, the Ansar-ut Tawhid fi Bilad al-Hind (AuT), formed in 2013 by members of IM, ISIS and a Taliban faction, pledged their allegiance to ISIS in September of that year.[12] The Looming ISIS Threat With the number of suspected ISIS members in India and the subcontinent on the rise, as reflected even by the tentative data released by the authorities, the dreadful specter of this insidious monstrosity quickly getting out of control is a clear and present danger to the entire region. First, trained terror recruits returning from ISIS-held territories pose the close-term threat of perpetrating major terrorist operations, as well as the medium-to-long-term danger of establishing clandestine sleeper cells for sustained terrorist campaigns. Meanwhile, there is also the looming specter of home-grown terrorism, wherein jihadist websites provide inspiration and training for non-affiliated individuals or small groups to carry out lone-wolf attacks. ISIS has developed an intricate social media network (as exposed in the Mehdi Biswas aka Shami Witness case in 2014) and has posted guidebooks and manuals for concocting destructive explosives from household materials (as exemplified in the Boston bombings of 2013) and for using readily available means, such as vehicles, as lethal weapons (as manifest in the Nice terror attack this year). In addition, there are many religious organizations and seminaries in the region that continue to be indoctrinated by extremist Salafi-Wahhabi ideologues and to receive funding from extremist donors in the Middle East. There are also millions of South Asian expatriates in Gulf states, who may bring back to their native countries the radical and extremist ideologies currently rampant in that part of the world. Fighting Jihadism And Its Agenda In light of the above, it is important for governments in South Asia to take serious note of the fact that jihadists are increasingly gaining a foothold in their respective countries and devise effective measures to combat the growing menace. In the formulation of any counter-terrorism policy, it is necessary to take into account the collusion and competition between various Deobandi and Salafi jihadist organizations in the Indian subcontinent, as well as the growing Salafi-jihadist subversion by foreign elements of the moderate Sufi Islam practiced by the hitherto peaceable Muslims of the Kashmir valley. The Darul Uloom of Deoband in India (the headquarters of the Deobandi school) should be urged to exhort all renegade Deobandi jihadi organizations in Pakistan to renounce the practice of terrorism, which is condemned by all schools of Islamic jurisprudence. In fact, Darul Uloom Deoband should revive the stance of one of its greatest scholars and spiritual leaders, Maulana Husain Ahmad Madani, who in his celebrated book Al-Shahab Al-Shaqab denounced the Wahhabi doctrine as a "false belief" (aqaid-i-batil), particularly for its use of violence and takfir (the practice of accusing other Muslims of heresy). This Islamic school and its affiliate organizations should also make sure that they do not receive any financial or ideological support for their mosques and seminaries from countries or private patrons espousing Salafi-Wahhabi beliefs. It should be noted here that the Hanafi Darul Uloom of Deoband in India has since its inception worked toward greater communal peace and amity. It voted in favor of a united India at the time of partition and against Pakistan's creation, and in 2009 issued a historic fatwa calling India dar al-aman (a land of peace where jihad is forbidden).[13] *Dr. Adil Rasheed is a distinguished research fellow at the United Service Institution of India, and is the author of the book ISIS: Race to Armageddon. Endnotes: Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 6 By Khalid Kazimov Trend: Iranian Parliaments Speaker Ali Larijani has said that Tehran and Paris share common viewpoints regarding the fight against terrorism and resolving regional crises. Addressing a joint press conference with visiting French National Assembly President Claude Bartolone in Tehran, Larijani said the sides discussed ways for resolving regional crises, including the issues of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and some other countries, during a meeting Sept. 6 morning, IRNA news agency reported. Larijani added that Iran and France have enjoyed proper ties over the past years. Heading a parliamentary delegation, Bartolone arrived in Tehran early on Tuesday to discuss international and regional issues as well as bilateral ties with Iranian officials. He is also slated to confer with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani during his four-day visit. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 6 By Khalid Kazimov Trend: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has called for rapid and accurate implementation of existing deals with France. President Rouhani said the prompt and accurate implementation of the existing deals will contribute to the expansion of Tehran-Paris ties in political, economic, cultural and scientific spheres, IRNA news agency reported Sept. 6. At a meeting with visiting French National Assembly President Claude Bartolone in Tehran, President Rouhani added that Irans nuclear deal with the world has created a new atmosphere for cooperation and the sides should get the best use from the created chances. Rouhani further called for cooperation in resolving the regional crises and expressed his concerns over the Syrian conflict. Saying that diplomacy is the true solution to end the Syrian conflict, he urged for cooperation in combating terrorism. Following the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA/nuclear deal) earlier this year, Iran and France agreed on a number of commercial deals during Rouhanis late January visit to Paris. A $24 billion contract for Irans purchasing 118 Airbus planes was among the major deals inked during the milestone visit. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 6 By Fatih Karimov Trend: An Iranian child was killed in a landmine explosion near the city of Sardasht in the countrys northwestern province of West Azerbaijan, IRNA news agency reported Sept. 6. The incident happened yesterday, Sept. 5, as three children found a landmine remaining from the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988) near the border of Iraq and started playing with it, Mir Ashkan Mahdavi, a local official, said. As a result of the landmines explosion, an 8-year-old boy was killed, while two other children were wounded. Mahdavi said this is the second landmine explosion incident in Sardasht since March 20, 2016, which marks the start of the current Iranian year. Earlier in June, two people were killed in a similar incident near Alvatan village, where three farm workers hit on a tractor an Iran-Iraq war leftover landmine. The resulting explosion destroyed the tractor and killed two people, including a 15-year-old boy. Iran is one of the countries with the most unexploded landmines on its soil, which kill and injure dozens of people every year. According to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, there were 46 deaths and 76 injuries from landmines in Iran in 2012. Seven of the casualties were children. Land areas in Iranian provinces of Ilam (1,700 hectares), Khuzestan (1.3 million hectares), Kermanshah (691,000 hectares), Western Azerbaijan (59,000 hectares) and Kurdistan (1,480 hectares) were mined during the Iran-Iraq war. It is assumed that after the war around 16 million mines could still remain in these areas. In the margins of the Bled Strategic Forum, Alternate Foreign Minister for European Affairs Nikos Xydakis had bilateral consultations today with Ms. Sanja Stiglic, Deputy MFA of Slovenia, upon the conclusion of which the Slovenian Minister hosted a luncheon in his honor. During their meeting, the Greek Alternate MFA extended his thanks to the Slovenian government for its support and positive stance towards the refugee crisis since Slovenia has agreed to accommodate a proportionately higher number of migrants and refugees than other EU member-states. For her part, the Deputy MFA of Slovenia suggested strengthening relations between our two countries more, by means of, among others, frequent bilateral visits and contacts. Moreover, she asked for Greek know-how to be provided on a number of issues, of both European and bilateral interest. N. Xydakis extended an invitation to Ms. Stiglic to discuss European affairs which the views of Greece and Slovenia significantly converge on. Alternate Foreign Minister for European Affairs Nikos Xydakis took part in a Round Table discussion on European Integration, which was organised today in the framework of the 11th Bled Strategic Forum that is currently in progress in Bled, Slovenia. Heads of State and Government are attending the Forum along with Ministers, think tanks and public opinion leaders. Alternate MFA Xydakis underscored that in order to achieve true European integration the European Union ought to focus anew on notions such as solidarity, social cohesion, justice and prosperity for its citizens as these constitute the founding principles and values of a united Europe that need to make a dynamic comeback to the forefront, with renewed content. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 6 By Fatih Karimov Trend: Iran has started the arming process of its Sahand destroyer which is under construction by Iranian Navy, Tasnim news agency reported Sept. 6. The recent released photos show that the Fath naval artillery is on Sahand, according to the agency. Fath is a domestically built 40-millimeter automatic artillery capable of shooting down cruise missiles. The artillery has a range of 12 kilometres and fires 300 rounds a minute. Earlier the Islamic Republic Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said that Sahand destroyer is 90-percent complete and will be delivered to military fleet by March 2017. He said the destroyer has a stealth capability 30 percent greater than the previous models (Jamaran and Damavand destroyers). Since 1992 Iran has been relying on domestic talents to produce various sorts of missiles, radars, tanks, destroyers, etc. as the country has been under international restrictions to buy military object from abroad. Tehran says its military power is solely defensive and poses no threat to anyone. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dimitris Mardas, met with the new Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia, Mr. Fadey Charchoghlyan, today, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During the meeting, which was conducted in a positive spirit, the excellent level of bilateral economic and commercial relations was reaffirmed, along with mutual interest to deepen them further. Moreover, emphasis was given in following up issues that the 5th Joint Inter-ministerial Committee touched upon in March as well as the prospects for increasing bilateral trade, enhancing tourist flows to Greece and strengthening cooperation between Agencies and Businesses from both countries. Last, the possibility of organizing a Business Forum and having a business delegation visit Yerevan in 2017 was also discussed. On the initiative of Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias the 1st Conference for Security and Stability will be held in Rhodes on the 8th and 9th of September 2016. Foreign Ministers and senior state officials from Albania, Bulgaria, Italy, Cyprus, Slovakia as well as Egypt, the U.A.E., Lebanon, Libya and Tunisia will be participating in the Conference. The Rhodes Conference aims, on the one hand, to promote dialogue on the collective management of challenges, such as war and terror, the migrant and refugee crisis, this pivotal area of the Mediterranean is up against, and, on the other, to develop synergies in the field of economy, transport, energy, education and culture. A press conference has been scheduled for Friday Sept. 9 at 11 am. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 6 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: The issue of introducing closed airspace over northern Syria was discussed in 2015. The Turkish authorities, in particular, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly urged NATO and international coalition forces to ensure closed airspace over the northern Syria. Today, this issue is more relevant than ever. Earlier when Turkey first put forward the idea of closing the airspace over northern Syria, the territories were mainly controlled by militants of the Islamic State (IS, ISIL, ISIS or Daesh) and the YPG (Kurdish People's Protection Units) and the Democratic Union Party (PYD, the Kurdish political party). However, after the Turkish Armed Forces recent military operation entitled "Shield of the Euphrates" and the joint efforts of the international coalition and the Free Syrian Army, the balance of forces in northern Syria, has greatly changed. The IS militants strongholds have been fully destroyed in northern Syria, while YPG and PYD militants are retreating from the strategically important city of Manbij. The fact that currently the FSA military units control nearly half of the areas in northern Syria became the main result of the "Shield of the Euphrates" operation. North-west of Syria is currently under control of the government troops and north-east of the country is under control of the YPG and the PYD. From the first day of the military operation by Turkish Armed Forces it became clear that its purpose is not only to eliminate the danger posed by the IS, but create a security zone in northern Syria, which is just as important. On Sept. 5, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after a long pause again raised the issue to introduce the airspace restrictions over Syria. Erdogan said that the country has offered the US and Russia to close the airspace in northern Syria over the territories liberated from the IS. After this statement by Erdogan, Turkish media reported that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will pay a visit to the country Sept.8-9. This will be his first visit to Turkey after the military coup attempt in the country. Moreover, a source in Turkish armed forces told Trend Sept.6 that during Stoltenbergs visit, Ankara and NATO can discuss the closure of airspace in northern Syria, on all the territories liberated from the militants of the Islamic State (IS, aka ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) terrorist group. If Turkey and NATO agree on closing the airspace in northern Syria, this will be the most important step in fighting the IS and can completely change the balance of power in favor of the Free Syrian Army. --- Rufiz Hafizoglu is the head of Trend Agency's Arabic news service, follow him on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 6 By Elmira Tariverdiyeva Trend: Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and the whole semi-corrupt and semi-criminal elite of Armenia have remained in power for so many years not without reason. These people have a very strong self-preservation instinct (though one may talk about the position preservation instinct in this case). By maneuvering between unpredicted turns of international politics, the war criminals, who have occupied high positions in the Armenian government, have always tried to act according to the situation and sell themselves to the one who will pay more and ensure their preservation of power. Sargsyan has recently become aware that Moscow isnt going to bear this burden anymore. However, in anticipation of an early breach of ties, the Armenian authorities have decided to secure themselves and began to flirt with the eternal rival of the Kremlin - the West. The experiment with the Russian citizen detained by Armenian law enforcement bodies at the request of the US became indicative. Yerevan tried to resist in order on the one hand, to show that it can haggle and on the one hand, to measure Russias resentment. Given that the problem was resolved quickly in favor of that Russian citizen, it is obvious that Moscow still has considerable resources of influence on Armenia. The next step was Armenias resentment over the activities of Russian border guards who deported one of the Armenian political scientists, head of the Analytical Center on Globalization and Regional Cooperation Stepan Grigoryan from the countrys territory and prohibited his entry to Russia until 2030. Grigoryan had nothing to do with pro-government political scientists. Moreover, Grigoryan has said that the center headed by him actively cooperates with European NGOs, analytical centers and democratic funds and obviously, the decision of Russian authorities was politically motivated. That is, Grigoryan is an anti-Russian Armenian expert. The Armenian authorities' reaction surprises by its efficiency. Oleg Yesayan, Armenian ambassador to Russia, urged the Russian authorities to clarify the incident with the deportation of an Armenian citizen. That is, Yerevan had to demonstrate to the West that its financing directed for the development of democracy in Armenia, is not condemned, but even protected by the authorities. Moreover, in the struggle for the rights of citizens, financed by the West, it is ready to strictly call Russia to account for the issue. At present, the issue is the Wests reaction to the Armenian authorities fooling around and the ability to masterly run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Tuesday there was a possibility of reaching an agreement on a ceasefire in Syria within 24 hours, Reuters reported. Asked at a briefing with reporters in London to comment on the failure of the United States and Russia to agree a ceasefire, Al-Jubeir said he would not describe it as a failure but as a work in progress. "There is a possibility of arriving at an understanding in the next 24 hours or so that will test Bashar al-Assad's seriousness to comply," he said. But the minister went on to say Assad's history did not inspire optimism about implementation of any agreement. A cessation of hostilities agreement brokered by US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in February unraveled within weeks, with Washington accusing Assad's forces of violating the pact. Culloden has been frequently presented as a battle fought by an incompetent, ill-equipped, and badly led Jacobite army wielding swords against superior, professional Redcoats armed with muskets. A new book by Murray Pittock, Bradley Professor of History at the University of Glasgow, challenges this consensus. Murray shows that Government forces actually won the battle by blade, while the Jacobites, though few in number, were professionally managed and effective fighters throughout the clash. Professor Pittock said, Arguably no battle out of living memory is remembered so powerfully and so falsely. On Culloden Moor, what was in some ways the last Scottish army sought to restore the Stuarts to a multi-kingdom monarchy more aligned to European than colonial struggle. They were, in many essentials, a regular army. They were outnumbered but not outgunned, and cavalry proved their downfall. My own archival research and the battlefield archaeology of the site shows that it was not British ball that brought down kilted swordsmen as much as British dragoon blades that cut down Jacobite musketeers. Culloden as it happened is in fact much more interesting than Culloden as it is remembered. Professor Pittock thinks that post-conflict propaganda, depicting the battle as a victory for the civilised man over the savage, was later used to justify imperialism. He added, The Jacobite period has been strongly and systematically misremembered in order to emphasise a secure framework for the development of Britishness and the British imperial state. From as early as the 1740s, historians often took their cue from the language of anti- Jacobite propaganda. Culloden has recently been published by Oxford University Press. It is part of the Great Battles series and costs 18.99. Visit http://global.oup.com/academic for more information. The U.S. Army announced Tuesday it will deploy about 1,400 soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to Afghanistan to participate in counter-terrorist operations. The Rakkasans from 3rd Brigade Combat Team will deploy this fall to support Operation Freedom's Sentinel -- the U.S. counter-terrorism operation against the remnants of al-Qaida, an emerging offshoot of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, and other terror groups, according to an Army press release. "From hunting Al Qaeda and Taliban forces during Operation Anaconda in 2002, to performing the advise-assist mission in 2014-15, the soldiers of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team have been nothing short of exceptional while supporting operations in Afghanistan over the years," Brig. Gen. Scott E. Brower, 101st Airborne's acting senior commander, said in the release. "The Rakkasans are trained, well-led, and prepared to accomplish any mission given to them while supporting Operation Freedom's Sentinel," he added. In late July, the Army announced that it will send 800 soldiers from 1st Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, at Fort Riley, Kansas, to Afghanistan to support Freedom's Sentinel as well. The aviation brigade will deploy with aircraft including AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopters sometime before October. President Barack Obama in July announced a change in plans for U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan when he said 8,400 American service members would stay in the country into next year, leaving it up to his potential successor Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton to decide on the size of the military footprint there. The president initially planned to reduce the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan to 5,500 before he left office but changed course after a recommendation from Army Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in country. The current authorized level of U.S. troops in Afghanistan through the rest of the year stands at 9,800. The U.S. troops are split between two missions that will continue -- NATO's Resolute Support mission to advise Afghan security forces and the separate Freedom's Sentinel. -- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com. The Department of Education will be holding live online information and Q&A sessions regarding the closure of ITT Tech through September 20. See their website for more information. ITT Technical Institute has shut the doors on all of its 130 locations in 38 states -- a move that affects thousands of military veterans or their dependents attending the for-profit school on the GI Bill. The shuttering comes two weeks after the Department of Education banned the school from enrolling new students who used federal financial aid such as student loans or Pell Grants amid multiple investigations into its lending practices. Shortly thereafter, the state of California imposed a separate statewide ban affecting all new enrollments at ITT Tech, including students paying with GI Bill funds or with cash. In 2015, more than two-thirds of all ITT Tech students utilized federal student aid. The school also faced losing its accreditation based on a number of actions, including its administrative capacity, organizational integrity, financial viability and ability to serve students in a manner that complied with accepted standards. The Carmel, Indiana-based technical institute for five decades was staple in for-profit education, with career-focused degree programs in specialties mainly centered on technical fields, such as electronics technology, nursing, criminal justice and information technology. Overall enrollment at the school was 40,015 students as of June -- a decrease of 16.4 percent from the same period a year ago, according to the company's filings. In 2015, some 12,500 vets attended the school. A total of 6,842 GI Bill recipients -- veterans or their dependents -- attend ITT Tech or planned to do so during an upcoming term, according to a recent email from Terry Jemison, a spokesperson for the VA's Veterans Benefits Administration, which oversees the educational program. Revenue at the school has been dropping in recent years amid multiple government investigations into its parent company, ITT Educational Services Inc. The company is being investigated by more than a dozen state agencies, and two federal agencies for various charges ranging from recruiting fraud to steering students to predatory in-house student loans. In 2015, the cost of obtaining a degree at an ITT Tech campus ranged from nearly $40,000 to more than $90,000. The Department of Education has said that students who were recently enrolled at ITT may have their federal student loans for ITT classes forgiven. Their federal loan debt will be wiped away, and they will have the option of restarting their education somewhere new. The department also said that students -- especially those who are close to graduating -- who wish to continue and complete their program at a different school may be able to transfer their credits. It is important to note that transferring credits may limit the ability to have federal loans discharged. See the Department of Education's website for more details. If every eligible student applied for loan forgiveness, it would cost taxpayers more than $500 million, according to some estimates. Students who were using GI Bill benefits to attend ITT Tech may not be so lucky. Current law makes no exception for restoring GI Bill benefits paid to a school that goes out of business. So, if students were using the GI Bill to attend ITT Tech and can't transfer the credits to another school, they might be out of luck. All of the GI Bill benefits used for training at ITT Tech would be unavailable to use at another school. Congress would have to pass a law to provide financial relief to veterans affected by this closure. Rep. Mark Takano, a Democrat from California and the most senior member of his party on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, on Tuesday renewed his call for legislation to aid student veterans who are hurt when a college closes. "The sudden shuttering of ITT Tech will hurt thousands of veterans who enrolled in search of a promising career but will receive an uncertain future instead," he said in a statement. "It is our duty to provide them the relief and support they need." Takano first called for such a legislative fix last year after the collapse of Corinthian Colleges, another for-profit school that was recently ordered to pay a nearly $1.2 billion fine for false advertising and misleading lending practices. His bill would restore Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits and training time to veterans who are affected by a school closure. It would also allow the Veterans Affairs Department to continue paying student veterans a monthly housing stipend. Takano said student veterans often are targets of aggressive and even deceptive recruiting practices by for-profit education companies. He noted that Corinthian Colleges and ITT Tech together received a total of $1 billion in GI Bill money between 2009 and 2015. -- Jim Absher can be reached at Jim.Absher@Monster.com. After the littoral combat ship USS Freedom sustained major engine damage July 11 because a seal malfunction allowed seawater to seep in, the commander of Naval Surface Forces quietly ordered all LCS crews to observe a stand-down, halting operations to review procedures and engineering standards. "Due to the ongoing challenges with littoral combat ships, I ordered an engineering stand-down for LCS squadrons and the crews that fall under their command," Vice Adm. Tom Rowden said in a statement. "These stands down allowed for time to review, evaluate and renew our commitment to ensuring our crews are fully prepared to operate these ships safely. The reviews were completed by Aug. 31, Navy officials announced Monday, adding that every sailor in each LCS crew with a role in engineering will observe retraining. The training, officials said, will take place over the next 30 days. During that time, leadership of the Navy's Surface Warfare Officer's School in Newport, Rhode Island, will review the current LCS training program and recommend any other changes they see fit. The school's engineers will also supervise current and future training efforts. They will develop a knowledge test and specialized training for LCS engineers, to be deployed to them by Oct. 5. A separate, comprehensive LCS engineering review is being conducted by the commander of SWOS, Capt. David A. Welch, and is expected to take between 30 and 60 days. "From there, more adjustments may be made to the engineering training pipeline, officials with Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, said in a statement. The Freedom, the first of its class made by Lockheed Martin Corp. and Marinette Marine, returned to its San Diego homeport Aug. 3 to address the damage it sustained to one of its diesel propulsion engines, which Navy officials said will require an engine rebuild or replacement. It remains unclear what caused another LCS, the USS Coronado, to be sidelined with damage to one of its flexible couplings assemblies Aug. 29. Upon its return to Pearl Harbor Sept. 4, the Coronado was met by a group of maintenance experts sent by Rowden to inspect the ship, officials said. The experts investigated the ship's engineering program, but no information has been released about the cause of the problem or whether it might be related to previous engineering casualties. "A preliminary investigation will provide an initial assessment and procedural review of the situation, and any shortfalls will be addressed quickly to get the ship fixed and back on deployment, officials said. The Coronado, so far the only trimaran-hulled Independence-variant LCS made by Austal USA to suffer an engineering casualty, had been just two months into its maiden deployment. The Freedom and the Coronado are the third and fourth littoral combat ships to experience engineering casualties inside a 12-month span. Last December, the LCS Milwaukee broke down during a transit from San Diego and Halifax, Nova Scotia when a clutch failed to disengage when the ship switched gears. The ship had to cut short the transit in order to be towed to Joint Base Little Creek, Virginia, for repairs. In January, the LCS Fort Worth was sidelined in Singapore when it broke down in what officials said was a casualty caused by engineers failing to properly apply lubrication oil to the ship's combining gears. After eight months in port in Singapore for repairs, the Fort Worth departed for its San Diego homeport in August. --Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @HopeSeck. Seven Iranian boats shadowed and harassed a U.S. Navy vessel Sunday in the latest of what has been a series of tense maritime incidents between the two countries, Defense Department officials confirmed Tuesday. Officials said the Cyclone-class coastal patrol ship USS Firebolt was operating in the central Arabian Gulf, in the vicinity of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, when seven fast attack craft from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy approached. Three of the Iranian boats maneuvered near the 174-foot Navy vessel, following behind the ship at a range of about 500 yards and shadowing its course, a defense official said. The three boats followed the Firebolt for about eight minutes before turning off and departing the region, leaving four Iranian attack craft near the American ship. One of these moved toward the Firebolt and came to a stop within 100 yards of the ship, forcing the crew to maneuver in order to narrowly avoid collision. While the Iranian vessels were equipped with crew-served weapons, they remained unmanned and untrained during the interaction between the two ships, an official said. The Firebolt crew attempted to communicate with the Iranian boats three times to learn their intentions, but got no response. "U.S. Naval Forces Central Command assessed the interaction as unsafe and unprofessional due to lack of communications and the close range harassing maneuvering of the [attack craft], which increased the likelihood of a collision," a defense official said in a statement. "The Iranians' unsafe maneuvers near a United States ship operating in accordance with international law while transiting in international waters created a dangerous, harassing situation that could have led to further escalation including additional defensive measures by Firebolt," the official said. While the official did not describe what additional defensive measures might have been employed, another Cyclone-class patrol ship, the USS Squall, was forced to fire warning shots on Aug. 25 when it was harassed by three Iranian vessels, one of which buzzed within 200 feet of the ship. A day before, the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Nitze had fired 10 warning flares and blown its whistle to warn off four Iranian boats approaching the ship at unsafe speeds. In July, five Iranian vessels maneuvered dangerously close to the amphibious transport dock New Orleans in the Strait of Hormuz while Army Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command, was aboard. While encounters with Iranian ships are nothing new for the Navy, it appears the number of dangerous and harassing incidents may be escalating. The Wall Street Journal reported that Navy ships had had 300 "interactions" with Iranian vessels last year, according to the U.S. Fifth Fleet, though most were not deemed unsafe or harassment. -- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at@HopeSeck. Despite Flipping in Surf 4 Times in a Year, Marines Say New ACV Is the Future of Amphibious Warfare Some Marine veterans familiar with the vehicle and its operations have worried about the reliability of the ACV. Washington is open for talks with Russia on issues of missile defense and the entire range of strategic stability, US Assistant Secretary for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance Frank Rose, who is currently paying a working visit to Oslo, TASS reported. "The United States is open to talking with Russian on a full spectrum of strategic stability whether that's nuclear, missile defense, conventional strike - that full set of issues. Whenever Russia is ready to come to the table and have a discussion with the United Sates on strategic stability we would be open to that," he said. "I think there will definitively be some issues we will disagree on, but I think it is important to continue the discussions.Despite the challenges in the relationship between the US and Russia, I think it is important to get on record, that implementation of the New START Treaty continues to go well. On-site inspections in both the US and Russia continue, we continue to exchange notifications on movement of our strategic forces. Furthermore, the Bilateral Consultative Commission which was created by the Treaty to work through the implementation issues continues to meet and continues to work through very very difficult implementation," he said. "It is in our mutual interest to maintain strategic stability and prevent misperceptions and miscalculations," he underscored. Depending on your PT test, the order of swimming may best be determined by where it is in the order of events of that test. Dear Ms. Vicki, I'm a mother living with my youngest son, who has PTSD and severe mood swings. His angry outbursts have caused him to repeatedly break laptop computers. He has trouble even driving in traffic at times. He refuses to get help and is getting out of the Army very soon. He has had six deployments between his time in the Marine Corps and his time in the Army. He served for 16 years and made it to staff sergeant but, after his last deployment, he said he couldn't handle having to deploy again. The Army is using a verbal outburst he once made to force him out with an honorable discharge. I know the history from his childhood has added to his problems. Also, his father -- my first husband -- died in 2006, at the same time that a bomb went off near my son during a deployment. My son saw a child killed during that same deployment. My son is so lonely, and he also has some minor learning problems. He won't get help for the same reasons lots of men give. He thinks needing help means he lacks willpower and is weak. It doesn't help that he thinks his older brother, who served for four years, scammed the government by accepting VA disability pay. My younger son thinks his older brother made up the injuries because he never liked manual labor. I moved in with my son after I got divorced from my second husband. My son asked me to live with him because no one else wants him around. My ex-husband left me because he said my two military sons made his PTSD from Vietnam come back to the surface. My ex-husband kicked me out of the home my dead husband paid for and turned everyone in the family who I thought would be there against us. All I have now are my sons. I feel hopeless, and I can't get support in this small town because the few people I meet aren't military. I'm lost and getting more and more depressed. I'm the only one my son will listen to, and I fear for him. I live with him, and so I see the mood swings and depression that come and go. I'm also scared that if he does get help, they will put him in a medical ward and drug him. So far, he has played down his symptoms. How can they be so blind to someone who really needs help? Does he have to end up in a hospital, in jail or homeless before they will see how badly he needs help? I lost everything, and I'm trying to work for minimum wage in a school lunchroom after 10 years of not working. I have no means to help my son, no contacts, no family, no friends and no ministry that understands us here. My son can't make friends on his own either. He has always had trouble making friends, but was able sooner or later to get out and try. Now it's not possible for him to even try. If I died, he would lose it. We have only each other. I feel hopeless, and that makes me very sad. I have been struggling now to even keep my faith. I feel like the worst mom in the world. My oldest son hates me, and he treats my youngest like dirt. I wish veterans could band together and find each other and reach out in the communities to the newest ones who are getting out. My son doesn't have any men in his life. -- Lost Mom Dear Lost Mom, My heart is saddened by your story. I am just as concerned about you as I am both of your sons. Your whole family, including you, is hurting. There is help for both of your sons, but you are right -- we can't make them accept the help. Your youngest son sounds like a lot of people with mental health problems who don't want to seek help. They fear they will be perceived as weak or as having a lack of willpower, even though we all know this is not true. They fear they will lose their career or security clearance, and they feel shame and stigmatized. In the meantime, the problem keeps getting worse. Sadly, something usually happens to draw attention to the person with the problem before they will get help. There are two things I'd like to advise you to do. First, before your youngest son leaves the military, he will attend what I will call an exit brief and he will see a VA representative. You need to encourage him to tell them the truth about what he is feeling and experiencing. He deserves any VA disability money that he will receive, and receiving that money is not something he should be embarrassed to do. But he has to tell the truth. Second, contact the stress hotline for support. They will be able to give you some insight into your son, as well as resources for both of you and professional guidance. Call the Defense Centers of Excellence 24/7 at 866-966-1020. You can talk to someone there via live chat on their website. -- Ms. Vicki Keep Up with the Ins and Outs of Military Life For the latest military news and tips on military family benefits and more, subscribe to Military.com and have the information you need delivered directly to your inbox. Exemplary sacrifices being rendered for defence of Pakistan: Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri In his message on the Defence Day of Pakistan, which is being celebrated on September 6 across the country, PAT Chairman Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri has vowed to rid Pakistan of corrupt mafias, looters and terrorists. He said that the Ghazis established the state of Pakistan and it is the martyrs who have saved it. He said that the lesson of living with pride given by the martyrs of September 1965 continues to remain relevant even today as the nation battles the scourge of terrorism and extremism in the form of Operation Zarb-e-Azb. Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri said that Operation Zarb-e-Azb is a war aimed at saving Pakistan. He said that the hundreds of officers and jawans of Pakistan military have rendered the ultimate sacrifice of their lives in this war. He said that on the occasion of the Defence Day of Pakistan, we pay rich tributes to the martyrs of the Operation Zarb-e-Azb as well as to those who laid their lives in the defence of Pakistan in 1965. He said that Pakistan is a land of the Ghazis and martyrs and no internal or external conspiracy will be able to succeed in their presence. He said that the terrorists have taken the lives of over 60 thousand people but failed to break the resolve of the nation. He said that God willing, the enemies of Pakistan will be defeated. As Turkey continues Operation Euphrates Shield against DAESH and the PKK's Syrian offshoot the Democratic Union Party (YPG) terrorist organizations in northern Syria, a high level U.S. delegation visited Ankara last week to discuss details of the Mosul operation Dailysabah reported According to information obtained by diplomatic sources, the U.S. delegation led by Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iraq Joseph Pennington and military officials met with Turkish officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) in Ankara last week, addressing details of the operation in the meeting as well as reported discussions of Turkey's aim to liberate Mosul of DAESH. Turkey is an active member in the U.S-led anti-DAESH coalition and since March 2015 Turkish military experts have trained up to 3,000 KRG peshmerga units and Iraqi army members to prepare them for the Mosul operation. Sources indicated that soldiers that have received training from the TSK in the Bashika camp will be included in the Mosul operation. However, Turkey's contribution to the operation will not be limited to training support. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu made it clear on June 7 that Turkey's support in the operation will be more comprehensive.Turkey will strongly support a possible operation to retake the northern Iraqi city of Mosul from DAESH militants,'' he said. For this, the dimensions of Turkey's contribution in the operations were worked through by Turkish and U.S. officials. Accordingly, Turkey has offered intelligence cooperation including aerial reconnaissance and logistic support via the Incirlik air base. The other Turkish air bases in Malatya, Batman and Diyarbakr will also be ready to provide humanitarian assistance and emergency landing services. Turkish and American officials also discussed support for the TSK and Turkey reportedly agreed to allow the participation of Turkish warplanes if necessary. However, sources indicated that Turkish ground forces will not be included in the operation due to recent tension between Turkey and the Iraqi central government. As the U.N. recently warned that the military operation to retake the city could displace 3.4 million people and cause a humanitarian crisis, Turkey is also considering the human dimension of the operation very carefully. Therefore, reinforcements on the Turkish border to guard against possible DAESH threats will be strengthened and new measures will be taken to prevent a mass refugee influx by the Turkish side before the operation. Preventing sectarian and ethnic conflicts the aftermath of the operation is just as important as the operation itself for Turkey. Therefore, during the meetings Turkish officials expressed their concerns and warned U.S. officials about the involvement of any Shiite militias in the Mosul operation. Mosul is Iraq's second largest city, and it fell to DAESH in 2014 and is currently the largest city under DAESH control. In recent weeks the Iraqi army of the central government in Baghdad and peshmerga troops from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have started separate operations to prepare for the liberation of Mosul from DAESH. According to diplomatic sources, a major offensive against DAESH in Mosul is expected to start by late September and sources estimate that around 50,000 Iraqi soldiers, backed by 20,000 Peshmerga fighters, 10,000 Turkmens and members of Sunni tribes will take part in the offensive. The Cubs announced a series of roster moves on Tuesday afternoon, including the activation of Hector Rondon from the disabled list and the recalls of veteran infielder Munenori Kawasaki, right-hander Spencer Patton and prospect Albert Almora from Triple-A Iowa. The Cubs also selected the contract of catcher Tim Federowicz from Iowa and designated right-hander R.J. Alvarez for assignment to clear a spot on the 40-man roster. [Related: Updated Chicago Cubs Depth Chart] Rondon returns to the Cubs bullpen after spending about three weeks on the disabled list and brings an impact arm back to the teams setup corps, helping to soften the blow of Pedro Strops extended absence. In 43 2/3 innings this season, Rondon has pitched to a 2.47 ERA with a stellar 51-to-6 K/BB ratio. He lost the closers gig when the Cubs acquired Aroldis Chapman and will return to the setup role in which he was largely excellent. Rondon served up four runs in 6 2/3 innings following Chapmans acquisition, but all four of those runs came in one dismal outing. Aside from that hiccup, he made six scoreless appearances. Almora has long been one of the Cubs top prospects and got his feet wet in the Majors earlier this season when he batted .265/.291/.422 across 86 plate appearances. Patton, meanwhile, has tallied 17 1/3 innings of 4.67 ERA ball out of the Chicago pen this season and has an excellent track record at Triple-A (2.51 ERA in 125 1/3 innings). And Kawasaki, of course, is something of a cult hero due to his gregarious personality and over-the-top exuberance in interviews. He spent a bit of the time with the Cubs earlier this season and has quite a bit of MLB experience with the Mariners and Blue Jays. Hes a .234/.315/.285 hitter in 715 big league plate appearances dating back to 2012. Federowicz will return to the Cubs after being outrighted earlier this summer. Hes a career .194/.245/.297 hitter in 298 plate appearances between the Cubs and Dodgers and will add some catching depth, though the Cubs already have Willson Contreras, David Ross and Miguel Montero on the active roster. Alvarez, 25, came to the Cubs via waivers earlier this year. Hes been involved in a pair of high-profile trades, going from the Angels to the Padres in package for Huston Street and also going from the Padres to the As alongside Jesse Hahn in exchange for Derek Norris. However, he hasnt capitalized on the upside that made him a well-regarded arm in the Angels and Padres systems, compiling a 7.39 ERA in 28 big league innings from 2014-15 and struggling to a 7.00 ERA in 27 innings across three minor league stops in 2016. The Pirates have designated both lefty Kelvin Marte and righty Curtis Partch, the team announced. Their 40-man spots were needed to accommodate the organizations latest wave of call-ups, which includes Tyler Glasnow, Pedro Florimon, Drew Hutchison, and Trevor Williams. The 28-year-old Marte made his major league debut this year, throwing three and one-third scoreless innings but allowing two walks and five hits in that span while recording only a lone strikeout. He has converted to a relief role at Triple-A after previously working mostly as a starter, and carries a 3.67 ERA with 7.0 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 over 73 2/3 frames there. Partch, 29, was bombed in his two MLB appearances this year. But he was rather effective in his own stint at Indianapolis, compiling a 2.24 ERA in 60 1/3 frames. Partch notched sixty strikeouts in that span, though he also racked up thirty free passes. The group of call-ups certainly holds some interest. Glasnow is the teams highest-rated prospect, and hell return after making his debut earlier in the year. Trevor Williams has impressed at Triple-A despite lacking gaudy strikeout numbers. Florimon always seems to play a role somewhere in September, given his versatile glove. And then theres Hutchison, who was picked up in the somewhat controversial trade that sent Francisco Liriano (plus his contract) and two prospects to the Blue Jays at the trade deadline. The 26-year-old, who will be arbitration-eligible again next year, has worked to a 4.50 ERA in his 36 frames with Indy, with peripherals (7.0 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9) that fall shy of his work earlier this year at Buffalo. UPDATE: Officials said this was falsely reported to police as an armed robbery. ANN ARBOR, MI - Police are investigating a report of an armed robbery near the University of Michigan's Diag. Police were called about 10:40 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 6, to the area of North University Avenue and South State Street for a reported robbery with a suspect in custody, Ann Arbor police Sgt. Mauro Cervantes confirmed. Police are still investigating facts of the incident, but Cervantes said it's believed that though a gun was implied by the suspect in the robbery, one was not seen. University of Michigan police officers took the suspect into custody, Cervantes said. The incident remains under investigation and further details were not immediately available. ANN ARBOR, MI - There's a colorful new mural paying tribute to Ann Arbor's Water Hill neighborhood. "Welcome to Water Hill" is the message now adorning the Miller Avenue railroad underpass at the entrance to the neighborhood from downtown. The painting features a depiction of the Huron River, along with the hills, trees and houses that make up Water Hill, and signs for some of the neighborhood's water-themed streets such as Spring, Fountain and Brooks. It's the work of a group of teens from the Neutral Zone teen center in Ann Arbor, all of whom have ties to the neighborhood. Young artists work on the mural at the Miller Avenue railroad underpass in Ann Arbor. On the ladder is Zev Miklethun. Below, from left to right, are Zane Jones, Zeke Casteel and Casey Klobucar. That includes project leader Casey Klobucar and Zev Miklethun, both students at Skyline High; Sam Brown, a student at Washtenaw Technical Middle College; and Zeke Casteel and Zane Jones, both students at Community High. They received permission from the Ann Arbor Railroad to do the mural and worked under the guidance of Mary Thiefels, visual arts program coordinator for the Neutral Zone, with funding from the nearby Bloom marijuana dispensary. Klobucar, who grew up on Fountain Street, said he feels privileged to have grown up in Water Hill and he sees the mural as one way of giving back. "I've always loved walking around, walking my dog, and just meeting new people on the streets of Water Hill," he said. "It's a great place to grow up." Klobucar, a 16-year-old junior at Skyline, said he's thankful to live in a community where he has a chance to do the kind of art he loves. "So many opportunities have come up for me in terms of art and public art in Ann Arbor and it's just great that I have such an outlet through Mary and the Neutral Zone that I can express myself creatively," he said. Thiefels, owner of TreeTown Murals, was arrested when she was 19 for doing a mural with her friends late at night at the Felch Street railroad underpass in Ann Arbor. The charges were later dropped after the railroad company and neighbors expressed support for their artistic efforts. Ever since, Thiefels, now 38, has had a cooperative relationship with the Ann Arbor Railroad and has overseen a number of mural projects at the underpasses, including in recent years leading teens from the Neutral Zone. "Hanging out with teenagers keeps me young," she said. Thiefels said the underpasses have become a canvas for rotating artworks, and street artists understand their works are impermanent. "It's kind of starting to become an emerging street artists program," she said. "At least, organically, that's what's happening." Another new mural at the Huron Street railroad underpass was done by Pat Wuethrich, a former Pioneer High foreign exchange student from Switzerland, during a recent visit to Ann Arbor. Another new mural at the Huron Street railroad underpass was done by Pat Wuethrich, a former Pioneer High foreign exchange student from Switzerland, during a recent visit to Ann Arbor. "She was 18 when I met her. She's 23 now," Thiefels said, adding she encouraged Wuethrich to do the mural and lined up a permit from the railroad company. In the case of the new Water Hill mural, Thiefels said the idea came from Dori Edwards of the Bloom dispensary at 423 Miller Ave. Thiefels presented the idea to a group of young graffiti artists at the Neutral Zone and they worked with Edwards to design the mural. Thiefels said the teens involved range in age from 15 to 17 and all have a love for graffiti art culture. Thiefels believes it's important to provide young people who want to do graffiti art with a channel for expressing themselves creatively. She's gotten to know many of them through a visual arts collective at the Neutral Zone that meets on Wednesday afternoons to do collaborative projects. Thiefels said the Miller Avenue underpass is actually where she did her first mural with permission from the Ann Arbor Railroad. In the late 1990s, after what happened on Felch Street, she and her friends received permission to paint new murals on several of the underpasses. "In the graffiti culture, there's constant covering up, but the idea is that you always do something better," Thiefels said of new murals replacing older ones. Klobucar and his friends used a combination of painting techniques for the Miller Avenue mural, using brushes, rollers and about 30 cans of spray paint. "We all are very accustomed to spray paint, but we use all mediums," he explained, adding he prefers spray paint. Klobucar said he hopes acceptance of graffiti culture continues to increase and that it becomes more mainstream in the art world. "And at some point, hopefully everybody will realize graffiti is one of the finest arts," he said. Ryan Stanton covers the city beat for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com. ANN ARBOR, MI - Mitchell Elementary School in Ann Arbor has a new look for the new school year. Six classrooms built this summer on to the school at 3550 Pittsview Drive were ready for use on the first day of school Tuesday, Sept. 6. The new wing was added in anticipation of growing enrollment as Mitchell works to become an authorized world school teaching International Baccalaureate curriculum. Mitchell's enrollment increased by 42 students to 317 in 2015-16, and the new addition includes enough space to accommodate another 120 to 150 students. A colorful hallway lined with gray lockers leads to the new rooms second, third and fifth graders will occupy this school year. The classrooms are outfitted with movable desks and chairs that give teachers different options for configuring their classrooms. Second grade teacher Chuck Hamilton is excited to start the school year in a new classroom, the first time he's changed rooms in his 27 years of teaching at Mitchell Elementary. "I like to keep it fresh and this year I'm really keeping it fresh," he said. "It's just exciting to see our school make this transformation." Staff members dressed in lime green shirts that matched the exterior color of the new addition greeted students with hugs and high fives as they arrived for the first day of school. Many parents waited outside the school as their children lined up by grade level, snapping pictures and giving final hugs before their students headed inside to class. Other changes to Mitchell for this year include the renovation of a resource room and converting another classroom into the Mitchell-Scarlett Community Center. The Parent Teacher Organizations for Mitchell and the nearby Scarlett Middle School held a welcome event for parents Tuesday morning. Mitchell Principal Kevin Karr plans to use the center to provide additional resources for parents, like ESL classes and access to computers. "Just like we want the kids to ask questions, we want parents to ask questions because then everybody's engaged," Karr said. 19540638-mmmain.jpg VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System will host a Veterans Town Hall and Resource Fair from 12:30 to 3 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 8, at the VA Ann Arbor Medical Center Auditorium located at 2215 Fuller Road in Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor News file photo ANN ARBOR, MI -- VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System is hosting a Veterans Town Hall and Resource Fair from 12:30 to 3 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 8. Representatives from the Veterans Benefits Administration's regional office in Detroit, the National Cemetery Administration, Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency and other community partners will attend, providing families with resource information at the VA Ann Arbor Medical Center Auditorium located at 2215 Fuller Road in Ann Arbor. All veterans, their families and community partners are invited to attend. The town hall will serve as an open forum for veterans and a listening session for VA leadership. The goal of the event is to ensure that veterans, their families and beneficiaries have the opportunity to be heard, and have their concerns addressed. Information will also be shared with attendees about the status of the construction projects at the VA Ann Arbor Medical Center as well as the new chronic pain management program. No registration is required. The event is free and open to the public. YPSILANTI, MI - Ypsilanti is a city that loves its history and perhaps holds more historians per capita than any town in the state. A new oral history project in which leading figures in the city's rich African-American past tell their own stories will add to that tradition. The Ypsilanti District Library, in partnership with Ypsilanti historians Matt Siegfried and Laura Bien, as well as Deb Meadows and Bev Willis of the African American Cultural & Historical Museum, organized the project, and the first interview is available on the YDL website. The interviews were conducted 40 years ago by historian and Eastern Michigan University Professor A.P. Marshall. He spoke with dozens of leaders in Ypsilanti's black community "seeking to preserve the stories and struggles of a generation who lived through the Great Depression, World War II, and the Civil Rights movement," said YDL communications and development manager Gillian Ream Gainsley. Through June 2017, the team will roll out several of Marshall's interviews monthly on the YDL website. "It was an opportunity for them to tell their stories in their own words, and that's what's so cool about oral history," Ream Gainsley said. "You're hearing their voice and hearing them tell their own story from their own perspective, with no filters and no new perspectives. It's kind of atmospheric, and like you're sitting in the room with them." Ypsilanti has a "fascinating, deep African-American history" Ream Gainsley added. Between the Civil War and World War I, it held a greater percentage blacks than any Michigan city, and that community was "organized and confident," and the center of black life in the region. "Ypsilanti was one of the few cities that already had a well-established black community before the Great Migration, which made the community very influential in the region," she said. The website launched with an interview of Eugene Beatty, a track athlete who nearly made the U.S. Olympic team in 1932 and went on to become a principal and leader in Ypsilanti's school district. The archive will also feature interviews with former Ypsilanti Mayor George Goodman and his wife, Thelma Goodman, a local women's leader. Other interviews include conversations with Marguerite Eaglin, a community activist and president of the local NAACP, and Garther Roberson and S.L. Roberson, a father and son who were pastors at Second Baptist Church and Metropolitan Baptist Church, respectively. Ream Gainsley said the project was met with enthusiasm in the black community, and much of it is new to the city's whites. "It's well-known within the black community. When we talked about this project, a lot of people said, 'Oh, great! I'm so glad it's being digitized,' because they knew of A.P. Marshall's interviews," she said. "Marshall worked hard on preserving and promoting that history, but it's only recently that the white community has learned of it and focused on hearing these voices," Ream Gainsley added. The YDL is adding Library of Congress topic headings so if someone is doing research about segregation or civil rights in Ypsilanti, they will find the interviews as primary sources. The project is funded with a $25,000 grant from the Michigan Humanities Council. "When listeners hear the powerful voices of Eugene Beatty and A.P. Marshall, they are transported to another place in time. You feel the immediate impact of history coming to life," said Bev Willis, a board member at AACHM. "Working with the library, we're able to provide the community with well-documented, relevant presentations of the local experience of black Americans." Find the interviews here. Find more Ypsilanti-area stories here. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.6 By Orkhan Guluzade - Trend: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will pay a visit to Turkey Sept.8-9, the Milligazete newspaper reported Sept.6. Reportedly, Stoltenberg will hold a number of meetings in Ankara. This will be his first visit to Turkey after the military coup attempt in the country. On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246, excluding the coup plotters, and over 2,000 people were wounded. Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @o_quluzade BAY CITY, MI -- A Bay City man has received a probationary sentence for attacking a former friend with a hammer. Bay County Circuit Judge Joseph K. Sheeran on Tuesday, Sept. 6, sentenced James E. Dawkins Jr., 46, to two years of probation. The judge gave Dawkins credit for three days already served and deferred an additional 272 days, meaning he'll serve them only if he violates his probation. Dawkins in July pleaded guilty to one count of attempted assault with a dangerous weapon. The charge is punishable by up to two years incarceration. In exchange for his plea, the prosecution dismissed a four-year felony charge of assault with a dangerous weapon. The charge stems from an incident that happened the evening of Sunday, April 10, when police responded to McLaren Bay Region hospital for an assault complaint. Once the complainant, 25-year-old Javon M. Clifford, was finished with his CAT scan and X-rays, he told police that he had been walking east on 24th Street near Jennison when a silver van pulled up near him, court records show. Clifford said Dawkins jumped out of the van and started attacking him with a hammer. He said Dawkins hit him in the back of his head and in his lower back, court records show. When neighbors started yelling, Dawkins returned to the van and drove off, Clifford told police. Clifford said Dawkins is upset with him because he thinks he stole some presents from Dawkins' children the previous Christmas, court records show. Police wrote in their reports, contained in court records, that Clifford had a small scratch to his head but no visible wounds to his back. Hospital staff told police Clifford suffered no skull fractures and that, in their opinion, his injuries were not consistent with hammer blows, court records show. Police spoke with the neighbors Clifford said saw the assault. They said they saw a man walking with a pizza when another man jumped out of a van and accosted him with a hammer, court records show. Officers later met with Dawkins at his home. He told them he was upset with Clifford over the loss of his children's Christmas presents. When he saw Clifford walking down 24th Street, Dawkins said he "just snapped," left his van, and punched Clifford. Dawkins went on to say he only grabbed the hammer to scare Clifford "and that if he would've wanted to hurt him bad, he could've," court records show. Police arrested Dawkins. DETROIT -- Students at Pulaski Elementary-Middle School received brand new backpacks filled with supplies before heading to class for their first day of school Tuesday. All elementary and middle school students in the Detroit Public Schools Community District will receive backpacks stuffed with school supplies in a charitable effort that comes as the new, debt-free public school district launches. Attorney Mike Morse and his Southfield firm funded the giveaway. Morse helped hand out the backpacks at Pulaski on tuesday. The firm founded Project Backpack in 2015. They year's giveaway is the largest so far. View photos from the distribution above. DETROIT -- Michigan State Police Troopers ended a high-speed chase of three motorcyclists after following them from Detroit to the Ohio border Monday. State troopers from the Metro Detroit Post clocked the three motorcycles at 120 mph 9:50 a.m. Monday, Sept. 5 on M-39 near I-96 in the city, according to police. While troopers attempted to catch up, the bikers reached speeds as high as 135 mph, police said. The pursuit carried onto westbound I-94 with one suspect exiting on Telegraph Road, another on Ecorse Road and the third on southbound I-275, according to an activity log from the state police post. After exiting southbound I-275 at Sibley, the third suspect made a maneuver back onto the highway and continued into Monroe County, according to police. At this point, police notified Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers before ending the pursuit at the border. Police did not know whether the third rider was apprehended by Ohio authorities. Bradley Shaw, Public Information Officer of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, wrote in an email that they were not involved in the pursuit. 17758173-mmmain.jpg A 2-year-old boy who went missing on Belle Isle was rescued by an off-duty Detroit firefighter 25-feet off the shore of the island. (Tanya Moutzalias) DETROIT -- A 2-year-old boy who went missing on Belle Isle was rescued by an off-duty Detroit firefighter 25-feet off the shore of the island. The Michigan State Police Metro Detroit Post sent out a series of tweets chronicling the events. After the rescue, the child was taken to the hospital, but was reported breathing and stable Monday night, Sept. 5. When state police were first called about the missing child at 7:10 p.m. Monday, they worked with the Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Coast Guard in closing the island down in case it was an abduction. The Associated Press reports that some visitors on the island were forced to stay while authorities searched for the child. State police report that it is still investigating how the child ended up in the water. More information is expected to be released once it becomes available. The firefighter who rescued the child has not been named. At 7 10 PM MSP Detroit Regional Communication received a call from Belle Isle of a missing 2 year child by the Water Slide on the Beach. MSP Metro Detroit (@mspmetrodet) September 6, 2016 MSP, DNR started a search with USCG and Border Patrol and MSP closed the island in case of an abduction pic.twitter.com/jx0WzQYqx3 MSP Metro Detroit (@mspmetrodet) September 6, 2016 . At 7 40 the child was recovered by a off duty Detroit Firefighter 25 yards off shore. Troopers assisted the child till EMS arrived MSP Metro Detroit (@mspmetrodet) September 6, 2016 LIVONIA -- Authorities are searching for a suspect in a sexual case after a woman told police she was nearly raped at Edward Hines Park. Officers were called to the park around 7:25 p.m on Sunday, Sep. 4, after the victim was assaulted while jogging, Livonia police announced Tuesday. The 28-year-old victim was jogging eastbound on the Edward Hines bike trail, west of Levan Road, when she saw the male suspect walking in the opposite direction, according to police. The victim attempted to jog past him, but he wrapped his arm around her neck, struck the side of her face and attempted to drag her to the Rouge River, she told police. The man attempted to remove her clothing and told her he wanted to have sex with her, but she was able to fight him off, police said. The suspect fled eastbound on foot, and the victim called police after flagging down a nearby motorist to use his cell phone. Officers were unable to locate the suspect after searching the area. The suspect is described as a black male, 28 to 30 years old, 5-foot-10, 180 pounds, clean shaven with a muscular build and short dark hair. He was wearing a tight fitting black or grey compression style shirt and dark-colored cargo shorts. Anyone with information is asked to call the Livonia Police Department at 734-466-2470. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.6 By Orkhan Guluzade - Trend: Turkey will strengthen the protection against hacker attacks by working out a new cyber security strategy, the Haber 7 newspaper reported Sept.6 citing the sources in the countrys Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications. Reportedly, the state information resources control body will be created in accordance with the new security strategy. The new structure is also considered to be responsible for neutralizing the hacker attack threats. Cyber attacks particularly threaten the websites of Turkeys law enforcement bodies. Turkeys online banking system was paralyzed for 10 days as a result of the recent cyber attack. Earlier, the confidential passport information of 50 million Turkish citizens was spread online as a result of the cyber attack. Turkey launched an investigation Apr.6 into the spread of the passport information of the countrys citizens online. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @o_quluzade Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 6 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: During the visit of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Sept.8-9 to Turkey, Ankara and NATO may discuss the closure of the airspace in northern Syria over the territories liberated from the Islamic State (IS, aka ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) militants, a source in the Turkish Armed Forces told Trend Sept. 6. Turkey earlier appealed to NATO with such a request, according to the source. The source added that Ankara and NATO will also discuss the details of the Shield of the Euphrates military operation carried out by the Turkish Armed Forces in northern Syria. Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the country has offered the US and Russia to close the airspace in northern Syria over the territories liberated from the IS. On Aug. 24 morning, the Turkish Air Force, with the support of the coalition aircraft, launched an operation to liberate the city of Jarabulus from the IS militants in northern Syria, near Aleppo. The operation was dubbed Shield of the Euphrates. Syria has been suffering from an armed conflict since March 2011, which, according to the UN, has so far claimed over 500,000 lives. Militants from various armed groups are confronting the Syrian government troops. The Islamic State (IS, ISIL, ISIS or Daesh), the YPG and the PYD are the most active terrorist groups in Syria. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu The Asian Development Bank has earmarked around US$45 million for the tourism sector, which it will begin to disburse in 2018, and industry operators have no shortage of suggestions for how it should be spent. Ministry of Hotels and Tourism director general U Thint Thwin told The Myanmar Times last week that the ADB had offered to lend $45 million, but that this was too much for the ministry to handle on its own. Thats why we are negotiating with [tourism-] related ministries on how much the government will accept and how much will be used by which ministry and where, he said. Myanmars tourism industry has huge potential. Singapore-listed firm Yoma Strategic Holdings announced last week it was creating a specific entity to focus on the growing sector. But the tourism industry also needs investment in human resources, infrastructure and marketing, said industry heads. One issue with investment, however, is a lack of data that could guide tourism firms on where best to put funds to work, U Phyo Wai Zar, chair of the Myanmar Tourism Marketing Committee told The Myanmar Times. The ministry has only rough data on the numbers of tourists visiting Myanmar in any given year, and not enough detail to allow firms to decide on where and how to promote their businesses, he said. Tourism ministry figures from 2015 showed 4.68 million visitors. But critics point out the vast majority are not tourists, but day-trippers who cross land borders with Thailand and China, and contribute relatively little to the economy outside of border towns. U Phyo Wai Zar wants the government to increase is ability to monitor tourist trends. If the government analysed the data on tourist arrivals, it would make it easier for us to market our tours, U Phyo Wai Zar said. Were not interested in how many millions of tourists visited in a year, we need detailed information on which destinations, and what income group the tourists are in. Daw Hla Darli Khin, a director at 7Days travel company, told The Myanmar Times she expected some of the ADB funds to help built the necessary infrastructure to allow people to visit more destinations and lower costs. We need to upgrade the infrastructure to ensure better services, she said. Myanmar is one of the most expensive destinations in ASEAN after Singapore. She believes tourists will not make repeat visits to Myanmar while costs remain higher than neighouring destinations. I dont think that tourism can be developed with only marketing, she said. Thats why we need efforts from all sectors. Myanmars rigid banking system is restraining trade potential with India, one of the countrys largest trading partners, according to senior officials at Myanmars peak business bodies. U Myo Thet, vice president at the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI), told The Myanmar Times last week that many Indian traders wanted to deal in rupees, which delayed payment as local traders needed to settle in US. We have a lot of challenges with the India rupee, especially when transferring money for payment, he said. So we face delays in settling. The issue is a big challenge for us. A history of currency instability and complex trade sanctions means that a lot of foreign exchange transactions relating to international trade with Myanmar are completed offshore. U Myo Thet said the issue of rupee exchange had been raised with the previous government. He expressed hope that the new NLD-led government might be able to negotiate through its diplomatic ties to find a more accommodating solution with their Indian counterparts. Opinion: India needs to do more in Myanmar Rohinton Engineer, vice president of the Indo-Myanmar Chamber of Commerce and Industries, said as soon as the three Indian banks waiting to establish a foothold on Myanmar were granted access, trade would likely improve. We can do this process quickly, as soon as the Myanmar government gives banking licences to India Banks, he said. According to figures from the Ministry of Commerce, in the 2015-16 fiscal year trade between India and Myanmar was valued at US$1.7 billion. India is the third-largest among Myanmars border trading countries. Yoma Strategic Holdings is restructuring its tourism assets and plans to create a new Myanmar tourism-focused firm that will merge with other players in the sector and potentially list on the Singapore exchange, Yomas chief executive told The Myanmar Times. The company announced on September 2 that it had bought the remaining 25 percent it did not own in a tourism subsidiary Chindwin Holdings that operates, among other ventures, a popular air-balloon business in Bagan. But the purchase is only part of a wider restructuring that will see Singapore-listed Yoma Strategic spinoff its tourism assets into a new entity. We feel that tourism [in Myanmar] is a very significant opportunity but requires dedicated management and expertise, said chief executive Melvyn Pun, At Yoma were not ready to scale up to that, so in setting up a new company our intention is to merge our assets [with those of other firms]. Yoma Strategic has already put in place a dedicated management team for the new entity, and has under-construction hotel projects that will be transferred to the new firm. Mr Pun says the plan is to construct hotels in key tourist cities, and to build smaller hotel projects in less well-known destinations. Its not that we want to be in the high-end or any [specific] part of the tourism sector, said Mr Pun. Instead Yoma is looking to capitalise on the broad range of tourism experiences, from cruises to balloon rides, from cities to villages. The new company will market its tourism businesses under an undisclosed unifying brand, which the firm is in the process of developing, Mr Pun said. The company is seeking Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) approval for several tourism-focused projects that will run under the new entity, and has its eye on potential partners engaged in already-approved tourism ventures, Mr Pun added. Yoma Strategic will initially restructure its tourism-assets into a Yoma controlled venture, which will then merge with other firms and shareholders. The result will be that over time Yoma Strategic will own a smaller stake in a larger tourism platform, said Mr Pun. He said Yoma hopes to announce further details of mergers and the new tourism entity in coming months. One option is to have the new tourism-focussed firm list in Singapore, which has the advantage of drawing additional capital, he said. The other is to have the firm stay unlisted in the short to medium term and rely on private equity funds or individual investors, with the aim of getting listed two or three years later, Mr Pun said. Either way the plan is to have a Singapore-listed venture, but Mr Pun also sees a Yangon Stock Exchange listing further down the road. Yoma Strategic chair Serge Pun owns First Myanmar Investment, which was the first company to list on the YSX earlier this year. FMI also holds a minority stake in Chindwin Holdings, which now owns 100pc of Balloons Over Bagan. Potential partnerships for the new tourism entity will include those in the hotel and travel agency business, the firm said. Yoma Strategic already has exposure to the hotels business through its Landmark Project in downtown Yangon, which includes a luxury hotel in which Yoma has a 24pc stake. But this will be treated as a real estate project and is unaffected by the restructuring, Mr Pun said. Yoma Strategic focuses on four main business pillars real estate, automotive and equipment, the consumer sector, and investments. The restructuring will allow the firm to keep its focus on these four pillars, while retaining an investment in the lucrative tourism sector, Mr Pun said. But he expects the tourism entity to contribute less and less to Yomas overall profits over time as its core businesses grow. Wong Yew Kiang, an analyst at Hong Kong firm Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia (CLSA), said the restructuring was unlikely to affect Yomas popularity with equity investors. CLSA has a buy recommendation on Yoma Strategic stock, which it said was the only way for capital market buyers to gain exposure the Myanmar real estate market. Yoma Strategics shares were up 0.87pc at S$0.58 on the Singapore stock exchange yesterday afternoon. FMIs shares were up K500 at K20,000 at yesterdays close. Three plus-size models dance on stage to Fifth Harmonys hit song Worth It and the crowd goes wild welcome to the Miss 200lbs Beauty Contest Myanmar. Last weekend, contestants proved that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes by competing in the countrys first pageant for plus-size women. I gained weight after I had two kids. I was made fun of, said 32-year-old contestant Ma May Lwin Bo. But by being part of this contest, I was able to shine [despite] what happened in life and with my size. I dont mind if I win or lose the contest. It makes me stronger and it can encourage other women like me. Ma May Lwin Bo went on to win Miss Plus Size Photogenic Award at the contest while the first runner-up went to Khine Su Wai and second prize was won by Phyu Hin Phway. Miss Plus Size Chubby was Yin Lae Aung and Miss Plus Size Eain Chit Thu was Nann Laung Hlian. The winner of Miss Plus Size Beauty Queen and the Peoples Choice Award was Ma Sandy Min Aung after she competed in three rounds, dressing in traditional costume, casual wear, sport wear and smart wear. The contest marked the one year anniversary of the 200lbs Beauties Myanmar Group, which was founded by plus-size women in Myanmar. That was the first time on stage for our contestants, said Ma Khin Su Su San, one of the founders of 200lbs Beauties Myanmar Group and organiser of the event. The contestants did so well, fighting off nerves. It was a big success and I would like to hold this event every year. She said she would start calling for contestants in January 2017 for a second plus-size beauty contest. A shake-up of the National League for Democracy in Shan State has led to the sacking of a regional chair who appeared to suggest on Facebook that the recent leadership change may have been bought. On September 4, central executive committee (CEC) member U Win Htein travelled to the NLDs Taunggyi township office to oversee changes to the local leadership. While there, he terminated the party membership of U Tin Maung Toe, who had posted critically online about the recently announced changes to the states southern executive committee membership. U Tin Maung Toe had served as chair of the partys Taunggyi district branch. When I informed Daw Aung San Suu Kyi about my visit to Taunggyi to solve these issues, she told me to make things clear, so thats what I did, said U Win Htein. But some members of the NLD in Shan State say clarity is not what U Win Htein achieved. Daw Khin Moe Moe, who had been serving as chair of the state-level executive committee, disputed the CEC members assertion that she, among others, had been demoted, arguing that proper procedures had not been followed. There is a party disciplinary group both in states and at the central [level of the] NLD, she told The Myanmar Times. If a party member commits a mistake, the states disciplinary group will have to investigate and report the result to central, and only then can the central disciplinary [body] and CEC demote the person. U Win Htein told The Myanmar Times yesterday that he had demoted three members of the state-level executive committee for improper conduct during last years election campaign period. The at-times-brash CEC member fired U Tin Maung Toe on September 4 for a Facebook post the latter made afterward, in which he claimed that executive committee positions could be bought. There are stages of taking action in the party. Firstly, we give a warning, then we give a serious warning, then we demote the person and finally we will expel him from the party, U Win Htein said, before adding that the severity of U Tin Maung Toes indiscretion had warranted a summary dismissal from the party. U Khun Sann Lwin, chair of the Taunggyi township NLD branch, said he and other township- and state-level party leaders had expressed concern about the manner in which the reshuffle was being handled, and lobbied U Win Htein unsuccessfully to reconsider the dismissals. As the state counsellor launched a new advisory commission on Rakhine yesterday, she acknowledged the government has not yet found the right solution to address human rights abuses and ongoing displacement in the restive state. We must try to remedy the situation, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said at the meeting with former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, who will head the nine-member commission. She asked the commission to undertake a fair assessment of the Rakhine situation. You [the commission members] can assess for yourselves what the root of the problem is, she said. We will face the problems no matter what they are, and we are prepared to solve them with you, she added. Daw Aung San Suu Kyis new government has been internationally criticised for not taking a stronger line on Rakhine State since assuming office at the end of March, with the new commission seen as a measure to deflect the reproach. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), some 120,000 people remain in squalid temporary displacement camps four years after deadly sectarian violence erupted in the state. The majority of the displaced are self-identifying Muslim Rohingya who continue to face severe restrictions on their movement, with limited access to healthcare and education. Muslims living in villages and IDP camps in Rakhine face particular financial and logistics challenges when it comes to accessing healthcare for serious conditions, UNOCHA said in a June bulletin. At yesterdays press briefing at the National Reconciliation and Peace Centre, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said resolving the conflict in Rakhine State was inherently linked to the peace process. She urged the commission to help heal the wounds of the nation. Commission chair Kofi Annan yesterday pledged to work with rigorous impartiality in order to resolve communal tensions. I am confident that we can work with the people of Rakhine to work to find a commonality and a peaceful and prosperous solution, he said. However, before the commission has even begun unpacking the tinderbox issue, the inclusion of international experts on the commission, including Mr Annan, a Ghanaian; Ghassan Salame, of Lebanon; and Norwegian Laetitia van den Assum, has already triggered backlash. Rakhine nationalists, including members of the states dominant political party, contend the appointment of foreigners to addresses a sensitive internal affair has put Myanmars sovereignty at stake. The sovereignty of the nation belongs to the people. This nation is theirs, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said in response to the objections. There are those who think we are dragging an internal problem onto the international stage. It is nothing of that kind Our problem has been on the international stage for many years. The commission members will head to Rakhine State for an initial field visit today, but are expected to be greeted by protesting Rakhine nationalists. Parliament will also debate an urgent proposal submitted by Rakhine politicians to abolish the commission. The advisory team is set to meet with members of the Rakhine State government, community elders, and residents of both Rakhine and Rohingya IDP camps. Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 6 By Orkhan Guluzade Trend: Turkey should put pressure on the US in order to achieve the withdrawal of Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and Kurdish People's Defense Units (YPG) from strategically important city of Manbij in Syria on the west bank of the Euphrates River, says a Turkish expert. In an exclusive interview with Trend, Armagan Kuloglu, a retired lieutenant-general of the Turkish armed forces and expert on national security, said Turkey can launch new operations against PYD in the city of Afrin in northwestern Syria as a lever of political pressure. Afrin has enough strategic importance for Turkey. By liberating Afrin from the PYD, Turkey can ensure the security of Turkomans residing in the areas near the Turkish border, said the expert. In order to eliminate the threats springing from the Islamic State (IS, aka, ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) terrorist group on Turkeys border, Turkish troops should enter 40 kilometers into Syria, said Kuloglu, adding this will enable Turkey to secure itself from the missile attacks by the IS. He pointed out that in order to prevent the missile attacks by the IS, Turkish armed forces should also liberate the city of Al-Bab in the northern Syria. Commenting on the expected visit of the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to Turkey Sept. 8-9, Kuloglu said it is not ruled out that the parties will discuss the possibilities of closing the airspace over the northern Syria. Turkish Air Force launched an operation Aug. 24 with support of the coalition aircraft to liberate Syrias Jarabulus from the IS militants. The operation was dubbed the Shield of the Euphrates. Syria has been suffering from an armed conflict since March 2011, which, according to the UN, has so far claimed over 500,000 lives. Militants from various armed groups are confronting the Syrian government troops. The IS, the YPG and the PYD are the most active terrorist groups in Syria. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @o_quluzade The 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits and related meetings begin today in Vientiane, Laos, with a host of regional leaders attending the events, including a Myanmar delegation led by State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. One telling absence will be that of President U Htin Kyaw, the titular figurehead of Daw Aung San Suu Kyis government. An officer with the Laos foreign ministrys information department said that with the president not attending, Laotian officials had invited Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in her capacity as state counsellor and not as foreign minister, a title she also holds. Analysts said the Daw Aung San Suu Kyi-led delegation reflected the regional blocs recognition that she is Myanmars de facto leader, overcoming a constitutional ban on her assuming the presidency to represent the nation at home and abroad. Myanmars Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement yesterday saying Daw Aung San Suu Kyi intended to discuss implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community, its Vision 2025 agenda and other community-building plans at this weeks summit. The state counsellor will be discussing the external relations of ASEAN, the common regional and international problems as well as ASEANs future vision during the summit period, the statement said. It made no specific mention of the South China Sea, where territorial disputes between China and some ASEAN member states have plagued perceptions of the regional blocs unity in recent years. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to inquiries from The Myanmar Times about why U Htin Kyaw is not attending this weeks gathering in Laos. Kavi Chongkittavorn, a Thai analyst of ASEAN affairs, said Daw Aung San Suu Kyis attendance as state counsellor was logical given her high ranking within the National League for Democracy government. She can do a good job as state counsellor as she knows ASEAN affairs and has learned quickly, and she has another former UN ambassador to help her at the ministerial level, said Mr Kavi, an apparent reference to U Kyaw Tint Swe, Myanmars permanent representative to the UN from 2001 to 2010, who now serves as minister for the Office of the State Counsellor. U Than Soe Naing, a local political analyst, said Daw Aung San Suu Kyis trip to Laos was indicative of a simple reality: that she can speak with regional counterparts from a position of authority that U Htin Kyaw does not hold. He added that in practical terms, the presence of two leaders one effectively ceremonial, the other calling the shots for one country might lead to confusion over protocol. At the previous Panglong Conference, although President U Htin Kyaw is the president of the country, he only did what he should and let Daw Aung San Suu Kyi lead all things ... So I figure, this is the same conditions with ASEAN as was for Panglong, said U Than Soe Naing, referring to a peace conference that concluded over the weekend. The ASEAN Summit will be the highest-profile multilateral forum that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has attended since her government took power at the end of March. She will also headline the Myanmar delegation at a session of the UN General Assembly later this month, and is set to visit US President Barack Obama on a trip to Washington from September 14 to 15. Mr Obama will also be in Vientiane this week. Daw Aung San Suu Kyis first trip abroad to a major power came last month, when she visited China and met with President Xi Jinping. Additional reporting by Shoon Naing Kofi Annan, chair of the newly formed Rakhine advisory commission, has vowed the nine-member team will work to end the violence which has blighted the state, and to help build economic prosperity. The former UN secretary general also called on Myanmar's neighbours to "play a constructive and positive role" during his address at the state government headquarters in Sittwe this morning. Over 120,000 people remain displaced in Rakhine after communal violence broke out in 2012 between Rakhine Buddhists and the Muslim minority who self- identify as Rohingya but who are referred to as illegal Bengali immigrants by the majority in Myanmar. With speakers set at low levels Mr Annan's words were barely audible at times as crowds outside chanted protest slogans against the commission, which Rakhine nationalists have accused of being biased. In his opening remarks, Mr Annan commented on the "active and hectic reception" he had received upon arrival at Sittwe airport this morning. At least 300 protestors lined the road from the airport shouting that Mr Annan was not welcome and waving banners objecting to his presence as a kind of foreign intervention. "We do not believe the commission is fair," said Ko Aung Ko Moe, who was assisting protest organisers. However U Tin Maung Swe, secretary of the Rakhine State government, claimed protestors had been paid to attend, given K5000 each by a political organisation. "They are not from Sittwe," he said, a claim apparently backed by some protestors themselves who said they had come from surrounding villages after being rallied by local leaders the night before. Opening the meeting of about 100 delegates, U Kyaw Tint Swe, minister for the State Counsellors Office, said the commission had been formed "in the interest of the entire nation", pressing home the message that "stability and development go hand in hand". His address was followed by remarks from the Chief Minister of Rakhine State, U Nyi Pu, who urged "friendly and frank discussions" and said "this is not the kind of work that can be completed in one day, or one visit, so I hope this effort will be continued if a solution is to be found." Mr Annan also stressed a link between peace and economic development. He said as chair of the commission he is aware of the "great suffering" of people in Rakhine, and the challenges ahead. "My experience has shown me that peaceful democracy and peaceful society can be built on three things: sustainable development; peace and security; and respect for rule of law and human rights." He added, "No nation can long remain prosperous without respect for rule of law and human rights. A new embalming method will help in the training of local surgeons, who will now not need to go abroad to study. With government sponsorship and contributions from private donors, the University of Medicine in Mandalay on August 29 opened its cadaveric surgical training centre. The university will be the first institution in the country to use the new method of saturated salt solution to preserve cadavers. The practice supersedes earlier methods that could not prevent the body from hardening, and keeps the body supple, said anatomy department head Dr La Ban Khun. She said the aim was to support advanced surgical courses for postgraduates and to share the new embalming method with other medical institutions. Weve been trying to set up a surgical training centre since 2013. Myanmar still needs many skilled surgeons, so weve established this centre to train them locally. This cadaveric surgical training centre will use new the embalming method that will help replicate the condition of a live human body, she said. In the past, medical students had to go abroad to acquire knowledge of this surgical practice. Now a laboratory has been set up and has already prepared embalmed bodies. We will invite surgeons from overseas to give lessons. The saturated salt solution method has been used in the West since 1992 and in Japan since 1998. The cadaveric surgical training centre in Mandalay consists of 24 rooms which can store up to 100 embalmed dead bodies. The saturated salt solution is suitable for schools in our country. The old method caused dead bodies to darken and harden. With the new method, the bodies feel alive, and students can even find a vein, she said. But we need more body donations. We must receive the body within 24 hours of death. In the past, we used to accept cadavers during office hours only, and there were not enough. We have discussed with civil society groups the possibility of accepting bodies at any time, she said. The government provided more than K63 million for the establishment of the centre, and laboratory equipment was provided by private contributions. Surgeons from overseas will begin conducting training courses from October 23. Translation by Zar Zar Soe As traffic congestion thickens and high-rise buildings dominate the skyline, it seems that the overcrowding situation in the land of the living is reflected for those below the ground. Yangons dead are running out of room. With no more space for plots underground, the commercial capitals largest cemetery is looking to expand vertically. The Yayway cemetery, in North Okkalapa township, is considering stacking future cadavers in high-rise graves. The problem is worst for the Christian dead, whose families prefer burial plots to cremation. About 20 interments take place in the 12-acre (4.8 hectare) cemetery every week. Each grave costs K250,000. The graveyard accommodates 250,000 plots, and they are all full. The Christian cemeterys management committee has drawn up a plan to stack the remains three deep. U Bwe Kyone, deputy head of the citys Department of Pollution Control and Cleansing, which is responsible for the maintenance of the site, said the city has no more land to offer the cemetery. Its only the Christian cemetery that doesnt have sufficient space. Their committee asked us to provide more plots, but there are no more. So theyre arranging to build vertical high-rise graves, he said.The cemetery was established 20 years ago. The design was approved by the previous regional government and put into effect last June. Committee member Ko Michael said remains buried during the past 10 years would be disinterred and the bones placed in a pot. The pots would be stacked up in a space 1 square foot in extent. We will inform the families concerned when we begin the process next year. We already allow the ashes and bones from cremated bodies to be stacked up in the cemetery. We will continue with this system of vertical high-rise graves and stacked graves in the future, he told The Myanmar Times. Not everybody is happy with the arrangement. U Alex, who lives in Insein township, said, I think a cemetery should offer one person, one grave. I understand there is no more space for this system. But I dont want to see a vertical high-rise cemetery. But Ma Nant Theingi, of Ahlone township, said, It doesnt matter. Graves are not the main point space is the main point. What does it matter when youre dead? The Christian cemetery is just one of the 16 religious graveyards in Yayway, alongside Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu and Chinese Buddhist burial grounds. But none of the other burial grounds is experiencing the same problem. The Muslim practice is to disinter every five years, and to accommodate deceased family members together. The cost of a Muslim grave is K300,000, the same as a Buddhist grave. Most Buddhists prefer cremation. Yangon offers the cheapest service in the country, at K4000, while a Mandalay cremation costs K30,000 and Nay Pyi Taw K25,000. We use 4 or 5 gallons [of petrol] for one cremation. We come in under budget every year, said U Bwe Kyone. In an attempt to find a sustainable solution to the complicated issues between Muslims and Buddhists in Rakhine State, former UN secretary general Kofi Annan is visiting Myanmar this week. Mr Annan is chair of the nine-member Rakhine State Advisory Commission formed by the government on August 23. Mr Annan, who was the UN chief from 1997 to 2006, shared the Nobel Peace Prize with the United Nations in 2001. The other international members of the commission are Ghassan Salame, a scholar from Lebanon and former adviser to Mr Annan, and Laetitia van den Assum, a Dutch diplomat and former adviser to the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. The commissions six other members are Myanmar nationals, with two Rakhine Buddhists, two Muslims and two government representatives. The commission has been tasked with finding conflict-prevention measures; ensuring humanitarian assistance, rights and reconciliation; establishing basic infrastructure; and putting forward long-term development plans for the restive state. It has been given one year to conduct research and submit a report on its findings. Formation of the commission was prompted by a number of factors, but most importantly due to the protracted and lingering tensions between Buddhists and Muslims (mostly self-identifying Rohingya) in the wake of 2012 violence in Rakhine State that killed more than 100 people and has resulted in more than 100,000 Rohingya Muslims living in displacement camps where their movements are restricted. Crucial timing The timing of Mr Annans visit is important for the Myanmar government because it happens as the attention of the international community, including the media fraternity, is relatively high vis-a-vis the Southeast Asian nation. First, Mr Annans travels come right after the highly anticipated 21st-century Panglong Conference, at which the government sought to make initial strides toward securing peace and reconciliation with the countrys ethnic minorities. Several dignitaries, including Ban Ki-moon, Mr Annans successor as UN secretary general, attended the conference. Second, the commission chairs first visit also comes ahead of Daw Aung San Suu Kyis planned visit to the United States, where she will meet President Barack Obama and also address the 71st session of the UN General Assembly. By making some progress in the peace process with Myanmars ethnic armed groups, as well as by taking concrete steps to tackle the Rohingya issue, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will have a strong case to present during her meeting with Mr Obama and also while addressing the UN General Assembly. Myanmars state counsellor is expected to make efforts to convince the international community of her NLD governments positive initiatives while urging patience and continued support for its success. Challenges ahead Despite these positive developments, there are certain challenges. The first is opposition to the commissions composition. Since its formation last month, two political parties the Arakan National Party and the Union Solidarity and Development Party have called for its abolition or the removal of its three foreign members on the grounds that they cannot be expected to understand the local context or that their involvement would amount to interference in Myanmars internal affairs. Whether these political parties will eventually accept and recognise the role of the commission or continue with their opposition remains to be seen. The acceptance or non-acceptance of the commission may also depend on how its work progresses and or the strategy it pursues. The issue of identity or nomenclature will perhaps be the greatest challenge for the commission. Although most Muslims in Rakhine State call themselves Rohingya, Buddhists there and many across Myanmar call them Bengali, implying that they are illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh. In an attempt to pacify both sides, the NLD government uses neither of the two sensitive terms and instead refers to them as the Muslims of Rakhine. The previous USDP government used the term Bengali, and at one point then-president U Thein Sein suggested that they should be resettled to a third country under an initiative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, a proposition that was rejected outright by the UN. During his recent visit to Myanmar, Mr Ban, the UN chief, chose to use the controversial term Rohingya. While most Muslims in Rakhine State want to be identified as Rohingya, and amid strong opposition to the term from Buddhist nationalists, it is still unclear what name the commission might use to refer to these people. Another major challenge will be the question of citizenship for the Rohingya. As of now, the NLD governments position on the issue is not much different from its predecessor. The government wants to address this sensitive question in accordance with the 1982 Citizenship Law, which will make many Rohingya ineligible for Myanmar citizenship. According to the controversial legislation, there are three categories of citizenship: full, associate and naturalised. Full citizens are descendants of residents who lived in Burma prior to 1823 or were born to parents both of whom were citizens. Associate citizens are those who acquired citizenship through the 1948 Union Citizenship Act. Naturalised citizens are people who lived in Burma before January 4, 1948, and applied for citizenship after 1982. Because of the persistent claim that Rohingya are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, whether the advisory commission will talk to the Dhaka government in the course of its mission remains to be seen. A compounding complication is that Bangladesh, which already hosts a Rohingya population of about 300,000, has rejected the group as its citizens. New thinking The NLD governments formation of a commission on Rakhine State is not the first of its kind. A commission was formed following the first outbreak of inter-communal violence in 2012, and also in February 2014, when U Thein Sein appointed a 10-member commission to probe the death of a policeman that sparked the alleged killings of at least 40 Rohingya Muslims by Buddhist mobs in western Rakhine States Maungdaw township. Neither commission brought a lasting solution to the simmering tensions between Muslims and Buddhists in Rakhine State. Among other reasons, they partly failed because the government had lacked substantive plans to address the core issues of identity and citizenship for the Rohingya. In light of these failures both commissions were led solely by people of Myanmar and continued pressure from the international community, the participation of foreign experts may help bring some new thinking and fresh ideas that pave the way for a possible solution to the protracted problem. In any case, the task of the Annan-led commission is to conduct research and give its recommendations to the Myanmar government. Fearful nationalists may take comfort in knowing that the commission has no enforcement power. Since there are Myanmar nationals as well as foreigners on the commission, it may foster a neutral approach that is mutually acceptable to all. However, regardless of the appointment of the commission and its anticipated recommendations, reconciliation will have a chance to succeed only when Rohingya and Rakhine communities are willing to compromise on their differences by respecting each others identity and culture. More importantly, the Myanmar government and the general public must be ready to embrace the Rohingya as legitimate claimants to citizenship if any genuine reconciliation is to be achieved. Nehginpao Kipgen is an assistant professor and executive director of the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, Jindal School of International Affairs, OP Jindal Global University. His writings have been published in more than 30 countries on five continents Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe and North America. [September 06, 2016] TCS Unveils New Unemployment Insurance System for the State of Mississippi NEW YORK and MUMBAI, India, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS) a leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, today announced that the Mississippi, Rhode Island and Maine (MRM) Consortium has gone live with the TCS developed Unemployment Insurance (UI) Application for Benefits. Mississippi began implementation of the UI solution prior to the formation of the consortium, while the states of Maine and Rhode Island plan to adopt the solution in the near future. Mississippi's Unemployment Insurance program helps unemployed individuals throughout the state by providing monetary benefits to those who have involuntarily lost their jobs, while they look for new employment opportunities. TCS has been helping several U.S. states to modernize their systems that support Unemployment Insurance programs. The TCS developed solution is a robust and highly scalable platform with the ability to easily control multiple functional requirements, such as support for online claims processing, adjudication, appeals, and extensive tracking of all claims and payments. Playing a key role in the MRM Consortium's digital strategy, the TCS developed UI solution also includes an enhanced mobile app that provides easy access for claimants to file weekly certifications with work search details. The MRM Consortium states now have a strong foundation for future modernization, offering greater flexibility, shared maintenance cost and ease-of-use, and the ability to move towards cloud based systems in the near future. "The successful launch of the TCS developed UI multi-tenant application in Mississippi demonstrates that the MRM Consortium continues to move forward," said Mark Henry, Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Employment Security. "We are pleased that Mississippi is the first state to launch such an application and we look forward to the deployment in Rhode Island and Maine next year. This success certainly required extensive team work and coordination by all the partners, and is an example of what we can achieve together." "TCS is delighted to partner with the MRM Consortium to pioneer this robust multi-state Unemployment Insurance modernization," added Tanmoy Chakrabarty, Global Head, Government Industry Solutions Unit, TCS. "We believe this will be a harbinger for many other U.S. states to enhance their systems and fast-track improved service delivery to their stakeholders." Over the past few decades, there has been a federal push for states to upgrade their legacy Unemployment Insurance systems that support employees who are involuntarily unemployed. The U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) has supported the concept of multi-state consortia for joint UI modernization efforts. The Mississippi Department of Employment Security (MDES), which had already undergone such modernization efforts, joined forces with Maine and Rhode Island to form the MRM Consortium and develop UI modernization applications to reduce long term maintenance and support costs. TCS was selected by MDES to build a UI application that consolidated data and business processes into a single, secure and accessible environment with core and state specific components. For more information about TCS' Government Business Unit, visit us at www.tcs.com/Government. About Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS) Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization that delivers real results to global business, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT, BPS, infrastructure, engineering and assurance services. This is delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model, recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development. A part of the Tata group, India's largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has over 362,000 of the world's best-trained consultants in 45 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of US $16.5 billion for year ended March 31, 2016 and is listed on the BSE (formerly Bombay Stock Exchange) and the NSE (National Stock Exchange) in India. For more information, visit us at www.tcs.com To stay up-to-date on TCS news in North America, follow @TCS_NA. For TCS global news, follow @TCS_News. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131002/LA90934LOGO-b To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tcs-unveils-new-unemployment-insurance-system-for-the-state-of-mississippi-300322870.html SOURCE Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 06, 2016] iHealth and eDevice Join Forces to Become the World's Leading Connected Healthcare Provider The Connected Care space is developing rapidly and will continue to do so for a number of years. Connected Care allows individuals and caregivers to identify health problems before they become dangerous for the individual, reduce the cost to the healthcare system, and a burden on his or her employer. Connected Care can empower patients, improve their compliance, allow correcting a care plan, adapting a medication, informing caregivers, reducing hospital readmissions, and allowing patients and their families to live a better life. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160906005823/en/ Mr Liu, founder of iHealth and chairman at Andon Group, between Marc Berrebi and Stephane Schinazi, co-founders of eDevice. (Photo: eDevice) eDevice with headquarters in Bordeaux France, is recognized as a leader in the Connected Care market and has been relied upon for fifteen years by market leaders to provide solutions that securely transmit medical data between their patients and their systems, with hundreds of thousands of patients currently connected using eDevice technology and solutions. With an impressive track record of 10 consecutive years of high revenue and profits growth, and the most prestigious references in the healthcare world, eDevice is the European "success story" of the Connected Care. iHealth with headquarters in Mountain View California, was the first brand to release an iOS connected blood pressure monitor and became a leader in its space by proposing a full healthcare and wellbeing product range in the consumer Connected Healthcare market. Its products, that have received rewards from Red Dot design, iF design, and CES (News - Alert) innovation, and are distributed worldwide through reputable retail channels, empower people to manage their health and wellbeing and support monitoring along the continuum of care. Due to the aging population, the increasing burden of healthcare costs and the development of chronic diseases, the mHealth Solutions Market including Connected Devices (Blood Pressure Monitor, Glucose Meter, Pulse (News - Alert) Oximeter) Apps (Weight Loss, Womens Health, Personal Health Record, & Medication) and Services (Remote Monitoring, Consultation, Prevention) is expected to witness exponential growth in th coming years. According to Markets&Markets, this market is poised to reach USD 59.15 Billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 33.4% until 2020. Together, iHealth, eDevice and Andon Group are present in all the segments of the market. Stephane Schinazi, co-founder of eDevice declares "We have built a fantastic toolset able to answer to the requirements of the most demanding healthcare companies regarding quality, regulatory, and scalability. Whilst our client base is mostly in the US, we see the opportunity to address global markets with more geographic presence and more resources". Marc Berrebi, the other co-founder adds, "We are on a fragmented market. While a number of protagonists are still trying to figure out what they could do to enter the space, eDevice and iHealth have an established position in the B2B (Business to Business) and B2C (Business to Consumer) markets. It is not a coincidence that iHealth and eDevice are both in the Global Digital Health 100 of the Journal of mHealth. We will form a fantastic group of companies with a global presence and the opportunity to take the leadership of the booming Connected Care market." Mr. Liu, Founder of iHealth and Chairman of Andon Group says, "eDevice is an amazing company and together, we will make a difference in the healthcare world. The Andon Group (through iHealth) already has a strong presence in Europe, in the US and in China. We are now in a position to take the market leadership globally. Marc and Stephane will continue to lead eDevice, together with the current eDevice management team, and will have a strategic advisory position in the Andon Group." About eDevice Founded in 2000 in Bordeaux France, eDevice pioneered the telehealth connectivity space providing communication solutions consisting of bespoke hardware, software, and network services, to securely and safely transfer patient data, with hundreds of thousands of patients of large Medtech companies and healthcare organizations currently connected, and more than 3 million products embedding eDevice's technology in the field to date. Dedicated to quality, eDevice is ISO-9001 and ISO-13485 certified for design, production, marketing of modems and communicating equipment, and provision of global network telecommunication and data transmission services. eDevice is an active contributor for the standardization of the industry. Through partnership with technology leaders, the company brings innovative connectivity solutions to medical device manufacturers. eDevice's team of experts enables the company to continue steady and profitable growth. During the last few months, eDevice has won the "Grand Prix des Entreprises de croissance" of the Leaders League as a recognition of its 100%+ annual growth over the last couple of years, has been declared "Champion de l'Exportation" by the business magazine l'Expansion as an acknowledgement of its 99.8% record export rate, and has been identified as one of the most profitable French SMEs by the magazine Manageo. With growth, exports all over the world and profitability, eDevice will continue to expand its model in the US but also in Europe and Asia. About iHealth iHealth, founded in 2010, from Mountain View California, and with offices in France and China, is dedicated to helping people lead healthier lives. Its goal is to make it as easy as possible for individuals of all ages to take a more active role in managing their health. It does this by designing and manufacturing innovative, consumer-friendly, mobile personal healthcare products that connect to the cloud. Its products are easy-to-use, making it simple for consumers to accurately measure, track and share a full range of health vitals. By automatically connecting the data through the cloud, consumers are able to see a more comprehensive view of their vitals and easily share information with healthcare professionals or loved ones. Its award-winning line of products include blood pressure monitors, blood glucose monitors, body analysis scales, pulse oximeters and activity and sleep trackers. All of its products sync directly with a free mobile app that makes monitoring, viewing, storing and sharing of health vitals simple and comprehensive. About Andon Group Andon Group, founded in 1995 and publicly traded on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange has its headquarters in Tianjin, China. Andon designs and manufactures products for its OEM and ODM customers that make it simple to measure, manage and share health information. Andon's production and development team is 100% focused on delivering OEM and ODM solutions for some of the largest brands in the world. Its factory in Tianjin employs 1500 workers with 120 dedicated R&D engineers that are focused on ?nding new and innovative solutions. Andon's factories are certified according to the stringent ISO 9001, ISO 13485, and CMDCAS quality management systems and its blood pressure monitors are validated against the exacting standards of the BHS (British Hypertension Society), the ESH (European Society of Hypertension) and are approved for sale in the EU and by the FDA. *** View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160906005823/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 6 By Orkhan Guluzade Trend: Turkey asked Russia for a military ground support as part of the Shield of the Euphrates operation in Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, TRT Haber reported Sept. 6. Cavusoglu added that a growing number of rocket attacks by the Islamic State (IS, ISIL, ISIS or Daesh) terrorist group after the military coup attempt in the country forced Turkey to launch a military operation in Syria. The minister also said Russia and Turkey are still holding the negotiations on the Turkish Stream pipeline construction. After the Turkey-Russia relations normalized, the negotiations on the Turkish Stream pipeline construction resumed, he added. The construction of two branches is being discussed. One of the branches is designed to meet Turkeys internal needs, while other branch is for transit to Europe. On Aug. 24 morning, the Turkish Air Force, with the support of the coalition aircraft, launched an operation to liberate the city of Jarabulus from the IS militants in northern Syria, near Aleppo. The operation was dubbed Shield of the Euphrates. Syria has been suffering from an armed conflict since March 2011, which, according to the UN, has so far claimed over 500,000 lives. Militants from various armed groups are confronting the Syrian government troops. The Islamic State (IS, ISIL, ISIS or Daesh), the YPG and the PYD are the most active terrorist groups in Syria. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @o_quluzade Popular highlife musician, Lucky Mensah, has confirmed he has cut ties with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and released a campaign song which asks Ghanaians to vote for Nana Akufo Addo, presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), during the December 2016 polls. It is true I have released a song for the NPP 2016 campaign and it is my hope the party would like it and use it. I did the song for the NPP because it is very clear that the NDC government for the last eight years it has been in power has failed Ghanaians and the NPP has to take over leadership of this country because our conditions of living is getting worse by the day, Lucky Mensah told NEWS-ONE. He continuedTimes are hard and apart from the few people who are near the big people in government, the rest of us are suffering painfully. Businesses are suffering, the promise by President Mahama to build 200 schools across the country has turned out to be fake, the cost of doing business is so high no one can make any meaningful profit, taxes are too high for the average Ghanaian and electricity cost is too high and sometimes even higher than the cost of rent and I would be a hypocrite if I keep quiet and pretend things are all right. My song is to encourage Ghanaians to vote against hardship, vote against dumsor and vote against a government that does not care about the sufferings of Ghanaians. Lucky Mensah said apart from using his resources to produce the song, he would do all within his means to promote it and would gladly accept an invitation to join the NPP campaign even if it means going on the party's platforms to wear NPP colours and openly endorse Nana Addo and the party's message. The song, 'Munto Mma Nana Addo' mentions the social mitigation achievements of the NPP, including the abolition of the 'cash-and-carry' systems in the hospitals and replacing it with a free national health service, provision of free maternal healthcare, a free transportation system and the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) which created jobs for some 50,000 youthful Ghanaians. In 2008, Lucky Mensah sang the famous 'Come Back To NDC' track for the NDC, and it became one of the party's official campaign songs. Four years later, he released that controversial 'Nkratuo' song, a satiric song which sends a message through one 'Tawiah' to tell his big brother 'Atta' that things are not going well and that the situation has gone very bad The song was perceived to be a direct message from Lucky Mensah to the then President Atta Mills that his government was failing and things were not going well in the country. But even before the NPP could gain some political currency from 'Nkratuo', the music right of the song was bought by an NDC businessman. Lucky Mensah, even by then, did not hide his feelings that the NDC government was driving Ghana in the wrong direction. By Halifax Ansah-Addo Celebrated Ghanaian comedian and actor, Funny Face, has refuted claims by critics that the disco speakers spotted in his room were made in China. It would be recalled that Funny Face shared a video via his various social media accounts, spotted in a dance battle with himself in his 2.5 star room. The video started with funny face in a pink towel, shaking his behind to camera in resonance to a gospel music from his disco Speakers. He then danced straight to a projected screen to show us how technologically advanced he is, and finally brought the battle to an end when his towel threatened to go off if he didnt stop making a fool of himself. The video has since created elephantine controversies in the showbiz fraternity. Most showbiz pundits and some fans of the comedian, have labeled the disco speakers spotted in his room to be China made and have criticised the ace comedian for using China-made speakers since made in China goods are tagged to be inferior. In a telephone conversation with Reagan Mends of www.razzonline.com ,Fanny Face, in replying his critics, refuted those claims.He indicated that he has his own life to live and that though the disco speakers were not made in china,there is nothing amiss if he should use a made in China disco speakers: "My brother Reagan,people have time ooo- Let them say what they want to say because its my own life and i live it the way i want it",He told www.razzonline.com . He continued: " Though the speakers were not made in China,what is wrong if they were truly made in China? Brother,i have a lot of things am focusing on so lets talk about better things than to talk about China disco speakers. Benson Nana Yaw Oduro Boateng, popularly known as Funny Face, is well noted for his lead roles in popular long running TV series "Chorkor Trotro" and " Cow and Chicken" on TV3 and UTV respectively. Kindly Watch the video below and adjudge for yourself. The Deputy Minister of Tourism and Creative Arts, Dzifa Abla Gomashie, has urged Ghanaians to celebrate and appreciate each others culture. Madam Gomashie, speaking at the 20th anniversary launch of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authoritys (GPHA) Tourism Club in Tema, said Ghanaians can only market their culture and traditions to the world when they celebrate and appreciate each other. The theme for the one month long celebration is 'Promoting Tourism Through Maritime Industry'. She stated that it is important to celebrate more about who we are, adding that it is regrettable that most Ghanaians do not celebrate and appreciate the good in each other. The deputy minister mentioned that this was evident in peoples choices of foreign foods over the Ghanaians dishes even though the local foods are nutritious and have less calories. She reminded Ghanaians that people visit the country because they want to celebrate the traditions and culture of the country which differ from their (foreigners) own. Madam Gomashie commended the GPHA Tourist Club for the initiative to promote tourism among staff of the authority. She challenged GPHA to emulate examples of other ports such as Lome, Togo, in order to create a tourist conducive environment and facilities to attract people to the Ghanas ports and harbours. Jacob Adorkor, Director of Port, GPHA, and founding member of the club, encouraged the public to engage in tourist activities, including hiking, attending festivals and visiting monumental sites. Mr Adorkor stressed that participating in tourist activities releases work tension, stress and enable people to learn and share ideas with others. Madam Mercy Akonnor, GPHA Tourist Club President, said the club was founded in September 1996 to afford members the opportunity to learn about the rich culture and traditions of the country. Madam Akonnor stated that over the past 20 years, club members have embarked on trips to tourist sites in the country and attended many festivals. She projected that they will be visiting some ports outside Ghana, including Kenya, South Africa and Dubai to learn some of their good practices. Mr. Said Mouline, Head of Public Private Partnership for UN Climate Change COP22 2016 06.09.2016 LISTEN Morocco is throwing a challenge to African member states to take advantage of the Green Economy and further give major priorities to renewable energy interventions, since a huge potential exists for the whole of Africa to explore in dealing with climate change threats. Morocco would be hosting this year's Climate Change Conference COP22 come November 2016 in the city of Marrakech, hence there is a special focus on Africa and the role of Africans in the Climate Change agenda. According to Mr. Said Mouline, Head of Public Private Partnership for UN Climate Change COP22 2016, the big deal with renewable energy was not funds for projects but rather the lack of political will and commitment on the part of government and the private sector in general. He said renewable energy would be given a global call for action at COP22 as members meet to make adaptations on the Paris Agreement. "This would be the focus of a huge debate when African member states and parties to the Paris agreement COP21 meet in Morocco, Marrakech at this year's Climate Change Conference," Mr. Mouline stated. He was addressing a representative sample of the African Press in the Moroccan Capital City Rabat at the ongoing African Press Trip in Morocco organised by the COP22 Steering Committee. He went on to say that the Private Sector also needs to play a key role in the green economy by investing heavily in renewable energy projects. This, he identified, would in turn create job opportunities, make diverse social impacts as well as massive economic and environmental progress. In an interview with the press, Mr. Nizar Baraka, President of the COP22 Scientific Committee, revealed that Morocco is already at forefront of renewable energy interventions, in attempt to deal with harmful gas emissions. "In June 2015, the Government of Morocco submitted its intended nationally determined contribution (INDC) to the UNFCCC, announcing targets of reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 32% by 2030 compared to business-as-usual (BAU) projected emissions and reaching over 50% of installed electricity production capacity from renewable sources by 2025. In a significant step toward these goals, the first phase of the Noor-Ouarzazate concentrated solar power (CSP) plant became operational in February 2016. ....The plant will have a 500 megawatt (MW) generating capacity and be the world's largest CSP project when the final two phases are completed in 2018. It is expected to supply electricity to 1.1 million Moroccans, increase Morocco's installed capacity of renewable energy from 22 MW in 2013 to 522 MW, a 2,272.7% increase, and cut carbon emissions by 760,000 tons per year," he disclosed. Over US$3 billion from the African Development Bank (AfDB), the World Bank's Climate Investment Funds (CIF), other World Bank financing channels and European financing institutions helped to finance the project. This project, according to experts will increase Morocco's energy security and contribute to low-carbon development. Furthermore, Morocco's ambitious low-carbon growth objectives, including its renewable energy goals, contributed to the Parties' decision that Morocco should host the 2016 edition of the Climate Change Conference. It would be recalled that Parties to the UNFCCC submitted INDCs in the lead-up to the Paris Climate Change Conference, where the Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015. To date, 189 countries have submitted INDCs, which will serve as the basis for Parties' contributions to the Paris Agreement, upon their acceptance, there would be ratifications or approval of the Agreement. Paris (AFP) - French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Tuesday a recount should be held of the votes in Gabon's disputed presidential election. "It would be wise to do a recount," Valls told French radio station RTL, but he said his first priority was ensuring the safety of the 14,000 French nationals who live in the central African nation where violence has flared following Ali Bongo's re-election. The Writer 06.09.2016 LISTEN The outcome of elections in Africa have generally been characterized by disputes, violence and in some cases civil unrest. Undoubtedly, this has affected economic growth and most importantly, denied Africa its place as a major stakeholder in world affairs. In the year 2010, Cote dIvoire ceded its place as the leading exporter of Cocoa to Ghana as a result of electoral disputes which almost sent the nation into civil war. Fortunately, since its transition to democratic rule in 1992, Ghana has successfully managed six elections. There is no denying however, that, there were times this status was shaken especially in the years 2008 and 2012 when this country was almost plunged into bedlam. In 2012 for instance, the final results declared were contested at the Supreme Court by the main opposition party and proceedings lasted for almost a year. There were also moments during election periods when tensions escalated but in all, the country came out victorious. This has earned Ghana the admiration of the world and has become a model for Africa and other developing democracies. Another election is upon us come December 7 and all eyes will be set on us once again. Will we live up to expectation or lose our spot as a beacon of hope for fledgling democracies? This write-up seeks to look at the role of the media, politicians, civil society groups and the electorates in ensuring a peaceful election. The Media The role of the media in modern democratic societies is so essential that it can never be downplayed. It provides the conduit necessary for all kinds of communication that help societies function. The media plays a very essential role in ensuring that information vital to the existence and development of a country is available in a manner that is timely, equitable, and balanced. Thus during election periods, the media has the singular responsibility of making sure that the right information is circulated to all to enable the electorate make informed choices as to who represent them in government. The media also acts as a watchdog in our societies helping keep institutions and leaders on their toes in terms of effectively executing the mandates they are charged with. The ability of the media to perform its role without fear or favour is the only way to ensure peace and national development. It is very unfortunate that we live in a time where some media practitioners have allowed their stomachs to dictate the direction of their conscience. They pursue the interests of their pay masters instead of doing the right thing. Politicians have taken a step further to polarize the media landscape by themselves establishing, owning and controlling the affairs of media houses. This is mostly done with the aim of spearheading their chosen political partys agenda whether good or bad. According to Malcolm X, the media is the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and the guilty innocent and thats real power, because they control the minds of the people. I totally agree with his observation and state emphatically that such power should never be underestimated. The Politician As citizens of a nation, we all have a moral obligation to conduct ourselves in a manner that will not disrupt the peace of our country. Politicians on the other hand, have an even more imperative role to play especially during campaigning. Their debates, submissions, or general campaign messages should be tailored towards tackling issues facing the nation devoid of insults, character assassination or inciting one group against the other. Politicians must understand that elections are not a do or die affair and that ultimately, the will of the people should always be upheld and respected at all times. Furthermore, political actors must be guided by their utterances in order to not fuel tensions during heated moments like election periods. The Electoral Commission The Electoral Commission (EC) is the body mandated by law to organize and supervise elections in Ghana. Its role in ensuring peaceful elections is not one that can be brushed aside. The manner in which the EC conducts elections could either bolster our democracy or shred it into pieces. The EC must therefore adequately sensitize voters as well as other major stakeholders on what is expected of them during the forthcoming elections. The EC must also desist from aligning itself with any political party to ensure free and fair elections. Lessons should also be drawn from previous elections especially that of 2012 which saw the EC drowned in court proceedings. Persons employed to assist the EC in organizing this years elections should be well trained and prepared for the task ahead. The onus rests on the EC to conduct itself in a manner that will win the confidence of all political parties and the general public. The Security Agencies It is the responsibility of our security agencies to ensure that law and order is maintained before, during and after the elections. I believe Ghana has one of Africas well equipped and best trained security forces. The Ministry of Interior in partnership with the political parties must move to disband all mercenary groups and political parties internal security or otherwise register them in a manner that will allow for their monitoring as stipulated by the laws of our land. Alternatively, our security agencies could take it upon themselves to provide adequate security to all political parties within the country. The Talensi by-election should serve as an example of what to anticipate during the December 7 elections and measures should be put in place to avoid similar occurrences. Civil society groups and Traditional Leaders Civil society groups all over the world contribute towards nation building through their activities. Ghanas civil society groups have played their part in promoting dialogues and development. Over the years we have seen institutions such as West Africa Network for Peaceful Building, Institute for Democratic Governance and IMANI Ghana being awarded for their role in ensuring good governance. The Coalition of Domestic Observers (CODEO) through election monitoring in various constituencies has helped to promote electoral integrity. This is a clear manifestation of hard work, selflessness and high levels of professionalism shown in their line of work. All over the world including Ghana, civil society groups have helped establish the institutions and mechanisms necessary to tempering autocratic regimes. Every election has its own dynamics and therefore we should encourage broader consultations especially in areas that need refinement in our electoral process. Issues such as biometric verification and what constitutes over voting should be properly tackled and well defined. Traditional leaders play an integral role in the governance of the country, they serve as the custodians of culture, spearhead developmental projects and ensure the maintenance of peace and order in their area of jurisdiction. The constitution of Ghana (Article 276, Clause 1) prevents traditional leaders from taking part in active politics. It is therefore imperative that they desist from endorsing and aligning themselves with political parties since these actions tend to undermine their authority and cause divisiveness in the society. It would therefore be prudent for traditional leaders to keep themselves out of partisan politics so that they can promote unity and development in their various communities. The Electorate As indicated earlier, triumphing in a peaceful, free and fair election is the responsibility of every Ghanaian. We all have a duty to contribute to this path. Peace is golden and it is the single most important resource a nation can ever boast of, therefore, we cannot afford to let the peace we enjoy slip off. Ghana is surrounded with empirical evidence of the level of destruction caused by electoral disputes. We have received and cared for nationals from neighboring nations such as Cote dIvoire and Liberia who were displaced as a result of civil unrest in their countries. Like many other emerging democracies, the Ghanaian electorates are discerning and I believe we are well informed to make good choices. The electorate must understand that this elections is not about party A or B. It is about your life and my life and that of unborn generations. We have been given the power to choose our next leaders and this should only be exercised in a manner devoid of any form of violence and anarchy. Conclusion Let us all understand that Ghana is the only place we can call our own. We all have a collective duty to protect and preserve the peace therein. Plato once said it is only the dead who live to witness the end of war. It is the responsibility of each and every one of us to analyze the policies and programs contained in the manifestos of each political party to guide us in making a decision on who to vote for. Also, political parties should structure their campaigns and speak to the issues instead of personality attacks. They should engage the attention of the electorates in a very responsible manner. The media should up their game by exposing any scheme aimed at destructing the whole electoral process. Security agencies must work hand in hand with all stakeholders and the citizenry at large to ensure a smooth electoral process and strict compliance with the law. The EC should be well resourced to carry out its mandate in a free, fair and transparent manner. Also, civil society organizations must not relent in their efforts to preserve our growing democracy. Ghana has always prevailed in difficult situations. Let us tolerate our diversity in opinions. I am optimistic that we will once again make a success of what is before us. Long Live Ghana Adnan Mustapha [email protected] (0207585652) Ghana's political parties are currently engaged in a childish game of Hide & Seek about the release of them manifestoes for Election 2016, which is just over 90 days away in the meantime, hey are crisscrossing the country making all kinds of promises to the voters. What is remarkable to note is that none of the numerous promises and achievements being made are centred in the avowed political ideologies of any of the parties. The NDC claims that its ideology is rooted in social democracy, whilst the NPP touts its ideology to be rooted in liberal democracy. Alas, the reality on the ground id that they are all making the same promises which is more rooted in competition on a vigorous competition on the quantum and weight of believability. A few months ago, I was interview by Paul Adom Otchere on 'Good Evening Ghana; in which I confirmed that I did not share in the NPP's stated ideology of a property-owning democracy in the Ghanaian context. The ever mischievous left my house salivating Tarzan is a socialist, and it was no surprise it made headlines even though the word socialism was never used. I do not retreat from my view of the NPP philosophy, for the simple reason that it is completely inappropriate for any political party seeking to govern Ghana must to eschew high falluting ideology and not focus on taking the bulk of our people out of the misery of under-development and neo-colonialist dependency. In a little under twelve months, Ghana will hold its seventh general election under the 4th Republican Constitution. All of the folks who will present themselves as fit to be given our mandates will do so on the basis of what they have done to deliver on our basic needs or how much better a choice of the alternative will deliver so much better on those same needs The battleground for the two main protagonists, the NDC and the NPP, will not be about political ideologies, be it Social Democracy or Capitalism. It will and must always be about exercising the powers of government to improve the people's welfare. Alas, and with absolute shame, the welfare of the people has not been lifted from the abyss of basic needs despite nearly 60 years of managing our own affairs The NPP will fight the election largely on the record of President Kufuor's tenure in office. It will tort out the NHIS, School Feeding Programme, Capitation Grant, Free health care for pregnant mothers , LEAP, and a slew of social intervention initiatives more associated with a socialist/ communist political ideology that is losing its shine in Moscow and Beijing In turn, the NDC will try to persuade the people that its tenure in office has been festooned with major improvements in both the reach and quality of the very same social intervention initiatives. NHIS numbers up, LEAP reaches many more beneficiaries; Capitation grants increased, etc. In other words, we have done better in providing socialist/communist, goodies for the people. Both the NPP and NDC will tell Ghanaians that they will deliver best on the constitutionally mandated progressively free education; though each will provide its own slant on how best to deliver it. Unfortunately, the debate will not rise to the philosophical or ideological level of what each side means by 'free'. All that matters is to persuade us that free means maximum freebie of goods and services that only improve the welfare of the governors. Last but not least, the battle for our votes will be about who has fixed rather than managed Dumsor. Who is providing more potable water? Who is keeping our cities and environment from the filthy and choked drainages? In other words, which party will be better trusted to move Ghana beyond the basic needs that we are still grappling with. When we are done with choosing who should govern us, they will simply turn round and tell us that they are waiting for our Development Partners to bring the handouts that will be needed to fund all those social goodies promised to us by the governors. So all our vote is worth is simply to choose who will be better at managing Ghana's share of the crumbs from our former colonial masters and their multi-lateral buddies. Under the foregoing circumstances, it is incomprehensible for any political party seeking our mandate to beat its chest about being property- owning or social democratic or socialist or capitalist as the basis for seeking power in a Ghana where the majority of the population are struggling to survive the three score and ten life tenure. Indeed, it would be suicidal and a sure recipe for electoral defeat. The concept of property-owning democracy has its roots in the arcane and luckily now jettisoned notion that prevailed in early US history that only white males who owned property had the right to exercise a vote to choose political rulers. In more recent times, leaders like Margaret Thatcher have sought to resurrect it as a counter ideology for putting wealth into the hands of individual as a counter-weight to state ownership Voting in Ghana, as in all modern democracies, is now based on universal adult suffrage, one person, and one vote in plain language. The value and weight of each vote cast is not influenced by education, wealth, property-ownership, ethnicity etc. That means that 'brofoyeduro' Tarzan has the same single vote as my 'akpeteshie-soaked' watchman Alhaji and the same as my rural farmer cousin Rambo. The incontrovertible fact is that the overwhelming majority of voters in Ghana are looking for government to deal with their basic physiological needs at the base of the so called hierarchy of needs espoused by Maslow. They will therefore cast their vote on the basis of their perception of which political choice will best provide those physiological needs. The voters may hope that their children and children's children may someday climb up the four other ladders to reach the top of the pyramid and attain their self-actualization state; at which time we can afford the luxury of engaging the merits or otherwise of political ideologies. Sadly, that day is very far away into the late 21st century, given the abject failure of 60 years of Oman Ghana Until then, I suggest that the NPP, the NDC and all other political parties in Ghana drop their ideological postures and focus on presenting choices as to how best they can deliver basic needs to Ghanaians. By: Charles Wereko-Brobby Dubai (AFP) - Dubai-based ports operator DP World has won a concession to manage a port at Berbera in the breakaway republic of Somaliland for 30 years, in an investment of up to $442 million. "DP World will set up a joint venture with 65 percent control together with the government of Somaliland to manage and invest in the Port of Berbera," the company said in a statement. The concession includes an automatic 10-year extension for the management and development of the port. The port "opens a new point of access to the Red Sea and will complement DP World's existing port at Djibouti in the Horn of Africa," the company said. The project offers an opportunity for the development of Somaliland, which is not recognised by the international community despite 25 years of de facto independence from the rest of war-torn Somalia. The investment will include a first phase of a quay and yard extension, DP World said, adding that work will start a year after terms and conditions of the agreement are met. On the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden, Berbera offers an African base at the entrance to the Red Sea and the gateway to the Suez canal. The investment "will attract more shipping lines to East Africa and its modernisation will act as a catalyst for the growth of the country and the region's economy," DP World chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said. "Berbera will contribute to our continued growth in the developing markets of Africa in the years ahead," he added. Somaliland offers another route into neighbouring, landlocked Ethiopia, with a growing market of 96 million inhabitants. Expanding the Berbera port could help bypass the congested port of Djibouti. An agreement signed in March with Ethiopia forecasts that almost a third of the country's cargo traffic might be funnelled through Berbera. One of the world's largest port operators, DP World runs 77 marine and inland terminals across six continents, including Dubai's Jebel Ali port, the largest in the Middle East. Suffice it to say that it was with a solid reason why people were uncomfortable with Rev. Professor Emmanuel Marteys public outburst, because not only did he threaten people sources of livelihood but upset their electoral fortunes. Perhaps the 52nd governor of New York, Mario Cuomo was right when he intimated that politicians campaign in poetry and govern in prose. Fellow countrymen, what at all is the sin of Rev. Professor Martey, the former moderator of the Presbyterian church of Ghana? His only sin was when he publicly advised the government to stop appointing inexperienced individuals into public office. Recently, he was in the news again for attempting to make known some unsavory happenings in Ghana relative to bribery and corruption. As Ayi Kwei Armah asserted A mind attacked and conquered is guided easily away from the path of its own soul. In the history of every struggle, it takes the courage and tenacity of one individual to usher the fight into its intended climax. The silence of the previous moderators of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana does not imply that all is well. The aim of this article is to reflect on the imperative need to stop the unnecessary attacks on professor Martey. Any attack to professor Martey is an attack to the entire Presbyterian Church. Religious bodies throughout history have contributed to the development of humanity. For example, the writings of St. Augustine of Hippo (354AD-430AD) sparked-off the movement to deconstruct religion from holding ascetic legalism only. St. Augustine in his philosophical writings had asserted that salvation implies faithfully walking in love for humanity but not only based on holding ascetic legalism. Besides, the ideas of Max Weber, as espoused in his book, the protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism, was a motivating factor for believers of Christian faith to entreat their respective professions as a divine call to serve God. This notion, as preached in the pulpit, substantially contributed to the rise of industrial revolution in Europe. In Ghana, the monumental achievements of the Christian missions namely: the Basel mission (Presbyterian Church of Ghana), Wesleyan Mission (Methodist Church), Church of Englands society for the propagation of the gospel (Anglican Church), the Bremen mission (Evangelical Presbyterian Church), Seventh day Adventist mission, Roman catholic mission (Catholic church) through the provision of schools and healthcare facilities which are distributed ubiquitously throughout the country deserve commendation. The contributions made by the Ahamadiyya Moslem mission through the provision of schools and hospitals must equally be praised. Kudos, our dear religious partners in development, but like the proverbial Oliver, we will always ask for more. The backbone of Ghanas economy had been cocoa. In 1911, Ghana became the leading producer of cocoa. Cocoa occupies second place on the list of Ghanas foreign exchange earnings and constitute about 30% of all the export revenue representing about 57% of overall agricultural export. Cocoa was first introduced into Ghana by the Basel mission before, Tete Quarshie, who himself was a mission trained gold-smith, brought his amelonado cocoa pods into Ghana in 1879 from an Island of Fernando Po, modern equatorial Guinea. If a church like Presbyterian Church has contributed in diverse ways to the development of Ghana, then what prevents the moderator from speaking on national issues? In history and antiquity, all individuals who are truthful on national issues were intimidated. For instance, Francois-Marie d Arouet better known as Voltaire was harassed for his objections to certain social and political orders of his time. Voltaire was a firm believer in religious liberty. He saw the French political system, the monarchy and its unfair balance of power, in an incredibly negative light. According to Voltaire, the bourgeoisie was ineffective; the aristocracy was very corrupt and parasitic; the commoners were too superstitious and ignorant; and the only usefulness of the church was to use its religious tax to create a base coherent enough to fight the monarchy. In todays, Ghana, people are becoming more and more superstitious and politicians have taken them for granted. Socrates was equally executed for allegedly corrupting the minds of the young ones. Professor Martey has never been person-centered and selfish. He is a real patriot. His love for his country, simplicity, and disdain for ostentation, corruption, kakistocracy and injustice is worthy of commending. For example, a country like Ghana, Mr. Okudjeto Ablakwa with no experience in education or research work is appointed to head the entire tertiary education in the country. Are we saying citizens like Professor Martey must not talk? In the next 10 years, we will see the unemployment rate in Ghana due to the conversion of polytechnics into technical universities. The president must have been ill-informed about the pros and cons of the conversion. I read the defense of the policy by two lecturers of Kumasi Polytechnic, which was ridiculous. They talked about progression of students of polytechnics, awarding degrees like Doctor of technology and the elevation of polytechnic lecturers to the status of university teacher among other things. The purpose of conversion therefore is to produce higher degrees for polytechnic students. One will wonder the correlation between an awarding of paper degrees and economic development. Apparently, Mr. Ablakwa could be useful somewhere but not to supervise professors. People insult professor Martey on issues like this? President, Mahamah might not be under performing as being speculated. However, many people think he is joking with the country because of his appointees. Other funny argument is that professor is working for the opposition party. He was appointed in 2010, while the NDC was in power. the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG) at its 10th meeting held at Takoradi from August 6-12 elected a new Moderator. A statement issued in Accra on Friday and signed by Mr Emmanuel Osei Akyeampong, Public Relations Officer of PCG, said the Moderator-elect, The Reverend Professor Emmanuel Martey, would take over from Right Reverend Dr Yaw Frimpong-Manso. It said Rt-Rev. Frimpong-Manso's tenure of office ends in December 2010 and that The Rev. Prof. Martey officially assumed office on December 1, 2010. So which government must he criticize? The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism (Wole Soyinka). If speaking the truth and exposing rots in government give someone a witchcraft, then I need that witchcraft. When it comes to a defense or a finance minister, a politician needs an experienced hand, when it comes to attorney general, a politician needs a legal brain, but when it comes to education, health and energy anybody at all could be appointed. Is it not hypocritical for politician to bastardize the church and its leader and use protocol list for admission at Legon Presec? The government alone cannot provide all the needs of the citizens. This partly explains why the orthodox churches must be commended. It is imperative the government introduce a policy known as operation educate your high school church members where the churches with high schools will be given 50% of the admission for their members, and the remaining percentage based on merits. This will force the modern churches to build high schools to complement government efforts. In one of the platos dialogues, apology, Socrates reportedly said: I do not know, men of Athens, how my accusers affected you; as for me, I was almost carried away in spite of myself, so persuasively did they speak. And yet, hardly anything of what they said is true. Of the many lies they told, one in particular surprised me, namely that you should be careful not to be deceived by an accomplished speaker like me Are the government apparatchiks and aficionados warning us against a patriot like Rev. professor Emmanuel Martey? I think professor Martey does not deserve all these insults. We are insulting him because there appear to be nothing pure within impure Ghana. Rev. Professor Emmanuel Martey, aluta continua, most of us are with you. God bless our homeland Ghana. I know that I am intelligent because I know that I know nothing. (Socrates) Feedbacks must be directed to [email protected] Nana Yaw Osei (Padigo), PhD Candidate, Psychology Arizona, USA On September 2, 2016, President Xi Jinping met with President Macky Sall of Senegal in Hangzhou and welcomed him to attend the G20 Hangzhou Summit in China as head of a guest country. Xi Jinping pointed out that in recent years, China and Senegal have enjoyed rapid development in cooperation in all fields. The Chinese side is willing to work with Senegal to elevate bilateral relations into a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, actively implement the outcomes of the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), and deepen bilateral friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, so as to better benefit the two peoples. Xi Jinping stressed that in order to comprehensively advance China-Senegal friendly cooperative relations, China is willing to, together with Senegal, take the opportunity of elevating the status of bilateral relations to strengthen political exchanges and consolidate mutual trust. We should extend economic and trade cooperation, give full play to the advantage of strong economic complementarity and further integrate development plans, so as to help Senegal to accelerate its industrialization, lift its level of agricultural modernization and improve its ability of self-development. The two sides should deepen people-to-people and cultural exchanges and promote public opinion connection. China stands ready to pump into talents for Senegals economic development and strengthen cooperation in peacekeeping and other security areas with Senegal so as to jointly build the cause of peace. Both countries should maintain close communication and coordination in international affairs and make joint effects to push forward international political and economic orders towards a more just and reasonable direction. Macky Sall expressed that he is glad to attend the G20 Hangzhou Summit at the invitation of President Xi Jinping, which embodies the importance that China has attached to Africa. Harboring friendly sentiment towards China, Senegal is grateful for Chinas long-term support to the country and Africa. Speaking highly of the cooperation plans towards Africa announced by President Xi Jinping when attending the FOCAC Johannesburg Summit last year and Chinas specific implementation measures, the Senegalese side is willing to intensify cooperation with China and realize Africas self-development. Wang Huning, Li Zhanshu, Yang Jiechi and others were present. Senior foreign workers in China would want to stay longer. (Photo : Getty Images) China disallows work of expats above 60 years but is starting to reconsider this policy. The city government of Shanghai has allowed senior foreign workers till the age of 70 to be continuously employed. This has been true for a 64-year-old engineer who has been working in an international company in Beijing for over 10 years. Advertisement This senior employee with the pseudonym of Andrew Hannigan has been working for an international company in Beijing. He is about to return to the U.S. when he turns 65. When asked about his upcoming retirement, he said, "To be honest, I don't want to go back. I am used to living in China, and I am perfectly healthy," said Hannigan. "I still have a few good years ahead of me. I can still work and contribute." Some of Hannigan's colleagues have already been given extensions. Huang Hong, a department director of the Shanghai Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, said that the ministry has been allowing expats to work until they are 70 years old. "Since then, we have issued work permits to over 100 foreign experts over 65 years old," Huang said. "Their expertise is precious and needed in China, so we are doing everything we can to help them stay longer." The Chinese government has been encouraging foreign talent to the country. An expert believes that letting the senior foreign workers stay longer is more economical. Liang Yucheng, a sociologist based at Sun Yat-Sen University, believes that foreign workers with high-level expertise are favorable both for the employers and the country. "They will save us the expense, as their payment package is much lower than that of young high-level foreign talents," Liang said. "In most developed countries, the retirement age is around 70 on average." The State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs refuses to comment on whether other cities in Beijing will follow Shanghai's policy. To start with, how is the membership of the Council of State selected? Who are the current members? When and how often do they sit to counsel the President, if they do it at all? On what issues do they advise the President? One may say why do you bother us with these questions which are already answered in the 1992 Ghana Constitution? Yes, some of the answers are found in the Constitution but I need confirmation from you, the public readers. Does the Council of State wait to be approached by the President before they advise him on certain issues on which he may seek their opinion or they go to him with advice on certain things that they feel the President must be given correct directions? Is the Council of State any credible organisation at all? Does it seek the long term collective interests of Ghanaians or they are there to help only the President even if he is doing wrong? The last time I checked, the Council of State had advised President Mahama to remit the prison sentence of the notorious Montie 3 (Messrs Salifu Maase, alias Mugabe, Alistair Nelson and Ako Gunn) to one month. They had agreed that four months prison sentence meted out to the would-be murderers mentioned above was too harsh hence the obligatory need for the President to exercise his prerogative of mercy under the 1992 Constitutional Article 72 to free the contemnors scheming against some Supreme Court judges. Should I query the Council of State about if ever they had advised President Mahama to stop the insults and threats always employed on air by Mugabe and his panellists with intent to cow some chiefs, opposition parties leaders and members of the public? Has the Council of State ever advised President Mahama to cease his corruption, practice of selective justice, nepotism and how badly he is managing the affairs and resources of Ghana or they see nothing wrong about the obvious shortcomings of the President because they are all same same as someone may jokingly say? Are they also as corrupt as President Mahama because they are all NDC or share the same selfish and myopic views? Did the Council of State find it appropriate the refusal by the Attorney General to prosecute the Montie 3 when they threatened on air to kill some Supreme Court judges and, or marry by force (rape of course) the Chief Justice, Mrs Theodora Georgina Wood? I am sure the Council of State members are all supportive of the evil practices by President Mahama and the NDC government and party. This may explain why Ghana is sinking under the lawlessness, institutional corruption, practice of selective justice and nepotism glaringly in perpetuation by President Mahama and his government. It is on record that some High Court and Magistrate Court judges with some court officials inclusive, accepted bribes in the form of goats, sheep, cats, plantain, yams and or money to twist justice in favour of the highest bidders who might normally have been the guilty party. Some of these people who suffered injustices by the abuse of power by these corrupt and shamefully unprofessional judges are lingering in prisons sentenced to various terms of years of imprisonment. Has the Council of State suggested to, let alone, advised, the President, to release them from prison by way of granting them presidential pardon or remitting their sentences? When you compare this group of prisoners just mentioned above to the notorious NDC fanatics plotting to kill innocent Supreme Court Justices the Montie trio, which one deserves presidential pardon or remission? This is Ghana for you where everything runs upside down to acceptable or recognized international standards and normality; the usual Ghana dee saa practice or nonsense. To be honest with you, I have lost respect for the so-called Mahamas Council of State, that like father like son organization. As it is in all facades of President Mahamas life, so the Council of State is, I should think. Can it be any different or better? No!!! If so, then shame on them. Should I be seen as being highly critical of some institutions and persons in Ghana, then it is all because of my belief in what was once said by Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and my avid interest in seeing it contrarily materialised in my life for the benefit of my entire Ghanaian compatriots. He said, Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph I shall act at the right time but not to be like those seen to be castigated by the Emperor. Rockson Adofo Freddy Blay (middle) addressing the media in Sunyani 06.09.2016 LISTEN THE ACTING National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Freddie Blay currently on a working visit to the Brong-Ahafo Region is worried about the continuous attacks and intimidation being meted out to party members in the region, particularly in the Asunafo and Asutifi South Constituencies, in the run-up to the December 7 elections. To ensure peace in the run-up to the elections, the acting national chairman has urged all stakeholders, particularly the police high command to caution members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to stop all acts of violence and intimidation against members of the NPP else the reaction would not augur well for the peace of the region. Mr. Blay made this appeal when he met regional and constituency executives of the party to abreast himself of political occurrences in the region and see how best to deal with them in order for the NPP to win the December polls. Addressing the media, Mr. Freddie Blay said the attack on members of his party at Asunafo South by one Naaba, a supposed brother of the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, had come to the notice of the national executives and that in due course the party would make public pronouncement on the issue. He said in the meantime, the police in the region should pay particular attention to happenings in that area. Earlier, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Chairman of the NPP, Kwaku Asumah Cheremey, disclosed that similar complaints were made in the run-up to the 2012 elections but those charged to ensuring peace and stability waited till about five days to the elections before parties were invited to iron out issues. The regional chairman warned that the party could not wait again till the eleventh hour saying, the time to act is now else the party in the region will advise itself. FROM Daniel Y Dayee, Sunyani [email protected] From left: Kwesi Jonah, Donald Mogeni, Mrs. Angela Dwamena-Aboagye, (Executive Director of the Ark Foundation), Dr. Matlotleng Matlou and Dr. Emmanuel Akwetey in a pose after the forum THE INSTITUTE of Democratic Governance (IDEG) has called for reforms of the country's decentralization system to promote an effective multiparty-based local government. Speaking at a public forum organized by IDEG under the theme: Strengthening Democratic Development through Multi-Party Based Local Government; South Africa, Kenya and Ghana in Focus, Executive Director of IDEG, Dr. Emmanuel Akwetey, said there was the need for the state to reform its local government system. According to him, local government reform is crucial to strengthening Ghana's democracy. He claimed there was a growing convergence on the need to transform the country's local governance system by the various political parties; but said they all lack the know-how to bring about the transformation. He contended that there could not be any real democracy when multi-party elections were not organized at the district level. In his opinion, allowing political parties to participate in the elections at the district level would help bring about representation of opposition parties in the executive arm of government. Ghana's constitution does not allow for the participation of political parties in district level elections. The constitution also empowers the president to make about 30 percent appointments at the district level something IDEG believes needs to be reconsidered. Senior Research Fellow, IDEG, Kwesi Jonah, in a presentation, explained that in its current form, Ghana's decentralization system is grossly ineffective for the multi-party system of governance. According to him, the reform should allow for political parties to participate in district level elections as well as make way for district chief executives (DCEs) to be elected by the people rather than being appointed by the president. Allowing for DCEs to be elected by the communities, he said, would make them (elected ones) work more effectively as poor performance would make them lose elections. Giving a brief account of Kenya's experience, Public Policy Analyst and Social Accountability Advisor at World Vision, Donald Mogeni, said had it not been the 2007 electoral dispute in the East African nation, it would have been hard to achieve devolution. According to him, the devolution in Kenya had been highly divisive. Dr. Matlotleng Matlou, Executive Director, Excelsior Afrika Consulting, SA, said, Local government in South Africa is a force to reckon with. He said the issue of political participation is considered very important in the South African context. BY Melvin Tarlue 06.09.2016 LISTEN I do not intent to be too prolixity in this my nonaligned write up. I was honored to be part of this years most anticipated National Youth Camp/Crusade. Beyond my participation as a faithful and a dyed-in-the-wool member of the United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI), I took to heart all the pre and post happening of event of the just ended National Youth Convention. With this piece, I shall do my best to give a much unprejudiced view of events that unfolded at this years convention without any form of meanness. I dont intend to be scriptural, so dont mind if you see no scriptures in this piece. I much do know that many would say I do not have the spiritual, financial and moral locust to address the issues I shall be diving into in a jiffy. Dear lord, give me therefore the moral, and spiritual fiber to speak as honestly as possible so that all and sundry will make meaningful meaning out of this slice. If anyone disagrees with my thoughts as far as this article is concern, so be it. No personality attacks. Im certainly not a doom preacher. But I do believe that many - the silence majority will agree with me and even wish they could join me on this tangent but due to their position and fear of vilification, vindictiveness and off course intimidation will prefer to coil perpetually in their shell. In whichever way, Im ready to put forth my head for guillotining. Before I proceed to deal with my most pressing issue, I will like to salute the event organizers for their astonished work, as it were for bringing UPCI Youth, Ghana, far and near to Dzodze. I say bravo to tout le monde. This is without any form of chauvinism none meanness. The National Youth president and his able executives really deserve some highly level of clout -up, likewise the regional and local executives. One obviously cannot forget the various committees that were tasked to carry out this tedious but worth embarking exercise. I will also cease this opportunity to send a well sound felicitation to all the steaming Youth who took time out of their busy schedules to attend this all important camp/crusade. Prior to the coming into being of this event, I do know that many people were contacted for their expert point of views in so many arena i.e. publicity (broadcast), financial (fundraising), divine intervention (prayers) but as to whether these expert views were considered or not is another subject matter for serious discussion in which I wish the executives will take a critical look at moving forward. My anticipation of this years event was to see a more advance one due to the fact that the Greater Accra Regional Youth had embarked on a similar event in a matter of 11 months before the nationals. Personally, I think the organizers of the Dodowa convention did distinctively well and if had given the go ahead to organize this years national Youth Convention, they would have delivered, since they already had a first-hand experience. I think its of time, the leadership allows members with expert knowledge and wisdom to head committees during events such as this one. If we (UPCI) want to grow beyond the territory of Ghana, then we must stop doing same things our forefathers did some decades ago which outcome we are currently enjoying (sweet or sour). I know its wont take away anything from our doctrine nor add anything. But rather help us sharpening our evangelistic tools. Someone will say we are not like other churches. Therefore its of no need to compare. But I beg to differ. This is because, we have the truth and to outshine those ahead of us with false doctrine, we must look at the tools and media they adapted to sell their quark doctrine to sell ours. This can be achieve with the help of experts in that field. This I know we have the men and women for that job. Its a fact that the spiritual needs of many of us were met at the just ended National Youth Camp/Crusade. I do know for a fact that over 110 people received Holy Spirit, over 50 received all form of healings, and over 35 people have submitted themselves for water baptism, and money for two plots of land for the newly born church. But as to whether or not these persons were from UPCI or the people of Dzodze is .. What many usually called loitering galor was highly observed at Dzodze. Right from the auditorium to the crusade ground.Hmmmmmm! But truth be told, Im highly impress and I do know that our heavenly father whose mission we embarked on would be happy in that regard. But did we really achieve selling the church beyond Dzodze and it environ? This I strongly believe we didnt. I know someone will say that we were live on Fafaa FM 100.3. Yes we were but the question is was there any impact beyond Dzodze? Like my little sister will bluntly put, If isnt your work, isnt your work As an organism which is poised for unprecedented and gargantuan growth, we need to outwork many of our compatriots who have taking the lead in our Christendom with impunity. The just ended crusade/camp should have been one big opportune platform for us as a church to sell our church to Ghana and beyond. This could have been achieved by way of involving the widely covered media outlets. But what did we do? Having been able to bring a heavy weight preacher man like Rev Chad Flowers to Ghana, who preached handsomely and yet his messages never went beyond the walls of dzodze and not to even talk of Volta Region. Hmmmmmmmm!! The journey indeed is far. It's very clear that our goal of preaching the word to the whole world a gloomy one as at today.This is quite worrisome. I dont really know if the truth we have as a church is for the members (us) only. If that is the rational, then fair enough but if its otherwise, then we need to rise up as youth. Modernity is before us and we cannot afford to let it overtake us. This can be made possible via media outlets. The key word in this subsection is publicity. Per the records I have seen, this years national youth camp/crusade was averagely attended. Comparing this convention to that of four years ago, one would have wished that our membership would have increase immensely in attendance. But what went wrong? This is a question I would wish the national, regional and local executives take into consideration. Its quite evidential to note that, many of the youth did not participate in the churching activities at the camp ground. Some either went to the auditorium to sleep or did not attend church at all. With regards to the morning devotion, a hand full of us did attend. The least talked about the crusade and the float, the better and more honorable way of allowing sleeping dog to lie. The various dormitory leaders couldnt mobilize and lead their members in odd prayers prayers aside the organized one by the leadership. I must be quick to say that some group did organize prayers among themselves. I therefore acquiesce that in the near future, pastors should be allotted to each dormitory to help remedied this ill-fated experience. Many of the youth like my good self, had wish to see our youth pastors mount the podium to preach,prophize,share experience and motivate many of us who see everything wrong with being a man of God in UPCI.But there was otherwise and I believe your guess is as good as mine. Lord gather mercy!! The least talked about the transportation arrangement and souvenirs, the better. I was a bit aback when many of our younger brothers and sisters run to some of us for monies for transportation to the crusade ground, because the theory of selectivity was at play. It was quite surprising to be told that many of these ones were prevented from joining vehicles from other assemblies to the crusade ground even though most members of these assemblies did not even join the vehicle to the crusade ground. Why should it be so? Even if the church has not made provisions to that effect, cant there be a brotherly love shared among us? This is indeed pertetic. I know that the first and foremost reason for printing church branded items such as T-shirts and the likes are not gear towards raising money but for publicity, advertisement and easy identification. Its therefore imperative to say that where prices of church branded items are highly priced to raise monies is quiet problematic. Its true that in every society, no matter how affordable an item is worth, there will be some persons who will complain of the prices. But the case before us was completely different. This is because, a chunked of the youth that came for the convention were either students or unemployed. To simply put, many of the youth did not have the financial muscle to buy the souvenirs due to high prices. In many cases some of the youth that came, had their camp monies paid for by their parents or some benevolent characters. You are at this point allowed to draw your own conclusion as to whether or not they can afford these souvenirs. No wonder many of the T-shirts were left. Finally, each of us must have courage. The growth of UPCI Ghana is must and ought to be now or never. I have encountered a countless numbers of youth who resonate very strongly with the concepts that I am putting forward but who have been beaten down. The bottom line is that our organization is in the process of undergoing fundamental radical changes. If each of us sits back and experts someone to take action, it will soon be too late. But as at today, it is still not too late to join the battle to radically advocate for better repackaging of our organization and pass on to our children, Ghana and world something we can all be proud of. Who knows what tomorrow holds for each of us and our organization? We have no time to waste. Today is the day to act. Resolve to take one step toward helping our organization modern greatness. If we all do so, we cannot fail to remain the truest apostolic believers, under God. Jagri Daniel Nyajabroum A concern youth, UPCI,Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo has told members and leaders of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to relegate any internal issues they may have to the backburner and join forces with him to win the 7 December polls saying: The only politics that you will do and have no issue [with] is in heaven and not on this earth. Mr Akufo-Addo said there was a need for cooperation in the party, urging: Whatever issue you have, drop it and help us to win power. We understand that cooperation is at the centre of our success. We have a big programme, some of them are very new ideas that will yield to development of the country. These new programmes, if we dont have a majority in Parliament, will be very difficult. We need to get a clear majority in the House. That is our main target, the three-time flag bearer told party leaders and supporters in the Ashanti Region on Monday, 5 September after he met the national leadership to strategise for the campaign. Mr Akufo-Addo has come under criticism from President John Mahama and leaders of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the streak of internal furore within the Danwuah-Busia-Dombo party which saw national Chairman Paul Afoko, General Secretary Kwabena Agyapong and Vice Chairman Sammy Crabbe suspended indefinitely late last year. There were also some skirmishes between rival factions at the partys national headquarters in Accra. Other misunderstandings led to the death of two party members in Upper East and Ashanti regions. Mr Akufo-Addos critics, including Mr Mahama have used these incidents to describe him as a dictator and a divisive leader who does not merit being president of the whole of Ghana if he cannot keep his party united and at peace. Mr Akufo-Addo has, however, parried those accusations and criticisms. While in the Ashanti Region, he said the NPP will be inching closer to the presidency if the party won at least 80% of votes in the Ashanti Region. The polls going on in Ashanti Region are encouraging; but we all know that if we hit 80% of the popular votes in Ashanti, we have one and a half feet in the door of Jubilee House. So Im begging you, let us make this year 2016 the year of the elephant. Meanwhile, the partys acting national chairman Freddie Blay has told Class News he is confident of a one-go victory for the NPP. He believes the NPP can win a landslide victory in its stronghold and a convincing victory in the national polls. Mr Blay said the NPP will meet the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) boot-for-boot on the battlefield of the elections to ensure the party is not denied victory. Libreville (AFP) - Pressure mounted on Gabon's President Ali Bongo over his disputed poll victory on Tuesday as his justice minister resigned over the results and former colonial ruler France suggested a recount. With Bongo claiming victory by a wafer-thin margin of some 6,000 votes, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls proposed recounting the ballots. "There needs to be a clear electoral process," he told French radio station RTL on Tuesday, saying there were "some doubts". "It would be wise to do a recount." France has already joined the European Union and the United States in calling for the results to be published according to each polling station but until now, had stopped short of demanding a recount. Gabon shaken by election violence The move came just hours after Justice Minister Seraphin Moundounga, who is also a deputy prime minister, resigned late Monday, demanding "a recount of the votes, polling station by polling station, and registry by registry". Bongo's defeated rival Jean Ping, a veteran diplomat who has held a top African Union job, on Monday called for a general strike to force "the tyrant" out. "We cannot accept that our people will be killed like animals without reacting," Ping wrote on Facebook. "I propose to cease all activity and begin a general strike," said Ping, who has denounced the vote as fraudulent. "We must use all means of resistance to topple this tyrant and believe me, he is on the verge of falling." Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba came to power in 2009 after the death of his father Omar Bongo who had ruled the oil-rich central African nation for 41 years But his appeal appeared to go largely unheeded in the capital Libreville where banks and shops re-opened after being shuttered for days due to post-election violence, and taxis returned to the streets. French nationals missing According to an AFP count, post-election chaos has claimed at least seven lives in the oil-rich central African nation, ruled by the Bongo family since 1967. Gabonese authorities, however, said Monday the toll was three killed and 105 wounded, with the government saying some deaths had previously been incorrectly attributed to the clashes. A man holds a placard reading, "Bongo get out!" during a demonstration in support of the Gabonese people in Paris, on September 3, 2016 Valls on Tuesday also called on the Gabonese authorities to establish the whereabouts of around 15 French nationals who have been missing since the violence began. "It's true that we have no news of around 15 French citizens, who are in many cases French-Gabonese bi-nationals. We ask the Gabonese authorities that everything be done to find them," he said Gabon's foreign ministry confirmed the authorities had arrested some Franco-Gabonese nationals, saying the justice ministry would answer any questions from concerned families. But it also said bi-nationals living in Gabon would be subject to Gabonese laws. 800 arrests Gabonese opposition leader Jean Ping gives a press conference at his residence in Libreville on September 2, 2016 Some 800 people have been arrested in recent days in the capital, with the authorities accusing them of looting, while lawyers say they are being held in "deplorable" conditions. Several prisoners told AFP they had been beaten, denied food and water or questioned harshly by authorities. "There were no toilets. We slept in our pee," said a man who asked that his name be given as Matthieu to protect his identity. Meanwhile, a high-level African Union delegation including heads of state is ready to be dispatched to Libreville to help calm the situation, AU chairman and Chad President Idriss Deby said. Post-election unrest has claimed at least seven lives in oil-rich Gabon, ruled by the Bongo family since 1967 UN chief Ban Ki-moon spoke to both Bongo and Ping on Sunday and "deplored the loss of life", a UN statement said, adding that he "called for an immediate end to all acts of violence." The country had previously enjoyed relative political stability, mainly because France helped Omar Bongo rule for 41 years. After he died in June 2009, his son Ali won an election but opposition media claimed he had essentially been installed by France. Majority, Minority must be commended for decisive move on Ken Ofori-Atta George Loh About five years ago, I made a decision to spend more time outside my home country. A number of things had culminated into this decision. Feeling burnt out and alarmed, I packed my bags and with my daughter, took a sabbatical so to speak. My predominant feeling at the time was despair. I was a misfit. I felt misunderstood and targeted; and then something monumental happened. On my last night in my home, an email from the Harvard Kennedy School informed me of my acceptance. Unable to carry my suddenly dead weight, my knees crumbled, as warm, salty tasting drops trickled down to trembling lips. I whispered again and again 'Lord, I am not stupid, lord, I am not stupid'... for by this time, circumstances had conspired to have me questioning my sanity. A strong believer in the value of a good education, my daughter attended a prestigious school. She and myself interacted with the upwardly mobile of society and we were no strangers to the occasional red-eye flight that took us half way across the world. As an open-minded parent, I did my best to be progressive in my parenting. Hardly had we settled into our new home, when the first shock of my daughter's school report hit. The bottom line - my daughter was relatively timid, lacking in sufficient independent thought, initiative and generally lacked a firm grasp of critical educational principles. In a state of shock, I took a very quick, but painful decision to repeat her school year, allowing her the space she needed to adapt and catch up. My decision paid off as she flourished within months. My own year at school was no trip in the park; I struggled to break free, both from a mindset and a clear gap in my education on many levels. As my elasticity was tested, I experienced sensory overload, sometimes manifesting in extreme physical discomfort. I come from a country and continent that was once colonized. The colonial masters did leave, but not with everything. Key; was structured education, as we know it. As dutiful servants, we have carried on the culture in relative purity. Indeed, I dare say that the masters would be surprised at our demonstrated faithfulness, for even they have veered off track, recognizing the need to, in some cases, move on. The Educational institutions of our 'masters' welcome and encourage change; cherishing the past, but understanding that it only exist to give us grounding into the future. For as there cannot be a future without a past, a past without a future will ultimately lead to extinction. Therein lays the secrets to man's progress. The British are particularly great at preserving traditions. Within this tradition is a class system, beautifully represented by her majesty the queen, who we deservedly pay homage to. Let me here hasten to add that I was recently delighted when her majesty supposedly sent out her first tweet! Colonization was built on the bedrock of the class system; so intricately crafted, that it has the ability to perpetuate itself, even in the absence of the master. Ghana has been 'independent' since 1957. The British had one goal when they colonized; to keep the colonized, colonized. They have done a very good job. We have therefore faithfully failed to think independently. Failing to adapt our education, in a very fast changing world. Subsequently, the education in almost all African countries, lack attributes of independent thought, creativity etc., things that ultimately lead to inventions, the sciences, entrepreneurship; the confidence to explore and question, and the permission to fail honorably. Our colonial masters left a long time ago, but the proxy masters... Alas! Those who benefit from the status-quo, the stand-in masters, prefer to keep it just the way it is. Victims higher up the food chain. In 2015, the universities will not adapt what they teach to the job market; insisting on teaching outdated curricula, and in some instances, using books that are no longer in print. The resulting gaps in what the job market wants and the skills sets of graduates is alarming, inflaming the already testy job market. My country suffers from a youth unemployment rate of over 60%, social structures are breaking down, leadership is confused, corruption is rapt; Work ethic and attitude is at its worst and inventions are relatively non-existent. I just recently sat down with two same-aged nephews in different parts of the globe. Both aged 5. It was all I could do not to cry. We absolutely will continue to be slaves, for the next generation is already doomed. The chasm seems so insurmountable, Words fail me... words fail me Ghanaians are smart people. Ghanaians continue to excel all over the world, even under the most trying conditions and with the worst of starts. Recently a gentleman of Ghanaian decent, preparing to go to college, was accepted in all the major ivy leagues schools in the United States. Such a feat it was, that it was covered on prime-time television. This and other cases, continue to prove, that indeed, this may be a case of nurture and not nature. In the meantime, in the land of the purposeless, a new threat looms. Groups like ISIS have sniffed the hopelessness that engulfs our youth, and like vultures that feed on carcass, they circle our shores, licking lips shimmering with spit... A white-haired beggar sits outside the 13th-century Konark Sun Temple in Odisha, India, a wide smile spread across his face. His hands, deformed by leprosy, cradle the first photo of himself he has ever seen. Swapna, a young mother in Kolkata, lives in a grass hut without electricity or running water. She has no photos of her wedding, but thanks to Hollywood film editor Bipasha Shom, she owns a portrait of herself and her five-month-old son, Neeladri. This mother is seeing a photograph of her daugter for the first time These two are among hundreds of impoverished Indians that Shom has gifted with a photograph. Many of these people are surviving on a dollar a day or less, and a photo is a luxury item, she said. They do not have the means to buy cameras, let alone afford to make prints. Some have cell phones but they are very basic models, with no photo capability or with extremely low resolution images. Born in Kolkata, but raised in New Jersey, Shom, 47, was in her teens when she first began giving away photographs while visiting relatives in India. It was something I knew how to do, so that is what I offered, she said. While photos were not high on the list of priorities, I felt that it was important for people to have a record of their lives. Imagine not having any photos of your wedding, your children, your parents. This was the first photo these three sisters had of themselves Last December, Shom returned again to Kolkata, this time with her husband, Chris Manley, a cinematographer and director of photography for the TV series Mad Men, their two children and a photographer friend, Julie Black Nichols. They spent four weeks giving away hundreds of photos in Kolkata and the coastal town of Puri. While Shom photographed people of all ages, Manley and Black captured her subjects gazing in awe at their photos for the first time. What made this trip unique was Shoms use of instant photography. I had been taking pictures using a SLR camera, then getting prints made and returning to the community to hand them out, she said. The process became so much easier with an instant camera. We could have gotten a wireless printer and done it that way, but there is a magical element to instant photography that I love. That moment when people see their image develop on a blank piece of film is priceless. Children are fascinated by their images developing on film It was incredible to see people's reactions to the photos, Shom said. We'd approach people who looked pretty intimidating and then watch as their faces just melted into huge smiles as they watched the photos develop. Mothers would ask us to take group photos with their kids. People would run into their homes and pull out their elderly grandparents so we could capture their only image. Children posing for pictures Shom particularly enjoyed photographing children with the help of her daughter and son, Priya and Devan. It was really powerful for them, she said. We take so much for granted in the US. We dont realise how much we have and how luxurious our lives are. To keep the project going, Shom has founded a nonprofit, GivePhotos , and is raising money to buy cameras and film to ship to photographers in India and other interested countries. Three schoolgirls getting their photo taken While she has found the project rewarding, Shom admits she sometimes questions the value of giving photos to those who have so little. But then she quickly pointed out that its often family photos that people grab when fleeing a house fire. We realise that giving a photo is not like building a school or a hospital or feeding the hungry, but I think a photo is something that feeds the soul, she said. Its hard to know how these images will impact peoples lives but I think weve brought some small amount of happiness. President Xi Jinping calls leaders to action in the G20 Summit. (Photo : Getty Images) During the G20 Summit where global leaders in finance and commerce came together, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged all of the participants to "real action" and to stop "empty talk." He said this during the opening remarks of the summit where he said that the leaders should focus on sustainable development, green finance, energy efficiency and anti-corruption, "and we should implement each of them seriously." Advertisement He also encouraged the member countries should collaborate in developing solutions and to avoid discrimination by looking at all angles "squarely." The Chinese leader also said, "Against risks and challenges facing the world economy, the international community has high expectations of the G20 in the Hangzhou summit." The global leaders agreed to the remarks by President Xi. Angela Merkel, Prime Minister of Germany, said that she welcomed China's move to reform. Chen Wenling, chief economist at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said, "The G20 is becoming more systematic and is changing from a short-term arrangement to handle crises to a long-term dialogue and action mechanism. To make it more effective, the G20 should establish a secretariat." According to an expert, China has been a driving force in bringing a new level of exchange of ideas in the G20. "The G20 used to be driven by crises, and now it's driven by ideas. China has provided a global consensus at the Hangzhou summit that will drive global joint action," said Wang Wen, acting director of Renmin University of China's Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies. Other global leaders echoed the sentiment of President Xi's call to action. Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda said, "Commitment will be made to utilizing all three policy tools of monetary and fiscal policies and structural reforms to achieve solid, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth." Moses Asaga (left), Dr Ampomah (right) and Gilbert Buckle (2nd right) breaking wall for the official commencement of the rehabilitation of the unit The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has given GH1 million to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) for the refurbishment of the National Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burns Centre (NRPSBC) at the facility. Speaking at a ceremony on Friday at the hospital in Accra to commence the facelift project, Director of NRPSBC, Dr O.W. Ampomah, lamented that the burns unit is in a deplorable state and, thus, the support from the NPA. According to him, due to the deplorable nature of the centre, the female wall of NRPSBC caught fire a few days ago and nearly degenerated into a major disaster. I don't want disaster under my control before people say patients who came to the burns centre have been burnt, he said. Dr O.W. Ampomah mentioned that the donated amount would be used to put in the necessary facilities so that people who come for treatments are given the best of services they deserve. He said the donated amount would be used to rehabilitate the various walls, washrooms of the NRPSBC as well as replace the old ceilings and carry out rewiring of the electrical cables so as to enhance the delivery of information communication technology (ICT) services in the unit. The refurbishment project, DAILY GUIDE gathered, is to take a period of three months, and NPA would play a supervisory role to ensure that it is successfully carried out. When that is done, it would see the NRPSBC as one of the best centres of its kind in the West African sub-region, according to Dr Ampomah. Statistics Giving statistics about the number of patients who visit the hospital, he said last year, about 1,650 surgical operations were carried out at the unit. He said the NRPSBC did a series of outreach programmes this year and succeeded in treating about 300 persons, saying the facility has about 13 well-trained surgeons. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NPA, Moses Asaga, in a short remark, observed that the NPA deemed it necessary to support the burns unit because most of the burns cases reported at the facility are petroleum-related. Meanwhile, the CEO of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Gilbert Buckle, has commended the NPA for the kind gesture and prayed other state institutions to emulate their example. BY Melvin Tarlue A patient leaving the Ridge Regional Hospital after he was told the pharmacists were on strike The Government and Hospital Pharmacists Association (GHOSPA) yesterday began the total vacation of their posts at the various state-run hospitals across the country. The pharmacists, numbering about 600, took the decision at its general meeting in Sunyani after seven years of delay by government to address their grievances on outstanding issues relating to the interim market premium, grade structure and placement on SSSS and the conditions of service. The pharmacists, following through with their decision, left their post at the pharmacies of major state-run health facilities, leaving patients to their fate; a conditions that threatens patient's safety with regards to proper medication. The Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and the Ridge Regional Hospital had their pharmacies closed with a note which read, Dear customer, due to the ongoing strike action by the Government and Hospital Pharmacists Association (GHOSPA), we are unable to provide services until further notice. Thank You. However, some hospitals are yet to join the industrial action as the La General Hospital Pharmacy was opened with officers attending to patients although they refused to comment on why they are working. Strike Notice A statement signed by the GHOSPA National Chairperson, Agyemang Badu dated August 29, 2016, indicated that the indefinite strike has become their last resort after persistent and deliberate delay by government in addressing their grievances. GHOSPA had called for the scores of the job evaluation review exercise and lately job re-evaluation to be used as a basis for the placement of pharmacists on the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS). The existing relativities in the health sector which is backed by all previous job evaluation are upheld on the SSSS to ensure stability, equity and fairness The recommendation of the cabinet sub-committee report on GHOSPA's issue pertaining to the grade structure and placement and the interim market premium be adopted and implemented, Mr Badu said. He mentioned that although essential service providers, the association has since September 2011, patiently adhered to several agreements, assurances, due process and negotiations with the hope that its grievances in respect of the grade structure and placement and interim market premium would be addressed. However, a compulsory arbitration process at the National Labour Commission (NLC) and a cabinet sub- committee report recommendation has not been able to resolve it. GHOSPA stated that in the circumstances, their cherished patients, clients and general citizenry of Ghana should note that if on or before the Monday, September 5, 2016, if all issues are not addressed with proper implementation guidelines and a roadmap, all members nationwide will lay down their tools. It will be a total strike with exception to inpatients who are admitted on or before 4th September, he said. Implication Stephen Corquaye, a former GHOSPA Chairperson, said the strike threatens patients' safety, adding, Know that within the law as essential service providers if our issues are brought, within 14 days it should be resolved now it has taken seven years. It is unfortunate that we have come this far we don't want our cherished customers to have to be in this situation, but you have to know that we cannot continue with this situation and provide services when you know that decisions have been taken to improve on our lot and are not being implemented. Government should quickly and hurriedly resolve the issue and our members would definitely go back to do what they know best, he said. Ultimatum Mr Corquaye hinted that the association will intensify the strike by withdrawing emergency and in-patient services if government does not resolve the issue within a week. Last year, the association embarked on a similar protest, but did not make headway as government promised to resolve the issue but failed to do that. By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri 06.09.2016 LISTEN Nuhu Yakubu and Dawuda Yakubu have been arrested by the Buipe Police in the Central Gonja District in the Northern Region for snatching a motorbike from a resident. The brothers, both 20 years, are part of a gang that terrorizes residents in Buipe and its environs especially during market days in the area. DAILY GUIDE gathered that at around 9am Sunday morning, police received information that a group of armed men had attacked some passengers near the Fufulsa Sawla Junction and when the armed robbers realized that the police were on their way, they fled to a nearby bush. Information available indicates that at about 1pm, the police received another call that the armed robbers were heading towards Tamale so the police communicated with their counterparts in Buipe and they were arrested at the Buipe toll booth. Buipe District Police Commander DSP Kingsley Owusu Antwi, who confirmed the arrest to DAILY GUIDE, said the armed robbers mostly operate around Kintampo and the Northern Region. According to him, the armed robbers snatched a motorbike with a registration number M-16-NR 3867 from a resident around the Fufulso Sawla Junction. The police retrieved a locally manufactured pistol, ammunition, talisman and a driver's license belonging to one of the armed robbers. DSP Kingsley Owusu Antwi indicated that the armed robbers are in police custody pending further investigations, adding that they would process them for court. The District Police Commander urged residents in the area not to take the law into their own hands, especially this year and that the police would do everything possible to ensure peace in the area. He thanked residents for their support in arresting the armed robbers and urged them to continue to volunteer information to the police to help reduce crime in the area. From Eric Kombat, Buipe The 8-hour nationwide strike action embarked upon by aggrieved staff of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) since Friday ended yesterday after the national executive council decided to meet government on Wednesday and present their concerns to it. Executives of ECG's Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU), national divisional officers of Junior Staff Union (JSU) and Senior Staff Union (SSU) of ECG and the regional representatives (chairmen and secretaries of regional divisional officers) of ECG met yesterday to take that decision. The workers have raised concerns about possible job losses due to government's decision to cede part of management of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for 25 years to a private entity, even though the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) has in a recent press statement indicated that no layoffs would take place within the first five years of the takeover by the private entity. On Friday, September 2, a meeting scheduled between ECG officials and national executives of PUWU hit a snag. Customers of ECG were stranded for the two days that the aggrieved workers did not work at their offices, causing so much disappointment. Last week, the ECG staff declared a three-day nationwide demonstration against the privatization for three hours every day. Michael Adumatta Nyantakyi, General Secretary of PUWU, who was addressing a press conference lately, said: We are not asking the Government of Ghana to abrogate the MCC compact, but we are requesting that GOG and MCC should review the Compact. He stated that Private Sector Participation (PSP) as a condition precedent and trigger for entry into force should be modified to include pragmatic steps or measures that can bring efficiency and profitability to ECG using the disciplined leadership and governance transformation method. Recently, the leadership of the workers met Finance Minister Seth Terkper, who is now caretaker Minister at the Power Ministry and John Jinapor, his deputy to discuss the issues. By Samuel Boadi [email protected] Aggrieved staff of Mantrac Ghana have expressed displeasure with the National Labour Commission (NLC) and the Labour Department for allegedly showing bias towards them in a case. The workers claimed management of the company was forcing them to stay with the Industrial & Commercial Workers Union (ICU) even though they have opted for the Ghana Mine Workers' Union (GMWU). According to the workers, they suspect the NLC and the Labour Department had connived with management of Mantrac Ghana, hence the inability of the two institutions to objectively and promptly deal with the issues before them. The workers alleged that there was no transparency in deductions of dues made at source from their salaries to the ICU, adding that all attempts to get any proper records on the transactions had fallen on deaf ears. We suspect the ICU is just playing mischief about the whole issue which has dragged the issue, hence the unfair termination of appointments, an employee of the company, who pleaded anonymity, told the paper. Recent dismissals About 70 staff of Mantrac Ghana were recently dismissed over their intention to join the ICU. But the workers stated: This is aimed at intimidating us to rescind our decision to join GMWU. A senior official of ICU told a representative of the workers that if they want their dismissed colleagues to be recalled, then they should cancel their planned migration to GMWU, they alleged. According to the workers, on countless occasions, they have written letters to the Labour Commission and Labour Department to urge management of Mantrac to cease paying dues to ICU but to no avail. Call for objectivity The workers have therefore called on the acting Chief Labour Officer to be objective in the matter and adjudicate fairly. Even though the workers have tendered their membership withdrawal letters from ICU and served copies of the letters to Mantrac Ghana, management still refuses to recognize GMWU. This is a clear case of discrimination and infringement on workers' rights to unionize. Since 31st August, this year, two motions have been sent to the Commission. They added that they have submitted all documents, including enrollment forms for all workers who have resigned from ICU to the Labour Commission. Compulsory membership GMWU is now present in Mantrac so we still dont know why ICU is still saying that we are still their members. But their reason is that when we sent our withdrawal letters to their office our representative did not collect receipt and that is why they are still saying we are their members. But Mantrac management, GMUW, Labour department, Labour Commission all have copies of this withdrawal letters. ICU does not have a form bearing particulars of any of us. Meanwhile, the case of unionization has been adjourned for two weeks because the commissioner pledged to invite the Acting chief labour officer to come and clarify some issues that have been raised. The workers have also called on the local union chairman, Abubakar Seidu, to explain the existing contract between ICU and Mantrac. By Samuel Boadi [email protected] A Deputy Minister of Education, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has said government will complete at least 70 out of the 200 Community Day Senior High Schools it promised before the elections in December. From what the consultants are telling us and what we have seen from our rounds and our monitoring and those that are ready for commissioning, conservatively I can tell you that not less than 70 will be ready. It could be more, Mr. Ablakwa said in a Citi News interview. The Community Day Senior High Schools are being built as part of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government's promise to improve access to secondary education and to implement its progressive free Senior High School policy. Speaking at the inauguration of the new Abodoman Community Day Senior High School at Agona Abodom in the Central Region yesterday [Monday], President Mahama all but admitted the government could not complete the 200 Community Day Senior High Schools it pledged in the run up to the 2012 elections. He however said the full complement of the 200 schools will be delivered if he is given a second term . Mr. Ablakwa intimated that President Mahama took the high road with his admittance noting that President has tried his best to fulfill the promise of putting up the 200 schools. The honorable thing is what the President did in Agona Abodom where he leveled up with the people of this country, accounted for the promise he made and how far we have come. 200 were promised, 123 are at various stages of completion. He is being transparent with the people he is appealing to the good people of this country that please accept the challenges we have had and where we are now but have the assurance that we are not abandoning this pledge, the Deputy Minister added. Follow the hashtag #GhElections on social media for more election related stories By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is meeting in Geneva from 13 to 30 September to review childrens rights in the following countries: Nauru, Sierra Leone, New Zealand, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Suriname. The Committee, which is composed of 18 independent experts, monitors how States that have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) are complying with its obligations. The Committee also reviews how States are implementing two optional protocols to the Convention one on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (OPSC) and one on the involvement of children in armed conflict (OPAC). States that are party to the Convention must submit regular written reports to the Committee. During the meetings in Geneva, Committee members hold question and answer sessions with the respective government delegations. The Committee bases its evaluation on the State partys report and written replies, the delegations replies and also on information from other UN bodies and agencies and NGOs. The sessions will be held on the following dates at Palais Wilson in Geneva: Nauru (13-14 Sep), Sierra Leone (14-15 Sep) New Zealand (15-16 Sep), South Arica (19-20 sep), Saudi Arabia (20-21 Sep), Suriname (21-22 Sep). The sessions will be webcast here: http://webtv.un.org/live/. The morning sessions run from 10:00-13:00 and the afternoon sessions from 15:00-18:00. The CRC will publish its findings, known as concluding observations, here on 6 October. More information is available at: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=987&Lang=en The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Presidential nominee, Nana Akufo-Addo, has charged party leaders in the Ashanti Region to put every disagreement aside and unite ahead of the polls. Speaking at a meeting with party executives, Members of Parliament and Parliamentary nominees in the Ashanti Region, Nana Akufo-Addo said the NPP stood a better chance of winning the December polls if it presented a united front on all levels. The NPP flagbearer gave special attention to the NPP MP nominees warning them that they are expected to cooperate with executives. If they supported you or they didn't support you, so long as they are the executives and you are the candidate, you are required to cooperate with them. Whoever it is, candidates or executives, that cooperation has to be there. Let us make this 2016 the year of the elephant. There is no programme that is being unveiled by Mahama for the future of the country. there is no programme, Nana Akufo-Addo added. NPP victory assured with 80 percent in Ashanti Nana Akufo-Addo, also said the party was also likely to win power to govern the country in the upcoming polls if it secured 80 percent of the total votes in the Ashanti Region. The Ashanti Region, along with the Eastern Region, is known to be a strong hold of the NPP given the past election results. In the 2012 polls, Nana Akufo-Addo recorded 70.86% of the votes in the Ashanti region and 56.91% in the Eastern Region, while his biggest contender, the National Democratic Congress President John Mahama, had 28.35% and 40.03 in the Ashanti and Easter regions respectively. Follow the hashtag #GhElections on Social Media for election related stories By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana Residents in the Brong Ahafo Region risk losing their major source of potable drinking water, River Tano due to the activities of Galamsey operators. The water body which has a total catchment area of about 1500 kilometers square runs through Ghana and Cote d'ivoire and serves the Ghana Water Treatment Plant at Abesim near Sunyani. In the report below, Citi News Duke Mensah Opoku captures the effects of the pollution of the River on residents of the Bono Ahafo Region. By: citifmonline.com/Ghana Gerald Arhin is totally blind. Fareed Gombila only gets a dim sneak peek of the world around him he is partially blind. For an educational system criticized in certain quarters as rigid and unispiring even for the sighted, you are free to imagine the huge hurdles it presents for those who have lost their sight. And it gets worse for the visually-impaired who refuse to settle in and who have the audacity to dream of things which the sighted Ghanaian students will not dare to dream. Gerald is adamant about his ambition to become the President of Ghana in 2052. He cannot see the present. But he can see his future. On paper, Fareed has outdone Gerald. He wants to be the UN Secretary-General. Glaucoma eclipsed Gerald's sight by age six years. A surgery on the right eye to correct the defect rather deepened the problem. He was blind on the right eye after the surgery. He went to school relying on only the left eye until that eye was also affected. Gerald Arhin I still remember everything...colours, houses...everything," he told a fascinated host of Joy FM's Super Morning Show Kojo Yankson, Tuesday . Fareed noticed he was partially blind as a child and learnt to adapt with his little sight. He hailed De Youngesters school in Accra as one of the very few integrated schools in Ghana that are sensitive to children with disabilities. He has struggled to go through Akropong School of the Blind where inferior brails from inadequate funding by disinterested governments means he struggled even more to learn simple topics in subjects like Science. I feel it is not the best to use brails that are not suitable for learning, he said matter-of-factly. It was at Okuapem Senior High School that he started to use computers adapted for the visually impaired. Fareed Gombilla That was where he met Gerald. They have been friends since. They are both in the University of Ghana, third-year students studying Political Science and Psychology. And that was when they met a dissatisfied film maker, Kojo Wiredu Kusi. I was tired of calling myself a film maker with nothing to show for it he said. After hearing of the two ambitious friends, Kojo Wiredu says he felt an internal compulsion to do something about their story the story of the world of the visually impaired. I didnt have any training in documentary films at all he said but applied himself to study using youtube videos and online material. Film maker Kojo Wiredu Kusi That was how the documentary, VIP: Visually Impaired Personalities, was produced. At the Silver Bird Cinema, Kusi was delighted to know that the place was packed. People didnt have a place to sit. I was so touched, he said and gave the glory to God. Listen to entire interview Story by Ghana|myjoyonline.com|Edwin Appiah|[email protected] Leaders from the G20 Summit have their own favorite Chinese universities. (Photo : Getty Images) The report was published at the Chinese Alumni Network website, cuaa.net, showed that over 250 global leaders have delivered speeches in 50 Chinese universities. Peking University, in its 120 years of existence, is still the most visited and the top favorite university in China. It has been visited 21 times by G20 summit leaders. Advertisement Next is the Tsinghua University in Beijing, which was visited by leaders 14 times, and Tongji University in Shanghai, which was visited eight times. Germany is the nation with the most number of visits to Chinese learning institutions and showed the most interest compared to their foreign counterparts. "Visiting leaders consider factors such as the impact of the university, as well as the university's historic and business links with their country," said Cai Yanhou, a senior researcher with cuaa.net and a higher education researcher at Central South University in Changsha, Hunan province. In a report released in 2015 by QS World University Rankings by Subject, Chinese universities have shown that they are still leaders in education. Ben Sowter, head of research of QS, a higher education research company, said, "What manifests itself as a very clear trend, however, is that institutions in the region are much more strongly represented than last year, with 70 additional places across the subjects occupied by universities from China and Hong Kong." The report also said that Hong Kong universities displayed increased international competitiveness with a strong presence in the subjects. Most of the top 50 are Chinese. Sowter added, "This perhaps indicates a deepening of quality across the sector in mainland China - in other words, a growing capacity to offer a world class education at a world-class university to more students in more subjects." The running mate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, has begun a five-day campaign tour of the Northern and Upper East Regions in Mole. He is expected to meet with the Gonja Traditional Council, party executives and parliamentary candidates of the NDC whilst in the Northern Region. The Vice President will also inaugurate the NDCs Northern Regional Campaign Taskforce as well as hold a special meeting with NDC functionaries from Bole Bamboi, Sala-Tuna-Kalba, Damongo, Yapei-Kusawgu, Daboya Mankarigu and Salaga North and South. The Vice President will later take his campaign tour to the Upper East Region where he will call on chiefs, party executives and parliamentary candidates, among others. Vice President Amissah-Arthur espoused his confidence in President Mahama saying in President John Mahama, we have a leader who is working in the interest of our generation and future generations. The NDC flagbearer, President John Mahama, has already toured the Western and Northern Regions and is currently in the Central Region to continue his campaign for re-election. He is expected to among other things, inaugurate some completed school projects and pay courtesy calls on some chiefs in the area. His tour of the region has already seen him inaugurate the Abodoman Community Day Senior High School in the Agona West Constituency as he reiterated the NDCs commitment to improving education in the region and Ghana. Follow the hashtag #GhElections on social media for more election related stories By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana The suspect with the slabs of wee 06.09.2016 LISTEN Officials of the koforidua Prisons have arrested an ex-remand prisoner for smuggling narcotics to the prison. The suspect, Alalea Obuwomamo Paul, a baker and fashion designer was arrested on Monday by Prison officers on intelligence surveillance. The 47-year-old Nigerian, who was released on a presidential pardon, is alleged to have smuggled narcotics to the prison inmates with a syndicate believed to be Prison officers. Officials at the Prison upon intelligence disguised a prison officer as a middleman who approached the suspect for supply to inmates which he agreed to. On Monday, the suspect began supplying the compressed slabs of wee and toothpaste. He was then arrested and handed over to the Effiduase police. The Effiduase Police Commander, Dan Yaro, told Starr News the police are yet to gather detailed information about the suspect and his method of operation. A ranking member of Parliaments Education committee is questioning the sustainability of government's decision to convert polytechnic into technical universities. Dr Yaw Owusu believes there will be resource constraints by government which will affect the effective implementation of the policy. He expressed these concerns during the Joy Thought Leadership forum on the sustainability of the conversion of Polytechnics into technical universities. The government has so far converted six of the ten polytechnics into technical universities with a promise to convert the remaining four sooner than later. The policy has also been given legal backing after President John Mahama assented to the Technical University Bill making it a law. But Dr Yaw Owusu said government will have problems implementing the policy to the letter. "I am doubtful about the sustainability of this technical university because the economy is not in good shape. Technical university education is based on resources not just mere branding or changing of names. If you want technical and vocational education they must put in a lot. You can put in a lot when you have the resources," he said. But Deputy Education Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa argued that the needed infrastructure and resources needed for its take off has been secured. He assured the conversion will improve the quality of education in the country. "We perhaps have not paid attention to the work that has gone on, on this conversion. The president announced this in first state of the nation address. We then invited all the stakeholders, including the Parliamentary committee on education. Everybody has been involved. "It is surprising that the NPP member is saying loudly that he was opposed. We didn't see that in committee report. The Parliamentary records will show you that there was a unanimous consensus," he stated, adding the policy will help in developing technical education in the country. Story by Ghana|Myjoyonline.com First Atlantic Bank says they are looking at increasing their branch network to 30 the end of this year. The bank currently has about 23 banks. The branch increase according to the Bank is part of measures to make it the preferred bank for the banking populace in key areas in the country while working to be among the top tier banks in the country. New Managing Director of First Atlantic, Odun Odunfa disclosed to this JOYBUSINESS after opening key branches last week at Sakumono, Kotobabi and East Legon. He tells JOYBUSINESS, the focus to grow the bank's assets and also give more attention to corporate governance issues. He adds that service delivery will be another area that will not be left out when it comes to focus. "Part of our branch roll out strategy is to build branches that reflect the environment in which they are situated and in so doing building emotional connections with the people we intend to serve. This is what we want to do with the people of East Legon," he said. Mr Odunfa says their principal objective is to build a global bank out of Ghana and this we are pursuing through the adoption of a culture of service excellence throughout our institution. "We are therefore bringing to East Legon and all surrounding areas what we have branded as the Purple Experience, which is our distinctly different service delivery at every touch point," he said. Story by Ghana| Myjoyonline.com | Joy Business The pro-poor hypothesis of decentralisation with respect to the creation of districts is flawed at best and elusive at worst to the good governance and efficiency proposition. There is no evidence to the claim of district creation reducing poverty in Ghana, yet it has been used to explain the 94.4% increase in districts created since 1988. Using a cross-sectional data, this paper assesses the poverty reduction basis of district's creation in Ghana. It concludes the creation of districts as a convenience political exercise and a trapping mechanism which maintains a poverty status quo rather than alleviation. 1 Introduction Ghana's decentralisation with respect to the creation of districts as a tool for strengthening democracy, fostering local development and subsequent poverty reduction (Republic of Ghana, 1992; 1993) is marred by nothing more than political convenience (Ayee, 2013).[1] There is scant evidence that service delivery and poverty indicators have improved as a result of decentralized governance (Cabral, 2011). Its pro-poor hypothesis is flawed at best and elusive at worst to the good governance and efficiency proposition. There are currently 216 decentralized local authorities in Ghana. The number of authorities created since the inception of decentralisation in 1988 to date has increased by 94.4%. As much as this brings decision making closer to its subjects (Hemdi, 2014), what is overlooked are the poverty traps laid in the quest for a more inclusive and effective governance. Fragmentation leads to governance efficiency through competition (Ostrom, Tiebout & Warren, 1961; Ostrom, 1998). Conversely, it can also sustain and exacerbate territorial inequality if not complemented with requisite resource endowments and targeted transfers (Von Braun & Grote, 2000). Such is the bane of Ghana's decentralisation; good in reaching out but less so in translating into poverty reduction. There are studies regarding the correlation of decentralisation (administrative and fiscal) and economic development (Davis, 2006; Blochiger, 2013). Most empirical evidence though not conclusive (Martinez-Vazquez & Rider, 2005; Scott, 2009) are usually based on fiscal decentralisation (Blochiger, 2013). The creation of districts regarded as one of the key processes of decentralisation (Ayee, 2013) is under-explored in the decentralisation-poverty reduction discourse.[2] The contribution of this paper, therefore lies in filling this gap by addressing the question; Does the creation of districts contribute to poverty reduction? This paper argues that the creation of districts (disregarding existing resource endowment and targeted transfers) is a trapping mechanism, which maintains a poverty status quo rather than alleviation. Using an ordinary least square (OLS) estimation of 216 districts in Ghana, the paper identifies a negative and significant correlation between a district's resource endowments (internally generated funds (IGF)) to its level of poverty. Two poverty traps, parallel to the district's resource endowment are identified to confirm a league of poverty clusters arising from decentralisation and district creation. Following the initial introduction of the paper, the next session gives a brief background of literature regarding the theoretical and empirical correlation of decentralisation and development. It looks at the creation of districts as a vital part of administrative and fiscal decentralisation and narrows down to the politics of it other than its development intent in Ghana. Establishing the convenience of district creation, the third session conceptualizes the creation of districts as a poverty trapping mechanism. This is empirically tested in the last session using Ghana as a case point. 2 Background Literature Decentralisation has always been a well-acclaimed policy intervention in opening up governance and grassroots participation in development (Smoke, 2003; Robinson, 2003). It is laudable considering the undoubted relevance of direct and effective participation for development (Hendi, 2014). As a measure of the good governance agenda (see Andrews, 2008), its contribution to poverty reduction in developing countries has however realized mixed results in literature (Ndegwa, 2002; Martinez-Vazquez & Rider, 2005; Scott, 2009; Cabral, 2011). Crawford (2008) for instance questions its impact on development. In a case study in Africa, he reveals decentralisation as vastly a mere convenient political exercise implemented not necessarily as a prerequisite for development. 2.1 Decentralisation and district creation Ayee (2013) elaborates the theoretical debate regarding decentralisation and the creation of districts as a vital aspect which has been overlooked. In summary, fragmented governance approaches other than consolidation (see Tiebout, 1956; Ostrom, Tiebout & Warren, 1961; Ostrom, Bish & Ostrom, 1998) have sufficed to dominate institutional arrangements in decentralisation.[3] Following neo-classical economics, it features a decentralized political arrangement that favours local competition for efficient service delivery. Based on such efficiency, it is argued that the creation of autonomous local authorities (districts) makes for a better governance through popular participation, responsiveness, effective targeting in policy interventions and a structural vertical relation with the central government that allow people (particularly the poor) to self-govern. This has guided the rationale for decentralisation reforms in Africa over the last 30 years but behind these intentions, political motivations have been a major driving force (Cabral 2011). The ingredients for successful decentralisation imply a complimentary political, fiscal and administrative devolution (Jutting et al., 2005). However, in most instances administrative authority for development has been decentralized whilst the requisite fiscal means of it lags behind (Ndegwa, 2002). 2.2 Decentralisation and the politics of district creation in Ghana Ghana practices a unitary presidential and constitutional republic with a multiparty democracy enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, 1992. Demographically, Ghana has a population of about 24 million, with a growth rate of 2.5% (Ghana Statistical Service, 2015). Decentralisation in Ghana, evident in the local government system, had gone through many trials till 1988 when it became more effective with the consolidation of local authorities from 65 to 110 (Kuffour, 2005; ILGS, 2010). 2.3 The structure of the local government system[4] Local government is enshrined in the constitution under the Local Government Act 1993 (Act 462). Ghana has a three-tier local government system comprising: 10 Regional Coordinating Councils (RCC), and currently, 216 sub-regional entities (loosely referred to as districts) made up of districts, municipals and metropolitan areas (see Figure 1). Figure 1: Hierarchies of the decentralisation in Ghana Source: The authors elaboration based on Ghana Statistical Service (2015). Under the Ghana decentralisation policy and local government reform, development is a shared responsibility involving the Central Government, Local Authorities and the Communities (MLGRD, 2010). The local authorities are the highest political and administrative authority at the sub-national level. They all have the same internal political structure with District/Municipal/Metropolitan Chief Executive (DCE/MCE), a position similar to an executive mayor, as the political head. Their mandate ranges from legislative, administrative, service delivery, spatial planning to most importantly socio-economic development (Kuffour, 2005). As development authorities, the Metropolitan, Municipal and Districts (MMDs) have two main revenue sources. These are summed as internally generated funds (IGF) and externally generated funds. The IGF is made of jurisdictional property taxes, returns from local government capital investment, business operation taxes, fee, fines and issuance permits. The externally generated funds are made of central government transfers, and other grants from both national and international sources. Significantly, the government transfers are from the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) which is a 7.5% fiscal transfer to MMDA's from the national consolidated fund for developmental projects (GOG 2016). 2.4 The convenience of district creation in Ghana The creation of districts has been argued to facilitate development and poverty reduction by devolving power, competence, and resources to the district level (Ayee (2013) citing Rawlings, 1988a; Kuffour, 2005; Ofosu- Ampofo, 2012). Though consistent with the proponents of fragmented governance, the capacity of the created districts in terms of a requisite resource base remains a key question. Agreeing with Ayee (2013), emphasis on democracy and inclusive governance has overshadowed attention to the functional effectiveness of districts created. Districts are proliferated with disregard to their economic viability necessary to stimulate development and poverty reduction (Ahwoi, 2011). With unlimited power of the president to create new districts (ibid), the politics surrounding the creation of districts cannot be underestimated. Authorities created since the inception of decentralisation in 1988 to date has increased by 94.4%. There is no proof of gerrymandering intents but the coincidental creation of districts before every general election is suspect of manipulations and convenience (see Table 1). Table 1: Trend of district creation in Ghana's decentralisation Number of Districts Number Created Year Created Year of Election 110 45 1988 1992 138 28 2004 2004 170 32 2008 2008 216 46 2012 2012 Source: The authors. Also, though the districts are established structures of sub-national governance which are independent, there is a continued dominance by the central government. Central government maintains its presence in local decision making with appointees and nominations of mayors to the districts (Jutting et al., 2005). More importantly fiscal autonomy remains to be addressed. Fiscal constraints also persist as a common and recurring challenge cited in the annual progress reports of districts (NDPC, 2016). This undermines their viability in making a meaningful contribution to poverty reduction. That notwithstanding, the resource base needed to drive development in districts is not considered as prime, prior to their creation. A remedy lies in central government transfers (DACF) which majority of districts overly rely on (Crawford, 2008; Ahwoi, 2010; Awortwi, 2010; Ayee and Dickovick, 2010). This is however positively related to population as its disbursement is predominantly based on needs (see GOG, 2016 for DACF calculation and disbursement). Considering that districts are created with respect to population size, the rich will become richer or at worst stay rich while the poor at best maintains their status quo. IGF hence becomes the most critical and differential resource base to achieve any meaningful development in the districts. The overarching hypothesis to be tested hence is that the creation of districts with disregard to their respective capacity in generating enough IGF propagates a poverty status quo (traps) other than reduction. 3 Conceptualizing the creation of districts in Ghana as a poverty trapping mechanism There are three levels of local government structures (Districts) in Ghana. Based on the size of the population there are Metropolitan areas (Urban), Municipal areas (predominantly peri-urban) and districts (predominantly rural in terms of services). The categorisation does not reflect resource endowment prior the creation of the sub-regional governments (districts). Yet, resource endowment and financial transfers are basic conditions for effective decentralisation (Cabral, 2011) and poverty reduction at large. Considering this, the first consequential hypothesis to be tested is that; Hypothesis 1 Districts with low IGF will have a high rate of poverty and districts with high IGF will have low rates of poverty. Secondly, population size is positively correlated with the generation of IGF which forms a significant resource base for developmental programmes and projects. A higher resource base (IGF) leads to a better capacity in providing developmental services that translate into poverty reduction. The proceeding hypothesis then stands that; Hypothesis 2 If the creation of districts is based on population which signals a capacity to generate resources, poverty will be predominantly severe in districts (the lowest population level). Creating a district without a regard to its capacity for raising financial resources hinders the operationalisation of local governance for development services and subsequent poverty reduction aims. With a variation in the IGF base, two poverty traps can emerge. A district poverty trap and another trap that engulfs municipal and metropolitan areas (see Figure 2). Figure 2: Conceptual framework Source: The authors. 3.1 Trap 1: District poverty trap formulation Districts (161 in total) represent the lowest categorisation of sub-regional governments in Ghana. Usually rural, they have the lowest population (minimum of 75,000 people) and level of available services. With low resources to provide basic and higher order services, poverty headcount is high and will remain high in districts since they lack the attractiveness to business and population. Rural urban migration compounds the problem and revenue generation capacity drops to worsen the problems of poverty. 3.2 Trap 2: Municipal and metropolitan poverty trap formulation Municipalities (49 in total) have a higher population (minimum of 95,000 people) and as such a higher resource base. They provide high order services and opportunities that attract the population from the rural districts who migrate for better livelihood. Compared to metropolitan areas (6 in total) resources are however not enough to provide higher order services that facilitates business. Usually used as dormitory towns, they tend to have floating populations who work and contribute to substantial business operating taxes in the metropolitan areas than the origin (municipalities). Other taxes like property tax accrues to the municipal areas. This makes available a substantial resource base for development, so poverty is comparatively lower in terms of headcount. There is a strong interaction between municipal areas and metropolitan areas. Metropolitan areas (minimum of 250,000 people) have the resource base large enough to support the provision of higher order services that sustain businesses. They generate the highest amount of internalrevenue, however, there is an influx of population (from both the districts and municipalities) to these areas. This puts pressure on developmental services and infrastructure which deteriorate in time and are under constant rehabilitation. Resources to alleviate or address poverty reduction issues are hence channelled into rehabilitation and repairs which contribute less to poverty reduction. Poverty hence persists in the metropolitan areas but this is comparatively low in relative terms. In sum, fiscal constraints (capacity to generate internal funds) limits what local government entities - arising from district creation - can effectively do to realize the poverty reduction intent of decentralisation. Poverty headcounts are hence likely to be higher in areas with low IGF base in an ascending order of districts, municipalities and metropolitan areas. 4 Data and Methodology 4.1 Data source The paper uses cross-sectional data from three data sources. These include; 1. Sub-national population, poverty headcount and inequality from the Ghana Statistical Service report (Ghana Statistical Service, 2015). Socio-economic indicators are drawn from the same institution based on the 2010 Ghana Population and Housing Census. 2. Resource base (total revenue and internally generated fund for 2013) at the sub-national level is drawn from the Ghana Audit Service report (2013) on 216 districts. 3. Government total transfer (District Assembly Common fund (DACF) 2013) from the DACF database. Table 2: Variable Description Variable name Definition Poverty headcount The poverty headcount (P0) is the proportion of population living below the national poverty line (GHC 1,114 per person per year) Total internally generated fund The proportion (actual values) of the total amount of revenue which is internally generated from local taxes, rents, fees and fines, investments, among others. This is also for the year 2013 District location This groups the 216 districts into their respective region of which there are 10. Population The total number of people resident in the districts under study Total revenue Total amount of revenue for all source accrued by the district in the year 2013 Status of district A categorization under the three levels of sub-national divisions. District, municipality and metropolitan areas Inequality The distribution of the Gini coefficient, a measure of inequality, across districts Source: The authors. 4.2 Estimation method The estimation is a simple Ordinary Least Squares regression (OLS). This is used to clarify the extent to which the resource generating capacity of a sub-region (using IGF) explains the prevalence of sub-national poverty while controlling for population, government transfers (DACF), other funds (grants), status of the sub-national authority and inequality indicated in equation (1) (1) Where , , ), , , , , , . 4.3 Data description The data covers the 216 sub-national local government divisions in Ghana. Information on IGF and total grants were however short on 29 observations which were basically newly created district which had no compiled data as at the time of reporting (see Table 3). Table 3: Descriptive statistics of variables Variable Count Mean SD Min Max Poverty headcount 216 30.93704 20.75324 1.3 92.4 Population 216 11.39035 .5604734 9.903438 14.33124 IGF 187 12.39311 1.101917 8.162531 17.04124 DACF 216 13.92954 .146652 13.75804 14.80486 Grants 187 13.79248 1.321598 6.843249 17.09301 Gini Index 216 38.95509 6.122059 27.2 64 Metropolitan dummy 216 .0277778 .1647173 0 1 Municipal dummy 216 .2083333 .4070598 0 1 Observations 216 Source: The authors. There is a negative and significant correlation between poverty headcount (see Table 4) and all but two independent variable (Gini index and Grants) which are positively correlated. Table 4: Pearson's correlation of variables Count Poverty head Population IGF DACF Grants Gini Index Metro dummy Muni dummy Poverty headcount 1 Population -0.438*** 1 IGF -0.412*** 0.623*** 1 DACF -0.266*** 0.587*** 0.410*** 1 Grants 0.00436 0.427*** 0.265*** 0.196** 1 Gini Index 0.319*** -0.202** -0.192** -0.105 0.0500 1 Metropolitan dummy -0.175** 0.513*** 0.429*** 0.500*** 0.248*** -0.0500 1 Municipal dummy -0.318*** 0.292*** 0.351*** 0.143** 0.195** 0.00321 -0.0867 1 * p < 0.10, ** p < 0.05, *** p < 0.001 Source: The authors. 5 Results and analysis Using robust (2) and without robust (1) standard errors, the OLS estimation in Table 5 confirms that a disregard to revenue generating capacity in the creation of a district, reinforces poverty. A unit increase in IGF reduces poverty headcount by 3.3% which is significant in the two estimations. Table 5: District resource base and the pertinence of poverty (1) (2) Variables Poverty Headcount Poverty Headcount IGF -3.31** (1.586) -3.31* (1.846) Population -12.23*** (3.553) -12.23*** (3.722) DACF 3.55 (11.613) 3.55 (9.781) Grants 3.29*** (1.087) 3.29*** (1.095) Gini Index 0.58*** (0.213) 0.58** (0.222) Municipal dummy -8.55** (3.678) -8.55*** (3.160) Metropolitan dummy 1.33 (10.654) 1.33 (9.074) Constant 95.50 (152.734) 95.50 (123.065) Observations 187 187 Adjusted R-squared 0.277 0.277 Standard errors in parentheses (1) *** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.10 Robust Standard errors in parentheses (2) Source: The authors. Population which is used as a basis for the creation of districts has a stronger negative correlation (12.2%) which confirms that a supportive revenue generation base should be a pre-requisite if the creation of districts can have a significant translation of inclusive governance to actual poverty reduction. Plotting IGF against poverty headcount weighted by population size, Figure 3 depicts that the higher the IGF of a district in 2013, the lower the pertaining poverty headcount. Figure 3. IGF as a determinant of poverty headcount Source: The authors. 5.1 Trap 1: District poverty trap Beyond the mean poverty headcount of all districts in Figure 3, there is a cluster made of mainly districts (4th quadrant) which are the smallest in terms of population and a corresponding low IGF base. This conforms to the district poverty trapping hypothesis (trap 1) where poverty remains highest and skewed towards districts. They are usually rural, and lack the resource base to undertake meaningful poverty reduction programmes. Population remains low with out-migration to municipal and metropolitan areas for better services and livelihood. Using a municipal dummy[5] with districts as a control, municipalities are significantly more likely (8.6 times as indicated in Table 5) to reduce poverty headcount than district because of their IGF capacity. Government targeted transfers could have been a cushioning but the DACF (a major source of central government transfer) though positively correlated with poverty headcount, it is insignificant in explaining it. 5.2 Trap 2: Municipal and metropolitan poverty trap Districts with IGF above the mean include all metropolitan areas and a predominant majority of municipal areas (1st quadrant). They have a high IGF as a resource base and lower poverty headcounts (below the mean) which conforms to the Muni-Metro poverty trap (trap 2). The high interaction between municipal areas and metropolitan areas terms of population flows blurs form distinction between the two. Both have a substantial resource base (IGF) that corresponds to low poverty headcounts (proportion of the total population poor) but in absolute terms, poverty is more pronounce. They host a bulk of the population which put pressure on existing facilities. Urban problems are more pronounce and rehabilitation of ever deterioration infrastructure services becomes an opportunity cost to poverty reduction programs. Poverty hence pertains. 5.3 Other instances From figure 3, there are limited observations (2nd and 3rd quadrant) where IGF is low (below the mean) yet poverty headcount remain low and in others where IGF is high yet poverty remains high. These are contrary to the first hypothesis of negative correlation. Considering that these are mainly district which are predominantly rural, an explanatory factor can be the level of inequality, other sources of funds and direct interventions that do not go through the district assembly establishment. The alternative case of high IGF yet high poverty (2nd quadrant) borders the extent to which expenditures from grants are pro-poor. An instance can be made of the Garu Tampene, a district in one of the poorest regions of Ghana (Upper East). It generated only GH 190,859.52 (approximately 45,442.74 USD) funds internally but had external funds amounting to GH 6,312,454.28 (approximately 1,502,965.30 USD). Yet, its poverty headcount stands at 54.5%. Its external revenue is higher than two metropolitan areas in Ghana (Cape Coast (GH 1,876,156.53) and Tamale (GH 6,620,193.00) whose corresponding poverty headcounts are 2.6 and 24.6 respectively. 6 Conclusion Creation of districts is vital in decentralisation. It opens up governance to the grassroots and facilitates development through inclusiveness. The idea of creating districts as part of the decentralisation reform in Ghana is justified on a frail veil of poverty reduction. There is no evidence to the claim of decentralisation reducing poverty in Ghana, yet it has been used to explain the 94.4% increase in districts created since 1988. Ayee (2013) put into perspective the political economy behind the creation of the districts. This paper looks into the poverty reduction basis of district's creation and suggests that it is rather a trapping mechanism. Creation of districts without requisite consideration of capacity in generating funds for development reinforces poverty. The paper shows that districts with low IGF have a high rate of poverty and districts with a high IGF have lower rates of poverty. In this regard, districts (lowest demarcation level) in Ghana fall in a poverty cohort where there is a low IGF and a high rate of poverty headcount persist. On the other hand, metropolitan areas and municipal areas which have substantial IGF have a lower poverty headcount. They however contend with an influx of population which makes poverty in absolute terms higher. They form a second poverty trap which pertains to an opportunity cost of rehabilitating infrastructure other than poverty reduction interventions. External fund is an alternative to complement IGF for poverty reduction interventions. However the case of Ghana indicates that a unit increase in grants rather raises poverty headcount by 3.3%. A question thus lies in the extent to which the utilization of external funds (both international and national) are pro-poor. Though a panel data is required to make a conclusive statement, the preliminary evidence from the cross sectional data suggests that, the remedy to poverty reduction in Ghana does not lie in political and administrative fragmentation. Rather, emphasis should be placed on strengthening the institutional and bureaucratic quality of the already existing districts. REFERENCES Ahwoi, K. (2010) Local Government & Decentralisation in Ghana: Unimax Macmillan. Ahwoi, K., (2007) 'Overview of local government system in Ghana: Prospects and challenges'. In Decentralization in Ghana. Papers presented at the Workshops held at GIMPA, Ghana from (Vol. 2010, pp. 44-62). Andrews, M. (2008) 'The good governance agenda: Beyond indicators without theory'. Oxford Development Studies 36(4): 379-407. Awortwi, N. (2010) 'The Past, Present, and Future of Decentralisation in Africa: A comparative case study of local government development trajectories of Ghana and Uganda'. International Journal of Public Administration 33(12-13): 620-634. Ayee, J. R. (2012) 'The Political Economy of the Creation of Districts in Ghana'. Journal of Asian and African Studies 0(0):123 Ayee, J., and Dickovick, J. T. (2010) 'Comparative assessment of decentralization in Africa: Ghana Desk Study'. Washington, DC: United States Agency for International Development. Blochliger, H. (2013) Decentralisation and Economic Growth - Part 1: How Fiscal Federalism Affects Long-Term Development, OECD Working Papers on Fiscal Federalism, No. 14, OECD Publishing. Cabral, L. (2011) Decentralisation in Africa: Scope, Motivations and Impact on Service Delivery and Poverty. Working Paper 020. Brighton, Sussex: Overseas Development Institute. Crawford, G. (2008) 'Decentralization and the Limits to Poverty Reduction: Findings from Ghana'. Oxford Development Studies, 36(2), 235-258. Davis, J. R. (2006) Evaluating and Disseminating Experiences in Local Economic Development: Observations on integrated development programmes of the Free State, Republic of South Africa. Working paper Natural Resources Institute.[http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID944029_code459916.pdf?abstract id=944029&mirid=1 [accessed 12th March 2016] Ghana Statistical Service (2015) Ghana Poverty Mapping Report. Ghana Publishing Corporation. Government of Government (2016) Formula for Sharing the District Assemblies Common Fund.http://www.commonfund.gov.gh/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=337&Itemid=437. [Accessed 14th March 2016]. Hamdi, N. (2014) Participation in Practice. http://unhabitat.org/participation-in-practice-nabeel-hamdi-oxford-brookes-university [Accessed: 15 October 2014] Institute of Local Government Studies (2010) A Guide To District Assemblies In Ghana. ISBN 9988-572-13-1Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. Ghana Jutting, J. P., Corsi, E. and Stockmayer, A. (2005) Decentralisation and Poverty Reduction. OECD Development Centre Policy Insight No. 5. Paris: OECD Development Centre. Kuffour, J.A. (2005) 'The Role of Local Government in Decentralisation', Presentation at Commonwealth Local Government Conference. Aberdeen, Scotland, UK, 15th March 2005. Martinez-Vazquez, J., and Rider, M. (2006) 'Fiscal Decentralization and Economic Growth: A Comparative Study of China and India'. Indian Journal of Economics and Business, Special Issue: India & China: 29-46. Minstry of Local Government and Rural Development (2010) 'Draft Decentralisation Policy Framework: Accelerating decentralisation and local governance for national development'. https://www.giz.de/en/downloads/en-national-decentralization-policy.pdf. [Accessed: 4th May, 2015] Ndegwa, S. N. (2002) Decentralization in Africa: A stocktaking survey. Africa Region Working Paper Series 40, Washington, D.C: World Bank. National Development Planning Commission (2016) 'Annual Progress Reports - Districts'. https://www.ndpc.gov.gh/downloads/34/ [Accessed 3 April 2016]. Ofosu-Ampofo, S. (2012) 'MLGRD Meets the Press' http://mlgrdghanagov.com/default/index.php/component/content/article/78-mlgrd-news-category/93-mlgrd-meets-the-press [Accessed 15 March 2016]. Ostrom, V., Bish, R. L., and Ostrom, E. (1988) Local Government in the United States. San Francisco: ICS Press. Ostrom, V., Tiebout, C. M., and Warren, R. (1961) 'The Organization Of Government In Metropolitan Areas: A Theoretical Inquiry' American Political Science Review, 55(04), 831-842. Republic of Ghana (1992) Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, 1992. Accra: Assembly Press, Ghana Publishing Corporation. Republic of Ghana (1993) Local Government Act, Act 462. Accra: Assembly Press, Ghana Publishing Corporation. Robinson, M. (2003) 'Participation, Local Governance and Decentralised Service Delivery'. In Workshop on New Approaches to Decentralized Service Delivery, Santiago, Chile, March 2003. Scott, Z. (2009) Decentralisation, Local Development and Social Cohesion: An Analytical Review. University of Birmingham Governance and Social Development Resource Centre (GSDRC) Research Paper. Smoke, P. (2003) 'Decentralisation in Africa: Goals, Dimensions, Myths and Challenges'. Public Administration and Development, 23(1), 7-16. Tiebout, C. M. (1956) 'A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures'. The Journal of Political Economy, 64(5) 416-424. Visser, J. A. (2002) 'Understanding Local Government Cooperation in Urban Regions: Toward a Cultural Model of Interlocal Relations'. The American Review of Public Administration, 32(1), 40-65. Von Braun, J. and Grote, U., 2000 'Does decentralization serve the poor?' In International Monetary Fund Conference on Fiscal Decentralization, Washington, DC, November 2000 (pp. 20-21). [1] Decentralisation is defined as a mode of governance which involves the devolution of decision-making powers and development responsibilities to the lowest unit of government (Von Braun and Grote 2000 citing Litvac 1999). [2] Exception is made on Ayee's paper on the political economy of the creation of districts in Ghana. [3] Visser (2002) summarizes the reform- consolidation model as the prior alternative to the fragmented model which stipulates a unified action under a single authority. [4] See Ayee (2013 p.628) for the architecture of decentralisation in Ghana. [5] The alternative dummy for metropolitan areas is insignificant. Metropolitan areas however only forms 2.7% of the total number of districts in Ghana. Respectively, PhD fellow in Economics and Governance, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT ([email protected])) and PhD fellow in Economics and Governance, United Nations University and Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology, and IMANI Africa (UNU-MERIT ([email protected])). The views expressed, and any errors, are entirely theirs. Too little noted, Protestant America has managed to nominate two Protestant candidates for president. As Clausewitz famously observed , war is simply a continuation of political intercourse, with the addition of other means. My corollary, from which most Americans might prefer to avert their eyes: Politics is simply a continuation of religious intercourse, with the addition of other means. While almost ignored it is a telling and, perhaps, a defining aspect of the 2016 election. In his imperfect but authentic way, Donald Trump is reflecting certain of the Calvinist values underlying his beautiful Presbyterian faith. Hillary Clinton is reflecting, in her own imperfect but authentic way, the values of her beautiful Methodist faith. Not being a Christian I have a slightly different perspective on the social and political forest, a view of the forest that is perhaps not so obscured by the trees. America has nominated two presidential candidates from a mainline, rather than nondenominational, Protestant faith tradition. One way to interpret this is that America is attempting to decide whether it wishes to define itself, culturally if not theologically, as more in line with Presbyterian or Methodist world views. It is of some interest that America chose representatives of two of the smaller mainline Protestant denominations. Presbyterians claim 5,844,000 members, Methodists 5,473,000. By comparison, Baptists represent 38,662,000, Pentecostalists 13,673,000, and Lutherans 7,860,000 souls. That said per Wikipedia , Theologically conservative critics accuse the mainline churches of the substitution of leftist social action for Christian evangelizing, and the disappearance of biblical theology, and maintain that 'All the Mainline churches have become essentially the same church: their histories, their theologies, and even much of their practice lost to a uniform vision of social progress. Tom Gjelten, of NPR, recently noted the sectarian factor in two important companion pieces: How Positive Thinking, Prosperity Gospel Define Donald Trumps Faith Outlook and Clinton, Kaine Driven By Their Faith In The Social Gospel. Gjelton gets Clinton somewhat better than Trump. On Clinton: With that perspective, Clinton identified squarely with the social gospel of the Methodist tradition. It is an outlook encapsulated in the Methodist credo, widely attributed to the church founder, John Wesley: Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can. His encapsulation of Trump, while on point, appears somewhat wobblier: [Rev. Norman Vincent] Peale, who died in 1993, rarely talked about salvation. His message was more practical than theological. It echoes today in whats known as the Prosperity Gospel, practiced by megachurch televangelists who favor spectacle and say God chooses to reward some people with material wealth. This is not quite right. The Prosperity Gospel is more of a deviation from, than a representation of, Presbyterianism. As noted in, again, Wikipedia, Prominent evangelical leaders, such as Rick Warren, Ben Witherington III, and Jerry Falwell, have harshly criticized the movement, sometimes denouncing it as heretical. Trump presents as more orthodox than suggested by Gjelton. The Presbyterian world view is, in part, stated by Rene Fulop-Miller in Leaders, Dreamers and Rebels : Thanks to the Calvinist doctrine of predestination, it came to pass that more especially in puritan hands wealth was regarded as a sign of election, whereas poverty and afflictions were marks of reprobation. Though Calvin himself had declared it to be an insoluble enigma, which persons God had predestined for damnation and which were to be numbered among the elect, true believers in the Gospel according to Geneva soon began to feel an irresistible desire for certidudo salutis. Now, what other mark of Gods grace could be plainer than the blessings showered on the elect here below? Trump personifies in a cultural, more than theological, way the blessings showered on the elect. Achievement of success is a fundamental American core value. That said, Calvinism is not Hobbesian. While Trump lacks introspection and orthodox Calvinist humility he clearly embodies some of its native compassion. This is clearly reflected in his stand for the little guy and his protectiveness of the social safety net. In his own words, as reported by the Christian Broadcasting Network: First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica Queens is where I went to church. I'm a protestant, I'm a Presbyterian. And you know I've had a good relationship with the church over the years. I think religion is a wonderful thing. I think my religion is a wonderful religion. Trump is a species of fundamentalist American (although not fundamentalist Christian). Whether one supports him or opposes him, he really is, in many respects, admirable. Clinton, far more introspective than Trump, spoke of her Methodist world view in a rare (and striking) public confession of Faith recently reported by the New York Times: I am a Methodist. My study of the Bible, my many conversations with people of faith, has led me to believe the most important commandment is to love the Lord with all your might and to love your neighbor as yourself, and that is what I think we are commanded by Christ to do, and there is so much more in the Bible about taking care of the poor, visiting the prisoners, taking in the stranger, creating opportunities for others to be lifted up, to find faith themselves that I think there are many different ways of exercising your faith. This is entirely consistent with Hillary Clintons persona and public record. Religious News Service scores her as Social Gospel Methodist to the core. She predominantly offers a counsel of compassion yet her commitment to also create more opportunities for success for the have-nots surely is to be considered authentic. Whether one supports or, like me, opposes her, Hillary Clinton is in many respects admirable. While appreciating her laudable compassion my opposition to Hillary Clinton derives from my belief that a certain road to a certain notorious destination really is paved with good intentions. I ran her inspiring nomination acceptance speech through my Secret Political Decoder Ring. It interpreted what Clinton said as I shall tax the American lemon until the pips squeak. This is a recipe for continued economic stagnation and protracted misery. I myself believe that leaning toward growth, at this moment, is the better path to national and world happiness. But Im just one vote. In 2016 America has chosen two distinguished paladins from two competing, legitimate, admirable aspects of Protestant culture. Old school Presbyterianism emphasizes success. Methodism emphasizes social justice. Both perspectives are legitimate. Furthermore, they are complementary. We soon shall find out which of the two perspectives the majority of American voters wish to emphasize in the next phase of our maturation as a nation. The American Dream requires both the achievement of success and social justice. Both Trump and Clinton bring important values to the fore of the national discourse. Let's give thanks that they both stood for office. Let's take pride that we nominated them. God bless America. Originating at Forbes.com A 49-year-old ex-convict is in the grips of the Koforidua-Effiduase district police command for attempting to send parcels of dried leaves suspected to be indian hemp to some inmates of the Koforidua prison. Paul Ashley,49, who was on his way to deliver the banned substance was apprehended by some prison officials following a tip off. He was immediately handed over to the police after interrogation. During interrogation, the suspect revealed that a prison officer requested that he deliver the weed after paying him an undisclosed amount of money. Officials of the prison have since remained tight lipped but the Effiduase District Police commander, ASP Dan Yaro confirmed the arrest of the suspect. He said investigations have began. -Adomonline Accra, Sept. 6, GNA - Ethiopian Airlines, the fastest growing and most profitable African airline, has added a thrice weekly service, on top of its daily flights to Guangzhou as of October 8. Hence forth, Ethiopian would operate 11 weekly flights to from Guangzhou. Mr Tewolde GebreMariam, Group CEO Ethiopian Airlines, said: 'We are pleased to launch more frequency to Guangzhou, one of the largest Chinese cities.' He said Ethiopian has become the airline of choice among travellers between China, Africa and Brazil and they offer the best and fastest connectivity options with a total of 31 weekly flights. He said they operate with the latest and most comfortable B787 and B777 aircraft, to four gateways in China; Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong, and with an immediate connection to 52 destinations in Africa and Sao Paulo in Brazil. 'For sure, this move will play a significant role to the growing economic and people-to-people ties between Africa and China,' he added. Ethiopian is a Pan-African global carrier, operating the youngest fleet with an average of less than five years and currently serving 93 international destinations across 5 continents with over 240 daily departures. In another development, the Airline has finalised preparations to launch flights to Moroni, Comoros with its latest B737-800 New Generation with Sky Interior, from October, 30. Moroni is the largest city, the federal capital and seat of the government of the Union of the Comoros, a sovereign archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean. The flights to Moroni would be operated thrice weekly via Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Mr GebreMariam, said: 'We are thrilled to spread our wings farther to the Comoros islands.' He said the Airline believe that their flights to Moroni and elsewhere on the continent of Africa, contributed positively to the overall development of the continent and serve as a critically essential vehicle for the flow of investment, trade and tourism. 'Hence, with the new service, passengers to and from Moroni will find convenient and hassle free connection to destinations in Ethiopian wide route network to 95 cities in five continents with a minimum layover at our main hub, Addis Ababa,' he added. He said in the just ended physical year, African cities like Cape Town, Gaborone, Goma, YaoundA and Durban have joined Ethiopian vast intra-African network. Moroni would be Ethiopian's 54th African destination. GNA By Gifty Amofa, GNA Kumasi, Sept 06, GNA - The chief of Patuda near Kumasi, Nana Kusi Oboadum, has been arrested for allegedly demolishing a building under construction. He was on Monday put before a Kumasi Circuit Court charged with causing unlawful damage to property and he pleaded not guilty. He was granted a GHE40,000.00 bail with three sureties to make his next appearance on September 22. Police Chief Inspector Felix Akowuah told the court, presided over by Mrs. Lydia Osei Marfo, that the complainant, Kwame Boamah, had acquired a building plot in Patuda on September 25, 2012. This was long before Nana Oboadum became chief of the community. The prosecution said no sooner had he been installed chief than he demanded that the accused paid a fee of GHE2,000.00 for the acquired plot he had started developing and he readily obliged. The chief later asked for an additional GHE1,000.00, under the pretext of using it to secure the necessary land title documents for the complainant from the Manhyia Palace, which once again, he did. Police Chief Inspector Akowuah said on April 20, at about 1100 hours, Nana Oboadum hired a bulldozer and caused to be levelled, the building which had reached the roofing stage. A formal report was made with the police and he was arrested. GNA The giant panda is making a comeback, thanks to conservation efforts. (Photo : Twitter) Once the symbol of conservation efforts for wildlife at the brink of extinction, the giant panda is gradually coming back, with its status moving up from "endangered" to just "vulnerable". The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announced the change the status of the giant panda as part of updates the organization made on its red list of endangered wildlife species. The IUCN made the upgrade of the animal's status based on population surveys, Al Jazeera reported. Advertisement According to the survey conducted between 2011 and 2014, there are currently around 1,864 adult giant pandas living in the wild, which is an increase from the 1,596 estimate by a similar survey conducted between 1998 and 2002. And with the number of cubs added, the total number of pandas alive today is estimated to total around 2,060 individuals. Conservation experts welcomed the development, lauding the efforts made by the Chinese government to protect the species. The country, which has adopted the animal as a national icon, has put up an extensive panda conservation program in the 1990s, establishing 67 panda reserves dedicated to caring for and breeding the species. Chinese authorities have also strengthened their campaign against poaching of the animal and the destruction of its habitat. Furthermore, the country's rent-a-panda program, where zoos from around the world get the chance to exhibit the furry animals for a fee, has contributed greatly to the development of better facilities for breeding and shelter. However, experts also cautioned that it is still too early to say that panda conservation has truly succeeded. According to Wolong Nature Reserve conservation and sustainable development senior adviser Marc Brody, the increase in population figures might not necessarily mean that pandas are thriving in the wild and might just be due to better surveying techniques, National Geographic reported. Meanwhile, the IUCN also warned that the increase might be short-lived. The organization said that warmer temperatures brought about by climate change could potentially destroy more than a third of the panda's natural habitat, leading to a decline in its numbers and the negating the gains made in the 20 years of conservation efforts. The IUCN stressed that it is important to continue the work and be prepared to deal with new threats to protect the panda further. Mole (N/R), Sept.6, GNA - Vice President Amissah-Arthur has arrived in Mole, the eco-tourism town of the Northern Region for a five-day campaign tour of that region and the Upper East Region. Vice President Amissah-Arthur is expected to meet the Parliamentary candidates, Constituency chairmen and the Northern Regional Campaign Taskforce of the NDC. Vice President Amissah-Arthur would pay courtesy calls on the Yagbonwura in Damongo and the Bolewura in Bole. He would later hold a town hall meeting with identifiable groups and opinion leaders of Bole Bamboi and Sawla-Kalba constituencies. Vice President Amissah-Arthur would also interact with party executives and identifiable groups in the Yapei Kusagwu Constituency and depart to the Upper East Region. In Bolgatanga, Vice President Amissah-Arthur would meet with Imams and the Council of Muslim Chiefs, interact with the Parliamentary candidates, constituency chairmen and the Upper East Regional Campaign Taskforce of the NDC. He would later pay a courtesy call on the Bolga Traditional Council and the Bongonaba and interact with the students of Bolgatanga Polytechnic. Vice President Amissah-Arthur would pay courtesy calls on Chiana Pio, Navro Pio and Paga Pio and their sub-chiefs. GNA 06.09.2016 LISTEN By Albert Futukpor, GNA Tamale, Sept 06, GNA - The Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations (GFD) has called for the elevation of the National Council for Persons with Disability to an Authority to make it autonomous to undertake its operations. Mr Joshua Makubu, Elections Coordinator of GFD, who made the call, said this would assure the institution of its own budgetary allocation to undertake programmes to better the lot of Persons with Disabilities (PwD). Mr Makubu was making a presentation at an orientation forum in Tamale on the Guidelines for Promoting Inclusion in Elections 2016. The forum was attended by representatives of PwD drawn from Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions including key state institutions such as the security services, Electoral Commission and the media. The GFD, with support from STAR-Ghana, developed the guidelines to advocate inclusion and effective participation of PwD in the 2016 general election. Mr Makubu said the Council currently depended on the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) for support to run its activities, a situation which had crippled its effectiveness as it did not get the adequate support in terms of funding from MoGCSP. He, therefore, called on political parties to make commitment to elevate the Council to the status of an Authority to address the needs of PwD in the country. He also called on political parties to clearly state their plans regarding the welfare of PwD in terms of employment, and implementation of the Disability Act. Alhaji Abudl Razak Saani, Northern Regional Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) lauded the efforts of GFD to ensure inclusive elections saying NCCE would encourage political parties to include issues of PwD in their programmes. Mr Benjamin Bano-Bioh, Deputy Northern Regional Director of the Electoral said the Commission had an established policy guideline to ensure inclusive elections adding ballots papers would be designed such that PwD could vote in secret. PwD, who took part in the programme, urged the Electoral Commission to ensure that polling stations were accessible to them to enable them to cast their votes. GNA By Dennis Peprah, GNA Sunyani, Sept. 6, GNA - Eligible voters have been advised to be discerning enough to critically analyze and rationalize politicians' "outrageous" campaign promises, in order to make prudent choices in their ballots. 'We all need to question the validity or otherwise and how realistic the drum-beat campaign messages and promises are before we arrive at a decision on who to vote for, as the 2016 campaign intensified', Mr Raphael Godlove Ahenu, the Chief Executive Officer of the Global Media Foundation (GLOMEF), a media advocacy and human right NGO, said. Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview in Sunyani on Monday, he cautioned the electorate to be careful not to be deceived by the apparent utopian and tantalizing promises being churned out by the leadership of key political parties, saying 'some of these promises can never be realized even within two terms-eight years'. Mr. Ahenu expressed deep concern about the apparent resort to telling palpable lies and the making of 'non-achievable campaign promises by the various political parties, especially the ruling National Democratic Congress and the opposition New Patriotic Party, ostensibly to woo voters. He pointed out that many Ghanaian voters are now enlightened and urged politicians to be careful with what they say since their messages could now be deciphered and rejected when found not to be true. The CEO was not too happy that gradually Ghana had become a two-party state, NDC and NPP, a situation, he observed had been the bane of accelerated national development. 'A strong political party is required as a third force to consolidate the gains chalked under the country's multi-party democracy,' he stressed. Touching on maintaining peace in the run up, in course of and the aftermath of the Elections, Mr. Ahenu said, the general election would be peaceful if the key actors-the Electoral Commission (CE), security agencies and all other key stakeholders discharged their constitutional duties with impeccable integrity. GNA ABUJA, Nigeria, Sept. 6 - (UPI/GNA) - Nigeria's Department of State Services said it arrested two Boko Haram members attempting to infiltrate the Nigerian army. The two men were identified as Ibrahim Abubakar and Idris Audu, high-level members of the militant organization violently attempting to establish a Muslim caliphate in Nigeria. Their arrests came Sunday in Kano. "In response to the regrouping of Boko Haram elements in Kano State, the Service in concert with the military, carried out coordinated operations in the state which led to the apprehension of two high profile members of the sect..."Audu is an [improvised explosives devices] specialist who was being groomed to penetrate security agencies in the country. Audu had already perfected plans to seek for recruitment into the next recruitment scheme of the Nigeria army, before his arrest," DSS spokesman Tony Opuiyo said. He added another prominent Boko Haram leader considered a kidnapping expert, Samuel Asuquo, was arrested Aug. 22. The DSS said Asuquo was responsible for the kidnapping of three Australians employed by a cement company in Nigeria, for whom a $473,000 ransom was paid. GNA HANGZHOU, China, Sept. 6 - (UPI/GNA) - Speaking in China amid the G20 summit in China, President Barack Obama said a lack of trust between the United States and Russia as a hindrance to an agreement between the two countries to establish peace in Syria. Obama met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for about 90 minutes Monday, largely discussing the possibility of a truce in Syria. "Given the gaps of trust that exist, that's a tough negotiation, and we haven't yet closed the gaps in a way where we think it would actually work," Obama said during a news conference after the meeting. Obama described the talk with Putin as "candid, blunt and businesslike." He said talks between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on a Syrian truce and provision of humanitarian aid could take "several more days." Negotiations between Kerry and Lavrov, aimed at a plan to increase military cooperation between the United States and Russia so that terrorists in Syria are better targeted and civilian casualties are reduced, have not yet succeeded. A senior U.S. official said of the meeting between Obama and Putin, "It was constructive. It's clear now what our respective positions are, and we'll see in coming days whether on Syria we can reach a near-term agreement. If we cannot get the type of agreement we want, we will walk away from that effort." GNA WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 - (UPI/GNA) - While most Americans have the day off work, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Tim Kaine and Mike Pence, and those associated with their campaigns, made appearances at parades and rallies around the midwest as the home stretch of the presidential election started. Vice President Joe Biden and Gov. Tim Kaine started the day with the Labor Day parade in Pittsburgh, said to be on of the largest in the nation. Biden introduced himself and Clinton's vice presidential nominee while thanking union members for their efforts to protect workers rights. "My name is Joe Biden. And I work for Hillary Clinton and whatever the hell this guy's name is," he said, referring to Kaine. Biden and Kaine spoke after Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers International, who addressed the rights of employees and concerns about Trump's potential election to the White House. "With Hillary Clinton, you can have a 'you're hired' president. But with Donald Trump you're going to get a 'you're fired' president," Kaine said, later comparing Trump's ethical standards to former President Richard Nixon for refusing to release his federal tax records. Meanwhile, Trump and Pence spent Labor Day morning in Brook Park, Ohio, taking part in a round-table discussion with union members, which included conversations on crime concerns in northern Ohio and the state of manufacturing, jobs and the economy. "We will get our jobs back and we will stop companies from leaving. Trade is a one-way street and it's leading us to the poor house. We have to bring jobs back to this country or we are not going to have a country," Trump said. Trump added, in response to a later question, that "we are right now at 1 percent growth now." "No jobs, no growth, really negative growth. If we can get it up to 4 percent -- actually, I think we can get it higher than that. We are making it a much simpler tax system -- [the United States] will be one of the lowest taxed nations in the world, will bring jobs back." The Clinton campaigned announced last week it would start inviting the traveling press corps onto her official campaign plane, officially welcoming them on board this morning before going to Cleveland. The 14-year-old Boeing 737 has more than 40 seats for the press, in addition to a cabin for Clinton and her aides, one for the Secret Service and another for additional campaign staff, The Hill reported. "I'm so happy to have all of you with me," Clinton said to members of the press before the plane's first takeoff. "I have just been waiting for this moment." Clinton was expected to land in Cleveland as Trump was taking off, prompting Kaine to note the importance of Ohio to both campaigns in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. "It's kind of interesting to have all the planes here on the same tarmac," Kaine said. "Just shows you how important Ohio is. We're going to be here a lot." GNA Accra, Sept. 6, GNA - Strategic Communications Africa Limited (Stratcomm Africa), has been adjudged Ghanaian Owned Corporate Communication Service of the Year 2015. This was at the 4th Made in Ghana Awards, which was organised by the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Ghana (EFG) with support from the Ministry of Trade and Industry and endorsed by the Ghana Standards Authority. A statement issued by Stratcomm Africa and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Monday said the Awards ceremony held on the theme: 'Industrialisation, the key strategy to Accelerated Economic Development and Job Creation,' was aimed at honouring the most outstanding product and service organisations in Ghana. Speaking after receiving the award, CEO of Stratcomm Africa, Ms Esther A.N. Cobbah thanked the organisers of the award and attributed her organisation's success to the committed professionals who work at Stratcomm Africa. 'We are proud of our Ghanaian roots and determined to showcase the excellence in Ghanaian Human Resources, products and services. We give God the glory for this award too,' she added. The CEO of EFG, Mr Ato Gaisie said: 'Products and services nominated were evaluated based on their quality as well as economic and social value for Ghanaians'. 'It is about recognising the hard work of indigenous companies who produce high quality and competitive products and services,' Mr Gaisie stated. A total of 37 Awards were given out to deserving organisations from various sectors at the Made in Ghana Awards. This award to Stratcomm Africa is the third in two weeks following the award of Most Outstanding Female Personality in Ghana 2016 by Ghana Feminine Awards to its CEO, Ms Cobbah. Stratcomm Africa was again recognised among Ghana's top 100 companies at the recently held Ghana Club 100 Awards. Stratcomm Africa is an international total communication, reputation management and research agency dedicated to using communication as a means of enhancing performance in various contexts. Stratcomm Africa specialises in evolving and implementing systematic and comprehensive communication strategies for individuals, organisations, public and private, in both national and international settings. Some of the awards that Stratcomm Africa has received in the recent past include the Club 100 Awards 2014 and 2015, IPR PR Consultancy of the year 2014 and 2015. The CEO of the organisation has also been honored with IPR PR Personality of the year 2013, Outstanding Corporate Woman of the Year at the 2013 Ghana Women's Awards and one of the Top 50 Women in PR 2015 by PR News, an International Organization in New York. EFG, organisers of Ghana Entrepreneurs Awards, is a private non-partisan and non-profit organisation to harness the power of entrepreneurship and innovation to grow the Ghanaian economy and improve living standards. The Foundation is conceived from the growing need for Ghanaian and foreign entrepreneurs to network create business environment and take sustainable actions to propel indigenous businesses to greater heights. GNA HANGZHOU, China, Sept. 6 - (UPI/GNA) - The G20 summit wrapped up Monday with the world leaders pledging to boost a sluggish economy with global cooperation. In a joint statement, Chinese President Xi Jinping, U.S. President Barack Obama, and the leaders of Canada, Britain, Japan, Russia and other Group of 20 nations pledged to improve trade. "Eight years ago ... the G20 pulled the world's economy away from a cliff to the track of stability and recovery. Eight years later, the world economy is again at a critical moment," Xi said after the summit. Xi said leaders would develop guidelines on global investment and overhaul the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to help emerging markets. The International Monetary Fund cut its outlook for global economic growth to 3.1 percent. After the meetings, the International Monetary Fund's Christine Lagarde told The Wall Street Journal, "There must be more growth and growth must be more inclusive." The group issued a nine-page statement that did not include details, including any mention of a global stimulus. "The global recovery lacks momentum," Xi told reporters after the meeting. "We need to do more to unlock the potential for medium and long-term growth." Xi opened the summit urging leaders to be an "action team" instead of "talk shop." He noted the logo designed for the event of a bridge consisting of 20 lines in light green. "The Group of 20 is like a bridge, bringing together people from all over the world," Xi said. The G20 leaders promised "inclusive growth." The statement expressed "opposition to protectionism on trade and investment in all its forms." They also pledged to not devalue currencies by boosting exports. From a humanitarian standpoint, they urged increased aid for surging refugees. "If China can pursue her own market reforms and opening, then China would have the credibility and real stature to lead the world," Fred Hu, chairman of Primavera Capital Group, a private-equity firm, told the Wall Street Journal. China has been criticized for its domination of the steel industry. The country is beginning to close steel factories and Xi in the past has offered to cut 100 million to 150 million tons of steel over the next five years. The joint statement, without naming China, calls for formation of a steel forum under the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development to study excess production capacity. The communique said, "We recognize that excess capacity in steel and other industries is a global issue which requires collective responses." And China has been slow in closing down smokestack factories and liberalizing its own market. "China is a status quo actor in international economics," Derek Scissors, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, who specializes in the Chinese economy, told The Wall Street Journal. On Sunday, Obama and Xi ratified the Paris climate change agreement. And after private talks with Xi, Obama said: "The bilateral discussions that we had yesterday were extremely productive and continue to point to big areas of cooperation." This was the last G20 summit for Obama. "We must all work together to spur economic growth, to boost free trade and build a fairer economy that truly works for all," he said. GNA Vientiane, ACCRA, 6 - (dpa/GNA) - US President Barack Obama on Tuesday pledged 90 million dollars to help clear millions of unexploded bombs in Laos that date back to the Vietnam War. Unexploded bombs have killed more than 20,000 people in Laos since the 1970s. The assistance, which would be used to fund a national survey and clearance project with the Laos government over the next three years, was announced by Obama during a meeting with Laos' President Bounnhang Vorachit. "I believe the United States has a moral obligation to help Laos heal," he later said in a speech before 1,100 people at the National Cultural Hall in Vientiane. "I also know that the remnants of war continue to shatter lives here in Laos," he said, noting that many of the clusters bombs dropped by US warplanes during the Vietnam War remained unexploded. "The wounds, a missing leg or arm, last a lifetime and that's why as president I dramatically increased our funding to help remove these unexploded bombs," he added. Vorachit "welcomed the US government's continued commitment to clear unexploded ordnance, assist victims, prevent future casualties and develop local capacity to ensure sustainability of this work," a joint statement said. In the statement the two leaders also said the "comprehensive cooperation in addressing war legacy issues ... has allowed both countries to develop a relationship that looks to the future." Over the last 20 years, the United States has contributed over 100 million dollars to support unexploded ordnance clearance programmes, which have helped reduce casualties from over 300 per year to fewer than 50. During the Vietnam War, US warplanes dropped at least 270 million cluster bombs on Loatian villages and the countryside to try and cut off the North Vietnamese army's supply trails. The "secret war" made Laos the most heavily bombed country in history per person, Obama noted. "As one Laotian person said the bombs came down like rain," he said. Approximately 80 million of the bombs failed to detonate and less than 1 per cent have been cleared, according to US-based NGO Legacies of War. GNA Accra, Sept. 6, GNA - Dr Julius Dadebo, the Ga East District Director of Health Services, has called on Ghanaians to take hand washing with soap seriously to avoid contracting transmissible diseases. He said diseases such as diarrhea, cholera and other respiratory infections which were responsible for greater percentage of child deaths could be reduced if hand washing with soap was practiced. Dr Dadebo was speaking at the opening of the Third Annual Back To School Pediatric Fair of The Community Hospital at Ashongman Estates in Accra. He said hand washing with soap was important because the hand often acted as vectors that carried disease-causing germs from an individual to another either through direct contact or via surfaces. He called on parents and teachers to ensure that the hand washing with soap habit was sustained among children. Dr Dadebo also advised pregnant women to always use the treated mosquito nets in order not to contract malaria. He said the District Health Directorate was putting up a 100 capacity hospital to save the community from travelling long distances to access healthcare. Dr Dadebo urged parents to educate their children on personal hygiene which, he said, would go a long way to improve upon their health. Mr Kwasi Acquah, the Chief Executive Officer of The Community Hospital Group, said it was the policy of the hospital to assist the community in which it operated. He said the fair, instituted three years ago, also formed part of the hospital's corporate social responsibility and urged Ghanaians to seek medical care early anytime they fell sick. Mr Storm Wells, the General Manager of The Community Hospital, said the hospital did not record any maternal death last year due to the continuous education of women and pregnant women who sought care there. He expressed the hope that the hospital would continue to offer quality healthcare at all times. Mrs Grace Dzani-Boni, the Public Relations Manager of Access Bank Ghana Limited, said the healthcare of children was paramount to the bank. She said the bank had introduced Early Savers Account which was aimed at inculcating in the children the habit of savings. Mrs Dzani-Boni said the bank would continue to support the hospital in its mission to cater for the welfare of children in the community. GNA A fast food restaurant worker takes a break at Wangfujing Commercial Street on July 25, 2006 in Beijing, China. (Photo : Getty Images) Yum Brands Inc has announced plans to separate its China unit, which will get an investment totaling $460 million from Beijing-based private equity firm Primavera Capital Group and online payment services provider Ant Financial Services Group after its spinoff from Yum, according to a report from the Global Times news portal on Monday. Advertisement The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of October, with Yum China to start trading independently from the New York Stock Exchange on Nov. 1, Yum Brands posted on its website on Friday. On the same day, Reuters reported that U.S.-based private equity firm Carlyle Group and global private investment firm TPG Capital have partnered with two Chinese companies in a bid for McDonald's business in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong with investment estimated to be worth $2 billion to $3 billion. Ma Wenfeng, a senior analyst at Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultant, attributed the sell-off by the fast food giants to weak performances in China. KFC's second-quarter sales in China rose just 3 percent year-on-year, while Pizza Hut's sales fell 11 percent from the year earlier, according to Yum's results released in July. The rise of traditional Chinese fast food restaurants and changes in dining preferences by consumers have caused the position of Western fast food outlets to decline in recent years, according to experts. Traditional fast food is in line with the eating habits of Chinese customers, Ma said, adding that Chinese fast food meals are seen as healthier than their Western counterparts. Despite efforts to design products that cater to Chinese tastes, Western items such as hamburgers are still considered junk food, according to a report from the Beijing Youth Daily. "However, I think domestic companies look favorably upon the prospects of Yum China and aim to optimize their own business structures by investing in the fast-food giant," said Liu Jianying, an associate research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation. The management experience, distribution channels, and large client bases of Western fast food brands still prove attractive to local firms that want to enter the fast food industry, she explained. KFC opened its first restaurant in mainland China in 1978. As of June 11 this year, there are 5,039 KFC outlets in China, data from Yum's second-quarter report showed. McDonald's, which entered China in 1990, now has more than 2,200 restaurants in China as of 2015, according to data from McDonald's. "We have long admired the Yum China business and are looking forward to collaborating with the board and management to realize the company's full potential," said Hu Zuliu, founder of Primavera, following Yum's announcement. "Through this collaboration, we aim to help Yum China provide world-class mobile payment services for tens of millions of customers across its brands," said Jing Xiandong, president of Ant Financial Services Group. "These services include hassle-free Alipay for customers to help shorten queues at the cashier as well as membership solutions for Yum China designed to help manage customer relations and promotions." Rome, ACCRA, 6- (dpa/GNA) - Europe's common currency, the euro, is wrecking the economies of Italy, Spain and Greece and must be fundamentally reformed or broken up, Italy's main opposition party, the Five Star Movement (M5S), said Tuesday. In a post on the blog of party founder Beppe Grillo, the M5S says fixed exchange rates within Europe are preventing the rebalancing of Germany's huge trade surplus and of corresponding trade deficits in southern Europe. "The euro and the obligations linked to it are destroying peripheral economies, whipping up social unrest and blocking economic growth," the M5S's speaker at the European Parliament, Marco Valli, said in the post. "We need to sit down at a table and decide whether we solve the problem through real integration, with more solidarity from Germany, or with a negotiated return to national currencies," Valli added. This should be organized before "it happens in a disorderly fashion or, worse, before Europe is ruled by extremist governments," Valli said, presenting the M5S as a responsible party that "does not want chaos in Europe" and seeks to "save European unity." In another blog article, another European Parliament member for the M5S, Laura Ferrara, accused Chancellor Angela Merkel of opening the country's doors to Syrian refugees to exploit them as a low-cost workforce. "Merkel's future [...] is now in jeopardy. And this is good news for Europe," she said. The M5S has long advocated for a referendum on Italy's eurozone exit. According to opinion polls, it has strong chances of beating the Democratic Party of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi at the next general elections. However, its readiness for government is in question as the M5S Mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi, is battling with internal feuds, resignations and judicial investigations in her administration just three months after being elected on a bold platform for change. GNA Accra, Sept. 6, GNA - Airtel Ghana, has hosted 100 pupils and teachers from schools within the Ablekuma Circuit at its Data Centre as part of an educational tour for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Club members. The pupils were given a guided tour of the back-end operations of the Smartphone Network with a clear demonstration of how calls are originated and terminated among others. A statement issued in Accra by Mr Richard Ahiagble, the Head of Corporate Communications and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the tour forms part of efforts by the company to whip up the interest of the club members in the area of STEM by giving them hands-on experiences in these fields. 'A mobile phone is one of the most common device we use in our daily lives, even among young people. As the Smartphone Network, we are proud to have the opportunity to explain the mechanism and technology behind making and receiving a phone call, sending and receiving txt messages as well as accessing information on the Internet. 'We have shared insights into how these devices work and the technology that goes into them. Their bright faces throughout the tour and insightful questions were very inspiring, I must say.' Director of Networks and IT at Airtel Ghana, Mr Maruf Lawal remarked. He added: 'We believe that a solid background in science, technology, engineering and mathematics will not only launch these pupils into great careers in the future, but will also give them the right orientation to become problem solvers for this country and the continent as a whole'. Prior to the visit, the club members toured the factory of Seven-Up Beverages Company's (SBC) to learn how STEM is used in making some of their favourite soft drinks. More than 100 pupils and teachers from three schools within the Ablekuma Circuit signed up in June this year to join STEM Clubs set up by Airtel Ghana under the company's Evolve with STEM initiative. The company, which is renowned for its contribution to education in Ghana, is currently carrying out a campaign on social media dubbed STEM Champions campaign. The platform is promoting people and organisations that are using STEM to solve local problems as living proof of what STEM education could do to leapfrog development on the continent. The Evolve with STEM initiative has impacted some 2,000 young minds since its inception in December 2015. Airtel Ghana has received a number of awards in CSR including Best CSR Company for Education at the Ghana CSR Excellence Awards 2015. GNA Accra, Sept. 6, GNA - FirsTrust Savings and Loans, a subsidiary of Groupe Ideal has partnered Zeepay Ghana Limited, a mobile digital platform to give its customers the best digital banking service. Zeepay provides a platform that accepts mobile money wallets, debits and loyalty cards, and cash at the point of sale, and operates as a store house for holding cash through mobile wallets for members. The introduction of the Zeepay platform is to support existing and prospective customers to bank digitally wherever they may be. It is also a means to get closer to customers and facilitate mobile banking services among users. Prospective and existing customers with FirsTrust Savings and Loans should obtain free access to a Near Field Communications chip, which is placed behind the customer's phone. The chip allows transaction from the customer's account onto his or her wallet at any time, if only account is funded. According to the Deputy Managing Director of FirsTrust Saving and Loans, Mr Richard Kwarteng Ahenkorah, the move is to position FirsTrust as a digital brand and encourage digital innovation in the industry which has a propensity to direct the bank's attention to digital banking. He added that the platform allows easy transfer of funds from account to wallet. Customers could now access funds 24/7 via this platform. The Secured banking platform is targeted at their tech savvy customers he said. 'We are committed to digital innovation and so we are excited to partner Zeepay, a platform which will give our customers the opportunity to bank digitally and also continue banking services as far as funds transfer and other services are concerned, even when our physical banking halls are closed to business.'' The world is evolving digitally and we at Firstrust sure can't be left behind. FirsTrust Savings and loans is a Tier 2 bank licensed by the Bank of Ghana. Its core functions include mobilising deposits from the general public and extending credit to Micro, Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises and the public. FirsTrust Savings and loans is opened for business on Saturdays at the Lapaz branch in Accra. GNA Accra, Sept. 06, GNA - The Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), has called for governance reforms that would promote and support an inclusive multi-party democratic political system for sustainable national advancement. It said after many years of operating the present political governance system it had become clear that it was carefully crafted to serve the purpose of the military regime, which brought it into existence. Mr Kwesi Jonah, a Senior Research Fellow at IDEG, in a presentation at the Institute's Public Conversation programme, in Accra on Monday, stated: 'The accountability mechanisms are weak, participation restrictive and exclusionary politics entrenched.' 'It is no wonder, therefore, surprising that many public spirited Ghanaians have raised their voices loud and clear against the continuing retention of the system and called for urgent action to reform it in a way that would render it fit for the purpose in a vibrant multi-party democratic system. Mr Jonah said the main cause of popular objection to the present system was that in its present form Ghana's decentralised local government system was a grossly inappropriate foundation for the national multi-party political system. The framers of the 1992 Constitution, he said, picked a local government system designed for a military regime and incorporated it wholesale into a multiparty democratic political system without change or modification. 'What we have as a nation, therefore, is a political superstructure which is multiparty-democratic in character superimposed on a non-party substructure in which elements of democracy such as accountability participation and inclusiveness are plainly missing or weak'. IDEG, Mr Jonah said, was therefore, proposing especially to the Government, Political Parties, Members of Parliament, and civil society groups to work towards a reformed local government system where District Chief Executives were elected directly by voters in their districts, and on the ticket of a political party rather than being appointed by the President. He said party participation must be key in district level elections and should be open to political parties, while ensuring the election of all Assembly Members, to abolish the present system of government appointees. Mr Jonah said IDEG was also proposing the introduction of proportional representation to enhance the substantive representation of women and minorities, and improve the overall inclusiveness in governance. The Common Fund Allocation to the Assemblies should not be less than 15 per cent of the total tax revenue, he said. 'Our view is that these proposals would enhance election peace, improve accountability and exclusion and raise inclusiveness in our democracy,' he said. 'We call on fellow Ghanaians to rally round this idea and bring the transformational change that will lift our democracy to the next level.' The Public Conversation, which was an initiative by IDEG in collaboration with the Civic Forum Initiative (CFI) focuses on the topic: 'Strengthening Democratic Development through Multi-Party Based Local Government: South Africa, Kenya and Ghana in Focus'. It brought together Ghanaian participants from civil society, including academia, policy analysts and politicians, as well as guest speakers from South Africa and Kenya. On the achievements of the decentralised government system over the past three decades, however, Mr Jonah, stated that the system had gone through a tremendous expansion, resulting in almost a 100 per cent increase in the number of its basic structures, from 110 in 1993 to 216 in 2012. 'The decentralised government system has in many ways served the nation well and that there is no doubt about its achievements, as service delivery in the districts has improved substantially, while local economic development has been sustained and local level democracy given a new lease of life,' he explained. Dr Matlotleng Matlou, the Executive Director of Excelsior Consulting, South Africa, narrated his country's political experiences, which he said, contained harrowing past history that served as critical lessons to encourage other countries, including Ghana, to strive to develop good governance structures to prevent conflicts. Mr Donald Mogeni, a Public Policy Analyst and Social Accountability Advisor at World Vision, United Kingdom, also narrated Kenya's political history that was also interspersed with violent unrests. He, however, said the country was working towards building a strong multi-party democratic system to strengthen its democracy and consolidate peace. GNA By Christabel Addo - GNA The National Peace Council has clarified that composition of its governing board has no political consideration contrary to claims made by outgoing Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, Rev. Professor Emmanuel Martey. Rev. Martey had accused the Deputy Minister of Interior, Jamel Agalga, of attempting to lobby him to take up the chairmanship position of the council which he declined. Addressing the Press in Accra on Tuesday, Chair of the Council, Pro.f Emmanuel Asante, noted that the constitutional Act that established the council does not make it subject to political interference. Under normal circumstances, we would not react to an issue that does not directly involve the National Peace Council. The Governing council of the National Peace Council however considers the said statement to be very unfortunate given that it does not only undermine the Act that established the Council; but it also questions the integrity and independence of the Council collectively and its eminent members individually. Unlike the impression created by the statement, members of the Council are not appointed by a ruling government to promote partisan interest, he added. The clarification comes a day after the Ministry debunked by Rev. Marteys claims there had been attempts to convince him to chair the council. Below is what Rev. Martey said: I don't want any political appointment that is the reason why I rejected the Peace Council appointment. I heard some people also saying that sack him from the Peace Council. I've never been a member and I will never ever be a memberChristian Council nominated me to be on that council, I know if I go there something will happen but that thing I don't know. So I told God about it. I don't do anything without first consulting my friend the Holy Spirit. Few days to the inauguration of the Peace Council, I had a missed call; I didn't know the person so I didn't call back. So the person sent a text message, it was the Deputy Minister of Interior, [James] Agalga. So immediately something said call so I called back. He was then at the house so he came out. First I said, yes this is the Rev. Prof. Martey, moderator of the Presbyterian church of Ghana, but you know something, the Holy Spirit blinded his mind so he didn't even hear that it was the Presby moderator who was talking to him. The Holy Spirit wanted him to tell me what he has for me, to help me decide whether or not to be a member of the Peace Council. He said he had a meeting with the Minister of Interior and they both agreed that I become the chairman of the Peace Council. Before the inauguration of the thing itself, before members will meet for the first time, he said if you know some people give us their names so we talk to them on your behalf. By: Godwin A. Allotey & Duke Mensah Opoku/citifmonline.com/Ghana Follow @AlloteyGodwin 06.09.2016 LISTEN Fifty-three leading radio presenters and programme hosts from some of Ghanas most influential radio stations have adopted a six-point resolution to promote issues-based and peaceful elections through their respective radio programmes. The adoption of the resolution is the result of engagements with the influential radio programme presenters by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) as part of the organisations project that seeks to promote issues-based and decent language campaigning for peaceful elections. Some of the journalists adopted the resolution at a forum which was chaired by Prof. Kofi Agyekum popularly called Opanin Agyekum of the University of Ghana. Present at that forum were also the Director of Political Affairs at the ECOWAS Commission Dr. Remi Ajebewa and the Head of democracy and good governance at the ECOWAS Commission, Mr. Eyesan Okorodudu. Its great to have the most influential people on radio share a common view and recognise their important role in promoting peaceful elections, and more importantly, committing to do so. I feel really inspired by the action of these distinguished programme presenters and commend them for this bold, exemplary action, said Sulemana, Executive Director of the MFWA. Below is the six-point resolution and the list of programme presenters and hosts who have signed up: Resolution By Radio Presenters and Hosts from Leading Radio Stations in Ghana We, radio presenters and hosts of programmes from leading radio stations across Ghana, mindful of the current context of the media landscape and the critical role of the media and journalists in promoting peaceful elections in Ghana through professional and issues-based programming and reporting unanimously adopt and commit to this Resolution: Recognising the important role of the media in promoting credible and peaceful elections, we will at all times abide by the ethics of the journalism profession and ensure the highest possible standards in our day-to-day practice We commit to ensuring that our respective programmes and media platforms are not used as platforms for insults and abusive campaigning by political actors and all others who appear on our networks in person, on the telephone and via social media platforms We call on political parties to orient their communicators who use the media for campaigning to be decorous and focus on issues rather than personality attacks We urge colleague presenters and hosts to desist from acts that could contribute to compromising the credibility and peaceful conduct of the December general elections We urge all stakeholders in the electoral process to be professional, impartial, fair and firm in the discharge of their roles and responsibilities at all times We further urge all stakeholders to respect the rights of journalists in the discharge of their duties and help guarantee the safety of journalists during the electoral process This resolution is also in the spirit of a meeting for radio presenters and programme hosts convened on July 29, 2016 by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) at the Coconut Grove Hotel in Accra. The meeting, which discussed, among other things, the role of programme hosts and presenters in curbing the use of abusive language on the airwaves, was presided over by Prof. Kofi Agyekum of the University of Ghana. Also in attendance were the National Media Commission (NMC), the Director of Political Affairs at the ECOWAS Commission, and Head of Division, Democracy and Governance at the ECOWAS Commission. Adopted in Accra, Ghana, this Friday, 2nd day of September 2016. Endorsed by: Name: Radio Station Libreville (AFP) - Pressure mounted on President Ali Bongo of Gabon on Tuesday over a disputed election win after EU observers reported a "clear anomaly" in the vote and former colonial power France and his ex-justice minister urged a recount. Bongo claimed victory in the August 27 poll by a wafer-thin margin of some 6,000 votes. But a European Union delegation deployed in Gabon to monitor the vote said there was a flaw in voting in Haut-Ogooue province, the incumbent's fiefdom. Presidential elections in Gabon: national results and by region "An analysis of the number of non-voters as well as blank and disqualified votes reveals a clear anomaly in the final results in Haut-Ogooue," the observers said in a statement. Turnout in Haut-Ogooue, one of Gabon's nine provinces, exceeded 99 percent, and 95 percent voted for Bongo, according to official figures. Even after the vote result in the other provinces had been settled, electoral commission members fiercely debated the count for Haut-Ogooue, the heartland of Bongo's Teke ethnic group, before the incumbent was declared the winner on Wednesday. "There needs to be a clear electoral process," French Prime Minister Manuel Valls told radio station RTL on Tuesday, saying there were "some doubts". "It would be wise to do a recount." France, the EU and the United States had already called for the results to be published according to each polling station, but until now had stopped short of demanding a recount. Bullet holes in the window of a guard post on the gate of Gabon's opposition leader Jean Ping's headquarters in Libreville The move came just hours after Justice Minister Seraphin Moundounga, who is also a deputy prime minister, resigned late Monday, demanding "a recount of the votes, polling station by polling station, and registry by registry". Bongo's defeated rival Jean Ping, a veteran diplomat who has held a top African Union job, on Monday called for a general strike to oust "the tyrant." But his appeal appeared to go largely unheeded in the capital Libreville on Tuesday like the previous day when banks and shops re-opened after being shuttered due to post-election violence. 'Foreigners involved' Communications minister and government spokesman Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze called demands for a recount a "plot" and accused foreigners of trying to manipulate the results. Relatives gather outside the Palais de Justice (law courts) in Libreville waiting for news of those who were arrested following post-election chaos He said an Ivorian national had been arrested in Ping's headquarters on Monday, adding: "We are not saying that Ivory Coast is involved but some highly-placed Ivorians are." According to an AFP count, post-election chaos has claimed at least seven lives in the oil-rich central African nation, ruled by the Bongo family since 1967. Gabonese authorities, however, said Monday the toll was three killed and 105 wounded, with the government saying some deaths had previously been incorrectly attributed to the clashes. Valls on Tuesday also called on the Gabonese authorities to establish the whereabouts of around 15 French nationals who have been missing since the violence began. "We have no news of around 15 French citizens, who are in many cases French-Gabonese dual nationals. We ask the Gabonese authorities that everything be done to find them," he said Gabon's foreign ministry confirmed the authorities had arrested some Franco-Gabonese nationals, saying the justice ministry would answer any questions from concerned families. But it also said dual nationals living in Gabon would be subject to Gabonese laws. 800 arrests Some 800 people have been arrested in recent days in the capital, with the authorities accusing them of looting, while lawyers say they are being held in "deplorable" conditions. One third of Gabon's population lives in poverty, even though the country boasts one of Africa's highest per capita incomes, thanks to oil revenue Several prisoners told AFP they had been beaten, denied food and water or questioned harshly by authorities. "There were no toilets. We slept in our pee," said a man who asked that his name be given as Matthieu to protect his identity. Meanwhile, a high-level African Union delegation including heads of state is ready to be dispatched to Libreville to help calm the situation, AU chairman and Chad President Idriss Deby said. UN chief Ban Ki-moon spoke to both Bongo and Ping on Sunday and "deplored the loss of life", a UN statement said, adding that he "called for an immediate end to all acts of violence." Gabon had previously enjoyed relative political stability, with French support underpinning Omar Bongo's 41-year rule. After the elder Bongo died in June 2009, his son Ali won an election but opposition media claimed he had essentially been installed by France. Gabon, a country roughly the size of Britain but with a population of 1.8 million, has only known three presidents since it ceased to be a French colony in 1960. One third of its population lives in poverty, even though the country boasts one of Africa's highest per capita incomes -- $8,300 annually -- thanks to oil revenue. The Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA) has expressed apprehension over the Electoral Commission's (EC) handling of the ongoing proxy voting application process. The Alliance said the provision in the process that makes it open for both the applicant and the proxy to be able to pick the application form will open the floodgates for fictitious applications and foul play on the part of the Commission. The EC had announced the opening of applications for proxy voting on August 17, scheduled to run to September 26. This window will allow eligible voters who are determined to be unable to vote on the Election Day, to pick up the application forms or allow their proxies to pick up the forms. However, the LMVCA in a statement signed by its Convener, David Asante, contended that the exercise commenced hurriedly without any substantial public education on the process. The statement also said the surreptitiousness surrounding this exercise gives cause for great concern as it suggests that the EC is willfully keeping the electorate in the dark about the entire process of proxy voting. The LMVCA explained that the usual practice under Regulation 25 of CI 94 is that it is the eligible voter who has determined that he/she is unable to vote on Election Day, who picks up the application form. Yet, in the ongoing proxy application exercise, the press release signed by the EC PRO makes it open for both the Applicant and the Proxy to be able to pick the Proxy application form. Furthermore, the absence of a clearly defined process for the submission of the proxy application, coupled with the apparent secrecy surrounding the entire process, fuels suspicions of foul play by the EC, according to the alliance. The LMVCA thus advised the EC to conduct its affairs in such a manner that would restore the waning confidence of the public in its ability to conduct credible elections. Read the full LMVC statement below PRESS RELEASE 4th September, 2016. LMVCA : ON-GOING PROXY APPLICATION PROCESS IS AN OPEN WINDOW FOR RIGGING!!! The Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA) is deeply concerned about the lack of transparency on the part of the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) in the ongoing proxy voting application exercise. On Tuesday, August 16, 2016, the EC issued a press release announcing that the proxy voting applications would commence the very next day, Wednesday, August 17, 2016 and end on Monday, September 26, 2016. Thus, the exercise commenced hurriedly without any substantial public education on the process. Indeed, the surreptitiousness surrounding this exercise gives cause for great concern as it suggests that the EC is willfully keeping the electorate in the dark about the entire process of proxy voting. The LMVCA is skeptical about the unorthodox way in which the proxy application is currently being carried out. The usual practice under Regulation 25 of CI 94 is that it is the eligible voter who has determined that he/she is unable to vote on Election Day, who picks up the application form. Yet, in the ongoing proxy application exercise, the press release signed by the EC PRO makes it open for both the Applicant and the Proxy to be able to pick the Proxy application form. This deviation is not only puzzling, but also opens the floodgates for fictitious applications. The absence of a clearly defined process for the submission of the proxy application, coupled with the apparent secrecy surrounding the entire process, fuels suspicions of foul play by the EC. Although according to CI 94, a proxy application may be done not less than 42 days before Election Day, the fact that proxy applications are being opened 113 clear days before the election and spanning a period of 41 days is outlandish and calls for a high alert. The LMVCA wishes to reiterate that the future of democracy in Ghana hinges on the processes and outcome of election 2016. Some of the most inalienable virtues in the every step of an electioneering body is transparency, inclusiveness, fairness, and integrity. It is therefore extremely crucial that the EC conducts its affairs in such a manner that would restore the waning confidence of the public in its ability to conduct credible elections. Thank you. David Asante Convener 0268 220220 Ibrahim Adjei Spokesperson 0243 338544 John H. Acquaah Dir. Operations 0268 110110 Citifmonline The Progressive Peoples Partys (PPP) presidential campaign, dubbed 'Dont Waste Your Vote On Those Who Have Disappointed You', returns to the Central Region, the home region of the flagbearer, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom from September 10 to 15th. Dr. Nduom will be telling the people of the region to vote for him and PPP's parliamentary candidates since he has done a lot for them, and not because he is from the region. The governing partys presidential nominee, President John Dramani, is currently in the Central Regional for a campaign tour expected to end this Friday. A statement signed by the party's Director of Communications, Paa Kow Ackon, said Dr. Nduom will point to factories, jobs created, schools, libraries, community centers and scholarships with vivid, physical, visible examples of his private contribution to the development of the region. Sept.10: Komenda Sept.11: Elmina Sept. 12: Cape Coast North Sept. 13: Effutu; Mfantseman; Asebu; Cape Coast South Sept. 14: Assin North, Twifo Ati Morkwa, Heman Lower Denkyira Sept. 15: Apam, Kasoa Dr. Nduom will meet chiefs, religious and community leaders and the general public to make a strong case for them to vote for PPP on December 7th. He will introduce parliamentary candidates of the party at each stop. While Dr. Nduom is in the Central Region, a different team led by the Vice Presidential Candidate Brigitte Dzogbenuku; will be in the Western Region. Another team led by the PPP National Chairman will be in the Brong Ahafo region. By: citifmonline.com/Ghana Governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), National Organiser has stressed that the difference between President Mahamas campaign and that of his rival Nana Akufo-Addo is the realistic nature of the President's promises. Kofi Adams explained that President Mahamas one house, one meter is better than Akufo Addos list of promises tagged one village one dam or 'one factory-one district.' President John Mahama has told residents in Abura, a community in Central Regional capital, Cape Coast, that he is giving each household, one electricity meter. The plan is to distribute 1,500 meters after residents complained that assigning one meter to four or five households is causing domestic conflicts when it comes to sharing the electricity bill. Sharing one electricity meter means that the households have to contribute to buy pre-paid credit and failure of one home to pay up triggers quarrels. In compound homes, accusations of unfair calculation of energy consumption of each home can turn acrimonious. The Presidents intervention in the distribution of pre-paid meters while on the campaign trail in the Central Region was received with cheers. But President John Mahama's one house one meter appears to have followed the line of campaigning adopted by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP). So far the opposition party has promised one district-one factory, one community-one million dollars and one village-one dam. Speaking on Joy FMs Top Story Tuesday, Kofi Adams explained that the difference is to be seen in the realistic nature of the promise. He called Nanas Addos promises so far as ridiculous and jested that if it was Akufo-Addo making the promise at Abura, he would have said one pressing iron, one meter. That is the Nana Addo kind of promise...Nana Addos promises are not doable he concluded. The NDC National Organiser explained that President Mahama is a man of his words who would not promise pie-in-the-sky for political advantage. President Mahama is one person who makes promises that he keeps, he said noting the NDC flagbearer leaves his audience no doubt that his word is his bond. Listen to interview Story by Ghana|myjoyonline.com|Edwin Appiah|[email protected] Microsoft Surface Pro 5 will be released in 2017 instead of in 2016; Surface Book receives huge discounts (Photo : YouTube/CTNtechnology News) Microsoft could be close to releasing the Surface Pro 5 as they are now having a Surface Pro 4 sale on their store which could signal an impending announcement for the next tablet. Surface Pro 4 Specs For those who are unfamiliar with the Surface Pro 4, it is one of the Redmond-based tech giant's successful tablet laptop hybrids. Fans are already waiting for the Surface Pro 5 but Microsoft is not yet announcing the existence of the device. Advertisement The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 is powered by an Intel M3 processor and 4GB RAM. It has an ample 128GB internal storage for all of those media files and such. What was once a $899 price tag for the Surface Pro 4 is now just $749 which could mean that the Surface Pro 5 release date is near, iTech Post has learned. The sale is not the first time as discounts were also given in August on several online stores such as from eBay. Surface Pro 5 Specs and Features Microsoft's rumored Surface Pro 5 will reportedly be powered by the new Intel Kaby Lake processors. The conflicting fact is that the said processors will only run the latest operating systems Windows 10 and their Unix equivalent. The Surface Pro 5 is also expected to carry 6GB RAM and up to 256GB for the internal storage which is significantly higher than the Surface Pro 4, Gamenguide reported. It will also reportedly sport a 12.3-inch screen with a resolution of 2736 x 1824 pixels. There are no solid evidences yet regarding the Surface Pro 5's existence but there are some leaked photos. Some of the images leaked earlier show that there could be a new Surface tablet to be released before 2016 ends. Surface Pro 5 Release Date and Price Unfortunately, the Surface Pro 5 release date is set to be around 2017. The reason is because Intel's Kaby Lake processors are not available yet and they will only be rolled out next year possibly to compete with the new AMD Zen processors. Microsoft could offer the Surface Pro 5 starting at $899 with the other variants carrying a price tag of $999 and $1599. The device is a no-show on the ongoing IFA 2016 event in Berlin. 06.09.2016 LISTEN Government has retrieved over 850 guns from the illicit weapon market, Small Arms Commission has revealed. Executive Secretary of the Commission, Jones Apleh, says even though the number is significantly small compared to the estimated 1.1 million unlicensed weapons in private hands, it should excite Ghanaians. Even if one is taken out of the illicit market we are happy about that. We think that 855 guns retrieved is a good number and it is something that we need to encourage law abiding Ghanaians to do, he said. Mr Apleh disclosed this to Dzifa Bampoh, host of Joy FMs Newsnite programme Tuesday. With close to 15 days to the expiration of governments amnesty to individuals possessing illegal weapons in the country, many security experts are worried the noble idea to retrieve illicit weapons in circulation would be defeated. Related Article: Govt grants 32 days amnesty to retrieve all unlicensed arms The amnesty which was announced by the Interior Minister, Prosper Bani, began on August 22 and will end on September 23. A security analyst with the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center (KAIPTC), Dr Kwesi Aning, says the initiative is none different from its predecessors which all failed. It is not going to make any difference. What is the basis for the amnesty? The people who smuggled guns into this country and have been arrested over the last fifteen years what has happened to them? he quizzed. Related Article: Govts 32-day small arms amnesty will fail Security Expert But Mr Aplerh says the amnesty is just one of the many measures government has put in place to retrieve the illegal weapons. He says the police working with other intelligence groups will target the hideouts of armed robbers who are in possession of military type weapons, citing the Tuesday arrest of two high profile armed robbers in Kumasi known as Jalloh Junior and Senior. He was optimistic that by the end of the amnesty period they would be able to retrieve a lot of the guns in circulation. He, however, says feedback he got from individuals point to the fact that some persons in possession of illicit guns are suspicious of the announcement. These people, he says, believe it is a trap meant to arrest them and make a public spectacle of them. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brakopowers | Email: [email protected] 06.09.2016 LISTEN The most wanted armed robber in the Ashanti Regional capital who was arrested Tuesday, was an informant, Police spokesperson has said. ASP Mohammed Tanko told Joy News Jalo Jani Jnr had been helping the police in fighting the activities of armed robbers but later became one. Jalo Jani was arrested in Akatsi by the Ashanti Regional anti-robbery police force together with the Akatsi police Tuesday. "We have been looking for Jalo for a very long time because he has masterminded a lot of robberies in the region, killing people and maiming others. "It became important that we publish his photographs through media, social media and police communication, he stated. Explaining how the police got in touch with the most wanted person, ASP Tanko said "Jalo initially got in touch with the police some years back. He came as an informant who was assisting police with investigations into criminal cases like robbery. "Later on we suspected that he had joined the robbers. So we decided to look for him and he proved elusive." Amongst many of his deadly activities, Jalo Jnr is said to have masterminded the attack in Dichembuorso in the Ashanti Region and killed a police constable named only as Essel. He was described by the police as the most wanted robber in the region. Jalo's arrest Some seven members of Jalo's gang had been picked up early on including, Michael Agyemang, Ibrahim Abass, Kweku Sarpong, Philip Obeng and one Tonga. The suspects gave Jalo's name as the ring leader who had relocated to Akatsi. One of the suspects, Jalo Snr, who is believed to supply the gang with weapons, especially AK 47 was also arrested. According to ASP Tanko the two Jalos are believed to be fulanis, with the senior one said to be a wealthy man with about 300 cattle. ASP Tanko said the gang is a deadly one notorious for their indiscriminate shooting of passengers on major roads before robbing them. They will be sent to court tomorrow with the hope of putting them on remand whilst investigations continue. Story by Ghana|Myjoyonline.com|Nathan Gadugah 06.09.2016 LISTEN Addis Ababa, Sept. 6, (Allafrica.com/ GNA) - The Ethio-China business and trade relations is currently flourishing and for the furtherance of the relations, investors from both countries had pledged to utilize the existing opportunities for mutual benefit. Opening the largest China-Ethiopia Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum organized by Guandong Province Department of Commerce and the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations (ECCSA) in Addis Ababa, Dr. Arkebe Ekubay Special Advisor to the Prime Minister with the Rank of Minster, said that there are many opportunities for Chinese investors to engage in various sectors such as manufacturing and infrastructural development in Ethiopia. He said Ethiopio is the second most populous nation on the continent and the already flourishing road infrastructure, energy, telecommunication and efficient custom authority could attract FDI. To meet its development aspiration, the country needs vibrant manufacturing sector to produce export-oriented products, substitute import and create job opportunities for hundreds of thousands. Guangdong Province Governor Zhu Xiaodan on his part said to strengthen trade and economic and cooperation with Ethiopia, a Consulate General was opened there in 2009. He said that presently China is the largest investment source and the biggest trade partner to Ethiopia in which Guangdong plays an important role. From 2010 to 2015 Guangdong's trade with Ethiopia grew from 114 million USD to 1.59 billion USD with annual growth of 78.6 per cent. ECCSA President, Solomon Afework, said Ethiopian export to China has been steadily increasing over time although not diversified. Coffee, oil seeds and leather are the major export items. About 150 investors and traders from both countries attended the meeting that mainly discussed issues such as trade, information technology equipment, house - hold appliances,and also involving Chinese investors in the construction, tourism and agricultural sectors. GNA 06.09.2016 LISTEN By Bajin D. Pobia, GNA Bulenga, UWR, Sept. 6, GNA - The Chiefs and people of the Chakalia Traditional Area in the Upper West Region has enskinned Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the New Patriotic Party's Presidential nominee as 'Kanyiri-Naa' - Chief of Patience. The Chiefs applauded him for his singular love for peace in Ghana. The Bulenga Naa, Naa Seidu Abdulai Nawologmo, the Paramount Chief of the Chakalia, in his enskinment message at his palace, said Nana Addo disagreed with the Supreme Court's judgement on the Election Petition case but he was astute not to have asked for a review. He said Nana Addo also disagreed with the Court's decision but accepted it and asked all his supporters to accept the decision, which according to the Bulenga Naa made Nana Addo a statesman and a peace loving person in the world. The Bulenga Naa urged Nana Addo not to change his mind towards ensuring peace for Ghanaians, no matter the provocations because Ghanaians knew him as a man of peace and Allah would continue to reward him abundantly in this year's elections. Naa Seidu Abdulai also congratulated all opposition parties for helping to sustain the peace, saying: 'Elsewhere, it is the opposition that goes into the jungles and fights the government but in Ghana, both the ruling and opposition love peace'. He said Ghanaians should again endeavour for peace and surprise the world in the 2016 Elections to showcase Ghana as a country of lasting peace so as to improve on 'our democratic credentials'. Naa Seidu Abdulai appealed to the Presidential nominee not to forget the development challenges in the Wa East, especially in the area of roads, health facilities, educational infrastructure and the provision of dams to facilitate all-year- round agricultural activities among the people. He said the area had been neglected in terms of development projects, because it had no district hospital or a polyclinic to cater for the health needs of the people. Nana Addo thanked the Bulenga Naa and the Chakalia people for the honour done him and the NPP, and gave the assurance that an NPP Government would provide the necessary infrastructural development to the people of Wa East District. He also assured the Bulenga Naa that the NPP would carry out its campaign on a clean slate without endangering the prevailing peace in the country. GNA By Philip Tengzu, GNA Wa, Sept. 6, GNA - Mr Husien Sulemana Haruna, Upper West Regional Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), has called politicians to go to the law court to settle all electoral disputes. He said political parties are to contest and win elections and not to incite violence which has the potential of disrupting national order. Mr Haruna said this at a day's workshop to sensitise political parties and individuals on the need to ensure a violence-free elections come December 7. The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) organised the workshop on the theme, 'Empowering the Youth to Stand for Ghana for a Peaceful Election 2016' with financial support from the European Union (EU). Mr Haruna, who spoke on the topic: 'Code of conduct for political parties and directive principle of state policy', said multi-party democracy was the best way of electing competent leaders and sustaining effective democracy. He cautioned political parties and their supporters against the use of intemperate language, deceit, misinformation and vilification of public officials in their campaign messages with disregard for public order. Mr Annoh Jackson, the Wa Municipal Director of the Electoral Commission (EC), said elections is not only about casting votes, but it is a cumulative process. He said the stages in this process, includes registration of voters, voter register exhibition and filing of nomination, among others. Mr Annoh said election could be judged as free and fair when the electorates were free to contest elections of any kind, join and campaign for any party of their choice, and cast their vote secretly in a violent free environment devoid of intimidation, bribery and rigging. He said to deem an election as free and fair, the electoral procedures, rules and regulations must not discriminate against any person or group of persons, adding: 'they must be easy to be understood, interpreted and implemented by all'. He urged the general public and key players, including the EC, security agencies, media, judiciary and political parties to play their roles appropriately and devoid of bias to ensure that the 2016 general election is free and fair. Mr Annoh said there is the need for party agents to be present and vigilant at the polling stations to report any electoral irregularities that may arise. Detective Inspector Godfred Wiredu of the Wa Municipal Police Criminal Investigation Department said the freedom was not absolute and all must be mindful of public order and conscious of the rights of others in the exercise of their rights. Representatives from the New Patriotic Party, National Democratic Congress, Convention People's Party, People's National Congress and Heads of Departments attended the workshop. Similar workshops would be organised in 40 districts throughout the country. GNA By Bajin D. Pobia, GNA Tumu (U/W), Sept. 6, GNA - Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Presidential Candidate, has said the policy of implementing the one district, one factory; and one community, one dam; are possible, achievable and realistic. 'Do not tell me and the NPP that the two policies are impossible', Nana Addo said amidst cheers from supporters at a political rally in Tumu during the last day of his campaign tour of the Upper West Region. He said Ghanaians are dreaming big and that desire is pushing the NPP to dream big along with them hence the introduction of meaningful policies and programmes to support the nation's industrialisation and economic emancipation dreams. 'Let nobody thwarts this 'big dream of ours', he said, adding 'the factories will encourage the youth to produce more and create jobs for themselves'. He said it was not just a mere talk or an empty promise that the NPP was making and that the Party is committed to implementing policies and programmes to get Ghana out of its current economic woes- the unemployment situation, poverty and corruption. The NPP's one district, one factory and the one community, one dam promised Ghanaians would help the party build the Ghana from bottom -up, he said. For instance, the one district one factory will boost manufacturing, create jobs and improve the economy while the one community, one dam would also help revolutionalise agricultural production through irrigation while the one million dollar for each constituency would as well help in the mechanisation of agriculture. Nana Akufo Addo said the NPP government would revamp the Tumu Cotton Factory to create more jobs for cotton farmers and the poor roads of the area would also be fixed. He said some people were still thinking that every government was the same and whoever came to rule would bring no change into the lives of the people but that would not be true with the NPP under his leadership. Kouro Richard Babini Kanton, Paramount Chief of the Tumu Traditional Area, sided with Nana Addo and the vision of the NPP to provide one factory and dam each for district and community in the nation. 'I am saying it is feasible and achievable and should be implemented if he elected as President of Ghana', the Tumu Kuoro said, urging the NPP to revamp the Tumu Cotton Ginnery to create more jobs for the youth. The tour also took Nana Addo and entourage to Welembelle a farming community where he promised them agricultural machinery and inputs such as fertilizers to improve on agricultural production. GNA 06.09.2016 LISTEN Accra, Sept 6, GNA - Street Academy in partnership with Outpouring to the Nations (OTTN) has donated 4,500 exercise books whilst Victory International Foundation also donated GH 10,000.00 to needy children in Accra. The donation is to ensure access to quality education.Each child received 15 exercise books to help them in the 2016/2017 academic year. OTTN is an educational charity organization and has supported Street Academy to help needy children have access to formal education. Victory International Foundation supported the Academy with a Cheque of GH 10,000.00 which was presented by Dr Joycelyn Johnson, Vice President of Victory International Foundation. Dr Ray Johnson, Director of Victory International Foundation said the purpose of the donation was to enroll 27 children into formal education this year. Mr Ataa Lartey, Chief Executive Officer of Street Academy said every child needs formal education and their economic situation should not deny them of that. 'The organization supports children to have formal education and if children are well educated they can become whatever they want to be. It could also reduce social vices in the society.' he said. He explained that their target was children within Accra Central, especially the fishing community of Osu. Dr Victoria Smith, Volunteer Managing Trustee of OTTN explained that they are committed to ensuring that every child has exercise books for academic exercises. She said OTTN is also providing a health-post in schools for children to receive immediate first aid medical care so children do not have to go home for a cut or minor injury. She added, 'We also provide medical supplies for six months to the health-post.' Mr Lartey said he wished all children a fruitful term in school and called on the public and stakeholders such to support the cause of sending needy children to school. He announced that the names of the 27 beneficiaries has been sent to the GES for enrollment in school. By Caroline Pomeyie, GNA Accra, Sept. 6, GNA - The West African Health Examinations Board (WAHEB) Ghana Chapter, would start conducting examination and awarding certificates to environmental health officers and public health nurses next year. The organisation has faced challenges including lack of funds, poor record of finances, and poor legal recognition, which led to the secession of the Ghana chapter formerly known as Ghana Health Examinations Board. Addressing a conference in Accra, on Monday, Mr Isaac Newton Dzahene, the Acting Secretary and Registrar of WAHEB said as a result of the challenges, Ghana was not represented in WAHEB meetings. Mr Dzahene said: 'WAHEB will work on solving the problems it faced in the past years, and revive its operations in 2017.' He explained that WAHEB certificate awarded to public health nurses and environmental health officers 'is internationally recognised and allows health practitioners who acquire it to work in any other West African country'. Mr Lawrence Odartey Lawson, the Head of Allied Health, Health Training Institution Secretariat, said the intake for environmental health course is dwindling and called for the rebranding of the schools. Dr Ado H. Bello, the Executive Chairman of WAHEB, Nigeria said the headquarters of the organisation did not receive a formal letter of secession from Ghana and therefore it still considers the country as an active member and thus making preparations for the for the next exams. He added: 'Public health education institutes should be upgraded and rebranded to make the course attractive to students. In Nigeria, one can acquire an HND in public health, top up to get a degree and even acquire a masters in a European country.' He urged WAHEB Ghana, to resume its operation in order for the local public health students to enjoy the benefits of the WAHEB certificate. Dr Bello said the examination and certification would be expanded to cover other nationals. WAHEB is limited to Anglophone countries in West Africa. GNA By Joyce Danso, GNA Accra, Sept. 6, GNA - Prosecution in the case of the two Police officers involved in the robbery of a bullion van belonging to the GCB bank Limited at Mame Krobo in the Eastern Region says investigations are at advanced stage. They expressed the hope that they would submit the docket to the Attorney General in two weeks' time. The alleged attack by the officers, General Corporal Solomon Elvis Mensah and General Lance Corporal Daniel Kissi Abrokwa, led to the death of Daniel K Sarpong, the driver of the bullion van. The other accomplice in the dock was Hafisu Mohammed aka Danjuma a mechanic. The two officers are being held on the charge of attempted robbery, conspiracy and Murder. Mohammed is charged with conspiracy. The accused persons pleas have been reserved, but they have no legal representation. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Abraham Annor, the Prosecutor told a Magistrate Court in Accra that post mortem had been conducted on Aseidu and the Police are working on the ballistic report. DSP Annor however informed the court that General Constable Mensah is on admission at the Police hospital as such could not make it to court. The court presided over by Mr Stephen Owusu after enquiring from the accused persons how they were faring adjourned the matter to September 20 pending the conclusion of investigations and onward transmission of the docket to the Attorney General for advice. Prosecution said the Police officers were stationed at Donkorkrom. According to prosecution the officers hatched a plan of robbing the Bullion and on August 16, the Police officers who were duty at GN Bank and GCB decided to rob the bullion van of the amount it was carrying. The officers therefore discussed the robbery with Mohammed who is a friend to the two and also a taxi driver. The officers therefore armed themselves with AK 47 Rifles and laid ambush at a spot between Tease and Mame Krobo at about 10:30 am. Mohammed drove his taxi with registration number 1860-09 towards Ekye Amanfrom to monitor the arrival the bullion van. Prosecution said 20 minutes later the bullion van arrived and Mohammed signalled the Police officers who then opened fire killing the driver of the van. DSP Annor said a Police officer on board the van got injured but he managed to return fire compelling the two Policemen to take cover in the bush. The Police officers then called Mohammed who picked them with his car in their bid to escape. The Police Command at Donkorkrom got wind of the robbery incident and they mobilised men who arrested the three accused persons on board the cab. Prosecution said two AK 47 rifles, 23 rounds of am munitions, a cutlass, two metal bars were retrieved from the taxi. The deceased body has been deposited at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital awaiting autopsy. DSP Annor said three other occupants of the bullion van however escaped unhurt and the Policeman on guard was treated discharged at the Donkorkrom Presbyterian Hospital. GNA Accra Sept. 6, GNA - A 18 year- old vulganiser has been hauled to an Accra Circuit Court for allegedly having anal sex with a four- year old girl at Adenta. Kwasi Larweh charged with defilement pleaded not guilty. He has been remanded into lawful custody to reappear on September 20 before the court presided over by Mrs Ruby Naa Akwerley Qauison. Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Grace Bandoh said the complainant is a craft man residing at Adenta, WASS area. The victim is Kindergarten pupil. Accused is based at Adenta New site. The prosecutor said on August 27, at about 5:30 pm the victim mother sent her to buy charcoal from one Awonye within the vicinity. On her way, prosecution said accused person met the victim and offered her toffee and lured her to school toilet facility and had anal sex with. Chief Inspector Bandoh said a passer-by saw the accused person in the act and raised the alarm. Larweh however took to his heels but he was arrested and escorted to the Police where a complaint was lodged. A medical form was to the victim for medical attention. The Police is however yet to receive the medical report. GNA Obama Administration Announces New Measures To Protect Bee Populations (Photo : Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Within a few minutes, millions and millions of honeybees have been killed following the spraying of the Zika insecticide. South eastern U.S., particularly South Carolina's honeybee farmers have been reeled after their apiaries have been sprayed from the sky with the neurotoxic insecticide. Advertisement Beekeeper Juanita Stanley of Flowertown Bees, a company that colonizes honeybees laments that her farm looked "like it's been nuked". It has been estimated that a whopping 2.5 million bees were decimated, Earth Island Journal reported. In the county of Dorchester in South Carolina, USA, according to the Santa Monica Observer, they experienced the first aerial Zika spraying after 14 years with an insecticide named Trumpet. The Trumpet insecticide producer has its labels with the caution indicating that insecticide exposure is deleterious or harmful to bees as well as to their beehives and it causes destruction to weeds and crops that are blooming. In order to minimize harm to the beehives and to the bees, the Trumpet is best applied no more than two hours before the sun rises and two hours before the sun sets. The reason is that honeybees are least active during those hours. The administrator of Dorchester County expressed that they followed the protocols and warnings. However, the Zika spraying occurred from 6:30 to 8:30 a.m., a time when the sun shines brightly and the bees are active and outside from the beehives and apiaries. Horrified beehive farm owners witnessed as the bees die midair. Ward expressed that they implemented the Zika spraying during those times because they reckon people were not up and about and out. The county's protocol is to do insecticide Zika spraying until two hours after sunrise only. However, bee keepers say that bees are out as soon as the sun rises. So instead, Zika spraying of insecticide should be done at night. The Centers for Disease Control and the Environmental Protection Agency recommended the insecticide Trumpet which is containing a naled, a type of poison to control the spread of the Zika infection through killing of the Aedes Aegypty mosquito carriers. Accra, Sept. 6, GNA - A report by the Transparency International, shows the Odebrecht Group, climbed 47 positions in the best practice ranking for divulging information among the 100 largest companies in emerging markets. The 'Transparency in corporate reporting: assessing emerging market multinationals' research studied practices for disclosing information by 100 of the largest multinationals headquartered in 15 different emerging countries operating in more than 185 countries around the world. A statement issued by Mr David Anim, the Communications and Image, Odebrecht and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Tuesday said the report evaluates practices for disclosing information based on three dimensions: anti-corruption programmes, organisational structure and divulging financial information by country. It said Odebrecht climbed 47 positions in the general ranking, compared with the last report in 2013 - rising from 97th to the 50th position. It noted that in relation to anti-corruption programmes in particular, Odebrecht rose from 0 per cent to a 77 per cent assessment, arriving at the 22nd place among the 100 companies evaluated. It said this evolution was recognised by Transparency International as one of the factors, which led to a better score by private as opposed to public companies in the anti-corruption programme evaluation. 'Unlike the 2013 results in this item (anti-corruption programmes), the private companies evaluated in this study obtained a better average score than state companies. 'The improved result could principally be attributed to two companies, Mabe and Odebrecht, which have disclosed their anti-corruption programmes to the public for the first time', indicated the report. Odebrecht confirmed that it continued to improve its compliance system, confident that those changes would be reflected in Transparency International's future assessments. According to Danilo Trinchao Rios, in Charge of People, Planning and Finance at the Ghana Office of Odebrecht Engineering & Construction International. 'It gives us great satisfaction that the Odebrecht Group climbed 47 positions in the best practice ranking for divulging information, according to the Transparency International, rising from 97th in 2013 to 50th position. 'Our anti-corruption programme in emerging markets across the world, especially in Ghana, has been lauded by many. We are committed to promoting good corporate governance practices always.' Odebrecht Engineering & Construction International is a global Brazilian organisation with over 70 years' experience, present in five continents and expertise in diversified business in Engineering & Construction, Industry and development of Infrastructure Projects. Odebrecht's global operations have helped promote basic education and professional qualification for the job market, engender productive initiatives that generate job and income opportunities, improve the communities' quality of life and sustainable territorial development. In addition, Odebrecht promotes dialogue, cooperation and commitment designed to increase the value chain's contribution toward sustainable development, strengthening of social inclusion and the promotion of human and cultural diversity. Through strategic technology and knowledge transfer, Odebrecht, contributes to the development of the capacity and expertise of the human resource of economies where the company operates. In Ghana, Odebrecht is responsible for the construction of Lot five and six of the Eastern Corridor Road project. GNA By Lydia Asamoah, GNA Axim (W/R), Sept. 6, GNA - Nana Osei Nkwantabisa, a 32 year old Journalist, has been coronated as the Nkosuohene (development chief) of the Lower Axim Traditional Council in the Nzema East Municipality of the Western Region. Known in private life as Mr Evans Osei Baffour, the newly installed Nkosuohene, also a Communication Analyst, was coronated together with three other chiefs on Monday at a ceremony supervised by Awulea Attibrukusu III, the Paramount Chief of Lower Axim Traditional Area and Vice President of the National House of Chiefs. The other chiefs were Nana Kofi Bentil, the Chief Fisherman, Nana Afful, the Mbrantiehene (youth leader) all of Lower Axim Traditional Council as well as the Nana Ngroma Raale, Nkosuohemaa (development queen) of Brewire, in the Upper Axim Traditional Area together with Nana Nkwantabisa swore the oath of allegiance to Awulea Attibrukusu III. The colourful event was attended by chiefs and elders from both the Upper and Lower Axim Traditional Councils where the Nkosuohene, Nana Nkwantabisa was carried in a palanquin and taken through the principal streets of Axim amidst musical displays. Awulea Attibruku congratulated the newly coronated chiefs and urged them to remain focused in the discharge of their duties. He advised them to ensure that their operations reflect the desires of the people and consult the appropriate quarters for counsel on decisions that involves the people of Axim. Nana Osei Owusu Banahene, the Asanteman Nkosuohene, who graced the occasion and doubles as the father of the new Nkosuohene, advised the chiefs to be diligent in their respective duties and always heed to the advice of their overlords. He tasked them to ensure that their loyalty was always directed to their overlord and the people that they were serving. Nana Nkwantabisa expressed gratitude to the chiefs and people of Axim for the confidence and honour reposed in him. "I am indeed grateful for the honour and pledge my continuous commitment towards the developmental needs of the people," he said. He called on all to support him to achieve his development agenda in the area of health, education, and youth empowerment, while assuring the people of his continuous commitment to bring more developmental projects to help improve Axim and its environs. The occasion was also used to launch an appeal for funds towards the construction of a fence wall for the Axim Government Hospital by the Nkosuohene. The event was graced by high personalities from the clergy and political parties including Mr Isaac Osei, the Member of Parliament for Subin Nana Nkwantabisa is the grandson of the Late Mr Emmanuel K. Osei, also known as Nana Osei Nkwantabisa, the Asanteman Nkosuohene of Sepe Timpomu of Kumasi. GNA President John Dramani Mahama has for the first time spoken about his use of Article 72, to remit the four-month sentence handed the Montie FM trio, saying he acted in the interest of Ghana; and in line with the Constitution. Speaking to Paul Adom Otchere, Host of Metro TV's Good Evening Ghana on Tuesday, the President said he also believes that the four-month sentence was harsh for the crime in question; and that the contemnors had showed ample remorse for their actions. I think that the overriding consideration must be that, all arms of government must act constitutionally and I swore an oath on the 7th of January 2013 to abide by the Constitution and so every action I take must be in consonant with the Constitutional provisions. The young men were called before the Supreme Court for scandalizing the court and even before they were called before the court, they had shown remorse; they had apologized for what they said and before the court they apologized again. When they were sentenced in mitigation they asked for mercy; apologized and retracted everything they said. And even after they were sentenced and left the court and went to prison; they still in written and verbal form expressed absolute regret for what they did. I don't know what benefit it would have been to anybody the three extra months they would have served in prison; I don't know. The trio, Alistair Nelson, Godwin Ako Gunn and Salifu Maase, alias Mugabe, Host of Montie FM's Pampaso political show, were jailed after they were found guilty of contempt charges for threatening to eliminate or harm Supreme Court judges over their handling of a lawsuit on the credibility of the voters' register. Council of State approved their release President Mahama revealed that, the Council of State indeed recommended the remission of the sentence after he forwarded the petition to them. Recently, I abided vigorously by Article 72. I received the petition of the lawyers from the three and they stated all the grounds for which they thought that I should invoke my powers under article 72, narrating every step of the way; the regret they had shown and appealing for mercy; and so I did exactly what the Constitution said I should do. He noted that I referred it to the Council of State and the Council came back to me and recommended that I exercise my powers under Article 72, not in terms of pardoning them. They remain convicted and that's what a lot of people do not realize. They remain convicted, they paid Ghc30, 000 in fines and that money is in the state coffers. But what I did was that, instead of letting them spend four months in prison, they spent one month in prison. Indeed if you look at the conviction and the sentencing, the general consensus was that, four months was quite a harsh punishment to have been imposed for that kind of crime. And so I believe that I acted constitutionally and it was in the interest of Ghana. The Montie trio with their legal team. Asked whether he would have done the same if the three were not members of the NDC, the President responded absolutely. Pushing further, the Host Paul Adom Otchere, asked the President if he would have pardoned his [Paul's] younger brother who found himself in a similar contempt case at Asankragua; and this was his response; It depends on the grounds. I mean if your younger brother went a raped a girl and you come with a petition asking me to mitigate the sentence, I most probably wouldn't. He explained that, For the spoken word; you are a journalist and I am a journalist; and you can find yourself in the same situation. All of us must walk that fine line of being careful about what we say. But there are times when journalists have found themselves in this situation. Haruna Atta, Kweku Baako is one such case; these things happen; and that's why the Constitution created escape valve. Our Constitution is that of checks and balances; so you have the Parliament checking the powers of the President, you have the Supreme Court as the arbiter. And the Constitution drafters put in the prerogative of mercy, for the circumstances where even though a conviction may be right, there must be some exonerating power that is able to say that; yes you were convicted properly but we are able to grant you this remission based on certain factors. It must not be arbitrary; and that's why there again; they say it must be in consultation with the Council of State. The Council of State is an elderly body; it's a body above the President; some of the members are elected; others have served in very important positions in their lives and so it says the President must consult the council. And so even though they give the President that power, again they put a check on it so that it's not done with arbitrary discretion Mr. Mahama explained. Background The three men, who are sympathizers of the ruling party, walked out of the prison on Friday August 26, after they were imprisoned in July. Critics of the President's decision to free them have been described the move as a slur on the judiciary. Generally, the accusation is that, the President only bowed to pressure in the interest of his party considering the upcoming elections, and not in the larger national interest. Some also believe the act would embolden others to move along the same trajectory in the future, to jeopardize the peace and stability of the country. But for supporters of the ruling party, the President only acted constitutionally and on compassionate grounds. By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana Follow @AfanyiDadzie // ]]> 07.09.2016 LISTEN Barely a month after he remitted the jail terms of a journalist and two radio panelists of an Accra based Montie FM, President John Mahama has explained what led to his decision. He says he considered the petition handed him by lawyers of the convicted trio seeking a presidential pardon and the admission by the three men that they erred before remitting the remaining three months of their custodial sentences. The three showed remorse for what they did. I dont know who benefits when they remain in prison, he said. The President made these comments during an interview on an Accra-based TV station, Metro TV. President Mahama on August 22 took the nation by surprise when he activated his powers captured in Article 72 of the 1992 Constitution. The three men a presenter Salifu Maase popularly known as Mugabe, two panelists Alistair Nelson and Godwin Ako Gunn were convicted by the Supreme Court for scandalizing the court. The two panelists spurred on by Mr Maase threatened to murder justices of the court over an electoral roll case which was before them. The court summoned them and slammed a four months jail terms and a penalty of GHS10,000 each. Later agitated supporters of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) undertook a campaign to solicit signatures for the President to activate Article 72 which enables him to grant pardon to persons serving jail terms on grounds of mercy. The petition was sent to the President and subsequently forwarded to the Council of State resulting in the decision. Opinions on the Presidents decision were divided with some hailing Mr Mahama as a compassionate person while others believe otherswise. Former President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Sam Okudzeto, described the Presidents action as a terrible one. He believes it will be fatal blow to him. But defending his decision, President Mahama says he did not err in taking the decision. He says he consulted thoroughly with the Council of State which he says is made up of eminent Ghanaians. According to him, even at the time of the conviction the general consensus was that four month was harsh for them. He explained Article 72 in the Constitution was placed there so that in the event of a harsh conviction there must be some extenuating measures. His decision, he believes was in the interest of Ghanaians, adding, he did not remit the three remaining months because they are NDC members. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brako-Powers | Email: [email protected] 07.09.2016 LISTEN President John Mahama has described as a frivolous waste of taxpayers money a failed motion by the minority to have a bipartisan committee set up to investigate a Ford gate saga he was involved in. He says he did nothing wrong by receiving the Ford Expedition but was sad to see the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament (MPs) engaged in petty politicking to taint him. The NPP MPs, he says defeated their cause when they put out conflicting reasons for the motion. President Mahama made these remarks during an interview on an Accra-based TV station, Metro TV Tuesday. A motion for Parliament to set up a parallel committee to investigate an issue in which the President received a Ford Expedition vehicle from a Burkinabe contractor was shot down by Mr Adjaho. The issue came to public attention following Joy News Manasseh Awuni Azures investigation in which the President Mahama received the $100,000 vehicle from the Burkinbe Djibril Oumarou Kanazoe. The contractor is the Presidents friend went on to receive three government contracts but he rejected the last one after the news broke out. He constructed the $650,000 Ghana Embassy wall in Burkina Faso and the Dodo-Pepeso section of the Eastern Corridor Road Project. Anti-graft groups slammed the President accusing him of engaging in conflict of interest. This triggered three petitions which were sent to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ). Citing reasons for the rejection of the motion, Mr Adjaho says Parliament cannot undertake parallel investigation in a matter before CHRAJ. He believes upholding the motion would amount to duplication of responsibilities hence his decision to reject it. He directed the Clerk of Parliament to return the motion to the author which was the Minority leader, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu. Even though the NPP MPs described the Speakers decision as unfortunate they failed to point their next action. Reacting to the issue, Mr Mahama says what the minority did was a waste of the countrys resources. An emergency summon requires transportation allowance to be given to the MPs among other incentives, he said. If it was a motion to impeach me then that would have been a totally different matter but I am not angry I am sad, he said. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brako-Powers | Email: [email protected] you are here: Have you heard of Art Berman? If you havent, dont worry. Youre not alone. Berman is a 37 year old oil veteran. His experience ranges across petroleum exploration and production. Berman is a leading expert in the energy sector. He has published more than 100 articles on geology, technology, and the petroleum industry over the past five years. Why am I telling you this? Ill explain Its always supply and demand Berman veteran just spoke to Macro Voices, a podcast with hedge fund manager, Erik Townsend. Berman said on the program, [Crude] inventories have increased by about six and a half million barrels over the past six weeks, which should have been a total de-stocking. This is a very surprising development. It shows how totally artificial this latest price rally has been. [The rally] has been driven by hope. Well, I dont disagree with that comment. During the Northern hemisphere summer, which has come and gone, crude oil inventories tend to plummet. This summer, however, the crude drawn down was nonexistent! Thats a disturbing sign of what lies ahead The storys key is that supply far outweighs demand. On the demand side, the world economy is at peak leverage. Borrowing more debt is not creating real economic growth. When economies were booming, their economic engines were hungry for crude. Today, most of the major economies are declining. Higher taxes and ever-so-burdensome regulation have destroyed the world economy. Businesses are cutting jobs and wages across the board, which directly hits the economy. With fewer dollars in their pocket, and more in the governments, consumers are demanding fewer discretionary goods. This is a proverbial punch to the global economy, and spells lower demand for crude oil. On the supply side, a lot more crude keeps being brought to market. Bloomberg reported on 1 September, OPECs crude production rose to a record in August as increased output from Gulf members made up for persisting losses in Nigeria and Libya, according to a Bloomberg survey. Supplies from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries climbed by 120,000 barrels a day to average 33.69 million a day in August amid increases by Iran, Iraq and Kuwait, the survey of analysts, oil companies and ship-tracking data showed. U.S. average daily crude exports rose to 474,000 barrels a day in July compared with 383,000 barrels a day in June, according to Bloomberg calculations of U.S. Census Bureau data released. The supply story is horrendous. Thats why, despite the recent rally, crude keeps trying to push lower. Source: Bloomberg Click to enlarge Looking at the story, it appears that the final low might not be locked in. And that makes global leaders nervous. For this reason, they are doing everything possible to keep the crude price artificially elevated. History repeats Earlier in the year, when crude hit a 13-year low, global Energy Ministers and petroleum chiefs started talking up the oil price. Leaders suggested they would keep crude production at January levels. It never happened. Today, nearly every country in the world is producing more crude! It sounds crazy, but it doesnt really matter. Global leaders did a great job of fooling the market; the crude price rose sharply. And OPEC ministers want to keep it that way. For this reason, they re-started the rumour mill. Bloomberg reported yesterday, Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed to work together to ensure oil market stability even as leaders from the worlds two biggest crude producers stopped short of offering detailed proposals. Oil-market stability is impossible without Saudi-Russian cooperation, the kingdoms influential Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said after meeting on Sunday with President Vladimir Putin in Hangzhou, China. Prince Mohammed made his comments three days after Putin said hed like OPEC and Russia to agree to freeze crude supply to steady the market. Our countries are the two biggest oil producers, thats why there cant be a stable policy in the sphere of oil without the participation of Russia and Saudi Arabia, said Prince Mohammed, a son of the Saudi king. Putin said it is important for the two countries to maintain a permanent dialogue. Conveniently, if you havent noticed, this oil stability talk only happens when crude approaches the US$40 per barrel level. Take a look at the WTI chart below, which summaries the story. Source: Trading View; Resource Speculator Click to enlarge The chart shows how much garbage politicians speak. Despite what we think, the market believes every word they say Perhaps market algorithms that buy and sell based on news headlines are to blame. Who knows? One thing seems certain: politicians are determined to keep the crude price above US$40 per barrel. Dont bet the mortgage Russian President Vladimir Putin is working hard. He told Bloomberg over the weekend, From the viewpoint of economic sense and logic, then it would be correct to find some sort of compromise. I am confident that everyone understands that. We believe that this is the right decision for world energy. Putin isnt alone in this view. Other producers are coming to the view that freezing production is right, Saudi Arabias Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir told Bloomberg. As it stands, dont be surprised if crude surges into the OPEC meeting on 26 September. If so, that could mean good news for certain oil stocks, but only in the short term. There are still plenty of risks for oil. If the price continues to rise, dont be surprised if OPEC and Russia start trying to talk the price down again. The oil market really as at the mercy of political manipulation, and theres no telling when that will end. Regards, Jason Stevenson, Resources Analyst From the Port Phillip Publishing Library Special Report: Central banks are losing control. Their efforts to prop up asset markets are failing. Were now entering the endgame. What will the endgame look like? What are the short and long term investment implications? And how can you navigate this period of hyper central banking interventionand emerge from the other side with a healthy portfolio? Vern Gowdie is one of the few minds in Australia with clear answers to these questions[more] Yemen's Prime Minister Ahmed Obeid Bin Daghr arrived in Cairo on Monday night to conduct talks with Egyptian officials, MENA news agency reported. According to security sources at Cairo International Airport, Daghr arrived on a private jet with a delegation of Yemeni ministers and is planning to meet Egyptian officials to discuss the latest developments in the war-torn country. Daghr's visit comes as the recent UN-backed peace talks in Kuwait between rival powers in Yemen failed to reach a deal to end the fighting. Egypt has been a member of the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen against Iranian-backed Houthi militias since it was formed in March 2015. President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has repeatedly stressed his belief that a political solution is what is needed to end the crisis in Yemen. Search Keywords: Short link: Prosecution ordered the detention of a lower-ranking policeman after he shot a microbus driver in the legs Giza prosecution ordered on Monday the detention of a lower-ranking policeman for four days pending further investigations on charges of attempted murder and use of excessive force after he shot a microbus driver using his work weapon during a street brawl in 6 October city. The policeman reportedly shot the man in the legs during the confrontation. The driver told the prosecution the brawl started after he challenged the policeman for issuing him a ticket for a traffic violation that he did not commit. In the past months, several police personnel, in particular lower-ranking policemen, have been involved in shooting of civilians during personal or work-relarted arguments. Last week, a lower-ranking policeman was detained after shooting dead a microbus driver in Cairo's suburb of Maadi as he intervened to break up a fight between the victim and another driver. In August parliament passed amendments to police laws to regulate the performance of all security services. These changes emphasise the need for policemen to respect human rights, the government said. Search Keywords: Short link: Egypt already opened the border crossing starting from Saturday for three days because of the upcoming Eid Al-Adha holiday Egypt decided to extend the opening of the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip in both directions for another two days for the upcoming Eid Al-Adha holiday after opening them for three days starting on Saturday, MENA agency reported on Tuesday. President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi gave his orders to extend the opening to allow the crossing of Palestinian pilgrims heading to Mecca for the annual Hajj pilgrimage and humanitarian reasons. The Islamic pilgrimage will start next week. The opening was extended on Sunday for one day on Monday. The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Sinai is the only way for the 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza who have been living under Israeli siege since 2006 to enter and exit the strip. The Egyptian government decided to close the crossing in October 2014 when an attack by Islamist militants in North Sinai left dozens of security personnel dead. It opens the borders from time to time for short periods, often including major Islamic holidays. Search Keywords: Short link: The new date of the delegation visit comes following a meeting between Sisi and Putin on Monday in China Russian aviation experts will inspect security procedures at Egyptian airports this week starting Tuesday, the Russian transport ministry press service announced. "On September 6-10, 2016, a group of Russian experts will carry out a regular round of air security checks in Egypt and will set forth their conclusions in a detailed report," the ministry said in a statement reported by Russian news agency TASS. The new date of the inspection delegation postponed from late August comes following a meeting on Monday between Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit in China. El-Sisi agreed with his Russian counterpart that a Russian delegation would be sent to Egypt "in the coming days" to inspect airports in anticipation of resumption of commercial flights between the two countries which have been suspended by Moscow since November 2015. Russia, along with several other countries, suspended passenger flights to Egypt last year over security concerns after the crash of a Russian passenger jet shortly after taking off from Sinai's Sharm El-Sheikh in October 2015. All 224 onboard were killed in the crash. Russia said the crash was due to a bomb planted on the plane. Egypt has yet to issue a final report on the causes of the crash. While many EU countries such as the UK and Germany suspended flights only to Sharm's international airport, Russia suspended flights to all Egyptian airports. The decision has impacted heavily on Egypt's tourism industry, with tourist numbers down 50 percent in the first half of 2016 compared to the same period last year, according to Egypt's Tourism Authority. Tourism revenue totaled $500 million in the first quarter of 2016, around 66 percent down compared to the same quarter a year earlier, a tourism ministry adviser told Reuters in April. Germany and Poland have since lifted the restrictions banning direct flights to Sharm El-Sheikh airport. Turkey has also announced the resumption of direct flights from Istanbul to Sharm El-Sheikh on 10 September. Search Keywords: Short link: Maintaining independence and editorial freedom is essential to our mission of empowering investor success. We provide a platform for our authors to report on investments fairly, accurately, and from the investors point of view. We also respect individual opinionsthey represent the unvarnished thinking of our people and exacting analysis of our research processes. Our authors can publish views that we may or may not agree with, but they show their work, distinguish facts from opinions, and make sure their analysis is clear and in no way misleading or deceptive. To further protect the integrity of our editorial content, we keep a strict separation between our sales teams and authors to remove any pressure or influence on our analyses and research. Read our editorial policy to learn more about our process. In its latest set of data released on September 2, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver announced that August sales in the city have plummeted to a four-year low, right as B.C.s housing market was grappling with the newly implemented 15 per cent tax on foreign home buyers.Vancouvers sales volume for the previous month dropped by 26 per cent on a year-over-year basis, down to 2,489 detached homes, condo units, and townhomes sold in August. The most significant decline has been observed in the detached sector, which saw 44.6 per cent less sales (for a total of only 715 properties) last month, The Globe and Mail reported.According to the Board, a leading driver of this development is the noticeable slowdown in multi-million-dollar transactions, which stemmed from increased uncertainty among foreign and local would-be buyers.The data added that a 0.3 per cent drop in the average sale value of detached homes in the city to $1.47 million was observed last month. To compare, the benchmark price of homes in the Greater Vancouver area stood at $1.58 million in Augustup 35.8 per cent year-over-year, but down 0.1 per cent from July.The foreign buyers are re-evaluating, and so are local buyers, Board president Dan Morrison said. But remember that August last year was one of highest for sales for that month.However, while the declines might be seen as troubling, the actual numbers were actually far less than the dire predictions of 60 per cent crashes made last month in the wake of the new tax, which was implemented on August 2.But Royal LePage agent Adil Dinani warned that the slowdown is unsustainable in the long term, noting that the levy has drained significant demand by scaring off foreign nationals and speculators. Plenty of listed detached properties in the city are now taking far longer to get sold off, and many of these are getting offers way below their asking prices.In addition, overseas investorsChinese, in particularhave become far more cautious about spending on Canadas hottest housing market, and instead have taken to haggling for discounted sales and tacking on extra pre-purchase conditions like free inspections, Dinani added. Maybe Home Price Gains Aren't Decelerating After All Home price increases continued to exceed CoreLogic's own projections in July. The company's Home Price Index (HPI) indicates that home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, rose 1.1 percent from June and were 6 percent higher than in July 2015. The month-over-month gain was identical to the rate of appreciation from May to June, but the year-over-year increase marked an acceleration from the 5.7 percent reported in June. In the last HPI, CoreLogic noted a deceleration in price gains. Oregon and Washington continue to top the charts with double digit annual increases of 11.2 and 10.2 percent respectively. They were followed by Colorado at 9.3 percent, West Virginia (8.6 percent) and Utah (7.9 percent.) Only one state failed to post an annual gain; Connecticut, where prices fell by 1.2 percent. Other states had negligible changes; New Jersey saw appreciation of only 0.2 percent and in Vermont the gain was 0.8 percent. "The strongest home price gains continue to be in the western region," said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. "As evidence, the Denver, Portland and Seattle metropolitan areas all recorded double-digit appreciation over the past year." CoreLogic is forecasting an increase in its HPI of 5.4 percent over the next 12 months (to July 2017) and a 0.4 percent uptick from July to August. The company's forecast is a projection of home prices using the CoreLogic HPI and other economic variables. Values are derived from state-level forecasts by weighting indices according to the number of owner-occupied households for each state. In the first six months of 2016 CoreLogic has projected monthly gains averaging 0.68 percent while reporting actual increases with a mean of 1.46 percent. CoreLogic had projected a June to July gain of 0.6 percent. "If mortgage rates continue to remain relatively low and job growth continues, as most forecasters expect, then home purchases are likely to rise in the coming year," said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. "The increased sales will support further price appreciation, and according to the CoreLogic Home Price Index, home prices are projected to rise about 5 percent over the next year." Egypt parliament approved Tuesday President Sisi's decree that former army general Mohamed Ali El-Sheikh be appointed as the new minister of supply Egypts parliament approved in a plenary session Tuesday the appointment of former army general Mohamed Ali El-Sheikh as the new minister of supply. El-Sheikh will replace former minister of supply Khaled Hanafy, who decided resign from office two weeks ago after a fact-finding parliamentary committee accused him of corruption and graft. Parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Al told MPs Tuesday that the appointment of El-Sheikh comes in line with Article 147 of the constitution, which states that the president of the republic can implement a cabinet reshuffle after consultation with the prime minister and the approval of the majority of MPs in a plenary session. Speaker Abdel-Al told MPs that El-Sheikh, 64, has a long record of experience in the sector of commodity supplies and public services, and was head of the Egyptian army's Supply Authority. "He was also the head of the army's general services apparatus," said Abdel-Al, adding that "these leading positions helped El-Sheikh get rich experience in the areas of crisis management and service provision." "As you all know, the Ministry of Supply is in pressing need for a leading and forceful figure who can manage crises and ensure that all kinds of services and basic commodities offered to ordinary citizens are available on the market," said Abdel-Al. Some MPs demanded that the new minister of supply be interviewed in a hearing session before he is approved. However, the demand was rejected by Abdel-Al, who argued that Article 147 does not mandate such a procedure. "The constitution states that Egypt is a mixed parliamentary-presidential system and that parliament can only withdraw confidence from the government." Search Keywords: Short link: A backlash against fracturing in Oklahoma may be about to get worse following a record-tying earthquake over the weekend, potentially slowing the development of some of the U.S.s most coveted shale plays. Oklahoma regulators had already been limiting the disposal of oilfield wastewater, which scientists have linked to seismic activity, before a 5.6-magnitude tremor in the state was felt from Texas to Illinois on Saturday, matching a 2011 record. The number of earthquakes measuring 3.0 or higher reached at least 890 last year, followed by about 375 this year through June 22. The numbers are a far cry from only two in 2008, before the states fracturing boom. As oil production surged in Oklahoma, with the Scoop and Stack areas among the most sought new plays in the country, so did the disposal of wastewater from fractured fields. Several producers, and now the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, are facing lawsuits because of seismic activity allegedly linked to disposal wells in Oklahoma and other states. They are going to push the industry to come up with some permanent solutions, said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research Inc. in Winchester, Massachusetts. Its hard to believe Oklahoma would move to ban fracturing, but I can see where they would say to people that they have to do something else with the wastewater, which is believed to be the source of the increase in earthquakes. Oklahoma, a region previously not known for intense seismic activity, began having a significant number of earthquakes in 2009, the same year local oil companies began using fracturing to shatter deep rock layers to extract oil and gas. Fractured wells produce large quantities of wastewater, which drilling companies inject into ultra-deep disposal wells. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which regulates oil and gas activity in the state, has been issuing restrictions for more than a year aimed at cutting down on the amount of wastewater injected into disposal wells. There are about 35,000 active such wells, though only a few dozen have been linked to quakes, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence report in May, citing the U.S. Geological Survey. Without studying the specifics of the wastewater injection and oil and gas production in this area, the USGS cannot currently conclude whether or not this particular earthquake was caused by industrial-related, human activities, the agency said Saturday in a statement. However, we do know that many earthquakes in Oklahoma have been triggered by wastewater fluid injection. Saturdays earthquake, near a complex of oil-storage facilities, led the regulator to order the suspension of about 37 wastewater disposal wells. This was the first time the state regulator has issued the mandatory measure, commission spokesman Matt Skinner said by telephone. Gov. Mary Fallin signed a bill into law that provided such powers last April. PetroQuest Energy Inc. was ordered to shut four of its disposal wells in Oklahoma, just days after the oil and gas producer skipped an interest payment and said it may face bankruptcy. PetroQuest was the only publicly traded U.S. company among the operators affected by the commissions measure. The Lafayette, Louisiana-based producer has until Sept. 10 shut in its wells, according to the commissions mandate. Oil storage and pipeline facilities at the Cushing hub, 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Pawnee, were undamaged, according to the commission and four of the companies that operate there. The quake was followed by at least eight others measuring as much as 3.6, according to the USGS. You might see a little bit of a pause in fracturing activity as people try to adjust and come up with different ways to cope, Lynch said. The first step will be restricting the wastewater wells, particularly the ones that seem to be causing the most harm. Rigs arent alone in the long trek back to the Texas oil patch. Drillers across the state added about 100 new jobs in July, the first monthly gain since the Texas energy industrys employment figures began falling dramatically in January 2015, economist Karr Ingham says. Texas upstream companies - oil producers, service companies and rig contractors - had shed more than 102,000 jobs since the beginning of last year, piling on losses month after month, but Julys small increase may be a sign things are finally turning around for the states energy workforce. Its not spectacular, but its a gain rather than a loss, Ingham said. Ingham has not yet released the Texas Petro Index, a monthly report he prepares for the states oil industry. I believe its a recovery in the making, but its a slow, frustrating and torturous one because prices arent going up as much as most people hoped. But the first thing was the bleeding had to stop, and it looks like we may be at that point. Ingham noted the Texas Petro Index, which measures drilling and related activity in Texas, still contracted in July. August and September may yield bigger bumps in drilling activity metrics and jobs, though: Oil companies have resurrected 68 rigs across Texas in the past four months, bringing the states rig count to 241. Drilling permits in Texas also are on the rise. In the downturn, falling oil prices forced Texas oil companies to set down 733 rigs across the state as they cut jobs by the thousands. It was a set of falling dominos, Ingham said. Theyre being set up again. Ingham, an Amarillo economist who studies the upstream oil industry in Texas, makes adjustments to Texas Workforce Commission numbers to reach his conclusions, stripping out some official figures associated with statewide mining jobs. In response to the state's record-tying 5.6-magnitude earthquake in Pawnee on Saturday, Oklahoma has ordered an immediate halt to oil and gas wastewater injections in a 725-square-mile area around the tremor's epicenter. Permian Basin Petroleum Association Vice President Stephen Robertson spoke with the Reporter-Telegram about the oil and gas lobby group's position on what Oklahoma's action could mean for Permian Basin operators. MRT: What is the PBPA's initial reaction to Oklahoma's decision to ban injection wells near the site of Saturday's 5.6-magnitude earthquake? SR: Since Oklahoma isn't a place where we have operations or follow regulations, we don't have a lot to say about it. Compared to Texas, though, the Railroad Commission last year instituted regulations concerning seismicity, and among those was (that) an examination had to be done subsurface before a well could be sited to try and determine if there were any issues or what could be in place. We trust the RRC is taking the necessary steps and implementing the necessary regulations to make sure they are doing everything they can in the state to make oil and gas operations as safe as they possibly can be. MRT: Do you have concerns that Texas will shut down injection wells in response? SR: We sure haven't heard anything like that. Like I said, I think the proper steps are being taken to make sure that if there is something out there the industry isn't aware of, or if there is a worry that isn't being investigated enough, that the RRC will start investigating it -- if it hasn't already been investigating it -- to make sure that we're doing things the right way, that we're not putting too much fluid down in the ground at too high pressure at any given moment. There probably isn't a way that you could ever know where all of the minor and major faults are in the area, but as things continue to develop and as you learn, all of that information gets put into a database that everyone can learn from, and we can always try to do better tomorrow. MRT: Oklahoma acted very rapidly to shut down injection wells. Does Texas have the ability to respond in the same manner? SR: I would think that if it came to the protection of the public that it could definitely take action like that, but I don't know for sure. Like Trevor on Facebook and follow him on Twitter at @HowdyHawes. Yates Petroleum, the legendary New Mexico oil and natural gas company that drilled its first oil well in 1924, has agreed to combine with EOG Resources, the companies announced Tuesday. Under the agreement, EOG will combine with Yates Petroleum Corp., Abo Petroleum Corp., MYCO Industries and other entities in a transaction valued at $2.5 billion. Closing is expected in October. In a conference call discussing the transaction, EOG Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bill Thomas told analysts Yates Delaware Basin holdings were a driving force in the deal. Its no secret anymore that the Delaware Basin is one of the best resource plays in the country. EOGs acreage position will increase by 78 percent through this transaction to a whopping 424,000 net acres. EOG has drilled some of the most prolific wells in the basin, and this expanded acreage position provides more inventory in the highest return parts of the play. EOG will be able to accelerate its growth in the basin and will leverage technology and prior learnings over a bigger and better asset base. He added, Its a very unique opportunity to add very, very high quality acreage. In the Delaware Basin and Northwest Shelf of New Mexico, Yates currently holds 186,000 acres each in the Wolfcamp and Bone Spring plays, whereas EOG has 168,000 acres in the Wolfcamp and 111,000 acres in the Bone Spring. Yates holds 67,000 acres in the Leonard and EOG 93,000 acres. Yates holds a total of 186,000 acres in the Delaware Basin, compared to 238,000 for EOG and 138,000 acres in the Northwest Shelf compared to EOGs 12,000 acres. The combination of the two companies will bring that total to 574,000 acres in both the Delaware and Northwest Shelf. In addition, Yates holds 200,000 net acres in the Powder River Basin. Yates will add an estimated 1,740 net premium drilling locations in the Delaware Basin and Powder River Basin to EOGs growing inventory of premium drilling locations, a 40 percent increase. Thomas told analysts, We plan to get right to work and commence drilling on this new acreage shortly after closing, with one rig and with additional rigs to follow next year. He added that EOG intends to absorb Yates 300 employees into the company and maintain Yates office in Artesia, New Mexico. As to the rest of EOGs Permian Basin holdings, Thomas told analysts, This new acreage is a good fit with our existing holdings. We expect to see synergies in terms of blocking up acreage and sharing existing infrastructure. Thomas said the companys willingness to spend $2.5 billion as oil prices remain around $44 a barrel indicates that We are very excited about the future and the benefits that this transaction holds for the company. Under the terms of the agreements, which were approved by the boards of directors of EOG and Yates, and the Yates stockholders, EOG will issue 26.06 million shares of common stock valued at $2.3 billion and pay $37 million in cash, subject to certain closing adjustments and lock-up provisions. EOG will assume and repay at closing $245 million of Yates debt offset by $131 million of anticipated cash from Yates, subject also to certain closing adjustments. Oil and natural gas explorers from Anadarko Petroleum to Synergy Resources have escaped a vote in Colorado that wouldve limited drilling and threatened to halt about $10 billion worth of oil and natural gas production a year. A proposal known as Initiative No. 78, which wouldve restricted drilling near homes, fell about 21,000 valid signatures short of the total needed to qualify for a ballot vote, based on a projection in a statement from Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams. A measure allowing local governments to ban fracking also failed to attract enough valid signatures. Synergy, a Colorado oil and gas explorer, rose the most in more than seven months on the failed ballot initiatives. The measures had threatened to wipe out oil and gas drilling in Colorado, the sixth-largest gas producer among U.S. states, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence analysis. Initiative No. 78 alone couldve barred drilling across 90 percent of the state, where explorers extracted about $10 billion worth of oil and gas last year, the report showed. Energy explorers wouldve left Colorado in droves if voters ever approved ballot initiative 78, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Rob Barnett, Bernard Chen and Vincent Piazza said in the analysis. Drillers Anadarko, Encana, Noble Energy, PDC Energy and Whiting Petroleum account for about 70 percent of the states output, they said. This announcement today is a positive in that it removes a potential overhang in operations throughout the state, analysts at Wunderlich Securities wrote in a note to investors. While these have been considered long shots, the fact is that they still were potentially crippling issues. Colorados Williams said in his statement that a petition section related to Initiative No. 78 contains several potentially forged signature lines and that the department referred the section to the attorney generals office for investigation. Food & Water Watch, one of the groups that helped gather signatures, called it an uphill battle. We were outspent 35:1 by oil industry opponents and faced an unprecedented effort to keep the measures off the ballot, Laurie Petrie, the groups Rocky Mountain director, said in a statement. The enthusiasm of this citizen-led effort has not been dampened and we will continue to fight to protect the health of Coloradans, and the natural beauty of our state, from fracking. The initiatives backers could challenge the exclusion, but an appeal would appear to be futile, David Tameron, a Denver-based analyst for Wells Fargo said. Our fellow Coloradans recognize the strong regulatory structure already in place and the disastrous impacts these measures wouldve had on our state, Robin Olsen, a spokeswoman for Anadarkos Rockies division, said by email. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Midlanders now have expanded options for psychiatric care at a clinic that is operated by Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine at the Permian Basin. The clinic will train medical professionals as well as serve patients. Dr. Bobby Jain, regional chair and program director of psychiatry, said the services at the Texas Tech Physicians of the Permian Basin Psychiatric Clinic will assist the community. There are more advantages of trained psychiatrists, access to care and improving the quality of life, Jain said last week during a ribbon cutting at the facility. I think the Permian Basin would benefit from it. Renovations on the building at 314 Secor St. were finished in March. Psychiatrists, psychologists and a social worker will staff the clinic. Its easy for patients to access, said Dr. Gary Ventolini, regional dean. Its very well-located one block from our other office and one block from the hospital. TTUHSC decided to move the psychiatry department when it outgrew its other facility in Midland. That space has clinics for family medicine, womens health and internal medicine. The psychiatry clinic staff will add four medical residents in November. The residents will be on a four-year rotation to train and provide patient care at the facility. The idea is for physicians that finish to stay in the area, Ventolini said. He said treating and educating people at the 4,450-square-foot building will help people in the region. The need for mental health problem-solving is very high, Ventolini said. Its important to have the support of the community. The TTUHSC psychiatry department treats sleep disorders, PTSD, addiction and depression. The clinic serves adolescents and adults, but its planning to add pediatric care in the future. Its adequate for now, Jain said. Its a brand new facility for us. Were hoping to in a few years expand our work. Susan Atchison has mentored Midland ISD students for more than five years. Now, shes recruiting volunteers for a long-term mentoring program so other children in the school district have extra support. Midland Academic Guides pairs one adult mentor with an at-risk student in third or fourth grade at an MISD school. Each mentor signs a form to indicate a commitment to guide the child until high school graduation. Thats the goal for these mentors, said Atchison, founder and chairman of MAGs. Its not just a mentoring thing its a true relationship. Last year, Ron Moss, director of guidance and counseling for MISD, helped Atchison implement the program. We always welcome these folks who are willing to be mentors, Moss said. Research indicates by having one additional caring adult in their lives, test scores go up. Anything that can help students, we certainly welcome that. MAGs mentors helped students at Fannin, Houston and Lamar elementary schools last year. But mentors can choose to volunteer with students who need academic and social support at any MISD elementary school. Eight mentors participated in MAGs last year, and the program is looking to expand. Atchison said its challenging to find people who are willing to be long-term mentors. A lot of my friends didnt want to be committed, Atchison said. They didnt know what they were going to be doing in nine years. But some were willing to make the pledge. Jill Spannaus, a MAGs mentor and retired guidance counselor for MISD, said she recognized the need for students to have stable relationships with adults. Kids have so many people in and out of their lives principals change, counselors change, teachers change, Spannaus said. With me, its just like having a big sister someone to be accountable to in a loving way. Darla Taylor, another mentor, said she wanted the opportunity to impact children starting in third or fourth grade. Thats when they start forming who they want to be and start making plans about college, Taylor said. That was something exciting about this program. Maybe I did have a chance to make a change. MAGs focuses on guiding students toward college. Atchison encourages mentors to meet with students at least once a week in school. During that time, they work on school assignments or activities to improve social or organizational skills. Mentors also have access to students grades and teachers so they can monitor progress. Outside of school, mentors are encouraged to form relationships with students family members. Mentor Whitney Ellis said shes noticed a difference between this program and tutoring shes done in the past. I wasnt getting to know families, getting to know the kids, Ellis said. It was more of, Whitneys here to tutor you. With this, I can be more creative, more flexible. Ellis uses creativity to devise scenarios to help her mentee solve fractions. She said last year, her mentees confidence toward math improved. Her grades were reflective of that, Ellis said. Inspiration for the program came from the relationship between Atchison and two of her mentees siblings William Snipes and Miranda Medrano. As Atchison started getting to know the siblings in 2010, she realized they needed a push academically. But the relationship extended beyond help with homework. The siblings became integrated into the Atchison family. The Atchisons invited them to family dinners and vacations, using each event as an opportunity to teach the children something new. Theyre seeing the world in a whole different way, Atchison said. When a child only learns about things in a book, its a whole different way to experience it. Atchisons friends saw how she impacted her mentees, and they wanted to help students in a similar way. She thought MAGs would benefit others in MISD schools. It would be awesome if that group of hers would grow and help other kids, said Helena Medrano, the siblings mother. My kids are in the right direction. Tierney Hamilton, guidance counselor at Lamar Elementary, also hopes more people choose to become MAGs mentors. Hamilton worked with teachers at her school to identify a student who needed extra guidance to pair with a mentor. It was really hard to narrow to just one student, Hamilton said. I hope we have lifelong mentors for these children someone else to be responsible. A lifelong educator with 20 years experience in Midland has filed to run for Midland ISD school board. Margy House, an elementary school teacher and mother of two Lee High School graduates, is running for the seat for District 7 which includes a large portion of northwest Midland, specifically the areas around Parker, Greathouse and Fasken elementaries and Green Tree Country Club. The current District 7 representative, Jay Isaacs, has said he will not seek another term. District 7 is one of four seats on the Nov. 8 ballot. In discussing her intention to run for office, House said she wants to return the reputation of the district to a time when its successes were notable and before district leadership, including the board, did away with programs vital to our district in favor of the magic bullet. To her point, in 2002, Midland ISD earned a recognized district rating the second best rating the Texas Education Agency handed out at the time. Sixteen campuses earned the same rating, and another three earned the TEAs top ranking exemplary. That year, no MISD campus received the lowest rating of academically unacceptable. Last school year, the number of schools designated as improvement required was nine. To put this in perspective, El Pasos three districts combined had a total of five schools designated as improvement required the previous year, six fewer than MISD. If we approach it in the right way and create a culture of success, we can get it back to where we were, House said. I look forward to being part of a leadership team to restore confidence, trust and outcomes on the part of every student and every teacher. She said the relationship between board members and teachers needs to go beyond board members just coming to a campus every once in a while and never interacting with teachers. They need to be more aware, and that is where my perspective comes in, she said. House has taught kindergarten, second- and sixth-graders in the regular classroom. She also worked in early childhood programs, special education programs and gifted and talented programs. I count my service in MISDs primary grade gifted and talented program, where I was both a Project Think and QUEST teacher, as especially memorable, she said. This assignment gave me opportunity to serve students on many different MISD campuses and to embrace the ideal that children from every neighborhood and walk of life in this community can do excellent work when appropriately challenged. I gained additional insight about the importance of staff development and support for teachers in my role as a critical thinking skills trainer. House currently works as a part-time second-grade teacher at Trinity School. I have an enormous sense of pride in what has been previously accomplished by the district and an enormous sense of responsibility for what we must do in the future, House said. I believe I have the skills, experience, persistence and temperament necessary to contribute in positive ways to the changes that we all want to see in the schools in this community. House also boasts service with education and retired teachers groups and is a member of First Christian Church, where she helps with Sunday school and vacation Bible school. Also running for the District 7 seat is CPA Bryan Murry. Early voting is scheduled to start Sept. 21 for Midland ISDs tax ratification election, which is set for Oct. 8. Midland ISDs property tax rate is made up of a maintenance and operations tax rate, which provides funds for maintenance and operations of the schools facilities. Trustees voted to increase the M&O tax rate from $1.04005 (per $100 valuation) to $1.09005 -- a 5-cent increase. Raising of the M&O rate past $1.04005 requires voter approval, so that is the reason for the election. The wording of the TRE ballot is: Approving the ad valorem tax rate of $1.17005 per $100 valuation in the Midland Independent School District for the current year, a rate that is $0.04 higher per $100 valuation than the school district rollback tax rate (including a maintenance and operations component of the ad valorem tax rate equal to $1.09005 per $100 valuation, a rate that is $0.05 higher than the current maintenance and operations tax rate. It seems timely for the League of Women Voters to explain that through study and advocacy, leagues have positions on issues that support our public schools. The study of governmental issues is one of the basic functions of the League of Women Voters. The leagues process for study has acquired a solid reputation for its in-depth and unbiased exploration of issues. Members draw on balanced, pro/con materials, turn to technical experts and public officials for information and reach out to the community through public meetings, surveys, and media coverage. The League of Women Voters of Midland wants an equitable education for all MISD students. MISD has had to cut programs and positions just to get the budget it now has, and if the TRE doesnt pass they will have to cut more, so the following LWV positions could be affected: -- adequate counseling for all students, -- programs to promote academic excellence and career development, -- provision of supportive technology facilities for all students, -- programs and activities to address the needs of all students such as, but not limited to, mentor programs, parental involvement and early identification and intervention, -- fair assignment of quality teachers to ensure faculty excellence at all schools and -- ensuring a quality integrated school. To put it simply, classes will be bigger, teachers will be fewer and academic support will be less. This is not the quality our students deserve. Since Midland Independent School District is our public schools, all residents should participate in the election process. Talk to everyone you can -- those who work at MISD, those who serve as elected trustees of MISD and to your friends and neighbors. Do your research so you know the issues involved. Thats the way the league does it. Russia and Egypt are pushing through with negotiations over supplies of communication equipment and helicopters for Egypts recently-acquired amphibious helicopter carriers Mistral, Russian presidential aide Vladimir Kozhin has said on Tuesday. "Thereve been no contracts so far, but the talks are in progress," Kozhin said in statements reported by Russian news agency TASS. The Russian presidential aide said that Cairo is interested in the whole package to equip its Mistral ships. Last June, Egypt received one of two French Mistral helicopter carriers as part of a 950 million euro deal signed with France last year. The second carrier is yet to be delivered later in September. An official at the United Instrument Manufacturing Corporation -- a Russian state corporation that aims to facilitate the manufacture of high-tech products for communication and automated control systems to meet the needs of the Russian army -- told TASS that communication and control equipment for the Mistrals is almost ready for delivery to Egypt and may be provided within the tightest deadlines, if a contract is finalised. The communication and control systems will enable the ships to interact with coastal infrastructure and command posts as well as launch amphibious assaults. On Monday, Russia's defence minister Sergei Shoigu said that Egypt aims to equip its army with modern Russian-produced weaponry in statements reported by Sputnik News. The statements by the Russian officials come during a visit by Egypt's defence minister Sedki Sobhi to Russia, where he heads a top military delegation that includes Egypt's military production minister Mohamed El-Assar. According to an Egyptian army statement, the visit "constitutes a third meeting for the Egyptian-Russian military committee to discuss aspects of military cooperation between the two countries in various fields." This is the latest in a series of visits focused on boosting military cooperation between Egypt and Russia, who are partners in coordinating efforts to fight terrorism. Search Keywords: Short link: The government also announced that it will increase tourism police in the area and will coordinate with the interior ministry to rebuild a nearby police station Egypt's government has decided to hire private companies to manage, maintain and secure the area around the Pyramids of Giza, the Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported. A meeting took place on Tuesday between Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and officials from the housing ministry, the tourism ministry and the antiquities ministry, during which the government announced the details of the pyramids development project, stating that a company has already been hired for EGP 5 million a year to maintain cleanliness the area. Another company has been hired for security, and a third will be chosen for management. The government also announced that it will increase tourism police in the area and will coordinate with the interior ministry to rebuild a nearby police station, as well as either renovate or relocate a hospital in the area. Egypt has been struggling to revive its ailing tourism sector, which has suffered greatly after the political instability that followed the ouster of president Hosni Mubarak in 2011. The number of tourists visiting Egypt dropped by 41.9 percent in July compared with the same month last year, the state's official statistics authority announced last week. The crash of a Russian flight in Sinai late last year was yet another blow to the tourism industry. The number of tourists coming to Egypt dropped by 50 percent in the first half of 2016 compared to the same period last year, according to Egypt's Tourism Authority. Russia was among several countries to suspend passenger flights to Egypt after the crash, which killed 224 people on board. The crash was claimed by Islamist militants who said they planted a bomb on flight. Search Keywords: Short link: We have been cursed with leaders ... Militant attacks against security forces have been common in North Sinai in recent years, though South Sinai has been largely disconnected from the violence Five policemen were shot and injured in Egypt's South Sinai on Tuesday, Ahram Arabic website reported. The shooting, were two officers, two low-ranking policemen and a conscript were injured, took place in the city of Aburdees. Attacks against security forces in recent years have been common in North Sinai, where Egypt's army and police are battling an Islamist insurgency, though South Sinai has been largely disconnected from the violence. Though attacks by Islamist militants have been overwhelmingly focused in northern Sinai, assaults have taken place elsewhere in the country, including the capital. Hundreds of security forces as well as militants have been killed in the ongoing violence. Search Keywords: Short link: European Union lawmakers want help to preserve 72 mass graves in Syria and Iraq documented by The Associated Press so the evidence can be used to bring Islamic State group members to trial. Romanian Socialist lawmaker Victor Bostinaru said Tuesday that "the preservation of this evidence is today of utmost importance." His Austrian colleague Josef Weidenholzer said time is pressing because the grave sites are only roughly covered and exposed to dogs and the weather. He said "the longer we wait, the less that will remain of the graves and of the evidence. It is important to make European support available." In the most comprehensive survey so far, AP has documented and mapped 72 mass graves. Thousands may be buried but some sites are in territory too dangerous to excavate. Search Keywords: Short link: Microphone and US Flag View Photos In this weeks Republican address, Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.) discussed the GOP plan A Better Way and how it would help Americans in poverty. Byrne was Tuesdays KVML Newsmaker of the Day. Everyone in America deserves a real opportunity to lift themselves out of povertyonce and for all, said Rep. Byrne. To do that, we need to combine the present jumble of programs into just a few that can meet peoples needs. . . . Its time for a better way. A better way for poor children. A better way for struggling adults. And, a better way for America. Read the Republicans full address: Hi, my name is Bradley Byrne, and I have the honor of representing the first district of Alabama in the United States House of Representatives. This summer, my colleagues and I have been talking with our constituents all over the country about our proposed agenda for 2017what were calling A Better Way. Ive decided to focus on the first plank of our agenda: poverty. Over the past few months, I have been on a tour of my districttalking not only with the people helping those in need, but also many of those trapped in poverty. Some are struggling with addiction. Some have no homes. Some have jobs that simply dont pay enough. They come from all kinds of backgrounds. And none of them want to stay in poverty. On this Labor Day weekend, we should recognize that every person struggling wants to get a job and make enough money to live a good life. I should also say that some of the best work with the poor that I have seen has been by private non-profit organizations. Im speaking to you today from one of those groups, Feeding the Gulf Coast. They have a real concern for the people they help here. They treat those in need as human beings with real worth and openly prove to people that they are loved. Its clear to me that one thing government sure cant do is love someoneonly another person can do that. But the government can learn from these groups what really works and make sure what the government does actually supports their efforts. The problem is, the many federal programs that are supposed to help people in need are leaving far too many of them in poverty. Weve spent trillions of dollars over the last 50 years on the so-called War on Poverty $800 billion this year alone. And yet during that time the percentage of our people living in poverty has hardly changed. There is a better way. Lets start with a simple principle: Everyone in America deserves a real opportunity to lift themselves out of povertyonce and for all. To do that, we need to combine the present jumble of programs into just a few that can meet peoples needs. These programs should make sure every adult who can work has the education and skills to find a good-paying job in the 21st century economy. We propose five simple steps to do just that. First, reward work. If you are capable, we will expect you to work or prepare for work in exchange for benefits. Second, tailor those benefits to peoples needs. If we allow states to customize benefits, then theyll be able to work with groups like Feeding the Gulf Coast and get people the help they need. Third, improve education and job training. Fourth, help people plan and save for the future. And fifth, demand results. Keep track of what were doing, so that we can see which ideas actually work. The way I see it, if we succeed here, we get a three-fer. First, we lift people out of poverty. Second, the economy will grow as more of us start working. And finally, as people leave the welfare rolls, we will spend less taxpayer money. Yes, its time for a better way. A better way for poor children. A better way for struggling adults. And, a better way for America. May God bless you this Labor Day weekend and may God bless the United States of America. The Newsmaker of the Day is heard every weekday morning on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 AM. John Paul Schowachert View Photos Twain Harte, CA The Tuolumne County Sheriffs Office is seeking information about a man wanted in connection to a stabbing that occurred on August 30 off Italian Bar Road in Twain Harte. The Sheriffs Office has issued a warrant for 32-year-old Sonora resident John Paul Schowachert. Schowachert is described as being 61, approximately 165 pounds, brown hair and blue eyes. He has a tattoo on each cheekbone, a W and a P. He is potentially armed and dangerous. If you see him or know of his whereabouts please call the Tuolumne County Sheriffs Office at 209-533-5815. We reported previously that a 46-year-old victim, Shane Mackie, was attacked in a vehicle near the intersection of South Fork Rd. and Italian bar Rd. He was stabbed several times in the chest and abdomen. The victim was flown to a hospital in the central valley and is currently in stable condition. The Sheriffs Office believes the victim was specifically targeted, and it was not a random attack. No further information is immediately available. With Labor Day behind them, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are pushing ahead in top presidential battlegrounds in the South. Hillary Clinton campaign releases new book 'We'll fix it together,' she tells students Clinton attacks Trump on climate change, economy Democratic presidential nominee Clinton spoke Tuesday in Tampa at the University of South Florida. The rally at the USF Student Recreation Center came the same day Clinton released a new campaign book "Strong Together" with running mate Tim Kaine. Clinton said the book is "more than a slogan for the campaign - this is a blueprint for Americas future." I want to be a president for those who vote for me and those who vote against me, because I want to bring our country together," Clinton said. "Im very proud that Tim Kaine and I are running a campaign of issues, not insults. Speaking to an audience full of students, Clinton said she would lift the burden of college debt. Were going to help you pay it back and pay it off - quickly, Clinton said. "We're going to get the interest rates down and were going to give you new ways of paying it. RELATED: Florida Decides special section RELATED: Watch Political Connections on Bay News 9 She also took on Donald Trump's stance that he alone can fix America. "Americans dont say I alone can fix it," she said. "We say, well fix it together." Knowing how important Florida is to her push for the White House, this is Clinton's fourth visit to the Sunshine State this year. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, will campaign for her Wednesday in Orlando. Trump, the Republican nominee, was set to campaign in Virginia and North Carolina on Tuesday, two critical states in his path to the presidency. Trump released an open letter early Tuesday from 88 retired generals and admirals citing an urgent need for a "course correction" on America's national security policy. "We believe that such a change can only be made by someone who has not been deeply involved with, and substantially responsible for, the hollowing out of our military and the burgeoning threats facing our country around the world," the military leaders wrote. "For this reason, we support Donald Trump's candidacy to be our next commander-in-chief." The day before in swing state Ohio, Trump softened his stance on immigration while Clinton blasted Russia for suspected tampering in the U.S. electoral process. In a rare news conference aboard her new campaign plane, Clinton said she is concerned about "credible reports about Russian government interference in our elections." "We are going to have to take those threats and attacks seriously," Clinton told reporters traveling with her from Ohio to Illinois. The map below shows how many times Trump (red) and Hillary Clinton (blue) have visited the I-4 corridor so far this election season. Presidential candidates' I-4 Corridor travels   While Labor Day has traditionally been the kickoff to the fall campaign, both Clinton and Trump have been locked in an intense back-and-forth throughout the summer. The start of full-fledged campaigning opens a pivotal month, culminating in the first presidential debate Sept. 26 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. Polls show Trump trailing Clinton in a series of must-win battleground states, meaning the debates could be his best chance at reorienting the race. Trump told reporters he does plan to take part in all three presidential debates, joking that only a "hurricane" or "natural disaster" would prevent him from attending. Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. The Netherlands will help Israel boost energy and water supplies to Gaza including by building a gas pipeline, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday. "We want to help the population of Gaza and the first step is to improve the supply of energy and water... including laying a gas pipeline," Netanyahu said during a two-day visit to The Netherlands. After talks with his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte, Netanyahu said his cabinet had already made a decision to lay the pipeline "and I appreciate your help in realising this project." Rutte said his country had already invested in a feasibility study for a gas pipeline from Israel to the impoverished Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip. The Netherlands would also facilitate expert meetings between Dutch, Israeli and Palestinian officials focusing on energy and water, he told a joint press conference. "The aim of these meetings is to improve the Palestinian economy, but equally it provides for a more fertile ground for political negotiations between the two parties," added Rutte. "I realise it's not going to be easy, but we need to keep on moving," he stressed. Netanyahu was also asked about the postponement of a long-anticipated meeting with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, which Abbas had said was planned to be held in Moscow on Friday. Abbas earlier Tuesday announced that Netanyahu had suggested delaying the Russian-backed gathering. Netanyahu said he had no problem meeting Abbas in "Holland or in Moscow" as long as there were no preconditions set for the meeting by the Palestinian side. "The real question is whether Abu Mazen (Abbas) is willing to meet us without preconditions and we are hearing conflicting reports on that," Netanyahu said, speaking in Hebrew. "If Abu Mazen agrees to meet me directly without preconditions, I am willing at any time, as I have said for seven years, and if he accepts, that meeting will take place," he said. Peace efforts have been at a standstill since a US-led initiative collapsed in April 2014. The last substantial public meeting between Abbas and Netanyahu is thought to have been in 2010, though there have been unconfirmed reports of secret meetings since then. Search Keywords: Short link: Instead of kicking back and relaxing on Labor Day, one outreach organization used the day to drum up support for their cause. United Against Poverty members and volunteers marched through downtown Orlando, hoping to draw attention to the plight of the American worker. United Against Poverty members were protesting on behalf of the working poor About a dozen people participated in the Labor Day march Orlando is in a unique position in that not only do we have one of the biggest poverty problems in the United States, we also dont want to talk about it," said Eric Gray, United Against Poverty's executive director. "Because of the nature of our community, we want to put on the best show possible. A lot of people are kind of honking at us, waving at us," said Emalee Schierman, as she carried a tall sign up and down Orange Avenue.The 21-year-old senior at UCF, who is also the Volunteer Coordinator for the group, said her passion for volunteering and helping others stems back to a particular moment, years ago. I saw a woman who I was volunteering with, an elderly woman who went to my church with me, give literally the jacket that she had on to a woman who was cold," she remembered. "Were just trying to open peoples eyes, because they ignore what they dont want to see. Schierman and others led a man blindfolded on their march up and down Orange Avenue, which they said represented the notion that many are blind to poverty. While turnout for the march was low -- roughly about a dozen people, compared to nearly a hundred last year, according to United Against Poverty -- the group achieved what they set out to do: getting others to take a second look at statistics and consider helping others, less fortunate than themselves. It was just interesting to see it. More out of curiosity than anything else," said Brian Jones, stopping to look at the row of signs by Wall Street Plaza. People often see poverty as a problem elsewhere," said Schierman. We really want to see in Orlando where people are recognizing that people need help and are coming together as a community." On a day-to-day basis, United Against Poverty said they help people get back on their feet and connect them with opportunities. ITT Tech shut down operations Tuesday, eliminating most of its 8,000 employees and leaving tens of thousands of students in limbo nationwide. ITT Tech campuses nationwide shut down Company faults new federal sanctions Feds say they had 'significant concerns' about operations The for-profit technical school operates campuses in Lake Mary, Tampa and St. Petersburg. The move comes shortly after the Department of Education banned the school from enrolling new students who rely on financial aid. In a statement, ITT Educational Services, Inc. said, "Effective today, the company has eliminated the positions of the overwhelming majority of our more than 8,000 employees. Our focus and priority with our remaining staff is on helping the tens of thousands of unexpectedly displaced students with their records and future educational options." The company, based in Carmel, Indiana, blamed U.S. government sanctions for its closure. "The actions of and sanctions from the U.S. Department of Education have forced us to cease operations of the ITT Technical Institutes, and we will not be offering our September quarter. We reached this decision only after having exhausted the exploration of alternatives, including transfer of the schools to a non-profit or public institution." The school had been under increased scrutiny over the past couple of years over the Department of Education's "significant concerns about ITT's administrative capacity, organizational integrity, financial viability and ability to serve students," the department said on its official blog. "The school's decisions have put its students and millions of taxpayer-funded federal student aid at risk," it said. The department issued sanctions Aug. 25. Students at ITT's Tech Lake Mary campus walked up to the doors to try to find answers, they found that staff already moved out and the doors locked. "I've been going here a year, planning on finishing with 14 months with my degree. I wasted a whole year here, and the school is no longer existing," Cynthia Nolan said. Nolan said she'd invested $40,000 toward a medical administrative assistant degree, with nothing to show for it. "You give up everything to go back to school, and this is what you get," Nolan said. Longtime employees said they hadn't gotten a heads-up, either. "It's a shock. Ive got a family to take care of," said Doug Strickland, who works for ITT Tech's Career Services. "Its a tough time. It's tough for the students, tough for everybody here." ITT Educational Services operates more than 130 campuses across 38 states. Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. Jesus taught, But I say unto you, do not resist the evil man who injures you; but if anyone strikes you on the right jaw or cheek, turn to him the other one too. In Jesus' historical context this meant resist not evil with violence. Turning the other cheek was a way to stand up to those who had power over you and turning the insult back upon the one who slapped. It was a non-violent way of saying, You don't really have the power to hurt me! Here is the other cheek if you think striking it will change anything. This was self-assertion in a public situation without getting yourself killed or really hurt. But Jesus was a teacher of wisdom for life. He was not a teacher of rigid law. Wisdom knows when non-violence is best, but it knows that sometimes, as in WWII, the best response to evil is to take your weapon and fight back. Ghandi's non-violence based on Jesus teaching worked in India to win her independence from Britain but it would never have worked against Nazism. Sgt. Alvin York, the most decorated American soldier of WWI, was a follower of Jesus' teaching of non-violence. But fighting in the European Theater, German snipers were killing his friends all around him. Then he decided the only way he could stop the killing was to do some killing of his own. He injuned out into the woods as he did in the Tennessee mountains when hunting for food. He fired his bolt action rifle 48 times and 44 Germans fell to the ground. Next, 132 German soldiers surrendered thinking they were surrounded. York and his remaining platoon marched the 132 POWS back to allied lines. This was Jesus' wisdom. But in many situations resisting the evil in a non-violent way does the most good. Take the war on drugs in our society. Our response was to declare war on this great social problem with violent harsh mandatory sentencing on anybody touching drugs. This has made our drug problem, financial problem and prison all worse. It has overcrowded our prisons and made hardened criminals out of many nonviolent offenders whose lives were totally ruined by the harsh sentencing. Probation and other programs would have been best for many of these offenders and much cheaper for society. Jimmy Carter said, Penalties for the possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of a drug itself. Bill Clinton, Obviously, if the expected result was that we would eliminate serious drug use in America and eliminate the narco-trafficking networks, the war on drugs hasn't worked. Rick Perry, After 40 years of the war on drugs, I can't change what happened in the past. What I can do as the governor of Texas is to implement policies that start us toward a decriminalization and keeps people from going to prison and destroying their lives. And the War on Terror and going into Iraq is another example of violence being the wrong response. It did no good for us or anybody and only made terrorism worse worldwide. Our military people have paid dearly for it and so has our country and the world. There are times that violent resistance to evil is the best and only thing to do. And there are times violent resistance makes it worse. Arrogance that thinks one can whip anybody or everybody always makes the violence worse, solving nothing. We need the wisdom of Jesus. Alvin Petty, Plainview A break over the Labor Day weekend in a round of recurrent rainfall is welcome relief for agricultural producers, but the respite could be brief. According to the National Weather Service, rain is in the forecast for this week, thanks to Tropical Storm Newton and an end-of-the-week cold front. Highs will remain below normal most of the week, and by Saturday highs may drop by 10 degrees. Rain changes will increase starting Tuesday, forecasters say, as tropical and sub-tropical moisture originating from Tropical Storm Newton in the Gulf of California channels its way into the Panhandle and South Plains. By Tuesday night, locally heavy rain is possible from eastern New Mexico into the western South Plains. An upper-level disturbance emanating from the southwest is expected to drag the deep moisture plume and precipitation chances eastward across the entire region. As a result, locally heavy rain is possible. By Thursday, the disturbance should be well east of the area, which could mean a lull in the shower activity. However, remnants of Tropical Storm Newton should pass across the region Friday into Saturday. Additionally, a cold front will drop into the area sometime Friday night into Saturday morning, bringing another increase in rain chances. Continued weak troughing aloft and a return flow could produce yet another increase in rain chances Sunday into Monday, forecasters warn. In his weekly Plains Pest Management newsletter, Blayne Reed, AgriLife Extension integrated pest management specialist for Swisher, Floyd and Hale counties, had to look hard to find a silver lining on last weeks storm clouds. Our late planted corn and sorghum should love the current weather and it is a grand planting rain for our wheat, he wrote. It is also very likely to flush another, if not the last, round of summer weeds, causing us to plow out most of the moisture on that wheat ground in order to plant that wheat into clean ground. There are worse problems to have, such as no rain at all. Reed reports that a second large moth flight moved into the area last week. These moths represent a significant threat to cotton and sorghum, even as we enter September. The moths will be attracted to post tassel/pre-dent corn, pre-black line sorghum and lush cotton fields, and producers are advised to scout quickly all lush cotton fields as well as pre-black line sorghum. These are the fields where these worms can do the most economic damage, Reed notes. Still lush cotton, even though squares, blooms and dime- to nickel-size bolls have almost no chance of making harvestable bolls today, they provide an easily-infested starting point for the worms to move to the portion of the crop that will do us economic damage. The cool, damp weather is also having an impact on sugarcane aphids as populations are reaching their peak. Reed said the weather is disrupting the pests feeding habits, which hampers control efforts since aphids wont be ingesting as much of the pesticides sprayed on infested plants. The on again-off again rainfall is playing havoc on efforts to apply anti-aphid treatments, and is washing off the treatment before the product can be absorbed into the plant, which it must to be effective against this pest. Those factors, Reed said, would help explain some of the treatment failures experienced in the past with the sugarcane aphid. Dozens of people had to be treated for breathing problems in the Syrian battlefront city of Aleppo after regime helicopters dropped barrel bombs on a rebel-held district Tuesday, a monitor said. In addition, rebel gunfire killed five people in Azamiyeh, a government-controlled area in Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The bombs that left more than 70 people choking and in need of treatment were dropped from helicopters on the Sukkari neighbourhood, the Britain-based monitor said, adding most were civilians. The opposition Aleppo Media Centre charged on its Twitter account that Sukkari was the target of a chlorine attack. Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman was unable to confirm the claim but said that no one was killed in the strikes. A Sukkari resident told AFP a "very strong smell" filled the neighbourhood after it was hit by a barrel bomb and that he and others had difficulty breathing. Both sides in Syria's complex war have traded accusations of attacks against civilians and use of unconventional weapons including chlorine and mustard gas. Last month, an investigative panel set up by the UN Security Council said in a report that President Bashar al-Assad's forces had carried out at least two chemical attacks, one in 2014 and another in 2015. But Syria's ally Russia said it had "very serious questions" about the report while the Syrian envoy to the world body, Bashar Jaafari, rejected the findings. Meanwhile in the northwestern province of Idlib, most of which is under rebel control, eight people including two children were killed in regime air strikes, the Observatory said. Search Keywords: Short link: Sean Doolittle, who came off the disabled list Friday, made his first appearance since June 25 on Monday. And he returned with new intro music after years with Metallicas For Whom the Bell Tolls his giveaway gnome figurine even plays the song. I was wondering how it would go over, Doolittle said of the switch. I know a lot of people were pretty attached to it. He came into the game in the seventh to Metallicas Disposable Heroes, which Doolittle said he listened to a lot during his rehab a new song for a new chapter, he said. Doolittle got a nice ovation from the crowd. That gave me goose bumps, he said. The left-hander allowed one hit and struck out two in his inning of work and his fastball was registering 93-95 mph; manager Bob Melvin said Doolittles secondary pitches, which Doolittle often doesnt throw, also looked good. That will help him as well, Melvin said. Gray update: The chances of seeing Sonny Gray (forearm injury) on the mound again this season are looking dim; the 2015 All-Star is throwing long-toss out to a distance of 120 feet but is not yet ready to do any flat-ground work, which is what would come before throwing off a mound. Hed need multiple sessions off the mound before throwing to hitters, plus minor-league regular seasons are ending, so there will be no spots for rehab innings. None of this is unexpected: The As had planned to take it slowly with Gray, and the team just wants to ensure hes feeling good going into the offseason. There is no plan yet for Henderson Alvarez (shoulder), who has made three rehab starts with Class A Stockton. Briefly: Infielder Eric Sogard (knee) says he will play in instructional-league games next month. ... Pitchers Felix Doubront and Chris Bassitt, who had Tommy John surgeries in April, played catch at a distance of 60 feet. Brand new, Doubront described himself to Melvin. ... The As had another minor-leaguer play all nine positions for the second time this holiday weekend, this time Double-A Midlands Wade Kirkland. Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. On deck Tuesday vs. Angels 7:05 p.m. CSNCA Nolasco (5-12) vs. Neal (2-4) Wednesday vs. Angels 12:35 p.m. MLBNet Meyer (0-1) vs. Cotton (0-0) Thursday Off Leading off Sound addition: With Triple-A Nashville about to open the playoffs and losing three starters to Oakland in six days, the As claimed right-hander Donn Roach, 26, from Detroit and sent him to the Sounds. Roach is 3-1 with a 5.77 ERA in 21 big-league games, including two starts. Susan Slusser Brock Turner's parents are continuing to support their son. As the former Stanford swimmer whose six-month sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman sparked national outrage signed the sex registry in his home state of Ohio on Tuesday morning, his mother stood behind him, raising her arms and blocking photographers and media with her white knit sweater. A photo of Carleen Turner shielding her son from NBC News makes a powerful statement about a parent's will to stand by a child who is morally culpable and has committed a crime. Both Turner's parents wrote letters to the court before their son's sentencing. Carleen wrote that prison or jail would be a "death sentence," and his father, Dan Turner, said his son was "paying a steep price for 20 minutes of action." When Turner, an all-American swimmer who was an Olympic hopeful, was convicted in Santa Clara County Superior Court of three counts of sexual assault in late March, he faced up to 10 years in prison. More for you Man charged with stalking Black Rifle Coffee employee The judge, Aaron Persky, opted for a lighter penalty of only six months, saying a stiffer sentence would have a "severe impact" on the 20-year-old. Last Friday, he was released from jail in San Jose after serving only three months due to good behavior. He then traveled to Ohio where he registered as a sex offender under his family's address in Sugarcreek Township. Several hundred students set to start their fall quarter next week at the Oakland and Concord branches of ITT Technical Institute instead woke up Tuesday to find that their for-profit school was shutting down every campus across the country, prompting questions about student loan debt, transferring colleges and the legitimacy of their course credits. ITT Educational Services Inc., which operates the education company, blamed the closures on the U.S. Department of Educations decision last month to bar ITT Tech from enrolling new students who rely on federal financial aid. The enrollment ban came after state and federal regulators found that the company repeatedly failed to meet minimum standards for accreditation and financial management. Last month, the Education Department required the company to boost its cash reserves to prepare for potential damage claims and develop plans to help students finish programs at other schools in case the chain were to shut down. Education Department officials also prohibited ITT Tech from awarding executives pay raises or bonuses. Ultimately, we made a difficult choice to pursue additional oversight in order to protect you, other students, and taxpayers from potentially worse educational and financial damage in the future if ITT was allowed to continue operating without increased oversight and assurances to better serve students, U.S. Education Secretary John King said in a statement Tuesday. Students and recent graduates may be able to have their loan debt erased, King said, unless their course credits are accepted at another school. When the government created a similar program for ex-students of the defunct for-profit Corinthian Colleges, it forgave more than $100 million in federal loans, according to the Associated Press. ITT Tech, calling the federal oversight inappropriate and unconstitutional, will lay off more than 8,000 employees across the country. The company said it is working to help tens of thousands of students from its more than 130 campuses to get their records to transfer to other schools. Alternatives that we strongly believe would have better served students, employees, and taxpayers were rejected. The damage done to our students and employees, as well as to our shareholders and the American taxpayers, is irrevocable, ITT Educational Services said in its statement. Shortly after the Education Department escalated its oversight, the state Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education citing immediate danger to the public health, safety, and welfare also prohibited the company from enrolling new students at all of its 15 locations in California, including its campuses on Galaxy Way in Concord and on Clay Street in downtown Oakland. On social media, some ITT Tech alumni celebrated its downfall, while others expressed sympathy for students now scrambling to straighten out credits or obtain federal loan debt forgiveness. Matthew Wood, who studied software development at the Grand Rapids, Mich., campus between 2009 and 2013, said he was among the lucky few to get a degree and find a rewarding job. He said his experience was more positive than negative, crediting the GI Bill with allowing him to graduate nearly free of debt. They didn't really seem to go out of their way to help students, he said. They may have passed along your resume to recruiting agencies, but that was about it. Whatever the bare minimum was for them to proclaim that they could help find a position, that is what they did. Wood said he felt sympathy for students who choose a nontraditional college path and now have to grapple with a host of additional problems, such as finding schools to accept their credits, which could slow their progress toward obtaining degrees. I feel sorry for those that couldn't take the traditional school route and have to use for-profit institutions, he said. They obviously want to better themselves and provide more for their future. They are the ones twisting in the wind. Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Hundreds of Bay Area gun enthusiasts got in their parting shots on Mondays final day of operations for the Chabot Gun Club, a fixture at Anthony Chabot Regional Park for more than 52 years. The East Bay Regional Park Districts directors voted unanimously in March to close the 65-acre gun club, saying the range could not afford to pay the costs of meeting stricter environmental standards governing the cleanup of lead contamination from spent bullets. The decision ended a contentious two-year battle between the park district and the club, pitting gun owners against environmentalists, who were concerned about the impact on water and wildlife, as well as nearby residents and hikers, who complained about the sound of gunshots coming from the range. On Labor Day, visitors to the club expressed a mixture of sadness and anger about the closure. Range officials expected more than 500 people twice the average for a typical weekend or holiday to line up at its 176 rifle and pistol shooting positions, which made the club one of the largest in the Bay Area. Its the bias against guns, plain and simple, said Bob Low, 59, of Union City, whose father brought him to the range as a young boy. Theyre just using the lead as an excuse. Park district staff estimated that the cost of complying with the standards set last year and cleaning up lead contamination caused by the bullets could run to more than $4 million over the next 10 years. The gun club, though, estimated the cost at a much lower $1.1 million and argued that the cost could be trimmed by charging club users an environmental surcharge. But the park board members saw it differently. Although lead from the bullets is leaching from the range, it has not been found in Lake Chabot. But with the new environmental rules, the district feared the burden of the cleanup costs could fall to taxpayers. One way or another, we were going to pay this bill, said Jim OConnor, the park districts assistant general manager. OConnor praised the gun club for being a responsible concessionaire during its more than five-decade tenure. Its always sad when you lose a facility like this, he said, adding that he used to manage a gun range in Santa Clara County. Its a legitimate sport. The park district gave the gun club until March to clear out, but the gun club operators opted to close earlier to avoid the terms and costs involved in the lease extension. Dennis Staats, president of the Chabot Gun Club, said he was dismayed by what he perceives as a reduction of recreational activities in the 120,000-acre park district for the community. I dont know if its an anti-gun thing, but what the park did say is we dont think your activity is a good fit for the park system, Staats said, adding that while the club has more than 1,000 members, they account for just 10 percent of the clubs 45,000 usages a year, meaning the range draws a broad group of Bay Area users. That was evident Monday as the gun range attracted a crowd much more diverse than a typical Donald Trump rally, but one with more National Rifle Association caps and Second Amendment T-shirts than would probably be spotted at any farmers market in the Bay Area. I think Ive taken it for granted since its so close to my home, said Alicia Lim, 31, a social services case worker from Hayward who rarely comes to the outdoor range, opting instead to shoot a handgun in an indoor range in Milpitas. Richard Siao, 27, of Daly City had never been to a shooting range and had no idea it was the Chabot Gun Clubs last day when his buddies invited him to try the sport for the first time. He said he was a little nervous at first but enjoyed the experience. Several longtime users of the range were frustrated about having to drive longer distances to find a new place to shoot. While the Bay Area has other ranges, club officials estimate the Chabot Gun Club accounts for almost 25 percent of rifle shooting positions in the region. James Gregory of Oakland, who has been coming to the range since he was a young teen, said closing the club penalizes responsible gun owners who register their weapons and use them appropriately. I think this has to do a lot with politics, with wanting to ban assault rifles and things like that, he said of the decision to shut down the club. Its enough to make Gregory, 40, consider moving back to his native state of Oklahoma. Theyve got open-carry laws there, he said. Victoria Colliver is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vcolliver@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @vcolliver Courtesy OCI Solar Power Two San Antonio solar energy companies are squaring off in two courts over an ill-fated deal. Buenavista Renewables Ltd. alleges in a lawsuit filed last week in Bexar County District Court that OCI Solar Power reneged on a deal to invest $5 million in Buenavista. It seeks a court order forcing OCI Solar to live up to its promises. Being a parent is always full of ups and downs, of course, but being the parent of an autistic child, Carolyn Parkhurst writes in her splendid new novel, is a lot like riding a roller coaster that never stops to let you off and catch your breath. Sometimes you marvel at your childs brilliance. Often, though, you are exhausted by her behavior. You may be prone, like Alexandra Hammond in Parkhursts Harmony, to compare your growing helplessness to the proliferation of bedbugs in your house. Its like a metaphor come to life, your home polluted with invaders you cant even see. And what if you suppose this is the real source of anxiety for most people what if the invasion goes even deeper than that? Has depression ever been this widespread, or autism or infertility or food allergies? Somethings changed, even if its just our own method of record-keeping. In Harmony, the Hammonds Alexandra, her husband Josh, and their two daughters, Iris and Tilly, the fiery star around which the family satellites revolve leave their home in Washington, D.C., for a remote communal camp in New Hampshire, and to Parkhursts credit you never question their wisdom in making the move. Their desperation is real, their actions evidence of their need for hope. Tilly, 13, has been diagnosed with an unspecified pervasive developmental disorder, a diagnosis of exclusion, nothing more than the doctors throwing up their hands and saying Somethings going on here, but we cant say exactly what. Like many children on the autism spectrum, Tilly displays genius-level intelligence and creativity; on a shopping trip to buy a birthday gift for a cousin, she suggests a machine that sings songs to you when youre sad. It knows when youre sad, because it has eye-recognition technology, and it can see when theres a tear. More Information Harmony By Carolyn Parkhurst Pamela Dorman Books/Viking, $27 See More Collapse But she struggles picking up on social cues, is prone to obsessive behavior, unable to fit herself into adult expectations (one school asks her to leave because she cant stop licking the walls). Her parents dont know what to do. Then one night at a Chinese restaurant, Alexandra spots a flier on the bulletin board. Do You Have a Challenging Kid? it asks. Does she! Its her introduction to Scott Bean, whos seeking families with children on the autism spectrum to join him in a communal living experiment called Harmony. The community will be self-sustaining; guest families will arrive each week for a seven-day stay. A mother of two with a son on the autism spectrum, Parkhurst is especially deft at examining the complexities facing parents of autistic children. She doesnt resurrect the disproven vaccines-are-the-cause argument, but she makes clear how frustrated parents, even educated ones, might grasp at any explanation for what has changed their lives so drastically. San Antonians shook off that work stress on Labor Day by jamming to live music and drinking craft beer at the Echale! Latino Music Estyles block party at the Pearl. The free, under-the-expressway event featured vendors, food from Pearl restaurants and music from acts including El Tule and Manolo Black and Money Chicha. Russia on Tuesday threatened to slap an extra criminal charge on a blogger who already faces up to five years in jail for filming himself playing Pokemon Go in a church. Ruslan Sokolovsky from the Urals city of Yekaterinburg has been charged with offending religious believers and inciting hatred, over a YouTube video that has been viewed more than one million times. Investigators on Tuesday announced that a search of his home and office had turned up a "spy pen" for making covert recordings, for which he could face a further four-year jail term. The 21-year-old video blogger has been remanded in custody for two months and is appealing against his arrest. He filmed himself in Yekaterinburg's Church on the Blood, built on the spot where in 1918 the Bolsheviks shot the last tsar and his family. In the video posted on August 11, he zaps Pokemons on a smartphone in front of the altar and swears as well as comparing Jesus to a Pokemon. The case is making waves in Russia and has prompted comparisons with Pussy Riot punks, whose 2012 performance in a Moscow church led to two-year jail terms. Investigators have applied the harshest possible legal definition of Sokolovsky's actions using new tough legislation brought in after the Pussy Riot performance, which shocked many in the predominantly Orthodox Christian country. The Russian Orthodox Church is a powerful voice and is closely linked to the state authorities even while nominally separate, with clerics involved in education and the military. Blogger Sokolovsky, who creates videos voicing his atheist views and publishes a magazine called "Nothing Sacred", has refused to give testimony, citing his constitutional right, investigators said. Pro-Kremlin media has seized on the case. "A scandal is blowing up that has the potential to become a second Pussy Riot case," wrote Life News website, saying Sokolovsky was "jeering at faith." Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Vladimir Legoida wrote on Facebook that Sokolovsky "was no chance passer-by" but "works in the style of Charlie Hebdo -- that is deliberate provocation," referring to the French satirical weekly that has run cartoons of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed. Amnesty International has appealed for Russia to immediately release Sokolovsky, calling the charges against him "farcical." Several senior officials also called for Sokolovsky's release. Yekaterinburg mayor, opposition politician Yevgeny Roizman, wrote on Facebook: "This is barbaric. The guy gave provocation, sure, but you can't arrest someone for being idiotic." The head of Yekaterinburg diocese, Metropolitan Kirill, also spoke out, telling local news site Znak.com: "We don't want his blood, it's just important to us that such acts don't spread further." Search Keywords: Short link: For the second consecutive year, the Southwest School of Art will be hosting World Art Drop Day a community-wide scavenger hunt with an artsy twist in San Antonio. On Tuesday, participants will hide small-scale artworks around town for seekers to find, with clues posted on social media using the hashtags #artdropday and #SSAartdrop2016. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The trails of a South Texas corn maze will lead its fall revelers straight to Whataburger, figuratively speaking, starting in October. Robstown's Rockin' K Maze, operated by Klepac Farms at FM 666 and CR 52 in the town about 22 minutes west of Corpus Christi, changes their design yearly. The 6-acre corn art, by The MAiZE Company, boasts a Texas-sized Whataburger logo the farm is inviting visitors to get lost in starting Oct. 1. RELATED: San Antonio college student's 'Whataburger is way better than In-N-Out' rap goes viral Rachelle Klepac told mySA.com said the decision is a corny ode to a staple of Texas life. "We've all grown up in the Corpus Christi area and that's something we wanted to highlight," she said. "What better thing to do than Whataburger." Visitors are expected to spend about 45 minutes perplexed by the labyrinth, with enough twists and turns to work up an appetite, but Klepac said a warm Whataburger will not be waiting at the exit. RELATED: The first Whataburger was served 66 years ago today in South Texas The beloved burger joint has given the company its complete backing for the fall tradition. "Whataburger couldnt be happier to partner with Rockin K Maze to provide a fun, family-friendly maze experience for the South Texas community, said Whataburger Regional Director of Operations John Dolan in a news release. We cant wait to try our luck when the maze opens later this fall. The maze is open to all ages. Each visitor will be supplied with age-appropriate "passports" containing navigation. The grounds will also feature a number of activities and areas including a playground, games and a "cow train." RELATED: South Texas trio serenades Whataburger drive-thru with hilarious corrido of their order Rockin' K will open on weekends from Oct. 1 through Nov. 2o. Saturday admissions will start at 10 a.m. and end at 8 p.m. Sunday hours are from 1 to 5 p.m. Field trip visits are available throughout the week by reservation. Tickets for visitors ages 3-64 are $10, plus tax. Those 65 and older will pay $8 plus tax. Children 2 years old and younger are free. Rockin' K also offers a $8 per family group rate for military members with a valid ID. mmendoza@mysa.com Twitter: @MaddySkye Albany A 19-year-old white supremacist from Washington County who bragged about developing a "hit squad" to murder black and Jewish people and wanted to use maple syrup as currency to buy weapons was sentenced to three years and a month in federal prison. Shane Robert Smith of Whitehall, who pleaded guilty to having a machine gun after being caught in an undercover sting, also received three years of supervised release from U.S. District Court Judge Mae D'Agostino on Tuesday. Smith was arrested Aug. 6, 2015 after meeting with an undercover agent in Whitehall. Smith planned to pay for weaponry with jewelry, books, future payments and the maple syrup. He showed up, took possession of the items and was arrested, prosecutors said. He was forming a group called the "SRA," which stood for "Silent Resistance Army," they said. "The defendant committed a serious criminal firearms offense and did so for the stated goal of starting a militant terrorist group and executing people based on their race and religion," stated Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean O'Dowd and Solomon Shinerock in a pre-sentencing memo to the judge. More for you Man charged with stalking Black Rifle Coffee employee Smith's attorney, William E. Montgomery III, wrote the judge: "The entire course of events, concluding with the defendant Shane Smith walking along Main Street in the rural village of Whitehall, NY carrying costume jewelry, books and maple syrup as payment for two machine guns, a pistol, silencer and ammunition, belies believability." In 2014, Smith joined a Russian social media network called VK similar to Facebook and listed his interests as "guns, gunsmithing, building bombs, knives, guerilla warfare, preserving my race and folk, and destroying the government," prosecutors said. Smith emailed a Switzerland-based Bitmessage account to ordered an M4 carbine assault rifle. In January 2015, he sent another email to the recipient asking to "trade my goods for some of yours" and that he could offer "military-issue body armor ... gas masks, filters, ballistic vests and Kevlar helmets and more." Washington County probation officers visited Smith's home two weeks later in response to social media posts seeking ammunition. In April 2015, the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force used a former law officer as an undercover operative to communicate with Smith online. Smith told the person he wanted a "simple MAC-10, nothing fancy" so he could execute Jewish and black people. Smith ordered books on MAC-10 weapons and how to make them automatic guns. Smith wanted to acquire an M16A2 machine gun, hundreds of rounds of jacketed hollow point ammunition, "green tip" ammunition designed to pierce body armor and "boomers," his term for "explosiveness in C4 or grenades." "You building your own army?" the operative asked Smith. "Well, like a hit squad," Smith responded. rgavin@timesunion.com 518-434-2403 @RobertGavinTU ALBANY - A 41-year-old Colonie man faces prison time after a jury on Tuesday convicted him of raping a girl, according to the Albany County District Attorney's Office. Prosecutors said Jeffrey Flower repeatedly attacked the girl between 2012 and 2015. He was also convicted of trying to watch a 13-year-old while she was showering, prosecutors said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Matthew Brown / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Matthew Brown / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 3 of 3 100 Greyrock Place: Stamfords first Cheesecake Factory is set to open Oct. 18. Located at the Stamford Town Center, the restaurant will have an 8,170-square-foot dining area, which will seat 215 patrons. As the Cheesecake Factory prepares to open its doors next month, the eatery is looking to hire 260 employees. Open positions include line cook, prep cook, bartender, cashier, server, dishwasher, busser and host. Interested applicants can apply online at http://www.cakecareers.com/stamford. Have a question about a building or property? Email Nora Naughton with Point of Interest in the subject line at nora.naughton@scni.com or call 203-964-2263. An early-morning fire Tuesday scorched the outside and attic space of an apartment building in San Franciscos Lower Haight neighborhood, displacing at least six people, firefighters said. A witness posted video of the fire on YouTube, showing firefighters responding around 2:10 a.m. to the apartment building on the 100 block of Haight Street as flames burned along the side of the building. The CBE has sold $118.1 million of the $120 million it offers weekly to local banks, according to figures on its website The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has maintained the Egyptian pound at a stable rate of 8.78 against the US dollar at its weekly forex auction on Tuesday. The CBE sold $118.1 million of the $120 million it offers weekly to local banks, according to figures on CBE's website. Egypt, which relies heavily on imports, particularly foodstuffs, has been suffering an acute shortage of US dollars in the wake of political and security unrest following the 2011 revolution, which has scared away tourists and foreign investors, two major sources of hard currency. In March, the CBE announced a 13.5 percent devaluation of the pound, since then, the EGP has remained stable, although economists have said they expected a further depreciation in recent weeks following statements by the bank's governor Tarek Amer. In July, Amer told various private and public newspapers that artificially boosting the value of the pound over the past five years was a grave mistake. Egypt's foreign reserves almost halved since 2011 to reach $16.6 billion in August, with the government currently seeking a $12 billion fund facility from the International Monetary Fund to support the ailing economy. Search Keywords: Short link: As a documentary on the Syrian conflict, "The War Show" is highly personal, capturing the lives of a group of youngsters from the uprising's exhilarating first protests to the unspeakable horrors that followed. Most of the footage was shot by Syrian radio DJ Obaidah Zytoon and her friends, and goes from early carefree days at the beach to sniper attacks and disappearances, ending with the deaths of several of the group. When Zytoon fled Syria she took with her five hard drives of footage shot between 2011 and 2013 and asked Danish director Andreas Dalsgaard to help her sort them, saying she was too traumatised to do it alone. "They started filming even before the revolution started," Dalsgaard told AFP during an interview at the Venice film festival, where Zytoon was present for the screening but was still too deep in mourning to talk to journalists. "There was a certain weird power to this footage in its fragmentary randomness, and it was very authentic because it was filmed by people who had an energy together, a bond that was special," he said. The film shows economics student Amal, architect Houssam, music-mad Rabea and law student Lulu with her poet boyfriend, Hisham -- all dreaming of freedom and the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's regime. "What's great about these people is they don't fit into any kind of label... They like Islamic poetry from the 13th century, they like Lebanese hip-hop, and The Doors," Dalsgaard said. Hand-held cameras capture the voices of those descending onto the streets to protest, with one moving scene featuring a girl no older than 10 who refuses to cover her face and hide her identity despite the risk of retaliation. "I'm not demonstrating to be suffocated. I'm demonstrating to breathe," she says. The documentary explores not only the dangers of filming in Syria but also the evolution of the conflict from genuine skirmishes to groups staging battles for their own ends. "A lot of the rebels that took up weapons did so to protect demonstrators who were being attacked by the regime, so the Free Syrian Army started to develop as a protection of demonstrators," Dalsgaard said. "Some of these rebels started to get funding by showing 'we fight, and we fight under a certain political label that fits an international donor that wants this sort of policy to be promoted'. "America wants secular rebels, Saudi Arabia wants Islamic Sunni rebels and so does Qatar, and a weird kind of economy starts to develop. Gangs or criminals start to play into that because they see they can get money and weapons that way," he said. From Damascus to Zytoon's hometown of Zabadani, and on to Homs, Qassab, Saraqeb, and Kafranbel, the friends find towns under siege, families starving, children wounded and men with the scars of torture. Having watched the group mess around playing the drums, smoking weed and refusing to be cowed by the regime, the dreaded news of the torture, imprisonment and death of some of them hits hard. The film's final chapter returns to the images of Syria familiar to the world: the devastation of cities, the mass exodus of hundreds of thousands of people and boats carrying refugees towards the shores of Europe. Zytoon fears the crisis is far from being over and both she and Dalsgaard hope the documentary will shame European countries into doing more for those forced to flee. "The way that Europe reacts and has reacted to the refugee crisis is a disgrace and I hope that this film can, in a human way, make us understand deeper why things evolved the way they did in Syria, that we're not talking about crazy people or a crazy culture," Dalsgaard said. "At the same time it's an important historical document which I hope can be helpful for years to come." "The War Show" will go on to show at the Toronto and London film festivals. For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture Search Keywords: Short link: This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ITT Educational Services said Tuesday it's abruptly closing all of its 130 ITT Technical Institutes nationwide, including three Houston campuses and 10 in Texas. The local campuses, which a combined enrollment of 1,638 students, are located at 2950 S. Gessner and 15651 North Freeway in Houston and 1001 Magnolia Ave., Webster. The Houston west campus dates to June 1983 and moved to the present Gessner site in December 1994. The north Houston campus followed in 1985 has been at North Freeway since December 2007. The south Houston campus opened in June 1995 and has been at Magnolia Avenue site since September 2006. The Gessner campus, occupying the first floor of an office building, was very quiet Tuesday morning. A few students walked into the building, only to find ITT Tech office doors locked and many of the classrooms empty. "There's nobody to even talk to," said Philip Dean, 24, who would have started his third quarter studying electrical engineering this fall. More for you Man charged with stalking Black Rifle Coffee employee Dean, who moved his family from Huntsville last March to take classes at ITT Tech, said the degree would have "opened up so many doors." "I would have expected in an emergency like this someone would be here," Dean said. In late August, ITT Tech was banned from taking on new students who use federal financial aid by the U.S. Department of Education. Currently, there are more than 40,000 students enrolled nationally in 38 states. It is the nation's fifth-largest for-profit college chain, reporting $850 million in revenue last year. The chain of tech schools had been the subject of state and federal investigations focusing on its recruiting and accounting practices. On Tuesday, the school issued the following statement. "It is with profound regret that we must report that ITT Educational Services, Inc. will discontinue academic operations at all of its ITT Technical Institutes permanently after approximately 50 years of continuous service. With what we believe is a complete disregard by the U.S. Department of Education for due process to the company, hundreds of thousands of current students and alumni and more than 8,000 employees will be negatively affected." RELATED: ITT Tech banned from taking new students with federal aid The federal government had been looking at the chain of schools since 2014. ITT has also been ordered to pay $152 million to the department within 30 days to cover student refunds and other liabilities in case the company closes. The chain, based in Indiana, is still paying another $44 million demanded by the department in June for the same reason. ITT added that some 8,000 people lose their jobs because of the federal decision. "Effective today, the company has eliminated the positions of the overwhelming majority of our more than 8,000 employees. Our focus and priority with our remaining staff is on helping the tens of thousands of unexpectedly displaced students with their records and future educational options," ITT said in a statement. This month, a group that accredits ITT found that the chain failed to meet several basic standards and was unlikely to comply in the future. There are 130 ITT campuses in 38 states, including ten in the state of Texas. Last year, ITT enrolled 45,000 students and reported $850 million in revenue. ITT was defiant in the release, defending its decades of work and the amount of people that it served over the years. "We had no intention prior to the receipt of the most recent sanctions of closing down despite the challenging regulatory environment that now threatens all proprietary higher education. We have also always worked tirelessly to ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, and to uphold our ethic of continuous improvement. When we have received inquiries from regulators, we have always been responsive and cooperative. Despite our ongoing service to this nation's employers, local communities and underserved students, these federal actions will result in the closure of the ITT Technical Institutes without any opportunity to pursue our right to due process. These unwarranted actions, taken without proving a single allegation, are a "lawless execution," as noted by a recent editorial in The Wall Street Journal. We were not provided with a hearing or an appeal. Alternatives that we strongly believe would have better served students, employees, and taxpayers were rejected. The damage done to our students and employees, as well as to our shareholders and the American taxpayers, is irrevocable." Under the Obama administration the Education Department has led a crackdown on for-profit colleges that have misled students or failed to deliver the results they promised. What this means for current students or those who are currently in the process of enrolling remains to be seen. On Tuesday calls to the three Houston-area locations were not immediately returned. The Associated Press contributed to this report This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A Wisconsin man was arrested in August after he allegedly drank his friends blood, cut off her pinky with a machete, put the severed phalange in the freezer to eat later, and then took a blowtorch to his friends hand to try and stop the bleeding, according to media reports. Jonathan Schrap, 24, was arrested Aug. 28 in Brown County, Wisconsin, where he was charged with false imprisonment, reckless injury and mayhem, according to county records. The Brown County Sheriffs Office did not immediately respond for comment. WBAY, a local news station in Wisconsin, obtained the criminal complaint for Schrap which detailed the incident. RELATED: Insane Clown Posse Announces Juggalo March on Washington Schrap, whose body tattoos identify him as a member of the Juggalos, which is the name given to super fans of the Insane Clown Posse group, his friend Nick Laabs, and fellow Juggalo Preston Hyde, who goes by Bloody Ruckus, were performing a ritualistic memorial when they honored a fellow Juggalo who died a year prior by drinking the blood of Shelby Neuens, 27. More for you Man charged with stalking Black Rifle Coffee employee Neuens told police she voluntarily participated in the ritual and didnt want anyone to be arrested for the event. Neuens volunteered to let Schrap drink her blood, the criminal complaint states. Schrap allegedly used a machete to cut Neuens right forearm, and then he held a shot glass to the wound, filled it up, and drank her blood. Then, Neuens volunteered to have her pinky finger cut off. Schrap allegedly wacked off the finger all the way to the palm, according to the complaint. RELATED: Vicious attack on birthday clown causes outcry against clown violence in Mexico Jons second strike with the machete took the pinky clean off, the complaint states. Schrap then, allegedly, put the pinky finger in his freezer so he could cook it and eat it later. Meanwhile, Neuens was bleeding, so the group tried using a cigarette lighter to control the injury. That didnt work. So they used a blowtorch. Later, when Neunes went home to her boyfriend, his mother overheard their conversation about the ritual and made her go to the hospital where emergency room staff called police, thinking she had been part of a cult initiation. RELATED: South Carolina parents warned about clown 'trying to lure children into the woods' Schrap and Laabs were arrested. Laabs was released after questioning and was not charged. Police could not track down Bloody Ruckus, whose neighbor said he ran out of his house when he saw police. Schraps preliminary hearing is set for Sept. 21. kbradshaw@express-news.net Twitter: @kbrad5 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Former New Braunfels Mayor Stone Stoney Williams was arrested early Saturday by police there, accused of forcing his way into a residence and assaulting an Austin woman with whom he had previously been romantically linked. MORE: Bexar County Commissioner Kevin Wolff remembers little from DWI arrest, was wearing only underwear Williams, 50, was arrested and charged with burglary of a habitation with intent to commit assault, a first-degree felony. Neighbors in the 400 block of Comal Avenue, in the citys historic downtown, called police just before midnight Friday to report a man yelling, banging on a door and slashing tires on a vehicle parked there, said David Ferguson, the New Braunfels Police Department public information officer, in an interview with mySA.com Tuesday. RELATED: Country singer Gabe Garcia arrested in San Antonio on DWI charge Williams, who was seen with a gun on his hip, left before police arrived, Ferguson said. More for you Man charged with stalking Black Rifle Coffee employee As officers searched for him, he returned to the residence this time unarmed forced his way in and assaulted the woman, 28, until the male homeowner retrieved his own gun and fired a warning shot into a wall, Ferguson said. Ferguson said Williams "punched and kicked (the woman)." MORE: An assistant district attorney from Central Texas who prosecutes DWIs, arrested on DWI charge Williams, who may face more charges, was the mayor of New Braunfels from 1999 to 2002. An effort to reach Williams Tuesday for comment was not immediately returned. Zeke@express-news.net Google celebrates the theatre and film actor on what would have been his 92nd birthday Google marked what would have been the 92nd birthday of late Egyptian actor and comedian Fouad El-Mohandes on Tuesday with a Google Doodle featuring the star. El-Mohandes, born on 6 September 1924, began acting during his school years when he took part in many school plays and then university theatre at the Faculty of Commerce, Cairo University. The first significant step in the acting career was when, in 1953, he joined the radio programme Saa Li-Qalbak (An Hour for Your Heart) and in 1955, he co-founded a theatre troupe with the same name. The troupe gave several well-known performances, such as Kan Min Al-Awal (It Was About Time). El-Mohandes then embarked on a career in a television theatre, with roles in plays such as Ana Wa Huwa Wa Hiyya (I, He and She, 1962) and Al-Sekerteir Al-Fanni (The Technical Secretary, 1963) bringing him to the attention of a large and appreciative audience. Later in the 1960s, he acted in Ana Wa Huwa Wa Sumuwwuh (I, He and his Highness, 1966) and Sayyidati Al-Gamila (an Egyptian adaptation of My Fair Lady, 1968) staged by the United Artists' Troupe which he cofounded. El-Mohandes formed a famed comedy duo with his wife Shweikar and they were especially known for acting in the Egyptian Comedy Troupe. The plays staged by the troupe include Hello, Dolly (1971), Leih, Leih (Why, Oh Why?; 1976) and Innaha Haqan Aaila Muhtarama (It's Quite a Respectable Family; 1978), among others. El-Mohandes' film career thrived in parallel, and he acted in dozens of movies, often opposite Shweikar. Among his famous appearances are in films such as Ghaltat Umr (The Mistake of a Lifetime, 1953), Bint Al-Geiran (The Neighbours' Daughter, 1954), Shanabou Fil- Masyada (Shanabou in the Trap), Inta Illi Qatalt Babaya (It Was You Who Killed My Father) and Mutarada Gharamiyya (Amorous Chase). His roles in the soap operas include Uyun (Eyes), Azwag Lakin Ghurba (Married but Estranged) and El-Zair El-Maghoul (The Unknown Visitor) and several unforgettable Ramadan programmes. El-Mohandes garnered numerous local awards including the State Merit Award, which was offered to him in 2005. He passed away in September 2006. Not only was El-Mohandes one of the most famous Egyptian actors and comedians, he was also praised for his impeccable diction, which is believed he owed to his father, Egyptian linguist and scholar Zaki Mohandes, a university dean. The Fouad El-Mohandes Google Doodle is regional and can be viewed in North Africa and the Middle East. For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture Search Keywords: Short link: This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A 20-year-old UTSA junior died Saturday during a wakeboarding accident at Lake Lyndon B. Johnson in Kingsland. Family members confirmed via social media that Dominiq Castillo Porterfield died Saturday following a wakeboarding accident. RELATED: GoFundMe started for Milford hit-and-run victim KXAN reports Porterfield was at the lake with other people when he was injured while wakeboarding that afternoon. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens responded to the scene to perform CPR, but he died shortly after. Officials told the TV station the boat driver was not intoxicated and its unclear whether Porterfield died due to his injuries or if he drowned. RELATED: GoFundMe account set up for slain Voice singer Christina Grimmie quickly surpasses goal Castillo Porterfields family members created a GoFundMe account to cover the cost of funeral expenses, and it has garnered more than $36,740 of its $20,000 goal as of Tuesday morning. More for you Man charged with stalking Black Rifle Coffee employee The 20-year-olds remains will be transported back to Virginia following a funeral here in San Antonio, according to the GoFundMe page. Castillo Porterfield grew up in Virginia, but his father lives in Texas. When he graduated from high school, he decided to attend the University of Texas at San Antonio. RELATED: Reports: More than $2M raised in record GoFundMe effort for Orlando victims There will be a viewing at the Porter Loring Mortuary at 2102 N. Loop 1604 East here in San Antonio at 2 p.m. Thursday. A funeral will follow at 4 p.m. Text "NEWS" to 72727 to sign up for breaking news from mySA twhite@mysa.com Twitter: @tylerlwhite This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SAN ANTONIO A 30-year-old man was arrested over the weekend in connection to the stabbing death of a mother of three on the North Side. Samuel Paul Pereida was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Shannon Gomez, 30, according to the San Antonio Police Department. He remains in custody on a $400,000 bond as of Tuesday morning. RELATED: San Antonio woman found stabbed to death in her North Side apartment Police initially responded to a welfare check for Gomez on Friday because she didnt pick her children up from day care. Her children are ages 2, 3 and 7, according to a previous report. A family member picked up the children at 8 p.m. Friday and at 10:07 p.m. requested the welfare check, stating Pereida had seriously injured Gomez in the past. The family member had a key to Gomezs apartment in the 1600 block of Jackson Keller Road, but the interior deadbolt was secured, according to a preliminary police report. The officers who responded to the scene said that without pressing circumstances they could not forcibly enter the apartment. More for you Man charged with stalking Black Rifle Coffee employee RELATED: Three dead, ages 3, 4 and 20, after six people ejected from SUV in rollover crash on Loop 410 The next day, another welfare check was called in for Gomez. When officers responded this time, they found an open window. They opened the window and pulled back a curtain to find Gomez deceased. She had been stabbed multiple times, according to a previous report. A detective and an officer entered the apartment and found a locked bathroom door. They called out to see if anyone was inside, to which Pereida responded by saying he was going to kill himself. The officers forced the door open and found Pereida cutting his wrist, according to the preliminary report. The officers de-escalated the situation and took Pereida into custody. Pereida was treated at University Hospital before being taken to jail. RELATED: Woman accused of fatally stabbing nephew released from jail If convicted, Pereida faces five to 99 years in prison. A GoFundMe page has been created to cover the funeral costs for Gomez. It has already garnered more than $3,690 of its $5,000 goal. Text "NEWS" to 72727 to sign up for breaking news from mySA twhite@mysa.com Twitter: @tylerlwhite SAN ANTONIO Police identified on Tuesday the man who was found dead inside his trunk in a Walmart parking lot last week on the Southwest Side. Jerry Gonzaba, 63, was found deceased in the trunk of his vehicle around 1 a.m. Friday in a Walmart parking lot in the 8500 block of Interstate 35 South. A previous report said officers were able to track him via an ankle monitor he was wearing for probation. When we remember Sept. 11, 2001, we can't help but think in haunting visuals: a jet bursting into a fireball as it impales a skyscraper; office workers falling from the tallest windows of the towers; New Yorkers so covered in dust they look like statues. The images of what happened at the Pentagon never left the same imprint. There's no footage of American Airlines Flight 77 crashing into the western side of the behemoth office complex. The Pentagon is 6.5 million square feet spread horizontally, so even the explosion of an airplane looked almost minor compared to the wreckage in the Financial District. Maybe that's why documentarians haven't examined the events in Arlington, Virginia, the same way they've parsed what happened in New York or on United Flight 93. But Emmy-nominated filmmaker Kirk Wolfinger wanted to. When a television network that shall remain nameless approached him about making a 9/11 documentary, he pitched a story about the attack on the Pentagon. The response was unequivocal: If he wanted to make the movie, it had to be about the World Trade Center. "This is certainly not a competition for who had the greatest tragedy," Wolfinger said over the phone recently. The death toll in New York was obviously higher than the 184 killed in Arlington. And yet, there were stories worth revisiting from the Pentagon that day. If he wasn't going to tell them, who would? More for you Man charged with stalking Black Rifle Coffee employee Wolfinger's take on the tragic day eventually found a home. His one-hour special, "9/11 Inside the Pentagon," executive produced by Wolfinger and directed by Sharon Petzold, premieres on PBS Tuesday night. Wolfinger can understand why some filmmakers might shy away from the Pentagon story. A documentarian's work relies on access, and the U.S. military may not seem like an easy culture to penetrate. Even so, he was surprised to hear that he was the first filmmaker to present a credible request for the Pentagon's assistance on such a project - "and by that I mean one that didn't deal with conspiracy theories," he said. "They placed no restrictions on me," he said. "They just said, 'please tell our story, because nobody has told it.' " The movie features interviews with military personnel who were near the crash, first responders, the building's assistant operations manager and its structural engineer. Stories of what happened on the ground are interspersed with accounts of what happened in the sky, thanks to the memories of an FAA air traffic controller. The tales are harrowing: people crawling through rooms pitch-black with smoke; workers trying to break through shatter-proof windows that had just been installed during a recent renovation; staircases so hot they burned people's feet through their shoes. The question remains: Is the American public interested in what happened at the Pentagon on 9/11? Retired Navy submarine captain Bill Toti, who survived the Pentagon attack and is featured in the movie, says he can understand why many people focus on New York. But "just like Korea is the forgotten war, the Pentagon is the forgotten 9/11." He offered up a couple of theories why during a phone conversation last week. The first is the one he'd prefer to believe: New York happened on live TV while the world watched, and it was visually shocking in ways the Pentagon wasn't. The Pentagon, though it housed as many people as the World Trade Center, proved to be a less vulnerable building; many more people walked away from the Pentagon than did from the Twin Towers. He has another theory, too, though it leaves him less comfortable: "I've had some indication that there are people in the country who think: At the Pentagon, they're military, so it's kind of their job to die," he said. "Although nobody has ever said that to me straight-out, I do sometimes think that the loss of life of a civilian who's not a combatant is more profound than somebody who is a combatant." And yet, ironically, most of the people who were killed at the Pentagon were civilians. That was one of the big surprises for Wolfinger. This wasn't a military story at all. About 20,000 people work at the Pentagon, and a lot of them aren't in uniform. "There are civilian secretaries and administrators and building superintendents, private contractors doing electrical and plumbing," Wolfinger said. "All those people were in the building that day and they are part of our story." One of the non-military voices in the film is Ed Hannon, then the Arlington County fire department captain. In one of the movie's most powerful moments, Hannon describes kneeling in prayer along with many others in a courtyard in the center of the Pentagon. The FAA had alerted those on the ground that another airplane was within minutes of delivering a second assault. There was no way to make it out of the serpentine facility fast enough, Hannon knew, so he prepared to die as the sound of a jet engine grew louder and louder. "Then, almost instantaneously, all these military guys are starting to cheer," Hannon recalled. What they were hearing was a friendly fighter plane that dipped its wing as it passed overhead. "Then all we had was a fire to fight," he said. This was Toti's story: On the evening of Sept. 10, he had stuck a letter in his boss's mailbox announcing that he'd decided to retire. The next morning, he escaped the crash vicinity unscathed, and spent the day carrying the wounded to ambulances and helicopters. He was easy for Wolfinger to spot in old news footage; he seemed to be everywhere. The Navy ended up designating him its lead for the recovery effort. One of the first things he did when he returned on Sept. 12 was retrieve the letter and tear it up. That same day, the Naval Historical Center begged him to use his access to rescue some paintings from the wreckage. While collecting a piece from a conference room, he heard a knock on the window. It was a firefighter warning that the ceiling above him was still on fire. He has a lot of other stories, too. So does everyone else that was there. Tragic tales and heroic ones. Stories you wouldn't believe. If only someone would ask. Related Hidden in plain sight: A closer look at some of Islamic Cairo's most iconic buildings "A place acquires its value from the people that live in it," goes the Egyptian proverb, and Cairo is a vivid example. Here the contrast between the legacy of the past and the living present is quite intense, and to be able to get a real taste of the city whose Arabic name means "the Conqueror" you have to look for the fine line that stitches together the madness and the grandiose, and then you walk that line. Islamic Cairo is overwhelming, but the best way to try and grasp it all is to start from the beginning, in Al-Muezz Street where the first stones were laid to create the city which is named in Arabic for the conquering red planet, Mars. We start at Al-Hussein Mosque, named for the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. According to local legend, his head is buried in the shrine inside the mosque. If you are lucky enough to attend the moulid (festival) of Hussien, which falls during the month of Rabia Al-Thani in the Islamic calendar, you are in for an enchanting Sufi experience. However, to avoid the crowds that are not necessarily part of the treat, it is probably better to attend the March of Sufi sects that is usually after afternoon prayers on the big night of the moulid. Keep the mosque on your right as you enter a scene from Arabian Nights. Khan Al-Khalili is perhaps the oldest handicraft market in Cairo. Built and named after Djaharks Al-Khalili on the ruins of the Fatimid saga, according to Hamdi Abu Goliel's latest book Al-Qahera: Shawarea wa Hekayat (Cairo: Streets and Stories), its winding alleys and small shops bear a striking resemblance to the souks of the Arabian Nights, leading some to believe that Khan Al-Khalil was the inspiration for the setting of Arabian Nights. The khan's location was once the heart of Fatimid reign. It is where the great Eastside palace, with its nine golden doors encrusted with precious stones, was erected by the fourth Fatimid caliph, Al-Muezz Ledin Allah Al-Fatemy. Here you can buy any handmade ornament you think of; you can even watch the artists crafting in action. But don't forget to haggle -- bargaining is an essential part of shopping in this part of town. Keep walking, and on your right you will find a cafe named after literary legend Naguib Mahfouz. Mahfouz, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988, set his most famous works in this area of Cairo. though much older, the place is serene as well as beautiful. The long corridor unfolds into perhaps the world's first general hospital, known as the Bimarestan ("the patient place") which once opened its doors to people of all social levels free of charge. Continue in a straight line until the shady arches over your head give way to the sun, and on your right you will find the medieval complex of Sultan Qalawun , where the sultan is buried. Considered by some to be the one of the most beautiful tombs in the world, after the Taj Mahal, The hospital would secure two-month payments for all its cured patients so they could recuperate properly, and there was once a patio with a fountain and live soft music played as part of their music therapy sessions. Along the way you will find the sabil (water dispensary) of Muhammad Ali, Egypt's famous nineteenth century ruler, who built the sabil in a prime location in the then-heart of Cairo in memory of his son Ismail who died in Sudan in 1822. Aside from its architectural brilliance, the sabil's design is quite remarkable. To provide ordinary people with fresh drinking water, the sabil draws on underground reservoirs of water which flow on a slope of white marble to cool the water down. A few metres on you will find an aquamarine door with two silver birds on either side of the sun and a crescent moon. Behind that door is what used to be the school of coppersmiths, and currently functions as the Egyptian Textile Museum. The museum holds 250 textile pieces and 15 carpets that date back to Ancient Egyptian times. The museum also holds a cover of the Kaaba, which used to be carried all the way from Cairo to Mecca in celebration of pilgrimage season. As a matter of fact, this main route where the museum is located has seen the pilgrimage march from and to Mecca for thousands of years. A bit further on you will find Beit Al-Sehemi, a cultural venue built in 1648. Qaraqosh, the vazir during Saladin's reign in Egypt, who was known for his harshness and bad judgement. The house was part of a big recent restoration project in this district of Al-Darb Al-Asfar. Architecture aside, the house holds two main attractions: one is the national folklore archive, and the other is the premises of the Wamda Troupe which has revived the traditional art of shadow puppets and aragoz , a local form of puppetry which features a wooden puppet, usually dressed in red, Aragoz, the protagonist in this mobile puppet theatre, was a perfect vehicle for Egyptian criticism and mockery of the government, politics and the social status quo during the vazir's time and beyond The troupe holds weekly puppet-making workshops for children, and shows every Friday at 6:30pm. After that walk, you may be feeling a little hungry. If you turn around and back along the path you've taken, you'll find metal barricades closing off one of the turns on your left to cars. Slip past the barricades into that narrow street and there you will find one of the oldest feteer (a layered pastry dish) places in the area. I'd take one with traditional Roumi cheese and perhaps one with sugar as desert. When you are done, keep the cafe on your right, take a left on to the main street, and head to Al-Fishawy Cafe for beverages. Its perhaps the oldest and most famous cafe in the area. Ask for a mixture of kerkade (hibiscus) and tamr hindi (tamarid) juice, and while you are there try to figure out exactly how many mirrors are hanging on those walls. Search Keywords: Short link: Like a lot of policies intended to help women and minorities, barring employers from asking job applicants about their salary histories sounds like a good idea. But it would probably do nothing to help these groups. And it might even make things worse. This proposal has proved popular among liberals, and legislation is set to be introduced in the House by three Democrats next week. A similar law passed last month in Massachusetts, and the idea is under consideration in New York City, New York state, California and Colorado. The motivation behind such legislation is understandable. Women earn less than men, even after controlling for factors such as occupation, sector and experience. Ditto for blacks and Hispanics, relative to whites. This wage gap opens at the start of workers careers, which means that using past salaries as a baseline for offers at new jobs can perpetuate inequities. Hence the solution: Let workers start afresh, with no salary baggage to weigh them down. Women and minorities often face discrimination in the job application process and in salary negotiations, said Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton , D-D.C., one of the bills sponsors. Many carry lower salaries for their entire careers simply because of wages at previous jobs that were set unfairly. When you think it through, though, this logic starts to unravel. First, it assumes that whatever mysterious factor causes the wage gap at the start of workers careers (reluctance to negotiate, outright discrimination, something else?) disappears in later job-hopping and that inertia is whats keeping these inequities around. Which, of course, doesnt explain why the gap persists for brand-new workers today. Additionally, previous attempts to prohibit employers from gathering information they seem hell-bent on using have just led them to use proxies that end up doing more harm to historically marginalized groups. Take, for example, ban the box. Such laws, passed in states and cities around the country, forbid firms from asking applicants if they have criminal records early in the hiring process. The goal is to help the previously incarcerated get a fair chance at an interview. Ive been sympathetic to this policy. But two new studies suggest that banning the box doesnt actually help ex-offenders get jobs, and instead reduces employment for black and Hispanic men without criminal records. Why? Firms that want to avoid hiring ex-offenders practice statistical discrimination: If they cant glean information about criminality directly, they make pernicious assumptions based on an applicants race. Such discrimination is not fair, or legal, but is difficult to police. Barring employers from asking about past salaries is different from asking about a stigmatizing record or behavior. But one could imagine a similar result: In the absence of more tailored information about how much money to offer potential hires, firms might end up lowballing all applicants from demographics that usually earn less (such as blacks, Hispanics and women). And because theres nothing to prevent applicants from volunteering information, highly paid candidates might cheerfully provide their salary histories while poorly paid candidates stay mum. This could in turn lead employers to infer that anyone who discloses nothing can safely be offered very little. So were basically back to the status quo. Finally, a salary gag would add even more frictions to the hiring process. Already, firms are taking longer than ever previously recorded to fill job vacancies. If policymakers make it harder to figure out whether a candidate fits into a companys budget, the hiring process could get even more protracted. Employers may find themselves spending more on headhunters whose sole job is to divine whos poachable, so firms dont waste time pursuing candidates they cant afford. If policymakers really want to close the wage gap, they should focus on making salary information more transparent, not less. crampell@washpost.com Lawmakers failure to adequately address the funding needs of public schools is forcing school districts to seek an increase in property taxes to a rate that requires voter approval. The San Antonio Independent School Districts will be seeking voter approval of such a measure in November, along with a $450 million bond for extensive school renovations and upgrades. Both of the inner-city school districts ballot proposals are worthy of community support. SAISD trustees voted last month to raise the districts tax rate 13 cents to $1.17 per $100 valuation, but that rate has to be accepted by voters before it can go into effect. Voters in Edgewood, Southside and Harlandale, all low-property-wealth school districts, have gotten voter approval in recent years for tax ratification elections, commonly referred to as TREs. An estimated 25 percent of the more than 1,000 school districts in the state are expected to choose the same path. During the last legislative session, state leaders preferred to await the outcome of pending litigation on public school finance instead of addressing the festering problems. The states high court declared the system constitutional but flawed. Even if lawmakers add adequate funding for the states schoolchildren next year an unlikely scenario the funding would not trickle down to the districts for a least another year. The needs are present now and cannot wait. The districts bond is an easy sell. Visits to the districts older campuses make the case for upgrading schools, including some more than four decades old. A community task force prioritized projects at 13 campuses. Bond projects would include science labs and expanding classroom space. The TRE requires more explanation. In essence, the tax rate the school board set last month is subject to a rollback if voters do not approve it. Funds from the tax increase would be earmarked for teacher compensation for after-school and summer programs, and to expand extracurricular activities across the district. If the TRE and bond are approved, the owner of a home valued at $70,000 would see a $7.59 increase in his or her monthly tax rate this year. Elderly taxpayers who have tax exemptions with the Bexar County Appraisal District would not be affected by passage of the proposals. The bulk of the districts property taxes, roughly 63 percent, are paid by the businesses located in the district. We urge voters in SAISD to do the research, acquaint themselves with the two issues on the ballot, and cast an informed vote in support of the two proposals. They are crucial to continued efforts to enhance the district. Among the various claims made by Donald Trump during his campaign announcement was one that has come back to haunt him. "Hey, I have lobbyists," Trump said in June 2015. "I have to tell you, I have lobbyists that can produce anything for me. They're great." It was an early form of an argument that he has made repeatedly over the course of the campaign: He knows how corrupt the system is because he took advantage of that corruption as a businessman. He put it more aggressively in an interview with The Wall Street Journal a month later. "As a businessman and a very substantial donor to very important people, when you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do," he told the paper. "As a businessman, I need that." During the first debate of the Republican primaries, Fox News' Bret Baier questioned Trump on that point. "You said recently, quote, 'When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do,'" Baier said. "You'd better believe it," Trump replied. He continued: More for you Man charged with stalking Black Rifle Coffee employee "I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me." That's the pay-for-play Trump has talked about so much recently in another context. He paid; they played. With his characteristic bravado, Trump bragged about being a participant in the corruption that he was setting out to fix. As far as rhetoric goes, it's a tricky line to walk. But when questions arose about Trump actually giving money to get a benefit from politicians, those comments came back to haunt him. At issue is a contribution made by Trump's foundation to a political group associated with the attorney general of Florida. The Washington Post's David Fahrenthold has been tracking money flowing in and out of Trump's nonprofit for months, and he reported last week that the organization had to pay a fine for giving to a 527 political organization, a violation of rules governing nonprofits. Where Trump gets into trouble is the why. The watchdog group CREW offers a timeline of the gift to Attorney General Pam Bondi's group, Justice for All: Aug. 2013: New York's attorney general files a lawsuit against Trump, accusing Trump University of perpetrating fraud. Sep. 13: The office of the attorney general in Florida says through a spokesperson that it is "reviewing the allegations" in the New York suit. The Orlando Sentinel found that "dozens" of complaints were filed with the state against the school (called "Trump Institute" in Florida), dating to 2008. Sep. 17: The Trump Foundation writes a $25,000 check to Justice For All. Oct. 15: Bondi's office hands over documents to CREW indicating that it told reporters that it was never considering joining the New York lawsuit. This June, a consultant who worked with Bondi's campaign told the Associated Press that Bondi had personally asked for a contribution from Trump, saying the "process took at least several weeks, from the time they spoke to the time they received the contribution." On Monday, Trump denied that he'd been asked for money. "I never spoke to her, first of all," he said. Bondi is a "fine person, beyond reproach. I never even spoke to her about it at all. She's a fine person. Never spoken to her about it, never," he added. Bondi endorsed Trump in March. The problem here is obvious. Staffers for Bondi say she didn't know about the Trump University case when she requested the contribution, and there's no smoking gun proving quid pro quo. What there is is Trump's record of bragging about how he leveraged quid pro quo on his own behalf. In Texas, another state where questions have been raised, the situation is different. The state similarly declined to sue Trump University. A former regulator in the attorney general's office in the state says he was told to drop a case against Trump University after the program agreed to stop operating in Texas, CBS News reported in June. At the time, the state's attorney general was Greg Abbott, now Texas's governor. And, like, Bondi, Abbott got contributions from Trump, this time from the man himself. But those contributions came at least three years after Abbott's office deep-sixed the investigation. "It's absurd to suggest any connection between a case that has been closed and a donation to Governor Abbott three years later," Abbott's spokesman told CBS. That's a fair rebuttal: While Trump may have appreciated the decision by Abbott, it's hard to think that there was some sort of agreement that Trump would wait three years and then give Abbott $35,000. That's 0.07 percent of the total Abbott raised for his election in 2014, a portion that seems unlikely to warrant committing a crime to acquire. It's because of Florida and because of Trump's big words about corruption that Texas has been looped into the conversation at all. The most generous assessment of what Trump actually did is that he bragged about his savvy and manipulations to impress the listener, in the way that a tough guy might brag about how he gets into fights. When the police come calling to inquire about a string of assaults, though, the tough guy changes his tune. The most worrisome assessment is that Trump wasn't just bragging and that, at some point, he gave a politician money directly for a political favor. We generally misunderstand the role of money in politics, which is rarely about direct bribery. Instead, it's about building a relationship, to Trump's point, ensuring that when you call, the politician picks up. The Bondi situation looks like something more than that, with Trump and the attorney general trying to explain it away in different directions. Had Trump never insisted during the first part of his campaign that he did exactly this, that task would be easier. 1 Gabon violence: Postelection violence in Gabon has killed between 50 and 100 people, the opposition presidential candidate said Tuesday, a toll much higher than the governments count of three in days of violent demonstrations against the presidents re-election. Jean Ping has declared he is the rightful winner of the Aug. 27 vote, though election commission results showed President Ali Bongo Ondimba won by 1.57 percentage points. Clashes quickly broke out in this oil-rich Central African country after the results were announced last week. 2 Missile tests: The U.N. Security Council strongly condemned North Koreas latest ballistic missile launches and threatened further significant measures if it refuses to stop its nuclear and missile tests. 3 Chemical attack: Syrian activists and rescue workers in the rebel-held part of the contested city of Aleppo said government warplanes have dropped suspected chlorine bombs on a crowded neighborhood, injuring dozens. Ibrahem Alhaj, a member of the Syria Civil Defense first responders team, says he arrived at the scene of the suspected attack shortly after a helicopter dropped barrels containing what he said were four chlorine cylinders. He said Tuesday that at least 80 civilians were transported to hospitals and treated for breathing difficulties. 4 Kabul firefight: Militants stormed a building housing the CARE International aid organization in Kabul, provoking an overnight firefight with security forces in which three gunmen were killed and six civilians were wounded, Afghan officials said Tuesday. The attack took place a day after twin bombings near the Afghan Defense Ministry killed at least 35 people and wounded more than 100 others. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said his group had carried out the attack. More for you Man charged with stalking Black Rifle Coffee employee 5 Contrite leader: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte expressed regret Tuesday over his son of a bitch remark while referring to President Obama, in a rare display of contrition by a politician whose wide arc of profanities has unabashedly targeted world figures including the pope and the U.N. chief. The flap over Dutertes remarks started when a reporter asked him how he intends to explain the extrajudicial killings of drug dealers to Obama. More than 2,000 suspected drug dealers and users have been killed since Duterte launched a war on drugs after taking office on June 30. 6 Myanmar protest: More than 1,000 Buddhists in a Myanmar state racked by religious and ethnic strife protested Tuesdays arrival of former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, saying the Ghanaian is meddling in the countrys affairs by leading a government-appointed commission to find solutions to the conflict. The Southeast Asian country set up the commission last month to help find solutions to protracted issues in western Rakhine state, where human rights groups have documented widespread abuses by majority Rakhine Buddhists against minority Rohingya Muslims. 7 Baghdad bombing: A car bombing claimed by the Islamic State struck a bustling commercial area of central Baghdad overnight, killing at least 12 civilians, Iraqi officials said on Tuesday. The explosives-laden pickup truck was left in a parking lot in the Shiite-dominated district of Karradah, near a hospital and shops, police said. Up to 28 people were wounded and at least 15 cars were damaged. Chronicle News Services For the first time, the Chinese authorities have allowed some media representatives to enter the re-education centres ... POLICE in Harare have reportedly banned the MDC Alliances belated 22nd anniversary celebrations scheduled for November 28, citing manpower shortages. The opposition partys secretary-general Chalton Hwende told NewsDay yesterday that they would challenge the police decision, which he described as politically-motivated. Firstly, the police claimed that they did not have enough manpower to monitor the gathering as they will be monitoring some members of the public who have a soccer match during a voter registration campaign scheduled for that same day, Hwende said. But Harare provincial police spokesperson Inspector Tendai Mwanza said he was unaware of the matter. Hwende also claimed that Harare City Council had initially charged them US$192 for use of the hall, but later hiked it to US$1 069,50 following orders from above. The illegitimate regime led by (President Emmerson) Mnangagwa is afraid of the MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa. That is why they are making efforts to stop us from participating in the political field. That is why they do not want to recognise us as a legitimate political party. The council official who issued out the quotation told us that she was acting on orders from above, he said. We had budgeted for the celebrations. We are not backing off, the rally is going ahead. We are mobilising our troops. We are nearing a confrontation season. We are going to disregard the illegal and unconstitutional directive that comes from this regime and that is the stage that we are now. Contacted for comment, Olivia Mutandwa, the council official who issued out the quotation, denied being made to inflate the charge for hiring the hall, saying she had erroneously underquoted. The one with a higher quotation figure of US$1 069 is the correct one, according to the 2021 council tariffs. I had initially given them a quotation for hiring for a wedding gathering, which costs US$192, which is less than quotation for a political gathering, she said. Meanwhile, Chamisa told party supporters in Umzingwane, Matabeleland South province at the weekend, that he had shifted focus to rural constituencies because thats where the people are. Addressing a campaign rally in ward 12, Umzingwane, on Saturday, the opposition leader also said he would not abandon his campaign despite attacks by suspected State agents and Zanu PF supporters. This time around, we are going into rural areas because its where people are. I have been attacked in several places, but Im not going to give up because I have the support of the people. Let us all go and register so that we can win the elections with many votes, he said. There is going to be a new name for the party because our colleagues in the opposition have tried to steal our names. We are also going to change the colours of the part. This is a way of clearing confusion that has been caused in the party. Speaking at the same event, some villagers said they did not see any value in voting in an election whose results are predetermined, but the party leadership assured them that the 2023 poll would be a different ball game altogether. NewsDay Breaking News via Email Nanotechnology supports treatment of malignant melanoma (Nanowerk News) Changes in the genetic make-up of tissue samples can be detected quickly and easily using a new method based on nanotechnology. This report researchers from the Swiss Nanoscience Institute, the University of Basel and the University Hospital Basel in first clinical tests with genetic mutations in patients with malignant melanoma. The journal Nano Letters has published the study ("Fast Diagnostics of BRAF Mutations in Biopsies from Malignant Melanoma"). The cantilever on the left bears the recognition sequence for the target mutation. If this is present in the sample being tested, the corresponding segment of RNA binds to the cantilever, causing the latter to bend. This can be measured, providing clear evidence that the genetic change is present. (Image: University of Basel, Department of Physics) According to estimates by the American Skin Cancer Foundation, today more people develop skin cancer than breast, prostate, lung and colon cancer together. Although malignant melanoma accounts for only about 5 percent of skin cancers, these are the most serious cases and can result in death. Around half of all patients who develop malignant melanoma exhibit a particular genetic change (mutation). This involves a change in the BRAF gene (B gene for Rapid Acceleration of Fibrosarcoma) that leads to uncontrolled cell proliferation. There are now drugs that exploit these specific mutations and fight the cancer, significantly extending patients life expectancy. However, they work only if the corresponding genetic mutation is actually present. Where it is not, they give rise to severe side effects without producing the desired effect. It is therefore essential that we are able to identify the mutations reliably in tissue samples. That is the only way of ensuring that patients get the right treatment and successful outcomes, explains the papers co-author, Professor Katharina Glatz of the Institute of Pathology at University Hospital Basel. Coated microcantilevers In a clinical pilot study, the team led by Professor Ernst Meyer and Professor Christoph Gerber at the Swiss Nanoscience Institute and the Department of Physics at Basel University used nanosensors for the first time to detect the mutations in tissue samples from patients with malignant melanoma. To do so, the researchers employed tiny cantilevers that were coated in different ways. Some of them carried a recognition sequence for the mutation the researchers were targeting. Then genetic material (RNA) from the patients tissue samples was isolated and applied to the cantilevers. If the genetic change is present, the patients RNA binds to the recognition sequence on the cantilever. The resulting surface stress leads to bending of the cantilever, which can be measured. If the mutation is absent from the RNA sample, this bending does not occur in other words, only a specific binding produces a signal. The advantage of using nanocantilevers is that no time-consuming procedures are needed. It takes less than a day to move from performing the biopsy to diagnosis. Unthinkable 30 years ago (Beijing) In his closing remarks at the end of the Hangzhou G20 meeting that closed Monday afternoon , Chinese President Xi Jinping cited several major accomplishments of the summit: A set of guiding principles for global investment, the ratification of the Paris climate change agreement by China and the United States, and measures intended to boost global trade. Xi called the nonbinding investment principles a landmark and said it was the worlds first multilateral investment framework to help introduce more transparency and promote sustainable growth. The trade strategy, hammered out during a G20 Trade Ministers Meeting in Shanghai in July, included principles and measures to lower trade costs, boost trade in services and enhance trade finance. Among the few tangible results coming out of the summit, hosted by China, is ratification by the U.S. and China on the Paris climate change agreement. Xi and U.S. President Barack Obama, on behalf of the worlds largest two emitters of greenhouse gases, ratified the Paris climate change agreement on Sept. 4. The move added powerful momentum to implement the accord, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. He urged other G20 countries to follow the examples of China and the U.S., and accelerate their respective domestic ratification processes. Bans term as secretary-general concludes at the end of this year. The climate change agreement, sealed in Paris in December, can only go into effect after being ratified by at least 55 countries that together account for at least 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Before the pledges made by China and the U.S., 24 countries had ratified the agreement, representing just 1.08 percent of the worlds total emissions. China and the U.S. account for 20 percent and 18 percent of global emissions respectively. China included green finance in the formal agenda of this G20 summit, and Xi highlighted in his opening speech that green finance is one of the four key issues that the bloc should make efforts in. A study on green finance was submitted to the summit by a joint task force chaired by the Chinese and British central banks. The report sketches out the definition of green finance, its scope, challenges and voluntary options for countries to adopt, such as progressing green bonds as a major source of financing for green infrastructure and enterprises. The U.S. and China also jointly issued a list of understandings on the eve of the summit, including a stronger push on passing a bilateral investment treaty and exploring broader use of the International Monetary Funds Special Drawing Rights. In his speech, Xi also urged international organizations, such as the IMF and the World Bank, to increase voting shares of developing countries. Contact reporter Coco Feng (renkefeng@caixin.com); editor Ken Howe at (kennethhowe@caixin.com) Super-resolution microscope builds 3-D images by mapping negative space (Nanowerk News) Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have demonstrated a method for making three-dimensional images of structures in biological material under natural conditions at a much higher resolution than other existing methods. The method may help shed light on how cells communicate with one another and provide important insights for engineers working to develop artificial organs such as skin or heart tissue. The research is described today in the journal Nature Communications (DOI: 10.1038/NCOMMS12729). The scientists, led by physicist Ernst-Ludwig Florin, used their method, called thermal noise imaging, to capture nanometer-scale images of networks of collagen fibrils, which form part of the connective tissue found in the skin of animals. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter or about one-hundred-thousandth of the width of a human hair. Examining collagen fibrils at this scale allowed the scientists to measure for the first time key properties that affect skin's elasticity, something that could lead to improved designs for artificial skin or tissues. Taking crisp 3-D images of nanoscale structures in biological samples is extremely difficult, in part because they tend to be soft and bathed in liquid. This means that tiny fluctuations in heat cause structures to move back and forth, an effect known as Brownian motion. Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a new microscopy technique for looking at nanoscale structures in biological samples that is analogous to using a glowing rubber ball to image a chair in a dark room. (Illustration by Jenna Luecke) To overcome the blurriness that this creates, other super-resolution imaging techniques often "fix" biological samples by adding chemicals that stiffen various structures, in which case, materials lose their natural mechanical properties. Scientists can sometimes overcome blurriness without fixing the samples if, for example, they focus on rigid structures stuck to a glass surface, but that severely limits the kinds of structures and configurations they can study. Florin and his team took a different approach. To make an image, they add nanospheres - nanometer-sized beads that reflect laser light - to their biological samples under natural conditions, shine a laser on the sample and compile superfast snapshots of the nanospheres viewed through a light microscope. The scientists explain that the method, thermal noise imaging, works something like this analogy: Imagine you needed to take a three-dimensional image of a room in total darkness. If you were to throw a glowing rubber ball into the room and use a camera to collect a series of high-speed images of the ball as it bounces around, you would see that as the ball moves around the room, it isn't able to move through solid objects such as tables and chairs. Combining millions of images taken so fast that they don't blur, you would be able to build a picture of where there are objects (wherever the ball couldn't go) and where there aren't objects (where it could go). In thermal noise imaging, the equivalent of the rubber ball is a nanosphere that moves around in a sample by natural Brownian motion - the same unruly force that has bedeviled other microscopy methods. "This chaotic wiggling is a nuisance for most microscopy techniques because it makes everything blurry," says Florin. "We've turned it to our advantage. We don't need to build a complicated mechanism to move our probe around. We sit back and let nature do it for us." The original concept for the thermal noise imaging technique was published and patented in 2001, but technical challenges prevented it from being developed into a fully functioning process until now. The tool allowed the researchers to measure for the first time the mechanical properties of collagen fibrils in a network. Collagen is a biopolymer that forms scaffolds for cells in the skin and contributes to the skin's elasticity. Scientists are still not sure how a collagen network's architecture results in its elasticity, an important question that must be answered for the rational design of artificial skin. Home prices rose again year over year in July and are expected to do the same this time next year, according to CoreLogic. CoreLogic's Home Price Index recorded a 6% year-over-year increase and a 1.1% month-over-month uptick in July, the Irvine, Calif.-based company reported Tuesday. In keeping with recent trends, cities in the Western U.S., including Denver, Portland and Seattle, led the country with double-digit gains over 2015. Additionally, the CoreLogic HPI Forecast suggested that prices will rise 5.4% year over year from July 2016 to July 2017. For August though, CoreLogic is predicting just a 0.4% increase from July. "If mortgage rates continue to remain relatively low and job growth continues, as most forecasters expect, then home purchases are likely to rise in the coming year," CoreLogic chief economist Frank Nothaft said in the release. "The increased sales will support further price appreciation, and according to the CoreLogic Home Price Index, home prices are projected to rise about 5 percent over the next year." Lewis Ranieri, Chairman, Ranieri Partners LLC; Founder, Hyperion Private Equity Funds, speaks during the 2010 Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles, California, U.S., on Wednesday, April 28, 2010. This year's conference is titled "Shaping the Future". Photographer: Jonathan Alcorn/Bloomberg Jonathan Alcorn/Bloomberg The "father of the mortgage-backed security," Lewis Ranieri, acknowledges private securitization has contributed to market upheaval at least twice in the last 40 years, but he thinks government domination is problematic, too. So long as government-backed entities are guaranteeing 90% of originations, competition that could result in greater mortgage options for borrowers is being stifled. But a return of private capital to the market, possibly through securitization, could fix that. "The housing market as I understand it is broken," said Ranieri, who today is the chairman of Ranieri Strategies, a group of investment and asset management companies in New York. Lending without regard to borrowers' ability to repay in the previous decade was bad for housing, he said. But so is having the homeownership rate fall while the government is subsidizing the bulk of home lending. "We have fewer homeowners now than we had in 1976, and now we've guaranteed almost the entire market," said Ranieri, one of the authors of a recent government-sponsored enterprise reform proposal to merge Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and have them reinsure only catastrophic risk. While this type of GSE reform could help decrease the government's involvement in the mortgage market, Ranieri wonders how likely it is to become a reality in the near-term, given that there has been resistance to doing something simple like lowering Fannie and Freddie's loan limits. "Even the most obvious thing to do, to in effect create more volume for the private sector to use, we won't do," he said. With the GSEs and other government agencies like the Federal Housing Administration still involved in 90% of the mortgage market, any scaling back to the more traditional benchmark of around 60% for governmental entities to allow the re-introduction of more private market involvement will have to be gradual, he said. "We're going to have to walk our way back," said Ranieri. The return of a private secondary mortgage market would be more diverse than in the past, and include traditional securitizations, as well as other forms of risk-sharing transactions. Private mortgage insurance, reinsurance or GSE risk-sharing vehicles such as Fannie's Connecticut Avenue Securities structures are currently being used, but there needs to be enough volume for the private securitization market to grow beyond its current small size, and that won't happen without broader GSE reform, he said. "If there's a will to, in effect, back the government out and have a bigger private sector then securitization will work," said Ranieri. Although the private securitization structure has been abused, it was a necessary step for the market back in the days when savings and loans dominated the mortgage market, because their balance-sheet lending wasn't sufficient to meet the demand for housing finance at the time, said Ranieri. "I was asked to come up with a solution for what our economists viewed as a crisis." The concepts he and others came up with in response were ones they at first attempted to use in concert with the thrift industry, but savings and loans quickly began to feel threatened by it. "It was in 1978 that I first started working on what became the mortgage-backed security, and it wasn't with a thrift because the thrifts viewed this from the get-go as a competition." While many in the thrift industry didn't want to talk about the concept, Stan Strachan, who founded NMN as National Thrift News, did, Ranieri recalled. "Whether it was me potentially becoming a problem for this industry he believed in, or later on whenthe thrift crisis started to be created, he was the only voice. Nobody else really would talk about it. It was sort of, 'if we don't say anything, maybe it will go away.'" Deregulation and abusive lending in response to it turned out to be more of a threat to the thrifts than securitization, but misuse of securitization did end up being one of the contributors to the Great Recession, and in both cases unrealistic risk-taking by lenders was the broad cause, said Ranieri. "The Great Recession, in my opinion, was the abuse of the structure of securitization that we created and [like the thrift crisis] it was people taking risks that were unreasonable. I can say that because I, along with others, was complaining about what was going on. It was pretty obvious that we were allowing abuses to, in effect, enter into the system," he said. Steven Noreyko From the advent of the first loan origination systems in the early 1980s to today's latest-and-greatest developments in mobile applications, technology developers have consistently been motivated to facilitate and improve connectivity. Connectivity is critical to the mortgage industry because of the complex nature of transactions that involve hundreds of thousands of dollars or more and require input from a wide array of participants, from title agents to appraisers to borrowers. In order for the mortgage industry and its technology to evolve in the future, lenders and servicers must redefine their expectations for connectivity and demand more open integrations between the systems they use, according to mortgage technology veteran Scott Happ. "Right now you have lots of point solutions that built functionality around a particular problem. Those solutions don't work as well together as they will in five years." Happ founded Mortgagebot in 1997 and ran the origination software company until it was sold to Canadian fintech conglomerate DH Corp. in 2011. He was recently named CEO of Optimal Blue as part of the product-and-pricing engine vendor's acquisition by private equity firm GTCR. In his mind, coming innovations will improve coordination and efficiency by changing how players build and maintain the integrations between systems. As Happ explains it, these specialized technologies "grew up" alongside one another, meeting specific needs within the industry, from product pricing to compliance to electronic file management. Today, much of this software is accessible from the cloud and can plug into broader platforms from companies like Ellie Mae and DH Corp. "A lot of times these are partial integrations. It's not seamless, and it's not perfect moving from interface to interface." This landscape has often fueled a debate between end-to-end software and so-called best of breed technology, raising questions about whether lenders are better off having their technology needs served piecemeal or through a broader platform. But to Happ, there's not really a debate. "No one actually has an end-to-end solution. And with anyone who claims to be an end-to-end solution, their customers are using other services to round out their capabilities." Indeed, Happ said the technology that would underpin the solution to this problem exists: the application programming interface. APIs are essentially sets of rules for software integrations that dictate how two pieces of technology exchange information. For example, one API may ensure a seamless exchange when document preparation software pulls data from an LOS to populate mortgage forms, while another API may integrate electronic signature technology with the doc prep system to record and store the borrower's acknowledgement. But APIs are often tightly controlled by developers, making it difficult for third-party vendors to connect with larger systems or for lenders to customize software to fit their needs. And pride could be what's preventing APIs from being embraced within the mortgage tech landscape. "Certain vendors will see it as the future and will expose their systems," Happ said. "Ego can get in the way though because they view their user interface as their system. It's a part of it, but the information and the calculations [the software makes], that's where a lot of the value is." The impetus for wider development of APIs and increased openness among vendors will come from lenders, particularly the large ones, he said. "They've got the ability to take these APIs and build to these APIs." Of course, technology-fueled developments don't apply only to communication between different software, but also between borrowers and lenders. And, as far as borrowers are concerned, they want more in terms of mobile and online offerings, with that demand being driven by the millennial generation. Happ predicts that in the next 15 to 20 years, the share of loans originated online could double, or even triple, what it is today. Another potential future innovation, which Happ admits verges into "pure speculation," could be the introduction of artificial intelligence capabilities. Think a computer that automates appraisal reviews, anticipating and flagging appraisals that are out of compliance. "How we interact with software could change materially," he said. "In 2030, if we have this conversation, we'll be talking about how we interact with computers and how they do things without instruction. That's going to have a big impact." (Beijing) China's largest oil producer, China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), has disclosed plans to inject financial assets into one of its money-losing listed units the latest effort by a big state-owned firm to rescue one of its struggling businesses. The publicly listed Jinan Diesel Engine Co. Ltd., a CNPC-owned diesel-engine maker, will buy its parent company's financial asset unit, PetroChina Capital Ltd., for 75.5 billion yuan (US$ 11.3 billion) using cash, asset swaps and share issues, according to a filing with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Sept. 5. Caixin first learned of the draft plan last month, but no public disclosures were made at the time. An increasing number of state-owned enterprises are trying to inject their profitable financial services units into their other money-losing publicly listed entities, according to Caixin's own observations. Such moves are a variation on a broader trend among state-run companies, which often shuffle various assets into and out of their publicly listed units to make them more attractive to investors. Such moves typically see listed units of big state-owned firms buy attractive assets with big growth potential from their parent companies, often at bargain prices. Similarly, those same public companies often sell underperforming assets to their parent firms for inflated prices that they would never be able to get in the open market. At least seven companies in the energy, steel, mining and shipbuilding industries announced plans to acquire financial assets from their state-backed parents between January and August, according to state media reports and company documents. Critics said the strategy runs counter to Beijing's effort to cut overcapacity in bloated state-owned sectors by supporting money-losing companies. That kind of conflict occurs regularly in China, and often sees central leaders in Beijing clash with local leaders who have different agendas. For example, Beijing has sought recently to close down factories making low-quality products in sectors with too much capacity like steel and coal. But regional officials often resist such change because of concerns about losing important contributors to their local economies. Jinan Diesel, based in the eastern province of Shandong, has posted a loss for two consecutive years, and is at risk of being delisted if it continues to lose money this year. PetroChina Capital earned 6.1 billion yuan in 2015 and 3 billion yuan in the first five months of this year, according to a Jinan Diesel draft acquisition plan viewed by Caixin in August. The company holds financial licenses in the fields of banking, insurance, financial leasing, trusts, brokerage and investment funds. In addition to acquiring PetroChina Capital, Jinan Diesel is also planning a private placement to raise up to 19 billion yuan from 10 investors to boost its stakes in three other CNPC subsidiaries that provide banking, financial leasing and trusts investment services, the Shenzhen filing said. Contact reporter Chen Na (nachen@caixin.com); editor Doug Young (dougyoung@caixin.com) (Beijing) China's homegrown bullet trains will be used in a 142-km high-speed railway project in Indonesia, the latest move by the Chinese government to export its state-of-the-art rail technology. Sheng Guangzu, general manager of China Railway Corp. (CRC), the country's railway operator, said on Sept. 3 that China-made bullet trains will run on a high-speed rail line connecting Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, and the country's third-largest city, Bandung. China's efforts to push its high-speed technology have suffered a string of setbacks in recent years. Several overseas bids by Chinese rail companies in countries, including the U.S. and Mexico, have been scrapped, mainly due to red tape. The Jakarta-Bandung link has also seen several proposal changes before it was finally awarded to a Chinese consortium led by CRC. When the Southeast Asian nation floated a plan to build the country's first bullet train line late last year, both China and Japan expressed interest in the project. But the Indonesian government scrapped bids from both sides in September, saying it wanted a rail link on which trains run at less than 250 km per hour. Then, in an unexpected reversal, Indonesia chose China's bid over Japan's in October to build a link whose trains could run at speeds of up to 300 km per hour, a decision made possible due to the flexible funding options included in the Chinese bid. To secure the deal, the consortium had a groundbreaking ceremony in January, even before the Indonesian authorities granted a construction license to the group. The license was later granted in August, after the group spent seven months negotiating with local governments "one by one" for permission to expropriate land, a person close to the Chinese bidders told Caixin. The trains for the Jakarta-Bandung project will be assembled in Indonesia, and an assembly plant is being built, Sheng said. China's first homegrown bullet train, built according to a technology standard developed and patented in the country, completed its inaugural trip in mid-August and it will get a production permit from the National Railway Administration next year at the latest, a person close to CRC said. Contact reporter Na Chen (nachen@caixin.com); editor Ken Howe (kennethhowe@caixin.com) Water shortages in the human body are often responsible for disease Using water to cure disease isn't lucrative for the healthcare industry Treating disease with water (NaturalNews) When basic human needs are ignored, illness and disease often ensue. This is the case with hydration; not consuming enough water can have dire and sometimes hidden consequences on our bodies.Increasing your daily water intake can work wonders for your health. This is expanded on in the book Water Cures: Drugs Kill: How Water Cured Incurable Diseases , written by Fereydoon Batmanghelidj, M.D., who goes by the name of "Dr. B.""There is a medical breakthrough that is not reaching the public through our medical schools or health-maintenance organizations: the discovery that chronic unintentional dehydration is the primary cause of pain and disease in the human body, including cancer"The reason these traditionally trusted institutions do not celebrate this scientific discovery and refuse to use it to help the sick and the uninsured poor in our society is obvious. There would be no money in it for them.""What we in medicine did not realize until very recently is the fact that the human body can become short of water inside its cells even when water is available, plentiful, and virtually free. Research tells us that numerous complications occur when the body is not properly hydrated and our cells become dry," writes Dr. B."When the gradually dehydrating body begins to malfunction and manifest its water shortage, we label these symptoms and signs of the body's regional and local drought as diseases or syndromes of unknown origin."And since the discovery of DNA structure, we now blame genes for a patient's health problems, obviously not realizing that when any cell begins to dry up and get damaged from inside, the nucleus in that cell, and its DNA structure, are not exempt from the process."After 22 years of research, the author learned the important connection between hydration and disease . However, when he shared that information with the medical community, they showed little interest.He proposed treating the body with water instead of harmful medications that often cause the patient damage. But doctors paid no mind to his suggestions, says Dr. B., adding that if patients knew their health problems were caused by a lack of water, doctors' offices would witness a significant plummet in profits."For this reason, institutional doctors did not acknowledge this medical breakthrough. They gave it the silent treatment and forced me to take my information directly to the public."Water is one of these elements that will be taken away from less active areas and used to maintain the consistency of blood, if sufficient amounts do not become available from external sources of supply, that is, from drinking."Within the next few years most of these establishments are going to realize that the public will no longer be fooled by medical theatrics and jargon-protected treatment protocols. One by one, people will discover water as a primary medication for most of their health problems.""Twenty-two years ago I started treating peptic ulcer disease with water. In two years and seven months, I had successfully treated over 3000 cases."I came away from that experience with the understanding that these people were really thirsty: That we in medicine had labeled one of the manifestations of thirst in the human body as a disease condition (particularly as a number of other conditions also responded to increased water intake)," writes Dr. B."My report of the treatment process was published as the editorial of thein June of 1983. I then set out to prove why these people were only thirsty."In September of 1987 I presented the guest lecture of an international cancer conference under the title of 'Pain: A Need for Paradigm Change' and declared the 'solutes-regulatory' paradigm obsolete."I explained that it is the 'solvent' that regulates all the physiological functions of the body . I explained that it is 'chronic unintentional dehydration' that is the etiology of pain and the degenerative diseases, including cancer: That all these conditions are the result of 'system disturbance' because of the missing action of water."To prove my point of view, I had shown that histamine is actually a neurotransmitter in charge of water regulation and the drought management programs of the body."For more information on how to cure disease with water pick up a copy of Dr. B's book today. North Dakota Pipeline would threaten sacred tribal lands "The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is arguing in court that the Dakota Access Pipeline was fast-tracked by the federal government, which is a direct violation of the Tribe's rights as a sovereign nation because it will hurt the Tribe's safe drinking water and historic and cultural resources. The Tribe has asked the United States government to conduct a more stringent environmental review to ensure the protection of the Tribe's treaty rights and sacred places." Oil industry stands to rake in huge profits from pipeline project Pipeline leaks happen frequently, data show (NaturalNews) The Dakota Access Pipeline could potentially contaminate important waterways that provide the Midwestern U.S. with drinking water, say activists and environmental groups fighting the proposal.Also referred to as the Bakken Oil Pipeline, the infrastructure would transport nearly 500,000 gallons of crude oil per day through America's heartland. The reserves would be pumped from North Dakota through South Dakota, Iowa and into Illinois.Oil and gas exploration suggests that the Bakken Formation may hold as many as 7.4 billion barrel of untouched oil, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. But the consequences of extracting and transporting the lucrative oil could mean irreparable damages to the environment.One of the major concerns surrounding the pipeline plan is the impact it will have on drinking water. Environmentalists say the plan could threaten waterways because of the fact that it will flow beneath the Missouri River, from which most of the Midwest receives its water "Research consistently shows that virtually every oil pipeline that has been built inevitably leaks and causes significant damage to the environment and living organisms in the area. Any leakages would result in peril for Standing Rock sacred sites and drinking water," according toThe Dakota Access Pipeline would predictably disturb the sacred, ancestral tribal lands of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, established as part of the Great Sioux Reservation under the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie.The tribe relies heavily on the Missouri River as source of clean water reports:The pipeline is expected to be built by Dakota Access, a subsidiary of Energy Transfer Crude Oil Company, LLC, using a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers. The oil company, as well as the federal government, stands to profit tremendously from the project.Dakota Access says the construction phase alone will generate an estimated $156 million in sales and income taxes for state and local regions, as well as create tens of thousands of jobs.However, economic benefits can never outweigh the importance of clean, natural resources. Reports of pipeline accidents are abundant; they include fires, explosions, propane releases, oil leaks and more, according to data provided by the National Transportation Safety Board.For example, in September 2010, a 34-inch pipeline owned by Enbridge energy operating in Will County, Illinois leaked more than 6, 400 barrels of Saskatchewan heavy crude oil beneath the pavement in a neighbored. Damages and environmental remediation totaled more than $46 million.The Dakota Access Pipeline would be approximately 30-inches in diameter and about 1,172 miles long. Researchers say the Bakken formation is producing more than one million barrels per day."In April of this year, researchers at the University of Michigan found that the Bakken field is emitting about 2 percent of the world's ethane, about 250,000 tons per year into the air, directly affecting air quality across North America," according to reports."These emissions, combined with combustion of Bakken oil, are major contributors to the Global Climate Crisis that threatens the well-being of our environment, future generations, and the Earth."The United Nations Permanent Form on Indigenous Issues says the U.S. government has a responsibility to consult the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe before moving forward with the pipeline project.The UN body said the U.S. should offer the tribe a "fair, independent, impartial, open and transparent process to resolve this serious issue and to avoid escalation into violence and further human rights abuses."For more information on the actions being taken by Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, visit their Facebook page The United States government paid for this product's development with taxpayer money (NaturalNews) Millions will be shocked to learn that Mylan Pharmaceuticals did not, in fact, invent the EpiPen concept. The product's creator was actually a man of decency, and a very skilled engineer. Sheldon Kaplan was an engineer for NASA before he created the EpiPen.Kaplan is said to have lived a modest, simple life in the middle class. He never received royalties for his invention or became famous. His son Michael says that he believes his father wouldn't have cared much for fame, though.According to, after his time at NASA, Kaplan began working at Survival Technology, Inc., which is located in Maryland. There, he started his quest to design a product to quickly inject life-saving epinephrine into users who where suffering from anaphylaxis. People with allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish and other potential allergens can experience life-threatening reactions, and the traditional method of drawing up a syringe is inefficient. When a person cannot breathe, every second counts.Kaplan began the last stages of creating his design for the product in 1973. At that time, the United States Department of Defense approached him; they were looking for a device that could be used easily to quickly inject an antidote for nerve gas.The design Kaplan created allowed users to simply press the device into one's thigh. Life-saving medicine would then be delivered through a needle released by a unique spring-loaded mechanism. The invention would eventually be known as the ComboPen, and it was first used by the Pentagon. Several years later, the product became available to the public as the EpiPen we know today.The EpiPen design truly belongs to the people, not Mylan Pharmaceuticals. Mylan acquired the patent for the EpiPen in 2007, and since then the company has been raising the price of the product each year. Truly, it is detestable for this company to take something they didn't even design, that was created with taxpayer dollars, and sell it back to us at an astronomical price. NewsMax reports that in 2008, EpiPens cost about $100 a piece. The current list price for an EpiPen has reached a shocking $600.Chief Executive Heather Bresch has defended the price-gouging as being a necessity, claiming that the company supposedly invested "hundreds of millions of dollars" to improve the product's "design." One new feature is that the needle is "invisible." One would tend to think that the people who need EpiPens are less concerned about how it looks, and more concerned about the device saving their lives.Bresch's insistent cries about the need to raise the price on the product due to their investments in development seem particularly disingenuous when considering the 671 percent pay increase she's managed to attain over the last few years. Yes, you read that right. Bresch's annual salary has gone from nearly $2.5 million to just shy of a cool $19 million. Clearly, the general public just can't understand her. Wouldn't it be nice to make $19 million a year from what is essentially legal robbery In late August, Mylan announced that it will be creating a generic EpiPen product that will be available for half the price of the brand-name device. In other words, Mylan is creating a "new" device that won't say " EpiPen " on it, and selling it to people forwhat they paid for it eight years ago. Many people seem to think that Mylan was "pressured" into creating a cheaper product, but who's to say that this wasn't their plan all along? More people will buy the $300 generics, and their profits will continue to rise. They created the demand for a generic, and they're going to run with it. DEA refuses to admit that cannabis has medicinal value, despite widespread evidence to the contrary Government patents cannabis, admitting its powerful antioxidant properties Science and medicine is rigged: don't believe the official story (NaturalNews) For decades, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), of the herb, has been at the top of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) hit list. This targeted plant and its natural properties continue to be classified as a schedule one drug on the DEA's senseless drug scheduling system. Cannabis is listed alongside meth and LSD for having "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse." The DEA is adamant about controlling cannabis, even at a time when state governments are decriminalizing it altogether and allowing for its use in medical treatments In August 2016, the DEA was expected to reclassify cannabis or remove it from their hit list altogether; however, when decision time arrived, the DEA refused to remove cannabis from its highly schedule one drug status. Even though cannabis has become a vital part of cancer treatments and an effective treatment for seizures, anxiety, and glaucoma, the DEA stated that "science doesn't support" cannabis as useful for any medical purposes.Hypocritically, the federal government itself has filed a patent claiming that cannabis has useful medical purposes, including powerful "antioxidant properties." The patent, filed in 1999 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, admits that cannabis is useful "in the treatment and prophylaxis of wide variety of oxidation associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases." The 1999 cannabis patent, (code 6,630,507) was a government confession that cannabis wasn't some brain damaging chemical, as it had been depicted through decades of brainwashing. In fact, the patent admitted that cannabis was a "neuroprotectant," capable of reversing neurological damage. The patent confessed that cannabis actually reversed "neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and HIV dementia."With this patented knowledge coming out in the open in 2003, the DEA no longer had any justification to continue its war on cannabis and its war on the people who reap benefits from this natural medicine. But even seventeen years after the government admitted cannabis is a useful medicine, the DEA refuses to reclassify the plant as having multiple medical uses.To reschedule cannabis, the government would have to give up control and admit they were wrong all along. For this rescheduling of cannabis to come about, the DEA would literally be declaring that all the lives they ruined, all the people shot and imprisoned, was all in vain. It's hard to imagine the DEA laying down their pride unless the entire organization was shut down and/or given new priorities by a future president.This decades-long censorship and control over one of nature's fine, healing plants is a prime example of how everyone is being systematically lied to, top down, throughout many generations on what medicine and science is. This control over cannabis should wake everyone up to the fact that science and medicine is rigged, that knowledge on a multitude of natural healing substances is being suppressed. Americans should free themselves from this dictatorship of science and medicine by rejecting the synthetic chemicals they are told to breathe, inject, and swallow.Don't believe the official story. For optimal health, Americans should seek out the natural foods and medicines that work in harmony with the human body. This includes cannabidiols and other powerful antioxidants such as lutein, lycopen, betacarotene, vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin E, selenium, and the list goes on.Clean, effective science and medicine already exists freely in nature, without permission, without a prescription. There are dark reasons why cannabis is controlled the way it is today and this harsh reality serves as a reminder that the world is being lied to at the highest levels by a rigged, powerful system dominated by psychopaths who seek to control the truth and turn people against people in an intricate system of corruption and compliance. Recent typhoons have already melted parts of the 'impermeable' ice wall Too little, too late (NaturalNews) The Japanese government has invested 35 billion yen roughly $320 million in the construction of a massive underground "ice wall" at the, in a desperate effort to prevent groundwater from seeping into its damaged reactors.More than five years after the Fukushima incident occurred an accident caused by an earthquake and resultant 45-foot tsunami that triggered a triple-meltdown at the plant the government is still desperately trying to find a solution to an ongoingcrisis at the ruined facility.The three damaged Fukushima reactors contain highly radioactive uranium fuel rods that have continued to contaminate groundwater flooding into the site (at the rate of nearly 40,000 gallons per day) through the highly porous rock and soil bed upon which the plant was built.The groundwater flow has also prevented the recovery of the uranium fuel from the reactor cores, which may have melted through the steel floors that supported them. In fact, no one knows exactly where the fuel now is. To date, five search robots sent into the reactors have been lost due to high levels of radiation and debris blocking their path.The underground ice wall, officially named "The Land-Side Impermeable Wall," consists of a nearly mile-long, 100-foot deep barrier of "man-made permafrost," that in theory should block the flow of groundwater into the reactors, while also preventing contaminated water from seeping into the Pacific Ocean.But the ambitious and complex plan has been met with skepticism by many experts.Some believe that the government's desperate "Hail Mary play" will prove to be an expensive and ineffective stopgap measure, and already just weeks after the ice wall was more or less completed and activated typhoons have apparently caused parts of the wall to fail.And even best-case scenarios regarding the ice wall's effectiveness will still leave the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) the operator of the Fukushima plant with a massive cleanup problem.From"Even if the ice wall works, Tepco will face the herculean task of dealing with the huge amounts of contaminated water that have accumulated. The company has installed filtering systems that can remove all nuclear particles but one, a radioactive form of hydrogen known as tritium. The central government and Tepco have yet to figure out what to do with the tritium-laced water; proposals to dilute and dump it into the Pacific have met with resistance from local fishermen, and risk an international backlash."There may prove to be no "best-case scenarios," however. The rain from recent typhoons has already caused the partial melting of two sections of the wall, according to TEPCO officials, and many experts are concerned that the wall could never completely prevent the groundwater flow in the first place.Skeptics argue that the wall may only act as a "sieve" due to areas where there are buried obstructions and tunnels that will prevent a complete blockage of the groundwater.In any case, the Fukushima crisis is far from over, and no one knows when or if the damaged site can ever be fully cleaned up.In hindsight, most agree that the Fukushima site was poorly chosen in the first place, due to its proximity to the ocean and its permeable rock and soil base. And, since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, both the central government and TEPCO have failed to contain the resulting radiation leaks, all the whileposed to the environment and the public.This latest attempt at actually doing something about the leaks seems as ill-fated as the entire cleanup fiasco has been all along. The ice wall scheme is apparently just another example of "too little, too late." How many millions will be poisoned by GMOs? US goes to bat for Monsanto (NaturalNews) Almost exactly 55 years ago, the US military began a campaign to spray massive quantities of the toxic defoliant Agent Orange over the jungles of South Vietnam its supposed ally -- in a effort to kill the plants that gave cover and food to hostile forces. To this day, an estimated 3 million people have suffered severe health problems, including birth defects, from exposure to the dioxin-containing herbicide.Monsanto was one of several companies tapped by the US government to produce Agent Orange. But today, Monsanto's business is booming in Vietnam, with the company peddling genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and Roundup herbicide to farmers willing to believe its false promises about increased yields and higher profits.Between 1961 and 1971, the US Army dumped 12 million gallons of Agent Orange across South Vietnam, such that some zones remain contaminated with dioxin to this day.Similar contamination in certain regions of the United States is a major motivator behind the purchase of storable organic foods Monsanto denies any responsibility for the toxic effects of Agent Orange on either Vietnamese citizens or US veterans, claiming that it shares nothing other than a name with the company that made the defoliant. Monsanto also says it was one of only several companies that made the toxic chemical at the behest of the US government.A US court agreed, finding that companies that made Agent Orange on government orders could not be tried for war crimes.On its end, the US government refuses to even admit that there is a proven link between Agent Orange exposure and health problems. This has been a sticking point with the government of Vietnam , which as far back as 1997 just two years into talks on normalizing relations between the nations asked the US to cooperate in finding justice for Agent Orange victims. No agreement on the issue was ever reached.What the US did instead was work to promote www.monsantomafia.com Monsanto's GMOs, such that three separate varieties of GMO corn are now permitted for cultivation in Vietnam. More GMOs are expected to receive approval soon. Monsanto is lauded in the local Vietnamese press for its donations to agricultural universities and educational NGOs.Public documents and WikiLeaks leaked diplomatic cables reveal that the US embassy actively colluded with Monsanto to promote the adoption of GMOs in Vietnam. When Vietnam began drafting laws to regulate biotechnology a decade ago, the US embassy sponsored visits by pro-Monsanto scientists to tout the supposed benefits of GMOs. For example, the embassy organized an weeklong "biotech study tour" for eight senior Vietnamese officials in December 2007. A USDA report about the tour reported the outcome as having made "key connections with Monsanto ."A WikiLeaks cable shows that in 2009, the US Ambassador wrote to the then-head of the Office of the Government (now the Prime Minister) to ask that mandatory GMO labeling provisions be removed from a food safety bill."The [Vietnamese} government was getting skewed advice from the biotech industry and from their chief supporterthe U.S. government," said Jeffrey Smith, author of Seeds of Deception.More recently, Monsanto has cultivated goodwill among farmers by throwing lavish parties to celebrate the launch of its GMO crops.The efforts are paying off. Farmers interviewed by Huffington Post expressed skepticism that Monsanto played any role in producing Agent Orange, and simply repeated the company's promises about the profits GMOs could bring.This blind trust in a company that has proven untrustworthy is helped by a Vietnamese press that has mostly neglected to air the views of any domestic or foreign GMO critics, and has refused to make the Monsanto-Agent Orange connection.The Vietnamese government says it hopes to have 30 to 50 percent of its cropland planted with GMOs by 2020. Punishing people even though there is no virus present Rude awakening? (NaturalNews) For decades, bureaucrats and elected leaders in Detroit mismanaged the city's finances to the point where retirement and other benefits far surpassed the tax base and led to the largest urban bankruptcy in recent history.Now, more bureaucrats and elected officials in a nearby city want to punish city residents further by essentially criminalizing water puddles No, this is not a joke.As reported by, the mayor of nearby Warren, Jim Fouts, wants to use the pretext of mosquito-borne viruses like West Nile and now Zika as a "proactive" way to cite and ticket people who have the audacity to keep areas of standing water on their premises."Many years ago when I was on the city council, we didn't have West Nile and then we got it," Fouts said. "And if you remember, Warren was one of the top cities in Michigan to have several fatalities from West Nile."Hence the hyperactive approach though nobody has West Nile now, or Zika, for that matter.Fouts said that the city will begin issuing tickets to anyone who allegedly harbors disease-spreading mosquitoes on their property, as if, suddenly, it is the job of Warren residents to become vector-borne disease specialists."We have zero tolerance for anyone with a swimming pool or large water area with standing water," said Fouts. "We are going to issue major ticket violations. We are going to treat this as a potential epidemic."The Michigan Department of health says Yellow Fever is a serious mosquito-born disease that also causes fever and flu-like symptoms, jaundice, bleeding from multiple areas including the liver and kidneys, and respiratory and other organ failure. There isn't a specific treatment for Yellow Fever; care is supportive, based on symptoms. Like other mosquito-borne viruses, protection includes repellents and protective clothing.But there isn't any Yellow Fever in Warren, either. So what Fouts and Co. are describing as a proactive policy seems more predatory than anything else.Elsewhere, more rational public officials are not trying to scare the general public or punish them for something out of their control when it comes to the latest mosquito-borne illness. In Florida, for example, where Zika really exists, Gov. Rick Scott and Miami-Dade officials have gotten together to discuss options , which is what leaders do. They are asking residents to take the same protective measures that Warren is asking residents to take: cover up, use some repellent and stay alert.What theydoing, however, is punishing residents with tickets for having pools and other "standing water." That would get to be quite lucrative in southern Florida considering the number of residents with pools but it would also drive people out of the area and hurt the region's tourism.As for Zika, other than being a threat to women who are pregnant, the virus is mild and nothing at all like Yellow Fever or West Nile. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the virus' symptoms include joint pain, a fever and possibly a rash, as well as a headache. In other words, there is no need for the panic taking place in Warren.More and more we see bureaucrats and elected officials using perceived "emergencies" to punish the populations they are supposed to be serving. It's not a concept that was much in fashion during the founding of our country, for if it had been, virtually no state would have ratified the Constitution. In fact, our founding document would never have been written if authoritarianism was the theme.It's not hard to see that residents who are fined and ticketed in Warren for something over which they have no control or, in the case of having a pool, being punished for possessing a luxury are going to be upset, and they should be. City officials and a particular mayor who don't realize that may just be in for a rude awakening. A study found in an online journal chronicles the curious case of Mount Etna's wandering craters, appearing in various spots on the volcano. According to Science Daily, Mount Enta's summits seems to keep popping out in different locations of this stratovolcano. Located in Sicily, Italy, Mount Enta is known as one of the most active volcanoes around. Professor Valerio Acocella of Rome Tre University and his colleagues from Ingv Catania believe that Etna is a "perfect for study" to learn more about mature volcanoes because of its peculiar craters and cones that suddenly come out of nowhere after an eruption. Whenever Mount Etna erupts, there is always a possibility of a birth of another cone. For example, if the southern crater erupts, it is possible that another crater down from that southern crater will soon grow. And it doesn't end there. Years after, that new formed crater will be the main crater on which a new eruption will happen -- and the cycle continues. What is the possible reason for this? According to the researchers, it must be because of the "instability of the volcano's eastern flank." The movements in the lower eastern side of the mountain resulted to the '"sinking" of the summit's weight, as if being cut away. This creates tensions on the mountain as a whole. What is even more fascinating, this wandering eruptive craters are moving faster than a normal volcano. It took less than a decade for the activity of the southeastern crater to move to a new southeastern crater, according to the results published in the online journal Frontiers in Earth Science This study does not only aim to be an "academic study," but also to recognize and possibly predicting on where -- not when -- will the next eruption of Mount Etna be. The formation of the the new southeastern crater is what the the researchers are now closely monitoring because this means that it has the potential to bring more volcanic hazards and explosive eruptions that will affect the people living below the mountain. Mount Etna has a reputation of having the longest eruptions in history that are explosive and sometimes, deadly. Mount Etna is a mountain with a series of stratovolcanoes that has four summit craters, with two main craters called Bocca Nuova and Voragine; the Northeast crater; and the newest Southeast crater, which was formed by an eruption in 1978, according to Live Science. Read: Awakening the Giant! Iceland's Largest Volcano Might Erupt After Unusual Big Quakes Italian Volcano Develops New, Actively Spewing Craters Ahuna Mons: Giant Ice Volcano Half the Size of Mt. Everest Spotted on Dwarf Planet Ceres Soaps with antibacterial chemicals are now banned by the Food and Drug Agency (FDA) because of doubts if these chemicals are safe or not -- including triclosan and triclocarbon. It is also reported that it is not even proven if chemicals are beneficial. "Consumers may think antibacterial washes are more effective at preventing the spread of germs, but we have no scientific evidence that they are any better than plain soap and water," Dr. Janet Woodcock, the director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), said in a statement via Live Science." In fact, some data suggests that antibacterial ingredients may do more harm than good over the long term." This ban will affect 19 chemicals. However, alcohol-based sanitizers and soaps that are used in clinics, hospitals or any medical facilities are not included in the ban. Though this ban will affect the manufacturers, these companies had actually started removing the chemicals as they cannot also provide data that will determine the safety of these materials to the public. In fact, in 2013, there was evidence that using soaps for a long period of time might not be as effective in combating against bacteria because it actually makes the bacteria resistant and can even "disrupt the hormone in the body." For the meantime, soaps with benzalkonium chloride, benzethonium chloride and chloroxylenol (PCMX), are postponed from the ban until one year because they're waiting for the data that will ensure these chemicals are safe. FDA encourages the public to wash with water and regular soap as a safer option to help fight germs and avoid spreading of bacteria. If regular soap or water are not readily available, U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests to use alcohol-based hand sanitizers, but only those with 60 percent alcohol to be more effective in fighting germs. A dog's loyalty transcends even until death, as a dog from Italy proves his loyalty to his owner by staying beside his owner's coffin that died in the recent Italy earthquake. A heartbreaking and bittersweet picture of Flash, a Cocker Spaniel, touching the casket of his owner named Andrea Cossu sends viral attention to all. Cossu was one of the nearly 300 casualties of the recent Italy earthquake. He was in the village of Pescara del Toronto to spend a holiday. Unfortunately, the village was included in the devastation that the earthquake caused. The 45-year-old man died because of a collapsed building, according to Telegraph. The charming Italian village was reduced to nothing when the 6.2 magintude earthquake rammed the country last August. Everything from cars, houses, buildings and personal belongings were scattered in the streets. Much of Flash's grief and sadness probably popped up when he realized that Cossu will no longer be around. A Facebook page dedicated to Cossu called "Remembering Andrea Cosssu" reveals a series of photos of Cossu and his loyal dog. "The two of them were inseparable," relatives told the Italian media via People. Cossu's funeral was held in Pomezia last Friday, where he lived. He was originally from Sardinia but went to the mountains to spend holidays there -- a choice that will lead to his demise. Despite of deaths, there are also stories of survivals as there are survivors being saved by the Italian rescue team and, of course, rescue dogs that help locate the survivors among the rubble. Dogs like Labradors and Alsatians bravely search for any signs of life. Going back to Flash, he is now being taken care of by Cossu's wife who also survived the quake. A video shows how the dog never left Cossu's casket. Read: WATCH: Super Dog Survives 9 Days Buried in Earthquake Rubble in Italy Man's Best Friend For Life: Long-Term Study Seeks to Increase Dog's Life Span Dogs are Smarter Than You Think! Brain Scans Show Pups Understand What You're Saying The Wildlife Conservation Society announced Sunday at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Hawaii that the world's largest great ape, the Grauer's gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri), is now considered as "Critically Endangered" on IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. According to an updated report on the total number of the species existing in the wild, the Grauer's gorilla population has dramatically decreased over the past two decades. Now, the current count for the said species is 3,800, a 77 percent decrease from its former number of 16,900 gorillas in 1994. In a post on the IUCN website, IUCN DIrector General Inger Andersen said, "To see the Eastern gorilla one of our closest cousins slide towards extinction is truly distressing." We live in a time of tremendous change and each IUCN Red List update makes us realize just how quickly the global extinction crisis is escalating. Conservation action does work and we have increasing evidence of it. It is our responsibility to enhance our efforts to turn the tide and protect the future of our planet," he added. NPR notes that human activity is mainly to blame for the gorilla decline such as poaching and illegal hunting. Disease and climate chage also pose as threats to the Grauer gorillas' future. National Geographic notes that hunting for bushmeat is a widely practiced activity in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the gorillas live. The meat of Grauer's gorillas serve as a source of food for rebels in the deep mountains, where there are no source of agriculture, making this animals indirect victims of the country's armed struggle. Overall, this study has startling news based on data gathered in very difficult and challenging circumstances. However, the positive news from Kahuzi-Biega National Park is a beacon of hope. It demonstrates that if we continue to invest in conservation of this gorilla, we can make a difference. This is a wake-up call that demands more investment to support conservation in the field if we are to save this species," said Tim Tear, Executive Director of the WCS Africa Program, via WCS Newsroom. Read: #RIPHarambe: Who Was Harambe? Facts About the Critically Endangered Animal Civil War In Congo Pushes Gorillas To Extinction Humans' Over-Exploitation Causes Widlife Extinction More than Climate Change One of the astronomers who discovered Proxima b, the closest of the thousands of exoplanets which was discovered in late August, said it could be a "life-friendly planet." "Everything we know about Proxima b suggests that, although it is different, it shares similar features with the Earth such that it could be a life-friendly planet," Mikko Tuomi of the University of Hertfordshire, UK and co-discoverer of Proxima b told Astrowatch.net. According to the European Southern Observatory (ESO), who announced the discovery in a press release, Proxima b is four light-years away from Earth and can be found in Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system to Earth. It has a temperature/orbiting suitable for body of water and is a little more massive than Earth. But can it really host life forms? Tuomi shared his insight to Astrowatch.net and explained how the exoplanet can feasibly harbor microbial forms because the three "ingredients" for life are likely present on it. "First, we need rock, and Proxima b indeed is a planet that certainly has a rocky surface. Second, the most common molecule in the Universe, water, has to be present. We have no evidence of this, but water can be found everywhere in space and there are no reasons why it would not exist on the surface of Proxima b -- and the temperatures on its surface likely allow the water to be liquid and for oceans as well. Third, there needs to be carbon dioxide, but that is simply a common primitive atmospheric molecule on all the Earth-sized planets in the solar system," Tuomi said. "If that is the case, I believe the formation biochemical processes we can call life is rather an inevitability than a once-in-a-blue-moon rare event," Tuomi added. Tuomo clarified that although theoretical guesses prove the capacity of the Proxima b, there is still much work to be done and a longer time required to confirm it. New Scientist notes that Proxima b and its star are probably tidally locked, meaning half of the globe is in never ending day, the other in infinite night. An international team lead by Guillem Anglada-Escude of Queen Mary University of London discovered Proxima b through a project called Pale Red Dot. Read: Alien Hunters: UFO Spotted Watching Over the ISS NASA's NEO Spots Space 'Junk' -- Unlikely Threat to Planet Earth? The strongest storms to strike the east and southeast Asian regions, particularly in countries such as China, Japan, Korea and the Philippines, have become more intense over the last 40 years, a new study says. Results of the study showed that the increase in sea-surface temperatures in coastal areas has provided more energy to typhoons, causing the wind speeds to rapidly increase. In the study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, researchers analyzed data gathered from centers in Japan and Hawaii. The scientists found that typhoons in the northwest Pacific had intensified by about 12 to 15 percent on average since 1977. The northwest Pacific has since been plagued by most tropical cyclone activity due to the deep well of ocean heat that could cause typhoons. Also, according to the researchers, the proportion of landfalling Category 4 or 5 storms, which are the most destructive of storms like Super Typhoon Haiyan that killed 6,300 people in the Philippines in 2013, has doubled in number. The increase in intensity was said to be bigger in China, Taiwan and northern regions. "It is a very, very substantial increase," Wei Mei, a researcher from the Department of Marine Sciences at the University of South Carolina and co-author of the study, said in a report by The Guardian. "We believe the results are very important for east Asian countries because of the huge populations in these areas. People should be aware of the increase in typhoon intensity because when they make landfall these can cause much more damage." However, the researchers are uncertain about whether the higher water temperatures are due to changing natural climate patterns or man-made climate change. "With such a short record it is impossible to distinguish between natural decadal variability and [any] anthropogenic signal," Suzana Camargo, a hurricane-climate researcher at Columbia University said in a report by Climate Cental. Mei and his team said that climate models suggest that warming will continue in these ocean regions, which also follows that more landfalling typhoons would fall under the strongest categories and would intensify more rapidly. "We want to give the message that typhoon intensity has increased and will increase in the future because of the warming climate," Mei said in a statement. "Understanding intensity change is very important for disaster preparation." Read: Warmer Oceans Driving Stronger Currents, Bigger Storms Four Reasons Why You Should Pay Attention to Sea Level Rise Now The National Museums Scotland, in partnership with the University of Edinburg and energy company SSE, has successfully freed the 170 million years old fossil of a Jurassic sea monster from its rock casings after being stored in the museum for more than half a century. The fossil, dubbed as Storr Lochs Monster, belongs to an ichthyosaur. Ichthyosaur is family of extinct marine reptiles that is believed to roam together with dinosaurs during the Middle Jurassic Period. The gigantic sea monster is considered to be the dolphins of their time, characterized by their long, narrow snouts and cone-shaped teeth. According to the report from the USA Today, the fossil was discovered by amateur fossil collector Norrie Gillies while he was having a stroll near the Storr Lochs power station in 1966. Realizing the magnitude of his discovery, Gillies quickly sent a letter to the Royal Scottish Museum. The museum dispatched a team to the site to remove the fossil. Since its transfer to the museum, the fossil remain buried in storage due to it hard concrete casing. Two generations of Gillies household later, Allan Gillies, son of Norrie and an engineer at SSE, established communication with Stephen Brusatte, a professor at University of Edinburg and one of the lead researchers analyzing the fossil. Allan, together with his sisters, is determined to reveal what is inside their father's discovery. Allan and Brusatte seek the help of noted conservationist Nigel Larkin to prepare the fossil for display. Allan also approached his employer to raise funds needed for the project. Unfortunately, Norrie passed away in 2011 without even witnessing the true beauty of his discovery, "Dad's not around to see it himself, but I know he'd be very, very pleased to know that it's finally being displayed, and he'd also be very pleased to know that it's the company he worked for that helped to make it happen," Allan told National Geographic. "It's sort of completing the story." Read: Fossil of New Species of Flying Dinosaur Found in Argentina What Roar? Study Reveals Dinosaurs Did Not "Roar," But Cooed Like Birds Siberia's 'Jurassic Pearls' Sign of Ancient Civilization; Giant Balls Stun Locals The explosion of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket during a routine test firing on Sept. 1 could create a "ripple effect" across both the space and telecom industries, space experts warned. The incident could impact the planned acquisition of a satellite operator, delay crucial communication satellite launches and disrupt cargo deliveries to the International Space Station (ISS). "No doubt SpaceX will fix the problems, but if you're a customer time is money," Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University and a former NASA administrator, said in a report by The New York Times. "This will get customers looking at alternatives. It may give competitors an opening and slow down SpaceX." SpaceX's standard pre-launch preparations for Falcon 9 flights included static fire tests, which were done in the rocket's launch pad at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The test was conducted prior to the Sept. 3 launch of the Amos-6 communications satellite, which was commissioned by social media behemoth Facebook as part of its initiative to provide Internet connectivity to hard-to-reach areas in sub-Saharan Africa. The Amos-6 payload, which was made by the Israeli company Spacecom, was destroyed during the explosion, and the incident could endanger the acquisition of Spacecom by the Chinese conglomerate Beijing Xinwei Technology Group. The deal was pending on the successful launch of the Amos-6 satellite, The New York Times reports. The explosion has also caused a downtime for the Falcon 9, which delayed the launches of communications satellites that support international mobile phone and digital television services. It affected launch contracts with Iridium Communications, Luxembourg-based SES, EchoStar and KT Corporation from South Korea. Moreover, the extended delay could possibly affect NASA's plan to launch manned spaceflights aboard the SpaceX rocket and the launch of military and national security satellites for the Department of Defense. SpaceX, a private space launch company owned by entrepreneur and billionaire Elon Musk, has aggressive launch plans this 2016, and hopes to launch 18 rockets this year. The Amos-6 satellite launch would have been the SpaceX's ninth this year. The company has 27 successful launches of Falcon 9 rockets so far. Read: SpaceX Failed Launch Will Not Affect Asteroid Mission, According to NASA SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Exploded in Cape Carnaval, Destroying Facebook Satellite Second-Hand SpaceX Rocket to Launch Telecom Satellite One day after a gunman opened fire following a crash on Interstate 880 in Oakland, East Bay officials are renewing their call for surveillance cameras to be installed along local freeways. Since November, there have been nearly 30 shootings on Bay Area freeways, most of them concentrated in the East Bay. Mayors from several East Bay cities have lobbied the state to pay for and install security cameras along stretches of Interstate 80 and Highway 4. After Sunday's shooting, East Bay residents are pressuring city leaders get to work on preventing another freeway shooting. "It has to stop," Mark Ghali, of Concord, said. "Im kind of worried you know its still going on," said Douglas Azevedo, who regularly drives on I-80 in Oakland. Just after 5 p.m. Sunday near the High Street off-ramp, the driver of a silver Mercedes hit two cars and then got out and started shooting at another car. Two people suffered minor injuries from the crash but were not hit by the gunfire. Hercules Mayor Dan Romero said if cameras had been installed, police could have a lead on the shooter. Romero and a dozen other local leaders have asked the state for $2 million to install security cameras along I-80 and other roadways. "Our proposal for license plate readers on on- and off-ramps ... we would have been able to capture that license plate," Romero said. "I think its escalating. It doesnt take a brain surgeon to understand the shootings have gone from one area of the Bay Area to another." Romero said Alameda County leaders and Metropolitan Transportation Commission officials may need to get involved now that the highway shootings seem to be moving south. "I think were all in it together. As far as who pays for the cameras, I think its a mix of local, state and federal," U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Pleasanton) said. Swalwell said technology will help but wont solve everything. "Its everyones worst nightmare that you could be driving down the road and be caught in the crossfire," he said. "Thats a big concern. I think right now in America there are too many guns." Meanwhile, other drivers want to feel safer without feeling violated. "Of course, theres an invasion of privacy issue," Ghali said. "I think they have microphones that can detect gunfire, which might be better because it doesnt interfere with peoples privacy, but at the same time youre able to catch people." Romero said he is still waiting to hear back from the state Assemblys transportation committee about the $2 million request, which he submitted two weeks ago. As of Monday, neither Oakland police nor the California Highway Patrol had new leads on Sundays shooting and hit-and-run. They are asking for the publics help in identifying the driver. Ex-Stanford University student Brock Turner registered as a sex offender on Tuesday in his hometown of Bellbrook, Ohio, four days after he left a San Jose, California, jail after serving three months for felony sexual assault. Carleen Turner tried to shield her son's face with her white sweater, as the 21-year-old walked into the Greene County Sheriff's Office Tuesday morning to sign the paperwork with a bank of reporters trailing his move. Turner took his sunglasses off to sit down and fill out the necessary forms on a clipboard. He did not speak publicly, driving off in a white SUV, refusing to answer questions about whether he wanted to apologize or what he would do about work. He will remain on the sex offender's list for the rest of his life. Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer said all of Turner's neighbors will receive a notification letter informing them that a sex offender is moving in nearby. "Were required to check in on him, and we exceed our requirements sometimes, so we will check on him and make sure hes living where hes supposed to," Fischer said. Before sentencing, Turner's mother had written the court asking the judge not to send her son to prison or jail, saying that would be a "death sentence." NBC Bay Area/NBC News "This is his future life," she wrote. "I beg of you, please don't send him to jail/prison. Look at him. He won't survive it. He will be damaged forever and I fear he would be a major target. Stanford boy, college kid, college athlete - all the publicity.... this would be a death sentence for him. Having lost everything he has ever worked for his entire life and knowing the registry is a requirement for the rest of his life certainly is more than harsh.... Your honor, please be kind and merciful to my beautiful son. He is suffering and will continue to pay for this for his entire lifetime." Since Turner returned to his hometown in Ohio, his neighbors have been anything but welcoming. Some of them brandished rifles, carrying the guns under the state's open carry laws to send the message that Turner's actions will not be forgotten. The armed protesters stress they are not threatening to harm Turner, unless they catch him committing another crime. They say it's their form of justice and a way to keep Turner on edge. Richard Brewster/Awakened Cincinnatians Turner walked out of the jail in San Jose Friday morning after serving three months of a six-month sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman after a fraternity party at Stanford in January 2015. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky handed out the sentence in June after a probation officer recommended that prison would have a severe impact on the former Stanford swimmer. Persky has since been under fire for being too easy on Turner, who could have received a 14-year prison term for his crimes. Many rallies have been held in Silicon Valley against both the judge and Turner. Meanwhile, the committee of Bay Area organizers working to recall Persky say they don't agree with the armed protesters in Ohio but believe Persky is responsible for creating a more vigilante environment. In her letter to the court, Carleen Turner noted that her son "is suffering" and "will continue to pay for this for his entire lifetime." NBC Bay Area/NBC News Wire services and NBC Bay Area's Rick Boone and Stephen Ellison contributed to this report. Convicted sex offender Brock Turner is back in his hometown in Ohio, but many neighbors have been anything but welcoming. Some of them even brandished rifles, carrying the guns under the state's open carry laws to send the message that what Turner did will not be forgotten. "No one is going to shoot him unless we see him victimizing people," said Micah Naziri, one of several Greene County residents protesting Turner's lax punishment for a sexual assault conviction. The former Stanford University swimmer was released from Santa Clara County jail Friday morning after serving three months of a six-month sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman after a fraternity party at Stanford in January 2015. Judge Aaron Persky issue the sentence in June and has since been under fire for being too easy on Turner, who could have received a 10-year prison term for his crimes. Now back at his parents' home, Turner is serving three years probation. He must register as a sex offender and will be monitored by law enforcement as such for the rest of his life. Richard Brewster/Awakened Cincinnatians Several groups have been protesting Turner's choice of residency. The armed protesters stress they are not threatening to harm Turner, unless they catch him committing another crime. They say it's their form of justice and a way to keep Turner on edge. "Even if the justice system fails, the community is not going to fail," Naziri said. Meanwhile, the committee working to recall Persky is blaming the judge for the gun patrols, saying his light sentence for Turner is having a trickle-down effect. The group said it doesn't agree with the armed protesters but believes Persky is responsible for creating a more vigilante environment. Families and friends gathered for a candlelight vigil Monday night honoring two Union City teens who were killed in a freeway crash over the weekend. Joe "Junior" Ioramo and Izaiah Mease, both 17, were killed early Sunday morning when the 2004 Honda Accord driven by Izaiah crashed into a Dodge Ram pickup on southbound Interstate 880 in Hayward. One other passenger in the Honda was injured, as were the two occupants of the pickup, according to reports. The cause of the crash is being investigated, but initial reports indicated the Honda swerved toward the median and collided with the pickup. The two James Logan High School students were remembered during the vigil at the Union City campus, where more than 150 of their classmates gathered on the day before classes begin. Junior's father Joe Ioramo Sr. offered a painful message for parents and students. "Just dont take life for granted," he said. "He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Family friends said the boys went out for a late-night snack. "You want your kids to be independent and explore the world," said Tracie Noriega, Ioramo's former principal at Alvarado Elementary School. "But how do you do that and not want to shelter them when things like this happen?" District officials said grief counselors will be on the Logan High campus this week. Former Stanford University student Brock Turner, who was released from a San Jose jail Friday after serving half of a six-month sentence for sexual assault, registered as a sex offender Tuesday in his hometown of Bellbrook, Ohio. As part of the process of registering as a sex offender, Turner had to fill out a sex offender notification questionnaire, as required by the Greene County Ohio Sheriffs Office. "The form is an internal form we put together to gather a bit of additional information directly from the offenders. It could assist us in future investigations if needed," said Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer. The notification will be used by the sheriffs office to inform residents that Turner lives in their area, as mandated for their protection under the Community Notification Act in Ohio. Turner will remain on the sex offenders list for the rest of his life. According to Fischer, all first time offenders are asked to complete the questionnaire. In the notification, Turner was required to fill out his age, sex, handicap status, race, eyes and the zip code of the city where the sex assault occurred (in this case Palo Alto). There were also specific questions regarding what took place the night of January 18, 2015, the date of the assault. Turner was eventually convicted in March for sexually assaulting an unconscious young woman behind a dumpster after a frat party on the Stanford campus. Turner was also required to answer the following questions on the sex offender notification form pertaining to the specifics of the assault: How many times did it occur? Once Was there any alcohol involved? Yes Was there any drugs involved? No How did you know this person? Met at Party How old were you? 19 Turner wrote that he has never been convicted or had had problems with sexual crimes or felonies in the part. He wrote that he has never been convicted of arson, animal cruelty, indecent exposure and voyeurism. He wrote that he does not have any addictions to drugs, alcohol or pornography. On Tuesday, Turners mother, Carleen Turner, tried to shield her son's face with her white sweater, as the 21-year-old walked into the Greene County Sheriff's Office to sign the paperwork a swarm of reporters trailing his every move. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky handed out Turners sentence in June after a probation officer recommended that prison would have a severe impact on the former Stanford swimmer. Persky has since been under fire for being too easy on Turner, who could have received a 14-year prison term for his crimes. Many rallies have been held in Silicon Valley against both the judge and Turner.[[392504031, C]] As Chicago Public Schools kicked off a new school year Tuesday, union leaders continued to prepare for a potential strike. The Chicago Teachers Union has been working without a contract for more than a year. If no agreement is reached, the union is discussing a potential strike in mid-October, or sooner, according to sources close to the decision. CTU President Karen Lewis wrote a letter to union members Monday. We will not work another year without a contract, so negotiations with the board are a priority and a major part of the context in which we begin the school year, she added. The other major part is the education of our citys nearly 400,000 public school students. After the district laid off nearly 1,000 teachers and staff members last month, union leaders directed members to gear up for a possible strike. The union sees a new contract proposal as a serious sticking point. CPS has proposed phasing in a 7 percent pension payment for teachers that was previously covered by the city. Lewis has said teachers will strike if the payment is imposed on union members. On Tuesday, the union president acknowledged that negotiations were still ongoing, noting that the union has yet to make a decision on the strike. "We're not close on some issues, we're close on others," Lewis told NBC 5's Mary Ann Ahern Tuesday. "You know, people want a yes or no answer and, again, it's way more complicated than that," she added. The CTUs House of Delegates will meet Wednesday to discuss setting a possible strike date. Union leaders would have to file a 10-day strike notice with the State Labor Board if an official date is decided. Nevertheless, a strike could still be averted. On Monday, CPS CEO Forrest Claypool said the two sides in the teacher contract talks are at the table every day, the Chicago Tribune reports. "Our teachers do great work, we've seen the results," Claypool said during a press conference Tuesday. "And we want to be as generous as we can. We hope that teachers will say yes to the healthy raise we have on the table." According to the Tribune, the CTU says the two sides are roughly $300 million apart in their negotiations. The union last staged a strike in 2012. During a Tuesday press conference at Burke Elementary, Mayor Rahm Emanuel praised CPS commitment to offering students a comprehensive education that incorporates the arts, but failed to comment on a potential CTU strike. A 21-year-old man has been charged with pointing a handgun with a laser at another driver early Monday on the South Side. Derrick Harrington was charged with two felony counts of aggravated assault with a handgun laser, according to a statement from the Cook County sheriffs office. About 1 a.m. Monday, sheriffs police were conducting a safety check in the 7100 block of South Indiana when a woman told them that a man pointed a handgun laser at her and her passenger, according to the statement. The woman added that the suspect was in the vehicle behind them. Harrington refused orders to show his hands and exit the vehicle, but officers were able to extract and handcuff him, according to the sheriffs office. A loaded .40 caliber Glock with an activated laser sight was recovered from under the drivers seat in Harringtons car. Harrington possessed a valid FOID card and concealed carry license, but his permits are being processed for revocation, according to the sheriffs office. Two peopleincluding a pregnant womanwere shot in Chicagos Back of the Yards neighborhood, police confirmed Monday afternoon. The victims, shot near the intersection of 53rd Street and Sangamon were identified by family as 23-year-old Crystal Myer and 25-year-old Albert Moore, a couple expecting their first child. Family outside of Stroger Hospital said the baby has been deliver and both parents remain in surgery. Police say Moore is a documented gang member. Andrew Holmes, a crisis responder, said this is the second in as many days he has responded to in the neighborhood, and that he saw Myer in the neighborhood Sunday. I remember this young lady who was shot today, Holmes said of Myer. She was here yesterday walking down the street crying, she is pregnant, so this is the same young lady that went into the house from yesterday and was hit by gunfire. Victoria Harden said she found Myer in the street about 3 p.m. Monday, called an ambulance and tried to comfort the woman. I see the lady on the ground and her family, like any family, are screaming and panicking, Harden said. So I just got on the ground and held the lady, she is pregnant, just talking to her and giving her some comforting words. Tyler Thomas, Moores grandfather, said he thinks he saw the person who shot the couple. I was upstairs and I heard the shots and I looked out the window and I seen some guy running across the lot and when I got downstairs they was shot, he said. Holmes said this is just one of many shootings over a violent weekend. Its terrible, for here, shooting all over the city, he said. It started yesterday evening until nowhasnt stopped. Gov. Bruce Rauner responded Tuesday to a report that he is voting for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, claiming he is staying out of the presidential race altogether. According to a Chicago Now report, Rauner responded to a question from a young man at the Taste of Polonia Festival on Chicagos Northwest side Sunday, reportedly affirming that he will be voting for Trump in November. Are you voting for Trump, the audience member asked. Rauner then reportedly responded yes and nodded his head up and down. However, on Tuesday, Rauner answered a question about the report, denying that he's endorsing anyone in the presidential race. "I am not endorsing in the presidential race, I'm not commenting on the presidential race," Rauner said during a press conference in Wheeling. "I'm staying out of it and I'm focused 100 percent on Illinois." In March, Rauner said he would support the billionaire if he became the partys nominee, the Associated Press reported. At the time, the governor wouldnt comment on individual candidates because the primary process was still in mid-stream. However, the Republican governor said he would support whoever the voters chose, including Trump. He also noted that he would do everything he could to work with that nominee." Rauner reversed course in May, announcing that he wouldnt back Trump if he became the partys nominee or attend Julys Republican National Convention. Other Illinois Republicans, like Sen. Mark Kirk and Rep. Bob Dold, have also made it clear that they wont back the divisive Trump. The company that runs ITT Technical Institute announced Tuesday that "with profound regret" it was shutting down academic operations at all of its campuses and thousands of its employees will lose their jobs. The move comes after the federal government banned the Carmel, Indiana-based for-profit chain last month from enrolling students who use federal loans to pay for classes. "It is with profound regret that we must report that ITT Educational Services, Inc. will discontinue academic operations at all of its ITT Technical Institutes permanently after approximately 50 years of continuous service," ITT Educational Services, Inc. said in a release. "With what we believe is a complete disregard by the U.S. Department of Education for due process to the company, hundreds of thousands of current students and alumni and more than 8,000 employees will be negatively affected." ITT operates vocational schools at more than 130 campuses in 38 states, often under the ITT Technical Institute name. Last year, it enrolled 45,000 students and reported $850 million in revenue. Officials with the Department of Education announced on Aug. 25 the ban on enrolling students with federal loans and other measures against the chain, which has been the subject of state and federal investigations focusing on its recruiting and accounting practices. Among the measures, ITT was ordered to pay $152 million to the department within 30 days to cover student refunds and other liabilities in case the company closed. ITT is still paying another $44 million demanded by the department in June for the same reason. The education department also prohibited ITT from awarding its executives any pay raises or bonuses, and said it must develop "teach-out" plans that would help current students finish their programs at other colleges if the chain shut down. Under the new measures, current students would have been able to continue receiving federal grants and loans. "The actions of and sanctions from the U.S. Department of Education have forced us to cease operations of the ITT Technical Institutes, and we will not be offering our September quarter," the company said on Tuesday. "We reached this decision only after having exhausted the exploration of alternatives, including transfer of the schools to a non-profit or public institution." The firm said its focus and priority with remaining staff was "on helping the tens of thousands of unexpectedly displaced students with their records and future educational options." Last month, a group that accredits ITT found that the chain failed to meet several basic standards and was unlikely to comply in the future. One of the biggest for-profit chains in the nation, ITT has been under increasing scrutiny from the education department following allegations of misconduct. The Massachusetts attorney general sued the company in April, alleging that it misled students about the quality of its programs. The federal government had previously sued the chain, saying that it pushed students into high-cost private student loans knowing they would likely end in default. Department officials have been closely monitoring ITT's operations since 2014, when the chain was late to submit an annual report of its finances to the government. Under President Barack Obama, the Education Department has led a crackdown on for-profit colleges that have misled students or failed to deliver the results they promised. In 2014, the department cut off federal aid to the Corinthian Colleges chain amid allegations of fraud, leading it to close or sell all of its schools. "We were not provided with a hearing or an appeal," ITT Educational Services, Inc. said of the government's actions. "Alternatives that we strongly believe would have better served students, employees, and taxpayers were rejected. The damage done to our students and employees, as well as to our shareholders and the American taxpayers, is irrevocable." Guilford police are searching for the suspect in an overnight convenience store robbery. Guilford police said the incident occurred at the Xtramart at 1675 Boston Post Road sometime overnight Monday into Tuesday. Police did not have many details to release, but did confirm that no weapon was shown during the incident. New London police are assisting by checking an address in their city that may be related to the crime. Check back for updates. The Hartford Fire Department rescued two small kittens from a burning house on Monday afternoon and officials looking into the cause of the fire said it appears suspicious. Crews responded to the fire on 9-11 Deerfield Ave. on Monday afternoon and found the second and third floors on fire. NBC Connecticut Deputy Police Chief Brian Foley said the firefighters temporarily nicknamed the two kittens Deerfield and Smokey and the kittens are reportedly doing fine, the fire captain said. The fire was out by 5 p.m. on Monday and 11 people were displaced and need to be relocated because of extensive damage to the house. Hartford Fire Captain Raul Ortiz said they had gotten a report of a child being trapped inside, but said the person was able to make it out on their own. No tenants were injured, but a firefighter was transported to St. Francis Hospital for heat exhaustion. Hartford police have arrested two men accused of breaking into a home while the owner was on vacation. Police said George Ashline, 48, of West Hartford and Jose Gonzalez, 40, of Hartford, allegedly broke into a home on Brown Street by removing a piece of glass on a back door. A neighbor spotted two suspects entering the house and, knowing that the homeowner was on vacation, called police, who responded and found Ashline and Gonzalez inside the home. Police contacted the homeowner who confirmed that no one should have been in the house. Both men were charged with third-degree burglary. Detectives are also working to see if the suspects are connected to other recent burglaries in West Hartford. Police are looking for three thieves they said made off with hundreds of cartons of ice cream and energy drinks from pharmacies and convenience stores in Manhattan over the last several months. Duane Reade, CVS and Rite Aid stores have been hit 14 times during business hours between November and January, according to the NYPD. In each instance, thieves pilfered dozens of cartons and boxes of Haagen Daaz, Ben & Jerrys or Talenti ice cream. Authorities said they made off with nearly 1,200 ice cream bars and cartons. They also stole Red Bull, 5-Hour Energy, Muscle Milk and cold medicine. One store, a Duane Reade on Sixth Avenue between West 26th and West 27th streets, was hit four times over the three-month span. Police have previously told DNAinfo that thieves have taken to targeting pharmacy chains for high-end ice cream cartons. They then turn and resell the ice cream to bodegas and corner stores throughout the city. And earlier this month, Gristedes owner and former New York City mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis offered a $5,000 reward for thieves caught on camera loading up carts with Ben & Jerrys and Haagen Daaz at a Chelsea location of his supermarket chain. They were later arrested. Anyone with information about ice cream thefts should call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS. An insurance company has appealed an order by a federal judge in Connecticut to reimburse the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford $945,000 for payments church officials made to settle sexual misconduct cases involving priests. Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven ruled in July that Chicago-based Interstate Fire amp; Casualty breached a contract when it refused to reimburse the archdiocese for more than $1 million in payments made in four abuse cases involving minors. The company had reimbursed the archdiocese for previous settlements in priest abuse cases, but joined other insurers across the country that have balked at paying legal settlements in such cases. Interstate Fire & Casualty appealed Arterton's ruling to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York last week. Police arrested a New Haven man who is accused of hitting a Hamden police cruiser and throwing heroin from his car. Police tried to stop 56-year-old Victor Dewindt, of New Haven, around 9 p.m. on Saturday when they saw him speeding without the lights on, police said, but Dewindt refused to stop and threw a bag up and over his vehicle. Police later determined the bag held 600 wax folds of heroin with an estimated street value of around $12,600, police said. Dewindt eventually stopped his car on Prospect Street, but backed up and hit a Hamden police vehicle, police said. Officers then took him into custody and said they found him with $9,887. Dewindt was charged with possession of narcotics, possession of narcotics with the intent to sell, interfering with a police officer, reckless driving, failure to obey officers signal, operating under suspension and failure to have headlights lit. He was held on a $150,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court in Meriden on Sept 16. Police are investigating the shootings of two people in Bridgeport early Saturday morning. Police responded to Park and Oliver streets at 12:30 a.m. after reports of two people being shot and found one female shot in the buttocks. Around 10 minutes later, police received a report of a male who was brought to the emergency room because he was shot in the leg. Police said this was a drive-by shooting and the person might have been in a silver Toyota. State police are investigating after a New Haven police officer shot a Guilford robbery suspect who rammed police cruisers in New Haven on Tuesday morning, police said. Guilford police issued an alert about a robbery in their town, said they were looking for 50-year-old Kenneth Palmieri, of Branford, and provided a description of the vehicle he was in. Soon after, New Haven police were dispatched to investigate a robbery at 55 Church St. and saw Palmieri as they were approaching and pursued him until the chase became too dangerous, police said. Minutes later, police spotted him sitting in a car at the Church Street South housing project. As officers approached, Palmieri sped up and crashed into two of the cruisers, police said. He was spotted doing drugs in the vehicle, police said. One officer fired, hitting Palmieri in the arm and and he was brought to Yale-New Haven Hospital to be treated. No officers were injured during the incident. The state's attorney office and state police are investigating, which is protocol. Milford police have arrested two men accused of stealing tires off cars at a local dealership. Ismael Mercado, 29, and Luis Rodriquez, 30, both of New Haven, were arrested Saturday. Police said they were called to Courtney Honda, located at 767 Bridgeport Avenue, around 3:45 a.m. Saturday for reports of two suspicious men walking around the parking lot. According to police, surveillance video showed the men taking tires off some of the vehicles and leaving the cars on cinder blocks. Police located the two suspects, who were trying to hide in the lot, with the help of K9 Zar. Mercado was injured trying to flee K9 Zar. He was treated on scene and brought to the emergency room for evaluation. Both men were charged with third-degree larceny, criminal attempt to commit larceny, criminal trespassing, tampering with a motor vehicle, criminal mischief, and interfering with an officer/resisting arrest. Police said the pair tried to steal $4,000 worth of tires and did $500 worth of damage to a fence around the lot. They were each released on a $10,000 bond. They are scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 27. Westport police are warning business owners about a recent utility company scams. Police said scammers are targeting businesses through phone calls and emails. The scammers typically claim to be from the electric company and tellbusinesses their bill payment is overdue. The caller will say that if payment isnt provided within 30 minutes, utilities will be shut off. The scammers then request the payment be made through prepared money cards or money wiring services. Scammers may also sent emails with similar claims and provide a phone number to call. Police said if you receive such a communication, check monthly statements or call your utility company directly to check the legitimacy of it before sending any money. Mylan says middlemen and suppliers have forced them to jack up the prices on EpiPens by hundreds of dollars, but two industry insiders say the company pays no more than $30 per device, NBC News reports. Some patients are forced to pay a little over $600 out of pocket for a two-pack of the lifesaving medication. Mylan sparked outrage last month when it was revealed the company had hiked up costs for the drug by over 400 percent since it acquired the brand. Kevin Deane, a partner with the PA Consulting Group, a global technology and design firm that sold a drug delivery technology company to Pfizer in 2004, told NBC News that the base components for each EpiPen, including the plastic cap, tube and needle, might cost between $2 to $4 to purchase. Pharmacists contacted by NBC estimate that the epinephrine inside costs less than $1. Mylan gets $274 from each sale, but must use that money to pay for costs, according to the company and Mylan CEO Heather Bresch, in a recent CNBC interview. Mylan didn't respond to an NBC News request to itemize its costs, but a Mylan spokesperson told NBC that "all of those costs would clearly make the $274 number significantly lower." With the discovery that Barton Springs salamanders aren't just found in their namesake waterway, Austin officials are embarking on a DNA analysis of the endangered species. The Austin American-Statesman reports the City Council last week agreed to partner with the University of Texas, which will provide the DNA sequencing of samples provided by the city. Officials hope to answer questions including how large the population is and whether they're traveling through the aquifer to reach other springs. Researchers have recently found the salamanders in other areas of southern Travis and northern Hays counties. Tom Devitt of Austin's Watershed Protection Department expects to test a total of 150 to 200 salamanders from the various locations. Devitt says their job is now to make sure the species doesn't go extinct. Tuesday morning, Dallas City Council's Housing Committee will meet to prioritize how much money to spend on the city's stubborn homeless problem. The budget needs to be finalized soon, and homeless advocates are asking for millions of additional dollars. The city says there are dozens of reported homeless camps, most of them are clustered near downtown. And there are no easy answers about the best way to tackle that problem. As leaders get ready for another debate on how much money to devote to the homeless situation, another tent goes up in the latest version of so-called "Tent City"--near Interstate 30 and Haskell, a few hundred yards away from the Fairgrounds. "They're trying to close down all the camps and leave them with nowhere to go," said Charles Gilbert, who says he has been homeless in Dallas for 10 years. Gilbert admits he is a registered sex offender but says he doesn't abuse drugs or alcohol and wants the chance to live "with a roof over my head" and earn a living. "A lot of these homeless people are hoping to get off the streets and get into housing and get a job and correct their lives," he said. "A lot of the people here have just gotten out of prison and they had nowhere to go and they are forced to become homeless." The city manager's budget proposal calls for a $4.4 million dollar increase in homeless assistance. Most of that is covered by grants, but city taxpayers will be asked to pay $1 million more. In total, the plan is to spend $16.6 million on homeless assistance next fiscal year. $7.1 million of that comes from Dallas general funds, up from $6.1 million last year. The money will be used for additional case workers and support services, and for homeless camp cleanups. "We've been out here with other volunteers and try and clean the place up and then in a week it's all trashed again," Gilbert said. Heather Longyear is studying social justice in college, and rents a storage near a large homeless camp under I-30, which has grown to about 100 tents. "I think if we can put some of that four million extra dollars into something to help the mental health care of people who are struggling, that would be the best use of that money," she said. According to city statistics, 75 homeless people in recent months have been moved into transitional apartments. private housing, or emergency shelters. It's a positive step forward, but it comes at a cost to taxpayers--who will be asked once again to foot a large bill. Every year, millions of Americans put a bow on the summer by hitting the road for Labor Day weekend. For some, the destinations are a bit farther out and they'll travel by air. Online ticket broker Kayak recently published data showing where Americans were headed this year, or at least where they were searching for tickets -- and the results may surprise you. Texas travelers, for instance, showed a whopping 500-plus percent increase in interest in spending Labor Day in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Those in the cheese state didn't mess with Texas, instead considering travel to Spokane, Washington. However, Texas did get some national love. Those in Iowa wanted to travel to Austin while travelers in four other states were all excited to visit Big D. "Dallas is the number one trending destination for several states: Alaska (searches are up by 16 percent); Kentucky (up by 143 percent); New Hampshire (up by 248 percent), and West Virginia (up by 157 percent)," Kayak said. Other popular destinations for U.S. travelers were Orlando, San Diego, and London, England. To see the entire list, click here. After two lengthy leaves of absence, Dallas County District Attorney Susan Hawk announced her resignation Tuesday afternoon saying she's no longer able to do her job and that she needs to focus her undivided attention on her mental health.[[392488791,R]] Hawk, who confirmed the announcement to NBC 5 earlier in the day, made public her decision in a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott Tuesday afternoon saying it was with a heavy heart that she must tender her resignation as Dallas County DA. "It's been an honor and a privilege to serve this office and the citizens of Dallas County, but my health needs my undivided attention," Hawk said. "I appreciate the grace I've been shown as I've tried to balance my health and my duties. But last fall upon returning from treatment, I made a commitment to step away from the office if I felt I could no longer do my job, and unfortunately I've reached that point as my health needs my full attention in the coming months." Dallas DA Susan Hawk set to resign this afternoon, per source. Stay tuned to @NBCDFW for coverage pic.twitter.com/4e0Q55sBE9 Meredith Land (@MeredithNBC5) September 6, 2016 Since taking over as the county's top prosecutor in January 2015, Hawk has taken two extended leaves of absence where she's been hospitalized three times for depression, twice in Houston and once in Arizona. Through it all she's fought off calls for her resignation as well as a lawsuit seeking to oust her from her position on the grounds that she was unfit to perform her duties. The lawsuit, which had been filed by a former employee, was eventually tossed out. Dallas County District Attorney Susan Hawk announced her resignation Tuesday afternoon, saying she needs to focus her undivided attention on her health. After her first leave of absence from July 29-Oct. 1, 2015, Hawk sat down with NBC 5's Meredith Land for an hourlong interview where she detailed her nine-week stay at a Houston in-patient facility. During the discussion Hawk detailed her lifelong battle with mental illness and discussed with candor her divorce, depression and thoughts of suicide. In her first TV interview, Dallas County DA Susan Hawk talks exclusively to NBC 5s Meredith Land about the major depressive disorder that led her to contemplate resigning and committing suicide. "My depression and my anxiety had gotten out of control, and I didn't even realize what it was. All I knew is I didn't want to do this any more. I didn't want to be here any more. I thought about my job and my job was always such a big part of me, and I wanted to do the right thing for that. So I thought I'll resign and then I will just, I'll kill myself," Hawk said in that interview. Hawk returned to work Oct. 1, 2015 but would again voluntarily seek treatment at Houston's Menninger Clinic on May 20, 2016, to be, according to her office, "proactive with her mental health plan." One month later, Hawk said she was seeking treatment at an in-patient facility in Arizona that specialized in mood disorders. Hawk returned to work in August and said she'd been working with mental health professionals to ensure that she was healthy after battling depression. "It is with a heavy heart that I must tender my resignation." - Dallas DA Susan Hawk tells me https://t.co/GFfkCLOzD7 Meredith Land (@MeredithNBC5) September 6, 2016 "We have decided that I am ready to physically return to my job as the Dallas County District Attorney and continue my commitment of seeking justice on behalf of our community," she said last month. Throughout her most recent hospitalization, Hawk said she's had constant contact with her administration and her doctors. "Maintaining optimal mental health will always be a priority. Mental illness is a lifelong disease; however, as district attorney, I am incredibly blessed to have such a strong and supportive administrative team and such incredible attorneys, investigators, and staff who have handled my absence with both grace and professionalism. I look forward to once again working with my staff to make Dallas County safe and thriving," Hawk said in August. In her resignation letter Tuesday, Hawk said she hoped her personal health issues would not overshadow the great work her office has done over the past 20 months. In her first TV interview, Dallas County DA Susan Hawk talks exclusively to NBC 5s Meredith Land about the major depressive disorder that led her to contemplate resigning and committing suicide. A spokesperson for the governor's office tells NBC 5 the office received Hawk's resignation letter Tuesday. Among their successes, Hawk highlighted improving efficiency, trust and transparency, securing more than $2 million in grant funding for sexual assault and family violence units and conducting six town hall meetings addressing issues in Hispanic communities. Hawk also mentioned the creation of the Community Response Team targeting offenders who pose the biggest threat to the community and the expansion of the Conviction Integrity Unit. Following Hawk's announcement Tuesday, Mark Haney, one of the two attorneys who filed the petition to have Hawk removed from office, issued a statement criticizing Hawk for taking so long to recognize her shortcomings. I am sorry that Ms. Hawk is unable to serve out her term as Dallas District Attorney. I think it is concerning that she has taken so long to recognize that she was unfit for the office. I think she did a disservice to the citizens of the county when she ran for the office knowing that she was suffering from acute mental illness," said Haney. "It was our knowledge of her condition and her inability to perform that drove our efforts to have her removed from office last year. We hope she gets the help she needs for her condition, and that Dallas County finally has a qualified office holder who can do the job. While wishing Hawk the best in her recovery, Texas Democrats also questioned the timing of the district attorney's announcement saying had it been made by Aug. 26 there could have been an election in Dallas County on Nov. 8 to vote on her replacement. Now, Abbott and the Governor's Appointments Office will be charged with filling her seat. The timing of this decision is purely political ... It could not be clearer: Greg Abbott and Texas Republicans have no regard for the voters of Dallas County. This is politics at its worst," Texas Democrats said in a news release. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins also remarked on the timing of Hawk's decision. "I hope Susan Hawk succeeds in her battle with health challenges and I believe she can. The timing of the resignation is very unfortunate for Dallas County voters because it is coming just days after the ballot submission deadline," Jenkins said in a statement. "Whenever possible, the voters - not the politicians - should decide who represents them in elected office. Had the District Attorney resigned a few days earlier, the Democratic and Republican precinct chairs could have each selected a candidate to represent their respective parties on the upcoming November 8 ballot. The Libertarian Party could have placed a candidate on the ballot as well and the Dallas County voters would then choose their new District Attorney. Because of the timing of the resignation, a political appointee chosen by Governor Abbott will fill the position for over two years." Placing politics aside, Phillip Huffines, the chairman of the Dallas County Republican Party and Ron Pinkston, president of the Dallas Police Association, only wished Hawk well in her recovery. It is with sadness that I have learned of District Attorney Susan Hawk's resignation. I wish her and her family well and will keep them in my prayers. I think the decision Susan took is what's best for her family and the citizens of Dallas County. The job of defending liberty and serving the people of Dallas is one that should be taken seriously, and I salute Susan's willingness to place herself in the public spotlight. I pledge to work with whomever Governor Abbott chooses as Susan's successor, and will work hard to ensure we appoint a strong Republican to replace Susan," said Huffines. The Dallas Police Association supports Susan Hawk and her decision to step down as the Dallas County District Attorney to continue her treatment for depression. Its our hope and prayer that Susans decision to resign will allow her to focus 100 percent of her time and effort on her recovery. The District Attorneys office is vital to protecting the families of Dallas County and we urge Governor Abbott to appoint someone who shares Susans commitment to justice and public safety," said Pinkston. In her resignation letter, Hawk said she spent the first six months of her tenure assembling "a leadership team for our DA's office that is among the best in the nation" and that it was her "hope that this team can stay together and move forward seamlessly with a new leader." State Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, says he wishes outgoing Dallas County DA Susan Hawk the best with her mental health battle but wishes she handled her resignation better. "I wish Susan all the best. I can only imagine, you know, what she is going through as it relates to her medical condition, and so I wish her the best on that. I am, how should I say it, disappointed in the way she went about doing it," said State Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas. "If people really think about it, she would not have been the district attorney of Dallas County had she not switched parties from a Republican. We supported her in the Democratic primaries and got her elected as a judge as a Democrat, and then she switched back. She won the general election with the support of Democrats and Republicans," West continued. "And so, if indeed you were going to resign, I think you should have thought about making certain that the people that 'brung you' you know, that saying people that brung you had an opportunity to replace you with a person of their choice. Had she resigned earlier, then that seat would have been subject to a special election with both Democrats and Republicans." Abbott's office did not put forth a timeline for when a replacement would be named, tweeting, "the Governor's Appointments Office will begin accepting applications and will take the appropriate time to ensure the replacement is the best suited to serve the citizens of Dallas County." Hawk's Resignation Letter [[392485971,C]] A driver who crashed into two police cars during a traffic stop in Ennis late Monday night was shot and killed by police as he drove toward officers a second time, police say. [[392404581,C]] Ennis police said an officer pulled over the driver of a 2003 Honda Civic for a traffic stop in the Way Truth & Life Church parking lot on the 1700 block of North Kaufman Street at about 9 p.m. The officer told the driver later identified by police as 36-year-old Moses Ruben he was going to arrest him after learning he had an invalid driver's license and multiple warrants for arrest. After asking Ruben to exit the vehicle, police said Ruben crashed his car into two Ennis squad cars, narrowly missing the officers. Police said two officers fired three shots at Ruben when he drove at them a second time, striking him at least once. Ruben was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police. The Texas Rangers will conduct an investigation into the shooting. Ennis police said the officers involved have been placed on administrative leave. For those who dedicate their life to serving and protecting, showing off the badge in family portraits doesn't happen often, but a Plano woman focused on changing that. In the days after the police shooting in Downtown Dallas, the daughter of a retired officer looked for a family photo with her dad in uniform for a Facebook post, but the only one Ashley Manley could find was more than a decade old. "I went to look for a picture of my family with my dad in uniform and found that we didn't have anything that wasn't over a decade old. So that got me thinking that was probably the case for most of these families," Manley said. Her father, retired Detective Lee Bollinger has been with the force for 30 years, the photo she found was 12 years old. [[392367281, R]] Manley recruited photographers, and photographers who knew other photographers to volunteer their time to help officers and their families update their family portraits -- the project is called Family in Focus. "Everybody loved the idea, everybody in the community really wanted to do something during that tragedy but didn't know exactly what to do," said Manley. "And so this became a really good way for them to give back and show their support." Manley says in a week and a half, more than 50 professional photographers offered their services, photographers like Arielle Humphries. "You know, you see officers, and imagine badge, handcuffs, gun on their side. And here we see them playing with their babies, throwing them up in the air and catching them, tickling them," said Humphries. "It's really fun to see them just as human beings versus law enforcement." Humphries said being involved in the Family in Focus project has helped her gain a new appreciation for the officers. "It's touched me in a way I never expected. You know I thought, 'show up, take some pictures, meet some great people,' but this means so much to them, it means so much to their family, " said Humphries. "To see them appreciate it so much and to see how it touches them, has made me a better person, really." Manley now has an updated photo. "Being a cop's daughter is all I know," she said. And thanks to Family in Focus, other officers' families have updated photos too. "What better than a photo of them in uniform with their family members? The reason they put that uniform on," said Manley. More: Family in Focus on Facebook The company that runs ITT Technical Institute announced Tuesday it was shutting down academic operations at all of its campuses and thousands of its employees will lose their jobs. The move comes after the federal government banned the for-profit chain last month from enrolling students who use federal loans to pay for classes. "It is with profound regret that we must report that ITT Educational Services, Inc. will discontinue academic operations at all of its ITT Technical Institutes permanently after approximately 50 years of continuous service," ITT Educational Services, Inc. said in a release. "With what we believe is a complete disregard by the U.S. Department of Education for due process to the company, hundreds of thousands of current students and alumni and more than 8,000 employees will be negatively affected." ITT operates vocational schools at more than 130 campuses in 38 states, often under the ITT Technical Institute name. Last year, it enrolled 45,000 students and reported $850 million in revenue. In Texas, ITT operated 10 campuses including locations in Arlington, Austin, DeSoto, Houston (3), Richardson, San Antonio (2) and Waco. Officials with the Department of Education announced on Aug. 25 the ban on enrolling students with federal loans and other measures against the Indiana-based chain, which has been the subject of state and federal investigations focusing on its recruiting and accounting practices. Among the measures, ITT was ordered to pay $152 million to the department within 30 days to cover student refunds and other liabilities in case the company closed. ITT is still paying another $44 million demanded by the department in June for the same reason. The education department also prohibited ITT from awarding its executives any pay raises or bonuses, and said it must develop "teach-out" plans that would help current students finish their programs at other colleges if the chain shut down. Under the new measures, current students would have been able to continue receiving federal grants and loans. "The actions of and sanctions from the U.S. Department of Education have forced us to cease operations of the ITT Technical Institutes, and we will not be offering our September quarter," the company said on Tuesday. "We reached this decision only after having exhausted the exploration of alternatives, including transfer of the schools to a non-profit or public institution." The firm said its focus and priority with remaining staff was "on helping the tens of thousands of unexpectedly displaced students with their records and future educational options." The U.S. Department of Education is offering webinars Wednesday for ITT students to learn more about the closure. Last month, a group that accredits ITT found that the chain failed to meet several basic standards and was unlikely to comply in the future. One of the biggest for-profit chains in the nation, ITT has been under increasing scrutiny from the education department following allegations of misconduct. The Massachusetts attorney general sued the company in April, alleging that it misled students about the quality of its programs. The federal government had previously sued the chain, saying that it pushed students into high-cost private student loans knowing they would likely end in default. Department officials have been closely monitoring ITT's operations since 2014, when the chain was late to submit an annual report of its finances to the government. Under President Barack Obama, the Education Department has led a crackdown on for-profit colleges that have misled students or failed to deliver the results they promised. In 2014, the department cut off federal aid to the Corinthian Colleges chain amid allegations of fraud, leading it to close or sell all of its schools. "We were not provided with a hearing or an appeal," ITT Educational Services, Inc. said of the government's actions. "Alternatives that we strongly believe would have better served students, employees, and taxpayers were rejected. The damage done to our students and employees, as well as to our shareholders and the American taxpayers, is irrevocable." The final holiday weekend of summer means cooling off in the water for many, but homeowners in the North Texas community of Princeton Meadows dont want to go near the neighborhood pool. In fact, they could not get in if they wanted to. A chain and padlock secure the gate and a bright red City of Princeton violation notice is taped to the front. A glance beyond the gate tells you why. The pool is a deep green algae color with a thick film floating on he surface. "I'm upset. I'm angry. I've got a daughter and we'd like to be able to swim in there," homeowner Zach Hightower said. "There's a green film on the top now and with the mosquito issues we've been having who knows what's capable of next," said another homeowner, Jerry Williamson. Both Hightower and Williamson have lived in this community for two years. Williamson loves the neighborhood and plans to retire here but says the pool is just the latest issue and the home owners organization is to blame. "That one board member is also the managing agent for the HOA, makes all financial decisions, has all access to financials. It's just not acceptable," said Williamson. People who own here pay more than $500 a year in HOA fees. Many of the nearly 220 other homeowners feel they are not getting their money's worth because of issues with common areas and of course the current pool situation. "It frustrates me. I pay my dues which compared to other neighborhoods are fairly expensive and the only thing we have to maintain is the pool and we can't seem to do it," said Hightower. Earlier this summer the community got together to remove the HOA manager and demand financial records to see where their money is going. A YouTube video showed the boisterous debate between 70 households and HOA manager Barbara Palmer, as they voted her out. She has refused to step down. "So we filed suit in JP court which is what the Texas Property code says you have to do if you're filing suit for records. We were awarded that judgment and still we have not seen any of the backup information that we've requested," explained homeowner Lisa Caldwell. NBC 5 spoke with HOA manager Barbara Palmer on the phone. She says there isn't money to pay for the pool upkeep because some homeowners have stopped paying assessments. Plus there have been lawyer and accounting fees due to the lawsuit. She has agreed to hand over financial documents for the HOA, but before doing so has presented the homeowners with a $15,000 bill for duplicating the documents. "We just want transparency is all we want," said Williamson. A request echoed by other homeowners who spoke on the issue. So for now the battle is at a standstill which makes the pool a visual metaphor for a very stagnate situation. Tens of thousands of British Airways passengers experienced long lines and hours-long delays at airports around the world overnight after a computer failure affected check-in systems, NBC News reported. Airline employees had to manually process passengers at airports including San Francisco, Seattle and Phoenix, delaying the departures of dozens of London-bound transatlantic flights. Angry passengers shared photos of long lines in Atlanta and Mexico City. A police pursuit ended Tuesday afternoon in Tempe, Ariz., when authorities pinned a suspected bank robber's SUV against a barrier and officers opened fire on the driver, authorities told NBC News. Police said the driver was pronounced dead at the scene. Two "people of interest" in the bank robbery were in custody and no suspects were at large, police said. Avondale police told NBC News that the chase began with the robbery of Credit Union West in the Phoenix suburb of Avondale. Video of the chase showed two unmarked vehicles forcing the SUV to spin to the right as it made a right turn and a third vehicle then pinning it against a fence a tactic known as a "precision immobilization technique," or PIT. An officer from the first vehicle approached and opened fire into the front seat of the SUV as local television stations broadcast the encounter live. In a Labor Day tradition that dates back decades, union workers from all over Southern California gathered in the portside, working class community of Wilmington for a parade and a park picnic. Between the riders on floats and in cars, the walkers with union signs, and high school marching bands, more than 1,000 people participated in the parade up Avalon Boulevard. "It's fun to see the marching bands and all the people," said Paul DeGuzman, as he stood on the sidewalk with wife, Jenice, watching their son, Kai, march by playing the bass drum for the Carson High School Band. "Unions do good things," Jenice DeGuzman said. Besides the bands, parade crowd pleasers included local lowriders with hydraulic lifts powerful enough to propel vintage Detroit iron off the asphalt. "This is a beautiful day in Wilmington where everybody comes together like family," said a lowrider driver and warehouse worker who identified himself as John. Some stretches of the parade route showed more participants than spectators, to the surprise of a visitor from Norwalk who identified herself as Linda. "I hope it gets noticed by more people," Linda said. The parade ended at Banning Park, where an array of grills were setup to barbecue lunch. "We get to come out here and celebrate," said Kyla Patterson, whose father, Kyle, is a carpenter represented by Local 1506. "Take a look around at all the blue collar here," said Patterson. "This is labor the people that build the buildings." There were a few signs for Hillary Clinton, a nod to Bernie Sanders, and T-shirts for Kamala Harris, but not all that much politicking in a presidential election year. In some respects, it's been a good year for organized labor, achieving a goal when both Los Angeles City and County approved raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next few years. But among labor leaders, concern remains over the long-term shift of the American economy away from heavy industry and manufacturing where unions established themselves more than a century ago. Since the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics began keeping track of union representation in 1983, the percentage of represented wage and salary employees has dropped nearly in half, from 20.1 percent to 11.1 percent last year. At the same time, even with population growth, the total number of union represented employees has dropped from 17.7 million to 14.8 million. Miami Beach city leaders are at odds with a scheduled aerial spraying of the insecticide Naled over a 1.5-square-mile infection zone. In a statement Tuesday, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said the flights recommended by Florida health officials and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will begin Thursday and continue for a month. Gimenez said the number of Miami Beach mosquitoes found with Zika increased over the weekend. The Florida Health Department announced Tuesday six new non-travel related cases of the Zika virus in Miami Beach. Not everyone is happy about the planned aerial spraying in Miami Beach, including the city's mayor Philip Levine. "I am not comfortable with it, but I think it's important that we listen to the proper scientific and medical authorities and what they recommend," said Levine. Miami Beach City Commissioner Mike Grieco is very upset over the announcement and has called for a special meeting Wednesday to cancel the scheduled aerial spraying. Grieco said the aerial assault on mosquitoes could be a threat to everyone. "It's a neurotoxin. We don't know the risks. It's been outlawed in Europe since 2012. It's something that has not been used in Miami, historically," said Grieco. According to a spokesperson for Mayor Gimenez, Naled, which is EPA approved, has been used in Miami-Dade County since the 1970's. On Tuesday, county workers started spraying the streets of Miami Beach with a chemical called BTI using specialized trucks. The city announced its use of Buffalo Turbine trucks in its fight against the Zika virus in an email Monday. Another run was scheduled early Wednesday. County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said in a statement the truck sprayings targeting mosquito breeding areas will continue for a month. Specialized trucks are driving through South Beach to spray pesticides that kill mosquito larvae. The city announced its use of Buffalo Turbine trucks in its fight against the Zika virus in an email Monday. Miami-Dade County Mosquito Control began driving the trucks through the 1.5-square-mile infection zone early Tuesday. Another run was scheduled early Wednesday. County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said in a statement the truck sprayings targeting mosquito breeding areas will continue for a month.Specialized trucks are driving through South Beach to spray pesticides that kill mosquito larvae. The city announced its use of Buffalo Turbine trucks in its fight against the Zika virus in an email Monday. Miami-Dade County Mosquito Control began driving the trucks through the 1.5-square-mile infection zone early Tuesday. Another run was scheduled early Wednesday. County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said in a statement the truck sprayings targeting mosquito breeding areas will continue for a month. It's a natural bacteria which kills mosquito larvae to stop them from developing into adult mosquitoes. The street spraying will continue three times a week for the next month. The Florida Health Department is conducting free Zika testing at the Miami Beach Police Department Tuesday for anyone who lives within the mile and a half Zika zone. Authorities are searching for a burglar who was caught on camera breaking into a Dania Beach home while a 12-year-old boy was home alone. The break-in happened back on the morning of July 26 at the home in the 400 block of Southeast 4th Terrace, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office. Officials said the boy was in his bedroom watching television when he heard a knock at the door but didn't answer since he was alone. A short time later he heard a loud noise and footsteps in the house. The boy walked out of his room and saw the suspect in his sister's room. The suspect saw him and told him to stay in his bathroom, authorities said. The suspect rummaged through the home stealing about $1,000 worth of items, officials said. The boy called 911 but by the time deputies got to the home the suspect was gone, authorities said. The boy wasn't injured. Authorities described the suspect as a heavyset black male in his 20s, with short black hair and a black goatee. Anyone with information is asked to call Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS. The man accused of making threats of a Pulse nightclub-style attack against the LGBT community in Wilton Manors was hospitalized Tuesday following his arrest over the weekend, according to a new report. Craig Jungwirth, 50, was hospitalized after complaining of chest pain, federal court sources told WESH. Jungwirth, who was arrested Saturday in an unrelated case and later charged with with a federal crime for the threats, had been scheduled to appear in court Tuesday. Jungwirth allegedly posted on social media threatening to launch a Pulse nightclub-type attack this past weekend. "It's time to clean up Wilton Manors from all you AIDS-infested losers," Jungwirth allegedly wrote in one Facebook post. "If you losers thought the Pulse Nightclub shooting was bad, wait 'til you see what I'm planning for Labor Day," he allegedly wrote in another. According to a criminal complaint, Jungwirth was charged with making threatening communications. He denied posting the threats when he was questioned by investigators, the complaint said. A man was arrested Sunday after police say he shot and killed two dogs, including a service dog, in southwest Miami-Dade. The incident happened at the home of 31-year-old Jose Rocha in the 30000 block of southwest 194th Court. According to the police report, a pit bull entered Rocha's property through an opening in the wooden fence. Rocha went into his bedroom and retrieved a semi-automatic gun. He stepped outside and fired at the pit bull, striking the pit bull on his right-side. During the course of Rocha firing at the pit bull, he shot and killed a German Shepherd on the opposite side of the fence. The German Shepherd was a service dog. The pit bull's owner told police that after hearing multiple gunshots, she heard her dog whimpering outside of her back door. She opened the door and saw her pit bull bleeding from a gunshot wound. The owner added that the pit bull vomited on the rear patio while he was in agony. The owner said the pit bull limped around the patio for a short while, then he collapsed to the ground and died. When speaking with police, Rocha said he had three adult American Bulldogs inside a cage, but did not secure the gate. Rocha said that as the pit bull entered his lawn, he fired four gunshots at the pit bull because he did not want his dogs to be attacked, the report said. "I was just shooting at the pit bull to scare him and I was only trying to get him off my property," Rocha said, according to the report. Rocha told police the pit bull did not have a history of becoming violent toward his dogs and no physical confrontation existed between them. He has been charged with two counts of animal cruelty with intent to injure or kill and two counts of firearm use while committing a felony. It's unknown if he's hired an attorney. A mother of six was in critical condition at a local hospital after being shot more than a dozen times while inside her Miami home. Shaqueenia Hanna, 35, was shot thirteen times Monday night at her home located on the 400 block of Northwest 73rd Terrace in Miami. Hanna, who is in her early 30s, was transported to the hospital around 11 p.m. in critical condition. Friends and family held hands in prayer early Tuesday morning at Jackson Memorial Hospital. "I waited until the gunshots were over," said Lisa Sheffield. "I heard kids screaming in the back about their momma so I went outside and looked over and saw the woman on the ground." The mother of six was shot in front of several of her kids according to family, friends and a neighbor who called police. "They saw their mother laying there," the neighbor said. "They weren't sure if she was alive or dead." Those who know Hanna say they also know the shooter, an ex-boyfriend who lives a few doors down. Police later identified the suspect as 30-year-old Terrell Jimmel Robinson. The two have a child together and friends say he shot her out of jealousy of a new relationship. Family members weren't ready to talk in length on camera, but called on the shooter to do the right thing and go to police. "She's a fighter," the neighbor said. "I seen her trying to fight for her life on that ground so I just hope everything will be alright." Family says Hanna called police the day before she was shot and said her ex had threatened her. Police are investigating Anyone with a tip for detectives regarding the shooter's whereabouts or this investigation are urged to call Miami Police. This is a developing story; check back with NBC 6 for updates. At least 10 people were killed in Baghdad late Monday in a car bomb attack claimed by ISIS near a hospital in a central district, police and hospital sources said. A suicide bomber had targeted a gathering of Shi'ite Muslims in the Karrada district, according to a statement circulated online by the Amaq news agency, which supports the ultra-hardline Sunni militant group. The police sources said at least 39 people were wounded in the blast and they expected the death toll to rise, NBC News reported. The fight against ISIS, which seized a third of Iraq's territory in 2014, has exacerbated a long-running sectarian conflict in Iraq, mostly between the Shi'ite majority and the Sunni minority. Monday's blast occurred not far from the site of an ISIS suicide attack in July that killed 324 people. Prosecutors hoping to paint actor Bill Cosby as a serial predator at his upcoming sexual assault trial sought Tuesday to put on testimony from 13 other women who say Cosby gave them quaaludes, other drugs or alcohol before molesting them. The criminal case against the 79-year-old entertainer involves a single 2004 encounter at his home near Philadelphia with former Temple University employee Andrea Constand. The presiding judge at a hearing Tuesday vowed to start the trial by June 5. However, Montgomery County Judge Steven O'Neill did not immediately rule on any of the pretrial disputes over evidence, including the prosecution effort to call other women as witnesses. Under Pennsylvania law, they could be allowed to testify to show an alleged pattern of behavior, even if no charges were ever filed. Prosecutors said they reviewed accusations made by 50 Cosby accusers and concluded that 13 said they were also drugged or intoxicated and then molested by Cosby. One woman said she declined his offer of quaaludes but accepted Champagne that she believed was spiked. She later woke up naked in a hotel room and said she had been sexually assaulted. Another said she took quaaludes from him, while a third said she believed her drink was spiked with the powerful, now-banned sedative.[[392476751, C]] The defense is expected to oppose any testimony from other accusers. The defense will also ask to have the trial moved to another county, given that the decision over whether Cosby should be arrested became a flashpoint in last fall's election for district attorney. Cosby was arrested on Dec. 30, as incoming prosecutor Kevin Steele eyed the approaching 12-year deadline to file felony charges. Constand told police that Cosby gave her three unmarked pills and then molested her as she drifted in and out of consciousness. Cosby's lawyers meanwhile asked the judge Tuesday to suppress a 2005 telephone conversation recorded by Constand's mother in Toronto. Cosby had called her from California. The defense said the call violated Pennsylvania's two-party consent law on wiretaps. But prosecutors who played the tape in court argued that Cosby said he heard beeps on the call and asked if he was being taped. Gianna Constand denied it. Cosby in the conversation described the sex act as "digital penetration" but refused to say what pills he had given her daughter. In his deposition, he later said he feared sounding like "a dirty old man" on the call. [[308443961, C]] Steele will fight to use both the phone call and Cosby's potentially damaging deposition from Constand's sexual battery lawsuit. Cosby settled the suit after four days of questioning. He acknowledged having a sexual encounter with Constand, but said it was consensual. He also admitted to a string of extramarital affairs and sexual "rendezvous," some with women in their late teens and early 20s. Cosby was arrested in December after the investigation into the allegation Constand first brought in 2005 was reopened, following disclosure of the entertainer's deposition and a stream of new allegations by women going back decades. Cosby looked noticeably healthier Tuesday than he has at earlier hearings, although his lawyers told the judge that he is blind. O'Neill offered whatever accommodations he might need at trial, but the defense didn't immediately ask for any. Cosby clutched an aide's arm as he walked, but his eyes appeared less milky and he seemed more engaged and animated as he spoke with his legal team. As O'Neill pushed for a trial date, lead defense lawyer Brian McMonagle of Philadelphia said he has other trials booked until June. Cosby has replaced one top-tier Los Angeles law firm with another on his defense team, the second such switch in about a year. Cosby has so far lost his efforts to have the charges thrown out. Cosby became known as "America's Dad" for his top-rated show on family life that ran from 1984 to 1992. He had been in the limelight since the early 1960s, when the Philadelphian was tapped to star in "I Spy," becoming the rare black actor to star in a network TV show at the time. The women who accuse him of sexual misconduct for nearly that long say the charges were a long time coming. Cosby's defenders instead suggest he is a wealthy target for the many women he met during five decades as an A-list celebrity. Cosby in the conversation described the sex act as "digital penetration" but refused to tell Gianna Constand what pills he had given her daughter. The defense argued that Cosby did not know he was being recorded, and that the tape should not be permitted at trial under Pennsylvania's two-party wiretap law. District Attorney Kevin Steele will fight to use both the phone call and a lengthy deposition from Constand's lawsuit at trial. Cosby's lawyers said they will also ask to have the case moved out of Montgomery County, where it was a high-profile issue in Steele's fall campaign for office. He ran against the prosecutor who had declined to charge Cosby in 2005. Cosby was arrested in December after the investigation into the allegation Constand first brought in 2005 was reopened, following disclosure of the entertainer's testimony in a lawsuit and a stream of new allegations by women going back decades. Cosby looked noticeably healthier as he walked into court Tuesday for the pretrial conference, though his lawyers told the judge that he is blind. The judge offered whatever accommodations he might need at trial, but the defense didn't immediately ask for any assistance. Cosby clutched an aide's arm as he walked, but his eyes appeared less milky and he seemed more engaged and animated as he spoke with his legal team. A trial date has not yet been set, though the judge indicated that he wanted one to start before June. Lead defense lawyer Brian McMonagle said at the hearing Tuesday that he has other trials booked until June. But the judge said McMonagle might have to review his schedule and look for an earlier date. Cosby has been fighting the charges since his Dec. 30 arrest. Cosby has replaced one top-tier Los Angeles law firm with another on his defense team, the second such switch in about a year. Angela Agrusa of Liner LLP also will handle the defamation lawsuits filed in several states by women who say they were defamed when Cosby or his agents denied their accounts. Cosby had countersued some of them. But he has since abandoned that strategy in Philadelphia, where he dropped the lawsuit filed against Constand, her lawyers and her mother. Cosby had accused them of violating the confidentiality of their 2006 settlement, in part by cooperating with police last year. Cosby has so far lost his efforts to have the charges thrown out. And so the once-beloved comedian known as "America's Dad" for his top-rated show on family life that ran from 1984 to 1992 finds himself spending his time and fortune in his waning days in a Pennsylvania courtroom. The women who accuse him of similar misconduct say the charges were a long time coming. Cosby's defenders instead suggest he is a wealthy target for the many women he met during five decades as an A-list celebrity. "None of us will ever want to be in the position of attacking a victim. But the question should be asked who is the victim?" his wife, Camille, asked as more accusers came forward in 2014. New York's top prosecutor said he is launching an antitrust investigation into the maker of the EpiPen. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Tuesday his office was opening the investigation into Mylan Pharmaceuticals, weeks after the company came under intense public scrutiny for steady increases in the price of the life-saving drug that is administered during anaphylactic allergic reactions. "If Mylan engaged in anti-competitive business practices, or violated antitrust laws with the intent and effect of limiting lower cost competition, we will hold them accountable," Schneiderman said in a statement. "Allergy sufferers have enough concerns to worry about the availability of life-saving medical treatment should not be one of them. I will bring the full resources of my office to this critical investigation. The inquiry comes after a preliminary review by the Schneiderman's office found that Mylan may have inserted potentially anticompetitive terms into its sales contracts with numerous local school systems. "No childs life should be put at risk because a parent, school, or healthcare provider cannot afford a simple, life-saving device because of a drug-makers anti-competitive practices," Schneiderman said. Mylan said that it provided free injectors to more than 65,000 schools under its EpiPen4Schools program, and that at one time, schools that wanted to buy more injectors than the company provided could purchase them "with a limited purchase restriction." But the company said that no restrictions are in place now. "The program continues to adhere to all applicable laws and regulations," the company said. Mylan has increased the price of EpiPens from about $100 for two doses in 2008 to more than $600 this year, drawing intense scrutiny from the public recent weeks. Schneiderman's inquiry also comes about a week after an I-Team investigation revealed that the drugmaker fought to keep a cheaper generic version of the drug off the market. Mylan has previously said it is launching a cheaper generic version of EpiPen. An embattled upstate police chief who oversaw a controversial intelligence unit accused of illegally surveying activist groups was denied his bid to get back in uniform Tuesday. Clarkstown Police Chief Michael Sullivan was suspended for his alleged misconduct, but still receives his $271,000 salary. A federal judge on Tuesday denied Sullivan's emergency motion filed to end his suspension. The chief's supervision of an intelligence unit, a joint venture with the Rockland County DA, is now under fire by an independent special prosecutor who alleges the unit engaged in unlawful surveillance, including the racial profiling of black community groups. Sullivan denies the allegations. "There was no unlawful surveillance of anybody," he told NBC 4 New York Tuesday. "What I really believe happened here is they looked at half the picture...They didn't do their homework." But the special prosecutor hired by the Clarkstown town board is only expanding his investigation. The prosecutor said there is now a forensic investigation into alleged computer tampering by the former head of the intelligence unit, Stephen Cole-Hatcher. Hatcher was suspended last week and then retired. He denies any wrongdoing. The adorable toddler whose determined first steps on prosthetic legs were captured in a touching video that went viral is striding into a new milestone: his first day of school. Four-year-old Kayden Kinckle of Englewood, New Jersey walked into school Tuesday, confidently maneuvering his crutches after years of physical therapy. https://www.instagram.com/p/BKBH5ivhI_ "Walking in school like WHAT!!!" reads the caption on the Instagram video documenting the proud moment. Kinckle was two years old when he took his first steps on prosthetic legs with the help of a walker. I got it, I got it, I got it, Kayden said with each step, determined to walk on his own without any help. Since then, the boy has been making remarkable progress in physical therapy, Recent videos on the Instagram account run by his mother show him standing on his own with his prosthetic legs and taking a few steps without his crutches. He also practices taking the stairs "just in case the elevator is broken." The sweet moments he spends with his family are also chronicled: he dances with his mother, kisses his baby sister and goofs around on rides, all the time exuding the energy and spirit that endeared him to so many in the "I got it!" video. His parents said in 2014 Kayden had always been confident despite doctors' doubts. "If he wants something, he will get it and that could be good sometimes and bad sometimes," Kayden's father, Kevin Kinckle, told NBC. "He's always been a warrior." Kayden was diagnosed in utereo with omphalocelea, a birth defect in the abdominal wall that causes an infants intestines, liver and some other organs to grow outside the body. Kayden also had a band wrapped around his legs in the womb causing deformities that required him to have his left leg and right foot amputated in January 2014. Kayden's mother Nikki Kinckle said previously that doctors had advised her to consider whether to carry her baby to term. She said the suggestion didn't make her angry, because it was a "fact" that her baby would face serious challenges. "The nurse asked me if my house was wheelchair-accessible, and that was hard," Nikki said. The family continues to raise money on GoFundMe.com. "We were made aware that prosthetics are an ongoing thing for life, physical therapy is once a week. He may need more walkers or crutches as he gets older and his weight changes," Kevin Kinckle said. "We need to adjust as he grows and as technology grows we want the top-of-the-line stuff for him." "Whatever he wants to do, we are confident he can do it, whether it's a lawyer or doctor or athlete," Kevin Kinckle has said. One out of 7,000 children are born with opmhalocelea, and nearly half of all babies born with opmhalocelea also have other birth defects, according to the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. The numbers of children living without limbs are unclear because of doctor's confidentiality agreements, according to the Amputee Coalition. Nearly 2 million people across the United States have limb loss. What to Know A New Jersey father of two was shot and killed as he drove through his neighborhood Labor Day morning His young son was in the car at the time of the shooting and survived Neighbors were shocked and gathered throughout the evening to remember the man they say had no enemies A car crashed through a fence and slammed into a building in a New Jersey neighborhood on Monday morning, moments after the driver of the car was killed, according to family and witnesses. Neighbors and friends say James Kargbos young son was a passenger in the car when Kargbo was killed just after 11 a.m. on Labor Day. Kargbo was hit and crashed a short time later, leaving behind a trail of wreckage in North Brunswicks Somerset Park apartment complex. The chaotic scene, just feet away from a playground, stunned neighbors and friends. I dont want to live out here anymore. Theres a lot of kids out here in this complex, in this neighborhood, Suad Rahman, a friend of Kargbos said. Another friend, Bernard George, said the crash happened where his kids wait for the school bus. Luckily today is a holiday, George said. It could have been the kids waiting for the bus when something like that happens. About a quarter mile away from where evidence markers lined the street Monday night, Kargbos Saturn sedan had run off the road and careened into a doctors office. A short time later, the father of two was pronounced dead. Somerset County prosecutors declined to confirm the name of the victim or how he was killed, saying only that the office and Franklin Township police were "conducting a homicide investigation in Franklin Township involving a male adult victim." More information on the case, including how the man was killed, is expected to be released on Tuesday. Word quickly spread in the neighborhood that Kargbos son was a passenger in the car. He witnessed the final moments of his fathers life but luckily survived. I dont know what to say because that is really traumatizing to a child, Rahman said. Outside Kargbos home on Monday, family and friends gathered throughout the evening. They were still stunned by the Labor Day morning killing of a man they didnt know to have any enemies. When I learned this morning, I actually burst into tears because hes a good friend, George said. Police are searching for the killer, but there's no word of a motive or suspects in the mysterious death. Editor's note: This story has been corrected to say that family and friends said the driver was killed. What to Know A 22-year-old man was critically injured after he was shot in Williamsburg early Tuesday morning He managed to call 911 before collapsing in the street No one witnessed the shooting and police were scouring the area for clues Police are searching for the gunman who shot and killed a 22-year-old man near the Williamsburg waterfront early Tuesday. The victim, 22-year-old Jesus Pimentel, was shot in his leg and chest at North Sixth Street and Kent Avenue in Williamsburg around 1:30 a.m., according to authorities. Police said that Pimantel is from the Bronx and had been wanted on a robbery charge. It appears that he was shot after getting in a fight with two men. He managed to call 911 before collapsing onto the street near riverside apartment buildings. He was taken to Woodhull Hospital in critical condition. He was pronounced dead at 4:35 a.m., authorities said. Police say no one witnessed the shooting. Crime scene detectives were scouring the block normally bustling with tourists, cyclists and residents, and police cars had blocked off several intersections on Tuesday morning. Anyone with information on the shooting should call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS. What to Know 19-year-old Connor Golden lost his foot when he stepped on a homemade explosive in Central Park in July In a post on his GoFundMe page on Monday, Golden said that he is learning to walk again using a prosthetic and has returned to college The person who left the homemade explosive in Central Park still hasn't been found The college student whose foot was blown off by an abandoned homemade explosive inside Central Park this summer took his first steps this week and returned to school. In a message posted Monday to his GoFundMe page, 19-year-old Connor Golden said he was grateful for the support of "friends, family, and compassionate people I have never met including fellow amputees, New Yorkers, fellow students and alumni." "You'll see that I'm smiling in the photo," Golden wrote, referring to a photo of him walking with a prosthetic. He continued: "That's not just because I'm happy to begin walking again. It's also because I am so grateful for the huge amount of love and caring that has taken me from the shock of July 3 in Central Park, through the very difficult operations at Bellevue hospital, through police questioning and media pressure, through the healing process while at my parents house in Northern Virginia, through my trip back to school while on a wheelchair and crutches, to standing on my new leg." Golden signed off with: "Forever grateful." GoFundMe donators have raised more than $70,000 to help pay for the teen's medical expenses. Golden was walking in Central Park with two friends on July 3 when he stepped on a rock covering a homemade explosive. Breaking. Loud boom in Central Park. Man suffers major injury to leg. #nbc4ny pic.twitter.com/qI6reOjvuN Lori Bordonaro (@Lori4NY) July 3, 2016 His family said in July that he was recovering after three operations at Bellevue Hospital and was planning to return to the University of Miami, where he is studying music engineering. Doctors said advancements in prosthetics will allow Connor to have a normal active lifestyle, and a program will help him learn to walk again. Investigators believe the person who left behind the homemade explosive inside a plastic bag was experimenting with chemical mixtures to make a small explosion, law enforcement officials have said. When the bag failed to detonate, the person left behind the volatile mixture of chemicals in the park. There was no sign of any triggering mechanism, and authorities don't believe the device was designed to intentionally hurt people. A man has been arrested in the shooting death of a 22-year-old St. Johns University student during the J'Ouvert celebrations ahead of Monday's West Indian Day Parade, police said. NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said that Reginald Moise was arrested on murder charges in the shooting death of 22-year-old Tiarah Poyau. An attorney for Moise couldn't immediately be reached for comment. Poyau was shot in the head at Empire Boulevard and Washington Avenue during the pre-dawn festivities. She was taken to Kings County Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Boyce said that Poyau was walking with friends shortly before the shooting and was lagging behind when she was shot. They heard the gunfire and then found the woman on the ground. "She's a stellar person, student at St. John's, no issues in her life," Boyce said. Boyce said that several hours after the shooting, Moise was arrested for driving while intoxicated after allegedly crashing his vehicle into three vehicles. Boyce said that Moise had asked a friend to store his gun at a woman's house after the shooting and fired two shots into her wall before breaking a window and cutting her hand. Boyce said that the gun was recovered at the woman's home and matched to the crime scene. Police investigating the case talked with friends who said the man told them he might have shot someone during the festival. Then, the man confessed to the crime to police before asking for an attorney. "He went on to state 'I think I shot somebody, I didn't know the gun was loaded,'" Boyce said. A 17-year-old boy, Tyreke Borel, was also killed in a separate shooting about a block away. Five others were hurt in gunfire during the event, and two others were stabbed. Police say they doubled their enforcement around J'Ouvert after a stray bullet struck and killed 43-year-old Carey Gabay, an aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, at last year's festivities. Around 3,400 officers were assigned to the event Sunday, compared to last year's 1,700. Forty-five cameras were set up, and 250 light towers were deployed. NYPD Chief of Department Jimmy O'Neill said that 11 people were arrested on felony charges at the festival. Another seven were busted on felony charges at the parade that followed. On Tuesday, Brooklyn Assemblyman Walter T. Mosley called for an end to the celebration. "I can no longer support this event and hope for the best when it comes to the well being of our fellow New Yorkers," he said. "This celebration of cultural heritage, on a day fought so hard for by our brothers and sisters in the labor movement, has unfortunately become synonymous with gun violence and until we as a community can collectively come together to address the root cause of these violent acts I cannot lend my support to it going forward." Neither of the two New Yorkers vying for the White House is expected to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11th terror attacks with a visit to ground zero. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are not slated to attend the annual commemoration at the former World Trade Center site on Sunday, a spokesman for the memorial told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "We have not heard from either presidential candidate, nor the President of the United States, that they will be attending," according to Michael Frazier of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. There is precedent for presidential candidates to visit the former ground zero on the anniversary of the terror attacks. In 2008, the last time an incumbent wasn't running for the White House, Barack Obama and John McCain set aside their political differences to make a joint appearance at the site in New York. Four years later, Obama marked the event at the Pentagon while his challenger Mitt Romney thanked first responders in Illinois and Nevada. Neither Clinton nor Trump has released their public schedule for Sunday but both campaigns have confirmed they intend to halt television ads for the anniversary, keeping with a tradition of avoiding partisan presidential politics on 9/11. Officials at the September 11th Memorial & Museum in New York have said that they did not extend formal invitations to either candidate or to the sitting president, in keeping with past practice. But, officials said they would welcome a visit from either candidate or the president should they choose to attend the commemoration. Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for the Republican nominee, said that Trump "will not be campaigning" that day but declined to provide any details as to his whereabouts or if he planned to mark the anniversary. Clinton last attended the ground zero commemoration on the tenth anniversary of the attacks in 2011, when she was secretary of state. A spokeswoman for Clinton declined to comment about the Democratic nominee's plans that day. Trump and Clinton are the first New Yorkers to become their parties' nominees for president since nearly 3,000 people died at the former World Trade Center and both have made their experiences that day part of their campaigns' narratives. Clinton was senator from New York at the time of the attacks and has frequently touted her efforts - including at her party's convention this summer - to aid those impacted by the World Trade Center collapse. She made frequent trips to the attack site and her staff has highlighted her efforts to help secure medical benefits for first responders sickened at ground zero. Trump, meanwhile, has said he donated construction equipment to the recovery effort and gave $100,000 to the memorial after touring it for the first time earlier this year. But he also received widespread criticism for claiming that "thousands and thousands" of Muslims in New Jersey celebrated when the towers toppled, a claim for which there is no proof. New York typically goes Democratic in the general election though Trump has pledged to put up a fight for his native state. But while he easily won the New York state primary in April, he lost Manhattan to Ohio Gov. John Kasich. The lower Manhattan memorial - now a peaceful greenspace flanked by soaring new skyscrapers - has hosted Obama and other elected officials at previous commemorations but in recent years, including Sunday, the speakers at the event will largely be family members of the deceased. A dump truck crashed into a Delaware County home Tuesday morning. Luckily, no one was hurt when the truck went up on the lawn of a home along Garfield Road near Chew Road in Media, Pennsylvania around 7:45 a.m. As SkyForce10 hovered overhead a short time later you could see the truck near the front of the home. The exact extent of damage wasnt clear but Pennsylvania State Police said the truck only "dinged" the house. [[238427591, C]] A young South Jersey girl is doing her part to help an Atlantic City police officer who continues to recover from a gunshot wound. Addison Kuppel, 9, of Galloway Township, New Jersey, began selling lemonade to raise money for Officer Joshlee Vadell. Vadell, a nine-year veteran of the police force, was shot while trying to thwart a robbery in Atlantic City over the weekend. Vadells partner returned fire and struck and killed a robbery suspect, according to investigators. Vadell underwent surgery and his condition was upgraded to stable Monday. Addisons mother Sarah Kuppel, of Galloway Township, told NBC10 she recently began working in Atlantic City and talked to her daughter about the shooting. After she asked Addison whether shed like to donate money to Officer Vadells gofundme page, the young girl decided to set up a lemonade stand. Addison began selling lemonade Monday on Leeds Point Road in Galloway Township. Her first customer was her uncle, Scott Kuppel, a marine and head chef at Oyster Creek Inn Restaurant in Leeds Point. After Kuppel shared photos of his niece selling the lemonade, he caught the attention of the Galloway Township Police Department. Galloway Township officers then showed up at the lemonade stand and posted photos on their Facebook page. Addison has raised $250 for Officer Vadell so far and the fundraising has just begun. She plans on selling pasta and meatballs Tuesday with her brother Noah at the same location. CLICK HERE if you would like to donate to Officer Vadells gofundme page. A man used a sedan and a shovel to crush and beat a screaming woman to death, said Philadelphia Police. Officers responded to reports of someone screaming along W Louden Street near N Franklin Street around 8:25 p.m. Saturday to find Joel Horton, 50, standing next to a 2012 Nissan Maxima, said investigators. "The male repeatedly ran over the female with his vehicle and then retrieved a shovel from his trunk, and struck the female several times," said Philadelphia Police in a news release. Doctors at Einstein Medical Center declared Adrienne Lindsay, 52, dead about an hour later. On Tuesday, police announced murder charges against Horton. Investigators didnt reveal the relationship between Horton and Lindsay. 21st Century Fox has agreed to a multi-million dollar settlement with former news anchor Gretchen Carlson, who charged she was sexually harassed by former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes. "21st Century Fox is pleased to announce that it has settled Gretchen Carlson's lawsuit," the company said in a statement. "During her tenure at Fox News, Gretchen exhibited the highest standards of journalism and professionalism. She developed a loyal audience and was a daily source of information for many Americans. We are proud that she was part of the Fox News team. We sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect and dignity that she and all of our colleagues deserve." Citing sources familiar with the details of the settlement, Vanity Fair reported Carlson would receive $20 million along with the public apology. A source familiar with the confidential settlement also confirmed that amount to The Associated Press. According to a document filed today in the United States District Court District of New Jersey, Carlson voluntarily dismissed her case against Roger Ailes with prejudice on Tuesday. "I am gratified that 21st Century Fox took decisive action after I filed my complaint," Carlson said in a statement. "I'm ready to move on to the next chapter of my life in which I will redouble my efforts to empower women in the workplace. I want to thank all the brave women who came forward to tell their own stories and the many people across the country who embraced and supported me in their #StandWithGretchen. All women deserve a dignified and respectful workplace in which talent, hard work and loyalty are recognized, revered and rewarded." Ailes was ousted as chief executive at Fox News Channel in July after running the network he built from scratch for nearly 20 years. Carlson alleged Ailes sabotaged her career after she refused his suggestions for sex and complained about a pervasive atmosphere of sexual harassment at Fox. Ailes has steadfastly denied the allegations. Police in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, arrested a man they say crashed a stolen car, broke into a home and painted a dog Saturday afternoon. Officers arrested Felix Reagan following the incident. They say they received a report around 2:30 p.m. of a stolen vehicle that crashed at the end of Firehouse Lane and that the suspect ran from the scene. Shortly after, they responded to a home on Pinewood Lane, where the homeowner said someone broke into the home, stole items and painted their dog with purple paint. A neighbor told police a male knocked on the door and asked for someone who didn't live there. They provided police a description of the suspect that led officers to believe Reagan was responsible for the incidents. Reagan was arrested on June 3 for breaking and entering, vandalism and being a minor in possession of alcohol. Officers located him on Webaqua Road and took him into custody. He was found with prescription pills, a driver's license and credit card stolen from the home. He also had purple paint on him. Officers said they also received reports of two additional break-ins on Webaqua Road. As Reagan was being transported, he allegedly tried to kick out the cruiser windows and kicked an officer twice. He was charged with breaking and entering in the daytime with the intent to commit a felony, larceny of a motor vehicle, destruction of property, cruelty to animals, possession of a Class A substance, possession of a Class E substance and two counts of assault and battery on a police officer. It's not clear if Reagan has an attorney. The body of an infant has been found after the mother allegedly admitted to wrapping up the boy in blankets and leaving him in an empty lot in Tijuana, Mexico, according to law enforcement officials. Elliot Villalobos, 7 months, was reported missing last week by relatives in Chula Vista, California. Investigators say they were led to the baby's body by his mother who was found living in San Diego with her new boyfriend. Miguel Angel Guerrero Castro, with Procseuraduria General de Justicia del Estado de Baja California (PGJE), confirmed the baby was found dead Friday in the Lomas de la Presa neighborhood, approximately 12 miles south of the San Ysidro Port of Entry. Family members of the boy's mother, 20-year-old Jasmine Villalobos, contacted the Chula Vista Police Department (CVPD) on August 31, concerned that they had not heard from the young mother since the end of June. She was considered missing along with her boyfriend Luis Espinoza, 22, of Mexico, according to CVPD. Espinoza is not the boy's biological father. The next day, San Diego Police Officers found the couple staying in San Diego. The baby was not with them so the couple was interviewed by CVPD. They told law enforcement officials the baby suffered a fatal fall, they were scared and didnt know what to do so they wrapped up the baby in blankets and left him in an empty lot, Guerrero Castro said. NBC 7 spoke to Elliot's biological father who arrived in San Diego from the Central Valley on Tuesday. "It's devastating. It's devastating," Joany Aguirre said. "You know especially the way I heard it. You know, I didn't want to come back to San Diego this way. I wanted to come back to see my baby with my family. I didn't want to come back this way. It's devastating. My heart is broken." He told NBC 7 that he doesn't believe the story being told by the couple. "I'm hurt. I'm hurt myself because I never expected this from her. It's crazy," he said. "I feel like I'm in a nightmare still. I can't sleep, I can't eat, I think about it all the time. And I think about my little baby all the time. It's devastating." Aguirre said he wants justice for Elliot. A GoFundMe page was started to raise money to get his baby boy's body back to the U.S. for a proper burial. "He was always smiling. He never did no harm to no one. All he wanted was attention. When he did cry, it's because either he did wanted to be fed or he wanted to be changed and that's all he wanted," he said, adding that his baby boy did not deserve any part of this. Those who lived near Villalobos' house told NBC 7 that they were shocked to learn of Elliot's death. "I was like, 'how could someone do that to their baby'," neighbor Jessica Aceves said. Another neighbor said there had been an argument among family members last week in the front of the house and police officers had been on scene. She kept saying something about 'You're a murderer, you're a murderer' or 'Your brother is a murderer' or something like that and something about a child, said neighbor Jose Chavez said, speaking of Villalobos. Villalobos and Espinoza agreed to return to Mexico to explain what happened to Mexican law enforcement authorities. Officials there initially reported the couple was being detained in Tijuana. NBC 7 has learned no charges have been filed in the case and Villalobos has returned to the U.S. The baby and his mother are citizens of the U.S. Guerrero Castro said the baby was abandoned 20 days before he was found. A man was arrested after he threatened an employee inside a La Mesa gas station and brandished a knife at officers on Monday, according to La Mesa Police Department. The incident happened at approximately 10:22 a.m. at a gas station on the 7900 block of University Avenue near La Mesa Boulevard. Police say the man allegedly threatened an employee with a knife and told the employee that if officers arrived, he would threaten them as well. When officers got to the scene, they found the man sitting against a sign post outside the gas station. He allegedly waved the knife at officers and threatened to charge at them. A K-9 unit, a police helicopter and officers were on scene, attempting to negotiate with the suspect. At approximately 11:04 a.m., police say the man surrendered to officers. He will face two felony charges of brandishing a weapon and threatening officers, according to police. What to Know No mosquito-transmitted Zika virus cases have been reported in San Diego County Zika virus is spread by the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito, which actively bite humans during the daytime. Infected mosquitoes can then spread the virus to other people through bites. Efforts to eradicate the mosquito known to carry the Zika virus were met with opposition Tuesday in San Diego. San Diego County Department of Environmental Health will be spraying in the Mount Hope community Tuesday after a resident was confirmed to have contracted the virus while traveling abroad and the Aedes species of mosquitoes were detected in the neighborhood. Several residents posted signs asking the county not to spray on their property. One person stood in the center of Market Street wearing a gas mask. Thelmi Rivera is one of the residents who is concerned about the effects of the pesticides. They said it wasn't harmful to pets and safe for our children but I don't believe that, Rivera said. "I mean if it's killing off millions of bees, why wouldn't it be harmful to pets and children. A 12-person team will spend the day hand-spraying Pyrenone 25-5 within a two-square-block radius bordered by Market, F, Quail and Raven streets, county officials said. Rebecca LaFreniere, Deputy Director with Department of Environmental Health San Diego County, suggested residents stay indoors along with their children and their pets. Hannah Ketterman and her husband are trying for to conceive before he deploys with the U.S. military. For them, the possibility of Zika transmission is a big issue. It worries me, being the mom of a young child and wanting to see our family grow, Ketterman said. Elias Ortiz lives in the neighborhood and said there was no advanced notice but he supports the countys decision to spray. We just got a notice that they were going to do it, and had no say, he said. But if its for the public health were all good. Vector control crews were faced with signs and protests in San Diego on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. The county says they will be walking on the ground in people's yards and spraying places that might have some standing water where mosquitoes might lay eggs. Residents can refuse but the county said its crews will return with an abatement warrant which will allow them to spray the insecticide. San Diego Police are investigating the beating and stabbing of a man in Oak Park as a hate crime. The man, described by police as 40 years old, was walking along College Grove Drive at 8:45 p.m. Monday when a dark-colored sedan drove by. Officers say the mans "Gay Pride" T-shirt caught the attention of the car's occupants. They shouted out gay slurs before turning the car around and stopping near the victim, police said. A group of several men punched and kicked the victim. At one point, the victim was cut on his left arm, police said. The victim escaped his attackers and used his phone to call for help. He was taken to Mercy Hospital for a non-life threatening stab wound, police said. The location of the incident was west of State Route 94, less than a mile east of Chollas Park. Anyone with information related to the above incident(s) is encouraged to call the listed Command handling the investigation or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477. San Diego port district staff have recommended a proposal by locally based OliverMcMillan Inc. to develop hotels, recreational canals and other elements on 57 waterfront acres at Harbor Island. Port commissioners are scheduled to review the recommendation at their Sept. 8 meeting. Port staff favored the OliverMcMillan plan over a competing proposal by San Diegos Sunroad Enterprises. The two firms had been chosen as finalists earlier this year from among six development teams that had submitted plans to redevelop the land, much of which formerly housed rental car lots. Port commissioners will be reviewing a recommendation calling for port staff to enter into an exclusive negotiating agreement with OliverMcMillan. According to port documents, the developers plans include two hotels, each with between 500 and 750 rooms; a 200 to 300-room Boat-el with affordable lodging accommodations; canals for kayaks, paddleboards and small watercraft; and a public administration campus that would include a port district administration building and headquarters for the Harbor Police Department. The proposal also includes a mixed-use concept, which would have hospitality, blue-tech, retail, public market, office, restaurant and marine services. Other elements include a seaplane exhibit honoring the history of the location where planes were once built and launched; public view corridors; a grid of urban sidewalks and streets emphasizing pedestrian access; and a network of plazas, open spaces and piers. OliverMcMillan plans to partner with San Diego-based Evans Hotels on the hotel components. The developer has estimated the total development cost of the mixed-use project at between $760 million and $1.12 billion. If the developers project is chosen by the port, construction would not likely begin for about four years or longer, following necessary environmental and other reviews. Headquartered in downtown San Diego, OliverMcMillan was founded in 1978 by CEO Dene Oliver and Chairman Jim McMillan. The company owns several San Diego County properties and has numerous mixed-use projects in various development stages nationwide, in cities including Tustin, Nashville, Denver, Atlanta and Honolulu. Additional stories from the San Diego Business Journal are available here. Sign up for their free daily email newsletter. Biochemists at the University of California, San Diego have made a discovery that could lead to a vaccine against flesh-eating bacteria. According to a press release by UC San Diego, researchers discovered hidden sequence patterns in the outer protein coat of group A Strep. The study was published Nature Microbiology. At present, there is no vaccine against group A Streptococcus, and our discovery of hidden sequence patterns has offered up a novel way to devise such a vaccine, said Partho Ghosh, chair of UC San Diegos Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Ghosh headed the team of researchers who made the discovery. He said the biggest obstacle in developing a vaccine for the group A Strep is the hyper-variability of the protein. Different strains of the flesh-eating bacteria have different proteins on their surface. But since the bodys immune system has to respond with specific antibodies for each different strain, patients are more vulnerable to the infection. Researchers were able to study the structures of four different protein types that were bound to a human protein called C4BP and found a common sequence pattern among all of them. The idea now is to have antibodies do the same thing as C4BP that is, recognize many different M protein types, Ghosh said. That way, the antibody response will not be limited to one M protein type and one strain of group A Strep, but will extend to most, if not all, M protein types and most, if not all strains, of group A Strep. Now, researchers are working to develop a vaccine that they hope will protect against most, if not all, strains of the flesh-eating bacteria. According the UC San Diego press release, more than 500,000 people die every year from the highly infectious bacteria. A security guard is in critical condition after he was shot during an armed robbery at the University of Maryland University College Inn and Conference Center. The victim was shot on the loading dock of the Hyattsville conference center at about 2 a.m. Tuesday, University of Maryland police say. "Early Tuesday morning, two men attempted to rob the hotel," a statement from Marriott said. "A Marriott security officer was shot while responding to the situation." Gun magazine found by @UMPD officers searching for 2nd shooting, robbery suspect @nbcwashington pic.twitter.com/961JbrrqmO Kristin Wright (@kwrightnbc4) September 6, 2016 The victim was transported to the hospital with critical injuries. "This security guard is just a tremendous guy," said University of Maryland Police Chief David Mitchell. The hotel's general manager said the suspects got away with three lock boxes, but they were found nearby, along with a gun. A suspect was found hiding in the woods across the street from the robbery and was taken into custody. [[392674061, L,300,400]] On Wednesday, police identified the suspect as 24-year-old Jamal Ulysses Green, of D.C. Green is facing numerous charges, including attempted first-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder and armed robbery. The search for the second gunman is underway. Investigators do not have a good description of the suspect who remains at large. He is about 5-feet-10 inches to 6-feet tall and about 180 to 200 pounds, police said. He was wearing a ski mask, yellow gloves, a short-sleeve blue shirt, dark pants and brown hiking boots. Anyone with information that can help police is asked to call 301-405-3555. A Pennsylvania man shot by Secret Service at a White House gate earlier this year after refusing to drop a gun accepted a plea deal in the case. Jesse Olivieri, 31, of Ashland, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty Monday to resisting or impeding officers with a dangerous weapon, according to the U.S. attorney's office. Under federal sentencing guidelines, he likely faces between eight and 14 months in prison and could be fined up to $40,000, prosecutors said in a statement. No sentencing date was set. Olivieri was shot after approaching the gate May 20. He was hospitalized following the shooting. Tuesday's plea hearing took place at a hospital where he is receiving treatment. An attorney for Olivieri did not immediately return a telephone call. Surveillance footage from May 20 shows Olivieri walking toward the south entrance of the White House with a gun on his right side. Officers ordered him to stop, but Olivieri ignored those commands. A Secret Service special officer shot Olivieri and his gun identified in an affidavit as a loaded .22-caliber semiautomatic was kicked away from him. Officers surrounded him with their guns drawn, then begin rendering medical aid. Before Olivieri was taken to a hospital, a Secret Service officer asked him why he went to the White House. "I came here to shoot people," he replied, according to court documents. A spent .22-caliber shell casing was found near a Camry on Constitution Avenue, and more ammunition was found in the car. The incident occurred within view of tourists outside the White House, near sidewalks crowded with families, school groups and government workers. The White House was on lockdown for about an hour after the incident. President Barack Obama was not at the White House at the time, but Vice President Joe Biden was inside the building, administration officials said. The mother who was pushing her son in a stroller when they were struck by a SUV, killing the 5-month-old baby, on Sept. 1 in Landsdowne, Virginia, was released from the hospital. Mindy Schultz and her son, Tristan, were in a crosswalk on Riverside Parkway after dropping another child off at school when they were hit just after 8:15 a.m., a Loudoun County Sheriff's Department spokesman said. Mindy Schultz was released from the hospital on Friday, Sept. 2. A teenager, who was driving behind the Jeep SUV, told police he could see the driver was "holding a phone in his left hand, as if he was watching or reading something," the documents said. The witness also said the Jeep was tailgating the vehicle in front of him, and it appeared the driver was trying to get ahead of the mother with the stroller, speeding up fast as if to go in front of her. As Mindy Schultz crossed with Tristan, the "walk" sign was illuminated, according to the witness. After the SUV struck the mother and child, the witness said the driver pulled onto a grassy shoulder area and crouched next to his vehicle. When police arrived to the scene, the driver's lawyer was there and told investigators the driver would not provide a statement. Police obtained a search warrant for the driver's two cellphones after the driver and his attorney refused to hand them over, the search warrant stated. News4 has learned the driver has hired a lawyer who is not the same attorney who met him at the scene. The lawyer declined to comment. Law enforcement sources told News4 authorities will likely make a decision regarding charges sometime this week. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was campaigning in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Tuesday, promising to crack down on undocumented immigrants and "sanctuary cities" that don't help federal enforcement. A sanctuary city is a city that has policies designed not to prosecute illegal aliens. Washington, D.C., has an ordinance that bans city employees and police officers from asking people about their immigration status. It also grants social services, drivers' licenses and other benefits to undocumented immigrants. This metropolitan area has a growing Latino and Hispanic population, although officials said overall immigration numbers have slowed in recent years. At-Large Council member David Grosso has a bill proposing that immigrant permanent residents be allowed to vote. The District of Columbia is a sanctuary city in every meaning of the word, Grosso said. In fact, we have lots of different areas of the government that we go out of our way to make sure that all residents feel they are part of the full community. Trump said as president, he would cut off fund to sanctuary jurisdictions, like D.C. Block funding for sanctuary cities. We block the funding. No more funds, Trump said at a rally in Phoenix, Arizona. Cities that refuse to cooperate with federal authorities will not receive taxpayer dollars. Grosso said Trump fails to understand immigration issues involving families and the U.S. economy. The facts of the matter are everyone deserves to be treated like a human being, Grosso said. The conservative Federation for American Immigration Reform, in business since 1979, said Trump has it right. States don't get to pick and choose which laws they wish to help the federal government enforce, said FAIR President Dan Stein. Communities across America are thumbing their nose at both the federal government and the United States voters and taxpayers. Arlington, Virginia, is not a sanctuary jurisdiction. It said in a statement that it enforces all laws and requires the federal government to carry the burden of immigration enforcement. "It is, and has always been, Arlington Countys policy to comply with requests from all other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies including detainer requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Arlington has never used the term 'sanctuary city' to describe our policies. Arlington County believes it is important and possible to enforce our nations laws while also fulfilling our vision as a community that welcomes and values all of its residents, treating them with human dignity and respect, regardless of immigration status." A multilevel parking garage under construction in the city of Tel Aviv collapsed on Monday, killing at least two people and injuring about 17 others, Israeli police and rescuers said, as rescue teams worked all day and into the night to locate several people believed trapped under the rubble. The midday collapse sent a large plume of dust floating over the area. Those killed were not identified but they were likely workers at the construction zone. The cause of the collapse was under investigation. Israeli TV broadcast footage showing a large, crater-like hole in the ground, and twisted support beams as rescue teams, accompanied by search dogs, dug through the rubble. Police, fire and military teams were participating in the rescue. The military's Home Front Command sent about 150 members of its special search-and-rescue team to the scene. The unit is often sent to disaster zones around the world to help locate victims from earthquakes, tsunamis and other natural disasters. Earlier in the day, Col. Golan Vach, a commander in the unit, said seven people were believed to be trapped in the rubble at several different locations. He described the scene as "very complicated" and said rescue efforts could continue for several days. The Israeli military later said soldiers and rescue forces managed to extract five civilians from the rubble and that efforts were underway to rescue another five. A construction worker from the site said he was underground in the garage when he began to feel vibrations. "All of a sudden everything collapsed," the man, Micha Lavine, identified by Channel 10 TV as a project manager at the site. "It was scary. You feel like everything is going to collapse, and you are going with it." Speaking to reporters at a hospital, he said he was blown backward by a blast and lightly injured. Israel's national rescue service said two people, including a 35-year-old man, were confirmed dead, and 22 people injured. "It is a very tough arena for rescue, it is really life threatening," Eli Bin, the head of Israel's rescue service MDA told Israeli media. "We are very worried if we will succeed in reaching those same people whose voices we can definitely hear." The construction site is located in Ramat Hahayal, a commercial area in northern Tel Aviv. The neighborhood is home to many high-tech businesses, restaurants and a hospital. Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said Monday night that one of the fatalities has been identified as a foreign worker from the Ukraine. So far this year, 28 construction workers have died in work accidents on building sites in the country, Samri said. The world's only Curious George Store in Cambridge, Massachusetts, could soon be closing. The owner of the iconic store, located at the corner of JFK and Mount Auburn Streets in Harvard Square, says developers buying the property may change the structure of the building and replace it with a stairwell and elevator. "...add some square footage, add some floors, and everyone who's in the building will eventually have to find a new home," said owner, Adam Hirsch. The creators of the Curious George character lived in Cambridge. Hirsh said he would like to keep the store in the city but the price of rent in the area could be a hurdle to get over. "It makes me feel sad that Harvard Square is kind of changing over this money development thing," Hirsh said. "There should be some tradition left here. It's all going away." Shopper Michael Sullivan of Boston said he is a frequent visitor to the store. "I shop here for all of my grandchildren," said Sullivan. " Everyone of them has something from out of this store." There will be a meeting with the Cambridge Historical Commission on Thursday at City Hall to discuss the future of the property. In the meantime, Hirsh is still looking to hire more workers for the fall. "We are here, we are going to do everything we can to stay in Harvard Square," Hirsh said. "We'd love to stay here as long as possible, this is a special place. And we are thankful to the support we receive." One person was killed and another injured in a motorcycle crash Monday in Rochester, New Hampshire. Witnesses told police the driver of a Harley Davidson was traveling south on Route 125 at about 4:15 p.m. when he started to veer off the roadway. He continued down the road and then struck a guardrail. Police said both the operator and his passenger were ejected as the motorcycle continued up the roadway. The operator, Christopher Lapointe, 40, of Dover, was transported to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead. His passenger, Liana Rinaldi, 40, also of Dover, was treated for serious injuries. Police said both riders were wearing helmets. The exact cause of the crash is under investigation. Police are getting sassy in one Massachusetts university town. Bridgewater police posted two photos on social media over the weekend thanking students at Bridgewater State University clarifying which residences to keep an eye on this academic year. Welcome back Bridgewater State & thank you for trying to make our jobs easier.... pic.twitter.com/rMuyOA3qr7 Bridgewater Police (@BwtrPolice) September 6, 2016 "Welcome back Bridgewater State & thank you for trying to make our jobs easier..." the department wrote. A Massachusetts man is facing several charges after first fleeing from police after a traffic stop, then barricading himself in a motel with a hostage for several hours early Tuesday morning in Seekonk. Police said Jaron Albanese, 31, of Swansea, was first stopped in a parking lot at 12:36 a.m. for a defective tail light. After checking Albanese's identification, police learned that there was an arrest warrant out for him. Authorities said that's when Albanese got out of the vehicle and fled toward Route 6. He then returned while being pursued and got back into the vehicle where police said he grabbed a knife and ordered his passenger to drive away. The two were followed to Mary's Motor Lodge on Fall River Avenue where police said Albanese got out of the vehicle car with the knife, refusing commands to drop it. Police said he coaxed the woman to enter a motel room where he barricaded himself. After 7.5 hours of negotiating, Albanese allowed the woman to leave and he surrendered to authorities. Albanese has been charged with kidnapping, two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, resisting arrest and failure to register as a sex offender. There was also an active arrest warrant from Fall River District Court. Albanese was expected to be arraigned on charges Tuesday afternoon in Taunton District Court. Police are investigating a sexual assault case involving a Massachusetts woman who woke up half-naked in a stranger's car in Providence, Rhode Island, with no recollection of how she got there. The Providence Journal reports the 23-year-old victim had a swollen eye and scratches on her body when she reported the assault to police on Monday. Police say the last thing she remembers was buying a drink at Club Ultra on Saturday night before waking up naked from the waist down in the back seat of a white sedan with no license plates. The police report states a young man approached the vehicle and told her she was in Providence. When the victim used his cellphone, she told police she found photos of herself unconscious that suggested she was sexually assaulted. EMT Rodeo 2016 U.S. Air Force Emergency Medical Technicians gathered to compete in the 9th annual Air Force Medical Service EMT Rodeo at Cannon Air Force Base, N.M., Aug. 24-27, 2016. The two and a half day competition involved 24 EMT teams from across the Air Force, both CONUS and OCONUS installations challenging one another for the title of the Best of the Best emergency medical teams. Each team consisted of four Airmen who were scored collectively on their timeliness, technique and accurate decision making during multiple high-stress emergency scenarios both in-garrison and in a simulated deployed environment. The EMT Rodeo was designed to focus on those critical skills personified in our Aerospace Medical Technicians, said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Derek Larbie, 27th Special Operations Aerospace Medicine Squadron commander and EMT Rodeo project officer. The EMT Rodeo began as a small base-wide competition among local Cannon AFB medics in 2007. The competition steadily grew and in 2009, bases from across the Air Force were invited to compete. In events like these, aspiring technicians prepare year-round for this Air Force-level competition, said Staff Sgt. Carol Hubbard, EMT Rodeo project NCOIC. Competitions such as these give our Airmen an opportunity to demonstrate their skills while at the same time up-keeping their proficiency should they have to utilize their skills for a real-world situation at their home station. 2015 was the first year to incorporate the Melrose Air Force Range into the competition. MAFR is an air-to-ground training site located 25 miles west of Cannon AFB and spans approximately 70,000 acres. In 2016, the EMT Rodeo planning committee increased the ranges role with a total of 6 scenarios, in a simulated deployed environment consisting of opposing forces, simulated smell of smoke grenades, ground-burst simulators, gunfire and much more. The Rodeo demonstrated the importance of our Air Force medics and tested their capacity to deliver emergency medical treatment in a high-stress environment, with the overall expectation of enhancing emergency medical preparedness in theater and in-garrison, said Lt. Gen. Mark A. Ediger, the Air Force Surgeon General. For the first time in Rodeo history, teams were airlifted to the range in a CV-22 Osprey from Cannon AFB, adding more realism and an opportunity for the EMTs to experience Air Force combat capabilities. At Cannon AFB, there were 17 scenarios medics had to navigate to demonstrate their skills. Now in its ninth consecutive year, the competition continues to grow and talented medics from across the Air Force show off their unique emergency medicine capabilities. The second that we all found out who our team was, we exchanged numbers and would meet up to improve various skills, said Airman 1st Class Allison Malaska, 86th Medical Group emergency medical technician from Ramstein Air Base, Germany. We talked a lot about what we expected of each other and our plan of attack. Our expectations were to create an awesome bond and we did. That helped when we came out here and did the best we could. Every medic that participated in the competition garnered 23 CEUs, approximately half of their annual requirements, toward their national registry certification and EMT licensure. Col. John Mammano, Commander of the 27th Special Operations Medical Group and host of the 2016 AFMS EMT Rodeo, said the event overall was a complete success. He said he was extremely proud of all the Medics participating in the competition as well as his entire staff for their dedication and hard work putting the Rodeo together, exceeding all expectations. After a grueling competition, the team from Eglin AFB, Fla., finished in first place, receiving a perfect score on the Commando Challenge - a scenario testing the physical and mental limits of the team in a simulated deployed location. Offutt AFB, Neb., finished in second place and Shaw AFB, S.C., finished third. S Norfolk church treats community to free comedy S Norfolk church treats community to free comedy Christ Community Church, Attleborough is treating the local community to a fun-filled evening on Thursday, October 6 with live comedy from professional comedian and author Andy Kind and a two course meal, all completely free of charge. The old IT glitch was reportedly the cause of British Airways multi-continent check-in delays on Monday. Angry travelers waited in check-in queues for hours while the airline fell back on the old school method of handwriting records, boarding passes and baggage labels. British Airways has been rolling out a new check-in system since last year; a BA spokesperson described the check-in delays as teething problems. At first, BA claimed the glitch causing check-in delays was not a worldwide problem, but a patchy problem. While the glitch in the check-in system affected more than people in the U.K., travelers took to Twitter to complain about long delays in at least San Diego, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco, Rome, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Vancouver, the Bahamas, D.C., Seattle, Zurich, and Mexico City. A letter given to delayed British Airways travelers in San Francisco said the airline was experiencing problems with the computer systems and would use a manual fallback process. Apparently British Airways needed about 30 minutes to set up the pen and paper method. Yet some travelers waited in check-in queues for hours. British Airways released a statement announcing, Our IT teams are working as hard as they can to quickly fix a problem with our check-in system. This has affected a number of our airports. We are sorry for the delays some customers are experiencing as they check in for their flights. Later, British Airways said some flights had been cancelled on Monday due to operational reasons but that specialists were working to resolve this issue. Customers were advised to check in online before reaching the airport. Newcastle native Trevor Todd told NBC the captain of his delayed flight "made an announcement blaming the airline's recently introduced Fly software used for check-in and bags at airports. Todd called the tarmac with unclaimed bags chaotic, adding that he had never seen anything like this in 20 years of flying. Approximately 323 British Airways flights were delayed on Monday, according to tracking by Flight Aware. Although the airline claimed check-ins at Heathrow and Gatwick airports were back to normal today, Flight Aware shows another 288 flights delayed so far. Tweeters also disputed the back to normal check-in claim. The British Airways site still states, Check in may take a bit longer than usual, so we would encourage customers to check in online before they reach the airport. We are sorry for the delay to your journey. Other airline delays British Airways passengers were not the only ones to experience delays on Monday; London City Airport tweeted there was a disruption to all flights due to protestors at the airport. The protest was part of the Black Lives Matter movement; protesters reportedly blocked the runway for six hours until police removed and arrested them. Last month, Delta Airlines suffered a global outage after an equipment failure in Atlanta led to the shutdown of its computer systems. Three weeks before that, Southwest Airlines had to cancel thousands of flights after a notebook-sized router failed at a data center in Dallas and it took 13 hours to reboot its systems. Bishop of Reading conducts special service HUNGERFORDS beautiful St Lawrence Church is 200 years old. And on Sunday the town celebrated the occasion with a special service, conducted by the Bishop of Reading, the Rt Rev Andrew Proud, and by the present incumbent, the Rev Mike Saunders. The occasion was also marked by the blessing, by the bishop, of 200 gift-wrapped which were distributed to the congregation. This was followed by a communion service, with readings from the new and a sermon by the bishop on the theme of goodwill to fellow men and you. After the service, Mr Saunders presented the bishop with a St Lawrence coffee mug to remind him of Hungerford when partaking of his favourite Ethiopian coffee blend. According the Hungerford Virtual Museum, St Lawrence was the Archdeacon of Rome in the middle of the third century, at a time when Christians were being grievously persecuted. He was especially responsible for the treasures of the churches in the city. When the prefect of Rome called upon him to surrender them, he asked for three days grace. He is said to have then distributed the gold and silver in his care to the needy of the city and, on the third day, he collected together all the poorest Christians, including the lame, maimed and blind, and, presenting them to the prefect, said: Here are the treasures of the Church of Christ. For this he was condemned to death and suffered martyrdom on the gridiron on August 10, 258. The current church was opened in August, 1816, and was built on the site of two earlier churches. Cranston East no match for Portsmouth With their 36-6 victory on Friday night, the Patriots clinched the top seed in their half of Division II. Champaign, IL (61820) Today Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low near 45F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low near 45F. Winds light and variable. Acupuncture is considered a panacea in Oriental medicine, but modern medicine acknowledges only limited efficacy as alternative treatment for some diseases, saying it has not been scientifically proven. Yet in both East and West, acupuncture is believed to be effective in treating pain, cerebral disease, and addiction and as anesthesia. Acupuncture is used to treat various pains like lumbago, headache and toothache. It is also used as anesthesia. A few years ago, a Chinese hospital broadcast brain surgery on a patient who had been anesthetized with acupuncture alone, which shocked many around the world. It can also be effective in treating cerebral and central nervous diseases like stroke, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer'. It can help those who want to quit smoking by reducing the secretion of dopamine, a chemical in the brain whose secretion is activated by nicotine in cigarettes or caffeine in coffee. In addition, the U.S. and other nations are working to find out whether it can be used to treat drug addiction. But it isn't for everyone. It can even be harmful, say practitioners, when a person has lost their strength due to excessive sex, got drunk, feels emotional or angry, works too hard, has eaten too much or nothing, is thirsty, or feels too anxious. It should not be practiced on people who suffered excessive bleeding or perspiration, or suffer from diarrhea. It is also not recommended for women who lost a lot of blood while delivering a child or patients with unhealed scars after surgical operation, terminal cancer or hemophilia. Experts advise against taking a shower or bath for two hours after acupuncture because it can further sap strength, or infect the spots where needles are placed. It is a myth that acupuncture should draw blood -- some believe that this is "bad blood" coming out. But properly administered, acupuncture does not cause bleeding. If you bleed after acupuncture, stop it by pressing on the wound with sterilized cotton balls, as you would after getting an injection. Researchers in Britain say they have found that people often choose partners with similar body fat levels as themselves. A team from Aberdeen University and the Rowett Research Institute in Scotland conducted a study involving 42 couples and discovered that people often choose partners with similar body fatness to their own as well as within their own social class. The Aberdeen team say people also consider looks, height and race but they have also found those with about the same amount of fat are likely to be attracted to each other. The scientists suggest that this "assortive mating" could be a factor in the worldwide obesity epidemic. As a rule people now settle for their life partner later in life often in their mid to late thirties and also start families later. Problems of overweight and obesity are becoming evident at a much younger age and children who have an overweight mother and father are possibly more susceptible to being overweight themselves. The researchers measured the body composition of the 42 couples and found the amount of body fat in one person was proportionately very similar to that of their partner. They measured the body fat using DXA (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry), which is a much more accurate and reliable method of assessment than BMI. Professor John Speakman, of Aberdeen University, says it is unclear how these associations come about and he speculates that the social activities of the overweight and obese people coincide, making them more likely to meet partners who are also overweight and obese. Professor Speakman says such assortive mating for body fat is a relatively new phenomena as in the 1940s and 50s people married in their early 20s, often before they were overweight or obese. He says would have been difficult then to assortively mate for body fatness because it would be impossible to distinguish somebody who was thin from somebody who was thin but going to become fat. Choosing partners and having children much later along with becoming obese much younger makes it possible for potential partners to select each other on the basis of body fatness. According to Professor Barry Popkin, director of the department of nutrition at the University of North Carolina, in 2006 for the first time in history the number of overweight people in the world overtook the number of malnourished. The research is published in the current edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Biochemists at the University of California San Diego have uncovered patterns in the outer protein coat of group A Streptococcus that could finally lead to a vaccine against this highly infectious bacteria--responsible for more than 500,000 deaths a year, including toxic shock syndrome and necrotizing fasciitis or "flesh-eating disease." In a paper published in this week's issue of Nature Microbiology, the researchers report that they had uncovered "hidden sequence patterns in the major surface protein and virulence factor" of group A Strep, called the M protein, that limit the body's immune response against these bacteria. "At present, there is no vaccine against group A Strep, and our discovery of hidden sequence patterns has offered up a novel way to devise such a vaccine," said Partho Ghosh, chair of UC San Diego's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, who headed the team of researchers. Ghosh said that one of the biggest obstacles to the development of a vaccine against these bacteria is the "hyper-variability" of the M protein. Group A Streptococcus bacteria have a multitude of different strains, each of which displays a different protein on its surface. Because our immune systems must recognize these different proteins before launching an immune response with antibodies specific to the outer protein coat, the hyper-variability of the M proteins make it difficult for our immune systems to attach antibodies specific to each these proteins from different strains. "When we become infected with a particular strain of group A Strep, we generally mount an immune response against the particular M protein displayed by that strain," explains Ghosh. "But this immunity works only against the infecting strain. We remain vulnerable to infection by other group A Strep strains that display other types of M proteins on their surfaces. This is because the antibody response against the M protein is almost always specific to the sequence of that M protein, and M proteins of different types appear to be unrelated in sequence to one another." The key to resolving the problem was the recognition that a human protein called C4BP had been discovered by another group of researchers to be recruited to the surface of Group A Strep by many different protein types. "This was a puzzle, because the antibody response is specific and limited to a single M protein type, while C4BP binds a broad variety of M protein types, perhaps up to 90 percent of them," said Ghosh. "Group A Strep brings C4BP to its surface to dampen the immune response. We wanted to combat this recruitment by blocking the interaction between M proteins and C4BP, but equally as importantly, we wanted to take advantage of the broad recruitment of C4BP by M proteins that would pave a path to the development of a vaccine." To determine if this was possible, a graduate student in Ghosh's lab, Cosmo Buffalo, collaborated with another graduate student, Sophia Hirakis, in the laboratory of Rommie Amaro, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry who uses computers to study protein structures, to first study the complex interactions between M protein and C4BP. "This allowed us to understand some detailed features of the interaction," said Ghosh. The research team, which also included an undergraduate researcher, Adrian Bahn-Suh, collaborated extensively with Victor Nizet, an expert in infectious diseases who is a professor at UC San Diego's School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. In their experimental and computational study, the biochemists painstakingly detailed four crystal structures of four different M protein types, each bound to human C4BP. "These structures revealed that even though the different M protein types appeared to be unrelated in sequence, there were common sequence patterns hidden within the differences that linked all these M proteins together," said Ghosh. "These common patterns are what is used to recruit C4BP to the surface of group A Strep by the different M protein types." "The idea now is to have antibodies do the same thing as C4BP -- that is, recognize many different M protein types," he added. "That way, the antibody response will not be limited to one M protein type and one strain of group A Strep, but will extend to most, if not all, M protein types and most, if not all strains, of group A Strep." The UC San Diego chemists, in collaboration with Nizet, are now working on developing a vaccine that, they hope, will be protective against most, if not all, strains of group A Strep. The world's only licensed vaccine for dengue may worsen subsequent dengue infections if used in areas with low rates of dengue infection, suggests new research. These infections are also more likely to need hospitalisation, suggests the study, by scientists from Imperial College London, John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the University of Florida. The research, published in the journal Science, analysed all publicly available clinical trial data for the vaccine. The results suggest that in people who have never been exposed to dengue before, the vaccine primes the immune system so that if they are subsequently infected, the infection is more severe. However in people who are have been exposed to the virus before vaccination, the vaccine reduces the severity of future infections. The researchers recommend testing people before they receive the vaccine, to establish if they have previously been exposed to the dengue virus. This would help avoid triggering an increase in serious cases of the disease. Dengue is a viral infection that causes just under 400 million cases per year. According to the latest estimates, around half of the world's population are thought to be at risk. The virus is spread by mosquitoes, and causes fever, headache, muscle and joint pain. In some cases, it can lead to a life-threatening condition called haemorrhagic fever which is a leading cause of death and serious illness among children in some Asian and Latin American countries. Unlike most infectious diseases, the second time a person is infected with dengue is usually far more serious than the first. This may be why the vaccine appears to amplify the illness in some individuals, particularly young children. Normally, when a person is infected with a virus their immune system builds defences against it. This means when they are infected a second time, the virus is destroyed before triggering symptoms. However, with dengue, the virus primes the immune system to work against the body. So when a person is infected a second time, a component of the immune system - called antibodies - help the virus infect the cells, leading to a more severe infection. This has serious implications for the vaccine, explains Professor Neil Ferguson, co-lead author, who is the Director of the MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling at Imperial College London: If someone has never been exposed to dengue, the vaccine seems to act like a silent infection. The initial exposure to the virus from the vaccine primes the immune system, so when they are infected again, the symptoms are more likely to be severe. The vaccine, produced by the company Sanofi-Pasteur, is available in six countries and has been trialled on around 30,000 people from ten countries. After analysing the data, the research team formulated a computer model to predict the effectiveness of the vaccine if used more widely. Professor Neil Ferguson said: Having a licensed dengue vaccine available is a significant step forward for dengue control. However, we should be careful in considering where and how to use this vaccine as there is still uncertainty about the impact. The team stress the vaccine stills holds benefits - but only if used in areas heavily affected by dengue, where individuals being vaccinated are likely to have encountered the virus before. Derek Cummings, Professor of Biology at the University of Florida and co-author of the study added: In places with high transmission intensity, most people have been already exposed to dengue at the time of vaccination, and the vaccine has higher efficacy on average. However, in places with lower transmission intensity, were individuals haven't been previously exposed, the vaccine can place people at risk of severe disease and overall, increase the number of hospitalized cases. Dr Isabel Rodriguez-Barraquer, joint first author of the research from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, explained: Our results indicate that screening potential vaccine recipients could maximize the benefits and minimise the risk of negative outcomes. The World Health Organization recommends that countries consider introduction of the dengue vaccine only in geographic settings (national or subnational) where data suggests a high burden of disease. Professor Ferguson added: Our model refines estimates of which places would see a decline in dengue incidence with large scale vaccination programmes, and which places should not implement programmes at this point in time. These results present the first published, independent predictions of the potential impact of vaccination that take account of recent data showing that the vaccine can increase the risk of severe dengue disease in young children. The authors hope their analysis can help inform policy-makers in evaluating this and other candidate dengue vaccines. Body language plays a crucial role, particularly in communication between teachers and students. This is the outcome of a project funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF which focused on the hidden elements of teaching. Education researchers at the University of Graz studied body language in the classroom and uncovered the stress fields in schools. Quelle: wavebreakmedia/shutterstock.com An encouraging smile, a sceptical frown, a negating shake of the head: body language is very diverse and effective. With the discovery of mirror neurons, brain researchers corroborated its impact by demonstrating how these nerve cells translate the expressions of another person, such as a smile, into one's own experience. In a classroom, there is constant interaction between teachers and students. Elements such as gestures, facial or corporal expressions that do not, as a rule, attract much attention are of great importance in the process. Education scientists from the University of Graz investigated this aspect for the first time in a project supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF. Bernd Hackl, head of the Institute for Teacher Education, and his team explored the significance of teachers' nonverbal communication, or, more precisely, corporal expressions and physical communication, during classroom interaction. Videos of classes recorded over a period of three years were subsequently interpreted and presented as case studies. "The physical presence of the teachers in the classroom is of enormous importance", says Bernd Hackl summing up the results of his investigations. "It is teachers' body language which gives them credibility and determines whether learning processes will be fostered, or not, as the case may be", Hackl adds. In a nutshell, successful teaching hinges on the physical presence of the teachers and the learning context they create in the classroom. A CONVINCING PERFORMANCE ON THE CLASSROOM STAGE Principal investigator Hackl compares teaching to a theatre performance. Even though different in several aspects, both the classroom and the stage revolve around a credible presentation of content, he explains. Just like actors, teachers need to fulfil their tasks by being physically present and interacting and by winning over an audience that is hard to predict all of this within a limited time frame. A challenge which requires teachers to have conviction, a professional understanding of their role and an appreciative attitude towards their students. In order to capture the whole diversity of corporal communications, Hackl and his research team started by identifying four teaching tasks on the basis of video analyses: providing a relaxed setting for learning, integrating the learners in a collaborative school environment, challenging pre-existing knowledge and skills, and, finally, being able to demonstrate such knowledge and skills to the students and thereby make the mastering of them easier. CONTRADICTIONS The education scientist explains that these tasks are based on an ideal standard of successful teaching. In everyday practice they are often hard to reconcile with the formal and social requirements the school system has to meet. "Exposure to such contradictory aspects produces a variety of reactions from the teachers and, in the worst case, stagnation", Hackl notes. In concrete terms, the scholars from Graz identified several typical teaching strategies in this basic research project. Teachers alternate between these strategies in order to fulfil requirements that are impossible to meet simultaneously. This will also become manifest in physical expressions, when teachers, for instance, play down certain things in order to balance the situation. "In such cases, the teachers' words and their body language will drift apart, and the students notice that", Hackl emphasises. As a consequence, both sides are annoyed or frustrated and end up creating distance. BEHAVIOURAL PATTERNS If teachers fulfil the four functions of teaching listed above, they support adolescents in developing autonomy. This is what the researchers call pedagogical engagement, meaning teachers are authentic, convincing and motivated and seek to create an open learning environment in other words, successful classroom teaching. "This, however, is the exception", Hackl notes when reporting the team's observations. "Today we increasingly find that teachers are inclined to choose opportunistic, administrative or economic strategies." This means that they avoid confrontation, use grades to reward or punish in a kind of barter trade system or stage classroom teaching increasingly in the form of edutainment under the motto: "Don't hurt me, and I won't hurt you". In these cases, precise analysis of the videos often reveals a lack of authenticity in the teachers' corporal communications. Although the students will not be aware of this fact, let alone be able to verbalise it, they can nevertheless sense it and thus withdraw from learning activities in what seems to be a demotivated manner. In rare cases -- for instance, among siblings in two families from Pakistan and Oman described in a new study -- children have been born with an unnamed neurological disorder. Now researchers have not only identified the genetic mutations involved, but also replicated them in lab cultures and mouse models to produce an initial understanding of how the mutations cause the disease. The study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences highlights both new medical and scientific opportunities, said Dr. Eric Morrow, associate professor of biology and of psychiatry and human behavior in the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. "This is a clear, new neurogenetic disorder due to mutations in GPT2," said Morrow, who also sees patients at Bradley Hospital and is affiliated with the Brown Institute for Brain Science. "In addition to the relevance this has to the diagnosis of developmental disorders, and potentially therapeutics, it is also a window into how the brain develops and how the brain functions." The paper reveals specific findings of basic neurodevelopment, Morrow said. The gene at issue, GPT2, is expressed in the nucleus of cells, but the enzyme it generates appears vital to metabolic pathways in the mitochondria, organelles which provide energy and biosynthetic building blocks to cells. The consequences of the mutations appear to be in leaving developing brains without biosynthetic abilities to grow properly, and to deficits in metabolites that could help prevent degeneration. Moreover, the G in the gene name stands for glutamate, an important neurotransmitter that governs how brain cells, or neurons, connect and interact. "To find a glutamate metabolizing enzyme that is associated with a brain disease is an opportunity to understand how that neurotransmitter might work or be modulated," Morrow said. Morrow is co-corresponding author along with collaborators David Housman at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Ganeshwaran Mochida at Boston Children's Hospital. The study's co-lead authors are Brown investigator Qing Ouyang and Boston Children's Hospital researcher Tojo Nakayama. The second author, Ozan Baytas, is a Ph.D. candidate in Brown's neuroscience graduate training program. An unnamed disorder The team, which also includes collaborators in Pakistan and Oman, began the investigation more than five years ago when they were studying two families in those countries with children whose symptoms included below-normal postnatal brain growth, intellectual disability and progressively worsening motor problems. The children, 14 in all across the two large families, typically were able to walk by age 3, yet a majority lost that ability later as motor control diminished in their legs, as a condition called spastic paraplegia emerged. Spastic paraplegia is generally considered to involve a neurodegenerative cause, Morrow said. The team traced a genetic mutation to chromosome 16, and as next-generation sequencing technology became available, they were able to find two specific mutations in GPT2. In the interim, a few other research groups had also linked GPT2 mutations to neurological disease in other families, including a family in the U.S. Taken together, Morrow said, the studies provide strong evidence that the gene is relevant to neurological disease. Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today Modeling a mitochondrial mechanism With gene mutations identified, Morrow and his collaborators went much further to learn how the mutations could cause the disease. To do that the team created models in which the mutations were induced in human cells and also in mice. Like the children with GPT2 mutations, developing mice with the mutations also showed reduced neural and brain growth. In these lab models the researchers were able to study in detail the different biochemistry at play with and without the mutations. In the human cells they saw that mutations led to reduced enzyme activity. They also determined that the protein locates in the mitochondria. Mutant mice engineered with a GPT2 enzyme deficiency showed abnormal brain metabolism. For example, some of the differences undermined a process called the TCA cycle, which is important for producing energy and generating building blocks for cells. While these metabolic pathways have been well studied in rapidly dividing cells such as in cancer, Morrow said, they have not been as thoroughly studied in differentiating neurons growing extensions and connections during early childhood. To do that, Morrow and colleagues teamed up with experts in cancer metabolism, Ralph DeBerardinis at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Shawn Davidson and David Housman at MIT, to develop experiments pertinent to GPT2 and brain. When the researchers looked at the neurons of developing mice, they found that ones with the GPT2 mutations produced fewer synapses, the connections between neurons that make up brain circuits. The researchers conducted large-scale profiling of metabolites in the brains of the mutant mice. They found in the GPT2 mutant mice abnormal metabolite levels related to amino acid metabolism, TCA and pathways required for protecting neuron health. The deficiencies in these neuroprotective metabolites, Morrow said, might explain why the disease appears to have a degenerative course. Future hope Morrow's team at Brown is now developing new hypotheses and testing them in the mouse model they developed. Not only are they seeking to refine and deepen their understanding of how those metabolic pathways regulate brain disease and function, but also, they are eager to test potential ways to rescue development and prevent disease progression. "I believe there is hope that if these children were identified early as having this genetic condition, there may be an intervention that could prevent the progression," Morrow said. The researchers are also interested to learn more about how these mitochondrial metabolic pathways play key roles in the developing brain and how these pathways may contribute to brain health. Cell models from stem cells serve an ever-increasing role in research of cardiac dysfunction. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have succeeded in producing cells which offer new insights into properties of the heart. They installed a molecular sensor into the cells which emits light, and not only makes the cells' electrical activity visible, but also makes it possible for the first time to quickly identify cell types. It has been possible to produce so-called induced pluripotent stem cells in the laboratory for the past ten years. These stem cells are derived from white blood cells, for example, and can be infinitely reproduced in the laboratory, and be turned into all possible types of cells. This has enabled the use of heart cells produced in this way in order to investigate cardiac rhythm dysfunctions, for example. Animal experiments are only of limited use for this application, and tissue samples cannot be easily taken from patients' hearts. Cultivated heart cells, however, provide the opportunity to research such diseases in a 'miniature' format. "Our development solves several problems which had made working with such cell models difficult," said Dr. Daniel Sinnecker, Cardiologist at TUM's Klinikum rechts der Isar. Laboratory-produced heart cells still pose the problem of how to best measure electrical activity. In the past, microelectrodes were most commonly used in order to directly determine the cells electrical signals. This procedure, however, is quite tedious, and can only be used on a small number of cells. Differences between cell types In addition, not all heart cells are alike. All heart cells are able to contract at their own cyclic rhythm, and to forward electrical signals to neighbouring cells. Yet, the cells which form the various structures of the heart, such as the atria, the chambers or the sinus node, i.e. the pacemaker of the heart, differ significantly from each other, for example in their action potentials. These are variations in electrical voltage between the inside and outside of cells which form an electric signal that controls the excitation process in the heart and thus its contractions. This difference becomes relevant when examining rhythm disorders which are caused by malfunctions in specific areas of the heart muscle. Producing heart cells from stem cells, scientists today have only insufficient ways of influencing whether those cells become heart chamber cells, atrial cells or nodal cells. In order to investigatea particular disorder, scientists must meticulously identify the type of each individual cell. Biological sensors instead of microelectrodes Daniel Sinnecker and his team described a possible solution for both of these problems in their article in "European Heart Journal." Instead of attaching microelectrodes to cells, the scientists used biological sensors. These are built from fluorescent, i.e.luminous, protein from deep sea jellyfish. The DNA which contains the "construction plans" for these sensor proteins is inserted into heart cells, which then produce the sensor proteins. When the altered heart cells are stimulated with light at a specific wavelength, they produce light at a different wavelength. The precise color of the returned light depends on the voltage difference between the cells' interiors and exteriors. One can therefore measure and record the action potential of individual cells using a special camera. A special characteristic of this new method is that the inserted DNA can be coupled with specific recognition sequences, so-called promoters. These ensure that the sensor proteins are produced only in specific types of heart muscle cells. Thus, it becomes possible to capture only the electrical signals from atrial cells, heart chamber cells or sinus node cells, as needed. New possibilities for investigating drugs In contrast to the prior cumbersome microelectrode technique, this method offers significantly improved performance. "We can already investigate hundreds of cells in one day instead of only a handful," says Zhfen Chen, first author of the study. "This process can basically be automated and scaled up, so that thousands of cells can be investigated at the same time." "In the future, we can use our method not only in the laboratory in order to study disease," says Daniel Sinnecker. "The fact that we can investigate large numbers of cells means that we can also use this method for investigation of drugs, in which, for example, we can investigate whether a product has a negative effect on heart muscle." A challenge for such new types of procedures is that the cells must be produced in the needed quantities. Daniel Sinnecker and his team are working on increasing the sensitivity of their method. One Medicine: how human and veterinary medicine can benefit each other Professor Roberto La Ragione News-Medical speaks to Professor Roberto La Ragione, Chair of Trustees at Humanimal Trust, about the concept of One Medicine and how human and veterinary medicine can collaborate, share knowledge, and initiate research for the benefit of both humans and animals. 52-year-old Urjit Patel , an economist and banker is the 8th Deputy Governor to be promoted to the top post and has taken over as the 24th Governor of the Central bank for a 3 year term.Patel acquired his BA from the London School of Economics, M. Phil from Oxford University in 1986, and Phd in Economics from Yale University in 1990.He joined the International Monetary fund in 1990 and worked in USA, India, Bahamas and Myanmar Desks till 1995.In the past,he has worked with the Boston Consulting Group and Reliance Industries and also with several high level committees at state and central government level.As RBI Deputy Governor, Dr Patel looked after Monetary Policy, Economic Policy Research, Statistics Information Management and various other important tasks.The hardcore monetary economist and a pure technocrat is also an author to technical publications, papers and comments in the areas of Indian macroeconomics, public finance, infrastructure, financial inter-mediation, international trade and the economics of climate change. The number of foreign patients visiting Korea has been soaring at an annual rate of over 30 percent since 2009. The figure rose 35.9 percent from 60,201 in 2009 to 81,789 in 2010, and is estimated to have exceeded 110,000 last year, up 34.5 percent, according to the Korea Health Industry Development Institute. The target for this year is 150,000 medical tourists, marking growth of 36 percent, it added. American patients topped the list with 32.4 percent in 2010, followed by Chinese (19.4 percent), Japanese (16.8 percent) and Russians (7.7 percent). Foreign patients spent an average of W1.31 million per person on medical expenses here (US$1=W1,133). "Attracting three to four patients with serious illnesses creates a comparable economic effect to exporting a Hyundai Sonata," the institute said. People from Kazakhstan paid the highest medical bills, or W3.78 million on average, followed by Russians with W2.97 million and Mongolians with W2.58 million, as many of them came for expensive treatments for cardiovascular or other serious diseases. Japanese patients spent the least amount of money, or W840,000 on average. U.S. patients visited Korea largely to undergo medical check-ups or seek treatment from dentists, while most Chinese patients got treated by beauty therapists or plastic surgeons, and Russians sought cardiovascular or orthopedic surgeons. Japanese mostly sought herbal and skin treatments. They accounted for 76 percent of the total number of foreign patients visiting Oriental medicine clinics, and 35 percent of those seeking dermatologists. "Many Japanese want to receive simple treatments like acupuncture or skin care during their short visit" to Korea, said a director at the institute. Meanwhile, Chinese patients, mostly women in their 20s or 30s, accounted for 66 percent of the total number of foreigners visiting plastic surgeons in Korea. "Recently, an increasing number of older Chinese visitors have also been coming to get medical check-ups here as part of tour programs," the director said. "As Korea begins to be recognized for its advanced medical skills, the number of foreign patients with serious conditions is on the rise." In the southern port city of Busan, Russian patients account for 35 percent of foreign patients visiting clinics. Many hail from the eastern region of Vladivostok and show symptoms of cardiovascular, hip or disk diseases, the institute said. Flames once again licked the historic buildings of Britain's capital as a wooden replica of 17th century London went up in smoke to mark the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London. The Great Fire began at a baker's shop in Pudding Lane in the early hours of Sept. 2, 1666, and spread rapidly through the wooden structures of the old city. It raged for four days, ravaging the parts of the city inside the old Roman wall, but surprisingly, only six deaths were reported. The old, medieval St Pauls Cathedral was completely destroyed by the fire, and then rebuilt in its present form following the designs of architect Christopher Wren. The wooden replica was designed by American artist David Best and built by unemployed young Londoners over several months. The spectacle marked the end of "London's Burning", a four-day festival of free art events to mark the anniversary. After months of lockdown and protest for Inner Line Permit in the valley, Manipur government issued three bills on August 31, 2015. Seething with rage the protesters decided, they would not bury the dead unless the bills were withdrawn. So the protest should have ended. But in the last one year the mutual distrust between the hill tribes and the Meiteis have only increased. Members of the JAC say not a single high level delegation was sent by the government seated in Imphal. The base year of 1952, Johnshon maintains will have no impact on the indigenous people but is brought in check the alleged 'immigrant' population. He maintains that of the 27 lakh odd people in Manipur, over 7 lakh are 'immigrants'. A year back this morgue in Manipur's remote hill district of Churachandpur received twelve modern Mortuary refrigeration units. No, this was not a result of a giant leap in health care facilities under rural health mission programme.It was rather a sign of things to come. These freezers are used to keep the bodies of 9 tribal youth who lost their lives during the protest against the inner line permit bills.Images of the tribal youth who lost their lives during the protest against the inner line permit billsThe 'Joint Action Committee against the Anti Tribal Bills' refuse to bury the dead, till demands of the hill districts are met. Today these bodies have become the symbol of this Hill Vs Valley battle that has split Manipur into two.These were; Protection of Manipur People's Bill 2015, the Manipur Land Reforms and Land Revenue (7th Amendment) Bill, and Manipur Shops and Establishment (2nd Amendment) Bill, 2015. All of them were passed on the same day.As soon as the news reached the hill districts, people hit the streets to protest. The epicenter of the protest was Churachandpur and soon it turned violent.The houses of one minister and two MLAs from the region were burned down, for not opposing the bills in the assembly. This led to counter firing from the police, and 9 young men lost their lives.It is not that the Hill Districts were opposed to the Inner Line Permit. As per the Chief Convener of the Joint Action Committee against Anti Tribal Bills H Mangchinkhup, it was the clause in one of the bills in which the government of Manipur reserves the right to determine who is Manipuri has been the main bone of contention.They saw these bills as an attempt by the Ibobi Singh government to take their land away.But today, a year later, it appears the goalpost has moved. President Pranab Mukherjee has returned the bill and fresh draft bill has been put out for discussion.Manchinkhup says this bill might have been rejected, the Manipur government will have another bill like this sometime later. The solution is a separate administration for us.To understand the insecurities of the hill, it is important to understand the politics of Manipur. In a 60 member house, only 20 come from the 5 hill districts and 40 are from the valley.In terms of land to population ratio, hills have 90% of the land and while Imphal valley has 90% of population. This is why the tribes feel, these bills could be used as a guise to take their land away from them.But the valley leaders of the Inner line permit differs on this. United Committee Manipur President Johnshon Elangbam maintains that the fear of the hill districts are misplaced.By 'immigrants' he explains those who have come to the state from Bangladesh, Mynamar and various Indian states like UP and Bihar.There is another reason for the restlessness in Churachandpur. Out of the 5 hill districts, 4 are Naga dominated.With the indications that the talks between the Naga leadership ( led by NSCN(IM) ) could lead to a greater Nagalim, this could be the only district left directly under the Manipur government. That would mean, their bargaining power would go down further.But what about the family members of the martyrs? The 9 young men who lost their lives to the police bullets? Dont they want to bury their dead. We went to the house of the youngest victim of the bullets.11-year-old Khaijamang Touthang had gone out of the house to see the protest. His mother says she repeatedly told him not to venture out in the curfew.But soon she got to know her son has been allegedly shot dead by the security forces, today his body too is kept in the morgue. When asked if they did not want to bury him? His brother only said, they don't make the decision anymore.It is upto the JAC to decide when to bury them.But the burial could be a long time away, as the hill tribes and the valley take guard for yet another round of confrontation, these nine martyrs would continue to live in these refrigeration unit of the morgue. The Cauvery water sharing dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu has intensified with agitated farmers and activists belonging to pro-Kannada outfits blocking Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway against the Supreme Court directive to the state to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.Protesters held bandh in Mandya and blocked roads at several places. They mobbed and ransacked several government offices in Mandya forcing their shut down, while attendance at government offices remained thin.Over 2,000 police personnel have been deployed in the Cauvery belt to contain the protest and to maintain law and order. Prohibitory orders have been clamped around Krishnarajasagar Dam and entry of visitors to it prohibited till September 9.The Cauvery row hotted up after the Supreme Court directed Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for the next 10 days to address the plight of the farmers there.The SC direction triggered an immediate backlash with the farmers' body spearheading the stir, calling for a bandh in Mandya district.Shops, hotels and other commercial establishments and theatres and hotels remained shut and schools and colleges declared a holiday in the district where state run and private buses are also not plying.Protests are also being held in Mysuru and Hassandistricts, fed by the Cauvery, demanding that Karnataka should not release water. How the Cauvery river has ebbed and flown over the years (Network18 Creative)Venting their anger, protesters burnt effigy of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa at several places.Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is holding a meeting of senior Ministers, legal experts and officials, has also invited legislature floor leaders and MPs later in the day to discuss the further course of action. "We don't have water even to drink, forget about using it for irrigation. We will discuss in detail today," Siddaramaiah said.Meanwhile, the government has appealed to people not to resort to agitation and to maintain calm."My appeal to the public is that don't resort to agitation...and keep calm and we will make all efforts to protect the interest of the farmers," Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister TB Jayachandra said.Jayachandra said people should maintain calm as it is an order by the Supreme Court and the government needs to go before the Cauvery supervisory committee and convince it."My appeal is be calm, and don't spoil any government property or anything because it is a Supreme Court order. We have to go before the Supervisory Committee and we want to try to convince (it) also," the Minister said.Former Chief Minister and State BJP President BS Yeddyurappa asked the government to file a petition countering the Supreme Court order.In Mandya, Kannada Rakshna Vedike outfit activists held a bike rally and burnt the effigy of Jayalalithaa. G Madegowda, President of Cauvery Hita Rakshana Samithi, the body spearheading the agitation, criticised the chief minister and irrigation minister for their "irresponsible" behaviour over the Cauvery issue.He also called the district MLAs to resign enmasse to protest against the "injustice." New Delhi: Archbishop of Delhi Anil JT Couto on Tuesday has expressed shock and sadness at the growing apathy towards the dead of the poor families, particularly the tribals and Dalits. His statement came after a tribal man in Odisha was forced to collect garbage to cremate his wife, after he was allegedly turned away by the crematorium because he was not having enough money. "The shocking reports of sheer apathy on the part of the civil authorities and governments towards the dead persons of poor families in the states of Odisha and Uttar Pradesh are disturbing," the Archbishop said. "These incidents remind us that we as a democratic welfare state are lacking even basic amenities and facilities to provide a dignified burial or last rites for the dead, particularly the poor and vulnerable sections of the society," he added. He said, "I appeal to our Prime Minister and Chief Ministers of the states to focus on providing basic amenities in rural health care centres and empower the panchayats with adequate infrastructures and institutions as to make our nation truly a welfare state in every sense of the word. The government must explore the possibilities of responding quickly to distress calls through a centralised mechanism transcending barriers of states and languages." Washington: Indian-American supporters of the Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump have launched the traditional door-to-door campaign, arguing that this mode of campaigning is still an effective tool to win people's heart ahead of the November 8 general elections. Volunteers of Indian-Americans for Trump 2016 started old-fashioned campaigning to sell Trump and his agenda for American president among perspective voters in New Jersey's Mercer and Monmouth counties, a media release said. AD Amar, president, Indian-Americans for Trump was joined by political activist Satya Dosapati Narayana, West Windsor Township Republican Committeeperson Rimma Rosenberg, Mercer County Republican Committee Second Vice Chair Colleen DiPastina and her husband and Monmouth County Republican State Committeeman John Costigan and his wife, the media release said. "The campaigners presented evidence in the form of past behavior to convince the voters why Hillary Clinton will not be a good president and why Trump will be good. With a few exceptions, they hope they changed minds of some voters," the media release said. Islamabad: Indian High Commissioner to Islamabad Gautam Bambawale has extended an olive branch to Pakistan in what is being seen as a two-pronged strategy by India. While the High Commissioner is reaching out to the neighbouring country, PM Narendra Modi is targeting Pakistan as a sponsor of terror in his remarks during the G 20 summit. In a speech to Karachi Council on Foreign Relations, Bambawale said that in order to improve trade, Pakistan needs to grant India the Most-Favoured Nation status. There should be more participation in trade fairs and more Pakistani trade delegations should visit India. There is no option but to do it step by step, he said. Interestingly, he also compared the political issues between both countries to the difficulty in ties with China and how trade had helped normalise ties to a great extent. The Indian envoy said political issues could take time to resolve, but countries could start by taking up smaller matters. We have boundary issues with China but we decided on building other relationships to move forward. Today, they are our biggest trade partners, he said. We should start by grabbing the low hanging fruit, he added. On Modi raising Balochistan in his I-day speech, Bambawale said, The Prime Minister, in his August 15 Independence Day speech only referred to the letters he had received." However, talking about the unrest in Kashmir, the Indian High Commissioner said, It is an internal matter of India. There are problems in both India and Pakistan and you [Pakistan] should focus on resolving your problems before looking into the problems of other countries. Hoping for better ties with Pakistan, he said that Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the Saarc summit. I cant say about the future but as of today, Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the Saarc summit in November this year, he said. The farmers of Mandya district in Karnataka are observing a total bandh on Tuesday against the Supreme Court directing the state to release 15000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu for the next ten days.The busy Bengaluru-Mysore highway has been blocked since morning. The police have made elaborate security arrangements across Cauvery basin districts including Bengaluru.According to the government, all dams in Cauvery basin have just 50 tmc feet of water due to failure of monsoon. Including Bengaluru, the region needs 40 tmc feet of water for drinking purpose because of which the state is opposing releasing water to Tamil Nadu.Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah, whose government has been expressing its inability to release water to Tamil Nadu citing poor storage, would hold a meeting with floor leaders of all parties in the state legislature, MPs and district-in charge ministers on Tuesday to take stock of the situation.Veteran farmers leader and former MP G Made Gowda said, "we don't have water even for drinking purpose. The SC says release water to TN to protect crops. This is illogical and inhuman. People are really angry".Gowda also urged the government to file a review petition in the apex court. He said he had spoken to state Water Resources Minister MB Patil over phone and urged him to safeguard the interest of Karnataka farmers.Protests against Cauvery water distribution (Picture courtesy: Imran Khan)The farmers' leader also warned the government that it would face a strong agitation if water was released to Tamil Nadu.Protests broke out on Monday in other parts of the state including Chamrajnagar, Mysuru and Hubballi with farmers and pro-Kannada activists demonstrating against the Supreme Court order and urging the Siddaramaiah government to protect interests of Karnataka farmers and not release water to Tamil Nadu.Police said effigies and posters of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa were burnt in some places in these districts.Protests against Cauvery water distribution (Picture courtesy: Imran Khan)A group of farmers tried to enter the KRS Reservoir in Mysuru protesting the court direction, but police prevented them. 'Karnataka Okkuta', led by Vatal Nagaraj, called for a 'Karnataka bandh' on September 9."There is no water in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mandya and Chamrajnagar, and that is the truth. We have called for Karnataka Bandh on September 9 to protest against the injustice meted out to farmers here," Nagaraj said.Passing orders on a petition by Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court noted that damage would be caused to samba crops in the neighbouring state and directed Karnataka to release water. : Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said that his Government would release the Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu to honour the Supreme Court's judgement over the issue.He made this announcement after chairing an all party meeting in Bengaluru even as the Opposition JDS leaders walked out of the meeting protesting the government's decision to release water to TN."With a heavy heart we have to give the water. It's a constitutional dilemma we are facing. Defy SC or to say we can't would be difficult. On October 18 main petition of Karnataka is coming up in the SC. We should also ensure our legal strategy doesn't harm that case. Though we are in trouble," Siddaramaiah said while addressing the media."We will ensure that the drinking water for the towns fed by these dams doesn't suffer. We are trying to meet the needs of the farmers too. At the same time some leaders have given us advice that we should go to SC again. We will approach the SC with a modification petition. As this order is difficult to implement, we will go before the supervisory committee too. We will go to SC to modify order of 5th September", Siddaramaiah added with an effort to reach out to the farmers from Karnataka opposing the release of the water.Also read: Cauvery Row: Protests in Karnataka Intensify, Mobs Ransack Govt Offices He has also appealed to farmers to drop the agitation."My appeal to farmers is to maintain calm. We are making all serious efforts to help them. Farmers should not do anything in haste," Siddaramaiah told the media during the briefing.Earlier, agitated farmers and activists belonging to pro-Kannada outfits blocking Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway against the Supreme Court directive to the state to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. How the Cauvery river has ebbed and flown over the years (Network18 Creative)Protesters held bandh in Mandya and blocked roads at several places, ransacking several government offices in Mandya and forcing them to shut down even as the attendance at government offices remained thin.Over 2,000 police personnel were deployed in the Cauvery belt to contain the protests and to maintain law and order. Prohibitory orders have been clamped around Krishnarajasagar Dam and the entry of visitors to it prohibited till September 9.Also read: Cauvery War Hits South Karnataka, Tamil Films Go Off Screens, Bus Services Suspended .@AnirbanDHdel: As I stated in my weekly briefing, decisions and announcements of such nature are not made so far in advance Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) September 6, 2016 The Centre on Tuesday evening clarified that no decision has been made yet on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Islamabad after India's High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale said that the PM is looking forward to visit Pakistan in November for the Saarc summit."Decisions and announcements of such nature are not made so far in advance," India's External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.Swarup's remarks came a day after the High Commissioner, Gautam Bambawale, told an event in Karachi on Monday that the visit was possible despite tense India-Pakistan ties.Also read: PM Modi Looking Forward to SAARC Summit in Islamabad: Indian Envoy "I can't say about the future but as of today Prime Minister Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the Saarc summit in November," the Dawn quoted Bambawale as saying at an interactive session of the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations.He also said while India and Pakistan must certainly discuss the entire range of issues, they must keep their focus on economy which he described as a "low-hanging fruit".His comments came amid reports that Modi might keep away from the Saarc Summit in view of the rising tensions between India and Pakistan, particularly over Jammu and Kashmir.Bambawale said it was India's desire to see a Pakistan which was moderate, prosperous and stable and at peace with itself, its neighbours as well as the rest of the world.He admitted that trust and confidence was lacking in relations between New Delhi and Islamabad.The road to normalization of Pakistan-India relations, he said, lay through greater trade and business, the roadmap for which was prepared by the two governments in 2012.The total trade between the two countries was worth just $2.5 billion a year while its potential was of $20 billion, the Dawn quoted him as saying.The Indian envoy said even when tensions were high between the two countries, there had been contacts at the operational level.Over the past month and a half, there had been "cordial interactions" between Pakistani and Indian border forces.Bambawale referred to Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's and Modi's visits to Islamabad and Lahore respectively in December last year.But on January 2 this year, terrorists - who India says came from Pakistan - attacked the Pathankot Indian Air Force base.He said the Indian government had been saying: "Let's work together to get to the bottom of terrorism which was a headache not only for Pakistan but for India and the world."In an obvious reference to the Kashmir dispute, Bambawale said the two countries should not be talking on just one issue, rather on all issues.He said India had taken a stand in the 1960s and 70s that New Delhi and Beijing must talk on the boundary problem before moving on to other issues. But this was reversed in 1988.Today China was one of India's largest trading partners, he pointed out.Asked about "Indian atrocities" in Jammu and Kashmir, the High Commissioner said Indians were as concerned about the people of Kashmir as anyone else in the world.But issue of Jammu and Kashmir was domestic and "you should focus on your problems", he replied.Bambawale said the problem with China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was that it went through Pakistani Kashmir whose ownership is disputed by Islamabad and New Delhi.He also mentioned how Pakistan had refused consular access to alleged RAW agent Kulbhushan Jadhav, arrested in Pakistan, while India gave consular access to a Pakistani terrorist, Bahadur Ali."We have offered Pakistani authorities full consular access to him," he said in reply to a question about Indian involvement in Balochistan.Also read: Karachi Chamber of Commerce Cancels Indian High Commissioner's Event Kashmir: Pakistani troops on Tuesday violated border ceasefire by resorting to mortar shell firing along the Line of Control (LoC) at Shahpur sector in Poonch of Jammu and Kashmir. According to the Army sources, firing was still going on intermittently till the last reports came. "Pakistani soldiers violated the border ceasefire through indiscriminate firing at around 12.10 am on our posts along the LoC in Shahpur sector," a senior Army officer said. "We have responded immediately and gave appropriate reply in a measured manner," he added. So far no one has been injured or killed in the incident. Censors in China are working overtime to scrub the Internet and social media of any mention of a slip-up made by Chinese President Xi Jinping made during a speech in Hangzhou before the Group of 20 Nations leaders' summit. In a speech Saturday to the Business 20 summit, which advises the G-20 leaders on policy decisions, Xi talked about the global economy and quoted an ancient Chinese phrase: "Make the tariff light and the road smooth, promote trade and ease agricultural policy." But because the last character in the phrase for agriculture is very similar to the one for clothes, he ended up saying "taking one's clothes off" instead of "ease agricultural policy." The phrase was quickly censored on China's Weibo microblog website, after many comments on the slip-up began to surface. Searches for this term return no results, suggesting it has been removed. Such content is also censored on the Chinese mobile messaging app WeChat. Karachi: Suspense continued on Tuesday over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's attendance at the SAARC Summit in November to be held in Islamabad even as India's High Commissioner to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale's comments published in a newspaper suggested that the PM is looking forward to the event. Gautam Bambawale also told an event here on Monday that while India and Pakistan must certainly discuss the entire range of issues, they must keep their focus on economy which he described as a "low-hanging fruit". "I can't say about the future but as of today Prime Minister Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the SAARC summit in November," the Dawn quoted Bambawale as saying at an interactive session of the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations. His comments came amid reports that Modi might keep away from the SAARC Summit in view of the rising tensions between India and Pakistan, particularly over the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. Bambawale said that it was India's desire to see a Pakistan which was moderate, prosperous and stable and at peace with itself, its neighbours as well as the rest of the world. He admitted that trust and confidence was lacking in relations between New Delhi and Islamabad. The road to normalization of Pakistan-India relations, he said, lay through greater trade and business, the roadmap for which was prepared by the two governments in 2012. The total trade between the two countries was worth just $2.5 billion a year while its potential was of $20 billion, the Dawn quoted him as saying. The Indian envoy said that even when tensions were high between the two countries, there had been contacts at the operational level. Over the past month and a half, there had been "cordial interactions" between Pakistani and Indian border forces. Bambawale referred to Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's and Modi's visits to Islamabad and Lahore respectively in December last year. But on January 2 this year, terrorists -- who India says came from Pakistan -- attacked the Pathankot Indian Air Force base. He said the Indian government had been saying: "Let's work together to get to the bottom of terrorism which was a headache not only for Pakistan but for India and the world." In an obvious reference to the Kashmir dispute, Bambawale said the two countries should not be talking on just one issue, rather on all issues. He said India had taken a stand in the 1960s and 70s that New Delhi and Beijing must talk on the boundary problem before moving on to other issues. But this was reversed in 1988. Today China was one of India's largest trading partners, he pointed out. Asked about "Indian atrocities" in Jammu and Kashmir, the High Commissioner said Indians were as concerned about the people of Kashmir as anyone else in the world. But issue of Jammu and Kashmir was domestic and "you should focus on your problems", he added. Bambawale said the problem with China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was that it went through Pakistani Kashmir whose ownership is disputed by Islamabad and New Delhi. He also mentioned how Pakistan had refused consular access to alleged RAW agent Kulbhushan Jadhav, arrested in Pakistan, while India gave consular access to a Pakistani terrorist, Bahadur Ali. "We have offered Pakistani authorities full consular access to him," he said in reply to a question about Indian involvement in Balochistan. (With inputs from IANS) Singapore: Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will lead a roadshow on Friday, offering international investors 625 million barrels of oil and gas resources for exploitation. As part of the government's global industry outreach plan, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) along with Directorate General of Hydrocarbon (DGH) is organising an interactive meet cum roadshow on 9-10 September here. As a key facilitator, the Indian Government has rolled out significant reforms to reduce the regulatory risk and the industry shall find the revised guidelines and processes attractive for the current bid round, according to a DGH press release. Pradhan will also meet Asian oil and gas industry leaders to attract Foreign Direct Investment in the Indian hydrocarbon exploration and production (E&P) sector. "During the meetings, Pradhan is expected to highlight the paradigm shift in the policy regime for the exploration and production sector in India and the improved investment environment for E&P companies under the new Hydrocarbon Exploration Licensing Policy (HELP) which emphasises on improving the ease of doing business and operational autonomy to attract investment," the release said. Pradhan believes that with the new policy regime and infusion of innovative technology, India can achieve Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision to reduce India's oil import by 10 per cent over the next 5-6 years. The new HELP regime is based on a revenue sharing model that addresses various industry concerns that led to slow down in E&P investments in earlier Production Sharing Contacts (PSC) regime, the DGH said. The Singapore roadshow also aims to generate significant interest among the oil and gas companies/investors operating in countries like Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. "The response received so far has been encouraging and India is hoping to receive significant investments from Asian based companies," the DGH said. Roadshows were also held in various Indian and international locations such as Houston, Calgary and Dubai. New Delhi: A day after social activist Anna Hazare said that he is "very saddened to see" some of the colleagues of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal getting embroiled in various controversies, it was the turn of former Aam Aadmi Party leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan to voice their opinion on the ongoing crisis in AAP. Yogendra Yadav, while addressing media on Tuesday said, "A year and half ago, Prashant and I warned that this will happen. Anna Hazare's dream has been shattered completely and it is saddening for all of us." However, Yogendra Yadav refused to dub AAP more corrupt than other political parties. "AAP is not as bad as other political parties, but I feel bad when others level allegations against AAP," he said. Former AAP leader, Prashant Bhushan also crticised Aam Aadmi Party after seeing some of the members getting mired in crime and cases of sexual harassment. "Many including Anna Hazare thought that AAP would be a different party. What we are seeing today is that some of the MLAs or prominent members are getting involved in crime and sexual harassment cases," Prashant Bhushan said. Senior lawyer also talked about AAP spokesperson Ashutosh defending tainted MLA Sandeep Kumar in one of his recent blogs. "Ashutosh seems to have assumed that all that Sandeep did was consensual... but filming the act was definitely not consensual," he said. "I am very hurt...When he (Kejriwal) was with me, he wrote a book on gram swaraj...Will we call this gram swaraj? That's why I am very sad. The hope with which I was looking at him (Kejriwal) is over," social activist Anna Hazare had said on Monday. The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) came out all guns blazing against AAP and its supremo - Arvind Kejriwal. "AAP had the blessings of Anna Hazare and everyone including Anna feels cheated," BJP leader RP Singh said. He also took pot-shots at the way Delhi CM communicates with people. "These days Arvind Kejriwal communicates to people through social media and does monologue," he said. The Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal on the other hand preferred to evade media. Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh Governor Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa has refused to step down from his post, weeks after the Supreme Court restored the Congress government in the northeastern state. Rajkhowa said, "Let President sack me." He added, "I feel humiliated and hurt. I am shocked that this kind of treatment could be given to a governor of a state who is a Constitutional authority. If any communication is made to a governor whether to resign or held ground or any other important matter that has to come from the appointing authority which is the President." Rajkhowa has been told "verbally" by a junior Union Minister and a senior official of the Home Ministry to step down on "health grounds", sources had said on Saturday. The Governor's office, however, had said there has been no formal communication from anyone asking Rajkhowa to resign from his post. "There was no formal communication from anyone asking the Governor to resign from his post. But I have come to know that two-three individuals have spoken to the Governor and verbally indicated that," PRO to the Governor Atum Potom had said. After getting the two calls from Delhi asking him to step down, Rajkhowa apparently had approached Home Minister Rajnath Singh to seek clarification on the issue. But the Home Minister did not ask Rajkhowa to step down, sources said. However, sources said, if Rajkhowa does not resign on his own, there is a possibility of Central government asking President Pranab Mukherjee to withdraw his "pleasure", leading to his sacking. By rule, Rajkhowa is entitled to a five-year term but it is subjected to the "pleasure of the President. 71-year-old Rajkhowa was appointed as Governor in May 2015. The reported move by the Centre to seek Rajkhowa's resignation came weeks after the Supreme Court restored the Congress government in Arunachal Pradesh and censured the Governor for "humiliating the elected government of the day". The move comes against the backdrop of the political crisis in Arunachal Pradesh triggered by the revolt by Congress MLAs. Congress rebel Kalikho Pul had become chief minister in February and was in power for five months after revolting against the then Congress government led by Nabam Tuki. Pul was subsequently dislodged from power by the apex court. BJP was providing outside support to Pul, who was found dead in mysterious circumstances in Itanagar in August. The apex court had criticised Rajkhowa for advancing the assembly session and fixing its agenda saying he cannot take away the House's discretion on the basis of "mere apprehension". Sources claimed that there were efforts to woo dissident Congress MLAs, led by Pul, to the BJP side for installation of a BJP government in Arunachal Pradesh. But it did not materialise, sources said. Later, following a Supreme Court directive Pul had to resign and all dissident Congress MLAs return to the parent party, leading to installation of a Congress government. "The return of a Congress government could have been checked had all dissident Congress MLAs joined the BJP instead of continuing as a separate regional outfit," sources said. Meanwhile, Rajkhowa fell ill and could not attend the swearing-in ceremony of Pema Khandu government, which succeeded Pul government. When Khandu expanded his Ministry on August 3, Rajkhowa again showed inability to come for swearing-in ceremony of the new Ministers citing his ill health. (With inputs from PTI) New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will be away from the national capital for nearly a fortnight for a throat surgery and to take stock of Aam Aadmi Party's preparations in poll-bound Punjab. He will undergo the surgery on September 13 to cure his chronic cough problem. He will take a 10-day rest there. "Before leaving for Bengaluru, the Chief Minister will embark on a 4-day visit to Punjab starting from September 8. He will meet party leaders and address public gathering in Punjab. "Thereafter, he will leave for Bengaluru on September 12 and undergo surgery next day. He is expected to come back on September 22," said a senior government official. In his absence, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia will look after the chief ministerial works. Sisodia is also expected to visit Goa on Wednesday, where the AAP is gearing up for Assembly elections in 2017. Last month, Kejriwal had attended a 10-day Vipassana Session at a meditation centre between August 2 and 11 in Dharmasala, Himachal Pradesh. He had no access to newspapers, television and phone during the session. In January, he had undergone a 10-day naturopathy treatment for his cough problem at Jindal Nature Cure Institute, Bengaluru. However, he will undergo throat surgery at a different health institute this time. In 2015 too, he had undergone 12 days of naturopathy treatment at the Jindal Nature Cure Institute in Bengaluru for chronic cough and diabetes. Former Congress Leader from Punjab, Jagmeet Singh Brar-led Janhit Abhiyan will fight the next Punjab assembly polls on the symbol of Aam Aadmi Party. Brar announced that he will extend "unconditional" support to AAP in Punjab after forming an "issue-based alliance" with the party. Describing AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal as "messiah on the country's political landscape", he said his front 'Lokhit Abhiyan' will give unconditional support to the party in the state. Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee, who spoke to Brar and Kejriwal to bring them together happens to be key architect of this alliance. Jagmeet Singh Brar is in talks with Navjot Singh Sidhu as well to work out an arrangement with him. Workers of Lokhit Abhiyan will support the AAP in order to defeat Congress and SAD-BJP combine in coming Punjab polls, said Brar. The former MP clarified that it was an alliance and he was not joining AAP. Asked whether he will contest Punjab polls, Brar said he would leave the decision to the leadership of AAP. "Whatever decision AAP takes regarding elections, will be obeyed," he said. Speaking on this occasion, AAP's in-charge of Punjab affairs Sanjay Singh said traditionally, political parties enter into alliance and take decision on seat sharing, position etc. "But in this case, this alliance is based on issues and it is not a political alliance. It is an issue-based alliance," he said, adding that their main motive is to "save Punjab". "In past few days, there was talk about fourth front. People also tried to contact him (Brar) in connection with fourth front but he wanted to fight against Badals, corruption, drug issue and for farmers' interest," the AAP leader said. On this occasion, AAP's co-incharge of Punjab Jarnail Singh, Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann, party's Punjab Convenor Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi, Head of legal cell Himmat Singh Shergill were also present. Brar was expelled from Congress on April 11 for his statements against the interests of the organisation.After the party's defeat in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, he had suggested that Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi go on a sabbatical to introspect on the reasons for the party's worst performance in the elections. Brar, after his expulsion from Congress, attacked the ruling Badals and Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh terming them "traitors of Punjab". Briefed the Prime Minister on All Party Delegation's visit to J&K and also apprised him of the situation in the state. Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) September 6, 2016 Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the situation in Kashmir after returning from his two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir.The Home Minister, in an hour long meeting, apprised Modi about the ground situation of the state assessed by the all-party delegation which visited Srinagar and Jammu on September 4 and 5."Briefed the Prime Minister on all-party delegation's visit to J&K and also apprised him of the situation in the state," Singh said in a tweet after the meeting at the Prime Minster's residence.While the Prime Minister returned to the capital on Monday night after his visit to Vietnam and China, the Home Minister too had come back from Jammu and Kashmir on Monday evening.Sources said the members of the all-party delegation are likely to meet in the national capital on Wednesday to discuss their findings during their visit and chalk out future plans for Jammu and Kashmir.The all-party delegation seeking to end the turbulence in Kashmir concluded its visit on Monday with no breakthrough.Unhappy at the stubborn refusal of Hurriyat leaders to meet some MPs who had literally knocked at their doors in Srinagar, the Home Minister had said that their conduct was against "democracy, humanity or even 'Kashmiriyat' (Kashmiri ethos)". Door to door campaign begins from vill Pachladi. Met farmers, &collected Kisan Maang Patras outlining their demands pic.twitter.com/sdNoZOB11R Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) September 6, 2016 Kisan Maang Patras being signed in Rudrapur pic.twitter.com/8A12r7k1ZI Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) September 6, 2016 Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi begun his Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections campaign from Deoria on Tuesday.In a bid to reinvigorate Congress and end its 27-year exile from power in the politically important state in the upcoming Assembly polls, Rahul started his 2500 km-long Kisan Yatra from the eastern Uttar Pradesh.The 'Deoria to Dilli yatra', started from Panchlari Kritpura village, includes door-to-door campaign of collecting 'Kisan Mangpatras' (charters of farmers demands), one-to-one interaction with farmers through Khaat (cot) Sabhas, a concept similar to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Chai Pe Charcha' during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, and roadside meetings.Accompanied by party colleague and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, the 46-year-old Congress leader visited houses of farmers and collected 'Kisan Mangpatras' (charters of farmers demands) and interacted with them one-to-one as part of his "Khat Sabha"."..Rahul ji came here and listened to us patiently. He collected details of my outstanding loan and also noted down my mobile number. He assured me that if Congress comes to power in the state, then his party will waive off farmers' loans and slash power tariff by 50 per cent," Om Prakash Singh, a farmer said.The Gandhi scion also spoke to "our family members, especially children and asked about their studies and future plans," another farmer said.Rahul will also hold road shows at various places during the yatra.Hitting out at the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vijay B Pathak said, "Congress is attempting survival plan in Uttar Pradesh through ornamental ways."Congress leader Rita Bahuguna Joshi defended Rahul's yatra saying, "Rahul Gandhi's yatra is focused on farmers. He wants other political parties to issues rather than caste and religion. Rahul is trying to bring the focus of Uttar Pradesh elections to important issues."On the first two days, Rahul will cover Kushinagar, Gorakhpur, Sant Kabirnagar and Basti besides Deoria.The party has made preparations for making the Congress leader's longest yatra in the state a success. A team of national spokesmen will also be stationed in Lucknow to apprise media of the developments.Rahul will make a night halt in Gorakhpur before embarking further on the journey. He will hold similar interactions with farmers and roadshows the next day and will spend the second night at Basti.During the mahayatra, the Congress leader will cover as many as 233 Assembly constituencies to reach out to people ahead of crucial polls slated early 2017.The mahayatra comes after the successful road show of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi earlier in 2017 and the two yatras of state party leaders in various districts of the state.Behind this campaign is also political strategist Prashant Kishor's formula that Congress could bounce back if Brahmins are wooed. The last Brahmin chief minister from the state was Nd Tewari and this was precisely the rationale behind making Sheila Dikshit the chief ministerial face.(With inputs from PTI) Scientists have developed a diagnosis system based on virtual reality (VR) technology that may help in the early detection of various neuro-degenerative disorders including multiple sclerosis (MS) and Parkinson's disease.The system consists of VR headsets like Google Glass , a non-contact sensor controller and a mobile platform.When a person puts on the glasses and gets into the VR mode where the environment changes the slope, the motion sensor detects changes of human body posture.A person without any disorder quickly adapts to VR and keeps a stable position while a person with a disorder can't adapt and loses balance, the researchers said in a statement."We have also created a human skeleton model, identified 20 important points that the sensor monitors. Diagnosis provides results of deviations in the 20 points," said David Khachaturyan, scientist at Tomsk Polytechnic University in Russia.The team tested the system on about 50 volunteers to see how VR influences people.The procedure, which took almost 10 minutes, engaged both healthy people and those in whom doctors already identified the neuro-degenerative disorders.The scientists made use of the existing VR devices such as Google Glass and Microsoft Kinect sensor system for the research.In addition, the system can also identify "how people with different diseases react to a virtual environment.For instance, people with Parkinson's disease get hand tremors -- quick, rhythmic limb movements," the authors said.In neuro-degenerative diseases, an individual suffers a progressive loss of nerve cells and coordination are primarily affected."These coordinated systems operate automatically. They falter if a person is affected by neuro-degenerative diseases," added Ivan Tolmachov, Associate Professor at Siberian State Medical University in Tomsk.According to the scientists, in the case of Parkinson's, cell death process can start at age 30 but the symptoms of the disease will be noticeable only at 50."To feel a function loss, a person should lose about 80 per cent of related cells. But then there is no way back to recovery," Tolmachov pointed out.Therefore, it is important to diagnose the disease at early stages when patient can still get help, the researchers said."In future, the system will be used not only for disease diagnosis but for patient rehabilitation as well," Tolmachov stated.The system is awaiting clinical trials and also requires technical and toxicological certification. It will be completed in 2017. Israel's Space Communication Ltd said on Sunday it could seek $50 million or a free flight from Elon Musk's SpaceX after a Spacecom communications satellite was destroyed last week by an explosion at SpaceX's Florida launch site.Officials of the Israeli company said in a conference call with reporters Sunday that Spacecom also could collect $205 million from Israel Aerospace Industries, which built the AMOS-6 satellite.SpaceX said in an email to Reuters that it does not disclose contract or insurance terms. The company is not public, and it has not said what insurance it had for the rocket or to cover launch pad damages beyond what was required by the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees commercial US launches, for liability and damage to government property.SpaceX has more than 70 missions on its manifest, worth more than $10 billion, for commercial and government customers.The space launch company is one of three major transportation and energy enterprises Musk leads. The others are electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc and SolarCity Corp, and Musk faces separate challenges at each of those money losing companies.Spacecom has been hit hard in the aftermath of the Thursday explosion that destroyed the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and its payload. The Israeli company said the loss of the satellite would have a significant impact, with its equity expected to decline by $30 million to $123 million.Spacecom shares dropped 9 percent on Thursday, with the explosion occurring late in the last trading day of the week. Trading in the shares was suspended on Sunday morning, and the stock plummeted another 34 percent when trading resumed.In a conference call with reporters, Spacecom's general counsel Gil Lotan said it was too early to say if the companys planned merger with Beijing Xinwei Technology Group would proceed.Xinwei last month agreed to buy Spacecom for $285 million, saying the deal was contingent on the successful launch and operation of Spacecom's AMOS-6 satellite."We hope to continue fruitful communications with the prospective buyer," Lotan said.Xinwei officials on Monday declined to comment on whether the incident would impact the terms of the deal.The firm said in a statement on Friday it was in close communication with Spacecom about how the incident would impact the merger. It added the accident would not impact its broader strategy to establish an integrated space information network.AMOS-6 was to be used by a number of key clients, including Facebook and Eutelsat Communications which leased the satellites broadband services to expand internet access in Africa. Both firms are pursuing other options, the companies said in separate statements after Thursday's accident.The cause of the accident is under investigation. Neither SpaceX, nor the FAA which is overseeing the investigation, have said how much damage the explosion caused at SpaceX's primary launch site at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.SpaceX said on Friday that it would shift flights to a second launch site in Florida, which is nearing completion and which was last used to launch NASA's space shuttles.Thursday's accident, which occurred as the company was fueling its rocket as part of a routine prelaunch test firing, was the second failed mission for Musk's space company in 14 months. In June 2015, a Falcon 9 rocket exploded about two minutes after liftoff from Florida, destroying a load of cargo headed to the International Space Station.SpaceX returned to flight in December and since then has flown nine times, all successfully. It was scheduled to fly for the 29th time on Saturday. SpaceX declined to comment about what impact Thursday's accident would have on its schedule. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned President Barack Obama on Monday not to question him about extrajudicial killings, or "son of a bitch I will swear at you" when they meet in Laos during a regional summit. Duterte said before flying to Laos that he is a leader of a sovereign country and is answerable only to the Filipino people. He was answering a reporter's question about how he intends to explain the extrajudicial killings to Obama. More than 2,000 suspected drug pushers and users have been killed since Duterte launched a war on drugs after taking office on June 30. In his typical foul-mouthed style, Duterte responded: "I am a president of a sovereign state and we have long ceased to be a colony. I do not have any master except the Filipino people, nobody but nobody. You must be respectful. Do not just throw questions. Putang ina I will swear at you in that forum," he said, using the Tagalog phrase for son of a bitch. Duterte has earlier cursed the pope and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. It isn't clear whether Obama plans to raise the issue of extrajudicial killings with Duterte during a meeting on the sidelines of the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. "Who is he to confront me?" Duterte said, adding that the Philippines had not received an apology for misdeeds committed during the U.S. colonization of the Philippines. He pointed to the killing of Muslim Moros more than a century ago during a U.S. pacification campaign in the southern Philippines, blaming the wounds of the past as "the reason why (the south) continues to boil" with separatist insurgencies. Duterte also pointed to human rights problems in the United States. Last week, Duterte said he was ready to defend his bloody crackdown on illegal drugs, which has sparked concern from the U.S. and other countries. Duterte said he would demand that Obama allow him to first explain the context of his crackdown before engaging the U.S. president in a discussion of the deaths. The White House had no immediate reaction to Duterte's comments. Obama has been attending a meeting of the Group of 20 nations in Hangzhou, China. Sanyo, a Japanese company, that has been marketing mobile phones, LCD projector and security systems in India is now entering back in the TV segment. They recently launched four TV options in India. Their LED high definition TV range is priced competitively in the country. We tested out their 43-inch XT-43S7100F full-HD TV which is priced at Rs 24,990, and here's what we think about it. What's Cool? The Sanyo XT-43S7100F is a full-HD TV that comes with a 43-inch diagonal display. The display used on the TV is an IPS panel, something that's seen on TVs from companies like LG and Panasonic. The 109-centimetre LED display offers resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. The display offers a great amount of detailing and the viewing angles on the panel is also very good at 178-degrees. The Sanyo XT-43S7100F also comes with dot noise reduction and offers a reduced motion blur. What was really interesting on the Sanyo XT-43S7100F was that despite being an all black design it is dust resistant. For the one month that we've been using it, never have we once cleaned the TV for dust. The Sanyo XT-43S7100F is lightweight too at just 7 kgs and is easy to install if you want a table top installation. The LED TV also comes with a wall mount inside the box. The panel of the TV also offers image aspect ratios of 1:1, 4:3 and 16:9 and a decent contrast ratio of 3000:1. The 16 watt of speakers on the Sanyo XT-43S7100F offers a decent sound experience as well. It's a good sound experience for a bedroom, but if you plan for this TV in your living room we would suggest a home theater system along with it. The sound quality delivers well on the treble and the mid-tones but lacks on the bass front. The Sanyo XT-43S7100F is a good affordable TV to watch your regular HD channels on a DTH connection, but if you are looking to buy it for a movie watching experience, it's just decent. For connectivity, the Sanyo XT-43S7100F offers amazing options like 2 HDMI ports, 2 USB ports that are compatible with flash drive and hard drive play-out, a PC port and also a 3.5mm audio jack if you want to connect your headphones or a smart device with AUX connectivity. Overall, The Sanyo XT-43S7100F offers a good experience in this price range. Competitors like Micromax, Vu and TCL have something or the other lacking on them. But, the Sanyo XT-43S7100F offers a good holistic package. What's Not So Cool? Weighing at just 7 Kgs The Sanyo XT-43S7100F is very light. If you have it installed in its table top avatar, there is a possibility that it can topple over. That basically means the death of a LED TV. So you need to be careful where you place it in your house. Also, the remote control offered with the TV does not offer good plastic quality. We like the fact that the buttons are nicely placed, but the feel of the remote is not fulfilling enough. We usually ended up using our smartphone as a remote for the Sanyo XT-43S7100F. But both these things are not much of a dealbreaker as far as this offering from Sanyo is concerned. Verdict Sanyo also has LED TVs in 49-inch and 32-inch sizes that are also nominally priced. The 49-inch XT-49S7100F full-HD TV is priced at Rs 34,990 while there are two 32-inch models that are priced at Rs 17,990 and Rs 14,990. Sanyo wants to disrupt the Indian affordable LED TV market and with affordable price points, it sure has made the right move. The 43-inch XT-43S7100F full-HD TV for Rs 24,990 is one of the most affordable one in the Indian market that delivers on what it promises. The Sanyo XT-43S7100F is both a practical and an affordable LED TV. Washington: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton today expressed serious concern about Russia's apparent tampering with the US election, implying that an adversarial foreign power is actively trying to elect her Republican rival Donald Trump. "We are facing a very serious concern. We've never had a foreign adversarial power be already involved in our electoral process with the DNC hacks. We've never had a nominee of one of our major parties urging the Russians to hack more," Clinton told reporters travelling with her on her new campaign plane. When pressed about whether she believed the Russians were actively trying to elect Trump to the Oval Office, Clinton took a long pause before responding. "I think it's quite intriguing that this activity has happened around the time Trump became the nominee," she conceded. "I think it's quite intriguing that this activity has happened around the time [Donald] Trump became the nominee. And look, he very early on allied himself with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's policies," she alleged. Some US media outlets have reported the American intelligence agencies are investigating potential Russian interference in US elections. This was first reported by The Washington Post. She described this as a credible report. The investigation is being coordinated by the US director of national intelligence, the daily said. This shows that the US need to be "on guard to protect our electoral system at all levels and we have to make it clear that we're not gonna let anyone interfere with decisions of the American people," Clinton said. "The fact that our intelligence professionals are now studying this, and taking it seriously raises some grave questions about potential Russian interference with our electoral process," she said. US President Barack Obama cancelled what would have been his first meeting with Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte, a White House spokesman said on Tuesday, after Duterte described Obama as a "son of a bitch". Duterte, a plain-spoken populist known for his colourful remarks and his campaign against illegal drugs in which thousands of people have died, used the term in front of reporters on Monday, a day ahead of the planned meeting in Laos, where Southeast Asian leaders are meeting for annual summits. Obama learned about the insult as he emerged from the Group of 20 summit in Hangzhou, China. At a news conference, he said he had told his aides to speak with Philippine officials "to find out is this, in fact, a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations," signalling clearly that the meeting would not proceed as planned. "I always want to make sure that if I'm having a meeting, that it's actually productive and we're getting something done," Obama told reporters. Instead, Obama now plans to meet South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday, said Ned Price, spokesman for the White House National Security Council - a meeting where the response to North Korea's latest missile tests is expected to be on the agenda. Obama arrived in Vientiane just before midnight on Monday, for the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to Laos, where he wants to begin to address the legacy of U.S. bombing during the Vietnam War. He was set to give an address on the importance he has placed on Southeast Asia in his foreign and economic policy during his two terms in office, which will end on Jan. 20, setting the stage for three days of meetings with regional leaders. The White House had earlier said Obama did not plan to pull any punches on his concerns about human rights abuses in the Philippines, its treaty ally, when meeting Duterte. Duterte won the presidency in May as he promised to suppress crime and wipe out drugs and drug dealers. At least 2,400 people have been killed since he took office on July 1, including 900 in police operations against drug pushers. The rest are "deaths under investigation", a term human rights activists in the Philippines say is a euphemism for vigilante and extrajudicial killings. Duterte said it would be "rude" for Obama to raise the human rights issue and told reporters such a conversation would prompt him to curse at Obama, using a Filipino phrase "putang ina" which can mean "son of a bitch" or "son of a whore". "Plenty will be killed until the last pusher is out of the streets. Until the (last) drug manufacturer is killed we will continue," he said. CURSE-LADEN Duterte has poured scorn previously on critics, usually larded with curses. He lambasted the United Nations after it criticised the surge in killings and he turned down a meeting with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the Laos summit. In May, he called Pope Francis a "son of a whore", although he later apologised, and called U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg a "gay son of a whore." The unusually open tensions between the United States and the Philippines, its former colony and long-term ally, threaten to overshadow the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Asia Summits in Laos from Tuesday to Thursday. The 10-member ASEAN will meet leaders of other regional powers: China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Russia and the United States. The Philippines has been aligned with the United States in its dispute with China over the South China Sea, in which Washington blames Beijing for militarising a vital global trade route and jeopardising freedom of movement at sea and in the air. China rejects those accusations and in turn blames the United States for ratcheting up tensions unnecessarily. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims. An arbitration court in The Hague in July invalidated China's vast territorial claims to the waterway after a case was brought by the Philippines, a ruling that Beijing refuses to recognise. Duterte said last month he expected all ASEAN members to support the arbitration court's ruling, but that the Philippines would not raise the issue in Laos. New Delhi: Pakistan on Tuesday accused India of "promoting terror" in what is seen as a counter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's veiled attack on Islamabad's role in spreading terror in South Asia. The Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria told CNN-News18 that the "confession" of Khulbushan Yadav - the Indian national arrested in Pakistan over charges that he was spying for Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) - "makes a clear reference to that country in South Asia" indicating that "India promotes terror". Pakistan had in March released a video which purportedly showed a confession by Yadav, but it was immediately rubbished by the External Affairs Ministry. Pakistan has been using the video "confession" to accuse India of "promoting terrorism. At the final session of the G20 Summit in China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said, "growing forces of violence and terror pose a fundamental challenge. There are some nations that use it as an instrument of state policy." "Indeed, one single nation in South Asia is spreading these agents of terror in the countries of our region," he said, clearly indicating which country he was referring to. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte expressed regret on Tuesday for a tirade against Barack Obama in which he called the US leader a "son of a whore". "While the immediate cause was my strong comments to certain press questions that elicited concern and distress we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the US president," a statement released by Duterte said. The US and Philippine leaders were due to meet later Tuesday in the Lao capital of Vientiane at a gathering organised by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. But Obama pulled out of holding a bilateral meeting after Duterte launched a tirade against him ahead of the visit during a Monday press conference. The acid-tongued former prosecutor on Monday warned he would not be lectured by Obama over concerns about a brutal war on crime that has claimed more than 2,400 lives in the Philippines. "You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum," Duterte told reporters when asked about his message for Obama. Duterte's statement on Tuesday in Laos struck a much more conciliatory tone, saying both sides would hold face-to-face talks "at a later date". "Our primary intention to chart an independent foreign policy while promoting closer ties with all nations especially the US with which we have a long standing partnership," the statement said. "We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priority perceptions and working in mutually responsible ways for both countries," it added. Danny Davis, of Ringgold, loves to grab an armful of his fishing rods, load them onto one of his boats and head for Dan River or any other body of water, near or far for a day of fishing. But about 20 years ago, Davis decided that one of the annoying things about fishing was the inflexibility of the bases made for rod holders. There were and still are a lot of different rod holders on the market, but the bases that held them attached to boats could only hold them horizontally, were permanently placed and had to be mounted to a flat surface. So Davis started thinking about the perfect base one that could be easily moved along the track system inside most boats, could hold rods at any angle and, at the end of the day, be folded out of the way. Boats come with a track system, but nobody built a base system would fit in the track, Davis said. To top that off, Davis said, in those days he had a small boat and the tips of his rods were always be in the water with the bases that were available. I started working on this to stop that, Davis said. So Davis spend years fooling with different ideas and in 2012 got serious about it, getting friends and family to help him create the perfect base, one that would hold any rod holder and could easily be moved along the track to where he wanted it and would lock into position for fishing but be easy to fold out of the way. Finally, he was happy with the design and outfitted his boats with his own fishing rod holder bases. Friends noticed and wanted some; strangers out fishing would notice his rods were all well positioned and ask him how he did it. Soon, he was making more and more of them. Laid Back Fishing Innovations LLC was born. As it became apparent that his invention was gaining in popularity and stores ranging from Hughes Marine in Danville and several tackle shops in North Carolina to SeaArk Boats, which stocked them in its more than 100 locations in the U.S. and Canada, were selling them. They can also be ordered online, at eBay, Amazon and Daviss website, laidbackfishing.com. Davis said his daughter Tina Sissy Dixon talked him into finding out what it would take to patent the invention. That began an almost three-year process of finding a patent lawyer to walk him through the process. We found one in Charlotte, North Carolina; there wasnt a patent lawyer near here, Davis said. Countless trips to Charlotte later and repeated re-submittals of his application to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to answer questions they had Davis was awarded his patent on Dec. 29, 2015. We had to rewrite it so many times, Davis said. Theyre so hard to get. His wife, Linda, laughed. Dannys really worked hard on this he didnt think getting a patent would be a big deal, Linda said. Her job with the young company is bookkeeping. Other family and friends have helped along the way. Lindas son, Hunter Thompson, handles merchandising, advertising and deals with the website, while Daviss daughter, Amanda Harris is always willing to run errands and his son, Danny Jr., helped make the prototypes. Daviss best friend, Jerry Murray, goes to boat shows with him and helped make the bases, which are now manufactured at Speedwell Machine Works in Gastonia, North Carolina. So far, Davis said, there has been no negative feedback from anyone who has tried them theyll stand up to the biggest catfish without failing and a friend recently won first and third place in a fishing tournament with Laid Back Fishing Innovation fishing rod holder bases on board. The lightweight, aluminum fishing rod holder bases that are simple to adjust are selling well, Davis said. Its done better than I thought it would do, Davis said, with a smile and shrug. But its not going to make me a millionaire. Linda laughed and added, But it might pay the light bill some day. A new generation of lawmakers bent on preserving Hong Kong's autonomy against increasing interference from China is heading to victory in the territory's parliamentary elections. Final results showed pro-democracy candidates won 30 of 70 seats in the Legislative Council. Among the winners in Sunday's Legislative Council elections was 23-year-old Nathan Law, one of the leaders of the 2014 protests student-led, pro-democracy "Umbrella Revolution," which shut down key parts of Hong Kong for 79 days demanding for full and free elections. Law and fellow protest leader Joshua Wong co-founded the party Demosisto, which advocates a city-wide referendum on independence from Beijing. The two were were convicted last month for their roles in leading the protests, but received light sentences. A Russian blogger who has been sent to pre-trial detention for playing "Pokemon GO" in a church has appealed against his arrest. Russian news agencies on Monday quoted a local court in the city of Yekaterinburg as saying that they have received an appeal from Ruslan Sokolovsky who was ordered last week to stay behind bars at least until November pending trial. Hawk Claus spreads Christmas cheer in DC's Grifter Got Run Over By a Reindeer first look Take a look at two stories from the DC holiday special including the titular chapter and a Hawkwoman and Hawkman tale GamesRadar+ is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Heres why you can trust us. Sabeeney ready for Women in Art The exhibition, which takes place at the Gallery at Fine Art on Rosalino Street in Woodbrook from September 19 is under the patronage of Zalayhar Hassanali. It will run until October 1, from 9 am to 5 pm Monday to Friday, and 9 am to 1 pm on Saturdays. Among the new members whose work will be featured is Abigail Sabeeney. She is submitting three pieces of work, one in oil, another in watercolour and an acrylic. Asked what it means to be a part of this exhibition Sabeeney told Newsday: This is truly an awesome feeling to exhibit for the first time as a member of the organisation and also for this special occasion of their 20th year anniversary. This is a juried exhibition and I love to paint and exhibit my work. It is an honour as a woman and a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago to be part of a group of women who have the same passion to paint as I do. Sabeeney said she had the privilege of attending the exhibition opening night last year, is even more excited to be participating this year. Last year the energies totally excited the artist in me and I just had to become a member. I am so grateful to be part of a very powerful WIA group here in Trinidad and soon to link the women in Tobago, even though I havent met all the artists, but those who Ive had the pleasure to meet are very powerful women. Sabeeney was born in Trinidad in 1970, grew up in Cascade and always had a liking to art. She attended the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale received an Associates of Science Degree in Visual Communications, and during her stay there, she was selected to be part of Design Honours Group and was also on the National Deans list for two years while attending the Art Institute of Ft Lauderdale (AIFL). She graduated with honours and was also awarded a Certificate of Appreciation by the counselling office at the AIFL, before returning home and at once exhibited in the Women Who Paint in 1996 in Tobago organised by Martin Superville. Thats when her professional career began. She said being a stay-athome mom/artist it has never stopped her from painting or exhibiting along the years. She normally takes part in two or three exhibitions a year but her ultimate dream is to exhibit in the Louvre the worlds largest museum and a historic monument in Paris, France, where the likes of Picasso and Van Gogh are displayed. That is where she wants her career to take her. I have always loved to doodle and create since I was a child. I feel alive when I paint, the paintbrush takes a life of its own and everything around me ceases to exist. I am transcended into a world of my own, Sabeeney said. Pencil is my favourite medium because it allows me to capture the intricate detail and essence of the subject but I usually paint with oil, acrylic or watercolours. I am inspired by our nature, however, flowers and plants in particular captivate me! I enjoy influencing the shape, balance and energy of my work. I love to introduce colours to the painting that do not exist in the natural space because in my mind, colour is vibrant exciting and passionate, thus causing the subject to explode as if alive yet at the same time invoking a calmness. Sabeeney said the current president, Michelle Tappin-Davis, together with the members of the WIA invite the public to share and enjoy the event with them and promise an awesome, creative experience marking WIAs 20th anniversary. Third shipment of goods for Venezuela The update on the US$50 million revolving fund thats being used by Venezuela to pay for basic food items and manufactured goods from TT was provided yesterday morning by Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee- Scoon. Following the initial shipments in July 2016, discussions have been ongoing between Venezuelas procurement company Corpovex and TT, in preparation for a third shipment of goods, Gopee-Scoon said. Just last week, a Venezuelan team returned to Port-of-Spain to negotiate a second three-month contract for the purchase of locally manufactured goods. The minister said these items include food and personal hygiene products, previously negotiated, which will now be expanded to include a few new products as well as new suppliers following negotiations and factory site visits. This shipment is expected to take place by mid-September. We are very pleased with the collaboration with our partners from Venezuela and the trading arrangement which has progressed to the benefit of both sides; this resulting from firm commitments made between Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Venezuelas President Nicolas Maduro, during the latters visit to TT in May this year, she said. Gopee-Scoon noted that her ministry, together with and the TT Manufacturers Association, will continue to have oversight of the arrangement and provide support during the process. It is expected, however, that the Governments involvement in the business negotiations and logistics will be reduced as the parties adopt more traditional private sector trading arrangements. Gopee-Scoon spoke about the TT-Venezuela trade deal while delivering remarks at the launch of the Oxford Business Groups second annual economic review of this country, The Report: Trinidad and Tobago 2016, at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain. North Korea fired three medium-range missiles into the East Sea on Monday, just two hours after South Korean President Park Geun-hye met her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Hangzhou. The missiles fell into waters within the Japanese air defense identification zone, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff here. The North did not issue a no-fly, no-sail warning in the area. Install the Newser News app in two easy steps: 1. Tap in your navigation bar. 2. Tap to Add to Home Screen. (Newser) Cops and park officials in Oregon would like to speak to a group of young people captured on video destroying a unique rock formation in the state's stunning Cape Kiwanda State Natural Area. Authorities initially thought the 7-foot sandstone pedestal known as the "Duckbill" had been destroyed by erosion before video surfaced of the youths deliberately toppling the formation, the Oregonian reports. Erosion likely would have eventually doomed the pedestal without the intervention, but authorities say visitors are banned from destroying natural features, and punishment could include $435 citations. A park visitor tells KATU that he saw the group trying to push the pedestal down. "I kind of laughed to myself cause I thought there was no way that they could knock it down, but then I noticed that it started wobbling and then I started to record it as two of the guys managed to knock it down," he says. "I asked them, you know, why they knocked the rock down, and the reply I got was: Their buddy broke their leg earlier because of that rock," he says. "They basically told me themselves that it was a safety hazard, and that they did the world or Oregon a favor." (Two former Scout leaders in Utah were charged with felonies after knocking over a rock formation in Goblin Valley State Park.) (Newser) Conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly, best known for her successful campaign to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment, has died at her home in St. Louis. She was 92. The author and activist attended scores of hearings in the 1970s to testify against the amendment, arguing that equal rights would disadvantage housewives. She threw a party when it expired in 1982, having been passed by both houses of Congress but only ratified by 35 of the necessary 38 states, reports Reuters. Schlaflywho worked at a munitions factory in World War IIearned a master's degree in political science and a law degree, unsuccessfully ran for Congress three times and founded the Eagle Forum conservative group while raising six children and presenting herself as a traditional housewife, the New York Times reports. When she spoke at gatherings nationwide, Schlafly loved to mock what she called "women's libbers" by saying: "I'd like to thank my husband, Fred, for letting me be here today." Historians say the ERA might have passed if it wasn't for Schlafly, who mobilized anti-feminist volunteers across the country and warned that the amendment could lead to gay marriage, women in combat, and unisex restrooms, the Los Angeles Times notes. She remained active in her later years and endorsed Donald Trump in March this year, saying: "We've been following the losers for so long," but "now we've got a guy who will lead us to victory." After her death, Trump issued a statement calling Schlafly "a patriot, a champion for women, and a symbol of strength." (In 2012, she warned men not to date feminists.) (Newser) Late last month, 17-year-old Anthony Gargiula tweeted pictures of his grandparents in carefully coordinated outfits, accompanied by a matter-of-fact caption: "My grandparents have been married for 52 years and they match outfits every day." That tweet has since earned more than 83,000 favorites and 40,000-plus retweets and catapulted Ed and Fran Gargiula into the spotlight for their desire to match their attire. "I never expected a tweet of my grandparents to go viral," Anthony told CNN, noting he gets text messages every morning from Ed, 76, and Fran, 74, showing a "preview" of their ensemble for the dayhe says his favorite outfit of all time was a "bumblebee" getup where they wore opposing yellow and black shirts and pants. Rich Gargiula, the Florida couple's son, adds, "Everybody looks forward to what they're going to wear." The Gargiulas, who used to be elementary teachers on Long Island in their preretirement days, met as 20-somethings at a teachers conference and realized they were a match (of the non-clothing variety) right from the start, per People. But about 20 years ago, when they took up country dancing as a hobby, they noticed other couples showed up to two-step in coordinating outfitsand so the Gargiulas ended up taking it a step further. "It just became a habit," Ed says, adding that now they're so known for their paired wardrobes, "if we didn't match people would say, 'Oh my God!'" But their costume choices aren't just about the clothesthey're a representation of their relationship. "We match deep down, too," Ed says. (They're closing in on this Nebraska couple.) (Newser) Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte expressed regret Tuesday over his "son of a bitch" remark while referring to President Obama, a move the AP calls "a rare display of contrition by a politician whose wide arc of profanities has unabashedly targeted world figures." In a statement, Duterte said that while his "strong comments" in response to questions by a reporter "elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the US president." Duterte had been scheduled to meet Obama during a regional summit in Laos, but Obama indicated he had second thoughts and the White House announced the meeting had been canceled. The Philippines did not comment publicly on the cancellation until about nine hours later, when Duterte's statement said that both sides had "mutually agreed to postpone" the meeting. Even though Duterte's latest comment doesn't amount to an apology, the expression of regret is unusual for the tough-talking former mayor. But perhaps Duterte's aides realized that there would be a price to pay for insulting the president of the United Statesespecially when the US is a key security ally and Manila is likely to need Washington's help in dealing with a more assertive China in the disputed South China Sea. "I do not want to quarrel with the most powerful country on the planet," Duterte told reporters after arriving in Vientiane Monday night. (Read more Rodrigo Duterte stories.) (Newser) Congress is back to work Tuesday after its summer recess, and the Washington Post reports that one issue is paramount: avoiding a government shutdown in an election year. The fiscal year ends September 30, meaning the House and Senate will need to pass a continuing resolution in less than a month to keep the government open. This time around, the big sticking point is how long such a resolution would last: Conservatives want a six-month deal that would push the larger money fight into 2017, under a new president and Congress. Democrats, however, are pushing for a shorter resolution that would require a lame-duck Congress to return after the election to hammer out a spending package. Beyond that, a slew of other issues are on the agenda, most notably funding to curb the spread of Zika, reports Politico. Before the summer recess, a bill stalled in the Senate as Democrats objected to GOP demands that money come out of Ebola research and ObamaCare. Since then, Zika has begun to spread locally in Florida, ramping up pressure to act, notes USA Today. Also on the radar, per NBC News: A House GOP push to impeach IRS chief John Koskinen over his agency's perceived political bias, determining whether Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland will get a hearing in the Senate, and a House vote on a measure designed to prevent suspected terrorists from buying guns. (Read more Congress stories.) Hanjin Shipping has filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. at a court in Newark, New Jersey. The Wall Street Journal said the application was filed last Friday, two days after the company filed for court receivership in Korea. The filing will prevent creditors from seizing Hanjin's U.S assets while the company winds up business in Korea. The company last operated over 60 regular lines worldwide with a fleet of some 140 vessels. The paper said Hanjin's bankruptcy will be regarded as "the largest container-shipping failure in history." Meanwhile, the Korean government set up a special task force on Sunday to cope with potential disruptions in maritime trade and the economy as a whole caused by Hanjin's recent difficulties. According to the Financial Services Commission, Hanjin Shipping owes over W64 billion to 457 contracted companies, but delays in transport and meeting its obligations could send the debt much higher. The task force will instruct the company to apply for prohibition of seizure orders in 43 countries to minimize the risk of creditors taking its vessels. (Newser) President Obama did something on Tuesday that no other US president has done: He visited the tiny nation of Laos. And while he did not explicitly apologize for America's secret bombing of the nation during the Vietnam War, he acknowledged it and said the US has a "moral obligation to help Laos heal," reports the AP. The big headline-making move was his announcement that the US would give Laos $90 million to help clean up unexploded bombs that continue to plague the country decades after the war. Obama is there for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations forum, and the Wall Street Journal notes that the centerpiece of his Asia policy continues to be the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade pact currently stalled in Congress. Related coverage: CNN takes a deep dive into the issue of the unexploded bombs, which make vast swaths of farmland unusable. Landlocked Laos has long been defined by its geography: Surrounded by China, Vietnam, and Thailand, its "basic diplomatic interests are to seek alliances with all of them and make sure no one country has hegemonic control," explains the New York Times in a primer. Its reliance on China in particular means Laos "faces a tightrope walk" as it warms up to the US, explains the South China Morning Post. Marketplace looks at how tiny Laos could be an economic ally to the US. Elsewhere at the summit, Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte eased off his personal insult of Obama. (Read more Laos stories.) (Newser) The story of an Australian family on a five-day, 930-mile road trip that ended with most of them being either arrested or hospitalized one at a time is one of the strangest things you'll read this week. The Guardian reports it started Aug. 29 when Mark and Jacoba Tromp left home with their children Ella, 22; Mitchell, 25; and Riana, 29. The family left their home unlocked with phones, passports, and credit cards strewn about, according to BuzzFeed. Mitchell abandoned the family trip Aug. 30 and went home. Both Ella and Riana left the next day. Ella was arrested after allegedly stealing a car to drive home. Meanwhile, Riana was found "catatonic" in the back of a man's car. ABC reports she remains in the hospital with "stress-related health issues." Last Wednesday, police pulled over the Tromps' car after it was reported to be following another car. A man believed to be Mark fled into a park and wasn't found. The day after that, Jacoba was found by a citizen. She also remains in the hospital for "stress-related health concerns." Mark was finally picked up by police, who had been searching for the missing family, Saturday while running near an airport. He issued a statement Tuesday apologizing for causing "hurt and concern." We will soon be reunited and together I hope that we will begin to make sense of our ordeal and return to a normal life, the statement reads. Mitchell says his parents had been stressed about their business and were becoming paranoid. (Read more missing family stories.) (Newser) Some 550 children in Massachusetts might now be the envy of students everywhere: A new policy at Kelly Elementary School in Holyoke means they won't be given a single homework assignment all year. But before you file your child's transfer papers, know this: The schoolunder state receivership after Holyoke was declared a "chronically under-performing" district in 2015is also extending school hours this year. Students will now attend classes from 8am to 4pm, rather than 9am to 3pm. "Some people think it's a crazy idea," Principal Jackie Glasheen tells Western Mass News. But "face time with a teacher is going to impact their learning more than doing skill-and-practice work at home," she adds, per ABC News. Some question whether an eight-hour school day is too long for kindergarteners, while a critic says that by lowering expectations of students, schools are missing the opportunity to teach behavior and time-management skills. But an education researcher says homework can make students jaded toward schoolwork in general, and leave them frustrated and exhausted. "In classrooms and schools where little or no homework is assigned, results have been extremely positive in terms of students academic performance as well as their attitudes about learning," he says. Educators plan to review standardized tests next summer before deciding if the policy and longer school day will stay in place. (A second-grade teacher also banned homework.) (Newser) Brock Turner and his parents went to the Greene County sheriff's office in Ohio on Tuesday so the former Stanford University swimmer could register as a sex offendersomething he'll have to repeat four times per year for the rest of his life, NBC News reports. His registration can be seen here. According to the Los Angeles Times, Turner was convicted in March of assault with the intent to commit rape of an unconscious person, sexual penetration of an unconscious person, and sexual penetration of an intoxicated person after sexually assaulting a woman behind a dumpster on campus. He was released on Friday on good behavior after serving only three months in jail. Turner's mom shielded him from the press and he didn't comment while registering Tuesday. (Read more Brock Turner stories.) (Newser) A 23-year-old US tourist lost in Thailand asked for assistance getting back to her resort Thursday night, and a local offered to help. But that local is now in custody and the woman is in the hospital with serious injuries after she says she was forced to flee when he tried to sexually assault herresulting in her tumbling off a mountainous path, Phuket News reports. NYC's Hannah Gaviosa teacher in Vietnam who a co-worker tells the New York Daily News was enjoying a few days' vacation in Krabisays she lost her way during a stroll along the beach and sought help back to her hotel at a nearby tourist shop, per the Daily Mail. A man IDed as Apai RaingwornThai PBS describes the suspect as being more of a volunteer guide than an actual employeeoffered to help her. He led her on a steep path, where police say he has admitted making aggressive sexual advances toward her. Gavios says she fought him off and tried to run to safety, but she fell 150 feet off a cliff in the dark, landing about 50 feet away from the water. She couldn't move, and she accuses the 28-year-old suspect of coming down after her and molesting her. He eventually left, and police say he reported the incident and led authorities to the area. Rescuers located Gavios, who is said to have fractured her spine, the next morning. "At the moment she can move her hands but not her legs," says a doctor quoted by the Phuket Gazette. "She needs more recovery time and may have to stay in hospital for another week." Raingworn was being held on charges of sexual harassment and assault causing injury. (Read more Thailand stories.) (Newser) Lishan Wang, a Chinese doctor charged with murder in Connecticut, can be forced to take anti-psychotic medication in order to be competent enough to stand trial, the AP reports. The state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday it wouldn't be a violation of the mentally ill Wang's rights to forcibly medicate him. As laid out in a 2003 US Supreme Court ruling, prosecutors had to show it was "substantially likely" the medication would make Wang competent to stand trial. A state psychiatrist testified there was a 50% to 70% chance of that happening. While Wang's public defender, Mark Rademacher, argues that doesn't meet the threshold, the state Supreme Court ruled 7-0 that anything greater than 50% constitutes "substantially likely." The court also ruled there wasn't a "less-intrusive option" to forcibly medicating Wang and that he was unlikely to have side effects from the medication, CBS Connecticut reports. Rademacher may appeal the decision to the US Supreme Court. "They just set the bar too low before they can violently restrain a patient, knock him out with a sedative, and inject him with medication," he tells the AP. Wang is charged with fatally shooting Dr. Vajinder Toor and shooting at Toor's pregnant wife in 2010 outside their Connecticut home. Wang was fired from his job in 2008 after multiple confrontations with Toor and other doctors. Wang maintains that he's not guilty and doesn't need medication. (Read more Lishan Wang stories.) (Newser) Last week, the parents of a Minnesota boy murdered 27 years ago finally learned the whereabouts of their son's remains. On Tuesday, they learned for sure who killed him. Danny Heinrich, a 53-year-old resident of Annandale, Minn., admitted in court that he kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and murdered 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling, reports AP. It was Heinrich who had finally led authorities to Jacob's body, and on Tuesday he recounted the wrenching details of the 1989 abduction, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune. While driving on a dead-end street, he came across three boys on their bikes, and forced two of themJacob's brother and a friendto run away. Then he put Jacob in the front seat and handcuffed him. "What did I do wrong?" he said the boy asked. Heinrich made Jacob duck down in the seat because he had a police scanner and could hear reports coming in about the abduction. He drove to an area near a gravel pit, molested the boy, then told Jacob he would drive him part of the way home. When Jacob started crying, I panicked," said Heinrich. "I pulled the revolver out of my pocket. ... I loaded it with two rounds. I told Jacob to turn around, Heinrich said. He shot the boy twice and left, but returned later to dispose of his body. He actually buried the boy twiceHeinrich said the first location wasn't hidden enough, so he removed the remains and reburied them on a farm. The break in the case came when a review of DNA evidence with new technology linked Heinrich to another old assault. That led to a search warrant and the discovery of child pornography, and Heinrich eventually confessed. (Read more child murder stories.) The government is urging employers to give workers two extra days off during the Chuseok or Korean Thanksgiving in an increasingly desperate bid to boost private consumption. The Ministry of Employment and Labor said Monday it sent out notices seeking the help of major business lobbies like the Federation of Korean Industries, Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Korea Employers Federation, and Small and Medium Business Administration. Chuseok this year lasts from Sept. 14-18 or Wednesday to Sunday, so if workers take the previous Monday and Tuesday off, their vacation can last nine days. A KEF spokesman said, "If workers can get nine days off over Chuseok, they will be well rested, which could improve not just domestic consumption but productivity as well." New Delhi: After getting grilled by several leaders and activists Aam Aadmi Party senior leader Ashutosh posted a question on Twitter asking if he should be hanged for penning his thoughts. "Should I be hanged for writing a column," Ashutosh tweeted on Monday evening, adding "Is India turning into a fascist state?" He had written a column focusing on removal of one of his party leader Sandeep Kumar and his involvement in the sex tape case. He earlier locked in a bitter war of words with NCW chief Lalitha Kumaramangalam after he was summoned by the women's body for defending sacked Delhi minister Sandeep Kumar. Also Read | AAP leader Ashutosh summoned by NCW on his blog supporting sacked Delhi minister Sandeep Kumar "Ms Mangalam, as a chairperson of NCW, you should not lie on a national TV that u r not BJP member. Wikipedia writes You are still a member. Lalitha Kumar Manglam is member of BJP national executive/was national secretary of BJP. If I get notice from NCW, I will react (sic)," Ashutosh tweeted. "I hope Lalitha Kumarmangalam, member of BJP Nat Ex/ chairman NCW is summoning every writer who wrote about consensual sex. NO pick and choose (sic)," he said in another tweet. Reacting to it, Kumaramangalam said, "What kind of a journalist are you? You are two years behind time. I am not a member of BJP national executive. I was before. I am not even a spokesperson for the party. I was, before NCW. BJP has a strict rule of one person one post." "The moment I was offered the chairmanship of NCW, I was told I can no longer be the spokesperson and national- executive member. I accepted the post on those terms. So, Ashutosh you should learn to get your facts right, especially as a journalist, before you issue a statement or tweet." For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Kabul: A third massive explosion shook central Kabul on Monday night, hours after a Taliban double bombing killed at least 24 people and left 91 others wounded, in another day of carnage in the Afghan capital. Authorities said they were trying to pin down the location of the third blast and there was no immediate claim of responsibility from any militant group. It jolted the capital just hours after high-level officials, including an army general, were killed in the twin blasts near the defence ministry, as the Taliban ramp up their nationwide offensive against the US-backed government. A suicide bomber struck the area just minutes after the first explosion, in an assault apparently aimed at inflicting mass casualties as officials left the ministry after work. The first explosion occurred on a bridge near the defence ministry. The second struck just as soldiers, policemen and civilians hurried to help the victims, defence ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish told AFP. Ambulances rushed to the scene, littered with disfigured bodies and charred debris. But there were so many bodies that some had to be taken to hospitals in car boots and the back of police pickup trucks. Firemen, meanwhile, raced to retrieve some bodies thrown into the Kabul River by the intensity of the first blast on the bridge. Health ministry spokesman Waheed Majroh said the attack left 24 people dead and 91 others wounded, some of them seriously, adding the casualties could rise still further. The Italian-run Emergency Hospital in Kabul, which was overwhelmed with wounded patients, tweeted that four people died on arrival. The interior ministry initially said the attack was carried out by two suicide bombers on foot. But officials later said the first bomb was detonated remotely while the second was triggered by a suicide bomber. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter that the defence ministry was the object of the first attack, while police were targeted in the second. President Ashraf Ghani strongly condemned the carnage and offered condolences to the families of the victims. The enemies of Afghanistan have lost their ability to fight the security and defence forces of the country, Ghani said in a statement. That is why they are attacking highways, cities, mosques, schools and common people. The attack took place more than a week after 16 people were killed when militants stormed the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul, in a nearly 10-hour raid that prompted anguished pleas for help from trapped students. Explosions and gunfire rocked the campus in that attack, which came just weeks after two university professorsan American and an Australianwere kidnapped at gunpoint near the school. Their whereabouts are still unknown and no group so far has publicly claimed responsibility for the abductions. The uptick in violence in the capital comes as the Taliban escalate nationwide attacks, underscoring the worsening security situation since NATO forces ended their combat mission at the end of 2014. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Delhi's Lt Governor Najeeb Jung has directed the General Administration Department (GAD) of Delhi Government to provide details of all foreign tours undertaken by AAP ministers, their personal staff and other officials in the last one-and-a-half years. Jung's Special Secretary RN Sharma has asked the GAD to furnish all such details to Raj Niwas by September 12. In the note issued to the department, the Lt Governor Secretariat has asked for complete details of foreign tours including purpose of visit, countries visited, duration, class of travel by each participants and others and submit them by September 12. Also read: I am hurt to see AAP ministers going to jail, says Anna Hazare over Sandeep Kumar's arrest Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal along with his minister Satyendar were in Vatican City to attend Mother Teresa's sainthood ceremony when'L-G's office has ask GAD ro give the details. Trip to Vatican City was first foreign visit by the Delhi Chief Minister since the Aam Aadmi Party has come to power in February, 2015. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi : Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to brief him on the situation in Kashmir after the two-day visit of an all party delegation to Jammu and Kashmir. Singh has reportedly informed PM Modi on the assessment of the ground situation of the state by the all party delegation which visited Srinagar and Jammu on September 4 and 5. Also read: Curfew lifted from entire Srinagar city; death toll rises to 72 in J-K Live Coverage # "Briefed the Prime Minister on All Party Delegation's visit to J&K and also apprised him of the situation in the state", Rajnath Singh tweeted. Briefed the Prime Minister on All Party Delegation's visit to J&K and also apprised him of the situation in the state. Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) September 6, 2016 # Rajnath Singh reaches 7 RCR to meet PM Modi While the prime minister has returned to the capital on Monday night after his visit to Vietnam and China, the home minister too had come back from Jammu and Kashmir on Monday evening. The members of the all-party delegation is likely to meet here tomorrow to discuss their findings during the two-day visit and chalk out future plans for Jammu and Kashmir. The all-party delegation seeking to end turbulence in Kashmir concluded its two-day visit yesterday with no breakthrough. Unhappy at the stubborn refusal of Hurriyat leaders to meet some MPs who had literally knocked at their doors in Srinagar, Singh had said that their conduct was against democracy, humanity or even 'Kashmiriyat' (Kashmiri ethos). For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Farmers and pro-Kannada outfit activists protested in various parts of Karnataka on Monday against the Supreme Court direction to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu while Chief Minister Siddaramaiah convened a meeting of legislature leaders and MPs in Bengaluru on Tuesday to discuss the issue. As farmers and others hit the streets protesting the apex court directive to release 15,000 cusecs of water per day for next ten days to the neighbouring state, the Cauvery Hitarakshana Samithi (Cauvery protection committee) called for a bandh on Tuesday in Mandya, the hotbed of Cauvery politics. Siddaramaiah, whose government has been expressing its inability to release water to Tamil Nadu citing poor storage, would hold a meeting with floor leaders of all parties in the state legislature, MPs and district-in charge ministers tomorrow evening to take stock of the situation, an official release said on Monday night. We have decided to call for Mandya bandh on Tuesday to protest against the court direction to release cauvery water to Tamil Nadu when there is hardly any water left at our side of the river, Samithi President and former MP G Made Gowda told reporters at Mandya, some 100 km from Bengaluru. Gowda also urged the government to file a review petition in the apex court. He said he had spoken to state Water Resources Minister M B Patil over phone and urged him to safeguard the interest of Karnataka farmers. The farmers leader also warned the government that it would face a strong agitation if water was released to Tamil Nadu. Protests broke out in other parts of the state including Chamrajnagar, Mysuru and Hubballi with farmers and pro-Kannada activists demonstrating against the Supreme Court order and urging the Siddaramaiah government to protect interests of Karnataka farmers and not release water to Tamil Nadu. Police said effigies and posters of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa were burnt in some places in these districts. A group of farmers tried to enter the KRS Reservoir in Mysuru protesting the court direction, but police prevented them. Karnataka Okkuta, led by Vatal Nagaraj, called for a Karnataka bandh on September 9. Workers of the pro-Kannada outfit held a protest here, bringing traffic to a halt in the heart of the city. There is no water in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mandya and Chamrajnagar, and that is the truth. We have called for Karnataka Bandh on September 9 to protest against the injustice meted out to farmers here, Nagaraj told reporters. Passing orders on a petition by Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court noted that damage would be caused to samba crops in the neighbouring state and directed Karnataka to release water. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. A summit between the leaders of South Korea and China on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Hangzhou, China ended with both sides merely acknowledging their differences. President Park Geun-hye stressed that the U.S.' Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery is being deployed here purely for South Korea's defense and explained it will become unnecessary the moment North Korea scraps its nuclear weapons and missile development. But Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated Beijing's opposition to the deployment. China believes the battery is intended to keep its military might in check. But he also called for a "future-oriented" relationship between South Korea and China and urged Park to overcome this problem. Although an immediate solution may not be on the horizon, the comments have raised hopes that dispute can be contained at a manageable level since it is just one aspect of Seoul-Beijing relations. Both countries must boost exchanges so that bilateral ties are not shaken by a single incident. The government should listen to China's concerns while steadfastly protecting South Korea's security. A much bigger problem is growing opposition to the deployment at home. There have been wild claims of a total breakdown in Seoul-Beijing relations if a THAAD battery is deployed here, a scenario that some seemed obscurely to welcome. The truth is that a group of short-sighted and selfish people are using every contentious issue to drive a deeper wedge between the public. As the G20 meeting went ahead in China, North Korea lobbed three missiles into the East Sea like a spoiled three-year old to get some attention. The missiles are designed to strike U.S. troop and supply reinforcements entering South Korean ports in times of war, and Monday's tests were apparently successful. But while Seoul spends far more than Pyongyang on defense, it has still not come up with a weapons system that can effectively protect it against the North's missiles. What have the governments of the last two decades been doing while North Korea acquired nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles? For the moment, the deployment of a THAAD battery is unavoidable. This is clear for anyone to see, yet the government is still having problems finding a location two months after announcing its decision to bring it here. Everyone agrees that we need to defend the country, but nobody is willing to pay the price. It is impossible to convince the naysayers no matter how much factual evidence they are being confronted with that stationing the battery on their doorstep is perfectly safe. Some are merely concerned that their real estate value could drop. They need to think about what kind of message that sends to South Korea's allies. Read this article in Korean Kabul: An hours-long militant attack on a Kabul charity ended on Tuesday after all three assailants were gunned down by Afghan forces, the interior ministry said. Forty-two people including 10 foreigners were rescued, ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on Twitter, confirming at least one fatality in the attack. Earlier on Monday night, three massive explosions had shaken the central Kabul. Twin bombing followed by another a little lates by Taliban killed at least 24 people and left 91 others wounded. Also read: Third blast after twin Taliban suicide blasts in Kabul kill 24, wound 91 The blasts victims also included high-level officials, including an army general, as the Taliban ramp up their nationwide offensive against the US-backed government. A suicide bomber struck the area just minutes after the first explosion, in an assault apparently aimed at inflicting mass casualties as officials left the ministry after work. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: In a series of tweets, AAP leader Ashutosh on Tuesday said the police case against him was an "infringement" on his right to freedom of expression. Under attack for his controversial blog defending sacked Delhi minister Sandeep Kumar, the AAP leader said: "Atmosphere is created whr critical analysis of history not allowed, freedom of expression will be crushed, voice of dissent suppressed. Sandeep Kumar was arrested on Saturday night after a woman seen in a video with him in a "compromising position" complained that she had been drugged and raped a year ago. Following Ashutosh's blog, the National Commission for Women summoned the Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson. "We have asked him to come on September 8. This is in response to what we feel is a very reprehensible and demeaning blog Ashutosh wrote, where he defended a man accused of rape," NCW Chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam had said. Let's have a look at the series of tweets the AAP leader posted since Monday- A Registration of police cases and NCW can't scare me !! I am born in free India, I am a proud indian !! Constitution is my religion !! a ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) September 6, 2016 A Who has given right to NCW to muzzle my voice ?? Is there emergency in the country that I need to seek permission from govt and NCW ?? a ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) September 6, 2016 A Let there be debate in the country - should I have a right to express myself freely or not as mandated by the Babasheb's constitution ? a ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) September 6, 2016 A Atmosphere is created whr critical analysis of history not allowed, freedom of expression will be crushed, voice of dissent suppressed. a ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) September 6, 2016 A Registering police cases against me is an infringement on my fundamental right to freedom of expression mandated by the constitution. a ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) September 6, 2016 A Read this. And decide. Notice recd from NCW. Should I be hanged for writing a column? pic.twitter.com/rzev2gn3jw a ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) September 5, 2016 A Recd notice fm NCW.Is any freedom of expression?Is india turning into a fascist state? pic.twitter.com/WBVkBk5EL5 a ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) September 5, 2016 A Ms Mangalam as a chairperson of NCW, you should not lie on a national TV that u r not BJP member.Wikipedia writes You are still a member. a ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) September 5, 2016 A I hope Lalitha Kumarmangalam, member of BJP Nat Ex/chairman NCW is summoning every writer who wrote about consensual sex.NO pick and choose. a ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) September 5, 2016 A Lalitha Kumar Manglam Is member of BJP national executive/was national secretary of BJP. If I get notice from NCW, I will react. a ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) September 5, 2016 A Gandhiji has always given me courage to tell the truth.Reading again his Autobiography-My Experiments with Truth. pic.twitter.com/XZoVv89De1 a ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) September 5, 2016 (With inputs from PTI) For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian police, which arrested five persons allegedly linked to the LTTE for assaulting the Sri Lankan envoy in Kuala Lumpur, has warned of action against sympathisers of the banned group. I want to remind these groups that they are supporting a group which is banned by the United Nations. We, as a UN signatory country, can take action against them (supporters), Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar told reporters on Monday. The attack on High Commissioner (ambassador) Ibrahim Sahib Ansar left him with minor injuries. Khalid said police were also probing local groups who had protested to identify their links to the LTTE and warned that they could be probed under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma). When asked whether the group in the attack was affiliated with the LTTE, Khalid said they were showing signs of sympathising with the LTTE and police were investigating their links to the group. He said police have identified all of the attackers and have arrested five people aged between 27 and 56 who were from Ipoh, Dengkil and Kuala Lumpur, the Star said. Khalid said police were now tracking four more suspects involved in the attack. We regret the incident had happened, he said. Sri Lankas Foreign Ministry in a statement condemned the attack on its High Commissioner. The High Commission is coordinating with law enforcement authorities in Malaysia and other relevant local authorities to identify perpetrators and assist with investigations, it said. It was reported that the High Commissioner was assaulted at the airport after sending off Daya Gamage, the countrys Primary Industries Minister, who was in Malaysia for the International Conference of Asian Political Parties. Former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse, who ordered the bloody military assault which ended the LTTEs separatist campaign in 2009, also attended the conference. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has commenced his 'Kisan Yatra' from Deoria in eastern Uttar Pradesh. The agenda of this 2500km long door-to-door campaign is to help 'secure rights of the poor, farmers and labourers in government resources', Gandhi said in a tweet. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to brief him on the situation in Kashmir after the two-day visit of an all party delegation to Jammu and Kashmir. Meanwhile, curfew has been lifted from entire Srinagar city. Here are the top 5 stories of the hour: 1) UP polls: Rahul Gandhi begins 2500-km Kisan Yatra from Deoria; Meets farmers, prays at temple Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has commenced his 'Kisan Yatra' from Deoria in eastern Uttar Pradesh. The agenda of this 2500km long door-to-door campaign is to help 'secure rights of the poor, farmers and labourers in government resources', Gandhi's office said in a tweet. 2) Rajnath meets PM Modi, briefs him on all-party delegation visit to Kashmir Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to brief him on the situation in Kashmir after the two-day visit of an all party delegation to Jammu and Kashmir. 3) Sex tape row: Police cases can't scare me, I am born in free India, says Ashutosh in series of tweets on NCW summon In a series of tweets, AAP leader Ashutosh on Tuesday said the police case against him was an "infringement" on his right to freedom of expression. 4) Curfew lifted from entire Srinagar city; death toll rises to 72 in J-K Curfew has been lifted from entire Srinagar city following improvement in the situation hours ahead of Home Minitser Rajnath Singhs meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for briefing him on the all-party delegation meet in Jammu and Kashmir on September 4 and 5. 5) Provide details of AAP ministers' foreign tours, purpose of visits by Sept 12: LG Jung to Delhi Govt Delhi's Lt Governor Najeeb Jung has directed the General Administration Department (GAD) of Delhi Government to provide details of all foreign tours undertaken byAAP ministers, their personal staff and other officials in the last one-and-a-half years. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: American tech giant Apple in line with its customary style of breaking through cutting edge technology is expected to unveil a new iPhone and maybe even a second-generation smart watch at a glittering event in San Francisco on 7th September. The new iPhone 7 model shall be equipped with better processing speeds, higher resolution cameras and improved software while turning to user-friendly ports in place of the jacks for plugging in wired headphones. The new iPhones will be water-resistant. Both iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 plus will be water-proof with IPX7 rating. The event may witness the wireless headphones being showcased by Beats, an entity which Apple acquired two years back at a $3bn deal. Apples has envisaged a unique way of marketing its latest iPhone models to a niche audience by showcasing first glimpse of their latest products at well-timed events that coincide with the year-end holiday shopping season. In July, the company reached a path-breaking milestone by announcing the sale of its billionth iPhone.The company in recent years has faced intense competition from fellow competitors and a drop in their iPhone sales in the second quarter of this year is testimony to the same. South Korean consumer electronics giant LG is set to take center stage at San Francisco before Apple as they would showcase a new premium V20 smartphone the evening before the Apple hogs the limelight. The V20 will be the first phone to run on the new Nougat version of Google-backed Android operating software. Meanwhile, leading smartphone maker Samsung has suffered a huge dent to its reputation after there were some serious technical glitches found in its batteries which caused some Galaxy Note 7 phablets to explode while charging. The Korean giant has immediately called back these faulty products to avoid any further ramifications. The event shall also be used as a platform by California-based Apple to showcase updates to other products, such as its smartwatch and laptop computers. There was a strong grapevine in the market regarding the redundancy of the Apple Watch 2 hardware, which has not been updated since it debuted in April of last year. The event on Wednesday comes at a time when Apple is pitched against the European Union in a financial cum legal battle over a multi-billion-dollar bill. This comes in the backdrop of a financial charges made by the European Union which hold the firm guilty of evading tax liabilities in Ireland due to favorable terms granted to the tech giant courtesy illegal state aid. Financial analyst around the world is of the firm view that the cash rich Apple was in a strong liquid position to pay off a huge financial obligation of 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion). According to its most recent earnings report, Apple had $231.5 billion in cash plus marketable securities at the end of June. Of that total, $214.8 billion, or 93 percent, was said to be outside the United States, Apples chief financial officer Luca Maestri said on an earnings call. Apple has certainly been found wanting in its constant endeavour to enrich its customers with its latest innovation and advancements to its existing product line, a forte of the entity under the able leadership of its late co-founder Steve Jobs. The one more thing credo which took the company places under aegis Steve jobs would have to be imbibed under the leadership of Tim Cook. Apple iPhones for long have been the cash cow for the company in its marketing gambit and financial robustness, while reported investments in self-driving cars and virtual reality are still in its formative stage of testing. With iPhone sales and profits witnessing a drop, Apple highlighted growth in sales of apps, music and cloud services in its latest financial presentation. To keep up with the ever increasing intense competition, Apple is foraying into new areas such as Apple TV and streaming music, which could yield stable cash flows. The good news is that we can expect the company to launch device in India before Diwali. This means you have to re-budget your Diwali expenses. For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi : Rahul Gandhi's innovative concept of Khaat Sabha fell flat on the face when local villagers in Rudrapur decamped with khatiyas (cots) soon after his sabha was over. The Congress vice president on Tuesday held his first Khaat Sabha on the lines of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Chai pe Charcha' to kickstart his 2500km long maha padayatra in Uttar Pradesh. During the Khaat sabha, Congress vice president said, "Modi talks about farmers but the sad part is that when he came to power he forgot about farmers from not just UP but from across the nation." Taking another jibe at PM Modi, he said, "Modi government pardoned the Rs 50,000 crore loan of his industrialist friends, but why does he not pardon the loan of farmers?" Earlier on day 1 of his Mahayatra, Gandhi visited farmers in Panchlari Kritpura village and addressed a rally in Deoria. The agenda of the long door-to-door campaign is to help 'secure rights of the poor, farmers and labourers in government resources', Gandhi said in a tweet. Also read: Live updates: Rahul Gandhi addresses first rally, Khaat Sabha on his Kisan Yatra WATCH: Chaos breaks out as locals fight for Khatiyas(wooden cots) after Rahul Gandhi's Khat Sabha in Deoria ends pic.twitter.com/4tUxP81L1w ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 6, 2016 Locals decamp with Khatiyas(wooden cots) after Rahul Gandhi's khat sabha in Deoria ends pic.twitter.com/PDo1Skx9ju ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 6, 2016 Mandya: Agitated farmers and activists belonging to pro-Kannada outfits on Tuesday blocked Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway as protests intensified in the wake of the Supreme Court directive to the state to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. Mandya district, the nucleus of Cauvery politics, saw a bandh with protesters holding road blockades and dharnas at several places, as hundreds of security personnel, including Central forces, were deployed in the Cauvery belt to maintain law and order. Prohibitory orders have been clamped around Krishnarajasagar Dam and entry of visitors to it prohibited till September nine, as the Cauvery row hotted up after the Supreme Court direction to Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for the next 10 days to address the plight of the farmers there. Protesters also mobbed and ransacked several government offices in Mandya forcing their shut down, while attendance at government offices remained thin, police said. The Supreme Court's direction on Monday triggered an immediate backlash with the farmers' body spearheading the stir, calling for a bandh on Tuesday in Mandya district. Shops, hotels and other commercial establishments and theatres and hotels remained shut and schools and colleges declared a holiday in the district where state run and private buses are also not plying. Protests are also being held in Mysuru and Hassan?districts, fed by the Cauvery, demanding that Karnataka should not release water. Venting their anger, protesters burnt effigy of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa at several places. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is holding a meeting of? senior Ministers, legal experts and officials, has also invited legislature floor leaders and MPs later today to discuss the further course of action. Meanwhile, the government appealed to people not to resort to agitation and to maintain calm. "My appeal to the public is that don't resort to agitation...and keep calm and we will make all efforts to? protect the interest of the farmers," Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra told reporters in Bengaluru. Jayachandra said people should maintain calm as it is an order by the Supreme Court and the government needs to go before the Cauvery supervisory committee and convince it. "My appeal is be calm, and don't spoil any government property or anything because it is a Supreme Court order. We have to go before the Supervisory Committee and we want to try to convince (it) also," the Minister said. Former Chief Minister and State BJP President B S Yeddiyurappa asked the government to file a petition countering the Supreme Court order. In Mandya city, Kannada Rakshna Vedike outfit activists held a bike rally and burnt the effigy of Jayalalitha. G Madegowda, President of Cauvery Hita Rakshana Samithi, the body spearheading the agitation, criticised the chief minister and irrigation minister for their "irresponsible" behaviour over the Cauvery issue. He also called the district MLAs to resign enmasse to protest against the "injustice." For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. kolkata: Immortal poem "Hatath Dekha" of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore will soon be made into a film under an Indo-Bangladesh joint production, with a cast drawn from the two countries. The film's director, Reshmi Mitra, said that shooting would be done extensively in Bangladesh and Birbhum district in West Bengal. "The dialogues retain the resonance of the poem and we have recreated the period look of 1938," she told PTI. Boasting a formidable cast, including Debasree Roy, Shankar Chakraborty, Tulika Basu and Ilias Kanchan (India) and Munia Yusuf Mimi, Azhar J S Himi (Bangladesh), the narrative requires the characters to speak in verses. "We have sought to incorporate several important issues of the bygone times including female education and the general condition of women in the feudal set-up and the women who came out of this," Reshmi said. She said that the storyline involves two characters who meet in a train compartment after many years of their first encounter. The film, produced by known Bangladeshi production house Impress Telefilm Ltd and two Indian producers, has been shot in Chittagong, Mymansingh, Dhaka, Rangamati in Bangladesh and in several parts of rural West Bengal including Birbhum district where Tagore was primarily based. The film has Rabindrasangeet and Baul songs rendered by popular Bangladeshi Rabindrasangeet exponent Rejwana Chowdhury Banya, Anupam Roy and Kartik Das Baul. "Music plays an important part in the movie since there are shots of vast expanse of rivers, a typical sight across the borders," the director, who had previously made two films, said. Vientiane (Laos): Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte expressed regret on Tuesday over his "son of a bitch" remark while referring to President Barack Obama, in a rare display of contrition by a politician whose wide arc of profanities has unabashedly targeted world figures including the pope and the UN chief. In a statement read out by his spokesman, Duterte said that while his "strong comments" in response to certain questions by a reporter "elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the US president." Duterte had made the intemperate remarks Monday before flying to Laos, where he is attending a regional summit. He had been scheduled to meet Obama separately, but Obama indicated he had second thoughts. Today, Duterte said both sides mutually agreed to postpone the meeting. Even though Duterte's latest comment does not amount to an apology, the expression of regret is unusual for the tough-talking former mayor, who is unapologetic about his manner of speech and liberally peppers his casual statements with profanities such as "son of a bitch" and "son of a whore." But perhaps Duterte's aides realized it would be unwise to take on the most powerful official in the world, and there would be a price to pay for insulting the president of the United States. Also Read: Obama cancels meetings with Philippines President Duterte after his obscene language against US Prez The US is one of the Philippines' largest trading partners and a key security ally in its fight against terrorism in the country's south. Manila also needs Washington's help in dealing with a more assertive China in the disputed South China Sea. Duterte likely had realised his folly by the time he arrived in the Laotian capital of Vientiane on Monday night. Speaking to reporters here, he said, "I do not want to quarrel with the most powerful country on the planet," but immediately took his typical combative approach by saying: "Washington has been so liberal about criticising human rights, human rights and human rights." He said if the White House had problems with him, it could have sent him a diplomatic note and let him respond. "There's a protocol for that," Duterte said. "You just cannot shoot a statement against the president of any country." But by Tuesday, he had done a complete U-turn in the tone of his statement. "We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions, and working in mutually responsible ways for both countries," the statement said. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looking forward to visiting Pakistan in November this year to attend the Saarc Summit, said Indias High Commissioner in Pakistan Gautam Bambawale in Karachi on Monday. I cant say about the future but as of today, Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the Saarc summit in November this year, the Dawn quoted the Indian High Commissioner as saying at a seminar of the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations. "India and Pakistan must discuss the entire range of issues. They must keep their focus on economy," Bambawale said in the event in Karachi. Earlier, the reports said that Modi might keep away from the Saarc Summit. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Mumbai : A special womens court on Tuesday convicted Ankur Lal Panwar for murder in connection with the Preeti Rathi acid attack case. Special Judge A S Shende convicted Panwar under Sections 302(murder) and 326B (Voluntarily throwing acid) of the IPC and is likely to hear arguments on the quantum of sentence tomorrow. Rathi, who hailed from Delhi, had died of multiple organ failure after hotel management graduate Panwar threw acid on her in May 2013. According to police, Rathi had secured a nursing job with the Ministry of Defence at the INHS Asvini Hospital and Panwar was unhappy over it. Police said acid was thrown on Rathi as Panwar was jealous of her career growth.Outside the court, Panwars mother Kailash demanded a CBI inquiry claiming her son had been falsely implicated. We have been implicated just because we were poor. I want a CBI inquiry into the case, she said.Meanwhile, Rathis father Amar Singh Rathi hoped Panwar was awarded capital punishment. It took 3 years for us to get justice but I am happy that it has been finally delivered. I hope he gets death sentence, he said. New Delhi : Soon after Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looking forward to visiting Pakistan for SAARC summit, the government on Tuesday reiterated that no decision has been taken so far in the regard. Decisions of such nature not made so far in advance, said MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup. I cant say about the future but as of today Prime Minister Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the Saarc summit in November, a leading newspaper quoted Bambawale as saying at an interactive session of the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations. His remarks have caused quite a stir given the fact that both the countries were engaged in a fierce verbal battle over terrorism and the situation in Kashmir. While India has accused Pakistan of supporting cross border terrorism, Pakistan, on its part, has been trying to internationalise Kashmir, alleging New Delhi of human rights violations. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Obesity rates in the U.S., overall, are falling, and thats a good thing (MindBodyScience.news) For the first time in 10 years, obesity rates have dropped in a few states, according to the State of Obesity report released on Thursday. Minnesota, Montana, New York and Ohio saw decreases in their adult obesity rates, while Kansas and Kentucky saw an increase. The 13th annual report was created by the Trust for Americas Health (TFAH), a non-profit health-policy and research organization, in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson foundation, a philanthropy organization focused on addressing Americas health issues. A decade ago, we began to see the trend of obesity really increasing, said Albert Lang, senior communications manager at TFAH. From 2002 to 2005, obesity rates skyrocketed. Lang said the two organizations started developing the yearly report to highlight the obesity issue and potential solutions. Data for the report came from surveys conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In partnership with state and local health departments, the CDC calls and surveys about 400,000 people across the country every year. Survey respondents are asked their height and weight, among other questions, to assess their health and risk factors. In the medical community, a person is considered obese if they have a Body Mass Index of 30 or higher. The estimated annual cost of obesity in the United States was $147 billion in 2008, according to data on the CDC website, and people who are obese can expect to pay $1,429 more for health care each year than people in the normal BMI range. Corby Martin, an associate professor at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., is studying behaviors associated with eating. Louisiana has the highest obesity rate in the nation, with 36.2 percent of adults at a BMI of 30.0 or above. Its a problem, because being overweight or being obese is associated with the main diseases that kill Americans, Martin said. If you take a look at diseases that account for most of our deaths, theyre things like heart disease, stroke and diabetes. We know that obesity is associated with the development of those conditions. Martin is studying the efficacy of mobile health interventions to help people lose weight, particularly interventions delivered via smartphone apps. The obvious advantage is that we can deliver treatment to people while they live at home, Martin said. Martin was not surprised to learn that Louisiana had the highest obesity rate in the country. Louisiana last topped the list in 2012 and has been among the top ten since 2008. Unfortunately, Louisiana is a state that is rich in very good but fairly fattening food, and we also tend to be fairly sedentary, so our rates of obesity have been historically quite high, Martin said. The states with the highest obesity rates have remained fairly stable over time, with Mississippi, West Virginia and Alabama consistently among the top five. Lang said the TFAH isnt certain how four states managed to reduce their obesity rates. We dont know for sure, and were not sure theyre going to be sustained decreases, he said. For the last couple of years, weve seen rates look like they were possibly stabilizing and this year is the first time weve seen a decrease. Shining a light on this, and investments across the country, seem to be taking effect. Martin said he hopes the report will inspire Americans to eat less and move more. These studies are very important to help us understand if the prevalence rate of overweight or obesity is changing and, if it is, in what states its changing the most, he said. Its important for us to learn what factors within those states are affecting factors in obesity prevalence. Reporting by Emma Gallimore, AMI Newswire More: 2016 USA Features Media. Submit a correction >> NEW FAIRFIELD The Massachusetts firm hired to help improve relations between the community and school officials has suspended its work with the district until conditions improve in the community. In June, the school board voted 6 to 2 to pay up to $3,000 to Future Management Systems to work with Superintendent Alicia Roy and the nine-member board this summer. The firms work was to include interviewing each board member over the phone and then to hold a meeting to share its findings. For months, disgruntled members of the public and district educators packed board meetings to convey their dissatisfaction with Roy and the board itself, citing poor communication as one of their concerns. But, at the boards last meeting, Chairman Steve Burfeind announced the firms recent decision and read part of the consultants email into the record. Based on the current issues in New Fairfield, it does not seem to be conducive to be moving ahead on the project to improve superintendent and board relations, wrote Lyle Kirtman, the firms president, in an email to Roy. I would suggest we suspend the project until conditions improve in the community ... Thanks for reaching out to me and I hope we can work together in the future. Kirtman attached a $900 bill for the work the firm completed this summer, which included speaking with some board members. He couldnt be reached for further comment on Tuesday. I think its probably fairly telling given the conversation that took place earlier today why he came to that conclusion, Burfeind said at the Sept. 1 meeting. Im going to continue, as long as I am board chair, to look for ways for this board to seek professional development, work better together with ourselves, community and the superintendent ... this proposal and this project is suspended indefinitely. Earlier in the meeting, board member Susan Starr and John Hodge, a finance board member and former first selectman, faced heated criticism, days after they posted a video online refuting allegations made in an earlier video critical of the board and Roy. Some residents, during a public comment session, accused Starr of violating privacy laws and called on her to resign. Board Vice Chairwoman Amy Tozzo, one of the two members who had voted against hiring Future Management Systems, said on Tuesday that the board wasnt given any other explanations for the consultants decision. Im not aware of any plan to find another consultant. I do not support finding another consultant at this time, Tozzo added. I believe if the BOE can follow their own policies, hold each other accountable for their actions, and maintain open and transparent communication with the community on matters that are appropriate, we will be successful in moving this district forward. Roy said in an email that she will continue to work with the board and chairman to support the growth and development of the board, which includes my interactions with the board. The goal is to work together to provide the most appropriate education for our students, one that meets the needs of our learners and maximizes student achievement, she added. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate NEW MILFORD The towns film commission will host Roxburys Mia Farrow, the star of Rosemarys Baby, after a Sept. 25 screening of the iconic film. Farrows appearance is part of the commissions first New Milford Film Festival, and the screening which follows a screening of a selection of films from the Manhattan Short Film Festival will kick off the event, which runs through Oct. 1. Its a great way to promote the town, Mayor David Gronbach said. (The commission) has done a great job lining this up. Although film festivals have been held in nearby towns, and New Milford has held screenings, this years Greater New Milford Film Festival with a premiere, and eight films to screen at the Bank Street Theater will be the first of its kind here. Farrow may be the biggest name in attendance, but several local filmmakers plan to attend, according to a news release. Local filmmaker Chris Bryant, who lives near the green, may not be a big name yet, but he has spent the past two years working on a film. Like Farrow, hell speak after his film is screened. Bryants movie, Soldiers of Vietnam will debut at Bank Street Theater on Sept. 28, a world premier, he joked. Its not a pro-war movie or an anti-war movie, Bryant said. The movie is about soldiers in the war, not the war itself, he added. With war-era photographs that havent been seen before, he hopes the film exposes the humanity of the Connecticut veterans he spoke to for the film. Many events and screenings are free, and open to the public. A screenwriters workshop is part of the festival. But itll cost $20 to see Rosemarys Baby, and listen to Farrow and actor Jack Gilpin in a question-and-answer session after the film, and the cost to watch the short films from from the Manhattan festival is $15. Along with local shorts, and a movie night on the Village Green, the commission will screen big-budget movies filmed in New Milford such as Adam Sandlers Mr. Deeds. For information, or to see the full schedule, visit: www.filmnewmilfordct.com CALGARY, Sept. 6, 2016 /CNW/ - With the return of the school year, Canadian Pacific Police Service (CPPS) is reminding students, parents and caregivers that the safe route to school does not include trespassing on railway property. From September 7-14, CPPS will be conducting its annual "Back to School Rail Safety Campaign" across Canada and the U.S. Officers will be paying extra attention to public railway crossings and railway rights-of-way in and around school zones. "As students head back to school, we must remind them that any route that includes illegally and dangerously crossing railway tracks is the wrong route," said Ken Marchant, CP Police Chief. "Parents, teachers and caregivers must lead by example and educate about the dangers associated with railway property and equipment." According to Transportation Safety Board statistics, from January to July in Canada this year, there have been 29 trespasser fatalities and eight crossing fatalities. This compares to 31 trespasser fatalities and 10 crossing fatalities in all of 2015. "The increase in trespassing-related deaths in the last seven months is extremely concerning to us," said Sarah Mayes, Operation Lifesaver's National Director. "These incidents have a huge impact on families, friends, communities and railway employees, and they're entirely preventable if people would just heed the warnings around railway property." Year-round, Operation Lifesaver, a safety partnership with railways and other safety groups, helps to deliver the message that when people "See Tracks" they should "Think Train". This year, an extra challenge has presented itself with Pokemon GO. "With the launch of Pokemon GO this summer, geo-tagged sites have appeared where train operations and related activities occur leading to increased rates of trespassing on CP property," said Marchant. "We continue to remind the public about the hazards of playing Pokemon GO, and that tracks and trains are a 'No-Go Zone'." For more resources on practicing rail safety, including materials for teachers of various age groups, please contact Operation Lifesaver at www.operationlifesaver.ca or follow them on Twitter and Facebook @OpLifesaver. Note to editors: Interviews with CPPS members are available by request. Rail safety tweets, b-roll, and photos available on www.cpr.ca. About Canadian Pacific Canadian Pacific (TSX:CP)(NYSE:CP) is a transcontinental railway in Canada and the United States with direct links to eight major ports, including Vancouver and Montreal, providing North American customers a competitive rail service with access to key markets in every corner of the globe. CP is growing with its customers, offering a suite of freight transportation services, logistics solutions and supply chain expertise. Visit cpr.ca to see the rail advantages of CP. About CP Police Service The CP Police Service (CPPS) is a fully accredited police agency operating in both Canada and the U.S. created by Federal Statute with full federal, state and provincial powers. CPPS officers are peace officers as defined by the Criminal Code. The CPPS plays an important role by contributing to public safety and enforcement activities in the communities where Canadian Pacific operates. CPPS officers promote public safety through trespasser abatement patrols, enforcement of traffic legislation at and near railway crossings and participation in education activities to raise awareness of community safety issues. The CPPS also help to protect the critical infrastructure of Canada and the U.S. by ensuring supply chain integrity and ensuring the operational efficiency of the transportation network. About Operation Lifesaver Established in Canada in 1981, Operation Lifesaver is a national public-rail safety program sponsored by Transport Canada and the Railway Association of Canada. Through partnerships with provincial safety councils, police, railways, the trucking industry and community groups, Operation Lifesaver is dedicated to saving lives by educating Canadians about the hazards surrounding highway/railway crossings and trespassing on railway property. SOURCE Canadian Pacific For further information: Canadian Pacific, Salem Woodrow, 403-319-7178, 24/7 Media Line 1-855-242-3674, [email protected]; Operation Lifesaver - National Director, Sarah Mayes, 613-564-8097, [email protected] Collection Point makes shopping at IKEA more accessible, convenient and affordable for Saskatoon residents BURLINGTON, ON, Sept. 6, 2016 /CNW/ - IKEA Canada is announcing today the next step in its journey to become more accessible to the many Canadians with the launch of a Collection Point in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Located at Dynamex, 3275 Miners Road, customers can now shop online for IKEA home furnishings and have them delivered to the Collection Point for only $79, regardless of the size and value of their purchase. This represents significant savings over the previous average home delivery fee of $170 and will also reduce delivery times. For customers who would still like to have their products delivered to their home, delivery fees and shipping times will remain the same. "The Saskatoon Collection Point allows IKEA to immediately provide our customers with a more affordable shopping experience," said David McCabe, Acting President, IKEA Canada. The Collection Point is not an IKEA store and is owned by a third party service provider. While it does not have any products available for purchase, Collection Points allow IKEA to make shopping easier in markets that have been identified as having potential. "In such a large country, it is important to offer a variety of solutions we can use to penetrate markets in relevant and economical ways," said McCabe. "Saskatoon is a natural next step in our plan to grow the IKEA brand in Canada." Saskatoon is home to the country's second Collection Point. The first opened in Halifax in July 2016. In 2015, IKEA Canada announced an ambitious plan to become a true coast-to-coast retailer and double its presence by 2025. Part of this plan was opening six Pick-up and order point locations in southern Ontario and Quebec City. The company also announced a new, full-size IKEA store for Halifax, scheduled to open in Fall 2017. The goal of becoming truly accessible includes an expansion of online shopping options. IKEA is working hard to enhance its online options and recently announced it would begin accepting PayPal as a form of online payment. About IKEA Canada IKEA is a leading home furnishing retailer with 375 stores in more than 50 countries worldwide, which are visited by 884 million people every year. IKEA Canada has 12 stores, an eCommerce virtual store, Pick-up and order points in Quebec City and southern Ontario and Collection Points in Halifax and Saskatoon. The company also plans to open a 13th store in Halifax, Nova Scotia in late 2017. Last year, IKEA Canada welcomed 25 million visitors to its stores and 75 million visitors to the IKEA.ca website. Founded in 1943, the IKEA business philosophy is to offer a wide range of products of good design and function at prices so low, the majority of people can afford them. For more information on IKEA, please visit: www.IKEA.ca . SOURCE IKEA Canada For further information: Stephanie Kerr, Corporate Press Officer, IKEA Canada, 905-637-9440 ext. 6378, [email protected] TORONTO, Sept. 5, 2016 /CNW/ - Students and community allies today are engaging in canvassing and outreach to talk about the dire economic circumstances faced by many college and university students. Coinciding with the annual Labour Day parade, students are reaching out directly to the public to talk about high tuition fees, ballooning student debt, declining employment prospects and poor working conditions. "Hundreds of thousands of students are heading to campuses across the province this year to face mounting financial obstacles," said Rajean Hoilett, Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario. "Rising tuition fees, inflated costs of living, ballooning debt levels and grim job prospects are just a few factors that are bringing an entire generation to the brink of bankruptcy." Students across Ontario are calling on the provincial government to further their support for accessible and affordable education by eliminating all financial barriers that deny access to education for too many Ontarians. More specifically, students are calling on the Ontario government to: progressively reduce and eliminate tuition fees for all students, convert student loans into non-repayable grants in the 2017 Ontario Budget, remove interest on existing student loans and immediately introduce debt relief programs geared towards low and middle-income students and alumni. Ontario boasts the highest tuition fees in the country and students often graduate with debt loads that average at $26,800 for undergraduate students and $15,700 for college students. Additionally, students are partnering with community allies to promote the $15 and Fairness campaign, which seeks to bump Ontario's minimum wage to $15 an hour and strengthen employment laws in the province. "Students aren't just students. They're workers too. And our issues aren't just student issues, they effect our families, our communities and our province," said Gayle McFadden, Ontario National Executive Representative for the Federation. "We know that addressing students' financial burdens has a ripple effect that stretches far and wide across the province. This is why we are here today to get the public behind our call to action." Students are canvassing at the corner of Dufferin Street and Joe Shuster Way from 12PM to 2PM. The Canadian Federation of StudentsOntario unites more than 350,000 college and university students in all regions of the province. SOURCE Canadian Federation of Students For further information: Rajean Hoilett, Chairperson, at 289-923-3534 (cellphone) or [email protected]; Gayle McFadden, at 416-885-5488 (cellphone) or [email protected] TORONTO, Sept. 4, 2016 /CNW/ - Students will be hosting a canvassing and outreach action on Labour Day to bring attention to high tuition fees, rising levels of student debt, declining job prospects and poor working conditions. Students across the province have launched a campaign calling on the provincial government to deepen their support for accessible education by working towards free post-secondary education. More specifically students are calling on the government to: reduce and eliminate tuition fees, convert provincial student loans into non-repayable grants, forgive interest on outstanding student loans and immediately introduce debt relief programs geared towards low and middle-income students and alumni. The action will coincide with the annual Labour Day parade and will highlight the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario's Fight the Fees campaign for free education across the province and the $15 and Fairness campaign for a $15 minimum wage and fair working conditions. DATE: Monday, September 5, 2016 TIME: 12:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. PLACE: Corner of Dufferin Street and Joe Shuster Way WHO: Ontario college and university students JUST THE FACTS: Tuition fees in Ontario are the highest in Canada . In 2011, data collected by Statistics Canada showed 53 per cent of university enrolments and 42 per cent of college enrolments came from students in the highest income quartile of families, highlighting a socio-economic divide on campuses across the province. are the highest in . In 2011, data collected by Statistics Canada showed 53 per cent of university enrolments and 42 per cent of college enrolments came from students in the highest income quartile of families, highlighting a socio-economic divide on campuses across the province. The average debt for a student who must take on financial assistance to go to school is $27,000 after a four-year degree. Collectively, students in Canada owe $15 billion to the federal government and Ontario students owe $2.6 billion to the provincial government. after a four-year degree. Collectively, students in owe to the federal government and students owe to the provincial government. Precarious and low-wage work is becoming Ontario's new normal, with temporary and part-time work growing faster than full-time work in the province. Additionally, a larger share of these part-time and precarious jobs exist in low-wage sectors than in middle- to high-wage sectors. The Canadian Federation of StudentsOntario unites more than 350,000 college and university students in all regions of the province. SOURCE Canadian Federation of Students For further information: Rajean Hoilett, Chairperson, at 289-923-3534 (cellphone) or [email protected]; Gayle McFadden, at 416-885-5488 (cellphone) or [email protected] TORONTO, Sept. 6, 2016 /CNW/ - Laurent Blanchard, National Bank Direct Brokerage President and Tarek Naguib, Vice-President of Personal Banking, Ontario, National Bank (NA) joined Dani Lipkin, Business Development, Exchange Traded Funds, Closed-End Funds, and Structured Notes, TMX Group to open the market. National Bank Direct Brokerage offers brokerage services to self-directed investors. National Bank Direct Brokerage is a subsidiary of National Bank and has branches in most Canadian provinces as well as representative offices, subsidiaries and partnerships, through which it serves clients globally. National Bank Direct Brokerage has launched "ETF commissions are history" allowing investors to trade Canadian exchange-traded funds, with no commission fees. SOURCE TMX Group Limited Image with caption: "Laurent Blanchard, National Bank Direct Brokerage President and Tarek Naguib, Vice-President of Personal Banking, Ontario, National Bank (NA) joined Dani Lipkin, Business Development, Exchange Traded Funds, Closed-End Funds, and Structured Notes, TMX Group to open the market. National Bank Direct Brokerage offers brokerage services to self-directed investors. National Bank Direct Brokerage is a subsidiary of National Bank and has branches in most Canadian provinces as well as representative offices, subsidiaries and partnerships, through which it serves clients globally. National Bank Direct Brokerage has launched ETF commissions are history allowing investors to trade Canadian exchange-traded funds, with no commission fees. For more information, please visit http://nbdb.ca/en/pricing/commission-fees/ (CNW Group/TMX Group Limited)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160906_C7521_PHOTO_EN_765927.jpg For further information: http://nbdb.ca/en/pricing/commission-fees/ Elan announces 3 new senior management team members, completing its transformation under private ownership to Western-style management structure. Milan Slevec - Chief Financial Officer , formerly at Novartis Katarina Lavrin Marence - Director of Legal, HR and Corporate , formerly with Avtotehna John Peterson - Director, Nautical Division, formerly with Hunter Marine BEGUNJE, Slovenia, Sept. 6, 2016 /CNW/ - Milan Slevec, Group CFO, has extensive experience in finance, reporting and controlling. Formerly with Novartis, Jungheinrich and Bayer, Milan has extensive experience in accounting, control and financial oversight. At Novartis, Milan oversaw 15 countries in Central and Eastern Europe as CFO. Milan joined Elan in August 2016. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160408/353289LOGO ) Katarina Lavrin Marence, Director of Legal, HR and Corporate, a lawyer by profession, has 18 years of experience in corporate law, HR, and management. Most recently, Head of Legal and HR at Avtotehna, she has held many leadership roles, including legal advisor for the biggest Slovenian trade union. Katarina joined Elan in June 2016. John Peterson, Director of the Nautical Division, has 28 years of experience in powerboats and sailboats. Most recently at Hunter Marine, he was Vice President of Sales and Marketing throughout the late 90s to 2006 when Hunter became the market leader in America. From 2006 through 2014, John was President at Hunter and served on the Board of Directors. He was elected President of the US industry trade association, Sail America; and earned the Sailing Industry Leadership Award in 2007. Elan chief executive director, Jeffrey Tirman, commented, "We are very pleased to have attracted such high-caliber individuals to join the team at Elan. Their leadership and experience completes Elan's transition to an international company ready and able to successfully compete on the world stage." ABOUT ELAN. Elan d.o.o., founded in 1945, is a diversified advanced composites company based in Begunje, Slovenia. Elan was purchased by a group of private international investors in the fall of 2015. Elan's four main divisions focus on i) advanced and highly-technical components utilized in renewable energy and other specialty industries, ii) Sporting equipment, where Elan is a world recognized innovator and leader, iii) advanced high-performance racing and leisure sail boats and iv) engineering solutions for arena and stadium projects worldwide. For more information, please email us [email protected] or visit our website http://www.elan.si SOURCE ELAN For further information: Mrs. Tatjana Justin, [email protected], +386-(0)4-5351-101 Pandemonium was let loose on Sunday in the Ketu area of Lagos State after some Hausa youths seized a chemist, identified as Emmanuel Emeka... Pandemonium was let loose on Sunday in the Ketu area of Lagos State after some Hausa youths seized a chemist, identified as Emmanuel Emeka.It was learnt that Emeka would have been lynched but for the intervention of policemen from the Ketu Police Division who quickly brought the situation under control.A source told newsmen that the victim had written a blasphemous word on a magazine, which triggered the anger of the youths.The source said the police had already taken custody of the victim to save his life.He added that the Hausa youths mobilised to destroy the victims shop, but were prevented by the policemen, who were deployed in the area.He said, It happened around 9pm on Sunday. The issue could have led to a bloody fight between Christians and Muslims in Ketu, but for the police.What happened was that the man wrote something on a magazine which the Hausa youths said was blasphemous. When other Hausa men saw it, they became angry and seized him.Some of his friends tried to rescue him and that almost started a fight. The police were alerted and they responded quickly and doused the rising tension.The Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, confirmed the incident, adding that the situation was under control.She also confirmed that Emeka was in police custody.She said, The Lagos State Police Command averted what could have been a religious crisis between the Igbo community and the Hausa Muslim community due to the timely intervention of its operatives.At about 9.05pm, the Ketu division received a distress call that a boy was about to be lynched by some youths because he wrote blasphemous words on their magazine.The boy was rescued and kept in protective custody. His chemist shop was secured from destruction. Everywhere is calm as the police have intensified patrol in the area after successfully calming frayed nerves. Some leaders of the All Progressives Congress in Ondo State have called for the cancellation of the partys primary held last Saturday... Some leaders of the All Progressives Congress in Ondo State have called for the cancellation of the partys primary held last Saturday in Akure.The leaders made the demand in a petition to the chairman of the Election Appeal Committee.A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Chief Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), emerged the winner of the election to pick the partys ticket for the November 26 governorship poll.The leaders, who signed the petition, included a former APC Central Senatorial Chairman, Mr. Adegboyega Adedipe, the Ondo East and West Local Governments chairmen, Mr. Akintunde Samuel and Mr. Adeola Ademulegun respectively.In the petition, the leaders alleged that the exercise was characterised by malpractices and urged the committee to conduct a fresh primary.They also alleged that a strange delegates list was introduced on the eve of the election after everyone of them had gone to sleep. They said it was the same list that was eventually used for the election.The petition read in part, Names of 47 per cent of the delegates in Ondo-East were either deleted or substituted with people who were unknown to the party as executive members. Some of the injected names were not even aware of the development and so did not come for the primary.We wrote a petition to the election committee chairman on the morning of the election and it was reiterated that only people that had been voting in previous primaries would be allowed to vote with a promise to stand down the voting process for Ondo-East and Ondo-West local government areas. We were shocked that the committee never honoured the pledge.In all, a total number of 64 names were injected into the delegates list. The names were unknown to the party. For instance, somebody who never contested any election, and some even unknown to the party suddenly became ward chairmen in wards four, six, two and seven of Ondo-East Local Government.The petitioners also alleged that the absence of many legitimate voters paved the way for see and buy voters that were eventually used to further corrupt the process.Many voters were recruited from the road side including okada riders, bread-sellers, street hawkers and others who were not party members but just loitering around the venue of the election.The aggrieved APC members, however, noted that they were not against the winner of the election but vowed to contest the alleged fraudulent process through which he emerged.The petitioners urged the appeal committee to order the use of the same premises for accreditation as the voting centre during the re-run primaries they demanded to avoid the repeat of the situation. The blame-game between the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, over the recession in... The blame-game between the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, over the recession in the nations economy raged on, yesterday, in Abuja as the ruling party advised President Muhammadu Buhari not to be distracted by the insensitive comments of the opposition.In a sharp rebuke of the PDP, National Secretary of the APC, Mai Mala Buni, said in a statement that for the umpteenth time, the PDP should own up to its transgressions and apologize to Nigerians.The statement read: In reacting to the orchestrated and insensitive comments by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on the economy, the All Progressives Congress, APC, urges President Muhammadu Buharis administration to remain focused in its bold bid to restore economic growth in the country.In spite of the PDPs orchestrated and feeble attempts to blackmail the current administration and twist facts, the reality remains that the prevailing socio-economic hardship being faced by Nigerians is a direct consequence of the mismanagement of the economy and unprecedented looting of the countrys commonwealth perpetrated under its watch. The PDPs attempt to turn truth on its head is fraudulent, insensitive and an insult to Nigerians.For the umpteenth time, the PDP must own up to its transgressions and apologize to Nigerians. Going forward, the urgent task before President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration is to restore the countrys battered economy to health and all legitimate and innovative means are being employed to achieve this in the quickest possible time. The APC assures Nigerians of the strong political will and commitment of President Buharis administration to revive the economy and tackle the nations current challenges through suitable and well-thoughtout economic policies, fiscal discipline and socio-political reforms. Among other strategic economic agenda, diversification of the countrys economy is a priority for the administration.To this end, President Buhari is aggressively formulating and implementing policies aimed at diversifying Nigerias economy from oil to other sectors, such as agriculture, mining and manufacturing. The APC assures Nigerians that the administration will pull the country out of the present hardships. With the support, cooperation, patience and prayers of Nigerians, the country will reach its deserved potential under our leadership. Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has urged the people of Edo State to give their votes to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governo... Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has urged the people of Edo State to give their votes to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu on Saturday, saying Edo people should not make the same mistake Nigerians made last year by enthroning the All Progressives Congress (APC) government of President Muhammadu Buhari.The governor, who also called on the people of Edo State to be extra vigilant before, during and after the election, said; the people should not just vote and go to sleep, they must make sure that their votes count and victory is ensured for Pastor Ize-Iyamu who is unarguably the best among the contenders.According to a statement issued on Tuesday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose said party sentiment apart, Pastor Ize-Iyamu has campaigned through the nooks and crannies of Edo State to sell his visions and missions to the people of the State and anyone who saw the Channels Television debate on Sunday will agree with me that Pastor Ize-Iyamu is better equipped for the governance of Edo State.The governor declared that; If you believe in me and you are a voter in Edo State, give your vote to Pastor Ize-Iyamu, the man who has demonstrated the required capacity to lead Edo State to prosperity.He said; Opportunity to choose comes once in four years and the people of Edo State must grab this opportunity to change the fortune of the State for the better.Edo people should also be assured that Nigerians are now looking for a more meaningful change that is better than the APCs one chance change and Pastor Ize-Iyamu represents that meaningful change in Edo State.While calling on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the security agencies to maintain neutrality before, during and after the election, the governor described the Edo State election as a litmus test for the APC led federal government, urging all government agencies involved in the election to put the interest of democracy first.He said INEC must not repeat its story of inconclusiveness on the Edo State election, adding that for the first time in the history of this APC led federal government; election must be free, fair and conclusive.Governor Fayose said Edo people should be vigilant on the election day and make sure that votes are counted and recorded in relevant forms at the polling units, adding that; the people should know that elections are not concluded until results are announced officially. Ahmad Salkida, the Nigerian journalist taken into custody on Monday, weeks after being declared wanted by the army, has been denied acc... Ahmad Salkida, the Nigerian journalist taken into custody on Monday, weeks after being declared wanted by the army, has been denied access to his lawyer, Femi Falana, who is representing him, told an online medium, PREMIUM TIMES.Mr. Salkida, said to have close contacts with Boko Haram leaders, was arrested on Monday just as he arrived the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, apparently to present himself to the military authorities which had earlier declared him wanted along with two others-Ahmad Bolori and Aisha Wakil.The declaration of the three Nigerians wanted by the army followed the release of a new3 video showing the missing Chibok girls, which the security agents believe was the handiwork of the trio, who had been helping to negotiate freedom for the embattled school girls.Salkida expressed his willingness to turn himself in, and security analysts said he fulfilled that promise by flying into the country on Monday.But Falana, his lawyer, fumed on Tuesday, claiming that the authorities had denied him access to Mr. Salkida. The journalist is believed to be held at a State Security Service facility in Abuja.Mr. Falana said he had been briefed as Mr. Salkidas counsel, but that he was still trying to have access to him.He said his chamber had dispatched another lawyer in Abuja to see if they could have access to Mr. Salkida, and to know how to proceed from here. Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Konduga Local Government of Borno State have returned home after about three years of residing in... Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Konduga Local Government of Borno State have returned home after about three years of residing in refugee camps in Maiduguri.Governor Kashim Shettima urged them to be law abiding while at home. He added that the action was aimed at allowing the IDPs celebrate Sallah in their homes.We thank God for today because it is significant in our efforts to return people back to their liberated communities.Government has set aside 25 hectares of land to allow the people engage in meaningful ventures. We will assist those wishing to engage in agriculture in terms of improved seedlings and other things, he promised.Last week, the state government announced its intention to relocate IDPs from Konduga, Mafa and Dikwa councils back home following the return of peace to the areas. Ram sellers in Kaduna State on Monday expressed regrets about the low sale they had recorded, barely a week to the Eid-el-Kabir festival... Ram sellers in Kaduna State on Monday expressed regrets about the low sale they had recorded, barely a week to the Eid-el-Kabir festival.According to the News Agency of Nigeria, many ram selling points which include Zango, Bachama road and Rigasa markets in the Kaduna metropolis have many rams that remain unsold for days.Alhaji Rabo Mohammad, who sells his rams at the Bachama Road market, told NAN that the ram sellers had never had it so bad.Mohammad, who came from Sokoto, with rams, said he sold only five out of the 50 he brought to Kaduna two weeks ago.He said, The economic situation has contributed to the low patronage and it is affecting even our pockets. There is still hope, as the festival is one week from now, we pray to make some sales before then.Returning the animals to Sokoto will be a great loss to me because of the expenses involved.Mohammad said the prices of the animals ranged from N25, 000 to N120, 000.Another ram dealer, Baballe Yaro, also labelled the current economic recession as the main factor responsible for the low sales recorded so far.Yaro said, The current economic meltdown has now become a threat not only to ram sellers but also to the entire business activities in Nigeria. The Federal Government should do something urgently to address the suffering of the masses.Although people want to buy rams for the festival, they cannot afford to due to the prevailing economic situation in the country.Yaro said the price might eventually crash as many traders would not want to return with the animals.He said some of the traders bought the rams from the Niger Republic, Sokoto, Zamfara and Katsina states.But there is hope since we have one week before the celebration if all civil servants will have their salaries before Sallah, Yaro added. The Chibok Community in Borno State has said the Federal Government and the military knows where the girls are being kept by Boko Hara... Chibok parents The Chibok Community in Borno State has said the Federal Government and the military knows where the girls are being kept by Boko Haram.The community dismissed claims by the government that there was no credible intelligence on the location of the girls, stressing that the government had seen three videos, as well as information on the girls whereabouts.The spokesperson for the Kibaku Area Development Association, (Chibok community), Dr. Manasseh Allen, said this in an interview with one of our correspondents on Monday.He stated that the parents of the abducted girls would continue to demand the release of the girls from the government.He said, As far as we are concerned, the Nigerian government and the Nigerian military know where the girls are long before today because the first video was released, the second video was released and the third video was released. Amina Ali escaped and she told them where she had been all these years and since she escaped, she was debriefed that same day.After escaping from her abductors, she had provided enough information for the Nigerian government to know where the girls were being held all these while. Even if not all of them, at least the people she had been with over the past few years, she knew them.Allen, whose nieces were among the abducted girls, said the government had frustrated several moves to negotiate with the sect for the release of the girls.He said, We are not after where the girls are or whether the government knows where the girls are or not. Our demand has been one: the insurgents have been reaching out to Nigeria on the issue of swap and it is the same government that has been thwarting the swap move. So, what I can conclude is that the government knows where the girls are and what we are saying is, we want our girls back.Asked if the government or the military was benefiting from the insurgency, Allen declined to respond to this.Attempts to speak with Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, proved abortive as calls to his mobile phone rang out. A text enquiry sent to his mobile phone was yet to be replied as of the time of going to press.But the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, had in an interview last month said the military had no intelligence on whether the Chibok girls were in Sambisa Forest or not.Abubakar said the Nigeria Air Force was working round the clock to rescue the girls and other Nigerians abducted by Boko Haram.Responding to a question on if the NAF had any intelligence on whether the Chibok girls were in the Sambisa Forest or not, Abubakar said, Honestly, we dont. That is the truth of the matter. Even if you see women that are dressed in hijab, how are you sure they are women, that they are not men? The Federal Government yesterday warned of an imminent food crisis if quelea birds, locusts and grasshoppers gathering in Niger Republic a... The Federal Government yesterday warned of an imminent food crisis if quelea birds, locusts and grasshoppers gathering in Niger Republic are allowed entry into the country.Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh gave the warning during an emergency meeting with state commissioners of Agriculture in the 12 states in the country yesterday in Abuja.The Commissioners of Agriculture in 4 northern states have confirmed the presence of the birds.The states are:1. Kebbi State2. Zamfara State3. Sokoto State4. Jigawa StateOgbeh stated that the presence of army warm had already started affecting grains in some parts of the country.Ogbeh said: There is warning that we have received that locusts and quelea birds are massing up in Niger Republic from where they normally attack us in Nigeria.We know how dangerous quelea birds can be and locusts. If they arrive within hours and days, they would have wiped out everything the farmers would have put in the field.We already have maize crisis. We may have food problems if we are attacked. This country would be in turmoil. We cant afford that.Most of the poultry farms are in trouble and many families are hungry. We have got to start working together like this to deal with these things as soon as there is any sign of them.We must have an emergency team between you and ourselves to tackle these issues very swiftly. The military operation against militants, code-named, Operation Crocodile Smile, on Monday suffered a setback as four soldiers drowned ... The military operation against militants, code-named, Operation Crocodile Smile, on Monday suffered a setback as four soldiers drowned following a boat accident in Bayelsa State.The incident occurred along the Brass waterfront in Brass Local Government Area of the state.Service rifles belonging to the missing soldiers were also said to be missing.It was learnt that the sad incident which occurred at about 10am on Monday, created panic among newly-deployed soldiers in the state.Though the mission of the soldiers in the area could not be ascertained, it was gathered that it was not unconnected with the operations against renewed militancy, sea piracy and search for those threatening to hoist the Niger Delta Republic flag.An indigene of the community, identified simply as Etta, said attempts by community youths and other soldiers to assist in a rescue operation failed as the drowned soldiers could not be found.Etta said, In recent times, we have been noticing increased movement of soldiers in our area. The boat that capsized was conveying a new batch of soldiers to the water front.I was going to dispose of refuse at the waterfront and I saw uniformed soldiers struggling to rescue their colleagues in a capsized boat.When the confusion subsided, four soldiers were found to be missing with their rifles and other military gear. Those that were rescued had their rifles missing and struggling out of the water. It was further learnt that as of 2pm, the military authorities sought the help of local divers and youths in the search for the missing soldiers.But one of the youths confirmed that the high tide of the water impeded the search for the missing soldiers.The State Chairman of the Maritime Union, Mr. Lyyod Sese, who confirmed the incident, said the union had received the report on the boat incident.We do not have details of the number of casualties, Sese said.An official of Brass LGA, who pleaded anonymity, also confirmed the development.Attempts to get confirmation from the authorities of the Joint Military Task Force, Operation Delta Safe, were not successful as calls to the Acting Coordinator of the Joint Media Campaign Centre, Lt.-Cmdr Thomas Otuji, rang out. THE Senator Ali Modu Sheriff faction of Ondo State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday said its governorship candidate, Jimoh Ibrah... THE Senator Ali Modu Sheriff faction of Ondo State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday said its governorship candidate, Jimoh Ibrahim, has obtained the nomination form of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).Its chairman, Biyi Poroye, who spoke with reporters in Akure, the Ondo State capital, said the form washanded over to Ibrahim at the INEC national headquarters in Abuja.According to him, the form obtained by Ibrahim had given credence to his faction as the authentic PDP in Ondo State.He said the partys national secretariat has backed Ibrahims ambition.Poroye added that Ibrahim would represent the party in the November 26 governorship poll.He hinged the INECs decision on a judgment of an Abuja High Court delivered by Justice O.E. Aaba, which affirmed that his tenure as the state PDP chairman would end in 2018.He alleged that the Chairman of the Ahmed Makarfi faction, Clement Faboyede, was an impostor.Poroye said the Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure, which ruled in favour of Faboyede, did not have the jurisdiction to handle the matter since it involves a political party with a national spread.He said only a Federal High Court could handle such matter.He accused the Makarfi faction led by Governor Olusegun Mimiko of abuse of judiciary and warned against action.On the emergence of Chief Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Poroye described it as a welcome development for the PDP.He said: We have nothing to fear about Akeredolu, because he will make the contest an easy ride for us. Akeredolu had contested before and we know his strength. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) claimed former President Goodluck Jonathan was responsible for the recent visit by Facebook Founder and... The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) claimed former President Goodluck Jonathan was responsible for the recent visit by Facebook Founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg to Nigeria.Dayo Adeyeye, spokesman of the PDP caretaker committee, said this in a recent statement.The statement claimed that the visit of Mark Zukerberg to Nigeria would not have happened if Jonathan had not set up the two ICT incubation centres in Lagos and Calabar.On the economic crisis, Adeyeye said that Jonathan saw recession coming and had plans to tackle it, but some members of the party who are now in the All Progressives Congress (APC), frustrated it. Veteran Comedian Alibaba has come out to criticize the state of the National Arts Theatre and the nation as a whole.He made his thoughts known in some lengthy posts on Instagram.Heres what he said:See his posts below President, Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday told Nigerians that their sufferings occasioned by economy recession will soon be over. President, Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday told Nigerians that their sufferings occasioned by economy recession will soon be over.Buhari assured Nigerians that his administration will make the country great again.The President spoke in Benin City, Edo State, at the final mega campaign rally of the All Progressive Congress (APC) ahead of Saturdays governorship election in the state.He said Nigerians will be proud of their country again, adding that the country is almost out of its security problem.He paid tribute to the late Benin monarch, Oba Erediauwa, whom he described as a man of foremost integrity and forthright.He said, Oshiomhole has reminded you of what we have gone through from 1999 to 2015. We have seen development more than what it used to be when Edo State was created. It was at that time that I met with the Oba who has joined his ancestors, and I saw a man with great integrity and there is no doubt that there is hardly any traditional ruler which is foremost and forthright like him.Edo people are lucky because as long as Nigeria exists, we will continue to play our role in stabilizing Nigeria. We are a nation of great human and material resources especially the youths. Please sit down and reflect and remember what I said years ago that there is no other nation like Nigeria. We will remain one together because no matter where you go the colour of your skin will be a problem for you.I congratulate Obaseki and I recommend him to you. He is a seasoned man so that you will continue to grow in Edo state. You have a credible team, you better hold them tight and ensure that Obaseki succeeds.I assure you that we are going to get out of our economic problems. We are almost out of our security problem and we are going to make Nigeria greater again. We are going to be very proud of our country once again, our size, our resources will not be for nothing. We will continue to grow. Nigerias crude oil production declined by 130, 000 barrel per day (bpd) in August to an average of 1.44 million bpd, as oil companies s... Nigerias crude oil production declined by 130, 000 barrel per day (bpd) in August to an average of 1.44 million bpd, as oil companies struggle to revamp pipelines in Niger Delta following severe attacks by militant groups. The country suffered the biggest decline among members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC. The oil market has been plagued by a stubborn supply glut that saw prices plunge to near 13-year lows below $30 at the start of 2016.This is even as oil production among the 14 member states rose by 120 000 barrels a day to average 33.69 million a day in August, as against 33.24 bpd in July, according to a survey by Bloomberg. Libyas production also dropped by 40, 000 bpd to 260, 000 bpd as the countrys political factions continued to feud over the control of oil export terminals. Iraq led the increase, by a supply of 70, 000 bpd to 4.48 million a day, after the government resumed flows from Kirkuk through a northern export pipeline controlled by the nations Kurds, signalling progress in a long-standing dispute over payments.Iran raised production by 60, 000 barrels a day to 3.62 million as it continues its return to global markets after the end of international sanctions in January. Saudi Arabia, the groups biggest and most powerful member, raised output by 30 000 barrels a day to an all-time high of 10.69 million a day. Russias Energy Minister Alexander Novak described the announcement as marking a new era in cooperation between Russia and Saudi Arabia insisting it would have a critical significance for oil markets Saudi Arabias Energy Minister, Khaled al-Faleh said currently no need to freeze production. A freeze is one of the preferred options but it is not needed for the moment. The country increased production so as to meet both domestic consumption which peaks during summer due to surging air conditioning use and demand from customers overseas.In a joint statement after a meeting at the G20 summit in China, Novak and al-Faleh said they have agreed to set up a joint monitoring group to offer recommendations aimed at preventing price fluctuations.The particular importance of constructive dialogue and close cooperation between the largest oil-producing countries with the goal of supporting the stability of the oil market and ensuring a stable level of investment in the long term, the energy ministers from both countries said. The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu on Monday refuted media reports of possible increase in the prices of petroleum prod... The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu on Monday refuted media reports of possible increase in the prices of petroleum products in the country.Supported by the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Alhaji Maikanti Baru, after a closed-door with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, Kachikwu described the reports as untrue.Pressed on the issue by State House correspondents, he asked, have you seen any memo to that effect?On his part, Baru said that NNPC has no plan to increase the pump price of petroleum products, stressing that there is nothing like that.The GMD, however, directed the correspondents to go to the Petroleum Product Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) for further clarification on the issue.Oil marketers had indicated intention to increase prices of the products, citing continued scarcity of foreign exchange to finance importation of the products, as reason. Kidnappers of 14 oil workers in Rivers State have demanded the sum of N100m for the release of their victims. Kidnappers of 14 oil workers in Rivers State have demanded the sum of N100m for the release of their victims.It was gathered that the kidnappers had established contact with some families of those held captive for the past four days, asking them to make the sum available if they wanted their loved ones to regain freedom.Gunmen had hijacked a Toyota Coaster bus conveying the oil workers, who are employees of Nestoil Plc.The vehicle was travelling from Omoku to Port Harcourt on Friday when it was intercepted by the hoodlums.The incident happened at about 12.20pm along Omoku-Elele road, even as the kidnappers drove the vehicle to a different point before ordering the occupants into the bush.A source close to the family of one of the victims said they (kidnappers) had established contact and were demanding for N100m as ransom.Yes, they spoke with one of the family members of their victim and they are demanding for N100m for the release of the 14 oil workers.We also learnt that the kidnappers had put calls across to some people in authority to make the money available so that the oil workers would be released, the source added.It was however, gathered that the oil workers would have prevented their abduction if they had waited for security agencies to fill the vehicles tanks with fuel.According to a source in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA, the workers left in a hurry without waiting for police escort.If they (oil workers) had been patient enough to wait for the policemen to fuel their vehicle, this would not have happened because they (police) would have escorted them out of ONELGA, the source said.When contacted, the State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Nnamdi Omoni, said he was not aware of any demand by the kidnappers.Omoni told our correspondent that the police had intensified their search with a view to rescuing the victims and apprehending the kidnappers.We are still searching; our men have been combing the bushes since the incident happened and I am sure that the victims will be rescued very soon, the state police spokesman said. The All Progressives Congress on Monday urged Nigerians to be patient with President Muhammadu Buhari, saying his strong political wi... The All Progressives Congress on Monday urged Nigerians to be patient with President Muhammadu Buhari, saying his strong political will would revive the nations economy.This is contained in a statement released to newsmen in Abuja by the National Secretary of the party, Alhaji Mai Mala Buni.According to the statement, the Peoples Democratic Party should stop making insensitive comments about the economy as the government is conscious of the hardship its citizens were faced with.Buni said, In reacting to the orchestrated and insensitive comments by the PDP on the economy, the APC urges the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to remain focused in its bold bid to restore economic growth in the country.In spite of PDPs orchestrated and feeble attempts to blackmail the current administration and twist facts, the reality remains that the prevailing socio-economic hardship faced by Nigerians is a direct consequence of the mismanagement of the economy.It also includes the unprecedented looting of the countrys commonwealth perpetrated under PDPs watch.The PDPs attempt to turn truth on its head is fraudulent, insensitive and an insult to Nigerians.For the umpteenth time, the PDP must own up to its transgression and apologise to Nigerians.Going forward, the urgent task before the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration is to restore the countrys battered economy back to health.All legitimate and innovative means are being employed to achieve this in the quickest possible time.The APC assures Nigerians of the strong political will and commitment of Buharis administration to revive the economy and tackle the nations current challenges through suitable and well-thought economic policies, fiscal discipline and socio-political reforms.He said that among other strategic economic agenda planned by the government, diversification of the countrys economy was a priority.NAN Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has been told to resign before he completely grounds the State. The State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) made the demand while reacting to the sacking, last week Wednesday by Wike, of four Commissioners and the suspension of the State Head of Service and Special Adviser on Lands for three months. This was followed the next day by the dismissal of Local Government Stole Administrators in the state.Rivers APC in a statement signed by the State Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, accused Wike of playing to the gallery and likened him to a bad workman who quarrels with his tools.We are not bothered if Wike decides to sack all his commissioners since they, just like him, are a bunch of failures. The plot of Chief Wike from the beginning has been to turn himself to an Emperor in a democratic dispensation. The sacking, without giving any reason, of his Commissioners and dissolving his illegal Local Government Sole Administrators exemplifies this vision the party said in the statement issued on Tuesday in the state capital, Port HarcourThe statement called on Wike to take the honourable path by apologising and resigning now that it is obvious that his dreamy empire is gradually crumbling like a pack of cards and in view of the dangers his misguided vision has caused Rivers State, his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the entire Nigerian Nation.Insisting that Wike bulldozed his way into the Government House even though unprepared for governance, Rivers APC said that he must go for the following reasons:1. Claiming and re-commissioning of roads and projects successfully executed by his predecessor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.2. Destruction of the education sector by stopping the scholarship and free education scheme put up by the Amaechi administration to make Rivers State a reference point in Africa, and turning the model educational and health facilities put up in all the local government areas of the state to forests and dens of cultists by not using them and refusing to pay the salaries of the 13,000 teachers employed by the administration of Amaechi.3. Destroying the security appliances and strategy put up by Amaechi to make the state crime-free and instead turning the state into a Rivers of blood and appointing suspected fellows with criminal records into his administration without due clearance by the security agencies, thereby causing capital flight and mass exodus of people and corporate bodies from Rivers State.4. Running the state as a fiefdom without recourse to democratic principles and bankrupting the state in just over a year in power while also sinking it into monumental debt that will require generation to clear.Concluding, Rivers APC said: The evidence clearly shows that Wike is a terrible disappointment to both Rivers State and Nigeria. He has taken incompetence in governance to a new height in Nigeria, turning Rivers State to a Rivers of blood where human lives no longer worth much and where kidnapping, assassination and robbery have become the norms. Wike must go in the interest of the peace and progress of Rivers State, the party emphasised. A catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Paul Irikefe, has been abducted by gunmen suspected to be kidnappers in Delta State. A catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Paul Irikefe, has been abducted by gunmen suspected to be kidnappers in Delta State.According to reports, Father Irikefe, a lecturer with Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Major Seminary in Bodija, Ibadan, Oyo State, was said to have been kidnapped on yesterday in Warri.He was said to have arrived the state Monday afternoon to attend the burial rites of his friend and colleague, Rev. Fr. Amaefule Chike. WINSLOW TWP. -- The toddler who was hospitalized after being found in a pool in Sicklerville Aug. 27 died a week later at the hospital. Winslow Police Lt. Christopher Dubler confirmed the 2-year-old girl died over the weekend. He said the drowning was a "tragic accident" and police and investigators from the Camden County prosecutor's office have determined it was not suspicious. The girl was found in an above-ground pool in the 100 block of Prospect Road around 7 p.m. Aug. 27. Family members were performing CPR when emergency responders arrived, 6abc reported. She was rushed to Kennedy University Hospital in Washington Township and later transferred to The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She was in critical condition but died over Labor Day weekend, Dubler said. It is the second drowning incident involving a child in the Sicklerville area of Winslow in less than a month. An 8-year-old boy was pulled from a pool on Scenic View Drive Aug. 9 and hospitalized. Dubler said that boy remains in critical condition. Accidental drowning is the second leading cause of death among children between 1 and 4 years old, according to the New Jersey Department of Children and Families' water safety website. It is also the second leading cause in children 1 to 14 who died as a result of accidental injuries. Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook. VOORHEES - A student at a South Jersey massage therapy school has filed a federal lawsuit after she was expelled for alleged sexual misconduct toward a client. A Glassboro woman is suing the massage therapy school that expelled her after a sexual misconduct allegation. Ka-Msiyara Corbett said the Rizzieri School for the Healing Arts in Voorhees kicked her out on Feb. 3, six days after she treated a person who later filed a complaint against her. According to the lawsuit filed by Corbett, the school violated its sexual misconduct policy in several ways. Corbett said she asked for information about the allegations but wasn't provided any until she hired a lawyer. The Glassboro resident also was not interviewed about the allegations nor given a hearing before a three-person panel before being expelled, according to the suit. The school's sexual misconduct policy states all of those things must take place before a student is removed, according to the suit. Cobett's suit also alleges that the Rizzieri school's decision to deny her due process was "based solely on the unsubstantiated complaint of a white person." Corbett is black. The suit asks the school to reimburse her $8,250 in tuition payment as well as provide for punitive damages and cover attorney costs. A phone message left at the school early Tuesday was not immediately returned. Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook. NEWARK -- Newark and Essex County authorities announced a slew of arrests made in 15 shootings in the city, five of them fatal, and thanked the public for tips that led to two of the cases being cracked. The authorities said the tips appeared to have resulted from a strengthening of the public's trust in law enforcement after implementing measures intended to enhance community relations, like adding 80 new cops with walking beats this June. "There's no secret that the relationship between the Newark Police and the public is at an all-time low -- we have a consent decree," said the city's public safety director, Anthony Ambrose. "But we're here to thank the public for helping us take criminals off the streets." The charges and arrests announced Tuesday involved a total of 15 shooting incidents, including five fatal shootings that resulted in seven deaths. A total of 9 people have been charged in the fatal shootings, with six of them under arrest and three at large as of Tuesday. In the ten non-fatal shootings, 6 people were arrested, while one person was charged but had not been caught. According to Ambrose and Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray, the people charged include: Apart from the charges and arrests, authorities also announced a $10,000 reward in the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Haniyah Woods of Newark, who was gunned down on South 10th Street at 12:55 a.m. on Saturday morning, three days before she was supposed to start her sophomore year at West Side High School. Along with Ambrose and Mayor Ras Baraka, Murray asked the public's help in identifying Woods' assailant, and all criminals. "As acting prosecutor, I can't tell you how critical that is for the job that we do," Murray said. As evidenced by the charges in the two recent cases, she added, "public trust is increasing this year." Newark and Essex County authorities on Tuesday announced arrests in recent shootings int eh city. Detectives investigated a separate shooting earlier this summer in this file photo. Ambrose said shootings overall were down 17 percent in Newark for the year to date. However, he noted that the number of homicides -- committed overwhelmingly with guns -- was up for this time of year, to 68, compared to the same point in 2015, when there were 63. Ambrose said the motivation for most shootings involved personal disputes or the drug trade. The shootings happen, Ambrose and Baraka said, because there are so many guns in circulation. Despite New Jersey's tough gun laws, they said, weapons are easily purchased in other states, mainly in the South, and transported and sold in Newark and other cities in New Jersey. The solution, they said, is tougher national gun laws that must be approved by Congress and the president. "We're at their mercy," Baraka said. Murray, an appointee of Gov. Chris Christie, declined to comment on Baraka and Ambrose's proscription for fewer shootings. But she said her office enforces the law, including prosecuting "hundreds" of illegal weapons possession cases each year against convicted felons and others legally barred from having a gun. To provide a tip, authorities urged the public to call the county Homicide/Major Crimes Task Force at 877-847-7432. Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook. NEWARK -- The 35,000 students who returned to the city's public schools Tuesday were greeted by a nearly full staff, new buildings upgrades, and a lot of bottled water. District officials confirmed that the 30 school buildings in which water sources tested high for lead levels this spring will remain on bottled water, at least for now. In preparation for the new school year, officials said the district put a "specific emphasis on water testing," taking about 8,500 samples from 70 locations throughout the district. Officials said they expect all of the fountains to be back in use by October. They plan to hold community meetings over the next month to explain the testing results before reopening the water sources. The schools have been on bottled water since March, when testing revealed that aging pipes created elevated lead levels in dozens of the schools. Thousands of bottles of water have been donated to the school district by various organizations. (File photo) The anticipated water fix is only one of hundreds of facilities projects the district undertook over the summer, officials said Tuesday. Those projects included the re-launch of the new North 10th Street School, relocation of the South Street School building, and the launch of the South Ward Community Schools program. "One of the main priorities...has been to ensure that every student throughout the city of Newark is able to enter a safe, healthy, and welcoming learning environment on the first day of school," School Business Administrator Valerie Wilson said in a statement about the first day of school. "The district is excited about the substantial steps that have been taken this summer to reach our goal that will have a positive effect on student achievement." Along with students, about 5,500 employees also went back to school Tuesday, including 250 new teachers. The district's school buildings are starting off the year at 98 percent staffing - which school officials said is a marked improvement over years past. Schools are working to fill the remaining vacancies, they said. "Newark Public Schools is committed to ensuring that high quality educators are at the front of every classroom leading our children--they deserve nothing less," said Larisa Shambaugh, chief talent officer of Newark Public Schools. "We all remember meeting our new teachers on the first day of school. To this end, our office continues to work with each and every principal to ensure that our students have the best educators to experience a positive learning environment from the very first day of school." The changes are all in line with the reform efforts announced in two reports over the summer, both aimed at returning the district to local control by the start of the next school year. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook. UPDATE: The West Deptford Township Republican Party has confirmed that Michael Krawitz has dropped out of the race, according to 6ABC. Officials told the news station that he submitted his withdrawal via hand-written note. WEST DEPTFORD TWP. -- Mike Krawitz, a West Deptford Township Committee hopeful, has been asked to exit the race after accusations of harassing a reporter -- including wishing on social media that she would be raped -- were reported. Township Republican leaders released a statement saying they were led to believe Krawitz's Facebook was hacked however, after reviewing the facts they "could not find any reasonable reason to believe Krawitz's account was hacked in anyway." Krawitz, a Republican who has unsuccessfully run for office in West Deptford several times, was selected to represent the party only after receiving 19 write-in votes during the primary. His running mate, Joann Priga, received 14. However, West Deptford Republican Party officials are calling for him to exit the race after he allegedly posted on Facebook wishing for the rape of Daily Beast reporter Olivia Nuzzi. Nuzzi claims that Krawitz frequently harassed her on social media since December of 2015, the most recent saying he hoped she'd be raped by a Syrian refugee. "For a candidate to use such despicable language toward an individual, let alone a female, is completely unacceptable of anyone representing our Party," the statement continued. "What is worse is to call for violence against a female... and we as a party cannot condone such repulsive, threatening or demeaning rhetoric." .Thanks to @Olivianuzzi for talking to us & exposing this vile behavior, 'hacked' or not. https://t.co/dWGGutYYO8 pic.twitter.com/HwIr7ax6JV Jessica Gonzalez (@HessicaGonzalez) September 6, 2016 West Deptford Township Republican Party officials ended the statement saying they will take whatever actions necessary to have him removed from the ballot if he does not resign on his own. The town's GOP isn't immune to political scandals. In 2008, Krawitz -- attempting to get Gov. Jon Corzine on the phone -- pretended to be South Jersey Democratic powerbroker George Norcross when he called the governor's office and spoke to a secretary, according to the Asbury Park Press. When he was patched through to Corzine, though, he hollered at the state's leader, prompting a visit to his home by New Jersey State Troopers. Last fall, inappropriate text messages were unintentionally received by the seated township administrator. The texts included photos of Democratic Mayor Denice DiCarlo's face superimposed over the Wicked Witch of the West's. The group text was sent between the two Republican township committee members, Gerry Maher and Jeff Hansen, GOP candidate Raymond Chintall and what they thought was the phone belonging to the former township administrator. A few weeks later, just before the general election in 2015, Chintall -- a former mayor -- said an arrow with a death threat attached to it was shot at his home. Chintall said he also received death threats when he ran in 2012. Chairman of the Gloucester County Republican Party, Jim Philbin, released a statement saying while he does not know Krawitz personally, the language witnessed by him has "no place in politics, the workplace, or in one's private life." "Without question, there is no room within our Party for the brand of hate displayed in the posting," said Philbin. "I need it to be abundantly and unequivocally clear neither I nor my Party can support the use of such language. Given the prior posts that have now surfaced, together with the new alleged statements, I hereby call for his immediate resignation on behalf of the Gloucester County Republican Party." Other members of the West Deptford Republican Party did not immediately return requests for comment. Caitlyn Stulpin may be reached at cstulpin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitstulpin. Find NJ.com on Facebook. TRENTON -- Rutgers University's new health care network has hired Mary E. O'Dowd, the state's former health commissioner, to oversee its programs that promote healthy living for people across the state. Former state Health Commissioner Mary E. O'Dowd is the executive director for population health at Rutgers Health, the university announced Tuesday. (Photo courtesy of Rutgers Health) A member of Gov. Chris Christie's cabinet from 2011 to 2015, O'Dowd has been named executive director for health systems and population health integration for Rutgers Health, the university announced Tuesday. In April, Rutgers University President Robert Barchi announced the launch of Rutgers Health, a network of medical providers drawing from the university's medical, dental, nursing, pharmacy, mental health and social work programs and schools, as well as the Cancer Institute of New Jersey. There are 1,000 faculty members and clinical staff. Population health describes efforts to manage chronic disease and promote healthy lifestyles. Population health has taken on greater importance since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, with its emphasis on disease prevention and outpatient treatment. The law is ushering in a payment system that rewards hospitals and other medical providers based on keeping people healthy rather than just curing disease. Brian Strom, executive vice president for health affairs and chancellor of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, said O'Dowd's experience as commissioner makes her uniquely qualified for the job. While commissioner of the 1,200-member department, she focused on improving breastfeeding rates, expanding the hospital-based screening program for newborn illnesses, and implementing a law that aids end-of-life planning, according to the announcement. She will work closely with Vicente H. Gracias, senior vice chancellor for clinical affairs for Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, according to the announcement. "Under Mary's leadership, the Department of Health achieved significant inroads addressing a variety of population health issues," Strom said. "Her firsthand experiences will be extremely valuable as we build an infrastructure and set our strategic and logistical priorities." O'Dowd has also been a paid member of the board of directors of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, the largest health insurance provider in the state, since August 2015. "My experiences allow me to relate well to Rutgers' desire to make population health a priority, improve the patient experience, and develop a viable business case for prevention and wellness," said O'Dowd, a Rutgers University's Douglass College alumna. O'Dowd serves as alumna representative on the university's Institute for Women's Leadership Advisory Board. She has also been an internship sponsor for the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Douglass College and the Institute for Women's Leadership. O'Dowd's husband, Kevin O'Dowd, was one of Christie's closest advisers, last serving as chief of staff. He left in 2014 and is an executive vice president for Cooper University Health Care in Camden. Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. When author Amy Stewart visited a Paterson library to find out more about the first woman who was a deputy sheriff in New Jersey, the Texas native was astonished to learn how much history was made in Paterson in the early 20th Century. "I wanted to summon all writers: Quick, meet me in Paterson in one hour," Stewart said. "You're all going to have your next novel." Stewart, 47, believes all those historical events -- the silk strike of 1913 is one notable example -- explain why the story of Constance Kopp, who in 1916 was named a Bergen County deputy sheriff, was forgotten until Stewart discovered Kopp in an old newspaper article and then partly fictionalized her story in last year's "Girl Waits with Gun." The book's sequel, "Lady Cop Makes Trouble," is out today from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. "On the first day I found Constance I thought, well somebody's written a book about her so I'm just going to order that book," Stewart told The Jersey Journal this morning. "No one had written a book on her. I thought, maybe a children's book, maybe a local history kind of small press thing -- nothing. She didn't have a Wikipedia page. They never heard of her at the historical society." Stewart's books will no doubt help cement Kopp and her family as New Jersey legends. The author will appear at Jersey City bookstore Word on Thursday to discuss "Lady Cop Makes Trouble," which picks up essentially where its predecessor left off, with Kopp working for the Bergen County sheriff. The two are hunting a fugitive on the streets of New Jersey and New York City while the sheriff tries to avoid going to jail for allowing the fugitive to escape and the tough and fearless Kopp ... well, no spoilers, you'll have to read the book to find out. Just like "Girl Waits with Gun," the sequel focuses on Kopp and her sisters, Norma and Fleurette. Both books are a blend of fact and fiction. Stewart said she rarely fudged facts to suit the narrative -- the Kopp sisters' mother died in real life a little later than she does in the books -- and generally only fictionalized moments to connect real-life incidents documented by newspaper accounts. "If it really happened, it stays in. I'm using fiction to fill in the gaps," she said. "You can almost visualize these newspaper clippings spread out like a timeline with physical gaps between them. And the assignment is, explain what happened. Explain how we got to these moments that made it into the papers." The headline that inspired the title of Amy Stewart's "Girl Waits with Gun." The Kopp sisters made headlines starting in 1914 when their buggy collided in Paterson with a car driven by silk factory magnate Henry Kaufman. Constance Kopp sued Kaufman for damages, he began threatening her and the Bergen County sheriff enlisted the Kopps to put Kaufman and his crew behind bars. Stewart discovered their story when she was researching a gin smuggler named Henry Kaufman for her 2013 nonfiction book, "The Drunken Botanist." Stewart just signed to produce a fourth and fifth book about the Kopp sisters, who at one point ran their own private detective agency. The author said she envisions their story could stretch up to 10 books in total. "Which sounds crazy to say," she said. "Every time I say that out loud I'm sort of terrified." Stewart will appear at Word on Thursday, Sept. 8 at 7:30 p.m. Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook. JERSEY CITY -- Three years of legal battles are over for former Police Chief Robert Cowan, who was named in nearly a half dozen lawsuits during that time span. Last week a Superior Court judge dismissed charges against Cowan in a lawsuit in which a Jersey City police officer alleged his drunken driving arrest was a result political retaliation, marking the fifth and final lawsuit against the ex-top cop that has either been settled or dismissed. Mayor Steve Fulop promoted Cowan, who campaigned for Fulop in the May 2013 mayoral contest, to police chief in 2013, shortly after Fulop took office. Fulop demoted Cowan in July 2014, citing low morale in the police department and concerns over the growing number of lawsuits targeting Cowan. Jersey City settled its first lawsuit that named Cowan in January 2015. Officer Eric Infantes and Lt. Anthony Musante alleged they were reassigned, harassed, and disciplined for supporting Fulop's rival, former Mayor Jerramiah Healy in 2013. Infantes and Musante said they were also targeted by Cowan for investigating his role in a Fulop campaign ad that featured a Bergen County man posing as a Jersey City police officer. The two received $50,000 each as part of the settlement. Infantes separately alleged Fulop singled him because the officer said he alerted county prosecutors in 2008 that a man claimed he was paid to use a false ID to vote for Fulop in a 2005 council race. Cowan told The Jersey Journal by phone he believes the city settled with the officers because it "didn't want to have this out there while (Fulop is) running for governor." Fulop is expected to seek the Democratic nomination for governor in 2017, though he has not declared that he is running yet. In April 2015 the city settled a lawsuit filed by four police officers -- Christopher Daliani, Christopher Ortega, Michael J. Rivera and Anthony Tedesco -- who alleged they were punished following a 2013 traffic stop of a woman claiming to be politically connected to City Hall. Cowan was named as a defendant in the suit. Three of the officers received 15 paid days off while the fourth received the equivalent to 15 days of pay. The officers agreed to dismiss the suit with prejudice, forbidding them from refiling their complaint. In the agreement, the officers recognized the city disputed their claims. Then in January 2016 Cowan was cleared from a 2014 whistle-blower suit. Retired police officer Francis DeFazio alleged he was transferred from the Emergency Service Unit for filing harassment and intimidation complaints. Hudson County Superior Court Judge Francis B. Schultz dismissed the whistle-blower counts because the allegations came too long before filing the suit. Counts alleging the defendants violated state discrimination laws and inflicted emotional duress, were also tossed for all but three defendants. A jury later sided with the remaining defendants, ending the suit. In a July ruling, Hudson County Superior Court Judge Joseph Turula tossed a 2014 lawsuit lodged against Cowan, the police department, and three other police officials that focused on parking tickets. Officer Khareem Miller alleged he was transferred to a different police precinct after issuing parking tickets outside of a deli frequented by city workers and politicians. Turula dismissed the case because he said there was no evidence the officer had been retaliated against. The allegation that his superiors told him to never ticket double-parked cars near the business could also not be proven, the judge ruled. Cowan filed his own whistle-blower suit against the city in 2015 after his demotion. He dropped the suit three months later. Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook. By Paul Brubaker | The Backgrounder President John F. Kennedy, who challenged the nation to put a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth before the end of the 1960s, originally wanted to put a man on Mars, said Buzz Aldrin, who walked the moon during Apollo 11. "The Bay of Pigs (invasion of Cuba) had not gone very well, so in April of '61 he went to NASA and said, 'I think we should plan on going to Mars,'" said Aldrin on the latest edition of The Backgrounder Podcast. "The guys at NASA, their jaws dropped." Astronaut Buzz Aldrin visited his childhood home in Montclair this past October. (Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) At that point, NASA lagged the Soviets in the space race. The Soviets already had successfully launched the Sputnik satellite and put a dog named Laika in orbit. Aldrin said he was attending a special event at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology when he learned about the early exchange between JFK and NASA officials. Long before Aldrin took his first steps on the moon, he took his first steps on Earth in Montclair where he grew up. On September 16, he will return to Montclair for the dedication of a middle school that will be renamed in his honor. To hear Aldrin explain how JFK came to set his sights on the moon, and some of Aldrin's memories of living in Montclair, simply click on the orange button on the top of this page. Paul Brubaker, former journalist and congressional spokesman, keeps it real with the people who make New Jersey the most fascinating place on Earth. Check back every week for a new episode of 'The Backgrounder.' sex-assault-college-university.jpg Rider University, like Seton Hall and Princeton, is among the schools investigated by the feds for their handling of sexual assault allegations. (Saed Hindash | The Star-Ledger) A freshman says Rider University "blindly accepted" a female classmate's claims he sexually assaulted her in a dorm room, and expelled him last year. Now he's suing the school to clear his name. Here we go again. All across America, universities are making a mess of sex assault cases. Victims are shortchanged by unqualified campus cops doing investigations, administrators who discourage them from pressing charges, and disciplinary panels with inadequate training that dole out mere slaps on the wrist. But the rights of the accused are being violated, too. That seems to be the case at Rider. The Mercer County Prosecutor's office decided not to press charges after the woman dramatically changed her story, according to the lawsuit, but the university expelled the man anyway. College sex crime investigations violate rights of men, too: Editorial He says he first met the victim and her female friend, who were drunk in the men's dormitory bathroom, when he was returning from an off-campus party in October 2015. They went with him and his male friend to a dorm room. The victim and her friend, a witness, later told campus security there was non-consensual kissing and touching, but nothing more, and both left freely afterwards. Then the women changed their story. They told police there was forcible oral sex, and that the friend had to fight her way out of the room, leaving behind the victim. These contradictions were never explained, according to the lawsuit, and campus security presented only the revised statements at the disciplinary hearing. According to the plaintiff, he never had the right to freely confront his accuser, which tells you all you need to know about the outrageous violations of due process in these campus courts. He says he was never told the specific allegations against him. All questions from his lawyer had to go through the board chair, who decided whether to ask them. The woman testified that a doctor confirmed she was sexually assaulted, but the defense says it was not allowed to ask any questions about this or see any medical records. The man was expelled without being given any explanation of how the board reached its conclusion, the lawsuit says, or even an audio recording of his own disciplinary hearing. He appealed the decision, but was denied. Feds probe N.J. college after sex assault complaints One thing the university did right, in our view, was immediately ask the woman to report her allegations to the prosecutor's office. But after prosecutors decided they didn't merit charges, how did the school convict? Rider isn't commenting, other than to say its process is "fair, equitable and impartial." Based on the appalling record of college kangaroo courts across the country, though, we're skeptical. Like this Rider plaintiff, male students are increasingly claiming discrimination under Title IX, the federal gender-equality statute - a perfectly valid complaint, when you consider the backstory here. Out of concern that schools weren't taking sex assault cases seriously, the federal government issued a letter in 2011, threatening to investigate those thought to be not sufficiently zealous. It said if it found a school had violated Title IX, it might rescind federal funding. Title IX experts say this has since led to a new problem: Universities now think the feds want them to be on the side of the victim, and if they aren't, they will be penalized. So they are trampling due process rights. Granted, schools should have the ability to expel students they believe have committed wrongdoing, even if it doesn't meet the high standard of proof required in court. But not with these amateurish tribunals. We need to improve their policies. New Jersey should also legally require all colleges to report every sexual assault allegation to law enforcement, including prosecutor's offices, which have sex crimes units. These are complex cases. Do we really trust campus cops who can't do forensic work, or school nurses administering rape kits? Do we want the accused to be stripped of rights that we consider fundamental in criminal court? A victim could still decide not to pursue charges, but felony crimes always belong in the hands of professionals. On that much, lawyers for male clients and female victims should agree. Follow NJ.com Opinion on Twitter @NJ_Opinion. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. Suspect boat greenwood lake.jpg New Jersey State Police Marine Services Bureau released the photograph to show what the suspect's boat might look like. (New Jersey State Police Marine Services Bureau ) State police are asking for the public's help in identifying the operator of a boat that fled the scene of a crash that left four people injured, including two seriously. A $5,000 award is now being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction, police said later Monday. Several Greenwood Lake marinas are contributing to the award. The accident took place Monday night on the lake in West Milford around 8:30 p.m. Police reported that an 18-foot Bayliner boat was hit from the rear by an unidentified vessel. The boat police are seeking then went airborne over the Bayliner. Edwin Lane, 72, of West Milford, the owner of the boat that was struck and passenger, Robert Roon, 76, of Newfoundland, were transported to St. Joseph's Hospital and remain in critical condition. Their wives, Mary Lane, 74, and Eileen Roon, 70, suffered non-life threatening injuries and took the boat back to the dock. New Jersey State Police Marine Services Bureau asked anyone with information to contact Trooper Shane Diehl of the Carteret Station at 732-541-0491. New Jersey State Police Marine Services Bureau released the photograph that showed the victim's boat in a hit-and-run boating crash. Sara Jerde may be reached at sjerde@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SaraJerde. 403 Forbidden 403 Forbidden Code: AccessDenied Message: Access Denied RequestId: A8699CC84D6854B9 HostId: z1buk0D21WMHCuPFiJ/BblZ0ZdUkowb4fSfRn8dHBxTzU+7txBLAcug/ClejVSgCfKqpD3o2WFw= An Error Occurred While Attempting to Retrieve a Custom Error Document Code: AccessDenied Message: Access Denied WASHINGTON -- Donald Trump's comments on Tuesday that Hillary Clinton lacked "a presidential look" drew a strong rebuttal from the Democratic nominee's campaign. "I don't think she has a presidential look," Trump said on ABC's "Good Morning America." "You need a presidential look. You have to get the job done." Clinton's deputy communications manager, Christina Reynolds, immediately fired back. "Am I missing some other way to read this other than he doesn't see a woman as a president?" she tweeted. Am I missing some other way to read this other than he doesn't see a woman as a president? https://t.co/2xio77E3gZ Christina Reynolds (@creynoldsnc) September 6, 2016 Apparently, he doesn't see people who don't look like him as not presidential (see: Obama, birtherism) https://t.co/2xio77E3gZ Christina Reynolds (@creynoldsnc) September 6, 2016 "If she went to Mexico, she would have had a total failure," Trump said on ABC. "We had a big success." Clinton, the first woman nominated for president by a major U.S. political party, also appeared on ABC, where the former U.S. secretary of state called the Republican nominee's mission to Mexico a failure. "What happened is what we call a diplomatic incident," Clinton said on ABC. "He came out saying one thing and the Mexican president contradicted him almost immediately." Clinton referred to Trump's comments that he did not discuss his proposal for a Mexican-financed border wall with that country's president, Enrique Pena Nieto. "He didn't raise it, so he did choke," Clinton said. "It is clear he went down with a mission. It's been the mission of his whole campaign from the very first day, to demonize immigrants, to call Mexicans rapists and criminals." Pena Nieto said after the meeting that he rejected Trump's demand to pay for the wall. Trump said Clinton was wrong. "I don't choke; she chokes," Trump said on ABC. "She's responsible for so many bad things that has happened to our country." Trump specifically mentioned the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, which her husband, President Bill Clinton, signed into law. Trump has blamed free trade agreements, including NAFTA, for the exodus of U.S. jobs. He also insisted he was not backing down from his demand. "Mexico will play for the wall," Trump said. "See who wins in the end. We'll win. One hundred percent, they're going to pay for the wall." Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. NEW BRUNSWICK -- Rutgers University's student Republican club is the latest college GOP organization declining to endorse Donald Trump for president, according to a report by student newspaper The Daily Targum. Najum Junaid, vice chairman of the Rutgers Republicans, told the newspaper the group won't back Trump, the party's nominee, or any other candidate. "This election is particularly divisive, and our leadership team and our organization as a whole can't reach a consensus on whether or not any candidate in this election represents the Republican Party's core values," Junaid said, according to the report. The club will instead focus on down-ticket races -- including local New Jersey races -- heading into the Nov. 8 general election. The Rutgers Republicans are one of a number of college Republican groups shying away from Trump, the celebrity businessman and former Atlantic City casino mogul. Similar clubs at Harvard and Penn State have also decided not to endorse Trump. Princeton's Republican club is not taking a position on him. A recent report by the Washington Post said polling shows the millennial generation will vote heavily for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee. But, the report said, a considerable number support third-party candidates, and many millennial are disillusioned with both Trump and Clinton. Trump has faced backlash for some of his positions, such as his hard-line stance on curbing illegal immigration and fighting terrorism by temporarily barring immigration from countries compromised by terrorism. Junked told the Targum some of Trump's positions, such as the ones "some feel infringe on the rights of minorities," may hurt him among Rutgers students, but he added that Republican candidates don't "do particularly well" at colleges anyway. During the 2015-16 school year, Rutgers, New Jersey's state university, 41.5 percent of students were white, while 26 percent were Asian, 13 percent Hispanic, 7.5 percent black, and 7.2 percent international students, according to statistics provided by the school. But Junaid told the Targum that the club's refusal to back Trump does not mean it is supporting Clinton. Instead, he said, Republicans should "vote their conscience up and down the ticket." Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. Everything broke in our favor this weekend as the tropical storm moved offshore and left NOAA's weather service trying to figure out why their computers took so long to figure out what most casual observers could see was happening. Many people missed out on a beautiful Labor Day with sun and moderate winds due to the forecast yesterday evening that included gusts to 40 mph last night followed by gusts to 36 mph today. When I drove over to Point Pleasant Canal this morning, the flag was hanging limp on a high pole and there was a very nontropical slight chill before the sun got higher. Of course, the ocean remains rough -- but it was a perfect day for bay and river fishing. Unfortunately, small sea bass made short work of my sandworms, along with a couple of tiny toadfish in the canal. Most party boats already cancelled as far ahead as Tuesday, but all should be back in action by Wednesday. The Jamaica from Brielle is heading out to the canyons for tuna on Thursday at 7 a.m., and has some open spots. That also applies to canyon trips at 5 p.m. Sunday and 7 a.m. next Tuesday. Call 732 528-5014 for reservations. Matt Slobodjian, at Jim's Tackle in Cape May, reports "Fluke fishing actually dropped off quite a bit this week on the reefs. It may possibly have been due to the building swell from all the storm activity off the coast. We did see a couple of nice fluke weighed in. Mary Coglin of Dennisville weighed in a 7.66 lb. fluke she caught at the Wildwood Reef. Max Triffon of Petersburg caught a 4.39 lb. fluke along the inlet jetty on a bucktail. The inshore troll bite held up well this week especially around the sea bass pots in the 20 mile range. Lyle Rutty and his son young Lyle fished the pots for a couple of hours Friday and put 6 nice dolphin in the boat and had a couple of bite offs. Pete Dillulo, Frank Hennigan and the crew of the "Three Petes" boated a 60 lb. wahoo trolling around Massey's Canyon earlier in the week. There have been good numbers of small blues in the rips for the boats trolling spoons and small lures. There were plenty of weakfish in the rips this week. Most are small, but some nicer ones started showing up the last few days. Offshore, the marlin bite is still very good. Hopefully this storm won't turn things off in the canyons and it may actually be good for the tuna fishing. The surf is giving up a few nicer weakfish. We are starting to see some 2-3 lb. fish being caught. The fluke are still at the Point, though mostly small. A few croakers and kings are still being caught there as well. FRANKLIN -- The 26-year-old Sussex County woman who went missing last week may have traveled to New York City or Asbury Park, police said. Tammy Y. Kim, 26, was reported missing after they went to the Starbucks at 111 Route 23 at noon on Thursday. The parents of Tammy Y. Kim, of Franklin, reported her missing after they went to the Starbucks at 111 Route 23 at noon on Thursday intending to pick her up, but she failed to meet them. She was last seen there around 10 a.m. Her phone was discovered at an unoccupied commercial building on Munsonhurst Road, about three miles from Starbucks. Kim may have headed to either New York City or Asbury Park, but she could also still be in Sussex County, Franklin Detective Nevin Mattessich said Tuesday morning. Kim is 5-foot-5, about 160 pounds with brown eyes and black hair. She was last seen wearing a gray T-shirt, capri-style sweatpants and brown sandals. The laptop she had with her the day she disappeared was recently recovered from a local store, New Jersey Herald reported. Anyone with information can call 973-827- 7700 and ask for detectives Nevin Mattessich or Robert Vander Ploeg, or contact them by email at nmattessich@franklinpd.org or rvanderploeg@franklinpd.org. Callers can remain anonymous. Justin Zaremba may be reached at jzaremba@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinZarembaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Help for motorists in an accident From:Shanghai Daily | 2016-09-06 00:46 POLICE and Shanghai Insurance Association announced a new measure yesterday to facilitate traffic incident compensation applied for via a mobile platform launched last June. Now in an accident where the insurance claim of one party surpasses 2,000 yuan (US$300), the parties involved no longer have to report the case to the police providing they take valid pictures from the scene and upload them to the platform Kuaichuyipei (Fast Handling and Easy Compensation). The ruling only applies to accidents involving two cars that have not involved any injuries. In China, compensation for vehicle damage in road accidents from compulsory traffic insurance is capped at 2,000 yuan. Any sum above that limit is determined by insurance companies. Li Zhonglin, director of the Ligang branch of the citys Insurance Claims Settlement Service Center for Vehicle Damages, said insurance companies required police to give their opinion before determining what compensation would be paid. Now they believe that the risks are well under control especially when parties involved in an accident upload live evidence to their cloud servers. The platform, called Fast Handling and Easy Compensation is a public account on WeChat, the popular instant-messaging service. The platform has detailed guidelines for users on taking pictures at the scene of an accident, including photographing what damage has been caused, the surroundings and car registration plates. Police urge those skeptical about using the platform or who find Wi-Fi is not available, to take pictures or videos of the scene. In another new measure announced yesterday, those who come to settle insurance claims with valid evidence from the accident scene are also exempt from needing to seek opinions from the police even if the estimated amount of compensation is more than 2,000 yuan. The advantage of using Kuaichuyipei would be that the parties involved dont have to go together to the service centers to settle insurance claims, because the establishment of the case is done over the internet, said Wu Hao, an official from the traffic polices Accident Prevention Office. Wu said more than 2,500 traffic accidents were settled via the platform since June, and the quickest time for a driver to receive compensation so far was 40 minutes. Usually it would take two days without using the platform. WASHINGTON (AP) The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has issued a subpoena to Donald Trump. The nine-member panel sent a letter to the former president's lawyers on Friday, demanding his testimony under oath by mid-November and outlining a series of corresponding documents. The decision by lawmakers to exercise their subpoena power comes a week after the committee made its final case against the former president, who they say is the "central cause" of the multi-part effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It remains unclear how Trump and his legal team will respond to the subpoena, if at all. Viva La Cure is a night of hope for Cancer Association of Greater New Orleans supporters Women accused of medical fraud From:Shanghai Daily | 2016-09-06 00:46 TWO retired women suspected of buying cheap medicine by taking advantage of health care insurance and selling it on for a higher price were detained for fraud, Fengxian District Peoples Procuratorate said yesterday. The suspects, surnamed Zhuang and He, allegedly borrowed or rented Medicare cards, using them to buy medicine from hospitals at a subsidized price. They then allegedly sold on the medicine to dealers for 40 to 60 percent of the market price. The women were suspected of targeting private hospitals where management supervision was likely to be less strict, prosecutors said. Dealers would tell the women what medicines they wanted and transactions were said to usually have taken place in lanes or vegetable markets. According to the authorities, Zhuang had fraudulently obtained 78,000 yuan (US$11,680) and He 186,000 yuan. Zhuang allegedly said she had started the business last April after being told how the scam worked by a friend she played poker with. She is alleged to have rented four Medicare cards for 2,500 yuan per card a year from the friend, and then borrowed a further three cards from other contacts. Later Zhuang met He who was said to be in the same line of fraudulent business and together the two are alleged to have carried out the scams in hospitals around the city. On April 18, the two, along with Zhuangs husband and two illegal dealers, went to buy medicine using more than 30 Medicare cards from a hospital in Nanxiang area. They registered the cards in numerous departments of the hospital, which raised the hospitals suspicion. Zhuang was caught that day when waiting to collect the medicine. He was arrested on May 9 at her home. The world economy is still characterised by low growth, and uncertainty is high particularly as regards the effects of Brexit, the US presidential election and the geopolitical situation. Nordea expects the Nordic region to grow in line with other advanced economies. Nordeas new economic forecast projects global growth of 3.0% this year and around 3.2% in 2017 and 3.3% in 2018. - The growth is driven by Emerging Markets where the outlook for many countries is improving as commodity prices stabilise. However, growth in the advanced economies will stagnate over the forecast horizon. All in all, the global economy is likely to see relatively slow growth in the years ahead, says Helge J. Pedersen, Nordeas Group Chief Economist. In the Nordic countries, economic growth in Sweden has in recent years been significantly higher than in other countries. But now growth appears to be falling in Sweden, while increasing in the other countries. The slowdown of the Swedish economy is mainly due to lower exports. Domestic demand has shown strong growth over the past years, but private consumption is likely to shift into a lower gear next year as the effects of stimulus measures have begun to fade. In Norway, economic key figures have over the summer been on the strong side. Unemployment appears to have peaked and house prices rise more than expected. Mainland growth will pick up as the fall in oil investment now seems to taper off. That will help the industries affected by the oil slump. Meanwhile, we expect the rest of the economy, which has held up well during the oil downturn, to grow at a healthy clip going forward. In Denmark, we expect slightly more positive tailwinds over the next couple of years as recent years increase in employment bolsters consumption and investment activity. The biggest threats to higher growth mainly come from abroad because of the subdued global trade. Only fragile growth lies ahead for the Finnish economy in the next few years. After reaching 1% in 2016, growth is expected to moderate again. The export outlook remains dim due to low global growth and weak world trade. Read Economic Outlook here: http://docs.nordeamarkets.com/EconomicOutlook/NordeaEconomicOutlookEnglish32016/ For further information: Helge J. Pedersen, Group Chief Economist, +45 33 33 31 26 Documents City acts to find jobs for college graduates From:Shanghai Daily | 2016-09-06 00:46 HUMAN resources authorities in Shanghai signed a contract yesterday with 51 local state-owned enterprises to help unemployed college graduates to find jobs. Public employment agencies around the city will use the cooperation scheme to help the participating enterprises, including Shanghai Municipal Investment Group Corp, Bright Food Group Co, Shanghai Shendi Group Co and Shanghai Airport Authority, with recruitment as well as providing graduates high-quality job opportunities. The program is an addition to our regular recruitment methods, said Song Haiwen, director of the human resources department of Shanghai International Airport Co. Students who graduated without jobs are not necessarily all incapable, he added. Some might not have found suitable positions and some might have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. We hope to offer them one more chance. The event also kicked off the month-long activities organized by Shanghai Human Resources and Social Security Bureau this month on the theme of service for college graduates. The bureaus branches in 16 districts will register students details and their needs, such as recruitment ads, internships, training and even psychological consultation to provide targeted services. A total of 110 job fairs will be held this month, offering 16,000 jobs. The annual event serving college graduates is organized to improve their employability. By the end of last June, nearly 75 percent of the 187,000 graduates of local colleges this year would have found jobs, according to local education authorities. Xu Hongjue, director of the employment promotion center in Putuo District, said college students faced a number of problems in finding jobs. Many students lack the right self-positioning. They have to realize the situation that college students are no longer so rare as decades ago, she said. Many employers also complained that young people were less loyal than in times past and were quicker to switch jobs, she added, while some students were not skilled at communication. Xu also pointed out that some students lacked career planning development as well as a passion for working. Further information is available on the website of Shanghai Human Resources and Social Security Bureau. (http://jobs.12333sh.gov.cn/index.html). Community Its now easier than ever to connect and chat with others in your local area. You can connect with your community by asking general questions, give area updates and recommendations and even let your community know about local events that are taking place. China welcomes G20 leaders with banquet, gala From:Xinhua | 2016-09-05 10:36 Chinese President Xi Jinping addresses a banquet for the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 4, 2016. Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan hosted a banquet for guests attending the 11th G20 summit in Hangzhou on Sunday evening. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang) HANGZHOU, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- In the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, leaders and other guests from the Group of 20 (G20) major economies were welcomed with a banquet and an evening gala. On Sunday evening, Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted a grand banquet for those attending the 11th G20 summit in Hangzhou. Before the banquet, Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan greeted the honored guests at the entry of a hotel by the side of the West Lake. Leaders and their families, including U.S. President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, came to shake hands with the Xi couple. While proposing a toast at the banquet, Xi assimilated the G20 platform to a bridge of friendship, cooperation and the future. "We have come here for a common obligation to build an innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economy as well as lead a new round of robust economic growth," Xi said. After the banquet, the guests enjoyed a feast of classic Chinese music, folk dance, traditional songs and ballet performance -- a blend of East and West cultures. The performance, directed by famed Chinese director Zhang Yimou, was staged with the glowing West Lake in the background. Through a remarkable feat of engineering, the platform was centimeters below the surface of the lake and the performers seemed to be treading the water. Xi warns of risks to global economy From:Xinhua | 2016-09-05 11:04 Chinas President Xi Jinping (center) and G20 leaders pose for photograph in Hangzhou yesterday. Their talks are taking place against a background of a world economy threatened by rising protectionism and risks of high leverage. Xinhua The global economy is being threatened by rising protectionism and risks of high leverage are accumulating, Chinese President Xi Jinping said yesterday at the opening of a two-day summit of leaders from the G20 nations. With the meeting coming between Britains vote in June to leave the European Union and the US presidential election in November, observers expect the G20 leaders to mount a defense of free trade and globalization and warn against isolationism. The global economy is at a crucial juncture, Xi said, hemmed in by sluggish demand, financial market volatility and feeble trade and investment. Growth drivers from the previous round of technological progress are gradually fading, while a new round of technological and industrial revolution has yet to gain momentum, he said. Other leaders attending the summit in Hangzhou, capital of east Chinas Zhejiang Province, include Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Barack Obama, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, British Prime Minister Theresa May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Frances President Francois Hollande and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Xi welcomed each to the summit with a handshake and an extended one with Obama, with both men smiling. In a circular conference hall in Hangzhou, Xi told the world leaders that the G20 should work with real action, with no empty talk. The G20 brings together representatives of 85 percent of the worlds GDP and two-thirds of its population. Xi said the global economy still faces multiple risks and challenges including a lack of growth momentum and consumption, turbulent financial markets, receding global trade and investment. He added: We hope the Hangzhou summit will come up with a prescription for the world economy and lead it back to the road of strong, balanced, comprehensive and sustainable growth. He called for more innovation to spur economic growth and reforms to global financial and economic management. He appealed for cooperation in taxes, anti-corruption and measures to improve the ability of the world economy to resist risks. Chinese officials said earlier that China would propose a plan to boost trade and innovation through regulatory changes and closer government cooperation. We should build an open world economy, the Chinese president said. Group of 20 countries should abide by their commitment to avoid taking new protectionist measures, strengthen investment policy cooperation and take effective action to promote trade growth, Xi added. China hopes to use its status as this years G20 leader to increase its influence in global economic management. Officials say they want the G20, created to coordinate the response to the 2008 financial crisis, to take on a longer-term regulatory role. The World Trade Organization is forecasting this years global trade growth at an anemic 2.8 percent its fifth straight year below 3 percent. Leaders attending the summit have said they will call for inclusive growth a reference to efforts being made to defuse pressure to protect local industries by spreading the benefits of closer global integration to the millions of people who have been left behind by wrenching changes. Obama stressed that theme at a separate news conference with May. We understand that many of our citizens are frustrated by the pace of globalization and feel theyre not experiencing the benefits of international trade, he said. We must all work together to spur economic growth, to boost free trade and build a fairer economy that truly works for all. Also yesterday, the head of the European Unions governing body called for action on Chinas steel industry. The summit must urgently find a solution to excess steel production, said Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission. Juncker also rejected US criticism of the order for Ireland to collect US$14.5 billion in back taxes from Apple. An EU panel ruled that Apple improperly received government aid in the form of tax rates that were lower than those paid by other companies. Ireland has made low taxes part of its strategy to attract investment. Free trade must be fair trade, Juncker said at a news conference with Donald Tusk, president of the European Council. On Britains surprise vote to leave the 28-nation EU, seen by some analysts as the first in a wave of moves by other nations to retreat from free trade, Tusk said there would be no talks with London over future relations until it formally begins the withdrawal process. Uncertainty over the status of trade, immigration and other critical issues has disrupted business activity and prompted anxiety among investors. We need to protect the interests of the members of the EU that want to stay together, not the one which wants to leave, Tusk said. At the news conference with Obama, May said her government was going ahead with its departure and was looking to create new trading opportunities. There will be no second referendum, no attempt to turn the clock back or get out of this, May said. State program gives companies new alternative to worker layoffs LINCOLN (AP) A new state program that goes into effect this fall will give Nebraska businesses an alternative to layoffs when economic times are tight. The short-time compensation program will extend partial unemployment benefits to groups of people who are still working, but whose hours have been trimmed by cost-saving employers. The program goes into effect on Oct. 1. It wont replace workers lost wages dollar for dollar, but allows them to keep at least part of their regular paychecks and avoid having to search for another job, said Nebraska Labor Commissioner John Albin. Companies are required to maintain their employees retirement and health insurance benefits. We all hate to lose skilled, dedicated employees due to economic distortions, said Mike Boyle, vice president and plant manager for Kawasaki Motors in Lincoln, which cut jobs during the recession. The program is modeled after similar short-time compensation programs in at least 21 other states. Sen. Heath Mello of Omaha, who sponsored the legislation to bring short-time compensation to Nebraska, said such programs were credited with saving about 166,000 jobs nationwide in 2009 and nearly 100,000 jobs in 2010. Recruiting and training skilled labor can represent a major investment for employers. Maintaining and boosting the states available workforce has been a particular focus of Nebraskas business community in recent years. Emerging Cowboy Coen Hess has won the race for the hotly-contested final interchange spot as the premiers begin their push for another deep finals run. Big things were expected of Hess since the early days of junior footy, and by beating Patrick Kaufusi and John Asiata to this week's spot, stamps his place as a member of the Cowboys' strongest 17-man team for the first time in his career. Standing 190 centimetres and weighing approximately 115 kilograms, the tale of the tape is one of the most impressive in the NRL and he has only just turned 20 years old. Recent injuries to Matt Scott and Ben Hannant, along with Sam Hoare's long-term injury paved the way for Hess into the top-grade side, but it was up to the man himself to prove he belongs at the very highest level. Draw Widget - Finals Week 1 - Storm vs Cowboys While Hess failed to make the 2016 Holden Cup Team of the Year, he is one of only three under-20-eligible players (Nathan Cleary and Tevita Pangai Junior the others) playing NRL finals this year. "I think his form has been good and that he deserves it," Green said on Tuesday. "It also gives us the option with 'Lowey' (Ethan Lowe) playing through the middle, which has been working really well also. "I think we are actually strengthened when 'Hessy' comes on." With hard charges, good endurance and a splash of skill, Hess has shown it all since his introduction to first grade, and it was only a matter of time since he became a permanent member of the 17. Such was the belief North Queensland had in him that as of late last year, Hess and Michael Morgan were the only Cowboys squad members to have had their contracts extended until 2018. "We've brought 'Hessy' along gradually and have been happy with his progression and improvement," Green said. "He has a really good temperament so I'm not surprised by how he's gone, but it's good to see." "I knew he was capable of that. It was just whether he was ready to do that at that level or not at this stage, and so far he has shown that he is. "What he lacks in experience he makes up for in youthful enthusiasm. It's always good to have that in the team." The Cowboys have named a full-strength team for their qualifying final with Melbourne at AAMI Park, but Green admits co-captain Matt Scott is required to get through a full week of training before he is cleared to play. Meanwhile, Thurston has not totally recovered from the corked thigh he received against the Titans last week, but Green is more confident of Thurston being fully fit come Saturday night. "[Scott] has got to get through the week's training. He's not cleared to play as yet, but obviously we want our best team on the field on Saturday night so he will be given every chance to prove his fitness," Green said. "We've got to manage [Thurston's] training with [the corked thigh], particularly his running load earlier in the week. But I expect him to be right." Storm v Cowboys tickets The worlds attention is currently on China, as the country is hosting the G20 Summit, as well as the B20 Summit, in picturesque Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, during Sept 3-5. The worlds second-largest economy has been hailed by political and business heavyweights, and scholars from across the world for its relentless efforts and determination to help tackle a number of global issues, including the economy, environment, corruption and poverty. Here are some of the remarks. With the strong economic push by the Chinese government, we were able to achieve the No 1 goal of millennium development. We owe a lot to the Chinese governments contribution. Ban Ki-moon, secretary-general of the United Nations China sets an example by being confident in its own economy at a time when the global economy is beset with difficulties. Michel Temer, president of Brazil China is continuing to grow, despite complicated global conditions. We must study its experience to learn from its successful practices. Enrique Pena Nieto, president of Mexico We now have a very solid agenda, I think, that China has put together ... We can disagree on some things, but the fundamentals have to be addressed collectively. Angel Gurria, head of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development The fight against climate change remains difficult and urgent, but having heavy-hitters like China and the US on your side is extremely heartening. Erik Solheim, head of UN environment program China has been very efficient in its fight against poverty, thanks to globalization, not despite it. Daniel Funes de Rioja, vice-president of Argentinas Industrial Union He [President Xi Jinping] had a great phrase about green mountains and clean waters being better than gold and silver mines, and how it [green growth] is important to the development of China. Bob Dudley, BPs group chief executive For the first time, Thailand was invited to the meeting, which shows how China links developed and developing countries. Kavi Chongkittavorn, senior fellow at Institute of Security and International Studies in Thailand I think what President Xi Jinping stressed goes in tandem with the Belt and Road Initiative dating back to 2013. Christos Vlachos, managing partner at Silky Finance in Athens It is evident that China is open-minded in helping shape a win-win and sharing global economy by injecting sustainable impetus. Davis Laurier, CEO of AppliTek, and environmental analyzer and integrated solutions provider in Belgium With a large population and now the worlds second-largest economy, China will continue to play an important part in contributing to the world economy. Mary Andringa, president and CEO of Vermeer Corp, a leading heavy equipment maker Munster native and Munster High School graduate Joe Mansueto, one of the most successful businessmen ever to emerge from Northwest Indiana, will step down as CEO from the investment firm he founded next year. On Jan. 1, Mansueto will become executive chairman of Morningstar, a leading independent investment research firm with offices in 27 countries and $185 billion in assets under advisement. He will continue to serve as chairman of the board. As I turn 60, Im ready to transition to an executive chairman role. I love the company as much as I did when I started it in 1984 and am just as excited by our prospects as ever, Mansueto said. As I mentioned in my memo to employees Ill still be very involved with Morningstar, but my role will focus more on strategy, capital allocation, advising Kunal and our senior team, and leading our board of directors. Ive given this change a lot of thought over the past year, and Im looking forward to having a more flexible schedule and more time to think about investing and technology. Morningstar President Kunal Kapoor will replace Mansueto, a major donor to Munster schools, as chief executive officer. I cant think of a better person than Kunal to lead Morningstar as we head into the next stage of our companys innovation and growth, Mansueto said. Kunal Hes a Morningstar veteran who lives and breathes our mission of creating great products that help investors reach their financial goals. He has a breadth of experience across nearly every area of Morningstarincluding research, data and software products, and investment management. Kunal has a unique ability to bring people together to help solve problems for investors. and Im confident that his energy and management talent will help us drive operational excellence and future growth. China agreed at the G-20 summit to some steps toward reducing exports from state-owned industry, including the creation of a global forum studying overcapacity in the steel industry. Steel industry groups said they were cautiously optimistic after the international meeting in eastern China over the weekend. Steelmakers throughout the globe blame China, which has half the worlds steelmaking capacity, for a glut of cheap steel that has led to an estimated 19,000 steelworker layoffs in the United States alone over the last two years, including at Northwest Indiana mills. Nine industry groups, including the American Iron and Steel Institute and the Steel Manufacturers Association, issued a joint statement Tuesday thanking the participating governments for recognizing the severe problems overcapacity has caused in the steel sector. This is an important first step, but it must be followed with concrete policy actions by governments to reduce excess capacity, end subsidies and government measures that distort markets, and guarantee a level playing field driven by market forces in the near term, the trade groups said in the statement. This excess capacity and the government interventionist policies that have fueled it are the root cause of the surge of steel imports currently being experienced in many of our home markets. All major steelmaking economies need to participate in the proposed Global Forum on steel excess capacity, they said. Our industry is at a crossroads, the Brazilian Steel Institute, the Specialty Steel Industry of North America, and other trade associations said in the joint statement. Governments must take action or we will remain in crisis. It is now up to the governments and the industry to work in partnership to create the Global Forum and define an agenda and process that will result in substantive policy actions to solve this crisis. As a rape survivor, victims advocate and an actress in The Birth of a Nation, Gabrielle Union has found herself in an impossible position. Union recently, along with much of the world, learned that her films director, writer, producer and star, Nate Parker, was accused and acquitted of rape 17 years ago. She collected her thoughts in a nuanced opinion piece for the Los Angeles Times Friday, writing that while she cannot take the allegations lightly, the film also addresses and raises important questions about this very matter. Its also the latest high-profile complication for a film that just a month ago was presumed to be one of the years most vital a powerful awards contender and a possible antidote for the #OscarsSoWhite Hollywood diversity crisis. Yet the film, which fetched a record acquisition price at the Sundance Film Festival in January, is now in the shadow of persistent controversy just weeks away from its Oct. 7 release. In the film, about Nat Turners 1831 slave rebellion, Unions character is raped, though its not depicted on screen. Its why the actress took the part, she writes. She wanted to give voice to women of history, especially black women, who have for so long been silenced on the matter. I knew I could walk out of our movie and speak to the audience about what it feels like to be a survivor, Union wrote. Union, who was raped at gunpoint in the backroom of a Payless shoe store 24 years ago, says shes been in a state of stomach-churning confusion since learning of Parkers 1999 rape case. The rape allegation came while Parker was a student and wrestler at Penn State University. Parker was acquitted, though his college roommate Jean Celestin (who co-wrote The Birth of a Nation) was initially found guilty of sexual assault. That conviction was later overturned when the accuser declined to testify for a trial. The case garnered a lot of attention at Penn State. Parker and Celestin allegedly harassed the accuser on campus. The incident spawned a civil lawsuit by the woman against the college, with a settlement of $17,500. The recently renewed focus on the case also brought to light the fact the accuser committed suicide in 2012, which Parker, now married with five daughters, learned about from media reports. He wrote on his Facebook page that he was filled with profound sorrow and regretted that he didnt show enough empathy. Parker also recently spoke to Ebony magazine about how hes taking steps to grow and educate himself. It remains unclear how all this might affect the release of the film, its public perception or even its awards chances. Distributor Fox Searchlight is proceeding with the October release and will still take the film, and Parker, to the Toronto International Film Festival this month. But things look very different from just a month ago when Parker was happily accepting a Sundance Vanguard Award and taking meetings in the White House. Unions op-ed is certainly bad news for Searchlight, in that it keeps the focus firmly on this issue going into Toronto, said David Poland, the editor in chief of MovieCityNews.com and a longtime industry observer. I cant say that the film wont do business. It might. But half of what it might have. And its awards prospects are on their death bed. Yet Poland says one positive is that Union hasnt quit on the film or its promotion. Thats an implicit endorsement of Nate and the film, though with clear reservations, he said. That the rest of the cast will stick with the film at TIFF is also critical for Searchlight, which is holding on by its fingertips on this. Union, for her part, says that she has read the 700 pages of court transcript from the case and doesnt know for sure what happened that night. Instead of speculating on guilt or innocence, Union is using the platform to advocate for education and conversation on the topic of rape, consent and aggression, something she is also trying to do at home with her young son. I believe that the film is an opportunity to inform and educate so that these situations cease to occur, Union wrote. Sexual violence happens more often than anyone can imagine. And if the stories around this film do not prove and emphasize this, then I dont know what does. It is my hope that we can use this as an opportunity to look within. Representatives for Fox Searchlight and Parker did not immediately respond to requests for comment. LOWELL A 42-year-old woman has been charged with felony attempted murder in the shooting of her husband during a domestic dispute. Miranda D. Anozie, of the 5800 block of West 172nd Place in Lowell, also faces charges of aggravated battery, intimidation, battery by means of a deadly weapon and battery resulting in serious bodily injury, according to court documents. She is being held in the Lake County Jail on a $75,000 bond. The probable cause affidavit states that Crown Point police responded at 1:24 a.m. Saturday to Franciscan St. Anthony Health in Crown Point about a male identified as Chukwunonso Anozie brought to the lobby with a gunshot would to the face and head. Medical staff told police Miranda Anozie had dropped the man off. A Crown Point police officer stopped her as she attempted to leave the parking lot. Lowell police went to the Anozie home, where they found five children, ages 1 to 6 years old, in one bedroom. One of the children told police she overheard Chukwunoso and Miranda Anozie arguing prior to a loud noise, court records state. Lowell Assistant Chief James Woestman and Lowell Detective David Lee interviewed Chukwunoso Anozie about 10:50 p.m. Saturday in his hospital room. He was listed in critical condition and, although he was unable to speak, the victim communicated via notes and gestures, the probable cause affidavit said. Chukwunso advised that he arrived home from work at approximately midnight and was making himself something to eat. He advised that Miranda Anozie came downstairs and asked him where he went and an argument ensued, court documents state. The man told police Miranda Anozie went back upstairs before returning with her handgun, demanded that he show her his time slip, then shot him from a short distance. After serving a search warrant at the Lowell home, police found a black revolver in the living room. The revolver contained four unspent rounds, with one spent round in the cylinder. Miranda Anozies case has been assigned to Lake Criminal Court Judge Clarence Murray. VALPARAISO When Thomas Forbes was led away to prison 13 1/2 years ago for his role in the murder of a Portage man, he faced 118 years behind bars. His term was then reduced to 41 years five years later after the Indiana Appellate Court threw out his convictions for murder and conspiracy to commit murder, saying he did not receive reasonable legal representation. Forbes, who is now 45, is expected back in court Wednesday seeking an even earlier release. Forbes hopes to convince Porter Superior Court Judge Roger Bradford to release him on probation so he can see his mother before her impending death, according to court documents. Bradford has already denied the request once. Forbes reached out in October asking for early release based on his many accomplishments while behind bars. I am not the person that sat in the courtroom 14-1/2 years ago, he wrote. He also said he had family problems he needed to address. Bradford denied the request in March. Forbes is serving time for teaming up with Cleatus Paul Furlong to murder 46-year-old Robert Nolan, formerly of Lansing, and attempting to hide the crime by encasing Nolans body in concrete and behind dry wall in the basement of Nolans Portage home. Forbes said he met with Furlong to discuss killing Nolan and purchased a handgun in Gary that Furlong used to shoot Nolan at his home on May 29, 2001. Forbes said he and Furlong returned to Nolans home in the Vienna Woods subdivision and attempted to hide the body in the basement. Prosecutors were prepared to retry the case after the appellate court threw out the convictions, yet struck a deal with Forbes. The deal pleased Lynn Mundt and two other sisters of the murder victim. Mundt said at the time the deal brought closure to the case and brought an end to the years of checking in regularly about the status of the case and fearing what could happen if there were another trial. Furlong, who also had a conspiracy charge thrown out by the appellate court, had his sentence reduced from 118 to 68 years. Daniel Berrisford suffered a series of setbacks 18 months ago that began with a broken hip and led to other injuries and multiple surgeries. The injuries did more than rob the 60-year-old Cedar Lake man of his health. They cost Berrisford his business. They likely also would have cost him his home of 20 years if not for a government program he found out about from his disability attorney. Its the Hardest Hit Fund, administered in the state by the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority through the Indiana Foreclosure Prevention Network. The fund will cover the mortgage payment, including principal, interest, taxes and insurance for eligible homeowners while they re-establish themselves financially or cover the past due amount for formerly unemployed individuals who have returned to work. In Crown Point, the program came to the rescue of another man who was about to lose the home where he had raised his family and ran what had been a successful business. The man had missed several payments over time and his situation became exacerbated when his business suffered a sharp decline in recent years. The resident, who did not want to be identified, said he tried seven times to get his home refinanced. Every time, however, the lenders would say he had failed to provide the necessary information to obtain the refinancing. Losing his home would have been a traumatic experience for the elderly man. I raised my family here. It would have been terrible, he said. Then he found out about the program that was being operated locally out of Gary, but was skeptical it could provide any assistance. I thought there is no possible way that the city of Gary is going to be able to help me in this, he said. He later found out that it was a federally funded program covering people around the state, but he was concerned about being caught up in bureaucratic red tape with no solution to his problem. Even though he thought it was a long shot, he decided to give it a try. I had very little confidence that anything was going to happen and I was completely wrong. Thanks to the assistance he received, he hopes to be current with his mortgage by October or November. People need to know about the program, he said. Judith Samson, Gary Community Development Department programs manager and HUD counselor, and HUD Counselor Johnnie Ragland work on the program out of the Department of Community Developments office at 839 Broadway. While based in Gary, the two serve people from throughout Lake County. Also providing assistance in Northwest Indiana is the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Northwest Indianas office in Merrillville and the Housing Opportunities office in Valparaiso. The program started in Gary in 2013 and Samson estimates they have been able to help 136 families since then. The program was originally scheduled to end next year, but it may be extended. Samson said the number of people seeking help goes up and down, but she estimated the office has averaged three to five referrals a week. She said there have been sufficient funds to service all the customers who qualified for assistance. No one had to be turned away because of lack of funds, Samson said. The program can provide up to $30,000 in assistance, including covering insurance costs, taxes and homeowners association fees for up to two years, for qualified applicants. The money can be used for reinstatement of a mortgage, for loan modification or for an unemployment bridge program, in which a mortgage payment can be paid up to 24 months to a maximum of $30,000. The money has to be paid back within the first five years if the property changes hands, which can include a sale or foreclosure. After the fifth year, the amount owed is reduced by 20 percent until it is eliminated if a person remains in the residence for 10 years. The Crown Point man was able to have his mortgage reinstated, although Samson said a loan modification could have reduced his payments. The man praised Samson and the other workers at the office for their understanding and assistance. He takes exception with those who might say government employees dont care. Im here to say they do, at least from my experience on this program. Berrisford, who like the Crown Point man was also skeptical of the program, also praised Samson, who he described as very professional and a perfectionist. He said it turned out to be a very simple program and not only paid off the money he owed to his lender, but will make mortgage payments for him and his wife for the next couple of years while they rebuild their lives. It just took a ton of pressure off my head, said Berrisford, who now is free to focus on other issues. Not all applicants will need the full $30,000 in order to resolve their situation. Samson said in some cases, people can come back and seek additional help with any money remaining if they undergo another hardship in regard to their mortgage. For instance, a person might receive $16,000 to help cover delinquent payments after he lost his job when the company he worked for closed. The same person could come back to seek further assistance up to another $14,000 if faced with a medical situation that caused additional difficulties in making the mortgage payment. If the applicant has all the needed documents it is possible that a closing on the deal can take place within 30 days, Samson said. There have been times when she has been able to get a closing done quite a bit quicker. In August, for instance, she was able to close on a deal to save a Hammond familys home within 20 days despite using a translator to work with the Spanish-speaking applicant. The family was facing a Sept. 2 sheriffs sale, Samson said. We were able to get that stopped and they are living comfortably now without stress, she said. If it is not possible to achieve a resolution and the property is lost, there is another program that will provide up to $7,500 to help families with the transition into new housing, according to Ragland. Of that amount, $2,500 can be used for relocation expenses and security deposit and the other $5,000 can be used to release any liens against the property where they lived. The property has to be left in a condition suitable for selling. We try to get them before it gets to that point, Samson said of the Transition Assistance Program. We are not miracle workers, but we can work as diligently and as hard as we can to try to get some type of resolution, she said. ST. JOHN With the states recent announcement of matching grants of up to $1 million for area road projects, the Town Council has agreed to start the ball rolling in hope of getting some of those matching funds in the next round. Two residents asked if the council had discussed the grants. Council President Michael Forbes said the town will seek the state matching funds for repaving Parrish Avenue from 101st to 109th avenues and for 101st from White Oak to Calumet avenues. Before it can apply for the money, it has to get an engineers estimate of the cost. The council is seeking one. On a more immediate note, the council agreed to a request from Lake County to participate in repaving Calumet Avenue from 101st to 109th. Forbes said the county had planned to do the road next year but was able to move it to this year. About two-thirds of the road is within the towns jurisdiction and the rest is in the county. Town Manager Steve Kil said the town could use its paving contract with Walsh & Kelly to do its portion at a cost of about $150,000 based on the companys unit price bid for any paving done this year. The county has similar bids from Rieth Riley for its portion, which Kil said will cost about $70,000. The town will have its engineer get more precise measurements to determine the exact cost, but the council agreed to join the county in getting the badly needed work done. In other action, the council voted unanimously and without comment to repeal the political sign section of the towns sign ordinance. A court decision against a similar law in Arizona meant the section dealing with political signs probably was unconstitutional. It was a center of controversy after more than 40 political signs were removed from three polling places on the eve of the 2015 election by Kil on the grounds they violated the ordinance. Contracts for constructing a major lift station were awarded by the towns Utility Board at a recent meeting. The project includes a lift station near U.S. 41 in the vicinity of the Shrine of Christs Passion, a force main going east to Parrish Avenue and a gravity sewer going south on Parrish to 101st Avenue. The contracts went to the lowest bidders with H & G Underground Utilities, of LaPorte, winning the lift station at $2,071,883, while R & R Sewer and Water Excavating received the contracts for the other two phases at $1,674,401. Kil said the work should begin by the middle of the month and take about nine months to complete. The project is needed to open the southern and western portions of the town for development. The engineers estimate for the project was $4.2 million. Ivy Tech Community College honored Candice Silvas, a 2007 graduate and a member of the Michigan City Common Council, with its statewide Personal Achievement Award. Silvas received the honor Aug. 3 in Fort Wayne. She was one of 14 regional Alumni Achievement Award winners. Candice Silvas exemplifies an outstanding alumni, said Tony Thomas, associate director of student support and development at Ivy Techs Michigan City campus. She understands hard work and dedication equals results. As a student, Candice was on the deans list and she was well respected by her classmates. Most of them knew Candice from her volunteer work in the city, including the Michigan City Area Schools and The Salvation Army, as well as her grant writing for many local charities, such as Head Start and the Anti-Bullying Coalition. Silvas graduated from Ivy Tech with an associate of applied science degree in education and earned a bachelor of liberal studies degree from Purdue University North Central in 2011. She currently is pursuing an MBA at Indiana Wesleyan University. Since 2014, Silvas has been employed as a community service coordinator for The Salvation Army. She was elected to the Michigan City Common Council in November. She has served as president of the parent group at a local elementary school, on the executive board and as social media coordinator for the League of Women Voters and as a member of the National Association of Professional Women and the Rotary Club of Michigan City. VALPARAISO A local business has been lauded for treating its customers to a little taste of the Magic Kingdom on a daily basis. Flanagins Bulk Mail Services is featured in the third edition of the book, The Disney Way: Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company, by husband and wife writing team Bill Capodagli and Lynn Jackson. The book focuses on how organizations can incorporate the Disney credo, Dream, believe, dare, do into their operations to achieve success. In the book, the authors profile organizations that have embraced that credo, such as Tyra Banks TYRA Beauty, and even governmental entities in Ottawa County, Michigan, and Grand Lake, Colorado. Flanagins was featured in a chapter of the book because owner Donna Flanagin had embraced the dream, believe, dare, do theme in her business. As a small business, a main street business, she really fits into the mold of our new book, Capodagli said. After attending a Disney Institute in Orlando, Florida, in 2009 to learn Disneys customer service secrets to improve her mail processing business, Flanagin came home with an inspiration. With the help of her family, she transformed the lobby of her business into Mainstreet U.S.A., complete with a life-size replica of an old-fashioned street facade that includes a post office, a cinema, a railroad depot, a dressmakers shop, a Swedish bakery, a confectionery, a barber shop and a general store. Around the same time, she founded the Flanagin Fairies, a group of women family and friends who don glittery ball gowns, wigs, and fairy dust to wow children and adults at the Popcorn Fest and other events. I thought about what we could do here in Valparaiso that would be interesting and exciting, and it evolved, said Flanagin, of the fairies. We could never be a true character for Disney, but we could create our own. Capodagli said Flanagins creative ideas are not just a lot of words. He was attracted most to Flanagins business because she tried to change the experience of a product, and changed the look of her setting and the way she treated her customers. The image of her organization, through the parades and Flanagins Fairies, just is phenomenal, said Capodagli. She changed a small business, main-street commodity to an experience where the Fed Ex man just enjoys coming into her environment. What she has done to enhance the experience of the commodity is something we feel all our readers can learn from, said Capodagli. Capodagli said Flanagin also models another of the Disney codes of conduct the Golden Rule. The way Donna does the Flanagin Fairies ... I think that is really an act of love rather than just promoting her business, said Capodagli. Its a real magical experience. Flanagin said Capodagli and Jackson will meet the fairies for the first time when the authors attend the Popcorn Festival this year. Later that day, they will conduct a book signing at the Valparaiso Barnes & Noble. Flanagin, who enters a float in the Popcorn parade every year, said this years float will be special because its centered on the fact the business was in The Disney Way book. Its going to be way different than normal, said Flanagin. It will actually be something we will keep. Im very excited about it. Valparaiso Universitys Institute for Leadership and Service starts its fall Pathways to Purpose speaker series Thursday with topics focusing on professional development. The speaker series provides field experts and service-based leaders who respond to the deepest challenges of our time and help to inspire students to pursue purposeful work. All events will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the Helge Center, 1600 Chapel Drive, unless otherwise noted. Topics include: Strong Towns, Strong Citizens: How Individuals Can Impact Local Communities for Good presented by Chuck Marohn on Thursday. Strong Towns mission is to support the development of cities, towns and neighborhoods to become financially strong and resilient. Marohn, the founder and CEO, speaks to towns and cities across North America and creates original content to further the organizations mission. Civic Networking: Evolving Approaches to Online Organizing and Giving presented by Jason Kunesh on Sept. 28. Kunesh boasts a wide array of leadership experience in tech, from his current position as CEO and co-founder of Public Good Software Inc., to serving as the director of user experience for Obama for America the first design position of its kind in presidential campaign history. Faith, Character and Calling: Leadership that Transcends Organizations with Kurt Senske speaking Oct. 5. Senske, CEO of Upbring and author of Wine and the Word: Savor & Serve, works to further his agencys mission of breaking the cycle of child abuse in Texas through the empowerment of children, families and communities. Demystifying Entrepreneurship: Out of the Shark Tank and Into Reality presented by Gwen Jimmere on Oct. 24. Jimmere took her personal real-world problem of chemical-ridden hair care and created a marketable solution by becoming CEO and founder of Naturalicious, a company specializing in nontoxic hair products. She is the first African-American woman to hold a patent on a natural hair care product. An Evening with Leymah Gbowee at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 2 at Chapel of the Resurrection. Gbowee, a Liberian peace activist and Nobel laureate, presents the 2016 Louis E. and Janice M. Zeile Lecture on Christian Vocation in partnership with Christ College The Honors College and the Office for Inclusion. Getting Paid to Make Things Right: How one SALT Alum Made Her Passion Her Job with Tezra Osthus on Nov. 9. As a development manager at Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos USA, Osthus helps her organization raise more than 3,400 orphaned, abandoned and disadvantaged children in Latin America and the Caribbean while providing aid to an additional 1,600 children. In addition to these events, the Institute for Leadership and Service will partner with the Computing and Humanity Speaker Series to present Tijana Milenkovic, head of Complex Networks Lab at Notre Dame, on Oct. 12 and Raffaella Settimi-Woods, associate director of the Center for Data Mining and Predictive Analytics at DePaul University on Nov. 16. Each event will be held at 5 p.m. in the Helge Center. All events are free and open to the public. EVANSVILLE, Ind. An Evansville woman has been charged with child neglect in the synthetic drug-related death of her 20-month-old granddaughter. Police say 42-year-old Tiffney Lynn Johnson was arrested Sunday on a warrant charging her with neglect of a dependent resulting in bodily injury and with being a habitual offender. The Evansville Courier & Press reports she's being held without bond on a petition to revoke her probation after a traffic offense conviction. Her granddaughter, Kaylei Carter, was found dead May 11. Evansville Assistant Police Chief Chris Pugh said Monday that Johnson allegedly smoked synthetic marijuana while baby-sitting and left the drug out where the toddler reached it. Investigators ordered a toxicology test after an initial autopsy showed no signs of trauma. Online jail records didn't list an attorney for Johnson. Season 2, Episode 5: The Enemies of My Enemy Theres an absurd sequence in The Enemies of My Enemy that can at least be salvaged as metaphor. With Col. Horacio Carrillo, the leader of Search Bloc, out of the picture, the official operation to capture or kill Pablo Escobar has not only lost the tip of its spear, but it also barely has a stick left for poking. The D.E.A. agents continue to gather information and surveillance, but protocol keeps them chained to their desks, compiling folders of classified information without anyone to act on the intelligence. And yet, remarkably, theres a shot of Pena entering Carrillos office and delivering the documents anyway, like an old habit he hasnt thought to break. Enter Murphys voice-over narration, lamenting that the hunt for Escobar had been reduced to a growing stack of unread files on a dead mans desk. Were now long past the first act of the Dirty Harry movie, the part when our hero snorts at procedural red tape and takes the law into his own hands. Agents Pena and Murphy, in that order, crossed that particular Rubicon as soon as they learned that Escobars operation defied conventional policing. And so theyre both constantly redrawing the lines: This season, Murphy eagerly boarded the helicopter where Carrillo shoved two unhelpful Escobar associates off the side. And now Pena is sharing information with Escobars cartel rivals, because without Carrillo, he doesnt have the firepower to act on his intelligence gathering. They are willing to do whatever is necessary to get Escobar, no matter the damage to their integrity or their souls. Enter Col. Hugo Martinez, the new head of Search Bloc, which is currently about as secure a position as the new drummer for Spinal Tap. In fact, Escobar has sent him an urn with his name engraved on it as a welcome present. Martinez and his elite unit of the Colombian National Guard will no doubt get past the first act of the Dirty Harry movie, too, but for now theyre taking a conventional approach to an unconventional war. Using the surveillance data supplied to them by intelligence officers, theyre going to sweep Medellin grid by grid, methodically purging each neighborhood of Escobar operatives before moving on to the next one. It strikes Pena as dated and conventional, but then, going tit for tat with Escobar on the streets isnt working, either. We all need a method, Murphy muses through voice-over, and The Enemies of My Enemy neatly clarifies everyones methods as Narcos reaches the halfway mark of its second season. Pena has thrown in his lot with Don Berna, Judy Moncada and the paramilitary goons of the Autodefensas, who seem eager to outstrip Escobar in the gruesome brutality of their methods. Pena scoffs at them at first, but when a bureaucratic headache keeps him from raiding an Escobar safe house and nabbing a high-value target, he calls in this heavily armed rogue brigade to get the job done. The only question is whether he can still breathe after plugging his nose that hard. 1. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump entered the final two months of a long, hard-fought presidential contest virtually tied in the popular vote, according to a new national poll. Mrs. Clinton still leads in crucial swing states that could decide the election. House Republicans asked the Justice Department to investigate whether Mrs. Clinton or those working with her obstructed justice when emails were deleted from the personal server she used as secretary of state. How much influence does your boss have over how you vote? Youd probably like to think youre fairly independent, but that may not be the case. A new study shows that chief executives of companies have an unsettling amount of power over their employees, and it is not just down to colleagues having similar values. The study showed that when a chief executive contributed to different political candidates from the ones supported by the preceding chief executive, employees tended to follow their leader and redirect their own donations. The influence of a bosss political leanings should not be underestimated and, indeed, should be scrutinized, Andrew Ross Sorkin writes. But for this election cycle at least, it seems that many chief executives are avoiding public endorsements, possibly because they do not want to face reprisals against their business or industry down the line. Some C.E.O.s dont just lead by example; they actively solicit donations from their own employees for candidates and company-sponsored political action committees, which can create its own thicket of ethical questions. The Federal Election Commission, for example, investigated the way Robert Murray, chief executive of Murray Energy, had solicited political donations from his employees through emails and internal videos. Some employees told The New Republic that they felt pressured to donate, fearing that not to do so might risk their jobs.The Federal Election Commission, ultimately, found Mr. Murray hadnt broken any laws. Still, the risks and complex set of election laws make political fund-raising a complicated endeavor for those in the corner office. The potentially coercive effect of an employers solicitation counsels in favor of avoiding the situation altogether, said Harvey Pitt, a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the chief of Kalorama Partners, a Washington consulting firm. The logical alternative having a very strong and clear disclaimer doesnt really work, since many employees might not believe the disclaimer, no matter how strongly it is worded. Tony Fratto, a former deputy assistant to President George W. Bush who now operates a consulting firm, Hamilton Place, took issue with the idea that C.E.O.s should remain outside the political campaign arena. I dont doubt that some employees feel pressure to align with the C.E.O. politically, but my experience is that in most cases both C.E.O.s and employees are overwhelmingly influenced by a candidates views or voting record on industry issues, he said. I encourage firms to do more to inform their employees at all levels about what political leaders records are on their key policies. I actually think that doesnt happen enough. Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, a professor at Columbia University, found in his own survey that a quarter of employees reported that their bosses have tried to engage them in politics, but reported that about 7 percent of employees reported clearly coercive kinds of political contact at work messages that made workers uncomfortable or included threats of plant closures, cuts in hours or layoffs. This election cycle, it seems that many C.E.O.s, especially on Wall Street, have chosen to be less public about whom they are supporting in the presidential race. Perhaps because of the lingering negative memories of the financial crisis or perhaps because this presidential election has turned so decidedly nasty, many executives have stayed on the sideline. In June, Brian Krzanich, chief executive of Intel, canceled an event at his home for Donald Trump after it was reported to be causing a firestorm among Intel employees and peers in Silicon Valley that felt Mr. Trumps policies were damaging to the industry. Mr. Krzanich later said he canceled the event because it had turned into a fund-raiser without his approval. I do not intend to endorse any presidential candidate. We are interested in engaging both campaigns in open dialogue on issues in technology, he wrote on Twitter. A lawyer for Roger Ailes, the former chairman of Fox News, has sent a letter to New York magazine suggesting he might take legal action over its reporting about Mr. Ailes. Lauren Starke, a spokeswoman for the magazine, said that Charles J. Harder, who was Hulk Hogans lawyer in his successful lawsuit against Gawker Media, had contacted the magazine by email and asked it to preserve documents related to Mr. Ailes in preparation for a possible defamation claim. Mr. Harder sent the email on behalf of Mr. Ailes and his wife, Elizabeth, Ms. Starke said. The move was first reported by The Financial Times. Mr. Harder did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Gabriel Sherman, a reporter for the magazine, has written extensively about Mr. Ailes and the sexual harassment allegations by female employees that resulted in his ouster in July as chairman of Fox News. On Friday, New York published a lengthy article by Mr. Sherman about Mr. Ailes and his downfall, and in July Mr. Sherman was the first to report that Rupert Murdoch and his sons, Lachlan and James, had decided to remove Mr. Ailes from his position. I feel Ive established that I honor the work whistle-blowers do, Mr. McKessy said in an interview. I am hoping to convince many people who are on the fence witnessing fraud to come forward. His new employer, Phillips & Cohen, is one of the nations most prominent law firms specializing in whistle-blower cases. It represented the informer who in 2014 received $30 million under the S.E.C.s program, its largest award. The firm also represents individuals who identify fraud at government agencies. It has recovered more than $11.6 billion from civil settlements and criminal fines related to its cases. As chief of the S.E.C.s whistle-blower office, Sean was a tireless advocate for whistle-blowers and the S.E.C.s whistle-blower program, said Erika A. Kelton, a partner at Phillips & Cohen. He played a pivotal role in transforming the S.E.C.s culture into one that enthusiastically welcomes whistle-blowers and appreciates their critical role in advancing the S.E.C.s enforcement agenda. Other government agencies have whistle-blower programs but few are as successful as the S.E.C.s. The program at the Internal Revenue Service, for example, has been routinely criticized for an apparent reluctance to pursue leads and pay awards. Mr. McKessy said that whistle-blowers under the S.E.C.s program had prospered because the S.E.C. guaranteed anonymity to those who come forward. The S.E.C.s devotion to maintaining the confidentiality of whistle-blowers is the biggest factor in the programs success, he said. Last year, two eagles tried but failed to breed near Mount Loretto. None of the bald eagles are banded or tagged, which makes tracking them a challenge. But the male spotted this year is believed to be the same male from last year and the same one Mr. Pugliares first encountered in 2013. Officials at the states Department of Environmental Conservation, which administers the Mount Loretto area, expressed some skepticism that an eagle could have been born on Staten Island, noting that the birds could have wandered across Raritan Bay from nesting sites in New Jersey. Without a confirmed nest, there is no way to be certain where the eagle was born. But birders say there are plenty of remote places on Staten Island where a nest could be hidden. There are a lot of thick woods, Mr. Shanley said. If they nested in the top of a tall tree in the middle of those, nobody would have found them. It is not uncommon for eagles to fail to breed meaning a nest was built and eggs were laid but did not hatch several times, said Ed Johnson, the former director of science at the Staten Island Museum. They need a few tries to get it right, he said. There is mounting circumstantial evidence that they did so this year: The adult birds and the juvenile, which is at most a few months old, have been spotted perching on the same branch, communicating and feeding together, implying that the young bird hatched in the area. What is undeniable is New Yorks place among urban areas to which eagles, once threatened with extinction, have returned. WILDWOOD, N.J. At the Dolphin Gift Shop on the boardwalk, sales of T-shirts, beach balls, hats and sunglasses plunged over Labor Day weekend as customers fled from a storm that never arrived. Dire forecasts of severe coastal flooding from Tropical Storm Hermine and Gov. Chris Christies declaration of a state of emergency for three coastal counties in New Jersey drove thousands of vacationers off the barrier island where Wildwood lies, leaving merchants with sharply lower revenue during what should have been one of the busiest weekends of the year. They called this the big storm that never happened, Jarrod Eberle, an owner of the gift shop, said. On Friday, there was a big exodus out of the town, and its been dead ever since. By late Monday morning, Mr. Eberle said he had taken in only about $5,000, down from the $15,000 or so he would expect on a normal Labor Day weekend. The greenmarket food hub will be built on 300 acres of city-owned land in the Hunts Point neighborhood in the Bronx, which already serves as one of the nations largest food distribution centers with existing produce, fish and meat markets. Maria Torres-Springer, president and chief executive of the citys Economic Development Corporation, said the new hub would expand and strengthen the food distribution system. In addition, city officials are investing more than $150 million on other improvements to the Hunts Point food distribution center over the next decade, including modernizing the existing markets and improving transportation lines. The city is feeding more people than ever, and its population of 8.5 million has never been larger. But while organic broccoli and fresh peaches may be regularly eaten at many dining tables, they remain out of reach for poor New Yorkers. Advocates have estimated that 1.4 million city residents live in households that cannot afford to buy enough food, let alone premium produce. There is a stereotype that low-income people dont want healthy food, so all we need to do is fill their bellies so they dont starve, said Joel Berg, the chief executive of Hunger Free America, a nonprofit that was formerly called the New York City Coalition Against Hunger. City Harvest, a hunger-relief organization that collects and delivers food to 500 soup kitchens, food pantries and programs, has teamed up with community groups in the past three years to give out fresh produce to residents in poor neighborhoods, including Harlem and the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Crown Heights and East New York. In total, it expects to distribute a record 55 million pounds of food in the 2017 fiscal year, up from 30 million pounds five years ago. More than half of this years food donations will consist of fresh produce. Barbara Turk, the citys director of food policy, said city officials were working to increase access to fresh produce by expanding programs like Health Bucks, which provides money to food stamp recipients who shop at farmers markets. The single largest barrier to accessing healthy food is economic, Ms. Turk said. Its having enough money. Phyllis Schlafly, whose grass-roots campaigns against Communism, abortion and the Equal Rights Amendment galvanized conservatives for almost two generations and helped reshape American politics, died on Monday. She was 92. Her death was confirmed by the Eagle Forum, the conservative organization she founded in 1975. In her time, Mrs. Schlafly was one of the most polarizing figures in American public life, a self-described housewife who displayed a moral ferocity reminiscent of the ax-wielding prohibitionist Carry Nation. Richard Viguerie, who masterminded the use of direct mail to finance right-wing causes, called her the first lady of the conservative movement. On the left, Betty Friedan, the feminist leader and author, compared her to a religious heretic, telling her in a debate that she should burn at the stake for opposing the Equal Rights Amendment. Ms. Friedan called Mrs. Schlafly an Aunt Tom. Mrs. Schlafly became a forceful conservative voice in the 1950s, when she joined the right-wing crusade against international Communism. In the 1960s, with her popular self-published book A Choice Not an Echo (it sold more than three million copies) and a growing legion of followers, she gave critical support to the presidential ambitions of Senator Barry Goldwater, the hard-right Arizonan who went on to lead the Republican Party to electoral disaster in 1964, but who planted the seeds of a conservative revival that would flower with the rise of Ronald Reagan. Im not positive, but at least somewhat sure, that this presidential election has been going on since Hannibals elephants crossed the Alps. It has been going on since Assyria fell to Alexander the Great. It has been going on since before rocks were invented. Nearly 17 months into the quest for the White House, some people may feel completely exhausted with the news of the campaign. These people might feel, as they sit down at their laptop and scroll through their Facebook feeds, as if they are trudging through endless waste, trying to find one colorful remnant of uplifting news in an expanse of political sludge. The campaigns seeming interminability may even have led some campaign observers to contemplate the cool embrace of the void. Maybe. Just speculating here. And yet, according to a linear theory of time, this presidential election will one day be over. So why does it feel never-ending? Because the starting line moved up on us. In years past, most voters did not actually start paying close attention to the presidential campaign until after Labor Day. This is when campaigns had to get serious in their appeals to voters and solidify their ground game ahead of Election Day. Immigration is a kind of proxy war and maybe a last stand for White Americans, who are undergoing a painful recognition that, unless dramatic action is taken, their grandchildren will live in a country that is alien and hostile, Mr. Spencer wrote in a National Policy Institute column. Infowars is another website that puts immigration front and center. The site was created by the radio commentator/conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who is the source of Mr. Trumps false claim that thousands of New Jersey Muslims celebrated 9/11, and on whose show Mr. Trump said: Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down. Infowars called Mr. Trumps slashing anti-immigrant rant on Wednesday an excellent speech sure to win him support from those whove been conned by the lying media into thinking hes some evil demon creature when the truth is hes a man with a heart of gold. Mr. Trump says he isnt signaling the alt-right when he says of immigrants, as he did again on Wednesday: We have no idea who these people are, where they come from. I always say Trojan Horse. Watch whats going to happen, folks. Its not going to be pretty. Or when he said in a line widely quoted on alt-right websites There is only one core issue in the immigration debate and it is this: the well-being of the American people. Mr. Trumps white supremacist followers dont take his disavowals too seriously. After all, he has enthusiastically retweeted bogus crime statistics and incendiary imagery from these websites and hired one of their biggest lights, Stephen Bannon of Breitbart News, to manage his campaign. There arent enough of these people to put Mr. Trump in the White House. But his candidacy has granted them the legitimacy they have craved for years. For the first time, a candidate is using a major-party megaphone to shout the ideas they once could only mutter among themselves in the shadowy fringes of national debate. John MacKenzie was no ordinary prisoner. In the more than 40 years he spent behind bars, he became one of the most respected inmates in the states penal system. He had a spotless disciplinary record. He took full responsibility for the murder of Mr. Giglio. He earned degrees in business and the arts. He started a program to give victims the opportunity to speak directly to inmates about the impact of their crimes. The states own risk-assessment program found that he posed little to no risk of re-offending. Prison guards, judges, clergy members and prosecutors wrote letters supporting him. None of this seemed to matter to the parole board. Because of the seriousness of his crime, one denial said, his release would undermine respect for the law. Another referred to significant community opposition. The wording would vary, but the message was always the same: Mr. MacKenzies sentence, which appeared to give him a real chance at freedom after 25 years, was a sham. No matter what he did to atone for his crime, he was never getting out. Some see this as a just result, particularly law enforcement groups, which steadfastly opposed Mr. MacKenzies release. But New York criminal law provides for the possibility of parole, which is based on the idea that people can change. Under state law, the parole board is required to weigh a prisoners entire history: his degree of remorse, his behavior behind bars and the likelihood that he will be able to live lawfully outside prison. Those factors never got more than a cursory mention, at best, when the board denied Mr. MacKenzies requests. In May, a State Supreme Court justice, Maria Rosa, held the board in contempt for failing to give any reason for denying Mr. MacKenzie parole other than the nature of his crime. Justice Rosa wrote that if parole isnt granted to this petitioner, when and under what circumstances would it be granted? She ordered the board to hold a new hearing, with different board members. The state appealed that order. The case was still pending when Mr. MacKenzie killed himself. To the Editor: From California, a Better Way to Retire (editorial, Aug. 16) brings up a critical issue that is affecting millions of Americans in every state: Too few working people have access to retirement savings plans. I thank The Times for highlighting what is far too often an ignored problem. In many private-sector jobs, employees do not have access to retirement savings plans, often because they are too expensive or burdensome for employers despite the myriad long-term benefits that they provide for Americans. I applaud Oregon, Illinois and now California for taking up such an important issue and creating state-sponsored plans that will help close the estimated $6.6 trillion gap between what Americans currently have in retirement savings and what they will need. In New York City, our future looks especially bleak: More than half of our workers are projected to be near poverty or in poverty when they retire, and 40 percent of New Yorkers between ages 50 and 64 have less than $10,000 saved for retirement. This can largely be attributed to the fact that over half our workers do not have access to retirement plans. [music] [bells chiming] [airplane taking off] [dinging] People say that everybody in the airline industry has got AIDs. What do you mean, AIDs? And people freak out, right? No, weve got Aviation-Induced Divorce. Most people, believe it or not, in the airline industry, are divorced. Including myself. Because were always traveling. Were always away from home. And thats the truth. We are always away from home. I didnt get her. She kind of got me. She needed some attention. She needed somebody to look after her, so I kind of adopted her. Shes cool to have around. Makes the place a little more like home. I do have friends out here. So its not like Im totally lonely. My friend here he flies for an overseas carrier. He was an actual Air Force graduate. Hes currently in Hong Kong My friend over heres name is Cal. He works for American. Poor guys getting his teeth cut having to fly in Hawaii. A Delta flight attendant lives right over there. Its a nice little community. I mean, its definitely a blend of individuals in the aviation industry. Just a little lonely and quiet when theyre not here. But gives me something to find something else to do. Oh, I thought I could take off in a gust of wind. This is my primary residence, if you will. Is this temporary? Yes, I know this is a temporary situation for me. I only have about 10 to 15 more years of work that I have, before I finally figure Ill retire. So its not a very long time. If a person sits in this lot, and theyre lonely, its because theyre deciding to be lonely. Looks good. Its this transient world. To find somebody to be with 24/7 or to hang with, it just doesnt exist. Of course, that was never what the lot was designed for. Once you get that past, its not too bad. Its not really bad at all. Its easy for me to live this uh This lifestyle. Right now. Im young. This is very much freedom of, um Its not for everybody. But for me, its great. I never knew what I wanted to be. But as I got older, I thought about, Id really like to see the world, and different cultures, and learn about different people. I cant say that my parents pushed me to be a this or that. I think they thought I was going to get married and have children. But [laugh] didnt happen. Aviation is a very, very dynamic industry. I love it. I just love it. I just love it. I just love it. I like it. I like living here. I like living here. I love it. Ive been here for almost 11 years. And uh I dont know what to say. I dont know [music] A house is just a dwelling. Thats how I look at it. And right now, I can dwell in pretty much anything. Its not fun sometimes, for sure. I can be alone. Im used to it. But then, Im like, O.K. Im sick of hearing myself, you know Hearing my mind. So to get out of that, Ill put on the music and just chant. And all of a sudden, Im not there in that looping thought. [chanting] Hows your fuel in your tank? Its above a quarter. I know my time here will end eventually. Someday it will end. I just try to make sure that I use my best of that day that I have. This place provided me solid footing. As a man, as a provider, thats my goal is to have stability. And of course, thats almost a very elusive thing these days, is stability. I even wonder if stability and security are even real words anymore. I think control is an illusion. Or wishful thinking. Because just when you think youve got it good, who knows? You end up with cancer, or some other family member has a situation, and it alters your life. Ah, but For the most part, its a pretty good deal. Looks like it will be another respectable sunset. [airplane taking off] Kingston, Ontario THERE was no mistaking the diagnostic significance of that little red stick inside a deep blue cell: The Auer rod meant the mystery patient had acute myelogenous leukemia. As slide after slide went by, her bone marrow told a story: treatment, remission, relapse, treatment, remission, remission, remission. I was reading these marrows in 1987, but the samples had been drawn in 1978 and 1979. Median survival of that lethal disease with treatment was about 18 months; however, given that she had already relapsed once, I knew that she had to be dead. Probably someone was being sued, and that was why my hematology colleagues had asked for a blind reading. Imagining an aggressive cross-examination in court, I emphasized in my report that I knew neither the history nor why I was reading the marrows. After the work was submitted, I asked the treating physician what was going on. She smiled and said that my report had been sent to the Vatican. This leukemia case was being considered as the final miracle in the dossier of Marie-Marguerite dYouville, the founder of the Order of Sisters of Charity of Montreal and a candidate to become the first Canadian-born saint. As in the case of Mother Teresa, who was canonized Sunday by Pope Francis, miracles are still used as evidence that the candidate is in heaven and had interceded with God in response to a petition. Two miracles, usually cures that defy natural explanation, are generally required. For Mother Teresa, the Vatican concluded that prayers to her led to the disappearance of an Indian womans incurable tumor and the sudden recovery of a Brazilian man with a brain infection. Every day, I run into Republican friends who cant stomach a vote for Donald J. Trump but dont know what to do. Vote for Hillary Clinton, who has trouble with the truth, wants to raise taxes and opposes free trade with Asia? Vote for the Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson, an outlier who once ran a marijuana business and embraces isolationism? Or not vote at all, maintaining a certain purity but allowing others to decide the next president? I faced exactly these choices myself. I have voted for every Republican nominee for president since 1980, but I will not this time. Mr. Trumps appalling temperament renders him unfit to be president, and his grotesque policy formulations mock the principles of liberty and respect for the individual that have been the foundation of the Republican Party since Abraham Lincoln. Even before Mr. Trump entered the race, I saw this coming. I worked to open a pathway for an independent a solid third candidate who would attract the votes of the roughly two-thirds of Americans in the center. A serious contender would force the two major-party candidates to compete for votes in the middle, rather than appealing to the wings. I spent a year and a half on the project, but a month ago threw in the towel. The deck is stacked by the parties against anyone but a Republican or Democrat. An independent has to run an expensive gantlet to gather enough signatures to get on the ballot in all the states, suffers a severe disadvantage in fund-raising, and is effectively barred from the fall presidential debates by a commission loaded with party stalwarts. During the debate over Obamacare, both supporters and opponents assumed the giant law would transform the American health care system. The supporters argued that the system would help Americans purchase health insurance through carefully regulated state exchanges. President Obama envisioned a day when consumers could shop for health coverage the same way youd shop for a plane ticket on Kayak or a TV on Amazon. In 2010, the Congressional Budget Office estimated there would be 21 million Americans using the exchanges by now. Many supporters argued that the exchanges would eventually replace the current dominant employer-based system. The promise of Obamacare was that it would foster competition and offer lower premiums while covering tens of millions of Americans without, as Obama often put it, adding a dime to the deficit. Unfortunately, most of the exchanges are in serious trouble. As many critics pointed out at the time, the law is poorly designed to induce younger, healthier people to get into the system. The penalties attached to the individual mandate are too weak. The subsidies are too small. The premiums are too costly. The deductibles are too high. Many doctors arent participating in the networks. To the Editor: Re Safer Alternatives to Opioids (editorial, Aug. 30): As an anesthesiologist and president of the American Society for Enhanced Recovery, I applaud the surgeon generals campaign addressing the overprescribing and misuse of opioids. While I agree that minimizing opioid use will take a concerted effort by all those involved in the health care system, hospitals, in particular, have a critical role. Although often overlooked in the opioid discussion, hospitals have become an inadvertent gateway to opioid use in America. A recent survey found that one in 10 patients became addicted or dependent on opioids following a surgical procedure, and 91 percent of surgeons felt pressure to prescribe more opioids than a patient needed, in part because of the need to score well on patient satisfaction evaluations. Its imperative that hospitals re-evaluate the systems in place and promote the use of non-opioid alternatives over opioids. These medications can help reduce or, in some cases, completely eliminate the need for opioids post-surgery without compromising patient care. I hope the surgeon generals efforts will help bring about positive change in the adoption of non-opioid methods. T.J. GAN Stony Brook, N.Y. The writer is chairman of the department of anesthesiology at Stony Brook University. But the arguments in front of the president himself were relatively brief, officials said, apparently because so many senior aides objected. Mr. Carter argued that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, could interpret a promise of no first use as a sign of American weakness, even though that was not the intent. The defense secretarys position was supported by Mr. Kerry and Mr. Moniz, two architects of the Iran nuclear deal, who cautioned that such a declaration could unnerve American allies already fearful that Americas nuclear umbrella cannot be relied upon. Mr. Trump talked explicitly in interviews about withdrawing military forces from Asia unless Tokyo and Seoul paid more for their presence, and said in March that he was willing to see them build their own nuclear arsenals rather than depend on Washington. According to one senior administration official, Mr. Kerry told Mr. Obama that a no-first-use pledge would also weaken the nuclear deterrent while Russia is running practice bombing runs over Europe and China is expanding its reach in the South China Sea. Mr. Obama and his national security team have rejected a second option: de-alerting nuclear missiles ready to fire on short notice. The fear is that in a crisis, re-alerting the weapons could escalate a conflict. Earlier, Mr. Obama and his aides also decided against eliminating one element of the triad of land-, air- and submarine-launched weapons. The idea was to remove the missiles based in silos across the American West, which are considered outdated and vulnerable to a first strike. But the Pentagon argued strongly that the ground-based missiles were the part of the system with which they had the most assured communications, and that it was too risky to get rid of them. In the past year, arms control advocates, including some of Mr. Obamas former aides, have argued that Mr. Obama still has time to repair his reputation as an atomic visionary. Let Obama be Obama, Andrew C. Weber, an assistant secretary of defense for atomic programs from 2009 to 2014, said in an interview. CLEVELAND The general election began in earnest on Monday, not with the first presidential debate or the start of early voting, but with the arrival of a squat Boeing 737 strewn with a shiny new coat of white paint and an H on its sky-blue tail. The aircraft, with Hillary Clintons campaign slogan Stronger Together sprawled across its side and specially outfitted for a presidential candidate, represented what Mrs. Clinton called the last moment before the mad dash. For months, Mrs. Clinton had crisscrossed the country on her own plane, cocooned with aides at 36,000 feet as the journalists who cover her campaign trailed in their own chartered jet, with clouds and sky and seemingly infinite space between the two. The flying arrangement broke with an age-old campaign tradition of the Boys on the Bus (or the plane), and with Mrs. Clintons flight patterns in 2008 when she drank wine with reporters on the Hill Force One. This time, the separate planes became a symbol of Mrs. Clintons caution and aloofness toward the news media in her second shot at the White House. Asked by a reporter if Russias actions amounted to a cyberwar, Mrs. Clinton said, Im not comfortable using the word war. But she said she viewed the hacking of the Democratic National Committee, which American officials have linked to Russian intelligence agencies, and warnings there could be additional breaches intended to influence the presidential campaign a threat from an adversarial foreign power. In conversations lately with donors, Mrs. Clinton has urged noncomplacency. She has stressed that foreign enemies who hope Mr. Trump will succeed, in order to weaken the United States, may try to disrupt the November results, perhaps with a cyberattack. Hours after President Obama met with Mr. Putin at the Group of 20 summit in Hangzhou, China, Mrs. Clinton delivered a harsh assessment of the Russian leaders role in the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and potential future breaches. When Putin was asked about it, he could barely muster the energy to deny it, if any of you saw it, Mrs. Clinton said, adding that the Russian president, whom she clashed with as secretary of state, and the team around him certainly believe that there is some benefit to them to doing this. MEXICO CITY Hillary Clinton said Monday that she would not visit Mexico before the November election, delivering another setback to President Enrique Pena Nieto a week after he faced furious criticism at home for receiving Donald J. Trump. In an interview with ABC News, Mrs. Clinton said she was declining the invitation from the Mexican president so that she could focus on what were doing to create jobs here at home, what were doing to make sure Americans have the best possible opportunities in the future. Her decision is sure to prolong the condemnation that Mr. Pena Nieto has faced for his decision to meet Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, who has made criticism of Mexicans and Mexico a focus of his campaign. Mr. Pena Nieto has struggled to portray the visit as a part of an evenhanded attempt to explain to both Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton, his Democratic opponent, how important Mexico is to the United States. President Obama canceled a meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines scheduled for Tuesday in Laos, after the Philippine president directed an expletive at Mr. Obama on Monday. On Tuesday, Mr. Duterte released a statement saying he regretted that his curse came across as a personal attack on the U.S. president. He blamed his words on certain press questions that elicited concern and distress. Mr. Duterte had warned Mr. Obama not to ask him about extrajudicial killings related to his crackdown on drug dealers, a campaign pledge that helped sweep him to victory in the countrys presidential election in May. I am a president of a sovereign state, and we have long ceased to be a colony, Mr. Duterte told reporters before he left his country for Laos, where he and Mr. Obama will attend the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. He also accused the Times report of drawing its conclusions based on interviews that did not reflect reporting that was broad but rather done in the context of an event being discussed in French media at the time: a summer camp that was forbidden to people with white skin, where those who attended opposed the mixing of whites and nonwhites, Mr. Valls wrote. He was referring to a gathering near the French city of Reims that the organizers described as a De-Colonial Summer Camp, where minorities could gather to talk about their experiences of discrimination. According to the organizers, about 170 to 180 people attended between Aug. 25 and 28. The Times responded that Mr. Valls was mistaken about how the reporting for the piece had been done. Our story was rigorously reported and based on responses by more than 1,200 readers to an online call-out in English, French and Arabic asking for the views of Muslim women in Europe after the burkini ban, said Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokeswoman for The Times. We stand by the article. MOSCOW Russian officials declared the Levada Center, the countrys only major independent pollster, a foreign agent on Monday, two weeks before nationwide parliamentary elections and days after a poll showed sliding support for the governing party, United Russia. The decision, announced by the Justice Ministry, means the Levada Center will probably shut down its polling operations, which it has been conducting since the late 1980s. This manifests the increase in internal repressions carried out by the countrys leadership, the centers chief, Lev D. Gudkov, said in an interview broadcast by Dozhd, Russias only liberal independent news station. If they wont cancel this decision, it will mean that the Levada Center will have to stop working, because you cannot conduct polls with such a stigma put on you. A law signed by President Vladimir V. Putin in 2012 requires all nonprofit organizations that receive foreign funding and are engaged in loosely defined political activity to register and declare themselves as foreign agents, a term widely associated with spying in Russia. Rights activists have criticized the law as an instrument to marginalize independent civil society groups. GENEVA Discarding diplomatic niceties, the United Nations top human rights official on Monday denounced Western politicians who he said used racist language and peddled fear in a way similar to the jihadist propaganda of Islamist extremists. Speaking at a gala event in The Hague, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the high commissioner for human rights, lashed out at populists, demagogues and fantasists exploiting economic hardship and social tensions to fan racial and religious prejudice. Mr. Hussein addressed some of his comments to Geert Wilders, an anti-Muslim firebrand who is leading opinion polls in the Netherlands, where elections are set to be held in March. But he also took aim at Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, and at right-wing European leaders like Marine Le Pen in France and Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary. Mr. Hussein has spoken out against statements by right-wing political leaders in recent months but took his criticisms to a new level of vehemence on Monday. He urged a stand against the banalization of bigotry by such populists, drawing a long standing ovation from an audience that included international jurists, diplomats and film celebrities. The challenges at the design museum, at Columbus Circle, have been less severe: It has a balanced annual operating budget of about $10 million, and an endowment of $12 million. But its former director Glenn Adamson, who stepped down in March served less than three years, and because he was a researcher lacking in executive experience, some museum insiders considered him ill suited to the position. And the institution continues to struggle with visibility. Were in the middle of New York City, and there are many people who dont know where we are, said Michele Cohen, chairwoman of the board at the Museum of Arts and Design. That seems very strange after almost nine years. Raising the institutions profile is central to what Mr. Veneciano said was his mandate when he starts work on Oct. 3, just as the museum begins its 60th-anniversary year. He also wants to reach out to new, more varied audiences. As director of the Sheldon Museum of Art in Lincoln, Neb., from 2008 to 2013, Mr. Veneciano focused on increasing visitor diversity. He also worked toward inclusiveness as a curator at the Studio Museum in Harlem from 1994 to 1999, and as a curator and educator with the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs for three years before that. Being inclusive is not an external agenda, but integral to fulfilling the mission, Mr. Veneciano said. I try to bring diversity wherever I go, and I reject the notion of culturally specific institutions. LEXINGTON, Va. Its just indescribable, Sally Mann, the photographer and writer, was saying. She stood in the kitchen of the home she built on her familys farm with Larry Mann, her husband of 46 years, and erupted in tears. Im just trying to keep moving, she said. On the large dining table were her haunting, evocative photographs taken over the years of the studio in downtown Lexington where her friend, the painter Cy Twombly, had worked. Twombly was born 23 years before Ms. Mann in this same small town in Virginia. In her intimate and elegiac images, some with just the play of light on the wall and floor of the emptied studio, after his death in 2011, it was hard not to feel an acute absence not of one man but two. In June, while preparing an exhibition of these photos, Ms. Mann suffered a sudden and most devastating loss. Emmett, her eldest child, who had struggled with schizophrenia in adulthood, took his own life, at the age of 36. Now the Twombly catalog she is gazing at, and the show, called Remembered Light, opening on Sept. 22 at the Gagosian Gallery in Manhattan, are suffused with grief, she said. British Airways said its flights were gradually returning to normal on Tuesday after a still-unexplained computer problem disabled the airlines self-service check-in kiosks for several hours at a number of international airports, causing significant delays. The extent of the computer problem, which first emerged late Monday in North America, was not immediately clear. The airline said the issue had been resolved by technicians early Tuesday morning in London. It advised passengers booked on Tuesday flights to check in online or via the airlines mobile applications before reaching the airport, to minimize further delays. The check-in system is now working and customers are being checked in as normal in London and overseas, although it may take longer than usual, the airline said in a statement. We apologize to our customers for the delay and we appreciate their patience, it added. Our colleagues are doing everything possible to check in customers for their journeys. Ironically, one participant suggested that the publication of the Panama Papers, which revealed how wealthy individuals used elaborate corporate structures and offshore tax havens to obscure their ownership of assets, would lead to less transparency. The papers have already damaged the former prime minister of Iceland, who stepped aside after revelations that he and his wife had set up a company in the British Virgin Islands. The papers will discourage law firms in the future from naming beneficial owners of assets those who enjoy the benefits of ownership although the title is in another name on documents for fear of leaks. Even American legal practitioners were pessimistic about the headway law enforcement has made in fighting economic malfeasance despite the more aggressive tradition in prosecuting financial crimes. We have lost most of the major battles and all of the wars, said John W. Moscow, the former chief of the frauds bureau and the deputy chief of the investigations division at the New York County district attorneys office. The number of people benefiting from large-scale, economic crime is immense, the number of victims is immense, but the number of prosecutions is limited by small and declining budgets. Mr. Moscow, who is now in private practice at Cleveland law firm BakerHostetler, said that frequently in large organizations, the buck stops three levels lower than where the criminal decision is made. He said it was therefore important to impose serious fines and penalties on corporations. Ms. Levitt of Mishcon de Reya offered a novel solution to the problem that strapped governments face in allocating resources to fighting economic crime. She recommended that government involve the private sector. For instance, in Britain, there are nearly 2 billion, or $2.66 billion, in uncollected confiscation orders. The government, she said, could sell these claims to private law firms and investigators at a discount, and they, not the resource-challenged government departments, could work at recovering the money and giving back a portion of it to the state. Ms. Levitts recommendations are most likely to be heard at the highest echelons of government. Though in private practice today, Ms. Levitt occupied an important position in Britains criminal justice system. Before joining Mishcon de Reya, she was the principal legal adviser to the director of public prosecutions, advising on some of the most significant cases of the time and appearing as counsel in the Court of Appeal. Drawing on data from CCP Research Foundation, Paul E. Hauser, a London-based partner at the American law firm Bryan Cave, said that roughly $250 billion in penalties had been paid by lending institutions to settle financial crimes since 2010. Speaking on a panel about who should carry the can, or take responsibility, for wrongdoing in business, Mr. Hauser said the question focused on the wrong issue. The system we have is where the compliance department carries the can, he said. A better system, he argued, would be one where there were incentives for good behavior at financial institutions and disincentives for wrongdoing. Sullivan & Cromwell, a big law firm known for advising major financial institutions, is taking steps to bolster its work in an area of particular concern to large banks: online security. The law firm announced on Tuesday that it had hired as special counsel Nicole Friedlander, a former Manhattan federal prosecutor who had most recently overseen online crime prosecutions. Ms. Friedlander, 40, was previously co-chief of the complex frauds and online crime unit for the United States attorneys office in Manhattan. As a federal prosecutor for a little over eight years, Ms. Friedlander had helped oversee the investigation into an attack against JPMorgan Chase that resulted in the contact information for 83 million of the banks customers being compromised. The investigation led to the filing of criminal charges in 2015 against five men in a complex scheme that involved hacking and securities fraud. Steven R. Peikin, a managing partner in the law firms criminal defense and investigations group, said that the firms footprint has been a little light in digital security and that Ms. Friedlanders hiring would help build that practice area. The internal whistle-blower presents a real threat to a company, not only from the S.E.C., but also from the Justice Department, because any violation of the securities law can result in a criminal prosecution. The winding-down of Visium Asset Management, a multibillion-dollar hedge fund, shows how a disgruntled former employee who goes to the government can wreak havoc on a firm. Stefan Lumiere, a former portfolio manager at Visium, was charged in June with a scheme to mismark securities held in a credit fund that he helped manage, which invested in the debt securities of health care companies. He is accused of inflating the value of the investments and not identifying how some were highly illiquid. His boss, Christopher Plaford, has already pleaded guilty to securities fraud and insider trading charges, and is cooperating in the case. A major feature of the governments case against Mr. Lumiere are recordings made by a junior trader at the firm of more than 125 conversations with colleagues, totaling almost 200 hours, after agreeing to cooperate in the investigation. Visium itself has not been charged with any wrongdoing. The indictment calls the trader CC-1, the typical nomenclature for a cooperating co-conspirator, who Bloomberg News reported is Jason Thorell. According to an affidavit filed by a F.B.I. agent, Mr. Thorell received immunity from prosecution and the case could indirectly result in a financial benefit to him. The S.E.C. filed a parallel lawsuit against Mr. Lumiere and Mr. Plaford, so the financial benefit is likely to come from a whistle-blower claim Mr. Thorell might have for providing information that led to the cases. The prerequisite to receiving a whistle-blower award is that the S.E.C. will recover more than $1 million from enforcement actions based on the information provided, so any payment will have to await the resolution of the cases. At the Justice Departments request, the S.E.C. lawsuit against Mr. Lumiere has been delayed until the criminal charges are resolved. One factor that could increase an award, which can range from 10 to 30 percent of any monetary sanctions recovered, is whether the case involves an area that is an agency priority, such as misconduct involving a regulated entity or an industrywide practice. That certainly applies to this case, because the S.E.C. has been focusing its attention recently on how hedge funds value illiquid investments, and Visium was an investment adviser that owed a fiduciary duty to its clients. Any claim Mr. Thorell makes as a whistle-blower raises the interesting question about whether someone who participates in wrongdoing can receive an award. Mr. Thorell, according to Bloomberg, helped obtain sham quotes used to inflate the price of the securities in the Visium credit fund that were an important part of the mismarking, so he was in the middle of any violations. WATSONVILLE, Calif. On 40 acres at a farm near the central coast of California, new varieties of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries are being tested, each of them proprietary. No other company in the world grows berries exactly like these. Now the business behind it all Driscolls, the family-owned berry juggernaut is hoping a new marketing campaign will make berry lovers care about that distinction. With new labels on its packages, a retooled website and an aggressive social media outreach that starts this week, the company is aiming to get Americans to understand what makes Driscolls berries unique. Its strawberries have been bred for a uniform shape, for example, while Driscolls raspberries are pinker and shinier, made to meet desires expressed by consumers. You have to find a way to say this strawberry is different from that strawberry, which isnt necessarily an easy thing to do, said Soren Bjorn, executive vice president of Driscolls. But our strawberries actually are different no one else grows the strawberries we grow. Is there actually a case for the Wall? Donald Trumps boast to build a big, beautiful wall along the southern border clearly provided a lift to his candidacy, arguably delivering him the Republican presidential nomination. Along with his promise to deport millions of immigrants who are living in the United States without legal authorization, it remains the leitmotif of his campaign, despite occasional bursts of softer rhetoric. Mr. Trump is not wrong that immigration from Mexico and other countries in the poorer south over the last quarter-century has injured some American workers who competed with immigrants in the job market. It is not his concern alone; similar fears are shared by organized labor and others on the left of the political spectrum. Improbable as this may sound, the question he raises is legitimate. But even looking at a best-case situation, the answer is still straightforward: No. Even if you care only about the workers most hurt by new immigrant labor, Mr. Trumps proposals simply arent worth the cost. In an article in the Journal of Economic Perspectives scheduled to be published this fall, Gordon H. Hanson and Craig McIntosh of the University of California, San Diego, lay out the most obvious reason walling off Mexico would be pointless: Mexicans arent coming anymore. VIDEO Mi-e teama ca te-ai dus pe prispa gresita. Soc la televiziunea rusa, dupa ce rusi au recunoscut ca razboiul Moscovei in Ucraina este crud si sadic Just days before the start of a new school term, ITT Educational Services, one of the nations largest for-profit educational companies, closed nearly all its campuses on Tuesday. The company cited the Education Departments recent decision to bar the chain of colleges from using federal financial aid to enroll new students as the reason for the sudden shutdown. Except for a small school that operates under a different name, the move puts an end to an operation that has been accused of widespread fraud and abuse, leaving roughly 35,000 students and 8,000 employees in the lurch. ITT Educational Services, whose recruitment, lending practices and educational quality have been under scrutiny by federal regulators and state prosecutors for years, said in a news release that it had exhausted the exploration of alternatives, including transfer of the schools to a nonprofit or public institution. But tensions remain among the network rank-and-file. Mr. Murdoch, who now presides over Fox News as executive chairman, kept in place several of Mr. Ailess most loyal deputies and recently promoted them to leadership roles, troubling employees who had hoped for a clean slate. The reasons behind Ms. Van Susterens departure remained murky, but people on both sides of the negotiations pointed to an icy meeting in July between Ms. Van Susteren and Rupert Murdoch as a turning point in her tenure. Days after Mr. Ailess exit, Ms. Van Susteren met with Mr. Murdoch in his second-floor office inside Foxs Manhattan headquarters. The anchor, accompanied by her husband and agent, John P. Coale, requested more favorable terms to her contract which was not immediately up for renewal and cited an exit clause that allowed her to leave the network in the event that Mr. Ailes was no longer chairman. Mr. Murdoch was not impressed, both sides say. It was tense, Mr. Coale recalled in a telephone interview on Tuesday. Late last week, Ms. Van Susteren informed Fox that she planned to invoke her exit clause. But she woke up on Tuesday fully expecting to tape her prime-time show, On the Record, that evening. Instead, Mr. Coale said, someone came to our house and delivered two letters from the network. The message: Shes out. It was so abrupt that a large-scale poster of Ms. Van Susteren, who routinely beat the cable competition in her 7 p.m. time slot, was still displayed outside Foxs Manhattan building when the announcement went out. (The poster was removed later on Tuesday.) Inside the channels Washington bureau, newspapers sat untouched outside Ms. Van Susterens still-full office. Ms. Van Susteren had initially defended Mr. Ailes, calling Ms. Carlson disgruntled and saying that the timing of her lawsuit is very suspicious. But on Tuesday, in a farewell post on Facebook, Ms. Van Susteren wrote: Fox has not felt like home to me for a few years. Not long ago, Joanna Coles was having lunch with David Carey, the president of Hearst magazines, when he suggested she should take on a bigger role at the company. Ms. Coles had been the editor in chief of Cosmopolitan since 2012 and, she said in an interview, I was definitely ready to do something else. I love Cosmo, but I gave it everything I had, she said. I just didnt have another sex position in me. On Tuesday, Hearst announced that Ms. Coles would leave her post at Cosmopolitan, one of the companys marquee publications, to become Hearsts first chief content officer. One common theory to explain the pay gap between men and women assigns blame to women themselves: Maybe they just arent asking for raises. But a study of Australian women has found that they were asking for salary increases as much as their male colleagues men were just more likely to actually get one. The study, released this week by the Cass Business School in London, the University of Warwick and the University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh found that when comparing men and women who work similar hours, men got a raise 20 percent of the time they asked, compared with 16 percent for women. About 70 percent of men and women in the sample said they had asked for a raise. Though the study did not offer solutions, Dr. Amanda Goodall, one of the studys authors, said in an interview that it did narrow the possible explanations for the disparities. Coastal West Africa is up first, and Mr. Caranda-Martin is already tinkering with the opening menu of goat head stew, lamb shanks braised in palm nut sauce, and a mix of seafood both fresh and fermented poached in a bright, spicy broth tingling with West African chiles. He says he plans to serve cassava leaves, the greens of the starchy yuca plant, with tender, slow-cooked goat meat. Im Liberian, said Mr. Caranda-Martin, 41, who immigrated to the United States in the early 1990s, during the First Liberian Civil War. But I also have a very strong identity as an African, and thats why this restaurant is so important for me. Mr. Yi already makes three hard ciders, ranging from off-dry to bone dry and from 5.6 percent to 7 percent alcohol, at an orchard he bought in the Hudson Valley. (He is waiting for an additional 8,000 cider specific apple trees he has planted to mature, and has a fourth cider in the works.) Three distinct apple types bitter, tart and sweet are needed for a drink that is balanced and elegant, with the refreshing whiff of bitterness that hops provides for beer. Mr. Yi does not add anything other than natural yeasts to ferment his ciders: no blueberries, no hops and certainly no sugar, the tools that he says many cidermakers use to alter flavor profiles. Instead, the flesh and skins of Northern Spies, Kingston Blacks, Brown Snouts and other traditional varietals have to suffice. The apples at his Twin Star Orchards are dry farmed, not irrigated, to concentrate their flavors and acids. Mr. Kluger, 43, has experienced plenty of peaks and valleys since the moment two summers ago when he decided to break away from the consistently packed ABC restaurants, where the chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten had handpicked him to run the kitchens. He wanted to set out on his own. I just felt it was time, Mr. Kluger said, although the gods seemed determined to make him wait a little longer. On vacation with his wife in Italy, he got a call from New York with bad news: Negotiations for a lease on a restaurant space had collapsed at the last minute. Two years of delays followed. Another space was found, and construction commenced, but structural problems set progress back for months. I dont ever want to see a contractor again for a long time, the chef said. Image The interior will look something like this. Credit... Daniel Krieger for The New York Times For Mr. Kluger, a father of two who had left the security of the Vongerichten empire for the tingly risk of sink-or-swim independence, there were moments of waking at 3 a.m. in a panic. Theres certainly a discomfort, he said. Every screw, nut and bolt at this place I helped choose, in one way or another. If you dont like it, its essentially my fault. If Mr. Klugers history is any guide, the risk should be minimal. His resume includes substantial stretches of cooking at Union Square Cafe, Tabla and the Core Club in Midtown. Over the years, he has picked up lessons in flavor and hospitality from the likes of Floyd Cardoz, Tom Colicchio and Danny Meyer. Ive worked with some of the best chefs in the country, and Ive taken something from all of them, he said. Anne Burrell, a Food Network star who has not worked at a restaurant stove since 2008, will be a partner in Phil & Annes Good Time Lounge, a Brooklyn restaurant that she describes as funky, cool and homey. She envisions a grazing menu with sections labeled light, medium and heavy; potential plates include roast cauliflower steak with poached egg, and Korean short ribs. She said she and her partner, Phil Casaceli, see eye-to-eye on all the details, making opening her own place that much easier. Ive always wanted it, she said. Its been a hole in my career, but this will finally round things out. Jeanne Melanie Delcourt was a chef at the Michelin-starred Camelia and other Paris restaurants. She and her husband, Xavier, are moving to New York to open Le Cameleon, which she described as a very French bistro with food thats traditional and contemporary. She found a space on Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem, which is becoming a dining corridor. Harlem is cosmopolitan, she said. You have every culture represented. The chef Victoria Blamey at Chumleys. which will reopen in the West Village. Credit... Danny Ghitis for The New York Times The Tuck Room, which already has bars in iPic theaters in other cities, will be the first New York project for Mr. Seger, who was an early force in the Chicago craft cocktail scene a decade ago, making his mark as a general manager at Nacional 27. The new bar will be on the third floor, a story up from the eight-screen iPic cinema. Mr. Seger hopes that people attending screenings will discover the Tuck Room, and vice versa. They will help to cross-pollinate each other, he said. The Tuck Room Fulton Market, 11 Fulton Street, October. Every year brings a fresh crop of Japanese restaurants, but this fall, three popular Japanese chains will open New York satellites, each with an unusually narrow specialty. The ramen chain Ichiran, headed for Bushwick, Brooklyn, is famous not so much for its food as for what it calls low-interaction dining. In its flavor concentration booths, you can eat without the tedium of chatting to a companion, being welcomed by a host or even thanking a waiter. Arrivals are greeted by a lighted panel indicating which booths are available. Each diner is enclosed in a narrow space like a library carrel, in perfect solitude. Alessandro Borgognone, who is about to reopen the venerable West Village speakeasy Chumleys, calls it a throwback in its style, food and drink. Its not the only revival on New Yorks restaurant horizon. The nostalgia card is being played all over town, and it looms large in the dining experiences Im most anticipating this fall. Charles Masson, formerly of La Grenouille, will be back bearing big sprays of blooms and bringing the chef Christian Delouvrier with him to Majorelle, with old and new French fare. Its spirit is Mediterranean with hints of Morocco, but in luxurious rooms replete with moldings, cornices and pilasters, in the Lowell Hotel on the Upper East Side. There will be white tablecloths. Imagine! Arguably the most ambitious new raid on the old will be the Beekman hotel, in a freshly renovated 1880s building near City Hall. One of its tenants will be Augustine, Keith McNallys nod to Art Nouveau, with creamy, floral tile panels in a setting more bistro than brasserie. The chefs, Shane McBride and Daniel Parilla, are readying saucisson en brioche with a frisee salad, grilled dorade with Provencal carrots, and a mix of foie gras, artichokes, haricots verts and lettuce that recalls the salades folles on every menu in France in the early days of nouvelle cuisine. Mr. Meyer put it this way: You dont hire David Rockwell if you just need a cover band. The new layout looks airy, sunny, logical. It doesnt make any big statements or break any new architectural ground, because that wasnt the assignment. The design manages to bring a lofty space with immense windows down to human scale by breaking it up. Not counting the addition of a private dining room (it has its own staff), the restaurant will grow by only about eight seats, to 138. As in the old place, a vestibule directs diners past a few cafe tables toward the bar. The main room is lined with wainscoting, its dark-green color custom-tweaked to update the original green wainscoting. A big staircase becomes the main architectural focus and spatial divider, implying a separation of rooms. A scrim of lights, at nine feet, aligned with the mezzanine, creates a layer of intimacy, slicing the restaurants lofty height in half. Discreet spotlights in the ceiling focus pools of light around clusters of tables. On the mezzanine, booths look down onto the main floor; like opera boxes, these may well become the best seats in the house. Theres a second bar upstairs for a half-dozen or so guests, a remnant salvaged from the original cafe, illuminated by some of Mr. Bogdanows old glass fixtures. Wide-plank cherry wood floors, like the ones on 16th Street but now variously patterned, demarcate spaces to underscore the episodic layout. Its a kind of homage, the same but not, updated and, for a celebrity designer, self-effacing, with nods that may register only subliminally, like the main bar, which is the exact same length as the old bar (27 feet 1 inch); the concrete floor tiles next to it, which are the same width as the terra-cotta ones at 16th Street; the brass light fixtures over the bar, hung at the same height. Union Square Cafe had its own community, Mr. Rockwell said. It was where many other people came to celebrate. Its near and dear to me. Restaurants were my introduction to New York, places like Schraffts. I know this sounds kind of heavy, but having lost my dad when I was 3, moving a lot, then my mom passing away when I was 15, places that marked celebration and connection, theyve made a big impact on me. Something as simple but complicated as getting a meal, its one of the things that makes a city so vital, Mr. Rockwell said. This was a rare opportunity, to take a seminal place for New Yorkers and prove that the city remains alive. Park Slope, Brooklyn, hang on to your strollers. The Pavilion, the neighborhoods lone remaining movie house one frequently criticized for varying degrees of neglect is to be transformed into a Nitehawk theater, set to open early fall 2017. Plans to add condominiums to the site, made before the Nitehawk entered negotiations with the buildings owners, have been scrapped. This will be the first expansion for team Nitehawk, which opened the popular dine-in boutique cinema in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in 2011. In an era of megabudget superhero flicks and ever-better television, Nitehawk thrived, proving that if you build a three-screen artisanal movie house in a hipster-rich neighborhood and serve burrata, kale salad and cocktails tableside, they will come. The new multiplex, to be rechristened Nitehawk Prospect Park, will have seven screens, a total of 650 seats, a double kitchen, two bar areas, a restored atrium overlooking the park, and, of course, in-theater dining, according to Matthew Viragh, Nitehawk Cinemas founder. The Pavilion will be closed by the end of October, he added. Renovations, which should cost less than $10 million, are expected to take about a year. Weve always wanted to do more locations, Mr. Viragh said. Our focus is Brooklyn; we want to be a neighborhood cinema. Thats in our DNA, to cater to this area. A day after deadly violence struck the Jouvert parade in Brooklyn for the third straight year, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday that the annual celebration of Caribbean culture would continue but that the city would consider changing the hours of the overnight event, which precedes the much bigger West Indian American Day Parade. In the hours after two people were killed early Monday, the mayor seemed to suggest that he was open to ending Jouvert. But on Tuesday, he ruled that option out, saying that his statement that every option will be on the table had been misinterpreted. I think it was very clear yesterday that we were not including the option of ending something which has gone on for decades and decades, Mr. de Blasio said at a news conference with police officials. We have to find out a way to make it safer. Violence has erupted with regularity in and around the festivities, prompting repeated questions about whether the event, with large crowds celebrating in the middle of the night in largely residential neighborhoods, can be kept free of violence. After two killings last year, the city doubled the number of police officers in attendance and set up hundreds of temporary lighting towers along the route. It might be easy to forget, now that he has endorsed and defended Donald J. Trump to the ridicule and anger of fellow Republicans he called friends, that Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey was himself once a leading, if not the leading, presidential hopeful in his party. Then came revelations of a scheme so preposterous that it was hard to believe: Aides to the governor had deliberately created a traffic jam at the worlds busiest bridge as political payback. The trial in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal, which is scheduled to open on Thursday with jury selection, will play out like a documentary on the rise and fall of Mr. Christies presidential ambitions, a tell-all tale of how he and his aides built his administration and his 2013 re-election campaign with an eye to winning the White House, then scrambled to contain the damage as inquiries into the lane closings began to wreck those hopes. The moment was captured in a photograph, an unforgettable image that was seared in the worlds collective memory as a symbol of resilience: three firefighters raising an American flag amid the ruins of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Soon after, the flag disappeared. New York City officials tried to track it down, to no avail. Now the flag has been recovered, though the mystery has not been entirely solved. On Thursday, nearly 15 years after it first flew, the flag will again become a prominent part of Lower Manhattan when it goes on display at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. The flags return required a transcontinental trip: It was recovered in Washington State. On Sept. 11, 2001, three firefighters Billy Eisengrein, George Johnson and Dan McWilliams removed the flag and its pole from the Star of America, a yacht that had been moored at the North Cove marina on the Hudson River. Thomas E. Franklin, a photographer for The Record, a newspaper in northern New Jersey, captured the moment when it was raised at ground zero. MANILA Mornings in the Philippines reveal bodies dumped outside slums. Averaging 13 a day, nearly 2,000 in the last two months, the bodies are hung with cardboard labels: purse snatcher, drug pusher, addict. The authorities decline to investigate. These are the casualties of a controversial crusade against crime that was the subject of the recent spat between the countrys new president, Rodrigo Duterte, and Barack Obama, which devolved into crude insults (by Mr. Duterte) and canceled meetings (by Mr. Obama). These corpses arent the only ones in the spotlight. Mr. Duterte, making good on a campaign promise, has ordered the mummified body of our former dictator, Ferdinand E. Marcos, transferred this month to the Cemetery of Heroes here in Manila, the capital. Marcos is notorious as one of historys great kleptocrats. After declaring martial law in 1972, during his final term, he suspended democracy until his ouster 14 years later. His regime is remembered for its summary executions, torture, rape, enforced disappearances, censorship, electoral fraud and epic corruption. The Marcos family is believed to have plundered as much as $10 billion, only a portion of which has been recovered. This heros burial is the latest move to whitewash the Marcos regimes crimes. In the years since the dictators death in 1989, his family has returned from exile unpunished. His wife, Imelda, is a congresswoman; their daughter is a governor. This year, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., known as Bongbong, a former senator, lost by less than a percentage point in his bid for the vice presidency, which is elected separately. His supporters say that the fathers sins are not the sons, but the younger Mr. Marcos is reported to have blocked attempts by the government to retrieve the missing wealth while at the same time campaigning to regain power and gild his fathers legacy. To the Editor: Re In the Middle East, a Covert Friendship? (editorial, Aug. 28): You correctly note that ties between Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab states and Israel are not only improving but could evolve into a more explicit alliance. And you rightly ask, Where does this leave the Palestinians? We at Commanders for Israels Security comprising more than 225 generals and their Mossad, Shin Bet and police equivalents agree with your assessment that at present neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians show interest in serious peace talks. We have therefore developed a Security First plan that addresses Israels current security needs while preserving conditions for the future pursuit of our strategic objective: a two-state solution. We have presented our plan to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Knesset leaders and the Israeli public, and, through our American partner, Israel Policy Forum, to American policy makers and the public. We hope that Jerusalem embraces it, thus resolving the dilemma you identified. That would encourage regional players to more openly engage with Israel without betraying the Palestinians. As always, American support will be essential. PARIS One of the most popular items on the social networks as Nicolas Sarkozy opened his new presidential bid last month was a video of an interview he gave to the French news channel BFM-TV on March 8, 2012. Still president then, Mr. Sarkozy was seeking a second five-year term, with Francois Hollande running against him. Asked whether he would quit politics if he lost, he firmly answered, Yes. The journalist was taken aback. Will you quit politics? he asked again, incredulous. You can ask me a third time, the president shot back. Im telling you: yes. Four years later, Sarko is back. Just like his interviewer that day, nobody in France quite believed that this man, who admitted as early as 2003 that he thought all the time about running for president, could live without the adrenaline of a life in politics. In 2012, it took him a few months to recover from defeat, but soon enough he was maneuvering to take back his right-wing party, renaming it Les Republicains and putting his people in charge. In a book published last January, La France pour la vie (France Forever), a seemingly humbled Mr. Sarkozy acknowledged a few mistakes and tried to portray himself as a new man. This was the first stage of his campaign. A second book, published last week, Tout pour la France (All for France), provided a springboard for formally starting his candidacy for the presidential election next April. Written in July in the privacy of the Riviera mansion owned by his wife, Carla Bruni, so hurriedly that spelling mistakes were overlooked, the book argues that Nicolas Sarkozy had to come back, for one simple reason: France needs him, just as France needed Charles de Gaulle in 1958. In a way, this is reassuring: He has not changed. The image of a humbled, apologetic politician was short-lived all the more so since it did him no favors in the opinion polls. Better go back to the original. The Sarko we knew is back, with a vengeance. LONDON Last month, the outgoing secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, published a memo following up the inquiry he instigated last year into the death, nearly 55 years ago, of one of his predecessors in the role, the Swedish diplomat Dag Hammarskjold. Hammarskjold perished, along with his entourage, just after midnight on Sept. 18, 1961, when his chartered airliner crashed near Ndola, in what was then Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia. More than half a century on, the cause of the crash remains unknown. Two recent commissions the first of which I led, the second set up by the United Nations General Assembly in response to my commissions findings appear to have been stalled by a United States agency that may hold critical evidence pointing to the cause of the disaster. I would again urge all member states to continue their search for relevant documents and information, and to review for potential disclosure information which remains classified or undisclosed for other reasons, Mr. Ban said in his statement. Mr. Ban also released a new denial from the United States mission to the United Nations that any record exists of United States Air Force aircraft being present at Ndola on the night of the crash. Given that, as my commission reported, two American planes were visibly parked on the airport tarmac, and since Don Gaylor, then the United States air attache in Pretoria, wrote in his memoirs that he had been ordered by the Pentagon to go meet Hammarskjold at Ndola, this new denial appears to signal a retreat from an initial acknowledgment to my commission by the National Security Agency that it held relevant intercept records. The giant panda has long languished on the endangered species list, but an international monitoring group finally had some good news for it over the weekend. The pandas were removed from the endangered list, along with the Tibetan antelope. But the monitors issued a grim warning about the fate of the eastern gorilla, which has moved one step closer to extinction. It also said that the plains zebra has become near threatened because of hunting. The new designations were announced on Sunday in a report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, a leading environmental group that tracks the status of plant and animal species. Giant pandas are national symbol in China, their native habitat, and the I.U.C.N. said on Sunday that efforts by the Chinese government to reverse the slide of the population, using forest protection and reforestation, had been successful. The pandas new designation is vulnerable. A South Carolina police lieutenant who fatally shot a 19-year-old man during an attempted drug arrest in a Hardees parking lot last year has been fired from his job, the police chief said. The officer contended that he was acting in self-defense when the suspect drove a car toward him. John Covington, the chief of the police in Seneca, S.C., said in an emailed statement on Monday that Lt. Mark Tiller had been terminated from his position on the force. In the statement, which was sent over the weekend to local media including The State newspaper, Chief Covington gave no reason for the termination and declined to answer further questions on what he called a personnel matter. The lieutenants final day on the payroll will be Sept. 9, he said. Lt. Tiller had been on paid administrative leave since the shooting, which took place on July 26, 2015, during a sting operation targeting a 19-year-old man, Zachary Hammond, and a female companion. Police officers suspected a drug deal, and Lt. Tiller used his patrol car to block Mr. Hammonds vehicle when he pulled into a Hardees parking lot. Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump, with Labor Day behind them, enter the final stretch of the grueling 2016 presidential campaign on Tuesday as they emerge from Ohio and fan out across the country. Mrs. Clinton began using a different plane this week, accompanied by her press corps, who until now had been flying separately. Mrs. Clinton, who went about nine months without addressing her traveling press corps, answered questions for nearly half an hour on Monday on topics including the controversy over her use of a private email server while secretary of state and whether Russia was trying to meddle in the elections. Mr. Trump held his own news conference aboard his personal plane, which reporters are occasionally allowed to fly on. But reporters do not travel with him full time, and that practice diverges from the approach taken by previous nominees who submitted to having a protective pool of journalists follow them everywhere. The fact that it makes news when the candidates let reporters travel on their planes says something about the state of this election. After a seven-week break, Congress returns on Tuesday for a pre-election session that is likely to produce substantial political positioning without much substantive accomplishment. Republicans do not seem inclined to try anything bold to shake up the election landscape, despite concerns that the presidential candidacy of Donald J. Trump is threatening their control of the Senate, and to a lesser degree, the House. They do seem to want to put Democrats on the spot over the Obama administrations payment of $400 million in cash to the Iranian government in January, however, and they plan to vote on legislation regarding the exchange, and to convene a committee hearing to explore the circumstances of the payment. The chief thing that Congress must do is find a way to fund the government after the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, since the House and Senate again failed to advance the annual spending bills. That legislation is also likely to include money to combat the Zika virus and possibly some relief funds for flooding in Louisiana, as lawmakers try to take advantage of one last opportunity to get their priorities enacted. As usual, the spending negotiations could get messy. Some Republicans would prefer to fund the government into next year to avoid a postelection, lame-duck session, while Democrats, anticipating a good election cycle, want to extend spending only into December. The dispute could raise the prospect of a government shutdown just weeks before the election on Nov. 8. But Senator Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican and majority leader, has vowed to avoid such disruptions and would no doubt take steps to do so given the number of vulnerable Senate seats Republicans are defending. Side Orders Hot potato. Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus want to impeach John A. Koskinen, the Internal Revenue Service commissioner, for what they claim was unfair scrutiny of Tea Party groups seeking tax-exempt status, even though he wasnt yet commissioner. (Republicans also charge that he was complicit in the destruction of I.R.S. emails pertinent to the alleged targeting, and that he lied about the emails in testimony to Congress.) But Speaker Paul D. Ryan is not keen on the idea of impeachment, so it is possible the kitchen will 86 this item. Freedom fries. A bill that would allow the Saudi Arabian government to be held responsible in American courts for any role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks passed the Senate before the recess. Because the Obama administration and many Republicans dont like this bill, expect this order not to be filled, even though there will be pressure from victims families. Donald J. Trumps campaign released an open letter on Tuesday from about 90 retired generals and military officials endorsing his presidential campaign, urging a long overdue course correction in our national security posture. The letter in support of Mr. Trump, signed by 88 retired military figures, comes as the campaign prepares for a week focused on national security, with a forum hosted by NBC and MSNBC on Wednesday evening alongside Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee. The 2016 election affords the American people an urgently needed opportunity to make a long overdue course correction in our national security posture and policy, the letter states. As retired senior leaders of Americas military, we believe that such a change can only be made by someone who has not been deeply involved with, and substantially responsible for, the hollowing out of our military and the burgeoning threats facing our country around the world, the generals and admirals write. For this reason, we support Donald Trumps candidacy to be our next commander in chief. Mr. Hartley opened Ohio field offices for Mr. Kasich ahead of his victory in the states presidential primary. But he did not want to work for Mr. Trump, citing loyalty as a member of Mr. Kasichs team. Youre a family, and if somebody attacks your family and says awful things about your family, are you inclined to help that person? he asked, alluding to Mr. Trump. The answer is no. To be honest, the Trump people did this to themselves. Mr. Kasich, who is seen as already laying the groundwork for a 2020 presidential race, was in New Hampshire late last month to thank supporters. He had finished second in the states primary in February. Members of his close-knit team said the governor had not commanded them not to work for Mr. Trump. One Kasich ally, Matt Borges, the chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, who criticized Mr. Trump during the convention, is now supportive of the nominee. You play the hand youre dealt and go out and do the best you can, Mr. Borges said. We will have an effort thats parallel to any other presidential effort weve had in Ohio, he added. Mr. Trumps small paid staff in the state is led by Bob Paduchik, a veteran of President George W. Bushs 2004 re-election race. It is filled out by a handful of operatives from second-tier Ohio Republican officeholders. WASHINGTON For much of the time that Hillary Clinton has run for president, her chief adversary on Capitol Hill has been Representative Trey Gowdy, Republican of South Carolina and chairman of the special committee that investigated the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya. The committee completed its investigation with a scathing attack on Mrs. Clinton in June, but found no new evidence of wrongdoing. And now she has a new tormentor: Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah. The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, announced on July 5 that the bureau would recommend that Mrs. Clinton not be charged in connection with her use of a private email account when she was secretary of state, but gave a detailed account of what he called her extremely careless handling of classified information. House Republicans rejected Mr. Comeys conclusion, and Mr. Chaffetz, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has taken the lead in trying to do something about it. Just five days after Mr. Comeys announcement, Mr. Chaffetz asked the Justice Department to open an inquiry into whether Mrs. Clinton had lied in October when she testified before the Benghazi committee. The Republicans request has been met with silence from the department and the F.B.I., and prosecutors have shown no indication they are willing to open another investigation. Legal experts have said that making a perjury case against Mrs. Clinton would be difficult. TAMPA, Fla. Hillary Clinton addressed conspiracy theories about an allergy attack she had on Monday with humor and an extra dose of antihistamines. The advice, of course, is just dont talk for a day or two, she told reporters on a Tuesday flight to campaign events in Tampa. Yeah, thats not going to happen. Not going to happen. Mrs. Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, struggled to get through an outdoor Labor Day rally in Cleveland on Monday when she was struck by a coughing attack. The spell took on a life of its own in conservative media, where alarming tales about Mrs. Clintons health have long been bubbling. Kellyanne Conway, the campaign manager for Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee, used the coughing to accuse Mrs. Clinton of a lack of transparency, saying she must be allergic to media. COLLECTIVE MADNESS Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people." WASHINGTON Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, sent a letter on Tuesday to Speaker Paul D. Ryan urging him to bar Republicans from using hacked documents in the campaign, arguing that defending our democracy is more important than any advantage or disadvantage in this election. Ms. Pelosi, calling the hack into Democratic servers, apparently by Russians, an unprecedented assault on the sanctity of our democratic process, said Mr. Ryan should not condone either party using materials originating from the cybercrime. Democrats and Republicans must present a united front in the face of Russias attempts to tamper with the will of the American people, Ms. Pelosi wrote. Government officials have concluded that two Russian intelligence agencies, the F.S.B. and the G.R.U., are responsible for the hacking into the Democratic National Committee and the House Democratic campaign arm. Emails and other internal documents have been published by a hacker calling himself Guccifer 2.0, who is believed to be tied to the Russian intelligence agencies. Like most wealthy Zimbabweans, Mr. Mugabe goes abroad for better medical care than he can get at home. That narrows the circle of Zimbabweans who are truly informed about his health and it means that every time he flies, especially on extended or unannounced trips outside Africa, the rumors fly as well, often claiming that he has died or is at deaths door. There will never be a thing called a vacuum, so if the officials are not giving information, rumors will fill the vacuum, said Tendai Biti, the president of an opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party. The feelings of uncertainty are a byproduct of a very unstable environment created by the president himself. But this is not unique to Zimbabwe, added Mr. Biti, who served as finance minister in a coalition government from 2009 to 2013. Mobutu used to die so many times. In Uganda, Idi Amin used to die so many times. In China, Chairman Mao used to die so many times. In Russia, how many times did Brezhnev used to die? This time, the speculation about Mr. Mugabe seemed to have more foundation than usual. He had been scheduled to go to Ghana in mid-August to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Millennium Excellence Foundation for helping to liberate Zimbabwe, but canceled the trip at the last minute. When he resurfaced several days later at an agricultural show, his appearance merely fanned the flames. He seemed to stumble at one point and was apparently wearing slippers rather than shoes with his suit. Mr. Mugabe appeared to bounce back, flying to Kenya on Aug. 26 for a conference, followed by a meeting in Swaziland. After that, however, UM1s movements began raising alarms in some circles. The plane left Swaziland a day before the conference ended, spent three hours in Harare and then took off again for Dubai, arriving on the morning of Aug. 31. Days of silence ensued. The government said only that Mr. Mugabe was in the Middle East on official business. The Sept. 1 headline on the independent newspaper NewsDay read, Mystery Over Mugabe Trip. KABUL, Afghanistan Col. Ahmad Salangi, 47, had flourished in the new Afghan national police force, rising to become the deputy commander of one of the most important security districts in the capital. He rushed to the scene on Monday afternoon to help direct the response after a bomb exploded outside the Defense Ministry in Kabul, and was among the dozens killed when another Taliban attacker detonated a bomb in the crowd. The Taliban clearly calibrated the double bombing to catch senior figures like Colonel Salangi. Among the 40 or so fatalities were at least two generals, several colonels and many soldiers and police officers. But there were also poor street vendors and other civilians, killed because they happened to be in an area that is at once the perimeter of power, close to the Afghan Defense Ministry and presidential palace, and the site of a crowded market for fresh vegetables, money exchangers and secondhand shoes. That conflict also dovetailed with a civil war in Laos. Beginning in the late 1940s, early 1950s, the Pathet Lao, the Communists, were drawing most of their young leaders from students studying in Hanoi like the most famous president, Kaysone Phomvihane and after the 1954 conflict at Dien Bien Phu, where France lost and agreed to independence for their Indochinese holdings. So the Pathet Lao held these two provinces in the northeast along Vietnam: Houaphan and Phongsaly. These were the Pathet Lao provinces, and then you had the royalists, the U.S.-backed government, holding the Mekong Valley and other provinces. From there, the Pathet Lao, backed by the Vietnamese Communists, basically sought to move Laos into a Communist sphere of influence. What does President Obamas coming visit mean for Laos? For the government, I think its an important visit. My interpretation is that the Lao government also wants to maintain close connections with Western countries. There seems to be some evidence that the recent party congress in January 2016 represented a bit of a shift away from closer connections with China and back towards Vietnam. Id be cautious of oversimplifying that; I think Laos in fact tries to maintain connections with all of the different powers, so Laos would have a complex approach to those questions, not simply pivoting from one to the other in an either-or fashion. But part of that is Laos also tries to maintain close connections with countries like Japan, which is still the largest donor in the country, and with Western countries. So in that sense I think Laos would be interested in what a U.S. role in Southeast Asia could look like. Its a little bit interesting compared to Cambodia, which is seen as being much more closely connected to China. Its evident in Cambodias approach to the South China Sea, where theyve really been the most belligerent state in terms of blocking resolutions from Asean on the South China Sea. Laos is in a difficult position on this issue clearly they cant afford to completely alienate China, but theyre taking a bit of a different approach than Cambodia, is my sense. Laos is still trying to argue for resolutions coming out of Asean on the South China Sea, even if they might be very watered-down resolutions. The Vietnam War the bombing, specifically took a huge toll on Laos, and leftover bombs are still killing people in the Laotian countryside. How might Obamas presence in the country, or whatever he might say there, affect that issue of unexploded ordnance, or UXO? It might be a bit less what he says and more the increased amount of aid that could go into UXO removal. It is still a pretty significant issue in many areas of the countryside. In the places where I work and do fieldwork, there are some companies that are doing UXO clearance. But theres still a huge amount of land area affected by this, so I think increased U.S. support for UXO clearance would also be quite welcome. 1. SOUNDBITE (English) Barack Obama, US President: We strengthen our alliances; with our new defence guidelines, Japan and the United States will do even more together to uphold regional security. Weve expanded our collaboration with the Republic of Korea, including our missile defence, to counter North Korean threats. Today, I will be meeting with President Park to reaffirm our unbreakable alliance and to insist that the international community will remain united so that North Korea understands that its provocations will only continue to deepen its isolation. With our US marines now rotating through Australia we can respond even faster to regional challenges. With our new access agreement with the Philippines, our militaries are closer than they have been in decades. 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Barack Obama, US President: We have worked to build a constructive relationship with China. Our two governments continue to have serious differences in important areas. The United States will remain unwavering in our support for universal human rights but at the same time we have shown that we can work together to advance mutual interests. The United States and China are engaged across more areas than ever before - from preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon to our shared commitment to denuclearising the Korean Peninsula, to our historic leadership together on climate change. 3. SOUNDBITE (English) Barack Obama, US President: And across the region, including in the East and South China seas, the United States will continue to fly and sail and operate wherever international law allows and support the right of all countries to do the same. We will stand with our partners and allies in upholding fundamental interests, among them freedom of navigation and overflight, lawful commerce thats not impeded and peaceful resolution of disputes. Thats the security that we see. 4. SOUNDBITE (English) Barack Obama, US President: We will have to cooperate better together to stop terrorist attacks and to prevent the spread of the worlds most dangerous weapons. We will have to work together to avoid the worst effects of climate change. We have to work together to stop the horror of human trafficking and end the outrage of modern-day slavery. These are areas where we seek deeper cooperation. KARACHI, Pakistan The yellow-walled, colonial-era central prison in Karachi houses some of the citys hardened criminals, but one of its inmates, Waseem Akhtar, still has a day job: Hes the mayor of Pakistans biggest and most tumultuous city. Mr. Akhtar won election here on Aug. 24, a victory that was largely symbolic. Mr. Akhtar belongs to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, or M.Q.M., a political group that led this chaotic, violent city for decades through a combination of political guile, violence and intimidation. Now, the party is struggling in the face of a crackdown by the military, which has put Mr. Akhtars electoral victory in the cross hairs. The mayor continues to languish behind bars, and it remains unclear when he might be able to perform his official duties. Mr. Akhtar took the oath in a park last Tuesday, transported there from his prison cell for the occasion. There are a lot of issues in the city, but with full determination and motivation, we will resolve all of them, he said at his inauguration. I will seek my freedom from the court. Otherwise, I will run the city by setting up an office in my prison cell. SYDNEY, Australia An Australian senator who accepted a donation from a Chinese company and used it to cover travel expenses has provoked charges in the country that foreign donors are buying political influence. Over the last week, the senator, Sam Dastyari of the opposition Labor Party, has faced intense pressure over the payment, which amounted to about $1,270. Mr. Dastyari told Parliament last week that the Top Education Institute, a private Chinese company, made the payment, which he later said he had used to pay some travel bills. He publicly declared the funds on a disclosure register for politicians, and his acceptance of them was not illegal. At a news conference on Tuesday, he apologized for accepting the payment, saying that he had only ever acted in the national interest and the public interest. LONDON Anjem Choudary, one of Britains best known Islamist activists, was sentenced on Tuesday to five years and six months in prison after having been convicted in July of encouraging support for the Islamic State. Mr. Choudary, 49, had been found guilty of promoting the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, in speeches and messages posted online, which is a crime under Britains antiterrorism laws. Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, 33, an associate of Mr. Choudarys, received the same sentence. Along with Mr. Choudary, Mr. Rahman was convicted on July 28 of having violated British laws after a four-week trial at the Old Bailey, Londons central criminal court. The verdict was not announced until mid-August for legal reasons. Mr. Choudarys supporters shouted the Arabic phrase Allahu akbar, or God is great, as he was sent to jail in London. LONDON A few days from now, the anniversary of one of the most enduring international mysteries will slide by, hardly likely to be marked by those in Britain and the United States accused of withholding the secret clues to its resolution. On the night of Sept. 17-18, 1961, an airplane carrying Dag Hammarskjold, the United Nations secretary general, crashed near the airport in Ndola in what was then called Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia. Mr. Hammarskjold was on a mission to end a secessionist war next door in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. All 16 people aboard the plane perished. Read the original New York Times article on the plane crash here. Since then, a succession of inquiries have suggested that pilot error was what one investigator called the default explanation. But the supposition was never conclusively proved, while other theories including the possibility that Mr. Hammarskjolds DC-6B was brought down have never been definitively ruled out. That enigmatic stalemate seemed destined to persist as Britain and the United States stonewalled requests by the current secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, to divulge sensitive material. LONDON Caught in what appeared to be a classic British newspaper expose, an opposition lawmaker on Tuesday relinquished leadership of an influential parliamentary committee over allegations that he paid for the services of prostitutes and offered to buy drugs for them. Two days after The Sunday Mirror published a report about the encounter involving the lawmaker, Keith Vaz, a prominent member of the Labour Party and a former minister for Europe, Mr. Vaz said it was in the best interest of the Home Affairs Select Committee, which he led, for its work to be conducted without any distractions whatsoever. I am genuinely sorry that recent events make it impossible for this to happen if I remain chair, Mr. Vaz said in a statement. After the allegations were published on Sunday, Mr. Vaz argued that it was deeply disturbing that a national newspaper should have paid individuals to have acted in this way, adding that he would refer the report to his lawyers. BEIRUT, Lebanon As Muslims from around the world head toward Mecca for the annual hajj pilgrimage, Saudi Arabia and Iran have escalated their sectarian rivalry over which country represents the true Islam. Iran unleashed the first barb Monday, when the countrys supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, accused Saudi Arabia of deliberately killing pilgrims during last years hajj. He called for the worlds Muslims to reconsider Saudi control of the holy sites. Saudi Arabia answered back on Tuesday, when the kingdoms top cleric said that Irans leaders are not Muslims. The spat underlines the deep religious and strategic rivalry between Shiite-led Iran and the Sunni royal family of Saudi Arabia that has put the two Middle Eastern powers on opposite sides of the wars in Yemen and Syria, and has them competing to undermine each others influence in the region. TEL AVIV Eight months after the attack, the killers face hovered over Dizengoff Street again, full of menace and malevolence. On a giant outdoor screen, the killer, Nashat Melhem, talked about death and cursed the Jews as evening strollers passed by, a chilling voice from beyond the grave that was taped on his mobile phone before he opened fire on the crowds gathered here on New Years Day. His video presence was part of a guerrilla art exhibition unveiled in Tel Aviv on Monday night, an installation meant to capture the faces of terrorism in a country hardened to the sort of violence now shocking Europe and America. The exhibition featured three adjoining videos projected on a billboard, the first showing Mr. Melhem, the second showing security forces responding to his attack, and the third showing the bar he shot up, portrayed full of life again, as if nothing had happened. Secretary of State John Kerry suggested recently that less attention should be paid to terrorism in order to keep it in perspective. But Ronny Douek, the philanthropist and social activist who sponsored the video display, wants Israel, and by extension the world, to stare it in the face. Only by confronting terrorism, he said, can society address it. Despite dark conspiracy theories in Turkey linking the United States government to the military coup attempt on July 15, Turkish leaders see no signs of American complicity with the plotters, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Tuesday. But Mr. Kurtulmus also said it was the expectation of the people of Turkey that the American judicial process would lead to the extradition of the person they regard as the chief plotter, Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric living in Pennsylvania who is a rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. We know that it will take time, Mr. Kurtulmus said in an interview with The New York Times editorial board. It is not the business of the policy makers, it is the business of the judiciary system. He said the Turkish judicial officials had sent 80 boxes of files to their counterparts in the United States containing information to support their contention that Mr. Gulen was implicated in the coup attempt and should be extradited to face charges in Turkey. Meet Chihira Junco, a tourist greeter at a shopping mall in Tokyo. In her crisp blue button-down shirt, white blazer and pinstripe skirt, she stands in sensible pumps behind a counter in Aqua City Odaiba on Tokyo Bay, dispensing directions to local sites and shops in Japanese, Chinese and English. She is not, however, human. Ms. Junco if you can use an honorific for a machine joins an incipient group of androids springing up around Japan. There are also Yumeko, a receptionist at the Hen-na Hotel, a robot-operated boutique in Nagasaki, and Matsukoloid, who appears in a popular television variety show with her human doppelganger, Matsuko Deluxe. Toshiba, the electronics company, developed Chihira Junco in collaboration with technology labs at several Japanese universities. She and four other androids cost 10 million (about $93,000) to produce, but only Ms. Junco Chihira? is currently out in public, while the others remain with their maker. The company said it planned to develop 1,000 more androids in 2017. By 2020, it hopes to make 10,000 a year. At Aqua City, which is popular with tourists and where a small replica of the Statue of Liberty stands in a park near the mall entrance, visitors can tap on a screen to ask Chihira questions like Where are you from? (I was born in Mizuho-machi, Nishitama-gun in Tokyo. I now live alone in the Minato ward) and Whats your favorite food? (I especially like watermelons and Japanese pears). AMERICAN REVOLUTIONS A Continental History, 1750-1804 By Alan Taylor Illustrated. 681 pp. W.W. Norton & Company. $37.50. In 2001 Alan Taylor, one of Americas most distinguished historians and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, published a well-received book entitled American Colonies, which he regarded as a half step toward a more global (and less national) sensibility for our place in time. That book challenged the traditional focus on the English and British contributions to American colonial history by including the other cultures Native American, African, Spanish, French, Dutch and even Russian that were involved in the settlements that eventually became the United States. Taylor says American Revolutions is a sequel to that earlier work. Most books on the Revolution, he writes, focus on the national story of the United States. . . . That approach demotes neighboring empires and native peoples to bit players and minor obstacles to inevitable American expansion. In this volume, Taylor seeks to set the American Revolution in the broadest possible context not only involving it in all the struggles of the rival European empires in the New World, but making the native peoples and the African slaves more important, indeed, even central, to it. It was not just the Eastern Seaboards protesting taxes that explains the Revolution. Conflicts in the trans-Appalachian west, Taylor contends, need to be linked with resistance to parliamentary taxes as equal halves of a constitutional crisis that disrupted the British Empire in North America. The several small uprisings that took place in the Spanish Empire in the early 1780s may not have greatly affected the course of the American Revolution, but the slave rebellion on the French island of Saint-Domingue in the 1790s certainly did; indeed, Taylor seems to have selected the end date, 1804, in his subtitle in order to include the creation of the second republic in the Americas, Haiti. Still, the American upheaval was so gory, so violent and above all so consequential for the world that it necessarily overwhelms all these other revolutions. Taylor really wants to show that the Revolution was anything but the good, orderly, restrained and successful event usually depicted in popular history books and films. By broadening the context, he aims to desacralize the Revolution, to explode popular myths about it and to rip aside the mantle of nobility, dignity and heroism that he believes has too long covered up its sordid and bloody reality. Its a safe bet that advisers to Hillary Clinton spend more time than they would like batting away the suggestion that their candidate must be hiding something. This is what Joel Benenson, Clintons chief campaign strategist, had to do on CNN one morning in late August, when the anchor Chris Cuomo confronted him with questions about Clintons meetings with donors to the Clinton Foundation, in the years when she was secretary of state. The subtext was whether Clinton had been forthcoming enough about the influence of her private connections on her exercise of official power. Benenson, like any good surrogate, tried to change the subject. Lets talk about Donald Trump, he said. The man who said, I will release my tax returns if I run for president. Who knows what well find if he releases those tax returns? I think if you want to be hammering somebody in this race day in and day out about disclosure, he added, it should be Trump. Political campaigning is, on one level, the business of transforming the private into the public, and many candidates in American history have accused their rivals of shirking this responsibility of failing to disclose enough even as they have closely guarded their own secrets. Still, there is something particularly striking about the resolute nondisclosures of Clinton and Trump, two of the most thoroughly known quantities in American public life. Trump is an unscripted and relentless media presence even as he refuses to make the most standard disclosure for a presidential candidate (those tax returns). Clinton, conversely, has opened her finances for inspection but hasnt held a news conference in nine months and has gone to unusual lengths to protect her privacy while holding public office (that email server). Its not clear that the voters will pick the candidate they see as more open. But the argument matters, because a degree of disclosure is fundamental to governance in this country, and its possible if not historically inevitable that a secretive campaign will give way to a secretive presidency. Clinton and Trump, in different ways, are questioning the basic assumption of transparency and perhaps undermining it. Until the middle of the 20th century, the finances and personal lives of presidential candidates were typically treated as their own business. Then came Richard Nixon. Selected as Dwight Eisenhowers vice-presidential nominee in 1952, he was dogged by headlines about a Secret Rich Mens Trust Fund created to pay for his travel and other campaign-related expenses. Eisenhower asked Nixon to make a public accounting of all the money. Nixon gave a speech in which he argued that the fund allowed him to run for office as a man of modest means. His family had received one gift, he allowed: a dog his daughter named Checkers. There were interesting conversations with Sharon Maguire, the director, about how [Bridget] might have gotten her life together shes a little bit more mature, shes progressed professionally, moved into property ownership in London and has achieved her ideal weight. And still her life is a relative mess. I like the message in that: that we can tick off the boxes, and yet we still dont quite have it together. And thats pretty much the truth of growing up, isnt it? You had that experience a bit. When did you realize that you wanted out of the Hollywood circuit? I dont think anybody is born with the faculties to know how to navigate what comes with it. One of the things that I learned is that I didnt know how to establish a healthy balance. I felt an obligation to say yes, whenever I was asked to do something on behalf of my work. And the years go by, and your family and friends understand that you have responsibilities, but theyre going to have the barbecue anyway, and the wedding anyway, and the babys having a birthday anyway. I just missed out on a lot of things. I needed to stop so I could reassess and figure out how to allow for myself in my own life. I needed to grow as a person in ways that didnt revolve around my work. Were you nervous making that leap, taking a break? I think not doing it was more frightening. One thing that changed in your time away is that there is now a bigger platform for both criticism and support, via social media. A male critic for Variety wrote a review of the trailer for Bridget Joness Baby, in which he talked about your looks in a way that many people felt was sexist, and they didnt hesitate to call him out for it. Did that response feel helpful or empowering? Im grateful for that experience and that he chose to do what he did, because it brought me to a place where it was necessary that I stand up for myself. Which is not me. Its not in my nature to publicly explain myself. And it was probably time. Were you surprised at the level of scrutiny your appearance received in the last few years? Was that a consideration in coming back? At the end of Haight Street, we arrived at the entrance of Golden Gate Park, and a small playground where my dad reminisced about my eighth birthday party an event I dont remember and how he realized only once he had brought 10 children to the spot that he didnt know how to keep track of us. He recalled the famous bands, including the Grateful Dead, that used to play on the grassy hill nearby. I had another olfactory moment that transported me back to second grade patchouli, incense, smoke and, again, eucalyptus wafting from an encampment of young men and women lounging on blankets in the grass, strumming guitars. Of course they asked us for money. My 11-year-old daughter, weary from the long day and walk, and no stranger to the homeless in New York, could take it no longer. I hate this city, she said. Despite San Franciscos many charms, this modern variation of the homeless flower children of the 60s was beyond annoying to my world-weary traveler. Holding her hand, I recognized her unease. It was exactly what Id felt about the hippies a half-century ago, when I had wished my dad was more like the father in the Nancy Drew books I had begun to read in second grade a lawyer in the fictional small town of River Heights. As I watched my children clambering on swings, I recalled Joan Didions horrifying scenes from San Francisco in her collection of essays, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, the drugged-out hippie kids, the 5-year-olds fed acid by derelict parents in what one described as High Kindergarten. My parents didnt do drugs and I did not recognize the smell wafting in the streets until someone lit up a joint in high school. Our mother was almost in sole charge of three small children, and while a poetic spirit herself, was never overly enamored of the Beat scene. She spent the San Francisco year pushing a one-year-old in a stroller around spaced-out hippies and up the steep hills. Eventually my parents divorced. My father now says he regrets our journey. He cant really explain why he decided to chuck it all and head west. He remembers that, at the time, it just made sense. Our trip to that revolutionary place brought back a flood of memories of a gone world. The Summer of Love aimed at nothing less than the wholesale transformation of American society. In some ways, the flower children and their fellow travelers, like my parents, succeeded in fashioning a more tolerant America. In many other ways, they failed. But for the 7-year-old child on the train, the journey toward the Summer of Love, and not the destination, was what changed everything. The most powerful chart of the last decade: Globalisation as an Elephant. @BrankoMilan pic.twitter.com/txJ4x1NJvO (((Toby Nangle))) (@toby_n) April 28, 2016 A chart has been making the rounds among the wonky corners of the internet. Nicknamed the elephant chart because of its peculiar shape, it has a big hump showing rising incomes for the worlds middle class, leading into a deep trough for the worlds upper middle class, then rising into another peak for the worlds wealthiest. To make the shape more obvious, some people on the internet have even drawn feet and ears on the graph. But it isnt meant to provoke laughs. Made by Branko Milanovic, an economics professor at the City University of New York, the chart forcefully shows how incomes for the middle class have risen in emerging economies like China and fallen for the lower middle class in advanced economies like the United States. Its a remarkable chart. But what would those contours look like for just the United States? While weve seen many reports on the income growth for the richest 1 percent of Americans, most prominently through the academic work of Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez, much less has been written about the dynamics of the bottom 99 percent. Using data from the Census Bureau, weve created our own charts for all adults for each state and for the country as a whole between 1990 and 2014. United States change in income for each percentile +75% +50% Between 1990-2000, income growth was widely shared between rich and poor +25% 1990-2014 no change But between 2000-2014, the poor and middle class gave up all their gains -30% 5 50 99 Poorer Income Percentile Richer United States +75% change in income for each percentile +50% Between 1990-2000, income growth was widely shared between rich and poor +25% 1990-2014 no change But between 2000-2014, the poor and middle class gave up all their gains -30% 5 50 99 Income Percentile Poorer Richer United States change in income for each percentile +75% +50% Between 1990-2000, income growth was widely shared between rich and poor +25% 1990-2014 no change But between 2000-2014, the poor and middle class gave up all their gains -30% 5 50 99 Poorer Income Percentile Richer The contours of inequality in the United States are much different than the worlds. These charts illustrate something that is all too familiar: the past 24 years of depressed incomes for the countrys middle class and poor. When you change the yardsticks to include changes only from the 1990s, the rising tide lifts all boats maxim that economists like to talk about seems to hold true. Incomes grew almost across the board, poor to rich; they sag only for the upper middle class. Unfortunately, a receding tide can do the opposite. This is largely what occurred between 2000 and 2014, a period in which the country weathered one mild recession and one calamitous one. But those are national averages. They mask the more interesting stories that occur across state lines. By looking at the state level, were delineating the rich and poor within that state. Which is to say that the 90th percentile of personal income in Arkansas will not be the same as the 90th percentile of personal income in New York. This calculation helps us avoid making unfair comparisons of income between places with different costs of living. In contrast with income trends nationally, poorer states like Louisiana and Mississippi saw their incomes rise, especially among lower-income percentiles. These states contours are the most elephant-like. Arkansas Louisiana Montana Mississippi Kentucky +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile Oklahoma South Dakota West Virginia Wyoming +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile Arkansas Kentucky +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile Louisiana Mississippi +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile Montana Oklahoma +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile South Dakota West Virginia +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile Wyoming +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 Percentile Arkansas Louisiana Montana Mississippi Kentucky +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile Oklahoma South Dakota West Virginia Wyoming +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile For a few states like Iowa and Minnesota, income gains were more even. Except for the rich. Colorado Iowa Minnesota North Dakota Nebraska +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile Colorado Iowa Minnesota North Dakota +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile Nebraska +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 Percentile Colorado Iowa +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile Minnesota North Dakota +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile Nebraska +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 Percentile Other states, like Missouri and Wisconsin, saw less change. Arizona Illinois Kansas Missouri Utah Wisconsin Pennsylvania Virginia +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile Arizona Illinois Kansas Missouri Pennsylvania +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile Utah Wisconsin Virginia +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile Arizona Illinois +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile Kansas Missouri +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile Wisconsin Virginia +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile In a handful of states, like Texas and Michigan, the middle class really sagged. These were the only percentiles that saw no growth or even negative income growth. Alabama Idaho Indiana New Mexico Ohio South Carolina Tennessee Texas Michigan +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile Alabama Idaho Indiana New Mexico Michigan +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile Ohio South Carolina Tennessee Texas +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile Alabama Idaho +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile Indiana Michigan +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile Texas +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 Percentile In nearly 20 other states, the poor and middle class in particular have seen their incomes fall, some precipitously (like in Connecticut and Massachusetts). Alaska Alaska California California Connecticut Connecticut Delaware Delaware Florida Florida Hawaii Hawaii Massachusetts Massachusetts Georgia Georgia +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 5 50 50 99 99 5 5 50 50 99 99 5 5 50 50 99 99 5 5 50 50 99 99 Percentile Maine Maine North Carolina North Carolina Nevada Nevada New York New York New Hampshire New Hampshire Maryland Maryland New Jersey New Jersey Oregon Oregon +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 5 50 50 99 99 5 5 50 50 99 99 5 5 50 50 99 99 5 5 50 50 99 99 Percentile Rhode Island Vermont Washington +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile California Connecticut +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile Florida Georgia +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile Hawaii Massachusetts +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile Maine Maryland +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile Nevada New Jersey +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile New York Oregon +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 50 99 5 50 99 Percentile Alaska California Connecticut Delaware +75% +75% +75% +50% +50% +50% +25% +25% +25% no change no change no change -30% -30% -30% 5 5 5 50 50 50 99 99 99 5 5 5 50 50 50 99 99 99 5 5 5 50 50 50 99 99 99 5 5 5 50 50 50 99 99 99 Percentile Percentile Percentile Maine North Carolina New Hampshire Maryland +75% +75% +50% +50% +25% +25% no change no change -30% -30% 5 5 5 50 50 50 99 99 99 5 5 5 50 50 50 99 99 99 5 5 5 50 50 50 99 99 99 5 5 5 50 50 50 99 99 99 Percentile Florida Hawaii Massachusetts Georgia +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 5 50 50 99 99 5 5 50 50 99 99 5 5 50 50 99 99 5 5 50 50 99 99 Percentile Nevada New York New Jersey Oregon +75% +50% +25% no change -30% 5 5 50 50 99 99 5 5 50 50 99 99 5 5 50 50 99 99 5 5 50 50 99 99 Percentile The 1990s were a period of growth for most states up and down the income ladder, with large gains in percentage terms for the poor. The last 14 years have been a period of decline, with the largest losses concentrated among the poor. To a certain extent, the large moves at the bottom of the distribution reflect that the poor earn very little to begin with, so even small changes in the level of income resulted in major percentage swings. With the incomes of the top 1 percent, on the other hand, it takes considerable increased income to get the same percentage gains. That makes those percentage changes in income for each state even more eye-popping. Whats also intriguing about these charts is that between 1990 and 2014, the states that we tend to think of as economic engines for the country -- like New York, California and New Jersey -- are the ones where inequality has grown the most. By contrast, states that have lagged economically -- like Arkansas and Mississippi -- are the ones where economic inequality has narrowed the most. Other research has found a similar result. In a working paper, Roy van der Weide, an economist at the World Bank, and Mr. Milanovic calculated that the five most unequal states in the 1960s were Mississippi, South Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama and North Carolina. By 2010, the most unequal states were California, New York, Texas, Arizona and Georgia. The geography of U.S. inequality has really changed, Mr. Milanovic said. The most unequal places are no longer the South but the West, the Southwest and New York. It some ways, it makes sense that some of Americas most productive states have become its most unequal. As the countrys competitive advantage leans ever more heavily on highly skilled services, the returns for those skills grow greater. And as those skilled workers gravitate toward urban areas where they can be most productive, the states with those urban areas are going to have a class of people whose incomes grow out of touch with everyone elses. What about the South? How did it become so much more equal? One reason is that the poor in the South were very poor indeed. In terms of income levels, were one of the poorest, said Greg Albrecht, chief economist for Louisianas legislative fiscal office. Between us and Mississippi, we fight for the bottom. That means that federally funded social programs will have a greater impact on the lower percentiles of income in the South in percentage terms. And in fact, between 1990 and 2000, the two states with the greatest reductions in poverty rate were Mississippi at 10.8 percentage points and Louisiana at 6.4. Another factor is migration. One difficulty in studying these data is that its hard to know whether peoples incomes are changing or whether poorer people are being swapped out for richer ones and vice versa. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities produced a chart that compares the average income of people moving into a state with the incomes of people in households who didnt. While the income definition they used is different than that of the census, it showed that the average pretax household income of people who moved to California was $12,600 less than the household income of people who were already living there. In Massachusetts, that difference was nearly $14,000. For California the decline in incomes may be because it has the largest inflow of undocumented immigrants in the country. But Jason Sisney, chief deputy legislative analyst for the California Legislature, suggests that extraordinarily high housing costs may be involved as well. As housing costs rise in coastal cities, low-skilled or middle-skilled workers have been pushed to inland cities, where pay is lower but life is more affordable. Essentially, people are trading higher wages for cheaper rents. Higher-income coastal areas are the slowest growing, while inland areas are by and large our faster-growing areas, Mr. Sisney said. That frames how we think that income distribution has shifted. For Louisiana, the migration story is reversed. According to Mr. Albrecht, Hurricane Katrina displaced many people, most of them poor. They moved to other cities like Houston or Atlanta and never came back. Katrina took low-income-percentile people out of the state and left us with higher-income-percentile people, Mr. Albrecht said. Other states literally struck oil. North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana, for example, have ties to a shale oil boom that has done a lot to reduce inequality. In the case of South Dakota and Montana, it has reduced the decline of incomes that other states experienced between 2000 and 2014. In North Dakota, in the heart of shale mining country, it generally made everyone richer. On Sept. 24, 2015, hundreds, maybe thousands, of pilgrims were crushed to death at the hajj in Mecca. Rashid Siddiqui survived.This is his story of that day. On Sept. 24, 2015, hundreds, maybe thousands, of pilgrims were crushed to death at the hajj in Mecca. Rashid Siddiqui survived.This is his story of that day. Im dying. Im dying. I need water. Im dying. Im dying. I need water. Rashid Siddiqui kept hearing those words from his fellow Muslim pilgrims lying mangled on the ground in 118-degree heat, under a searing Saudi sun. Barefoot, topless and dazed, Mr. Siddiqui had somehow escaped being crushed by the surging crowd. It was Sept. 24, 2015, the third morning of the hajj, the annual five-day pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, by millions of Muslims from around the world. By some estimates, it was the deadliest day in hajj history and one of the worst accidents in the world in decades. An American from Marietta, an Atlanta suburb, Mr. Siddiqui, 42, had been walking through a sprawling valley of tens of thousands of pilgrim tents. His destination: Jamarat Bridge, where pilgrims throw pebbles at three large pillars in a ritual symbolizing the stoning of the devil. He was less than a mile from the bridge when the crush began. Rashid Siddiqui at his home in Marietta, Ga. Melissa Golden for The New York Times Hundreds, and probably thousands, died. But nearly a year later, the Saudi authorities have yet to explain exactly how the disaster happened. Nor have they provided what is widely considered an accurate death toll. Many of the victims came from Iran, Saudi Arabias bitter rival, creating a new source of acrimony between the countries that led Irans government to bar its citizens from the hajj this year. Deadly crowd crushes once frequently marred the hajj, especially around the Jamarat Bridge. The Saudis sought to prevent such calamities by expanding the bridge after more than 360 people died near it in 2006. After the expansion, there were no major episodes until last year. A count by The Associated Press, derived from official and state news reports of the dead from 36 countries with pilgrims in Mecca, found that at least 2,400 people had died. The Saudi authorities, however, still give an official death toll of 769. Sub-Saharan Africa Deaths, by region of origin Southeast Asia Middle East and North Africa South Asia Iran 368 135 334 464 1,103 Sub-Saharan Africa Deaths, by region of origin Southeast Asia Middle East and North Africa South Asia Iran 135 334 368 464 1,103 Deaths, by region of origin Sub-Saharan Africa 1,103 Iran 464 South Asia 368 Middle East and North Africa 334 Southeast Asia 135 Deaths, by region of origin Sub-Saharan Africa 1,103 Iran 464 South Asia 368 Middle East and North Africa 334 Southeast Asia 135 The New York Times | Source: The Associated Press Despite years of accusations of mismanagement, the Saudi royal family has repeatedly insisted on its right to supervise the hajj. All Muslims who are physically and financially able to complete the hajj are obliged to do so at least once in their lives. Under Saudi Arabias ruling royal family, which regards the king as the custodian of Islams holiest sites, the number of pilgrims coming from outside the country has grown more than tenfold since World War II. In recent years, two million to three million people have attended the annual hajj. 2012 3.2 million Pilgrims at the hajj, in millions Last year 2 million 1996 00 05 10 2015 2012 3.2 million Pilgrims at the hajj, in millions Last year 2 million 1996 00 05 10 2015 2012 3.2 million Last year 2 million Pilgrims at the hajj, in millions 1996 00 05 10 2015 The New York Times | Source: Saudi Central Department of Statistics and Information The Saudis have poured tens of billions of dollars into expanding pilgrimage accommodations that often cater to the wealthy, who can pay upward of $2,700 a night for choice hotel rooms overlooking the Kaaba, the black cube that is considered to be the House of God, at the center of Islams holiest mosque in Mecca. Muslim pilgrims prayed around the Kaaba during the hajj in 2014. Muhammad Hamed/Reuters But even the wealthiest pilgrims spend part of the pilgrimage in an enormous tent city, known as Mina, where Muslims are grouped according to the part of the world they come from. Mr. Siddiqui awoke before dawn inside a brightly lit tent. He had stayed up late, chatting and drinking tea with friends, then slept on a floor mattress beside dozens of other pilgrims separated by canvas partitions. Despite the hour, Mr. Siddiqui said, he felt fresh and strong. Two weeks earlier, he had been working as a building information manager in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, but he quit and decided at the last minute to make his first hajj. Secrets of the Kingdom Articles in this series explore the power and influence of Saudi Arabia. Read more He was surprised to find the pilgrimage relaxing almost like a vacation, he said not the grueling trek that some hajj veterans had warned him to expect. Dressed in sandals and his ihram, the mens hajj clothing of two white, cloth wraps, Mr. Siddiqui washed, prayed and ate breakfast from the tents buffet with his companions, relishing the communal experience. He hung his official identification card around his neck and placed valuables in his belt pack a wallet, a local cellphone and a smartphone to call his wife, Farah, who was at home with their two children in Marietta. About 6:30, Mr. Siddiqui exited his tent, ready to follow the footsteps taken by the Prophet Muhammad more than a millennium ago. Walking with a group that included his brother-in-law, his brother-in-laws wife and a few friends, Mr. Siddiqui stopped often to take photographs he would post on Facebook. He was awed by the diversity of the crowd, with people of varying skin colors from all over the world, carrying the flags of their countries. In what seemed like a hiccup, they were stopped by guards who had closed their intended route, for reasons yet to be made clear. Looking around, Mr. Siddiqui said, they saw a lot of people taking an alternate route via an overpass, and they decided to follow. Mr. Siddiqui took this photograph just before he and his companions were stopped. Rashid Siddiqui Mr. Siddiqui video-called his wife to share the excitement. It was past midnight in Atlanta, and she had just finished preparing for Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, celebrated to signify the end of the hajj. Watching the hajj over the phone, Mrs. Siddiqui said, she was blinded by what she saw a sunlit sea of people in white. Mr. Siddiqui then caught up to his brother-in-law and turned the camera on him. Her brother seemed intent on his destination, Mrs. Siddiqui said, and stopped just long enough to greet her with a salute. Her sister-in-law also smiled and waved. It would be the last time she would see or speak with her brother and his wife. Their path began to narrow. Mr. Siddiqui fell in behind his companions as they shifted to single file, hands on one anothers shoulders. He felt pressure from the crowd building as more people poured in. Mr. Siddiqui took this photograph about 15 minutes before the crush. Rashid Siddiqui Up ahead, Mr. Siddiqui noticed pilgrims scrambling up tall fences on both sides of the road, apparently attempting to escape something. He had a moment to wonder whether he should do the same. He never had the chance. Mr. Siddiqui was pushed, fell two or three times and lost the rest of his group. People around him were chanting final prayers to God. The crush felt like being caught in a wave. Bodies pressed in on him from every direction. He could move only as the crowd moved. There was not an inch of space left. The push and pull of the crush stripped the clothing off many pilgrims, leaving them naked as they struggled to climb the fences. I was really scared at that time, Mr. Siddiqui said. All he could think about was his family. Muslims from outside Saudi Arabia seeking to perform the hajj are required by the Saudi hajj ministry to travel in organized groups, through private travel agencies or national delegations. Because Mr. Siddiqui, an American citizen of Indian origin, was already in Saudi Arabia, he was able to register through a local agency in Riyadh that caters to people of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin. He traveled to Mecca from Riyadh on a bus chartered by his travel agency. He began his pilgrimage at the Kaaba, then went to Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah before heading to Jamarat. Most pilgrims, including Mr. Siddiqui, traveled through the Mina valley on foot to reach Jamarat. Tents in Mina are reserved through the hajj ministry, which organizes pilgrims according to where they come from. Mr. Siddiquis tent was in an area for locals and South Asians, about two miles from the Jamarat Bridge. His planned route along Street 511 was blocked, so his group took Street 406, which turns into Street 204. The crush took place near the intersection of Street 204 and Street 223. The Saudi authorities said that the accident happened when two large groups of pilgrims converged. An analysis of photographs of the aftermath showed that the crush probably extended over at least 1,000 feet of Street 204. The New York Times | Source: Map composite from satellite imagery from NASA/USGS Landsat 8 and DigitalGlobe via Google Earth The crush has been described as a stampede, but most victims in such crowd disasters are actually crushed, not trampled, by pressures that are strong enough to bend steel fences. In a crush, the flow of the crowd slips beyond the control of the individuals in it. Waves of pressure ripple through, lifting people off the ground, sometimes carrying them more than 10 feet. The main cause of death in a crowd crush is asphyxiation. People can be squeezed so tightly that they suffocate standing in place. Miraculously, perhaps 15 minutes after it began, Mr. Siddiqui found himself pushed backward and out of the crush. He had lost his sandals, the top of his ihram and his identification card, but he was not injured. Pilgrims in nearby tents were throwing water bottles into the crowd. Survivors scrambled for them, drinking the water and pouring it over themselves. Someone turned on a hose. Streams of water flowed down the street. Mr. Siddiqui was dehydrated and dazed, with others dying in front of him. I dont know how I survived, he said. For two hours, Mr. Siddiqui watched the police move slowly toward him. They were helping the seriously hurt, leaving other survivors and the dead behind. When an officer finally reached Mr. Siddiqui, he was told to continue the pilgrimage. Mr. Siddiqui cried as he struggled, climbing over the bodies of the dead, to move a few hundred feet closer to the Jamarat Bridge. He had lost his sense of direction, and the soles of his feet burned on the pavement. I was walking like a dead man, he said. Mr. Siddiqui was trying to reach these ramps leading to the Jamarat Bridge on the morning of the crush. Mohammed Al-Shaikh/Agence France-Presse Getty Images When he finally reached the bridge, a woman handed him stones to throw and an umbrella for shade. Maybe she had taken pity on him because he was half dressed and dirty, but they did not exchange any words. She just seemed to know that he was in need. He could not even muster a thank you. Mr. Siddiqui completed the Jamarat ritual, but does not remember how many stones he threw. By the time he got back to his tent, he knew that his in-laws were missing. He had called them repeatedly but got no answer. They did not show up at the tent that night. For the next four days, in between completing the final rituals of the hajj, Mr. Siddiqui walked for hours in the heat to hospitals and clinics. There was no information. The Saudi authorities did not provide a centralized place to assist people searching for loved ones, Mr. Siddiqui contended, so he checked each facility every day. He walked 90 minutes to a morgue, but guards refused to let anyone in. Mr. Siddiqui canceled his flight home to Atlanta and, with his sister-in-laws family, continued searching after the hajj ended. Every day, they repeated the same routine and found nothing. In all, Mr. Siddiqui said, about 20 members of his family became involved in the search. They followed every lead, often finding only rumors and misinformation. When they heard, for example, that the Indian consulate had a list of all of the missing pilgrims from India, Mr. Siddiqui and his family headed there immediately. But Mr. Siddiquis brother-in-law and wife were not on the list. Other relatives of victims were also frustrated. Syed Shahzad Azhar of Pakistan lost his mother and brother. It took nine months and DNA tests to confirm his mothers death. But Mustafizur Rahman, who lost his sister Sabina in the crush, said Saudi hospital employees had been very helpful. He flew from his home in Bangladesh to Mecca and identified her two weeks later in a photograph while reviewing a slide show of photographs of the dead. Victims of the crush were laid out in the street. Associated Press Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, a spokesman for the Saudi Interior Ministry, said after the crush that it appeared to have been caused by two large groups of pilgrims converging onto Street 204. Iran, which had the most deaths, blamed what it has described as Saudi mismanagement and criminal negligence. The victims were murdered by the Saudis, Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Sept. 5. The authorities in Indonesia, which sends more pilgrims to the hajj than any other country and lost nearly 130 citizens in the disaster, also expressed frustration with the Saudi response, saying they were not given full access to victims and hospitals for days. Pakistan, a close ally of Saudi Arabia and large recipient of Saudi aid, has played down the Pakistani death toll and warned the local news media to avoid criticizing hajj management. The Muslim Public Affairs Council, an American policy advocacy group, released a statement calling for an independent investigation, and transparency from Saudi Arabia. The group also suggested that the Saudi authorities relinquish management of the hajj to international control, an idea the Saudis have rejected. In June, the Saudis announced that electronic bracelets would be given to pilgrims this year to ease identification. The Saudi hajj ministry has also imposed new restrictions on when pilgrims can perform the stoning at Jamarat Bridge. But despite promising to conduct an investigation, the ministry has not disclosed any findings related to the crush. IRAQ IRAN SAUDI ARABIA EGYPT OMAN Riyadh Mecca RED SEA ARABIAN SEA SUDAN YEMEN IRAQ IRAN SAUDI ARABIA EGYPT OMAN Riyadh Mecca RED SEA ARABIAN SEA SUDAN YEMEN IRAQ IRAN SAUDI ARABIA OMAN Riyadh EGYPT Mecca RED SEA SUDAN ARABIAN SEA YEMEN ETHIOPIA SOMALIA The New York Times Exhausted and eager to reunite with his wife and children, Mr. Siddiqui returned to Riyadh about 10 days after the crush. A few days later, he flew back to Atlanta while other relatives searched on. Fifteen days after the crush, Mr. Siddiquis brother-in-law was confirmed dead at a morgue in Mina by his younger brother. He was buried in Mina a half an hour later. After another two weeks, his brother-in-laws wife was confirmed dead based on photographic evidence of her remains. By that time, she had been buried by the Saudi authorities. The couple left behind two young children, who now live with their extended family in India. Since the crush, Mr. Siddiqui has questioned every action he took that changed his life. When he returned home, he researched what had happened, mapping out the routes he took and writing about his experience. Eventually, he said, he stopped looking for answers. I was there, he said of the crush, but I cannot tell you exactly the cause. Sources: Mina tent organization from Umm Al-Qura University. Hajj management information from the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah website. Crowd crush dynamics based on The Causes and Prevention of Crowd Disasters, by John J. Fruin. Hajj history from Guests of God: Pilgrimage and Politics in the Islamic World, by Robert R. Bianchi, and Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam, edited by Venetia Porter. As this years 11th graders at Auburn High School were learning to talk and take their first steps, U.S. soldiers prepared to launch into combat as the country prepared for war in the aftermath of 9/11. Fifteen years after the attacks and 25 years after the Gulf War, these students will have a chance to chronicle the lives of veterans through the Auburn High School Veterans Project. About 200 students from Auburn High School will interview and record the stories of veterans who served in the past 25 years next week to submit to the Library of Congress Veterans History Project, an initiative that collects the personal accounts of American war veterans. The AHS Veterans Project, which began two years ago, started as an effort to honor area veterans and preserve their stories. Though the project has focused mostly on Vietnam War veterans in the past, Dr. Blake Busbin, founder of the project and AP History teacher at AHS, said this years focus on those who served in the last 25 years will give students a historical context to understand the current political climate of the nation. These students have essentially lived during a state of war for their entire lives without necessarily sitting down to reflect on what that means, said Busbin. This presents them a chance to really sit down and talk to someone who has actively defended our nation as well as other nations against terror throughout their entire lives. Two additional teachers will also have their students conduct interviews this fall, including IB history teachers Bentley Stephenson and Erica Vatella. During the two weeks leading up to the interviews, students will study the 1980s to current-day affairs of the U.S. and its role in international events, focusing on the Middle East. For a lot of these students, this is very much recent history, history that theyve lived during but perhaps dont have that much of a knowledge about, Busbin said. So were really wanting to do something special to not only recognize and honor these veterans who have served during this time but also to help the students better understand where the United States is today, and why, by studying this most recent period of military history. During the interviews, two to three students will be paired up with a veteran for a 45-minute to an hour-and-a-half interview. The students will prepare questions beforehand and study interview techniques such as active listening and asking follow up questions. Afterward, the interviews will be transcribed and submitted to the Library of Congress. Busbin said one thing that has consistently stood out to him over the years during the interviews is the compassion his students show to the veterans. Some of these stories are not easy to share, Busbin said. So seeing the students perhaps step out of what you would normally consider the maturity level for a high school studentbeing able to show that compassion is always very impressive. Watching the student perhaps offer a tissue or reach their hand out. Vatella said the experience allows students to connect to history in a way a textbook would never allow. Its a really great opportunity for students to do something related to content, but something thats really authentic, Vatella said. I think its a really good opportunity for them to speak first-hand with people who experienced the events and to do something that seems real that is different from what they normally do in school. While being an active learning resource for students, Busbin said the interviews also honor and show appreciation to veterans. Every single year, we have a couple of veterans who have never shared their story before, but who were perhaps encouraged by a family member to come in and share their story, Busbin said. Its always neat to see them with not necessarily a sense of relief, but a sense of, I am able to accept this is who I am and what Ive done is appreciated by others. Lt. Col. Jon Segars, a veteran and former teacher at AHS, was a part of the first year of interviews as a facilitator and interviewee. For Seagars, the interview was a unique experience. It was a neat experience because, although I remember it like it was yesterday, the students that were interviewing me werent even born when it happened, Seagars said, remembering being deployed to Kuwait. So, you kind of had to fill in the history lesson then and say, Heres what was going on. I was fresh out of college (when I went to Kuwait), so this was my perspective on what was going on, and I think they kind of identified with that. So far, 20 veterans have signed up for interview times, but Busbin hopes to have at least 75 veterans by the time interviews come around. Busbin is also making an effort this year to capture the voice of veterans at Auburn University. Whether students or faculty, Busbin is reaching out to the universitys Veterans Resource Center and ROTC departments to record the lives of veterans connected to the university. Auburn University has had such a crucial role in welcoming home veterans and helping them transition to civilian life that we think its very important for us to also honor those voices who are both students and faculty at Auburn University, because thats a unique part of our community is helping transition these veterans, Busbin said. Interviews will be held in the Auburn High School library on Sept. 15 and 16. Veterans can sign up for an interview at 8 a.m., 9:45 a.m., noon and 1:45 p.m. either day. For more information or to sign up, call Busbin at 334-887-4970 or email him at wbbusbin@auburnschools.org. In Orange, ITT Techs classrooms and hallways were silent Tuesday at the companys lone Orange County campus. Classes had been set to start next week. ITT Education Services announced Monday that it plans to close all of its 130 Technical Institutes in the country. The announcement comes about two weeks after the U.S. Department of Education saidit would ban the company from enrolling students who use federal aid and would impose more stringent financial oversight. ITT blamed the companys closure on the Education Departments most recent sanctions in a news release Tuesday. The company, which operates one campus in Orange, and several others in Southern California, will not offer a September quarter, according to the statement. Scott Voigt, 46, of Anaheim stood just off campus. He had two quarters to go toward his bachelors degree in project management, and now must transfer his credits elsewhere. Although the U.S. Department of Education is taking steps to ease transfers into local colleges, ITT Techs students may have some trouble continuing their education. Representatives of Cal State Fullerton, UCI and Fullerton College said their schools would not accept units from ITT, which wasnt accredited in a way that satisfied the mainstream campuses. Voigt said he had been satisfied with his education at ITT. Its so sudden that we dont know what to do, Voigt said. I knew exactly what I was getting in to for them (U.S. officials) to take the accreditation away is ridiculous. RELATED: What will people miss about ITT Tech closing? Their commercials The company laid off more than 8,000 employees. The remaining staff will focus on helping current students find alternatives. The scene was also quiet at ITT Technical Institutes Corona campus Tuesday morning. The doors to the visitor entrance were locked at the school, located in a six-story office building. Deon Sims, a 36-year-old Perris resident, arrived to try to find out if the credits he earned will be valid at another school. He said he is halfway toward an associates degree in network systems administration. He said he knew the school was having accreditation issues, but had no idea the problems were so bad. He found out the college was shutting its campuses on the TV news Tuesday morning. Its just a shock, he said. I feel sorry for people like me who are scrambling, who have to find a new place to get an education. I feel sorry for those who are out of a job. Sims, who is unemployed, said he isnt angry but hopes there is better oversight of for-profit schools to ensure they remain financially strong. He said hes confident he can repay his government loans that helped pay for his studies. Its pretty heartbreaking, he said. The best I can do is land on my feet and move forward somewhere else. The Education Deparments sanctions came after the schools accreditor, the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, determined that ITT had not met and was unlikely to meet its criteria for accreditation, the department said in a news release. The department began monitoring ITTs finances more closely in 2014 and again in 2016 after concerns about ITTs administrative capacity, organizational integrity, financial viability and ability to serve students, the department said in a news release. The company called the departments actions unwarranted and unconstitutional in its Sept. 6 release, adding that ITT was not given a hearing or an appeal. We have always carefully managed expenses to align with our enrollments, the release says. A side effect of one of the worst droughts in Califonia history is the spread of cyanobacteria better known as blue-green algae. This year, 32 lakes, streams and reservoirs throughout the state have been hit with significant algae blooms, the California Water Quality Monitoring Council reported last week. The incidents, primarily spawned by low water levels, excessive heat and high nutrient content, have prompted temporary shutdowns to boating, swimming and other activities or led to advisory warnings. In Southern California, Silverwood Lake in San Bernardino County, plus Lake Elsinore and Canyon Lake in Riverside County underwent temporary closures in late July and early August. Officials there continue to warn the public to avoid contact with areas that still appear to be affected. Pyramid Lake in Los Angeles County has been closed for much of the summer. The phenomenon is not a new one, as it has occurred in other areas of the U.S. undergoing drought, and Australia has an ongoing nationwide problem. Statewide, the California Department of Public Health on Aug. 24 issued an advisory that cautioned recreation water users to avoid contact with the algae. These blooms can produce toxins that pose a health risk if the affected water is touched or swallowed, State Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Smith announced. Since June of this year, blue-green algae blooms have been identified in more than two dozen freshwater reservoirs, lakes and streams statewide. Here is some help understanding the impact. What is blue-green algae? It is not really algae, though it behaves similarly. It is cyanobacteria, a category of microscopic bacteria commonly found in water bodies. Cyanobacteria are prone to bloom in slow-moving warm water with high levels of nutrients. Such blooms can expand, shrink and disappear quickly based on conditions. As the bacteria deteriorate, they form scum, film or mats on the surface that can appear bluish green, white or brown. The material collects along shorelines and boat ramps, and its spores cling to solid matter. The toxic cyanobacteria found most commonly in California are microcystins, anatoxin-a and cylindrospermopsin. What is harmful about it? At moderate to high levels of toxicity, blue-green algae can be very harmful to humans, though not usually life-threatening. The state public health department cautions that contact can cause eye irritation, skin rashes, mouth ulcers, vomiting and diarrhea as well as cold- and flu-like symptoms. Children and adults can experience serious injuries to the liver, kidney and nervous system from swallowing such water. How do we avoid contact? The safest approach is to stay out of lakes, streams, ponds and coves where blue-green algae is present or when entering water. Children and pets should be kept away from water bodies with the bacteria and from blue-green algae washed ashore. Water from areas with a bloom should not be consumed or used for cooking. Purification methods do not make the water safe for consumption. What do I do if it gets on my body? Rinse off quickly using fresh, clean water. Health officials advise those with symptoms to contact a medical professional immediately. What happens if my pet drinks it? Call a veterinarian immediately. Consumption has been known to kill dogs, cats, horses, cows and birds. Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, blood in stools or black tarry stools, pale mucous membranes, jaundice, seizures, disorientation, coma, shock, excessive secretions, neurological signs, skin discoloration and difficulty breathing. How is blue-green algae poisoning treated? According to health sources, there is no antidote. Immediate medical care for the treatment of symptoms is imperative for humans and veterinary care is required for animals. If I catch a fish in a lake with blue-green algae, is it safe to eat? The state Public Health Department advises people to avoid or limit consumption of fish caught from such habitats. If fish are consumed, the guts and liver should be removed and filets should be thoroughly rinsed with clean drinking water before cooking. If I see blue-green algae, to whom do I report it? If a bloom is spotted that you think might not have already been reported, contact local county health or water agencies. Contact the writer: 951-368-9690 or michaelwilliams@scng.com ANAHEIM It may have been mostly walking, but for Ellen Lem, its completing the journey that mattered. At 89 years old, Lem is believed to be the oldest person to have ever participated the Walt Disney Co.s running series, runDisney, race. Friday, with two of her four daughters, she completed the 5K around Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. It was fantastic, Lem said, a shiny medal around her neck and her two daughters, Caroline and Isabella, on each side. I didnt think I could make it, but I made it. For Lem, a 40-year Anaheim resident, taking part in one of Disneys signature running events was just another cherry on top of a long fulfilling life and a way to encourage her children and great grandchildren to never give up on life. Lems journey began in Taunggyi, Burma, where she was born and raised during a time the British occupied the Southeast Asian nation. We had a great life, she said. Being of Chinese ancestral descent and living in Burma, we were exposed to Chinese, Burmese and English lifestyle. During World War II, the Japanese army invaded Burma, forcing her family to flee with just the clothes on our backs to Southern China, she said. Her family lived in a refugee camp for three years. She was 18. It was very difficult, she said. Food was rationed. We had no water to shower, no hot water, no running water, no beds to sleep in I remember laying down and feeling the rocks, she said. We slept on straw mats. After the war, she joined the Red Cross in China as an interpreter. A correspondence then love letters with a Chinese-American serviceman in the U.S. Army Air Corps brought her to the United States. She joined her eventual husband in Wisconsin, where his family were the only Chinese Americans living in Oshkosh, she said. Chinese immigrants in the mid-west were rare, she said, and to find one with a British accent was even rarer. The University of Wisconsin asked her to give a presentation. So did community colleges and local womens groups. I did lectures all over and talked about my background, what it was like to be a refugee and my upbringing, she said. After marriage, the Lems moved out west. Her husband worked for McDonnell Douglas in Long Beach and she raised four children. They settled in Anaheim in the early 1970s. As a way to keep active, she started walking around Juarez Park. Every day. Every morning. Four times around the 9.5-acre park. She walks. And walks fast. Older ladies who want to walk with her cant keep up. Her kids cant, either. I think I went around twice, Caroline Lem, Ellens second oldest child, said. She left me in the dust. Caroline Lem said the family thought itd be a fun change in scenery for her to walk around Disneyland where Lem worked in the late 1970s and early 1980s so they signed her up for the runDisney event. Disney noticed her older age and contacted her. A video crew tracked Ellens walk around the park with her two daughters, Caroline and Isabella, on each side. When she crossed the finish line, she raised her arms in victory. After all shes been through living through war, being relocated as a refugee and bouncing around China Lems positive outlook never wavered. I tell my children and grandchildren, life is beautiful, she said. If you have the courage and think positive, you can live a long time and enjoy life. Contact the writer: 714-796-2443 or jpimentel@ocregister.com or follow on Twitter @OCDisney Re: Orange Highs Tim the Turkey dies; 2 Chapman students sentenced for incident that led to injuries [News, Sept. 2]: Shame on the two Chapman students who stole Tim the Turkey from Orange High and not only tortured the poor thing but ended up causing its euthanization. I dont consider myself a bird enthusiast but what happened to the turkey was not only cruel and inhumane but also borderline psychotic. These students injured the bird by, among other things, pulling out feathers, breaking a toe, puncturing its esophagus, removing part of its tail and inflicting abrasions on its head and chest severe enough to cause breathing problems, then turned it loose and caused it a slow death over five months. The attorney for these guys makes the comment that these are fine young men and they have a bright future. Not my definition of fine young men by a long shot. Linda Smith Lake Forest Skew the vote I just hate voter registration drives. If people are not interested or informed enough to join the political process on their own, then no good will come of it. Knowing that illegal immigration is nefariously endorsed by the Left merely to achieve more Democratic votes, the scheme is only enhanced by preventing identification at the polls. It is a crime to enter or overstay a visa, but it is a felony to vote in an election as a non-citizen, even if our current attorney general will not prosecute. Mr. Trump might consider softening his roundup policy for visa overstays, provided the immigrant has not otherwise broken our laws, but what if he registers and casts a ballot while in this country? The integrity of our election system should be made a top campaign priority in November along with the 10 points Trump mentioned in his immigration address. It makes some shoot-from-the-hip political sense for Trump to add to his immigration policy that those illegals wishing to avoid repatriation must at least be certain the registrar cannot attribute any votes to them. Roger Knipp Fountain Valley Id like to see your data Re: Speech leaves GOP Latinos wary [News, Sept. 2]: To have such an assuredly large font on the headline, the Register must have queried at least 90 percent of GOP Latinos. I think not. Earle McNeil San Clemente The Register is keeping tabs on young startups created in Orange County. Heres the latest from three new firms looking to pioneer change in the auto mechanic, education and real estate industries. Loil No more waiting at the greasy auto shops, says company founder Zachary Martin, a lifelong Newport Beach resident. He says his on-demand service app Loil means less overhead (no brick-and-mortar leases, payroll, etc.), so savings can be passed to the customers and mechanics. About Loil: The app provides auto maintenance directly to the customer. Initially, Loil is providing just oil changes, but Martin plans to expand services in the near future. The company claims to save people time and money by going directly to their vehicle (home or office) for service. Prices range from $38 for a conventional oil change, while a full-synthetic change runs $60. Loil also offers yearly packages, including synthetic oil changes for a year for $99. Company HQ: Costa Mesa How will you handle the oil on-site? We ensure that no oil will touch the ground. Beneath each car, Loil mechanics lay down a large mat thats specifically designed to trap oils if any does drop. The technicians also have large oil pans to capture any rogue drops. Any car you wouldnt touch? Well service any car, Martin says, even fleets. Any city you wouldnt visit (too far, etc.): Loil will stick to Orange County so that operations can remain efficient, punctual and worth it, he says. Number of employees: Six. Every mechanic undergoes extensive background checks and must have years of experience at a formal auto shop or automotive trade school. Financial backing: Martin says he received a small pre-seed investment but has mostly bootstrapped the startup himself. We are raising more money soon and also likely joining an accelerator, he says. When will it be available to consumers: Tentatively Sept. 9 Website: LoilApp.com Taskcot.com The company makes meeting management and collaboration software for universities. The technology allows schools to manage documents, directory, committees, and allocate tasks to ensure deadlines are met. It also develops a network that connects university leaders across the nation, aimed at improving transparency and accountability. The founders of Taskcot were student leaders and recent graduates of Cal State Fullerton. Company HQ: Huntington Beach and Cork, Ireland Founders: Rohullah Latif, CEO; Nick Ajluni, vice president of operations; Nick Guillen, vice president of marketing; and Danny ODonovan, chief technology officer. Number of employees: Taskcots team is comprised of 10 leaders, five of whom are developers. Financial backing (who helped fund the project): Taskcot has received and undisclosed amount of Angel funding that will take our operation to market prior to raising any venture capital funding. Availability: Taskcot launched this year and is active in 12 organizations. The team is in the process of rolling out the platform to universities in California. Implementation is free. The companys pricing structure is based on a per user, per month basis. Clients using Taskcot: University College Cork, National University Ireland Galway, Department of Education, IT Cork, Cork Smart Gateway, Cork Innovates, Cork County Council, Buscemi LLC, Universal Maintenance. Website: www.taskcot.com Anything else youd like to share: The founders of Taskcot all resigned from their corporate jobs this year and are on a mission to revolutionize universities across the nation. TEKOA TEKOA is a hybrid real estate brokerage firm. The company touts a platform that enhances the homebuying and selling process by providing data analytics, sophisticated marketing, and our user dashboard which gives buyers and sellers real time insight into every detail of their transaction. TEKOA agents are paid full salaries and receive bonuses based on customer satisfaction. The result is that we give buyers and sellers the best of both tech and customer service. Where is the brokerage based? TEKOA was founded and is based in Irvine. When was it founded? December 2015; the startup recently completed a venture financing round from a related firm, venture capitalist Tamarisc (also based in Irvine) Launched: July 2016 Who is managing the brokerage and where do they hail from? TEKOA has two co-founders: Philip Bates, investor and chairman, and Daniel Jenkins, president. Bates previously worked at Colony Capital in Los Angeles and with Mark Ferraro at TMC America, an Irvine-based real estate private equity fund. Jenkins joined TMC Group in 2014, overseeing the acquisition of residential real estate assets throughout Orange County. How many employees? TEKOA has seven full-time employees and a number of advisers that work in real estate technology, investment and development across Southern California. All are based in Irvine. From where does the name Tekoa derive? The name started from our love of the Hawaiian word KOA which means Warrior and is strong Hawaiian Tree. We also like words that begin with T so we then landed on the word Tekoa which means to trumpet, to tell out and unite people. Aside from the strong meanings, we really liked how the word sounded. Website: mytekoa.com Our protagonists are not without blame. But the baby was 9 months old, the husband was off to war in Iraq and the wife somehow overlooked the simple fact that her debit card number had changed. Sherri Hutton kept driving Orange Countys toll roads, her FasTrak beeping unaware that it was no longer linked to any bank account. And so the violations piled up. For six months. More than a decade ago. Each pass through the toll plaza digging the hole deeper and she passed through toll plazas more than 300 times. With penalties and late fees, the bill ultimately exceeded $49,000. There have been wage garnishments. Seizures of money from her bank account. The Toll Roads has recovered $10,765, plus a $5,000 credit she won by joining a class-action lawsuit against the Toll Roads alleging constitutionally excessive fines back in 2010. So the Toll Roads recouped nearly $16,000 for what would have been about $2,000 in tolls had the transponder been configured properly, Hutton figures. An extremely expensive lesson, but one she thought had ended five years ago. She was wrong. Lawyers for the Toll Roads are back in court, trying to collect the remaining $31,450 they say Hutton owes. So far, they are not amenable to compromise. I am gobsmacked by this, said Catherine F. Lukehart, the Santa Ana attorney who stepped in last month when Hutton appealed to the Orange County Bar Association for help. She will never ever be able to repay this. Attorney Richard Marshack, whose Marshack Hayes LLP specializes in bankruptcy law, is outraged. Heres a woman with three kids, whose husband is active-duty military, he said. A $49,000 Toll Roads violation? Thats just crazy absolutely crazy. Toll Roads penalties are just unconscionable. The law needs to be changed to prevent this. In court papers, the Toll Roads argues that Huttons fines grew so large because she failed to respond to dozens of notices and made no voluntary payments on the judgment. The Toll Roads said it couldnt comment on the specifics of this case, but welcomed the opportunity to explain its processes in general. Violation notices typically get a customers attention, allowing us to resolve the issues and reinstate those accounts, Toll Roads CEO Mike Kraman said by email. In rare instances, we encounter truly egregious violators who do not respond and resist all of our efforts to resolve their unpaid tolls. Since the tolls collected go towards paying off the debt incurred to build the roads, we must be a good steward of the public trust and we do pursue payment from these habitual violators. These efforts include taking the matter all the way to civil judgment; however, these cases are rare. Here, then, is a tortured tale of toll road torment and a warning to us all. THE BEGINNING Hutton has an easy laugh, which has come in handy lately. She grew up in Capistrano Beach, works in human resources administration and met her husband in San Clemente shortly after he returned from deployment in Japan. Michael P. Hutton now a master sergeant in the Marine Corps, who served two tours of duty in Iraq and two tours in Afghanistan grew up as the only boy in a household with four sisters. Chivalry didnt die with him, said his wife: Hes an old-fashioned kind of guy, patriotic, passionate, a hard worker with a big heart. She had two sons from a previous marriage, and he embraced them as his own. They married in 2002. Their son was born in January 2005. Michael Hutton deployed to Iraq that September, and the toll fiasco began in October. Hutton was juggling a full-time job, three children, volunteer duty as liaison to some 700 military families and a recent move to San Juan Capistrano, solo. She wanted to minimize change for the kids, so kept her eldest son in Aliso Niguel High School rather than enroll him closer to their new home. She used a toll road to get to Aliso Viejo, then to work at Mutual of Omaha in Irvine, where she was an administrator in the group benefits department, and back again. There were often four tolls a day. The Toll Roads mailed dozens of violation notices to various addresses it had for Hutton, it says in court paperwork. One address was correct, she said, but she doesnt remember seeing any of them. In 2006, the Toll Roads petitioned the court for a $29,900 judgment against Hutton. All it had to do was file proof its own accounting of the violations. When someone files a regular old lawsuit against you for $29,900, youre served in person. But when an agency files a $29,900 judgment against you, youre notified by mail. Again, Hutton said she never saw any such notice. THE MIDDLE The first she learned about it was in 2007, when a wage garnishment notice was delivered by sheriffs deputies to her Mutual of Omaha office in Irvine, she said. She called the Toll Roads, aghast, trying to figure out what had happened and said shed willingly pay for the missed tolls. The penalties, however, were absurd. Toll Road officials wouldnt budge. It was, Too bad, so sad, you owe this and theres nothing you can do about it, Hutton said. And so the Toll Roads continued to garnish her wages $11,030, in total, with $265 going to the sheriff for delivering the garnishment notice until her husbands military duty took the family to other posts and she left her job in 2008. The Toll Roads tried to put her on a monthly payment plan, but she didnt have a job at the backwater where they were stationed, and no payments were made. In 2009, Hutton joined a class-action lawsuit against the Toll Roads and the Orange County Transportation Authority, asserting that the penalties were constitutionally excessive and collection procedures violated due process. The Toll Roads settled that case, agreeing to waive $41 million in penalties a 29 percent reduction. That translated to a $5,000 credit for Hutton, which, as she calculates it, meant the Toll Roads recouped nearly $16,000 on the nearly $30,000 bill. She thought that was the end of it. The family spent years in Northern California and Twentynine Palms before Michael Hutton returned to duty at Camp Pendleton last year. The family moved to Oceanside. Sherri Hutton got a job on base, working for the Department of Defense fire department as an administrator and human resources liaison. The Toll Roads caught up with them soon after. Both were named in a renewal of the judgment filed in Superior Court last year. The Toll Roads grabbed money from Huttons bank account something the aforementioned judgment allows it to do and they are now appearing in court, trying to end the drama. The Toll Roads has a patriotic policy exempting active-duty military and their spouses from penalties on unpaid tolls. If officials would apply that policy here, it would transform Huttons $31,450 debt into a credit of more than $8,000 in her favor, she said in her legal response. TOLL ROADS SAYS Yes, the Toll Roads does consider a persons status as active-duty military, the Toll Roads argued in court papers. It adopted a program last year that features education for military families and penalty waivers for first-time violations. But this program was not in place when Huttons violations accumulated a decade ago, and thus doesnt apply. The courtesy does not extend to situations of abuse and repeated violations, and certainly this courtesy does not apply to a situation where circumstances have led to and resulted in a civil judgment, CEO Kraman said. Our military partners are supportive of the program and share our position of preventing abuse. The agency works with account holders to ensure it has accurate and up-to-date account information, Kraman said. It understands that people are busy and may forget to update credit card, contact or vehicle information and thus it has a robust notification system that includes robo-calls, texts, emails and mailed letters to alert customers if theres a problem. The vast majority update their account information in a timely manner even without these notifications, Kraman said. But in instances where a customer does not respond or take action to make a payment, it will suspend the account, resulting in a negative balance. Once an account is suspended, the Toll Roads notifies the customer again, he said. If the customer keeps using the roads without payment, those trips become toll evasion violations. The vast majority of users understand the rules, he said. And penalties are waived for first-time violators if the toll is paid within 30 days. Its rare that overdue accounts transform into civil judgments fewer than 20 per year, Kraman said. FAIR? The fairness of the Toll Roads fines and penalties or lack thereof is certainly not a new issue. The agency has been targeted by a series of lawsuits in recent years, most citing unfair or excessive fines. One seeking class-action status was filed in the spring, after the Toll Roads eliminated cash collection booths. Some drivers without transponders have been flummoxed over how to pay tolls, racking up violations totaling thousands of dollars. Kraman defended the system as just. (N)o court has ever ruled that the TCA penalties or toll violation enforcement procedures are unconstitutional or otherwise unlawful, he said. In fact, our violation penalties are lower than allowable under state law. Huttons $49,000 judgment is not the agencys largest; that one was $112,000, Kraman said. Will Huttons bill get that high before all this is worked out? Interest accumulates on the judgment even as the two sides argue over whats fair. I had always had an account in good standing up until that point, and we now have an account in good standing, Hutton said. Shes due back in court next month, and hopes to work something out with the Toll Roads in the interim. In the meantime, she has some words of wisdom for everyone who auto-pays with a debit or credit card: Dont. Do direct to your bank account instead. Contact the writer: tsforza@scng.com Labor Day is a day that recognizes the achievements of the labor movement. But quite a few people are having to rely on their own ingenuity and creativity to get by, renting out their homes or parts of them and using their own cars as taxis. The U.S. Government definition of Labor Day is as follows: Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country. But in the Hamptons, an area better off financially than most of the nation, we find that quite a few of our neighbors and friends are having to scratch to make ends meet. Some streets in Westhampton Beach have a half dozen or more homes that have been listed on Airbnb.com. Other listings are on HomeAway.com. Residents on these streets who complain about congestion or noise are told by officials that proper permits have been obtained. The officials like the increased economic activity and are turning a "blind eye" to violations, say some residents. Anywhere from single rooms to entire houses can be rented for days, weekends or lengthier periods. The Westhampton Beach Airbnb site has more than 300 listings and the same is true for Southampton, East Hampton and Hampton Bays. Prices go from $50 for a night in a modest neighborhood to $1,000 or more for a weekend in a tony section. A charge of $500 for a weekend night is not uncommon. Speculators Buy Homes Speculators have bought homes for the sole purpose of renting them. The glut of available homes/rooms has killed the normal rental real estate market, say some local agents. The numerous rentals have goosed the local economy since the homes need service by carpenters, house watchers, cleanup women and men, etc. Thus far the villages are adopting a hands-off policy because of the increased business being generated. Uber, a similar movement, uses the private cars of its participants. Some owners of high-priced cars, a common sight in the Hamptons, are renting them out by the day, week or month in order to help meet the payments on them. Arranging this is turo.com. In the PR/communications arena, recent grads and senior PR pros are finding that the best and maybe the only employment may be setting up their own practices. Millions of businesses need promotion. Quite often the costs of an established PR firm might be out of their range. But businesses can be introduced to the values of PR by recent grads who know their way around the web and social media. Singles Returning Via Airbnb The singles market segment, which was driven from most of the Hamptons by laws that limited the number of unrelated people who could rent a house, are returning in large numbers via Airbnb and HomeAway. WHB lost four of its six gas stations in the slide that followed the expulsion of the singles as well as at least ten restaurants and nightclubs. An investor has now shown interest in one of the restaurants that closed after declaring bankruptcy owing more than $600,000. Brandon Quinn of The Southampton Press tabulated the closing of more than 20 local restaurants and clubs in a feature Dec. 2, 2014 http://tinyurl.com/pmudnix Titled: Hamptons Party Scene Found Dead, Locals Want Answers. Airbnb Has 1.5M Listings Airbnb, founded in 2008 by Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia of San Francisco under the original name of AirBed & Breakfast, currently has more than 1.5 million listings in 34,000 cities and 191 countries. It is privately owned and operated. The initial site offered short-term living quarters, breakfast and a networking opportunity for attendees at a conference of the Industrial Designers Society of America who found rooms were not available at the local hotels. Chesky and Gebbia, who could not afford the rent on their loft in S.F., converted their living room into a B&B and hosted three initial guests. A significant investment was made in 2011 by actor Ashton Kutcher, a partner at A-Grade Investments. He became an advisor to the company. Airbnb, Uber Hotly Debated in Chicago Laws affecting Airbnb and Uber in Chicago were hotly debated at a meeting of alderman June 22. Mayor Rahm Emanuels plans to regulate Airbnb and Uber descended into chaos, wrote Chicago Tribune reporter John Byrne. Aldermen representing the up-scale North Side complained that it was being transformed into an ad hoc hotel zone for partying tourists. Lincoln Park Alderman Michele Smith said the Emanuel plan was throwing aside decades of zoning rules in order to turn over the keys to our neighborhood to this $25 billion multinational company. Airbnb threatened a lawsuit over language in the plan that the company said illegally made them responsible for the behavior of Airbnb customers. Company ads said homeowners doing the renting needed the money to make ends meet. The company used high-powered lobbyist Michael Kasper to press its case, said the Tribune. Uber, Airbnb, Threaten Suits or Pulling Out Both Uber and Airbnb have threatened lawsuits and leaving Chicago if onerous regulations are passed, said the Tribune. Said Alderman John Arena: Stop letting corporations write our laws to benefit them to the detriment of our communities which are suffering. We are letting them self-regulate themselves and we continue to see what that does to our economy. It drives us further to a Wal-Mart economy. Everythings cheaper, but youre not safer and the service is not better. Both Airbnb and Uber have pushed back hard against rules that they claim are too restrictive, the Tribune reported. Short-term rentals in the Hamptons via Airbnb and HomeAways have not yet resulted in the level of complaints that led to the passage of draconian anti-singles laws throughout most of the Hamptons in the 1980s and 1990s. The singles were unorganized and put up little resistance. Hampton towns will face strong opposition if they decide to limit the short-term rentals via the two companies. Residents who have complained about too many B&Bs on their streets tell us that officials are not ready at this point to clamp down on this new end-run around the ban against more than a couple of singles in any one home. 06/09/2016 - The Netherlands should improve its policies to attract and retain highly skilled migrants in order to address labour shortages and strengthen its position as a knowledge-based economy, according to a new OECD report. Recruiting Immigrant Workers: The Netherlands says that future demand for skilled workers is set to exceed domestic supply over the next decade. The share of tertiary educated among people aged 25-64 was one of the highest among OECD countries in 2000 but has grown little since. Labour migration from non-EU countries is low compared to other categories of migration, notably the free movement of EU citizens. In 2013, non-EU labour migrants accounted for only 9% of the 100 000 persons who migrated permanently to the Netherlands, higher than in France and Germany but below the European average. The largest scheme for highly skilled migrants, the so-called knowledge migrants (kennismigranten), successfully attracts around 7 000 skilled non-EU migrants per year. Yet only about 20% of them work in the nine strategically important sectors fostered by Dutch economic policy. Knowledge migrants are also concentrated in the central provinces North and South Holland; other regions attract only a few of them. Knowledge migrants aged 30 or above are admitted if the salary they are offered by a Dutch employer exceeds 120% of the average gross income. While this requirement is simple and transparent, it is very restrictive for some groups of applicants. Because women still tend to earn less than men on average, fewer of them command salaries above the threshold: women have to reach the top 12% of their wage distribution versus 31% for men to pass the requirement for knowledge migrants over age 30. This may explain why men accounted for 77% of all knowledge migrants admitted up to 2014, says the report. Employers who are recognised by Dutch immigration authorities can recruit more easily from abroad. This has reduced the administrative burden and processing times. However, the responsibilities of a recognised sponsor can be daunting for small and medium-sized enterprises that lack the necessary legal expertise and fear incurring high fines. Public authorities should offer more legal assistance to this type of employer so that they too can benefit from skilled labour migration. Retention rates of knowledge migrants can be further improved if spouses had better opportunities in the Dutch labour market, the OECD review shows. International students with early labour market experience, acquired through internships and ideally related to the field of study, are more likely to stay in the Netherlands after graduation. The report recommends that the Netherlands: Strengthen the capacity of the system to respond to the specific needs of the economy Apply lower salary requirements for knowledge migrants who work in top sectors or in peripheral regions. For strongly demanded occupations with salaries below the salary requirement, consider creating a list of shortage occupations giving easier access to the Dutch labour market. Reinforce efforts to retain highly skilled labour migrants and international students Promote local employer networks through which employers can arrange job offers for spouses and partners of labour migrants. Give international students greater incentives to attend Dutch language courses and to gain local work experience. Better promote the Netherlands as a destination for skilled labour migrants Strengthen access to and quality of online information on labour migration schemes, also in English and other foreign languages. Explore the possibility, e.g. through a pilot scheme, of a job search year that is open not only to recent but also to older international graduates of Dutch or certain foreign universities. The report is available at: http://www.oecd.org/els/mig/recruiting-immigrant-workers-the-netherlands-2016-9789264259249-en.htm. For comment or further information, journalists should contact Theodora Xenogiani or Friedrich Poeschel of the OECDs Migration Division. Loading... OilVoice will be with you shortly... Parents of needle-hating children who have dangled the nasal spray version of the influenza vaccine as a non-shot alternative wont have that option when flu shot time comes this year. The American Academy of Pediatrics released a policy statement Tuesday advising that the nasal spray, FluMist, should not be used in any setting during the 2016-17 flu season. It recommended that all children 6 months and older get a flu shot instead. The statement supports a similar recommendation the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued for all Americans in June. Reviews indicated that the spray had not performed well against certain strains of influenza in recent seasons. A review panel calculated the nasal sprays effectiveness among children last year at 3 percent, meaning no protective benefit could be measured, according to the pediatricians group. The effectiveness of the injected vaccine was measured at 63 percent. The pediatricians recommendation comes as doctors and other health care providers are preparing to launch flu shot clinics for the year. The recommendations stand to affect a significant number of families: The nasal spray has accounted for about one-third of all flu vaccines given to children in recent seasons, according to the CDC. To minimize the trauma for youngsters and by extension, their parents several organizations that immunize a lot of children are preparing some diversionary tactics. We will have some unhappy children, but we do have some ways to help with the pain, said Dr. Melissa St. Germain, a pediatrician with Childrens Physicians West Village Pointe office. Childrens Physicians in recent months has implemented a new pain management policy, which comes with a toolkit of options to help minimize the pain of immunizations. One option for babies offering a sugar water solution takes a page from Mary Poppins spoonful of sugar. The calming powers of distraction, sucking and sweetness all come into play, St. Germain said. As most of us whove ever had a cookie know, sugar makes us happy, she said. For children older than 1 year, she said, pediatricians use distractions such as a sparkly wand or a vibrating buzzy thats applied to the injection site for 30 seconds to confuse nerves. Doctors also can apply a cooling spray. We usually just bring the box in and let parents decide which they think will work best, St. Germain said. Childrens hasnt yet begun scheduling flu clinics. The vaccine takes about two weeks to take effect and is most effective for the first six months, so the ideal time to get it is in October, she said. However, doctors in her office have begun giving flu shots to patients who come in for regular checkups. Honestly, she said, the pain management stuff is really helping. Cindy Ruma, immunization coordinator for the Visiting Nurse Association, addressed the lack of FluMist last week while training nurses for coming clinics. If they see a child whos starting to fall apart, she counseled, take him out of the room so the panic doesnt spread. Most nurses, she said, have their own little techniques to calm kids and give them a little control over themselves. You give them something else to do, she said. I always teach the kids to blow. Still, she is concerned that health care providers will lose some people, such as needle-phobic adults. Its kind of hard to encourage people anyway, she said, but with this, its like, Oh, yikes. Health care providers, however, arent backing down from their recommendation that everyone who can get the vaccine should get it. Dr. Renuga Vivekanandan, an infectious disease doctor with CHI Health, said flu shots are effective even in years when the flu strains included in the vaccine arent a perfect match for those that are circulating. Even if theres a little genetic drift in the virus, its effective in boosting your immune system, she said. If vaccinated people ultimately do get the flu, Vivekanandan said, the illness is thought to be less severe. Getting the vaccine also helps protect those around us, she said, including the immune-compromised and babies younger than 6 months who cant get the shot. She plans to set a good example by getting a flu shot and immunizing her young children, ages 2 years and 6 months. At the same time, Vivekanandan said she hopes an effective nasal vaccine will return. In past seasons, data have indicated that FluMist was either comparable to or more effective than the shot in children. The CDC gave it a preferential recommendation for young children during the 2014-15 flu season. Why it hasnt proven effective in recent years isnt known, the CDC reported. Some of the nasal spray may be available in the United States this year in spite of the recommendations not to use it. FluMist, which is produced by MedImmune, a subsidiary of drugmaker AstraZeneca, still is licensed by the Food and Drug Administration for people ages 2 to 49. FluMist contains live, weakened viruses. The injectable vaccine uses killed viruses. In a June press release, AstraZeneca said the CDCs data contrast with its own studies and some preliminary independent findings by public health officials abroad indicating greater effectiveness for the nasal spray last winter. The company said it was working with the CDC to ensure that eligible patients could receive it in the future. The CDC in June noted that it would be working with manufacturers to ensure that there is enough vaccine this year to meet demand. Manufacturers have projected that they would provide between 157 million and 168 million doses of injectable vaccine for the U.S. market in the 2016-17 flu season. The arrival, intensity and duration of season typically cant be forecast. Last years flu season was a relatively mild one. But once the time comes, Vivekanandan said, people also can help protect themselves by avoiding sick people and staying in when theyre sick; washing hands frequently; avoiding touching their eyes, noses or mouth; and practicing good health habits such as getting plenty of sleep, being physically active, managing stress, drinking plenty of fluids and eating nutritious food. Bookstore owner Tom Rudloff was proud to be the caretaker of the eclectic Bill Farmer collection free-form ink drawings, sculptures and much more. It was one of the main loves of his life, said Omahan Rose Nied, who counted Rudloff among her close friends for more than 40 years. Farmer was a prolific artist who worked in Omaha for much of a career that spanned more than 40 years. He had solo exhibitions in Mexico, Chicago, New York City and at the Antiquarium, Rudloffs quirky shop that started in the Old Market and later moved to Brownville, Nebraska. Rudloff who often gave struggling people money, food and shelter in his shop devoted one floor of his three-story Omaha building to Farmers work and named his gallery after the artist. The Farmer collection made the move to Brownville with Rudloff about 10 years ago. Shortly before he died in June at age 76, Rudloff assembled Nied and a few others for a meeting. Hed already had a lung removed and wasnt in the best shape. And true to his generous, unselfish nature he was worried about the future of Farmers art. He wanted to form a committee to try and find good homes for the artwork so that it didnt just go to waste, Nied said. That art adoption process has begun. Like the journey involved in human adoptions, it promises to be long and arduous. For starters, nobody has any idea how many of Farmers works are at the Brownville store, a cavernous building that once was a schoolhouse. But the number is at least in the hundreds and perhaps higher, say Nied and others who are involved in the endeavor. The works basically span Farmers life, from his early years to his death in 1999 when he was 77 years old. We have found probably every single thing he ever did, said Susan Teply, Rudloffs niece. We found his artwork from kindergarten. The art is stored unorganized in the large former gym at the Brownville store, in art drawers, portfolios, shelves and other nooks. Committee members know they cant begin to sell the art until they know what theyre selling. Its also impossible at this point to estimate what the collection is worth. In his will, Rudloff named Teply as special administrator for the Farmer artwork, so the daunting task of unearthing, organizing and cataloging all of it is her responsibility. She has a full-time job as manager of the credentialing office for CHI Health, and a husband and family, so shes trying to fit this in all while still mourning her uncle, with whom she had a special bond. They grew close over the last several years as Teply helped him navigate the health care system while he fought lung cancer. It was Rudloffs wish that proceeds from the sale of Farmers art to galleries, museums or individuals be donated to causes that were dear to the artist and his wife, Marge, Teply said. Lawyers recently filed paperwork for the William Farmer-Thomas Rudloff Charitable Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit (farmerrudloffcharity@gmail.com). She said those causes anti-war activism and helping international refugees, among others gave Rudloff his deep admiration for Farmer. Rudloff spent several years in a Catholic seminary, and he shared Farmers affinity for social justice and helping the poor. Teply believes thats why Rudloff gave Farmers artwork a home. He had so much respect for Bill and Marge and the works that they did, and what Bill did in the art community, Teply said of her uncle. Farmer was born in Omaha in 1922 and earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln and a master of fine arts from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. He was an instructor at Creighton University, the College of St. Mary, Metropolitan Community College and Omaha University, now the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He also was an artist in residence at several Nebraska schools in the 1970s and 80s. He was an inspirational teacher, said Ree Kaneko, a longtime Omaha artist and art consultant. He wasnt just a teacher he wasnt parked. He was constantly working. He was a passionate, passionate, passionate person. Farmer spent time in locales such as Nicaragua and Mexico while Marge worked to set up Montessori schools for impoverished kids and, closer to home, he protested the Vietnam War. Those activities found their way into his art: He produced a multimedia play against the war in 1968 and he created The Horrors of War, six enamel paintings on wood, for Prairie Peace Park in Lincoln in 1994. Some of his art was more personal, such as the ink drawings Kaneko recently purchased when she went to Brownville after Rudloffs death a self-portrait and a portrait of Marge. I love some of the huge black-and-white drawings. He was nimble with knowing how to make the ink and charcoal work, she said. The artists legacy extends far beyond Nebraskas borders, partly because of Kaneko. She has worked with a family in Cuernavaca, Mexico, that wanted to amass an art collection, and she recently learned that they were Farmers neighbors when he lived there. The young boys in the family used to tease Farmer that he couldnt draw when they would get together for art sessions. One of those boys gave up a career in medicine to become an artist. After she learned of their friendship with Farmer, Kaneko bought each family member one of his ink drawings and purchased the two portraits for them as well. Thats a balm for Teply, Nied and their helpers as they continue to figure out how to handle the huge task theyve inherited. Theyre enlisting help from several sources: Teply said she plans to contact a professor from Peru State College with a request to look at the art, and she hopes to offer art students internships to help her sort and catalog the collection. There are boxes and boxes of slides, so it looks like the collection was cataloged at one time, but she thinks its probably wise to start from scratch. They dont want to delay, but theyre not working on a strict deadline. The fate of the bookstore and the building still hasnt been decided. Teply said Nied who attended the San Francisco Art Institute and is something of an Old Market denizen has been a great help. So far, Nied has contacted the Museum of Nebraska Art in Kearney, which already owns Farmer artwork, and plans to contact Creighton since Farmer taught there. When its more clear what the collection entails, MONA probably would be interested in acquiring additional Farmer pieces, said Audrey Kauders, the museums director. She cautioned against any art changing hands before the committee knows what it has it could be very exciting or it could be a mixed bag, she said. This should not be like someone just going in and bidding on a storage container, she said. This is art. She also wondered about the condition of the collection, since the Brownville building has not been air-conditioned since Rudloffs death and she had no idea how the art had been stored. Art needs steady temperatures and humidity. Teply eased those fears. She said drawings in drawers are all covered and the other works have been protected: Its all in really good shape, actually. Regardless of what they find, both Kauders and Kaneko praised the groups efforts. The people who are involved are trying to do the best they can for Farmers memory and legacy, and we applaud that, Kauders said. Teply thinks both Farmer and Rudloff deserve nothing less, and she is keenly aware of that legacy. The impact of Farmers art was recognized by no less than famed anti-war activist Daniel Berrigan, a Jesuit priest who spent time in prison. She found a framed statement from Berrigan among the bookstores bounty. In part, it read: The art of William Farmer ... diagnoses mans wretchedness with surgical skill and compassion always as the indispensable prelude to healing. ... (It) is a voice in the desert, speaking a word of salvation. WASHINGTON As a freshman senator with his eye on the presidency, Barack Obama said hed never shop at a Walmart and held the company up as an emblem of corporate greed. Today, Walmart Stores Inc. is one of Obamas most reliable corporate allies, a go-to partner thats backed the White House on more than a dozen business initiatives, particularly Obamacare and climate change. The pairing benefits both. Obama can point to Walmarts support to beat back Republican charges that hes hostile to business. Walmart can point to the presidents embrace to lure squeamish shoppers who, like Obama of old, have stayed away out of a belief that the company hurts workers and undercuts competition. This is a key part of the companys effort to spur continued growth. It only makes sense for the president to be willing to strike a partnership with the nations largest retailer, said Dwight Hill, a Plano, Texas-based partner in retail consultancy McMillan Doolittle. And Walmart has made more strides of late to try to be more transparent about worker pay and benefits. They have certainly seen the light. The president completed the turn from Walmart antagonist to fan when he visited one of the retailers stores in Mountain View, Calif., in 2014 to praise its use of renewable energy. Obamas visit represented a major milestone for the company and its public image, said Jib Ellison, whose consulting firm worked on Walmarts sustainability program. When he got elected, his rhetoric was very anti-Walmart, said Ellison, who continues to advise Walmart on environmental policies. So its reaffirming. The partnership between the president and the retailer is especially strong in two areas: health care and climate change. Obamas view of Walmart shifted early in his presidency when he realized that he needed business support to advance his health care overhaul, which Republicans claimed would kill jobs and drive companies out of business. Walmart was one of the first major employers to sign on to the plan. In June 2009, as debate raged in Congress, Walmart publicly released a letter to Obama saying it supported requiring employers to offer health insurance to their workers, a keystone of the law. For Walmart, the Affordable Care Act resolved a major gripe about the company: that it provided weak health benefits for its more than 1 million workers in the U.S. Obamacare created a system of subsidized insurance for middle-income Americans and expanded the Medicaid program for the poor to cover people earning poverty-level wages. Pressure subsided on Walmart to provide coverage. When government-run insurance exchanges opened in 2014, Walmart stopped offering health insurance to 30,000 part-time workers. Obamacare is great for Walmart workers; it was a huge transfer of wealth, said Nelson Lichtenstein, director of the Center for the Study of Work, Labor, and Democracy at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who wrote a book on Walmart. The pressure is off Walmart to provide better health insurance to its own employees. If youre a single mom and work at Walmart you now qualify for Medicaid. Walmart and the White House have cooperated on Obamas climate agenda, which current and former company executives described as a natural gelling of interests rather than a political calculation. Walmart began pushing to cut its carbon footprint in 2005 as a way to not only help the environment, but also improve its public image, and is now the largest corporate user of solar energy. Last year, the company endorsed the global accord Obama negotiated in Paris to reduce carbon emissions. Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said the White House has found in Walmart a willing partner as it reached out to various businesses to embrace administrations initiatives. We recognize that the private sector is the economic engine of our country, Jarrett said in an interview. Its not enough just to have these policies on the books. Working with the administration helps the retailer address the social and environmental issues that the companys customers care about, said Kathleen McLaughlin, Walmarts chief sustainability officer and CEO of the Walmart Foundation. Its so essential that we have these collaborations, she said. When Walmart announced that it would raise its minimum wage for employees in 2015, after some encouragement from the administration, Obama called Walmart Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon from Air Force One to congratulate him and told a crowd in North Carolina that once Walmart is paying people more, then you know that something is happening, right? The pair have also worked on veteran employment, financial security, workforce training, gun control, criminal justice issues and first lady Michelle Obamas healthy lifestyle campaign. For Walmart, all of this is aimed at bolstering its standing with a key demographic of shoppers it must reach for continued growth upper-income families in traditionally liberal areas like Chicago, Los Angeles and the East Coast. Given the fact the company isnt growing that much, they really need to expand in these coastal cities, Lichtenstein said. There has been a certain percentage of Americans that just wont shop there for political reasons. Money has followed Walmarts embrace of Obama. The company increased its political spending during his presidency, with donations to Democrats no longer trailing Republicans by huge margins. Walmarts political action committee gave $1.2 million to federal candidates during the 2012 cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington nonprofit that tracks campaign spending. Democrats claimed about half that money, up from 21 percent in 2004 and only 14 percent in 2000. So far this cycle, Democrats have received about 41 percent of Walmarts $1.1 million in contributions, with Republicans getting the rest. Q. I got an offer for my first full-time job, and the salary is lower than I expected. Should I ask for more money? A. I didnt negotiate salary at my first two jobs after college. The first was a government position with a set salary limit. When I got the offer for my second job, at a nonprofit, Id been out of work for months and was desperate to move out of my parents house. I took the first offer the organization gave me, which came out to about $25,000 a year after taxes not much to live on in New York City. My hasty acceptance became more of a problem the longer I worked there. My raises were based on the original salary I hadnt negotiated. Eventually I was earning less than my peers at the nonprofit, many of whom had negotiated for higher starting salaries and gotten raises on top of those. I got a conciliatory salary bump, but I didnt feel much better. I was embarrassed that I hadnt spoken up for myself, and I could barely save a dollar after paying for rent, food and student loan bills. Let my experience be a lesson to you: Whether youre a man or a woman, a new grad or a career changer, you should negotiate when your employer offers you less money than you know you should be paid. So why is it so hard to ask for more money? Maybe youre worried, as I was, that it will make you seem greedy and ungrateful, or that the company will withdraw its offer. Maybe you have no idea how to start the conversation. Nearly 60 percent of all workers surveyed by the career website Glassdoor in May 2016 took the first salary offer they received at their current or most recent job. Women were even less likely to negotiate than men: 68 percent of women didnt negotiate, compared with 52 percent of men. The particular challenge is that were not necessarily taught how to do this, said Lisa Ernst, executive director of Savvy Ladies, a New York nonprofit that offers financial education for women. It can be especially hard for women to negotiate, she said, because they dont want to be seen as aggressive and unlikable. Some employers, like my first, have salary bands they cant or wont budge on. But in most cases, hiring managers expect you to negotiate. I negotiated salary at my third job, and I survived and got more money. Only 6 percent of employers said they were never willing to negotiate with entry-level employees, according to a survey conducted last year by my company, NerdWallet, and the recruiting platform LookSharp. Three out of four employers said they were not only willing to negotiate but had room to increase their initial salary offers by 5 percent to 10 percent. To figure out how much youre worth, look up the average starting salary in your role where you live. Ask the career services director at your school, alumni in your field and connections youve met at industry conferences what the going rate is for recent graduates in the job youve applied for. Check online resources such as PayScale. Come up with a baseline number and decide youll negotiate if youre offered less. Then practice what youll say if the offer is less than what you want do it with a friend, a pet or while looking in the mirror. Your script should include gratitude, excitement at the job opportunity and a specific counteroffer. Most important, say why you deserve more and focus on the value youd bring to the company. For example, your response could follow this model: Thank you for the offer, and I couldnt be more excited to join this company and to contribute to the team. Taking into account the market rate for this area, I believe that (insert amount) is more in line with my skills and experience. Done respectfully and with research to back it up, negotiating will make you look good. A full 76 percent of employers told NerdWallet and LookSharp that new grads who negotiated seemed confident, while only about 25 percent said they seemed entitled. Besides, if your potential company rescinds its offer over a request for an extra $5,000 a year, maybe it wouldnt be all that delightful to work for anyway. SEATTLE (AP) Seattle leaders have proposed new rules for retail and food-service businesses with hourly employees, including requiring them to schedule shifts two weeks in advance and compensate workers for some last-minute changes the latest push by a city that has led the nation in mandating worker benefits. Seattle was among the first to phase in a $15 hourly minimum wage, mandate sick leave for many companies and offer paid parental leave for city workers. Now, the mayor, city officials and labor-backed groups are targeting erratic schedules and fluctuating hours they say make it difficult for people to juggle child care, school or other jobs, to count on stable income or to plan for the future. Seattles secure scheduling proposal also would require retail and fast-food companies with 500 employees globally to compensate workers with predictability pay when theyre scheduled but dont get called into work or are sent home early; provide a minimum 10 hours rest between open and closing shifts; and offer hours to existing employees before hiring new staff. Creating equity in Seattle means providing workers with access to a reliable schedule that meets their life and financial needs, while balancing the daily realities facing large employers, Mayor Ed Murray said. In 2014, San Francisco became the first major U.S. city to pass similar legislation. A District of Columbia bill requiring 14-day scheduling notice advanced out of a council committee in June but has yet to be taken up by the full council. A November ballot measure before San Jose, California, voters would require businesses to offer additional hours to existing part-time employees before hiring new staff. The Washington Retail Association and other businesses have criticized the Seattle proposal, saying many employers already provide advance scheduling notice. They say the measure is too restrictive and will create more problems for workers. It will wipe out the scheduling flexibility that benefits both employees and employers, said Jan Teague, association president. If store managers cant add to labor costs to cover the predictability pay, theyll operate with fewer employees or fewer hours when someone cant make it into work, she said. Others say they want to see changes to some provisions, such as ensuring that employers arent penalized for offering shifts directly to workers who want them. Across the country, companies have faced increasing pressure to make schedules more predictable. Last month, Walmart launched a new scheduling system to give thousands of hourly employees more certainty about their hours. The sponsors of Seattles ordinance say its as much about closing the citys income gap as giving entry-level workers, many of whom are women and minorities, more control over schedules. Median household income, housing prices and rents have soared in booming Seattle as the city has grown to about 687,000 and added about 50,000 tech and other jobs in five years. We want this to be a city where our workforce, the people who are keeping this place running, can afford to live here, said Councilwoman Lisa Herbold, a bill sponsor. When people have more secure hours, they can do things that make the city more affordable, such as holding down a second job or going to school so they can get a better job. Crystal Thompson, who works at Dominos Pizza, often scrambles to find child care when she gets her schedule one day before the workweek begins. This will be good for a lot of people, she said. Oliver Savage, 22, a Starbucks barista, said he has asked to work 30 hours but currently gets 20. For a period this summer, a previous store manager scheduled him for only eight hours, reducing his one source of income. He said the store hired a new barista during that time, so he supports the provision requiring current workers be offered hours before additional staff is hired. Jennifer England, who owns a Subway franchise, said she works with her three employees to accommodate their scheduling needs. She said she wont be able to pay extra for last-minute shift changes if a worker wants time off or calls in sick. Theyre making it harder for us to schedule, and if anything comes up, were going to be penalized, and we cant afford that, England said. The bill exempts companies whose employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement with similar scheduling provisions. Copyright 2016 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ITT Educational Services Inc. has abruptly shut down its for-profit technical schools, closing more than 130 campuses including one in Omaha and leaving as many as 40,000 students stranded in one of the largest college closures in U.S. history. The company blamed the Department of Education for its downfall in a statement released Tuesday. Last month, the feds demanded that the company produce an additional $153 million in collateral nearly double its $78 million in cash on hand to cover possible losses that the government might incur if the company were to suddenly fail. The companys Omaha campus is at 1120 N. 103rd Plaza. It also has a Des Moines-area campus. Calls Tuesday to ITT Technical Institute in Omaha were answered by a recording that said: We are currently closed. ITT said it terminated the overwhelming majority of its more than 8,000 employees. We believe the governments action was inappropriate and unconstitutional, however, with the ITT Technical Institutes ceasing operations, it will now likely rest on other parties to understand these reprehensible actions and to take action to attempt to prevent this from happening again, the company said. Its a stunning fall for a company whose stock reached highs of nearly $129 per share in 2007 as investors bet that Americans would increasingly flock to for-profit colleges for credentials that would enable them to advance in the economy or gain a foothold in the jobs market. Key to that calculation was the assumption that the Education Department wouldnt impede colleges access to federal student aid. The government annually doles out more than $100 billion in loans and grants to students. Colleges rarely face any consequences if their students fail to graduate or subsequently default on their debt. But an increasing array of allegations that ITT misled students about its success at placing graduates in their fields while defrauding investors the company faces pending lawsuits from the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Securities and Exchange Commission and the Massachusetts attorney general led the Education Department to restrict the companys access to taxpayer funds. ITT has denied the allegations. Students enrolled at the companys schools have received close to $5 billion in federal aid since 2010, Education Department data show. About $3 billion of that was in the form of student loans. Most of that money went to the company. Students now enrolled at the companys technical schools will be able to cancel any federal student debt they incurred for their education if they decide against transferring their credits elsewhere. Other former students are pushing to have their debts canceled by alleging that the company defrauded them into taking out the debt by advertising false job-placement rates. Taxpayers will record a loss on those debt cancellations. Its exactly the kind of situation that the feds tried to avoid by demanding that the company produce additional collateral. World-Herald staff writer Rick Ruggles contributed to this report. SHELBY, Iowa The 34th annual Carstens Farm Days will be held Sept. 10-11 at the 80-acre working farm exhibit in Shelby, Iowa. A quilt show, crafters, vendors, threshing machines and other exhibitions will be on show along with tours. Antique steam engines and other machinery will be on display, including more than 200 restored antique tractors. The original farm buildings will be open for tours with history lessons and demonstrations. A pancake breakfast will be held at 6:30 a.m. both days with proceeds being donated to the Shelby Volunteer Fire Department. Other foods from various nonprofit organizations will be offered through the weekend. A live show by Tamie Hall and Band will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday. Tractors tons of tractors will be on show through the 2016 Massey Collectors exhibit throughout the weekend. Visitors can watch a parade of the restored tractors both days at 2 p.m. A raffle for a quilt specially made for the event will also be held. Tickets can be purchased at Shelby businesses. Admission is $5 per person. Children under 9-years-old get free admission. Carstens Farmstead is located at 32409 380th St. in Shelby. For a more detailed list of events, go to carstensfarm.com. LINCOLN The Nebraska Secretary of States Office has dropped a complaint against a state legislative candidate who says his residency is inside a machine shed. Secretary of State John Gale said in a press release Tuesday that the complaint against Tom Brewer of Gordon, a candidate in District 43 in Nebraskas Sand Hills, was filed too late, thus he has no power to review it. Gale said the deadline for such complaints was March 8, or within seven days after the filing deadline for new candidates. The complaint was filed a week ago by former State Sen. LeRoy Louden of Ellsworth, who said that Brewers true home is 400 miles away in Murdock, Nebraska. Thats where his house is and his family has always been, said Louden. Brewer, a retired Army colonel, said Tuesday that he has scheduled an open house on Saturday at his shed residence in Gordon, and that Louden can come and have a look. Bedrooms, a kitchen and bathrooms were built inside the shed, Brewer said, adding that his opponent, State Sen. Al Davis of Hyannis, also has a second home near Lincoln. Brewer said he bought the Murdock home when he was stationed in eastern Nebraska and now uses it only when he has doctors appointments there. Louden, who once represented the Gordon area in the State Legislature, also contested Brewers voter registration in Sheridan County. The former senator pointed out that Brewer paid his filing fee for the legislative seat with a check that listed his residence as Murdock. Gale said questions about voter registration should be directed to the Sheridan County clerk or, in the case of a criminal allegation, to county law enforcement. Sheridan County Clerk Sindy Coburn said Tuesday that her office has not received a complaint, and Louden said it may not be worth complaining, given the decision by the secretary of state. Louden, though, said he may be contacting county officials about Brewers property taxes. County assessors records do not list any bedrooms or bathrooms at the machine shed, which would translate into a lower valuation for tax purposes and less taxes. Louden said the shed should be listed as a residence and the proper taxes paid. In response, Brewer said Tuesday that the improvements to the shed werent completed until May this year. Tina Skinner of the Sheridan County Assessors Office said Tuesday that Brewers property is listed as a machine shed, but that landowners have until the end of the year to report improvements such as new bedrooms or bathrooms. The shed isnt the first residence of a state political candidate that has been challenged. But in the past, courts and state officials have been lenient in ruling what constitutes a domicile. For instance, a bedroom in a friends home and a dilapidated residence that was rarely used have qualified. Remote-controlled planes loop and whirl to raise money for Make-A-Wish Strong winds didnt stop pilots from directing their remote-controlled airplanes into loops and rolls under bright blue skies Monday. For the 37th consecutive Labor Day, the Omahawks put on a show. The radio-controlled airplane club had a variety of planes and a hovercraft taking laps around and above Hawk Field at Standing Bear Lake before a crowd of several hundred people. Rain or shine or winds gusting to nearly 30 mph the planes were going to take off on Monday because it was the clubs annual fundraiser for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The plane doesnt know its windy, said Mikey Furrow, an Omahawks member and an events organizers. Behilda, a plane designed to look like a witch flying on a broomstick, noticed the wind. She struggled but made it into the air for a loop around the runway before crashing and prompting The Wizard of Oz references from an announcer and members of the crowd. Dean Copelands 18-pound jet would have cut through wind if it could have zoomed past safety regulations. Copeland couldnt fly it because it runs on jet fuel if it were to crash, it would burn like a real jet. Instead, he turned it on so the crowd could hear it rumble. Copeland flies the jet in competitions and further away from houses. Its big and its cool and its loud and its fast, the announcer said about Copelands jet. Copeland started flying jets about a year ago, but he has been flying radio-controlled airplanes since the 1950s. The technology has changed some over the years. His jet is directed by a $3,000 controller complete with a touch screen. Copeland said it took him three weeks to figure out the settings. Some of the other planes being flown on Monday were made of foam. Watching it all from the sidelines was 3-year-old Easton Dejong. Dejong kept telling his mother, Danielle Orris, that he wanted to ride one of the planes but had to settle for watching from the ground. Dejong was wearing his blue Make-A-Wish Foundation T-shirt. The Omahawks were raising money for the nonprofit for the 32nd year. The money raised at Mondays event stays in Nebraska and helps kids like Easton. The Omahawks were selling concessions and holding a raffle to raise money. Furrow said theyve been able to donate about $3,000 to $5,000 a year. Lauren Piller, manager of events and community outreach for Make-A-Wish, said there are 120 pending wishes in Nebraska alone. Having reliable sources of donations like Mondays event makes those wishes easier to grant, she said. Eastons wish was to meet Disney characters Buzz and Woody from Toy Story. He got his wish during a trip to Disney World last month. Easton has had 26 surgeries in his life, including a kidney transplant. The kidney came from his father. Orris said her son has spent most of his life in the hospital. The trip to Disney World provided a week away from stress and allowed the family to forget about everything, Orris said. She struggled to find the words to thank donors like the Omahawks. They have no idea what it means to a family like us, she said. Forecasters say storms, some possibly severe, are likely through the work week in the Omaha area as a cold front moves into the region and then stalls across the region. The National Weather Service office in Valley said there is a slight risk of severe weather late today and tonight in some parts of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa, and larger sections of northeast Nebraska and northwest Iowa. The Omaha area is included in the slight risk areas. There is a marginal risk of severe weather today and tonight in the rest of the region north-central, east-central and southeast Nebraska and southwest Iowa. Severe weather can include high winds, damaging hail and heavy rains, the weather service said. For part of today, the Omaha area can expect mostly sunny skies and a high temperature around 90 degrees. Tonight, there is a 60 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 3 a.m., and a low temperature around 70. Wednesday will also bring a 60 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms to the Omaha area, mainly before 4 p.m., and a high in the lower 80s, the weather service said. Wednesday night, the chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 1 a.m., drops to 30 percent. Look for a low in the mid-60s. Mostly sunny skies and a high in the lower 80s are forecast for Thursday in the Omaha area. By Thursday night, however, there is a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms and a low in the upper 60s. The 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms continues Friday, when a high in the upper 70s is also expected, forecasters said. The weekend looks decent in the Omaha area, with sunny skies Saturday and Sunday and highs in the mid- to upper 70s. Average retail gasoline prices in Omaha have fallen slightly in the past week, but that drop may be an indication of bigger and better things to come. With the summer driving season now behind us, what we see ahead looks terrific for motorists, said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com. Demand decreases for gasoline will accelerate as we progress toward autumn, and combined with the return of winter (blend) gasoline ... prices will track lower more often than the opposite. The Omaha average for a gallon of regular unleaded on Tuesday was $2.17, down from $2.20 a gallon a week ago, according to AAAs gasprices.aaa.com. A month ago, a gallon averaged $2.06. A year ago, the average was $2.44. Several gas stations in the Omaha area were selling regular unleaded Tuesday for $1.99, $2.01 and $2.03 per gallon. DeHaan said he expected the decline to continue if hurricane season cooperates and foreign producers keep pumping oil. The only possible wrench could be a major hurricane that takes aim for the Gulf of Mexico, where many oil rigs and refiners are located, or a sudden cut in oil output from OPEC, he said. Nationally, the average Tuesday was $2.19 per gallon, down 2 cents from a week ago but up 7 cents from a month ago. Just four states South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi and New Jersey currently enjoy a state average under $2 per gallon, DeHaan said, but by Halloween, that number could quadruple. Nebraskas average for a gallon of regular unleaded on Tuesday was $2.23, down 3 cents from a week ago but up 12 cents from a month ago. Iowas average Tuesday also was $2.23 a gallon, down 3 cents from last week but up 13 cents from a month ago. According to GasBuddy.com, Omahas average gasoline prices on Sept. 6 have dropped over the past five years: from $3.78 in 2011 and $3.79 in 2012 to $3.66 in 2013, $3.32 in 2014 and $2.46 per gallon in 2015. Kacey Brown felt the pressure as she walked into a west Omaha testing center in April. Her dream of becoming a Nebraska teacher depended on clearing one final hurdle. She would have to pass a test called the Praxis 5017 to get her endorsement in elementary education. Brown sat down at a testing station and slipped on a pair of soundproof headphones. Its like my whole career was on the line, she said, so I didnt want to bomb it. One-hundred twenty questions later, she walked out feeling like she wanted to scream. She had passed the test. Brown is among the first wave of teacher candidates in Nebraska to pass national content tests to get their state teaching certificates. Many of these test-takers have landed their first teaching jobs in Nebraska schools this year. Although other states have used content tests for decades, Nebraska is using them for the first time. Nebraska was the second-to-last state in the country to adopt them. Iowa was third-to-last in 2013. The tests are known collectively as Praxis II and were developed by Educational Testing Service in Princeton, New Jersey. They are intended as a final check a backstop, if you will on whether graduates of Nebraska teachers colleges know their stuff. A state official said teacher-preparation institutions are already adjusting their teaching based on the initial test results. Passing rates for this new battery of tests obtained by The World-Herald suggest that Nebraska candidates measure up well to candidates in other states. Nebraska teacher candidates took 2,550 content tests in 40 endorsement areas ranging from specific academic subjects such as art and chemistry to generalized endorsements such as elementary education. The full name of the Praxis 5017 is the Elementary Education: Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment test. In 27 endorsement areas, Nebraskas pass rate exceeded the national rate. On the elementary education test the one Brown passed and the most popular endorsement 726 tests were taken for a 94.4 percent pass rate. The national rate was 92 percent. In most endorsement areas, Nebraska candidates had passing rates of 90 percent or higher. The Spanish test had the lowest pass rate at 72.2 percent. Other endorsements below 90 percent were speech-language pathologist, social science, health and physical education, health education, English language arts and secondary English, early childhood inclusive, chemistry and art. In three endorsement areas, Nebraska candidates passed at rates below the national average: chemistry, speech language pathology and Spanish. In 10 areas, too few tests were taken to get reliable statistics. The tests were taken between Sept. 1, 2015, when the Nebraska State Board of Education first implemented content testing, and July 11 of this year. Sharon Katt, senior administrator for adult program services in the Nebraska Department of Education, believes that pass rates on the content tests will rise over time. Candidates will realize that the tests are high stakes, she said. Education students will get more familiar with the tests, and college professors will do a better job preparing students to take them, she said. Candidates who dont pass the content test can still get a temporary provisional teaching certificate from the state, though Katt said that option is not encouraged. The certificate is good for two years, but its not renewable. To get it, students must have completed a bachelors degree and a teacher-education program at a state-approved institution. If candidates subsequently pass the content test in their endorsement field within two years, they can obtain a regular teaching certificate. If not, they cant continue teaching. After Brown, 24, passed her test, she accepted a job offer from Gretna Public Schools and is teaching this year at Gretna Elementary School. She said that if teacher candidates go to class and take their student-teaching seriously, they should have no trouble passing the elementary education test. ETS, the testing company, says the test assesses both content knowledge and teaching principles and processes. The questions cover basic understanding of curriculum, planning, instructional design and assessment of student learning. Brown and two other new teachers said the elementary test focuses more on how to teach than on pure academic content such as math or grammar. Test-takers are presented with scenarios that might come up in a classroom, they said. Its mostly strategy, Brown said. Its how would you go about handling this situation, what the best way to do this for this child, or this grade. Some test questions, she said, include academic knowledge. For instance, the test-taker might be asked to figure out where a student went wrong combining blocks that represent ones and tens to depict the number 75. Youd have to know how to do it to know how to fix it, she said. Another question, she said, might list a literary device, and the test-taker has to choose the best example of that device from four possible answers. Iowa requires that teacher candidates pass two tests, one for content and another for teaching skills, before they can graduate from a teacher-prep school. Iowa also uses Praxis tests, but not the Praxis 5017. The content test used by Iowa is the Praxis 5018 Elementary Education: Content Knowledge. That test has 140 questions that focus on science, mathematics, social studies and reading and language arts. For testing teaching skills what educators refer to as pedagogy Iowa uses the Praxis 5622 Principles of Learning and Teaching. Katt said Nebraska officials are likely to consider adoption of the Praxis 5018 in the future. Brown, who attended Peru State College, said she was well-prepared for Nebraskas test. She paid $40 for a set of test-prep flash cards just to be sure. The test is 130 minutes long. Jordan Koch, 23, passed it and landed a job teaching sixth grade at Hickory Hill Elementary School in the Papillion-La Vista Community Schools. Like Brown, she said the content test was heavy on scenarios and strategies but lighter on content. You definitely had to go through the college of education to know some of those key terms, she said. There was key vocabulary that people that werent teachers wouldnt know. But then there were random content questions sprinkled in there, like, Who was the president at this time? Kelsey Cordero, 21, just started her first year of teaching at Gretna Elementary. Cordero said she felt that passing the test was additional validation that she knew her stuff. In college, teacher education candidates get ribbed as choosing an easy major, but she walked away thinking a lot of the critics wouldnt pass the test. She got her teacher education at Creighton University. Officials at the University of Nebraska at Omaha said initial scores havent raised any red flags with them. They said the content tests can be useful in gauging the effectiveness of their teacher-prep program. When gauging a teachers ability, however, content testing is just one measure, said Connie Schaffer, assessment coordinator for the college of education. I think we have other assessments that complete the picture, Schaffer said. We look at how are they performing in the field when they are in authentic, real classrooms. How do they respond to those unscripted scenarios that face a teacher every day? Those factors carry at least as much weight as a multiple-choice content exam, she said. Theres one added incentive for teacher hopefuls to pass the test: the cost. ETS charges a fee to take a Praxis content test. Most tests, including the elementary education test, cost $120. The fee is covered by the student. An Omaha man was injured after being struck by a propeller when he was thrown from a boat Sunday evening on the Missouri River. Nathan Case, 23, was sitting in the front of a motorboat when it hit a wake and pitched him out, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The boat he had been riding in continued over him, and he was hit by the propeller. The incident occurred about four miles south of the Little Sioux boat ramp, shortly before 8 p.m. Other passengers on the boat were able to pull Case out of the river. He was airlifted to Creighton University Medical Center in serious condition, according to the Department of Natural Resources. Case was not wearing a life jacket. The boat he was riding in was driven by Brett Feder, 32, of Omaha. Feder was charged with failure to have a throwable flotation device on board and for having an expired boat trailer registration, according to the natural resources department. YORK, Neb. (AP) Authorities say a Gresham couple have been killed in a pickup crash with a gravel truck near York. The accident occurred a little after 2 p.m. Friday. The York County Sheriffs Office said the eastbound pickup pulled in front of the gravel truck and crashed with it. The two victims were identified as Rex Epke, 77, and his wife, Lois Epke, 75. The truck driver, who was injured, was taken to a hospital. Copyright 2016, the Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. LINCOLN Gov. Pete Ricketts joined the American Red Cross on Tuesday to launch a first-in-the-nation emergency and disaster preparedness initiative. Officials aim to complete the Nebraska Prepared Communities Initiative in 100 communities across the state by December 2018. They hope to reach each Nebraska community by 2020. We have issues like flooding and tornadoes that makes this a high priority, Ricketts said. Recent flooding in Louisiana, as well as the tornadoes in Pilger and Beaver Crossing, are examples of why individuals and communities must always be prepared, officials said. Tornadoes in Pilger and Beaver Crossing are also critical reminders, Ricketts added. Through the Red Cross, nearly 4,000 people have supported recovery efforts since the flooding in Louisiana began, said Jill Orton, regional CEO of the American Red Cross, making it the largest disaster response effort for the Red Cross since Hurricane Sandy. Under Nebraskas preparedness initiative, the Red Cross will work with community agencies to recruit volunteers, update and develop shelter agreements and promote activities such as blood drives. The goal is to help communities prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies and disasters. The effort will begin this month in Butler, Colfax, Platte and Polk Counties, as well Adams, Clay, Nuckolls and Webster Counties. It will then move to the areas around Beatrice, Kearney and Norfolk. The group plans to reach the Omaha area in April 2017. The initiative will work its way across Nebraska, though the majority of the participating communities are in the southern half of the state. Orton said the initiative will play a primary role in the Red Cross 100-year anniversary, which the organization will celebrate next year. The Prepared Communities Initiative will help us start to build the foundation for our next 100 years, she said. Fire broke out Monday night in a cell at the Lincoln Correctional Center. Lincoln firefighters were called to the prison at 3216 West Van Dorn, just north of Pioneers Park, at 10 p.m. At 11 p.m. firefighters were still on the scene, but the fire was out, said Battalion Chief Jim Bopp of the Lincoln Fire Department. He said he could not elaborate on the fire. As a precaution, two inmates and one staff member were treated for possible smoke inhalation, the center said in a press release. All inmates in that unit of the prison were evacuated. The fire comes on the heels of a series of disturbances at the Lincoln Correctional Center, a medium-maximum security facility designed to hold 308 inmates. The facility held an average of 502 inmates during the second quarter of 2016, which is about 70 percent over capacity. Nine staff members were sent to the hospital in the most recent disturbance, on Aug. 24, when a confrontation flared with inmates who refused to return to their housing units. A special detail in riot gear was eventually deployed to help end the disturbance. The Aug. 24 disturbance marked the third time in a 12-day period that corrections staff required medical treatment following assaults at the prison. The prison also was the site of an escape in June. Concerns about high staff turnover and vacancies at Nebraska prisons have risen in recent weeks. A special legislative panel is probing problems in the prison system. WASHINGTON U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies are investigating what they see as a broad covert Russian operation to sow public distrust in the coming presidential election and in U.S. political institutions, intelligence and congressional officials said. The aim is to understand the scope and intent of the Russian effort, which incorporates cybertools to hack systems used in the political process. Breaching computers would enhance Russias ability to spread disinformation. The effort to better understand Russias covert operations is being spearheaded by James Clapper, the director of national intelligence. This is something of concern for the DNI, said Charles Allen, a former longtime CIA officer who has been briefed on some of these issues. It is being addressed. A Russian influence operation in the United States is something were looking very closely at, said one senior intelligence official who, as others interviewed, spoke on the condition of anonymity. Officials are also examining potential disruptions to the election process, and the FBI has alerted state and local officials to potential cyberthreats. The official cautioned that the intelligence community is not saying it has proof of such tampering or of any Russian plans to do so. But even the hint of something impacting the security of our election system would be of significant concern, the official said. Its the key to our democracy, that people have confidence in the election system. U.S. officials were shocked by the Russian government hack of the Democratic National Committee, disclosed by the DNC in June but not yet officially ascribed by the U.S. government to Russia, and the subsequent release of 20,000 hacked DNC emails by WikiLeaks. Cybersecurity analysts traced the hacks digital markings to known Russian government hacking groups. Weve seen an unprecedented intrusion and an attempt to influence or disrupt our political process, said Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, speaking about the DNC hack and the WikiLeaks release on the eve of the Democratic Convention. The disclosures, which included a number of embarrassing internal emails, forced the resignation of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Members of both parties are urging the president to take the Russians to task publicly. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., urged President Barack Obama to publicly name Russia as responsible for the DNC hack and apparent meddling in the electoral process. Free and legitimate elections are non-negotiable. Its clear that Russia thinks the reward outweighs any consequences, he wrote in a statement. That calculation must be changed. ... This is going to take a cross-domain response diplomatic, political and economic that turns the screws on (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and his cronies. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said Monday that possible Russian meddling in the U.S. election is a serious threat that must be addressed quickly and firmly. Sen. Daniel Coats, R-Ind., a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Sunday that if Moscow is indeed trying to influence the U.S. election, such actions would be an outrageous violation of international rules of behavior and cannot be tolerated. Administration officials said they are weighing their response. Russia has denied that it carried out any cyberintrusions in the United States. Putin called the accusations an attempt to distract the publics attention. The Kremlins intent may not be to sway the election in one direction or another, officials said, but to cause chaos and provide propaganda fodder to attack U.S. democracy-building policies around the world, particularly in the countries of the former Soviet Union. U.S. intelligence officials said Russias campaign was designed to counter U.S. leadership and influence in international affairs. One congressional official, who has been briefed recently on the matter, said the issue has moved up as a priority for the intelligence agencies, which include the FBI and Department of Homeland Security as well as the CIA and the National Security Agency. Precinct offices need to be open to public I recently needed some information and a form from a police station. The neighborhood station at 2475 Deer Park Blvd. was a lot more convenient than Central Police Headquarters downtown. The precinct hours are posted as 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. But on this Friday, the office was closed. The next two times I tried, it was also closed during those hours. I even phoned the office and was told that, while it was closed that day, the next day it would be open. Of course, when I went there the next day, it was closed. Every time I went there I saw other people who were also waiting. Why is the public paying taxes to maintain this precinct office if it is never open to the public? James N. Novotny, Omaha Ashford takes too much credit I have witnessed testimonials to Brad Ashfords hard work, bipartisanship and devotion to veterans affairs the improved Omaha VA Medical Center and Offutt Air Force Base, in particular. As a retired Air Force officer, I take a special interest in these activities. Ashford sometimes appears to claim responsibility for a lot of things he didnt do all by himself. Much of the work getting the VA Medical Center improvements done was performed by his predecessor, Lee Terry, and Rep. Jeff Fortenberry. Similarly, some of the work on improving the runway at Offutt and building a levee along the Missouri River to protect the base was done by other individuals in the Bellevue/Omaha area, including members of the Nebraska Legislature. Finally, his supporters have bragged about his deep Nebraska roots (three generations) and the fact that his opponent is an opportunistic carpetbagger from another state. There are a great number of military retirees in Nebraska who were born in other states, myself included, but Ive lived here for nearly 40 years. Veterans retire in Nebraska because they like the people and the general aspects of the Good Life, and that has been the case for more than 150 years. John T. Parsons, Papillion Clinton soars above Trump The current presidential campaign commentary echoing off the studio walls of our cable and network news outlets, the pages of many newspapers and periodicals and websites everywhere is, for the most part, forgettable and regrettable fiction. To continue to characterize the histories, competencies, policies and remarks of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as having any kind of equivalency is an egregious mistake by the press and an insult to informed, critical-thinking voters. Trumps false narratives, verbal incontinence and divisive rhetoric are often illogical, incomprehensible or outright dangerous. And I frequently find myself stunned by the utterances from his media talking heads and other apologists. Like any political candidate, Clinton also has her flaws, but she does not need others to explain Hillary to Hillary. She is an articulate, experienced public servant who I believe has the wisdom, competence and temperament to be our president and commander in chief. She is someone who will continue to solicit innovative ideas from many sources in order to find real solutions for the complicated challenges facing our nation. And building a wall along our southern border will not be one of them. Louena M. Guidera-Waller, Omaha Calling out those who hurt America A sibling of mine calls me a Gloomy Gus because I follow the actions of people, organizations and governments that I believe are causing great harm to America. I have always been a people watcher. My interest has expanded because of things I became aware of over the last eight years. Much of governmental corruptness is tied to citizens who refuse to acknowledge facts, such as the negative actions of people like Bill and Hillary Clinton and their foundation. Those who are trying to spin the actions of the Clinton Foundation and Clinton Global Initiative allow the deceitfulness to continue and flourish. Ken Lane, Council Bluffs They better take a rain check I just watched Donald Trump in Mexico. Warren Buffett and Hillary Clinton can cancel their Omaha street dance. Jim Kruger, Omaha Environmentally wise programs pay off In 2007 President George W. Bush signed into law the Energy Independence and Security Act, which was implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency. It reduced the energy use by incandescent light bulbs, estimated by the Energy Department to be around 19 percent. Congress attempted to repeal and block implementation of the bill three times. The Aug. 30 World-Herald reported Omaha Public Power District put its projected growth rate in negative territory for the next 20 years. Granted, other programs reduce energy use more, but 19 percent is significant. Seems as if everyone is eager to bash the EPA when it gets it wrong, but no one gives the agency credit when it gets it right. Joseph Slattery, Omaha Karnataka to survey all Arabic schools to check if on same page as state board Cauvery issue: Bandh in Mandya, Siddaramaiah convenes all party meet Bengaluru oi-Vicky Bengaluru, Sept 6: The Cauvery Horata Samithi has called for a bandh in Mandya, Karnataka to protest the decision of the Supreme Court which ordered the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. The Supreme Court on Monday had directed Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu for ten days. The court also ordered the supervisory committee to decide on the issue relating to the release of water during this period of ten days. SC directs Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to TN for ten days Members of the Cauvery Horata Samithi came out in large numbers and staged protests at Mandya which is 99 kilometres away from Bengaluru. Vehicular movement has been affected as a result of the protests. Karnataka: Cauvery Horata Samiti activists protest in Mandya over SC order to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu pic.twitter.com/ecC5PgMOlZ ANI (@ANI_news) September 6, 2016 Nearly 2,400 police personnel have been deployed in Mandya and the situation continues to remain volatile. People have been advised not to travel through Mandya today. All party meeting Meanwhile the Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah has convened an all party meeting following the Supreme Court order. The meeting would discuss the way forward and how to tackle the situation. The meeting has been scheduled for later today. The court had on Monday also directed both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to make a representation before the supervisory committee which would later tell the Supreme Court about the ground reality. Tamil Nadu has contended that only 33 TMC of water has been released this year until August 31. Even if Karnataka claims that it is a distress year it ought to have released 68 TMC of water, TN also contended. In a normal year Karnataka needs to release 98 TMC, TN also told the court. Karnataka on the other hand told the court that Tamil Nadu is under the impression that this is not a distress year. While the rains have been good in North Karnataka, it is the Cauvery basin in particular that has suffered the most this year, Karnataka also contended. OneIndia News Karnataka to survey all Arabic schools to check if on same page as state board Karnataka bandh on Sept 9 over Cauvery Water issue Bengaluru oi-Vicky Bengaluru, Sept 6: Pro-Kannada organisations and several farmers unions have called for a Karnataka bandh on September 9 to protest against the verdict of the Supreme Court which ordered the release of Cauvery Water to Tamil Nadu. The bandh is expected to be total. The state government is already gearing up for the bandh call given by the activists who also include Vatal Nagraj. The Supreme Court had on Monday ordered Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for the next ten days. Cauvery issue (Live): Karnataka bandh on Sept 9 There have been a spate of protests in Karnataka on Tuesday and at least 700 buses have been stopped from entering Tamil Nadu. Around 418 buses from Tamil Nadu too were stopped from entering Karnataka. Protests were highest in Mandya where people vandalised a PWD office and a police station. Effigies of Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa were burnt in several parts of the state. Protestors who raised slogans outside the house of Water Resources Minister, M B Patil also demanded his resignation. There were also protests against Fali S Nariman, senior counsel appearing for Karnataka in the Cauvery Waters case. Earlier during the day, Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah met with experts to discuss the situation. He is also expected to convene an all party meeting later today. Karnataka is expected to urge the supervisory committee to take note of the issue as soon as possible and visit the state. The committee has been told by the Supreme Court to examine the ground reality and report to it. The committee will also hear Tamil Nadu's side of the case. OneIndia News Solar eclipse to be sighted in Bengaluru for 45 minutes: Report Karnataka gets Rs 7 crore grant from Centre for 2 forensic labs Raising anti-RSS slogans, three men attack Hindu youth with stones in Shivamogga Karnataka to survey all Arabic schools to check if on same page as state board Cauvery row (Live): Karnataka to release water to Tamil Nadu Bengaluru oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Bengaluru, Sept 6: Massive protests broke out in Mandya and other parts of Karnataka against the verdict of the Supreme Court which ordered the release of Cauvery Water to Tamil Nadu. Protestors vandalised PWD office and a police station in Mandya. The Bengaluru-Mysuru highway was blocked due to protests. Here are the latest updates of the agitation: Cauvery issue: Avoid Mysore, Hosur roads today 9.50 pm: State will approach SC & supervisory committee for further directions, says Siddaramaiah. 9.49 pm: State will approach SC & supervisory committee for further directions: Siddaramaiah. 9.48 pm: State will continue to give water to farmers & for drinking as planned, says Karnataka CM on cauvery river water issue. 9.26 pm: All-party meeting decides to abide by the Supreme Court order and release water to Tamil Nadu. 7.31 pm: Rapid action force deployed outside Vidhan Soudha after protests were staged. 7.18 pm: Protestors in Mandya attack a state road transport corporation bus. They are protesting over the Cauvery waters issue. Bengaluru: All party meeting to discuss Cauvery river water issue, underway pic.twitter.com/wMX5ex25sH ANI (@ANI_news) September 6, 2016 6.45 pm: JDS floor leader H D Kumaraswamy skips the all party meet called by Karnataka CM on Cauvery issue. 6.30 pm: Cauvery row: Deve Gowda appeals to protestors to maintain peace 6.00 pm: All party meet on Cauvery underway 5.25 pm: Spell next course of action on Cauvery issue, Karunanidhi asks Tamil Nadu government 5.10 pm: Police Lathi Charge against protesters in Mandya 5.00 pm: Karnataka CM calls for meet at 6 pm. Opposition leaders, MPs, central ministers, ministers from Cauvery basin to be present 4.45 pm: Highway Blocked, 700 Buses Off Road As Karnataka Protests Cauvery Order 4.30 pm: Bengaluru Tamil Sangam leaders today met Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara and sought protection for Tamils living in the state amid protests by farmers and various pro-Kannada outfits against the Supreme Court direction to release Cauvery water for Tamil Nadu. 4.00 pm: Over 2000 police personnel deployed in Cauvery belt to contain protest and to maintain law & order. 3.15 pm: Cauvery water row: Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway blocked, protests intensify. 2.52 pm: Prohibitory orders have been clamped around Krishnarajasagar Dam and entry of visitors to it prohibited till September 9. 2.32 pm: Security has been stepped up in the city and other parts of the state after protests escalted in Mandya. 2.30 pm: Schools and colleges in Mandya to remain closed for two days, says DK Shivakumar, Karnataka Minister. 2.15 pm: Cauvery issue: PWD office and a Police station vandalised by protesters in Mandya. Cauvery issue: PWD office and a Police station vandalised by protesters in Mandya #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/oGD9KttA07 ANI (@ANI_news) September 6, 2016 2.10 pm: Pro-Kannada organisations and several farmers unions have called for a Karnataka bandh on September 9. 2.00 pm: Protest against Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa in Mandya. Effigies of Jayalalithaa were burnt by protestors. Cauvery water issue: Protest against Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa in Mandya (Karnataka). pic.twitter.com/dR0Z9G8xo1 ANI (@ANI_news) September 6, 2016 Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah held a meeting at Vidhan Sabha ahead of all-party meet over the Cauvery water issue. At least 700 buses have been stopped from entering Tamil Nadu. Around 418 buses from Tamil Nadu too were stopped from entering Karnataka. The Supreme Court's direction on Monday triggered an immediate backlash with the farmers' body spearheading the stir, calling for a bandh on Tuesday in Mandya district. Supreme Court directed Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for the next 10 days to address the plight of the farmers there. OneIndia News Bank holidays in November 2022: Here is the full list of non-working days India emerging as a major tourist destination, says Mahesh Sharma Business oi-IANS By Ians English New Delhi, Sept 6: Union minister Mahesh Sharma on Monday emphasised that India has "everything that a tourist country should have", adding that the perception about the country as a tourist destination has improved to a great extent. "It (India) has tourism for the whole year. It has mountains, deserts and everything. It's not a seasonal tourist country," the minister told media here. He, however, admitted that a lot needs to be done to improve the infrastructure. Announcing that a Tourism Investors' Summit will be held in the national capital from September 21 to 23, the minister said that his ministry was expecting good investment in the tourism sector through the proposed summit. "We expect that Rs 50,000 crore will be invested through this summit," he said, adding that the inflow of tourists has increased manifold and he was doing everything possible to attract more and more travellers to India. "Security of tourists is a prime concern for us," he said, adding that a helpline, which would provide assistance in over 10 languages, was being created. The minister informed that an Investment Desk is also being established in the ministry to help and guide investors. On being asked about the north-eastern states, the minister said that helicopter services will be started in areas which are difficult to access through roads. He said that efforts were on to improve facilities for medical and spiritual tourism in the country. IANS For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, September 6, 2016, 8:39 [IST] In a first, two inmates of Institute of Mental Health tie the knot MK wades into troubled Cauvery waters, pressures TN: 15,000 cusecs not enough Chennai oi-IANS By Ians English Chennai, Sep 6: DMK President M. Karunanidhi on Tuesday asked the Tamil Nadu government to spell out its next course of action after the apex court ordered Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water from the Cauvery river. In a statement issued here, the former Chief Minister wondered whether the Tamil Nadu government would convene an all-party meeting to discuss the issue and also take an all-party delegation to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The DMK leader said the release of 15,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu over the next 10 days is insufficient for the crops in his state. Karunanidhi's statement comes in the wake of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's media comments on calling an all-party meeting after the apex court order. IANS Canadian envoy says 'support India's sovereignty after earlier 'welcome all' remark on Khalistan Canada's Trudeau hails new friendship with China India oi-PTI Hong Kong, Sep 6 Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today that ties with Beijing had entered a new era following a charm offensive which saw 56 business deals signed. Speaking in Hong Kong following a week-long trip to China, where he met President Xi Jinping and attended the Group of 20 summit in Hangzhou, Trudeau said the "hot and cold" nature of relations with Beijing was over and that ties had been "revitalised". Trudeau said his trip had been about more than signing the deals, which he said were worth more than CAD$ 1.2 billion (USD 929 million). "We needed to renew and deepen the relationship between the people of Canada and people of China for the long term and I think it's safe to say we have accomplished just that," Trudeau said at a business lunch in Hong Kong, calling for a "solid framework of engagement" to enhance commercial opportunities. Canada said last month it would apply to join the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Trudeau said he had also raised contentious subjects, including issues of rule of law and corruption, but did not say how China had responded. Asked about how a major Hong Kong election -- which saw politicians advocating a break from China become lawmakers Monday -- would affect relations he said Canada would work with "whoever gets elected and forms government in foreign jurisdictions". Trudeau also met Hong Kong's richest tycoon Li Ka-shing, posting a picture of himself with the billionaire on Twitter, and the city's leader Leung Chun-ying. Earlier Tuesday, Trudeau honoured those who died in World War II at a city cemetery. Hong Kong fell to the Japanese after 18 days of desperate fighting in 1941. About 290 Canadians were among the roughly 2,100 allied troops killed in the battle. Hundreds of survivors endured years of abuse and starvation as prisoners of war, leading to more than 260 additional Canadian deaths. "We remember the sacrifice and service of so many who stood and fell for our shared values, so far from home," Trudeau wrote in the guest book, seen by an AFP reporter. AFP You don't talk to me: Sonia Gandhi told Smriti Irani in Parliament over 'rashtrapatni' row DGama's family says, 'absolutely no connection' with firm linked to Irani's family Smriti Irani tweets on her Rajya Sabha tenure India oi-PTI New Delhi, Sep 6: With a year left before her term expires, Textile Minister Smriti Irani has curiously made some tweets expressing gratitude to the people of Gujarat, the state she represents in Rajya Sabha. Irani, who was recently shifted from the high-profile HRD portfolio, said that in the last five years as an MP, she has been "fortunate" to have got immense support from BJP leaders and people across the country. The minister, who was elected five years ago, started a series of tweets but gave no indication what prompted her to take to the micro-blogging site on her tenure in the Rajya Sabha. "On August 19, 2011 I got the opportunity to serve the nation in my capacity as Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament from the Gujarat state. "It has been my privilege to have been able to reach out to the people of Anand & resolve their problems in whatever capacity I could," Irani wrote. "I specially express my gratitude to people of Gujarat, particularly Anand which is my nodal district as Rajya Sabha MP from the state," she said. In the tweets, Irani shared snapshots of the welfare and civic work undertaken by her in Anand district during her tenure. "Providing water and conserving the same along with ensuring clean surroundings has been the top priority in Anand," she tweeted. Irani had unsuccessfully fought against Rahul Gandhi from Amethi in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. PTI India's steel industry now 2nd biggest, target is to double crude steel output in 10 years: PM Modi PM Modi to dedicate 2 key rail lines in Gujarat to nation Monday Narendra Modi calls for unity, harmony as Jain festival ends India oi-IANS By Ians English New Delhi, Sep 6 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday wished the followers of Jain religion on the last day of 'Paryushan Parva', sending the message of unity and harmony. "Michhami Dukkadam. May the spirit of forgiveness & compassion enhance the spirit of harmony & togetherness in our society," Modi wrote on Twitter. Paryushan Parva is a major festival of Jains which lasts for seven days culminating in 'Samvatsari Parvi'. On this day, Jains greet each other by saying "Michhami Dukkadam" and observe a whole-day fast. 'Michhami Dukkadam' is an ancient phrase from Prakrit language, which is uttered by one seeking forgiveness for any ill-will or bad deeds and offering a renewal of relationship. IANS Porn-watching Pak terrorist in Paris attack had a hand in Mumbai 26/11 India oi-Vicky A bomb maker of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba with a penchant for pornography is said to have joined the ISIS and was part of the Paris attacks. Usman Mohammad who was part of the plan to attack Paris had however failed to reach the French capital in which 130 persons had been killed, reports stated. Investigators while examining his phone found that he surfed porn sites when he was not contacting his terror mates. Usman Mohammad who also goes by the alias Usman Ghani had moved out of Pakistan over an year ago. OneIndia had reported on April 11(/india/usman-ghani-s-role-mumbai-26-11-attacks-unclear-2066912.html) that Ghani had slipped into the European Union. In the report it was also stated that he along with an Algerian were part of an ISIS strike team which was planning a series of attacks in the European Union. Interestingly the name of Usman had figured in the probe relating to the 26/11 Mumbai attack. The Lashkar-e-Tayiba's bomb maker: In fact in April his name had cropped up in the probe relating to the 26/11 attacks. However investigators in India say that it is not clear what exactly he had done in the run up to the attacks. He was with the Lashkar-e-Tayiba at the time of the 26/11 attacks. After the attacks, he had joined another terrorist group in Pakistan called the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Indian investigators say that he was roped into the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and taught how to make bombs. Over the years, he became an expert. However, due to a falling out, he had left the outfit to join the LeJ. It was in 2014 that he decided to join the ISIS in Syria. Ghani had joined the ISIS while in Pakistan and went on to become a part of the hit squad in a bid to carry out attacks in Europe. It is learnt that Ghani along with an Alegerian national Adel Haddadi had were part of the squad that was to carry out the Paris attacks, but they could not reach the French capital in time because they were detained in Greece for possessing fake passports. Intelligence Bureau officials say that Usman Ghani changed many outfits. The information that India has on him suggests that he was driven more by money rather than the ideology. OneIndia News 'Shaurya Diwas': Rajnath Singh says J&K entered new era of peace & prosperity after Article 370 abrogation Pak committing atrocities against people in PoK, will have to bear consequences: Rajnath Singh India's defence a notch higher with launch of 75 vital BRO projects in 6 states and 2 UTs, including J&K Lack of development in J&K for decades was one of the reasons behind rise of terrorism: Rajnath Singh Rajnath Singh briefs Narendra Modi on Jammu and Kashmir India oi-IANS By Ians English New Delhi, Sep 6 Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the visit of an all-party team to Jammu and Kashmir and the situation in the Kashmir Valley. "Briefed the Prime Minister on All Party Delegation's visit to J&K and also apprised him (about) the situation in the state," Rajnath Singh tweeted later. Rajnath Singh, who led the all-party delegation, on Monday hit out at Kashmiri separatist leaders who refused to talk to some MPs from the team, saying their conduct defied the spirit of "Kashmiriyat". The all-party delegation visited the state nearly two months after a bloody unrest erupted in the aftermath of the July 8 killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. At least 75 persons have been killed and over 12,000 injured in the weeks of the turmoil, the deadliest Kashmir has seen in six years. --IANS bns/mr India eying USD 22 billion turnover in defence production by 2025: Defence Minister Russia's Shoigu speaks to Rajnath Singh about alleged Ukrainian 'dirty bomb' threat 'Shaurya Diwas': Rajnath Singh says J&K entered new era of peace & prosperity after Article 370 abrogation Pak committing atrocities against people in PoK, will have to bear consequences: Rajnath Singh India's defence a notch higher with launch of 75 vital BRO projects in 6 states and 2 UTs, including J&K Lack of development in J&K for decades was one of the reasons behind rise of terrorism: Rajnath Singh News flash: Amitabh Bachchan attends "aarti" at Lalbaugcha Raja India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Sept 6: Home Minister Rajnath Singh met Narendra Modi today. Singh briefed PM about all party delegation's visit to J&K. Get all the latest news updates of the day: 10. 15 pm: State will continue to give water to farmers & for drinking as planned: Karnataka CM on cauvery river water issue. 10.12 pm: 59 year old PWD executive engineer of Rajasthan Govt booked for raping a minor at his govt accommodation located behind Jodhpur house, Delhi 9.42 pm: Telangana: Locals offer prayers to 58 feet tall Ganpati Idol in Hyderabad. 9.12 pm: Actor Amitabh Bachchan attends "aarti" at Lalbaugcha Raja. 7.16 pm: All parties will be meeting tomorrow, further course of action will be decided then: Ram Madhav on Kashmir issue. 7.00 pm: Protestors in Mandya attack a state road transport corporation bus. They are protesting over the Cauvery waters issue. 6.51 pm: Separate biometric for SC students is reiterating ideology of untouchability in a modern way: Sant Singh, Student. 6.16 pm: All party meeting to discuss Cauvery river water issue, underway in Bengaluru. 6.14 pm: Meeting on Kashmir situation to take place at Home Minister Rajnath Singh's residence, BJP leaders arrive in Delhi. 6.00 pm: Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis felicitates PV Sindhu with a cheque of Rs 75 lakhs, & coach P Gopichand with 25 lakhs. 5.45 pm: 108 feet tall Ganesh idol seen at a Ganpati Pandal in Vizag. on Ganesh Chaturthi in AP. 5.32 pm: Why talk to Hurriyat people, ppl who raise "Pak Zindabad" slogans?: Member of Muslim Clerics delegation who met HM. 5.17 pm: A delegation of Muslim Clerics arrive to meet Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Kashmir situation in Delhi. 5.00 pm: Fans gather outside Salman Khan's residence in Mumbai as Ganpati Visarjan is to take place shortly on Ganesh Chaturthi. 4.57 pm: Congress VP Rahul Gandhi visits a Dalit's house in Kanchanpur area of Deoria district in UP. 4.15 pm: Justice S. Siri Jagan Committee, formed with an aim to solve the stray dog issue, to start functioning from 8th Oct 2016 in Kerala. 4.00 pm: We're facing a difficult time. Water-logging at the hospital is making it hard for us to recover:One of the patients. 3.53 pm: Supreme court asks the petitioner to give representation to Justice Lodha committee itself. 3.52 pm: Petitioner contended that Justice Lodha committee gave permission to 140 med colleges to take admission without assessing their facilities. 3.50 pm: Water-logging at Satyabala Devi Hospital in Howrah (WB) brings misery for patients. 3.47 pm: Ganesh aarti performed in Pune, 21,000 women take part in Maharashtra. 3.42 pm: SC rejects a plea contending that the top court appointed justice Lodha committee was going beyond its mandate of monitoring the work of MCI. 3.30 pm: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal evades media when asked questions on Anna Hazare. 3.23 pm: I had a lot of hopes with Arvind (Delhi CM), he has a sharp mind: Anna Hazare in Ralegan Siddhi. 3.12 pm: 14 Wrestlers from 8 countries will participate in Continental Wrestling Entertainment: Dalip Singh Rana. 3.00 pm: Gurugram: Continental Wrestling Entertainment will be held in Gurugram on 8th Oct & in Panipat on 12th Oct, says Dalip Singh Rana (Khali). 2:45 pm: A delegation of Muslim Clerics to meet Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Kashmir situation at 4:45 pm today. 2:30 pm: Delhi High Court asks JNU to not take any action including penalty against JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar till September 19 WATCH: Chaos breaks out as locals fight for Khatiyas(wooden cots) after Rahul Gandhi's Khat Sabha in Deoria ends pic.twitter.com/4tUxP81L1w ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 6, 2016 2:10 pm: Chaos breaks out as locals fight for Khatiyas (wooden cots) after Rahul Gandhi's Khat Sabha in Deoria ends. 1.42 pm: CBI moves Supreme Court to vacate stay on ongoing probe in Bulandshar gangrape case. 1.40 pm: Schools and colleges in Mandya to remain closed for two days, says DK Shivakumar,Karnataka Minister on Cauvery row. 1.37 pm: Screening of Tamil movies stopped in various theatres in Karnataka. The Natraj theatre has remained closed since morning.Protestors demand resignation of Water Resources Minister, M B Patil.Protests staged against senior counsel appearing for Karnataka, Fali S Nariman. 1.36 pm: Karnataka bandh on September 9th. The bandh has been called by Kannada activist Vatal Nagraj. 1.32 pm: I asked Modi "why is there so much difference in farmers' rate and market rate?" but didn't get a reply: Rahul Gandhi in Deoria (UP). 1.17 pm: Protestors have vandalised the PWD office and a police station in Mandya- Cauvery Waters issue. 1.08 pm: Police use water-cannons to disperse KSU workers protesting over fee hike in self-financing med. colleges in Trivandrum. 1.00 pm: PACL asks SC to keep in abeyance FIRs against its promotors. 12.51 pm: Congress VP Rahul Gandhi interacts with people in Dugdheshwar Nath temple premises in Rudrapur. 12.47 pm: Congress VP Rahul Gandhi offers prayers at Dugdheshwar Nath temple in Uttar Pradesh. 12.46 pm: CM convenes meet of experts on Cauvery issue. 12.22 pm: Locals in Bihar's Chhapra thrash a man for allegedly carrying liquor bottles. 12.21 pm: Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah holds all party meet to discuss Cauvery Waters issue. 12.13 pm: Rahul Gandhi begins door-to-door campaign during 'Kisan Yatra'. 12.04 am: Preeti Rathi acid attack case: Ankur Panwar convicted for murder by Sessions court. 11.46 am: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi embarks on 25,00 km Kisan Yatra from Deoria, UP. 11.40 am: 481 bused from Tamil Nadu have been stopped from entering Karnataka due to the ongoing protests on the Cauvery Waters issue. 11.35 am: Terrorists gunned down by security forces, Kabul City Centre siege ends; 42 people rescued. 11.20 am: Cauvery issue: Farmers protest in Maddur, attempt to block Mysuru-Bengaluru highway Cauvery issue: Farmers protest in Maddur, attempt to block Mysuru-Bengaluru highway #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/ed9QGNb2uB ANI (@ANI_news) September 6, 2016 10.55 am: Delhi: Special 2G court defers order for 17th September on its jurisdiction to try the Aircel-Maxis deal case. 10.45 am: UP: Congress VP Rahul Gandhi reaches Deoria, will begin Kisan Yatra shortly UP: Congress VP Rahul Gandhi reaches Deoria, will begin Kisan Yatra shortly pic.twitter.com/h0Nr6yQsbq ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 6, 2016 10.20 am: Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte expresses regret over abusive remarks against US President Barack Obama. 10.03 am: Cauvery water issue: Farmers protest in Shrirangapattana taluk of Mandya, block road Cauvery water issue: Farmers protest in Shrirangapattana taluk of Mandya, block road #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/pVM2UBuQQR ANI (@ANI_news) September 6, 2016 9.55 am: One dead in ongoing attack on Kabul charity: Afghan interior ministry. 9.35 am: Cauvery water issue: Krishna Raja Sagara dam and Brindavan Gardens in Mandya to be closed for public for four days. 9.15 am: Tamil Nadu transport buses and vehicles from TN halted at Hosur border bus stand due to protests in parts of Karnataka over Cauvery issue. 8.50 am: Rahul Gandhi to hold 'Khat sabha' at Dudhnath Baba Mandir maidan in Rudrapur today. UP: Rahul Gandhi to hold 'Khat sabha' at Dudhnath Baba Mandir maidan in Rudrapur today. pic.twitter.com/lv2QUUSAHL ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 6, 2016 8.40 am: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah calls all party meeting today to discuss Cauvery river water issue and SC's order on the matter. 8.14 am: Pak troops violate ceasefire; resort to mortar shelling and firing on Indian posts along LoC in Poonch in J&K: Defence spokesman. 8.03 am: Lord Ganesha idol at Goud Saraswat Brahmin (GSB) Seva Mandal in Mumbai adorned in gold ornaments. Lord Ganesha idol at Goud Saraswat Brahmin (GSB) Seva Mandal in Mumbai adorned in gold ornaments #GaneshChaturthi pic.twitter.com/Qm4XyQ3wAV ANI (@ANI_news) September 6, 2016 8.00 am: Home Minister Rajnath Singh to meet Narendra Modi at 11 am today. OneIndia News Rajnath Singh to launch first smart fence project along Pakistan border next week Design review of 'Gaganyaan' project to be completed in Jan: ISRO chairman Govt to spend around Rs 50,000 cr under the newly launched Gati Shakti scheme SC to hear plea against construction of metro car shed in Aarey forest area today Swadesh Darshan' projects worth Rs 450 cr get govt nod India oi-PTI New Delhi, Sep 6: The government has approved projects worth about Rs 450 crore under 'Swadesh Darshan' scheme for five states, including poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. The scheme was launched with an objective to develop 13 theme-based tourist circuits in the country and the approval for five was given in a meeting of the central sanctioning and monitoring committee (CSMC) yesterday. "The CSMC for the Swadesh Darshan Scheme has approved projects to the tune of Rs 450 crore for development of various circuits in Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim and Tamil Nadu," an official said. 'Ramayana circuit' in Uttar Pradesh with a project cost of Rs 70 crore was approved, while 'heritage circuits' in Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand with costs of Rs 100 crore and Rs 83 crore, respectively, were also sanctioned, he said. 'Coastal circuit' in Tamil Nadu with a cost of about Rs 100 crore and envisages development of Chennai-Mamamallapuram- Rameshwaram-Manpadu-Kanyakumari. The 'heritage circuit' in Madhya Pradesh, which covers Gwalior-Orchha-Khajuraho-Chanderi-Bhimbetka-Mandu with a total project cost of about Rs 100 crore, envisages infrastructural development of the sites, the official said. However, the 'Heritage circuit' in Uttarakhand is for development of infrastructure in Jageshwar-Devidhura-Katarmal- Baijnath sites with a total project cost of about Rs 83 crore. The 'Ramayana circuit' in Uttar Pradesh envisages development of two destinations --Chitrakoot and Shringverpur. It also includes Ayodhya, for which UP Tourism Department is preparing a detailed project report, the official said. The 'North East circuit', with cost of Rs 95.50 crore, in Sikkim was given the green signal and it includes development of eco log huts, cultural centre, paragliding centre, craft bazaar, base camp for mountaineering and meditation hall, he added. Under 'Swadesh Darshan', 13 thematic circuits have been identified for development, namely North-East India Circuit, Buddhist Circuit, Himalayan Circuit, Coastal Circuit, Krishna Circuit, Desert Circuit, Tribal Circuit, Eco Circuit, Wildlife Circuit, Rural Circuit, Spiritual Circuit, Ramayana Circuit and Heritage Circuit. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, September 6, 2016, 18:41 [IST] Fact Check: Did Trump thank Musk for welcoming him back to Twitter Trump's remarks unnerve Indian-Americans: US lawmaker India oi-PTI Kolkata, Sep 6: The Indian-American community in the United States is greatly concerned by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's remark against Mexicans and Muslims and that Indians were taking away jobs from the country, Democratic legislator Aruna Miller has said. "The rhetoric that all Mexicans are rapists and Muslims are terrorists are of great concern to the Indian-American community. He continues to ridicule outsourcing and call centres," Miller, a legislator from Maryland told reporters. A Democratic representative and a member of the House of Delegates since 2011, she is on a visit to Kolkata and New Delhi to talk about the ongoing US presidential elections, which has generated global interest. The Hyderabad-born American citizen said Trump's statements against immigrants are not going down well with the Indian-American community as well. Republican senator Wayne Harper, who is also accompanying her on the visit, however, defended Trump, saying people around Trump were now expecting that he would make people understand his point of view without being rough. "I am anticipating that relationships will increase between India and USA because both need each other. The relationship is more than just based on business but it's about partnership and about national and international security," he said. The two politicians are impressed by the high voter turnout in India. "I wish the high level of interest that the people here have about American elections was the same in America," Miller said , adding in the mid-term polls, about 38 per cent of eligible voters turned out last time. "We have built up barriers for voters as in some states it is mandatory to have a voter ID card to cast ballots. It is easier to buy weapons than vote. We need to drop those barriers," she said. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, September 6, 2016, 19:03 [IST] Former Himachal CM Virbhadra Singh announces decision to quit electoral politics Two days ahead of his 87th birthday, Himachal Pradesh ex-CM Virbhadra Singh recovers from Covid Former Himachal Pradesh CM & Congress leader Virbhadra Singh passes away at 87; Condolences pour in Former Himachal CM Virbhadra Singh to be cremated at Rampur on July 10 at 3 pm JP Nadda, Rahul Gandhi to pay tributes to Virbhadra Singh in Shimla today Congress banks on anti-incumbency, Virbhadra's legacy in Himachal polls Virbhadra case: ED files chargesheet against LIC agent India oi-IANS By Ians English New Delhi, Sep 6: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday filed a chargesheet against Life Insurance Corporation agent Anand Chauhan in the disproportionate assets case registered against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. The chargesheet was filed before Special Judge Vinod Kumar here. Chauhan is accused of laundering the alleged disproportionate assets acquired by Virbhadra Singh as Union Steel Minister. IANS Kim Jong-Un stresses need to bolster nuclear arms: KCNA International oi-PTI Seoul, Sep 6: North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un called on his military to continue building up Pyongyang's nuclear force after issuing orders for the latest test-firing of ballistic missiles, the North's state media said today. North Korea test-fired three missiles into the sea yesterday, Seoul said, in a new show of force as world leaders met for the G20 summit in China. "He stressed the need to continue making miraculous achievements in bolstering up the nuclear force one after another in this historic year," the official KCNA news agency said. Kim was guiding a fire drill of his military aimed at checking the "capabilities of the units" and the accuracy of the "improved ballistic rockets deployed for action," it added. Describing the combat performance of the rockets as "perfect", KCNA said Kim expressed "great satisfaction over the successful successive firing drill of ballistic rockets". South Korea's defense ministry said the missiles were speculated to be Rodong missiles with a range of 1,000 kilometres (620 miles), and that they were fired without navigational warning to Japan. "North Korea's ballistic missile launch is a direct violation of UN Security Council resolutions, aimed at showing off its nuclear and missile capabilities during the G20 summit," a ministry spokesman said in a statement. The defence ministry in Tokyo said the three missiles were estimated to have fallen into Japan's maritime Exclusive Economic Zone. "The ministry expresses serious concern over the missile launches as they pose a grave threat to Japan's national security," a ministry statement said. Kim Jong-un named head of Pyongyang's new governing body The United States and Japan lodged a protest against yesterday's test-firing and requested a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York. The 15-member body will convene today and discuss whether the council will consider a response to the latest missile launches. North Korea has conducted a series of missile tests this year in defiance of UN sanctions imposed after its fourth nuclear test in January. Last month, it fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile from the northeastern port of Sinpo. That missile flew 500 kilometres towards Japan, far exceeding the range of the North's previous sub-launched missiles. Leader Kim Jong-Un described the August test as the "greatest success" and said it put the US mainland within striking range. The launch was widely condemned by the US and other major powers, but analysts saw it as a clear step forward for North Korea's nuclear strike ambitions. AFP Malaysia warns of action against LTTE sympathisers International oi-PTI Kuala Lumpur, Sept 6: Malaysian police, which arrested five persons allegedly linked to the LTTE for assaulting the Sri Lankan envoy here, has warned of action against sympathisers of the banned group. "I want to remind these groups that they are supporting a group which is banned by the United Nations. We, as a UN signatory country, can take action against them (supporters)," Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar told reporters yesterday. The attack on High Commissioner (ambassador) Ibrahim Sahib Ansar left him with minor injuries. Khalid said police were also probing local groups who had protested to identify their links to the LTTE and warned that they could be probed under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma). When asked whether the group in the attack was affiliated with the LTTE, Khalid said they were showing signs of sympathising with the LTTE and police were investigating their links to the group. He said police have identified all of the attackers and have arrested five people aged between 27 and 56 who were from Ipoh, Dengkil and Kuala Lumpur, the Star said. Khalid said police were now tracking four more suspects involved in the attack. "We regret the incident had happened," he said. Sri Lankas Foreign Ministry in a statement condemned the attack on its High Commissioner. Nine IS suspects arrested in Malaysia The High Commission is coordinating with law enforcement authorities in Malaysia and other relevant local authorities to identify perpetrators and assist with investigations, it said. It was reported that the High Commissioner was assaulted at the airport after sending off Daya Gamage, the countrys Primary Industries Minister, who was in Malaysia for the International Conference of Asian Political Parties. Former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse, who ordered the bloody military assault which ended the LTTE's separatist campaign in 2009, also attended the conference. PTI I am no American puppet, you 'SOB': Philippines Prez to Obama International oi-PTI Washington, Sep 6: The White House cancelled the meeting of the US President Barack Obama with his Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte after the latter used obscene language against him. "President Obama will not be holding a bilateral meeting with President Duterte of the Philippines this afternoon," said Ned Price spokesman of the National Security Council, White House. "Instead, he will meet with President Park of the Republic of Korea this afternoon, September 6," Price said in a brief statement. The White House decision in this regard came after the newly elected President of Philippines accused Obama and used an obscene language against him an unprecedented accusation against a US President. "Who does he think he is? I am no American puppet. I am the president of a sovereign country and I am not answerable to anyone except the Filipino people. Son of a bitch, I will swear at you," Duterte said in Philippines yesterday. His remarks came after the White House officials said Obama in his meeting with him in Laos today would confront about his country's human rights record of handling drug traffickers. Now, message US President Obama on Facebook Earlier in the day Obama indicated that his scheduled meeting with Duterte might not go forward. "I always want to make sure if I'm having a meeting that it's productive and we're getting something done. If and when we have a meeting, this is something that is going to be brought up," Obama told reporters at a news conference in China. PTI Obama says provocations will deepen N Korea isolation International oi-PTI Vietiane, Sep 6: US President Barack Obama warned North Korea's government today that provocative weapons tests would deepen the country's isolation. "Today I'll be meeting with (South Korean) President Park (Geun-hye) to reaffirm our unbreakable alliance and to insist that the international community remains united so that North Korea understands its provocations will only continue to deepen its isolation," Obama said at a regional leaders' summit in Laos. North Korea yesterday test-fired three ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan, a new show of force as Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other world leaders met at the G20 summit in China. North Korea has conducted a series of missile tests this year in defiance of UN sanctions imposed after its fourth nuclear test in January. N Korea fires three ballistic missiles off east coast: Yonhap The UN Security Council was due to meet on Tuesday to discuss the latest missile test, which attracted condemnation from Japan and the United States. Obama and Park were due to meet on Tuesday afternoon in the Lao capital of Vientiane on the sidelines of a gathering of regional leaders hosted by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. AFP PM Modi to arrive in Laos tomorrow for ASEAN-India, East Asia meet International oi-PTI Vientiane, Sep 6: Maritime security, terrorism, economic and socio-cultural cooperation will be on the agenda of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 14th ASEAN-India Summit and the 11th East Asia Summit here in the Laotian capital. Bilateral meetings with fellow world leaders to discuss key issues are also included in the schedule of Prime Minister Modi, who arrives here tomorrow to attend the two Summits - both of which are scheduled for Thursday. The Summits will be attended by Heads of State/Government of the 10 ASEAN and 18 East Asia Summit Participating Countries respectively. At the East Asia Summit, leaders will discuss matters of regional and international interests including maritime security, terrorism, non-proliferation and migration. The Summit comes at a time when China is flexing its muscle to tighten its grip over the disputed South China Sea. China is involved in a raging dispute with the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei over ownership of territory in the SCS, a busy waterway through which India's 50 per cent trade passes. China has also objected in the past to India's Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) undertaking exploration at the invitation of Vietnam in the SCS, which is believed to be rich in undersea deposits of oil and gas. India and the US have been calling for freedom of passage in the international waters, much to the discomfort to Beijing, whose claim over SCS was recently struck down by an international tribunal in favour of the Philippines. On the sidelines of the Summits, the prime minister will also hold bilateral meetings with several world leaders. India's engagement with the ASEAN and wider Asia-Pacific region has acquired further momentum following the enunciation of the Act-East Policy by Modi at the 12th ASEAN-India Summit and 9th East Asia Summit in Myanmar in November 2014. 2017 will mark 25 years of India's dialogue partnership with ASEAN, and several commemorative activities will also be announced by Modi to celebrate the occasion. ASEAN is a strategic partner of India since 2012. India and ASEAN have 30 dialogue mechanisms which meet regularly, including a Summit and 7 Ministerial meetings in Foreign Affairs, Commerce, Tourism, Agriculture, Environment, Renewable Energy and Telecommunications. Trade between India and ASEAN stood at USD 65.04 billion in 2015-16 and comprises 10.12 per cent of India's total trade with the world. The ASEAN-India economic integration process has got a fillip with the creation of the ASEAN-India Free Trade Area in July 2015, following the entry of the ASEAN-India Trade in Services and Investment Agreements. The East Asia Summit is an exclusive club of leaders-led forum in the Asia-Pacific. Since its inception in 2005, it has played a significant role in the strategic, geopolitical and economic evolution of East Asia. Apart from the 10 ASEAN member states, East Asia Summit includes India, China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Russia. India is a founding member of the East Asia Summit. PTI India's steel industry now 2nd biggest, target is to double crude steel output in 10 years: PM Modi Despite the acrimony, PM Modi "looking forward" to visiting Pakistan in Nov: Indian Envoy International oi-IANS By Ians English Karachi, Sep 6: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looking forward to visit Pakistan in November to attend the Saarc Summit, India's High Commissioner said in comments published on Tuesday. Gautam Bambawale also told an event here on Monday that while India and Pakistan must certainly discuss the entire range of issues, they must keep their focus on economy which he described as a "low-hanging fruit". "I can't say about the future but as of today Prime Minister Modi is looking forward to visiting Islamabad for the Saarc summit in November," the Dawn quoted Bambawale as saying at an interactive session of the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations. His comments came amid reports that Modi might keep away from the Saarc Summit in view of the rising tensions between India and Pakistan, particularly over Jammu and Kashmir. Bambawale said that it was India's desire to see a Pakistan which was moderate, prosperous and stable and at peace with itself, its neighbours as well as the rest of the world. He admitted that trust and confidence was lacking in relations between New Delhi and Islamabad. The road to normalization of Pakistan-India relations, he said, lay through greater trade and business, the roadmap for which was prepared by the two governments in 2012. The total trade between the two countries was worth just $2.5 billion a year while its potential was of $20 billion, the Dawn quoted him as saying. The Indian envoy said that even when tensions were high between the two countries, there had been contacts at the operational level. Over the past month and a half, there had been "cordial interactions" between Pakistani and Indian border forces. Bambawale referred to Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's and Modi's visits to Islamabad and Lahore respectively in December last year. But on January 2 this year, terrorists -- who India says came from Pakistan -- attacked the Pathankot Indian Air Force base. He said the Indian government had been saying: "Let's work together to get to the bottom of terrorism which was a headache not only for Pakistan but for India and the world." In an obvious reference to the Kashmir dispute, Bambawale said the two countries should not be talking on just one issue, rather on all issues. He said India had taken a stand in the 1960s and 70s that New Delhi and Beijing must talk on the boundary problem before moving on to other issues. But this was reversed in 1988. Today China was one of India's largest trading partners, he pointed out. Asked about "Indian atrocities" in Jammu and Kashmir, the High Commissioner said Indians were as concerned about the people of Kashmir as anyone else in the world. But issue of Jammu and Kashmir was domestic and "you should focus on your problems", he added. Bambawale said the problem with China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was that it went through Pakistani Kashmir whose ownership is disputed by Islamabad and New Delhi. He also mentioned how Pakistan had refused consular access to alleged RAW agent Kulbhushan Jadhav, arrested in Pakistan, while India gave consular access to a Pakistani terrorist, Bahadur Ali. "We have offered Pakistani authorities full consular access to him," he said in reply to a question about Indian involvement in Balochistan. IANS Fire breaks out in BEST AC bus, no passenger hurt | VIDEO As the countdown clock struck zero, rocket of Aakash BYJUS took off from Bandra Bandstand Man who threw acid on Delhi nurse convicted for murder Mumbai oi-IANS By Ians English Mumbai, Sep 6: More than three years after a Delhi nurse, Preeti Rathi, died following an acid attack, a Special Women's Court on Tuesday convicted her obsessed neighbour Ankur Narayanlal Panwar for murder. Additional Sessions Judge A.S. Shende found Panwar, 27, guilty of murder and causing grievous hurt by throwing acid under the Indian Penal Code. "The convict had a one-sided love for the victim. He even asked her not to travel to Mumbai and the girl had rejected his marriage proposal," Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told the media after the verdict. "Out of jealousy, the convict attacked her with acid, which he purchased from New Delhi," Nikam said. The arguments on the quantum of the sentence will be taken up on Wednesday. A resident of Narela in New Delhi, Rathi, 23, was attacked by acid thrown at her by Panwar shortly after she alighted from the Garib Rath Express train at Bandra terminus on the morning of May 2, 2013. She succumbed to multiple organ failure on June 1 that year on account of the severe acid burns. Panwar had covered his face with a handkerchief and it became practically impossible for the investigators to identity him though Rathi had named him as one of the possible suspects. Both the victim and the accused - who was nabbed eight months after the crime was committed - were neighbours and family friends in Bhakra Beas Management Board Colony. He was nabbed on January 17, 2014 by the Mumbai Crime Branch from his New Delhi home after discarding all other suspects. The needle of suspicion pointed at Panwar only very late as his family and the victim's family were close friends. He later confessed to jealousy as the motive behind his attack since she had got a good, well-paying job but he remained unemployed. Rathi had secured a job as a lieutenant with the Indian Navy's INS Ashvini Hospital in Colaba and had come to Mumbai to join duty. Panwar claimed he was taunted and insulted by his own family members and neighbours for his inability to get work while Rathi managed to secure a prestigious assignment with the Indian Navy. Though he eluded investigators for eight months, Nikam said that call data records of Panwar, when tallied with the railway time tables, showed that he had travelled on the same train as the victim. It proved he was present at the spot at the time of the crime in Mumbai though his (Panwar's) family had earlier claimed he had gone to Haridwar and the Rathi family said they had not seen him on the train. During the hearings, Nikam brought forth how just days before the brutal acid attack, Rathi had confided to a friend about the death threats she got from Panwar. IANS J&K: Govt wants to put an end to the propaganda New Delhi oi-Vicky New Delhi, Sept 6: The Union Government is planning renewed strategy to sort out the Kashmir issue. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh who led an all party delegation to Jammu and Kashmir briefed the Prime Minister about the visit. He also met the chief of the Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing to discuss the Kashmir issue. The government proposes several measures to sort the issue in Kashmir that has been on the boil since the past 60 days. Kashmir separatists do not believe in Insaniyat, Kashmiriyat,Jamuriyat- Rajnath Singh Highly placed sources informed OneIndia that the measures that are being proposed are long term. While the restoration of peace would be the immediate priority, the government is planning a long term strategy to ensure that such a situation does not arise again. Brand new strategy The Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir said that there was a section which was spreading rumours to keep the unrest alive. The Intelligence Bureau and the R&AW will work on this issue to ensure that such propaganda is not spread. Several social media accounts are already being examined and there will strict action to ensure that such material does not crop up. The government also plans on withdrawing all facilities such as security and travel to the Kashmiri separatists. The government is contemplating strict measures to withdraw such perks and instructions have already been given to the state government in J&K. Sources say that the government while planning a long term solution would also discuss the matter in Parliament. While suggestions for a comprehensive plan would be sought in Parliament, the government also proposes to continue with its Track II strategy. Rajnath Singh will meet with Muslim clerics later on Tuesday to discuss the situation. The government is also contemplating on releasing a large grant to the state. It was proposed during a presentation made by the state government when the all party delegation visited the state on Sunday and Monday. The union government will continue to engage civil society and the idea would be to change the perception that some people in the state have. With regard to the separatists, the government said that they had blown a chance to meet with the members of the delegation and discuss the issue. "There cannot be any ego in such matters," a government official said. The government says that all stake holders are welcome to talk provided it is done under the ambit of the Indian Constitution. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, September 6, 2016, 15:39 [IST] Bank holidays in November 2022: Here is the full list of non-working days J&K: Rajnath to brief PM Modi about all party delegation visit New Delhi oi-Vicky New Delhi, Sept 6: Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh will brief Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the all party delegation visit to Jammu and Kashmir. The meeting has been scheduled for 11 am on Tuesday. An all party delegation led by Singh was in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday and Monday. Kashmir separatists do not believe in Insaniyat, Kashmiriyat,Jamuriyat- Rajnath Singh Singh would update the prime minister about the visit and also appraise him of the ground situation. He would also convey to the prime minister about the three point agenda suggested by the state government. During a presentation made by the finance minister of Jammu and Kashmir, he had urged the centre to release funds for the state. He further told the delegation that a re-think on the Armed Forces Special Powers Act would be needed. The Finance Minister also sought for a complete ban on pellet guns. Further Singh is also likely to raise the issue of the separatists. The separatists had refused to meet with the members of the delegation. The Home Minister will also emphasise on the need to engage civil society more to find a way out to ensure peace and calm returns to the Valley. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, September 6, 2016, 9:55 [IST] Former Union minister Shashi Tharoor has alleged that BJP is trying to "hijack" Indian history for political purposes and said Congress will not let it reduce the country to a "Hindu Pakistan". He said the new ruling doctrine in the country has sought to redefine Indian nationalism in "more sectarian terms". The senior Congress leader said his party will always oppose what is not in the interest of the nation. 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd. All rights reserved. One News is a registered trademark of One News Page Ltd. It is estimated that 1,00,000 people flocked to Itaewon streets for the Halloween festivities. Rumble 26 Aug 2022 Can Jon Hamm rise to the level of a Chevy Chase by taking his role in Fletch? My take. No. #JonHamm #ConfessFletch #comedy Newsy 22 Oct 2022 Watch VideoU.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene after a lower court ordered him to testify.. Newsy 06 Jul 2022 Watch VideoThe U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday sued Arizona over a new law requiring people who use a federal form to.. CBS 4 WCCO Minnesota 17 Mar 2021 There is a push in court for answers in the nearly two-decade old disappearance of a Minnesota college student, reports Liz Collin.. Veuer 04 Aug 2021 Former President Obama has canceled what was to be a 500 person outdoor bash to ring in his 60th birthday. As the aspiring impresario of sorts that she was, Cory wanted to showcase Stanis's work as a way of introducing him to Brooklyn Heights society. The success of this venture hinged as much on Cory's own currency with the public as it did with Stanis's stature as an artist. Much of the readership of Brooklyn Life was likely aware that Cory was a scion of the Middaghs, who, as we have already mentioned, were wealthy landowners of Heights property in a bygone era, adding a bit of gravitas to whatever she might say or do. Brooklyn Life itself, edited as it was by Cory's elder brother, and for which she continued to contribute as a writer, was well subscribed to. It was a significant force in shaping the Brooklyn Heights cultural scene, focusing as it did on local events and matters that the dailies were often forced to let fall through the cracks because of their emphasis on national and international news. Cory's amusing and endearing column about Willie Winkie and his exploits was viewed, if not read, by some 30,000 readers who purchased the weekly periodical, which hit the stands and the mailboxes like clockwork every Saturday. Setting her mind to the task at hand, Cory tweaked her connections at the Neighborhood Club--the New Church's cultural arm--and in short order was able to schedule Stanis for a month-long slot from late April through the end of May, 1924. The Church of the Neighbor, with photo portrait of Swedenborgian notable Dr. John C. Ager. (Image by James H. Callender, Yesterdays on Brooklyn Heights, 1927) Details DMCA With the vibrancy of the cultural scene in Brooklyn, the New Church, also known as the Church of the Neighbor, and sometimes as the Church of the New Jerusalem, had become an icon in Brooklyn's crown of cultural jewels. Standing on the corner of Monroe and Clark Streets, the edifice was purchased by the Swedenborgians from another Christian denomination in the 19th Century. More recently, the church had built an annex where it housed a book store and a meeting room, and after its completion, began using the upstairs space to exhibit quality art by local talent, including the work of many of the Ovington Building artists, their studios being only few doors away. As an exhibition of etchings by Andrew T. Schwartz ended, Stanis's show was set to begin. Every conceivable piece of work he had finished in the year and a half since he arrived in New York was dusted off and touched up where the occasion demanded, along with a few works he managed to scurry out of Europe when he emigrated to the the United States. Certainly Stanis had begun to establish a record of accomplishment as a portrait painter in the year and a half since he arrived at Ellis Island, although he was still struggling to bridge the cultural abyss between Europe and America. As a matter of fact, his herculean efforts to master a new language, matched with the unfamiliar and at times hostile environment in New York, put him in a psychological space that blocked all his efforts to even begin a painting or drawing. It was his meeting with the Henshaws and their encouragement that provided fertile ground for his genius to blossom into actual accomplishments. If his best efforts bore fruit, it would not be the first time Stanis had excelled in unfamiliar territory. As a Polish-Jewish artist, he had managed to collect a good number of clients in a region of Germany that would eventually become a hotbed of anti-Jewish sentiment. New York, then, as strange and foreign an environment as it may have been to Stanis at first, should not have presented him with insurmountable obstacles in comparison. But New York was no piece of cake to conquer either, particularly for someone who played by the European rules of polite engagement. Stanis's experience with the modern artists in Germany had already given him second thoughts about pursuing a career in painting, but the inroads he had made in his portraiture practice since his arrival in America could not but have given him a sense of confidence, in spite of the fact that a strong element of serendipity brought him his most recent commissions. The more interaction with the Henshaws Stanis availed himself of, the better a move to Brooklyn looked to him, although he still found it difficult to countenance giving up his Manhattan connections. In fact, he had already embarked on a course of study with George T. Brewster, a prominent sculptor of war memorials who taught at Cooper Institute in Greenwich Village. This course of study tended to further cement his connection with the borough. To have a successful exhibition in Brooklyn Heights, Stanis had to collect a critical number of his works. Fortunately, he had finished some portraits of staff members at the American Museum of Natural History whose acquaintance he had made through the Henshaws. There was both the sketch and oil portrait of Operti, but he had also completed likenesses of two others of artists working at the museum. One was a pencil sketch of Dr. Childs. Another was of W. H. Southwick, Dr. Childs's boss at the museum, who would later post a few of his original cartoons for Brooklyn Life and would apply some of his illustrating skills to a few of George's "Dr. Padapopper" columns. Stanis had also completed a portrait of Aleth Bjorn, the artist with whom he shared a studio in Manhattan. The Danish-born decorator and painter was Stanis's senior by quite a number of years, but this only served to increase Bjorn's stature in the younger painter's eyes, and the two got along famously. Stanis persuaded still another artist, Helen T. Reinthaler, to sit for him. Reinthaler was one of renowned etcher and illustrator Joseph Pennell's prize students at the Art Students League in Manhattan. Two other portraits, one of a Mrs. Camilla Ettinger and a pencil sketch of Louis C. Ager, a prominent Brooklyn physician, he was quite proud of. Another study, "A Polish Jew Praying," which has already been mentioned, was completed when he was only 18, and was one of the few works he managed to scurry out of Europe and onto the steamer that brought him to America. Another was a study in oil of his sister, Isabel. But of all these, the star of the show would be the portrait of Nancy Middlebrook, which, while an endearing study of a young lady coming of age as it was, Nancy herself had already outpaced as she sprung to life in young adulthood. Not to be left out, of course, was the sketch of Nancy's uncle Herbert, which was said to be an excellent likeness. The paintings were transported from his studio in New York, and hung with the help of the Neighborhood Club staff. By Monday afternoon the exhibition was ready for the scheduled private viewing. Unlike Stanis's recent visit to Brooklyn Heights, this event was a baptism of fire as far as the local arts community was concerned. No artists, with the exception of George Childs, had attended Cory's soiree of a month earlier, which was a far more private and intimate event. On the contrary, the private showing was visited by a number of painters. Rembski was still not a known quantity among the locals. He would be viewed with some circumspection before people could see how he operates day-to-day, and what kind of work he produced. Was he a sluggard, was he temperamental, was he a Sunday artist? All were questions that would be thrown at him, either verbally or mentally. Then again, there are always the professional jealousies that can retard a newcomer's progress and make him feel quite alone. All it would take was the supportive word of a single prominent figure to send negative sentiments scurrying away with their owners, but would that sublime person surface? It was not to be counted upon. On that Monday evening in late April, the Henshaw clan was at the Neighborhood Club rooms to welcome the new artist and his work. Nancy was among them, and there can be little question that she was enthusiastic about seeing her hero again, the man who had put her on the map. Even more important than that for her was the presence of her portrait in the show. Additionally, Cory had persuaded Herbert to feature her portrait and the oil of Operti on the two cover pages of Brookyn Life magazine--quite a bonus for a new artist making his Brooklyn debut. Nancy, shy as she was, could not contain her excitement at being on the cover of the well-circulated weekly. She would burst with pride in showing this to her Manhattan friends. But amidst her whimsical nature, something much deeper was seeping in from the experience. Part of it was infatuation, but that was only a vehicle for a much more thorough transformation, one in which her aesthetic sensibilities would be thoroughly engaged. Nancy Middlebrook's portrait on the cover of Brooklyn Life magazine. (Image by Brooklyn Life magazine, 1924.) Details DMCA It is likely that Nancy took up much of the artist's time at the opening. She would probably not have left his side, if that were possible. But her mother must have done what she could to tone down the young girl's enthusiasm, and allow Stanis to mix comfortably with the other guests. Cory, who had organized this entire affair, would also demand her fair share of the artist's attention, as much as she loved and trumpeted the cause of her dearest niece. Brooklyn Life writer Nancy Ford was on the scene, and would later write about the exhibition. Leslie Pomeroy was a friend of the family, as was pianist and composer Porter Steele, who loved attending these events and schmoozing with Cory's acquaintances . The Hammetts were still occupying rooms at the Henshaws, and had already made Stanis's acquaintance. Others, including Mrs. Clark Burnham and her daughter, Katherine, as well as Robert Alfred Shaw, were members of the Church of the Neighbor. The Burnhams would be fixtures at many of Stanis's openings over the coming years. Also present were a few young friends of Nancy, one of whose portrait was featured in the show, and some of the local society women. These all constituted the greeting party. But the visitors themselves supplied a list of neighborhood notables that any painter would feel quite satisfied with in terms of a market for a high-end product like an oil portrait. Among them were wives of Harold Latham Fish of the investment firm of Reynolds Fish; chemical manufacturer James L. Morgan; former Brooklyn Engineers' Club president Williard S. Tuttle, architect James O. Carpenter; cinematographer John Lee Mahin (then but beginning what would become an illustrious career in film); banker John Van Buren Thayer, textile manufacturer Dudley D. Campbell; physician and researcher John O. Polak. In all, 35 signed the guest book for the relatively low key event, including Herbert Henshaw, who would normally remain aloof from such matters if he had not taken a keen interest in the artist whom he had originally encouraged to settle in Brooklyn. As each visitor entered Neighborhood Club, Cornelia and the welcoming committee members would be sure to greet them with an enthusiastic hello and even a hug. Amiable conversation filled the exhibition space as Stanis's cheerleaders encouraged each visitor to take their time examining and enjoying the portraits, often of people they knew, or even of themselves. Between sips of tea and bites of crackers and cheese or home-prepared pastries, the compliments flew, many of them taking note of Stanis's use of color, his capture of details such as the fur on a collar or the reflection of a button on a dress, and, in the case of the drawings, the sense that one was revisiting the work of Leonardo da Vinci of half a millennium earlier. As it turned out, the evening proved to be an enjoyable and uplifting experience for all concerned. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). (CNS): The perseverance and tenacity of Sri Lanka's Anti-Malaria Campaign today received international acclaim, as the country received official 'malaria-free' certification from the World Health Organization (WHO) for successfully eliminating the disease. Following decades of efforts to control it, including some serious setbacks, Sri Lanka is now a beacon of hope for the entire Asia Pacific region as it aims to eliminate malaria for good in the next 15 years. WHO grants malaria-free certification when a country has proven that the chain of local transmission has been interrupted nationwide for at least three consecutive years. In Sri Lanka's case, the final recorded case of local malaria transmission took place in 2012. "This is an extraordinary achievement by Sri Lanka, and the result of decades of dedication and commitment to end the disease," commented Dr Nafsiah Mboi, Leaders' Envoy and Board Chair for the Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance (APLMA), and former Minister of Health of Indonesia. "It will also offer inspiration to other countries in the region that share the common goal of eliminating malaria throughout the region by 2030 or sooner." Sri Lanka's efforts to curb malaria began as long ago as 1911, but went through distressing times when the country witnessed sudden resurgences of the disease in 1934--1935, and again in the late-1960s, when millions of malaria cases suddenly re-emerged. But despite a 30-year long separatist war that devastated much of the health system in the country, the incidence of malaria was once again brought down in little more than a decade. In 1999, the country recorded over 250,000 cases. By 2011, the nationwide number of malaria cases had fallen to only 124. It was then reduced to zero cases by the end of 2012. Not a single malaria-related death has been recorded in Sri Lanka since 2007. The challenges are now to ensure malaria is not re-introduced to Sri Lanka, and to prevent any possible resurgence of the disease. Strong surveillance will be required to ensure that previous investments and efforts are not undone. "Sri Lanka's achievement demonstrates that a well led and managed malaria programme, together with unrelenting commitment, can end the disease," said Sir Richard Feachem, Director of the Global Health Group at the University of California, San Francisco, and former head of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. "While we should celebrate this landmark success, the region must remain vigilant. By working together, South Asia can reach the historic goal of malaria freedom by 2030." The number of malaria cases occurring in Asia Pacific countries has dropped by over 45% since 2000, according to latest estimates from WHO, which reveal impressive regional progress as countries move towards malaria elimination. Prevention efforts are already saving millions of dollars in health care costs each year. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). The U.S. government, for no stated reason, and after having approved his entry in the past, has denied Craig Murray the usual approval to enter the United States without a visa that is given to UK citizens. Craig Murray was British Ambassador to Uzbekistan from 2002 to 2004. Murray was forced out of the British public service after he exposed the use of torture by Britain's Uzbek allies. Murray is scheduled to chair the presentation of this year's Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence to CIA torture whistleblower John Kiriakou, and to speak about diplomacy as an alternative to war at a World Beyond War conference planned for September 23-25 in Washington, D.C. In 2006 Murray was himself awarded the Sam Adams Award, and the citation included the following: "Mr. Murray learned that the intelligence authorities of the UK and the US were receiving and using information extracted by the most sadistic methods of torture by Uzbek authorities. He protested strongly to London, to no avail. He was forced out of the British Foreign Office, but has no regrets. There are more important things than career"Mr. Murray's light has pierced a thick cloud of denial and deception. He has set a courageous example for those officials of the 'Coalition of the Willing' who have first-hand knowledge of the inhuman practices involved in the so-called 'war on terror' but who have not yet been able to find their voice." Shocked by the denial of approval to enter the United States without a visa, Murray stated: "I shall apply for a visa via the State Department as suggested but I must be on a list to be refused under the ESTA system, and in any event it is most unlikely to be completed before the conference." "It is worth noting," Murray added," that despite the highly critical things I have published about Putin, about civil liberties in Russia and the annexation of the Crimea, I have never been refused entry to Russia. The only two countries that have ever refused me entry clearance are Uzbekistan and the USA. What does that tell you? "I have no criminal record, no connection to drugs or terrorism, have a return ticket, hotel booking and sufficient funds. I have a passport from a visa waiver country and have visited the USA frequently before during 38 years and never overstayed. The only possible grounds for this refusal of entry clearance are things I have written against neo-liberalism, attacks on civil liberties and neo-conservative foreign policy. People at the conference in Washington will now not be able to hear me speak. Plainly ideas can be dangerous. So much for the land of the free!" The following joint statement has been signed by members of the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence listed below: News that former British Ambassador Craig Murray has been denied entry to the United States under the regular visa waiver program is both shocking and appalling. We Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence (SAAII) had invited Craig to be Master of Ceremonies at our award ceremony honoring John Kiriakou, the CIA torture whistleblower (more details at samadamsaward.ch ), this September as part of the 'No War 2016' conference. Now we're wondering which agency's long arms have reached out to disrupt our ceremony and to try to silence Craig. Whatever they intend, it will be bound to backfire, since it only makes the US government look like some sort of monolithic repressive apparatus out to mimic the world's worst despotic regimes. Ambassador Murray notes in his blog that Uzbekistan -- whose government apparatchiks are notorious for torturing its citizens -- is the only other country to have barred his entry. Even Russia - which Ambassador Murray criticizes freely - allows him to travel there trouble-free. What are the implications for US democratic values? We strongly urge the State Department to reverse its decision and allow Ambassador Murray freedom of travel and freedom of expression without hindrance in the United States of America. William Binney, former Technical Director, World Geopolitical & Military Analysis, NSA Thomas Drake, former Senior Executive, NSA Philip Giraldi, CIA, Operations Officer (ret.) Matthew Hoh, former Capt., USMC, Iraq & Foreign Service Officer, Afghanistan Larry Johnson, CIA and State Dept. (ret.) John Brady Kiesling, former US diplomat John Kiriakou, Former CIA Counterterrorism Officer Karen Kwiatkowski, Lt. Col., US Air Force (ret.) David MacMichael Ph.D., CIA, US Marine Corps captain (ret.) Elizabeth Murray, Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Middle East, CIA (ret.) Todd E. Pierce, MAJ, JA, USA (ret.) Diane Roark, former staff, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (ret.) Coleen Rowley, retired FBI agent and former Minneapolis Division Legal Counsel Peter Van Buren, U.S. Department of State, Foreign Service Officer (ret.) J. Kirk Wiebe, Senior Analyst, NSA (ret.) World Beyond War has created a petition appealing to the State Department World Beyond War, the organization behind the No War 2016 conference at which Murray is scheduled to speak, has created an online petition to the State Department. David Swanson, Director of World Beyond War, said "This attempt to prevent a truth-teller from speaking in support of nonviolence is absolutely shameful. This is not a policy created to represent any view of the U.S. public, and we are not going to stand for it." Body-Worn Temperature Sensors Market with a 42.2% and 40.6% Share in Terms of Value and Volume, Global Researcher Agree http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=4337 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/body-worn-temperature-sensors-market.html Compactness and Portability to Fuel Adoption of Wearable Temperature Sensor DevicesBody-worn temperature sensors are widely used for monitoring body temperature and diagnosis of complex diseases, thus driving their demand. People of different age groups have started using temperature-sensor-based wearable medical devices to diagnose and self-monitor long term diseases. Increasing concerns regarding chronic diseases have ensured high adoption of body-worn temperature-sensor-based wearable medical devices. Moreover, the compactness and portability of these devices have also boosted their acceptance.Offer Free Detailed Report Brochure PDF,Download:The application areas of body-worn temperature sensors are expected to grow in the future, with the further development of these devices. Thus, the scope of these devices is expected to widen beyond fitness, healthcare, wellness, and medical sectors.High Cost of Wearable Temperature Sensors Dampen DemandThe major factor hampering the adoption rate of body-worn temperature-sensor-based devices is their high cost. These devices remain unaffordable for the middle class people. However, the high price of these devices is expected to have a lower impact in the near future, predicts a TMR analyst.Wearable temperature sensor devices is a new technology, which is yet to gain full acceptance across the globe. Currently, consumers do not regard body-worn temperature sensors a necessity for monitoring health, thus affecting adoption rates.Opportunity for Small Players Lies in Development of Low-priced, Compact DevicesThe current body-worn temperature sensors market is led by a few established players. However, small players will have enormous opportunities to emerge in the market in the coming years. These small players are expected to develop compact products. Additionally, the price of wearable temperature sensors is likely to drop, with an increase in the number of players entering the competition. Technologically advanced, compact, and cheaper devices are expected to have an increased audience, thus propelling the growth of the market.Browse Full Report@About Us:-Transparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Contact Us:-Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Market Size of Digital Glass Military Aircraft Cockpit Systems, Forecast Report 2016-2026 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1787 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1787 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/digital-glass-military-aircraft-cockpit-systems-market www.futuremarketinsights.com A digital glass cockpit, also known as electronic flight information systems (EFIS) and cockpit display system (CDS), is an aircraft cockpit that consist digital flight instrument displays, generally large LCD screens, instead of conventional analog dials and gauges. A digital glass cockpit simplifies aircraft operations and navigation by enabling the usage of several displays driven by flight management systems, that can be adjusted (multi-function display) to display flight information as needed.Advanced digital glass cockpit systems utilize LCD screens to display crucial flight information. Digital glass cockpit displays systems are based around primary flight displays (PFDs), engine indications and crew alerting system (EICAS) and multifunction displays (MFDs). This enables the replacement of mechanical flight instrument gauges with graphical representations of information from onboard and external sensors and navigation systems.The digital glass cockpits are being increasingly adopted by military and defense along with airline companies, as they eliminate the need for a flight engineer, in turn reducing costs. In recent past, this digital glass cockpit has become widely available in small aircrafts too.Market Overview:Digital glass cockpit systems, which were prevalent in the civil aviation sector, are being increasingly adopted among military aircraft operators, in order to add capabilities to their fleets. Along with facilitating reduction in information management workload for pilots coordinating large networks of sensors and platforms, digital glass cockpits offer advantages such as weight and power savings, enabling easier interaction with air traffic control, and enable faster training for new pilots.Market Dynamics:The cockpits of both fixed and rotary-wing military aircraft are going digital. These glass cockpits facilitate the pilot's tasks throughout the flight, especially under difficult conditions, by improving access to vital information. The global market of digital glass military aircraft cockpit systems is mainly driven by the advantages offered by these systems over traditional cockpit systems. These advantages include the enhanced accuracy and precision of automation systems, and more ergonomic display of the data. These glass cockpits also comprise feedback loops and self-checking capabilities to alert the pilot about threats before they become emergencies. Additionally, these advanced system offers checklist of issues, the pilot can utilize to troubleshoot a problem and correct it immediately.Request Free Report Sample@However, as the aircraft operations become increasingly dependent on digital glass cockpit systems, flight crews must be trained to deal with possible failures. In recent years, several incidents involving glass-cockpit blackout have occurred. Therefore, proper training is considered as one of the key components for reducing miss happenings of aircrafts equipped with digital glass cockpit systems.To counter these blackouts, aircrafts with digital glass cockpit systems are provided with backup analogue displays for key flight instruments including airspeed indicator and altimeter.Market Segmentation:Global digital glass military aircraft cockpit systems market is mainly classified on the basis of system, end use sector and geographies.On the basis of system, global digital glass military aircraft cockpit systems market is segmented into Multi-function flight display systems, Primary flight display systems and EICAS (Engine-indicating and crew-alerting system).On the basis of end use sector, global digital glass military aircraft cockpit systems market is segmented as general aviation, commercial aviation and the defense & aerospace.Request For TOC@On the basis of geographies, global market of BTS is segmented into 7 key regions:North AmericaLatin AmericaWestern EuropeEastern EuropeAsia Pacific Excluding JapanJapanMiddle East & AfricaPresently, North America is holds the majority share in the digital glass cockpit systems market. However, the region is expected to lose its share to Asia Pacific region during the forecast period, mainly due to falling defense expenditure in North America. In the APAC region, India, China and Japan are expected to lead the growth in the forecast period.Key Market PlayersThe major players active in the Global digital glass cockpit systems market include Honeywell Aerospace, GE Aviation, Garmin Ltd., Avidyne Corporation, MGL Avionics, Lockheed Martin, Elbit Systems Ltd., Esterline Technologies Corporation, Airbus Group SE and Rockwell Collins, Inc.Browse Full Report@ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Automotive Belts Market Forecast By End-use Industry 2016-2026 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1785 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1785 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/automotive-belts-market www.futuremarketinsights.com Automotive Belts are power transmission belts that provide a connective link between two parallel rotating shafts, these shafts are fixed with pulleys upon which the belt is looped. Hence, power transmission occurs by friction from the driving shaft to the driven shaft smoothly through these belts. Automotive belts are also utilized as timing belts to synchronize the functions of engine valves via a camshaft. Automotive belts used in vehicles are designed as endless belts and are commonly manufactured from materials such as neoprene, chloroprene, and ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber (EPDM rubber). The inner surface and the cross sectional area of the automotive belt differs according to the function the belt needs to perform. Automotive functions such as air-conditioning, power steering function, water pump function and drive alternator are performed by the V-belt while valve timings through the camshaft is usually performed by the toothed belt. Serpentine belts are newer form of automotive belts where all the automotive functions, collectively known as engine accessories, are performed by the connections through a shaft and pulley system is done by a long single endless belt. This form of belt negates the usage of multiple V-belts in an automotive engine.Automotive Belts Market DynamicsThe Production numbers of automobile worldwide is on a constant increase on a yearly basis as per the demands witnessed in many developing countries. This factor is the prime reason for fueling the growth of the automotive belts market. Automotive belts primarily function through friction between the pulley and the belt which is susceptible to wear and tear due to continuous usage leading to decreased performance, engine efficiency and slippage. This problem is usually rectified by the replacement of the belt prompting the growth of the automotive belt market in the aftermarket segment as well. The influence of the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce greenhouse gases emission and control of pollution has pushed the automotive vehicles manufacturers to produce highly efficient and less polluting engines that require very precise and long lasting automotive belt. This factor has also fueled the growth of automotive belts market as more and more vehicle manufacturers opt for belts that are efficient and environmental friendly.Request Free Report Sample@Automotive Belts Market: SegmentationAutomotive Belts Market can be segmented by vehicle type, sales channel and type.By vehicle type, automotive belts can be segmented as:Passenger vehiclesLight Commercial vehiclesHeavy Commercial vehiclesBy sales channel, it can be segmented as:Original Equipment ManufacturerAftermarketBy type, it can be segmented as:Timing BeltsDrive BeltsSingle V-BeltMulti-function V-Belt/Serpentine BeltAutomotive Belts Market: Regional OutlookThe Global Automotive Belts market can be segmented into seven distinct geographical divisions such as North America, Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific Excl. Japan (APEJ), Japan, Middle East and Africa. Developing countries in Latin America and the Asia Pacific region such as Mexico, China and India witnessed the fastest growth of automobile production and sales which can further fuel the improvement of automotive belts market. In APEJ region China, South Korea, and India are the top automobile producing countries making them prominent market for automotive belts. In the North American region U.S. is anticipated to show high growth of automotive belts market owing to improved production of automobiles. Western Europe is exhibited to show a prominent growth of automotive production especially in countries such as Germany, Spain, France, U.K., and Italy hence enhancing the market for automotive belts in Western Europe. The increasing trend of reselling automobiles in the Middle East and Africa region has prompted an improvement in the demand for automotive belts, thereby improving the market in the aftermarket segment.Request For TOC@Automotive Belts Market: Key PlayersSome of the major players identified in the Global Automotive Belts Market areGates CorporationMidas International CorporationMitsuboshi Belting Ltd. GroupHelicord Transmissions Pvt. Ltd.B&B ManufacturingThe Carlstar Group LLCContinental AGBearings and Power Transmission SolutionsCRP Industries Inc.BG AutomotiveHutchinson GroupBando Chemical Industries Ltd.Browse Full Report@ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Online Apparel Market: Facts, Figures and Analytical Insights 2016 - 2026 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/11590 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11590 The ecommerce sector have observed extraordinary growth over the past few years. The growth was primarily driven by prompt adoption of technology led by inclining use of devices such as tablets and smartphones as well as access to internet through 3G and broadband which ultimately resulted in inclination in the online consumer base. The growth showcased by some of the players such as snapdeal and flipkart exhibited immense potential of the market. Some of the major trends adopted in this sector include rising utilization of mobile devices for shopping, progress in cross-border online purchase and utilization of alternative payment methods by online shoppers all over the world. It has been noticed that apparel is one of the industries gaining the most from the online shopping boom, being among the highly purchased product categories in online retail segment all over the world. The apparel has become an online accomplishment majorly due to new and innovative visualization tools as well as the presence of customer reviews. The apparel sector is one of the major beneficiaries of the ecommerce growth. The global online apparel market has showcased remarkable growth in the past few years due to exceptional growth of online retailing across the globe. The market is projected to grow at a very higher pace over the next ten years from 2016-2024. The global online apparel sales is anticipated to observe stupendous CAGR till 2024 with major stimulus from developing economies.Use For to: Download TOC (desk of content material), Figures and Tables of the report:The global Online Apparel market is segmented on the basis of demographic profile which includes men, women and kids. The global online apparel market is further bifurcated on the basis of mens apparel and womens apparel. The mens apparel is sub-segmented on the basis of shirts, sweatshirts, pants, jeans, blazers, shorts, suits, coats, sleepwear and others. On the other hand, womens apparel is segmented by pants, tops, jeans, shorts, skirts, coats, swimsuits, sleepwear and others. The global online apparel market is also segmented on the basis of price segments such as premium, mid and low.Rising internet penetration, technological advancement and rapid communication to drive the global online apparel market. The increase in number of smartphone users, higher convenience, affordability factor and variety of products offered that play a significant role in determining the sales amount will foster the growth of global online apparel market over the next 10 years till 2025. Womens wear is forecasted to impel the global online apparel market in future. Rising preferences to shop online through tablets and smartphones as well as launching of innovative sales strategies by major companies such as the concept of flash sales and daily deals in different regions have been substantially changing the market and is expected to drive the global online apparel market in the years to come.Geographically, the Global Online Apparel industry can be divided by major regions which include North America, Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific region, Japan, Middle East and Africa. North America captured the highest share in the global online apparel market. In North America, particularly in the U.S. apparel is the second largest product category in online retails market in terms of sales volume. China is anticipated to be the highest online apparel market by 2025 exceeding the U.S. market. China consists of biggest online retail sector marking close to a third of all business to commerce ecommerce sales and booming at double-digit numbers. Amongst all the region, Asia-Pacific is the rapidly growing market and is projected to showcase highest CAGR till 2025 surpassing Europe in terms of total online sales by 2025. Improvement in internet penetration as well as infrastructure in the emerging markets such as India and China will impel the growth of global online apparel market over the next few years.The major players identified across the value chain of global Online Apparel market include Amazon, Gap, Walmart, ebay, Staples Inc., Apple Inc, Kroger, Alibaba Group Holdings and others. Amazon.com Inc is the market leader in the overall global online apparel market capturing significant share in the overall market. In the past few years, the companies such as Alibaba based in China has also marked its significant presence in the overall global online apparel market.Request Sample Report@The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data, and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to market segments such as geographies, and applications.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.ContactPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com Personal Care Appliances Market: Dynamics, Segments, Size and Demand to 2016 - 2026 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/11539 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11539 Personal care appliances usage is becoming a necessity for the consumers, who regularly use personal care products for quick personal grooming. Personal care appliances majorly includes trimmer, hair dryer, shaver, hair straightener, hair curler and epilator. Owing to benefits such as better affectivity than traditional procedure and time saving, demand for personal care appliances is growing gradually.Use For to: Download TOC (desk of content material), Figures and Tables of the report:On the basis of product type personal care appliances market is segmented into hair care appliances, hair removal appliances, oral care appliances and other personal care appliances. Hair care appliances is sub-segment into hair dryers, hair straighteners, curling brushes, hair clippers, curling irons and hair setters. Hair removal appliances is sub-segmented into trimmers, mens shavers, womens shavers and epilators. Further, oral care appliances is sub-segmented into electric toothbrushes and oral irrigators.Other personal care appliances include heating pads and massagers. Currently, hair care appliances holds largest market share in terms of value, which is around two fifth of the global personal care appliances market followed by hair removal appliance and oral care appliances. Hair dryers and hair straighteners are the most popular products from hair care appliances segment. In addition, currently in the hair removal appliances segment trimmer and shavers collectively hold majority of the market share.On the basis of gender personal care appliances market is segmented into male and female. Of which in terms of value, market share contribution of female segment is higher as compared to the male segment.On the basis of distribution channel, personal care appliances market is segmented into hypermarket and supermarket, franchise stores, departmental stores and online retailers. Distribution of personal care appliances is expected to increase exponentially through online retailing. This is attributed to increasing internet penetration primarily in emerging economies coupled with product variant availability.Geographically, personal care appliances market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Japan and Middle East & Africa. Currently, there is a higher popularity over Japan, Western Europe and North America. There is a significant potential to expand market share of personal care appliances in Asia Pacific excluding Japan.Consumers of personal care appliances are very much brand and quality conscious, moreover urban consumers are becoming more style conscious, which is driving the personal care appliances market growth invariably. Consciousness of the benefits of personal care appliances over emerging economies and increasing urbanization are driving the personal care appliances market. Also, increasing e-commerce sector is expected to contribute significantly to the growth of personal care appliances market. Durability and high cost of few products restraints the personal care appliances market growth. However, there is a huge opportunity in the Asia Pacific market, the market is almost untapped and few players already started capturing the market share of personal care appliance market. This is attributed to new product development in order to capture significant market share in the overall personal care appliances market.Request Sample Report@Some of the key comapnies in the personal care appliances market include Panasonic Corporation, Helen of Troy L.P, Royal Philips Electronics NV, Lion Corp, Colgate-Palmolive Company, HoMedics Inc, Remington Products Company, Conair Corp, Braun GmbH, Norelco Consumer Products Company, Johnson & Johnson, GABA GmbH, Procter & Gamble, and others.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.ContactPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com Global Agricultural Tyre Market Share, Sales Volume, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin 2016 Agricultural Tyre http://goo.gl/jfWtuv http://goo.gl/EtM2On http://goo.gl/jQD9JH Market Research Store has announced a new report titled "Global Agricultural Tyre Market 2016" with key focus on the industry performance. This report contain details about Agricultural Tyre Market Size, Share, Analysis, import & export consumption, supply and demand Figures, cost, price, revenue and gross margins and the factors on which the companies compete in the market have been evaluated in the report.Get Free Sample @A key feature of this report is it focus on major industry players, providing an overview, product specification, product capacity, production price and contact information for Global Top 15 companies. This enables end users to gain a comprehensive insight into the structure of the international and Chinese Agricultural Tyre industry.For technical data and manufacturing plants analysis, the report analyzes Agricultural Tyre leading suppliers on capacity, commercial production date, manufacturing plants distribution, R&D Status, technology sources, and raw materials sources.Global Agricultural Tyre Market Research Report studies current as well as future aspects of the Agricultural Tyre Market, key trends and segmentation analysis. For worldwide market analysis, the report analyzes Agricultural Tyre markets in China and other countries or regions (such as US, Europe, Japan, etc) by presenting research on global products of different types.Do Inquiry Before Purchasing Report @The Agricultural Tyre report provides a detail overview of Agricultural Tyre industry including definitions, applications and industry chain structure. This report focus on global market analysis, competitive framework, history, trends and competitive landscape of the market. Agricultural Tyre Research Report also focuses on development policies and plans for the industry as well as a consideration of a cost structure analysis, Capacity production, market share analysis, price, production value and gross margins are discussed. This research report covers the growth prospects of the global market based on end-users, it also includes analysis of the leading vendors in this market.Historical data available in the report elaborates on the development of the Agricultural Tyre market on a national and international level. The report compares this data with the current state of the market and thus elaborates upon the trends that have brought the market shifts. In addition to this, the regulatory scenario of the market has been covered in the report from both the global and local perspective.Read More With Complete TOC @MarketResearchStore.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact US:Joel John3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442,United StatesTel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651 datango performance suite becomes open www.paris-ag.com www.datango.com www.punctum-pr.de PARIS GmbH opens up roadmap for its proven EPSS and e-learning solution, securing a unique position on the global marketKaarst, 6th September 2016 The datango performance suite (dps) EPSS and e-learning solution from PARIS GmbH has turned into a platform that is designed by customers for customers. The authoring tool for digital training is thus the only solution on the market to use the by users for users approach. A public roadmap council made up of customers will decide on an ongoing basis on further product developments, creating a dynamic solution that is always in line with current user and market needs.We dont develop laboratory features that have little to do with real-world customer problems and requirements. Instead, we see our customers as long-term partners who make a valuable contribution to our solution enhancements. Its a win-win situation, explains Sebastian Grodzietzki, Chief Growth Officer (CGO) at PARIS GmbH. He adds, Lots of customers complain that other providers dont listen to their product needs and functional requirements once the contract has been signed. We want to be in close personal contact with our customers. Thats why our customers will be shaping the dps roadmap from now on.The datango performance suite (dps) is an electronic performance support system (EPSS) and e-learning solution. With dps, users can learn how to use applications like CRM, ERP, MS Office etc. and software updates during their everyday business. Besides documenting and simulating processes, dps is an easy-to-use authoring tool that guides employees in any department through digital and non-IT work processes in a context-sensitive manner. As a result, companies are enabled to digitise, automate and accelerate business processes much more easily and on a much broader scale. Training costs and error rates can be reduced and, ultimately, business results can be optimised. In addition, dps is being continuously developed in the direction of an open cognitive automation platform.Giving customers and partners a say in the dps roadmap and further development of the product ensures that product improvements are geared to actual employee and training needs faced by customers and other companies. Software and other training and rollout projects can therefore be implemented even more efficiently and employees quickly learn how to handle them regardless of the business process or software involved.This new crowd-based Social Roadmapping 4.0 that we are introducing will receive further smart inputs from our PARIS Innovation Lab, says Sebastian Grodzietzki. Its purpose is to drive targeted co-innovation and co-development with customers and partners in the area of smart offices, smart factories and other Internet of Things settings.datango at a glance:datango is a division of PARIS GmbH - Process Automation Robotics Intelligence Systems - and provides leading technologies for process navigation, automation, documentation and e-learning. Among other things, datango solutions support organizations through targeted qualification of employees during rapid rollouts, and smooth operation of enterprise applications. The software solutions provide a navigation aid in the live system, and facilitate the automatic generation and translation of process documentation, training manuals, software simulations, and real-world e-learning environments. Functionalities as featured in the datango performance suite are an integral component of business applications in many companies all around the world. As a result, datango helps reduce input errors, and support costs and thus increase user acceptance of business applications in companies across various industries and sizes.Further information:datangoA division ofPARIS GmbHBruchweg 9641564 KaarstGermanyContact person:Sebastian Grodzietzki-Chief Growth Officer-Phone: +49 (0)2131-762010E-Mail: s.grodzietzki@paris-ag.com | s.grodzietzki@datango.comPR agency:punctum pr-agentur GmbHNeuer Zollhof 340221 DusseldorfGermanyContact person:Ulrike Peter-Managing Director-Phone: +49 (0)211-9717977-0E-Mail: up@punctum-pr.de Decentralized Infectious Disease Testing Market Rises with Increasing Trend of Patient Centric Care http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/decentralized-infectious-disease-testing-market.html http://bit.ly/2cbgqF6 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ With developing technological innovations in the health care sector comprising biosensors, smartphone apps, lab-on-chip and tech tops, that offer a nearer association with the patient. Decentralized testing techniques are therefore becoming a catalyst in the transformation of the health care sector. The main reason that this type of testing is trending nowadays is because of its access and quicker results. It can be done closer to the patient, the results are convenient and quicker to the provider to further rush for the diagnosis and treatment. Decentralized infectious testing lets faster clinical decisions at the physicians clinic, ambulance, and home. Decentralized testing can make a difference in the treatment of the patient. As this testing system is portable and moving it to the site of the patient, increases the chances of the physician, patient and the care team to have faster results and immediate decision making.Browse Full Report Description of Decentralized Infectious Disease Testing Market is available at:The demand for decentralized testing is increasing due to rising incidences of infectious diseases in developing countries. The increasing usage of decentralized testing and technological innovations with respect to ease of use and faster testing devices are encouraging the usage of decentralized testing. The decentralized testing market has professional and patient friendly or self-monitored testing like food pathogens, hematology, infectious diseases, coagulation test and urine analysis. Rapid results and first hand treatment reduces the downstream costs. As the conventional health care sector shifts to modern health care, more services can be presented to the patients at the decentralized testing of the patient.The factors driving the trend of decentralized infectious disease testing include increasing trend of patient centric care, technological innovations, shortage of laboratory staff, increasing aging population, and rising incidences of infectious diseases. Even the diagnostic laboratories are also transforming on the basis of this format, where complex tests are performed in core labs and decentralized testing is performed in clinics, outpatient clinics or at patients home. This improves quality of care and access of care to the geriatric population. Advancements in the technology have been made such that it can be performed even by moderately trained staff. Many tests require labs for testing but now can be performed at the point of care. Another factor which drives the decentralized infectious disease testing market is the lack of trained staff in the laboratories. With less trained laboratory staff, drives the labs towards automated testing procedures and towards minimal user interaction systems. Thus, factors such as reduced sample volume, less specimen processing, shorter hospital stay, optimized medicine treatment and less post-operative care time support the growth of decentralized infectious disease testing market.The decentralized infectious disease testing gives results for over 75 type of infectious diseases across varied testing platforms which include advanced technology laboratory equipment along with rapid diagnostic tests that can provide results for individual patients in less than or equal to 5 minutes. Infectious diseases such as malaria, measles, mumps, rubella, herpes simplex virus, cytomegalovirus, dengue fever, HIV and many more, can be detected through decentralized infectious disease testing procedures.Know the Trends of Decentralized Infectious Disease Testing at:Briefly, North America has more options and a bigger share in the decentralized infectious disease testing market followed by Europe. With improved infrastructure and increasing awareness the global decentralized infectious disease testing market will have a boost in emerging countries of Asia Pacific. The prominent players having presence in the global decentralized infectious disease testing market are Becton-Dickinson and Company, Abbott Laboratories, Beckman Coulter, Inc., Siemens Medical Solutions, Nipro Diagnostics and Johnson & Johnson.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Transparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Military and Civil Aircraft Market 2016 - 2021: Industry Trends and Analysis Production, Revenue and Cost Analysis with Key Companys Profiles Global Military and Civil Aircraft Market 2016 - 2021 http://goo.gl/5EpQAr http://www.mrsresearchgroup.com/market-analysis/global-military-and-civil-aircraft-market-2016-industry.html http://www.mrsresearchgroup.com/ Available to the users on the site of MRS Research Group on the global Military and Civil Aircraft Market 2016-2021, the report is the detailed and thorough analysis of different factors surrounding and influencingthe concerned industries all around the world. The report gives detailed and large picture of different boosters, restraints and opportunities and probable threats that exists and expected to arise in future.Request For Sample:The report is created by the team of expertoffers a birds eye view of all the key performance indicators of the industry. The analysis in the report covers the industry on the basis of revenue, volume, wherever applicable and needed. This QY Research report has been created after takinginto consideration all the internal and external factors closely or remotely related to the given industry. Report has covered the key players of the industry along with current and potential competitors.User will not only get the highlightsand glimpses of Military and Civil Aircraft Market 2016-2021, but will also be able to understand details of the industry, current scenario, revenues (net and gross) of the competitors and key players and their position in the market 2016-2021 in terms of geography, monetary value and brand value or goodwill.Information available in the QY research is coupled with present and future opportunities hiding. Report considers the importance of R&D and estimates upcoming inventions too. It analyzes and compares the current status the industry with the future goals and growth. Apart from these factors possible QY Report is well equipped with information on threats having potential to hinder the growth of market 2016-2021 to have an all pervasive view of the market 2016-2021.Access Full Report With TOC:In the given report, made available on MRS Research Group site, the expert team has successfully delivered a complete and realistic picture of the future actions, that the Exercise Mats is expected to take. The report covers all question that a business faces in a bid to sustain its industrial position.MRS Research Group provides a range of market 2016-2021ing and business research solutions designed for our clients specific needs based on our expert resources. The business scopes of Prof Research cover more than 30 industries including energy, new materials, transportation, daily consumer goods, chemicals, etc. We provide our clients with one-stop solution for all the research requirements.Joel John3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 FREE (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803 FREEEmail: sales@mrsresearchgroup.comWebsite: Global Flavors Market growing at 7.5% CAGR during 2016-2021 http://www.zionmarketresearch.com/sample/flavors-market http://www.zionmarketresearch.com/inquiry/flavors-market http://www.zionmarketresearch.com/report/flavors-market http://www.zionmarketresearch.com/buynow/su/flavors-market http://www.zionmarketresearch.com Zion Market Research has published a new report titled Flavors Market by Type (Natural and Synthetic) for Beverages, Bakery, Confectionery, Dairy, Savory & Snacks and Others Applications: Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis and Forecast, 2015 2021. According to the report, global demand for flavors was valued at USD 11.50 billion in 2015 and is expected to reach USD 15.60 billion in 2021, growing at a CAGR of 7.5% between 2016 and 2021. In terms of volume, the global flavors market stood at 587.0 million tons in 2015.Get a copy of free Sample Report @A flavor is a very important entity of the food industry. It is primarily utilized to enhance and accelerate the taste, smell, and color of the products. It is available in two categories i.e. natural and synthetic. However, natural flavors are in great demand due to the shifting preferences for natural flavors rather than the synthetic. Natural flavors are derived from fruits, vegetables, and other substances, while synthetic flavors are obtained from chemicals. It has many diverse applications such as food and beverages, oral care industry, the beer industry, etc.The major driving factor of global flavors market is growing demand for convenience food across the globe. Secondly, the demand for various flavors is increasing from the beverages industry which is expected to fuel the demand for flavors during the years to come. However, stringent rules and regulations imposed by regulatory bodies on flavors are likely to hinder the growth of the market. Furthermore, new raw material sources are projected to open new opportunities for flavor market in coming years.Know more before buying this report @The global flavors market is bifurcated in two types viz. natural and synthetic flavors. In 2015, natural flavors were in great demand across the globe and it accounted for 50% share of the entire market. Additionally, the dominance of the segment is expected to prolong within the forecast period owing to rising demand towards heath concerns.Beverages were the foremost application accounted for 25% share of the market and further it is predicted to continue this trend due to growing demand for beer consumption across the globe. The beverage application is expected to grow at CAGR of 10.0% in near future. Moreover, emerging market is likely to grow the demand for dairy and savory & snacks within the forecast period.Browse detail report with in-depth TOC @In 2015, North America dominated the market for flavors with 30.0% market share followed by Europe. This was mainly contributed by heavy consumption of beverages in this region due to the climatic condition in the region. Asia Pacific is likely to experience high-growth over the period due to the growing demand for flavors used in sauces & seasonings especially in emerging economies such as China, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Moreover, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa also projected to have moderate growth for flavors market in coming years.Some of the key players operatives in the global market of flavors include Givaudan, Firmenich SA, Kerry Group plc, Symrise AG, Wild Flavors Inc., Frutarom Industries Ltd., SunOpta, Inc, International Flavors and Fragrances Inc., Mane Fils SA, Archer Daniels Midland Company and Sensient Technologies Corporation. Among these major players, Givaudan is one of the dominating companies which accounts for a major chunk in global flavors market in 2015.Purchase detail report with TOC @About Us:Zion Market Research is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations. Zion Market Research is the comprehensive collection of market intelligence products and services available on air. We have market research reports from number of leading industry and update our collection daily to provide our clients with the instant online access to our database. With access to this database, our clients will be able to benefit from expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends.Contact Us:Zion Market Research4283, Express Lane,Suite 634-143,Sarasota, Florida 34249, United StatesTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No.1-855-465-4651Email: sales@zionmarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Yeast Market will grow 8.6 % CAGR and will reach USD4.86 Billion By 2021 http://www.zionmarketresearch.com/sample/yeast-market http://www.zionmarketresearch.com/report/yeast-market http://www.zionmarketresearch.com/inquiry/yeast-market http://www.zionmarketresearch.com/buynow/su/yeast-market http://www.zionmarketresearch.com Zion Research has published a new report titled Yeast Market by Form (Instant, Fresh and Dry Yeast), by Type (Brewers, Bakers, Bio-ethanol, Wine, Feed and Other type), by Specialty Yeast (Yeast Autolysis, Yeast Extract and -glucan) for Food and feed: Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis and Forecast, 2015 2021. According to the report, global demand for yeast market was valued at over USD 2.96 billion in 2015, is expected to reach above USD 4.86 billion in 2021 and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of above 8.6 % between 2016 and 2021.Get a copy of free Sample Report @Yeast is the single celled eukaryotic organisms classified into fungus kingdom. Yeast is aerobic, anaerobic or facultative in nature and can grow in acidic conditions. It is present on all living cells including small intestine. Edible yeast is non toxic and has properties like rising which helps in fermenting and resulting in great taste. Some of the major applications of yeast are baking, brewing, fermentation, bioremediation, industrial fuels and nutritional supplements.Increasing demand for yeast from the bakery due to high consumption of bakery products drives the yeast market. Other factors contributing to the growth of yeast market are surging use of specialty yeast in the processed and packed food. Also, high demand of bio-ethanol as fuel stimulates the growth of the market. Growing demand for alcoholic beverages has led to high production of wine and other beverages in turn increase the demand for yeast. Though, yeast based products have low shelf life and allergies caused due to consumption of some yeast species may hinder the growth of market. Specialty yeast contains MSG; therefore stringent regulations are led by the government on its use. Nevertheless, untapped opportunities for the use of yeast in various industries are likely to open new avenues for the yeast market in the coming years.Browse detail report with in-depth TOC @Based on yeast form the yeast market can be segmented as instant yeast, fresh yeast and dry yeast. Fresh yeast is considered to be the potential segment owing to high use of fresh yeast in bakery product mainly in breads and puffs due to great taste and high rising properties. Further the yeast can be segmented on the basis of type that are brewers, bakers, bio-ethanol, wine, feed and other types. Bakers and brewers are the leading segments due to high use of yeast in this industrial sector. Yet, wine and feed are likely to show high growth prospects in the coming years.Specialty yeast is product originating from natural food yeast, which is used for nutrition, health and taste. Some of the key specialty yeast are yeast autolysis, yeast extract and -glucan. Yeast is majorly used in food and feed industry. Food segment is the most prominent market segment due to high use of yeast in food industry such as bakery, wine and breweries.The yeast market was dominated by North America in 2015. This was mainly contributed to high consumption of bakery products along with majority of shares in wine and brewery industry. However, North America and Europe are anticipated to experience sluggish growth in forecast period due to saturation of yeast market. Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing market owing to rising discretional income and changing preference over the conventional foods towards fast and processed foods. The yeast market in Asia Pacific is projected to maintain its market in the coming years due to growing bakery and wine industry.There has been tremendous growth of wine industry in Brazil; this is likely to augment yeast market growth in Latin America. Middle East and Africa is expected to show sustainable growth in the next years owing to rising living standards along with increasing disposable incomes and presence of abundant raw resources.Know more before buying this report @Presence of various vendors in the market forces the companies to focus on R&D for innovative and cost effective products. AngelYeast Co., Ltd, Koninklijke DSM N.V., Synergy Flavors, Leiber GmbH, Chr. Hansen Holding A/S, Associated British Foods plc, Lallemand Inc., Oriental Yeast Co., Ltd., Alltech and Lesaffre Group among others are some of the major players in the yeast market.Purchase a direct copy of report with TOC @About Us:Zion Market Research is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations. Zion Market Research is the comprehensive collection of market intelligence products and services available on air. We have market research reports from number of leading industry and update our collection daily to provide our clients with the instant online access to our database. With access to this database, our clients will be able to benefit from expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends.Contact Us:Zion Market Research4283, Express Lane,Suite 634-143,Sarasota, Florida 34249, United StatesTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No.1-855-465-4651Email: sales@zionmarketresearch.comWebsite: Wealth in Turkey: Sizing the Market Opportunity; Sizing the wealth market in Turkey and its growth potential http://www.reportbazzar.com/request-sample/?pid=440056&ptitle=Wealth+in+Turkey%3A+Sizing+the+Market+Opportunity%3B+Sizing+the+wealth+market+in+Turkey+and+its+growth+potential.&req=Sample http://www.reportbazzar.com/discount-form/?pid=440056&ptitle=Wealth+in+Turkey%3A+Sizing+the+Market+Opportunity%3B+Sizing+the+wealth+market+in+Turkey+and+its+growth+potential.&req=Discount http://www.reportbazzar.com/product/wealth-in-turkey-sizing-the-market-opportunity-sizing-the-wealth-market-in-turkey-and-its-growth-potential/ http://www.reportbazzar.com/ SummaryWhile growth in Turkeys economy has slowed thanks to a number of economic and geopolitical challenges, the countrys small affluent population will continue to increase at a healthy rate. The retail savings and investments market is dominated by deposits, though stronger growth is predicted for the smaller asset classes such as equities and mutual funds. The offshore market remains important, accounting for around 25% of HNW portfolios, with tax efficiency and client anonymity the primary drivers for holding assets overseas.Request Sample Report:Key Findings In 2015, 2.3% of Turkeys population was affluent, with the number of affluent individuals forecast to increase by 11% a year between 2015 and 2019. The mass affluent currently hold the bulk of the countrys wealth (61.3% of liquid assets). Total affluent assets are expected to continue to grow in line with the number of affluent individuals over the next five years, rising by 10% a year to reach $435bn by 2019. Strong growth will continue in the countrys relatively undeveloped savings and investments market. Deposits still dominate (88.2% of assets in 2015) due to structural factors, the taxation regime, and consumer preferences. Relatively strong growth is predicted for smaller asset classes (7% a year for equities and 8% a year for mutual funds to 2019) as Turkeys capital markets begin to mature, but these classes will remain only a small proportion of the overall portfolio. Property remains a vital component of wealth portfolios. Turkish HNW individuals hold 17% of their investible assets outside traditional investments, with just under half of these assets held in direct property investments. Turkey has the highest share of alternative investments allocated to direct property among the countries included in Verdict Financials Global Wealth Managers Survey. Offshore investments account for around 25% of HNW portfolios, with assets mainly in the US and Germany.Enquiry Before Buying:SynopsisWealth in Turkey: Sizing the Market Opportunity analyzes the Turkish wealth and retail savings and investments markets, with a focus on the HNW segment. The report is based on our proprietary datasets.Specifically the report: Sizes the affluent market (both by the number of individuals and value of their liquid assets) using Verdict Financials proprietary datasets Analyzes which asset classes are favored by Turkish investors and how their preferences impact the growth of the total savings and investments market Examines HNW clients attitudes towards non-liquid investments, such as property and commodities Identifies key drivers and booking centers for offshore investmentsReasons To Buy Benchmark your share of the Turkish wealth market against the current market size Forecast your future growth prospects using our projections for the market to 2019 Identify your most promising client segment by analyzing the penetration of affluent individuals in Turkey- both at country and regional level Evaluate your HNW proposition by understanding how the Turkish tax systems will impact HNW clients Review your offshore strategy by uncovering the HNW motivations for offshore investments and their preferred booking centersBuy Complete Report @Reportbazzar.com is your trusted source for the most inclusive and informative assortment of market research reports designed to empower you with the latest in industry information that translates to time and cost savings for your business. We not only help you give wing to your latent business ideas but also facilitate you in taking the best informed and strategic decisions that guarantee success in your most promising business endeavors.ReportBazzarOffice # 203,Vishal Shopping Complex,DSK Ranwara, Bavdhan,Pune 411021, IndiaIndia: +91 20 66528525Email Id: sales@reportbazzar.comWebsite: Wealth in Singapore: Sizing the Market Opportunity http://www.reportbazzar.com/request-sample/?pid=440040&ptitle=Wealth+in+Singapore%3A+Sizing+the+Market+Opportunity&req=Sample http://www.reportbazzar.com/discount-form/?pid=440040&ptitle=Wealth+in+Singapore%3A+Sizing+the+Market+Opportunity&req=Discount http://www.reportbazzar.com/product/wealth-in-singapore-sizing-market-opportunity/ http://www.reportbazzar.com/ SummarySingapore is one of the worlds pre-eminent offshore investment centers, with 81% of the wealth invested in funds sourced from non-residents. However, the onshore market is a major source of assets under management (AUM) in its own right, with 1.0 million affluent individuals despite the city states small population. As a regional trading hub Singapores growth rates are closely tied to the health of regional powerhouses such as China, India, and Indonesia; however, even with growth slowing in some of these economies, Singapores wealth market will continue to post rates that are the envy of the developed world.Request Sample Report:Key Findings HNW individuals totaled 29,600 in 2015, a tiny proportion of the overall population and well below the levels seen in the US or Switzerland. HNW liquid assets are expected to grow by roughly 7.5% a year between 2015 and 2019. Bonds will be the fastest-growing asset class, but more due to greater availability than client demand. While Singapore attracts significant offshore investment, residents are also keen to invest abroad 34% of AUM is invested offshoreSynopsisVerdict Financials Wealth in Singapore: Sizing the Market Opportunity analyzes the Singaporean wealth and retail savings and investments markets, with a focus on the HNW segment. The report is based on our proprietary datasets.Enquiry Before Buying:Specifically the report: Sizes the affluent market (both by the number of individuals and the value of their liquid assets) using our proprietary datasets. Analyzes which asset classes are favored by Singaporean retail investors and how their preferences impact the growth of the total savings and investments market. Examines HNW clients attitudes towards non-liquid investments, such as hedge funds, property and commodities. Identifies key drivers and booking centers for offshore investments by Singaporean HNW clients.Reasons To Buy Benchmark your share of the Singaporean wealth market against the current market size. Forecast your future growth prospects using our projections for the market to 2019. Identify your most promising client segment by analyzing penetration of affluent individuals in Singapore. Evaluate your HNW proposition by understanding the investment mix of the local onshore investment market. Review your offshore strategy by learning HNW motivations for offshore investments and their preferred booking centers.Read More @Reportbazzar.com is your trusted source for the most inclusive and informative assortment of market research reports designed to empower you with the latest in industry information that translates to time and cost savings for your business. We not only help you give wing to your latent business ideas but also facilitate you in taking the best informed and strategic decisions that guarantee success in your most promising business endeavors.ReportBazzarOffice # 203,Vishal Shopping Complex,DSK Ranwara, Bavdhan,Pune 411021, IndiaIndia: +91 20 66528525Email Id: sales@reportbazzar.comWebsite: Robo-Advisors: Mapping the Competitive Landscape http://www.reportbazzar.com/request-sample/?pid=440028&ptitle=Robo-Advisors%3A+Mapping+the+Competitive+Landscape&req=Sample http://www.reportbazzar.com/discount-form/?pid=440028&ptitle=Robo-Advisors%3A+Mapping+the+Competitive+Landscape&req=Discount http://www.reportbazzar.com/product/robo-advisors-mapping-the-competitive-landscape/ http://www.reportbazzar.com/ SummaryThe wealth management industry has long been resilient to the digitization process observed in the wider financial services space. This has started to change, however, with interest in robo-advice platforms increasing in 2015. The automated investment management space is hence becoming ever-more competitive as new entrants launch propositions. Supported by software developers, traditional wealth managers have also started exploring the digital advice market. Competition will thus increase further, although robo-advisors are still looking for business models that will appeal to HNW individuals.Request Sample Report:Key Findings Regulators have not been able to keep up with the growing popularity of automated advice solutions. This creates an opportunity for industry leaders to have a direct impact on how the regulatory environment around robo-advice is designed. The US is the home market of low-cost robo-advice, as self-directed investors are driven by price sensitivity above all else. New entrants across the globe are introducing innovations to the automated advice space. Most wealth managers focused on the HNW segment do not consider robo-advisors a threat to their business, as the wealthiest individuals show limited interest in robo-advice. Robo-advisors that emerged as startup companies will partner with incumbents to attract more assets to their platforms.SynopsisVerdict Financials Robo-Advice: Mapping the Competitive Landscape looks at the growing robo-advice market. As the industry lacks clear definition of what robo-advice is, we clarify the differences between various automated investment platforms. Case studies of the most successful and established robo-advisors provide insight on what features appeal to clients and why. Drawing on our 2015 Global Wealth Managers Survey the report specifically analyzes HNW investors attitudes toward automated advice. Established software vendors activity in the robo-advice space is also covered.Enquiry For Discount:Specifically the report: Defines robo-advice, providing an overview of its history so far and regulators approach to services provided by automated advice platforms. Provides case studies of successful robo-advisors operating in a number of markets, including the US, the UK, Switzerland, and Australia. Identifies the digital platform features that appeal to HNW investors. Analyzes wealth managers attitudes towards robo-advice. Looks at the benefits of partnerships between robo-advisors and competitors operating traditional business models.Reasons To Buy Understand what robo-advice is and how it affects traditional wealth managers. Recognize regulators approach to robo-advice and the guidelines to consider when launching digital investment platforms. Learn best practice from established automated advice providers case studies. Discover how automation can be beneficial to your companys operations, particularly in relation to advisor efficiency. Identify the markets with the highest growth potential in the automated investment space.Buy Complete Report @Reportbazzar.com is your trusted source for the most inclusive and informative assortment of market research reports designed to empower you with the latest in industry information that translates to time and cost savings for your business. We not only help you give wing to your latent business ideas but also facilitate you in taking the best informed and strategic decisions that guarantee success in your most promising business endeavors.ReportBazzarOffice # 203,Vishal Shopping Complex,DSK Ranwara, Bavdhan,Pune 411021, IndiaIndia: +91 20 66528525Email Id: sales@reportbazzar.comWebsite: Super League In-Depth Analysis: BNP Paribas Wealth Management http://www.reportbazzar.com/request-sample/?pid=439648&ptitle=Super+League+In-Depth+Analysis%3A+BNP+Paribas+Wealth+Management&req=Sample http://www.reportbazzar.com/product/super-league-in-depth-analysis-bnp-paribas-wealth-management/ http://www.reportbazzar.com/ SummaryBNP Paribas is the worlds seventh-largest wealth manager (as measured by published assets under management). In 2014 BNP Paribass profits were negatively influenced by a settlement with US authorities that resulted in an exceptional charge of $7bn in 2014 and a profit development of -61%. BNP Paribas is continuing to implement its 2014-2016 Business Development Plan, which has impacted its wealth operations in terms of both cost-cutting measures and synergy efforts such as upstreaming clients. As part of BNP Paribass strategy of targeting UHNW clients, its US subsidiary Bank of the West launched a new ultra-high net worth (UHNW) unit, Family Wealth Advisors, in October 2015. BNP Paribas strengthened its brokerage capabilities in India by acquiring retail brokerage Sharekhan in July 2015.Request Sample Report:Key Findings BNP Paribas is predominantly a retail bank, with BNP Paribas Wealth and Asset Management contributing 7.2% of overall group revenues. BNP Paribas Wealth Management is looking to the higher wealth tiers, particularly the growing UHNW wealth in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Bank of the West has launched a new UHNW unit in the US, which means better positioning to target the growing UHNW wealth. The firm targets entrepreneur clients and corporates with a service proposition integrating its expertise in corporate and investment banking. In its domestic markets, BNP Paribass private banking operations target new clients by upstreaming wealthy customers from the groups retail banks. BNP Paribas Wealth Management has implemented a cost-cutting plan but still has a cost-revenue ratio higher than its competitors. For wealth management, the plan included the introduction of a multi-channel strategy with common customer relationship management and digital solutions across international entities and domestic digital synergies.SynopsisVerdict Financials Super League In-Depth Analysis: BNP Paribas Wealth Management competitor profile is a comprehensive analysis of BNP Paribass wealth management and private banking operations. It offers insight into the companys strategy, financial results, and marketing activities. It also covers the wealth managers recent merger and acquisition (MandA) activity, customer targeting, and product innovation. Insight into BNP Paribas Wealth Managements growth strategy. Overview of the firms organizational structure. Clear presentation of its geographical coverage and expansion strategy, including MandA activity. Analysis of the firms financial performance at group and divisional level, including comparison to other global wealth managers. Examination of the key target client groups. Analysis of BNP Paribas Wealth Managements service and product proposition and how it is unique compared to its competitors. Review of BNP Paribass marketing and social media activities at group and divisional level.Reasons To Buy Examine the financial performance and key ratios for BNP Paribas Wealth Management and benchmark this competitor against other global wealth managers. Explore BNP Paribas Wealth Managements recent MandA and growth strategies and their impacts on its AUM growth and financial performance. Understand BNP Paribas Wealth Managements client targeting strategies and examine whether these have been successful. Learn more about BNP Paribas Wealth Managements marketing strategy and social media presence.Buy Complete Report @Reportbazzar.com is your trusted source for the most inclusive and informative assortment of market research reports designed to empower you with the latest in industry information that translates to time and cost savings for your business. We not only help you give wing to your latent business ideas but also facilitate you in taking the best informed and strategic decisions that guarantee success in your most promising business endeavors.ReportBazzarOffice # 203,Vishal Shopping Complex,DSK Ranwara, Bavdhan,Pune 411021, IndiaIndia: +91 20 66528525Email Id: sales@reportbazzar.comWebsite: E-Trading and the Commercial Broker http://www.reportbazzar.com/request-sample/?pid=439716&ptitle=E-Trading+and+the+Commercial+Broker&req=Sample http://www.reportbazzar.com/product/e-trading-and-the-commercial-broker/ http://www.reportbazzar.com/ SummaryInsurers and brokers remain apprehensive about the use of technology. While personal lines have begun to accommodate more tech-based platforms, insurers are afraid this will increase competition within this space, resulting in profit margins being squeezed. Conversely, brokers are failing to realize the benefits of technology and the increased efficiency tech-based platforms can bring.Request Sample Report:Synopsis Identify how brokers are utilizing technology for the distribution of commercial insurance products. Gain an insight into the methods and platforms used by brokers to access products. Discover how the e-trading model will develop over the coming years.Reasons To Buy How does e-trading drive efficiency in commercial insurance product distribution? Which are the best performing e-trading platforms? How can brokers develop e-trading platforms to host a greater range of products and serve markets outside the micro enterprise space?Key HighlightsE-trading is a modern form of commercial insurance distribution designed for the sole purpose of improving efficiency in the product distribution process. Brokers can obtain comparative quotes from a panel of insurers across an expansive range of products with the single entry of a customers data into an e-trading platform.Brokers are unquestionably becoming savvier about their e-trading. The adoption of e-trading is becoming more widespread as an increasing number of firms begin to move business into these channels. Weve already seen a significant shift towards the concept of e-trading, and in various different forms. The use of software houses is one of many.Buy Complete Report:Reportbazzar.com is your trusted source for the most inclusive and informative assortment of market research reports designed to empower you with the latest in industry information that translates to time and cost savings for your business. We not only help you give wing to your latent business ideas but also facilitate you in taking the best informed and strategic decisions that guarantee success in your most promising business endeavors.ReportBazzarOffice # 203,Vishal Shopping Complex,DSK Ranwara, Bavdhan,Pune 411021, IndiaIndia: +91 20 66528525Email Id: sales@reportbazzar.comWebsite: From the street, the brown house with sunny yellow horizontal siding fits in with many other modified single-story dwellings built around WWII in Southwest Portland's Hillsdale neighborhood. But this highly customized tract house is unlike any other. Improvements over a half century were made almost exclusively with reclaimed materials culled from unconventional places like an old church, railroad bridge and homestead in the Gorge, and the work was detailed in a witty diary written by long-time owner George Ward. In his writing, Ward captures not only the alternations to the "small, grey color house" built in 1944, but the antics among his family of fun-loving go-getters. Ward, who owned an environmental consulting business, bought the two-bedroom, one-bath house for $12,500 in 1954 from the original owners. He also paid a $500 charge to disconnect the septic tank and drainfield and connect to the new sewer. Later, excavating workers unearthed the septic tank and the city building inspector insisted it be removed. Ward got a reprieve after telling the inspector it would be converted into a wine cellar. Decades later, Ward wrote: "It is still there! Just waiting." Like most middle-income, WWII housing, the home's footprint grew as the family did. When incomes rose, a master wing was added and a concrete patio was poured. Although the current owners of 4941 S.W. 26th Dr. have invested about $300,000 into the property since they purchased it in 2005, Ward is recognized as the owner who added the most personality to the house and its story. The few doors that look alike were assembled from an office building and apartment complex. A thick, Electro-Kold refrigerator door once sealed off the sauna before the current owners moved it to the entrance of a wine room. Beams, tin ceilings and other materials were recovered from abandoned structures. Porcelain room numbers on display were saved from a old Portland hotel. One bathroom project had Ward reminiscing about a pull-chain toilet, which he highly admired. "The problem with today's toilets is that they don't roar, rumble and shake the house when you flush them," he wrote. "Without that unique sound, you've got nothing to remember." Cobblestones that cover the floor in the wraparound sunroom were rescued from an illegal dumping of an old streetcar roadbed from North Albina. Railroad ties found a home here, too. Throughout the transformations, Ward chronicled the ups and down, and the DIY demolitions. The original garage was torn down by his children to make room for a new living room and daylight basement. Under a diary heading of "The Wards Love to Dig," he reported, "Every square foot of the original 15,000-square-foot lot has been changed with the exception of the driveway and about a two foot patch of soil between the two surviving fir trees next to the log cabin window." Inserted into the diary are scenes of kids using the yet-to-be-carpeted living room as a skating rink and the expanded roof serving as a jumping-off point to enter the pool. "All made it!" Ward exclaims. A crawlspace became a "cramped but structurally safe" secret tunnel after the kids saw the 1963, Steve McQueen movie, "The Great Escape." Before the tunnel entrance was sealed 40 years later, treasures were tossed in for "future kids to wonder about," he writes. Although structural work was performed by professionals, the humorous diary paints the procurement of materials as barely legal and the Wards' handiwork as more aerobic than artisan. Look closely at the living room fireplace: The back wall is made from Columbia River basalt that's several million years old. Ward confesses in the diary that he picked it up from a deserted rock quarry along the Columbia Highway. The copper hood above the fireplace was "sculpted" by driving a Cadillac with snow tires over copper flashing material laid out on the gravel driveway. "The badly abused copper was then thrown in the fireplace and burned" to remove the tar paper off the back, he writes. "The dark color on the copper hood is the result of the fire. As such, no two sheets are the same and yet the pattern of color between each panel matches the pattern of both adjacent side sheets," he writes, adding, "Remarkable but true!" Another fireplace had polished black marble facing that Ward shattered with a sledgehammer because it looked too modern. He installed used brick and topped it with a mantel he made from a beam salvaged from an 1800s-era waterfront warehouse. "In 21 years in real estate, I have never run across a home anything like this one," says real estate agent Tamara Koedoot of Premiere Property Group, who has listed the 4,209-square-foot house for sale at $725,000. "It is a home with amazing historical features that the previous owner scrounged from around Oregon." Koedoot praises its "extraordinary updating," "amazing customization" and remodeling that adds "artistic flare." But unconventional construction does has its drawback: Two of the four bedrooms are considered non-conforming. One has shelving instead of a closet and another one has no window egress. They are used as offices. Nonconformist George Ward, who passed away in 2014, would have had something to say about that. -- Janet Eastman jeastman@oregonian.com 503-799-8739 @janeteastman A fired Washington County sheriff's deputy received probation Tuesday for choking a co-worker last year. Jonathan Christensen, 39, in July pleaded guilty to one count each of coercion, strangulation and official misconduct before Judge Charles Bailey in Washington County Circuit Court. Following the conditions of the plea deal, Bailey sentenced Christensen to two years of probation, to complete 80 hours of community service, to pay $12,000 in restitution and to undergo anger management counseling. Sentencing for the felony coercion charge was set for July 2018, as part of a deferred sentencing agreement. If Christensen satisfies conditions of his probation -- completing the community service, paying restitution and receiving counseling -- the coercion charge will be dismissed before then. Remaining fourth-degree assault and official misconduct charges were dismissed Tuesday as part of the agreement. Christensen also relinquished his police certification with the state's Department of Public Safety Standards and Training and agreed to not seek employment in law enforcement. Bailey told the parties that he did not agree with the plea deal and said he only accepted it because the victim in the case did not want to go to trial. The victim also attended Tuesday's hearing and gave a lengthy and emotional statement, saying Christensen's actions have wounded her "physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually and financially." "Every aspect of my life has been changed by this event," she told the court. "My professional life, my personal life, even my belief in myself." Christensen, who was fired from his corporal position in August 2015, was arrested in December after a grand jury indicted him on the charges. The investigation into Christensen began after an anonymous writer sent a letter to the sheriff's office and The Oregonian/OregonLive alleging that some deputies had sex on the job and engaged in other sexual misconduct. Christensen was named in the letter. The sheriff's office asked Portland police to investigate the claims, and Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Chris Ramras prosecuted the case. In April 2015, the co-worker made allegations in a restraining order against Christensen. She alleged Christensen arrived at her home that March while he was on duty wearing his uniform and gun and shoved her against the wall, pulled her hair and choked her, demanding that she continue their sexual relationship. Two other deputies were placed on paid leave after the letter arrived at the sheriff's office. One of them, Sgt. Dan Cardinal, resigned while under investigation in May 2015 and pleaded no contest to official misconduct in January for engaging in sexual activity while on duty. Cardinal received probation. In March, former Deputy David Bergquist pleaded guilty to one count of sexual harassment in Clackamas County Circuit Court for grabbing a co-worker's breast, pulling it out from her clothing then putting his mouth on it at a union party in winter 2015. He also received probation. Bergquist, who retired just before pleading guilty, was not named in the letter but was placed on leave shortly after the agency received it. This story will be updated with more information from Tuesday's hearing. -- Rebecca Woolington 503-294-4049; @rwoolington 20750161-mmmain.jpg (Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian) The administrator of a state program charged with making sure marijuana labs are accredited said the Oregon Health Authority has ignored his pleas for resources and that the agency is "on the verge of collapse." Gary Ward, administrator of the Oregon Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program, detailed the crisis facing the agency in a memo sent last week to the health authority. The accreditation program is a division of the health authority. He said his agency, which also accredits labs that test drinking water, was initially assured resources to implement state-mandated cannabis testing accreditation, but "so far we have received zero" support from the health authority. The staffing shortage has potentially dire implications for the state's marijuana industry. Starting Oct. 1, new products headed to marijuana dispensary shelves will have to undergo a battery of tests at accredited labs. Those tests will assess potency and look for biological contaminants such as E. coli, residual solvents from the extraction process used to make oil, and dozens of pesticides. The policy shift transforms Oregon's marijuana labs from an unregulated cottage industry into a central part of the state's regulated market. The state's new testing standards are intended to address pesticide contamination, which remains a concern in Oregon and in other states with legal pot markets. The slow pace of lab accreditation means consumers may see fewer products on store shelves when the state rolls out its recreational marijuana market next month. A spokeswoman for Gov. Kate Brown on Tuesday issued a statement saying the governor views accredited labs "as important to ensuring public health and safety as Oregon's new recreational marijuana laws are implemented." Melissa Navas, Brown's spokeswoman, said the health authority "is taking steps" to address the problem "with additional resources," though she did not detail them. Steve Marks, executive director of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, the agency that regulates marijuana, called the accrediting program a "critical point" in the state's new industry. "We have to be concerned about it," he said, adding that hiring new staff to do such technical work will take time. "There is no quick fix to this." Ward warned that all work on marijuana lab accreditation -- as well as the agency's work on drinking water -- will come to a halt without additional resources. "We are on the precipice of collapse of environmental, drinking water and cannabis accreditation because of the lack of resources," he wrote. The accrediting program is part of the health authority's Oregon State Public Health Laboratory. The division accredits labs that do environmental and water quality testing, as well as air toxics and industrial waste. It works with labs in more than a dozen states and three countries. Last year the program was assigned to accredit marijuana labs. On Tuesday, after The Oregonian/OregonLive reported on Ward's memo, the agency issued a statement saying it's "committed to taking steps to ensure environmental laboratory accreditation even with growing demand." The agency said it "will find a solution to the challenges that the short-term increase in cannabis testing lab requests has caused." The crisis facing the agency could have far-reaching consequences not just for Oregon's marijuana industry but for drinking water testing. Ward notes that the agency must assess 17 drinking water labs by January 2017 "or their accreditation will expire and drinking water testing will stop at those labs." "The public health will be in jeopardy from potential drinking water problems and contaminated cannabis," he wrote. Ward wrote that his agency previously had support from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality but "recent cadmium air toxics and lead events" in Portland have "curbed their ability to spare" staff time to help. Marijuana industry representatives said they're alarmed by the state's slow pace at accrediting and approving labs, a situation they fear will lead to large stockpiles of marijuana waiting to be tested. Beau Whitney, an economist and executive at Golden Leaf Holdings, a company that grows, processes and sells marijuana, worries producers will face a long wait to get their product into the legal market. "It limits the ability of the market to grow," he said. So far only two labs have been accredited and licensed by the state. Advocates for the industry say that's not enough to process the volume of marijuana being grown for the regulated market. Amy Margolis, an attorney who represents marijuana businesses, said without additional accredited labs, the industry's viability is threatened. "Put aside the fact that we are also talking about drinking water," she said. "If they don't get funding and resources, the entire industry will come to a full stop." Rodger Voelker, lab director at OG Analytical in Eugene, said staff from the accrediting program spent two days in his lab, reviewing his equipment, protocols and expertise. That on-site review came after the division reviewed hundreds of pages of documents detailing how the lab operates. The lab received its accreditation last week. "There is no way they can run the program the way that they need to and strive to with limited resources," Voelker said. It's clear from Ward's memo that the task of accrediting cannabis labs is an enormous and complicated one. He said many labs waited until July to apply for accreditation, leaving just two months to do the work. "Many of the cannabis labs need significant work," he wrote, adding that much of the work that's being done in labs is "inaccurate." For instance, he wrote that labs are turning out negative results for pesticides in tainted samples. He said his agency will have to audit labs another two to three times in the next eight months. "We cannot get it done with current resources," he wrote. "Our work involved so much attention to technical detail that rushing or overloading, in and of itself, reduces the value of our program to the labs and Oregon's reputation as a whole. "This will be especially true," he continued, "if we lose assessors or myself as the program manager due to the extreme working conditions we face." -- Noelle Crombie 503-276-7184; @noellecrombie FRED MEYER.JPG The grocery chain Fred Meyer, whose Burlingame store in Portland is pictured here, would be among many businesses affected by Measure 97. (Benjamin Brink/2013) By Robert C. Freelander Measure 97 presents more questions than answers. The authors of this measure, as well as the majority of Oregon voters, have little understanding of the basic architecture of a business. Consequently, they only see money -- $$$$$ -- as the answer to the state's education woes, and Measure 97 is their answer. Allow me to put this into perspective. Measure 97 would tax businesses doing over $25 million of business in Oregon at a rate of 2.5 percent against "gross revenues," which is the same as "gross sales." So please understand this: * 2.5 percent of gross sales is gauged before paying the rent or a mortgage for the building that houses the business; * It is calculated before paying the wages and salaries of all of the business' employees, including payroll taxes and all other compensation such as health insurance, 401(k)s, etc.; * If the business being taxed is a manufacturer, the 2.5 percent is calculated before paying the cost of all raw materials used in the manufacturing and the expenses associated with purchasing and maintaining all of the equipment necessary to manufacture the business' products; * The 2.5 percent tax would be calculated before the business pays expenses associated with selling its products; * The 2.5 percent tax would be calculated before accounting for expenses associated with the business' general and administrative costs. Most businesses would be thrilled with a net income before officers' compensation and income taxes of 5 percent. If a 2.5 percent tax comes right off the top at the gross sales level, this would be devastating to many businesses. The cost will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices on everything we buy, with no exceptions for food, medicine, clothing, utilities, insurance or even medical care. And those price increases will not be 2.5 percent. Measure 97 will affect the entire distribution chain -- from the root source of the raw material/product, to processing and/or production, to transportation and distribution, to the wholesaler and retailer -- and ultimately to the consumer. There will be many businesses that will be unable to increase their prices to offset the impact of Measure 97. Those businesses will suffer greatly. Many will have to cut costs and lay off workers. Many will fail. There is no question about the valid goals of Measure 97 -- but the measure is flawed and will create havoc for the business community as well as the state's economy. The fairest version of Measure 97 would be an increase on corporate income, or profits: not gross sales. But truth be known, a state sales tax -- the elephant in the room -- is far better suited to help the state's education woes. Why are we not talking about it? * Robert C. Freelander is president of Richards Homewares, Inc. in Portland. U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown on Tuesday denied Oregon standoff defendant Ryan Bundy's last-minute attempt to ditch his standby counsel. "I do not want her to represent me. I do not want her assistance,'' Bundy said, standing before the court during its last pretrial conference hearing, a day before jury selection is set to begin. Bundy, who chose to represent himself in the federal conspiracy case stemming from the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, said he does not trust standby counsel Lisa Ludwig in front of a jury. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Wednesday, and Bundy is one of eight defendants set for trial. The judge reminded Bundy that he chose to serve as his own lawyer, and the court appointed Ludwig to assist him should he change his mind, or in the event that the court must exclude Bundy from the courtroom. "You don't have any right to choose who that is,'' Brown reminded Bundy. Only defendants who retain counsel, "as your brother did,'' can choose who will represent them, the judge said, referring to Bundy's younger brother Ammon Bundy, who has retained two attorneys. "You're insinuating,'' Bundy continued, that because a defendant may have fewer funds, "I have less rights than another?'' Brown told Bundy the U.S. Supreme Court has made clear that defendants seeking court-appointed attorneys don't get their pick of who will represent them. "You can't have it both ways. You gave up that right,'' the judge continued. The judge attempted to explain that Bundy doesn't have to rely at all on Ludwig. "Her role is standby only. You're speaking to the jury,'' Brown told him. "She's not here to represent you. You don't have to consult with her.'' While Brown denied Bundy's motion to dismiss Ludwig as his standby counsel, she went to extra efforts to ensure Bundy had a copy of the federal rules of criminal procedure, as he sought in another of six last-minute motions he filed late Friday. Brown picked up her thick green copy of the federal rule book, and her clerk hand-delivered it to Bundy, seated at a defense table in front of the bench. "I signed it,'' the judge said. "It's yours.'' In other action, the judge heard further argument about the government's error in sharing raw data from 11 Facebook accounts belonging to 10 defendants with all 26 alleged conspirators after the information was deemed irrelevant to the case and should have been kept under seal. Brown said she was still dissatisfied with the government's explanation of how the error occurred, after receiving written declarations from those involved and additional explanations Tuesday from Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Bradford. Bradford told the court that the FBI agents, who received the Facebook data in four installments from 23 accounts sought pursuant to a search warrant, properly separated the data that was considered pertinent to the case from irrelevant material. The raw Facebook account data was turned over to a special filter team within the U.S. Attorney's office. On June 24, litigation specialist Rena Rallis inadvertently turned over 11 raw Facebook accounts to all 26 defendants, according to the government. Bradford said the error was made within the U.S. Attorney's Office filter team. Bradford said "there's no good explanation'' of why the government turned over 11 Facebook accounts' raw data out of the 23 accounts obtained. "The mistake is clearly mine. I take full responsibility for failing to provide the additional Facebook materials to the Prosecution Team,'' wrote automated litigation specialist Doug Angel in a declaration to the court. Angel worked on the U.S. Attorney's Office filter team. "In the end, the government acted in good faith,'' Bradford said. "The prosecutors were never exposed to any unresponsive or privileged information.'' But neither Brown nor the defense was satisfied. Olson questioned when the government sealed or destroyed the Facebook account data that was deemed irrelevant to the case, as required by the warrant. "The record is still confusing - who got what discs and when?'' Brown told prosecutors. "The government has been given three opportunities now and there's still holes in it. This needs to be resolved.'' The judge ordered Bradford to answer her outstanding questions after a lunch break Tuesday. For the first time, the prosecutors and defense in the Oregon standoff case met in Courtroom 9A in U.S. District Court in Portland, where the trial will be held. Each of the defendants came dressed in their trial attire and had their photos taken. Photos of each defendant and their names will be presented to the jury of 12 people and eight alternates who are chosen to hear the case. Ryan Bundy and co-defendant Pete Santilli wore dark suit jackets and dress shirts; Ammon Bundy wore a gray suit. Defendant David Fry wore a blue sweater. Co-defendant Shawna Cox wore a dark blazer, while defendants Jeff Banta, Kenneth Medenbach and Neil Wampler wore button-down shirts and pants. -- Maxine Bernstein mbernstein@oregonian.com 503-221-8212 @maxoregonian Rodrigo Duterte Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte boards his limousine upon arrival in Vientiane, Laos to attend the 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits and other related summits Monday, Sept. 5, 2016 in Vientiane, Laos. Laos is this year's host of the annual regional meeting and its dialogue partners that includes the United States, Canada, Russia, Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India. (The Associated Press) VIENTIANE, Laos -- President Barack Obama called off a planned meeting Tuesday with new Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, seeking distance from a U.S. ally's leader during a diplomatic tour that's put Obama in close quarters with a cast of contentious world figures. It's unusual for one president to tell another what to say or not say, and much rarer to call the other a "son of a bitch." Duterte managed to do both just before flying to Laos for a regional summit, warning Obama not to challenge him over extrajudicial killings in the Philippines. "Clearly, he's a colorful guy," Obama said. "What I've instructed my team to do is talk to their Philippine counterparts to find out is this in fact a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations." Early Tuesday, National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said the meeting with Duterte was off. Duterte has been under intense global scrutiny over the more than 2,000 suspected drug dealers and users killed since he took office. Obama had said he planned to raise the issue in his first meeting with Duterte, but the Philippine leader insisted he was only listening to his own country's people. "You must be respectful," Duterte said of Obama. "Do not just throw questions." Using the Tagalog phrase for "son of a bitch," he said, "Putang ina I will swear at you in that forum." He made the comment to reporters in Manilla. Eager to show he wouldn't yield, Obama said he would "undoubtedly" still bring up human rights and due process concerns "if and when" the two do meet. The bizarre rift with the leader of a U.S. treaty ally was the most glaring example of how Obama has frequently found himself bound to foreign countries and leaders whose ties to the U.S. are critical even if their values sharply diverge. In Hangzhou this week, Obama's first stop in Asia, he heaped praise on Chinese President Xi Jinping for hosting the Group of 20 economic summit in his country, an authoritarian state long accused of human rights violations. His next stop was another one-party communist country with a dismal rights record: Laos, where mysterious disappearances have fueled concerns about a government crackdown. And sitting down with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Obama made no mention in public of the roughly 35,000 people Erdogan's government detained following the summer's failed coup in Turkey. Instead, he worked to reassure the NATO ally the U.S. would help bring to justice whoever was responsible for plotting the coup. Obama also spent about 90 minutes Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, another leader whose fate seems intertwined with Obama's in all the wrong ways. On opposing sides of many global issues, the U.S. and Russia are nonetheless trying to broker a deal to address the Syrian civil war and perhaps even partner militarily there. "President Putin's less colorful," Obama said, comparing him with Duterte. "But typically the tone of our meetings is candid, blunt, businesslike." Managing Duterte has become a worsening headache for Obama since the Filipino took office on June 30, pledging his foreign policy wouldn't be constricted by reliance on the U.S. Washington has tried largely to look the other way as Duterte has pursued closer relations with China, a marked shift for the Philippines considering recent tensions over Beijing's aspirations in the South China Sea. A public break from the Philippines would put Obama in a tough position, given the Southeast Asian nation's status as a longtime U.S. ally. The Obama administration has sought to compartmentalize by arguing that military and other cooperation won't be jeopardized even if it detests the current Philippine leader's tone. Last month, Duterte said he didn't mind Secretary of State John Kerry but "had a feud with his gay ambassador -- son of a bitch, I'm annoyed with that guy." He applied the same moniker to an Australian missionary who was gang-raped and killed, and even to Pope Francis, even though the Philippines is a heavily Catholic nation. He later apologized. With a reputation as a tough-on-crime former mayor, Duterte has alarmed human rights groups with his deadly campaign against drugs, which Duterte has described as a harsh war. He has said the battle doesn't amount to genocide but has vowed to go to jail if needed to defend police and military members carrying out his orders. --The Associated Press Rita King awoke early Monday morning to a stranger banging on the door of her Southeast Portland home. Something in her backyard was on fire, the young man told her. King looked out from the back of her house: Sure enough, her mini library was ablaze. The young man had already called 911, but King's husband called, too, while she grabbed a fire extinguisher from the garage. She tried to put out the fire from the back of the little structure, but the bulk of the flames were inside it, on the other side. The burning Mt. Tabor mini library prompted firefighters to respond to the intersection of Southeast 59th Court and Stark Street just before 1:40 a.m., said Lt. Rich Tyler, a Portland Fire & Rescue spokesman. Firefighters knocked down the small blaze, which was confined to the library. "It's pretty trashed," King told The Oregonian/OregonLive. Tyler said the fire investigator assigned to the case hasn't yet identified the cause. But, according to King, the young man who spotted the fire had been walking down Southeast Stark Street when he saw something light up, heard laughter and saw two people running away. King didn't catch the man's name, but she praised his quick-thinking. "He was super," she said. King's library, like other mini models, allowed people to take books and encouraged them to restock the box with more reading. Internationally, the practice has caught on. Wisconsin-based nonprofit, Little Free Library, promotes literacy around the globe, and according to the organization's Facebook page, Little Free Libraries exist in more than 70 countries. King has lived in her Tabor home for six years, and her mini library was erected on Stark Street two summers ago. It's not officially part of the Little Free Library group, but its goal is the same: To connect people through reading. "I love them," she said. "They just create so much community." The spot was perfect for a little library, she said, because it was a place where arborvitae - which outlines the back of her home -- wouldn't grow. She needed something to fill the space between the bushes, so in went the library. The library benefits from the high-traffic area, she said, with people heading to Mt. Tabor traveling by it. Passers-by would stop to both take and drop off books. The library was constructed with natural wood, and though still mini, it was larger than many other similar operations, King said. Its shelves had a mirrored backdrop. Its roof was shingled. And a pair of glass doors kept the books safe. Until Monday. King wasn't sure how many books were inside the library at the time of the fire. The number of books, she said, could range from five to 20 to even 30. The books, she said, ranged from children selections to text books to religious writings to political titles -- something for Republican and Democrat readers. King hopes investigators catch the vandals responsible for the damage. She's spread the word, posting about the fire on the Mt. Tabor Neighborhood Facebook page and including a photograph of the charred, house-shaped library, its upper level visibly gutted. While she's frustrated by what happened, King is thankful the damage wasn't worse. Branches from a large maple tree hang within inches over the mini library, she said, and the fire could have easily climbed up them, had it not been spotted so quickly. King's hoping to get the old library out and a new one in. She's not a builder, but at least one supporter on Facebook has already offered to help with that part. -- Rebecca Woolington 503-294-4049; @rwoolington hatfield-us-courthousejpg-1fc2cb24481396ab.jpg Adam James George, 39, is accused in U.S. District Court in Portland of possessing with intent to distribute controlled substances, including Ecstasy and psylocibin mushrooms. (Bryan Denson/The Oregonian) A Portland man accused of trying to import Ecstasy hidden in a shipment of wax candles and psychedelic mushroom spores from the Netherlands faces federal charges. Adam James George, 39, is accused of possessing with intent to distribute controlled substances, including Ecstasy and psylocibin mushrooms. Adam James George The package of Ecstasy and mushrooms was intercepted on Aug. 22 by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in San Francisco during an inspection at an international U.S. mail branch, according to federal court documents. It was addressed to a North Portland address from the Netherlands and contained 1,045 grams of Ecstasy packaged in five plastic bags. The Ecstasy was encapsulated in wax, in the center of five different wax candles, according to federal Special Agent Nathan Bresee. The package was addressed to George's past roommate, who hadn't lived with him for about 2 1/2 years, federal authorities learned. When George picked up the package at Portland's Kenton post office on Aug. 31, he was arrested. A search of his home revealed several mail parcels from "Shrooms-to-Go," one of which contained mushroom spores in prepackaged syringes, Bresee wrote in a criminal complaint. George also had plastic bottles in his bedroom that contained psilocybin mushroom spores in various stages of germination, and a large Ziploc baggy full of germinated mushrooms inside a rice cooker, according to the complaint. George was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on Aug. 31. He made his first appearances in U.S. District Court in Portland last week. He was released from custody on Friday on pretrial supervision. A federal prosecutor asked the court to ban George from any access to the Internet. Assistant federal public defender Fidel Cassino-DuCloux objected, noting his client sells bikes and bike parts online. While out on custody awaiting trial, George will be subject to computer monitoring, as well as alcohol and drug screening. -- Maxine Bernstein mbernstein@oregonian.com 503-221-8212 @maxoregonian Screen Shot 2016-09-06 at 8.49.34 AM.png On Sept. 3, 2016, Portland musician Joel Magid wrote a post on Facebook admitting to and apologizing for a sexual assault. (Screenshot via Facebook) Updated: 9:46 a.m. On Saturday, Portland musician Joel Magid wrote in a public Facebook post, "I've done something reprehensible that I need to own up to." "I realize Facebook may be not the ideal forum, but I am trying to inform as many people as possible," he continued. "I recently sexually assaulted someone." Magid then went on to detail an event in which he said, "I pulled out my penis, and forcibly lifted the woman's skirt." Magid said he was blackout drunk at the time but said, "That doesn't excuse what I did." "Nothing excuses what I did," he added. "Sexual assault is horrific, disgusting, and inexcusable. Magid is part of the Portland local music scene. The Portland Mercury called a song on one of his newer albums, "a grimy but catchy slice of basement-prom pop." In February, Magid put together a vinyl compilation album called "Mt. Portland," featuring Portland bands like Mascaras, which he gave away for free. "I'm not looking for sympathy," wrote Magid in his Facebook post. "I am just being honest and accountable for my behavior. I'm headed to my first AA meeting tomorrow as well as seeing a therapist about all this." In the comments to his post, several people commend Magid for coming forward and apologizing. But others, like Theo Craig, a host at XRAY.FM and the bass player for Mascaras, are less accepting of Magid's apology. "This is reprehensible and inexcusable," wrote Craig. "You need to admit that this wasn't the first time." "You need to admit that you've dragged at least one past victim's name and reputation through the mud," continued Craig, "that you pitted a lot of people against a friend who was doing her best to stand up for a friend and protect others in our community from you." "I also encourage others who have done this in the past to come forward and take responsibility," Magid wrote near the end of his post. "Because you do something really, really bad doesn't make you a bad person, but hiding from what you've done certainly doesn't make you a good one." "The Sex Crimes Unit is aware of the post," wrote Sgt. Pete Simpson of the Portland Police Bureau in an email regarding Magid. "At this point, no victim has come forward to file a report with police." "While we encourage victims to come forward to police," he wrote, "we do offer several alternatives that may appeal to victims instead of reporting to police." Simpson says victims can call Multnomah County Victims' Assistance Program, which provides support during the reporting of sexual assaults and referrals to victim services and resources, at 503-988-3270. They can also contact Call to Safety, for support and services, at 503-235-5333, 1-888-235-5333. And for advocacy services for Spanish-speaking survivors of domestic and sexual violence, Project UNICA (Proyecto UNICA), has a 24-hour crisis line at 503-232-4448 or 1-888-232-4448. You can learn more about these programs by calling 503-823-0260 or visiting portlandonline.com/police/womenstrength. You can read the full Facebook post here. We've reached out to Magid and Craig for comment and will update this post when more information is available. -- Lizzy Acker 503-221-8052 lacker@oregonian.com, @lizzzyacker Updated at 9:04 a.m. with Greta Van Susteren leaving network NEW YORK -- Former Fox News Channel anchor Gretchen Carlson has settled her sexual harassment lawsuit against Roger Ailes, the case that led to the downfall of Fox's chief executive with stunning swiftness this summer. In a statement Tuesday, Fox parent company 21st Century said "we regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect and dignity that she and all of our colleagues deserve." Carlson was paid $20 million, according to someone familiar with the confidential settlement who spoke under condition of anonymity. Carlson alleged she was demoted and let go from Fox after she refused Ailes' sexual advances and complained about workplace harassment. Ailes denied the charges, but 21st Century launched an investigation and Ailes resigned after other women made allegations. In a statement, Carlson said she was ready to move on to the next chapter in her life and plans to help empower women in the workplace. "I want to thank all the brave women who came forward to tell their own stories and the many people across the country who embraced and supported me," she said. Also Tuesday, Fox News said Greta Van Susteren was leaving the network. Fox gave no reason for the split, but Van Susteren tweeted Tuesday that Fox "has not felt like home to me for a few years" and she was taking advantage of a time-sensitive clause in her contract that allows her to leave the network where she anchored for 14 years. The Los Angeles Times cited a course close to the situation who said her abrupt exit was due to a "financial disagreement." Political commentator Brit Hume will take over Van Susteren's 7 p.m. ET hour starting Tuesday, the Times said. -- The Associated Press "We will build a great wall along the southern border, and Mexico will pay for the wall, 100 percent. They don't know it yet, but they're going to pay for it." So said Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in a combative speech on immigration policy last week, just hours after he met with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. Pena Nieto says he told Trump that Mexico would not pay for Trump's proposed wall along the southern border. The wall is the hallmark of a race-baiting campaign strategy that helped Trump win the GOP nomination. (Trump insists the issue of paying for the wall didn't come up during the closed-door confab with the Mexican president.) The meeting backfired on Pena Nieto, who has faced withering criticism in its wake from the Mexican press. And now opposition politicians in the country's national legislature are proposing a plan to retaliate against the U.S. if Trump is elected in November and follows through on the wall and his threats to scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement. The long-shot bill, from Sen. Armando Rios Piter, would require a hard-eyed review of Mexico's various treaties with the U.S. This includes the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which transferred California and much of Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and other Western states from Mexico to the United States after a war between the two countries. The bill also includes a harsh tax on Americans transferring money from Mexico to the U.S., among other economic sanctions. "In cases where the property/assets of (our) fellow citizens or companies are affected by a foreign government, as Donald Trump has threatened, the Mexican government should proportionally expropriate assets and properties of foreigners from that country on our territory," the bill states. "This is the first step towards establishing a public policy about how Mexico should react in the face of a threat," Rios Piter said in The Hill newspaper. Former Mexican legislator Augustin Barrios Gomez, who supports the proposed bill, says that Mexico must hit back hard if the U.S. tries to revamp NAFTA and pushes other policies that hurt Mexico's economy. "The idea is that the relationship between the two countries is structured on friendship and trust. To break a treaty, originally proposed by the United States, now so important to Mexico, would be seen as an act in bad faith and the relationship would have to be rethought," Barrios Gomez said. Trump has not yet responded to the bill, which, if Mexico passed it and then found a way to abrogate the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and, even more fantastically, somehow retook its lost territory, would force Trump to put his wall on Oregon's southern border. The GOP nominee has focused his ire recently on Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, a Republican who opposes his candidacy -- in large part because of Trump's immigration proposals. In a tweet over the weekend, Trump referred to Flake as "very weak and ineffective... Sad!" -- Douglas Perry Screen Shot 2016-09-05 at 3.09.12 PM.png (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) MIAMI -- The National Center says Tropical Storm Newton has strengthened into a hurricane. Newton formed off Mexico's Pacific coast and is headed toward Baja California. Newton was located about 215 miles (350 km) southeast of Cabo San Lucas Monday evening. The storm was moving northwest at 16 mph (26 kph) with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph). Forecasters expect Newton to continue moving in the same general direction with an increase in forward speed into Tuesday. The center of Newton is expected to be near or over the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula Tuesday morning, by which time it could be near intensity. The government of Mexico has issued a Hurricane Warning for the west coast of the Baja California Sur from north of Puerto Cortes to Cabo San Lazaro. Coastal portions of five Mexican states could see 5 to 10 inches of rain, with isolated maximums of 15 inches. Donald Trump,Hillary Clinton Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are the most unpopular major-party nominees on record. (AP) Many voters are grappling with this: They're loyal Republicans or Democrats, but they just can't pull the lever for their party's nominee this year. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are the most unpopular major-party nominees ever. These disaffected voters could go for Gary Johnson, but that would only help out their party's rival major-party candidate, who they dislike even more than your own. And they really don't want to do that. Well, some backers of the Libertarian Party nominee actually understand this dilemma, and their super PAC has figured out a workaround. It's called Balanced Rebellion: a website that will connect a Democrat or Republican with a member of the other major party, allowing both to vote for Johnson. "It's like Tinder but not gross," says an Abe Lincoln impersonator in an amusing five-minute video on the Balanced Rebellion site. "If you decide to vote for Johnson, we'll match you with someone from the opposite party to balance out your vote," Lincoln says. "Meaning, if you're a Florida Democrat who hates Trump and Hillary, we match you with a Florida Republican who hates Trump and Hillary. If you both vote Johnson, neither Trump nor Hillary gets an advantage. Only America!" This political ad for Johnson offers a unique appeal: offering major-party voters a guilt-free way to abandon their traditional loyalties in November. So, if the idea catches fire, could Johnson actually win the presidency? Don't count on it. Balanced Rebellion insists that two-thirds of voters aren't happy with Trump or Clinton. That's somewhat true, depending on how the question is asked in polls, but it doesn't mean most of those unhappy voters are interested in even considering a third-party candidate. Right now, Johnson has an outside shot -- way outside -- to nab the electoral votes in Utah, a traditionally Republican state where Trump, the Republican nominee, is particularly unpopular. Beyond the Beehive State, Johnson appears to be on track to finish a distant third. Which doesn't mean a vote for Johnson is wasted. A double-digits showing (he's polling at around 10 percent nationally at the moment) would be a huge boost for the Libertarian Party, setting the stage for a concerted push toward -- and increased public debate about -- transforming the U.S. into a true multi-party system. Watch the Balanced Rebellion video below: A suspected West Linn burglar on the lam since last month was arrested in Northwest Portland Monday, according to police. Back on Aug. 11, officers first arrested Clifton Arthur Chambers, 31, in connection with a burglary investigation, according to a news release from West Linn police. At the time, he told authorities that he had swallowed heroin, police said, and he was taken to a hospital. He was discharged two days later, and police have been looking for him ever since. In an earlier news release, West Linn Police Sgt. Mike Francis said the investigation into Chambers started after a woman called police to report suspicious activity. She had watched two men driving through the Parker Crest neighborhood, with one of them popping out of a car, running up to the front door of homes and then running back to the waiting Volkswagen Jetta. Clifton Arthur Chambers Police responded, Francis said, and found Chambers and a second man, 44-year-old John Vanderbeck, running through yards. Officers took them into custody, received a search warrant for the car and found stolen items inside, Francis said. Vanderbeck was taken to the Clackamas County Jail, where he's being held on first-degree burglary and first-degree theft accusations, according to police and jail records. Chambers was hospitalized "after ingesting a large quantity of heroin as he was being contacted by police," Francis said. On Monday, a West Linn detective investigating the case caught up with Chambers, of Portland, at Northwest 21st Avenue and Savier Street and he was taken into custody, police said. Chambers was booked in the Clackamas County Jail on accusations of first-degree burglary, first-degree theft and violating his parole. --Rebecca Woolington 503-294-4049; @rwoolington First daughter Malia Obama has reportedly turned a new leaf when it comes to smoking, as the 18-year-old wore a shirt at a music festival that read smoking kills. Weeks after allegedly smoking a joint at Lollapalooza, the eldest daughter of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama attended the 2016 Budweiser Made in America Festival in Philadelphia over the weekend, where she appeared to be having a good time listening to the bands and artists performing there. In my travels around Midland, the Wheelhouse Grill, 2909 Bay City Road in Midland, is another one of those places that I had driven by countless times, throwing a curious glance toward their sign and making a mental note to stop there someday. Well, life got very busy this week, and I was scrambling to find a new place to sample for my devoted readers. I think I have about a dozen of you now, so thanks a bunch, and keep on reading. I reached out to my lunch buddy, and she asked me a question she had been asking me all summer, Have you tried The Wheelhouse yet? They have all kinds of sandwiches and these pepper jack cheese bite things. Trust me. So I trusted her, and rolled in to The Wheelhouse for a quick meal, which turned out to be awesome. The menu has all kinds of nice offerings, from pasta to fish and chips, to pizza and burgers, and more than 20 different starters. Yup, more than 20. But I was there for two things, which I spied earlier on the nice Wheelhouse website: a Philly cheese steak and something wonderful called Pepper Jack Cheese Cubes. Lets start with the sandwich. Now I know there are people in this country outside of the city of Philadelphia who would not consider any sandwich that is made with thinly shaved meat and topped with a cheese sauce to be a Philly cheese steak. Well, I have never been to Philly, but I think their sandwich can be made elsewhere, and the cheese steak from the Wheelhouse proves my point. It was amazing. The meat was fresh and high quality, shaved to a perfect thickness, and topped with just the right amount of cheese. The hoagie roll stayed firm and remained so for the duration of its short life. Add in some fresh green peppers and red onions, and you have a sandwich that will bring me back for a second visit. Because I belong to the Gluttony Club of Mid Michigan (I just made that up), and needed even more food, I ordered the pepper jack cheese bites. Imagine pepper jack cheese that is rolled into bite-sized nuggets, breaded, and then given a quick bath in the fryer. Decadent is the only word I can manage for these wonderfully addictive little fellas. By the way, I never said this was going to be column about health food, but good- tasting food made by hardworking folks in the region. As for the pepper jack cheese bites, there are enough to share with a friend. If you dont, chances are you will be without that friend, and I wont blame them for moving on. These items need to be experienced by everyone at the table. The place was clean and fun, and for a Monday evening, it was rocking. That tells me they are doing something right in the kitchen, as well as treating their customers very well. So check out The Wheelhouse Grill. Chances are you wont roll on by anymore, but right into their parking lot. Next time I might just have to try their peanut butter and bacon panini. See you at the table. Matthew Woods writes about his favorite lunch finds. His column, Out to Lunch, will appear here on a regular basis. The Midland City Council recently met with local legislative officials to discuss issues the city and state face such as unfunded pension liabilities and road construction. The first issue brought up by City Manager Jon Lynch was Public Act 51, which hits home locally with the Michigan Department of Transportations plans to reconstruct the M-20 bridge. Lynch was joined by members of the city council along with state Sen. Jim Stamas, R-Midland, and state Rep. Gary Glenn, R-Midland. Stamas said Public Act 51 has meant an ongoing fight for how funding is provided for road and bridge reconstruction, but reform of the bill could mean some heavy conversation in Lansing. I think that opening up Public Act 51 for its entirety will be a substantial challenge, Stamas said. Legislators could attempt an override of the bill, Glenn said, adding that he would encourage House Speaker Kevin Cotter, R-Mount Pleasant, to do just that. Unfunded pensions posing problems A significant issue facing public agencies across the state is unfunded pension and other post-employment benefits liabilities. Midland makes annual contributions in excess of what is required, but the municipality is losing ground, Lynch said. One of the major concerns is the performance plans managed by MERS, or the Municipal Employees Retirement System. We are hopeful that you two dont allow MERS to represent the voice of Midland, because our voice, we think, is going to be a bit different from what you hear from that agency, Lynch said. Wed really like to be engaged in those discussions. He described it as one of the top issues that city officials need to tackle, a statement echoed by Dave Keenan, assistant city manager of financial services. If the state uses them as a benchmark ... I think thats very problematic, Keenan said. What weve seen for us so far is simply that. Inconsistent projections and significant changes instituted annually are affecting many cities in Michigan, including Midland. Stamas asked if Midland is required by law to use MERS, and Keenan said choosing a different organization would still result in the same unfunded liability issues the city is facing due to a requirement to leave assets with MERS. For Stamas, the conversation on unfunded pension liabilities is one of the reasons for the meeting with Midland City Council and city staff. If the issues appear to become legislative at one point ... reach out to us, wed love to be engaged and understanding what you are being told, Lynch said. It was shocking to learn how much unfunded liability Midland is facing, Glenn said, a fact he learned about by enrolling in the Citizens Academy. He asked what the ideal solution would be. Unfortunately, this is a case where we dont have that, Lynch said. Variety of tax issues The next topic was national box stores and the dark store theory, something that Stamas said has been the focus of legislative work for the past few years, especially unreasonable deed restrictions. Its the part that has helped move this issue probably a little bit further than it would have gone before then, Stamas said. It is an issue that will most likely see some action this fall by legislators. Glenn encouraged city officials to reach out to the local chamber of commerce for clarification and its official position. Midland has had a long term challenge of the appeals of property tax, Stamas said. The recent change to personal property tax affected municipalities across the state, but Lynch was optimistic about the effects on Midland. We felt like the outcomes were far better from Midland than they would have been, he said. Keenans appointment to a local council on the topic is valuable, and Stamas asked for updates on those meetings before talking about tax increment financing. Midland has multiple tax increment financing structures in the city, like the Downtown Development Authority and the Center City District. Those are all important tools we rely on to stimulate activity throughout the community, Lynch said. Stamas noted that other communities are not experiencing the same positive outcomes as Midland. Energy finance bill Glenn provided an update on his energy finance bill, and how it could affect local organizations and municipalities that he represents. He said he is hoping to have his bill reconsidered next year when a new committee is appointed. Over the next decade, this issue could affect Midland disproportionately more than a lot of other communities, Glenn said. That bill will be one of the largest discussions facing legislators when they return to session, Stamas said, along with automotive legislation related to ride sharing services like Uber and Lyft. There could also be a push for changes to medical marijuana legislation. The meeting ended with mutual thanks and appreciation from all parties involved, and both Glenn and Stamas encouraged Midlands city officials to communicate with them. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate More than 300 people joined Midlands Morning and Noon Rotary clubs on a sunny Monday morning for the 25th annual Labor Day Tridge Walk. On the Farmers Market side of the Tridge, Midland Mayor Maureen Donker addressed the crowd, stating that the holiday comes out of an 1882 movement and the Tridge Walk was modeled after the Labor Day Mackinac Bridge Walk. The Resonators, a group of drummers who provided a marching cadence, led the crowd over the bridge. Great Lakes Loons mascot Lou E. Loon also led the procession and mingled with the crowd. At the park shelter on the other side of the bridge, The Jolly Hammers Dulcimer Group provided a convivial atmosphere for refreshments and a drawing for prizes donated by local businesses. Hal and Dottie Canfield, of Midland, said they attended the walk because they enjoy the sense of community. At the event, an informational table about Rotarys efforts to eradicate polio and a real iron lung were displayed. Before modern advances, the iron lung worked to increase and decrease pressure in paralyzed patients so that the diaphragm would work to make the lungs breathe while in the machine. Some people were in iron lungs for a couple of weeks; the record was 60 years. Rotarians are passionate about eliminating polio. Currently, there are only three countries that still have cases of polio: Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. Some Rotarians were disheartened because Nigeria hadnt had a case in 2.5 years but then had two this year and recently got a third case. Rotarian Jenny Kendrick said to be considered polio-free, a country must not have a case for three years. Efforts have been challenging because of war zones in the countries as well as some apprehensions about Westerners. Midland Rotary Club President Tawny Ryan Nelb says some areas dont allow vaccinations, such as where Boko Haram is in Nigeria. Still, there is a lot to be optimistic about. Carol Feider, a Midland Rotarian, has volunteered in India and Ghana through the Rotary Club. Near Delhi, they paraded around the streets and gave candy to children trying to get out the word they were going to have a clinic. Feider said the best moment was a family in India who were so proud that their newborn was getting immunized. To be more thorough, after children are vaccinated their pinky fingers are painted with purple nail polish to make sure everyone in the village gets the vaccination. Another way they are improving outcomes, said Robin Stottlemyer, who attended graduate school in epidemiology and participated in the walk, is by transitioning to injections rather than drops. Drops are easier to administer, but the virus is shed in fecal matter for six weeks. Any contaminate can transmit the virus to someone else. Injections eliminate this risk. For 82-year-old Mary Kielpinski, polio was more than statistics. Looking at the iron lung, Kielpinski said, I was very blessed to have a light case. In 1954, like many people who had polio, Kielpinski thought she had the flu until she visited a doctor. She also had a stiff neck, another symptom of polio. Her doctor diagnosed her and performed a spinal tap. Kielpinski said it was painful. Kielpinski was pregnant and the nurse was in tears, worried; but the baby was healthy. Kielpinski said she probably got polio in a dirty restaurant. She said in those days people were quarantined and wouldnt go to the beach or swimming pools because they worried about catching the disease. Everyone was scared, she said. Nelb said four Midlanders died from polio. According to Stottlemyer, in 2016 there have been 23 wild-type polio cases and three vaccine-derived polio cases. One year ago there were 37 wild-type cases and 14 vaccine-derived cases. Its a major improvement from last year! she said. Vaccine-derived refers to a situation such as a baby getting vaccinated and a mother changing a diaper gets infected. Nelb said the goal is to eradicate polio by 2018. Midland Rotarian Kevin Kendrick said Rotary isnt limiting things to polio. He said Rotary now has medical surveillance systems so patients coming for the polio vaccine who show signs of other diseases can be treated for those as well. To fight polio, Rotary has teamed up with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, the World Health Organization, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. While the focus of the walk was outreach and education, the Midland Rotary Club is also fundraising to fight polio. The Gates Foundation is matching funds. For more information about the Midland Rotary Club or to donate to polio eradication, visit www.midlandrotaryclub.org An early Sunday morning house fire in Lee Township is being investigated as a case of arson and suicide, the Midland County Sheriffs Office reports. The sheriffs office reports deputies were called to a report of a suspicious house fire with a fatality at 510 S. Bennett Dr. at 5:40 a.m. Creative Media Director Joe Woolworth explains how producing films informs and excites people about the vision. How are you using films to connect with people? Regularly on the weekend, we share a vision of how we can impact the kingdom. We attract people who are attracted to that vision. We share a lot of stories in our weekend servicescoming to hope, partnering with us, being on mission with us and making a difference in peoples lives. We recognize that as soon as we put up projectors and start shooting films, were no longer competing with what other churches are doing. Were competing in the arena of ideas. So, we try to tell stories in a way that people are used to consuming stories. We spend a lot of time on visual storytellingabout two stories a weekend. 400 films a year. We try to find a thread in the story, and we try not to turn it into a commercial. How do the stories fit into your services? We have a weekend video called The Loop, which for a lot of churches would be the announcements video. We typically dont put announcements in it. We found that its real function inside that weekend service is building pride and ownership for peoplepeople getting excited about what Hopes doing here locallytheyre part of a church thats doing it, and theyre also contributing to this vision. Then we always do a call to action at the end. So, if we share a story about our Starting Point class or our Discovery class, its part of a persons story. The host at the end will say, Hey, back to you, you might want to jump into this. But we found that making a commercial for class is probably the least effective way to go about it. Then we have a film later in the service, too. How do you gather stories? We have a collection mechanism on our website, and we rely on our area pastors and our ministry leads who are in the field. We check in with them and try to find good stories. Then we contact people. We end up producing a lot more that way. Ideally, it takes us about five weeks to make a video. We found that the right length for the story in The Loop is about one and a half minutes. And the other story is about two and a half minutes. I have a film director whos been doing this for a long time, and we have five full-time film directors on our team. We take the idea of the role of art very seriously. Where do the stories go after you use them in a service? We have a Stories of Hope page. We have a Vimeo channel where a lot of the films end up. We publish them on Facebook, where we have about 8,000 to 9,000 followers. We just did a History of Hope video and had 27,000 views within a week. Can you share a story thats highlighted in one of your films? We did a film not long ago about a guy named Shane. He was disenchanted by church. He didnt want much to do with it. He was having marital problems. His wife tricked him into going to our Starting Point class, which is kind of our discussion class about questions of faith. Its very open and is sort of our precursor to being in a small group. Through that Shane got to know the people in that group, felt more and more connected and made the decision to follow Christ one weekend at the end of service. His Starting Point group turned into a small group. And now he and his wife are very connected and excited to be a part of Hope. HOPE COMMUNITY CHURCH Raleigh, North Carolina Website: GetHope.net Launched: 1994 Weekend Attendance: 8,085 A 2015 OUTREACH 100 CHURCH Fastest-Growing: 45 Largest: 50 NORMAL Wisconsin antique appraiser Mark Moran is coming back to Normal Public Library. Moran, a hit when he visited the library in 2015, will return 10 a.m. Sept. 9. Appraisals are free, but customers must sign up in advance through NPL, and only one item will be evaluated per customer, according to a news release. Moran, author or co-author of more than 25 books on antiques and collectibles, appraises items including art, furniture, photographs, books, clocks, advertising and musical instruments. He won't evaluate weapons; traps; Nazi memorabilia; coins; paper money; fine jewelry, including precious gems; or Beanie Babies. While Moran can only appraise one item per person at the event, he offers the option of home visits while he is in town. He charges $75 per hour. The visits have to be prearranged by contacting him at moranm1953@gmail.com. "Moran bought and sold antiques for more than 30 years, specializing in vintage folk art, Americana and fine art. He has been active as an appraiser of antiques and fine art for more than 20 years," according to the release. Silvia Schuh, a part-time library employee, told the Pantagraph in 2015 she came up with the idea of bringing Moran to NPL. "We wanted to offer programs that are historically based," she said. Marketing Director Meghan Rogers previously compared Moran's program to public television's "Antiques Roadshow," on which Moran has appeared. "If people can't come to get an appraisal, they can come and watch," she said. NORMAL The Children's Discovery Museum is ending its summer season with a bang. The museum, at 101 E. Beaufort St., will host a "Sayonara Celebration" for its "Hello from Japan" exhibit with special activities and also recognize National Grandparents Day on Sept. 11, the last day before the museum's annual shutdown week. After the celebration, the museum will close for a week, and staff will work with other town employees to pack up the exhibit and give the museum a thorough cleaning, including new carpet on the third floor. The big event for the day is a kendo demonstration thats Japanese fencing, said Interim Museum Director Shelly Hanover of the celebration. Bloomington Kendo Club will host demonstrations at 1:30 and 3 p.m. The celebration also will include stop-motion animation, origami and other art activities and "guests coming from the Japan House at the (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), but we havent heard exactly what theyll be doing yet, Hanover said. We'll have free admission for grandparents, $20 off a grandparent membership and discounts in the Discover More (area) for grandparents that day, she added. During the shutdown, staff will be deep cleaning and evaluating all our exhibit pieces to determine if theres anything we need to replace, Hanover said. In addition to shampooing carpet and waxing floors, staff members likely will find a lot of exhibit pieces that industrious children hid, she added. The kids are pretty creative about where they stash stuff. They get it behind something we cant see unless we take the exhibit apart, Hanover said. We think theyre putting it there so its still there when they come back. After the shutdown ends Sept. 20, the museum will be closed every Monday through spring. It usually opens some Mondays in May for field trips before opening seven days per week in June, July, August and part of September. The shutdown helps, and then we get back on that school schedule and use Mondays to our advantage, Hanover said. Upcoming events include Worldwide Day of Play on Sept. 24 and the museum's third adults-only event, Harry Potter-inspired Potterpalooza, on Oct. 21. BLOOMINGTON Adults and juveniles placed on probation often face similar challenges that go beyond the situation that forced them into the criminal justice system. A proposal from McLean County Court Services seeking $219,520 from the county's mental health tax levy could address a wide range of needs that hamper progress for probationers, according to Lori McCormick, court services director. The $219,520 grant request was filed with the McLean County Board of Health as part of the agency's annual funding cycle for developmental disability and mental health programs. An estimated 520 adults and juvenile would be assessed for service needs ranging from mental health and substance abuse assistance to parenting skills and mentoring on specific behavior patterns, said McCormick. The goal is being to help those who are on probation avoid further contact with the criminal justice system. The board of health will meet Wednesday to consider seven proposals for mental health funding. Under the proposal, the staff of about 35 probation officers would work with the Center for Youth and Family Solutions to implement the Risk Need Responsivity Program (RNR), an approach that matches the level of services to the offender's risk to reoffend. Probationers with a moderate to high risk to commit another legal mistake would receive more services designed to get to the root of their problems, said McCormick. "We don't want to just shoot at a target and hope we hit something. We want to have good priorities to help people succeed," she said. Doug Braun, youth and family community outreach coordinator, added the program would have a broader reach than the state's Redeploy program for adults and youth that has narrowed its criteria for admission in the past several years. The county does not plan to continue with the state program. The RNR program "allows us to catch a lot of people earlier who could use the help. It also lets us focus more on prevention," said Braun. Included in the proposal is the existing Moral Reconation Therapy program that helps about a dozen adult offenders who are required to focus on what led to their legal issues and repair personal relationships. The breakdown in family relationships is a common issue for young and adult offenders, said McCormick. "The family piece is pretty integral in adults and juvenile cases," she said. The need for adequate housing and a steady job would also be addressed under the RNR Program. The county's 22 adult probation officers each supervise about 150 offenders. With cuts and delays in state funding, local tax funds may become the lifeline for services that keep people out of the criminal justice system, said McCormick. "There has to be a way that we're able to use community resources to assist probation officers," said McCormick. EUREKA A Eureka service organization and two local banks have given the gift of mobility to a Washington child with a crippling disease. Eureka Greater Area Kiwanis Club, Goodfield State Bank and Heartland Bank provided $300 to purchase and modify a battery-operated toy ride-on car for 4-year-old Nadia Aberle, who suffers from spina bifida. The car was retrofitted and recently given to Nadia and her parents, B.J. and Vickie Aberle, at Shriners Hospital for Children in Chicago, said Kiwanian Nancy Aldridge of Eureka, who helped retrofit the car. "We modified the car to fit Nadia so that she can reach the pedals and also make it move," Aldridge said. "Nadia was very quick to learn to maneuver her car. It was awesome to see how excited she was when she first made the car go." Nadia's mom agreed. "It was easy for her to learn to maneuver with the hand-held controls. She loves it," said Vickie Aberle. Now, Nadia motors around her neighborhood participating in outdoor activities with the other kids, including her sisters, Tori, 8, and Elli, 7. Her mom expects Nadia will use the car for another year or two before she outgrows it. The family then will donate it to an organization that helps children with limited mobility issues, she said. Described by her mom as sweet, funny, social and opinionated, Nadia has limited use of her legs and uses a walker. Spina bifida leaves the spine exposed at birth, in some cases causing paralysis. "Spina bifida is the most common permanently disabling birth defect in the U.S.," said Vickie Aberle, "but the condition does not get as much attention as some others. We appreciate the support of the Kiwanis organization and are thankful the club has chosen to support kids with this condition." Besides the Eureka club, nine other Illinois Kiwanis clubs and one Kiwanis Key Club for high-schoolers participated in the project called GoBabyGo. The groups provided cars for a dozen Illinois children. The GoBabyGo project was developed a decade ago at the University of Delaware "to help these kids become more mobile by maneuvering their cars at home, at day care centers or on playgrounds, assisting in the socialization process with family members and other children," Aldridge said. "It also teaches them at an early age to use motorized equipment for mobility. Socialization, mobility and fun are key to all children's development." Illinois Kiwanis clubs have long supported medical research into causes and treatment for children born with spina bifida, she added. The Illinois-Eastern Iowa District of Kiwanis International has supported spina bifida research since 1953, when the Spastics Paralysis Research Foundation was formed, said Aldridge, who is a member of the foundation's board of directors. Aldridge will hold a Kiwanis-sponsored yard sale from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 8-10 at her home, 411 Pearson St. Proceeds will recoup funds Kiwanis spent on the car project and will support the work of the Spastics Paralysis Research Foundation. For more information, contact Aldridge at 309-467-4750. BLOOMINGTON Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and all points in between were out in full force at Monday's election-year Labor Day Parade in downtown Bloomington. Allegiances may have differed along the route from Front and Center streets to Miller Park, but all concerned agreed on one point: the need to vote come November, and to do so in an informed fashion. The parade's theme followed suit: "Protect Your Paycheck: Vote!" "It's a reminder that elections can have economic consequences," said Ronn Morehead, Bloomington & Normal Trades & Labor Assembly president. And there was no shortage of participants to underscore that theme, abetted by the plentiful sun that attracted thousands of spectators and union supporters to downtown. "This is a good parade to be a Democrat in," smiled Charles Harris, aboard the McLean County Democrats wagon, along with his wife Victoria, a member of the McLean County Board. A block or two away, with the McLean County Republicans contingent, Catherine Metsker, McLean County Board District 1 member, offered her simple mantra for the day, and year: "Pray ... register ... and vote." Adding, "in that order." "It not a day off for me ... it's a day on," enthused Democratic Illinois State Treasurer Mike Frerichs as the procession prepared to kick off. "The parade is a good way to tell people how the community is a part of the whole process," observed Gary Stevens of Bloomington, walking with the Republican contingent. "Just looking at the economy has become a central theme in this election year, so we're encouraging people to make sure that, when they go to vote, they've looked at whose policies best reflect the needs of working people," said Mike Matejka, a parade organizer and legislative affairs director for the Great Plains Laborers District Council. Taking a non-partisan stand were members of the McLean County League of Women Voters, decked out in their traditional period attire, all the better to reflect key dates in the annals of women securing the right to vote. "We're going for the vote ... for EVERY one to vote," said Anne Nadakavukaren, garbed in fancy self-made suffragette-era hat and dress. "It's just very, very important." "The thing about our long history of efforts has not only been about women, but of all groups getting the right to vote and, above all, becoming informed voters," added League member Laurie Bergner, in '20s flapper garb on loan from Community Players. Apart from politics, the parade was marked by its trademark wealth of music, led by Illinois State University's 310-member-strong Big Red Marching Machine. "These kids are very committed and truly embrace the idea of reaching out and involving ourselves in the community," said director Gavin Smith as the Machine revved up to dispense crowd-pleasing favorites like "Build Me Up Buttercup" and "Hey Baby." Roger Nelson, the parade's WJBC-AM "Laborer of the Year," is one of the local Trades & Labor Assembly men responsible for the parade's return in 1977 after a 42-year hiatus. Nelson, described by Matejka as "a super, super guy ... one of those people who volunteer regularly for everything," was in Houston, Texas, Monday for personal reasons and wasn't able to attend the parade, much to his regret. In a phone interview shortly before the kickoff, Nelson remembered the circumstances that led to the parade's revival. "We (Nelson and fellow Trades & Labor Assembly member John Penn) were at the AIW Hall in Decatur, and we were surrounded on the walls by pictures of floats ... and I asked, what is all that?" The photos, Penn noted, were from Decatur's Labor Day Parade, which became the inspiration for restarting the long-dormant (since 1935) Bloomington parade in 1977, Nelson said. "We couldn't get any local bands to come because there was a band contest at the Threshermen's Reunion in Pontiac," Nelson recalled. "So John Penn got the Chanute Air Force Band all the way in Rantoul to come over and lead the parade." Alas, en route to Miller Park, the band was cut off from the rest of the parade by a passing freight train, leaving the remainder to pull up the rear, music-free. It's been all uphill ever since, Nelson noted, "and now it's the biggest parade in town." "It really IS a good parade," smiled Bloomington native and longtime spectator Lynnferd Keeran as the 2016 procession passed ... intact and uninterrupted. PONTIAC A two-vehicle accident near Pontiac Sunday night has claimed the lives of two area teenagers. The deceased were identified Tuesday by the Livingston and Peoria County coroners as Jose Carlos Baeza-Padilla, 17, of Meadows, and Lynse Stokes, 15, of Chenoa. Padilla was the driver of a Nissan 200SX involved in the crash at Livingston County Roads 1800 North and 1900 East at 8:33 p.m. Livingston County Coroner Danny Watson said Tuesday. Padilla was pronounced dead at the scene at 9:25 p.m. Stokes, a passenger in Padilla's car, was transferred to a Peoria hospital where she died Monday morning, said Peoria County Coroner Johanna Ingersoll. According to an Illinois State Police report, Padilla was turning left onto westbound Illinois 116 when he collided with an eastbound vehicle driven by Leah D. Metz, 25, of Cullom. Metz told police she was unable to avoid the collision, according to the report. The accident remains under investigation by the coroners' offices and the Illinois State Police. On Tuesday, students at Prairie Central High School where Padilla was a senior and Stokes was a sophomore had access to additional counselors to help deal with the loss of their classmates, said Principal Brad Beyers. Four comfort dogs also were brought to the school from Lutheran Church Charities in Northbrook, said Beyers. Staff were notified initially of the accident and later updated with the information that Stokes had died, said Beyers. The principal said teachers and other staff who knew the two students also have been hit hard by their deaths. "We always want to be prepared to get the word out to those who had direct contact. We know there's an empty seat that next day," said Beyers. NORMAL Five graduates will be honored Sept. 23 at the annual University High School Alumni Association Awards and Recognition Program in Stroud Auditorium. This year's recipients are: Judy Greeness Regnier, class of 58, Distinguished Alumnus Award; Karl Eigsti, class of 56, Pioneer Hall of Fame Award; Melissa Smith, class of 02, Pioneer Hall of Fame Award; John D. Zimmerman, class of 84, Pioneer Hall of Fame Award; Diane Davis Black, class of 79, Alumni Service Award. Also, Neil Styczynski will receive the Friends of U-High Award. The program begins at 9:30 a.m. Greeness Regnier continued her education at Northern Illinois University and later Illinois State University. She was the first female computer programmer at two different companies, and began a new career after earning an associates degree in nursing in 1978. A liver transplant recipient and breast cancer survivor, she donates time to the Donate Life California organization. Eigsti earned his bachelor of arts degree in 1962 from American University. He was a recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship, and later received his master's degree in theater from England's University of Bristol in 1964. He's worked as a theater designer for five decades, including 20 Broadway productions, and been head of the Graduate Design Program at Brandeis University for 21 years. Smith obtained her bachelor of science degree in materials science and engineering in 2006 from the University of Illinois-Urbana, and earned a doctorate in philosophy, materials science, and engineering from MIT in 2012. She is a technical staff member in the Chemical, Microsystem, and Nanoscale Technologies Group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Smith is the inventor or co-inventor of five filed patents. Zimmerman is a captain in the U.S. Navy, attending the U.S. Naval Academy after high school. He earned a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering in 1988, and, in 2001, a master of arts in national security and strategy at the U.S. Naval War College, where he earned the Top Graduate and the William Sowden Sims Leadership Award, along with numerous other awards and medals. Davis Black earned her associates degree in applied science-court reporting from Illinois Central College and has since worked as a court reporter in the Bloomington-based 11th Judicial Circuit. She is an active member of the U High Alumni Association Board. Styczynski has had four children graduate from U High. As U High parents, he and his wife, Joan, have made donations that included more than 50 computers to the lab schools. They were recognized as charter members of the schools' Legacy Society and ISUs 1856 Society. In April 2012, Neil Styczynski was inducted into the ISU College of Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame. The (Champaign) News-Gazette Sometimes there's no good alternative to a tough approach to crime. Gov. Bruce Rauner and a large, bipartisan group of legislators have collectively decided that too many people are being held in state prisons and that the numbers should be reduced. That may well be true, although one would have to go over each individual case to know for sure. But the ugly reality of life on the streets of big and small cities, like Chicago and Champaign-Urbana, has a way of upending even the best legislative intentions and prompting elected officials to take action that appears contradictory. Here's an example. Recently, Gov. Rauner signed legislation passed by large bipartisan majorities to get tough on gun runners. Blamed by law officers in Chicago for their role in the ongoing slaughter in minority neighborhoods, gun runners are those who purchase guns legally in other states and then pass them to outlaws in this state. Authorities say that more than half the firearms recovered by police in Illinois come from other states. Indiana, Mississippi and Wisconsin are among the top three states whose firearms sales affect Illinois. This is a deadly business, one that requires a strong public response. Whether the new legislation meets the standard of effectiveness necessary to address the problem remains to be seen. But it appears to be a serious attempt. Whether it is or not depends on how aggressive police and prosecutors are in taking advantage of this new tool. It would be nice to think this kind of legislation would put a major dent in the problem. But no one should be so naive as to expect grand results. Chicago Sun-Times An Illinois Supreme Court ruling that knocked an anti-gerrymandering constitutional amendment off the Nov. 8 ballot was a big setback for democracy in our state, but reformers can't give up. Gerrymandering drawing the borders of voting jurisdictions in a way to favor one political party or another has been around since at least 1812, when Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry drew up jig-sawed district borders to gain a political edge. Ending the practice won't happen overnight, and it will take a grassroots rebellion. The pols who now draw the lines, effectively making your vote irrelevant, love things just the way they are. Supporters of the latest effort to put redistricting reform on the ballot through citizen petitions will decide this week whether to ask the court to reconsider its decision, which would be a long shot. And if that goes nowhere, it's none too early to start planning another petition drive for the 2018 election. The next remapping of legislative districts in Illinois will take place in 2021. Reformers just have to find the right wording for an amendment that will fly with the court. Until then, consider your vote especially in state legislative and congressional elections as essentially grounded. Weyerhaeuser Completes Sale of Liquid Packaging Board Business to Nippon Paper Industries Sept. 1, 2016 - Weyerhaeuser Company on Aug. 31 said that it completed the sale of its liquid packaging board business to Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd. for $285 million in cash. Weyerhaeuser expects to use a substantial portion of the approximately $225 million of after-tax proceeds for repayment of debt. The liquid packaging board business consists of one mill located in Longview, Washington, with an annual capacity of 280,000 tons. "Nippon Paper Industries is acquiring a strong portfolio of high quality products and a well-regarded employee team that has contributed much to Weyerhaeuser over the years," said Doyle R. Simons, president and chief executive officer. "This transaction further focuses our company as we work together to be the world's premier timber, land, and forest products company." Nippon Paper added that as of Sept. 1 the company will be known as Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. a new consolidated subsidiary established in the United States. In addition, Nippon Dynawave Packaging engaged NP Trading Co., Ltd., also a subsidiary of Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd., to act as its sole agent for the Japanese market. SOURCE: Weyerhaeuser and Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd. See related story: Weyerhaeuser to Sell Liquid Packaging Board Business to Nippon Paper Industries for $285 Million June 16, 2016 Uh-oh! Did Kate Middleton really flirt with a builder while husband Prince William was with her? Well, the answer was no but an interesting encounter with a scaffolder, who took a selfie with Duchess Kate when the royal couple visited Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, had definitely made headlines. During Kate Middleton and Prince William's visit at Truro Cathedral's building site, 36-year-old Sam Wayne made a bold move and took a picture of himself with the royal couple as they passed by despite the fact that they were warned that taking selfies were not allowed. According to Daily Mirror, the picture went viral and Wayne was accused of flirting with Duchess Kate. Wayne immediately denied the accusations that he was flirting with Kate Middleton, saying he's a happily married man and a proud father of one. Even though some royal watchers speculated that Prince William seemed not to care at all when someone flirted with his wife, Wayne revealed that the Duke of Cambridge called the selfie Wayne took with Duchess Kate as "terrible." Wayne's selfie with Kate Middleton was not actually a first for the cheeky builder. As a matter of fact, he also had taken a selfie with Prince William's dad, Prince Charles, when the royal visited the Nansledan development in Newquay, Cornwall two years ago. Meanwhile, Wayne also denied the reports that the construction workers catcalled, wolf-whistled and gave Duchess Kate some lascivious comments but he admitted that some builders called Prince William's wife as a "hot stuff." Wayne said there were no wolf whistling or catcalling and everyone was very respectful. He also stressed that the reports claiming they catcalled Kate Middleton was just based on how people had stereotyped the builders and scaffolders, Time noted. As for Kate Middleton's reaction about Wayne's selfie, the Duchess of Cambridge reportedly burst into laughter when she saw the builder trying to take a selfie with her and husband Prince William, Elle revealed. In other Kate Middleton-related news, Duchess Kate hasn't really dreamed of becoming a royal when she grow up. In fact, Kate Middleton secretly wanted to be a farmer rather than a princess. As per Vogue, Duchess Kate also wanted her children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, to learn about farming and the apples in their orchard at the family's Norfolk county estate. Do you think Kate Middleton really flirted with builder Sam Wayne? Sound off below and follow Parent Herald for more news and updates. Disney has released another clip of the live action feature of "Beauty and the Beast." This time, it has the lead stars -- Emma Watson and Dan Stevens -- doing a table read with the rest of the cast. Music composer Alan Menken also expressed his praise and appreciation for the live action version that is set to arrive in theaters in 2017. Clips from "Beauty and the Beast," which can be seen in full in the latest DVD and Blu-ray release of the animated movie's twenty-fifth year anniversary, showed just how much Emma Watson and Dan Stevens are the perfect picks to play Belle and Beast in the live action treatment. During the table read, the two stars were flirting with each other. Though the scene was short, their match-up hinted of "insane chemistry," according to MTV. Director Bill Condon also spoke about how the live action movie has taken advantage of technology to allow them to create their take on the animated hit. The short teaser is making fans of the Disney classic all the more excited to watch the upcoming film. Watch the preview and see Emma Watson and Dan Stevens flirting with each other in the said clip below. Meanwhile, Alan Menken, the composer of the songs from the animated "Beauty and the Beast," could not help but praise the production behind the live action version. Most of the songs from the 1991 movie will still be used in the upcoming film, along with the new songs and scores that Menken also composed. So, he got the chance to work with Emma Watson and Dan Stevens closely. "I can't picture anyone else, honestly. She's Belle for me now entirely," said Menken of Emma Watson via Yahoo UK. The composer also commended Dan Stevens as Beast and Luke Evans as Gaston. Menken said that the cast of live action "Beauty and the Beast" is a "dream cast." "Beauty and the Beast" will be in theaters on March 17, 2017. The Disney movie is based off the 1991 animated original, which earned a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars. Filming for "Fuller House" Season 2 seems to be done, as the cast shared photos of their wrap up party on their social media accounts. Meanwhile, former "Full House" actor Jason Marsden, who played DJ's ex-boyfriend Nelson Burkhard in the old series, talked about why he isn't reprising his role, even if Nelson will be featured in "Fuller House" Season 2. "Fuller House" star Candace Cameron Bure posted fun photos on Instagram from the show's recent wrap up party. Ditto Soni Nicole Bringas, who posted a photo on her Instagram to confirm they are done with "Fuller House" Season 2 filming. On the other hand, Andrea Barber also posted a photo from the studio to thank the fans of "Fuller House" via Twitter. The cast and crew supposedly filmed their final scenes in front of a live audience on Sept. 2. Final live audience show of Season 2 tonight! Thank you, fans, for all the love - we wouldn't be here without you! pic.twitter.com/Czo9wTq8wV Andrea Barber (@andreabarber) September 2, 2016 One of the last few episodes for "Fuller House" Season 2 supposedly features two returning characters from the old show. According to TV Line, Nelson Burkhard and Kathy Santoni will be featured in the series, which will hold DJ's high school reunion. Nelson was DJ Tanner's boyfriend from her teens, who was played by Jason Marsden in "Full House" in the 90s. Kathy was DJ's frenemy from high school, who was played by Anne Marie McEvoy. But the original actors playing the roles have been recast. In a Twitter post, Marsden revealed the reason why he couldn't reprise his role on "Fuller House." He confirmed that he was approached by the show's producers and casting staff to appear in the second season, but he had a scheduling conflict. He had an earlier invitation at the Atlanta Dragon Con, which happened in the same week of filming his "Fuller House" episode guest appearance. The actor said it was more practical for him to be in Georgia than in California, since he's based in Tennessee. "I made the choice in a matter of convenience and the convenience was, I could drive to Atlanta from Tennessee," he told "Fuller House" fans. He sent good wishes to the actor who will eventually play the current Nelson in the show. Meanwhile, now that "Fuller House" is heading to post production, Netflix could soon release its first teaser for Season 2, as well as confirm the actual release date. Stay tuned "Fuller House" fans, as we will bring more updates! One of the reasons why "iZombie" remains a fan favorite on The CW is because of its amazing guest supporting cast, which interestingly enough is mostly made up of men. Liv (played by Rose McIver) is surrounded by Blaine, Major, Clive and Ravi, who make her already complicated zombie life more colorful. Blaine (played by David Anders) is the zombie who scratched Liv, while Major (played by Robert Buckley) is her former fiance. Clive (played by Malcom Goodwin) and Ravi (played by Rahul Kohli) are her co-workers in the police precinct. Each of them has this important connection to Liv and, at the moment, their characters could be indispensable to "iZombie" despite being on opposing sides. Off-screen, these "iZombie" actors share a friendship and bond that was formed because of their working relationship for the last two years. The actors recently discussed their closeness and what it's like working with each other with TV Insider. There is apparently a lot of ass-slapping on the set of "iZombie" and it's instigated when Major has his scenes. Robert Buckley has this down to a ritual before every take and even has Rose McIver join in on it, the actor shared in the interview. Malcom Goodwin truly enjoyed it when "iZombie" revealed more to his character's side, aside from being a cop in the second season of "iZombie." Clive had a love angle and was shown to be a serious Knicks fans, which the actor really is in real life. While Ravi's usual scenes involve light and funny moments at the medical examiner's office in "iZombie," Rahul Kohli likes it when his character gets some serious and emotional stuff to do as well. David Anders reveals he's enjoying the "little love triangle" his character Blaine has with Ravi and Peyton (played by Aly Michalka). This love triangle will be explored further in "iZombie" Season 3, where Michalka confessed, in a separate interview, that she's rooting for Ravi and Peyton to reunite. However, she believes that her character is strongly attracted to Blaine, thus making the choice harder, per Showbiz Junkies. All four guys cannot believe the kind of response they have been getting from "iZombie" fans. They weren't even sure the show would click in the beginning. "Now [it's] headed into our third season and a great fan base and people who support us, and it's only expanding," said Kohli. "iZombie" Season 3 is scheduled to return on The CW for the mid-season. Stay tuned for more news and updates about this series. In the meantime, watch the boys of "iZombie" goofing around in the video below. At least 40 students from Milton Union Middle School in Ohio suffered injuries after eating peppers. The children, who were between the ages of 11 to 14, started sweating and got watery eyes and blotchy skin. Some also developed hives as they ate Bhut Jolokia, which is supposedly one of the world's hottest chili peppers. WHIO reports that the 40 kids ate Bhut Jolokia peppers during school lunch, but it is still unclear where the food item came from. It wasn't served at the school and allegedly, one of the students brought it for the kids to try out. Five of the kids who ingested the world's hottest chili pepper were hospitalized for their injuries, while the rest were treated by an emergency medical staff at the school's clinic. One of the students said that when they took a bite of the peppers, they started to feel the hotness almost instantly. "We all drank like 10 cartons of milk," said Cody Smith, to describe how some students tried to relieve themselves. But when the milk didn't help and some of the kids' conditions grew worse, the school called 911, which dispatched paramedics. School officials also informed parents about what had happened and they were then able to fetch their children from the school at 2:00 p.m. All other activities for the rest of the day were shut down due to the unpleasant incident. A Bhut Jolokia pepper, also known as Ghost pepper, rates at one million Scoville heat units, while a regular Tabasco sauce only rates at 8,000 Scoville heat units, in a comparison bared by the Independent. The Smithsonian reports that Bhut Jolokia was once used in India's defense research in developing grenades and pepper sprays. At the hospital, doctors grew increasingly concerned because some of the kids might have a history of asthma. However, most of the children were simply treated with antacid and soap, and no other serious cases were reported. Dr. Pam Bucaro at the Dayton Children's Hospital explained that although kids love challenges and dares, there are just some things that shouldn't be treated as games. "There can be serious effects when ingesting things," she said in the Dayton Daily News. The school is still looking into the matter for further investigation. A young mom has given up her twin infant boys by leaving them at a firefighters' station in Illinois on Aug. 31. Instead of being charged for abandonment, however, the state is actually commending the mother for supposedly doing what is right. Apparently, there's a Safe Haven Law that guarantees the protection for both mom and child, even if the mother no longer wants her baby. ABC 7 Eyewitness News reports that the unnamed mother, who was pegged to be either in her late teens or in her early 20s, arrived at the firehouse in the wee hours with her twins. With baby bags in tow and the infants strapped in a car seat, the mom even talked with the firefighters on duty. She told them that she can no longer care for the twins and also provided the firefighters information about their allergies. The firemen took note that the twins appeared to be in good health. But just the same, the babies were brought to the hospital for checking after the mother left them. Chief Mickil Smith of the Phoenix, Illinois Fire Department said that the mother actually did the right thing by bringing her babies to their department. Rather than abandoning the twins in a dumpster, which happens in many cases, this mom observed and applied the Safe Haven Law of the state. Young mother drops off twin boys at Phoenix fire station under Illinois Safe Haven Law - WLS-TV https://t.co/OVMdPjr4V1 Phoenix share (@Phoenixshare) September 1, 2016 According to Child Welfare, the Safe Haven Law, which has been in existence for years, allows parents to give up their baby without any legal consequences. This is provided that the child has not been abandoned in places that might threaten or cause harm to the infant's life. Most states permit the giving up of babies who are only days old -- in safe havens like firehouses, hospitals or police stations. Some states allow for babies up to a month old. The reports say that the babies brought to the firehouse are already at least six months old, but social workers believed the mom's intention was "in the right place." Thus, no charges are being filed against her and the authorities have yet to receive opposing reports about this case. Learn more about the Safe Haven Law in this video below. A university in Greenville, North Carolina has organized a program for students who might need more guidance in becoming an adult. School authorities at the East Carolina University (ECU) believe that this program is crucial, especially after learning that more and more college students are demanding counseling and similar support services inasmuch as many of them are apparently having a hard time dealing with the stress and challenges of adulthood. Spearheaded by the university counseling staff, the program called RIO (Recognition, Insight and Openness) will include activities like journaling, stress management and support groups with teachers and students, according to NBC News. It will hopefully teach the students about becoming resilient and impart to them much-needed life skills. Based on a report from the ECU in coming up with the program, there was an increase in counseling appointments in the school in the least two years at 16 percent. Students who admitted to being involved in a crisis were also up by 52 percent. "It wasn't just the numbers, it was the intensity and severity," said Valerie Kisler-van Reede, the school's counseling director via the NBC News report. As conveyed by Reflector, the authorities also saw a spike in drug use in the campus, which has been attributed to how students handle anxiety, a feeling of being overwhelmed and stressed. It's not just the ECU, nevertheless, that has noticed the increasing and alarming trend among college kids. The Penn State also did their survey of students in relation to mental health. More than half admitted they might require counseling or are experiencing stress and anxiety. Experts believe that social media and technology have also contributed to the emotional and mental health decline of some of these students. No longer equipped at handling issues face-to-face, students are also incapable of solving conflicts properly. They are also constantly exposed to what they see from their friends on social media, which are mostly edited posts and shares about good fortune or successes. Some fail to see that many of these "achievements" underwent so many struggles and failures before the end result happened. The Duggars have gone through a difficult year after Josh Duggar's molestation scandal went public. Aside from it, the public later learned that Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's eldest in the "19 Kids and Counting" brood is addicted to porn and has been cheating on his wife, Anna Duggar. Reports have it that the fiasco that Josh Duggar brings to the family is not yet over. According to Morning Ledger, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are going through marital issues due to their eldest son. Jim Bob and Michelle are rumored to be getting a divorce because they can't get to agree on how to handle their disgraced son. Jim Bob wants to take Josh Duggar back but Michelle doesn't support her husband's idea. The growing tension between the Duggar's patriarch and matriarch is so intense that it is dividing their family. According to reports, one of the parents will eventually move out to their Arkansas home. The Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar divorce has been around for a few months already. Parent Herald previously reported that the couple is separating due to Josh but is keeping it a secret from their family. However, the previous report suggests that it was Michelle who was furious over Jim Bob for giving a harsh punishment to their son. The church leaders want a strict punishment for Josh and Jim Bob complied, which disappointed Michelle. Since then, she turned cold to her husband. The Jim Bob and Michelle divorce is brought to life again after In Touch Weekly made the controversial topic a headline on its recent cover. However, according to Gossip Cop, there is no truth about the divorce. In fact, the article in the magazine did not support its headline. It did not discuss the divorce but stressed that the family is split if they should shun Josh or not. What do you think is it likely for Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar to divorce over Josh's drama? Is the family still not over the Josh Duggar scandal? Share your thoughts in the comment section below. Italy has been experiencing a decline in birthrate, thus placing its economy in jeopardy. This is why the Italian Ministry of Health released a Fertility Day ad campaign designed to encourage couples to go into baby-making mode, but the move backfired on social media and was criticized by many. Italy's Fertility Day falls on Sept. 22. The campaign's vaguely menacing posters bear the words, "Beauty has no age limit. Fertility does," while a woman holding an hourglass is also seen. Another poster targeting men displays this caption: "Don't let your sperm go up in smoke," at the same time as showing a man with a half-burned cigarette, The Washington Post reported. Plenty of social media users were irked with the campaign posters. On Twitter, annoyed users used the #FertilityDay hashtag to complain about the initiative, saying that it was "offensive, sexist, and dangerous." With such a negative social media reaction, the campaign founders did an about-turn, taking down the campaign posters, and removing their website (fertilityday2016.it), according to the New York Post. Another poster of the campaign reads: "Young parents. The best way to be creative." Giulia Blasi, a writer for the website Medium, said there are better methods to practice creativity instead of making babies you can't afford and support. Italy currently has a 42 percent unemployment rate for its residents aged between 15 and 24. Blasi added that the European country should focus on making it easier and more manageable for women to juggle motherhood and work at the same time. Lower wages for women and inadequate day care are said to be the reasons behind Italy's low birthrate. There is a fertility rate of 1.35 children per woman in Italy, which is lower than the European Union's average of 1.6. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD, said a nation's stable population needs a fertility rate of 2.1, Quartz revealed. Rates below that spell financial and economic trouble for countries with aging populations, substantial social services, and unchanging economies. Italy is among those countries grappling with these factors. Other low-birth countries were more successful in their efforts to encourage couples to have more babies. Denmark, for instance, offered vacations and prizes to inspire couples to procreate. Schoolchildren in the country are also being taught about the benefits of having babies. Denmark has a shockingly low birthrate of 10 babies every 1,000 residents in 2013. The efforts were not futile, with the country seeing small increases in births nine months after the initiatives. Its time once again for our monthly survey of Buddhist political affiliations. It has been a well interesting month following the conventions which I mostly missed as I was in China at the time. Clinton received a solid post-convention boost in most polls, getting into double-digit leads at times over the struggling Trump who was snubbed by one of his own convention speakers, former rival Ted Cruz. Since then, a number of Republicans have come out against Trump, so many, in fact, that its hard to keep track. Luckily the Atlantic has been doing their best to keep tabs. Meanwhile Clintons support has also been falling with various groups. Most recent among them, women (so many special places in Hell I suppose). Albright soon after apologized for that comment, but it is one that lives on in the hearts of many of my liberal female friends. Picking up on a similar meme, one twitter commenter wrote: Less than 1/2 of American women now support @HillaryClinton. Who knew so many women were secretly sexist BernieBros? pic.twitter.com/Qc7eC2ixcj Jeff Faria (@PatriotsOfMars) September 5, 2016 And now young black voters have this to say: When a handful of liberal advocacy organizations convened a series of focus groups with young black voters last month, the assessments of Donald J. Trump were predictably unsparing. But when the participants were asked about Hillary Clinton, their appraisals were just as blunt and nearly as biting. What am I supposed to do if I dont like him and I dont trust her? a millennial black woman in Ohio asked. Choose between being stabbed and being shot? No way! Meanwhile, Libertarian Gary Johnson has seen a noteworthy boost in the polls, from under 5% in mid-June to nearly 10% in recent weeks. Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, has not been so successful, hovering around 3% through August according to Real Clear Politics poll averages. Readers here who showed much stronger support for Bernie Sanders (who is now on the campaign trail for Clinton) in earlier months have given much of their support to Stein and Clinton. Last month, Trump even trailed Gary Johnson among those who answered the survey. With that, we open our September survey: Loading If you are having trouble seeing the form, click here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSff6JNy9QM2e9t__krivyG1uiBvPIIGi60Jq4k8QbW0Gv26yw/viewform And from the International Campaign for Tibet, a petition to tell whoever lives [in the White House] next to make Tibet a priority. Poll will remain open until Sept 10; results to be posted Sept 12. Ah, the train wreck that is Illinois politics. Heres a piece of local news thats old by now, but still important to share: the Illinois Supreme Court, in a decision on August 25, decreed that the Independent Maps Amendment, a proposed amendment to the Illinois constitution that was to have been placed on the November ballot after a lengthy petition drive and 500,000 signatures, failed to pass muster constitutionally. The proposed amendment would have provided for a nonpartisan process for drawing state legislative districts, to replace a system in which the party in power gerrymanders its way into continued power but, not surprisingly it was challenged by a group calling itself The Peoples Map, claiming to be concerned about ethnic minority representation but known to be sponsored by Michael Madigan and his political allies. The Court justified its decision on the basis that the amendment exceeded the scope permitted under the constitution: But in writing for the Supreme Court majority on Thursday, Justice Thomas Kilbride said that while redistricting is an issue that could meet the constitutional test of affecting both the structure and procedure of the legislature as required of a citizen-driven amendment, the plan offered by the Independent Maps groups went beyond the scope of dealing only with changing the legislative branch of the constitution. Specifically, the courts majority cited a provision that would have had the auditor general review applicants for a panel that would ultimately determine the commissioners assigned to draw new legislative maps. As presently constituted, (the legislative article of the constitution) does not mention the subject of the auditor generals office or its duties, even in passing, Kilbride wrote. Moreover, the additional duties the ballot initiative imposes on the auditor general creates changes that (do not affect) the actual structure or makeup of the legislature itself. No ones buying this. Heres what the Tribune had to say in an editorial the next day: It was a straight party-line vote, Democrats over Republicans. Make of that what you will. Nobody gets elected to the Illinois Supreme Court without partisan money and muscle. And there is no issue more partisan than redistricting. Thats why the legal assault on the amendment and on a similar measure two years ago was led by attorney Michael Kasper, proxy for Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. . . . The amendment falls squarely within the intent of Article XIV, Section 3 of the Illinois Constitution. The framers of the document left it mostly to lawmakers to propose amendments, but they granted voters limited authority to initiate changes that apply to legislative matters. Delegates to the 1970 convention knew lawmakers wouldnt act to check their own powers. In nearly half a century, only one voter-driven amendment has made it to the ballot. (Voters approved it.) Citizen initiatives keep trying collecting hundreds of thousands of signatures, raising and spending millions of dollars and courts keep swatting them away. Why? Because lawyers have imagined all sorts of hidden prohibitions in the language of the article, and judges have been eager to accept them. . . . You can squint at the actual wording all day and never see the part that says voters cant propose an amendment that assigns the auditor general a role in the redistricting process. Its not there. In a further editorial on Friday, the Trib wrote: In Illinois, Supreme Court justices run in partisan elections for 10-year terms and have the ability to raise enormous sums of campaign cash. According to The Council of State Governments, Kilbride in his 2010 retention campaign raised $2.8 million, largely from Democratic interests more than the total amount raised by all candidates in all other judicial retention elections nationally between 2000 and 2009. . . . [T]he reformers will have to play hardball. No more badminton. If they want to beat the machine, they have to pay closer attention we all do to Supreme Court races. As a reminder, the role of the house speaker is outsized in terms of the Illinois legislative process, but, to an even greater degree, Mike Madigan is as powerful as he is because of the purse strings he controls; he controls his fellow Democrats, and keeps getting elected to that position, because he controls their campaign funds. And Illinois is trapped in dysfunction because Madigan, and pretty much everyone else, are more concerned with advancing and enriching themselves than serving the people of Illinois. Whats all the more irritating is this: the Illinois constitution requires that, every 20 years ago, a referendum be placed on the ballot asking if there should be a constitutional convention. The last such vote was in 2008, and the no vote won by a 2/3 1/3 margin, as voters were told that the existing constitution was perfectly fine, there was an amendment process if necessary, and a convention would be a waste of money. Hard to believe that was only 8 years ago and yet were now learning that a convention may be the only way to escape the current misgovernment and failures, if the Supreme Court repeatedly determines that amendments such as the Independent Maps proposal, which was the result of much legal scrutiny, are no good. Lets not forget, too, that desperately needed pension reform can likewise go nowhere due to Supreme Court roadblocks and Constitutional language placed their by a prior generation of feckless legislators. When I first moved to Illinois, I would say this: Im used to governmental corruption after all, I grew up in a suburb of Detroit but I never imagined it would stretch beyond city government to the state level. I guess I should now rephrase this to I never imaged it would extend all the way to the State Supreme Court. And 2028 is a loooong way away. image: train wreck, from pixabay.com; public domain. I took a class on gender and sexuality in graduate school. I decided to analyze scholarly works on ways Christianity was used to limit womens rights and roles in the nineteenth and early twentieth century in my final paper, a historiography. At some point in the semester, my professor told me that I needed to start my project over, looking instead at scholarly works on the ways in which women used Christianity to expand their rights and roles. I was already partway through my research and wasnt at all happy about this request. Today, though, I am extremely grateful for the lesson this professor taught me. And before you ask, I dont think it was an ideological thingI dont believe this professor was religious. I think she could just see that Id gotten stuck in a rut and needed to step out and view the bigger picture. That semester I learned that women have used religion to seize power in ways I had never realized. I realized then that while religion has too often been used to disempower women, that is only part of the story. Women have also, since time immemorial, used religion to empower themselves and expand their roles. This is why it is a shame Game of Thrones did not imbue Sansas storyline with more historya medieval Sansa embracing the same level of piety that she did at Kings Landing would have been worshiped by the people as a saint, leaving Joffrey afraid to lay a hand to her. This is why Margaerys embrace of the church was so realisticduring the Middle Ages, women frequently used religion to gain power, influence, and protection. That class changed my perspective on religion to this day. Religion is a tool. It can be used for evil, and it can be used for good. Over the past few years as Ive gained an increasing number of progressive Christian friends, Ive been glad for the perspective that class gave me. Religion can be used to further oppression, yes, but it can also be used to push back against oppressionthink of liberation theology, for instance. My regulars know my backstoryI grew up in a large evangelical homeschool family, and my parents reacted very badly when, after I left for college, my beliefs shifted. My own children are growing up in a secular home. Ive tried very hard not to prejudice my children against my parents, but it wasnt long before my science-loving daughter was taken abackmy mother had told her that evolution was not real. Sally was aghast. And while I try to make sure she understands the nuancefor all their faults, my parents were loving, devoted parentsmy daughter has pieced the story together. She knows about what happened between my parents and I. Ive been thinking, recently, about the importance of historically-grounded religious educationand I dont mean Sunday school. Ive been reading Sally various religions mythology for years now, but that alone is not enough. Ive gotten books about children growing up in various religious traditions in various places in the world, and Ive been reading them to her, trying to give her a sense of the place religion plays in peoples lives. This fall, well be starting another semester of religious education at our local Unitarian Universalist church. Someday, maybe, well visit various different houses of worship and read more about various faith traditions, their history and their diversity, and the various ways in which people have used religion. When I first left religion, I went through a period when I was what is sometimes termed an anti-theist. I believed that getting rid of religion would solve many of the worlds problems. But today, Im not so sure. I no longer identify as an anti-theist. For one thing, religion is often entertained with culture. Practices like female genital mutation are actually more cultural than religious. Getting rid of religion wouldnt get rid of these practices. For another thing, marginalized populations have long used religion to gain agency, space, and power, like the women discussed above. I want Sally to grasp this nuance too. I worry sometimes that we are too black and white, and Ive found in the last few years that my alliances lay across religious lines, with those who support the same social justice causes I do. Perhaps someday Ill have a chance to thank that professor for the assignment she gave me. I needed it. T20 World Cup 2022 Points Table Update: New Zealand Consolidate Position at Top in Group 1 Standings Virat Kohli's Innings Against Pakistan Legitimised T20 Cricket as an Art Form: Greg Chappell T20 World Cup: 'It is People's Job to Talk, So They Will Talk' - Haris Rauf on Pakistan Team's Critics New Zealand vs Sri Lanka Highlights T20 World Cup 2022: Ton-up Phillips, Lightening Boult Guide NZ to 65-run Win Iran Rekindles Flap with Saudi Arabia Over 2015 Hajj Stampede 09/06/16 Source: VOA Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has once again questioned Saudi Arabia's ability to manage Islam's holiest sites, accusing the kingdom of murder in last year's deadly hajj pilgrimage stampede. frontpage of Iranian daily Tehran Times "The heartless and murderous Saudis locked up the injured with the dead in containers - instead of providing medical treatment and helping them or at least quenching their thirst. They murdered them,'' Khamenei said in a statement on his website, marking the anniversary of the disaster. He offered no evidence to support the allegations. Saudi Arabia immediately lashed back. Crown Prince and Interior Minister Mohammed bin Nayef said Iran is attempting to "politicize'' the pilgrimage, which is required at least once for all able-bodied Muslims. The stampede at last year's hajj left 769 people dead, according to the Saudi government. The Associated Press said the death toll was at least 2,426, after examining state media reports and officials' comments from countries whose citizens participated in the pilgrimage. Tehran has said 464 of the dead were Iranian, and blamed the catastrophe on Saudi mismanagement. The language employed in the latest flap was harsh even for the two regional rivals involved in opposite sides of the civil wars in Syria and Yemen. "They must not let those rulers escape responsibility for the crimes they have caused throughout the world of Islam," Khamenei said. "What Iranian media and some Iranian officials are raising is not objective and they know before anyone else that the kingdom has given the Iranian pilgrims what it gave others," Prince Nayef said. Iranian Labor Activists Put on Trial After Hundreds of Workers Protest Unpaid Wages 09/06/16 Source: International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran Labor activists Jafar Azimzadeh and Shapour Ehsani-Rad have been put on trial for allegedly inciting workers to strike. The first day of their trial was held on August 29, 2016 at Branch 101 of the Second Criminal Court in the city of Saveh, 76 miles southwest of Tehran. Iranian Labor activists Shapour Ehsani-Rad (R) and Jafar Azimzadeh This case doesnt have any legal foundation, an informed source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Mr. Azimzadeh was already prosecuted and jailed for all the charges mentioned in this case. You cannot prosecute someone twice for the same crime, but the security establishment is not very concerned about following the law or respecting rights; they recycle these cases to make it easier to prosecute those who continue their activities. On March 1, 2015 Azimzadeh, the president of the Free Workers Union of Iran, was sentenced to six years in prison for assembly and collusion against national security and propaganda against the state by Judge Abolqasem Salavati of Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court. After the Appeals Court upheld the sentence Azimzadeh reported to Evin Prison in Tehran on November 8, 2015, but he wastemporarily released on June 30, 2016 following a two-month hunger strike. Mohammad Ali Jedari Foroughi, the attorney representing Azimzadeh and Ehsani-Rad, also a member of the Free Workers Union of Iran, told the semi-official Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) on August 29 that his clients have been charged with assembly and collusion against national security and propaganda against the state. The next session of their trial has been scheduled for September 5. Iranian law prohibits the re-prosecution and interrogation of individuals on the same charges. Azimzadeh and Ehsani-Rad have been accused by the Safa Rolling and Pipe Mills Company of provoking its workers to go on strike, according to a statement issued by the union. After working for 16 months without health and work safety insurance and for four months without paid wages, approximately 1,000 workers protested by going on strike on April 21, 2015 for more than a month. Following the strike, Azimzadeh and Ehsani-Rad were arrested in late May 2015 and detained for 18 and 26 days respectively before being released on bail. In its statement, the Free Workers Union of Iran condemned the authorities prosecution of workers as enemies of the state for attempting to improve labor conditions. The actions by the security and judicial institutions are an insult to the general public and millions of workers and teachers, it said. Independent unions are not allowed to function in Iran, workers are routinely fired and risk arrest for striking, and labor leaders are prosecuted under national security charges and sentenced to long prison terms. Italian military invites Iran Navy to Italy waters 09/06/16 Source: Press TV An Italian military delegation has traveled to Iran to discuss the enhancement of bilateral military ties, and has invited Iranian naval groups to visit Italy's territorial waters. Italian Rear-Admiral Roberto Chia Marcella (C-L) and Iran's Navy Commander Rear-Admiral Habibollah Sayyari (C-R) during a meeting in the Iranian capital, Tehran, September 5, 2016 The five-member delegation, headed by Rear-Admiral Roberto Chia Marcella, is in Iran on a five-day visit. On Monday, the delegates met with Iran's Navy Commander Rear-Admiral Habibollah Sayyari to discuss the development of ties. Extending the invitation to Iran, Chia Marcella said, "In the future, we will witness Italian vessels berthing at [Iran's] southern harbors falling within the Iranian Navy's sphere of operation." "It is certain that these talks and meetings will lead to the development of interaction and cooperation in different military areas between the two countries of Iran and Italy," he added. Sayyari also underlined the importance of Italy's geopolitical position in the Mediterranean Sea and said, "Italy enjoys around 8,000 kilometers (4970 miles) of maritime border and the Mediterranean is [also] strategically very significant given the fact that it connects the important Suez Canal and the Strait of Gibraltar." In recent years, Iran's Navy has increased its presence in international waters to protect naval routes and provide security for merchant vessels and tankers. Filmmaker Tahmineh Milani tries her hand at photography 09/06/16 Report by Tehran Times; photos by Sharareh Samei, Honar Online TEHRAN - An exhibition of photos by Tahmineh Milani, the director of "Ceasefire" psychodrama, opened at Tehran's Aryana Gallery on Saturday. A number of actors and artists attended the opening ceremony, which was concurrent with the 56th birth anniversary of the director, who is also a graduate of architecture, Persian media reported on Sunday. Filmmaker Tahmineh Milani poses with one of her photography works Milani, who has chosen nature as the main theme of her photos, says that she believes that nature is a strange phenomenon, which changes with the change of light. "As the impressionists show the effect of light in their paintings, photography can also show the effect of light on our eyes. I believe the role of light in registering every moment is like creating a painting or like composing a poem," Milani had said earlier in an interview with Honaronline, a Persian art news website, published on Friday. "I believe photography is the art of seeing. Experiencing the natural light is a magical journey that reaches a new discovery. In these photos I wanted to register a short moment of the role of light," she added. She also emphasized that she intends to prove to the younger generation that there is always a way for the artists. If one cannot be active in cinema for some reason, he or she can gain experience in painting, poetry, photography or many other areas. A selection of 30 photos taken by Milani during her trip to the United States will be on display until Thursday at the gallery located at No.9, Fereshteh St., in the Elahieh neighborhood. The best 2-in-1 laptop 2022: our picks of the best convertible laptops These are the best 2-in-1 laptops you can buy right now When it comes to privacy, both Googles Chrome OS and Microsofts Windows 10 take an opt-out stance. By default, both platforms collect a variety of data about your usage, but the way they go about it is often different. While Microsoft presents users with a long list of privacy-related toggles, Googles controls are less granular. Both companies, however, make you jump through additional hoops to disable the kind of personalized ads that help them turn a profit. PCWorld recently broke down all the ways Microsoft grabs at your data in Windows 10, so its only fair we compare that to Googles computing platform. Heres how Chrome OS and Windows 10 measure up on privacy and data collection. Setting up privacy During setup, Google isnt overly interested in presenting lots of privacy options. Aside from a single toggle for usage and crash data collection, Chrome OS only lets you adjust privacy settings after the initial setup. And as you might expect Google enables a fair amount of data collection by default. (Well dive into specifics later.) Microsofts Express settings in Windows 10 are similarly aggressive, but at least you have the option to customize many settings before the operating system is up and running. By choosing custom settings, you can adjust nearly every aspect of data collection in Windows 10, from behavior tracking to location data to telemetry. At the end of the Windows 10 installation, you can walk through customizing a number of settings, including these for Personalization and Location. Collecting your typing One of Windows 10s more controversial settings involves the collection of typing, handwriting, and speech data, which is supposed to help Microsoft auto-correct peoples names. This isnt exactly a keyloggerMicrosoft says it filters and slices up the data to avoid collecting personal informationbut its still a bit creepy. Its also enabled by default in Windows 10. Chrome OS offers a similar setting, called Use a web service to help resolve spelling errors, but its disabled by default. Turning it on lets Chrome OS tap into the same web-based spell check that Google uses for its search engine, but in exchange you have to send everything you type to Googles servers. Telemetry data During setup, Chrome OSs sole privacy-related checkbox opts to Make Chrome OS better by automatically sending usage statistics and crash reports to Google. This is checked by default, and you must click a Learn more button to understand what youre agreeing to. With usage statistics, Google collects data on preferences, button clicks, and memory usage, but its aggregated across all users. Crash reports, however, can get more personal, with Google noting it may collect webpage URLs or personal information, depending on what was happening at the time of the crash. To Googles credit, its easy enough to disable this telemetry data collection during setup. Thats not the case with Windows 10. Although Windows 10 setup lets you reduce diagnostic data collection from Full to Enhanced, this still entitles Microsoft to use this data for a more personalized Windows experience. Disabling this level of data collection requires a separate trip to Windows settings after setup, but keep in mind theres no way to stop Microsoft from pulling basic telemetry data off your machine. Browsing activity Because the browser is at the core of Chrome OS, its important to look at the data Google collects as you access the web. By default, Google collects the URLs of pages you visit to provide alternate suggestions when you cant reach a webpage. It auto-completes searches and URLs based on your browsing history and related searches, and it pre-loads webpages (including their tracking cookies) for web links you might click. A visit to Chrome OS settings lets you disable each of these options. Microsofts own Edge browser has similar URL and search suggestions, along with predictive pre-fetching of websites. Windows 10 enables these options by default as well, and you can disable them through Edges advanced settings menu. As for cookies, both browsers allow you to block or limit their use. They also support Do Not Track, which asks websites not to follow you around with tracking cookies, but they both disable this option by default. (Many websites, including Googles own, dont honor these requests anyway, so youre better off using third-party privacy tools to avoid tracking.) One last thing to keep in mind: Using Googles Chrome browser subjects you to many of the same privacy practices that apply to Chrome OS. So if you use Chrome in Windows 10, youll have to double your efforts to keep data collection in check. Personalized ads Both Microsoft and Google are trying to collect ad revenue through their respective operating systems, so perhaps its no surprise that they both make personalized ads tricky to opt out of. For Google, you must visit the ads section of the companys privacy dashboard website. From there, you can turn off the ads personalization toggle, or fine-tune the information in your profile. These settings apply across all Google services. Microsoft has its own ad settings website, where you can disable personalized ads both in your browser and across other devices tied to your Microsoft account (including Windows 10 devices). App data Although Chrome OS is a browser-based operating system, it also lets you install apps from the Chrome Web Store. Unfortunately, Chrome OS doesnt offer an easy way to manage the data that these apps can access. Youll get a disclaimer when you first install each app, but your only option if youre uneasy about data collection is to uninstall. Some Chromebooks can also install Android apps from the Google Play Store, and the privacy controls for these apps are much more granular. An Android apps section in the Chrome OS settings lets you control what type of data each app can access. Windows 10 has similar controls in the Privacy section of its Settings menu. From here, you can control access to things like location, contacts, messaging, and calendar on a per-app basis. You can also prevent apps from using your unique identifier to show personalized ads. A final word about data collection In fairness to Google and Microsoft, data collection isnt automatically a bad thing. Features like search prediction and page pre-caching are beneficial for users. Sending telemetry data helps make the operating system more stable. One might even argue that personalized ads are better than irrelevant ones. Still, theres a trade-off to these enhancements, in that Google and Microsoft get to know just a little more about you, and in the feeling that whatever youre doing, on some level youre being watched. Thats why its important for companies to be transparent about data collection, and to provide users with control. Overall, Microsoft and Google offer a sufficient level of control for privacy and data collection in their respective operating systems. Theyre just banking on the likelihood that most people wont mess with the defaults. U.S. President Barack Obama said his country has had problems with cyber intrusions from Russia and other countries in the past, but aims to establish some norms of behavior rather than let the issue escalate as happened in arms races in the past. Obamas statement on the sidelines of the G20 summit in China, after he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, did not refer specifically to a recent hack of the Democratic National Committee of the Democratic Party that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing. Politically embarrassing emails from the breach were leaked ahead of the convention of the party, with many security experts holding that the hack had the backing of Russian intelligence services. Whistleblowing website WikiLeaks released the emails but did not disclose their source. The U.S. government hasnt blamed Russia for the incident. U.S. authorities are also said to be investigating the hack of another Democratic Party organization, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The FBI has also reportedly warned election officials across the country to take measures to secure their computer systems, after foreign attackers were found to have hacked two state election databases in Illinois and Arizona. I am not going to comment on specific investigations that are still live and active, but Ill tell you that we had problems with cyber intrusions from Russia in the past, from other countries in the past, Obama told reporters, according to news outlets. The president described moving into a new era where a number of countries have significant cyber capacities, and frankly we have got more capacity than anybody both offensively and defensively, he said in an apparent warning to the Russians. He said the goal of the U.S. was not to duplicate in cyberspace a cycle of escalation akin to other arms races in the past, but to start instituting some norms so that everybody is acting responsibly. Obama said there are going to be enough problems in cyberspace with non-state actors using the Internet for theft and other illegal purposes, which creates the need for protecting critical infrastructure and securing financial systems. What we cannot do is have a situation in which, certainly, this becomes the wild, wild West, where countries that have significant cyber capacity start engaging in unhealthy competition or conflict through these means, Obama said. He said he had discussed the topic of cybersecurity norms with Putin and earlier with some other countries, and is already seeing some willingness from a lot of countries to adopt the rules, though it will have to be seen whether they are following them. Google appears to be planning some added security for upcoming Chromebooks. The companys Chromium code repository mentions a fingerprint sensor for Chrome OS, as first spotted by Chrome Unboxed. Led by Apple, Samsung, and others, fingerprint sensors are currently the most popularnot to mention fastestmethod of biometric authentication. Windows 10 PCs also use biometric authentication via Microsofts Windows Hello feature. Microsoft favors facial recognition and retina scanning in its Windows 10 devices, but it also supports fingerprint scanning. Its not clear how fingerprint scanning would work on Chromebooks. Presumably, it would be used instead of your Google password to sign in to your machine on a daily basis. Fingerprint scanning could also come in handy to authorize Google Play purchases once Android app support goes mainstream on Chrome OS. Who knows? A little further down the road, Chrome OS could also support third-party web logins similar to what Microsoft is doing with Windows Hello in Microsoft Edge. In fact, thats more than likely because Google, along with Microsoft, PayPal, and others, is working on a standard for biometric authentication for websites and web apps. For now, however, Google and its Chromebook partners are just working on getting basic fingerprint scanning up and running. Chrome Unboxed says fingerprint scanning may debut with a rumored 360-degree convertible Chromebook codenamed Kevin. Why this matters: Google is one of many companies trying to figure out a future where passwords are no longer used for authenticationor theyre at least deemphasized in favor of more convenient, yet secure, methods like biometric authentication. Google may also be trying to improve Chromes relationship to Android by adding key features the mobile OS already has. Thats especially important because users will expect Android apps on Chromebooks to work just as they would on a phone or tablet. In addition to fingerprint scanning, Google is bringing PIN-based authentication to Chromebooks, as first noticed by OMG Chrome. The feature is already available in the Chrome OS Canary channel. The candidates in the competitive race for Californias 40th Assembly District are using video to tout their strengths to voters ahead of the Nov. 8 election. Ads for Republican incumbent Marc Steinorth and Democratic challenger Abigail Medina strike a positive tone and avoid mentioning the other candidate. Medina recently unveiled a TV ad affirming her commitment to social and economic justice, like more good jobs and a living wage. An online ad for Steinorth promoting his commitment to education includes praise from San Bernardino Unified School District school board President Margaret Hill. Medina also serves on the board. Steinorth, a former Rancho Cucamonga councilman first elected to the Assembly in 2014, is running for re-election in a district that includes Redlands, Highland, Loma Linda and parts of San Bernardino and Rancho Cucamonga. The race for the 40th is one of the more tightly contested in the Inland region this election cycle. Democrats hold a 6 percentage point edge in the districts voter registration, and Medina finished ahead of Steinorth by roughly 2,200 votes in the two-candidate field for the June 7 primary. Steinorth has raised more than $1 million for his re-election while Medina has taken in more than $750,000 for her campaign, according to online state records. Independent expenditure committees backing Steinorth have spent almost $263,000 to help him, records show. Thousands of students across Southern California scrambled to figure out their education options after ITT Educational Services said Tuesday, Sept. 6, it will close all 130 ITT Technical Institutes in 38 states. The announcement comes about two weeks afterthe U.S. Department of Education said it would ban the company from enrolling students who use federal aid and would impose more stringent financial oversight. Its the latest blow to a struggling for-profit college system that has come under growing scrutiny. The federal agency has cracked down on a number of for-profit schools in recent years, demanding that they end what it calls misleading recruitment practices and the misreporting of graduation and success rates.< RELATED: ITT Tech is the latest for-profit institution facing challenges New sanctions against ITT Tech will limit enrollment Those moves have resulted in major operators dropping out of the business. Last year, Corinthian Colleges, which had 28 campuses, including Everest Colleges in San Bernardino and Ontario, shut down after it was fined $30 million by the education department. In addition to the regulatory pressure, enrollment at for-profit colleges has dropped nearly 50 percent in the past six years, putting a strain on many schools finances. ITT blamed the companys closure on the Education Departments most recent sanctions in a news release Tuesday.The company, which operates six campuses in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, will not offer a September quarter, a news release states. Classes were set to begin Monday, Sept. 12. The move will affect about 40,000 students and cost more than 8,000 employees their jobs. A small number of workers will help current students find alternatives. ITT called the governments action inappropriate and unconstitutional, saying in its news release that the company was denied its due-process rights to a hearing or an appeal. The company said it came to the decision after exhausting all options, including transferring its schools to a non-profit or public institution. The damage done to our students and employees, as well as to our shareholders and the American taxpayers, is irrevocable, ITTs statement said. STUDENTS SEEK ANSWERS Students showed up Tuesday at ITT campuses across the region with lots of questions about the shutdown. Many said they didnt get answers. Deon Sims, a 36-year-old Perris resident, arrived at the deserted Corona campus to try to find out if the credits he earned will be valid at another school. He said he is half way toward an associates degree in network systems administration. Sims said he knew the school was having accreditation issues, but had no idea the problems were so bad. Its just a shock, he said. I feel sorry for people like me who are scrambling, who have to find a new place to get an education. I feel sorry for those who are out of a job. Sims, who is unemployed, said he isnt angry but hopes there is better oversight of for-profit schools to ensure they use taxpayer dollars wisely. He said hes confident he can repay his government loans that helped pay for his studies. Its pretty heartbreaking, Sims said, adding he hopes to finish his studies elsewhere. The Education Deparmentssanctions< came after the schools accreditor, the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, determined that ITT had not met and was unlikely to meet its criteria for accreditation, the department said in a news release. The department began monitoring the companys finances more closely in 2014 and again in 2016 after concerns about ITTs administrative capacity, organizational integrity, financial viability and ability to serve students, the release said. In June, the department sent ITT officials a letter requiring them to increase their surety on file a reserve that guarantees the company can cover its debts from $80 million to $124 million. In a letter to shareholders on June 30, ITT announced it was cutting back on its recruiting budget, and the company expected the move to result in a decline in enrollment at its campuses. ITT insisted it had no plans to shut down until it was hit with the most recent federal sanctions in August. The company has always worked to comply with laws and regulations, its Tuesday release said. We have always carefully managed expenses to align with our enrollments, the release said. A WASTE OF TIME? At the San Dimas campus, Carol Hernandez arrived hoping to pick up her cap, gown and degree. The 39-year-old Duarte resident recently finished her studies and was set to graduate Sept. 23 with a bachelors degree in project management and administration. Shes also $80,000 in debt. Is my degree going to be worth something? Is it valid? she asked. Three years and was it for a waste of time? Who knows if Im going to have to start from scratch? Hernandez said she thought about leaving about a year ago when she became concerned about the schools accreditation. Her worries grew when she saw the number of recruiters and financial aid employees plummet over the summer. Allen Acosta, who was studying network systems at ITT, was also seeking answers. He noticed that several nights in August, he would be home by 8 p.m. even though his class wasnt supposed to end for another two hours. School officials were tight-lipped about the situation, he said. They gave us inklings, but they never gave us anything concrete besides talk to the dean, said Acosta, 21. Byrnn Fulton, 18, was looking forward to starting a 21-month program to become a network systems analyst. His mom told him the school closed for good while they were on the way to the San Bernardino campus for a scheduled orientation appointment Tuesday morning. Fulton said he liked the idea of attending a relatively small school with a lot of hands-on experience. Hes now thinking of enrolling at Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa. Moreno Valley resident Johnathon Trujillo attended classes for one quarter and said he was very impressed with the schools drafting program. He was at the San Bernardino campus to find out if his loan could be forgiven but the building was closed. Trujillo, 21, hopes to continue his education at Riverside City College. STUDENTS OPTIONS The education department set an email to its students Tuesday alerting them to the closure and offering options. The agency set up a hotline, 800-4FEDAID, and a website, https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/about/announcements/itt, and is planning webinars to offer help. Students can apply to have their loans forgiven or try to transfer their credits to another school, the department said. U.S. Education Secretary John B. King Jr. said in a blog post Tuesday that the departments actions were done to protect students and taxpayers from potentially worse educational and financial damage if ITT was allowed to continue operating without increased oversight. The schools decisions have put millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded federal student aid at risk, King wrote. In Orange, ITTs classrooms and hallways were silent Tuesday at the companys lone Orange County campus. Scott Voigt, 46, of Anaheim stood just off campus. He had two quarters to go toward his bachelors degree in project management, and now must transfer his credits elsewhere. Though the U.S. Department of Education is taking steps to ease transfers into local colleges, ITT Techs students may have some trouble continuing their education. Representatives of Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine and Fullerton College said their schools would not accept units from ITT, which wasnt accredited in a way that satisfied the mainstream campuses. Voigt said he had been satisfied with his education at ITT. Its so sudden that we dont know what to do, Voigt said. I knew exactly what I was getting in to. For them (U.S. officials) to take the accreditation away is ridiculous. In a letter to students Tuesday morning, ITT said students would have access to their grades and could request a copy of their transcripts through the student portal. But several students at the Torrance campus said the information wasnt available when they checked Tuesday. Leon Wiggins II had one quarter left before he was set to graduate with a degree in network systems management. He was among a group of students standing outside the building who voiced frustration at the absence of ITT administrators at the mostly deserted campus. Wiggins said ITT slapped in the face of hard-working students trying to improve their lives. He needs only three classes to finish his degree and plans to continue his education at another school so he can get a job in information technology. Jessica Sanders, who recently finished her degree in network systems administration, wondered what the shut down will mean for her job prospects. You know youre going to have to work extra hard, because theyre going to want to know, Did you really learn something there? Sanders said. Basically theyre always going to question our education from now on. Staff writers Liset Marquez, James Steinberg, Cynthia Washicko, Jonathan Winslow and Anne Millerbernd contributed to this report. Who knew? Becoming a star depends on ones neighborhood. When it comes to the cosmos, that is. There are tons of galaxies out there. One thing they do is form stars unless there are clusters of galaxies containing trillions of stars, hot gas and mysterious dark matter all bunched up against each other. Something about having close neighbors inhibits forming stars, said Gillian Wilson, professor of physics and astronomy at UC Riverside and leader of a 25-member international team that recently made a groundbreaking or perhaps more appropriately, space-shattering discovery. Wilson said the UCR-led SpARCS team came up with the best measurement yet for when and how fast galaxy clusters stop forming stars. Their strategy was to discover, and study, four of the most distant clusters of galaxies ever found, she said. Astronomers already knew about the neighborhood factor. It has long been known that when a galaxy falls into a cluster, interactions with other cluster galaxies and with hot gas accelerate the shutoff of its star formation relative to that of a similar galaxy in the field, said Julie Nantais, assistant professor at Andres Bello University in Chile and first author of a research paper on the study. The clusters the team studied arent anywhere near our Milky Way neighborhood. Far from it. Seriously far from it. They are so distant that the teams scientists peering through the worlds most sophisticated telescopes were looking at light emitted by the galaxies 9.7 billion years ago. Wilson, who last month was named chairwoman of the University of California Observatories Advisory Committee, said the universe is about 13.7 billion years old. We are seeing these clusters of galaxies as they appeared when the universe was only 4 billion years old, Wilson said. The numbers reflecting the time and distance are, for many, mind-boggling. They underscore the immensity of the universe. The light has to travel all the way across the universe to get to us, so we see them when they were younger, Wilson said. If you could zoom right up to them, they would look very different. One of the teams significant findings, Wilson said, is that when it comes to those super-distant galaxies, the ones jammed into dense clusters are 30 percent less likely to form stars than galaxies in more open space. Closer to home, she said, the gap is greater: 50 percent. As time goes by, for reasons that are not completely understood, galaxies stop forming stars, Wilson said. She said the finding was based on a compilation of observations from telescopes around the world, the most significant coming from W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii and a giant telescope in Chile. Thanks to computer-aided observations that, since 2008, have allowed scientists to see what the telescopes see from a room on campus, much information was processed remotely, she said. Team members also traveled to Hawaii to record observations there. The paper appeared in the August issue of Astronomy and Astrophysics. Contact the writer: 951-368-9699 or ddowney@scng.com Faced with increasing reports of people sleeping, bathing and doing other private activities in public spaces, Riverside officials are moving to formally ban camping on all city property. Anti-camping rules arent new in California or elsewhere. Cities including Los Angeles, Anaheim and Santa Monica, which Riverside looked to in writing its proposed ordinance, have public camping bans in place to address what they say are safety and sanitation issues. But homeless advocates argue that a continuing shortage of affordable housing and shelter beds leaves some people with nowhere to sleep except in public. Some cities rules have been challenged in court, and last year the U.S. Department of Justice weighed in on a 2009 suit over Boise, Idahos camping ban. Riverside leaders say their prohibition wouldnt just target the homeless and would apply to anyone who treats public property such as parks and streets like a private dwelling. The councils public safety committee voted Aug. 2 to send the camping ban to the full council for approval. It will likely be discussed Sept. 13. Were not criminalizing homelessness. This is why this proposal is written so its inclusive, said Councilman Jim Perry, who brought the new rule forward. This is cleanup language and will make it distinctly clear where you can camp and where you cant. ANOTHER TOOL Riverside has long struggled with its relationship to homeless people who stay here. Its the seat of regional state and county government offices and has the only emergency shelter for all comers in the western part of the county, so some argue that the city handles a disproportionate share of a regional problem. Riverside officials say issues attributed to the homeless are the top complaint they get from the public. In August, the city got emails from a woman who complained of men sleeping in the gutter surrounded by shopping carts on Central Avenue by the 91 freeway, and a dentist who said he regularly cleans up food wrappers, beer bottles and drug pipes from people who party and sleep outside his Magnolia Avenue office. Perry pitched the no-camping rule last year, but he put it on hold so the city attorney could do more research. The city can already tag peoples belongings for removal from public areas, but existing rules only forbid specific actions such as lying in a building entrance, obstructing a sidewalk or camping in parks without a permit. A broader ban on camping would give police and code enforcement workers another tool to move people along, Perry said. He and other officials said they dont plan a crackdown and instead would allow police and code officials discretion to give multiple warnings before writing a ticket or prosecuting someone. The goal isnt to simply push people out of the city, Perry said. We have services there for the people who want them and its a matter of them wanting to accept them. CRUEL AND UNUSUAL Other Inland cities, including Corona, Palm Springs and Colton, already prohibit camping on public land. So do Portland, Denver, Los Angeles and others, but some have generated protests and lawsuits. The problem is that everyone needs to sleep, and some people have nowhere to go but public areas, said Eve Garrow, homeless policy analyst and advocate for the ACLU of Southern California. Recent statistics show Riverside County had about 1,000 fewer shelter beds than the number of people considered homeless, she said, adding that shelters arent always equipped to handle peoples physical or mental disabilities. Constitutionally, Garrow said, Its considered cruel and unusual punishment to criminalize people for behavior that they cant help but engage in, like sleeping. The Justice Department made a similar argument last year when urging a judge to block Boise from enforcing its camping ban. In Riverside, Barrett McCullough, who said shes been living on the streets since 2011, put it this way: Im sorry, but where would you like me to sleep? McCullough, 35, said she and her friends try to leave places they stay as clean as they found them, but others are disrespectful and make a mess. She said shelter beds and homeless services are temporary bandaids that arent available long enough to really help. NO QUICK FIX In recent years an increasing number of cities have passed public camping bans and other rules some say disproportionately affect the homeless, such as bans on begging, loitering and food sharing, said Megan Hustings, director of the Washington, D.C.-based National Coalition for the Homeless. She pointed to a 2014 report from the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty that found 34 percent of 187 cities surveyed had camping bans, an increase of 60 percent since 2011. Cities are looking for a quick fix and some way to pacify people who are upset by seeing increased homelessness, Hustings said. The only real solution is to provide affordable housing. Riverside spends about $872,000 a year in federal grant funds to rehab, buy and build affordable housing, housing authority manager Michelle Davis said. Another $10 million from former redevelopment funds will be available in the next two to three years for housing. Following the lead of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, Riverside is shifting its focus away from emergency shelters and toward permanent homes, but the need exceeds the money thats available, Davis said. Perry said Riverside residents shouldnt see the proposed camping ban as a silver bullet that will end homeless issues. Calls to police about camping violations wouldnt take priority over more serious issues, he said. City officials have stressed that they dont plan aggressive enforcement if the council adopts the ban. This is not the kind of law that were going to say, All right, weve got this new ordinance on the books. Lets round everybody up, City Attorney Gary Geuss said. This isnt a matter of trying to drive people into another jurisdiction. This is a matter of trying to enforce the laws that are here. Contact the writer: 951-368-9461, arobinson@scng.com, @arobinson_pe Donald Trump committed to taking part in all three scheduled presidential debates with Hillary Clinton as the two candidates promised greater media access in the final stretch of the campaign. On the same day that the Democratic nominee debuted a campaign plane that includes space for reporters who travel with her, Trump for the first time invited a small group of media representatives for a question-and-answer session on his private jet as he departed Cleveland on Monday. I expect to do all three debates, the Republican nominee said. I think its an important element of what were doing. Trump had previously hedged on his participation in the presidential debates, citing the need for impartial moderators. The first debate is set for Sept. 26 at Hofstra University on Long Island. Clinton has held a consistent lead over Trump in national and battleground polls since the Democratic convention in July, though it has narrowed in recent weeks after a steady drumbeat of reports about her use of private e-mail and about the Clinton family foundation. The debate may determine whether Trump can overcome Clintons wide advantage in fundraising and organization, and close in on her in the final weeks of the race. QuickTake Presidential Debates Trump and Clinton now are locked in a close competition for votes in a less than a dozen states that will determine the outcome of the Nov. 8 election. The two candidates crossed paths at Clevelands Hopkins International Airport Monday, the first of the stops that they or their surrogates were making in Ohio on the Labor Day holiday. After spending the final weeks of August largely out of the public eye and focused on fundraising, Clinton is giving full attention to campaigning this week, with stops planned Monday in Cleveland and the Quad Cities area on the Illinois-Iowa border, and in Florida and North Carolina later in the week. After leaving Cleveland for Youngstown, Ohio, on Monday, Trump is set to campaign in the swing states of Virginia, North Carolina and Florida later this week. Both candidates are scheduled to appear in succession on the same stage Wednesday at a forum on national security and military issues. Monday was the first trip for the aircraft that will carry Clinton, her staff and the reporters covering her campaign through Election Day. Its a step toward more media access to Clinton, who hasnt held a formal press conference since December and has only once taken questions from the media organizations who travel with her since the end of primaries. Nominees have traditionally shared a plane with the media following the party conventions. Although the Trump campaign has indicated there are no plans to put reporters on the same plane as the candidate and have refused credentials to some reporters who Trump views has being unfair, the Republican nominee said Monday he occasionally may allow media to travel with him. I dont have a problem with it, he said before leaving Cleveland for his next event in Youngstown. It doesnt have to be all the time, but it could like today. Clinton, briefly spoke to reporters traveling on her aircraft before leaving for Cleveland, telling them, I am so happy to have all of you with me. Clinton also sat for an interview with ABC News that is scheduled for broadcast on Tuesday. Trump was in Cleveland with his running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence. Clintons surrogates were out in force as well, with vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine joining her in Cleveland after appearing with Vice President Joe Biden in Pittsburgh. Former President Bill Clinton campaigned for his wife in Detroit and later in Cincinnati, Ohio. Several former Ashley Furniture Store employees who were recently laid off allege they were harassed and treated unfairly when they tried to form a union at the recently shuttered warehouse. At a protest Monday afternoon in front of the Colton store, a group of at least 100 gathered on the sidewalk and spilled into the street in front of store on Labor Day. Some waived the American flag while others held up signs that read We want justice for the workers, and Ashley lied, 800 jobs died. About 840 employees at the Ashley Furniture HomeStore factory/warehouse at 855 Ashley Way where love seats and sofas were assembled were laid off Aug. 26. They always said we were a family, but they never demonstrated it, said Armando Sanchez who had worked for the company for 18 years. They always said we werent just building furniture, we were building dreams to share with other people. Those dreams have turned into my nightmare. Ashley Furniture could not be reached for comment Monday, a federal holiday. In a previous statement, the company said the majority of production in Colton will move to U.S. plants in Wisconsin, Mississippi and North Carolina, where we can tap into existing capacity and increase efficiency. The company said it gave the employees 60 days notice and complied with federal regulations governing layoffs. According to former employees, there was an effort to form a union between February and November 2015 but fell short of the necessary votes. Claudia Munoz, who worked for Ashley Furniture in the polymill for four years, said she would often meet with at least 200 employees during their breaks to answer any questions they had about forming a union. In turn, she said she was harassed by human resources. Just before the November vote, Munoz said their supervisor promised them job security and higher wages, but after seeing little improvements since the vote, employees were once again moving toward forming a union. They let us go and they couldnt even say thank you to our face. We gave our life and health to Ashley and this is how were paid? Its injustice, she said, speaking in Spanish. Community leader and labor attorney Eloise Reyes said she believes the employees efforts to form a union was one of the contributing factors to closing the warehouse. Sen. Connie Leyva, D-Chino, urged the more than 100 former employees gathered Monday to stick together. She told the workers they had the right to try and form a union, and if the furniture-maker violated any labor laws, she said she will do whatever is it that we need to do. When a company like Ashley will not allow their workers to organize, and they shut the doors, what are they saying? she asked the crowd gathered around a podium. They are saying they dont care about you. They are worried about you because all you want to do is band together as workers. As workers, you can accomplish more and thats youre right to do that. After the employees were terminated, they came to Reyes looking for assistance. The former employees will be meeting at the Carousel Mall in front of the Democratic offices to see what resources are available as well as job training and placement opportunities, she said. The injustice is really something that needs to be remedied, she said. I think the fact they are not being given answers is wrong. LOS ANGELES Dozens of first-responders, victim advocates and other experts came together Tuesday to talk about the insights gathered from the Dec. 2 San Bernardino terror attack including how to take a more victim-centered approach to mass casualty incidents. The event was hosted by the U.S. Attorneys Office at the California Endowment Center at 1000 North Alameda St. in downtown Los Angeles. Its the first of its kind in our district and possibly in the nation, said US Attorney Eileen Decker. http://launch.newsinc.com/js/embed.js var _ndnq = _ndnq || []; _ndnq.push([embed]); As authorities dealt with the aftermath of the attack the deadliest on American soil by Islamic extremists since Sept. 11, 2001 from an investigative and administrative standpoint, it was clear one of the major points that should not be left out is how victims are treated during and, sometimes more importantly, after such a devastating event, she said. Victims need all the assistance that we can afford them, she said noting that some needed counseling, others needed help navigating through the countys workers compensation system. Decker said she hopes the conference will help assistance agencies, including prosecutors, to take a victim-centered approach to these events. Its my hope that todays conference better prepares all of us to respond quickly and effectively to a mass casualty incident, she said. San Bernardino Assistant Police Chief Eric McBride was scheduled to be one of the guest speakers at the conference. Media was not allowed inside. A news release about the conference said that a case study of the San Bernardino Dec. 2 terrorist attack would be front and center at the conference teaching first responders how to respond to future large-scale attacks. First responders and experts will discuss lessons learned from the response to the tragic San Bernardino incident, according to the news release. In particular, theyll explore how to better serve victims in the wake of similar attacks and how to coordinate among first responders. Chinas recent history, growth as a world power and influence on modern international relations will be discussed at a Sept. 21 event held by the World Affairs Council of Inland Southern California. UC Irvine history professor Jeffrey Wasserstrom will talk about China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know at the UC Riverside Alumni and Visitors Center, 3701 Canyon Crest Drive, Riverside. The talk and question-and-answer session begin at 6:15 p.m. Earlier, wine and hors doeuvres will be available at 5:30 p.m., and Wasserstrom will hold a book signing at 7:15 p.m. Students may attend the talk free. Admission for World Affairs Council members is $40; non-members pay $45. A female fan of beleaguered Bishop Daniel Obinim has been arrested by police for obstructing the transfer of the founder of the International Gods Way Church to the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service on Wednesday, 24 August. Meanwhile, Bishop Obinim has been transferred to the BNI. Over 300 church members and supporters of Bishop Obinim, on Wednesday August 24, blocked the road at the Nima police station to prevent the police from transporting their Bishop to the police headquarters where he is being investigated for allegedly defrauding a man to the tune of GHS11.6 million. Bishop Obinim was arrested on Tuesday by the CID of the Ghana Police Service for defrauding by false pretences. He spent Tuesday night in cells and has been going through bail process on Wednesday at the Nima Police Station where he was transferred. Hundreds of his church members and fans, including the lady who was arrested, massed up at the station to demand his release. After some frantic effort, the police were able to whisk the controversial man of God away to the police headquarters but the supporters have vowed to besiege the CID headquarters to demand that the bishop be released. Meanwhile, Bishop Obinim has denied knowledge of the alleged GHS11.6 million gold fraud leveled against him by a complainant. Source: Classfmonline Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The queenmother of Goma Fetteh in the Central region, Nana Abena Ewusiwaa II has described as part of tradition a promiscuous dance exhibited by the youth in the town during this years Ahobaakese festival. In a video which has gone viral on social media, young men are seen swinging their waist behind young girls with some fondling their breasts. This has been condemned with many calling for the festival to be banned but the queen mother said such call is pointless. She explained that the dance dubbed: Akosolontoba in the local dialect is part of the rituals to mark the festival to remember how their ancestor Ahor liberated them from slavery. Nana Abena Ewusiwaa II noted that the dance which is known in local parlance as Atopah dance is an opportunity for both young men and women to find their soul mates. Some of the men are unable to propose to the girls, so this part of the festival gives them the opportunity to propose to the women they wish to marry she added. Rather than calling for it to be banned, the queen mother said people should rather partner with them for the festival to gain national exposure. Nana Abena Ewusiwaa II stated emphatically that the Atopah dance is in no way promoting promiscuity among the youth. Watch video below:- Source: adomonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Ministry of Interior has rejected claims that Deputy Minister, James Agalga, attempted to lure outgoing Moderator of the Presbyterian Church Reverend Professor Emmanuel Martey, to take up the position of chairman of the National Peace Council. Martey in chronicling series of attempts made at buying his conscience to stop criticizing the government, said that in one of such instances, James Agalga made a phone call to him asking him to make himself available to chair the council, as he was assured of the ministrys support. But a statement released today [Monday] and signed by the Minister of Interior, Prosper Bani, said such cannot be the case because Mr. Agalga does not have such power. Prosper Bani in the statement said according to section 4 (2) and (3) of the National Peace Council Act, 2011, Act 818 the position of the Chairperson of the Peace Council is elective, that is, only members of the Board can elect one of their members as the Chairperson. Hon. James Agalga could not have lobbied Rev. Prof. Martey to take up the position of Chairman of the Peace Council in view of the fact that he not clothed with such power in view of the law, the Minister added. The statement was however silent on whether or not Mr. Agalga placed a phone call to Rev. Martey, as the clergyman has claimed. The Minister also said Rev. Martey was nominated by the Christian Council of Ghana as a member of the Board in April 2016. Later, the Ministry was informed by a letter from the Christian Council about the decision to withdraw the nomination of Rev. Prof. Martey and the subsequent replacement by Rev. Dr. Adu Gyamf. Prof Martey while addressing a conference held at the Ramseyer Training Center at Abetifi, said the deputy Minister had promised to lobby members of the council to throw their weight behind him. Below is what Rev. Martey said: I dont want any political appointment that is the reason why I rejected the Peace Council appointment. I heard some people also saying that sack him from the Peace Council. Ive never been a member and I will never ever be a memberChristian Council nominated me to be on that council, I know if I go there something will happen but that thing I dont know. So I told God about it. I dont do anything without first consulting my friend the Holy Spirit. Few days to the inauguration of the Peace Council, I had a missed call; I didnt know the person so I didnt call back. So the person sent a text message, it was the Deputy Minister of Interior, [James] Agalga. So immediately something said call so I called back. He was then at the house so he came out. First I said, yes this is the Rev. Prof. Martey, moderator of the Presbyterian church of Ghana, but you know something, the Holy Spirit blinded his mind so he didnt even hear that it was the Presby moderator who was talking to him. The Holy Spirit wanted him to tell me what he has for me, to help me decide whether or not to be a member of the Peace Council. He said he had a meeting with the Minister of Interior and they both agreed that I become the chairman of the Peace Council. Before the inauguration of the thing itself, before members will meet for the first time, he said if you know some people give us their names so we talk to them on your behalf. Below is the full statement from the Ministry: REV. PROF. EMMANUEL MARTEY DECEIVES THE PUBLIC ON OFFER TO CHAIR NATIONAL PEACE COUNCIL The Ministry of the Interior has been following, with keen interest, wild allegations by Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Martey on various media platforms that the Deputy Minister of the Interior, Hon. James Agalga, in consultation with the Minister of the Interior, offered him the position as Chairman of the National Peace Council. According to Section 4 (2) and (3) of the National Peace Council Act, 2011, Act 818 the position of the Chairperson of the Peace Council is elective, that is, only members of the Board can elect one of their members as the Chairperson. Hon. James Agalga could not have lobbied Rev. Prof. Martey to take up the position of Chairman of the Peace Council in view of the fact that he not clothed with such power in view of the law. As provided by the National Peace Council Act 2011, Act 818, members of the Board of the National Peace Council are nominated by (a) various religious bodies (b) two persons nominated by the President (c) two other persons nominated by identifiable groups (d) one representative of the National House of Chiefs. Rev. Prof. Martey was nominated by the Christian Council of Ghana as a member of the Board in April 2016. Later, the Ministry was informed by a letter from the Christian Council about the decision to withdraw the nomination of Rev. Prof. Martey and the subsequent replacement by Rev. Dr. Adu Gyamfi. The Ministry wishes to assure the general public that the National Peace Council is a credible institution constituting highly respected eminent persons duly nominated and elected by following the due processes provided by the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana. Source: citifmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video James Kwabena Bomfeh has called on Ghanaians to vote for the Convention People's Party (CPP) flagbearer Ivor Kobina Greenstreet for an effective administration of the nation. Speaking on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo', James Kwabena Bomfeh also called Kabila noted that the CPP Flagbearer has got the potentials to ensure an enhanced economic growth. He told host Kwami Sefa Kayi that one of the CPP's top priorities, when the party comes into power, is the education sector. He said the CPP will transform the education system of the country and further empower the youth to secure the right futures. Kabila further compared Ivor Greenstreet to the likes of the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt; stressing that he (Ivor Greenstreet) will lead the nation to become a formidable force in Africa. He added that Ghanaians should not downplay Mr. Greenstreet, saying "he's angry about our status quo; angry enough. Ghana is at the war front. When the Americans went to war in 1933, they elected someone who was in a wheel chair; Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He led them till all Allied Forces succeeded against HitlerGhana can make it again. Weve been a country of first. Lets become the first again in West Africa. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi /Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video President John Mahama has promised to complete all the 200 Community Day Senior High Schools he promised, if Ghanaians give him four more years in the December polls. The President in the run up to the 2012 elections as a key campaign pledge, promised to build 200 new community Day senior High schools in his first term as President. Speaking at the inauguration of the new Abodoman Community Day Senior High School at Agona Abodom in the Central Region, President Mahama said the full complement of the 200 schools will be delivered if he is given a second term. In my next term of office, by the grace of God, we will complete all the 200 new senior high schools that I promised. As I said, currently, 123 are under construction, and that means that the Central Region will receive additional secondary schools among the remaining over seventy schools that we shall build, he added. President Mahama further directed the Ghana Education Service to start enrolling students in the community day senior High schools that have been completed and not to wait for commissioning before taking such step. With the inauguration of this community day senior high school in Agona Abodom, I am instructing the GES to open all the other completed ones so that children will start learning. Dont wait for me to come and commission the schools before you start populating them with children. Go ahead and populate the school with children and at the appropriate time when the opportunity presents itself, we will come with the chiefs and we will commission the schools but dont wait for us to come and commission the schools before you enroll the children, you have my permission to start enrolling the children today, Mahama added. First 50 schools In March 2014, President Mahama cut the sod for the construction of the first 50 schools, as part of a total of 200 new Community Day Senior High Schools to be built across the country. The new schools were to be built as part of governments commitment to improving access to secondary education and to help implement governments progressive free senior high school policy. Currently, 123 are at various stages of completion. 123 SHSs will be completed before Nov President Mahama in March 2016, assured that majority of the 200 schools will be completed before November. There are ten ready, the Ministry of Education has to set the date [for the inauguration]. We are building 123 as at now at various stages of completion. Some of them the sites have been handed over, theyve started the profiling, but the early ones that we started, many of them are in advanced stages of completion. So although we promised 200, we have 123 on-going, many of them will be ready before elections. We are not waiting to finish all before we populate the schools and so as we are finishing the schools and we are handing over to the Ministry of Education, we are putting the children to school, he added. Source: citifmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Obuasi West Parliamentary Candidate of the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP), Ms. Afua Ansaa-Aseidu, has rallied voters to give the party the mandate to build a nation that worked for everybody. She said Ghana under their watch was going to be a better place for all but not only a privilege few. There would be real economic growth, wealth and jobs to bring marked improvement to the quality of life of the population. Ms. Ansaa-Asiedu was speaking during a health walk and free medical screening she organized in Obuasi. The residents were examined by health professionals for hepatitis B and other diseases. She said a government of the PPP led by Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom would do everything to lift people out of poverty - overcome the widespread economic hardship. She said it was time Ghanaians looked beyond the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the largest opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), which had dominated the countrys politics since the start of the fourth republic for their failed economic policies, resulting in mass unemployment and suffering. The PPP, she indicated, was their best bet, saying, the track record of its standard-bearer, Dr. Nduom, should convince voters that this is the party to trust, to make things happen. Ms. Ansaa-Asiedu pledged to build more markets, particularly in the rural communities, to boost the local economy and transform the living conditions of the people. She invited her colleague politicians to engage in decent election campaign to keep the nation united and peaceful before, during and after the December polls. Mr. Charles Appiah, the Constituency Chairman, said he was confident that the PPP would cause a major political upset, come the general election. The party, he said, had been growing in strength and its appeal to voters by the day and should not be underestimated. "We are doing door-to-door campaign and our polling station agents are also busy working hard to mobilize more support." Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video If you were keeping an eye on the news today, you might have seen the big story on international politics: Barack Obama cancelled a scheduled meeting with Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte in Laos after Duterte called him a son of a whore. The hothead Duterte was rebuking Obama after the U.S. President raised the prospect of criticising the enormous drug crackdown in the Philippines which has left over 2,400 people dead since August, with violence showing no sign of slowing down. The illegal drug trade in the Philippines has been a national concern for some time. Methamphetamine hydrochloride (known locally as shabu) and marijuana are widely trafficked and used, with 2.1% of Filipino citizens believed to be shabu users. A 2009 Human Rights Watch report suggests that the country has the highest methamphetamine prevalence in the world. But Dutertes brutal methods and open encouragement of vigilante action have copped criticism both domestically and from human rights groups abroad. Lets break down whats going on. Who is Rodrigo Duterte? Duterte has been the President of the Philippines since June 30, 2016. Prior to that, he was Mayor of Davao City for 22 years between 1989 and 2016. Hes often called the Philippines answer to Donald Trump, but thats pretty reductive, honestly. Hes a populist politician, but his campaign is not in the name of traditional conservatism, nationalism and opposition to immigration in fact, he has been fiercely supportive of the Muslim minority in the country, and has stated his support for same-sex marriage in what is still a traditionalist Catholic country. But Duterte is absolutely an authoritarian, and his pet issue is law and order. As mayor of Davao City, he was vocally supportive of extrajudicial killings for drug dealers and users in his city. Though its worth remembering that politicians in the Philippines tend to be a little more theatrical in their pronouncements, his intent was pretty clear, like in this infamous statement in 2009: If you are doing an illegal activity in my city, if you are a criminal or part of a syndicate that preys on the innocent people of the city, for as long as I am the mayor, you are a legitimate target of assassination. Fairly heavy. Or maybe this comment, made after the release of an accused drug lord in Manila: Here in Davao, you cant go out alive. You can go out, but inside a coffin. Is that what you call extra-judicial killing? Then I will just bring a drug lord to a judge and kill him there, that will no longer be extra-judicial. The Davao Death Squads are a group which were accused of causing the deaths or disappearances of between 1,020 and 1,040 people between 1998 and 2008. The New York Times accused Dutertes administration of either aiding or merely allowing the death squads to do their thing. As you might expect, though it is claimed that the victims were drug dealers, petty criminals and sex offenders, its highly likely that many werent. Did all of this make Davao City safer? I mean, its debatable. Theres no question that Duterte presided over a sharp decline in the crime rate, but whether or not the city is safer is a big question, given that Human Rights Watch alleges that the vigilante groups operating in the city sure kill a lot of people who arent actually criminals. The Philippine National Police say that Davao still has the 4th highest murder rate and 2nd highest rate of sexual assault in the entire country. So hes doing this in the rest of the country now? Basically, yep. In July, just after his election, he urged police and citizens to kill drug users. These sons of whores are destroying our children. I warn you, dont go into that, even if youre a policeman, because I will really kill you, he told an audience at a rally. If you know of any addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful. Hes been very open and to the point on this. Heres a video from August of him reading out the names of allegedly corrupt politicians and cops, demanding that they turn themselves in within 24 hours or the army will be turned on them. Its pretty wild! Its estimated that around 37 people have been killed per day since his election as part of an extrajudicial drug war. As many as 2,400 are already dead, with 1,000 confirmed as being perpetrated by the police, and a further 1,400 under investigation (read: probably not that strongly under investigation). Duterte has support from quite a wide section of society, with 9 out of 10 citizens saying they trust him. The Communist Party of the Philippines, who have a militia named the New Peoples Army, are openly supportive of Dutertes war on drugs, and have committed to disarming and killing drug lords. Why are people so keen on this? You can understand why the countrys population are demanding action the Philippines struggles with corruption, and to the average citizen it might look like the apparatus of government isnt doing shit to address it. Step in a straight-talker like Duterte, who looks like he gets shit done, and the enthusiasm is unsurprising. The country has seen a tumultuous relationship with power over the past few centuries, having been colonised by the Spanish and the United States and then suffering under the corrupt, brutal dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. Its easy to claim that as functioning liberal democracy is quite young in the Philippines, theyre comforted by another strongman in command, but there really are legitimate grievances here. As Fatima Measham says in Eureka Street, Filipinos look to places like Singapore and see very functional, prosperous societies under authoritarian rule so why cant they have that at home? Those kind of conditions give rise to leaders like Duterte. That said, it is somewhat ironic that the very same open disregard for the law by corrupt politicians in the Philippines that Duterte apparently despises is exactly what lets him openly flout the judicial process. Oh well! How is the world responding to this? Theyre not especially keen. Claims to fight illicit drug trade do not absolve the Government from its international legal obligations and do not shield State actors or others from responsibility for illegal killings, said UN Special Rapporteur on summary executions Agnes Callamard in an Aug. 18 statement. The UN generally is extremely leery of Dutertes strategy, as you might imagine, with human rights experts at the organisation pleading with Duterte to put an end to it, claiming that drug trafficing offences should be judged in a court of law, not by gunmen on the streets. Which strikes me as a fairly reasonable point. Dutertes response is that hed rather nope the fuck outta the UN than listen to them. So there we have it. Pretty dark stuff going on in the Phillipines and no sign of an end. Well keep you posted. Photo: Getty Images. Filming has begun on the seventh season of Game of Thrones, and like school returning after summer, the cast are slowly trickling back to fake Westeros (Ireland). According to reports, another familiar face will soon be joining them: Angela Lansbury. The 90-year-old, multi-award-winning actress (whos best known for playing Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote, but is lesser known for being related to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull) is reported to guest star in two episodes of the new season. The news was reported by German news site Bild, so obviously the whole thing was translated for us by trusty ol Google. Bearing that in mind, have a gander at this translation: Make murder fun again! Oscar-winner Jim Broadbent has already been cast as a mystery major character in the new season, with fans speculating that hell play Maester Marwyn and advise Daenerys Targaryen on dragons and whatnot. Theres no emerging consensus on who Lansbury will likely play yet, but nor is there official confirmation from HBO either. Speculation at the ready, folks. Source: Bild. Photo: Getty / Kevin Winter. Royer's Royer's Flowers & Gifts has opened a store in Franklin County. (DAN GLEITER, THE PATRIOT-NEWS, 2012.) Royer's Flowers will now deliver flowers in a second state. That's because the fourth generation florist based in Lebanon County has expanded to a new area. Royer's Flowers & Gifts has built a new store in Franklin County. Royer's opened the new store on Tuesday in Chambersburg at 7 St. Paul Drive. With the new store in Franklin County, the company plans to extend its deliveries into Maryland in the Hagerstown area. The 4,000-square-foot store sits on a half-acre and the store expects to have a staff of 15 people. Store manager Gregory Royer represents the fourth generation of Royer family involvement with the company. The store will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday - Friday; 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday; and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. With the new store in the Chambersburg area, Royer's now operates 16 stores in Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon and York counties. Its sister company, Stephenson's Flowers & Gifts has one store in Dauphin County. Royer's was founded by Hannah Royer in 1937. Royer's closed its Palmyra store at 901 E. Main St. on July 30. Negotiations for a new lease at the Palmyra Shopping Center were unsuccessful, Royer's said in a press release in July. Royer's announced at the time that the store's staff and phone line would shift to Royer's Hershey area location in Derry Twp. at 304 W. Chocolate Ave. and that store would continue to provide twice daily delivery to Palmyra. Royer's will be celebrating the opening of its newest store with a ribbon-cutting at 9 a.m. Wednesday in conjunction with the Greater Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce. And the ribbon will be comprised of what else? You guessed it. Flowers. Gretchen Carlson and Roger Ailes.jpg 21st Century Fox on Tuesday settled a sexual harassment lawsuit that former Fox News Channel anchor Gretchen Carlson filed against former network chief executive Roger Ailes. (AP photos) 21st Century Fox has settled the sexual harassment lawsuit that former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson filed against former network CEO Roger Ailes. Vanity Fair reports the settlement amounts to $20 million. The company settled on Ailes' behalf, even though it was not listed as a defendant in the lawsuit. Carlson's lawsuit outlined numerous instances of sexual harassment and claimed that addressing the issue with Ailes only led to further problems. Her contract was not renewed at the end of June, which she claimed was the result of her speaking out about the harassment. Ailes stepped down as CEO after the allegations. In addition to the monetary settlement, the media company issued an apology in its public statement: "21st Century Fox is pleased to announce that it has settled Gretchen Carlson's lawsuit. During her tenure at Fox News, Gretchen exhibited the highest standards of journalism and professionalism. She developed a loyal audience and was a daily source of information for many Americans. We are proud that she was part of the Fox News team. We sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect and dignity that she and all of our colleagues deserve." Carlson thanked "all the brave women" in her statement about the settlement: "I am gratified that 21st Century Fox took decisive action after I filed my Complaint. I'm ready to move on to the next chapter of my life in which I will redouble my efforts to empower women in the workplace. I want to thank all the brave women who came forward to tell their own stories and the many people across the country who embraced and supported me in their #StandWithGretchen. All women deserve a dignified and respectful workplace." -82040d44365fa2ce (1).JPG Debby Borza, whose daughter Deora Bodley was on Flight 93, in the new visitor's center at the Flight 93 National Memorial, near Somerset, Pa., in 2015. (Mark Pynes | mpynes@pennlive.com) Thirty Pennsylvanians were among the nearly 3,000 men, women and children that were killed during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Their lives and memories are being remembers fifteen years after the deadliest terrorist attacks on American soil. The Pennsylvanians killed include a co-pilot on one of the doomed flights, a U.S. Navy lieutenant serving his country, a police officer and a legal secretary. Pennsylvanians died while working in the World Trade Center and at the Pentagon and on flights that were hijacked by terrorists. PennLive reporter Nick Malawskey developed the interactive graphic below to give people the opportunity to learn more about the 30 Pennsylvanians who died during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Scroll over each name on the left, and his or her hometown will be highlighted in red on the right. drunk-naked-woman-caught-having-sex-outside-PA-Wawa.jpg Customers at a Pennsylvania Wawa store got an eyeful in the parking lot as Pa. State Police say an intoxicated naked woman was caught performing a 'lewd act' with another woman inside a parked car with its windows down. (via LehighValleyLive.com) Customers at a Pennsylvania Wawa store got an eyeful in the parking lot as Pa. State Police say an intoxicated naked woman was caught performing a 'lewd act' with another woman inside a parked car with its windows down. Our sister website, LehighValleyLive.com, reports that 25-year-old Samantha Dier, of Allentown, is accused of performing a sex act with another woman in the car parked outside of a Wawa convenience store in Lehigh County. It happened around 8:45 p.m. Friday at a Wawa in Lower Macungie Township. Police say Dier was intoxicated and naked from the waist down as she was being fondled inside the open-windowed vehicle as customers walked by, the news website writes. The other woman was not identified in the report. Dier allegedly shouted profanities at the trooper who confronted her. She faces charges of indecent exposure, public intoxication and disorderly conduct. Bail was set at $5,000. MORE PA BUZZ: 2 female escorts robbed by fake cop at Pa. hotel WILLIAMSPORT - The controversial attempt by the majority of the former Northumberland County board commissioners to eliminate the weatherization department is over. It unofficially ended in January when three new county commissioners assumed office because they expressed no interest in turning over weatherization activities to the SEDA Council of Governments. But, still active was a lawsuit in U.S. Middle District Court filed by the seven unionized weatherization department employees in an effort to keep their jobs. That lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed Friday. The stipulation filed with the court stated in part "this matter is fully and finally concluded." The seven employees, led by Dwayne Scicchitano, filed suit after then Commissioners Vinny Clausi and Stephen Bridy on April 15, 2015, voted to eliminate the department effective that June 30. Four days before the elimination date, Judge Matthew W. Brann issued a preliminary injunction vacating the vote. He ordered the commissioners to apply in good faith for federal funding for the weatherization department. The judge sided with the employees in finding Clausi, then board chair, wanted to close the department to eliminate union jobs. Clausi's animus to the union is evident, Brann found. Clausi had maintained the reason for his desire to eliminate the weatherization department was to shrink the government. The employees argued closing the department would have no effect on county expenditures because the program is fully funded by other agencies. "It is unfortunate it had to happen," current board chair Richard J. Shoch said Monday about the controversy. "We're glad it is behind us and we can go forward." Insurance covered the county's cost of the litigation with the exception of the deductible, he said. The plaintiffs, besides Scicchitano, were Pamela Bollinger, Robert McAndrew, David Yakoboski, Barry Schweitzer, James Bressi and Albert Benedict. HARRISBURG--When the city budget manager resigned unexpectedly last year, Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse heard about it through his administrative assistant. Papenfuse emailed Finance Director Bruce Weber to confirm, and find out why he hadn't been notified the day it happened. "I was off for half the day and 'in shock' for the other half," Weber wrote. "It's going to be a difficult transition." Papenfuse responded: "To be as clear as possible-- if something comes up that puts you in a state of shock and is going to lead to a 'difficult 'situation' for the city-- I want to be the first to know." The email exchange was among 600 printed pages of emails from the mayor's office reviewed by PennLive after a Right-to-Know request was recently fulfilled. PennLive last year requested all of the mayor's emails from July 2015 to get an idea of an average month's work as reflected through the correspondences. The city provided this stack of printed emails in response to an RTK request. After months of delays responding to the request, the city eventually refused to release the emails until it was ordered to do so by the state's Right-to-Know office. The city charged PennLive $150 for the information. About six emails were withheld, said Neil Grover, city solicitor, because they concerned an employee's health or attorney-client privilege. The July 7, 2015 email exchange between Papenfuse and Weber was typical in many ways of the stash of emails covering 31 days: it was brief (many emails consisted of a single sentence,) and from a city employee (about 90-percent of the emails were internal.) It also revealed the mayor's hands-on leadership style, wanting to know about every vacancy and decision. Just as interesting as what's in the emails is what isn't. Despite the mayor's public battles with the city's Civil War Museum, Dauphin County Commissioners, and the regional tourism bureau, there is little discussion by city officials about those issues in the July 2015 batch of emails. The packet also shows that very few emails from the public make their way to the mayor. The mayor's email address generally isn't available to the public. Information on the city web site informs people to email his assistant, call the city complaint center or email a general city address. Instead, Papenfuse meets with his assistant each morning and she reviews inquiries from the public-- including snail mail, and requests for proclamations or speaking engagements-- and he weighs in on how they should be handled. He declined to be interviewed by PennLive for this article, but previously has acknowledged that he does not do a lot of direct response himself, instead focusing on getting the inquiry to the right department head for a response. Papenfuse did, however, personally reach out to a couple whose stolen car had accumulated 11 parking tickets after being abandoned in the city, according to the emails. "The mayor is asking that I look into this and requests that the tickets be voided," his assistant, Cathy Hall, wrote to Parking Manager Nancy Keim. Within 15 minutes, Keim wrote back: "We will withdraw the citations." One email Papenfuse sent to his spokeswoman revealed Papenfuse was notified of the indictments against former Mayor Stephen Reed in advance. Papenfuse sent a prepared statement to Joyce Davis, on July 13, 2015, the day before former Attorney General Kathleen Kane announced the charges against Reed. The subject line: "Important- to go out only after news breaks tomorrow." But no such notice was provided by the state when they sought requests for proposals to hire an attorney to pursue legal claims against professionals involved with the incinerator debacle. And the mayor shared his disappointment with the city's financial recovery coordinator, Fred Reddig. "Media inquiries came in yesterday before the heads up," Papenfuse wrote on July 21, 2015 to Reddig. "Why was that?" "Things were happening fast yesterday afternoon...I sent the below notice as soon as I could," Reddig replied. "This is another important step in the city's recovery process and hopefully precipitates affirmative action on the part of the various parties." Just like the rest of us, Papenfuse receives advertisements and marketing spam, including one from the NRA, but not that NRA-- the one with which the mayor has had several high profile feuds. No, this spam was from the National Recovery Agency on Paxton Street. "Click here for our monthly newsletter," the email read. "If you or someone you know would like to subscribe to our newsletter, please visit our website....Sincerely, NRA Group, LLC." From settling trash accounts to completing grant applications to answering reporter's questions, all of the city's department heads report directly to the mayor for approval, representing a new method of operation for the city. Papenfuse's predecessor, Linda Thompson, was mayor at a time when state receivers and an army of attorneys made decisions for the city. Before that, longtime Mayor Stephen Reed had a business administrator running day-to-day operations. But Papenfuse runs the city without the benefit of a deputy, or a chief of staff, or a business administrator-- unlike most other cities in central Pennsylvania that have at least one of those positions for day-to-day oversight. The vacancy saves money, but leaves Papenfuse to act as his own clearinghouse. Wading deeply into the weeds of the city's business is where Papenfuse seems most comfortable, as a business owner and reluctant politician. But the time required to fulfill both the city's executive and administrative roles means he isn't as free to glad hand, create alliances and focus on strengthening partnerships with outside entities and leaders. That has left him open to criticism about his visibility and relationship-building skills. Reddig addressed the mayor's dual roles in a recent update he filed with the court. "The complexity of the city's operational and financial challenges and prospective special projects warrant a dedicated full-time employee," Reddig wrote. "It would provide the mayor with a qualified experienced individual who would manage the city's daily activities thus allowing the mayor the ability to devote more time to external activities." The state feels so strongly that the city should fill the position that the state is offering a salary supplement for three years to help attract a quality candidate. The city had been unable to attract qualified candidates in recent attempts with proposed salaries of $47,000 and $60,000. City officials said the going-rate would need to be closer to $100,000, which would be $20,000 more than the mayor earns as the city's top elected official. Much of the emails from July 2015 concerned the city's financial condition, with Papenfuse strategizing over grants, negotiating to reclaim lost commercial trash accounts and asking the U.S. Housing and Urban Development department for the ability to refinance loans from failed projects. Some of the emails reflected persistent problems, such as the bottleneck in the city's overwhelmed law bureau. When Papenfuse emailed City Codes Administrator David Patton on July 24, 2015 about a stalled effort to start a registry for foreclosed properties, Patton replied that he had already sent the contract to the legal office twice that month but had yet to hear an answer. City Engineer Wayne Martin also ran into snags when trying to get contracts approved. "I cannot get legal to give me a date for when these two contracts will be executed," Martin wrote to Papenfuse July 27, 2015, listing six legal issues for which he was awaiting a response. "I have other contracts I haven't even sent them yet because they are so far behind, but this list is about to get twice as long." City Council members last month complained about the management and responsiveness of the law bureau. They are exploring hiring their own solicitor to draw up some of their requested legislation. The city's pools figured prominently in several email strings last summer, covering graffiti, requests for police presence on busy days, and a required repairs at a bathhouse. Public Works Director Aaron Johnson ponied up more than $3,000 of his own money to buy supplies to fix the bathhouse roof so the pool could open without additional delay. Johnson submitted his receipts to get reimbursed, and the city's finance director, Bruce Weber, alerted the city's financial recovery coordinator about the unusual situation. "The city has recently secured access to a credit card and is finalizing policies and procedures for its use," Weber wrote in an email that was copied to Papenfuse. Reddig thanked Weber for the heads-up. "The credit card is a good idea as an employee should not have to pay such a large amount out of pocket themselves and it will provide better internal controls," Reddig wrote. At the time PennLive requested the emails, the mayor had just kicked a fight against the National Civil War Museum into high gear by calling it a monument to corruption. Reed also had just been charged with corruption and in connection to consigning 20 firearms to a store in Gettysburg in May 2015. The developments triggered three inquiries to the mayor. One Gettysburg man wrote to say he had spotted Reed in town near antique shops frequently over the past two years and wondered if the excursions were related to the criminal allegations. "It might be that more of Harrisburg's property is spread in a variety of shops around town than anyone knows," the man wrote. "I hope you can get this tip to the right people to investigate this further." George E. Pickett V, a descendent of Civil War Hero George Pickett, also reached out to the mayor. Pickett was swindled out of family artifacts more than 20 years ago by former antiques dealer Russ Pritchard, who was criminally charged. Reed had sent Pickett a letter before the deal saying Pritchard was "the official representative of the city." "I find it astounding that a museum that purports itself to be on the highest level of integrity would act in such a manner, displaying my stolen property with full knowledge of the theft," Pickett wrote. "This is an opportunity for you to do the right and honorable thing and return my stolen property to me." Pickett is still trying to collect a judgment against Pritchard. Meanwhile, the situation illustrates one of the mayor's complaints against the museum. Papenfuse has railed against the fact that the city owns millions of dollars in artifacts at the museum yet the city has no control over them because of contracts set up by Reed before Reed left office. Editor's Note: This article was updated to clarify that the NRA marketing email was from the National Recovery Agency. . The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 showed the flaws in the United States' national security - a lesson learned with the blood of nearly 3,000 men, women and children. But, after 15 years of counterterrorism and surveillance initiatives, are we any safer? It's a question that has become increasingly difficult for national security and academics to answer. Those who believe the country has been made safer point to the fact that there hasn't been another 9/11-size attack in the United States since 2001. Others focus on the fact that terrorist attacks have occurred in places like Boston, Orlando and Fort Hood over the past couple years. A selection of national security experts and academics spoke over the past couple weeks to PennLive about the security of the United States since 2001. The information dilemma Experts who study terrorism and national security say that it's impossible to truly determine whether or not the country is safer now than it was 15 years ago. The reason: a lack of information about thwarted terrorist attacks. "We don't know what victories we've had or not," said Richard Immerman, director of Temple University's Center for the Study of Force and Diplomacy. "Most of us have no idea what threats have been foiled, what has been intercepted. That's all not public information." Without that sort of information, experts cannot definitively say how many attacks have been prevented by the government thanks to the new measure put in place since 2001. However, experts are willing to identify what steps have been taken over the past 15 years to secure the homeland. Corp. Litho Ware talks with Harrisburg City cop, Robert Hartley, as they secure the Federal building after it was evacuated due to Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Safety through security While we don't know which attacks have been prevented, we do know about the national security measures that have been put in place since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. There have been many. It includes the fighting terrorism in both Afghanistan and Iraq, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the passage of the PATRIOT Act, increased surveillance in and outside of the United States, additional safety measures for airports and public buildings and structural changes to the military and intelligence communities. If you measure safety by how many security initiatives have been put in place, Immerman said, that the United States is much safer now than it was in 2001. "I think we've learned a lot of lessons," said Immerman, who served as the assistant deputy director of national intelligence at the U.S. State Department. "We've learned that we do have to adapt." Georgetown University professor R. Nicholas Palarino said the United States is safer since the terrorist attacks because of the security measures the government has put in place. "I can guarantee you that the entities within the United States government that focus on the terrorist threat are doing all they can to prevent another attack, especially a major-type event," said Palarino, a former deputy staff director for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security. Penn State Hershey Medical Center Department of Emergency Medicine held a simulated bombing to help teach their emergency department resident doctors how to respond to a marathon bombing on Wednesday, April 30, 2014. Preparing for and handling emergencies One of the biggest lessons learned from 9/11 was the importance of being prepared for emergencies, said Alexander Siedschlag, professor of homeland security at Penn State Harrisburg. Since the terrorist attacks in 2001, Siedschlag said the United States has become much better at preparing for all emergencies, including natural disasters, terrorist attacks, active shooters and more. "We consider all hazards," Siedschlag said. "We've made society a part of the response." State and local governments now have a larger role in emergency preparedness, Siedschlag said. Law enforcement and emergency responders now have plans in places to respond to a number of threats. Do we feel safer? The question of whether or not the United States is safer now than in 2001 can be answered using statistics, facts and information. But the question of whether or not we feel safer is something else entirely. "Feeling safer" is an emotional idea that doesn't always take facts into account. A person's view of the world or view of the government, Immerman said, can prevent them from ever feeling safe. "If you ask most Americans, they'll probably say they feel less secure now than the immediate aftermath of 2001," Immerman said. "But that's based on all sorts of different variables. And, frankly, most Americans are quite oblivious to what the real threats are." A March 2016 Gallup poll found that 48 percent of respondents were worried a "great deal" about the possibility of future terrorist attacks in the United States. Another 23 percent were worried a "fair amount." Orange County Sheriff's Department SWAT members arrive to a fatal shooting at Pulse Orlando nightclub in Orlando, Fla., Sunday, June 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack) 'A permanent condition' Gov. Tom Ridge served as Pennsylvania's governor when Flight 93 crashed in a field in Shanksville on Sept. 11. President George Bush tapped Ridge to serve as the first Homeland Security Secretary. Ridge said last week in a conference call that while he believes the United States is safer now than it was in 2001, citizens must understand that terrorists and terrorist attacks are not going away. It is a problem the United States will have to face forever. "I don't know if we quite understand yet as a country that the scourge of terrorism - which at the time seemed to be confined to a particular profile, a particular terrorist group and a particular region - is now a permanent condition, and it's global," Ridge said. "I think we've demonstrated to the world that we're tough, we're smart, we're resilient and we'll do everything we can to defeat it." National security in the future Immerman said the United States' military and intelligence communities have become better at adapting to different threats. Those skills, developed during the years after 9/11, will serve the country well as terrorism evolves. Diplomacy, implemented on the local level, will play a big part in smoldering the flames of extremists around the world. "I think we will be focusing more on developing new strategies that are increasingly effective in combatting this type of enemy," Immerman said. "The effort will be to dry up the reservoir and stem the tide of recruitment." Family members of Pvt. 1st Class Kham Xiong, who died in the Fort Hood shootings, grieve by a photo of him, at a memorial service at Fort Hood, Texas, for the victims of the Fort Hood shootings on Tuesday Nov. 10, 2009. (AP Photo/Jay Janner, POOL) Siedschlag said the United States will need to continue to focus on identifying radicalized terror cells and preventing lone wolf attacks. Terrorists have killed dozens of Americans with shootings or bombings in Boston, Orlando, San Bernardino, Fort Hood and Chattanooga. Other terrorist attacks throughout Europe and the Middle East have left thousands dead or injured. Many have been small operations carried out by radicalized cells. These are the threats, Siedschlag said, that will "keep us awake at night." Palarino said the United States will need to continue focusing on cyber security. Rogue states - such as North Korea, Russia, Iran and China - are using cyberattacks to infiltrate our computer systems. Cyber attackers damage everything from our transportation infrastructure to our national defense. "We not only have to defend against it, we need to be on the offense," Palarino said. "As soon as we see [a cyberattack] happen, we have to retaliate against wherever that came from." Ridge said the threats that concern him the most include the detonation of a dirty bomb, which is a nuclear weapon improvised from radioactive nuclear waste material and conventional explosives. Over the next 15 years, Ridge said the United States needs to be concerned about proliferation of nuclear materials as well as protecting its own nuclear weapons. "Frankly, I'm not sure it's all safeguarded as well as it should be in the United States," Ridge said. Christina Regusters.png Christina Regusters is serving a 40-year to life prison term for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a kindergartener. A kindergarten teacher who allowed a 5-year-old student to leave school with a stranger who then sexually molested the child isn't entitled to legal immunity from a lawsuit the victim's mother filed, a federal appeals court panel ruled Tuesday. The actions of substitute teacher Reginald Littlejohn are simply too dire for an immunity shield to be extended to him or the School District of Philadelphia, Senior Judge Julio M. Fuentes concluded in the opinion by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Police said Littlejohn let a woman who claimed to be the girl's mother take her out of school even though the woman couldn't produce identification. "We conclude that it is shocking to the conscience that a kindergarten teacher would allow a child in his care to leave his classroom with a complete stranger," Fuentes wrote. The appeals court ruling shoots down a second attempt by the school district to secure dismissal of the suit the kidnapped child's mom lodged in 2014 against it and Littlejohn, who has since died. The mother claims district officials breached her child's rights by not taking adequate steps to protect girl. Investigators said Littlejohn allowed Christina Regusters to take the girl from the W.C. Bryant Elementary School in January 2013 when she showed up in Muslim garb and posed as the girl's mother. "Littlejohn asked Regusters to produce identification and verification that (the girl) had permission to leave school. Regusters failed to do so," Fuentes wrote."Despite this failure, Littlejohn allowed (the girl) to leave his classroom with Regusters. Later that day, Regusters sexually assaulted Jane off school property, causing her significant physical and emotional injuries." That is an understatement. According to reports of the crime, Regusters, a former worker at a day care center her victim attended, spent 19 hours molesting the kindergartener. Police said Regusters blindfolded the child, stuffed her in a laundry bag and sexually abused her with a sharp object. The girl's abduction prompted a city-wide search. Regusters dropped the girl off at a playground in Upper Darby where she was found, clad only in a T-shirt, by a sanitation worker who was alerted by her cries. Regusters, now 23, is serving a 40-year to life prison term after being convicted of charges including kidnapping and sexual assault of a child. The victim testified during her trial. The federal appeals court ruling backs an earlier decision by U.S. Eastern District Judge Jan E. DuBois, who rejected the school district's first request to dismiss the mother's suit on immunity grounds. "Recognizing the threat of civil liability might discourage teachers and other public servants from taking on significant roles, courts have developed a doctrine of qualified immunity that, in many instances, shields them from civil lawsuits," Fuentes wrote. "But there are exceptions and this is one of those cases." Update: Dauphin County train collision claims life of new mom. Pennsylvania State Police Monday night identified a woman killed when a train struck her car as Trisha Lyn Hoffman, 29, of Halifax. Hoffman was driving her Hyundai Santa Fe eastbound on Susquehanna Trail Road in Halifax when she pulled out directly into the path of the train, "for unknown reasons," according to the police report. The collision at 2:37 p.m. at Route 147 immediately killed Hoffman, the report said. Susquehanna Trail Road leads to a boat ramp and access into the river. Hoffman was leaving the ramp when she was killed. Motorists who leave the ramp emerge from a wooded area before encountering the railroad tracks, which are marked with signs but not crossing arms. Police shut down Route 147 for three hours while they investigated the wreck. The train had been hauling dried lumber. The engineer of the Norfolk Southern locomotive was a 42-year-old man, according to the police report. The investigation is ongoing, police said. UPDATE: Police release name of woman killed in collision with train. A woman in her 20s or 30s died Monday afternoon after a vehicle and train collided at a marked railroad crossing in Halifax. The woman was in a vehicle that was traveling up from a boat ramp on Susquehanna Trail Drive toward North River Road about 2:30 p.m. when the collision occurred. Emergency workers arrived to find the wrecked car on its roof. Motorists who use the boat ramp must cross railroad tracks that are marked with signs. But the crossings don't have crossing arms to block vehicles. Motorists coming from the boat ramp emerge from a wooded area before encountering the tracks, which can limit visibility, according to neighbors. There is also a stop sign at the intersection, but it is located after the railroad tracks. Police shut down North River Road, which is also known as Route 147, to investigate the fatality wreck. Meanwhile, the train carrying dried lumber remained stopped at the scene. Neighbors said the coroner's vehicle and multiple police vehicles have clogged the road since the wreck. Police reopened Route 147 about 5:35 p.m. No further details were available from Pennsylvania State Police, including the victim's name or whether there were other occupants of the vehicle. A spokesman from Norfolk Southern could not be reached. Kevin Klinger, who lives across Route 147 from the railroad tracks, said he was using the computer inside his home when he heard the whistle sound from the train. "That horn didn't stop, and then ba-boom," he said. "I just turned my head and looked out the window, and by that time, I realized the train was slowing down. I jumped on the phone and called 911." He and his mother Michelle Klinger said it's standard procedure for trains passing the crossing to blow their whistles at all hours. "That train never fails to have his whistle going. It's mandatory for him to do so," Michelle Klinger said. The Klingers said they walked down to the accident scene, and saw CPR was being administered on the victim who was a female. Neighbors said the area near Susquehanna Trail Drive is prone to accidents as motorists stop to turn from the highway across a solid yellow line without the benefit of a turn lane. The railroad crossing is also situated close to the highway, leaving little room for vehicles coming off the highway when trains are using the tracks. Staff Writer Sue Gleiter contributed to this article. Donald Trump Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum, in Denver, Friday, July 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File) By Cynthia Tucker On Aug. 31, Donald Trump delivered a mind-boggling speech on immigration, striking for its anger, its mendacity, its hostility, its cruelty and its frank bigotry. Cynthia Tucker (PennLive file photo) Trump has once again defied the expectations of longtime political observers with behavior that sets the bar for presidential candidates ever lower, that veers wildly outside the mainstream, that competes with history's most dangerous dictators in its audaciousness. Even as Republican strategists have advised a more welcoming attitude toward voters of color, Trump has cemented his party's reputation as the home of racially resentful white people. He has virtually guaranteed that the Republican Party will struggle to attract Latino voters for the next generation. So the matter of whether the GOP nominee can "pivot" to a style of campaigning that more closely resembles the conventional -- and that doesn't scare the socks off most reasonable voters -- ought to now be settled: No, he cannot. This is, in the language of his Twitter handle, the real Donald Trump. He is hateful, bullying and vile. Period. Moreover, Trump's noxious views will likely set back the cause of comprehensive immigration reform even further. Since President George W. Bush tried to push forward a reasonable solution to the plight of 11 million or so undocumented immigrants living in the shadows, congressional Republicans have balked, afraid of a backlash from the far-right precincts that can determine GOP primary elections. Given the way that Trump's bashing of Mexicans and Muslims has resonated with the ultra-right, mainstream Republicans are unlikely to sanction even a mention of immigration reform. That's despite the fact that most Americans disagree with Trump's proposals. According to a July CBS/New York Times poll, 61 percent of Americans believe illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay and apply for citizenship. Fifty-seven percent oppose Trump's "beautiful" wall. But there is a deep partisan cleavage here. While 83 percent of Democrats oppose Trump's wall, as well as 56 percent of independents, only 27 percent of Republicans do. According to a Bloomberg poll, 73 percent of Democrats oppose Trump's plan for blanket deportations, but only 54 percent of Republicans do. It's no wonder, then, that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., faced with opposition from the right-wing fringe, fled from his previous support for sensible policies to legalize the illegal immigrants already here. That cowardice hurts not only the Republican Party, but also the country. Our refusal to pass comprehensive immigration reform has cut off opportunities for countless bright, hard-working young immigrants who'd like to go to college but can't afford it because they don't have the papers that would allow them to get scholarships and reduced tuition. Our failure to act has stifled countless illegal workers who would like to own homes and start businesses. They are Americans in virtually every way. It makes no sense to leave them in limbo. But Trump has managed to persuade many working-class whites that illegal immigrants destroy neighborhoods, peddle drugs, murder innocents and drive down wages. They take well-paying jobs, he says, from citizens who deserve them. (To be fair, most of those claims aren't original to Trump. They've been bandied about on the right for decades now.) Much of that is simply not true. The population of criminals among illegal immigrants is lower than the percentage among native-born Americans, according to criminologists. As for the economic competition, there is no doubt that low-wage workers can be hurt by an influx of undocumented workers. The biggest burden falls on those without high school diplomas, who may see their wages fall by anywhere from 0.4 percent to 7 percent, research shows. That is certainly cause for worry. But the answer to that is to make those undocumented workers legal, which would force their employers to pay them a higher wage. Too many employers get away with paying illegal workers less money and placing them in dangerous conditions. If the solutions are all too obvious to most Americans, they represent a bridge to a treacherous new world order to many Trump supporters. And, for now, we are all held hostage to their prejudices and fears. Cynthia Tucker is a syndicated columnist. Her work appears on Tuesdays on PennLive. Readers may email her at cynthia@cynthiatucker.com. Taxes (Shutterstock) Now that Pennsylvania has wiped out its corporate net income tax, who's paying higher taxes now to compensate for the loss of that corporate tax revenue? Residents, including retirees, who pay public school taxes, especially those who live in smaller, rural districts, are paying higher taxes. In addition, drinkers, gamblers and smokers are also paying more in state taxation. Corporate profits aren't taxed to help pay for the construction and maintenance of the state highways so vehicle owners and drivers are paying higher fees for registration and licensing, in addition to a higher gas tax to help pay for the state police. Employees of public schools, state-owned colleges and universities and state-related universities, as well as their students, are also affected. So who is paying for those 2011 corporate tax cuts? In short, we all are. DAVID L. FAUST, Selinsgrove Col. Shane Brennan talks to media to Kandahar City, Afghanistan, Sunday, Feb.14, 2010. Despite the withdrawal of Canadian fighter jets from Iraq and Syria last spring, a senior officer says Canadian military aircraft are playing a "critical" role in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant by helping allies conduct their own air strikes against the militants, among other things. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Steve Rennie An American flag flies over Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, as lawmakers return from a 7-week break. Election-year politics will rule the congressional calendar when lawmakers return from a seven-week recess. Congress will have a little more than four weeks in session beginning Tuesday before the November election, or around 20 days. Lawmakers are scheduled to leave town again in early October to return home and campaign. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) applaud after posing for a group photo at National Convention Center in Vientiane, Laos, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. Leaders from left, Myanmar's State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, Vietnam's President Tran Dai Quang, Laos Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith, Philippine's President Rodrigo Duterte, Brunei Foreign Minister and Prime Minister Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Indonesia's President Joko Widodo and Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe) Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston have broken up after three months together, PEOPLE confirms. It was an amicable split, a source tells PEOPLE. The breakup comes after Swift and Hiddleston havent been photographed together in over a month. On July 27, the couple hit up the restaurant Hillstone in Santa Monica for a date night. Shortly after, the pair were separated by the Pacific Ocean for a spell while the English actor filmed the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok in Australia. Then, PEOPLE last reported on the couple reuniting in mid-August when they enjoyed a quiet weekend at her Rhode Island home. Taylor sent her plane to pick up Tom before the weekend. The relationship between the pop star, 26, and Avengers actor, 35, went public on June 15, when photos of the couple frolicking on the beach in Rhode Island hit the Internet. What followed was a whirlwind romance: Within weeks, the pair met each others parents, celebrated July 4th together at Swifts annual star-studded bash and jet set around the world, enjoying PDA-filled trips to Italy, Australia and everything in between. From the beginning, Swift and Hiddleston remained mostly mum about their budding romance but in July, The Night Manager star did address pop culture conspiracy theorists questioning the authenticity of their relationship. Look, the truth is that Taylor Swift and I are together, and were very happy, Hiddleston told The Hollywood Reporter, finally confirming their relationship. Thats the truth. Its not a publicity stunt. Swift and Hiddleston were first seen getting flirty at the Met Gala in New York in May, after an Instagram video of them dancing together to T.I.s 2004 hit Bring Em Out went viral. At the time of the Met Gala, Swift was still dating ex Calvin Harris; PEOPLE exclusively broke the news of Swift and Harris split on June 1, and multiple sources told PEOPLE there was no cheating involved. Reporting by MELODY CHIU Heather Mogg to take plea deal in murder case Heather Mogg is scheduled to make a plea deal with Emmet County prosecutors for the murder of her boyfriend, Jonathan Tippett. Mexico Energy Summit 2016:New Energy Projects: Planning, Investment and Operations The Energy and Infrastructure summit series unites public and private sector infrastructure and energy executives focused on the funding, providing in-depth overviews of a cross section of infrastructure and energy projects being developed in the region. MEXICO Petroleumworld.com 09 06 2016 The Third Annual Mexico Energy Summit 2016 is one of several high-level energy summits Markets Group hosts in Peru, Colombia, Mexico and Panama in 2016, in which Petroleumworld is a media partner to disseminate valuable content among experts and stakeholders in the sector. The 2016 Summit will take place in The Marquis Reforma Hotel in Mexico City on September 7th, and will feature New Energy Projects in Mexico: Planning, Investment and Operations. As energy demand in Mexico continues to grow, local energy authorities have rolled out significant new concessions in recent months which have attracted investor interest locally and abroad. Local and international firms are looking to better understand the opportunities available in the market and the Mexico Energy Summit will explore these opportunities over the course of one day of compelling content and networking. Uniting over 200 local and international energy companies, investors, government officials and world-class service providers, the Mexico Energy Summit will feature over 30 speakers who will present on new investment and development opportunities in Mexico. As energy demand in Mexico continues to grow, local energy authorities have rolled out a significant new concessions in recent months which have attracted investor interest locally and abroad. Local and international firms are looking to better understand the opportunities available in the market and the Mexico Energy Summit will explore these opportunities over the course of one day of compelling content and networking, organizer said. For example, Juan Pablo Newman, CFO of PEMEX, is one of the main speakers in Mexico Energy Summit. He has been awarded an MSc in Operations Research by the London School of Economics and Political Science. Key discussion topics include: Mexico's oil & gas resources Upstream, midstream and downstream new projects & investment-; Financing energy projects in Mexico; Energy risk management and navigating new legislation; Electric power: Generation, transmission and distribution; Energy & environment; Energy & mining renewables. Markets Group's success is the direct result of team's work ethic and market specialization, corporation said. It hit the road, do the legwork, and leverage our relationships to con dense what could be hundreds of hours of client travel into a one or two day forum. Since our founding in 2009, it has been working closely with clients to build a platform where the highest levels of investment leadership can engage in person. Markets Group "believe that in a world oversaturated with email and online communication, face to face meetings are more important than ever.", said Adam Raleigh, Chief Executive Officer CORPORATE OVERVIEW Markets Group is an executive forum organizer with a track record of 175+ conferences in over 20 countries. Founded in 2009 in New York, Markets Group has grown into one of the largest and most successful conference organizers in the Americas, with over 65 professionals operating out of our headquarters in Midtown Manhattan. It has successfully executed events in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Additionally, Markets Group was recently named one of America's 500 fastest-growing private companies by Inc. Magazine and distinguished it as the #1 conference organizer and #1 financial services firm based in NYC. A new study has revealed extremely high levels of E.coli resistant to essential antibiotics for treating serious human E.coli infections on British supermarket chicken and pork. The research found soaring levels of resistance in chicken meat, with 24% of samples testing positive for ESBL E.coli, a type of E.coli resistant to the critically important modern cephalosporin antibiotics. This is four times higher than was found during a similar study in 2015, in which just 6% of chicken tested positive for ESBL E.coli. Modern cephalosporins are widely used for treating life-threatening E.coli blood poisoning in humans. The study, commissioned by the Alliance to Save our Antibiotics, is the first to examine UK-origin retail meat for resistance to a wide range of important antibiotics for treating E.coli infections. A staggering 51% of the E.coli from pork and poultry samples were resistant to the antibiotic trimethoprim, which is used to treat over half of lower urinary-tract infections, said the Alliance in a report on study results, released by scientists at Cambridge University, who looked at 189 UK-origin pig and poultry meat samples from the seven largest supermarkets in the UK (ASDA, Aldi, Coop, Morrisons, Sainsburys, Tesco and Waitrose). In addition, 19% of the E.coli were resistant to gentamicin, a very important human antibiotic used to treat more serious upper urinary-tract infections. These findings show the level of antibiotic resistance on retail meat to be worse than expected, said the Alliances Emma Rose. Supermarkets must now publicly commit to polices which prohibit the routine mass-medication of groups of healthy animals, and take immediate steps to reduce farm use of the critically important drugs. Cambridge Universitys Dr Mark Holmes, who led the study, added: Im concerned that insufficient resources are being put into the surveillance of antibiotic resistance in farm animals and retail meat. We dont know if these levels are rising or falling in the absence of an effective monitoring system. These results highlight the need for improvements in antibiotic stewardship in veterinary medicine. While some progress has been made we must not be complacent as it may take many years before we see significant reductions in the numbers of antibiotic-resistant bacteria found on farms. Get Our E-Newsletter - Pig World's best stories in your in-box twice a week See e-newsletter example Will be used in accordance with our Privacy Policy Win Your Dream Hotel Stay with Wyndham Rewards! Want to win yourself a dream holiday stay to tour around South East Asia? 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Click here > bit.ly/WRewardsSEA for more information. Good luck everyone and we hope you will enjoy your stay in Wyndham Hotel Groups collection of hotels! Cheers! Wilson Ng A Father and traveler who enjoys to eat, shop, travel and taking pictures with Samsung S22 Ultra and Sony ZV-1. Im a full time blogger, youtuber and father for two. I used to travel around 17 International trips per year but now staying at home. Remember to follow us at www.instagram.com/placesandfoods and www.youtube.com/placesandfoods. For advertisements or features, contact me at [email protected] See author's posts The Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's Office in Texas destroyed more than 20,000 pieces of evidence, forcing the District Attorney's office to dismiss nearly 150 pending criminal cases and potentially endangering more than 1,000 others, District Attorney Devon Anderson said Friday. "It will make me sick if we have to dismiss a violent case because of this. It will make me ill if we have to do that," a frustrated Anderson said in a midday news conference. "That's why we are asking the prosecutors to try to resurrect these cases as best they can." The revelations brought new light to a Precinct 4 evidence room scandal which developed after deputy constables destroyed the evidence from pending cases while trying to clean out the property room, reports the Houston Chronicle. In August, the DA's office said that it had dismissed at least 90 cases related to the evidence purge and was joining defense attorneys in seeking a new trial for a defendant who had been sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty in several Precinct 4 drug cases. "This is just a critical part of law enforcement, maintaining the evidence," Anderson said, explaining that she asked Constable Mark Herman to hire an independent auditor to examine his evidence room to try to ascertain the total number of affected cases after the department kept supplying the DA's office with different lists of cases with destroyed evidence. The DA's Public Integrity Division has also been investigating the issue since February, she said, adding that criminal charges could be filed after its conclusion. Trevor Cox (Photo: York County Sheriff's Office) A teenager was charged with assaulting a police officer and aggravated criminal trespass after he allegedly broke into a Newfield, ME, home with residents inside Saturday and later punched a deputy, reports the Portland Press Herald. Trevor Cox, 19, of Lynnfield, MA, was arrested at the Newfield home about 5:30 p.m. after he forced himself inside, the York County Sheriff's Department said. Cox reportedly screamed while standing on the home's porch that he was being chased and had taken drugs. The homeowner opened the door and Cox forced himself inside and grabbed her wrist, agitating her dog, the sheriff's office said. The dog frightened Cox back outside. Cox then put his fist through a living room window, the sheriff's office said. A deputy confronted Cox, who was bleeding, and handcuffed him. Cox broke free and started punching the deputy. The deputy used a TASER on Cox several times, but Cox continued the assault, the sheriff's office said. A second deputy arrived and they restrained Cox. The deputy who was assaulted was treated at a hospital and released. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Tim Kaine and Joe Biden attended the Pittsburgh Labor Day parade in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and spoke on behalf of the American worker and the need for strong labor unions, in Tim Kaines words, for an economy thats about fairnessan economy that works for everybody, Joe Biden told the crowd flat out, in contrast to the GOPs celebration of corporations and CEOs, that Unions have built this country. Tim Kaines remarks: Labor Day is personal to me. Its personal to me. I grew up in a family where my dad ran an ironworker-organized welding shop in the stockyards of Kansas City, Missouri. My dad was the owner; he was management. He had five employees in a tough year and 12 employees in a good year, plus my two brothers and me and my mom. That was the business. My dad always taught us, as my brothers and I worked in that plant, that his business acumen would put his workers kids through school, but that it was the skill and artistry of union ironworkers that would put my brothers and me through school. It was about a partnership. It was about shared prosperity. It wasnt about a CEO disconnected from the workers. It was a CEO connected to the workers because weve got to be about shared prosperity. And we know we dont have to have a society where its union against management, where its worker against employer. Things work better when we work as a team and we work in partnership. Thats how I came up. Thats what I believe. Thats what Hillary Clinton believes. Hillary was born also to a family that had a small business a drapery manufacturing business in the suburbs of Chicago. Just like my brothers and I would go down on weekends and summers to help my dad when he had to put an order out, Hillary would go help her dad and her brothers would do it too when they had to get some drapes printed to sell to the hotels that were their customers of their small family business. In a pointed reference to Donald Trump, Kaine said, This stuff about growing an economy that works for everybody, we havent been sitting in an ivory tower looking out at the world; weve not ever been sitting in penthouses looking out at the world. Trump says American workers are overpaid. Kaine, as President Obama did in his Labor Day open letter, set him straight, telling the crowd, Weve got to have an economy thats about fairness the right to organize, the right to be paid equal pay for equal work. An increased minimum wage so that nobody who works full-time in this country is below the poverty level. Childcare tax credits so that people can do the work that they need to do without worrying about how their children will be taken care of. So basic equity investments. [] Last week a study confirmed what we knew all along, that in a nation when fewer workers are in unions, wages are lower, and when more workers are in unions, wages are higher. Thats one of the values that we celebrate in the pledges that we make on Labor Day. Joe Biden followed with a rousing endorsement of Tim Kaine, saying of the vice presidential nominee that he has more experience in every branch of government than anybody whos ever stepped into this job as vice president. So folks, let me get to it. No one has to tell Tim who built this state. And I mean this sincerely. No one has to tell Tim who built this country. No one has to educate him to why, why non-union workers have a decent wage, why non-union workers are not discriminated against, why non-union workers have safe working places. Its all because of you. Unions. Unions. And this guy understands. He knows how to pronounce the word union. Remember for a while there, we had old Democrats whod talk about organized labor. Union. Union. Union. Not a joke. Unions have built this country, Congressman. Nobody knows it better than you. They have literally, not figuratively, built this country. The sacrifices unions have made, all the dues youve paid, all the picket lines youve marched in, all of that has benefitted not only you, its benefitted every American worker. Every American worker. Youve done more for non-union labor than any other entity in the world, and thats not hyperbole. Non-union workers have all the benefits they have because you have taken risks for them. Does anybody think thered be a minimum wage without union workers? The Democratic Party stood up for the American worker today, while Donald Trump was complaining about how he might be treated by foreign leaders, about creating jobs President Obama has already created, and pretending he actually cares about anyone but his own inflated ego. These two men, our current vice president and the man we hope will follow him into that office, spoke as Americans, to their fellow Americans, not from some ivory tower, secure in their inherited wealth, but from the place where they once stood, working to get ahead, to improve themselves, working class Americans who achieved the American dream through their own efforts. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print CNNs latest poll showing Trump with a two-point national lead reinforces the meaningless nature of national polls. If one wants to understand the real state of the presidential race, look at a new roundup of all 50 state polls. The CNN/ORC poll gave the media the horserace story that the press has been building for weeks. It is no secret that the mainstream press is craving a close election. Close elections mean more viewers, which means more revenue, so after Clinton has been hammered for weeks with negative coverage, it should be a surprise to no one that the CNN poll found the election to be a statistical tie. Since US presidential elections are decided by 50 elections in the states, there are limits to what national polling can tell voters. National polling can reveal national mood, but it can also be a byproduct of press coverage. There is also the possibility that the CNN poll is an outlier. The national polling average shows Hillary Clinton maintaining a lead of 3.3 points. One CNN poll will get supporters on both sides emotional and generate a ton of headlines, but it doesnt tell voters much about where the election is going. It could be the canary in the coal mine, or it could be a bad poll. The truth wont be revealed until other independent polls are released. Because of the way US presidential elections are conducted, state polls matter more than the meaningless national popular vote. At the state level, Hillary Clinton remains firmly in control of this election. When The Washington Post compared the 50 state poll in 2016 with the 2012 election, they found that Trump is in a much worse position than Mitt Romney was four years ago. Hillary Clinton is doing better than President Obama did with Democrats in eight states. Trump is doing better than Romney did with Republicans in two states. Donald Trump is not flipping any blue states that Obama won into the Republican column, but Hillary Clinton has put several Romney red states in play for Democrats against Trump. The national polls get all the headlines, but Democrats have nothing to worry about as long as the swing state polls all continue to point towards Hillary Clinton winning in November. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Employing some truly twisted logic, Fox News Ainsley Earhardt had this to say on Fox & Friends of Hillary Clintons coughing fit yesterday while giving a Labor Day address in Cleveland, Ohio: We all have our coughing spells but it doesnt look good when you have all of these conspiracy theories about her health. Watch courtesy of Media Matters for America: AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): This is why I think [Hillary Clinton] talked [to the press onboard her plane] because when she was speaking at the podium in Ohio she had a hacking fit. She could not she coughed for two minutes. [] STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): Now people are saying, why is her, you know, throat sore, why is she hacking? I know Ed Klein whos written a couple of books about the Clintons, he has talked about how famously she fell down a couple of years ago, got the blood clot in her brain and then shes been taking medicine for that and for a thyroid condition and one of the side effects of the thyroid medicine is you do wind up with these bouts of coughing. EARHARDT: See I was thinking, so she coughed. We all have allergies, we all have our coughing spells but it doesnt look good when you have all of these conspiracy theories about her health. And Im sure when she was at the podium she was freaking out, thinking, oh my gosh, what am I going to say? She came up with that clever line, which diverted the attention. Everyone started clapping, thinking she came up with a good line. Then she goes on her plane and I think she thought, I needed to divert attention away from my hacking, from my coughing so let me speak to the press and thats why she went on the plane and was so excited. Then she started coughing on the plane. How Earhardts logic works is this: 1) Fox News cooks up conspiracy theories about Hillary Clintons health; then, 2) Hillary Clinton coughs; and, on cue, 3) Fox News points and says, it doesnt look good when you have all these conspiracy theories about her health. Fox News regularly employs truly reprehensible tactics when talking about Hillary Clinton, including the creation of mock scandals, and, of course, this conspiracy theory about her health. Never mind that this particularly conspiracy theory, like the others, has already been thoroughly debunked. No lie is ever too old to dredge up and throw around when you are Fox News and Hillary Clinton is the target. Photo: Screen capture/C-SPAN Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print *The following is an opinion column by R Muse* For the second time in as many weeks, Americans are learning that their 1st Amendment right to free expression, including freely expressing themselves by peaceably assembling to protest and petition for a redress of their grievances, is being assailed as first, unpatriotic and now, unlawful. Actually, it was North Dakotas Lt. Governor Drew Wrigley, a Republican, who labeled Native Americans, environmentalists, and private property owners protests against a Keystone-like oil pipeline unlawful and increasingly dangerous due to the number of protestors growing to as many as 4,000 people. One isnt entirely certain if the right to assemble is unlawful because there are many non-Aryan Americans involved, or because the protest is against the oil industry, but it is likely a combination of the two. Of course the protest is finally garnering some mainstream media coverage, but only because an oil company hired a private security firm to unleash attack dogs and pepper spray on Native Americans. The Native Americans, particularly with the Standing Rock tribe, are fighting to stop the construction and installation of the pipeline on their sovereign nation reservation bordering North and South Dakota. The Native Americans have taken their complaint to court and are awaiting a ruling that should be founded on the Army Corps of Engineers incorrectly applying unilateral fast track processing giving the company building the Dakota Access Pipeline, Energy Transfer, free rein to build, pollute, and desecrate sacred Native American burial sites. Over the weekend, that free rein informed Energy Transfer they could legally hire private security to turn attack dogs loose on and use pepper spray on men, women, children and horses. It is noteworthy that North Dakotas Republican lieutenant governor didnt say it was unlawful for a private security company to use attack dogs or mace on protestors because they are in the employ of the oil industry. Protestors complained that besides legitimate concerns over the environmental hazards of leak-prone pipelines traversing their water supply, construction crews have already destroyed American Indian burial and cultural sites on private land according to the Associated Press. According to the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, David Archambault: This demolition is devastating. These grounds are the resting places of our ancestors. The ancient cairns and stone prayer rings there cannot be replaced. In one day, our sacred land has been turned into hollow ground. Obviously neither the oil industry nor North Dakota Republicans care because this is America, after all, and oil industry profits supersede everything. The Native Americans have a very valid claim, exclusive of the existential threat to the tribes culture and way of life, in protesting the pipelines construction. The Army Corps of Engineers that granted a standing permit apparent to have violated several federal laws in applying a fast-track process to enrich big oil without any kind of review whatsoever or any public input as required by law. The permit conflicts with federal trust responsibilities that are guaranteed in two separate treaties between the United States government and Native Americans dating back over a century-and-a-half; the 1851 and 1868 treaties with the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota tribes. The Army Corps permits granted under its Nationwide Permit 12 allowing the oil industry to build numerous oil and gas pipelines, including on private property without any environmental review or public input process is likely why the oil company had little reservations in unleashing attack dogs and pepper spray on the protestors with veritable impunity. As the Sierra Club noted in its letter to President Obama appealing for a halt to construction, the permits also violate the Clean Water Act, the National environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. Of special note is the Army Corps unlawful permitting without review according to the Clean Water Acts general permit program that demands any projects have truly minimal environmental impact on water sources. This particular project does not meet that requirement because the pipeline will be constructed without review to convey crude oil directly under the Missouri River, a primary drinking water source for a large number of Americans in the immediate vicinity and far downstream. As noted in the Sierra Clubs letter to the President, the recent spate of pipeline spills in Californias Central Valley and Ventura, as well as 2010s still active disaster in Kalamazoo Michigan, should inform even an oil-friendly person that pipelines in and around drinking water sources, much less under a river, are catastrophes waiting to happen and a horrible idea. It is relatively certain that the Native Americans protesting yet another pipeline still remember the 2013 Tesoro Logistics pipeline rupture in North Dakota that spilled 865,000 gallons of oil even while the industry claims pipelines and the water supply are safe and to just go home, trust they are not lying or face attack dogs and mace. One understands that the oil industry is not accustomed to Americans protesting anything that may interfere with their profits, or being challenged after destroying sacred sites; they have been given free rein and special privileges for far too long. However, it is beyond reasonable that an oil company, any oil company, would hire a private security force to attack protestors exercising their 1st Amendment rights to protest; a right that is becoming more perilous every day and one Republicans appear ready to abolish given the chance Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print The Open Letter From Military Leaders, released today, was organized by Major Gen. Sidney Shachnow and Rear Admiral Charles Williams. It includes the name Lieutenant General William G. Boykin, US Army, Retired. Boykin is currently executive vice president at the Family Research Council, identified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). What is more notable than Boykins well-attested bigotry is the reprimand he earned for disclosing classified information. Trumps own rhetoric demands he hold Boykin at arms length, given his disclosure of classified information in a book published in 2008, earning the former general a reprimand. As noted by Brian Tashman at Right Wing Watch, The reprimand [PDF], released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, says that Boykin violated [the] Uniform Code of Military Justice for his wrongful disclosure of classified information and conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline in the armed forces. Trump repeatedly states that he has the best people behind him, but the best people include people like Jerry Boykin, who, like Trump himself, lets hate run away with his mouth, and who plays free and easy with classified information, something Trump is now saying is a big deal unless the person revealing classified information is one of his supporters. Trump said the endorsement is a great honor. Perhaps it is, but more surprising is a collection of former high-ranking military officers endorsing a guy who received five deferments to escape service in Vietnam. I thank each of them for their service and their confidence in me to serve as commander-in-chief. Keeping our nation safe and leading our armed forces is the most important responsibility of the presidency. Under my administration, we will end the weak foreign policy of the last eight years, rebuild our military, give our troops clear rules of engagement and take care of our veterans when they come home. We can only Make America Great Again if we ensure our military remains the finest fighting force in the world, and thats exactly what I will do as president. The letter , basically a distillation of conservative talking points, reads as follows: The 2016 election affords the American people an urgently needed opportunity to make a long-overdue course correction in our national security posture and policy. As retired senior leaders of Americas military, we believe that such a change can only be made by someone who has not been deeply involved with, and substantially responsible for, the hollowing out of our military and the burgeoning threats facing our country around the world. For this reason, we support Donald Trumps candidacy to be our next Commander-in-Chief. For the past eight years, Americas armed forces have been subjected to a series of ill-considered and debilitating budget cuts, policy choices and combat operations that have left the superb men and women in uniform less capable of performing their vital missions in the future than we require them to be. Simultaneously, enemies of this country have been emboldened, sensing weakness and irresolution in Washington and opportunities for aggression at our expense and that of other freedom-loving nations. In our professional judgment, the combined effect is potentially extremely perilous. That is especially the case if our government persists in the practices that have brought us to this present pass. For this reason, we support Donald Trump and his commitment to rebuild our military, to secure our borders, to defeat our Islamic supremacist adversaries and restore law and order domestically. We urge our fellow Americans to do the same. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Donald Trump is now claiming that because Hillary Clinton coughed, she is not healthy enough to be President Of The United States. Video of Clinton coughing due to allergies at Ohio rally yesterday: Trump responded by claiming that Clintons allergies are a major scandal: Mainstream media never covered Hillarys massive hacking or coughing attack, yet it is #1 trending. Whats up? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2016 Clintons coughing was never trending, so the media wasnt ignoring a story because there was no story. Donald Trump continues to talk about Hillary Clintons health while refusing to release the details of his own medical records. Clintons allergies are well known. Details about her allergies were included in the medical summary that she released to the public last year. Hillary Clinton held her second press conference with reporters in two days, and gave an update on the status of her allergies: Clinton says her allergies are "better" today. "I just upped my antihistamine," she told reporters just now on the plane Liz Kreutz (@ABCLiz) September 6, 2016 Donald Trumps attempt to use Clintons allergies as a disqualifier from office may have been the lamest stunt that a presidential nominee has pulled in decades. A man who refuses to release the details of his medical history to the public has no room to talk about his opponents health. Trump continues to throw out distractions on a daily basis to keep journalists and voters from asking the important questions. Every journalist in every interview should ask Trump why he hasnt released a medical history or summary. If Donald Trump wants to make health an issue, voters deserve the facts on whether or not the Republican nominee is healthy enough to be president. Portfolio English Edition's premium content is available only for subscribers Learn about the hottest news of the day, along with immediate follow-up analyses and 1000's of exclusive articles with full access to the premium content. Register and apply for a 14 days free trial period. Small businesses that can't find the right people to fill their job openings may be suffering from a Great Recession hangover. Their futile searches may partly reflect a healthier economy more people have jobs, reducing the pool of applicants and the success rate of broad strategies like online job postings. For some, the challenge is finding staff with very specific technology skills. Changes in the workforce can also make it difficult, especially among younger people who may prefer big cities and have different work goals. Nearly a fifth of small business owners surveyed by American Express this spring said finding the right staff is their biggest challenge while expanding their companies. But owners can also make life difficult for themselves. Some hold to inflexible models developed during the recession like posting complex jobs for relatively low pay and many candidates say no because they get better offers. Some employers are still trying to hire one person to do the work of two or three, a tactic that might have worked several years ago but not now, says Steve Lindner, CEO of The WorkPlace Group, a recruiting firm based in Florham Park, N.J. "You're asking for way too much versus what you're willing to pay," Lindner says. The recovering economy helped many entrepreneurs launch companies, but also has made hiring tougher in some areas. Paul Turano's 3-year-old restaurant, Cook, has six openings including a bartender, servers and a sous chef. The Boston area is filled with upscale restaurants like Cook. ADVERTISEMENT "It's frustrating because I don't know how to change it," Turano says. "We've tried agencies, online, back to basics like hanging a sign in our window that says, 'Come join our team.'" Cook offers incentives like vacation and a retirement plan. But Turano is also up against changing attitudes many people he interviews decide they don't want to do the hard work a restaurant requires. The ripple effect from business closures during the recession has also complicated some hiring. Christine Perkins struggles to find candidates to style hair, do manicures and give massages at her two Boston-area spas, Pyara, in part because some beauty schools in the region have closed. Perkins has other frustrations. She's looking for full-time staffers willing to make a commitment in order to deliver good customer service. She offers benefits including a 401(k) retirement plan. But she says many younger candidates aren't interested in full-time work, and some tell her they don't want to work more than 10 hours a week. "We can barely train you and keep you updated, let alone taking care of customers," Perkins says. Companies in places like San Francisco and Silicon Valley are up against intense competition for workers. GreatUsefulStuff.com, which operates websites selling products for home, office and travel, has had several positions open for three to four months. Two candidates accepted jobs, then said they received better offers elsewhere. "I had not run into anything quite like that before," says Jeff Block, CEO of the 12-year-old company based in San Francisco. He's considering broadening his search to other cities and allowing new hires to work remotely. While Block is widening his parameters, other companies may be hurting themselves. Some are too rigid about the type of candidate they're looking for, says Tricia Lucas, owner of Lucas Select, a recruiting company based in Cary, North Carolina. ADVERTISEMENT Lucas' specialty is finding salespeople to sell software to businesses. The greatest demand and shortest supply is for people with five to seven years of experience. There are plenty of more-experienced people, but companies don't want to hire these workers. "They're trying to control their costs and this is a way they think they can do it," she says. "They think, 'we can fill that seat with somebody cheaper.'" Many companies also don't want to have to train new hires, recruiter Lindner says. That's often another consequence of the recession, when employers had more candidates to choose from and could turn down those who needed training in order to avoid spending time and money bringing them up to speed. Owners in a time crunch may not invest the time necessary to find top-notch hires, says Jay Starkman, CEO of Engage PEO, a human resources provider based in Hollywood, Fla. That includes continual networking, talking with as many people as possible to see if they know of good candidates including people who have jobs. "Sending out postings on LinkedIn and some other job boards and expecting that this flood of candidates will come in those days don't exist anymore," Starkman says. Not being able to find the right employees is keeping some small businesses from expanding. Kelly Fitzgerald's public relations company, Breakaway Communications, is perpetually in need of more staffers to promote technology clients. People with three or four years of experience in technology public relations can be hard to find; many are in jobs they like and aren't moving, Fitzgerald says. She also finds that younger candidates often don't show what qualifications they would offer and instead say, "I think your organization will be good for me." Fitzgerald has offices in New York and San Francisco with 17 staffers, but would love to have twice that number and be able to say yes to prospective customers. ADVERTISEMENT "Unless we have the right teams, we can't do it," Fitzgerald says. Dear Answer Man, when will Weber & Judd pharmacy open a store in Plainview? They've been open in Plainview for years, adjacent to Bennett's Food Center , but the pharmacy will move to the former Haley Comfort System property, in the heart of downtown, this fall. That's where the banner says that Rochester-based Weber & Judd will be coming soon, and I'm told that the move will occur in October or November. The Haley property has been owned and marketed by the Plainview Development Corp. as a business incubator since 2014. The new pharmacy will be a titch smaller than the current one, I was told this morning. Weber & Judd traces its company history back to 1862 , a few years before Dr. William W. Mayo was writing prescriptions in Rochester. More on the mayor's donation ADVERTISEMENT In my extraordinarily fine column last Monday about Mayor Ardell Brede's$250 campaign contribution to Scott Hoss, who's running against incumbent City Council member Michael Wojcik, I said I wasn't aware of any law that prohibits that type of thing. Following out my due diligence, I called the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Disclosure Board to check that. Gary Goldsmith, senior management analyst, told me that the board "does not have jurisdiction over local elections, but I'm not aware of and don't believe there is any law that would prohibit the mayor as an individual from donating to a city council campaign or any other campaign." Even if the donation were to be made from the elected official's campaign committee, "I'm not aware of a prohibition," Gary said, "but that would be a more detailed question that would need to be looked at more closely." Here's another local election question: Dear Answer Man, the campaign signs for Randy Staver say he's running for City Council president. How can anyone run for a position that is not defined in the Rochester Home Rule Charter as an elected position? Words do have meaning and it is fact that no one can run for city council president because that is not an elected position. The ballot says council member-at-large. -- Michael Pagelkopf Michael is noting, as I did in a recent column , that the council seat that Staver currently holds and that challenger Sean Allenwants to take away from him is the at-large seat. There's only one at-large council member, and the city's Home Rule Charter says the at-large member presides over the council. That's how most people refer to the job. FYI, Allen's corn-shaped yard signs also say "council president." A trail cam on rural property led to the arrest of a Rochester man who authorities say deliberately crashed his vehicle into a shed, then set it on fire. The fire was reported at 5:40 a.m. Saturday, sending crews to 6002 70th Ave. NE in Haverhill Township. A large shed at the address was on fire, the report says; a PT Cruiser appeared to have struck the building. No driver was found. Interviews with the landowner revealed the presence of a trail cam, said Capt. Scott Behrns of the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office, allowing deputies to discover what happened: Between 4 a.m. and 4:15 a.m., the PT Cruiser went through a ditch, drove around the locked gate on the property and crashed into the shed, the report says. A man identified by landowners and relatives as Joshua Dale Bale, 33, can be seen getting out of the driver's side of the vehicle, Behrns said, then starting a fire. ADVERTISEMENT Bale was found about 2:50 p.m. Saturday at a convenience store in southeast Rochester, where he was taken into custody and transported to a local hospital for a mental health examination, the report says. He was released from the hospital into the custody of law enforcement, and could be charged as early as today with third-degree arson and third-degree criminal damage to property. Behrns said Bale has "some sort of emotional connection to the property, but because of his mental health and drug use, can't seem to let go." The property is for sale, the report says; it's unclear the extent of damage to the shed. The fire was extinguished by the Elgin Fire Department. The state fire marshal is also investigating the incident. A Rochester man who refused to accept court papers from a deputy trying to serve them was eventually arrested for obstructing the legal process. The incident began about 4 p.m. Friday, when an officer with the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office arrived at a home on Third Place Northwest to serve an order for protection against Ryan Carroll Rhodes, 41. The paperwork also requested that Rhodes be removed from the residence, said Capt. Scott Behrns. Rhodes not only refused to go with the officer, he refused to accept the papers, the report says. The deputy spent "at least 25 minutes trying to de-escalate the situation," but Rhodes continued his refusal. When the officer warned Rhodes he could be arrested, he remained defiant, Behrns said, so the deputy placed Rhodes under arrest. Once detained, Rhodes resisted, forcing the officers to "physically assist him" to the squad car, where he allegedly tried to knee one of them in the groin. ADVERTISEMENT Rhodes could be charged with obstructing the legal process and domestic abuse-violate an OFP. A 27-year-old Rochester man is recovering from injuries after he was reportedly assaulted with a friend's crutch. A police officer was flagged down by an employee of a business on Marion Road at 9:11 p.m. Monday to report the assault. The victim, who had run to the business for help after the attack, was bleeding from the face and mouth, said Lt. Mike Sadauskis, and appeared to have had a few teeth knocked out. The man said he'd been at Bear Creek Park with friends, including one who was using crutches. As they talked, another group of people approached and began to argue with them. One of the men in the second group grabbed a crutch from the victim's friend and began to beat the 27-year-old with it, Sadauskis said. The victim was knocked to the ground, where he was kicked and punched before the men ran away. The investigation is ongoing. A caller who reported seeing two strangers putting backpacks in the trunk of his own car played a role in solving two residential burglaries, authorities said today. The incident began about 8:20 p.m. Sunday, when dispatchers took a call about suspicious circumstances in the 400 block of 14th Street Southeast, near Meadow Park Apartments. The caller said he'd watched two Hispanic men putting backpacks in the unlocked trunk of his car. When an officer arrived, the caller said everything was fine: He'd talked to the two men, who told him they thought the vehicle was abandoned, and were just storing their things there. The two suspects were still there, said Lt. Mike Sadauskis; when the officer asked what was in the bags, they willingly showed him the gaming systems inside. The two then left with the backpacks. About two hours later, a resident in the 2300 block of Park Lane Southeast reported someone had climbed through a window of his home and stolen $1,500 worth of items, including gaming equipment and a TV. ADVERTISEMENT The same officer who'd responded to the backpack call realized at least one of the items specifically matched what he'd seen inside one of the bags, the report says. He'd taken the names of the suspects when he spoke to them earlier, and knew they lived in the mobile home park, Sadauskis said. About 1:40 a.m. Monday, the officer found Andrew Patrick Zavala, 20, in a van. Some of the stolen property was in plain view inside the vehicle, the report says; some jewelry was also visible in the van. As the officer investigated, another victim walked up to report a residential burglary that had occurred between 4 p.m. Sunday and 12:30 a.m. Monday. About $1,600 worth of items were stolen, including more gaming systems and jewelry, Sadauskis said. The second victim identified the jewelry in the van as the items taken from the residence. Zavala was arrested and could be charged with third-degree burglary and possession of stolen property. His 16-year-old accomplice was arrested Monday at his home. Supporters who hope to see the Rochester armory building transformed into an arts and cultural center are not done fighting for their proposal. The Rochester City Council is scheduled to meet Wednesday night to take formal action on its most recent armory decision to seek an appraisal and market to sell the city-owned property. The Rochester Arts and Cultural Initiative, an offshoot of the Rochester Arts and Cultural Collaborative, has continued to meet with local leaders and legislators, hoping to answer remaining questions and sway the council's decision to reject the two proposals it received for armory uses. "We're not giving up on that building at all," Debi Neville, an ACI committee chairwoman, said Friday. The organization is counting on new information to convince the council to reconsider its earlier decision to reject the proposals. One piece of information the council did not have at its last meeting was a report from a consultant on the Chateau Theatre project. ADVERTISEMENT The report, prepared by Webb Management Services, includes a recommendation that states: "We would recommend that the City give RACC's Armory proposal significant thought, particularly within context of developing an arts and cultural district in downtown Rochester and the DMC (Destination Medical Center)." Arts and Cultural Initiative members and members of potential partner organizations have also met with area legislators, including Rep. Kim Norton and Sen. Dave Senjem, to discuss possible routes forward for the arts and cultural use at the armory. Senjem on Friday said he had met with members of the ACI as well as Rochester council members Sandra Means and Mark Bilderback to discuss the proposal. Senjem was not there to influence the council's decision on whether to award the proposal or sell the property, he said. Senjem would, he said, support bonding funds for the armory project should the council decide to award the proposal. The cultural component of the project made a strong case for state funding, he said. "I was just there to lend that extra support in terms of a legislative effort if the city council would choose to do that. If they choose to sell it, then that's their business," he said. Norton had also met with an ACI partner, she said. It was the cultural center portion of the proposal that motivated her to support the proposal and share her thoughts with others, she said. "I did share my feelings about it after I spoke with advocates about it," Norton said. "I'm hopeful that we have more discussion about this moving ahead," Norton added. ADVERTISEMENT A community petition asking the council to reconsider sale of the armory has also gained traction. As of Friday the petition had more than 560 supporters at Change.org. The petition was founded by a local organization, the Community Interfaith Dialogue on Islam. The council's action item on the armory at Wednesday night's meeting is in the "reports and recommendations" portion of the agenda. It is not scheduled as a public hearing. "Generally speaking, we do not open the reports and recommendations period to public comment unless there is a consensus among council members to do so," council President Randy Staver wrote in an email to the Post-Bulletin. "So comments would be limited to open comment which is in turn limited to a total of 15 minutes." The council meets Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the city-county Government Center council chambers. An agenda for the meeting is available online, at rochestermn.gov . One block of Fifth Avenue Northwest in Rochester will be closed temporarily on Wednesday to make way for a Relay for Life event. The road will be closed between Second Street and Third Street Northwest. Rochester Hope Lodge will host the Relay for Life event. The closure will be in place from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Access to all properties in the area will be maintained throughout the closure, according to a city of Rochester news release. A Rochester man died Sunday from an apparent reaction to bee stings. Thomas F. Fogarty, 64, was target shooting behind his home in the 3100 block of Marion Road Southeast when he was stung several times, said Capt. Scott Behrns of the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office. Life-saving attempts by sheriff's personnel, Eyota Ambulance staff, Gold Cross Ambulance personnel and a Mayo One crew were unsuccessful. His wife, Madonna Fogarty, said he was "the best guy ever. He was kind, generous, funny, caring; any good words were him." Statistics show 90 to 100 people die annually from allergic reactions from stings by insects, including bees, wasps, hornets and fire ants. More specifically, bee stings are responsible for an average of 53 deaths per year in the U.S., according to buzzaboutbees.net. ADVERTISEMENT The Mayo Clinic newsletter says anaphylaxis "can occur within seconds or minutes of exposure to something you're allergic to, such as a peanut or the venom from a bee sting." It's unclear if Fogarty had an E piPen available to treat the shock, Behrns said. Epinephrine autoinjectors are hand-held devices carried by those who have severe allergies; the epinephrine delivered by the device is an emergency treatment for anaphylactic reaction. Republicans seized upon news of steep increases in Minnesota insurance premiums to blast the state's health-insurance exchange, MNsure. The state's health insurers requested rate hikes of between 36 percent and 66 percent in Minnesota's individual market for 2017. Rep. Greg Davids, R-Preston, called those proposed increases "devastating" and said it's time for the state to dump MNsure and move Minnesota to the federally-run health insurance exchange. "We need to get over to the federal exchange. We have spent over $400 million on the biggest financial disaster in state history," said Davids, co-chairman of MNsure Legislative Oversight Committee. But Rochester DFL Rep. Tina Liebling said Republicans' anger is misplaced. She said MNsure is not to blame for the proposed rate increases. Its role is to help Minnesotans shop for insurance and, in some cases, get help paying for it. It is also the door through which folks can qualify and sign up for health insurance. It allows people to compare rates and coverage, but it has no role at all in setting rates. Instead, she said lawmakers need to focus on what is causing health care costs to increase, such as rising prescription drug costs. "Here we go again with the politics bashing MNsure. You could get rid of MNsure and that doesn't help anything. It would make it much worse because people then can't compare policies in a very easy way," Liebling said. ADVERTISEMENT Ultimately, Liebling said the state should consider offering a public health-insurance plan. DFL Gov. Mark Dayton has said he wants to reconvene the 29-member Health Care Finance Task Force to make recommendations on how to improve implementation of the Affordable Care Act in Minnesota. Only about 5 percent of state residents would be impacted by the rate increases. Even so, the debate over MNsure has been one of the hottest political topics at the Capitol in recent years and voters can likely expect to hear plenty about it on the campaign trail. Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, said year after year of rate hikes are hurting people's ability to afford health care coverage. When it comes to MNsure, he said it's time to "kill it and bury it" and move to the federal exchange. "The voters need to kick the Democrats who created and continued to protect this failed, hurtful disaster of a program out of office so we can make change in the state of Minnesota, like many other states have," he said. Rochester DFL Rep. Kim Norton said it is important to remember that there are federal subsidies available to people who buy insurance via MNsure to help offset the cost hikes. Before lawmakers decide what to do with MNsure, she said it is important to compare Minnesota's rates with those in other parts of the country. She said it's also important to listen to experts about how best to deal with the soaring cost of health care. "Politicians don't know the answer to this. The experts do," Norton said. "We need to listen to them and not politicize it to try and make somebody look bad or good." Legislative debate in Winona ADVERTISEMENT Several legislative candidates will square off in an upcoming forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Winona. The forum is at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12 at Winona City Hall. Invited to the forum are candidates for Senate District 21: Republican Mike Goggin and DFL Sen. Matt Schmit, Senate District 28: GOP Sen. Jeremy Miller and Democrat Jon Pieper; House District 21B: Democrat Elise Diesslin and GOP Rep. Steve Drazkowski; House District 28A: Republican Adam Pace and DFL Rep. Gene Pelowski; and House District 28B: Rep. Greg Davids and Democrat Thomas Trehus. Can't make it to the debate? It will be broadcast live on government access channels HBC Channel 19 and Charter Channel 987. Authorities ID man who drowned in pool EDEN PRAIRIE Authorities have identified a man who apparently drowned last week in a public pool in Eden Prairie. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office says 34-year-old Demanche Chhoun, of Shakopee, apparently drowned in the Eden Prairie Community Center pool on Thursday night. Police say he suddenly became unresponsive in the water. He was pronounced dead an hour later at Hennepin County Medical Center. The pool reopened Friday after an inspection by the county. ADVERTISEMENT The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office is investigating. Associated Press Man drowns in Quarry Park near St. Cloud ST. CLOUD Stearns County authorities say a Columbia Heights man drowned while swimming at Quarry Park and Nature Preserve near St. Cloud. The sheriff's office says a caller reported about 6:15 p.m. Sunday that someone had disappeared under water while swimming in the middle of Quarry 11 at the park. Searchers found 34-year-old Juan Alberto Morales-Rosas about two hours later. He was pronounced dead at St. Cloud Hospital. The sheriff's office says no foul play is suspected and the incident appears to be an accident. Quarry Park's website says it includes 20 former granite quarries that operated from the mid-1800s until the mid-1950s. It's been a Stearns County park since 1998, and two of its quarries are designated as swimming holes. Quarry 11, where the drowning occurred, opened to swimming last year. Associated Press Arizona girl killed by vehicle fleeing police MINNEAPOLIS Authorities in Minneapolis say an Arizona teenager was fatally struck by a vehicle driven by a suspect fleeing police officers. ADVERTISEMENT The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office identified the girl Monday as 16-year-old Diana Ivette Garcia-Alvarado, of Phoenix. Police say officers spotted a vehicle driving recklessly Friday night. When the officers tried to stop the vehicle, the driver allegedly fled and hit the pedestrian. The driver continued for a short distance then jumped out of the moving vehicle, which crashed into other vehicles. The girl died at North Memorial Medical Center. Police say the suspect tried to carjack a family's vehicle before he was caught. Two felony warrants were out for his arrest, and a handgun was found in his crashed car. The suspect was taken to a hospital for treatment of his injuries. Associated Press Authorities ID teens killed at Renaissance Festival SHAKOPEE Authorities have identified two 17-year-old girls who were killed in a crash outside of the Renaissance Festival near Shakopee. The Scott County sheriff's office says the one-car crash was reported around 7 a.m. Saturday on a gravel service road at the festival grounds. The car left the road and collided with trees. According to the Hennepin County medical examiner's office, passenger Taylor Ann Wieland, of Le Center, died at the scene. Driver Cheyenne Rose Smith, of Prior Lake, was pronounced dead at Hennepin County Medical Center. ADVERTISEMENT According to a Renaissance Festival spokesperson, the teenagers worked as parking attendants at the festival. Investigators say they don't believe drugs or alcohol were a factor, but neither girl was wearing a seatbelt. Associated Press Prosecutor in police shooting to enter alcohol program MINNEAPOLIS The prosecutor whose office won a recent conviction in the high-profile case of a Minneapolis police officer who killed an unarmed woman says he will be entering a treatment program for alcohol issues. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman issued a statement Friday saying he was evaluated for alcohol issues and agrees he needs treatment. Hell be entering a program Monday. Freeman announced last week that he was taking a medical leave, but didnt say why. His Friday statement says he has also worked to stabilize his "unacceptably high blood pressure." He says hes determined to reclaim his health and hopes to be back to work in mid-June. ADVERTISEMENT Last month, a jury convicted Mohamed Noor of murder in the 2017 fatal shooting of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia who called 911 to report a possible crime. Minnesota seeks to add Purdue Pharma owners to opioid suit ST. PAUL Minnesotas attorney general is asking a state court for permission to add the owners of drugmaker Purdue Pharma to a lawsuit that seeks to hold the company responsible for the opioid addiction crisis. Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma makes OxyContin and has been the subject of legal action in nearly every state. Attorney General Keith Ellison wants to add eight members of the Sackler family to Minnesotas lawsuit. He says the Sacklers, who own and operate Purdue, were involved in deceptive marketing tactics and strategies to sell more opioids, despite knowing the risks. If a judge approves, Minnesota would become at least the 11th state to take legal action against one or more members of the Sackler family. A family spokeswoman issued a statement denying the allegations, calling the lawsuit a misguided attempt to place blame where it doesnt belong. Man holed up in hotel surrenders to police ADVERTISEMENT BROOKLYN PARK Authorities say a standoff at a Brooklyn Park hotel ended after more than six hours when a man suspected of assaulting his girlfriend surrendered to police. SWAT officers and crisis negotiators were called to the La Quinta Inn early Friday after a woman reported she was being assaulted by her boyfriend and threatened with a gun. Police say the standoff began at 3:30 a.m. and ended when the man was arrested at about 9:50 a.m. Authorities say the woman was taken to a hospital with minor injuries. Police say the 31-year-old suspect was not carry9ing a gun but it was unclear if there were any weapons in the room. The suspect, who has not been formally charged, has previous convictions for drug possession, motor vehicle theft, aggravated robbery, making terroristic threats, drunken driving and burglary. Jail inmate accused of running prostitution ring MORA An inmate at the Kanabec County Jail is charged with running a prostitution ring from his cell. Thirty-eight-year-old Daniel Ellington is charged in Washington County District Court with two counts of sex trafficking and two counts of promotion of prostitution. Prosecutors say Ellington communicated with a prostitute by text and "promoted and profited" from her activities in Woodbury last month. ADVERTISEMENT East Metro Sex Trafficking Task Force director Imran Ali says Ellington was 100 miles away and incarcerated, yet was promoting prostitution and profiting from it. The task force began investigating after a Woodbury detective found an online ad entitled "Blonde Bombshell." The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports Kanabec County Sheriff Brian Smith says Ellington used a jail-issued iPod to text and paid a certain price for each message. Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS Thousands of nurses at five Minnesota hospitals launched a strike on Monday, Labor Day, in a dispute over health insurance, workplace safety and staffing levels. Here's a look at some of the issues: Which hospitals are involved? They're all part of Minneapolis-based Allina Health Abbott Northwestern and the Phillips Eye Institute in Minneapolis, United in St. Paul, Unity in Fridley and Mercy in Coon Rapids. About 4,800 nurses at those hospitals are represented by the Minnesota Nurses Association, the union that called the open-ended strike. What's the main dispute? Health insurance. ADVERTISEMENT In a move Allina estimates would save $10 million a year, it wanted to switch nurses from their union-only health plans to ones that cover all other Allina employees, meaning nurses would pay lower premiums but have higher deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses. That mirrors a national trend toward shifting costs on to employees with higher deductibles and patients picking up more out-of-pocket costs. The union has resisted, saying nurses are more prone to injuries and illnesses because of the hazards of their jobs. Both sides have given some ground. Allina wants to transition its nurses to the corporate plans by 2020, a slower timetable than it initially proposed. But union says Allina still wants to shift too many costs onto nurses without adequately compensating them. The union says it was willing to switch to the corporate plans eventually, while preserving the nurses' current plans for longer that Allina would accept. How will a strike affect patient care Allina officials say it won't and didn't in June when nurses at the five hospitals walked out for a week. The union disputes that. The hospitals have been lining up replacement nurses, but that's an expensive proposition. Bringing in 1,400 replacement workers from across the country was a major reason why June's strike cost $20.4 million, Allina acknowledged in a recent financial disclosure statement. The union says Allina has been pressuring nurses to cross the picket lines and keep working. What's the status of negotiations? The two sides met Friday with federal mediators. The 22-hour talks broke off early Saturday with no agreement on a new three-year contract, and no new talks scheduled. The contract expired June 1. How long could a strike last? ADVERTISEMENT Hard to say. Union leaders have said nurses will stay off the job for as long as it takes. The June walkout was only scheduled to last a week. The last big open-ended nurses' strikes in the Twin Cities lasted 23 days in 2001 and 38 days in 1984. A timeline of events related to the abduction of 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling of St. Joseph, Minn.: Oct. 22, 1989: Jacob Wetterling, 11, is abducted from a rural road as he rode bikes with his brother and a friend by a masked gunman near his home about 80 miles northwest of Minneapolis. Oct. 26, 1989: Deputies on horseback and hundreds of people search for Jacob, but find nothing. Oct. 29, 1989: About 225 National Guard troops and 80 Minnesota Department of Natural Resources workers unsuccessfully search for clues. Supporters of the boy's family release more than 1,000 white balloons after a church service. December 1989: Investigators are deluged with tips after they release a new sketch of a suspect. Authorities also say they believe the man who kidnapped Jacob was responsible for the January 1989 abduction and sexual assault of a boy in nearby Cold Spring. ADVERTISEMENT 1990: Jacob's parents, Patty and Jerry Wetterling, set up the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center, which works to help communities and families prevent child exploitation. Patty Wetterling becomes a national advocate for missing children. October 1990: An FBI spokesman says about 2,000 people have been interviewed. More than 700 people attend an anniversary vigil less than two miles from where Jacob was taken. 1994: Congress passes the Jacob Wetterling Act, legislation for a sex offender registry. 2004: Patty Wetterling runs as a Democrat against Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy in Minnesota's 6th District. She loses by 30,000 votes in her first political campaign but does not rule out a future run. 2006: Patty Wetterling again runs for Congress but loses to Republican Michele Bachmann. 2010: Investigators spend two days searching and digging at a farm near where Jacob Wetterling was last seen. The sheriff later says forensic tests on items taken from the farm show no link to the crime. Oct. 29, 2015: Federal authorities say a Minnesota man is a "person of interest." Danny Heinrich, of Annandale, is arrested on unrelated child pornography charges. Heinrich denies involvement in Jacob's disappearance and has not been charged in the case. Sept. 3, 2016: Authorities confirm that Jacob's remains have been found and positively identified. Additional DNA testing will be conducted. As we get closer to election day, I am reminded that it is up to each of us to be informed on issues that can impact our lives, our children's lives and how local government decisions can have lasting effects on our community. That is why the Historic Southwest Neighborhood Association decided to host a 90-minute town-hall meeting to hear directly from candidates as they respond to questions from the residents of Ward 2. On Thursday, Sept. 8 at 7 p.m. in the Fireside Room at the Zumbro Lutheran Church, Michael Wojcik and his challenger, Scott Hoss, will face off to win the votes of my neighbors. As a core neighborhood close to downtown and with the boundaries of the Destination Medical Center district, the neighborhood wants to hear how these candidates feel about a multitude of issues. The public is welcome. As for me, I live across the street in Ward 4. Dennis Davey ADVERTISEMENT president of the Historic Southwest Neighborhood Association Rochester I was at the Standing Rock Reservation, bringing supplies, water and food to a stand off involving the Native American people and the Bakken Pipeline. The Dakota Access Pipeline is a proposed $3.7 billion project, spanning more than 1,000 miles from North Dakota to Illinois. It would be the largest crude oil line, seven miles shorter than the failed Keystone XL project, with the capacity to transport nearly half a million barrels of oil a day. It originally was going to cross the Missouri River, north of Bismarck, but North Dakota citizens were worried about the potential damage to their water supply, so the pipeline was rerouted upriver from the Standing Rock Reservation. Members of more than 80 tribes and non-Native activists from across the country, estimated at approximately 4,000, are standing against this. North Dakota state officials used emergency relief funds to remove drinking water, cell phone coverage and other resources from the protest site. This protest is a wake up call for us all. We must stand up to stop the poisoning of this Earth. Environmental preservation is for our future and our children's future. ADVERTISEMENT We are all down river, and we are all affected. We have the sun, wind and water as great energy sources that can stop our huge dependency on big oil and sustain us without destroying our planet and us with it. Laura Rice Rochester As U.S. senators return to work in Washington, D.C., today, we hope they heed Sen. Amy Klobucher's words from the recent recess. Speaking at the Hazelden Betty Ford treatment center in St. Paul last month, the Minnesota Democrat sought support for a measure to create a mandatory prescription monitoring program to help identify people who go from doctor to doctor in search for opioids, such as Oxycontin. While Minnesota has an opioid registry that requires pharmacists to record opioid prescriptions, it doesn't require physicians to check the data. As a result, abuse is still possible, putting lives at risk due to addiction. Failure to monitor opioid prescriptions effectively is fueling an epidemic. According the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioid overdoses hit a peak in 2014 with 28,000 cases, the equivalent to 78 Americans dying every day. Many lives could be saved by finding ways to better control access to opioids. Granted, the numbers include overdoses of heroin and other illegal opiates, as well prescription medications, but that doesn't alleviate the need for better control of prescriptions. One measure won't provide a magic solution to the current epidemic taking young lives, but each effective step could lessen its impact. ADVERTISEMENT Many in the state continue to grieve the loss of Prince, a music legend who declared a lifetime love of his home state. Would he still be making music if fentanyl were harder to obtain? Based on reports that the dose he took was provided illegally and mislabeled as hydrocodone, it's hard to say. However, that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to stop the next death of a music legend or our next-door neighbor. You don't decide against locking a door because someone could break a window and get in your home. Rather, you lock the door and ponder ways to make sure windows more secure if you're still concerned about burglars. The latest federal survey noted 2.4 million Americans were addicted to synthetic pain relievers or heroin in 2014, which puts a tremendous strain on families. When those addictions turn deadly, the impact worsens and extends to first responders and other caregivers. The stress on the emergency response community adds stress on the whole community. It adds to response times for other calls and increased city and county expenses, which add to our tax bills. That should give pause to even those who find it hard to believe that a opioid overdose will affect their personal lives. The costs can be high and come on many fronts. They make all efforts to find solutions important. We hope Klobucher and others in the U.S. Senate are able to spread that message and find the support they need. Congressional candidate Jim Moylan will not let truth or distortions stop him from saying anything to get elected. It is up to political analy Read morePolitical ploys at the last part of election? If a major industrial area succeeded in eliminating all coal-fired electric power in a relatively short period of time, youd think environmentalists would be celebrating, wouldnt you? Thats the question Rauli Partanen & Janne Korhonen, authors of Climate Gamble, are asking: A historic moment in the fight against climate change took place in April 2014. A coal plant in Ontario, the biggest province in Canada, burned what was promised to be Ontarios last load of coal ever. Thus, Ontario became the first large area in North America to quit coal burning altogethera full year ahead of schedule. If Ontario (population 13.4 million) were an independent country, it would be the first industrial country in the world to quit coal. As recently as 2003, a full quarter of Ontarios electricity came from burning coal. Now, a little more than a decade later, legislators in Ontario are planning to outlaw the burning of coal permanently. The change has been astonishingly fast, especially if one compares it to the oft-mentioned champions of climate change such as Germany and Denmark. These nations are planning to quit burning coal sometime between 2030 and 2050, assuming they can do it without significant economic costs and difficulties. Ontarios achievement nevertheless remains almost invisible in the climate and energy debate. To our knowledge, not one environmental group has used it as an example, nor have they ever mentioned it as far as we know. Green politicians are not urging us to follow Ontarios example, even though Germany and Denmark are often highlighted as shining examples for all of us to follow. Yet Ontarios success is undeniable. The Washington Post reports that Bill Clinton made millions of dollars through an honorary job with a for-profit education firm. This doesnt strike me as problematic. If a company thinks the Bill Clinton name is worth millions to it, why not pay the millions? And, if youre Bill Clinton, why not accept them? But heres the rub: Hillary Clinton used her position as Secretary of State to help cement the relationship. The Post says: The guest list for a private State Department dinner on higher- education policy was taking shape when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered a suggestion. In addition to recommending invitations for leaders from a community college and a church-funded institution, Clinton wanted a representative from a for-profit college company called Laureate International Universities, which, she explained in an email to her chief of staff that was released last year, was the fastest growing college network in the world. There was another reason Clinton favored setting a seat aside for Laureate at the August 2009 event: The company was started by a businessman, Doug Becker, who Bill likes a lot, the secretary wrote, referring to her husband, the former president. At the time Bill was not on the Laureate payroll. Soon thereafter, he would be: Nine months later, Laureate signed Bill Clinton to a lucrative deal as a consultant and honorary chancellor, paying him $17.6 million over five years until the contract ended in 2015 as Hillary Clinton launched her campaign for president. The Post goes on to say that there is no evidence that Laureate received special favors from the State Department in direct exchange for hiring Bill Clinton. But it had already received a favor from Hillarys State Department before it retained Bill. As the Post explains: Being included at the 2009 dinner, shoulder to shoulder with leaders from internationally renowned universities for a discussion about the role of higher education in global diplomacy, provided an added level of credibility for the business as it pursued an aggressive expansion strategy overseas, occasionally tangling with foreign regulators. A lot of these private-education guys, theyre looking to get into events like this one, said Sam Pitroda, a higher-education expert who was representing a policy commission from India at the State Department dinner. The discussion itself is irrelevant. . . . It gets you very high-level contacts, and it gets you to the right people. In other words, by causing the Laureate to get the invitation, Hillary did it a huge favor and demonstrated very concretely to Becker, its head, the value of a Clinton connection. Becker then offered Bill the multi-million dollar gig. I need hardly add that Laureate is also a generous contributor to the Clinton Foundation. It has donated between $1 million and $5 million, and made millions of dollars of commitments through the Clinton Global Initiative, according to the Post. In 2009, Hillary said that Bill likes Becker a lot. You can bet that he likes Becker a lot more now. Its always nice to see folks catch up with the stories that we were on to early. My old AEI colleague Desmond Lachman worried in The Hill a couple days ago that An Italian financial crisis poses huge threat to global economy. Do tell. In fact, we did, back in late July, in Keep Your Eye on Italy. The Washington Post yesterday took note of how conservatives are starting to wake up to, and publicly criticize, the defects of Fox News. We pointed out some of the problems with Fox that are now getting sustained attention way back in 2013, in Is Fox Actually a Hedgehog? Worth a second read. And if you want more Fox gossip, see this New York magazine piece. Meanwhile, it is reported today that Gretchen Carlson has reached a $20 million settlement for her sexual harassment lawsuit against Fox. Which seems rather fast. I guess Fox didnt even want to risk any depositions in the case. Paul notes this morning that the Washington Post has stumbled across the story of how Bill Clinton was the honorary chancellor of Laureate University, a for-profit family of schools that paid President Clinton $18 million for the privilege. Youd think for that kind of money Clinton could be a real chancellor. We brought up this story way back in June (The Clinton University Scandal?), which at the time only Jonathan Turley had seemed to notice. The Post story today offers significant new details about State Department involvement with Laureate University. Can we just start the Clinton impeachment proceedings now, and save time? How about a bumper sticker: Impeach Clinton: This Time Well Finish the Job. A Chinese firm, Zhongfu International Investment, operating at the Ogun State Free Trade Zone in Igbesa Town of the state has petitioned the Presidency to wade into the crisis between it and the Ogun State Government. The firm said the Ogun government wrongly sacked it from operating in the zone. In the petition, signed by Jason Han, the Managing Director of Zhongfu International Investments, the firm said it had invested huge amount into the project before the government replaced it with another one. I write this letter with sorrow and despair. In 2010 my firm, Zhongfu International Investments (Nig.) FZE (ZIIN) came to the Ogun Guangdong Free Trade Zone in Ogun State (the Zone) as an investor. The Zone was devoid of basic infrastructure for industry. We assisted the then manager (China-Africa Investment Co. Ltd. (CAI)) to stabilize the Zone by significant cash investment. By 2012 the project had failed and the Ogun State Government (the OSG)terminated the appointment of CAI, Mr. Han said in the letter. At this stage there were only 5 operating tenants of which ZIIN was by far the most significant investor. In March 2012, we were called upon to rescue the project as interim managers. In September 2013, we were granted a permanent arrangement when we entered into a joint venture agreement (the JVA) with the OSG and a Nigerian company. The official said in pursuant to the JVA, the company agreed to develop and manage the zone in return for a 60 per cent equity participation. He added that the JVA gave them the confidence to invest their monies as a long-term investment. After investing over $60 million (Sixty Million United State Dollars) and the Zone is starting to generate a cash flow, the OSG is attempting to unilaterally terminate our contract, force us to abandon our investment and flee for our lives, the company told the President. Before explaining our situation, let me begin with the positive story that was unfolding in early 2016 before the intimidating actions of OSG took place, and our efforts to expand the Zone and create thousands more jobs came to an abrupt halt. We have made tremendous sacrifices to give the Zone the high profile it now enjoys in the international investment scene. This year, we began to see a steady cash flow to the Zone as we attracted many new investors to establish factories in the Zone. We then began the time-consuming process of reaching out to international capital markets to prepare the Zone for financing for massive infrastructure upgrades, seeking an initial estimated $250 million (Two Hundred and Fifty Million United States Dollars) from the international capital markets for the expansion of roads, electricity, transportation, and housing improvements, the appeal letter reads. Mr. Han explained that in the course of companys fund development efforts in 2016, the management received acclaim from investors in China, USA, Middle East and from renowned institutions such as the World Bank, Harvard, Yale, MIT and John Hopkins universities. He said the companys success includes the hundreds of millions of Naira it has generated for the Nigerian Customs, NEPZA and other government agencies. It said it also generated wealth in the surrounding areas of the zone and created over 5,000 jobs for Nigerians. According to the company, these results have been achieved because of its relentless effort to create a supportive environment for industries and the personal sacrifices it has made. It said since December 2012, the company has worked almost continuously in developing the Zone. We felt some satisfaction when The Economist publication did a programme on the Zone that was aired on CNN in March 2016. We felt proud when you visited China in April of this year and we signed an MOU with a prospective tenant for a USD 1 billion pharmaceutical park in the Zone, the company told President Muhammadu Buhari. However, instead of growing our business, our work has stopped, the contracts we had in the pipeline have been suspended, we live in fear of our lives and others have taken over facilities and assets that we invested our own funds in acquiring. On Saturday 28 August 2016 you strongly assured existing and prospective foreign investors that their investments in Nigeria will be fully secured and protected. We are experiencing a foreign investors worst nightmare. Our contract that is governed by Nigerian law is being treated with impunity, the Nigerian legal process is failing us and we desperately need your protection, Mr. Han said. Lies have been told about us resulting in the authority of the Nigerian Police, a Magistrate Court and the OSG being manipulated and abused to inflict fear, distress and suffering on me and my staff. A contractual dispute that is a civil matter under Nigerian law and should be resolved in accordance with due legal process has become a basis for thuggery and incarceration, the letter emphasised. The OSG has maintained that our JVA was terminated because they were following instructions in a letter from the Economic and Commercial Section of the Consulate-General of China in Nigeria (the Consulate Letter). The Chinese Government will not disrespect Nigerian law. The Consulate Letter has been misconstrued and overlooks the existence of our contract with the OSG. We made every effort to resolve this matter amicably as a contractual dispute but in flagrant disregard of Nigerian law, a gentleman acting on behalf of the OSG went to the Zone with an armed policeman to scare us away and install new individuals as managers of the Zone. They have taken over control of facilities that we built forour own exclusive use, appropriated our property and harassed our staff. We have commenced proceedings in the Federal High Court in Abuja. However OSG and the individuals harbouring plans to appropriate our investment are seeking to frustrate our legal action by forcing the recognition of the impostors irrespective of the impending court hearing. Mr. Han also noted in the letter that he was disappointed to see that a Chinese national, Wang Junxiong, had misled and instigated the Nigerian Police and a Magistrate court to issue a warrant to arrest Mr. Zhao, the companys administrator on trumped up allegations of criminal breach of trust. He said the company administrator was detained for over 130 hours on totally baseless contractual allegation. He pointed out that Mr. Wang has in fact breached his contract with ZIIN and owes the company enormous sums of money. The Nigerian Police and legal system has been surreptitiously used as an instrument for terrorizing foreign investors. This abuse of legal process and disregard of legal contracts is what keeps investors away and accounts for Nigerias low standing in the ease of doing business rankings. (World Bank 2016 study ranked Nigeria 169th out of 189 globally, worse than Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Iraq), the letter stressed. The investor said he was writing the President because he believed in Nigeria and had always promoted Nigeria among foreign investors. He said Nigerians have supported him through this traumatic ordeal and are fighting for us. We are appreciative and will continue to stand for the goodness, courage and loyalty of Nigerians. Nevertheless we must defend our contractual rights in Nigerian and foreign courts. We are conscious of the embarrassment that this case may bring to Nigeria and consequently, seek to minimize the discomfiture by a speedy resolution. We regret that innocent Nigerians may have to bear the burden of the substantial damages that we will undoubtedly be awarded in legal action against the OSG and others. We implore you to intervene. Please show the world that Nigeria respects law and order by procuring the reversal of the forceful occupation of our property, the forceful removal of our management rights and the withdrawal of the warrants for arrest issued in abuse of legal process. Ogun reacts In response to the firms statements, the Ogun State Government in reaction on Sunday refuted the claims that it unilaterally terminated the contract. The Secretary to the Ogun State Government, Taiwo Adeoluwa, said, there is no truth whatsoever to the allegations raised by Dr. Jason Han, Managing Director of Zhongfu International Investments (Nig.) FZE, in an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari. He said the Chinese government, through a Diplomatic Note 1601, dated March 11, 2016, notified the Ogun State government that the Guangdong New South Group (rather than Zhongfu International Investments) are the ones authorized to manage the Ogun Guangdong Free Trade Zone. He added that through the Diplomatic Note, the Chinese Consulate stressed further that to continue to allow Zhongfu International Investments to manage the zone would amount to encouraging and abetting a private company to perpetuate fraud on the government of Guangdong Province, China (the original joint venture partners to Ogun State on the project) and its lawful successors in title, the Guangdong New South Group. Mr. Adeoluwa said concerned about the weighty nature of issues raised in the Diplomatic Note, the Ogun State government called for explanations from both the New South Group and Zhongfu International Investments. The New South Group provided evidence, corroborated by the Chinese Consulate, that they bought 51 per cent of the equity of China Africa Investment Limited, the official representative of the Guangdong Province of China on the Zone and with whom the Ogun State government originally signed a Memorandum of Understanding, he said. By virtue of the lawful equity transfer, they succeeded to ownership and management rights of China Africa in the zone. They further contended that the new agreement signed by Zhongfu International Investments with the Ogun State government in 2013, was procured by fraud and criminal misrepresentation for reasons that Zhongfu International Investments Limited, who was merely a tenant on the zone, deliberately concocted lies to mislead the Ogun State government into believing that it was the lawful successor to the equity ownership of China Africa Investment Limited, Mr. Adeoluwa said. He said apart from the companys inability to provide evidence to back its own claims, Zhongfu International Investments has so far demonstrated a rather strange unwillingness to approach either the Chinese Embassy or Consulate in Nigeria or better still, visit the Guangdong Province, China, to immediately resolve the dispute. One would have thought that the Embassy or Consulate, whose basic duty it is to protect the interest of Chinese nationals in Nigeria, is the quick, best and cheap forum to resolve this Chinese on Chinese dispute. But rather than do that, Zhongfu International has chosen the path of peddling lies and cheap blackmail, Mr. Adeoluwa said. Contrary to allegations of arbitrariness, abuse of power and unfriendliness to foreign investors, leveled by Dr. Jason Han, Ogun State government is indeed investor friendly and happy to work with genuine investors, either from within Nigeria or from any part of the world. This, is evident in the number of industries, both local and international, that have since birthed in Ogun State within the last five years. That is why, today, Ogun State is the industrial hub of Nigeria, attracting the highest number of industries in the country, he said. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday said the federal government would remove all obstacles to doing business in Nigeria before the end of 2017. He said this during the public presentation and First Annual Lecture of THE INTERVIEW Magazine in Abuja. The magazine is published by Azubuike Ishiekwene, a former editor of The Punch newspaper. Mr. Osinbajo said President Muhammadu Buhari had asked the Enabling Business Committee inaugurated recently to improve on Nigerias current rating of the Ease of Doing Business before the end of next year. Nigeria currently ranks 169 in the Ease of Doing Business index in the world. He said, One of the chief aims of the current government is creating an enabling atmosphere for doing business and some of us will be familiar with the fact that a month ago, the president inaugurated the Enabling Business Environment Committee which I chair and the mandate of that committee as given to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment is that Nigeria must go up on the World Bank Ease of doing business list and I think the mandate is to go at least 50 places up before the end of 2017. Now, how will that happen? The first step is to be directly involved in the private sector and the private sector lead of the project is a gentleman who is head of KPMG in Nigeria and who will be working on this project full time in the next couple of weeks. The secretariat will take on the challenge of what needs to be done. What are those important processes that need to be simplified or in some cases simply excluded so that business can go on easily and entry processes can be done easier? Mr. Osinbajo said it was the business of government to find political will to create the right atmosphere for business. According to him, there was a whole raft of measures to ease the challenges of doing of business, including access to credit, business registration and land reforms. He said government was working on a set of regulations to ensure that business registration and approval would not exceed certain time. Besides, the vice president disclosed that as part of the plan to ensure conducive business environment in the country, government would soon introduce Visa-On-Arrival policy that would free up the process for investors and businessmen. He said the policy would attract more investments into the country. Most countries that have succeeded in attracting foreign investments have had to take a second look at bringing people to their country, Mr. Osinbajo said. So, one of the important innovations that will be introduced will be getting visas on arrival. The process is one that is already in the regulations but that usually involves your applying ahead and picking up the visa but the process can be freed up when you can arrive here, apply for your visa here and get your visa on arrival. The vice president admitted that unnecessary bureaucracy was affecting the ease of doing business in the country. He said the problem in most cases was that approval processes were difficult. According to him, the bureaucrat would always see the whole process as an end in itself and not a means to an end and therefore would not believe it was his duty to facilitate business. Mr. Osinbajo said going by his experience so far in government, Nigeria had no shortage of ideas. He said he once received 13 bound proposals in one day on practically any subject. There is absolutely no shortage of good ideas in Nigeria. Our problem really is never really with great ideas but the question is how to start and finish, he said. The share number of excellent ideas available to you every day are not just good ideas but they are incredible ideas. The vice president commended Mr. Ishiekwene for his strength of character, ethical and professional commitments. Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State, who chaired the lecture, said though there was a global economic downturn, Nigeria was facing three major challenges. He said, In our own case, it is a triple tragedy. We have to cope with the insurgency, the madness of Boko Haram; the militancy in the Niger Delta; and other security challenges like cattle rustling and the menace of herdsmen. But the hard way is the best way. Today, we are looking for real managers. This is the time Nigeria needs leaders, not big men. We are not short of big men, what we need are leaders who will take Nigeria out of the woods. It is time now we really have to look inward. There has to be peace in the country. I know there can never be peace without justice. This country has what it takes to be a great country. Mr. Ishiekwene, who is also editor-in-chief of the magazine, said it would live up to expectations. Manuel Valls, French Prime Minister, has called for a recount of the presidential election results in the Central African nation of Gabon, which saw President Ali Bongo extend his familys 49-year rule. He said on Tuesday in Paris that the European observers on the ground have expressed their criticism on the basis of objective facts. The prime minister said as a result of that France is demanding a recount of the results. France, the EU as well as the U.S. already called last week on the electoral commission to publish detailed results of all polling stations. Mr. Bongo, 57, won re-election by a narrow margin, with 49.80 per cent of votes, followed by his main rival Jean Ping with 48.23 per cent. Mr. Valls also expressed his concern for the safety of 15,000 French citizens currently in the former French colony. About 15 French citizens are currently missing in Gabon, many of whom carry dual citizenship, he said. Violence broke out in oil-rich but poverty-stricken Gabon hours after the electoral commission released the results of the August 27 polls. The opposition activists have accused the government of fraud and attacked the area around the parliament in Libreville. They noted that the security forces responded by attacking the oppositions headquarters, killing two people and injuring several others. Mr. Bongo was elected for a first term in disputed 2009 polls following the death of his father Omar Bongo Ondimba, who had ruled Gabon since 1967. (dpa/NAN) After a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigerias Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, said the government has no plans to increase the price of petrol. Mr. Kachikwus statement comes a day after former Group Managing Directors, GMDs, of the state oil firm, NNPC, advised the government to increase the price. The former state oil chiefs argued that the current price cap of N145 per litre of petrol was not congruent with the liberalization policy. The removal of the cap under a liberalised market environment would allow marketers of petroleum products to sell at a comfortable price based on factors such as the exchange rate and international crude price. With the Naira exchange rate going down by over 50 per cent to about N412 since the current petrol price was fixed, approving the recommendation would have meant Nigerians pay more for petrol. While addressing journalists at the State House after meeting the President, Mr. Kachikwu indicated the government would not heed his predecessors advice. The minister, who handed over as GMD of the NNPC to the current incumbent, Maikanti Baru, said the government had no plans to increase the price. Have you seen any memo to that effect? he responded when pressed on the matter by journalists. The minister was accompanied to the meeting with the president by Mr. Baru who also said the government has no plan to increase the price of petrol. There is nothing like that, he said. Both men referred journalists to the Petroleum Product Pricing and Regulatory Agency, PPPRA. PREMIUM TIMES had reported how the PPPRA also rejected the advice to increase fuel price. While stating the governments response, the acting Executive Secretary of PPPRA, Sotonye Iyoyo, said the proposal was the personal opinion of the former state oil chiefs. If it was a recommendation, that is what it is a personal opinion. Im not aware government is planning any fuel price increase. We are in a liberalised market already, the acting Executive Secretary of PPPRA, Sotonye Iyoyo, said. Buharis objection Although the two oil chiefs did not provide details of their discussion with the president, the issue of petrol price is believed to be the main topic of discussion. Mr. Buhari had been reluctant to increase the petrol price from N86 to N145 cap in May despite the hard biting scarcity of the product that left Nigerians queuing for days to get it. The scarcity persisted mainly because marketers refused to import the product saying it was not profitable to import and sell at N86. The marketers have again called for an upward review of prices. A senior official of the retail arm of the NNPC, who sought anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to journalists, narrated how the president conceded to the price increase only after so much pressure. Kachikwu threatened to resign if the president did not agree to the increase then he said. Im not sure the president will approve any such increase anymore, especially with the current economic situation, he said in reference to Nigerias current economic recession that has seen tens of thousands of people lose their jobs, companies shut down, and states unable to pay salaries. Security operatives on Tuesday tried stopping members of the #BringBackOurGirls group from going ahead with their planned rally to the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The group is campaigning for the release of over 200 schoolgirls abducted by the extremist group, Boko Haram, in 2014. The new round of protest march began August 23 after Boko Haram released a video indicating the girls were alive. The terror group said it would only exchange the girls for their members detained by the government across the country. Although President Muhammadu Buhari said he would be willing to concede to the demand, the BringBackOurGirls group said the government has not done enough to rescue the girls. After the release of the last video, the group vowed to march to the presidential villa every 72 hours until the government makes clear what steps it was taking to get the girls back. The #BBOG had postponed its rally from Friday to Tuesday. But shortly after they began the walk as usual from the Unity Fountain, venue of the #BBOG daily sit-out, heading for the three arm zone, they were stopped by security men around the Ministry of Justice, Abuja. The security men comprising mainly the police said the BBOG campaign was illegal because they had no permission to protest. But a member of the group leading the protest on Tuesday, Buky Sonibare, brought out copies of permits obtained from the police for that purpose. However the police persisted until the #BBOG members forced their way forward. They are marching to the three arms zone amidst efforts to stop them by the police, as at the time of this report. Some supporters of President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday clashed with members of the #BringBackOurGirls group, as the campaigners made way to the presidential villa. The #BringBackOurGirls group is seeking the release of over 200 missing Chibok schoolgirls abducted in April 2014 by the extremist group, Boko Haram. Members of the group had forced their ways through a police cordon at the Three Arms Zone, as they sought a meeting with Mr. Buhari. But as they edged forward, a group of Buharis supporters urging an end to the demonstration, blocked their path, saying the president is a man of peace whose effort to move the nation forward should not be disrupted. A spokesperson for the group, Idris King, described the #BringBackOurGirls group as a scam, sponsored to undermine the administration of the APC. We are for peace. Buhari is a man of peace, the group chanted. A leader of #BringBackBackOurGirls group, Aisha Yesufu, said President Buhari appeared to be doing nothing to get the girls back. All we are saying is #BringBackOurGirls. There is a fourth option which entails doing nothing, which seems like governments option. That we will not be accepted, she said. Earlier, security operatives tried to stop members of the #BringBackOurGirls group from going ahead with their planned rally to the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The new round of protest march began August 23 after Boko Haram released a video indicating the girls were alive. The terror group said it would only exchange the girls for their members detained by the government across the country. Although President Buhari said he would be willing to concede to the demand, the #BringBackOurGirls group said the government had not done enough to rescue the girls. After the release of the last video, the group vowed to march to the presidential villa every 72 hours until the government makes clear what steps it was taking to get the girls back. The #BBOG had postponed its rally from Friday to Tuesday. But shortly after they began the walk as usual from the Unity Fountain, venue of the #BBOG daily sit-out, heading for the three arm zone, they were stopped by security men around the Ministry of Justice, Abuja. The security men comprising mainly the police said the BBOG campaign was illegal because they had no permission to protest. But a member of the group leading the protest on Tuesday, Buky Sonibare, brought out copies of permits obtained from the police for that purpose. However the police persisted until the #BBOG members forced their way forward. President Muhammadu Buhari has described Godwin Obaseki, the governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Saturdays election in Edo State, as a seasoned technocrat to lead. Mr. Buhari said this at the APCs mega campaign rally at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium on Tuesday in Benin. Obaseki is a seasoned technocrat and I recommend him to you so that you can continue to grow the states developmental stride, the president said. He recalled previous invitations to him by Gov. Adams Oshiomhole and applauded his several achievements in the state. I am grateful for inviting me to come today to identify with you. You have built schools and roads which I have seen myself, he said. The president said the Edo people would do well to vote for Obaseki on Sept. 10 to sustain and continue with Mr. Oshiomholes good works in the state. He acknowledged the current economic challenges and assured the people that the nation would come out of the woods with the available human and material resources. The president paid tributes to the late Oba Erediuwa, describing him as a foremost traditional leader with unquestionable integrity. I have not seen any more forthright traditional ruler, he said. The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo had on Tuesday said that President Buharis visit to the state would boost the partys chances at Saturdays governorship election. The party chairman in the state, Anselm Ojezua, said the presidents visit would boost the partys chances at the polls. Mr. Ojezua, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the main bowl of the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium, in Benin, said this was in spite of the fact that the party and its candidate, Mr. Obaseki, had prepared well. But the president gracing the final rally will no doubt further enhance the chances of the party at the poll, he said. The chairman said the president will not be oblivious of the fact that his visit is important being his first major governorship poll to be conducted since assumption of office on May 29, 2015. As for us, we have worked hard for the election, but the visit of Mr President today, Tuesday, is going to be an added advantage to us, he said. A woman, who got married two weeks ago in Adamawa, Faisa Mohammed, was killed on Tuesday in Lagos when mudslide occurred in the Agidingbi Area of Lagos State. The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) said three persons, a male and two females, including Faisa, aged 24, were trapped under the mud but the other two were rescued alive. The General Manager of LASEMA, Michael Akindele, said in his report that the agency received a distress call through the emergency toll free line 112/767 at about 10.54 a.m. The report was of mudslide on illegal shanties around Kuata Area by Amara Olu Street, Mechanic Village, Agidingbi in Ikeja. Three persons were discovered trapped under the mud. The agencys Emergency Response Team (ERT) were able to rescue two people (a male and a female), while one adult female lost her life and the body was recovered, the report said. The ERT and men of the Nigerian Police from Alausa Division, Rapid Response Squad and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence, LASAMBUS, NEMA, were on ground for the recovery operation. The general manager said the area was a wetland and a buffer zone which was not habitable for human settlement. The Lagos State Government has been sensitising people staying in flood-prone and wetlands to vacate such areas to avert loss of lives, especially during this rainy season, Akindele said. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Commissioner, Ministry of the Environment, Babatunde Adejare and the Commandant, NSCDC Lagos State Command, Tajudeen Balogun, were also at the scene for rescue operation. (NAN) The Peoples Democratic Party in Edo State has asked a court to disqualify the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Godwin Obaseki, from contesting Saturdays governorship election. The PDP alleged that Mr. Obaseki made false claims and provided false information on oath to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. The Chairman of the party, Dan Orbih, gave the hint on Tuesday at a press conference in Benin City. He called on voters in the state not to waste their votes for the APC because the party has no candidate for the election. Mr. Obaseki and INEC were joined in the suit No. FHC/B/CO/120/16 dated September 1 and filed by Joseph Aghimien, on behalf of the PDP and its legal adviser, Edoba Omoregie. According to Mr. Orbih, the party asked the Federal High Court in Benin for a declaration that Mr. Obasekis statement that he graduated from the University of Ibadan with a B.A in Classical Studies in 1976 was false. He said the APC candidate made the statement under oath in INEC form CF001, Part B, paragraph C dated July 11. In addition the party is asking for a declaration disqualifying Obaseki from contesting the Edo state governorship election scheduled for September 10, 2016 on grounds that he submitted false information on oath to the INEC on Form CF001 (and) therefore lied under other, he said. He added that Mr. Obasekis non-disclosure of his membership of a secret society disqualified him from contesting for the office of governor of Edo state. In all, Obaseki has failed to fulfil the requirements of the Constitution which in Section 182 (I) h) specifies the qualifications a person must have to contest the governorship of a state, he said. Responding to the PDPs litigation, the Publicity Secretary of the APC in Edo State, Godwin Erhahon, described the action as a move by a desperate and helpless party seeking to truncate the expected victory of the APC candidate. They have a right to go to court, but they are not the ones to give the verdict, Mr. Erhahon said. He said the case against Mr. Obaseki would not succeed before the court and that the APC candidate was properly screened by INEC which has the constitutional powers to do so. Asked to respond to the specific allegation of perjury, Mr. Erhahon said his party would respond to the issue in court as it would be prejudicial to offer a defence. The PDP went to court and they are already out with the verdict that our candidate will be disqualified, he said. That is prejudicial and contempt of the court. A Toyota Highlander suv stolen at gunpoint in Abuja has been recovered in Akwa Ibom, the police have said. The police in Abia said a man based in Uyo, Akwa Ibom, was arrested for allegedly buying the vehicle. The vehicle with registration number ABC 384 SS was allegedly snatched from the owner at gunpoint in Gwarinpa, Abuja. The suspect, according to the Commissioner of Police in the state, Leye Oyebade, was arrested at a police checkpoint at Umudike, on Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene Road, while he was driving the vehicle to Uyo. Mr. Oyebade said that the arrest followed a signal from Force Headquarters, Abuja, regarding the vehicle. The suspect, who claimed to be a farmer, said that he bought the car at N1.5 million at a hotel in Abuja. He added that he did not know that it was a stolen vehicle. The police boss appealed to the public to always volunteer useful information to the police to help them in the fight against crime. (NAN) The Federal Government has decried the inability of the previous administration to settle outstanding N65 billion debt owed to fertiliser suppliers. This is contained in a statement issued on Monday by Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President. Mr. Shehu said it was wrong for the Goodluck Jonathan administration to purchase fertilisers worth N65 billion since 2014 and left the bill unpaid. He said that the Federal Government had to pay off the debt so that the suppliers could begin to supply fertilisers again. The E-wallet fertiliser policy of the Jonathan administration was widely hailed as a success as it allowed millions of farmers to have access to fertiliser. But the Buhari government suspended the programme saying it was unsustainable given the scale of uncleared debt. The government however reversed the decision last week, and agreed to revive the policy amid an economic tumult. The statement by Mr. Shehu attributed the current food crisis in the country to some of the unpopular policies of the past administrations. According to him, the current pain is due to the mismanagement of the past and that what Nigeria is currently experiencing was inevitable. He said the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration was being honest with the people instead of piling up debts and concealing the truth by pretending all was rosy. This government believes that Nigerians deserve to know the truth. People stole unbelievable amounts of money. The kind of money some of these ex-officials hold is itself a threat to the security of the state. Since it is not money earned, they feel no pain deploying just anyhow to thwart genuine and well-intentioned government efforts. Sadly, even that which was not stolen was wasted. Government coffers were left empty, with huge debts unpaid and unrecorded (this government is working to quantify the amount owed). Even the current high food prices can be traced to past deceit. For example, the previous government purchased fertilisers in 2014, worth N65 billion and left the bill unpaid. In 2015 the suppliers could not supply fertilisers which resulted in a low harvest, shortages and high food prices. This government had to pay off the debt so that the suppliers could begin to supply fertilisers again. Mr. Shehu expressed optimism that Nigeria had started witnessing another era of green revolution as Nigerians across the country were going back to the farms, from rice in Kebbi and Ebonyi to Soya and Sesame in Jigawa and Kano. He said that at the same time, Nigerians were looking inwards to identify commercial opportunities from agri-businesses. (NAN) The Nigerian Army has confirmed the death of four Soldiers in a boat mishap in Bayelsa. The Army said the remains of the soldiers were yet to be found, but residents said two bodies have been recovered. Four soldiers drowned during the ongoing military training exercise codenamed Operation Crocodile Smile after their boat capsized along Brass Water Front, Brass Local Government Area of the state. The acting spokesperson of the Nigerian Army, Sani Usman, announced the death on Tuesday in a telephone interview. Mr. Usman said the search for the bodies is underway. A resident in the area, Jonah Kennedy, however said two of the four bodies have been recovered as at Tuesday evening by local divers. I learnt that the community youth, soldiers and other local divers are on search to see that those bodies are recovered, he said. This evening, we heard that two of them have been found. The Chairman of the Maritime Workers Union in Bayelsa, Lloyd Sese, described the incident as unfortunate. He urged the federal and state governments to improve emergency response along waterways in the state. The Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, has sent a formal request to the State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, asking for the redeployment of some police officers attached to the Lagos State Task Force on Environmental and Special Offences Unit. The request came in the wake of last Fridays raids in different parts of Lagos by officers of the taskforce, leading to a rough treatment and arrests of innocent citizens. In a statement issued on Tuesday by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Steve Ayorinde, the Governor sought an immediate redeployment of several of the taskforce officers from the unit and possibly from the state over what the governor called unacceptable conduct. The release stated that the request became necessary in order to checkmate the reoccurrence of last weekends unauthorized raid and indiscriminate arrest of citizens who were out to have fun on Friday night. According to Mr. Ayorinde, preliminary investigation showed that the unauthorized raid was carried out with the knowledge of the second in command to the Chairman of the Taskforce, Taiwo Adeoluwa, without the approval of the Chairman, Saheed Egbeyemi. Both men are Superintendents of Police. The conduct of the affected officers is not in tandem with the vision of Lagos State Government and is therefore condemnable. Their conduct is also unbecoming of officers who are expected to protect the citizenry and ensure that citizens and visitors find every part of the state safe and conducive enough not only on Friday nights but every day. The commissioner added that Governor Ambodes massive investments in security and Light Up Lagos Project was meant to create a 24-7 economy that encourages businesses to thrive. He said the government would not fold its arms and watch any overzealous officer derail the vision that has earned the government applause. While expressing the state governments heartfelt apology to the affected person, Mr. Ayorinde stated that government would not condone any act(s) of high-handedness, extortion and disregard for human rights on the side of any of its law enforcement agencies and any public official as the state has sworn to protect and guarantee the rights of its citizens. He, therefore, reiterated the state governments commitment towards providing a safe, secure and friendly environment where every law-abiding citizen can go about his or her businesses and activities without fear of being molested, harassed or intimidated by anyone. The internally displaced persons, IDPs, from Konduga Local Government Area of Borno State on Monday commenced their journey back to liberated communities, two years after they were forced to flee by Boko Haram insurgents. They were officially allowed to leave their respective camps by the Borno state governor, Kashim Shettima. Mr. Shettima addressed the displaced persons on the outskirts of Maiduguri, the state capital, before they were conveyed in buses to the liberated town. He commended their patience and urged them to continue to persevere as arrangements had been made on how to ship relief materials to them. The displaced persons said they were excited about going home but still feared an uncertain future. One of the female returnees, Zainab Muhammed, said she was joyous to be on her way home many months after she was chased out by B0ko Haram insurgents. We have spent two years now in Maiduguri IDP camp the 30 years old mother of four said. Boko Haram insurgents invaded our community and we had to flee. All the eight of us that were in my house were lucky to escape the attack. Ms. Maimuna said she was not sure of the condition she would meet her abandoned home. We have to accept whatever remains of our homes because we have no choice. We have been promised food and other reliefs when we return home; and we hope government will not forget about us, she said. She said she still feared for her security and that of her kids whom she left in Maiduguri until she is sure Konduga is safe for them. Baari Mustapha, another displaced resident of Konduga, said he was happy to return home but feared some returnees may face severe hunger. We have converged here since morning waiting for the arrival of the governor to give the official order that we go home. But sadly we are all going back empty handed. We plead with our leaders to have pity on the poor ones going back to their homes; because we are today as naked as a new born baby. Food is the most important issue that must be provided to the returnees especially the women and children; if not there will be serious hunger and starvation in the communities. We want government and donor agencies to come to our aide with more food supply that may take care of us for at least a month or two since the crop planting season has elapsed. Governor Shettima announced to the returnees that while government would provide some food, 50 hectares of land is being cleared and would be shared among the returnees to enable them carry out dry season irrigation farming. Maiduguri has in the past three years played host to IDPs housed in 21 camps within and outside the state capital. Some displaced persons also live within the host communities. The Peoples Democratic Party on Monday said its Director of New Media, Deji Adeyanju, has not been removed. Ahmed Makarfi, Chairman of the partys Caretaker Committee, told PREMIUM TIMES that the leadership of the party only had issues with some far-reaching statements distributed by Mr. Adeyanju without clearance. Mr. Adeyanju was announced removed in a statement distributed by Dayo Adeyeye, the partys publicity secretary, on Friday afternoon. The statement cited different acts of insubordination. The statement, signed by Chinwe Nnorom on behalf of Mr. Adeyeye, also said @PdpNigeria, the official Twitter handle of the party run by Mr. Adeyanju, was no longer recognised by the party. In view of the above, the party has immediately re-launched a new handle: @officialpdpnig to form part of the social media platform of our great party for ease of communication, administration and control, Mr. Adeyeye was quoted as saying. But in a message to PREMIUM TIMES, Mr. Makarfi, a former governor of Kaduna State, said the PDP still recognises Mr. Adeyanju and the new media department, but added that their activities would be streamlined going forward. If he was employed by the last National Working Committee, then we will have no reason to remove him but to streamline his work, Mr. Makarfi said. Mr. Makarfi is the head of an ad-hoc leadership set up by the party at its botched national convention in Port Harcourt last month. Mr. Adeyanju was appointed in December 2015, and had been responsible for issuing press statements on behalf of the party. After months of controversial statements following the partys 2015 elections misfortune, the PDP apologised for contributing to the toxic atmosphere on social media and promied to improve on its opposition by making it more robust and constructive. Last week, Mr. Adeyanju signed a statement calling for the resignation of President Buhari in the wake of the countrys descent into recession. It is not immediately clear if that statement contributed to the leaderships disagreement with him. Keep the joy of loving the poor and share this joy with all you meet. This was one of the sayings of Mother Teresa of Calcutta; popularly called Saint of the Gutters. Canonizing her 19 years after her death on September 5 1997, Pope Francis on September 4 stated that her feast will be marked every September 5 as a commemoration of her simple life and the countless lessons it contained for every generation. Born on August 26, 1910 in Skopje, Macedonia in the former Yugoslavia, Saint Teresa was named Agnes Bojaxhiu by her parents Dronda and Nikola Bojaxhiu. The youngest of three surviving children, she decided to become a Catholic Missionary nun at age 17, due to the interest she developed for the missionary work while part of a group, Sodality, she joined in her teens. Consequently, the teenage Agnes joined an Irish order, the sisters of Loretto, whose missionary work was more prevalent to India where she chose the name Teresa, after Therese of Lisieux; who is known today as Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. As part of her missionary work, St. Teresa taught Geography and Catechism at Saint Marys High School, Calcutta in India. She however came down with Tuberculosis and was taken to Darjeeling, a town in Indias West Bengal state where in 1944 she told the church that she received an unmistakable call to live among the poor. I was to leave the convent and work with the poor, living among them. It was an order. I knew where I belonged but I did not know how to get there, she would later recollect. Four years later in 1948, Teresa was granted permission to leave the convent and attend to the call, under the supervision of the Archbishop of Calcutta. She soon began teaching children in the slums and studied basic medicine which helped her to go about the slums, treating sick persons. A year later, some of her pupils joined her and together they rented a room apartment to cater for those rejected by local hospitals. The group of care-givers, led by Mother Teresa soon became a congregation within the Catholic Church, popularly known as the Missionaries of Charity. The Missionaries of Charity which was formally established in 1950 now has over 4 500 sisters and is spread across 133 countries. Apart from her unwavering desire to help the poor, Mother Teresa was also known for her unrelenting stand against abortion. She received a total of 124 notable awards in her lifetime; including the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1979. Sayings of Mother Teresa The dying, the cripple, the mental, the unwanted, the unloved; they are Jesus in disguise. Little things are indeed little, but to be faithful in little things is a great thing. There is only one God and He is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God. Nakedness is not only for a piece of clothing; nakedness is lack of human dignity and also that beautiful virtue of purity, and lack of that respect for each other. Ahmad Salkida, the Nigerian journalist taken into custody on Monday, weeks after being declared wanted by the army, has been denied access to his lawyer, Femi Falana, who is representing him told PREMIUM TIMES. Mr. Salkida, known for his knowledge of the ranks of the extremist sect, Boko Haram, was arrested at the Abuja airport as he arrived from his United Arab Emirate base. The army had declared him wanted, alongside two others, for suspected links with Boko Haram. The decision came after Mr. Salkida distributed a video released by the group in August. Mr. Salkida expressed his willingness to turn himself in, and security analysts said he fulfilled that promise by flying into the country on Monday. Mr. Falana, his lawyer, said on Tuesday that authorities had denied him access to Mr. Salkida. The journalist is believed to be held at a State Security Service facility in Abuja. Mr. Falana said he had been briefed as Mr. Salkidas counsel, but that he was still trying to have access to him. He said his chamber had dispatched another lawyer in Abuja to see if they could have access to Mr. Salkida, and to know how to proceed from here. The Nigerian military, on Tuesday, defended its decision to deploy more troops and arms to the Niger Delta after the government said it was ready for talks with militants in the area. Several militant groups, notably Niger Delta Avengers, have attacked oil and gas installations in the region in recent months, cutting production. The military began Operation Crocodile Smile there in August, saying it would make troops combat-ready. The Avengers group said it was prepared for talks, as proposed by the government. But despite the offers from both sides, the army and the air force have sent more troops and arms to the region in recent weeks. The military said in a statement Tuesday that while the armed forces respected the peace efforts, criminals and economic saboteurs could not be tolerated. It also said the deployments were aimed at demonstrating the militarys capacity to protect civilians. The ongoing exercise is geared towards enhancing civil-military relationship and building the confidence of the resident on the ability of the military to protect them, the statement signed by defense spokesperson, Rabe Abubakar. The exercise also demonstrates the strength of the troops to purge the region of criminals and economic saboteurs. The Armed Forces would not tolerate any form of criminality in that region, it added. Mr. Abubakar warned militant groups against forcing residents to abandon their homes. The warning came in response to the demand by a group named, Niger Delta Green land Justice Mandate, residents vacate their homes to avoid attacks. It is more worrisome that despite the Federal Governments olive branch to broker peace and proffer solution to the lingering Niger Delta problem, some groups are still fanning the ember of war, he said. The military and other security agencies would remain focused, un-intimidated and will display professionalism in ensuring adequate security to lives and property. The Police in Benue on Tuesday said they arrested two persons suspected to be operating an illegal gun factory in the state. The Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, in the state, Moses Yamu, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Makurdi that the suspects were nabbed by the commands Operation Zenda. Mr. Yamu said the squad was on stop-and-search duty along Vandiekya-Adikpo road, when the suspects were caught, adding that at the men had a locally-made pistol with them at the time of arrest. He explained that investigation into the arrest led to the discovery of a gun manufacturing factory at Tsar Village in Vandiekya Local Government Area. He disclosed that several locally-made weapons, including SMG, pistol frame, one single barrel and assorted guns parts, were discovered at the factory. The spokesman added that a box containing arms manufacturing tools and 12 live ammunitions were also recovered at the site. He assured that the command would ensure total end to proliferation of arms and ammunition in the state. (NAN) A non-governmental organization, Cleen Foundation, has given an insight into where violence may likely occur during the September 10 governorship election in Edo State, and what pre-emptive actions could be taken to prevent it. CLEEN Foundation, while presenting a security brief on the election to the Independent National Election Commission and the police, Monday, in Benin, the state capital, listed the local government areas to watch out for as: Oredo, Egor, Igueben, Esan- Central, Etsako-West, and Orhiorwon. The six were classified as Risk, for the election. Six other local government areas Etsako East, Esan West, Esan South, Ovia South-West, Etsako-Central, and Akoko- Edo were classified as Medium risk, while the remaining ones Esan-North East, Owan-East, Ikpoba- Okha, Ovia North Ease, Owan West, and Uhunmwode were listed as Low risk. CLEEN said the risk analysis was done after talking with 783 respondents and experts, in all the 18 local government areas of the states, as well as analysing reports in the media. The 14-page report identified the exposure of youth to light weapons, inciting speeches by politicians, late deployment of INEC staff and materials, and the possible failure of card readers, as factors that could likely spark off electoral violence, if not contained. INEC should ensure that election personnel and logistics get to the remote areas on time. This will reduce the waiting period before accreditation and voting can commence, the report suggested. INEC should deploy more than one smart card reader in every polling unit so that if one fails the other can serve as back up. The Commission should guard against last minute switching of ad-hoc staff which hampers the smooth running of elections. The report advised the police and other security agencies to remain non-partisan during the election. In identified areas with potential for violence or habitual violence, security agencies should act proactively by inviting the electoral violence entrepreneurs in these domains for pre-emptive chats, the report suggested. The security agencies should have intelligence units that monitor the behaviour of security agents deployed for election field work. Such units should be able to make reports real time and also get responses as the election is ongoing. Civil society observer teams should not just observe and report, but should have real time mechanism in place for connecting field observations to those who have the capacity to correct polling-unit error or intervening to put volatile situations under control. The use of social media will be helpful in this regard. Benson Olugbuo, the Executive Director of CLEEN Foundation, told PREMIUM TIMES that his organization trust INEC and the police to make use of the report to conduct smooth election in the state. The police have said that they are deploying 23,000 policemen for the election. A 22-year-old final year of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, is soliciting financial help from kindhearted individuals, organisations and government for kidney transplant in an Indian hospital. Oluwayanmife Iyanu Akinsanya, who is studying Plant Physiology and Crop Production, is lying critically ill at the Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta where she is undergoing haemodialysis three times a week at the cost of N50,000 per session. The family said she would need N10 million for the transplant though it had raised some amount which remained a far cry from what was required for the transplant. The situation now is precarious that she has been undergoing haemodialysis three times a week at the Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta at the cost of Fifty Thousand Naira (N50,000.00) per session, drugs inclusive, the family said in a letter to PREMIUM TIMES. The only alternative left is for her to go for kidney transplant which she has agreed to undergo at a reputable hospital in India as soon as possible. The letter, signed by her parents, Olusegun Akinsanya, said an account had been opened at Guaranty Trust Bank. According to the medical report signed by T.B Ojewande, a medical doctor, the Miss Akinsanya has chronic kidney disease, with 300.3mg/dl blood urea, Pvc 20 and blood pressure 140/90mmhg. The report said after three sessions of haemodialysis her blood urea read 60mg/dl, creatinine 2.4mg/dl, Pcv 20% and blood pressure 150/100. It said as her case got worsened, she was also taken to State Hospital, Sokenu, Abeokuta, and after examination she was discovered to have bilateral pedal oedema of three weeks and eye swelling of five days duration prior to presentation, with blood pressure at 130/100mmhg and pulse rate 92 beats per minutes. C.A Erinle, a medical doctor, in a separate report, said Miss. Akinsanyas urea was 19mgldl, Cr 0.8mg/dl, abdominal ultrasound scan revealed bilateral chronic nephritis and placed on frusemide 40mg, amlodipine 2.5mg, ramipiri 2.5mg and aldactone 25mg. The consultant physician thereafter referred the patient to University College Hospital, Ibadan, where she spent another weeks and again ended up at Federal Medical Centre, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta. When PREMIUM TIMES visited the FMC Abeokuta, Miss Akinsanya was writhing in pain. Narrating her predicament, she told this newspaper that she was preparing for examination sometimes in October 2012 when she suddenly fell ill. According to her, when she woke up on that day she discovered that her two legs were heavy but that she thought it was malaria. She further narrated that as time went by the legs swelled as a result of which she had to visit Sacred Heart Hhospital, Lantoro, Abeokuta, for medical attention. She said she was referred to Mercy Group Clinics in the capital city where it was discovered she had kidney problem. Meanwhile, at the time of filing this report, the management of the FMC Abeokuta had contacted a kidney specialist hospital in India to take over the treatment of the patient even as it waits for the family to raise bills. Those wishing to help the family can reach them at 07066023535,08166072707. The shooting of an Atlantic City police officer by an alleged robber Saturday morning capped a week of gun violence that stretched from Egg Harbor City to Egg Harbor Township to Pleasantville to Americas Favorite Playground at least 10 shootings with 11 victims across the county in one week. The officer remained in critical condition Monday at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, City Campus, in Atlantic City. Two suspects, Martel Chisholm, 29, of Millville, and Demetris Cross, 28, of Bridgeton, were arrested and charged with attempted murder, robbery and weapons charges. Police fatally shot a third suspect, Jerome Damon, 25, of Camden, at a Caesars parking garage. The shooting occurred just a day after the fatal shooting of Christopher Romero, 26, of Absecon, at a store called Zumiez. The shooting occurred at noon at Tanger Outlets The Walk in the citys popular and crowded tourism district. That suspect, Luis Maisonet, 55, of Somers Point, shot himself in a nearby store but survived. Mayor Don Guardian was quick to note that the shooting was a domestic dispute between two people who knew each other. This is not related to any other issue of gangs or terrorism. Its just an unfortunate (case of) domestic violence, the mayor said while reassuring visitors over the busy holiday weekend. But for a county that was still reeling from another brazen daytime shootout over miles of Atlantic City Expressway, it came as little consolation. Its beyond belief, Atlantic City Council President William Marsh said. With the schools opening, we have to make sure kids and parents feel safe about going to school. Shootings have been reported during both the night and the daytime. Its placed the general community on high alert, Atlantic City Councilman Moisse Delgado said. Theyre being terrorized by these young cowards with guns. Theres no safe corner of Atlantic County right now. Its been a crazy week. Its gotten a lot of attention, said Perry Mays, of Pleasantville, chairman of the Coalition for a Safe Community. He was at a loss to explain why the county had so much gun violence the past week. Frankly, this problem didnt start yesterday. Its going to take time to reach a solution, he said. His group reaches out to young people to help them find resolutions to conflicts and personal issues without resorting to violence. Its placed the general community on high alert, Councilman Moisse Delgado said. "Theyre being terrorized by these young cowards with guns. Theres no safe corner of Atlantic County right now. Atlantic City Councilman Kaleem Shabazz said South Jersey has a confluence of illegal weapons and a general willingness to use them. Theres too many drugs. That creates turf battles and violent interactions, he said. Couple that with poverty and a high unemployment rate for young people, and it creates fewer deterrents to violence when people feel they have little to lose, he said. If someone picks up a weapon and starts shooting, theyre not working on a five-year plan, he said. Arguments end up in violence. Criminal activity ends up in violence. Delgado said some of those responsible are probably sociopaths, as with the unsolved killing July 5 of Nizine Williams in Atlantic City. More often, he said, he thinks young people shoot others out of fear or impulsivity. I dont see sociopathy as much as social dysfunction, he said. Just cowards living in fear and people pretending to be tough. They feel they have to be armed and end up shooting other people. The Thursday shooting occurred in the busy tourism district at the start of a holiday weekend. Ideally, you dont want negative publicity before a holiday weekend with lots of beach concerts, Shabazz said. Atlantic County feeds off Atlantic City and the tourism trade. We have to stress that in general we have a safe community. Atlantic City is a safe place to visit. But one shooting is too much. One fatality is too much. Guardian said the city has seen success with its anonymous Tip411 program. And Tom Gilbert, commander of the tourism district, said the citys ShotSpotter sensors and security cameras are helping police apprehend suspects more quickly. This is clearly a situation where you need the community and police working together, Guardian said. Those who are willing to commit crimes know it wont be tolerated and that information will be shared with police. Contact: 609-463-6712 Twitter @ACPressMiller BRIDGETON City police are investigating a pair of weekend assaults, one of which left a man lying on a sidewalk in a pool of blood after being beaten. The man was found 9:44 p.m. Monday by a patrol officer in the area of North Street, city police said. The officer saw the man face down on the sidewalk and stopped to give aid, police said. The officer tried to speak with the man, who was going in and out of consciousness, they said. Vineland man arrested for fatal shooting in Millville MILLVILLE - A Vineland man is under arrest for the fatal shooting of a local resident here o Police said they found a witness who reported the man was approached by four men, all wearing block clothing and estimated to be between 14 and 16 years old. The witness said the man was punched and fell to the ground, then was kicked, police said. The four assailants ran toward the intersection of Cohansey and North streets, police were told. The victim was treated at the scene and airlifted to Cooper University Medical Center in Camden, police said. His condition wasnt available. The other incident occurred about 3:30 a.m. Sunday, when police said officers were dispatched to the 200 block of Pearl Street after getting a report of a robbery. Police pack hearing in A.C. officer-shot case MAYS LANDING Officers representing nearly every police department in Atlantic County watch A man told police he was walking from his car to his home when he was attacked by two men. One of the men demanded money, and when the victim said he didnt have any, he was punched in the mouth and hit over the head with a bottle, police said. The victim fell, and the attackers searched his pockets and took his wallet, police said. Both suspects wore all black clothing, and one had a small amount of facial hair under his chin, police said. The victim was taken to Inspira Medical Center Vineland for treatment of his injuries, police said. Contact: 609-226-9197 DEERFIELD TOWNSHIP For the last two years, Jeannie Garcia was living her dream. After losing her job and making the decision to go back to college in 2014, she threw herself into life at Cumberland County College, serving on the Student Senate, acting as a student representative on the Presidential Search Committee and working part time at the college as a receptionist, then student mentor and tutor. In May, the 29-year-old mother of three graduated with a 3.48 grade point average, membership in the Phi Theta Kappa honor society and an Economic Opportunity Fund Outstanding Academic Award. She was chosen as the alumna to serve on the colleges board of trustees this year. Then, in August, the bottom fell out. Garcia got a short letter from the college saying it had run a criminal-background check on her that revealed a misdemeanor disorderly persons offense from 2005. On her 2014 job application Garcia had checked the box saying she had no criminal record. For that, she was fired. I really thought, after 10 years, that charge didnt count anymore, she said. I had put that behind me and turned my life around. I made a mistake. Garcia not only lost her job, but her cherished appointment as the alumni trustee, a role that included being featured in July on the college website in a story titled You can go back, again. That hurt the most, because I worked hard for that. I earned it, she said. Garcia said she tried to contact college officials for a meeting to explain herself, but with no success. People she thought were her mentors and friends at the college, and whom she listed on her resume as references, have either not returned her calls or said they cannot discuss the matter. Her plight is tragic, but not uncommon. While background checks typically go back seven years, they can go back further, and long-buried offenses can resurface. The Opportunity to Compete Act, which took effect in 2015, prohibits employers from asking for criminal background information on the first job application, though it can be requested later. The law is an effort to allow those with a record to at least get a better chance at jobs. Recent laws also have it easier for people with misdemeanor disorderly persons charges to get their records expunged. Assemblyman Chris Brown, R-Atlantic, a sponsor of one bill, said it is for people like Garcia that his bill was intended. Having worked as a municipal prosecutor and judge, Brown said he had seen many cases of young people making one stupid mistake that trails them through their lives. This is an exact example of the reason I pushed for that bill, he said by phone. This type of situation is exactly what I was trying to resolve. Rosemarie Fiscus, executive director, Human Resources, Public Safety and Compliance at Cumberland County College said in an email they do not discuss individual cases but do have a board policy that states every employee is required to have a background screening. Garcia doesnt deny the charge, though she wonders why it is just coming up two years after she began working there. She said she often spoke publicly on behalf of the college about how she had turned her life around as a high school dropout, and many at the college were aware of her struggles. The incident on her record happened when she was 18 and staying with a family member who was a drug addict, so she rarely spent time at the house, she said. Three days before Christmas she and people she was with broke into a building to keep warm and were caught. We didnt take anything, she said. We were just looking for somewhere to get out of the cold. Garcia got her GED high school diploma and first enrolled at the college in 2010. But then a mother of two, and a victim of domestic violence, she struggled and dropped out to work to support her family. When she lost her factory job, she decided to return to college in 2014. She loved it there, appreciated the support she got, worked hard to succeed, and was happy to promote and help the college. What changed about me from the person they chose for the honors and awards? she said. When I won something, we all won. But when I lost, I lost alone. In the article about her on the college website, the colleges new president, Yves Salomon-Fernandez, is quoted as saying: One of the most remarkable attributes of Cumberland County College is that we never give up on our students. We are proud of Jeannies accomplishments and hope that others will read her story and be inspired to come back. Garcia hopes others will now read her new story and realize how easily something good can also be taken away. She said she can be outspoken and questioning, an attribute that was once appreciated. Now she wonders if she angered someone at the college who was able to use her mistake against her. Akil Roper, of Legal Services of New Jersey, said in an email that the best chance for employment is through open and honest communication about criminal background and qualifications for the job. It might be harder to communicate to an employer if they feel a prospective employee lied on an application, even if it was an inadvertent omission, she said. Garcia said she was denied unemployment benefits because she wasnt working enough hours at the college and is relying on a boyfriend, who has supported her college attendance, for help while she looks for another job. She hopes to attend Rowan University starting in January to complete a degree in law and justice studies. Shed like to be a lawyer. But right now I have nothing, she said. I just wish they would have heard me out. I knew these people, and they never gave me a chance. It was just so cold. Contact: 609-272-7241 Twitter @ACPressDamico People may need to move from the coast in the next few decades if sinking land combines with potential sea rise as some scientists predict, according to a nonprofit looking for ways to minimize losses due to floods. And planning should start now on how to discourage coastal development, said New Jersey Future Planning Director David Kutner. But such talk has been controversial. The groups message was met with strong emotions from residents of Tuckerton and Little Egg Harbor Township at a meeting with New Jersey Future last week, as homeowners already are worried about falling property values. New Jersey Future is developing recommendations for changes to the Coastal Area Facilities Review Act, which regulates coastal development, under a grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection, Kutner said. About 35 people attended the meeting at the Jacques Cousteau Coastal Center in Tuckerton to discuss ways of minimizing coastal development and the high storm and flood losses that come with it. They were particularly angry about the ideas of reducing services or adding a property-tax surcharge to those who live in highest-risk areas. We already pay high taxes, shouted someone in the audience when the special flood hazard zone tax district was described. Some openly scoffed at suggestions. The options are just discussion points, Kutner said. New Jersey Future is working with a steering committee of community leaders from Tuckerton, Little Egg and Toms River to come up with suggestions, he said. The recent meeting was to get feedback from residents. I dont think anybody is going to like what we have to do, said Kutner. But we can think about it now rationally and respond (with time), rather than waiting 10 to 20 years when were up against a rock and a hard place and having to make knee-jerk decisions. Thats what this is, yelled someone else. Residents were also skeptical that buyout programs would pay them a fair amount for their homes, and some said they didnt believe sea level will rise the 1.48 feet estimated by researchers. I dont know if I trust my town to make wise choices, said Little Egg resident Chuck Griffin, prompting a discussion of the need for the state and federal government to be in on the decision-making process. New Jersey Future has been working with Little Egg and Tuckerton for several years in the aftermath of 2012s Hurricane Sandy, which hit both hard, said Kutner. For three years, the group embedded municipal planners in the towns to help them recover from Sandy. The approach in New Jersey (after Sandy) was, Build it back and build it fast exactly where it was, Kutner said in an interview. That is going to change. I think we will see the impact of Sandy driving policy. Kutner opened the meeting by stressing that the country cannot afford to keep bailing out flooded communities. The National Flood Insurance Program is currently $28 billion in debt, he said. Kutner said there were 470 flood insurance claims in Little Egg Harbor Township from Sandy alone, and since 1978 the township has received $192.7 million in flood insurance payments. Thats more than 29 states have received in that time. Tuckerton has received about $43.7 million in that time period, he said. But Kutner said he wasnt picking on the two communities. New Jersey as a whole densely populated and on the coast has received more in flood insurance payments than all but two other, much larger states. The current way of doing things, with communities simply rebuilding in the same place and at the same risk of future flooding, is just not sustainable, he said. Kutner laid out 15 possible options for reducing losses. The only option most residents seemed to find acceptable was prohibiting rebuilding of storm-damaged structures in vulnerable areas. The point is not to scare people, although it is scary, said Kutner, but to figure out how to address (the problem). Another meeting will likely be held in October, said Kutner, but a date hasnt been set. New Jersey Future plans to submit its report to the DEP by the end of the year, he said. To be put on a mailing list for future meetings, or to share opinions on what should be done to lessen flooding losses, email dkutner@njfuture.org. Contact: 609-272-7219 Twitter @MichelleBPost CAPE MAY South Jersey didnt escape Tropical Storm Hermine unscathed. Some beaches lost sand, which may make them more prone to future damage, officials said. That could be bad news this early in hurricane season, especially if another storm strikes soon, said Stewart Farrell, director of Stockton Universitys Coastal Research Center. Were not even halfway through hurricane season, he said. It takes a long time for it (lost sand) to come back. Lessons learned from Hermine: The 2016 Cape-Atlantic Severe Weather Conference We all know we dodged a destructive meteorological bullet with Hermine. And while there's a There was no significant flooding, massive power outages or hurricane-strength winds from Hermine, but some beaches saw damage, according to local officials and experts. The rough surf definitely caused some beach erosion, Cape May County spokeswoman Diane Wieland said. Cape May Mayor Ed Mahaney said his town saw significant beach erosion. North Wildwood Mayor Patrick Rosenello said the city did some in-house repairs to even out the slope of the sand. We definitely have a lot of erosion here in Cape May, Beach Patrol Captain Buzz Mogck said. The main problem was the height of the tides and waves. The assessment process has just begun to determine exactly how much damage Hermine did. From the assessments that we did yesterday, it looked like we lucked out big time, Lawrence Hajna, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said Tuesday. In various parts of the state, were doing a more detailed assessment. Overall, Hajna said New Jersey saw minor to moderate erosion. Farrells team assesses area coastlines after a storm by comparing the width of the beach now to measurements made before the storm. Stocktons center operates in every coastal community in the state, he said. They look at portions of the beach where sand was lost and also where it was gained. It does not come back to where it was before, Farrell said. Some beaches, such as Sixth Street in Ocean City and the north end of Avalon, are more prone to losing sand, and, therefore, theyre more likely to suffer more during a storm like Hermine. And getting everything back in place isnt easy or cheap, Farrell added. Without a federal disaster declaration, he said it is unlikely that any work will be done to fix Hermines damage. Moving sand around takes heavy equipment, he said. That equipment takes at least a month to mobilize. Contact: 609-272-7411 All weather continues to rely on Hermine and her erratic and completely unpredictable movements that began more than 2 weeks ago near Africa. To recap, Hermine first crossed the Atlantic Ocean as a tropical wave, which formed just southwest of the Cape Verde islands. Once the wave approached the northeast Caribbean, there were expectations of intensification, however wind shear and dry air from the Saharan Desert kept it weak. The wave actually threaded the needle between the Bahamas and Caribbean, north of Cuba and south of the Florida Keys, and into the Gulf of Mexico while becoming a tropical depression. Initial model guidance expected a turn to the north quicker up the west coast of Florida, but the system instead went farther into the gulf as far west as the Yucatan Peninsula longitude. Only then did it turn north and intensify into a named-system: Tropical Storm Hermine. The system then intensified into a strong category 1 hurricane before making landfall on the eastern Florida Panhandle. The reason why the longer turn is so significant is because it resulted in a landfall 2 full days after original-modeled expectations. Hermine then crossed the Southeast northern Florida through the Outer Banks of North Carolina, weakening into a tropical storm. After emerging into the Atlantic Ocean, Hermine took another wide turn, this time to the east before turning back toward the East Coast. Why is this significant? Because Hermine is bringing the most noticeable impacts to the New Jersey coast two days later than model guidance suggested when it was in the Outer Banks area. So two extra days in the gulf and two extra days in the Atlantic equals four days of time gained from the slower moving and unpredictable system. This is why the windiest conditions with the higher tide cycles are occurring a few days after Labor Day weekend instead of during. With that said, expect a windy day Tuesday and some of Wednesday as the system approaches the New Jersey coast and Long Island areas. It will be weakening as it moves, so it shouldnt bring anything crazy to our area rain and windwise. However, coastal flooding concerns still remain through this period. The second half of Wednesday and into the weekend looks warm, humid and sunny. That will be from the high pressure ridge that helps boot Hermines remnants out. Its been great covering for Dan Skeldon. Ill see you in a few weeks when I do it again. Everyone have a great Tuesday and please be safe! A third man charged with murder in connection to two shooting deaths at a Red Roof Inn in Absecon has been arrested. Tywan Dixon, 22, of Pleasantville, was found and arrested Aug. 31 in Glen Burnie, Maryland by members of the Anne Arundel County Police Fugitive Apprehension Team. He is now at the Atlantic County jail in Mays Landing. Two other men arrested in the case are Brian Bennett, 25, of Pleasantville and Aaquile Reeves, 20, of Absecon, both are charged with murder. Officials say the killings occurred during a drug deal in the motel room. A fourth suspect charged in the case, Donnell Nicholas, 24, of Atlantic City, is still on the loose. Suspect in two Atlantic City stabbings arrested A man who is suspected for allegedly stabbing two men in August was arrested on Saturday in On March 1, 2015, Diante Owens, 22, of Pleasantville, and Gerald Alvarez, 22, of Mays Landing, were found dead at the Red Roof Inn on Absecon Boulevard. Acting Prosecutor Diane Ruberton says the killings were the result of a drug deal in the motel room and that both sides had and fired handguns. The felony murder charge applies solely to Alvarez's death, according to a statement from the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office. Bail for all four men has been set at $750,000 with no 10 percent. Someday soon, when you least expect it, a police officer may receive mistaken information from a confused eyewitness or a liar, or circumstantial evidence that helps persuade him that you might be guilty of a very serious crime. When confronted with police officers and other government agents who suddenly arrive with a bunch of questions, most innocent people mistakenly think to themselves, "Why not talk? I haven't done anything. I have nothing to hide. What could possibly go wrong?" Well, among other things, you could end up confessing to a crime you didn't commit. The problem of false confessions is not an urban legend. It is a documented fact. Indeed, research suggests that the innocent may be more susceptible than the culpable to deceptive police interrogation tactics, because they tragically assume that somehow "truth and justice will prevail" later even if they falsely admit their guilt. Nobody knows for sure how often innocent people make false confessions, but as Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski recently observed, "Innocent interrogation subjects confess with surprising frequency." It happens especially in cases when the suspect is young and vulnerable. An analysis of 125 proven false confessions found that 33 percent of the suspects were juveniles at the time of arrest, and at least 43 percent were either mentally disabled or ill. Another study of 340 exonerations found that 13 percent of adults falsely confessed compared to 42 percent of juveniles. And nearly half of the exonerated children were put behind bars because of something they said to police without an attorney present. In Oakland, California, police isolated and interrogated a 16-year-old named Felix in the middle of the night without a lawyer and denied his requests to see his mother. Eventually he gave them a detailed, videotaped confession to a murder, allegedly filled with numerous specifics only the real killer would have known. At that point, it looked like there was little chance this young man would be able to avoid a conviction; when a jury hears that someone has confessed, they are almost certain to convict. But fortunately for young Felix, it was later revealed that he had an airtight alibi: He had been locked up in a juvenile detention facility the day of the killing. The charges were dismissed, and he was released from jail. Eddie Lowery was a 22-year-old soldier stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, when he was interrogated for an entire workday about a rape and murder he never committed. Like a typical innocent man, he persisted for hours in emphatic assertions of innocence. Like typical police officers, the interrogators acted open-minded and unconvinced. Perhaps, he foolishly hoped, he might persuade them of his innocence if he repeated his story over and over again at greater and greater length. After the daylong interrogation, he was worn out and gave them a detailed confession. He served more than 20 years in prison until he was recently released, after evidence proved that he was actually innocent. So why in the world did Lowery confess, when we now know that he was innocent all along? He explained the mindset of someone who has been broken down by hours of relentless interrogation: "I didn't know any way out of that, except to tell them what they wanted to hear, and then get a lawyer to prove my innocence. You've never been in a situation so intense, and you're naive about your rights. You don't know what (someone) will say to get out of that situation." One analysis of 44 proven false-confession cases revealed that more than a third of the interrogations lasted six to 12 hours, many lasted between 12 and 24 hours, and the average length was more than 16 hours. The longer you speak to police officers, the more likely it is that you will confess to some crime that you did not commit - isn't that enough of a reason to avoid speaking to them? Don't talk to the police - except to tell them, respectfully, that you will not answer any questions and that you would like a lawyer. James Duane is a professor at Regent Law School in Virginia Beach, Va., and the author of "You Have the Right to Remain Innocent." Muslims should support screening immigrants too An Aug. 15 Associated Press article, "NYC police, Muslims disagree over imam shooter's motivation'," discusses a shooting and the community's belief that it was a hate crime, but that the police have found no evidence to support that. A quote attributed to Monir Chowdhury, a friend of the two Muslim men who were murdered, says, "This neighborhood is getting crazy because of this election and Trump. He hates Muslims, I love this neighborhood and now I'm scared." This is incorrect and libelous. First of all, Donald Trump has never shown any hatred toward Muslims. He has proposed a pause in immigration from terrorist-infested areas to weed out radical jihadists who have stated that they plan to infiltrate Muslim refugees who are being resettled in this country. Why would Chowdhury, or any of the Muslim communities, be offended by this planned scrutiny? As I see it, if Chowdhury truly loves his neighborhood and this country, would he not want to have a system in place to keep it safe and keep terrorists out? Kathleen F. Pendlebury Cape May Court House Seniors should base vote on government programs I am a proud senior citizen and military retiree. Every month I'm grateful for my check from Social Security. Every doctor's visit or medical procedure I've been through in the last five years, I was grateful for Medicare. I think some of my fellow seniors have forgotten that the Democratic Party was responsible for those two programs. Seniors shouldn't vote for that bombastic, never-served, billionaire buffoon with that stupid hat. Social Security and Medicare are always on the Republicans' hit list of programs that they want to tweak, or even do away with. Hillary Clinton is no saint, but the thought of Donald Trump running this great country makes me want to throw up. David Lapp North Cape May Straub project afflicted by N.J., A.C. liberals As the Atlantic City liberals continue to find reasons why Glenn Straub should not open the former Revel, a lot of people think that Straub should not need to go through this any longer and should pitch it into the faces of the horrible liberals who run New Jersey and Atlantic City. Straub should do what he feels is necessary to recover some of his money lost in this ghost house and move back where he would have some educated people to work with, instead of having to cope with this group of people, if one can call them that. The liberals are doing everything possible to help this turkey who bought the Showboat but are doing nothing to help Straub along. Barry Koob Egg Harbor City No Trump tax return before Democrat emails Even though I am a Donald Trump supporter, I feel that he should release his income tax returns. However, he should not produce them until Hillary Clinton has submitted her 30,000 deleted emails and Lois Lerner of the IRS has produced her lost emails. Until that time, he should stand his ground and not produce his income tax returns. What were these two officials hiding and what ever happened to the supposedly open government of this administration? Ted Hesser Mays Landing MULLICA TOWNSHIP Recurring water-quality problems at the Mullica Woods manufactured home park have residents concerned for their health, especially after they have been under a boil-water notice for two weeks. In the latest problem, a well failure sent sand into the water-treatment system and knocked it out of commission late last month, according to owners Hometown America Communities of Chicago. The system then had to be treated with high levels of chlorine, which meant residents could not use the water at all for about two days. Tara Edmonds, the companys eastern regional manager, said Tuesday the boil-water alert and chlorine flush were required by the state as a result of that failure and loss of water pressure, not as a result of water quality. About 30 residents met in the community clubhouse Tuesday to discuss the problem, which they said is only the most recent in a string of water and sewer issues. I pay $8,000 a year to live here. This place should be beautiful, said Bob Maholland, a resident for 20 years. Instead, he said there are constant problems. While he believes Hometown America is trying to fix them, and is doing more than two other previous owners, he said the aggravation is taking its toll. If its not the water, its the septic system. If not the septic system, its the electric. Its a constant problem in here, Maholland said. The notices told them to boil their water for at least a minute before drinking or using for food preparation, making ice, brushing teeth, or washing dishes, because of potential bacterial contamination. Hometown America, based in Chicago, owns the 55-plus community and its water and sewer systems. Residents own their homes, but rent the land they sit on from the company. The company also owns and runs Oaks of Weymouth, where residents have complained of poor drainage and standing water damaging their homes; and The Fairways at Mays Landing, which was recently named the Manufactured Housing Industrys Land-Leased Community of the Year for the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Region. The company has provided each house with two cases of bottled water, residents said. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection gets involved every time a boil-water advisory is issued, spokesman Larry Hajna said. He said the DEPs system has received verbal results that the total coliform samples are negative, but was waiting for the laboratory to certify the results prior to lifting the boil water advisory. The DEP has also received an application from the park for changes in water treatment and to replace the storage tank, Hajna said. Residents said the tank is the source of the rusty color and taste of their water. Hajna said the original application was received on Dec. 18, 2015, and the DEP responded that there were deficiencies with the application. He said the companys response was just received on Sept. 1 and is under review. Mullica Woods has had some monitoring and reporting violations mostly due to the system submitting results late and a CCR (Consumer Confidence Report) violation, Hajna said, but all of the violations are closed. We have had ongoing problems with the water ever since we moved here, said Joyce Howell, a resident for 12 years. Howell said she has always purchased bottled water because what comes out of her tap, even when not under a boil notice, has so much iron and a rotten egg smell. Its not like youd want to cook in it or drink it, she said. Contact: 609-272-7219 Twitter @MichelleBPost TRENTON, N.J. (AP) Donald Trump is pledging that the government he appoints will bring sweeping change to Washington's culture. So far, that promise comes with a heavy New Jersey accent. Despite being passed over for the job of Trump's running mate, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and an entourage of his closest allies could leave a lasting mark on a Trump administration, should he win in November. As chairman of Trump's transition team, Christie is building a coalition of advisers who will staff key federal government agencies and execute new policy prescriptions if Trump wins the general election. Among them, are two of his longtime aides, Rich Bagger, a lobbyist who helped lead Christie's gubernatorial transition team and Bill Palatucci, a top Christie adviser whose law firm has been showered with government legal work. "The chairman is the public face, sets the tone and ensures the transition has good connectivity with the candidate," said Clay Johnson, who served as executive director of George W. Bush's transition team in 2000. The team also includes Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner a New Jersey native along with some experienced government officials such as Jaime Burke, who was the personnel director for the Romney transition team in 2012 and a White House liaison to Health and Human Services under George W. Bush. Christie is also hosting a transition team fundraiser in New Jersey later this month, promising to give an inside look at the team for $5,000 a person. Presidential transition teams lay the groundwork early since the winner is ultimately faced with the daunting task of readying the new administration in the two and a half months between Election Day and the inauguration. "You have to be proactive," Johnson added. "We didn't know how fast warp speed was but a transition goes faster than that. It's a mind boggling challenge." As a former presidential contender, Christie has taken some very public swings at his opponent-turned-ally. He's called the New York businessman "thin-skinned," and said Trump's proposed Syria policies are "painfully naive." Also Christie, like a number of Trump's closest advisers, brings his own share of baggage to the campaign. The embattled governor is still grappling with the fallout from a scandal back home, after lanes were closed on the George Washington bridge for political retribution. Lawyers for former Christie appointee Bill Baroni recently revealed text messages sent from an administration staffer to a campaign staffer that Christie "flat out lied" about his knowledge of the scandal. Christie, who has not been charged and denies wrongdoing, disputed the remarks and called them "ridiculous." The criminal trial against Baroni and another former Christie aide is scheduled to begin Sept. 19. Personal relationships have counted for a lot in previous presidential transition teams: George W. Bush tapped his longtime appointments director and chief of staff Johnson along with Dick Cheney, who chaired the effort, and Barack Obama's close adviser and friend Valerie Jarrett co-chaired his 2008 transition. In Trump's case, however, it appears to be Christie's relationships that count. Palatucci, a good friend of Christie's and a longtime adviser, is serving as the transition team's counsel and Bagger, Christie's first chief of staff who is now an executive at a biopharmaceutical firm with close ties to his administration, was hired as executive director. A former law partner and Republican political player, Palatucci is a longtime lobbyist for Community Education Centers and helped the company get contracts to house convicted criminals in privatized halfway houses. In late 2012, Palatucci left that job to join the law firm Gibbons, P.C. which has been one of the biggest recipients of state contracts for outside legal work since Palatucci was hired. That includes more than $3 million to defend the state in a whistleblower suit involving an investigation of a Christie donor who received a fake law enforcement ID badge. That donor founded Celgene, the New Jersey biotech firm Bagger left the Christie administration to work for. As part of his lobbying job for the company, Bagger also accompanied Christie on international economic policy trips that many saw as precursors to his presidential campaign. They were funded by a nonprofit called Choose New Jersey, which is financed by business contributions from Celgene and other businesses. For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME. Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire. Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever. Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation. View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union. Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history. Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words. PUNE, India, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new market research report "Defibrillators Market by Product (Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (Transvenous ICD, Single & Dual Chamber, CRT-D, & S-ICD) and External (Manual, AED, & Wearable)), & End User (Hospital, Prehospital, Public Access, & Home) - Global Forecasts to 2021" published by MarketsandMarkets, The global market is expected to reach USD 14.21 Billion by 2021 from USD 10.01 Billion in 2016, at a CAGR of 7.3% between 2016 and 2021. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 ) Browse 84 market data Tables and 36 Figures spread through 161 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Defibrillators Market" http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/automated-external-defibrillator-market-549.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. The development of technologically advanced defibrillators, rapid growth in the aging population with high risk of target diseases, rising incidences of cardiovascular diseases across the globe, growing focus of public and private organizations and key market players toward public access defibrillation, and increasing number of training and awareness programs across the globe will majorly drive the Defibrillators Market. This report broadly segments the global Defibrillators Market on the basis of products and end users. By products, the Defibrillators Market is segmented into implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) and external defibrillators. The ICDs segment is further divided into transvenous implantable cardioverter defibrillators (T-ICDs) and subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillators (S-ICDs). The T-ICDs segment is further classified into single-chamber ICDs, dual-chamber ICDs, and cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators (CRT-Ds). The external defibrillators segment is categorized into manual external defibrillators, automated external defibrillators (AEDs), and wearable cardioverter defibrillators (WCDs). The AEDs segment is further divided into semi-automated external defibrillators and fully automated external defibrillators. Speak to our research experts: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/speaktoanalyst.asp?id=549 On the basis of end users, the Defibrillators Market is divided into five major segments, namely, hospitals, clinics, & cardiac centers; prehospital; public access markets; alternate care markets; and home care. The hospitals, clinics, & cardiac centers segment is expected to account for the largest share of the Defibrillators Market in 2016. However, the public access markets segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR in the next five years. This report covers the Defibrillators Market across four major geographies, namely, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Rest of the World (RoW). North America is expected to hold the largest share of this market in 2016, while Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period from 2016 to 2021. Improving healthcare infrastructure, favorable government initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region, increasing incidences of cardiovascular diseases, and growing focus of market players are expected to drive the Defibrillators Market in this region. Medtronic PLC (Ireland), St. Jude Medical, Inc. (U.S.), Boston Scientific Corporation (U.S.), BIOTRONIK SE & Co. KG (Germany), LivaNova PLC (U.K.), Koninklijke Philips N.V. (Netherlands), ZOLL Medical Corporation (U.S.), Cardiac Science Corporation (U.S.), Physio-Control, Inc. (U.S.), and Nihon Kohden Corporation (Japan) are the key players in the global Defibrillators Market. Browse Related Reports: Cardiac Monitoring & Cardiac Rhythm Management Market by ECG, Implantable Loop Recorder, Manual Event Monitor, Cardiac Output Monitoring, Defibrillator, Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator, Dual Chamber Pacemaker, CRT-D, CRT-P - Global Forecast to 2020 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/cardiac-monitoring-advanced-technologies-and-global-market-55.html Refurbished Medical Equipment Market (Ultrasound, MRI, CT Scanner, C-Arm, Nuclear Imaging Systems, Heart-Lung Machine, Surgical, CO2 Monitor, Patient Monitor, Pulse Oximeter, AED Defibrillator, Cath Labs, Stretchers, Endoscopy) - Global Forecasts to 2019 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/refurbished-medical-devices-market-770.html About MarketsandMarkets: MarketsandMarkets is the largest market research firm worldwide in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers. We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository. Contact: Mr. Rohan Markets and Markets UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India 1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog @ http://mnmblog.org/market-research/healthcare/medical-devices Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets SOURCE MarketsandMarkets BASINGSTOKE, England, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Almost 80% of Assistants in-use to be via mobile devices. A new report from Juniper Research shows that increased use of Digital Assistants, such as Siri and Cortana, on smart devices will provide new paid search opportunities in the coming years. Juniper forecasts that over $12Bn of ad spend per annum will be made through this rapidly growing medium by 2021, an increase of over 3,000% on estimated spend for 2016. New Platform, New Opportunities The new study, Digital Voice Assistants: Platforms, Revenues & Opportunities 2016-2021, found that besides integration into devices like smartphones and PCs, Assistants will be part of many home and automotive devices in future, creating new spaces for human-computer interaction. These sectors will initially see the highest usage, paving the way for wider adoption of Assistants towards the end of the 2010s. Improvements in artificial intelligence have led to a proliferation of programs, of which Siri, Google Now and Cortana are the best known. However, there are several others, from Amazon to Nuance, SoundHound and Vi, that will provide strong competition. Privacy Concerns As much of the technology grew out of voice search, Juniper expects Digital Assistants to follow a similar monetisation strategy, with companies paying to provide specific targeted results. However, they often rely on data gathered about users, such as search and location history, shopping habits and demographic information, to be most relevant. This will be concerning for many, who are likely to eschew the technology for privacy and security reasons. "Voice Assistants are a great opportunity to create more convenient ways to interact with devices," remarked research author James Moar. "However, they need to balance the need for accurate data with consumers' privacy needs, and this will drive changes in how digital assistants are programmed in future, in order to make the data secure and under the users' control." The whitepaper, 'Hey Siri, How's the Competition?', is available to download from the Juniper website together with further details of the full research. Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary. For further details please contact Sam Smith, Press Relations. T: +44(0)1256-830001 E: sam.smith@juniperresearch.com SOURCE Juniper Research SUNNYVALE, California, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Zinnov Recognized eInfochips' IoT Technology Services in Product Development Engineering, Including Services in Sensors and Devices Engineering, Software Platform Engineering and Management, Network Engineering and Management, and Engineering Analytics eInfochips, a leading Product Engineering and Software R&D services firm, recently announced that the company was rated as an "Established" service provider in "Zinnov Zones 2016 - Internet of Things Technology Services". The rating places the company as a specialized player with a strong focus on innovation, IPs, and an excellent breadth and depth of technology services and R&D practice in IoT. eInfochips is featured in the "Execution Zone" for the segment Product Development Engineering, and the sub-segments Sensors & Devices Engineering, Software Platform Engineering & Management, and Network Engineering & Management. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131029/648699 ) "We are happy to be recognized as one of the key players in the IoT product development space," said Abhishek Binaykia, Associate Vice President of Marketing at eInfochips. "With services from sensors to cloud to analytics, and investments in IoT platforms and solutions, we have been enabling competitive advantage for our customers with smart solutions in domains such as Security and Surveillance, Healthcare, Retail, Home Automation, Industrial, and more. Our in-depth service offerings and platform driven approach positions us well to serve and co-create the next generation IoT products with top R&D companies across the world." The Zinnov Zones 2016 - Internet of Things Technology Services analyzed the global IoT market and trends from point-of-view of both client and service providers. Global service providers were then rated on their IoT Technology Services competency across Zinnov Zones. The ratings were done extensively across varied segments: advisory & consulting, product development engineering, managed services and their respective sub segments to analyze the overall position of a service provider. For more information, please click here. About Zinnov: Founded in 2002, Zinnov - meaning Zeal in Innovation - is a leading Globalization and Market Expansion Advisory firm, with specialization in areas such as Digital Transformation, Global Sourcing, Emerging Markets Expansion, Human Capital Optimization, Small & Medium Businesses, Innovation, Cloud Computing and Enterprise Mobility. Zinnov offers advisory services to global leaders in business and technology and works collectively with them to tackle prevailing organizational challenges by analyzing changing dynamics, improving performance, and building institutional capability. The services delivered to its clients through advanced reasoning and analytical techniques, provides solutions that help in integrating organizational vision, business definition and processes. Visit at http://www.zinnov.com . To request information, contact Jaya Shukla at media@zinnov.com About eInfochips: eInfochips is a global technology firm specializing in product engineering and software R&D services. The company offers product innovation and hi-tech engineering consulting services for many Fortune 500 companies. It has the infrastructure, processes and experience to seamlessly deliver turnkey solutions from its global offshore development centers. It has contributed to 500+ products and over 10M deployments in 130 countries for both small and large product organizations, across the world. The company has sales presence in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Cedar Rapids, Cincinnati, Chicago, Dallas, Irvine, Raleigh and Sunnyvale in the US, Toronto (Canada), Bangalore (India) and London (UK). Visit us at http://www.einfochips.com, or stay connected on LinkedIn, Facebook, SlideShare, Twitter and YouTube. To request for more information, contact marketing@einfochips.com Sooryanarayanan Balasubramanian (+1) 408-496-1882 | (+91) 79-2656-3705 SOURCE eInfochips LONDON, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- More than a third (37%) of Europeans are optimistic about their future standard of living over the next five years. But over a fifth (23%) are pessimistic, leaving a net optimism balance of only 14%. There are sharp divisions on personal goals and expectations depending on background, income, their personal circumstances and where they live. The findings come from a new report from ING and Motivaction1, Bridging the Empowerment Divide, which is part of ING's ongoing Think Forward Initiative to help people make smarter financial decisions. The study was conducted among over 13,000 people in 13 countries and explores their values in life, views on goal setting and standard of living. There are clear divisions within society, with stark differences at a country and regional level in terms of expectations of standard of living over the next five years. In general, people's expectations reflect their experiences over the last five years. In the faster growing Eastern economies people are generally more positive about the future as the economies continue to mature, while a lacklustre recovery in Western Europe leaves people less optimistic. Among the more crisis-hit economies, Spain is a dramatic exception to the pattern of expectations reflecting past experience. Following a robust economic rebound, a net balance of 54% of people in Spain are now optimistic about their living standards, matching the continued optimism of those in China. In contrast, people in France, Belgium and Italy are far more pessimistic, reflecting the economic and political challenges facing these countries. Optimism for improvement in the UK is also relatively low. Expectations in Europe as a whole (37%) also lag behind the USA and China, where expectations about standard of living are much more positive (45% and 64%), reflecting the relative strength of these two superpowers. These cross-country divergences stem from dramatic differences in personal experiences. People's expectations about the next five years strongly reflect their experiences in the last five. 60% of those feeling better off from the last five years are optimistic about the future, while over half (53%) of those feeling worse off expect their situation to deteriorate further - painting a picture of rising inequality. Rising standards of living and greater optimism are more prevalent among higher income and highly educated groups, who in turn are also more likely to set financial goals. The study reveals a strong correlation in Europe with respect to people's ability to keep up with the complexities of modern life and personal goal setting. There is a stark divide between those who have set financial goals and those who have not. Of the 45% of respondents with clear financial goals, almost half (47%) are optimistic about their future, in contrast to 29% of those without. Optimists not only more often have clear financial goals, they are more goal oriented in general - 43% indicate that they also have clear personal goals and 46% have clear professional goals. For pessimists these figures are only 27% and 21%. People who don't have clear financial, professional or personal goals are mostly found among the lower income classes, the lower educated and older people - and it is this group who are most pessimistic about the future, feel discouraged and tend to focus on the here and now. Mark Cliffe, Chief Economist, ING commented: "Sluggish growth in Europe is clearly linked to the growing divide between people's economic experiences, and we see this divide reflected in their expectations. Those who have fared worse over the past five years typically expect it to continue, and are far less likely to set financial goals, while whose have benefited are more likely to. "With the recent economic crisis threatening the survival of the welfare state around the globe, the shift to self-reliance means those without the tools to look after themselves are being left behind. Alienation in society is extending to personal finances - and businesses, as well as governments, will have to confront this reality." Martijn Lampert, Research Director Glocalities at Motivaction: "The study shows a clear picture of inequalities in Europe. We identified a significant group of Europeans that feel isolated in the economic and social domain. People who don't have clear financial, professional or personal goals are overrepresented among the lower income classes, the lower educated and older people. Especially this group is pessimistic about the future, feels discouraged and focuses on the here and now. There is a strong divide in Europe with respect to competences and goal setting. Europeans who actively take control and set goals for themselves are better able to keep up with the complexities of modern life and ensure a better future than people who don't." The report, 'Bridging the Empowerment Divide', is part of a series being produced for the Think Forward Initiative - where the ultimate goal is to address the question: how can we help people make better financial decisions? One of the key elements of the Think Forward Initiative is crowdsourcing of expertise from around the world. SOURCE ING DUBLIN, September 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global Drilling Data Management Systems Market 2016-2020" report to their offering. The global drilling data management systems to grow at a CAGR of 12.31% during the period 2016-2020. The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global drilling data management systems for 2016-2020. The report also presents the vendor landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of the top vendors operating in the market. The drilling process is one of the most crucial links in not only the upstream segment but the entire oil and gas value chain. Once the presence of a perceived commercial hydrocarbon reservoir is established by the surveying and analysis of the geophysical data, the actual drilling process takes place. As with the process of introduction of any new technology, the implementation of new generation smarter drilling data management systems is contingent upon key factors. These are the factors that are heavily scrutinized by the stakeholders before they actually invest in the purchase and implementation of these systems. Smart oilfield technologies is one of the trends spurring growth for the market. The digitization of the oil and gas industry holds the key to many issues faced by the industry. Throughout the report, we have discussed the potential of data in the drilling and completion segment of the E&P business. However, this is now largely becoming part of the digitization process of all the aspects of the upstream business. This is indicative of the rise of the smart oil field technology. Key vendors Baker Hughes Halliburton Honeywell IBM National Oilwell Varco Oracle Pason Systems Schlumberger Other prominent vendors EMC SAP SAS Accenture Capgemini WIPRO Tata Consultancy Services Infosys Key Topics Covered: Part 01: Executive summary Part 02: Scope of the report Part 03: Market research methodology Part 04: Introduction Part 05: Market landscape Part 06: Market segmentation by Product Types Part 07: Geographical segmentation Part 08: Key leading countries Part 09: Market drivers Part 10: Impact of drivers Part 11: Market challenges Part 12: Impact of drivers and challenges Part 13: Market trends Part 14: Vendor landscape Part 15: Key vendor analysis Part 16: Appendix For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/zlndm5/global_drilling Related Topics: Data Storage and Management Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com SOURCE Research and Markets MISGAV, Israel, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Gordian Surgical, a portfolio company of The Trendlines Group, received CE clearance for its TroClose1200, an innovative trocar with integrated closure system for the suturing of abdominal wall incisions during laparoscopic surgical procedures. The Company announced the completion of registration and receipt of CE approval to begin marketing the TroClose1200. Together with this certification, Gordian also received ISO13485 certification. Gordian Surgical's TroClose1200 acts both as a trocar, through which surgical instruments enter the abdomen, and to close internal incisions made during surgery, delivering "two-in-one" functionality. Currently, surgeons insert sutures in a time-consuming and difficult process at the end of the procedure or they close internal incisions with the use of an additional device. Using the TroClose1200's uniquely designed release mechanism, sutures are inserted into the tissue at the beginning of the procedure and anchored to remain in place throughout the operation, allowing incisions to be closed easily and quickly upon removal of the TroClose1200. Gordian has started human trials to demonstrate safety and efficacy and has, to date, performed 34 successful laparoscopic procedures using the TroClose1200, including hysterectomy, cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal), hernia repair, and sleeve gastrectomy. The surgeries were performed by four different surgeons in two medical centers in Israel and abroad. Gordian expects to complete 50 additional procedures as part of the trial by the end of 2016. Gordian CEO Zvi Pe'er remarks: "Receiving CE Mark certification allows us to move to the next phase and start sales, a critical step in our development. We expect to begin sales during the first half of 2017." Gordian Surgical has raised approximately $3 million from The Trendlines Group, Pirveli Ventures (a Canadian foundation operating in Israel), Chinese investment fund Virtus Inspire Ventures, Israel's Office of the Chief Scientist, and private investors, including renowned Israeli and American surgeons. Contact: Zvi Peer, zpeer@gordiansurgical.com, +972-50-4203333 SOURCE Gordian Surgical LONDON, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hanky is now introducing a new feature called 'Moments'. This allows every user to blast their neighbourhood with a live photo as a signal to meet. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160105/319270LOGO ) (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160905/404056 ) (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160905/404057 ) 'Moments' has been developed as a response to guys being tired of chatting endlessly on other gay apps, only to be disappointed when they meet their date in person because of a very out-of-date photo. Jonas Cronfeld, co-founder of Hanky, said: "We developed 'Moments' to let anyone anywhere on the planet send out a simple signal to other guys in his neighbourhood that he's available for meeting guys now, just by pressing a button. A live photo showing exactly what he looks like at this very moment prevents no-longer accurate photos misleading people. It seems to be working brilliantly for our users." Ellis, a genuine user of the app, said: "I'm from London but was on holiday in Greece last week. I only had one night alone open for fun. I simply sent out a Moment from my hotel and immediately guys from all over the Island started showing an interest. I met up with a great guy for drinks an hour later and it turned out to be quite a success." Hanky launched Moments in beta in Paris in August and it has been rolled out globally this week. Hanky is available in English, German, French, Spanish, Danish and Portuguese. For more information and download visit http://www.Hanky.com SOURCE Hanky NEW YORK and LONDON, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ICIS Chemical Business magazine has unveiled its annual ICIS Top 100 Chemical Companies, a global listing of producers ranked by 2015 sales. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160408/353056LOGO ) The ICIS Top 100 Chemical Companies ranking, sponsored by U.S. Chemicals, a Maroon Group company, is available for download as a PDF at http://www.icis.com/pages/icis-top-100-chemical-companies. Germany's BASF retains its position as the world's leading chemical company with $76.6bn in sales, followed by China's Sinopec at #2 with $50.2bn and US-based Dow Chemical at #3 with $48.8bn. Saudi Arabia's SABIC moves up to the #4 slot with $39.5bn in sales, followed by Japan's Mitsubishi Chemical at #5 with $34.0bn in revenues. Currency conversions to US dollars for the ranking were based on year-end 2015 exchange rates, or rates at the end of the company's fiscal year. In 2015, many of the ICIS Top 100 Chemical Companies posted significant sales declines on the back of lower crude oil prices. In reporting currency terms, sales fell 23.7% for Sinopec, 16.1% for Dow and 21.6% for SABIC. Leader BASF posted a modest 5.2% decline. "Commodity chemical companies felt the brunt of the impact of lower crude oil prices on their top lines in 2015," said Joseph Chang, Global Editor of ICIS Chemical Business. "However, many companies demonstrated their resilience, showing lesser declines or even increases in underlying profitability." Over the course of calendar 2015, the average Brent crude oil price fell by 47.3%. The annual average of the ICIS Petrochemical Index (IPEX), a capacity-weighted basket of prices for 12 petrochemicals and polymers, declined by 28%, noted Nigel Davis, ICIS Insight Editor. "Chemical companies had to work hard to lift volumes in a slower demand growth environment dominated by the complexity of China's economic realignment. The addition of considerable new production capacities in China is having a widespread impact in global petrochemicals and plastics, as well as intermediates," said Davis. The ICIS Top 100 Chemical Companies runs over three consecutive weekly issues. The September 12 issue of ICIS Chemical Business will feature the geographic leaders in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East & Africa. The September 19 issue will highlight the ICIS Company of the Year based on financial metrics. About ICIS Chemical Business ICIS Chemical Business is the global weekly publication keeping you up-to-date on chemical prices with market news and analysis of both short term and long term drivers. Get your weekly global summary of these markets by subscribing today at http://www.icis.com/about/icis-chemical-business-magazine. About ICIS ICIS Chemical Business is part of ICIS. ICIS is the world's largest petrochemical market information provider and has fast-growing energy and fertilizer divisions. Our aim is to give companies in global commodities markets a competitive advantage by delivering trusted pricing data, high-value news, analysis and independent consulting, enabling our customers to make better-informed trading and planning decisions. We have more than 30 years' experience in providing pricing information, news, analysis and consulting to buyers, sellers and analysts. With a global staff of more than 800, ICIS has employees based in Houston, Washington, New York, London, Montpellier, Dusseldorf, Karlsruhe, Milan, Barcelona, Mumbai, Singapore, Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Yantai, Tokyo and Perth. ICIS is a division of Reed Business Information, part of RELX Group. About Maroon Group Maroon Group (http://www.maroongroupllc.com) is one of the fastest growing specialty chemical distributors in North America. Based in Avon, Ohio, Maroon has thrived on creating success for customers by forming partnerships with world-class manufacturers and supplying consistent products on-time. Customers have come to rely on Maroon's technical sales team, exceptional customer service, and global sourcing capabilities. Maroon Group's portfolio of companies include Addipel, CNX Distribution, D.B. Becker, Polyram USA, and U.S. Chemicals. The company continues to aggressively explore opportunities to expand our geographic reach and product portfolio via organic growth and strategic acquisition. Additional information on each of our portfolio companies can be found as follows: http://www.addipel.com, http://www.cnxdistribution.com, http://www.dbbecker.com, http://www.maroongroupllc.com, http://www.polyram-usa.com, http://www.uschemicals.com For editorial inquiries, contact: Joseph Chang Global Editor, ICIS Chemical Business T: +1-212-791-4224 joseph.chang@icis.com For commercial inquiries, contact: John Hill Head of Sales - Conferences, Publishing & Training ICIS T: +44(0)20-8652-3893 john.hill@icis.com SOURCE ICIS GRANGES-PACCOT, Switzerland, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Martin Kohler, who has been the president of PartyLite Europe, is set to become the global president of the world's leading brand in the direct selling of premium candles, flameless & home fragrance products and home decor accessories. Kohler will be responsible for the worldwide development of the direct selling company within the Luminex Home Decor & Fragrance Company, which owns PartyLite. He will lead the organization from its European PartyLite head offices in the Swiss city of Granges-Paccot. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160902/403792 ) Martin Kohler, who has been the president of PartyLite Europe since 2010, has been named to assume the global responsibilities of running the US-based direct seller of premium candles, flameless & home fragrance products and home decor accessories. Kohler, who has been with PartyLite for more than 15 years, brings deep knowledge and vast experience - both in terms of the company itself as well as in his understanding of the direct selling industry - to the role of worldwide president. The communications expert began his PartyLite career in 1999 as the head of marketing for PartyLite Germany, the company's largest European market. Following tenures as general manager in Switzerland and then later in Germany in 2003, Kohler assumed his most recent role as president of PartyLite Europe six years ago. In this position, Kohler, who was born in Bad Kreuznach in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, played a significant role in building the company's sales markets, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, and was responsible for developing the European market as a whole into the most important one for the company. Currently, PartyLite counts a network of 45,000 consultants active in 23 countries. Since May, two American giants within the industry -- PartyLite and Ohio-based Candle-lite company -- have come together to form the Luminex Home Decor & Fragrance Company. Though the two scented candle companies from the US have different target groups and sales markets, they profit from their combined product know-how, their research and development capabilities as well as their production capacities. Calvin Johnston, the CEO at Luminex, is more than convinced of the new president at PartyLite: "I am certain that Martin will lead PartyLite to continued global success and open new avenues for the company". Contact: Ms Satu Kankaansyrja Tel.: +41-26-460-38-10 E-Mail: skankaansyrja@partylite.eu http://www.partylite.eu SOURCE PartyLite Experts Examine the Future of Active Immunotherapy in Oncology and the potential role of Adagloxad Simolenin (OBI-822) TAIPEI, Taiwan, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- OBI Pharma, Inc., a Taiwan biotech company (TPex: 4174), today announced that it will host an industry-sponsored satellite symposium at the 2016 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Annual Meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, to be held October 7-11, 2016. The symposium "Novel Approaches to Active Immunotherapy in Oncology Targeting Globo Series with Adagloxad Simolenin" will review the data on targeting Globo Series antigens in Metastatic Breast Cancer and other cancers with the investigational active immunotherapy Adagloxad Simolenin (formerly OBI-822) and examine the future of active immunotherapy in oncology. The symposium will be moderated by Stephen Johnston, MA, PhD, FRCP, Professor of Breast Cancer Medicine and Medical Oncologist at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and The Institute of Cancer Research in London. Date: Monday, October 10, 2016 Time: 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. CEST Location: Athens Auditorium at the Bella Center in Copenhagen Presenters will include: Chiun-Sheng Huang , MD , Professor of Surgery and Director of The Breast Center at the National Taiwan University Hospital and the National Taiwan University College of Medicine , Professor of Surgery and Director of The Breast Center at the National Taiwan University Hospital and the National Taiwan University College of Medicine Heather L. McArthur , MD, MPH , Medical Oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center , Medical Oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Chi-Huey Wong , PhD, Professor of Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute , Past President Academia Sinica "OBI Pharma is pleased to host this educational symposium at the prestigious ESMO meeting to discuss the future of active immunotherapy in oncology and the role of Adagloxad Simolenin, a novel first-in-class active immunotherapy," said Amy Huang, General Manager of OBI Pharma. "OBI is committed to continuing the development of Adagloxad Simolenin for patients with Metastatic Breast Cancer and other cancers." The symposium is open to all ESMO attendees. Pre-registration is required online at http://activeimmunotherapy.apothecom.com. Dinner will be included. A Chinese translation of this release can be found here: http://www.obipharma.com/index.aspx?lang=chi&fn=news_content&no=84 About Adagloxad Simolenin (OBI-822) and OBI-821 Adagloxad Simolenin (formerly OBI-822) is a new first-in-class, investigational anti-cancer treatment that belongs to a novel class of active immunotherapies which target the Globo Series antigens (Globo H, SSEA-3 and SSEA-4). Adagloxad Simolenin is a synthetic glycoprotein comprised of a Tumor-Associated Carbohydrate Antigen (TACA), Globo H, covalently bound to a carrier protein, Keyhole Limpet Hemocyanin. OBI-821 is a saponin-based adjuvant. Globo Series antigens are expressed in high levels on the surface of malignant tumors in many epithelial cancers, such as breast, prostate, gastric, lung, colon, pancreatic, and ovarian cancer, among others. The immunogenicity of the antigen is enhanced by conjugating Globo H to the KLH carrier protein to form Adagloxad Simolenin (Globo H-KLH), and then co-administering it with the adjuvant, OBI-821. OBI Pharma recently completed a Phase 2 International efficacy and safety study in 349 patients with Metastatic Breast Cancer. Adagloxad Simolenin is exclusively licensed to OBI Pharma from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). About OBI Pharma OBI Pharma, Inc. is a Taiwan biopharmaceutical company that was established in 2002. Its mission is to develop novel therapeutic agents for unmet medical needs, including cancer and infectious diseases. The company's flagship product is Adagloxad Simolenin (formerly OBI-822), a first-in-class active immunotherapy for metastatic breast cancer. OBI is also developing next generation active immunotherapies for difficult to treat cancers, including lung, prostate, pancreatic, stomach, and ovarian cancer. Additional information can be found at www.obipharma.com/en. Forward-Looking Statements Statements included in this press release that are not a description of historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about future clinical trials, results and the timing of such trials and results. Such risk factors are identified and discussed from time to time in OBI Pharma's reports and presentations, including OBI Pharma's filings with the Taiwan Securities and Exchange Commission. COMPANY CONTACT: Sharon Lee OBI Pharma, Inc. +886 (2) 2702-8860 info@obipharma.com Related Links http://www.obipharma.com/en SOURCE OBI Pharma, Inc. FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- With photo Andrew Munt, to be Head of pentahotels UK pentahotels are well known for their unique style and creative approach. It continues to thrive with its strategic decision on creating a brand new position to reinforce the hotel chain's UK market development: Andrew Munt appointed to be first Head of pentahotels UK from 1st August 2016 in the company's history. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160906/404265 ) pentahotels are looking to further strengthen their global market presence thorough expansion plans for the UK. Andrew Munt will be the drive behind the opening of further pentahotels throughout the United Kingdom and put his fingerprint on the measures. When Andrew Munt stepped into pentahotel Reading almost seven years ago for a job interview with Alastair Thomann, today Managing Director of pentahotels, he knew right away that he could be part of something very special in the hotel industry - and he was right! For the last three years, Andrew Munt has played a vital part in helping shape the penta portfolio in the UK - an experience through which he developed. Looking ahead, Andrew Munt is excited about playing a key role in the next chapters of the brand's development story. This course for expansion is something that Alastair Thomann, Managing Director of pentahotels, is especially delighted to announce: "We are looking into a very successful future for our brand as the expansion of pentahotels UK will only further position us as a globally recognised hotel chain. New openings in key locations in major cities will be another important milestone in the company's history. Andrew uniquely embodies the lifestyle hotel chain's philosophy and will play a key role in pentahotels' growth strategy." pentahotels represents a new generation of hotels. Known for its unique interior design and "neighbourhood" feel, the lifestyle brand stands for true innovation in the industry's four-star segment. With 27 hotels across seven countries over two continents, pentahotels offers individual and business travellers comfort and style in a relaxed atmosphere. The hallmark of the hotel chain is the pentalounge - a combination of lounge, bar, cafe and reception - that stands out with its "living room" look and feel. For further information and bookings, please visit www.pentahotels.com. Follow us on facebook.de/pentahotels for our latest news. media contacts: media consulta International Holding AG On behalf of pentahotels Sandra Bumbar-Malchow Phone: +49(0)30-65-000-320 Fax: +49(0)30-65-000-171 E-Mail: press.pentahotels@mcgroup.com Global Marketing & Communications Department pentahotels Max Siegers Penta Hotels Germany GmbH Westhafen Tower, Westhafenplatz 1 60327 Frankfurt a.M., Germany Phone: +49(0)69-256699-750 Fax: +49(0)69-256699-766 E-Mail: communications@pentahotels.com Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/pentahotels Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pentahotels/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pentahotels LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/penta-hotels Website: https://pentahotels.live/ Note to Editors: A picture/s accompanying this release is available through the PA Photowire. It can be downloaded from http://www.pa-mediapoint.press.net or viewed at http://www.mediapoint.press.net or http://www.prnewswire.co.uk . SOURCE Pentahotels ALBANY, New York, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The pharmaceutical products and CMO market in Latin America is immensely fragmented and there are a number of small as well as large players operating in the region. The top five companies, namely BASF SE, Bayer AG, Pfizer, Inc., Novartis AG, and Merck & Co., Inc., jointly accounted for approximately 23% of the total market in 2015. Interpret a Competitive outlook Analysis Report with free PDF Brochure: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=14009 Transparency Market Research states in a new report that the success of players in this market depends mainly on the development of innovative products that can address changing and unmet customer needs. Features and benefits that differentiate one company from its competitors are of utmost importance in the pharmaceutical products and CMO market. Expansion in regions with high growth potential is also a key strategy adopted by players to strengthen their position in the market. Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH has, over the past three years, expanded its footprint in China by investing an estimated EUR 22 mn in the construction of a new clinical research center. The opportunity in the Latin America pharmaceutical products and CMO market was pegged at US$127.9 bn in 2015 and is projected to be worth US$286.2 bn by the end of the forecast period, registering a strong CAGR of 9.3% therein. Argentina to Present Immensely Lucrative Options for Players Based on product type, the LATAM pharmaceutical products market is led by the finished dosage form segment, accounting for a share of just under 86% in 2015. This segment is projected to amount to US$244.4 bn by 2024, retaining its lead throughout the forecast period. "The API and ingredients segment, on the other hand, has been witnessing strong growth in Latin America and is projected to register a 9.8% CAGR during the forecast period," the analyst predicts. The CMO market in Latin America was led by the API and ingredients segment, with the finished dosage form segment registering a high growth rate from 2016 to 2024. Brazil leads the LATAM pharmaceutical products as well as CMO market in terms of value. Fueled by the growing focus on research, this market is projected to value US$67.3 bn by the end of the forecast period. Argentina, on the other hand, is anticipated to emerge as one of the most lucrative markets by 2024, registering an impressive 11.6% CAGR from 2016 to 2024. View exclusive Global strategic Business report: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/latin-america-pharmaceutical-products-cmo-market.html Rising R&D Cuts to Encourage CMO Activities "Several LATAM countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Peru, and Colombia have been undergoing an improvement in their regulatory frameworks and a more streamlined manner of processes," the author of the study has observed. The open business environment has attracted multinational pharmaceutical companies and encouraged drug makers to invest in LATAM. Swift drug approvals and a traditional inclination toward free trade has worked in the favor of the healthcare sector in most LATAM countries and this has driven the pharmaceutical products market in the region. The CMO market in Latin America is primarily driven by the fact that a number of blockbuster drugs are going off patent in the next few years. "Innovation in the pharmaceutical industry has taken a hit owing to rising R&D cuts by federal banks and a decline in the productive outcomes of R&D," the analyst states. "This, combined with patent expirations, have compelled large companies to seek synergies with CMOs through mergers and acquisitions." Browse Regional PR: http://www.europlat.org/latin-america-pharmaceutical-products-cmo-market.htm LATAM Pharmaceutical Products and CMO Market, by Product Type API and Ingredients Finished Dosage Form (FDF) Pharmaceutical Packaging LATAM Pharmaceutical Products and CMO Market, by Country Brazil Mexico Venezuela Argentina Rest of Latin America Browse Other Latest Research Reports: Life Sciences BPO Market: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/life-sciences-bpo-market.html Healthcare CMO Market: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/healthcare-cmo-market.html Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/active-pharmaceutical-ingredients.html About Us: Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S. based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMR's global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations. US Office Contact Transparency Market Research 90 State Street, Suite 700 Albany, NY 12207 Tel: +1-518-618-1030 USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Website: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Blog: http://www.tmrblog.com/ SOURCE Transparency Market Research BERLIN and BOSTON, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Piramal Imaging SA and PET Pharm Biotech Co. Ltd today announce the companies have entered into a strategic partnership and licensing agreement to provide PET Pharm Biotech with exclusive rights to manufacture, market, and distribute NeuraCeq (florbetaben F18 injection), throughout Taiwan. NeuraCeq is a radiopharmaceutical tracer for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging of patients being evaluated for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other causes of cognitive impairment. Alzheimer's disease, a condition that slowly destroys memory and cognitive abilities, currently affects more than 190,000 people in Taiwan according to Taiwan's Consumers Foundation. Until today, an estimated 20-30% of patients with dementia have been misdiagnosed and often experienced extended diagnostic episodes before receiving a clinical diagnosis.1 Historically, a definitive diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease could only be made after death based on autopsy findings of beta-amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain after death. Today, a comprehensive clinical evaluation in combination with in-vivo biomarkers, such as beta-amyloid PET imaging, improves the diagnostic accuracy while the patient is still alive, allowing for optimal patient management and better health outcomes. "We are confident that our commitment to providing access to diagnostic beta-amyloid radiotracers in Taiwan will have a significant impact on the management of patients suspected of having Alzheimer's disease," said Chih-Hao K. Kao, Chairman of the Board of Directors at PET Pharm Biotech. "In the context of evidence-based medicine, the introduction of NeuraCeq in the marketplace will offer a new clinical evaluation method for patients, physicians and caregivers alike in the diagnosis and management of Alzheimer's disease. It could potentially help identify more efficacious interventions to help prevent, halt or slow down this terrible disease. PET Pharm Biotech is currently applying for a marketing authorization with the Taiwanese FDA." "Piramal Imaging continues to expand its manufacturing and distribution network to bring NeuraCeq into new markets," said Ludger Dinkelborg, Member of the Board, Piramal Imaging. "The partnership with PET Pharm Biotech demonstrates our commitment to further expanding our global presence and increasing access to beta-amyloid PET scanning for imagers and referring physicians to advance the accuracy of clinical diagnosis in Alzheimer's disease." About NeuraCeq (florbetaben F18 injection) Indication NeuraCeq is indicated for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging of the brain to estimate beta-amyloid neuritic plaque density in adult patients with cognitive impairment who are being evaluated for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other causes of cognitive decline. A negative NeuraCeq scan indicates sparse to no amyloid neuritic plaques and is inconsistent with a neuropathological diagnosis of AD at the time of image acquisition; a negative scan result reduces the likelihood that a patient's cognitive impairment is due to AD. A positive NeuraCeq scan indicates moderate to frequent amyloid neuritic plaques; neuropathological examination has shown this amount of amyloid neuritic plaque is present in patients with AD, but may also be present in patients with other types of neurologic conditions as well as older people with normal cognition. NeuraCeq is an adjunct to other diagnostic evaluations. Limitations of Use A positive NeuraCeq scan does not establish the diagnosis of AD or any other cognitive disorder. Safety and effectiveness of NeuraCeq have not been established for: Predicting development of dementia or other neurologic conditions; Monitoring responses to therapies. Important Safety Information Risk for Image Interpretation and Other Errors NeuraCeq can be used to estimate the density of beta-amyloid neuritic plaque deposition in the brain. NeuraCeq is an adjunct to other diagnostic evaluations. NeuraCeq images should be interpreted independent of a patient's clinical information. Physicians should receive training prior to interpretation of NeuraCeq images. Following training, image reading errors (especially false positive) may still occur. Additional interpretation errors may occur due to, but not limited to, motion artifacts or extensive brain atrophy. Radiation Risk Administration of NeuraCeq, similar to other radiopharmaceuticals, contributes to a patients overall long-term cumulative radiation exposure. Long-term cumulative radiation exposure is associated with an increased risk of cancer. It is important to ensure safe handling to protect patients and health care workers from unintentional radiation exposure. Most Common Adverse Reactions In clinical trials, the most frequently observed adverse drug reactions in 872 subjects with 978 NeuraCeq administrations were injection/application site erythema (1.7%), injection site irritation (1.2%), and injection site pain (3.9%). About Piramal Imaging SA Piramal Imaging SA, a division of Piramal Enterprises, Ltd., was formed in 2012 with the acquisition of the molecular imaging research and development portfolio of Bayer Pharma AG. By developing novel PET tracers for molecular imaging, Piramal Imaging is focusing on a key field of modern medicine. Piramal Imaging strives to be a leader in the Molecular Imaging field by developing innovative products that improve early detection and characterization of chronic and life threatening diseases, leading to better therapeutic outcomes and improved quality of life. For more information please go to www.piramal.com/imaging. About PET Pharm Biotech PET Pharm Biotech Co., Ltd. was incorporated in 2011 with its head office and manufacturing site in Taipei, Taiwan. As a premium producer of PET drugs for clinical use, PET Pharm Biotech is focusing on commercialization of newly developed PET tracers and other radiopharmaceuticals for the benefit of Taiwan's 23 million people. It is thus the best choice of a partner for international developers to introduce their innovative radiopharmaceuticals into Taiwan and other regional markets. For more information please go to www.petpharmbio.com. 1 Speechly CM, Bridges-Webb C, Passmore E. The pathway to dementia diagnosis. Med J Aust. 2008;189(9):487-9. Related Links http://www.piramal.com SOURCE Piramal Imaging SA OXNARD, California, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- International behavior and process safety experts will meet at the annual Safety In Action Conference October 26-27 in Belgium. The 2-day event offers a unique networking and learning experience empowering individuals and organizations to create safer workplaces. Focused on the key safety issues in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and transport industries, the 2016 Safety In Action Conference in Antwerp (#SIA2016) features: Best Practices Showcase - Organizations display real-life examples, stories, successes and challenges. Behavior Based Safety Experts Sessions on driving safety, human reliability, SIF and more. Process Safety Track - Capturing decades of experience from across Europe over two days of practical process safety knowledge including a keynote from Dennis Hendershot , CCPS on Inherently Safer Thinking Not Just Design or Technology. over two days of practical process safety knowledge including a keynote from , CCPS on Inherently Safer Thinking Not Just Design or Technology. Pre-Conference Programs held on 25 October: Pre-Conference Workshop: Creating a Culture of Care - This half-day workshop will demonstrate how creating a "Culture of Care" can generate predictability, reliability and safety as an output. The Executive Forum, a one-day safety and networking event that brings together senior leaders from the world's top companies covers: New advances in neuroscience research in minimizing human error in the workplace. What type of strategies executives are implementing and how to prevent serious injuries Safety journeys by world-class organizations Provided by global consulting, testing, and advisory firm DEKRA Insight, the event is the first to integrate all disciplines of workplace safety within one forum. The 2016 Safety In Action Conference in Antwerp will take place on 26-27 October 2016 in Antwerp, Belgium. Find the full program at http://www.safetyinaction.com/conference-uk/overview. About DEKRA Insight As the global leader in safety at work, DEKRA Insight is a consultant and partner to many of the world's largest chemical, oil and gas, transportation, utilities, pharmaceutical, and agriculture companies. With a passionate, scientific approach to transforming safety, our clients mitigate risk to their employees, assets, and reputation in a quantifiable mannerand in the process, enhance business performance. DEKRA Insight has over 500 employees in 22 offices and 16 countries. We are a service unit of DEKRA S.E., a global leader in safety since 1925 with over 35,000 employees. Press are invited to attend. To register for a press pass please email amy.chilla@dekra.com. Related Links http://www.dekrainsight.com SOURCE DEKRA Insight This year's Mid-Autumn Festival falls on September 15th and China will have a holiday for three days. A month-long celebration of the festival will be held at the 2016 Xiamen Mid-Autumn Carnival, an annual celebration that was voted the most popular cultural tourism festival in 2012 by Internet users. The event will be held from September 1st to 30th this year. Opening Ceremony When: September 3rd, 2016 Where: Jimei New Town Citizens' Square Highlights: Minnan folk culture shows and mooncake gambling Online and Offline Celebration Discounted tour packages focusing on Xiamen, as well as other domestic and overseas tourist destinations will be available via www.huantour.com. A special sale of tourism products will be held at designated venues from September 10th to 11th. Moreover, from September 3rd to September 21st, citizens and tourists can get involved in on-site Bobing activities in dozens of designated Bobing venues, such as scenic spots, hotels, stores and shopping malls. Celebrations In Six Districts Each district will arrange activities which feature Mid-Autumn folk culture and their own tourism resources. The most popular activities during the Mid-Autumn celebration in Xiamen are Mooncake Gambling or Bobing. If you are invited to play the dice rolling game, go for it. You might be lucky enough to win a prize during the festive period that is unique to the Mid-Autumn Festival celebration culture. The 2016 Xiamen Mid-Autumn Festival Carnival not only celebrates the unique charm of Xiamen's folk culture, but also showcases the new tourism landscape in Xiamen. For instance, Lingling Circus City, the Old Courtyard, Guanyin Mount Water, Land World and other scenic spots will launch multiple concessions so that citizens and tourists can enjoy special tourism offers during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Click HERE for more information about Bobing, a unique Mid-Autumn culture in Xiamen. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160902/403804 SOURCE Xiamen Tour International Travel Service Co., Ltd. WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Over the past 21 years, Prudential Spirit of Community Awards have been given to more than 115,000 middle and high school students across the country for helping the less fortunate, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, and serving their communities through many other volunteer activities. Today the search begins to identify thousands more who have made meaningful contributions to their communities over the past 12 months, as the awards program kicks off its 22nd year. These awards, sponsored by Prudential Financial, Inc. in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), honor outstanding community service by students in grades 5 through 12 at the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." Young volunteers can apply online at http://spirit.prudential.com or at www.nassp.org/spirit. Applications must be completed by November 8, 2016, and then submitted to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper versions of the application form are available by calling (877) 525-8491 toll-free. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Runners-up at the state level will receive bronze medallions or Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of 2017. These National Honorees will receive $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards represent the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer service. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com CHICAGO, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS) encourages clinicians to take the lead in addressing the opioid epidemic. "Prince was not the first, nor unfortunately the last, person to die due to an opioid-related event," said Michael Wong, JD (Executive Director, PPAHS). "According to the medical examiner, Prince died from a self-administered fentanyl overdose. While Prince may have become the poster child for the opioid epidemic and a call for restrictions on the use of opioids, it must not be forgotten that opioids play a vital role in the management of pain, such as during surgery or to relieve chronic pain." Citing recently available resources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Mr. Wong cited five ways clinicians can take the lead in addressing the opioid epidemic: #1 - Ensure Prescribing an Opioid is Appropriate #2 - Consider the Use of Non-Opioid Treatment #3 - Recognize that Each Patient Reacts Differently to Opioid Dosages #4 - Reduce the Long-Term Use of Opioids #5 - Ensure the Highest Risk Patients are Monitored To read further about these five resources, please go to the PPAHS blog at http://www.ppahs.org/blog/ For other resources on the prescribing of opioids by the CDC, please visit CDC's resource page. About Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety is a non-profit 501(c)(3) whose mission is to promote safer clinical practices and standards for patients through collaboration among healthcare experts, professionals, scientific researchers, and others, in order to improve healthcare delivery. For more information, please go to www.ppahs.org. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131024/CG03341LOGO SOURCE Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS) Related Links http://www.ppahs.org The survey reveals that Catholic sisters are trusted by a significant majority of Americans (73 percent), and even more said their work is important (83 percent). However, the research also showed that perceptions of Catholic sisters are somewhat dated, shaped primarily by fictional stories and the media versus interpersonal encounters. For example, 42 percent of respondents indicated the majority of Catholic sisters today wear habits, 21 percent believe they live in seclusion, and 37 percent thought their work has little or no impact on non-Catholics. In reality, although some Catholic sisters wear habits and some live in cloistered communities, most Catholic sisters in the U.S. wear simple modern clothing and most are out in the world helping marginalized communities, advocating for social justice, and educating millions of young people and adults. The Hilton Foundation commissioned the market research study in 2015 to better understand how the U.S. public currently perceives women religious. It showed that a strong majority of Americans (72 percent) and Catholics (87 percent) view Catholic sisters favorably, more so than the Catholic Church overall. Furthermore, learning about Catholic sisters has a "halo effect:" when respondents were given more information about Catholic sisters, perceptions of sisters, the Catholic Church, and priests all increased. In response to the results of the survey, the Foundation has launched a Sister To All public awareness campaign to increase visibility and public understanding of the powerful work of Catholic sisters in the United States. Key research data findings, along with profiles of featured sisters will be shared on social media by the Hilton Foundation, its grantees and partners. The campaign honors the lives and works of Catholic sisters and is timed to follow the canonization of Mother Teresa on Sept. 4, 2016. "'Sister To All' gives us an opportunity to reveal the positive impact of Catholic sisters in the United States, breaking stereotypes and clarifying misconceptions," said Sister Rosemarie Nassif, SSND, Ph.D., Director, Catholic Sisters Strategic Initiative at the Hilton Foundation. "Conrad Hilton realized that wherever good things are happening for the marginalized and disadvantaged, there are likely to be sisters not just involved, but making a tremendous positive difference. We hope all who see this campaign will be encouraged to learn more and help us further promote the lives and works of sisters." The research revealed that one in four Catholic women has considered becoming a Catholic sister at some point in her life, with Baby Boomers (30 percent) the Silent Generation (33 percent), and traditional Catholics (32 percent) more apt to have considered this vocation. "We believe that sometimes the call to become a sister is stifled by competing noise within our culture," said Sister Rosemarie. "It is our hope that this campaign overrides that noise and inspires women to take a next step in exploring religious life as an authentic option." "With shared sense of purpose and unwavering commitment, Catholic sisters improve the lives of millions in remarkable and unexpected ways," said Brad Myers, Senior Program Officer of the Catholic Sisters Initiative at the Hilton Foundation. "The sisters had a profound impact on Conrad Hilton's life, and we intend to follow through with his wish to support them as powerful agents for social change in today's world." Conrad Hilton, the hotelier and the founder of the Hilton Hotels chain counted the Catholic sisters among his friends and supported their congregations throughout his lifetime. He ensured that his personal support for the sisters, and that of the Hilton Foundation, would continue through a provision in his last will and testament directing that the largest part of the Foundation's benefactions would be dedicated to Catholic sisters in all parts of the world. The research was conducted between Feb. and June 2015 and consisted of a series of focus groups in multiple markets along with a national telephone survey. Viewers will be encouraged to go to a campaign landing page, SisterToAll.org, where they can learn more about the Catholic sisters in the U.S. and read stories on each of the six sisters profiled. Learn more about the campaign on the landing page, www.SisterToAll.org. About the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation was created in 1944 by international business pioneer Conrad N. Hilton, who founded Hilton Hotels and left his fortune to help the world's disadvantaged and vulnerable people. The Foundation currently conducts strategic initiatives in six priority areas: providing safe water, ending chronic homelessness, preventing substance use, helping children affected by HIV and AIDS, supporting transition-age youth in foster care, and extending Conrad Hilton's support for the work of Catholic Sisters. In addition, following selection by an independent international jury, the Foundation annually awards the $2 million Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize to a nonprofit organization doing extraordinary work to reduce human suffering. In 2015, the Humanitarian Prize was awarded to Landesa, a Seattle-based land rights organization. From its inception, the Foundation has awarded more than $1.4 billion in grants, distributing $107 million in the U.S. and around the world in 2015. The Foundation's current assets are approximately $2.5 billion. For more information, please visit www.hiltonfoundation.org. Media Contact: Francesca Koe Underground 415-640-1876 [email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160902/403930 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150916/267339LOGO SOURCE Conrad N. Hilton Foundation Related Links http://www.hiltonfoundation.org Presented by national law firm Simmons Hanly Conroy and Metro Tri Club, the event coincides with National Mesothelioma Awareness Day on Sept. 26 and benefits the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), a charity dedicated to preventing asbestos-related diseases by securing an asbestos ban in the United States. "Miles for Meso means that somebody has my back, and somebody is amplifying my voice against the use of asbestos and the industry of corporate greed," said Gundlach, who received a prognosis of six to 12 months to live after her diagnosis ten years ago. Since then, she has traveled to New York to undergo 4 surgeries and over dozens of chemotherapy treatments to fight the cancer. Each year, more than 10,000 Americans die from asbestos-related diseases, including mesothelioma. Asbestos companies knew about the dangers of asbestos since the 1930s, but they remained silent and used the deadly toxin anyway. Today, asbestos, while highly regulated, is still not banned in the United States. "Asbestos needs to be banned and the loop holes in the law that allow for certain products to still contain asbestos need to be closed," Gundlach said. "It's unacceptable that thousands of people are still getting sick from asbestos." The Alton Miles for Meso 5K race is about amplifying the voices of people like Gundlach who are fighting for a ban. Earlier this year, Gundlach and several other mesothelioma patients traveled to Washington, D.C., to share their stories during a Congressional Briefing organized by ADAO. In June 2016, President Obama signed into law The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act that reforms the TSCA and empowers the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate or ban substances like asbestos. "Julie (Gundlach) is only one person, but through her work, a difference is being made," said Simmons Hanly Conroy Shareholder John Barnerd, who was Gundlach's mesothelioma attorney. Gundlach has attended every Alton Miles for Meso race and plans to be at the starting line again this year when the race kicks off at 9 a.m. at the Simmons Hanly Conroy national headquarters, One Court Street, across from Marquette High School. Registration costs $30 and will run through Sept. 19, followed by late registration for $35 up until the race day. In-person registration is available at Simmons Hanly Conroy. Registration on-site the day of the race will begin at 7:30 a.m. All who register will receive a long sleeve, moisture-wicking race T-shirt. Gundlach will speak at the 8:30 a.m. Welcome Ceremony before the race, as she has done at every Alton Miles for Meso, sharing her story and inspiring racers. To read more about Gundlach's story, visit http://www.simmonsfirm.com/blog/join-mesothelioma-survivor-julie-gundlach-alton-miles-meso-5k/. Among this year's Alton Miles for Meso attractions: Cash prizes (ranging from $50 to $500 each) and trophies for the top five overall men and women 5K race finishers. each) and trophies for the top five overall men and women 5K race finishers. Custom Miles for Meso medals awarded to the first, second and third place finishers in 5-year age groups. Recognition for the top fundraising team and individual. Expanded Alton Miles for Meso Virtual Race that allows virtual participants to purchase race T-shirts, and share photos of themselves wearing the shirts on race day via social media and the hashtag #milesformeso. A jumbotron at the race site will display the social media posts throughout the race in real time. Virtual Race registration costs $30 and includes the T-shirt and shipping fees. and includes the T-shirt and shipping fees. A performance by Jordan Zevon , ADAO spokesman and son of Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Warren Zevon , who passed away from mesothelioma in 2003. , ADAO spokesman and son of Grammy-winning singer/songwriter , who passed away from mesothelioma in 2003. A kids' game zone. A dog adoption event hosted by Hope Rescues. A vendor fair with local businesses and charities. The 2015 Alton Miles for Meso drew more than 800 people and raised over $30,000. Other Miles for Meso races have taken place in U.S. cities from New York to Florida to Washington state and several locations in between. The Bruce A. Waite Miles for Meso 5K will take place in Ontario, Ohio, on the Sunday before the Alton race. Since 2009, the combined events have raised nearly $500,000 to benefit mesothelioma research and awareness. Click here to register for the Alton race. For additional information about Miles for Meso, visit www.milesformeso.org. Supporters also can visit the Miles for Meso fan page on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Miles.for.Meso/?ref=ts. About Simmons Hanly Conroy, LLC Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC is one of the nation's largest mass tort law firms and has recovered more than $5 billion in verdicts and settlements for plaintiffs. Primary areas of litigation include asbestos and mesothelioma, pharmaceutical, consumer protection, environmental and personal injury. The firm's attorneys have been appointed to leadership in numerous national multidistrict litigations, including Vioxx, Yaz and Toyota Unintended Acceleration. The firm also represents small and mid-size corporations, inventors and entrepreneurs in matters involving business litigation. Offices are located in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, St. Louis, and Alton, Illinois. Read more at www.simmonsfirm.com. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160906/404290 Contact: Mark Motley, Chief Marketing Officer 618.259.2222 | [email protected] SOURCE Simmons Hanly Conroy Related Links http://www.simmonsfirm.com NEW YORK, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Although Chongqing is a thriving metropolis in China, it's a location that not many Americans have heard of before, until Saturday, September 3, 2016. The airing of 'Chongqing: China's City For International Travel,' a half-hour long special program on ABC7 Saturday night, gave American viewers the opportunity to discover this key economic, political, and cultural center tucked deep within the heart of southwest China. 'Chongqing: China's City For International Travel' highlighted the beauty and charm of Chongqing's southeastern countryside, hot springs, and the areas surrounding natural beauty and wildlife, and the city's plethora of world class hotels, restaurants, and shopping hot spots. This year's new episode also showcases Chongqing's signature sites in the western Chongqing. Similar to Shanghai, Chongqing is one of China's Five Central Cities and administratively, it is one of China's four direct-controlled municipalities and is a highly deserving destination on any traveler's itinerary. Visitors can experience the beauty of three UNESCO World Heritage Sites including the Dazu Rock Carvings, Wulong Karst, and the Golden Buddha Mountain. The ABC travelogue explored a plethora of must-see sites that many travel guides don't mention such as the quaint, Anju Ancient Town and the Peach Blossom Springs scenic area of greater Chongqing. The combination of urban and natural sites that extend beyond the city limits makes for the ultimate vacation fusing relaxation with excitement and adventure. 'Chongqing: China's City For International Travel also put the culinary delights such as Chongqing style Hot Pot and the famous Fuling pickled mustard root in focus The show drew a comparison between Chongqing and New York from several aspects, including the geographical environment and urban style and features, port culture and humanity while allowing foreign executives and other immigrants who live in Chongqing to speak about the city, its urban development, local cuisines and culture. U.S. travelers are urged to look out for the 'Chongqing International Tourism Summit,' where the City of Chongqing will announce the hosting of a new tour called, "Scenic Landscapes of Chongqing." This year's summit will visitors to learn more about Chongqing and experience the city's tourism highlights from the bustling urban life to the serene landscapes of the countryside. Media Contact: Cimagine Media Group, LLC [email protected] SOURCE Cimagine Media Group, LLC ISTANBUL, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Chairman Nezih Barut: "We have decided to make an ambitious contribution to the construction of a robust economy." Nezih Barut the Chairmen of Abdi Ibrahim (PRNewsFoto/Abdi Ibrahim) Abdi Ibrahim, the Turkish pharmaceutical leader, active in the industry for 104 years, has decided to bring forward two investments at its Esenyurt manufacturing facility in Istanbul. Abdi Ibrahim has announced its decision to bring forward two investments worth a total of USD 115 million, initially planned for the year 2017. After breaking ground on Turkey's largest biotechnological pharmaceutical manufacturing facility with a total investment cost of USD 100 million last year, Abdi Ibrahim has now decided to undertake the investment in a sterile injectable products manufacturing facility and an oncological products manufacturing facility in 2016; although the initial plan was to go ahead in 2017. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160905/404076LOGO ) (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160905/404077 ) Chairman Nezih Barut commented, "We earned in this country, we grew in this country. Now, we have to act much more responsibly." Indicating that Abdi Ibrahim's future plans are outlined in its 2020 Strategy Map, Chairman Nezih Barut stated the following: "Our country has recently gone through difficult times, and we have defended our democracy and future as a whole nation. Now, we have to be bolder in investment, employment creation, and production. As such, before end-2016 we have decided to undertake two investments worth USD 115 million previously planned for 2017. We have taken this decision to share our enthusiasm with the industry and our international business partners, and to make an ambitious contribution to the construction of a robust economy." Underlining that Abdi Ibrahim already employs a total of almost 3000 individuals, Nezih Barut indicated that the company has decided to expand job creation and hire 300 more employees by the end of the year. Nezih Barut provided the following information on Abdi Ibrahim's overseas investments and growth targets: "We continue relentlessly our overseas investments, which stand at the heart of our growth targets. Our Kazakhstan factory started production in 2015. In 2017, Abdi Ibrahim Remede Pharma in Algeria will become operational, as our third manufacturing facility besides Turkey and Kazakhstan. In line with our 2020 goals, we have designated our five areas of growth as current products, new products, international markets operations, contract manufacturing services, and seizing merger and acquisition opportunities; and will continue to make swift progress in each of these areas." For further info: Corporate Communications Director Elif Elkin http://www.abdiibrahim.com.tr/en/ [email protected] Contact: +90-212366-8400 SOURCE Abdi Ibrahim NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Former Attorney General of Louisiana Charles C. Foti, Jr., Esq. and the law firm of Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF") are investigating the proposed sale of Accuride Corporation ("Accuride" or the "Company") (NYSE: ACW) to funds managed by Crestview Partners. Under the terms of the proposed transaction, shareholders of Accuride will receive only $2.58 in cash for each share of Accuride that they own. KSF is seeking to determine whether this consideration and the process that led to it are adequate, or whether the consideration undervalues the Company. If you believe that this transaction undervalues the Company and/or if you would like to discuss your legal rights regarding the proposed sale, you may, without obligation or cost to you, e-mail or call KSF Managing Partner Lewis S. Kahn ([email protected]) toll free at any time at 855-768-1857. To learn more about KSF, whose partners include the Former Louisiana Attorney General, visit www.ksfcounsel.com. Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC 206 Covington St. Madisonville, LA 70447 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160819/399590LOGO SOURCE Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Related Links http://www.ksfcounsel.com NEW YORK, Sept. 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- AIDS - Related Lymphoma Global Clinical Trials Review, H1, 2016 Summary Clinical trial report, "AIDS - Related Lymphoma Global Clinical Trials Review, H1, 2016" provides an overview of AIDS - Related Lymphoma clinical trials scenario. This report provides top line data relating to the clinical trials on AIDS - Related Lymphoma. Report includes an overview of trial numbers and their average enrollment in top countries conducted across the globe. The report offers coverage of disease clinical trials by region, country (G7 & E7), phase, trial status, end points status and sponsor type. Report also provides prominent drugs for in-progress trials (based on number of ongoing trials). These Clinical Trial Reports are generated using GlobalData's proprietary database - Pharma eTrack Clinical trials database. Clinical trials are collated from 80+ different clinical trial registries, conferences, journals, news etc across the globe. Clinical trials database undergoes periodic update by dynamic process. The report enhances the decision making capabilities and helps to create an effective counter strategies to gain competitive advantage. *Note: Certain sections in the report may be removed or altered based on the availability and relevance of data for the indicated disease. Scope - The report provides a snapshot of the global clinical trials landscape - Report provides top level data related to the clinical trials by Region, Country (G7 & E7), Trial Status, Trial Phase, Sponsor Type and End point status - The report reviews top companies involved and enlists all trials (Trial title, Phase, and Status) pertaining to the company - The report provides all the unaccomplished trials (Terminated, Suspended and Withdrawn) with reason for unaccomplishment - The Report provides enrollment trends for the past five years - Report provides latest news for the past three months *Note: Certain sections in the report may be removed or altered based on the availability and relevance of data for the indicated disease. Reasons to buy - Assists in formulating key business strategies with regards to investment - Helps in identifying prominent locations for conducting clinical trials which saves time and cost - Provides top level analysis of Global Clinical Trials Market which helps in identifying key business opportunities - Supports understanding of trials count and enrollment trends by country in global therapeutics market - Aids in interpreting the success rates of clinical trials by providing a comparative scenario of completed and uncompleted (terminated, suspended or withdrawn) trials - Facilitates clinical trial assessment of the indication on a global, regional and country level *Note: Certain sections in the report may be removed or altered based on the availability and relevance of data for the indicated disease. Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p02042070-summary/view-report.html About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. http://www.reportlinker.com __________________________ Contact Clare: [email protected] US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 SOURCE Reportlinker Related Links http://www.reportlinker.com JACKSON, Mich., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- MiraMed Global Services, LLC, (MiraMed) is pleased to announce that its global subsidiary, Ajuba International, LLC (Ajuba), is on a quest to drive change from within. The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) team at Ajuba established an initiative called Gram Seva which translates to "village service," focused on educating staff on local social responsibility. Gram Seva is a project very relevant the world over, addressing the alarming global concern of food wastage. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160906/404291LOGO India is the second-largest agricultural producer in the world. Gram Seva originated as an initiative to drive home the importance of avoiding food waste by allowing people to become involved at the grassroots level. From "soil-to-plate," the lifecycle of grain is six seven months, with almost daily maintenance. Gram Seva is an initiative that would help people understand the effort, not by observation, but by action. The Ajuba CSR team, identified a village in the Thiruvanamalai District named Vadakupattu, a village with a population of about 150 people. The village has one panchayat office and one elementary school, with agriculture being the main occupation of the villagers there. When the CSR team pitched the idea to the panchayat head and villagers there, it was enthusiastically received. Within the Ajuba office, 25 employees were shortlisted to participate. The challenges of working a farm were a far cry from the staffs' usual daily lives living in the city. The Ajuba employees experienced scorching heat working in the fields, getting their hands dirty, sowing saplings, tending to agricultural residue, weeding the fields, bundling hay and feeding animals, cooking on wood fire and brick stove, etc. In two days, the team learned through experience the challenges associated with farming, the efforts required for agriculture production and respect for the food that reaches the plate. This experience will hold a special place in the heart of every individual in the team and go a long way in making a meaningful difference in the way food is handled. Sharing the successful completion of the pilot, Ms. Hema Parikh, Director of HR at Ajuba Solutions said, "Our passion of being in synch with the global agenda of reducing food waste resonates a strong signal of Ajuba supporting a definitive change. We will do our best to educate our community on these lines." Ajuba intends to continue Gram Seva in phases, adopting numerous villages along the way, so many employees and villages can benefit. This commitment is echoed from the top management of Ajuba's parent company, MiraMed Global Services. "There is something very gratifying about this whole initiative. I extend my appreciation and thanks to the CSR team at Ajuba for having worked out a program to reach out to the farmers. As a community, this program is in line with the FAO's agenda of SAVE FOOD and initiatives like Gram Seva is yet another commitment by the MiraMed Family of Companies to the society we live in," said Tony Mira, Founder and CEO of MiraMed Global Services. About MiraMed Headquartered in Jackson, Michigan, MiraMed Global Services stands as the premier global provider of business process outsourcing solutions to healthcare organizations nationwide. MiraMed partners with hospitals, health networks, physician practices and related industry service organizations to provide a broad portfolio of customizable solutions, uncover and capitalize on hidden financial opportunities, improve productivity and ultimately increase profits. MiraMed has offices in Jackson, Michigan, Chicago, Illinois, Portland, Oregon, Thousand Oaks, California, Dallas, Texas, Boston, Massachusetts, Greenville, South Carolina, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Chennai, India and Manila, Philippines. MiraMed pairs healthcare industry experts with world-class processes, infrastructure and technology to deliver meaningful and measurable results. This proprietary model enables sustainable change by delivering a complete, customizable enhanced revenue cycle solutions devised to meet a client's own unique financial and organizational needs. If you would like more information, please go to www.miramedgs.com or email [email protected]. Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Google+ About Ajuba Solutions India Ajuba Solutions India is a premier global provider of healthcare revenue cycle outsourcing services to healthcare systems, hospitals, physician practice groups, academic medical centers, durable medical equipment suppliers, and billing and receivables management companies. Ajuba Solutions currently has nearly 2300 globally. It is an integral part of the MiraMed Global Services Inc.'s group headquartered in Jackson, Michigan. Within a decade since commencing operations in 2001, Ajuba Solutions has established itself among the leading revenue cycle outsourcing companies, as evidenced by a number of accolades by organizations such as "India's Top 10 Best Companies to Work For" and "No. 1 in the ITES Industry" by Great Places to Work Institute and Economic Times. Contact: Tony Mira Tel: 517-787-7432 Email SOURCE MiraMed Global Services Related Links http://www.miramedgs.com HANGZHOU, China, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Astronergy is the FIRST in the Chinese solar industry to pass TUV Nord IEC/TS 62941 Certificate audit. Passing this certificate audit indicates that Astronergy's entire production process was recognized as being distinguished in the solar industry. The TUV Nord audit covered the processes of DFMEA, the R&D process, uncertainty control over module efficiency, ESD safety environment, defective rate control, key material selection and packing processes. Astronergy scored high in all the elements and became the first in China to pass this certificate audit. The TUV Nord Team, leading by their director, arrived at Astronergy to certify Astronergy the IEC/TS 62941 Certificate early this month. The team stayed at Astronergy for 3 days in order to observe all the details of Astronergy manufacturer. IEC TS 62941 is a standardized technology auditing system released for the solar industry early this year. Only those companies passed ISO9001 test or other equivalents are qualified for IEC TS 62941 audit, in other words, ISO9001 or other equivalents are prerequisite. "We are very proud to announce that Astronergy is the first in China to pass this audit. Everyone knows that Astronergy products are highly reliable and steady, which is a result of our strict production management. High quality product is one of the core values that we provide to our clients. We constantly improve our management system to best serve clients," Dr. Lu Chuan, the CEO of Astronergy said. For more information contact: Wanshu Hu +86-571-5603-2110 [email protected] SOURCE Astronergy AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- When it comes to technology, Auto-Lab Complete Car Care Centers is confident and savvy. The automotive service company has built a niche brand specializing in automotive computerized diagnostics and has evolved the brand to be immersed into the digital era. This month Auto-Lab Complete Car Care Centers has launched their new app for Google's Android and Apple's iOS devices. Auto-Lab has spent years developing their website to be more precise to help customers be confident and knowledgeable about automotive repair and maintenance. After the relaunch of their newly redesigned website earlier this year, the company decided that it was time to find new ways to connect with their customers. Developing an app was the obvious next step in order to grow the brand, and to provide customers with a new user experience. "Mobile applications today allows brands to be creative with their marketing campaigns, and allow businesses to be more connected with customers," says Stephen R. Wilson, President and COO of Auto-Lab Franchising, LLC based in Auburn Hills, Michigan with over 26 existing locations. "Being able to expand our brand with this new application will help our franchisees expand their business in ways that they may not have been able to on their own." Partnering with Michigan based mobile application company Grandapps, the goal was to create an app that is both user friendly and engaging. "We are excited to work with Auto-Lab in continually developing their app. Auto-Lab was awesome to work with through this process," says Mike Bigari, Account Manager of Grandapps. "Our design team had a lot of fun on this project because Auto-Lab's app is a game changer in the auto repair industry. It's going to make life so much easier for customers to engage with their Auto-Lab location, schedule appointments and many more awesome features." The Auto-Lab Complete Car Care Centers app will boast many features to help customers communicate needed service with their preferred Auto-Lab location. Features such as, booking appointments, requesting estimates, and app user exclusive are just some of the key features included in the app. Each location will also have their own unique ability to stay connected to their customers to provide them special information and savings. "Most people today don't go anywhere without their phone and use their phone more than they do a computer," says Mr. Wilson. "To give our customers easy access to the benefits of being an Auto-Lab customer is something we really look forward to continually develop." The Auto-Lab Complete Car Care Centers app is available for free on Google Play Store and the Apple Store. For more information visit www.autolabusa.com. CONTACT Katherine Villeneuve 248-994-0206 SOURCE Auto-Lab Complete Car Care Centers Related Links http://www.autolabusa.com PUNE, India, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new report "Automatic Power Factor Controller Market by Type (Active APFC and Passive APFC), Component (Relays, Capacitors, Displays, Microcontrollers, Switches, and Resistors), Industry and Geography - Global Forecast to 2022", published by MarketsandMarkets, the global market is expected to be worth USD 4.78 Billion by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 4.6% between 2016 and 2022. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 ) Browse 64 market data Tables and 62 Figures spread through 189 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Automatic Power Factor Controller Market". http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/automatic-power-factor-controller-market-154317597.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. Factors such as increasing need for energy conservation devices in industries and need to prevent electronic equipment from damage due to overvoltage conditions are the key drivers for the adoption of automatic power factor controller equipment. Active APFC market held the largest market share in 2015 and is expected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period Active comprise active components such as transistors and diodes that allow the designers to achieve power factor as high as 0.99. In most of the industrial applications, active power factor controllers are preferred due to their high accuracy of power quality, lightweight and wide application areas. Active APFCs are used in various industries such as manufacturing, utility, commercial, enterprise, and military. These benefits contribute to the growth of active APFCs in the market. Adoption of APFC devices, in the utility industry, that protect the electronic devices from damage and reduce power losses are the major driving factors for the growth of the APFC market The utility industry held the largest market share of the global APFC market in 2015. This market is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Many large voltage-rated devices such as transformers and drivers in the utility industry produce poor power factor, thereby drawing more power from the mains supply. To reduce such power losses, APFCs have been adopted in the utility industry. APFCs also reduce the current harmonics in the distribution systems, reduce electric utility expenses, and increase system capacity. Inquiry Before Buying: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=154317597 North America held the largest share of the APFC market in 2015 due to the presence of major APFC vendors in the region Major APFCs manufacturing companies such as General Electric (U.S.), Texas Instruments Inc. (U.S.), ON Semiconductor Corporation (U.S.), and Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. (U.S.), among others have been developing APFC panels for various industries; hence, it would help in growth of the North American APFC market. The APFC market in the U.S. held the largest market share in 2015. Additionally, the utility industry adopted the APFC panels that have been used to manage the power factor and reduce the current harmonics in the electrical distribution systems. Browse Related Reports Power Management IC (PMIC) Market by Product (Linear Regulator, Switching Regulator, Voltage References, Battery Management IC, Energy Management IC, LED Driver IC, POE Controller, Wireless Charging IC), Application, and Geography - Global Forecast to 2022 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/power-management-ic-market-441.html Microgrid Market by Grid Type (Grid-Connected, Remote/ Island, Hybrid), Component (Generation, Switch Gear, Controls, Cables, Software & Services), Power Source (Fuel Cell, CHP, Renewables), Vertical, and Geography - Global Forecast to 2022 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/micro-grid-electronics-market-917.html Know More About our Knowledge Store @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Knowledgestore.asp About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets is the largest market research firm worldwide in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical info graphics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers. We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository. Contact: Mr. Rohan Markets and Markets UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India Tel: 1-888-600-6441 Email: [email protected] Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/electronics-and-semiconductors Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets SOURCE MarketsandMarkets Under the terms of the agreement, about 210 Avlon employees will remain employed at the site, and the plant will continue to manufacture critical AstraZeneca pharmaceutical products on a contract basis. AstraZeneca will continue to source a stable supply of high-quality products from the facility under the new ownership of Avara following the acquisition. "We are excited to have the Avlon organization join the Avara team and to add this significant capability to the Avara Company," said Tim Tyson, Chairman and CEO of Avara. Tyson added, "We are honored to have the strategic partnership with AstraZeneca and to manufacture key products for them. We are excited to be able to transition this AstraZeneca center of technical excellence to a worldwide pharmaceutical services center of excellence. This exceptional facility will be the fifth site in our global network with other facilities in the US, Puerto Rico, Ireland and now the UK. "We thank the AstraZeneca employees in Avlon for their dedication, and we wish them well as they transition to Avara" said Marc Jones, EVP Supply, EMEA, at AstraZeneca. "We have confidence that Avara is the right company to oversee the continuing supply of the AstraZeneca products that are made at the facility, as well as to build a long term sustainable future for the site. We look forward to partnering with Avara as the new owner of the site to ensure the continuous supply of our products for the patients who need them." About Avara Avara Pharmaceutical Services, Inc., based in Norwalk, Connecticut is an international pharmaceutical services company that delivers world-class contract manufacturing and technical services to the pharmaceutical industry. Avara has primary and secondary manufacturing facilities in North America and Europe and supplies products to all major markets around the world. Our broad experience with supply chain, commercialization, product launch and product transfer allows us to sustain exemplary levels of product quality and regulatory compliance. We are known to exceed customer service level expectations and consistently deliver on time, in full at a fair price. For more information, please visit our website at www.avara.com. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160902/403914 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160803/395524LOGO SOURCE Avara Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. Related Links http://www.avara.com SKOKIE, Ill., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Kaufman Hall, a leading provider of management consulting services, and enterprise performance management and decision support software, today announced that Axiom Software has been rated highly for overall customer satisfaction in the 2016 Business Performance Management Vendor Landscape Matrix from BPM Partners. With an overall satisfaction score of 4.7 out of 5.0, Axiom out-performed top enterprise competitors across the board in a variety of categories. Axiom Software Receives High Ratings from BPM Partners for Ease of Use, Product Functionality and Overall Customer Satisfaction. The business landscape is more competitive than ever, and forward-thinking organizations require high-performing solutions, like Axiom Software, to help optimize their strategic financial and operational planning. BPM Partners, a leading independent authority on business performance management (BPM) and related business intelligence solutions, awarded Axiom Software a 'good' to 'excellent' rating across all satisfaction metrics, with the highest 'excellent' rating given on eight key metrics. Axiom Software also out-performed top competitors across critical satisfaction metrics, including: price and value; product functionality; ease of use; ease of implementation; product performance; product quality; customer support; and vendor consulting. Rapid Growth, High Customer Satisfaction As more organizations are recognizing the critical need to adopt modern business planning tools and processes, Axiom Software continues to see rapid growth and success in the marketplace. The company saw a nearly 50 percent increase in software sales in 2015, including over 300 percent growth in cloud implementations. Additionally, the company has already signed more than 40 new enterprise customers year-to-date in 2016. Kaufman Hall is widely recognized for its industry-specific expertise and tailored software solutions in healthcare, banking and higher education, providing strategic consulting and performance management software solutions to major enterprise customers. Leading organizations and prestigious universities including Ascension Health, Trinity Health and Dignity Health, three of the largest non-profit health systems in the U.S.; American Airlines Credit Union, the 6th largest credit union in the U.S.; Yale University, Tufts University, and George Washington University have chosen Axiom Software to help them achieve their most strategic financial and operational goals. "Axiom Software continues to have some of the highest customer satisfaction ratings of any major performance management vendor," said Craig Schiff, president and CEO at BPM Partners. "Their strategy of focusing on several verticals utilizing their core product combined with industry-specific best practices is clearly succeeding." Modern, Flexible Solution Many customers joining the Axiom Software roster are making a strategic move to avoid the pitfalls of over-reliance on spreadsheets, or upgrade from outdated enterprise resource planning (ERP) software from mega-vendors, such as Oracle, IBM and SAP. With Axiom Software's modern, flexible and easy-to-use software platform, organizations can more effectively leverage financial and operational data to become more nimble, and improve strategic decision making and organizational performance. BPM Partners recommends Axiom Software as a good choice for anyone looking for a comprehensive and unified performance management solution with strong scenario modeling and detailed profitability analysis capabilities. Based on Microsoft Azure and certified as SOC2 compliant, Axiom Software delivers a secure, enterprise-grade solution, whether customers choose to host their solutions locally or in the cloud. "We are honored that the BPM Partners' report validates our strong commitment to delivering the best possible solution to our Axiom Software customers," said Tom Walsh, CEO of Kaufman Hall Software. "Amid our rapid growth, we are proud to have kept a laser focus on maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction." The report from BPM Partners adds to the list of recent accolades from industry analysts, including Gartner and Blue Hill Research. About Kaufman Hall Kaufman Hall provides management consulting services, and enterprise performance management and decision support software that help organizations realize sustained success amid changing market conditions. Since 1985, we have been a trusted advisor to boards and executive management teams, helping them incorporate proven methods into their strategic planning and financial management processes, and quantify the financial impact of their plans and strategic decisions to consistently achieve their goals. Kaufman Hall's Axiom Software provides sophisticated, flexible performance management solutions that empower finance professionals to analyze results, model the future, and optimize organizational decision making. Solutions for budgeting and forecasting, strategy management, reporting and analytics, financial close and consolidations, profitability and cost management are delivered on a single integrated software platform. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160902/403980 SOURCE Kaufman Hall Related Links http://www.kaufmanhall.com SCHAUMBURG, Ill., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Fear of an impending automotive subprime bubble has been swirling around the industry since the recovery from the Great Recession. According to Experian's latest State of the Automotive Finance Market report, announced today, those fears haven't come to fruition, and the automotive credit market has continued to show steady growth and remarkable stability quarter over quarter. Findings from the Q2 2016 report show that while both 30- and 60-day loan delinquencies were up slightly, the combined subprime and deep-subprime share of new and used auto loans and leases dropped from 23.3 percent in Q2 2015 to 22.8 percent in Q2 2016. Overall, automotive lenders made more than five times as many loans to super-prime customers (17.9 percent of total auto loans and leases) as to deep-subprime customers (3.5 percent of total auto loans and leases). "Automotive lenders seem to be keeping cool heads when it comes to how much risk they are willing to take with subprime and deep-subprime customers," said Melinda Zabritski, senior director of automotive finance for Experian. "Yes, subprime and deep-subprime loans are growing, but the entire market is growing from a volume perspective across all risk tiers. In fact, the subprime loans have actually dropped as a percentage of the total market. That, combined with only a slight uptick in delinquencies, makes clear that the sky is not falling." Thirty-day delinquencies were up from 2.19 percent in Q2 2015 to 2.22 percent in Q2 2016, while 60-day delinquencies moved from 0.56 percent to 0.62 percent in the same time period. Leasing, used vehicle sales continue to gain momentum Leasing continued its strong growth as the share of new vehicles leased jumped from 26.92 percent in Q2 2015 to a record-high of 31.44 percent in Q2 2016. Even used vehicle leasing, which accounts for a small slice of the lease market, experienced growth, moving from 3.26 percent share in Q2 2015 to 3.71 percent in Q2 2016. Used vehicle loans also grew to record heights in terms of average dollar amount and overall loan share during the quarter. The average used vehicle loan reached an all-time high of $19,101 in Q2 2016, up from $18,671 in Q2 2016. Used vehicle loans also reached a new peak, accounting for 55.61 percent of all vehicle loans during Q2 2016. The growth was driven by jumps in prime and super-prime consumers choosing used vehicles. Specifically, 43.3 percent of super-prime consumers selected a used vehicle, which represents a 10 percent increase over 2015. For prime consumers, 59.9 percent chose used, a 6.6 percent increase over the previous year. This shift also helped push the average credit score for a used vehicle loan from 645 in Q2 2015 to 648 in Q2 2016. "One of the biggest trends we continue to see is the shift to used vehicles by customers with excellent credit," Zabritski said. "As vehicle prices continue to rise, savvy consumers are looking for ways to control costs. That appears to be pushing more customers toward used vehicles." Other Q2 2016 findings: The average monthly payment for a used vehicle was $364 , up from $361 in Q2 2015 , up from in Q2 2015 The average monthly payment for a new vehicle loan was $499 , up from $483 in Q2 2015 , up from in Q2 2015 The average new vehicle loan amount was $29,880 , up $1,356 from the Q2 2015 average new vehicle loan amount of $28,524 , up from the Q2 2015 average new vehicle loan amount of Average customer credit scores for new vehicle loans fell slightly, from 709 in Q2 2015 to 708 The average loan term for a new vehicle went from 67 months in Q2 2015 to 68 months To view the recorded webinar for more information regarding this quarter's analysis go to www.experian.com/automotive, or to purchase historical information from Experian Automotive's other research, visit www.experian.com/automotive/autostore.html. About Experian Automotive Experian Automotive provides information services and market intelligence that enables results-driven professionals to gain the fullest possible understanding of the market, the vehicles and the people who buy them. Its North American Vehicle DatabaseSM houses data on nearly 700 million vehicles and, when combined with Experian's credit, consumer and business information, provides an integrated perspective into the automotive marketplace. Experian Automotive's AutoCheck vehicle history reports provide dealers and consumers with in-depth information, allowing them to confidently understand, compare and select the right vehicles. For more information on Experian Automotive and its suite of services, visit our website at http://www.experian.com/automotive. About Experian We are the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to our clients around the world. We help businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. We also help people to check their credit report and credit score and protect against identity theft. In 2015, we were named one of the "World's Most Innovative Companies" by Forbes magazine. We employ approximately 17,000 people in 37 countries and our corporate headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; California, US; and Sao Paulo, Brazil. Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended March 31, 2016, was US$4.6 billion. To find out more about our company, please visit http://www.experianplc.com or watch our documentary, "Inside Experian." Experian and the Experian marks used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Experian Information Solutions, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners. Contact: Roslyn Whitehurst Experian Public Relations 1 714 830 5578 [email protected] Twitter: @RozWhitehurst Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160627/384033LOGO SOURCE Experian Related Links http://www.experian.com TORONTO, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Bentall Kennedy announces today that it has been selected to represent AustralianSuper, a superannuation fund managing retirement assets of AUD$100 bn on behalf of over 2 million members in that country, as its real estate investment advisor in Canada with a mandate to pursue commercial real estate investment opportunities nationwide. The Canadian separate account mandate awarded to Bentall Kennedy by AustralianSuper is intended to span a broad range of real estate investment types, including large-scale commercial business district office properties, regional malls and mixed-use development opportunities in Canada's major urban centres. "AustralianSuper seeks to work with the best partners on a global basis," said Jack McGougan, AustralianSuper's Head of Property Investments. "In Bentall Kennedy, we have selected an advisor that offers deep expertise in an important global real estate investment market and will represent our members' interests according to the highest fiduciary standards," added McGougan. "Our obligation on behalf of the members that have entrusted us with their retirement savings is to ensure that they know their fund is working to deliver them the best possible retirement outcome as the fund looks to invest in some of the world's best assets." In Australia, employers pay retirement, or 'super', contributions of almost 10% of employees' annual salaries into their super accounts. "We are very pleased to have been selected as AustralianSuper's real estate investment advisor in Canada," said Gary Whitelaw, Group Chief Executive Officer, Bentall Kennedy. "We are well positioned to execute on this mandate on behalf of AustralianSuper's members through our research driven strategies, our strong commitment to responsible and sustainable investment practices, and a comprehensive knowledge of the Canadian real estate investment market that should offer a consistent, high-quality complement to AustralianSuper's growing portfolio of direct foreign property holdings." "We look forward," added Paul Zemla, Chief Investment Officer for Bentall Kennedy in Canada, "to working with AustralianSuper in diverse contexts within this mandate, including joint venture partnerships with major Canadian pension funds, private asset owners and our many current Bentall Kennedy institutional clients." About Bentall Kennedy Bentall Kennedy, a Sun Life Investment Management company, is one of the 30 largest global real estate investment advisors and one of North America's foremost providers of real estate services. Bentall Kennedy serves the interests of more than 550 institutional clients, managing approximately $33 billion of assets on behalf of investment management clients in Canada and the U.S. and providing real estate services for 60 million square feet of office, retail, industrial, and multi-residential properties (as of the most recently completed fiscal quarter). Bentall Kennedy is a member of UN PRI and a recognized Responsible Property Investing leader ranking 1st globally in its peer group in the 2015 Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB). The Bentall Kennedy Group includes Bentall Kennedy (Canada) Limited Partnership, Bentall Kennedy (U.S.) Limited Partnership and the real estate and commercial mortgage investment groups of certain of their affiliates, all of which comprise a team of real estate professionals spanning multiple legal entities. The assets under management shown above include real estate equity and mortgage investments of the companies within the Bentall Kennedy Group, and exclude assets scheduled to transition out of Bentall Kennedy. All amounts cited are in U.S. dollars. For more information, visit www.bentallkennedy.com. About AustralianSuper AustralianSuper manages more than AUD $100 billion of members' assets on behalf of more than two million members from across 210,000 businesses. One in 10 working Australians is a member of AustralianSuper. For more information, please contact: Jackie Gallant Head of Institutional Marketing and Communications (w)416-204-3894 (m)416-268-8961 [email protected] Stephen McMahon Head of External Relations AustralianSuper +61 3 8648 3828 or +61 407 507 415 [email protected] SOURCE Bentall Kennedy BELLINGHAM, Wash., Sept. 06, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Through the support of the Binaytara Foundation (BTF), the first bone marrow transplant in a government hospital in Nepal was performed on August 14, 2016 at the Civil Service Hospital located in Kathmandu. The blood and marrow transplant center in Nepal will serve not only the population of Nepal but also patients from neighboring countries. BMT is a standard procedure for the treatment of blood cancers, genetic blood disorders such as sickle cell anemia or thalassemia, and diseases causing bone marrow failure such aplastic anemia. The procedure involves a multidisciplinary approach with the expertise and efforts of well trained physicians, nurses and allied healthcare professionals. The transplant recipient is an 18-year old man suffering from aggressive lymphoma. The patient received a high dose of chemotherapy followed by an autologous transplant with his own cells. The patient was successfully discharged after complete recovery. Dr. Bishesh Poudyal, chief of clinical hematology and bone marrow transplant at Civil Service Hospital stated, "Cost of autologous transplant in Nepal is approximately 5000 US Dollar, and it is affordable for many patients who are in need of transplant. A total of 8 patients are waiting for transplant." The idea of a BMT program in Nepal started when Dr. Damiano Rondelli (director of BMT at University of Illinois at Chicago) and Dr. Binay Shah, a Nepali-American oncologist and founder of Binaytara Foundation, visited the country in 2011. Upon meeting with local cancer physicians, it became clear that the development of a BMT center would help many Nepalese patients with blood disorders. BTF sponsored the training of the BMT team from Kathmandu, including two physicians and a nurse, at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Currently, BTF is supporting the training in clinical genetics at the University of Colombo (Sri Lanka) of another physician who is expected to join the BMT team at Civil Service Hospital in 2017. Binaytara Foundation (BTF) is an Illinois non-profit organization exempt from taxation pursuant to Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. BTF charitable projects include bone marrow transplant center, hospice program, cancer screening, medical research grants in resource-poor communities. For more information on BTF projects, visit www.binayfoundation.org. SOURCE Binaytara Foundation Related Links http://www.binayfoundation.org WALNUT, Calif., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- VIASPACE Inc. (OTC: VSPC) announced that the July/August issue of Bioenergy Insight magazine features an article by VIASPACE Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Carl Kukkonen, focused on Giant King Grass as a dedicated energy crop. The article has the headline "King of the Grass World Move over wood, perennial grass is looking to have its moment in the spotlight". The entire article is available using the links below to subscribers of Bioenergy Insight. The major points of the Bioenergy Insight magazine article are: Perennial grasses are attractive bioenergy alternatives to wood which has many competing and higher value uses, and also as a supplement to sugarcane bagasse which is seasonal and only available for part of the year. Perennial grasses have a high yield and are fast growing, and can grow on some marginal lands so that they do not displace food crops. Giant King Grass has the highest yield and thus the lowest cost of any crop; it is non-invasive and suitable for tropical and subtropical regions where there is no freezing. It can be harvested at least twice a year and the first harvest is less than six months after planting. It is approved by the US Department of Agriculture which inspects the grass and issues phytosanitary certificates for export. Growing and harvesting Giant King Grass is simple and similar to sugarcane. Giant King Grass is growing in eight countries around the world. has the highest yield and thus the lowest cost of any crop; it is non-invasive and suitable for tropical and subtropical regions where there is no freezing. Giant King Grass can generate electricity through direct combustion 175 acres are needed to produce 1 MW of electricity (with a 10 MW minimum). can generate electricity through direct combustion Anaerobic digesters can use Giant King Grass to produce bio methane to fuel an internal combustion engine and electrical generator, or to be upgraded to directly replace natural gas. Giant King Grass can be used to produce energy pellets and biocoal. can be used to produce energy pellets and biocoal. It can be used as a non-food feedstock for second-generation cellulosic liquid biofuels such as ethanol and butanol in addition to biochemicals and biomaterials. Giant King Grass when cut every two months at 6-8 feet tall is a high nutrition animal feed for dairy cows, cattle, sheep, goats and other animals that eat grass. VIASPACE CEO, Haris Basit, commented, "I encourage all interested parties to read the Bioenergy Insight article which represents a good summary of the advantages of using Giant King Grass as a dedicated energy crop. Articles like this and invited presentations at conferences are an important way to introduce potential customers to VIASPACE and Giant King Grass." Bioenergy Insight magazine is published 6 times a year in England with worldwide circulation. It is targeted at companies producing biomass fuel in the form of pellets and briquettes, and those using renewable materials to produce biopower, biogas, combined heat & power (CHP), and liquid biofuels. The magazine covers pertinent bioenergy topics such as: the latest industry news, regulations & legislation, market analysis, and technological developments. Each issue is mailed to a minimum of 3,000 subscribers within the sector. The magazine is generally available only to paid subscribers, but the VIASPACE article is available for free on the Bioenergy Insight website: http://issuu.com/horseshoemedialtd/docs/bioenergy_insight_july-august_2016/1?e=5570454/37155799 on page 46-47. The article is also available on the VIASPACE website at www.VIASPACE.com. About VIASPACE VIASPACE grows renewable Giant King Grass as a low-carbon fuel for clean electricity generation; for environmentally friendly energy pellets; and as a feedstock for bio-methane production and for green cellulosic biofuels, biochemicals and biomaterials. Giant King Grass is a proprietary, high yield, dedicated biomass energy crop. Giant King Grass when it is cut frequently at 4 to 5 feet tall is also excellent animal feed. The USDA granted approval for planting Giant King Grass throughout the US and cooperates in exporting by performing the required inspections and issuing the phytosanitary certificate needed for import into foreign countries. Giant King Grass is being grown in California, Hawaii, St. Croix Virgin Islands, Nicaragua, South Africa, China, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines and Guyana. For more information, please go to www.VIASPACE.com or contact Dr. Jan Vandersande, Director of Communications, at 800-517-8050 or [email protected] Safe Harbor Statement Information in this news release includes forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Such factors include, without limitation, risks outlined in our periodic filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, and other factors over which VIASPACE has little or no control. SOURCE VIASPACE Inc. Related Links http://www.viaspace.com LONDON, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Revenue Forecasting of Originator, Generic and OTC Medicines and Therapy Areas Including CNS, Cardiovascular and Cancer; Exploration of Regional Differences in Healthcare; Discussion of Domestic Manufacturers Including EMS, Hypermarcas and Ache, and International Drug Companies Including Sanofi, Novartis and Roche Medicine Sales in Brazil - How to Find Trends, Opportunities and Forecasted Revenues Do you want to assess Brazil's pharmaceutical market from 2016? If so, visiongain's new report gives you revenue forecasts, helping your research and analysis. That study's purpose is to show opportunities, trends and sales predictions to 2026. Brazil can satisfy expectations for wider healthcare coverage and rapid expansion of its pharma industry and market. With our updated study you explore business analysis, developments and opportunities for domestic and foreign companies. Please read on to explore Brazilian medical sales and see how high that fast developing country's revenues could go. Trends and outlooks for that emerging healthcare market - what is possible? From 2016 patients, treatment providers and the pharmaceutical industry will benefit from progress in Brazilian healthcare. Discover in our study what the future holds - medical needs and potential revenues. Also find rankings of companies. Our new analysis shows you revenue predictions from 2016 to 2026 at overall national and submarket levels. You discover the most lucrative parts of that country's drug market, seeing opportunities to benefit patients, healthcare providers and pharma companies. Explore what the future holds for domestic producers and multinational pharma companies. Forecasts and other data help you find where the money lies in Brazil's medical sales To support our forecasting, our work shows you historical results, sales growth rates and market shares. In our 191 page report you gain 52 tables, 55 charts and interviews with representatives from BiocadBrazil Farmaceutica and Sandoz Brazil. With our study, see how you could save time and avoid struggles to find data to help your research, analysis, plans and presentations. See, too, how you could help your influence, benefiting your reputation for commercial insight on Brazilian pharma. To see a report overview please email Sara Peerun on [email protected] The following sections show how our investigation helps your work. Potential of Brazil's drug sales - overall market and segment forecasts What is Brazil's potential as a pharma market? In our analysis you discover overall revenues to 2026, with discussions. Our report also shows you individual sales predictions - from 2016 to 2026 - for three main submarkets: Patented therapies - original brands of prescription drugs Generic pharmaceuticals (generics) OTC medicines - over-the-counter treatments. The future looks promising for Brazilian pharmaceutical sales. That developing national market is growing at a faster rate than more-mature markets, and can continue to do so over the next ten years. See what is possible. With our study also extend your knowledge of that country's medical needs and pharma industry. In addition you explore forecasting for therapeutic applications, assessing demand and potential revenues. Diseases and their treatment - what prospects for drugs and their sellers? Our new study also predicts revenues in Brazil for treating prominent diseases. See individual revenue forecasts to 2026 for six therapeutic categories: Central nervous system (CNS) Cardiovascular (CV) Gastrointestinal and metabolic Cancer treatments (oncology) Infectious diseases - anti-infective agents (vaccines and antibiotics) Therapies for other disorders (grouped analysis). How fast will those submarkets expand? How high will their revenues go? With our report you assess opportunities and potentials, seeing what developments and sales are possible. There you also investigate what stimulates and restrains sales of drugs. Issues and events in Brazil - what affects drug developers, producers and sellers? Our study discusses forces affecting Brazil's medical sales from 2016, including these influences: Efforts of companies and public healthcare providers to serve patients' needs Strategies of domestic and foreign companies, including mergers and acquisitions (M&A), drug launches, sales ranking and Brazilian market share Trends in demographics, economics and epidemiology - assess medical needs, including Zika virus infection Wholesalers, distributors and retailers of medicines - the supply chain Governmental policies - explore activities of ANVISA and SUS and other bodies - including the new drug price adjustment system, the RENAME reimbursement programme and ANVISA reform of patent protection. With our study you also assess these influences, among others: Efforts by regions to improve medical provision, better serving populations Healthcare insurance - public and private - to improve access to medicines Technologies - competitors' research and development and manufacturing Technology transfer and IP protection, including action against counterfeiting Rising demand for biological drugs, including biosimilars Brazil's position in overall world, Latin American, BRIC nations and pharmerging countries' pharmaceutical markets. With our analysis you examine political, economic, social and technological questions, assessing commercial prospects. You also investigate strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Explore what stimulates and restrains domestic and foreign pharmaceutical companies in Brazil, discovering what is possible from 2016 to 2026. Analysis of top companies and their industry - what future sales are possible? What happens next? Our work predicts the Brazilian pharma market will reach $31.1bn in 2020 - with strong expansion from 2016 to 2026. See what is possible. In our report you discover what causes that sales growth and why Brazil attracts and develops pharma business. There you explore activities of 10 leading domestic companies and other firms, including these organisations: EMS Hypermarcas Ache Eurofarma Cristalia Libbs Uniao Quimica. You also assess 10 multinational - big pharma - organisations and other foreign players operating there, including these corporations: Sanofi Novartis Roche Pfizer Takeda Bayer Merck & Co. You also see interviews with BiocadBrazil Farmaceutica and Sandoz Brazil. Discover the efforts of pharma specialists, including firms making biopharmaceuticals. From 2016 many firms stand to gain. Leading generic and biosimilar drug developers, producers and sellers In our report you assess other international manufacturers and marketers of drugs for Brazil, including generics and biosimilars: Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Mylan Actavis Daiichi Sankyo Glenmark Valeant Strides Arcolab Biocon. Pharma industry leaders and specialty companies will expand their operations and sales there. Explore what is possible in Brazil and see how you could benefit. 5 ways Brazilian Pharmaceutical Market Outlook 2016-2026 helps your work In these five main ways, our investigation gives knowledge to benefit your research, analyses and decisions: Brazil's overall pharma revenues from 2016 - discover that leading developing country's prospects for medical investments, marketing and sales Submarkets' revenues to 2026 - investigate 9 segments at national level, finding product groups and therapeutic needs with highest potential revenues Prospects for domestic and foreign drug developers, producers and sellers - explore portfolios, R&D, product approvals, collaborations, M&A and outlooks Opinion and news from companies - see views to help you stay ahead in knowledge, including two interviews Analysis of what stimulates and restrains Brazil's market for human medicines - assess challenges and strengths there, helping you compete and gain advantages. That study, by our in-house analysts in the UK, gives data to benefit your work. Our survey shows information you find nowhere else, helping you stay ahead. Independent analysis showing you the potential of Brazil's pharma sales Our report gives analysis showing you the most promising opportunities. Discover progress and possibilities for pharmaceutical sales in Brazil. Through choosing our study, see how you could save time and effort, also benefiting your authority and reputation for commercial insight. Our investigation is for everyone analysing rising and emerging pharma markets. Brazil holds great commercial potential - our study shows you trends, forecasts and discussions to help you stay ahead in knowledge. So avoid missing out - please get our new report here now. To see a report overview please email Sara Peerun on [email protected] To request a report overview of this report please emails Sara Peerun at [email protected] or call Tel: +44 (0) 20 7336 6100 Or click on https://www.visiongain.com/Report/1719/Brazilian-Pharmaceutical-Market-Outlook-2016-2026 Organisations Mentioned in the Report Abbott Laboratories Ache Laboratorios Farmaceuticos S.A Actavis PLC Agencia Nacional de Saude Suplementar (ANS) Agencia Nacional de Vigilancia Sanitaria (ANVISA) Agila Specialties Private Ltd Allianz Saude Alteogen Inc AMB (Brazilian Medical Association) American Diabetes Association ADA) AmerisourceBergen Corporation (ABC) Amgen Inc Antaris Consulting Associacao Brasileira das Redes de Farmacias e Drogarias (ABRAFARMA) Associacao Brasileira de Reabilitacao de Coluna (Brazilian Association of Back Rehabilitation) Associacao da Industria Farmaceutica de Pesquisa (Interfarma) Associacao Nacional de Assistencia ao Diabetico (ANAD) Astellas Pharma Inc AstraZeneca PLC Athos Farma SA Axis Biotec Brasil Baxter International Inc Bayer AG Bergamo Ltda Beth Israel Hospital Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Billi Farmaceutica Biocad BiocadBrazil Farmaceutica Biocon Limited Biolab Emcure Farmaceutica Comercial Ltda Biolab Farmaceutica Bio-Manguinhos (Instituta de Tecnologia em Imunobiologicos) Biomm SA Bionovis SA Biovail Corporation Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH Boiron Brainfarma Industria Quimica e Farmaceutica BrasilPharma Brazil Produtos Roche Quimicos e Farmaceuticos Brazilian Institute of Tax Planning Brazilian National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) Brazilian National Institute of Social Security (INSS) Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) British Medical Journal (BMJ) BTG Pactual Bunker Industria Farmaceutica Butantan Institute Camara de Regulacao do Mercado de Medicamentos (CMED) Care Plus Medicina Assistencial S/S Ltda Ceitec SA Celesio AG Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) Chemo Group Claris Lifesciences Ltd Conselho Federal de Farmacia Conselho Federal de Medicina (CFM) Corporacion Infarmasa SA Cosmed Industria de Cosmeticos e Medicamentos Cristalia CVS Pharmacy Daiichi Sankyo Delta Dimed SA Distribuidora Farmaceutica Panarello Ltda DM Industria Farmaceutica Ltda Drogaria Sao Paulo Drogarias DPSP SA Drogarias Farmais Drogarias Pacheco Drogarias Tamoio Drogasil SA Eisai Co Ltd Eli Lilly & Co Emcure Pharmaceuticals Ltd Empresas Andromaco EMS Eurofarma Eurofarma Argentine Eurofarma Chile Eurofarma Uruguay European Medicines Agency (EMA) Everis Group F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG Farmacia Ben Farmacia Popular Farmacias Mais Economica Farmacias Guararapes Farmalife Farmanguinhos (Instituto de Tecnologia em Farmacos) Farmindustria SA Federacao Nacional de Saude Suplementar (FenaSaude) Federal Court of Rio de Janeiro Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Forest Laboratories Inc Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz (FioCruz) Fundacao Ezequiel Dias (Funed) Genzyme Corporation Germed Pharma Gilead Sciences Inc GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Golden Cross Government of Brazil Grunenthal Group Grupo Amil Saude Grupo Bradesco Saude Grupo Cimed Grupo Notre Dame Intermedica Saude Grupo SulAmerica Saude Hapvida Assistencia Medica Health Canada Health Network Formation and Quality Improvement Project (QualiSUS) Hebron Hemobras Horizon Pharma PLC Hospital das Clinicas, Sao Paulo Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein Hospital Santa Catarina Hypermarcas IMA Laboratories Indar Institute Indian Council of Medical Research Innova Pharma Institute for Health Insurance (IESS) Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica (IBGE) Instituto de Estudos de Saude Suplementar (IESS) Instituto de Tecnologia do Parana (TECPAR) Instituto Terapeutico Delta Instituto Vital Brazil Janssen Johnson & Johnson Kantar Health Kenya Medical Research Institute Laboratorio Daudt Oliveira Laboratorio Farmaceutico do Estado de Pernambuco (LAFEPE) Laboratorio Prata Laboratorio Sanobiol Laboratorio Teuto Laboratorio Volta Laboratorio Tiaraju Laboratorios Gautier Laboratorios Klinger Do Brasil Laboratorios Laprin S.A Lazard Legrand Pharma Industria Farmaceutica Ltda Libbs Biotec Libbs Farmaceutica Ltda Luper Industria Farmaceutica mAbxience Mantecorp Quimica Industria e Farmaceutica Ltda Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) Medley Farmaceutica Meizler Biopharma SA Melcon Industria Farmaceutica SA Merck & Co., Inc Merck KGaA Merck Serono Mercosur Merial Merz Pharma GmbH & Co. KGaA Metlife Exclusivamente Odontologicos Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Minas Gerais State Department of Health Ministry of Health of Malaysia Ministry of Health, Brazil Moksha8 Multilab Industria e Comerci de Produtos Farma Mundipharma International Ltd Mylan NV National Institutes of Health Nature's Plus Farmaceutica Ltda NeoQuimica Nortis Farmaceutica Ltda Novartis AG Novartis Biociencias Novo Nordisk A/S Nycomed OdontoPrev Omint Servicos de Saude Oncoprod Optimer Pharmaceuticals Inc Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Orygen Biotecnologia Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co Ltd Pan American Health Organization Panpharma Pasteur Institute Pele Nova Biotecnologia SA Pfizer Inc PharmaPraxis Porto Seguro - Seguro Saude Probiomed SA de CV Probiotica Laboratorios Ltda Procter and Gamble Co Profarma Profarma Specialty SA Pro-Genericos (the Brazilian Association of Generic Drug Industries) Protalix BioTherapeutics Inc Quesada Farmaceutica SA Quintiles Inc Raia Drogasil Raia SA Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC Roche Diagnostica Brasil Rosario Sabin Vaccine Institute Sandoz Brazil Sandoz do Brasil Industria Farmaceutica Sanofi Sanofi Pasteur SA Sant'Ana S.A. Drogaria Farmacias Santa Cruz Distribuidora de Medicamentos Sao Paulo Stock Exchange Savicevic Participacoes SA SC Participacoes Empresariais Ltda Schwarz Pharma Serum Therapeutic Institute Shasun Pharmaceuticals Ltd Sinclair IS Pharma PLC Sindicato do Comercio Atacadista de Drogas, Medicamentos, Correlatos, Perfumarias, Cosmeticos e Artigos de Toucador no Estado de Sao Paulo (SINCAMESP) Sindusfarma Sistema Unico de Saude (SUS) State Pharmaceutical Laboratory of Pernambuco (LAFEPE) Strides Arcolab Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd Supera Farma Laboratorios Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd Telefonica Digital Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd The Walgreen Company The Working Group on Intellectual Property of the Brazilian Network for the Integration of Peoples (GTPI/Rebrip TKS Farmaceutica Ltda Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd UCB Pharma SA UERJ (Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro) Uniao Quimica Farmaceutica Nacional SA UNICAMP (Universidade Estadual de Campinas) Unimed Seguros Saude University of Sao Paulo University of Texas Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc Walter Reed Army Institute of Research Warc Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc Wockhardt Ltd World Bank World Health Organization (WHO) Yasuda Maritima Saude Seguros SA Zydus Cadila To see a report overview please email Sara Peerun on [email protected] SOURCE Visiongain Ltd Screening studies conducted by SRI International in their Shenandoah Valley facilities confirmed the effectiveness of HSRx 431 against the Zika virus. Previously conducted in vivo studies demonstrated the drug candidate's safety and effectiveness against dengue and chikungunya infections. Additional studies on HSRx 431 for Zika will be conducted in parallel by SRI International. Concurrently, the development of clinical protocols and FDA registration will be completed for Zika human safety trials. Zika virus disease, for which the World Health Organization reports there is no vaccine or drug treatment, is transmitted primarily by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which are present in the Americas, Africa, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Florida, with hundreds of Zika cases, and Puerto Rico, with 5,000, are especially vulnerable. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) advises that the Aedes mosquito is present in some 30 states, and Anthony Fauci, M.D., director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), notes that 25% of Puerto Rico's population of 3.55 million can be expected to contract Zika over the next year. Dr. Fauci and NIAID Senior Scientific Advisor David M. Morens, M.D., wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine: "With respect to treatment, the arbovirus pandemics suggest that the one-bug-one-drug approach is inadequate; broad-spectrum antiviral drugs effective against whole classes of viruses are urgently needed." HSRx Director of Biology Joshua Costin, Ph.D., a virologist, said HSRx 431 is designed to meet that need, which, he notes, "is timely for an additional reason: Any Zika vaccine approval could be complicated and delayed if new research findings on the Zika/dengue virus connection prove accurate." Dr. Fauci has said, "The earliest we'll have a vaccine, at best if everything works, will be some time in 2018." Antibodies generated by infection usually provide immunity against subsequent infection, but antibody dependent enhancement (ADE), first reported as a theory by Scott Halstead, M.D., a leading authority on viruses spread by mosquitoes, allows the dengue virus to deliver follow-on infections in which antibodies actually magnify the severity of illness. Recently completed research shows human serum containing dengue antibodies enhances Zika infection 200-fold. The CDC advises that more than a third of the world's population lives in areas at risk for dengue, and 400 million additional people are infected annually. Dengue is endemic in Puerto Rico, Latin America, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, the Caribbean Islands, and like Zika, is expected soon to cause widespread infection in the U.S. HSRx Chief Executive Officer Thomas Sullivan, Jr., explained, "We patented HSRx 431 alone and in combination with Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and other antivirals, enabling it to become the broad spectrum antiviral drug of choice for the early treatment and prevention of a wide variety of viral infections, including Zika, dengue, chikungunya and influenza, without the need to identify the causative agent. The CDC advises that 'millions of people are sickened, hundreds of thousands are hospitalized and tens of thousands of people die from flu every year in the U.S. Combining HSRx 431 and Oseltamivir will produce a globally needed, orally-delivered, broad-spectrum antiviral drug with long shelf life and long patent life." About HSRx Biopharmaceutical HSRx Biopharmaceutical is an Arizona-based biopharmaceutical company that is a leader in the development of polyfunctional pharmaceuticals, a new advancement in drug treatment therapies. HSRx's combination drugs uniquely target and engage multiple molecular targets within the human body known to be involved in a disease condition - an advancement that, in contrast to the current drug treatment therapy strategy of a single molecule-single target treatment, treats the entire disease not simply a single disease symptom. HSRx utilizes a proprietary technology to identify and capture the polyfunctional disease-fighting phytonutrients in GRAS status foods and combines these proprietary compounds with leading FDA-approved generic drugs to create powerful new combination drugs with long patent lives. In clinical studies comparing the safety and effectiveness of HSRx combination drugs with current leading generic drug treatments, HSRx combination drugs demonstrate superior effectiveness and fewer reported side effects. More information is available at HSRxBiopharmaceutical.com. Contact: Matt Russell Russell Public Communications (520) 232-9840 [email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160905/404133 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160905/404112LOGO SOURCE HSRx Biopharmaceutical Related Links http://www.hsrxbiopharmaceutical.com WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- News Highlights: Top 300 semifinalists selected to compete in sixth annual Broadcom MASTERS the nation's most prestigious Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) competition for middle school students Semifinalists represent 37 states, including 54 semifinalists from California ; 41 from Florida ; 28 from Texas ; 17 from New York ; and 16 from Pennsylvania ; 41 from ; 28 from ; 17 from ; and 16 from 30 finalists to be named September 20 and competition scheduled for October 27-November 2 ; top place winner receives the Samueli Prize of $25,000 and competition scheduled for ; top place winner receives the Samueli Prize of More women than men among top 300 Broadcom MASTERS Broadcom Foundation and Society for Science & the Public today announced the selection of the top 300 students as semifinalists in the sixth annual Broadcom MASTERS the nation's most prestigious Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) competition for middle school students. Semifinalists' names and a state-by-state breakdown can be found at https://student.societyforscience.org/broadcom-masters-2016-semifinalists or http://www.broadcomfoundation.org/masters/semifinalists/2016. The Broadcom MASTERS (Math, Applied Science, Technology and Engineering for Rising Stars) rewards sixth, seventh and eighth grade students who follow their personal passions in science or engineering at 300 regional and state science fairs and inspires them to continue their studies in math and science throughout high school. As the students apply Project-Based Learning to the scientific method and the engineering process through hands-on challenges and competitions, they learn the 21st century skills of critical thinking, collaboration, communication and creativity. "Broadcom MASTERS inspires middle school students from all walks of life to envision their future as scientists, engineers and innovators. We are delighted to see growing interest in STEM fields among both girls and boys," said Paula Golden, President of the Broadcom Foundation. "This year marks the Broadcom MASTERS highest competition pool ever, with thousands of nominees nationwide entering their research projects for consideration by prestigious scientists and engineers throughout the nation. Along with a high-five to the top 300 semifinalists, we want to send a shout-out to every nominee selected by fair judges around the country. You are all STEM champions and role models in your communities!" Semifinalists' independent research projects include a broad range of topics such as: Wearable Therapeutic Device with Bluetooth for Elderly Sarcopenia Patients and Caregivers Cryptic Cryptocurrency: A Statistical Analysis of Possible Factors Driving the Value of Bitcoin OpenRoad: A Cost-Efficient Solution to Drowsy Driving Bloodstain Pattern Analysis: Accuracy of the Point of Origin Calculation Did Juvenile Spinosaurids Spend Time in the Ocean? Reducing Adolescent Stress via Predictive Machine Learning Models Semifinalist Data Points: Semifinalists represent 250 middle schools in 37 states, and represent 126 regional and state science fairs across the U.S. Semifinalists were selected from more than 6,000 nominees and 2,434 applicants. Each application received three independent readings and evaluations by distinguished scientists, engineers and educators. Nominees qualified to enter the Broadcom MASTERS by placing among the top 10 percent of the participants at their Society-affiliated science fairs. The 30 Broadcom MASTERS finalists will be announced on September 20 . Finalists will receive an all-expense paid trip to Washington, DC from October 27 November 2 to showcase their science fair projects and compete in a four-day STEM competition for awards and prizes, including the top education award of $25,000 presented by the Samueli Foundation. . Finalists will receive an all-expense paid trip to from to showcase their science fair projects and compete in a four-day STEM competition for awards and prizes, including the top education award of presented by the Samueli Foundation. Semifinalists represent 37 states including 54 semifinalists from California ; 41 from Florida ; 28 from Texas ; 17 from New York ; and 16 from Pennsylvania . "We are extremely proud to join with the Broadcom Foundation in congratulating the 300 semifinalists selected," said Maya Ajmera, President and Chief Executive Officer of Society for Science & the Public and Publisher of Science News. "We hope competitions like Broadcom MASTERS inspire them to pursue their passions and become the next generation of scientists and engineers that help make the world a better place." Sponsored by Broadcom Foundation, a nonprofit public benefit corporation funded by Broadcom Corporation, the Broadcom MASTERS is a program of Society for Science & the Public. The Society has managed the world's most prestigious science competitions for more than seven decades. As a semifinalist, each student will receive a prize package containing an award ribbon; semifinalist certificate of accomplishment; Broadcom MASTERS backpack; a Broadcom MASTERS decal; an Inventor's Notebook and copy of Howtoons: Tools of Mass Construction graphic novel, courtesy of The Lemelson Foundation; a one year subscription to Mathematica+ software, courtesy of Wolfram Research; and a one year family digital subscription to Science News magazine. In recognition of the role that teachers play in the success of their students, each semifinalist's designated teacher also will receive a Broadcom MASTERS tote bag and a one year subscription to Science News magazine, courtesy of KPMG. Resources: For more information on the Broadcom MASTERS, visit the Broadcom Foundation and Society websites or visit Broadcom Foundation's Newsroom and read the B-Inspired Blog. To keep up with the Broadcom MASTERS on Twitter, use hashtag #brcmMASTERS or follow Broadcom and SSP. And to stay connected, visit the Broadcom MASTERS and SSP Facebook pages. About Broadcom Foundation Founded in April 2009, the Broadcom Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation with its main mission to advance science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education by funding research, recognizing scholarship and increasing opportunity. The foundation inspires young people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) through its signature programs, the Broadcom MASTERS and the Broadcom MASTERS International, premier science and engineering competitions for middle school students around the United States and the world. Learn more at www.broadcomfoundation.org/masters About Society for Science & the Public Society for Science & the Public is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization dedicated to the achievement of young researchers in independent research and to the public engagement in science. Established in 1921, its vision is to promote the understanding and appreciation of science and the vital role it plays in human advancement. Through its acclaimed education competitions, including the Intel Science Talent Search, the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, and the Broadcom MASTERS, and its award-winning publications, Science News and Science News for Students, Society for Science & the Public is committed to inform, educate, and inspire. Learn more at www.societyforscience.org. Contact: Society for Science & the Public Sarah Wood 703-864-2589 [email protected] SOURCE Society for Science & the Public Related Links http://www.societyforscience.org TAMPA, Fla., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Burger 21, an award-winning, "beyond the better burger" fast casual franchise, is getting its cheese on for National Cheeseburger Day by rewarding all guests who download its mobile app with a free Cheesy Burger offer*. To further celebrate the holiday, which falls this year on Sunday, Sept. 18, Burger 21 will be launching its first Secret Cheesy Sweepstakes, in which one lucky fan will be flown to Tampa, Florida to meet with Corporate Chef Mike Remes. Together, the pair will invent a distinctive cheeseburger creation, which will be featured next year for a limited-time in all of Burger 21's restaurants nationwide. BURGER 21 ROLLS OUT ITS MOST CHEESY OFFER YET WITH FREE CHEESY BURGER AND SECRET CHEESY SWEEPSTAKES ON NATIONAL CHEESEBURGER DAY To spice things up, Chef Remes will be treating guests to a Secret Cheesy Burger on National Cheeseburger Day, handcrafted and inspired by the holiday. Those who are adventurous enough to try the Secret Cheesy recipe on Sept. 18 and scan their loyalty receipt on the app will be entered into a drawing in which one lucky fan will win a grand prize trip to the company's headquarters in Tampa to create the brand's new cheeseburger creation. The winner will be chosen at random on Sept. 19. "National Cheeseburger Day is the perfect opportunity for us to thank and reward our guests for their loyal support over the last six years," said Mark Johnston, president and founder of Burger 21. "We are eager to debut our Secret Cheesy Burger on National Cheeseburger Day and look forward to giving one raving fan an opportunity to create a limited-time burger alongside Chef Mike. At Burger 21, we pride ourselves on developing exceptional recipes that consistently deliver on the taste our guests have come to love." Through Burger 21's mobile app, guests can earn a $5 reward for every seven visits and receive surprise rewards. For the latest special offers and promotions, download Burger 21's "B Loyal" app from the Apple App Store or Google Play. For more information on Burger 21, please visit burger21.com and follow Burger 21 on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Recognition for Burger 21 includes being named one of Entrepreneur magazine's Top New Franchises and Restaurant Business' 50 Fastest-Growing Small Restaurant Chains of 2016. Additionally, the company has been ranked on Fast Casual's Top 100 "Movers and Shakers" for the last four consecutive years, while Burger 21 Founder and President Mark Johnston was acknowledged as one of Fast Casual's "Top 25 People" of 2014 for his strategic leadership in the brand's growth and development. Burger 21 also was named one of QSR's "Best Franchise Deals" of 2014. To learn more about ownership opportunities with Burger 21, contact Ashley Sawyer, director of franchise development, at 813-327-7881 or [email protected], or visit www.burger21franchise.com. *Free cheesy burger redeemable at any of Burger 21's restaurants across the country. Offer expires after 30 days from initial download. About Burger 21 With 25 locations now open in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Texas, and approximately 16 in development in 12 states, Burger 21 is a "beyond the better burger" fast casual franchise concept founded in 2010. Headquartered in Tampa, Florida, Burger 21 is a chef-inspired brand with offerings including 21 unique burger creations ranging from hand-crafted, freshly ground Certified Angus Beef to chicken, turkey, vegetarian, shrimp and tuna burgers, fresh salads, all-beef hot dogs, chicken tenders and an extensive shake bar including hand-crafted shakes, floats and sundaes. Since its inception, the company has provided more than $127,000 in contributions as part of its "B Charitable" initiative, in which it donates 10 percent of its restaurants' sales to local schools and charities on the 21st of each month. For more information, visit www.burger21.com. CONTACT: Elayne Jacobs Fish Consulting (202) 588-8138 [email protected] Photo- http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160906/404225 Logo- http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130214/NY60474LOGO SOURCE Burger 21 MIAMI, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), the world's largest leisure travel company, today signed a memorandum of agreement with leading German and Finnish shipbuilders Meyer Werft and Meyer Turku to deliver three additional next-generation cruise ships that will be fully powered by Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), the cleanest burning fossil fuel in the world. The shipbuilding agreements are subject to several conditions, including satisfactory financing. Carnival Corporation said two of the new LNG-powered ships are designated for the world's most popular cruise brand, Carnival Cruise Line, and will be built by Meyer Turku at its shipyard in Turku, Finland, with delivery dates expected in 2020 and 2022. The new ship for P&O Cruises UK will be built by Meyer Werft at its shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, with an expected delivery date in 2020. In conjunction with the order, the delivery dates for the new builds for Germany-based AIDA Cruises and Italy-based Costa Cruises for 2020 will shift to 2021 to allow the company to more effectively allocate measured capacity growth across its 10 global cruise brands in more markets throughout the world. In total, the company now has agreements in place to build seven LNG-powered cruise ships across four of its 10 global cruise brands in coming years. As previously announced, the first of these ships is expected to be in service for AIDA Cruises and Costa Cruises in 2019. Based on Carnival Corporation's next-generation "green cruising" ship design, these new vessels will be part of the first generation of cruise ships to be fully powered by LNG, which is an industry first and an environmental breakthrough that will produce the most efficient ships in the company's history. Pioneering a new era in the use of alternative fuels that reduce air emissions, these new ships will use LNG to generate 100 percent of the ship's power both in port and on the open sea an innovation that will significantly reduce exhaust emissions to help protect the environment and support the company's aggressive sustainability goals. "We are proud to be at the forefront of introducing LNG-powered ships to the cruise industry, working with our partners to achieve shipbuilding breakthroughs like this that will help us produce the most efficient and sustainable ships we have ever built," said Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corporation & plc. "This is also an important step in our fleet enhancement plan that enables us to execute on our long-term strategy of measured capacity growth over time, while delivering innovative new ships that further elevate our already great guest experience. Every time we launch a new ship, we have a new opportunity to create excitement and show consumers why cruising is a great vacation at an exceptional value, especially for those who typically consider land-based vacations." As part of its fleet enhancement plan, Carnival Corporation has already taken delivery of three new ships in 2016 for its AIDA Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line and Holland America Line brands, and plans to launch the all-new Seabourn Encore in December 2016. Including Seabourn Encore and the three new ships announced today for Carnival Cruise Line and P&O Cruises UK, Carnival Corporation has a total of 18 new ships scheduled to be delivered between 2016 and 2022. Bernard Meyer, managing partner of Meyer Werft, with roots dating back to its founding in Germany in 1795, said: "We are excited to welcome P&O Cruises back to Meyer Werft in Germany and Carnival Cruise Line back to Meyer Turku in Finland. These new ships will be built in our most modern and environmentally friendly facilities, and we are very proud to design, build and deliver these ships that provide breakthroughs in innovation and for the environment." About Carnival Corporation Carnival Corporation & plc is the largest leisure travel company in the world, with a portfolio of 10 cruise brands in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia comprised of Carnival Cruise Line, Fathom, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard, P&O Cruises (Australia) and P&O Cruises (UK). Together, these brands operate 101 ships visiting over 700 ports around the world and totaling 225,000 lower berths with 18 new ships scheduled to be delivered between 2016 and 2022. Carnival Corporation & plc also operates Holland America Princess Alaska Tours, the leading tour companies in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. Traded on both the New York and London Stock Exchanges, Carnival Corporation & plc is the only group in the world to be included in both the S&P500 and the FTSE 100 indices. Additional information can be found on www.carnival.com, www.hollandamerica.com, www.princess.com, www.seabourn.com, www.aida.de, www.costacruise.com, www.cunard.com, www.pocruises.com.au, www.pocruises.com and www.fathom.org. SOURCE Carnival Corporation & plc Related Links http://www.Carnivalcorp.com CLEVELAND, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CBIZ, Inc. (NYSE: CBZ) announced today it will webcast its Analyst and Investor Day on Tuesday September 13, 2016, at the New York Stock Exchange. The event will provide analysts and investors with the opportunity to meet CBIZ's management team, including speakers, Jerry Grisko, President and Chief Executive Officer; Ware Grove, Chief Financial Officer; Chris Spurio, President, Financial Services; Mike Kouzelos, President, Employee Services; and Mark Waxman, Chief Marketing Officer. The presentations will cover the Company's growth strategy and positioning in its key businesses, as well as industry trends. The event will be webcast live beginning at 10:30 a.m. ET on September 13, and will be accessible at the Investor Relations page at www.cbiz.com. A replay of the webcast will also be available on the Company's website. CBIZ will also ring the New York Stock Exchange opening bell to commemorate the Company's 20th anniversary. A live webcast of the opening bell event can be viewed on the Company's website www.cbiz.com. CBIZ, Inc. provides professional business services that help clients better manage their finances and employees. CBIZ provides its clients with financial services including accounting, tax, financial advisory, government health care consulting, risk advisory, and valuation services. Employee services include employee benefits consulting, property and casualty insurance, retirement plan consulting, payroll, and HR consulting. As one of the largest accounting, insurance brokerage and valuation companies in the United States, the Company's services are provided through more than 100 Company offices in 33 states. SOURCE CBIZ, Inc. Related Links http://www.cbiz.com PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Cedexis,a leader in internet performance monitoring and optimization, today announced the relocation and expansion of its U.S. headquarters in response to rapid growth in its business as well as its $22M Series B funding closed earlier this year. The company recently relocated to a new and larger downtown Portland office in the Commonwealth building on SW 6th Avenue. "Growing our U.S. headquarters in downtown Portland brings us a wealth of benefits as a high tech company, including access to outstanding talent, greater access to services, closer connections to the emerging enterprise software ecosystem and an easy connection to PDX to support our global growth," said Scott Grout, CEO at Cedexis. "Remaining in Portland is important to us and we are proud to be a part of the tech explosion happening in our city." The company received its latest round of funding in late January of 2016 and has since significantly grown in the areas of software engineering, sales, customer support, marketing and finance. Cedexis plans to take advantage of this new office space and continue to expand its team throughout the remainder of the year and into 2017. Cedexis' new office is located at 421 SW 6th Ave., Suite 700, Portland, OR 97204. For more information on Cedexis, please visit the company's website and follow Cedexis on Twitter @cedexis. For information on current openings at Cedexis in the U.S. and around the world, visit http://www.cedexis.com/contact/careers/ or join us on Sept. 8 during the PDX TechCrawl 2016 at our new office. About Cedexis Cedexis provides web-scale, end-user-experience monitoring and real-time traffic routing across multiple clouds and networks. Cedexis Radar crowd sources billions of real user measurements (RUM) a day from a community of 1,000s of popular websites and mobile apps, with traffic routing services based on the insights this data provides, for the best performance, availability, or cost. Trusted by nearly 1,000 global brands including Accor Hotels, Airbus, Cartier, Comcast, LinkedIn, Mozilla, Nissan and Shutterstock. Cedexis is headquartered in Portland, Oregon with offices in Paris, France, San Francisco, CA, Brooklyn, NY and London. SOURCE Cedexis Related Links http://www.cedexis.com BOSTON, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- As High School students across the country are heading back to school, they are discovering a new, innovative "first step" to the college search process. It's called CollegeFindMe.com and it's launching this month. After signing up on the CollegeFindMe.com web site, students starting their College application process complete an academic and personal profile that allows them to present to college admissions offices not just their test scores but a full picture of their talents and achievements. Providing a more comprehensive picture of who they are, gives students an important advantage that increases their possibility of finding and being admitted to the College of their dreams. "CollegeFindMe.com was created to help students begin their college search," explained CollegeFindMe CEO Christina Bai. "The search for the "ideal" college is challenging for all students. But for families with limited means as well as for students attending high schools that lack strong counseling resources the hurdles to a successful search often seem insurmountable." In the college search and application period, all high school students planning to go to college need help at the same time, increasing the strain on the school's guidance department. For this reason, school guidance counselors are frequently overwhelmed with growing student caseloads. Today, the national ratio of students to counselors is nearly 500 to 1. Furthermore, research from the federal Education Department's Office for Civil Rights, surprisingly showed that one in five high schools in the US has no school counselor on staff, a deficit that impacts most those families in greatest need of help. CollegeFindMe CEO Bai continued, "A US Department of Education school survey revealed that guidance counselors provide an average of 38 minutes of college search/ application advice per high school student and that's over a 4-year time frame. While some families are able to spend thousands of dollars on supplemental college guidance, that option is out of reach for most families. CollegeFindMe is a revolutionary equalizing tool: it provides all students a free platform for the critical "first step" in their college search process." College admissions officers from all across the US will be able to review students' confidential profiles, mining their information looking for those students or demographics that best fit their admission criteria. With CollegeFindMe, colleges will have a direct channel to send applications, fee waivers, invitations to visit their campus, or scholarship offers to attractive candidates that they otherwise might never have reached. There is no cost for students to register and use CollegeFindMe. About CollegeFindMe CollegeFindMe is the first-step in a student's college search process. Headquartered in Boston, CollegeFindMe is an interactive platform that facilitates the connection between college admissions and student applicants. Through this platform, a comprehensive picture of students and their credentials not only their test scores - are presented to college admissions officers. In turn, admissions officers are able to search online a large pool of student candidates that meet their admission criteria, reducing the cost of student recruitment by as much as 90%. For more information, please go to www.collegefindme.com and follow @CollegeFindMe on Twitter. SOURCE CollegeFindMe Related Links http://www.collegefindme.com VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Copper Mountain Mining Corporation (TSX: CUM) (the "Company" or "Copper Mountain") is pleased to announce Mr. Rodney Shier, Chief Financial Officer and Peter Holbek, Vice President Exploration will co-present live on September 8, 2016, at 10:45am EST (7:45am PST) at an online event where investors are invited to ask the company questions in real-time - both in the presentation hall as well as the Company's "virtual booth." If attendees are not able to join the event live on the day of the conference, an on-demand archive will be available for 90 days. Register for the online event at http://tinyurl.com/0908pre. It is recommended that investors pre-register and run the online system check to save time and receive event updates. Learn more about the event at www.VirtualInvestorConferences.com About Copper Mountain Mining Corporation: Copper Mountain's flagship asset is the 75% owned Copper Mountain mine located in southern British Columbia near the town of Princeton. The Company has a strategic alliance with Mitsubishi Materials Corporation who owns the remaining 25%. The Copper Mountain mine commenced production in the latter half of 2011, and has continued to improve its operations since start-up. The 18,000 acre site has a large resource of copper that remains open laterally and at depth. The mine has significant exploration potential that will need to be explored over the next few years to fully appreciate the property's full development potential. Additional information is available on the Company's web page at www.CuMtn.com. On behalf of the Board of COPPER MOUNTAIN MINING CORPORATION "Jim O'Rourke" Jim O'Rourke, P.Eng. Chief Executive Officer Note: This release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements may differ materially from actual future events or results. Readers are referred to the documents, filed by the Company on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, specifically the most recent reports which identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to review or confirm analysts' expectations or estimates or to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statement. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160129/327291LOGO SOURCE Copper Mountain Mining Corporation Related Links http://www.CuMtn.com FORT COLLINS, Colo., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In honor of the next generation of mortgage lenders, Cornerstone Home Lending, Inc. has created an annual scholarship program for Colorado State University (CSU). The program awards $2,500 to an attending junior or senior pursuing a degree in the College of Business at CSU. The funds may be applied towards tuition, housing, or living expenses. Sabrina Nowling, Regional VP of Marketing for Cornerstone Home Lending, established the scholarship in 2016. "Having devoted my entire career to banking and mortgage lending, it's a privilege to help support our future industry leaders," she says. "I'm exceptionally proud of Cornerstone's commitment to our communities and our students, and I look forward to meeting our first scholarship recipient!" Scholarship applicants must be a College of Business junior or senior with a minimum 3.0 GPA. Candidates must also have participated in a local community service program and must write an essay about their understanding of the current mortgage environment. The Cornerstone scholarship recipient will be selected by the CSU scholarship committee. The chosen candidate will be awarded at a lunch in October hosted by the university and attended by Sabrina Nowling and Gene Humphries, Regional President of Cornerstone Home Lending. ABOUT CORNERSTONE HOME LENDING, INC. Founded in 1988 by Chairman Marc Laird and Chief Operating Officer Judy Belanger, Houston-based Cornerstone Home Lending (Company NMLS 2258) is a refreshingly unique national home lender with thousands of highly-satisfied clients who return year after year, loan after loan. In 2010, Cornerstone celebrated the grand opening of its Mountain West Region headquarters in Fort Collins, Colorado. Since then, the Mountain West Region has quickly grown from 50 employees to more than 300 employees, and continues to expand throughout Colorado and other states including Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Wyoming, Kansas, and Nebraska. To learn more about Cornerstone Home Lending's Mountain West Region, please visit www.houseloan.com/mountainwest or call 907.206.HOME (4663). Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150922/269604LOGO SOURCE Cornerstone Home Lending, Inc. ATLANTA, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CryoLife, Inc. (NYSE: CRY), a leading medical device and tissue processing company focused on cardiac surgery, announced today the appointment of James McDermid to the position of Chief Human Resources Officer, effective immediately. Mr. McDermid joins the company from Medtronic where he was Group Vice President, Human Resources for the Cardiac and Vascular Group. He will report to Pat Mackin, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Mackin commented, "Jim has a proven track record as a human resources leader and we are fortunate to have him join the CryoLife team. Given his experience leading the HR team for one of the largest cardiovascular businesses in the world, he is well positioned to enhance CryoLife's HR programs as we continue to grow our business. I worked personally with Jim in my time at Medtronic and am confident that he will add a valuable perspective and be a driving force in further improving the experience and development opportunities for our employees around the world." Mr. McDermid has over 25 years of experience in Human Resources leadership. Prior to joining CryoLife, he served as Group Vice President, Human Resources, Cardiac & Vascular Group at Medtronic, a global leader in medical technology, services, and solutions. Prior to that, he held the positions of Sector Vice President, Human Resources; Vice President, Human Resources; and Director, Human Resources at Medtronic from 1998 to 2001. Earlier in his career, Mr. McDermid served in human resources roles with International Paper Company and Cooper Industries. Mr. McDermid received a Bachelor's degree from the University of Toronto and a Master's degree from McMaster University. About CryoLife, Inc. Headquartered in suburban Atlanta, Georgia, CryoLife is a leader in the manufacturing, processing, and distribution of implantable living tissues and medical devices used in cardiac surgical procedures. CryoLife markets and sells products in more than 80 countries worldwide. For additional information about CryoLife, visit our website, www.cryolife.com. Contacts: CryoLife The Ruth Group D. Ashley Lee Nick Laudico / Zack Kubow Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer 646-536-7030 / 7020 and Chief Operating Officer [email protected] Phone: 770-419-3355 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140319/MM86518LOGO SOURCE CryoLife, Inc. Related Links http://www.cryolife.com Dana President and CEO James K. Kamsickas said: "The Dana family is saddened to learn of the sudden loss of Joe Muscari, and we join together in offering our deepest condolences to his wife, Donna, and their extended family. A terrific leader and a true gentleman, Joe brought great wisdom, foresight, and business acumen to our board room while always balancing the best interests of our associates, customers, and shareholders. He will be missed." Mr. Muscari was first elected to the Dana board of directors in 2010 and has served as chairman since 2012. In addition, he was chairman of its audit committee and a member of its compensation committee. He was also chairman and CEO of Minerals Technologies Inc. and was a member of its board of directors for more than 12 years. He also spent more than 37 years with Alcoa Inc., most recently as the company's chief financial officer. He also served on the board of directors of EnerSys. About Dana Incorporated Dana is a world leader in the supply of highly engineered drivetrain, sealing, and thermal-management technologies that improve the efficiency and performance of vehicles with both conventional and alternative-energy powertrains. Serving three primary markets passenger vehicle, commercial truck, and off-highway equipment Dana provides the world's original-equipment manufacturers and the aftermarket with local product and service support through a network of nearly 100 engineering, manufacturing, and distribution facilities. Founded in 1904 and based in Maumee, Ohio, the company employs more than 23,000 people in 25 countries on six continents. In 2015, Dana generated sales of nearly $6.1 billion. Forbes Magazine has again selected Dana as one of America's 100 Most Trustworthy Companies for 2016. For more information, please visit dana.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/19990903/DANA SOURCE Dana Incorporated Related Links http://dana.com NEW YORK, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Dataminr, the leading company that turns real time social media into actionable alerts, has announced this month that France Info, a part of the Radio France company has become the first commercial client in continental Europe. This agreement is the first of its kind on the continent and signals a growing shift by digital media executives turning to software solutions to strengthen the newsgathering process. The expansion into continental Europe is a natural development following the high adoption rate in newsrooms across the U.S. and other parts of the world. Journalists find having Dataminr in their workflow to be indispensable in helping them be fast, accurate and differentiated in the increasingly competitive news landscape. France Info acquired the Dataminr for News product as it continues to carry out an aggressive digital growth strategy that focuses on delivering the most relevant stories to its four million daily listeners across a number of platforms. The 24-hour news broadcaster continues to focus on adding tools that enhance coverage and ensure they are reporting on the stories that matter the most to its audience. "Dataminr for News has alerted us to a number of major news events ahead of other sources, including the bombing of the Brussels airport and the 14 July Nice attack," said Laurent Frisch, Head of Digital at Radio France. "Enabling us to start our newsgathering process earlier allows us to focus on the best ways to tell the story." Developed in partnership with Twitter, Dataminr for News applies proprietary algorithms and processes to the firehose of 500 million publicly available tweets to deliver journalists real-time leads for them to investigate further. "Aligning with France Info as our flagship News partner in the French market enables Dataminr to be a key part of their innovative news gathering process," said Steven Schwartz, President of News at Dataminr. "We will continue to seek partnerships with similarly-focused organizations throughout Europe as our global footprint expands." Dataminr alerts are customized based on a user's topics of interest and regions of focus and delivered seamlessly into their existing workflow via the application, email, mobile, Slack or TweetDeck. Dataminr for News is currently used in more than 200 newsrooms across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., the Middle East and Asia. For more information on Dataminr, visit http://www.dataminr.com or http://dataminr.com/products/. Contacts: Ryan Gorman [email protected]/646-747-7142 Frances Cooperman [email protected]/646.883.0728 SOURCE Dataminr Related Links http://www.dataminr.com HOUSTON, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Direct Energy, one of North America's largest energy and energy-related services providers, has hired Thomas Smith to assume the role of Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Thomas will serve as a member of the Direct Energy Management Team and the Centrica Group General Counsel Leadership Team. He will be responsible for all aspects of the company's legal function in North America. He brings more than 14 years of experience managing complex agreements throughout the energy value chain. Thomas joined Direct Energy from BG Group plc in Houston where he worked for the last decade, most recently as the Deputy General Counsel. In his last role, Thomas managed a team of 45 lawyers and professionals in Houston and in five international locations. Previously, he served as an attorney at Vinson & Elkins LLP. "I'm excited Thomas will be joining my management team," said Badar Khan, President and CEO, Direct Energy. "His extensive experience in the energy industry will play an integral role in supporting our North America growth agenda." Thomas holds his undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University and his J.D. from Stanford Law School. Thomas and his wife, Becky, live in Houston with their four children. About Direct Energy Direct Energy is one of North America's largest energy and energy-related services providers with nearly five million residential and commercial customers. Direct Energy provides customers with choice and support in managing their energy costs through a portfolio of innovative products and services. A subsidiary of Centrica plc (LSE: CNA), one of the world's leading integrated energy companies, Direct Energy operates in 50 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia and 10 provinces in Canada. To learn more about Direct Energy, please visit www.directenergy.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121004/MM87276LOGO SOURCE Direct Energy Related Links http://www.directenergy.com COLLEGE PARK, Md., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Students will discuss the power of the female economy and related topics following a "Dream, Girl" screening on Sept. 13 at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business. The event is part of a fall 2016 lineup of Smith School activities associated with 50/50 by 2020, an ongoing campaign to close the MBA gender enrollment gap. "Women have more buying power than they realize," said Sharon Strange Lewis, senior director of the school's Women and Diversity Programs. "They drive the economy, which explains our urgency to get more women in leadership roles." The documentary, which tells the story of five women entrepreneurs, debuted on June 9 in New York. Smith will use the film to set up conversations among faculty, staff and students from all degree programs. "Everybody's coming to the table," Strange Lewis said. "When we come together we can make a larger impact, and the needle begins to move." Besides the power of the female economy, conversation topics will include women in leadership, funding for female entrepreneurs and "self-care and self-sabotage." Strange Lewis said the fourth topic relates to women's tendency to set an upper limit for themselves in terms of success, wealth, happiness and love. "Women must embrace their full potential and not talk themselves out of achieving or surpassing goals," she said. Register here for the screening, which will start at 6 p.m. in Frank Auditorium at Van Munching Hall on UMD's College Park campus. Partners with the school's Office of Diversity Initiatives include the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, the Masters Program Office and the Office of Marketing Communications. Other Smith School events designed to empower women in fall 2016 include: Women Who Mean Business: Smith School dean Alexander Triantis will present an award at the annual gala, which will recognize the region's most influential women on Oct. 13. The Smith School is a title sponsor of the event, organized by the Washington Business Journal at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, D.C. National Association of Women MBAs Conference and Career Fair: An academic sponsor, Smith will host a panel discussion during the annual event Oct. 20-22, 2016, in Stamford, Conn. Strange Lewis will moderate the discussion, "You Have a Seat at the Table, but Is Your Voice Being Heard?" Participants will include Smith School MBA alumnae Sherika E. Ekpo, talent acquisition lead at the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau; Martine M. Saint Vil, senior finance manager, digital, at Nickelodeon/Viacom; and Kristen Welch, senior vice president of global content operations at Discovery Communications. Cookie College: Girl Scouts from local troops will visit campus on Dec. 10 to learn business skills that they can apply during the cookie sales season in 2017. Smith students will help train the trainers in November and then provide guidance during the main event. "We are feeding the pipeline of future business leaders," Strange Lewis said. Contact: Greg Muraski at [email protected] or 301-892-0973. SOURCE University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Drive Marketing Group, provider of integrated marketing services and branded merchandise today announced their ranking at position 3683 on Inc. magazine's 35th annual listing of the top 5000 fastest-growing companies in the United States. Drive grew revenue 84% to $4.1 million in 2015 to achieve the recognition. The Inc. magazine profile can be seen at: http://www.inc.com/profile/drive. The Inc. 5000 represents the most comprehensive look at an important segment of the economy-America's independent entrepreneurs. "We're honored to be ranked among these top entrepreneurs leading the US economy, and creating jobs," said Eric Weckert, CEO. "Our commitment has always been to combine a unique mix of services and specialties to meet the demands of our clients, while also setting ourselves apart in a highly competitive agency environment. This has paid off for us in significant and sustained growth." "We've seen great success in helping our clients tell a complete brand narrativefrom digital to physical," said Weckert. As brands both large and small look for ways to enhance the experiences of their fans and followers, we've seen the number of requests for integrated solutions that blend branded merchandise and creative services grow exponentially." About the Inc. 5000 The Inc. 5000 represents the most comprehensive look at an important segment of the economyAmerica's independent entrepreneurs. In the past, companies such as Zappos, Under Armour, Microsoft, GoPro, Timberland, Clif Bar, Patagonia, Oracle and other well-known names gained early exposure as members of the Inc. 5000. In 2016, the list includes up-and-comers like Square, Dollar Shave Club, ipsy and Yeti Cooler. About Drive Marketing Group Drive Marketing Group is a full-service integrated branding and merchandise agency located in Portland, Oregon. As a group of marketing storytellers, Drive combines branded apparel and merchandise services with complete creative offerings to meet the demands of today's marketplace. With a focus on consumer high tech, autonomous and electric vehicle (EV) transportation, Drive's diversified service offerings and focus on emerging industries have generated considerable growth of both revenue and headcount. For more information, contact: Tom Briggs: Email, 503.303.8499 Other Published Articles Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160902/403882LOGO Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160902/403883LOGO SOURCE Drive Marketing Group SUNNYVALE, California, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Zinnov Recognized eInfochips' IoT Technology Services in Product Development Engineering, Including Services in Sensors and Devices Engineering, Software Platform Engineering and Management, Network Engineering and Management, and Engineering Analytics Logo eInfochips (PRNewsFoto/eInfochips) eInfochips, a leading Product Engineering and Software R&D services firm, recently announced that the company was rated as an "Established" service provider in "Zinnov Zones 2016 - Internet of Things Technology Services". The rating places the company as a specialized player with a strong focus on innovation, IPs, and an excellent breadth and depth of technology services and R&D practice in IoT. eInfochips is featured in the "Execution Zone" for the segment Product Development Engineering, and the sub-segments Sensors & Devices Engineering, Software Platform Engineering & Management, and Network Engineering & Management. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131029/648699 ) "We are happy to be recognized as one of the key players in the IoT product development space," said Abhishek Binaykia, Associate Vice President of Marketing at eInfochips. "With services from sensors to cloud to analytics, and investments in IoT platforms and solutions, we have been enabling competitive advantage for our customers with smart solutions in domains such as Security and Surveillance, Healthcare, Retail, Home Automation, Industrial, and more. Our in-depth service offerings and platform driven approach positions us well to serve and co-create the next generation IoT products with top R&D companies across the world." The Zinnov Zones 2016 - Internet of Things Technology Services analyzed the global IoT market and trends from point-of-view of both client and service providers. Global service providers were then rated on their IoT Technology Services competency across Zinnov Zones. The ratings were done extensively across varied segments: advisory & consulting, product development engineering, managed services and their respective sub segments to analyze the overall position of a service provider. For more information, please click here. About Zinnov: Founded in 2002, Zinnov - meaning Zeal in Innovation - is a leading Globalization and Market Expansion Advisory firm, with specialization in areas such as Digital Transformation, Global Sourcing, Emerging Markets Expansion, Human Capital Optimization, Small & Medium Businesses, Innovation, Cloud Computing and Enterprise Mobility. Zinnov offers advisory services to global leaders in business and technology and works collectively with them to tackle prevailing organizational challenges by analyzing changing dynamics, improving performance, and building institutional capability. The services delivered to its clients through advanced reasoning and analytical techniques, provides solutions that help in integrating organizational vision, business definition and processes. Visit at http://www.zinnov.com . To request information, contact Jaya Shukla at [email protected] About eInfochips: eInfochips is a global technology firm specializing in product engineering and software R&D services. The company offers product innovation and hi-tech engineering consulting services for many Fortune 500 companies. It has the infrastructure, processes and experience to seamlessly deliver turnkey solutions from its global offshore development centers. It has contributed to 500+ products and over 10M deployments in 130 countries for both small and large product organizations, across the world. The company has sales presence in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Cedar Rapids, Cincinnati, Chicago, Dallas, Irvine, Raleigh and Sunnyvale in the US, Toronto (Canada), Bangalore (India) and London (UK). Visit us at http://www.einfochips.com, or stay connected on LinkedIn, Facebook, SlideShare, Twitter and YouTube. To request for more information, contact [email protected] Sooryanarayanan Balasubramanian (+1) 408-496-1882 | (+91) 79-2656-3705 SOURCE eInfochips HOUSTON and ARTESIA, N.M., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Creates Combined 424,000 Net Acre Position in the Delaware Basin Basin Initiates Foothold in Emerging Northwest Shelf Plays of 150,000 Net Acres Raises Position in Permian Basin and Adjacent Plays to 574,000 Net Acres Doubles Powder River Basin Position Encompassing 400,000 Net Acres EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE: EOG) (EOG) and Yates Petroleum Corporation today announced definitive agreements under which EOG has agreed to combine with Yates Petroleum Corporation, Abo Petroleum Corporation, MYCO Industries, Inc. and certain other entities (collectively, Yates). Under the terms of this private, negotiated transaction, EOG will issue 26.06 million shares of common stock valued at $2.3 billion and pay $37 million in cash, subject to certain closing adjustments and lock-up provisions. EOG will assume and repay at closing $245 million of Yates debt offset by $131 million of anticipated cash from Yates, subject also to certain closing adjustments. "This transaction combines the companies' existing large, premier, stacked-pay acreage positions in the heart of the Delaware and Powder River basins, paving the way for years of high-return drilling and production growth," said William R. "Bill" Thomas, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of EOG. "We are excited by this unique opportunity to advance EOG's strategy of generating high-return growth by developing premium wells at low costs that enhance long-term shareholder value. "Additionally we are thrilled to welcome Yates' 300 employees to the EOG family and look forward to continuing the important presence Yates has established in the community of Artesia, N.M." Yates is a privately held, independent crude oil and natural gas company with 1.6 million net acres across the western United States. Since 1924, when it drilled the first commercial oil well on New Mexico state trust lands, Yates has amassed a rich acreage position across the western United States. Highlights of Yates' assets are summarized below: Production of 29,600 barrels of crude oil equivalent per day, net, with 48 percent crude oil Proved developed reserves of 44 million barrels of oil equivalent, net Delaware Basin position of 186,000 net acres Basin position of 186,000 net acres Northwest Shelf position of 138,000 net acres Powder River Basin position of 200,000 net acres Basin position of 200,000 net acres Additional 1.1 million net acres in New Mexico , Wyoming , Colorado , Montana , North Dakota and Utah . EOG is the largest oil producer in the Lower 48, with average net daily production of 551 thousand barrels of crude oil equivalent and a reputation for technological leadership in the development of unconventional resource plays. "EOG is our partner of choice as we look to extend Yates' 93-year legacy," said John A. Yates Sr., Chairman Emeritus of Yates Petroleum Corporation and son of founder Martin Yates Jr. "As we enter a new era of unconventional resource development, we are excited to join forces with another pioneering company like EOG." Douglas E. Brooks, Chief Executive Officer of Yates Petroleum Corporation, added, "This is a tremendous opportunity to combine EOG's strong technical competencies with the enormous resource potential of the Yates acreage to create significant value for Yates and EOG shareholders alike." Yates immediately adds an estimated 1,740 net premium drilling locations in the Delaware Basin and Powder River Basin to EOG's growing inventory of premium drilling locations, a 40 percent increase. A premium drilling location is defined by EOG as a direct after-tax rate of return of at least 30 percent assuming a $40 flat crude oil price. EOG plans to commence drilling on the Yates acreage in late 2016 with additional rigs added in 2017. "Through this transaction, our premium drilling strategy is gaining added momentum. With improving well productivity and this newly enhanced resource base, our organization can generate further increases in returns and capital efficiency," Thomas said. "The combination enhances the size and quality of EOG's existing portfolio of oil resource plays." Doubles Position in Delaware Basin and Adjacent Plays Yates has 186,000 net acres of stacked pay in the Delaware Basin in New Mexico that is highly prospective for the Wolfcamp, Bone Spring and Leonard Shale formations. This brings the combined company's total Delaware Basin acreage position to approximately 424,000 net acres, a 78 percent increase to EOG's existing holdings. Additionally, Yates has 138,000 net acres on the Northwest Shelf in New Mexico that is prospective for the Yeso, Abo, Wolfcamp and Cisco formations. These shallow plays have the potential to contribute additional amounts of premium inventory with the application of EOG's advanced completion and precision targeting technologies and low cost structure. Along with EOG's existing acreage, the newly combined company will have 574,000 net acres in the Delaware Basin and Northwest Shelf. A summary of the acreage is listed below. Delaware Basin and Northwest Shelf Acreage Summary By Play Yates EOG Combined Wolfcamp 186,000 168,000 354,000 Bone Spring 186,000 111,000 297,000 Leonard 67,000 93,000 160,000 By Area Delaware Basin 186,000 238,000 424,000 Northwest Shelf 138,000 12,000 150,000 Total 324,000 250,000 574,000 Expands Powder River Basin Acreage The combination also adds 81,000 net acres from Yates in the core development area of the Powder River Basin that is prospective for the Turner Oil play. In total, Yates contributes 200,000 net acres in the Powder River Basin. This doubles EOG's total Powder River Basin acreage to 400,000 net acres. The enhanced acreage position has significant exploration potential for multiple stacked-pay formations. Transaction Terms Under the terms of the agreements, which were approved by the boards of directors of EOG and Yates, and the Yates stockholders, EOG will issue 26.06 million shares of common stock valued at $2.3 billion and pay $37 million in cash, subject to certain closing adjustments and lock-up provisions. EOG will assume and repay at closing $245 million of Yates debt offset by $131 million of anticipated cash from Yates, subject also to certain closing adjustments. Closing is anticipated in early October 2016, subject to customary closing conditions. Following the transaction closing, EOG intends to maintain Yates' office in Artesia, N.M., to support the newly combined operation. Wells Fargo Securities, LLC acted as exclusive financial and technical advisor to Yates Petroleum Corporation, Abo Petroleum Corporation and MYCO Industries, Inc. for this transaction. Thompson & Knight LLP, Modrall Sperling Law Firm and Kemp Smith LLP acted as legal advisors to Yates Petroleum Corporation, Abo Petroleum Corporation and MYCO Industries, Inc., respectively. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP acted as legal advisor to EOG. Conference Call Tuesday, September 6, 2016 EOG will host a conference call to discuss the transaction that will be available via live audio webcast at 10 a.m. Central time (11 a.m. Eastern time) on Tuesday, September 6, 2016. To listen, log on to the Investors Overview page on the EOG website at http://investors.eogresources.com/overview. The webcast will be archived on EOG's website through September 20, 2016. EOG Resources, Inc. is one of the largest independent (non-integrated) crude oil and natural gas companies in the United States with proved reserves in the United States, Trinidad, the United Kingdom and China. EOG Resources, Inc. is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is traded under the ticker symbol "EOG." For additional information about EOG, please visit www.eogresources.com. Yates Petroleum Corporation is a privately owned, independent exploration and production company, headquartered in Artesia, N.M. Yates Petroleum Corporation has a rich acreage position across the western United States in proven, horizontal resource plays. Yates' focus areas in the Permian Basin and Powder River Basins are stacked oil plays with low-risk, multi-zone opportunities. Yates has a valuable resource in its employees, who possess a deep technical knowledge across all of its areas of operation. For additional information about Yates, please visit www.yatespetroleum.com. This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements herein, other than statements of historical fact, including, among others, statements regarding EOG's projections and expectations with respect to the future operations of the combined company, the future drilling activities and production growth in respect of the acquired Yates acreage, the returns and performance to be achieved from the combined company's assets, EOG's business strategy, plans and objectives in respect of the acquired Yates acreage and the anticipated closing date of the transaction described herein, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. Although EOG believes the expectations reflected in its forward-looking statements are reasonable and are based on reasonable assumptions, no assurance can be given that these assumptions are accurate or that any of these expectations will be achieved (in full or at all) or will prove to have been correct. Moreover, EOG's forward-looking statements may be affected by known, unknown or currently unforeseen risks, events or circumstances that may be outside EOG's control. Important factors that could cause EOG's actual results to differ materially from the expectations reflected in EOG's forward-looking statements are enumerated in EOG's most recent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); see the sections entitled "Information Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" therein. Also, see "Risk Factors" on pages 13 through 21 of EOG's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015 filed with the SEC for a discussion of certain risk factors that affect or may affect EOG's business, financial position and results of operations. You should not place any undue reliance on any of EOG's forward-looking statements. EOG's forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made, and EOG undertakes no obligation, other than as required by applicable law, to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, subsequent events, anticipated or unanticipated circumstances or otherwise. Reconciliation and calculation schedules for EOG non-GAAP financial measures can be found on the EOG website at www.eogresources.com. The SEC permits oil and gas companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose not only "proved" reserves (i.e., quantities of oil and gas that are estimated to be recoverable with a high degree of confidence), but also "probable" reserves (i.e., quantities of oil and gas that are as likely as not to be recovered) as well as "possible" reserves (i.e., additional quantities of oil and gas that might be recovered, but with a lower probability than probable reserves). Statements of reserves are only estimates and may not correspond to the ultimate quantities of oil and gas recovered. Any reserve estimates provided in this press release or accompanying investor presentation that are not specifically designated as being estimates of proved reserves may include "potential" reserves and/or other estimated reserves not necessarily calculated in accordance with, or contemplated by, the SEC's latest reserve reporting guidelines. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in EOG's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015, available from EOG at P.O. Box 4362, Houston, Texas 77210-4362 (Attn: Investor Relations). You can also obtain this report from the SEC by calling 1-800-SEC-0330 or from the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Investors Cedric W. Burgher (713) 571-4658 David J. Streit (713) 571-4902 Kimberly M. Ehmer (713) 571-4676 Media K Leonard (713) 571-3870 SOURCE EOG Resources, Inc. Related Links http://www.eogresources.com WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Evolent Health, Inc. (NYSE: EVH), a company providing an integrated value-based care platform to the nation's leading health systems and physician organizations ("Evolent Health"), today announced the launch of an underwritten secondary public offering of 7,000,000 shares of its Class A common stock to be sold by UPMC, certain affiliates of TPG Global, LLC, The Advisory Board Company and Ptolemy Capital, LLC (together, the "Investor Stockholders") and certain management selling stockholders (the "Management Stockholders" and together with the Investor Stockholders, the "Selling Stockholders"). The underwriters have a 30-day option period to purchase up to 1,050,000 additional shares of Class A common stock from the Investor Stockholders. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Goldman, Sachs & Co. are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering. Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, William Blair & Company, L.L.C., SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc., Allen & Company LLC, Cowen and Company, LLC and Leerink Partners LLC are acting as co-managers. Evolent Health is not offering any shares of Class A common stock in the offering and will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares of Class A common stock by the Selling Stockholders, including from any exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase additional shares from the Investor Stockholders. A registration statement (including a prospectus) relating to these securities has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and has become effective. Before you invest, you should read the prospectus in that registration statement and other documents filed with the SEC for more complete information about Evolent Health and this offering. You may obtain these documents free of charge by visiting EDGAR on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. The offering will be made only by means of a prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. Copies of the prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus related to the offering may be obtained from J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717 or by telephone at 866.803.9204; or Goldman, Sachs & Co., Attention: Prospectus Department, 200 West Street, New York, NY 10282, or by telephone at (866) 471-2526, facsimile at (212) 902-9316, or email at [email protected]. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of, these shares of Class A common stock in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such state or jurisdiction. About Evolent Health Evolent Health partners with leading health systems to drive value-based care transformation. By providing clinical, analytical and financial capabilities, Evolent Health helps physicians and health systems achieve superior quality and cost results. Evolent Health's approach breaks down barriers, aligns incentives and powers a new model of care delivery resulting in meaningful alignment between providers, payers, physicians and patients. Learn more at: www.evolenthealth.com. Forward-Looking Statements Cautionary Language Certain statements made in this release and in other written or oral statements made by us or on our behalf are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("PSLRA"). A forward-looking statement is a statement that is not a historical fact and, without limitation, includes any statement that may predict, forecast, indicate or imply future results, performance or achievements, and may contain words like: "believe," "anticipate," "expect," "estimate," "aim," "predict," "potential," "continue," "plan," "project," "will," "should," "shall," "may," "might" and other words or phrases with similar meaning in connection with a discussion of future operating or financial performance. In particular, these include statements relating to future actions, trends in our businesses, prospective services, future performance or financial results and the outcome of contingencies, such as legal proceedings. We claim the protection afforded by the safe harbor for forward-looking statements provided by the PSLRA. These statements are only predictions based on our current expectations and projections about future events. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results contained in the forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to vary materially, some of which are described within the forward-looking statements, include, among others: certain risks and uncertainties associated with the proposed acquisition of Valence Health, including: revenues of Valence Health before and after the merger may be less than expected, and expected results of Evolent may not be impacted as anticipated; uncertainties related to the timing of the receipt of required regulatory approvals for the merger; the ability of Evolent and Valence Health to satisfy the closing conditions of the merger; the occurrence of any change that could give rise to the termination of the merger agreement; our ability to implement integration plans for the merger and to recognize the anticipated growth, benefits, cost savings and synergies of the merger; the risks that the merger and the other transactions contemplated by the merger agreement disrupt current plans and operations and the potential difficulties in retention of any members of senior management of Valence Health and any other key employees that Evolent is interested in retaining after the closing of the merger; the limitations placed on the ability of Evolent and Valence Health to operate their respective businesses by the merger agreement; the effect of the announcement of the merger on Evolent's and Valence Health's business relationships, customers, suppliers, other partners, standing with regulators, operating results and businesses generally; the amount of any costs, fees, expenses, impairments and charges related to the merger; and the market price for our Class A common stock potentially being affected, following the merger, by factors that historically have not affected the market price for our Class A common stock; the structural change in the market for health care in the United States ; ; our ability to effectively manage our growth; the significant portion of revenue we derive from our largest partners; our ability to offer new and innovative products and services; the growth and success of our partners, which is difficult to predict and is subject to factors outside of our control, including premium pricing reductions and the ability to control and, if necessary, reduce health care costs; our ability to attract new partners; our ability to recover the significant upfront costs in our partner relationships; our ability to estimate the size of our target market; our ability to maintain and enhance our reputation and brand recognition; consolidation in the health care industry; competition which could limit our ability to maintain or expand market share within our industry; our ability to partner with providers due to exclusivity provisions in our contracts; uncertainty in the health care regulatory framework; restrictions and penalties as a result of privacy and data protection laws; adequate protection of our intellectual property; any alleged infringement, misappropriation or violation of third-party proprietary rights; our use of "open source" software; our ability to protect the confidentiality of our trade secrets, know-how and other proprietary information; our reliance on third parties; our ability to use, disclose, de-identify or license data and to integrate third-party technologies; data loss or corruption due to failures or errors in our systems and service disruptions at our data centers; breaches or failures of our security measures; our reliance on Internet infrastructure, bandwidth providers, data center providers, other third parties and our own systems for providing services to our users; our dependency on our key personnel, and our ability to attract, hire, integrate and retain key personnel; risks related to future acquisition opportunities; the risk of potential future goodwill impairment on our results of operations; our future indebtedness and our ability to obtain additional financing; our ability to achieve profitability in the future; the requirements of being a public company; our adjusted results may not be representative of our future performance; the risk of potential future litigation; our ability to remediate the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting; our holding company structure and dependence on distributions from Evolent Health LLC; our obligations to make payments to certain of our pre-IPO investors for certain tax benefits we may claim in the future; our ability to utilize benefits under the tax receivables agreement; our ability to realize all or a portion of the tax benefits that we currently expect to result from future exchanges of Class B common units of Evolent Health LLC for our Class A common stock, and to utilize certain tax attributes of Evolent Health Holdings and an affiliate of TPG; distributions that Evolent Health LLC will be required to make to us and to the other members of Evolent Health LLC; our obligations to make payments under the tax receivables agreement that may be accelerated or may exceed the tax benefits we realize; different interests among our pre-IPO investors, or between us and our pre-IPO investors; the terms of agreements between us and certain of our pre-IPO investors; our exemption from certain corporate governance requirements due to our status as a "controlled company" within the meaning of the New York Stock Exchange rules; the potential volatility of our Class A common stock price; the potential decline of our Class A common stock price if a substantial number of shares become available for sale or if a large number of Class B common units is exchanged for shares of Class A common stock; provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated by-laws and provisions of Delaware law that discourage or prevent strategic transactions, including a takeover of us; law that discourage or prevent strategic transactions, including a takeover of us; the ability of certain of our investors to compete with us without restrictions; provisions in our certificate of incorporation which could limit our stockholders' ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees; our intention not to pay cash dividends on our Class A common stock; and our status as an "emerging growth company." The risks included here are not exhaustive. Although we believe the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, level of activity, performance or achievements. Our 2015 Form 10-K and other documents filed with the SEC include additional factors that could affect our businesses and financial performance. Moreover, we operate in a rapidly changing and competitive environment. New risk factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management to predict all such risk factors. Further, it is not possible to assess the effect of all risk factors on our businesses or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. In addition, we disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date of this report. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150723/240961LOGO SOURCE Evolent Health, Inc. Related Links http://www.evolenthealth.com "With offices on three continents and four time zones, we can now truly offer 24/7 support to all of our customers around the globe," says David Barrett, founder and CEO of Expensify. "We've always served Australian customers, and we're thrilled to now have boots on the ground to further meet their needs." Some of these Australian customers include Atlassian, Nando's, Swatch, and La Trobe University, in addition to thousands of small businesses. As part of the launch, any Australian customers who sign up before December 31 will receive free accounts for the rest of 2016. "Operating in another new country means new opportunities to further refine our product to meet the needs of global customers," continues Barrett, "in addition to non-stop support for all of our customers worldwide, and the chance to deepen our relationship with strategic partners in the region, such as Xero and Locomote." Expensify and Xero announced a global strategic partnership at the inaugural ExpensiCon last May, and Expensify has been recognized as one of the best add-ons available in the Xero marketplace of 500 apps. "We're thrilled to welcome Expensify to the region," says Rod Drury, CEO and founder of Xero. "Expensify and Xero share a deep commitment to serving small businesses by providing financial tools at a price they can afford, so it's fantastic to have them in the neighborhood. Expensify is a perfect expense management add-on for Xero customers, and together we can meet the accounting and bookkeeping needs of organizations of any size." About Expensify: Founded in San Francisco in 2008, Expensify has quickly become the innovation leader in automated receipt and expense management with an easy-to-use, Cloud-based mobile and web app. With entirely automated expense reporting processes and features such as patented SmartScan technology, company card management, and integrations with all major accounting softwares, Expensify has quickly grown to serve over 100,000 companies. The ExpensifyApproved! program for accountants includes partnerships with global firms such as BDO, Eide Bailly, and EisnerAmper; partnerships are already in the works with Australian accounting firms. To learn more about Expensify, visit use.expensify.com, or check out we.are.expensify.com to join the team. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140814/136145 SOURCE Expensify Related Links http://www.expensify.com Funded by a grant from the Connecticut Health Foundation (CT Health), the FH Cost Lookup CT mobile app becomes available at a time when changes to the Connecticut health system increasingly require consumers to make complex decisions based on costs associated with their medical and dental care. Those changes include the expansion of coverage through Access Health CT, the state's health insurance exchange; the proliferation of health plans with increased member cost-sharing requirements and narrow networks; and the overall drive toward value in healthcare. Available in both English and Spanish, the app includes a feature that enables both insured and uninsured consumers to estimate the regionally specific costs of medical and dental procedures received in Connecticut, as well as in neighboring states (New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island). The app also provides educational articles that explain the fundamentals of health coverage, as well as healthcare issues specific to Connecticut. In addition, the app directs users to community resources for healthcare, transportation assistance and other services. These educational materials will be especially helpful for those at lower levels of health insurance literacy, including the newly insured or uninsured. Hispanic consumers will benefit, as well, by accessing these tools and resources in Spanish. The app can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store or from Google Play. In addition to FH Cost Lookup CT's development, the grant-funded program entails efforts to disseminate the app and promote its use through collaborations with community-based organizations, community health centers and health exchange navigators. The program will also develop targeted partnerships with organizations that serve Hispanic communities. FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd stated, "Research continues to show that most consumers lack the necessary understanding of health insurance required to make informed healthcare decisionswhether selecting a plan or managing healthcare and related costs. FAIR Health is proud to offer a free tool that will help advance health insurance literacy and empower Connecticut residents to better navigate the healthcare system." "The Foundation is proud to support the launch of FAIR Health's mobile app," said Tiffany Donelson, Vice President of Program at CT Health. "Having access to basic health information and pricing data is absolutely critical to advancing health equity in Connecticut. Now more than ever, it is essential to equip consumers with cost and other educational health resources so that they can make better healthcare decisions. Having the information in the app available in both English and Spanish is an important step in maximizing the impact of health coverage expansion under the Affordable Care Act." "Physicians in Connecticut are increasingly serving on the frontlines of cost-related conversations with their patients. With access to FAIR Health's free app, physicians and patients can have meaningful discussions regarding the costs of tests and treatments, thereby leading to shared and informed decision making. Eliminating the confusion around costs is indeed a win-win for physicians, patients and patients' families," said Matthew Katz, Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the Connecticut Medical Society. The new app is driven by healthcare prices from FAIR Health's database of over 21 billion claims for privately billed medical and dental procedures dating back to 2002. FAIR Health receives data from payors that collectively insure more than 150 million individuals in the private healthcare system. FAIR Health's consumer app, available in English (FH Cost Lookup) and Spanish (FH CCSalud); English-language website (www.fairhealthconsumer.org); and Spanish-language website (www.consumidor.fairhealth.org) also offer cost estimation services utilizing this robust database. Follow us on Twitter @FAIRHeath About FAIR Health FAIR Health is a national, independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information through data products, consumer resources and health systems research support. FAIR Health uses its database of billions of privately billed medical and dental claims to power an award-winning free consumer website and to create data products serving all healthcare stakeholders, including government officials, researchers, providers, insurers and other businesses and consumers. FAIR Health has been certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as a Qualified Entity, eligible to receive all Medicare claims data for use in nationwide transparency efforts. In addition, FAIR Health's data have been designated as the official data source for a variety of state health Programs, including Workers' Compensation and Personal Injury Protection (PIP) programs as well as state consumer protection laws governing surprise out-of-network bills and emergency services. For more information, visit www.fairhealth.org. About Robin Gelburd FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd, JD, is a recipient of a 2016 Dig|Benefits Technology Innovator Award, bestowed by Employee Benefit News, and has been invited to speak to organizations across the country, including keynote presentations, on topics of critical importance to employers, employees, health plans, third party administrators, consultants and other stakeholders in the healthcare "ecosystem." Her presentations have taken place at forums sponsored by the American Medical Association, American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), the Alliance for Health Reform, the Institute for HealthCare Consumerism and the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, among others. She also has published numerous articles on topics such as data analytics in The Self-Insurer, healthcare cost transparency and clarity in Managed Healthcare Executive, the New York State consumer protection law in Employee Benefit Adviser and consumer preferences on the Institute for HealthCare Consumerism website (www.theihcc.com). Prior to her role at FAIR Health, Ms. Gelburd served for eight years as general counsel of a medical research foundation comprising approximately 30 premier academic medical centers, hospitals and research institutions in New York State. During her tenure at this consortium, Ms. Gelburd also was appointed chairperson of New Yorkers for the Advancement of Medical Research, a statewide coalition of over 40 organizations that she helped found in 2003 and whose mission was the promotion of state funding and support for stem cell research and regenerative medicine. Previously, Ms. Gelburd was a health law partner at the New York City law firm Kalkines, Arky, Zall & Bernstein (now Manatt, Phelps & Phillips). During her 10 years at that firm, she represented an array of healthcare-based clientsincluding hospitals, provider groups and organizations, payors, skilled nursing facilities, special needs plans and ambulatory care centerson a variety of strategic, regulatory, policy, governance, business and contractual matters. Earlier, Ms. Gelburd worked as a litigation and corporate associate at the international law firm Morrison & Foerster. She began her legal career as a federal appellate law clerk to the Honorable Francis D. Murnaghan, Jr. from the Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit. About the Connecticut Health Foundation The Connecticut Health Foundation (CT Health) is the state's largest independent health philanthropy dedicated to improving lives by changing health systems. Since it was established in 1999, the foundation has supported innovative grantmaking, public policy research, technical assistance and convening to achieve its missionto improve the health of the people of Connecticut. Over the past 17 years, CT Health has awarded grants totaling close to $59 million in 45 cities and towns throughout the state. In 2013, CT Health announced a five-year strategic plan that made expanding health equity the foundation's central focus. For CT Health, health equity means helping more people gain access to better care, especially people of color and underserved populations. Better care includes physical, mental and oral health. For more information about the Foundation, please visit www.cthealth.org. Media Inquiries: Dean Sicoli, Executive Director of Communications and Public Relations 646-664-1645 [email protected] Twitter: @deansicoli Photo- http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160906/404186 SOURCE FAIR Health RIVERSIDE, Calif., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Farmer Boys announced today the launch of its 16th annual fundraiser benefitting the Loma Linda University Children's Hospital-LLUCH. The campaign will take place at participating Farmer Boys locations September 6 October 3. For a minimum $1 donation, guests will be recognized as Champions for Children. A Heart of Champion donation slip will be displayed in Farmer Boys restaurants commemorating donors. Farmer Boys will reward the generosity of patrons supporting the LLUCH fundraiser with special offers redeemable at participating locations. "We are excited to once again support the Loma Linda University Children's Hospital by contributing 100 percent of donations collected from our generous patrons," said Larry Rusinko, vice president and chief marketing officer for Farmer Boys. "Our annual fundraiser allows us to reward our guests with farm fresh food while helping to provide the highest level of medical care to 1.2 million children in Southern California's geographical area." Since 2000, Farmer Boys has donated over $500,000 to LLUCH. Every dollar collected helps provide world-class clinical care and outreach programs to children in the San Bernardino, Riverside, Inyo and Mono Counties. Donations also fund research leading to innovation in youth health and wellness delivering on the promise of a healthier future today for children in the region and beyond. About Farmer Boys Headquartered in Riverside, California, Farmer Boys is a fast casual restaurant chain founded in 1981 serving award-winning burgers, specialty sandwiches, crisp salads, signature sides, and all-day breakfast. Farmer Boys currently operates 88 restaurants in California and Nevada. For more information, visit http://www.farmerboys.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20080812/FARMERBOYSLOGO SOURCE Farmer Boys CARROLLTON, Texas, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- FASTSIGNS International, Inc., franchisor of FASTSIGNS, the leading sign, graphics and visual communications franchise, announced today it has signed an agreement with new franchisee and prominent photo industry leader, Gabrielle Mullinax. She will add to her existing photo retail shop, Fullerton Photographics, a Co-Brand FASTSIGNS center. Located at 908 North Harbor Blvd. in Fullerton, the FASTSIGNS center will be complete in fall 2016 and will mark nearly 40 Co-Brand centers for FASTSIGNS, which currently has franchised locations in over 615 locations in nine countries worldwide. "As a proven innovator in the photo industry, Gaby is a welcomed addition to the FASTSIGNS family and we know that she will provide a 'More Than' experience to every customer who walks through her doors," said Mark Jameson, EVP of Franchise Support and Development, FASTSIGNS International, Inc. "The addition of this latest Co-Brand center in California further deepens FASTSIGNS' development commitment to take our Co-Brand concept into new markets across the country as we look to provide comprehensive visual communications services from coast-to-coast." Mullinax, a current resident of Yorba Linda, began her photo industry career in the early 1990s as a stay-at-home mom and talented professional photographer. As a frequent customer of Fullerton Photographics, she stumbled upon the opportunity to purchase the company in December 1999. Upon taking ownership of the shop at the turn of the millennium, she helped pave the way in the industry converting the business from analog to digital in order to integrate new products and services to achieve greater revenue. "As a woman business owner, I've found a true partner in FASTSIGNS who will help expand my existing business by providing our new and current clients the ability to stay on the cutting-edge of the sign, graphics and visual communications industry," said Mullinax. "For businesses looking for ways to expand their current portfolio and increase their revenue in today's fast-paced market, FASTSIGNS offers an opportunity, including training and support, that is first-class in service and made the decision process easy for me." Fullerton Photographics provides clients an array of products and photography services customized to create endless possibilities using the modern photograph. Over the last two decades, Mullinax has become a proven photo industry leader, most recently serving as a past president of Photo Marketing Association International of which she served as the first-ever woman president. She was also the first-ever chairwoman of the Buck Rogers National Photofinishers Group and a member of Independent Photo Imagers. To continue to attract interested franchise candidates in the photo industry, FASTSIGNS is exhibiting at the PRO 58th Annual Convention & Trade Show Sept. 26-30 at the Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. Local entrepreneurs are invited to meet with the brand's franchise development team that will be in attendance at the show to learn more about its Co-Brand program and growth opportunities across the country. FASTSIGNS' has continued to grow through the company's Co-Brand and Conversion programs. With franchisees coming from the print and photofinishing industries, the Co-Brand program accounted for 20 percent of the franchise agreements signed in 2015, a significant increase from prior years. Launched in 2012, the FASTSIGNS Co-Brand program offers independent business operators with print and photo-related services the opportunity to add the FASTSIGNS brand and a full-suite of sign and visual graphic solutions, while continuing to own and operate their existing business. Getting started is quick; FASTSIGNS will help finance the franchise fee with as little as $15,000 down to begin the Co-Brand or conversion process. Co-Brand franchisees consistently report that adding a FASTSIGNS franchise to their business has added value for customers, promoting long-term growth opportunities for their businesses. For information about the FASTSIGNS franchise opportunity, contact Mark Jameson ([email protected] or 214-346-5679) or download an eBook that explores the FASTSIGNS franchise opportunity at http://amzn.to/1FrnDJu. About FASTSIGNS FASTSIGNS International, Inc. is the largest sign and visual communications franchisor in North America, and is the worldwide franchisor of more than 615 independently owned and operated FASTSIGNS centers in nine countries including the US, Canada, England, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Grand Cayman, Mexico and Australia (where centers operate as SIGNWAVE). FASTSIGNS locations provide comprehensive sign and visual graphic solutions to help companies of all sizes and across all industries attract more attention, communicate their message, sell more products, help visitors find their way and extend their branding across all of their customer touch points including decor, events, wearables and marketing materials. Learn more about sign and visual graphic solutions or find a location at fastsigns.com. Follow the brand on Twitter @FASTSIGNS, Facebook at facebook.com/FASTSIGNS or LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/fastsigns. Franchise Research Institute has named FASTSIGNS a top sign and graphics franchise and has awarded the company certification as a 2015 World-Class Franchise for four consecutive years. FASTSIGNS was also recognized by USA Today, Military Times magazine, G.I. Jobs magazine and Franchise Business Review as one of the top franchises for military veterans. Most recently, the company was selected as one of 15 national recipients of the 2016 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award, the Department of Defense's highest recognition presented to employers for their exemplary support of National Guard and Reserve members. For more information about FASTSIGNS franchise programs, contact Mark Jameson ([email protected] or 214-346-5679) or visit http://www.fastsigns.com/ . Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160216/333668LOGO CONTACT: Rachel Tabacnic Fish Consulting 954-893-9150 [email protected] SOURCE FASTSIGNS International, Inc. Related Links http://www.fastsigns.com/ BETHESDA, Md., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today marks the first day of Hydrocephalus Awareness Month, a month dedicated to raising awareness about a lesser known medical condition that has no cure and impacts over 1 million Americans. Fifteen states have joined the United States Congress in proclaiming September as Hydrocephalus Awareness Month. The Hydrocephalus Association is grateful to the Governors of Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia for working with local community leaders of the Hydrocephalus Association to bring critical attention to this challenging neurological condition. These fourteen states unite with the State of West Virginia, who once again has supported the hydrocephalus community with a proclamation. Hydrocephalus Association "Receiving Indiana's first proclamation feels like a giant accomplishment not only for me, as an adult living with hydrocephalus, but for everyone living with this condition in Indiana," shared Alyse McGlaughlin, who was diagnosed with hydrocephalus when she was 18 years old and is the co-organizer of the Indiana Hydrocephalus Association WALK. "It may be just a piece of paper to someone else, but to me it means there is so much hope for better days ahead for not only myself, but all the innocent lives who have to suffer or possibly lose their battle with this condition. Brain surgeries will not be our only option; they're just a solution for now." Hydrocephalus is a neurological condition where excessive fluid builds up in the brain. The only way to treat the condition is with brain surgery, typically the implantation of a medical device known as a shunt, which as a 50% failure rate within the first 2 years in children. Individuals living with hydrocephalus are relegated to a lifetime of repeated brain surgeries, often accompanied with other learning and/or medical challenges. Hydrocephalus is not solely a pediatric condition. Anyone can get hydrocephalus at any time from a brain injury, infection, tumor, or, for unknown reasons, as part of the aging process. It is estimated that 700,000 seniors are living with Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus, but less than 20% are properly diagnosed. Many remain undiagnosed or misdiagnosed with Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, as the primary symptoms mimic that of aging or dementia. Advances in new treatment methods or means of prevention of all forms of hydrocephalus have been slowed by a lack of attention and research funding around the condition. "I am very excited and grateful to Governor Wolf for declaring September as Hydrocephalus Awareness Month in Pennsylvania. I'm hopeful that September will be a time of learning, understanding and recognition of those of us who have hydrocephalus and our families," stated Sierra Smith, the Eastern Pennsylvania Hydrocephalus Association Community Network Chair. Local volunteers around the country worked with their elected representatives to make these proclamations a reality. The Hydrocephalus Association would like to extend our deepest gratitude to New York State Senator John J. Flanagan who, for the last 8 years, has put forth the proclamation request for the State of New York. In addition to state support, the Town of Centerton, Arkansas, Chicago, Illinois, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and a group of cities and towns in upstate New York have also lent their support of the hydrocephalus community. In New York these include Erie County, Town of Grand Island, City of Rochester, City of Batavia, Town of Tonawanda, City of Niagara Falls, and City of Buffalo. The Town of Wichita, Kansas, will illuminate the downtown in hues of blue for the entire month of September. Niagara Falls and the Peace Bridge will turn blue on the evening of September 9th to commemorate the awareness proclamations. On the Federal level, the unwavering support of U.S. Congressman Leonard Lance (R-NJ) and U.S. Congressman Andre Carson (D-IN), Co-Chairs of the Congressional Pediatric and Adult Hydrocephalus Caucus, have allowed the hydrocephalus community to advocate for substantive changes for patients on a national level, opening doors to new research opportunities that could result in alternative treatment options, forms of prevention, and a cure. U.S. Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) has introduced the Advancing Research for Hydrocephalus Act (H.R.2313), which would establish a national hydrocephalus registry. This registry would help us better understand the condition and help to inform decisions around research, which is essential to finding treatment options and, one day, a cure(s). Learn more about hydrocephalus and the work of the Hydrocephalus Association by visiting www.hydroassoc.org. About the Hydrocephalus Association: Founded in 1983 by parents of children with hydrocephalus, the Hydrocephalus Association (HA) has grown to be the nation's largest and most widely respected organization dedicated to hydrocephalus. The largest advocacy group dedicated to hydrocephalus, HA is fighting on all fronts to improve the quality of life for people living with the condition. HA began funding research in 2009. Since then HA has committed well over $4.5 million to research, making it the largest non-profit, non-governmental funder of hydrocephalus research in the U.S. For more information, visit the Hydrocephalus Association web site at http://www.hydroassoc.org or call (888) 598-3789. Contact: Kristen Kurtz Amanda Garzon Director of Communications Phone: 301.202.3811 Email 4340 East West Highway Suite 905 Bethesda, MD 20814 Phone 888 598 3789 Fax 301.202.3813 www.hydroassoc.org Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160906/404274 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160906/404275LOGO SOURCE Hydrocephalus Association Related Links http://www.hydroassoc.org Why is this international pageant of new media arts going to take place in the secluded and primitive Longli Ancient Town of China rather than some metropolis where science develops rapidly and complete facilities are available? The artists themselves suggested finding the answer in this ancient town. Longli Ancient Town has been standing majestically in Guizhou since the Ming Dynasty, giving birth to unique Han, Tunpu and other scholarly cultures. Be it the "painted face dragon", created from the essence of the dragon dance and dramatic performance, or the internationally renowned cultural landscape formed from the architectural complex built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, everything in Longli speaks to artists of the town's primitive cultural charm and makes it an inexhaustible source of creation. In particular, Longli Ancient Town has been listed as one of the ecological museums in Guizhou for the cooperation between China and the Kingdom of Norway due to its profound ecological cultural deposits. That is exactly why this ancient town of China has enchanted artists from all over the world. Longli Ancient Town has drawn high attention from the Chinese government. As a result, the China Culture Industrial Investment Fund will offer critical support to the Longli International New Media Arts Festival in terms of partnership promotions, investment and financing, talent training, technical support and expert consulting. The Fund will also encourage the organizers to apply for China's special funds for cultural industry development this year. Longli's new look will be revealed by ancient town culture and frontier technology in October This arts festival consists of three parts: exhibition, forum and interaction, and falls into four sections: works by the teachers and students of Chinese art colleges, Chinese professional troupes and artists, Chinese independent artists, and summits. The principles of "environmental protection" and "thrift" will extend from the professional field to the landscape scenery and will attract many artists to take a part by making a breakthrough in art philosophy to set up a new international platform on which art and technology are fused together. Different from previous arts festivals, this one will take place focused by the idea of "environmental protection, coexistence, boundary-crossing, Longli, the world and other relevant elements" to promote the green development of tourism in Guizhou, China. The core of this festival is to "discuss the present life using the present's micro-media", but in order to avoid being swayed by dazzling sound and light as usual, the festival will be more focused on the integration of regional culture with the folk culture of Longli, to make artistic works strike a chord with Longli in various new ways. Chinese artists hope to show the world a new look of Longli Ancient Town at this arts festival, so that people around the globe can enjoy its unique cultural and artistic charms. It is also expected to drive the upgrading of the creativity of the tourism industry in Longli through the integration of science with culture and travel. Maybe it will not be too long before "Longli" becomes a new big name in China tourism! For further information, please contact: Zhang Shan Tel: +86-731-8480-1259 Mobile: +86-186-7078-1759 Email: [email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160906/404167 SOURCE Jinping County, Guizhou Province PLYMOUTH, Mich., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- As a world-class technology leader, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies has collaborated closely with the automotive industry to introduce innovative sealing solutions that address crucial issues such as emission reduction and improved fuel economy. Freudenberg's award winning LESS (Low Emission Sealing Solution) initiative, launched in 2009, introduced a myriad of powertrain sealing products designed to help customers achieve more eco-friendly cars and trucks. Now the company has expanded its LESS lineup to include new products designed to tackle challenges associated with powertrain friction, smaller spaces, lighter weight vehicles and growth in the electric mobility vehicle arena. Climate change and diminishing natural resources are just two of the issues today's vehicle manufacturers are working to address. Demands that drive systems and engines achieve greater energy efficiency, maintain a longer service life and emit fewer pollutants are also greater than ever. Freudenberg's innovative seal technology offers manufacturers enormous potential: "Our seal solutions help to minimize friction, optimize the combustion process, reduce weight, and thus significantly lower vehicles' energy consumption and emissions," said Claus Mohlenkamp, Chief Executive Officer of Freudenberg Sealing Technologies. "The conservation of the environment and its resources is a core component of our entrepreneurial behavior. With our long-standing technology and material expertise, we develop comprehensive solutions for all vehicle components that have an impact on energy consumption and emissions and thus help our customers achieve their development goals." Four Core Areas The LESS portfolio covers the product groups engine, transmissions and electric mobility and was developed to focus on four core areas: emission, friction and weight reduction as well as downsizing. One leading product for the reduction of emissions and friction is the gas-lubricated mechanical face seal Levitex, which lowers CO 2 emissions by up to 1 g of CO 2 per kilometer during driving. The Levitex seal also promotes a longer operating life by reducing powertrain wear. The seal's greater pressure stability is assisting with new developments in engine technology and a major German manufacturer has selected Levitex for its first series production order. Other premium and volume manufacturers have also expressed an interest in Levitex. LESS is also focused on emissions reduction in transmission development. That is why Freudenberg developed the Levitas seal ring. Levitas is especially applicable in transmissions with eight or more gears. The seal's low-torque design allows it to withstand the greater mechanical stresses associated with transmissions of this type. Additionally, the Levitas seal is made of the company's proprietary Quantum PTFE material. Downsizing substantially increases the efficiency of internal combustion engines. But it creates new challenges with regard to low-friction characteristics, heat and pressure resistance, and material compatibility. Downsizing is always closely associated with weight reduction. While a compact car still weighed less than 800 kg 30 years ago, increased comfort and safety needs have pushed its weight to 1,200 kg. Replacing metal with plastic saves up to 50 percent of a part's weight. Plastic components also offer greater potential for the integration of extra functions or components along with greater design freedom than their metal counterparts do. Efficient lightweight design is thus one of the most effective measures to reduce emissions. Here Freudenberg is offering products such as the BlueSeal: About 40 percent lighter than a conventional seal, it only needs half as much axial installation space. Every millimeter that a crankshaft Simmerring saves can be used to reduce the size and weight of the entire engine block. The BlueSeal is also highly - resistant to high pressures, and its friction-optimized PTFE seal lip withstands very aggressive media and reduces frictional losses by 30 percent. Driving Electrically is the Future Even if internal combustion engines still dominate the automotive industry, the electrification of the drivetrain is becoming more important. Driving electrically is part of the future. But different energy sources not only require the development of alternative powertrain systems. They demand new technologies as well. Whether it is seals for battery systems, materials that resist biomass and gaseous fuels, or frame seals for lithium pouch cells Freudenberg is presenting impressive, innovative solutions in its LESS portfolio. Fuel cell gaskets, which are precise sealing solutions for fuel cell stacks, are one example. The company's Simmerring Radial Shaft Seal incorporates an electrically-conductive nonwoven that prevents electrostatic discharge in the engine. "The new LESS initiative gets to the heart of our efforts to achieve sustainability in our products. Our customers appreciate our commitment very much," Mohlenkamp said. "Responsible behavior means going all out to develop solutions for the future and managing natural resources sparingly and economically in the meantime. We will only achieve sustainable growth if we concentrate on 'less' today." Detailed information on LESS products can be found at http://less.fst.com. About Freudenberg Sealing Technologies As the leading specialist in sealing applications and their markets, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies is a supplier as well as a development and service partner serving customers in a wide variety of sectors including the automotive industry, civil aviation, mechanical engineering, shipbuilding, the food and pharmaceuticals industries, and agricultural and construction machinery. In 2015, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies generated sales of about 2.3 billion and employed more than 15,000 people. More information at www.fst.com In the US, Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies runs the business operations of Freudenberg Sealing Technologies (FST) in the Americas. Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies is a joint venture between FST and NOK Corp. in Japan, is headquartered in Plymouth, Mich. and operates more than 20 facilities across the Americas. SOURCE Freudenberg Sealing Technologies Related Links http://www.fst.com SHENZHEN, China, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Globalegrow has become known for having a stronghold on e-commerce through its subsidiaries. One of the company's top sites is Gearbest which sells the latest quality electronics affordably. With back to school happening now and the fall season approaching Gearbest is excited to launch its Fantastic Fall Sale. This sale will be divided into two parts giving customers ample time to get the products they want at great prices. The company forecasts the Fantastic Fall Sale to bring in huge revenue. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160906/404210 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160906/404211 The Fantastic Fall Sale is a way for Gearbest to welcome new customers for the fall season. The sale is divided into two portions. The first part of the fantastic fall sale is the warm-up entry portion. The warm-up entry portion begins on September 8th and runs for five days. The warm-up entry portion will offer customers Gearbest points and coupons which can be renewed during the second part of the Fall Fantastic sale. For customers more antsy to buy and avoid products selling out, Gearbest will be offering super discount products that will appear sporadically over the course of warm-up period. Customers can also use the warm up period to get free gifts. To get free gifts customers will simply need to share Gearbest links through social media. The formal or second part of the Fantastic Fall Sale will launch on September 12th. Products will be on sale up to 70% off and be starting at 1 cent. For even more incentive to buy, Gearbest will be dropping prices further through flash sales. From September 13th to 15th Gearbest will be dropping prices of select items for short periods of time. These discounts will be extreme and hard to pass up. Prior to flash deals going live Gearbest will give indication on what the product is and the time it will be going from. For those who miss the flash sales, the normal sale will have a brand section that has major brands like Intel, Xiaomi and more at amazingly low prices. If customers are looking for cheaper prices the formal sale will also carry a special $0.99 zone that is geared towards all the deal enthusiasts. Those looking to get hidden deals and cheaper prices can do so by using the Gearbest app. QR codes will be placed all over the site and they will offer exclusive deals. To know more about them, visit www.gearbest.com or contact at support(at)gearbest(dot)com Media contact: Andy Wang (503) 928-7482 SOURCE Gearbest Related Links http://www.gearbest.com The turreted AJAX firing trials were conducted by a joint General Dynamics Land SystemsUK and Lockheed Martin UK team, with support from CTA International. The trials were observed by the UK Ministry of Defence. The AJAX testing included the firing of the CTA International 40mm cannon, the coaxially mounted 7.62mm machine gun and smoke grenades. The ARES variant tested the firing of the Kongsberg PROTECTOR Remote Weapon System, which included the firing of the General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG), Heavy Machine Gun (HMG), Grenade Machine Gun (GMG) and smoke grenades. Throughout the firing trials, General Dynamics Land SystemsUK completed a comprehensive set of more than 400 individual tests on both prototype combat vehicles. Chief of Materiel (Land) at the MoD's Defence Equipment and Support organisation Lieutenant General Paul Jaques attended the live firing trials in August. He said: "The completion of these live firing trials marks an important milestone towards fulfilment of the AJAX programme, the British Army's largest single order for armoured vehicles for more than 30 years. This national project will equip our troops with a fleet of world-class armoured vehicles, which will form a central component of the UK's new Strike Brigades." Kevin Connell, vice president of General Dynamics Land SystemsUK, said: "The AJAX trials programme continues to go from strength-to-strength in showcasing the capability this family of combat vehicles provides the British Army. Manned firing trials, planned for early next year, will again demonstrate the step-change in capability this vehicle provides, and marks a significant step towards the delivery of AJAX to our customer." Other trials planned for AJAX prototypes in the coming months include automotive, cold chamber, power systems and Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) capabilities. The range of AJAX variants will allow the British Army to conduct sustained, expeditionary, full-spectrum and network-enabled operations with a reduced logistics footprint. They will operate in combined-arms and multinational situations across a wide-range of future operating environments. The first British Army squadron will be equipped by mid-2019 to allow conversion to begin with a brigade ready to deploy from the end of 2020. About General Dynamics UK General Dynamics United Kingdom (General Dynamics UK) has two primary lines of business: Land Systems and Mission Systems. General Dynamics UK works in partnership with the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MoD) providing the nation's primary land capabilities including, amongst others, Bowman, the British Armed Forces tactical communications programme, and AJAX, the replacement for the British Army's reconnaissance vehicle fleet. The company also delivers avionics equipment used in rotary and fixed wing platforms, highly integrated mission and video management systems, flexible stores management systems, data link processing and video and data recorders for UK and international customers. General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) is headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160906/404547 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140428/81320 SOURCE General Dynamics Land Systems-UK Related Links http://www.generaldynamics.com RA'ANANA, Israel, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Celeno Communications, the leading provider of smart, managed Wi-Fi solutions, today announced that its high performance Wi-Fi chipsets and software technology will power the next generation Wireless Extenders in the home of customers of the Norwegian service provider, GET. Integrated with Celeno's technology, the ARRIS VAP4300 wireless extender will offer customers improved range and connections, delivering a superlative and seamless end user Wi-Fi experience. With the proliferation of portable devices in the home with Wi-Fi connectivity, consumers are increasingly expecting fast and reliable connectivity wherever they are in their home to support their growing appetite for high bandwidth applications. Recent ARRIS CEI research shows that 72 percent of people want high speed internet in every room and 54 percent want to extend their Wi-Fi beyond its current range. With over 95% of GET customers using wireless networks at home, a major area of frustration can arise when customers experience an unstable network, slower speeds and dead zones due to over-the-air traffic congestion, building construction and interference. Celeno's smart Wi-Fi solutions enable the best end-user Wi-Fi experience currently available to any location in a subscriber home to ensure the best possible performance for service providers' Wi-Fi customers. "We are delighted that Celeno's solution has been chosen by GET, one of the world's most advanced providers," said Gilad Rozen, CEO and Founder of Celeno. "This partnership continues to cement Celeno's reputation as the leader of smart, managed Wi-Fi solutions and will enable the delivery of the best end-user Wi-Fi experience to any location in the homes of millions of Norwegian citizens." "Our customers expect fast, reliable wireless coverage wherever they are in their homes and Get is focused on delivering this seamless coverage. With the VAP4300 extender powered by Celeno's smart Wi-Fi technology, we are able to optimize the home Wi-Fi network and ensure subscriber satisfaction," said Dan Ramunddal, CTO, GET. "We can ensure that our subscribers enjoy a reliable and stable Wi-Fi experience and there is no doubt that Celeno's products play an integral role in that." About Celeno Communications Celeno is the leading provider of smart, managed Wi-Fi solutions. Celeno's extensive 802.11ac chip portfolio and ground-breaking software technologies are designed to excel in real life, highly-interfered dense network scenarios, delivering the level of management, performance, speed, coverage, reliability and superlative user experience demanded by Wi-Fi users. Celeno's field-proven chips and software technology have been successfully integrated into numerous OEM Wi-Fi devices and have been deployed in tens of millions of homes around the world by almost 100 leading service providers worldwide. Founded in 2005 and backed by blue chip investors, Celeno is a well-established company headquartered in Ra'anana, Israel, with a global presence and offices in the US, EMEA and Asia Pacific. About GET GET is a leading fibre-based broadband and content provider in Norway, and in recent years we have won a number of "test winner" awards for ease of use, innovative products and excellent customer service. A total of 500,000 homes and business are connected to GET's fibre-based network, and more than 1 million private and business customers use our services on a daily basis. GET's services are provided across different fiber technologies, which ensure customers huge capacity and opportunities for the best experiences - now and in the future. Our customers have access to one of the country's fastest broadband networks, among Norway's largest selection of digital TV channels and a separate film store with more than 6,000 rental titles. All Get customers with broadband can also view TV channels on tablets and smartphones, and remotely control their GET PVR using the new TV app. On September 15th 2014 GET was bought by TDC, and has now become a part of Scandinavia's largest digital television and broadband company. Media Contact: Aaron Kliner Headline Media [email protected] +1-516-595-1843 SOURCE Celeno Communications LONDON, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In 2015, the global market size of automotive braking system exceeded USD50 billion, and that of China's automotive braking system came to over RMB60 billion. With the saturation of automobile market, the global and Chinese automotive braking system markets have leveled off. It is expected during 2016-2020 that the global and Chinese automotive braking system markets will grow at an average annual rate of 4.4% and 7.3%, respectively. And electronic control system may become the main driving force behind the industry development. In China's braking system market, manufacturers mainly develop towards ABS, braking force distribution (EBD/CBC, etc.), brake assist (EBA/BAS/BA), Vehicle Stability Control (ESC/ESP, DSC, etc.), AUTO HOLD, and so forth. Among them, ABS and EBD/CBC have the highest assembly rate of close to 90%; vehicle stability control develops very fast, with the assembly rate approaching 50%; brake assist and AUTO HOLD, benefiting from the development of autonomous driving technology, are seeing rapid growth in assembly rate. At present, the Chinese braking system manufacturers are working to make layout in electronic control, particularly in ABS, Vehicle Stability Control (ESC/ESP/DSC), and Electric Park Brake (EPB). The advanced enterprises, such as Zhejiang Asia-Pacific Mechanical & Electronic and Zhejiang Vie Science & Technology, have entered the fields of intelligent drive and telematics. Zhejiang Asia-Pacific Mechanical & Electronic, one of the leading Chinese braking system manufacturers, mainly operates an array of products including disc brakes, drum brakes, brake pumps, vacuum boosters, and ABS, etc. It now has an annual capacity of 1 million sets of automotive electronic control system. At present, the company is actively developing automotive electronics, and, based on ABS, gradually makes technological breakthroughs in EPB, ESC, and EABS. Currently, the company is entitled to supply ABS and EPB to auto makers like Chery, SAIC, and FAW, and is expected to achieve small-lot supply in 2016. Additionally, it has obtained eligibility for supplying ESC and EABS to Dongfeng Motor and Nissan. Zhejiang Vie Science & Technology is also an important braking system manufacturer in China. In 2015, the company realizedmassive supply of its independently developed and industrialized ABS, and completed the EBS development and vehicle matching test. Meanwhile, it was developing ESC and EPB, etc. In February 2016, the company planned to invest RMB267 million in automotive EBS project. When the design capacity is achieved, the company will have a capacity of 200,000 sets/a ABS and 50,000 sets/a EBS, with the revenue and net income estimated to add annually RMB426 million and RMB66.82 million, respectively. The report highlights the following: Market size and competitive landscape of global automotive braking system; Market size, import and export, competitive landscape, development trend of automotive braking system in China; Development of China's brake market segments, including disc brakes, drum brakes, pneumatic brakes, and hydraulic brakes; Assembly rate, market size, and development of China's electronic control market (ABS, EBD/CBC, EBA/BAS/BA/AEB, ESC/ESP/DSC, and AUTO HOLD); Development of global and China braking system suppliers, including product type, financial indicators, capacity, output and sales volume, production bases, industrial layout, and development trend, etc. Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3884076/ About Reportbuyer Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers http://www.reportbuyer.com For more information: Sarah Smith Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 208 816 85 48 Website: www.reportbuyer.com SOURCE ReportBuyer Related Links http://www.reportbuyer.com WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), representing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, design, and research, today announced worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $27.1 billion for the month of July 2016, an increase of 2.6 percent compared to the previous month's total of $26.4 billion. July marked the global market's largest month-to-month sales increase since September 2013, though sales were down 2.8 percent compared to the July 2015 total of $27.9 billion. Underscoring the welcome uptick, month-to-month sales increased in all regional markets for the first time since October 2015. All monthly sales numbers are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization and represent a three-month moving average. "The modest increase in global semiconductor sales in July was the global market's largest month-to-month growth in nearly three years, an encouraging sign of potentially stronger sales during the remainder of 2016 and beyond," said John Neuffer, president and CEO, Semiconductor Industry Association. "After months of lagging sales, the Americas region was a bright spot in July, posting 3.3 percent growth to lead all regional markets. Meanwhile, most major semiconductor product categories saw increased sales in July compared to the previous month, with DRAM leading the way with 7.1 percent growth." In addition to the month-to-month growth in the Americas, sales also increased in China (3.2 percent), Japan (3.1 percent), Asia Pacific/All Other (1.8 percent), and Europe (0.7 percent). Year-to-year sales increased in China (4.7 percent), but dropped in Japan (-1.1 percent), Europe (-4.9 percent), Asia Pacific/All Other (-6.8 percent), and the Americas (-7.5 percent). "As Congress returns to Washington this week, we urge policymakers to work together to advance initiatives that promote growth and innovation in the semiconductor industry and throughout the U.S. economy," Neuffer said. "One such measure is the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a landmark agreement that would tear down barriers to trade with Pacific-Rim countries. Congress should do what's right for U.S. businesses, consumers, and our economy and approve the TPP." To find out how to purchase the WSTS Subscription Package, which includes comprehensive monthly semiconductor sales data and detailed WSTS Forecasts, please visit http://www.semiconductors.org/industry_statistics/wsts_subscription_package/. For detailed data on the global and U.S. semiconductor industry and market, please consider purchasing the 2016 SIA Databook here: https://www.semiconductors.org/forms/sia_databook/. July 2016 Billions Month-to-Month Sales Market Last Month Current Month % Change Americas 4.94 5.10 3.3% Europe 2.68 2.70 0.7% Japan 2.53 2.60 3.1% China 8.29 8.56 3.2% Asia Pacific/All Other 7.97 8.12 1.8% Total 26.41 27.08 2.6% Year-to-Year Sales Market Last Year Current Month % Change Americas 5.51 5.10 -7.5% Europe 2.83 2.70 -4.9% Japan 2.63 2.60 -1.1% China 8.18 8.56 4.7% Asia Pacific/All Other 8.71 8.12 -6.8% Total 27.87 27.08 -2.8% Three-Month-Moving Average Sales Market Feb/Mar/Apr May/Jun/Jul % Change Americas 4.78 5.10 6.7% Europe 2.64 2.70 1.9% Japan 2.60 2.60 0.4% China 7.80 8.56 9.8% Asia Pacific/All Other 8.03 8.12 1.1% Total 25.85 27.08 4.8% Media Contact Dan Rosso Semiconductor Industry Association 202-446-1719 [email protected] About SIA The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) is the voice of the U.S. semiconductor industry, one of America's top export industries and a key driver of America's economic strength, national security, and global competitiveness. Semiconductors microchips that control all modern electronics enable the systems and products we use to work, communicate, travel, entertain, harness energy, treat illness, and make new scientific discoveries. The semiconductor industry directly employs nearly a quarter of a million people in the U.S. In 2015, U.S. semiconductor company sales totaled $166 billion, and semiconductors make the global trillion dollar electronics industry possible. SIA seeks to strengthen U.S. leadership of semiconductor manufacturing, design, and research by working with Congress, the Administration and other key industry stakeholders to encourage policies and regulations that fuel innovation, propel business and drive international competition. Learn more at www.semiconductors.org. About WSTS World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) is an independent non-profit organization representing the vast majority of the world semiconductor industry. The mission of WSTS is to be the respected source of semiconductor market data and forecasts. Founded in 1986, WSTS is the singular source for monthly industry shipment statistics. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150813/258246LOGO SOURCE Semiconductor Industry Association Related Links http://www.sia-online.org NEW YORK, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Who grows your food? Today, technology can name our Uber drivers, identify helpers in a store, or government workers, and even recognise faces of family and friends in our photos but the farmers, fishers, truckers, processors, packers, inspectors and others responsible for our food are untraceable and invisible. Supermarket labels cannot assure us if billions of small producers earn enough to feed themselves, put children to work, or live as slaves. Labels reassure that the hens laying our eggs range cage-free on verdant pasture but cannot guarantee that kids have not sacrificed their childhood harvesting cocoa beans for our chocolate. Greenfence and the Bluenumber Foundation are teaming-up to change this. Together they are transitioning the food and agriculture sector into a technology-driven 'platform economy' to plug serious gaps in knowing people and connections within food systems. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160905/404055 According to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), an agency of the United Nations (UN), the livelihood of an estimated 2 billion people in the developing world depend on 500 million small farms. UN figures show that most of the 795 million hungry worldwide are farmers. The combined population of all G7 countries (UK, USA, Germany, Japan, France, Italy and Canada) is only 750 million. Bluenumber Foundation, a non-profit organisation based in New York, maintains an independent, neutral registry of 'bluenumbers': unique identifiers for farmers to publicly self-declare who they are, where they are and what they produce. This directory is displayed on BlueView - a global map and shared registry resource. Greenfence harmonizes teams, systems and communications on a single platform within a single user window. Every organisation in a food value chain, and every department or individual within those organisations can engage, organise and manage all relevant data, all business partners, and all reporting in a single, seamless, fully interoperable environment. Together, Bluenumber Foundation and Greenfence span the full spectrum of actors, their values, needs and technology requirements in any food and agriculture system on the planet. From the smallest farmers at the base of the pyramid to the largest multinational corporations, anyone joining the platform can connect, trade, train or be trained, share and learn, and contribute more productively in food systems wherever they are starting from and to whatever level they wish to rise. Mitchell Chait, CEO of Greenfence says "All actors in local and global food systems can be brought together in a 'platform economy eco-system' to leverage the scale of the global food economy, using what is today affordable and ubiquitous technology the smartphone. We are optimising value chains and we ensure that farmers are properly valued. We want food systems to share the value they create. Integrating bluenumbers means even the smallest farmers in developing countries are included." Bluenumbers make people visible and allow farmers to take control of their identity, and it ensures they are recognised within food systems. As a comprehensive authentication gateway, Greenfence offers the food industry's first remote auditing and certification platform, and allows farmers to grow their skills and connect to markets locally and globally. "We are very pleased to partner seamlessly with Greenfence to enable small farmers to leap directly into the Information Era. Practical features such as mobile banking, connecting them directly with buyers, and providing access to loans and insurance gives them greater control in food systems," said Puvan Selvanathan, CEO of Bluenumber Foundation. Bluenumbers and Greenfence allow any farmer to both be recognised and discovered by the public using data they choose to share and show. Any farmer with a bluenumber can seamlessly join the Greenfence platform and enjoy features to access markets, transact directly with business partners, and benefit from training on better practices. All Greenfence platform services are free for the farmer. For small farmers in developing countries using this platform on their smartphones offers life-changing opportunities at zero cost. SOURCE Bluenumber Foundation Related Links http://www.bluenumber.org NEW YORK, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Golub Capital announced today that as Administrative Agent, Sole Bookrunner and Sole Lead Arranger, it provided a $66.5 million GOLD financing to CenterOak Partners to finance its acquisition of Wetzel's Pretzels, LLC ("Wetzel's Pretzels"). GOLD financings are Golub Capital One-Loan Debt facilities. Armed with a vision and a tasty recipe for soft pretzel perfection, Bill Phelps and Rick Wetzel opened the first Wetzel's Pretzels bakery in Redondo Beach, California, in 1994. Long lines of hungry customers soon formed, attracted by mouth-watering soft pretzels that were hand-rolled, baked fresh and served hot from the oven. As word spread about these golden-on-the-outside pretzels, the company added additional offerings to its menu. Today, Wetzel's Pretzels has grown to more than 300 fresh bakeries across the United States and around the world, including premier locations at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Every Wetzel's Pretzels bakery adheres to the original vision of its founders; that each super-premium pretzel will be crafted from fresh dough and baked in-store consistently throughout the day, to ensure a delicious offering for each consumer, regardless of when the craving for a pretzel strikes. "We look forward to working with Wetzel's Pretzels management and CenterOak Partners as they pursue growth opportunities for the business," said Greg Cashman, Senior Managing Director at Golub Capital. About Golub Capital Middle Market Lending Golub Capital's Middle Market Lending group provides financing for middle market, private equity-backed transactions with hold positions of up to $300 million and is an arranger of credit facilities up to $750 million. Golub Capital's award winning team strives to establish long-term, win-win partnerships by providing dependable, fast and creative solutions that meet private equity sponsors' and portfolio companies' needs. Golub Capital is a nationally recognized credit asset manager with over $18 billion of capital under management. For over 20 years, the firm has provided credit to help medium-sized U.S. businesses grow. The firm's award-winning middle market lending business helps provide financing for middle market companies and their private equity sponsors. Golub Capital's credit expertise also forms the foundation of its Late State Lending and Broadly Syndicated Loan businesses. Golub Capital has worked hard to build a reputation as a fast, reliable provider of compelling finance solutions, and we believe this has inspired repeat clients and investors. Today, the firm has over 300 employees with lending offices in Chicago, New York and San Francisco. For more information, please visit www.golubcapital.com About CenterOak Partners CenterOak Partners LLC is a private equity firm with a focus on making control-oriented investments in middle market companies organized or operating in the U.S. The Firm specializes in three key industry sectors: Industrial Growth, Consumer, and Business Services. Based in Dallas, Texas, the investment and portfolio management team has a strong historical track record of creating significant value through operational improvement in middle market companies across the U.S. CenterOak's senior leaders and their predecessor funds have managed over $1.8 billion of equity capital commitments and have completed nearly 100 acquisitions representing over $3 billion in transaction value. For additional information, please visit www.centeroakpartners.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131211/NY31812LOGO SOURCE Golub Capital Related Links http://www.golubcapital.com ANN ARBOR, Mich., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyundai Hope On Wheels (HHOW) and Ann Arbor-area Hyundai dealers will present C.S. Mott Children's Hospital with a $250,000 Scholar Grant to be used to improve care and increase treatment options for kids with cancer. C.S. Mott Children's Hospital was one of 24 recipients across the country selected by a rigorous scientific review panel to receive this highly competitive Hyundai Scholar Grant. The $250,000 Scholar Grant will be presented during a Handprint Ceremony today, Tuesday, September 6, during which the handprints of local Ann Arbor-area brave young cancer patients will be captured on a white 2016 Hyundai Tucson the Hyundai Hope On Wheels hero vehicle to commemorate their fight against the disease. The ceremony will also feature: University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital leadership including: Paul King , Executive Director , Executive Director Valerie Opipari , M.D., Chair, Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases , M.D., Chair, Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases Steve Pipe , M.D., Professor, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology , M.D., Professor, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Challice Bonifant , M.D, Clinical Lecturer, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Other notable attendees: Paul Lamb , General Manager, Central Region, Hyundai Motor America , General Manager, Central Region, Hyundai Motor America Doug Fox , General Manager, Dealer Principal, Ann Arbor Hyundai, Hyundai Motor America , General Manager, Dealer Principal, Ann Arbor Hyundai, Hyundai Motor America Katie Stimac , Pediatric cancer survivor "Our mission at Hyundai Hope On Wheels is clear: End Childhood Cancer," said Dave Zuchowski, President and CEO of Hyundai Motor America. "These individual awards to hospitals and organizations across the country are pivotal to ending childhood cancer. Although there remains a lot more work to be done, the innovation that comes from this research will ultimately help us find a cure. To all the kids, families and cancer researchers fighting this terrible disease you are not alone and we remain committed to this important cause." About the Hyundai Hope on Wheels Scholar Grants and Handprint Ceremonies The Scholar Senior Research Grants will fund childhood research projects designed to improve the treatment and quality of life for children with cancer. The ultimate goal of the Scholar Senior Research Grant program is to find cures for childhood cancers once and for all. This year alone, HHOW will award more than $13 million in new pediatric cancer grants. Since 1998, the program has funded $115 million in research to Children's Oncology Group (COG) member institutions nationwide. The program also creates awareness about the importance of the disease, which is the leading cause of death by disease in children in the United States (source). Attendees at the various ceremonies will include HHOW's two national youth ambassadors and pediatric cancer survivors, Hannah Adams and Ryan Darby, who will deliver a message of hope to children's cancer hospitals. Hannah, now 13 years old, was only five years old when she was diagnosed with a Stage 3 Wilms tumor that enveloped her kidney. Since her recovery, she has pursued her love of dancing and singing to help uplift and encourage other children and families through their fight. Thirteen-year-old Ryan was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia six years ago, and since his recovery, he has shared his story and words of encouragement with children and families across the country. Watch Hannah and Ryan's story at www.HyundaiHopeOnWheels.org 2016 National Call To Action: Give Hope A Hand In addition to funding a multitude of research projects this September, HHOW is encouraging the public to contribute to the fight against childhood cancer in a personal way. The journey begins with one simple request: Give Hope A Hand. We invite visitors to the newly refreshed website at hyundaihopeonwheels.org, to tell how they will use their hands in the fight against pediatric cancer. Once there visitors can Learn + Care + Do + Give = Hope. There are a number of additional engaging, interactive ways the public can get involved and use their hands for good. HYUNDAI HOPE ON WHEELS Hyundai Hope On Wheels is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that is committed to finding a cure for childhood cancer. Launched in 1998, Hyundai Hope On Wheels provides grants to eligible institutions nationwide that are pursuing life-saving research and innovative treatments for the disease. HHOW is one of the largest nonprofit funders of pediatric cancer research in the country, and primary funding for Hyundai Hope On Wheels comes from Hyundai Motor America and its more than 830 U.S. dealers. Since its inception, Hyundai Hope On Wheels has awarded more than $115 million towards childhood cancer research in pursuit of a cure. To learn more about Hyundai Hope On Wheels, please visit www.HyundaiHopeOnWheels.org or follow us on social media at www.facebook.com/HyundaiHopeOnWheels, www.twitter.com/hopeonwheels, and www.youtube.com/hopeonwheels. HYUNDAI MOTOR AMERICA Hyundai Motor America, headquartered in Fountain Valley, Calif., is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Co. of Korea. Hyundai vehicles are distributed throughout the United States by Hyundai Motor America and are sold and serviced through more than 830 dealerships nationwide. Please visit our media website at www.hyundainews.com and our blog at www.hyundailikesunday.com Hyundai Motor America on Twitter | YouTube | Facebook Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140319/LA86658LOGO SOURCE Hyundai Hope On Wheels Related Links http://hyundaihopeonwheels.org BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyundai Hope On Wheels (HHOW) and Birmingham-area Hyundai dealers will present Dr. Kimberly Whelan of UAB and Children's of Alabama with a $250,000 Scholar Grant to be used to improve care and increase treatment options for kids with cancer. The Alabama Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children's of Alabama was one of 24 recipients across the country selected by a rigorous scientific review panel to receive this highly competitive Hyundai Scholar Grant. The $250,000 Scholar Grant will be presented during a Handprint Ceremony today, Tuesday, September 6, during which the handprints of local Birmingham-area brave young cancer patients will be captured on a white 2016 Hyundai Tucson - the Hyundai Hope On Wheels hero vehicle - to commemorate their fight against the disease. The ceremony will also feature: Dr. Kimberly Whelan , Grant Recipient; Associate Professor of Pediatrics; Medical Director, Taking on Life after Cancer Clinic and Childhood Cancer Survivors Program; Director, Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Fellowship Training Program Grant Recipient; Associate Professor of Pediatrics; Medical Director, Taking on Life after Cancer Clinic and Childhood Cancer Survivors Program; Director, Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Fellowship Training Program Dr. Gregory Friedman , Associate Professor/Neuro-Oncology Program, UAB Division of Hematology and Oncology UAB Division of Hematology and Oncology Kaylee Jeter , Patient, Children's of Alabama Patient, Children's of Jake Casmir , Merchandising Manager, South Central Region, Hyundai Motor America Merchandising Manager, South Central Region, Hyundai Motor America Richard Wall , General Manager, Tameron Hyundai General Manager, Handprint Ceremony: Birmingham -area children affected by cancer will capture their handprints on a white 2016 Hyundai Tucson "Our mission at Hyundai Hope On Wheels is clear: End Childhood Cancer," said Dave Zuchowski, President and CEO of Hyundai Motor America. "These individual awards to hospitals and organizations across the country are pivotal to ending childhood cancer. Although there remains a lot more work to be done, the innovation that comes from this research will ultimately help us find a cure. To all the kids, families and cancer researchers fighting this terrible disease - you are not alone and we remain committed to this important cause." About the Hyundai Hope on Wheels Scholar Grants and Handprint Ceremonies The Scholar Senior Research Grants will fund childhood research projects designed to improve the treatment and quality of life for children with cancer. The ultimate goal of the Scholar Senior Research Grant program is to find cures for childhood cancers once and for all. This year alone, HHOW will award more than $13 million in new pediatric cancer grants. Since 1998, the program has funded $115 million in research to Children's Oncology Group (COG) member institutions nationwide. The program also creates awareness about the importance of the disease, which is the leading cause of death by disease in children in the United States (source). Attendees at the various ceremonies will include HHOW's two national youth ambassadors and pediatric cancer survivors, Hannah Adams and Ryan Darby, who will deliver a message of hope to children's cancer hospitals. Hannah, now 13 years old, was only five years old when she was diagnosed with a Stage 3 Wilms tumor that enveloped her kidney. Since her recovery, she has pursued her love of dancing and singing to help uplift and encourage other children and families through their fight. Thirteen-year-old Ryan was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia six years ago, and since his recovery, he has shared his story and words of encouragement with children and families across the country. Watch Hannah and Ryan's story at www.HyundaiHopeOnWheels.org 2016 National Call To Action: Give Hope A Hand In addition to funding a multitude of research projects this September, HHOW is encouraging the public to contribute to the fight against childhood cancer in a personal way. The journey begins with one simple request: Give Hope A Hand. We invite visitors to the newly refreshed website at hyundaihopeonwheels.org, to tell how they will use their hands in the fight against pediatric cancer. Once there visitors can Learn + Care + Do + Give = Hope. There are a number of additional engaging, interactive ways the public can get involved and use their hands for good. HYUNDAI HOPE ON WHEELS Hyundai Hope On Wheels is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that is committed to finding a cure for childhood cancer. Launched in 1998, Hyundai Hope On Wheels provides grants to eligible institutions nationwide that are pursuing life-saving research and innovative treatments for the disease. HHOW is one of the largest nonprofit funders of pediatric cancer research in the country, and primary funding for Hyundai Hope On Wheels comes from Hyundai Motor America and its more than 830 U.S. dealers. Since its inception, Hyundai Hope On Wheels has awarded more than $115 million towards childhood cancer research in pursuit of a cure. To learn more about Hyundai Hope On Wheels, please visit www.HyundaiHopeOnWheels.org or follow us on social media at www.facebook.com/HyundaiHopeOnWheels, www.twitter.com/hopeonwheels, and www.youtube.com/hopeonwheels. HYUNDAI MOTOR AMERICA Hyundai Motor America, headquartered in Fountain Valley, Calif., is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Co. of Korea. Hyundai vehicles are distributed throughout the United States by Hyundai Motor America and are sold and serviced through more than 830 dealerships nationwide. Please visit our media website at www.hyundainews.com and our blog at www.hyundailikesunday.com Hyundai Motor America on Twitter | YouTube | Facebook Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140319/LA86658LOGO SOURCE Hyundai Hope On Wheels Related Links http://hyundaihopeonwheels.org COLDWATER, Mich., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Infinisource has spun off its HCM technology business unit as iSolved HCM. Infinisource will continue as Infinisource Benefit Services and will focus primarily on administration of COBRA, FSA, HRA, ERISA, and additional associated services. iSolved HCM will move forward as a separate unit and concentrate on growing the market share for its human capital management technology through a mix of direct sales and the iSolved Network, a collection of certified providers who use the iSolved platform to service their customers. "Infinisource has been partnering with insurance brokers and employers for over 30 years to deliver COBRA and fringe benefits," stated Jody Oliver, Chief Executive Officer of Infinisource Benefit Services. "Spinning off the technology business allows us to more fully focus on those critical services. Our experience in this industry is second to none, and we are committed to our broker partners and are adding products and services that supplement and enhance our core offerings." This strategic decision will allow the Infinisource Benefit Services and iSolved HCM business units to leverage their critical competencies and enhance how they serve their respective customers. The result of the separation will be two best-in-class units with distinct business models, partners and growth expectations. The two businesses will continue to share referrals and partner together to provide a combined solution when appropriate. Infinisource Benefit Services is headquartered in Coldwater, Michigan, and serves over 17,000 customers. It started in October of 1986 as COBRA Compliance Systems and has successfully processed over 8 million COBRA notices without a single adverse judgment or penalty. It is an established, service-oriented company that offers white-glove service for critical benefits administration, partnering with brokers and employers in every state to deliver services to both the employer and the employee/participant. Along with COBRA and Flexible Spending Account (FSA) services, Infinisource Benefit Services offers ACA Print & File service, ERISA Wrap documents, Premium Only Plans, Transit Plans, and HR Legal Services. About Infinisource Benefit Services Infinisource Benefit Services has been a leader in the COBRA and benefits administration industry since it started in 1986. Over the past 30 years, Infinisource Benefit Services has grown and expanded to include administration for COBRA, Flexible Spending Accounts, Health Savings Accounts and Health Reimbursement Arrangements. Infinisource Benefit Services has processed more than 5,000,000 FSA/HRA claims and that number continues to grow. With 30 years of experience comes a unique understanding of employers' needs and how to best provide for those needs. For more information, visit www.infinisource.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160628/384198LOGO SOURCE Infinisource Benefit Services Related Links http://www.infinisource.com NEW YORK, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The rise in the number of insect-borne diseases is driving the growth of the insect repellent market in Europe. In order to protect themselves from diseases caused by mosquitoes or ticks, consumers prefer different insect repellent products such as apparels, oils and creams, and stickers and patches among others. According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the changing climatic conditions would increase the habitation of tiger mosquitoes in the Northern part of Europe on account of warmer and wetter weather conditions. All these factors are likely to increase health awareness among European consumers, which in turn is expected to drive the usage of insect repellent products in Italy, France, Spain and other European countries during the forecast period. In addition, insect repellents are marketed through strong distribution channels such as online stores, supermarkets, and convenience stores. Increasing availability of these products in stores and supermarkets are also promoting the growth of the insect repellent market in Europe. Moreover, manufacturers also sell insect repellent products through internet retailing. The collection, variety, discount, and price range of products available with internet retailers is diverse leading to increasing popularity of the channel. Many companies are entering into joint venture agreements with different online stores in order to market these products through their websites. Key manufacturers operating in the insect repellent market are continuously focused on developing safe and innovative insect repellents. These products provide protection from critical insect-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue, Lyme disease, and yellow fever among others. With advancement in technology, insect repellents are being made from natural products such as lemongrass, citronella oil, and eucalyptus oil which produce less smoke and are comparatively safer. However, stringent government regulations prevailing in Europe hinder the growth of the insect repellent market. Various organizations such as the European Environmental Agency and the European Medicines Agency have implemented different safety standards to conclude whether an insect repellent is harmless enough for its intended use, thereby maintaining consumer safety. Increasing demand for new and innovative insect repellent products containing natural ingredients is likely to create significant opportunity for growth of the European insect repellant market in the future. This market research study analyzes the insect repellent market in Europe and provides estimates in terms of revenue (USD Million) from 2014 to 2023. It recognizes the drivers and restraints affecting the industry and analyzes their impact over the forecast period from 2015 to 2023. Moreover, it identifies the significant opportunities for market growth in the years to come. The report segments the market based on product type which includes body-worn insect repellent and non body-worn insect repellent. The body-worn insect repellent segment is segmented into oils and cream, apparels, stickers and patches, and aerosols. The oils and cream segment is further divided into synthetic and plant based insect repellents. Moreover, the aerosol segment is classified into Deet and Non Deet. The non body-worn insect repellent segment is subdivided into coils, mats and sheets, aerosols and liquid vaporizers. The aerosol segment is further bifurcated into Deet and Non Deet. By countries, the insect repellent market in Europe is subdivided into Germany, U.K. France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and rest of Europe. The report provides company market share analysis of the various industry participants. Key players have also been profiled on the basis of company overview, financial overview, business strategies and key developments. Major market participants profiled in this report include Avon Products Inc. (U.S.), S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. (U.S.), 3M Corporation (U.S.), E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Company (U.S.), BASF S.E (Germany) and Omega Pharma (Belgium). Europe Insect Repellent Market: by Product Type Body Worn Insect Repellent Oils and Cream Synthetic Deet Picaridin Permethrin Plant Based Citronella Geraniol Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus Apparel Stickers and Patches Aerosols Deet Non Deet Non Body Worn Insect Repellent Coils, Mats and Sheet Aerosol Deet Non Deet Liquid Vaporizer Europe Insect Repellent Market: by Country U.K.GermanyFranceItalyGermanySpainBelgiumSwitzerlandNetherlandsDenmarkNorwaySwedenFinlandIcelandRest of Europe Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p03999665-summary/view-report.html About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. http://www.reportlinker.com/ __________________________ Contact Clare: [email protected] US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 SOURCE Reportlinker Related Links http://www.reportlinker.com HOUSTON, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ITC Global, a leading provider of satellite communications to remote and harsh environments, announced today that it has been awarded a three-year contract providing broadband connectivity to the world's largest semisubmersible drilling rig. The end-to-end service will enable the newly built rig to manage essential business communications and monitor and maintain operations through ITC Global's very small aperture terminal (VSAT) solution. The ultra-deepwater, harsh environment rig has been commissioned by a major petroleum exploration and production company to begin operations in October in the Great Australian Bight, positioned on the coastline of southern and western Australia. ITC Global has completed installation of two stabilized antenna systems on the rig, featuring an innovative design of a C-band and Ku-band dual switching setup, delivering high-speed data service via two satellites. This solution enables added redundancy and uptime availability, benefiting not only the production operator, but also the drilling contractor with increased overall service and availability for more efficient operations. The turnkey voice and data solution will enable essential business communications with corporate offices and ensure operations run smoothly, backed by ITC Global's 24x7 network monitoring and support. While operating offshore Australia, services will be supported by the global Network Operation Center along with local support from the Australia operations team. In the event of future moves, the rig will maintain seamless, uninterrupted connectivity across ITC Global's worldwide Ku-band network, regardless of the transit path or final destination. "This contract is evidence of ITC Global's innovation in developing custom solutions to meet connectivity needs for major deepwater drilling projects," said Joe Spytek, Chief Executive Officer, ITC Global. "Through continued partnership with our customers who seek to invest in flexible, quality connectivity services, we've developed solutions that address current and future requirements of leading drilling contractors and operators." In March, ITC Global announced that it had been awarded a long-term contract for an ultra-deepwater project in western Africa. This latest award speaks to ITC Global's position as an industry leader in providing innovative communications solutions for energy operations in the most remote regions around the globe, including Asia Pacific. "With demonstrated success delivering services and support for our customer's projects in the North Sea and South America, ITC Global was selected as the best choice to serve this new project offshore Australia," continued Spytek. "Asia Pacific is where ITC Global began its operations, serving its first customers more than 15 years ago. Since then, we've continued to actively invest in the region, establishing trust and long-term partnerships with customers who require complex communications networks to support their global operations." About ITC Global ITC Global is a leading provider of satellite communications to the energy, mining, and maritime markets. Companies in remote and harsh environments require communications with both global coverage and unwavering customer service. ITC Global enables improved real-time decision-making and enhanced health, safety and environmental management through a unified communications solution, tailored to the requirements of each client. Solutions include custom network design, hardware implementation, field engineering, technical support and enterprise-grade satellite bandwidth. ITC Global operates 24x7 carrier-class networks across the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. It became a subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation in 2015. For more information, visit www.itcglobal.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160902/403911LOGO SOURCE ITC Global Related Links http://www.itcglobal.com CARMEL, Ind., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, ITT Educational Services, Inc. released the following statement: "It is with profound regret that we must report that ITT Educational Services, Inc. will discontinue academic operations at all of its ITT Technical Institutes permanently after more than 50 years of continuous service. With what we believe is a complete disregard by the U.S. Department of Education for due process to the company, hundreds of thousands of current students and alumni and more than 8,000 employees will be negatively affected. The actions of and sanctions from the U.S. Department of Education have forced us to cease operations of the ITT Technical Institutes, and we will not be offering our September quarter. We reached this decision only after having exhausted the exploration of alternatives, including transfer of the schools to a non-profit or public institution. Effective today, the company has eliminated the positions of the overwhelming majority of our more than 8,000 employees. Our focus and priority with our remaining staff is on helping the tens of thousands of unexpectedly displaced students with their records and future educational options. This action of our federal regulator to increase our surety requirement to 40 percent of our Title IV federal funding and place our schools under "Heightened Cash Monitoring Level 2," forced us to conclude that we can no longer continue to operate our ITT Tech campuses and provide our students with the quality education they expect and deserve. For more than half a century, ITT Tech has helped hundreds of thousands of non-traditional and underserved students improve their lives through career-focused technical education. Thousands of employers have relied on our institutions for skilled workers in high-demand fields. We have been a mainstay in more than 130 communities that we served nationwide, as well as an engine of economic activity and a positive innovator in the higher-education sector. This federal action will also disrupt the lives of thousands of hardworking ITT Tech employees and their families. More than 8,000 ITT Tech employees are now without a job employees who exhibited the utmost dedication in serving our students. We have always carefully managed expenses to align with our enrollments. We had no intention prior to the receipt of the most recent sanctions of closing down despite the challenging regulatory environment that now threatens all proprietary higher education. We have also always worked tirelessly to ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, and to uphold our ethic of continuous improvement. When we have received inquiries from regulators, we have always been responsive and cooperative. Despite our ongoing service to this nation's employers, local communities and underserved students, these federal actions will result in the closure of the ITT Technical Institutes without any opportunity to pursue our right to due process. These unwarranted actions, taken without proving a single allegation, are a "lawless execution," as noted by a recent editorial in The Wall Street Journal. We were not provided with a hearing or an appeal. Alternatives that we strongly believe would have better served students, employees, and taxpayers were rejected. The damage done to our students and employees, as well as to our shareholders and the American taxpayers, is irrevocable. We believe the government's action was inappropriate and unconstitutional, however, with the ITT Technical Institutes ceasing operations, it will now likely rest on other parties to understand these reprehensible actions and to take action to attempt to prevent this from happening again." SOURCE ITT Educational Services, Inc. Related Links http://www.ittesi.com CLERMONT, Ky., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Jim Beam Bourbon, the world's No. 1 bourbon, makes history this month with the rollout of a best-in-class cocktail experience at the Jim Beam American Stillhouse in Clermont, Ky. The cocktail program is among the first of its kind at a leading Kentucky bourbon distillery since the enactment of Kentucky Senate Bill 11 (SB11). "It's great day for tourism and bourbon cocktails here in Kentucky," said Fred Noe, seventh generation master distiller. "For decades, we've immersed guests in my family's distilling traditions with a hands-on mashing, distilling, barreling, bottling and tasting experience. Now, we're giving visitors from across the world a chance to enjoy our whiskies in a new way at the Jim Beam American Stillhouse with delicious cocktails." This summer, SB11 modernized Kentucky's 1930s-era alcohol regulations to aid surging interest in bourbon, craft beer and small-farm wine products. SB11 not only increases the sample size, but also makes it possible for distilleries to apply for a NQ-3 license, which permits the sale of cocktails by the glass. Jim Beam was recently among the first bourbon distillers in the state to receive its NQ-3 license. As such, the distillery created a signature bourbon cocktail program that offers guests of legal drinking age a new way to learn about America's native spirit at the home of the world's No. 1 bourbon. "Bourbon has grown to a $3 billion industry for the Commonwealth of Kentucky," Kevin Smith, vice president of Kentucky Beam Bourbon Affairs said. "SB11 allows distilleries to meet consumer demand and provide a unique cocktail experience in a responsible way through on-premise education programs for both long-time fans and curious newcomers. For Jim Beam, this means we'll be pushing the creative boundaries on cocktail education with a variety of hand-crafted cocktails, which in turn enhances the experience on The Kentucky Bourbon Trail and promotes responsible drinking." "The new Jim Beam Bourbon Bar at the American Stillhouse isn't just a place to sample a cocktail," added Noe. "It's where guests come as a friend and leave as family." Featured Jim Beam Bourbon cocktails will rotate monthly, presenting guests with a variety of traditional and modern drink options that showcase the complete Jim Beam family of brands. The Jim Beam Bourbon bar opens to the public September 14 just in time for National Bourbon Heritage Month and the annual Kentucky Bourbon Festival. Hours of operation will be Monday through Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Drink tokens must be purchased in-person by those of legal drinking age at the front desk of the Jim Beam American Stillhouse. Daily token limits apply. For more information on Jim Beam, please visit www.jimbeam.com, www.facebook.com/jimbeamus, or @jimbeamofficial. About Beam Suntory Inc. As the world's third largest premium spirits company, Beam Suntory is Crafting the Spirits Brands that Stir the World. Consumers from all corners of the globe call for the company's brands, including the iconic Jim Beam and Maker's Mark bourbon brands and Suntory whisky Kakubin, as well as world renowned premium brands including Knob Creek bourbon, Yamazaki, Hakushu and Hibiki Japanese whiskies, Teacher's, Laphroaig, and Bowmore Scotch whiskies, Canadian Club whisky, Courvoisier cognac, Sauza tequila, Pinnacle vodka, and Midori liqueur. Beam Suntory was created in 2014 by combining the world leader in bourbon and the pioneer in Japanese whisky to form a new company with a deep heritage, passion for quality, innovative spirit and commitment to Growing for Good. Headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, Beam Suntory is a subsidiary of Suntory Holdings Limited of Japan. For more information on Beam Suntory, its brands, and its commitment to social responsibility, please visit www.beamsuntory.com and www.drinksmart.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160906/404327LOGO SOURCE Beam Suntory Inc. Related Links http://www.jimbeam.com NEW YORK, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Growth in the clinical chemistry market will be driven by the low-to-mid-volume laboratory level, customers, according to Kalorama Information, and IVD vendors are adapting their models to compete in this segment. Clinical chemistries are common, first pass diagnostic tests and companies such as Roche, Abbott, Siemens and Danaher's Beckman Coulter lead the market. That means, the healthcare market researcher says, that the low- to medium-volume chemistry market, which includes small hospitals, satellite labs, clinics, and large doctor's offices, is where other competitors are aiming. The core lab IVD market is quantified in The Worldwide Market for In Vitro Diagnostic Tests, 10th Edition. Clinical chemistries are performed using serum or plasma and are performed on analyzers with varying levels of automation depending on the test volume run at a particular test site. The market for routine clinical chemistries can be segmented in high and low volume users. Long eclipsed in apparent importance by molecular tests and esoteric immunoassays, several chemistries are making a mark in patient management. Routine clinical chemistry comprises 30 to 40 tests including: substrates, metabolites, electrolytes, blood gases, enzymes, urinalysis and lipids and can be divided into those performed for routine patient investigation and rapid response tests used to follow unstable hospitalized patients. "Consolidation has forced the hands of vendors to seek low-to-mid volume labs as customers for revenue growth, and it's also a key segment for emerging market sales," said Bruce Carlson, Publisher of Kalorama Information. "In this kind of growthy middle segment, customers are both cost-conscious and expecting features." Raritan, N.J.- based Ortho Clinical Diagnostics informed Kalorama in an interview at the American Association of Clinical Chemistry that middle-volume labs were its focus for revenue and installed base growth. The company's VITROS 250/350 Chemistry System supports this segment, but according to the company, a new system is in development that uses technologies from the company's large-volume 4600 models. The VITROS XT3400 is expected to deliver enhanced assay quality and productivity through the use of a digital imaging reflectometer. The VITROS XT 3400 System is expected to continue utilizing Ortho's VITROS MicroSlides, providing more than 40 routine chemistry tests. The company said it had added 1,300 employees since being spun off from J&J and ranked first in service performance by IMV Ltd's 2016 ServiceTrak reports. Ortho Clinical Diagnostics is the fifth-largest core lab company, and the first in blood typing according to Kalorama Information's Worldwide Market for In Vitro Diagnostic Tests, 10th Edition. They are not alone, as many companies have products for the mid-volume chemistry market. In July 2015, Lexington, MA-based Sekisui Diagnostics launched the SK500 Chemistry System for the U.S. market. SK500 is designed for larger physicians' offices and small to moderate-sized hospital laboratories. The SK500 has a throughput of up to 580 tests/hour with ISE, 72 patient sample on-board capability, 36 onboard assays (+3 ISE) and primary tube sampling to meet the testing needs of small-to-moderate volume laboratories. Formerly Genzyme Diagnostics, the company was acquired by Sekisui Medical (Tokyo, Japan) in 2011 and the name was changed to Sekisui Diagnostics. In addition, Randox's RX Daytona+ is a bench-top, fully automated, random access clinical chemistry analyzer capable of performing routine & specialized testing. Mindray's BA-800M chemistry analyzer, Beckman Coulter's UniCel DxC 600i and Carolina Liquid Chemistries CLC800 are other examples of products targeting the mid-volume level. Kalorama Information's report, The Worldwide Market for In Vitro Diagnostic Tests, is a comprehensive look at the IVD industry and all of its segments - now in its 10th edition. The report has detailed market estimates of clinical chemistry, with breakouts for immunoassays performed on workstations, critical care, urinalysis and other segments. Competitors large and small are profiled. The report is global in scope and can be found at: http://www.kaloramainformation.com/Worldwide-Vitro-Diagnostic-10206771/. Please link any media or news references to our reports or data to http://www.kaloramainformation.com/. About Kalorama Information Kalorama Information, a division of MarketResearch.com, supplies the latest in independent medical market research in diagnostics, biotech, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and healthcare; as well as a full range of custom research services. Reports can be purchased through Kalorama's website and are also available on www.marketresearch.com and www.profound.com. We routinely assist the media with healthcare topics. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and our blog at www.kaloramainformation.com. Contact: Bruce Carlson (212) 807-2622 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150831/262422LOGO SOURCE Kalorama Information Related Links http://www.kaloramainformation.com CINCINNATI, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) today announced a new, more affordable corporate brand line of cage-free eggs. "Kroger-brand Cage-Free Eggs are now available in our family of stores nationwide," said Gil Phipps, Kroger's vice president of corporate brands. "More customers are looking for an affordable cage-free egg option. Our goal is to help our customers migrate to the cage-free category by offering an affordable alternative to conventional eggs." Kroger has been a leader in cage-free eggs for many years. The company also offers cage-free eggs under its popular Simple Truth and Simple Truth Organic brands. In 2015, 15% of the eggs Kroger sold were cage-free compared to the industry average of 9%. In March, Kroger announced its goal is to transition to a 100% cage-free egg supply chain by 2025. "In order to ensure a smooth transition by 2025, we need to start attracting customers to cage-free eggs now," said Mel Bomprezzi, Kroger's vice president of grocery merchandising. "We remain committed to working with our suppliers during this transition in a way that ensures eggs are readily available, safely produced, and affordably priced for all of our customers." Every day, the Kroger Family of Companies makes a difference in the lives of eight and a half million customers and 431,000 associates who shop or serve in 2,778 retail food stores under a variety of local banner names in 35 states and the District of Columbia. Kroger and its subsidiaries operate an expanding ClickList offering a personalized, order online, pick up at the store service in addition to 2,230 pharmacies, 785 convenience stores, 323 fine jewelry stores, 1,400 supermarket fuel centers and 38 food production plants in the United States. Kroger is recognized as one of America's most generous companies for its support of more than 100 Feeding America food bank partners, breast cancer research and awareness, the military and their families, and more than 145,000 community organizations including schools. A leader in supplier diversity, Kroger is a proud member of the Billion Dollar Roundtable. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150408/197347LOGO SOURCE The Kroger Co. Related Links http://www.kroger.com Traveler II Beta is a flying device used for data collection and analysis, and traveling in the near space region, which is between 20 and 100km above sea level - more than twice the altitude flown by commercial airlines. In June 2015, Traveler completed its first test flight in New Zealand, reaching the designated flight altitude of 21km and successfully transmitting data back to the ground. Located in the Haikou Hi-tech Zone, the only one of its kind in the province, Kuang-Chi's Haikou Institute of Future Technology signed an agreement on the development and exploration of near space technologies in December 2015. According to Haikou Mayor Ni Qiang, more than 40 projects have been introduced to the hi-tech zone since 2015 and more than 80% of those are high-tech companies. The mayor noted that the area is a good fit for Kuang-Chi, as it is heavily focused on innovation. "Haikou has the best research resources for space exploration. Wenchang Satellite Launch Center is located in Hainan and most of its scientific workers are living in Haikou, which will help our near space exploration," according to Dr. Liu Ruopeng, president of Kuang-Chi. Additionally, the rich sea resources around Hainan provide much space for future applications of environmental analysis and monitoring. Traveler II Beta's main subsystems have been completed and are in the final stage of assembly and testing. The manned Traveler II is also in the final stage of assembly and cabin tests are expected to be completed by the end of 2016 with flight tests beginning in 2017. Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Shenzhen, China, Kuang-Chi is a company focused on the development of future technologies. Originating as a five-person team, the company has created a Global Community of Innovation of more than 2,400 employees in 18 countries and regions. Kuang-Chi's subsidiary company KuangChi Science Limited (00439.HK) is concentrated on the development of future technology and conducts R&D of different disruptive technologies such as future space exploration and artificial intelligence. On August 31, the company announced the interim results for the six months ended June 30, 2016, with a turnover of approximately HKD 312 million, representing a significant increase of 461.77% over the same period last year and a profit of approximately HKD 105.53 million. Of the revenue, the Cloud, a space platform that provides integrated services, including internet access, data collection, and data analysis, as well as other communication services and is the group's first commercialized product, accounted for HKD 284.73 million. The company's market value grew to nearly HKD 17.3 billion these days. Inquiries: Kuang-Chi: [email protected] +86-181-2625-4673 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160906/404262 SOURCE Kuang-Chi Group ATLANTA and WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- LexisNexis Risk Solutions today announced that its Homestead Exemption Fraud Detection Solution has uncovered more than $2.3 million in recaptured lost revenue for Fort Bend County, Texas, by identifying and preventing 1,194 cases of erroneous and in some instances, fraudulent tax filings. The solution combines the company's public records databases with identity analytics and advanced linking technology to help county governments detect erroneous and fraudulent filings, collect taxes resulting from these filings and identify new sources of revenue. From a population of approximately 685,000, the LexisNexis Homestead Exemption Fraud Detection Solution identified 11,898 properties as being suspicious and needing additional research. Certified fraud analysts with LexisNexis Risk Solutions worked with Fort Bend Central Appraisal District officials to research the identified homesteads to determine if their exemptions were legitimate or should be denied. "We take our responsibility as a steward of taxpayer dollars very seriously," said Glen Whitehead, Chief Appraiser, Fort Bend Central Appraisal District in Fort Bend County, Texas. "Erroneous homestead exemption filings, whether due to the homeowner's mistake or intentional fraud takes dollars away from important services like schools and first responders, leaving honest taxpayers to fill the gap with higher tax bills. The LexisNexis Homestead Exemption Fraud Detection Solution has helped us recapture base taxes of more than $2.3 million. And we expect even more new revenue since we have only processed less than half of the identified anomalous properties." The solution uses proprietary identity analytics to detect erroneous filings and fraudulent activity by cross-checking customer records against more than 20,000 public records and commercial data sources. The program reviews the homestead exemption filings to ensure compliance with state laws to detect key indicators for errors and fraud, including duplicate exemption filings and family members receiving deductions under a deceased property owners' name. "We applaud the Fort Bend Central Appraisal District for using new technology to gain a broader picture of its homestead exemption claims one that looks at claimed exemptions across jurisdictional boundaries to detect anomalies, errors and outright fraud," said Haywood Talcove, CEO, Government, LexisNexis Risk Solutions. "Using identity analytics to detect suspicious filings, such as exemptions for deceased property owners or those with multiple exempted properties, Fort Bend County is recapturing lost revenue while ensuring every taxpayer pays their fair share." For more information, please visit http://www.lexisnexis.com/risk/products/government/homestead-exemption.aspx. About LexisNexis Risk Solutions LexisNexis Risk Solutions is a leader in providing essential information that helps customers across industries and government predict, assess and manage risk. Combining cutting-edge technology, unique data and advanced analytics, LexisNexis Risk Solutions provides products and services that address evolving client needs in the risk sector while upholding the highest standards of security and privacy. LexisNexis Risk Solutions is part of RELX Group plc, a world-leading provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. http://www.lexisnexis.com/risk/ Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160120/324390LOGO SOURCE LexisNexis Risk Solutions Related Links http://lexisnexis.com WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) will host its annual Walk of Courage Award Gala on Wednesday, October 26, 2016 at 6:00pm, at the Capitol View at 400, located at 444 North Capitol Street NW, Washington D.C. The Gala will celebrate the benefits that migrants and refugees bring to our communities. Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright The Rev. Mark S. Hanson Former U.S. Secretary of State, Dr. Madeleine Albright, will be honored with the Walk of Courage Award for her outstanding career achievements and her lifetime commitment to furthering equality for all people. Born to Czech parents, she became the United States' first female Secretary of State under President Bill Clinton in 1997, and has paved the way for both women and immigrants throughout her life. Since leaving office, Albright has continued to be an advocate for world justice. She is the Founder and Chair of the Albright Stonebridge Group, a Washington, DC based global business strategy firm. Dr. Albright has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Distinguished Public Service Award. She currently serves on the boards of the Aspen Institute and the Center for American Progress. The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, former presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will also be recognized with the Walk of Faith Award for his career of service to the Lutheran community. The ELCA is the nation's largest Lutheran denomination. Rev. Hanson was ordained in 1974 and has since served as a pastor for three Minnesota congregations, a Bishop of the Saint Paul Area Synod, and as the President of the Lutheran World Federation in Geneva. A tireless advocate for migrants and refugees. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the Christensen Center for Vocation at Augsburg College. Master of Ceremonies for the event will be Joseph Lewis, a former refugee from Liberia and now police officer in Washington, D.C. He is also a former LIRS Migrant and Refugee Leadership Academy participant. The keynote speaker for the Gala will be Washington, DC based journalist and former refugee Omar Al-Muqdad, who fled Syria, and was granted asylum to the United States in 2012. The Gala is open to the public. Early bird general seating tickets are $175 per person, increasing to $200 after September 16, 2016. Premium seating tickets are $400, which includes a private cocktail reception with LIRS President and CEO Linda Hartke and the evening's award recipients. For additional information regarding tickets or sponsorship opportunities, visit the 2016 Gala website at http://lirs.org/gala or call 410-230-2766. Founded in 1939, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is the second largest refugee resettlement agency in the United States. It is nationally recognized for its leadership advocating with refugees, asylum seekers, unaccompanied children, immigrants in detention, families fractured by migration and other vulnerable populations. Through more than 75 years of service and advocacy, LIRS has helped over 500,000 migrants and refugees rebuild their lives in America. Press Contacts: Miji Bell [email protected]; 410-230-2841 Michelle Blundell [email protected]; 202-478-6176 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160906/404485 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160906/404484 SOURCE Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service Related Links http://www.lirs.org JERSEY CITY, N.J., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Mack-Cali Realty Corporation (NYSE: CLI) announced today that it will be participating in the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2016 Global Real Estate Conference being held September 13-14, 2016 at the Westin Times Square, New York. Michael DeMarco, Mack-Cali's president and chief operating officer, is scheduled to present on Wednesday, September 14, 2016 at 3:40 p.m. Eastern Time. The live audio-webcast of the presentation in listen-only mode will be available on the Company's website at www.mack-cali.com/investors/events-presentations. Presentation materials will also be available on the Company's website prior to the webcast at www.mack-cali.com/investors/company-filings-reports. About Mack-Cali Realty Corporation Mack-Cali Realty Corporation is a fully integrated, self-administered, self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) providing management, leasing, development, and other tenant-related services for its two-platform operations of waterfront and transit-based office and luxury multi-family assets. Mack-Cali provides its tenants and residents with the most innovative communities that empower them to re-imagine the way they work and live. Additional information on Mack-Cali Realty Corporation and the commercial real estate properties and multi-family residential communities available for lease can be found on the Company's website at www.mack-cali.com. Statements made in this press release may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may," "will," "plan," "potential," "projected," "should," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "target," "continue," or comparable terminology. Such forward-looking statements are inherently subject to certain risks, trends and uncertainties, many of which the Company cannot predict with accuracy and some of which the Company might not even anticipate, and involve factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or suggested. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements and are advised to consider the factors listed above together with the additional factors under the heading "Disclosure Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Reports on Form 10-K, as may be supplemented or amended by the Company's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, which are incorporated herein by reference. The Company assumes no obligation to update or supplement forward-looking statements that become untrue because of subsequent events, new information or otherwise. Contacts: Anthony Krug Deidre Crockett Mack-Cali Realty Corporation Mack-Cali Realty Corporation Chief Financial Officer Director of Investor Relations (732) 590-1030 (732) 590-1025 [email protected] [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150903/263589LOGO SOURCE Mack-Cali Realty Corporation Related Links http://www.mack-cali.com SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- MCLife, the residential apartment brand of MC Companies, is showing their continued support for Tucson Pride and the Southern Arizona LGBTQ community. For the third year in a row, MCLife Tucson properties will be raising the Pride flag at properties throughout the city. Seven Tucson properties will be raising the Pride flag: The Place at Presidio Trails, The Place at Canyon Ridge,The Place at Edgewood, The Place at Rock Ridge, The Place at Creekside, The Place at 7400, and the Place at Broadway East in September and October. There will be a flag raising ceremony at 11:00AM on Wednesday September 7, 2016 at The Place at Presidio Trails to kick off the renewed sponsorship. The flag raising will be hosted by the staff at The Place at Presidio Trails, along with representatives from MCLife Tucson, and the Pride Board of Directors. All are welcome and greater Tucson community is invited to join and show their support. In addition to the flag raising, MCLife has been named the social media sponsor of Pride in the Desert once again. "We're incredibly proud and excited to be the social media sponsor of Pride in the Desert for the third year in a row. We're continuing to raise the Pride Flags at our properties, and will be actively involved at the Pride events this fall," says VP of Marketing Eric Brown. "We want the LGBTQ community in Southern Arizona to know that our apartment communities are welcoming and supportive." Pride in the Desert 2016 takes place September 30 - October 1, 2016. The Pride Parade will be along 4th avenue on September 30th and is followed by the Pride Festival on October 1st in Reid Park. MCLife will have an active presence at both of these events, with staff on hand, games for community involvement and an Instagram printer that automatically prints out photos using #MCLifeRocks and #TucsonPride. The flag raising is a great way to kick off MCLife's social media sponsorship of Pride in the Desert 2016. Curious to join? The Place at Presidio Trails is located at: 9190 E Old Spanish Trail, Tucson, AZ 85710. We'll see you there! About MC Companies: MC Companies http://www.mccompanies.com is a real estate investment, development, construction, and management company specializing in the multifamily properties and commercial markets. MC Companies has completed over $500 million in multi-family and commercial value-added transactions since 1985. About Tucson Pride: Tucson Pride is an Arizona non-profit corporation and an IRS 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that produces and promotes cultural, educational and recreational events for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community in Tucson, Arizona. TLGA / Tucson Pride was founded in 1977 making it Arizona's first and longest established LGBTQ organization. Tucson Pride is a member of the Consolidated Association of Prides, Inc. (CAPI) and InterPride (International Association of Prides). Locally Tucson Pride is a member of the Tucson GLBT Chamber of Commerce. Tucson Pride has helped sponsor events in the past for Wingspan, Southern Arizona Aids Foundation and has supported the Turnabout for TIHAN fundraiser. John Foley is the new President of Tucson Pride, as of July 2016. PRLog ID: www.prlog.org/12584936 SOURCE MC Companies Related Links http://www.mccompanies.com LAS VEGAS, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Avanza Network ("Avanza") will host this year's annual conference in Las Vegas, Nevada beginning Thursday, September 8, 2016 and through Sunday, September 11, 2016. The conference will bring together MIT Mexican-American alumni from throughout the U.S. to discuss important issues affecting our communities. Avanza plans to address over 500 high school students and their parents in 14 different high schools in underserved communities about the critical importance of a higher education. Since its formation in 2011, the group has reached out to and inspired thousands of high school students in cities across the country. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160830/402809 "Education is the great equalizer, and it's the responsibility of those of us who have walked the path to inspire and help the next generation reach their full potential," stated Frances Pinedo, President of Avanza. "For these kids growing up in poorer, underserved communities, sometimes just hearing from someone who originated from a similar background and is accomplishing the unimaginable is all it takes to inspire them to aim high. Avanza members understand that these young students have unique skillsets that enable them to both overcome tremendous obstacles and thrive in advanced fields. The most complex problems can be solved by these type of personalities who are by nature resilient, resourceful, and grittier. It's also important for our youth to understand that Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans are major contributors to this country and its economy, and a strong education will only augment that further." Avanza will also be distributing its first book as part of its annual conference. The book, produced and published with Weeva (www.weeva.com), contains the inspiring true stories of several Avanza members and their varied paths towards a higher education and successful career. The stories can be read online at bookstore.weeva.com/products/Avanza. Avanza is a national organization founded by M.I.T. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Mexican-American alumni and friends who are dedicated to the empowerment and advancement of current and aspiring Mexican-American professionals and members of underserved communities. Through its grass-roots efforts, Avanza stimulates Mexican Americans and underserved communities to achieve full potential by increasing awareness of the transformational power of a college education, increasing college graduation rates for these groups, and emphasizing the benefits of diverse career paths. Avanza would like to highlight that MIT, Ivy League universities, and college in general are possibilities within underserved communities, regardless of socio-economic challenges. In addition to meeting with students and parents, Avanza also plans to meet with local educators and the press to partner in the group's goal of increasing college attendance and college graduation rates within the Mexican-American and underserved populations, as well as to create awareness of the many sources of financial assistance that are available. Additional information on similar grass-root outreach efforts, the college application process or other tools for the college bound, please visit www.avanzanetwork.org or follow MIT Avanza on Facebook and LinkedIn. Related Images image1.png image2.jpg This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com SOURCE Avanza Network Related Links http://www.avanzanetwork.org HAMPTON, Va., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In the 2017 Breakthrough, Innovative, and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge, NASA is engaging university-level students in its quest to reduce the cost of deep space exploration. NASA's Game Changing Development Program (GCD), managed by the agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate, and the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) are seeking novel and robust concepts for in-space assembly of spacecraft particularly tugs, propelled by solar electric propulsion (SEP), that transfer payloads from low earth orbit (LEO) to a lunar distant retrograde orbit (LDRO). [For images, go to: http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-searches-for-big-idea-from-students-for-in-space-assembly-of-spacecraft] "GCD initiated the BIG Idea Challenge in 2016 as a unique approach to finding top talent for NASA, and it proved to be more successful than we had hoped," said Mary E. Wusk, acting GCD program manager at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. "In last year's challenge, students from across the nation proposed innovative solutions to the technology challenge of controlling a heat shield upon reentry," Wusk said. "The 2016 BIG Idea Challenge finalists are now interning at NASA Langley where they are building prototypes of their designs under the mentorship of experts in the field. These students bring new ideas, new perspectives, new tools and unlimited energy to solving real world challenges that NASA is working on. It is a win-win for NASA and the students. I am excited to kick off our second Challenge which will address our ability to make in-space assembly a reality." Why is this important? Think: 'Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.' Combined with advances in robotic technology, SEP tugs (i.e., transportation systems) enable NASA to move toward the use of more modular space systems that can be assembled into functional space craft hundreds of thousands of miles from Earth. The modular design also allows for upgrades, replacement of components, and reconfigurations for new mission application. The 2017 BIG Idea Challenge invites teams and their faculty advisors to work together to design and analyze potential modular concepts and systems that provide the ability to construct large SEP tugs in space. Concepts can employ: New approaches for packaging modules in one or more launch vehicles that minimize launch loads Modular solar arrays and ion engines Robust robotic assembly of the modules that form the SEP tug. Interested teams of three to five undergraduate and/or graduate students are asked to submit robust proposals describing their concepts by Nov. 30. From these proposals, a panel of NASA experts will select four teams to move to the next phase of the competition. Teams will then have to submit full technical papers on their concepts and present their concepts in face-to-face oral presentations/design reviews at the BIG Idea Forum at NASA Langley in mid-February 2017. Each finalist team will receive a $6,000 stipend to facilitate full participation in the forum. BIG Idea Challenge winners will receive offers of paid internships with the GCD team at NASA Langley, where they can further develop their concept. For more information about the challenge, and details on how to apply, visit the BIG Idea website at: http://bigidea.nianet.org For more information about NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, go to: http://www.nasa.gov/spacetech For more information about the National Institute of Aerospace, please visit: http://www.nianet.org Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO SOURCE NASA Related Links http://www.nasa.gov HOUSTON, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NCI Building Systems, Inc. (NYSE: NCS) today announced that Norman C. Chambers, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, will attend and present at the D.A. Davidson's 15th Annual Engineering & Construction Conference in San Francisco, CA on September 8, 2016 at 11:00 am Pacific time. A link to the webcast and a copy of the presentation will be available under the "Investors" section of the Company's website. Mr. Chambers will also be attending the 2016 Zelman Housing Summit being held in Boston, MA on September 22, 2016. NCI Building Systems, Inc. is one of North America's largest integrated manufacturers of metal products for the nonresidential building industry. NCI is comprised of a family of companies operating manufacturing facilities across the United States, Canada, Mexico and China with additional sales and distribution offices throughout the United States and Canada. For more information visit www.ncibuildingsystems.com. Contact K. Darcey Matthews Vice President, Investor Relations 281-897-7785 SOURCE NCI Building Systems, Inc. Related Links http://www.ncibuildingsystems.com LONDON, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The global near-infrared imaging market is projected to reach USD 471.2 million by 2020, at a CAGR of 8.8% from 2015 to 2020 The purpose of this report is to cover the definition, description, and forecast up to 2020 of the global near-infrared imaging market. It involves a deep dive analysis of market segmentation which comprises product type, application, end user, and geography. The report also provides a strategic analysis of key market players. On the basis of product type, the market is segmented into near-infrared fluorescence imaging, near infrared fluorescence & bioluminescence imaging devices, and reagents. By application, the near-infrared imaging market has been segmented into in vivo imaging, cancer surgeries, cardiovascular surgeries, gastrointestinal surgeries, plastic/reconstructive surgeries, and others. The end users of near-infrared imaging devices are hospitals and research labs. The near-infrared imaging market has been segmented by geography into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World. North America is further segmented into the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Europe is further segmented into Germany, France, the U.K., Spain, and Italy. In Asia-Pacific, the major countries included are China, India, Japan, Australia, and Republic of Korea. North America contributed the largest share to the near-infrared imaging market in 2014. The large share is attributed to increasing cancer cases, increasing technological advancements, and advantages offered by near-infrared imaging devices over other imaging methods. The report also provides a detailed competitive landscape of companies operating in this market. Segment and country specific company shares, news & deals, mergers & acquisitions, segment specific pipeline products, product approvals, and product recalls of the major companies are detailed. The major players profiled in the global near-infrared imaging market report include Biospace Lab (France), Fluoptics (France), Mizuho Corporation (Japan), Li-Cor, Inc. (U.S.), Bruker Corporation (U.S.), Carl Zeiss Meditec AG (Germany), Novadaq Technologies Inc. (Canada), Hamamatsu photonics K.K. (Japan), Karl Storz GmbH & Co. KG (Germany), PerkinElmer Inc. (U.S.), Promega Corporation (U.S.), and Miltenyi Biotech (Germany). Reasons to Buy the Report: From an insight perspective, this research report has focused on various levels of analysis, namely, industry analysis (industry trends and PEST analysis), market share analysis of top players, supply chain analysis, and company profiles. All of these together comprise and discuss the basic views on the competitive landscape, usage patterns, emerging- and high-growth segments, high-growth regions and countries and their respective regulatory policies, government initiatives, drivers, restraints, and opportunities of the near-infrared imaging market. The report will enrich both established firms as well as new entrants/smaller firms to gauge the pulse of the market, which in turn will help them garner a greater market share. Firms purchasing the report could use any one or a combination of the below mentioned five strategies to strengthen their market share. The report provides insights on the following pointers: - Product Analysis and Development: Detailed insights on upcoming technologies, research and development activities, and new product launches in the global near-infrared imaging market are provided. - Market Development: Comprehensive information about lucrative emerging markets is provided. The report also analyzes the markets for near-infrared imaging across various regions, new distribution channels, new clientele base, and different pricing policies. - Market Diversification: Exhaustive information about new products, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments decisions in the global near-infrared imaging is provided. Detailed description regarding the related and unrelated diversification pertaining to this market is also provided. - Competitive Assessment: An in-depth assessment of market shares and company share analysis of the key players forecasted till 2020 is provided. Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3686463/ About Reportbuyer Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers http://www.reportbuyer.com For more information: Sarah Smith Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 208 816 85 48 Website: www.reportbuyer.com SOURCE ReportBuyer Related Links http://www.reportbuyer.com VANCOUVER, British Columbia, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Nevada Energy Metals Inc. "the Company" (TSX-V: BFF; OTCQB: SSMLF; Frankfurt: A2AFBV) - Rick Wilson, president and CEO is pleased to announce that Randy Avon has joined the Company's Advisory Board. Randy will bring his expertise and vast skillset to assist in the sourcing of new lithium projects in Latin America. Mr. Avon has a proven track record of locating rare business opportunities, negotiating projects as well as joint ventures/option agreements. About Randy Avon: Randy is CEO and Managing Director of Asian Pacific Development Corp "Asian Pacific" (APDC), a multinational business development and investment banking company. Asian Pacific, with its global partner network, has completed over 18 billion dollars in global infrastructure projects in 22 nations during the past 3 decades. These projects are mostly public/private partnerships that utilize debt, equity, and cooperative funding. He is also the former CEO of Corporate & Financial Consultants (CFC), Florida Fixed Income Corp, the Ft. Lauderdale Kunshan China as well as the Aruba World Trade Centers and Gateway International Trading Partners LLC. He has served on the board of directors for multiple multi-national companies. Mr. Avon is a former member of the Florida Legislature, formerly President and CEO of four World Trade Centers and Corporate and Financial Consultants (CFC). CFC completed over $8 Billion of infrastructure projects with E.F.Hutton and Prudential Bache prior to forming APDC. Randy Avon was also a former Florida Legislator, State President of the Florida Jaycees, Charter President of the Florida JCI Senate, and was named one of Florida's Five Outstanding Young Men. He has served as a Presidential Advisor, was the Chairman of the Florida/Colombia Alliance, and was honored by the U.S. State Department with the James McKeithan Award for International achievements in the private sector. He chaired the Organization of American States (OAS) meeting in the United States in 2005 and has been a U.S. delegate to the past four Summits of the Americas. Mr. Avon's background is deeply rooted in community involvement, civic, and citizen diplomacy achievements. He served as a distinguished member of the Florida Legislature and was the previous Chairman of the Florida/Colombia Alliance. He has been listed in Marquis' Who's Who in American Politics, Community Leaders of America, Outstanding Young Men of America, Marquis' Who's Who in Finance and Industry, and was named as a recipient of the 2007 Global Leaders Award. He was named one of south Florida's "100 Most Powerful International Leaders" by South Florida CEO Magazine. About Nevada Energy Metals: http://nevadaenergymetals.com/ Nevada Energy Metals Inc. is a well funded, Canadian based, exploration company who's primary listing is on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company's main exploration focus is directed at lithium brine targets located in the mining friendly state of Nevada. The Company has ownership of 77 claims in Clayton Valley, only 250m from Rockwood Lithium, the only brine based lithium producer in North America (70% optioned-out to American Lithium Corp (TSX-V: Li). Nevada Energy Metals has also acquired: 100 claims (Teels Marsh West) covering 2000 acres (809 hectares) at Teels Marsh, Mineral County, Nevada, a prospective lithium exploration project, 100% owned without any royalties; the San Emidio Desert lithium project, consisting of 155 claims (approximately 3,100 acres/1255 hectares) in Washoe County, Nevada; the Alkali Lake Project in Esmeralda county, is a 60% earn in option agreement from Dajin Resources Corp (TSX-V: DJI), where near surface lithium values have been confirmed; the Dixie Valley Project consisting of 911 claims covering 73.6 square kilometers/28.4 square miles (7,363 hectares/18,194 acres) of salt marsh playa. On Behalf of the Board of Directors Rick Wilson, President & CEO Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the contents of this release. 1220-789 West Pender St Vancouver, BC, V6C 1H2 +1-604-428-5690 nevadaenergymetals.com [email protected] SOURCE Nevada Energy Metals Inc. "Many builders restrict the selections to packages and don't let customers mix and match options. We think that's too limiting. When you're building from the ground up, personalization is a big selling point," said David Viger, Acting President for Orlando. Complimentary design consultations Homebuyers intimidated by hundreds of choices in tile or light fixtures can take advantage of the Home Gallery's complimentary design consultations. After contract, every buyer of a to-be-built home makes an appointment with a designer, who helps the buyer choose their selections and keep the project on budget. To take out the guesswork, Richmond American's fixtures and finishes are also professionally grouped into Color Studios for foolproof color matching. Grand opening details The grand opening is a unique opportunity for the public to tour the beautiful new facility and learn more about what goes into building a new home. Saturday, September 10 , from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. , from 2822 Commerce Park Drive, Suite 100, Orlando, FL 32819 32819 Facility tours Hundreds of fixtures and finishes on display Refreshments catered by local favorite, East End Market More information For more details about the Home Gallery, this event or the new home building process, call 321-441-3671. For information about the Richmond American product selection in Orlando, visit RichmondAmerican.com. About MDC Since 1972, MDC's homebuilding subsidiary companies, which operate under the name Richmond American Homes, have built and financed the American dream for more than 185,000 homebuyers. MDC's commitment to customer satisfaction, quality and value is reflected in the homes its subsidiaries build. MDC is one of the largest homebuilders in the United States. Its subsidiaries have homebuilding operations across the country, including the metropolitan areas of Denver, Northern Colorado, Colorado Springs, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, Riverside-San Bernardino, Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Northern Virginia, Orlando, Jacksonville, South Florida and Seattle. MDC's subsidiaries also provide mortgage financing, insurance and title services, primarily for Richmond American homebuyers, through HomeAmerican Mortgage Corporation, American Home Insurance Agency, Inc. and American Home Title and Escrow Company, respectively. M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "MDC." For more information, visit www.MDCHoldings.com. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160906/404543 SOURCE M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. Related Links http://www.MDCHoldings.com NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- New Jersey Health Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that funds health-related research projects in New Jersey, has committed $1 million for its latest round of grant funding, announced James M. Golubieski, president. Through the New Jersey Health Foundation Research Grants program, this latest allocation will fund awards of up to $35,000 each for early stage research projects that demonstrate exciting potential and may lead to larger grants from other organizations to further advance the projects. Jiang-Hong Ye, M.D., a past grant recipient and a professor of anesthesiology, pharmacology & physiology at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, provides one example of how this program leverages the ability to obtain larger grants. "My lab received a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health that totaled more than $1.8 million as a result of obtaining compelling preliminary data made possible by our initial grant of $25,000 from New Jersey Health Foundation," explained Dr. Ye. "We are extremely grateful to the Foundation for its help in allowing us to purchase the equipment necessary to conduct our preliminary research." In total, New Jersey Health Foundation has awarded more than $56 million to support early stage research in the state. Faculty and personnel at these organizations are able to apply for funding: Kessler Foundation, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Rowan University, Rutgers University and Stevens Institute of Technology. "Scientists throughout our state are engaged in cutting edge research," explained George F. Heinrich, M.D., vice chair and CEO of New Jersey Health Foundation. "We are delighted to help advance these basic research and technology projects by supporting potentially breakthrough science at these prestigious organizations." Applications for this round of funding will be accepted from September 6, 2016 through November 7, 2016. For more information, visit www.njhf.org. About New Jersey Health Foundation New Jersey Health Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation that supports biomedical research and health-related education programs in New Jersey through several grants programs and its affiliate, Foundation Venture Capital Group which makes private equity investments in life science start- up companies in New Jersey headed toward commercialization. SOURCE New Jersey Health Foundation Related Links http://www.foundationventure.com The report, titled Explaining ocean warming: Causes, scale, effects and consequences , describes the phenomenon as 'one of the greatest hidden challenges of our generation'. The analysis report has been compiled by 80 scientists from 12 countries. Mike Maran, Chief Science Officer at XL Catlin said: "It is clear that the scale of impacts described in this report underscores the need to review and reconsider the risks associated with the changing state of the ocean. It is a powerful wake-up call about the risks posed by ocean warming. There is a lot more the insurance industry needs to do to understand ocean risk, what is happening to the ocean's health, what risks it poses to our clients across industries and how we can help address these challenges." According to this scientific review, fundamental changes to the ocean's chemistry, physics and the wealth of life it supports are already evident with human food security and health under threat along with dangers from more extreme weather events and reduced crop yields. 'Ocean Risk' describes the potential impacts these changes may have on businesses, society and ecosystems around the globe. The report also identifies other changes to ocean health including acidification and de-oxygenation which will impact every level of marine life from the smallest plankton to mammals. These impacts include: Coastal communities at greater risk of inundation from storm surges, more intense tropical storms and rising sea levels. of inundation from storm surges, more intense tropical storms and rising sea levels. Compromised food security from shifting fish populations and depleted fish stocks. Harvests from marine fisheries in South-East Asia are expected to fall by between 10% and 30% by 2050 relative to 1970-2000, as the distributions of fish species shift, under a high 'business as usual' greenhouse gas emission scenario from shifting fish populations and depleted fish stocks. Harvests from marine fisheries in are expected to fall by between 10% and 30% by 2050 relative to 1970-2000, as the distributions of fish species shift, under a high 'business as usual' greenhouse gas emission scenario Reduced crop yields in key regions will be affected, including North America and the Indian sub-Continent, from increased rainfall in mid-latitudes and more drought patterns in sub-tropical zones. in key regions will be affected, including and the Indian sub-Continent, from increased rainfall in mid-latitudes and more drought patterns in sub-tropical zones. Human health is endangered from the spread of viruses, diseases and pathogens in the warmer ocean and passed to humans directly or through the food chain. These include the bacteria causing cholera and the neurological disease ciguatera. from the spread of viruses, diseases and pathogens in the warmer ocean and passed to humans directly or through the food chain. These include the bacteria causing cholera and the neurological disease ciguatera. The cost of ocean change is steadily rising. All negative impacts will have a cost. As an example, the loss to tourism from recent widespread coral bleaching is calculated to be $23 billion . The cost by 2100 of losing coral reefs could amount to $1 trillion per year. Amongst the recommendations highlighted in the report is a call to prioritise closing the gaps in scientific knowledge about the impacts of ocean warming which are evident, prevalent and expected to alter our way of life. Amongst the recommended actions to be taken is a continued cut in greenhouse gas emissions and a move away from attempts to protect biodiversity to a more active management and even restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems. XL Catlin has been involved in supporting scientists' work on ocean change since 2009. It invested in research expeditions to the Arctic Ocean to understand changes to the Arctic environment from sea-ice loss and has funded the most comprehensive digital survey of the world's coral reefs, creating a baseline record that is available to researchers at the XL Catlin Global Reef Record. Work is continuing with the recently-launched XL Catlin Deep Ocean Survey, a multidisciplinary scientific research program that will create a new standardised methodology to be used by marine biologists for measuring physical, chemical and biological indicators for the purpose of assessing the function, health and resilience of the deep ocean. About XL Catlin XL Catlin is the global brand used by XL Group Ltd's (NYSE:XL) (re)insurance companies which provide property, casualty, professional and specialty products to industrial, commercial and professional firms, insurance companies and other enterprises throughout the world. Clients look to XL Catlin for answers to their most complex risks and to help move their world forward. To learn more, visit xlcatlin.com . Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160905/404069 SOURCE XL Catlin Related Links http://xlgroup.com MONROE, N.H., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- It has been a long and difficult journey for Tom Giovagnoli to realize his dream of becoming an egg farmer. Tom grew up on a farm that was located near the Mall of New Hampshire. He worked for the City of Manchester for many years but always dreamed of getting back into farming with his sons, Eric and Andy. Tom is now proudly living his dream, and on September 12th at 3:00 pm, he will celebrate his success with an open house at his brand new, Certified Humane Free Range poultry barn in Boscawen, New Hampshire. The barn will be home to 20,000 young laying hens that will produce eggs for Pete and Gerry's Organic Eggs, the fastest growing, and #1 organic egg brand in the country. Early hurdles prevented Tom from building an egg farm, which led him to sell his home and buy property in the nearby town of Boscawen where town officials and residents alike welcomed the idea of an organic egg farm. Tom built a new home on the property and began preparing the site for his new poultry barn. "There were several times along the way that I didn't think this was going to happen," Tom admits, "but with the support of Pete and Gerry's, my neighbors, Boscawen's Agricultural Commission and Planning Board and Farm Credit East, I was able to get my farm built." Pete and Gerry's has long been committed to supporting small family farms, partnering with 125 independent farms across 13 states to supply eggs. Without this support, many of these farms wouldn't be able to survive. Pete and Gerry's not only helps farmers secure financing, but also provides its farmers with a meaningful living wage that supports both their farm and family. Farmers within the Pete and Gerry's network are carefully selected to meet high standards that ensure the best quality eggs from healthy hens. Farms must be family run and small, with no more than two barns, a criteria Tom and his family were proud to meet. "Tom worked hard to make this happen," said Jesse Laflamme, Pete and Gerry's owner and Chief Executive Farmer. "He's the kind of dedicated and determined farmer we look for as we aim to build long-term relationships with our partner farmers." Tom's hens will be raised to Certified Humane Free Range standards, which guarantees ready access to safe-from-predators, fenced-in, pasture. Tom and his sons will care for the hens and collect, palletize and store the eggs for Pete and Gerry's, who will then transport them to the home farm in Monroe, NH, where the eggs will be washed, graded and packaged before sent to stores across the country. About Pete and Gerry's Organics LLC The Pete and Gerry's Organics LLC family has been raising chickens for three generations and is totally committed to bringing consumers the highest-quality, freshest eggs possible. Pete and Gerry's Organics LLC is a values-led company dedicated to humane treatment of animals and supporting small family farms who follow the strictest standards of humane animal treatment, safety, and environmental sustainability. In 2003 the company became the first Certified Humane egg producer in the US. In 2013 Pete and Gerry's became the first egg producer in the world to achieve Certified B-Corporation status. Pete and Gerry's Organics LLC believes hens deserve a safe, comfortable place to live a happy, healthy life and that family farmers deserve the right to keep their lands and livelihoods without having to resort to unhealthy factory-farm practices. To learn more about Pete and Gerry's Organic eggs, visit www.peteandgerrys.com. To learn more about Nellie's Free Range eggs, visit www.nelliesfreerange.com. SOURCE Pete and Gerry's Organics LLC Related Links http://peteandgerrys.com OXFORD, England, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Deployment of mosquito control solution that fights primary vector of Zika, dengue, and chikungunya begins today OXITEC Logo (PRNewsFoto/Oxitec) Sao Judas utilizing this technology since July 2016 Oxitec and Piracicaba City Hall announced that today they will begin the release of Friendly Aedes in ten additional downtown neighborhoods - Centro, Cidade Alta, Cidade Jardim, Clube de Campo, Jardim Monumento, Nova Piracicaba, Nho Quim, Parque da Rua do Porto, Sao Dimas and Vila Rezende. These releases, along with those in Sao Judas, mark the deployment of Oxitecs mosquito control solution in the eleven districts comprising the expansion of the Friendly Aedes project in Piracicaba's downtown. Oxitec's Friendly Aedes are designed to specifically target and suppress populations of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the primary vector of some of the most damaging viruses to humans including Zika, dengue, and chikungunya. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150630/227348 ) "Sao Judas has been releasing the Friendly Aedes since July. With these ten new neighborhoods, we aim to protect the health of more than 60,000 people that live in these regions with an innovative, environmentally friendly and sustainable approach. In addition, the five thousand residents in the CECAP/Eldorado area are in the second year of the Friendly Aedes project in the neighborhood. Im sure that this project is already making Piracicaba a reference point in Brazil and the world in the fight against Zika, dengue and chikungunya," said Gabriel Ferrato, Piracicabas Mayor. "Effective vector control solutions will be critical in reducing populations of disease-carrying Aedes aegypti to prevent the spread of Zika, as well as dengue and chikungunya. The crisis in Brazil is severe, and we believe that the use of Friendly Aedes will contribute significantly to fight the spread of a dangerous mosquito species. We expect to get the first results of Friendly Aedes in these neighborhoods within three to six months," said Glen Slade, Oxitec do Brasil's director. Public Engagement The release of Friendly Aedes in 10 downtown neighborhoods begins after more than 13 weeks of public engagement work in which Oxitec's technicians, supported by the Secretary of Health, explained to Piracicaba's citizens what Friendly Aedes is and how it works. An advertising campaign is running in newspapers, billboards, bus door posters, radio spots and an information kiosk at Piracicaba's largest shopping mall. "In our work with the population we also explain why the Friendly Aedes is safe and that it's been approved for use all over Brazil," said Guilherme Trivellato, Friendly Aedes Project Manager in Piracicaba. Mr. Trivellato continued, "The Friendly Aedes is a male mosquito, unable to bite and transmit diseases. The one who bites is the female, which needs blood to mature its eggs." "It's fundamental to remember that the Friendly Aedes won't work alone. The population must continue to do their part, eliminating mosquito breeding sites and following the public health agents' instructions to avoid Aedes aegypti infestation," says Pedro Mello, Piracicaba City Hall's Secretary of Health. How Friendly Aedes works Oxitec has been working in Aedes aegypti control for over a decade and pioneered the use of a biological method to suppress wild populations of this dangerous mosquito species through the release of Friendly Aedes males, which do not bite and do not transmit diseases. When released, these males search for wild females to mate, and their offspring inherit a self-limiting gene that causes them to die before reaching functional adulthood. Friendly Aedes' offspring also inherit a fluorescent marker that allows tracking and monitoring at a level never before achieved, making the assessment of effectiveness more accurate throughout the whole Friendly Aedes deployment program. Unlike other approaches, Friendly Aedes mosquitoes do not leave any ecological footprint. Friendly Aedes die along with their offspring, and do not persist in the environment. About Oxitec Oxitec is a pioneer in using genetic engineering to control insect pests that spread disease and damage crops, and was founded in 2002 as a spinout from Oxford University (UK). Oxitec is a subsidiary of Intrexon Corporation (NYSE: XON), which engineers biology to help solve some of the world's biggest problems. Follow us on Twitter at @Oxitec. Oxitec Contact: Matthew Warren Press Officer +44(0)1235-832-393 [email protected] SOURCE Oxitec Ltd HARRISBURG, Pa., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) Commissioner Tyree C. Blocker and Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Dr. Karen Murphy today signed an agreement to improve the way the agencies work together in establishing laboratory standards and data collection procedures regarding sexual assault testing and evidence. "To end what is a nationwide problem, Pennsylvania is among a small but growing number of states that have implemented reforms to end the sexual assault evidence backlog," said Secretary of Health Karen Murphy. "Since Governor Wolf signed the Act 27, we have been working with our partners in law enforcement and victims' rights advocates to find out exactly how many sexual assault test kits have gone untested," said Secretary Murphy. "This agreement with the Pennsylvania State Police helps maximize state resources to find out where the rape kit backlogs are, and gives local forensic laboratories protocols from a criminal laboratory. The Wolf Administration is committed to ending the backlog and ensuring that the rights of sexual assault victims are protected and guaranteed." The Sexual Assault Testing and Evidence Collection Act mandates the DOH as the responsible agency, with concurrence of PSP and in consultation with the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape (PCAR), for approving certain laboratories to receive sexual assault evidence for testing and analysis. Additionally, the act mandates the DOH to annually collect data on backlogged sexual assault evidence from laboratories and local law enforcement. To better set these standards and collect more accurate data, the PSP and DOH have agreed to work collectively. PSP will now assist in establishing the forensic laboratory guidelines and gathering backlogged data from laboratories and local law enforcement agencies. "This is a great example of state agencies working together toward a common goal," said State Police Commissioner Tyree C. Blocker. "With this working relationship, the requirements of the Sexual Assault Testing and Evidence Collection Act will be more effectively implemented. We are fully committed to ending the sexual assault evidence backlog and will work diligently to achieve this goal." DOH has already taken several proactive steps to deal with the backlog: DOH has worked with PA District Attorneys Association, the PA Coalition on Rape, and PSP to communicate the new reporting requirements under Act 27 to local police departments, as well as reaching out to them individually. DOH contacted police departments to collect an inventory of backlogged kits and kits in their possession and made the necessary reporting forms available on its website, as well as published a notice of the reporting requirement in the PA Bulletin. DOH has conducted free training sessions across the state open to all state and local law enforcement agencies regarding Act 27. DOH and PSP have also worked with the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape to determine whether additional standards for laboratories are required. MEDIA CONTACT: Cpl. Adam Reed, PSP, 717-783-5556 or April Hutcheson, DOH, 717-787-1783 SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Health; Pennsylvania State Police Related Links http://www.state.pa.us LONDON, Sept. 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Report Details Leading Stem Cell Companies Discover What Their Futures Hold, Benefiting Your Reputation for Commercial Insight Who are the leading stem cell developers and producers? And what are their sales outlooks? Visiongain's updated report shows you their activities and potentials from 2016. There you discover therapies, results, trends in research and development, opportunities and revenue forecasts. That way you explore data and discussions on cellular technologies transforming human medicine. Our study analyses 25 leading companies in the US, Europe, Israel and Asia-Pacific. There you hear how stem cell producers can progress and gain. Discover their potentials and see what the future holds. Please read on, then, to scan those organisations and find what revenue that fast-growing and potentially large market could generate in future. See what is possible. Forecasts and other data to benefit your authority on stem cell biotechnology In our study you find profiles of 25 prominent stem cell companies and analyses of their industry. You explore sales results, R&D and revenue forecasting. Explore, from 2016, those firms' capabilities, portfolios and commercial prospects. In our updated report you gain 55 tables, 24 charts and two interviews with that industry. You see our discussions with authorities from Mesoblast and Gamida Cell. With our study you could help your research, analyses and decisions, also saving time. And see how you could benefit your reputation for commercial insight. Stay ahead, then, for knowledge on that vast, rising industry. The following sections explain how our new investigation benefits your work. United States (US) assess leading organisations, seeing what is possible First our study gives you discussions, analyses and commercial outlooks for 11 US-based stem cell companies: - Osiris Therapeutics - Caladrius Biosciences - Orthofix - NuVasive - AlloSource - RTI Surgical - Vericel Corporation - U.S. Stem Cell, Inc. - Neuralstem - Astellas/Ocata Therapeutics - Athersys There you hear what the future holds for those cellular biology companies, including regulations, research trends and some revenue predictions. Our study then analyses Asian organisations, explaining that region's potential. Stem cell specialists based in the Asia Pacific region what developments possible? You also discover commercial outlooks for six top researchers, developers and producers of stem cells in the Asia Pacific region: - Mesoblast - Reliance Life Sciences - Anterogen - Pharmicell - MEDIPOST - Stempeutics. Our analyses show possibilities for advancing technology and raising business performance, assessing where future sales expansion is possible. Explore regulations and see how companies progress, assessing revenue potentials. The report then analyses Europe and Israel, showing those countries' activities and potentials. Companies based in Europe and Israel what successes can they achieve? Our analysis also shows you progress and prospects for eight European and Israeli companies: - TiGenix - Celyad - Apceth - ReNeuron - Gamida Cell - Cell Cure Neurosciences - Pluristem Therapeutics - BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics. Many opportunities arise in that industry, with high, expanding revenues possible from this decade. In our study you also explore clinical testing and plans for launching products. Predictions for the worldwide stem cells market see that industry's sales potential Our report also forecasts sales to 2026 for the overall world stem cells industry. There you find revenues reaching $17.8bn in 2020, with high growth to 2026. In our study you also gain revenue forecasting to 2026 for these products: - Trinity Elite and Trinity Evolution - Osteocel Plus - MSC-100-IV - CardioRel - Hearticellgram-AMI - Cartistem. See there how applications of stem cells can perform. Find, from 2016, where those organisations can generate high sales. That industry holds vast potential. 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Ways Pharma Leader Series: Top Stem Cell Companies Report 2016-2026 helps you In particular, our independent analysis gives you this knowledge to benefit your work: - Profiles of 25 leading stem cell companies in North America, Europe, Israel and Asia assess products, R&D, results, strategies, alliances and sales outlooks - Revenue forecasting to 2026 for that overall world market discover potential sales, exploring those technologies' commercial prospects - Forecast revenues to 2026 for leading stem cell products see how top companies' technologies can compete and succeed - Opportunities, competition and demands explore what affects companies, finding what influences sales and shapes organisations' futures - Interviews with companies in that industry find what participants say and do, helping you stay ahead in knowledge and benefit your influence. That report, by visiongain's in-house analysts in the UK, gives knowledge to benefit your work. Its purpose is to help you save time and avoid struggles to find information. You gain analysis to benefit your plans, decisions and presentations. Data found nowhere else, benefiting your research, analyses and proposals Our report gives independent analysis. There you get competitive intelligence found only in that work, assessing commercial potentials. Explore what the future holds. With our analysis you are less likely to fall behind in information or miss opportunity. There see how you could save time and effort. So benefit your plans, decisions and influence now, helping you gain advantages and succeed. By trying our latest study on stem cells, you explore trends, R&D and sales predictions. You assess the present and future of companies. Avoid missing out on data and discussions to help you stay ahead. So please get our new report here now. Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3874358/ About Reportbuyer Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers http://www.reportbuyer.com For more information: Sarah Smith Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 208 816 85 48 Website: www.reportbuyer.com SOURCE ReportBuyer Related Links http://www.reportbuyer.com HUNT VALLEY, MARYLAND, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Pharmaceutics International, Inc. ("Pii"), a contract development and manufacturing organization ("CDMO") based in Hunt Valley, MD, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement with a consortium of investors led by Signet Healthcare Partners and including Athyrium Capital Management, Hildred Capital Partners and Pharmascience Inc. Pursuant to the agreement, the consortium has invested $93 million in exchange for an equity stake in the company and debt refinancing. Uses of the growth capital will include making significant capital expenditures in the company's formulation capabilities and commercial manufacturing operations. The company also intends to develop its pipeline of generic products, some in conjunction with marketing partners. Founder Dr. Syed Abidi will remain Chairman and CEO of Pii, and veteran pharmaceutical executive Michael Bogda, most recently President of Lannett Company, Inc., will join the company as President and COO. "This investment and partnering with experienced life sciences investors will allow us to better serve our clients and marketing partners and to build a bigger pipeline of products." said Dr. Abidi. "And we are excited to be adding an executive of Michael Bogda's caliber as a senior executive of the company. He has a tremendous track record in the industry, and I look forward to working with him as the company embarks on its next growth phase." Pii has been offering development and manufacturing services to pharmaceutical clients, for both NDA and aNDA products, for more than 20 years. The company has formulation capabilities across virtually all dosage forms and is a sought-after partner for the most complex formulations. The company develops and manufactures drug products for its clients on a fee-for-service basis, and for its marketing partners on a profit-share or royalty basis. "We are pleased to be partnering with Dr. Abidi and Pii, and we see its renowned development services business as a platform for tremendous growth in commercial manufacturing as both its fee-for-service and profit-share pipelines mature," said James Gale, Founding Partner of Signet Healthcare Partners, who will join the Pii Board. "Hildred is well positioned to help the company become a premiere U.S.-based pharmaceutical manufacturer," said Hildred partner and new Pii board member, David Solomon. "Pii has a number of new products to be launched over the next several years, which have already been filed or are soon to be filed with the FDA, and which we expect will significantly contribute to the Company's growth. Pii fits well with our operational experience, and we look forward to working with founder Syed Abidi, new President Michael Bogda, and our partners Signet, Athyrium and Pharmascience, to achieve significant growth over the coming years." Teneo Capital acted as exclusive financial advisor to Pii. Hogan Lovells and Jacobs & Dembert acted as legal counsel for Pii, Lowenstein Sandler LLP acted as legal counsel for Hildred, and Sheppard Mullin and Covington & Burling acted as legal counsel for the remainder of the consortium. About Pharmaceutics International, Inc. Pii is a privately held contract development and manufacturing organization providing dosage form development and manufacturing services to the global pharmaceutical industry. Headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland with European facilities in the UK, services include preformulation testing, formulation development, clinical and commercial CGMP manufacturing of solid, parenteral, inhalation, semi-solid and liquid dosage forms, clinical packaging and labeling, and analytical services. Pii's facilities include manufacturing and containment suites, automated packaging lines and a wide selection of equipment. For more information, please visit www.pharm-int.com. About Signet Healthcare Partners Signet Healthcare Partners ("Signet") is an established provider of growth capital to innovative healthcare companies. Signet invests in commercial-stage healthcare companies that are revenue generating or preparing for commercial launch. Signet focuses primarily on the pharmaceutical and medical technology sectors. Signet is an active investor and partners closely with management teams to support growth and build successful businesses. During Signet's 18-year history, Signet has developed a strong reputation and track record of successful investments. Signet has raised four funds with total capital commitments of over $400 million and has invested in more than 45 companies. About Athyrium Capital Management Athyrium Capital Management, LP ("Athyrium") is a specialized asset management company formed in 2008 to focus on investment opportunities in the global healthcare sector. Athyrium advises funds with over $1.7 billion in committed capital. The Athyrium team has substantial investment experience in the healthcare sector across a wide range of asset classes including public equity, private equity, fixed income, royalties, and other structured securities. Athyrium invests across all healthcare verticals including biopharma, medical devices and products, and healthcare focused services. The team partners with management teams to implement creative financing solutions to companies' capital needs. For more information, please visit www.athyrium.com. About Hildred Capital Partners Hildred Capital Partners, LLC ("Hildred") is a family investment firm that invests in a broad range of securities, including equity and debt, across geographies and sectors, on both an active and passively managed basis. Founded in 2014, Hildred has a particular interest in private equity, including situations where the principals can apply their extensive management experience to help a company reach its full potential. Hildred is headed by Howard Solomon, former CEO of Forest Laboratories, and David Solomon, the former Senior Vice President, Corporate Development & Strategic Planning at Forest Laboratories. About Pharmascience Inc. Founded in 1983, Pharmascience Inc. is a full-service privately owned pharmaceutical company with strong roots in Canada and a growing global reach with product distribution in over 60 countries. Ranked 47th among Canada's top 100 R&D investors with $56 million invested annually, Pharmascience Inc. is the 10th largest pharmaceutical company in Canada. Pharmascience Inc. is a leading manufacturer and marketer of prescription, generic, over-the-counter, and behind-the-counter products as well as FDA approved Canadian-made injectables. In Canada alone, more than 45 million prescriptions a year are filled with Pharmascience products. Contacts: Julien Hecht, Vice President & General Counsel Steve King, Senior Vice President, Business Development Phone: (410) 584-0001 Phone: (410) 584-0001 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150310/180806LOGO SOURCE Pharmaceutics International, Inc. Related Links http://www.pharm-int.com LONDON and AMSTERDAM, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) today announced preliminary results of an independent, multi-center Home Oxygen Therapy Home Mechanical Ventilation (HOT-HMV) study carried out by respiratory experts at St Thomas' Hospital in London. Philips' pioneering work in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) started several decades ago when it began providing healthcare professionals and patients with innovative treatment solutions and services. Philips' participation in the HOT-HMV study builds on the company's global leadership in COPD management. COPD is on the rise worldwide, estimated to become the third leading cause of death in the next fifteen years, more than breast cancer, colorectal cancer and prostate cancer combined1. Moreover, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that caring for patients with these chronic conditions, including COPD, accounts for 70 percent of the annual healthcare spending in the United States alone2. The Philips-sponsored study researched the benefits of home non-invasive ventilation (NIV), referred to as HMV in the study, for patients with COPD. Initial results from this study, which will be presented today at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) International Congress, reveal that patients using HOT with HMV are half as likely to be readmitted to the hospital. The HOT-HMV study used a randomized controlled trial that compared the use of HMV and HOT therapies with HOT alone in 116 patients with persistent hypercapnia. Investigators included Dr. Nicholas Hart, Dr. Patrick Murphy and colleagues. "Our goal with this study was to find a way to provide COPD patients with oxygen therapy, as well as home ventilators, in an effort to lower the number of patients being readmitted to hospitals," said Dr. Nicholas Hart, professor and clinical and academic director of Lane Fox Respiratory Unit, St Thomas' Hospital. "The results of the HOT-HMV study have the ability to change the way that COPD patients are treated worldwide. We're looking forward to continuing the trial over the next five years to monitor survival rates, which we hope will rise, and readmission rates, which will hopefully fall." "Philips is proud to be a lead sponsor of this study," said Eli Diacopoulos, Business Leader, Home Respiratory Care, Philips. "Managing COPD is more than simply providing patients with respiratory devices, which is why Philips continues to innovate and advance NIV therapies in the hospital and home. It's about providing support across the entire continuum of care, and Philips is uniquely positioned to make this a reality." In 2015, Philips funded and co-authored a retrospective study that evaluated COPD patients who were hospitalized two or more times within a year and transitioned to a COPD management program. The results of the study showed that the readmission rate on patients using NIV therapy in combination with a multifaceted program of clinical support services was reduced by 88 percent during the subsequent 12 months3. Philips actively strives to help COPD patients in the home by connecting the company's broad respiratory care portfolio drug delivery, oxygen therapy, telehealth and home ventilation. The company continues to innovate and advance NIV therapies in the hospital and home with its advanced therapy algorithms for COPD and other chronic respiratory disorders. To experience the entire portfolio of sleep and respiratory products, visit Philips at booth B-07 at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) International Congress 2016 in London (September 3-7). For updates on Philips' presence at ERS 2016, visit http://philips.to/2b2GIEr. For more information on Philips' advanced solutions for sleep and respiratory care and updates from the show, visit @PhilipsResp and follow #breatheinlife. For further information, please contact: Alicia Cafardi Philips Group Communications [email protected] 412-523-9616 About Royal Philips Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. The company, headquartered in the Netherlands, is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips' health technology portfolio generated 2015 sales of EUR 16.8 billion and employs approximately 69,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at www.philips.com/newscenter. About Philips Respironics Philips Respironics is a global leader in the sleep and respiratory care markets, offering solutions in sleep apnea management, oxygen therapy, noninvasive ventilation and respiratory drug delivery. With more than 10 years of cloud-based data sharing experience and analytics for more than 7 million patient lives, Philips Respironics has a long history of leading new innovation in both devices and informatics solutions to help patients sleep and breathe better. 1 World Health Organization. 2008. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/respiratory/copd/burden/en/ 2 Center for Disease Control. 2009. Retrieved from www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/pdf/2009-power-of-prevention.pdf 3 Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. 2015. Retrospective Assessment of Home Ventilation to Reduce Rehospitalization in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4442227/ Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140122/NE50581LOGO SOURCE Royal Philips Related Links http://www.philips.com In 2015, Hanna was appointed by President Barack Obama as the Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship , to help develop the next generation of entrepreneurs. Hanna was a founding executive of five Silicon Valley technology companies and is currently the Executive Chair of the Board at Kiva, the world's largest crowdlending marketplace for global entrepreneurs. She is also an adviser to technology incubators Idealab and Innovation Norway. In recognition of her vision, leadership and groundbreaking impact on economic and social progress across the world, Hanna was named the United States Woman Icon of APEC and is a recipient of the 2016 Global Empowerment Award. "Julie's focus on how we amplify the positive impact of diversity to impact the economy and people's lives echoes the mission of the Women Tech Council" said Cydni Tetro, president of the Women Tech Council. "She has had extraordinary impact on technology and entrepreneurship communities. She has built a platform to extend the reach of technology, provide funding to underserved markets and help people reach their full potential. Julie can truly speak to the impact women, like our finalists, have on their community, the economy and the world." The Women Tech Awards recognizes women for their accomplishments in driving innovation, leading technology companies, and building the technology economy. Over the last nine years, more than 178 women have been honored, including 23 undergraduate university students. One hundred high school students also attend each year so we can inspire them around careers in technology, the impact they can make, and see the amazing work of women in technology. Education Tables are available for $1,250 and Basic Tables are $1,000. Tickets for the awards are $100.00 for members and $125.00 for non-members and can be purchased online at womentechcouncil.org. About Women Tech Council Founded in 2007, The Women Tech Council (WTC) is Utah's most visible trade organization focused on the economic impact of women in driving high growth for Utah's technology sector. WTC offers mentoring, visibility, opportunities and networking to more than 10,000 women and men working in technology to create business environments focused on high performance, not diversity, where men and women can succeed. This propels individual careers and Utah's talent pipeline by ensuring a strong, diverse, and entrepreneurial technology workforce. For more information on Women Tech Council, visit: www.womentechcouncil.org. FOR INFORMATION: Kristin Wright [email protected] 801-960-2007 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160906/404506 SOURCE Women Tech Council Related Links http://www.womentechcouncil.org HILLSDALE, Mich., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hillsdale College is one of the nation's best institutions for undergraduate education, according to The Princeton Review. The education services company features the College in the 2017 edition of its flagship college guide "The Best 381 Colleges," published August 30, and cites the College as being one of the best in the Midwest. "Hillsdale's commitment to teaching not only the 'what' but also the 'how' and 'why' is rare in American colleges and universities today," said Dr. David Whalen, provost of Hillsdale College. "But our inclusion among The Princeton Review's 'Best 381 Colleges,' as an institution who accepts zero federal or state dollars, is further evidence that a classical liberal arts education is the best preparation for students to meet the challenges of modern life." In addition to profiling the nation's 381 best colleges, The Princeton Review produces lists of the top 20 colleges ranked in various categories. Hillsdale College appeared on several of these lists, including: No. 1 on Future Rotarians and Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) No. 6 on Professors Get High Marks No. 9 on Best College Newspaper No. 15 on Students Most Engaged in Community Service The Princeton Review also calculates ratings in eight categories based on institutional data it collected during the 2015-16 academic year and/or its student survey for the book. The ratings are based on a scale of 60 to 99. Hillsdale College scored: 97 for Professor Accessibility 99 for Professor Interest 93 for Academics 92 for Quality of Life* In its profile of Hillsdale College, The Princeton Review notes that admission "is a privilege extended to students who will benefit from, and contribute to, the academic, social and spiritual environments of the College. Important determinants for admission are intellectual curiosity, ambition, leadership and volunteerism." Published annually since 1992, the '381 Best Colleges' list includes detailed profiles of the colleges with rating scores for all of the schools in eight categories based on The Princeton Review's surveys of students attending the colleges. About Hillsdale College Hillsdale College, founded in 1844, has built a national reputation through its classical liberal arts core curriculum and its principled refusal to accept federal or state taxpayer subsidies even indirectly in the form of student grants or loans. It also conducts on outreach effort promoting civil and religious liberty, including a free monthly speech digest, Imprimis, with a circulation of more than 3.5 million. About The Princeton Review The Princeton Review is a leading tutoring, test prep and college-admission services company. Every year, it helps millions of college- and graduate school-bound students achieve their education and career goals through online and in-person courses delivered by a network of more than 4,000 teachers and tutors, online resources and its more than 150 print and digital books published by Penguin Random House. * Indicates increase in rating from previous year SOURCE Hillsdale College Prior to Red Lion, Ron was Director of Marketing and Business Development within the Process Instrumentation division at Siemens, where he spent almost twenty years. In this role, he ran product marketing, business development, vertical sales and engineering support. Earlier in his career, he held business development, product management and engineer positions for a variety of Siemens divisions. "Ron's twenty-plus years of industry experience makes him the perfect fit to lead Red Lion's product management and marketing teams," said Granby. "As our company continues to grow, I am confident that Ron's experience in strategy development will continue to bring Red Lion's products to the forefront of the industrial automation and networking space." Ron holds a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from Villanova University and an MBA from LaSalle University. "I am excited to be joining Red Lion, who has a strong track record of helping customers drive productivity across industrial applications," said Salerno. "This role will allow me to collaborate across the organization to strategically align goals to further support Red Lion's overall business objectives and 'Customer First' commitment to customers and partners." For additional information about Red Lion, please visit www.redlion.net. About Red Lion Controls As the global experts in communication, monitoring and control for industrial automation and networking, Red Lion has been delivering innovative solutions for over forty years. Our automation, Ethernet and cellular M2M technology enables companies worldwide to gain real-time data visibility that drives productivity. Product brands include Red Lion, N-Tron and Sixnet. With headquarters in York, Pennsylvania, the company has offices across the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Red Lion is part of Spectris plc, the productivity-enhancing instrumentation and controls company. For more information, please visit www.redlion.net. 2016 Red Lion Controls, Inc. All rights reserved. Red Lion and the Red Lion logo are registered trademarks of Red Lion Controls, Inc. All other company and product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160902/403876 SOURCE Red Lion Controls Related Links http://www.redlion.net LONDON, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Synopsis Timetric's 'Reinsurance in Greece, Key Trends and Opportunities to 2019' report provides a detailed analysis of the market trends, drivers and challenges in the Greek reinsurance segment. It provides values for key performance indicators such as written premium, reinsurance ceded and reinsurance accepted during the review (20102014) and forecast periods (20142019). The report gives a comprehensive overview of the Greek economy and demographics, and provides a detailed analysis of natural hazards and their impact on the Greek insurance industry. The report brings together Timetric's research, modeling and analysis expertise to enable reinsurers to identify segment dynamics and competitive advantages, and access profiles of reinsurers operating in the country. Summary Timetric's 'Reinsurance in Greece, Key Trends and Opportunities to 2019' report provides in-depth market analysis, information and insights into the Greek reinsurance segment, including: - The segment's growth prospects by reinsurance ceded from direct insurance - A comprehensive overview of the Greek economy and demographics - Detailed analysis of natural hazards and their impact on the Greek insurance industry Scope This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the reinsurance segment in Greece: - It provides historical values for the Greek reinsurance segment for the report's 20102014 review period, and projected figures for the 20142019 forecast period. - It offers a detailed analysis of the key categories in the segment, and market forecasts to 2019. - It provides a detailed analysis of the reinsurance ceded from various direct insurance segments in Greece, and the reinsurance segment's growth prospects. Reasons To Buy - Make strategic business decisions using in-depth historic and forecast market data related to the Greek reinsurance segment, and each category within it. - Understand the demand-side dynamics, key market trends and growth opportunities in the segment. - Identify growth opportunities and market dynamics in key product categories. - Gain insights into key regulations governing the Greek insurance industry, and their impact on companies and the industry's future. Key Highlights - The Greek reinsurance premium accepted registered a CAGR of -1.0% during the review period. - There is no national natural catastrophe scheme or fund in the country. - Reinsurance brokers are the primary distribution channel for reinsurers in Greece. - The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) issued guidelines on the application of outward reinsurance arrangements to the non-life catastrophe risk sub-module, which are effective from April 1, 2015. - Solvency II was implemented on January 1, 2016. Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/2029328/ About Reportbuyer Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers http://www.reportbuyer.com For more information: Sarah Smith Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 208 816 85 48 Website: www.reportbuyer.com SOURCE ReportBuyer Related Links http://www.reportbuyer.com NEW YORK, Sept. 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- This report on the respiratory monitoring devices market studies the current and future prospects of the market globally. Growing incidences of respiratory diseases such as asthma, lung cancer, COPDs, in addition to increasing geriatric population, and rising number of medical devices companies is expected to accentuate the growth of respiratory monitoring devices market. The respiratory monitoring devices market report comprises an elaborate executive summary, which includes a market snapshot that provides information about various segments and sub-segments of the market. It also provides information and data analysis of the respiratory monitoring devices market with respect to market segments based on product, end user and their geographic analysis. Based on product, the global respiratory monitoring devices market has been segmented into four major categories: spirometer, peak flow meter, pulse oximeter, and capnographs. Likewise, on the basis of end user, the global respiratory monitoring devices market has been segmented into hospitals, laboratories, and home use. The market segments have been extensively analyzed based on usefulness, adoption, efficacy, revenue, and geographical coverage. The market size and forecast in terms of US$ Mn for each segment has been provided for the period from 2013 to 2023. The global respiratory monitoring devices market report also provides the compound annual growth rate (CAGR %) for each market segment for the forecast period from 2015 to 2023, considering 2014 as the base year. A brief annual cost estimation, prevalence of asthma and COPD, average pricing analysis, reimbursement scenario have also been discussed in the global respiratory monitoring devices market report. Geographically, the global respiratory monitoring devices market has been categorized into five major regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East and Africa. The market size and forecast for each of these regions has been provided for the period from 2013 to 2023, along with their respective CAGRs for the forecast period from 2015 to 2023, considering 2014 as the base year. The research study also covers the competitive scenario in these regions. A detailed qualitative analysis of factors responsible for driving and restraining the growth of the market and future opportunities has been provided in the market overview section. This section of the report also provides market attractiveness analysis, Porter's Five Forces analysis, and market share analysis by key players, thus presenting a thorough analysis of the overall competitive scenario in the global respiratory monitoring devices market. A list of recommendations has also been provided for new entrants as well as existing market players to assist them in taking strategic initiatives to establish a strong presence in the market. The report also profiles major players in the global respiratory monitoring devices market based on various attributes such as company overview, financial overview, product portfolio, business strategies, and recent developments. Major players profiled in this report include CareFusion Corporation, Smiths Medical, ResMed, Inc., Masimo Corporation. COSMED, GE Healthcare, MGC Diagnostic Corporation, ndd Medical Technologies, Inc., and others. The global respiratory monitoring market is segmented as given below: Global Respiratory Monitoring Devices Market, by Product Spirometer Peak Flow Meter Pulse Oximeter Capnograps Global Respiratory Monitoring Devices Market, by End User Hospitals Laboratories Home Use Global Respiratory Monitoring Devices Market, by Geography North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany Europe Rest of Europe Asia Pacific Japan Australia Rest of Asia Pacific Latin America Brazil Mexico Rest of Latin America Middle East and Africa Saudi Arabia South Africa Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04000026-summary/view-report.html About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. http://www.reportlinker.com __________________________ Contact Clare: [email protected] US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 SOURCE Reportlinker Related Links http://www.reportlinker.com LOS ANGELES, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Portfolio manager Robert Cohen has been promoted by DoubleLine Capital CEO Jeffrey Gundlach to director of the firm's Global Developed Credit team. Mr. Cohen succeeds Bonnie Baha. Ms. Baha, founder of the GDC team, passed away on August 21. The GDC team invests in the debt of corporate and sovereign issuers in developed economies. The team comprises 20 portfolio managers, analysts and traders. "On what is a somber occasion for DoubleLine, I wish to congratulate Robert as he takes his place as director of the Global Developed Credit team," Mr. Gundlach said. "One of Bonnie's many achievements was to bring together people with the qualities of team leadership and investment experience to carry on after her." Mr. Cohen joined GDC in 2012 where he has served as a portfolio manager within the team and participated on DoubleLine's Fixed Income Asset Allocation Committee. Before DoubleLine, he was a senior credit analyst at West Gate Horizons Advisors (including its predecessor ING Capital Advisors) since 2001. Previously, he was an assistant vice president in the Asset Management Group of Union Bank, managing portfolios of leveraged loans and CDO securities. Mr. Cohen began his investment career in 1997 as an associate at the Bank of Montreal (now BMO Capital Markets). Mr. Cohen holds a BA in economics from the University of Arizona and an MBA from the University of Southern California. He is a CFA charterholder. As director of GDC, Mr. Cohen reports to Mr. Gundlach, CEO and chief investment officer of DoubleLine Capital. Reporting directly to Mr. Cohen are portfolio manager Monica Erickson, who heads investment grade GDC; portfolio manager Kapil Singh, head of high yield GDC; and Philip Kenney, director of corporate research. "On behalf of Monica, Kapil, Phil and all the members of GDC, I would like to thank our clients for their years of support and, over the past two weeks, their kind thoughts and condolences," Mr. Cohen said. "We will give our best to continue to deserve that trust." About DoubleLine Capital LP DoubleLine Capital LP is a registered investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. DoubleLine Capital and its related companies ("DoubleLine") managed $102 billion in assets across all vehicles, including open-end mutual funds, closed-end funds, exchange-traded funds, hedge fund, variable annuities, UCITS and separate accounts, as of the June 30, 2016 end of the second quarter. DoubleLine's offices in Los Angeles can be reached by telephone at (213) 633-8200 or by e-mail at [email protected]. Media can reach DoubleLine by e-mail at [email protected]. DoubleLine is a registered trademark of DoubleLine Capital LP. SOURCE DoubleLine Related Links http://www.doubleline.com PLAINFIELD, Ill., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Rod Baker Ford in Plainfield, Illinois has received the prestigious Partners in Quality award from Ford Motor Company and Ford Credit for the 2015 sales year. This is the seventh consecutive year the dealership has received the award. To learn more about Rod Baker Ford, please visit: http://www.RodBakerFord.com Partners in Quality is one of the highest regarded dealer recognition programs. It is the most prestigious honor awarded by Ford Credit and marks the pinnacle for an elite group of dealers who achieve both the highest level of customer satisfaction and loyalty to Ford Credit. Dignitaries from Ford and Ford Credit were on hand recently to present the award to Christina Baker. "This award is very important to us," says Christina Baker. "I am proud to be part of the third generation serving our community for over 52 years and I am proud to accept this honor on behalf of our employees, whose dedication to our customers makes this award possible." Known as the "Home of the No Hassle Deal" Rod Baker Ford has been family owned and operated since 1963 and is one of the largest Ford dealerships serving Will County Illinois and surrounding communities. About Rod Baker Ford: Rod Baker Ford is located at 16101 S. Lincoln Highway in Plainfield, Illinois. The dealership offers sales, service and parts. For more information, visit http://www.RodBakerFord.com Rod Baker Ford 16101 S. Lincoln Hwy Plainfield, IL. 60586 Contact: Charles Cox [email protected] 815-436-5681 SOURCE Rod Baker Ford Related Links http://www.rodbakerford.com MONTGOMERY, Ala., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for Alabama's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." Alabama's top youth volunteers of 2016 were Madison Haney, 18, of Killen and Ciara Laird, 11, of Troy. Madison, Alabama's top high school volunteer, collected backpacks for a local foundation to fill with food on Fridays and send home with students who get free lunch at school, but have little to eat at home over the weekend. Ciara, Alabama's top middle level volunteer, began a food drive to feed the hungry in her community after witnessing someone eating out of a dumpster outside a restaurant. Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com JUNEAU, Alaska, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for Alaska's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." Alaska's top youth volunteers of 2016 were Jenevia Wika, 17, of Anchorage and Isabella Weiss, 15, of Palmer. Jenevia, Alaska's top high school volunteer, has helped collect and donate more than 13,000 pairs of jeans for homeless teens in Alaska. Isabella, Alaska's top middle level volunteer, interviewed 19 residents of a local senior center to record the memorable experiences of their lives, and also arranged a "movie night" at the center. Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com PHOENIX, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for Arizona's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." Arizona's top youth volunteers of 2016 were Dustyn Phillips, 18, of Queen Creek and Hope Weng, 13, of Tempe. Dustyn, Arizona's top high school volunteer, began conducting a wide variety of volunteer projects 11 years ago to benefit kids and families both in the U.S. and overseas. Hope, Arizona's top middle level volunteer, delivered 100 care packages containing cookies, thank-you cards and a self-penned essay to residents of a veterans home to honor their service. Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com DENVER, Colo., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for Colorado's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." Colorado's top youth volunteers of 2016 were Nicole Steiner, 18, of Parker and Madelene Kleinhans, 14, of Broomfield. Nicole, Colorado's top high school volunteer, has collected more than $40,000 worth of games, puzzles and books for organizations and individuals in 15 Colorado cities to make life a little brighter for hospitalized children, veterans, kids with special needs, cancer patients, the elderly, homeless people and students from low-income families. Madelene, Colorado's top middle level volunteer, organizes free bimonthly outings for kids who have critically ill siblings, to provide them with emotional support and show them that they are not alone. Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com HARTFORD, Conn., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for Connecticut's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." Connecticut's top youth volunteers of 2016 were Alexandra Minutillo, 16, of Madison and Emily Christensen, 14, of Manchester. Alexandra, Connecticut's top high school volunteer, formed a nonprofit organization and school club that have raised more than $10,000 to buy gifts for teenage patients at Smilow Cancer Hospital. Emily, Connecticut's top middle level volunteer, has raised more than $85,000 to benefit young cancer patients and their families by selling recycled crayons formed into interesting shapes and sizes. Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com DOVER, Del., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for Delaware's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." Delaware's top youth volunteers of 2016 were Micah Freer, 18, of Wilmington and Will Kenney, 14, of Delmar. Micah, Delaware's top high school volunteer, spearheaded a yearlong effort to build a pavilion to be used by church, school and community groups, and by families and individuals who hike, bike and jog at an adjacent state park. Will, Delaware's top middle level volunteer, organized two carnivals that raised more than $15,000 to help fund medical research and benefit patients who have Sturge-Weber syndrome, a rare neurological disorder. Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com HONOLULU, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for Hawaii's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." Hawaii's top youth volunteers of 2016 were Anna Kimata, 16, of Honolulu and Orren Smith, 12, of Fair Oaks Ranch. Anna, Hawaii's top high school volunteer, organized a project to collect books and other educational materials for schools in the small island nation of Palau, where many students lack basic educational resources. Orren, Hawaii's top middle level volunteer, arranged for a presentation on disaster preparedness at his school to educate students and their families on how to increase their chances of surviving a natural catastrophe. Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com BOISE, Idaho, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for Idaho's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." Idaho's top youth volunteers of 2016 were Harlie Sorrell, 18, of Parma and Tracen Mangum, 14, of Blackfoot. Harlie, Idaho's top high school volunteer, has filled hundreds of shoe boxes with gloves, hats, socks, toiletries and other items each Christmas for the past nine years and delivered them to people in need. Tracen, Idaho's top middle level volunteer, co-founded a youth volunteer group with his brother that has collected more than 800 winter-wear items for people in need. Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com DES MOINES, Iowa, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for Iowa's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." Iowa's top youth volunteers of 2016 were Allison Ockenfels, 18, of Wellman and Clare Szalkowski, 11, of Dubuque. Allison, Iowa's top high school volunteer, has raised more than $150,000 since late 2010 to build kitchens at three schools in the African nation of Malawi and to provide daily meals for students living in poverty there. Clare, Iowa's top middle level volunteer, started "Clare Cares" over two years ago to "build friendships and make our community a better place" by organizing projects that benefit bullied children, homeless and hungry people, and others in need of assistance. Clare also was named one of America's top 10 youth volunteers of 2016. Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com FRANKFORT, Ky., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for Kentucky's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." Kentucky's top youth volunteers of 2016 were Christian Cole, 19, of Lexington and Grace Davis, 11, of Louisville. Christian, Kentucky's top high school volunteer, has raised more than $50,000 from a landscape business he started as a seventh-grader and from private donations to build houses for destitute people in Haiti and sponsor 20 homeless children there. Grace, Kentucky's top middle level volunteer, has helped raise more than $140,000 over the past four years to care for babies born prematurely by distributing piggy banks to students in her community and encouraging them to fill them up. Grace also was named one of America's top 10 youth volunteers of 2016. Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com BATON ROUGE, La., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for Louisiana's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." Louisiana's top youth volunteers of 2016 were Stanley Celestine, 17, of Cottonport and Ashini Modi, 12, of Shreveport. Stanley, Louisiana's top high school volunteer, is trying to decrease the incidence of childhood obesity and improve the general health of all citizens in his community through an initiative he calls "Healthy Avoyelles." Ashini, Louisiana's top middle level volunteer, established a 1,500-book library at a local homeless shelter so that the children there could "explore, imagine and find the beauty of reading." Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com AUGUSTA, Maine, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for Maine's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." Maine's top youth volunteers of 2016 were Connor Archer, 18, of Stillwater and Benjamin Levesque, 14, of Lyman. Connor, Maine's top high school volunteer, works to educate the public about autism and the challenges faced by people with autism like himself, and has raised more than $12,000 for organizations that help people with special needs. Benjamin, Maine's top middle level volunteer, has been involved for the past three years in a variety of service projects in his community through the Boy Scouts and his school. Connor also was named one of America's top 10 youth volunteers of 2016. Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com ANNAPOLIS, Md., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for Maryland's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." Maryland's top youth volunteers of 2016 were Luke Pitsenbarger, 18, of Salisbury and Alyssa Gerhart, 13, of Waldorf. Luke, Maryland's top high school volunteer, repaired houses for people in need last summer through the Appalachia Service Project, a Christian volunteer organization that serves impoverished communities in the central Appalachian Mountains. Alyssa, Maryland's top middle level volunteer, helps feed up to 100 hungry people in her town each week by collecting food, raising money, and working at the soup kitchen her mother co-founded three years ago. Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com LANSING, Mich., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for Michigan's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." Michigan's top youth volunteers of 2016 were Dale (Trip) Apley, 17, of Ann Arbor and Aubrey Cohoon, 12, of Spring Lake. Trip, Michigan's top high school volunteer, spearheaded an all-school fundraising drive in October 2015 to provide 18,000 bottles of water to children in Flint after the state first announced the city's water was contaminated with dangerous levels of lead. Aubrey, Michigan's top middle level volunteer, has helped grant wishes to three sick children and their families over the past two years by raising more than $30,000 for Make-A-Wish Michigan. Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for Minnesota's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." Minnesota's top youth volunteers of 2016 were Maria Keller, 16, of Plymouth and Jasmine Kennebeck, 13, of Reads Landing. Maria, Minnesota's top high school volunteer, founded a nonprofit called "Read Indeed" when she was 8 years old, and has since collected more than 1.7 million books for children in need in 50 states and 17 other countries. Jasmine, Minnesota's top middle level volunteer, volunteered eight hours a day last summer at a YMCA 45 miles from her home, requiring that she leave her house at 6 a.m. to fulfill her duties. Maria also was named one of America's top 10 youth volunteers of 2016. Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com JACKSON, Miss., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for Mississippi's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." Mississippi's top youth volunteers of 2016 were Lindsey Meyer, 18, of Pass Christian and Jameshia Attaway, 12, of Indianola. Lindsey, Mississippi's top high school volunteer, planned a "sensory friendly" movie presentation at a local theater for people with autism or other special needs, after learning that most people with these disabilities are denied this simple pleasure because they may not be able to sit still or stay quiet for an entire movie. Jameshia, Mississippi's top middle level volunteer, celebrates her birthday each year by throwing a party for children in need and giving them gifts she collects from businesses, local organizations and community members. Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com LINCOLN, Neb., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for Nebraska's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." Nebraska's top youth volunteers of 2016 were My'Kah Knowlin, 15, of Lincoln and Golden Kelly, 13, of Omaha. My'Kah, Nebraska's top high school volunteer, formed a network of student role models and mentors at nine schools throughout Nebraska to help stop bullying and support victims. Golden, Nebraska's top middle level volunteer, has personally raised nearly $14,000 for the American Cancer Society over the past nine years as co-captain of a team participating annually in the society's Relay for Life fundraiser. Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com CARSON CITY, Nev., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for Nevada's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." Nevada's top youth volunteers of 2016 were James Lea, 17 and Marquis Jamison, 13, both of Las Vegas. James, Nevada's top high school volunteer, helps brighten the holiday season for children who have recently lost a parent by surprising their families with an anonymous gift each day for 12 days, tied to the theme of the song "12 Days of Christmas." Marquis, Nevada's top middle level volunteer, has volunteered in a variety of ways to aid homeless people, at-risk kids, young cancer patients and children with disabilities. James also was named one of America's top 10 youth volunteers of 2016. Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com TRENTON, N.J., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for New Jersey's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." New Jersey's top youth volunteers of 2016 were Benjamin Zangoglia, 18, of Old Tappan and Zachary Rice, 14, of Long Valley. Benjamin, New Jersey's top high school volunteer, organized a fundraising team that collected more than $115,000 in donations last spring to find a cure for a rare form of leukemia that Benjamin has had since he was 10 years old. Zachary, New Jersey's top middle level volunteer, initiated an annual 5K run/walk that has raised more than $50,000 over the past three years to provide gaming systems and other fun distractions for young patients at Goryeb Children's Hospital in Morristown. Zachary also was named one of America's top 10 youth volunteers of 2016. Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com OKLAHOMA CITY, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for Oklahoma's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." Oklahoma's top youth volunteers of 2016 were Sarah Kellogg, 18, of Yukon and Olivia Kuester, 14, of Coweta. Sarah, Oklahoma's top high school volunteer, oversees a committee of 48 students that conducts a series of fundraisers throughout the year to support cancer research, in conjunction with the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life program. Olivia, Oklahoma's top middle level volunteer, recruits volunteers to help her sew quilts and blankets for children in crisis, make fabric hearts for premature infants and their mothers, and collect winter gloves for kids in need. Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com COLUMBIA, S.C., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for South Carolina's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." South Carolina's top youth volunteers of 2016 were Devin Srivastava, 17, of Spartanburg and Jackson Silverman, 11, of Charleston. Devin, South Carolina's top high school volunteer, founded a nonprofit organization promoting an innovative technology that can enable cancer patients to retain their hair during chemotherapy. Jackson, South Carolina's top middle level volunteer, persuaded a local food bank to let him start a youth volunteer program there in 2013 that has by now packed more than 14,000 weekend lunch bags for kids in need. Jackson also was named one of America's top 10 youth volunteers of 2016. Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com PIERRE, S.D., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for South Dakota's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." South Dakota's top youth volunteers of 2016 were Shelby Specht, 15, of Sioux Falls and Danika Gordon, 14, of Whitewood. Shelby, South Dakota's top high school volunteer, has raised $2,000 over the past several years to benefit sick kids in her community by creating and selling candy "bouquets" and cookies. Danika, South Dakota's top middle level volunteer, promotes kindness and volunteerism among her peers through an online book she authored and through programs she conducts at a wide variety of venues. Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for the District of Columbia's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." The District of Columbia's top youth volunteers of 2016 were Gavrielle Kamen, 17 and Amelia Myre, 13. Gavrielle, the District of Columbia's top high school volunteer, organizes weekly video-conferencing sessions at her school that bring together teens from the United States, Middle East and southern Asia to talk about their experiences and perspectives, in an effort to promote peace and understanding in a troubled part of the world. Amelia, the District of Columbia's top middle level volunteer, launched an initiative with her sister to support wounded veterans by raising money and focusing attention on their sacrifices. Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for Utah's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." Utah's top youth volunteers of 2016 were Barry Donakey, 18, of Orem and Sophia Goodwin, 14, of Draper. Barry, Utah's top high school volunteer, provides free lawn care and yard maintenance each week to two elderly couples and two widows in his community who are physically and financially unable to take care of their own yards. Sophia, Utah's top middle level volunteer, worked with a partner to make hygiene and school supply bags for 38 preschoolers from low-income families in a project they called "Supplies of Love." Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com MONTPELIER, Vt., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for Vermont's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." Vermont's top youth volunteers of 2016 were Kiran Waqar, 16, of South Burlington and Miranda Walbridge, 13, of Barre. Kiran, Vermont's top high school volunteer, organized a project to make gift bags for hospitalized children in her community. Miranda, Vermont's top middle level volunteer, volunteers in a variety of ways to make her community a better place to live, including working with athletes with special needs, preparing meals for senior citizens, spreading holiday cheer at a nursing home, collecting food for a food bank and wrapping gifts for children in need. Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com CHEYENNE, Wyo., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards begins its search for Wyoming's top youth volunteers of 2017. Now through November 8, students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteer service within the past 12 months. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com and www.nassp.org/spirit. This program year marks The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards' 22nd year of honoring youth volunteers. The program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), was created in 1995 to recognize middle level and high school students for helping people in need, promoting health and safety, protecting the environment, or volunteering in other ways. The awards are presented annually on the local, state and national level. "After 21 years of conducting The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, it's clear that young volunteers across the United States are making meaningful contributions to their communities," said Prudential Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld. "By shining a spotlight on their service, we hope that more young people will be inspired to serve their communities and make a difference to the people around them." Wyoming's top youth volunteers of 2016 were Grace Anderson, 16, of Devils Tower and Selah Jordan, 14, of Gillette. Grace, Wyoming's top high school volunteer, recruited school classmates, fellow 4-Hers and state FCCLA members to fill 600 shoeboxes with gifts for children in third-world countries, war zones and areas hit by natural disasters. Selah, Wyoming's top middle level volunteer, helps her family conduct church services once a month at a local nursing home, and spends time with the residents afterward to keep them company. Applicants for 2017 awards must complete their online applications by November 8, 2016, then submit them for certification to a middle or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent, American Red Cross chapter, YMCA or HandsOn Network affiliate. Paper application forms can be requested by calling 877-525-8491. Participating schools and local organizations will select Local Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Barack Obama if they have contributed the minimum number of volunteer hours to qualify (26 hours for age 10 and younger, 50 hours for ages 11-15 and 100 hours for older students). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates from each state and the District of Columbia one high school student and one middle level student as State Honorees on February 7, 2017. These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a parent or guardian for four days of recognition events May 6-9, 2017. Distinguished Finalists at the state level will receive bronze medallions, and runners-up will receive Certificates of Excellence. In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of $5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for nonprofit charitable organizations of their choice. "When students serve others through volunteer service, they set a compelling example for their peers in the process," said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of NASSP. "We look forward to celebrating the initiative and compassion of middle level and high school volunteers." The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based solely on volunteer community service, and has honored more than 115,000 young volunteers at the local, state and national level over the past 21 years. The awards program also is conducted in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Ireland, India, China and Brazil, where Prudential has significant business operations. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the leading organization of and voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and school leaders from across the United States. The association connects and engages school leaders through advocacy, research, education, and student programs. NASSP advocates on behalf of all school leaders to ensure the success of each student and strengthens school leadership practices through the design and delivery of high quality professional learning experiences. Reflecting its long-standing commitment to student leadership development, NASSP administers the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society, National Elementary Honor Society, and National Association of Student Councils. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.nassp.org. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403687LOGO SOURCE Prudential Insurance Related Links http://www.PRUDENTIAL.com DALLAS, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Securus Technologies, a leading provider of civil and criminal justice technology solutions for public safety, investigation, corrections and monitoring, announced today that it has filed an additional patent invalidation request (a.k.a. Inter Partes Review or IPR) with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). A brief description of the patent that Securus has filed to invalidate is as follows: Patent No. 7,333,798- "Telecommunications Call Management and Monitoring System" This patent relates to call management systems for authenticating users of a telephone system, such as an institutional facility. "After a significant amount of legal and patent expert review, we believe the GTL patent highlighted above is worthy of the formal process of patent invalidation," said Richard A. ("Rick") Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Securus Technologies. The United States Patent and Trademark Office has put a new "invalidation process" in place that allows litigants in patent infringement cases to attempt to invalidate patents. GTL has used this process to their advantage in having some pieces (claims) of Securus patents invalidated and we have done the same to GTL. Based on recent IPR rulings, we expect the invalidation process to eliminate approximately 50% of Securus and GTL previously approved patents. If that occurs, GTL will likely spend approximately $120 million and Securus will likely spend approximately $40 million in outside legal fees, both over a number of years. BUT , GTL will also have the added burden of trying to invalidate an additional 20 to 30 new patents Securus is getting approved each year or likely approximately $30 million to $45 million per year in additional legal costs to them. This is an interesting/high-cost strategy that will not allow GTL to reinvest in their business, and should advantage Securus in the long term. "Invalidating GTL existing patents is part of a process that they initiated two (2) years ago instead of negotiating a reasonable license agreement with Securus a route that every other significant carrier in our sector has taken. We have negotiated 19 license agreements with carriers 2 of those with GTL," said Smith. "The carriers that have negotiated license agreements all have received significant value and I believe they have recognized that. Overall, our patent related metrics are superior to those of GTL so we should eventually prevail," concluded Smith. ABOUT SECURUS TECHNOLOGIES Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and serving more than 3,450 public safety, law enforcement and corrections agencies and over 1,200,000 inmates across North America, Securus Technologies is committed to serve and connect by providing emergency response, incident management, public information, investigation, biometric analysis, communication, information management, inmate self-service, and monitoring products and services in order to make our world a safer place to live. Securus Technologies focuses on connecting what matters. To learn more about our full suite of civil and criminal justice technology solutions, please visit SecurusTechnologies.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100831/DA57799LOGO SOURCE Securus Technologies, Inc. Related Links http://www.securustech.net HOUSTON, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Shell announces today that production has started from the Stones development in the Gulf of Mexico. Stones is expected to produce around 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) when fully ramped up at the end of 2017. The Stones field, located 200 miles southwest of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico, is ultra deepwater discovery that's spurred unprecedented innovation. On September 6th, the world's deepest oil and gas project began producing through subsea infrastructure beneath 9,500 feet of water. During severe weather, a turret with a disconnectable buoy allows the FPSO vessel to detach and safely sail away from the field. Stones is expected to produce around 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) when fully ramped up at the end of 2017. Stones in the Gulf of Mexico Fact Sheet The host facility for the world's deepest offshore oil and gas project is a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel and the thirteenth FPSO in Shell's global deep-water portfolio. The host facility for the world's deepest offshore oil and gas project is a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. It is the thirteenth FPSO in Shell's global deep-water portfolio and produces through subsea infrastructure beneath 9,500 feet (2,900 meters) of water. Stones underscores Shell's long-standing leadership in using FPSOs to safely and responsibly unlock energy resources from deep-water assets around the world. "Stones is the latest example of our leadership, capability, and knowledge which are key to profitably developing our global deep-water resources," said Andy Brown, Upstream Director, Royal Dutch Shell. "Our growing expertise in using such technologies in innovative ways will help us unlock more deep-water resources around the world." Stones, which is 100% owned and operated by Shell, is the company's second producing field from the Lower Tertiary geologic frontier in the Gulf of Mexico, following the start-up of Perdido in 2010. The project demonstrates Shell's commitment to realizing significant cost savings through innovation. It features a more cost-effective well design, which requires fewer materials and lowers installation costs; this is expected to deliver up to $1 billion reduction in well costs once all the producers are completed. The FPSO is also specially designed to operate safely during storms. In the event of a severe storm or hurricane, it can disconnect and sail away from the field. Once the weather event has passed, the vessel would return and safely resume production. Shell's global deep water business is a growth priority for the company and currently produces 600,000 boe/d. Deep-water production is expected to increase to more than 900,000 boe/d by the early 2020s from already discovered, established reservoirs. Three other Shell-operated projects are currently under construction or undergoing pre-production commissioning: Coulomb Phase 2 and Appomattox in the Gulf of Mexico and Malikai in Malaysia. Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej9SZs3dvbg Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403696 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403698 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403691 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160901/403697 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120917/MM76045LOGO Read the Inside Energy Story: "Scientists Gain New Line to the Deep Ocean." Cautionary Note The companies in which Royal Dutch Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities. In this release "Shell", "Shell group" and "Royal Dutch Shell" are sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words "we", "us" and "our" are also used to refer to subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These expressions are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular company or companies. ''Subsidiaries'', "Shell subsidiaries" and "Shell companies" as used in this release refer to companies over which Royal Dutch Shell plc either directly or indirectly has control. Entities and unincorporated arrangements over which Shell has joint control are generally referred to as "joint ventures" and "joint operations" respectively. Entities over which Shell has significant influence but neither control nor joint control are referred to as "associates". The term "Shell interest" is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or indirect ownership interest held by Shell in a venture, partnership or company, after exclusion of all third-party interest. This release contains forward-looking statements concerning the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Royal Dutch Shell. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management's current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Royal Dutch Shell to market risks and statements expressing management's expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ''anticipate'', ''believe'', ''could'', ''estimate'', ''expect'', ''goals'', ''intend'', ''may'', ''objectives'', ''outlook'', ''plan'', ''probably'', ''project'', ''risks'', "schedule", ''seek'', ''should'', ''target'', ''will'' and similar terms and phrases. There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Royal Dutch Shell and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this release, including (without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for Shell's products; (c) currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserves estimates; (f) loss of market share and industry competition; (g) environmental and physical risks; (h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international sanctions; (j) legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including regulatory measures addressing climate change; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions; (l) political risks, including the risks of expropriation and renegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental entities, delays or advancements in the approval of projects and delays in the reimbursement for shared costs; and (m) changes in trading conditions. There can be no assurance that future dividend payments will match or exceed previous dividend payments. All forward-looking statements contained in this release are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional risk factors that may affect future results are contained in Royal Dutch Shell's 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2015 (available at www.shell.com/investor and www.sec.gov). These risk factors also expressly qualify all forward looking statements contained in this release and should be considered by the reader. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this release, Sept. 6, 2016. Neither Royal Dutch Shell plc nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained in this release. With respect to operating costs synergies indicated, such savings and efficiencies in procurement spend include economies of scale, specification standardisation and operating efficiencies across operating, capital and raw material cost areas. We may have used certain terms, such as resources, in this release that United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) strictly prohibits us from including in our filings with the SEC. U.S. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No 1-32575, available on the SEC website www.sec.gov. SOURCE Shell Related Links http://www.shell.com NEW YORK, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Shoptalk, the groundbreaking new retail and ecommerce event, today announced that it has appointed renowned retail and ecommerce authority and former Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, Sucharita Mulpuru, as Chief Retail Strategist. The company, which is bringing together 5,000+ executives and innovators on March 19-22, 2017 at the Aria in Las Vegas, also announced the launch of its Shoptalk Networking Program, an unprecedented onsite initiative that connects key industry stakeholders, enabling them to better realize growth opportunities and manage business challenges. The interactions and meetings facilitated by the Shoptalk Networking Program will help executives with questions about their strategies, technologies, partnerships and consumer propositions, all of which have become increasingly harder to answer. Ms. Mulpuru, who will oversee the new networking initiative, while contributing to Shoptalk's overall strategy and agenda development, brings extensive expertise in current and emerging trends shaping retail and ecommerce, ranging from the evolution of consumer preferences and expectations, to new technologies and business models. Through the Shoptalk Networking Program, attendees will have access to over a dozen types of interactions and meetings curated and facilitated by the Shoptalk team, including: Retailers and branded manufacturers meeting with: Tech startups to evaluate solutions that have not yet hit mainstream development roadmaps Direct-to-consumer startups to introduce them to disruptive business models and pioneering consumer products Established technology providers and leading Internet companies Peer group meetings for retailers, branded manufacturers and other B2C companies Venture capital firms meeting with startups Formats will range from short one-to-one meetings and group dinners, to exhibit hall tours, technology demos and co-located group offsites. "Sucharita is a definitive authority on all things retail and ecommerce, and has been a leader in the global conversation on innovation for more than a decade," said Anil D. Aggarwal, founder and chairman of Shoptalk. "We're thrilled to welcome her to the Shoptalk team, as we continue to build a catalyst for the growth and development of the commerce ecosystem, while helping to initiate and solidify the relationships that in-person events are best suited to deliver." "Shoptalk is the only industry event where retailers and branded manufacturers can discover the most important new technologies and business models, and network with the pioneers changing how consumers discover, shop and buy," said Ms. Mulpuru. "I am thrilled to join the company and be part of this important event that brings together an unparalleled group of industry executives ranging from early-stage disruptors and venture capital firms to recognized and established leaders of retail and ecommerce." About Shoptalk Shoptalk is the new blockbuster retail and ecommerce event with 5,000+ attendees, 250+ speakers and 500+ CEOs expected at its 2017 event. Shoptalk is an unprecedented gathering of individuals and companies reshaping how consumers discover, shop and buythe event provides a platform for large retailers and branded manufacturers, startups, tech companies, investors, media and analysts to learn and collaborate. Shoptalk will be held on March 19-22, 2017 at the Aria in Las Vegas. For more information, visit www.shoptalk.com. Follow @shoptalk. Like facebook.com/shoptalk. SOURCE Shoptalk Related Links http://www.shoptalk.com SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Showpad, the world's most powerful content activation platform, announced today the beta release of its new Box Sync feature at the BoxWorks conference in San Francisco. Showpad's enhanced Box Sync allows marketers to deliver contextual content to sales reps in just a few clicks by connecting their Box account to Showpad. Showpad joined Box's Assured Apps program last year, after an extensive and competitive review by Box. With the launch of its enhanced Box Sync feature, Showpad joins many other top SaaS companies in the Box ecosystem including Slack, Vimeo and DocuSign. To further accelerate its growth, Showpad recently received $50 million in Series C funding from Insight Venture Partners. "More enterprise software companies are moving towards building transformative integrations instead of creating new enterprise applications from scratch. Box has created a tremendous platform to power integrated solutions that tackle specific business challenges and workflows," said Louis Jonckheere, Co-Founder and Co-CEO at Showpad. "By combining efforts, we were able to create a streamlined content experience to manage and publish your content for sales enablement purposes." "As a leading enterprise content platform, Box is transforming the way that people and organizations work," said Roger Murff, vice president of Business Development and Technology Partnerships at Box. "Collaborating with Showpad delivers a cross-platform sales and marketing solution and ultimately delivers more value to our joint customers around the world." Showpad's Box Sync offers an integrated sales enablement solution that allows customers to: Synchronize Box files, folders, tags and permissions with Showpad, saving time and ensuring compliance Create branded environments from Box folders to present and share with customers Integrate Box content with Gmail, Outlook, Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Gain insight into how and when content is being used and measure its impact on sales results Showpad's Box Sync feature is currently available in beta and will roll out to all customers within the coming weeks. About Showpad Showpad delivers the world's most powerful content activation platform one that makes your content incredibly easy to find, present, share and measure. Showpad empowers businesses to deliver their content to the right audience at the right time with the most intuitive and robust content platform. With Showpad, sales and marketing teams work better together to engage with audiences, advance conversations, inspire loyalty and accelerate your business. The Showpad platform can be deployed quickly and scales for any company. Founded in 2011, Showpad activates the content of over 850 companies around the world, including Johnson & Johnson, Fujifilm, Audi, Intel, and Kimberly-Clark. Showpad has dual headquarters in San Francisco and in Ghent, Belgium plus offices in Portland, and in London. For more information on Showpad, visit www.showpad.com or follow us on Twitter: @showpad. SOURCE Showpad Related Links http://www.showpad.com BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Southern Research announced today it has acquired the assets of Houston-based aerospace professional services company Curved Skies LLC. Through this acquisition, the Southern Research Engineering division increases its Houston presence and expands its capabilities in advanced airborne government and commercial technologies such as high-resolution imagery, full-motion video, hyperspectral imaging, and advanced communication systems. "With the acquisition of Curved Skies, NASA and our other government customers can now benefit from years of global operational experience focused on new engineering efforts," said Michael Johns, vice president of the Southern Research Engineering division. "This extension is a significant step forward in our vision to support world-class engineering across our governmental, academic and industry efforts." Curved Skies, which demonstrates high-altitude geospatial technologies, performs sensor risk reduction studies for commercial and government clients, and has a track record of transitioning systems to commercial capabilities and to next-generation space applications. Since 2012, Curved Skies has operated and proven technologies in South America, Africa, and the Middle East in support of government developmental requirements in challenging environments. "Southern Research is a perfect home for our personnel to continue our important mission of supporting the aerospace industry through high altitude technologies and communication solutions," said Jared Novick, CEO of Curved Skies. "I've always believed that operational experience and real-world feedback drives innovation. Our personnel now have a home to innovate and engineer solutions we know customers require." About Southern Research Founded in 1941 in Birmingham, Alabama, Southern Research is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) scientific and engineering research organization that conducts preclinical drug discovery and development; advanced engineering research in materials and systems development; and energy and environmental research. Approximately 500 team members support clients and partners in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, defense, aerospace, environmental, and energy industries in facilities in Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia, and Texas. Learn more at www.SouthernResearch.org. About Curved Skies Curved Skies LLC is an aerospace professional services company that demonstrates high altitude geospatial technologies, transitions systems to operational applications, and performs engineering studies for commercial and government clients. Curved Skies assists customers, through coordinated public/private partnerships, in high altitude technologies and communication solutions. Media Contact: Rossi Carlson 205-581-2266 SOURCE Southern Research Related Links http://www.southernresearch.org WICHITA, Kan., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Spirit AeroSystems Inc. [NYSE: SPR] President and Chief Executive Officer Tom Gentile will speak at the Morgan Stanley Laguna Conference in Laguna Niguel, CA., on Thursday, September 15, 2016, at 12:15 p.m. (PDT). Remarks from Gentile will be webcast and will be available at http://www.spiritaero.com/investor.aspx. Individuals are advised to check the website ahead of time to ensure their computers are configured for the webcast. On the web: www.spiritaero.com On Twitter: @SpiritAero About Spirit AeroSystems Inc. Spirit AeroSystems designs and builds aerostructures for both commercial and defense customers. With headquarters in Wichita, Kansas, Spirit operates sites in the U.S., U.K., France and Malaysia. The company's core products include fuselages, pylons, nacelles and wing components for the world's premier aircraft. Spirit AeroSystems focuses on affordable, innovative composite and aluminum manufacturing solutions to support customers around the globe. More information is available at www.SpiritAero.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130515/CG13652LOGO SOURCE Spirit AeroSystems Inc. Related Links http://www.spiritaero.com ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- St. Teresa Medical, Inc. today announced the appointment of Richard Guyer M.D. to its scientific advisory board. Dr. Guyer is a board certified orthopedic spine surgeon and one of the founders of Texas Back Institute and serves as its President. He also serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Texas Back Institute Research Foundation and has been Director of the Spine Surgery Fellowship program since its inception in 1986. Dr. Guyer did his medical school and residency training at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and completed two spine fellowships, one at Case Western Reserve University with Henry Bohlman, M.D. in Cleveland, Ohio and the other with Leon Wiltse, M.D. in Long Beach, California. He holds many patents in spine surgery and has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and 45 chapters presenting his research at national and international spine conferences. While the majority of the research work has dealt with the diagnosis and treatment of painful degenerative spinal conditions, he is also one of the pioneers in minimally invasive surgery and lumbar and cervical disc replacement. In the early 1980s he worked with his former mentor Parviz Kambin who pioneered endoscopic discectomy. In 2000 he performed one of the first disc lumbar disc replacements in the USA and has been an investigator in nearly a dozen U.S. IDE studies of both cervical and lumbar disc replacements. He continues to research and publish in this area as well as in motion preservation and minimally invasive treatments. Dr. Guyer has been very active with various spine societies including North American Spine Society (NASS), Cervical Spine Research Society (SSRS), International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine (ISSLS), and International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery (ISASS) serving as President of NASS during the 2006-2007 year and various committees of the ISASS. He was recently appointed to the board of directors of the American Board of Spinal Surgery. Philip Messina, President and CEO said, "We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Guyer to our Scientific Advisory Board. He is considered to be among the top spine surgeons in the world. We could not be more pleased to have him on board. " C. Timothy Floyd, MD, Chief Scientific Officer and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board said, "Dr. Guyer is a world leader in cutting edge spine surgery and techniques. His counsel, as we move into our global clinical trial on SURGICLOT will be important." About St. Teresa St. Teresa Medical, Inc., based in St. Paul, MN., is a medical-device company developing SURGICLOT, a new unique dissolvable hemostatic dressing for use during orthopedic surgery. SURGICLOT is uniquely fabricated from nanoscale electro-spun dextran fibers infused with fibrinogen and thrombin. SURGICLOT works by supplementing and enhancing the body's natural clotting mechanism. SURGICLOT utilizes thrombin and fibrinogen obtained from human sources. For more information, see www.StTeresaMedical.com. SOURCE St. Teresa Medical, Inc. MELBOURNE, Australia, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Vikings Blade, a boutique men's grooming products company based in Australia with a Swedish heritage, recently posted great results on its Amazon store, being valued at $3 million in the first year of online sales. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160902/403853 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160902/403854 Operating as an underground family business with impeccable quality control, Vikings Blade has manufactured a plethora of shaving products for many bigger and more well-known brands since 1985. In 2015, the underground company launched its first branded product: Vikings Blade "The Chieftain" safety razor. It was no surprise that this razor caught the eyes of many buyers on Amazon and quickly became the number 1 best seller safety razor on Amazon for a non-major brand name. Visit www.VikingsBlade.com to view the company's range of shaving tools. "We are not here to revolutionize the shaving industry like what other younger brands are aiming to achieve these days. We are just here to revive the traditional wet shaving tools that our grandfathers used in the past, with good old fashion customer service where you get to communicate directly with the business owner, who actually takes part in the manufacturing process to ensure a superior quality control and total customer satisfaction," says Julian Vue, the frontman of Vikings Blade. He comments further, "There is no middlemen, no outsourced customer service staff who have no idea how to forge hot metals and craft them into a manly safety razor that will last for many generations. Everyone in this family business is a real blacksmith, a real artisan." Over 1,200 verified and glowing reviews from American users alone show how Vikings Blade has become a respectable household name in the men's grooming market. Its online storefront being valued at $3 million within the first year of sales without any marketing expenses is a strong indication that Vikings Blade shaving products is the definition of a perfect shave. Since opening their Amazon storefront to the market in 2015, Vikings Blade razors have been quickly cloned by a growing number of Chinese companies using inferior materials and subpar quality control. These replicas are marketed to the average US consumers under a wide range of different names, usually offered with little or no warranty. However, the management at Vikings Blade believe that consumers can see through this. "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Having said that, all our product designs have been applied for patents and many of these are in the final process of publication by the USPTO," says Julian Vue. Vikings Blade recently launched 3 more products which are gaining great momentum in sales with extremely positive feedback. These products are "The Godfather" Safety Razor, The Luxury Badger Brush, and the Luxury Sandalwood and Cedar Shaving Cream. For more information about Vikings Blade products, visit www.VikingsBlade.com Media Contact: Company Name: Vikings Blade Contact person: Julian Vue (Spokesperson) Email: Email Phone number: +61 421 148 158 Website: www.VikingsBlade.com Address: 101 Collins St Melbourne, Victoria Australia SOURCE Vikings Blade Related Links http://www.VikingsBlade.com HOUSTON, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Superior Energy Services, Inc. announced today that Dave Dunlap, President and CEO, will be participating in the Barclays CEO Energy-Power Conference being held September 6-8, 2016 in New York, NY. Superior Energy's presentation will be on Wednesday, September 7 at 2:25 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (1:25 p.m. Central Daylight Time). To listen to a live audio webcast and view accompanying presentation materials, please visit the Investor Relations section of Superior Energy's website at www.superiorenergy.com. A replay will be archived on the site shortly after the presentation concludes. About Superior Energy Services Superior Energy Services, Inc. (NYSE:SPN) serves the drilling, completion and production-related needs of oil and gas companies worldwide through its brand name drilling products and its integrated completion and well intervention services and tools, supported by an engineering staff who plan and design solutions for customers. For more information, visit: www.superiorenergy.com. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul Vincent, VP of Investor Relations, (713) 654-2200 SOURCE Superior Energy Services, Inc. Related Links http://www.superiorenergy.com PRINCETON, N.J. and MUMBAI, India, Sept. 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Systech International, a global leader in serialization, traceability, and brand protection technologies, has established an office in Mumbai, India in response to a growing need for its solutions and an expanding client base in the region. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160904/404035LOGO To further support its entry, Systech will convene its next Uniquity Global Conference in Mumbai on October 6, 2016, featuring a roster of prominent guest speakers. The focus of Uniquity India will be on global serialization regulations affecting the pharmaceutical industry and how effective technologies will be necessary to meet a wide range of compliance requirements. Attendance at this exclusive event is by invitation only, with confirmation to selected qualified representatives. Robert DeJean, CEO of Systech International, states, "With the incredible opportunity to service the pharmaceutical industry comes the demand for globally-compliant solutions that meet the vast array of complex regulations that continue to evolve. As a result, there's a need for solutions that are comprehensive, versatile, and cost-effective. Systech's industry-leading serialization and track-and-trace offerings have been proven for more than 30 years as the best solutions to meet this need." Pharmaceutical manufacturers in India supply a high volume of superior quality medicines to every market in the world, and the nation's pharmaceutical export segment has more than doubled from $7.8 billion in 2008 to $16.5 billion in 2014, according to the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry. In 2016, sales are expected to increase by nearly 84% to $26.1 billion with generic drugs dominating, accounting for nearly 70% of the market. Furthermore, over 55% of exports from India are to highly regulated markets whose governments have enacted stringent serialization and tracing regulations. "The problem is that no two of these regulations are the same, and therefore Indian exporters must not only comply with all the individual mandates, but also keep abreast of a rapidly-changing regulatory landscape," notes Dr. Avi Chaudhuri, who is spearheading Systech's India expansion. "Our core commitments to the industry are that we provide a comprehensive set of solutions and ensure full compliance against any and all new regulations that come into force." Systech International offers a full suite of software applications to manage these complex requirements, allowing serialization mandates to be met anywhere in the world including the export serialization requirements of the Indian Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). Systech is already seeing significant demand for its solutions as Indian pharmaceutical companies rush toward complying with the looming deadlines for key regulations such as the US DSCSA, EU FMD, and others. According to Harry Saint-Preux, Director, Global Alliances & Channels, "Systech is the only provider in the world that offers a complete palette of solutions encompassing serialization, aggregation, reporting, rework, and enterprise traceability. Companies that implement Systech's stack obtain a unified solution to cover the entirety of pharmaceutical requirements. This unique capability increases the value we bring to our clients." The demand for Systech's services in India is also due to the versatility of its offerings. By being hardware-agnostic, Systech can collaborate with a multitude of local vendors and integrators who have served the Indian market with distinction. Many pharmaceutical companies have already made significant investments in line-level hardware. Systech can work with such existing setups to preserve those past investments, and therefore deploy only the subset of its highly configurable solutions that would be needed to complete the task toward DSCSA or other regulatory compliance. This in turn makes for a highly economical offering to its prospective clients. The combination of advantages offered by Systech also makes it particularly attractive to contract manufacturers and packagers. Mid-market companies that offer services to other drug manufacturers must develop and follow a program of adding multiple serialization-related capabilities to all of their packaging lines within the next 15 months, or risk losing their business to competitors who are DSCSA-compliant. Systech's product suite is extremely attractive to the Indian SME sector because it is designed to work with a wide array of packaging and labeling equipment to ensure cost containment. In addition to its serialization and traceability solutions, Systech is also introducing its highly acclaimed, award-winning brand protection technology, UniSecure. Pharmaceutical and consumer brands are major targets of counterfeiters in Asian markets. UniSecure offers a revolutionary approach to global brand protection due to its immunity from many of the problems that affect other anti-counterfeiting solutions. As an example, UniSecure does not require brand owners to fit any printers on the packaging line, or to make major investments for variable coding. According to Chaudhuri, "The biggest benefit to UniSecure is its non-additive and non-intrusive technology, instead using an existing overt mark already produced during packaging such as a linear barcode to create a unique covert identifier. The UniSecure technology does not require addition of any print matter on a package, and yet it can be used with serialized barcodes to create a highly robust solution that simply cannot be copied or reverse-engineered. In effect, it serializes a non-serialized product and, in doing so, averts all of the security issues that have been problematic with use of mass serialization purely for brand protection." About Systech International Systech is the global technology leader in product safety, and consumer and brand protection. Systech pioneered serialization and is defining the future of authentication. Trusted by 19 of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies, Systech unifies and optimizes enterprise serialization, track and trace, and authentication technologies to ensure regulatory compliance, mitigate risk, and drive efficiency and profitability. For 30 years, Systech's innovation has led best practices for key brands across the pharmaceutical, life science, food and beverage, and consumer packaged goods industries. UniSecure is a registered trademark of Systech International. Related Links Systech website This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com SOURCE Systech International Related Links http://systechone.com Founded in 2012, ACESSAT is dedicated in providing training services for teenagers in China to study abroad. The business covers SSAT, ACT, SAT, TOEFL, and systematic courses of the western culture. Different from the popular star-teacher model in the education and training sector, ACESSAT insists on adopting technologies in teaching from the initial stage. According to the rules of metrology and pedagogy, ACESSAT has successfully built a to-be-tested knowledge hierarchy system and developed a well-calibrated model for test taking, helping a large number of students achieve outstanding results. Now, after four years' development, the students from ACESSAT can always be found in the TOP-20 senior high schools in the US. As Bai Yunfeng, a co-founder of TAL, says, with the upgrade of the consumption and the rise of the new generation of parents, Chinese families are expecting more on their children's education. Based on the rich experience in K12 education, TAL hopes to provide Chinese children with abundant, diversified, and systematic domestic and international education services by integrating world-class education resources and combing the wisdom of human and intelligent technology. Wu Xiaowei, who is in charge of HiWorld training programs for overseas study, says that HiWorld will inherit the genes of technology research and development of TAL, and carry on the high education quality requirements of TAL. Also, HiWorld will, in light of its own advantages, to train students step by step through scientific and systematic courses so as to improve the students' language capacity, develop their western thinking model and cultural literacy, and help them to embrace the world with calm and confidence. Huang Wei and Wang Jia'e, founders of ACESSAT, say that, "during the whole acquisition, no one from TAL ever mentioned anything like performance gambling. The group values teamwork and especially recognizes the men of action. On the whole, we think TAL is a generous team." In the recent two years, TAL has been expanding the business in language training and international education. Apart from Lejiale which targets at the domestic and international English evaluation with an operation history of 10 years, Lewaijiao, an online English teaching brand, was launched to the market last May. And then, 4 months later, the group fully acquired FirstLeap, a quality-oriented children English education institution, and lately acquired Shunshun, a service platform for overseas study. After the release of HiWorld, FirstLeap, HiWorld training services for overseas study, Shunshun services, etc., will form a fully integrated cooperative unit for TAL international education business. Wu Ying, who is in charge of FirstLeap, thinks that HiWorld will provide learning approaches to further international education for students of FirstLeap, while the high-end younger English learners of FirstLeap will also become an important source of students for HiWorld's business of sending younger children to study abroad in the future. In the view of Zhang Yang, who is in charge of Shunshun, their product line, such as Enjoying High-end Services, Study Art Abroad, Background Improvement, and Immigration Service, will provide more convenient and high-quality international education and living services for overseas study and immigration of the students and their families, for which, HiWorld will serve as an important source of students. Analysts say that the release of HiWorld also means that TAL has gradually carried out a comprehensive education product layout that combines online and offline services and covers the domestic and international education for people aged from 0 to 24 years old. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160904/404041 SOURCE TAL Education Group Related Links http://www.hiworld.com NEW YORK and MUMBAI, India, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS) a leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, today announced that the Mississippi, Rhode Island and Maine (MRM) Consortium has gone live with the TCS developed Unemployment Insurance (UI) Application for Benefits. Mississippi began implementation of the UI solution prior to the formation of the consortium, while the states of Maine and Rhode Island plan to adopt the solution in the near future. Mississippi's Unemployment Insurance program helps unemployed individuals throughout the state by providing monetary benefits to those who have involuntarily lost their jobs, while they look for new employment opportunities. TCS has been helping several U.S. states to modernize their systems that support Unemployment Insurance programs. The TCS developed solution is a robust and highly scalable platform with the ability to easily control multiple functional requirements, such as support for online claims processing, adjudication, appeals, and extensive tracking of all claims and payments. Playing a key role in the MRM Consortium's digital strategy, the TCS developed UI solution also includes an enhanced mobile app that provides easy access for claimants to file weekly certifications with work search details. The MRM Consortium states now have a strong foundation for future modernization, offering greater flexibility, shared maintenance cost and ease-of-use, and the ability to move towards cloud based systems in the near future. "The successful launch of the TCS developed UI multi-tenant application in Mississippi demonstrates that the MRM Consortium continues to move forward," said Mark Henry, Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Employment Security. "We are pleased that Mississippi is the first state to launch such an application, and we look forward to the deployment in Rhode Island and Maine next year. This success certainly required extensive team work and coordination by all the partners, and is an example of what we can achieve together." "TCS is delighted to partner with the MRM Consortium to pioneer this robust multi-state Unemployment Insurance modernization," added Tanmoy Chakrabarty, Global Head, Government Industry Solutions Unit, TCS. "We believe this will be a harbinger for many other U.S. states to enhance their systems and fast-track improved service delivery to their stakeholders." Over the past few decades, there has been a federal push for states to upgrade their legacy Unemployment Insurance systems that support employees who are involuntarily unemployed. The U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) has supported the concept of multi-state consortia for joint UI modernization efforts. The Mississippi Department of Employment Security (MDES), which had already undergone such modernization efforts, joined forces with Maine and Rhode Island to form the MRM Consortium and develop UI modernization applications to reduce long term maintenance and support costs. TCS was selected by MDES to build a UI application that consolidated data and business processes into a single, secure and accessible environment with core and state specific components. For more information about TCS' Government Business Unit, visit us at www.tcs.com/Government. About Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS) Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization that delivers real results to global business, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT, BPS, infrastructure, engineering and assurance services. This is delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model, recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development. A part of the Tata group, India's largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has over 362,000 of the world's best-trained consultants in 45 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of US $16.5 billion for year ended March 31, 2016 and is listed on the BSE (formerly Bombay Stock Exchange) and the NSE (National Stock Exchange) in India. For more information, visit us at www.tcs.com To stay up-to-date on TCS news in North America, follow @TCS_NA. For TCS global news, follow @TCS_News. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131002/LA90934LOGO-b SOURCE Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. Related Links http://www.tcs.com The outstanding contributions made by the optoelectronics community are rarely known by the public, but now you can have an intuitive experience here in CIOE. In 2016, CIOE opens a window to the future with the debut of the biggest highlight of the Expo - "Photonics Innovation Pavilion". The Photonics Innovation Pavilion primarily focuses on innovative optoelectronic technologies that would change the future, including biophotonics, quantum communication / quantum satellite, emerging displays (OLED and graphene as the representative of flexible display), AR / VR, photonic manufacturing, robots and drones. During the event, the most groundbreaking products and technologies in the industry will be showcased by major players, including 5 top notch research institutes under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1 national optoelectronics laboratory, 13 premier domestic and foreign colleges and universities and 2000 optoelectronics companies. This line-up presents the "Olympic Games" of optoelectronics technologies across the world. 2nd stop: enrich yourself with over 400 high-tech meetings A large number of cutting-edge academic and industrial meetings will be held during the China International Optoelectronic Expo, including 1 themed conference, 18 professional forums and over 400 sessions. The topics cover various technologies in the optoelectronic industrial chain, such as optical communications, fiber optic photonics, biomedical, micro-nano optics, optical measurement, laser technology, big data cloud computing, IoT, optical manufacturing, sapphire, infrared sensing and smart community. Seven academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering and more than 200 domestic and foreign experts will share in-depth insights in their respective areas. Each meeting would be like a charging station to empower attendees, making them find the trip worthwhile by getting valuable insights into the industry. 3rd stop: rejoice in more than 40 on-site activities Thousands of high-tech products will dazzle the audience, and hundreds of meetings will bring a fresh and brand-new experience for the attendees. In addition, the Expo also offers an array of activities and platforms, such as Sino-US optoelectronic technology PK platform, optics lens application design contest, alumni association of photoelectric colleges and universities, smart product experience zones, 360 dome theater world tour, photograph equipment appreciation for astronomy enthusiasts, exhibition of excellent astrophotography works... All these innovative activities are both scientific and entertaining. Here you will find how optoelectronic technologies are closely connected to everyday life, and how CIOE's mission - "high-tech changes life, photoelectric illuminates the future"- is lively demonstrated. About China International Optoelectronic Expo (CIOE) (www.cioe.cn) Established in 1999, CIOE is the largest show of its kind in the world featuring over 3, 200 optoelectronic brands and their latest products in the area of 110, 000 sqm at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center. There are concurrent specialized expositions focusing on Optical Communications and Sensors, Lasers and Infrared Applications, Precision Optics, LEDs, Sapphire Technology & Touch Screen and Smart City. About UBM Herong (www.ubmherong.com) CIOE is organzied by Shenzhen UBM Herong Exhibition Co Ltd, a joint venture company of UBM Asia, a wholly owned company of UBM plc. listed on the London Stock Exchange. UBM Herong is able to tap on UBM's extensive global reach and show management expertise to service exhibitors and visitors even better. Its strong bond with companies and professionals in the field of optoelectronics enables it to support the industry's continuous growth and technological development. Media contact: Shirly YI +86-755-86290891 Email: [email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160902/403842 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160531/373450LOGO Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160531/373451 SOURCE China International Optoelectronic Expo (CIOE) Related Links http://www.cioe.cn This new partnership will provide creative services and support for bereaved teens in grades 7 through 12 a time when access to special programs that foster healthy social and emotional development is critical. Thanks to the grant funded by the New York Life Foundation, The Alliance will host workshops around the country that serve as a "safe space" for grieving teen artists and writers that address sensitive topics around death and the aftermath of personal loss. The program also aims to inform the larger community of parents, guardians and educators about how vital the role of the arts is in assisting childhood bereavement. The new partnership includes: Scholarships : As part of the 2017 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards , students will have the opportunity to enter their work for "The New York Life Foundation Award." Six $1,000 scholarships will be presented to students whose work exemplifies how the arts can act as a positive outlet to cope with several kinds of loss, such as the death of a loved one or the displacement of a caregiver, and whose work raises public awareness of the issue of youth bereavement. : As part of the , students will have the opportunity to enter their work for "The New York Life Foundation Award." Six scholarships will be presented to students whose work exemplifies how the arts can act as a positive outlet to cope with several kinds of loss, such as the death of a loved one or the displacement of a caregiver, and whose work raises public awareness of the issue of youth bereavement. Free Workshops: Teens across the U.S. will gain access to free bereavement-focused art and writing workshops conducted by specially-trained educators. Through training in a range of artistic media, including drawing and poetry, teens will connect with a network of fellow artists and writers who have experienced similar life experiences. For a list of upcoming workshops visit: http://www.artandwriting.org/summer-workshops/ QUOTES: Virginia McEnerney, Executive Director of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers: "When teens receive positive recognition for their creative work it unleashes a transformative power unlike anything else. The Scholastic Awards has seen this firsthand for nearly a century. The arts also create a community in which teens can explore what they feel in a safe, life-affirming manner when grappling with topics that are sometimes considered taboo, such as trauma or loss. We feel confident that New York Life Foundation's knowledge of and commitment to the resiliency of our youth, combined with the Alliance's extensive outreach to teens in all 50 states, can honor the bravery of students who turn to the arts to heal from personal loss." Maria Collins, Vice President, New York Life Foundation: "We are proud to partner with the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers to provide students with an opportunity to gain recognition for the creative expression of their deepest emotions. We believe that the Awards and workshops that our grant supports will not only help raise awareness about the issue of childhood bereavement, but will change the grief conversation into one that focuses on inspiration, empowerment and resiliency." REFERENCES: (*) Schonfeld D, Quackenbush M: The Grieving Student: A Teacher's Guide. Baltimore, MD, Brookes Publishing, 2010. About the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, founded in 1923, recognizes and celebrates the most creative teens in America. The Scholastic Awards received nearly 320,000 submissions in 29 categories of art and writing from 7th12th graders nationwide last year, and distributes approximately $300,000 in direct scholarships annually. The Scholastic Awards are administered by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. To learn more, please visit artandwriting.org. About the New York Life Foundation Inspired by New York Life's tradition of service and humanity, the New York Life Foundation has, since its founding in 1979, provided $220 million in charitable contributions to national and local nonprofit organizations. The Foundation supports programs that benefit young people, particularly in the areas of educational enhancement and childhood bereavement. The Foundation also encourages and facilitates the community involvement of employees and agents of New York Life through its Volunteers for Good program. To learn more and for bereavement resources, please visit newyorklifefoundation.org. Contacts: Scholastic: Sara Sinek, [email protected], 212-343-6899 Mike Barrett, [email protected], 212-343-6570 New York Life: Lacey Siegel, [email protected], 212-576-7937 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160531/373815 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100907/SCHOLASTICLOGO SOURCE Alliance for Young Artists & Writers SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Melt, a fast casual cheeseburger and grilled cheese eatery that combines chef-inspired, all-natural, wholesome food with creative store design and innovative restaurant technologies, today announced the hiring of Ralph Bower, Former CEO of Pei Wei. The Melt former CEO and Founder Jonathan Kaplan will continue with the company as Chairman of the Board. "We are thrilled that Ralph Bower has joined our team," said Kaplan. "Ralph has the experience, vision, leadership and knowledge of the industry to build on the successful foundation we created, including year-over-year double digit growth, a new cheeseburger and grilled cheese centric menu, and the national expansion of our restaurants." An industry veteran with more than 25 years of senior-level leadership with the fast casual and quick service restaurant industry, Bower has extensive experience overseeing all aspects of operations for multimillion-dollar restaurant corporations. He's held leadership positions with a variety of brands including Pei Wei, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Yum! Brands, Inc., KFC Corporation and Domino's Pizza. "Great restaurant companies start with great food and I believe The Melt has the best grilled cheese and cheeseburgers in the industry today," said Bower. "The Melt is at the forefront of the restaurant industry as a pioneer in the trend towards clean all-natural dining. I have greatly admired the brand from afar and look forward to growing The Melt into a national presence." By the end of the year The Melt will have completed a store redesign that enhances the guest experience. The dining rooms of each store have been remodeled to a warmer, more comfortable setting providing flexible seating and a quieter dining environment. Technology driven order kiosks have been added to provide guests with more ordering options and an enhanced order experience. To improve guest wait times new video technology has been added to the kitchens of every store as well as kitchen equipment upgrades focused on product quality. The Melt is also continuing its nationwide expansion in 2016, opening the chain's first Texas location at Baybrook Mall in Houston, one of the fastest growing cities in America. Three additional Houston locations are set to open before the end of 2017. Before joining The Melt, Bower was the CEO of Pei Wei P.F. Chang's fast casual brand. During his time there, he dramatically improved both the sales and profitability of new restaurants by revamping the development strategy. He built a new restaurant pipeline that resulted in the opening of 12 successful restaurants in 2015. Prior to Pei Wei, Bower was the U.S. President of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen where he was responsible for all domestic operations, new store development, franchisee support and business analytics for more than 1,750 company-owned and franchised locations. During his tenure Popeyes enjoyed five straight years of same store sales and profitability increases as well as industry leading new unit growth. ABOUT THE MELT: The Melt was founded with the simple idea of making people happy by serving them wholesome American classics. Today, The Melt prepares chef-inspired, handcrafted, all-natural foods within warm, ecofriendly environments. The Melt's menu items are all made to order, and include artisanal cheeseburgers crafted from a custom blend of Angus and Wagyu beef, specialty grilled cheese melts using real aged cheeses and fresh bread, crispy fries, homemade mac 'n' cheese, artisanal soup and fresh salads. The Melt uses only the highest caliber ingredients, void of hydrogenated fats, artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners or preservatives. Founded and headquartered in San Francisco, The Melt currently operates fast casual restaurants throughout California and Colorado with several new locations planned in Texas over the next 12 months. For more information or to order your own melt online, visit https://themelt.com/. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160902/403941LOGO SOURCE The Melt Related Links http://www.themelt.com #flight resumption Flights from Gimpo airport to Osaka, Taipei to resume Sunday Flights from Seoul's Gimpo International Airport to Osaka and Taipei will resume later this week, the state-run airport operator here said Saturday, more than two years after the r... #football Daejeon earn promotion to top division in S. Korean football After eight years of toiling in the second division in South Korean football, Daejeon Hana Citizen FC will be playing with the big boys in 2023. Daejeon routed Gimcheon Sangmu F... CHICAGO, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) has established itself as the primary resource for knowledge, information and trends on women in engineering with the launch of its newest tool, research.swe.org. The website was created to provide clarity among the wealth of data available, and deliver a centralized data source for members and individuals interested in locating information about women in engineering. The website features trends and data on women in engineering and the STEM landscape across the globe from the K-12 level, to collegiate to professional. Additionally, the website will feature SWE's own research to supplement the knowledge base around issues affecting female engineers' success. Being able to provide data and information to inform decisions that affect women in the education sector and the workplace is an important part of SWE's goal to advocate for the success of women in engineering and technology. "SWE's strong membership base and historical knowledge position us as an authority on female engineering issues," said Roberta Rincon, PhD, manager of research at SWE. "We intend to build upon this knowledge and provide access to our work through this new site." One of SWE's most recent research pieces focuses on female attrition in the STEM workplace the first gender-based workplace culture study of its kind conducted in the STEM space in the U.S. The data sheds light on differences between female and male personal and workplace priorities, including the gaps that are driving females to leave the workforce. SWE plans to release a similar study in fall of 2016 that focuses on workplace experiences, and gender and racial bias. "As the world's largest advocate for women in engineering and technology, it's important to show the progress we have made, but also to show that there is still work to do in terms of creating an inclusive environment in engineering where women can thrive," said Karen Horting, CEO and executive director of SWE. "Our research efforts coupled with this new tool are a big step in SWE becoming the resource on women in engineering." Visit research.swe.org to learn more about the state of women in engineering, and trends and data impacting this sector. For more information about SWE, visit www.swe.org. About SWE The Society of Women Engineers (SWE), founded in 1950, is the world's largest advocate and catalyst for change for women in engineering and technology. The not-for-profit educational and service organization is the driving force that establishes engineering as a highly desirable career aspiration for women. To ensure SWE members reach their full potential as engineers and leaders, the Society offers opportunities to network, provides professional development, shapes public policy and provides recognition for the life-changing contributions and achievements of women engineers. As a champion of diversity, SWE empowers women to succeed and advance in their personal and professional lives. For more information on SWE, please visit www.swe.org or call 312.596.5223. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160808/396394LOGO SOURCE The Society of Women Engineers SUGAR LAND, Texas, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Trecora Resources (NYSE: TREC), a leading provider of high purity specialty hydrocarbons and waxes, is participating in the KeyBanc Basic Materials and Packaging Conference in Boston on Wednesday, September 14, 2016. The conference is being held at the InterContinental Boston Hotel. Trecora's Chairman, Nicholas N. Carter, and Director, John R. "Dick" Townsend are available for one-on-one and small group meetings with institutional investors throughout the day. Investors interested in scheduling a meeting should contact their KeyBanc representative. About Trecora Resources (TREC) TREC owns and operates a facility located in southeast Texas, just north of Beaumont, which specializes in high purity hydrocarbons and other petrochemical manufacturing. TREC also owns and operates a leading manufacturer of specialty polyethylene waxes and provider of custom processing services located in the heart of the Petrochemical complex in Pasadena, Texas. In addition, the Company is the original developer and a 33.4% owner of Al Masane Al Kobra Mining Co., a Saudi Arabian joint stock company. Forward-Looking Statements Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based upon our belief, as well as, assumptions made by and information currently available to us. Because such statements are based upon expectations as to future economic performance and are not statements of fact, actual results may differ from those projected. These risks, as well as others, are discussed in greater detail in Trecora Resources' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Trecora Resources' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, and the Company's subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are based upon information available to the Company as of the date of this press release. Investor Relations Contact: Don Markley The Piacente Group 212-481-2050 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150106/167307LOGO SOURCE Trecora Resources Related Links http://www.trecora.com LONDON, Sept. 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- UK Homeland Security & Public Safety Market - 2016-2022 The UK is facing problems with a far greater reach than its economic ones. ISIS terror threats are alarming and show no signs of declining. The present UK security measures, which have been effective in the past, cannot meet the 21st century ISIS-inspired terror tactics (following 5 years of security agencies' budget and personnel cuts). A revision of the UK security infrastructure and funding is already underway. The transformation of the UK security infrastructure is best expressed in the words of David Cameron, UK Prime Minister, in the aftermath of the Brussels carnage: "They could just as well be attacks in Britain or in France or Germany, or elsewhere in Europe and we need to stand together against these appalling terrorists and make sure they can never win". Following a 5-year CAGR of 2-3%, this research forecasts a 4-fold increase in the 2015-2020 market, at a CAGR of 11.3% . The two-volume (*) + one "UK Homeland Security & Public Safety Market 2016-2022" report is the most comprehensive review of the market available today. It provides a detailed and reasoned roadmap of this growing market. The report covers the Homeland Security Immigration Enforcement & Public Safety markets since, in most cases, products and services have dual or triple use applications and present the same business opportunities (e.g., biometric modalities are used for the following three sectors: counter-crime, immigration enforcement and counter terror). The market is set to undergo a major transformation from 2016-2022 through the following drivers: According to the British authorities (March 2016), at least 800 people from the UK have traveled to support or fight for jihadist organizations in Syria and Iraq. Approximately 400 have since returned to the UK. A further 600 British citizens have been caught trying to join ISIS. The 2015 Paris, and the March 2016 Brussels terrorist attacks have focused greater attention on the threats posed by international terrorists and acted as a spur for UK authorities to enhance emergency planning and response capabilities. UK, the 5th largest economy in the world with a 2015 GDP of approximately $2.9 trillion, can invest "whatever it takes" to protect its citizens from the looming risks of terrorism and immigration. While the UK has a tradition of quite effective coordination among its competing counter terror and public safety agencies, some inter-agencies coordination problems are an obstacle to harmonized efforts to carry out the country counter terror and public safety missions. This phenomenon increases the national markets due to duplication of purchased systems. The UK market for security & safety products is sophisticated and well served. Local defense and security companies are well entrenched in the UK market. Even with a preference for locally manufactured products, foreign products can usually strongly compete on the basis of price and innovation. They do not encounter any direct trade barriers or quotas. Non-tariff, indirect trade barriers may be the approval process of dual use goods, which include many security market products. This report is a resource for executives with interests in the industry. It has been explicitly customized for the security industry and government decision-makers in order to identify business opportunities, developing technologies, market trends and risks, as well as to benchmark business plans. Questions answered in this 485-page two-volume + one (*) report include: What will the market size and trends be during 2016-2022? Which submarkets provide attractive business opportunities? Who are the decision-makers? What drives the UK Homeland Security & Public Safety managers to purchase solutions and services? What are the customers looking for? What are the technology & services trends? What is the market SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats)? What are the challenges to market penetration & growth? With 485 Pages, 65 Tables and 151 Figures, this 2-volume + one(*) report covers 9 Vertical, 9 Technology and 3 Revenue Source Submarkets, offering for each of them 2015 data and assessments, and 2016-2022 forecasts and analyses. * The "Global Homeland Security & Public Safety Industry 2016 Edition" report is a free of charge Bonus for multi-reader license customers and is offered at half price to single-reader customers. Why Buy this Report? A. This is the only report that addresses the HLS & Public Safety dual-use markets: 76% of the UK market revenues emanate from dual-use products. For example, cybersecurity systems are used to address both cyber-crime and cyber-terror. Decision-makers forming their strategy need a complete view of this overlapping market both independently and in their intersections. B. Market data is analyzed via 3 key perspectives: With a highly fragmented HLS & Public Safety market we address the "money trail" each dollar spent via the following 3 viewpoints: By 9 Vertical Markets including: Airport Security Smart Borders, Immigration Enforcement & Border Security Intelligence Agencies Critical Infrastructure Protection Police Modernization & Other 1st Responders Public Events & Safe City Building & Perimeter Security CBRN Security & Safety Other Vertical Markets By 3 Revenue Sources including: Products Sales Maintenance & Service, Upgrades, Refurbishment Planning, Training and Consulting By 8 Technology Markets including: Cybersecurity Counter Terror & Crime IT Communication Systems & Devices Biometrics Video Surveillance Technologies Intrusion Detection Systems Border & Perimeter Security Technologies Explosives & Weapons Detection Technologies C. Detailed market analysis frameworks for each of the market sectors, including: Market drivers & inhibitors Business opportunities SWOT analysis Competitive analysis Business environment The 2015-2022 market segmented by 51 submarkets D. The report includes the following 5 appendices: Appendix A: UK Counter Terror & Public Safety Agencies Appendix B: European Security Related Product Standards Appendix C: The European Union Challenges and Outlook Appendix D: The European Migration Crisis Appendix E: Abbreviations E. The report addresses over 90 technologies including: Access Control Systems Automated Border Control (ABC) Gates Backscatter X-Ray Container-Vehicle Screening Systems Bio-Agents & Infectious Disease Detection Biometrics Biosecurity and Biosafety Devices & Systems Bio-Terror & Infectious Disease Early Alert System Devices & Systems Boarding Gate Explosives Scanners Border & Perimeter Barriers C2/C4ISR Systems Capacitance Sensors Fence CBRN and Hazmat Personal Protective Gear Cell Broadcast Mass Emergency Notification Chemical Agent Detection Chemical, HAZMAT & Nuclear Detection Coherent Scatter 2D X-Ray Systems Communication Systems & Devices Cybersecurity Decontamination of CBRN & HAZMAT Incidents Desktop ETD Devices Dual Energy LINAC X-Ray Container-Vehicle Screening Systems Dual-View LINAC X-Ray Container-Vehicle Screening Systems Dumb Fences Electronic Fencing Emergency Management IT Systems Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Devices & Systems E-Passports Fiber Optic Fence Gamma Ray Systems Container-Vehicle Screening Systems Hand Held Metal Detectors Handheld ETD Devices Homeland Security & Public Safety IT Systems Human Portable Radiation Detection Systems (HPRDS) Hybrid Tomographic EDS & 2D X-Ray Screening IED Placement Detection Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) IT Intelligence Community Big Data IT Intelligence Community Cloud Infrastructure IT Intelligence Community Software as a Service (SaaS) Intelligence Services IT Interoperable Communication Systems Intrusion Detection Systems Ion Mobility Spectroscopy (IMS) Liquid Explosives Detection Devices Luggage, Baggage & Mail Screening Systems Maritime Awareness Global Network (MAGNET) Mass Emergency Notification Devices & Systems Metal detection Portals Multimodal Biometric Systems Narcotics Trace Detection Devices Natural & Manmade Disaster Early Warning systems Non-Lethal Weapons(NLW) Nuclear/Radiological Detection Devices & Systems Other Security Technologies People Screening MMWave (AIT) Portals People Screening X-Ray Backscatter (AIT) Portals Perimeter Security Technologies Personal (Ballistic & CBRNE) Protective Gear Personal Body Armor Platform as a Service (PaaS) Police Modernization Systems and Devices Ported Coax Buried Line Fence Rescue & Recovery Equipment Respiratory Protective Equipment Satellite Based Maritime Tracking Shoe Scanners Siren Systems SkyBitz Global Locating System Standoff Explosives & Weapon Detection Systems Standoff Suicide Bombers Detection Strain Sensitive Cables Fence Suicide Bombers Borne IED (PBIED) Detectors Suicide Bombers Detonation Neutralization Taut Wire Fence Text Alert Systems The Advanced Spectroscopic Portals (ASP) Tomographic Explosive Detection Systems (EDS) Transportable X-Ray Screening Checkpoints VBIED Detonation Neutralization Vehicle & Container Screening Systems Vehicle Borne IED (VBIED) Detectors Vehicle Screening ETD Systems Vibration Sensors Mounted on Fence Video Analytics Video Surveillance Visa & Passport related IT Voice Alert Systems Wide Area Communications and Tracking Technology X-Ray Container-Vehicle Screening Systems X-ray Screening systems F. The report addresses over 300 European Homeland Security and Public Safety standards (including links) G. The report provides the number of passengers and number of screened cabin & checked-in baggage and luggage at each of the major airports by 2016 & 2020 H. The supplementary (*) "Global Homeland Security and Public Safety Industry 2016 Edition" report (updated by May 2016) provides the following insights and analysis of the industry including: The Global Industry 2016 status Effects of Emerging Technologies on the Industry The Market Trends Vendor Government Relationship Geopolitical Outlook 2016-2022 The Industry Business Models & Strategies Market Entry Challenges The Industry: Supply-Side & Demand-Side Analysis Market Entry Strategies Price Elasticity Past Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Events I. The supplementary (*) "Global Homeland Security and Public Safety Industry 2016 Edition" report provides updated (May 2016) and extensive information (including company profile, recent annual revenues, key executives, homeland security and public safety products, and contact info.) on the 119 leading vendors in the industry, namely: 3M 3i-MIND 3VR 3xLOGIC ABB Accenture ACTi Corporation ADT Security Services AeroVironment Inc. Agent Video Intelligence Airbus Defence and Space Alcatel-Lucent (Nokia Group) ALPHAOPEN American Science & Engineering Inc. Anixter Aralia Systems AT&T Inc. Augusta Systems Austal Avigilon Corporation Aware Axis AxxonSoft Ayonix BAE Systems BioEnable Technologies Pvt Ltd BioLink Solutions Boeing Bollinger Shipyards, Inc Bosch Security Systems Bruker Corporation BT Camero Cassidian CelPlan China Security & Surveillance, Inc. Cisco Systems Citilog Cognitec Systems GmbH Computer Network Limited (CNL) Computer Sciences Corporation CrossMatch Diebold DRS Technologies Inc. DVTel Elbit Systems Ltd. Elsag Datamat Emerson Electric Ericsson ESRI FaceFirst Finmeccanica SpA Firetide Fulcrum Biometrics LLC G4S General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. General Dynamics Corporation Getac Technology Corporation Hanwha Techwin Harris Corporation Hewlett Packard Enterprise Hexagon AB Honeywell International Inc. Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd IBM IndigoVision Intel Security IntuVision Inc iOmniscient IPConfigure IPS Intelligent Video Analytics Iris ID Systems, Inc. IriTech Inc. Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. ISS L-3 Security & Detection Systems Leidos, Inc. Lockheed Martin Corporation MACROSCOP MDS Mer group Milestone Systems A/S Mirasys Motorola Solutions, Inc. National Instruments NEC Corporation NICE Systems Northrop Grumman Corporation Nuance Communications, Inc. ObjectVideo Panasonic Corporation Pelco Pivot3 Proximex QinetiQ Limited Rapiscan Systems, Inc. Raytheon Rockwell Collins, Inc. Safran S.A. Salient Sciences Schneider Electric SeeTec Siemens Smart China (Holdings) Limited Smiths Detection Inc. Sony Corp. Speech Technology Center Suprema Inc. Synectics Plc Tandu Technologies & Security Systems Ltd Texas Instruments Textron Inc. Thales Group Total Recall Unisys Corporation Verint Vialogy LLC Vigilant Technology Zhejiang Dahua Technology Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3837923/ About Reportbuyer Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers http://www.reportbuyer.com For more information: Sarah Smith Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 208 816 85 48 Website: www.reportbuyer.com SOURCE ReportBuyer Related Links http://www.reportbuyer.com TORONTO, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Unifor announced that General Motors is the target company to set the pattern agreement in the current round of negotiations with the Detroit Three automakers. "These negotiations are about the future of local communities, good jobs and the industry. Our demand is clear, invest today to build a future for tomorrow," Unifor National President Jerry Dias told a media conference in Toronto. General Motors employs 6,600 Unifor members in Oshawa, Ingersoll and St. Catharines making the Impala, Equinox, Buick Regal, Cadillac XTS, and GMC Terrain, as well as engines, transmissions and components. Of the 6,600 members, there are 2,600 working at the CAMI plant in Ingersoll who are not part of the Master Agreement. About 23,050 Unifor members work at all the Detroit Three companies. With pattern bargaining, negotiations focus on one company to reach an agreement that sets a standard for the auto industry in Canada. Once an agreement with the target company is ratified by members, focus in bargaining shifts to a second company, and then the third. Unifor's current contract with the Detroit Three expires 11:59pm on Monday, September 19. Should a new agreement not be reached, Unifor autoworkers have voted overwhelmingly to give their bargaining committees authorization to call a strike if necessary to achieve key priorities. The union has made investment in Canada a top priority in this round of negotiations, to ensure the future prosperity of the auto industry in this country. An independent study released by Unifor last week found that losing the Detroit Three would eliminate $26 billion from the economy, cut 150,000 jobs and cost $4.7 billion per year in government revenues. "The strength of the auto industry in Canada is not only vital to those in the industry, but to the entire Canadian economy," Dias said. "Policy makers and the public need to understand what is at stake here." For more information and background, go to www.unifor.org/autotalks16 or follow @Autotalks16. Unifor is Canada's largest union in the private sector, representing more than 310,000 workers, including 23,050 at the Detroit Three. It was formed Labour Day weekend 2013 when the Canadian Auto Workers and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union merged. SOURCE Unifor LITTLETON, Colo., Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ur-Energy Inc. (NYSE MKT:URG, TSX:URE) announces that Jeffrey Klenda, Chairman and Executive Director, will present at the Rodman & Renshaw 18th Annual Global Investment Conference taking place September 11 13, 2016 in New York City. Mr. Klenda will provide an overview of the Company's business during the presentation and will be available to participate in one-on-one meetings with investors who are registered to attend the Conference. Ur-Energy's presentation will begin at 11:15 a.m. on Tuesday, September 13, 2016. The presentation will be in the Stanford Room (4th Floor) at the New York Palace Hotel, New York City. Global Investment Conferences are held annually and are produced by Rodman & Renshaw. If interested in attending, register online at the Rodman & Renshaw Conference website at www.rodm.com or contact Lily Khaykina, Conference Manager, at 212-356-0529 or at [email protected]. About Ur-Energy Ur-Energy is a uranium mining company operating the Lost Creek in-situ recovery uranium facility in south-central Wyoming. The Lost Creek processing facility has a two million pounds per year nameplate design capacity. We have begun to submit applications for permits and licenses to operate at our Shirley Basin Project. Ur-Energy is engaged in uranium mining, recovery and processing activities, including the acquisition, development and operation of uranium mineral properties in the United States. Shares of Ur-Energy trade on the NYSE MKT under the symbol "URG" and on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "URE." Ur-Energy's corporate office is located in Littleton, Colorado; its registered office is in Ottawa, Ontario. Ur-Energy's website is www.ur-energy.com. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT Jeffrey Klenda, Chairman & Executive Director 866-981-4588 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110913/LA67628LOGO SOURCE Ur-Energy Inc. Related Links http://www.ur-energy.com The four-day event from Sept. 11-14 in Los Angeles will feature panel discussions with renowned scholars; a keynote address from Rosalina Tuyuc, who launched an NGO for widows after losing her own husband to the atrocities; and a free concert from Rebeca Lane, one of the boldest young performers in Latin American hip-hop. Called "A Conflict? Genocide and Resistance in Guatemala," the conference will delve into the history and impact of the systematic mass violence that left 200,000 mostly Mayan Guatemalans dead and more than 1.5 million displaced without basic resources during the early 1980s a genocide hidden under the cover of a 36-year civil war that ended in 1996 with a peace accord. Panels will also address current trials that have begun to hold perpetrators to account for crimes against humanity committed decades ago. It will be simulcast in English and Spanish. The conference is being organized by Wolf Gruner, founding director of the Center for Advanced Genocide Research, and Victoria Sanford, founding director of the Center for Human Rights and Peace Studies at Lehman College, City University of New York. "Los Angeles is home to one of the world's largest concentrations of families who fled the Guatemalan genocide, making it an ideal host for an event of this magnitude," Gruner said. "This conference will generate dialog about a chapter of world history that is too often overlooked: the systematic massacre of indigenous people by their own government, while the U.S. government was a close ally." The conference will officially kick off on Sept. 11 with a special preview film screening of "Finding Oscar," a documentary by filmmaker Ryan that tells the story of the search for Oscar Ramirez, a living witness to the military massacre committed at the village of Dos Erres. In addition to gathering 33 scholars from a variety of disciplines for a series of public panels, the conference on Sept. 12 will feature, an evening event with keynote speaker Rosalina Tuyuc, who became a human-rights activist after her father and husband were kidnapped and murdered by the Guatemalan military during the war. In 1988, Tuyuc, a Kaqchikel Mayan, founded the National Association of Guatemalan Widows (CONAVIGUA), which remains one of Guatamala's leading human-rights organizations. She was also elected in 1995 to the Guatemalan Congress, where she fought to extend rights to the country's marginalized indigenous population. The conference will also feature a free concert co-sponsored by USC Vision and Voices at 7:30 p.m., Sept. 13 at USC's Bovard Auditorium by Rebeca Lane, a feminist rapper who named herself after an aunt who'd been forcibly disappeared by the military during the atrocities. Set to reggae, dancehall, cumbia, hip-hop and R&B rhythms, Lane's music addresses head-on the enduring injustices that stem from the military's slaughter of its own people that ended just before her own birth in 1984. Her lyrics also challenge gender norms and hip-hop's male-dominated culture. The conference will convene scholars from not only USC and other Los Angeles universities, but also across North America, as well as Latin America and Europe. Among the panel discussions titles: Studying perpetrators Repression and resistance Racist discourse and genocide Post-genocide justice About USC Shoah Foundation USC Shoah Foundation The Institute for Visual History and Education is dedicated to making audio- visual interviews with survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust and other genocides, a compelling voice for research, education and action. The Institute's current collection of more than 53,000 eyewitness testimonies contained within its Visual History Archive preserves history as told by the people who lived it, and lived through it. Housed at the University of Southern California, within the Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, the Institute works with partners around the world to advance scholarship and research, to provide resources and online tools for educators, and to disseminate the testimonies for educational purposes. Currently, the institute works with a partner in Guatemala to collect survivor testimonies. Visual History Archive is a registered trademark of USC Shoah Foundation The Institute for Visual History and Education Reg. U.S. Pat & Tm. Off. About Center for Advanced Genocide Research The USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research is dedicated to advancing new areas of interdisciplinary research on the Holocaust and other genocides. One area of research addresses the fundamental question of what enables people to oppose or resist racist ideologies, state discrimination practices, or the active participation in mass atrocities. Other research interests include Research on Violence, Emotion and Behavioral Change and Digital Genocide Studies. Contact: Josh Grossberg 213-740-6065 [email protected] Rob Kuznia 213-740-0965 [email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160906/404643 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150218/176374LOGO SOURCE USC Shoah Foundation WURZBURG, Germany, September 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NOSTRA III Trial to Assess Efficacy and Safety of Ronopterin (VAS203) in the Treatment of Moderately to Severely Injured Traumatic Brain Injury Patients vasopharm GmbH, a privately held biopharmaceutical company focusing on novel therapeutics for the treatment of cerebrovascular diseases, today announced that the first patient has been enrolled in to the NOSTRA III (NO Synthase in TRAumatic Brain Injury) trial - a phase III clinical trial assessing efficacy and safety of Ronopterin (VAS203) for the treatment of moderately to severely injured closed head traumatic brain (TBI) injury patients. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death and disability among young adults and occurs when a sudden trauma causes damage to the brain. Every year, over 1,600,000 patients sustain a traumatic brain injury in the EU, and 70,000 of these die, with a further 100,000 being left disabled. Christian Wandersee, Chief Executive Officer of vasopharm, commented: "We welcome the recruitment of the first patient in to this pivotal phase III trial. The phase III trial is a key test to confirm our belief in the clinical efficacy of Ronopterin (VAS203) and its role in the treatment of moderately to severely injured closed head traumatic brain injury patients and leads us another step closer to bringing a drug for a highly unmet need to market. We believe VAS203 will provide physicians with a real opportunity to improve long-term outcomes for patients with this devastating condition." About the NOSTRA III Trial: VAS203 is an investigational Nitric Oxide Synthase inhibitor, which demonstrated statistically significant improvements to both short term (Therapy Intensity Level) and long term (extended Glasgow Outcome Scale, 6 months and 12 months) measures of treatment efficacy in a clinical phase II trial1. The NOSTRA III European confirmatory multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial is planning to enrol 232 patients suffering from a moderate to severe TBI who are hospitalised and have received an intra-cranial pressure probe. The study is designed to evaluate efficacy and safety of VAS203. In total, 35 European neuro-trauma centres in Germany, Austria, France, UK and Spain will participate in the trial. The intravenous administration of VAS203 will be applied between six and 18 hours after the injury and the infusion period will last for 48 hours. The primary endpoint will be the extended Glasgow Outcome Scale evaluated at six months after the injury. Secondary efficacy assessments include Quality of Life (QOLIBRI) as well as Therapy Intensity Level (TIL) over 14 days after brain injury. Data read-out (final clinical report) of the study is estimated for mid-2019. About Traumatic Brain Injury: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs when a sudden trauma causes damage to the brain. Every year, over 1,600,000 patients sustain a traumatic brain injury in the EU, and 70,000 of these die, with a further 100,000 being left disabled. Significantly, 75% of the victims are children and young adults, and TBI is the leading cause of disability in people under 40 years of age. Traumatic brain injury results in more lost working years than cancers, stroke and HIV/AIDS together. On a global scale, the number of life years lost due to traumatic brain injury is four times that of diabetes-related loss. Recent statistics show a steep increase in the incidence of TBIs, with an increase of 21% over the last five years - threefold greater than the rate of increase in population, at an annual cost of over Euros 100 billion. Despite this, TBI has been seriously underrepresented in medical R&D efforts compared to many other, less significant health problems.2 Reference: About VAS203: VAS203 is an analogue of the natural co-factor biopterin, which is involved in the generation of nitric oxide by the Nitric Oxide Synthase (NOS) family of enzymes. The mechanism of action of VAS203 is believed to confer selective down regulation of inducible NOS (iNOS) without significantly inhibiting the function of other NOS enzymes. It is believed that iNOS has a significant involvement in the cascade of damaging sequellae following a traumatic brain injury. Technical: VAS203 is (4-amino-(6R,S)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-L-biopterin dihydrochloride dehydrate) a structural analogue of (6R)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-L-biopterin, the natural endogenous cofactor of NOS and phenylalanine hydroxylase. About vasopharm GmbH: vasopharm is focused on the development of small molecule therapeutics which modulate the bioavailability of endogenous NO, by addressing the entire NO/cGMP signal cascade and its functional counterpart NOX. vasopharm's drug candidate VAS203 represents a completely new type of NOS inhibitors targeting cerebral vessels and cerebral tissue. For VAS203, vasopharm received orphan drug designation for the treatment of moderate and severe TBI in Europe. For further information, please contact: vasopharm GmbH Christian Wandersee, CEO Tel: +49-931-359099-0 Email: [email protected] Hume Brophy Mary Clark, Eva Haas, Hollie Vile Tel: +44 20-7862-6390 Email: [email protected] SOURCE vasopharm "The official launch of the Aquiire brand kicks off a new era at Vinimaya that speaks to who we are as a companyinnovative, entrepreneurial and bold," said Mike Palackdharry, President and CEO of Vinimaya. "Aquiire is the 5th generation solution from Vinimaya that clearly expresses our vision, expertise and thought leadership." Palackdharry said that Aquiire's intelligent eProcurement platform features patented technologies that truly deliver on the promise of real-time universal shopping, supplier management, business intelligence and structured and unstructured data assimilation. Palackdharry said Aquiire drives maximum user adoption, enabling compliance, purchasing control and unparalleled savings. He said the Aquiire brand is the new 'face' of Vinimaya, marking a new vision for the B2B eCommerce industry. He said the solution brings a completely new purchasing experience and approach to supplier relationship management (SRM). "Real-time technologies are the only way to deliver the next-generation functionality that our clients demand with maximum speed, simplicity and logic," Palackdharry said. "It eliminates the need for users to punch-out to supplier websites, it enables instant product and price comparisons across any eCommerce site and will provide instant alerts on supply chain risk. Our real-time solutions deliver true guided-buying and compliant shopping while allowing enterprises to instantly receive product and supplier intelligence based upon their procurement rules, before they make a purchase. It saves time and money, while protecting against mistakes. Real-time matters because the world changes in real-time." Palackdharry said that the Aquiire solution and brand marks a tremendous transformation of the company and brings real-time B2B eCommerce to the user with an elegant, intuitive and modern shopping experience. He said the product also features an exclusive visual discovery tool, KlarityTM, an interactive heat map that gives users the ability to quickly refine universal search results to easily find items and information they are seeking. "Our brand relaunch represents the natural evolution of our company," said Palackdharry. "It is imperative for our brand to reflect and promote our vision and the tremendous value we bring to the procurement and B2B eCommerce industries. We are a company based on innovation and entrepreneurialism. Aquiire exemplifies our continual and increased investment in our technologies and our expression of thought leadership in the industry. We are dedicated to delivering solutions that matter to our customers. This is only the start of our Aquiire journey and we are very excited about the years of ingenuity to come." About Vinimaya Vinimaya is a MBE-certified technology company and a thought leader and innovator of real-time B2B eCommerce solutions for some of the largest organizations in the world. The company is dedicated to a solutions-focused, collaborative approach in working with their global customers. Since 2000, Vinimaya has been developing personalized, cloud-based technology solutions designed to solve their customers' unique business challenges. Vinimaya is one of several portfolio companies of Vora Ventures, which was named the 2015 Technology Company of the Year in Cincinnati. More information at www.Aquiire.com. Twitter: @Aquiire. Contact: Paulie Anthony, Director of Marketing Email | 513/285.8385 SOURCE Vinimaya Related Links http://www.Aquiire.com "A few weeks ago, I tried a pair of EnChroma glasses designed to help with color blindness," said Kris Koenig, the film's writer and director. "When I looked through the glasses, greens and reds became more vibrant without degrading the rest of the visible spectrum. It got me thinking about applying color correction for the color blind to the film, like EnChroma does with its glasses." Koenig worked with EnChroma President and CEO, Andrew Schmeder, to develop a color calibration method to approximate the effect of EnChroma glasses. Steve Challot, the film's editor, used the calibration data to implement the correction, which isolates and enhances color along the red-green axis of color space. The result improves the viewing experience for up to 80% of people with red-green color blindness, depending on type and severity. An estimated 300 million people worldwide have some form of color vision deficiency. "The treated video is quite nice," said Scott Ecklein, a color blind member of the screening team. "The colors pop more, especially the reds, pinks, oranges, and greens." "Color blindness is often considered a mild disability, but can actually have a far reaching impact on a person's daily life," said Andrew Schmeder. "The mission of EnChroma is to use our understanding of modern color vision science to expand visual experiences for everyone." "Public television is known for presenting inclusive content to millions of viewers every night," said Mark Stanislawski, president of Southern Oregon Public Television, the film's public television presenting station. "Color blindness is the last accessibility hurdle for broadcast content. It's fitting that a documentary on human vision tackles the problem for color blind viewers." Sight: The Story of Vision is a one-hour documentary that presents efforts to improve and restore human vision; and the individuals who battle against the darkness of blindness. Every individual will experience an issue with his or her sight in their lifetime, so this film is for everyone. The film shows that people don't have to suffer with poor or reduced vision. Filmed around the world in brilliant 4K, the documentary visits Australia, Vietnam, China, Honduras, South Africa, India, Peru, Dominican Republic, Brazil, North America, and Europe. Additional online content will be presented through an Android and iOS Second Screen app, a downloadable eBook, and a companion website www.storyofsight.com. Sight: The Story of Vision is scheduled to premiere on Public Television on October 13th, World Sight Day. Check local TV listings. Funding for SIGHT was provided in part by the following: Adlens, Alcon, Brien Holden Vision Institute Foundation, Carl Zeiss Vision International, CooperVision, Costa Dante Alighieri Society of Massachusetts, Essilor, Reade Fahs, Dr. David and Jacqueline Fleishman, Eric Fleishman, Dr. Robert and Marcia Fleishman, Dr. George and Rita Foster, Wayne Godlin, Luxottica, NA, The Ohio State University, OneSight Foundation, Opticians Association of America, Opticians Association of Massachusetts, Dave Sattler, The Vision Council and Vision Service Providers (VSP) and VOSH International. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160905/404140 SOURCE Koenig Films, Inc. Related Links http://www.storyofsight.com LONDON, Sept. 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- About Winter Wear in Europe Product sales in this particular market depends on seasons, and is driven by the climatic conditions of a region. Winter seasons that are relatively warmer can hamper the sale of winter wear to a significant extent. The warm winters experienced in late 2015, for example, affected the sale of winter wear considerably, which impacted the business of retailers. Popular fashion shows like the Milan Fashion Week and the London Fashion Week are massive platforms for fashion designers and brands to showcase their offerings. Apart from such platforms, vendors also focus on digital platforms such as social media to increase their brand visibility and connect with their customers, as most European consumers actively use these digital platforms to increase their awareness of the different brands available in the market. Technavio's analysts forecast the winter wear market in Europe to grow at a CAGR of 1.81% during the period 2016-2020. Covered in this report The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the winter wear market in Europe for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, Technavio considers the revenue generated through retail sales of products like winter wear and footwear. The market is divided into the following segments based on store formats: - Speciality stores - Mass merchandisers - Online Technavio's report, Winter wear Market in Europe 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market. Key vendors - C&A - H&M - Inditex - Marks and Spencer - Primark - Walmart Other prominent vendors - Adidas - Amazon - American Eagle Outfitters - Arcadia Group - ASOS.com - Benetton Group - Debenhams - El Corte Ingles - Espirit Holdings - GAP - Kering - LVMH - Mango - Next - Ralph Lauren - TJX Market driver - Increase in sales during festive seasons - For a full, detailed list, view our report Market challenge - Availability of counterfeit products - For a full, detailed list, view our report Market trend - Marketing tactics and social media - For a full, detailed list, view our report Key questions answered in this report - What will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be? - What are the key market trends? - What is driving this market? - What are the challenges to market growth? - Who are the key vendors in this market space? - What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors? - What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors? You can request one free hour of our analyst's time when you purchase this market report. Details are provided within the report. Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4046945/ About Reportbuyer Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers http://www.reportbuyer.com For more information: Sarah Smith Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 208 816 85 48 Website: www.reportbuyer.com SOURCE ReportBuyer Related Links http://www.reportbuyer.com NEW YORK, Sept. 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Emerging markets boost worldwide demand As discussed in new study World Paints & Coatings, a bright outlook is forecast for the paint and coatings market worldwide through 2020, buoyed by strong economic growth in developing regions. Heightened income levels in emerging markets will continue to boost the ranks of the working and middle classes, driving new demand for housing, as well as fueling higher frequencies of paint use. Expanding manufacturing sectors and infrastructure investment will spur sales of industrial coatings utilized in the production and upkeep of motor vehicles, furniture, marine vessels, and roads and bridges. India to post fastest gains, while demand in China remains strong It is projected that of the major paint and coatings markets worldwide, the best opportunities are forecast for India, where paint use will be fueled by rapidly expanding investment to build or update homes, businesses, and industrial facilities. In China, which alone accounts for nearly one-third of the global market, a growing middle class will continue to boost demand for higher quality products, while solid gains in manufacturing output are expected to drive industrial coatings sales. Among developed nations, the US will post the best performance as building construction activity and fixed investment spending advance at a solid pace. Western Europe is expected to see a turnaround in paint sales, spurred by improved economic output and a recovering construction sector. Emissions regulations continue to shape industry Coatings suppliers worldwide will continue to reduce the volatile organic compound (VOC) content of their products due to intensifying regulatory pressure. As a result, water-based paints and powder coatings will gain market share at the expense of solvent-based products, especially in countries such as China, where environmental legislation is becoming increasingly strict. Nonetheless, solventborne formulations will continue to dominate a number of specialty applications, including marine coatings, automotive refinishes, and corrosion protection coating. Study coverage World Paint & Coatings presents historical data (2005, 2010, 2015) plus forecasts (2020, 2025) for supply and demand, as well as demand by market and formulation, for six regions and 23 countries. The study also considers market environment factors, assesses the industry structure, evaluates company market share and profiles 38 industry players worldwide including Akzo Nobel, Axalta Coating Systems, BASF, Nippon Paint, PPG, Sherwin-Williams and Valspar. Market research studies provide timely access to reliable, unbiased analysis from which to benchmark performance and answer critical questions: Is your business growing faster or slower than the overall market? Is your organization gaining or losing market share? Which products and markets are the most desirable to explore for expansion? Are there industry trends or competitor activities that present a threat or opportunity to your business? Studies offer a great ROI and can help business leaders make informed, analytically driven decisions. When considering the time, effort, and expertise that goes into it, our off-the-shelf research saves our clients time and money. Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p0771099-summary/view-report.html About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. http://www.reportlinker.com __________________________ Contact Clare: [email protected] US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 SOURCE Reportlinker Related Links http://www.reportlinker.com NEW YORK and LONDON, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- XL Catlin today announced the appointment of Lauren Tennant Pollock as Vice President, Emerging Markets based in New York. Commenting, Brendan Plessis, XL Catlin's Head of Emerging Markets said: "XL Catlin's Emerging Markets team is responsible for delivering on our commitment to providing (re)insurance solutions to developing regions across the world. Conceiving and building out these solutions requires innovative thought leadership. We simply cannot default to the products and models the industry has relied upon in mature markets but rather we need to build upon existing strategies in traditional (re)insurance and apply novel methods of product distribution. As we continue to play a critical role in expanding our global reach through disaster risk financing and microinsurance, we believe that Lauren has exactly the right experience and expertise to ensure we are out in front and driving the industry forward." Mr. Plessis added: "As part of her new role, Lauren will also be involved in a number of our innovation projects, working closely with Sarah Street, EVP, Strategy and Innovation Initiatives." Ms. Tennant Pollock has recently completed her MBA at Harvard Business School. While at Harvard, she worked as an advisor to Blue Marble Microinsurance, a consortium of leading insurers committed to designing creative solutions to enhance insurance protection in underserved regions. Prior to business school, she worked at Argo Group International, where she was responsible for emerging market operation strategy and product design, working in both their New York and Sao Paulo offices. Prior to joining Argo, Ms. Tennant Pollock worked at Guy Carpenter & Company in treaty brokerage. In addition to her MBA she holds a B.S. in Foreign Services from Georgetown University. About XL Catlin's Insurance Operations XL Catlin insurance companies offer property, casualty, professional, financial lines and specialty insurance products globally. Businesses that are moving the world forward choose XL Catlin as their partner. To learn more, visit xlcatlin.com. About XL Catlin's Reinsurance Operations XL Catlin reinsurance companies are among the world's leading reinsurers. They offer products that include aerospace, property, casualty, marine and specialty. The world's top insurers choose XL Catlin to help move their businesses forward. To learn more, visit xlcatlin.com. About XL Catlin XL Catlin is the global brand used by XL Group Ltd's (NYSE:XL) insurance and reinsurance companies which provide property, casualty, professional and specialty products to industrial, commercial and professional firms, insurance companies and other enterprises throughout the world. Clients look to XL Catlin for answers to their most complex risks and to help move their world forward. To learn more, visit xlcatlin.com . Contact: Brenna Ruiz-Gordon Media Relations +1 212 915 7052 SOURCE XL Catlin Related Links http://xlcatlin.com Name : mediawiki Product : Fedora 25 Version : 1.27.1 Release : 1.fc25 URL : http://www.mediawiki.org/ Summary : A wiki engine Description : MediaWiki is the software used for Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia Foundation websites. Compared to other wikis, it has an excellent range of features and support for high-traffic websites using multiple servers This package supports wiki farms. Read the instructions for creating wiki instances under /usr/share/doc/mediawiki/README.RPM. Remember to remove the config dir after completing the configuration. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Update Information: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.27 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - References: [ 1 ] Bug #1369613 - CVE-2016-6331 CVE-2016-6332 CVE-2016-6333 CVE-2016-6334 CVE-2016-6335 CVE-2016-6336 mediawiki: multiple flaws fixed in 1.27.1, 1.26.4 and 1.23.15 https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1369613 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - This update can be installed with the "yum" update program. Use su -c 'yum update mediawiki' at the command line. For more information, refer to "Managing Software with yum", available at https://docs.fedoraproject.org/yum/. All packages are signed with the Fedora Project GPG key. More details on the GPG keys used by the Fedora Project can be found at https://fedoraproject.org/keys ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - _______________________________________________ package-announce mailing list package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org https://lists.fedoraproject.org/admin/lists/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here Kabul, Sep 1 : At least two persons were killed in a car bombing in Afghanistan's Logar province on Thursday, media reported. A clash between militants and security forces ensued around 5.00 a.m. after the bomb struck near the Governor's Office and a police station in the provincial capital Pul-e-Alam, Xinhua news agency reported. "One militant detonated the car bomb, killing two security force members while a second group of gunmen seized a building and began a clash with the security forces," a police said. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack. Mumbai, Sep 2 : Lauding the Union cabinet's approval of measures to revive the construction sector, Reliance Infrastructure (Rel-Infra) on Friday said it has won arbitration awards for two road projects and was awaiting arbitration on various projects worth Rs 14,000 crore. "This landmark initiative by Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) will boost the stressed infrastructure sector and also help infuse much required liquidity in the system," Rel-Infra CEO Lalit Jalan said in a statement here. "Reliance Infrastructure has already won arbitration awards for two road projects of Rs 170 crore," the statement said. "In addition, over Rs 14,000 crore are under advanced stages of arbitration for various projects," it added. CCEA on Wednesday approved new norms for the construction sector to ensure quicker resolution of disputes, resume stalled projects and make access to financing easier. The measures approved include circulation of a model draft for turnkey projects, release of 75 per cent of money earmarked for infrastructure companies towards completion of existing projects, and coverage of disputes between companies and civic bodies under a new arbitration law. The 75 per cent of the arbitral award amount owed by government agencies will be deposited into an escrow account, which can be used to repay bank loans or to meet commitments in ongoing projects. The cabinet communique said that in case of claims where the government agency has challenged the arbitral award, 75 per cent of the award amount may be paid by the state-run unit to the "contractor/concessionaire against margin free bank guarantee". "The move will ensure that projects are not stranded due to long arbitration disputes between concessionaire/contractor and government agencies and lack of funds," Rel-Infra said. CCEA also said that a report commissioned by the Confederation of Indian Industry indicates that pending claims from government bodies are a key factor behind the burgeoning debt of construction companies, accounting for 150 per cent of the debt. "Over 85 per cent of the claims raised against government bodies are still pending of which 11 per cent is pending with the Government agencies, 64 per cent with arbitrators and 8.5 per cent with courts," the CCEA added. Melbourne, Sep 5 : The Supreme Court of Victoria on Monday handed down a 10-year sentence to a teenager for planning a terror attack on the police in April 2015 during celebrations in honour of Australian soldiers killed in the First World War. Sevdet Ramdam Besin, 19, resident of Melbourne, in June pleaded guilty to planning the terror attack, EFE news reported. Judge Michael Croucher condemned the Islamic State (IS) sympathiser to 10 years in prison, but he could be released on parole in seven and a half years, according to sources. Croucher said it was unthinkable that a teenager could plot the murder of a policeman, plan to attack and behead him with a knife. Besin, arrested a week before Anzac Day in 2015, discussed his plans with a young British national, who is currently serving a five-year sentence in prison after pleading guilty to inciting a terrorist attack during the celebrations. During the process, the boys also discussed the possibility of painting a kangaroo with IS symbol, loading it with explosives and releasing it in a city. Australia in recent years has registered an increase in adolescents and teenagers who, influenced by extremist Islamic movements, have carried out attacks in Australia or tried to leave the country to join the IS fight in the Middle East. Australian authorities put the country on high alert in September 2014 and since then has tightened security and adopted a series of anti-terror laws to prevent attacks on its soil. The current 'probable' alert, in force since November 2015, responds to 'credible' intelligence information, according to which a group of people has both the intention and the ability to carry out a terror attack in Australia. Jerusalem, Sep 5 : Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering a proposal by Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Moscow, his office said in a statement on Monday. The statement came following Netanyahu's meeting in Jerusalem with Mikhail Bogdanov, Putin's Special Envoy for the Middle East, during which they discussed the Russian president's offer. "The prime minister presented Israel's position that he is always ready to meet with President Abbas directly and without preconditions," the statement read, adding that Netanyahu is reviewing the Russian proposal. Abbas' office has not immediately commented on the move. The move came amidst tightened relations between Netanyahu and Putin over Russia's increased involvement in the Middle East. Netanyahu visited Putin three times over the last year, and the two held several phone talks. Last week, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said that Putin is willing to host Israeli and Palestinian leaders for direct peace talks, according to the Egyptian state-run Ahram newspaper. "President Putin told me he is ready to host the Palestinian president and the Israeli prime minister for direct peace talks in Moscow," Sisi was quoted as saying. The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks reached an impasse in April 2014. A recent peace bid by France to hold a peace summit in Paris was accepted by the Palestinians but rejected by Israel. Israel occupied the West Bank, along with other territories, in the 1967 Mideast War and has been holding it ever since. Pyongyang, Sep 6 : Top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un has guided the test-firing of ballistic rockets by the strategic force, the official news agency KCNA reported on Tuesday. Taking part in the test-firing drill were Hwasong artillery units of the strategic force of the Korean People's Army, who are tasked with hitting the US military bases in the Pacific, Xinhua news agency quoted the state media as saying, The drill was aimed to re-examine the flight security and guided accuracy of the improved ballistic rockets deployed for action and to assess and inspect capabilities of the units for action, it noted. The state media described the test-firing as "perfect" and said the drill has proved that the strategic force of the military is "capable of mounting a pre-emptive attack on the enemies any time and from any place". Kim, who was satisfied with the test result, instructed to make more achievements in bolstering nuclear force and to bring the military deterrent on a higher lever through development of nuclear arsenal. The state media did not give the date and place of the test-firing drill. South Korean Defence Ministry has said that the DPRK on Monday fired three ballistic missiles into its eastern waters at about 12.14 p.m. Seoul time near Hwangju county in North Hwanghae province. The missile launches came less than two weeks after Pyongyang test-fired a ballistic missile from a submarine off its east coastal town of Sinpo, where a submarine base is known to be located, on Aug 24. The submarine-launched ballistic missile flew some 500 km eastward, falling inside Japan's air defence identification zone for the first time. The submarine-launched ballistic missile test was conducted in an apparent show of force toward the annual US-South Korea military drills, code-named Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG), which had run from Aug 22 to Sep 2. Melbourne, Sep 6 : An Australian man has raised $4,000 to bring a stray dog home from Greece. Jacob Welsh from Geelong, 75 km from Melbourne, raised the money on a popular crowd funding website, to bring the dog, which he named "Chance," back to Australia, Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday. Welsh said the resounding success of the campaign guaranteed Chance would have a home for the rest of her life. "Thank you! She will not spend another night on the street thanks to all the help we've received," Welsh wrote on social media on Tuesday. Welsh said he and Chance became inseparable after he found her lying in a pile of broken glass on the side of a busy road in Greece. "I called her over to me and she hesitantly approached, I gave her a little pat and ever since then she has followed me wherever I go," he wrote on social media earlier. "I didn't have the heart to leave her on the street after that so since then I have been sneaking her into my apartment, which has a strict no-pets policy. "The sad reality of her going back on the streets is becoming more and more real as my time left in Greece comes to an end. "Australia's laws are very strict with this kind of thing but I have done the research and it is possible, just very expensive. If you can spare a few dollars Chance and I would really appreciate it." Costs involved in bringing an animal into Australia include a rabies vaccine, pet passport, plane tickets, airport transfers, de-worming medication and a pet carrier box. New Delhi : Book: China's Transition under Xi Jinping; Editor: Jagannath P. Panda; Publisher: Pentagon Press; Pages: 427; Price: Rs 1,995/$59.95 This China 2015 Yearbook of the defence ministry-funded think tank Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), while tracing President Xi Jinping's consolidation of power, obliquely exposes India's faultlines -- but this in no way detracts from the scholarly value of the book, with its 25 essays covering politics and security, economy and reforms, foreign policy and strategy, engaging the major players and regional outreach. "The year 2015 was important in executing daguo waijiao (major country diplomacy with distinctive Chinese features). The policy was not country-specific, rather it was based on a multi-centric course that was institution-, and country- as well as continental specific... Progress relating to the 'One Belt, One Road' (OBOR) initiative, the operation of the AIIB (Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank) and China's relations with neighbouring as well as remote countries explains the panache of Chinese diplomacy in 2015. The high point was the promotion campaign of OBOR," the book's editor, Jagannath P. Panda, writes in "China in 2015: A Primer". No proposition in the current Chinese foreign policy explains better the outward transformation that is taking place in it than President Xi's OBOR initiative... In brief, a multi-centric approach in foreign policy, foreign relations and diplomacy was noticed in 2015," adds Panda, a research fellow and Centre Coordinator for East Asia at IDSA. During this period, India did recalibrate its 'Look East' policy to 'Act East' but could achieve little in tangible terms. It's campaign to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) achieved little as was evident from the NSG's plenary in Seoul rejecting the country's membership in June. Relations with Pakistan and Nepal deteriorated to new lows and remained merely on even keel with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued his international jet-setting, but this was offset by the debate back home on issues ranging from love jihad, ghar wapsi, cow vigilantism and the like. And what of India-China ties? If 2014 marked the beginning of a new phase of engagement between China and India, 2015 saw both sides moving toward a "pragmatic reorientation" of their bilateral relations, writes Netajee Abhinandan in the chapter titled "China-India Relations: Calibrated Bonhomie or Real Harmony?" Modi's visit to China in May, "while paving the way for better understanding, laid the foundation for the start of a comprehensive dialogue between the two sides. A sense of bonhomie marked the bilateral relations in 2015; however, the question remains whether the bonhomie was a true manifestation of an improvement in relations that would continue in the coming years and lead to a credible partnership or was it just a 'calibrated' show to downplay the political disconnect between the two countries," asks Abhinandan, an assistant professor of political science at Cuttack's Ravenshaw University who has an M.Phil degree and Ph.D. from New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University. "While both sides maintained a strategic silence on some of the contentious issues like the trade deficit, the massive Chinese investment in Pakistan's infrastructural projects, the South China Sea dispute and the prevailing tension in border areas, both agreed to engage more substantially on trade and economic fronts. The political exchanges at the highest level failed to achieve any major breakthrough in terms of political and strategic understanding as both sides chose to focus, rather pragmatically, upon intensifying the engagement in economic spheres," Abhinandan says. "Clearly, there was an attempt on the part of both sides to abandon the old zero-sum mindset and enter into a new phase of constructive partnership based on mutual interests. However, most of the issues that have hindered the smooth progress of the relations remained unaddressed or were consciously sidelined during the bilateral exchanges," the writer asserts. "However, despite the public spectacle of bonhomie and hype about the personal chemistry between Xi and Modi, would China and India be able to reconcile their political differences or reduce the 'trust' deficit that plagues the relations? With China refusing to commit itself to the early resolution of the boundary dispute and stop military assistance to Pakistan, it is a difficult question to answer," Abhinandan writes. Also, let's not forget that it was China that had vociferously opposed India's NSG membership at Seoul. Clearly, calibrated bonhomie. To get back to the title, how does one sum up Xi in 2015? IDSA Director General Jayant Prasad, a former diplomat, does so pithily in the Foreword. "It is too early to assess the impact of President Xi Jingpeng's charismatic leadership and his contribution to China's economic transition and diplomacy. His personal standing appears to be inversely proportional to the declining esteem of the Chinese Communist Party. He has taken good judgement calls in his campaign against corruption and steps to reorient China's economy from export-led manufacturing to services, consumption, and development of the hinterland. Notwithstanding his vision, energy and pragmatic statesmanship, the desired outcomes might not materialise due to structural factors beyond his control," writes Prasad. One last word: While it is laudable that IDSA has decided to take the yearbook beyond a descriptive chronology of events towards an analytical presentation on chosen themes related to China, most of its chapters were presented at a seminar in February. The book thus could have done without the six-month time-lag. (Vishnu Makhijani can be contacted at vishnu.makhijani@ians.in) New Delhi : The government's latest policy package to revive and boost the cash-strapped construction and realty sector by putting in place a mechanism to release funds that are stuck in arbitration is a significant move for the industry and the economy. Under the new norms, 75 percent of the amount against guarantee will be released in cases where a given award has been contested by government authorities. This is a big relief for the sector that has around Rs 1 lakh crore under arbitration. The notable, related reform measure -- granting permanent residency status to foreign investors aimed at facilitating greater investment -- will further bolster liquidity. The government's stimulus reflects its priority to the construction sector and is quite justified, considering that it contributes eight percent to the GDP and generates huge employment to revitalise the economy. That's precisely why Prime Minister Narendra Modi has gone on record as saying that the three-year period (2011-12 to 2013-14) of stagnation, with large number of stalled projects, had badly hit the economy. The new policy is aimed at reducing the debt and meeting working capital requirements to revive stalled projects and start new ones. It has come as a big breather for construction companies, reflected in the immediate spurt in their stock prices. The positive impact can be gauged from the fact that big construction companies like HCC will be able to reduce their debt by half as revealed by its Chairman Ajit Gulabchand. Industry experts like Sushil Mittal, Chairman of the Association of Certified Realtors of India, are also upbeat about the policy decision, saying that it is a win-win situation for infrastructure companies, financial institutions and the government. The new policy measures are perfectly in line with the government's policy to push infrastructure and boost economic activity. As private investments are not forthcoming, the government is banking on public investment, with a spending target of Rs 7 lakh crore. Even in the national budget, the focus has been on infrastructure, as the total value of stalled projects stood at seven percent of GDP. The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) put stalled projects at Rs 11.36 lakh crore, with projects worth Rs 70,000 crore under arbitration. The government has an uphill task ahead to build 100 smart cities and 60 million new houses under its flagship 'Housing for All' programme. And the key to achieving all this is the good financial health of the construction and realty sector. Anuj Puri, Chairman of global real estate advisory JLL India, believes that at a time when we are focusing on infrastructure creation and real estate boosting, the government's twin measures of providing continuous liquidity and switching over to the globally accepted EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction) mode of contracts, promising higher degree of certainty in relation to cost and time, will result in infrastructure capacity-building by giving a fillip to private participation and investment. Today, the biggest bane of the construction and realty sector is debt-ridden developers. That's why the whole focus of the new policy is to de-stress the developers while at the same time helping financial institutions to recover their loans on time to control bad debts so that they are in a position to not only restructure loans of stressed players but also offer them loans for new projects. Industry statistics show that banks have an exposure of about 45 percent to the construction sector. The total loan outstanding of the real estate sector is Rs 9.60 lakh crore with 1.6 percent bad loans, amounting to Rs 16,000 crore. According to premier rating agency, Crisil, the debt of real estate developers for residential projects shot up to Rs 61,000 crore in 2014-15. It estimates that top real estate companies face the challenge of paying about Rs 30,000 crore of borrowings maturing in the immediate future. It is in this backdrop that private equity entities have come to the rescue of developers of stressed projects. Piramal has recently funded Rs 15,000 crore to over half a dozen developers and has a target of disbursing Rs 1,500 crore of credit to realty companies every month. Big global private equities like KKR, Blackstone and Altico are also extending credit to stressed developers to finish stalled projects. That's also the reason why the Department of Financial Services under the Finance Ministry, and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), have announced the need for a one-time scheme to address stressed bank loans in the real estate sector. The new policy prescription also opens up opportunities for realty companies and developers to partner with construction companies and contractors to take up infrastructure projects like roads and highways. In a recent conference of Naredco (National Council of Real Estate Developers), Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had also suggested that real estate developers facing a slowdown should leverage massive opportunities of undertaking roads and highways projects by partnering with established infrastructure players. In conclusion, the government's new progressive policy has a healthy prescription of short-term to long-term measures to revive the construction sector, especially as, going forward, it also seeks to bring changes in the bid documents and propose model contracts, besides focusing on greater conciliation to boost the sector. (06.09.2016 Vinod Behl is editor, Realty Plus, a leading real estate monthly. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at vbehl2008@gmail.com) New Delhi, Sep 6 : Prime Minister Modi on Tuesday wished the followers of Jain religion on the last day of 'Paryushan Parva', sending the message of unity and harmony. "Michhami Dukkadam. May the spirit of forgiveness & compassion enhance the spirit of harmony & togetherness in our society," Modi wrote on Twitter. Paryushan Parva is a major festival of Jains which lasts for seven days culminating in 'Samvatsari Parvi'. On this day, Jains greet each other by saying "Michhami Dukkadam" and observe a whole-day fast. 'Michhami Dukkadam' is an ancient phrase from Prakrit language, which is uttered by one seeking forgiveness for any ill-will or bad deeds and offering a renewal of relationship. Latest updates on Howdy Modi Houston Munich, Sep 6 : A business delegation led by West Bengal Finance and Industries Minister Amit Mitra on Monday held a high-level meeting with German auto giant BMW here and exuded confidence of developing "a sustainable relationship" with the company. "Today we had a very productive meeting with high level representatives of the BMW. The meeting lasted for three hours in which both parties shared information. It was a very productive meeting and we hope to carry forward this fruitful discussion," Mitra told the media here after the meeting. Mitra's team, which is part of the delegation led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee scouting for investments that arrived here on Monday, also comprised Trinamool Congress legislator Sudip Bandyopadhyay, state finance and chief secretaries and members from the business community. "During the three hour meeting, they (BMW) gave a presentation about their existing facilities and expertise, their plans and endeavours on sustainable transport like electric cars and hybrid automobiles as also about their plans and perception about India. "On our part, through facts and figures, we informed them about the rapid development that Bengal has witnessed under the Mamata Banerjee government. They were quite impressed by the progress that Bengal has made," said Mitra adding "5-6 projects" were discussed with the carmakers but refused to divulge details. "The take home of today's meeting was sharing of information and enhancing familiarity. We have discussed several projects and the stress is on to take further this productive discussion and turn it into a sustainable relationship," he said. Asked if the company has expressed interest of investing in Bengal, Mitra replied: "All options are open. We have shared whatever information they asked for and they are quite impressed by Bengal's recent development and progress. "Both the parties spent three hours exchanging valuable information. We shared our vision of Bengal and they shared what is their vision and their plans for the future." On Wednesday, Banerjee is slated to hold series of meetings and address an interactive session with German investors and businessmen. Agartala, Sep 6 : The Singur issue of West Bengal is likely to be discussed at the CPI-M Central Committee meeting in New Delhi on September 17-19, a party leader said here on Tuesday. "The Central Committee meeting in New Delhi is likely to discuss the Singur issue. The Tripura state committee of the party can not make any comment on the issue before the media as the Politburo of the CPI-M has made a statement," said Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Central Committee member Bijan Dhar. Replying to a question on the issue, he said: "The CPI-M West Bengal state Secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra also made a statement on the Singur issue. We (Tripura CPI-M unit) have no right to comment before the media on the issue of another state." The Supreme Court recently struck down the acquisition of 997.11 acres of land by the then CPI(M)-led Left Front government in Bengal's Singur (in Hooghly district) for setting up the small car factory of the Tata Motors. Following the judgement, the CPI-M politburo said: "The acquisition process had to be undertaken under the 1894 Land Acquisition Act, which was the only legal instrument available at that time. This was an Act which did not protect the interests of the farmers adequately." On land acquisition, the CPI-M had earlier acknowledged in its Central Committee review report of the 2011 assembly elections that the administrative and political mistakes in this regard proved costly. Hanoi, Sep 6 : Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang and visiting French President Francois Hollande said here on Tuesday that economic cooperation continues to be a prioritised pillar in the bilateral relations. The agreement came during their talks held in Vietnam's capital Hanoi on Tuesday where Hollande is paying a visit from Monday to Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported. The two countries will highlight cooperation in key projects of infrastructure, energy, aviation, medical-pharmaceutical sector, environment, agriculture and food processing. Hollande is also scheduled to give a speech at the Vietnam National University and attend a state banquet in the capital before he departs later at night for Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam. After the talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of a series of cooperation documents related to mutual legal assistance, personnel training, agriculture, climate change, among others. On Tuesday, Vietnamese air carriers signed deals with French aircraft manufacturer Airbus for 40 planes worth $6.5 billion, Efe news reported. France is Vietnam's fifth-largest trade partner in Europe, with two-way trade reaching $4.2 billion in 2015, and is also the third largest European investor in the Southeast Asian country. London, Sep 6 : British Airways on Tuesday apologised to its passengers who faced delays after an IT glitch affected check-in desks. The passengers complained of delays at check-in, the baggage drop and on the tarmac waiting for take-off, BBC reported. The airline said passengers were able to check in at Heathrow and Gatwick Airports "although it is taking longer than usual". It advised passengers to check in online. "We are sorry for the delay to their journeys," it said. There was further disruption for passengers at London City Airport on Tuesday after, police said, protestors "locked themselves together" on the runway. The airways encouraged customers affected by the IT problems to check in online before they reached the airport. It told the customers that some flights were cancelled on Monday "due to operational reasons" but that specialists were "working to resolve this issue". One passenger, Dana Al-Qatami, who was flying from Switzerland to London, was issued with a handwritten boarding pass on Tuesday morning. Dana, alongside another Twitter user, Susan Stewart, said the delays continued once on the plane. Stewart, a Director at the Open University in Scotland, tweeted: "Dear British Airways, could you turn the wifi BA 2953 please so we can work whilst stuck here on tarmac? (or let us off?)". Liv Boeree, a professional poker player from London, told the BBC she had queued for a flight in Las Vegas for two and a half hours. "It's now midnight and we are boarding. Check-in was long and slow. The staff handled it very well," she said. On Monday, customers in the US and Canada reported delays at several airports due to IT problems. People flying from San Francisco, Washington DC and Atlanta reported long delays on social media. Matthew Walker, a financial analyst from London, waited for more than two hours to board his flight to Heathrow. Though he had already checked in online, he said that the airways staff could not access their computers to see which passengers had gone through security. In July, the British Airways apologised to passengers who faced long delays at check-in at Heathrow and Gatwick. The airways was upgrading its check-in system and problems led to lengthy queues on one of the busiest days of the year for the airports. New Delhi, Sep 6 : The Congress and the JD-U on Tuesday hit out at the BJP-led central government over expenditure of Rs 3.5 crore incurred by 23 ministers in refurbishing their respective offices and termed the expense as "wasteful". Reacting to a news report, based on RTI queries and published in the Economic Times, the leaders of the two parties asked the government about reasons for spending public money in this manner. "Considering that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken about wasteful expenditure, it is surprising that some of his ministers are indulging in renovating their offices at the cost of taxpayers' money," Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi told IANS. "We would want to know what was the reason behind using these amount of funds for the sake of renovations," she asked. The report said that for 23 ministers, the total expenditure on office renovation in this government's first two years has been nearly Rs 3.5 crore. Those who spent the most are: Smriti Irani, Chaudhary Birender Singh, Rajyavardhan Rathore, Upendra Kushwaha, Ram Shankar Katheria, J.P. Nadda, Sanwarlal Jat and Jitendra Singh. When Irani was HRD Minister, Rs 1.16 crore was spent on renovation for her and two junior Ministers -- over Rs 70 lakh for Irani's office and over Rs 40 lakh for the offices of the two Ministers of State. In the last cabinet reshuffle, Irani was dropped from the HRD ministry and shifted to the Textiles ministry. Chaturvedi said that it was also in the news how these Ministers, when they were holding some other responsibilities, have gone for renovation of their office. "So every time a minister occupies some chair does that mean that overall renovation and an overhaul of office needs to be done. This is something that needs to be answered by these respective ministers for spending this kind of amount to renovate their offices," she said. Janata Dal-United leader Bashistha Narain Singh questioned the need of "misusing" taxpayer's money lavishly. "Question is that you have no respect for the the government funds which is the taxpayers money and you are misusing this for your personal hobbies," he told IANS. Singh said that misuse of taxpayers money was not a justice to the people. "The ministers who have spent such huge amount on the renovations of their offices shows that they believe in decoration from the taxpayers money," he said, adding that a minister must refrain from such expenditures. The BJP, however, refrained from commenting on the report published by the daily. "I have not seen the report so I can't comment," BJP spokesperson Bizay Sonkar Shastri told IANS. According to the paper, top four ministers - Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar - have not spent a paisa on office improvement. While former Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptullah did not spend anything on renovation, her then junior minister, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, spent over Rs 14 lakh, it added. However, as per department of expenditure guidelines, Rs 2 lakh can be spent on furniture and furnishings and Rs 1 lakh on electrical appliances in minister's office at his residence. The limit is higher in the minister's office in the secretariat with Rs 6.5 lakh on furniture and furnishings and Rs 1.5 lakh on air conditioners and electrical appliances. There is no limit on expenditure if a new office is being constructed. New Delhi, Sep 6 : Union Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday said that India is planning to sign a film co-production agreement with Russia and South Africa. In his address at the closing ceremony of 1st BRICS Film Festival, Naidu also said that a specially curated BRICS section would form part of the India International Film Festival from this year onwards and would become a regular feature in the future editions. "India is doing co-productions with Brazil and China. We are considering signing a co-production agreement with Russia and South Africa," he said here at the Siri Fort Auditorium Complex. "I propose for a special BRICS section to be a part of the India International Film Festival. I hope this will provide a great platform and forum for the filmmakers of BRICS countries to work together, come together and act together," added Naidu, who was joined by Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, at the event. He further said that being a "powerful medium", cinema can sends across the right message that can counter the negativity emerging from terrorism. "We have challenges like terrorism, which has no religion. It is the enemy of humanity. So, through cinema I hope that we convey the right message to people. The entire world should come together to condemn such heinous crime because the terror is becoming a big problem across the globe. Earlier it was limited to the sub-continent but now it's spreading worldwide. During his speech, Naidu even asked filmmakers from various part of the world, especially from other BRICS countries, to visit India to shoot their films. "India offers varieties of locale for shooting films. In addition to this India is home to one of the biggest film industries. We have nature's beauty and also accountability in the people of India, who work together for the best results," he said. The five-day long film festival, which is a part of the special events planned in run-up to the 8th BRICS Summit being held in India, featured 20 films in the competition section which focussed on a variety of issues and themes ranging from discrimination, love, history and relevant social challenges being faced by BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The next edition of the BRICS Film Festival will take place in Chengdu, China. Mumbai, Sep 6 : Bollywood actor John Abraham, who has been named the brand ambassador of Aruncachal Pradesh Tourism, says he would like to shoot an entire film in the northeastern state. "I just told (state Tourism Secretary Joram) Dr Bedathat I would like to take an entire film to Arunacahal Pradesh.. he corrected me that not an entire film, take one schedule and then you see. I am excited to explore it and we are responsible as film makers and we hope it grows in the arena of tourism. 'Rangoon' was shot there and we hope even we shoot our film there," John said here. The actor also feels the region has been alienated. "Historically and geographically we have alienated the northeast from the rest of India. I think it's really sad. I think its high time that we include the northeast in India." John says the right time to visit Arunachal Pradesh is from October to February. "The ideal time to visit Arunachal is from October to February. After mid February it rains and in October its fantastic so that's the right time to visit Arunachal Pradesh," he said. John, who is bike lover, also says he would like to go their for biking routes. "I would like to take time off personally to go there and would like to go their for biking routes. I like that space I have done more than 3,000 miles in Europe so I would like to go to Arunachal Pradesh to explore the space. The second thing what I like is the white water rafting." Washington, Sep 7 : As many as 88 retired US military generals and officials on Tuesday issued an open letter to bolster Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, praising his position on national security. "For the past eight years, America's armed forces have been subjected to a series of ill-considered and debilitating budget cuts, policy choices and combat operations that have left the superb men and women in uniform less capable of performing their vital missions in the future than we require them to be," Xinhua news agency quoted the letter as saying. "For this reason, we support Donald Trump and his commitment to rebuild our military, to secure our borders, to defeat our Islamic supremacist adversaries and restore law and order domestically," it announced. "The 2016 election affords the American people an urgently needed opportunity to make a long-overdue course correction in our national security posture and policy," said the military figures in the letter. In response, the Trump campaign called the endorsements a "great honour" in a statement. "Under my administration, we will end the weak foreign policy of the last eight years, rebuild our military, give our troops clear rules of engagement and take care of our veterans when they come home," Trump claimed. The letter comes days after a flow of endorsements from national intelligence, military figures and Republican national security experts for Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, who was the former Secretary of State during President Barack Obama's first term. Recent polls show that the race between Trump and Clinton is tightening in the final push ahead of the general election in November. Warsaw, Sep 7 : Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said here on Tuesday he would not meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Moscow on September 9 as had initially been planned, the Polish Press Agency (PAP) reported. Abbas, speaking at a press conference in Warsaw after meeting Polish President Andrzej Duda, explained the meeting had been proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. "I was to leave Warsaw for Moscow to meet with Netanyahu. Unfortunately, Netanyahu's representative, during Monday's talks with President Putin's representatives, proposed postponing the meeting," Xinhua news agency quoted Abbas as saying. "The meeting will not be held, but I declare that I will attend the next planned meeting in Moscow or any country in the world as dialogue is the only road leading to peace for the Palestinian nation," Abbas declared. Abbas started his visit to Poland on Tuesday morning. The Royston Group When you have a buyer in a 1031 exchange and running out of time, its amazing how quickly things get done. It takes a team effort from the attorneys to the escrow agent and brokers to complete a transaction this quickly The Royston Group has completed an $8,250,000 sale in Las Vegas, Nevada. The building, leased to Sears, is over 160,000 square feet on over 12 acres of land. Sears has over 8 years remaining on the NNN lease and is located in a Kohls, Target anchored shopping center in a dense infill location. Greg Cortese of The Royston Group, Los Angeles, represented the buyer in this transaction and closed it in less than 2 weeks which included the assumption of an existing loan. The buyer selected this property because the price per foot was $51, the rent was only $3.75 per square foot and the return was above market. Both buyer and seller are private real estate investors based in California. When you have a buyer in a 1031 exchange and running out of time, its amazing how quickly things get done. It takes a team effort from the attorneys to the escrow agent and brokers to complete a transaction this quickly. Said Cortese. Greg Cortese, President of The Royston Group and Rob Sutton, Vice President specializes in the sale of single tenant net lease properties. The Royston Group is a privately held commercial real estate investment firm, founded in 1992. The company provides services for a multitude of net lease commercial property types including office, industrial, retail and medical. The firm has completed over $2.5 billion in real estate sales since its inception and is licensed in California and Nevada. http://www.theroystongroup.com Stephen Crosson, MAI joins Capright. 'I am so proud to be a part of Capright, a company synonymous with quality and integrity among the largest players in commercial real estate,' said Mr. Crosson. Capright announced today that prominent Dallas real estate executive Stephen Crosson has joined the firm as a Principal. Mr. Crosson specializes in providing valuation and consulting services for litigation support and mortgage lending throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Former Chairman and CEO of the highly regarded Dallas firm Crosson Dannis, Inc., Mr. Crosson, is the current and longest-serving Board Chair and Editor-in-Chief of The Appraisal Journal, the leading peer-reviewed scholarly journal for the real estate valuation profession, published by the Appraisal Institute. He has many published articles. He was a contributor to the current editions of The Appraisal of Real Estate and The Dictionary of Real Estate Appraisal as well as the pending 3rd edition of The Appraisal of Rural Property. Mr. Crosson is also an active member of The Real Estate Council of Dallas and a Founder of its popular Fight Night, one of North Texas largest philanthropic events that is in its 29th year. Mr. Crosson has extensive experience in high stakes litigation support, having worked on cases throughout the country. Such assignments have involved complex properties and valuation issues. His expertise includes both valuation and methodology/standards of care. Commenting on the move, Capright Principal Selina McUmber said, I am thrilled to be working alongside Steve in Dallas. We have been friends for several years and I have tremendous respect for the wealth and breadth of experience he brings to our firm. It is fantastic to have one of the most sought after expert witnesses in the country on our team. Capright CEO Jay Marling added, Steve is an absolute icon in Dallas commercial real estate industry. He has accomplished so much professionally and his generosity is legendary both among his peers and in the community at large. The gravitas Steve brings to Capright speaks for itself. I am so proud to be a part of Capright, a company synonymous with quality and integrity among the largest players in commercial real estate. It is wonderful to be working with such a talented and innovative group of professionals, said Mr. Crosson of his new role. About Capright Capright provides comprehensive commercial real estate valuation and consulting services that are free from conflicts of interest. Capright operates in all major markets of the US and Latin America with offices in Chicago, Boston, Dallas, San Diego, Miami, Mexico City, San Jose (Costa Rica), and Sao Paulo (Brazil). For more information about Capright, please visit http://www.capright.com. Any hospital CEO, CFO or head of patient engagement in the Raleigh-Durham area should plan to attend...Its an investment...quickly recouped by employing our flexible patient payment solution. Tom Furr, PatientPay CEO PatientPay, a paperless payments technology company focused on healthcare will be one of a select group of North Carolina-based emerging growth firms to present at the 2016 Council for Entrepreneurial Development Tech Venture Conference, to be held September 13-14, at the Raleigh Convention Center. The event is one of the premier events for technology entrepreneurs in the Southeast and attracts some of the most innovative minds from across the nation including business and technology innovators, investors, corporate visionaries and community leaders. PatientPay is thrilled to have been chosen to participate in the Tech Venture Conference Showcase as it underscores our growth as a company addressing the challenges in healthcare of patient billing and collections, said Tom Furr, PatientPays CEO. I am especially proud to see PatientPay, with headquarters in Durham, be identified as one of North Carolinas more innovative companies. Furr will speak about the genesis of PatientPay, a convoluted hospital bill that prompted him to find a better way for patients to understand and pay their bills, and the growth path the company has taken to serve hospitals, large group medical practices and revenue cycle management companies across America with its PatientPay Paperless solution. Any hospital CEO, CFO or head of patient engagement in the Raleigh-Durham area should plan to attend the PatientPay Showcase, the morning of September 14, Furr said. Its an investment Im certain will be quickly recouped by employing our flexible patient payment solution. About PatientPay Paperless To view a video that explains the benefits of PatientPay Paperless click here:How PatientPay Works About PatientPay PatientPay creates patient payment solutions that help patients, practices, hospitals and revenue cycle management providers better control expenses in todays healthcare environment. Its solutions yield greater operational and financial efficiency for healthcare providers while giving patients a simple way to manage their healthcare-related financial obligations. The billing, payment and reporting services are HIPAA and PCI Level 1 compliant and eliminate time-intensive, error-prone, manual back-end efforts to process and reconcile paper bills or manage a traditional online portal. PatientPay was founded in 2008 to bring to healthcare consumers the same type of payment solutions they use in retail and e-commerce environments. In 2012 PatientPay was granted three patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 8,155,983, 8,204,764 and 8,214,233) for its innovative process that underpins its solutions, which can be integrated with any healthcare management software. The company is headquartered in Durham, North Carolina. For more information, please visit http://www.patientpay.com or call (888) 730-9374. 1in6, Inc., a national non-profit organization dedicated to the support and healing of men who are survivors of sexual abuse and assault, has received a grant from the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles to host two, full-day training sessions on September 14 and 15, 2016. The event, entitled It Happens, It Matters, will take place at the California Endowment, 1000 North Alameda Street in Los Angeles. It happens, It matters is an educational seminar and training event focusing on male sexual abuse and assault. The instruction offers a primer on the basic concepts, theories and approaches to working with male survivors. Attendees should be frontline professionals, volunteers and/or students affiliated with colleges and universities based in Los Angeles County. Over the course of the sessions, professionals and volunteers who dedicate their time and effort to the healing of male survivors of sexual abuse and assault will learn proven strategies and techniques for working with those who identify as men. The work of 1in6 provides much-needed services to men who far too frequently remain silent in their pain, said Marvin I. Schotland, President & CEO of The Foundation. Unfortunately, men from all communities are affected by unwanted sexual experiences that can produce life-long damage. We are proud to support 1in6 in its efforts to provide assistance to these brave men and those who support them. We invite all front-line workers who work with male survivors of sexual abuse and assault to participate, said Steve LePore Founder and Executive Director of 1in6. We are extremely grateful to the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles for funding this event which will allow us to educate as many as 100 attendees about this issue that impacts the lives of one in every six men in the United States. More than 21 million American men have been sexually abused or assaulted in the United States. Untreated, men are vulnerable to a significantly higher risk of developing a host of health issues including substance abuse, self-destructive behavior, chronic health conditions, depression, suicidal ideation, post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as social dysfunctions such as failed relationships, hindered education and unfulfilled career objectives. Since 2007, 1in6 has helped countless men who have had unwanted or abusive sexual experiences live healthier, happier lives. 1in6 offers awareness and education, as well as in-person and over-the-web services to men with histories of unwanted or abusive experiences and anyone who cares about them. 1in6 assists survivors family members, friends, and partners by providing information and support resources on the web and in the community. 1in6 also provides professional training like the upcoming It Happens, It Matters two day gathering. For more information about the programs offered by 1in6 or to make a tax-deducible donation please go to http://www.1in6.org. To inquire about attending It Happens, It Matters, please contact 1in6 Training Coordinator Tracey Awad at tracey(at)1in6(dot)org. About The Foundation Established in 1954, the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles manages more than $1 billion of assets entrusted to it by over 1,200 families. The Foundation partners with donors to shape meaningful philanthropic strategies, magnify the impact of giving, and build enduring charitable legacies. Over the past 25 years, The Foundation has distributed over $1 billion in grants to thousands of nonprofits across a diverse spectrum. http://www.jewishfoundationla.org # # # Elizabeth "Eli" Pollard, Executive Director, World Parkinson Coalition Were especially grateful to Portland Mayor Charlie Hales and the WPC 2016 Local Organizing Committee for helping make this meeting run smoothly and contributing to its success" Elizabeth (Eli) Pollard, executive director, World Parkinson Coalition The city of Portland is working around the clock as it prepares for the 4th World Parkinson Congress (WPC 2016) being held from September 20 to 23 at the Oregon Convention Center. In anticipation of more than 4,000 participants from around the world, Portland Mayor Charlie Hales proclaims that week as being Parkinsons Awareness Week. Mayor Hales also plans to provide remarks at the Opening Ceremony on September 20. How does an organization help a city prepare for an international meeting of this magnitude? With lots of hard work and cooperation among all parties involved in making this meeting a success, answers Elizabeth (Eli) Pollard, executive director, World Parkinson Coalition, the organization behind WPC 2016. Were especially grateful to Mayor Hales and the WPC 2016 Local Organizing Committee for the ironing out the details and plowing through local logistics, helping to make this event run smoothly on the local level, adds Pollard. Details include arranging and implementing training sessions for people working in the service sector, such as hotels and restaurants; civil servants, such as police and firefighters; and public and private transportation as well as at local hospitals and health clinics. In fact, one of WPCs partners, local area non-profit Parkinson's Resources of Oregon (PRO) began unveiling a series of Parkinsons Ready trainings for Legacy Health Systems, the Portland Police Department, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at Portland International Airport and area hotels in conjunction with the WPC. According to Holly Chaimov, executive director, PRO, The trainings and video webinars help educate front of house staff, first responders, and prepare organizations focused on serving the public to identify and assist individuals living with Parkinsons disease who are local residents or visiting Portland for this world class event. These unique training programs shed light on the special needs of people with Parkinsons. Staffed by a member of Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) or PRO, paired with someone with the disease who provides firsthand accounts of issues they face, participants come away with a deeper understanding of Parkinsons disease and symptoms, and practical, concrete tips for common or anticipated situations. We at the WPC recognize and applaud the massive undertaking by the residents, workers and WPC 2016 Local Organizing Committee members in Portland to make its visitors feel welcome as well as safe and secure, says Pollard. As a result of their tireless work, we are confident that all who attend WPC 2016 will feel the Citys warm welcome. About the World Parkinson Coalition and WPC 2016 The World Parkinson Coalition Inc. is a nonprofit organization that provides an international forum for learning about the latest scientific discoveries, medical practices, care partner initiatives and advocacy work related to Parkinson's disease. The World Parkinson Coalition launched the first Congress in 2006 to provide a space for the global Parkinsons community of researchers, clinicians, health care professionals, people with Parkinsons and their care partners to meet in person, network and to share advances in Parkinsons research, improve understanding and promote advocacy worldwide, and to potentially shape future research, treatment and care. From its modest beginning to nearly 10,000 delegates who have participated in the previous triennial Congresses, the WPC 2016 is expected to attract more than 4,000 delegates. The next WPC will be held in Kyoto, Japan in 2019; it will be back on U.S. soil in 9 years. To learn more about the 4th World Parkinson Congress, please visit: http://www.wpc2016.org/ ### Wireless 20/20, LLC (http://www.wireless2020.com), a leading broadband wireless research and consulting group, announced today that they will be showcasing their new In-Building Neutral Host Network WiROI Business Case Analysis Tool during the Tower & Small Cell Summit. Wireless 20/20 Senior Consultant Berge Ayvazian is serving as Conference Chairman and will moderate the keynote session at the two-day summit, co-located with CTIA Super Mobility in Las Vegas at the Sands Expo Center, September 7-8, 2016. Wireless 20/20 has leveraged experience from over 100 engagements with 3G/4G operators worldwide to create its newest version of the award-winning WiROI Venue Tool. The new In-Building Neutral Host Network WiROI Business Case Analysis Tool can be used to analyze the technical and financial aspects of providing Wireless as a Utility Service for in-building environments, such as existing large enterprise buildings and new constructions where there is a high density of broadband users. The tool can be used to analyze network technology options like Wi-Fi, DAS, and LTE small cells, as well as simulate various methods for monetizing the investment in wireless in-building networks. The result is a complete ROI analysis for Neutral Host service providers, property owners and MNOs. The In-Building WiROI Tool simulates the impact of tens of thousands of users in large buildings using smartphones and enables Neutral Host providers to simulate performance enhancements, revenue potential and cost-effectiveness of an active DAS, Small Cell and Wi-Fi network over a 10-year period. The new WiROI Tool can be used to model the SLAs and cost-savings under various business scenarios, allowing MNOs to analyze how they can best utilize and participate in providing wireless in-building neutral host networks. Many high density buildings require improvements in indoor coverage and capacity in order to attract and retain tenants. Progressive real estate developers and property owners are realizing that excellent Wi-Fi and cellular network quality has become an essential utility in their buildings. The question we often get asked is who should pay for the installation and operation of such networks, said Haig Sarkissian, Principal Consultant at Wireless 20/20. Our new WiROI Tool allows building owners and Neutral Host service providers to answer this question by pinpointing the business models that provide the best wireless service for the building owner and its tenants, positive ROI for the Neutral Host operator, while offering improved economics and speed of deployment for MNOs. Randall Schwartz, Principal Consultant at Wireless 20/20 added, "The deployment of in-building Neutral Host networks is one of the most critical developments in the broadband wireless industry today. But many properties cannot accommodate separate and disjointed deployments by each MNO. Our analysis shows that the preferred and most economical solution for a large building owner is to act as a Neutral Host service provider, or work with a lead MNO or a third-party Neutral Host operator to deploy a common and shared infrastructure that can support all MNOs." The new WiROI Tool helps all parties to negotiate and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. More information about the In-Building Neutral Host Network WiROI Tool can be found at http://www.wireless2020.com/WiROINeutralHost/. Fully interactive demonstrations of all the WiROI Wireless Networks Business Case Analysis Tools can be accessed by visiting: http://www.wireless2020.com/register/. Haig Sarkissian, Principal Consultant, Wireless 20/20 will be demonstrating the new In-Building Neutral Host Network WiROI Business Case Analysis Tool during his Track Introduction to Indoor Network Densification, September 8 at 1:45 PM at the Tower & Small Cell Summit. He will also moderate the panel on Neutral Host In-Building DAS and Wireless Venue Solutions featuring executives from CommScope, ExteNet Systems, JMA Wireless, and Mobilitie. The session will examine the business case for carrier-grade, neutral-host DAS, Small Cell and Wi-Fi networks that support multiple carriers in large real estate developments and high-traffic pubic venues. For more information on Tower & Small Cell Summit, please visit: http://www.towersummit.com/lasvegas/. To receive a 20% discount off the registration fee, use Discount Code WIRELESS20 to register online at: http://www.towersummit.com/lasvegas/registration/. About Wireless 20/20, LLC Wireless 20/20 is a leading independent market research and consulting group. Wireless 20/20 is the developer of the industry-leading WiROI Business Case Analysis Tool, which has been used to help over 100 broadband wireless operators around the world build business cases, analyze market opportunities, complete technology and vendor selection, and develop network roll out strategies. Our principals have been engaged in the wireless industry since its inception and have a thorough understanding of the technical, business and product issues surrounding the development of wireless devices, equipment, networks and services. Recent WiROI models have been developed to examine Wi-Fi Offload, Small Cell deployments and 4G networks to serve venues such as university campuses, enterprise buildings, stadiums, airports and train stations. For more information about Wireless 20/20, please visit: http://www.wireless2020.com. Media Contact: Robin Bestel robin(at)wireless2020(dot)com +1 610-428-5845 Sit-Stand TaskMate Go from HealthPostures The business partnership will help to introduce HealthPostures sit stands solutions to retailers, offices and industrial facilities located in the Seattle, Washington area. HealthPostures continues to grow its team of retailers. The sit stands ergonomics leader recently added Edge Ergonomics to its team of regional and national product dealers. The business partnership will help to introduce HealthPostures sit stands solutions to retailers, offices and industrial facilities located in the Seattle, Washington area. Standing desk solutions that HealthPostures develops and manufactures offer greater mobility, improved flexibility, more energy and reduced stress on muscles and joints. Products in the companys assisted lift series are manually adjusted in seconds. The designs support single and dual monitor work stations. Increased automation comes through ergonomics standing desk products in HealthPostures electric and assisted lift series. The 6100 TaskMate Executive, 6200 TaskMate Journey, 6350 TaskMate Go and 6360 TaskMate Go Laptop are just a few of the sit to stand solutions in these two product lines. The dealer partnership came about, in part, because these products strengthen Edge Ergonomics office, industrial and retail options. They create a perfect marriage with Edge Ergonomics ergohuman chairs. Ergohuman chairs are available in mesh and leather. Mid and high back chairs support a range of spine areas. Each chair is adjustable and swivel, allowing for greater mobility and flexibility similar to how HealthPostures standing desk workstation designs are made to give workers more mobility and flexibility. Build of the chairs easily fits HealthPostures workstation designs. Edge Ergonomics executives share, We understand that working long hours can be taxing on the human body, which is why we're committed to helping our customers find the perfect ergonomic equipment for their needs. The dealership partnership between HealthPostures and Edge Ergonomics is effective immediately. Organizations in Seattle, Washington can purchase HealthPostures products directly from Edge Ergonomics. Both ergonomics companies will continue to allow organizational, retail and individual customers to order their products over the Internet. Currently, HealthPostures offers free shipping on select items. Assistance with product selection is available at Edge Ergonomics through the companys online Buyers Guide. About HealthPostures Founded in the 1990s, HealthPostures LLC (https://healthpostures.com) has been a leader in the workplace solutions space for more than two decades. The company specializes in the design and manufacturing of workplace solutions like adjustable computer stand for desk, computer monitor stands for desk, sit stand keyboard designs and ergonomic sit stand chairs. Products that HealthPostures develops may help to relieve back and neck pain, headaches and other musculoskeletal disorders. A primary mission of HealthPostures' is to "strive to provide quality products that will help transform your sedentary life so you have a healthy way to work." Sought after ergonomics stand up desk equipment, including popular electric standing desks products, that HealthPostures designs include surface Taskmates, the TaskMate Go Laptop, dual monitor sit stand work stations and Stance move seat extensions. The company's strong reputation and proven products and accessories continue to attract regional and national distributors and resellers. Contact: HealthPostures LLC 16801 Industrial Circle Prior Lake, MN 55372 800-277-1841 https://healthpostures.com About Edge Ergonomics Edge Ergonomics sells ergonomic chairs, tabletop workstations, desktop stations and ergonomics accessories. The companys range of accessories include footrests, key pads, keyboards, keyboard trays and mouse pads. Edge Ergonomics is a family owned company that has a mission to provide office products that improve customer comfort, health and posture. Prices at the company are competitive. The companys founders have roots in the Pacific Northwest and are committed to improving Americans overall health and wellness. In addition to HealthPostures products, Edge Ergonomics carries items manufactured by top brands such as Airopedic, ERA Products, ErgoRX, Flash Furniture and Good Use Company. Edge Ergonomics Seattle, WA (206) 445-0560 info(at)edgeergonomics(dot)com https://edgeergonomics.com/ FaceCradle has struck a chord with travelers around the world because the pillow solves an important problem for people whether they are leisure or business travelers. Sales of the FaceCradle Travel Pillow continue to soar on the crowdfunding website Kickstarter, topping 14,000 backers and raising more than $830,000 during the first month of the campaign. Were extremely pleased with how our travel pillow has taken off in popularity with travelers around the world, said FaceCradle co-founder David Scrimshaw. Were seeing signs that this response will continue, especially among business travelers required to take cross-country or overseas flights in economy seating who would love to sleep but havent found a pillow thats comfortable enough to make that happen. FaceCradle offers five sleep modes for travelers that provide multiple options for comfort, including a deep-sleep mode that simulates the natural horizontal sleeping position for the head even while the traveler is seated in a vertical, economy-class seat. The products popularity has made it the most-funded pillow of any kind in Kickstarter history. Travelers who have already tried FaceCradle describe it as a real game changer and an upgrade to sleeping class. FaceCradle has an innovative internal support frame thats hinged and splits into two sections allowing travelers to lock the angle of five different pillow-settings to support their neck, head and chest. By attaching a harness support and anchoring it around the winged headrest on their seatback, passengers can adjust it to several different configurations that enable 180-degree use of the area in front of their seat to find their most comfortable position. As shown in this Facebook video, which has gone viral with more than 30 million page views, FaceCradles comfort positions can conform to nearly any kind of seating situation aboard a plane, bus, train or even in a car. As the video shows, the most common method of using FaceCradle is to loop its strap under and out over the top of the wings of the seats headrest which means the strap will not interfere with any video screen that could be on the back of the passengers seat. In cases where the seat doesnt have a winged headrest, Scrimshaw says it will typically be a budget airline that offers no video in the seats at all. In those cases where there are seats with video monitors but no winged headrest, which is the situation in less than 5 percent of long-haul flights, the traveler just needs to inform the passenger behind them that theyll be using the FaceCradlewhich means they wont have to recline to sleep, Scrimshaw said. Usually people are more than happy to let you do that, especially when they hear you arent going to recline throughout the flight. Scrimshaw, an experienced traveler who has personally struggled to get sleep on long flights, says FaceCradle has struck a chord with travelers around the world because the pillow solves an important problem for people whether they are leisure or business travelers." FaceCradle is available at special introductory pricing for a limited time. To pre-order, visit the FaceCradle Campaign Page on Kickstarter. Hairy Turtle Pty Ltd. Hairy Turtle Pty Ltd. was founded in 2015 by two seasoned Australian Entrepreneurs, David Scrimshaw and Roz Ruwhiu. Scrimshaw, the founder of Australias most innovative company (awarded by Thompson Reuters) and the founder of market-leading Power Tool Brand, Ozito, has designed, developed and marketed more than 30 consumer products globally. Ruwhiu is a Head of TV Production for a leading advertising agency behind several award-winning commercials for some of the most famous brands. The two combined their experiences to create FaceCradle, designed to help travelers get a good nights sleep. For more information, visit the companys website. "We saw a 300% increase in customer feedback compared to popular public review sites." - Tom Boucher, CEO of Greater New Hampshire Restaurants Kriddik, a free app that allows consumers to provide direct, private feedback to businesses was released earlier this month via the App Store and Google Play. The app allows consumers to provide feedback directly to businesses without the information being shared publicly. Unlike popular review sites such as Yelp or TripAdvisor, Kriddik keeps all feedback private. And, consumers receive points for leaving feedback that can be entered into monthly drawings for great prizes. Popular public social review sites are helpful for consumers but can be harmful to businesses. Kriddik opens a new door where consumers help businesses by giving qualified, authentic private feedback. Kriddik is easy to use for businesses and consumers alike. Customers simply search for the business they have visited, give feedback and snap a photo of their experience or receipt and the feedback is sent to the business in real-time. This private flow of information allows companies to hear, and learn from, the good, the bad, the truth. And, because the feedback is in real-time, businesses can immediately respond to their customers. Comment cards and suggestion boxes are outdated and rarely used. Public review sites can be harmful as well as helpful. With Kriddik, customers have a fast, easy and rewarding way to provide their personal feedback to businesses. This tool is 100% free for customers and allows businesses to receive private, quality, authentic feedback. Tom Boucher, Co-Founder of Kriddik and CEO of Great NH Restaurants performed a case study, using Kriddik in his 8 restaurants for a year, and saw a 300% increase in customer feedback compared to popular public review sites. Kriddik is an invaluable tool for businesses who want to measure how well they are delivering goods and services to their customers. With Kriddik businesses will not only receive more constructive feedback from which they can learn, but also find more opportunity to recognize and build on what is being done well, improving the overall customer experience, Boucher said. Kriddik is a free app that can be downloaded from the App Store and Google Play. For more information or press inquiries, please contact our PR Director Danielle Thomas at danielle(at)kriddik(dot)com Creative Circle, the nations largest creative staffing agency, announces its newest office opening, in Austin, Texas. "With its great number of startups and reputation for being a creative and tech hub, we know Austin is the place to be, says Abigail Allen, Creative Circles area manager overseeing the Austin and Dallas offices. Weve been warmly welcomed and are eager to be involved in Austins rapidly growing tech and creative economies. Creative Circle is dedicated to matching companies with the best talent to fit their growing creative, digital, marketing and interactive needs. Their downtown location on Congress Avenue is the 27th office for the firm, whose approach is differentiated by investing time in personal interviews with candidates and clients alike, to insure the best fit for each placement for both parties. Austin is well-known for its large freelance community as well as its fast-growing startups and established companies like Whole Foods, HomeAway, and Dell. Our expansion into Austin offers companies a way to get high-level creatives in the door to fuel their growth, and also allows candidates to continue to choose projects that are the best fit for them, without being led into the resume black hole, adds Allen. As of 2015, it was reported that 29% of the national workforce was freelance or part-time. That amounts to 44 million Americans. An agency like Creative Circle is best able to leverage the sources of quality candidates with the skills, experience, and pay rate that meets the clients needs, ensuring a successful match, says Brenda Holley, Vice President of Operations at Creative Circle. Creative Circles latest expansion into the Austin market is designed to fill this need with speed, accuracy and quality. About Creative Circle Creative Circle, a division of On Assignment, is a specialized staffing agency representing innovative advertising, creative, digital, marketing and interactive professionals. The company connects creatives to agencies, brands and companies requiring creative, marketing or interactive talent on both a freelance and full-time basis. With offices in 27 major cities throughout the U.S. and Canada, Creative Circle is strategically positioned to work with clients of all sizes from innovative startups to large corporations nationwide. To learn more about Creative Circle, go to http://www.creativecircle.com About On Assignment On Assignment, Inc. is a leading global provider of in-demand, skilled professionals in the growing technology, life sciences, and creative sectors, where quality people are the key to success. The Company goes beyond matching resumes with job descriptions to match people they know into positions they understand for temporary, contract-to-hire, and direct hire assignments. Clients recognize On Assignment for its quality candidates, quick response, and successful assignments. Professionals think of On Assignment as career-building partners with the depth and breadth of experience to help them reach their goals. On Assignment, which is based in Calabasas, California, was founded in 1985 and went public in 1992. The Company has a network of branch offices throughout the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Europe. To learn more, visit http://www.onassignment.com backgroundchecks.com President Craig Kessler notes: Our monitoring program with Accio has been a highlight of our nearly decade-long partnership. Were excited to see the added robustness of Version 2 bring this program to new heights. backgroundchecks.com, one of the industrys first data providers to offer criminal records monitoring, and Accio Data, a leading platform provider for the background screening and court research industries, have made it even easier for their mutual CRA customers to offer monitoring as a value-added service. Though Accio Data and backgroundchecks.com have been providing ongoing criminal monitoring services to mutual clients for more than 3 years, the advanced ease-of-use comes from an updated platform called Version 2. Every 30 days, a reduced-rate multi-jurisdictional criminal-records search is run on monitored individuals. If any new records appear, the CRA can investigate and verify them. If the CRA decides to report the verified record, the Accio Enterprise Platform will notify the employer so that the issue can immediately be handled with the employee. Post-hire monitoring has become an important additional layer of security and due diligence for employers, especially if their employees work in sensitive positions or with vulnerable populations such as children or the elderly. backgroundchecks.com President Craig Kessler notes: Our monitoring program with Accio has been a highlight of our nearly decade-long partnership. Were excited to see the added robustness of Version 2 bring this program to new heights. Our experience with criminal monitoring with backgroundchecks.com has been extremely positive, says Accio President Barry Boes. Version 2 makes it easier for our clients to deploy, and combined with Accio's new Turnkey Marketing program, we expect monitoring to significantly improve the bottom line for CRA's who choose to participate. About backgroundchecks.com backgroundchecks.com was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas with an Eastern Operations Center in the Columbia, S.C. area. A leading provider of background screening solutions to CRAs, backgroundchecks.com offers a variety of products, including a multi-jurisdictional criminal conviction database and traditional background screening services, to CRAs large and small. It is a founding member of the NAPBS and cofounder of the Expungement Clearinghouse. For more information about backgroundchecks.com and our offerings, please visit backgroundbiz.com. About Accio Data Accio Datas infinitely scalable platform allows CRAs to automate or augment the screening process from order entry all the way to results delivery and billing. Any data provider using XML for information exchange can integrate with Accio Enterprise at no charge. Clients can log in, place orders, and retrieve results. 24/7/365. More than 2,000 powerful customization options provide configurability for multiple industries. Accio Data is a member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS). For more information about Accio Enterprise, Accio CourtPro or to request a demo, visit http://www.acciodata.com or call (512) 858-9329 or email sales(at)acciodata(dot)com. We are very excited to see the progress that Armune has made in the market and we are confident in the leadership teams ability to deliver on key milestones important to the growth of the business. Armune BioScience, the developer of APIFINY, the only cancer specific, non-PSA blood test available to assess the risk for the presence of prostate cancer, today announced the University of Michigan MINTS program has recently participated in the companys $5 million Series A investment round. We are excited to have the University of Michigans MINTS program participate in our Series A financing, said David Esposito, President and Chief Executive Officer of Armune BioScience. With over 7,000 billable APIFINY tests ordered since launch, this financing will help us prepare for the long term growth of the business. We look forward to the involvement of investment partners like the University of Michigan Investment Office in helping us to achieve our goals. Through the Michigan Investment in New Technology Start-ups (MINTS) program, the University of Michigan Investment Office supports early stage companies working to commercialize University of Michigan technology, commented Felicia D. David-Visser, CFA, Manager of Investments. We are very excited to see the progress that Armune has made in the market and we are confident in the leadership teams ability to deliver on key milestones important to the growth of the business. Armune has commitments to the close out the Series A round shortly and expects to use the funds from this round of financing to support the growth of its commercial operations and research and development initiatives geared towards new tests in prostate, lung, and breast cancers. Armune develops and commercializes autoantibody technology licensed from the University of Michigan that was developed under the direction of Arul Chinnaiyan, MD, PhD. Armune continues to expand its commercial operations in support of the rapid volume growth of APIFINY. Armune is in the process of raising a $25 million Series B round to fund a further expansion of its marketing efforts and the development of new products in prostate, lung, and breast cancer. Armune has retained Mavericks Capital to support the Series B round. About Armune BioScience Armune BioScience, Inc. is a medical diagnostics company that develops and commercializes unique proprietary technology exclusively licensed from the University of Michigan for diagnostic and prognostic tests for prostate, lung and breast cancers. Armune was incorporated as a Delaware Corporation in 2008 with corporate headquarters in Kalamazoo, MI and a research and commercial laboratory in Ann Arbor, MI. For more information, visit http://www.armune.com. About MINTS The University of Michigan's MINTS (Michigan Investment in New Technology Startups) program is managed by the Investment Office as part of the endowment; it invests in companies based on technology licensed from the University. For more information, visit http://www.bf.umich.edu/investments.html. About Mavericks Capital Mavericks Capital LLC and its licensed broker dealer, Mavericks Capital Securities LLC, specializes in advising companies on M&A, capital raises and strategic partnerships across the healthcare sector. With a senior team having deep medical perspectives, core scientific knowledge and proprietary analytics, we help construct and facilitate innovative and lucrative solutions for our clients. Our practice areas include therapeutics, devices, diagnostics, services and digital health. For more information, visit http://www.maverickscap.com. My mission is to positively influence influencers. The National Speakers Association (NSA), the leading organization for professional speakers, presented Darren Hardy with its 2016 Master of Influence Award at their annual convention in Phoenix, Arizona Influence 2016. This honor is awarded to speakers who have significantly influenced generations of speakers and whose distinguished careers have brought honor and recognition to the speaking profession globally. The 22 previous recipients beginning in 1993 include influencers such as Jim Rohn, CPAE; Og Mandino, CPAE, Brian Tracy, CPAE; Zig Ziglar, CPAE; and Deepak Chopra. As the visionary force behind the rebirth of SUCCESS magazine as its publisher and editor for the past decade, Darren has helped amplify the voice of an entire industry. His dedication to enhancing our profession and the guidance he has provided has inspired those who use their voice to motivate and influence others as professional speakers, says 2015-2016 NSA President Ruby Newell-Legner, CSP. Darren Hardy is best known as todays preeminent Success Mentor having been a central leader in the personal growth and success industry now for more than 20 years, leading three television networks and was the founding publisher and editor to the rebirth of SUCCESS magazine. Darren is also a highly sought-after keynote speaker, media contributor, and the New York Times bestselling author of three books, including The Compound Effect and The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster. I am deeply honored by this acknowledgement. My mission is to positively influence influencers. The NSA network contains many of today's most influential thought leaders. It is humbling and soulfully fulfilling to receive such an honor from such an esteemed organization says Darren Hardy. The National Speakers Association (NSA) is the leading organization for professional speakers. NSA's thousands of members include experts in a variety of industries and disciplines, who reach audiences as trainers, educators, humorists, motivators, consultants, authors and more. Since 1973, NSA has provided resources and education designed to advance the skills, integrity and value of its members and the speaking profession. Visit NSA's website at http://www.nsaspeaker.org. Darren Hardy, as central leader in the personal growth and success industry now for more than 20 years, is todays preeminent Success Mentor to CEOs and high-performance achievers. Darren is also a highly sought-after keynote speaker, media contributor, New York Times bestselling author of three books. Connect with Darren through his daily mentoring program at http://www.DarrenDaily.com or learn more at http://www.DarrenHardy.com. This partnership represents our companys desire to expand our brand and broaden our services nationwide for our clients. VIP Corporate Housing announced the acquisition of Summit Accommodations, LLC, an upscale provider of short-term accommodations in the Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area. The acquisition expands VIP Corporate Housings reach and ability to provide innovative solutions to meet clients needs. Summit Accommodations has an established reputation of providing a high standard of service in the growing Phoenix market, said Brad Laspe, CCHP, CRP, Partner at VIP Corporate Housing. This partnership represents our companys desire to expand our brand and broaden our services nationwide for our clients. VIP Corporate Housing offers more than 500 luxury accommodations in many cities across the country, including St. Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Detroit, Milwaukee, Orlando and Louisville. As a growing industry, there is a high demand for both long-term and short-term business traveling accommodations. VIPs amenities help business travel accommodations feel more like home. Summit Accommodations shares VIP Corporate Housings commitment to superior customer service while offering an exceptional portfolio of accommodations, so this acquisition is a winner for our clients and partners, explains Laspe. All of our new and existing clients will enjoy the same level of service they have come to expect from VIP Corporate Housing in more locations than ever before. About VIP Corporate Housing VIP Corporate Housing is a national leading temporary housing provider. VIP offers furnished short-term housing and full-serviced luxury apartments. VIP is locally and nationally recognized for its progressive efforts in the short-term, corporate housing industry and incredible customer service. Now, VIP Corporate Housing offers its incredible product line in 9+ states across the country. For more information, please visit http://www.vipcorporatehousing.com or call 1-888-249-5719. CapAlts management has a strong commitment to superior client service, which was a primary factor in their selection of the M-Files solution," said GTSI President George H. Bergmark. GT Solutions International (GTSI), an Atlanta-based provider of enterprise information management (EIM) solutions, today announced it worked with insurance consultancy Captive Alternatives (CapAlt) to enhance their document management processes through the deployment of the powerful M-Files EIM platform. GTSI is an authorized reseller of M-Files, one of several enterprise-grade solutions the company represents. For businesses like CapAlt that manage a huge amount of data and paper, M-Files provides the ability to gain control over information quickly, introduce graphical workflows to optimize business process efficiency, and improve compliance management through effective document control, said GTSI President George H. Bergmark. CapAlts management has a strong commitment to superior client service, which was a primary factor in their selection of the M-Files solution. The M-Files EIM platform is affordable and easy-to-implement, and offers a simple user interface paired with enterprise-class high availability, scalability and security. With M-Files, CapAlt will streamline management of documents and other assets related to client onboarding and renewals as well as information related to client and partner portals. The platform will improve access to record and manage multiple revisions of core legal paperworka critical feature in an industry subject to regulatory and compliance oversight. The captive management industry has evolved slowly and is rife with inefficient, expensive work-arounds and small-scale solutions, said Captive Alternatives COO and CFO David Kirkup. Our mission in adopting M-Files is to create a highly scalable platform to enable the rapid growth were seeing at CapAlt. About GT Solutions International LLC Since 1994, GT Solutions International has been a trusted business and financial C-suite advisor to a wide range of industries, including Fortune 100 companies, for profit and non-profit, domestically and internationally. Business partners with M-Files, AccountMate ERP, Microsoft, and Adaptive Planning, GT Solutions International provides a broad range of exceptional tools that work together to vastly improve their clients processes and prospects for the future, and to reclaim their time and money. To learn more, visit http://www.solutions-intl.com. About M-Files Corporation M-Files enterprise information management (EIM) solutions eliminate information silos and provide quick and easy access to the right content from any core business system and device. M-Files achieves higher levels of user adoption resulting in faster ROI with a uniquely intuitive approach to EIM that is based on managing information by what it is versus where its stored. With flexible on-premises, cloud and hybrid deployment options, M-Files places the power of EIM in the hands of the business user and reduces demands on IT by enabling those closest to the business need to access and control content based on their requirements. Thousands of organizations in over 100 countries use the M-Files EIM system as a single platform for managing front office and back office business operations, which improves productivity and quality while ensuring compliance with industry regulations and standards, including companies such as SAS, Elekta and NBC Universal. For more information, visit http://www.m-files.com. About Captive Alternatives Captive Alternatives is a leading consultant helping business owners control their cost of risk through the use of captive insurance companies. CapAlts innovative business model, the Protected Captive, helps owners manage hidden risks, transfer high exposure to third parties, and financially reward themselves for effective risk management. As a result of their Protected Captive, our clients cover a wide variety of hidden exposures, and achieve all their strategic objectives both corporate and personal. CapAlt delivers custom risk management solutions through an industry-first Puerto Rico International Insurer, and manages operations from their offices in Atlanta and Puerto Rico. For more information, visit http://www.captivealternatives.com. SkyWire, an enterprise technology provider for the hospitality industry, has completed its EMV certification with payment gateway provider Shift4 Corporation. Following the liability shift of October 2015, U.S. merchants have continued to work towards EMV compliance, though it has been a slow transition. EMV compliance by the merchant and device provider helps protect merchants from credit and debit card fraud, which has been on the rise in recent years. The more card data that is stored on a point-of-sale terminal, server, or with their payment processor, the more vulnerable a merchant is. Layers of security including chip and pin verification, tokenization, and P2PE work together to give merchants and their customers the protection from a data breach they need by minimizing the amount of cardholder data stored. At the end of the day, EMV is a card-present authentication tool that protects merchants from fraudulent charges stemming from card data stolen in previous breaches. Shift4s TrueTokenization and True P2PE solutions prevent merchants from becoming the source of the next costly data breach by securing sensitive cardholder data at every entry point. We are excited to work with our friends and partners at SkyWire to offer their customers this complete package providing the strongest payment security available today, says Daniel Montellano, Shift4 director of strategic business development. Minimizing the scope of the cardholder data environment by eliminating cardholder data from every environment possible is not only the best strategy for diminishing the risk of cardholder data compromise, it also greatly reduces the number of applicable PCI DSS requirements. Thomas Castleberry, SkyWire COO says, EMV certification through Shift4 allows us to offer our clients the most secure credit card transactions available on the market today. Combined with the knowledge that their assets are being stored at a tier IV gold data center, SkyWire customers can now experience greatly reduced PCI scope. We look forward to continuing a close partnership with Shift4 in the future to further improve data security and simplify payment processing for our mutual clients. About SkyWire SkyWire is an award winning, global provider of enterprise-grade technologies for the hospitality industry. SkyWire's cloud based solution set includes Point-of-Sale, Property Management, Spa, and Workforce Management systems; all centered on our patented mobile marketing technology. SkyWire delivers world-class, core enterprise technologies that are versatile, secure and resilient. For more information, visit http://www.skywire.com. Media Contact Katherine Rapp Leon SkyWire 702.379.4726 marketing(at)skywire(dot)com About Shift4 Corporation Shift4 stands alone as the last major player in the payments space to remain independent, self funded, and merchant focused. Our DOLLARS ON THE NET payment gateway comes with all the bells and whistles: pre- and post-settlement auditing, fraud controls, support for new technologies like EMV and mobile, secure connections to nearly every major bank and processor in North America, and 350+ certified integrations to leading POS, PMS, and e-commerce platforms. Shift4 invests heavily in payment security we invented tokenization and own eight payment-security patents. We empower our 33,000+ merchant customers with the flexibility to customize our secure payment processing solutions to fit their business. Learn more at shift4.com. Media Contact Nathan Casper Shift4 Corporation 702.597.2480 marketing(at)shift4(dot)com We provide a safe haven for older adults and a respite for their family members, Jones said. Its a thrill for me to see how much our regulars look forward to their time at The Club. The Foundation for Senior Care, a non-profit organization that serves the needs of seniors and disabled adults in Southern California, has announced the addition of a new member to its Board of Directors. Gail Jones has stepped up into a leadership position within the group, and will help advance the Foundations core programs and its central missionone of compassionate support for older community members as well as their family members. I am honored to be asked into this significant role within The Foundation for Senior Care, a community organization that I have long admired, Jones said. I know how difficult it is for families to cope with memory loss, dementia or simply the effects of the aging process. The Foundation for Senior Care seeks to provide the hope and help that families and caregivers need to address these challenges, and I look forward to promoting this important work. Jones role on the Board will allow her to have hands-on leadership with each of the Foundation for Senior Cares core services. The most popular of these is The Club, an adult day-care that provides a safe place for older and disabled adults to come for fun, relaxation and social interaction. We provide a safe haven for older adults and a respite for their family members, Jones said. Its a thrill for me to see how much our regulars look forward to their time at The Club. Other core initiatives from The Foundation for Senior Care include transportation services, such as van rides to and from medical appointments, grocery stores, and of course, The Club. The Foundation for Senior Care also offers, Senior Advocacy program that empowers seniors that are living independently and a Computer Learning Center that allows seniors to learn how to use their phones, computers and the Internet. Rachel Mason, Executive Director of the Foundation for Senior Care, believes Jones addition to the Board underscores a key fact about how the Foundation works. We are a non-profit organization, and we depend on donationsnot just of money, but also of time and talent, Mason said. We need people to serve in different capacities, including on the Board of Directors, though other volunteer positions are available throughout The Foundation for Senior Care. Were always excited when talented and passionate people like Gail answer the call to service. To learn more about volunteering your time and talent with Foundation for Senior Care, visit our website, http://www.foundationforseniorcare.org or call (760) 723-7570. ABOUT: Foundation for Senior Care is a non-profit organization that serves the needs of seniors and disabled adults in Southern California. Foundation for Senior Care offers Adult Day Care services as well as transportation, senior advocacy and a Computer Learning Center to those located in Northern San Diego County and parts of Southwest Riverside County (Temecula), California. For more information about Foundation for Senior Care, visit http://www.foundationforseniorcare.org. The new Behlman 3U VPXtra 500M1 Power Supply resulted from the VPXtra 500M being reconfigured to meet unique system specifications. We embarked on an ambitious reconfiguration program that lets design engineers have it their way.' Past News Releases RSS Behlman Announces That Its P-Series... Behlman Introduces Another... Behlman Announces That Their... Behlman Electronics Inc., is known for its leadership in providing power products for industrial and commercial applications, as well as for military shipboard, airborne and mobile programs. Working within its new VPXtra Reconfiguration Program, Behlman has modified the VPXtra500M to create the new VPXtra500M1, with 80 amps of 5 VDC output. This unit, in conjunction with the standard VPXtra500M, can supply 120 Amps of 5 VDC along with the customer-required 12 VDC and 3.3 VDC. Complete specifications are available at http://www.behlman.com/uploads/prod_pdf/29_VPXtra500M1_SS_03_JUN_2016.pdf In 2012, Behlman broke through the VPX power ceiling. That raised the bar higher than ever before, for the amount of power available in a single VPX power supply. In 2015, Behlman broke through the VPX power intelligence ceiling. That enabled lower-cost creation of smarter systems having communication, measurement and control capability provided by the power supply. Now, in 2016, Behlman has broken through the VPX power supply reconfiguration ceiling, enabling designers to specify and receive unique configurations that exactly meet their needs. According to Behlman President, Ron Storm, We listened to what many customers told us about their inability to maximize system performance using only standard VPX power products. As a result, we embarked on an ambitious reconfiguration program that lets design engineers have it their way." Today, Behlman conducts conferences with concerned system designers, in which they specify and discuss their typical and non-typical VPX power supply requirements, which can vary significantly from system to system. Variables can run from different power levels of the standard voltages, to mechanical configurations, such as connectors, user-defined pins, and general interfaces. EMI filtering and hold-up requirements, as well as transient and lightning protection are other possible considerations. All-in-all, it turns out that industry standards set for VPX power supplies do not always satisfy the needs of systems requiring VPX power supplies. The new Behlman VPXtra Reconfiguration Program is designed to address all these needs, and more. This program has already resulted in an impressive list of new, non-typical, COTS VPX power supply models (3U 3-phase AC to DC; High Voltage Hold-up card, Low Voltage Hold-up card; PS with extra 5 VDC, 6U 3-phase and single-phase AC to DC, PS with extra 12 VDC, PS with extra 5 VDC). But that is only the beginning. Behlman now invites all system designers to request additional system-specific VPXtra reconfigurations, without the cost of full-custom development. A list with highlights of 14 presently available 3U and 6U standard and non-standard reconfigured VPXtra Power Supplies is available upon request, by sending an email to sales(at)behlman(dot)com. Some of these are so new that data and spec sheets are not yet published, but data and spec sheets for many can already be downloaded at http://www.behlman.com/products_detail/vpx-power-supply Behlman Electronics Inc. (http://www.behlman.com), a subsidiary of Orbit International Corp., manufactures and sells high-quality standard, modified-standard, custom and COTS power solutions, including AC power supplies, frequency converters, inverters, DC-DC, AC-DC, DC-AC, uninterruptible power supplies, VME, the VPXtra line of VPX Power Supplies, and the IQCM Intelligent Chassis Manager. Orbit International Corp., based in Hauppauge, New York, is involved in the manufacture of customized electronic components and subsystems for military and nonmilitary government applications. Other subsidiaries and divisions include Orbit Instrument, Tulip Development Laboratory, and Integrated Combat Systems, all of which are members of the Orbit Electronics Group. For more information, contact Behlman Electronics Inc., 80 Cabot Court, Hauppauge, New York 11788 USA; TEL: +1 631 435-0410; FAX: +1 631 951-4341; sales(at)behlman(dot)com; http://www.behlman.com. Through Phase 1 Ventures, were creating a better pathway for technology transfer in the 21st Century. As we do so, were scaling up the SBAs mission to create a strong national economy based on scientific excellence and strong technological innovation. The U.S. Small Business Administration has awarded $50,000 to the University City Science Centers newest commercialization program, Phase 1 Ventures. Soft launched in 2014 and formally rolled out earlier this year, Phase 1 Ventures (P1V) is a startup accelerator for long horizon technologies those requiring significant development and/or regulatory approvals such as healthcare, materials, or energy companies. Phase 1 Ventures provides know-how, management, facilities, and investment to universities looking to spin out new companies, and to startups formed for the purposes of commercializing academic technologies. The program leverages the Science Centers network of experienced entrepreneurs along with corporate and product-development professionals to strategically contribute expertise to the commercialization process and help applicable companies apply for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants. Funding from the SBA Growth Accelerator Fund will match experts in the P1V network with companies applying for SBIR funding. These experts are well-versed in research and commercialization, having supported many companies on the path from discovery to IPO. Support from the SBA will allow P1V to support an additional 10 companies through the SBIR application process. To date, 10 companies have participated in P1V. They have collectively raised over $1.2 million in non-dilutive funding and have been awarded close to $700,000 in P1V funding. The companies are developing technologies from six academic institutions including Drexel University; Lehigh University; Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; Temple University; Thomas Jefferson University and the University of Pennsylvania. The Science Center is among 68 winners selected by the SBA from a pool of 400 applications for the third annual Growth Accelerator Fund Competition. Applications were judged by more than 100 experts with entrepreneurial, investment, startup, economic development, capital formation and academic backgrounds from both the public and private sector. Were honored that the SBA Growth Accelerator Fund has recognized Phase 1 Ventures as an investment-worthy program, says Science Center President and CEO Stephen S. Tang, Ph.D., MBA. Through Phase 1 Ventures, were creating a better pathway for technology transfer in the 21st Century. As we do so, were scaling up the SBAs mission to create a strong national economy based on scientific excellence and strong technological innovation. A partnership between the Science Center and Wexford Science + Technology, P1V is also supported by funding from the U.S. Economic Development Administration. About the Science Center Located in the heart of uCity Square, the University City Science Center is a dynamic hub for innovation, and entrepreneurship and technology development in the Greater Philadelphia region. Founded in 1963 as the nations first urban research park, it provides business incubation, programming, lab and office facilities, and support services for entrepreneurs, start-ups, and growing and established companies. Graduate firms and current residents of the Science Centers business incubator support one out of every 100 jobs in Greater Philadelphia and drive $12.9 billion in economic activity in the region annually. For more information about the Science Center, go to http://www.sciencecenter.org. Finovate, the demo-based conference aimed at assisting established financial services brands identify the most innovative and cutting-edge banking and financial technology companies on the market, commemorates their 10th anniversary show with this years FinovateFall event, taking place Sept 8 - 9 in New York City. Its hard to believe that were already holding our 10th annual New York Finovate show, said Greg Palmer, vice president of The Finovate Group, events director and the companys first full-time employee. Our first Finovate event featured companies that would go on to define FinTech over the years. Companies such as Andera, Geezeo, LendingClub, Mint and Yodlee each presented at the initial Finovate conference and have since played pivotal roles in the FinTech revolution. In 2007, Finovate set about to create the most memorable event in the FinTech arena and since, has expanded from their initial summit in the heart of New York to include events reaching as far as San Francisco, London and Hong Kong. Additionally, Finovate has now cast its net to encompass the FinTech developer community with their new series, FinDEVr, now taking place on both the East and West coasts of America. In total, Finovates 30 events have seen more than 16,000 attendees, 700 companies and nearly 2,000 live demos. In the last four years alone, venture capital investment in FinTech startups has swelled more than 600 percent, and this year funding levels are on the trajectory toonce againhit record highs. While this wave of disruptive innovation has long represented a threat to the traditional model of financial services companies, it has simultaneously created unparalleled opportunities for internal innovations and strategic partnerships between established brands and the new tech players now on the scene. "Focusing on FinTech since 2002, FT Partners has closely tracked the rapid pace of innovation across the sector and the Finovate team has played a key role in providing a platform for some of the most successful firms across the FinTech landscape," said Steve McLaughlin, founder and CEO of FT Partners. "FT Partners has proudly advised many Finovate alumni in their capital raise efforts and we are glad to have played a part in the evolution as both an attendee and long-standing sponsor of Finovate." Known for showcasing the best-of-the-best of the FinTech industry, Finovates events go unrivaled for those looking to demo new technology or get discovered by prominent institutions. From startups sharing their stories for the very first time, to established financial brands launching ground-breaking new products, Finovate is on everyones radar. Joe Salesky, an alumnus of the inaugural Finovate event in New York City, will be coming back to the conference this year to kick off his companys expansion into the North American financial market. "Having started and successfully exited many companies in the FinTech space, weve always made Finovate a pivotal part of our overall product launch strategy, said Joe Salesky, CEO of CRMNEXT. "I presented at the very first Finovate with my company, ClairMail, and have presented at five Finovate shows since. Finovate brings everyone together from our key customer groupCTOs, CIOs, change-makers from the worlds biggest banks, FinTech analysts, investors and everyone in between, continued Salesky. After a decade at Finovate, I can honestly say there is no better showcase for demoing FinTech companies, which is why Im gearing up for my sixth show on behalf of CRMNEXT. FinovateFall, which focuses exclusively on the most exciting, innovative ideas in FinTech, will be returning to the New York Hilton Midtown on Sept 8 - 9, 2016. When thinking back on The Finovate Groups greatest accomplishments during our tenure, I would have to say the success stories that have come out of our Finovate events are what stand out the most, said Palmer. There is no greater pride for the Finovate team than hearing about customer and investor acquisitions, strategic partnerships and other successes that have generated as a result of our presenters demoing at Finovate. # # # About FinovateFall FinovateFall is a demo-based conference for innovative startups and established companies in the fields of banking and financial technology. Held in New York City, the event offers an insight-packed glimpse of the future of money via a fast-paced, intimate and unique format. FinovateFall is organized by The Finovate Group. For more information on the event, visit http://www.finovate.com. Media Contact Amy Palmer 512-502-5833 amy(at)leverage-pr(dot)com Barry Brandman CAPDMs members are distributors of pharmaceuticals and other health-related products. Making certain that the product they are responsible for is well protected is extremely important in any industry, but vital when dealing with the products that CAPDM members transport and warehouse. Mr. Brandmans presentation is entitled, TODAYS SECURITY THREATS: HOW VULNERABLE IS YOUR COMPANY? Mr. Brandman will discuss Best Practices for effectively protecting valuable inventory from employee theft, product tampering, fraud, smuggling and terrorism. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn how companies have been victimized from one of the security industrys most respected experts, who has worked with pharmaceutical companies for over 35 years. Barry Brandman has authored two security manuals, Security Best Practices and The Executives Guide to Business Security, as well as articles for numerous publications, including Security Management, Corporate Security, Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies, Risk Management, Cyber Crime Fighter, and Inbound Logistics. He has also been interviewed by USA Today, Forbes and The Journal of Commerce. He has been a guest speaker for many prominent organizations including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, the Healthcare Distribution Management Association, the Logistics & Supply Chain Forum, the International Conference on Cargo Security, and the National Retail Federation. Pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors, as well as their logistics providers, are extremely interested in knowing how to effectively protect their companies from internal and external security threats, explains Mr. Brandman. Maintaining highly secure supply chains that can withstand sabotage, tampering, theft, and counterfeiting is absolutely essential to a companys reputation and product integrity. Not integrating the very Best Practices carries significant consequences. ABOUT DANBEE INVESTIGATIONS: Danbee Investigations, (http://www.danbeeinvestigations.com) is one of the most respected names in the corporate security field, providing professional investigative and consulting services, including undercover operations, vulnerability assessments, C-TPAT and other government security certification program services, an employee Hotline program, auditing and training. Danbees clients include Fortune 100 corporations as well as privately held companies and law firms domestically and internationally. ABOUT THE CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR PHARMACY DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT (CAPDM): CAPDM represents an industry that supplies pharmacies and hospitals with essential medicines. It advocates not just for pharmaceutical distributors, but also for drug manufacturers and the pharmacies themselves. On an ongoing basis, CAPDM liaises with provincial and federal governments, and helps them form regulations. CAPDM also hosts think tanks with business leaders and continually provides education forums. https://www.capdm.ca/Events/2016-CAPDM-MEMBER-FORUM.aspx As millions of students head back to school this fall, many will undoubtedly tell of their summer adventures. From road trips and flights across the country to quiet times reading or exploring their own neighborhoods, kids often have something to share about their time away from school. In step with this tradition, niche publisher, My Family! releases a vibrant new tale, Keeshas South African Adventure, a one-of-a-kind story with striking art that features a curious youngster and her two fabulous moms. Keesha learns about South Africa during school and becomes so fascinated she convinces her two moms to take her there so she can see it for herself! The trio takes off for a trip across the Atlantic Ocean and bring readers along as they spend seven days in the diverse country. Unlike any other childrens book currently on the market, Keeshas South African Adventure highlights the kind of family that is often omitted from mainstream travel depictions. It is sure to open the imaginations of children, parents and educators alike. I am extremely excited about this book, says co-author Cheril N. Clarke. We are bringing back our pioneer characters with a vibrant new look and expanded depth. Those familiar with Keesha and her two moms will notice that we aged Keesha a little bit. We did this so that we could have more room to tell a story for older children, she added. Clarke authored the book with her wife and business partner, Monica Bey-Clarke. We know that reading expands the horizons of young people and hope this story will inspire curiosity and exploration, adds Monica. This exciting new book reinforces how much learning about new people, places and things can broaden a childs imagination and open them up to exploring the world around them. Keeshas South African Adventure is a daring story that showcases a modern family on a fantastic vacation that Keesha is proud to tell her teacher and classmates about. Keeshas South African Adventure (Hardcover) | By Cheril N. Clarke and Monica Bey-Clarke | ISBN 978-0-9851067-5-1 |$14.95 USD | 32 pages | Ages 4-8 | Publication October 3, 2016 REVIEW COPIES AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST U.S. CAD, a Building Information Modeling (BIM) solutions consultant and Autodesk Platinum Partner, has strengthened its technical and technology consulting capabilities with the appointment of Nick Harper to the role of Solutions Consultant. Nick Harper joins U.S. CAD with more than 20 years of civil infrastructure industry experience. Prior to joining U.S. CAD, Mr. Harper served in a similar role with CADSoft Solutions in Arizona. Mr. Harper also spent five years as a technical lead for David Evans and Associates, where he was responsible for the company-wide pioneering, testing, evaluation, and deployment of Civil 3D. Mr. Harper leveraged his industry and software expertise to provide mentoring and training, software management and customization, and the supervision and maintenance of software templates. We are excited about expanding our team. Nicks skillset and experience will go far in serving our infrastructure clients, states Chris Keck, Senior Director of Professional Services at U.S. CAD. With his background in survey and drone technology, Nick adds even more depth to our already strong team. We greatly anticipate the contributions Nick will make as U.S. CAD continues to grow and meet the needs of civil engineering and infrastructure clients throughout the Western United States. Nick Harper will also be presenting at the upcoming Phoenix BIM Workshops on October 27th. Mr. Harper will be sharing information on the impact of drone technology in the design and construction space. Learn more about his session and how to register for this one-day Revit and networking technology event at http://www.bim-workshops.com. About U.S. CAD U.S. CAD is an AEC industry consultant, Autodesk Certified Platinum Partner and Bluebeam Platinum Partner serving customers in the Western United States. U.S. CAD specializes in helping its customers integrate BIM, sustainable design, and analysis solutions by incorporating a variety of Autodesk solutions along with consulting, implementation, training, BIM modeling and production, configuration and support services. Headquartered in Newport Beach, CA with additional offices in Los Angeles, San Diego, Honolulu, Scottsdale, and Las Vegas, U.S. CAD has become the solutions provider of choice for many of the Wests leading companies. For more information, visit http://www.uscad.com or call (877) 648-7223. # # # Autodesk and the Autodesk logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. Were excited to introduce the Punch Alert system to our clients, says President Glenn Burrell, who founded Sunstates Security after serving 20 years in Scotland Yard. Sunstates Security has partnered with Punch Technologies to offer the Punch Alert emergency communication platform to clients as part of its expanding technology arsenal. The system crowdsources safety and security by allowing individuals to report emergencies and safety hazards via a smartphone app. In addition, the platform permits two-way communication during an incident, enabling users to submit information and responders to deliver mass updates. Were excited to introduce the Punch Alert system to our clients, says President Glenn Burrell, who founded Sunstates Security after serving 20 years in Scotland Yard. Not only is the system easy to use, but it can also be customized to fit the specific needs of each organization and location. The enterprise platform includes geofencing to restrict tracking to on-site users. The system uses GPS, WiFi and optional iBeacon/Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology to capture the location of the initial report and actively monitor the position of all community members for the duration of an incident. Both Punch Technologies and Sunstates share a common vision for an inclusive, interactive approach to community safety. Standard one-way mass notifications and physical panic buttons for employees are not enough, says Greg Artzt, CEO of Punch Technologies. Safety is best achieved when anyone in the community can easily report an incident or submit information. And fast resolution occurs when on-site responders can manage situations with real-time intelligence. Designed to fit any organizational typepublic facilities, educational institutions, healthcare or corporationsthe platform also allows designated personnel to send announcements about closings or safety hazards. These alerts can target specific groups or go out as mass notifications. This type of proactive technology could prevent a terrorist event or save a life during a medical emergency, adds Burrell. Supporting the platform with a skilled security team enhances its effectiveness, making this a true strategic partnership. Based in Raleigh, N.C., Sunstates Security provides uniformed security personnel and security consulting services to clients throughout the United States. The company is certified as a Womens Business Enterprise by the Greater Business Womens Council, a regional certifying partner of the Womens Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). Punch Technologies is a mobile software company based in Charlotte, N.C. They are the creators of the Punch Alert mobile security and communication platform. The Punch Alert Platform is the only all-in-one emergency communication platform leveraging both GPS and iBeacon location technology. Brian Kim, Michael Hallam and Cindy Villanueva of Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie, with Milagros Cisneros and Lauren Dasse of the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project. Pro bono service is in our firms DNA. While some may shy away from unpopular or tough matters, we believe that everyone deserves an equal opportunity for justice. The Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project has named Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP as its Law Firm Partner of the Year in recognition of the firms long-standing pro bono support. The Florence Project also presented Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie attorney Brian Kim with the Childrens Program Pro Bono of the Year award for persevering through difficult cases. Awards were presented in Phoenix on Sept. 1. The Florence Project is a nonprofit organization that provides free legal services to men, women and unaccompanied children in immigration custody in Arizona. It was created in 1989 in response to concerns over the absence of a public defender system for detained indigent immigrants, which threatened their statutory and constitutional rights. Pro bono service is in our firms DNA. While some may shy away from unpopular or tough matters, we believe that everyone deserves an equal opportunity for justice, said Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie Managing Partner Kenneth Van Winkle Jr. We as a firm support those who provide the time and energy to do this important work, and are proud to partner with the Florence Project. Its an honor to be recognized as Law Firm Partner of the Year. Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie has supported the nonprofit since the projects start, when attorney Chris Brelje spent a year establishing the organization. Today, the Florence Project provides free legal services to the more than 3,000 people detained on any given day in detention facilities in Florence and Eloy and more than 1,400 children detained in shelters in Phoenix and Tucson. I chose to work with the Florence Project specifically due to my firms longstanding connection. I wanted to continue and strengthen that connection our firms share, said Kim. The Florence Project offers the opportunity to help clients who consist of some of the most vulnerable populations we have here in Americaimmigrant juveniles. I view my work as a first step to help these clients achieve a more prosperous life in America. Pro bono attorneys allow us to expand access to justice for men, women, and children in immigration detention in Arizona, said Lauren Dasse, executive director of the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project. Individuals in immigration proceedings do not have a government provided representation, and the vast majority represent themselves because they cannot afford an attorney. This is why pro bono volunteer attorneys are so important, and make such an impact, she explained. About Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP is an Am Law 200 commercial law firm for handling complex matters in litigation, intellectual property, business transactions, gaming, government relations and other practice areas. Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie offices are located in Albuquerque, Colorado Springs, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Irvine, Phoenix, Reno, Silicon Valley and Tucson. Olivier Zitoun, Founder and CEO of Eveo, has joined tealbook as a member of the platforms Executive Advisory Board. tealbook is the comprehensive, next-generation supplier knowledge platform that helps companies instantly access and share trusted supplier intelligence to find the best suppliers for specific needs. Olivier joins a diverse group of leaders of companies across a range of industries contributing unique and varied perspectives to the tealbook platform. tealbook is changing the way agencies like Eveo and our clients are finding each other and working together, said Olivier, Innovation is in our DNA at Eveo, so I am proud to be part of the tealbook movement to give the healthcare industry easy access to the best suppliers to support their business. It takes one person to have a good idea, but it requires a whole network of talented, experienced people to make that idea become a reality, said Stephany Lapierre, Founder and CEO of tealbook. We are thrilled to have Olivier on the tealbook Executive Advisory Board for his extensive digital marketing and UX expertise as well as for his ability to ensure the supplier perspective is represented among our closest advisors. About Eveo Eveo is a leading full-service health and wellness agency, rooted in technology. Eveo has partnered with more than 200 health brands to help them achieve their goals through insight-driven strategies, award-winning creative, and groundbreaking innovations. Eveo is based in San Francisco and has offices in San Diego, Irvine, Boston, Chicago and New York. For three years in a row, Eveo was ranked the No. 1 independent digital health agency in the U.S. by AdAge. About tealbook tealbook is the only online comprehensive supplier knowledge management platform. tealbook contains up-to-date, credible supplier information so teams can instantly identify the best suppliers for each specific need and collaborate with stakeholders on supplier information and searches. tealbook is easy to implement, use, and integrate with your other tools and systems. tealbook is your teams trusted source for actionable supplier intelligence. I am ready to position SRG Technology to help education achieve the results they envision for their students.-Gail Pierson SRG Technology announced today that Gail Elizabeth Pierson, SRG Technologys former Senior Vice President of Consumer Engagement and current Board of Managers member, has taken on the position of Chief Academic Officer. We couldnt be more excited or confident about Gail leading our education vertical, said Founder and CEO Neil Sterling. Gails knowledge, expertise and talent will help us to continue to grow SRG Technologys name in the education marketplace. As a publishing professional and dedicated educator, Pierson has more than 25 years of executive experience and success in education publishing, products and services. Piersons expertise encompasses start-ups, business strategy, operations management, product development, digital publishing, and sales and marketing. Piersons prior positions include working with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing, Riverdeep Inc., BBN Technologies, and The Christian Science Monitor. Pierson is enthusiastic to begin her new role. I am thrilled with the new challenge, she said. The education marketplace is changing and growing, and K-12 districts are ready to use technology in exciting and creative ways. I am ready to position SRG Technology to help educators achieve the results they envision for their students. Pierson continued, With our products BlenderLearn and BlenderConnect, we are already leading the way in education, offering real solutions to improve student learning and performance in districts. I am immensely proud to be part of that. To learn more about BlenderConnect and BlenderLearn, and the rest of SRG Technology's solutions, visit http://www.SRGTech.com. About SRG Technology Founded in 2007, SRG Technology developed Blender a suite of cutting-edge software solutions designed to drive performance improvements through enhanced data collection and analysis; personalized recommendations; and the creation of individualized action plans. SRG Technology is focused on elevating performance, increasing productivity and ultimately improving end-user outcomes in education with BlenderLearn, healthcare with TopCare powered by Blender, geo-positional security with BlenderRM, and consumer engagement and outreach with BlenderConnect. SRGT is poised to set the benchmark for innovative, disruptive technology solutions that elevate performance, increase productivity, and make a difference in our daily lives. MEA wants to show off the social media expertise of the top digital and social communicators at their member companies. The energy industry provides unique opportunities for creative social media contributions. Recipients of the first-ever MEA Member Social Media Awards will be announced in December of 2016. MEA wishes to recognize member companies that have made significant contributions to the energy industry and its customers through exemplary social media achievements. These prestigious awards offer a terrific opportunity to recognize energy companies and staff for their efforts in customer communication, innovation, creativity, and campaigns using social media. Nominations are due by 5:00 pm (CDT) on September 23, 2016. Entry Categories: Overall Social Media Presence Best Customer Communication & Service via Social Media Best Innovative Campaign Best Marketing Best MEA Connect Presence MEA is also submitting a call for judges. All MEA members are eligible to be a judge. No special skills are required; we will match judges with the category best suited to their particular experience and level of expertise. We also ensure there is no conflict of interest between judges and the nominees. (Member companies are welcomed and encouraged to compete in other categories where they do not have a company representative already judging.) Judges must have access to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. Please volunteer before September 23, 2016. The MEA Member Social Media Awards program is an initiative of the MEA Emerging Professionals Group. For a complete list of eligibility requirements and how to enter visit http://www.midwestenergy.org/social-media-awards.html. For questions, contact John Gann at johng (at) midwestenergy (dot) org or call (651) 289-9600 x105. About MEA: MEA serves the people that deliver electricity and natural gas to homes and business. MEA (Midwest ENERGY Association) was founded as a trade association over 100 years ago by distribution utilities, whose vision was to improve safety and efficiency. Today, energy delivery companies around the globe benefit from MEA's industry learning seminars, operations summits, and other events. Members collaborated to develop EnergyU, the world's premier online training and testing system for energy delivery companies. The Force Awakens l BB8 Pendleton Woolen Mills, a globally acclaimed lifestyle brand headquartered in Portland, Oregon, introduces new Pendleton blankets as a tribute to Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Taking center stage in the design of the new BB-8 blanket is Star Wars newest, gentle astromech droid, the fifth blanket in the Pendleton Star Wars Classic series, designed as a companion piece to the four Pendleton Star Wars blankets launched in 2015 on Force Friday. Inspired by the film, the BB-8 blanket design features a palette of orange to blue fade, a depiction of the sunset against the desert sand, homage to where BB-8s journey began in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is represented with dark tones symbolizing Darth Vaders evil reputation, as hes seen lurking in the background of the blanket, and the Imperial Death Star looming overhead of the three Resistance Forces shown in readied defense. Emotive and courageous warriors, Jyn, K-2SO and Cassian are sure to gain most-favored-status among Star Wars characters. To celebrate these iconic characters of Star Wars fame, Pendleton created limited edition blankets. Each blanket is made in America and woven in Pendletons own Pacific Northwest Mill. They feature the same quality and craftsmanship for which Pendleton is legendary. Pendleton Woolen Mills, known among Star Wars fans for the Force Friday offering of collector Star Wars blankets, expands the opportunity to own treasured, registered memorabilia of the movie. Bob Christnacht, VP Pendleton Sales said, We are pleased once again to offer heirloom quality, pop culture blankets to delight Star Wars enthusiasts. Loyal, compassionate and comic,BB-8 is forever fixed in our heart, loved by young and old alike, the perfect character for a special blanket. The fearless threesome, Jyn, K-2SO and Cassian exemplify the spirit of the Rebel Force, committed to defeating their Imperial foes. Pendletons blankets featuring BB-8 and Star Wars: Rogue One provide a special occasion to commemorate the most anticipated films of all time and offer a toast to the characters popularity. The edition size is limited to 1977 units for each of the four blanket offering. Star Wars: The Force Awakens BB-8 and Rogue One blankets are available for pre-order on September 2nd, 2016 at http://www.pendleton-usa.com, and available October 15, 2016 at specialty retailers and select Pendleton Retail Stores and Outlets. About Pendleton Setting the standard for classic American style, Pendleton is a lifestyle brand recognized as a symbol of American heritage, authenticity and craftsmanship. With six generations of family ownership since 1863, the company recently celebrated 153 years of weaving fabrics in the Pacific Northwest. Known for fabric innovation, Pendleton owns and operates two of Americas remaining woolen mills, constantly updating them with state-of-the-art looms and eco-friendly technology. Inspired by its heritage, the company designs and produces apparel for men and women, blankets, home decor, and gifts. Pendleton is available through select retailers in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan, Korea and Australia; Pendleton stores; company catalogs; and direct-to-consumer channels including the Pendleton website, http://www.pendleton-usa.com. Media contact: Linda Parker Linda.parker(at)penwool(dot)com 503.535.5754 STAR WARS and related properties are trademarks and/or copyrights, in the United States and other countries, of Lucasfilm Ltd. and/or its affiliates. & TM Lucasfilm Ltd. EyeKor, Inc., a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company offering a complete spectrum of integrated ophthalmic clinical trial image data management and analysis services, has hired Stephen Travers as its new Senior Director of Clinical Research. Travers brings many years of experience in ophthalmic imaging and clinical trials to EyeKor. He has held previous positions as Director of Ophthalmic Imaging at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX; Principal Clinical Research Scientist at Alcon in Fort Worth, TX; and Manager of Clinical Affairs at Heidelberg Engineering in Germany. With a special interest in retinal disease imaging and its application in clinical trials, Mr. Travers has played a major part in the recognition and approval of autofluorescence imaging as an endpoint in clinical studies for age-related macular degeneration. I am very excited to be joining this young and dynamic company, Travers says. My vision and goals are to see the integration of EyeKors technology platforms into all ophthalmic pharmaceutical clinical trials, and to foster a closer collaboration with pharmaceutical sponsors, selected ophthalmic reading centers, and clinical imaging sites. I believe my career experience will be of considerable benefit to Eyekor. EyeKors hiring of Travers comes at an opportune time. In the last three years, EyeKor has experienced exponential growth. EXCELSIOR, EyeKors cloud-based software application for supporting image data collection and management of ophthalmic clinical trials, is used in more than 40 ophthalmic clinical trials sponsored by both federal agency and industry partners. Currently, the EXCELSIOR platform is being used at more than 750 ophthalmic clinical sites from 38 countries by more than 4,000 certified ophthalmic imaging technicians and site coordinators. To date, the Excelsior platform has hosted more than 4 million ophthalmic images. Imaging continues to be a critically important element in ophthalmic clinical trials. As we have seen in many clinical trials, imaging-based in vivo biomarkers help guide our understanding of disease progression and treatment effects. EyeKor is well positioned to offer the kind of imaging expertise that ophthalmic clinical trial sponsors need, says EyeKor CEO, Christopher J. Murphy, DVM, PhD, DACVO. To learn more about EyeKor and EXCELSIOR, go to http://www.eyekor.com/ or contact Chief Technology Officer Yijun Huang, PhD, at (608) 886-3386 or yhuang(at)eyekor(dot)com. About EyeKor: EyeKor, Inc. is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company that offers a complete spectrum of integrated ophthalmic clinical trial image data management and analysis services, from preclinical to clinical phases I-IV. EyeKor expertise encompasses a diverse array of ophthalmic testing methods including fundus photography and angiography, optical coherence tomography, fundus autofluorescence imaging, automated visual field testing, and electrophysiological testing. EyeKors cloud-based software application, EXCELSIOR, was built specifically for supporting image data collection and management of ophthalmic clinical trials. EXCELSIOR utilizes the latest web and imaging technologies for data standardization, analysis, grading and reporting. EXCELSIOR is cleared with FDA as a class II medical device, with specific indication for use for managing ophthalmic clinical trials. Media Inquiries: Yijun Huang, PhD Chief Technology Officer (608) 886-3386 yhuang(at)eyekor(dot)com BrainXell Inc. (Madison, Wisconsin) and iPS Academia Japan, Inc. (Kyoto, Japan) have announced a global licensing agreement covering some of iPS Academia Japans induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell patent portfolio. BrainXell may now develop and commercialize iPS-derived cells and offer related services to its customers under this non-exclusive agreement. The iPS cell patent portfolio is mainly the result of work by Professor Shinya Yamanaka at the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) at Kyoto University. The terms of the agreement have not been disclosed. BrainXell is now enabled through this iPS cell technology license and its Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) license on neural stem cell differentiation to provide a broad range of neural cells for research at numerous institutions and biopharmaceutical companies, said Zhong-Wei Du, Chief Technology Officer of BrainXell. We are expanding our product offerings with patient variants of neural cells, which are crucial to a broad range of research efforts for diseases such as Alzheimers, Parkinsons, and ALS. We will advance our research and discovery in the area of stem cell technology and provide our customers with the tools necessary in this important, breakthrough area. We use our proprietary technology to direct human iPSCs to subtype-specific neural progenitors followed by expansion and rapid maturation. This approach allows for large-scale production of highly enriched functional neurons with consistent quality for drug discovery and cell therapy, said Dr. Su-Chun Zhang, the Steenbock Professor in Behavioral and Neural Sciences at the University of WisconsinMadison, and co-founder of BrainXell. About iPS Academia Japan, Inc. iPS Academia Japan, Inc. (AJ) is an affiliate of Kyoto University, and its main role is to manage and utilize the patents and other intellectual properties held/controlled by Kyoto University, other universities, and research institutions in the field of iPSC technologies so that the research results contribute to health and welfare worldwide. AJ was established in Kyoto in June 2008. AJ's patent portfolio consists of more than 125 patent families (the total number of patent applications is about 420 cases) in the iPSC technology as of April 2016, and concluded license agreements with more than 150 entities worldwide. (http://www.ips-cell.net) About BrainXell Inc. BrainXell provides its expertise using iPSC-derived neural cells for use on a custom basis to pharmaceutical companies for research programs. Such neural cells may be provided directly to the customer or optimized for screening use at BrainXell Inc.with its experienced team to support assay development. BrainXell was co-founded by Professor Su-Chun Zhang who is the winner of a grant from the University of Wisconsin-Madison D2P (Discovery to Product) program and maintains laboratory facilities adjacent to the WiCell Research Institute. The Company has key licensing agreements with the WARF and iPS Academia Japan, Inc. giving BrainXell the right to use critical, patented technologies for both production of stem cell-derived products and for contract manufacturing. James D. Julias annual August sale truly was unquestionably the Maine auction event of the summer. After the hammer fell for the last time, 68 lots realized $10K or above. In addition, 25 lots realized $25K or more, and 3 lots broke the six-figure mark. Top lots included Edward Willis Redfields "River Decorations" which realized $148,125; a pair of porcelain plaques by Wang Dafan which realized $118,500 (more than six times their low estimate); and Fitz Henry Lanes painting of New Bedford Harbor, which realized $296,250. This unsigned oil on canvas, housed in a fabulous Eli Wilner & Co. frame, will be included in the Fitz Henry Lane catalog raisonne published by the Cape Ann Museum. Day one of this sales event hit the ground running with over 600 lots of outstanding paintings and fine art selections, many featuring Maine artists and themes. Two works by Andrew Wyeth really caught the attention of buyers in this sale. His "River Greys" realized $66,953, and "By The Lower Dam" realized $79,988, nearly four times its low estimate. And Abbott Fuller Graves "A Hot Shoe" was another standout, standing tall at $41,475. Julia's is well known for its leadership with Rockport School paintings, and this sale was no different. Three Emile Albert Gruppe works were the stars in this category. They included his "Gloucester Sunlit Cove-Rocky Neck" which realized $22,515; "Mending the Nets" which realized $20,145; and "Morning Gloucester" which realized $20,738. This sale featured a spirited selection of paintings from the Pennsylvania New Hope as well as the Hudson River Valley schools. These included Kenneth Nunamakers "Plum Blossoms" which realized $23,700 and William Trost Richards "Crashing Waves" which realized $24,885. Other works celebrating the great outdoors included Howard A. Terpnings "Spring Came Early" which realized $94,800 and Frederic Remingtons "Trail Riders" which realized $23,108. Bronze selections in this sale were also heavy favorites. Abastenia St. Legar Eberles joyful "Girl With Roller Skate" was the wheel-deal and realized $20,145, more than twice its low estimate. Works with an international twist rounded out sale highlights from the first day of this event. These included Swedish/American John F Carlsons "Morning In The Barnyard" which realized $24,885; American/Canadian Jack Lorimer Grays "Chockle Cap, Lunenburg Co, Nova Scotia" which realized $29,033; and Frenchman Edouard Leon Cortes "Paris En Hiver" which realized $26,663. The second day of this fine auction featured 600 lots of outstanding American and European antiques, furniture, historical items, and nautical paintings. Works featuring seafaring vessels of all types were a splashing success. Aptly named Robert Salmons "Outward Bound, Long Island Head, Boston Harbor" was a headliner here, realizing $82,950, over four times its low estimate. Three of James Buttersworths works really made waves with bidders. These included "A Three Decker Off Dover Castle With Shakespeare Cliff In The Distance," "Dover Passage," and "Yachting In New York Harbor." They realized $37,920, $47,400, and $41,475 respectively. Five paintings by Thomas M. Hoyne also hit the high water mark. Each was originally estimated at $15,000-25,000 but significantly surpassed this range. His "Parting The Crest Helen G. Wells At Gloucester," "Taking A Bath On Georges," and "The Loner-The Governor Russell, 1983," each realized $41,475. And his "Five To Port-1983" and "Dropping The Tow-1979" each realized $53,325. Wooden decorative and functional items hammered their way to the top of this event as well. A fine Federal inlaid mahogany tall case clock by Aaron Willard realized $29,625. An exceptional, fine, and important tobacconist figure of an Indian maiden attributed to Samuel Robb more than double its low estimate to realize $94,800, while sixteen silhouette carved wood and painted shorebird decoys splintered their $1,000-1,500 auction estimate to realize $90,060. Folk art and weathervanes were other important categories represented on the second day of this sale. It was off to the races with a large and rare cast iron Rochester horse weathervane which realized $20,145. And a folk art portrait of a young boy attributed to the mid-19th C. Prior/Hamblin School went to the head of the class at $21,330, over four times its low estimate. The final day of Julia's annual summer auction presented a stellar selection of contemporary decorative arts and unusual offerings, including over 250 lots of breathtaking art from Japan and China. Julias is known for its expertise in Asian arts, and the furniture, sculptures, paintings, jewelry, cloisonne, jades, and porcelain on offer were once again world-class. Aesthetically lovely Asian treasures were one of the focal points of day three of this sales event, with bids coming in from across the globe. Particularly eye catching highlights include two bronzes - a sculpture By Li Chen, which realized $38,513 and a statue of a seated figure, which realized $15,998 - and a pair of watercolor landscapes, which realized $15,405 on their $800-1,200 estimate. A Ming Dynasty-era cloisonne basin, estimated at $6,000-$8,000, realized $26,663, while an exquisite Qing Dynasty-era green jade bowl, estimated at $4,000-$6,000, realized $31,995. Another mouthwatering highlight in this sale was an impressive, 19th c. Chinese export Rose Mandarin dinner service in the bird in the lantern pattern. This lot included traditional tableware plus matching platters, serving dishes, nesting bowls, tureens, and other service items. It realized $17,775. Collectors felt right at home with this sales great offering of Asian furniture. A rare Chinese Zitan carved canopy bed realized $33,180, and a Zitan recessed trestle-leg altar table realized $10,665. Finally, a set of nine rosewood mother-of-pearl inset chairs and tables proved itself a real jewel in in this sale, realizing $16,590. About James D. Julia, Inc.: James D. Julia, Inc., one of the top ten antique auction antique houses in North America as measured by annual sales, is headquartered in Fairfield, Maine. The company also has an office in Boston, Massachusetts. In business for over 45 years, the company conducts high-end antique, collectible and fine art auctions throughout the year. Julia's has routinely established new world records through its sales events. The company consists of three key divisions, including Rare Firearms; Fine Art, Asian, and Antiques; and Rare Lamps, Glass, and Fine Jewelry. Each division is regarded for its excellence and is staffed with world-class specialists to guarantee fair and professional authentication, identification and valuation services. For more information on James D. Julia, Inc., please visit http://www.jamesdjulia.com. "Were really excited about this partnership - these fairs are going to offer some fantastic new opportunities. Teach Away is teaming up with the premiere service provider to international schools - International School Services (ISS) - to host two international teacher job fairs in early 2017. This partnership is the first of its kind and the hiring fairs, to be held in Bangkok and San Francisco, will provide an opportunity for educators to connect with schools and be considered for some of the most exciting teaching jobs abroad. The recruitment fairs will be held in the following locations, on the following dates: January 5-8 2017, Bangkok, Thailand February 9-12 2017, San Francisco, USA Over 150 of the worlds top international schools will be in attendance at each fair, ready to hire educators for hundreds of overseas teaching jobs starting in 2017. Opportunities on offer include teaching positions across all subjects and grade levels, as well as administrative, support and leadership roles. The four-day fairs are open to teachers who hold a formal teaching license and/or qualification, are open-minded and looking for a new adventure overseas. Hiring fairs offer a unique chance for candidates to meet with overseas schools in person, arrange interviews, and potentially receive on-the-spot job offers. Teach Aways mission is to ensure every student experiences the power of a great teacher. This new partnership with ISS is fully aligned with our mission, and provides our teachers with yet another way to secure a fantastic position abroad. Were really excited about this partnership - these fairs are going to offer some fantastic new opportunities. Ash Pugh, Director at Teach Away Teachers can now apply to attend online via the Teach Away website. Admission to the fairs is free and by invite only. About Teach Away Teach Away is a careers and professional development platform for education professionals around the world. We ensure that students are learning from the best educators worldwide, and were achieving this through commitment to quality hiring and world-class teacher development. We envision a world where every student experiences the power of a great teacher - allowing them to reach their full potential. 6S Marketing President, Chris Breikss Our digital marketing strategies mix technological sophistication with an attention-grabbing twist. 6S Marketing has made a name for themselves as a progressive digital agency, focusing on emergent tactics such as marketing automation, programmatic buying, and multi-lingual campaigns. They have executed digital marketing and advertising strategies for clients such as Criteo, Pirelli Tires, Cirque du Soleil, and the W Residences in Hollywood. Now, theyre forming a unique presence in California, offering up-and-coming digital techniques with an innovative twist. The firm received widespread media attention last year with their tongue-in-cheek #WeAre6S campaign, which challenged Apple to rename the iPhone 6S to the iPhone 7. The campaign featured both digital and material activation, coordinating online content with real-world promotion in Times Square. #WeAre6S was featured in over 150 media outlets, including Mashable and MTV News. 6S Marketing is a Premier Google Partner, regularly hosting Google Partner events and sending team members to the Googleplex for state-of-the-art training. The agency has opened their Los Angeles offices at NextSpace in Venice Beach, which is right down the street from Googles headquarters. Says 6S Marketing President, Chris Breikss: Moving close to Google was no accident as we want to continue to expand our relationship with them. Also, living and working in Silicon Beach for us was a no-brainer were combining a great location and a savvy tech environment that will allow us to recruit top talent to build out our team. Work-life balance is vital to us, so its important our employees will have ample access to the outdoors and all the perks of sunny California. To best service the wide range of West Coast clients, 6S Marketing is expanding their media buying and online advertising services further. Our digital marketing strategies mix technological sophistication with an attention-grabbing twist, explains Breikss. While we strive to be innovative, we use custom analytics to ensure campaigns are driving results for our clients and that they are achieving a positive return on investment. Opening the Los Angeles office completes 6S Marketings four-pillar geographic office strategy. The agency will target customers in the West with their LA and Vancouver offices, in the East with New York and Toronto offices, and take on everything in between. About 6S Marketing: 6S Marketing is a digital marketing and advertising agency that transforms brands for the digital age. For over 15 years, the ROI-focused direct response firm has helped clients revolutionize their businesses online. Services include online media buying, search marketing, conversion rate optimization and marketing automation. 6S Marketing provides distribution of advertising creative via such paid campaigns across multiple digital channels such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, WeChat, Weibo, and Baidu. Hilton Chicago (left), which overlooks Grant Park and Lake Michigan, will be home to the 2017 AMUG Conference. We selected the Hilton Chicago because it can accommodate the increase in attendance that we forecast for the 2017 event. The Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) today announced that its 29th annual users group conference will be located in Chicago, Illinois, from March 19 23, 2017. The five-day event will be held at the Hilton Chicago, a Chicago landmark built in 1927. The AMUG Conference draws both novice and expert users seeking insights, assistance and guidance on 3D printing technologies, applications and processes. The conference also attracts support, in the form of sponsorships, from leading companies in the additive manufacturing industry. After an extensive search, AMUG selected the Hilton Chicago for its capacity and location. The property has the largest meeting and event space of any Chicago hotel, and it offers 1,544 guest rooms. As a primary destination, Chicago is home to two international airports, OHare and Midway, offering direct flights from around the globe. Steve Deak, AMUG president, said, The AMUG Conference has experienced exceptional growth over recent years. We selected the Hilton Chicago because it can accommodate the increase in attendance that we forecast for the 2017 event. Deak noted that the hotel is large enough to consolidate guest accommodations and event activities under one roof, which facilitates continuous, morning-to-evening interactions that enhance the social networking aspect for which the conference is known. Deak also noted that the hotel is as spectacular as it is large. According to Hilton Chicago, The hotel opened its doors in 1927 and has served as one of the citys most revered addresses ever since. Located on South Michigan Avenue and overlooking Grant Park and Lake Michigan, the hotel has been meticulously redesigned and restored in a way that preserves the magnificence of its early 20th-century style while incorporating all of the 21st-century conveniences our guests expect. The AMUG Conference will include keynote presentations, technical sessions and hands-on workshops designed to help users get more from their additive manufacturing technologies. Through technical competitions and the annual Awards Banquet, excellence in applying additive manufacturing and contributions to the industry will be recognized. The five-day event also includes the two-night AMUGexpo, networking receptions and catered meals. The users group conference, now in its 29th year, is open to owners and operators of all industrial additive manufacturing (3D printing) technologies. The advanced, all-inclusive conference registration fee is $795.00. For details, visit http://www.am-ug.com Vernon Oakes, Host Everything Co-op Leverage the Co-op Vote, and Go to the Polls this November! Recently, Everything Co-op dedicated a show to support getting out the vote for the upcoming Presidential election. Gabe Snow and Laura Vogel, of NRECAs (National Rural Electric Cooperative Association) Co-ops Vote Team, discussed the Vote.coop website with Vernon Oakes, host of Everything Co-op, a weekly radio show sponsored by National Cooperative Bank. Vernon was so astounded by the statistics cited regarding voter turnout during the primary elections, and equally impressed by the work that NRECA is doing to change those statistics, that he is releasing the podcast of the show with a direct link to the Co-ops Vote Website. To listen to a podcast of the show, click here. According to the New York Times, only 9 percent of primary voters selected Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as the presidential nominees. About 28.5 percent of eligible voters participated in the primaries overall, according to the Pew Research Center. Most of the nation chose not to vote. During the show, it was noted that the decline in rural voting in the 2012 elections was 18 percenttwice the decline seen nationally. Thats why electric co-ops all across the country have launched Co-ops Vote to boost voter turnout in rural communities served by co-ops. Co-ops Vote is a non-partisan project of America's Electric Cooperatives, designed to inform both co-op members and the candidates on key issues facing electric co-ops, and encourage them to support their co-ops and the communities they serve when they go to the polls. The organization does not endorse or recommend any candidates for election, but offers access to information that will make it easier to get out and vote in November. The Co-ops Vote website is a great resource. Although the site provides information about issues facing electric cooperatives, the site has so many resources that any voter can benefit from a visit. The site includes a Voter Resources page that offers links to voter information, including: a list of upcoming elections, Absentee Ballots, a polling place locator, and a list of Early Voting sites. If a person has not registered to vote, or wants to find out if their name is still listed on the roster; they can find out how to register in their jurisdiction, and verify their eligibility to vote. Visitors to the site can also review information on Presidential candidates, and other candidates associated with their voting districts. Co-ops Vote is your one-stop Vote site. In keeping with the sixth cooperative principal of "Cooperation Among Cooperatives," Everything Co-op supports NRECAs expression of their "Concern for Community," which is the seventh cooperative principal. We invite you to visit vote.coop, and take advantage of the wealth of information that is made available to you. Everything Co-op focuses on issues and programs that impact the cooperative movement. The show airs on Thursdays from 10:30 11:30 am EST on Radio Ones premiere station WOL 1450 AM in the Washington, DC Metro Area. If you do not live in area, you can listen to Everything Co-op on the Tune-in Radio application or website; or via the live stream on WOLs website at http://www.woldcnews.com. Gregg and Melissa Bernhardt, owners of Bag of Bones Barkery, pose with their Golden Retriever, Luke in the expanded store. The extra space will allow us to better accommodate our customers, add on some really fun events for pets and their owners, and really bring out the personality of our business. Bag of Bones Barkery, a premier New Jersey dog bakery that bakes gourmet, all-natural, nutritious dog treats in a wide variety of flavors, will host a grand re-opening event on Saturday, September 10, 2016 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to showcase its 6,500 square-foot expansion in the Mercerville Shopping Center located on Route 33 in Hamilton, NJ. The addition comes from acquiring the adjacent store space, which was previously a Sleepys Mattress Store. The expansion comes due to the growing popularity of their all-natural pet treats baked on the premises, so the business requires more back-of-the-house production space in order to increase output. In addition to the increased production space, the expansion includes greater retail floor space for products as well as a flex space for services and events for customers and their pets. The grand re-opening event will feature a tour of the new store, manufacturer and vendor visits, and an opportunity to win prizes. Leashed pets are always welcome at the Barkery. In the past, Bag of Bones Barkery has also hosted adoption events, charitable fundraisers, and services for pet owners, which they look forward to expanding with the added space. Gregg and Melissa Bernhardt have been the owners of Bag of Bones Barkery since 2007. And since then, the pair has moved the stores location twice in order to keep up with its popularity and demand. "Its been amazing to watch our business grow, so naturally, we have to grow with it," said Gregg Bernhardt, owner of Bag of Bones Barkery. "The extra space will allow us to better accommodate our customers, add on some really fun events for pets and their owners, and really bring out the personality of our business with some cool design and innovative in-store elements that we couldnt do previously because of space constraints." The look and feel of the Barkery will remain, but customers walking in during the grand re-opening will encounter some grand additions to the stores style. "This wont be your average pet bakery and supply store," said owner Melissa Bernhardt. "Walking in, youll be greeted by two life-size artificial trees. Our goal with the expanded store is to bring the outdoors in and to reflect our natural image. We are incorporating natural elements, such as reclaimed wood, plants, stone, and other earthy features. The space is more open, comfortable, and natural." In addition to more space for pet products, the Barkery has created a new flex space that is designated for pet events (about 1,100 square feet), including but not limited to: Dog social and dinner events Nutritional and educational seminars Manufacturer meet and greets Adoption and rescue events Pet photography Dog training classes Puppy play dates Animal communication Wellness clinics Lunch and learns with veterinary professionals Loyal and frequent customers are also very excited about the expansion. "Bag of Bones Barkery is the only place I consider when buying anything for my dogs," said Diane McHutchison of New Egypt, NJ, a long-time Bag of Bones Barkery customer. "Their treats are the best, the selection of packaged foods are tremendous, and they sell only the best of toys. But their customer service exceeds all that. With their expanded store and services, I'm sure that they will continue to be the best pet place around." Gregg and Melissa Bernhardt started Bag of Bones Barkery in 2007, after they began baking all-natural dog treats out of their basement for their late Golden Retriever, Chloe. The store not only sells their signature dog treats and dog cakes, but it also carries natural pet food, beds, toys, leashes, and other goodies. Today, the Barkery is very active in the pet community at large and holds many fundraisers and charitable events to raise money for Veti-Care, NorthStar Vet Hospital, Natures Variety Pound-for-Pound Program, Morris Animal Foundation, and Scarfaces Benefit, to name a few. Bag of Bones Barkery has also donated over $20,000 of pet products to local rescues. "We have been loyal customers of Bag of Bones Barkery since they first opened and knew from that first visit that they are not just a business catering to pets and their owners; they have a true passion and love for what they do, said Nancy Moore, a Robbinsville, NJ resident. All of their employees care and are happy to give every customer the help and information they need. The expanded store has opened their business to a more varied selection of goods and services as well as plenty of room for activities. Any pet owner owes it to their "fur baby" and themselves to stop in and check out this great store. It truly is one-of-a-kind." Bag of Bones Barkery is located in the Mercerville Shopping Center at 364 Route 33 in Hamilton, NJ and can be reached at (609) 528-0101. To view the Barkerys offerings or to order online, visit http://www.bagofbonesbarkery.com. AMI Founders Leonard and Jenness Perlmutter Since Yoga Science and meditation worked so well for us in demanding circumstances, we thought it could work for others. From our personal experimentation, AMI was born. On October 1, 2016, The American Meditation Institute (AMI) will begin a year-long celebration of its 20th anniversary of teaching Yoga Science and meditation as holistic mind/body medicine to reduce stress and relieve burnout. Established in 1996, AMI founder Leonard Perlmutters Heart and Science of Yoga, curriculum was the nations first comprehensive Yoga Science program accredited by the American Medical Association for continuing physician medical education credit. The American Meditation Institute is a 501(c)3 non-profit educational organization devoted to combining the best of ancient Eastern wisdom and the practicality of modern Western science. Under the guidance of its founders, Leonard and Jenness Perlmutter, The American Meditation Institute provides practical, step-by-step instruction on how to control, conserve and transform our greatest human resourcethe power of thoughts, desires, emotions and concepts. When practiced daily, these mind/body skills can empower individuals to make conscious, discriminating and reliable choiceschoices that enhance their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. According to Leonard Perlmutter, By practicing the scientific meditation techniques taught at AMI, students learn how to construct a practical, metaphoric bridge between their own inner, intuitive wisdom and their actions in the world. This bridge between the inner mental world and the outer world of action makes it possible to coordinate our human assets in such a positive way that it enables us to experience healthy, creative, loving, nurturing and rewarding relationships." Co-founder Jenness Perlmutter points out that, The curriculum presented at The American Meditation Institute is an educational body of knowledge that neither interferes nor conflicts with any religious or cultural belief. On the contrary, the teachings at AMI helps individuals of all backgrounds to increase their understanding of, and appreciation for every religion and culture, including their own. To coincide with The American Meditation Institutes twentieth anniversary, AMI will host its eighth annual mind/body medicine 30 CME conference, October 25-29, 2016 at the Cranwell Resort and Spa in Lenox, Massachusetts. For this American Meditation: The Heart and Science of Yoga physician conference, AMI has assembled an impressive faculty of distinguished experts who will present lectures and provide practicums on meditation, diaphragmatic breathing, mantra science, Yoga psychology, mind function optimization, Trauma and PTSD, Neuroplasticity, an understanding of the chakra system as a diagnostic tool, nutrition, Functional Medicine, epigenomics, Ayurveda, easy-gentle yoga and lymph system detoxification. -30- About the American Meditation Institute The American Meditation Institute offers a wide variety of weekly meditation classes, retreats, conferences and teacher training programs at its main campus in Averill Park, New York. AMI also publishes Transformation, a bi-monthly journal of Yoga Science as holistic mind/body medicine. Call 518.674.8714 for a mail or email subscription. Media Contact: Robert Washington 60 Garner Road, Averill Park, NY 12018 Tel: 518-674-8714 Fax: 518-674-8714 ADCS Clinics (ADCS) announced it has completed the acquisitions of dermatology practices owned by Robert M. Stiegel, M.D. and Louis H. Martone M.D. in Beaver and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania respectively. Dr. Stiegel was born and raised near Chicago, IL. He completed his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from The University of Michigan and received his medical degree from The University of Illinois. Dr. Stiegel began his dermatology residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He then completed his residency at The University of Pittsburgh, PA. He became Board Certified in Dermatology in 1981. He has been serving people in Beaver County for the past 35 years, and Pittsburgh Magazine rated him one of the top five physicians in dermatology in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Dr. Stiegel has been a Diplomat of the American Academy of Dermatology since 1981. Dr. Stiegel with Martha Frey and Michelle Williams (both Physician Assistants) at his office in Beaver, Pennsylvania, provide state-of-the-art dermatological treatments for medical issues that affect the skin, hair, and nails. Dr. Martone is a Board Certified Dermatologist in practice since 1976. He is a graduate of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio and Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago. He did his internship at the Northwestern Passavant Hospital. He was then inducted into the United States Air force as a Captain and General Medical Officer to serve two years on active duty during the Vietnam conflict. After discharge, Dr. Martone did his dermatology residency at University Hospitals of Cleveland - Case Western Reserve Medical School. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology, and Pennsylvania Academy of Dermatology. He is past president and current Treasurer of the Pittsburgh Academy of Dermatology. He is Chief of Dermatology at UPMC St. Margaret Hospital. He is also a member of the Allegheny County Medical Society and Pennsylvania Medical Society. Dr. Martone treats all general skin problems including acne, eczema, psoriasis, skin and nail problems. He is skilled in dermatologic surgery for removal of moles, warts, and skin cancer. He has extensive experience with cosmetic dermatologic procedures. Dr. Matt Leavitt, Founder and CEO of ADCS, said, Its truly an honor to welcome Dr. Stiegel and Dr. Martone to our practice. They have a great following in the area and are dedicated to ensure best possible results for each patient treated are achieved. Dr. Larry Stokar, who was the first successful practice we acquired this past April, was the inspiration to continue to grow in the Pittsburgh area. These acquisitions in Western Pennsylvania continue to expand our presence to provide patients with better access to our doctors for superior quality care, said Dave Morell, President & COO of ADCS. ADCS, founded in 1989 by Dr. Matt Leavitt, is a dermatology-focused practice with over 157 clinics in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia and Wyoming providing clinical, cosmetic, surgical and pathology services. ADCS also provides billing and coding management services for almost 90 third-party dermatology practices across the nation under the Ameriderm trade name. For more information, contact: Dave Morell, President & COO of ADCS, 407.875.2080 ext. 1244 Album Christmastime in New Orleans Captures Multicultural Spirit of the City As Performed by New Orleans' Top Jazz Musicians With the news cycle revealing a difficult year for the state of Louisiana, as the fall sets in and the holiday season approaches, a more heart-warming narrative takes center stage with Christmastime in New Orleans. Capturing the festive spirit and traditions of New Orleans, this new project aims to maintain the traditions of some of the citys great artists such as Louis Armstrong, Dr. John and Harry Connick Jr. The album features some of The Big Easys finest jazz musicians in beautiful, custom instrumental arrangements of holiday favorites, providing a freshly swinging soundtrack for the holiday. The PBS Special, Christmastime In New Orleans, will air throughout the fall and holiday season on various stations throughout the country, with Louisiana Public Broadcasting and airing a sneak peek of the show on September 7. Additional airdates will follow, including special October preview broadcasts with WYES in New Orleans. The sleek yet effervescent sound of Christmastime in New Orleans comes via the 18-piece NOLA Players, a supergroup ensemble convened from the citys deep well of musicians. These instrumentalists live and breathe music on a daily basis in the Crescent City, having interacted with each other for years from philharmonic dates to parade lines, from jazz combos to R&B bands. They have played in orchestra pits and dive bars, for funeral parades, for dance parties and arena shows. Their talents have taken them far and wide, too, as they have performed with the biggest stars on the most illustrious stages. But for all the ravishing sophistication of the groups sound, there remains local spice that you can hear in the funky feel of I Saw Three Ships. One can also hear echoes of old New Orleans in I Heard the Bells, which sparkles like tinsel thanks to the piano intro by Mike Esneault. As the projects arranger and music director, Esneault an Emmy Award-winning composer-arranger who has worked with stars from Allen Toussaint and Dr. John to Terence Blanchard and Elvis Costello brought the long-held vision of AimHigher executive producers Kevin and Monica Fitzgibbons to resonant life. The executive producers co-own De Montfort Music and AimHigher Recordings and have developed several Billboard chart-topping albums, accounting for three of Billboards Top 6 Traditional Classical Album Imprints of 2014 and 2015, respectively. Christmastime in New Orleans includes such merry classics as Silver Bells, Deck the Halls and Jingle Bells, the latter given a slinky, finger-snapping treatment like no other. And the hip Christmas in New Orleans recorded so notably by Louis Armstrong with the Benny Carter Orchestra in 1955 sounds fresher and more inviting than ever, the musical equivalent of mistletoe. The record is sure to become a holiday evergreen for many, reflecting the multilingual, multicultural ethos at the heart of New Orleans. The recording sessions for Christmastime in New Orleans helmed by multiple Grammy Award-winning producer Christopher Alder were held onstage in studio conditions at the historic Saenger Theatre on Canal Street in downtown New Orleans. Set up in an intimate circle, the musicians played right to each other as the songs were blessed by the halls warm, open acoustics. The NOLA Players line-up also includes vibraphonist/percussionist Jason Marsalis, a member of the first family of New Orleans jazz, brother to jazz superstars Wynton and Branford and son of the beloved pedagogue Ellis, who taught Esneault and so many of the other players in the band. To Terrance Taplin, the lead trombonist of The NOLA Players, the special secret to the sound of music on this album is daily life. Yeah, life is the secret, just living here in New Orleans: going out to hear music on Frenchmen Street, taking your place in a second line, eating some good gumbo, playing in a dive to a handful of people but having a time. Just the spirit and joy of it and that came out with us playing in the round at the sessions for the album. I dont think Ive ever felt anything quite like it when recording. Along with the aforementioned musicians, The NOLA Players include Geoff Clapp on drums, bassist Roland Guerin, vibraphonist Jim Atwood who also serves as the groups project manager; trumpeters Bobby Campo, Ashlin Parker and Stephen Orejudos; trombonist Matt Wright, bass trombonist B.J. McGibney, organist Charlie Dennard, guitarist Mike Vila, and reed players Rex Gregory, Ray Moore, Tony Dagradi, John Reeks and Jason Mingledorff. These native artists of diverse backgrounds, styles and ethnicities came together to create something truly warm and enduring for all of us to enjoy at that special time of year. Pre-order the album: iTunes: http://smarturl.it/NOLAJAZZit Amazon: http://smarturl.it/NOLAJAZZ For airings of Public Television Broadcast Special: PBS.org http://www.AimHigherRecordings.com http://www.VerveMusicGroup.com Contact: Monica Fitzgibbons | AimHigher Recordings monica(at)aimhigherrecordings.com Melinda L. Estes, M.D., MBA Beckers Hospital Review released today the 2016 edition of its list of 110 Physician Leaders of Hospitals and Health Systems, featuring hospital and health system presidents and CEOs who hold medical degrees. Melinda L. Estes, M.D., MBA, president and CEO of Saint Lukes Health System has been named to the list. Beckers Hospital Review has published a version of this list every year since 2010, and this is the fourth time the list has included 100 leaders or more. Dr. Estes, a board-certified neurologist and neuropathologist, was first named to this list in 2012 and has been named each year since. She is the only physician leader from the Kansas City area to appear this year Leaders were selected based on editorial judgment and discretion. Nominations were also considered when making selections for this list. Dr. Estes was also recently recognized by Beckers as one of the 12 Female CEOs Making Their Mark in Healthcare. Dr. Estes became president and CEO of Saint Lukes Health System in September 2011 and is an accomplished leader experienced in clinical and academic medicine, as well as hospital administration. As president and CEO, Dr. Estes leads a 10-hospital, faith based, aligned health system committed to the highest levels of excellence and quality. During her tenure at Saint Lukes, Dr. Estes has excelled at streamlining best practices across the system, and improving processes to increase efficiency while maintaining the highest level of clinical excellence. In addition, Dr. Estes has been responsible for improving access to care across the health system with the expansion of primary care practices, the creation of multispecialty clinics and the launch of a mobile e-health option for care. Previously, Dr. Estes was president and CEO of Fletcher Allen Health Care, an academic medical center serving Vermont and northern New York, where she effectively guided the health system back to financial health while expanding services, forging alliances and implementing an extensive strategic planning process. Prior to that, she served in a leadership position at the Cleveland Clinic Florida in Weston and Naples. The full list can be read here - http://bit.ly/2bjIR45 - and features individual profiles of all 110 physician leaders. Saint Lukes Health System Saint Lukes Health System consists of 10 area hospitals and several primary and specialty care practices, and provides a range of inpatient, outpatient, and home care services. Founded as a faith-based, not-for-profit organization, our mission includes a commitment to the highest levels of excellence in health care and the advancement of medical research and education. The health system is an aligned organization in which the physicians and hospitals assume responsibility for enhancing the physical, mental, and spiritual health of people in the Kansas City metropolitan area and the surrounding region. About Beckers Hospital Review Becker's Hospital Review is a monthly publication offering up-to-date business and legal news and analysis relating to hospitals and health systems. Content is geared toward high-level hospital leaders, and we work to provide valuable content, including hospital and health system news, best practices and legal guidance specifically for these decision-makers. Each issue of Becker's Hospital Review reaches more than 18,000 people, primarily acute care hospital CEOs, CFOs and CIOs. The Better Business Bureau Institute for Marketplace Trust today announced the winners of the 2016 International Torch Award for Ethics (ITAE). Four companies will be honored with the award. They are: Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Jon Wayne Service Company, Victory Auto Service & Glass and Merry Maids of Metro. The award is given to businesses who demonstrate best practices in character leadership and organizational ethics. In addition, six companies were named finalists. They are: Albert Moving & Storage, Wichita Falls, TX Axios Solutions, Inc. Huntsville, AL JNBA Financial Advisors, Minneapolis, MN Main Street Service Center, Harrison, AR North Star Resource Group, Minneapolis, MN The Business Backer, Cincinnati, OH. The ITAE winners and finalists will be honored at a special luncheon ceremony on September 20, 2016 at The Westin Indianapolis in Indianapolis, IN, as part of the International Assembly of Better Business Bureaus. These outstanding companies consistently exceed marketplace standards for ethics in their relationships with their customers, employees, suppliers, industry peers and the communities in which they do business. By awarding them the 2016 International Torch Award for Ethics, we are demonstrating to the business community that adhering to Better Business Bureau ethical standards is the hallmark of successful, competitive companies, said Genie Barton, president of the BBB Institute for Marketplace Trust. About the Winners: Category 1(1-10 employees): Merry Maids of Metro, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia For more than 35 years, Merry Maids has been a leader in the home cleaning industry. The company prides itself on providing honest, reliable and trustworthy service to each of its clients. From its employee hiring process, to customer interactions, to the methods they use to clean a clients home, everything is done with a purpose and is a reflection of the companys values and commitment to upholding the highest moral standards. Before an employee can join the Merry Maids team, they must go through extensive criminal record and reference checks. They also participate in a 45-question interview, developed for the parent company ServiceMaster, that guides their companies on how to recognize service oriented people. Employees receive training developed at Merry Maids University, where they learn proper cleaning tips and techniques, and also learn about accountability and ethical business practices. Internal communications are frequent and open to ensure that all maids are prepared to do business at a higher standard in order to wow every client. From providing free house cleaning services to cancer patients and other charitable organizations, to participating in fundraising and community events, Merry Maids of Metro believes in giving back to the community. Category 2 (11-99 employees): Victory Auto Service & Glass, Fridley, Minnesota Victory Auto Service & Glass is a family owned and operated automotive repair and glass business with five locations in the suburbs of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota and one location in St. Petersburg, Florida. In 1997, the company was founded with a commitment to providing exceptional service to those in need of automotive repair and maintenance, as well as being passionately dedicated to the communities they serve. From their clean and friendly work environment, to providing fair and accurate estimates, to carefully explaining every diagnosis and repair needed, Victory Auto strives to live their motto: honest, dependable service. From day one, both the companys owner and general manager lets new employees know that working at Victory Auto will be different than their experiences at other shops. Their standards and procedures are communicated from an employees first day and then continually reinforced after that. Victory Auto also helps those in need in their community. It is not uncommon for Victory to donate vehicles to single mothers, as well as the use of its shop tools and facility to individuals who also volunteer labor hours. Victory has proven time and again that integrity is, in fact, good business. Category 3 (100-499 employees): Jon Wayne Service Company, San Antonio, TX Founded in 2001, Jon Wayne Service Company is the largest residential air conditioning, heating, plumbing, and electrical company in South Texas. The company prides itself on an excellent reputation for performance and as a place to work. Jon Wayne has become a pace-setter for these industries, providing the highest quality of service, using leading edge equipment and technology; all while maintaining highly trained and knowledgeable staff. All technicians are trained and certified through the Jon Wayne Academy, a first class instructional facility that gives their employees hands on experience in the newest and best technology. Jon Waynes goal is to make sure every customer has a WOW experience, which is made possible through its No Excuses training program. If the customer is not more than 100 percent satisfied with the outcome of a job, the company will do all it can to make it right or the customer doesnt pay. Jon Wayne employees enjoy a wide range of benefits, including a variety of health options, competitive pay, on-site gym, ongoing training and other perks including company parties, awards, retirement and more. For four consecutive years Jon Wayne Service Company has been voted one of the Top Places to Work in its area. The company proudly supports, contributes to, and participates in numerous community events and donates its time, money and talents to various organizations. Category 4 (500 or more employees): Harley-Davidson Motor Company Milwaukee, WI Since 1903, the Harley-Davidson Motor Company has been committed to providing an exceptional customer experience. Harley-Davidson has developed an incredible level of trust with its shareholders, customers, suppliers, employees and communities around the world. The Motor Companys Code of Business Conduct is based on common sense values and behaviors that promote ethical decisions and compliance with law and regulations. Harley-Davidson also ensures that each employee has the tools and resources to always do the right thing. Harley-Davidson invests in innovative new technologies, manufacturing processes and products that continue to lower its environmental impact generating less waste, using less energy and creating fewer greenhouse gases. For more than 100 years, Harley-Davidson has remained connected and committed to its neighbors and neighborhoods. The Harley Davidson Foundation has donated millions of dollars of in-kind services and gifts to worthy charitable causes in a variety of areas, including education, health and the environment through its Volunteer Hours Program, where employee volunteer hours at an organization are matched with grants from the Foundation. # # # About the BBB Institute for Marketplace Trust The BBB Institute is the educational foundation of the Council of Better Business Bureaus and a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. Its goal is to connect targeted consumer populations to BBB services, promote consumer awareness and financial literacy, and advance business ethics in the marketplace. The organization offers in-person trainings, print and digital educational resources, scholarships and recognition programs that promote ethical enterprise and fraud prevention in all 50 states. Media Contacts: For more information, journalists should contact Katherine Hutt at 703-247-9345 or khutt(at)council(dot)bbb(dot)org or Jasmine Turner at 703-247-9376 or jturner(at)council(dot)bbb(dot)org. With over 20 years experience in Sales strategy and operations, Green has helped businesses from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies create high performance Sales and Go-to-Market teams. Jackson Hole Group, LLC, an executive level consultancy firm that advises CEOs, Boards and C-suite executives on critical business and organizational challenges, is pleased to welcome Peter Green as a Partner in the firms New York office. In joining the firm, Green will support client companies design and implement high performance Sales and Go-to-Market organizations nationwide. Jackson Hole Group occupies a distinctive place in the market by providing senior level support with a set of Partners who have a powerful combination of operational and advisory experience, says Green. The JHG team has deep been there experience that is unique and highly valued by senior executives. With over 20 years experience in Sales strategy and operations, Green has helped businesses from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies create high performance Sales and Go-to-Market teams. Before joining Jackson Hole Group, Peter served in a variety of senior Sales leadership roles. Initially starting in the publishing world, Peter led sales teams and developed new products for both Institutional Investor Magazine and McGraw Hill. As the SVP of sales at Weather.com, Peter developed and led a team that grew revenue by over 700% over a seven-year period. He continued his digital focus, developing his skills in SaaS based technology, as VP of Sales at Webcollage prior to its acquisition by Answers.com. Most recently, as Vice President of the startup, Swyft Media in the social /mobile sector, Peter built the Sales team and developed their Go-to-Market strategy. At Swyft Media Peter worked with the worlds largest messaging App platforms and Fortune 500 brands to develop their native marketing capabilities such as emoji, brand pages and video marketing. Were very excited to have Peter join our firm, says Jim Wiggett, CEO of JHG. His experience helping clients tackle challenging revenue generation issues complements the work our firm does. Peters extensive experience and his focus on pragmatic action and results will add value to our client work. I am looking forward to my trip across America as it will allow me to connect with a number of high-flying business professionals and learn from them, as well as to share my own skills and help the success of the sales and marketing industry continue Business owner and young entrepreneur Paul Gillett will be flying out to Miami, Florida on September 25th in order to meet with top business professionals within the sales and marketing industry. Mr Gillett is hugely excited for the trip as it will be an ideal opportunity to not only make a lasting connection with a leading business owner from the industry but also to learn and develop new strategies which can be implemented within his own firm, AJG Direct. This meeting will be hugely beneficial to AJG Direct as a company as these new strategies will come directly from someone who has tried and tested them and proven them to be a success. Paul Gillett believes that his trip will inspire and motivate the firm as a whole. About AJG Direct : http://ajgdirect.co.uk After 2 days in Miami, Paul Gillett will fly to New York for a Business Development Conference. The business owner will be in New York from 29th September until the 2nd October. This is further opportunity for the business owner to connect with leading industry professionals and to network with more young leaders from within the industry. The New York event is extremely important as it is being held to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of hard-working CEO's, Entrepreneurs & Business Owners. "I am looking forward to my trip across America as it will allow me to connect with a number of high-flying business professionals and learn from them, as well as to share my own skills and help the success of the sales and marketing industry continue. I look forward to returning to AJG Direct with a new set of skills under my belt and a number of new strategies to implement," revealed CEO of AJG Direct, Paul Gillett. AJG Direct is an outsourced sales and marketing firm based in London. The firm specialises in a personalised form of event marketing which means they run unique face-to-face events on behalf of their clients brands. By connecting with consumers on a one-to-one basis at these events this helps to build trust between brand and consumer which often leads to long-lasting business relationships. In turn, this helps to increase their clients customer acquisition, brand awareness and brand loyalty. The Community Orchard is now open for the 2016 season and has three fun and educational field trips and tours for students. Teachers are able to pick from the Apple Pickin' Tour, Pumpkin Patch Tour and Combo Tour. Apple Pickin's Tour will take the class on a walk to the orchard where they will be able to pick an apple. An educational segment is also provided on the tour that tells about the 4 seasons of the apple tree and the transition the trees make through-out the year. Students will then view the gigantic coolers where the apples are stored and a visit to the bakery. Everyone is treated to apple cider at the Back 40. Expect to spend about 45 minutes on this tour. A Pumpkin Patch Tour takes the students on a venture down to the pumpkin patch in the Pumpkin Cruiser. Everyone will enjoy popcorn and picking their perfect pumpkin. A trip to the Back 40 and samples of freshly pressed cider are served to end the 45 minute tour. Teachers are also able to select the Combo Tour which will last about 90 minutes. This tour combines both the Apple Pickin' Tour and the Pumpkin Patch Tour into a fun afternoon filled with memories to share with friends and their families. "We encourage the teachers to give us a call to visit about the tours and set up a time for everyone to join us." says Bev Baedke, Community Orchard Owner. "We keep the students busy and keep the costs at a minimum so that it is a field trip that everyone can participate in." Just down the road is Clay and Associated DDS, PLC dental clinic. A 30 - 45 minute tour of this state of the art dental clinic along with a fun activity for the students to do at home is also available. Put both of these stops together and have a fun day for students, teachers and any family members that also attend. The Community Orchard is located at 2237 160th Street, Fort Dodge, IA. Additional activities include receptions and events, the Where's Waldo Corn Maze, Back 40, Apple Attic, Apple Orchard Cafe and Apple Market. Online ordering is also available. Call 515-573-8212, email orchard(at)forntiernet(dot)net, visit the website at http://www.communityorchard.com and follow along on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Family in Pokemon Cosplay from Florida Supercon 2016 We ran out of space in that building, and we wanted a more modern facility Florida Supercon, the second largest convention event held at the Miami Beach Convention Center in 2016, only behind Art Basel, has announced that it is moving its celebrities, attendees, and economic impact to Fort Lauderdale for at least the next two years. Florida Supercon will take place July 27-30, 2017 at the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention Center. Florida Supercon draws more than 53,000 attendees over 4 days with more than 5,000 coming from outside of the South Florida, tri-county area. Of those, 1,000 came from outside of Florida, and 200 came from outside of the United States. In 2016, Supercon tracked 3,000 room nights booked by attendees in area hotels, generating more than half a million in direct revenue to hotels. The move is directly attributable to ongoing construction at the Miami Beach Convention Center and the surrounding area. Construction was a burden this year with 50% of the facility unavailable, the loss of one of the two loading docks, and the loss of the parking lot directly across the street. 2017 estimates show that the exhibit halls will shrink another 25% and that ballrooms and breakout rooms will shrink by 75%. Due to the elimination of some fire exits, building capacity will also be lessened by over 35% from 2016 levels. Furthermore, street construction will have a significant impact on traffic and parking. Initial plans to use The Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater, a Live Nation Venue, as an expansion of the event, as was done in 2016, would no longer be considered due to the extremely negative experiences Supercon attendees and staff had with that facility. A survey conducted of Supercon attendees showed that they spend an average of $300 on food and other non-admission items during their stay. Centerplate, the concessions manager of the Miami Beach Convention Center, generated over $450,000 in food and beverage revenue inside of the convention center during Florida Supercon in 2016. Despite the challenges with construction, the Miami Beach Convention Center has been a great partner. It is managed by helpful staff who have worked side by side with us over the past three years to put on amazing fan events. We are also grateful to Fort Lauderdale for welcoming us with wide open arms during this challenging time. Both the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau and the staff of the Convention Center have been incredibly helpful and accommodating in making this move possible, said Mike Broder, President of Super Conventions. Prior to this announcement, Super Conventions, parent company of Florida Supercon, announced that they have moved two additional events to the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention Center from the Miami Airport Convention Center. We ran out of space in that building, and we wanted a more modern facility, said Broder. Those events include Animate Florida September 16-18, 2016 with 12,000 attendees, and Paradise City Comic Con December 9-10-11, 2016 with 19,000 attendees. Super Conventions had an eye on The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention Center for many years, but waited to host an event there until the security gate was moved. All of the events produced by Super Conventions are family friendly and targeted to geek interests. For more information, visit http://www.floridasupercon.com. About Florida Supercon Florida Supercon is the largest convention for comic books, anime, animation, video games, fantasy, Sci-Fi and pop culture genres in South Florida. This 4-day event features celebrity guests, comic book creators, voice actors, industry guests, cosplayers, artists, writers, panels, Q&As, films & shorts, costume and cosplay contests, vendors, parties, anime, workshops, video gaming, childrens events and more for the whole family. With a lifetime interest in comics and Sci-Fi, Mike Broder founded Florida Supercon in 2006 with 1,500 attendees and it has grown to over 53,000 in 2016. All photos courtesy of Florida Supercon. Finalists named in all 7 categories of the InfoSec Tech & Exec Awards Program EC-Council Foundation is proud to support their mission of raising awareness of cyber safety issues for the global community while unifying global cyber defense by recognizing those individuals at the forefront of information security innovation The finalists named by EC-Council Foundation for the Certified CISO (CCISO) of the Year, CISO of the Year, Innovative Security Project of the Year, Most Improved Security Program of the Year, Ethical Hacker of the Year, Penetration Tester of the Year, and Forensics Analyst of the year span many industries and specialties, but they all represent the best in their field. EC-Council Foundation is proud to support their mission of raising awareness of cyber safety issues for the global community while unifying global cyber defense by recognizing those individuals at the forefront of information security innovation and best practices. EC-Council Foundation is proud to announce the following professionals as finalists. First, the CCISO of the Year Finalists include Richard Ryan II Hernandez, Information Security Officer at LafargeHolcim; Paul Horn, CISO at HD Vest Financial Services; Hung-Pin Hsieh, Senior Manager at Acer Inc.; Luis O. Noguerol, President & CEO at Advanced Division of Informatics & Technology, Inc.; and Niran Seriki, Senior Cyber Security Consultant for EU Institutions. These high level professionals all carry the EC-Council designation of Certified CISO and were partly chosen for their contribution to the CCISO community, as well as to the information security professional at large. The next category of finalists is the CISO of the Year. Finalists include Syed Azher, CISO at Impact Group; Medha Bhalodkar, CISO at Columbia University; Pavankumar Bolisetty, Global Head - Information Security at Wave Crest Holdings Ltd.; Jared Carstensen, Chief Information Security Officer at CRH plc.; Kok Kee Chaiw, Vice President, IT Security & Assurance IT Security & Assurance at MEASAT Broadcast Network Systems Sdn Bhd (ASTRO TV Malaysia); Bobby Dominguez, Chief Strategy & Security Officer at Lynx Technology Partners, Inc.; Youssef Elmalty, Head of Cyber Security at IBM; Aizuddin Mohd Ghazali, Group IT, Head, Risk & Security Management at Sime Darby Holdings Bhd; Amit Ghodekar, Vice President, CISO at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd; Marvin Marin, Cyber Security Program Manager & Technical Advisor at NetCentrics; Michael Molinaro, CISO & VP at BioReference Laboratories, Inc., JR Reagon, former Global CISO at Deloitte; and Eric Svetcov, AVP, Information Security & CSO at MedeAnalytics. Nominations for these accomplished professionals highlighted their leadership and innovation as they worked to secure their organizations amid a constantly changing landscape of threats. Next are the finalists for the Innovative Security Project of the Year. This award is intended to recognize a project that showed a high level of difficulty while using innovative methods or solutions to support the business goals of its organization. The finalists include Chen Heffer, Cyber Security Officer and his team at the Douglas County Government; Dan Nagle, Senior Software Engineer at Harman Professional Solutions; and Niran Seriki, Senior Cyber Security Consultant at EU Institutions. The Most Improved Security Program of the Year is an exciting category because it specifically awards the difference strong leadership can make in securing an organization when proper frameworks, policies, and governance are put in place. The finalists for this award are Chad Cottle, Chief Information Security Officer and his team at City of Lexington, KY; Juan Gomez-Sanchez, Chief Security Officer at Lennar Corporation; Brenda McAnderson, Chief System Sustainment at System Sustainment, National Cybersecurity Protection System (NCPS), Network Security Deployment (NSD), Office of Cybersecurity and Communications (CS&C), U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS); Paul Medici, Director at Fidelity; and Preston Werntz, Chief, Technology Services Division at U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Cybersecurity and Communications. Next are the technical awards finalists. This is the first year EC-Council Foundation is awarding these categories. First, the Ethical Hacker of the Year, resonates with EC-Council Foundations mission of global cyber security by highlighting the role that ethical hackers have in finding and addressing the weaknesses in the worlds cyber infrastructure. The finalists are Marc Rogers Information Security & IT Expert at CloudFlare, Ankur Chandrakant, Cyber Security & Forensics Expert at Cyber Radix Academy for Future Technology; Zechariah Akinpelu, Team Lead, Application and Database Security Control at Fidelity Bank PLC; Christopher Chavez, Cyber Security Consultant at Avyara Information Systems; and Ali Tabish, Sr. Information Security Analyst at Moon International Pak Pvt Ltd. The Penetration Tester of the Year recognizes the penetration tester professional who best embodies the principles of penetration testing by contributing to the industry and the positive view of information security professionals. The finalists are Bassem Helmy, Senior Security Consultant at Deloitte Middle East; Bastien Treptel, Director at Ctrl IT Pty Ltd; Srinivasan Subramaniam Muthukondapuram of Consulting Private Limited, Jonathan Paz Gamer & Black Box Pen Tester at RootByte; and Shitesh Sachan, Sr. Lead Application Security at hCentive. The Forensics Analyst of the Year recognizes the professional who has shown exemplary work in forensics through innovation and meticulous performance of his or her duties. The finalists are Andrew Case, Director of Research at Volexity; Ahmed Fawzy, Information Security Manager at Raya Contact Center; Muhammad Nuh Al-Azhar, Superintendent Police - Chief of Computer Forensic Lab. at Indonesian Police Forensic Laboratory Centre; Manish Aggarwal, Netowrk Security Analyst at Total IT Solutions Education Organization; and Yamikani Gogo Wilfred Hauya, Systems Support Officer at Malawi Revenue Authority. The InfoSec Tech & Exec Gala precedes both Hacker Halted, EC-Council Foundations largest annual cybersecurity conference, and the Global CISO Forum, the Foundations premier executive-level event. Tickets are still available for both events. About EC-Council Foundation EC-Council Foundation is a charitable and educational organization dedicated to educating and training individuals in security skills. Established in 2012 by EC-Council, the foundation seeks to raise awareness, build capacity across nations and ultimately promote global peace. EC-Council Foundations mission is to foster collaboration and participation by global digital citizens to become advocates for safe, secure online activities and to foster online child protection through education. For more information, visit foundation.eccouncil.org. Steven Harlan joins the team at Kirkpatrick Bank Private Bank as Senior Vice President, Private Banking Kirkpatrick Bank Private Bank in Denver will be headed up by Steven Harlan of Denver. Harlan has developed highly customized wealth management services to meet his customer's needs through a volatile economic environment. Denver, Colorado: Trent Stafford, Colorado President, today confirmed that Kirkpatrick Bank will open private banking services at its Denver bank, located on the top floor of the Boathouse Building located at 1850 Platte Street. Immediately adjacent to I-25 and the 20th Street exit, the location sits right on the South Platte, with a stunning view of LoDo. Katherine Kaley, President, Denver Market, announced that the Kirkpatrick Bank Private Bank in Denver will be headed up by Steven Harlan, noting, Steven has twenty-two years experience banking in the Denver market, of which 15 have been devoted to private banking. He has developed highly customized wealth management services to meet his customers needs through a volatile economic environment. Steven Harlan joins the team as Senior Vice President, Private Banking. He emphasizes the delivery of full financial solutions holistically addressing banking services, investments, capital management, and trust. His expertise is the inclusive delivery of wealth management solutions to families, foundations, and businesses. Kaley also announced the arrival of Kam Looney as Vice President, Private Banking. Looneys 17 year career in banking began in Overland Park, Kansas where she worked primarily in the mortgage field. After moving to Denver in 2011, she broadened her experience to include business and private banking. Her area of expertise includes analyzing and structuring banking relationships, including depository, credit and investment needs for high net worth customers. Kirkpatrick Bank, a privately held commercial bank, has been growing in Oklahoma since1970 and in the Colorado Springs market since 2001. Well known for its expertise in commercial and real estate lending, the banks chairman, Christian K. Keesee, is a third generation banker and oil man. Medi Contact: Cynthia Archiniaco Vice President Director Marketing carchiniaco(at)kirkpatrickbank(dot)com (405) 341-8222 Release Date: September 6, 2016 Commercial Solar Array in Massachusetts for Worthen Industries Its been an exciting time for solar development, domestically and abroad, with a wealth of opportunities for businesses, schools and governments to take advantage of the savings that solar power provides, said Jarrard. Renewvia Energy was recently named to Solar Power Worlds Top 100 Solar Commercial Contractors list for 2016. Renewvia was one of six commercial contractors in Georgia to make the list, which included 100 commercial solar companies from across the United States and Canada. Renewvia was also included on Solar Power Worlds 2016 Top 500 North American Solar Contractors list. The Commercial Top 100 Solar Contractors list is published annually by Solar Power World to recognize outstanding solar businesses and the role they play in promoting sustainability and economic growth. The companies on this years list exude solar-business brilliance, and they deserve to be recognized not only for being great companies but also for how their work positively impacts the environment, said Kathie Zipp, managing editor of Solar Power World. Renewvia has experienced tremendous growth since its creation in 2009 by partners Trey Jarrard, CEO, and Eric Domescik, president. The company designs, installs, owns and operates commercial and utility solar power systems in the United States and around the world, including Latin America, the Pacific Islands and Africa. Renewvia provides its clients a complete range of solar solutions, including turnkey solar installation, integrated financing and solar consulting services. Renewvia has helped businesses, farms, hospitals, schools and governments lower energy bills by as much as half through solar power. Its been an exciting time for solar development, domestically and abroad, with a wealth of opportunities for businesses, schools and governments to take advantage of the savings that solar power provides, said Jarrard. Our passion is helping connect the dots for our clients finding the right partners, financing, and technology so they can complete their project and start realizing savings. The use of solar power has been booming since 2010 due to tax incentives, public support, technology innovations, and a steep decline in the price of solar equipment. In fact, the average cost of commercial solar photovoltaic (PV) projects has dropped by 30% in just the last three years, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). Also from the SEIA, the United States hit 1 million solar installations in 2016, and that number is expected to double by 2018. While 74% of the growth comes from utility projects, residential and non-residential projects have been rising as well. The growth is good for the environment and the economy. Around 209,000 Americans work in solar and experts predict that number will double to more than 420,000 workers by 2020. No one can deny that local companies are supporting the growth of the solar industry and the economy as a whole, Zipp said. Our top solar contractors are the face of the industrymeeting homeowners and business leaders on their doorsteps every day. About Renewvia Energy Renewvia Energy designs, installs, owns, and operates commercial and utility solar power systems. Renewvia provides a complete range of solar solutions, including turnkey solar installation, integrated financing and solar consulting services. Renewvia solar power plants reside in multiple geographies, interconnecting to numerous utilities under complex and challenging financing structures. For more information, visit http://www.renewvia.com. About Solar Power World Solar Power World (SPW) is the leading online and print resource for news and information regarding solar installation, development and technology. Since 2011, SPW has helped solar contractorsincluding installers, developers and EPCs in all marketsgrow their businesses and do their jobs better. SPW is published by WTWH Media in Cleveland, Ohio. Marco Limena, CEO, Telarix I look forward to working with the entire Telarix team and with our customers to help service providers increase their revenues and extend their reach through our electronic information exchange. Telarix, Inc. (Telarix), the leading provider of wholesale and partner solutions for communication service providers (CSPs), today announced that it has appointed Marco Limena as its new Chief Executive Officer, succeeding Glen Kazerman. Limena joins Telarix after over two decades of leadership and experience driving growth and developing scalable organizational capabilities in a variety of executive roles, including general manager, CEO, and board director in both public and private firms within the telecom, mobility and cloud hosting industry. Previously, Limena led HPs Network & Service Provider Solutions business globally, served as President and CEO of VoIP communications software provider Sylantro Systems, and most recently was Vice President in charge of driving growth of Microsofts B2B hosting and cloud business at a time of critical transformation for Microsoft to mobility and cloud. Building on Telarixs growth as a market leader in CSP billing for Interconnect and Settlement, I look forward to working with the entire Telarix team and with our customers to help service providers increase their revenues and extend their reach through our electronic information exchange, said Marco Limena, CEO of Telarix. We thank Glen for his leadership over the last ten years to bring increasing value to Telarix customers and establish a strong and growing business. Were excited to work with Marco to continue building upon Telarixs solutions for the telecom industry, said Patrick Severson, lead director for Telarixs board of directors and Principal at Vista Equity Partners. Marco has a unique set of experiences and skills that will support Telarixs continued growth and globalization while maintaining its delivery of rapid innovation for customers. We look forward to partnering with Marco and the entire Telarix leadership team. In January of this year, Telarix was acquired by Vista Equity Partners, a leading private equity firm with focused investments in software, data and technology-enabled companies. Vista partners closely with management teams and provides multilevel support to help companies reach their full potential. About Telarix With a community of over 4,000 carriers, Telarix is the de-facto standard in electronic information exchange. Every day, we empower our clients with wholesale billing, business intelligence, fraud management, least-cost routing and partner settlement solutions. For more information, visit us at http://www.telarix.com. About Vista Equity Partners Vista Equity Partners is a U.S.-based investment firm with offices in Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco, with more than $26 billion in cumulative capital commitments. It currently invests in software, data and technology-based organizations led by world-class management teams with long-term perspective. Vista is a value-added investor, contributing professional expertise and multi-level support that enables companies to realize their full potential. Vistas investment approach is anchored by a sizable long-term capital base, experience in structuring technology-oriented transactions and proven management techniques that yield flexibility and opportunity in private equity investing. For more information, please visit http://www.vistaequitypartners.com. Childrens author, illustrator, and educator Anna Dewdney, whose toddler-centric picture books starring wildly expressive Baby Llama are multi-million-copy bestsellers, died at her home in Vermont on Saturday, September 3, after a 15-month battle with brain cancer. She was 50. Dewdney was born December 25, 1965 in New York City. She grew up in nearby Englewood, N.J., and attended high school at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. before graduating from the Putney School in Putney, Vt. In 1987, Dewdney received a bachelors degree in art from Wesleyan University. Before she fulfilled her dream of becoming a full-time author and illustrator, she supported herself working as a waitress, a rural mail carrier, and a daycare provider. She also taught art and history to middle-school boys at a boarding school for many years. Her childrens book career began in earnest with her artwork for The Peppermint Race by Dian Curtis Regan (Henry Holt, 1994). Dewdney went on to illustrate a number of other childrens chapter books in the 1990s. Then, in 2005, Viking published the first picture book she both wrote and illustrated: Llama, Llama Red Pajama. The humorous tale of Baby Llamas struggles to get to sleep at bedtime received critical praise and became a hit with kids, parents, librarians, teachers, and booksellers. The series now contains more than 10 titles and has sold more than 10 million copies combined. Netflix is producing an animated Llama Llama series that is due out in 2017. Dewdney did many school, library, and event appearances, where she spoke passionately about her work and childrens literacy. In her role as a literacy advocate, Dewdney wrote a 2013 opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal, emphasizing that empathy is as important as literacy when it comes to educating children. When we read with a child, we are doing so much more than teaching him to read or instilling in her a love of language, she wrote. We are doing something that I believe is just as powerful, and it is something that we are losing as a culture: by reading with a child, we are teaching that child to be human. When we open a book, and share our voice and imagination with a child, that child learns to see the world through someone elses eyes. In a release from her publisher, Jen Loja, president of Penguin Young Readers, said, The entire Penguin Young Readers family is heartbroken. And as we grieve, we also celebrate Annas life, in dedicating ourselves to carrying forward her mission of putting books into as many little hands as possible. We will miss her so, but consider ourselves so lucky to be her publishing family and her partner in her legacy. Additionally, Ken Wright, v-p and publisher of Viking Childrens Books, shared these thoughts: Anna was an extraordinary talent. But much more than that, she was a dear, dear friend to so many of us at Viking and Penguin, and she will be deeply and personally missed by her entire Penguin family. Dewdney had recently completed a new picture book, Little Excavator, which is scheduled for June 2017 publication from Viking. She requested that in lieu of a funeral service that people read to a child instead. Dewdney is survived by her partner, Reed Duncan, and two grown daughters. Georgia and Kentucky indies prep to open; a New York City bookstore tries pop-ups while it searches for permanent space; a children's store may flee Harvard Square; and more. Read Shop Opens in Atlanta: Local entrepreneur Dan Collier, who also owns the Merchant, Collier Candy Company, and Archer Paper Goods, has added a bookstore in the Vinings Jubilee area. Although this is his first bookstore, he has been wholesaling books for 20 years at the Atlanta Gift Mart. Collier plans to add a coffee shop to the bookstore soon. Queens Bookshop Keeps Popping Up: While it looks for a permanent space, the former B&N booksellers behind the Queens Bookshop have two pop-up locations. They have a set of "blind date" books at Cipollina (116-09 Queens Blvd.) and they have books by Queens authors at the Made in Queens store (27-24 Queens Plaza South). Paducah Books Opens: After his favorite used bookstore, the Book Rack, closed, entrepreneur Chris Anderson decided to fill the void in Paducah, Ky., with a used and new bookstore of his own. Curious George Store Could Leave Harvard Square: The childrens specialty bookstore in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Mass., could be forced out of its current location. Developer Equity One is seeking permission from the Cambridge Historical Commission to gut the building that houses Curious George and the one next door to create a mall called the Harvard Collection. Earl Plaza Books to Close Unless a Buyer Comes Forward; The 41-year-old used bookstore in Lafayette, Ind., which has has only been open one day a week since November, will close at the end of September. Martin Atkins, whose father, Jim, founded the 4,000 sq. ft. bookstore, has been running Earl Plaza since 1993. But technology and online retail have taken a toll, according to the younger Atkins. Jim Atkins would still like to find a buyer, but has only a few weeks. Last year PW, in association with the Frankfurt Book Fair, launched the Star Watch program, which recognizes the rising stars of our industry. This year, we received more than 300 nominees, from which a team of judges from PW, the American Booksellers Association, the Association of American Publishers, and the Frankfurt Book Fair chose 40 honorees and five finalists. Of those five, one will be deemed a superstar and awarded an all-expenses-paid trip to the Frankfurt Book Fair in October, courtesy of the fair. The superstar will be revealed September 15 at a party in New York to celebrate all the honorees. Last year, the superstar was announced ahead of the party; this year, were letting the suspense build. What hasnt changed is the vast talent that emanates from these dedicated professionals, who represent all facets of book publishing: literary agencies, bookstores, and every department found in publishing houses, from production to publicity, art to editorial. Among the honorees, theres Brianne Johnson, an agent who never gives up on clients; Bria Sandford who is undaunted by working with authors who were presidential candidates, and Ariele Fredman who demonstrates her publicity chops with digital stars as well as traditional authors. For a full list of all 45 honorees and to purchase tickets to the Sept 15th award event visit www.PublishersWeekly.com/starwatch. WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Each fall, Purdue hosts the Big Ten+ Graduate School Exposition, which is one of the largest university-hosted recruitment and informational events in the country for potential graduate students. This year's event is scheduled for Sunday and Monday (Sept. 25-26). Activities will be held primarily in Stewart Center and Purdue Memorial Union's North and South Ballrooms. This year marks the 13th time Purdue has held the event. Students interested in pursuing graduate study in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and related disciplines can talk to faculty and students from several institutions. Workshops on funding graduate study, applying to graduate school, and networking with recruiters also will be presented. "This event is one of a kind in the United States where students may explore graduate education and research opportunities across more than a hundred programs," said Lee Gordon, director of graduate admissions at Purdue. "By attending the expo, students can talk to professors, current graduate students, and staff about graduate school and what steps are necessary to set them on the path they choose." Each year, the expo consists of informational sessions on Sunday for potential Purdue graduate students. Informational sessions allow attendees to learn from and network with current Purdue graduate students and faculty in the science, technology, engineering, mathematics and related fields. On Monday, the event includes a graduate school fair in which outside institutions can present attendees with information. Students from Purdue and across the country typically attend the event. Over 1,300 students have attended the event. In all, students who came to the event and later attended Purdue have earned 164 master's degrees and 41 PhDs. Over 70 universities will be recruiting at the expo. In addition to Purdue, a sampling of other institutions that will have representatives at the event include Cornell University; Columbia University; Duke University; Indiana University; Marquette University; Michigan State University; Northwestern University; The Ohio State University; Princeton University; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Rochester Institute of Technology; Rutgers University; Texas A&M University; schools from the University of California system; University of Illinois; University of Maryland; University of Michigan; University of Nebraska; University of Notre Dame; Vanderbilt University; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Purdue students and Purdue alums may attend the Sept. 26 session for free with their Purdue ID, or they may participate in all expo events - including workshops, meals, and networking receptions - and pay the regular registration fee of $35 in advance or $40 at the door. Purdue students can register at: http://www.purdue.edu/gradschool/gradexpo/purduestudents/index.cfm More information is available at: www.purdue.edu/gradexpo. Contact: Lee Gordon, Director of Graduate Admissions, Purdue University, leegordon@purdue.edu DAVENPORT -- Police are seeking a Davenport man involved in Sept. 1 accident near Blue Grass that killed a road construction worker. Sebon Reese, 18, has been charged with homicide by vehicle-reckless driving and eluding, according to a Tuesday news release from Iowa State Patrol Sr. Trooper Dan Loussaert. Mr. Reese also is wanted for violation of a Scott County probation. Mr. Reese is described as 5-foot-9, 142 pounds, and police say anyone who sees him should not approach him, but call 911. Police say that, around 10 a.m. Thursday, Mr. Reese was driving a 2005 Mercury Grand Marquis at a high rate of speed in a marked construction zone at the intersection of U.S. 61 and Coonhunters Road. Police say Mr. Reese struck and killed Willie Nathaniel Holley, 62, of Clinton, a Valley Construction employee working on the project. Mr. Holley was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital, the Scott County Sheriff's Office said Thursday. Mr. Reese and a 1-year-old girl in his car were both listed as injured and taken to Genesis Health System's East Campus in Davenport. The girl was discharged from the hospital, but Mr. Reese was transferred to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. The crash remains under investigation. The (Champaign) News-Gazette reports that the City Council will consider the request from Mayor Scott Eisenhauer on Tuesday. The newspaper says if the request is approved it will be the most properties the city east of Champaign has ever purchased at one time with the intent to demolish. Most are residential structures but among them is a vacant hotel once used as transitional housing for homeless and parolees. Eisenhauer's administration has demolished more than 250 structures since 2009 in the city of about 32,000 residents. Cicero police arrested the 18-year-old suspect after a short standoff Saturday night at his home. The Chicago Sun-Times reports the man surrendered to police after two relatives who were in the home left. Police say three men stole an off-duty state trooper's car last week in Cicero. Two of the suspects were arrested shortly after running away. Police say they recovered the trooper's vehicle and gun in her car. HAMPTON - Saying she is confident and optimistic about America's future, Democratic presidential candidate HIllary Clinton pounded home a message of unity in her visit to the 49th annual "Salute to Labor" picnic Monday at Illiniwek Forest Preserve. The outdoor crowd waited an extra 60 minutes or so from the tentative 4 p.m. start for Ms. Clinton to arrive and state why she would be better presidential material than Republican opponent Donald Trump. "I want us to bring people together the way unions do, the way people in communities do," Ms. Clinton said. "What we've got to do in the next 63 days is present a vision of America that we believe in. "We're going to continue to stay stronger together." Ms. Clinton said she wants to run a campaign of issues, not insults. She spoke about her appreciation of unions, which featured a wide array of representatives also speaking at the event on Monday. United Auto Workers President Dennis Williams and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers President Lonnie Stephenson, both Rock Island natives, were honored for their careers by Rock Island County Democratic Party Chairman Doug House. There were also a number of politicians attending, including U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-East Moline; U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa City; and U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth. Chris Kennedy, son of the late Robert Kennedy, also spoke earlier at the event. Other union leaders in attendance and speaking included National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen Garcia and Illinois AFL-CIO President Michael Carrigan. Mr. House estimated about 6 million union members were represented by their respective presidents on stage at one time or another during the afternoon. "We are going to be absolutely strong in our support for unions," Ms. Clinton said. Ms. Clinton said unions fought for the middle class, fair wages and safe working conditions. Ms. Clinton, although critical of Mr. Trump, seemed to agree with the Republican candidate on one issue -- opposition to the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership. "I am going to say no to unfair trade deals like the TPP," Ms. Clinton told the cheering crowd. It is one area in which she disagrees with President Barack Obama, who has said the trade deal is a top priority during his remaining months in office. Ms. Clinton, though, focused on her Nov. 8 rival, saying he doesn't have the temperament to be president. Citing Mr. Trump's Twitter wars with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, Ms. Clinton cautioned that his behavior could produce unwanted consequences. "A man who can be provoked by a tweet should not be anywhere near nuclear weapons," Ms. Clinton said. She also questioned Mr. Trump's business acumen and integrity, saying with his multiple bankruptcies, he has also "stiffed" thousands of workers by not paying them. "He even hires workers from overseas, and he tells people he couldn't find Americans who wanted to work in the heat," Ms. Clinton said. "You can't make this stuff up, can you? It's truly unbelievable. "He built a career of not paying workers for the work they did. We're talking painters, plumbers, electricians -- people who thought it was a big deal working for Donald Trump. "He stiffed them," Ms. Clinton said. Ms. Clinton said she wanted to focus on a jobs bill, bringing thousands of Americans to work on roads, bridges, water and sewer systems, electrical grids, advanced manufacturing and renewable energy. "It will take a lot of jobs, and a lot of people to do that," Ms. Clinton said. "There are places in our country where we still have dial-up, places where kids can't do their homework assignments the teachers give them because they don't have access to internet. "That is so unfair." Ms. Clinton acknowledged there will be challenges, but echoing the banners and signs surrounding her saying "Stronger Together," she told the crowd, "I will say 'yes' to the American Dream." Rock Island County Clerk Karen Kinney said it was the biggest crowd she had seen in her 20 years of attending the Labor Day event. Mr. House estimated about 5,000 people attended. HAMPTON -- Eva Savala, 79, of East Moline, a member of the Rock Island County Democratic Women, looked forward to hearing presidential candidate Hilary Clinton build her case for the job Monday at her appearance at the 49th annual "Salute to Labor" picnic at Illiniwek Forest Preserve in Hampton. But Ms. Savala had a longer wait than she had expected, because of a 60-minute-plus delay in Ms. Clinton's arrival. Ms. Savala spent her time selling pieces of pie, cookies and other treats, as she has for seven previous picnics in the last 10 years she's been a member of the organization. After Ms. Clinton delivered her inspirational, pep-rally like "We're stronger together" speech, spectator Audry Brown, 45, of Silvis, said it was "totally worth the wait. I loved it." Her son, Brighton Brown, 11, also "got to see history in the making," as did her mother, Alice Brown, 61. Kathy Breeden, of Knoxville, agreed, saying she couldn't help but cry a little when Ms. Clinton took the stage. Ms. Breeden also felt blessed to shake Ms. Clinton's hand. Steve Scranton, 61, of Taylor Ridge, complimented the job done by U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Schaumburg, for saying she spent five minutes "tap dancing" on her prosthetic legs, filling time until Ms. Clinton arrived. Terri Fuhr, of Hampton, thought Ms. Clinton "hit all the points of what's happening to our country." Ms. Fuhr said she has attended the annual event since she was a little girl, when her father stepped down off a tractor in order to take her to it. She wore a campaign shirt from Ms. Clinton's 2008 candidacy against President Barack Obama. She also wore a Chicago Cubs hair-tie and carried a Cubs purse, to make her outfit a Cubs/Clinton tribute for all to "C." Eva Patten, 74, came to the rally carrying the most recent issue of NEA Today, the magazine of the National Education Association. An article in it about Republican candidate's Donald Trump language opposes how she spent about 30 years teaching kids to be tolerant of one another. She wore a bright-red cowboy hat to show her support of Democrats. Jeff and Amber Byrd, of Carbon Cliff, brought their children, Tyler, 10, Peyton, 6, and Carly to the day-long barbecue/rally, saying they thought it was important to involve them in the election process and the merit of "providing for my kids and securing my retirement." Luke and Angie McClinnon, of Davenport, couldn't have agreed more. They brought their daughter, Ella, 11, and son, John, 7, to the event. Someday, their kids will take over the family's "Eljon Crane" business, named by combining their names, so will need to be prepared, Ms. McClinnon said. The event also gave the family a Labor Day off from cooking, and they all agreed that the fried chicken was superb. Curtis Hanson III, 19, of Moline, knew the food must have been a hit. He spent most of the day sorting through racks of rolls, but said he was still undecided on who to vote for, calling himself "more of a moderate." Craig Miller, 75, of Rock Island, summed up Ms. Clinton's speech by saying she talked about "fairness and solidarity" and said, as far as he sees it, there's one candidate worth voting for -- "Hillary Clinton." Marie Sanders told The Clarion-Ledger her faith is sustaining her as 46-year-old Rodney Earl Sanders faces capital murder charges. In an interview published Monday, Sanders said her husband left their Kosciusko home after their argument and it wasn't unusual for him to stay in a shed behind a relative's home across the street from the sisters' house in Durant, a town about 15 miles west of Kosciusko. Held and Merrill, who had worked for decades as nurse practitioners in some of the poorest parts of Mississippi, were found fatally stabbed Aug. 25 in their home. Sanders said her husband wrestled with demons, including seeing his mother killed when he was 5. During her husband's initial court appearance Aug. 29 in Durant, Marie Sanders broke into sobs and apologized to relatives of the nuns. Some of them hugged her and whispered to her. "They told me they love me, they love (Rodney), they said God forgives," said Marie Sanders, who married her husband in 2012. "That was the hardest thing. I didn't think I could make it because I didn't know how to say I'm sorry to this family because that was such a great loss. These were women of God.... For them to embrace me the way they did and tell me that they appreciate me, they love me, God loves me, they forgive, the sisters would want them to forgive ... that was a hard pill to swallow." At Lexington Medical Clinic, about 10 miles west of Durant, Held and Merrill often treated poor and uninsured patients with diabetes and other chronic conditions. The clinic and the nuns' home in Durant are in Holmes County, population 18,000. With 44 percent of its residents living in poverty, Holmes is the seventh-poorest county in America, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Capital murder under Mississippi law is a killing committed along with another felony. It is punishable by death or life in prison. The nuns' religious orders have spoken against execution, and the district attorney has not said whether she will pursue the death penalty against Sanders, who is charged with two counts of capital murder, one count of burglary and one count of grand larceny. The nuns' funerals were held Friday. Merrill was buried in Kentucky, where she belonged to the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. Held was buried in Wisconsin, where she was a member of the School Sisters of St. Francis in Milwaukee. VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte expressed regret Tuesday over his "son of a bitch" remark while referring to President Barack Obama, in a rare display of contrition by a politician whose wide arc of profanities has unabashedly targeted world figures including the pope and the U.N. chief. In a statement read out by his spokesman, Duterte said that while his "strong comments" in response to questions by a reporter "elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the U.S. president." Duterte had made the intemperate remarks Monday before flying to Laos, where he is attending a regional summit. He had been scheduled to meet Obama separately in Laos, but Obama indicated he had second thoughts, and the White House announced that the meeting had been canceled. The Philippines did not comment publicly on the cancellation until about nine hours later, when Duterte's statement said that both sides had "mutually agreed to postpone" the meeting. Even though Duterte's latest comment does not amount to an apology, the expression of regret is unusual for the tough-talking former mayor, who is unapologetic about his manner of speech and liberally peppers casual statements with profanities such as "son of a bitch" and "son of a whore." But perhaps Duterte's aides realized it would be unwise to take on the most powerful official in the world, and that there would be a price to pay for insulting the president of the United States. The U.S. is one of the Philippines' largest trading partners and a key security ally in its fight against terrorism in the country's south. Manila also needs Washington's help in dealing with a more assertive China in the disputed South China Sea. The U.S. also provides hundreds of millions of dollars in annual financial assistance to the Philippine military. Duterte likely had realized his folly by the time he arrived in the Laotian capital of Vientiane on Monday night. Speaking to reporters here, he said, "I do not want to quarrel with the most powerful country on the planet," but immediately took his typical combative approach by saying: "Washington has been so liberal about criticizing human rights, human rights and human rights. How about you? I have so many questions also about human rights to ask you. So ... people who live in glass houses should not" throw stones at others. He said if the White House had problems with him, it could have sent him a diplomatic note and let him respond. "There's a protocol for that," Duterte said. "You just cannot shoot a statement against the president of any country." But by Tuesday, he had done a complete U-turn in the tone of his statement. "We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions, and working in mutually responsible ways for both countries," the statement said. The flap over Duterte's remarks started when a reporter asked him how he intends to explain the extrajudicial killings of drug dealers to Obama. More than 2,000 suspected drug dealers and users have been killed since Duterte launched a war on drugs after taking office on June 30. In his typical foul-mouthed style, Duterte responded: "I am a president of a sovereign state and we have long ceased to be a colony. I do not have any master except the Filipino people, nobody but nobody. You must be respectful. Do not just throw questions. Putang ina, I will swear at you in that forum," he said, using the Tagalog phrase for "son of a bitch." Duterte has previously cursed Pope Francis and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "Who is he (Obama) to confront me?" Duterte said, adding that the Philippines had not received an apology from the United States for misdeeds committed during its colonization of the country. He pointed to the killing of Muslim Moros more than a century ago during a U.S. pacification campaign in the southern Philippines, blaming the wounds of the past as "the reason why (the south) continues to boil" with separatist insurgencies. Last week, Duterte said he was ready to defend his bloody crackdown on illegal drugs, which has sparked concern from the U.S. and other countries. Duterte said he would demand that Obama allow him to first explain the context of his crackdown before engaging the U.S. president in a discussion about the deaths. Duterte has had a troublesome relation with the United States, questioning its inability to stop genocidal killings in the Middle East and Africa, and citing U.S. police shootings of black Americans that have set off protests. He has also taken on a more conciliatory position with U.S. rival China. Philippines-China ties were strained under Duterte's predecessors due to territorial conflicts in the South China Sea. Duterte proclaimed early in his presidency that he would pursue a foreign policy not dependent on the United States. Former Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, under whose watch U.S.-Philippine relations blossomed, expressed disappointment over the aborted meeting with the U.S. "An invaluable occasion to have our leaders meet for the purpose of discussing how to strengthen our comprehensive areas of cooperation would have been a golden opportunity," del Rosario said. Almost 50 Illinois counties have filed lawsuits against Democratic Governor, JB Pritzker, and the ill crafted SAFE-T Act. Introduced in the General Assembly by the Illinois Black Caucus, the Act passed the Democratic-led General Assembly in the wee hours of Jan. 13, 2021. Amongst many of its weaknesses and deficiencies, the Act eliminates cash bail, emboldens criminals, and makes it even more difficult for law enforcement to keep offenders off our streets. Public Safety personnel and States Attorneys across our great State have decried the legislation, noting that it was drafted and written with very little constructive input from Public Safety leadership, from either party; potentially impacting every Illinois community with dangerous consequences. Allowing perpetrators to bail out of jail, based on their good word that they will be glad to return to court is laughable, at best, and both ludicrous and dangerous, at worst. Soon after the SAFE-T Act was passed at the State level, the Republican-led Henry County Board drafted a resolution, requesting that the General Assembly repeal and replace the SAFE-T Act with a new criminal justice bill, this time with input from professional law enforcement, States Attorneys from across the State, and other Public Safety officials. We unanimously passed our resolution on May 19, 2022, and encourage all County Boards in Illinois to follow our lead. Our Republican-led Board in Henry County believes we all, Democrats, Independents, and Republicans, deserve effective and fair law enforcement in our communities. After flipping and flopping on the topic of immigration, perhaps Donald Trump has learned this lesson: His fans are not thirsting for a more humane, welcoming Republican candidate. Trump's supporters like him when he is at his most bigoted and most xenophobic. They adore his finger-pointing rants. And they love him specifically because he called Mexicans "rapists" and "murderers" -- normalizing open hostility toward all immigrants, legal or not. Since the beginning, Trump has been peddling a border wall, a "deportation force" to remove unlawfully present immigrants from the country and a push to strip their U.S.-born children of citizenship. Trump's strongest supporters have lapped it up. No surprise there was an immediate backlash from his disciples when Trump made a distinction between illegal immigrants who are violent criminals and those who are not "the bad ones." These, Trump told Fox News, will have to pay back taxes in order to stay in the U.S. "There's no amnesty," he said, "but we will work with them." What possible upside is Team Trump imagining by this so-called "pivot"? Maybe there are a few Republicans who, previously turned off by his hard-line stances on illegal immigration, might now be willing to stand by the party's nominee. But compared with the outcry of those who are horrified by Trump's change in tone, it hardly seems worth it. Sarah Palin, the former governor and vice presidential candidate turned conservative reality-TV star, told The Wall Street Journal: "If Mr. Trump were to go down a path of wishy-washy positions taken on things that the core foundation of his support has so appreciated, and that is respecting our Constitution and respecting law and order in America, then yeah, there would be massive disappointment. ... Parts of that message we heard in the last week are clearly not consistent with the stringent position and message that supporters have received all along." Ann Coulter, the conservative critic and author of a new book "In Trump We Trust," was as infuriated as anyone trying to sell a book about a particular politician's stance on immigration -- after he pulls a 180. "I am trying to encourage Donald Trump to dump whomever the moron is who told him Americans are staying up at night worried about how people who broke our laws entering, broke our laws staying here, broke our laws taking jobs, how comfortable they are," Coulter told ABC News. "We have to take care of Americans first. And that's what (Trump) should be saying, not going back and saying one thing in his speech and then using the crazy Gang of Eight (the senators who supported an immigration bill in 2013) nonsense when he's talking to (Fox News' Sean) Hannity." It has been implied -- by Trump and others -- that this putative change of heart is at least in part due to highly publicized meetings with his "Hispanic Advisory Council," which was called "game-changing" by Helen Aguirre Ferre, the Republican National Committee's director of Hispanic communications. After this meeting, Trump told a crowd in Tampa, Fla., "I am going to fight to give every Hispanic citizen in this country a better future." But it is simply inconceivable that this superficial change in tone could succeed in winning over Latinos -- both newly arrived immigrants and those who were born in this country and have been here for at least half a century -- who have felt the sting of this election season's normalization of bigotry and nativism. Trump has sold his most fervent supporters a bill of goods that includes a very specific pledge to "make America great again" by doing all he can to get rid of "Mexicans," which he seems to think all Latinos are, and Muslims. Those of us who actually are Mexican or Muslim -- or merely look like we are -- have heard this loud and clear. Trump has dragged us through the mud for over a year before this sudden "pivot" toward not sounding like his presidency's first 100 days would be devoted to rounding us up and making us disappear. We aren't going to forget his slurs against us. Trump can "soften" his tone, but the great majority of Hispanics and other minorities whom he has vilified aren't going to buy it -- and neither are those who love Trump when he's spreading hatred. The one great service of Donald Trump's extended peregrinations on immigration policy is to have demonstrated how, in the end, there's only one place to go. You can rail for a year about the squishy soft, weak-kneed and stupid politicians who have opened our borders to the wretched refuse of Mexico. You can promise to round them up -- the refuse, that is, not the politicians (they're next) -- and deport them. And that may win you a plurality of Republican primary votes. But eventually you have to let it go. For all his incendiary language and clanging contradictions, Trump did exactly that in Phoenix on Wednesday. His "deportation task force" will be hunting ... criminal aliens. Isn't that the enforcement priority of President Obama, heretofore excoriated as the ultimate immigration patsy? And what happens to the noncriminal illegal immigrants? On that, Trump punted. Their "appropriate disposition" will be considered "in several years when we have ended illegal immigration for good." Everyone knows what that means: One way or another, they will be allowed to stay. Trump's retreat points the way to the only serious solution: enforcement plus legalization. The required enforcement measures are well known -- from a national E-Verify system that makes it just about impossible to work if you are here illegally, to intensified border patrol and high-tech tracking. The one provision that, thanks to Trump, gets the most attention is a border wall. It's hard to understand the opposition. It's the most venerable and reliable way to keep people out. The triple fence outside San Diego led to a 90 percent reduction in infiltration. Israel's border fence with the West Bank has produced a similar decline in terror attacks into Israel. The main objection is symbolic. Walls, we are told, denote prisons. But only if they are built to keep people in, not if they are for keeping outsiders out. City walls, going back to Jericho, are there for protection. Even holier-than-thou Europeans have conceded the point as one country after another has started building border fences to stem the tide of Middle Eastern refugees. The other part of the immigration bargain is legalization. What do you do with the 11 million already here? In theory, you could do nothing. The problem ultimately solves itself as the generation of the desert -- those who crossed the border originally -- is eventually replaced by its American-born children who are automatically legal and landed. But formal legalization is a political necessity. It gets buy-in from Democrats who have no interest in real border enforcement. Legalization is the quid pro quo. If they want to bring the immigrants "out of the shadows," they must endorse serious enforcement. Such a grand bargain could and would command a vast national consensus. The American public will accept today's illegal immigrants if it is convinced that this will be the last such cohort. This was the premise of the 1986 Reagan amnesty. It legalized almost 3 million immigrants. Because it never enforced the border, however, three has become 11. And that's why the Gang of Eight failed. They too got the sequencing wrong. The left insisted on legalization first. The Gang's Republicans ultimately acquiesced because they figured, correctly, this was the best deal they could get in an era of Democratic control. The problem is that legalization is essentially irreversible and would have gone into effect on Day One. Enforcement was a mere promise. Hence the emerging Republican consensus, now that Trump has abandoned mass deportation: a heavy and detailed concentration on enforcement, leaving the question of what happens to those already here either unspoken (Trump on Wednesday) or to be treated "case by case" (Trump last week). The Trump detour into -- and retreat from -- deportation has proved salutary. Even the blustering tough guy had to dismiss it with "we're not looking to hurt people." The ultimate national consensus, however, lies one step further down the road. Why leave legalization for some future discussion? Get it done. Once the river of illegal immigration has been demonstrably and securely reduced to a trickle, the country will readily exercise its natural magnanimity and legalize. So why not agree now? Say it and sign it. To get, you have to give. That's the art of the deal, is it not? CALDCs Halloween Celebration A Real Treat! The Central Astoria LDCs 7th annual Batty Over Halloween Celebration held on Sunday, October 23rd was a real treat for everyone who came out. Despite... Meng Brings NASA Astronaut To Queens On October 17, U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Queens) brought NASA astronaut Dr. Jonny Kim to Queens where he met and spoke with students at Francis... Celebrating Columbus The Federation of Italian-American Organizations of Queens (FIAO) held their annual Columbus Day parade in Astoria, on Saturday, October 8, during Italian Heritage Month. The... Sold Out This item is no longer available, but theres still much more to discoverkeep shopping to find something new to love! G'day! It's Murray here. I've put together a little quiz to test your musical knowledge. Think you can score top marks in Murray's Magic Music Quiz? Give it a go now! The order, which will be 85%-funded through the EU Operational Programme for Infrastructure and the Environment, comprises 12 three-car and five four-car trains with an option for 10 additional sets. The contract was signed after Polands National Chamber of Appeals (KIO) rejected an appeal from Pesa, Newags competitor in the tender. West Pomerania already owns 13 Impuls EMUs, which are used on Swinoujscie - Szczecin - Poznan and Szczecin - Slupsk services operated by Regional Railways (PR). If you think a theater of the absurd is limited to presidential candidates less popular than the Grinch who stole Christmas, youre missing Surface Transportation Board (STB) dysfunction where Chairman Dan Elliotts leadership is infuriating fellow Democrat Deb Miller and Republican member Ann Begeman. Begemans level of frustration with Elliott is manifest in her record number of progressively penetrating dissents, while Miller increasingly has withheld a necessary second vote until Elliott makes revisions to his draft decisions. The squabbling promotes regulatory delay. A five-year Elliott-led torment to produce a decision on forced competitive access by a second railroad at certain one-railroad served points resulted in Miller holding out for further stakeholder input and a better grasp of the long-term financial impact. Begeman still dissented, irritable the decision failed to identify which shippers will use the access, how and at what cost, and the impact on rail network fluidity. It will be 2017 or laterwith voting by up to three new STB membersbefore a final decision. Elliott, whose second term extends through 2018, likely remains chairman in a Clinton administration. Donald Trump will name a Republican chairmannot necessarily Begeman, politically attached to Sen. John McCain, and who will be gone if not renominated and Senate-confirmed before Dec. 31. Millers term extends through 2017. The 2015 Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act added two new memberscreating a five-member STBbut President Obama failed to make timely nominations, likely leaving the choices, including a possible successor to Begeman, for the next President. A new majority may demand a more in-depth analysis of the access issue. In weighing conflicting predicted outcomes by shippers and railroads, little attention was given by the Elliott-directed staff to the effect of such access where it already exists. In addition to Canada, where such access is in place, a version exists at Conrail, the switching and terminal railroad in Northern New Jersey, Southern New Jersey/Philadelphia and Detroit. It offers shippers a line-haul choice of CSX or Norfolk Southern, creating price and service competition. Another shared facility is the BNSF-Union Pacific jointly owned line in the Southern Powder River Basin. The STB also is unsettled in resolving shipper allegations that they are rate gouged when lacking effective transportation alternatives to rail. Currently to gain redress, shippers must pursue a Stand Alone Cost (SAC) test requiring they construct, operate and maintain a hypothetical railroad built from scratch. The complexity and cost [typically at least $5 million] of the SAC test is astounding, Miller says. Begeman wrote, While I had been skeptical about the SAC test prior to my service at the Board, my concerns have only grown as I have seen the SAC process in action. Shippers call it the most complicated rate standard in the history of regulation. They shun as unusable two allegedly more simple alternatives. An STB-commissioned consultant study of the SAC test is under way. Additionally awaiting STB action is whether and how to implement a rate cap on revenue-adequate railroads; and revisions toand simplification ofthe formula for calculating revenue adequacy. Railroads say the measurement is intended solely as a guide and not meant to summon new pricing restrictions. Inspiring Congress to partially deregulate railroads in 1980 and provide for safe-harbor pricing was regulatory sluggishness in assisting railroads to achieve revenue adequacy. No issue is so crucial to railroads, shippers and the economy as revenue adequacya high-wire act without a net that Congress consistently has identified as regulations North Star. In an economy with the beer turned flat and the fizz off rail earnings, flubbing the dub on what revenue adequacy is and meansand how it is affected by other regulatory decisionswill determine for another generation the level of investment available to renew and expand Americas rail network. Much rides on pending STB nominations. Ground-based air defense forces, particularly surface-to-air missile (SAM) forces, play a crucial role in Chinese military thinking about the defense of the homeland. In Science of Military Strategy 2013 ( PDF ), Chinese strategists assume that a potential adversary is likely to initiate a conflict via air attacks that continue throughout the conflict and directly impact the success or failure of the overall attack. Looking beyond China's borders to recent wars abroad, other Chinese strategists have observed that, without a strong air defense capability, a country's national security and territorial integrity are held at risk and the country may lose operational superiority during wartime, leading to irreparable losses within its territory. A strong air defense capability can thus help China defeat enemy air assaults, win air defense battles, and deter potential adversaries. PLAAF SAM units' operational readiness and capabilities may vary depending on their home unit location and the time of year. According to our latest research, which examined every SAM training activity discussed within a one-year time frame between 2013 and 2014 in the PLAAF's official newspaper, Kongjun Bao, SAM units based near the capital area and in the coastal regions appeared to be the most active. We also found that PLAAF SAM units followed a yearly training cycle that is based on the training cycle of two-year enlisted conscripts (which begins in late summer and early fall). This cycle impacts SAM units' levels of operational readiness throughout the year. For example, between October and February, we found no exercisesthe most sophisticated level of training activityand only a few basic training activities or drills reported. By April, there were higher levels of basic training activities and the highest number of drills, presumably in preparation for Red Sword, the PLAAF's flagship opposition-force exercise. Training peaked in July and high levels of activity were maintained during the summer and early fall. PLAAF SAM units have been engaging in more realistic and challenging combat training in recent years. Mobility training was the most frequently mentioned in the 2013 to 2014 data set, the majority of which involved rapid maneuver, though some articles discussed traveling long distances to engage in live-fire training at one of two SAM training ranges in the Gobi Desert or Bohai Gulf or to train in unfamiliar environments. Opposition-force training was also frequently discussed, though only a fraction of this training was described as against actual aviation units as opposed to simulated opponents. Compared to an earlier data set from 2004 to 2006, 2013 to 2014 data showed increases in the discussion of opposition-force and unscripted training in PLAAF SAM training activities. However, discussion of complex training content is still limited, with just over 10 percent of entries describing unscripted training, and even fewer involving combined arms training with other PLAAF branches or joint training with other services. Opposition-force training has grown more frequent in recent years. For some SAM units, Kongjun Bao articles indicate that training with neighboring aviation units has become more common, with commanders and operators from both types of units sharing information about their combat methods and devising ways to overcome them. In live-unit opposition-force training, PLAAF SAM units also are increasingly challenging their opponents instead of merely supporting the other side's training. In their training against aviation forces, SAMs are now practicing to counter sophisticated air tactics, and SAM units are operating as part of blue force and red forces.... The remainder of this commentary is available on nationalinterest.org. Cristina Garafola is a project associate at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation. This commentary originally appeared on The National Interest on September 2, 2016. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis. In a region with high levels of illegal subscriptions to pay-TV, Chile shines as home to just 6% of pirate users. According to Pablo Cereceda, communications manager of VTR , Chiles leading pay-TV provider, 172,000 homes are estimated to be accessing pay-TV through a pirate platform.The latest official figures from Chiles telecom authority, Subtel, showed 2.97 that the country had million pay-TV households by March 2016, with piracy rate right under 6%.On a national level, pirate connections still mean service deterioration for those subscribing to legal platforms, said Cereceda, who acknowledged piracys penetration is unequal across the country. For instance, in the Temuco region two in ten pay-TV accesses are illegal.Chiles figures clearly differ from other regions. According to a recent report from Alianza , 110 million users watch pirate content in Latin America.Cereceda explained that a third of users complaints are due to service fails caused by pirate accesses to the telecom network. A pirate subscriber generates noise and distortion in the network, affecting the quality of the TV signal and broadband connection, he added.During 2015, VTR claims to have eliminated more than 58,000 illegal access connections through 200,000 audits to check potential pirate connections and a communication campaign to inform about the prejudice of pirate pay-TV. As we see a surge in inflation globally, it is now critical that everyone is aware of the implications this will have along every step of the insurance and reinsurance value chain. As the conflict in eastern Ukraine between government forces and pro-Russian rebels enters its second year, Kiev is trying to gain technical leverage by investing in advanced battlefield technologies. In August, the Ukrainian defense industrial conglomerate Ukroboronprom showcased two unmanned platforms -- the Gorlitsa unmanned aerial vehicle and the Phantom unmanned wheeled platform. The high-profile unveiling was attended by the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Alexander Turchinov, Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak, and Commander of the National Guard of Ukraine Yuriy Aller, along with the directors of more than 100 industrial members of Ukroboronprom. The domestically produced Gorlitsa is expected to have a range of 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) and to carry various munitions. Meanwhile, the United States is assisting Ukrainian capabilities with the delivery of 24 short-range Raven mini-UAVs as part of an aid package -- the Raven is widely used by American and other forces across the world. While unmanned aerial systems are broadening their spread across the world's conflict zones, land-based unmanned vehicles are covering new terrain on the battlefield. According to respected military blog BMPD, the unmanned multipurpose tactical vehicle Phantom was presented as a remote-controlled 6x6 vehicle. The prototype features a turret equipped with a 12.7-mm machine gun and is supposedly equipped with a day-and-night sighting system that allows for firing at any time to a distance of more than 1 kilometer. Phantom is equipped with a hybrid engine -- pairing a gasoline generator and electric motors -- as well as a power reserve of up to 20 kilometers. The vehicle is controlled over a secure radio range of up to 2.5 kilometers or via an optical fiber cable with a length of 5 kilometers. The prototype is designed for transporting ammunition and evacuating the wounded from the battlefield, and to perform a variety of combat missions. Earlier this year, Russia also unveiled an unmanned ground vehicle prototype designed for battle -- the tracked, tank-like Uran-9 platform is expected to be fielded with the Russian military and even exported abroad. New technologies like unmanned systems are attracting attention and investment, and nations eager to use them in battle are sometimes rushing to embrace the designers and concepts without properly vetting both. According to Russian daily Lenta.ru, quoting Ukraines Zaxid.net publication, in May the creator of a Ukrainian remote-controlled scout vehicle disappeared with the money collected for its development. According to the story, Lviv-based businessman Rostislav Pasechnik had promised to build 300 mini-tanks per month, and received initial funding -- about 180,000 Ukrainian hryvnia ($6700) -- for their development. The first prototype was delayed by a few months and turned out to be faulty when finally unveiled. "Only one scout vehicle was shown - it drove a few meters, started to emit smoke, and then caught fire," a witness said. Pasechnik stopped responding to concerned calls from the backers of his invention. An official statement was filed with the police, but law enforcement agencies did not want to investigate the case. Pasechnik's company also declined to comment on the situation. Meanwhile, Russia is rapidly changing the way it educates its officers for current and future combat. According to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the Russian Defense Ministry has adjusted the training program in military educational institutions based on the warfighting experience in Syria. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale Buy real estate. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale in US and Canada. Search Real Estate Property details: Kona Coast Resort II Here is your chance to purchase an Deeded Timeshare Ownership (Does not Expire) at a fraction of the developer price! 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(AP Photo/Jane Kalinowsky) SHARE By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) For 45 years, many Americans identified the Muscular Dystrophy Association with one man and one event comedian Jerry Lewis and his annual Labor Day telethon. The MDA dropped Lewis as its national chairman and telethon host in 2011, then scrapped the telethon itself last year. So how is the charity faring in this new era, as a no-telethon Labor Day approaches? The report card is mixed. On the upside, the MDA's leadership brims with enthusiasm about steps taken this year among them, expanding online outreach and fundraising, and pledging to double spending on research toward drug development and clinical trials to better combat a range of muscle-debilitating diseases. "We expect more new treatments and therapies in next five years than in the past 50 years combined," said Steve Derks, the MDA's president since 2013. On the downside is a challenging financial picture. In its latest report to the IRS, the MDA said it received contributions totaling about $135 million in 2014. According to data compiled by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, that's down from a peak of $183.5 million in 2007. The data also shows the MDA slipping in comparison to other U.S. charities it ranked 32nd in 1991 in terms of private donations, and fell to 192nd in 2014. The impact has been tangible. The MDA says its staff is now about 800, compared to about 1,200 a decade ago, and the funds invested in research dropped from $37 million in 2006 to $18.5 million in 2014. Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, said the MDA's decision to abandon the telethon in favor of new, online-based fundraising methods epitomized the challenges faced by many long-established charities. "Everything a nonprofit does these days could have the potential of turning off one of the groups that's been very loyal," she said. "How do they reach a new generation of donors while not losing their longtime supporters?" The MDA's ties with Lewis date back almost to its founding in 1950. The next year, Lewis and his comic partner Dean Martin mentioned the charity on their NBC show, and they hosted a telethon in 1956. Lewis began hosting the telethon regularly in 1966 and continued through 2010. Guest stars over the years included Frank Sinatra, John Lennon, Michael Jackson, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles and Celine Dion. In its peak years, the telethon ran for more than 21 hours, with the tuxedo-clad Lewis pushing himself to exhaustion before ending with his schmaltzy rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone." Lewis' abrupt exit, announced by the MDA a month before the 2011 telethon, was never fully explained, though it was clear that the declining reach of broadcast TV was a factor. The rift was patched over last January when Lewis taped a message for the charity's launch of its new logo and motto, "Live Unlimited." "Families have disagreements, families make up," said the MDA's chief spokeswoman, Roxan Olivas. "We would not be where we are today without him." Over 45 years, the telethon raised nearly $2 billion, according to the MDA. But the event had critics notably people with muscular dystrophy who said they were being made objects of pity. "We objected to the telethon's damaging narrative that depicted disabled people as nothing more than helpless victims," activist Mike Ervin wrote an online post last year. The MDA's current messaging emphasizes barrier-breaking and self-reliance. Embodying that spirit is 25-year-old Joe Akmakjian of Fort Collins, Colorado, who this year became the first adult named as the MDA's national goodwill ambassador. Akmakjian, who has used a power wheelchair since he was 3, graduated from Colorado State University in 2013 and works as director of marketing and client relations at a pain management clinic. Akmakjian says that when he was little, his parents were warned by a doctor that he wouldn't live past age 12. Last year, he celebrated the doubling of that life expectancy by going skydiving, strapped to his instructor for the jump. His loyalty to the MDA dates back to childhood, when he attended summer camps run by the charity. "Going to camp the first time was really scary for me I'd never been cared for by anyone besides by mom," he said. "Camp opened my eyes to the future I might have living independently, living life my way, on my terms." The camp program, which serves roughly 3,800 children each summer at no charge, is one of three main components of the MDA's work, along with funding of research and operating a nationwide network of more than 150 care centers. The centers serve about 100,000 people annually; the MDA hopes to boost that to 150,000 by 2020. The MDA was among numerous health-oriented charities which took note of the Ice Bucket Challenge, the 2014 phenomenon that become a social-media sensation. It raised $115 million to boost the fight against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known in the U.S. as Lou Gehrig's disease. The MDA cited the challenge last year when it announced the end of its telethon, saying it would seek "new, creative and organic ways to support our mission." One of the new initiatives was launched this summer: a six-week online awareness and fundraising campaign that included live music performances, online games, and opportunities for families affected by muscular dystrophy to share inspirational stories. The MDA would like to improve its rating with Charity Navigator , a charity-assessment group. It gives the MDA two stars out of four in its latest ratings, saying it could do better on various financial criteria, including spending less of its revenue on fundraising operations. Steve Derks, the MDA's president, wishes the charity-rating groups were able to gauge how well charities carry out their mission. "There's nothing to measure the impact that the MDA has had on the thousands of children who've gone through our summer camps the impact we've had on their confidence, their ability to live a full life," he said. In this Monday, Aug. 8, 2016, photo, Caroline Pond, who serves as sous chef, server and bartender, talks with customers to their table at Park Kitchen restaurant in Portland, Ore. A small but growing number of restaurants are doing away with the tipping model that has long been the norm in the U.S. in an effort to even disparate pay among restaurant staff, as well as a means to cope with rising minimum wages and other industry changes. (AP Photo/Don Ryan) SHARE By SARAH SKIDMORE SELL, AP Business Writer PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) When the bill comes after a meal, there's no crunching numbers for the tip just pay and go. A small but growing number of restaurants are doing away with the tipping model that's long been the norm in the United States. It's an effort to even disparate pay among restaurant staff and offer them more predictability, as well as a means to cope with rising minimum wages and other industry changes. While restaurants that have eliminated the entrenched practice have seen mixed results and some ended up abandoning the experiment a number of restaurants are still trying it. "Primarily we wanted to take the reins of compensating our employees," said Andy Fortang of Le Pigeon in Portland, Oregon, which eliminated tipping in June. Le Pigeon raised its prices an average of 20 percent and now compensates workers with a mix of base pay and a percentage of the night's food and beverage sales. Cooks, dishwashers and other "back of the house" employees got a slight pay increase, and waitstaff, bartenders and other "front of the house" staff took a small cut, but everyone shares in the success of a busy night. "The staff in our restaurants are well-trained, intelligent individuals and they are passionate," Fortang said. "It seems fair they be paid an award for that, instead of just leaving that to someone who may or may not leave a tip." Some restaurant owners see tipping as a flawed system. Aaron Adams, who owns the no-tips Farm Spirit in Portland, says it creates a "weird dynamic" between the customer and server. His hope is to keep raising pay so his staff can support their families and buy homes. Tipping also creates a pay gulf between restaurant staff. Researchers at Cornell University and Ohio State University found that in large metro areas, the median weekly wages of front-of-house employees exceeded those of back-of-house employees by 29 to 80 percent. At fine dining establishments, where the gap is largest, that means a median of $792 versus $441. Servers in some states also contend with laws that let employers pay less sometimes below minimum wage and allow tips to make up the difference. But minimum wage hikes began to raise restaurant expenses and threatened to widen the pay divide by increasing the base wage for tipped workers. A chef shortage grew more severe. And for several western states, a court upheld a federal rule that prohibits tip-sharing among all staff members, which used to be commonplace. Only a handful of U.S. restaurants have adopted the no-tipping model, the National Restaurant Association says. It hasn't always been a success. Thad Vogler of Trou Normand and Bar Agricole in San Francisco did away with tips at the beginning of 2015 but brought them back 10 months later because he kept losing staff to competitors that did allow tipping. Joe's Crab Shack, a national chain, reduced its no-tipping experiment from 18 restaurants to four after a poor response from customers and staff. Robert Merritt, CEO of parent company Ignite Restaurants, said the system needs to change, but "customers and staff spoke very loudly and a lot of them voted with their feet." Still, Union Square Hospitality Group, which owns Gramercy Park Tavern and other restaurants in New York, is eliminating tipping at all its properties by the end of 2016 and said thus far guests have largely received it well. And a handful of notable Portland restaurants announced plans this summer to adopt the model, based on the success of restaurants in Brooklyn and Los Angeles. "Everyone is looking at this because there are external issues that are pushing restaurants to look at their bottom line," said Scott Dolich of Park Kitchen, which dropped tips and raised prices in June. Dolich says he can now pay staff equitably. He also revamped shifts so most employees work full-time and in multiple roles. Wyeth Yogi, who used to work solely in the kitchen, says he enjoys the mix of work and increased pay. But it didn't go over smoothly with everyone, and nearly all the servers left because of the change. Other restaurants saw similar issues. ChefStable, which runs several Portland restaurants, tested a no-tipping model at its bar Loyal Legion more than a year ago. But owner Kurt Huffman said he realized it was a mistake after watching customer after customer push cash toward his staff and them having to refuse it. "It didn't just not work," he said. "It was a revelation as to what a terrible idea it is to begin with." After tipping returned, Huffman said the average pay for front-of-house staff jumped from $18 an hour to more than $30 an hour and service improved. He kept the higher wages for kitchen workers. "It was clearly an idiotic business model," he said. "The people who really lose out are the servers, they are just going to get less and less and less." Garrett Schumacher, who worked as a bartender at Loyal Legion before and after the switch, said he supported the model at first it provided a steady wage and helped the kitchen staff. But it was a lot less pay. And tips provide a middle-class living for many, and keep restaurant prices low two things he'd hate to see disappear. "While it's a noble experiment, I don't know if we are ready for it as a city or a country," he said. Record Searchlight file photo Mike Sotak, a Pearl Harbor survivor, died Tuesday at his Happy Valley home. He was 94. SHARE By Jim Schultz of the Redding Record Searchlight With an engaging smile and endless stories to tell, nearly everyone loved Mike Sotak. "He was special," said longtime friend Don Crandell, 88, of Redding. "He was fun, upbeat. That's how I loved him." Sotak, a Happy Valley resident who was a familiar face at scores of veterans-related events and who had served on the USS Maryland during the Dec. 7, 1941, attack at Pearl Harbor, died Tuesday at his home. He was 94. Funeral arrangements are pending. Sotak was a member of the now dissolved Shasta County chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, established in 1981. There are now only two other former members, Mel Fisher of Jones Valley and Art Wynant of Redding. Sotak, a Shasta County resident since 1983, was especially proud to have served aboard the USS Maryland during the entire war, participating in seven major campaign battles after Pearl Harbor, including the battles of Midway, Tarawa, Kwajalein, Leyte Gulf and Okinawa. During the battle of Saipan, his battleship, which suffered only light damage during the Pearl Harbor attack, was badly damaged by a torpedo, and it was later hit by kamikaze pilots during the battles of Leyte Gulf and Okinawa. "We were damaged at the beginning (of the war) and damaged at the end," Sotak said in a 2015 Record Searchlight interview as he proudly recited his ship's many wartime exploits. "I loved that ship," he said, his voice quietly trailing away. Seldom at a loss for words, the friendly and outgoing Sotak, the son of a World War I veteran, was a Jackson, Mich., native. He joined the U.S. Navy in 1940 and was on the bow of the USS Maryland that Dec. 7, 1941, morning when he saw a line of 15 planes fly overhead and assumed they were on a training exercise. Then he saw the torpedoes and bombs begin to drop. The USS Oklahoma, moored next to the Maryland, protected his ship from devastating damage, although four of his shipmates died in the attack. But Sotak's memories of the USS Oklahoma hit by nine torpedoes and capsized, killing 400 haunted him for the rest of his life. "You could hear them banging on the inside (of the steel hull) with their wrenches, yelling and screaming," he said in an interview. "And you couldn't do anything about it. It made you cry, really. It's the worst thing I ever had to go through." Sotak, who became a gunner's mate 1st class onboard the Maryland, was discharged from the Navy in 1946. He returned to Michigan where he married his first wife, Mary Ann, who died in 1966, and went to work for a company testing forklift gears. He later attended and graduated in 1950 from the Industrial Training Institute in Chicago and eventually settled in Long Beach where, after first working for an electronics firm in El Segundo, found employment with McDonald-Douglas, where he retired in 1983 as an engineering flight technician. He and his second wife, Frances, who died in 1985, moved to Shasta County upon his retirement. SHARE An 81-year-old central California man who broke off from his camping party to pan for gold was rescued Monday after spending about a day in the woods, according to the Shasta County Sheriff's Office. Mark Dause, 53, of Galt, called dispatchers Sunday at 8:05 p.m. to report his father, Myron Dause, of lodi-adjacent Acampo south of Sacramento, missing in the area of Slate Creek Road and Incline Creek, northwest of Lakehead. Mark Dause was hunting with a friend, which they'd routinely done for about 20 years, and when they returned to camp, Myron Dause was missing. Myron Dause was out gold panning in Slate Creek when it became dark before he could return to camp, he later told Shasta County Sheriff's deputies. Myron Dause tried to get back to his camp but started falling because of the darkness and rough terrain, so he decided to wait out the night, Sheriff's Sgt. Rob Sandbloom said. During the night, Myron Dause heard a gun shot, though he was unsure from where it came. He returned the shot but didn't hear another, Sandbloom said. Myron Dause began walking Monday morning, initially refusing help from a passerby, Sandbloom said. At about 4 p.m. he encountered Poppy and Scott Harth, who were in the area checking logging sites, deputies said. By then Myron Dause had walked about 6 miles to the area of Halls Gulch and East Fork Road in Trinity County, according to the Sheriff's Office. The three were initially unable to get a cell phone signal but did so by about 7:30 p.m., at which point deputies responded and reunited Myron Dause with his family. Myron Dause had some scratches and was hungry and thirsty but otherwise unharmed, Sandbloom said. SHARE By Joe Szydlowski of the Redding Record Searchlight A defunct, overgrown road near Lakehead that ignited a long-simmering controversy over emergency firefighter access a decade ago is once again leaving some neighbors fuming. Residents in the area say they plan to show up to the Shasta Lake City Council on Tuesday to ask why the city is involved in the fight over Skyline Drive, which dates back to 2008. That year the struggle over whether to extend Skyline Drive to the Gilman Road area erupted. A developer, Ken Tellstrom, wanted a second road for emergency access to the area, which currently has one route in and out. Residents confronted him alleging he only wanted it to develop a subdivision in a battle that ended with lawsuits, criminal charges and U.S. Forest Service dirt road 34N12C remaining closed and overgrown. Residents worried about increased costs for construction and especially maintenance most of Skyline Drive is a private road. A spokeswoman with the Forest Service did not return three calls for comment Friday. Now, the issue has resurfaced: Tellstrom, wants to open the road along with others. A coordination committee, which acts as a liaison between federal and local agencies, wants the forest service to open the road. That committee was formed by the Shasta Lake council, in part because the Shasta Lake Fire Protection District may go to fires in the area, said councilman Greg Watkins, a member of the committee. He said the current owner, who is traveling, wants only to sell the property. But residents said they worry about new residential developments, additional traffic in a place chosen for its quiet and the uncertainty about the costs of a new road, which would service retired people on a fixed income. They will be one part of a packed meeting Tuesday. Councilmembers will also consider the layout of the planned City Hall, whether to hike wages for administrators by about 4.5 percent and if the city should reduce development impact fees for businesses. Those reductions be as much as 50 percent, according to a staff report in the agenda, which describes current fees as "excessive" compared to Redding and Anderson. The agenda also brings up a possible 4.5 percent and a 3.5 percent pay increase for non-represented employees, mostly administrators this year and next year . The last time they received a raise on July 1, 2014 and 2009 before that, according to agenda materials. They would also pick up more costs if they chose a more comprehensive health plan than the basic one. If you go Who: Shasta Lake City Council. What: Talking about Skyline Drive extension, possible decisions on new layout of the new city hall, raises for administrators and reductions in commercial/industrial impact fees. When: 6 p.m. Tuesday. Where: Council chambers, 4488 Red Bluff St. If you go Who: Shasta Lake City Council. What: Talking about Skyline Drive extension, possible decisions on new layout of the new city hall, raises for administrators and reductions in commercial/industrial impact fees. When: 6 p.m. Tuesday. Where: Council chambers, 4488 Red Bluff St. Greg Barnette/Record Searchlight Hundreds have lunch Monday during the 31st Annual Labor Day Picnic at the Anderson River Park, where visitors took part in music, food and politics. SHARE Greg Barnette/Record Searchlight Ethan Gutierrez, 11. gets an airbrush tattoo from Natalie Roeschlaub of Mister & Misses Twister on Monday during the 31st Annual Labor Day Picnic at the Anderson River Park. By Jenny Espino of the Redding Record Searchlight Monday's Labor Day Picnic was serving up its three main staples: Food, music and politics. From her seat on a rolling walker, Mary Jane Pergson, 84, occasionally nodded her head to the live performance several feet away on the lush green grass at Anderson River Park, wishing she could get up and do the jig, she said. She had arrived at the park to people-watch and join the diverse mix of political views on scene from the "Berniecrats" who campaigned for Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary to Redding's Measures D and E sale tax advocates to representatives for incumbent Republican Assemblyman Brian Dahle. "Everybody can get together no matter our differences. We all still belong to America," said Pergson, a Republican conservative. Every year, organizers with the Five Counties Central Labor Council invite federal and state lawmakers, local officials serving on the Board of Supervisors and the city councils for Anderson, Redding and Shasta Lake, candidates and proponents and opponents of local issues. "We want them to be here," said Loel Yerion, five counties council president. Candidates and officials attending the picnic would later be introduced to the crowd. "It's one of the very few opportunities where you can walk up to somebody in a political office and say, 'Hey, can I ask you a question? Can I talk to you for a minute?'" The picnic, now in its 31st year, was expected to draw up to 2,500 hungry mouths and surpass last year's participation of about 1,800. For the labor organization, the more $4 tickets gets sold, the more money available next May to distribute to graduating high school seniors from Modoc, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, Trinity counties. Yerion said the picnic is the largest fundraiser for the five counties council's scholarship program. The scholarships are awarded through random drawings. Last year, the organization gave away $5,000 to students from Trinity, Enterprise and Foothill high schools. Bob Charley and Linda Osborn set up their lawn chairs in a shaded spot where they could take in the sight of a large sycamore tree and watch for people they know. The politicking in the park is what gives the picnic its flavor. "We like the liberal crowds. We want to dump Humpty Dumpty Trump," said Charley, a retired consulting engineer, of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Still, Yerion does not want to lose focus on what the picnic is all about, which is to celebrate the American worker who has contributed toward building the country up. "They are the backbone of our country," he said. Every few years, an industry for self-serving reasons tries to exploit California's loose rules for putting propositions on its ballot. This doesn't usually work, even though industries that have tried this tactic when all else political had failed them generally outspent opponents by factors of at least 50-1. So it was about 20 years ago, when the tobacco industry fielded an initiative aiming to remove all local smoking restrictions and substitute a much looser statewide standard allowing tobacco use almost anywhere. That effort lost badly and remains a classic in the annals of misleading names for campaign committees. Big Tobacco's campaign moniker: Californians for Statewide Smoking Restrictions. So it is again this fall with Propositions 65 and 67, as the plastic bag industry tries to reverse an almost total ban of its products from California grocery stores that passed the Legislature in 2014 and was quickly signed by Gov. Jerry Brown. The bag makers' committee name isn't quite as misleading as Big Tobacco's, but the tag (the same as that of an industrywide trade group) still obscures its purpose: American Progressive Bag Alliance. What's a "progressive" bag? Even with many local bans in place and applying to most of the state's biggest cities and almost half its population, Californians still dump a reported 11 billion plastic bags into landfills yearly. Countless others still "decorate" highways. These do not disintegrate or decay in water, like paper products, so they could be around for centuries. Plastic bags also are made from petroleum; their use contributed to America's energy dependence on foreign sources, some of them unsavory. Altogether the bag makers raised well over $4 million before the fall campaign, compared with barely a quarter-million for supporters of the bag ban. Most cash backing the ban has come from grocery chains like Albertsons Safeway (including Vons), Ralphs and Raley's. That caused a bag industry attempt to penalize grocers who originally opposed banning plastic bags for switching sides and helping cost the bag makers hundreds of millions of dollars yearly. Eastern and Southern companies like Superbag, Hilex Poly, Formosa Plastics and Advance Polybag lashed out by placing Proposition 65 on the ballot in an attempt to deprive grocers of even breaking even on the paper bags they sell for 10 cents each under the state's 146 local bans on plastic bags. Claiming the grocers only switched sides because they discovered the small bag fees add up to a big new source of revenue, the bag alliance wrote an initiative earmarking all money spent on bags for environmental projects supervised by the state Wildlife Conservation Board. Trouble is, many supermarkets say they actually lose money on paper bags. One board member of the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op reports "Our paper bags cost us 14 to 15 cents each. It's inaccurate to suggest it's a revenue stream when it is still a major expense." Meanwhile, large grocery chains say they've converted to the anti-plastic side in large part because that's what their customers want. "Early polling is that consumers are adapting to no plastic bags," Ronald Fong, head of the California Grocers Association (contributor of about $210,000 to the pro-ban side), told a reporter. "It's really unfortunate that out-of-staters are sinking millions of dollars into telling us we're wrong here in California." But the bag association predicts it will win and overturn the statewide bag ban. "We believe voters will make their voices heard at the ballot box," the group's president, Lee Califf, said in a statement. The statewide ban, he added, threatens thousands of jobs and will have "no meaningful effect on the environment." If jobs are threatened, of course, not many are in California. Big plastic bag makers don't manufacture much here. Any jobs threatened by a statewide ban are shaky anyhow. That's because the existing local bans covering Los Angeles, San Francisco and 144 other locales would not change if the No-on-67 side wins and overturns the statewide ban. No matter how obviously self-serving their two propositions may be, this is still likely a lose-lose proposition for the bag makers. The bottom line for them is that they stand no chance of restoring California to its former status as their largest market. Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. SHARE Top 11 things Donald Trump should know about being president of the United States: 1. No issue that reaches the president's desk is easy to resolve. Every decision requires balancing conflicting information, opinions, values and probable consequences. There are no easy or simple answers. 2. Presidents are expected to have studied each issue before making decisions. Talking to close advisers who summarize others' views is not an adequate substitute for personal study. "Gut reactions" seldom will be wise decisions in this position. 3. You may be the smartest person in a room you are in charge of that but you are not the best informed on every issue. Decisions made after study should be based on data and other facts as well as opinions and interpretations of the data and facts obtained from a variety of sources, including naysayers. 4. The number of issues addressed and decisions to be made in the federal government are enormous and significantly impact many people directly and indirectly. A President who tries to be the final authority for a wide range of decisions will dangerously bottleneck government and will be unable to make wise decisions on the matters most needing his or her judgment. 5. Presidents serve everyone in the United States. It is expected that presidents will pursue the policies and priorities that got them elected, but presidents will fail if they disregard the needs of and the impact of their decisions on those whose interests are not represented by White House staff and members of their party. 6. The core values, mission and governing policies of government are different from the values, mission and governing policies of a closely held private corporation. Success in the private sector is not a reliable guide to how to achieve success in the public sector. 7. Government is not the enemy. There is much in government that can and should be improved and programs that might be eliminated as there is in the private sector but improvement is the goal, not the emasculation or elimination of agencies and programs that meet important needs of the economically and politically marginal. 8. The press is not the enemy. It has been essential to the effective operation of government from the founding of our nation and continues to be. Disagreeing with some of your decisions and investigating how the executive branch is operating is what it will and should do. Sometimes it will be wrong, but sometimes it will be right. Do not summarily dismiss criticism and/or seek to suppress the media or their representatives because you prefer praise to criticism. 9. Probably the greatest innovation of our Founding Fathers is the division and separation of powers among the three branches. No president can or should govern without the two other branches and without respecting their roles. 10. All nations seek to advance their interests as they see them. They are not obligated to and will not adopt or advance U.S. interests at the expense of their own. Trying to force others to do what the U.S. wants by using the nation's huge economic resources as a stick is not how governments succeed. A president who does not acknowledge and respect other countries' interests will diminish the U.S. and not achieve its interests. 11. The president is expected to reside in the White House, not in other residences he or she may own. Alexander Aikman lives in Redding. Free pizzas at Jet's, a tiki party at Lost Lake and more things to do in Chicago on Tuesday, Sept. 6. EAT National Cheese Pizza Day (Free!) Advertisement Jet's Pizza Various locations Advertisement Jet's Pizza (Hilary Higgins / ) The chain celebrates by doling out a free small cheese pizza to the first 50 people in line at each of its locations. Wednesday through Friday they'll also be offering small cheese pizzas for $5. 10 a.m. DRINK 'Smuggler's Cove' Book Signing Lost Lake 3154 W. Diversey Ave. 773-961-7475 Pick up a copy of "Smuggler's Cove: Exotic Cocktails, Rum and the Cult of the Tiki" and meet authors Martin and Rebecca Cate, who own the San Francisco tiki bar, while sipping a Plantation rum cocktail featured in the book. Tickets include a souvenir glass. $60. Tickets: eventbrite.com DO Clipper Cabaret California Clipper 1002 N. California Ave. 773-384-2547 Clipper Cabaret at California Clipper (Greg Inda ) Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. > Catch color-themed burlesque and variety acts from different "Clue" characters portrayed by Midnite Martini, GoGo McGregor and others at this interactive show, where the audience decides who the killer is. 9 p.m. $10. 'Ultra American: A Patriot Act' Silk Road Rising Advertisement 77 W. Washington St. 312-857-1234 Comedian Azhar Usman's one-man show explores the tensions and paradoxes of American Muslims living in a polarizing world. 7:30 p.m. $15-$25. Tickets: ultraamerican.org Tuesday Funk Hopleaf 5148 N. Clark St. 773-334-9851 Poetry magazine art director Fred Sasaki, improv performer Gina DeLuca and others perform at the monthly reading series. 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m. No cover. HAPPY HOUR OF THE DAY La Storia (1154 N. Dearborn St. 312-508-5061) offers $5 beers, $7 cocktails, $7-$12 glasses of wine, $4 crostini and a half-dozen raw or baked oysters for $6 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. 'We have brought about a slew of reforms that would help improve governance and also facilitate industrial growth,' Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje tells Sahil Makkar. Following a Japanese industrial zone in Neemrana, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje wants to create exclusive zones for investors from South Korea, China, Russia and Canada. She talks to Sahil Makkar about the rationale behind the reforms she has undertaken in the past two and a half years. You recently visited Russia and invited industrialists to invest in Rajasthan. Is there a specific sector for which you are seeking Russian investment? This was my first visit to Russia and it was a very positive experience. During my one-to-one meetings with G Poltavchenko, governor of St Petersburg, and D V Pasler, head of the government in Sverdlovsk region, we discussed areas of possible cooperation. Russia and Rajasthan can be partners in the development of infrastructure, mineral extraction, urban planning, pollution control, defence manufacturing, heavy machinery and engineering sectors. We pursue industrial growth because it creates direct and indirect jobs and provides us the wherewithal for delivering on social justice. Hence, economic growth, including industrial investment are not ends in themselves, but the means to deliver social justice. We are also looking at significant participation from Russian companies at the Global Agritech summit in Jaipur in November this year and a delegation visit by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation soon. Are you trying to make Rajasthan a preferred destination for foreign direct investment? Yes, of course. We are working towards making Rajasthan a preferred destination for investment, both domestic and foreign. Rajasthan offers a suitable platform for foreign firms to explore India as an investment destination. After the success of the first Japanese zone in Neemrana, the state government is developing a second industrial investment zone in Ghiloth on nearly 500 acres. We already have industrial giants such as JCB, Honda, Hero Moto Corp, Havells and Daikin, among others. We have abundant land; huge mineral resources; skilled and unskilled workers; proximity to Delhi, Mumbai and seaports; a sizeable market in the five neighbouring states; the Delhi-Mumbai Dedicated Freight Corridor and the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor being built on both sides of the DFC. We brought about labour reform through amendments in the Industrial Disputes Act, Contract Labour Act and the Factories Act to create a balance between workers interests and ease of doing business. When can we see Korean investment taking place in Ghiloth? The Rajasthan government is in talks with various Korean companies, which are evaluating the feasibility of their investment plans in the Korean investment zone. We are keen to set up more country-specific zones. Apart from Japan and Korea, we are reaching out to China, Russia, Canada and Italy. Rajasthan recently received investment proposals worth Rs 3.5 lakh crore. What is the progress on actual investments? Currently, a large proportion of the proposed projects is in various stages of implementation. For example, land has been identified for nearly 70 per cent of investment proposals, civic work has been initiated for 69 projects, and production has started on 16 projects. What is the progress on the smart city project? Jaipur and Udaipur were among the first 20 cities the Centre shortlisted for developing smart cities, with Jaipur ranking third and Udaipur 16th. A total investment of Rs 2,401 crore has been proposed for Jaipur and Rs 1,222 crore for Udaipur. With a funding ratio of 5:3:2 between the Centre, state and urban local body, respectively, the Union urban development ministry has released the first instalment of Rs 200 crore for Jaipur and Udaipur. The state has also contributed its share directly into the dedicated bank accounts of the respective special purpose vehicles, releasing funds of Rs 186 crore for Jaipur and Rs 159 crore for Udaipur to initiate development work. In the past two and a half years your government has carried out a raft of industry, labour, legal and land reforms. What was the objective? We pursue industrial growth because it creates direct and indirect jobs and provides us the wherewithal for delivering on social justice. Hence, economic growth, including industrial investment are not ends in themselves, but the means to deliver social justice. We have brought about a slew of reforms that would help improve governance and also facilitate industrial growth. Our labour reforms have been hailed as path-breaking and investor-friendly. Our legal reform process involves repealing, consolidating and examining the relevance of laws and then putting them online. We launched the scientifically-designed Mukhyamantri Jal Swavlamban Abhiyan, the countrys largest water conservation campaign in rural areas, on January 27, with a target of 108,000 works related to water conservation in 3,529 villages. Of these, 91,043 works have been completed. You should see the joy in the eyes of the people when they see the water bodies getting filled with rain water. How does your government plan to bridge the fiscal deficit, especially with state discoms having the highest debt in the country? Our deficit for 2016-17 without including discoms debt under the UDAY scheme could have been expected to meet the fiscal responsibility and budget management target of three per cent. That said, we are mobilising additional resources to keep the fiscal deficit within limits, with a focus on increasing our revenue receipts and reducing non-developmental expenditure. Under the UDAY scheme, the interest burden of additional liabilities on the state would be a manageable Rs 5,200 crore approximately every year. According to a Reserve Bank of India report, the state governments expenditure on education is on the decline since 2008-09. Rajasthan is among the three Indian states with the lowest literacy rates.... Since 2008-09, Rajasthans ratio of expenditure on education to aggregate expenditure has been higher than that of the India average, except in 2012-13 and 2013-14. We have allocated Rs 25,155 crore for the education sector in the current financial year. This represents a growth of 13.78 per cent from 2015-16. The draft Policy of Public-Private Partnership in School Education has been prepared taking into consideration all major avenues of financing the improvement of school education, including PPP, government budget, corporate social responsibility, Bhamashah Yojana and Mukhyamantri Jan Sahbhagita Vidyalaya Vikas Yojana. We pioneered modifications to the Right to Education Act. Amendments to the RTE have ensured that now the state government has the responsibility to ensure attainment of class appropriate learning levels by all children in the 6 to 14 age group. Children will not be promoted to higher classes unless they attain class appropriate learning levels. For the first time in years, the decline in enrolment has been reversed, with a 7.5 per cent increase in enrolment in Class I to XII in 2015-16. You have announced PPP in health, education, power, tourism and solar sectors. Is PPP the only way forward? We recognise that the private sector can introduce efficiencies in our welfare delivery mechanisms; PPPs are one way to harness this potential. We also want industry to be active investors in some of these sectors for their growth. The state government has joined hands with the private sector to run primary health centres and sub-centres. We provide inputs such as infrastructure, funds and medicines; the private sector brings in doctors, other staff and their services. This is as yet an experiment in 300 blocks -- a subset of the universe of primary health centres. The results are encouraging. However, we are not depending solely on PPP to drive development and service offerings in these sectors. To improve universal health access we have introduced Bhamashah Swasthya Bima Yojana, through which more than 45 million people are benefiting from quality cashless healthcare facilities through private and public healthcare providers. The government will bear the cost of the premium for 10 million people. You started an ambitious project for rain harvesting. Have the efforts yielded results? Our state has 1.16 per cent of the surface water available in the country; four billion cubic metres out of 16.05 billion cubic metres of rain gets wasted annually as run-off without being tapped. Around 70 per cent of drinking water and domestic supplies depend on groundwater. But these levels have reached an alarming stage. To address this issue, we launched the scientifically-designed Mukhyamantri Jal Swavlamban Abhiyan, the countrys largest water conservation campaign in rural areas. We began on January 27, with a target of 108,000 works related to water conservation in 3,529 villages. Of these, 91,043 works have been completed. You should see the joy in the eyes of the people when they see the water bodies getting filled with rain water. In phase II of this campaign, the water conservation process will be taken up in 3,500 villages. Federation of Indian Airlines has appealed to DGCA to extend notice period of flyers from 6 months to a year Older airlines and new carriers have trained guns on each other over domination of the Indian sky. The bone of contention is pilots. Threatened by recent entrants poaching expert fliers, incumbents, including the state-owned Air India, have united under the banner of the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) and approached the government to increase the notice period after resignation for pilots to a year. At present, it is six months. The sector regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation, has asked the airlines for their views on the suggested amendment to the regulation. New carriers, such as Vistara and AirAsia, are obviously irked by the development. The new airlines have opposed the move and would like to have a status quo on this, said a DGCA official. Where are the growth drivers I ncumbent airlines, including Air India, want one-year notice period for pilots wanting to leave the organisation V istara and AirAsia want the notice period to remain at 6 months P ilots ask the DGCA to reduce their notice period to three months P ilots have also threatened to seek legal help if notice period is increased to one year A t present, India has 5,000 commercial pilots A ccording to a KPMG-Ficci survey, Indian skies would need 9,000 more pilots in the next two years Sources say that Vistara has agreed for an extension to one year only for pilots moving to foreign carriers. A Vistara spokesperson agreed it has shared views with DGCA but refused to divulge details. The aviation sector in the country is now in the pink of health thanks to soaring traffic. They have made massive expansions in anticipation of higher growth, fuelled by rising disposable income among the middle class. Data from KPMG-Ficci survey reveal the sector would need close to 9,000 pilots in another two years. At present, there are a little more than 5,000 commercial pilots. Pilots, too, are not very happy with FIAs move. They have, in turn, asked the regulator to decrease the notice period to three months. Their petition claims that a six-month notice period helps operators exploit pilots by depleting their flying hours, so that the pilot concerned cannot start flying immediately with the next company. Pilots need to operate one flight in the last 30 days in order to perform their duties. Also pilots are expected to undergo simulator checks every six months in order to keep their licence valid. This is a form of intimidation to dissuade a pilot from resigning in spite of better opportunity, the petition says. An IndiGo spokesperson, however, said all the members of FIA had sought the extension in the notice period of pilots. A senior executive of another airline, which is a member of FIA, said it took almost three years to prepare a captain and mass poaching could lead to serious operational repercussions. Its not as simple as hiring another employee. A pilot needs to be trained by the airline. Too many resignations can lead to large-scale cancellation of schedule and sudden rise in fares, the executive said. However, if the FIA plea were accepted, DGCA might face a legal hurdle. A senior member of Indian Pilots Guild, which represents the pilots of Air India wide-body aircraft, said they will approach the court if the notice period was increased. We are discussing the issue with other airlines and we will move the court if the government takes such a step. Experts, too, claimed the move would not stand legal scrutiny, as the DGCA has to establish it was in public good. The DGCA is acting like an autocratic state, passing arbritary orders. The last time the notice period [for pilots] was extended because flights were being cancelled due to mass resignation, no public inconvenience has happened now, said Shakti Lumba, an aviation analyst who has worked as head of operations at IndiGo. Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters Contract workers are paid much less than regular workers. This years Economic Survey estimates wages are on an average 20 times higher in the formal sector than in the informal sector. Arindam Majumder reports. The size of the contract labour force in Indias largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki is reflective of how the corporate world is responding to the changed dynamics of the labour market. The share of contract workers in the automobile companys total workforce has grown from 32 per cent in 2013-14 to 42 per cent in 2015-16. Around 55 per cent of the 537 million tonnes of coal mined by public sector behemoth Coal India during 2015-16 was done by 65,000 contractual workers. This ratio is poised to increase to at least 58 per cent in the current financial year. The Centre remains one of the biggest employers of contract labour. According to the Seventh Pay Commission, the Centre spent Rs 300 crore in 2012-13 on contract or temporary workers. The growing demand for contract workers is in line with the global trend of seeking employment flexibility. Over the past 25 years unionisation has fallen across the world. Job outsourcing and dispersal of the workforce in multiple countries have become commonplace even for medium-sized companies in developed countries. As developing countries like China, Bangladesh, Egypt, Brazil and Colombia are changing their labour laws to permit flexible hiring, developed nations with strong trade unions have been forced to make regulations favouring temporary hiring. Take, for instance, the concept of zero-hour contract, where the employer has no obligation to provide any stipulated hours of work but the employee is required to be available when the employer needs his service. This is the latest example of flexible hiring in Britain. In India, companies, particularly those in labour-intensive sectors like automobiles, construction and mining, usually refrain from hiring permanent workers for project-based requirements, as termination requires issuing a notice, payment of compensation, and intimation to the government. Indias temporary workforce is governed by the Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, 1970. An establishment that employs 20 or more workmen on any day of the preceding 12 months can employ temporary workers upon obtaining a valid certificate of registration. Trade unions say companies prefer the use of contract workers because of the cost arbitrage. Contract workers are paid much less than regular workers. This years Economic Survey estimates wages are on an average 20 times higher in the formal sector than in the informal sector. When the work in an automobile factory is of perennial nature, why should a company be allowed to hire contract workers? asks D L Sachdeva, general secretary, All India Trade Union Congress. Sachdeva says there should be no difference between a permanent employee and a contract worker who is equally experienced and does the same job with equal efficiency. Industry executives point out that the presence of the word abolition in the act sends a wrong message. We employ people in ground-handling services according to our need. You cant expect pay parity between workers with experience of 12 years and those with one year, says an executive with an airline company. Legal experts point out lacunae in the law and the fact that the judiciary has interpreted the law in various ways. The Supreme Court in its judgment in the RK Panda vs Steel Authority of India case said workers continuing in employment for 10 years should be absorbed as regular employees. But in a separate case, Steel Authority of India vs National Water Front Workers, the court ruled there was no provision in the law implying absorption of contract workers. Experts say the archaic law forces many companies to subvert it, denying adequate legal protection to contract workers. When this law was made, only the bipartisan nature of negotiation was kept in mind. It has to change in the current scenario, says Rituparna Chakraborty, senior vice-president of staffing company TeamLease. Moreover, the process of hiring contract workers is a tedious one. An organisation with offices across the country has to seek registration by declaring the number of vendors who supply contract workers in each office, based on which forms are issued by separate states. Every vendor in every premise has to seek a licence on that basis. Many companies find ways to subvert the law by hiring contract workers through third-party agents. The government should make licensing for staffing firms compulsory to weed out fly-by-night operators, says Chakraborty. The government is waking up to the reality of flexi-staffing. It recently allowed temporary workers in the garment industry. The decision to set the minimum wage of Rs 10,000 a month for contract workers is another step in that direction. Contract work is now a reality; the government understands that, and is working towards facilitating it, noted Shankar Agarwal, secretary in the labour and employment ministry. For a more effective law 'Army personnel must be given immunity but such immunity must not be absolute, nor is it so under the present Armed Forces Special Powers Act.' Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd) lists why India must not do away with the controversial AFSPA, but ensure enough transparency to avoid confrontation with human rights. Referring to the continuation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, senior political leaders no longer in government have insinuated on national television that the Indian Army has been given a veto over the decisions of the Cabinet Committee on Security. Can this ever be true? The army, navy and air force chiefs are not even permanent invitees to meetings of the CCS; they attend only those meetings to which they are invited by name. It is the army chief's rightful responsibility to give his recommendations on issues on which his advice is sought by the defence minister and it is up to the latter and the prime minister to accept or reject it. The army has been and continues to remain scrupulously apolitical and senior political leaders, whether in the government or not, must not create false perceptions. As for AFSPA, the Act has been under review for quite some time. While the defence ministry and Army headquarters are opposed to changes in the basic provisions of the Act, the home ministry is reported to have recommended a major overhaul of the Act to bring it in line with egalitarian human rights practices. The Army clearly sees AFSPA as a capstone enabling Act that gives it the powers necessary to conduct counter-insurgency operations efficiently. The Act provides army personnel with Constitutional safeguards against malicious, vindictive and frivolous prosecution. These powers are available to the police under the Criminal Procedure Code, CrPC. If AFSPA is repealed or diluted, it is the army leadership's considered view that the performance of battalions in counter-insurgency operations will be adversely affected and the terrorists or insurgents will seize the initiative. However, certain sections of the civil society view AFSPA as a draconian Act. It has been dubbed as a license to kill by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a hardline separatist Kashmiri leader. The Act has been opposed in the north-eastern states as well. Irom Sharmila, a Manipuri civil rights activist, undertook a long fast that began in November 2000 to force the government to repeal AFSPA from Manipur and other north-eastern states. (Sharmila ended her fast on August 9, 2016 and declared her intention to become the chief minister so that she could repeal AFSPA.) AFSPA was promulgated in 1958 in Assam and Manipur and in 1990 in J&K. The main criticism of the Act is directed against the provisions of Section 4, which gives the armed forces the power to open fire and even cause death, if prohibitory orders are violated. It also confers the power to destroy structures used as hideouts, training camps or places from where attacks against security forces could be launched; the power to arrest without warrant and to use force for the purpose if necessary; and, the power to enter and search premises without warrant to make an arrest or recover hostages, arms, ammunition or stolen property. Human rights activists object on the grounds that these provisions give the security forces unbridled powers to arrest, search, seize and even shoot to kill. They accuse the security forces of having destroyed homes and entire villages merely on the suspicion that insurgents were hiding there. They point out that Section 4 empowers the armed forces to arrest citizens without warrant and keep them in custody for several days. They also object to Section 6, which protects security forces personnel from prosecution except with the prior sanction of the central government. Critics say this provision has on many occasions led to even non-commissioned officers brazenly opening fire on crowds without having to justify their action. Critics forget that Section 5 of the Act already mandates that arrested civilians must be handed over to the nearest police station 'with the least possible delay' along with a report of 'circumstances occasioning the arrest.' Army HQ has laid down that all suspects who are arrested will be handed over to civilian authorities within 24 hours. Regarding firing on civilians, the army's instructions are that fire may be opened in towns and villages only in self defence and that too when the source of terrorist or militant fire can be clearly identified. If soldiers had been opening fire indiscriminately, there would have been hundreds of more civilian casualties in J&K since 1989-1990 when the insurgency had begun. A committee headed by Justice Jeevan Reddy was appointed in 2004 to review AFSPA. Though the committee found that the powers conferred under the Act are not absolute, it nevertheless concluded that the Act should be repealed. However, it recommended that essential provisions of the Act be inserted into the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of 1967. The key recommendations of the Reddy Committee were: In case the situation so warrants, the state government may request the Union government to deploy the army for not more than six months. The Union government may also deploy the armed forces without a request from the state. However, the situation should be reviewed after six months and Parliament's approval should be sought for extending the deployment. Non-commissioned officers may continue to have the power to fire. Arrested persons should be handed over to the civil police. The Union government should set up an independent grievances cell in each district where the Act is in force. The Second Administrative Reforms Commission headed by then Union law minister M Veerappa Moily also recommended that AFSPA should be repealed and its essential provisions should be incorporated in the UAPA. If this course of action is adopted, it would be a retrograde step that will substantially harm the national cause. Extraordinary situations require special handling. As the army does not have any police powers under the Constitution, it is in the national interest to give it special powers for operational purposes when it is called upon to undertake counter-insurgency operations in disturbed areas. Hence, the promulgation of AFSPA along with the Disturbed Areas Act is inescapable. Army personnel must be given immunity but such immunity must not be absolute, nor is it so under the present AFSPA. The central government can and has sanctioned prosecution where prima facie cases existed. Without these powers, commanding officers and young company commanders are likely to follow a wait-and-watch approach rather than actively pursue hardcore terrorists with enthusiasm and risk being embroiled in long-drawn litigation, which may be based on false allegations. On its part, the army must make it mandatory for its battalions to take police personnel and village elders along for operations which involve the search of civilian homes and the seizure of private property. The practical problems encountered in ensuring transparency in counter-insurgency operations must be overcome by innovative measures. The army must be completely transparent in investigating allegations of violations of human rights and bringing the violators to speedy justice. Exemplary punishment must be meted out where the charges are proved. Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd) is Distinguished Fellow, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. IMAGE: Soldiers at the site of a gun battle with terrorists on the outskirts of Srinagar. Photograph: Danish Ismail/Reuters IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Red Fort, August 15. Photograph: Press Information Bureau 'Even if it is difficult to replicate Bangladesh, India can cause sufficient turmoil in Pakistan to keep it off balance,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd). Prime Minister Narendra Modi's declaration of support to the freedom fighters of Balochistan was not a 'tit for tat' move against Pakistan's support to Kashmir separatism; it was a game changer that signified that India has finally abandoned its wooly-headed approach to Pakistan. Some carping critics had the temerity to compare it with the Sharm el-Sheikh moment of the previous prime minister when he 'admitted' Indian interference in Balochistan. Modi on the other hand asserted India's intent and right to support the Balochi freedom struggle. The two are as different as chalk and cheese! To fully comprehend the significance of India's Balochistan moment it is necessary to have an understanding of the historical background. The military in Pakistan, the real rulers in that country most of the time, have never really understood the noise and din of Indian democracy. A classic example of this inability or mindset is the assertion of the first military dictator of Pakistan, the late General Ayub Khan. On July 11, 1961 on a visit to the US, Ayub Khan told President John F Kennedy that the Indian divisions on caste and regional basis were too deep. 'In 15 to 20 years' time India would break up. In that case it is not India, but Pakistan that is the key to stability and peace in Asia and a bulwark against the Chinese Communist threat.' The break-up of India into small parts would automatically make Pakistan the predominant power in South Asia was the logic and hope for the Pakistani army for long. This has been so ingrained that it has now become a second nature and aspiration that dictates policies. The real irony is that in ten years' time after Ayub Khan's assertion, in 1971, Pakistan broke up into two parts while India continues to survive and thrive. The Pakistani army not only believed in this assertion but also acted on it. Right from the 1950s, the Naga and later Mizo rebels fighting India received arms, training, funding and sanctuaries in erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). To some extent, India's support to the Mukti Bahini in 1971 was a response to this Pakistani provocation. It was realised by many Indians that so long as East Pakistan existed, India would find it difficult to get a handle on the rebellion in the north-east. History has indeed vindicated this view and ever since the liquidation of East Pakistan, the revolt in the north-east has indeed been brought under control. There are many in Pakistan and some even in India, who justify Pakistan's present hostility to India as a reaction to the Indian help to the Mukti Bahini in 1971. These worthies forget that even before 1971, Pakistan has been actively working for the breakup of India and Indian help in the creation of Bangladesh itself was a reaction to Pakistani help to insurgents fighting India. Post 1971 and a brief India-Pakistan honeymoon, the Indian establishment came to a conclusion that a 'united, peaceful and friendly Pakistan' on our Western flank was in the national interest. This notion had the support and encouragement of the Americans for whom the Pakistani army and State controlled by it was a pillar of its Middle-East policy. This notion was further strengthened after the 9/11 terror attacks in the US and the turmoil in Afghanistan. India was happy that it was insulated from the Afghanistan turmoil and Pakistan was a useful buffer between India and the restive Middle-East. However, the geopolitical situation in the world has changed fairly dramatically in the last decade or so. Persistent Pakistani support to all kind of terrorist organisations has turned international public opinion against it. The Americans no longer see Pakistan as a part of a solution, but more part of the problem itself. In India's case, more than any other issues, continuous cross border terrorism has prompted a change in perceptions. In 2002, in wake of the armed mobilisation by India, Pakistan gave an assurance (guaranteed by the US) that its territory would not be used for attacks against India. Pakistan has gone back on its assurance as evidenced by the 26/11 Mumbai attacks of 2008 and the January 1-2, 2016 attack by Pakistani terrorists on the Pathankot air base. Pakistani support to the recent violent movement in Kashmir is the last straw on the camel's back. It is noteworthy that no nation has expressed any support to the secessionists in the Kashmir valley. Virtually every nation of the world (the Philippines, Turkey, Indonesia, Iran to name a few) faces some sort of separatist movement. No country in the world is prepared to help give birth to another version of Islamic State. Pakistan is thus isolated on the Kashmir issue. India has naturally decided to take advantage of the situation and end the interference once and for all. The strategic significance of India giving up the notion of a united Pakistan being in its interest will manifest in increasing the internal stress in Pakistan. Those Pakistanis who feel that their nuclear weapons will save them are mistaken. When internal turmoil led to the break up of the erstwhile USSR, its huge nuclear arsenal was of no consequence. Of course, Balochistan or for that matter Sindh is no East Pakistan. The Pakistani army does not face the kind of logistical problems it faced in the Bangladesh war. Even if it is difficult to replicate Bangladesh, India can cause sufficient turmoil in Pakistan to keep it off balance. Pakistan could checkmate Indian moves if it were to move towards a real democracy and federalism. Most Balochis will be satisfied with the Indian kind of federal structure of regional autonomy. But for this the Pakistani army has to relinquish its grip over the Pakistani State. Should that actually happen, the civil leadership in Pakistan can usher in peace with India. Thus whichever way one looks at the new Indian approach, it is a win-win situation. Colonel Anil A Athale (retd) is a military historian. ALSO READ It is a difficult question to answer. This problem will remain with us for a very long time because we are the only major nation whose elite speaks a language that is a foreign tongue, says Aakar Patel. The question 'which language India's children should be schooled in?' is not an easy one to answer. Some years ago, when he was still chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi told me what his solution was to this problem, and I will tell you what he said. I am writing about this because of four stories that have appeared in recent days. One is from Goa where the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's state chief has been sacked for opposing Goa's BJP government. The local RSS unit opposed State financial support to English-medium primary schools in Goa. Specifically, it wants grants to 127 English medium schools, which are run by a church body, stopped. Before it won the Goa elections, the BJP had also insisted on Konkani and Marathi as the medium of instruction in the state. But after winning, it has gone soft on the issue because it feels it is not practical. The BJP realised the issue is a complicated one with no clear answer. The question of language in schooling has been debated from before independence. Rabindranath Tagore and Gandhi were of the view that schooling should be in the mother tongue. Tagore in particular felt that India's children would not be able to develop their artistic talent and sensibility if they were schooled in a foreign language. Gandhi had, I think, more patriotic reasons for taking the same line. On the other side of the debate were Nehru and Gujarat's scholar-politician KM Munshi. These two did not reject what Tagore and Gandhi said but were concerned about losing the benefits English had given India. These benefits included access to the knowledge of the outside world and a modern legal framework. All four of these men were bilingual and so they could appreciate the issue from both sides. Where they ultimately stood was based on their priorities. The second news story connected to this was from Bhopal's Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hindi Vishwavidyalalya. This Hindi-only university is struggling to attract students for its courses. A report said that this was particularly true for the engineering course. The students' apprehensions were that they would not get jobs with such a degree. And they also were worried about taking a course taught where the engineering terms would be newly coined Hindi words replacing basic English engineering terms they were already familiar with. Because of this only a dozen students have applied for the 90 seats that are available in Nagar (Civil), Vaidyut (Electrical) and Yantrik (Mechanical) streams this year. However, the university was not discouraged. Even if we get just one student, we are committed to starting the course from this year. We are swimming against the tide. English took root 250 years ago, Hindi will require a few years to catch up, ABVHV vice-chancellor, Prof Mohanlal Chheepa, was quoted by Indian Express as saying. The third report was about the lack of published laws in Hindi. All legislation is supposed to be passed in English with the Hindi translation. There were approximately 200 Indian laws related to environmental protection in India, according to a report in The Hindu. All these acts and rules are available online, including on the new digitised The Gazette of India website that allows you to comfortably search for any law. But only in English, the report said. One reason could possibly be the same one that affects the Hindi engineering course. People are familiar with technical terms in English and it is only confusing to change what is already familiar and accessible. Another may also be a lack of demand. The fourth story is of a boy in Bihar, who has written to Narendra Modi complaining about the poor condition of government schools in his state and urged him to make English a compulsory subject. The boy wrote: My father does not earn much and so we had to do our primary education from a government school in Bihar. I urge you to request the Bihar government for English teaching from Class 1, as without it students have to face a lot of difficulty in higher classes. This is an issue Modi understands from all sides. In Gujarat, the RSS has blocked teaching of English in government schools till Class V, by when it is too late. Modi's solution, which he explained to me, was to have some subjects taught in Gujarati and others in English. If I remember it right, he was considering maths and science in English and history and geography in Gujarati. I thought it was an elegant solution though I do not know if he was not ultimately able to implement it, under RSS pressure. But even here, the question of who will teach children English is also unanswered because it is a language very few Indians know well enough to teach. Certainly we do not have the millions of qualified individuals required. As I said earlier, it is a difficult question to answer. This problem will remain with us for a very long time because we are the only major nation whose elite speaks a language that is a foreign tongue. Aakar Patel is Executive Director, Amnesty International India. The views expressed here are his own. You can read Aakar's earlier columns here. Image: A man transports school students home from school in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Photograph: Parivartan Sharma/Reuters. What is strange, for someone who spent a lifetime in seva, is that St Teresa's own personal journals and communication with the Church hierarchy reveal someone in spiritual desolation", says Sankrant Sanu. Could the Indian sacred traditions have helped her out of her dark night? Mother Teresas sainthood has been welcomed by many who see her as an exemplar of a frugal life of selfless service. There have equally been many critiques about Teresas canonisation by the Church, including her woeful neglect of those under her care (sharing needles when she herself got first class care), financial fraud (raising money that enriched the Vatican, but didnt go to helping the poor) and hobnobbing with dictators, and justifying Indira Gandhis Emergency. Many of her trenchant critics, like the late Christopher Hitchens, have been atheists. Small wonder, then, the paradox of her spiritual journey has been overlooked. For someone who had spent a life in service of God, she was lonely and desolate, feeling no presence of the divine in her life for decades, a state that lasted until her death, according to her letters published in 2007 (external link). I write about Mother Teresa with some care. Though I have criticised her on social media, two very dear friends of mine were associated with her and were also married in her presence (though they later divorced.). They had been quite taken by her; clearly she was a woman of her faith and her personal work in service is also undeniable. What is strange, for someone who spent a lifetime in seva, is that her own personal journals and communication with the Church hierarchy reveal someone in spiritual desolation. This is a claim not by atheists, but by herself and her Christian chroniclers, based on her correspondence compiled in the book Mother Teresa: Come be My Light, by Rev Brian Kolodiejchuk, postulator for her sainthood. A Fox News headline from 2007 (external link) summarises it best: Mother Teresa Did Not Feel Christ's Presence for Last Half of Her Life, Letters Reveal. Soon after starting her work in Calcutta, she expressed great doubts, feeling no presence of God and even doubting that God existed. After she had been given the Nobel Prize she felt her public image was a sham and felt like a hypocrite. Her smile to the world from her familiar weather-beaten face was a mask or a cloak, she said. What do I labor for? If there be no God, there can be no soul. If there be no soul then, Jesus, You also are not true. Her sentiments would befit an agnostic or even an atheist. I feel just that terrible pain of loss, of God not wanting me, of God not being God, of God not really existing. Christianity Today characterises her hidden correspondence as revealing a lonely, spiritually desolate Mother Teresa, someone who carried the dark night of the soul for her whole working life, ever since she started her missionary work in Calcutta. In Western accounts, there are two explanations for this. For believing Christians such as Jesuist Priest Rev James Martin, Teresas long desolate joyless separation moves into the ranks of the greatest saints, as very few who have suffered such an extended dark night. This is very much in line with the Christian narrative where suffering and religiosity go together, the symbol and exemplar being Jesus and his crucifixion. The atheist explanation is simpler. Teresas trenchant critic, Christopher Hitchens, had this explanation when asked about her doubt: She was no more exempt from the realisation that religion is a human fabrication than any other person, and that her attempted cure was more and more professions of faith could only have deepened the pit that she had dug for herself (as quoted in Time in 2007). So Teresa had finally come to the realisation that God didnt exist, though, per Hitchens, she continued like brainwashed die-hard Western communists late in the Cold War. Even after the Soviet Union failed they carried on somehow, but the mainspring was gone. The atheist explanation comes up with the no God answer and the Christian explanation with the proves faith answer. But is there a third way to look at it? From the point of view of Indian spiritual traditions, this is a strange situation. For someone whose life was presumably unconditional giving, nishkama karma, joy would be a spontaneous outcome. Our very nature is bliss, sat-chit-ananda. Someone who had realised their nature, a jivamukta, an enlightened master, would be in a state of bliss. The dark night of the soul such as it is, would be only a temporary setback; and certainly not a lifetime event for someone declared a saint. Even in the wide field of the Indian traditions, from the Buddha, Shankaracharya or modern saints like Ramana Maharishi or Ramakrishna Paramhansa, or even someone like Kabir or Mirabai, there would be a pain of longing, but it would be a sweet pain; while communion with the divine would be practically constant. Life would not be excruciating suffering in darkness and confusion for decades all the way till their death. This spiritual darkness lasted for her for nearly 50 years, till her death in 1997, but for a brief hiatus. How does one explain this? One explanation could be that Teresa was not really engaged in seva, unconditional service. Her concern was less for taking care of the poor but for the Church dogmas she believed to be true. Per these dogmas, the worldly suffering did not matter since by Christian Baptism the poor would get everlasting heaven. In this video (external link) she talks of her conversions, "29,000 in one house alone". 'Not one has died, without receiving the ticket for Saint Peter, we call it. We call Baptism, ticket for Saint Peter. 29,000 have died in that one house.' The poor under her care, as secular critics have pointed out, were treated quite poorly and told to embrace their suffering, as Jesus did. The emphasis was on baptism, suffering and death, to get eternal heaven, not on healing and service. The seva was thus conditioned, born from attachment to wrong concepts. Of course, a saint in the Church is not an enlightened being or even a person that serves humanity; but simply one that passes its bureaucratic tests of two incredulous miracles. Only dead people are sainted, a live saint could challenge the authority of the Church. Sri Sri Ravishankar speaks of the 3 Ss -- Seva, Sadhana and Satsang -- going together. Joy is a natural outcome as is presence of the divine. For all her work, Mother Teresa would have been helped out of the dark night of the soul by any one of the spiritual preceptors and gurus in India, along with many other practices from the Indian traditions. Unfortunately Teresa came only to save the natives of India and, unlike other Westerners who come to India to dip into its deep spiritual traditions, managed to learn little. Tightly bound in the straitjacket of right-wing Catholic dogma and subservient to Catholic patriarchy (external link), she remained parched -- as she mentions in her 1995 letter, in spiritual dryness -- unable to drink from the plentiful fresh spring waters of her adopted land. But her one foretelling would be accurate. If I ever become a saint I will surely be one of darkness. Image: A file photograph from February 3, 1986, of Pope John Paul II with Mother Teresa after visiting her home for the destitute and dying in Kolkata. Photograph: Rediff.com Archives. Trains, at one point in time, were not just a mode of transport. They told a story, says Bibek Debroy. IMAGE: The Saraighat Express. Photograph: Kind courtesy Smeet Chowdhury/Flickr This is a good quiz question. Which train has the number 12345? The answer is the Saraighat Express, from Howrah to Guwahati. The train is named after the Battle of Saraighat (1671) fought between the Mughals and Ahom rulers. Such is the state of history taught in textbooks that most people don't know the Ahom kingdom lasted from 1228 to 1826, much longer than the Mughal empire's 1526 to 1857. In 12345, 1 tells us it is a long-distance train, 2 tells us it is a super-fast train, 3 tells us the train/rake belongs to Eastern Railways and 4 tells us (I think) the train/rake belongs to Malda Division. I don't know about 5. These days, notwithstanding the Rajdhani, the Shatabdi and even the Gatimaan, trains have been reduced to numbers. In a different day and age, that wasn't the case. Trains also possessed names and some of the famous ones were iconic. The first such train was clearly the Punjab Mail, introduced between Ballard Pier (later moved to Victoria Terminus) and Peshawar (later moved to Firozpur) by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway in 1912. On some days, this had mail connections with P&O steamships. Indeed, that's how the Punjab Mail originally started. In those days, it operated as Punjab Limited and operated from Ballard Pier (Mole Station) to Peshawar. Today, we would call it multi-modal. This was a distance of almost 2,500 km in 47 hours, a very respectable speed of 53 km/hour. IMAGE: The Punjab Mail, earlier known as the Punjab Ltd. Photograph: Kind courtesy rail.co.in When it started to run daily, Punjab Limited became the Punjab Mail and, for a very long time, was the fastest train in India. In the initial years, it was an extremely prestigious train and first class restriction gave it exclusivity. The Punjab Mail was adulterated with third class carriages in 1930s, second class and servants having been permitted earlier. Later, it was overshadowed by the Frontier Mail. There used to be a Mumbai-Peshawar Mail and the Bombay Baroda and Central India Railway replaced it with the Frontier Mail in 1928. During winter months, from September to December, the Frontier Mail connected with P&O steamships and, therefore, started from Ballard Pier (Mole Station). Consequently, BBCI used Bombay Port Railway tracks and also those of GIPR, before it moved on to BBCI tracks. In non-winter months, the train ended at Colaba (south Mumbai). GIPR and BBCI competed over several things, such as which company would cross the Western Ghats first. They also competed over the Mumbai-Peshawar route and once it was started, the Frontier Mail overtook the Punjab Mail. It was faster and more elitist. The Frontier Mail was known for its punctuality. It was said that a Rolex watch might let you down, but not the Frontier Mail. In August 1929, there was an instance when the train was 15 minutes late and this created an uproar, the driver being asked to explain the reason for this 'inexcusable' delay. The following interesting story seems to have been first pieced together by Rosie Thomas. In 1936, Wadia Movietone decided to produce an action crime thriller directed by Homi Wadia. This starred Fearless Nadia (Mary Ann Evans) and the setting for the murder mystery was a railway station. Unfortunately, the film was titled Frontier Mail. BBCI objected, since the film showed a crashing train, that too after the film company had been allowed to film on BBCI trains and tracks. About a month before the film's release in May 1936, angry BBCI officials contacted J B H Wadia and objected. There were graphic posters of the film, with the image of a train crashing and the blurb, 'By kind permission of the BB & CI Railway Company.' Wadia agreed to change the name and did what would today be called crowd-sourcing. Through newspaper campaigns, he asked people to write in, suggesting names. The name, thus, agreed to was Miss Frontier Mail and the publicity booklet stated, 'We hereby inform the public that our Rail-Road Thriller, Miss Frontier Mail, has no connections whatsoever with the well-known 'Frontier Mail' of the B B & C I Railway. It refers to the name of the heroine of the story and not to any train whatsoever in India.' The iconic Frontier Mail now has the name Golden Temple Mail. The film must have been a success. In 1939, Wadia Movietone produced a film titled Punjab Mail, again starring Fearless Nadia. GIPR doesn't seem to have objected (There were no crashing trains in this). Wadia Movietone also produced Toofan Mail in 1932 and Toofan Express in 1938, the former being a silent film. Once upon a time, the Toofan Express used to be a great train between Delhi and Howrah (later extended to Sri Ganganagar), 7 UP and 8 DN. It is now called the Udyan Abha Toofan Express, 13007/13008. Several people, even within the Indian Railways, will tell you about a train called Toofan Mail. You may be surprised to know there never was a train called Toofan Mail. Officially, it was always Toofan Express. There have been too many films titled Jawab. Do you remember Kanan Devi's song from the 1942 one -- Toofan Mail, Duniya Yeh Duniya Toofan Mail? There was also a 1942 film called Return Of Toofan Mail. It was the influence of Bollywood that reduced the Toofan Express to Toofan Mail. Bibek Debroy is a member of the NITI Aayog. The views are personal. 'Like it or not, the Congress is still the only party with the potential to challenge the BJP at a pan-Indian level,' says T V R Shenoy. There are many who eagerly anticipate the onset of a 'Congress-mukt Bharat.' I am not one of them. If anything, there are four reasons why the decline of the Congress is a matter of national concern. First, the absence of an effective Opposition usually ends in a ruling party becoming arrogant, complacent, or both. Second, a Opposition party can be an idea factory, offering fresh solutions to problems. Third, an Opposition party is a safety valve, allowing the disaffected to let off steam in a controlled manner. Those are the general principles applicable across democracies. Fourth, and specific to India, who will occupy the Opposition space if the Congress goes up in smoke? Look at the 16th Lok Sabha. Beyond the BJP and the Congress, all we see are regional parties, incapable, individually or collectively, of managing the contradictions of governing India. The AIADMK is the third largest formation in the House of the People. Not only is its very name misleading but its history is a perfect example of regional parties choosing to become bonsai rather than soaring trees. The 'AI' in its name stands for 'All India', a joke given that all its 37 MPs represent constituencies in a single state, Tamil Nadu. But even the 'D' -- 'Dravida' -- is simply not true. Let us step back a little in time. Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam are obviously related tongues. But there was no specific name to identify this group until 1856, when Robert Caldwell published A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian family of languages. (Dravidian languages are actually spoken not just in South India, but as far away as Pakistan and Nepal -- Brahui and Kurux respectively.) Caldwell meant all of South India when applying the term 'Dravidian'. Wh at have the two 'Dravidian' parties -- the DMK and the AIADMK -- made of this heritage? On August 15, 1947, Madras was the largest province by area, and it elected 75 MPs to the first Lok Sabha, second only to Uttar Pradesh. Tamil chauvinism, fostered by the nascent 'Dravidian' movement, incited Telugu-speakers to demand a separate Andhra; that was rapidly followed by Malayalam-speaking Malabar joining Travancore-Cochin to form Kerala, while the Kannada-speakers of the west coast and in Bellary united with Mysore (now Karnataka). Far from aiming to represent all of South India, perhaps even stretching their wings to Maharashtra and Goa (which are not culturally dissimilar) the 'Dravidian' parties have shrunk their horizons, looking no farther than Tamil Nadu. This is not unique. The records of the Election Commission inform us that the full title of the Trinamool Congress -- the fourth largest party in this Lok Sabha -- is the 'All India' Trinamool Congress. Mamata Banerjee's party is as misnamed as that of Jayalalithaa. 'Trinamool' means 'grassroots', but you won't find even a wisp of the party outside West Bengal. The Nationalist Congress Party's nationalism is limited to Maharashtra. The larger 'Samaj' outside Uttar Pradesh has no great regard for either the Samajwadi Party or the Bahujan Samaj Party. Nitish Kumar was often touted as a future prime minister. But has anyone noticed how he behaved? He went to Mumbai and announced that the city had been built by Biharis. He went to Delhi and announced that the city functioned because of Biharis. In his own state he asked whether people wanted to be governed by a Bihari or a 'Bahari' ('Outsider'). And so, inevitably, Nitish Kumar's influence is restricted to Bihar. The only party apart from the BJP and the Congress to be a major factor in more than one state is the CPI-M. Yet it would be just as correct to say that the current incarnation of the CPI-M is an alliance of three regional parties, based in Kerala, West Bengal, and Tripura. Look at the last round of assembly polls; the Marxists fought the Congress in Kerala but colluded with it in West Bengal. A history of short-sighted decisions by the concerned parties themselves have confined them to specific states. Assume that they somehow manage to form the fabled 'Third Front'. Assume also that they win enough seats in a general election to form a ministry. Can they govern? History gives no cause for optimism. The Janata Party was a hastily cobbled alliance of the Congress-O, the Jana Sangh, the Bharatiya Lok Dal (itself a merger of smaller parties), and the Congress for Democracy immediately after the Emergency. The National Front came together after the fall of Rajiv Gandhi's ministry in 1989. The United Front was assembled after the 1996 polls. The Janata experiment lasted from 1977 to 1979, the National Front from 1989 to 1991, and the United Front from 1996 to 1998. Each two-year run saw two prime ministers -- Morarji Desai and Charan Singh, V P Singh and Chandrashekhar, H D Deve Gowda and I K Gujral. On each occasion the second prime minister was toppled within months by the Congress withdrawing its support. Does anyone think a fourth unstable coalition is a good idea? Right wing policies do not hold the answer to every problem any more than leftist prescriptions offer a universal panacea. History tells us that voters are best served by a stable two-party system -- Democrats and Republicans in the United States, Conservatives and Labour in Britain, Christian Democrats and Social Democrats in Germany, Likud and Labour in Israel, the LDP and the DPJ in Japan, Liberals and Conservatives in Australia... Like it or not, the Congress is still the only party with the potential to challenge the BJP at a pan-Indian level. It has a philosophy of broadly left-of-centre policies to draw upon. But is it ready for the challenge? After the 2014 debacle Sonia Gandhi asked A K Antony to prepare a report on where the Congress went wrong. Delivered to the party president in August 2014, my old college mate discussed anything and everything bar two issues -- dynastic rule and corruption. The Antony Report of 2014 is gathering dust in Congress HQ alongside the Antony Report of 2012 (prepared after the Congress non-performance in various assembly elections). Perhaps the ailing Congress boss shall commission an Antony Report for 2016. Why not? It is a harmless ritual performed every second year. Except, of course, that it is not harmless. Every year of delay in reforming the Congress causes it to decay even more. India needs an Opposition, but regional parties can't provide it and the Congress won't provide it. IMAGE: Congress President Sonia Gandhi with her son and party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters 'We have spoken on several occasions about the very serious human rights abuses faced by members of the Kashmiri Pandit community.' Aakar Patel, Executive Director, Amnesty International India, who is in the eye of a storm following charges of sedition against the human rights watchdog by the Bengaluru police, speaks to Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore about the charges leveled against him and Amnesty. IMAGE: Broken families profiles the stories of families who are demanding justice for their dear ones killed by security forcs in the Kashmir valley. Photographs: Kind courtesy, Amnesty International India When is Broken Families coming to Mumbai? Or is the Bengaluru ruckus still weighing down on you and Amnesty International India? The events in Mumbai and Delhi have been put on hold due to concerns over the security of families. The families' stories are available on a digital platform Broken Families (external link). This case (the charge of sedition against Amnesty International India) will not affect our work and we will continue to highlight human rights abuses in India and around the world. Whenever 'Broken Families' comes to Mumbai, do you think the ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad) will let you go ahead with it? At the events, we invited families from Jammu and Kashmir who had suffered rights violations to share their personal stories of grief and loss with people outside Jammu and Kashmir. The government is obligated to respect and protect the rights to freedom of expression and association for all. We respect the right of everyone, including the ABVP, to protest against us, as long as the protests are peaceful. Is Kashmir the only state in India where human rights are violated by the armed forces and the police? Why this focus on the state? No, and our work reflects this. In just the last one year, we have spoken about human rights violations by armed forces or the police in states including Manipur, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. We have also condemned abuses by armed groups. For example, here is an extract from our 2015 Annual Report. In March, three men were tortured and killed in Lohardaga, Jharkhand state, allegedly by Maoist fighters. In May, around 250 villagers were abducted and held hostage for a day in Sukma, Chhattisgarh state, reportedly by Maoist fighters attempting to pressurize the state government to stop work on a bridge. Maoist armed groups were accused of threatening and intimidating Adivasi (Indigenous) people and occupying schools. In Jammu and Kashmir, armed groups threatened mobile phone operators and attacked mobile towers and telecom offices in May, June and July, killing two people. In September, unidentified gunmen killed a three-year-old boy and his father in Sopore. The same month, the bodies of four armed group members suspected to have been killed by rival groups were found in the state. In July, armed group members attacked a police station and bus station in Gurdaspur, Punjab state, killing three civilians. Outside India, Amnesty International has worked on issues of human rights violations by the armed forces of several countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Syria, Nigeria, and Egypt. Is the Kashmir problem only a Kashmiri-Muslim problem? What happens to Kashmiri Pandits and their narrative? Don't Kashmiri Pandits have a story, as poignant and as tragic, to tell as those of the Kashmir's Muslim population? The event was held as part of a campaign based on the report Denied: Failures in accountability for human rights violations by security force personnel in Jammu and Kashmir, published in July 2015, and publicly available. The focus of this report is the obstacles to justice faced in several cases of human rights violations believed to have been committed by Indian security force personnel in Jammu and Kashmir. It focuses particularly on Section 7 of the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990 (AFSPA), which grants virtual immunity to members of the security forces from prosecution in civilian courts for alleged human rights violations. At no point have we stated that this is a problem faced by people from any one religion. We also did not discriminate between the families we interviewed for the report on the basis of their religion. We have spoken on several occasions about the very serious human rights abuses faced by members of the Kashmiri Pandit community. In the 1990s, we commented in our Annual Reports on the killings by armed groups of civilians, including members of the Hindu minority. We have condemned massacres such as the 2003 killing of Kashmiri Pandits in Nadimarg, and asked authorities to ensure justice. In 2014, when the newly elected government suggested that it would rehabilitate the families of displaced Kashmiri Pandits, we welcomed the announcement, and asked for effective remedy and reparation to be provided. Even in our 2015 report, we spoke about how attacks by armed groups had forced hundreds of thousands of members of the Kashmiri Pandit community to leave the Kashmir valley. 'Criticism that Amnesty is interested in those in favour of independence for Kashmir is unfounded.' Would you think having strong Kashmiri Pandit narratives about their own devastation in the valley, along with those of Kashmiri Muslims who have faced human rights violations earlier as well as in recent times, blunt criticism against Amnesty? Or do you think it will dilute the 'Broken Families' campaign? Firstly, Amnesty does not take any position for or against calls for self-determination anywhere in the world. So criticism that we are interested in those in favour of independence for Kashmir is unfounded. Secondly, the campaign was based on a report whose focus is on violations enabled by AFSPA. There was no distinction made between families who suffered, based on their religion. Finally, during the Bangalore event, we did invite representation from the Kashmiri Pandit community for the panel discussion and to share their stories of loss with the audience. 'The sedition law is a crude colonial-era instrument designed to silence dissent. It should be repealed immediately. ' Doubts are being raised about Amnesty's funding. Would you not, for the sake of transparency, have the source of funding on a public platform, say, your own Web site? We have two blogs (here, and, here; both external links) written by the former head of Amnesty India on our Web site which explain our sources of funding in great detail. All relevant authorities in the Government of India, including the ministry of home affairs, are fully aware and updated about Amnesty International India's sources of funding. Could you clarify if the Bengaluru police slapped the charge of sedition against Amnesty under pressure from ABVP activists or did the police officer in charge of the case impose it using his discretion? This question may be better answered by the Bengaluru police. What we know is that the police registered a FIR against 'Amnesty International India representatives' based on a complaint filed by a representative from the ABVP. (Some media reports have stated that this representative was himself not present at the event: external link) The complaint said the event featured 'anti-national' songs, slogans and speeches, and indirectly supported Pakistan and terrorists. These allegations are baseless and without substance, and will be proved so after the ongoing investigation. We have issued a point-by-point rebuttal (external limk) against the accusations. What's the status of the investigation? The investigation is ongoing. We are not aware of details of the investigation. Tell us why the charge of sedition against Amnesty will not stand scrutiny. Firstly, no Amnesty International India employee was involved in any slogan shouting at the event. Secondly, India's Supreme Court has ruled on multiple occasions that speech would amount to sedition only if it involves incitement to violence or public disorder. A five-judge Constitutional bench ruled in the case of Kedar Nath Singh vs State of Bihar (1962): 'Criticism of public measures or comment on government action, however strongly worded, would be within reasonable limits and would be consistent with the fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression.' In the case of Balwant Singh vs State of Punjab (1995), where Sikh men were charged with sedition after Indira Gandhi's assassination, the Supreme Court acquitted the men saying: 'The casual raising of slogans, once or twice by two individuals alone, cannot be said to be (seditious).' In the case of Shreya Singhal vs Union of India (2015), the court ruled: 'Mere discussion or even advocacy of a particular cause howsoever unpopular is at the heart of [the right to freedom of expression].' It stated that the right could be restricted 'only when such discussion or advocacy reaches the level of incitement'. Is it time for Indians to consign the law of sedition into the dustbin? Absolutely! The sedition law is a crude colonial era instrument designed to silence dissent. In view of the fact that it was broadly used against the India Independence movement in the first half of the last century, that it has remained on India's law books is appalling. It should be repealed immediately. The law has no place in a modern rights respecting society, let alone one that has a proud tradition of pluralism and debate. Those who seek to break from pluralism and shut down debate are the ones who do India a disservice, not the people who campaign against injustice. Under attack for his controversial blog defending sacked Delhi minister Sandeep Kumar, Aam Aadmi Party leader Ashutosh on Tuesday said the police case against him was an infringement on his right to freedom of expression. He also hit out at the media, saying it was indulging in vulturisation and doing embedded journalism. Atmosphere is created where critical analysis of history not allowed, freedom of expression will be crushed, voice of dissent suppressed. Registering police cases against me is an infringement on my fundamental right to freedom of expression mandated by Constitution, he wrote in a series of tweets. Even media is not interested into finding the truth, indulging into vulturisation and doing embedded journalism, he said. In his blog on NDTV, Ashutosh had written, This video encompasses pictures of a man and woman indulging in a sexual act. The video clearly establishes that both individuals knew each other and consented to sex in a private space away from the public glare. The question then is that if two consenting adults are physically involved with each other, is it a crime? Kumar was arrested on Saturday night after a woman seen in a video with him in a compromising position complained that she had been drugged and raped a year ago. Following the blog, the National Commission for Women summoned the Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson. We have asked him to come on September 8. This is in response to what we feel is a very reprehensible and demeaning blog Ashutosh wrote, where he defended a man accused of rape, NCW Chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam had said. The Commission has taken a note in the larger interest because we feel that as a spokesperson of a party that governs Delhi and a party whose members have been accused of many incidents of violence against women he should not be writing a blog like this which reeks of patriarchy and misogyny, she had said. High-level guests head out on town for some shopping Updated: 2016-09-06 07:43 By Du Juan and Zhao Xinying(China Daily) Turkey's first lady Emine Erdogan (left) visits the Arts and Crafts Shop in Hangzhou on Sept 4, 2016. [Photo/Getty Images] Many foreign leaders and entourage members attending the G20 Summit managed to squeeze some free time into their busy schedules for shopping and communicating with local artists, adding some light moments to their trips. Located in the center of the city, Hangzhou Tower, one of the top shopping malls, received groups of leaders from Russia, Thailand and Turkey, as well as the first lady of Canada, to shop or dine over the past three days. Wang Rong, a saleswoman at Luolai Home Textile Co, one of China's top bedding brands, said she served a Russian group of five people on Sunday. "The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, was not here, which was a pity," she said. "I feel really honored that the president's team chose our products." Wang, who has worked at Luolai for five years, said she is confident in China-made products and believes sales will continue to rise. Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau, wife of Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, went to Dolce & Gabbana on the first floor in Hangzhou Tower and bought a one-piece dress. She brought her daughter, who checked out some nightgowns. In addition to shopping, other forms of cultural communication are in evidence at the G20. Wu Xiaoli, a Hangzhou craftswoman who made sculptures of G20 leaders using dough modeling, a traditional art form in China, was surprised to meet Emine Erdogan, Turkey's first lady. Wu said Erdogan, who was accompanied by Turkish diplomats, reporters and other staff members, was fascinated by the miniatures, particularly the one of the Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "The first lady asked the interpreter to tell me that there is an identical sculpture of the president in his office and the president likes it a lot," Wu said. Wu and 30-plus peers spent half a year creating a set of sculptures of G20 leaderscalled World Peace Dreamto celebrate Hangzhou's hosting of the G20 Summit. The set caught the attention of both the domestic and international press before and during the summit. Wu said: "When Mrs Erdogan learned that both sculptures were made by me and my team, she warmly hugged me three times, saying that she was really glad to see me." Argentine guests cycle alongside West Lake. [Photo provided to China Daily] Foreign leaders get some exercise Argentine President Mauricio Macri and first lady, Juliana Awada, cycled by the side of West Lake on Monday morning. The couple feasted their eyes on scenery such as the Broken Bridge and Zhongshan Park during a tour lasting about half an hour. Macri and first lady are the highest-level foreigners to have experienced the public bicycle system of Hangzhou. Besides its scenery, Hangzhou also attracts foreign leaders attending the G20 Summit with its cuisine. Grandma's House, a famous restaurant chain in Hangzhou, has become a top choice. Thailand's delegation went to the restaurant twice during the summit and the delegation from Turkey also chose this restaurant. The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking modification of an order staying its ongoing probe in the sensational Bulandsahar gang rape case, saying it may cause disappearance of material evidences besides enabling six accused to seek statutory bail. The apex court had on August 29 taken note of the controversial remarks of Uttar Pradesh Minister Azam Khan that the gang rape case was a political conspiracy, while staying the CBI probe in the case. It had also asked whether the state should stop people holding high offices from making such comments on heinous crimes. In a plea filed by CBI Superintendent of Police Abhishek Dular, the probe agency sought its impleadment as a party to the petition filed by the husband and father of the rape survivors, a mother-daughter duo. That it is respectfully reiterated that running period of 90 days permitted under 167 of CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) for completion of investigation, would not get stopped and would also cause prejudice to the investigation and after the expiry of 90 days would extend to these suspects, a right to claim release, the plea said. That on behalf of the CBI, it is most humbly and respectfully submitted that continuation of stay of investigation by the CBI may result in disappearance of material evidence and may cause prejudice to the conduct of this case, it said. While seeking modification of the order passed by a bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and C Nagappan, the probe agency sought permission to continue its probe in the case. The first information report initially was lodged by the Uttar Pradesh police under various provisions on July 30. The CBI had re-registered the offence on August 18 in pursuance of the Allahabad high court order. The brutal incident had happened on the night of July 29 when a group of highway robbers stopped the car of a Noida-based family and sexually assaulted the woman and her daughter after dragging them out of the vehicle at gun-point. The apex court had also appointed jurist and senior lawyer F S Nariman as amicus curiae, as it framed some legal questions with regard to freedom of speech and expression and probable impact of statements of those holding high offices on free and fair probe in heinous cases like this. The court had also noted the apprehensions of the victim family, represented by lawyer Kislay Pandey, that there was no possibility of a fair investigation in Uttar Pradesh in view of the fact that a minister has allegedly made a public statement that it was a political conspiracy. Framing the questions for its adjudication, the bench said when a victim files an FIR alleging rape/gang rape/murder or such other heinous offences against a person or a group of persons, whether any individual, holding a high office or who is in authority, should make a comment on the crime that it was an outcome of political conspiracy, moreover when he has nothing to do with the offence. It said whether the state, which is the protector of citizens, should allow these comments which can have an effect or may create distrust with regard to fair investigation in such cases. The court, while framing another question, said it would examine whether such statements are covered under the freedom of speech and expression of an individual. It said the statements, which are not given for self protection, comply with the concept of constitutional sensitivities. The man, whose wife and daughter were gang-raped last month on a highway in Bulandshahr, had on August 13 moved the apex court seeking transfer of the case to Delhi, besides lodging of an FIR against Khan as well as several policemen. The Allahabad high court had ordered a CBI probe into the incident besides deciding to monitor the investigation. In the plea filed in the apex court, the victims father sought an order for transferring the trial of the case to Delhi in the interest of justice. Unhappy with the UP police, the petitioner said the probe should be conducted by some other competent agency. A youth was killed on Tuesday in fresh clashes between protestors and security forces in Anantnag district, taking the death toll in the ongoing unrest in Kashmir to 73 even as normal life remained disrupted for the 60th consecutive day. Naseer Ahmad Mir was killed in the security forces action to chase away a large number of protestors in Seer Hamdan area of south Kashmir, even as several other persons -- including a woman -- sustained injuries, a police official said. He said the injured woman has been referred to a hospital in Srinagar in a critical condition. On Monday night, a youth, injured during similar clashes in Sopore area on Sunday, succumbed at a hospital in Srinagar. Musaib Nagoo was injured during clashes between protestors and security forces on Sunday in Sopore town of Baramulla district. With these deaths, the toll in ongoing unrest has gone up to 73. Meanwhile, normal life continued to remain affected in the Valley for the 60th straight day following violence in the wake of killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in July, even as curfew was lifted from entire Srinagar following improvement in the situation. Curfew was lifted from seven police station areas in Srinagar after two days, but day-to-day activities remained suspended due to a separatist-sponsored strike. "Curfew has been lifted from entire Srinagar city and so no area in Kashmir is under curfew today (Tuesday)," a police spokesman said. He said curfew was lifted following improvement in the situation. The spokesman, however, said restrictions on the assembly of people would remain in force across the Valley to maintain law and order. Shops, business establishments and petrol pumps continued to remain shut during day time. They only open in the evening when the separatists have announced relaxation in the strike for some days of the week. Schools, colleges and other educational institutions also continued to remain closed. However, the attendance in government offices and banks has showed signs of improvement since the past few days, officials said. Public transport continued to be off the roads. The separatists, who are spearheading the ongoing agitation, have extended the shutdown programme till September 8. As part of their weekly protest programme, they have called for peaceful protests by women on Tuesday, while announcing a 12-hour relaxation in the strike from 6 pm. The light utility helicopter will replace the military's obsolescent fleet of Chetak and Cheetah helicopters that have flown for over three decades. Ajai Shukla reports. On Tuesday, nine months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone at Tumakuru, Karnataka for Hindustan Aeronautics Limited's new helicopter manufacturing complex, the helicopter to be built there made its inaugural flight. The light utility helicopter will replace the military's obsolescent fleet of Chetak and Cheetah helicopters that have flown for over three decades. The defence ministry is following a dual track -- HAL is designing, developing and building 187 LUHs, while importing-cum-building 197 Kamov-226T light helicopters with technology from Russia. "Apart from replacing ageing fleet of Cheetah/Chetak, LUH is expected to capture a sizeable share both in domestic and international market," HAL stated. In the test, which HAL described as "flawless", veteran test pilots, Wing Commanders Unni Pillai and Anil Bhambari, got airborne and carried out a few basic turns and manoeuvres. Helicopter testing is unforgiving, since pilots have no way of bailing out of a chopper that loses control. Veteran test pilots like Pillai are part of an experienced HAL helicopter division that has already masterminded two successful indigenous programmes -- the Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter that is serving the army in large numbers; and the Light Combat Helicopter that is undergoing flight-testing before being inducted into the Army and Air Force. HAL intends to speed up flight-testing of the LUH by distributing it over three prototypes. It hopes to obtain initial operational certification by end-2017. Limited series production will be done in Bengaluru, and the 610-acre Tumakuru unit is slated to commence production in 2018-19. The initial investment for the Tumakuru project could be of the order of Rs 2,000 crore. According to HAL's internal manufacturing targets, the Tumakuru plant will ship about 30 LUHs annually, starting in 2019-20. In phase II, which will take another three-four years, production will be ramped up to 60 helicopters per year. HAL described the LUH as a light, single-engine helicopter that is powered by the Safran HE Ardiden-1U engine. In addition to two pilots, the helicopter can fly six passengers at sea level, with load capacity reducing with altitude. The LUH's engine, which delivers 750 kilowatts of power, permits flight operations at as high as 6,500 metres (21,325 feet). That would allow it to fly to India's highest posts in the Siachen Glacier sector. HAL says the LUH has an "all-up weight" of 3,150 kilogrammes, which places it in the three-tonne class. Its operating range of 350 km allows it to carry out various roles, including reconnaissance, transport, cargo load and high-altitude rescue operations. The twin-engine Dhruv ALH, which is a five-tonne class helicopter, was initially sold by HAL to the military for about Rs 40 crore, but the current order is likely to be priced at Rs 65-70 crore ($10 million). By that yardstick, industry analysts estimate the smaller LUH would be delivered at about Rs 40 crore per piece; and the 200-helicopter order would be worth Rs 8,000 crore. Photographs Courtesy: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited The Centre may harden its attitude towards separatist leaders in Jammu and Kashmir, making their foreign travel difficult and scaling down the security which they enjoy at the exchequer's cost. Miffed over the cold shoulder treatment given by separatists to the MPs, who were part of the all-party delegation that visited the state, the Centre is considering moves to curb their foreign travel by withdrawing their passports and denying travel documents in some cases. Besides these, the Centre will also scrutinise their bank accounts and complete pending investigations in cases against them so a strong message goes around that those provoking youths in Kashmir Valley to create disturbance since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8 will not be spared, government sources said. The home ministry's tough stand came apparently after the nod from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is said to have conveyed that time has come to act tough with the separatists, sources said. The snub by the Hurriyat leaders who refused to meet some members of the all-party delegation, has upset the government to the extent of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh saying that such behaviour was neither 'Kashmiriyat' nor 'Insaniyat'. Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury, Sharad Yadav of Janata Dal-United, Jaiprakash Narayan Yadav of Rashtriya Janata Dal, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen's Asaduddin Owaisi and D Raja of CPI had gone to meet Hurriyat leaders. Sources said there was a feeling in the government that lack of governance was a major concern for Jammu and Kashmir and this needs to be addressed. The central government feels that the state government is treating separatists with kid gloves and have to be tough against them, they said, claiming students, parents and the middle class were getting restless and wanted the cycle of violence to end. The final decision on these issues, however, will be taken after the all-party delegation, which visited the troubled state, meets here tomorrow and consultations at the highest level of the government, sources said. Pakistan army chief General Raheel Sharif says Islamabad will continue to support the people of the Valley on the 'diplomatic and ethical' fronts. Pakistan army chief General Raheel Sharif has described Kashmir as Pakistan's 'jugular vein' and said Islamabad will continue to support the people of the Valley on the 'diplomatic and ethical' fronts. Backing the demand for self-determination in Kashmir, he said the oppressed people of the Valley are once again suffering worst form of state terrorism and repression for demanding their due rights. "We salute the great sacrifices of the people of Kashmir for their right of self-determination. The solution of the problem lies in the implementation of the resolutions of United Nations in this regard. Pakistan will continue to support Kashmir on the diplomatic and ethical fronts," said the chief of army staff, addressing a ceremony held at General Headquarters in Rawalpindi to mark the country's Defence Day. General Sharif praised people of the Valley for rendering 'innumerable sacrifices'. He also said that the true solution to the Kashmir issue lies not in raining bullets upon people in the Valley but in heeding to their voices and respecting their aspirations. "Kashmir issue can only be resolved by implementing the UN Resolutions," he said. In a veiled reference to India, he said Pakistan was aware of conspiracies by 'enemies'. "We are fully aware of all covert and overt intrigues and intentions of our enemies. Be the challenge military or diplomatic, be the danger on the borders or within the cities, we know our friends and foes all too well. We know well how to abide by bonds of friendship and how to avenge upon our enemies," Sharif said. Pakistani armed forces are fully capable of defending Pakistan in conventional and non conventional warfare, and from any internal or external threat, he said. "Pakistan's defence had been strong in the past but now it is impregnable," Raheel said, adding that Pakistan wants good relations with all the neighbouring countries on the basis of equality and mutual respect. He said the key to regional peace is balance of power. China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is the symbol of mutual respect for countries, which will ensure progress not only in Pakistan but also in the entire region, Sharif said. He said the security and timely completion of CPEC is the national duty, and no power will be allowed to disrupt it. The army chief said Pakistan has been sincerely playing its role for peace in Afghanistan as peaceful Afghanistan is in the best interest of Pakistan. Effective border management with Afghanistan is a priority of Pakistan, which will help achieving the goal of durable peace, he said. Some opportunistic elements are trying to create an environment of distrust, but they will not succeed, he said. Referring to terrorism in Pakistan, Raheel said the right of state has been established across the country as a result of over 19,000 military operations against terrorists. Federal Ministers, parliamentarians, the services chiefs, ambassadors, and other prominent personalities attended Defence Day ceremony which is observed in Pakistan to mark the 1965 war with India. With inputs from Agencies. Photograph: Inter-Services Public Relations Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst who was one of the key architects of US President Barack Obama's Af-Pak policy during his first term, has called for an offensive strategy against terrorist networks and this includes hitting out at terrorist groups inside Pakistan. Dismantling and disrupting terror networks and their safe havens inside Pakistan should be on the agenda of the next American President, a former top CIA analyst has said, accusing the Pakistani Army of "patronising" terrorism in "other parts of the world". President Barack Obama's decision to use drones to kill Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor "deep inside Pakistan" should be a pointer in this regard, said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst and now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, a top American think-tank, at a panel discussion on Afghanistan. "Pakistan today is a unique country. It is a victim of terrorism. Unfortunately, the Pakistani Army today is a patron of terrorism in other parts of the world in particular in its immediate neighbourhood of Afghanistan," Riedel said. In his hard-hitting remarks on Pakistan, Riedel, who was one of the key architects of Obama's Af-Pak policy during his first term, called for an offensive strategy against terrorist networks and this includes hitting out at terrorist groups inside Pakistan. "The next President should consider striking inside Pakistan like the one against Mullah Mansoor and against other terrorist groups inside Pakistan. We should try to disrupt and dismantle the terrorist safe havens and networks and their capabilities inside Pakistan," Riedel said in his remarks at the panel discussion. "Through its action, the new US Administration should tell the terrorist networks and its supporters that it is not going to be business as usual," he said. Riedel also called for trying to stop Taliban's fund raising activities in the Gulf states. He said the Pakistani passport of Mullah Mansoor showed that he travelled to Dubai 18 times and "this was for fund raising activities". "What was the purpose of his 18 trips to Dubai -- raising funds from sympathetic groups in the Gulf states. We are not going to stop 100 per cent, but we should make it difficult for Taliban to raise funds in the Gulf states," he said. Riedel said Pakistan today has a "thriving free press, not necessarily a responsible free press." "We have also seen a transition from one democratic government to other democratic government. This is a milestone," he said. "Our capability in Afghanistan has been largely defensive in the last 15 years," he said, adding that this makes things difficult because of the continued safe havens in Pakistan and "active patronage support" from the Pakistani government. 'Situation in Afghanistan is worsening' Gen (retd) John Allen said the situation on the ground in Afghanistan is more challenging today. "Situation on the ground in Afghanistan is challenging today. The situation has become more challenging and perhaps worsening. But this is not something which is beyond the capacity of the Afghan forces. I have confidence that the Afghan National Security Forces can pull it at this point of time," he said. "We have seen resurgence in Afghan Taliban activities in the country. The challenges that we face going ahead is the stabilising of the number of US troops and providing air support to the Afghan troops. Securing the district. A more number of districts have gone to the Taliban," Allen said. Addressing the panel discussion, Allen recommended increasing US air support to the Afghan forces and stabilising American troops in the country. Noting that the security situation in Afghanistan is worsening, Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute said the Afghan government today is cut out from the large parts of the country. The difficult security situation in the country is not only because of the Taliban and the ISIS, but also due to crimes like kidnapping in Afghanistan. "This has impounded a deep sense of insecurity and fear in everyday life," she said. "We are at a moment of interesting and challenging situation in Afghanistan," Falbab-Brown said. IMAGE: Pakistani Army Chief of Staff General Raheel Sharif leaves after attending the Pakistan Day parade in Islamabad. Photograph: Reuters Kick-starting his 2500 km-long Kisan Yatra in a bid to capture power in the politically important state of Uttar Pradesh, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday met farmers, promising loan waiver and reduction in power tariff by 50 per cent if voted to power in the 2017 assembly polls. IMAGE: Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi notes down details of a farmer in Deoria during his yatra. Photographs: UP Congress/Twitter The 'Deoria to Dilli yatra' is part of the Congress campaign to end its 27-year exile from power in UP. The Congress leader reached Rudrapur in Deoria around 10.45am by chopper and started knocking at the doors of farmers. In a tweet, Gandhi requested the people to join the Congress in this 'yatra' as he and his party are fighting for the rights of farmers, labourers and the poor. "Door to door campaign begins from village Pachladi. Met farmers, & collected Kisan Maang Patras outlining their demands," he said in another tweet. IMAGE: During his yatra, Rahul promises farmers of waiving off their loans and slashing power tariff by 50 per cent. Accompanied by party colleague and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, the 46-year-old Congress leader visited houses of farmers and collected 'Kisan Mangpatras' (charters of farmers demands) and interacted with them one-to-one as part of his "Khaat Sabha". "..Rahul ji came here and listened to us patiently. He collected details of my outstanding loan and also noted down my mobile number. He assured me that if the Congress comes to power in the state, then his party will waive off farmers' loans and slash power tariff by 50 per cent," said Om Prakash Singh, a farmer. IMAGE: About 2,000 khaats or cots were laid out in Rudrapur town of UP for Gandhi's meeting with farmers. "Gandhi also spoke to our family members, especially children and asked about their studies and future plans," another farmer said. Gandhi will hold road shows at various places during the yatra. On the first two days of the yatra, Gandhi will cover Kushinagar, Gorakhpur, Sant Kabirnagar and Basti besides Deoria. The party has made preparations for making the Congress leader's longest yatra in the state a success. A team of national spokesmen will also be stationed in Lucknow to apprise media of the developments. IMAGE: A girl did not miss a 'photo-op' with the Gandhi scion. Gandhi will make a night halt in Gorakhpur before embarking further on the journey. He will hold similar interactions with farmers and roadshows the next day and will spend the second night at Basti. During the mahayatra, the Congress leader will cover as many as 233 assembly constituencies to reach out to people ahead of crucial polls slated early next year. The mahayatra comes after the successful road show of Sonia Gandhi earlier last month and the two yatras of state party leaders in various districts of the state. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti hit out at the separatists on Tuesday for spoiling the youth of the Kashmir Valley and termed as an insult to Kashmiriyat their action of shutting the door on members of the all-party delegation of members of Parliament that explored ways to restore peace in the troubled state. By spurning talks, she said, the separatist leaders were not facilitating resolution of the problem but stalling the process for finding lasting peace. We have lost several opportunities in the past to resolve the issue through engagement and dialogue and today again if we miss the chance, the coming generations will never forgive us for our intransigence, the chief minister told the gathering at a function for formal launch of UJALA scheme in Kashmir under which LED bulbs will be supplied. The event was organised by Union Power Ministry, the states Power Development Department and Energy Efficiency Services Limited -- a joint-venture of Public Sector Units under the Ministry of Power. Nobody wants violence except for those who face no impact of this violence as their own children are studying outside the Valley. They ask the children to fight bullets, pellets and teargas but themselves fear a policeman Referring to the separatists decision to not talk to the visiting all-party delegation, Mehbooba said it was an insult to Kashmiriyat, to us. She said an opportunity has presented itself for addressing the Kashmir issue as the country has a strong Prime Minister in Narendra Modi who has called for an end to the violence. Today, there is an opportunity as there is a very strong prime minister in this country. Today, in this situation, the cream of the country, members of the Parliament, came to you (as part of all-party delegation) and many among them said that they want to talk without any conditions, she said. Mehbooba said the prime minister went to Pakistan, then Pathankot happened, the (Union) home minister (Rajnath Singh) went there in bad times, but he was given the same treatment which was meted out to the visiting MPs who had come to our door. It does not insult our guests, it insults us because it shows our moral standards, she said, adding her government would continue its endeavour for peace. It has not happened till now that a sitting chief minister, as president of the party, writes a letter and requests (for talks) this way but I did it because there is pain within. As I travelled to most of the places in the Valley, children were out on roads with stones in their hands instead of going to schools or colleges. Why? Is it their doing? It is the doing of the (separatists) leaders, she said. She wondered how the separatists could roam from one home to another asking children and young people to come out when their own were studying abroad or outside the state. My colleagues have this (fear) that I may say something. But, I have always spoken truth. The way a mother slaps her child when he tries to touch a hot kangri (firepot), I will do the same to save my people. I will be angry, I will speak truth and warn them not to use children as a shield, an emotional Mehbooba said. Mehbooba exuded confidence that the Valley will come out of the current misery as her intentions were noble. Instead of pushing our youth on the streets, we should ask them to join their schools and ourselves come to the forefront for resolution of the issues through political and democratic means "Majority of the people want an honourable solution to the issue. Nobody wants violence except for those who face no impact of this violence as their own children are studying outside the Valley. "They ask the children to fight bullets, pellets and teargas but themselves fear a policeman," she said. She said her party has been consistently advocating dialogue, both with Pakistan and all sections of the society within the state, including the separatists, for a permanent resolution of the Kashmir issue. Whether it was the partys Common Minimum Programme with Congress in 2002, its Election Manifestos or its Agenda of Alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party, Peoples Democratic Party has repeatedly reiterated its agenda of peaceful resolution of the issue through engagement and reconciliation, she said. And to a large extent we had succeeded in facilitating setting off a productive reconciliation and resolution process in and around the state between 2002 and 2005, she said, and added that today again the partys position is the same and it was in this spirit that she wrote to the separatist leaders requesting them to engage in talks. Stressing on the need for continuing the efforts for peaceful resolution of the issue, the chief minister called for reaching out to people through substantive political and economic measures to address the anger, alienation and the aspirations. She also urged the separatist leadership to engage in negotiations to make peace a reality in the state and bring an end to the miseries of the people. Despite the challenges and impediments, the prevailing painful situation in Kashmir necessitates once again reaching out to all shades of political opinion in the state and initiating substantive political and economic measures to revive and consolidate the peace and resolution process, she said. Instead of pushing our youth on the streets, we should ask them to join their schools and ourselves come to the forefront for resolution of the issues through political and democratic means, she said. Mehbooba said the people have been suffering the disastrous consequences of the turmoil and they have to be retrieved from this quagmire, sooner the better and the onus lies not only on us but the separatist leadership as well to give the peace and resolution process a chance. Our children are getting killed or maimed, our social fabric is slipping into disorder, economy is in shambles, educational sector has suffered immensely, tourism inflow is zero...and people are feeling suffocated. We shall have to ponder over how long we are going to allow this self destruction to continue? she said. We shall have to reinforce our resolve to work through peaceful means and through public participation towards resolution of the problems and restoration of peace in the state, she said. IMAGE: Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti addresses an event in Srinagar on Tuesday. Photograph: S Irfan/PTI Photo The US president cancelled his scheduled meet with Rodrigo Duterte after the controversial slur. IMAGE: Philippines' President Rodrigo Duterte said that the US president was no one to lecture him on human rights. Photograph: Lean Daval Jr/Reuters The White House on Tuesday cancelled the meeting between United States President Barack Obama and his Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte after the latter called him son of a b***h. President Obama will not be holding a bilateral meeting with President Duterte of the Philippines this (Tuesday) afternoon, said Ned Price, spokesman of the National Security Council, White House. Instead, he will meet with President Park of the Republic of Korea this afternoon, September 6, Price said in a brief statement. The White House decision in this regard came after the newly-elected President of Philippines accused Obama and used abusive language against him. IMAGE: US President Barack Obama became the first sitting US president to step foot in the isolated Southeast Asian nation of Laos. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters Duterte also vowed not to be lectured by the US leader on human rights when they meet in Laos. Who does he think he is? I am no American puppet. I am the president of a sovereign country and I am not answerable to anyone except the Filipino people. Son of a b***h, I will swear at you, Duterte said in Philippines on Monday. His remarks came after the White House officials said Obama in his meeting with him in Laos on Tuesday would confront about his countrys human rights record of handling drug traffickers. Earlier in the day, Obama indicated that his scheduled meeting with Duterte might not go forward. I always want to make sure if I'm having a meeting that its productive and we're getting something done. If and when we have a meeting, this is something that is going to be brought up, Obama told reporters at a news conference in China. However, Duterte expressed regret over his obscenity-laden rant after the White House cancelled the talks. Siddaramaiah seems overwhelmed by problems coming at him from every direction, reports Aditi Phadnis. If it is happening, it is happening in Karnataka. Two sedition cases have been filed in Bengaluru in less than a month, which has to be a record. The most benign of all state capitals in India, filing cases against supposed anti-India traitors at the rate of one a fortnight? What is going on? The fact is authority is slipping from the hands of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Still trying to come to terms with a terrible personal setback -- he lost his 36-year old son last month to liver illness -- the chief minister seems overwhelmed by problems coming at him from every direction. Siddaramaiah is a relatively new entrant to the Congress, having left the Janata Dal -Secular in 2005. His former political mentor, H D Deve Gowda, was extremely fond of this maverick politician and brilliant speaker. While he made him deputy chief minister in the JD-S government, he refused to make him chief minister -- not unnaturally, preferring his son. Siddaramaiah walked out of the JD-S in 2005 to be welcomed into the Congress along with a handful MLAs, all of whom had to be accommodated in subsequent elections. It is on the strength of these MLAs he claimed the support of the all 121 members of the Congress legislature party after the assembly polls in 2013. But it wasnt just the 121, who catapulted the Congress to victory. It was also state Congress chief G Parameshwara, who helped his party win but lost his own seat. At one stage, hoping to become chief minister, Parameshwara, who belongs to a Scheduled Caste and is popular, saw his hopes crumble. As there was pronounced, at times public, tension between the two leaders, the Congress high command stepped in and Parameshwara was made minister -- but nearly two years after Siddaramaiah. The decision to make Siddaramaiah chief minister was taken after senior Congress leader A K Antony finished consultations with MLAs and telephoned Ahmed Patel, seeking the Congress presidents opinion. Although a majority of the MLAs said they did want Siddaramaiah, Antony conveyed to Patel that a large number of them was also apprehensive: that one community should not be pacified at the cost of another. Siddaramaiah is a Kuruba and both Parameshwara and another contender, Mallikarjun Kharge, are Dalits. The Congress got 28 per cent of the Lingayat votes and 32 per cent of the Vokkaliga votes. The goodwill of these two castes is also important. At 80-something, S M Krishna, a Vokkaliga by caste, is still being told by his supporters that he should be the one to be chief minister. In the wings is the Bharatiya Janata Party Lingayat leader B S Yeddyurappa just waiting to strike. Anyway, it was Siddaramaiah, who got the job and has been in the saddle since. It is one matter to reign and quite another to rule. The tension between the old and the new Congressmen is still simmering. Siddaramaiah has little to report by way of development. Bengaluru is a dug-up mess as the first phase of Namma Metro (Bengaluru Metro) nears completion. Every year, Siddaramaiah dutifully flags the backwardness of north Karnataka (Belgaum or Belagavi as it is now called). In June this year, the Congress was wiped out in the biennial elections to the Karnataka Legislative Council from graduates and teachers constituencies. It lost all the three seats in the north Karnataka region and one in Karnataka south graduates constituency to the BJP and the JD-S. As the principal Opposition, the BJP is leaving no stone unturned to make life difficult for Siddaramaiah. It improved its 2013 assembly election vote share of 18 per cent (40 seats) to 43 per cent (17 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats) in the 2014 general elections. In the mass appeal charts, the July bandh over the sharing of waters of the Mahadayi river saw much of rural Karnataka shut down. After a sweltering summer, people just could not stomach the fact that Karnataka had been defeated in its claim over water to Maharashtra and Goa because of mistakes alleged to have been made by the legal team representing Karnataka. The latest race the Congress has lost is for mind space: the BJP has proved it holds the political initiative as the state government has registered a case of sedition against actress Ramya, who contested the last Lok Sabha election as a Congress candidate. Karnataka is the only big state the Congress has: and it doesnt look good for the party. Complying with the Supreme Court direction, Karnataka government has decided to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu despite "severe hardships", as protests in the wake of the court order intensified with the highway between Bengaluru and Mysuru blocked by farmers. "Despite severe hardships faced by the government of Karnataka, the state will release water as directed by the Supreme Court," Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told media persons on Tuesday night after nearly a three-hour long all-party meeting convened by him in Bengaluru. He also said the state would approach the Supreme Court with a modification petition explaining the its difficulties in implementing its order, directing release of 15,000 cusecs per day to Tamil Nadu for next ten days, and seeking change in it and also move the Cauvery Supervisory Committee. The chief minister said it would be "difficult" for a Constitution-bound state to defy the Supreme Court order or to refuse release of water. "With a heavy heart", it has been decided to provide water to Tamil Nadu even though the state itself was facing a "very severe distress" year, he said. Seeking to assuage the feelings of protesting farmers in the Cauvery heartland of Mandya and other districts in the basin, he said all efforts would be made to provide drinking water to Bengaluru and other places as also for crops. He appealed to farmers to maintain peace and tranquility and not to cause any damage to public property. Speaking to reporters after the all-party meeting, former chief minister and Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka assembly Jagadish Shettar said BJP had asked the state government not to release water and try to "convince" the Supreme Court by filing a review petition. He said that the state had "failed" in putting across to the court its case of drinking water scarcity and shortage of water for crops in Karnataka. "....we have opposed the government's stand to release water," he added. Janata Dal (Secular) leader Y S V Datta said "....our party suggested seeking the Prime Minister's intervention to solve the issue amicably." He said his party was opposed to releasing of water to Tamil Nadu as it was against the interest of the state farmers. In Mandya, agitated farmers and activists belonging to pro-Kannada outfits blocked Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway as protests intensified in the wake of the apex court directive to the state to release Cauvery water. Mandya district, the nucleus of Cauvery politics, saw a bandh with protesters holding road blockades and dharnas at several places, as hundreds of security personnel, including Central forces, were deployed in the Cauvery belt to maintain law and order. Prohibitory orders have been clamped around the Krishnarajasagar Dam and entry of visitors to it prohibited till September 9, as the Cauvery row hotted up after Monday's Supreme Court directive on a petition by Tamil Nadu government. The court has directed Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of water for the next 10 days to address the plight of the farmers in Tamil Nadu. Protesters also mobbed and ransacked several government offices in Mandya forcing their shut down, while attendance at government offices remained thin, police said. The court order triggered an immediate backlash with the farmers' body, spearheading the stir, calling for a bandh on Tuesday in Mandya district. Shops, hotels and other commercial establishments and theatres and hotels remained shut and schools and colleges declared a holiday in Mandya district where state run and private buses were also off the roads. Protests are also being held by farmers in Mysuru and Hassan districts, fed by the Cauvery, demanding that Karnataka should not release water. G Madegowda, President of Cauvery Hita Rakshana Samithi, the body spearheading the agitation, criticised the chief minister and irrigation minister for their "irresponsible" behaviour over the Cauvery issue. He also called the district MLAs to resign enmasse to protest against the "injustice." In Bengaluru, some theatres stopped screening of Tamil movies as a "precautionary" step in view of the protests over Cauvery issue. Siddaramaiah said the state had told the Supreme Court during the recent hearing that it was willing to release 10,000 cusecs or six days but it directed release of 15,000 cusecs for 10 days. In a similar situation in 2012-13, the BJP government headed by Jagadish Shettar had released 10,000 cusecs for nine days, he said, adding that they had done so without taking the Opposition into confidence. "Despite being in an extremely difficult situation, we have to obey the Court order," Siddaramaiah said, also noting that it has to be taken into account that the main petition would be coming up for hearing before the apex court on October 18. As per the Cauvery tribunal order, Karnataka had to release 94 TMC ft of water from June to August end in a normal year but given the "severe distress", the state had provided 33 TMC ft during the period. Amid the mounting protests, Bengaluru Tamil Sangam leaders on Tuesday met Home Minister G Parameshwara and sought protection for Tamils living in the state. Reports from Tamil Nadu said inter-state bus services to Karnataka remained hit for the second day on Tuesday. Buses to various destinations in Karnataka originating from Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Salem, Erode, Tirupur and Coimbatore districts were stopped in border towns such as Hosur, Sathyamangalam and Bannari. However, some Karnataka State Transport Corporation buses were operated from Tamil Nadu. Also, private cars, vans and taxis and trucks with Karnataka registration were operated. Political parties in Tamil Nadu demanded that the Siddaramaiah government comply with the court directive and suggested Chief Minister Jayalalithaa lead an all party delegation to Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue. DMK President M Karunanidhi said the court order directing 15,000 cusecs for ten days "is certainly not enough for samba crops." Image: A view of the Krishnarajasagar Dam in Mysuru on Tuesday. Photograph: PTI Photo With no signs of improvement in the situation in Kashmir, community schools are the only hope for students, reports Athar Parvaiz. IMAGE: A volunteer teaches students at a community school in Zainakote, Srinagar. This school has been functional for the past month thanks to the efforts of local youth. Photograph: Athar Parvaiz If 10-year-old Adeeba of Kumar Mohalla in Zainakote-Srinagar had not found some new friends in the newly set up community school in her locality, it would have been difficult for her to live without her school friends for weeks together. Her school is away from her locality and has not opened for weeks. Ask her what she misses the most about her school and she puts missing the company of her friends on top. "I had my best friends in my school whose company I used to enjoy, but I have not seen them since Eid," she told this reporter outside the community school. After Eid-ul-Fitr, she has not been to school given the curfews imposed by the state government and repeated strike calendars issued by the pro-freedom politicians in the aftermath of Hizbul Mujahideen miltant Burhan Wani's death on July 8. Two months of strict curfews and strike calls have led to the collapse of Kashmir's education system. Unabated violence has resulted in the deaths of 75 people and injuries to over 9,000 people. "At my new school (community school), I have some new friends now," Adeeba said though she struggled to explain what it means to her. The community school in Kumar Mohalla and another in Dar Mohalla in Zainakote-Srinagar are functional for the past one month thanks to the efforts of local youth. In both schools, some 14 volunteers teach over 200 students from the primary classes to secondary level from 9 am to 1:15 pm. When curfew continued for over four weeks and there were no signs of the situation getting any better, Sajjad Ahmad Sofi, a young businessman, thought he and his friends should set up a makeshift school in their locality of about 2,000 families. "I consulted some 14 well educated youths of the locality who I knew closely and asked them if they could help. They liked the idea and came forward quite enthusiastically," Sofi said. "After that we approached the management of the local madrassa. They held a meeting and later allowed us to use their space. And later, when we fell short of space, the local mosque provided some blankets while some well-meaning citizens contributed money for other requirements," Sofi added. According to Sofi, students from well off families were not much affected since their parents managed private tuitions for them. "The poorer students had nothing to fall back upon. That is why I was so keen on starting the community school," he said. Now, Sofi said, not only poor students, but students from affluent families have enrolled in the community school. IMAGE: A girl peers from her home as a member of the security forces patrols a street in Srinagar. Photograph: Cathal McNaughton/Reuters Ghulam Ahmad, a parent, said all parents of the locality are happy with the efforts put in by educated youth in the locality. "This is really commendable. If they had not thought of doing something for the poor, where could we go?" Ahmad asked. Three volunteer teachers -- Mohammad Maqbool, Rashid Ahmad and Aaqib Ahmad -- said the prevailing crisis presented an opportunity to help the poor students whom they intend to continue teaching even when the circumstances become normal. "We are planning to keep helping the poor students by not only teaching them, but also providing them books and fulfilling their other requirements for education," they said. "I think we have made a good beginning in that direction and we only need to take it forward," Rashid said. The current unrest is a throwback to the situation in the early 1990s when the armed conflict in Kashmir had almost put an abrupt end to education with schools remaining closed most of the time in the initial years of the conflict. According to state education department officials, schools should function for 229 days in a year. But perpetual strikes, particularly in 1991, meant that schools did not open on 207 days, which implies that about 60 per cent of the academic year were consumed in strikes. Over the next three years, students could not go to school for 148, 139 and 97 days respectively. Pandas now classed as 'vulnerable' Updated: 2016-09-06 08:04 By Su Zhou in Beijing and Huang Zhiling in Chengdu(China Daily) Two giant pandas play around in the wild. WWF Downgrade from 'endangered' doesn't mean the iconic species is no longer at risk, experts say China's furry national icon has been downgraded from "endangered" to "vulnerable" on the global list of species at risk of extinction. But experts in China warn that the good news for the giant panda could be short-lived and may require an even greater conservation investment. The International Union for Conservation of Nature announced the downgrade on Monday in Hawaii. It said that evidence from a series of national surveys indicates that the previous population decline has been reversed. The union's Red List is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of species, which are classified into nine groups. Endangered means "high risk of extinction in the wild" while vulnerable means "high risk of endangerment in the wild". The State Forestry Administration said in an official statement: "It is too early to say that the giant panda is no longer endangered." China's fourth panda census, the results of which were released in 2015 by the administration, showed 1,864 wild pandas worldwide as of the end of 2013. That compares with 1,596 wild pandas worldwide in the third census carried out from 2000 to 2002. But 24 of the 33 groups of wild pandas found in the fourth census - whose results were released in February last year - are endangered, with some groups having fewer than 30 pandas. Eighteen groups have fewer than 10 pandas each and are in severe danger of extinction. It is predicted that a warming planet will wipe out more than one-third of the panda's bamboo habitat in the next 80 years, the administration quoted the union as saying. "Based on the current situation, we think it would cause irreversible damage to pandas and their habitat, and reverse the gains made during the last two decades, if we downgrade the protection level," the statement said. Zhang Hemin, chief of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Wenchuan county, Sichuan province, agreed. "More than 80 percent of the world's wild pandas are scattered in Sichuan. Their habitat in the province is very vulnerable, since Sichuan is prone to earthquakes," Zhang said. Zhang Zhihe, chief of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Sichuan, said wild pandas survive solely along the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in six mountain ranges in China. "With most valleys in their ranges inhabited by humans, many panda populations are isolated in narrow belts of bamboo no more than 1,000 to 2,000 meters in width," he said. "So their actual geographical range is much smaller than generally depicted on maps." Lo Sze-ping, CEO of conservation group WWF China, said after decades of work, it is clear that only a broad approach will be able to secure the long-term survival of China's giant pandas and their unique habitat. Cite as UN General Assembly, New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants : resolution / adopted by the General Assembly, 3 October 2016, A/RES/71/1, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57ceb74a4.html [accessed 30 October 2022] South Sudan accepts deployment of 4,000-strong UN protection force Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 4 September 2016 Related Document(s) Security Council resolution 2304 (2016) [on extension of the mandate of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) until 15 Dec. 2016] Cite as UN News Service, South Sudan accepts deployment of 4,000-strong UN protection force, 4 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57ceb81540c.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 4 September 2016 - South Sudan's government has accepted the deployment of a 4,000-strong regional protection force recently mandated by the United Nations Security Council, in addition to the roughly 12,000 UN peacekeepers already serving in the African nation. The announcement was made today in a joint communique issued at the end of a meeting between President Salva Kiir and the Security council delegation. To improve the security situation, the Transitional Government of National Unity gave its consent to the deployment as part of UNMISS [UN Mission in South Sudan] of the Regional Protection Force" in line with Security Council resolution 2304 (2016), according to the communique read by the country's Cabinet Affairs Minister, Martin Elia Lomoro. In early July, close to the fifth anniversary of the country's independence, the youngest nation was plunged into fresh violence due to clashes between rival forces the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), loyal to President Kiir, and the SPLA in Opposition, backing former First Vice-President Riek Machar. That led to deaths and injuries, including those of several UNMISS peacekeepers, also undermining the implementation of the peace agreement between the political rivals in August 2015, which formally ended their differences. The Council, as well as various senior UN officials, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, repeatedly spoke out against the violence, calling for calm and the safety of civilians. "The United Nations Security Council and the Transitional Government of National Unity agree to work in a fresh spirit of cooperation to advance the interests of the South Sudanese people, particularly their aspirations for justice, liberty and for prosperity. They agreed that the humanitarian and security needs of the people were paramount, said the communique. The Security Council delegation is led by the Permanent Representatives of the Missions of Senegal and the United States, comprising representatives of all the other permanent and rotating member states of the 15-nation body. UNMISS has an impartial mandate to protect civilians, no matter who they are or where they are, said United States Ambassador Samantha Power, the co-leader of the Council delegation, noting that consultations are under way to decide the modalities of deployment of the regional protection force. According to the communique, the troop contributing countries, UNMISS and the Transitional Government have agreed to continue working on the modalities of deployment, and to build upon the consultations that have been taking place in recent months. The Council has, in its recent resolution, expressed grave alarm over the security situation and the ongoing violence in the country, as well as the dire humanitarian consequences for the people of the country. According to the Minister, the Transitional Government has committed to devising a plan on concrete steps to remove impediments to UNMISS' ability to implement its mandate. This plan is expected by end of September 2016, he said,, explaining that such steps would include a review of procedures related to movement of UNMISS and streamlining the bureaucratic processes. UNMISS on the other hand has committed to inform the Government about the movements and of any other details. The communique further states that the Transitional Government has expressed its readiness to implement chapter 5 of the agreement on the resolution of the conflict in South Sudan, and would work with African Union in setting up the hybrid court for South Sudan. UN Security Council concludes 'very positive' three-day visit to South Sudan Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 5 September 2016 Cite as UN News Service, UN Security Council concludes 'very positive' three-day visit to South Sudan, 5 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57ceb85882c.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 5 September 2016 - The United Nations Security Council wrapped up a three-day visit to South Sudan today by reaffirming its support for peace in South Sudan and reiterated its calls to the government to fulfill commitments announced in a joint communique. The fact that we are getting on the UN plane and going home, does not mean that we are going to forget about them, United States Ambassador Samantha Power, the co-lead of the Council delegation, said at the conclusion of the visit. Ms. Power added that what no one can endure is the legacy of having seen this beautiful newest country of the UN torn apart. The visit followed the Council's recent renewal of the mandate of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), which included the approval of a 4,000-strong regional protection force to aid with security in the capital, Juba. It also came before the UN Secretary-General has to provide his first report on the progress achieved in implementing the new mandate. In early July, close to the fifth anniversary of the country's independence, the youngest nation was plunged into fresh violence due to clashes between rival forces the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), loyal to President Salva Kiir, and the SPLA in Opposition, backing former First Vice-President Riek Machar. That led to deaths and injuries, including those of several UNMISS peacekeepers, also undermining the implementation of the peace agreement between the political rivals in August 2015, which formally ended their differences. Ms. Power said that some good commitments came out of the trip, with the Transitional Government of National Unity announcing its acceptance to the deployment of the regional protection force. A joint communique issued on Sunday indicates that the government is committed to remove impediments to the ability of UNMISS to implement its mandate. This would include reviewing procedures related to movement of UNMISS and streamlining bureaucratic processes. She noted that the call for peace must be felt in the hearts of the leadership. Ms. Power, however, cautioned that these commitments will be measured by the extent to which South Sudanese people feel safer than they are now. Senegalese Ambassador Fode Seck, the co-lead of the Council delegation, said this was a very positive visit, both on the side of the government and on the side of the UN Security Council. Remaining optimistic that the government would stick to its commitments, he stressed the need for the citizens to unite for nation-building. This country is so blessed by nature and it can become the giant of Africa, feeding Africa, exporting and contributing to the continents development, he added. Let them believe in themselves, let them work with their government, let them forget about the tribal divide, Mr. Seck said. The delegation held a series of high-level meetings with President Kiir and other Transitional Government members, civil society groups, faith-based organization and senior UN officials. The Council member states represented in the delegation include Angola, China, Egypt, France, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Russia, Senegal, Spain, Ukraine, United States, United Kingdom, Uruguay and Venezuela. Saudi Arabia: Ban, Deputy Crown Prince discuss Palestine refugees, Yemen and climate pact Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 5 September 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Saudi Arabia: Ban, Deputy Crown Prince discuss Palestine refugees, Yemen and climate pact, 5 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57ceb87e40e.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 5 September 2016 - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today met with Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince, who is also Second Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, discussing the country's financial support for the UN Palestine refugees agency, the conflict in Yemen, protection of children, as well as the Paris Agreement on climate change. Meeting with Prince Mohamad Bin Salman Al Saud on the sideline of the G20 Summit in China, the Secretary-General thanked Saudi Arabia for its continuing financial support to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), according to a readout issued by Mr. Ban's office. The UN chief emphasized the urgency to close the current funding gap affecting UNRWA's operations for Palestinian children and the most vulnerable, the readout said. The Secretary-General reiterated that a negotiated political settlement in Yemen remained the only viable solution for the country and expressed his continuing concern at the conflict's impact on civilian lives. He reminded all parties of their obligation to respect international humanitarian law, the readout added. Regarding the Children and Armed Conflict report, the Secretary-General and the Deputy Crown Prince discussed the status of the ongoing review of measures to strengthen protection of children, the readout noted. Finally, the Secretary-General hoped that Saudi Arabia would ratify the Paris Agreement as soon as possible, the readout said. UN Security Council urges Guinea-Bissau to find solution to political crisis Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 4 September 2016 Cite as UN News Service, UN Security Council urges Guinea-Bissau to find solution to political crisis, 4 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57ceb9a440e.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 4 September 2016 - Expressing a serious concern over the ongoing political impasse in Guinea-Bissau, the United Nations Security Council today urged leaders in the West African country to find a solution to the crisis, and ensure a functioning government. A delay in the adoption of the government programme and budget amid the political wrangling has affected government services. In a press statement, the Security Council urged national actors to abide by the Constitution and the rule of law, while striving to find a political solution to the crisis through good-faith dialogue and also urged the security forces of Guinea-Bissau to maintain their non-interference in the political situation, to continue the restraint shown in this regard, and maintain respect for civilian control. The 15-member body stressed the urgent need to ensure a functioning government and welcomed the ongoing dialogue among key national stakeholders, including between the Party for African Independence of Guinea and Cade Verde (PAIGC) and the Party for Social Renewal (PRS). The Council further urged them to work towards that end and underlined the importance of ensuring stability throughout the current parliamentary term. The release of the press statement followed a briefing on 30 August by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS), Modibo Ibrahim Toure, who updated the Council members on the latest developments in the country. Recalling the decision by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on 4 June 2016 to designate a presidential mission to Guinea-Bissau comprising the Heads of State of Guinea, Senegal and Sierra Leone, the Council reiterated its support for the decision and stressed the urgency of the deployment of such a mission. The Council further welcomed the renewal of the mandate of the ECOWAS Mission in Guinea-Bissau bearing in mind its important role in maintaining stability in the country. The Council welcomed the joint efforts by international partners to enhance cooperation in support of the Government of Guinea-Bissau. The Council encouraged international partners, in particular the United Nations, African Union, ECOWAS, European Union and the Community of Portuguese-language Speaking Countries, to continue working together towards the country's stabilization and the building of strong and credible institutions in accordance with the key structural reforms in the defence, security and justice sectors. In this regard, the Council acknowledged the role of the Peacebuilding Commission in enhancing these efforts to support the long-term peacebuilding, including institution-building, priorities of Guinea-Bissau. Gabon: Ban speaks with President and opposition leader; calls for end to violence Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 4 September 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Gabon: Ban speaks with President and opposition leader; calls for end to violence, 4 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57cebc8440c.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 4 September 2016 - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged Ali Bongo Ondimba, President of Gabon, and Jean Ping, presidential candidate of the Democratie Nouvelle party, to help end violence that ensued the recent, closely-contested presidential election in the African country. Clashes have broken out between protesters and security forces after the 31 August release of official provisional results, which declared President Bongo the winner, reportedly by a margin of less than 6,000 votes. According to media reports, hundreds of people have been arrested and at least two people have been killed. According to a note issued by the office of Mr. Ban's spokesman, the Secretary-General, who is participating in the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China, had separate phone calls with each of them today. The Secretary-General deplored the loss of life during the demonstrations in the aftermath of the presidential election, and expressed concern about the continuing inflammatory messages being disseminated, calling for an immediate end to all acts of violence in the country, the note states. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right) meets with President Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon (September 2015). UN Phot/Evan Schneider Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right) meets with Jean Ping, former Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission and President of the fifty-ninth session of the UN General Assembly. (September 2014). UN Photo/Mark Garten While welcoming the release of the 27 opposition members who had been denied leaving Mr. Ping's campaign headquarters, Mr. Ban reiterated his call to President Bongo to impress upon the Government the need to show restraint, and urged Mr. Ping to issue a clear message to his followers calling on them to refrain from any acts of violence in the interest of the country and of national unity, the note says. The Secretary-General stressed the importance of employing exclusively peaceful and legal means to seek redress in all disputes related to the outcome of the presidential election, and has requested his Special Representative for Central Africa, Abdoulaye Bathily, to continuously work with both sides to defuse tensions. In Hangzhou, the Secretary-General also met with Chad's President Idriss Deby Itno, who is the current Chairperson of the African Union (AU), welcoming the organization's engagement in facilitating a peaceful resolution of the current crisis in Gabon. UN report urges Somalia to ensure freedom of expression as it is critical to political transition Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 4 September 2016 Related Document(s) Report on the Right to Freedom of Expression: Striving to Widen Democratic Space in Somalia's Political Transition Cite as UN News Service, UN report urges Somalia to ensure freedom of expression as it is critical to political transition, 4 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57cebcbd40d.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 4 September 2016 - A United Nations report on freedom of expression in Somalia released today describes progress in state-building in Somalia, but shows the very challenging environment that continues to confront journalists, human rights defenders and political leaders, including numerous killings, arrests, intimidation and closure of critical media outlets. The trend of arrest and detention of journalists and other media workers seems to indicate an intention to intimidate or harass journalists and media owners which inevitably leads to self-censorship or to media workers eventually leaving the profession, says the report produced jointly by the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Al-Shabaab has prohibited all media to operate in areas under its control but state actors are main perpetrators of violations against media workers and political activists, the report says Somalia has made great progress in recent years, after decades of conflict and violence, said Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Somalia and head of UNSOM, Michael Keating, in an OHCHR news release. But Somalis continue to suffer multiple human rights deficits. They need and deserve accountable institutions. Strong, independent and critical journalism is a vital element of any democratic State, said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein. Attacks against individual journalists and media organizations have a deeply corrosive impact on democracy, with profoundly negative repercussions on freedom of expression and human rights in general. The UN human rights chief urged the Somali authorities, both at the Federal and State levels, to take prompt action and ensure that all violations of the right to freedom of expression, including the various serious attacks perpetrated against media workers, are fully investigated, irrespective of the identity of the perpetrators. The report says that 2016 represents a critical juncture in Somalia's political transition, and highlights the encouraging progress towards more inclusive elections and accountable government since 2012, including the rebuilding of State institutions and the adoption of important new laws, including one on political parties and one on the creation of an independent National Human Rights Commission. The report, however, states that freedom of expression, which plays a central role in the building of democratic States, especially in times of political transformation, remains significantly limited, documenting 120 cases of arbitrary arrest and detention of media workers between January 2014 and July 2016. Despite the vibrant media culture in Somalia which hosts more than 90 media outlets and scores of websites and blogs numerous violations aimed at journalists and political leaders are documented, including killings, attacks, arbitrary arrests and detention, intimidation, harassment, closure of media outlets, confiscation of equipment and blocking of websites. 30 journalists killed between August 2012 and June 2016 The dangers facing media workers and public figures are illustrated by the killing, between August 2012 and June 2016, of a total of 30 journalists and 18 parliamentarians in Somalia. Al-Shabaab has prohibited all media to operate in areas under its control and has been targeting media workers across the country, the report says. But federal and state-level security forces, including the National Army, the Police and the National Intelligence and Security Agency, are main perpetrators of violations against media workers and political activists. Radio Shabelle has been particularly targeted, with five serious incidents between 2013 and 2015. The report states that the authorities have made very limited efforts to investigate and prosecute such violations. The report stresses, among other things, the need to strengthen the justice system to better protect freedom of expression. Since January 2015, only ten of the 48 journalists and media workers who have been arrested have been brought before a court, it states. In meeting with Turkey's President, UN chief stresses country's key role in fighting ISIL Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 3 September 2016 Cite as UN News Service, In meeting with Turkey's President, UN chief stresses country's key role in fighting ISIL, 3 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57cebcfa40c.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 3 September 2016 - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today met with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, emphasizing the key role of Turkey in the fight against Da'esh (ISIL), Mr. Ban's office said. They both were visiting the southeastern city of Hangzhou in China to attend the G20 summit starting tomorrow. The Secretary-General reiterated the support and solidarity of the UN with the Government and people of Turkey, following the 15 July coup attempt, according to a readout issued by Mr. Ban's office. The Secretary-General has been inspired by the strong commitment demonstrated by the Turkish people after these events, and stressed the importance to harness this energy and solidarity to build an even more solid foundation for future development and good governance in the country, the readout said. According to the readout, the Secretary-General and the President also discussed the situation in Syria, particularly in Aleppo, as well as the status of negotiations for a political solution to the conflict and the recent report of the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism on chemical weapons attacks in the country. The Secretary-General emphasized the key role of Turkey in the fight against Da'esh, it said. On climate change, the Secretary-General noted the leading role Turkey had played during its presidency of the G20 last year in Antalya, and hoped Turkey will ratify the Paris Agreement before the end of the year, possibly during the High-level event he is convening on 21 September in New York, the readout stated. The questions Laos doesn't want to answer Publisher Amnesty International Author John Coughlan Publication Date 6 September 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, The questions Laos doesn't want to answer, 6 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57cec5ce4.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Nestled in the Mekong region, with mighty China to its north, is landlocked Laos. Famed for its sedate surroundings, and tragically the country where the U.S. dropped more than 260 million bombs during its war in Indochina, it rarely receives the attention received by its more prominent neighbours. This week, Barack Obama will become the first U.S. President to ever visit the country for the ASEAN summit. In advance of the visit, US officials have spoken of an emerging partnership on development between the two countries, which focuses on health, nutrition and basic education. As visitors frequently note, the pace of life is slow in Laos, remarkably so. But beneath the tranquil surface that President Obama will encounter, there lurk endemic human rights problems. The stopover in Laos offers reporters a rare opportunity to raise urgent questions with officials. Questions that local people cannot ask because the severe reprisals they may face. Anticipating this scrutiny, Laos has imposed stringent restrictions on the media. Foreign journalists must pass all their reports by a government censor before filing them. Naturally, journalists will want to shake off the minders assigned to shadow their movements. These restrictions, however excessive, are just irritations when compared to repressive measures that ordinary people in Laos live with on a daily basis. To offer an example, last year a woman named Phout Mitane was arrested in Xayaburi province after a photograph she took appearing to show police extorting money from her brother was posted online. For such a simple act, she was detained for two months. Journalists may also want to ask after the whereabouts and well-being of Lodkham Thammavong, Somphone Phimmasone, and Soukan Chaithad, three democracy activists who were arrested in March this year, after returning to Laos from Thailand to renew their passports. The three had posted criticisms of the government online and had taken part in a pro-democracy demonstration at the Laos embassy in Thailand. On returning to the country, they disappeared into the criminal justice system. They were held incommunicado for two months before appearing on state-run television in a report that condemned them for threatening national security through social media postings. Their whereabouts remain unknown. There's also the case of Bounthanh Thammavong, a Polish national of Lao descent, who was jailed last year for four-and-a-half years for criticizing the ruling party on Facebook. Scant information has been made available about his well-being. And there is the question that no one in Lao feels safe asking: 'Where is Sombath Somphone?' A prominent civil society member, stopped by police and filmed being driven away in truck in December 2012, Sombath has not been seen or heard from since. His case has come to be viewed as emblematic of the issue of enforced disappearances in Laos, where eight other cases have been brought to the attention of the UN group that investigate the human rights violation, and indeed crime, of enforced disappearance. The Lao government has failed to order an independent investigation into Sombath's disappearance and has resisted efforts to have his case discussed at previous ASEAN events. The entourage that will sweep in with Air Force One has two choices. They can soak in the serenity of Laos, and leave the trip with few impressions except those marked down on their passports by immigration authorities. Or they could try and get answers the people of Laos have long waited for - and fear to ask. Copyright notice: Copyright Amnesty International Viet Nam: President Hollande must back one woman's fight for justice Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 6 September 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Viet Nam: President Hollande must back one woman's fight for justice, 6 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57cec6214.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. President Francois Hollande of France must confront Vietnamese authorities over their treatment of one women's fight for justice when he visits the country this week, Amnesty International said today. Amnesty International calls on the French president to raise in particular the case of Ngo Thanh Kieu, a young man who died in police custody in Phu Yen province in 2012. Since his death, his sister Ngo Thi Tuyet and her family have undertaken a brave crusade for justice in the face of physical attacks, death threats and other forms of intimidation. Recently, the family found the carcass of a shaved cat flung at their home. It bore a chilling note warning Ngo Thi Tuyet and her family to stop raising her brother's case or suffer a similar fate. "Human rights must not be sacrificed to trade and security deals. President Hollande must use his visit to call on the Vietnamese authorities to meet their human rights obligations under international law," said Camille Blanc, Chair of Amnesty International France. On 24 August, Amnesty International France wrote to President Hollande, calling on him to raise the issue of the torture and other ill-treatment of prisoners of conscience in Viet Nam. "Police accountability is rare in Viet Nam. But President Hollande can seize the opportunity to remind the Vietnamese authorities that there is no security without human rights. They must demonstrate that justice is done in the case of Ngo Thanh Kieu and other cases involving deaths at the hands of police," said Camille Blanc. Ngo Thanh Kieu was arrested in the middle of the night and taken into custody to the local police station in March 2012. The Vietnamese police told Ngo Thanh Kieu's family that he died after refusing food and water, despite the fact that he had spent fewer than 24 hours in custody. In March last year, the National Assembly questioned the credibility of a Ministry of Public Security announcement that of 226 deaths in police custody registered between October 2011 and September 2014, most were caused by illness or suicide. During 2015, at least seven deaths in custody were reported with suspicions of possible police torture or other ill-treatment. Ngo Thi Tuyet, Kieu's sister, has tenaciously challenged the police's account, gathering overwhelming evidence of the torture and other ill-treatment her brother was subjected to. Photographs of Kieu's body clearly show bruises and cuts across his arms and legs, and clear signs of trauma to his skull. Other evidence that Ngo Thi Tuyet collected include the coroner's autopsy, which detailed blood clots in his internal organs - evidence, doctors told her, of the trauma caused by the torture he endured. To date, six police officers have been tried and convicted, but on charges that do not reflect the gravity of the crime - five were convicted of 'corporal punishment,' while the ranking officer was convicted of the lesser charge of 'negligence'. The punishments they received varied from a one-year suspended sentence to eight years in prison. None of the sentences reflect the gravity of the crime. They have been suspended from service, yet continue to receive half-pay. The authorities have also been reluctant to bring the case against them to appeal. Three appeal hearings have already been cancelled on the basis of flimsy excuses. The next hearing is scheduled for 7 September, which coincides with the last day of President Hollande's visit to Viet Nam. "For as long as the appeals continue to be postponed, there will be no justice," said Rafendi Djamin, Amnesty International's Director for South East Asia and the Pacific. Ngo Thi Tuyet's case is also emblematic of the so many risks victims and other human rights defenders face in Viet Nam in which they cope with ceaseless threats and attacks designed to intimidate them into silence, and where police and other authorities evade accountability for their abuses. For speaking out, Ngo Thi Tuyet and her family have been object of a campaign of intimidation and harassment at the hands of the authorities and other unidentified individuals. Police officers have come to her home, offering bribes for their silence. The family has also received numerous death threats over the phone. In clear acts of intimidation against the family, Ngo Thi Tuyet's husband was knocked off his motorcycle by unknown assailants and the couple's son has been beaten by unknown attackers ten times while walking to school. "The Ngo Thanh Kieu death is an all-important symbol of injustice and abuse at the hands of the police in Viet Nam. President Hollande must call for justice for Kieu's death and for his family and ensure the authorities fulfil their legal obligation to protect them against any form of retaliation," said Rafendi Djamin. "In the face of unrelenting death threats and intimidation, Ngo Thi Tuyet is taking the extraordinary step of making her fight for justice public. The loved ones of victims are normally pushed to suffer in silence while the authorities have failed to ensure for them a safe space to claim justice without fear of reprisals. It is important that the world takes notice of this case, not least because it will give hope to others." Copyright notice: Copyright Amnesty International Afghanistan: Attack on aid agency is a war crime Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 6 September 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Afghanistan: Attack on aid agency is a war crime, 6 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57cec64b4.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. "The attack by an armed group on the aid agency CARE International in Kabul is the deliberate targeting of civilians and constitutes a war crime. The cardinal rule of international humanitarian law is that parties to an armed conflict must never deliberately attack civilians," said Champa Patel, Amnesty International's South Asia Director. "This is sadly the latest in a series of horrific attacks in the Afghan capital, leading to unlawful killing of civilians. Victims and survivors, including the families of those who have lost their lives and those who have been injured, have a right to justice and reparation. The government has a duty to protect civilians and prevent further such attacks. There must be an independent, impartial, transparent and effective investigation. The perpetrators must be brought to justice in fair trials - without recourse to the death penalty." Copyright notice: Copyright Amnesty International Bahrain: Release Rights Activist, Lift Travel Bans Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 4 September 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Bahrain: Release Rights Activist, Lift Travel Bans, 4 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57cec6a24.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Bahrain should immediately stop the prosecution of prominent human rights activist Nabeel Rajab, who faces up to 15 years in prison solely for charges that violate his right to free expression. Rajab's trial resumes on September 5, 2016, on charges that include criticism of Bahrain's participation in Saudi Arabia-led military operations in Yemen. Authorities have rejected repeated requests to release him on bail. Bahraini authorities have also prevented three of Rajab's colleagues at the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) from leaving, one of whom was planning to attend the upcoming United Nations Human Rights Council meetings that begin in Geneva on September 13. Nedal al-Salman, BCHR's head of international relations, told Human Rights Watch that on August 29, officials at Bahrain International Airport told her that a public prosecutor had imposed a travel ban on her after earlier banning two of her colleagues from leaving. "Bahrain keeping Nabeel Rajab in a prison cell for criticising abuses shows the ruling Al Khalifa family's deep contempt for basic human rights," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "States that claim to support peaceful activism should use the Human Rights Council session to demand Rajab's immediate release. And they should push Bahrain to lift the restrictions placed on Nabeel's colleagues." Rajab's comments on Twitter about the Saudi-led coalition airstrikes in Yemen led to his arrest on April 2, 2015. Authorities released him on July 13, 2015, but prosecutors did not close the cases and ordered his re-arrest on June 13, 2016. Bahrain's penal code provides for up to 10 years in person for anyone who "deliberately announces in wartime false or malicious news, statements or rumors." If convicted of "offending a foreign country," referring to Saudi Arabia, Rajab faces a two-year sentence under article 215 of the penal code. If convicted of "offending national institutions," based on comments about unrest that broke out in Jaw Prison in March 2015, Rajab faces an additional three years under article 216 of the penal code. Rajab is a member of the Middle East advisory committee at Human Rights Watch. Bahraini authorities also refused to allow BCHR staff members Enas Oun and Hussain Radhi to leave the country on August 22 and 23, 2016, respectively. Al-Salman said that authorities informed Oun and Radhi that the Criminal Investigations Directorate imposed their travel bans, but it is not clear if any of the three face criminal charges. On June 12, Bahraini authorities prevented opposition figures from leaving to attend the 32nd session of the Human Rights Council, the key UN human rights body. The delegation included Mohamed al-Tajer, a human rights lawyer; Abdulnabi al-Ekry, a rights activist; Jalila al-Salman, the former vice-president of the dissolved Bahrain Teacher's Society; Rula al-Saffar, a nurse and human rights activist; and Mohamed Sharaf, president of the Bahrain chapter of Transparency International. "The member states of the Human Rights Council have an obligation to strongly criticize Bahrain and any other government that persecutes human rights defenders and obstructs the purpose of the UN human rights system," Stork said. Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch Submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child on Lebanon Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 6 September 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Watch Submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child on Lebanon, 6 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57cec9e94.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Human Rights Watch Submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in advance of its review of Lebanon We write in advance of the Committee on the Rights of the Child pre-sessional review of Lebanon to highlight the impact of Lebanon's residency policies on child labor among Syrian refugees; the lack of access to formal education for all children; and education barriers for high-risk groups. For deeper analysis of these issues, please see the following Human Rights Watch reports: - Growing Up Without an Education: Barriers to Education for Syrian Refugee Children in Lebanon, 2016 - I Just Wanted to be Treated Like a Person: How Lebanon's Residency Rules Facilitate Abuse of Syrian Refugees, 2016 To view testimony from Syrian refugees, including children, living in Lebanon, please see these two videos: - No School for Thousands of Syrian Refugee Children in Lebanon - Syrian Refugees Forced to Live in the Shadows Related Content Child Labor (Article 32) Residency policy for Syrian refugees There are currently 1.1 million Syrian refugees registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Lebanon. The government estimates that the total number, including unregistered Syrians, is 1.5 million people.[1] Since Lebanon implemented new residency regulations on January 5, 2015, many Syrian refugees have found it difficult or impossible to renew their residency permits and are now unable to work for fear of arrest and increasingly rely on income from child labor for survival. Lebanese authorities now require Syrians to pay an annual US$200 renewal fee per person age 15 and older, present valid identification and an entry slip obtained at the border, submit a housing pledge confirming their place of residence, and provide two photographs stamped by a Lebanese local official (mukhtar).[2] Lebanon also requires refugees registered with UNHCR to submit their UNHCR registration certificate in order to renew their residency. In May 2015, UNHCR ceased registration of Syrian refugees in Lebanon at the direction of the Lebanese government.[3] Syrians not registered with UNHCR have to provide a "pledge of responsibility" signed by a Lebanese national or registered entity to sponsor an individual or family of Syrian refugees. Humanitarian agencies estimate that more than two-thirds of refugees now lack legal residency in Lebanon.[4] Refugees without residency who look for work risk being stopped at checkpoints and arrested. In some cases, parents unable to look for even informal work due to lack of valid residency depend on child labor for survival. In 2015, 19 percent of families facing food insecurity coped by pulling their children out of school.[5] Forty families told Human Rights Watch that they had at least one child working to support the family. One humanitarian organization said that a quarter of the households it works with relied on the income of at least one working child to secure basic needs.[6] Some Lebanese employers are willing to hire refugee children because they are cheaper and easier to exploit than adults.[7] In addition, several refugees told us that employers routinely delayed or withheld payment to children.[8] In 2013, Lebanon adopted a National Action Plan to eliminate the worst forms of child labor by 2016.[9] But rates of child labor among Syrians in Lebanon appear to have increased since the beginning of the crisis.[10] Syrian children in Lebanon start work as young as 6 or 7 and are engaged in agricultural work, selling goods, cleaning, and dangerous forms of work including construction, manual labor, and metal work.[11] Children, Lebanese and Syrian, often work long hours for low pay, without necessary safety equipment or precautions.[12] Several refugees told us that their children had suffered injuries while working, and staff at one humanitarian organization said they had documented a sharp increase in the worst forms of child labor in 2015.[13] Recommendations We encourage the Committee to make the following recommendations to the Lebanese government: On Syrian refugees: Waive the $200 renewal fee and the sponsorship requirements for Syrians in Lebanon. End the practice of detaining refugees merely because their residency documents have expired or because they don't have legal status. Implement the national plan to eliminate the worst forms of child labor. The Right to Education (Article 28) There are almost 500,000 school-age Syrian children in Lebanon, half of whom are still out of school. Lebanon has taken important steps to include Syrian children in the public education system. Authorities have allowed Syrian children to enroll in public schools without providing proof of legal residency, waived school enrollment fees, and opened afternoon "second shift" classes in 238 public schools. In 2014, Lebanon adopted the Reaching All Children with Education (RACE) policy, and it opened 200,000 spaces for Syrian children in public schools last year. However, only 158,321 non-Lebanese children enrolled. In 2016, Lebanon adopted a five-year RACE II plan with the goal of enrolling 440,000 Syrian children in formal education by the 2020-2021 school year. Harsh regulations that prevent most refugees from maintaining legal residency or working are undermining Lebanon's generous school enrollment policies (see above under Right to Work). Many poor families cannot find work because they lack legal residency and fear arrest if caught while out searching for jobs, leaving them unable to afford school-related costs like transportation and school supplies, or reliant on their children to work instead of attending school. Corporal punishment, bullying in schools, and concerns about the quality of education have also deterred enrollment or caused students to drop out. The use of corporal punishment in Lebanese public schools has caused children to drop out. Article 186 of Lebanon's Penal Code permits corporal punishment of children. Although a 2001 memorandum from the Ministry of Education and Higher Education banned corporal punishment in Lebanese public schools, the practice remains widespread.[14] One survey conducted by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Save the Children in 2012 found evidence of corporal punishment in 70 percent of 27 schools visited.[15] Twenty-three Syrian families told Human Rights Watch that teachers, school administrators, or bus drivers hit their childrensome as young as six. Several families said that their children dropped out or they withdrew their children from public school because of corporal punishment. Syrian refugee children appear to be especially at risk; most of the Syrian families who described corporal punishment by teachers had children enrolled in the all-Syrian second shifts. Lebanon's public school system struggled even before the ongoing refugee crisis, when only 30 percent of Lebanese students attended public schools, which suffer high rates of grade repetition and dropouts.[16] In 2010, the education ministry found that 54.5 percent of public school teachers did not hold a university degree.[17] It cited the absence of laws governing the recruitment of properly qualified teachers as one reason for the low achievement rate of public schools in Lebanon.[18] This problem is exacerbated for Syrian children enrolled in newly opened second shift classes, which are run in the afternoon to accommodate additional students. Under the ministry's operating procedures, second shift teachers are drawn from the first shift, and new teachers are only hired if there are an insufficient number of teachers or qualified staff available from the first shift.[19] This leaves many teachers tired and overworked, reducing the quality of both shifts. According to the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan, "teachers were not always sufficiently prepared or experienced to meet the emergency education needs of students" and teachers newly hired for the second shift "did not always meet optimal qualifications for managing classrooms, dealing with traumatized children, or working well for an extended number of teaching hours."[20] Some parents have hired private tutors to make sure that their children are learning, but few can afford to do so.[21] Nineteen families interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that their children had still not received all of their textbooks as of November and December 2015, several months into the school year.[22] Secondary school-aged students In 2013, Lebanon had a net secondary enrollment rate of 70 percent.[23] Syrian refugee families told Human Rights Watch researchers that secondary-aged children face particular barriers to enrollment, including difficulty obtaining legal residency, classes taught entirely in unfamiliar English or French, greater distances to schools, and pressure to work to support their families.[24] At the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year, 82,744 Syrians of secondary school age were registered with the United Nations refugee agency in Lebanon, but only 2,280 non-Lebanese students enrolled in public secondary schools that year. Lebanon has taken some steps to ease restrictions on secondary school enrollment for Syrian children. In March 2016, the education ministry stopped requiring Syrians to present transcripts to take the Brevet exam, which is required for admission to secondary schools. Children turning 15 face particular challenges to renewing residency, because many do not possess the required passport or individual identification card. Although the education ministry does not require residency for school enrollment, Syrians told Human Rights Watch that some directors still require proof of residency. Older students without residency are vulnerable to arrest at checkpoints on the way to school. Girls Lack of access to private, clean sanitation facilities at schools can reduce girls' ability to manage their hygiene during menstruation and affect school attendance. The Lebanon Crisis Response Plan identified lack of water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities as a "particular barrier to the retention of girls in public schools," noting that "50 percent or more of public schools that welcome displaced Syrians do not have sanitary facilities that meet minimum requirements."[25] Human Rights Watch found that Syrian students are sometimes denied access to sanitation facilities. Child marriage is a serious barrier to girls' education because most married girls stop going to school.[26] Human Rights Watch documented seven cases of child marriage among Syrian refugee girls in Lebanon, some as young as 15. None of the girls were in school. Six humanitarian organizations told Human Rights Watch that child marriage has become a barrier to Syrian girls' education in Lebanon.[27] A 2015 report by Save the Children found that the untenable economic situations of many Syrian families is leading them to marry off young girls that they feel they cannot provide for.[28] The cost of transportation is too high for many Syrian families to afford, and girls walking long distances to school risk harassment. Human Rights Watch spoke to several families that kept older girls home because of these safety concerns. Children with disabilities Lebanese public schools are not inclusive, and many children with disabilities in Lebanon are unable to access quality education. Lebanon passed a law in 2000 that guaranteed access to education for children with disabilities, but has done little to implement the law.[29] Instead, Lebanese children with disabilities enroll in special schools or government-subsidized institutions. One 2006 study found that most of the children with disabilities who attended school were in special care residential institutions and that private schools systematically rejected children with disabilities.[30] A 2013 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) study found that "a great number of [public] schools still refuse to accept students with disability in their classrooms."[31] In April 2016, the education minister announced a plan to open 60 schools over two years that "cater to children with learning disabilities."[32] Although a recognition of the need to improve access to education for children with disabilities is a positive step, we remain concerned as to whether these schools will be inclusive. Syrian refugee children with disabilities encounter particular barriers to quality education. Thirteen humanitarian and disabilities organizations working in Lebanon told Human Rights Watch that little or nothing had been done to ensure that Syrian children with disabilities can access education. In discussing the options for children with disabilities, one local expert told Human Rights Watch, "For Syrians, the main option is that there is no option.... In most cases, public schools are not letting in Syrians with disabilities. Where they enroll, there are no services."[33] The Ministry of Social Affairs subsidizes a number of residential institutions where Lebanese children with disabilities live, but this funding does not extend to Syrians.[34] Children in these institutions receive some form of education, however local experts have questioned its quality. One disability rights expert told Human Rights Watch, "These are really institutions, not schools. They aren't focused on education."[35] Refugees with whom Human Rights Watch spoke told us they cannot afford either the unsubsidized institutions or private segregated schools created exclusively for children with disabilities, and so must try to enroll children with disabilities in inaccessible public schools that often reject them.[36] Due to these barriers, some Syrian refugee children with disabilities remain at home, excluded from the education system altogether. Syrian children with disabilities, unable to benefit from education in mainstream public schools, do not have access to the same educational resources as Lebanese children with disabilities. Armed conflict presents a danger to education. Human Rights Watch would like to congratulate Lebanon on signing the Safe Schools Declaration. The Safe Schools Declaration provides non-binding guidelines aimed at reducing the impact of armed conflict on education. By committing to work towards safe schools for all children and teachers, Lebanon has made a step forward in defending the right to education. The Committee should inquire about the steps taken to implement the Safe Schools Declaration and its Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict into domestic policy and operational frameworks. Some Syrian children have benefited from non-formal education programs run by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), often in informal refugee camps. Syrian families told Human Rights Watch they chose non-formal education because public schools were full, required documents they did not have, or were too far away. They said that non-formal programs are important because they ensure children continue learning and remain engaged even when they are not able to enroll in formal schools. Non-formal education may also be more appropriate or necessary for some children who have missed several years of school as a first step before enrolling in formal schools. But some groups told Human Rights Watch that the education ministry withdrew support for their programs in 2015, or that they discontinued programs because it was unclear what they were allowed to provide.[37] One organization told Human Rights Watch that it has shut down some of its non-formal schools at the request of the government and is suspending basic literacy and numeracy programs for the 2016-2017 school year. The organization said that none of its education programs had been approved in the 2015-2016 school year.[38] The education ministry has since adopted a policy framework for non-formal education, and in January launched an accelerated learning program for children who have missed two or more years of school. However, officially approved programs to reach children who cannot attend formal schools remain limited. Recommendations We encourage the Committee to make the following recommendations to the Lebanese government: On corporal punishment: Strengthen child protection mechanisms in schools and local communities to ensure any allegations of corporal punishment, harassment, or discrimination against students are promptly investigated, redressed, or prosecuted. Criminalize all forms of corporal punishment in schools, publicize this prohibition, and prosecute violations. On quality of education and second shifts: Explore with the Ministry of Labor the utilization of qualified Syrian teachers, whether through an incentive structure in partnership with humanitarian agencies or by offering lawful work permission. On education for Syrian refugee children: Raise the age below which Syrian children can renew residency for free and without individual identification from 15 to 18 years old. Ensure that Syrian children can enroll in secondary schools without providing transcripts of past school years. On barriers for high risk populations: Ensure that schools have accessible, clean, gender-segregated, and locking bathrooms and sanitation facilities that are accessible to all students. Enact legislation that sets a minimum age for marriage at 18 years of age for both spouses. Provide inclusive education for all children, including children with disabilities. In the interim, identify high need areas and schools in which to immediately develop inclusive education programs equipped to support children with disabilities, including by making necessary accommodations, creating accessibility, and allocating qualified trained teachers. Develop an action plan that establishes and defines short-term goals and timeframes to ensure students with disabilities can transition from "special needs education" or segregated schools and institutions to inclusive mainstream schools. Ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. On armed conflict and education: The Government should take concrete measures to deter the military use of schools, following UN Security Council Resolutions 2143 (2014) and 2225 (2015), including by bringing the Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict into domestic policy and operational frameworks, as per the commitment made in the Safe Schools Declaration which Lebanon endorsed. In this framework, the Government should create or strengthen explicit protection of educational facilities from military use, for instance in military doctrine, military manuals, rules of engagement, operational orders or other relevant means of dissemination, and consider incorporating such explicit protections in national legislation. On non-formal education: Implement the 2016 non-formal education framework, including through the creation of programs for early childhood education, basic literacy and numeracy, and retention support. Until formal education is available for all children in Lebanon, include nongovernmental organizations in the design and provision of quality non-formal education with an emphasis on basic literacy and numeracy, remedial education, and language support. [1] Government of Lebanon and the United Nations, "Lebanon Crisis Response Plan 2015-2016 Year Two," December 15, 2015, http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/download.php?id=10057 (accessed March 28, 2016), p. 1, 38. [2] International Rescue Committee and Norwegian Refugee Council, "Legal Status of Refugees from Syria: Challenges and Consequences of Maintaining Legal Stay in Beirut and Mount Lebanon," June 2015, https://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/download.php?id=9682 (accessed April 15, 2016), p. 14. [3] United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), "Syria Regional Refugee Response Inter-agency Information Sharing Portal," http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/country.php?id=122 (accessed August 29, 2016). [4] Human Rights Watch interview with international humanitarian NGO child protection staff, Beirut, November 9, 2015; Norwegian Refugee Council, "Drivers of Despair: Refugee protection failures in Jordan and Lebanon," January 2016, http://www.nrc.no/globalassets/pdf/reports/drivers-of-despair.pdf (accessed March 28, 2016), p. 2; Government of Lebanon and the UN, "Lebanon Crisis Response Plan 2015-2016: Year Two," December 15, 2015, p. 6, 14. [5] World Food Programme (WFP), UNHCR, and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), "Vulnerability Assessment of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon 2015," 2015, http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/download.php?id=10006 (accessed March 28, 2016), p. 35, 56. [6] Human Rights Watch interview with international humanitarian nongovernmental organization (NGO) child protection staff, Beirut, November 9, 2015. [7] Human Rights Watch, Growing up Without an Education: Barriers to Education for Syrian Refugee Children in Lebanon, July 2016, https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/07/19/growing-without-education/barriers.... [8] See e.g., Human Rights Watch interview with Asma', Akkar, December 8, 2015. [9] Ministry of Labor and International Labour Organization (ILO), "National Action Plan to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Lebanon by 2016," 2013, http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---arabstates/---ro-beirut/docum... (accessed April 11, 2016). [10] The Freedom Fund, "Struggling to survive: Slavery and Exploitation of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon," April 2016, http://freedomfund.org/wp-content/uploads/Lebanon-Report-FINAL-8April16.pdf (accessed April 12, 2016), pp. 7-8. [11] Ibid, p. 18; ILO and UNICEF, "Tackling Child Labour Among Syrian Refugees and their Host Communities in Lebanon: Project Proposal," March 2015, http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---exrel/documents/... (accessed April 11, 2016), pp. 3-5. [12] Ministry of Labor and ILO, "National Action Plan to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Lebanon by 2016," 2013, http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---arabstates/---ro-beirut/docum... (accessed April 11, 2016), p.11. [13] Human Rights Watch interview with international humanitarian NGO child protection staff, Beirut, November 9, 2015. [14] Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children, "Corporal Punishment of Children in Lebanon," April 2016, http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org/assets/pdfs/states-reports/Lebanon.pdf (accessed April 14, 2016); Human Rights Watch interview with international humanitarian agency education staff, Beirut, November 11, 2015. [15] UNICEF and Save the Children, "Education Rapid Needs Assessment for Displaced Syrian Children in Schools, Community and Safe Spaces," July 2012, https://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/download.php?id=535 (accessed April 13, 2016), p. 31. [16] Ministry of Education and Higher Education, "Reaching all Children with Education in Lebanon," June 2014, http://www.mehe.gov.lb/uploads/file/2015/Feb2015/Projects/RACEfinalEngli... (accessed March 28, 2016), p. 7. [17] Ministry of Education and Higher Education, "Quality Education for Growth," March 2010, http://planipolis.iiep.unesco.org/upload/Lebanon/Lebanon_ESDP_2010-2015.pdf (accessed March 28, 2016), p. 8. [18] Ibid. [19] Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Decree no. 719/M/2015 Public Schools Afternoon Shift Schedule Executive procedures for teaching non-Lebanese children 2015/2016, art. 9. [20] Government of Lebanon and the United Nations, "Lebanon Crisis Response Plan 2015-2016 Year Two," December 15, 2015, http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/download.php?id=10057 (accessed March 28, 2016), p. 63. [21] Human Rights Watch interview with Hanan, Bekaa Valley, November 23, 2015. [22] Human Rights Watch interviews, November and December, 2015. [23] "Net enrolment ratio, secondary, both sexes (%)," World Bank, accessed July 27, 2016, http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.SEC.NENR/countries. [24] Bassam Khawaja (Human Rights Watch), "Syrian Refugee Children in Lebanon Miss Out on Secondary Education," June 8, 2016, https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/06/08/dispatches-syrian-refugee-children-l.... [25] Government of Lebanon and the UN, "Lebanon Crisis Response Plan 2015-2016: Year Two," December 15, 2015. [26] Girls Not Brides, "What is the Impact?," undated, http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/what-is-the-impact/ (accessed April 8, 2016). [27] Human Rights Watch interviews, Beirut, November 9, 10, 12, 16, and 17, 2015. [28] Save the Children, "Childhood in the Shadow of War," 2015, http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/sites/default/files/documents/c... (accessed April 8, 2016), p. 19. [29] Bassam Khawaja (Human Rights Watch), "War is No Excuse for Depriving Children with Disabilities of an Education", commentary, May 16, 2016, https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/05/16/war-no-excuse-depriving-children-dis.... [30] Susan J. Peters, "Review of marginalisation of people with disabilities in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, 2009," Paper commissioned for the Education For All Global Monitoring Report 2010, Reaching the marginalized, 2009, http://datatopics.worldbank.org/hnp/files/edstats/JORgmrpap09.pdf (accessed April 14, 2016), p. 11; "Disabled remain marginalized, study finds," IRIN, January 15, 2006, http://www.irinnews.org/report/26050/lebanon-disabled-remain-marginalise... (accessed April 14, 2016). [31] United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), "Social Inclusion of Young Persons with Disabilities (PWD) in Lebanon: Where do we stand and what should be done to promote their rights?," September 2013, http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002442/244263e.pdf (accessed May 12, 2016), pp. 14-15. [32] "Students with learning disabilities to get schools," Daily Star, April 23, 2016, http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2016/Apr-23/348842-student... (accessed April 26, 2016). [33] Human Rights Watch, Leave No One Behind: Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Emergencies, May 2016, https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/05/19/leave-no-one-behind. [34] Human Rights Watch interviews, Beirut, November 17 and December 3 and 11, 2015; War Child Holland, "Education in Lebanon," 2013, https://www.warchildholland.org/sites/default/files/bijlagen/node_14/31-... (accessed March 28, 2016), p. 8; Women's Refugee Commission, "Disability Inclusion in the Syrian Refugee Response in Lebanon," July 2013, http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Disability_Incl... (accessed April 26, 2015), p. 8. [35] Human Rights Watch interview with disability rights expert, Beirut, November 17, 2015. [36] Human Rights Watch interviews, Beirut, November 17 and December 3 and 11, 2015. [37] Human Rights Watch interview with international humanitarian NGO education officer, Beirut, June 11, 2016. [38] Human Rights Watch interview with international humanitarian NGO education staff, (name and details withheld by Human Rights Watch). Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Turkey: International civil society condemn crackdown on freedom of expression Publisher Article 19 Publication Date 6 September 2016 Cite as Article 19, Turkey: International civil society condemn crackdown on freedom of expression, 6 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57cecb304.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. From 31 August to 2 September, an international delegation of civil society organisations visited Istanbul to demonstrate solidarity with writers, journalists, and media outlets in Turkey. The failed coup of 15 July 2016, in which at least 265 people were killed, has traumatised the Turkish population and the government must bring those responsible for the violence to account. However, this must be done on the basis of specific, individual evidence of involvement in a crime and with full respect for international standards on the right to freedom of expression, the right to liberty and security and the right to a fair trial, to which Turkey has committed as a member of the Council of Europe. The delegation condemns the Turkish authorities' abuse of the state of emergency to supress diversity and dissent, and calls upon the government to immediately and unconditionally release all journalists detained in Turkey without evidence and to cease its harassment of the few remaining independent and opposition media outlets. The mission, led by ARTICLE 19, included representatives from Danish PEN, the European Federation of Journalists, German PEN, Index on Censorship, My Media, the Norwegian Press Association, the Norwegian Union of Journalists, Norwegian PEN, PEN International, Reporters Without Borders, and Wales PEN Cymru. Meetings with journalists, representatives of media outlets, lawyers and human rights advocates undertaken during the mission give cause for alarm. Dissenting voices have long been stifled in Turkey; however, the state of emergency, introduced in response to the failed coup attempt of 15 July, is now being used to legitimise an unprecedented crackdown on independent and opposition media. Under the state of emergency decrees, an individual may be detained for up to 30 days without charge. This provision is being abused to arbitrarily detain journalists of diverse backgrounds and affiliations. As the mission departed Turkey, local media rights advocate, Punto 24, estimated that 114 journalists were in detention. At least 15 journalists were detained during the three days the delegates spent in Turkey. Detention purely on the grounds of affiliation with the Gulenist movement, which is accused of being behind the coup, is in itself problematic, occurring without any individualised evidence of involvement in a criminal act. Moreover, the decree is also being used to arbitrarily detain journalists with absolutely no link to the Gulenist movement, including many representatives from opposition and minority groups. Those detained are held for several days without charge, often without access to a lawyer or their family. There are worrying reports of poor conditions in detention, including beatings, severe overcrowding, and a lack of access to essential medicines. While a few independent media outlets continue to publish, this has created an atmosphere of pervasive self-censorship, depriving the population of free and diverse debate at a time when this is critically needed. The state of emergency must not be abused to supress freedom of expression. We call upon Turkey to demonstrate its commitment to democratic principles and to support full and broad public debate, by immediately and unconditionally releasing those held without evidence, and ceasing its harassment of independent media. Copyright notice: Copyright ARTICLE 19 Ukraine crisis: Several thousand families still searching for their loved ones Publisher International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Publication Date 30 August 2016 Cite as International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Ukraine crisis: Several thousand families still searching for their loved ones, 30 August 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57cecd6d4.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Two years after the start of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, the problem of missing persons remains acute. At least 1,000 people have gone missing, though no exact numbers are available. Today the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) opens an exhibition entitled Uncertainty: Families of the Missing on Both Sides of the Conflict, devoted to missing persons and their families on either side of the line of contact in Donbas, eastern Ukraine. "Eighty-eight per cent of the people whose relatives have gone missing continue to look for their loved ones, and two-thirds of them believe their relatives are still alive," said Christine Beerli, vice-president of the ICRC. "They might be alive or they might be dead, and this uncertainty causes their families intense stress and suffering." According to the cases compiled by the ICRC, the vast majority of missing persons are men (96%), and almost half of them have no military status. Moreover, 40% are under 36 years old. Nearly half of the families of missing persons complain that the officials they contact are unable to provide any information, or provide them only with insufficient information, on the whereabouts of their relatives. In despair, almost one in two families of the missing turns to fortune tellers for help. "The ICRC works to foster cooperation between all parties involved in the search for missing persons, from governmental bodies to forensic institutions. Our services are there for everyone seeking contact with, or news about, family members who are missing or from whom they are separated", said Alain Aeschlimann, head of the ICRC delegation in Ukraine. "Together with the local Red Cross, ICRC teams are ready to assist families who are looking for their relatives. People have the right to know what happened to their loved ones." The exhibition is being held at Teatralna Square and will remain open until 12 September 2016. About the ICRC in Ukraine The ICRC's services are free. As an independent, neutral and impartial humanitarian organization, the ICRC focuses on helping the most vulnerable. Its teams visit people detained in connection with the conflict in government-controlled areas, and are negotiating access to places of detention on the other side of the line of contact. Whenever possible, the ICRC participates in operations to release and transfer detainees between the parties concerned. The organization is delivering food, hygiene items, medicines and building materials to the worst-affected communities and is helping various water boards to provide drinking water and repair vital infrastructure. The ICRC also regularly reminds those concerned of their obligations under international humanitarian law. These universally recognized rules, which are based on a clear distinction between civilians and military personnel, require that civilians and civilian infrastructure be protected from the effects of hostilities. Overview of the ICRC's work in Ukraine in 2016 More than 2 million people benefited from ICRC assistance to water- and electricity-supply companies, including the provision of 600 meters of very large pipes for repairing damaged sections of water lines near the line of contact. More than 400,000 people received food parcels and more than 360,000 received essential household items. Over 19,000 people benefited from the ICRC's distribution of construction and roofing materials and tools. A total of 734,000 persons received drugs for non-communicable and chronic diseases. Over 100,000 blood samples can now be tested for HIV, hepatitis and syphilis, thanks to the ICRC's donation of different testing systems to blood banks in eastern Ukraine. Nearly 11,500 patients received cartridges and flacons of insulin, and 230 patients received hemodialysis disposables, in the Lugansk and Donetsk regions. Some 2,500 landmine markings were installed along the line of contact, as well as 11 latrines to stop people from wandering into minefields. Three hundred thirty-three people detained in connection with the conflict were visited in 26 places of detention run by the government. Some 450 families are searching for their missing loved ones with the help of the ICRC and the local Red Cross societies. Cambodia: Improving health care for detainees Publisher International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Publication Date 22 July 2016 Cite as International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Cambodia: Improving health care for detainees, 22 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57cece634.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Providing prisoners with timely access to health-care services is a challenge in Cambodia, where 27 prisons house over 18,000 inmates. While most prisons in Cambodia have health posts, challenges arise in the functioning of these facilities and the monitoring of prisoners' health conditions. The ICRC has been assisting the General Department of Prisons to overcome these issues for over six years with the aim of improving the quality of health-care services for detainees. "The prison system needed support and we believe that we are on the right track now", said General Chan Kim Seng, director general of the General Department of Prisons (GDP). Last July, the Correctional Center 2, a prison facility for women and juveniles, inaugurated improved healthcare facilities, a project carried out by the ICRC jointly with the GDP. "The ICRC believes that renovations of prison health posts can help prisoners receive better health care inside the prison and, most importantly, be medically assessed and referred on time to public hospitals when secondary care is needed," explained Dr Luca Falqui, an ICRC doctor. Detainees will be able to have medical checkups done on arrival by the prison health staff. Clinical protocols will be followed and individual medical records will be kept for further treatment. Inmates with infectious diseases will be treated separately to prevent the transmission of illnesses to other inmates. "The prisoners will receive those services in a more effective manner while the prison health staff will have better working conditions and and overall environment now," said Bart Vermeiren, the ICRC head of mission in Cambodia. The Correctional Center 2 is where the ICRC started a pilot project in May 2015 with the Cambodian prison and Ministry of Health authorities to establish a standardized and functional prison health-care system. "We hope that this can become a model and be duplicated by the detaining authorities and the Ministry of Health in other prisons across Cambodia," said Dr Luca Falqui, from the ICRC. To that aim, cooperation between relevant governmental and international institutions is key. The ICRC is negotiating the setting up of a working group formed by representatives of the General Department of Prisons (GDP), Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Health and other prison health stakeholders, such as UN agencies and NGOs. The ICRC has been working closely with the GDP since 1993, in providing assistance to improve the living conditions of detainees. Among different types of support provided, the ICRC renovated detention buildings and assisted in water, sanitation and health-care projects that have improved considerably the quality of life of detainees. ICRC supports new physical rehabilitation centre in Sudan Publisher International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Publication Date 11 August 2016 Cite as International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), ICRC supports new physical rehabilitation centre in Sudan, 11 August 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57cecefd4.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has extended its support of physical rehabilitation centres in Sudan to a seventh facility, in El Obaid in North Kordofan State. The ICRC offered additional support to the Sudanese National Authority of Prosthetics and Orthotics (NAPO) to set up the new centre. The ICRC has been supporting NAPO for more than 25 years. "The Government of Sudan appreciates the ICRC's substantial contribution in providing support to persons with physical disabilities in various parts of the country," H.E. Hassabu Mohamed Abdulrahman, the second Vice President of Sudan, said at the July 24 inauguration of the new facility. The new centre is expected to serve the needs of persons with disabilities from North Kordofan, West Kordofan and part of South Kordofan States. When fully operational, it will be able to provide services to about 60 people per month. The city of El Obaid is well connected with Khartoum as well as areas affected by armed conflict in southern parts of Sudan. The ICRC has been supporting one referral centre in Khartoum and six state centres in Nyala, Dongola, Kassala, Gadaref, Kadugali and Damazine. The ICRC assisted in the opening of the new centre by helping identify a location, setting up infrastructure, supporting its management with technical advice and by donating machines and equipment. The ICRC is now providing training for the centre's technical staff to manage it efficiently. The ceremonial opening was attended by several dignitaries including H.E. Ibrahim Adam Ibrahim, Federal State Minister of Welfare and Social Security. Eloi Fillion, the ICRC's head of delegation in Sudan, Subhash Sinha, the physical rehabilitation programme manager and Adil Sharif, adviser to the head of delegation also attended. Fillion assured those in attendance that the ICRC would continue to support the Government of Sudan in providing rehabilitation services to people with physical disabilities in the country. Yemen Red Crescent Society volunteer killed in Taiz Publisher International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Publication Date 12 August 2016 Cite as International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Yemen Red Crescent Society volunteer killed in Taiz, 12 August 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57cecf2e4.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement mourns the death of another volunteer from the Yemen Red Crescent Society. Khalid Abdullah, a 65-year-old Red Crescent volunteer was shot in the head on Thursday 11 August. At the time he was killed, Khalid was laying the ground work for an upcoming food distribution at Al-Horaish area of Salah district, inside the city of Taiz. "With more than 30 years as a Yemen Red Crescent Society volunteer, Khalid had brought a difference into the lives of many. He has now left behind a wife and four children. Our thoughts are with them in these difficult times", said Mr. Fuad Al-Makhazy Secretary General of the Yemen Red Crescent Society. The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement has no information at present on where the shot came from or whether it was a deliberate act. Tragically, Khalid is the tenth Yemen Red Crescent Society volunteer to die in the line of duty in Yemen since the start of the current conflict in March 2015. "In a city that has been brought to its knees by fighting, the work carried out by humanitarian workers and volunteers such as Khalid is critical to the lives of many. Ongoing fighting and airstrikes present grave risks. The failure to ensure the protection of humanitarian workers and volunteers, adds further complexities and prevents humanitarian organizations to deliver on their full potential," said Mr. Al-Makhazy. Yemen Red Crescent Society, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) together call for the immediate protection of Red Crescent volunteers and all other humanitarian workers. Without that protection, saving lives and offering vital assistance for millions of Yemenis in dire need will become almost impossible. Philippines: Building the capacity of jail authorities to respond to overcrowding Publisher International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Publication Date 17 August 2016 Cite as International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Philippines: Building the capacity of jail authorities to respond to overcrowding, 17 August 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57cecf854.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Lack of space and ventilation, as well as limited access to health and paralegal services-these are just some of the critical issues that the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) deals with every day, as discussed in last week's workshop finalizing the "BJMP Operational Plan Related to Overcrowded Jails." During the two-day workshop on Aug. 9 and 11, 30 correctional officers from the BJMP carried out a rapid assessment aimed at improving the problem analysis of its 463 jails, and developing a standardized response mechanism to mitigate the consequences of severe overcrowding. Key staff from the departments of health, legal, operations, logistics and the human resources together with several wardens explored a large range of consequences of overcrowding and listed all possible ways for BJMP staff to directly address these consequences. They also discussed how best to generate external support from local government and health units and judicial authorities. Facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), this event followed a series of workshops where the BJMP identified a list of key performance indicators (KPIs) of its jail units that will be encoded by its wardens on a monthly basis through an innovative mobile application. Using a scorecard system, the mobile app will soon allow BJMP to rank all jails according to urgent issues. Overcrowding, noted Antipolo City Jail warden Jail Supt. Ruelito M. Bobadilla, has a direct effect on the inmates' health. "We must take into account the increase of population over the years. Ideally, our space in the Antipolo City Jail male dorm should be for 87 persons but today it accommodates many more. One week does not go by without us rushing one person to the hospital," he said. "This response system will help harmonize and efficiently monitor the jail activities at all levels. This is a good effort to capacitate the wardens and help them to coordinate with the local government units in a more systematic manner," added Bobadilla. The complete system is expected to be ready by the end of September 2016, for piloting in selected jails prior to its evaluation for a possible roll-out countrywide. Russian Federation: "The future is here, and it is not looking good to me" Publisher International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Publication Date 24 August 2016 Cite as International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Russian Federation: "The future is here, and it is not looking good to me", 24 August 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57cecfe24.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. The ICRC started a film club at its recently opened Humanitarium Centre in Moscow, because, as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. In the new club, a film is screened and what follows is an animated debate on current issues related to international humanitarian law. For the first screening, the organizers chose the film Good Kill which deals with the issue of using unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones. Experts and guests shared their impressions and discussed the issues brought up in the film such as applying IHL to cyber operations, weapons selection, as well as technical, military, legal, moral and psychological aspects of combat. The most heated discussion centred around the issue of holding accountable those responsible for the use of drones. The experts and the guests spoke of rapid technological advances: at least today, there are drone operators who take decisions and can adjust the performance of these systems, but in the near future, it will become possible to manufacture fully autonomous drones. In that case, there will be no one to answer questions on morality and ethics. "Now I see that the future is here, and it is not looking good to me," remarked one participant. But who says it is not within our power to make sure that the future does look good to us? Developing IHL and adapting it to the new realities of warfare, as well as ensuring that these rules are applied will make it possible to reduce the number of errors and avoid drone-related civilian deaths. Sri Lanka: Families of missing persons learn to cope together Publisher International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Publication Date 26 August 2016 Cite as International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Sri Lanka: Families of missing persons learn to cope together, 26 August 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57ced0364.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Today was no ordinary day for Ashoka. 26 May 2016 began at 4:00 am as she prepared breakfast and lunch with the help of her mother and neighbours. Ashoka, her mother and a group of others would be commemorating their missing relatives later, by donating lamp holders to their community temple and holding a poojah (prayers). The day after, Ganeshamma too began her day at 4:00 am. After completing her chores, she whispered a prayer at the altar in her bedroom, touching the small crucifix her husband had given her just before he went missing. Then she cycled to the primary school nearby, where she teaches children in Grade 5. That day, she too would be commemorating her missing husband with other families of missing persons in her community, by dedicating a recreational hut to the school. Ashoka is an accompanier in the accompaniment programme, from which Ganeshamma has been receiving support. For both women, not being alone on this day is a source of comfort. Commemoration activities such as religious ceremonies, building or dedicating items, or planting trees in memory of missing persons, are all ways in which relatives of missing persons are supporting one another as part of the accompaniment programme. The accompaniers set up peer support groups of 6-8 people from the same area, which then meet for three months. The sessions give people an opportunity to share their grief and their day-to-day struggles, and to discuss ways to cope. Relatives of missing persons talk about their roles in their households, as wives, mothers, fathers, sisters, or daughters, and this helps them realize their significance in their family units and their communities. They share the emotional, psychological, physical and relational struggles that result from the absence of a missing relative, and then go on to remember them through positive memories. Participants talk about their support network through illustrations, which often enable them to realize that they are not alone. They share tributes to the missing person with the group, in the form of a poem, a song, or even the missing person's favourite food. The cycle of group sessions formally ends with a commemoration event, which the families themselves plan. These events are a significant experience for them, as they bring a degree of comfort. Ashoka and Ganeshamma believe that the bonds with their group members will last a lifetime. "We speak to each other on the phone almost every evening," says Ganeshamma, "that's how close we have become." A member of Ashoka's support group says that though they are from the same community, their homes are quite far from each other. "But we will continue to meet," she declares. Living between two realities in Afghanistan Publisher International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Publication Date 26 August 2016 Cite as International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Living between two realities in Afghanistan, 26 August 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57ced0894.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Fahima's sister, brother-in-law, nephew and niece died when the boat taking them from Turkey to Lesvos capsized. Her nephew's body is still missing, leaving Fahima and her remaining family unable to close this painful chapter of their lives. There seemed little point in asking Fahima where her missing relatives had been heading when they left for Europe earlier this year, because she already knew that they never made it. All she wanted now was to find the last of their bodies and bring them home to Afghanistan. "When your family is missing it's really tough," she confides, sitting next to her 12-year-old nephew, Ahad. His cousins are amongst the dead, along with Fahima's sister, her husband and their two children. Two boats crossing from Turkey to Greece capsized on the day that Fahima's sister drowned; one was sailing from Balikesir province and the other from close to Izmir. Both were making for the Greek island of Lesvos some ten kilometres distant across the Aegean Sea. Over 30 people died in the two tragedies. When the boat overturned, close to the Turkish coast, Fahima's sister was on the phone to her brother in Denmark. "Suddenly he heard people screaming and crying," Fahima says. "Then the phone went dead." Fahima's brother left immediately for Turkey, determined to learn what had happened and to recover his sister's body. When he got there, he went to the police but they couldn't help. He searched local health facilities and asked everywhere, eventually finding his sister's name in a hospital register. Her body was in the mortuary. In the end he located her husband's body as well, together with that of their daughter. But they were unable to trace his nephew's body, or that of the cousin or the neighbours with whom his sister and her husband had been travelling. "To lose one or two of your relatives is terrible," says Fahima, "but to lose a whole family is unbearable." Today, Fahima's sister, brother-in-law and niece, whom her brother brought back to Kabul, lie in Afghan soil, together with four of their neighbours. The body of the family's other child, Ahad's cousin, is still missing, as are those of three more neighbours and another cousin. Fahima fears the worst. "My brother told me the bodies were in the water for hours," she says in a low voice. "Are there sharks in those waters?" she asks, momentarily breaking down. Fahima had come to the ICRC's office in Kabul to ask for help finding her nephew. "Do you have lists and photos of the dead?" she asked. "Do you have colleagues who can search hospitals and look for missing people? If there is no body, there is no ending." It was a statement so simple, but it was filled with pain. "If they don't even know for certain that a person has died, families have to live the rest of their lives with what is called an 'ambiguous loss'," explains the ICRC's Wilhelm Odde, whose work includes helping to trace missing people in Greece. "You are living between two realities; knowing your loved one will probably never return, but hoping all the time that they will." The ICRC is supporting efforts to identify the bodies of people who die trying to enter or pass through Europe. We are working with the authorities, helping forensics practitioners to collect and record anything that can help with identification, such as birthmarks, tattoos or possessions found with bodies. This is the way we work in all the disaster and conflict areas where we operate. As large numbers of refugees and migrants pass through Europe, with thousands dying on the way, forensics is playing an increasingly important role in the ICRC's efforts to help the families of missing persons. "Forensics and fortunate outcomes don't usually go together," admits Dr Costas Couvaris, the ICRC's forensics advisor in Greece. "But when we are successful, we can prove that the person who is being sought is indeed dead, and we can say exactly where they're buried. It's not a happy ending but it is an ending." And it is all that Fahima and Ahad are asking for. Central Asia: Measuring the Geopolitical Impact of the Bishkek Bombing Publisher EurasiaNet Publication Date 31 August 2016 Cite as EurasiaNet, Central Asia: Measuring the Geopolitical Impact of the Bishkek Bombing, 31 August 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57ced26a4.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. While attention in Central Asia in late August was fixated on the looming leadership transition in Uzbekistan, another event with even greater potential to reshape the region occurred in Kyrgyzstan: an apparent suicide bomber attacked the Chinese embassy in Bishkek, killing himself and wounding at least three others. If this does turn out to be a terror attack against China, the consequences for the regional balance of power could be significant. While China has overtaken Russia as Central Asia's leading economic power, Beijing to date has been more cautious in projecting its political and military influence, sensitive to the feelings of the region's traditional power, Russia. Nevertheless, China has been gradually building up its security presence in Central Asia, and it is easy to imagine that the August 30 bombing of its Bishkek embassy could prompt Chinese leaders to adopt a significantly more aggressive posture in the region. While the attacker has not yet been identified, speculation immediately turned to the Uighurs, a Muslim, Turkic-speaking minority whose homeland in China's Xinjiang region is just across the border from Kyrgyzstan. China has been carrying out a decades-long policy of aggressive assimilation of the Uighurs, and some have responded with a low-level insurgency against Beijing's rule. The resulting crackdown by Beijing forced many Uighur groups (both violent and nonviolent) to move to Central Asia, where there also are small indigenous Uighur communities. China's security policy in Central Asia is already heavily focused on the perceived threat of Uighur separatist groups operating there. Joint military exercises with Central Asian armed forces usually involve a scenario of fighting Uighur-like separatists. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) - a regional group that also includes Russia and all Central Asian states except Turkmenistan - orients its security efforts in Central Asia toward combating the "three evil forces" of "terrorism, extremism and separatism," a clear echo of Beijing's rhetoric on the Uighur issue. Uighur activists in Central Asia, along with human rights groups, have accused China of using the SCO to force Central Asian states into repressing legitimate Uighur political activity in the region. Combating Uighur groups has also driven Chinese security policy with other regional states, especially Afghanistan and Pakistan. This summer, Beijing inaugurated a new "Quadrilateral Cooperation and Coordination Mechanism" with Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan. This new group will coordinate efforts on the "study and judgment of the counter terrorism situation," as well as engage in "intelligence sharing, anti-terrorist capability building, joint anti-terrorist training and personnel training." China's defense cooperation with Central Asian states has expanded in other directions as well. Beijing has made noteworthy weapons sales, such as air defense systems to Turkmenistan, and expanded its (still small) military aid programs to all of the Central Asian states. It has established strategic partnerships with all five Central Asian states. Until now, the threat to China posed by Uighur activity in Central Asia has been mostly theoretical. What specific actions China may take in response to the Bishkek suicide bombing are not yet clear. Thus far, at least publically, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman has only said that Beijing has "requested that the Kyrgyz side immediately implement whatever measures it can to ensure the safety of Chinese institutions and citizens in Kyrgyzstan and quickly investigate this incident and severely punish those responsible." Another Foreign Ministry statement asserted that China regarded the blast as an act of terrorism, adding that Chinese officials would respond "resolutely." It is not a stretch to imagine that China will now expand its Central Asian security efforts in some fashion, especially if this is not just a one-off bombing and is followed (as seems plausible) by additional attacks. China will face a number of substantial obstacles if it treads too heavily in Central Asia. While Central Asian governments often mistrust Russia, it is still the devil they know: government and military officials in today's Central Asia grew up in the Soviet Union, speak Russian, and were educated and trained in Soviet and Russian institutions. To officialdom, as well as the general population in Central Asia, China is far more unfamiliar and, as such, is the object of much paranoia. This wariness was evidenced most recently by large-scale protests in Kazakhstan over a proposed land law that many saw as opening the door for a Chinese takeover of the country. Chinese companies and individuals have been targets of xenophobic attacks. An expanded Chinese security and political presence in Central Asia would likely alarm Russia. While Russia has generally welcomed China's global rise as part of the multi-polar, non-Western world order it wants to create, the Kremlin remains deeply suspicious of China's presence in Central Asia, a region which Russia would like to maintain as unipolar and oriented toward Moscow. The creation of the Afghanistan-China-Pakistan-Tajikistan group rattled some in Moscow who worried that China is becoming too assertive in Central Asia. "Russia's involvement in Ukraine and the Middle East has resulted in us losing our position in Central Asia. It appears that in this 'Central Asian NATO' under the Chinese umbrella, Russia may be the odd one out," Andrei Serenko, an analyst for a Russian think tank, the Center for the Study of Contemporary Afghanistan, said in an interview with the newspaper Izvestiya. A more aggressive Chinese posture in Central Asia would also call into question the utility of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), an entity that Moscow has been trying to position as the guarantor of peace in Central Asia. Its exercises have tended to simulate Islamist attacks from Afghanistan, a scenario that remains unlikely. A crisis that China responds to more actively than Russia would add to the perception that the CSTO is a paper tiger and that Russia is a declining power. While the CSTO's march toward oblivion - along with China's rise in Central Asia - is probably inevitable, the attack in Bishkek has likely accelerated it. Editor's note: Joshua Kucera is a Washington, DC-based freelance writer who specializes in Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Middle East. He is the editor of EurasiaNet's Bug Pit blog. Copyright notice: All EurasiaNet material Open Society Institute Uzbekistan: Mystery Over President's Health Leaves Nation in Limbo Publisher EurasiaNet Publication Date 30 August 2016 Other Languages / Attachments Russian Cite as EurasiaNet, Uzbekistan: Mystery Over President's Health Leaves Nation in Limbo, 30 August 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57ced2de4.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. A dose of absurdity was injected August 30 into the mystery surrounding the fate of Uzbekistan's president, Islam Karimov, as a state media outlet carried a report about world leaders offering the incapacitated leader congratulations on the country's upcoming 25th anniversary of independence. Authorities in Uzbekistan have acknowledged that the 78-year-old Karimov suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on August 27. Beyond that, not much else is known for sure. Several respected analysts of Uzbek affairs insist Karimov is dead, but no official confirmation of the president's passing has been forthcoming. Neither has the world been shown proof that Karimov is alive. The BBC's Uzbek service reported that the September 1 celebrations to mark the 25th anniversary of independence have been cancelled, which, if true, would be a sure sign that something serious has happened in Tashkent. The problem is authorities have not definitively confirmed the cancellation, and a countdown clock on a government website is still ticking down. With little verifiable information available, outside observers are grasping at the slightest clues for an indication of what awaits. A large hint appeared with news, reported by Russia's state-run news agency Sputnik, citing unnamed sources, that Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev will be congratulating the population during the September 1 Independence Day holiday, instead of Karimov. Mirziyoyev is widely seen as one of the favorites in the race for the top spot in Uzbekistan's power structure, and his apparent assumption of at least some presidential duties seems like a potentially significant development. Under the constitution, it should be the speaker of the Senate, Nigmatilla Yuldashev, who fulfills caretaker duties while the president is incapacitated. "Officially, there have been no announcements about the festivities being canceled. All events will take place on September 1," a source described as being familiar with the situation told Sputnik. Sputnik's self-adopted role in providing reassuring and broadly pro-governmental reports is noteworthy, as the outlet has not officially been accredited in Uzbekistan, despite or possibly because of its Russian government ties. The only concession supposedly being made to Karimov's illness - as Tashkent is still insisting on describing the president's condition - is that the Independence Day celebration will be scaled down, according to Sputnik. The population itself is in a state of worried and jittery uncertainty. One odd eyewitness account reported by Sputnik told of how a shopper at a bazaar in Tashkent was physically attacked after talking in public about Karimov's presumed death. "The sellers didn't think too long before throwing empty water bottles at him, and then they threatened that if he kept going around spreading rumors, they would bust his legs," the Sputnik reporter wrote, claiming to have seen the incident first hand. A more sanguine picture of the mood was provided by journalist Alexei Volosevich. He noted there was not a heavy police presence in central Tashkent. "There aren't the slightest signs of an increased police presence in the city. The usual multiple patrols have disappeared somewhere - you come across them, but much less frequently than usual," he wrote. Volosevich said he went to the hospital where Karimov was at one stage reportedly being treated, and was surprised to find anything but the high-security reported by some media. "About 30 meters from the entrance, there was a police car and two policemen sleeping inside. "People walked freely into the hospital courtyard. I tried to go in but was stopped, and not by guard armed to the teeth, but by a single sentry guard who said the hospital was admitting nobody at that time," Volosevich wrote. "It is possible that President Karimov was taken there for some time, to the intensive care ward, but that he is not there anymore." Elsewhere, the Uzbek government tried to maintain a business-as-usual facade. For example, Uzbek Foreign Ministry representatives met in Moscow on August 30 with their Russian counterparts in connection with an ongoing bilateral cooperation program. "The sides exchanged views on current issues of bilateral cooperation," an Uzbek government statement noted. While Uzbekistan remains a key partner in the West's ongoing military operations in Afghanistan, American and EU diplomats have been reticent on the political uncertainty in Tashkent. Foreign policy analysts in Russia, meanwhile, have gone into overdrive trying to understand what the post-Karimov era in Uzbekistan might mean for developments in the region. Central Asia expert Arkady Dubnov said in an interview with Russia's TASS news agency that the first signals on how the leadership transition in Tashkent was unfolding would be contained in messages to the outside world. Dubnov added that he did not expect Uzbekistan to make a major break from Karimov's foreign policies. "The most equal among Uzbekistan's equal external partners is Russia, because when it comes to ensuring national security, Tashkent relies on Moscow more than it does on its main economic partner, China," Dubnov said. Copyright notice: All EurasiaNet material Open Society Institute Gabon: Post-election unrest leads to news blackout Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 5 September 2016 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Gabon: Post-election unrest leads to news blackout, 5 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57ced34c4.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Following the announcement of President Ali Bongo's reelection victory, the unrest that erupted throughout the country is affecting all the media and is preventing journalists from working. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for calm so that news and information can resume flowing in Gabon. Internet and SMS connections were cut a few hours after the electoral commission proclaimed Bongo's victory at 11 p.m. on 31 August. At around 3 a.m. yesterday, soldiers attacked the headquarters of Radio-Television Nazareth, a TV broadcaster owned by a leading supporter of opposition candidate Jean Ping, which had been providing extensive election coverage. Witnesses said it was impossible to know which army unit the soldiers belonged to because they were wearing facemasks. The TV station was ransacked and set on fire. Shots were fired but no journalists were injured although several were manhandled by soldiers. Previously, a group of demonstrators set fire to the National Assembly and then tried to storm the headquarters of state-owned Radio Television Nationale, which was well defended by gendarmes. The demonstrators pulled back but have blocked access to the state broadcaster ever since, while its employees have withdrawn for fear of violence. As a result, there has been no fresh news on national radio and TV stations for more than 24 hours and Gabon is experiencing an almost total news blackout. A journalist reached by RSF said he was in hiding because of ongoing looting in the city and could not go out to cover what was happening. A relative who tried to find a newspaper was unsuccessful because none had apparently been delivered to newsstands. Public transport is suspended and government offices are not operating. "We urge the Gabonese authorities to protect the media and to restore the means of communication," RSF said. "In this kind of crisis, news and information are more essential than ever to prevent people putting themselves in danger and to assuage fears. The Gabonese public also has a right to know what is happening politically. An appeal for calm is needed on all sides, including on the part of opposition candidate Jean Ping, so that the violence can end and the media can resume operating." The European Union has criticized the organization of the presidential election and there have been several international calls for publication of the results of all voting stations in order to allay suspicions of fraud. As soon as the results were announced, opposition supporters took to the streets and the violence soon erupted. Gabon is ranked 100th out of 180 countries in 2016 World Press Freedom Index.. Iran creates "Halal Internet" to control online information Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 6 September 2016 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Iran creates "Halal Internet" to control online information, 6 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57ced39a4.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is yet again obliged to condemn the increase in Internet censorship and persecution of online information activists in Iran. Two news agencies and several information websites have been blocked since 4 September, a week after the official unveiling of the "National Information Network," also known as "Halal Internet," while the Centre for Monitoring Organized Crime (a Revolutionary Guard offshoot) has reported the arrest of around 100 Internet users in recent weeks. The Mojnews and Bornanews press agencies and at least two other news websites including Puyesh and 9sobh were blocked on the orders of the Committee for Determining Content that Constitutes Internet Crime, which is headed by prosecutor-general. They were censored for reposting documents about the Tehran city hall's sale of city-owned land and apartments to senior officials and municipal council members or reposting criticism of the judicial system's inconsistency in its attempts to combat corruption. Memarinews.com, the first website to post the documents, was blocked on 29 August. The first phase of the National Information Network was formally celebrated on 27 August by several government officials including the first vice-president, the minister of communication and information technology and the secretary-general of the Cyberspace Supreme Council. However, they restricted their statements to the usual slogans and did not explain how this National Information Network will work and what consequences it will have for Iran's Internet users, who are officially estimated to number 30 million. "The accessibility of information will create new business, political and social opportunities and will contribute to the country's economic development," First Vice-President Esshagh Jahangiri said, adding that more than 20 billion toman (58 million euros) have been invested in this "great project." Communication minister Mahmoud Vaezi said, "the National Information Network imposes no limits on Internet users" but this was contradicted by deputy minister Nasrolah Jahangard, who said: "In the Network, all connections including mobile connections have identification; without identification, you will not be able to use the Network's services." As well as such propaganda-style statements, the authorities cite the need for protection as justification for the network - protection against cyber-attacks, protection of the country's sensitive data and the personal data of individual users, and finally protection of Iranian society's "morality." In fact, this National Information Network can be likened to a big Intranet, in which content is controlled and all users are identified, an Intranet that can be completely disconnected from the World Wide Web when the authorities so decide. It is a personal Internet or "Halal Internet" based on "intelligent filtering." The speed and bandwidth on this national Intranet may well be higher than those currently available to Iran's Internet users but they will be used to provide more propaganda, not independently reported news and information or freely gathered data. RSF points out that Reza Taqipour Anvari, the communication minister during the previous Ahmadinejad administration, already announced the launch of the first phase of a "National Internet" in July 2011. During this first phase, he said the connection speed available to users would initially be 8 Mps and then 20 Mps. Read: Government blocks Google and Gmail, while promoting National Internet For the past year, different sections of the Revolutionary Guards have been announcing the dismantling and systematic arrest of networks of people who act "against society's moral security," "modelling criminals" (those who have photos and videos of models) and those who "insult religious beliefs." RSF has registered more than 800 cases of this kind since the start of 2016. The Centre for Monitoring Organized Crime, a Revolutionary Guard unit that polices the Internet, announced on 23 August that "450 450 individuals responsible for pages on social networks such as Telegram, Whatsapp and Instagram" had been summoned and arrested. "We do not dispute Iran's right to crack down on online crimes but the definition of these crimes in Iran's laws and their enforcement do not conform to international standards including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Iran has signed," said Reza Moini, the head of RSF's Iran/Afghanistan desk. "This policing and censorship is officially supposed to protect the Iranian public from immoral content but in practice it extends to political information about religion and to websites about fundamental rights, including women's rights." Imprisoned software and website designer Saeed Malekpour is a case in point. He was sentenced to death in 2010 on charges of creating pornographic sites and "insulting Islam's holy principles" because he created a photo-uploading programme that, unbeknown to him, was used by porn sites. A Canadian resident, he was arrested while visiting his family in Iran in 2008. The debate about "intelligent filtering" has intensified within the Iranian regime in recent months. The conservative camp, with its legal arm (the judicial system) and its military arm (the Revolutionary Guards), has been pressuring President Hassan Rouhani's administration to increase the level of Internet control in general and, in particular, to filter Telegram, which is officially reported to have more than 15 million users in Iran. Although formally banned, apps and social networks such as Telegram, Facebook and Twitter play a major role in the dissemination of content in Iran. Both government ministers and conservatives agree on keeping the pressure on Telegram in order to facilitate access to its servers and use intelligent filtering. This does not stop Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei from having his own "intelligently filtered" Instagram account. Iraq: No country for young men Publisher IRIN Publication Date 5 September 2016 Cite as IRIN, Iraq: No country for young men, 5 September 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57ced54e4.html [accessed 30 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Saif fights the so-called Islamic State for a living and can barely pay his bills. Falih is desperate to leave Iraq, but can't get a visa. Abdullah works for the government but says it's corrupt. These three young Baghdadis are part of a generation labelled lost, chaotic, and ripe for radicalisation, but the truth is they feel disenfranchised from the future being offered by the current government. "By failing to provide a vision and concrete prospects for the future, it is pressing young men into the straitjacket of jobs-through-patronage, pushing them into combat with either the Islamic State (IS) or Shiite militias or inducing them to emigrate," warned the International Crisis Group in a recent report. "They are the country's most important resource; abandoning them could turn them into the most important threat to national and regional security." Young Iraqis, Sunni and Shia alike, agree there's little to look forward to in a country where poor service provision, corruption, and daily violence is the stuff of private conversation and public protest. Politicians pay lip service to reform, but talk of reducing the age of candidacy and other appeals to young voters are dismissed as electoral pandering ahead of important provincial polls in 2017 and parliament elections the following year. It will take a lot more than Facebook pages to convince young Iraqis that their future is anything but grim. By UN count, 473 Iraqi civilians were killed in acts of terrorism, violence, and armed conflict in August alone, 231 in Baghdad governorate. Nearly 3.4 million Iraqis have been displaced since the conflict with IS began in 2014. And last week Human Rights Watch alleged that forces aligned with the Iraqi government have been recruiting children to this struggle. Young men who have grown up since the fall of Saddam Hussein have few options. Job opportunities are few. Salaries are low. As the ICG report highlights, Iraqis effectively must find a way into employment via a government patronage system, join a militia, or leave the country nearly 149,000 Iraqis applied for asylum in Europe in 2015. As Iraq's government and the wider international community focuses on the fight against IS, they ignore their young men not to mention their young women at their peril. Here's how it looks from the perspectives of Saif, Falih, and Abdullah: The militiaman Saif Abduljabbar, 28 Did you have trouble finding a job? When my father passed away, I had to quit [secondary] school to look after my family I worked as a construction worker. It's a hard job, but easy to get. But when IS gained territory in Iraq and after [Iraq's most powerful Shia leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa calling on believers to fight IS in June 2014], I joined the Popular Mobilisation Forces. I couldn't find a government job anyway because they asked for a $5,000 [bribe]. I've never earned that much in my life. Finding a good job in Iraq has become really difficult. It's like you are looking for a needle in a haystack. Employment is just for people who have government connections and can pay. Do you make enough to get by? Although the [militia] salary doesn't cover all my expenses it's still better than nothing. Half of my wages go for rent and the rest to my mother. Depression and continued violence have pushed some people to join militant groups because they offer good money. It's the same reason people leave the country. It's a high-risk job since we are dealing with terrorists. I could die at any moment, but I have no choice. Do you want to stay in Iraq? I wish I could leave and raise a family outside Iraq, but I have to stay here with my mum and brothers because I'm the oldest and I have to look after the family. I would have left years ago if I had the chance. The future in Iraq is unknown and dangerous, with such political chaos and a constant security crisis. Do you think Sunnis and Shias have equal opportunities? [I'm Shia] and there is no justice in Iraq amongst Shias. So how can we imagine justice between Sunnis and Shias and the other sects? Sunnis are suffering under a government that is dominated by Shias and Shias are suffering under the government too. What do you think about Iraq's political system? The political situation in Iraq is a dirty game played by politicians who steal everything, even our dreams and aspirations they serve only themselves. We are depressed for all the time that has been wasted going up to the election. I would fire all the politicians if it were up to me. Do you have hope for the future of Iraq? I wish I could be optimistic, but so far there are no positive indications. The prospective migrant Falih al-Baghdadi, 25 You have a BA in computer science but you work as a translator. Was it tough to find a job after graduation? After graduation, you can get a job, but it's hard to find your dream job or one that you think you are good at. But at the end of the day you have to work even if it's not in your field. I had a lot of problems trying to find a job. The worst was nepotism. If you don't have connections, it's harder to find a job. Wages are low and working hours are long. Do you make enough money get by? I make enough to pay my bills and survive, but it's impossible to buy a house because [salaries are too low]. I don't even think about that. There are a lot of problems in Baghdad. It's not easy. The first and most important is the security situation; second is the electricity; third is the water; and fourth the sewage. The country doesn't have good infrastructure. Do you want to stay in Iraq? I have decided to try to leave. I was born and raised here, and it's not an easy step to leave everything and go to a new country and start from zero. But I still haven't found a good way to leave. If I have the chance I will take it. You are Sunni. Do you think Sunnis and Shias have equal opportunities? There are equal opportunities, but only for Shias or Sunnis who have connections with politicians or belong to political parties. Regular people are in hell. What do you think about Iraq's political system? Ninety percent of Iraqi politicians are pickpockets and robbers. They got into politics to make money, and their families live abroad. They are serving their parties and pockets, that's all. I would like to see Iraq ruled by a monarchy, I think it's the best chance this country has. Do you see yourself building a future here in Baghdad? I just work to pay my bills and survive. The future is an unknown for all Iraqis so I wouldn't want to raise a family here. I don't even think about marriage or kids at the moment; life is just too complicated. I don't have a clear view about what Iraq's future holds it changes each minute. The government employee Abdullah Saad, 31 Was it difficult to find a job? Many Iraqis study for years and then can't find a job after graduation. I was lucky to get this job, but the salary is worthless when you compare it with the high cost of living and the risks we take each day. If you are a government employee and not corrupt you'll never make enough to buy a house. There are so many difficulties in Baghdad: traffic jams; lack of electricity; no security; an unstable political situation; lack of law and order. Everything is devastated, even the infrastructure. Do you want to stay in Iraq? I have been thinking about leaving the country, mostly because of the security situation and the absence of law and order. We are living like we're in the jungle. You are Sunni. Do you think Sunnis and Shias have equal opportunities? It used to be that Shias had priority in getting [government] jobs, but now both Sunnis and Shias have trouble finding jobs without nepotism. The security apparatus is clearly sectarian and Shias are the only ones who can get work in security. What do you think about Iraq's political system? The security system in Iraq has failed because of the people who are ruling the country. They've spread sectarianism and corruption. The politicians and the political system needs complete restructuring. Iraq's future is black. I'm not optimistic at all. Saif, Falih, and Abdullah refused to be photographed because of security concerns. Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. Apopka, FL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/06/2016 --Auto dealer bonds are an essential part of any motor vehicle dealership's business. 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This could be set at anytime throughout the year, or may instead be based on a dealer by dealer basis, in terms of when their period comes up. There's also the matter of renewal length. Some states allow bonds to remain for two years or longer, while others have an annual renewal date. Also keep in mind that different types of dealerships may have different motor vehicle bond requirements. For instance, in Florida, there's half a dozen different classifications for dealer types. With Louisiana dealer bonds, they change requirements from $20,000 for dealers selling less than 120 vehicles in a year, to $35,000 to dealerships operating above that threshold. There are other potential factors which may be involved in a particular state's requirements for licensure. This may include a specific minimum for garage liability insurance. For example, Louisiana george liability insurance is mandated across the state, and that's set at $55,000. 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Contact 844-467-4878 for more information, or visit USACommercialInsurance.com. By now, Americans should be numb from outrageously one-sided anti-Trumpism compared to suppressing Hillarys deplorable public record. With two months before Novembers election, things may get even uglier, media scoundrels perhaps intending an even greater push to get her anointed Americas next president. The possibility should terrify everyone. Paul Craig Roberts calls her certifiably insane. For sure, shes megalomaniacally driven, Roberts saying she will take America to war with Russia - which means also China - and Iran. I share his justifiable fear, the risk of humanity-destroying war, Hillary comfortable about using nuclear weapons, our main survival threat. A previous article discussed WaPo editors calling her exceptional, - a shameless perversion of truth. A follow-up editorial headlined Donald Trumps bet: We are all chumps, asking: Will American voters allow themselves to be insulted, taken for granted and made fools of? Donald Trump seems to be betting yes. WaPo editors lied, saying he put forward virtually no serious policy proposals. He discussed his proposed economic and foreign policy agenda in separate addresses, others on healthcare and immigration, providing detailed information. In contrast, Hillarys addresses consistently feature profoundly dishonest rhetoric, double-talk recitations without substance, suggesting her pure evil dark side - ignored by supportive media scoundrels. WaPo editors asked (h)as (Trump) really made as much money as he boasts? Has he paid taxes? Has he sheltered money in the Cayman Islands, done deals with Russian oligarchs? Who knows? At the same time, they suppress information on Hillarys war crimes, involvement in toppling foreign leaders, rigging foreign elections, becoming super-rich along with husband Bill from their foundation racket masquerading as a charitable NGO - then stashing unknown millions of dollars at the Delaware-based Corporation Trust Center, a tax avoidance scheme kept from public view. Media scoundrels like WaPo aware of their shenanigans ignore them, instead feature blatant anti-Trump partisanship. Saying Hillary released far more information than he did ignores what she and supportive media suppress - whats most important for voters to know. Claiming Trump repeatedly lies while campaigning suppresses how often Hillary was caught red-handed dissembling in public, to FBI investigators and before Congress - committing perjury warranting prosecution not forthcoming. WaPo editors saying Americans will have to answer to alleged Trump lies in November ignore Hillarys consistent lack of truth-telling - along with the unprecedented threat to world peace and security shell represent as US leader. Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III." http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. The Case IH autonomous concept vehicle looks like a grown up toy. It is a cab-free Magnum robot tractor. The operator can control the machine from a desktop computer or from a tablet in the field. According to a news release, the machine is controlled through a range of sensors that govern ignition, acceleration and deceleration, engine speed, steering angle, transmission controls, rear linkage raise/lower, front linkage raise/lower, plus engagement of locking differentials and horn operation. Although the tractor will not be available for another year or so, it was the headliner at the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa last week. The nation's largest outdoor farm show, known as the world's fair of farming, the Farm Progress Show is staged in a venue with paved roads, parking, underground electricity, telephone lines and drainage, the week before Labor Day weekend every year. The show rotates between Boone, Iowa and Decatur, Illinois. Progress Show 2016 showcased a wide range of products and services related to the farm and ranch sector from the leading exhibitors such as agricultural machinery, soil conditioning equipment, transplanting equipment, harvesting equipment, agricultural vehicles, agricultural utilities, parts, attachments and accessories, breeders, breeding facilities and equipment, hatching facilities and equipment. Also, insemination, incubation, humidifiers and temperature control, pharmaceuticals, biologicals, vaccines, veterinary medicines, veterinary instruments and equipment, animal housing, feed, feed additives, feed ingredients, feed storage, fertilizer, fertilizer spreaders, growth stimulators, pesticides, pest control equipment, spraying equipment, milking systems, milking facilities, milking equipment, seeds, slaughtering and meat handling, soil conditioners, and more. Remembering the 1990s when the farm progress show was staged in Lubbock, I walked the many acres with a television camera doing interviews at the many outdoor booths and watching the field demonstrations. Those were the days before all the latest technology. I enjoyed spending time with the antique tractor displays. The sounds of the 'Popping Johnny' (John Deere) tractors highlighted my video stories. According to my farm broadcaster colleagues, the 2016 show was all about the latest technology. 'It totally changes the face of agriculture by revolutionizing farming,' said Orion Samuelson, radio and television farm broadcaster for WGN in Chicago. Even though the Case tractor of the future has no platform or cab and is driverless, other tractor manufactures have their own lines that are robotic too. New Holland T8 tractor is outfitted with the autonomous package, developed in cooperation with Automated Systems Inc., and about 90 percent of the machine's functions are already automated. However, the New Holland concept does retain an operator cab. In 2003, Joey Henderson told me to meet him in a field near Veribest where he demonstrated the newest state of art John Deere. It could plow a row, operated from a computer with no driver in the cab. This year, Deere is adding a new head to the 600 series with the 608FC 8-row folding corn head. The 2017 model combines also includes operator comfort upgrades like an operator foot rest, upgraded Bluetooth for hands free communication and a low sidewall tire option. In addition, there will be a factory installed camera harness setup that will allow the operator to connect up to three cameras to the combine to increase overall visibility. 'The new Massey Ferguson 5700 and 6700 Series tractors provide more value than ever before and have been engineered from the ground up for smart, versatile, long-lasting operation,' said Willie Vogt, executive director for the Penton Farm Progress Group. 'These heavy-duty 100-130 HP tractors are uniquely designed to pull larger, heavier implements through the toughest jobs.' The world's largest tractor, the Challenger, was also available for demonstrations. The Challenger comes with 4-wheel drive and/or a track series. The new AGCO Challenger 1000 Series includes a 500+ horse power fixed-frame tractor. Thousands of farmers and folks with agriculture interest attended the three- day Farm Progress Show. The new generation of farmers is challenged to embrace the latest technology. The growing population will require farmers to produce more food on the same amount of land. It's ultimately technology that will make the difference in meeting that goal. TUESDAY Bone health workshop Dessire Armstrong with present a free workshop, 'Bone Builders and Bone Breakers,' at 11 a.m. at the Abilene Public Library, 202 Cedar St. Coffee with CASA Big Country Court Appointed Special Advocates will conduct a 'Coffee with CASA' informational meeting at 2:30 p.m. at The Birdhouse Coffee Shop, 500 Chestnut St., Suite 101. For information, call 325-677-6448. Public meeting TxDOT will conduct a public meeting regarding possible safety enhancements to the Interstate 20 corridor from 4-8 p.m. at the TxDOT Training Center, 4210 Clack St. Informational meeting BRECKENRIDGE TxDOT will conduct an informational meeting regarding the reconstruction of U.S. 180 at 6 p.m. at the TSTC Technology Building, Room 129, 307 N. Breckenridge Ave. Square dance workshop TYE The Key City Squares will conduct a square dancing workshop at 6:30 p.m. at the Wagon Wheel. Other ... Veterans benefit meeting, 10 a.m. to noon, Disabled American Veterans, 2555 Grape St. 325-793-9699 or 325-480-6175. Mission on the Move Soup Kitchen, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Southwest Drive Community United Methodist Church, 3025 Southwest Dr. Abilene Southwest Rotary Club, noon, Beehive Restaurant, 442 Cedar St. High Noon Al-Anon, noon, Southern Hills Church of Christ, 3666 Buffalo Gap Road (south end; follow the yellow signs). Blood drive, noon to 6 p.m., Knox County Hospital. Blood drive, noon to 6 p.m., Munday Clinic. Stroke/Aphasia Recovery Program support group, 1:30-2:30 p.m. West Texas Rehabilitation Center boardroom, 4601 Hartford St. 325-793-3535. Dystonia Support Group, 5:15-6:15 p.m., Not Without Us, 3301 N. First St. Suite 117. Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS), 5:30 p.m., Brook Hollow Christian Church, 2310 S. Willis St. 325-232-7444. Legacies Al-Anon Family Group, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Open Door Building, 3157 Russell Ave. 325-280-7584. Dining For Women Abilene Chapter, 6 p.m., First Christian Church, 1420 N. Third St. Family (of Mental Health Consumers) Support Group, 6-7 p.m., Mental Health Association in Abilene, 333 Orange St. 325-673-2300. MHAA Bipolar/Depression Peer Support Group, 6-8 p.m., Ministry of Counseling & Enrichment, 1502 N. First St. 325-673-2300. Free certified nurturing parent class (pregnancy to toddler), 6-8 p.m., Mission Church, North Third and Mockingbird streets. 325-672-9398. Abilene Star Chorus, 6:15 p.m., Wisteria Place Chapel, 3202 S. Willis St. 325-829-1470. Overeaters Anonymous, 6:30-7:30 p.m., Exodus Metropolitan Community Church, 1933 S. 27th St. Al-Anon Parents Group, 7 p.m., Hillcrest Church of Christ, 650 E. Ambler Ave. Use Church Street entrance. Al-Anon, 7 p.m., Doug Meinzer Activity Center, Knox City. 940-658-3926. Abilene Society of Model Railroaders, 7-8:30 p.m., 2043 N. Second St. Parents, Family, Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) of the Big Country, 7-9 p.m., Unity Church, 2842 Barrow St. 325-232-4726, www.pflagbc.weebly.com. Unity Group of Alcoholics Anonymous, 8 p.m., Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest, 602 Meander St. WEDNESDAY Square dance workshop TYE The Wagon Wheel Squares will conduct a square dancing workshop at 6:30 p.m. at the Wagon Wheel. Other ... Overeaters Anonymous, 8 a.m., Hinds Square Building, Room 112, 100 Chestnut St. Abilene Cactus Lions Club, 11:45 a.m., Cotton Patch Cafe, 3302 S. Clack St. Abilene Wednesday Rotary Club, noon, Abilene Country Club, 4039 S. Treadaway. $12 for lunch. Jo Ann Wilson, 325-677-6815. Kiwanis Club of Abilene, noon, Abilene Country Club, 4039 S. Treadaway Blvd. Clearly Speaking Toastmaster Club, noon, Westgate Church of Christ, 402 S. Pioneer Drive. 325-795-5570. Free swim class for people with multiple sclerosis, 5:30 p.m., YMCA, 3250 State St. Veterans Peer Support Group, 6 p.m., 765 Orange St. 325-670-4818. Mid-week Al-Anon Family Group, 6-7 p.m., Open Door Building, 3157 Russell Ave. 325-698-4995. Advanced Square Dancing, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Wagon Wheel. Al-Anon, 7 p.m., First United Methodist Church, 1501 N. Broadway, Ballinger. 817-689-2810 or 325-977-1007. DivorceCare support group, 7 p.m., Hillcrest Church of Christ, 650 E. Ambler Ave. 325-691-4200. THURSDAY Women's luncheon A Christian Women's Connection luncheon will begin at 11:30 a.m. at the Abilene Country Club, 4039 S. Treadaway Blvd. Beverly Dillon will be the guest speaker. Tickets are $16. For reservations, or for more information, contact 325-370-6567 or AbileneCWC@aol.com. Class for iPhones and iPads Tom Miller will present a free class for iPhone and iPad users at 1 p.m. at the Mockingbird Branch of the Abilene Public Library, 1326 N. Mockingbird Lane. Registration will begin at 12:30 p.m. Information: 325-692-1087. United Way kickoff The United Way of Abilene's will celebrate the start of its 2017 campaign at 4 p.m. at the Paramount Theatre, 352 Cypress St. Admission is free. To RSVP, call 325-677-1841. For information on volunteering, visit www.unitedwayabilene.org. ArtWalk ArtWalk, a program of the Center for Contemporary Arts, will take place from 5-8 p.m. in downtown Abilene. The theme will be 'The Shape of Things to Come,' and will celebrate sculpture and architecture in Abilene. Art activities and walking tours of downtown sculptures and buildings will be presented. West Texas Fair & Rodeo The West Texas Fair & Rodeo will begin with a sneak-a-peek night from 5-11 p.m. at the Taylor County Expo Center. Gate admission will be free. Square dance workshop TYE A-Team will conduct a square dancing workshop 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Wagon Wheel. Grace After Dark Screenings of several short films will be presented during Grace After Dark at 9 p.m. on the roof of The Grace Museum, 102 Cypress St. Food trucks will open at 6:30 p.m., and a cash bar will be available. Admission will be free, but will be limited to 100 viewers. Participants must be 18 or older. Other ... Abilene Garden Club, 10 a.m., 300 Westwood St. Chronic Pain and Depression Group, 11 a.m. to noon, Mental Health Association of Abilene, 333 Orange St., 325-673-2300. Abilene Founder Lions Club, 11:30 a.m., Al's Mesquite Grill, 4801 Buffalo Gap Road. Kiwanis Club of Greater Abilene, noon, Beehive Restaurant, 442 Cedar St. 325-695-0092. Mental Illness Open Support Group, 1-2 p.m., Mental Health Association of Abilene, 333 Orange St. 325-673-2300. Abilene 42 Club, 6 p.m., Rose Park Senior Center. PEP (People Enjoying People) Club, 6 p.m., Wylie Baptist Church, 6097 Buffalo Gap Road 325-692-4909. Teen Recovery Group, 6-7 p.m., Mission Abilene, 3001 N. Third St. Free certified nurturing parent class (all ages), 6-8 p.m., Mission Church, North Third and Mockingbird streets. 325-672-9398. Take Off Pounds Sensibly, 6:30 p.m. Brook Hollow Christian Church. Weigh-in begins at 5:30 p.m. 325-665-5052. Free swim class for people with multiple sclerosis, 6:30 p.m., YMCA, 3250 State St. Gambler's Anonymous, 6:30 p.m., Unity Spiritual Living Center, 2842 Barrow St. 325-338-2575. West Texas Genealogical Society, 6:30 p.m., Rose Park Senior Citizen Center. Round Dancing, 7 p.m., Wagon Wheel. 325-829-1517. Tea Party Patriots of Eastland County, 7 p.m., Myrtle Wilks Community Center, Cisco. South Pioneer Al-Anon Group, 8 p.m., 3157 Russell Ave. Unity Group of Alcoholics Anonymous, 8 p.m., Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest, 602 Meander St. Hendrick Hospice Care sponsors a 'Gone But Not Lost' support group the second Thursday of each month for any bereaved parent who has lost a child of any age. Information: 325-677-8516 or 1-800-622-8516. FRIDAY West Texas Fair & Rodeo The West Texas Fair & Rodeo will be open from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. at the Taylor County Expo Center Admission will be free until 1 p.m. The midway will open at 5 p.m. Admission is $8 for adults and $4 for students, and free for college students with I.D. Dance DESDEMONA A dance will begin at 7 p.m. at the Desdemona Activity Center. Admission is $5. Concessions will open at 6 p.m. 'Bringing Up Baby' As part of the Paramount Film Series, 'Bringing Up Baby' will be shown at 7:30 p.m. at the Paramount Theatre, 352 Cypress St. Film historian Robert Holladay will give a lecture on the film at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $6 for adults and $5 for students, seniors, military and children. For more information, visit paramount-abilene.org. Dance OPLIN A dance featuring Midnight Blue will be 7:30-10:30 p.m. at the Oplin Community Center. Admission is $5. Information: www.grandoleoplin.com. Other ... Blood drive, 9 a.m. to noon, Abilene Dermatology, 3190 Antilley Road. Abilene Chinese Corner, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Abilene Christian University library. lld09a@acu.edu. Disabled American Veterans and Auxiliary, 6 p.m., 2555 Grape St. 325-793-9699 or 325-480-6175. Mid-City Al-Anon, 7 p.m., First Christian Church. 325-670-4304. Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and three-fourths of their fellow Americans say prescription drugs cost too much. They're right, and the two candidates even agree on a couple of good strategies to try to keep prices down: Allow Medicare to negotiate on behalf of its 40 million beneficiaries, and let Americans buy drugs from countries where quality is well monitored. Yet neither of these strategies addresses head-on the No. 1 reason that drug spending is rising so much. The main culprit, according to research from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, is that the government grants extraordinarily long periods of market exclusivity for new drugs. The Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Patent Office together give new drugs monopoly rights that last anywhere from eight and a half to 15-plus years. This helps explain why brand-name drugs account for 72 percent of drug spending in the U.S. even though they represent only 10 percent of prescriptions. Since 2008, prices for the most commonly used branded drugs have risen 164 percent far faster than other medical costs. The U.S. spends more than twice what other industrialized countries spend on drugs. The problem would not be nearly so severe if the drugs' government-granted monopolies were shorter. Once generic versions are allowed to compete, a medicine's price often drops by almost half, sometimes more than 85 percent, if enough competitors jump into the market. Yet the government tends to do the opposite, the Brigham and Women's researchers found, by extending market exclusivity via additional patents for trivial alterations a new coating on a pill, for example. This is nonsensical: Unless a drug is transformed in a way that affects its therapeutic value, it should not qualify for an extended patent. Drugmakers often stretch their own market exclusivity by paying generics companies to delay introducing competitive medicines. The government, which is protecting these companies' monopoly rights, should demand an end to this tactic. Federal drug regulators should also require that manufacturers disclose the prices they negotiate with their various customers including all the rebates and discounts they allow. Not only would this help all private payers negotiate lower prices, it would create a more healthy marketplace. To have an impact, however, all this information about both cost and effectiveness needs to be put to good use. In America's disjointed health care system, too many doctors remain blissfully unaware of what they're asking patients and their insurers to spend, the researchers found. Doctors also need to be aware of lower-cost alternatives generics, of course, but also other medicines and therapies that can treat the same symptoms as well or better in other ways. So-called comparative effectiveness studies are needed for all drugs. Yes, it makes sense to grant a company an exclusive license to sell a new medicine. But it's also important to know exactly how valuable that medicine is. Bloomberg News Advertisement - Continue Reading Below This just in... Chinese workers observe the steel production process at a plant owned by Dongbei Special Steel Group Co., Ltd., in Dalian, northeastern China's Liaoning province, Apr. 14, 2016. China's government is pushing local authorities to move faster on closing surplus steel mills and coal mines under international pressure as a struggle takes shape over who will pay for the costs. The government's top planning agency has issued warnings since July that many provinces are far behind schedule for cutting production capacity in the steel and coal industries this year. China is the world's biggest producer of both coal and steel, accounting for about half of global output in both industries. But its huge excess of production capacity has dragged prices and profits down, triggering international trade penalties, high tariffs and pressure for cuts. China has responded with pledges to reduce its capacity by up to 500 million tons of coal and 150 million metric tons of steel in "the next few years." The planned reductions for this year have been off to a slow start as mines and mills take advantage of short-term price hikes that have been spurred by economic stimulus projects. The slow pace of cuts was previewed as a major issue for the Group of 20 economic summit in China's eastern city of Hangzhou over the weekend after U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said that President Barack Obama would "press for action on excess capacity, most notably in the steel industry." "Excess capacity distorts markets and the environment, harms our workers and runs counter to our efforts to achieve strong, sustainable and balanced growth," Lew said at the Brookings Institution in Washington last week, according to MarketWatch news. In the run-up to the summit, China fought to keep overcapacity off the G20 agenda. "The G20 should focus on core issues in order to restore its leadership and power of execution, instead of discussing unnecessary issues," said a pre-summit commentary in the official English-language China Daily. Excess capacity But President Xi Jinping was unable to silence calls for deeper capacity cutting by China despite warning G20 leaders in his opening speech to "avoid empty talk" and "protectionism." Critics of China's overcapacity succeeded in including the issue in the draft of the G20 communique, but the wording reflected China's insistence that other nations share responsibility for the problem. "We recognize that excess capacity in steel and other industries is a global issue which requires collective responses," the draft said, as cited by Bloomberg News. The wording was echoed in China's official summary of the bilateral meeting between Presidents Obama and Xi. The White House summary said the presidents "discussed China's role in addressing industrial excess capacity ... as part of a global effort." The compromise language did little to ease the conflict over the capacity issue, particularly with regard to steel. "Overcapacity is a global problem but there is a particular Chinese element," European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told a press conference in Hangzhou, Reuters reported. In the G20 final communique, China's critics won a partial victory with language that cited steel subsidies as a cause of "market distortions" and "global excess capacity." The communique also called for formation of a "global forum" to monitor steel excess capacity, a move that China had opposed. "In terms of excess capacity, this is an issue that we wanted to get on the agenda. We got it on the agenda," President Obama said at a post-summit press conference Monday. "So, we've made some progress, not as much as we'd like to see," he said. Walking the walk On Saturday, Xi assured business leaders at the companion B20 summit that China would honor its previous pledges. "China will use the utmost effort and most concrete measures regarding production overcapacity; it walks the walk," Xi said, according to the official website china.org.cn. In an effort to ease international pressure, China's central government has been trying to speed up its capacity cuts. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) initially complained on July 26 that local governments and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) had achieved only 29 percent of the targeted closures in coal production capacity for 2016 by midyear. Five provinces had made substantial progress toward the national goal of reducing the surplus by 250 million metric tons, but nine others had made none at all, the official Xinhua news agency said. The warning to the coal industry came one day after a senior official disclosed that steel makers had also met only 29 percent of their annual target of 45 million tons in the first six months. Feng Fei, vice minister for industry and information technology, took a milder view of the foot-dragging, saying the midyear pace of cuts was "in line with our expectations." The cabinet-level State Council apparently disagreed. On July 27, it issued a statement after a meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang, urging "all-out efforts" to meet the targets and threatening the industries with penalties if they did not. On Aug. 5, the NDRC reported partial but still insufficient progress. Coal companies had made 38 percent of the cuts after seven months while the steel sector had reached 47 percent of its 2016 goal, the agency said. "Currently, progress clearly lags behind our official schedule," said NDRC deputy director Lian Weiliang. Uncooperative coal producers faced "punitive measures including forced shutdowns," Xinhua reported on Aug. 11. Lian cited little or no compliance by provincial-level governments in Inner Mongolia, Fujian, Guangxi, Ningxi, Xinjiang, Jiangxi, Sichuan and Yunnan, according to Xinhua. A Chinese worker packs steel rolls in a steel factory in Tangshan, northern China's Hebei province, May 12, 2016. Credit: AFP Stiff resistance Stiff resistance to downsizing in the steel industry has been bolstered by first-half financial results, thanks to the government's own economic stimulus policies. The combined profits of 19 reporting steelmakers climbed to 2.3 billion yuan (U.S. $344 million) at midyear, compared with losses of 1.57 billion yuan (U.S. $235 million) in the year-earlier period, Xinhua said. Other reports suggest that the costs of laying off an estimated 1.8 million workers in the two industries is at least as big a reason for stalling as short-term profits, despite the central government's promise of a 100-billion- yuan (U.S. $15-billion) fund for resettlement and other support. State media reports since February may have left the impression that the funds from the central government would be spent directly on resettling and compensating idled workers. "Local governments have also been providing support, such as unemployment insurance and payments to the unemployed," Xinhua said on Aug. 11. But a report by the London-based Financial Times said the funds are being used "to reward local governments and companies for making good progress on cuts," citing Lian's statement on Aug. 19 that 30.7 billion yuan (U.S. $4.6 billion) had already been spent. The account suggests that the central government is continuing to hold the companies and local authorities responsible for the costs of supporting jobless workers and complying with Beijing's targets. Lian also seemed to suggest that the companies could find it cheaper to keep operations open rather than paying the partially-compensated costs of shutting them down. "During the process of reducing capacity, companies face problems with resettling workers and managing debt. If we are solely relying on the market, then companies might not want to cut back," he said. Some provinces have promised "awards" to steel and coal companies that agree to make cuts and compensate workers. Six state-owned coal producers in Shanxi provinces have already received 1 billion yuan (U.S. $150 million), while steel and coal companies in Henan province have been promised nearly 2.2 billion yuan (U.S. $326 million), Xinhua reported Monday. Complex forces at work The situation is a sign of the complex forces at work as the central government tries to persuade the European Union and other trading partners to grant China "market economy status" by December, as provided in World Trade Organization agreements. The designation would make it harder for the EU to slap anti-dumping duties on Chinese exports like steel, a benefit that may be passed on indirectly to struggling producers. But even if the government's targets are met, they may represent only a fraction of China's overcapacity problem. The country's steelmaking capacity may exceed annual production by as much as 400 million tons, while its coal mines could produce up to 2 billion tons more than China consumed last year. Philip Andrews-Speed, a China energy expert at National University of Singapore, said overcapacity has been a source of conflict between Beijing and local authorities for years. "Local governments have long resisted central government programs to close capacity, and this applies to coal mines as much as to factories," Andrews-Speed said. In the late 1990s, township and village authorities resisted attempts to shut down their mines following the Asian financial crisis as the central government tried to protect larger state-owned producers, he said. "In all cases, local governments try to keep local businesses and mines going in order to support employment ... economic growth and tax revenue," Andrews-Speed said by email. But in the case of coal, he also cited differences between closing a mine and a factory, which can be demolished to eliminate production capacity while mining resources remain in the ground. "It is more difficult to make a coal resource completely inaccessible. As a result, a mine can be closed and then reopened very easily unless the local government actively supports the closure policy," Andrews-Speed said. The problem raises the question of how meaningful China's capacity cuts will be, even if the government's goals are achieved. A recent Xinhua report from Inner Mongolia may raise suspicions that some provincial-level governments have been counting declines in production as their contributions to permanent capacity cuts. Wang Bingjun, head of the regional commission on the economy and information technology, said that 23 illegal mines had been ordered to close and 65 more would be shut by 2020. "Other mines have been ordered to run at 84 percent of their production capacity, resulting in (a) 10.4-percent reduction in output," Xinhua said. Cambodians hold images of Kem Ley, a Cambodian political analyst who was shot dead in broad daylight on July 10, during a funeral procession for him in Phnom Penh, July 24, 2016. The attorney handling an international criminal case against Cambodias ruling elite says he plans to ask the International Criminal Court based in The Hague to expand the case to include government critic Kem Leys murder. We plan to file another legal brief soon about the assassination of Kem Ley, said Richard Rogers, a partner at the London-based law firm Global Diligence. Theres sufficient circumstantial evidence to suggest that this, too, was a politically motivated killing, Rogers told RFAs Khmer Service. The ICC complaint was originally filed in 2014 on behalf of 10 Cambodians who are allegedly the victims of government land confiscations. The case argues that land grabs in Cambodia have been carried out by the countrys ruling elite" on such a massive scale that they count as crimes against humanity. While the land-grab portion of the case has caught the most international attention, another section of the case centers on political persecution. Rogers said the case and related briefs have cited many, many examples of political persecution and that Kem Leys murder falls into that category. The prosecutor will be more likely to open the case if she sees that the crimes are ongoing, Rogers explained in the Sept. 2 interview. Investigation of the case at the ICC is still in its early stages, but Rogers thinks the court is preparing to decide if it will now move forward. They cant tell me exactly what they are going to decide, but what they have told me is that this is one of the two or three cases they are taking very seriously, and that we should have a decision by the end of the year, he said. Getting into the ICC bloodstream If the ICC moves on to the next step, it will decide whether or not to take on a preliminary examination, he said. That still sounds like an early stage in the prosecution process, but it is actually a massive step, he said. What it means is that the case finally gets into the bloodstream of the ICC, and it will remain there until it becomes a fully fledged investigation with all the resources and legal power of the ICC behind it. Rogers says that only a handful of cases have made it to the preliminary examination stage in the 14-year history of the court. There have only been about 15 to 20 cases that have made it to the preliminary examination stage, he said. I am more confident than ever that it will make it to that stage. Kem Ley was gunned down in broad daylight on July 10 when he stopped in a Star Mart convenience store beside a Caltex gas station in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. Though authorities charged former soldier Oueth Ang with the killing, many in Cambodia dont believe the governments story that Kem Ley was killed by the former soldier over a debt. Just days before he was gunned down, Kem Ley had discussed on an RFA Khmer Service call-in show a report by London-based Global Witness detailing the extent of the wealth of the family of Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for 31 years. Slow justice While Rogers wants to include the Kem Ley murder in the case at The Hague, in Cambodia the investigation into his death appears to be going nowhere fast. A representative of Kem Leys family, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told RFA the family is still too occupied with Kem Leys 100-day funeral ceremony to seek justice for him. The 100-day ceremony is an important Buddhist ritual where prayers for the dead are chanted exactly 100 days after a person is cremated. Kem Leys 100-day ceremony is set to take place for three days from Oct. 14 to Oct. 16. Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights (CENTRAL) executive director Moeun Tola, who once asserted that he would provide Kem Leys family with a lawyer, said the family has not yet reached out to him for legal assistance. Kem Ley's widow Bou Rachana and their children have taken temporary refuge in Thailand, sources familiar with the family's movements told RFA last month. They have received refugee status from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and are waiting for the UNHCR's decision to move them to a third country, according to sources. Paris Peace Questions Meanwhile, the opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP), which has often been on the receiving end of government persecution, is calling for signatories to the Paris Peace Accord to hold the government of Cambodia accountable. According to local press accounts, the government on Tuesday snarled traffic in Phnom Penh when a few CNRP lawmakers delivered petitions to embassies representing the signatories to the 1991 agreement that ended the Cambodian-Vietnamese War. As Cambodian foreign minister and then prime minister, Hun Sen played an important role in the 1991 Paris Peace Talks that brokered peace among Cambodias warring factions. The current political development is against the Paris Peace Accord of 1991, CNRPs senior lawmaker Mu Sochua said. The agreement is about national reconciliation, a multiparty system, and respect for human rights. However, what we see now is an abuse of the democratic process. Mu Sochua said the massive traffic jams caused by police as they set up barricades on Sept. 6 was just a small example of the extremes to which the ruling government will go to throttle dissent. Our headquarters was blocked by heavily armed forces since five in the morning, she said. They can set up road blocks at our headquarters, but they cannot block our will. Reported by Chandara Yang, Moniroth Morm, and Nareth Muong for RFA's Khmer Service. Translated by Nareth Muong. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. An independent candidate in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangxi has vowed to run in forthcoming elections to his local People's Congress in spite of official threats and periods of detention. Yang Tingjian, who also goes by the pen-name Yang Wei, says he will go ahead with his bid for election to the Hecheng township People's Congress on Sept. 9 despite being kept under 24-hour surveillance by local authorities. "They have threatened me and my family, saying that we should be careful," he said. "I was already detained for 10 days, which isn't long, but now I am stuck at home when I should be out canvassing for votes." Yang's father said the family home is now being watched round the clock. "Officials from the village government have posted people to stand guard outside our front door, 24 hours a day," Yang's father told RFA. "They are always there, watching him," he said. "They stopped him from going out to publicize his candidacy and platform." "Whenever they try to stop him going out to that, there are altercations." Earlier, Yang told the Hubei-based rights website Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch that he would fight "to the death" for his right to run. A last resort Yang, whose candidacy registration was rejected on the grounds that he isn't a member of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, has now left a statement billed as a "last will and testament," in case anything worse happens to him ahead of Friday's poll. His "last wishes" include his daughter traveling to the United States to pursue her education. "This is a last resort," he told RFA. "Trying to talk reason with them simply doesn't work." Yang was placed under 10 days' administrative detention after an altercation with officials when he went to consult law books to prove that nonparty members also have the right to stand. China's electoral guidelines state that candidates may put themselves forward if they receive recommendations from at least 10 local voters in direct elections to district and township level People's Congresses. Overall, there are five levels of hierarchy in the People's Congress system, with the National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing at the top. 'All may stand' According to a summary of the country's election law published in the English-language China Daily newspaper: "All citizens of the People's Republic of China who have reached the age of 18 have the right to vote and stand for election, regardless of ethnic background, race, sex, occupation, family background, religious belief, education level, property status or length of residence." In practice, state-run media has said that there is "no such thing" as an independent candidate, and those who try to use such elections as a platform to represent the least privileged in society soon find themselves the target of official retaliation. Every 3 to 5 years, China "elects" more than 2 million lawmakers at the county and township levels across the country to local-level People's Congresses in more than 2,000 counties and 30,000 townships. But powerful vested interests mean that the majority of local "elections" are a fait accompli, consolidating the power of local leaders. Local party officials have previously used intimidation and detention, tampering with physical ballot boxes, and paying for extra votes to maintain their grip on the outcome. Apart from a token group of "democratic parties" that never oppose or criticize the ruling party, opposition political parties are banned in China, and those who set them up are frequently handed lengthy jail terms. Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Detained former Wukan village party secretary Lin Zuluan is shown in a file photo in 2014. Thousands of residents of a rebel village in China's southern province of Guangdong took to the streets on Tuesday ahead of the trial of their former leader on graft charges. Shouting "Give us back our Party Secretary! Release Party Secretary Lin!" the protesters surged onto the streets of Wukan village near Guangdong's Lufeng city in protest at the formal arrest and imminent trial of Lin Zuluan, who was appointed leader in 2012 after heading a successful campaign of peaceful protests over lost farmland. Lin was held on suspicion of "accepting bribes" since June, according to an online statement by the Shanwei municipal government, which oversees Wukan but was sidelined by provincial authorities in the resolution of 2011 clashes in the village. Prosecutors have accused Lin of pocketing a large sum of money through contracting village infrastructure projects, and he has "confessed" on local television. But local people remember earlier clashes in 2011, when Lin directed a series of nonviolent protests over the mass selloff of land by his predecessor Xue Chang, during which protester Xue Jinbo died in police custody, igniting mass displays of public mourning that further kindled public anger. Protests were restarted earlier this year after a committee charged with buying back the land stalled amid a network of vested interests in local government. "It's been more than two months now, and people are still coming out in protest every day," a Wukan resident surnamed Liu told RFA. "There are still protests every day, starting at 5.00 p.m." "We come out and shout slogans. This has been going on for 77 or 78 days now," Liu said. Warned to stop Local authorities issued a police notice on Monday warning residents to stop their protests and threatening to pursue those responsible with a criminal investigation. Liu said police are visiting the homes of protesters to put pressure on them to stop their demonstrations. "The Lufeng police put out a statement telling people not to get involved in the Wukan dispute ... and that anyone who did would be sent to the police," Liu said. But he said most protesters have vowed not to give up their protests until Lin is released. Grassroots election expert and former independent People's Congress deputy Yao Lifa told RFA that Lin's family was recently informed that his trial would start on Thursday at the Chancheng District People's Court in Guangdong's Foshan city. "They don't want any media attention at Lin's trial, nor do they want it to become a focus for nongovernment groups," Yao said. Online reports indicate that some visitor permits will be granted for the trial, however. An employee who answered the phone at the Chancheng district court on Tuesday declined to comment. "You need to call the filing chamber about this," the employee said. Calls to the number provided rang unanswered during office hours on Tuesday. Calls to the Lufeng municipal government offices and police department also rang unanswered during office hours on Tuesday. Lawyers denied access Two rights lawyers hired by Lin's family to represent him have been denied access to their client, and were warned off taking the case by local authorities, who appointed their own lawyers instead. In 2011, Wukan's villagers manned barricades to stop police from entering their homes and detaining any more people as the standoff hit world headlines. Their cause was eventually taken up by the Guangdong provincial authorities, who overruled local officials in Lufeng, removing Xue Chang from his post on corruption charges and ordering a one-person, one-vote election for his replacement that was also widely publicized. But while Lin was made head of the village committee and several of the 2011 protest leaders were elected as a result, very little was done to retrieve Wukan's lost farmland, villagers said. Then, in July 2014, former protest leaders Hong Ruichao and Yang Semao, who had both served on the newly elected village committee, were jailed for four and two years respectively for "accepting bribes." Relatives said the charges against them were trumped-up by local officials in an act of political revenge. Earlier this year, villagers persuaded Lin to mastermind a new land petition campaign, but he was detained before he could launch it, setting renewed street protests in motion. Reported by Wong Lok-to for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. President Obama on Tuesday said the United States has a moral obligation to help Laos heal as he pledged $90 million over the next three years to help clear the county of unexploded bombs the U.S dropped on the country during the Vietnam War. Given our history here, the U.S .has a moral obligation to help Laos heal, Obama told about 1,000 people at the Lao National Cultural Hall in the capital of Vientiane. At the time, the U.S. government did not acknowledge Americas role [in Laos]. It was a secret war, and for years, the American people did not know, he said. Even now, many Americans are not fully aware of this chapter in our history, and its important that we remember today. The U.S. dropped hundreds of tons of bombs on Laos during the war, but one-third of those failed to explode, and 20,000 people have been killed or injured by unexploded ordinance (UXO) in Laos since the bombing ended, according to the organization Legacies of War. The U.S. has already contributed $100 million to the effort over the last 20 years, and annual deaths from the explosions have fallen from more than 300 to fewer than 50, the White House said. While Obama said too few Americans know of the United States' covert bombing of Laos during the Vietnam War, he offered no apologies for the bombing itself. Whatever the cause, whatever our intentions, war inflicts a terrible toll, especially on innocent men, women, and children, he said. Today, I stand with you in acknowledging the suffering and sacrifices on all sides of that conflict. Hate belongs to that era Obamas commitment was embraced by at least one victim of unexploded ordinance, who told RFAs Lao Service that the war now seems like it belongs to a different era. You ask me if I still hate Americans. Let me answer you frankly. I never think of hate, because hate belongs to that era, said the victim, who requested anonymity. This present time is the present era, he added. We cant think of the past. If we think of the past it will be haunting us forever. Despite the lack of apology, the bomb victim said he hopes his nation and the United States can now move forward, and that Obama will press the Lao government to allow more freedom inside his country. I want the Lao and U.S. governments to reconcile with each other, to forget about the past, he said. I want to send my hope to president Obama to talk to the Lao government, asking the Lao government to let the Lao people have more freedoms like other countries in the world. The president arrived in Laos late Monday after attending the Group of 20 summit in Hangzhou, China, for a series of meetings this week focusing on security, terrorism, natural disasters, and other regional issues. Laos is this years chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and is hosting the ASEAN summit in Vientiane. Reported and translated by RFA's Lao Service. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. More than 2,000 Buddhist hardliners demonstrated in the capital of western Myanmars Rakhine state on Tuesday against a government advisory commission headed by former United Nations chief Kofi Annan that will examine the restive areas religious conflict and human rights situation. Rakhine is home to more than 1.1 million stateless Rohingya Muslims whom many Burmese call Bengalis because they consider them illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh. The Buddhist majority have long subjected the Rohingya to persecution and attacks and denied them basic rights, including citizenship. The Arakan National Party (ANP), an ethno-centric political party in Rakhine state, led two protests in Sittweone in which about 2,000 residents and monks protested near the citys airport and another in which 200 people protested near state government offices, said Aung Than Wai, ANP secretary in Sittwe. The ANP and local Buddhists object to the inclusion of Annan and two other foreigners on the nine-member commission created by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi on Aug. 24, saying that Rakhines situation should be handled domestically. The commission, whose other six members are from Myanmar, is on an initial two-day visit to meet local communities in Rakhine. The world might not know [ethnic] Rakhine peoples feelings, protester Thein Kyaw told RFAs Myanmar Service. Foreigners cant know our feelings. We dont want foreigners to interfere in our problems. Protester Kyawt May said: Whenever they [foreigners] come to the state, they only work for Bengalis, and they tell the world that the Rakhine people have discriminated against the Muslims. Thats why we have suffered. Aung Than Wai also noted that a previous investigative committee had been formed in 2012 just after communal violence between Buddhists and the Rohingya left more than 200 dead and tens of thousands displaced. That commission submitted a report with suggestions for the township and state levels, but these suggestions have not been implemented yet, he said. The current government must continue working on the implementation of these suggestions, because they have to be transferred from the previous governments responsibility. Former U.N. Chief Kofi Annan and members of the advisory commission arrive in Sittwe, western Myanmar's Rakhine state, Sept. 6, 2016. RFA Meetings go on Despite the protests, Annan and the other members of the commission met with 32 people, including community leaders and officials from civil society organizations, who could see the members of the commission but were not allowed to address them, local residents said. But when Annan and Kyaw Tint Swe, minister of the State Counselors Office, said they wanted to hear what locals had to say, the meeting was abruptly ended, they said. We were told previously that we could express our feelings, opinions, and suggestions, but the meeting was stopped a short time before we were supposed to speak, said Maung Than Sein, a community leader in Sittwe. We dont know why that is. Maung Than Sein said his group had planned to talk about why the Rohingya do not qualify as an ethnic group in Myanmar, according to the countrys history and its previous military-backed government. Sittwe community leader Than Tun said he expected to speak directly with Annan, but felt insulted when he wasnt given the opportunity to do so. It means they didnt want to listen to ethnic Rakhine peoples voices, he said. We had just a little trust in this commission before and now weve lost it because of what happened today. Although we dont know who is responsible for this event, the commission made a bad impression because of it. Commission member Saw Khin Tint, chairwoman of the Rakhine Literature and Culture Association in Yangon and vice chairwoman of the Rakhine Womens Association, expressed surprise that locals could not address them. We were happy when we saw Rakhine representatives so that we could listen to what they had to say, but we were not able to listen to them, she said. I dont know why. The commission also held a closed-door meeting with Rakhine state government officials, Rakhine chief minister Nyi Pu and other ministers, and local Muslim leaders. The commission will meet with Buddhist monks, Muslim leaders, and coordinators from refugee camps on Wednesday. They will also visit the camps where about 120,000 Rohingya, who were part of a larger group displaced by the communal violence four years ago, currently live. Lawmakers reject proposal Meanwhile in the administrative capital Naypyidaw, lawmakers in the lower house rejected a proposal on Tuesday 250-140 to reform the Rakhine commission after ANP senior leader and lawmaker Oo Hla Saw questioned Aung San Suu Kyis mandate on the body. Last Tuesday, ANP lawmaker Aung Kyaw Zan submitted the proposal to reconsider the appointments of the three foreigners to the commission. Two days later, the ANP sent a letter to the government demanding that the commission be disbanded, arguing that the foreigners would not be able to grasp the history and current situation in ethnically diverse Rakhine. Thirty-four members of parliament (MPs) from the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party, ANP, military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), and military deputies discussed the proposal to exclude foreigners from the commission. The 22 NLD lawmakers rejected it, saying that they believe the Rakhine problem will be resolved because Annan, one of the most respected people in the world, was leading the commission. The NLD doesnt consider us dialogue partners, said Oo Hla Saw. Kofi Annan suggested to the NLD before the commission was formed that it should hold talks with Rakhine parties, but the NLD didnt listen to him. Furthermore, he said, the state counselor does not have the right to form commissions. Thats why this commission is not legitimate, he said. Even when a commission must be formed, it shouldnt include any foreigners. The remaining MPs who discussed the proposal had been in favor of further discussions about the proposal, pointing out that the issue would not be resolved because ethnic Rakhine people wont accept any foreigners on the commission. They contended that the three should be replaced by local experts and academics. We should think about whether we should trust the commissions report because a foreigner has been appointed as commission chairman, and there are no members on the commission that people trust, Lieutenant Colonel Mya Oo, a military MP. We should be very careful because a local problem may become an international issue, and it is like we are welcoming international interference so that the countrys sovereignty could be harmed, he said. Reported by Min Thein Aung for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Authorities in southwestern Chinas Sichuan province have freed a Tibetan monk at the end of a seven-and-a-half prison term served for activities opposing Beijings rule in Tibetan areas, Tibetan sources say. Jamyang Phuntsok, formerly enrolled in Ngaba (in Chinese, Aba) countys Kirti monastery and also known as Jamkho, was released on Sept. 2 from Sichuans Mianyang prison and returned home the next day amid police warnings that no public welcome should be held, a source living in the area told RFAs Tibetan Service. However, upon his release, friends and relatives and other residents of [Phuntsoks] Julu village turned out in large numbers to greet him with traditional offering scarves, RFAs source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. People from nearby villages were still coming to welcome him home on Sept. 3, and he was also invited to a local picnic in a gesture of solidarity and support, he said. Asked about his experiences in prison, Phuntsok said that things had not been too bad for him and that he had not suffered much, but he was visibly more thin following his release, the source said. Phuntsok, then 36, was taken into custody at Kirti monastery by Chinese police on March 3, 2009, on suspicion of spreading news of Tibetan protests to outside contacts, Chinese state media reported at the time he was detained. He was also charged with falsely alleging that Chinese police had shot a Kirti monk named Tabey, after the monk had set himself on fire in 2009 in the first self-immolation protest reported in a Tibetan area of China, Chinas Xinhua news agency said. Sporadic demonstrations challenging Beijings rule have continued in Tibetan-populated areas of China since widespread protests swept the region in 2008. A total of 145 Tibetans living in China have now set themselves ablaze in self-immolations since the wave of fiery protests began in 2009, with most protests featuring calls for Tibetan freedom and the Dalai Lamas return from India, where he has lived since escaping Tibet during a failed national uprising in 1959. Reported by Kunsang Tenzin for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has warned European allies against the dangers of appeasement in the face of "Russian aggression." In his annual speech to the country's parliament on September 6, he cast doubt on the resolve of some countries to back Ukraine as it battles Russia-backed separatists in the east of the country. In the face of their own political crises, he said, some European politicians could be heard speaking with a "Russian accent." (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service) The Estonian military says Russian aircraft violated Estonian airspace over the Baltic Sea, the fourth such violation by Russia this year. The military said in a statement on September 6 that a Russian Antonov An-72 transport plane was in Estonian airspace without permission for about 90 seconds near the Baltic Sea's Vaindloo Island. It said the Russian plane was not in contact with Estonian air-traffic controllers and had flown some 2.2 kilometers inside Estonian airspace. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov told journalists on September 6 that no Russian planes "violated Estonia's airspace in the vicinity of Vaindloo Island." He claimed that no Russian An-72s flew on September 6 in the area cited by Estonian officials. The Russian Embassy in Estonia said its ambassador had been handed a protest note by Tallinn officials. Several NATO countries have reported airspace violations by Russian aircraft this year. Turkey shot down a Russian warplane late last year that it said was violating its airspace, something Turkish military officials said had happened several times and that Moscow had been warned about. Based on reporting by dpa and TASS World-renowned neurosurgeon Juha Hernesniemi was in Helsinki at about 2 p.m. on August 27 when he received an urgent phone call from Central Asia. Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov was hospitalized in Tashkent after suffering a brain hemorrhage. According to the Uzbek government's official medical report, an unconscious Karimov had been taken to the Central Clinical Hospital in Tashkent about two hours earlier, at 9 a.m. Tashkent time. A cranial CT scan revealed that Karimov suffered a "massive subarachnoid hemorrhage" -- a stroke caused by a ruptured blood vessel in the fluid-filled space between his brain and the thin tissues that cover the brain. Karimov's heart had stopped, but the official medical report said medical teams managed to get his heart beating again after 20 minutes of resuscitation attempts. Karimov was left in an "atonic coma," however. The function of his brain stem were inhibited and he was put on life support to keep him breathing. Authorities in Uzbekistan wanted Hernesniemi to travel to Tashkent as quickly as possible to assess the president's condition and recommend any possible treatment -- including brain surgery, if necessary. Soon after he agreed to make the journey, a private plane met Hernesniemi in Helsinki and whisked him away to Uzbekistan, stopping first in Germany. It was August 28 by the time Hernesniemen arrived at the Central Clinical Hospital in Tashkent and found himself standing beside Karimov's bed. Hernesniemi told the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle) that it was clear that the "game was over" for Karimov because, "in practical terms," he was already "brain dead." He said he gave his professional opinion that "surgery did not make any sense at that point" and that it was pointless to continue treatment. Hernesniemi said he was at the hospital when German and Russian medical experts gave their opinions. According to the Uzbek government's official report, the German and Russian experts included Hugo Katus from University Hospital Heidelberg, Amir Samii from the International Neuroscience Institute in Hannover, and Leo Bokeria, the head of the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at Moscow State Medical University. The official medical report said Gilles Dreyfus, the medical director at the Cardiothoracic Center of Monaco, was also consulted about Karimov's condition. Hernesniemi told Yle that once the experts had given their assessments, the "power game" began. Asked to elaborate, Hernesniemi said he was referring to situations like the deaths of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon -- where a politically important person falls into a coma with severe brain damage, but is kept clinically alive on a life-support machine while others take steps to establish a political successor. Karimov remained on life support through Uzbekistan's celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of the country's independence from the Soviet Union on September 1. On August 31, amid rumors of Karimov's death and conjecture over who might succeed him, a broadcaster for Uzbek state TV read out the text of an Independence Day speech traditionally delivered by Karimov. In the absence of any official government statement about Karimov's condition or the reason for his hospitalization, his daughter Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva posted messages on social media announcing that he had suffered a brain hemorrhage and was in "stable" condition. She also implied that Karimov was still alive and there was a chance of "recovery." But on the morning of September 2, after Uzbekistan's Independence Day celebrations had concluded, it was announced that Karimov was in "critical condition." He was officially pronounced dead at 8:55 p.m. on September 2. Written by Ron Synovitz with reporting by RFE/RL's Uzbek Service and Yle correspondent Matti Koivisto The Afghan Interior Ministry says security forces have killed the last gunman involved in an attack in an upscale neighborhood that is home to many government facilities and the headquarters of many foreign organizations. Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said in a message posted on Twitter on September 6 that all three attackers who took hostages in a siege that lasted nearly 11 hours in the Shar-e Now (New City) neighborhood were now dead. Earlier, Sediqqi said one civilian had been killed and six others wounded in the attack. The attack started with a suicide bombing around midnight on September 5. "Forty-two people including 10 foreigners have been rescued," Sediqqi said. The charity Care International said that the armed group launched the attack on an Afghan government compound near to its Kabul office. It said all its staff members were evacuated, safe, and accounted for. The three gunmen had reportedly barricaded themselves in close to an office of Care International. That attack came just hours after a separate Taliban double bombing killed at least 24 people and injured 90 others elsewhere in the capital. The twin suicide bombings on September 5 struck a busy area near the Afghan Defense Ministry, with one army general, and two senior police commanders among the dead. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter on September 5 that the Defense Ministry was the target of the first attack, while police were targeted in the second. Based on reporting by AFP, dpa, and Reuters Russian prosecutors have arrested two associates of billionaire Viktor Vekselberg on bribery charges after masked officers raided his Renova conglomerate offices. The powerful Investigative Committee said on September 5 that the detained men -- Renova chief managing director Yevgeny Olkhovik and Boris Vainzikher, currently chief executive of Renova's T Plus Group -- were involved in bribing officials connected with a power-generation project in the remote Komi region. Russian news agencies reported that Federal Security Service (FSB) officers in black balaclavas raided Renova and T Plus Group offices on September 5. Vekselberg is listed by Forbes magazine as Russia's sixth-richest person with a fortune of $11.3 billion. Investigators said they are also searching for another suspect, Mikhail Slobodin, the head of Russia's division of the VimpelCom telecom group, which is controlled by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman. Slobodin told the Vedomosti business daily that he was in France and was ready to answer any questions. The suspects are alleged to have bribed top officials in Komi with more than 800 million rubles ($12.28 million) between 2007 and 2014 to get better conditions for doing business. Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the FSB to investigate problems with "swindling and slackness" in Komi. Based on reporting by AFP, TASS, and Interfax An Azerbaijani author who has endured years of intimidation after writing about massacres of ethnic Armenians in his country was summoned by the Prosecutor-General's Office in Baku on September 6. Akram Aylisli, a playwright and novelist who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, told RFE/RL that prosecutors informed him about an investigation against him on charges of "using violence against government representatives." Azerbaijans border police allege the 78-year-old Aylisli physically assaulted them at Baku International Airport on March 30 when he was prevented from traveling to a literary festival in Venice, Italy. Aylisli denies the charges, saying they are politically motivated. Since publication in late 2012 of his novella Stone Dreams, Aylisli has had his books burned in Baku, his pension revoked, and his writings removed form Azerbaijani schools. He also has survived threats by the leader of the pro-government Modern Musavat party, who offered a $13,000 bounty to anyone who would cut off one of Aylisli's ears. Stone Dreams portrays brutal campaigns against ethnic Armenians by Aylisli's fellow Azerbaijanis, contradicting Bakus official narrative on events during the war in the countrys breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Bosnia is currently facing its biggest existential crisis since the end of the war in 1995. The president of Republika Srpska, one of the two constituent entities of Bosnia-Herzegovina established by the Dayton agreement, has perhaps finally dared to reach for what many have long suspected was his ultimate goal -- secession, and the breakup of the country. Milorad Dodik is now actively pursuing the creation of a state within the state. To make matters worse, there is nobody in the other half of Bosnia (the Muslim-Croat Federation) to stop him, or even to make a sober political statement. The immediate cause of the current crisis is the looming referendum on the entitys Statehood Day, set for September 25 in defiance of both the countrys constitutional court and the international community. Each year, Serbs in Republika Srpska have been celebrating January 9 as Statehood Day. However, this is not the date when the Dayton peace agreement was signed and when the Serb republic was officially recognized as a constituent entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Rather, January 9 marks the day in 1992 when a self-proclaimed assembly unilaterally declared the Republic of the Serb People of Bosnia. The leader of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) at the time, and the man behind the proclamation, was Radovan Karadzic, later sentenced by The Hague tribunal for war crimes, including crimes against humanity and genocide. On behalf of non-Serb inhabitants of Republika Srpska who felt that January 9 -- also an Orthodox religious holiday -- was not inclusive, and therefore inappropriate as Statehood Day, the Bosniak member of Bosnias tripartite presidency, Bakir Izetbegovic, brought the case to the Bosnian Constitutional Court. In November 2015, the Constitutional Court concluded that celebrating on January 9 was not constitutional and the authorities in Republica Srpska were duly required to change the day. In response, Dodik decided to call a plebiscite on a simple question: Do you consider January 9 suitable as Statehood Day for Republika Srpska? As the majority of Republika Srpska citizens are Serbs, the outcome is easy to predict. So the will of people will override the constitutional court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The gap between two entities -- the Serb and the Muslim-Croat -- will be wider. Even worse, many observers see the poll as a dress rehearsal for what would be an even more inflammatory referendum on secession. Taking advantage of the brewing crisis, some among the Bosnian Croats see it as a chance to create a separate Croatian entity and thus achieve their own wartime goals in Bosnia. Responding to Dodik's referendum, Bozo Ljubic, president of the main board of the Croatian National Council in Bosnia, said that Dayton has to be revisited to answer the needs of Bosnian Croats. Talking to the Croatian newspaper Vecernji List, he said that Herceg Bosna is not dead. Herceg Bosna was a little Croatian parastate during the war (1992-95). Meanwhile, Bosnian Muslim politicians are seemingly more concerned with what is happening in Turkey than in their own country. In the middle of the growing crisis in his country, Izetbegovic took part in the opening ceremony of a bridge over the Bosphorus in Turkey. He is using each and every opportunity to stress the importance of the friendship with Erdogan. They are relying on the international community to stop Dodiks referendum and failed to make meaningful comment on his meeting with the Serbian leadership on September 1. Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, probably the only politician with some influence over Dodik, gave only a cryptic statement on August 29 that his government would react responsibly and seriously if the international communitys high representative in Bosnia, Valentin Inzko, were to block the referendum in Republika Srpska. This is scarcely meant to deter Dodik. Serbia and its leadership neither supports nor opposes the referendum, Dodik concluded and added: Thats quite enough for me. The plebiscite is supposed to take place on September 25. Even a ban from the high representative, if issued, would not stop it under the present circumstances. In theory, Inzko has the power to block Dodiks referendum. His job is to safeguard the Dayton peace agreement and his intervention in this case would seem fully justified. Ignoring the Constitutional Court by going ahead with the referendum is a clear and direct challenge to the Dayton arrangement. However, any move by Inzko has to be approved by the Peace Implementation Council, which has 55 member countries and was established in 1995 to provide international support to the Dayton agreement. Russia is a member of this council and it is blocking any firm decision on the coming plebiscite. It has consistently and deliberately played the role of spoiler in the last few years, doing everything to undermine Bosnias fragile stability. In a parallel development, the Republika Srpska police forces held a joint exercise with their Serbian counterparts at the end of August. In response, war veterans in Bosnia asked to be issued live ammunition for their own war games, code-named Freedom For All. The demand came from former members of a wartime unit of the Bosnian Army named the green berets. The mere idea of the green berets exercising with any kind of ammunition is spreading fear among ordinary citizens. Ignoring calls from some foreign diplomats to give up on his referendum, Dodik continues to push the boundaries. He is all set for another piece of political theater on September 11, the date of a ceremony to mark the opening of a section of the highway between Doboj and Prnjavor. The project was financed by loans from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and is supposed to provide a better link between the towns of Doboj to Banja Luka. Controversially, the highway will be named January 9 -- a sign of Dodiks determination to promote the day he considers crucial to the identity of Republika Srpska. Dodiks moves are nothing new, although he is now attempting to formally enshrine the most virulently nationalist and divisive version of the recent past -- with little resistance home or abroad. September in Bosnia could be a dangerous month. U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has expressed "grave" concern that Russia may be interfering in the U.S. election through cyberattacks on the Democratic Party and state voting systems. "The fact that our intelligence professionals are now studying this and taking it seriously raises some grave questions about potential Russian interference with our electoral process," Clinton told reporters on her campaign plane on September 5. "We are facing a very serious concern. We've never had a foreign adversarial power be already involved in our electoral process," she said. Clinton suggested her opponent, Republican candidate Donald Trump, had a "bizarre attraction" to Russian President Vladimir Putin and other "dictators," and was either working with Russia or encouraging Russia to interfere. "I think it's quite intriguing that this activity has happened around the time Trump became the nominee," she said. Trump "has generally parroted what is a Putin-Kremlin line." "We've never had a nominee of one of our major parties urging the Russians to hack more," Clinton added, referring to a statement Trump made in July, after news emerged that Democratic Party e-mails were hacked. "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing," he said. Trump later said that he was making a joke about e-mails that Clinton allegedly deleted from her private server while she was secretary of state. Intelligence Concerns Clinton stressed that Russia's possible involvement in the election is not a joking matter. A "consensus" of U.S. intelligence officials and experts believes the hacking and release of internal Democratic National Committee e-mails last spring was orchestrated by Russian intelligence, she said. The FBI also is investigating whether Russian hackers intruded into the online voting systems of two U.S. states -- Arizona and Illinois -- and has alerted all 50 states to guard against such possible security breaches. The Obama administration has shown "great restraint" in the face of evidence that Russia was involved and has not publicly called out Russia, Clinton said. But "we are going to have to take those threats and attacks seriously." She called a Russian intrusion into the U.S. voting system "almost unthinkable," and said that Putin, who recently denied the Kremlin was involved in the hacking though he thought the release of the Democratic e-mails was a "public service," appeared "quite satisfied with himself." The United States needs to "make clear that we're not going to let anyone interfere with the decisions of the American people," she said. With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters Mohammad Nayeb-Zehi was among the hundreds of worshippers who gathered on September 30 at the Great Mosalla, a religious site in Iran's southeastern city of Zahedan, for Friday Prayers. Just hours later, the 16-year-old's family learned he was dead. Nayeb-Zehi was among the scores of people gunned down by security forces in a brutal crackdown following anti-government protests in Zahedan, the provincial capital of Sistan-Baluchistan Province, which is home to the country's Baluch minority. "He was a simple laborer and not political," Nayeb-Zehi's brother, Ahmad, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda in a telephone interview from Zahedan, adding that his sibling had been shot in the heart. "We're in pain, and we cannot accept it." The crackdown in Zahedan came amid weeks-long nationwide protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old who died on September 16, days after she was detained by Iran's morality police. In Sistan-Baluchistan, public anger at the authorities escalated amid reports that a 15-year-old Baluch girl had been raped by a police official in the province's southern port city of Chabahar. The violence erupted soon after protesters gathered outside a police station near the central mosque in Zahedan. Members of the crowd chanted anti-government slogans, and some threw rocks. Security forces responded with deadly force by firing on the crowd from the station, according to witnesses. Security forces also raided the central mosque and the nearby Great Mosalla and opened fire on worshippers using live ammunition, rights groups said, adding that many were shot in the head, heart, neck, or torso, revealing a clear intent to kill or seriously wound. At least 94 people were killed and 350 wounded on that day, referred to as "Bloody Friday," according to the U.S.-based Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. At least 13 minors were among those killed, including Nayeb-Zehi. The victims were overwhelmingly Baluch -- a mostly Sunni ethnic group that has long faced disproportionate discrimination at the hands of the Iranian authorities. "He was martyred inside the Mosalla while holding his prayer mat," said Ahmad Nayeb-Zehi. Nayeb-Zehi's family first visited Zahedan's Khatam al-Anbia hospital, hoping he was among the wounded. They later found his body in a seminary at the Great Mosalla. "We entered a room there and saw about 10 bodies," said Ahmad Nayeb-Zehi. "[Mohammad] was among them." He said the authorities prevented the family from filming the scene. "I told them this has to be documented, it has to be published by international media," he said, adding that footage later emerged on social media showing the gruesome scene at the seminary. The family refused to send Nayeb-Zehi's body to the morgue. Instead, his body lay in the living room for around 24 hours before he was buried. "We said he was martyred and there was no need for an autopsy," said Ahmad Nayeb-Zehi. The authorities accused Jaish al-Adl, a Sunni militant group, of attacking the police station. The group is recognized as a terrorist organization by both Iran and the United States and has previously claimed deadly attacks in Sistan-Baluchistan targeting Iranian security forces. But local and independent sources have rejected the authorities' claims. The authorities have also reported a much lower number of fatalities, announcing that only 19 people, including several members of the security forces, were killed. Ahmad Nayeb-Zehi said the authorities were "rubbing salt into the wounds of the people" by claiming "terrorists" were involved. He said he witnessed a military helicopter shooting at civilians near the Great Mosalla. "I haven't even seen such scenes in Hollywood movies," he said. "A helicopter was shooting at people. A lady was shot in front of my eyes." RFE/RL could not verify his account. But activists have accused security forces of shooting at protestors from helicopters. "I don't know what the intention of this crime was," he said. "Our only demand from the establishment is for the murderers of our [family members] to be punished." The killings have led to widespread anger in Sistan-Baluchistan, one of Iran's poorest provinces. Anti-establishment protests have been reported in Zahedan since the crackdown, including on October 14 and October 21, when protesters took to the streets after Friday Prayers and chanted "Death to the dictator." During his Friday Prayers sermon on October 21, influential Sunni cleric Molavi Abdolhamid Ismaeelzahi said senior officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were "responsible" for the September 30 killings. "We are surprised by the silence of the high-ranking officials," he said in his sermon, which was posted on his website. "Scores were killed here without any reason. I don't have the exact number. Some have reported 90, some say less, some say more," Ismaeelzahi added. He also said people will not be satisfied until "those who killed the people" are brought to justice. The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center said the events of September 30 amounted to "a massacre of protesters by security forces." "The government's total denial of responsibility for the massacring of citizens by its security apparatus is consistent with similar past denials and is evidence that internal calls for investigation of such crimes are insufficient," said the rights group, which documents human rights violations in Iran. Kyrgyz authorities have identified a man they say carried out the bombing attack against the Chinese Embassy in Bishkek last month. The Kyrgyz State Committee for National Security (UKMK) said on September 6 that the alleged attacker was a 33-year-old ethnic Uyghur with a Tajik passport, Zoir Halilov, who was a member of the Islamic Movement of Eastern Turkestan. A suicide car bomber rammed the gates of the Chinese Embassy compound in Bishkek on August 30 before detonating an explosive device inside the car, killing himself and injuring three Kyrgyz employees of the embassy. The UKMK also said five Kyrgyz and Uzbek nationals suspected of involvement in the preparation of the attack have been apprehended. Another four Kyrgyz nationals were added to the international wanted list, the UKMK said. According to the UKMK, the terrorist attack was "instigated" by several Uyghur terrorist groups fighting alongside Islamic militants in Syria. Uyghurs are Turkic-speaking native Muslim people of China's northwestern province of Xinjiang, which Uyghurs traditionally call Eastern Turkestan. Based on reporting by Akipress and KyrTAG Kyrgyz officials say a member of an international terrorist group has been "liquidated' near Bishkek. Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security said on September 6 that the 39-year-old perpetrator was killed in a shoot-out with law enforcement officers on August 29. The man's identity and the group he allegedly belonged to was not disclosed. Investigators found a rifle, an improvised explosive device, and a significant amount of ammunition in the slain man's possession. Investigations have been launched into the incident. Kyrgyz authorities say that hundreds of Kyrgyz men and women have joined the Islamic State extremist group in Syria and Iraq in recent years. Based on reporting by Akipress and Interfax Kyrgyz officials have awarded a Russian man and given him a free trip to Kyrgyzstan for saving two Kyrgyz women in a deadly fire in Moscow. Kyrgyz Emergencies Minister Kubatbek Boronov decorated Yury Lugvin with the ministrys "For Bravery During Fire" medal on September 6. Lugvin also received a letter of gratitude and an expensive watch from the Kyrgyz parliament before being an honored guest at the World Nomad Games being held in Kyrgyzstan. Lugvin, 24, saved several people at the Moscow printing house where 17 people, including 14 Kyrgyz women, were killed in a fire on August 27. Lugvin personally brought one Kyrgyz woman from the fire and assisted in saving another from the blaze. The Kyrgyz Embassy in Moscow arranged Lugvin's trip to Kyrgyzstan, where he attending the World Nomad Games as a guest of honor. Lugvin has said that he does not consider himself a hero because he was doing what anyone should have done and that he feels sorry that he could not help more people caught in the fire. Based on reporting by KyrTAG and Akipress WASHINGTON -- International media groups have intensified efforts to support Mykola Semena, a Crimean journalist and contributor to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), calling on Russian authorities to allow him to leave the peninsula to receive medical care. In a joint appeal issued September 2, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) warned that Semena suffers from cardiac problems, and would risk becoming permanently incapacitated without urgent treatment. Semena, who contributes to RFE/RLs Crimea Realities website, was charged in April under the Russian criminal code for allegedly violating Russias territorial integrity after he wrote an article expressing the view that Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014, should be returned to Ukraine. He is currently under house arrest in Simferopol. Last week, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, the Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine, and Ukraines Deputy Information Minister Emine Dzheppar condemned the criminal case against Semena and insisted he be permitted to receive medical attention in Kyiv. "Authorities in Crimea should drop the charges against Mykola immediately and allow him to receive the medical treatment he needs," RFE/RL President Thomas Kent said. Referring to a month-long blockage of the Crimea Realities website in Crimea that shows no sign of abating, Kent added, The case against Mykola is part of a concerted effort by Russian and Russian-backed authorities to obstruct RFE/RLs journalistic mission to provide an independent press to residents of Crimea." The website, published in the Crimean Tatar, Ukrainian, and Russian languages, is blocked by a majority of internet providers in Crimea, following an order on August 1 by the counter-extremism and terrorism unit of the peninsulas Moscow-backed prosecutors office. Nevertheless, residents using other means, and users in Russia and mainland Ukraine have continued to access the site, logging 1.7 million visits in August. Crimea Realities also reaches audiences in Crimea through radio broadcasts on medium waves. The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv deplored the attacks against RFE/RL earlier this year, condemning the Russian governments growing crackdown on independent voices in Russia and Russia-occupied Crimea. The IFJ and EFJ have called the charges against Semena unfounded. In an interview about his case with RFE/RL on August 31, Semena said, I think several objectives are pursued here: to silence me, to prohibit me to work, or to force me to leave. Semena was awarded a medal of honor for outstanding merit by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on August 30, in honor of the anniversary of Ukraines independence. An agreement between Russia and Saudi Arabia to work together to return stability to the global oil market has sent oil prices briefly upward, though they later pulled back again. Oil prices rose in Asia on September 6 in the wake of the announcement by the two energy powers during the G20 summit in China a day earlier, moving by as much as 5 percent upward to $49.40 But prices later retreated again as Saudi Arabia ruled out any need to trim back production and oil traders questioned whether Riyadh and Moscow would curb global oversupply. Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed on September 5 on the sidelines of the G20 summit to set up a task force to review oil-market fundamentals and to recommend measures and actions that would secure market stability. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih and his Russian counterpart, Aleksandr Novak, said they agreed to "act together" in what Novak called a "new era" of cooperation between Russia and the Saudi-led OPEC cartel that would have "critical significance." However, there were no details on any deal to freeze oil output around current levels and Novak later told Al-Arabiya television that doing so won't be necessary at this time. Russia is due to meet with OPEC in Algeria later this month. OPEC members Kuwait, Nigeria, and the United Arab Emirates all welcomed the Saudi-Russian pledge. Iran said on September 6 it supported "any decision" to stabilize the global oil market and that $50-$60 per barrel is the desired price for most OPEC members. Based on reporting by AFP and TASS Two prominent Russian environmental activists have criticized the presidential candidate for the U.S. Green Party, saying her positions on President Vladimir Putin and his policies are deeply shocking. The open letter by Yevgenia Chirikova and Nadezhda Kutepova is unlikely to fundamentally alter the electoral prospects of Jill Stein in the race for the White House. Shes running distant to the more mainstream candidates for the White House from the Democratic and Republican parties, and some polls show her Green Party trailing the other major alternative political party, the Libertarians. But the letter put the spotlight on some of Steins more controversial statements, as well as the plight of Russian environmentalists, who have been subjected to increasing repressions, along with other civil-society groups. In the letter posted to Chirikovas Facebook page on September 6, the two activists disparaged Stein for a visit to Moscow last year in which she appeared at a forum sponsored by the state-run satellite television channel Russia Today, now known as RT. Stein, a 66-year-old physician turned activist, appeared at the Moscow forum in December 2015, an event that was also attended by Putin. A news release posted on Steins campaign website highlighted her attendance and her calls for more cooperation between Washington and Moscow, particularly regarding the five-year civil war in Syria. The statement closely echoes comments voiced by the Kremlin and Russian officials about U.S. policies in the Middle East, North Africa, and elsewhere. The two Russians said they often support environmental candidates in elections around the world. We have carefully read your program and your website and we have to admit that we are deeply shocked by the position you expressed during your visit to Moscow and your meeting with Mr. Vladimir Putin, they said. They pointed to Steins call for a collaborative dialogue with Moscow to prevent future wars, to fight climate change, and other issues. But how can this new collaborative dialogue be possible when Mr. Putin has deliberately built a system based on corruption, injustice, falsification of elections, and violation of human rights and international law? How is it possible to have a discussion with Mr. Putin and not mention, not even once, the fate of Russian political prisoners, or the attacks against Russian journalists, artists, and environmentalists? they said. Scott McLarty, a spokesman for the Green Party, said he had forwarded the query from RFE/RL to Steins campaign representatives, but added that the Russians letter wasnt entirely correct. I think the letter exaggerates Dr. Stein's alleged deference to President Putin, he said in an e-mail. Chirikova gained notoriety in Russia for her involvement in the fight over treasured forestlands north of Moscow that were slated to be partially razed for a new superhighway to St. Petersburg. For many, the protracted fight for the Khimki Forest turned into a litmus test for the ability of civil society activists to fight government-backed industrial projects. Chirikova was awarded one of the worlds most prestigious awards, the Goldman Environmental Prize, in 2012. Last year, she fled to Estonia, saying she feared Russian authorities would try to pressure her by levying steep taxes on her award, or other measures. Kutepova, meanwhile, is an activist from a Ural Mountains town that has been polluted by radioactive waste from the notorious Mayak nuclear plant. She, too, fled to Europe after her nongovernmental organization was labeled a foreign agent under a widely criticized law designed to hinder foreign funding of Russian civil society groups. Tajikistan has released from prison the only woman among several high-ranking officials of the banned Islamic Renaissance Party (HNIT), her family says. Zurafo Rahmoni, who had been serving a two-year sentence, was released on September 5 according to a mass amnesty, the family said on September 6. Rahmoni, an adviser to the HNIT leadership, was arrested along with 13 other party leaders last year. The group was accused of conspiring with former Defense Minister Abduhalim Nazarzoda in a supposed armed bid to seize power in early September 2015. Tajik officials said Nazarzoda led attacks on a police station and an arsenal that killed at least 26 people. He was reportedly killed in an operation by government forces. The authorities blamed the HNIT for organizing the mutiny and banned the party as an "extremist and terrorist organization." Two deputy heads of the party were sentenced to life in prison, while 11 other high-ranking party officials were sentenced to terms ranging from 14 to 28 years. Party leader Muhiddin Kabiri, who now lives in exile, has denied the accusation. The mass amnesty, which affects more than 12,000 people, was not extended to the other jailed party leaders, who remain in prison. Tajik authorities are reportedly investigating threats purportedly made by a former Tajik police colonel who joined the Islamic State (IS) extremist group in Syria. The Reuters news agency quoted two Tajik security service sources as saying on September 6 that some Tajik servicemen received text messages on their mobile phones in fugitive police commander Gulmurod Halimov's name. In the messages -- allegedly received this week -- he promised to "congratulate" the servicemen on Tajikistan's Independence Day on September 9, the sources told Reuters. According to Iraqi media reports on September 3, Halimov had recently been appointed a high-ranking IS commander. Iraqi media said Halimov replaced IS commander Umar al-Shishani, who was reportedly killed in July in northern Iraq. On August 30, the U.S. State Department called Halimov a key member of IS and offered a reward of $3 million for information on his whereabouts. Tajik authorities said on September 5 that they are taking measures to prevent any destabilization attempts in Tajikistan by Halimov and his supporters. Halimov, the former commander of the Tajik Interior Ministry's special forces, known as OMON, joined IS in April 2015. Tajik authorities say he has been seriously injured twice in Syria. Based on reporting by Reuters and RFE/RL's Tajik Service ON MY MIND What do a Perm-based blogger and Russia's last independent polling agency have in common? Both are being sanctioned for telling the truth. Vladimir Luzgin, the blogger featured in yesterday's Daily Vertical, was convicted of "rehabilitating Nazism" and "spreading false information about the activities of the Soviet Union during World War II" for reposting material on social media about the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the Soviet Union's 1939 invasion of Poland. And the Levada Center, featured in today's Daily Vertical, has been blacklisted as a "foreign agent" after allegations that it received funding from abroad. Its real crime, however, is publishing polls that contradict the Kremlin's preferred narrative. History and sociology: two fronts in the Kremlin's war on the truth. IN THE NEWS Russia's Justice Ministry has placed the independent national pollster Levada Center on its official register of organizations "operating as foreign agents," potentially threatening the widely respected research group's existence. The Levada Center, meanwhile, says it plans to continue with its work. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says it has become increasingly difficult for Ukraine to secure Western support in its fight against "Russian aggression." Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited the grave of the former president of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, as he paid his respects in Karimov's home city of Samarkand. Russian prosecutors have arrested two associates of billionaire Viktor Vekselberg on bribery charges after masked officers raided his Renova conglomerate offices. Mormon church officials have cut the number of missionaries being sent to Russia, saying the adjustment was forced by Russia's new antiterrorism law. The United States and European authorities have denounced an arson attack on a pro-Russian Ukrainian television station, calling such violence "unacceptable." Putin says he and U.S. President Barack Obama have taken another step forward on resolving the conflict in Syria. Saudi Arabia and Russia have agreed to cooperate in world oil markets, saying they will not act immediately but could limit output in the future. The Russian government says a new encyclopedia portal it is developing will not be a competitor to Wikipedia. Kommersant is reporting that Putin may pay a visit to Russia's Kavkaz-2016 military exercises. WHAT I'M READING Raising the Stakes in Ukraine Kathleen Weinberger of the Institute for the Study of War has a piece contextualizing Putin's recent saber rattling in Ukraine. "Vladimir Putin has mobilized military forces in Crimea and on Ukraine's northern and eastern borders. He has raised the level of fighting in eastern Ukraine to levels not seen in over a year and then arranged a cease-fire. He has moved advanced air-defense systems into Crimea and is raising new Russian divisions near Ukraine. Analysts are baffled," Weinberger writes. "There is nothing normal about this mobilization, but neither does Putin desire a war with Ukraine. He intends, rather, to use this mobilization and escalation of conflict to create leverage to weaken EU sanctions, destabilize the Ukrainian government, undermine NATO, and present the next American president with a series of faits accomplis. He is likely to succeed in all these aims." Life During Wartime In a piece on the European Council on Foreign Relations website, Vladimir Rafeyenko explores The Island Of Donetsk. "Donetsk is not going through the best of times," Rafeyenko writes. "It seems that these grey times -- without war but without peace, not part of Russia but not part of Ukraine -- will drag on for some time. Donetsk cannot be part of the Russian Federation, but Russia was able to rip it away from Ukraine, and it did so by spilling so much blood that it will take a long time for it to dry on the streets and squares of this place." Deconstructing Whataboutism In the second part of its guide to Russian propaganda, Euromaidan Press takes a look at "Whataboutism." "Whataboutism is a constant diversion away from actual relevant news items, facts, and arguments into constant accusations of hypocrisy. This amounts to almost a pseudo-ideology of 'we are not perfect, but neither are you' rather than arguments like: 'our system is better' or 'you dont understand,'" Euromaidan Press writes. "Whataboutism is alive and strong today in Russian propaganda. The basic mechanism is an attempt to use either the emotions of shame or anger to derail an argument. By accusing their opponents or even just their interlocutors of hypocrisy, propagandists hope to trigger the emotion of shame to blunt accusations or divert the conversation into a discussion about hypocrisy." The Mechanics of the Information War Peter Pomerantsev, author of the book Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: Inside The Surreal Heart Of The New Russia, talks about Moscow's information war on Hromadske TV. The Big Con The BBC's John Simpson in the New Statesman on how Putin has conned us into thinking Russia is a superpower. The Kremlin's Iran Strategy Chatham House's Nikolay Kozhanov looks at complex relationship between Russian and Iran and how the Kremlin is attempting to manage it. Putin at the G20 Vedomosti argues in an editorial that Putin actually had a very successful G20 summit. Russia's U.S. 'Influence Operations' The Washington Post reports that U.S. intelligence is investigating Russian "influence operations" inside the United States. European and U.S. officials have denounced an arson attack on a pro-Russian Ukrainian television station, calling such violence "unacceptable." European Commission spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic on September 6 urged Ukraine to conduct a full, independent investigation into the attack on the TV station, which was set ablaze in Kyiv over allegations that it is pro-Russian. Five people were hurt in the fire at the Inter TV studios in Kyiv on September 4. Kocijancic said Brussels "plays close attention to all incidents of violence against journalists and media outlets." Washington earlier condemned as "unacceptable" the attack on Inter TV by about 20 Ukraine nationalists wielding firebombs and dressed in camouflage fatigues. "We support thorough investigation into arson at Inter, are following closely, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv tweeted on September 5. Ukrainian authorities said they detained nine people in connection with the fire, which apparently was set off by a smoke bomb thrown into the building, but that all were released after questioning. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's media-freedom representative also strongly condemned the attack. "Violence is never an acceptable response to disagreements with editorial policy, even if the reporting is seen as provocative and controversial," Dunja Mijatovic said. Mijatovic said she was "encouraged" by the swift law enforcement response and the condemnation of the attack by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Ukraine's journalism union. But she noted that other Kyiv officials and groups have accused the broadcaster of disloyalty to Ukraine and are seeking to suppress its reporters. With reporting by AFP Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited the grave of the former president of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, as he paid his respects in Karimov's home city of Samarkand. The Russian president on September 6 placed flowers at Karimov's grave at the cemetery near the historic monument of Shahi Zinda. He also expressed his condolences to Tatyana Karimova, the widow of the president, and his youngest daughter, Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva. At a meeting with Uzbek Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyaev, Putin said Uzbekistan can fully count on Russia. "Of course, we very much hope that the groundwork laid by President Islam Karimov will be used further," he said. "For our part, we will do everything to maintain this path of joint development and to support the people of Uzbekistan and the Uzbek administration. You can fully count on us as your most reliable friend." He also thanked Mirziyaev for the opportunity to pay his respects to a man who "did so much for his country, for his people." Mirziyaev said that Uzbekistan was keen to maintain and develop strategic relations with Moscow. "Your visit today says a lot and we are very grateful," he told Putin during their meeting. Putin did not attend Karimov's state funeral on September 3. Speaking to reporters at the G20 summit in China on September 5, Putin called Karimov's death a "great loss" for Uzbekistan. Putin said he hoped the Central Asian's country new leadership would be able to preserve stability. Karimov, a former communist boss, ruled for 27 years at the center of a tight inner circle and ruthlessly applied the country's security and intelligence forces to keep a tight lid on dissent. "One can make different judgements about what he did for his country, one can view various moments in Uzbekistan's modern history differently, but he preserved stability in the country, he preserved its steady development," Putin said. "This is very important for such country as Uzbekistan, it is vital for its self-preservation and future progressive development," Putin added. Putin said he also hoped Russia's good relations with Uzbekistan would be maintained. Based on reporting by Interfax and TASS A senior U.S. diplomat says Uzbekistan wants to maintain a stable relationship with the United States as it goes through its first leadership change since independence. Daniel Rosenblum, deputy assistant secretary for Central Asia at the U.S. Department of State, made the statement after meeting Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Komilov late on September 5 in Tashkent. "During my meeting with Komilov he expressed strong desire for stability in the bilateral relationship so I took it as an important message," Rosenblum said. It was the first visit by a U.S. diplomat since the death of President Islam Karimov last week. "I am here in Tashkent these few days representing the U.S. government so that I can express condolences on the death of President Karimov and also to show our continued commitment to our partnership with Uzbekistan," Rosenblum told reporters. The U.S. diplomat also said that "we know that any change in the leadership of any country is a complexity, but such a transitional periods are an opportunity for the country to find ways to adapt and grow stronger." He added that Washington remained "committed to partnership with Uzbekistan, to its sovereignty, security, future and ensuring rights for all its citizens." With reporting by RFE/RL Central Asian Newsletter and Reuters 18 Pakistani men use a crane to lift a young bull from the roof of a building in preparation for the annual Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha or the Festival of Sacrifice, in Karachi. The owner keeps young animals -- three or four bulls and some goats -- on the roof of a four-story building for a year until they are ready for sacrifice. Muslims believe that they will receive more rewards if they raise an animal and sacrifice it after a year or two. (AFP/Rizwan Tabassum) Two Virginia Commonwealth University students are hoping that more than 100 undergraduate and graduate students will work together to solve some of health cares most pervasive problems in 24 hours. Simone Gregor, a senior biomedical engineering student, and Sina Mostaghimi, a fourth-year VCU School of Medicine student, have co-founded VCUs first medical hackathon called HealthHacks. The 24-hour event will take place Oct. 1-2 at VCUs School of Engineering East Hall at 401 W. Main St. The goal of HealthHacks is to bring several disciplines together to solve problems in health care, Mostaghimi said. The idea started in the spring of this year, he said. My background is biomedical engineering and Im in medical school right now. I always wanted to bring these areas together because a lot of times engineers dont know a lot about medicine, and doctors dont know about engineering. After Mostaghimi connected with Gregor, she had the idea to do a hackathon. She has competed in several hackathons herself and said they are great opportunities to not just tackle a challenge with a group of people, but to meet others and learn more about work taking place in other disciplines. Hackathons are designed to be kept to short periods of time 24 hours in this case during which teams work together to solve computer science-related problems. In the case of a medical hackathon, though, the teams attempt to solve health care challenges. That environment just creates an excellent opportunity for students to make something, Gregor said. So far more than 100 students from all over the country some from Canada, Mostaghimi said have signed up for HealthHacks. Thats without marketing to VCU undergrads, Mostaghimi added. Thats where we think well get the majority of our students from. Its kind of mind blowing that 100 have signed up already and very few of them are from the undergraduate campus. We could have between 200 and 300 (total participants) easily. He and Gregor have already been able to attract a variety of mentors ranging from clinicians and physicians to biomedical engineers and professors that will not only develop problems for the students to solve, but will offer advice to the teams during the event itself. Gregor added that HealthHacks is currently looking for corporate sponsors who also could be mentors to students during the event. Richmond is such a great location for this type of event because we know theres so much community support for innovation and entrepreneurship, she said. HealthHacks will feature three categories of problems for students to solve: product design and improvement; the flow of patients through a hospital; and patient experience. Mostaghimi said an example of a product design and improvement problem would be the current opioid epidemic that is causing thousands to overdose on pain killer drugs. One solution that could be super beneficial would be to redesign the pill bottle to make it more difficult to overdose on pills, by however mechanism you choose, Mostaghimi said. But he added that he and Gregor went with three problem categories in order to attract a broader range of students. Business students could have ideas to improve hospital patient flow, and art students could develop ways in which to improve the patient experience, for example. The two are hoping that this is just the first of what becomes an annual event for VCU. Its a great experience overall, said Gregor of hackathons. Students can sign up for HealthHacks at www.healthhacks.vcu.edu. Richmond police Chief Gerald Smith resigned Tuesday after a 27-month tenure that included calls for his resignation from some of the departments rank-and-file and an ongoing controversy over his comments regarding an alleged mass shooting plot at Dogwood Dell. Richmond fire crews battled a three-alarm house fire in the 4600 block of Monument Avenue on Tuesday morning. Richmond Fire Lt. Chris Armstrong said crews were on the scene at 3:31 a.m., and the fire was marked under control at 5:22 a.m. Armstrong said crews had difficulty getting into the home to battle the fire because of debris. No one was injured in the fire. This evening, Henrico County residents will have a town hall meeting at their fingertips. Tuckahoe District Supervisor Patricia S. OBannon plans to hold the countys first virtual meeting at 7 p.m. In the meeting, OBannon and county officials plan to talk about how residents receive emergency information and how technology changes are affecting the process. The meeting is set to be broadcast live on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0CtEWaDerw. Anyone who wants to attend in person should go to the Tuckahoe Area Library, located at 1901 Starling Drive. At the end of the meeting, there will be a question-and-answer session with in-person and online participants. To submit questions through YouTube, participants must log in with a Google account. A 24-year-old man is charged with second-degree murder in a chaotic shooting at a northeast Roanoke nightclub over the weekend. Jermaine Leonard Brown is also charged with malicious wounding in the early Sunday shooting at Monsters Bar and Grill that left one man dead and several others injured, according to jail records. Police arrested Brown on Monday evening, and hes being held at the Roanoke City Jail without bond. Police went to the nightclub in the 1000 block of Orange Avenue to respond to an unknown 911 call. Officers were already in the area of the restaurant and monitoring exterior activities before the shooting, police spokesman Scott Leamon said. Officers heard gunshots from inside the building at 2:56 a.m. and saw people flee the building, get in vehicles and drive away. Jermaine Lynn Black, 26, of Roanoke, died at the scene, police said. Of the 10 people shot, eight went by private vehicle to the hospital, police said. Police did not have updates on conditions of victims Monday evening. Like Gov. Terry McAuliffe, state Senate Minority Leader Dick Saslaw, and other Democrats, we find state Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norments constitutional amendment on felon voting rights inadequate. Unlike them, however, we think he deserves some credit for proposing it. The governor, Saslaw and others wasted no time tearing into Norments proposal, under which non-violent felons would have their voting rights restored but violent ones would not. It also would end the governors ability to restore voting rights, rendering eternal the disenfranchisement of anyone convicted of a serious violent crime. Moreover, the amendment would not restore voting rights until the offender had paid all fines, court costs and any restitution owed. Democrats immediately likened that to a poll tax a loaded comparison that continues their calculated effort to cast the discussion in purely racial terms. That is intellectually dishonest. McAuliffe repeatedly has said felons should regain the right to vote once they have paid their debt to society. Merely completing a prison sentence does not always meet that test. If a felon still owes money to society (through the courts) or to his victims (who are members of society) then he has not yet paid his entire debt. This is not to say Norment has struck the right balance. In some cases repayment could take many years, and demonstrating a good-faith effort to pay down the obligation over time might be a better standard. Even more troubling is the requirement under Norments proposal that ex-cons complete their suspended sentences before regaining their voting rights. Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, ended that policy. And should the legislature define drug crimes as violent offenses, Norments measure would sharply curtail the number of individuals eligible to regain voting rights.